The Scent of Prey

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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro, and League of Legends is owned by Riot Games. This fiction was created for entertainment purposes only. Please don't sue me Rito.

"Problem solving is hunting. It is savage pleasure and we are born to it."

-Thomas Harris

Rengar looked over his wall. Ever since he had arrived to this new forest, he has had the time of his life. The hunter had grown weary and bored of the bears and occasional tigers. Such prey was far too simple for him. However, his arrival to the Everfree forest had been one of the best decisions of his life. Here, Tigers were found into a mix of a goat and a python for a tail, breathing a noxious fire that could send acres ablaze. Manticores, a lion, bat, and scorpion hybrid that can deliver a lethal strike with one injection of its tail venom were found in very, very favorable quantities.

Even plants in the Everfree have to be tracked down and killed before they kill you. In his opinion, the "Everfree Forest" was a terrible and unsuitable name for such a hellhole. However, the nearby inhabitants had beaten him to giving the official name to the forest ages ago.

When the lion gazed up at his wall, he bore a razor-sharp toothed smile. Adorning the walls of the cave were various monsters and beasts that he had slain and taken numerous parts of them for trophies. Heads, teeth, claws, and wings all decorated the interior very well in Rengar's opinion.

However, as with all hunters, he will never be satisfied with what game he has hunted. Rengar wished that bigger, larger, and especially more dangerous game could magically appear in front of him.

Rengar shook his head. Such a thought was horrible for him to imagine. After all, the thrill of the hunt, tracking, and eventual closing in of the prey was just as satisfying, if not at times even more thrillful than the kill itself.

"Hmmm...what to hunt next...", the lion growled under his breath as he held a candle up to a small scroll. Inscribed on it, were drawings of the different monsters that he had documented living in the Everfree. Some of the beasts were crossed out with an "X", signifying that he had hunted at least one of them to a success. Though, that didn't mean that it was the largest beast he could find.

Looking down at the scroll with his only one useful eye, the other covered with a leather eye binding, Rengar examined one beast he had not yet vanquished. The cragadile. It resembled a crocodile in shape and appearance, but bore skin composed of solid rock, and its teeth were solid diamond. The lion had heard that some of them could breath out an internally stored fire.

It certainly wasn't the most challenging or threatening hunt he would face, but having to study the beast thoroughly in order to find its weak point in its stone skin would provide quite the effort. And more effort meant a more thrilling kill after the monster's study.

"It will do.", Rengar nodded in approval as he turned towards the deeper recesses of his cavern. Instead of skulls and teeth lavishing the walls, weapons that Rengar had crafted of all sorts of different shapes and sizes were mounted, each one having a different purpose than the other.

Rengar's one eye looked over the tools of killing, examining each one, depicting its usefulness in the coming hunt.

"The bow's arrows would do nothing against the skin of a cragadile. Nor would the glaive...", the hunter gave each hunting tool an evaluation.

Then, Rengar turned to his trusted Hunting Dagger. A wicked blade having the length of a small sword, hardly a "dagger" in its own classification. Smaller blades in the shape of claws protruded out of the grip's hand-guard. The massive blade curved out into a deadly and imposing hook, useful in tearing out the throat of beasts that Rengar saw fit. He fixed other weapons to the various sheaths and components located on his armor, ready for the coming expedition.

Once Rengar had donned his armor, plates with teeth and claws adorning the engravings of various beasts in keen detail, he stepped out of his cavern into the Everfree.

"Ah...the thrill of the hunt...", Rengar smiled to himself, "...begins once again."

"Okay everyone! Dig in!"

Fluttershy spread out the various bowls of food over the large blanket nestled on the grass. Numerous animals, from squirrels, rabbits, weasels, beavers, and even a large bear all sat around her. Each one of the critters and animals all began to dig into their meals that the butter-coated pony had fixed for them.

All of the critters, except for one.

A single bunny that Fluttershy had the "brightest" of ideas to name Angel once again refused to eat the salad that Fluttershy had fixed for him. From the fact that she even included a cherry that she had, this time, payed ten bits for, the stubborn bunny refused to touch the meal.

"Oh Angel, I know that you can be a bit choosy, but I really spent a lot of time trying to make this for you. So can you please, please, please try it this time?", Fluttershy's eyes grew wide and she smiled to try to sway the bunny into eating his salad, but to no avail. Angel angrily chattered away in an unrecognizable dialogue. However, it was clear that he wasn't budging in inch to eat his salad.

Fluttershy tried to beg more and more, offering him that he could completely choose what he wanted to eat for dinner. Knowing Angel, he would easily exploit Fluttershy to all new heights, but the bunny simply crossed his stubby little arms and turned his back.

The arguing and begging continued between the two. No side seemed to make any sort of progress whatsoever as bickering and pleading was heard over the rest of the animals who had stopped eating to witness the show. At this point, the bear was snacking on popcorn, despite Fluttershy not bringing any. Mr. Bear always remembered to bring some whenever Angel started to defy Fluttershy, which was an often occurrence.

Unknown to the two, an animal was slowly approaching the group of other critters and their picnic. Caught by the scent of possible food, the animal strayed away from its normal dwelling to investigate the possible food source.

There were two things that were notable about this.

The first was that the animal's hunger was not triggered by the scent of fresh fruit and vegetables, but the other objects surrounding them. The animals. The beast that was approaching was hungry for meat.

The second characteristic that would provide a giant warning sign to disaster would be the origin of its home:

The Everfree Forest.

*sniff*

"Hrrrm..."

Once Rengar found the trail of his target, there was nearly nothing the beast could do to shake it off of him. Following numerous tell-tale signs of a cragadile's whereabouts, such as large reptilian footprints that dropped pebbles into the depressions that they made in the soft and muddy ground. The spread of the footprints suggested a long and slow moving beast that angled its body side to side while it trekked across the forest.

However, one more sign was present. Scorched plants and the occasional burnt mouse or spider carcass was found strewn on the ground. This suddenly raised Rengar's excitement. This had to be one of the rare cragadiles that breathed fire, and often or not, those rare cragadiles were the most aggressive and bore the most weight and the largest size.

Oh how was this turning out to be a thrill, knowing that the more he followed and tracked his prey, the more deadly and dangerous they could turn out. All the more exiting to finally slay.

"What a trophy that beast's head will make. If only I could make a little bit more room on my wall for the head, that would make an amazing trophy.", Rengar bragged to himself, "I'd like to see any of those pathetic Griffon trappers try and outdo anything that I manage to hunt!"

The lion kept on the trail of the cragadile with extreme devotion, sniffing the ground, looking for brushed aside scenery, and footprints that could rise up again once Rengar came to more wet ground.

Then, Rengar picked up a very musty scent.

It smelled wet. It smelled like rocks. But it didn't smell like the surrounding forest environment at all. This was due to the fact that it had another notable scent drifting from it.

Smoke.

This had to be the monster that Rengar was tracking. Since he had the smell locked in, he quickly took to the tall trees, navigating through the forest of magically mutated animals by leaping from branch to branch. He readied his weapons and drew his Hunting Dagger from its sheath. Rengar quickly eyed his Bonetooth Necklace, neckware that bound teeth and claws together on a string. Each claw and tooth came from a different beast he had slain, so that he could remember every kill when he went out to make another addition to his trophy wall, and his necklace.

He was getting closer and closer.

Rengar smiled, as such a beast, often or not thinking that it is the apex of its species sought that no other animal could take the position away from them.

How wrong they will be when that animal will make a fantastic addition to his cavern.

The arguing had gone on for some time, until Fluttershy eventually gave up and allowed Angel to skip his meal, despite how much effort she had put into the salad for him. She picked it up, set he hoof on her cheek in an annoyed and bored fashion, and munched on the lettuce leaves.

Having scored another victory, Angel suddenly scampered off, away from the picnic and away from Fluttershy's cottage. He wanted to be anywhere but where the other animals were eating.

Hopping a nice deal of distance, he sniffed the ground, looking for something better that he could eat. Maybe he could pick up the scent of some dropped candy that a filly could have dropped. He would take candy over any boring salad anytime of his life.

Sniffing more and more, he then picked up a trail of...

...something.

From its odd smell, Angel couldn't discern what exactly it was. Maybe it was food? It smelled...wet.

Following his curiosity, Angel began to hop further and further from Fluttershy's cottage. The further and further he hopped, the smell began to get closer and closer. The wetness of the smell began to get more pungent with the distance beginning to close in. After an entire two minutes of hopping, Angel discerned another smell.

Smoke.

Smoke?

Yes, it had to be smoke.

Angel's thoughts rapidly cycled through his mind as he began to slow down his hopping. When he stood upright, he gazed over the massive woodlands that stood in front of his tiny little form.

The Everfree Forest.

At that point, even Angel knew not to venture into this forest filled with animals that carried a worse temper than he did. It would just be plain suicide.

Ignoring the smell that had became so strong once he edged closer to the forest, Angel began to turn around to head back towards the cottage.

However, he would still get his chance to figure out where that scent was coming from in the worse possible way he could imagine.

A quick and thick gust of wind washed over his back, the warm air sending shivers down his spine. When Angel turned around and inhaled, he realized something.

It wasn't wind. It was breath.

Angel slowly turned arou-

"GRAWWWWWW!!!", the massive cragadile roared into Angel's tiny and diminutive form, ashes and tiny embers fuming out of the beast's maw stuck into Angel's coat, singing his fur and creating little black spots all over him. The tiny rabbit was knocked head-over-heels and turned around to sprint away from the snapping jaws of the cragadile, not once looking back as his wide and trauma-induced eyes fixed their gaze on the ground ahead, hoping to cover more than the beast that was now hot on his cotton tail.

The cragadile roared again as it took off after the bunny, intent on getting a quick grilled snack. Possibly, finding some larger meals after it was done with this tiny squirt.

More Prey, More Prizes

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At this point, Rengar began to rush his pace. The beast had caught onto something that the lion was not aware of. Could it have found other prey? Maybe it's rushing towards a mate.

It didn't matter to Rengar. He was determined to fix a solid stone skull onto the wall of his den.

Oh how that would make such a fine addition to his other trophies.

Perhaps he would mount it above his newly acquired Mantacore skull.

"Grawwww!!!"

Rengar's ears shifted towards the distant noise. The hunter smiled.

"Looks like it found something before me...", Rengar thought to himself as his pace increased its speed even further. He leaped through the trees rapidly, his primal instincts kicking in.

Rengar, though he only had one functioning eye, was able to 'see' much more than what the average pony could ever imagine. Being born with this sense, Rengar was able to combine his hearing, smell, and sight into one sense, and amplify each one. The hunter was able to see nearly all that was in front of him, and nearly everything that surrounded him. Through fog or darkness, he was able to discern any color, scent, sound, and object that lay around him.

The trill of the hunt further heightens his senses, easily highlighting the cragadile's tracks and the smell of burning foliage pointed towards its whereabouts. Now, Rengar was able to hear something that he wasn't able to hear before.

Heartbeat.

It was all around him. Birds, lizards, squirrels, little tiny thumps surrounded Rengar, his ears shifting to and fro trying to pick up the right pulse. It wasn't too hard to discern where the cragadile's pulse was coming from, as it was the largest and slowest of the surrounding forest life. However, Rengar also managed to decipher another heartbeat nearby. It was much smaller and much more rapid. Too tiny to come from a pony.

A favorable condition to Rengar.

It must be coming from another animal. Possibly a rabbit or a weasel. The beast that the lion was stalking must also be hunting for its own food. Or it has probably already found it.

Rengar could sense the dull and powerful heartbeat getting closer to him as he began to close in towards his prey.

Suddenly, something stood in front of Rengar that caused him to stop in his tracks, nearly making him fall straight out of the tree he had landed in. It was something that Rengar tried his best to never ever come near while he inhabited the Everfree.

It was the very edge of the forest, breaking its barrier towards the town filled with the most pathetic and weak civilization Rengar had ever had the misfortune to know about.

Ponyville.

If he was spotted by the ponies, a giant commotion and panic would occur, driving the local inhabitants to possibly drive Rengar away from his den and forcing him to be exiled from the Everfree forest.

He would have none of that. In order for his hunting grounds to remain undisturbed, Rengar must avoid contact with the obnoxious inhabitants that surrounded the forest.

Unfortunately, his prey was beginning to move further and further away from the forest, towards the possibility that ponies could find the beast before he did.

The lion decided that he would have none of that. If he could track the beast and kill it before it got too far, then he would still retain his secrecy, and his prize.

Rengar, once again, quickened his pace.

If Angel's heart could beat on par with the amount of fear and distress that inhabited the poor critter now, it would have exploded and left a bloody crater in the place of his chest. But, the bunny knew that if he even dared to look backwards, then the cragadile would make him into the same thing into the ground, perhaps with a bit more incinerated grass to that.

The reptile composed of stone let loose another fur-shaking roar as it continued it pursuit of Angel. The distance of the roar wasn't very far from Angel.

It was getting close.

Angel had begun to tire out, slowing his racing more and more, and bringing himself closer towards the cragadile's snapping and smoking jaws ready to deliver 4,000 pounds per square inch down onto his tiny and fragile body, in addition to grilling him until he is well-done.

Angel looked back, and he wished that he never had.

The monster was mere feet away from him, never giving up on its pursuit of the rabbit. Hot and smoky breath was exerted from the beast's maw as its eyes seemingly locked onto the rabbit, determined for a quick meal. The cragadile didn't even acknowledge that it was quite a bit of distance away from the Everfree at this point, its determination possibly have been going on far too much at this point. Nevertheless, the monster opened its jaws, ready to snap Angel in half.

Then, Angel managed to see a familiar sight rapidly approaching. Fluttershy's cottage. Immediately, his hopes returned to him as he could see Fluttershy begin to appear near the house.

Fluttershy was an animal caretaker, and she had dealt with numerous large beasts before. Angel knew that if there was one pony that could keep him safe from getting eaten, it was her.

"GRAWWWWWW!!!", the cragadile let loose another bloodthirsty roar.

He hoped.

The white maned lion burst out of a forest clearing, quickly sensing what lay ahead of him. The cragadile had strayed quite a distance away from the Everfree, something that Rengar, no matter how more thrilling a hunt could become, wish could not happen. If he went after the beast, then his secrecy could be exposed. His hunting expeditions could come to a complete close at that point if he was discovered.

"Grawwwwww!!!"

Rengar quickly turned his head and was able to pick up the sound.

At this point, Rengar would have very little time to study for a weakness of the beast. Or possibly no time at all. However, this did not faze the lion.

Nothing was going to come between him and his hunt. If there was a witness, he'll find a way how to deal with them later. Rengar was not going to stop until he had his new trophy.

With renown effort, he broke out into the clearing, dropped on all fours, and sprinted low to the ground.

He will have his prize.

Angel managed to break the distance between the cottage and himself, and much to his relief, he saw Fluttershy still eating at the picnic with her animal friends.

Angel sprinted, and sprinted, and sprinted until he could leap straight into Fluttershy's tail. Once she felt the bunny nestle in, she quickly looked down.

"Angel? Is that you-"

"MMMRAARRGGGG!", the cragadile gave an earth-shaking shout as it barreled straight towards the gathering of animals. At the sight and noise, the critters turned tail and dashed away in every direction away from the monster of stone. Even the bear knew of the imminent danger and made a break away from the picnic.

Fluttershy's eyes widened to the size of dinnerplates and her heart attempted to leap straight out of her chest when the monster charged straight for her. She screamed and turned around in an attempt to fly away to escape the beast's clutches, but the cragadile managed to close in far faster than Fluttershy could have ever thought and slammed its tail straight into her wing with a quick and precise action, sending her back to the ground and rolling until she smacked against a wooden fence.

The pegasus yelped as her wing throbbed in agonizing pain, it having been twisted in the complete wrong direction from the shock of the cragadile's attack, and from rolling and smacking the fence while her wing was still unfurled. Clutching her now bleeding appendage, the pony looked up at the beast that was once again, closing in on her. Angel emerged from her tail and wildly chattered into her ear, trying to tell her to get up and move.

Still frozen in absolute fear, she couldn't even recall when she helped ease a mantacore from its rage. At this point, the cragadile had its eyes fixed on charring the pony.

The monster opened its maw, and a noxious fume began to vent out. It was a natural ignition gas which got Fluttershy to quickly bolt to the side, just as the fence behind her was incinerated by a blast of fire. The pony galloped as hard and fast as her body could take her, but the pain in her side flashed again, causing her muscles to spasm and let her give another screech of agony. Fluttershy had fallen to the ground and bit her lip as the pain still coursed through her wing, looking up to see the monster approaching her, opening its mouth again to burn her to a crisp.

Angel then hopped out of Fluttershy's tail, puffed up his chest, and stomped his tiny foot on the ground. He narrowed his eyes as he attempted to intimidate-

"MMMGGRRAAAAAWWWW!!!", the cragadile roared straight into Angel's tiny figure.

The bunny instantly passed out.

The cragadile then moved towards the much larger meal, the pegasus that was shaking in absolute terror, shocked to all depths of what any living thing could withstand.

The beast opened its mouth to bite the pony in half, and clamped down towards her. Thankfully, she managed to roll across the ground to avoid the first attack, but as a result, she pushed her injured wing into the ground. Fluttershy screamed again in pain and watched upwards as the beast tried again to devour her.

It opened its mouth, and lashed at the now tear-stricken pony.

Suddenly, a roar, far outmatching the cragadile pierced over the cragadile and the pony. The roar had the distinct pitch and tone of a lion, or a mantacore. However, it sounded much more savage and at the same time, controlled.

A white blur flashed out of a tree, combining and mixture of a white mane and grey armor. Fluttershy managed to catch a glimpse of the figure as it leaped out of one of her planted trees. She could only see a white mane, a long tail, bared teeth, and a massive knife that was clutched by the other assailant.

The white blur amazingly tackled the large and hulking creature, sending it on its side. The new figure recovered and bared its teeth at the predator that had attacked Fluttershy.

In full detail, Fluttershy now bared witness to a creature that quite possibly far outmatched the fire-breathing cragadile that had just tried to eat her. Standing in front of her was a massive white lion, sporting armor that differed far greatly from the Canterlot Royal Guardsponies. Things that protruded out of the shoulder plates were what Fluttershy could guess were giant teeth. Weapons adorned the back and waist of the lion.

The mane was something that peaked her curiosity more than her terror at the presence of this creature. It was braided into dreadlocks, something that an animal couldn't do on its own. Not to mention, the lion was standing on its hind legs, and holding the knife as a clear weapon. Such signs pointed to it being much more intelligent than other lions and mantacores that Fluttershy had encountered.

The next thing that happened confirmed the lion's sentience.

"Come on beast! Let's see what you're made of!", the lion's voice shouted in a terrifying, deep growl, complete with bared teeth and pointing the wicked knife at the monster.

Now having its attention diverted to the larger threat and a possibly larger meal, the cragadile roared back to the other beast, opened its mouth, and let loose a jet of incineration towards its opponent. The lion did not hesitate to dodge effortlessly, kicking his body to the side to let the jet pass by his right side. The cragadile let loose another solid jet of fire, making sure to sweep it to the side in order to catch the lion.

Fluttershy could notice a tiny smile on the lion.

The lion then hopped up into the air and drew a weapon composed of three sections of rope intertwining together with three stones meant as a weight mounted on each end of the strings.

A bola.

Giving a quick spin, the lion hurled the weapon towards the cragadile, giving a very snide, "Let's shut you up now."

The bola sailed accurately towards it target, snaring around the cragadile's snout and wrapping around the beast's mouth, effectively sealing it shut. The jet of fire quickly vanished as only ember could protrude out of the beast's nostrils. Fluttershy could only watch as two massive beasts did battle with each other, both seeming like savages in their own fashion, though the lion clearly knew how to speak and quite possibly knew what it was doing, finding his bola's use to clamp the mouth of the cragadile's mouth shut.

Then, the lion charged straight for the cragadile, the giant knife drawn and ready for the kill. Even though it was a cragadile, Fluttershy wished that the monster didn't have to die.

She knew that nearly every animal could be tamed and made calm without having to resort to violence, but she wasn't given too much of a chance when the cragadile ambushed her in an attempt to swallow her. Now, a lion was attempting to gut the beast that attempted to gut her.

Could this beast have come to save her from the other?

Her train of thought was interrupted when the lion pounced on the cragadile, the knife ready for the killing blow. Fluttershy closed her eyes so she wouldn't have to witness the bloodshed that was about to unfold before her, but something wasn't right.

The lion seemingly had no idea where to stab. The reptile was covered in skin made of solid rock. When the white creature tried to bury the knife in the cragadile's head, it simply bounced off, sending tiny bits and pebbles off of the cragadile. The lion's eyes widened as his knife bounced off no matter where he tried to stab. Then, the stone beast's mouth snapped the bola into ribbons, its maw now free from its binding. Giving a roar, the cragadile suddenly shook its opponent off of its back, sending the lion momentarily airborne with a quick jolt of its upper body. Then, the reptile smacked its tail into the airborne lion, sending it tumbling down towards the ground.

Surely a blow like that would have knocked the lion out, Fluttershy's thoughts raced around in her head as she lay there.

Quite the opposite. The lion was back up, wiping his whiskers from the dirt and dust that collected on it. Giving another lion's roar, it charged straight back into the fray, a smile now fixed on its face.

Fluttershy suddenly got a twisted realization in her head.

"It's enjoying the fight."

That never could have been more true, as the lion gave a hearty and menacing laugh as it continued its charge straight for the beast.

"Ah-hah! You'll make a very nice prize on my den! It's gonna be a greater challenge than this fight to decide where to mount your head!"

Such a phrase uttered by the lion suddenly shook Fluttershy to her core.

The lion wasn't here to rescue her, it was here to kill the beast and take a trophy.

She realized that this lion was something that Fluttershy absolutely despised to see inhabiting this world.

A hunter, something at the complete opposite that she was. Somepony who instead of letting beasts grow up healthy and happy, tracked them down and slayed them for the prospect of having their poor heads mounted on a wall.

No matter how disgusted she was at this lion now, quite possibly more afraid of it than the cragadile that had attacked her before, she could not take her eyes off of the fight.

Throwing another bola, it wrapped around the cragadile's mouth again, sealing its mouth shut from another blast of fire. Only embers could escape through its nose as the lion then took out its massive knife and slashed at the cragadile's back after leaping on it again. Once again, the knife bounced off and the hunter leaped off before the cragadile could shake off it off again.

"Arrgh! I'll find the perfect place to plunge this knife into you and make it all the more painful!", the lion snarled at the cragadile, which had just gotten free of its second bola snare. The phase that the lion uttered further gave Fluttershy a distaste for this hunter.

However, at this point, an impasse had been created. The lion could counter nearly every attack that the cragadile threw at him, but the cragadile's skin prevented any damage to it whatsoever.

Fluttershy couldn't root for either of them, until she realized something.

If the cragadile won, then she would be next on the dinner menu. And quite possibly, the rest of her animal friends. She took the thought even further by believing that it could go on and seek ponies to eat and kill. If the hunter defeats the cragadile, then she would let an animal be subject to a horrendous act of being mounted as a trophey.

But maybe the lion would just leave after that. It wouldn't harm ponies, would it?

Each side was a big gamble. Either let the cruel hunter meet his end, or let the cragadile die and let the hunter go and kill more things.

Obviously, letting the hunter live was a far better option when she considered what kinds of lives were at stake. Even though she was the shiest of the shy, she could find a way to confront to hunter later.

She snapped back to reality, now seeing that the cragadile was beginning to outdo the lion. The stone lizard was fixed on top of the lion, snapping its jaws downwards at its head. The lion tried its hardest to move his head to the side with each snap, him becoming more and more increasingly tired.

Suddenly, Fluttershy took a deep breath of air, tried her hardest to suppress the pain, and screamed at the top of her lungs one bit of knowledge she knew about cragadiles, being an animal caretaker that has studied Everfree animals before.

"Cragadiles have a soft underbelly! Kill it from there!"

Her eyes widened.

She never thought that she would ever had to mutter a thing about killing another animal. Especially helping another pony, or lion perform that action.

From the sickness that she suddenly felt after shouting her advice, she could notice one of the lion's ears turning towards her direction.

Instantly, she could see a pair of blades sprout from the lion's wrist. The hunter then plunged the blades upwards into the cragadile's stomach, sending the beast to writhe in agony from having its vulnerability exploited by blades being inserted. The lion withdrew the blades and plunged again, earning another roar of pain and a river of blood to flow down the blades and onto the lion's arm.

Suddenly, the cragadile rolled away from the hunter and attempted to make a break for the Everfree forest, bleeding a great amount from its wounds. Despite leaving a bloody trail in its wake, it moved surprisingly fast from the lion.

"Hmph. Try to feed on a pony like an alpha predator, yet you flee from a fight? How pathetic!", the lion shouted after the animal as it readied its last bola.

With a smile that gave the aura of sadism and entertainment, the lion let loose the bola with a snide, "Don't trip."

The bola sailed true towards its target, finding its mark around its hind legs. Such a narrow shot under its tail to the cragadile's legs had to be scored by a hunter with great skill and expertise.

Something that made Fluttershy dislike the hunter even more.

The stone beast tried to crawl towards the Everfree, but its hind legs now bound by the bola slowed the cragadile greatly. It couldn't look back as the lion approached it from behind, and Fluttershy couldn't bare to watch what was about to happen next.

The lion hunter rolled the cragadile onto its back with a white and clawed foot, knelt down and eyed the beast. It was hardly remaining conscious at the moment with the blood that it had lost and with the fatigue of the fight that occurred before hand. Then, the lion lightly placed his paw to the cragadile's chest. Too tired and too weak to do anything about it, it couldn't stop the lion from feeling where its heartbeat was centered. It couldn't even breath its fire as it was far too weak for its internal organs to create the combustible gas, let alone make a pilot flame.

The lion kept moving its paw over the beast, until it stopped over a certain spot on the cragadile's chest.

Fluttershy knew that the lion had found it.

With one great plunge of the giant knife, the cragadile twitched suddenly, then after a few seconds, fell completely limp.

"Ah, another prize."

The hunter had claimed its prey.

Fluttershy let her head droop down, letting an animal die to such a creature, let alone it being a hunter. However, at the same time, she was relived a tiny bit at the lives of ponies and her animal friends that had just been saved by the vanquishing of the cragadile.

Then, the hunter looked over towards her.

She could see a piercing blue eye and an eye binding fit with some sort of orange object in the place of its other eye. It was too far to tell what it was, but it wasn't too far to tell that the hunter was now eyeing the injured pegasus while he was untying the bola that was fixed onto the now dead cragadile's legs.

Suddenly, Fluttershy's fear returned to her as the lion began to approach her. She got up on her legs, bit her lip to stifle the pain in her wing, then attempted to move away from the lion as it approached. Right when she was able to break into a painful gallop, the lion unleashed his dreaded bola.

"Not so fast!"

The ropes suddenly bound her four legs together, causing her to fall face-first into the dirt and tumble on the ground. She yelped from the sudden hindrance of her movement and her fall to the ground. She tried to move her legs and struggle, but the bola held firm around her.

Then, she was picked up by her legs, hanging upside down face to face with the menacing lion.

Warm breath washed over her face as the lion spoke in a low growl.

"You're coming with me, pony."

Then, the lion quickly pulled two pieces of cloth from a pouch on his waist. He bound one inside of Fluttershy's mouth, stifling any sort of sound she could possibly make. The other was quickly made into a blindfold that got Fluttershy to see nothing but darkness.

As she squirmed and screamed through the gag, the lion took her over to the dead cragadile, amazingly took the tail of the beast with its free paw, and dragged the cragadile and carried the dangling pony into the depths of the Everfree forest. From the blood now flowing away from Fluttershy's head from being hung upside down, to the pain in her wing growing again, Fluttershy began to slip away into unconsciousness...

Place Your Shoes Over By The Mantacore Pelt, Please

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"Mmmm...owww, my head..."

Fluttershy huffed as she rested her hoof onto her temple, feeling that a nice and pungent bruise had formed on her head. She blinked her eyes, straining to adjust to the darkness of the area around her-

Darkness?

Fluttershy took a look around her and found herself sitting in a very, very soft chair. She looked over her wing that was injured from the cragadile attack and saw it bound by a splint. It felt a little wet and she took a sniff at the bound appendage. A distinct scent of a natural ointment wafted around her wing. At that point, she realized that her wing no longer hurt. It was a bit uncomfortable, but the pain was now gone.

Fluttershy huffed as she tried to look around after her eyes had been adjusting for a while, but failed to make out much of her new location. Obviously, since she wasn't isn't in her cottage, she turned around on the chair and began to speak.

"H-Hello? Is anypony there? I really have to get back to the animals...", Fluttershy looked around her, asking in a hushed tone that she nearly always spoke in, "I really hope Angel is okay..."

It was a bit chilly inside of this dark place, and it sent a tiny shiver through her. She rubbed the splint on her wing and called out again.

"I-It was really nice of you to fix my wing...", Fluttershy called out, hoping that something would respond.

Still, nothing.

She adjusted herself in the chair she was sitting in to get more comfortable. When she moved around, the chair felt a bit...

...odd. Yet, familiar.

It felt...fuzzy.

Suddenly, Fluttershy brought her hoof down onto the furniture that she was sitting in, only to have her sudden and worse realizations become proven. She was sitting in a fur chair. And from the feel and texture, it was a bear.

Fluttershy's heart began to race again when the realization of her sitting in a once living bear had sunk into her. Her eyes strained left and right, wondering what kind of pony would have the taste of having a fur chair inside their house.

Then, she remembered the cragadile attack and the battle that ensued afterwards. She remembered the lion that had fought the beast and managed to-

"Enjoy the interior?"

The same low growl that had come from the lion that slew the cargadile had come in front of her. The darkness concealed the hunter and where the voice had come from. The only thing that Fluttershy could gather was that the voice came from in front of her in the darkness.

Then, a torch was lit. A relaxing orange light washed over a rather unrelaxing den of skulls, bones, teeth, hides, and claws. Skulls of various Everfree beasts were mounted on the walls. Mantacore heads, timberwolf heads, and the newest cragadile head that the lion had slain was now mounted on top of the wall. Looking further to the left, another wall had weapons from bows and arrows to the massive knife that the lion had used before.

Looking closely at the cragadile head that was now illuminated by the fire of the torch, she could see something carved into the skull. She was able to concentrate on the etching to make out what seemed to be a name on the skull:

"Rengar"

She looked back towards the lion.

Now, Fluttershy could see every detail about the hunter under the glow of fire. The dreadlocked mane was still present, one blue eye and the eyepatch with a tiny stone in it, mostly likely an amber was fixed upon its head. The lower half of the mane was also dreadlocked into one large braiding, making appear as if it were a beard. Now, she could make a firm assumption that from the lion's tone and the fact that its mane was fully grown out, the hunter had to be a male. His whiskers twitched too and fro, and he bore a large and razor-toothed smile.

He was grasping a chunk of meat in his paw.

"Care for some? I heard that cradadile alphas taste fantastic this time of year!", the lion that Fluttershy suspected who bore the name, "Rengar" smiled in his cruel humor towards her as he tore off a huge chunk of meat.

Fluttershy was frozen in absolute fear as the massive lion feasted on his meal right in front of her face. A tiny bit of juice dripped from the cragadile meat onto her leg, sending it to suddenly stop shaking and go completely still.

"You ponies miss out on being herbivores. Who knew that once you get past the solid stone skin of a cragadile, the meat is one of the greatest delicacies that a being could ever eat. Now, don't be shy. You deserve...

...some of the credit in helping me take down that cragadile-"

"What kind of pony- or creature are you? Baring that smile as you gut out all of these animals. What have they ever done to you?!"

Rengar suddenly stopped speaking and stared down at the tiny pony that sat down before him. His smile quickly disappeared.

"Hrmmm...perhaps I mistook you for your personality.", Rengar growled as he slammed down a small hunting knife into the tree stump table in front of the two, "May I remind you, little pony, that had it not have been for me gutting that cragadile, it would have most likely done the same to you!"

Rengar's roar hardly shook the seemingly shy and frail Fluttershy that sat down before him. Her stare met Rengar's one blue eye and the covering of where his other would be, replaced with a stone of glowing amber.

"If I didn't allow you to kill the cragadile, then you wouldn't have fared all that well either, poacher."

...

The cavern fell silent.

Rengar's eye bore straight into Fluttershy's head, her eyes staring straight back into Rengar's eye and his eye patch.

Then, Rengar's massive and hulking body rose up and towered over Fluttershy. Suddenly, Fluttershy, despite being able to stand up to dragons, monsters, and even the literal embodiment of chaos, she suddenly began to shrink back down into the fur seat. The giant body of Rengar towered above the poor pony, sending Fluttershy to now shake in absolute fear from her last remark.

Then, Rengar grabbed hold of Fluttershy with both of his giant paws.

"You...you...what did you just call me?", Rengar's mouth uttered the question through hi sharp teeth, the phrase itself seemed to cut through Fluttershy's head.

"How about we get down to business. It really is true that you ponies are more annoying beyond anything I have ever met. You all seem to assume that just because something is different than you, you feel superior, or that other is something to be looked down upon."

Fluttershy didn't feel that ponies could really act like that, but before she could reply, Rengar continued.

"But once you give them a little bit of sense, or knock it into them, all of a sudden they are willing to eat dirt just to appease you. Believe me. I would know from experience."

Rengar looked back at his "guest". He found that Fluttershy was no longer shaken, but staring back up at him.

"I shouldn't even bother with a pathetic whelp like you. But because you saw me, I need to set a few things straight now."

The lion drew the knife he had previously slammed down into the table and began to pick his claws clean after he had licked them clean of his meal.

"First. You will take back what you had said about me.", Rengar looked back up, speaking in a growl so low that it still shook Fluttershy's very soul.

At first, Fluttershy couldn't respond, but before she could muster the courage to speak, Rengar growled again.

"You know what I am talking about. I am a hunter. Not a...poacher."

Then, Fluttershy managed to respond.

"Well, compared to what you do? What's the difference? Killing animals for fun? Taking mates away from each other? Leaving them to die when you just 'can't carry them'? Is that what you call a sport?! I mean, what have they ever done to you?! Hunting them while they can be tamed!", Fluttershy managed to yell, finally releasing her pent up anger and distaste for Rengar's activities.

Rengar gazed at Fluttershy.

He stared at her.

Then he stiffed a chuckle.

"Heh..."

Then it grew into a laugh.

"Ahahah...!"

Finally, his laughter shook the walls of his den, rattling the various trophies that adorned his walls. He placed his paw on his knee in an effort to support himself from the holler.

Fluttershy, not being amused got up from her seat, only to find that the bola that Rengar ensnared her with was still binding her lower legs together, keeping her from getting up and walking around. She sat back down into her seat and rose her hoof towards a skull.

"What about that one? I bet that mantacore could have been tamed if it was so dangerous! Maybe it had a mate that you just managed to take its partner away!"

When Rengar's laughing had died down, he looked back at Fluttershy, wiped his eye, then looked her into her eyes with his eye.

"Please. Beasts of the Everfree can't be tamed no matter how hard anything tries.", Rengar said, uninterested, "Why am I even arguing about-"

"No, they can. Believe me. I once managed to tame a mantacore. How many of those have you needlessly slain?", Fluttershy argued.

"Needlessly slain? Do you realize what I am? I am a Lionkin. I am a carnivore, and I eat meat. I'm surprised you didn't know that, considering that you yourself seem to have quite the experience with animals."

Rengar stood up and began to walk around.

"And again, you cannot tame an Everfree beast. I've tried to on many occasions, and failed each and every time. If you know that I've spent my whole life in the wild, then you would know that my experience would dictate that answer.", Rengar went on, clearly frustrated that he was having to explain himself, despite the fact that he could have easily stopped talking.

"Um...Rengar? Is it?", Fluttershy asked.

"...how do you know my name-", Fluttershy pointed to one of the skulls with his name etched into the bone.

Rengar huffed and looked back, but Fluttershy began to speak again.

"Okay. You're a hunter. I get it. But how can you not know of the law of the Everfree Animal Protection? Since the animals inside the Everfree don't breed too often, it is illegal to track down and kill them. Whether hunting, or poaching.", Fluttershy's suspicions arose again.

"Oh, that law? Please. That was passed because the animal population suddenly "stabilized" itself. What you ponies don't even know- forget it. Why am I even talking to you.", Rengar cut himself short.

"What you need to do is turn tail straight back to where you came from, and do not speak of my whereabouts to anypony. Anypony at all. If you do, your Princesses won't even be able to save you from the greatest hunter in this entire land.", Rengar threatened.

Fluttershy looked down at her tied legs.

*Sigh*

Even if she were to tell anypony about Rengar, it would only jepordise her life. Or her friends. She could easily imagine that Rengar would have no trouble fighting any of them.

"I won't tell anypony.", Fluttershy spoke back.

Rengar stared at her for a solid ten seconds, then nodded.

"You've made the right decision, pony."

"Oh, I'm sorry. My name is...", Fluttershy looked up to see Rengar once again picking his claws with his massive knife.

"F-Fluttershy...", she shrunk down again, whispering in a nearly inaudible tone.

"Fluttershy. How suitable, and I really couldn't care less. I'm expecting you to leave.", Rengar replied, uninterested.

"Wait. How did you hear me-", Fluttershy's question was answered when Rengar tapped his ear, signifying that he was still a feline, and hasn't changed since their conversation.

"Oh, right. I'm sorry.", Fluttershy tried to giggle in order to lighten up the atmosphere, but was shot down quickly by Rengar.

"Don't you have a bunny to feed?"

Suddenly, Fluttershy began to panic, turning her head side to side to find the bad-tempered rabbit. Then, she remembered that Angel had hidden himself inside of Fluttershy's tail when the cragadile attacked. Looking down and peering into her tail, she found the bunny, paws over his eyes and shaking in fear.

"Um...Angel? It's okay to come out now."

Angel poked his head out, bare witness to the giant hulking carnivore in front of him, and passed out straight back into Fluttershy's tail. After that little scene, Fluttershy turned back to Rengar, who spoke up again.

"Well? Better get going now. And remember what I told you.", he growled.

"Actually, I think I want to stay just a bit. I have a few unanswered questions, Rengar.", Fluttershy tried to make herself comfortable, which was a rather difficult thing to do in a fur chair. Before Rengar could object, Fluttershy spoke again.

"Please, I want to know a few more things. And after all, I did help you exploit the cragadile's weakness", Fluttershy still got a shiver when she said that, "And...I'm keeping my promise."

"Only if I can confirm some things about Rengar beforehoof...", Fluttershy thought to herself.

Rengar, unamused yet honoring Fluttershy's assistance, sat back down and eyed her.

"Fine then. But make it quick, pony. I need to plan for my next hunt.", Rengar tapped a claw on his knee.

"Ooh, what creature are you hunting next?", Fluttershy pretended to sound interested in the subject.

"Most likely another mantacore. The two on the wall were not nearly as big as I hoped for them to be. Besides. It is for the better. These kinds of animals display a cruel sense of entertainment as they play and torture their prey. Pony or critter alike."

"And that's just it. These animals, though they sport violent behavior can be tamed to that they can a more docile nature, rather than actively leave the forest to prey on ponies. I know, since I managed to calm one down and tame a mantacore about a year ago.", Fluttershy responded.

Rengar grunted.

"Hmph. That mantacore skull, the one of the left was claimed roughly a year ago. I remember...yes...I tracked down a mantacore a bit less than a year ago. It was about the same date that...the stars or something would align and cause endless night...I couldn't care less. However, the mantacore I had tracked, ready to be ambushed had suddenly turned around, smiled at me, and licked my mane.", Rengar threw up his arms in frustration.

"I was baffled. Absolutely baffled. These beasts should always attempt to kill on sight. At that point, I thought to myself that maybe these beasts could be tamed. But as I walked away and turned my back, the beast snuck up behind me and battered me with its paw.", Rengar continued his story, seemingly shocking Fluttershy who had tamed the exact same mantacore seemingly hours before.

"Here's the proof.", Rengar turned around and spread his back fur, allowing a notable scar to protrude from it.

Fluttershy looked at the wall. She rested her eyes on the mantacore's skull. The very same one that she had helped relive him from a thorn in his paw. How could it have gotten so violent again?

"Why?", Fluttershy thought to herself before returning to the conversation with Rengar.

"Well...I'm sorry about that injury-"

"It's just another reminder of a successful hunt. Just like these."

Rengar held up a necklace that Fluttershy hadn't noticed before. It was essentially a string with what appeared to be claws and teeth fixed around in different places.

"Oh...um...that's a very nice piece of neckwear.", Fluttershy sheepishly smiled.

Rengar looked down at his necklace.

"Remember every hunt...", he muttered under his breath.

"Hm?"

"I didn't say anything.", Rengar shifted his necklace aside.

"Well, Rengar. How long have you been living here? If you don't mind me asking.", Fluttershy asked as politely as she could.

"Just a bit over a year. And it was the best decision I had ever made in my life. From where I come, the animals here could give the monsters I encounter there a run for their gold.", Rengar got up to relight the torch that had gone out.

"Oh, um...while you're up-", Fluttershy was cut off when the bola around Fluttershy's hooves were untied by Rengar.

"Thank you Rengar."

"Sure. Now can you go now?"

"I still have more things to-"

Fluttershy was once again cut off as Rengar collapsed into his chair, letting out a massive groan.

"Please Rengar. I haven't met somepony so...um...unique as you in a while. And believe me. I have the most unique friends that anypony would ever meet in their lives.", Fluttershy put on her warmest smile she could.

Rengar sighed.

"Alright. But you will-"

"I will fulfill my promise to you. Here's a little ditty one of my friends taught me:"

The yellow pony stood up, now free from the bola that snared her legs and began to do the most ridiculous thing that Rengar had ever seen in his life.

"Cross my heart, hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye.", Fluttershy mimicked Pinkie Pie's "Pinkie Promise" to Rengar.

...

"Get out."

"Nonono! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"You ponies are all the same! Obnoxious, always poking their nose into wherever it doesn't belong, and at this point you can never get them off of your hide.", Rengar had never been more frustrated in his entire life, and this moment has come from a butter colored mare who's curiosity managed to annoy him beyond his limits.

"But...I actually want to know more about you. At first I believed you were no more than a savage, just like the cragadile that attacked Angel. But when I sit down with you, there's a lot more to you than what I thought before. You hunt for substance as well as taking trophies...as disturbing as the latter may seem...and...okay. Maybe most Everfree animals can't be tamed..."

"And?"

"And...I think I found a middle ground for us. We both know tons and tons about animals.", Fluttershy smiled and inspected her tail. Now, Angel was sound asleep.

"Ah, that's right. You are an animal caretaker. Correct?", Rengar asked and was responded to by Fluttershy nodding.

"Even if you find what I do to be taboo by your culture, I can respect such a profession as well.", the hunter spoke to the caretaker.

"You do? How come?"

"Well..."

Rengar looked to the side, avoid the ponies glance.

"I believe it is time for you to leave.", the lion got up from his seat and motioned for Fluttershy to exit the cavern.

"Okay...well...it's been a great pleasure getting to know you, Rengar. Maybe we could meet in less secretive circumstances?"

"When your species will accept hunting for what it is, especially my residence here, which wouldn't happen in a thousand years, then the chances could increase slightly. But I'm not looking forward to meeting anymore of you.", the lion muttered as he turned away from Fluttershy.

"Well...I'll still keep my promise. And Rengar?"

The lion turned around.

"Maybe we could be friends?"

"Get out of my den."

Where Have You Been? Uh...Talking to a Lion.

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When Fluttershy had managed to separate herself a good distance from Rengar's den, she found a path that she knew which lead out of the Everfree. Walking through the forest that was dark no matter what time of day it was, Fluttershy checked in her tail to find Angel.

Sure enough, he was there. And he was awake.

"Angel? Are you okay?", Fluttershy asked her bunny after the recent events that Angel had been subject to.

The bunny chattered back, pointing his paw towards the direction of Rengar's den.

"Oh, him? I don't think he's going to give us any more trouble."

Suddenly, Angel's eyes grew wide, then he angrily stomped on her back, chattering and flailing his arms wildly. Fluttershy listened to what he had to say, and after checking her surroundings in the forest, she replied back to Angel.

"You were awake the whole time when me and Rengar talked?", Fluttershy asked, being answered by a narrow-eyed nod.

"Oh, so you heard about what me and Rengar were talking about.", Fluttershy nodded back, "Well...I know you don't like him, but remember, if it wasn't for him, something terrible could have happened."

Fluttershy looked down at the ground.

"Would have happened.", Fluttershy whispered to herself, "And Angel, I'm not too much of a fan of him either. But you have to remember he saved our lives. Even if it did involve killing another animal."

Suddenly, Angel's eyebrow rose, and his mouth hung open.

"What's wrong?", Fluttershy was met with a barrage of noises from Angel, all seeming directed at the lion they met.

"Well, most of the conversation, such as getting to know him more was a bit more of thanks for saving us. I mean, he's still not exactly somepony I'm going to trust with watching you and the rest of the animals.", Fluttershy's experssion now changed to a more blank one.

Then, she spoke again.

"Yes, I did warm up to a...bloodthirsty lion hunter. But it was really...to...", Fluttershy started, then stopped. Angel still looked at Fluttershy for a response until he got one.

"I warmed up to him so that he wouldn't hurt any of us. To be honest, I don't like him. I don't like him at all. But at the same time, he did save our lives.", she looked at the ground, unsure if she had made the right decision, "Still, what about the animals that Rengar hunts that aren't Everfree beasts? Somepony like him would probably kill any sort of animal he found."

"Angel, that lion shouldn't be in the Everfree.", Fluttershy glanced down at Angel, "Mark my words, he will see the error of his ways."

However, the splint that had binded her wing caught the corner of her eye. Although she had found that Rengar had killed the very same mantacore that she had tamed roughly a year ago, in addition to saving her life, he went as far as to heal Fluttershy's wing.

The bunny smiled to himself. It's almost like Fluttershy had played Rengar.

He looked up towards her.

Though she would probably not put it into those words.

When they were out of the clearing, the pony with the rabbit nestled into her tail turned to head back to the cottage, both thankful that the worst was over. However, it was apparent that they were still going to have to deal with quite a bit before they could catch a break from getting attacked by a cragadile, or trying to warm up to a hunter in order to see if he is trustworthy, and possibly see what other secrets he has underneath that mane.

In front of the cottage was an entire squad of Royal Guardsponies, accompanying them were her most dearest friends.

The Elements of Harmony, who were her best friends were composed of Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie.

Fluttershy bit her lip.

If anypony would freak out about Fluttershy talking to a giant lion hunter who just eviscerated a cragadile, it would be her friends. And they would freak out the HARDEST. As she got closer to her cottage, Fluttershy called out, though her naturally quiet voice wasn't heard until she tried again after walking a bit further.

"Hi everypony! I'm back!"

Suddenly, her five other friends turned their heads so fast that Fluttershy expected a neck to snap. Her friends immediately swarmed her in a barrage of questions, mainly asking what had happened to her.

"Oh thank Celestia! Fluttershy! Are you okay?!", Fluttershy's Princess friend, Twilight Sparkle examined her wing thoroughly, "And what happened to your wing? Is it...broken?!"

Fluttershy looked to her left as Applejack took a good look at the splint on her wing.

"Huh. Haven't seen a splint made like this, and ah' should know. I get them all the time on mah' legs.", Applejack eyed the splint, "And who put this on anyways?"

Before Fluttershy could respond, Rarity piped up.

"The guards said that a cragadile attacked! I'm so thankful that you're okay!", her best unicorn friend sobbed into her neck, getting Fluttershy to squeeze in a smile.

"Everypony, I'm okay...really I am-"

"Just wait until I find out where that cragadile ran off to! I'm gonna make some gravel outta that guy! Just you wait Fluttershy-"

"The cragadile is dead."

Each of her friends stopped their onslaught of questions and concern, staring at her with a blank look.

"Huh. But the guards just got here along with us. Did some of them come beforehoof?", Twilight asked.

"Oh no. I...uh...", Fluttershy stammered a tiny bit. Now, she had to make sure that she wouldn't get to the subject to Rengar.

Though...keeping her promise to him wasn't too much of her priority anymore, despite what she had told the lion. While she was trying to fish up an answer, a guard approached Twilight and tapped his spear on the ground.

"Your Highness, we've found something.", the guard declared as he held up three pieces of snapped rope, with a rock tied on the end of each. Twilight examined the rope for a few seconds, then looked back up at the guard.

"Ropes with rocks on the ends? Fluttershy, do you own these?", Twilight asked the pegasus, who suddenly stared at the ropes with great fear and nervousness. She prayed in her mind that they wouldn't figure out what it would be if they connected the three ropes together.

Another guard came up to the group.

"Hey, I've seen one of these before. If you tie the three ropes together...there. I think it's a...", the guard trailed off on his last sentence with Fluttershy thankful that he didn't say the word-

"Oh! It's a bola! That's something you throw at a ponies legs to get them to trip!", Pinkie Pie bubbled on as she recognized the hunting device. The other ponies stared dumbfounded at the pink party pony, who apparently knew about the throwing weapon.

"Um...Ms. Pie...how do you know about such a, um, barbaric object?", Rarity questioned her friend.

"Oh! When I was still on the rock farm with my sisters, we'd tie rocks to spare rope we had, make bolas, and we'd play "Tumble Tag"! We'd try to trip each other by throwing the bolas, but our parents didn't like it too much. That's when we had a lot of broken windows when we started playing. And...Maud got a broken leg."

Pinkie whispered under her friends.

"I miss Tumble Tag."

Each of Pinkie's friends stared at her for a good few seconds before resuming their conversation.

"Well, unless Pinkie could play 'Tumble Tag' with a cragadile-"

"Fire-breathing cragadile.", Applejack corrected when she kicked over a patch of incinerated grass and pointed towards the charred fence.

"With a 'fire-breathing' cragadile, then who threw the bola? Fluttershy, you didn't, right?", Twilight asked, which she was met by a shake of a head.

"No...then...who was also here when the cragadile attacked?", the Princess looked around the entire scene. She trailed away from her other friends, who also followed her as she walked around.

"Alright girls, I think we have a mystery pony who just saved our friend's life. We need to find out who he or she is in order to repay them for risking their life in order to protect Fluttershy. So spread out and start searching for clues to see who this mystery pony is. Alright?!", Twilight pumped her hoof into the air.

"Right!", Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie shouted in rejoice.

"Yay...", Fluttershy shrunk down. Apparently, the universe wanted Rengar's whereabouts to be found, despite the fact that he said that he would come after her if she did. But at the same time...she still wanted Rengar to see the error of his ways after thinking that she convinced him that she didn't view him as much of a threat anymore...

The guards and her friends began to sift around the area, hoping to find any clues towards the identity of the pony who had saved their friend.

Fluttershy began to think about the future if she told her friends that the pony who saved her was a lion hunter who swore to eviscerate Fluttershy if she revealed his whereabouts in the Everfree. When she thought about it more, she began to doubt whether or not he could take on the rest of her five friends, the Elements of Harmony. Surely one lion couldn't stand up to the rest of her best friends.

Could he?

Then, Fluttershy turned her head towards Rainbow Dash.

"C'mon Fluttershy. Don't you wanna find out who kicked that cragadile's flank? I mean, not that I couldn't have done it myself.", the boastful pegasus placed her hoof over her chest.

"Oh, sure. I guess.", Fluttershy bit her lip as she got down towards the ground and pretended to search around, earning a suspicious glance from Rainbow Dash.

"Huh.", she rose an eyebrow as she hovered over towards Twilight.

"Is it just me, or has Fluttershy been acting really weird lately?", Rainbow Dash looked back towards Fluttershy, who seemed to be busy sifting around.

"Well, I wouldn't blame her after getting attacked by a cragadile. But I would think that out of anypony here she would want to know who saved her. Whoever it was, I would like to give them a princess's warm thank you. I could just imagine the look on that pony's face when we go thank them!"

Fluttershy overheard them. She thought about what her friend's faces would look like when they realize that her savior's hobby was tracking down animals and mounting them on his wall...

"Hey! Everypony! Found somethin'!", Applejack piped up, interrupting Fluttershy's train of thought, "Look here!"

Applejack held up a bundle of very, very long white hair.

"Ya'll think this came from the pony's mane?", Applejack held up the bundle of hair.

"Let me see.", Rarity trotted over and examined the hair.

"Well, this doesn't really feel like a mane to me...it feels like...", Rarity gave a long sniff of the hair bundle and coughed, "Agh! It smells like animal fur!"

"Animal fur? Well, unless Fluttershy's taking care of a polar bear, which would be amazing, when who left that hair?", Pinkie's eyes scanned the fur that they had found.

"Surely not from a pony's mane. The more we find clues about this certain pony, the more...unsettling they get.", Rarity shuddered as she looked back towards the repaired bola that they scavenged.

"Oh come on girls! Bola throwing? Beat up a cragadile-"

"Killed"

Rainbow Dash looked over towards Twilight.

"And quite brutally, might I add...", Twilight pointed towards a very potent trail of blood that lead away from the cottage field and trailed into the Everfree forest.

"Dear Celestia...", Rarity covered her mouth with her hoof.

"Okay...maybe...a bit more on the violent side...", Rainbow Dash bit her lip.

"Girls."

The rest of Fluttershy's friends turned around towards the timid mare, hearing that after a while she had finally spoke up.

"I..."

...

"I'll tell you who saved me.", Fluttershy looked down towards the ground.

"Hmmm...so you will.", Rengar quietly growled from the cover of a dense treeline, eyeing the ponies down below.

Tracking

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It has now been an entire day since Fluttershy had told her friends that she would describe what her "savior" was, but she asked to talk to her friends exclusively inside Twilight's castle. The only reason she gave was that she felt more secure inside the walls of the crystal structure. Of course, Twilight agreed, but it already raised a few suspicions.

A few suspicions she was discussing with Rarity when she agreed to help organize her boutique after her sister had tried to make her own line of dresses.

It didn't pan out so well, and the result was a complete clutter of nothing but a mess of cloth, glue, jewels that was now plastered all over the walls and floor. When Twilight had stopped by to see if Rarity had finished the book, "Ancient Apparel", she couldn't help but help her friend with her current dilemma.

"So, Rarity. You know how oddly Fluttershy has been acting, right?"

"Oh, I'm pretty sure she's still a bit shaken about, you know...having her life saved by some mystery stallion.", Rarity gave a little smile to herself.

"Or a mare.", Twilight giggled and rolled her eyes.

"Right. Of course. But still...the mystery of her savior gives me goosebumps. And it makes it all the more exiting about how they'll be revealed! I'm telling you Twilight, once that pony is found, I'll make sure to give him...or her the greatest thanks a pony could ever receive. I know! I'll design an entire line on-"

"But that's just it. Fluttershy was extremely shy about telling us who helped her. Well, more even more shy than usual. And when she was going to reveal who saved her, she said it like she was getting a burden off of her shoulders.", Twilight's magical aura surrounded a pile of scrap cloth and levitated them towards a bin, "Maybe the pony told Fluttershy not to reveal their identity."

"Oh my! A mystery vigilante? This is sounding more and more like a mystery novel by the second!", Rarity gasped dramtically.

Twilight this time rolled her eyes without giggling, but remembered something.

"I don't know. Remember that white batch of fur we found? You said it yourself that it couldn't have come from a pony. Its texture doesn't match a pony's mane.", Twilight inferred.

"Oh, that? Well I would think that it came from one of Fluttershy's many animal friends. Maybe it was dropped off of one when one of them ran away from the cragadile."

"But Fluttershy doesn't have any white animals with fur that long. Sure, she has bunnies, but their fur is extremely short compared to it. And you said that the smell came from something more of a...beast."

Rarity looked upwards, then back down.

"Well, I still doubt that Fluttershy's savior was a giant white animal. After all...all of that..."

"Yeah, the blood. And the bola.", Twilight had stopped putting away the mess a tiny bit ago and has now put herself in a deep state of thought, "A bola is extremely crude compared to what kind of magic unicorns have, and the wound that the cragadile had to have been made by a sharp object. Mostly likely a sword, so I think a unicorn is a bit less up there to have saved Fluttershy..."

"Well, what about an Earth pony or a pegasus?"

"I don't think it was a pegasus. The cragadile was flipped over. Unless the cragadile flipped itself over to meet its end, I don't think a pegasus would have the strength to lift such a hulking creature. Unless they were Rainbow Dash, but we know she couldn't have saved Fluttershy. We...got into a debate over Daring Do at about the same time that the guards said that the attack took place."

"So, that would leave..."

"Yeah, an Earth pony."

The two nodded at each other.

"I think I'm already getting to know who saved Fluttershy without being near them.", Twilight smiled as she looked at the clock, "Alright, I think we should get going to go back to my castle. Fluttershy for some reason gave a time to meet together..."

With the oddity that this whole situation was coming to, the alicorn and the unicorn exited the boutique.

"Come in Fluttershy!"

Twilight un-hinged the door to swing open for her friend at the base of her castle. After the giant crystalline doors parted fully, Fluttershy slowly stepped into the confinements of the castle. After smiling and thanking her friend, the two stepped down the narrowing hallways, traveling deeper and deeper into the castle.

"So...uh...", Twilight started, unsure of how to advance the conversation to the topic she wished would arise, "How have you been after that whole ordeal?"

"Oh, I've been just fine. And I'm so thankful that the animals are doing just so as well.", the pegasus smiled back, a little bit of uneasiness in her grin.

After walking through the hallways, the two reached the castle's counsel chamber, a giant room containing crystal thrones for each of the Elements of Harmony, including Twilight's young dragon assistant, Spike.

However, the castle was completely vacant as Spike was sent off to do some errands beforehoof when Twilight and Fluttershy were to discuss what had happened. The two ponies took a seat on their respective thrones. Realizing that the thrones were too far spaced apart, the two just opted to sit on the floor of the chamber.

"So...Fluttershy. Before we talk about what happened and who saved you, why did you ask to only speak in my castle? I mean-"

"I'm so, so sorry Twilight. I didn't want to seem rude or make anything inconvenient. It's just...why don't I start by telling you what saved me.", Fluttershy looked up straight into her eyes.

"Uh...okay then. Jeez, the more you talk like this the more I feed concerned over who saved you- wait. What? Not Who?", Twilight's eyebrow rose.

"Y-Yes Twilight. I was saved by...a hunter.

"A hunter.",Twilight repeated, "You mean a griffon hunter? The ones that catch fish and occasionally other animals?"

"N-No. It was a lion. A giant, white, and scary lion hunter. One that rushed at the cragadile with a giant blade and gutted it...", Fluttershy felt shivers run down her neck as she remembered the bloodbath in fair detail.

"A...lion? But...they're only animals. None could possess the kind of intelligence to wield weapons, like a blade that you said it had. Or... a bola. Wow.", Twilight stopped talking for a second, amazed at what descriptions were unfolding before her mind.

"But...this lion had a terrible trait where he enjoyed fighting the cragadile. Later, I had found that he didn't even come to save me. He was just here to mount the cragadile's head in his den...", Fluttershy grit her teeth, "And I was the one who let him kill the cragadile. Without me telling him how to gut the animal, then the cragadile would have run amok, maybe hurting others. Or worse..."

Twilight bit her lower lip and put her hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder.

"I could only imagine how that must have felt Fluttershy. But...if that cragadile would just pop out of the Everfree and attack you on sight, then maybe it would have been for the best that the cragadile doesn't...you know.", Twilight felt that she was choking on every single word she spoke to her friend.

"But that's not all I had to endure with this lion. After he defeated the monster, he...attacked me."

"Wait, what? Why?", Twilight looked at Fluttershy's splint more closely, "Did that lion do this to you?!"

"N-No. Quite the opposite. I...uhhh! Now it just seems like I'm going in opposite directions of what I'm trying to say..."

"How about you just tell me what happened after the lion attacked you."

Fluttershy looked up and nodded.

"Okay. The lion threw one of his bolas at me, then took me to his den, but not after I passed out on the way there.", Fluttershy began.

"He took you to his house?", Twilight asked.

"Yes, he did.", Fluttershy nodded, "But that's where he must have bandaged my wing after the cragadile had injured it."

Twilight examined Fluttershy's wing one more time. From its compositions of leaves, twigs, and from the smell of herbal medication resting inside the cast, it defiantly could not have come from the small Ponyville hospital. It had to have been made in the Everfree Forest.

"Are you sure it was this lion who fixed you up? From what I know, it seems that he would want to hurt you more than help you.", Twilight looked up in deep thought, "Perhaps he doesn't want to be discovered if he really is hunting in the Everfree."

Fluttershy looked back at Twilight.

"Yes, he did say something along the lines of that he didn't want to be discovered. He must be..."

"...hunting illegally.", Twilight nodded as she got up and walked over towards a shelf of books. Levitating one out, the title read: "Equestria Law: Region Specifics".

"I thought that there was something in here after you told me that this lion was hunting in the Everfree. Ah, here we go.", Twilight began to read the contents of a page from the book of law.

"Article #14-3-B, 'All unlicensed killing of Everfree animals whether not affiliated to population control of the forest, or to clear invasive species is strictly forbidden. Punishments can range from a fine that ranges from 20,000 to 100,000 bits to imprisonment. Charges vary on what animal is hunted and in what quantity.", Twilight examined the book and read it aloud to Fluttershy.

"O-Oh my...I can remember that his house was filled to the brim with skulls and bones and...", Fluttershy began to feel woozy at the thought of all of the dead animals adorning the house as trophies.

"His house was filled with them? Fluttershy, I think you may have just had an interaction with the greatest poacher I've ever heard of! If this lion's den was filled with skulls and other trophies from animals of the Everfree, then he could be facing a life sentence for his crimes! I just wonder how long he has been hunting there...", Twilight asked herself.

Fluttershy then straitened her back and spoke again.

"Then we have to do something about it! Animals in the Everfree have been endangered for hundreds of years! I just wonder if Rengar has actually caused any to go extinct yet..."

"Rengar?"

"Oh, that's the lion's name. He told it to me while I was at his den."

"Hmm...that might not even be his real name. Nevertheless, what this lion, Rengar is doing is a felonious act and he must be punished for it.", Twilight set the book of law down.

"R-Right! Hunting those poor animals that could just be tamed...he's not going to get away with this!", Fluttershy now spoke with utmost confidence, and a hint of anger towards Rengar. Sure, she was thankful that he was able to save her and bandage up her wing. However, from the numerous slain animals that adorned his walls and his threat to come after her if she tried anything to get him caught, he had to be stopped.

"Alright Fluttershy, I know he technically saved you and Angel, but action has to be taken against this lion. Maybe I could adjust his sentence from the fact that he saved you, but from what i hear about his trophies, it's going to be a heavy sentence for him..."

"Yeah, I-I could guess. I mean...I'm still grateful that he saved me, but in the greater good of animals, he has to be punished.", Fluttershy's face now bore the look of anger at Rengar.

"He punished he will. But from your descriptions, he sounds like a very, very dangerous individual. Most likely armed as well. And defiantly knows his way around the Everfree more than we do. In that case..."

Twilight's and Fluttershy's cutie marks began to glow, lighting the entire room with radiant pink and white light as crystals began to emerge from the base of their seats and crawled towards the center of the council chamber. Upon reaching the center, the crystals began to shift upwards, and suddenly expanded into a massive table which grew outwards until it reached both Fluttershy's and Twilight's seats. A massive holographic display of Equestria now took its place on the map. Moving their attention to the Everfree, Twilight commanded the table to zoom into the forest.

"Alright Fluttershy, did you see any sort of landmarks when you walked out of the Everfree Forest? Any of which we can use to backtrack to Rengar's lair?", Twilight asked her friend.

"Well...I don't remember a whole lot of out-of-the-place things...but I can remember that it was past Froggy Bottom Bog, and it's hidden away in one of the thickest parts of the forest. Maybe...I could actually backtrack where Rengar's den is-

Fluttershy was suddenly cut off by a glow on the map that gave out the tone of some sort of alarm sound. The glow was centered around Froggy Bottom Bog, and text appeared over the map. It read:

"Warning, unknown species detected. Threat level: Maximum. Warning, unknown species detected. Threat level: Maximum."

"What the- oh no, that has to be Rengar. And odd...this is the first time I've hear about this map giving off a warning like this. Normally it just chooses destinations to where the Elements of Harmony need to go."

"Well, what else could it be? That lion really is a maximum threat to the Everfree in my eyes. Hunting all of those endangered species, we have to confront him.", fluttershy was now speaking with renown confidence at the news of animals now being hunted illegally right under her nose.

"Right. But it said: Threat Level Maximum. I've never even see the map show any other warnings like that, so I wonder how dangerous "maximum" is."

"Maybe this is a job for the Princesses?", Fluttershy asked.

"No, they're still on diplomatic travels within North Cowrea. Huh. I wonder what that place is like-"

Fluttershy tapped Twilight's shoulder.

"Oh! Right! Well...since the Princesses won't be back for a great deal of time, perhaps this is a job for the Elements of Harmony!", Twilight nodded her head.

"Oh...but...Rengar is extremely-"

"Dangerous? Yeah I could figure. But with six of us versus one of him, even if he did try to fight back, let me tell you.", Twilight smiled confidently at Fluttershy, "We're no Manticore, and we aren't even a dragon. We are stronger that all of those, and do you know why?"

"Because...we have the Magic of Friendship?"

"That's right. And nothing is going to break that. Not even a lion."

With that, the table had faded away and retracted back into the room. Twilight and Fluttershy were now going to gather the rest of the Elements and head off into the Everfree to confront this lion.

However, at the back of Fluttershy's mind, she still doubted that even the Elements of Harmony would even be up for the task.

It wasn't that she didn't have faith in her friends. It was more about...

...how dangerous this hunter really was.

"Day 423. Still no changes with the bog's environment. The aura of magic is still growing more and more every day."

Rengar's claw, dipped in ink was scribbling down the notes in his journal. He had always come back to the bog to see what changes had happened since that fateful day when one of the ponies' deities had returned to their planet. He knew a tiny bit about the prophecy of how stars would aid the escape of Nightmare Moon, but when she had arrived in the Everfree Forest, her magic had tainted the woodlands.

Before, Rengar could hardly hunt at all, as many of the animals that resided in the forest were endangered. If he were to kill any of them, it could upset the ecosystem of the forest and cause the greats beasts of the Everfree to go extinct. However, when Nightmare moon's magic had infested the forest, something had happened.

The monsters became more aggressive. Breeding rates soared. Mutations occurred. Everything happened which had made Rengar's toll to arrive in this new land well worth his cost. No more would have have to hunt the same creatures on the same rift over and over and over again.

Now, he could hunt beasts that could rival his old enemies at the League.

But that was put behind him now.

When the breeding rates skyrocketed, Rengar found this forest to be paradise. Never before could have have such a plethora of game to choose from, and all the more dangerous they were, the more thrilling the hunt was.

Froggy Bottom Bog was no exception. The magic of Nightmare Moon had also touched the swamp, but in a more different way. Sure, the few hydras that lived in the bog had now increased to a rather fair amount and had grown more aggressive, but something else was in the bog.

Rengar felt like something was stirring deep in the depths of the bog, having the stench of raw magic manifesting in the swamp.

Whatever it was, Rengar has shifted his attention from the swamp and back towards his den deeper in the woodlands. Some new creature coming out of the bog was a bit lower on the list to the matters he had to attend to.

He was expecting ponies at his den soon, and he needed to be there for his visitors.

"After all", Rengar smiled to himself, "How rude would it be to not greet the guests when they arrive?"

And with that, he turned back towards the forest.

Snared

View Online

After Fluttershy had left Twilight's house from discussing Rengar's whereabouts, the pegasus gathered the rest of her friends, The Elements of Harmony, and met together within the confident of Twilight's castle. Meeting inside the Council Chamber, this was the first that Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash had heard of Rengar in the first place.

And from what Fluttershy was telling them, he didn't seem like the nicest fellow.

"Look, ah don't care if that lion had patched her up. As much of a good deed that was, that guy is about as much of a beast as that cragadile! Telling Fluttershy that he's going to harm her if she tells anypony about him is downright wrong!", Applejack huffed.

"He threatened Fluttershy. Fluttershy out of any other pony! I'm with Applejack on this one! Until he says what a meanie he's been and apologizes to Fluttershy, then he's not going to make a good friend out of me!" Pinkie Pie stared at the Everfree Forest on the Cutie Map, seemingly watching over Rengar's supposed location, and pointing her hoof at him.

"He claims to hunt beasts down? Well! I'm going to hunt him down and see how he likes it! When I get my hoofs on him, he's gonna see more stars than on Nightmare Night!", Rainbow Dash grit her teeth and punched her two hooves together.

"Twilight, how are we going to deal with this rapscallion? From what I've heard from you and Fluttershy, this "Rengar" isn't one to be taken lightly.", Rarity managed to hush her friends down before speaking up, "After all, he is a hunter."

Twilight nodded and began to trace around the Cutie Map.

"From what Fluttershy has been telling me about how she exited the forest, I believe that Rengar's den is roughly a quarter of a mile or a half from Froggy Bottom Bog.", a mark that she'd place on the Cutie Map highlighted the supposed area, "However, I bet we can all agree that Rengar must know his habitat better than we do. That's why if he managed to do something like spring a trap on us, we should stick together."

Twilight spoke again while planting her hoof down and looking over everypony else.

"No separating. We're dealing with a poacher that most likely knows how to trap. Got it?"

"Trapper or not, he's not going to stand one hit from me. That lion's going down!"

Applejack flicked Rainbow Dash with her tail, silencing her.

"Let's not get too cocky with this feller'. Being able to take down a cragadile is no easy feat, and I'm pretty sure he'd have no problem smashing you into the ground. Or any of us for that matter.", the farm pony explained her reasoning.

"But we all have different attributes that Rengar won't be able to fight so easily. From me and Rarity's magic, Rainbow's speed, Applejack's strength, and Pinkie's..."

"-unpredictability!"

Twilight smiled a bit at her friend and let out a little chuckle.

"That's right. But that leaves one last thing."

The group turned around to face Fluttershy, who hadn't spoken throughout this conversation.

"Y-Yes?"

"Fluttershy, I think we could agree that you should stay near the back of us. Rengar has a bone to pick with you, even after he's saved you. If we confront him and he sees you, things might turn more ugly then what they already are. Can you understand?", Twilight asked her friend.

"But what if you all got hurt? What if you need my help?", Fluttershy tried to interject, but deep down knew that this was the best choice for her.

After all, Rengar would defiantly not take too kindly to the fact that she had crossed him.

"We'll be fine. It's six of us against one of him. Lion or not, he's not going to beat six of the most powerful ponies alive. Right girls?"

"Yep!"

"Yeah!"

"Uh-huh!"

"Exactly!"

Fluttershy looked up at her friends.

"Don't worry Fluttershy, we're going to keep you out of harm's way. This entire mess will be sorted out, and Rengar's going to be taken care of. He's not going to get away from threatening you, or any one of my friends as long as he goes unpunished.", twilight put her hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder, reassuring her. After looking back up at Twilight, smiling a bit weakly and nodding, the Elements of Harmony met in front of Twilight's castle, ready to head off.

"Alright girls, let's go meet us a lion.", Twilight pointed towards the path in Ponyville that would eventually lead them to the outskirts of the Everfree forest.

He could have sworn that his visitors would have arrived sooner. However, he knew that ponies always took their sweet time indulging in their luxuries. He could only imagine them as slow, lazy, and dull-minded from what he has heard about from the various times he had spent company with griffons, the more respectable race, though stubborn as they are to Rengar.

At least they were rather accepting of him. Too bad there was nothing exotic to hunt near their territory. And the numerous griffon trappers easily increased the competition. To him, it was a mixed blessing that he was able to inhabit this forest, as he now had to be cautious of the obnoxious species that inhabited its borders.

"Hmph. I guess they really do take their sweet time."

Rengar got up from the branch he was lurking on and landed on the soft dirt that was beneath him. His feline characteristics allowed him to hardly make a sound as he landed down on the forest floor. Turning back to his make-shift den, he heaved a frustrated sigh.

"I should have gone out hunting. Maybe I could have picked up a basilisk while I was at it-"

Rengar's left ear turned towards the location where he could hear murmurs and whispers. Crouching down in brush, both of his ears fixated themselves on the noise.

He could hear talking- no, chatter. He was able to discern some sort of bubbly laughter. As the noise drew near, he could hear a posh-accented voice that complained about the dirt that was in her coat.

Definitely ponies.

Listening in closer, he could dissect the numerous accents each voice gave off. From the quantity of the different pitches, he could estimate about six or seven equines approaching his territory. Rengar gave a tiny smile, complete with his carnivorous teeth.

And he thought his guests couldn't be more late.

Keeping low in the brush, his eyes slowly viewed over the ponies that had come into the clearing. He could see one with a pungent pink coat, and a mane that would put his dreadlocks to shame. The pink pony continuously bounced up and down, hopping along with the others that it was with.

Rengar managed to find where the posh accent had come from. The white pony rubbed her coat and mane to shake the numerous burs that had lodged themselves within her coat. A purple mane that appeared to have been groomed to no end was now becoming completely ruined by the Everfree forest. Rengar found a bit of humor in that, once again confirming his stereotype of ponies as a whole.

The one with the rainbow-mane seemed to posses a determination not seen in her other companions. She was actively stating all of the painful things that she would enact on the hunter if she got her hooves on him.

Way to break a stereotype.

The one with the orange coat and the blond mane gave a feeling to Rengar that she was also looking forward to finding him. Not in a good way, however, as she explained that he would smash him with her hind hooves. Although Rengar had no idea how hard a pony could buck, it had to be nowhere as painful as getting trampled by Hecarim.

Then, the last one was enough to send a shiver down Rengar's spine.

An alicorn. The rarest if breeds in the pony species, and often a sign of royalty and authority. He knew about the two alicorn deities that ruled over this land that he had set paw in. He has also heard of their extraordinary power in the arts of magic. Seeing one walk before him nearly unnerved the veteran hunter. Could this be one of the two goddesses? Rengar kept inside of the brush and let out a silent growl as he readied himself.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he could see Fluttershy trailing behind him.

How predictable. Knowing now that Fluttershy had attempted to play him as a fool after enacting a little surveillance, their reunion would not be the most pleasant.

The ponies were moving into position.

Perfect.

With a bola in hand, he gave it a flick. Instead of the simple string and stone composition, a heavy-duty net was webbed in the gaps of the rope. A net so powerful that it could prevent a mantacore from attempting to untangle itself.

Just a little more...

Venturing into one if the many unknown veins of the Everfree forest could stress nearly any pony to its breaking point, but the Elements of Harmony were determined to arrive at Rengar's den to interrogate, or should it come down to it, apprehend him.

"Alright girls, this was the location that the Cutie Map was able to pinpoint for us. Be careful, we're getting closer.", Twilight moved aside a branch with her magic.

"The sooner the better...", Rainbow Dash had still not removed her grudge against Rengar. Eyeing the surrounding landscape, she scanned the area for signs of that white lion.

At least Pinkie was still having a good time, being able to recall tress that she somehow recognized, going on about how scary they used to look.

"So...um...Twilight?"

"Yes Fluttershy?"

"Are you really sure we can do this? He's a very strong lion, and we already know that he's not going to react too kindly to us trying to punish him for hunting endangered Everfree animals.", Fluttershy seemed to get more worried as time went on.

"Don't worry a bit. It's six of us versus one of him. As long as we're together, nothing's going to separate us.", Twilight reassured Fluttershy with a smile, "Besides, if he tries anything against us, it will only further his current crimes-"

*WHIRRRR-THACK!*

"Get down!"

"Agh! What the-!"

Rainbow Dash couldn't finish her reaction when a massive net uncoiled from a tree, launching itself at her and bringing her straight to the ground. Tangling her wings in the rope, and held down by four large weights, she struggled and struggled to get herself free. Doing so only tangled herself in further, until she couldn't even retract her wings.

"Rainbow Dash! What happened?!", Rarity looked back towards the noise, but looked away from another net sailing straight towards her, catching her entire body into a know and smashing her into the ground.

"That lion's here! Come out and face me so ah' can smash your-"

*WHIRRRR-THACK!*

"AGH!"

Applejack's legs were suddenly bound by another net, tangling itself to restrict her movement entirely. Squirming and trying to kick her legs out, even her impressive strength was no match for the durable and well-crafted net.

"Over there!", Pinkie managed to shove Twilight out of the way as a net sailed towards her from behind. Catching Pinkie instead, she plummeted to the ground, her bubbly and go-happy mood crushed by the ambush.

"Pinkie! Applejack! Rarity! Rainbow Dash!", Twilight looked backwards in utter shock as her friends, one by one had become snared, "Don't worry! I'm gonna get you girls out of there!"

Heading over to Applejack's net, her horn lit up as she grabbed the ropes, but was thrown to the ground just like the rest as a net-equipped bola was hurled at her. Tumbling in the mud, she attempted to power up her horn to teleport from the trap. That was, until she felt something familiar get sprinkled over her horn.

That something smelled...

...funny.

Oh no.

Looking up at her horn, she saw the sight that was to be expected. Covered in blue spots and now flopping lazily in front of her eyes, her horn had now become deflated and floppy, rendering her magic useless.

Poison Joke.

Eyeing Rarity, she could see that her horn had under-come the same fate, her gasping in horror at her now floppy horn.

Fluttershy could only watch as her friends became ensnared one-by-one the nets. Shriveling up in terror, the pegasus was far too shaken to get herself off the ground, and ended up frozen in place with absolute terror. Her eyes flashed everywhere around the forest, anticipating the net that would fly out and snare her, just like her friends.

Then, out of a large gathering of brush, he emerged.

Fluttershy's friends now bare witness to the lion that had saved her, and who was subject to hunting endangered animals and slaying the mercilessly. Each of the ponies took in the details of Rengar, from the dreadlocks that formed his mane, to the absolutely massive blade that was clutched in his paw. His whiskers twitched once, then he stopped approaching.

"So...she squealed.", Rengar looked over the trapped ponies, "I'm not surprised."

"Urgh! You're making a big mistake, Rengar! We know about your illegal hunt in the Everfree Forest, and ambushing us like this will only drive you deeper into the law!", Twilight managed to yell from her bindings.

"Ahhhhh, I figured that it was about time that one of your species finally came to the forest to kick me out.", Rengar knelt down next to Twilight.

"And let me tell you.", Rengar growled in Twilight's ear.

"You couldn't stop me, even if my hunt was illegal.", the whisper was loud enough for everypony else to hear.

"Now that isn't the slightest bit true! Ah' know for a fact that hunting in the Everfree is illegal, because of all the critters in there that are endangered!", Applejack protested while still attempting to free herself from her bindings, unfortunately not making any progress.

Rengar turned towards the farmpony. His facial expression had a more...un-amused vibe towards it than any other emotion.

"Endangered? Huh...I never would believe that your species's stupidity and ignorance would dip this low, but apparently, it has.", Rengar turned back towards Twilight.

"What are you going on about?!", Twilight narrowed her eyes at the lion who mocked her's, her friend's, and her entire species's intelligence.

The lion looked over the ponies that were before him.

"You ponies don't even know how dangerous and hostile the Everfree Forest has become since one of your alicorns had tainted these lands.", Rengar spoke back in his deep and dark growl.

"Are you referring to Princess Luna?", Twilight asked.

"If that's what she's called, then I would suppose so."

"Alright! I'm not in the mood for stories now! You'd better let us go or there's gonna be hay to pay!", Rainbow Dash, increasingly frustrated with her bindings spewed out daggers of words at Rengar.

"Yeah! I would have been in the mood to forgive you if you'd apologize to Flutters, but I think you've gone far enough, mister!", Pinkie joined in the threats.

"Girls! Quiet!", Twilight yelled above the rest.

Rengar held up an eyebrow at Twilight's behavior. Fluttershy, frozen in fear for this entire time had finally looked up at the gathering.

"Alright Rengar. Do you know who we are?"

Rengar's face remained neutral.

"I wouldn't care-"

"We're the Elements of Harmony."

Rengar's sentence came to a grinding halt. In the tiniest of slivers, his eyes widened.

"Oh...you. I've heard about you ponies."

"Oh, really? Where from?"

Rengar looked backwards, then shifted his attention to Twilight.

"Who cares where I've heard about you. But do you know how much trouble you have been causing for me? Your magic is so strong that creatures of the Everfree attempt to attack your hometown just for a taste of it. You've even disrupted my hunts on numerous occasions as you've wandered through the forest, and find them yourselves.", Rengar's tone now had a strong hint of frustration.

"Really now. Well, maybe it was for the better. After all, we don't want any more endangered animals to die in your paws."

"And that's where you're wrong."

Fluttershy now spoke up.

"W-What do you mean?"

"No animal in the Everfree Forest is endangered. Not a single one."

"Urgh! Lying your way out of a crime?! Applejack's gonna have a word with you!", Rarity looked over towards her friend. Rengar looked towards the orange pony that was caught in another one of his traps.

"Applejack?"

"Element of Honesty. Not only good with being honest to the core, but a pretty good lie detector.", Twilight gave a smug smile towards the lion.

"Well hold on there. I know I'm the Element of Honesty, but I really don't think I'm a...uh...what do you call-", Applejack asked Twilight.

"Polygraph.", she responded.

"Polygraph. Right. But ah'm pretty sure that it doesn't take one of those to know that yer' telling a whopper of a lie!", Applejack narrowed her eyes at Rengar.

"Am I now? Try me."

The lion walked straight up to the farmpony, his towering and hulking figure shadowing her body like an entire castle. Keeping he wits with her, Applejack met Rengar's eyes. Her bright and vivid green eyes met Rengar's one blue eye and his amber-pieced eye-bonding.

"Now, pony, I'll tell you. No animals of the Everfree Forest are endangered. As a matter of fact, they have been multiplying. Breeding. And growing more aggressive-no...volatile. They now desire a lust for magic as well as killing for the entertainment of it.", Rengar began.

"Tell us more?", Twilight asked.

"Quiet, pony. Now, I've come to settle in this rather poorly-named forest, because the beasts here are the most dangerous and thrilling I have ever seen in my entire life. Some could even kill a dragon with little effort from what I have heard from before.", Rengar continued.

"However, the forest had not been inhabited by this quantity of animals that were this aggressive. From what someone has told me, the animals began to mass-breed and become insatiable on a certain day, roughly two years ago."

"Wait. Does he mean when Night- I mean, Luna came down from the moon?", Pinkie Pie asked Twilight.

Rengar cringed at the sudden interruption and the high-pitched voice that filled his sensitive ears.

"Yes Pinkie. The longest night. But what does Nightmare Moon have to do with any of this?", Twilight suddenly had the realization cross her mind, "Unless..."

"Yes. Your 'Nightmare Moon' had tainted this forest with her dark magic, mutating and changing the once endangered and rather passive creatures into massive, hulking, and murdering beasts. As the years progressed, the magic mutations had become far worse. The population skyrocketed, and the beasts sought to kill everything they saw.", Rengar eyed over the ponies.

"Well Applejack? He has to be lying about this!", Rainbow Dash piped up.

"Ah' don't know, darnet! But that story is quite a long stretch from what ah'd call 'believable' in the slightest!", she yelled back at the lion.

"Believe it or not, that's the truth I am telling. And I can't even believe I'm trying to reason with such dim-witted ponies like you! Your ignorance is unmatched by Yordles!"

"Yordles?", each pony asked immediately.

Then, shaking her head, Twilight looked up at the lion.

"Okay Rengar. This forest is part of the territory that is Equestria. Therefore, we own this land. If there is any sort of issue that is on our land, then we're going to fix it. Because you've already dug yourself in by trapping us, I'm going to break a deal with you."

"I'm not listening.", Rengar replied, turning his back.

"You can't be serious, Twilight!", Rainbow Dash's mouth dropped to the ground.

"Rengar, prove to all of us that these animals are indeed, overpopulated and not endangered, then we could re-discuss what's happened here already.", Twilight offered.

"I feel that she's a good example of why you can't trust ponies."

Rengar pointed a claw at Fluttershy, getting her to shrink back down.

"Rengar! If you can prove to me that what you say is true, then we can talk about this! I'm not one to believe in prison sentences! I believe more in helping someone start over! We've done so with Discord!"

"You ponies get under my fur. Don't you see that I'm unwittingly helping you?! I'm keeping the Everfree population from rising too high by hunting the most dangerous of the creatures in the appropriate seasons! I'm preventing them from overtaking your town and slaughtering all of you defenseless twats!"

"But for how long?"

Rengar glared at the alicorn. He glared into her eyes. To Twilight, it seems that he was glaring straight into her heart. Fire was in his blue eye, and the amber in his other gleamed.

Then, the lion began to approach Twilight.

SHHHHH-HHANG!

The massive knife came right out of the sheath, and pointed itself at Twilight. A gasp escaped her mouth as the blade inched towards her. Distressed, her friends began to fight their bindings, all the while shouting "Twilight!", "You monster! Don't hurt her!", and "I'm going to-"

*THWACK*

The ropes fell off of Twilight.

Looking up, then looking down, Twilight brought herself to her hooves and looked up at the hunter. The rope lay in scattered pieces at her feet.

"I'll show you, alicorn. But there will be a lot to discuss. I demand secrecy, and promise of your word."

Twilight watched over Rengar.

"We'll talk later. But first, can you free my friends.", Twilight asked in a tone that was more of a statement than a question.

Grunting, Rengar walked up to each of Twilight's friends and removed their bindings, each having mixed feelings from suppressed anger and joy from not being cramped.

"Alright, Rengar. Another thing. I want an antidote for the Poison Joke. I'm pretty sure Rarity would appreciate one as well."

"And what's not to stop you from attacking me with your magic?"

"Nothing. But like I said, you have my word about discussing your situation in the Everfree.", Twilight hoped that he could still comply.

Rengar reached towards his waist, and pulled up a small vial of liquid. He popped it open, took a sniff of it, and dangled it over Twilight's horn...

...before hitching it back onto his armor.

"I don't think so."

"Fine then. Lead the way."

The lion motioned for the Elements to trail behind him, the seven individuals heading deeper and deeper into the forest. As they followed the hunter, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash approached Twilight's sides.

"Ya really wanna trust this guy? I don't really know about you, but I'd rather see him in jail than you trying to talk sense into this guy. And you still trusted him after he didn't give you an antidote for...this?", Rainbow Dash flicked Twilight's floppy horn.

"Look. I can infer something about this lion. I could tell that he wasn't willing to do us any harm earlier. Even though he ensnared us before, and I'm not going to let that slide, he wouldn't have killed us. Because I can make a good guess about this lion."

"What's that?", Pinkie asked quizzically.

"If he were to kill us, he wouldn't be a hunter, but a murderer. And I feel that's something that Rengar doesn't want to have associated with him. I feel that there's something about him that I can understand and relate to. Even to you, Rainbow Dash."

"Hey! Don't go comparing this guy to me!"

"He has honor. I doubt that he would have hunted endangered animals, because he would have been a poacher. He claims to hunt in seasons, and by not harming or killing us, he's not a murderer. Sure, we don't appreciate hunters in our midst, but look at the griffons. They have trappers as well. They hunt for subsistence, and I'm pretty sure Rengar does to.", Twilight finished, "At least that's what I could estimate about him. He could just be a crazy lion that poaches on animals he lies that are overpopulated."

"Yeah. I'm gonna go with the latter.", Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes at the lion leading the group.

"I can hear everything you say, ponies."

That got them to shut up rather fast.

The annoying thing was to Rengar...

...Twilight had guessed his motives. And she was accurate.

But they didn't have to know that.

Finally, the group had managed to hike an entire mile away from the den, until their elevation had risen drastically. The ponies and the lion were now approaching a large cliff that overlooked a massive grassland in the forest.

Or, at least it was a grassland.

What lay before them was a massive barren patch of dust and dead plants strewn everywhere, with the most ungodly amount of mantacores laying around everywhere. There could have been hundreds of the beasts. In fact, with this massive barren patch, there could have been over a thousand of the beasts roaming around.

And to the ponies' horror, many were not just roaming around.

Rarity managed to see one suddenly rear up and tear another's throat out, roaring menacingly. She passed out when the surrounding mantacores turned on it, and after they were done mauling one of their species, turned on each other.

"Dear Celestia...", Applejack's heart seemingly stopped in place as no matter where she looked, bloodshed was sure to arrive.

"I...I...I...", Rainbow Dash was at a complete loss of words.

Then, Rengar pointed his claw towards a mantacore eating the corpse of another mantacore, and three smaller ones beside it.

"Do you see that one over by the top?"

"I...wish I couldn't...", Twilight felt sick to her stomach.

"The one it's eating was his mate. The smaller ones, their cubs. I studied that one male for a while, and it's not even the worse I've encountered."

Twilight's held her hoof to her mouth, and ran off with a green shade to her face.

"H-How did we not know about this...?", Fluttershy couldn't even watch what they were observing.

"Because your species hardly ventures into the forest. If when you do, you don't travel far. From the population that just this one species is gaining, they could even stretch out and tear your little town to pieces.", Rengar spoke as he watched over the bloodshed as if it was nothing new.

"And that's just the mantacores. Don't ask about the basilisks.", Rengar turned back to the Elements of Harmony.

"And I thought baking a cake for the first time was scary...", Pinkie Pie's bright pink coat had become far more pale than usual.

Even Rainbow Dash had to turn away after a while.

At this point, Twilight had come back to Rengar.

"And you...hunt these mantacores?"

"Yes. They're one of my more common hunts. Easy to track down, easy to separate, and I bring about two in the day time."

Twilight looked down at the massive congregation of beasts.

"I don't think that's going to be enough...", Twilight realized that she was referring to slaughtering beasts as "not enough".

"I...I...don't know what to say-"

"Wait. Do y'all hear that?", Applejack hushed everypony down, with only the roars of the mantacores echoing through the clearing.

"Hear what?"

"I don't hear anything..."

Rengar's eye closed and his ears shifted towards Applejack's direction of attention.

"I do."

KREEAAAWWWWWW!!!

A massive roar shook the entire clearing as a massive, hulking, snaking, and fearsome head broke high above the treetops and let loose a roar over the mantacores. The beasts looked up, some realizing the eminent danger, and others not began to flee in terror or charge the giant reptile-like head, wings outstretched.

Then, another massive head burst from the treetops and gave another shrieking roar to the rather minuscule looking creatures.

"What in the name of Equestria is THAT?!", Twilight stumbled on her back and pointed at the absolutely gigantic dragon-like heads.

Then, another burst from the clearing, and another, and finally another totaling five giant heads over-watching the mantacore pride. The long, yet hulking necks had massive blackish and bluish scales that formed into a head with rows of gigantic teeth. Their tongues as they flicked out resembled snakes, but the heads didn't resemble dragons, snakes, or any other lizards on closer inspection. They simply bared their own terrifying appearance with no eyes and and a red under-neck.

One last head emerged from the treetops, larger, and growing curved red spikes over its head, totaling six heads.

"I-I-Is that-?!"

Rengar and Fluttershy both muttered at the same time.

"A hydra."

Then, what happened next shook even Rengar down to his soul. The six heads, roaring in unison opened their maws at the incoming mantacores that were far too aggressive for their own good, and a massive jet of fire erupted from the hydra's mouths, disintegrating and grilling the manatcores into charred corpses that either fell to the forest floor and broke apart, or simply fell to ashes before they hit the ground. The brightness of the fire caused the ponies to shield their eyes and back up from the cliff they were standing on.

When their hooves and paw were removed from the fronts of their eyes, the hydra gave another shriek into the air, and with force that could cause an earthquake, marched off towards some sort of destination, smashing down trees as it went.

"W-What...was THAT?!", Rainbow Dash recovered from the monster attack that had unfolded before her very eyes.

"The very manifestation of magic mixed into beast. A hydra that was never born, but materialized from the darkest of magic, one that Nightmare Moon possessed, and the one that tainted the forest.", Rengar watched as the hydra began to move down the forest's acres.

"Wh-What?! That thing is a beast made from Nightmare Moon herself?!", Twilight gasped in astonishment and horror.

"In your terms, yes. All it had to do was manifest until it could come to life. That must have been the same creature that was sleeping at the bottom of Froggy Bottom Bog that I had kept records of, but I could never know what it was...", Rengar looked back towards the monster, "Until it had emerged now. Now I can see what had bitten the normal hydras in half..."

"Wait. Where is it heading off to?", Fluttershy asked as the rest of the Elements suddenly looked back towards the monster, looking towards its direction of travel.

"That's a very good question. Where is it going?", Twilight asked while Rengar pulled out a small compass from his waist.

"It's heading...towards your village."

The Elements froze in place.

"Ponyville!", Pinkie immediately freaked out as the monster roared again, heading towards Ponyville, as it would now seem.

"What?! Why?!"

Rengar narrowed his eyes.

"A magical entity of a beast. I could guess...it would feed off of magic. Don't you see the streams coming from the forest and being absorbed into its body? Look!"

The ponies squinted their eyes, seeing a black haze stretch from the forest floor and into the beast itself.

"But Ponyville doesn't have too strong of magical properties! I mean, sure that everypony there has some sort of magic in them, but-"

Rengar interrupted Twilight with: "Look at the hydra. Now follow my claw. In its direction of travel, where would it eventually reach?"

"Twilight looked past the claw, past the hydra, and up the mountain where Rengar was pointing. The unmistakable white castle that was fixed to the mountain was being highlighted by Rengar.

"Canterlot. It's population is dominantly unicorns...and Ponyville just happens to be in the way...", Twilight muttered to her friends, "We have to stop that thing! Ponies are going to get hurt- no! Killed!"

"Um, no offence Ms. Sparkle, but HOW ARE WE GOING TO STOP THAT", Rarity threw her hoof at the direction of the monster.

Rengar suddenly remembered something.

Or more appropriately, someone.

"You want to save your town? Follow me. I think I might have a plan.", Rengar pointed back into the forest.

"You think?!"

"Do you know how to kill a gigantic hydra that literally drains magic from its surroundings?"

Twilight bit her lip and looked back at the hydra.

"If you want to save your town, there isn't much time! It will only take so long for it to become sated from the forest's tainted magic! Then it's going to move on!"

"Alright, Rengar! Lead the way!", Twilight nodded as the group ran straight back into the forest.

All this while, Twilight's opinion of Rengar was begun to shift towards a more positive side. Even Fluttershy felt a new sense of trust in him knowing that he's now going out of his way to help the ponies that don't even know that are in peril. To Rengar, it was a bit of a different story. Knowing a plan to possibly take the beast down, it was imperative that he got all the help he could get.

Even if it was from ponies, a species that ticked him off to no extent. However, with the Elements of Harmony at his side, he himself could recognize a larger, and larger advantage that he could put himself at, as he had heard stories of how these "Elements of Harmony" had saved this world numerous times without him knowing of it.

Besides, letting the best rampage would destroy the Everfree Forest, thus ending his hunt. And mostly likely getting himself killed thereafter.

Rengar snapped back to reality, took the vile of Poison Joke antidote, and handed it to Twilight.

"Take this, and get back to your town to warn the citizens!"

"Oh, right!"

Splashing the antidote on her horn, it suddenly reshaped itself to its normal form. With a bright flash of magic, Twilight vanished.

Now, it was time to hunt a hydra.

The hunt was, once again, on.

Contesting the Hydra Pit

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As Twilight was now separated from the group, her friends could only hope that Ponyville was now being warned of the imminent danger of the hydra, and mass panic would not ensue. Knowing the population of that said village... it was not a safe bet. Although the citizens may not have taken a unicorn librarian seriously about a gigantic hydra that drains magic and breaths fire was now approaching the own too seriously, as the "Princess of Friendship", they could very much know of the genuine danger that was trampling their way.

Rainbow Dash broke above the canopy of the forest, and bare witness to the hydra snapping up at a dragon that had flown overhead, breaking it in two with its massive jaw. Flying back down, Rengar spoke up.

"Is the hydra still feeding on the forest?"

"Y-Yeah. It's still sticking around here."

Rainbow Dash tried to shake her head to get the image out of her mind as Rengar growled.

"It wont stay for long. Soon, it will become sated from the Everfree's beasts and magic, and your town will be next. We have to hurry!", Rengar suddenly broke down to all fours, and bounded ahead at an incredible speed. Leaves flew off of the dying trees around him as the lion quickened his pace drastically. The ponies quickly adjusted themselves a bit better than the rest of their friends.

"Hey! Wait up!", Pinkie bounced along the path faster and faster to keep up with the sprinting lion.

"Come on girls, we're not lettin' some kitten outgallop us!, Applejack called back to get her friends to pick up the pace.

Traveling back the mile where they had come to view witness to the mantacores, Rengar and five of the six Elements of Harmony arrived back at his den near Froggy Bottom Bog.

Immediately, Rengar shoved aside the hide drapes that decorated his entrance and rushed inside.

The ponies followed inside.

Only Fluttershy was familiar with the surroundings of Rengar's den with the various skulls and bones of beasts he has hunted. As the other ponies entered the den, they too managed to feel rather out-of-place and very disturbed at the decor inside of the den.

Before Rarity could even think about telling Rengar about his decorating habits, but after deciding to shut herself up about the pointless subject, Rengar emerged from the back of the cave with five, very long and deadly looking spears, crafted out of what seemed to be the most well-polished wood, and equally durable wood that there was.

"Each of you, take one. Wait for me outside."

The ponies reluctantly took the weapons from Rengar's possession, then did as they were instructed. After all, Rengar seemed to know what he was doing. Deep down, each of the ponies hoped for this to be as true as they wanted it to be.

Even Rainbow Dash decided to cooperate. If she had to fight it, this time she wanted to follow a plan to not get eaten.

Inside, Rengar stopped in front of one of the massive walls deep in the cave. The wall that was littered with weapons that he had crafted...

...or... borrowed from the League.

Swords, knives, bows, and all sorts of other weapons adorned the wall, each organised neatly in decoration.

Out of all of the weapons he could choose, the lion snatched a machete that looked two-sizes too small for him, and a tiny hourglass that rested on a pedestal.

"That should do."

Quickly rushing out of his den, he stopped in front of the ponies, eagerly waiting outside.

"Okay, ponies. That was the first stop. We have one more to make.", Rengar tucked the hourglass into his waist pouch and the machete into a sheath.

"Where are we heading next? And don't you think that our time's running out already?", Rarity asked Rengar.

"The next stop is imperative. I don't believe that you ponies know of another individual who lives in the forest. Not surprising as none of your species dare to venture in here.", Rengar suddenly got cut off.

"Oh! You mean Zecora? The zebra I- well, we mistook for an evil enchantress that would put us in trances, and would-", Pinkie suddenly piped up.

"Perhaps you do know her.", Rengar glanced at the pink pony. Once again, these horses had defied their stereotypes that he himself have given them.

Now their pace once again quickened as they heard the hydra shriek once again as it continued to drain the forest of its magic, both tainted and natural. Upon passing Froggy Bottom Bog, the entire group found the swamp to be replaced by a massive sinkhole that definitely indicated the hydra's eruption from the ground. A bog no longer existed. Instead, there was a giant pit.

"Dear Equestria...", Rarity muttered to herself. She had doubts about encountering the beast, but the size of that hole further deepened her fears of the hydra.

"You must not turn away with your tail in between your legs! I need each one of you to carry out this plan if we have any chance of stopping this beast. Do you want your town to be destroyed and allow hundreds of ponies to get devoured?", Rengar stopped running and turned back to face the ponies.

Rarity looked down at the ground, took in a deep breath, and looked back up, nodding at the hunter. As afraid of the hydra a she was, she managed to draw her courage

Applejack stomped the ground, and replied with a: "I hear ya', Rengar.", now ready to take on the giant beast. Not as one, but as many.

Rainbow Dash planted her spear in the ground, narrowing her eyes with the fire inside of her building. She was not going to let innocent ponies die today. And she knew that her friends would not either. "I'm ready.", she replied.

Pinkie Pie, though her go-lucky and carefree personality had to be cast aside, something very hard and difficult for her to even think about, she was ready to take this coming battle to heart, knowing that ponies she knew and loved could very well be taken from her.

Fluttershy was a same, yet different matter. Fluttershy sucked up her determination that she had managed to keep with her from the various adventures she has had with her friends and allowed it to manifest once again within her. She was up to the task. Even if she had to help in killing a beast. From this realization, she now saw that she was about to do the exact same thing that Rengar has done. The exact same thing that she despised and believed was morally wrong.

But with Rengar, that was not the case. And with the hydra, something had to be done.

There was no room, or even the slightest bit of reasoning that taming the behemoth would make any sense.

The monster had to die.

And Fluttershy was about to assist in just that.

"Okay. I... I'm ready."

Rengar looked over at the meek pegasus. He had labeled her as a cowardly and double-crossing whelp that would define another perfect stereotype for ponies as a whole.

But now, even Rengar had to admit that he had been incorrect.

"Okay. We must hurry now. Time is going to run out."

And with that, the party rushed deeper into the forest that was quickly withering from the drainage of magic.

"Zecora! Open up! This is urgent!"

Rengar pounded on the door to the zebras hut, and almost instantly, it flew open. Standing in he doorway was the familiar mix of grey and black stripes, along with the mowhawk manestyle that was adorned from her grooming. The smell of potions and herbs rushed into the nostrils of her visitors as Zecora quickly motioned for them to come inside.

"Rengar, I was expecting you to arrive. Have you come to make sure that accursed beast does not remain alive?", Zecora seemed to be in the middle of packing her belongings, or whatever belongings had not fallen off of shelves and broken.

"Precisely. And I do believe you know what I need."

Zecora motioned for the rest of the ponies to enter.

"Where is Twilight? Has she gone back to fight?", Zecora asked Fluttershy.

"Oh, she's teleported back to Ponyville to warn everypony else.", the pegasus responded, who earned a nod from Zecora.

"I see. But now, what you have come to receive.", Zecora walked over to a corner of her hut, pressed her hoof on a small switch located on the ground, and a compartment opened in the floor. Lifting out a small chest from the ground, Zecora set the box down on a table in the center of her hut.

"Zecora, is that...?"

"You are correct, Rengar. It's the same that you used to hunt with your bow from afar. However, I believe you'll need more of the poison, to stop what is about to come: the destruction.", Zecora's rhymes filled the hut with their mysterious aura as they flowed out from her.

"Poison?", Applejack looked inside of the box. Sure enough, there was a bottle with a mysterious liquid that was as black as the night itself.

"Yes. 'The Dragon's Wine'. I have seen... and felt some poisons in my life. But this poison is the most powerful and deadly toxin I have even seen be created. Just a drop of this is enough to kill a dragon. And just within a fair amount of seconds or so. I used to use this poison to hunt basilisks and even a hydra at one point, and it works extremely well. This poison is going to be the only thing that can make a scratch on this hydra."

"Even something as huge as that? With that tiny bottle?!", Rainbow Dash doubted the vial that held the toxin.

"Yes. But this is what the spears are for. They have a grove that can inject poisons that are stored in them. There are five spears, and there are six heads. My knife can also apply this poison as well."

"So...one dose for each of the heads?", Rarity asked Rengar.

"Yes. Because this hydra is covered in scales from head to toe, there is only one area where we can apply the poison."

"Where's that?", Pinkie inquired.

"The tongue."

Each of the ponies cringed, especially Pinkie Pie, clutching her own tongue in imaginary pain.

"Apply the poison to a head, and it will do enough to cause that brain to become dead. Apply it to all six, and the hydra's life will cease to exist.", Zecora handed the bottle to Rengar.

"Yeah, but there's a problem with this here plan. There's six heads, and each one of em' can come after us. We only have six chances to apply the poison, so none of us can screw this up. With six heads chasing us, how is this even gonna work?", Applejack put up a very good point. A point that Rengar addressed when he walked up to Rainbow Dash.

"Alright. Rainbow..."

"It's Dash."

"Right. I'm going to let you hand your spear to the alicorn when we arrive back to your village. I have another task for you. You and I are going to divert the hydra's attention away from your friends so they can apply the poisons. How good of a flier are you?"

The rest of the ponies and the zebra looked dumbfounded by Rengar's question.

A long silence hovered above the group, before Rengar shouting: "Well? Out with it!"

Rainbow Dash crossed her hooves and gave a confident smile at Rengar.

"Ask anyone of my friends. There's no better pony for the job."

The lion nodded his head, this dreadlocks shaking a tiny bit from the movement before he returned to the bottle of poison.

"Give me your spears."

The ponies complied and handed the weapons to Rengar. Popping the cork off of the bottle, he didn't even dare to smell it. He carefully poured the poison into each of the five spears' groves, and flicking them to seal the groves shut, now ready to inject its loaded venom. The last of the poison was poured into a compartment of his giant Hunting Knife, ready for the upcoming encounter.

"What about that other sword? And that hourglass that's poking out of your pouch? Is time really that important now?", Pinkie pointed at the machete at Rengar's side.

Looking down at the machete and the hourglass, he looked back up at the pony.

"In case of an emergency."

However, Rengar quickly dismissed the subject as he handed the ponies the spears.

"Okay, one last run through of the plan. Me and Rainbow Dash will distract the hydra while the rest of you will find openings to inject the poison. Take all the heads down, and the hydra's defeated. Got it?", Rengar managed to give the quick version of his plan.

"Got it!"

"Right!"

"O-Okay!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Yes!"

Rengar was about to open the door, until he was stopped by a hoof poking his back. Looking over his shoulder, he could see the ponies gathering in a circle, and placing their hooves in the center, getting ready for a team shout. Applejack motioned for Rengar to join in.

Rengar shook his head and grunted at the ridiculousness of this act, but at the same time, felt compelled to approach and join in with the pre-battle ceremony.

After all, from where he used to come from and from where he used to fight, teamwork was always the highlight in the League of Legends.

Placing his gigantic paw in the center of the hooves, Applejack gave a smile that beamed of confidence as she shouted: "Alright everypony! Let's go save Ponyville! Again!"

"YEAH!"

The ponies flung their hooves high in cheer as they went to gather the spears, and head right out. Rengar was the last to exit, but was stopped by Zecora.

"Rengar, as the only one who knew of your dwelling, I must ask, have these ponies shown you that you cannot judge them all as being posh and annoying?", Zecora asked quickly, "Or have the Elements proven much more to the ponies? Have they proven that just I have proven to them that they aren't all spoiled from their luxuries?"

Rengar looked back at the Zebra for a second, stared at her with his piercing blue eye, then left without a word.

He put aside what Zecora had said, and managed to catch up with the five other ponies.

"Okay Rengar, anything else we should know about this monster?", Rarity spoke between huffs from all of the running they had been doing.

"Aside from breathing fire, draining magic, growing back two heads as all hydras do when one is sliced off, and the fact that it might as well swallow multiple ponies whole, I think that's it. I don't know about its intelligence yet, and that's the only thing that is biting at my side."

"Well... I suppose we'll find out soon..."

Ponyville had undergone its evacuation, the population fleeing towards the eastern mountains, away from the hydra's trampling path. Guiding them with excellent skill was none other than Twilight Sparkle, making use of a megahorn that Pinkie had given to her for one of her birthdays.

"Okay everypony! Keep a straight and orderly line! Head towards-"

"SCRAWWWWWW!!!"

Twilight's command was cut off from the massive roar that bursted from the Everfree Forest. Looking back, she could see the familiar form of six monstrous necks tower above the canopy.

The scariest detail: they were approaching Ponyville. Now, she could also see six tiny figures run towards the town from the Everfree Forest. It had to be Rengar and her friends.

Looking back at the crowd of ponies now moving a fair distance away, Twilight took to the skies to meet up with the incoming defenders.

"Girls! Rengar! There you guys are!", Twilight tried to bring each of her friends into a massive hug, but Rainbow Dash instead handed the spear to Twilight.

"Sorry egghead, not enough time for that. Rengar needs to tell you what's gonna happen.", Rainbow Dash moved out of the way for Rengar. Looking at the spear uneasily, the princess looked up.

"Okay, what's the plan?"

"This spear is loaded with a poison that can cause a head of the hydra to go brain-dead. The only place we can apply it is the tongue. Me and Rainbow Dash will distract the monster while you and your friends take the openings we create to apply the poison. Five spears and my knife for six heads. Got it?"

Twilight stared at the lion before her wings burst from her sides.

"Are you NUTS?!"

"Magic won't work. It will just absorb any you attempt to throw at it. This poison is our best and only chance we can take to kill the hydra."

Twilight shut her eyes, bit her lip, and opened them to heave a heavy exhale at Rengar.

"Alright."

Rengar looked back at the forest and bare witness to the six giant necks approaching.

"Me and Rainbow Dash will start from the town square. The rest of you, hide behind the buildings nearby. Go, go, go! Now! Get into positions!"

Twilight teleported, Fluttershy hovered away uneasily, Pinkie hopped out of sight, and Rarity galloped with Applejack.

Rengar and Rainbow Dash managed to arrive at the spacious and deserted town square.

"Are you ready?", Rengar clutched his knife in his paw.

"Ready as I'll ever be.", Rainbow Dash relied, digging into the dirt surface with her hoof.

Then, the trees that bordered the forest were smashed down into tiny pieces as the monstrous six-headed beast erupted from the forest. Rampaging its way towards the town, the beast let loose another blood curling roar.

"GRAAAWWWWWWW!!!"

Each of the ponies' spines felt a chill slither deep inside of them as the roar echoed through the entire forest and Ponyville. Buildings and trees shook from the massive shriek of the hydra, and continued to be jostled by the incoming stomps of the beast's rampage.

As the monster began to approach the town and its quickly made defenders, Rengar suddenly took a deep interest of the hydra's heads. Eyeing each of them with great greed and passion. What an amazing beast that hydra was... and those heads...

Such heads would look so beautifully in his possession...

"Hey, Rengar? Are you okay?", Rainbow Dash asked the lion next to her.

Rengar could only respond while still looking at the hydra's heads.

"I'm going to need a bigger den."

Teamfight

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Pebbles vibrated on the ground, buildings and houses shook, and the echoing sound of gigantic feet pounding the ground resonated throughout Ponyville.

Applejack held her spear tight with her hooves as she could barely peek from behind a house to bear witness to the monstrosity that was to enter the town. The ungodly sight of the defenders' adversary kept approaching. The more it drew towards the town, the seemingly bigger and bigger it towered over them all. As if it could get even larger than what it actually was.

Fluttershy still hid behind the tree that she was leaning against, taking deep breaths that seemed to get even more and more rapid as the towering hydra rampaged closer and closer. The spear in her hooves shook, not only from the shaking ground, but from her shaking fears. She could barely see the tiny hole where the poison was to be injected out of at the tip of the spear, and once again, she closed her eyes.

"I... I cant do this..."

She set the spear down and curled up next to the tree she was hiding behind. However, deep inside, she knew that she had to play her part. Ponies would die in Canterlot if she didn't help kill the hydra, as Twilight could only warn one location before the hydra would have arrived. Ponyville was the choice, as the hydra would have reached there first, and it would become their only line of defense.

The line of defense that Fluttershy had to be a part of.

Then, she heard the rattle of the spear getting picked up, then opened her eyes to witness Rengar, standing over her, and holding the spear so she could take it.

"Listen to me. I know that you are an animal caretaker. You seek to help beasts. Even I can respect that. But here, this is different. More than just your friends are depending on us to succeed. The entire structure of your village depends on us, and the citizens in the castle do as well. I can understand your fear. I can understand it very well."

Rengar continued to speak as he looked back, knowing that the hydra still had a bit to approach the town.

"But, I have heard stories about you from Zecora. You, out of all of your friends told a dragon to pack its belongings and evict him from a cave. You were able to out-stare a cockatrice, and even counter its petrifying gaze."

Fluttersy swallowed and took the spear back from Rengar.

"If a pony can stand up to a dragon, then I believe that they can take on this hydra. As a team."

Rengar held out his paw.

Fluttershy looked up and placed her hoof within it, and shook it.

"Good. On my signal, you will find the opening we have created and you will inject your share of the poison.", Rengar said as he hurriedly turned to regroup with Rainbow Dash.

"Rengar?"

His ears turned to meet the noise, as did him as a whole.

"T-Thank you. And... I'm sorry. I misjudged you. I misjudged you the most out of everypony else."

Rengar's blue eye blinked.

Then, Fluttershy could see his mouth slowly shift into the slightest of smiles. His sharp teeth didn't protrude from his mouth, but the smile carried the aura of... not pride... but... something else.

"As did I.", Rengar spoke as he turned around to meet up with Rainbow Dash. Arriving back at the town square, she turned to the other pegasus, who pointed towards the borders of the town.

"Here it comes..."

*stomp...*

*STOMP*

The ponies' eyes grew wider and wider as the hydra approached...

"Holy bu-"

"GRAAAAWWWWWW!!!"

The titanic monster stopped Rainbow Dash's curse as it gave its massive bellow of hunger, rampaging towards the village that just happened to be in its way for its main course: Canterlot. Bracing herself and getting ready for the flight of her life, Rainbow's wings uncurled and could catch the air heating up slightly as the largest head of the hydra opening its maw, revealing what appeared to be a natural furnace burning deep within its throat.

Her eyes were trained on the gigantic beast as its footsteps were felt even more so in the earth below them.

Giving another massive shriek, the hydra had entered Ponyville.

Houses were smashed to pieces, trees were simply flattened to splinters, and the streets were now covered in footprints that spanned entire buildings. The hydra's heads seemed to be looking for its next meal, scanning in every possible direction for signs of food.

Then, the lead head turned towards the east of Ponyville. It could smell the ponies that had already made it to the town's borders, fleeing the area in mass hysteria. Snarling, the other heads turned to see what the lead one was communicating to them about, then converged on the similar interest.

Right as the hydra decided to head off for its snack, Rengar shouted with the power of a lion's roar.

"NOW!"

Dust was blown in every direction around her as a stream of her signature rainbow trailed her. Taking to the air at incredible speeds, she barreled right towards the hydra. Turning right in front of every single one of its six heads, she hovered in front of the monster, causing it to stop in its tracks as it now focused on a new target in front of it.

"Hey! Uglies! You want something more lean? Try and catch me!", the pegasus taunted as she flew down underneath the hydra's hulking legs, exiting behind the monster. Shifting its heads around, the hydra's heads each gave a terrifying roar as it now turned away from the fleeing ponies and after the one that flew right in front of their faces.

Oddly enough, this pegasus seemed to have far more magic that pegasi held than any other of the ones it could detect. Satisfying on the new meal, the hydra turned towards the pegasus and began to stomp after her, snapping at her with each of the six mouths.

"Down here!"

Rengar suddenly burst from a building's rooftop, hurling a bola at one of the heads. The small weapon simply bounced off the head's scales, but now, two other heads, including the one that had been dinged by the bola now focus their attention towards the lion hunter. Their attention now divided, Rainbow Dash circled around her three heads to keep them distracted, while Rengar lead the other three on a goose chase around the town square.

Two nearly caught Rengar as they approached the ground and snapped their jaws at him, but Rengar simply leaped ahead and kicked a swath of dirt into one of the hydra's mouths. Furious, the one head opened its jaw, and suddenly, Rengar could feel the air heating up behind him.

Rolling to the right, he narrowly avoided the massive stream of fire that washed over his side, one of his dreadlocks escaped being singed. The other two heads suddenly got the idea to rear up, and release a stream of incineration in front of the lion. The flames washed over the ground in front of Rengar, cutting off his path and getting him cornered. The three heads that were focused on him opened their jaws to barbecue the lion that was in front of them, seemingly helpless and with nowhere to run.

Then, Rengar shouted.

"Twilight! Now!"

Her spear gripped in her magic, she suddenly burst from behind a building into the air, leveled the spear towards the beast, and gave it a hurl.

The spear thrown by her magic sailed true through the air as the head homed in towards is destination. One of the hydra's heads could not detect the imminent danger approaching it, as it had already opened its jaw to release another jet of fire to kill the lion.

Instead, the spear impacted straight into its tongue, the force of the arrival shoved the poison deep into the hydra's tongue, and soon, into its bloodstream. Crying out in frustration more than pain, the hydra shook its head to remove the spear from its tongue. However, the more it shook the spear, the more the poison washed around in its tongue, and the more the poison worked its way into its nervous system. The creature as a whole, furious, roared and each opened their mouths to incinerate Rengar.

Sensing the danger, and now that the flames had dissipated, Rengar suddenly roared as he leaped away from the flames that impacted behind him, running underneath the hydra. Looking at the belly, he knew that he couldn't have a repeat with the cragadile. The belly was also covered in the same scales.

Then, while in the sky, Rainbow Dash could see one of the heads began to follow the others a bit more slowly...

It could hardly roar like the others, and it was the only one that didn't breath fire at Rengar when he juked them again.

Instead, the head hung low. It gave a roar of defeat as it collapsed on the ground, brain-dead.

"I... I think we got one!", Rainbow Dash exclaimed with tremendous victory.

"Alright! It worked!", Twilight cheered.

"Wooohooo! Heroes: 1, Hydra: 0!", Pinkie pumped her hoof in the air as she bounced up and down with glee.

Then, the hydra did something that stopped all celebration.

It stopped the celebration very effectively.

Noticing that its now brain-head appendage was of no use, and would only serve to drag it down, the other five heads opened their jaws, and each tore a chunk out of the neck of its fallen head. Blood sprayed as they cannibalized on its own head, tearing apart its scales and the flesh underneath in a gory display.

"What the... is it... eating itself?!", Applejack knew that this moment definitely beat what the mantacores were doing to their own species.

Rarity nearly vomited on her spear as she turned away from the scene.

Even Rengar couldn't look straight at the monster as it did this to itself.

"What kind of sick and twisted world have I set foot in...?", he muttered to himself.

Then, the hydra was done indulging in its own head, the missing head now replaced itself with a nub of flesh, and quickly grew new scales to prevent any sort of new position to apply the poison.

The hydra suddenly reared up, all five of its remaining heads giving a furious shout as each one of them snaked around to find its next target.

This time, they settled on Twilight, as she was the one that had sprung the trap that killed one of the hydra's heads. The heads slowly growled as they began to snake over Twilight. The princess looked up in horror as one began to open its mouth. Fearing for her life, Twilight managed to teleport as a massive arc of electricity incinerated and blew the house she was hovering above to pieces. Static filled the air, causing everypony's and Rengar's hair to raise on their ends. Furious at missing its target, the monster stampeded through the town square, smashing apart houses and uprooting trees as it went along.

Thinking fast, Rainbow Dash swooped down in front of the monster, flew right up the the largest head, and gave it a nice firm buck. Her hooves hardly had any effect on the thick and extremely strong scales the hydra possessed, but nonetheless, the hydra opened its maws to unleash another jet of fire. The pegasus's aerial expertise payed off once again as she simply dove down to avoid the column of fire.

"Hah! You gotta try better than that you overgrown gecko!", Rainbow Dash taunted the beast as she once again managed to take advantage of the hydra's slow agility and glide underneath its body.

The heads rotated around, furious that they had been avoided again.

However, the alpha head seemed to remain calm, despite its other heads shrieking and roaring as the pegasus simply flew around them.

Opening its mouth again, Rainbow Dash expected another column of fire that she would simply have to avoid again. However, instead of the air heating up like it should have, the temperate began to lower. A shiver ran through everypony's spines as it suddenly dropped to winter temperature.

Then, the alpha head fired out a beam of frost, pinpointing itself at Rainbow Dash. The icy blast traveled far faster than the jet of fire, and as such, Rainbow Dash wasn't able to dodge it in time.

"What the-"

"Rainbow Dash!"

Pinkie's cries were drowned out as Rainbow could barely dodge the incoming attack, clipping her on her right wing. The wing suddenly froze over in a formation of ice, the massive change and displacement of weight bringing her crashing to the ground. Smacking straight onto the ground, her wing kept her grounded as the ice, though it did not break on impact, had far more weight than normal ice.

The alpha head hissed as the hydra itself advanced on the easy kill. Stomping towards the injured pony, Rengar would know that it would simply ignore other distractions, as it had grown frustrated with a lack of a meal and the loss of one of its heads.

Rainbow Dash struggled to look up as the body temperature dropped in her body, her beginning to chatter her teeth and barely able to speak coherently from her shaking. One of the heads angled itself, ready to deliver the killing blow to the pegasus that had tried to play them for a fool.

"Rainbow Dash! Catch!", Rengar opened his pouch, snatched ahold of the hourglass that was nestled inside, and gave it a hurl towards Rainbow Dash. The pony was barely able to look over to her right as the hourglass sailed towards her. Once she caught it in her hooves, the hunter roared again.

"Turn it over! NOW!"

Rainbow Dash flipped the hourglass on its bottom, letting the sands run down the tiny sliver of a hole inside.

The hydra lunged its head, ready to bite Rainbow's head off.

Suddenly, when the first grain hit the bottom of the glass, a bright flash of golden light exploded out of Rainbow Dash. An incredibly loud humming sound emanated from the glass as Rainbow Dash suddenly was completely frozen and encased in a golden skin, the sands of the hourglass still ticking away.

When the hydra attempted to bite at the golden statue, energy coursed through its teeth, and rebounded itself. A spray of blood later, and its front teeth had been torn straight out from the golden aura that encased Rainbow Dash. Roaring in pain, the head's mouth filled with blood as the gigantic teeth fell to the ground.

"Don't you dare hurt my friends, monster!", Pinkie suddenly leaped from the corner of a house, and bounded towards the distracted hydra. With the spear gripped in her tail, she leaped on top of a small market stand, then bounced straight off, using the somersault in the air that she preformed to hurl the spear filled with poison right at the injured head.

It didn't impact on its tongue, however, it impacted somewhere that was made just as viable from Rainbow Dash's stasis.

The gums.

Impacting, the spear pushed the venom straight into the head, causing it to feel even more pain than what it had already experienced. Right as the golden skin burst off of Rainbow Dash, she slumped down to the ground, exhausted and injured from her frozen wing.

As Pinkie was trying to help up Rainbow Dash, she bared witness to another one of their enemy's heads beginning to roar weaker, until it collapsed onto the surface of the town, its brain no longer functioning.

Thankfully, Rainbow Dash had slipped into unconsciousness before she could see a repeat of the hydra's "feast" from before. Tearing off scales and skin, and coating the houses around it in blood, the hydra's heads once again cannibalized on one of its own dead heads, removing the dead weight.

This left four.

Twilight managed to fly down to Rengar's side as the hydra ate away.

"I wonder why it's not growing two heads back...? If you remove a head of a hydra, wouldn't two replace it?"

Rengar nodded.

"That is true. But the head must still be well alive at the time of separation. This is why the poison is the best chance we have at this creature. But our chances are fading. Rainbow Dash is out of commission."

"Then I'll fill in. Applejack and Rarity are hiding behind the Carousel Boutique over there."

Rengar nodded and grabbed his knife.

"Then that's exactly where we will take it."

The monster had finished tear off its own head, and scanned around the area. At this point, the hydra had realized that it might actually not be able to make it to Canterlot for its main course. Roaring, the beast turned to stomp in the opposite direction of the boutique.

Canterlot.

"No! The thing's headed' away!", Applejack galloped after the monster, spear resting on her back. Rarity huffed of exhaustion as she tried to keep up with the much more athletic farm pony. Twilight managed to teleport to cut off the hydra's path.

Stomping her hooves on the ground, her horn glowing an ominous purple light, a gigantic barrier of magic arose from the ground, acting as a wall to stop the hydra's advances.

However, she had a different plan to stop the hydras. She knew the wall wouldn't block them...

Then, the hydras stopped at the wall, opened their mouths, and the magical energy began to drain out of them. Twilight had just given the monster a free meal.

All part of her plan.

The hydra had now stopped to absorb the magic from the wall, and had become too occupied to notice the two ponies galloping behind the hydra, getting ready to get into position to hurl their spears.

Twilight strained as she kept feeding magic into the wall to keep the hydras busy on it. Struggling at the immense mana that she was dumping, she began to sweat profusely. More and more of her energy was dumped into the wall, struggling to keep the hydra in one place.

Then, Applejack and Rarity raced in front of the wall, stopped to a grinding halt, and took aim with their spears. Gripped in her magic, Rarity could see the numerous heads that had their maws open, absorbing the magic directly.

She noticed that the alpha's head had its jaws completely open, gorging on the magic that was seemingly offered to it for free. Narrowing her eyes, and with the pinpoint accuracy of a needle, her magic enveloped the spear and was hurled straight at the alpha.

The largest head was quick to notice and clamped it jaw shut. The spear would have simply bounced off or broke on the head's scales, but Twilight, through the immense strain that was being put on her, redirected the spear with her own magic to send it crashing down on another head's mouth. The spear jabbed straight into the tongue, applying the poison.

"I... wow! What great timing, Twilight!", Rarity cheered as her town had just gotten a little bit safer thanks to one of her best friends.

"T...Thanks..."

Twilight collapsed on the ground, completely exhausted and drained after her efforts had gone into the magic barrier that she desperately tried to keep up.

The hydra seemingly didn't even notice that one of its heads had been defeated as they licked up the last of the magic feast, growling in satisfaction.

However, its hunger still grew, and it needed more.

Then, a spear flew out of nowhere with incredible strength and speed towards a head that still had its maw open after eating the magic barrier.

Rengar looked in astonishment as the spear flew straight through its tongue and right into the bottom of its jaw flesh, filling the mouth with blood, but pushing the poison deep into its bloodstream. And soon, its nervous system.

Applejack simply kicked her front hoof over the other, then tipped her hat over her eyes.

"No one's gonna mess with mah' friends. And ah'm gonna make sure of that. Monster or not, you get what you deserve.", Applejack bluntly muttered as two of the hydra's heads fell to the ground, braindead.

Rengar, at this point tightened the grip on his knife.

It was time for him and Fluttershy to make their kills.

While the two remaining heads split the other two dead heads evenly among themselves, Rengar rushed towards Fluttershy, who was still trying to gallop to assist in the fight.

"Fluttershy! Are you ready?!", Rengar looked back at the hydra.

"Y-Yes! I'm ready!", she responded, gripping the spear as tightly as she could in her hooves.

"Okay. I'm going to go for the alpha. You take care of the other head. We'll both strike at once. Now follow me."

The lion had motioned for Fluttershy to run with him towards the hydra, knife and spear in paw and hoof. As the hydra continued to eat away at its heads, suddenly, half way through their meal, a volley of what appeared to be crossbow bolts impacted on the hydra, simply bouncing off harmlessly on the heads. Turning towards the attack, the hydra could bare witness to a fleet of pegasi dressed in golden armor hovering in the skies, loading and firing off crossbows at the monster.

"What the...what are they?!", Rengar pointed at the pegasi.

"They're Canterlot Royal Guards! They must have seen he beast and have come to help!", Applejack managed to finally break a smile through this whole ordeal as soon, unicorns and earth ponies began to gallop through the streets, swords and shields at the ready.

However, Rengar still stood back, furious.

Military interference would only cause more situations to arise. The plan that he had was sure to work.

Then, a larger stallion stepped in front of the two. Tapping his spear on the ground, he held a hoof up.

"Ponyville has already been evacuated. No civilians-", the guard looked at Rengar, "...or lions are to remain here. The guardsponies have the situation under control."

Rengar could not believe what he was hearing. His plan had been going along so well, and they managed to weaken the hydra to just two heads. But now, the blasted ponies' military had to show up and basically tell him "buck off".

Rengar took a step forward.

"Out of my way! You know nothing of what your men are fighting!", Rengar moved to bump the guard aside, but was stopped when a sword was pointed at his throat.

"I don't think so."

Fluttershy could sense the anger in Rengar rising further, and further.

"Out of my way!"

"Alright, lion. I am Captain Golden Might. I don't know where in the name of tartarus you came from, but I very damn well outrank you. Put that knife down, and you will let us handle this matter.", the captain nudged the sword on Rengar.

Then, to Fluttershy's horror, the hydra had finished with its heads, and the monster bellowed again. This alpha and other remaining head suddenly sweeping around, smashing aside the earth ponies and the unicorns that were trying to keep a phalanx on it, and began to incinerate the pegasi above with twin jets of fire.

Rengar could see as well, and tried to break past the guard to deliver his share of the poison to the hydra, but his head was suddenly bashed by the hilt of the sword that Golden Might held.

Then, a massive roar burst from Rengar as he drew his knife, and slashed upwards at the guard. Holding his sword to block, the two blades clashed, causing Fluttershy to be able to slip away from the guard, just as Rengar had distracted him. From the corner of the lion's eye, he could see the pony make a beeline towards the hydra, just as he planned to distracted the captain.

Then, the guard tried to strike back. His sword came down...

...and suddenly fell in two.

Golden Might's eyes grew wide as the half of his blade clattered onto the dirt.

Then, Rengar took a hold of his neck, his sharp feline teeth protruding as he growled in the guard's face.

"Listen here, pony. I am a Champion from the League of Legends, outranking every military official on my world, and looking at you, it sure as hell is a title that towers over a petty guard like you. Now you will stay out of my way, or I will mount your head in my den...

...come to think of it, you aren't even worthy as a spoil from battle."

The lion threw the guard aside as he raced after Fluttershy towards the hydra, knife in paw. Looking up at the battle above, pegasi were beginning to retreat as the hydra pushed them off with multiple volleys of fire.

Eyeing a building to his side, he could see Fluttershy attempting to move in closer towards the monster while it was distracted with the guards. Rengar could feel the uneasiness and the fear building in her. But she was still approaching the hydra, spear ready to inject the poison.

The captain had recovered from the rustle that Rengar had given him as another guard approached him.

"Sir! The artillery have arrived! Shall I order them into position?"

The guard narrowed his eyes at Rengar, off in the distance.

"Do it, now. And hurry."

The captain ran towards the borders of the town, where ballistas were being rolled into their firing position. Surveying the artillary, he also noticed something else.

A glaive launcher. An artillery piece which launched a massive razor disk at its target. With its special Celestium blades, this disk could even travel through buildings if that was its intended target.

"Alright! Ballista crew! Take aim at the monster! Glaive crew! Follow up!"

The bolts of the over-sized crossbows were loaded into their slots, and the giant razor disk was fixed onto the launcher. The crews took aim with their artillery, aiming at the massive beast ahead of them.

"Open fire!"

The rapid succession of the ballistas' bolts pierced through the air, the giant arrows streaming towards the hydra. Rengar and Fluttershy looked up the see the massive bolts arrive at the hydra, simply bouncing off as the normal crossbows had done before.

Then, they saw the spinning glaive.

Fluttershy's eyes widened as she, as very few ponies would know about that happens when a hydra's head is sliced off.

However, at the direction the disk was hurtling, it would have been a complete miss between the two heads that were attacking the guards.

If only the alpha didn't notice the blade.

A smile bore its face.

It leaned in front of the disk.

"NO!", Fluttershy screamed as the disk tore straight through the scales, and the flesh, as well as the bone of the neck. The head fell off in a bloody shower, smashing onto the ground and covering the entire area in a thick red soup.

While the head ceased to move, the neck still held itself up rigidly.

To Rengar and Fluttershy's horror, the neck suddenly split down the middle in two, bringing two identical copies of the alpha's heads along with it. The transformation had become complete.

The hydra had gone from two heads to three.

And Rengar and Fluttershy had only two chances of applying their poison.

Fluttershy began to cower down with her spear.

"H...How are we going to stop it now...?"

Rengar took a look at the machete at his waist.

"A very good thing I brought this...let's go. We still have two doses of poison."

Fluttershy nodded as the two dashed towards the monster, with Rengar once again looking at the machete.

"It's been weeks since I have last used it... I know this isn't Summoner's Rift, but please. In any sort of name, I hope this blasted blade's cooldown has been refreshed by now...", Rengar thought in his head as his knife was poised, ready to deliver a killing blow.

The hydra suddenly turned to face its attackers, opening all three of its mouths to release a stream of electricity at the lion and the pony. Predicting its attack, the two split off in different directions, causing the hydra's aim to shift off balance and fire the arcs of lightning into two trees that they quickly ran behind.

Dashing again to keep the heads distracted, the two alpha heads tracked Rengar while the one normal head followed Fluttershy. As they were going in different directions, the body of the hydra couldn't dedicate itself to moving with its targets, as it would loose the other one.

Fluttershy had never galloped as fast in her life as she was running from the head that was following her. Spewing a beam of ice again, she narrowly avoided it by kicking herself to the left. Falling down on the ground, the spear dropped from her hooves and landed on the dirt a few feet away from her. Coughing up the dust that had entered her mouth, she opened her eyes to find the hydra's head, coming at full speed towards her, jaws extended for the kill.

She reached for the spear, but it was just out of her grasp. Looking up, right as the hydra was about to clamp down on her, she rolled to her side, picked the spear up, and held it straight up towards the hydra.

"HAAARRRAAAAHHHHH!"

"ROOOOOARRRRRR!!!"

The monstrous head impaled itself on its tongue against the spear, causing blood gush out and leak onto Fluttershy herself. Drenched in the blood, she could see the hydra groaning in pain as the spear still held itself in its tongue, still injecting its load of poison.

From the blood that had now covered her, to the exhaustion she had experienced throughout this whole ordeal, to once again defeating her own fears to save her friends and the lives of other ponies, she collapsed on the ground.

As Rengar was still trying to avoid the two other alpha heads snapping for him, he could notice that the other normal head had died.

Rengar couldn't believe his eye.

But deep down, he did.

"You've earned that one, Fluttershy."

As Rengar had said this to himself, he could see the other heads turning to its fallen. Instead of feasting on it, they simply ripped the head off to rid themselves of the weight, and caused the empty neck to become another nub of scales. Turning back to the lion, the alphas roared again as an arc of lightning blasted Rengar off of his feet, sending him rolling on the ground.

When he recovered, the hydras were right above him, snarling menacingly.

This time, the alphas would not take any chance.

They opened their mouths for two pillars of fire that would surely incinerate the lion to a crisp.

Rengar had other plans.

He muttered to himself.

"Focuuussssss..."

Then, the lion seemingly materialized away from the hydra's view as they scorched the earth in front of them. The massive inferno swirled around the ground, creating a massive tornado of fire that drilled at the area, incinerating everything around it to ashes.

However, Rengar had already avoided this attack. He was far, far away. They hydras scanned around them to find where the lion had gone off to, as the military was still keeping their distance away from the beast.

Completely invisible to the naked eye, Rengar moved through the town, unseen, and unheard as he had entered invisibility. Light rays bent around him, leaving the only trace of footprints that the hydra could not have noticed at its current size and height of its head off of the ground.

Drawing the knife, Rengar suddenly turned around and began to head back towards the monster. As he was invisible, something inside him brewed. Something inside him boiled.

The thrill of the hunt was arising in Rengar, talking hold of him. His heart pounded in his chest as his primal instincts began to share themselves with his deadly cunning, merging into a deadly duo.

As he was still hidden, the ferocity grew, and grew, and grew.

His grip on his knife couldn't have gotten any more strong. He could have just crushed the handle to pieces if it wasn't his Hunting Knife. His growls deepened and his eye narrowed.

With his one eye, he had always had vision of his surroundings, even with just one. His smell, hearing, and sight combined together once again to reveal every single object around him.

His teeth bared.

His knife was ready.

Rengar leaped.

The roar of the lion echoed through the town as he flew straight towards the hydra's tail. The beast itself couldn't realize what was happening as Rengar had uncloaked from his invisibility. He ran up the hydra's tail with his knife in between in teeth, dropping to all fours to maximize his speed and run up the hydra.

The guards suddenly stopped firing their weapons from afar.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?! Open fire, damnit!", Golden Might ordered again. However, he caught the sight of the lion racing up the back of the gigantic monster.

He just stood there, a tiny smile growing on his face.

"Let's see Mr. 'Champion' get eaten alive..."

Rengar's brain was becoming overloaded with the ferocity that Rengar had developed, sending him into a massive frenzy as he was beginning to climb the neck of one of the alpha's heads. Knife in his teeth, he quickly made haste towards the hydra's head, his primal senses still intermixing with his agility and logic.

It was too late for the hydra to realize what was about to happen.

The head turned around in astonishment as Rengar roared, leaping straight onto its face. The hydra opened its mouth in an attempt to bite the lion off, as the lion simply would not be shaken off.

Then, the hydra managed to snap, and close its jaws around Rengar's entire figure, disappearing into the mouth of the hydra.

The guards gasped, Applejack and Rarity who were still escorting Twilight away from her exhaustion had opened their mouths and eyes wide in horror, and Golden Might gave a little chuckle.

As well, Fluttershy had managed to come back awake after a short amount of time, just in time to witness Rengar disappearing into the hydra's mouth. Her eyes widening, she shouted at the top of her lungs.

"RENGAR!"

The alpha head gave a twisted smile, having just eaten the lion who had directed this assault on it.

Then, the smile disappeared.

Inside of the mouth, Rengar was still very much alive. He had stayed near the back of the throat where he could not be chewed.

While inside, he roared inside:

"NICE TRY, BEAST!"

His ferocity suddenly surged through his body as he took his Hunting Knife, aimed it above the tongue, and slammed it down into the hydra. The monster roared in agony as the giant knife put an equally giant hole in its tongue. Keeping his grip on the tongue with his claws, he repeatedly jabbed the knife over and over again into the hydra, pushing more and more poison into its system. Blood sprayed and splashed inside the mouth as the hydra couldn't shake Rengar off due to his entrenchment inside with his claws.

The alpha head roared one more time as Rengar sliced the teeth into an exit, sliding down its neck and using his claws to scratch himself a slower descending speed.

The ponies all gazed in astonishment as the lion emerged from the mouth and managed to land back on the ground, his knife still in hand.

Behind him, the head collapsed on the earth, dead.

As much as a thrilling kill that was, Rengar was far from out of the woods.

The very last alpha head, furious at its other heads had been slaughtered by the ponies and by Rengar suddenly shot a pillar of fire into the air out of rage, and rushed after the lion with an undying bloodlust.

Forget Canterlot.

It was going to murder that lion.

Rengar barely avoided a blast of ice that was sent his way, him looking down at the machete on his waist.

"Come on you bastard blade! Work already!", he roared as he unsheathed the machete.

The hydra pursued, smashing apart buildings and guards that stood in its way of the lion. Rengar couldn't go invisible again, as his primal surge was no longer present within him.

Looking down at the machete, he slid into an alleyway to juke the beast, but it simply blasted apart the tight space with his giant foot.

"Damnit! Work!", Rengar unsheathed the machete, continuing the dodge the hydra's stomps and numerous ranged attacks that it was throwing at him non-stop.

Running as fast as all four of his paws could carry him, he took the machete in his teeth as he tried to bring himself away from the chasing beast.

Alas, the alpha head was not going to let this lion escape. Not as long as it was still breathing. And by hell, it was going to make the hunter's death all the more painful.

Running into the completely destroyed space that was the town square, Rengar looked left and right for any place to put between him and the hydra. While he searched with increasing desperation, he found a tiny glint in the dirt near a demolished house.

The hourglass.

Making a break for the hourglass, the hydra had just about caught up with him, ready to tear the lion in half. Diving ahead to break away from the hydra, he took the machete from his teeth, held it with a grip that would splinter a tree, and turned over the hourglass in his paw.

Another bright flash of golden light burst from him as he become completely encased in the magical golden aura, unable to move as the golden statue that he had become. Instead of futilely chomping down on the seemingly indestructible golden statue that lay before him, it simply waited.

The lion was indestructible, but there was a massive drawback.

He was completely immobilized. He couldn't move, he couldn't see, he couldn't even think.

He was in stasis.

As the humming grew louder and louder, it signaled that the hourglass's magical properties would wear off soon.

The hydra angled its head above and opened its mouth.

Rengar suddenly broke out of the statue as the magic disappeared, looking up above to see the alpha, head raised high and ready to strike.

Then, he heard something.

Looking down, the machete began to glow in runic energy, beginning to build up in Rengar's body as the droning sound of the rune began to get louder and louder.

"FINALLY!", Rengar suddenly dropped the machete.

He took his right paw and clenched it into a fist.

A bright orange light began to escape from the gaps in his hand, and the sky began to shift above him. Clouds instantly circled above, a harsh orange energy beginning to take center of the swirling clouds in the sky. The energy grew in size and in power in mere miliseconds.

As Rengar saw the hydra's head lash down to finish him off, he threw his energy-filled fist down.

A blinding explosion smashed onto the hydra's head as a massive pillar of pure energy erupted down from the sky, pile-driving straight into the hydra's head. Every single pony held their hooves to their eyes as the blinding light surged from the hydra.

As fast as the pillar of energy had struck the hydra, the light faded to reveal the head of the hydra, still holding its jaw at Rengar, ready to kill him.

However, something was different.

A massive smoking hole protruded from the top of the alpha's head, straight through to the underneck where the blast of energy had exited.

The smite had finally killed the hydra.

The head collapsed on the ground, the burning holes too burnt to a crisp to expel any blood. The massive body lay there, completely limp as pure magic began to leak out from the body.

The guards and the Elements gazed in shock at the massive beast, finally slain.

It was all over.

Rengar panted, dropped to his knees, and finally smiled.

"Aced."

It didn't take the tiny dragon to realize something had happened while he was away looking for gems for Rarity. From the burnt and demolished houses, the guards attempting to sort something out, and finding that blood covered the area, he uneasily ventured into the town.

"Woah...what the-?"

Upon walking into the town square, he bared witness to a massive lion, standing on top of the body of a gigantic monster, the largest he has ever seen in his life. The lion seemed exhausted, clutching a giant knife and a machete in its paws. The beast was something that made the ursa major look like a guppy compared to a shark. And it was laying dead in the middle of Ponyville.

Dropping the gems that he had collected, he shouted:

"Oh come on! What did I miss this time?!"

The Princesses Have Connected

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Rengar slicked his Hunting Knife clean of the thick blood that had drenched it before. He looked down over the massive beast that he and the Elements had killed after so much effort and pain and breathed a grunt.

"Now I know I've made the right choice to come here..."

Picking himself up from his knees, he surveyed the damage around the town. Houses and trees lay flattened or in ashes. Footprints cratered the entire area, seeming to be craters from meteors. The air was now tainted with the smell of thick and oily blood and pieces of the monster lay strewn in different locations. Sniffling around, he turned back towards a familiar figure that approached him.

"It's...over..."

Rengar leaped down from the slain hydra and pawed over towards Fluttershy, also drenched in blood.

"Yes, and you did very well, pony.", Rengar nodded his head in respect, "At first, I didn't expect you to even look at the damned monster. But perhaps, ponies are a different story than what meets the eye."

Though Rengar's pride was nearly unmatched, he had learned the very valuable lesson to not judge a book by its cover. Doing so nearly got him killed outside the League of Legends when he had his first encounter with that ancient yordle hunter, and many times he had nearly met his end while fighting within the League.

The yordles are crafty devils, and Rengar had learned that the hard way.

"Oh, well, thank you Rengar.", Fluttershy tried to beam without remembering what she had experienced prior.

"Let's get cleaned up and survey the dama-"

"Oh come on! What did I miss this time?!"

The two turned around to see a tiny creature waddle towards the pair. A purple lizard-like runt with green frills protruding from his head, back, and tail along with a pair of tiny fangs ran towards them. The lizard looked over all of the damage of the town, then at the gigantic behemoth of a monster that lay dead before him.

"Spike? Ohhhh...good thing that you were away.", Fluttershy trotted over towards the confused creature, apparently named "Spike". Rengar wondered if this little creature was of any importance like the Elements of Harmony. Quite possibly not.

"W-What happened here?!", the juvenile sounding voice blurted from Spike's mouth. Fluttershy was quick to respond.

"Well, it's a long story, but we..."

Fluttershy's voice trailed off as Rengar approached the two. He bent down towards the lizard, then asked Fluttershy.

"Friend of yours?"

The pony nodded then replied, "He's Twilight's assistant, and one of our best friends. He's also the personal courier of all letters sent to Princess Celestia and Luna by Twilight."

The tiny dragon's eyes drew wide as the massive and hulking lion turned his attention towards him.

"F-Fluttershy? Who's this...?"

After glancing back at Rengar, she decided that they should regroup, get cleaned up, and talk afterwards.

Applejack and Rarity, who had been carrying the nearly passed-out Twilight had also been walking through the town, attempting to find out where the rest of their friends had gone off to. It didn't take them too long to spot Pinkie Pie carrying her own injured pony, Rainbow Dash. Rengar, who was accompanied by Fluttershy had found them soon afterwards. Deciding that a good place to clean up was the communal showers by Twilight, if it was still standing the group headed off for it.

Being located near the outskirts of town, the hydra hadn't rampaged through it, but the busted water pipes from the stomping meant that only one shower head still sprayed water. And cold water at that.

Taking their turns, the ponies washed themselves off, some getting another shade of green as the water that trailed into the drain was far more red than clear. Stepping out, the seven came face to face with a rather impatient dragon.

"So...is anypony gonna tell me what happened?"

Twilight looked up at Rengar, then down at Spike.

"Spike, this is our new...?", she looked at Rengar, who gave the face that told her he couldn't care nonetheless, "Our new friend, Rengar. Rengar, this is Spike, my faithful assistant and a very clever little dragon when you get to know him."

At this point, Twilight bumped Rengar's back so that he would step forward and personally greet him.

Annoyed, he let a low growl. The dragon instead walked up to him and nervously held out his clawed hand.

"Nice to meet you, Rengar. Any friend of Twilight's is a friend of mine. Even if they're...what are you exactly?"

"Spike!"

"What? I'm really curious!"

Rengar looked at the tiny shrimp, then bent down.

"I'm a hunter. The best there is, little Spike.", the lion found a little amusement at getting the tiny dragon to shrink down even more, but decided that this was the wrong thing to do.

"I am Rengar, the greatest hunter that you will ever lay eyes on, little dragon. The same hunter that had slain the giant hydra that rampaged into your town."

"HEY!"

The other six ponies shouted in unison, most certainly annoyed by Rengar's behavior.

Rengar exhaled.

"We put an end to the hydra."

Spike, still very confused from the entire atmosphere still grasped onto the bare straws of the explanation that was given to him. Before he was able to speak, armored ponies began to rush past them all, most likely to sort out and clean up the giant beast, as well as assess the obvious high collateral destruction that had fallen on the town. As the guards ran to and fro, Rengar suddenly remembered a task that he had to do, and quickly ran off.

Seeing Rengar disappear, Pinkie suddenly broke the ice.

"Ohhh, I'm so glad that all of you are okay!", she quickly scooped up her friends in a Pinkie-strength hug, which quickly earned a yelp from Rainbow Dash, as he wing was still injured. Releasing her grip, Rainbow Dash still chuckled at her friends.

"I still can't believe we pulled that one off. Did you see all of that?! We're like warriors!"

Rarity piped up.

"Please, Rainbow Dash. We're nothing of that sort. We had to defend Ponyville and stop others from being harmed. And though I'm not a fan of the methods we had to...employ, we did what we must. We're not anything like warriors or anything remotely barbaric as that."

"I agree with Rarity", Twilight managed to regain her senses a short time ago, "We did what we had to do, and thank Celestia we succeeded."

"But, without Rengar, then we wouldn't have been able to do a thing...doesn't think kinda scare ya'll?", Applejack looked left and right.

"I for one don't think we should dwell on that. We stopped a disaster, whether how slim the chances were or were not. I honestly think I could use a little break from all of this chaos. Maybe a Pinkie party is something that the doctor might prescribe?"

Before the mare in subject broke out her signature artillery of party favors, the ponies suddenly felt a bit more warm in their midst.

A very familiar kind of warm.

The ponies and the dragon turned around, and came to behold the majestic white pony with her ethereal flowing mane that lightly floated down from the sky.

"Princess Celestia!", the ponies and dragon cried in unison, the each took their place bowing to their great leader, earning a tiny giggle from her. Apparently, they still though it appropriate to bow down, despite her saying that it didn't matter to her either way.

"Hello, my little ponies, "Celestia's voice seemed to cure any tension left in the Elements just from the soothing aura it seemed to emit, "I was summoned by Twilight Sparkle."

Looking down at her former student, she continued.

"Spike hadn't sent the letter, and the details inside were quite alarming.", Celestia gazed over the town, "And what has transpired here certainly calls for those details to be the truth."

"Princess Celestia, thank goodness you came. Quite a bit has happened already, as you can see, but we managed to resolve the situation. In perhaps...less favorable ways.", Twilight pawed the ground a little nervously.

"Well, it does certainly appear that whatever happened was certainly worth me coming from North Cowrea to investigate."

"Oh no! Did I cut off your diplomatic trip?!"

"Oh not at all, Twilight. Cow-Jong-Un is actually a very fair, just, and kind leader of his people. This is a big lesson that I cannot trust the rumors of griffons to assume that North Cowrea was developing spells of mass destruction. The relationships went very well without incident and we even played a little bit of chess."

Celestia whispered in Twilight's ear.

"First time somepony checkmated me in over 250 years."

Then, another being descended from the sky. Having the opposite colored coat of her taller and older sister, the other alicorn bore an extremely dark blue coat with a mane that seemed to hold the entire galaxy inside of it.

"Ah, greetings Elements of Harmony. I've done a quick survey of the damage of Ponyville. We will have to pull a lot of our building materials in Canterlot's reserves if we will want to rebuild from the ashes and splinters Ponyville had become.", Princess Luna breathed a sigh of frustration, as apparently, Ponyville still remained a hotspot for trouble.

"Sister, what did you find?"

"A giant monster. It looked like a completely over-sized hydra from the looks of it. And when I went near the body, or one of the pieces of it, my horn felt...cold. As if the magic wanted to run back inside of me. So odd..."

"Welp, with a lot of help from our new friend, we managed to stop that giant monster before it got to Canterlot!", Twilight beamed at her mentor.

"Ah, a new friend? Wonderful, Twilight Sparkle. But how did another pony, even as the Elements of Harmony stop something so-"

At that point, Rengar had come around a corner, a gigantic sword in his hand.

No...it wasn't a sword. It was one of the hydra's many teeth, ripped from its gums as a very suitable trophy for the likes of Rengar.

"Would you look at the size of this thing! I don't think that the real Baron Nashor has teeth this...-", Rengar's voice trailed off as he looked at the two taller ponies that stood with the Elements. They were certainly far more unique than the other ponies that he met, especially with their height, mane, and the fact that they bore both long, elegant horns and giant, powerful wings.

Rengar looked back at Twilight.

"Friends of yours?"

Before the youngest princess could scold the lion for acting so rude in front of the goddesses that ruled Equestria, she found that the look on those very leaders were not of annoyance, but of something completely different.

The princesses bore the expression of being dumbfounded, as if they couldn't believe their own eyes. And when they lived for over 1000 years, you can bet that they had seen it all. But here, they stared at Rengar as if he was some sort of all-powerful galaxy spawned god of time. Twilight could even detect the slight hint of insignificance from them.

Insignificance? How?

Then, Celestia spoke.

"I...I've seen you somewhere before. But I cannot place my hoof on it...", she tried to look over the lion again.

"I have too. I know you from somewhere else."

Rengar looked at the Elements of Harmony.

They looked back at him, unsure of what to say.

Rengar spoke to break the silence.

"That depends. From where I come from, every single soul knows me. Here, it's the opposite story.", the lion spoke.

"But we know you. I know I know you.", Celestia seemed to drop any ounce of formality to identify this lion.

Luna's eyes suddenly grew wide, then she whispered into her sister's ear, having her's grow in size as well.

Immediately, the two princesses stepped back. Then, Celestia spoke.

"I have no knowledge of how you are here, but we honor you", much to the surprise of their subjects, the two princesses actually bowed at Rengar.

"We welcome you, Champion of the League of Legends.", Celestia spoke after she rose.

"We welcome thee, Pridestalker."

The Elements of Harmony had absolutely no clue what was unfolding in front of them.

Neither did Rengar.

The trip to the majestic kingdom of Canterlot was made fairly easy due to a few carriages that Princess Celestia summoned from the guards. Twilight Sparkle and Rengar were told to climb aboard as the rest of the Elements and Spike were to help assess the damage and get the citizens to arrive back at their demolished town. Twilight could only imagine how grief-stricken most of the townsponies would be once they found that their homes were destroyed. Rengar imagined hunting monsters, as usual.

However, once they got closer to the castle, Rengar's eyes gazed over the intertwining architecture of Canterlot Castle, seemingly appearing to be part of the mountain that it was build upon with such naturality. The white marble glowed from the sunlight and down below, he could see the city, sprawling with ponies that wore clothes that held an elegant aura, unlike Ponyville, which no ponies seemingly wore clothes.

"This castle puts the entire kingdom of Demacia to shame...", Rengar told himself in his head as the carriages began to travel towards the castle.

A landing pad was the destination of the carriages and Rengar was let out, as his was separate from the Princesses. Walking out, the guards payed no attention to him, seemingly gazing ahead. But deep down, Rengar knew that the guards wanted to watch him with their undying attention, despite their training.

After all, he was the most unique being to ever arrive in Canterlot.

Then, several guards trotted up to Rengar, two levitating a chest.

"From Canterlot's law, all guests are to surrender their weapons for safekeeping during their visit.", one guard approached Rengar and opened up the chest.

Rengar already had a very bad opinion of these guards, especially from the incident in Ponyville where the military of Canterlot nearly ruined Rengar's plan due to their incompetence.

Or possible it was due to their captain, Golden Might...or something like that.

Nonetheless, Rengar was used to handing his weapons over, especially since he had to do so regularly at the Institute of War within the League of Legends. He grunted as he took his Hunting Knife, as large as the guard's own sword, and placed it in the chest. Rengar then began to take off various tools of killing. Smaller daggers, the machete, several bolas, vials of poisons, and his wrist-mounted blades.

"Dear Celestia...", Rengar could hear one of the guards mutter to himself. Once Rengar had removed the majority of the weapons, he felt a lot...lighter.

Huh. Perhaps he always carried too much blades around.

No. One could never have too many blades.

"Thank you for your cooperation. The Princesses are awaiting your presence.", the guard spoke as the chest levitated away with them.

However, Rengar still held onto the hourglass, and the weapon nopony could take from him, his claws. He ventured deeper into the castle, and came across multiple guards that walked on patrol, and the occasional servant.

"Hmph...comfort. It breeds weakness..."

Rengar scowled as he walked on. He earned glances from the guards, and especially the servants as he continued his way. One servant even went in the opposite direction so that she wouldn't have to pass him. Rengar plodded deeper into the giant castle, and eventually met Twilight, who stepped out of a door.

"Oh! There you are!", she smiled and trotted up to him.

"Where are the rest of the alicorns?", Rengar asked bluntly.

"Luna is currently attending to a report that had recently come back. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes. Celestia on the other hand...I think she's chewing out some guard. I think it was the one- the captain that came into Ponyville.", Twilight explained.

"I would do more than just 'chew him out' for what the idiot did.", Rengar scowled again, his second time in Canterlot.

"Well...I mean...yeah! I honestly would to.", Twilight nodded her head. The more she talked to this lion, the more fascinating this hunter was to her. However, she managed to catch on to Rengar's attitude once they arrived in Canterlot, "I can take it that Canterlot isn't your kind of place. Honestly...it's not really mine either."

Rengar looked down at the princess.

"Really. And why is that? I believed you ponies are obsessed with luxary."

"Well...no. Not really. Even though I'm a princess, I kinda find that Canterlot is a bit to..."

"Posh?"

"I would have used the word, 'proper' for myself. But yeah, it kind of is posh.", she smiled up at Rengar, "And...thank you so much for helping out in Ponyville. Without you, I don't think we would have known what to do. Not even more for that fact. I guess it really was in the luck of a blue moon you were lurking around..."

"Did you not forget our deal?"

"Of course I haven't. I'm very sure I can give you a royal pardon to the hunting that you have been doing...but then there's the threatening of an Element of Harmony. That's something I cannot forgive you for, and punishment will have to be dealt accordingly for that."

Rengar narrowed his eye at the floor. He had expected as much. As they rounded a corner, Rengar could hear voices through the gigantic wooden door that lay in front of them. He held up his arm to stop Twilight.

"What's up?"

"She's still scolding the guard."

"Really? I can't hear a thing. Tell me what they're saying!", Twilight suddenly beamed like a little girl as Rengar's sensitive ears picked up the sounds.

"A Champion from the League of Legends?! How was I supposed to know that this...cat had more authority than me?! I don't even know what the League of Legends is!"

"That is not what matters. What does matter is the fact that an Element of Harmony was accompanying this lion. The Elements of Harmony, when present, are to be given a briefing on the situation, or they should be briefing you. Not ordered to be pushed off by a captain who clearly doesn't know the situation."

"But-"

"And not to mention your artillery. The glaive launcher? Tell me if I'm wrong, but that weapon piece is a prototype. Forbid you if we had lost that weapon to the hydra."

"Your Highness, I-"

"Then, there's the hydra. A hydra. Hy-dra. I do recall that all guards are given training to combating various monsters, as it is one of the most common emergencies that arise in Ponyville. And would you like to know what has the second longest section?"

Golden Might held his tounge.

"The hydra. Very clearly, in bold letters, with red printing states:"

THE SEVERMENT OF A HYDRA'S HEAD WILL RESULT IN THE HYDRA GROWING TWO FUNCTIONAL HEADS BACK.

Golden Might continued to keep his mouth shut, but still looked up at the alicorn, as the alicorn looked down to the pony.

"Your misconduct and incompetence will come at a price. A very steep one. Ponies could have died due to this hydra, and so could an Element of Harmony."

Celestia spoke her punishment.

"You are hereby demoted to Lieutenant, Golden Might."

"What?! This is outrageous-"

"Are you defying me, soldier?", Celestia kept her unforgiving eyes piercing into Golden Might.

"I- Your Highness, you can't do this-"

"Vice Sergeant."

...

"I understand, Your Highness."

"I could have decommissioned you, soldier. But you are a talented pony. Perhaps you will right your wrongs, and make your way back up. But I should have known giving you that promotion to Captain was a mistake. You are not capable of such leadership for a very long time. Prove to me that you can improve, and you shall see yourself climbing back up again. Understood?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Dismissed."

The voices stopped, and Rengar had managed to relay every word to Twilight, who was beaming from the gossip.

"Oooooh! That guard got destroyed!", Twilight laughed along Rengar's side.

Even Rengar had to take immense pleasure from Golden Might's demotions. Being knocked down from a Captain to a Vice Sergeant is a gigantic fall from the mountain of authority, a mountain which only gets harder and harder to climb.

Then, the doors opened, and Golden Might walked out. He eyed Rengar, keeping a blank face, but even the most incompetent of ponies could know Golden Might's thoughts.

"You did this."

True or not, Rengar only chuckled, souring the demoted soldier's mood even further.

"Twilight? Rengar? Please come inside.", Celestia's tone suddenly spelled out a warm and loving voice, one completely opposite as the one utilized before.

When Twilight and Rengar entered, a bright flash of blue covered the throne room in light, and Princess Luna appeared beside her older sister.

"I apologize, I just had to finish up that report from our mining."

"No concern, though maybe we should be a bit more concerned with a League of Legends Champion in our midst, Lulu.", Celestia giggled a bit.

"But...I still don't know what all of this talk about this 'League of Legends' is about..."

Celestia and Luna levitated up two more cushions.

"Sit, please. I'll give you a little backstory of our friend here..."

"Okay! Okay! I don't mean to interrupt, but Rengar's a part of a massive league that holds the greatest fighters in his world, who fight on organised battlegrounds for reasons raging from homeland political superiority, hometown representation, harboring and containing dangerous criminals, and for those who just want to plain kill things?", Twilight began to run down what her former mentor was explaining to her.

"Yes, you have that part correct, Twilight."

"And...Rengar, literally stalks around in brush and bushes, and leaps out to ambush not just common gladiators or soldiers, but literally beings of pure arcane magic, the literal incarnation of war, and a roughly six-year old girl that has magical properties so immense that she could overtake my own powers when she grows up?!"

"Not to mention, literal gods", Rengar pointed out.

Twilight placed her hoof on her head, trying to absorb the fact that Rengar could be very likely to be the most battle hardened and honed warrior on their entire world.

Well, save for the princesses with their one thousand years of experience. But even still. If she could see Rengar go toe to toe with Celestia...she would feel slightly inclined to place her bits on Rengar instead.

Slightly.

"Wow...so...Rengar. You actually..."

"Yes, I've killed gods by hiding in a bush and jumping out. They've killed me too, as well. But I learn. I learn quick. And I kill them quicker."

"I...how can you die but come back to life? No spell that i know of brings anypony back to life. Not to mention, in perfect physical form."

Celestia spoke up.

"You see, when a Champion heads into the Fields of Justice to fight with the others, a summoner represents them. Their job is to communicate to the other summoners to tell them what is happening on the battlefield, teleport them to their initial starting point, and revive them once they are slain.", Celestia explained.

"Wow...it must be a very big privilege to be summoner...", Twilight gazed at Rengar.

"Hmph. Most really don't deserve their status. I cannot tell you how many battles were lost because summoners on one team bickered and argued while the other team managed to take advantage and have their champions seek out the other opponents, knowing it will infuriate the other summoners even more.", Rengar displayed his clear distaste for most of the mages that were the summoners.

"I really do agree. It really is harsh what these individuals say to one another...", Luna sighed.

"Really? What do they say?". Twilight asked the princesses.

At this point, the two alicorns looked at each other with a bit of concern in their eyes. Apparently, what these "summoners" said could really be too harsh for her?

Then, Rengar spoke what they say.

"Good game, trash team."

"Stop feeding you fucking faggot, surrender at twenty minutes."

"Can you fucking hit an ultimate you tard?"

"Laugh out loud, I'm going to feed now"

"This Lee Sin."

"Fuck you, you never ganked for me."

"Mid or feed."

"Top or away from keyboard."

"I only play Teemo."

"You fucking feeding piece of shit, I hope you get gunned down in the street like the degenerate trash that you are, and when you are on life support, I'll unplug it to charge my cell phone."

"I deserve Challenger."

Once Rengar had finished up his phrases, Twilight's mouth hung open at the vulgarity and harshness of what these summoners said to each other. She had never, ever heard of such language in her life, nor could she ever think that a single pony could spit out so much swearing in one sentence.

"They...really say this?"

Celestia nodded and smiled.

"It's a little amusing, actually."

Twilight shook her head.

"But...how do you know about this whole League of Legends?"

Celestia began by clearing her throat.

"Well, the summoners were able to travel to different plains of existence to find certain potential champions. That is how they managed to contact The Void, and then have champions that that dimension fight in their own. One time...I managed to send a request to partake in the League of Legends as a potential candidate to supply them with champions, so we could have a voice through another dimension in political affairs. But..."

"But what?", Twilight asked.

"...they said we didn't have anything worthy enough to be considered a champion.", Celestia replied sheepishly, "And me and my sister couldn't, since we had to kingdom to run, and travel between dimensions isn't an easy thing to do. Save for The Void. So...we were instead given permission to spectate the battles that go on."

"It's been our favorite past time for a few years.", Luna added, "You really should watch it sometime with us, Twilight Sparkle. There are so many unique beings that fight...if only their written lore was that fleshed out."

"Wow...maybe I'll give it a watch. For research purposes.", Twilight added to the end of her sentence, "But Rengar, shouldn't you be fighting in the League?"

The other princesses turned around.

"Yes, I'm curious about that too.", Celestia eyes Rengar, awaiting for an answer.

"As do I.", Luna nodded as well.

Rengar huffed and breathed in.

"I retired."

The princesses' eyes widened at this comment.

"Retired?! From the League?! Why and how?!"

Annoyed at this outburst, Rengar narrowed his eyes.

"Well...as a great hunter within the League, I hunted the same monsters for years. Bramblebacks, Kurgs, Sentinals, The Gromp, and occasionally a dragon or the reconstructed form of the Baron Nashor. However, as time passed, even the champions I hunted were beginning to get a bit stale. Lee Sin dashes away? Get into a bush and leap at him. Garen runs away? A bola solves that problem. Basically, everything was the same...it grew so...tedious. Plus, the summoners began to wear down on me."

"Go on.", Celestia encouraged.

"Normally, a champion wouldn't retire so easily...nor would they usually want to. But because I didn't fight under a banner, and my frustration was beginning to show in matches, especially after they tried to send me off on breaks to cool myself off, the heads of the Council granted my retirement from the League. But aside from hunting the monsters on Summoner's Rift, I've hunted everything. Quite possible everything on the world of Valoran. So, I had to find a new place to hunt. But I did not know of such a place. However, I overheard about summoners making contact with a new dimension, one that could possibly filled with champions. I then came to realize now that this land was called-"

"Equestria."

"Correct, Twilight. I wanted to go there to see what I could hunt. But I could not ask the summoners, as I was no longer affiliated with the League, though I remain a champion. The Void was not an option for...obvious reasons."

The princesses seemed to know about Rengar's reasoning, as they seemed to get a bit more pale at the mention of it.

"So, I turned to an odd choice. One who knows interdimensional travel, and is a champion within the League as well. One that doesn't speak in the way we can hear him."

"Wait, do you mean...", Luna asked.

"Yes, Bard, The Wandering Caretaker. I ventured to seek him on top of The Mountain of Temperance. When I got up there, I couldn't understand him, but I could tell that he was expecting me. Bard then put his hand out, palming to the ground. For the first time in my life, I meditated, and I could see this world inside of my mind. Forests, civilization, ...beasts... However, Bard kept speaking to me in a tongue I could not decipher. Then, before I could know what he said, he tapped his drum once, put his hand on a boulder, and a golden portal appeared. I bid my farewell, and I ventured through his magical journey."

"And then...", Celestia wanted to hear more.

"And I arrived near Griffonstone. Lived there for a few years, then departed in search of a greater hunt. And that's where I came to the Everfree Forest, where I met Zecora. Zecora was the only inhabitant I could trust to keep my secret, as she felt vulnerable from the enlarged population of the animals. Then...I am here. Discussing my story with three pony princesses.", Rengar chuckled and leaned back.

Twilight, Celestia, and Luna sure had a lot to take in.

"Fascinating! I really wish i could get that written down! Could you start from the beginning again?", Twilight levitated a scroll with a feather in ink to write.

"Perhaps Rengar is already worn from his journeys and the recent hydra attack. Perhaps you should give him a rest.", Celestia smiled at her once-student.

"At least Celestia could take a hint.", Rengar thought.

"Oh! Sorry!"

"It is no problem. But Twilight, I do have a task for you, even though I no longer give them to you, you should find this one rather necessary."

"I can tell. Survey the damage of the Everfree and make a report. I was just going to get to that.", Twilight nodded.

"She still takes the words right out of your mouth, sister.", Luna giggled, earning one from Celestia as well.

"Rengar, thank you for this wonderful exchange of stories and your experiences within the League. We shall see you soon!", Celestia waved at Rengar after he and Twilight had stood to leave."

"Farewell, alicorns.", Rengar replied back.

Twilight had gone out of the throne room before Rengar, but before he could exit, Celestia and Luna stopped him.

"Before you go...could you say...you know...", Celestia started.

"That line?", Luna asked with a great smile.

Internally, Rengar rolled his eyes. However, he could find himself wanting to chuckle with his new "fans".

Turning around and placing his foot on a chest for a pose of nobility, he shouted:

"Tonight, we hunt!"

The princesses squealed with joy.

His new demotion, to the contrary, was not the largest thing affecting his rotten mood currently. To Golden Might, it was that damned lion. That. Lion. How dare that a beast like though could possible have any more authority than him. What a disgrace that this kingdom could brandish to actually allow him into their castle. If he were to have his way, he would carve him into a trophy and mount him on his own quarter's fireplace.

But now he didn't have a Captain's Quarters. He now slept in the Officer's Barracks.

Oh how he wanted to slay that beast, begging for merciful death, only to be deprived of it and be subject to the torment of his own suffering.

It would be glorious.

However, he had other businesses to attend to.

Looking both ways, he opened a door. Steeping inside of the Military Project Development Room, he found that the room had no staff in it. Just one pony.

Exactly how he arranged.

"Gadget, I have arrived."

The head weapons technician, Clockwork Gadget turned around.

"Ah, Sergeant Golden Might, I've been expecting you."

Then, Golden Might pushed back Gadget, slamming him on a table.

"If I tell you to refer to me as General, you will do so."

Gadget nodded frantically, and was released. Once he recovered, he began to speak.

"Come for the prototypes, I see?"

Golden nodded.

"Exactly. I need to outfit my troops with the best things you have right now. A new threat has emerged, and I don't want it interfering with my operations."

Gadget looked sideways.

"But your troops have state of the art gear. What could I-"

"My other troops."

Then, Gadget nodded again, understanding.

"Of course, of course. I apologize. Please, follow me."

The scientist lead the once-Captain through the laboratories, exotic weapons adorning the walls and tables to one day be included within Canterlot's growing military strength.

Then, the two came to a rack filled with odd looking rifles of some sort.

"What are these?"

"HT-MK3 Rifles. A new technological breakthrough thanks to yours truly. This rifle fires out a magic-infused projectile that could blast apart a mantacore to smithereens with just one shot...or perhaps... a griffon... or lion.", Gadget smiled.

"Incredible."

"It's a new technology. Highly advanced tech that is fueled by magic. I've dubbed it "Hextech". What do you think?"

"I think I need all of them.", Golden smiled maliciously.

"Of course. Over here, we have the Optical Enhancement Totem. Running on Hextech like the rifles, it projects a field of vision that can reveal anything within a 30-yard radius. Including anything that could be classified as 'invisible'."

Golden Might really liked the sound of that. Perhaps that lion would be of no concern after all with this kind of gear.

"What's that over there?", Golden Might pointed at a rather large weapon sitting on a table.

"Ah, I thought you might be interested in that.", Gadget trotted over towards the weapon of interest.

"This right here is the HT-134 Rapid Fire Rotary Gun. Utilizing an even more powerful cartridge than the muskets, a single shot could blast a tree to fragments. But that isn't the real beauty of this gun. That would be multiple barrels that you see here. Self-loading and spin when firing, pumping out a legendary fire rate of over fifty shots every second."

Golden Might's eyes widened at this marvelous weapon.

"Unbelievable. Fifty shots every second."

"Yes. And if the wielder is a unicorn, it can utilize the magic of the wielder to keep on firing without a reload. And seeing that you are a unicorn...that would be no problem for you."

Golden Might was liking this. He was liking this a lot. Too bad that the guards will be stuck with crossbows for a while. He was going to clear Gadget of his inventory.

"I'm very impressed."

"So...about the price of these prototypes...I was think the payment should be about..."

Gadget's voice trailed off as he looked up to see himself looking down the barrel of his very own Hextech Musket. Looking around, he could see that Gadget had put up a sound-nullifying spell around the two, ensuring his murder would not be heard.

Inside of the sphere of silence, Gadget could only hear one last thing.

"Here's your payment."

KA-KRACK!

The walls of the laboratory were now decorated very fondly in a new shade of red as Gadget's head existed no more, but only a mangled stump of his neck was left. At once, ponies that were disguised as guards entered the labs and began to clean the walls, move the body, and pack up the weapons into carts, making sure to cover them with tarps. Then, after managing to destroy any evidence by using a fire-starting spell from Golden Might, they exited the labs with the carts full of prototype arms. Once anypony managed to catch on that there was a massive blaze inside the Military Project Development Room, Golden Might and his ponies headed off for the Everfree Forest.

"Alright, stallions, let's see what we can catch today."

Invading The Jungle

View Online

One only had to take a quick glance at the damage that the monstrous hydra had caused to the forestland. Where the hydra had rampaged, a huge trench snaked towards Ponyville, highlighting the hydra's failed rampage as it attempted to make its way towards Canterlot. Nonetheless, it make a very easy starting point to begin the damage survey to the forest. But more importantly to Rengar, he would now find out if he could still hunt.

With him, Princess Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy accompanied him into the Everfree Forest, with Rainbow Dash flying above to survey the area with a pegasus's-eye-view. Heading into the forest, they quickly noticed the damage that was evident around them. Trees were burnt to ashes, frozen solid, or scorched by blasts of electricity. Charred corpses of animals were littered around the trench where the hydra moved through the forest as well.

"Dear Celestia...", Twilight muttered as she looked over the animals that had perished. Some recognizable and dangerous, such as the mantacores and an occasional basilisk, but here and there were the occasional non-mutated animals, including squirrels, rabbits, and other creatures whose numbers had dwindled due to the aggressive and violent monsters.

Fluttershy attempted to divert her eyes from the carnage, but even after all that she had been through with the hydra, she still went pale when her eyes rested on a dead creature, monster or not.

As Rengar surveyed the damage and the corpses of the animals as he made his way deeper into the forest, he kept mental notes to himself as he went along.

"Hmmm...most of these casualties are the monsters. However, they should easily grow back to their over-population. The hydra only momentarily rampaged through the forest on its way to that castle on the mountain. Therefore...my hunt should continue."

This certainly pleased Rengar quite a bit. He looked back to what the other two ponies were doing, and found Twilight etching down notes in a scroll that she had brought, several others in her saddlebag. Fluttershy still couldn't feel secure in this forest, even with the dead beasts around her.

Or maybe that was precisely it.

"Rengar?"

He turned around to the source of the voice.

"What is it?", he responded to Twilight, focusing his eye on her shape.

"What do you think about all of this? From what I can tell, the forest can defiantly recover, but the monsters will too, and the non-mutated animals have now become even more endangered than now."

"I've come to the same conclusion as well. But that intrigues me. Would something like this happen again?", Rengar asked back.

"I-I really hope it doesn't...", Fluttershy whispered through the eerily silent forest.

Then, a flap of wings were heard, and Rainbow Dash circled to make a landing. She touched down and trotted up to her friends.

"How's it look up there?", Twilight asked Rainbow as she approached her.

"It's....pretty messy down there. Not gonna lie. This whole trench goes for quite a long way. But you guys are getting towards the end pretty soon. Wanna pack up and go?", Rainbow Dash stretched herself as she spoke.

"Not yet, Dash. Can you take Fluttershy and explore the west end of the trench?", Twilight asked her friend to escort her other.

"No problem! Ya up for this Flutters?", she smiled at Fluttershy.

"W-Well...I..."

"Sounds like a yes to me!", she exclaimed and pulled her away, earning an "EEP!" from her. Twilight giggled while Rengar grunted and shook his head.

"Well, I guess that leaves you and me, Rengar. So...could you tell me more about the League of Legends?"

At this point, Rengar wished that he could have gone off with that obnoxious and egotistical pegasus than give a lecture on this age-old subject.

Actually, no. Telling Twilight more about the same subject was indefinitely better.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy clung to her friend as they marched deeper into the forest. Thankfully, it wasn't as thick as the eastern part of the woodland, so sunlight was able to penetrate more easily in the west side, albeit, not by much. When the two had strayed away from Twilight and Rengar, Rainbow Dash suddenly spoke up to Fluttershy.

"So, how's that lion treating you?", she asked while she brushed aside a few ferns.

"Oh, Rengar? He's treating me just fine, at least that's what I think...", she replied back, still finding witness to the occasional charred animal corpse.

"Really. Well, if he gives you any trouble, just come talk to me. He may have surprised us before, but I won't fall for the same trick again.", Rainbow Dash looked back towards her friend, "I'll set him straight."

The much more timid pegasus looked up at her friend, looked away as if doubting if she should say what was on her mind, but gave in and spoke up.

"After all he's done, you still don't trust him?"

Rainbow Dash stopped and turned around.

"Well...I mean...", Rainbow Dash couldn't find the perfect words to say, as she was a mare not known for doing such things.

"Rainbow Dash, even the Princesses seem to know him. And-"

"Yeah, yeah. Without him, Ponyville would have been flattened and all of that stuff.", Rainbow Dash spun her hoof, signalling the "going on and on" movement, "It's just...well...he really isn't the greatest of guys to chat with, ya know?"

"But wasn't Gilda that way? You still made up with her, and she even sent me an apology through the mail."

"B-But that's diff-", Rainbow Dash cut herself off. It really wasn't all that different. But... Rengar threatened one of her friends. She couldn't let that go like the others.

Could she?

No, she couldn't. That was a line that Rengar had crossed, and a line that he would never backtrack to the other side.

"Come on Fluttershy. Let's make this quick so we can get outta here."

Before Fluttershy could reply, she managed to hear rustling nearby. Her friend didn't hear it, but Fluttershy managed to. It was faint, yet it sounded urgent. Like an animal running.

Fluttershy whispered to her friend.

"Um...Rainbow Dash? I think I heard something over there.", she pointed in the direction of the noise.

"Ya did? I didn't hear anything.", Rainbow Dash stopped to listen to the environment, "Well, if you say so, lead the way, Flutters."

The two ponies broke off their path and wandered deeper into the forest. The corpses of animals were not found around as they walked farther, and instead of burnt and frozen plants, the wildlife seemed intact for as far as they could tell. However, not even a mouse was found where they were walking, and Rainbow Dash began to doubt that Fluttershy had heard anything.

"Uh...are ya sure that you heard something?"

"Yes, it's just around..."

Then, they saw it. In a small clearing was the shape of a tiny fox. However, this was unlike any fox that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had ever seen before. Instead of fur, its entire pelt was of crystalline structure. The small creature's coat of crystals glistened in the patches of sunlight that made its way down, showering the rather dark clearing into a multitude of rainbow light. It was truly a sight to behold, even to Rainbow Dash.

"Fluttershy... what is that?", she whispered.

"I... I think it's a prism fox...", Fluttershy whispered back in complete awe, as she couldn't believe what she was seeing in front of her.

"A... prism fox? I haven't seen one before.", Rainbow Dash kept her voice low, as to not startle the creature.

"I haven't either... I'd never even think I'd see one in my entire life. They're extremely rare...", Fluttershy explained to her friend, who was just as awestruck as her.

They watched the crystalized fox paw around, shifting the dazzling display of the rainbow spectrum around itself. The prism fox sniffed for food...

...but it seemed to be a bit less energetic than other foxes.

"Uh...Fluttershy? Shouldn't be a bit more- I think it's injured!", Rainbow Dash rose her voice a tiny bit, but not too much as to scare the fox away.

"Oh... really? I think you're right...", Fluttershy squinted and saw a limp in its step. Sure enough, it was holding one of its hind legs up. Possibly broken...

They watched the tiny fox tread around in pain, and it didn't take long for Rainbow Dash to speak up.

"We should help it!"

"Yes! We have to!"

Before the ponies could approach the exotic Everfree creature, a chill ran down their spines.

They felt the air grow... cold.

But at the same time... it felt warm.

...forgiving.

However, it also felt frigid.

...unescapable.

They sunk down into the bush, and could see the prism fox grow weaker and weaker. It had to be dying. Were the two ponies feeling the death of the fox? They didn't know, but felt frozen in place as the air seemed to grow warmer, but shift colder at the same time...

Then, out of the wilderness, a while glow emerged.

Beholding them seemed to be a heavenly figure. It's white fur glowed with a warm aura. On its two legs, it gently approached the fox. Long ears flowed down from the head of the mysterious being. As it walked closer into the clearing, Fluttershy could make out delicate hooves on the bottom of its legs, but fingers on the ends of its arms, like Spike's claws.

As the being walked towards the fox, now lying on the ground, seemingly in peace, more details revealed themselves to the eavesdropping ponies. A striking characteristic was a pitch-black mask that adorned the being's face. The black was in complete opposite to its white fur, with an engraving on the forehead that represented a little wick of a flame. Or was it a wisp of a spirit?

The two ponies couldn't tell.

Then, the creature bent down to the fox.

It spoke in a soothing voice, even more soothing and warm than Celestia's voice herself. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were shocked at the creature's beautiful voice when it echoed from its mask.

"Oh... little fox... So much death has laid its cruel hands upon this forest. We couldn't judge all of these poor souls, now lost in torment from the monster's awakening. But... you are lucky, even as you die..."

Fluttershy's mouth was slightly ajar. She was in complete awe of what was happening in front of her eyes. She was shocked beyond belief of what was happening, even as this spirit was speaking of death.

"...I can grant you painless, and embrace you in your final moments of your death. Do you want that...?", the spirit asked.

Then, Rainbow Dash shook Fluttershy out of her trance.

"It's gonna kill the fox! We have to do something!", she whispered to her friend urgently.

She would have said something. She would have stopped the creature from ending the other. She knew how to save it, and help it. She took a step forward, but something else emerged.

Or more accurately, burst out.

From a tree rushed a black haze, fitted with razor-sharp teeth and eyes that flickered with a blue fire, just as the other spirit. But that's where the similarities ended.

The other being turned the air into a cold, frigid, and deathly atmosphere by its mere presence. Clouds of darkness folded from its shape, a black haze forming into a mask, complete with the teeth that would seem adequate to tear off a pony's head. The other being spiraled around the other. It snarled and growled as it approached the fox, still lying there peacefully. The black haze seemed to represent a kind of thick fur, as it seemed to stand on its end as it shouted.

The black being, bearing a white mask that was opposite to the white spirit's with its engraving upside down snarled in a voice that held the very presence of slaughter and death within it.

"No! Thrash! Flee! Resist! Deny! Your time shouldn't come yet, little fox! Run away so I can hunt you down! I hunger!", the black spirit snarled viciously at the now still fox of crystals.

Then, Fluttershy broke through the tree line, screaming at the top of her lungs.

"No! Stop! It doesn't have to die!", Fluttershy shouted as she raced down, letting her emotions overtake her reasoning.

"Fluttershy! Wait!", Rainbow Dash desperately called after her.

Everything went wrong in an instant.

A rush of black haze swept up both of the ponies instantaneously, sending them tumbling to the ground. They were then pulled up from the ground by their tails from the floating spirit's jaws, and now found themselves staring directly at the white being, armed with a bow that seemed to be made of magic itself, two arrows notched and aimed right for their temples.

The arrows drew back from the spirit's fingers, gaining tension and tightening their accuracy. The much more vicious spirit dangled and shook them, seemingly toying with them as they hung helplessly from their tails.

"Ponies. You should not have interfered with death.", the white spirit spoke in its warm voice once again, earning Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash to sweat in panic.

"Interfering with our judgement, even after all of the animals I could not eat from that hydra?! You'll now face your own demise! Yes! Lamb can shoot one, and I'll eat the other!", the other spirit snarled.

"No, Wolf. They must leave and not return. Ponies are good. But the fox has chosen its fate.", the one named "Lamb" lowered its bow.

"I hunger, Lamb! I want to eat! I want to see them interfere! I want to see them convince the fox to escape!", "Wolf" snarled again at the two ponies.

Rainbow Dash tried to speak through the blood that was now rushing towards her head from being upside down. She felt her head getting heavier and heavier with each passing second, only to be knocked around by the black spirit, Wolf.

"We were only trying to help the fox!", Rainbow Dash thrashed around inside the trapping of Wolf's grip.

"T-The fox can be saved! It's incredibly rare and endangered!", Fluttershy shouted as loudly as she could muster.

Lamb's gaze, a gaze of fire, yet hearth beaded on the ponies. Her bow was already lowered, but Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy knew that she only had to raise it again to kill them. Lamb then spoke again.

"Ponies are good ones. If they can save one from death, then we should let them do so. Especially with a rarity such as the prism fox. Perhaps... it's time has not come.", Lamb's calm and soothing voice echoed throughout the forest.

"Rrrrrgh... I'm hungry, Lamb! I need food!", Wolf growled through the tails of the ponies.

"Yes, Wolf. There is plenty to eat. But this fox, should it choose to be saved, isn't one to be eaten. There are other things to eat, dear Wolf, but not this one. Can you understand...?", Lamb walked up to her companion, place her hands onto Wolf's snout, and calmly spoke to him.

"...I will not eat the fox. But does it want to be saved?"

Lamb bent down towards the fox, and asked the question. The fox was barely conscience at the time of Lamb's speaking, but it could slowly open its shining eyes and nod slowly, understanding every word Lamb spoke.

"So the fox shall be saved."

As such, Wolf didn't drop the ponies, but set them down on the ground. Whisking back to Lamb, he snarled again at the ponies.

"Save the fox! Or it shall die... along with you both to pay the price!"

"R-Right! Rainbow Dash, there are special herbs that grow around here. They're a red color with a tiny yellow bud on them. Could you go that way to find some?", she pointed to the south of the group.

"You got it!", she zoomed off to find what she needed. Meanwhile, Fluttershy opened up her saddlebag and removed several bandages, as she had packed them in case she found injured animals, precisely what she had found with the prism fox. Now, she had to look for a sturdy stick to be used as a splint.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash twisted and dashed through the tree lines, her eyes searching left and right for the herb that Fluttershy described to her.

"Red color with a yellow bud...", she repeated to herself as her head swept side to side to scan the area. She decided to slow herself down in order to get a better view to the forest around her. Once she did, she never noticed how dark the Everfree Forest always was, even during the afternoon. It always just seemed pitch-black dark to her.

In fact, who was the dolt that named this the "Everfree"? If she could name it, she would probably have called it...

Well...

"Ah, who cares. It's just a stupid name.", she huffed a strand of mane out of her face as she now touched down to survey her area.

"Man, where are those herbs? They have to be somewhere...", she spoke to herself again, picking up on her bad habit of doing so.

Then, she managed to see a speck of red in the distance. If she squinted her eyes, perhaps she saw a bit of yellow on them as well. Smiling proudly to herself, she trotted on over to the gathering of herbs. When she arrived, Rainbow Dash eyed the plants carefully.

"Red color with a yellow bud. Yep, found it in..."

She shook her head, not being able to acquire the plants within one-sixth of a minute. She bent down to pick them with her mouth, and did so. One, two, three... she didn't know how much Fluttershy needed. In that case, she picked them all and placed each strand into her saddlebag.

When she did so, she felt the air grow a little warmer.

Was Lamb around her? Maybe she came to help?

Turning around, Rainbow found something completely different.

A gigantic serpent-like reptile curled down from the tree that she had stopped under to pick the herbs, its nose expunging hot-breath. A gigantic snake tongue flicked out from its mouth, feeling the air in front of it...

...and the pony.

Rainbow Dash stood still in absolute shock and intimidation, a humongous snake now sizing up what was in front of it.

With a smile that felt all-too hungry, the snake gave an unnerving hissing sound as it spoke.

"Luuuuunnnnchhhhh..."

At that point, Rainbow Dash turned around and delivered a firm smack into the basilisk's head, causing it to recoil from the sheer force of the buck. Shaking its head, it could now see the pegasus attempting to run and gain speed to lift off the ground.

With a swing of its massive tail, it slammed into the side of the pony, crashing it into a nearby tree. Rainbow Dash's lungs expelled all of their oxygen from the attack, and she struggled for air as she tried to get to her hooves at the base of the tree.

The basilisk slithered towards the stunned pony, and unhinged its jaw to swallow the pony whole.

"Not so fast!"

A wired throwing weapon tied with stone weights was hurled at the basilisk, snaring its mouth down shut. The giant snake turned around and bared witness to a bipedal lion leaping right at it, a pair of wrist-mounted blades sprouting out from his arm. The snake was too surprised to counter attack, and the lion landed right on top of the snake's neck. With a swift plunge of the two blades, Rengar drew blood from the basilisk.

He slashed the knife out of the bottom of its head, effectively putting an end to its life as it fell dead onto the forest floor. Grunting, he withdrew his blades with a sickening shluck, and the blades retracted back into their sheaths.

At that point, Twilight Sparkle flapped down next to Rainbow Dash and helped her friend up.

"Oh my gosh! Are you okay? What happened?!", she asked in mortal concern towards her friend.

Rainbow Dash managed to get the air back into her when she responded.

"I... was searching for some herbs than that... thing attacked me.", she managed to say.

"Basilisks. Those damned monsters love to prey on anything smaller than them. What were you doing collecting herbs? And where is that other pegasus you were with?"

"Fluttershy? She asked me to get herbs to help this injured... what was it... -oh! A prism fox!"

Then, Rengar's one eye grew wide with disbelief.

"A prism fox? Those are one of the most elusive and endangered creatures in the Everfree. It's literally the manifestation of beauty in a natural form. You said you found one?", Rengar asked with great interest.

With that, Rainbow Dash nodded.

"Twilight, we must tend to this animal. Too many have been lost to the beasts of this forest. Loosing even one more could drive them even further to extinction.", Rengar spoke to the princess.

"Well... okay. But can't we just reintegrate them into nature after we collect them and let them breed?"

"Not possible. From what I have heard, they hardly last a year in captivity."

"Alright, let's get those herbs, and Rainbow Dash, lead us."

After each member of the party had their share of herbs and after they had departed to head back, Rainbow Dash spoke to Twilight.

"How did you guys find me in time?"

Twilight smiled.

"We didn't find a whole lot of damage on our end, so we decided to loop back around and rejoin with you. Then, Rengar said that he heard a lot of commotion and smelled that you were nearby."

"Wait, he can smell me?"

"Yep, he says it's a stench that no other pony holds."

Rainbow Dash scowled at Rengar, who merely chuckled at her disapproval.

"Remember, pony. You would have been slowly digesting in that Basilisk."

Then, Rainbow Dash remembered something. She remembered about Lamb and Wolf, the two spirits that they met. How would Twilight, or especially Rengar react to them?

Well... if Lamb and Wolf tried something funny, then she and Rengar could get the jump on them while Twilight could back them up.

They took down a hydra, so four could fight two.

But not even all six of the Elements could take Rengar by surprise.

It took a bit for them to arrive back at where Fluttershy was tending to the fox, with Lamb and Wolf watching over. When more appeared from the tree line, Wolf was quick to react.

"More to save the fox?", Wolf snarled.

"They're friends of mine, Mr. Wolf.", Fluttershy responded to Wolf, who was still tending to the fox.

"Then they shall aide.", Lamb spoke in agreement. At once, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Rengar tended to the rare and nearly extinct animal. The bandages that Fluttershy crafted from her supplies were wound very easily with Twilight's magic after Rainbow Dash had ground the herbs into a fine paste. Placing the bandage onto the fox, Twilight then levitated a firm stick up that Fluttershy had found in order to serve the purpose as a splint.

Then, Rengar looked down and shook his head.

"The leg's infected. Even with that, it won't survive. Not unless I give it this."

Then, the lion took a small round glass flask from his belt. Inside of it was an extremely vibrant red liquid that sloshed around inside the container. On the top was a wooden and iron sealing piece, with a cork to stop the liquid.

The lion bent down towards the fox, poured a tiny bit of the red liquid in his paw, and held it up to the fox's snout to drink.

"Come on...", he mumbled to himself as the fox sniffed the liquid.

The fox barely licked the liquid. Then, it licked it again. And again. The more it tasted the liquid that Rengar held in his paw, the more it began to regain its composure and actually start to get up again.

The ponies watched in astonishment at the miracle of the fox's rejuvenation, as well as Lamb and Wolf who were also witnessing the spectacle.

The fox was now on its legs, drinking up the red liquid in Rengar's paw. After it had finished, it shook its crystalline fur, reflecting light into a magnificent rainbow spectrum, then wandered away.

The fox disappeared back into the forest, and Fluttershy looked back at Rengar.

"What... was that you gave the prism fox...?"

"That was a health potion, made in the League of Legends. When I came here... let's just say... I 'borrowed' a few things.", Rengar admitted to the group.

"Did you say..."

"...the League of Legends?"

Lamb and Wolf both spoke, with Wolf finishing Lamb's sentence. At this, Rengar immediately stiffened up. He was positive that no one but those princesses knew about this organization.

Especially that he used to be a part of it.

He turned around, eyeing both of the spirits in a glare.

"Yes... I did."

"Then you must be..."

"...Rengar!"

At this, Rengar formed his teeth into a threatening scowl and was mere inches from springing his wrist-blades out.

"Who's asking?"

Then, Lamb broke the tension.

"Bard has told us about you. We also know about your actions in the Everfree, preventing it from becoming even more overpopulated than what it is. We honor you dearly for this...", Lamb spoke to the lion.

"You hunt as well! Just like me and Lamb!", Wolf added to Lamb's statement, "Bard has told us that you are the League of Legend's greatest hunter! But one cannot be a greater hunter than death itself!"

"Wolf, I do wish that you could not try to raise a feud with him. He is a great hunter, and we shall pay our dearest respects to him.", Lamb patted Wolf's jawline in care.

"Rrrgh...", Wolf growled, yet when Lamb asked of things from him, he would always agree.

However, Rengar now had a question on his mind ever since they mentioned another name.

"You two know Bard?"

"Of course we do! He's the one who told us about you and he's also the one who brought you here! I wanted to eat you, but Bard kept telling me that I couldn't! I thought all things are mine for the taking, Lamb!"

"Even some things are better kept alive. Especially Rengar.", Lamb's voice echoed like mystical bells.

This entire conversation was a lot for the ponies to take in. They watched as the spirits and Rengar conversed back with each other for a rather lengthy period of time.

Then, Twilight stepped out.

"H-Hello. I'm Twilight Sparkle. Princess of Friendship. It's nice to meet you two."

"Friendship? Well... me and Wolf certainly have that quality...", Lamb giggled at her companion.

"...even while we chase and hunt!", Wolf's teeth seemed to form into a smile.

"And... please tell me. Who are you two?"

At this, Wolf formed back around Lamb, encircling her with his black hazy body. Lamb and Wolf began to speak.

"I am Lamb."

"And I am Wolf!"

"We shall go and find those who accept their death..."

"...or catch and kill those who deny it!"

"For we are never one-"

"without the other!"

"As such, we are-"

"Kindred!"

The two beings were invited by Princess Twilight, much to the other's surprise to accompany them through the Everfree Forest. In this time, twilight had learned a great deal about these two mysterious creatures. Apparently, their species, like the "Bard" that had brought Rengar to Equestria were called spiritkin. They lived in this world to essentially prevent undeath. Although these two beings were here with Twilight, Lamb described to her that she and Wolf were everywhere at once, as they were the manifestation of merciful and unescapable death, though the forces of death were always permanent no matter one would go.

Even Rengar was intrigued. At one point, he asked a question.

"If you know Bard, then where does he come from?"

Lamb laughed a tiny bit.

"Oh, wouldn't it be obvious, Rengar? Even though he can journey to different dimensions, he must originate somewhere. We are the same as him, but we don't have that power."

Then, it clicked in Rengar's head.

"So that means..."

"Yes. As me and Wolf were born on the world of Equus and we inhabit Equestria. Bard is the exact same."

Rengar couldn't believe his ears. A champion within the League of Legends actually had come from Equestria through dimensional travel.

"I-Impossible...", Rengar said to himself.

"Lamb speaks the truth, Rengar.", Wolf growled, finding a little amusement from his disbelief.

More questions were asked by Twilight Sparkle to Lamb and Wolf, and hilariously, they would sometimes finish each others sentences.

And she thought only Lyra and Bon-Bon did that.

As they checked on more damage with the Everfree Forest, Wolf suddenly spoke up to Lamb.

"Lamb, tell me a story.", he asked Lamb in his deep growl. At once, Lamb lightly ran her fingers through Wolf's fur gently and caringly.

"There was once a pale man with dark hair who was very lonely.", she began, her voice echoing of sooth and care.

"Why was it lonely?", Wolf asked back with a tone that seemed to let the others know that Wolf had known this answer.

"All things must meet this man, so they shunned him.", Lamb carried the story on.

"Did he chase them all?", Wolf asked again, knowing the answer.

"He took an axe and split himself in two right down the middle.", Lamb spoke the next part of the story that Wolf wanted to hear.

"So he would always have a friend?", Wolf looked at Lamb.

"So he would always have a friend.", Lamb looked at Wolf.

A lone guard was standing in the Everfree Forest. He watched around his location, seeing if anything was lurking in the bushes or in the tree lines. He stood there for a whole minute, watching and listening. Looking both ways, he then walked back towards a plethora of bushes. He rattled the bush.

Ponies dressed in armor began to step out from their cover, pushing the same carts of prototype weapons that were stolen from the Canterlot military.

Among them all, overseeing the whole thing was Golden Might. He had his hooves crossed as he leaned against a tree and looked over the soldiers that were approaching out of their concealment.

He got up from the tree and walked over towards a cart. Lifting up the tarp, he could see the magnificent prototype rifles that were nestled inside the cart.

"Perfect."

Then, more noise approached from the right. Turning to face the direction of the sound, more ponies began to exit from a tree line. However, these ponies were made entirely of crystals, obviously hailing from the Crystal Empire.

The crystal guardsponies stopped in front of Golden Might with several other carts.

"I see that your end of the deal has gone well?", he asked to one of the guards.

"Without a cinch. I bet that armory won't even notice that their best swords are gone for a week.", the crystal pony laughed as Golden Might inspected the cart's contents.

Crystal Swords. Nearly unbreakable and able to cut through nearly any metal known to ponykind. The perfect close-quarters weapon.

Especially to stop a certain lion's knife should it come to that...

"Good, very good.", Golden Might nodded and smiled at the crystal ponies.

"Alright! Everypony gather around!"

The guards circled around Golden Might, who was standing on a stump.

"I shall go over our objective here one more time. As such, we have found that our militaries have become weakened from their glory that they once had. The Elements of Harmony have done our jobs for us, and we won't have that anymore! The military might of Equestria shall rise again!"

"YEAH!", the guards shouted in unison.

"However, we need funding in order to do so. For our first corse of action, she shall trap various exotic and rare animals of this forest. There are rich bastards that would pay well over one million bits to get their hands on one of these animals as a pet. After we have done so and recruited more into our ranks, we shall then sell the prototype weapons we have acquired in exchange for more ponies. We shall learn how to reproduce these weapons and engineer faulty designs to mislead our buyers."

The audience of guards, fed-up with their poor militaries listened to each word intently.

"Eventually, with our new funding, we shall have the most powerful mercenary group within Equestria. Eventually, even the world!"

The guards cheered as the last sentence was spoken.

"Not even the Princesses or the Elements of Harmony will stop us! Together, we shall all bring back this land's former military glory!"

Golden Might smiled to himself as he saw the soldiers, now under his command cheer and shout in unison.

"Death to the Elements! Death to the Princesses!", one shouted.

"Dominate Equestria!", another cheered.

"No one will stop us!", another shouted.

The sad part is, it was rather true. The entire garrison of Canterlot was only roughly 200 strong, and that was after Golden Might had thinned out their numbers by secretly recruiting guards into his ranks. The order that he had given the glaive launch, however, was his own fault and incompetence. But in a sense, why should he have to trust the same military manual that his fellow canterlot guards, terrible in combat in nearly every situation worshipped like it was some kind of holy script?

The guards then got to work, inspecting the new weapons and gear that they had acquired while others began to head off to set traps for the exotic animals that lurked around, hiding from plain view.

The ex-captain smiled to himself. Everything was off without a hitch in the path. Coming over to the weapons, he thought a little bit. Should that lion show up with the elements, then they could simply use the HT-MK3 rifles to blast them apart at a range. He know for a fact that if one Element of Harmony fell, the others would be weakened beyond repair. In addition, he doubted even Rengar could survive such a high-powered shot.

The rotary cannon, on the other hand was something that could fell entire forests. No lion could possibly hide from that with fifty arcane-charged shots raining down in nearly every direction every second. Should that fail, his knife couldn't cut through the crystal swords, just as he had done with his iron guard sword.

Even the swords of the Canterlot guards were outdated.

With enough in his ranks and replication of the prototype weapons, he could easily outmatch the Canterlot militia. Roughly 200 random guards against more than 50 of the best ponies he had picked out, some wielding rifles that could blast a tree in half?

There was no possible way.

But as such, precautions had to be taken. The first priority was funding, and the Everfree was loaded with possibilities.

The Princesses hardly had a grasp on the vast amount of land they controlled, so an illegal mining operation within the forest could go unheard of, as well as their poaching. If any monsters threatened the expedition group, a single Hextech rifle shot would obliterate a mantacore.

Time passed as Golden Might inspected the weapons with a few select scientists that he had managed to bring over with him.

Perhaps he shouldn't have murdered Clockwork Gadget, that but pony was only interested in bits, and would gladly squeal on him if it meant acquire more. It would take longer to reverse-engineer the weapons, but Golden might and the scientists, especially with the aide of uni orn magic could do so.

Not to mention, most of the mercenaries in the force were unicorns. This made the use of Hextech weaponry extremely convenient to use.

"Sir? We managed to catch something that I think you'll like to see."

A few hours have passed, and Golden might turned to meet the soldier.

"Show me."

The guard walked him down a bit of a ways away from their camp, and showed Golden Might what they had trapped.

Their leader was very pleased.

Very pleased.

Inside of the trap was a tiny creature resembling a fox, constructed entirely of crystals.

"I'd never though I'd see one in my life... do you know how much those wealthy pukes would pay for something like this?!", Golden Might smiled deviously at the little creature.

"How much, sir?"

"Well over three million. It's a pet fit for a king."

"By the gods... that much?"

"I could even fetch more for it."

"Odd... there's a bandage on its leg."

The ex-captain looked down at the tiny creature, who shrunk up in fear of the armored pony. Sure enough, there was a crude bandage tied around its leg. Somepony had to have mended it and sent it back into the wild.

A shame they would sell it now to the highest bidder.

"But, won't this fox not even last a year if kept?", one guard asked Golden Might.

"That's none of our concern. We get the money, then I don't care.", Golden Might dropped the crystal fox on the ground, earning a painful yelp when hit the surface of the forest.

"Throw the thing into a cage and re-rig the trap. We got plenty of work to do."

"Yes, sir!"

The guards got back to work, and Golden Might, once again, smiled maliciously to himself.

He will see Equestria rise once again to its former military glory, and he shall be the leader of the entire thing.

As well as if the time comes and he plays his cards right, then there would be a lion head that will be added above his mantlepiece, as well as the feeling that The Elements of Harmony and the Princesses would be no more.

Statues would be built, and soon, he shall begin his conquest on the exact same land that he had served under.

And it would be glorious.

Hostage

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Reporting back to the Princesses hardly took any back-ache to Rengar, as he was now permitted to return to his dwelling in the Everfree for now.

Thankfully, his lair had survived the attack, though if the hydra had gone a slightly different route, all of his trophies inside would have been demolished. All of that hard work would have eventually meant nothing. Though it wasn't the case, Rengar could at least feel thankful that his home wasn't smashed to the ground.

At the meeting with reporting back with Celestia and Luna, Rengar had learned of his punishment for threatening the Elements of Harmony. Originally, he was to be sent to a jail where he would spend a fair amount of time for his threats, but due to helping defend Ponyville from the monstrous beast, he was now entitled to work with the Elements instead of continue his hunt. At least for the time being.

Rengar, of course, was terribly unpleased with this, having to work with these inferior ponies.

At least it was with a group of ponies that could respect him, and he could do the same to them.

Well, most of them.

Returning to the Everfree Forest, he looked to the left and saw the trail that lead to Zecora's house. He decided to check up on her, and as such, he ventured down the path. Her house hadn't been destroyed, but with a quick knock on the door, then opening the door as nopony responded, he could see that quite a lot of valuables were broken and had fallen off of the shelves.

Inside, Zecora was attempting to clean the giant mess that had been made, and didn't hear Rengar when he came inside. She stopped what she was doing and talked to him for a bit, especially with how the Elements were treating him. He told her that it "could be worse". She chuckled at that.

He didn't stay for too long and decided to head back to his own dwelling after checking up on the place.

He could see Lamb and Wolf rushing through the forest, perhaps personally judging animals for their death. The lion still found it hard to believe that Bard had originated on the very world that he transported him to. Though at the same time, not impossible.

He reached his lair by Froggy Bottom Bog, and disappeared inside.

The ponies wouldn't be able to notice him go out in the forest and hunt some more beasts.

"Now look, Diamond Tiara. Ah' know you've haven't been the nicest to us... but that's all in tha' past now. We forgive you both for how you treated us. What matters now is that we're all friends.", Applebloom smiled at Tiara, genuinely as she could.

"I know... but that's not enough. I was awful to you three.", Tiara held her head down.

"Me too...", Silver Spoon followed.

"And I still want to make things right with you girls.", Tiara continued.

"That sounds great, but why are we going to the Everfree?", Sweetie Belle asked in a tone of concern, "Rarity's gonna make a fuss when I come back all dirty..."

Diamond Tiara giggled a bit and spoke up.

"What if I could show you girls a prism fox?"

Immediatly, Applebloom perked up.

"A prism fox?! No way! Applejack's talked about those before, but nearly nopony's ever seen one!

"Yeah, well Diamond Tiara here said she found one a few days ago outside the forest.", Silver Spoon smiled at her friend.

"Well... are you sure it's worth it to go into the forest and find it? There could be monsters.", Scootaloo dug at the ground anxiously, "Not that I'm scared or anything."

"Don't worry! They're no monsters along this way."

"So... DIamond Tiara. How come you know so much about the Everfree?"

"Well... sometimes my dad would take me along this path to go walking. I didn't really appreciate it then... but it was a really nice thing for him to do. I did need quite a bit of fresh air once in a while.", Diamond Tiara explained.

"Just trust her! She knows what she's doing!", Silver Spoon giggled alongside Diamond Tiara.

The group of fillies trekked through the forest for a bit of time now, Diamond Tiara now letting her new friends take in the scenery around them. The various trees and plants were certainly a neat sight to behold, as some twisted while others stood straight. Even at the same time, Applebloom and Diamond Tiara stopped the rest of their friends from walking into a familiar blue plant that they both knew all-too well.

"So... how was it like getting your cutie marks?", Silver Spoon asked the Crusaders.

The three fillies looked at one another, then Applebloom answered back with a smile.

"It felt... really unique. Like you finally had worked so had to achieving a dream and it finally comes true. But then again, it ain't our only goal."

"Yeah! We wanna help other fillies who're struggling to find their own talents. I mean, getting our cutie marks is a big leap forward, but... we don't wanna stop there. Even our cutie marks tell us to help others find their own special talents!", Sweetie Belle cheered happily.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon grinned along with them. How could they have been so awful to these three? Wether it was from their lack of a cutie mark, or maybe... were they jealous because nopony else would be their friend, it didn't matter anymore. They were terrible back then, and now, they wanted to make things right.

"Come on! Around here!". Diamond Tiara ran ahead of the group. The four other fillies quickly followed around the corner. When they circled around, they found...

...an empty opening.

Nothing was there. No traces of animals or critters were present at their location. In a fuss, Diamond Tiara looked around.

"W-What?! But the fox always comes here to sleep and play around during this time of day!", Diamond Tiara exclaimed with frustration.

"Hey, hey. Calm down, Diamond Tiara. Maybe it's just not here today.", Applebloom patted her shoulder, also feeling a bit disappointed.

"But we've seen that fox for over two years! When me and my dad came here, it was always around. We even fed it little jewels..."

At this point, Silver Spoon suggested that they waited around for a bit for the fox to show up, which they did. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle had told their sisters that they would be hanging out with their new friends for a while, and they agreed for them to go out. Scootaloo didn't have to convince Rainbow Dash too hard to let her go.

After all, Rainbow Dash at this point was practically a self-proclaimed guardian of hers.

Diamond Tiara only felt more and more defeated when time passed. These last few days have been hectic. Even more so than what goes on in Ponyville. After that hydra had been defeated, the townsponies had come back into Ponyville. To the dismay of many, their homes have been destroyed, and the promise of immediate reconstruction by Princess Twilight had done little to quell their unhappiness. Luckily, Diamond Tiara and their family's home had been spared.

Along with The Carousal Boutique, each of the fillies were lucky to have their dwellings survive.

Diamond Tiara wanted to come to the Everfree with her friends to forget about this recent destruction and to just spend some time with the Crusaders and Silver Spoon. However, it just wasn't turning out very well.

"Hey, Tiara. Look, maybe the fox won't show up. But that doesn't mean we can't have a fun time here. Right?", Scootaloo asked Diamond Tiara.

"You're right. Hey, where was your treehouse, Applebloom?"

"Oh, we can take a shortcut out of the Everfree Forest to get to it. Follow me!"

The filly turned and began to march out like a proud leader, earning giggles from the other girls.

However, they stopped giggling immediately.

SNAP! TWACK!

Applebloom screamed as she was pulled up into an enclosure consisting of thick ropes, held tightly inside of the net that had sprung up under her hooves. Her friends' eyes widened as Applebloom was suddenly thrashed up into a trap.

"Oh my gosh! Applebloom! Are you okay?!", Diamond Tiara shouted to her friend in panic.

"Ah-Ah think so! Get help!"

"Don't worry! We'll get you down!"

Sweetie Belle lead the others to approach Applebloom in an attempt to free her. However, once they took another step, another net snapped up, catching the other four ponies in a much more tighter grip, preventing any of them from reaching their friend, nonetheless, moving.

"Oh great! Now what?!", Diamond Tiara groaned.

"Don't worry! I can just untie us with magic!", Sweetie Belle shut her eyes, and concentrated as hard as she could. She grit her teeth and pressed her eyes shut as a tiny green glow illuminated on her horn- then puffed out shortly after.

"Whoops. Hehe...", she smiled sheepishly, "Guess I need a bit more practice..."

Then, Scootaloo spoke up quickly and buzzed her wings.

"Hey! I remember that Rainbow Dash told me about Daring Do and how she escaped from a net by uh... 'using a pendulum swing to bring the momentum to snap her free'... or something like that."

The fillies all looked at Scootaloo.

"What? Rainbow Dash said that the movie didn't have that from the book."

Deciding that she had nothing to loose, Applebloom begun to swing herself.

"Don't worry! I'll get myself free!"

"Hurry! We can't do it all together in here!"

Applebloomm's ear picked up the voice of Silver Spoon's. She jerked her body to the side, and the net moved slightly to the left. When she was at the height of it, she swung her body in the opposite direction, swinging her right.'

"Go, Applebloom!"

"You can do it!"

Hearing her friends cheer her, she thrusted herself to the left again as hard as she could. Repeating this process into what seemed to be an eternity, the net was now swinging left and right like a pendulum.

With one hard jerk to the right, the net suddenly swung up, but instead of being held up along the tree, the net briefly hit empty force, and came crashing back down. The tree branch snapped liked a twig and Applebloom hit the dirt.

"UGH!"

She huffed the dust away from her mane, and managed to get up to her hooves.

"Way to go, Applebloom!", Diamond Tiara cheered gleefully at her friend's success.

"Wait! I think I see a rock. Maybe if it's..."

Applebloom's hoof dug towards the rock while she was in the net. With a bit of effort, she managed to slide the rock towards herself.

"Oh yeah, it's sharp! Good thing I didn't land on it..."

Taking it in her mouth, she began to stab at a section of the rope. Over and over she poked and jabbed at her entanglement, until she began to fray the wire. With a final stroke, she cut herself a hole that she could get out of.

"I did it!"

Applebloom shouted in glee once she crawled out of the net.

"Great! Now help us!", Silver Spoon called out.

"Right Now just hold on-"

"Hey guys! I think I got one!"

Another voice came from the forest, obviously belonging to a much older pony, male from the tone of its voice.

At this point, Applebloom looked around her head, and her friends strained to focus in the same direction of interest. Out of the clearing came two stallions, both dressed in armor, though looking far different than the golden armor that the Canterlot guards wore. On their back was an odd long contraption, something that the fillies had no idea what its purpose was for.

The two stallions took a look at their latest catch, and they instantly stopped in their tracks.

"...oh buck.", one of them muttered under his breath.

Then, the other guard noticed the filly that was currently free of binding.

"Shield... that other one is free..."

Immediately, the guard named "Shield" took his device, and pointed it straight at Applebloom.

"Hooves up! Don't move or I'll shoot! Do you understand?!"

However, fear and instinct overtook the poor filly instead of reasoning with the guard armed with a rifle. She turned heel, and scampered as fast as she could, racing off to get help and tell somepony what has happening.

"Hey! Hey! Stop now or I'll shoot!", Shield leveled the rifle and aimed down the sights of the weapon. He lined up the rear pieces with the front, and put it right onto the filly's back.

He held his breath, and his horn's magic began to glow, activating the trigger...

But the gun began to shake. The sights tumbled from left to right, unable to get a baring on that little pony. She grit his teeth and tried to steady the gun, attempting to find out why his gun was shaking so much. It didn't take him a second to find out that he himself was shaking. He couldn't place the sights on the filly that was now escaping. He just couldn't. He couldn't shoot a child.

He looked back at his partner, and found that he himself was shaking. He couldn't shoot the filly either. Heaving, he lowered his rifle.

"Shit... now what?"

"We tell Golden Might. He'll decide what to do with these fillies."

Applebloom watched back to see her friends get removed from the tree branch, being carried back into the forest, still in the net. She was going to get help.

She had to tell somepony.

She had to tell her sister.

Her pace quickened as she sprinted out of the forest.

"As you can see, there are vast quantities of arcanite under this forest's soil.", the Diamond Dog spoke to Golden Might, heaving the pickaxe over his shoulder.

"Really. This forest is just untapped with riches. Those damned Princesses hardly have grasp on the vast land that they control! So... when can you extract it?", Golden Might asked the lupine.

"Well... we can definitely keep things quiet. I'll get my crew together and we can start digging now."

"Good. Do so."

"Alright. Hey boys! Let's go diggen'!"

Golden Might huffed and walked away from the Diamond Dogs.

"I hate working with those beasts..."

Things have been going very well. The Diamond Dogs had now offered their services to illegally mine for arcanite, a mineral that is infused with magic. Either sold for favorable sums, or ground up for arcane powder, the propellent for their Hextech rifles. They had alread stolen a good amount from the Canterlot armory, and the crystal guard had done the same.

He looked to the left and saw guards practicing their swords on nearby trees, finding that it was able to make good and clean cuts into them. Others were busy loading and inspecting their rifles, some aiming down their sights to get a good feel for them.

Golden Might then looked over to a tent. Walking over, he found that the rotary cannon was inside, along with the Optical Detection Device that he had also managed to steal.

"How is the cannon doing?", Golden Might set his rifle down in the corner of the tent and his own personal flintlock on the table.

"Works like a charm. The barrels spool up perfectly, and the magic has been loaded within it. Can't wait to see this beast in action.", a scientist smiled at the marvelous weapon.

"Being able to chop down trees with a single weapon isn't an easy feat... how about the Optical device?"

"Working good. You'll be able to see a ghost from a mile away."

The ex-captain nodded, satisfied.

"Excellent. Not even the entire Equestrian Army will stop us when we just start to get going. Keep up the good work. Your pays depend on it."

"Yes, sir."

Golden Might exited out of the tent, and was immediately stopped by a guard.

"S-Sir! There's a situation! You have to come see this!"

Annoyed, Golden Might brushed the younger stallion aside.

"Can't it wait, damnit? I have important-"

"We've been discovered!"

Golden Might came to a grinding halt. He immediately pushed the guard aside and ran off to where he had come from. When he got through a small group of brush, he came across two other guards, a net in their clutches with four fillies inside, most likely scared out of their minds.

"What the hell happened?!"

"We set up a trap for animals, but we caught these fillies instead."

"One of them escaped!"

Golden Might's eyes widened. He looked at both of the guards, then at the fillies who hadn't said a single word through the conversation. He huffed in frustration then looked back up at the two soldiers.

"One escaped? Did you shoot it?"

The guards looked at each other, then stared down at the ground.

"I... I couldn't."

"She was just a filly. I... I couldn't do that. Sir! You have to understand!"

The leader of the mercenaries couldn't believe his ears. That filly who got away could have now exposed his entire operation right now. Soon, Princess Celestia will know and send out a response.

Most likely, it will eventually resort to an armed conflict. Even though Golden Might's forces will be at an advantage, especially with them gaining more and more allies like the Diamond Dogs, it was still too early.

He looked down at the sword and flintlock at his side. He should shoot one and hack the other one down. They don;t shoot a filly, he'll shoot his own guard. He didn't pay guards to miss, and especially to not fire. No matter what the target was.

That was, until he saw one of the fillies in the net.

He shoved the guards aside and he eyed the filly.

The pink coated and purple and white-maned pony stared back up at him, unbelievably, had the courage to say ,"What are you looking at?"

Golden Might got up and walked back to the two guards.

"Do you know who that filly in the net is? The pink one?"

The two guards both shook their heads, unable to answer correctly.

"You idiots! That's Diamond Tiara! She belongs to the richest family in Ponyville. Her family even has connections to Canterlot! Do you know how much money her family has?!"

"I-I'm guessing a lot?"

"Yes! Tons of it! And do you know how much they'll pay us for ransom? We have their precious little girl, and we'll be swimming in bits before you know it. Since we're already exposed thanks to you two...", the ex-captian smiled maliciously, "Maybe it is time for us to be known. We have the firepower, and the militaries of Equestria will not be much of a match for us. We know this land, they hardly know theirs. Knowing the compassion of Celestia, it will be an easy barter."

The two guards looked at each other a little uneasily. Bartering a filly for ransom? Getting told to fire on a child...?

"You two. Get those fillies back to camp and lock them up. I'll be sending our Princess a little message."

The fillies were hoisted up again, and were carried through the camp.

"I...I'm sorry girls. This is my fault. I shouldn't have come into this forest for some stupid fox...", Diamond Tiara only stared at the moving ground.

"It's not your fault. It's these ponies who trapped us."

"But now they're gonna use you for money, Diamond Tiara."

Diamond Tiara didn't catch what the gaurds were talking about, but she caught onto Sweetie Belle's voice.

"What?!"

"Yeah, they talked about 'money' and something about 'ransom'. What does that mean?"

"It means that they'll exchange Diamond Tiara for money...", Silver Spoon responded.

Tiara's eyes could only stare back onto the ground.

"I... I..."

She didn't know anymore. She didn't know what to say.

Applebloom had reached back to Sweet Apple Acres, and looked around frantically for help. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted her older brother, Big Macintosh. She was out of breath at the moment from running out of the forest, but that didn't stop her from still running to her brother.

"Big Mac *huff*! Something terrible *pant* has happened!"

He dropped his farming equipment and bent down.

"Eeyup?"

"Me and my friends went into the forest, and they got foalnapped! By ponies! I escaped, and we have to help them!"

Her brother's eyes were glued onto her for an entire five seconds before he told her to get onto his back. Applebloom did so, and he suddenly reared up and broke off into a sprint. Knowing right, he knew that Applejack was with her friends as a cafe, and that he could contact authorities nearby. He rushed on the dirt path with all of his might, his well-exercised legs serving their purpose well as in no time, he reached into Ponyville.

Applebloom dismounted and ran to her sister.

"Applejack! Applejack!"

Her sister turned around towards her sister.

"Applebloom? Is that you? Where are your friends?"

"That's just it!"

Midgame

View Online

Rengar took a good look at the wall on his cavern. Standing proudly before it, his eye ran over his new trophy. The hydra head that he had managed to pillage from the monster's corpse gave a fantastic addition to his wall. Its sickly smile was mounted alongside the heads of other trophies that he had collected from the Everfree. The head itself nearly took up half the wall.

However, there would always be one large spot in the center for his centerpiece. The one beast that had bested him and the one hunter that the beast could not kill. Although Rengar was no longer on Runeterra, he still kept that one spot open.

He would probably never find that beast again, but perhaps, if he found something else, it could replace the empty centerpiece.

No. Nothing would replace the head of K-

"Rengar? Rengar! Are you there? There is an urgent matter that I gravely need your assistance with!"

The lion turned towards the entrance of the cave. The voice that called out to him was soft and soothing. Not Lamb's, as it didn't echo in eternity. The other option for consideration was Princess Celestia herself. But how would she know of Rengar's dwelling?

She was close to Twilight, and that bookworm would share anything with her mentor.

Rengar stepped out from the depths of the cave, and exited the entrance, shielding his eye from the harsh sunlight. Standing in the light was non-other than Princess Celestia.

"Celestia? What are you doing here?", the hunter questioned the princess.

Celestia's magic levitated a scroll into Rengar's paw.

"I believe you should read for yourself..."

Princess Celestia,

These are the Mercenaries of the New Military Order of Equestria. We have taken operations in your land within the Everfree Forest, and have access to the most powerful weapons in your military, as well as your select best ponies. We demand a passage out of the country to coordinates that we will specify when the time is right. To meet our demands, we have four fillies, one of which is Diamond Tiara, who we will ransom for three million bits. You shall meet our demands, or these fillies will perish. The blood will be on your hooves, dearest princess.

Attempting armed intervention will be impossible. As mentioned before, we have acquired a large number of your garrison, Celestia. We have artillery, superior firepower, and reinforcements at the ready. If you show up yourself, we will not hesitate to shoot you out of the air.

Make your decision soon, Princess. Time is ticking.

Rengar's eye scrolled down the letter, taking in every single detail that he could. Celestia watched Rengar take in the message, and saw his eyes widening as he went down the letter.

Rengar looked back up and spoke.

"They can't be serious."

Celestia sighed and shook her head.

"I'm afraid that they are..."

He looked over the letter one more time, and met his eye with the princess's two.

"I see. You've come for my help.", Rengar looked at Princess Celestia, handing her back the scroll.

"Y-Yes. I know that in its own right, none of this is your business. But I must ask for your assistance. You know this forest... even better than I do. You're from the League of Legends, home to the greatest warriors of your world, and please, consider what lives are at stake. I can promise you that the reward will be greater than what you can imagine.", at this point, it appeared to be that Celestia was pleading Rengar. She hadn't dealt with a situation like this before, and from the thousand years that she had fought her own fights, she had been quite out of practice.

Rengar turned to Celestia.

"I need no reward. The fact that they have invaded the Everfree is not nearly enough motivation for the atrocities that these ponies are willing to commit. Not even Noxians use children in their demands.", Rengar nodded back to Celestia.

"Really? You'll help?"

"Yes, but know this Celestia."

She looked at him, confused at what Rengar had suddenly said.

"You are to partially blame for this. From the vast quantities of land you have acquired, you hardly know what they hold, and you have little control over them. Your military is one of the weakest I have seen, and coming from a great nation such as Equestria, you cannot handle this situation."

Celestia couldn't believe her ears. She was just told how ineffective of a ruler she was. Some lion hunter had told a goddess what she was doing wrong. She felt furious at this lion. She wanted to blast him with a pulse of magic. But she took in every word that Rengar had said, and sure enough, the champion was right.

She hardly had any knowledge of the land, especially about the Everfree Forest. Her military was in fact, very ineffective, having to rely off of the Elements of Harmony now.

But she already ruled out the Elements as a solution. If one of them were to perish, then Harmony would be broken, and Equestria would be defenseless.

"Hold on here."

Celestia looked up and found that Rengar had gone back into his den. A fe minutes passed before he emered with his wrist-blades, his bolas, armor, and his trusty Hunting Knife. Stepping out, Celestia could now recognize the former League of Legends Champion in his prime when he would slay the most powerful warriors in his world.

"There are some allies I need to contact. Go back to Canterlot and discuss the situation further. Get ready to brief me and my allies when they arrive."

Celestia nodded, but didn't teleport away.

"Allies? Who?"

Rengar chuckled a tiny bit.

"Death. I'll be back soon."

The Princess blinked her eyes, unsure if what Rengar said to her was what her ears actually processed. Death? What did Rengar mean by that? Surely, if the reaper existed, Rengar wouldn't have gotten help from death itself.

Couldn't he? He was a League of Legends champion, after all-

-or was.

Celestia's horn became infused with magic, and in a brilliant flash, she disappeared. Leaving Rengar behind, she appeared back into the castle of Canterlot. Reading over the scroll that she had let Rengar view once again, she could still barely grasp that this whole situation was taking place. An armed insurrection with fillies held hostage? In her own land?

She sighed in frustration as she called a pony. Instructing her to send out letters to certain key ponies, the messenger nodded and got to work delivering scrolls via magical transportation. Smoke consisting of arcane rushed out an open window and found their way to their intended recipients.

Almost instantly after one letter should have been delivered, a bright flash of purple appeared before Celestia.

"Princess! I came as soon as I got your letter! Is what you're saying is true?! ", Twilight Sparkle looked up the the much taller alicorn, bearing a look of dread.

"I am afraid so. Come to the throneroom. More will be arriving to assess this situation."

After the sudden fire and death of her lead scientist, Clockwork Gadget, this insurrection was something that Celestia couldn't afford to deal with efficiently, as now she did not have access to the new prototype weapons that Gadget was devising for the Canterlot Garrison.

"Princess, will Rengar be here too?"

Celestia turned to Twilight, a look in her eyes that Twilight had never seen before.

"I must, or I believe we won't stand a chance..."

That look, was desperation.

It took about the same amount of time for the rest of the ponies in question to arrive at Canterlot as Rengar, along with Kindred rushed to Canterlot, easily scaling the mountain to the castle.

In his own mind, Rengar never appreciated teleportation. He always held it in his head that instant blinking to a location of your choice was lazy and bred over-reliance on one's magic for transportation,instead of staying physically strong through exercise. Nonetheless, the three beings managed to reach Canterlot in a time that others would not have expected.

Inside, the doors opened to the throneroom. The castle hallways seemed to be devoid of staffing and servants, making Rengar thankful that he wouldn't have to receive any more glances and stares from the ponies, and especially so that Lamb and Wolf wouldn't undergo the same treatment.

"What is this place...? It's so...", Lamb whispered in awe of the magnificent castle.

"...empty. I want something to eat...", Wolf grumbled to his two other companions.

"You shall feast soon enough, dear Wolf.", Lamb cooed her friend, running her hand along his jaw.

"Hmmm... hunting armed people. I haven't felt anything like it in a while. It shall be very refreshing.", Rengar flipped out his wrist-blades to inspect, then sheathed them back.

The two walked to the top of the castle, containing the throneroom of Celestia and Luna. However, once they got inside, there were obviously a few more ponies than Princess Celestia and Princess Luna inside.

Twilight Sparkle was found at a table, discussing something with the Princesses. However, along with her, there was a white-coated and blue-maned stallion dressed in armor. Approaching the table, the ponies turned around to behold their new visitors.

"Rengar! There you are!", Twilight got up from the table and rushed over to him, "Can you believe this?! An armed insurrection! I thought I'd never... Lamb and Wolf? What are you two doing here?"

Twilight had looked to Lamb and Wolf, who had just entered the room. Not surprisingly, the other two alicorns, and the stallion turned their heads and eyed the other two spirits in wonder and awe.

"This is Lamb and Wolf. Two embodiments of death, one merciful, one inescapable. I have asked for them to help, and they have agreed to assist us in this battle."

Lamb gracefully walked over towards the table, and stopped in front of the Princesses. She bowed lightly, and spoke in her soft voice.

"It is a great honor to meet you both, my Princesses."

Celestia and Luna looked at each other, which Luna quickly whispering into Rengar's ear.

"Embodiments of death? What other friends does Rengar have that we don't know about?"

After this, Rengar turned to the stallion and asked what his identity was. he already had a distaste for the military here, so his expectations were rather low.

However, this stallion saluted and stood at attention.

"Sir, I am Captain Shining Armor of the Crystal Empire's Garrison. Celestia and Luna had briefed me on the situation, and who you are, champion.", the stallion stood firm as a rock, possibly outdoing this in Twilight's eyes.

"A captain all the way from the Crystal Empire? Why here? And why isn't your other soldier here, Princesses?", Rengar inquired.

"Ever since the fire in our laboratories, Golden Might has been no where to be seen.", Luna explained to Rengar.

"But at this point, we have a feeling that he is playing a big part in this. He always wanted more and more control of our military, claiming that he would "reform" the entire thing. This whole ideology of restoring Equestria to its former military might sounds like just the thing he would want.", Celestia spoke after her sister.

"As well as a guard we had talked to told us that Golden Might had indeed gone away from the castle for some time.", Shining Armor added, "As for why I am here, soldiers have disappeared from my garrison as well. If they are to be found here, it is under my duty to resolve this, as the Crystal Empire is now affected."

Rengar nodded. He certainly preferred this guard over the other, thought it wasn't saying much compared to the other guards he has come into contact with. Lamb and Wolf approached the table, with Lamb sitting down and Wolf hovering above her head, whispering into her ear that he was hungry. Rengar took a seat as well, but towered over the rest of the ponies and spirits here.

"Now, we believe these ponies could be hiding out north of Froggy Bottom Bog, where the-"

Rengar interrupted Twilight.

"Not possible. When I was seeking out Lamb and Wolf, I nearly stumbled into a net-trap. Definitely set for small animals, and looked relatively new. In addition, there were tons of them around. Either they are catching for sustenance, meaning that Griffons or Diamond Dogs are with them, or they are poaching for rare animals. Either way, traps were found around the central forest area. They have to be there."

"I see. It's a shame we can't resolve this with the Elements of Harmony. It really has been a while since I've heard of a pony that would harm first, ask questions later in this kind of manner...", Twilight looked around the table. It must really be quite the shock for these ponies to learn of an insurrection. This thought went around in Rengar's mind, as the ponies always seemed so happy and secure within their civilization.

"They also have four fillies, one being ransomed for three million bits? Must be an important filly.", Shining Armor stated.

"Three million for a child? I know it's a child, but what child is that important?", Rengar scratched his chin.

"Diamond Tiara. She belongs to the wealthiest family in Ponyville. If they already knew about this, they would already be here, begging me to pay the ransom. I don't want to release the information yet. They may be guards, but they won't kill her.", Twilight spoke.

"Yet."

The ponies looked at Wolf, unapprovingly.

"He speaks the truth. If we wait too long, they'll get bored and slay the other fillies soon enough. I know what death these ponies are willing to cause. And it will not be merciful.", Lamb whispered across the table.

"So armed intervention is the best solution. But we can't risk the Elements, nor the Princesses' lives.", Shining Armor placed both of his hooves on the table.

"And that is why I called for Rengar. He is the most experienced one here, possibly outmatching me and my sister. With the title of a League of Legends champion in him...", Celestia looked over back to Rengar.

"I can tell. But experience isn't everything. This is why I seek allies for thew battle that will inevitably come. This is why I asked Lamb and Wolf."

"These fillies. Their time hasn't come yet, but these guards' has. The fillies have a lot to live for, and me and Wolf shall make sure that they do.", Lamb nodded and turned towards the Princesses, "No arrow sails as accurately as mine."

"And no teeth are sharper in all of the land as mine!", Wolf snarled, despite being surrounded by royalty.

"Rengar, sir?"

The lion turned towards the stallion.

"Don't call me that. I'm not some sort of general. What is it?"

"I wish to accompany this expedition. Perhaps we could all get as much help as we could muster.", the guard asked Rengar. Twilight's eyes widened at this request, but she seemed to strain to keep her mouth shut.

It took only a few seconds for Rengar to think this over. The Elements of Harmony were, even Rengar had to admit, a strong fighting force. So what about a guard that had been trained to fight, and at least looked the least bit confident.

"Very well. We shall leave now.", Rengar announced.

"Now? This moment?", Luna asked the hunter.

"Yes, if we delay any longer, these guards will act hastily, and that isn't something that you all can afford. We can discuss further plans while we are traveling.", Rengar spoke, "Princess Celestia. Announce that I myself am coming alone. Tell him that you want to do a prisoner exchange, and that you also discovered my whereabouts and my 'illegal hunt'. He has a bone to pick with me, and being a League of Legends champion, I'm sure that he would view me as far more important than those fillies."

The Princess nodded and levitated out a parchment of paper and a feather.

"Lamb, Wolf, Shining Armor. We shall attack this night. Tonight, we hunt."

Thankfully, it was evening when they left, so they didn't delay too long to arrive at the encampment. Lamb and Shining Armor had stayed back while Rengar and Wolf had scouted the place. It was certainly a very large encampment. A full armory and multiple barracks were situated throughout the place, with guard at every corner of Rengar's eye. Thankfully, the thrill of the hunt had begun to appear within him again, allowing him to camouflage in thin air, or become invisible.

Rays of light bent around Rengar's fur and Wolf's black haze blended in perfectly with the night.

"So much to eat... But so many with weapons...", Wolf looked around the camp, avoiding eye-view.

"There is a lot of them, but I have fought more at once. What concerns me are some of the weapons these ponies are carrying. I've never seen rifles that advanced, save possibly for Caitlyn's, another champion."

Wolf growled and Rengar whisked away from their hiding spot to arrive back to the waiting Lamb and Shining Armor, who took turns looking through an eyeglass that belonged the the Crystal Empire captain.

"What have you two found?", Shining Armor asked the lion and spirit upon their return.

"Lots of guns. And some sort of swords made of crystal. Do you know of such things, Shining Armor?"

"So they were the ones who stole from the armory. Bad news, guys. Those were special blades made of pure crystal. Can cut through nearly anything, and I've never seen one chip in my life. That makes close-quarters combat even more complicated, added to the rifle threat."

"I see. Though my Hunting Knife is made from materials not from your world. I don't know how it would interact with those blades."

"The ponies also carry big guns. Very, big guns.", Wolf added.

"Guns? My bow-work should match up to any gun of this world-"

"Hey! Check this out!"

Shining Armor quickly and quietly spoke, pointing to a group of guards talking to each other, one of them aiming a rifle down towards a tree. He seemed to be taking aim at the thing, possibly for target practice.

KER-KRACK!

BOOM!

The rifle went off, and the tree that he was aiming at suddenly blasted apart in a multi-colored explosion, reeking with raw magic. After the smoke cleared, a gigantic chunk of the entire tree was missing, causing it to topple over.

"Dear Celestia... one shot.", the captain muttered under his breath.

"Hm. Very powerful guns. But look.", Lamb pointed out towards the guard, who was now fumbling with something in his hoof, another cartridge.

"One shot. And... he is still reloading."

"One shot may be all that they need...", Shining Armor objected.

"So then we won't let them have it.", Rengar growled quietly, "We strike from the shadows after the 'prisoner exchange' goes south for our little captain out there. Then, we create panic and pandemonium. No one will know how to take an effective shot, and the ones that fire blindly are an added bonus."

"I'm beginning to like this plan...!", Wolf smiled and snarled.

"Heh. Guess that makes two of us.", Shining Armor chuckled.

"Three, as well.", Lamb nodded.

Rengar grew a little smile. He was beginning to actually get along with his allies for once, unlike what would usually happen within the League of Legends. Even one of them was a pony.

"Well, we have an idea, but we need a plan. I happened to see a lot of barrels strewn around that camp. They were labeled as "highly explosive". Shining Armor, what could be in there?", Rengar asked.

"Arcanite. Pure magic in a powder form, and highly volatile. I can feel it all the way from here...", Rengar noted that this pony was also a unicorn, explaining his feeling.

"If we could detonate them, at least some when I give a signal, who knows how startled those guards will be. They'll need a new set of trousers!", Rengar laughed quietly in the tree.

"Heh. You know, I get the same feeling from the Arcanite from Lamb's bow. Is it pure magic?", Shining asked.

"You are correct."

"Good. If my guess is right, then Lamb's arrows should cause a reaction with the unrefined powder.", Shining Armor explained.

"Boom?", Rengar asked.

"Big boom.", Shining Armor nodded.

"Are we really going on a guess here? What if my arrows don't react? What if I can't hit them in the first place?", Lamb told the other three.

"You are the greatest archer that I know, Lamb. As death, I know many, and you are the greatest of them all. You will hit those barrels."

Lamb smiled underneath her mask and brushed her fingers in Wolf's fur.

"Thank you, dear Wolf."

"How many can you shoot at once?"

"I can shoot three. No more."

"We need a backup in case this goes in the wrong direction. If the barrels don't detonate, then I can snap my bindings and go into stealth. You'll need to distract them in order for me to do so. Then, we'll fight from there.", Rengar explained to the others.

"If you can't free yourself?", Shining asked.

"Any sort of chains I can snap. Chains that are made for ponies are far too small for me. It will be easy to do so.", Rengar replied.

At least he hoped.

At this point, the four fighters began to prepare themselves for the grueling battle that surely lay ahead of them. Rengar checked his Hunting Knife and his wrist blades, as well as his handy supply of bolas. Lamb was discussing something with Wolf, and Shining Armor had donned his armor, a light-blue armor that in the night time, served to blend itself in with the darkness surprisingly well. His tradition guard helmet was replaced with a full battle helm, with a protective visor to boot.

While he check his crystal sword for imperfections, one of the very few swords that had not been stolen by the rouge guards, and loaded up his crossbow with pure crystal bolts, Rengar approached him and began to speak.

"Shining Armor, was it?"

The captain turned to face Rengar.

"Yes, sir. You're correct."

At this, Rengar sighed a heavy exhale.

"Don't call me 'sir'. I'm not some sort of general. I'm a warrior, a hunter. I'm not like those Demacians or Noxians.", he responded to Shining Armor's given title to Rengar.

"If you say so, Rengar.", Shining grinned at the lion, but said lion had a question for him.

"Why did you offer to come along so hastily? Don't you see the fighting force that has assembled? A former champion from the League of Legends? Two literal incarnates of death? Wouldn't you think that you're out of your league here?", Rengar spoke to the captain, despite possibly giving offense to the pony. Despite this, Shining Armor gave his reasoning without a deterrence in his voice.

“I could tell that I was in over my head on this matter. Celestia had briefed me about you being in the ‘League of Legends’. But… you see, I’m a soldier. There is no such thing as ‘over my head’. When guards from the Crystal Empire joined in this insurrection, it became my matter as well, and a duty that called. Even though I have a bit more to lose than the average guard… it’s still my call of duty.”, Shining Armor stared at his reflection in his sword, “A call of duty that I will answer.”

Rengar looked at this pony. A soldier that knew that he was in over his head, yet he wanted to still fulfill his duty? Was this guard out of his mind? Or was he one of the bravest souls that Rengar had now known? Or possibly both?

“Hmph. This land needs more guards like you. Willing to risk it all for their duty. I’m no soldier, but I believe that’s what every soldier should embody. But, what do you mean by ‘have more to lose than the average guard’, exactly?”, Renger asked Shining.

“Well… I’m married to the greatest mare in Equestria, to me and to all, we have a foal on the way, and well… my sister still means the world to me, as well as me to her’s.”, Shining Armor spoke back, this time averting his gaze, “I mean, I know I could die, but there’s just more than death at stake here for me.”

The hunter watched the soldier's body language. He wasn’t demoralised, but he felt something else.

“But that’s all the more reason for me to live, and win this fight.”

“Impressive.”

Rengar noted Shining Armor’s rekindled will to fight. At that point, Wolf had floated over to the other two.

“I found the fillies. They’re bringing them out. Maybe they’re expecting us to attack soon.”, Wolf snarled, his voice never once sounding less savage.

“Then attack we will. Everyone remember the plan?”, Rengar turned to ask his party.

“By heart.”

“Yes.”

“I got it.”

Rengar nodded to them all. However, before any of them could make further movements or put their plan into action, a shout pierced the silence down below.

It was Golden Might.

He was grasping one of the fillies by their mane, dragging them out into the open, surrounded by guards. He held up a crystal sword to the filly’s throat, and hollered into the forest.

“I know you’re watching me, Celestia! Your time is running out! I’ll give you five minutes before I spill this little one’s blood!”, Golden Might proclaimed. At this, the filly’s eyes grew wide as she struggled to get out of the grip of the ex-captain. The little pony’s pink and purple mane was held tight by the captain, and her white coat would certainly make for a terrible mixture of red if the group didn’t act fast.

At this, Shining Armor’s face grew into a scowl.

“Unbelievable… I’d never ever think a pony like this would ever exist…”

Rengar shook his head.

“Even I find this despicable.”

Lamb and Wolf had already moved off to their positions, and when Rengar spotted them in a separate tree a distance away, he gave them a thumbs up.

Then, Rengar turned to Shining Armor.

“You know what to do.”

“Right.”

Rengar at this point had relinquished his weapons to Lamb and Wolf. If this facade was to be attempted, it had to be done right. Even then, Rengar still had a weapon almost nopony ever would expect: his claws.

“Good luck, Rengar.”, Shining Armor slinked down into the tree.

“Luck to all of us.”

The lion slid down the tree, and proceeded to walk straight towards the camp filled with armed guards. Trudging right at the camp was unnerving, to say the least. Rengar had fought manticores, basilisks, that hydra, monsters from his homeworld, Runeterra, and most of all, champions from the League of Legends. But now, his fur stood on their ends, and his own heart began to race.

Why was he becoming anxious? He’s fought worse before. Debatably in smaller numbers, but this shouldn’t scare him.

No, that wasn’t it.

It’s what is at stake.

Before, he fought for recognition. For glory. To uphold the title of the greatest hunter who ever lived.

But now, he was fighting for innocent lives, to stop an entire rebellion, and even, dare he say it, justice.

He fought for himself before, but now, he shall fight for others.

Golden Might was growing more and more impatient as time ticked on. He had to deal with this filly who wouldn’t stop bawling in his grip, and his arm was beginning to get tired from holding his sword against the filly’s neck.

“You have one minute, Celestia! I know you’re there with your guards! A unicorn like me can sense the magic! One minute before this filly’s head leaves her neck!”

At this, Sweetie Belle began to absolutely break down into tears. She’d never ever think that a situation like this would ever come to her, or anypony for that fact. She knew that Celestia was there, somewhere, but why wasn’t she coming to save her?

Was she just not that important?

But all ponies are important in her eyes…

“Thirty seconds!”

Golden Might’s words echoed through the forest. Sweetie Belle began to cry again, but a quick pain on the top of her head stifled it.

“Shut it, you piece of shit.”

Golden Might had whacked her head with the pommel of the sword, and it hurt. Sweetie Belle wished she could hold her head and cover it to ease the pain, but she knew that it wouldn’t happen.

“Fifteen-”

“Sir! Something’s coming out of the treelines!”

The ex-captain’s eyes shifted towards the location the guard had called out to. Sure enough, bushes were rustling. Something was about to come out.

“Rifles out!”

The guards that were able to wield rifles hoisted them out, while the ones that could still only receive the crossbows pointed them towards the bushes.

The eyes of Golden Might narrowed towards the bushes as the rustling eventually gave way to a figure.

At once, from the light of the campfires, Golden Might could see the shape of a bipedal beast. White fur covered the monster, and a magnificent mane surrounded the creature’s neck.

It was that lion, Rengar.

Then, the lion got down to his knees, coughed and heaved, and had a look of desperation and rage in his eye.

“The princesses betrayed me! They would promise me freedom! They promised me to live! But I’m now a prisoner to be exchanged!”, the lion shouted.

At this, Golden Might smiled deviously.

An exchange with that accursed lion? Those princesses were all too accommodating. At once, guards moved to secure the lion, and bounded him with chains they had stored for larger beasts they have captured. A suitable fit for the loin.

Once Rengar was binded, Golden Might walked up to him with the filly in his clutches.

“How does it feel, lion, to be at my will? From what you did in Ponyville, I knew that i’d get even. No, I’d get more than even. And here you are, some supposed champion of this non-existent ‘League of Legends’, at my mercy. How does it feel?”

Rengar gave a defeated sigh.

“It feels bad.”

At this, Rengar’s paws, which were behind his back, began to uncurl his fingers. He began to hold up one finger for each passing second, counting down from ten to nine, then eight, then so on.

Lamb, Wolf, and Shining Armor knew this was the signal.

Meanwhile, Golden Might laughed as he walked over towards the rest of his guards, the sword still up to Sweetie Belle’s neck.

“Now please, the princesses say to let the fillies go. You have me, and I am worth far more.”, Rengar pleaded.

At this, Golden Mane threw the little girl down at the ground, and placed his hoof on her back, preventing the squirming child from moving.

“Ha...ha… I don’t think so. You see, I’ve grown a little bored. Celestia should have sent me the ransom, but she sent me you. You may be worth more in her eyes, but to me, you’re just trash.”, Golden Might grew a twisted smile as he drew the sword and turned the filly over, placing it right over her rapidly beating heart.

“Besides, I was going to kill them anyways.”

Then, everything seemed to slow down. Golden Might’s sword entered Sweetie Belle’s chest, spilling her blood. He pressed to sword deeper, earning to penetrate her vital organ.

“It was your mistake to come alone, Rengar!”

It felt wonderful to Golden Might to get what he wanted.

It felt so good…

It felt…

...too good?

When he looked around, a giant flash of golden light appeared underneath the filly, covering her, him, and several other guards in golden energy. He looked down as he now bared witness to the filly, now encased in some sort of the same golden energy, and the bleeding had completely stopped.

Her chest was still rising up and down for Celestia’s sake!

“What?! What the-!”

“Not here, not yet…”

Lamb’s voice echoed through the forest as her respite had taken effect on the little filly.

Then, in a massive flash, Golden Might had been knocked onto his back, the sword now on the ground. The surrounding guards had fared the same fate, now on their backs, trying to rub their eyes from the blinding flash, as many of the other guards were attempting to do. Sweetie Belle received a far better fate, her lethal wound instantly healing to stop her death, a rather nasty scar appearing in its wake.

Rengar’s muscles did their magic, snapping apart the rusty bindings that held his arms together. He immediately rushed towards the filly. Rengar scooped up the little pony, who was still alive from Lamb’s Respite.

When Golden might had regained his senses, he could now see Rengar towering over him, holding the filly he attempted to kill.

“And what made you think…”

Rengar now bore a smile as three arrows, consisting of pure magic began to sail towards three barrels of arcanite located in the camp.

“...that I would come alone?”

And with that, Rengar, with Sweetie Belle in his protective embrace, cloaked away into the darkness right before Golden Might’s eyes, becoming completely invisible.

“Focuuuusssssss…”

Rengar’s voice was only heard by Golden Might as he and Sweetie Belle became invisible.

4v100

View Online

*KRACK!*

*BOOM!*

*KER-BAM!*

The entire camp shook and lit up in harsh white light as Lamb’s arrows connected with the barrels of Arcanite, forcing a magical reaction that blasted each of the barrels to pieces in a white flash, splinters digging in any poor soul that happened to be unarmored and around the barrel. The whole camp was briefly illuminated by the explosions, and very soon, everything went to hell.

The guards immediately opened fire on Rengar’s last position, into the treelines, and some randomly from all of the mass-panic and hysteria occurring at once. None of the retaliations could do any good as Rengar had now disappeared along with Sweetie Belle, and Lamb had quickly moved away from her firing position to escape from the explosions that blasted the tree apart.

At this point, Golden Might brandished his own rifle and sword, shouting his commands to regain control of his stallions.

“Damnit, regroup! Regroup! Stop firing!”

One by one, due to the guards having to reload after every rifle shot, they turned their heads and followed the orders of the ex-captain, beginning to form a phalanx around Golden Might if they were near, and fanning out to cover more ground if they were further away.

“Well played, Lion. But you can’t hide from me!”

Golden Might slammed down the Optical Enhancement Totem.

The ward activated, opening up its top, and completely illuminated the entire before cloaking into darkness on its own. At once, the darkness of night that had surrounded most of their camp had been shoved away from the totem, and at once, Rengar and his party’s biggest advantage had been taken away from them: darkness. Out of the corner of Golden Might’s eye, Rengar’s invisibility had been forcefully removed by the totem, and he was already busy freeing the other fillies after he had dealt with two guards that were surrounding them.

“There! Over by the fillies! Take aim and fire!”

The guards surrounding Golden Might had already finished reloading their new arcane cartridges. Taking aim, they lined up their sights towards Rengar and the other fillies…

...when magic had gripped a few of the guard’s rifles and redirected them into one another. The blue aura jerked the rifles around just as they fired, blasting apart numerous guards at close range. The second wave of confusion struck as blood covered the other guards who had survived the forced misdirection and others went briefly blind at the bright flashed from the Hextech rifles.

“Damnit! Where is…”, Golden Might stopped himself as he saw a figure moving through the treeline.

“Enemy unicorn! Right flank, kill him! Left flank, focus on the lion!”

The right side of Golden Might blasted apart the treeline in a flurry of magical blasts, splintering trees and even felling a few. The ones what fired upon Rengar had found that he had already left the area with the fillies.

Golden Might grit his teeth. They managed to get away. But they couldn’t leave now. They had to kill Golden Might and his mercenaries.

That was one fight that four beings alone couldn’t possibly win.

Rengar had carried the fillies by their tails; two over his right shoulder, and two over his left. The fillies had stopped screaming from the explosions that had rocked the camp after Rengar had snatched them up. Though they would have screamed once again when now they were in the possesion of some gigantic bipedal lion as Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo could see the familiar face of Shining Armor waiting by the tree, crossbow in hand.

Afterall, they were the flower fillies at his wedding.

Rengar quickly dropped them off near Shining Armor as Lamb and Wolf came down again to see if anypony had followed.

“Do you know a route they can take safely to get back home?”, Rengar watched over his shoulder for pursuers.

“I’ll lead them back and I’ll rejoin the fight. Think you guys can hold off?”, Shining Armor checked his crossbow.

“It would be worse for every second you aren’t here.”, Lamb spoke.

“Understood.”

Shining Armor departed to escort the fillies, and Rengar, Lamb, and Wolf turned to head back towards the battlefield. Thankfully, Shining Armor had really made a clever move when he used his magic to redirect fire back into the guards. If he hadn’t done so, Rengar would be a pile of ashes, along with those fillies. It was that damned device that Golden Might had placed down. It was almost like…

...a Stealth Ward.

Rengar cursed. He wished that he brought a Scrying Lens to reveal and destroy it, but that was in the past. They had to fight in the present with what they had.

“How will we reengage? They surely must have regrouped by now.”, Lamb watched the camp.

“We take them by surprise once again!”, Wolf snarled, obviously thirsty for combat.

“That won’t work. Not with that totem. Unless… Wolf and Lamb, create a diversion in the treelines. If my hunch is right, they will fire all of their rifles, and will have to reload. That’s when we regroup and attack them directly. Kick up dust of obscure vision, I don’t care. We need more concealment.”

“Well Wolf, you’ll soon get your feast.”

“Yes…!”

At once, Lamb pulled back on her magical bows, composing three arrows on the weapon. With an accuracy unparalleled to any living soldier, she let loose the arrows, each making contact to three guards’ heads. Once the guards fell, the others turned around and fired at her position, but not before she gracefully leaped to the side, firing out three more bolts at the guards.

Each arrow struck home in the hearts or heads of the guards that fired upon Lamb, and each guard fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes.

Immediately after, the entire treeline where Lamb had stood had been obliterated by a volley of arcane ammunition hurled directly at her. Multicolored bursts of magic scoured the brush, creating a thick smoking mess of the shrubbery.

Golden Might held up his arm to cease firing, sure that one of the adversaries that he had to deal with was now taken care of…

...only to find that the same golden aura that had saved Sweetie Belle’s life was now encompassing Lamb, clutching the various wounds she had taken from the volley of shots. However, the aura seemed to keep her from completely falling apart and dying from the attack. No soul could know how much pain she was in.

That was until the golden aura pulsed and immediately healed Lamb’s wounds to a very noticeable recovery.

She pulled the bowstring back, and an arrow once again found its way to her disposal. At once, she fired. One guard was unfortunate enough to be in the way of the sailing arrow, becoming impaled through the stomach. The guard let out a bloody gasp as the arrow sailed straight into him, only to have another impact into his arm.

Unknown to him, each arrow created a sort of mark on him, with two being applied by the arrows. Only one more needed to be set for a devastating attack. And that devestating attack came right for him.

“Wolf! Now!”

The ground beneath the guards grew cold and lifeless as a creature of inescapable death sprouted from the ground and bared his teeth at them.

“Finally! A feast!”

Wolf barreled straight for the guard that had been marked for him, and took him by his jaws. With one quick snap, the pony’s spine shattered into over a hundred fragments, immediately dying from the bite. The other guards around the campsite now focused on killing this spirit of death, firing their rifles into his figure.

However, the guards realised too late that the black haze that formed Wolf’s “body” simply allowed the bullets to pass straight through. Admiss the confusion, every guard had fired their bullet that was loaded into their rifles.

Golden Might also realised this, and he knew that more of his guards would meet their end if they tried to reload and fire, repeating their process.

“Those at range, continue to reload! Engage in close quarters combat if possible! Find that archer!”

Unicorn guards began to teleport towards Lamb’s last known position to find and gut her, an intelligent move by the troops to find the ranged threat. Unfortunately for them, they found something far different than Lamb when they appeared in her last known spot.

“Peek-a-boo!”, Rengar cackled as he sprung from a bush, crushing one unicorn under his paws and turning to slash the throat of the other next to him. Once the one to his left had been dealt with, he sunk his wrist-blades into the guard that he had trampled, twisting the blade to ensure the messy, but definite kill.

The lion turned to the other troops that were beginning to close in on him, some in the back with their rifles locked and loaded.

His one eye scanned over each of the threats that were presented towards him. He hadn’t felt this thrilled in combat ever since he had been in the League.

Then, Rengar noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Lamb had come back around to flank behind the guards that were approaching him. Seeing her string three arrows for the ranged guards farthest from Rengar, but closest to Lamb, he initiated.

He broke into combat with his Hunting Knife, slashing down the first guards that tried to come for him easily while Lamb had shot the rifle-wielding ponies in their backs with her bow, severing each of their spines as the arrows penetrated their armor. Unsure of which opponent to fight, half of the guards broke for Rengar, their crystalline swords itching for blood to be spilled, while the other half attempted to teleport of dash after Lamb.

Rengar punched a unicorn that had appeared next to him and grabbed ahold of him. He threw him into two guards to keep the three stunned for the time being. One guard charged straight for him, screaming as he held his crystalline sword in the tightest grip possible. Evading the charge and allowing him to overshoot, Rengar kicked him in the back, sending him down.

Apparently, as with nearly every cat, Rengar loved to toy with his prey at times. Here, it was no different.

Lamb had been prancing and leaping to avoid sword slashes while expertly firing back at the guards, nearly each of the arrows connecting with their targets with extreme precision. Whenever a guard came close enough to attempt to kill Lamb with a sword, she would simply leap several yards back and put an arrow into him.

A method that she repeated to a frequency that League of Legends marksmen would call: “kiting”.

Wolf had reappeared at her side, and quickly spoke as he floated backwards with her.

“The ponies are coming into the forest! They’re bringing that totem with them as well!”

Lamb managed to juke the guards running at her by hiding into some brush, and spoke back with her calm and soothing voice, despite the bloody combat that was being waged.

“Totem or not, their willingness to kill us is foolish. They should have stayed in the safety of their own camp-”

“There’s something else they are bringing!”

When Wolf finished his sentence, it would appear that the entire forest had been blasted apart, tree by tree. Explosions smashed against the trees with the force of dynamite, felling more and more of the forestland than any deforestation could ever hope to do.

Rengar quickly ducked down as magical charges blasted and smashed the guards that were unfortunate to be caught in the volley to pieces. He had never ever experience something like this before, the entire forest being torn down by magical explosions at such a rapid rate, a smoking clearing that reeked of arcane magic.

When the explosions stopped, Rengar’s eye poked out from the bush, spying on the source.

It was Golden Might, brandishing a strange firearm that he held in an underhand, or underhoof position, with multiple barrels smoking and spinning from its previous fire. The barrels spun as Golden Might looked through the forest, the totem being mounted on his back in order for him to see what he couldn’t. Stepping along slowly, and being flanked by other guards, he watched the forest carefully while shouting, “I’ll cut down this bucking forest if that’s what it takes to kill you!”

Rengar saw this powerful weapon in Golden Might’s hooves, and thought back to himself. Where had he seen this weapon before?

Or more exactly, where had he seen a similar weapon?

Then, it clicked in his mind. It was a minigun. Back in Runeterra, the minigun was a Piltover invention that was claimed to be the fastest firing machine gun in the entire world, and Jinx, The Loose Cannon clearly used it to its effectiveness, making her one of the top marksmen within the League.

He had fought Jinx before many times on Summoner’s Rift, but she was never someone to take lightly, despite her mental condition being… “fascinating”.

The weakness of the minigun, or this Hextech Rotary Gun that Golden Might held was the amount of ammo that it would chew through, before undergoing a lengthy reload.

“Where are you, Rengar?! Come out so you can make this all easier!”, Golden Might shouted as he spooled up the gun again, unleashing another hail of arcane charges. Explosions riddled the forest as Rengar fled from the blasts, not intent on getting cut down by the massive amount of rounds being sent at him. He ran and ran as the sound of the gun became more high pitched, possibly upping its fire rate even more.

When Rengar was sure that he was out of range of the totem on Golden Might’s back, he regrouped with Lamb and Wolf who had also fled.

“Lamb! Take out that totem! And preferably that pony too!”

“I’ll go! Wolf, come!”

“Yes!”

It was all too soon that their plan instantly took a turn south. The group erupted in front of the three, as several gigantic and muscular lupines burst from the ground. Each holding some sort of crude, yet deadly looking blade in their paw, one snarled and charged straight for Rengar.

“Haha! Watch the pussycat get torn in half, brothers!”, the diamond dog barked as he tackled down Rengar, realising too late that the dog had burst out of the ground to his left.

While on the ground, Renar roared as he activated his wrist-blades and plunged them straight into the dog’s stomach, piercing through his armor and easily delivering a painful end to the dog as Rengar rolled him off with his feet.

“Dogs… I hate dogs…”, the lion sliced across the downed canine’s neck, effectively killing him.

When he looked around, more dogs were sprouting from the ground, obviously conscripts of Golden Might as some emerged with crystalline swords. The roar of Golden Might’s gun sounded again as several trees blasted into splinters behind them, forcing Lamb, Wolf, and Rengar to take cover while simultaneously fending off Golden Might’s diamond dog reinforcements. Cracks of Hextech rifles still went off, as stray bullets found themselves dangerously close to their position.

“Lamb! Is your Respite ready?!”, Rengar shouted as more shots blasted the tree towering above him into flaming pieces that pelted down on top of them.

“No! I’ve exhausted my mana!”, Lamb tried to get a bead of Golden Might for a kill, but explosions kept her ducked down and low.

“Grahhh! Now I know how it feels to be trapped!”, Wolf for once whimpered as the end for death itself seemed to draw closer, with Golden Might’s several platoons and the diamond dogs closing in on both sides.

Golden Might stepped over a log, getting a clear view of Rengar and his party, huddled up against the only tree standing in the general vicinity. Smoke and smoldering ruin of the forest lay scattered everywhere as the soldiers advanced towards the group, rifles aimed at them, and the diamond dogs beginning to take their position to cut off any means of escape.

“Well now, Rengar. How does it feel to be trapped, with no way to escape? Surely all of those meaningless hunts should have taught you by now.”, Golden Might laughed as the red-hot barrels of the rotary gun pointed directly at the group.

Rengar’s teeth were never grit with more hatred in his life. He had been beat. Rengar knew this feeling from the League, as even there were some opponents that he couldn’t fight without teamwork, but even now, teamwork has failed in this fight.

“I mean, there was what, over one hundred of us, fully armed to the teeth, and there was only three or four of you? I know you don’t think of me as much of the brilliant military leader that you shall soon come to realise, but those are some long odds.”

“Come down here so I can snap your head off with my-”

*KER-KRACK!*

A soldier had given Golden Might his own rifle, of which he quickly took aim, and placed a shot directly into Wolf’s mask.

“Wolf! No!”, Lamb covered Wolf’s face with her body, embracing her friend ensuring that if any more harm were to come his way, they would get through Lamb first.

Wolf could only give very low and painful sounding breaths as his mask wa nearly in fragments, pure arcane residue from the round tainting inside of the cracks.

Rengar looked back up as another soldier walked up to Golden Might with a barrel of arcanite. Refilling his rotary gun, he pointed it directly at Rengar and Lamb, as well as the dying Wolf.

“You coward! Face me and prove that you are the better pony!”

Golden Might only smiled.

“Actually, I’m just going to evaporate you right here, right-”

“Now.”

Another voice rang out as a crystal bolt impacted directly into the barrels of the cannon, causing its spinning to jam and ultimately killing the usability of the weapon. Golden Might didn’t even look over as he switched to the rifle on his back, but only managed to blast a pink shield that encompassed around Rengar and Kindred.

At that point, Golden Might turned to where his plans were being interfered with.

Two big banners were held up by an armored pony, one bearing the Canterlot Garrison, the other being the Crystal Empire Army. Ponies in a sizable force wearing golden and crystal armor stood in formation, shields and spears at the ready while others wielded crossbows in the back.

Golden Might was staring at the remnants of the Canterlot Garrison and the Crystal Army. Combined together, it was a sight to behold…

...and fear.

Shining Armor stepped forward, his horn now glowing in a pink aura as he still held the shield up around Rengar, Lamb, and Wolf.

“Just try to take another shot, Golden. That force-field managed to hold back an entire Changeling hive.”, Shining Armor brandished his own crystal sword.

Golden Might simply stood there, staring at the army that had amassed in what remained in his camp. looking back at his men, and seeing everyone still with their rifles, he gave the order that now started yet another battle on this bloody night.

“Open fire!”

“Charge!”

The command to fire was issued to Golden Might’s mercenaries while the command to charge was ordered by Shining Armor’s coalition. The loyalists barreled forwards, spears outreached to impale while the mercenaries took their shots, blasting the ranks with rifle fire, but not breaking them.

Rengar helped Wolf into Lamb’s grasp as Golden Might’s priorities shifted, inspecting the damage. Wolf’s head had gone limp, yet his spirit body still waved through the chilly air.

“Lamb. You must know that your time to fight has ended. Go and tend to your friend. I’ll go avenge what Golden Might has done to him.”

Though Lamb wanted to fight, she knew that she couldn’t afford for Wolf to die. They came from the ame source, as she was ying, he was yang, and there was never one without the other.

“Be safe, hunter.”, Lamb dashed away with Wolf, as Rengar turned back around. the diamond dogs had left to join the fight.

Perfect.

“Focusssss…”

Rengar materialized away from view, and stalked back to the battle at hand now. The two armies had collided with each other, blood being spilled at all ends. The hunter looked for a re-engagement with a favorable opportunity, and found one shortly.

An earth pony wearing golden armor, a Canterlot Garrison pony had been knocked onto the ground by a diamond dog, ready to plunge the oversized blade into the much smaller pony that lay helpless below it.

Rengar’s eye grew wide as the pupil inside of it began to shrink down. The thrill of the hunt was back inside Rengar, causing his heart to accelerate, and his vision to expand further and further. As Golden Might was occupied, he couldn’t call out Rengar from his totem, allowing Rengar to start his run towards the dog.

His teeth clenched, the grip on his hunting knife tightened, and soon, he sprung out of the shadows.

He drew a bola, upon spinning it up, it was clear that it was far more deadly and hindering than his others, as a thick webbing of net encircled the strings of the bola.

“Slow down!”, Rengar shouted as the bola was sent to the dog, wrapping around his back and continuing around him until his entire body was caught in the net. Rengar leaped at the ensnared dog with a mighty roar and attached himself to the back of the dog.

Ticks on your back was one thing. A lion hunter with a hunting knife about as large as a pony’s body stabbing and plunging into your back was an entire new world of pain. The diamond dog couldn’t even move from the net, allowing the pony under him to retrieve his dropped crossbow and end his suffering with a bolt into his thick head.

Before the pony could thank Rengar and get back to battle, the thrill of the hunt had already consumed Rengar. He ran straight into a mercenary pony, grabbed ahold of his much smaller figure than Rengar, and smashed his back right down on his knee, snapping his spine and killing him instantly.

He jumped away to avoid a blast of a Hextech rifle aimed at him, laying his eye on three pegasi in the air. Golden Might’s ponies, armed with hextech rifles reloaded in the air to take another shot at the lion. His instincts taking over, Rengar dove for another mercenary, and completely beheaded him from behind with his knife.

Taking the rifle which had not been fired, he took the gun as if it were a pistol, pointed the rifle into the sky, lined up the back sight with the fore sight on the middlemost pony, and pulled the trigger. A blast of magic hurled towards the pegasus, impacting and completely blasting apart the soldier, catching the other two at his side from his armor’s and the cartridge’s shrapnel and from the pure concussive force of the explosion. The pegasi hurled back down the Equestria, never to fly, nor breath, for that fact, again.

Rengar looked at the battlefield, finding that several barrels of arcanite still remained through the camp, with soldiers running towards a few to get more of the magic dust to reload their rifles…

...all in close proximity.

Something clicked in Rengar’s mind as he remembered something back in his day of being a League of Legends Champion.

He remembered a fellow who instead of fighting rather fairly, he would call in a cannon barrage from his own boat.

A fellow who seemed to love oranges.

A fellow that said the exact same thing that Rengar muttered as he took another rifle off of a dead mercenary, and aimed at one of the barrels where soldiers were reloading their magic rifles.

“Like shootin’ fish in a barrel.”

Gangplank’s words were said through Rengar’s mouth this time, as he took aim with his eye and let loose a round right at the highly volatile magic mineral. The harshest and brightest explosion Rengar had ever seen ignited before his eyes as the guards around the barrel were sent flying away from in, in one flaming piece, or multiple. The gigantic explosion sent flaming wooden shards in every direction around it, one catching another barrel.

Another explosion blasted several guards to bits as the barrel threw its shrapnel into other guards and into another barrel.

Soon, the chain reaction, as fast as it had started, had come to a fiery end with smoking bodies and pieces of said bodies lying around the place, heavily tipping the battle into Shining Armor’s favor, a his coalition had to worry less about a good chunk of Golden Might’s men.

In the meantime, Shining Armor utilised the surprise that the diamond dog he was fighting against experienced when the explosions occurred to shove his blade straight into the throat of the dog. He looked around, and rallied his men to reform their ranks and start to push down Golden Might’s now scattered army.

“Rengar!”

Shining called as the lion came back to his side.

“Thought you skipped out on us.”

“And miss this fight? I just had to get a few of my friends together first.”

Then, Golden Might was spotted, cutting down a coalition pony that wasn’t lucky enough to disengage from him.

Turning around, the look in his eyes said it all to Rengar.

“You go for that bastard. Me and my stallions will keep the traitors off of you.”

Rengar smiled deviously and nodded.

“Wouldn’t have it any other way. I’ll bring back his head for you.”

Shining nodded and smiled as well.

“Won’t be worth a lot, but I’d say it would look good over your mantle place.”

Then, Rengar broke free from his ranks. From the chaos and confusion happening from this night-time battle, no other soldier, but Golden Might could see Rengar barrel towards him.

Drawing his crystal sword, Golden Might shouted and charged straight for Rengar.

“I’LL HAVE YOUR HEAD!”, Golden Might shouted as the crystal sword, gripped in his own magic pointed towards the lion.

“I was just about to say the same thing!”, Rengar’s Hunting Knife sliced apart the ground as he dragged it along, ready to slash up at the pony.

Then, they met blades.

Sparks flew as the Hunting Knife met Golden Might’s sword, sliding against each other in an ear-shattering screech. Rengar slashed at Golden Might’s neck, but was denied when the sword levitated up and stopped his attack in his tracks.

Then, the pistol on Golden Might’s hip floated up in a golden aura as well, and blasted a bullet into Rengar’s chest, getting between a gap in his armor. The lion roared in agony as the bullet burrowed into him, with Rengar clutching his wound. As blood leaked onto his paw, Golden Might laughed and tossed the pistol aside. He brought up his sword for the killing blow-

-only to be stopped by Rengar’s Hunting Knife, while still under pain from the bullet.

Shocked, Golden might heard Rengar’s growling voice.

“I’ve been shot by many bullets, ones that were impure, another being an 80. Caliber.”

Rengar fought through his pain and his wound, overpowering Golden Might’s sword and slashing up to knock it away. Bringing it down again, Golden might parried the attack, but struggled back from the sheer magnitude of strength that was behind it.

Using his magic, he levitated more swords off of dead guards, and angled them at Rengar. Rengar stepped back to judge these blades. All crystalline. Damnit. Golden Might slashed and stabbed wildly with every blade he could throw at Rengar, him now using his wrist blades to block the incoming swords as well as his Hunting Knife.

“Feeling a little overwhelmed, Lion?!”

Rengar kept getting pushed back by the swords stabbing and spinning at him, being simply too many to fight at once, and each one seemed to behave just as if another person was wielding it.

“Argh! Ragh!”, Rengar roared as he furiously defended against the onslaught of attacks sent at him.

“You and the Princesses won’t stop me from returning this land to its former glory as the military super power it was! After I’m done with you, I’m going to slaughter every last pony that isn’t on my side here! And even then… I’ll go straight to Ponyville and do the same. Even Canterlot will fall under me.”, Golden Might harshly spoke to the lion through his gritted teeth.

Getting pushed further and back, Rengar’s eye opened up. He’s fought for no cause his entire life. Through every battle in the League, it was all of personal glory.

For himself.

But now, just as he had realised before, there was such a thing as innocent lives. There was such a thing as immoral acts.

And he will be damned if a pony out of anything would carry it out.

With that, Rengar’s mouth flew open, and a titanic roar blasted from his jaws. A great force of rage blasted the swords away from him, with Golden Might only keeping hold onto one. From the roar, his ferocity returned, healing the numerous scrapes and cuts that he had sustained from the swords. Even the bullet wound, though not fully healing, had stopped its pain.

When Golden Might recovered from the roar, Rengar had leaped straight at him, Hunting Knife in paw and both of his wrist blades out.

The ex-captain brought his sword to bare, but hardly deflected the first attack that was sent his way. He tried to counter the onslaught, but his sword was met by Rengar’s left wristblades, leaving him open to his Hunting Knife. A powerful slash ruined his armor and pierced straight through, drawing blood from the traitor.

Golden Might shouted in pain as he stumbled back, gaining his composure again. However, he no longer saw the lion he loathed so much. Now, he saw something that could only come from a nightmare.

A blue light, Rengar’s eye, and an orange light, from his eye binding were the only two things he could see during the night in front of him. The slight white glow from ultra-sharp teeth bared into a smile as the lion approached him. Holding up his sword in magic, but noticing that it had become the slightest bit more shaky, prepared for the lion’s next attack.

Then, the eyes and teeth disappeared.

Golden Might frantically looked around, unsure where the lion had gone. Surely the totem would reveal him.

The only thing was, that the totem wasn’t working. Looking around, Golden Might saw that the lens that operated the stealth detection of the totem was sliced off. Rengar had to have gotten a slash in and severed the device.

Now, Golden Might could only turn this way and that, to see where the lion might jump out from. His other soldiers were occupied, or getting slaughtered by the overwhelming coalition.

The darkness only seemed to enclose him as the tents that had been set ablaze from the camp projected eery orange and black shadows and light across the battlefield. The silhouettes flicked and flickered from the fires. Golden Might’s heart raced and raced. His chest moved up and down, his breathing becoming even more unstable from his now terror of the lion that stalked him from somewhere.

“Oh gods… please…”, Golden Might shook with absolute fear as he looked around at the burning scenery around him, with the darkness wavering and surrounding him.

Then, a roar made his heart nearly burst from his chest, and sent a shock of terror down his spine. The lion burst from a bush and smashed down Golden Might, who quickly tried to get back to his hooves. He slashed wildly at what was in front of him, not even knowing what was there to meet his sword.

Rengar simply stepped back and allowed Golden Might to wildly slash his sword, deciding to at least toy with him and parry each of the strikes, getting straight back into the fight, or whatever of a fight was left.

“Buck you! Buck you! You’re a demon! I know it! I’ll send you to Tartarus!”

Golden Might raised his sword above his head to bring it down on Rengar.

One opening was all that he needed.

One quick, yet powerful slash inches above Golden Might’s head severed his horn, earning a painful scream from the pony as he fell to the ground, instantly dropping the sword and clutching his head.

Rengar picked up the severed horn in his paw, and lay his eyes on Golden Might on the ground, screaming in agony.

Golden Might’s eyes opened up, seeing a dropped pistol on the floor. He stretched out his hoof to reach of it, but another hoof stepped on top of the pistol.

Shining Armor kicked away the firearm, and shook his head.

“I don’t think so.”

Golden Might, through his pain lay witness to his entire mercenary force slaughtered, or with some being lead away after they had apparently surrendered. He looked back up at Rengar, who placed his horn into a pouch on his belt.

“You… you… you’ve only let Equestria slip back into its state of powerlessness. I only wanted Equestria to prosper… but then you were all too blind for that.”

Then, Rengar took Golden Might by his neck and sprouted out his wrist blades on his other arm, angled to his throat as well.

“Equestria will prosper when ponies like you are out of the equation.”

Cleanup

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“Equestria will prosper when ponies like you are out of the equation.”

Before he could enact anything, he turned to Shining Armor.

“Captain, inform the princesses that we are done here.”

Shining Armor nodded and asked for any sort of paper and writing utensil that he could get his hooves on. While he was busy, Rengar tossed down Golden Might onto his back against a tree, then placed his paw right on his chest wound, pressing down on it to earn a gritted-toothed gasp of pain.

“When I came to this world, I thought that you ponies were weak. Spoiled. Insufferable. But now, I know that isn’t the case. There are some souls here that I myself, would gladly call allies and even have goals that are worth fighting for. However, that means that there are ones like you. Absolutely no regard for life in order to meet their own sinister agendas.”

Rengar took a claw and pressed it into his wound, digging along the exposed flesh to earn a scream from Golden Might.

“Using children as hostages. That shows how much of a coward you are, hiding behind the back of a child, with a knife to it. I’m a hunter that fought for personal glory within the League of Legends, but even that is an atrocity that I can recognise that needed to be stopped.”

Rengar’s claw extracted out of Golden Might’s wound, blood dripping from it. He took ahold of his horn, and pointed it at his throat.

“If it weren’t for the fillies, you wouldn’t even be worth hunting.”

Golden Might was in far too much pain to mutter a word, except for the painful breathing that he had to endure from his injuries. His vision blurred as he looked down at one of his legs. It had been twisted in the wrong direction. Possibly broken when Rengar tackled him from before.

“Rengar, the princesses were quick to respond.”

The hunter turned to the captain, who bore a look of what seemed to be disappointment.

“What did they say?”

Shining Armor read it again to himself and sighed.

“They want him alive. For a proper sentence. For an interogation.”

Golden Might suddenly perked up and smiled on the inside. Alive? He knew that Canterlot’s interior prison was still easily breachable from his memories. When he decided to enact his plan, he also created a backup of which he could escape if he were captured and put into this prison.

Oh, how he loved the princesses in this time of their mercy. They were far more useful than he-

“Give me that!”

Rengar snatched the scroll, and his eye flashed over the words. Infuriated, he tore the scroll with is claws and tossed the ribbons down into the dirt.

“They can’t be serious! This pony is too dangerous to be left alive! Have they learned nothing from their reign of this kingdom?!”, Rengar roared in anger.

“What do you mean?”

“Simple. I’ve only spent a few years here, but even I know that whatever deity or trouble that has been imprisoned, will only find a way to slither back from the depths of where it was locked away, bent on revenge. Tirek didn’t even kill ponies, from what I can remember. This pony right here, is responsible for the deaths of hundreds.”, Rengar explained out of earshot of Golden Might.

“I… I don’t question the princesses’ authority. They have to be-”

Then, Rengar said something that shook Shining Armor down to his very core. He didn’t know wether to be angry, or intimidated at Rengar.

“I am above the princesses. Listen to history. The only thing that will happen if we imprison this traitor is history going through the same cycle again. I say that this pony should not be left alive.”

Shining Armor looked down at the crossbow in his hooves, then looked at the torn up scroll on the ground. He inhaled heavily, then exhaled.

“You’re right. This pony cannot live. So, we execute him.”, Shining Armor took his crossbow and aimed it at Golden Might’s head.

Golden Might looked up and his heart sank, aside from his bleeding. He now stared at the pony who was leveling the crossbow towards his head. They were actually going to defile the princesses’ wishes and kill him.

Then, Rengar pushed his crossbow down.

“No. The princesses said for us to not harm him. We’ll go.”

“Wha-What? But you-”

Golden Might watched Rengar and Shining Armor’s figures fade off into the night, as his crippled form was still leaning against the tree where they have left him. Finally, he mustered enough strength to shout at them.

“You can’t leave me here! Your bitches in high command said they want me alive! You’ll regret this dearly!”

Rengar and Shining Armor heard the cries.

“We don’t kill him. But… the Everfree will do that for us.”

“Ah, now I see.”

Shining Armor didn’t like this to some extent, but to be honest with himself and the safety of Equestria, Golden Might had to die. And technically, they wouldn’t kill him.

“How long do you think he’ll last?”, Shining Armor asked Rengar as they regrouped with the coalition.

“He’ll be dead before we get back to Canterlot.”

Night still showed its dark face across the land.

He couldn’t see anything around him. Golden Might knew that it was pointless to move, as his legs had been crippled, and the pain in his chest was far too unbearable.

Watching around the forest, he had seen something moving around the area.

Circling.

Judging.

The figures hardly made a sound as they scampered about, unsure to Golden Might what they were. Perhaps they were just some foxes scurrying about. What he’s heard about the Everfree being a hellish forest was simply a blown out of proportion myth.

Then, as the figures drew closer, they appeared far too big to be foxes.

Golden Might suddenly held his breath as each of the figure turned around, revealing yellow eyes that glowed through the night. As they drew near, Golden Might could smell the thick scent of sap.

Then, he could catch a glimpse of one of these creatures. A large wolf, completely composed of sticks, bark, and forest material growled as it approached the helpless pony. He turned to his left and another was already approaching as well. To his right, there were two more.

He had no idea how many were behind him.

Golden Might backed up against the tree, his vision fading from the sheer pain that coursed through his body. The timber wolves could smell his blood, and they knew that he was a ripe meal, waiting to be torn apart.

He frantically waved and punched away the wolves with his hoof, not intent on getting torn to pieces by their maws. Golden Might’s breathing and painful heartbeat accelerated as he knew that eventually, the wolves would close in. He would be done for.

Then, a purple glow emanated through the forest. The wolves looked up towards the source of the eery glow, and suddenly turned tail, fleeing the scene.

Golden Might breathed a sigh of relief. Whatever that glow had come from, it ended up saving his life. Perhaps he could eventually muster enough strength to get up again.

Then, he heart hoofsteps coming behind him. Except… they weren't hoofsteps. They sounded stronger, yet lighter. And from the tone… more foreign.

The footsteps drew near from behind.

Golden Might couldn’t crane his neck around the tree to see what was coming.

An odd sound came from the being that was approaching him. It sounded like the crackling of magic…

...no. Magic never crackled like that.

He didn’t know what made that sound.

Then, the figure stopped moving. Just behind the tree where he was.

Golden Might did something that would be his last regret in his life.

He shouted.

“You! Who are you?! Help me-”

Then, a gigantic glowing blade of purple energy erupted from the tree and pierced straight through one of his arms, the jagged and crackling energy boiling and burning through his arm, and the tree that it was resting on. He let out a scream of sheer suffering as the blade withdrew from the tree.

Then, the figure stalked towards the front of him.

The only thing he could see were two glowing eyes, the green light from them shone onto Golden Might’s face, illuminating his helpless look in his own eyes, as well as two huge purple blades that crackled with that foreign, yet obviously deadly energy. His heart now raced faster than before, each beat becoming agony to him. His breathing would not slow down. His pupils shrunk at the light coming from those eyes.

He pushed himself even harder against the tree he was leaning against, trying to do whatever to extend his fleeting lifespan.

Then, the being in front of him spoke in a voice, so horrific and ghastly that he knew, that it had to have come from the devil itself.

“Your fear tastes… delicious…”

The Everfree Forest was too far away from civilisation for Golden Might’s screams to be heard that night as he was slowly, yet surely peeled and butchered alive.

The coalition had arrived back at Canterlot after freeing the animals that had been captured by Golden Might’s forces, as well as escorting the detained mercenaries back to Canterlot. The princesses were eagerly awaiting the arrival of Rengar and Shining Armor, as Lamb had already come earlier to treat Wolf and his injuries.

The lion and the captain took the train back up to Canterlot to save time. Arriving at the gates, the guards didn’t ask for Rengar to give up his weapons this time. At least this next visit to this castle would feel a tiny bit more welcome.

The staff still avoided eye contact with him, but guards now saluted him as he walked past.

Or… did they salute Shining Armor.

Rengar couldn’t care less.

The two came into the princesses’ throne room, with Shining Armor saluting upon arrival.

“Princesses, the uprising has been stopped.”

Celestia nodded.

“That’s good news, you two. But what about Golden Might? I didn’t see him among the prisoners.”

Rengar shook his head.

“A casualty, among the rest. Though it is better he remains dead than attempts to escape and reform this horrendous insurgency again.”, Rengar explained to the princesses. Though they didn’t agree with him initially, they remembered that from his experience as a League of Legends Champion, his choices could be very trustworthy as a seasoned veteran.

“I see now. Well, let us all be glad that no more lives were lost today than what could have transpired. I honestly never thought a pony would go through such lengths by harming a child for their own goals…”, Celestia shook her head and looked down.

“It… really is sickening.”, Luna replied, looking towards her sister.

Then, Rengar took a step forward.

“Princesses, you must listen to me. Now. For what I am about to say to you must be taken to heart.”

The two alicorns looked at each other.

“Okay. What do you have to say, champion?”, Celestia asked.

“Your kingdom is weak. Very weak.”

The princesses took the expression of shock, but mostly Luna did, as Rengar had already told Celestia about this beforehoof.

“Your military is incredibly weak and insignificant. I have seen the griffons and their armed forces. They are an army worthy of being recognised. For such a giant nation you ponies control, a sizable military is needed to enforce those borders. Or… in this case… not rely on a League of Legends champion and some small coalition to stop an uprising.”

Luna couldn’t believe what she was hearing. This lion was dictating her flaws of being a ruler? Surely her sister must feel the same.

“Luna, he’s right.”

“What?! What are you going on about? He’s merely a lion!”

“No. He’s a champion. He has even more experience than our thousand years of ruling. He’s always been caught up in political struggles in the League of Legends, while our conflicts haven’t returned since a thousand years ago.”

Luna turned back to Rengar.

“In addition, you hardly know what land you’ve even claimed as your own. The Everfree Forest is overrun with volatile and dangerous life. Barren lands that can serve as mining are available for you, but instead have already been claimed by diamond dogs.”

Celestia nodded.

“Go on.”

“However, you won’t be able to achieve these goals without a backing. A gigantic backing. A backing so large that if you obtain it, your country will truly grow to be the most powerful on this entire planet.”

“Thou doesn’t mean…”, Luna asked in her Canterlish attire.

“That’s right. You need influence in the League of Legends.”

Celestia shook her head.

“But the last time summoners came, they told us that we don’t have any champions worthy of being accepted into the League.”

Rengar looked back at the princesses.

“Then find some champions. Reopen contact with them. Make your voice heard. They are very capable of doing interdimensional influence, as they have done so with The Void. The fact is… you two should become summoners.”

The princesses actually gasped at this.

They become summoners? Actually wage their own political matches against the other great nations of Runeterra, like Demacia, Noxus, and Zaun? Even actually command their own champions, and unlock champions for summoning in their matches?

Rengar chuckled.

“Believe me. I think you two have what it takes.”

“But, we need champions under our own banner as well. We cannot mercenary other champions until end.”

Then, Rengar stepped forward.

“Then I shall be your first champion. Let me fly the banners of Equestria. I will hunt in the League of Legends once more if that is what it takes to fulfill a just cause, as yours here. Demacia and Noxus only squabble in their own conflicts, Zaun simply want less restrictions on their scientific experiments, and… don’t get me started on the Shadow Isles. A weakened kingdom to achieve its glory as it rightfully deserves. Even though I would have thought I could never align myself with any cause before, yours is an exception.”

Celestia and Luna were in complete disbelief. Rengar, The Pridestalker was offering his allegiance to them a a champion in the League of Legends.

“We have our duties as rulers. Wouldn’t that make us ineffective summoners?”

Rengar shook his head at Luna.

“When political matches are fought, they are fought at the time of consent of both sides. Otherwise, normal matches are often waged at anytime summoners choose. Though, it’s recommended that you should participate in the League as much as you can to get the hang of their regulations.”

“You actually want to offer your allegiance to us?”

Rengar nodded again.

“From the beginning of the battle against Golden Might’s forces, I had wondered the same thing. Can this kingdom that I now have to live within be salvaged? Then, I remembered the League of Legends. It had grown stale for me, but with new champions arriving in, and now possibly a cause to fight for, perhaps I could join once again and show these other champions who Rengar, The Pridestalker means to them.”

The two deities were at a loss for words.

Then, Shining Armor stepped forward as well.

“Then I shall become a champion to serve this land as well!”

“Shining Armor… do you mean that?”, Celestia asked the captain.

“I feel that with what combat prowess he displayed last night, he shall make a fine champion.”, Rengar approved of Shining Armor’s rather quick decision, “Though there are many things you must know about the League of Legends before you even think of fighting within it. Your princesses here actually know quite a bit. They watch battles in their spare time.”

Then, Shining bowed to his magesties.

“Not only shall I serve as your captain in your armed forces, but I shall serve as Equestria’s first pony within the League of Legends.”

“Okay, don’t get carried away with all of this. You have a lot to learn. Speaking of learning, where is Lamb and Wolf? Did they arrive safely?”

Luna nodded.

“I administered them into the Canterlot Hospital. Wolf is getting fine treatment, as well as Lamb-”

“Goodness! You had to have been injured as well!”

At Celestia’s concern, Rengar looked down at his chest.

“The bleeding’s stopped. But I do believe that there is a bullet lodged in me somewhere.”, Rengar chuckled as he looked around his body, “That, and a few slashes here and there. Perhaps also some burns from rifle explosions.”

At once, Rengar was forcefully whisked away for treatment, though he didn’t really feel that much pain. He knew that he should still get treated anyways.

However, Rengar had to trudge through the city of Canterlot itself.

Now he remembered why he hated ponies in the first place.

Every single soul here reeked of posh and nobility. As he walked down the street, he earned gasps and heads turning away as he headed towards the hospital. Had it not been for Shining Armor at his side, the ponies might have called for guards to have him arrested, just for looking menacing.

Arriving at the hospital was a bit better, as the unicorn inside greeted them kindly and escorted them away. Rengar asked for a minute to visit another room, of which the nurse turned to Shining Armor.

“Let him.”

The nurse smiled and nodded. Rengar trudged out and looked down the hall. He could see one room emanated a very familiar aura.

“Occupied?”. Rengar knocked on the door.

“Come in, Pridestalker.”

Lamb’s voice echoed and allowed Rengar passage inside. There was no bed in the room, or any ponies for the fact. Instead, Lamb was meditating with Wolf’s head on her lap, seemingly asleep.

“The ponies cannot fix what damage has been done to Wolf. Only I can mend the mask of inescapable death.”, Lamb chimed through her meditation.

Rengar looked over them.

“Funny. Beings of death that can save people from it.”

“You see, Rengar. Not only do we enforce death at times, we can also decide when the time is up for some. The fillies we rescued… their time was not up. Far from it. Golden Might was a different story. Besides, what happened to that pony?”

Rengar looked down at where his knife was supposed to be, as he relinquished it to some guards prior to entering the hospital.

“Dealt with. Only death can truly stop evil in its tracks. This kingdom doesn’t seem to comprehend that.”

Kindred nodded.

“A wise decision, Rengar.”

The lion then looked back down at Wolf, his body still wavering, yet his head was still limp.

“Too bad he couldn’t get a good feast.”

“Hehe… you didn’t notice him sneaking up behind ponies that tried to take potshots at you during your fight and tearing them to pieces?”

Rengar looked at Wolf, stupified.

“Give him my gratitude. He deserves much more than it.”

Lamb nodded and lightly kissed the nose of Wolf.

“I shall.”

In a landscape that bended and distorted all reality, no living soul that ventured inside, not being created from it could comprehend the horrors that existed in this realm. Creatures of bizarre and hideous structure spawned from within, bent only one one thing:

Consuming.

There is a place between dimensions, between worlds.

To some it is known as the Outside.

To others it is the Unknown.

To those that truly know, however, it is called: “The Void”.

While every creature inside hungered for something, there was a notable one that hungered not for physical consumption, but for mental absorption.

The Eye of the Void, Vel’Koz was currently analyzing several equations he had developed himself with a holographic projection that shone from his one gigantic eye. His voice was composed of the entire void itself, echoing and reverbing as he spoke.

Approaching him was something that should never belong in the void: a human.

This human was the only non-voidling that had been consumed by the void, but let himself take the corruption willingly. He floated up to Vel’Koz, watching his work.

“The Void beckons, Eye. I have sensed that you have willingly tore a hole in the void. Explain yourself.”

The three smaller eyes resting above Vel’s headpiece floated out from their sockets and gazed at Malzahar as Vel’koz resumed his work on the equations.

“This is none of your concern, prophet. This is an experiment that I must perform for the betterment of my knowledge. This experiment must succeed, and by my calculations, the chances of failure are… less… than zero.”, the Eye of the Void responded, his voice echoing.

“An experiment? What experiment of yours involves a tear in the space-void continuum? How did you manage to do this?”, Malzahar’s eyes began to glow a tiny bit, peering into the mind of the void’s archivist.

However, he was met with an overload of knowledge, recoiling his mind back. He placed a hand to his head, shaking it.

“Prophet, you should be aware that I have made link to another world. One rich with information. Information that cannot possibly be lost by me.”, Vel noticed a voidling had been given birth from the void right next to Malzahar.

Instantly, Vel’s tentacle outstretched and a burst of plasma zapped the creature into dust.

“Hmm… the creature’s structure is continuously evolving. Peculiar. I must analyze more of this world, as the information in the void has been fleeting for me.”

Malzahar looked around The Void. He could sense that a great presence was missing.

It was a strong presence. One that a League of Legends Champion that hailed from The Void would have. However, it appeared to be missing. Recovering from his mind overload and turning back to Vel’koz he demanded answers.

“Where is-”

“Kha’zix? Oh. He has gone to this world I have discovered.”

“What?! You sent him to some foreign world?!”

Vel’koz laughed a tiny bit.

“You human… clueless, yet remarkable. You see, voidlings are an ever-evolving race. They consume, they evolve or grow. Now… say if a voidling were to be sent to this new world, loaded with information. They consume all of that information, then arrive back to The Void.”

“What are you saying, Vel’koz?”

“Kha’zix shall consume everything on that land, quite possibly that planet, then return here. After such, I shall kill him and extract the information of everything that he has slain, and reconstruct him. Perhaps… I could even wipe his memory and let him do it again.”

Malzahar shook his head.

“And how are you so sure that he will live? What if he dies and we can never retrieve him? The League of Legends will punish The Void severely.”

“Simple. I’ve studied this world in my spare time. Incredibly weak species roam the planet, but they have interesting characteristics. An overload of magic is found there, and I need it. Besides… Kha’zix is an ever-evolving organism. Nothing can stop him when he is fully grown… that is until I shall extract the data. I admire his ruthlessness. I really do. But what’s the point of destroying eveything you see if you don’t learn anything about what you destroy?”

Malzahar looked back into the never-ending expansion of The Void.

“Experiment or not, Kha’zix will ravage that entire world. Even then, you will not be able to stop him, Vel’koz.”

Vel’s eyes floated back into his sockets as he continued on his equations.

“I shall see.”

FF at 20 (Bonus Chapter)

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Warning: Language alert from very, very salty League of Legends players.

It was rather late at night when Twilight Sparkle had gotten a letter from Princess Celestia. Funny enough, since Rengar had made his appearance, letters flowed in towards her. Citizens wanted to know about this lion, and whether or not he was a danger to them, especially after the hydra event that shook Ponyville to its core. She had visited Rarity and Applejack to check up on how they were doing.

To say the least, seeing the newly reunited siblings together brought a tear to Twilight's eye, and each of them told her that the next time they saw the hunter, that she give him their thanks for saving their sisters.

Even Rainbow Dash said that she owed Rengar "big time" after he rescued Scootaloo.

When school was back for the fillies, every single student wanted to know what happened to the five fillies in question, but together, they didn't exactly want to talk about what they had to go through. Except Scootaloo. She told tales of a giant lion beating up the mercenaries that captured them, and how he saved Sweetie Belle from her death.

As such, even more letters from the townsfolk came to Twilight's inventory. So much that she and Spike would have to take shifts for an entire day to read through every single one of them and respond before tiring out. The difference now was that Celestia had sent this letter, urging her to come to Canterlot right away.

It talked about... spectating a battle within the League of Legends?

Now that was research that she could never turn up.

"Alright Spike, I'm going to be gone for the night. You sure that you can handle the rest of this mail? It does seem like a lot.", Twilight's eyes stared at a huge pile of letters in the corner of the map chamber.

"Ah, I've had to work through a lot more than all of this. Just go and catch up with your alicorn friends!", he waved and smiled as he was moving a desk over, so that he could comfortably get to work.

"Thanks Spike. Hopefully I won't be gone too long."

Twilight's horn illuminated, then with a purple flash, she disappeared from sight. Spike sat down at the desk and stared at the pile.

"Alright, first letter..."

The Princess of Friendship met up with the other two alicorns, the Princess of the Sun, and the Princess of the Moon. The other two deities welcomed Twilight with a smile.

"Good evening, Twilight. How have you and your friends been holding up after all that has happened?", Celestia put a hoof on her shoulder.

"It's... been going okay. Applejack and Rarity's sisters are still a bit shaken up, but Scootaloo's been doing surprisingly fine. Guess that camping trip with Rainbow dash really gave her a renewed sense of courage.", Twilight replied as she walked with the two princesses.

They kept talking as they walked through the chambers of the gigantic castle of Canterlot. They began to share their experiences about Rengar and the newly found Kindred. Eventually, the subject switched back to the topic about the League of Legends.

"So... not to interrupt or anything like that, but didn't you send me a letter to come to spectate a 'League of Legends" match?", Twilight looked up at Celestia.

"As a matter of fact, that's what we're heading off to do. Trust me, as violent as it may be, you will find it incredibly fascinating of what goes on in these sorts of battles.", Celestia explained as they stopped as a door that blocked entry to one of the deeper parts of the castle.

"You'll see why spectating has been our favorite pastime ever since.", Luna opened the door with her magic, and closed it behind the three. Inside was a room that contained four pillows, of which to lounge on, and a massive crystal sphere in the center where Twilight could see something billowing inside.

"Wow, I've never seen this room before...", Twilight approached the giant orb.

"Please, take a seat Princess Twilight."

At her former teacher's beckon, she did so. Twilight scooted closer towards the sphere and gazed inside.

"So, while we wait, is there anything you need me to explain to you?", Celestia comically levitated a bag of popcorn over towards herself.

"Actually, yeah. Everything. How does this all work?"

Celesia and Luna nodded as they prepared for a lecture to the young princess.

"In a League of Legends match, specifically this match, a normal battle, champions from all over their world will participate daily in battles within the League's most renown war ground: Summoner's Rift. Locating on top of a great mountain and absolutely teeming with magical energy, the battleground is divided into several sections.", Celestia began.

"Sections?"

"Yes. Three lanes, two bases, two rivers, two separate jungles, and the Dragon and Baron pit."

After Luna named the parts on the map, Celestia levitated up an image of Summoner's Rift:

Twilight examined the map. She could now get where the "lanes" were located now as well as the "jungles".

"What are those towers in the lanes?"

"Those are the turrets. Incredibly powerful and stop champions from advancing too far into enemy territory. They also provide a safe haven for champions that are too battered or weak to fight. However, from help by the Rift Minions, champions can destroy the turrets. Doing so will slowly push their advance and let them fight towards the base, where the Nexus awaits."

"Nexus?"

"It's the central powercore of the respective team's base. Destroy the Nexus, and it's game over. That's the only way to win. Or... they enemy team could surrender if they are getting battered hard enough."

Twilight stared at the image and tried to take in what Celestia had said.

"It's..."

"A lot to take in. I know. But watching a game will surely ease the confusion you are experiencing-"

"Sister! It's starting!"

Celestia smiled at Luna.

"It's time to sit back and watch. I hope you brought a pad and pencil. There will certainly be a lot of notes for you to take...", Celestia crunched on a kernel of popcorn.

Twilight brought up a scroll and stared at the sphere. Peering at it, she could see what was...

...a human.

But it wasn't exactly like the humans she met in another dimension, as well as what she was turned into. This human's body structure was much more evenly distributed, as well as the other humans around him either having a paler or dark skin color.

"Summoner's of the League of Legends!", the robed human announced high up top a platform, surrounded by many different banners with various patterns and symbols.

"See that Luna? Our banner will join among those one day...", Celestia whispered to her sister.

"The Rift has been primed! Our summoners are at the ready! Our champions are prepared!", the man continued, "Welcome to the League of Legends! From all factions that are spectating, from the noble and justice-seeking Demacians to the dark and frightful Shadow Isles, we all welcome you to the League, as well as be glad to host and resolve your political strifes so unnecessary conflicts may now come to an end."

"Political strifes?", Twilight asked.

"Remember how Rengar said that the League was made so that nations could allow their own brave champions to fight instead of hundreds of faceless men? It ended wars and only the strongest can make a difference."

Twilight scribbled down her notes as the human continued talking.

Trumpets blared as the human took out a scroll.

"Our summoners shall now check in to make sure that they are ready! Ten summoners, five on each team, ready up!"

Then, ten squares appeared as a magical image in front of the man. Instantly, one by one they filled up with a blue hue, indicating that the respective summoner was ready.

Every one of the squares lit up...

...except for the last one.

Celestia and Luna groaned, seemingly knowing what was going on.

"This happens a bit, Twilight. Honestly, if a summoner queues up for a game, why would they bother to not hit 'accept'?!", Celestia fumed.

The squares reappeared, and began to fill up again. Thankfully, all ten squares blinked blue. The summoners were ready, and it was time for them to summon their champions.

"Now Twilight, say that a Demacian champion were to be on the same team as a Noxian champion. Both nations are bitter enemies ever since they were created, but the reward that will go to the winning team's champions and each of their nations far outweigh them loosing. It's to make sure that champions don't betray each other on the rift. If a champion displays traitorous behavior, they will become heavily sanctioned and often loose glory to their own nation. If a summoner shows bad behavior, if it's intolerable, other summoners can report them to the Tribunal to await judgement.", Luna explained.

"I see. Fascinating! There's this whole other world that I haven't even discovered yet? And this is where Rengar was from originally? I'm going to be up for weeks gathering research!", Twilight beamed with glee, earning a giggle from Celestia and Luna.

Then, several lines of text arose from magical displays, indicating that the summoners were communicating with one another.

"For this match, the blue team will be the main center of attention for us. Be sure to root them on, Twilight!", Celestia smiled.

Before Twilight could replay, text came over the sphere.

B Summoner 1: Mid

B Summoner 2: Mid

B Summoner 4: adc

B Summoner 2: fk

B Summoner 2: Top

B Summoner 3: jg

B Summoner 5: sup

"What are they saying?", Twilight asked in confusion.

"They are calling their role on the team. Blue Summoner 1 got Mid Lane, 2 took Top Lane, Summoner 4 is the Marksman at Bottom Lane, as well as 5 being his support, and number 3 is the jungler."

"So... determining roles is more or less a first-come-first-serve?"

"Mainly in regular play. In more organised matches, summoners are more familiar with roles and will often become those roles. Mid means Middle Lane, top means Top Lane, 'jg' means Jungler, adc is short for "attack damage carry" also known as marksmen, and 'sup' is support for the marksman."

Twilight then got an idea from Celestia's explanation.

"Oh! So roles on the team correspond to positions on the Rift?"

"Yes! You're getting it now.", Celestia grinned and nodded.

"Oh, and what does 'fk' mean?"

Luna laughed.

"He called his role to late. It's a short abriviation for 'fuck'."

Twilight's eyes widened in embarrassment.

"Sheesh..."

B Summoner 1: mrry christmas everyone

B Summoner 2: same

B Summoner 4: wat are u, 12?

B Summoner 1: ?

B Summoner 4: just watch me carry all of you scrubs, I went 15/2/8 last game

B Summoner 5: but that was last game

B Summoner 4: stfu and support me

Celestia and Luna groaned again.

"Great. Your first spectating of a game and the summoners are already bickering in the lobby.", Celestia put her hoof on her face.

Then, the summoners began to pick their champions.

Portraits of different characters began to appear over each summoner's icon, indicating which champion they have selected.

BLUE TEAM:

B Summoner 1: Malzahar, The Prophet of the Void

B Summoner 2: Malphite, Shard of the Monolith

B Summoner 3: Pantheon, The Artisan of War (Dragonslayer Pantheon)

B Summoner 4: Ashe, The Frost Archer

B Summoner 5: Braum, The Heart of Freljord

RED TEAM:

R Summoner 1: Yasuo, The Unforgiven

R Summoner 2: Renekton, The Butcher of the Sands

R Summoner 3: Master Yi, The Wuju Bladesman

R Summoner 4: Kalista, The Spear of Vengeance

R Summoner 5: Thresh, The Chain Warden

"So that's what the Blue Team is up against. Yasuo Mid Lane, Renekton Top Lane, Master Yi as a Jungler, and Kalista Bottom Lane with Thresh as her support.", Celestia's eyes moved over each portrait for the champions.

"Any of them more dangerous?", Twilight still wrote her notes down.

"Master Yi will become a gigantic threat if he either gets kills early on, or if he's freely allowed to slay monsters in the jungle.", Luna explained.

Then, Twilight asked one of the most import questions of all.

"So... champions get more and more powerful as the game progresses?"

"Precisely. You see, by killing minions, monsters, and even other champions, you will earn a gold bounty for each kill. You then trade in the gold at the shop within your base to power up your champion with magical items.", Celestia started.

"Then if a champion kills another, will that put the other one behind?"

"Tremendously. You earn a lot of gold when you kill another champion. Hopefully, Blue Team, who we will be rooting for won't feed the enemy at all."

"Feed?"

"It's terminology for dying a lot and giving gold to the enemy."

"But wait. Can champions actually come back to life?"

The two other princesses nodded.

"The summoners have such amazing abilities... even bringing those that have died back to life. Albeit if they had died in a relatively short amount of time. They can bring someone back to life with just the tiniest piece of them."

Twilight's eyes grew wide with fascination. A league that stopped wars and mages that could bring back the dead?

"It's all so amazing...", Twilight muttered to herself.

Then, the game started.

Appearing at Blue Base, Malzahar, Ashe, Braum, Malphite, and Pantheon spawned inside of the fountain stairs within the base.

"Ah, another day, another battle.", Braum smiled warmly as she stretched his muscles, "So, it looks like I'll be keeping you out of trouble this time, Ashe."

The frost archer smiled back, "Glad to have you on my side, Braum."

"Tell me Ashe, how has your husband been treating you?", Braum and Ashe began to head out of the base towards bottom lane.

"He's been pretty rough on me lately... just how I like it.", Ashe smirked towards the strongman. The two shared a hearty laugh as the two natives of Frejord headed down.

Then, Malzahar floated into the air, connected with the very essence of the void. His eyes flashed s he surveyed his surroundings. Summoner's Rift. This place never grew old for him, despite the countless times he had fought here.

"Oblivion awaits.", he spoke to himself as he floated towards Mid Lane.

The gigantic figure of Malphite shook, running off a few pebbles from his back. He looked around, and made haste to stomp his way towards Top Lane, just as his summoner directed him to.

"Going.", he bluntly spoke to the command.

Lastly, Pantheon arrived. Oddly enough, he didn't speak too much as he too started up and headed towards the bottom of the jungle, next to where bottom lane was.

Shield and spear in hand, he made way towards Ashe and Braum, who turned around to face him.

"Let me guess, you need a leash?", Ashe strung a solid ice-crystal arrow on her bow.

Pantheon only nodded through his helmet.

"Then help we shall!", Braum clapped his hands and picked up his shield, or rather, a gigantic frozen door that he had torn off a gate to use as his weapon.

Back in Canterlot, Twilight asked for another question after overhearing the conversation at bottom lane.

"What's 'leashing'?"

"Leashing is when a champion will assist in the slaying of the first jungle monster. It's often the pair of Krugs, two gigantic insects made of pure stone, like the cragadiles of the Everfree, or the Gromp, a huge magically mutated frog.", Luna explained.

Pantheon, as well as the bottom lane duo waited at the spot where the Krugs will spawn.

"So... Pantheon. I love that new armor you have. It's a bit less... revealing than your other one. Tell me, where did you get it?", Braum tried to start a conversation.

Pantheon still remained silent.

Then, the summoner directing Pantheon typed a single message in the all-chat, allowing the enemies to look at what Blue Summoner 3 had to say:

Blue Summoner 3: :^)

Immediately, the summoners responded.

Blue Summoner 1: Same

Blue Summoner 4: no one cares kid

Blue Summoner 2: kek

Ashe and Braum looked above them.

"I wonder what the summoners are saying up there...", Ashe turned to Braum.

"Probably discussing strategy so complex that we would never be able to understand...", Braum scratched his head.

Then, the Krugs rolled out from the wilderness and uncurled in front of the three. Giving a roar that blasted stones from their mouths, the quick skirmish began. Braum's fist grew a layer of ice to it, and with it, he slammed into the bigger Krug, applying his Winter's Bite to it. Followed afterwards with Ashe's arrows and Pantheon's spear strikes, the Krug that was hit by Braum immediately flash-froze after being attacked three more times after he had been hit by Braum.

The adc and support backed away to let Pantheon get the killing blow, of which a single pea stab secured it for him. Instantly hitting level 2, Pantheon turned to engage the other Krug as Ashe and Braum headed towards Bot Lane.

Minions have spawned.

Then, small figures of constructed magic, wielding objects such as axes, hammers, shields, and wands began to march out of each team's base. They seemed diminutive, and puny compared to the champions. Just as Twilight discovered.

"Celestia, what are those things?"

"Those, Twilight, are minions. Do not be fooled by their diminutive structure. They are essential to winning the game. Remember that when you kill minions, you gain gold. Kill a lot of them, that means you also get a lot of gold. Sometimes kills don't even matter at times if you can kill more minions than the opponent. However, remember what I talked about with turrets?"

"Yeah, turrets. Those big towers in the lane that could easily kill a champion?", Twilight reponded.

"You're picking tings up pretty fast. You see, if minions walk into turret range and 'tank' the turret shots, it allows champions to freely attack the tower and eventually bring it down."

"Eesh... the minions just take all the fire like that? I kinda feel a little bad for them."

Luna looked over and addressed her concern.

"Minion's aren't even living. They are purely manifestations of magic created just for this purpose.", she explained as the minions began to pour into their respective lanes.

In Top Lane, the big and hulking Malphite now got a glimpse of his lane opponent, essentially someone who he will mostly be fighting for the next 12-18 minutes. Renekton, the giant crocodile took his steps towards the living rock.

"Malphite, you're next on the chopping block! Here, we'll see if rocks can bleed!", Renekton's massive blade whirled around as he pointed it towards Malphite.

Malphite response was a lot more blunt than Renekton's.

"You will loose."

Then, the minions arrived at Top Lane, and clashed blades and spells with minions of the opposing side. Here, a big role of the summoners directing each champion comes into play. The champions can only gain gold by landing a killing blow on a minion, but the champions themselves have no way of differentiating which minions are on lower health than others, an ability that summoners have.

Malphite simply stomped on the minions as they were about to die, earning a steady income of gold for his disposal. The living mountain concentrated on killing as much minions of the opposite side as he could.

However, Renekton had other plans. As Malphite was busy killing minions, Renekton seized this as an opportunity to punish the rock. He ran up his opponent and with command from his summoner, gladly tore several gashes into Malphite with his blade. Not even the rock-solid structure of Malphite could stop the incoming damage.

With a circular slash of the croc's blade, Renekton retreated away, just as Malphite did away from him.

"I see that Renekton is punishing Malphite for attacking minions. But he has to be careful.", Celestia told Twilight, "Minions will attack those who ham champions on their side. Though the damage that they deal is completely negligible later on in the game, early on, they can still hurt."

Twilight was busy scribbling down notes as she watched the battle top lane.

It appears that Malphite was far more of a passive fighter right now, once in a while hurling a rock at Renekton and backing off as he focused purely on killing minions. Renekton was another story. The crocodile abused every single chance he could get to stab at his opponent and dash in and away. Hitting and running.

"Princess Celestia. I just realised. Renekton is a bipedal intelligent animal. Just like..."

"Rengar. Yes, you are right. However, they come from very difference ancestry. Renekton is an ancient Shuriman god. Rengar is lionkin."

Twilight watched with intense devotion to the quarrels happening top lane. Until then, she just realized that there were two other lanes and a jungle to witness.

"Let's look at Middle Lane.", Twilight suggested.

"What do you say, sister?", Celestia rose and eyebrow at Luna.

The darer princess took control of the crystal sphere, and shifted it so that they were now spectating Middle Lane.

Malzahar, the Prophet of the Void wasn't having such a fun time against Yasuo. Yasuo kept using his Sweeping Blade technique to quickly dash around the battlefield, using Malzahar's own minions as launchpads to quickly maneuver around at blinding speed. Malzahar tried to focus on afflicting minions with a contagious affliction, Malefic Visions, from Malzahar himself to kill them and earn him gold. If her saw Yasuo get too close at him, he hurled pure void energy at the disgraced samurai, lightly 'poking' him for damage.

But if he got too close...

"Hasag!", Yasuo shouted as his katana whipped out with the force of concentrated wind behind it, stabbing at Malzahar. Once he stabbed, he quickly dashed back to the safety of his minions or his own turret.

"Suffer!", Malzahar recovered from the injury as he inflicted another dose of Malefic Visions to minion, watching in satisfaction as it died, and spread the affection to the other minions around the lane. Yasuo kept away from the infected minions, as directed by his summoner. If he stood too close to them, he could catch the infection for a while if that said minion died.

Quickly, Yasuo dashed in and out, stabbing minions or Malzahar at every chance he could get. Looking at this void-warped human, he shook his head.

"I know I've had to go through some hard times... but you... I think you need a drink more than I do.", Yasuo taunted the prophet.

"You won't be laughing after I destroy what feeble mind you have!", Malzahar retorted as he infected yet another minion with Malefic Visions.

Yasuo looked at the enemy minions around Malzahar. They were lined up leading up to him. Perfect.

Celestia seemed to know what was about to come as Yasuo quickly dashed through the minions, closing in towards Malzahar at blinding speed. The Prophet of the Void had recently used his Malefic Visions on a minion, and thus, he was unable to use it again right now.

"Hasag!", Yasuo shouted as he quickly cut a minion down, drawing in the surrounding wind towards his katana.

"Cho!", the samurai dashed onto another minion and stabbed it down, drawing even more wind into his blade.

Immediately, Malzahar turned around to head back to the safety of his tower. If Yasuo had gathered enough wind into his blade, something very bad would happen to hi if he didn't avoid what was coming next.

Luna spoke up, "Oh no, Yasuo just received his Ultimate!"

"Ultimate? What's what?", Twilight asked as she saw Yasuo close in towards Malzahar.

"When champions kill minions or are near them when they die, they gain experience to level up. Yasuo just hit level 6. That means that his ultimate ability is ready. You only use your ultimate ability when the time is right... like now.", Celestia watched Yasuo close the gap.

The wind around Yasuo's blade suddenly enveloped into a tornado, of which Yasuo blasted out towards Malzahar. Wind with the power to cut flesh and rend bones sliced its way towards hi opponent in a vortex.

"Hasagi!", Yasuo's Ionian tongue repeated the ancient dialect as he sent the wind of death towards Malzahar. The tornado connected, knocking Malzahar into the air, the same air that carried Yasuo straight up towards the helpless champion. Unshathing his sword, three slashes were all that were needed to slice apart Malzahar into three separate sections.

"Sorye ge ton!", Yasuo shouted as he mercilessly hacked apart Blue Team's Midlaner. Blood sailed down to the ground as Yasuo impacted back down on his feet.

First Blood!

Satisfied with his kill, he pulled up a flask of rice wine, and recalled back to base.

When Yasuo recalled, a spell channeled for 8 seconds before he returned back to base to spend the gold that he had earned from killing Malzahar.

Then, the chat messages filled up with summoners speaking to one another.

Red Summoner 1: gg, easy kill, easy game

Red Summoner 4: lol

Blue Summoner 1: Cocky, aren't you?

Blue Summoner 4: omg gg this team is such trash

Blue Summoner 5: pls just play the game

In bottom lane, things weren't going any brighter for Blue Team.

Kalista, the enemy marksman (or markswoman) had done a very good job of farming enemy minions and even getting a few thrown spears chucked at Braum and Ashe, while Thresh kept the opponents from touching Kalista, just as a good support should.

"Ugh! Why isn't my summoner telling me which minions to kill?", Ashe fumed as she returned fire against Kalista, hitting a pretty good shot into her, but negligible from the harassment that Kalista, Thresh, and the minions all gave to her from their attacks before.

Apparently, the summoners also wondered why Blue Summoner 4 was missing every minion.

Blue Summoner 5: Dude, you're missing all of the minions

Blue Summoner 4: I'm at 2000 ping. I have 23 Steam updates in the background.

Blue Summoner 2: wtf?????

Blue Summoner 1: why?! you're playing League of Legends!

As Ashe was struggling to figure out if enemies were in range, she decided to act on her own.

"Braum! Keep them away from me! I'm going to get a few shots in on the enemies!"

"My shield is here for you!"

Ashe fired off a volley of ten arrows from her bow, each bristling with icy particles. Impacting on Thresh, but more importantly, Kalista, they found themselves growing a layer of ice around their legs, slowing them. Having received their Ultimates as well, Ashe and Braum decided to use them now.

Because Kalista had already hopped away with her martial prowess, Ashe pulled back her bowstring. Crystallizing from the air, a huge arrow of solid ice crystal materialized from thin air, and launched itself at Thresh. The summoner that should have been guiding Ashe wasn't responding due to his "lag". Nonetheless, the arrow connected against Thresh, freezing him solid as he tried to retreat towards Kalista and the turret they could find refuge under.

Now, instead of crystal arrows, Ashe now let loose a flurry of icicles in rapid succession towards Thresh, stabbing into his frozen figure and causing substantial damage. When Thresh appeared to have finally thawed out, Braum used his Ultimate.

Slamming his door into the ground, a wave of ice blasted underneath towards Thresh, knocking him into the air and allowing Ashe easy shots onto Thresh.

When all seemed to be going well for Blue Team's Marksman and Support, the tables quickly turned.

Master Yi, the enemy's Jungler sprinted out from a nearby bush, his sword blowing in ancient and mystical energies.

If Ashe's summoner had seen before, he would have warned her of Yi's approach.

"Huh? What's Master Yi doing Bottom Lane?!", Twilight gasped as the situation bot lane escalated into Red Team's favor.

Celestia finished the popcorn in her mouth before replying.

"The Jungler can choose to 'gank' a lane. That means that they come from the jungle and ambush the unsuspecting laners to turna fight into a two versus one, or in bottom lane, a three versus two...", Celestia dreadfully explained as Ashe and Braum's eyes widened at the approaching Master Yi.

Kalista decided to use her Ultimate, pulling Thresh away from the enemy in an almost instant manner, turning him into an ominous vapor . Reforming back, Kalista pointed towards the now caught-out of position Ashe and Braum.

"Go..."

Thresh reformed right in the middle of them, blasting them with unholy energy and knocking them away from each other. Finding that he was now in a good position, Thresh jostled his lantern to form a pentagonal wall of spectral magic around his foes. Infamously nicknamed "The Box", Ashe tried to pass through the wall to get to the safety of her tower, but when she touched the wall, it collapsed and sent paralysis down her spine. Falling to the ground, Kalista brought a spear to form in her hand, and hurled the deadly projectile of unholy energy at Ashe.

With a gasp, Ashe was impaled.

An ally has been slain!

Not even Braum could escape as Yi's sword swung out and Alpha Striked towards him, with Yi becoming invisible for a brief second as he reappeared in from of Braum. Braum collapsed with a lethal wounded across his chest that seemed to appear there instantly from Yi.

An ally has been slain!

Yi looked over the two dead bodies, satisfied with a kill towards himself, the marksman, and two assists for the support of his team.

"Once again, the ways of Wuju never fail me."

Kalista nodded towards the badly wounded Thresh.

"Recall now and heal. We'll join again and slay the enemy team some more..."

The Red Team summoners certainly had a lot to say.

Red Summoner 4: lol ashe u fucking suck

Blue Summoner 4: all lag u faggt

Red Summoner 5: gg scrubs go back to bronze

As Thresh decided to walk over to the enemy's bodies and hold out his lanterns to collect the souls of his fallen foes, he felt something...

...approaching.

Master Yi could feel it too, just as well as Kalista.

"Where is that coming from... it isn't the souls...", Thresh muttered in his dark and echoing voice.

Then, Master Yi looked above.

Barreling down towards them in a fiery course was Pantheon, the Jungler of Blue Team. His spear was outstretched and his shield was gathering fire around it as if he were a meteor approaching from space to impact down into the surface.

Thresh used the souls within is lantern to for a shield around himself from the impact, but it was no use as Pantheon instantly disintegrated him when he crashed down right on top of him.

Blue Summoner 3: :^)

Turning around, Pantheon's spear caught ablaze, and sent it towards Yi. Master Yi decided to return the fight by Alpha Striking towards Pantheon, avoiding the spear. Unfortunately for Yi, Pantheon's shield met Yi's sword, negating the attack. With another spear pulled from the rack on Pantheon's back, he stabbed down into Master Yi's neck, sending his flaming spear straight through the body of the Wuju Bladesman.

Blue Team Double Kill!

Immediately after that death, Pantheon's summoner blessed the entire summoner chat with his sacred message.

Blue Summoner 3: :^) :^)

The Red Summoners were quick to respond.

Red Summoner 5: omg shut up

Blue Summoner 1: gj Pantheon

Pantheon grunted as he lifted the spear out of the corpse of Master Yi, and turned towards Kalista. She had done the smart thing and headed back to her tower after seeing her allies fall. There was no need to give Pantheon another kill.

Twilight sighed.

"Wow... good thing for that warrior guy to show up, or Red Team would have walked away with two kills under their belt."

At this time, Twilight had realized that she just referred to points as "kills". This game was barbaric... but at the same time, featured a sort of orchestrated strategy that resonated from summoners to their champions. Red Team seemed to be more coordinated than Blue Team, but the summoner who was assisting Pantheon was altogether something else than his allies.

The young Princess was cut short when she head the dreaded:

An ally has been slain!

Looking top lane, Malphite lay defeated in a crumpled pile with Renekton standing on the top of him. Apprently, Renekton all-ined him after getting Malphite low on health. Once the crocodile assaulted, there was no escape.

Celestia watched the crystal orb with great interest.

"Red Team has a healthy amount of kills for everyone. Only Pantheon on Blue Team has kills. This is going to be a very interesting match..."

As the game neared the 20 minute mark, a few things began to change. Yasuo's summoner began to get a little cocky after he had managed to slay Malzahar another time, and immediately dove for him when he came back to lane. This time, Malzahar was ready. He afflicted his Malefic Visions on Yasuo, threw down a Null Zone that burned away at Yasuo's feet under him, and worse of all for the samurai, Malzahar used his Ultimate. Nether Grasp kept Yasuo locked down into place over the Null Zone, twitching and spasming wildly as energy seeped out from Malzahars eyes into Yasuo's.

Then, Pantheon erupted from the bushes, and secured the kill after Nether Grasp ended with a single spear toss.

Blue Summoner 3: :^)

Malzahar briefly thanked Pantheon for his assistance, and as such, Pantheon himself left without a word.

Malzahar preferred it that way.

Apparently, when Master Yi attempted to gank Top Lane, Pantheon used his Ultimate as well to blat into the sky and crash down straight onto Yi when he arrived top. With Malphite's Ultimate, Unstoppable Force to barrel straight into Renekton and Master Yi, Pantheon sailed straight down into a well planned combo. Pantheon secured both kills with a flurry of spear strikes and a single toss of a javelin to finish off the fleeing crocodile.

Blue Summoner 3: :^) :^)

Wherever Master Yi went, it appeared that Pantheon simply knew where to find him a if he had some sort of "anti-Yi" tracking device installed in his crotch-guard. His superior map-awareness corresponded to that fact that whenever Master Yi died, Pantheon invaded into Yi's Jungle and started to slay the monsters inside of it, starving Yi of gold and experience. He left behind warding totems to reveal the area around the Jungle so he could see where the enemy Jungler would go next.

Pantheon even caught Yi out when he was fighting monsters in the "safety" of his jungle for a quick and unforeseen kill.

Bottom Lane, however remained the same. Blue Summoner 4 continued to blame everyone else but himself when his champion, Ashe met her doom, and Braum quickly followed afterwards as he desperately tried to protect Ashe who kept getting torn apart by the deadly duo of Kalista and Thresh.

It eventually got to the point where if Thresh landed his hook on Ashe and began to pull her in towards Kalista, it was too late for him to save her. The Marksman was one of the most valuable assets to the team, ad the marksman controlling that very summoner wasn't making things so easy.

Twilight watched everywhere was bloodshed was inescapable. She honestly felt bad for Ashe and Braum as they kept getting destroyed by their opponents, Kalista and Thresh. Pantheon was too busy disabling the enemy Jungle, and even at this point, she feared that Pantheon might not even be able to take on Kalista and Thresh.

Grabbing another kill on Master Yi, Pantheon's summoner once again typed:

Blue Summoner 3: :^)

Celestia, Luna, and Twilight never took too much mind towards the little emoticons that Pantheon's summoner sent, until the summoner who controlled Master Yi responded with so much salt that the world's supply of potato chips would be over-flavored.

Red Summoner 3: shut the fuck up you fucking asshole I will murder your family in their sleep and skin you alive you fucking bitch

To of which Blue Team responded:

Blue Summoner 1: jesus calm down kid

Blue Summoner 4: that's right fggt get rekt

Blue Summoner 2: It's just a game, dude

Twilight got a strange feeling. Those little emoticons slowly tilted the enemy summoner with how often Pantheon would kill them and every single time he got a kill... he would always type ":^)".

Was this intentional?

At this point, she thought it was.

"Celestia, what's the rule of harassing people through messages like that?"

Celestia looked back at Twilight.

"They could always mute someone if they don't want to listen to them... but for some reason, summoners just don't do that.", Celestia shook her head, "It baffles me sometimes."

Oh wait, Pantheon managed to get another kill on Master Yi by literally waiting in a bush inside of his Jungle when he passed by.

Blue Summoner 3: :^)

Red Summoner 3: FUCK U

Slowly, but surely, Bottom Lane was beginning to make a come-back. With Pantheon now camping down at the bottom of Summoner's Rift, Ashe, Braum, and Pantheon quickly turned the tables on Kalista and Thresh. Even Yasuo roamed down from Middle Lane to go help. Even more, Renekton used a teleport spell to join the fight bottom lane. But when Ashe began to secure kills for herself with the assistance of Braum and Pantheon, the others were forced to retreat away in fear that Pantheon would pick them off.

Things were beginning to turn around for Blue Team. All the while, Malphite was still busy farming, or killing minions Top Lane for gold to purchase more enchantments at the shop. As he went untouched, he began to smash down turrets as his minions took the tower shots, getting his lane pushed towards the enemy base and having less and less turrets for the enemies to fall back on if they got caught out (by Pantheon, mainly).

Even then, Pantheon got so many enchantments from the gold he earned by killing that even tower-shot couldn't do much to him as he would simply dive under the turret to slay his foes.

Then came lategame.

Towers on both sides had crumbled after various attempts at pushing down lanes.

Numerous times champions had met their end.

And most of all...

The more tilted the Red Team became after Pantheon's summoner kept spamming those little emoticons.

All the while, Pantheon himself remained silent after every single kill. Every single slay. He was just a silent killing machine that was carrying his team through their misfourtunes.

However, the game-deciding point came when the entirely of Blue Team headed into the enemy jungle, dropping wards where they could to gain vision of the dark place.

"Hey... what's Blue Team going to do?", Twilight asked as her notescroll at this point had run out of space.

Luna gasped.

"I think they're going to fight Baron Nashor."

"Baron Nashor?"

"A gigantic worm-like beast that nests in Summoner's Rift. Though this is merely a weakened construct of the real deal, if a team slays this gigantic monster, then they will gain a game-changing enchantment for each champion on their team. It Increases their power and allows minions to suddenly grow in size and become nearly impenetrable to tower-attacks and even champion attacks. Only for a limited time, though.", Celestia explained.

"But this might not be a good time for Blue Team to fight the Baron. The enemy is still up. There could be the chance that the enemy could ambush Blue Team while they are fighting Baron, or even steal the kill for the enchantment.", Luna replied.

Right after Luna had spoke, everything went wrong for Blue Team.

When Ashe was going to ward, a tornado from Yasuo hurled out from her and sent her airborne. Before she, or her summoner could react, Yasuo had sliced Ashe to pieces. It turns out that he, along with his team had been hiding around the jungle in hopes to catch out an opponent. And catch one out they did.

Then, the teamfight started.

From there, Kalista jumped out from a bush and hurled spears straight into the chest of Malzahar who came to investigate. Before Kalista could rend the spears from his chest remotely, Malphite stormed in with his Unstoppable Force and blasted Kalista into the air. Combined with Malzahar's Malefic Visions and his Ultimate, Nether Grasp melted down Kalista's health bar to zero.

With two key Ultimates down, Red Team sprung their trap to avenge their fallen Marksman. Thresh wound up his hook and sent it flying towards Malzahar, hooking him and allowing Thresh to drag him towards Master Yi, who broke out from the tree lines with him dashing at incredible speed. One Alpha Strike was all that was needed as Master Yi blinked between Malphite and Malzahar, killing both on the spot. Braum immediately turned to fire off a Winter's Bite at Master Yi, who quickly dodged the incoming ice blast.

Renekton sprung up behind Braum and cackled as he sliced up his back with Yasuo quickly following close behind. Sadly, the Heart of Frejord was cut down in a brutal display.

At this point, Pantheon's summoner instructed him to back off away from the enemies. Not even he could 1v4 the enemy team. While retreating, Pantheon managed to get in a few stabs of his spear and a couple of javelin tosses to weaken the enemies as he beelined back toward his base to heal.

Satisfied that they had cleaned up Blue Team pretty well, Red Team, even though noticing tht most of their champions had only half to 1/3 health left, made their worse mistake of the entire game.

They decided to fight the Baron.

Celestia, Luna, and even Twilight couldn't believe their eyes.

"They're all so low on health... how could they possibly think that fighting the Baron now is a good idea?", Twilight asked.

"Well... if they manage to slay it, then that's pretty much the game for Red Team. They'll push into the Blue Base with enhanced minions, and not even Pantheon will be able to stop them..."

The giant purple creature roared the the sight of enemies and began to hurl acidic ooze from its mouth at his opponents.

The Red Team was slowly, yet surely chopping down the health of Baron Nashor.

At that point, Pantheon had gotten back to base and sat on the stairs of the fountain, restoring his health. Then, when his health was full, he got to his feet, took he shield, took his spear, and headed out towards the Baron pit.

Twilight had learned that by killing enemies, whether minions or champions, champion would get gold. However, they would also get experience to level up and upgrade their abilities. The maximum level was 18.

Pantheon just hit level 18. Every single one of his abilities was maxed out, including his Ultimate ability. He had reached his full item and enchantment build from the gold that he had gotten from slaying monsters and champions.

"Wait... is he...?", Twilight asked as Pantheon headed towards the outer edge of the Jungle.

"He is.", Celestia nodded.

Pantheon braced himself. He clutched the spear and shield in his arms and activated his Ultimate that he had used numerous times this game. His Grand Skyfall once again sent him into the air, fire enveloping around him as he sailed towards the Baron pit.

When the area of impact appeared around the enemies fighting the Baron, The enemy team kept fighting instead of backing off. They will slay Baron Nashor if it costed them anything. But at that point, Master Yi realized a grave mistake he had made beforehand.

When Rengar and the Elements of Harmony fought against that terrifying Hydra that attacked Ponyville, Rengar finishe dit off with a special spell that could only target monsters.

That spell was called: "Smite".

Yi Smited the Brambleback earlier for health regeneration. That meant that the Smite spell, the same that Rengar had used to kill the Hydra was now on cooldown and wasn't available for use.

As Pantheon was the Blue Team's Jungler, his Smite was ready.

As Pantheon sailed towards the enemy team, now suddenly realizing what was above their heads, Pantheon's summoner displayed the infamous message in chat with a slight alteration.

Blue Summoner 3: >:^)

Pantheon blasted down straight into the Baron Nashor, using the same Smite spell that Rengar used to disintegrate the Baron Nashor's health down, as well has the impact of his Grand Skyfall to earn Pantheon the famed Baron Nashor kill.

The impact of Pantheon's crash instantaneously killed Thresh as he was blasted to pieces. Turning to the dazed and shaken Yasuo, Pantheon sent a volley of spear thrusts at the samurai, filling his entire body with bleeding holes, earning him another kill.

Master Yi and Renekton had attempted to flee the scene, but Pantheon was right on top of them, using his second special "summoner spell" other than Smite, Flash to instantly teleport next to Renekton and stun him with a shielded bash against the back of his head. Several stabs was all it took to fell the massive crocodile.

Master Yi was left, and was still attempting to flee the scene in order to salvage what was left of his destroyed team.

Pantheon merely took the spear in his hand, and hurled it at Yi. With an impact through his heart, Master Yi died.

Blue Team Quadra Kill!

Pantheon took the spear from Yi's body as his summoner typed in chat what was obviously to come:

Blue Summoner 3: :^) :^) :^) :^)

Immediately after that, the summoner who was aiding Master Yi disconnected from the game, as did Yasuo's summoner as well. They tilted so hard that they couldn't stay in the game any longer.

With the new Baron buff at his disposal, Pantheon lead the charge of enhanced minions through the gates of the Red Base and tore through the towers and inhibitor protecting the objective of the game, the Nexus.

Pantheon then got to kicking the structure of the Nexus, the building that once destroyed would win the game for Blue Team.

Before Pantheon kicked the last bit of structure away from the Nexus, he spoke.

Not the summoner, who spoke.

But it was Pantheon himself.

Straightening himself, he put both fists on his hips and spoke in a hearty decree.

"You know, I always wanted to be a baker."

With that said, he kicked the Nexus once, and it fell into rubble.

The game ended.

And of course, with one last message from Pantheon's summoner, everyone said their farewells.

Blue Summoner 1: gg

Blue Summoner 4: gg ez

Blue Summoner 3: :^)

Red Summoner 2: gg

Red Summoner 5: gg Pantheon op

Red Summoner 4: gg wp

Blue Summoner 2: gg Pantheon add me

Celestia and Luna breathed a sigh of relief.

"I though Blue team would have just been destroyed had it not been for that summoner and Pantheon...", Celestia threw away her popcorn box after it was empty.

"What a way to win... getting carried like that.", Luna smiled, "That was a fun game, wasn't it?"

Celestia nodded.

"Definitely. Imagine if we were Summoners, we could be just as great as Pantheon and his summoner... minus those little faces."

Twilight was on her pillow, completely exhausted.

"Dear Celestia... that was just too close... and just to even watch that...", Twilight breathed as her notes were sprawled all over her.

The other two Princesses bursted into laughter.

"Do you want to watch another game, Twilight?", Celestia offered.

"I... think I'd better get going. Spike's answering a ton of mail for me, and I'd better get back to him."

Twilight said her goodbyes to the Princesses and teleported out of Canterlot. As Celestia and Luna cleaned up the place from the smell of popcorn, Luna spoke to her older sister.

"Such a great honor to become a summoner... imagine what we could accomplish with champions from our world. Even Rengar had pledged his allegiance along with us. Even- oh no, we should have told Twilight about Shining Armor's intentions about joining the League as a champion. She knows of the painful and continuous deaths that League games offer. How do you think she will feel?"

Celestia stared out towards the stary night that her sister had created for all to see.

"Shining Armor was a royal guard beforehoof. That meant that he could become injured, or worse. Twilight never like him doing this, but she knows that it's what he wanted to do to serve his own nation. If he were a champion within the League, I'm very confident that Twilight will have matured enough for her to allow her brother to do this."

Luna nodded.

"Such a remarkable bond that siblings can hold..."

Celestia's wing wrapped around Luna.

"It really is so."

First Blood

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It has been roughly two days that Rengar has been away from the Everfree Forest. From supervising the recovery of Wolf, as well as recovering from his own wounds, Rengar continuously felt the urge to once again break away from civilization to do what he did best: hunt.

At least Wolf would very soon make a full recovery from Lamb's healing, and Rengar had convinced Celestia to re-establish inter-dimensional communication with the League of Legends. So far, no response has been given, though Rengar knew that the majority of the summoners were the suborn type, to say the least. Thoughts flooded Rengar's head. He was heavily out of touch from fighting in the League, and he knows how much rules can change, as well as new champions that are accepted into the League, a well as new enchantments and items coming into the scene.

As well as the dreaded "meta" of which champions seem to be stronger right now than others.

However, he wanted to get his mind off of such things, and what better way to do that then to hunt to his heart's content? Brandishing his Hunting Knife in one paw and a bag full of hunting supplies in the other, he set off towards his home away from home.

"Hmmm... let's see what's on the season today."

He took the scroll listing every animal known in the Everfree Forest. With his eye looking over the various animals and beasts, he crossed each of them off mentally. He didn't have a desire to hunt basilisks at the moment, and cragadiles... he'll be taking a break from them for obvious reasons. Dragons would surely take far too much time to prepare.

A mantacore is a simple hunt, and their species are plentiful. They still pack quite a danger within them, however.

"Perfect.", Rengar muttered as he stowed the scroll away, "Time to hunt myself a new pelt."

Rengar shuffled into the brush of the forest, keeping still as well as closing his one eye. He listened around himself. He listened to all of the sounds coming from the forestlands. Heartbeats of all sizes and speeds thumped around him. His ears shifted back and forth picking up every tiny sound as if he was a living sonar device.

When he couldn't detect anything around himself, he quickly took to the trees, leaping and running along to get a better vantage point faster. Arriving at a new location deeper within the Everfree, he paused his movements and listened.

More sounds flooded his ears, as well as the smells of everything around him.

Where he was, he was close to the badlands of the over-breeding and aggressive mantacores, so a straggler should be around somewhere. He listened more, sure that a mantacore would be nearby...

...until he caught the whiff of the unmistakable smell of the very same lion-bat-scorpion hybrids he was looking for. He also smelled the horrid stench of rotting flesh. Perhaps this mantacore was scavenging off of something. They'll eat anything, anytime, anyways.

Rengar leaped down from the tree that he was perched in without sound, and quietly crept towards a plumage of bushes to get a view of his potential prize. Drawing his Hunting Knife prematurely, in case if another beast got the drop on him, he approached towards the smell of fur. The knife silently humming from its sharpness in the air, it rested firmly in the hunter's paw as he got to the edge of the brush.

A blue eye with an orange eye-binding peered from the foliage as he could now glimpse on the manatacore.

Only the mantacore wasn't moving.

Rengar knew he smelled rotten flesh, but now it was as pungent as it could be. Laying on its back, belly up was the regrettably large mantacore. Something else had killed it before Rengar.

"Damnit. Too late. And such a prize that beast would have been...", Rengar sheathed his knife, "Wait... the manatcore breeding gounds are nearby... why don't I hear any of the beasts?"

Breaking from the brush, Rengar sprinted on all fours towards the badlands of the mantacores. As he ran along, he could sense more bodies around him, growing more and more in number as he got close. Emerging from the forest, he laid his eye on the badlands...

...and every single dead mantacore sprawled out everywhere.

There were hundreds of thousands of dead beasts laying around, with a smell so unimaginably terrible that Rengar couldn't even come any closer in fear that he might actually damage his sensitive nose. He couldn't believe his eye. Every single mantacore was dead.

He had no idea how this could have happened, and especially how this could have gone unnoticed. Then again, no ponies even came into the Everfree, save for Zecora, who lived far away from the badlands.

"How could this be possible...", Rengar was absolutely baffled at the massacre of these monsters.

Then, he knew what he had to do.

There was one pony out of the other that knew anything about every animal that lived on this nation, as well as possibly any sort of disease or predator that could take them out in the manner of this caliber. Turning tail from the scene, Rengar made a break out of the Everfree Forest.

He sprinted past the foliage as fast as he could, sweat escaping from under his fur. It didn't take him too long for him to make it out of the dreaded forest, and towards the edge of it.

His eyes rested a familiar cottage.

The place where all of this began.

Rushing up to the door and sending the surrounding animals into hiding due to his appearance, he knocked three times and called out.

"Fluttershy! Open up! There is a dire situation that needs attendance to!", Rengar shouted as he forcefully knocked three more times, each hit on the door with more strength behind it than the other.

Then, the door opened, revealing the confused yellow pegasus behind it.

"Rengar...? What are you doing here? Is something wrong?", Fluttershy seemed to have just woken up from a nap and was trying to recover from being woken, a luxury that Rengar had no time for.

"Pegasus, I know you have the knowledge of monsters and beasts of this world even more than I do. You must come with me right now. Something has happened to every single mantacore. They appear to have been killed by something, all in a short time frame."

At this, Fluttershy suddenly got to her senses.

"Huh? The manatacores are... dead? All of them?", she asked with fear behind her throat.

"Yes, that's what I believe. I need you to come with me right now to investigate. If my fears are correct, the entire mantacore species could be extinct or threatened with such a possibility.", Rengar replied.

"Okay. Just let me get my friends-"

"There isn't much time. They won't be much help compared to your expertise. We must leave now.", Rengar stated.

Fluttershy bit her lip, then agreed. She got inside inside her house, and came out with what seemed to be some sort of crude gas mask.

"What the... you have respiration equipment?", Rengar questioned.

"Yeah. Sometimes I have to bury some animal friends who lived their lives to the end, and contamination from germs in the air isn't good for anypony around me. As well as the possibility for all of these mantacores to have... well... passed away could have been from something deadly in the air. Maybe... anthrax.", Fluttershy explained, "I don't seem to have a mask for you."

Rengar shook his head.

"We'll think of something when we get there."

Fluttershy donned her equipment and stepped alongside Rengar.

"Ready?"

"I'll lead the way."

The two set off towards the Everfree Forest, fearing the worse for the fate of an entire ecosystem.

"Let's make a quick stop here. Perhaps she'll be of good help to us."

"I couldn't agree more, Rengar."

The lion walked up to Zecora's hut and knocked the door several times.

"Zecora, are you home? Something has happened and we need your help.", Rengar spoke out loud so that the occupant inside could hear him clearly.

As Rengar continuously knocked, something caught Fluttershy's eye. She turned away to see a dead rabbit...

It wasn't Angel, thank goodness, but it still drove a spike into her heart to see something dead like that.

That was, until she saw a dead fox next to the rabbit. Now, she was concerned about this. Why would there be a dead fox next to a rabbit? Shouldn't the fox have just killed the bunny? If so, what ended the fox's life?

Then, she saw it. The fox had been cleaved into two separate pieces. The shy pony gasped and nearly fainted from the horrid scene that lay in front of her, until she looked around that area as well. More and more small creatures were dead.

She followed around with her eyes, walking around the back of Zecora's hut with Rengar still attempting to get contact with her.

Then, she found her.

"D-Dear Celes- Rengar! Help!"

Rengar's ears shifted towards the direction of FLuttershy's cries. He drew the knife in his paw and rushed around the hut.

"What is it?! Fluttershy!", he rushed around to find Fluttershy staring at the back of Zecora's hut. The back was in complete splinters. Broken furniture and glass was everywhere. Giant burning gashes had been made on the walls. It would appear if something had blasted a hole in the back of the hut, and gone on a rampage inside.

Then, both the lion and the pony got a dredging realization in their hearts.

"Zecora!", they both shouted as they rushed inside.

It didn't take long for the two to find her. Or... what was her body, anyways. The Zebra was stretched over the table, eyes open with fear and clutching a knife in her hoof, apparently taken in self-defense. Her mouth as open and her eyes were wide as if she had screamed before her apparently gruesome death.

"Oh my gods... Zecora...", Fluttershy choked a sob as a tear ran down her face. She touched her forehead to her friend's as she began to let her emotions take over. Rengar looked over the body of his old friend.

Zecora was the first one to ever accept Rengar for living alongside her, and helped him settle into the Everfree Forest. She was the first living soul that Rengar ever told of his origins whence he came from. He'd shared a memorable moment or two with her, and was the first he could truly call a good friend to him.

Now, she was gone. Gone from Fluttershy, gone from him.

Then, Rengar notice something across her body. Long and deep slashes, with a slight purple light coming from them. She didn't even bleed despite the severity of those cuts. Instead of blood being spilled, that purple glow was emanating from her mortal wounds.

A purple glow coming from slashes...

He knew where this came from... but it's been so distant in his memory.

Then, his memory had worked its gears and delivered him the culprit of the slaying.

It was him.

He had come to this world.

And soon, he was to do the exact same from Zecora to every single living thing on this world.

"Fluttershy."

She sniffled and looked up at Rengar.

"Y-Yeah?"

"I know what killed Zecora, and every single thing that has died in the Everfree."

Rengar grit his teeth and the grip on his Hunting Knife tightened.

"I should have known. He took my eye."

"Please, please tell us again. Just so that we are clear, Rengar. You're saying that a League of Legends champion has come to our world, and is responsible for the deaths of the numerous beasts of the Everfree Forest, and if we don't stop him, then every single living thing on this nation will be next?", Celestia asked with mortal concern in her voice.

Rengar had immediately reported his finding to Princess Twilight upon discovering the killer of Zecora, who sent a letter to Celestia to warn her of the news. Not long, Rengar was urged to arrive in Canterlot along with Wolf and Lamb, who had recovered from the battle with Golden Might.

Alongside the meeting, Luna, Shining Armor, and Princess Twilight were at the discussion as well.

"Yes, and I'm afraid that if that does happen, Celestia, then the entire world of Equus will be ravaged by this individual.", Rengar nodded.

"I don't get it. Who is this 'champion'?", Shining Armor asked.

Rengar looked over, then back at the meeting.

"He is Kha'zix. A creature from The Void, a realm of unimaginable horrors, with each of its creatures wanting nothing more to consume anything they come across. Doing so makes them more powerful, and Kha'zix is a voidling so dangerous, he's become one of the most potent and deadly League of Legends champions.", Rengar explained.

"I have heard of Kha'zix from Bard. He is an individual that not even we should take lightly.", Lamb echoed.

"Even he has eaten more than me...", Wolf growled.

"I don't get it. This... bug couldn't have killed hundreds upon thousands of mantacore within a few days. No creature could do that.", Luna argued.

"Kha'zix most certainly can. And, if he's killed enough, he will undergo evolution, something that we cannot afford to happen.", Rengar added.

"Evolution? He can change?", Twilight asked.

"Yes. The more he kills, the more his body will gain strength and morph into tools of destruction. Soon, Kha'zix could become the literal embodiment of biological perfection, turned into a killer.", Rengar continued, "Know this, whatever threat you have faced before. Whether it was Discord, Nightmare Moon, King Sombra, or even Tirek himself will pale in comparison to the capabilities of Kha'zix. He will mercilessly slaughter all of us if we do not kill him before he evolves."

The ponies all looked at each other with dread.

"How do you know so much about Kha'zix?", Twilight asked.

Rengar looked down at the floor and breathed in heavily.

"He's the one beast that I have yet to slay. We fought before. Once before I joined the League. That was how this happened.", Rengar traced a claw over his eye-binding, "And many times in the League, though in the League of Legends, they often contain the true power of champions so that they don't become too destructive, especially so with Kha'zix."

"So with Kha'zix loose on Equestria... his full power is within him.", Luna connected the dots.

"Precisely, and it is growing rapidly the more we wait.", Rengar shook his head, regrettably.

"Well, if that thing bleeds, then it can die. Do you have any idea how to kill him, Rengar?", Shining Armor asked, looking back at the picture that was taken of the slaughtered mantacores.

"He can most certainly die, but chances are, you will before you even get a scratch on him.", Rengar spoke again, "However, he has a weakness. Kha'zix is a coward. If he sees something that has the remote possibility to kill him, he will only attack them alone, and away from any help that threat to Kha'zix could call upon. He isolates, then consumes."

"I see. But none of us will be a match for Kha'zix alone.", Lamb replied.

"Exactly, that is why to fight Kha'zix, we must lure him into a sort of trap. He's dangerous, but not as dangerous as he could be right now. We must use that to our advantage.", Rengar places both of his paws on the table in front of him.

"Do you have a plan?", Twilight asked.

"I've given some thought to it, but it isn't final. My plan was that we can lure Kha'zix into a secure location, then have the Elements of Harmony spring a trap to contain the monster. As such, while he is captured by the Elements, I will kill him, ending all of this."

"It really is the best we can do at the moment...", Twilight sighed, "Nevertheless, I'll get my friends together. We'll be at your side, Rengar."

"As will we.", Lamb took her bow while Wolf circled around her.

Then, a guard broke straight into the meeting room. He had the look of horror in his eyes, along with a shaking spear in his grip.

"Sergeant! What's the meaning of this?", Celestia commanded.

"Y-Your highness... it's... Ponyville..."

She heard screams coming from her parent's room. She had no idea what had happened ever since ponies had suddenly sprawled into a panic around Ponyville. The tiny filly knocked on the door of her parents' one more time.

"Mom? Dad...? Are you okay?"

Ponies outside were screaming as they discovered more and more ponies laying in the streets, not moving. The citizens were crowding around them, some crying. The tiny filly didn't understand. Why didn't those ponies get up? Why did they just lay down like that?

Was that what her parents were doing?

Then, she put her hoof on the door, and slowly turned the doorknob.

Her parents were still in bed.

They were not moving, and blood was thrown all around the room, the same red stuff that came out of her knew when she tripped on the school playground.

She rushed over to them, rubbing her father's forehead with her hoof.

"Dad? Please wake up...", she cried as ponies outside still descended into chaos and panic.

"Mom? Are you okay?", she went over to her mom, her hoof now covered in her parent's blood.

Then, a shadow loomed over her.

When the filly turned around, she saw something that could only come out of nightmares.

A purple shelled insect-like creature towering over her with two gigantic scythe blades for its arms that crackled and sizzled with energy and blood from her parents. The needle-sharp teeth stretched into a gruesome smile with blood dripping onto the floor, "pitter-pattering" on the wooden floor of the room.

Green eyes and a twisted smile came closer to the child as she stared at the monster, frozen in fear.

"One by one, little pony... one... by... one..."

Kha'zix's claw extended out as he slowly approached the filly, dragging along and incinerating the wooden floor with void energy as the tiny pony could literally see death, a smile born on his face, ready to let her join in her parents' fate.

Critical Strike

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Truly, it was an ugly sight to all of those who laid their eyes upon it.

Bodies of citizens and rapid-response guards that were sent form Canterlot littered the streets of the town that hardly knew of grief and death. Almost none of the corpses themselves were in one piece. Most had a limb, several, or even their lower half missing altogether. Burn marks in the shapes of slashes scoured buildings, leaking the ominous purple energy that composed the blade that created those marks.

Shining Armor had never seen anything like this before. He was a soldier. He had to kill before. But this...

It wasn't a battle. It was a massacre. He felt absolutely sick to his stomach. The Elements of Harmony tried their best to stay in Ponyville to help survey the damage and create a plan, but they either couldn't bear to look, broke down in tears, or simply refused to see more death compared to these past few weeks.

"Now you know what a League of Legends Champion is capable of."

Rengar spoke to Shining as he looked around at the mess of bodies.

"It will only get worse if we don't act soon.", Rengar glanced at the pony captain, who was still at a loss for words. Turning to Lamb and Wolf, who were bent down over a much younger pony, Rengar began to speak up again.

"How many do you think have perished?", Rengar asked.

"Well over a hundred.", Lamb echoed.

"It wasn't their time. They had no choice.", Wolf growled.

"Well, then we won't give Kha'zix a choice either. We will hunt that cowardly bastard down and rip him to shreds for what he has done.", Shining Armor felt the hilt of his sword at his side, gritting his teeth and looking at the other three.

"We can't get ahead of ourselves like that. Kha'zix may be a coward, but he's intelligent. If we attempt to follow him out of rage, then he'll seize to opportunity to end us, one by one, or he'll simply do the exact same thing that has happened here in Ponyville, but somewhere else. And far worse.", Rengar explained, "We've formulated a plan already, but we need to refine it."

Shining Armor gazed back up at Rengar. The lion himself said that this slaughter is what a League of Legends Champion was capable of; something that no pony could ever attempt to do alone. Rengar was in the League of Legends, so if he was going to listen to somepony's advice, it would be Rengar's. After all, his plans had saved both Ponyville and the Everfree from destruction or exploitation.

"Alright.", the captain nodded.

"Good. Gather the Elements of Harmony together. We'll discuss our plan. Captain, I need your guards stationed at any sort of highly populated area. Tell them to kill that bug on sight and alert all other forces should he appear.", Rengar instructed.

As Rengar, Kindred, and Shining Armor headed off to gather the Elements, Rengar eyed his Bonetooth Necklace.

He wanted his prize, but for once in his life, there was something greater at stake than a trophy.

His new home, and the potential destruction of it, his allies, and himself.

"Do we really need much of a plan to catch this bug? I mean, we kinda beat that gigantic hydra by ourselves, and you guys stopped some wacko guardspony by yourselves too. Can't we just jump him at once and be done with it?", Rainbow Dash looked at everypony else, gauging their reactions.

"Hold on there, Sugarcube. If Rengar's gotta plan, we better follow it through. It's the only reason we were able to beat that huge monster in the first place.", Applejack replied.

"Rainbow Dash does bring up a fair point by overwhelming him, but Kha'zix can easily detect a mass attack heading his way very easily. We need to ambush him. Or rather... give him a taste of his own medicine.", Rengar nodded.

All this while, Fluttershy still found herself out of place during this whole discussion. Sure, she managed to kill one of the hydra's heads during that terrifying battle, but when she thought back on it, it had to have just been a fluke, with the hydra accidentally impaling one of its tongues on the poisoned spear. Plus... whatever killed Zecora, or whatever had caused this giant slaying in Ponyville was one of the things that Fluttershy never wanted to meet in her life, let alone attempt to fight.

However, Rengar called for the Element's help, and as such, Fluttershy had to be strong and stick with her friends. She helped defeat that monstrous beast, and her friends now knew how capable she was. Considering her friends, they probably have always believed she was capable of such bravery.

"There is... something that you all should know.", Rengar had a look on his face as if he had just pulled a sinister memory from his head, "If Kha'zix manages to kill me, then he can instantly fully evolve to take over this world."

The ponies' eyes grew as wide as dinner plates at this statement.

"WHAT?!", they all shouted at once.

"I'm afraid so. You see, Kha'zix is the ultimate predatory creation, being able to continuously evolve and change from what he kills. Because I've hunted nearly every single beast back on Runeterra and here, that makes me the prime candidate to let him reach his maximum power should I die."

"Then our biggest priority is to keep you out of Kha'zix's sight and make sure he doesn't find you!", Twilight threw up her suggestion.

"I agree with Twilight. Who knows what disaster would happen if that horrid creature should instantly grow more powerful if our friend here were to... perish.", Rarity nodded and said the last word of her sentence with a shiver.

"But you all don't know how to fight Kha'zix should you be unable to contain him. Not even me and Wolf know how to combat something like this.", Lamb echoed through the map room.

"Even Kha'zix is something that I would hesitate to run down...", Wolf snorted.

At this point, the meeting stopped at a stalemate. That was, until Shining Armor spoke up.

"No. Rengar must draw Kha'zix out so that the Elements of Harmony can trap him. It's the only sure-fire way that we can lure him out."

Rengar nodded.

"Unfortunately, that may be the only way we can go about this..."

"No! Rengar is too important of a factor to risk loosing! We have to-"

Then, Shining Armor slammed his hoof on the map.

"We don't have time! The more we stay in here arguing, the more that damned monster grows in strength! My guards can do nothing to Kha'zix! He's already too strong for us, but maybe not strong enough for Rengar!", Shining Armor shouted across the chamber, "Twilight... we have to act now. I don't want to see anything harm you. Especially not this murderer."

Twilight's eyes slowly drew moisture, of which that same moisture slipped into tears. She sobbed as the princess drew closer to her brother and rested her head in his chest. The rest of the table watched around as Twilight sobbed into her brother.

Rengar shook his head at the ground. So much heartache, something he's never felt before, could come from these creatures. He wanted to not only claim Kha'zix's head as the final prize for his mantelpiece, but he wanted to make things right.

Then, Twilight, after recovering looked back at Rengar.

"Me and my friends will follow your directions.", she responded.

Rengar nodded.

"What of the Princesses?", Rengar asked.

"They have been evacuated away from Kha'zix's supposed hunting grounds. They've managed to reopen communication with the Summoners to alert them of the crisis that is happening. Unfortunately, at the rate of the responses, we have to act now, or it will be far too late.", Shining Armor brandished his sword.

"Then we hunt.", Rengar lead the others out with him.

The gigantic winged lizard shot a massive inferno at the far smaller purple creature attempting to fight it. A roar that could be heard across the mountain range overlooking the Everfree Forest was bellowed as the fireball missed completely, scorching the ground at impact.

Kha'zix smiled a twisted grin at the dragon as he loaded his biospikes into his shoulder-grown spike rack and aimed his body at the dragon. With a quick motion, the voidling fired his spikes at the dragon, impacting along its soft underbelly in a neat row heading up. Roaring in pain, the dragon attempted to claw at its adversary.

A horrible mistake.

Kha'zix simply ducked and held his claw up, allowing the dragon to completely sever its hand from its wrist as it passed through the energy-infused blade. Enraged, the dragon attempted to fire off another orb of flames at the opponent, but was simply dismissed as Kha'zix bounded away onto the wall. Catapulting off the wall again, Kha'zix let loose another barrage of spikes at the dragon's face, this time several of them impacting straight into the dragon's left eye. Stunned, the dragon couldn't see the purple energy blade drawing closer near his snout.

A single slash sent the dragon down on its back. The nightmarish insectoid climbed up on the beast's belly, giving its twisted grin to the dragon's only functioning eye.

"So big... yet so scared."

Kha'zix cackled as he ran is claw along the dragon's underbelly, drawing blood and causing the dragon to struggle against the pain that was coursing through its nerves.

Then, Kha'zix stopped above a section on its chest that was moving and thumping instead of simply rising up and down from the rest of its body.

The dragon knew that Kha'zix had found his heart, and with one swift motion, Kha'zix jabbed down, melting any bodily mass that it came in contact with. With a twitch, the dragon had died, his heart now destroyed.

Kha'zix withdrew his bladed arm and stood over his big kill. He could feel the energy reserves building up inside of him after slaying this dragon. There was so much magic in this world, that he couldn't comprehend why Vel'koz sent him instead of himself, but it was no matter. He was changing and evolving far faster than what he could ever have imagined on Runeterra.

After killing the winged beast, he got down on his knees, and with a few seconds of staying in that position, his shell began to part, revealing a pair of green wings that were covered in slime. A quick beating of the new appendages got rid of the heavy substance.

It always felt so liberating to get his wings back.

The more he killed, the more he could see into the ecosystem of this planet. The magical mutation was astronomical. Kha'zix's exoskeleton shivered from the sheer power that was being let into him. Licking his jaw, he felt even hungrier.

"My hunger is unsated. This world is so... delicious...", the gigantic bug cackled as he stepped out of the dragon's lair, looking over the trail of destruction he had left in his wake.

Trees had been felled and were burning from slashes from his scythes. Dead creatures, small and large were scattered as far as the eye could see with their blood smeared all over the Voidreaver. He loved this hunger that trembled within him. He wished it could never be satisfied, purely so he could consume, kill, and evolve.

Then, he stopped his movement.

As he killed and consumed, he felt the presence of the magic of this world.

But something had been trying to hunt them before.

He could remember. Back on Runeterra.

A young hunter.

And a rising predator.

There was no mistaking it. He was here. The one creature that Kha'zix had not yet consumed. The creature that had slain so many monsters that he himself could be the key to unlocking the barriers to Kha'zix's evolution.

Rengar was here.

Kha'zix had waited what seemed to be an eternity to him for this moment. Only within the League of Legends could they face each other, and that was through power restrictions and revival upon death.

Here, the Summoners could not, and would not interfere.

Kha'zix knew that Rengar most likely knew of his whereabouts by now. He was no fool, even in Kha'zix's eyes. However, the voidling knew that he himself would never associate himself with the creatures of this pathetic world.

Or so that he thought.

Nevertheless, his wings spread, and with a massive leap, he soared down to the forest, claws extended, spikes ready, and his exoskeleton gaining a new shimmer.

Kha'zix cackled as he followed the overwhelming scent of Rengar.

"Rengar... you are a meal that I have waited for a very..."

Kha'zix's green eyes glinted as he instantly snapped into invisibility.

"...very..."

His spikes and claws whistled as they sliced apart the air as the Voidreaver homed into his target.

"...long..."

A smiled grew on his jaws.

"...time."

The area was set. In the dense forest of the Everfree stood Rengar, Hunting Knife in paw. His eye scanned around while his ears and nose scanned the woodlands around him.

He could smell the wretched creature. Once he had picked up the scent from a long time ago, there was no mistaking it for another. Just the stench of the xenos blood was the most distinguishable signature that one could ever cipher from the air. The Elements of Harmony and Shining Armor had been coated in a masking solution that Rengar kept back at his cave for when he went hunting.

Now, the overwhelming scent of Rengar should easily overpower the one's of the ponies. He took a glance back towards Fluttershy.

She really had grown in these past few weeks, hadn't she. All of this had happened so fast. His bonding with the natives of this world, and the disasters that they had to protect against. It was all so much for any pony to take in. But he had expected her to crumble like paper under the pressure.

She had proved him wrong. She stood tall, her eyes narrowed, watching the wilderness with her camouflage applied. She nodded at Rengar, a twinge of nervousness in her throat. However, Rengar sensed that it was instead a pulse of determination.

Twilight gave a nod to Rengar, as did Shining Armor who was standing behind her.

"You doing okay Twily?", her brother whispered.

"Yeah. Just watch the area.", Twilight smiled reassuringly at her brother.

Lamb and Wolf stood at the ready, with Lamb and her bow drawn, aiming around. Wolf lay next to her, sniffing the air and making sure to watch from above.

Then, Wolf spoke to Lamb.

"Lamb... I am afraid."

She looked back.

"Do you want me to tell you a story, Wolf?"

He shook his head.

"No. Not this time. I shall tell you a story.", Wolf echoed into Lamb's mind.

"Tell me, dear Wolf."

Rengar's eye still examined the forest around him.

"There was once a young boy. He was brave."

"How brave?"

"The bravest of them all. He wanted to show his bravery. So he hunted."

"What did he hunt?"

Rengar could hear the echo in his mind. Then, he stared straight ahead. This sounded like...

"He hunted beasts. Creatures of destruction."

"Like us?"

"No. We bring balance, little Lamb. But one day, he encountered evil in its purest form. He was a brave little boy, and charged at it."

"Did he die?"

"Almost. He barely escaped. But deep down, even though this boy never realized it, he was no longer a hunter of beasts, but a hunter of evil. He would still hunt beasts, until he would change."

"All things change, dear Wolf.", Lamb glanced down at Rengar.

"But not often do they change for the better...", Wolf looked down with her.

Rengar heard everything.

He had changed.

But was it to believed that he had changed for the better?

The grip in his knife tightened as he took in a deep breath.

Yes. He had.

Immediately afterwards, Rengar leaped backwards, narrowly avoiding a volley of bio-organic spikes from impaling within him. The ponies ducked down into cover, Fluttershy watching the scenery in front. The spikes stayed in the ground, emanating a thick aura of void energy within.

He is here.

Rengar looked around, then shouted out.

"I can smell you, beast! Come out and fight me!"

The forest remained silent.

"I know you have been waiting for this for a long time, Kha'zix! I am your key! Fight me for it!", Rengar roared.

Then, from the shadows of the Everfree, he emerged.

A cloudy sky had fallen over the Everfree Forest. It became more dim as the humidity in the air increased. However, through the dimness that the clouds had now brought, came the most horrifying thing that the ponies had ever seen in their life. The two scythes made of energy crackled menacingly, blood dripped from the body of the monster, and its wings buzzed once then stopped.

"Rengar...", Kha'zix smiled deviously.

"Kha'zix...", Rengar held his knife up.

"It has been so long since you have been my prey, lion. The League of Legends has grown stale for me ever since you had left.", the insectoid started.

"Why is that? Because you missed me so?"

"Ah-hahahaha! Because I would never have the satisfaction of killing you again!", Kha'zix spread his wings and his scythes, "Until now..."

Rengar grunted and pointed his knife towards him.

"Likewise-"

"GRAHHH!"

Kha'zix leaped at Rengar with his scythes ready to eviscerate the lion. The air whistled as it was literally sliced apart by the alien energy emanating from his arms. Rengar stood his ground with his knife in his paw, watching Kha'zix rapidly close the gap in between them.

Then, he was in position.

"Now! Trap him!"

Once one pony moved from the brush, Kha'zix realized far too late that Rengar was not alone. Seven ponies erupted from the brushes, each of them surging with a magical energy unrivaled to anything Kha'zix had encountered before. With a blinding glow, the ponies transformed.

Their manes grew in both length, and color as pure arcane energy swirled around them into what Kha'zix's multi-photo receptive eyes could make out was a rainbow. The beam of light swirled up, then came crashing back down onto the predator, causing his vision to become overloaded from the flood of colors that was blasted at him. His movement mid air stopped all of a sudden as he found himself suspended in the air, unable to move.

"Grah! What is this?!", Kha'zix shouted as he struggled in the air. Soon, the blinding lights stopped as the voidling now found himself in what appeared to be a multicolored force-field, being amplified by the white male unicorn in armor. Turning to his left, he could see what appeared to be two figures, one humanoid with a bow and arrow, and a shadow that resembled a wolf staring him down.

The creature looked around. He was completely trapped inside.

Rengar turned back.

"Good work, Elements. Shining Armor, how long can you contain that shield?", Rengar asked.

"The entire Changling Hives couldn't penetrate a shield that was far larger than this. Take all the time you need, Rengar.", Shining Armor affirmed.

Kha'zix now attempted to slash and dice at the barrier in front of him, but to no avail as the energy simply reflected his attacks. Not even the void energy could leave a scratch on the bubble of magic. Firing a volley of spikes, they simply disintegrated from the velocity.

Then, Rengar walked over to Kha'zix, knife in hand.

"How does it feel to be a caged animal, Kha'zix? It must feel so... restricting.", Rengar stopped in front of the barrier.

Kha'zix laughed.

"You call me a coward, Rengar. So why is it that you rely on this weak and pathetic species to do your work for you? I know how much you want my head, but does a hunter truly gain a trophy if the catch is set up by others for him?", Kha'zix taunted Rengar, "Look at yourself, lion. Oh how the mightiest hunter in all of Valoran has fallen to a caretaker of these... ponies..."

Rengar then punched the sphere, sending painful echoes inside that scrambled Kha'zix's antennae.

"Do you really think this is about me taking your head anymore? You are a murderer, and a threat to worlds. You must be stopped, and right now, we have just done that.", Rengar countered back.

Kha'zix laughed again.

"Keep believing that, Rengar. Keep believing that."

Kha'zix then sat down and stared at Rengar with a smile. What he had said to the lion stuck a spear in his gut. All of a sudden, Rengar gained a twinge of dissatisfaction and doubt.

He was a hunter. He wanted that head. But now, he felt that he was no longer the proud hunter that he once proclaimed, and proved to others that he was anymore. Kha'zix was the one prize he could never achieve. Yet here he was, right in front of him, restrained.

He looked back at Shining Armor, who was still maintaining the shield while talking to his sister.

Rengar looked back at Kha'zix, then shook his head.

"Sometimes, the prize is never worth what you must go through to get it."

Kha'zix scowled. That had to make him feel insignificant.

"Oh yeah! That outta feel bad, huh you little grasshopper?!", Rainbow Dash flew right in front of the shield and laughed at the trapped voidling, "Maybe we'll dunk you into a little bit of pesticide to see what happens with you after all that you've done!"

Kha'zix's scowl grew even deeper as he suddenly lashed out with his jaws and attempted to bite through the shield, but once again, he was stopped by the energy.

Then, Rarity walked over.

"Ms. Rainbow, I really don't think angering him would be the best of ideas. We need to make sure he doesn't escape to that the Princesses and those Summoners can handle him.", Rarity talked to Rainbow Dash, who was having the time of her life taunting this killer.

Then, Lamb and Wolf spoke up.

"Me and Wolf must go. There are ponies that have to be given a push into their afterlife sooner than nature will give them. It sadly was not their time.", Lamb echoed.

"No. When the Summoners come, they can help revive those ponies that Kha'zix has slain.", Rengar shook his head.

At this point, Kha'zix had stopped resisting and simply crouched down, staring at those who were in front of him. He could see the pink and orange pony talking with the purple mare and the white stallion, while the white mare was trying to stop the blue and rainbow maned one from taunting him. However, he could notice a single pony away from the others. A yellow pony with a pink mane, staying away from the rest and nervously eyeing Kha'zix. He knew how fearful she was of him. Her fear was so strong that he could feel it.

Kha'zix stayed inside the sphere, not moving for quite some time.

Shining Armor was keeping up the shield quite easily, as time seemed to pass. He felt a little drizzle begin to hit his fur as the clouds that formed above grew darker and darker, due to the abnormal weather patterns of the Everfree Forest.

He looked back at Kha'zix, who had stopped trying to resist.

However, he had been still for quite some while.

"Rengar?"

"What is it?"

"I think Kha'zix has stopped moving. He's been awfully silent for quite some time."

Rengar then approached Kha'zix and nudged aside Rainbow Dash, who was still taunting him. The insect simply sat there, staring into Rengar's eye.

"Is something wrong?", Twilight stepped away from her brother to approach the two.

Then, Rengar realized too late what was happening.

"No... Get back! He's evolving-!", Rengar's sentence was cut off as Kha'zix's scythes suddenly doubled in length and size, firing off zaps of void energy all around him.

With a grunt, Kha'zix now attempted to batter his way out of the shield. The forcefield that was supposedly strong enough to stop an entire Changling hive was suddenly cracked when Kha'zix slashed at it. An unnatural shock of pain coursed into Shining Armor as the shield was weakened. Another slash added another set of cracks. The ponies began to back away from the creature that was about to escape.

Lamb strung her bow and arrow while Wolf lingered in the air, ready to deal with Kha'zix.

"Stand back! Stand back!"

Then, Kha'zix broke free. Using both claws, he slashed at the shield which caused an explosion of void energy. The force of the shield breaking fazed the ponies and kicked up a massive swath of dust. Within an instant, Kha'zix had disappeared from sight, invisable.

"No! He's loose!", Twilight gasped.

"Stick together! He'll-"

Kha'zix uncloaked right above Applejack, who only could see the shadow looming behind her.

"Applejack! He's right behind you!"

Pinkie Pie's words came far too late as Kha'zix plunged both of his blades down into the pony, disintegrating her back and her spine all at once.

"APPLEJACK!", Rainbow Dash suddenly charged straight for Kha'zix, tears in her eyes after her friend had fallen.

"Don't!", Rengar shouted. At this point, Lamb fired an arrow from her bow just as Kha'zix let loose a set of spikes from his rack. The arrow struck Kha'zix in his chest, unfortunately, in no vital organs.

Rainbow Dash wasn't so lucky. The spikes bore right through her smaller body and she dropped to the ground like a rock.

Kha'zix vanished again.

The ponies stood horrified at what had transpired. It all happened so fast. Not even Lamb had enough time to react with her respite.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash had died.

"Yes... I can taste your fear... soon you will all fall just like your friends, and I shall savor every moment of it!"

Kha'zix's voice echoed again in the forest as instantly afterwards, Rarity gasped as she fell forwards, spikes embedded all over her back.

"No! Come out and fight you coward! I am the one you want! I am the one-"

Rengar turned to see Kha'zix, once again in view, but this time with Twilight and Pinkie Pie impaled on both of his scythes, holding their bodies up in the air. He didn't even hear them die...

Shining Armor screamed with rage as he blasted a pulse of magic towards Kha'zix, only to have him disappear from view again.

"You bastard! You fucking bastard! I will have your head for what you've done to all of these ponies!"

Shining Armor drew his crossbow from his back and aimed into the forest.

"Where are you?!"

Then, Shining Armor ran into the forest.

"No! Stay together! SHINING ARMOR-!"

As soon as he was gone out of sight, Kha'zix's figure trampled down on his. A scythe raised into the air, he brought it down on the pony. His screams were soon silenced from a twist of the blade.

"After Kha'zix! Stick together, Kindred!"

"Right!"

"His time or not, it has come!"

The three headed off into the forest trying to find the creature before it could kill any more than what has happened right now.

Fluttershy had passed out.

It looked like she had already been killed.

Now, she wish she had. At least she would be with her friends right now.

Looking around, nothing could compare to the pain of all of the familiar ponies that were laying in front of her. None of them were moving.

She got up and slowly trudged over towards the bodies. She only had to rest her eyes on a single body for her to break down and cry like she had never done before in her life.

She hardly knew of death in her life. Her animals passing of old age was nothing compared to this. She felt alone. She felt broken.

She felt that she could have done something. Maybe threw herself at Kha'zix so that she would die instead of one of her friends. Maybe Rengar could have avenged them all.

But she stood back, watching the carnage. Every single death could replay vividly in her mind.

After all that she had been through with them, it was if somepony had taken a match and burned the photo album in her head.

Then, a shadow loomed over her.

She slowly turned around.

Fluttershy was face to face with Kha'zix, his needle sharp teeth stretched into a grin, both scythes making their way towards Fluttershy's neck.

"Tell me, little pony. Do you know fear like that I inflict? How does it feel to see all of your friends become butcher while you stood back, helpless? How does that make you feel, Fluttershy?"

Her name was said with a scratchy laugh from Kha'zix.

She could only stare back up at the monster who's blades were surrounding her.

"It must be a shame. They left you here. All alone to die...", Kha'zix began to walk around her.

"Th-they thought I was dead.", Fluttershy tried to reply from her frivolous shaking.

"What difference does that make it to them? They don't care about you and the rest of your friends. All they want is my head.", Kha'zix spoke into Fluttershy's ear. She was shaking with absolute fear from this alien.

Then, the flat of Kha'zix's arm-scythe tilted Fluttershy's head up. The energy singed her skin, causing her to squirm and yelp in pain as her head was brought up, exposing her neck.

Then, Kha'zix laughed.

"Hmm... if I eat you... will I learn how to die?!"

Kha'zix then cackled again and kicked Fluttershy down with his leg.

"Then again... who wants to learn something like that? You would understand."

Kha'zix vanished from view, leaving Fluttershy all alone, once again with the bodies of those that she wished would never die.

Tonight, We Hunt (Part: 1)

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It was him, and Kindred now. He saw the elements die right then, right before him. He didn’t know how much power Kha’zix could have gained from the bearers of the Elements, but he feared that if he didn’t find him soon, he, along with this world would be doomed. Kha’zix was still a long ways from reaching his true power, but at this state that he is in, nothing that comes from this world would be able to stop him.

Thankfully, Rengar wasn’t from this world.

It was just like hunting in Runeterra and in Equestria before he met the Elements of Harmony. Find anything that seemed out of place. Footprints, disturbed scenery, claw markings, an absence of other wildlife. Especially, a scent, as Rengar was very keen of tracking one.

With Wolf, the three found themselves on a good path to find the Voidreaver. The scent of Kha’zix was the most unique and alien odor that came from the Everfree compared to anything else that lived inside, thus the hunting party was able to track the scent, ready to finish this monster.

“I can smell Kha’zix! We must chase faster!”, Wolf snarled as he darted forward through the air, his blue eyes glowing through the darkness, “Little Lamb! What will this monster taste like?”

Lamb echoed back, “For once, I think you wouldn’t like what he will taste like, dear Wolf…”

“Focus! We must catch up to Kha’zix before he kills anything else!”, Rengar looked back at the two others trailing him.

The smell of Kha’zix was still prominent in Rengar’s and Wolf’s nose. He couldn’t outrun them. They knew that he would eventually have to stand his ground and fight them all at once. From time and time fighting him in the League of Legends, Rengar knew that Kha’zix could never fight a group at once and kill them all. But then again, the League of Legends always restricted the power of champions in some way or another.

Something that they called a futile “balance”.

The only time Rengar ever fought Kha’zix out of the League was when he was still a promising young pathfinder and hunter. That was when Kha’zix first came to his world.

When Rengar saw him in his youth, he didn’t think twice. He leapt at him and tried to slay the monster, but Kha’zix had other plans. The Voidreaver managed to destroy an eye of Rengar’s, and escape back into the void to recuperate whatever wounds he had.

Rengar would never get his eye back, only with his eye-binding there to replace it. No matter how long ago it was, Rengar wanted revenge for his eye. Not revenge in the League where killing was meaningless with magical revival, but a fight to the death, with only one walking away. And he would be damned if that would be Kha’zix. As such, so would Equestria, and possibly Runeterra as well.

His one remaining eye narrowed as his mouth turned into a scowl. He will have his revenge.

Then, the smell became pungent in his nose.

“Stop! Form up! He’s here!”, Rengar spoke as he and Lamb now stood back to back. Drawing his knife and notching her bow, along with a snarl filled with fangs, Rengar, Lamb, and Wolf watched from every direction they could.

The cloudy sky soon turned the forest even darker than what it was before, as the humidity began to rise, signaling rain. Rengar’s piercing blue eye watched around the dark environment.

Then, Lamb shivered suddenly.

“I sense... “

Wolf finished her sentence as he suddenly pushed her out of the way.

“...danger!”

Biospikes impacted along to where Lamb was standing from the side, barely missing Rengar. Turning to the right, he fixed his claws onto one of his bolas, then gave it a hurl at the treeline. The figure of Kha’zix shifted from his place, effortlessly dodging the attack.

Coming down from the tree, Kha’zix’s powerful legs marched himself forwards, his green alien eyes illuminating what was in front of him. His wings uncurled and gave off their eery green translucent color.

“Ah… such power stands before me… so much power to consume!”, Kha’zix grinned as his blades fell to his side, melting the dirt and rocks that were below his feet.

“You’ve done enough damage to our home, Kha’zix! For that, your time has now come!”, Lamb echoed at her adversary.

“We will make sure of it, insect!”, Wolf shouted at Kha’zix.

Then, the Voidreaver looked over towards Rengar.

“And what about you, my dear old ‘hunting buddy’? Still miss that eye I took from you?”, Kha’zix taunted towards the lion, who tightened his grip on his weapons.

“You’re going to miss your head when I remove it from your spine!”

With that, Rengar immediately jumped from Kha’zix, Hunting Knife in paw.

“Rengar!”

Lamb pulled back her bowstring.

Wolf jet forwards with his teeth bared.

Kha’zix’s blades hissed and sliced through the air.

The fight had begun.

It had become dark now from the clouds that had rolled in. Afterall, the Everfree’s weather acted on its own accord.

But she payed no mind to it. What she did still pay mind to, was that her friends, her salvation, were all dead.

She never thought that she would ever see them like this. Lifeless, cold, dead. All of those happy memories shared with them. All of which now stopped cold in their tracks. And worst of all, Kha’zix had been cruel enough to not even kill Fluttershy so she could be with her friends in their eternal sleep.

He laughed at her.

Fluttershy’s eyes had been bloodshot from the crying, the muffled screaming as she buried her face onto Rainbow Dash’s unmoving chest, muffling out her cries. Her chest got colder, and colder every second she felt it.

How could something so cruel like that exist? Why couldn’t she have met her end like the rest?

Why was it this world? Why did it have to…

Then, she heard the roar of a lion in the distance. It didn’t sound like a mantacore. It was far too strong, powerful, and controlled.

Fluttershy looked back. There was the path that lead back to Ponyville, and all that lay dead within it. She just wanted this to be all over. She wanted to go home and forget this ever happened.

But she knew that Rengar and Kindred were trying to do something larger. They didn’t run away, they’re trying to stop a cataclysm that would overtake all of Equestria, and the world. Fluttershy was the only element left, but with her friends dead, what could she do to help?

She didn’t want to go deeper into the forest. Images of Kha’zix butchering her in a thousand different ways played over in her mind. But that didn’t stop Rengar, someone that she at one point looked down upon. She had to help. She had to do whatever she could to save this world. She prayed that Celestia and Luna had finished negotiating with the Summoners now, being such a crisis. However, she knew that in the back of her head that help would not come soon enough. She had to become that help, and she had to become it now.

Fluttershy walked over to Shining Armor, and his crumpled body that lay on the forest ground. Blood poured from his armored plates, giving Fluttershy a horrifying twinge as she approached him. However, she needed something to defend herself. Looking down at his side was Shining Armor’s sword, still in its sheath.

The handle slick with blood, she grabbed it with her mouth, unable to use the armored gauntlets that Shining had to operate it as they were far too big, and pulled the weapon from its harness. Fluttershy flicked the blade of its blood, wondering how she could ever muster the courage to do what she was doing now, and was about to do next.

Looking towards the forest in the biggest rush of fear and anxiety she had ever experienced, she buried it all down, and began to walk deeper within, heading towards the sound of battle.

She faced the hydra, and now, she would face something even deadlier.

What could she do? Whatever it was, Fluttershy was going to try all that she could.

At this point, it was all she could do now.

Kha’zix effortlessly dodged the incoming magic bolts that Lamb had let loose at the Voidreaver, them dotting the tree that stood behind him. The magic of the forest seeped out of the tree and onto the ground as Nightmare Moon’s magical corruption still lingered within the forest. It had become more and more humid and increasingly dark as the only light that was emanated within the Everfree were from the magic arrows of Lamb, and the combatants’ eyes.

Kha’zix wasn’t able to get an opening onto his adversaries, only being able to launch a volley of spikes once in awhile to get a lucky hit.

Lamb rolled away from the attacks and pointed towards Kha’zix, signalling Wolf and Rengar to pounce as his ranged attack was now reloading.

“Now! I’ll cover you!”

“Rrragh!”

“Hrrah!”

Kha’zix now bared witness to the giant lion and spiritkin wolf that were now in the air, converging onto him. He was about to move away, until Lamb then pulled back her bow, a magical energy gathering onto her bow. Launching it at Kha’zix, it felt like weights to his legs, making him hardly able to move.

Lamb’s Mounting Dread was beginning as she fired her first bolt. The arrow struck into the chest of Kha’zix, painting a white glowing ring around his body mass.

Rengar landed besides Kha’zix, slashing upwards with his knife. Kha’zix brought down his own energy blades onto Rengar’s Hunting Knife, only to have it stop right on the blade. Rengar gave a grin and shouted at his prey.

“You see this knife, Kha’zix? I made it to butcher you!”, Rengar slashed away from Kha’zix, breaking free of the struggle.

Then, the next arrow impacted into the voidling, gaining a second ring around Kha’zix. The pain was excruciating to the oversized bug, but the worse was still to come.

“Now, Wolf!”

Wolf pounced from the air and clamped his jaws down on Kha’zix, completing the third ring and blasting them all into its target, sending a surge of deathly magic into him. Kha’zix grunted in pain as the marks did their trick, damaging the beast like nothing before.

Wolf thrashed Kha’zix around, but only until Kha’zix’s spikes had reloaded.

Instantly, Kha’zix aimed downwards and blasted Wolf’s face full of his biospikes. This time, the spikes exploded into shrapnel and tore Wolf straight off of Kha’zix. When Kha’zix was caught in the explosion of the spikes, instead of damaging or harming himself, the energy that seeped from the spikes healed him, pouring into his wounds from before. With a laugh, Kha’zix slashed across Wolf’s face with his claw, earning a massive straight scorch mark across the mask of the spiritkin.

“Argh!”, Wolf shouted as his mask was nearly broken apart again. He retreated behind Lamb, who began to fire more and more arrows.

Kha’zix tried to leap away again to gain more of a height advantage, but ended up being tackled by Rengar as he leaped from a bush. Intercepted, Kha’zix thrashed around and kicked the lion off of him, slashing the ground in front with his energy blades to create a line of sparks that came from reacting rocks.

Then, Kha’zix disappeared instantly.

Lamb kept her bow up and fired at his last position, but it was no use as Kha’zix was now long gone.

Then, Rengar laughed.

“You really think that old trick is going to fool any of us? Looks like I’m not the only one that still needs to learn!”

With that, Rengar closed his eyes.

“Listen…”

His other senses took over. His smell, his hearing, his whiskers, they all could sense around. Heartbeats were no longer in the Everfree Forest, as Kha’zix had taken care of nearly everything that lived within.

There were only four heartbeats… no… five…? Something else was alive in the forest, but Rengar payed no mind to it. He paid mind to the heart that beat irregularly fast for a creature of its size, as well as having a beating tone of something not mammalian.

It was Kha’zix. He was attempting to circle around and take one of them out from the shadows, unseen by Lamb or Wolf.

With a hurl of a bola, Rengar shouted, “I see you, wretched creature!”

The roped weapon suddenly snagged on something in mid air. Kha’zix decloaked and tumbled to the ground, trying profusely to free himself from the entanglement.

“Grah! Rggghah!”, Kha’zix shouted as he snapped free of the bola’s ropes with his claw, but was unable to avoid another arrow from Lamb. This one had impacted straight into his shoulder, disabling one of his spike racks and digging the unspent ammunition into his shoulder. The voidling screamed in pain as his left arm fell limp from the injury.

Immediately, Rengar pounced onto the bug, and rose his knife.

“It’s time to finish this! All of your destruction, it ends here!”

Kha’zix’s wings spread apart.

“I beg to differ.”

A single flap was all it took to blanket the entire area in dirt and dust. A single kick was all it took to shove Rengar off, him wildly slashing what was in front of him.

Then, a single maneuver was all it took for Kha’zix to reappear behind Lamb.

A single stab was all it took.

Kha’zix’s energy blade suddenly impaled through Lamb’s back and through her chest, lifting her up into the air as her magic energies seeped out from within her. Lamb couldn’t even react in time to cast her Respite on herself.

“NO!”, Wolf charged straight towards Kha’zix, who simply threw the now impaled Lamb at Wolf, then turned around and fled the scene.

As Kha’zix escaped into the darkness, he laughed and cackled, “If three of you can’t stop me, then what makes you think anything can?! Ahahahahaaaah!”

Lamb fell to the ground off of Wolf’s nose, her breathing beginning to slow down. Wolf hovered down over her, him looking over her as he soon felt his own energy begin to become stripped away from him.

“Lamb… you will be okay… won’t you?”, Wolf looked down upon her fleeting body.

Lamb’s hand lightly caressed Wolf’s jaw line. She too could feel his power escaping him as well.

“I might not make it, dear Wolf. My wounds are too grievous. Soon, you will pass along with me. I cannot let that happen to you. But Kha’zix is still rampant. You must go after him.”, Lamb weakly echoed through the forest.

“I… can’t. WIthout you, my power is nothing. I will soon die along with you.”

Rengar watched back, then looked into the forest.

“Then… I must fight Kha’zix until the bitter end. Believe me. I will avenge you both, and everything that has died at the claws of Kha’zix.”, Rengar growled in rage and anger.

“No… this isn’t about vengeance, Rengar. This is about protecting your home. Our home. All of us, we are counting on you to stop this bloodshed. Not take a prize you have been after.”, Lamb pleaded to Rengar, “Please… know where your heart lays, not your desires…”

Then, rustling was heard from the south of the group. Rengar took a grip on his knife and peered into the foliage, only to be met with a familiar butter-yellow coat and a pink mane, albeit rather dirtied up.

However, at this, Rengar’s eye widened in pure shock. Emerging from the treeline was Fluttershy, with Shining Armor’s sword gripped into her mouth. She appeared heavily battered and shaken, yet here she was in front of Rengar and Kindred.

Rengar couldn’t believe his eye. He thought that she had died along with the rest of the elements. She had to. Kha’zix killed them all. But those thought all blew out of his mind when he finally realised that standing in front of him was the real Fluttershy.

“F-Fluttershy… you’re alive…!”, Rengar suddenly rushed over to her, sheathing his dagger.

What happened next gave a little surprise to the pony, and even a bit to Rengar himself. He wrapped his arms around the pony into an embrace, his mane meeting with hers. Fluttershy came to fight for once, but instead, she was met with a hug from Rengar.

Rengar’s hug was shaky. He had been afraid.

“I… I thought you were dead…”, Rengar breathed heavily, shaking his head, “I should have come back. I should have checked. Instead, I left you alo-”

Fluttershy then responded back, the tiniest of smiles growing on her face for the first time in the last few days.

“It’s okay… everything happened so fast. Even I thought I hadn’t made it… but… my friends…”, Fluttershy’s smile disappeared when she remembered the deaths of those beloved to her.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t save them, Fluttershy. It’s my fault. I couldn’t react. I still thought about myself and what only I would do, not what would happen.”, Rengar spoke through his gruff voice, wavering a bit as he silenced himself.

Then, Fluttershy looked at Kindred, who were getting weaker and weaker.

“Dear Celestia, are they okay?”, she rushed over to them, bending down to Wolf’s head and stroking his jaw.

“No. Kha’zix had grievously injured Lamb, and Wolf will soon follow afterwards. There is nothing we can do for them.”, Rengar solemnly replied.

Lamb then reached up to touch Fluttershy’s mane. Fluttershy stared down onto the masked face. She never had a clue what lay beneath the mask, but whatever was under it, she knew for a fact that it was trying to smile at her as Lamb slowly wafted into eternal sleep.

“You are very brave, dear Fluttershy to come back and stand your ground. There are very few ponies with such courage as you. Believe me, I have seen many of them all around this world.”, Lamb’s echo serenaded the forest one last time.

“But now we ask of one last thing, little pony. Chase down Kha’zix. Run him down. Stop his rampage as I couldn’t!”, Wolf gave a low growl, as his energy was nearly empty.

Fluttershy felt tears trying to escape her eyes once more, but they didn’t leave. She wouldn’t cry now. Kha’zix had taken so much from her, and will continue to take even more if nothing stopped him.

With slight nods, she took a deep breath.

“I won’t let anypony down. You can count on me and Rengar to stop this monster…”, Fluttershy spoke as Lamb’s paw slowly fell from Fluttershy’s mane.

Lamb then turned to the dying Wolf, as Wolf turned to the dying Lamb.

“So many stories I’ve told you, dear Wolf…”

“But all stories have one thing in common… little Lamb…”

Kindred placed her paw on the forehead of Wolf’s mask.

“What is that… dear Wolf…?”

The light that emanated from both of their masks slowly faded away.

“They end.”

Tonight, We Hunt (Part: 2)

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Wolf’s final words traveled throughout the Everfree. Fluttershy suddenly gasped as Lamb’s paw fell from her mane and rested on herself as the glow from her mask’s eyes now faded into nothingness, a hollow darkness resting where the glow once was. Her breathing quivered as Kindred now rested together in peace.

She felt so empty within herself now, seeing another of her friends die before her. But what she now felt wasn’t sorrow or sadness. It was resent. Resent for the creature that had the audacity to come to Equestria and slaughter everything it saw. Resent for the murderer of her friends.

She never thought she would ever hate anypony, but now that changed.

She hated Kha’zix.

She wanted justice.

Fluttershy looked at Rengar, and nodded.

“Let’s go, Rengar.”, she readied herself by taking the fallen captain’s solid crystal sword.

“Stay close and keep all eyes and ears open.”, Rengar and Fluttershy then sprinted off towards the location of Kha’zix’s rampage.

The two said their goodbyes to the passed Kindred, then rushed off into the forest where danger beyond their darkest nightmares awaited for them.

Now, the trail to find Kha’zix had become more and more apparent. It was evident that he was growing rapidly in power from consuming everything along the outskirts of the Everfree forest. On his trail, Rengar and Fluttershy rushed towards the direction of the slaughtered animals and beasts, taking heed of the darkening clouds resting overhead.

From all of the chaos that had resonated in the past few weeks, Rengar felt at ease all of a sudden. He was hunting. The hunt gave a sort of calm and focus within him that he hadn’t felt in a very long time. His senses were heightened. He felt the thrill once more.

On the other hoof, Fluttershy realised that she was doing something she’d never thought she’d do. She was hunting, alongside with Rengar, no less. However, she felt a sort of security and harmony when she was with the lion, a creature that she at first took as a murderer of all animals, but was instead a hardened warrior that now fought for justice and the protection of his new home, even if he didn’t realise it yet.

Then, Rengar felt a raindrop on his mane. Looking up, the clouds gave a rumble of thunder. It is going to rain, and from the looks of it, it is going to rain quite a bit.

Then, as they ran, Fluttershy asked something.

“Do you think we’ll stop Kha’zix?”

Rengar didn’t look at Fluttershy. He knew his opinion in the matter, but at this point, saying it was the last thing he wanted. Instead, he turned his head and nodded.

“We will stop him. One way-”, Rengar then shot out his wrist-mounted blades, “- or another.”

They kept running towards the destination where Kha’zix had to be. Then, Rengar spoke up this time.

“You’re not afraid.”

Fluttershy looked back at him and spoke, the crystal sword giving a bit of a muffle to her mouth, but her words were still clear nonetheless.

“How can you tell?”

Rengar looked ahead and gave his answer.

“Because I was once afraid. I was young. I didn’t think when I attacked him. It costed me my eye, and I lived in fear of him ever since.”, Rengar gave a heavy exhale.

“What? You were afraid?”, Fluttershy asked.

“Yes. No matter how much I speak of claiming Kha’zix’s head for a trophy, I have always feared him to this day. I was afraid that he would come back and finish what I started. I was afraid that no matter how much I hunted, he would always be stronger than me.”, Rengar admitted, “But you, you are selfless. You are doing this for the future of your friends and home. I don’t have much of those things on my own.”

Then, Fluttershy spoke up.

“You have a home. Here, and your own world. As for friends… you can start with me.”

Rengar looked over at Fluttershy and gave a light smile.

“Than maybe I’m not afraid anymore…”

Then, Fluttershy stepped on something peculiar. It made a slight crunching sound, similar if you were to step on a dried leaf. However, it also felt crunchy in the sense of an eggshell, with sharp edges around. She took her hoof up and looked at the tiny piece that dug into it. It was purple, and it still felt warm.

“Rengar… is this part of Kha’zix…?”, Fluttershy showed him the piece. Rengar looked down at the object with his eye, inspected it for a second, and suddenly grew pale in shock.

“Rengar? Are you okay?”, Fluttershy asked.

Rengar shook his head, took his knife, and pointed it into the forest.

“He’s going to trigger another evolution! If we allow him to adapt any more beyond this power, we’ll have no chance at stopping this monster!”

They ran. They ran as fast as they could through the darkness of the forest. The clouds billowed overhead, desperate to pour rain down upon the forest.

The trail of tiny pieces of what looked to be part of Kha’zix’s exoskeleton gave his direction of travel away.

“The more he evolves, possibly the more careless he could become. Let’s hope that is the case.”, Rengar spoke as they appeared to get closer and closer to the edge of the forest.

Then, they broke out of the shrubbery.

Before them was a massive plateau that dropped into a steep cliff down below. The ground was wet from the moisture, and the skies shook with thunder. A gust of wind pushed against Rengar and Fluttershy’s fur, sending a chill down the later’s spine.

Standing in the middle of the top of the plateau, was Kha’zix, eyeing the two with his two glowing green eyes. A closer look showed that bits and pieces of his shell and exoskeleton were molting off, some even dropping to the ground to become lost in the mud.

Then, Kha’zix spoke after he recognised Fluttershy.

“Really, Rengar? You still can’t stand to fight me alone like the true hunter that you are? What’s this? A meatshield you’ll throw in front of me? Pathetic!”, Kha’zix slashed his blades into the ground and chuckled.

Then, Fluttershy stepped forward.

“My whole life, I dedicated to saving the little and kind critters of this forest and returning kindness to those who need it. No matter what ponies say to me, no matter how they treat me, I will always show them what it means to be the Element of Kindness.”

She continued to walk forwards, the sword mounted on her back.

“I believe that everypony deserves to be treated right and with love! But you…”

She took the sword in her mouth, planted it into the ground, and pointed at the monster.

“...you proved me wrong! You are a monster! A monster that doesn’t deserve a chance at redemption! A monster that should be locked up forever with the key thrown away in tartarus!”

Fluttershy couldn’t believe what she was saying to something even as vile as Kha’zix, but deep down, she knew she meant every word.

“A monster… that doesn’t deserve anything to call a friend.”

Kha’zix simply grew a twisted smile and cracked his head to the side.

“Friends… ah… that brings up memories to you, doesn’t it?”

Fluttershy gritted her teeth at the mention. When Kha’zix spoke the word “friends”, it carried none of the joy she remembered with her company. It felt like a weapon, a sword being stabbed into her through her heart.

“Tell me, Fluttershy. How did it feel when I slaughtered those ponies, while you couldn’t do a thing? You stood and watched helpless as I eviscerated every single one of those pathetic creatures!”

Rengar suddenly brandished his knife in one arm, and a bola in another.

“Enough, Kha’zix! You want to claim me as your kill? Then come and fight!”

Kha’zix ignored his arch-nemesis.

“Fluttershy, how well do you remember the screams in your head…? They called for help… but none came…”, Kha’zix cackled mockingly at the hurt pony.

“Sh-shut up!”, Fluttershy screamed, tears of rage in her eyes.

“Don’t listen to a word this thing says, Fluttershy! Look at me!”, Rengar called out to her.

Then, Kha’zix spoke one more time.

“Do you want to see your friends again, Fluttershy…?”

Kha’zix pulled up one of his blades and pointed the crackling tip straight at her.

“I’ll arrange the reunion!”

Fluttershy suddenly felt a pain. A pain like nothing else that had ever come before. It felt as if it skewered her, burned her, ate away at her. She even recoiled from it, and looked up towards Kha’zix. She stared at this alien and felt something she had never felt before.

Hatred.

“Don’t listen to him! He’s trying to-”

Rengar’s warning came too late.

Fluttershy’s wings spread apart, and she flew like she had never flown before. The sword was locked in her jaw, and she dove straight for Kha’zix. The alien smiled and simply swatted her aside, his energy blade coming into contact with Shining Armor’s crystalline sword. Sparks flew from the clash and Fluttershy was sent away, landing on the ground and sliding backwards from the velocity.

“Hmmmm… this will be fun…”, Kha’zix laughed as more and more pieces from his exoskeleton came off. No more was he bounded by the League’s restrictions on his evolutions. He was free to consume-

-and adapt.

Kha’zix gave a jolt and the rest of the flaky pieces blasted off of him, revealing a dark red coat beneath his purple one. His blades now glowed a deathly red as they crackled and hummed in the air.

Rengar grit his teeth. Kha’zix had evolved his active camouflage. Most of the time, Kha’zix wasn’t able to do so by restriction by the summoners. But now, he was at an unimaginable power. He was free of his bindings. The call of the void now headed him, and he would ravage this world.

Fluttershy recovered from the parry and suddenly felt a raindrop hit her nose.

Then, a raindrop hit Rengar’s paw.

Another landed on Kha’zix’s back.

Then, more and more came down. Rain shot from the skies to fall to Equestria. Soon, it was pouring and drenching the ground beneath the fighters. Whatever rain fell onto Kha’zix’s energy blades evaporated on contact with a hiss.

They stood there, eyeing each other. Waiting for one to attack, or the other.

Then, Kha’zix disappeared.

Fluttershy stepped back and looked around frantically, unsure of where he went.

Rengar reacted and closed his eyes.

“Focuuussssss…”

He didn’t stealth himself like Kha’zix did, or it would leave Fluttershy as the only target. Rengar instead examined his surroundings, watching for signs of the monster. But now, he couldn’t find Kha’zix. His active camouflage was now evolved, completely concealing him.

Rengar cursed. The summoners restricted this power of Kha’zix in the League of Legends from detection. However, it wasn’t the League of Legends. Now Kha’zix was able to move about freely without fear of retaliation or sight.

Fluttershy backed up against Rengar, her heart racing faster and faster.

“Don’t be afraid. If we stay together, even he will have a difficult time to attack us. Look for anything that would be out of place. Footprints, odor, sounds of movement, anything that is out of the ordinary.”, Rengar instructed Fluttershy.

She nodded and took a deep breath and scanned her side of the area. The rain beat down harder and harder, causing Fluttershy’s mane to limp downwards in a soggy display. Rengar’s coat got the same treatment as his mane began to flatten a bit.

She watched as much as she could. A thick fog began to roll into the cliff, concealing the deadly drop that lay below the mist.

Rengar watched, and watched, feeling that Kha’zix was silently laughing somewhere, mocking him.

Then, Fluttershy noticed something peculiar.

There was a tiny area where the rain poured down in blankets, but failed to strike the ground. Instead, it seemed to stop at something that couldn’t be seen. Something was there, and it was stopping the rain. When Fluttershy looked closer, she could swear that something blurred in reaction, then footprints began to rapidly form on the ground, heading straight for Fluttershy.

“R-Rengar! He’s on my side!”

It didn’t even take a second for the lion to respond. He suddenly jumped in front of Fluttershy and swung his Hunting Knife with all of his might. It collided with something, only for that something to be a decloaked Kha’zix, with his energy blade blocking the attack.

“Clever creature…”, Kha’zix smiled with his needle-like teeth.

“I wouldn’t say the same for you.”, Rengar mocked back at his enemy.

At the same time, Fluttershy flew upwards and landed on the other side behind Kha’zix and slashed with the sword. The oversized insect stopped the attack with his other arm, clashing blades once more. Realising that he would be locked down in this situation, Kha’zix turned towards Rengar, loaded in his spikes, and attempted to launch them.

Rengar saw this action a mile away and ducked, letting Kha’zix’s blade go away as the spikes rushed over his head. Sliding to his side, Rengar attempted to slash as he jumped back to disengage, being defeated by another parry from Kha’zix.

Fluttershy drew back and now came after Kha’zix with a flurry of untrained, but unpredictable barrage of attacks. Kha’zix met every single one of them effortlessly, sparks thrown left and right from the defenses.

At this point, the lion hunter took a bola from his waist, gave it a spin to reveal the webbing of net that was woven in between, and gave it a hurl as he shouted, “Up!”

It didn’t take Fluttershy much question to follow Rengar’s instruction. With a spread of her wings, she ascended as rapidly as she could. Kha’zix was too distracted on the pony to realise the incoming threat from behind. However, his antennae picked up the vibrations in the air, and allowed him to simply leap upwards too, avoiding the bola.

“Not so fast!”, Rengar shouted as he suddenly hurled another net from his left paw, spinning through the air higher up, straight in Kha’zix’s flight path. The Voidreaver became entangled as he tried to slash at Fluttershy, but came just short before the bola encircled around him, binding his arms and legs together in the net webbing.

With a thud, Kha’zix fell to the ground, grunting in frustration. Looking ahead, Rengar was rushing straight for him with his Hunting Knife in one paw, and wrist blades produced out of the other.

Then, Kha’zix wriggled himself to face the lion, and fired off his spikes. Through his rushing, the sight of the spikes came far too late and they embedded all over him. In his chest, shoulder, arm, and one even fragmented all over his face. The lion tumbled down from the excruciating pain.

“Rengar!”

Fluttershy dove downwards towards the entangled Kha’zix, who angled his blades to burn the bola and free himself. He became free just in time to deflect Fluttershy’s attack with both of his blades and push her off.

She landed on the ground and gave a snort from her nose. The rain gave her a shivering fit as she still summoned the will to go on and avenge all of the destruction and pain Kha’zix had caused.

Then, Kha’zix went invisible and suddenly reappeared in front of Fluttershy. He began to absolutely berserk his attacks, slashing and slashing at her in a wild, yet calculated rage. Fluttershy barely could avoid or deflect the incoming attacks, the strength of Kha’zix beginning to take a toll on her as every time they slashed swords, the force pushed or jolted her backwards. She backed up more and more, with suddenly a hoof finding no more ground to place itself on.

She was being backed towards the cliff, the fog still concealing what lay below her.

Rengar had recovered from the volley of spikes and suddenly widened his eye.

“No!”

He suddenly broke into invisibility and charged for Kha’zix. When Fluttershy saw this through the corner of her eye, she quickly ran through Kha’zix’s legs right as he impacted down with his blades on her former location. FLuttershy fled from the monster, who spread his wings, and leaped after her.

While he was unseen, the ferocity began to build in Rengar. This was no longer a hunt. This was a battle of life or death. This time, death meant that result to his new home, and even his origin birthplace. The ferocity gained and gained within him. He silently counted in his head.

“Two…”

Rengar’s instincts suddenly overloaded his senses once more, his breathing becoming more and more animalistic with every fleeting milisecond.

“Three…”

He prepared a bola in his free hand and watched as Kha’zix approached the fleeing Fluttershy, acting as the bait towards Rengar’s next attack.

“Four…”

The ferocity was now at an unparalleled level within him. His heart beat faster, faster, faster, and faster.

“Five…”

Then, the grip on his knife tightened. Rengar was now pure savagery.

“Zero…”

A roar of the lion rang out through the entire forest as Kha’zix's antennae picked up Rengar’s whereabouts too late. The hunter leaped out of nowhere, a bola thrown from his grip at the incoming Kha’zix. The bola connected, entangling him once again in the air. Before Kha’zix could simply unleash another barrage of spikes again, Rengar blasted a gigantic roar from his jaws, hurling Kha’zix back into the ground from the sheer force exerted.

When he landed, Rengar plunged the knife into Kha’zix’s figure entangled in the net. The voidling snarled as the knife shot into his chest, sending a shock of pain and agony through Kha’zix. However, Kha’zix’s legs were still free, and managed to shove Rengar away from him. After freeing himself from yet another bola, Kha’zix hissed this time, his blades at his side.

Now, Kha’zix moved a bit slower. The wound Rengar gave to him was very deep and painful to work around. However, Rengar knew that most voidlings were durable, and Kha’zix was far from an ordinary one. Fluttershy came back down to Rengar’s side and watched for Kha’zix’s next move.

Suddenly, the two saw something that not even Rengar had seen Kha’zix do before. The ultimate predator angled his energy blade into the wound, and began to burn himself. What scream Kha’zix made was the most ear-shattering and painful noise to have ever traveled into Rengar’s and Fluttershy’s ears. Then, they realised what he was doing. He was cauterising his own wound to stop it from bleeding.

“No! Don’t let him!”

Rengar hurled another bola, but Kha’zix had finished up with his self-treatment. He went invisible again.

“Horsefeathers… not again.”, Fluttershy cursed as she watched around again.

This time, Kha’zix didn’t stay invisible for long. He suddenly reappeared in one location, and fired a barrage of biospikes as the duo, spreading out while in flight. The lion and pony frantically tried to avoid the attack, with Fluttershy being more lucky than Rengar due to her smaller stature, but Rengar took a large spike to the chest. Grunting and breaking the spike so it wouldn’t get in the way, Rengar noticed Kha’zix reappear again.

“He’s over there! Watch out!”

Another barrage of spike was hurled, with Fluttershy being in front of Rengar. One spike impacted into her side, causing an explosive blast to send her careering away from the airburst. Fragments of the spike filled her side as she yelped in terrible pain. Rengar backed away and rushed over to Fluttershy.

“Are you okay?!”

Fluttershy brushed her hoof along her side, forcing some of the spikes to come loose.

“Don’t do that! You’ll bleed!”

Fluttershy bit her lip as she stood back up, amazing Rengar as she was fighting through her pain. Getting to her four legs, she noticed that Kha’zix had reappeared again, and was lining up another shot at them.

Not this time.

The pony spread her wings and bolted after Kha’zix, who suddenly realised that a missile with a sword in its mouth was heading straight for him. In reaction, Rengar leaped at Kha’zix as well to re-engage. The sword and knife clashed with Kha’zix’s energy blades once more as they strained to stick together, fight both sides of Kha’zix, and most importantly, not become isolated. They slashed, stabbed, and fought through the pouring rain, splashes from the frantic footsteps were kicked up all around from the combat.

Kha’zix grew more and more restless.

Then, Fluttershy brought her sword down onto Kha’zix’s back, cutting through the shell and earning another gash. Despite the injury, Kha’zix noticed that Fluttershy’s sword was now down inside of him, instead of at her side to defend.

With a quick motion, Kha’zix suddenly brought the fight towards the edge of the cliff, forcing Fluttershy to back up and Rengar to follow close by. As Fluttershy was pulling out the sword, a jolt of pain was sent down Kha’zix as he dropped his blade against Rengar. Seeing the opportunity, Rengar sliced towards his head. Kha’zix managed to duck, but his antennae were still too high. They separated from his head from Rengar’s knife, falling to the ground.

Then, Fluttershy spread her wings for leverage and backwards strength, and wrenched the sword from Kha’zix’s back. Blood from the creature of the void flew into the air as Kha’zix ignored the pain for a brief second.

From the force of sword being pulled, Fluttershy stumbled backwards, almost reaching the edge of the cliff with her wings spread out.

Now, Kha’zix seized the opportunity. Using his foot to throw mud straight into Rengar’s face, he pushed him away with a headbutt. Rengar stumbled back and wiped his eye clean just in time to see what would happen next.

When Fluttershy barely recovered from her stumble from before, Kha’zix suddenly whirled around, and struck.

Both of his blades hummed through the raining air as with one quick motion, he sliced off both of Fluttershy’s wings. Fluttershy screamed a scream that carried the sheer and unbelievable pain that was inflicted onto her, her wings dropping off of the cliff into the fog down below.

“NO! FLUTTERSHY!”, Rengar shouted as he held a paw out, seemingly as if he was trying to desperately reach out to her.

Then, with a kick from Kha’zix, Fluttershy stumbled backwards and fell off of the cliff into the abyss below.

Rengar couldn’t believe it.

She was gone.

Fluttershy fought so valiantly, and yet, it was for nothing.

She didn’t even scream as she fell below.

Then, Rengar took his knife once more, and drew both of his wrist-mounted blades.

“That was a mistake, Kha’zix.”

Kha’zix smiled and cackled.

“Why? Because you have nothing left to die for?”

Rengar felt a calm surge through him. His muscles relaxed, despite the pain he was in, and from witnessing Fluttershy fall to her doom.

“No.”

Rengar glared at Kha’zix with a vengeful tranquility in his eyes.

“Because I have nothing left to fear.”

The lion suddenly broke into another leap at Kha’zix, hurling a bola at the creature. This time, Kha’zix cut apart the weapon in mid flight and managed to stop Rengar’s attack dead in its tracks. Sparks flew from the blades as the rain and muddy ground quickly extinguished them. Lightning struck down onto a tree, sparks and embers flying off from the damp shrubbery.

Rengar kept his attacks coming, slash after slash.

The calm inside of him surged. It was no longer ferocity, it was tranquility. He looked into the eyes of death itself, and did not flinch for a second.

Tirelessly, they fought through the harsh rain.

Rengar’s eye never left Kha’zix as they clashed attacks, back and forth.

“We can’t fight like this forever, Kha’zix! Until you kill me, you will never gain the power you seek!”, Rengar shouted.

Kha’zix snarled as he battered at Rengar with more and more attacks. Even though Rengar was isolated, he was still fighting to a bitter effort of all of his might.

Kha’zix now went on the offensive, bringing down both of his blades into a power swing. Energy blasted out from the blades when they collided with Rengar’s Hunting Knife. Rengar threw forwards his wrist-blades, earning a gash on Kha’zix’s shoulder.

This was what he needed. The needle-shaped teeth burrowed down into Rengar’s arm as Kha’zix clamped down in teeth, earning a roar from Rengar in agony. Then, with a slash of his blade, Kha’zix aimed for Rengar’s face.

A flash from contact, and smoke billowed from Rengar’s face. He clutched it, his hand over his eye. It burned like a thousand suns had shot their energy into him.

However, when Rengar removed his paw from his eye, he still couldn’t see. All he could see was red. He backed up, breathing heavily, the calm now gone from him.

Kha’zix had destroyed Rengar’s other eye.

He took one, he now took the other.

“Gah… agh…!”, Rengar huffed as where his eye used to be, a jagged crater of burnt flesh replaced it.

Kha’zix spoke up through his pain.

“That felt a little familiar… didn’t it, Rengar?”

Rengar didn’t know what to do. His eyesight was completely gone. He saw red, and only red.

“Poor, poor Rengar… would you like me to put you out of your misery now? Or perhaps I’m more in the mood to see how much you can bleed….”

Kha’zix began to approach Rengar. He had no idea where Kha’zix was coming from.

Then, Rengar could feel his other senses replacing the one he lost.

He could hear the footsteps, despite the pounding rain. Every step Kha’zix made, it sent a shockwave that Rengar could feel through his whiskers.

He felt them accelerate. Turning to his left, he felt his blade collide with something. From the crackling, he had to have struck into Kha’zix’s blades.

Pulling away, Kha’zix sputtered in disbelief.

“What?! How?! I removed that eye from your face!”

Rengar suddenly growled deeply.

“I can smell your stench from a mile away…”

“Raggghh!”, Kha’zix shouted as he attacked Rengar again, with his adversary meeting everyone of his attacks, blow for blow.

Emptyness.

Alone.

Nothing.

Was this what death felt like?

It was cold.

Fluttershy, deep inside, felt her grief. She couldn’t stay with Rengar. She had fought to the bitter end, but it wasn’t enough.

She felt wet. Well, that was from the rain. But it was still so cold. Not a deathly cold, but a…

Then, her eyes opened. She saw around her. She felt the rain as it hit into her. Fluttershy shivered intensely, only her coat managing to keep her on the edge of hypothermia. She looked around herself in disbelief. She fell off of the cliff, how was she still alive?

Then, she realised that she had landed on a ledge that was made invisible from the fog that covered the drop from the cliff.

Her sword was beside her, as well as her...wings…

The appendages sat there, no longer connected to Fluttershy. She gasped as she quickly realised what they were, but pushed that thought aside.

She was alive. But for how long was she knocked out? Perhaps Rengar was already dead… and Kha’zix had now reached his apex…

But she was still alive. To improve on the matter, she heard the clash of blades above.

Rengar was alive!

She felt a joy and relief inside of her, despite her pain and tiredness that she had flowing through her.

She wanted to rejoin the fight. To show Rengar she was still alive and bring down Kha’zix.

However, there was a problem. She had no wings. The only way up the cliff would be to climb it. She had no idea how far down she was due to the fog, but it couldn’t be that far if she survived the drop. What worried her most would be if she lost her grip. That would be her true death sentence.

Bringing herself up one more time and taking the sword in her mouth, she planted her hoof on a grip in the cliff, and began to pull herself upwards.

Rengar and Kha’zix were apart from each other. Rengar was panting and heaving while Kha’zix cracked his neck.

Rengar breathed heavily, his senses becoming duller and duller.

Kha’zix launched a volley of spikes, with Rengar not even dodging to the side to avoid the attack. Instead, he only held up his arms to shield his chest and face. The spikes exploded on Rengar’s arms, causing a malfunction in both of his wrist blades and digging more spikes into him.

When he let his arms down, he could feel Kha’zix rushing towards him.

He felt it too late.

With a massive shove to the ground, Rengar tumbled down and held his knife up to deflect the finishing blow from Kha’zix.

Sparks flew from both blades as they collided, the energy scythes that made up Kha’zix’s arms cracking and hissing with conflicting energy. Rengar strained and strained to keep Kha’zix from ending him.

Then, Kha’zix began to angle the blades downwards over his knife. The tips of the scythes began to burn through his shoulder armor. Eventually, they were pushed further and further down to reach his fur, then soon, his flesh.

Rengar roared in agony as the energy blades melted into his shoulders, slowly, but steadily, and especially painfully. He roared and roared through the pain as he tried to extend his wrist blades, but the spikes that Kha’zix had launched before had disabled them.

As Kha’zix pushed his blades deeper into Rengar’s shoulders, Rengar shouted in agony more and more. The sadistic creature responded by deepening the pain by shoving onwards.

A roar was heard.

It was Rengar’s.

Fluttershy quickened her climbing as she heard the sounds of fighting die down to be replaced by Rengar’s roar. As she climbed higher and higher, she knew that he has in excruciating pain.

Quickening her pace, she climbed onwards. Higher she arose, but the fog still blanketed everything around her.

The pain from her sides missing their wings sent shocks of hurt down into her with every movement that she made. Fluttershy still pressed onwards.

She had to get to the top.

She had to help Rengar.

She had to save Equestria.

Even then, the entire world.

The sword gripped in her mouth wasn’t making things any easier as she ascended towards the top.

Desperation filled her as the screams grew louder from Rengar. She didn’t know how much pain Rengar was in, but from the sounds of pure suffering, she couldn’t let him bare it any longer.

Then, the fog began to clear around her. She could see the edge of the cliff mere feet away from her. Giving one last heave of might, she brought herself over the cliff’s edge and looked ahead at the scene. Kha’zix and Rengar were locked in a life or death struggle, with Kha’zix over Rengar with his energy blades being stopped by Rengar’s knife underneath.

However, smoke was coming from Rengar, and his shouts of pain gave away what was occurring. Kha’zix was beginning to dig his scythes into Rengar’s shoulder as he desperately tried to keep the entirety of the Voidreaver’s blades from coming down and ending the Pridestalker.

Fluttershy got up and began to approach from behind Kha’zix. She heaved herself towards him, the sword still in her mouth. As she approached, Kha’zix couldn’t notice her. His antennae were already removed by Rengar from the fight that ensued before.

Fluttershy came closer to Kha’zix, her jaw clenched around the sword.

Kha’zix sunk his blades deeper, inching closer to the bones in Rengar’s shoulder.

Rengar roared again, the pain now becoming unbearable.

Fluttershy suddenly brought the sword up, and leaped for Kha’zix.

The voidling didn’t even see what was coming.

The sword smashed down into his back, the solid crystal structure parting his back shell aside and slicing through his body. Kha’zix gasped in shock as he looked at his chest, the tip of the sword protruding from it.

Then, Fluttershy released the sword from her mouth, and brought down both hooves on the pommel. The sword plunged deeper inside of the monster. The tip of the sword that was exposed from Kha’zix’s chest now became longer as more of the blade was shoved through him.

The surviving Element of Harmony wrenched the sword from Kha’zix’s chest, and stabbed once more. This time, in the back of his head.

One quick motion, and the sword was suddenly protruding from Kha’zix’s open mouth, blood trailing down the blade. A horrifying gagging and choking sound emanated from Kha’zix’s throat as the sword stabbed through his mouth.

Fluttershy once again pulled the sword from Kha’zix, the force of it forcing him to roll over onto his back and off of Rengar. She looked over to the figure of Kha'zix. It stared into her with its eyes that carried nothing but death and hatred within them. Blood seeped from Kha'zix's chest and mouth as a sickly gurgling sound was produced from the dying Voidreaver as blood filled its mouth. Those eyes kept their fix on Fluttershy, until the sounds of suffering from the monster finally died away, the eyes petrified in one direction for all eternity.

Fluttershy stood next to Kha’zix, the sword in her mouth.

She could taste the blood of that alien.

Fluttershy had killed a living being.

She dropped the sword out of her mouth and ran over to Rengar.

“Rengar! Rengar! Please tell me you’re okay!”, Fluttershy stood over the lion. At one point, his screams had stopped.

Then, she noticed the long cauterised gash across his head that burned over where his only working eye used to be.

“R-Rengar… please… tell me you’re okay… it’s all over now…”, Fluttershy began to feel tears form into her eyes again.

“Rengar… it’s all over now…”, Fluttershy placed her head onto the lion’s chest, not once whimpering or sobbing over him.

Rengar’s paw moved up and placed itself on Fluttershy’s head. She turned her head to her side to find Rengar, his face completely burned, yet having a soft smile formed onto it at her.

“Thank you… Fluttershy.”

Revive

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Rengar placed a paw over his face. He could feel the soft padded fur close around his eye, yet he still saw only red. The light didn’t change when he lifted the paw off again.

So this was what blindness felt like. Rengar felt a bit sorry for Lee Sin, who had purposely took his own vision for atonement. At least Rengar’s hearing, touch, and smell remained, but losing one of his senses, now completely had dealt a blow to his composure. Something that he now had no problem letting Fluttershy notice.

“The summoners will fix this, Fluttershy. Not even they won’t turn away from a disaster like this.” Rengar huffed as he felt around for his dropped Hunting Knife. Fluttershy nudged the handle towards his paw.

“I’m… sorry about your eye.” Fluttershy was at a loss of words. Beside her lay the carcass of Kha’zix. Green blood drained out of the Voidreaver, pooling into the dirt and mixing into the brown.

Rengar felt his face again, “I’m sorry about your wings.”

“It’s okay. I just hope that everypony who had lost their lives can come back. The summoners can do that, right?” the pony looked towards the lion.

“They can.”

Fluttershy looked back towards the corpse of Kha’zix, the crystalline sword still sticking out from the back of his head. She felt uneasy as the feeling settled within her that she herself was capable of this.

“Fluttershy, you did what you had to. Many more would have died hadn’t you stopped that monster.” Rengar placed a paw on her back, “There was no other way.”

Then, Fluttershy said something that got Rengar to take his paw off of her back in surprise.

“I should have done it sooner. But I was afraid.”

Fluttershy began to walk back towards Ponyville.

“Come on.”

Rengar followed, silently sniffing around to follow directly behind Fluttershy.

Rengar could see nothing of Ponyville, but he felt around the houses. The perfect and smooth wooden surfaces of the homes were splintered, still hot from Kha’zix’s energy blades. Fluttershy looked over the perished citizens that lay left and right.

“Dear Celestia…”

Rengar slammed his fist towards the ground, “Damnit!”

Fluttershy looked over to Rengar.

“This is all my fault! I lived in this world for my own self-interest, and now look what happens!” Rengar thrusted his paw towards the destruction that lay behind him.

“Rengar…”

“I just lived here to hunt to my heart’s extent. All of it for myself, and this is what catches up to me.” the lion shook his head and collapsed to the ground.

“No, no, please don’t-”

Fluttershy galloped over to Rengar, who was now on his knees.

“I deserve to be blind. I deserve to die for my actions. I don’t deserve to represent Equestria for what I have brought on this nation, and possibly the world. Kha’zix came here because of me!” Rengar’s voice suddenly stifled, the first time Fluttershy had heard a pained sob come from Rengar.

Fluttershy took Rengar’s face with her hooves, and looked right into his eye. His eye blinding and his only working eye were both burned beyond recognition, the scorch mark having an ominous tint of purple seeping from it.

“Don’t blame yourself. Please. What happened is over now.” Fluttershy pressed her head into his mane, feeling the warmth, and the shiver come from Rengar.

Deep down, even Fluttershy knew that Rengar had to be responsible for Kha’zix’s appearance, but he tried his hardest to make amends and stop that monster before he spread his destruction too far.

Suddenly, a warm golden glow began to shine behind Fluttershy, getting her to turn her head. She was met with an incredibly bright and glowing anomaly that began to carry the sound of a deep gong, reverberating throughout the town.

“I… I know that sound.” Rengar lifted his face up from Fluttershy and looked towards the portal.

A very round and mystical figure suddenly rolled out from the portal, followed by a squadron of tiny whispering beings.

“Bard!” Rengar stood up, “You came! That means…”

“Oooooommmmmbaaaaa…” Bard chimed as he outstretched his hand towards the portal. Another being came out from within, walking forwards on her two hooved feet and rubbing her horn on her head with her hand.

“Ahhh… it feels good to stretch after that.” Soraka walked away from the portal, “Oh my… this town… what happened here?”

Another figure exited from the portal, this time a human with flowing long hair and blue armor, fit with crystalline pauldrons and a mace at his side.

“I’d say from the looks of it, some voidling had done a number to these poor creatures- Rengar!” Taric outstretched his arms, “Oh, it is good to see another champion in these unfamiliar lands! Tell me, how have you- oh… your eyes, er- eye.”

Rengar nodded, “Kha’zix had managed to escape and tracked me down to this world. Had it not been for Fluttershy here, the Voidreaver would have gone to destroy and ravage this world.”

“Kha’zix. I should have known.”

Another figure exited from the portal. This time, wearing a breathing apparatus and floating above the ground.

“I sensed that the void had sent another one of its bugs to someplace, but I could never guess who and where. Until now.” Kassadin spoke through his long and deep breaths, “The void needs sanctions after we have restored this world and its inhabitants.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

Then, two more figures stepped out from the portal. The long and covering robes etched with runic markings displayed the status of the humans.

“Are those…?” Fluttershy began to ask.

“Yes. They’re summoners.” Rengar nodded, sensing the arcane seeping from them.

Then, the older and higher ranking summoner, evident by the amount of runic marking on his robe began to speak.

“So, this is where you have gone to live, Rengar? I wouldn’t blame you. It certainly is a nice place… well, before all this happened, I assume.” the summoner spoke, “Pardon me, where are my manners? I am Diamond- Rank Summoner Tiberius, and this is my apprentice, Silver- Rank Summoner Allan.”

Allan bowed his head to Rengar, “It is an honor to meet you, former champion. I am a huge fan of your prowess”

“Noted.” Rengar blunty spoke.

“Thank goodness you all came!” the familiar voice of Celestia resounded from the air, the white alicorn touching down and tucking her wings, “I cannot tell you all for how thankful I am that you responded and offered to help us.”

“We cannot turn away from a disaster on this level, no matter who it happened to. Which reminds me. Our last friend should be-”

Tiberius was interrupted as a large living tree-like creature, a trent stumbled out of the portal.

“Oh goodness! I’ve never gone through that before!” the long-legged tree chuckled as he centered himself and brushed off his legs.

“Who is this?” Rengar asked, the unfamiliar scent filling his nose.

“This is one of our newest champions. Rengar, I would like you to meet Ivern. Though… I do believe that you two might be at odds to each other.” Tiberius noted, “Ivern will be gathering the Elements of Harmony who had fallen to Kha’zix, along with Bard and his meeps. Afterwards, he shall restore the forest life that had perished as well.”

Ivern kicked around his long legs, took a look at Rengar, then walked off towards the Everfree, murmuring something about “hunters”.

“Bard, I will also need your meeps to gather enough magic to sustain me and Allan’s mana for the revival process. We will need a lot of it. I’m sure that the forest near here will be more than enough.” Tiberius ordered.

“Vvverrroooommm…” Bard droned as he floated off with Ivern.

“Soraka and Taric, let’s get to work with what mana me and Allan already have.”

“Of course.” Soraka nodded and walked towards the town.

At this, Celestia turned back to Rengar and Fluttershy.

“Luna is waiting in Canterlot. I believe that there is much to discuss.” Celestia spoke.

“Lead the way. I’m going to need to get used to it for a while.” Rengar followed close to the alicorn’s voice.

Tiberius was doing most of the reviving, and had sent off Allan to go converse with the Princesses, Rengar, and Fluttershy. It was apparent that he could handle the situation down in the town alone, and prefered him to discuss the important matters that pertained Equestria’s new involvement in the League of Legends.

“Well, we can’t thank you enough for what you are doing.” Celestia smiled warmly, “If there is anything we could do…”

Allan nodded and smiled, “Actually, we do have another proposal for you.”

He handed them a scroll wrapped in a golden binding. On the binding itself was the League of Legends Crest.

“You see, we have actually been monitoring your world for quite some time. Seeing the kind of individuals that could possibly become summoners or even champions of the League. Rengar here, numerous griffons we have been keeping an eye on, Dragonlord Ember, Queen Chrysalis, so many individuals could become a champion to help their own struggles or grant them what they want in a way that wouldn’t harm another nation.” Allan explained as Celestia and Luna read through the scroll.

“Basically… The League of Legends would like to recognise Equestria as a nation that could participate in our League. Champions, summoners, you could all get a say in the greatest achievement ever made- the extinction of all conflicts are you know it.” the young budding summoner explained enthusiastically.

“Celly… they’re asking us into the League…” Luna gasped.

“As our first Equestria summoners.” Allan nodded and smiled.

“I don’t know what to say… that’s a big honor, isn’t it?” Fluttershy spoke up.

Rengar, on the other hoof, wasn’t onboard one hundred percent, “This disaster was caused by a being under your watch and control, and something that is affiliated with your games. What makes you think that we would join that very same institution?”

“Not to mention, the fact that I came here as well.” Rengar thought to himself.

Before Allan could respond, a massive glow of light began to appear in the room, and Tiberius had teleported inside of the chambers.

“Ah, still underway with the meeting?” the summoner spoke as he cracked his knuckles after teleporting.

“Yes, the meeting is going well, but there are some disagreeances coming from Rengar regarding how we-”

Tiberius interrupted Allan, “Oh, I see. Well… I must tell all of you something, and I wish that this wouldn’t be the only reason for your minds to shift to the other side. You see…”

Tiberius took a breath, “The revival process is proceeding as planned. We can guarantee you that all ponies that had perished from Kha’zix’s rampage will be brought back to full health.”

“That’s good news in a time we most certainly need some.” Celestia nodded.

“What’s the catch?” Rengar grunted. With the League of Legends and their politics, there always was.

“Well, it isn’t a catch. More so of an inability of our powers.” Tiberius began to speak, “The Elements of Harmony… we are unable to recreate the magic that grants the five ponies who had perished their extraordinary powers.”

At once, the room grew silent with disbelief until Fluttershy got up, trying to spread her wings, only to find them still absent from her body,

“W-What? Why can’t you restore the Elements? Am I the only one left?”

“We cannot restore the Elements due to the fact that the magic is too unique, too foreign to us. It’s impossible to recreate, and it may seem that Fluttershy here is to be considered the last Element of Harmony.” Tiberius grimly stated.

“I’m… the only one left? My friends are okay, right?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yes, they will be fine. The other Elements, though: Loyalty, Magic, Generosity, Loyalty, and Laughter cannot be recreated.” Tiberius explained.

“But the Elements of Harmony are this nation’s defence against internal and external threats. They must be in unison, or we are left exposed!” Celestia raised her voice slightly.

“So this is why we have to join the League, then.” Rengar faced towards Tiberius from the sound of his voice.

“Unfortunately, it would seem so. We would provide you with adequate equipment for defense and other necessary supplies. Anything you would need, we can accommodate for, as long as it follow guidelines that would not provoke aggression or-”

“Yeah, I know all of that.” Rengar cut Tiberius off, “So we don’t have a choice in this matter anyways at this point.”

“Oh no, the offer can be declined, and we will still revive those who had died.” Tiberius reassured Rengar.

“But then we’ll be left defenceless. Just think about it. Monsters, other maniacs, we’ll be exposed.” Celestia buried her face in her hooves, “Rengar, we have to join. What’s there to even stop another country from joining the League and gaining large enough of a gain to trample Equestria?”

“All countries within the League are prohibited from waging war.” Tiberius stated.

“So then the country wouldn’t join and just attack us right away since we don’t have the Elements. It’s a lose-lose situation if we don’t join the League.” Luna pointed out.

All the while, Rengar was remaining silent through the whole discussion now. There was something odd, though. He heard that Tiberius’s apprentice, Allan, was letting his master do all the speaking right now. What was the reasoning for that?

“I say we should join. We have to. Besides, I think it would be an honor to be represented by the League of Legends.” Celestia nodded.

“I vote for joining as well. We can wait for Cadence later, as she is now joining to tend to those injured after I had sent the news of what was happening.” Luna vouched.

Then, the group looked to Rengar.

“Are you going to say ‘yes’, Rengar?” Fluttershy asked.

He angled his face down, feeling each gaze wash over him for more than a second, then nodded, still facing down.

“I will vote yes, and rejoin the League of Legends as a champion under the banner for Equestria.” Rengar looked back up.

Tiberius smiled.

“Rengar, I respect you for your prowess, and I can represent the League in saying that we are more than honored to receive you back within the ranks of the League, and being the first champion under the banner of Equestria.”

The Pridestalker nodded to the Princesses and Fluttershy, “It’s the least I could do to living in your land without permit, and wroughting this disaster to your home.”

“Rengar, what matters is that you stood up and stopped what you nearly ended up letting through. Sometimes, heroes cause their own challenges, but the true ones are those who fight them through.” Celestia placed her hoof on Rengar’s shoulder.

Rengar smiled back, “Thank you.”

Fluttershy could feel her heart racing and fluttering back to life as she walked inside the tent that held her friends inside. She saw the familiar and bloated figure of Bard floating out of the tent, humming to her and outstretching a hand towards the tent. She could come inside.

When she pulled the flap and poked her head in, there was another creature inside that resembled the humans, but had a very elegant and curved horn on its head, as well as having hooves for feet, though only two. Her other appendages were hands, since she stood upright.

“E-Excuse me, I’m looking for my friends?” Fluttershy asked the creature.

“Oh, hello Fluttershy. The one named Pinkie Pie kept asking for you. As a matter of fact… they all did.” Soraka smiled.

“Wait, they all…?”

The pegasus looked to her left, and in five beds, the five faces she had grown to love smiled back at her.

“Fluttershy!” they all said in unison.

“Oh my gosh! You’re all okay!” Fluttershy burst into tears of joy, and flew towards each of them.

The Starchild smiled again, “Oh, it always makes my day to see loved ones reconnect…”

“Oh, Fluttershy, that’s Soraka over there. She literally just made me feel like I could take on the entire world again! Check it!” Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and she immediately hovered out of her bed, now posing herself in the air as if she was laying down on her bed.

“Rainbow Dash, I insist you remain resting. You’re not fully ready to be released, yet.” Soraka walked over and helped her back down onto the bed.

“I’m so glad you guys are all okay… I… I wanted to do something, and stop him from hurting you all, but-”

Fluttershy was caught into a hug by Twilight, “It’s okay. What happened, happened. Let’s just be thankful that we are all back together now, okay? And… Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy sniffled, still smiling, “Yeah?”

“What happened to your wings…?” Applejack asked.

Fluttershy shook her head, “That doesn’t matter. What matters is that I’m here with all of you.”

Then, another being entered the tent.

“Oh, was I late for something? Oh, ho, ho, ho!” the very elderly human chuckled at his own joke. Oh his back, was a massive clock-like device that continuously ticked and tocked.

“Fluttershy, that’s Zillian. He actually was the one that… I guess you could say, ‘brought us back’.” Rarity waved at the Chronokeeper.

“Basically, he turned back time on our bodies to revive us, though… Fluttershy, I have to tell you about the Elements and…” Twilight looked up to see Fluttershy already nodding.

“I know, the summoner told me.” she revealed.

However, the old man wiggled a finger, “Oh, getting you ponies back was tricky enough. I saw your deaths, they were painful! But just a little bit of chrono magic, and you were all as good as new! Well, except for the whole ‘Element’ thing. Turns out that magic is so eternal and set, not even time could recreate it and cast it in the molds of the present.”

“Well… thank ya Zillian and Soraka fer’ everything. We really appreciate all of it.” Applejack thanked the two League of Legends champions,

“But… mind if ya’ll could shoot me with another one of them ‘Astral Infusions’, Soraka? My side’s really starting to kill me again.”

Soraka sighed, “You know that every time I do this I have to technically drain my life for you. I’m not drinking any more potions to cure a cramp.”

Rengar was glad to… smell some familiar faces, namely in Bard who had floated past him, waving as he and his meeps went towards the Everfree. Throughout all of this time, he was walking around, and asking directions from the royal guardsponies to where Shining Armor’s tent was.

Feeling around and remembering the scent of everything was tedious enough.

He would have to tell him that the League of Legends is accepting new champions under Equestria, and that he would be the prime candidate. After all, he wanted to join anyways.

“We can’t recreate the Elements? But, the summoners are all incredibly adept in the fields of creating magic from scratch. We’ve been able to reproduce much more potent magic than the Elements of Harmony. We’re even better than Zillian, and dare I say their names, Ryze and Xerath in this field.” Allan spoke to Tiberius, who were walking alone through the now empty hallways of Canterlot.

“Allan, you have much to learn about how nations must rely on us.” Tiberius replied vaguely.

“I still don’t understand. We owe them the Elements. It was us who allowed the Void to begin free realm-warping again.” Allan argued.

Tiberius sighed, “Listen. You’ve seen that magic. You’ve seen how capable it is in terms of weaponization. Look.”

Tiberius then held out his hand, and turned it over so his palm was facing the ceiling. Flicking, a star appeared, floating on his hand, surrounded by a cloud with a lightning bolt, a trio of balloons, a trio of diamonds, and a group of apples.

“Is that…” Allan started.

“You see, they wouldn’t even need the League if they had the Elements. Without it, they will be forced to join, growing the influence of the League of Legends over other nations and cultures. Think about it, it’s a win-win situation. They get out protection and aide, while we gain new summoners and especially, champions.” Tiberius chuckled as the Elements disappeared, “And if we get the Element of Kindness, then we will have access to one of the most powerful magical weapons known to Runeterra.”

Allan couldn’t believe his ears. Tiberius had literally stolen magic from another nation.

“Oh, and why am I telling you this? Because I know that you will not say a thing. I was the one that picked you off the streets of Zaun, and I can very well put you straight back there. Not to mention, you know what the Tribunal is capable of. Don’t worry, you’ll soon see all of this as a necessary step to give a nation what is best for them. Equestria will have no more conflicts once all the other nations join, and that is why the League was founded. Right?” Tiberius looked back.

“Right.” Allan nodded, avoiding Tiberius’s gaze, “And what of Rengar’s blindness? That pony’s wings?”

“That pony is none of our concern. And blindness… I think it builds a lot of character for Rengar. A returning champion who is blind is sure to gain a lot of popularity.” Tiberius chuckled, refitting the top of his cloak, “But first, there is another matter to attend to.”

The older summoner took a group of purple stones, and threw them on the ground. Instantly, a massive purple portal grew on the wall where the rocks lay at the base of.

“I won’t be gone too long. Go see that our newest additions to the League are comfortable.”

Another blast of plasma, and the voidling was nothing more than a pile of ashes.

“Hmmmm… no new results yielded.” Vel’koz looked over the pile with his massive central eye, and flexed another tentacle, drawing on his self-sustained holographic display.

“Kha’zix should have returned by now. The amount of potential data he must be collecting should be-”

Suddenly, a gateway opened up behind him, and the summoner stepped into the continuously reality-shattering abyss that was the Void.

“Summoner Tiberius, what is your purpose for intruding my research?” Vel’koz swiped away his holograph.

“I know what you did, Vel. You were the one that sent Kha’zix to Equestria. Well, I’m here to tell you that he was killed there, and you are now responsible for the new sanctions that will be placed on the Void.” Tiberius explained.

At the mention of Kha’zix being killed, Vel’koz looked Tiberius straight in his eyes with his one large central eye, and the three smaller eyes resting above. All the potential data would be lost when Kha’zix is revived. All the things that he had killed would no longer be [resent in him for Vel to disintegrate and examine.

“But I know that we both don’t want a sanction on the Void. After all, it is one of our most ‘unpredictable’ factions within the League. So maybe we could work something out.” Tiberius slowly let a grin crawled across his face.

“Define that.” Vel’koz echoed.

“So… I thought of a proposition. Equestria will be joining the League of Legends. They don’t have enough champions to fill a full roster of five in a balanced team, so for their administration match, you will fill in their midlaner as a mercenary champion. I promise you, the rewards will be to your liking.” Tiberius started.

“And what will those rewards consist of?” Vel’koz still floated in the space of the Void.

“You will not have your role in sending Kha’zix to Equestria revealed.”

Vel’koz turned back around, “I find no interest in your offer.”

“And… you’ll get Kha’zix’s body. He hasn’t been revived yet.”

Vel’koz immediately stopped and turned back around.

“So…? What will it be, Eye of the Void?”

Vel’koz’s eyes drifted in all different directions, as he was clearly putting a lot of thought into this decision. Having the body of Kha’zix would be invaluable to him and his ever-growing research. However, he had no intentions for representing Equestria, even for one battle.

Then again, he has represented such nations as Bandle City before, degrading as it is, but he would always be affiliated with his home, The Void.

“Your bargain has been accepted.”

Signing Up

View Online

Rengar had a lot to get used to being blind. Thankfully, he wasn’t at too much of a crippled handicap, his nose and whiskers being able to guide him through the twists and turns of the Everfree Forest. Perhaps he could even hunt like this.

Oh what a thrill that would be. But he wasn’t venturing into the wilderness to hunt, he was traveling inside to see to it that a certain someone had been revived. Or more accurately, two.

Rengar heard the scampering of forest life run away from him, meaning that Ivern, that new champion within the League must be doing his job. Apparently, that trent has quite the despising of hunters, being some sort of protector of the woodlands.

Not that Rengar would care too much.

Pushing aside brush he felt in front of him, two familiar scents immediately caught his nose. It was the scents of Zilean and Ivern. However, there was another scent that Rengar was able to discern from amongst them all.

“Rengar!” Zecora called out from besides Ivern.

The lion immediately ran over and knelt down in front of her, “It is good to see you alive, Zecora. I’m sorry that you had to become a victim of that monster.”

“I do not care, and that matters not. What matters is that you have stopped the beast and the destruction it would have wrought.” Zecora shook her head, “By the ancestors… your sight… maybe I can fix it, so you can see more than white.”

Rengar shook his head, “I’m afraid not. It was done by Kha’zix’s energy blades. It may be beyond repair from anything now.”

“Well… I have to hand it to you, Rengar. I may not be too keen on hunters like yourself, but stopping Kha’zix? That must have taken quite the feat of strength and skill.” Ivern patted a prism fox that he had just revived.

“Actually… Fluttershy landed the killing strike. She saved me from his clutches.” Rengar revealed.

“That little pony…? My my, I think she should become a champion instead of you! Oh- hoh hoh hoh!” Zilean laughed as he rewinded the destruction of the forest. Rengar couldn’t help but chuckle under his breath at that too.

Then, the hunter heard more voices come from his left.

“Lamb! Do you smell that?”

“I don’t have a nose like you, Wolf.”

Rengar turned towards the voices that were unmistakingly Lamb and Wolf.

“Little Lamb! It’s the Pridestalker!” Wolf snarled with happiness, a first in a long time.

“So it is…” Lamb coed as she pranced towards the group of champions.

“Oh, Kindred! Woken up from your slumber, have you?” Zilean floated over towards the two spiritkin.

“Yes! And I’m hungry again! When can I eat-” Wolf was silenced by Lamb holding his mouth together, earning muffled growls from the muzzle.

“We’re forever in your debt, League champions. We thank you dearly for reviving us.” Lamb nodded her head, “Even if some of us aren’t showing the proper gratitude.”

Wolf kept silent.

“Rengar, what has happened to Kha’zix? Dead, I must assume if the champions are here.” Lamb asked, to which Rengar nodded his head.

“No fair! I was going to devour that insect!” Wolf snarled and levitated around Lamb’s form.

“Well, we need no thanks for our work. However, I do come bearing a message from Summoner Tiberius. He is asking you two if you are willing to join the League of Legends. We always welcome new champions.” Zilean spoke, but then murmured something under his breath, “A lamb and a wolf… at least it isn’t a stupid armored bear this time…”

“The League of Legends? I think we would be honored to join. Right, Wolf?” Lamb looked up at her companion.

“The League?! So much to chase down! What fun!” Wolf gleefully growled.

The flap of a tent was lifted by a Canterlot guard when Rengar approached.

“Thank you.” he spoke as he headed inside., “Shining Armor? Are you here? I… can’t see too well now.”

Rengar heard the shuffling of bedsheets and the groaning coming from a pained side, “Yeah, I’m right here. What happened to your eyes, Rengar?”

“Thank Kha’zix for that. But forget about it. I came to check on how you were doing.” Rengar knelt down beside the bed.

“My side is killing me. Is Twily okay?” Shining Armor immediately asked.

“Twilight? Yes, Fluttershy had told me that she and her friends have been revived.” Rengar nodded.

“Thank Celestia…” Shining Armor muttered under his breath. After saying that, the flap of the tent opened again.

“Honey, I brought you another-” the pony in front of Rengar dropped a bowl of leafy greens on the ground in shock.

“C-Cadence! It’s okay! He’s Rengar! Remember the lion I was talking to you about?” Shining Armor held out his arms.

“Oh no… please forgive me. I’m not accustomed to seeing such a big lion like yourself around here.” the pony, and on closer inspection from the amount of mana coming off of her, a unicorn spoke up again, “I’m Mi Amore Cadenza, Princess of the Crystal Kingdoms. But you can just call me Cadence.”

“Princess? Ah, you must be an alicorn, then.” Rengar nodded, “I apologise. I’m a bit sight-impaired for now.”

The princess began to fuss around the dropped bowl of lettuce, “Heh… whoops. Shiny, I’m going to get another bowl of lettuce for you.”

When she exited the tent, Shining chuckled, “The longer I don’t have to eat another salad, the better. Tired of eating healthy to recover.”

Rengar gave a slight smile back, “That’s why I’m never getting a mate. But aside from that, the summoners are here, and they are now registering those on Equestria to represent the nation in the League.”

“They’re here now? Damnit! I need to become a champion!” Shining was about to rise up from the bed, but Rengar held out his paw.

“Don’t get up. I can relay the request to the summoners if you still want to join the League of Legends.” Rengar affirmed Shining Armor.

“Do I have to answer that question? I want to represent the entirety of Equestria with all of my heart. Whatever it takes, I want to become a champion.” Shining Armor spoke up.

“Wait, what?”

The flap of the tent had been opened, and Cadence was standing in the entrance.

“The League of Legends…?” Cadence trotted over, judging whatever she had heard was true, “Shiny, absolutely not. I’m not going to watch you get killed over and over again in some battleground.”

Rengar then looked at the two, “I’m… going to leave you two to discuss.”

When he exited the tent, he could feel Shining Armor’s desperation claw at his back, wanting him to back him up.

“Honey, I have to do this. I can finally have a chance to represent my home, and the entire county. I can represent the Crystal Kingdoms against all of these other great nations.” Shining Armor replied back.

“I don’t care about any of that. All I care about is that you’re still at my side for all of these years to come.” Cadence held his chin in her hoof.

“I know, and I can do that. But you have to know that I’m a captain of the Royal Guard. It’s my duty to fight for what’s right. That’s why I fought against Golden Might and his mercenaries, or they would have torn our country apart with their forces.” Shining Armor took her hoof.

“Honey, if I fight, there will be no more wars for Equestria. I won’t die forever in there, and maybe… if I win, maybe the summoners could grant me immortality to be with you forever.” Shining brushed her hoof.

“But at what pain and cost will that come with?” Cadence asked back.

When Rengar had exited out of the tent, he could sense a massive plume of magic before him, familiar magic at that.

“Tiberius, is that you?”

The summoner nodded, “Ah, perhaps your blindness will not inhibit you as greatly as I have thought.”

Rengar chuckled a bit, “It’s still a massive handicap, and I want to talk to you about it.”

Tiberius got to the point, “Rengar, I want you to know that I want you to see again. Who knows how you will perform.”

“Perform? What are you going on about?” Rengar asked.

Tiberius sighed.

“Rengar, I want to restore your blindness, I really do, but when the League of Legends takes in a new champion, in this case, you as you are right now, we cannot make alterations. If that were not the case, Lee Sin would not be blind, and perhaps we could do some alteration to Sion’s state of mind. Perhaps find a cure for Warwick’s condition.” Tiberius started.

“Are you telling me that you’re going to keep me blind as some sort of publicity hook?!” Rengar now roared his words, “I should have known to never trust your accursed institution again!”

“Now, now, calm down. Perhaps we can arrange a deal. We’ve never done this before, but how about… if you win Equestria’s administration match, then I can restore your sight. Maybe even give you your other eye back as well.” Tiberius spoke, “Best if you do not mention this to the other summoners. Altering our champions is prohibited.”

“And why are you helping me? Why not just give me my sight back now? And why should I put any ounce of trust into you?” Rengar asked.

“Because the League will think that your blindness will build character. But maybe, I can fix you up. I’m your only hope for your sight, Rengar.” Tiberius answered back.

Rengar held his stance firmly and looked over Tiberius with his senses. His body looked up towards him, and he smelt no sign of distress.

“I want you to fix Fluttershy’s wings as well. That’s a priority over my sight.” Rengar demanded.

“The pony? Well… do you want your eyesight, or your friend’s wings restored?” Tiberius gave a smile, knowing that Rengar couldn’t sense that finely to detect it.

“You’re blackmailing me for wins, now.” Rengar growled.

“If you choose to believe that, then who am I to judge you? This is just how the League does its business.” Tiberius spoke back.

“Odd. Not even the League of Legends has stooped as low as you.”

At this, Rengar had turned his back and started to walk off. When he had gotten a fair distance away from the summoner, he could hear a voice call back to him:

“Remember, Pridestalker! I am your only hope to becoming whole again!”

Rengar felt the Hunting Knife on his side.

“I’ll show you how it feels to not be ‘whole’, summoner.”

Rengar wasn’t serious, but he wish he could have been about that statement. This was one of the reasons he hated the summoners. Always argumentative, uncooperative, and selfish.

At least that Allan fellow seemed to defy that a bit.

“Are you sure…?” Cadence held her hooves onto Shining Armor’s shoulders, to which he nodded and replied.

“Yes. I am. And I’ll fight through everything just to see all of Equestria safe.” Shining Armor kissed his wife as he took the scroll from Allan.

“I know it must be a difficult decision for you, but I can assure you, becoming a League of Legends Champion will be the highest honor and grandest duty you will ever receive. I’ll root for you in every single match I can see you in.” Allan smiled and shook his hoof.

As he exited the tent to leave Shining and Cadence to still speak, he looked around the town of Ponyville. The summoners’ and Zilean's efforts to restore the village had been a large success, as some of the former citizens were even walking around the town and helping rebuild what Kha’zix had wrought.

Allan could feel a warm, and cold presence approach him from behind. A few of the ponies looked passed his shoulder, and began to head away from the summoner.

Turning around, he was met by a glowing white lamb and a hazy as night entity of a wolf, both wearing opposing colored masks.

“You must be a summoner. It is a pleasure to meet one of the beings who can bring back those whose times are yet to be up for the reaping.” Lamb coed with her soft voice.

“Maybe you could have gotten here a bit sooner!” Wolf licked his lips.

“Don’t be rude to this mage, Wolf.” Lamb hushed him softly, “Rengar has told us a lot about you.”

“And that balloon, Bard!” Wolf pointed out as well.

Allan nodded and smiled, “Hopefully good things, I can imagine. I am now tasked to start recruitment for those champions wishing to represent Equestria.”

Lamb then looked over to Wolf.

“Well, this is our chance, dear Wolf.” Lamb then turned to Allan, “Zilean had informed us already about your duty to seek out champions. We would be greatful to become a part of the League.”

Allan’s eyes suddenly brightened up. He had recruited two… not, three entire champions, even getting Rengar back on board in only one day. If this wouldn’t please his master, then he wouldn’t know what would. To think that he was a former orphan in Zaun. Allan wondered what his old friend Ekko would be thinking of him now.

“Well, I shall be making preparations for the transition to Runeterra, and including our new champions. As such, I shall deliver the invitation for Summoner status to the princesses.”

Right as Allan had finished speaking, another pony came up to him, as well as being dragged back by another one.

“Wait! Wait!” Rainbow Dash flailed a hoof towards Allan, “Stop! I want to-”

“No, you don’t!” Twilight struggled to hold back Rainbow Dash’s immense athletic might from reaching the group.

Around this time, Rengar had returned to where Allan and Shining Armor were discussing the inclusion of new champions, only to hear the raspy voice of that pegasus start to fill his ears.

“What is going on?” Rengar turned his head towards the voices.

“I wanna join! I want to join the League of-”

“No! Stop it, Rainbow! You don’t know anything about this “League”, nor have you actually seen what kind of fighting goes on in there!” Twilight argued back.

“Oh please, like you’ve seen anything.” Rainbow Dash pulled herself free of Twilight.

“Actually, yes. I have, and that’s precisely the reason why-”

“But even your brother is joining!” Rainbow Dash threw her arms towards Shining Armor, who slunk further down onto his bed.

“He’s a soldier, Rainbow! And… it’s painful for me too, but he’s qualified for this!” Twilight pointed out.

Then, Rengar spoke up, “Trust me, as much as I would never want to be on the same side as Rainbow Dash, she has potential that I have seen.”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed at Rengar, “You can’t be serious! Can’t you see that Rainbow Dash is… you know.” She kept circling her hoof, earning a displeased look from Rainbow Dash.

“Undisciplined?” Rengar asked, chuckling a bit.

“Yeah, undisciplined. And this isn’t a laughing matter!” Twilight fumed.

“Listen to me, I am a veteran of the League, holding many years under my belt, as well as the experience that comes with it. But right now, this isn’t about just the League, this is about Equestria getting the support from the League that it needs and deserves. Look around you, land is being left uncontrolled and contested, your military strength is at an all time low, and now that the Elements are gone, we all need this support.” Rengar started.

“We need all the champions we can get to carry your nation’s banner. Shining Armor, Kindred, me, and now Rainbow Dash. That can be enough to participate in an administration match for the League, but we also need Summoners as well.” Rengar then looked to Twilight, “I know that you’ve seen a League match. Celestia had told me so, and thus you have seen the violence that occurs. But please note that no champion will ever die in the League’s care outside of a match. But with us becoming champions, we need summoners.”

Allan then bit his lip, then walked towards Twilight nervously, “We want you to become one of Equestria’s summoners.”

Then, Twilight looked around everyone, and everypony.

“Me? But… no. I can’t.” Twilight shook her head, “I… a summoner leads the champions into fighting, right?”

“And is also responsible for keeping them safe. Twilight, you have quite the strong mind, and you would be perfect to lead us.” Rengar spoke, “We need all of the help we can get in this time of crisis.”

Twilight looked around, her mind leaping back and forth towards her own defenses, and back to the betterment for her friends and nation.

“Twilight, even if an egghead like you were in charge of me, I trust that you would be an awesome… what were they again?”

“Summoners.” Allan rolled his eyes under his cloak.

A raven flew through the corridors of the massive sprawling castle that rested atop the mountain that overlooked the mighty nation of Noxus, unparalleled in military might. As the guards and personnel went their own ways, they made sure not to get in the way of the bird, knowing the punishment that would happen to them if they did so much as startle it.

Cawing once, it flew into a specially built tunnel carved into the walls, straight into the heart of the stronghold. Exiting out of the passageway, its six glowing eyes rested on a man looking over a table, floating various plans of attack and military strategy around him.

The raven squawked, then landed on his shoulder, preening itself.

Swain looked at his shoulder, and gently stroked the bird’s head. He then pointed to a guard, “You, my bird is hungry. Get it some food, now.”

The guard complied, and rushed off without delaying a second.

Looking over the plans, Swain rested down on his chair.

“The rest of you, get out.”

The guards left without a word, and through the door that had been opened, came an armored man, carrying a gigantic battleaxe.

“General Swain, I am here to report that the latest battle on Summoner’s Rift has been a victory. We now have control of the blackrock mines south of Demacia.” Darius reported to the general.

“Good work, captain. Those hidden ores deeper within those tunnels will serve the greatest purpose of all: to fuel Noxus’s might.” Swain turned towards Darius, “However, there is something else that has just been brought to my attention. Something quite new.”

Darius placed his axe on a rack located in a side of the room, “What would that be?”

Swain then took a scroll from his robe, “There is another nation joining the League.”

Darius chuckled, “Another nation? What kind of insignificant place is there left on Runeterra? All of the major nations are within the League already.”

“Oh no, this nation isn’t from Runeterra. It’s from another world. A nation called ‘Equestria’.” Swain read the name on the scroll.

“Equestria? What kind of a name is that?” Darius scoffed, “What kind of champions are they bringing?” Darius was now feeling the edge of his axe with two pinched fingers.

Swain then looked over the new champion roster, “Spiritkin, and… ponies.”

“Ponies? Hah! This has to be a joke!” Darius mounted his axe over his shoulder.

“We have yet to see these champions in action. The reason that I am telling you this is because we are the first nation that they are going to battle against, coming from Summoner Tiberius.” Swain looked over the scroll again, “Darius, you are not to underestimate them. Do you remember your first match against Teemo from Bandle City?”

Darius’s cocky expression immediately died, “Yordles are one thing. But these ‘ponies’? They probably won’t even come close to what those Yordles are capable of. Especially Kled himself.”

A guard returned with food for Swain’s raven, and then was shooed away, “That reminds me. I’ve already filled out Noxus’s roster for this upcoming match.”

Swain handed Darius the scroll.

TOP LANE: DARIUS

MID LANE: LEBLANC

JUNGLE: WARWICK

MARKSMAN: DRAVEN

SUPPORT: MORGANA

“Hmph. Guess I have to fight with my low-life brother, again.” Darius read over the name, “Draven”

“You two are always at odds, aren’t you.” Swain commented as he fed his bird again, “Should any of these champions be banned, I can always fill in some mercenary champions, but due to this being an administration match, I doubt there will be many restrictions.”

“You chose LeBlanc?” Darius looked from the scroll.

“That will be the last time that you will question my orders today, captain. Now get Warwick out of his lab, and find your brother. I’ll contact LeBlanc and Morgana.” Swain then turned back around in his chair, and got back to analysing the various blueprints and papers.

“Yes, general.” Darius left the chambers. The amount of hate he had for this old man was unrivaled by anything else.

“One day, I will be general, Swain. And that bird’s going to be cooked and become my first meal in your position.” Darius walked through the chambers of the Noxian Stronghold.

Champion Reveal

View Online

One week later-

The revival process of Ponyville and the inhabitants of the Everfree Forest had been finalised a few days ago, but the summoners now stressed the importance to ready up for the journey to the League of Legends, something that the princesses and Shining Armor had taken every second of their day to prepare for.

Rengar felt around his den. The various trophies of slain beasts and monsters adorned the walls. Even one of the heads of the hydra that he and the elements took down was fixed on his wall. He ran his paw along the wall, then came to a spot where there was nothing.

The spot he had reserved for Kha’zix’s head was still empty after all of this time. Rengar grunted to himself, “One day.”

Thankfully, he had grown accustomed to his home in the Everfree, so he knew where everything was around the den. He fixated his armor that was locked away in a chest with a lock specially designed so only his claw could fit in to open it. His shoulder pauldrons were mounted on his sides, and he took his Hunting Knife into his grip, placing it around his waist. He wrist blades flicked out, then retracted.

Rengar was ready to enter back into the League. Though he came to Equestria in the first place to get away from the Institute of War, he couldn’t help but remember and miss some of the thrills that the League brought him. New champions meant new challenges for him, and champions were far greater adversaries than many of the beasts he has fought in his lifetime.

He had been gone from the League for quite some time. The thought of all of the new champions he would encounter filled himself with eagerness and anticipation.

“Hey! Rengo!”

The sound of Rainbow Dash’s raspy voice sent a painful shiver down Rengar’s spine. Coming out of his den, he walked straight up to the pegasus.

“Do not ever call me that again. Understand?” Rengar pointed a claw at Rainbow Dash.

“Sheesh. Sorry. Just here to check on if you’re ready and all to go to the League.” Rainbow Dash flicked her wing.

“I’ve gotten ready. The summoners have asked for us to head to Canterlot, right?” Rengar asked.

“Yep, they got a carriage here, actually.”

Rengar nodded and began to walk forward.

“Lead the way.” he spoke.

“Why do I have to- oh. Right.” Rainbow Dash shut her mouth as she made sure that Rengar was near her at all times.

The castle had a lot of increased security from the last time that Rainbow Dash had been here. Guards stood at every entrance way to every room within the palace, including the bathrooms.

“Weird…” Rainbow Dash spoke quietly to herself, still allowing Rengar’s sensitive ears to catch on her comment.

“What is it?” the lion asked.

“There’s a ton of guards here. I mean, seriously. Like… a ton.” Rainbow Dash and Rengar turned a corner, still finding more guards.

“I wouldn’t find that odd. Considering that the summoners are here and that this country had been flipped upside down in a matter of weeks, then it’s not too much of a far stretch.” Rengar followed Dash through the massive castle.

Then, a familiar voice called out.

“Over here!”

Rainbow Dash smiled and galloped towards Twilight’s voice, and Rengar followed suitly.

“Wow! What on Equestria are you wearing, Twilight? It’s really cool!” Rainbow Dash tugged at the robe and cloak that Twilight was wearing.

“Oh, well… it’s my summoner’s robe! I decided that I’m going to be participating as a summoner.” Twilight nodded, “After all, someone’s gotta keep an eye out for you and my brother on the battlefield.”

“You’re still a bit uneasy. I know that fighting isn’t really the way of your species.” Rengar spoke.

“Heh, you should have seen how she and Tirek exchanged blows.” Celestia patted Twilight’s head.

Suddenly, Rengar turned towards Celestia, “She fought Tirek, as in the immortal demon locked away in Tartarus?”

“Yes, actually.” Luna giggled.

“Come on… I don’t really want to talk about that.” Twilight took a step back.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’ll keep my mouth shut now.” Celestia nodded.

“You know, the League of Legends can also be served as a punishment for unstable prisoners.” Tiberius said as he approached the group, “The final preparations have been made, and your appointments have been scheduled.”

“Tiberius, I just have to say, thank you so much for everything that you and the League have done for us. Without you, we might as well been left as a shatter country. And Rengar… once again, thank you for everything.” Celestia spoke up.

“It is the League’s pleasure. I apologise for cutting everything short, but is there anything else you need to do before we depart?” Tiberius asked.

“Actually, where is Kindred and Shining Armor?” Rengar sniffed the air.

“They have already took their journey with Bard. All that is left, are you five to depart.” the summoner explained.

“Well, then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Rainbow Dash stamped her hoof.

The Institute of War was a massive pantheon holding floating crystalline spires all around the building. The sheer size of the structure dwarfed Canterlot by miles, and all sorts of beings of different species were moving to and fro.

“By the gods… I have never seen such a wonderous place.” Celestia gasped in awe as she tugged on her own summoner’s robe.

“Truly an accomplishment to all who it beholds…” TIberius smiled as he returned to his home.

As they walked up the many flights of steps, with Rainbow Dash hovering above them all and earning dirty looks from Twilight, a small furry creature brandishing an axe and military headgear suddenly ran out of the institute.

“You! Yeah, you! Have y’all seen my damn lizard?!” the tiny creature shouted in a high-pitched hillbilly voice.

“He went that way, Kled.” Tiberius pointed behind him in a random direction, who which immediately, “Kled” swung his axe over himself and scampered off.

“Skarll?! Where the heck are ya?! Stupid cowardly good-fer’ nothin’ varmin!” Kled flailed off towards the direction that Tiberius pointed to.

“Ignore him. Just one of our more ‘interesting’ champions that you shall be encountering.” Tiberius sighed.

“He seemed to be quite the fascinating fellow.” Luna chuckled as the group continued on inside the institute.

Walking along, a human with blonde hair and a wand emanating contained light stopped and bowed.

“Oh! Welcome to the Institute of War! You must all be envoys of Equestria. As a proud Demacian, I welcome you all to Runeterra, and the League of Legends.” the young woman curtsied to the ponies and lion.

“Thank you dearly, Lux.” Tiberius bowed back to her, to which Lux then caught her eye on Rengar.

“Rengar? What are you doing back here? Have you rejoined?” Lux asked.

“Yes, actually.” Rengar cut his conversation short with her.

“Well… welcome back!” Lux smiled and nodded.

Then, another being made its way towards the group. The red-haired woman approached the ponies and lion, as well as Lux, and crossed her arms.

“So, this is the ‘Equestria’ that everyone’s been going on about. No offense, summoner, but is this really what the League of Legends is coming to? Unicorns and pegasi? And getting old champions back?” the woman blew a strand of her hair out of her face, “I remember when the League was interesting. All sorts of people to stick a blade into. But this? What chance do these creatures have against the might of Noxus?”

Before anyone could reply, Lux spoke first.

“Don’t listen to Katarina. She’s just some Noxian that thinks that they own and are greater than everything else here.” Lux rolled her eyes, earning Katarina to chuckle.

“Really now. I don’t think that’s an opinion, but a fact. Oh, and by the way, tell your brother that I’m not interested in him anymore.” Katarina laughed and suddenly disappeared in a red flash.

“What the- you take that back! My brother would never associate himself with the likes of you!” the flustered light mage stormed off.

“Wow. Talk about drama.” Twilight rubbed her forehead.

Then, three familiar faces- rather, one face and two masks approached the group.

“Shiny!” Twilight galloped towards her brother, and caught him in an embrace.

“Twily! Look at you! You’re a real summoner now!” her brother laughed and ruffled her mane, “Man, a princess, and now a summoner? I don’t think I could be any more proud of my sister than how much I am right now.”

“Rengar, you’ve come.” Lamb coed towards the lion.

“But he’s still blind!” Wolf snarled to Lamb.

“Don’t be rude. He can still see all of us as clearly as before.” Lamb spoke.

“Sort of.” Rengar chuckled.

Tiberius smiled, “Glad that everyone is all here, but Rainbow Dash, Shining Armor, and Rengar, it is time for your appointments in the Trial Grounds. You all await your evaluations.”

Twilight hugged her brother again, “Be careful, alright?”

“Of course, Twily.” Shining smiled.

“I’ll see you all later, guys!” Rainbow Dash waved back at Twilight, Celestia, Luna, and Kindred.

When the lion, pegasus, and unicorn had left, Tiberius turned back towards the princesses.

“While they are gone, I shall be helping you to get accustomed to being a summoner in matches.” Tiberius instructed.

“Well, we’ve watched plenty of matches within the League. Perhaps it will be a learning experience for all of us.” Luna smiled.

“Is that so?” Tiberius stroked his beard.

“Ugh, horsefeathers… I forgot my notes.” Twilight fumed.

Walking outside of the massive halls of the institute, the two new champions and the returning one each took in the scenery around them. Various beings were all at work or practice on these holographed dummies in a gigantic field.

“Dear Celestia, look at all of them.” Shining Armor gawked as a huge yellow robot fired out his hand, grabbed a dummy, then punched it hundreds of feet into the air all within a second.

“Yeah. Too bad none of them are gonna be as awesome as me.” Rainbow Dash tried to make herself believe that as a woman having half the body of a snake screeched at multiple dummies, turning them to stone. Afterwards, she sprayed out a venomous mist that dissolved the now petrified statues into a sickly puddle.

“With practice and knowledge of what you’ll be up against, you’ll be able to overcome anyone.” Rengar spoke as he inspected his Hunting Knife, “Speaking of adversaries…”

As Rengar finished his last sentence, three more of the same kind of small creatures that the “Kled” fellow was walked up to the group. One was hefting a massive cannot under her, with long and pointy ears at the side of her head. Another was blue and covered in fur, holding a wrench in his hand and talking non-stop to the female that was with them, much to her disinterest. The last one had some sort of safari or scout hat on, with a bamboo blow-dart as his side and foraging supplies in a satchel.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t ol’ Rengar. Never thought I’d see you back around the League.” the blue-furred Yordle spoke up as scratched his back with his wrench.

“Rengar? It’s nice to see you back after all of this time. Hey, remember when I shot Victor right into the bush you were hiding in? Oh man, I wish his faceplate was off so I could have seen the look on his face!” the light purple-skinned female Yordle chuckled as she slung her massive cannon over her shoulder.

“Well, welcome back, Pridestaker.” the mild-furred Yordle nodded with his squinted eyes.

Rengar then turned back to the ponies, “Shining Armor, Rainbow Dash, this is Rumble, Tristana, and Teemo, if I heard these voices correctly. Yordles, meet the ponies of Equestria.”

“So, you are the new nation joining the League. If it means anything, welcome to the League of Legends. I hope that we’ll be fighting alongside each other one day.” Teemo, the Yordle with the blow-dart nodded.

“Wow! Look at all of you! You guys are adorable!” Tristana giggled.

“Ah, come on. Not as adorable as you babe-” Rumble started.

Tristana suddenly swung her cannon around and shoved the barrel right against Rumble’s face.

“The next time you spill that out of your mouth, it’s gonna be another one of those ‘Looks like Rumble’s blasting off again’. Got it?” Tristana unlocked the safety from her cannon.

Rumble kept his mouth shut.

“Good.” Tristana put her cannon down.

Shining Armor decided to break the ice, “I’d hate to be on the other side of that gun.”

“Trust me. No one does.” Tristana smiled, “Half the time, I don’t even know how I’m able to withstand the recoil of this thing.”

Rainbow Dash chuckled, “Woah! When can I get one of those?!”

“Hopefully, never.” Rengar stated broke a grin, much to Dash’s irritation.

“Rengar? If you don’t mind me asking, what happened to your eyes?” Teemo asked, and heard Rumble make a snide comment about his own.

“Thank Kha’zix for that.” Rengar grunted.

“Awh geez, I heard about what happened to you ponies. Hope everything’s all right.” Tristana asked.

“Thanks to the summoners and some champions, yeah. Everything is back to the way it was. Except that we don’t have the Elements of Harmony anymore. That’s why we’re here in the League.” Shining Armor sighed.

“Yeah, it blows. But I mean, this place is pretty neat.” Rainbow Dash laid down in mid air as if she was on a bed.

“Those void guys are nasty monsters.” Rumble crossed his arms, “Hey, Tristana, mind if I share with you a story of when I torched down that voidling Kog’maw with my flamethrower?”

“Heard it a million times, Rumble. Then Kog’maw’s Icathian Surprise still managed to blow you to pieces.” Tristana rolled her eyes.

“That never happened!” Rumble denied.

“Well, it was a pleasure meeting you Equestrians. I’m looking forward to being allies on the Rift. And remember, never underestimate the power of the Scout’s Code!” Teemo saluted and trudged away, along with Tristana and Rumble.

“Nice guys and girl.” Shining Armor smiled as he stretched.

“Yeah, but they’re so tiny. How do they really fight? I mean, Tristana, I can understand.” Rainbow Dash landed beside the two.

“Rumble fights in a mechsuit named unironically, ‘Tristy’. It’s armed to the teeth despite being made entirely from scrap yard junk. And don’t get me started on what Teemo can do.” Rengar explained, “Now let’s go. We need to get to your evaluations.”

Before the group was a massive stadium. Gigantic doors parted for them slowly, rumbling the entire area around them as the massive doors slid to the side.

“Champions, enter.”

The three walked in, Shining Armor standing rigidly steady, Rainbow Dash trotting in casually and looking around, and Rengar remembering everything and its familiarity as he walked into the arena.

When they arrive in, there was a platform high above them, containing six individuals standing above them. All were robed in various colors, with one being black and orange, pure red, and black and blue.

Suddenly, Rengar bowed before them, and Shining Armor caught on, doing the same.

“What’s going on? Who are they?” Rainbow Dash pointed to the six individuals.

“Those are six of the most powerful, skillful, and respected summoners in the League of Legends! Bow!” Rengar whispered harshly.

“What? I thought you were blind.” Rainbow Dash bowed anyways.

“Their magic can be felt anywhere around here. It’s that strong.”

Then, one summoner spoke up.

“Dude, Rengar. It’s cool. You all don’t have to bow to us.” the summoner having long black hair, and an unmaintained beard and mustache sat casually on his chair.

“Hey, welcome back, Rengar. The League’s missed your one-shots for quite a while.” another summoner sporting black hair and a slight beard spoke.

“I didn’t.” one summoner with blonde hair and glasses sat back.

“Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor, welcome to the League of Legends. These are Grand Challenger Summoners xPeke, Imaqtpie, Bjergson, Doublelift, and he himself before all of us, Faker. They are the most experienced of all the summoners in the League and will be evaluating all of what you show to them today.” one of the robed figures stated, “For me, I am the founder of the League of Legends, Phreak. We have awaited your country’s addition into our battles, and are eager of what you can show us.”

Then, Rainbow Dash suppressed a laugh, “Imaqtpie? Seriously? ‘I’m a cutie pie’? What kind of a stupid name is- oh, what the-?!”

Rainbow Dash was stopped in her sentence from her tail instantly catching fire from a snap of Imaqtpie’s fingers.

“Ignite?” Doublelift chuckled towards Imaqtpie.

“Fuck yeah.” the bearded summoner chuckled as the fire extinguished after a few seconds. Rainbow Dash preened her tail vigorously, making sure not to talk down upon those summoners.

Rengar then nodded to Shining Armor, who stepped forward.

“My name is Shining Armor Amour of the Crystal Kingdoms, Equestria.” Shining glanced back towards Rengar, then continued, “The former champion Rengar has instructed me after seeing what I can do myself to say that my favored role is Support.” Shining Armor planted his sword in the ground.

“Nice. God knows how tired I am of seeing Janna in every game. Please, show us what you can do.” xPeke pressed a control on his console, and three dummies came up, as well as another by Shining Armor’s side to imitate a friendly marksman.

At once, Shining Armor drew his crossbow from his back with his magic, loaded in a solid crystal bolt, and fired. The bolt struck into one of the dummies, and Shining Armor pointed to the target.

“Marksman! Fire at the marked target!” Shining pointed, to which the fake ally fired a practice round at the dummy, and at once, the bolt stuck inside exploded and found that a shield had conjured from the magic released around the marksman, and also damaged the enemy dummy as well.

“Hey, that was neat. Maybe needs a bit more power, though.” Bjergsen nodded to the other summoners, “Give us another.”

Shining Armor then levitated his sword in front of him, and slashed towards the dummies. The crystal sword cleaved through all of them, then came back around a second time. When it struck again, every single dummy suddenly showed a status above them, indicating that if they were real champions, they would have been knocked out of their senses.

“Huh. I can see a lot of immobile marksmen hating you already.” Imaqtpie, the summoner with the unkempt beard and hair chuckled, “Let’s see the damn ult already.”

Rengar nodded to Shining Armor, and the pony turned back towards the summoners.

“By the Crystal Heart, follow me!” Shining Armor’s shield drew out, causing magic to blast into Rengar and Rainbow Dash behind him, a blue forcefield activating as they stood behind him.

“Huh. Spellshields for champions that stand behind you. Definitely wanna play Jayce or Kennen with that comp.” Doublelift nodded towards xPeke, “But other than that, it’s a bit anti-climactic.”

“Uh… anti-climactic?” Shining Armor turned back to his friends.

“Oh, don’t worry. Even if your ult doesn’t deal tons of damage, it’s still gonna be a valuable asset to whatever team you’ll be on. I mean, spellshields for potentially your entire team? That’s a pretty easy teamfight right there.” Phreak nodded to the other summoners, “High Summoner Faker, you’ve been quiet this whole time. Got any input?”

Faker adjusted his glasses and spoke, “Jang-geoli doen keompojisyeon geuleul wihae gajang joh-eun geos-ibnida. Naneun geuleona, geuga LCSe sayongdoeneun pyosidoeji anhseubnida. Geuneun jogeum neomu dansunhabnida.”

“Woah, what’s he saying?” Rainbow Dash put a hoof to her ear.

“He’s saying that Shining Armor has a lot of potential, but perhaps with what he has to offer, he might not be played in the LCS as much. Still, he’s a very solid addition to the League of Legends.” Rengar’s ears picked up every word that the fabled legendary summoner was speaking, “Trust me. If Faker himself says that you are solid, then he means it.”

Shining Armor exhaled a bit as the robed humans discussed amongst themselves, “Phew…”

Then, the summoners turned back towards the group.

“We will be making a recommended gear build for you soon, Shining Armor. Thank you very much for your time.” Phreak rubbed the top of his receding hairline, “As for you, pegasus. Please introduce yourself.”

Rainbow Dash trotted a few steps forward, “Name’s Rainbow Dash! Fastest flier in all of Equestria, and certified Wonderbolt… in training.” she hung a bit on the last part.

“Oh boy. Another mobile champion.” Imaqtpie rolled his eyes, “God knows how many more of those we need. Alright, show us what you can do, pony.”

At once, Rainbow Dash braced herself on the ground, and a group of dummies rose from platforms in the arena. She rocketed into the air, leaving behind a massive cloud of dust. She sailed straight up into the sky, hovered in place for a bit, then shot back down. A multicolored jet-stream began to appear behind her as a sonic cone started to form. Gaining more and more speed, she thrusted her hooves in front of her.

Then, a bright flash came over the entire institute of war, and a ring of every color in the visible light spectrum expanded rapidly, Rainbow Dash instantly doubling her speed towards the ground.

Colliding, the entire arena found itself in the center of a mushroom cloud of rainbow colors, rising up like a fist in the air. Rengar and Shining Armor hid in a shield conjured by the unicorn, and the summoners were shielded themselves by Faker’s Barrier spell.

Every summoner, except for Faker had their eyes wide at the display. Every dummy had been vaporised into a pile of ashes.

“Well, on a scale of a hundred to a thousand, how awesome was that?” Rainbow Dash grew a cocky grin on her face.

“Dude, that’s busted as fuck.” Imaqtpie spoke.

“Nerf incoming.” xPeke nodded in agreement.

“Oh my god. Rip squishies everywhere.” Bjergson huffed.

“No way can that be allowed.” Doublelift shook his head.

“I know I’m all about tons of damage, but that’s way too far.” Phreak’s eyes were still wide.

“아니” Faker gave his statement: “No”.

“Wait, what? What do you mean that it can’t be allowed? That had to be the coolest thing all of you have seen!” Rainbow Dash fumed.

The summoner suddenly started discussing with each other in hushed voices. Nods and head shaking came from each of them.

“Yeah… your abilities may be a bit too strong for organised tournaments within the League. They’re gonna be looking to nerf you.” Rengar placed his paws on his hips.

“Nerf?” Rainbow Dash looked up, puzzled.

“It means to have a reduction in power in one way or another. Talk to Irelia. She knows a lot about that.” Rengar chuckled.

“What?! Oh come on! I don’t want to have my awesomeness stripped from me like a badge!” Rainbow Dash protested.

“Don’t worry. It’ll be much more of a challenge that way. And trust me, you’ll probably find that flying so high on summoner’s rift is a terrible idea.” Rengar nodded.

“And why’s that?” Rainbow Dash asked, but was interrupted when the summoners came back to facing them.

“Thank you for everything, Rainbow Dash. Might I say that your demonstration was probably one of the most exciting we have seen in quite some time. Truly the epitome of tons of damage.” Phreak smiled.

“Are you going to nerf me?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“No shit.” Doublelift chuckled.

“Stupid summoners… I’ll show them a nerf if I ever get my hooves on them!” Rainbow Dash threw down her satchel that she picked up from a delivery to the League in her room. The room was incredibly nice and had a lot of amenities, including a crystal orb that allowed for long-range communication, but she ignored all of that and flopped down on the bed given to her.

“Ugh…” Rainbow Dash groaned.

Meanwhile, Rengar walked back into his old quarters within the League. It was a cave located in the nearby arcane forestlands. His trophies of the various monsters in the jungle located in Summoner’s Rift were still there, collecting dust. He felt over each bone, each claw, and each tooth that hung on his walls.

“Hmmm… I’ve missed this place more than I thought.”

Rengar felt a skull, the head of a Murkwolf that he had slain on the Rift, and blew the dust off of it. The dust filled his nose, and he sneezed once, wiping it.

“Bless you.”

Rengar’s ears perked up, and turned around at the familiar voice. A voice he wasn’t looking forward to hearing again.

The cougar purred as she walked into the den.

“Wow. For a hunter, your trophies are so dirty.” the cougar suddenly swiped her paw over a row of teeth standing on a table, scattering them to the floor. Rengar growled and pulled out his Hunting Knife, but the cougar suddenly ducked in between his legs, and transformed on the other side.

A woman in loincloths and fur garments emerged from behind, and a javelin was pointed to the back of Rengar’s head.

“So, you came back, Rengar.” Nidalee smiled as she pressed the tip against the back of his head.

“You’re a sight for very sore eyes.” Rengar grunted and turned around, the point of Nidalee’s weapon still at his neck level.

“Likewise.” NIdalee lowered her spear, “Still the same as always. Hunter slaying mercilessly anything that comes in front of him.”

Rengar was about to say that he had changed a bit just to spite her, but his pride kept his mouth shut.

“I’ll be sure to kill you every chance I get in Summoner’s Rift.” Rengar spoke, his face towards the Bestial Huntress.

“Might be a bit hard with your eye, no?” Nidalee chuckled as she transformed back into a cougar, and leaped out of the cave, sprinting back into the forest lands. Rengar shook his head and went back to familiarising himself with his old home.

He had to prepare himself for the upcoming match. It has been quite a while since he had fought within the League, and the Institute was always changing. A scroll had been left on a table as he felt over it, knowing that it didn’t carry and dust.

Rengar growled. He couldn’t read anymore.

“Damnit…” Rengar fumed as he threw the scroll away and went back to finding his valuables around his den.

Little did he know, the title of the scroll contained quite a bit of importance to Rengar.

It read: “ASSASSIN UPDATE”.

“Darius, he cannot be disturbed at this hour. I urge you to reconsider this intrusion during our work.” the bald man dressed in armor and carrying a massive vial of chemicals on his back spoke through the bandages over his mouth.

“I don’t care. There is an administration match within the League that the new nation ‘Equestria’ is going to be included in. He’s selected for jungler, and that order is coming from General Swain.” Darius pushed his way past Singed and walked into the massive alchemy lab where all sorts of concoctions of chemicals smoked and bubbled.

Darius looked over the various potions and poisons before pounding on a door.

“Open up, Warwick! You’re the jungler for the match against Equestria!” Darius pounded the door again, but only got a throaty and deep voice to growl at him from the other side.

“I’m busy! This potion can’t wait any longer!” Warwick growled from inside.

Then, Darius looked towards a shelf of poisons, then ran his arm across the entire shelf, knocking every single bottle the floor. The noise of shattering and the hissing of chemicals cause the door to swing wide open, revealing the red-eyed werewolf that had locked himself inside, snarling furiously.

“No! That line of chemicals had years of work in them! I’ll have your head, Captain!” Warwick snarled as he trudged over towards Darius.

“That was a mistake.” Singed narrowed his eyes, approaching from behind.

“Please. Both of you can’t possibly do anything to me. You make one more move, and you’ll see how many shelves I can topple with one axe swing.” Darius threatened, getting Singed and Warwick to stop advancing, “Good.”

Warwick picked the bits of glass off of the floor, “So, I’m needed in the League?”

Darius nodded, “Yes, and we’re going to be fighting those ponies from Equestria.”

At this, Warwick’s ear perked up.

“Ponies, you say?” a devious canine smile traced itself on his face.

“Yes. Little tiny ponies. If you think killing Yordles is a blast, I have a feeling that those Equestrians will make for quite the entertaining endeavor.” Darius chuckled.

“Mmmmm… At least my prey will be entertaining to offset this… intrusion into my lab.” Warwick nodded, “Singed, tend the lab while I’m gone.”

“Yes, master.” Singed nodded and got back to work.

At this Darius, nodded to Warwick.

“I’ll be waiting to see what you can do to those ponies.” Darius smiled maliciously.

“Well, it’s like I always say.” Warwick scratched his claws against a wooden table, leaving four long lines of grooved canals in the wood.

“It’s only fun, if they run.”

Darius shoved aside the massive crowd as they cheered and roared the name of his younger brother, a name that Darius had grown to hate and resent every time someone has spoken it to him.

However, the name wasn’t shouted or boasted the most by his followers.

It was shouted by the same man who held that name.

“Who wants some Draven?!” the man on top of the stage shouted as the prisoners behind him stared at him with wide eyes in their tight rope bindings.

Darius stopped pushing through the crowd, and stood there, arms crossed.

“Draven! Draven! Draven!” the crowd cheered incessantly, the man soaking up all of the glory like a sponge.

“Not Draven. It’s more like… Draaaaaaaaaaven…” Draven felt the sound exit his mouth, and smacked his mouth, “Damn, I love the sound of that name.”

Darius grunted.

Then, with one swift move, Draven swung two axes off of his back, and with a quick twist, flung another blade down to the opposite side, creating a double-sided axe in each hand. The crowd went wild again. Then, Draven flicked his wrist, and both of the axes began to spin on their circular mechanism. The spun and spun faster and faster, until they were mere blurs of the overly shiny weapons they were before.

The prisoners struggled against their bindings, their muffled screams being suppressed by the cloth tied around their mouths.

“These Noxians are convicted of associating with our lowly enemies, the Demacians! Heh, excuse me. Some Noxians to begin with.” Draven gave his signature shit-eating grin towards the audience, and posed.

“Who wants to see Draven where he shines?!” The Glorious Executioner cackled, the crowd roaring in unison, shouting everything they wanted to be done to the prisoners.

Then, with one swift flick, a spinning axe was sent for the prisoners. It curved in mid air, leveling its whirling devastation to the angle of their necks. A glimmer in the prisoners’ eyes came from the axe, and it was the last thing they saw.

The gore that spewed from their necks poured down the prisoners’ clothes as the axe cleaved through all three of them perfectly and without losing any speed. Draven held out his hand, and caught the axe perfectly, stopping the spinning, placing the axes on his back, and held out his hands above his head, his fingers making the “V” shape.

The crowd went wild at the gorey display, to which Draven chuckled, “Yeah, I love me too.”

Darius at this point had enough. He bulldozed through the crowd, and came to the front of the stage and pointed his armored hand at Draven.

“Show’s over! You’re needed in the League!” Darius commanded.

Draven knelt down on the stage, still having his head above his brother from the elevation of the wooden platform.

“Ah, so if it isn’t my dear brother. Uh… what was your name again?” Draven laughed, “Sorry, I really only remember names if they start with a sound like ‘Dray’ and end with ‘vehn.”

At this, Darius grit his teeth, “I’d have enough for your crap. Get off the stage. Apparently Swain thinks that you’re worth having in the League.”

“Wouldn’t blame the General. I’m pretty freakin’ sweet.” Draven flexed his muscles, kissing one.

Then, Darius thrusted his axe forward, grabbing the back of Draven with the axe’s specially designed hook, and him right off of the stage and into Darius’s armored chest, causing the younger brother to bounce off of him and topple to the ground. At this, Draven looked up at Darius. The height difference between the two was now clear and staggering. The younger Draven was far shorter than Darius, his outrageous hairdo bringing it level with Darius’s head.

“We’re fighting Equestria. You want to put on a show for your little ‘fans’ here, then get your ass Bot Lane on Summoner’s Rift. The match will begin soon.” Darius turned around, and walked back through the now silent crowd.

Draven quickly got back to his feet, thought of something to save his ego, then shouted, “Did you hear that? Equestria! Some ponies are gonna step into the League of Draven?! Hah! Watch the next game where I’ll show you a real bloodbath!”

The crowd at this instantly went wild, and Draven smiled once again, crossing his arms.

“Heh. Smooth.”

Practice Mode

View Online

“Again, one more time.” the figure bearing a mask with multiple eyeholes that glowed blue instructed.

“Argh! I know what’s gonna happen! You’ll just block my attack!” Rainbow Dash fumed, stamping the ground with her hoof.

Amidst Summoner’s Rift, were two practicing champions. One was Rainbow Dash herself, and the other mysterious figure was none other than Jax, The Grandmaster at Arms, and a champion that had quite possibly the highest winning record from the earlier seasons in the past.

“Again, come at me.” Jax angled his ever-so trust weapon, a street lamp down towards the ground. Rainbow Dash exhaled again, unfurled her wings, and charged straight towards Jax.

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash threw out her hoof, and a tiny cloud appeared right above Jax’s head. As Jax began to move backwards, the cloud still followed him above his head. The pegasus tackled into the champion, bringing him to the ground.

Dash suddenly got up on her hind hooves, using her wings to suspend herself momentarily and gave a double round-house kick to Jax, knocking him to the side. As she did so, the cloud started to turn more grey, condensation accelerating inside.

Then, Rainbow Dash took herself on her forward legs, and bucked out with both of her hinds.

However, Jax suddenly brought up his lamp post, and effortlessly deflected the attack, then switched his stance. He suddenly spun in the air, and the lamp post emitted an odd energy that suddenly disoriented Rainbow Dash.

The lamp’s fire suddenly grey enormous inside, and with a single smash, sent Rainbow Dash to the floor.

“Come on, you’re too predictable!” Jax planted the lamppost on the ground.

“Grahh! This is stupid!” Rainbow Dash suddenly turned away, walking off towards her side of the base on Summoner’s Rift.

“And where do you think you’re going?” Jax tilted his masked head.

“Anywhere but here.” the pegasus growled.

Suddenly, Jax leaped down straight in front of Rainbow Dash, “Not until you strike me down.”

“Get out of my way!” Rainbow Dash pushed Jax backwards with her hooves, stumbling the Grandmaster. At this, Jax simply smacked her with the lamp again, sending her backwards and onto her back, pain throbbing on her head.

“Not a chance.” Jax leaped towards Dash again, spinning his lamppost over his head. At this, the pony rolled to the side as the lighting ornament impacted, sending up chunks of dirt and rock from a crater.

Rainbow Dash had already had enough of this champion, and she made it clear. She started to gallop after him, then extended her wings, barreling straight towards him.

Another cloud appeared above Jax’s head, and the Grandmaster then brought up his lamppost defensively.

“Is that all you got?!” Jax waited for Rainbow Dash to make the first attack, and she did.

The pony gave another kick to Jax, knocking him back from the force a bit and causing the cloud to become darker. Then, the second attack came, and Jax was ready to deflect it.

This time, Rainbow Dash feigned the attack, and brought herself around Jax.

“What?!” Jax parried thin air, and Rainbow Dash delivered a powerful kick from Jax’s side. The cloud suddenly blasted down a bolt of lightning, blinding Jax and paralyzing him completely.

Rainbow Dash unfurled her wings again, and took to the skies, and immediately barreled straight down. Jax recovered too late to see what would happen next.

A massive ring of the visible light spectrum crackled in the air, expanding throughout the sky of Summoner’s Rift. A blur of rainbows smashed down onto Jax, expanding into a mushroom cloud of Rainbow Dash’s mane colors. Getting thrown into the air and experiencing massive burns from the explosion, Jax hit the ground and rolled, barely getting enough strength to bring himself back up.

Jax used his own weapon as support as he watched Rainbow Dash as the dust settled, panting deeply.

“You… still forget one thing, Dash.” Jax breathed painfully.

Rainbow Dash grit her teeth and started to approach the Grandmaster, “Yeah, and I don’t care. You’re outta options, ‘lampy’.”

“You always watch out for ganks.” Jax watched as Rengar bursted out of a bush and tackled down Rainbow Dash, pinning her to the ground. The pony opened her eyes again to find herself staring down the blades of Rengar’s wrist weapons at her throat.

Rengar retracted the blades, and helped Rainbow Dash back up.

“Good work, Rainbow Dash.” Rengar nodded.

“For the love of Celestia, you just jumped me when I wasn’t looking! I would have had him!” Rainbow Dash outraged in protest.

“Yes, I did. But managing to hold your own against Jax of all champions is a remarkable feat. You have to look at how your enemy is acting. Beware when they suddenly go in when they appear to be at a disadvantage. Someone else might be waiting to join in the fight.” Rengar instructed.

“Whatever. I would have had Jax had it not been for you.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, but couldn’t help but give a tiny smile.

“Nah. I was holding back a thousand times what I’m capable of.” Jax laughed.

Then, three other familiar faces started to walk up towards Top Lane where Dash and Jax had been practicing. Shining Armor, all dressed in his battle gear and brandishing his weapons smiled and greeted the three other champions. Kindred, composed of Lamb and Wolf also joined the party.

“Hey everypony, uh, champions. How’s training going?” Shining Armor asked.

“Dash is still having to learn a bit more of the ropes, but she’ll be a force that even Noxus will have to reckon.” Jax nodded back to the pony.

“We and Shining Armor have been practicing down in Bottom Lane as the team’s marksman and support duo. The pony is certainly getting the hang of things, as are we.” Lamb cooed in her signature soft voice.

“Just think of all of the things I can chase here!” Wolf snarled happily as he flew around Lamb’s body.

Then, Jax looked back towards the base.

“Well, looks like the last member of your team will be arriving. I’ll be punching out for now.” Jax bowed to each of the Equestrian champions, “Good luck.”

Jax suddenly disappeared from the Rift.

A summoner has disconnected.

Then, the four champions already at top lane were notified of the remaining champion’s connection to Summoner’s Rift, their Midlaner.

“Alright, let’s get back to base.” Rengar started to walk down Top Lane, passing the gigantic towers that sat guarding the lanes.

“I wonder who our Midlaner is.” Shining Armor wondered out loud, “Hopefully someone like that Lux woman we met before. She seemed pretty nice.”

Rengar chuckled, “A preferable choice.”

When the champions arrived back at the fountain of the base, their Midlaner turned out to be far from human.

A gigantic purple eye stared down at them all, three smaller eyes resting in a crest on the champion’s form, with three tentacles crackling in plasma energy waving about in a snake-like fashion.

The eye narrowed itself.

“The light here is harsh. I do miss the Void.” Vel’koz shielded his eyes with a tentacle.

At once, Rengar growled at the champion, “Vel’koz?! I don’t know what the Summoners were thinking, but I can tell you one thing: you are far from welcome among the Equestrians.”

Vel’koz chuckled in a deep and resonating voice, “I find incredibly high levels of stress building up within you, Lion. I have yet to experience such a phenomenon of biology.”

“You’re a voidling! Why are you on our team?!” Shining Armor took his sword out.

“I am on your team because the Summoners have instructed me to become a mercenary champion for your match against Noxus. Though I do not agree with the percentages I have calculated of this team functioning as a… cohesive unit, I am one of your best bets to fill your roster. Momentarily.” Vel’koz flicked through a few holographs, ignoring the champions staring back at him.

“Yeah? And what’s gonna stop me from doing to you what I should have done to that bug Kha’zix?” Rainbow Dash took a step forward.

“I was not involved with whatever Kha’zix was doing on your world. If I was, I would have gone there myself. It’s simple critical thinking, something that I do hope your species doesn’t lack.” Vel stared back at Rainbow Dash, “But for now, if you want to win against Noxus, then you, along with everyone else here must function as a team.”

Wolf snarled, “I hope I see you on the opposite team one game. I’ll enjoy running you down…”

Vel’koz turned his eyes, “I’m very sure you would. Barbarism has no cure.”

Ready Up

View Online

Rengar couldn't see the drums, but he could sure hear and feel their beating, rumbling louder and louder as Summoner's Rift was preparing for its next match. His heart raced as the drumming got louder and gave way into a massive flair of trumpets and wind instruments, followed by a booming voice coming from overhead.

"Champions of Equestria! This shall be a momentous day for you!" Rengar could recognize the voice of Summoner Tiberius, the voice coming higher above him as he must be in some sort of platform above, "The preparations for your match are almost complete! Soon, you shall embark to battle and fight against the mighty and nigh-unstoppable Noxus might!"

Rengar felt his Bonetooth Necklace, each claw and tooth on it reminding him of the beasts he has conquered and slain. His time in Equestria had been profitable, to say the least. But not from hunting.

Rengar had made great allies with those he used to distance himself from at all times. Now, he was to return the favor for his hunt and help Equestria claim their rightful power in Equestria, and all of Equus. The only other champion next to him was Kindred. Lamb and Wolf were right next to the Pridestalker.

"So, this is it, then! We'll join the lion on his hunt!" Wolf growled in excitement.

"Keep a level head, dear Wolf. We not know of those who were are to hunt." Lamb cooed to her friend, then turned back to Rengar, "Your eyesight shall not be a problem, I assume?"

"I'll be fine. I know what's around me just fine." Rengar replied, despite wanting his eye back at any chance he got. Rengar felt Lamb shift a bit on her hooves, and he turned towards her, "Believe me, I am as nervous as both of you combined. It has been a long time since I have set foot on the Rift."

"I hear that it is always changing in one way or another." Lamb affirmed to Rengar.

Then, another champion suddenly teleported down to the hallway.

"I can't believe this! They won't even let me fly until I get my 'ultimate'? What does that even mean?!" Rainbow Dash sat down and fumed, blowing her mane out of her face.

"Heh. Take it as a complement. You're just too strong for all of us." Rengar chuckled. Rainbow Dash found it a bit flattering, so she went with it and stood back up, "So, who am I going up against?"

"You'll see, pony." Wolf's reply had the tiniest hint of laughter in it.

Then, the next champion, Shining Armor joined in the party with a bright flash of light, "I'm here!"

The guards-captain was fully decked out in golden armor, his crystalline sword at his side, and a very large shield made of solid diamond on his back.

"Wow. Someone's prepared." Rainbow Dash chuckled and walked past Shining Armor.

"I don't see you taking any protection." Shining pointed out.

"Who needs protection when you got speed?" Rainbow Dash unfurled her wings and tried to fly, but couldn't lift off the ground, "Oh, right."

The group laughed to Rainbow Dash's annoyance.

"Yeah, well, at least I'm not gonna-"

Then, the last champion teleported in. The hair on everyone's backs stood on their end as static electricity and void energy seeped into the hall as a tear opened up from the void, to which Vel'koz hovered out from.

"Glad to see you made it." Shining Armor let his formalities overcome him, despite his new uneasiness at seeing anything from the void.

"Your discomfort with me is noted. As a suggestion for the highest probability of success, I recommend that you get over it." the Eye of the Void slashed away a hologram that he had been working on as his central eye looked over the team, "I have analyzed each prowess and debilitation that each of you subjects possess. My conclusion is: 'I've seen worse'."

Rainbow Dash growled at Vel'koz, "Yeah? What about you? Seems that the only thing that you're good for is a staring contest."

Vel'koz gave a distorted laugh that came in waves, "And yet, your greatest strength has been taken away from you, Rainbow Dash. This is a handicap that could spell your, or even this entire team's downfall."

At this, Vel placed his tentacles behind him, "I recommend that our course of action is to survive the early phases of the match and press an advantage if we see one. Our true power shall come later on where each and every one of you shall protect me so that I may conduct my research."

"Protect you?! Research?!" Rainbow Dash threw her hooves up at the floating mass of eyes and tentacles, "Can you believe this guy?!"

Rengar shook his head, "Vel'koz's research is about disintegrating his opponents. He is a very powerful ally, I must say, and he along with Kindred must be protected. Vel'koz is very vulnerable should the enemy close the gap."

"The lion has a point, pony." Vel'koz's eye focused back to Rainbow Dash, "Keep them at bay. That is your job."

Rainbow Dash huffed and turned away from Vel'koz, "We'll see what those Summoners will say for us."

"Ugh, today's been such a shit day." an eighteen year-old boy flopped down into his computer chair and booted up his PC, and took a gander at his selection of games, "Hmmm... Rainbow Six? Nah. Civ? Not today..."

Then, he rested his mouse curse on an icon that was a blue square containing a golden "L" in the middle of it.

"Eh, I guess I am feeling a bit masochistic today."

Summoner: WTFULOOKINAT

Password: **********************************

Authenticating...

Logging in...

At once, LOOKIN was taken to the client of the League of Legends, looking around the client. Immediately, a pop-up came up on the screen.

"Greetings WTFULOOKINAT! You have been chosen to participate in a special match with the champion of your choice! IP rewards will be 4x the normal amount! We hope to see your there!"

-Phreak

At this, LOOKIN rose his eyebrow.

"Probably some sort of scam..." he looked closer at the message, and found that it was client generated, "Huh. Wait. This might be legit. Well... screw it."

He clicked on the accept button, and was instantly taken into a lobby.

"Okay, what is this? Blind Pick?" LOOKIN exhaled and then cycled through his champion pool, then rested his mouse on the one champion that he played to such a ridiculous amount: Vel'koz.

"Alright, guess I'll just pick something safe." he had a habit of talking to himself, and did just that as he heard Vel's quote play as he selected the champion portrait.

Then, he started to see the other champions start to come in. Rengar was the first one.

"Hey, wasn't that guy disabled for such a long time?" LOOKIN said to himself, then saw the other champion pick: Kindred.

"Kindred? They're a jungler, not an adc- oh my god..." he put his palm on his face as already, the team started to look very unbalanced.

Then, two champions that he had never seen before were picked. One's portrait had a white face, clad with armor and increadibly prestine weapons made of gem or crystal, while the other seemed to be zoomed out a bit more as a horse-like face was made clear. A rainbow mane flowed down the champion's face.

"What champions are these...?"

At this, WTFLOOKINAT started to type in the lobby chat, hoping to decipher what in the name of hell was going on.

"Don't worry Rainbow Dash! I'll be guiding you today!" Allan rested his hand on an orb with Dash's figure in it, "You'll be fighting, and I'll feed you the information and work Summoner Spells, alright?"

"Got it!" Rainbow Dash replied and awaited to be taken to Summoner's Rift.

"Well, I never thought that I would be a Summoner controlling a champion... especially one such as you, Rengar." Celestia enveloped the orb in magic, "Your blindness will not be a concern. I will warn you of everything around you. Alright?"

"Thank you, Princess." Rengar nodded.

"Lamb, Wolf, you'll be with me. Let's show these Noxians that Equestria is not to be messed with!" Luna smiled and enveloped her orb in magic.

Then, Twilight stepped up to her orb and saw Shining Armor through it.

"Shinny, I'll keep you safe, okay?"

Shining Armor looked up, as if Twilight was there looking down at him.

"Don't do that, Twily. I need to get in there and protect everypony else. You need to help me with that." Shining spoke, "Sis, that's an order."

Twilight couldn't help but smile at her brother's voice, but then words started to appear in the lobby.

WTFULOOKINAT: wtf is going on, what are those champs

Then, at this oppurtinity, Luna replied.

Luna: GREETINGS OTHER SUMMONER. DO NOT BE OF ANY CONCERN. TOGETHER, WE SHALL ACHIEVE VICTORY OVER NOXUS

WTFULOOKINAT: caps is on lol

Luna: Oh, my apologies.

Allan: lol

WTFULOOKINAT: hopefully reng will carry, not feeling too well about this

Twilight: Hey! I figured out how to communicate with you! I give my greetings to you, Summoner "LOOKIN".

At this, WTFULOOKINAT put his hand on his face again, "Oh my god..."

Warwick was sitting down, sniffing his claws and watching Darius carefully as he stood rigidly, waiting for the other champions to arrive. Draven was going to be late, no doubt about that.

He looked over his axe, saw his reflection, and flicked the blade to self-satisfy himself over the sharpness.

Then, a flash of blue light, and another Noxian champion appeared.

"Here I am, boys." LeBlanc, The Deceiver stepped gracefully down the steps to join up with the other two waiting for her, "So, ponies, huh?"

Darius chuckled, "It's a joke. Ready for a seal-clubbing, Warwick?"

The werewolf gave a throaty chuckle, "Oh, this shall be so much fun... and have you heard that Rengar has finally returned to fight under that pathetic nation's banner?"

LeBlanc suddenly gave a gigantic laugh, putting her palm to her mouth, "Oh, now that is just priceless! The Pridestalker fighting with these little horses?"

Then, the next champion came down onto the stair. Dressed in a purplish-black gown and sporting two blackened wings, Morgana, The Fallen Angel walked down the steps, leaving behind a trail of dark and unholy energy in her wake. She fell silent as she gathered with the others, her glowing eyes making it impossible to tell who or what she was actually looking at.

"Well, that just leaves-" Darius suddenly cringed as someone interupted his sentence.

"Ladies and gentlemen, feast your eyes up here! Your star of the show, Draven has arrived!" Draven walked down the steps, waving and pointing in random directions as if a crowd was cheering him. The other Noxians groaned, including Morgana.

"Of course I have to support you. Don't get yourself killed, or I'm not going to bail you out." Morgana pointed her finger at Draven's chest, to which he replied with a gigantic grin.

"Hah! Draven doesn't even need a support! But, it's still got to be five versus five, so I guess I'll take the extra dead-weight botlane- OW! Hot! Hot! Hot!", Draven suddenly started dancing around wildly as the ground underneath him suddenly start to seep out unholy magic, tainting the solid marble floor and sizzling his feet. Morgana chuckled and turned back around.

"Our Summoners from Noxus are ready. Soon, the match shall begin, and we will claim another victory for the glory of Noxus!" Morgana's voice started to echo more and more as she rose her fist in the air.

"Summoners and champions are ready! Confirm now!" the announcer shouted.

Ten boxes appeared, and one by one, each of them filled in respect to the Summoner and champion signalling that they were ready for the match.

Nine boxes filled, save for one that remained blank.

Darius smacked Draven with his palm, "Jeez, alright! Can't a good lookin' guy admire himself?" Draven was currently admiring his reflection in the marble walls.

The ready count started again, and all ten squares filled.

On Equestria's side, Rengar nodded to the other champions, "This is it. Summoner's Rift. Are you all ready?"

"Ready." Lamb and Wolf both cooed and growled.

"Oh yeah." Rainbow Dash flapped her wings once.

"Ready." Shining Armor brandished his sword and shield.

"Confirmed." Vel'koz had responded to Rengar, surprisingly.

Rengar could feel the energy surround him, as with the rest of the Equestrian champions. His mane started to flow, as well as Rainbow Dash's and Shining's. Lamb started to float above the ground, Wolf circling around her. Vel tore a hole into the void, and disappeared inside.

"Equestria-" Rengar said as each champion disappeared.

"Welcome to Summoner's Rift.

Welcome to Summoner's Rift

View Online

They arrived.

The landscape, entirely constructed of the arcane and magic of the Summoners was presented to the five champions as they found themselves standing on the runic stone platform with a fountain flowing pure, crystal clear water behind them. A jungle of trees separated three long passageways down into the rift, each of them overwatched by similar statues that the water flowed from behind the heroes of Equestria, a massive crystal affixed to a stone-carved weapon attached to the monuments.

Birds chirped within the jungle, and thick and heavy brush surrounded the top of the mountain. Rengar stretched himself, and took in each sound that traveled to his ears.

"Ahhh... it's good to be back." the lion cracked his knuckles and walked over to the shopkeeper, and dropped a gold pouch down to take a familiar looking machete from the table.

"Thank you for your patronage." the yordle patted her massive pack animal, who shook irritably as he was awoken from his sleep.

Lamb and Wolf dropped their gold to purchase a small shortsword, and that very weapon suddenly diappeared, and essence being shot directly into Lamb. She felt just the slightest bit stronger.

"Let us wait for Shining Armor, dear Wolf."

"Yeah, sorry. Just... there's so much stuff here I can't afford. Anyone here know what I need to get?" the captain then found Rengar's ear turning towards him.

"Get a relic shield and some potions. You need to keep Kindred alive at all costs." Rengar then headed towards the jungle, "I'm going to need assistance from bot lane for the first jungle monster."

"Bot lane? Monster?" Shining Armor questioned as he walked with Kindred and Rengar towards the jungle, to which Rengar explained to not worry about a thing.

Rainbow Dash found herself taking the "Long Sword" and several potions from the shop, and looked back at the last champion on their platform, Vel'koz. Before she could say anything or at least be a good sport and wish him luck, he purchased a peculiar ring from the yordle, and levitated towards his respective arena, Mid lane. "Whatever, then." Rainbow Dash shrugged and galloped towards Top lane.

Within the jungle, Rengar sat within a bush, scanning everything that surrounded him. His ears switched back and forth, left to right.

"What are we doing here?" Shining Armor sat in the same bush with Rengar, watching for any sort of danger.

"We must be on guard for an invade of the enemy. They could try and catch us while we least expect it. Even this early into the match." Rengar's whiskers twitched.

Minions have spawned.

"What was that?" Shining Armor angled his head towards the sky, the only place where that loud and echoing voice could have been made.

"That's the announcer. You'll get used to it." Rengar then turned back towards the nest of the beast they were supposed to slay. It was empty for the time being, but not for long.

"The lion's blind. Why don't we just march over and put him down?" Draven swung a spinning axe onto his back, pinching his mustache.

"His team will expect it. Every one of them will be trying to guard him as he slays the first monster. We'll get caught out and die to their team, and that isn't something we can afford." Morgana trudged towards Warwick and Draven, the ground underneath her feet becoming soiled and corrupted from her unholy presence.

"The time will come, and when it does, that poor feline will wish he had never crawled back into the League." Warwick ran his claws into a tree, leaving a three-pronged engraving inside of it. We sat within brush as well, sniffling the air for any potential hostiles. He wasn't expecting an invade with Rengar's state, but no option to victory would be out of the question with these pathetic ponies.

"Here comes the Brambleback!" Rengar backed up a bit as the massive creature composed of leaves, bark, and fiery energy roared to life as it dug its way out of the ground before them, "Now! Attack it and leave the kill for me!"

Kindred and Shining Armor complied, with Lamb firing bolt and bolt from her mystical bow, and Shining Armor carving thick gashes into the bark skin of the creature with his crystalline blade. The creature roared once again and swiped its claws at Rengar, drawing blood as they struck him on his chest. Despite this, Rengar turned towards Kindred and Shining Armor, "Go to your lane! I'll be fine now!"

"Are you sure-"

Shining Armor's protest was interrupted when a massive bolt of pure energy smashed down onto the Brambleback from the sky, Rengar's paw glowing white with true magic, and the fiery energy of the Brambleback being transferred to Rengar.

"Trust me." Rengar rushed deeper into the jungle, leaving Shining Armor and Kindred by themselves.

"Let's go, partner." Lamb pranced through the woods as Wolf and Shining Armor followed closely behind.

Arriving into their battleground, they could see the minions of their respective teams already beating each other with their crude weapons and spells. At once, Lamb drew her bow and fired a shot into one of the mana-made creatures, killing it and earning a small bounty of gold. Shining Armor got the idea now. He was to keep Kindred safe as she collected gold from killing the minions. But where were the other champions they were supposed to fight? Arrow after arrow came from Lamb, and her gold supply increased.

The enemies of bot lane approached. Morgana, the Fallen Angel sported a deathly purple hair and a torn and tattered gown, wings stripped of feathers attached to her sides. Her eyes were blank and white with a lightning-bolt shaped scar over one. One other one, Draven, held a devious smile on his face, pinching his mustache and swinging a massive weapon above his outlandish hairdoo.

"Here comes the prey!" Wolf snarled at the two approaching adversaries.

"This'll be fun." Draven chuckled as he also got to work killing minions, his axes bouncing off them and flying into the air for him to catch.

Shining Armor and Morgana eyed each other as they stuck close to their respective marksmen, waiting for a mistake or an opening.

Rengar had slain the Brambleback, gaining a hefty chuck of gold in his reserve, and moved towards the upper half of the jungle in between Mid and Top lane where Vel'koz and Rainbow Dash would be inhabiting.

The Eye of the Void was already duking it out with LeBlanc, the Deciever. Vel's enemy was an incredibly mobile and swift champion that relied on deception and sudden bursts of attack, something that a rather vulnerable and long-ranged champion like Vel'koz would have a poor matchup against.

However, Vel'koz was attacking and moving about the lane very passively, creating space between LeBlanc and himself as he would throw bolts of plasma at her once in a while to keep her at bay.

Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, wasn't doing anything of the sort. As soon as she saw Darius, she started to gallop straight towards the hulking armor-cladded figure.

"Hrah!" she shouted as two swift kicks were delivered into Darius, staggering him backwards. Instead of retaliating, he brushed off the attack and went right back to chopping minions down with his colossal battleaxe.

"Want some more? Got plenty where that came from!" Rainbow Dash upon gaining a level from beating down a minion with her hoof suddenly spread her wings and barreled towards Darius once again, a faint streak of Rainbows behind her.

"How annoying." Darius grunted as he kicked Rainbow Dash down to the ground mid flight, and smashed the axe into her side. She toppled over towards her left, a massive gash in her side pouring blood onto the soil, "Pathetic!"

Darius dragged the axe on the ground and used the other hooked end to bring Rainbow Dash back to him by her neck. Smacking into his armored chest, the pony fell to the ground once more as Darius raised the axe above his head.

"Groar! Rengar snarled as he leaped from a bush, slinging a bola at Rainbow Dash's soon-to-be executioner. The wire ensnared around Darius's legs, stiffing his movement enough to allow Rainbow Dash the opportunity to roll away.

"Come on, let's fight!" Rengar lunged for Darius, shoving his blades into his side armor and then thrusting forwards with his wrist blades, earning blood from the Hand of Noxus. Darius caught Rengar's blades with the handle of his axe and guided them away.

Seeing he was outnumbered, Darius then started to retreat towards his turret where he could recall back to base safely, the massive stone structure holding up its huge amplifying crystal above.

Rengar shook his head, "Head back and recall, Rainbow Dash. He's safe under there."

Rainbow Dash had other ideas.

Without word, she grit her teeth, spread her wings, and flew up into the air.

"Rainbow Dash, don't!" Rengar shouted forwards, hearing her leave the ground.

Rainbow Dash looked down from the sky, her target still having the blue aura of the recall spell. If she didn't strike soon, Darius would teleport back to his base and heal up.

"Here's a Rainboom for you!" she immediately barreled towards the tower just as Darius looked up towards the sky in a confused and startled expression. The massive crackle was heard around the rift. Vel'koz's eye drifted towards the sight for just a split second. Bottom lane with Kindred and Shining Armor couldn't help but steal a glance either as the rings of rainbow crawled across the shy.

Ten times the speed of sound, she smashed straight into Darius, a massive mushroom cloud of colors raising from the tower.

First Blood!

Rainbow Dash then shook her head after the impact, Darius only existing as a charred shell of his armor. It was a hefty amount of gold that Rainbow Dash had earned from that play, but her troubles were far from over.

A targeting laser shone over Rainbow Dash from the enemy turret, and a massive pulse of volatile magic blasted from the crystal. The first impact sent her sprawling to her hooves, the force coming from the blast was unparalleled to any pain she had experienced before, smoke rising from her back. Just as the next bolt was about to be fired, a yellow flash, and she suddenly appeared out of the turret's range.

"Woah, what the-how did I get out?" Rainbow Dash was limping now back to Rengar.

"Thank your summoner for that." Rengar stood guard near her.

WTFULOOKINAT (Vel'koz): nice flash

Allan (Rainbow Dash): Hey, thank you! ;)

Luna (Kindred): (All) lol easy game

Noxus 2 (Darius): (All) fucking overpowered new champions

Allan (Rainbow Dash): Luna, please don't aggravate them.

Luna (Kindred): What? They had it coming.

Celestia (Rengar): Heading bot now

Allan (Rainbow Dash): kk

"Now!" Morgana outstretched her arms and hurled and orb of unholy magic straight towards Lamb and Wolf, who turned just in time to see the incoming projectile. With a quick hop, Lamb pranced out of the way, only to be met with a double toss of Draven's axes, knocking her straight back into the Dark Binding. Morgana's attack connected, a cage forming around Kindred and stopping them from moving a muscle. With a curse on the ground, the area Lamb was standing on started to decay and retch, burning her hooves.

Rengar was already on his way, and Shining Armor leaped to Kindred's side.

"Alright, let's show these Noxians what Equestria is made of!" Shining Armor readied his sword, and with a mighty slash, cut the binding around Kindred.

"No! You will not escape!" Morgana instantly flashed forward with aide from her summoner. She screamed as black tendrils of magic clawed into Shining and Kindred, grasping at them and pulling them towards Morgana. Kindred looked back to Shining Armor, then to Morgana, arms outstretched.

"Wolf, slow her down!" Lamb pointed at Morgana.

"I will run you down!" Wolf's maw opened, and clamped down on Morgana, driving her backwards. With a final leap, Lamb snapped the tendril that was connecting her to the fallen angel. Shining Armor wasn't as lucky. The League of Legends called for no teleportation via unicorn magic, and for the first time in his life, he felt sorry for the earth ponies. The tendril detonated on Shining Armor, stunning the royal guardspony and blacking out his vision.

"All yours." Morgana bowed, and Draven let loose a single axe. Blood sprayed from Shining Armor's back, and a spotlight came over Draven, showering him with gold.

"Feels good." Draven chuckled as he caught the axe, "Ponies? What a joke. Can't handle one bit of Dra-"

"GRAWH!" Rengar uncloaked out of a bush and pounced on top of the vulnerable marksman, pinning him to the ground and snarling in his face.

"Miss me?" Rengar chuckled as he rose up, still on top of his prey, and unsheathed his wrist blades. Bringing them down and across Draven over and over, blood and gore sprayed everywhere as Rengar carved Draven like a block of wood.

With her marksman slain, Morgana grit her teeth and hurled another Dark Binding at Rengar, who simply sidestepped and now pounced straight for Morgana. Realizing her mistake, she set the ground beneath her alight with blight, and started to head back her turret as Rengar navigated around the infected ground.

"Not so fast!" Rengar shouted as he could pinpoint the shape and smell of the unholy angel, and slung a bola around her. Snared, she could only watch as Kindred lined up a killshot. An arrow through her black heart sent her waiting to respawn again.

"We have claimed our prey." Lamb cooed as she panted, and waited to be recalled back to base. Rengar did the same as the blue aura circled down on him. As he was just about to return back to base with the finished channeling of the teleport, he could swear that he sensed a familiar presence lurking in a bush nearby.

She kept staring at the lifeless corpse of Shining Armor as it slowly faded into nothingness, the mess of blood and armor disappearing. He appeared back at the fountain, as if nothing had happened. But something did happen. Twilight had watched her dear brother die, the one who she was supposed to be keeping safe as a summoner.

Shining Armor waited for a command back at the fountain as he had purchased a few items, one of which being a Sightstone to illuminate areas beyond the vision of the champions. He stayed at the fountain, looking around as the other champions were surely off doing their own thing, fighting their own fights.

Then, Shining Armor looked towards the sky. He had somehow aimed his gaze right to where Twilight should be looking down at him through her summoning orb.

"Twily, I need to get back in the fight. I know that what happened had to have been the worst thing you had ever seen in your life... and... damnit, you and Cadence know that I don't have much of a way with words." Shining Armor sighed, "I have to do this. I might get hurt again, and I might die. But this is for Equestria. Your home. Our home. I have to keep Rengar, Kindred, Rainbow Dash- yes, even Vel'koz safe from harm. I have to trust you, Twilight."

The Princess of Friendship couldn't meet Shining Armor's gaze, a tear was on the borderline of trailing down her face as she turned her eyes back to her brother.

WTFULOOKINAT (Vel'koz): afk support?

Vel's summoner asked if Twilight was going to give an order to Shining Armor.

Twilight (Shining Armor): Sorry. Going bot.

WTFULOOKINAT (Vel'koz): kk

Shining Armor got the movement order to head back to where Kindred had already gone off to. He gave a small smile to the sky, brandished his sword, and galloped off to get to bot.

"I fucking hate LeBlanc. Can't wait for the next patch." WTFULOOKINAT bit his lip as LeBlanc suddenly dashed forwards in a flurry of illusionary magic. He knew what came next.

A golden chain stretched from LeBlanc's staff, attaching onto one of his champion's tentacles. He wasn't able to dodge in time as the chain connected, and detonated, blasting the Eye of the Void with critical damage. A flash from WTFULOOKINAT put Vel out of harm's way and underneath the safety of his turret.

Just as he was going to start the recall back to base, Warwick suddenly ran out of the jungle from the other side of the turret, and it was all over. A lunge from Warwick's mighty jaws snapped into Vel'koz's back, and with a single toss, the mass of eyes and tentacles died, Vel's central eye evacuating his body as it head back to the fountain.

"Ugh..." WTFULOOKINAT put his palm into his forehead. He just hoped that bot lane could get fed enough.

Rengar heard the announcement of Vel'koz's slaying. Warwick had gone through Rengar's own jungle to flank the voidling, and it was his fault for not warding any chokepoints.

He was too rusty at this.

Killing the Gromp monster, another handful of gold was transferred to his pouch. It was hard enough fighting with one eye, but with both of them gone now, and the added inexperience of him returning after all of those years living in Equestria, it wasn't the best equation of success. He was grateful for Celestia to be his summoner, guiding him with warnings and plans of attack.

Kindred and Shining Armor in the bottom lane were ding fairly okay, but against the might of Draven and Morganna, they would need additional assistance. Rainbow Dash, upon dying to Darius in lane was instructed by her summoner, Allan to not engage Darius anymore and wait for Rengar to come or for the game to progress, due to Darius's axe specifically made to cause hemorrhages and bleeding, which made him want you to get up into his face.

Vel'koz had died again to LeBlanc, his summoner obviously expressing his frustration. As the Eye of the Void respawned back in the fountain, Rainbow Dash had recalled back and manage to catch a glimpse of the heap of tentacles and eyes.

"Hey, maybe you shouldn't be talking trash about us when you're the one who keeps dying, you know?" Rainbow Dash dropped a gold pouch off and got done with a Dead Man's Plate, the aura of the item being absorbed into her.

"If we continue to drag out the game, we have a far better chance of winning than the menial odds we have at the moment. You must still protect me then." Vel'koz finished up building a familiar looking hourglass, absorbing the essence of the tool as well.

"Yeah, protect you?" Rainbow Dash shook her head as she galloped back towards top lane.

Then, they heard a roar in the distance. It wasn't deep and throaty the like Dragon, but it was more alien and had a definitive screech to it.

WTFULOOKINAT (Vel'koz): Wait, they got baron?

Allan (Rainbow Dash): Damn, we need more vision

Luna (Kindred): They're coming!!!!!

The Noxians made a beeline for the Equestrian's base. Their minions had gone from puny little sources of gold and cannon fodder to hulking, glowing, and bulky behemoths that charged towards the tower guarding the Equestrian's inhibitor.

"Don't let them take the inhibitor!" Vel'koz strafed out of base, his eye looking for an opening. Warwick was heading the front, the werewolf containing much of the team's engage capabilities, and Darius as well, stopping any retaliation if they decided the fight. Vel stayed his distance, throwing out orbs of plasma that only managed to hit the minions surrounding the enemy, doing nothing.

The remaining team members came back into the base, and headed out to find one of their worst fears realized. The enemy contained the aura of Baron Nashor, enhancing their minions to destroy the delicate inhibitor.

The structure crumbled, and the announcer made her voice loud and clear, "The enemy has destroyed your inhibitor."

"Damnit! They'll spawn super minions now!" Rengar growled as he lurked in the jungle outside of the base, wondering if he could catch an enemy by surprise.

The Noxians, once their objective was taken, quickly retreated out of the base to regroup and attack with a super minion aiding them.

However, Draven stayed behind. The Equestrian's minions were spawning out, and he decided to catch an opportunity to farm up some gold. It was unknown if the Noxian summoners were pinging Draven to get back, but by then, Equestria seized their opportunity.

Rengar leaped from invisibility, and slashed with his Hunting Knife. What happened next caught the Pridestalker off guard completely. With a mighty toss, both of his axes flew out and knocked Rengar out of the air, sending him crashing to the hard stone surface of their own base. The axes flew back, and throwing them both again, instantly killed Rengar.

Rainbow Dash wouldn't let him go that easily. Galloping, her hooves clip-clopping on the stone floor got Draven to turn around just in time to throw an axe at the incoming pony. Blood was drawn and sprayed, but she kept going, bloodlust in her eyes. She kept going faster, and faster, and faster until her wings spread apart, lifting her just a few feet off the ground.

Then, an ear-shattering BOOM overtook the entire rift, a ring of rainbows expanding behind her. She hurtled towards Rengar's killer at an unfathomable speed. Draven hardly had enough time to react as Rainbow Dash blasted through his figure, no blood being spilled as it simply evaporated on contact, The Glorious Executioner ceasing to exist.

Noxus 4 (Draven): ofc RD builds tanky and still one shots me

"Now is our chance! Charge into the enemy's base!" Shining Armor pointed and lead his team, one member down towards the Noxian's stronghold. The super minion while not attacking towers only served as a delay to impede the team's march onto the enemy's base. Rengar was close to respawning, but so was Draven.

The enemy's Baron Buff has worn off, and their minions went back to their expendable status.

Darius stood at the helm of their base, and pointed his axe towards the charging Equestrian champions.

"You will regret opposing Noxus!"

Then, the ambush was sprung. Morgana, with the aide of the the summoner spell Flash, appeared from behind a wall of trees and right in the middle of the Equestrian's party. Instantly, tendrils flung out from her, grasping and clawing onto their victims. Before anyone could retaliate, Morgana instantly encased herself in a golden aura, coming from Zhonya's Hourglass, an item she had completed. She was rooted in place and invulnerable to all sources of damage inside of the golden form, as her tendrils came closer and closer to activating.

Kindred hopped away just in time, and Vel'koz activated his own hourglass to break the tendril's grasp, but Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor were caught when the tendril detonated, stunning them in place for the rest of the Noxians to follow up. Darius went straight for Rainbow Dash, pulling her in with his axe. A massive circular slash sprayed blood onto the dirt, and with a mighty leap, he brought his axe down on her, shattering her injured form.

Warwick leaped after Kindred, catching her and pinning Lamb against a tree. His claws came out, and slash after slash, he raked across her delicate body, snarling with every gash he inflicted on her. Lamb couldn't move through Warwick's Infinite Duress. Just before a single snap of the jaws could end her life, she blessed the ground under her, Kindred's Respite becoming activated. No one could die while inside, and with this freedom, Lamb fired her bolts into Warwick, hopping around to prevent him from latching onto her again. Wolf clamped his teeth down on his tail, dragging him back as Lamb kept firing her arrows into the beast.

LeBlanc came from a flank and tried to kill Vel'koz, but this time, he was prepared. His summoner gave the order of where to aim his Tectonic Disruption, and fired the anomaly at where LeBlanc had landed. She was sent straight up into the air, much to her disbelief as Vel'koz's tentacles converged together and carved a massive laser beam into her form, disintegrating her to atoms as she screamed in agony. The more Vel turned her to ashes, the more information he aquired from the deciever.

"Target fully researched. Beginning Organic Deconstruction." Vel droned as he amplified the beam, it now bypassing everything that could resist it. LeBlanc was no more. Not even ash or atoms remained of her, "Hmmm... deception occurs via the bending of light rays to create mirrored images of the human. Fascinating."

Lamb couldn't save herself from the jaws of the beast, and she too was torn down by Warwick. Rainbow Dash had managed to destroy Morgana in a flurry of dives and another blast of a rainbow-colored mushroom cloud, but died from consecutive tower blasts from the Noxian's friendly inhibitor turret.

Rengar was still nowhere to be seen. Warwick was the only one left standing for the Noxians. The other champions' respawn timers were so long that whoever died now would end up costing their team the much needed victory.

Equestria's admission into the League of Legends and Noxus's land expansion were at stake, and their respective heroes would not let the other have what he wanted.

"It's been a long time, Rengar!" Warwick cackled, his voice hardly resembling the human he once was, "You've grown soft with those ponies! So soft! So weak!"

Warwick's nose sniffed the air. He was in the jungle.

The werewolf started to walk towards the jungle outside of the Noxian's base, and ran his claw along a tree.

"You know how this is going to end, lion. I can smell your stench from a mile away..." Warwick kept running his claws against the various trees and rocks, leaving three canals that stretched across each surface, "What do you have to gain from living with these inferior animals?! You used to be the greatest hunter of this world! Something that even I had to recognize!"

Warwick slashed down a tree and hopped over the felled trunk, "You can't run..."

His nose picked the scent up, and he went onto all fours and broke into a monstrous sprint, "Nor can you hide!"

Celestia (Rengar): Where is he?!

WTFULOOKINAT (Vel'koz): You got a ward?

Celestia (Rengar): Cooldown

Twilight (Shining Armor): Can't see from the fog of war in their jungle.

Allan (Rainbow Dash): There he is!

Once Rengar could hear the howl, there was no more hiding. He broke from the bush he concealed himself into, Hunting Knife in one paw, the other bearing his wrist-blades. He hurled a bola at Warwick, who simply swiped at the snare and sliced it in two. The werewolf's claws met with Rengar's blades, sparks flying everywhere as they clashed and parried.

"Yes! I can smell your weakness! Your fear!" Warwick gave a devious grin as another slash struck Rengar across his face. The lion recoiled back, his eyeless face towards the beast, "Oh my, Kha'zix took your other eye? This is hardly a fight!"

Warwick leaped for Rengar with his maw opened wide, and dragged his teeth through the hunter's side, circling around to his back. Both of his claws came straight down, eight massive gashes becoming painted on his white fur.

Fluttershy and the rest of the summoners gasped as Rengar roared in pain, trying desperately to stop Warwick's onslaught. More and more slashes and bites got through, a world of nothing but pain the lion was living in now.

"Pathetic." Warwick was just about to slash Rengar's throat to end him once and for all. It would have been the case hadn't Rengar suddenly outstretched his paw, and caught his claws. They pierced through, blood spilling from his hands. The werewolf tried to press further, but the Pridestalker continued to hold his claws at bay.

It was almost as if two orange glows came from where both of his eyes were to be.

"Focussssssss..."

Rengar suddenly pulled himself away, and slunk back into the surrounding brush. Rays of light started to bend around his fur, fading him from Warwick's naked eye. The forest started to grow quiet for just a few seconds as Warwick shouted out.

"Running now?! That will hardly be the case!" Warwick's Blood Scent already had Rengar's trail picked up. Only before he could find his invisible prey, his prey found him again. First.

A roar shook the entire jungle as the lion sprang from a bush, both of wrist blades out. Warwick turned around just in time to feel both blades sink into his chest and force him to the ground. Above him, Rengar roared once again and started to slice and slash Warwick in every single possible location that already wasn't bleeding his unnatural blood.

"You know nothing of me! You fight as a slave for your pitiful nation, while I fight for my home!" Rengar kept the blood flying, splattering all over his face, "My home! My hunt! My friends!"

The last word ended with Rengar plunging his blade straight into Warwick's heart, blood spurting from his jaws.

Rengar kept the blade inside of the man-turned-wolf, breathing exasperated exhales.

Warwick suddenly grabbed his blade.

The machine on his back started to hiss, noxious fumes pouring from the top cylinder for the device.

"Friends? What a stupid thing to say!" Warwick threw Rengar over himself with his hind legs into the stone wall behind him. The werewolf slowly started to get himself up, his chest starting to close up. Warwick licked the blood from his claws, now no one could know who's it really was.

Warwick came to all fours, then leaped. Rengar watched in horror, the first time in a very long while.

Then, he saw the small red and orange bulbous plant by his feet. The Blasting Cap. A mana-drenched plant that grew within the arcane-stained Summoner's Rift.

He waited for Warwick to be over the plant, then Rengar trusted his knife into it.

The concussive blast sent both of them over the wall.

They rolled in the pool of water over the jungle's wall. Before both of them could recover, a roar suddenly echoed from beneath their feet.

Both Warwick and Rengar knew what was to come.

The massive purple serpent erupted from the ground, its multi-eyed head towering into the air, roaring acidic saliva. Baron Nashor, the most powerful beast on the rift stood menacingly above both of the champions. Such power of the real Baron could only be replicated by a fraction within the rift. It was to both of the champions' safety that in the rift, the Baron only started to attack if provoked-

Rengar plunged his knife into the monster.

The Baron screeched and immediately came down, hurling its saliva towards both its attacker and the other witness. Both of the champions desperately weaved and dodged around the incoming corrosive projectiles, splashing into the water and causing even that to turn into a sizzling mixture of death.

"You're insane, lion!" Warwick slashed one of the Baron's lesser heads to ward it away.

"That's rich coming from you!" Rengar barely avoided another volley of acidic saliva.

The Baron screamed again as the creature started to snake towards both of the champions, them weaving in attacks against each other as they fended off the massive beast's spittle. Each opportunity they got, they tried to shove the other towards the menacing monster in hopes that it would consume their opponent.

The Baron wouldn't stop attacking until they got away from the beast or if they killed him, but neither wanted to do so. They wanted the other dead, and they would use any means necessary.

Bolas, bites, slashes, knives, every attack same out from the other to put the other six feet under in the ground, or in the Baron's digestive system.

Then, a massive hurl of acid splashed onto Rengar's shoulder, melting the shoulder plates painfully to Rengar's skin. Warwick seized the opportunity to leap onto Rengar, and give a huge round of slash after slash, every attack healing back all of the damage that Rengar had done to him.

"Die, die, die, die, DIE!" Warwick kept slashing and slashing, Rengar's fur now becoming drenched in red from the wounds that covered every inch of his body.

The Baron roared one more time as it ran its mouth towards Warwick and Rengar.

The remainder of his strength went to his legs, starting to lift Warwick from Rengar. In disbelief, Warwick opened his mouth towards Rengar's forehead to crush his skull into a fine powder.

Then, Warwick yelped. Rengar shoved Warwick towards the approaching Baron's mouth, and it clamped down onto the werewolf's tail. The Baron started to drag Warwick towards his lair. His claws dug into the river's surface to stop the massive serpent from dragging him, but it was no use. The stone surface was etched in the desperation that was produced by Warwick's claws.

The Baron suddenly flung Warwick into the air, and his mouth opened up. He disappeared inside of the monster's mouth, a ravenous scream coming from within as the announcer gave the word that Equestria desperately wanted to hear.

"Aced!"

Rengar trudged towards the Noxian's base, him clutching his chest from the blood that dripped. His minions had managed to make their way top lane, so he joined them to kill the turret they were currently tanking.

Towers started to crumble as Rengar made his way into the Noxian's base to destroy their nexus, taking the victory for Equestria.

The Noxian summoners were desperately waiting for their first champion to respawn, which would be Darius. Only ten seconds from coming back, Rengar had already destroyed the second tower guarding the nexus.

The lion started to pound at the massive stone and crystal structure, Celestia, Luna, Twilight, Allan, and even WTFULOOKINAT typing in chat to cheer Rengar on. The Noxian summoners were shouting at each other for how they could even be loosing this match against Equestria.

Just as Darius reappeared back into the rift, Rengar delivered the final blow to the nexus.

The structure started to collapse, the crystal it was inhibiting becoming overloaded with energy and blasting into a million fragments, signalling the end to a long an hard fought match for Equestria's admission into the League of Legends.

Luna (Kindred): "GGEZ"

Noxian 4 (Draven): "Report Warwick"