> Animals > by Blaze Fury > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prolouge > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Freeze! Come with use willingly or else we'll use force!" an armored man said while standing atop a tank. Now before you say anything, it's not what it looks like. I'm anything but a criminal, the reason the military are after me and my cousin is because of our powers. We aren't like other humans because Nate and I can change forms, use telekinesis, and fire beams of condensed magic. The only reason we are being chased is because we were walking past a construction site and somehow the cables holding what looked like several tons of concrete snapped and the the cable's payload was falling to the ground where there were people running and I did the stupidest this ever. I used my powers. After that we were constantly being chased by various powers, namely the government. They wouldn't stop following us no matter where we went, and now we were backed into a corner with no way out, all thanks to me. So here we are now, surrounded by armored vehicles and armed soldiers with my little cousin huddling behind me in fear. 'God Dammit! There's no way out and it's all my fault!' I thought as I stared at them and watched as they slowly got closer. I was about to give up when a bright flash appeared behind us and I watched as all of our pursuers were covering their eyes, trying to shield their eyes from the light. I took this as an opportunity and used my telekinesis to increase the gravity around them and I watched as they all fell to the ground. With this little break, I looked behind me and what I saw confused me. About a few feet behind us was a swirling black hole with white specks in it, and all my mind could come up with was that it was a wormhole. "Hey cuz, what's that?" my little cousin asked as she pointed at the tear in space. "I have no idea Nate, but it might lead us somewhere to start over." I stated as I walked over to the nearest soldier and started looting him. While doing this I got grunts of anger as I search the man. "Cole don't you think that this is a little dangerous? Why can't we just run somewhere else?" she asked. For her age she was extremely smart, but she was also innocent and naive. "Nate I'm sorry but I'd rather take the risk of dieing on the other side of that hole than become a test subject for scientists. Plus I promised your mother I'd keep you safe." I said as I grabbed his gun and side arm. I also grabbed all of his ammo, but I couldn't fit it all in my bag I had on my back so I turned to Nate. "Hey do you think you could put this in your bag?" I asked as she walked over to me and started to put all six of the rifle magazines and three pistol magazines in her bag, but those won't be enough if we are going somewhere hostile. So I looted the rest of the soldiers but only got an extra forty-three mags, thirty-six for the rifle and seven for the pistol. I had given Nate them and told her to place them in her bag. With a nod I looked around and saw that the others were still on the ground so I turned to my Cousin. "Do we have to really steal from them?" she asked me. "What would you have me do? If we let them keep their weapons they will come after us once my spell wears off, and if we do take their ammo they will have a harder time getting us. Now come on and get into the car." I said as I heard something scraping on the ground. I turned around just in time to see the soldier that ordered us to come with him pointing his glock at me. In the matter of seconds all I heard was the discharge of his gun and felt my ears start ringing as a searing pain that ripped through my left leg causing me to cry out in pain and drop to the ground while clutching my leg. After a few seconds I heard foot steps and when I opened my eyes I saw him through my tears, standing above me as he pointed his gun at my head. "You know we could have just extracted whatever is in you even if you were dead, but I gave you a chance to surrender. Now that choice is out the window, any last words?" he said as he sported a wicked grin that sent chills down my spine. I was about to say something but heard another discharge and I watched as the soldier's hand was blown to pieces and I looked to my cousin in shock as I saw her holding a pistol, although it was shaking. I got to my feet and stumbled over to her and hugged her as she dropped the gun and returned my hug, while she sobbed into my chest. When I let her go I turned around and looked at the man as he gripped his wrist while breathing heavily. I did my best to walk over to him and when I was close to him he looked at me with so much anger in his eyes. "You fucking freak! When I get the chance I will kill you and you sister!" he said as I grabbed the pistol I got earlier and pointed it at his legs. "I don't think you will." I said as I shot his knees, rendering him handie-caped. He screamed in absolute pain and I dropped the gun and covered my ears as the pain came back. After the ringing faded I picked the gun up and motioned for Nate to follow me as I walked to one of the cars that our pursuers came up to us with, which was a Hummer H1. I saw several bodies around the Hummer and thankfully they were still alive, but I couldn't be worried about that because I needed to get me and my cousin out of here. "Cole you need to do something or else your gonna bleed out!" Nate said as I was sweating horrendously from the adrenaline leaving and the shock in my body. "No I-i'm fine.We just n-need to get out of here." I said as I opened the driver door and got in before shutting the door. Nate followed behind me but got in the passenger side, and when she got in she started to try and fix my leg. "Nate leave it alone, I'm fine." I said as I started the truck. "No your not! Stop trying to be strong for me and let me attend to it!" she yelled causing the pain in my ears to flare again. "Oww." I said as I covered my sensitive ears. "We're in a small space Nate no need to yell." I said as lowered my arms and gripped the steering wheel. "And I'll let you treat me when we're on the other side because my spell is about to end." I said as I saw several of the soldiers start to stand up and grab their guns. I decided not to stay and I slammed my foot down on the gas peddle and I was pushed into the seat as the tires spun before gripping the ground beneath us. With them now gripping the concrete I turned the truck towards the portal and we drove straight to it as the others fired at us. When we entered to tear all I saw was a black void and specks of white, and it seemed to mimic outer space in a way. I was so caught up in our surroundings that I didn't notice the tear that was ahead of us until the very last second. When we entered the second tear all I could see was green, though it was a bit of a dark green so I assumed we were entering a forest of some kind. I didn't have time to ponder as we jumped out the tear and soared in the sky before falling onto the ground. Luckily we were only a few feet above ground, though I do expect some kind of damage to the suspension. When we landed I noticed that we were on a trail of some kind as the dirt was worn down and had no grass anywhere in it, and I also noticed that the were a large amount of trees surrounded by trees and they were thick; and when I mean thick, they were thick. I couldn't see any light through them and when I looked above I saw the same thing, a very thick canopy. "Cole watch out!" Nate yelled causing me to come out of my wandering and look forward. Ahead of us was a few rocks and they seemed to be close together, too close to dodge. I slammed on the brakes and looked at the speedometer to see how fast we were going and it read '72 mph'. 'Shit!' I thought to myself because we didn't have time to slow down so I ducked to the side and held onto Nate as the truck hit the rock causing us to ramp off the side and flip. During that time in the air felt like an eternity as I held onto my little cousin while my life flashed before my eyes. I watched as my mom and dad looked at me with a loving gaze as I was just born, and then to the time I said my first words to my dad which were 'vroom vroom' and after that was my first day at school. I had to wear a beanie to school as my parents were trying to cover up my ears so I wouldn't get picked on. Next was the time I found out that I was a freak because no one else had natural a tail and animal ears on their head, I was five at the time. When I turned seven I started to have the ability to use magic as I had punched the schools bully across the cafeteria with an added telekinetic blast added to my punch. After that I practiced for the next year in secret and then came the day I that my cousins parents, namely his father, had decided to give her to the government for testing to try and get ride of her ears and tail. I had caught word of it and I grabbed my parents keys and hopped into my dads car and rushed to save her. I remember getting there and they had almost put my three year old cousin in their truck when I shot a blast of magic at them knocking them away and causing Nate to fall to the ground. After that I ran and grabbed Nate's unconscious form and headed to my dad's car, but before I was stopped as a hand was placed on my shoulder. When I looked back Nate's mom told me to tack care of her as she cried. I guess she knew that the government was just going to test on her, but I will never know the real reason though. After that the next two years flew by as we laid low and tried to avoid large areas. Then there was the day when I used my powers in public to save someone from the load falling on them but then it was a rough three years after that as we had to run from the military while they were on our tails, no pun intended. I watched as they went by and saw all the close calls and then my trip down memory lane was cut short as my head hit the middle console on the dash in the hummer. Next I was jolted upward as Nate's grip tighten on me, and the next thing I knew I felt my head spinning as the truck hit the ground and started to tumble. After about a few spins we came to a stop and landed on our wheels. I then let go of Nate and I saw that she had blacked out so I guess that was good. When I sat up I noticed that the Hummer seemed to be wrecked in the front and that the cab was ruined. I wasn't able to look around much longer as I felt dizzy and felt something wet travel down my forehead. I brought my shaky hand up and felt it and when I pulled it back my hand was dripping blood. I also noticed that Nate hadn't gotten to bandaging my leg so I was still bleeding there and add that to the fact I was now bleeding tremendously from my head I wan't able to keep consciousness much longer, so I had to get us out of the truck before somebody finds us. I pushed the door open with all my might and fell out the truck. It took me a second to gather my senses before I got back up and went to grab Nate from the passenger side of the hummer. When I got to her I pulled her out and started to drag her away from the truck, but not before coughing up some blood. "God dammit." I said as a thought came to me, 'I really hope to god I didn't puncture a lung.' I thought as I laid Nate's body about fifteen feet away, and with that done I turned around and gathered what magic I had left. To my shock it seemed I had gained more magic after leaving the tear, but it didn't matter to me as I had to place a shield spell, invisibility spell, as well as a spell to hide our ears and tails, and a spell that would hide the magic signature of the spells. I then went and erased the tracks made by the Hummer with a little spell from my favorite show, Charmed. With that done I went back over to Nate before coughing up some more blood as I fell to the ground and felt the inky world of black consumed me. Perspective Change: General POV 5 minutes ago Half a mile from the crash "How far out are we?" asked an armored pegasus mare. "About half a mile, sir." said an armored earth pony stallion. Being part of the Celestia's royal guard you weren't allowed to talk out of conduct while on duty, but there were exceptions. But for this mare she always played by the rules, and her name is Captain Strict Service. Her coat is white and she has a bright orange main and tail, though her armor enchantments conceal her real colors, and her cutie mark was a piece of parchment that was behind a sword Never has she missed a day of work and never has she disobeyed her superiors, however, her partner on this mission is a lazy stallion by the name of Pvt. Iron Shield. He has a grey coat and a dark blue main and tail, however it's covered by the enchantments, and his cutie mark is a dark grey shield and a hammer. They walked for a few more minutes until Iron decided to break the quietness. "So what do you think caused the magical disturbance, sir?" he asked. "I don't private, but what ever it was caused the princess to worry so that warrants a search for it." she said as she kept her stoic demeanor. "I understand that sir, but what do you think caused it?" he asked putting extra emphasis on the word 'you' and pointing his hoof at her for a brief second, causing Strict to look towards him with a glare. "Fine. I think some idiot was messing with something they shouldn't be touching." she said as she looked forward again. "Now if you don't mind me asking private, what do you think caused the disturbance?" she asked. "Well I think a space alien came and crashed their ship and are likely here to take us over." he said as shifted his head side to side, making Strict to shake her head. "Iron you read too many comics in your spare time; when was the last time you were with a mare?" she asked with a slight smirk. "Hey I can get a mare anytime I want! I'm just choosing to save myself for the right one that's all." Iron said in denial. "Uh huh ssuuuurrre you are." Strict said while she rolled her eyes. They then continued their trip in quiet trot yet again and it wasn't long before they came to the site of the magic disturbance. "Well here we are." Strict said as she looked around and the two searched the place on the path where the disturbance originated from and it didn't take long for Iron to give up and say defeat. "Nothings here. Come on sir let's go." Iron said as he started to walk the way they came only to be stopped by Strict. "Private I didn't say you were authorized to leave, now did I?" Strict demanded. "No sir you did not." he said in defeat as he turned back around and trotted to her side. "What else is there to find? We searched this spot and there isn't anything here." "Well did you ever think that whatever caused this left the area?" she asked as she pointed her hoof to a set of tracks made by a certain vehicle, causing Iron to splay his ears. "No sir, I didn't think of that." he said. "Well let's follow them." "That's what I wanted you to say from the beginning." Strict said as she trotted along side Iron. They followed the tracks for at least five minutes until they came to a rock that was in the way. The rock in question had black scrape marks on it's left side, but other than that there wasn't anything wrong with it. Strict continued to inspect the rock while Iron went ahead and searched. "What could have caused this?" Strict mumbled to herself as she rubbed her hoof on her chin. "Captain you may want to see this." came Iron's voice from a distance. Strict sighed and started to trot over to where she heard Iron call from. "What is it private?" she asked as she stopped next to him and looked at him. "Why are there a humans here?" he asked as he pointed a hoof forwards, and Strict turned her head and looked forward too. What she saw didn't really shock her, but it did indeed surprise her. 'Why in the name of Celestia are there humans out here? And better yet why do they have clothes on?' she thought to herself. "What should we do Cap?" Iron asked as he put his hoof down. Strict stood there for a few seconds debating on what to do, but she eventually came to a conclusion. "We bring these injured creatures back to Ponyville and take them to the vet so they can get medical attention. Then we'll file a report. There isn't that much to concern if its humans." Strict paused as she started to trot over to the two humans and looked at them at a closer distance than before. She noted that one seemed to be male and the other female, and that they were too young to be alone without their parents, or tribe. "Come over here and help me will ya." she said as she grabbed the large one with her teeth and tried to get him on her back. Iron went over and helped her and they were able to get him laying on her back, and after that Iron heaved the female onto his back. "We better get going. Princess Celestia should be setting the sun soon, and I don't want to be here in the Everfree at night." Strict said as she started heading back to Ponyville with Iron following close behind. Little did they know that by taking these two seemingly 'harmless' humans back with them would they set a chain of events to take place in the future that would change Equestria and the world of Equis. > Chapter 1: A visit to the Vet > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- All I could see was black as I floated through my mind. I drifted there thinking of everything that has happened until a thought popped into my head. 'Oh my I forgot to tell you guys who I am, didn't I?' I asked no one inparticular. Well I'll go ahead and tell you guys. My name is Cole Witman and I'm thirteen years old. I'm a tanned Caucasian, I have a fairly toned body and I'm a little over four feet tall. Though I highly suggest you not talk about my height or you'll be on the end of my fist. I also have a prosthetic left arm because of a close call I had about seven months ago. My hair is a shiny silver and I have red eyes, and no they aren't contacts. If you want to know what I was wearing before I passed out I'll just tell ya, I had a pair of black jeans, a red zip up jacket with a white t-shirt underneath, and finally a pair of worn out sneakers. Nate or Natalie Wilcox, she's my cousin, shes eight years old and she's the same color as me, thought a little whiter. She is about a foot or so shorter than I am, and she has blond hair along with green eyes. She was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a pink jacket with a white spaghetti strap shirt beneath it. Now that is out of the way for you guys I'm just gonna continue to float in the void of my mind. So if you'll excuse me, "Weeeeeee!" I shouted as I floated away. 2 hours later from first contact It didn't take long for the two guards to reach the edge of the Everfree and the outskirts of Ponyville. When Strict looked up she could see Celestia's sun setting and she knew what came next. The night. When she was young her Father was murdered by a human when he came home, and ever since then she hated the night and humans. Since that night she vowed to herself that she would find a way to get justice on the human that killed her father. About two and a half years later they found him and had him executed for killing a guard captain. Though Strict still felt that all humans were to blame for her father's death, not just that single human. That's why she had a small sneer on her face as she looked back at the human on her back. 'I bucking hate you all.' she thought to herself as dropped her sneer and looked forward at the small town of Ponyville. "Come on Iron. The sooner we drop these animals off the quicker we can get some shut eye." Strict said getting a nod from Iron as they continued there journey to the vet's office in town. The trip was seemingly calm as the trotted through the streets and occasionally getting looks from the public. But they soon looked away because the ponies carrying the bloodied humans were some of Celestia's guards. So obviously nopony would care, and they all just went about their business as if nothing was wrong. Though there was the occasional pet human that would look at them with curiosity, anger, and fear. About forty-five minutes later they reached the vet's office and luckily it was open for a few more hours. So with that they walked in. On the inside was your typical vet's office. There was paw and hand stickers all over the wall, and there was a lone pony sitting behind the desk was a earth-pony mare. Her coat was a pale orange and she had animals as her cutie mark; her name was Mane Goodall, and she was Ponyville's best vet. When the two guards entered Goodall looked up and smiled, but that smile soon disappeared once she got a look of the two humans on the guards back's. "Oh dear. What happened?" she asked. "Don't really know. All I do know is they need medical attention." Strict said as she and Iron arrived at the front desk. Goodall looked down the hallway that was to the left of her. "Gentlehoof! Soft Touch! Come here!" She yelled. A few seconds later a white coated and pink maned earthpony mare came from the hallway along with a blue coated, two toned maned unicorn mare. The blue coated one was Soft Touch and the white coated one was Gentlehoof. Goodall looked at them before speaking. "I need you to to get the these humans so medical attention." she said causing the mares to look at the guards and gasp before leaving back down the hallway they came from. When the came back, they had a stretcher and lifted the male of it before they left the room. 'Thank Celestia.' she thought. A few seconds they came back in with the stretcher and grabbed the female before going back. Goodall then gave Strict a clipboard with some paperwork that needed to be signed before heading to the back for her work. Location: operating room Perspective: General POV Time: 9:36 pm Goodall walked into the operating room and saw that Soft Touch and Gentlehoof were already setting up for the operation. "Alright, whats the damage?" she asked. "Patient seems to have a concussion to the head, along with a wound in his leg. There might be a foreign object in there, but that's only speculation." Gentlehoof said not ever looking up from what she was doing. Gentle decided to take his clothes off and had only taken off his shirt when Goodall came in. Now she was taking his pants off, along with his under garments. When she saw what he was packing, she blushed. They also took note of the left metal arm, but left it alone. "Don't get distracted Gentle. Work comes first." Soft said as she brought some medical supplies to the table. "Where did you put the female?" Goodall asked as she trotted next to the table and looked at the male. "I placed her in a kennel after placing the male down." Soft said causing Goodall to look at her. "Please tell me she's alone." "Of course, Im not stupid. Now let's get started." Soft said before pausing. She looked over the patient and this seemed to catch the other nurses attention. "What is it Soft?" Gentle asked. "I don't know but there's a powerful spell that's been placed on this guy." she said before an idea popped into her head. "Hold on, im gonna try and get ride of it." she then took all of her concentration on a special spell breaking spell that she learned from Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. Once she flared her horn she shot the spell on the mysterious male and that caused a bright flash to engulf the room causing everypony in the room to cover their eyes with their hooves. When the light died down the nurses brought their hoofs down and gasped. On top of the humans head was a set of fluffy ears and he seemed to be laying on something, and when Soft went and moved him she found he had a grey tail on him. "Are these natural?" Goodall asked and Gentle tugged on his ears then looked at Goodall and nodded. "Well we'll worry about that later. For now we need to heal him." she said as they all got professional again. "Patient seems to have a foreign object in his left upper leg and a small concussion. Cause of both are unknown and there is no data on how he received them." Goodall said before looking to Gentle. "Could you pass the surgical pliers and scalpel." she asked. Gentle gave them to her and Goodall went to work. An hour and fifteen minutes later Goodall, Soft touch, and Gentle hoof were able to properly heal the human and get the foreign object out of his leg. The object in question seemed to be a small ball of metal and judging on how bad it damaged the humans leg he must have been running from griffin poachers and he must have been defending the smaller female from them. Goodall walked out of the surgery room and back to the front where she saw the female guard from earlier bringing the papers, that she asked her to sign, to the desk. She was a few hoofsteps from the desk when she caught sight of Goodall. "So how are they?" Strict asked, not because she cared but out of curiosity. "The girl seems to be fine, though she does have a small concussion. The male was severely injured and could have bled out if you didn't bring him in." Goodall said. "So they're doing fine right now, good. We need to get back to the guard post and file a report." Strict said as she turned around and started to trot towards the door, with Iron following. "Though there is something else that happened..." Goodall said nervously as she trialed off. This caused Strict to stop and look back at Goodall with a glare. "What do you mean 'something else happened'?" she asked caused Goodall to shrink under her stare. "W-well you wouldn't b-believe me if I told you..." Goodall trailed off again. "Well then I guess we will have to go see it." Iron said as he walked towards Nurse Goodall. Strict let out a huff and rolled her eyes as she went to follow Iron and Goodall to the surgery room. The walk there was short and quiet as here was nothing to be said. When they got to the doors Goodall stopped them and looked at them with a small frown. "What's on the other side is human, but he seems to be different and I'd advise you to be calm about it. We don't know when he'll wake, and I don't want him to get aggressive." Goodall said getting nods from the guards, meaning they understood. With that Goodall pushed the doors open and walked in with the guards behind her. As Strict trotted in with Iron and Goodall she got a good look at the naked human and saw something on him that wasn't on him before. "He has ears on his head." she said with a weird look on her face. "I guess he does." Iron said as he went over to the human and rubbed his chin with his hoof. "Yes he does, but he also has a tail." Goodall said as she lifted his rear up and sure enough there was a light grey tail that seemed to need some grooming. "Do you know what type of species tail this is?" Iron asked. "It seems to be canine in nature, but we couldn't get an exact answer." Soft said as she walked back in the room. "Well what of the female?" Strict asked as she had finally came back to reality. "She's seems to have the same thing as the male, but her's seem to be feline in nature." Soft said as she stuck a needle in the males arm and drew some of his blood before taking it out and placing a small cloth where she penetrated the skin. "So what are we going to do with them?" Goodall asked. "Well we'll have to file a report to the higher ups and figure out what to do with them." Strict said as she turned around and stated to walk to the door. "Come on Iron we need to head back to the barracks." she said as she left the room, and she could hear his hooves on the tile floor as he raced to catch up. "So what are we going to do, sir?" Iron asked as he finally caught up. "Well I'll send a letter to the princess telling her that we have some strange humans, and she will most likely tell us to send them to HASA for testing." she answered. "I guess that sounds about right." Iron paused, "So who's doing the paperwork, sir?" he asked. "Both of us." Strict said causing Iron to groan. "Sorry Iron, but we were both there so we have to to give our story on what happened. Now lets hurry, I want to get that paperwork done so we can go to bed." Strict said as they quickened their pace to the barracks. They walked in silence as they both thought about the strange humans and what they though was going to happen to them. Strict could care less what happens to them as long as they suffered, but Iron hoped they would be alright. Time went by slowly for the to as they had to go though and sign about five hundred papers for the paper work, and they were exhausted afterwards. Their room room in the barracks was small and only had enough space for two beds, two desk, and a nightstand to go in between the beds but even then it was still small. when you walked into the room you could see the beds and the nightstand and both desks were on the walls that separated their room from the hallway. Strict let out a huff as she finally finished the paper work and she was about to work on the letter to the princess when iron let out a groan. "What is it now, Iron?" Strict asked slightly annoyed as she turned around and looked at iron as he was laying his head and front forelegs on the desk's top. "I'M BORED!" Iron said rather loudly. "How many papers do you still have to do?" she asked. "Seventy-five." he responded. "Well you better get to work. The faster you sign those the quicker you can go to sleep." she said as she turned back around and paid attention to writing the letter to the princess. After about thirty minutes thinking on what to write in her report to the princess, it took her another thirty minutes to write it in full. With it done she read it to herself. When she was done Strict nodded to herself and folded the paper before putting it in an envelope and sealing it. She called in a rookie and asked him if he could deliver it to the mail office before they closed. "Yes Mam." he said as he saluted her and grabbed the letter and trotted out and headed to his destination. With everything done Strict got up and turned her lamp off before going to her cot. When she looked she saw Iron was fast asleep on his own cot, and snoring too. She shrugged, as she had gotten used to his snoring, so she climbed into her cot sand pulled the covers over her as she slowly went to sleep thinking everything was alright. Little did she know that she had just given that letter to a dirty guard who worked for a underground fighting ring. Location: Unknown Perspective: Cole Time: Unknown I woke to the slow thumping sound of something as I felt a dull throbbing pain in my leg. Then my memories shot back to me as I remembered everything that had happened to me and Nate'. I recalled getting shot in the leg, to having to comfort Nate' after she shot that asshole, then speeding through the tear in space, crashing the hummer in the clearing, and finally falling unconscious. Then the small thumping came back and I recognized it to be a train. 'I hate trains.' I thought while grumbling. I then looked around and noticed that I was laying on a medical bed with my wrists and ankles strapped to the bed, but what shocked me the most was that I was completely naked. I started to struggle and loosen my binds when I heard a growl. I stopped and stretched my neck to look behind me and what I saw shocked me. There sitting in several cages were humans, but they didn't look like the humans I knew of. They looked bulkier and more neanderthalish, well at least the males did. The females however looked to be the same, although they were naked. his caused me to blush and turn my attention back to undoing my bonds. After about a minute or so I heard something in the direction of the door and swiveled my ears so I could hear better, and I could hear what sounded like hoofs clopping on the ground. This caused me to stop, close my eyes and relax as I tried to be asleep. Next I heard the door open and then voices. "Are you sure the human is secure?" I heard a female voice asked. She sounded as if she could play around and still sound serious and professional. "Yes Captain. We have several spells on the restraints to make sure he can't break them." came a second voice. It was male and sounded of someone who was bored. I squinted my eyes as I tried to look at who was talking and what I saw shocked me. Standing at the end of my bed and on the side of it was two ponies, but what go me more more than the fact that there were ponies talking was that fact that one to my side had wings! Wings I say! Whats next ponies with horns! "Well have a unicorn mage check them again I want to be sure they're secure." she said, and I saw her heading to the door before I saw another pony run up and she ran up, ...galloped?, to the door and I could barely see that she was sweating. "What is it private?" she asked. 'So I guess Nate' and I got captured by military ponies.' I thought with slight interest. "Captain there are several unknown targets heading for the train, and they're flying to us." she shouted. "Iron come on. We have to protect the package." she said as the pony at the end of my bed, or Iron ran out the train car with her. I watched as he shut the door and I could hear the distinct sound of him locking it. I then used my magic to undo the restraints before pausing. "Dammit I could have done that from the beginning." I said as I sat up. I looked my self over and used my magic to conjure some black jeans. with that done and my genitals covered I hopped off the bed and I could feel the cold metal as it touched my bare feet. Though as soon as my feet touched the floor I heard a boom and then I was knocked off my feet and onto my back. I let out a sigh as one thought came to mind. "I really hate trains." > Chapter 2: I Hate Trains > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I need to find Natalie. Thats all that was going through my mind as I got back up from being knocked over by what ever that was. All I could hear were screams coming from outside the car and grunts and snarls coming from behind me. I turned around and looked at the caged humans. "Shut the hell up!!" I ordered with a glare, causing them all to stop what they were doing and look at my while whimpering. I turned my attention back to the matter at hand and picked myself up off the floor before walking to the door and opening it. On the other side was something that shocked me, the car that was hooked to the one I was in was almost completely destroyed. But what shocked my the most was the dead bodies I saw. I really hoped that the ponies that left before all this started were okay. I stood there looking around and I noticed that we had stopped and that there were several creatures flying around. Most looked like a chicken had mated with a lion. I shook my head as I tied to get that picture out of my head. 'I need to find Natalie and leave.' I thought as I crouched and started to move through the destroyed rail car. Everything around me was either on fire of charred. The seats in the car were all on fire and smelt of burning cloth, which started to burn the inside of my nose. Once I was at the other side of the car I saw a unicorn fighting a chicken/lion and I could see a lot of pegasi in the air locked in combat with he lion hybrids. I looked back at the unicorns and thought that there was no way for me to get past them. Unless... "It could work." I whispered to myself as I gathered my magic and placed an invisibility spell onto my form. Luckily for me the door in front of me wasn't there so I could sneak by easier. As I snuck by I watched the quadruped's fighting style, and it seemed to fit them very well for there situation. I decided on continuing my journey to find Natalie and get the hell out of dodge. I made it through two more train cars before I was found out. This happened because, Im guessing, the attacker's humans caught my sent and came at me. I used my magic to lengthen my nails before I jumped up and dug my new claws into the ceiling. I barely missed being grabbed by one of the humans and when I looked around all the ponies and the lion hybrids that were in the car had stopped and were looking at where I was. Though with their confused stares I hazardous a guess that they didn't know what their humans were trying to get, so with that I started to claw my way out of the car on the ceiling. "SIT!" I heard a female voice yell behind me. I stopped moving forward and looked behind me. There, heading towards the spot I hung over, was a unicorn mare. When she was underneath me, I watched as she lit her horn up before firing whatever she had charging at me. When it hit me I felt my magic dissipate and the next this I heard was several gasps. I slowly turned my head and saw that everyone was looking at me with shock, but that was before I saw the lion hybrid's expression turn into the same look those damn government officials had back on Earth. And I didn't like it at all. I started to scurry away and I could hear them all yelling things like, "Get the human!" "Capture the Target!" "Don't let the griffin's get him!" "Get me a Pickle!" Still have no idea where that last statement came form, but it didn't matter as I reached the door on the other side. I grabbed onto the door frame and flipped myself up and landed on top of the metal train car. I did that awesome pose from that fight scene Scarlet Johansson was in during the movie Iron Man 2. Sadly no one saw me as I looked around and every single one of ponies and, im guessing, griffins were still fighting. 'Darn. Thats was a badass move and no one saw it.' I thought with a huff as I stood up. "Don't let him get away!!" someone shouted causing everyone to look in my direction. They had all stopped what they were doing mid-action, causing them to look as if they were frozen in time. A few seconds later they all rushed to where I was at, but I thought a step faster than they did and used my magic to increase my speed three times before I ran and jumped five feet in the air and landed four train cars away from where I was at. I looked back and saw that they had all piled on top of each other in a comedic fashion causing me to nearly burst out laughing. That didn't stop me from chuckling though. I then remembered my mission and I turned and looked at the front of the train and saw that there was three train cars, including the engine. The engine in question made me want to barf with how girly it looked. I shook those thoughts from my mind as I placed another invisibility spell on myself and ran for the front. I reached the front I hopped down and looked at my surroundings. The first thing I saw was a corpse. I retracted my claws before I went over and flipped the body and saw that it was a stallion and he looked like he was near retirement. I laid the body down and shut his eyes before going over and looking at the controls. Up there I found a picture of what I guessed the stallion looked like when he was younger, but I also saw his wife and two little girls in the photo. This infuriated me to no end. 'What gives them the right to take this man away from his family!?' I seethed to myself. I eventually calmed down and went back to the dead stallion and placed the picture in his hooves. I gave a small smile before going back to the controls, and I'll be honest that I had no idea how to drive this train. On the outside it looked like your average steam engine, but on the inside it looked like a modern diesel train. I was about to try and start the train when I heard a high pick scream causing me to leave the controls and head to the sound. I cracked the door open that lead to the engine and saw that there were a lot of what looked like hostages, if the griffin pointing a crossbow at a little filly was to go by. I also saw Natalie being dragged by her tail out of the car. I wanted to rip his arm off and beat him to an inch of his life but I restrained myself. "Stop struggling you BITCH!" the griffin dragging her said before he stopped and hit her across the cheek with his claws. That was when I threw caution out the window. I felt myself lose control of my magic as I felt my claws come back and my teeth get sharper and longer. I burst through the door and rushed the griffin that slapped Natalie and grabbed him by his neck. The only thing on my mind was to make him suffer. When he looked at me I could smell the fear coming from his eyes, and for some reason.... I loved it. I shook my head, getting rid of those thoughts was imperative. I still had my claws around his neck to the point where they were almost going to go in his flesh. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't ripe your throat out right now?" I asked. The griffin in my grasp just looked at me with even more fear and a little confusion. "Let the captain go you beast!" I heard a voice say behind me. I turned my head and saw the other griffin pointing the crossbow at me, and I could see Natalie looking at me in fear. In that instant I gained full control of my magic and felt my teeth and nails go back to normal. I didn't want her to see me like that, not now not ever. "Stand down Steel." the griffin I was holding ordered. "But sir-" the griffin known as Steel said but was cut off by his captain. "Are you refusing an order?" he said with a harsh look causing Steel to lower the crossbow. "No sir." Steel said in a low and defeated tone. I then turned my attention to the captain I had in my grasp and saw him looking at me as if he was analyzing my body. "Now what do you want?" he asked. "I want you to die." I said, and there was a brief pause before he spoke again. "Well he seems to be smarter than most. But I still have no idea what he's saying." he said before he paused. "Beam, you may fire." he said and I had only a few seconds to react as I saw a beam of magic him me square in the chest, blasting me back into the locomotive and smashing the controls. I felt small electrical pulses as I heard several clicks before feeling a lurch. My sight was fuzzy and it was hard to see anything, but when I turned my attention outside the window I saw that we were moving again. I slowly got up and looked for the brake, and I saw it too. Apparently when I was hit with that blast of magic I hit the area it was located in, ultimately smashing it. 'Well that doesn't look good. Not at all.' I thought with concern. "We got what we came for," I heard a female voice say to my side causing me to turn to it. "Now unhook the car behind this one. We'll need these hostages to get away free." said a unicorn as I got a good look at her. She had a grey coat and a dark blue mane and tail, and had a moon and tattoo with two arrows crossed above it on her rear, or is it flank. I have no idea; I never studied animal anatomy. "What do we do with him?" The griffin that I had in my grasp before asked her. "We use her." she said as I watched her throw Natalie down in front of her causing my to growl. "Ah ah ah. No. Bad boy." she said as she pulled a dagger and pointed it to Nate's neck. I instantly submitted as I didn't want her to harm her. The unicorn gave me a dark smile, "Good boy. Behave like that and I'll give you a sweet reward." she said saying the word 'reward' weirdly. In that moment I could hear thousands of voices in my head telling me to never be rewarded by her. Then after that moment the voices left as quickly as they came, weird really. But I left that train of thought and went to one of how to get Natalie and me out of this situation without her getting hurt. This wasn't like with the soldiers back on Earth, they didn't have magic but apparently here these ponies can. "Is there a way we can stop this thing?" she asked. "Not one I can find Midnight." the captain said. "Well find one. I'd rather not die after getting the one thing that will bring my Queen back." Midnight said with a dreamy stare. O...kay, this ones crazy. I decided to meditate and use my magic to look ahead of the tracks to see if there was anything that could stop this thing. When my sight left the confines of my body I could see a majestic city sitting on the mountain side. I went further up the tracks and saw there was a station at the end of the city, and there was a spot to transfer to another set of rails. Sadly they ended in a rock wall but I have to stop these phycos somehow. I looked around and saw that the entire platform had guards and 'guard' humans there, waiting for the train to pull up. I then saw something small and red and low and behold there about two-hundred feet from where I was looking was the red flag that split the tracks. I tried to use more of my magic but it was extremely hard. After what felt like forever I was able to turn it and thankfully none of the guards noticed. With that done I went back to the confines of my mind and saw that we were drawing near to the city. "We'll be passing Canterlot soon." the captain griffin said. Huh so it's called Canterlot, sounds similar to Camelot. I hope to god there aren't anymore horse puns in this world because that was really cringy. I then did something extremely risky, I placed another invisibility spell on myself. Luckily they didn't notice and I took the opportunity to go and mess with the manual breaks. Sadly since there was only one car being pulled that wasn't going to be enough to slow the train down, but I tightened it anyway. After that I heard and saw sparks fly under the wheels, so with that done I charged up a magic blast before firing it at the valve. With that done I slipped back in just in time to see them freak out and try and stop the breaks on the car. "Stop that accursed sound!" Midnight yelled as she clutched her ears. At the moment the griffins left the room I stopped using my magic, making me visible again. Midnight was still clutching her ears and thankfully looking the opposite way of where I was at. A minute or so went by when the two griffins came back, thought their facial expressions told me they where pissed. It seems that Midnight heard them come in ever over the screeching of the brakes. "Why haven't you stopped that sound?!" she yelled. "Because somegriffin broke the valve to stop it clean off." Cap said. Yea from now on I'm calling him Cap, so it's shorter. "Why not place a silence spell on the door?" Steel asked. "Fine." she said before charging her horn and, Im guessing, casted the spell. The next moment I couldn't hear the sound of the screeching anymore so that was a plus. "Now go place these two in the train car and watch him closely." she said as she shoot a hoof in my direction. Steel nodded and pointed his crossbow at me then Natalie. I got the idea and went over and picked her up and felt something poke my back. When I looked back I saw that the end of Steel's bow was there. I started walking and as soon as I walked out of the engine I could once again, and it still hurt like hell. "Sit the fuck down." he ordered and I did as told as I didn't want him to try anything. I sat there thinking of how to get out of this, because with what I have planned this damn train is gonna crash and I needed to get the hostages out safely. In a few minutes I came up with several ideas, but the only one that would let them get out unscathed. That idea in itself was risky because I had to knock at least two of the attackers, preferably the griffins, and unhitch the car from the engine. 'I don't have time for this' I thought as I charged a sleep spell in my right hand. Steel must have saw the glow coming from my hand as he pointed his crossbow at me and gave me a glare. "What are you doing?" he asked, which sounded like an order. I doubt he'd understand me even if I answered him, so I just shot my hand in his direction before letting the spell go. When it hit him I watched as his eyelids fall immediately before he fell to the floor with a clutter. Luckily for me the spell Midnight placed earlier kept them from hearing what was going on. I got up and walked to him and picked up his crossbow, which I might add was too big for him, but big enough for me. I still had it in my hand while I looked around at the hostages and they were looking at me in fear, and some in awe. I mean in this moment I did look badass. I then went over to Natalie and saw she was still nude so I conjured her a pair of pants for herself and she began to put them on. I then started to look around again and tried to look for something else to use as a weapon. I just hoped I could do what I needed to without the other two catching on, I mean the only way for them to know is if came in here. But what are the odds of that? "What are you doing?" I heard a voice ask behind me. I let out a groan and turned around and saw Midnight standing there. Thankfully Natalie was behind me and out of her reach. "Why aren't you being obedient? Don't you want your reward?" she asked. I sure as hell didn't want her reward; those voices that came into my mind earlier told me to steer clear of that shit for good. I just shook my head and gave her a cold stare. "Fine be that way." she said as she charged her horn. I didn't give her time as I lifted the crossbow, aimed, and then fired. The arrow hit where I wanted it to, somewhere that would cause damage but wouldn't be a fatal wound. The arrow struck it's mark a little below her socket on her right fore-hoof. She screamed and fell to the floor when it hit and I watched as her magic fizz out when she lose her concentration. With two of them out for now I put the crossbow on my back and walked out the car and looked down at the cuffs that kept the engine and car together. I squatted down and looked at it in curiosity as I have never seen one this close, but I had to find a way to either disconnect it or destroy it not marvel. With no option I charged an intense heat spell and placed my palm on the cuff, and waited. A few seconds later i started to glow red and than a little white. I deactivated the spell and went back and grabbed Natalie and walked back onto the edge of the locomotive. With one solid kick I broke the cuff and watched as the car with the hostages started to pull away and slow down. Since that was out of the way I turned my head and looked around the side of the engine and saw we were getting really close to the station. I was extremely happy to get off this death trap and I was about to jump when the thing lurched to the left, away from the station. 'That means we're going on the tracks leading to the wall.' I thought. It took a few seconds before it dawned on my that I needed to jump, NOW! With thought in mind, I jumped as hard as I could. I really underestimate myself sometimes, really I do. I was able to jump all the way from the engine, over the station and onto a two story house; with Natalie still in my hands and the crossbow on my back. Still have no idea how it's still there. I turned around and watched as the engine hit the buffer stop and caught fire before tipping on its side and digging into the ground. That was before it went and hit, wait I mean rammed, into the rock wall and blew up. 'I didn't know they could blow up...' My thoughts trailed off. "STOP THEM!" came a shout. I looked down and saw that all the guards that were on the platform were no looking at me. "Well this doesn't seem fair." I said with a slight chuckle. I dropped the crossbow that was in my hand and placed Natalie on my back, as if I was giving her a piggie-back ride. "You ready?" I asked. She hasn't talked at all since she was hit and I didn't know what was going on with her. "Y-yea. Let's just get out of here." she said. That was something I could get behind a hundred percent. I picked the crossback back up and then started to running start for my jump. I could hear wing beats behind my and when I looked back I saw several pegasus guards tailing me. "Shoot." I said before increasing my speed by leaning forward. I spent the next five minutes running away from them but to no avail. In a last ditch effort I casted and placed a final invisibility spell on Natalie, myself and the crossbow before jumping down into an alleyway. The last thing I saw was that gold and purple castle with a large white horse and purple pony standing on a balcony before I nearly landed on some trash but managed to hit the ground right next to it. I looked from one end of the alleyway and saw several guards rushing to the castle, 'Probably going to protect their ruler.' I mused. I then took Natalie off my back and set her on the ground before placing the crossbow on my back and picking Nate' back up. My attention was brought back to me when I heard several 'clops' and looked to the other end of the alley and saw multiple unicorns coming my way. They looked to be wearing that armor that the others had on, but the looks in their eyes told me they weren't guards at all. "Come out and play~. I know your in here my little human~." said an all too familiar voice. I watched as the unicorns split up and in the middle was none other that Midnight. 'How the hell did she get here so fast?' I thought with a shocked expression. "Mam are you sure he's here?" a unicorn asked. "Of course I do." she said and without warning I watched her charge and fire a spell at me, and again dispelling my spell. "That shit's really pissing me off." I said before turning to my right. I was about to start running when I heard multiple horns charging up. With out a second thought I tightened my grip on Natalie just as the unicorns fired their blasts of magic, sending me flying all the way out the alleyway and into the store across the street. I was somehow able to turn around in mid-air, resulting in me smashing through the front of the store with my back. All I could feel was pain, and it raced across my back like the Grand Prix. "Cuz are you okay?" I heard Natalie ask me. "Yea. Im fine. Not like I just got blasted with magic that was equivalent to a stick of C4 and then crashed into someones shop." I said with a groan. "You don't have to be smart about it." she said with a huff. I looked around and saw that we had crashed into a toy shop, judging by the little colts and fillys looking at us in a mixture of fear, awe, and curiosity. I gave another groan as I pushed myself up and looked around at my back. There was several pieces of wood lodged into my skin and it hurt like a bitch. Luckily I'm used to pain, but that doesn't mean it ever get easier to go through. I then slowly stood up and walked to the new entrance I gave the store and placed my hand at the top of it. Outside the 'guards' were moving civilians away in hopes they wouldn't get in their way, and they also seemed to have gotten some humans. Seven to be exact. They looked to be in their mid to late twenties, and they seemed to be really muscular. Not muscular like me, but body builder muscular. 'They're gonna be tough to beat. I just need to steer clear of them and I might make it out alive.' I thought. I was about to go out but I was stopped when I felt someone pull my tail. i turned around and saw Natalie looking at me with teary eyes. "Be careful, will ya?" she said. "I will. I promise." I said as I gave her a reassuring smile earning gasps in the entire shop. I didn't pay them no mind as I felt Natalie let go of my tail, and I then slowly walked out of the shop and into the street. "You will surrender and come with us." Midnight said, and my response was getting into a combative stance. "Fine be that way. Whom ever knocks him out first gets a juicy steak." she said I could see that all the humans eyes widened before they charged me. I jumped straight into the air and watched as they all ran into each other. When I hit the peak of my jump I angled myself so I would land on a few of the humans, but when I counted them I only saw four. 'Where the hell did the other three go?' I thought as I landed on two of them humans, both my feet hitting their heads with a snap. The next thing I heard was a scream and I recognized it to be Natalie. "Natalie!!" I yelled as I looked towards the toy shop. I was about to run and stop them but something grabbed my tail and pulled on it, causing me to fall to the ground as my balance was disrupted. I didn't get the chance to get up as the two humans I didn't get started to stomp on me. It hurt like nothing I've felt before but I had to endure it to get Nate out safely. I promised her mom I'd keep her safe and happy, but I still failed at that. I watched in blurry eyes as they dragged by her arms over to us as she kicked her legs. She managed to kick the human walking behind her in the shin, and his response was to punch her in the face. After that I saw here form go limp, and I started to think the worst had happened. "Why do you not use you powers young one?" asked a voice inside my head. I couldn't tell if it was male or female but I wanted answers. 'W-who are you?' I thought. "That my dear boy isn't important. What is, is saving your cousin. Now answer the question, why don't you use your magic?" it asked again. 'Because I don't want to harm anyone.' I answered. "But if not harming others is causing the end to your life, why not hurt others?" 'Because I promise Natalie I wouldn't.' "But keeping this promise to her led her to her death. What do you think about that?" 'What gives you the right to say that!?' I yelled in my mind as I felt the human's stomps coming down harder. "Well my dear Cole, the right that allows me to say this is because I am you." it said. 'What do you mean?' I asked in fear and pain as the humans kept stomping me, but something was different. Time around me had slowed down. "Im the anger that you have bottled up for so long. All those kids making fun of you, bullying you. That anger is what started me, but your magic is what gave me life or allowed me to manifest into a mental form." my anger said. 'Well what do you want?' I asked. "Nothing much. I just want to kill these humans and get Natalie back. Remember I AM you, just more violent. All I need you to do is to give me control of your body." he said. 'Fine. Just don't hurt anyone else.' I thought as I let go and gave him control. Location:Canterlot Castle Perspective: Celestia Time: 2:23 pm Dear Princess Celestia, Today me and my first lieutenant Private Iron Shield investigated the disturbance that you asked us to look into, and we found two humans in a clearing about a hundred and fifty hooves away from the initial magical disturbance. When we arrived on scene there wasn't anything out of the ordinary but we found a set of unfamiliar tracks leading away from the interference and into the clearing I mentioned earlier. I have a bad feeling about this and these humans as they are completely different from other humans. They have animal ears and tails, and they might have other differences. We will have them transported to Canterlot three days from now on the Friendship Express. I request a squad of guards and a small pack of three humans, max. I have no ideas if others will want them or not but I don't want to be careless. That is all I had to write about and I look forward to seeing you in three days to catch up since I have been stationed here in Ponyville. Sincerely, Captain Strict Service I had been vigilant ever since my guard captain told me that the train that held the two special humans that Captain Strict Service had told me about not three days ago was under attack. I had sent my best guards to the station to try and apprehend the individuals crazy enough to attack a royal convey. The worst part was that there were ponies on board that train as well and they were being used as hostages. I had been in Twilight's private classroom I set up for her when a guard came in and told me that the train was being attacked by griffins. It shocked me that they would pull this, but I'd have a word with Steelclaw about this issue. I dismissed Twilight's lesson for today and asked her to go play, but she insisted on following me. So there we stood on the balcony that looked over canterlot and the rest of Equestria. I had witnessed all that had happened since the events started, form the train coming into sight to it tipping over and ramming into the rock wall, next to the tunnel that leads down the mountain, before exploding. Then to seeing a small human carrying a smaller one jumping unto a house next to the train station to it running around and then going invisible. That shocked me as I didn't know there was a unicorn helping him. I then used my magic as I tried to find him but I didn't have to when something shot out of an alleyway close to the castle and into the Toy Boxes's toy store that was across the street. I thought the human would have been dead but to my shock I saw him come out of the shop and I didn't get what that one unicorn said but if the combat stance the human went to I'd hazard a guess and saw he was refusing to go. "Princess Celestia what's going on?" I heard Twilight ask. "Well my dear Twilight, we had found some unique humans a few days ago and they were meant to come to Canterlot and go to HASA, but the griffins attacked and tried to take them. Now Im guessing the male one is trying to make sure he and his mate stay out of reach of us." I said. Twilight gave me a nod and when we turned back the male human was being stomped repeatedly causing me to let out a small gasp. After half a minute I saw the boy's mane grow longer, and I watched as he grabbed a hold of one of his attackers legs and squeezed hard. I could hear the human's bone snap from here as it let out a howl of pain. The male then pushed his arm forward causing the other to lose balance and fall on the ground. The other stomping human had stopped and backed off a little, but then came back and looked like he was about to attack. Though before he could I watched as the boy planted his hands on the ground and bucked his legs back. The result was that the attacking human was sent a few yards back. "GET HER OUT OF HERE! GO!" I heard somepony yell. When I looked I saw it was the same unicorn from before that was talking to the boy. I then looked to who she was talking to and saw a pair of griffins grabbing the female and watched as they started to fly away. This caused me to snap to attention. "GUARDS! Stop those griffins and capture that group of guards!" I yelled. When I looked back down there I saw the boy kicking the human males back looking up at the griffins that were carrying his mate. "GIVE HER BACK!" he yelled shocking everypony in earshot, even myself. He then began running forward and dodging a few unicorns before jumping high into the air. "Princess I didn't know humans could do that." Twilight said. "They can't..." I mumbled. I then watched him soar through the air before latching onto one of the griffin's wings. He then twirled around the wing before grabbing his mate and kicking the other griffin right in the beak. I was too shocked to say or do anything after what I just witnessed, so I promptly past out. Location:Canterlot Main street Perspective: Cole Time: 2:50 pm "You can have control back now." he said right as he kicked the other griffin in the beak. I grabbed onto Natalie for dear life as I started to plummet to the ground. When I landed I kicked up a large dust cloud that was dismissed a few seconds later. The ponies that were around me were giving me shocked looks, which really bothered me for some reason. "The hell are you lot looking at?" I asked with a harsh tone. I then looked down to Natalie and placed my ear on her chest. I could hear the 'thumps' of her heart, to which I sighed in relief. I then heard foot steps behind me and I turned around to see a human running up at me. I really didn't have time for this, so when he got close enough I pushed forward as I placed a hand around his neck. This caught him off balance and allowed me to push him down and slam him into the ground, cracking his windpipe and killing him. I then turned around and picked Natalie's body up before running away before jumping away from this town and started to head towards the forest in the distance. > Chapter 3: Sweet Dreams Young One > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It's been close to two years since we first came to this world. I was hoping that it would have been a free world, one where you wouldn't be discriminated by what you look like but I was wrong. In this world, Equis as it's called, the humans here are the animals and are owned, hunted, showed off, or eaten by the other races. Ironic isn't it? The human race, once a unyielding force brought down to nothing but animals. Even though the others of my race sought to capture Nate and me for our powers, they don't deserve this. Plus I know that these are different humans because they are more neanderthalish. They act more on instincts than brains and they also seemed to have a pack mentality. I know all of this because since we escaped that day, I headed into the forest that was behind the small town and for some reason they didn't seem too keen on following us in there. I made several trips into the town at night to gain information and luckily they had a library. Yes I did steal some books, but I brought them back. I learned that Natalie and I were in a country called Equestria, funny right? A country ran by ponies, called 'Equestria'! HA! What a riot!! All I really hoped for is that they don't have anymore horse puns about America besides Manehatten, Trottingham, Las Pegasus, Baltimare, Fillydelphia, and Vanhoover. I groaned so much when I read those names, and this got me thinking. How could they be so close to making their cities sound so much like ours? There might be some magical or dimensional anomaly somewhere thats causing this. I might be thinking about this too much, but I digress. This forest that we have called home is called the Everfree and it has that name for a reason, because these ponies control the weather but not in the forest. So Im guessing thats where it got it's name, plus all the animals in here are really weird. Back to where I need to get we set camp in this old castle, that I later found out was the Castle of the Two Pony Sisters, where Celestia and Luna lived. I've been looking through all the history books that was at the library, but I couldn't find any pictures of this 'Luna', only Celestia. A huge shock came to me when I read that Celestia was over a thousand years old; I wonder how many cakes she has to have to fill it with those candles. Anyways I kind of went over to the Griffin Empire, in disguise of course, as a young dragon drake. Natalie and I had killed a few dragons that were deep in the Everfree and I went over there to commission a ship, a battleship. Though not the newest ones, but the ones from WWII. When I told them I wanted a ship I didn't specify on the details, all I said was that I wanted them to build a hull with the strongest materials they had, paint it light grey on top, have a black strip down each side in the middle and make below the black line red. After that I would handle the rest. Luckily for me there was a large cave at the edge of the Everfree where I could store the hull and build the rest of the damn thing. In my adventures in the forest I ran into a tan pegasus, whom was scared of me. I saved her from a giant cat-thing that went by the name of Ahuizotl. I found a weird idol on a stand in one of the temples she decided to go to and it seemed to have a genie in it. Her name is Erinna and she may be a bitch, but I'm glad to have her on my team. I used one of the wishes to finish building the ship to the way I wanted it and I'll tell you this it looks badass. About two months went by and when I went back to the Golden Oaks library, as i found out later on, that this 'Daring Do' pony was actually an author for a book series that was strangely familiar to Indiana Jones form Earth. Ever since then neither Natalie nor I have come across any equines, though we did find a few packs of wild humans. There was also this time I found a large pack of humans with black spots on them, but they were easy to predict as they were even stupider than other humans. I later found out that those were infected humans and one bite or scratch and whom ever was hit would die in a matter of hours, in a painful death might I add. After that I decided to train with using a bow and arrow since we had very little ammo and firing a gun would attract too much attention. Natalie spent her time in the forest training in mental magic, which meant that she had to meditate a lot of the time. She also learned to use herbs and herbal magic from a zebra that lived in the Everfree. I was there when we first met her, and she fainted as soon as we talked. I expected her to scream her lungs off, but I guess in a state of shock she still knew that it was best not to scream. After that rough encounter we became friends with her and she seemed very helpful. She also told us about a legend of the Mare in the moon when I asked about why there was a horse on the face of the moon. So in about four months she would return and try and plunge this world into eternal darkness, and Natalie and I wasn't gonna let that happen. So to sum it up I found a genie and added her to our team, learned more about the land we've been in, bought and built a battleship, became a star in a popular novel series, and got good with a bow and arrow. Learned about herbs and made a new friend in the Everfree. Now we're waiting for the day of the Summer Sun Celebration, which is a day away and I was preparing for the fight that was going to happen. I don't know if Celestia has a plan to stop Nightmare, but I have to do something. Sorry if I didn't put all of those things in order, I'm the kind of guy to remember things that interest me at the moment. Right now I was in the old castle and in an old room I turned into my little personal gym. I was throwing punches at a punching bag as I looked back on the past, but I was interrupted when something wet hit the back of my head. I stopped mid swing and looked back and saw Natalie there with a smirk on her face. "You work yourself too much." she said as she walked over to the bench that was near me. "I need to get ready for the fight. I'm going to be fighting an alicorn." I said as I whipped the sweat of my forehead before going back to hitting the bag. I had gotten into the martial arts fighting styles; which include karate, judo, muay tai, taekwondo, aikido, traditional boxing and a few more I can't really remember. Keep in mind I only know the basics, but I know how to preform all the styles I just need practice. "Don't think your going to do this alone. I'm helping one way or another." "Fine, but you listen to what I tell you alright?" I said because I knew there was no stopping her. When she has her mind set on something, she'll do anything to get whatever it is. "Okay dad." she said with a groan. "Natalie I'm being serious here. This mare can move the moon with her magic, and it's a freakin celestial body," I said as I let another punch hit the bag, but this time hitting it harder. "I don't want to be responsible if anything happens to you." I finished as I threw multiple punches, each one with more strength than the last causing the chains to snap and the bag to fall to the floor. "Fine I'll listen." she said as she hopped up off the bench. "You're such a worry-wort sometimes, ya know that?" "Better be safe than sorry." I turned around and started to whip my sweat. *sigh*"That was a good work out," I said before taking a deep breath and nearly choking. "and maybe now I can work on a shower." "I wasn't going to say anything, but you are in a desperate need for one." Nate said as she pinched her nose. "Yea you're right, but how come you weren't gagging since you came in?" I asked. "I placed a spell on myself that takes my ability to smell for a short time." she then paused. "I'm not stupid you know. I did learn from last time." she finished as she walked out of the room and to somewhere else in the castle. I, on the other hand, got my white tank top and headed for the once old but now new bathroom to take a much needed shower. I walked down one of the many hallways in the castle and had to step over some rubble as I continued on. The reason for the rubble still being here is because I couldn't risk the chance of the pegasi that sometimes fly over wondering why most of the castle isn't destroyed. I wanted to hide here until a little after Luna comes back. I finally reached the showers and it was one of the few rooms we fully rebuilt, for privacy reasons. The room was relatively big for a bathroom; as soon as you walked in to the left was a long sink that ended after about ten feet and after that was a weird toilet. I guess that was the toilets used by the ponies, but we added another one for us. Across the room was a shower and a tub, both separate. Although they're too bug for us, considering the tub could be used as a small pool for Nate and I, since they were made for the alicorns. I had added a few more shower heads in the shower, but only one was used at a time, for modesty reasons. There was even a closet next to the tub for a ton of towels, but I had put some of my new pairs of underwear in there so I wouldn't have to walk out in a towel, same for Natalie. You might be wondering why not a bra too, well the reason for that is because she is only ten. So she's not old enough for her assets to be there, and yes I know about this stuff all because I grabbed the wrong book at the library one night. I closed the door behind me before stripping my clothing and looking myself in the mirror. Over the time I started to work out and practice the martial arts that I knew, I had gained some muscle mass. Not much but enough for it to be noticeable. I gave a small smile and a chuckle as I turned and got into the shower. It didn't take me long to clean myself so I stood there for a little while as I felt the water hit me on the head and cascade down my body. Thoughts of home started to resurface in my mind, and I hate having to remember these. The life I left behind, I mean it wasn't that bad but it still hurt to know that I left my loved ones behind and I'll never see them again. Sometimes I catch Nate crying herself to sleep because she misses her mom, and it hurts me when I do catch her. I gave a sigh and shook me head; I really needed to not think of this. I needed to be calm and collective for tomorrow. I let a lone tear out from my left eye as I turned the water off. I couldn't tell where to tear went as it had joined the mass of water that had still been going down my face. I opened the door to the shower and grabbed a towel and dried myself off. I got a clean pair of under wear from it the closet next to the tub and put them on along with some socks, with them on I walked to the door, turned off the lights and exited the bathroom. When I entered the hallway I could see the moons light coming through the open roof and I looked up at the moon and had to resist the urge to howl. I maybe human, but I'm still part wolf mind you. I stopped looking at the moon and went to put some clothes on, and It doesn't take me long as I put on a pair if black jeans and a white shirt. So with that done I went about my night as usual, which included working on the hummer that we came here in. Now even after the two years we have been here I still haven't fixed it, and the reason for that is because I have had more important things to get done. I mean I could use one of the many wishes from Erinna, but where would the fun be in that? The only things that needed to be fixed is the interior, front and rear axles and wheel mounts. I have already fixed the axles in my spare time, now all I need is to fix the wheel mounts and I can connect the wheels back onto the car. I spent close to four hours fixing the mounts but I finally fixed it so I clapped my hands together as I pushed myself out from under the lifted truck before standing. "And tell me again why you didn't want to use my powers to fix this 'truck' as you called it?" a squeaky voice asked from my left shoulder causing me to sigh. "Because Erinna I said that there wouldn't be any fun in that. I may be bad at fixing cars but that doesn't mean that I don't find any fun in it." I said as I looked at her. "Yea, and that accounts for all the yelling?" she said with a sly smile. "S-shut up. you know I have a short temper sometimes." I then felt my face heat up with embarrassment. "I'm just messin' with ya. Now I think it's time for you to get some rest.... you have a serious fight in a few hours." she said with a warm smile. "Yea I guess you're right." I said as I turned everything off and left the room. It was in a large storage closet at the back of the castle so it's going to take a little while to get where I wanted to go to sleep at. "Well I guess I will see you tomorrow. I need to get some sleep too." Erinna said with a long yawn at the end. "Goodnight Erinna." I said as I started to walk away. "Goodnight to you too Cole." I just gave a wave as I headed back to the bathroom to take another shower. The shower I took was short as I was strapped for time right now. With that done I headed off to the room that was across from the room that withheld the elements form the world, and I went to this The walk there was quite and quick as I only had five hours to sleep and I needed to sleep. I was bone tired and I risked it with getting the truck back into working order. I arrived in the old room where the pedestal for the elements was located at and the room was heavily damaged, almost as if a battle had taken place here. I wouldn't know since non of the books I had looked at had any information about why the castle was abandoned. I really don't care for the reason this place was empty, it was somewhere me and Natalie could live safe for the past two years. I looked around the room for somewhere to sleep, a place where I could be hidden and stealthy when Nightmare Moon got here. I spotted some rafters at the end of the room just above a large glass window and opposite of the large doorway that led to a set of stairs that went down, and I just shrugged as I jumped up there and laid down on the rafters and slowly drifted to sleep, strangely thinking about if the ponies will be nice to us. I was awoken by a vibration that sounded almost as if someone was stomping on the ground. I looked down to see whom had woken me from my dreamless sleep saw a familiar purple unicorn and a large black alicorn. I gave a sigh before thinking, 'Welp, showtime.' The unicorn looked heart broken and I wondered why, that was until I looked back at the alicorn and saw what was left of the elements. 'Shit thats not good.' I thought to myself before creating a mental link with Natalie. 'Natalie are you awake?' I asked and I got nothing in return so I guess she was. "You little foal. Thinking you could defeat me!" Nightmare said as she shot her head forward causing the unicorn to flinch back and look down. "Now you will never see your princess," at that moment her hair seemed to take a mind of it's own as it shot up. "or your sun." she said as she narrowed her eyes. 'Natalie Wake Up!' I screamed over the link, and after that I could hear several thoughts as I felt Nate wake up. 'The heck do you want?! I was having an awesome dream!' she yelled. 'Well Nightmare Moon is here and she might be about to kill a unicorn that is in her way.' I thought as I got into a pouncing position, and luckily the unicorn hasn't seen me yet. "The Night Will Last FOREVER! MUAHAHAHAHA!" she said and I felt her power slightly increase. 'Nate I hope you hurry. I don't know how long I can stand this pony.' I thought as I resisted the urge to groan. 'Why? She can't be that bad.' she thought and I could feel her presence getting closer. 'Well she's cheesy, and you know how much I hate people being like that.' I thought as I heard multiple voices coming up the stairs yelling 'Twilight' repeatedly, and I guessing since the purple unicorn responded to the voices that her name was Twilight. My ears twitched as I faintly heard her gasp. She stood in the same place but turned her head to where she could still see the exit and also see Nightmare. "You think you can destroy the elements of harmony just like that?" Twilight said as she turned around and stomped her hoof down. "Well you're wrong. Because the spirits of the elements of harmony are right HERE!" she finished and I had just noticed five new mares standing behind her. One was a unicorn, two were earth ponies and the other two were pegasi. I completely tuned them out as I watched Nightmare's reaction to the spectacle. At first she looked angry, but I watched as that anger slowly turned to desperation and it was strong enough for me to smell it. "You still don't have the sixth element. The spark didn't work." Nightmare said as she continued to look behind her and Twilight. What was she planning? I really hope she doesn't know where I'm at right now. "But it did. A different kind of spark." Twilight said with determination before turning around and facing the five mares. "I felt it the very moment I realized how happy I was to hear you, to see you, how much I cared about you. The spark ignited inside me when I realized you all," she turned around and faced Nightmare again. " are my friends!" After she said that I saw a bright light and had to shield my eyes, but when I got used to it I saw another element fly down to Twilight and hover there. "You see Nightmare Moon," Twilight continued. " when those elements are ignited by the" she paused, "the spark that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth element. The element of MAGIC" she said and with that the final element started to glow even more until the entire room was encompassed with the light. I didn't see what happened because of the light but when it died down I saw the six floating in the air and then a rainbow beam shot out and arched into the air, headed straight for Nightmare moon. The beam would have hit Nightmare but I watched her put up a shield, which blocked the beam from hitting her. But it seemed to be too much for her since when the beam ended her shield shattered and she was thrown back, and she skid across the floor until she hit the stone wall under the window. The six mares slowly floated down to the ground and when they touched down the light fully faded, and I saw the elements were now five necklaces and a tiara. They all gasped when they opened their eyes and saw that Luna was Nightmare Moon still. "Why didn't the elements work?" Twilight questioned aloud. My attention was drawn to the six and saw their shocked expressions, and I felt sorry for them. They tried but it wasn't enough. A villainous laugh had drawn my attention and it seemed to come from none other than the cheesy one. She was slowly getting up and I'll tell you this, the look she had on her face somewhat scared me. "Was that all the elements could do?" She said as she smiled, showing off her sharp teeth. "Because for them to defeat me once but not a second time is joyous!" Her smile then vanished and was replaced with a murderous look as she walked forward. "Now if you'll be so kind and die." She then charged her horn and I had no idea as to what spell she was going to use but I knew it wasn't good. I made a split second decision as I pushed off the rafter and pounced. I let out a growl as I soared in the air to my target. My growl caused Moony to stop her spell and look behind her, and when she saw me her eyes widened in shock. I landed on her and with my momentum I knocked her off her hooves and I didn't want to be near her when she got up so I used my arms and flipped forward a few feet away from where she landed. I looked at the six mares and they looked back at me in shock and fear. "Is that a wild human?" one of them whispered. I didn't pay attention to them as I turned back to Nightmare as she got up and let out a groan. "I will admit human, you caught me by surprise. But YOU DARE ATTACK ME?!" she said, yelling the last part which caused me to cover my animal ears in pain. "Damn ya don't have ta yell." I said as I shook my head. When I looked back at her I was met with a blast over magic, and luckily I had my arms up as a shield. The blast caused me to slide back a few feet, still on my feet I looked up at her stunned face and smirked. "That all you got? Because my grandmother could hit harder." She seemed to know I was taunting her because her pupils constricted and the next second she was in front of me. Her look scared the hell out of me and in that split second I jumped out of the way as a tendril from her hair created a crater where I once stood. "Stand still so I can kill you!" she said with a creepy look. "Sorry, not gonna happen." I said as I landed a few yards away. I looked at the six mares and gave them a serious look. "I need you lot to get somewhere safe. I'll tell you when I need you to fire that beam again." I said just as Nightmare came at me again. "Now stay still!" she yelled as she conjured several different swords and tried to stab me but I just dodged every one of them. I continued to dodge until I could find an opening, and when she had the swords too far from her I found it. I shot forward and swiftly roundhouse kicked her in the face sending her sliding across the floor. "Ready to give up?" I asked as I put my leg down and brought my arms up in a traditional boxing shield while I hopped from foot to foot. "I've never had this much trouble with a single human before. Why are you so much trouble?" she asked as she got up and spat some blood on the floor. "Because I'm smarter than the average human." I said with a smile. "DON'T MOCK ME HUMAN!" she yelled, causing me to pause. Did she...? I think she may understand me in some way. "Wait can you understand me?" I asked with caution. "Now's not the time for idle talk." she said as she conjured another set of swords and shot them at me. I jumped out of the way but one of the swords redirected it's trajectory and hit me in the leg causing me to scream in pain. Since I was distracted I couldn't land properly and landed on my side with a thud. "Not so confident are we?" she mocked. 'Natalie I need you!' I thought in a slight panic. 'Hold your horses, I'm almost there.' I heard her voice in my head. 'Well I'm having trouble holding one horse, so please hurry.' I thought as I yanked the sword from my leg. Blood started to flow from the wound but I clasped my hand on it and pushed some of my magic in it, and within seconds it was gone. It may not be there anymore but I can still feel the pain from it. I slowly stood up and looked at Nightmare as I flicked the sword down making the blood that was on the blade splatter on the floor. The sword in my hand looked to be a very simple looking katana, but it had this weird magic around it. "How?" She said as she looked at me once again in shock. "Like I said. I'm not your average human." I said in their language causing several gasps to ring in the room. I also heard a thud and when I looked over at the six girls, the white pony had fainted. "You're him, aren't you?" Twilight asked, and I gave her a confused look. "The human form two years ago that was in Canterlot." she clarified. "And you're the purple unicorn that was on the balcony." I said as I looked forward and saw Nightmare a few feet away from me and she was about to strike me with her sword, a double edged long sword to be exact. I brought the katana up in time to block her strike and parry it away. She then brought her sword back up and stuck again, and I parried it again. We continued this until I charged some of my magic into the blade and swung with all my might, and when my blade connected with hers it shattered into pieces. I then jumped back a few feet because I didn't know what she was going to pull next, but judging by her shock expression she's trying to figure out how I broke her sword. "That was a heavily enchanted sword, one meant to not break or rust. How were you able to break it?" she asked with an unnatural calm. "Because I used my magic." I said in English again. "Be that way. I'll get rid of you one way or another." she said as she teleported somewhere. I then positioned myself to where I was in a seigan no kamae stance as I waited and listened to where she would reappear. I heard a slight fizzle next to me and I jumped just as she came back to this plane, and avoided another sword strike. She then rushed me and I stuck her sword again and broke it, and I followed that with another roundhouse kick to the side of her head. She shot to the floor and when she hit the ground it created a dust cloud and I'm sure I put a crater in the floor. I then threw my new sword to the side and saw it embed itself in the floor; I did this because I wanted to use my bare hands rather than a sword. A few seconds later the dust was blown away but a gust of wind and when I finally saw Nightmare again, she looked livid. "No more foaling around, it's time I dealt with you." she said as she closed her eyes and charged her horn. My eyes hardened and I pulled a dick move as I ran up to her, but slowed down as I drew near her. When I was right in front of her I brought my hand up and brought it close to my face, and promptly bitch slapped her across her muzzle. Her spell fizzled out and she opened her eyes in shock as she brought her right fore hoof up to her cheek. "No." I simply said. Her shock turned to fury as her eyes started to glow and shine white. "I've had about enough of yo-" I didn't let her finish as I slapped her again. She brought her hoof up and it connected with my gut, knocking the wind out of me and sending me a couple of yards back. "Stop slapping me." she said as I heaved in pain. Just then someone landed in front of me and I saw it was Natalie. "B-bout *cough*damn time you got here." I wheezed out as I tried to regain my breath. "Sorry for being late. I had to get everything ready to go since someone didn't do it." she said as she turned her back to my opponent. I was about to warn her to not turn her back to the nightmare but it was to late as she yanked backwards by Nightmare's magic and held right next to her face. "And what do we have here? A mate?" She questioned. "What?! Gross!" Natalie yelled with a blush, and I had one as well. "Doesn't matter she'll be dead soon, along with you." as she conjured a dagger. I shot forward and was about to roundhouse kick her with my right foot in the face again but she brought Natalie up in the way. I stopped my foot just inches away from her body, but I wasn't going to stop. I was too pissed at her to give up so I redirected my center of gravity and quickly hopped onto my right foot and kicked the other side of her face with my left foot. She dropped Natalie and fell on her side as she lost her balance, and I went over and stretched my arm to Natalie who excepted it. I pulled her up and she gave me a nod and looked at nightmare, whom was laying on the ground unconscious. "Did you have to kick her that hard?" Nate asked. "I'm sorry." I apologized. "Don't be, now what do we do with her?" she asked as she pointed to the alicorn in question. "I'm going to separate them." I said as I walked over to Nightmare and placed a hand on her head before casting a complex spell I learned a while ago. This spell allows the caster to go into the mind of whom ever he or she is touching. When I finished casting the spell I closed my eyes and I couldn't feel the anything around me. When I opened my eyes I was on what appeared to be the moon, and I'll be completely honest I freaked out a teensy bit. When I finally realized I wasn't suffocating or going to die I took in my surroundings. I was indeed on a moon and it seemed vacant besides the giant planet next to this thing, but I could feel two presences close by. Without asking who it was, because I already knew, I ran to where I felt them reside and found them in a large crater. In the center of the crater Nightmare Moon seemed to be yelling at a much smaller Luna who was being held down by chains. I jumped up and slide down the side of the crater and ran until I was about one or two yards away, and when I got close they both looked at me. Nightmare's was one of hate and Luna's was of shock. "How did a filthy human get in here?" Nightmare asked. "I used a complex spell made by Starswirl the Bearded." I said as I came to a stop. "Ha don't make me laugh. A human that can use magic.... is.... preposterous." she said and finished off in a mumble. "What? Surprised to be taking to a human again?" I asked as I crossed my arms. She stayed silent for a few seconds and I'm guessing her brain was trying to compute what's going on right now. "Very well. What reason do you have for coming into my domain?" she asked as she spread her wings, trying to look intimidating. "I came to separate you and Luna." I said with a serious expression. "You must be insane if you think i'll agree to do that. If you do that I'll be nothing else." Nightmare said a she slightly started to panic. "Not necessary. You were born from Luna's jealousy so in turn are a part of her. There was an out side force that actually gave you life, an entity called the Nightmare. It's a parasitic creature that feeds off the fears and insecurities of others." I explained. "So what does that make me, her daughter?" Moon said as she pointed a hoof to Luna who's face showed panic at that statement. "You could be or you could be her sister, it's your choice. Now I need to find the parasite before I leave this plane." "I don't think that will be a problem for you." a new voice said. "Come on dude, when I take you out I'm not gonna kill you." I said. I needed to keep the parasite alive because I may need him in the future, and I'm gonna try and fulfill one of my plans. "And what after? Use me as a science experiment!" it yelled. "No, I'll let you inside me." I said, and none of the others said anything. "What? Was it something I said?" I asked as I was completely confused. Luna and Moon had blushes on their muzzles and I could distinctly hear someone trying to hold back laughter. "Phhhahahaaha!! Oh Faust thats funny!" the parasite yelled as it continued to laugh. "You know what I meant. Now do you want to come with me or face the judgment of Celestia?" I asked causing the laughing to stop. "What would I gain if I joined you?" it asked. "Nothing really." I stood there for a few minutes as I waited for a response and then a figure materialized in front of me. It was entirely black and the only thing that could make it look like it was a living being was the white dots it had that resembled eyes. It kind of freaked me out but I calmed down. I guess since it revealed itself that it wanted to go with me. "Am I That scary?" it asked. "Somewhat, but before we go can you do something about that?" I asked as I gestured to all of him. I'm just gonna call him a 'him' because it'll be easier on me. "What's wrong with the way I look?" he asked with an annoyed tone. "Because it may help with others, and it somewhat creeps me out." I said. "Creeps you out? It doesn't even scare you?" he asked and I just shook my head. "Fine." With that he snapped what im guessing was his fingers and the next moment he looked to be a human with black hair and red eyes with white pupils. "Better?" I nodded. "How are you going to come along with me?" I asked as I had no real idea as to how he would do that. "Like this." he said as he placed his hand on my head and I saw a light glow and then go. "There I should enter your mind once we leave. Now lets go I would rather leave this places before sunbutt gets here." "Before we go I need to separate these two." I said as I went up to Moon and slapped her. "That wasn't separating me from Luna!" Moon yelled. "No, that was for threatening to kill Natalie and I'll be frank, i'm very protective of her. I see her as a little sister and I'll do anything to protect her. But I will not kill." I said as I prepared to separate them. "Why won't you kill?" Moon asked. "Because I promised Natalie I wouldn't, but that doesn't meant I won't beat someone to an inch of their lives." I said as I finished making the spell that would give Moon her own body and separate Luna. The bad part is I'm gonna have to use some of Luna's magic for the spell to completely work. "Now be your own!" I yelled as I released the spell which caused a blinding flash. I opened my eyes and removed my hand from Moons form. When I did, her body created a blinding flash just like in the mindscape and the entire room was filled with a bright light that no one could see through. When it died down in the place of Nightmare Moon was a smaller light blue alicorn. Her mane had the same look as Moons, a brilliant night sky. Next to her was Moon, both of them were still out cold. I took in my surroundings and saw that the same six mares were in the room..... along with multiple guards, who had spears pointed at me. "Mind not pointing those at me?" I asked. I knew they couldn't understand me because I'm speaking another language but it's worth a try. "Guards stand down." said a regal voice behind me. When I looked to the voice I saw the same alicorn from two years ago, Princess Celestia. All the guards that had their spears pointed at me took them back, if reluctantly. "Now little one why are you here?" she asked. "I was here for the past two years. They trespassed in my home so I was going to help them get on their way." I said as I stood up. At my full height I only reached the point where her arms reached her torso, so I was fairly short compared to her. Heck I'm just as tall as a late teenage pony. "Well thank you for saving my sister from that monster." she said as she motioned to Moon with her horn. "Now I think we need to lock her up for the crimes she has committed." she said the next part with a harsh glare before igniting her horn. I knew that Moon wasn't the culprit, rather the nightmare parasite that is in my head, whom is being suspiciously quiet. I jumped forward and tapped her horn causing her magic to fizz out, because I have learned that when you touch a unicorn's or alicorn's horn it will knock their concentration off. I have no idea why it does it but I'm not questioning it. My little stunt caused all the guards to surround me, so I'm guessing they are really protective of their princess. After shaking off her shock, Celestia looked at me with a look that I couldn't tell what she was thinking, rather it felt as if she was trying to analyze me. "Tell me human, why did you stop me?" she asked. "Princess why are you talking to a human? You know they-" a guard said before I cut him off. "Because why would condemn your sister?" I said as I answered her question with a question. Some guards dropped their spears while other pointed them closer at me, it didn't matter to me no way. I needed to get the fact the Moon is her sister and that she didn't need to punish her that greatly for it. Actually I don't think she needs to be punished, the way that the populous will treat her will be punishment enough. "She is not my sister! She's the reason why I had to banish my sister to the moon for a thousand years!" She yelled in anger. "Is she? What if I told you that the parasite that corrupted your sister resides in my mind? What if I told you that the pony you call 'Nightmare Moon' was the by product and creation from Luna's jealousy." "If that is true then why do you have that monster inside your mind? Is it allowing you to talk?" she asked seemingly ignoring the fact that I just said that Moon could be her sister. "I keep him inside my mind because I plan on using him in the future to further my plans, and as for the talking..." I started as I made circles with my hand, "he allows me to talk your language easier so there isn't too much strain on my mind." I said as I turned around and had my back facing her. The way that it makes it easier is because of his magic and knowledge I don't have an entire language running through my mind as I talk. "So you can speak another language?" "Yes. It's called English." I said before wincing in pain as I felt a twinge of pain in my skull. "Now I need to go. I have plans that need to be set into motion." I said as I started to walk away and around the guards, but I was stopped as something tugged on the collar of my shirt causing me to look back and see Celestia's horn ablaze and an golden glow on the neck of my shirt. "Your not going anywhere. You are a anomaly that needs to be researched and known." she said and panic started to set in as my fears started to come back. I really did want to be nice to them and not hostile but at this point my hands are tied because I really didn't Natalie and I to go to some research facility. They'll just treat us as animals, me as a piece of meat and Natalie as a brood. "Celestia. I'll give you five seconds to let go of my shirt." I said. "Please just-" she started. "One." "come with us. If-" "Two." "you do I promise that they-" "Three" "won't harm you in-" "Four." "the slightest. Please!" Celestia finished and I could hear her pleading me to come along but I wasn't going to. "Five." I finished as I stretched up and extended my arm before balling it into a fist. I brought my arm down and punched the ground, creating a shock wave that sent all the ponies surrounding me away. The guards went the furthest since they were the lightest, but Celestia only went about two yards. I didn't ponder on that as I looked over to the six mares and I saw them looking back at me in fear. I looked around and saw that Natalie wasn't anywhere and I wasn't going to get any information from the guards so I guess I'll ask them. I slowly stood up and walked to them and as I neared them they started to back up until their flanks hit the wall. When that happened I stopped and crouched down so I wasn't trying to intimidate them. "Now I'm going to ask this once, where did they take Natalie?" I asked with a extremely calm voice. The blue pegasus decided to show some guts as she was in my face in a matter of a second. "And what makes you think we'll tell a freak like you?! Huh?!" she yelled. "Rainbow!" Twilight shouted from behind her. "I know what you could be feeling at a time like this, however Natalie is someone I really care about. And if anything bad happens to her, well let's just say that it won't be very pleasant for you." I said but for some reason when I said 'pleasant' it seemed to have had a distortion to it. I don't really care seeing how it scared all of them and made the rainbow one back up again. "S-she w-was taken by some g-guards n-not too long a-ago." Twilight said as she shook in fear. I let a smile grace my face as I got what I wanted to hear. "See was that so hard?" I rhetorically asked. I stood back up and turned around before jumping through the holes in the ceiling and landing on the old roof. I could see the entire castle from here and I looked down to the old court yard and saw a lot of guards. What really caught my attention was Natalie being dragged outside, on a collar. Not a lot of people know this but because Natalie and I are part animals we take treatment like that much more seriously. 'Nightmare, I might need your help with this.' I thought. 'What will you need my help with?' he asked as I heard his voice in my heard for the first time. 'Well with all those guards down there it's gonna be hard to get her out of there. Plus when I jump down there they will be on me.' 'And where are you going with this?' 'I'm trying to say that I may need a magic boost if I can't get out on my own. Also why have you been quiet?' I asked. 'Because I've been awake for a thousand years. For some reason I couldn't sleep when I was on the moon with Luna and Nightmare Moon.' 'I just wanted to know what you were doing in my head. Now let's get this show on the road.' I thought as I ran and jumped off the roof and soared through the air. When I reached the arch of my jump I saw Natalie punch the guard in his head and he punched her back causing her to go limp. I aimed for the guard that had knocked Natalie out. I felt a rush that I always loved as I fell down and landed on the guard, and I seemed to have knocked him out cold. I stood up and looked around to see all the other guards picking up their weapons or pointing them at me. "Be a nice human and be good." one guard said. I held back a laugh as I did a three-sixty and saw that I was indeed surrounded, just as I thought was going to happen. I slowly turned around and around taking in my surroundings. Even if I did get out of the several guards surrounding me I'd have to deal with all the others and have to protect Natalie. They slowly moved closer but I stood my ground as they neared. 'Nightmare I need that magic boost.' I thought. I was going to use the extra magic to try and stop time and get the hell out of here. 'You got it.' he said and not a second later I felt the magic within me times by five. My hair and nails grew longer at first but then I felt an excruciating pain as most of my bones rearranged themselves. I let out a scream as my body changed but that scream soon turned into a howl. When the pain stopped I was laying on my side and I was breathing heavily, but I pushed through and stood onto my..... paws? 'Nightmare the hell happened to me?!' I shouted in my head. 'I don't know! It happened as soon as I let some of my magic into your system. I'm guessing that your natural genes took a hold of my magic and boosted your animal side.' he said in a panic. 'Well you better hope that I can turn back or else I'll find a way to get back at you.' I said to him before I let out a growl causing the guards to run away. 'Nightmare can I get a mirror?' I asked and in front of me came a mirror and when I saw myself I couldn't help by gasp or at least something that resembled a gasp. In the reflection was a giant grey wolf with glowing red eyes, and I had to admit that I looked badass. But I couldn't dwell with what I looked like, I needed to leave so I put Natalie's body on my back and I felt her grab onto my neck. With her in my possession I wrote a little message in the dirt before I ran away and headed to where the hummer was stored. I didn't run into any of the pony guards as I avoided any of them when I got close so I got there relatively fast. When I got to the storage room Erinna came flying a me causing me to try and stop but ended up skidding across the floor. When I stopped she flew over and into my face. "Cole is that you?" she asked, and since I was a wolf I couldn't respond so I just nodded. "What happened?" I shook my head and looked at Natalie on my back and then to the hummer. Erinna seemed to know what I was getting at and teleported her into the truck. Erinna looked at me with a look that seemed to ask me what she needed to do next. 'Really wish I could talk.' I thought as I looked from Erinna and then the driver door of the truck. "What? do you want me to drive it?" she asked and I nodded again. "But I don't know how!" she shouted as she shot her arms into the air and I just gave her a look that said to get in the damn truck. "Fine." she then flew into the truck and not a second later the beast's engine roared to life. I saw Erinna stick her head out the window before she spoke, "Where are we going?" she asked. I thought of a way to tell her and I used my claws to claw the message into the stone in front of me. Of course I wrote it to where she could read it and I saw her squint her eyes before letting out an 'oh' and I just nodded before running off in the direction of the giant cave. As soon as I got outside I saw Erinna bust through the back wall and I looked at her as if she was crazy. "I heard it come from over here!" I faintly heard. 'Shit their onto us.' I thought as I continued to my destination with Erinna and the hummer behind me. I arrived at the back entrance to the cave after running from the guards for about half an hour. I told Nightmare to stop letting me use his power and I turned back into my original form, which felt just as bad as turning into the wolf and luckily my clothes were still on me when I turned back. I wasn't going to question it because I never question magic. Anyways I had to tell Erinna which direction to go to because I had to distract the ponies so they could get to the cave first. Natalie was still unconscious which was worrying the hell out of me, but I had to get us all out I directed Erinna in the secret entrance and onto the dock where the ship was moored. I used one of the wishes I had when I asked her to teleport the hummer onto the rear deck and for it to be strapped down, and I used another for an entire crew of robots that knew how to command this ship. I was going to be the captain of the ship because I needed to get to where I wanted to go and I had no idea how difficult these things would be, or the reason was because I really don't trust advanced technology. But anyways I asked for a robot to take Natalie to the medical bay before heading to the bridge. Along the way there were robots running everywhere getting everything ready. From fixing the electric systems to arming the ships weapons, all those things were at work. I made it to the bridge and looked outside the front of the cave and at the bow. I haven't told you guys this for a reason but this battleship is an Iowa-class battleship and I made it resemble the USS Missouri, and the reason why is because I loved the battleships of that time and I loved this ship.My grandfather served in WWII and was stationed on the USS Missouri, but he was killed during the final battle where the empire of Japan surrendered. After staring at the bow of the ship for a while I felt a tap on my shoulder and saw a robot standing there, and strangely enough it resembled a female. "Sir, we are ready to set sail. All weapons are primed and loaded, engines are burning bright and the currents good. We wait for your call." she said. I say she because it had a very feminine physique to her body. I shook my head and looked back at the bow and river. "Full steam ahead. We head out to sea and then we go north." I said. "Sir, may I speak freely?" she asked. I'm going to have a word with Erinna later about the militaristic talk these robots have. I don't like it and it slightly annoys me. "You may." I said as I crossed my arms behind my back. "Why are we heading north?" "Because," I said as I looked back at her with a hard gaze. "The ponies have left something there." > Chapter 4: Sailing on the Seas > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It had been a little over a day since we left the cave on our way North. We hadn't received that much trouble other than the squadron of pegasi that were following us about a few hundred yards back. I haven't ordered for them to shoot them out because I don't want to start a fight with a large nation and I wanted to stay as a non-hostile. But seeing how we have a large moving weapon in our grasp, it was going to be hard not to stay friendly with others. I had gotten word that the griffins knew of what we did back at the old castle and had declared that they will be coming after us, and that they will kill us as sport. My thoughts on the matter was that they can sure as hell try. I mean I may be close to being fifteen, but I'm smarter than most people give me credit for. Plus with the fact that I have a battleship as a weapon against anyone whom would try and harm Natalie and I, along with Erinna. But I'm not going to hurt any other creature with this thing rather than use it as a means of intimidation, though I will destroy other ships when I get the chance. So I had found a map of the world in the castle before we left and we were headed down the river that connected to Horseshoe Bay. From there we would head north and go to the frozen north and try and find the lost city that was cursed so long ago. The book I found the information in was terribly damaged so I couldn't get the full picture on the subject, but it did tell me there was an inspiring city up there and one day it up and vanished as if it just disappeared. So I set out on finding it, though with the griffins declaring that they will try and kill us and the fact that they are an ocean away will make this a little difficult. All in all everything is going according to my plans, I just wish that griffin king would get that stick out of his ass. I'd never use that as one of my wishes from Erinna because one I doubt it will ever happen, two it's a waste of a perfectly good wish, and three I love the feel of being chased. Speaking of Erinna, I used a few wishes on her. One of them I asked for her to be our size seeing how she was the size of a barbie doll before. The second was for her to be free and a part of our crew, and the last was free will. I hated seeing her so limited to just what her master said so I set her free and I was shocked when she accepted my offer of joining our crew. That was yesterday and I'll say this, it is really quiet on this ship right now. Right now I'm walking down one of the many corridors in the ship as I had just finished my nap, and I was headed back to the bridge. I mean I could just teleport with Nightmare's help but I want to see the whole ship. I was just below deck and I finally reached the stairs and I had to pass by a few more of the ship's crew before I was on top. After that I walked towards to bow of the ship and leaned on the railings as the wind blew through my hair. I stared off in front of us and just thought about random stuff and a boring conversation with nightmare, but that was interrupted when I heard someone walk up behind me. I didn't have to look behind me to tell who it was because I could smell her. "Hey Cole." Erinna said. "Hey to you too." I said as I continued to look forward. "So what have you been up to today?" she asked. "Well I made a plan as to where we're going. We'll head to Horseshoe Bay and after that we head north and go around the Frozen North and build a base in the Luna bay." I intentionally left out the part of staying with Natalie in the medical bay. I have no idea as to what that pony had on his hoof when he hit her but for some reason so just won't wake up. "That sounds easy, so why do you sound like it's gonna be a pain in the ass?" "Because you remember the threat the Griffins declared?" she nodded. "Well they're off of Equestria's east coast, and the only thing separating them is a body of water called the Celestial Sea. And guess what body of water we're using to go north?" "The Celestial Sea." "Correct. And I have no idea how far Equestria's jurisdiction stretches past their borders. Doesn't matter really, if they start a fight with humans you can bet we'll gladly finish it." I said before we stood there in silence for a few minutes just enjoying the view. I then looked at Erinna and I have to say that she did look kind of cute at times. With her tanned skin, black hair and magnificent blue eyes it just made her so beautiful. I shook my head as I tried to get those thoughts from my head. "Someone's in love~" Nightmare said. 'Shut up dude.' I thought before striking up another conversation with Erinna. "So Erinna what have you been up to?" I asked. "Well I have been guiding the robots-" she started. "Ship's crew." I corrected as I interrupted her. They may be robots, but for some they look like humans now. I had asked Erinna about that and she said that it's an upgrade she gave them so we would be able to fit in better, and some other thing that they think they're humans. I don't really know but if they pull their weight then that makes them one of the crew. ", ship's crew on what to do and what we're doing and going in the next few days; other than that nothing much really. How about you? Anything else you've been doing?" "I've been by Natalie's side. I don't now why she won't wake up, and I've tried every spell and herbal remedy she taught me but nothings working. Why won't she wake?" I said as I started to cry, and I felt Erinna hug me as the tears fell from my eyes. "Hey it'll be fine, I'm sure she'll pull through. Ya know she's stronger than you think." she then started to rub my back and I let the tears go for sometime before regaining my composure. "Yea I guess you're right. But I can't help but worry, she's like a sister to me." I said as I wiped my tears away. "I know." she said as she stop what she was doing and back away. I stood straight up again and looked out on the river in front of us. It won't be long until we reach Horseshoe Bay and have to pass by Baltimare. I knew that Equestria's military will try and stop us, and I'm not going to use any of the weapons on board this ship to move them and I'm sure as hell not gonna order to stop this thing either. "So how much longer until we reach Horseshoe Bay?" Erinna asked. "With the way the current is, about half an hour." I said. "I don't know why you won't use the engines. We'd get there faster." she grumbled. "We can't. We're on limited supplies as it is, and the current is moving us along just fine." "But you could wish for more sup-" "No. I'm not going to use you for that." I said as I looked at her. "You're a dear friend Erinna. And I may not have been with you for my entire live but I trust you with it, just know that. Now I need to go to the bridge, we'll be at the bay in about ten minutes." I said as I walked off and I heard Erinna mumble something before she teleported off somewhere else. Even with my enhanced hearing I didn't catch what she said, and part of me really wants to know what she said and the other doesn't really care. I walked past the torrents of the ship and over to the bridge structure and entered. "So how are we doing this?" Nightmare asked. 'We're just going to sail right by them. I'm not going to instigate a war with a powerful nation.' I thought as I reached the stairs that lead to the next floor. "Okay I can see that but what about after? The Equestrian military won't leave us alone, not with this thing in our possession. Since they don't know what the battleship can do they won't leave." 'I know. Then we also have to deal with the griffins when we get into the Celestial Sea, and knowing them if they attack us and we retaliate they'll declare war on us. Plus with the League of Nations meeting together in about a months time we can't start anything, least the griffins get other nations to help attack us.' "I still don't see what the big fucking deal is. I mean no offence, but you're just a human. One Human. What would they gain from defeating you? Other than this ship." 'Oh they won't get their filthy talons on my ship. In the event that Natalie and I were to die I had a fail safe added to the systems of the ship. If I give the command this ship will self-destruct. I'll be damned if I let those egotistical bastards get their talons on something this revolutionary.' During our little conversation in my head I had cleared three floors and was on the one with the bridge. "You know I just now realized this, but you are really paranoid." Nightmare said as I finally reached the bridges entrance. When I entered all the robots in the room saluted me, and I said to them to be at ease as I walked over to the windows and I could see the entrance of Horseshoe Bay not a fourth of a mile away. But in the bay was about five wooden ships and on their sails was the Equestrian logo, so I'm guessing those are military ships. I crossed my arms behind me as I watched us get closer to the bay, and I heard one of the robots walk up next to me. She was the same robot that asked me why we were heading north when we started to leave, and I made her Second in command. She decided to call herself Denise Hally; she was around white with brunet hair and green eyes. I had no idea what she thought her age was because one every one of the robots are around my height and two she hasn't told me. I know I said that I was going to talk with Erinna and have her remove the militaristic talk but I kind of like it. Makes me feel important to other's. Anyways back to the situation at hand, Hally had just walked up beside me and looked out at the bay as well. "Sir what are your orders when we reach the bay?" she asked. "Before we do I want the engines started up and ready to burn. Next I want us to start speeding up to a nice cruising speed." I answered. "If the Equestrian ship's get in the way?" "It's their fault, not ours." I said and she nodded before walking back over to where she was before I came in and relayed the orders I gave. Location: Horseshoe Bay Perspective: Celestia Time: 11:45 am I tried to reason with the human male and have him kept safe in Canterlot, but he did something else I thought was impossible for him to do. He blasted me and several of my guards away with magic. Magic! Humans can't perform magic, unless he's using Nightmare's magic. That's the only thing that I can think of. When I awoke after being knocked out from his blast I had to tell the elements that I could handle him and with my sister and Nightmare Moon I think we can handle him. I don't really like having to life with the thing that corrupted my sister but I guess what that human said was correct, she was born from Luna's jealousy so that makes her a part of Luna. So Luna, Moon as she likes to be called, and I were standing on one of the several ships we had stationed in Horseshoe Bay as we waited for the humans to come. I had got word that when they left they headed further into the Everfree and a patrol of Pegasi had caught sight of a large metal ship leaving a cave and heading towards this bay. I had planned on stopping them when they get here, and hopefully it'll work. "Tia are thou sure this is a good idea?" Luna asked me. She was smaller than she was a thousand years ago because of her absence to magic, but in a few weeks time she'll be back to her original size. Moon however was the same height as I was. Anyways Moon was to the left of me and Luna was to the right. All three of us were standing on the bow of one of the ships that was closest to the entrance of the river that entered the bay. "I'm not sure. With the way he acted back at the castle I presume he panicked when I said he'd be sent to a facility." I said. "Well I don't think that was a very wise thing to say. Especially since he was already surrounded by a few platoons of guards." Moon said. "Yes We agree with Moon on that. It was not a very smart idea to act out sister." Luna said. I could see their ship coming down the river a few hundred yards away and it was getting closer by the second. "I guess it wasn't." I said as I sat down on my hunches, my sisters did the same as I did and we watched the beast get closer. It didn't take long for the ship to reach the end of the river and I could see in the distance by Baltimare that there were many reporters trying to get a decent picture of the beast as it moved. A bright flash caught my attention and I could see on the very edge of the bow, where a little spot was, was the very same human that knocked me out about a day ago. I got up and walked to the edge of the ship so I could get a closer view. I could hear a crowd in the distance so I'm guessing this thing had caught a lot of attention, but that didn't matter as I needed to stop him before he left my, I mean my sisters and my country. If he does I won't have any say in what happens. As his ship drew near I could see the determined look on his face that said he wasn't going to stop. I had a really bad feeling that he wasn't and whatever 'plan' he had forming in his mind, he'd do anything to achieve it. 'I have a very bad feeling about this.' I thought to myself before I placed a spell on myself that would make my voice louder. "Human please stop this!" I shouted. He waved his hand in the air and then looked to the ship we were on. "Sorry Celestia, but I can't do that." he shouted back. "Please I beg you! The other countries will try and kill you!" "And what, stay with you and be put in a research facility? I'd take my chances with several nations on my ass." he said as his ship passed ours. At that moment another one of my ships moved into the way of his ship and with his ship speeding up I don't think he's going to stop. The next thing that happened was his ship rammed into the one in his way and tore it in half. There multiple yells and screams coming from the ship he destroyed and I ordered somepony to go over and check to see if everypony was alright. "Sister, he just destroyed one of our battleships by moving." Luna said in disbelief. "How is that possible?" Moon asked "It must be whatever metal his ship is made from, because there isn't even a scratch." Luna said as the human and his ship continued out of the bay. I stood there stunned at what just happened. He just destroyed one of our military ships by plowing through it. So I watched as his ship left and went around the edge of the Bay to the left and I ordered for us to move out and follow him. If I couldn't get him to stay then I'll watch him out. We caught up to him with the help of my sisters and my magic helping increase the speed of the ships. The human seemed to be staying relatively close to the shore. I don't know what he had planned but he seemed to be trying to keep it safe, and luckily he was still in Equestria's boundaries. We were right in front of Baltimare's beach where the large crowd I heard earlier was and I'll tell you, it was packed. I then heard a sound off in the distance. "Do you hear that?" I asked as I concentrated on the sound. "I can barely hear it, but it sounds like..." Moon said. "Something falling." Luna finished and just as she said that there was an explosion on the bow of the humans ship, right where he stood. Location: The Dreadnought, front deck Perspective: Cole Time: right after the explosion "Son of a bitch that was close." Nightmare said as he lowered my arm. "Yea nice take over there." I said as I took control of my body again, but kept my arm stretched in the air. "Who do you think did that?" he asked. "Definitely wasn't the Equestrians. Whatever hit us was the size of a sixteen inch armor piercing round, which is meant for this ships main battery cannons." I said as I started to get a bad feeling. I noticed the smoke was disappointing to where everyone could see me so I lowered my arm. I could hear the alarms going off on the ship as I looked around in the direction that round came from but I couldn't see anything. "Nightmare I need you to teleport me back to the bridge." "Sure thing." he said and the next second I was on the bridge, and everyone in there was rushing about. "Stop the ship and give me a Damage report!" I ordered. "Nothing major sir!" a robot said. "What hit us?!" I shouted as I picked up a pair of binoculars and looked out into the water that surrounded us. "We don't know sir, there's nothing out there." another robot said. "Check the thermals." I said. "Yes sir." I heard Denise say. I continued to look out and around but couldn't see anything, and I hoped it showed on the thermals. "Ah sir you may want to take a look at this." Denise said after a minute or so. I put the binoculars down and walked over to the computer that Denise was using and looked at it. What I saw left me trying to think of what to say; on the screen was definite outlines of three battleships. "Who the hell's on those ships?" Nightmare asked. "I'd like to know the same thing. Can you please teleport me back onto the deck?" I asked him as I grabbed a walkie talkie I had connected to all the intercoms on the ship. The next moment I was back on the deck of the ship and I looked out in the direction that those battleships where in. The problem was that when I was looking at the thermal screen, all three of those ships looked exactly like this one. So someone must of snuck into the cave and copied the designs for the ship, and luckily I hadn't added any of the ammunition to the ship at that time. "What do you think there armament is?" Nightmare asked as I brought the binoculars back up to my eyes. "Well seeing how we didn't have any ammunition board at the time they may have spied on the ship, I'd say they're using cannon balls the size of a sixteen inch round. They maybe cannon balls but if they hit this ship in the right spots they can destroy it." "I guess we can't let that happen can we?" he asked and for some reason my tail started to wag. "No we can't." I said as I brought the walkie talkie to my mouth, "I want all main battery torrents trained at two, one, zero." and as I said that all the torrents turn to full broadside. "Now don't fire until I say." Location: Off the coast on the ship Perspective: Luna Time: after the explosion I have seen many things in my years but the shocking act of the one who saved me from the darkness get killed out of the blue left me speechless. I looked to my sisters and saw they had looks of shock as well, so I wasn't the only one. I sat there for a few seconds before I regained my composure. "Sister is he alive?" I asked causing Celestia to come back. "I don't know Lulu, but I doubt he still is." she said as the smoked started to clear and I squinted my eyes as I tried to look for him. As the smoke cleared I could see the outline of the human standing there with his arm out stretched. "It can't be..." I mumbled. "He's still alive!" Moon yelled as she hopped up, but quickly sat back down when she noticed hundreds of eyes on her. "How can he do the things he does!?" Celestia yelled. "It could be the nightmare." I said as he disappeared in a flash. "Damnit!" Celestia said causing me to gasp. "Sister!" "Sorry, sorry. It's just he's so different from the other humans." she wailed. "And what will you do if you can get your hooves on him, hmmm?" Moon asked. "I don't know, just..." Celestia said as a blush formed on her face. "Oh Faust please don't tell us." I said and waited. My sister started to fidget and her blush grew. "Oh thou are! Thou have a crush on the human!" I yelled. "Luna be quiet!" she whined. "Hmm I wouldn't have taken you to be swayed by a single individual, Celestia." Moon said. "Please don't rub it in." Tia said as she covered her face with her hooves. I then saw another flash and the human was back on the deck with what looked to be some black cylinders tied together. "Sister he's back, and what does he have in his hands?" I asked. "That my dear sister is a pair of binoculars. They're used to look at things that are far distances away." Celestia said as her blush vanished and it took a second until it seemed something dawned on her. "What's he looking at though." she said as she summoned a pair too and looked in them for a minute or so. "Well?" Moon said. "Nothing. There's nothing out there." she said. I heard the sound of something moving and saw the three big things on the ship turn towards the starboard side of the ship, out in the direction he was looking. The next thing that happened was a deafening boom as explosions erupted from the ends of the cannons. Since we were right next to the ship on it's port side, all I could hear was a constant ringing. My vision was blurry but I could still see, and off in the distance I saw several more explosions go off. After the smoke cleared from them, sitting out there in the water, was three more ships that looked exactly like the humans. Although when I grabbed the binoculars my sister had used and got a closer view at them , they had a red and gold theme on them and their flag was drastically different from the one on the human's ship. "Since when did the griffins get battleships like that?" I asked as the ringing finally stopped. "I don't know, but there will be word of this at the next League of Nations meeting in a month. They kept information on technology that, even though for war, could've helped other nations." Celestia said as she stood on her hooves and looked at the three ships. "What do you think the humans going to do?" Moon asked. "If I was him, I would destroy them." my sister said just as another deafening boom rang out from the cannons again. I placed a spell bubble on all of our ships that would decrease the amount of volume let in the bubble. I didn't want to admit it but my sisters helped me with the spell. I hate being like this, all weak and almost powerless. The only thing I can properly do is levitate an item. I will also not admit this to anypony else but I also have a crush on the human. A knight in armor that rescued me from the nightmare that had infested me so long ago, and now he's on the front lines with a great weapon. I'd love to have a talk with him alone, 'Maybe when I get enough of my powers back I can talk to him in his dreams.' I thought to myself as a smile grew on my face. Location: The Dreadnought Perspective: Cole Time: after the second volley "Reload, reload." I shouted into the walkie. Not that far away I could see another volley from them heading this way. "You know it's not a very smart idea to be standing out in the open where they could easily hit you." Nightmare said. "Yea but I feel as if this is more exciting standing out here, and with your help I won't die." I said in a cheery voice as I looked in the binoculars and saw that one of the ships was listing to the right too much. "It seems we hit one." I said as my tail started to wag even more and a smile grew on my face, which showed my fangs. "You are one crazy son of a bitch you know that? And would you stop wagging your tail!" Nightmare yelled. "Sorry can't help it." I said just as their volley hit my ship, and I pulled the walkie back up. "Damage report?" "A few dents in the hull sir." came a male voice. "Well since the ship to the far left is sinking, aim at the middle ship's torrents." I said and the torrents moved a little to the right before they left out a deafening boom and another explosion. I felt the ship kick back a few inches after that and I guess I'm starting to feel that thrill my dad always said his dad had in time like this. "You're insane!" Nightmare yelled in my head. 'You're one to talk!' I said in my head and I watched our second volley hit the middle ships torrents and I saw another explosion erupt from there. "God damn I love this!" I yelled as I started to laugh. My laughing was cut short when the next volley of theirs came and hit directly where I was at. Nightmare was able to put up another shield put the force of it knocked me onto the deck, hard. I tried to break my fall with my hands but that ended badly for my non-metal one. "Fuck." I grunted as I pushed myself up. I felt pain flair in my right arm and I tried moving it, but that was a bad idea as more pain came to my arm. "I think they broke my arm." I said and I really wanted to cry out in pain but I was in front of the leaders of a large nation and a few thousand citizens of said nation. "What kind of rounds was that?!" i shouted. "They seemed to have been high explosive rounds." Nightmare said as I stood back up. "Are you alright? " he asked. "Oh I don't know. How about you ask my broken arm that!" I said. "Dammit that hurt like a bitch, and still does." I grabbed the walkie off the deck and looked at the ships in the distance before speaking. "Load in the HE rounds and aim at the ship to the far right. I want that damn thing at the bottom of the ocean." I said in a very calm voice which was laced with hatred. The torrents moved a little bit to the right and I waited for a few seconds before another boom rung out and I watched the volley soar through the air and hit the target dead on. Several of the rounds hit the bow of the ship while others hit the bridge. When I looked in the binoculars at the ships I saw that the far left one was gone, the far right was being claimed by the ocean and the middle one was burning up. Thank god we were able to destroy them but the question still remains, who did they belong to? So with that thought in mind I turned around and looked for the ship with the princesses on it, which wasn't hard seeing how they were all looking right at me. I summoned a sling for my arm before I took a running start, jumped into the air and landed on the deck of their ship. "Hey, I need some answers from you guys." I said in Equish. They seemed to be looking at me as if I was something impossible to be. And it seemed Luna was the first to come around. "What do you want to know?" she asked, which set me on edge because they were willingly giving me information. What was their plan? "I want to know who those ships belonged to." I said as my expression got serious. "It was the griffins." Celestia said and I felt anger well inside before I turned around and punched the mast with my left arm, creating a dent in it in the shape of my fist. When I turned around I saw them looking at me in shock. "Sorry. Kind of got angry." "It's..... alright. What else would you like to know?" "Yea, are you going to follow me where ever I go?" "Of course not. We have a nation to take care of." Moon said. "Good because I need you to stop following me now. I don't need unnecessary casualties. With me retaliating to their attacks, the griffins will sure as hell declare war on us. And there is no telling how many more battleships they built from my design." I said but paused for a second as I thought on something. 'I could give them a cell phone to call me if they ever need help.... hmmmm.' I thought. "Are you sure that's a wise Idea? They'll take the cell phone and try and copy it so they can use it you know." Nightmare said. 'I kind of figured that, so I guess I'll leave them two then.' "Still don't think this is a good idea." he said as he spawned to smart phones in my hand. "Here. Use one of them to stay in contact with me if my help is needed, and the other do whatever you what with it." I said as I turned around and proceeded to head back to my ship when I felt a tug in my shirt. "Wait, where are you going?" I heard Luna ask. "I'm heading north, and that's all you need to know." I said as I crouched down and jumped to my ship. When I landed I headed straight for the med bay because this broken arm was bothering the hell out of me. Location: Near the Griffin Isles Time: A day later A lot has happened since we left after the fight with the griffins. Remember when I said they might have more battleships, I wasn't lying. We had come into contact with at least four more of them. They did considerable damage to the dreadnought, as we are down a torrent and have two compartments full of water. We were lucky to have gotten past the last one as it seemed to be larger than the others, but we weren't able to sink it. That ship had fled the battle and went back to where ever it came from, which didn't settle good with me. When I went to the med bay Erinna was there waiting and she was crying her eyes out. She told me that if I wasn't there she wouldn't know what to do seeing as I've been leading everyone this whole time. she also confessed her feelings to me and I really didn't want to hurt her so I'd say we try but in truth I wasn't really looking for love, well for now at least. But if it made her happy I'd do it. I'm still wherry as to how many more battleships they built, and I'm still shocked as to how many they have now. The only way I can think of them having that many is if they forced people to build them. But we have defeated them all since we left the bay and no doubt defeat the rest, but I can't get too over confident. We're running low on torrent ammo and food. There is a town on the Griffin isles that I plan on stopping at when we get to it. It's going to take a long time to head to Luna bay but we'll get there eventually, all I hope is that we do make it. Location: Trottingham dock Perspective: Cole Time: 11:30 am, a half day later We had stopped here at Trottingham to restock on what we can. The only things we could get from here was coal for the ships engines and food, and I would use those wishes Erinna said she would do for the ammo but I don't want to use her for that. Plus I feel this rush when we're like this. Natalie finally woke up from her sleep and I was so happy as to finally hear her voice again and for her to tell me she was okay. She told me that she had the strangest dream, one that where I died and she was trapped in a nightmare as she was stuck in a research facility back on Earth. I knew she knew that we weren't there anymore but it seemed that it still haunted her. I asked Nightmare as to why she asleep for that long and he said that it was because when I took him from Luna that some of his nightmarish influence may have entered in her and the only way for her to wake up was for her to overcome her fears. I was standing on the bow of the ship as I looked out at the ocean and in the distance I could see the train bridge that connected the railroad to Equestria and the Griffonia. I crossed my arms as I knew something was wrong; it's been too quiet since the last time we ran into the griffins, and I don't like it. "I believe they'll attack again soon." Nightmare said. 'Yea I can feel it.' I thought as I turned around and saw Denise standing there. "Sir we have everything we need and are ready to go." she said. "Thank you for informing me Hally. Let's get ready to go then." I said and she nodded before we went to the bridge where I found Erinna and Natalie standing there looking out on the city. Natalie looked so happy to see everyone so happy, and mainly there were no humans there at all. Which I found weird seeing how this was a pony settlement, but it doesn't really matter. The inhabitants weren't a problem so there was nothing to worry about. "You girls enjoying yourselves?" I asked as I walked up to them. "Yea cuz. I just wish that we weren't running from people again." Natalie said in a sad tone. "Hey don't worry, they'll stop chasing us soon. I promise." I then looked to Erinna and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "So how have you been?" "I've been good. I'm a little bored to be honest, since all there is to do is lay around or walk." she said. "Well when we reach Luna bay and build a base there you can do whatever you want to it. All I ask is make it look militaristic outside and in important rooms. Now I need to ask you a very important question, do you feel uneasy right now?" I asked as I looked out the window. "Yea now that you mention it I do." Erinna said. "So do I." Natalie said. "Yea I've had that feeling ever since the last griffin battleship we faced left. Griffins aren't known to run away from a fight, least they disgrace their honor." "So you're saying they'll try and attack us again." Erinna said as she was starting to get the picture. "Yes and I think they'll attack when we are close to the train bridge." I said. "Well we'll leave you to do what you need." Erinna said as she picked Natalie up, "I need to go and teach this one some more spells and how to speak Equish." and with that they left. "Sir we're ready to go." a male robot said. "Have we pumped all the water out of the compartments?" I asked. "Yes sir. We also repaired the torrent and it's back in working order." he said. "Good. Let's move out; we have a lot of water to cross." I said as we slowly moved away from the dock. It didn't take us long to pass the Griffin Isles had head to the bridge ahead, but the peacefulness was cut off when the alarms went off. "Sir torpedoes inbound." a robot said. 'Shit!' I yelled in my head. "Can we dodge?!" "No sir! It's five seconds out!" "Wait, it's just one!" I yelled as the entire ship shuddered, causing me to almost lose my balance, and an explosion erupted from the bow. "Sir the first four compartments have been compromised!" Denise yelled. "Seal them off! Where are the griffins at?!" "They're off to the side the Griffin Isles heading this way." a male robot said. "Okay, slow the ship to half speed and let them get ahead of us. I have a plan." I said as we slowed down and I watched as the large battleship from before past us. I saw them speed by and then turn around about a mile ahead of us. 'What are you planning.' I thought as I squinted my eyes. I picked up my walkie talkie in my left hand and turned it to the channel for the gun room. "I want all torrents broadside, starboard side." I said, and the torrents turned to the right. I then switched the com to the engine room before speaking again. "Hard to port." I ordered. "Aye aye sir." came a voice from the talkie. The ship then turned to the left and I could see the griffins ship turn to us, before firing three more torpedoes ahead of us. 'Well they can think.' I thought. "Drop port anchor." I said. "But sir." a voice came back and I continued to watch the torpedoes getting closer to where we're going to be. "Drop it now!" I yelled and I saw the chain for the port side anchor start to move, which then started moving even faster as we went. "This is the end. We're going to die." Nightmare said as I felt him start to panic. 'We are going to die.' I said in my head. "What! Stop being so fucking calm!" he yelled, and I could start to feel his anger. "Why did I choose to go with someone who's insane!" he whined in my head. 'You're gonna die, I'm gonna die.' I thought. "I'm gonna die." Nightmare said as he started to cry. 'We are all going to die.' I then gave a pause, 'Just not today.' and as I said that the chain went taut and the ship stopped instantly. We then started to drift to the right and I watched as the torpedoes passed by. But one of the must have hit because a blast a water came from the port side of the tip of the bow. I then looked out the windows to the right and saw that us and the griffins were side by side. "Aim for the hull! Just sink the damn thing!" I yelled on the talkie. I watched the torrents level out before I yelled again, "Fire!" with that we opened fire on the behemoth. Just like I ordered all the shots hit the hull of the ship, and I had no idea if they were doing any damage because I have no idea how thick their armor is. Luckily for us their front torrent was still destroyed but they still had three more, which is the same as us. "You're fucking insane!!" Nightmare yelled. "Release the anchor." I ordered. 'Would you chill. I just wanted to perform something from one of my favorite movies.' I thought as I continued to watch. "Just because it's from a movie doesn't mean it will work!" 'Well it seemed to work for us.' "Yea this time! You got lucky." he said as he seemed to calm down. The griffins fired off a volley at us and I watched as they soared to us. The crew did their best to shot the rounds but they eventually hit us. Several of the hit the deck, while a few of them hit the rear torrent. All exploded on contact, which meant they destroyed the torrent we fixed while we were back at the dock in Trottingham. "Dammit we just fixed that! Fire four of the harpoon missiles!" I ordered and I watched and I heard the missiles launch off and head to the target. The RGM-84 Harpoon Anti-Ship Missile was designed to destroy ships, no matter how much armor. It has several platforms to be launched, and by sea is one of them. I watched the missiles hit the ship on it's port side and literally rip the metal apart, creating a large gash in the side. The griffins fired off a final volley as their ship listed heavily to the side before capsizing, and sinking. Their volley destroyed more of our deck and damaged two of the barrels in our front torrent right in front of the Bridge tower. "Phew. Glad that's over." I said before I turned around and faced the crew in the bridge. "Damage report?" I asked. "The first four compartments are flooded, the second torrent has two damaged barrels, the rear torrent is destroyed, the deck is on fire and the hull has several dents along the starboard side." one of the robots said. "Are we still able to sail?" I asked. "Yes sir." another one said. "Good. I want that fire put out and set the ship to full steam ahead; we continue the preset course." I said as we headed to the bridge. I saw movement up there and what looked like a shitty tank up there. It had the boxy look to it and the long pole sticking out the front, and it also had a red and gold theme to it. Just like the ships. "Aim the front torrent at the hill up there." I said as I pointed to the spot where the tank was at. Not a second later, one of the torrents barrels moved up and aimed where it was and fired. Nothing was left of the tank and it seemed that the explosion may have caused too much damage, because the support beams that held the bridge up on the Griffonia side were splintering and the next thing that happened was the entire bridge just collapsed into the little nook that connected the Celestial Sea and the Frozen Sea up north. "Well Celestia is going to chew me out for that." I said. "Yea. She will, and those no telling how much paper work her and her sisters will have to do for this." Nightmare said and I could just feel the smile that was on his face right about now. "Yea and I'm going to get lectured for it." I said aloud. "Sir, who are you talking to?" Denise asked. "No one Hally. Can we get through that?" I asked as I pointed to the spot in the water where the bridge had sunk into. "Yes sir, but we'll have to be careful." she said. "Okay, then let's head to our destination." I said as I crossed my arms behind my back. > Chapter 5: The Big Meeting > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I don't have to tell you why or how we got the advancements that we have." a male griffin said as he rose in his seat and slammed his claw on the table. Before we go any further you may want to know where I'm at right now. Well it's been a rough ride this past month but I was at the League of Nation meeting. And this all started when I was dumped into the forest at the top of Canterlot mountain with no magic, clothes or anything that would make me stand out. How about I tell you what happened a month ago, hmmm? Would that help? Well before I go into the flash back I need to tell you guys few things. When we reached Luna bay we spent a day of two to set up a base t start off with. Once we finished it was the third day and when I went into the room that we designated as the command center, for now, I was stopped by Natalie and Erinna who suggested that I infiltrate the meeting as a royal guard human and get information for it. I wanted to say no but they kinda backed me into a corner, what with Natalie giving me her kitten eyes. Erinna however had my arms held in her magic making it hard to move away. They suggested that I go and infiltrate the meeting that was going to be set in a months time in Canterlot. They said that it would be easier for me to do it since I'm male, but they would have to make a few changes. They changed my hair color, going form silver to pitch black, they also changed my body. My hair was now longer and luckily they didn't change my red eyes, but I had suspensions that it would cause worry for when I do infiltrate. Getting rid of the automail that was one of my arms and replacing them with flesh and bone. It took me a few seconds to get used to having it but it took me nearly a week or so to get used to having it again. They also took my wolf ears and tail away, and I love those things. Really helped me get out of some situations I happened to find myself in during my past adventures. Anyways after they forced me to go along with their plan they dumped me atop Canterlot mountain after teleporting me there with Erinna's magic. Speaking of magic, they took mine. All of it. Luckily they left some of nightmare's so to help me in a tight situation. And sadly they took my clothes as well, you know to help me blend in. Location: Canterlot Mountain Perspective: Cole Time: Three weeks and six days ago/ 11:37 am I looked around the after the light died down and took in my surroundings. I seemed to be in a clearing but in what forest I didn't know. What I did know is that a few seconds after the light went away I heard a loud boom off to my left followed by screams. I knew that must be Canterlot seeing how I needed to be close to it for this 'mission'. I ran full sprint through the trees and I dodged multiple branches before I made it to a cliff face overlooking the city. I stopped right at the edge and saw smoke billowing into the air from the wall to the south-east. I had no idea what had caused it but I doubt it was good. 'It could be a random human attack. They happen more often than you think.' Nightmare said in my head. "If so then how did they get past the wall?" I asked. "I have no idea but there's only one way to find out." he said and I had to agree with him on that. But I had to play it safe because this is the first time I had to go into a situation without any magic, and luckily I was athletic and bodily fit. If not I think I'd be fucked. Anyways it took me sometime to get down the mountain and in the direction of the smoke. When I got to it there was a huge hole in the wall, debris on both sides. "I hope we are dealing with humans because for somepony to break through the spells and wards on these walls would take a expert mage." nightmare said with a hint of worry. I stayed quite as I went through the wall and I saw destroyed buildings and holes everywhere but the other thing I saw on the other side was something I wasn't prepared for. Dead bodies, all around me. There were stallions.... mares.... and even kids. And all of them just looked forward with a blank stare as the milky eyes stayed wide open. Some had looks of fear and terror while others had sadness. I was shocked by this so much that I felt my mind shut down for a second, but I was jarred back by an explosion nearby. I left the bodies, but not before looking back at them with pain. I had steeled my resolve and continue on, there would always be death and no matter what you do you can't stop it. I headed down the alleyway that I had entered after leaving the alleyway left the other side of the street and saw hundreds of ponies running as I could hear loud bangs going off in the distance. The sound sounded familiar and then it clicked, it was a gun. But not only one but several. Curiosity got the best of me and I continued to my path. As I crossed the street the ponies didn't even get near me, heck it seemed as if they were the red sea and I was Moses. When I crossed the street I entered another alleyway and continued on my way, and I crossed a few more streets until I reached the source of the gun fire. I stood on the edge of the alleyway and looked out and saw multiple humans standing out in the street, firing their guns..... at the ponies. I remembered the humans, they were the same ones that had cornered Nate and I a little over two years go, and now they are killing innocent creatures. "This will teach you that humans aren't animals!!" I heard someone yell. I looked over to the man who said it and saw that he had two artificial legs. I continued to look him over but when I saw his face I recognized who he was, he was the man who I crippled back then. My anger grew for the people that I had left, especially people like him. I watched them walk up the street, shooting every pony that got in the cross-hairs. That was until they reached a little filly and aimed at her. In the blink of an eye a mare shot in front of the filly before the guy that aimed at her fired and killed the mare. I emerged from the alleyway and crept to where this was happening, and I was hoping that I could stop this. 'Cole this doesn't seem like a good idea...' Nightmare said in a worried tone. 'I know but I have to stop this, that little filly doesn't deserve to die. I could have stopped this a few years ago but instead I left them alive.' I thought as I got closer. Now I usually try and not kill but if it would protect the lives of innocent and prevent them from getting killed then I'd gladly do it. I neared them and they seemed to have noticed me since a few of them aimed their guns at me. "Sir it's one of those humans." one said as he seemed to be aiming at my head. I watched as the guy I shot turned around and looked at me before give a dismissive wave of his hand. "Leave him. There's nothing he can do." he said as he walked up to the corpse of the mare and moved her with a kick of his boot. I slowly went over to him and looked at the corpse in fake curiosity and he seemed to have noticed me. "These fuckers have had you imprisoned and used as animals. We'll kill every last one of them." he said. I got down and looked at the filly and saw she was looking at me in fear. See was shacking and I could see tears starting to form in her eyes, and at that moment I felt something snap. "Well little buddy I'm gonna need you to move so I can kill her." the guy said as I slowly stood up and I watched as he took aim. I gave a growl as I grabbed the barrel of the assault rifle and messed up his shot as the barrel was pushed upwards. Next I grabbed the pistol that was on his waist and hit him on the head with it. I watched as all the other humans aimed at me but before they could I looked at the pistol closely and saw that it was a desert eagle. So if I shot them, most likely they won't be getting up. I took aim and fired at all of them, and it was at this time I was glad Erinna had gotten ride of my wolf ears. In a matter of seconds the others dropped to the ground as the clutched their arms. Yea I kind of forgot that I aimed at their arms, right below the elbow. If they bleed out it wouldn't matter to me, not in the slightest. Killing the innocent is something I do not like. I was then knocked off my feet as I felt someone knock me down. I guess the guy I hit got back up. Pain racked my mind as I fell to the ground clutching my head, but I pushed through the pain and looked at the guy. He looked livid, but that maybe because he thinks his entire team just got knocked out by a stupid neanderthalish human. "We're on your side, the hell is wrong with you?!" he roared. I kept quite and said nothing as I continued the facade of an Equis human, but I still received a kick to my ribs, and I felt one crack because of it. "That fell good you fuck face! After I'm done with you I'm gonna kill every single horse in this fucking town!" he said a she continued to kick me. I had enough of this and when his leg came into kick me I shot my arm out and grabbed his other leg before pulling it. He fell to the ground and I took the opportunity to get atop him before delivering punches to his face. Location: Canterlot Castle Perspective: Celestia Time: 09:47 am I could only watch as my ponies were killed by the humans. We tried to use magic against them but for some reason it didn't work, and any guard that got close was killed. We even tried to send in humans but all of them were killed before they could get close. For an enemy to have negations to magic, weapons that are far superior than ours and fact that they are humans.... it really puts me on edge. I have been watching this with my two sisters, Lulu and Moon, on one of the balcony's that over looks the city and all three of us were on the verge of tears. "How could somepony do this?" Luna asked as she raised a hoof to the scene in front of us. "I don't know." I said with a sad expression as I tried not to cry. After that we continued to watch until I noticed a filly was about to be killed. I was about to go help but a mare jumped in front of the filly before the bang of the humans weapon. I burst into tears as I put my hooves in front of my eyes, I can't continue to watch this..... its too much. "Celestia you may want to see this." I heard Moon say. I put my hooves down and saw Moon pointing a hoof to the street, and I stole a glance down and saw a new human. He looked to be young, almost ready to be a stud, he had black hair and a tan skin. It was hard to see his face as his long hair obstructed his face, but I knew what was about to happen. To my shock they let him get close, and I watched as he got close to the little filly and looked at her. "Something doesn't feel right..." I said and I saw Luna nod from the side of my sight. I watched as the human slowly stood up, and i could see one of his eyes. Even from this distance I could see it was fill with rage, but his face was as stoic as ever. I watched as the other human lift its weapon up and pointed it at the filly, but to my shock the young human grabbed the end of the weapon and pushed it upward. Next I watched him grab something on the other humans waist and hit him in the head with it. The other dropped to the ground and I watched as the young one inspected the thing he grabbed before aiming it at all the other humans. Several loud bangs came from the thing in the humans hand and I watched as all the other humans dropped to the ground, clutching one of their arms as blood started to leave them. I thought that this random human had won but I watched as the human he hit on the head got up and knocked the other legs out, causing him to fall, and after that he began to kick him in the gut repeatedly. The one on the ground shot his arm out and made the older one lose balance. When he hit the ground the young one immediately got on top of him and started to beat him in the face. I had had enough of this and turned around and yelled. "GUARDS! Gather everypony and head down there to stop this!" I shouted as I pointed a hoof to the fight down below. Location: Canterlot main street Perspective: Cole Time: 10:am I have been beating the hell out of this guys face for a while now and he seemed to be limp. I stopped and brought my fists back and looked at them; they were cover in blood, either from him or me I don't know. I slowly turned to my right and grabbed his pistol and I was about to turn back to him when I felt something cold on my left shoulder and I looked down and saw the bastard had his other gun against my skin. I just looked at him in shock and horror. "What? Thought I was done for?" He said as he spat some blood at me. "Heh you seem to be a little smarter than the other humans that we have encountered for the past few months." "You've been here for how long?" I asked, which caused him to look at me in shock. "How can you talk? You shouldn't!" he shouted. I had to play my cards right because he's the one with the gun pressed against me. "Because I'm not from here." "How long have you been here then?" he asked as he pressed the gun against my skin harder. "A little over two years." I said as I prepared myself. 'Be ready he's going to figure it out.' Nightmare said. "Then that means...." he said before his puffy eyes widened in surprise. "You're the bastard that shot my fucking legs!" he yelled as he was about to pull the trigger. In the fraction of a second I aimed the gun at his head and we both fired. Excruciating pain erupted in my shoulder as my shoulder blade was destroyed by the round that pierced my skin. The momentum that the bullet created caused me to be blown back off the asshole and on to the ground. I heard the sound of a stamped and saw dozens of royal guards coming this way. ''Nightmare, use the last of your available magic to teleport the guns away." I said as my consciousness slipped. All I could do was watch as a bright flash obstructed my vision before everything went black. After that I was detained in the Human Assessment and Safety Administration, HASA for short, headquarters in Canterlot. For a few weeks they preformed tests on me to see what I was capable of. They tested my strength, my behavior, my intelligence and what I had. I tried to stop them but they paralyzed me with some sort of spell, and I was left embarrassed by it. Anyways just to screw with them I decided to show more intelligence than the usual human, but I did refrain from doing anything that humans aren't meant to do. Like smile or swim. I had to go through a week or two of them doing this and being escorted by about four guards where ever I went. I had been counting the days and on about the sixteenth day they brought me to the guards training area where I saw a human standing in the area, and he seemed to have been waiting for me. I was unceremoniously thrown into the arena with the human where said human rushed me and tried to beat the hell out of me. Sadly I still had my hands tied behind my back so the fight was hard at first, but once I got my hands out of the rope I was able to beat the human. If barely. Anyways after that I was confronted by the princesses and I learned that the human I beat was Luna's number one human guard. Though I played dumb and payed no attention as I took the information in. When the conversation was over Moon thought it would be best if I was Celestia's Human guard since I was able to defeat Luna's. After that was done I was sent to the infirmary for my injuries; I may have defeated Luna's best but that doesn't mean I came out unscathed. My new arm was in pain and it hurt to walk on my left leg. Celestia accompanied me to the infirmary and the doctors said I had a broken ulna and radius and the humerus had a fracture on it, while on my legs I had a fractured left tibia. They said that the fracture on my tibia wouldn't take long to heal and all I had to do was take it easy, but my arm was a different story. I'd have to have it in a human sling for the next month or so, which kinda sucked. After that I stayed in the castle's infirmary for a few days before Celestia got me out and took me to her bedchambers. She set me on the bed and after that she tried to read my mind. But she was zapped by something and flung across the room. She never tried that again, but she did get her sisters to try and get into my dreams later that night. Which also didn't work, but it did make them more cautious of me. I would have expected them to send me back to HASA because of these occurrences and try to figure them out, but in the end they just had two guards follow me. Stupid choice if you ask me, as well as annoying. So for the next two weeks I had to deal with the shit of the guards that followed me, always complaining always bitching. I was really tempted to tell them off and show them I wasn't a stupid ape they thought I was but Nightmare thought it wouldn't have been a smart Idea. Anyways I spent those two weeks trying to get used to fighting with one arm, which was kinda hard but I eventually learned. After those two weeks it was time for what this entire mission was for, the nations meeting that was set for today. I was expecting nothing to go wrong and if anything did I had a plan. I just won't be able to use the sword they gave me, mainly because I have no idea how to use it. Plus I was never one for swords, always preferred my hands or gun. But at around noon on the day of the meeting I was brought to the room where they had designated for the meeting and I could see that it was a small room with a large table in it, able to fit up to at least fifteen people. There were no windows in here and only one entrance and exit. I looked to the ceiling and saw rafters up there, an nice architectural touch but it allowed for people to hide up there. I was stationed in the room along with Luna's and Moon's top human, as well as a squad of royal guards. The table looked to be well furnished and the seats seamed to be just cushions on the floor. Why am I describing the room like this? Well because I have been stuck in here for a hour or so with none of the ambassadors from the nations. But after another ten minutes they all came in and calmly took their seats. The zebras sitting at the fare end with the minotaurs on the left side while the griffins sat across form the zebras and the dragons next to them. The princesses walked next to come end and sat at the end of the table closest to the doors. After they came in the doors shut and I could have sworn I saw something but I think it was just my mind since I didn't sleep last night. The meeting started off smoothly and continued to go on like that until Celestia decided to bring up the question of how the griffins got the tech that they had. I had already known but I wanted to hear it from a source, an illegitimate source but a close one though. As soon as the question came out of her mouth the griffin went into an uproar, and that's where this is how I got into this situation. "I don't have to tell you why or how we got the advancements that we have." the griffin said as he rose from his seat and slammed his claw onto the table. "Ambassador Steel it would be in your best interest to not resort to violent behavior." the dragon said as she looked at him, which caused Steel to look at her. "Scorch Scroll you stay out of this." Steel growled. "Actually she is right you should listen to our plight." the zebra said. "We all are here to get national matters handled and share anything we have found with one another, not be at each other's necks and instigating fights." Iron shield said. I had to hand it to the minotaurs, they picked the right man for the job of ambassador. From what I had learned over the passed few weeks is that Minotaurs are usually prone to fighting, honor code and warriors heart and all. I have been standing here for close to an hour and my left leg had started to itch, and I'd lick to scratch it but thats bad behavior on guard-humans. Anyways as the itch started to get bothersome I caught the smell of someone new in the room. I had the sent of all the ambassadors, the guards, and the princesses in the room; but the sent that smelled out of place smelled bad. Not like fart bad, but like a bad person. Now mind you that I am part canine, and when it comes to smelling things that mean bad things we start to growl. I had let out a low growl that went by no one, but it started to louder as I grew more frustrated by the fact I couldn't find the source of the smell. "Princess what is wrong with your human?" the dragon asked. "I don't know ambassador Scorch Scroll, he has never shown signs of aggravation unless provoked." I heard Celestia say. I knew everyone in the room was looking at me, but I didn't care as I continued to try and find the source. The person had to be invisible for me not to see them, and it had to be a very advanced spell at that seeing how nightmare knows everything about illusionary magic. The source was coming from up in the rafters, and I heard the sound of a string being pulled back. I saw the gleam of something, and it seemed to be pointing at Celestia. I dashed forward and pushed her and Luna out the way, and I stood there as I heard the sound of metal hitting metal. I withdrew my short sword with my good arm and threw it at the spot where the arrow had come from. I gave small huff as I sat down on the floor as a sign of non-aggression, 'Gods I hate doing this.' I mentally grumbled as I heard shuffling, blood falling from the rafters, and then a body falling and hitting the table. Said body had my sword in it's chest. I noticed the the body was that of a griffin and it was female. I then looked to the griffin ambassador and growled. "Ambassador Steel Claw, would you like to explain?" the zebra asked, and I was surprised to hear him not rhyme. "I have no idea as to why a griffin would be trying to do this. Much less assassinate two goddess that keep this planet alive." he said and I could hear the lie coming form his mouth. I growled again as i heard the princesses get up and go back to the seats, which would be sitting next to me. I was technically still sitting where they once sat. "Steel, it would be in your best interest not to lie at this meeting. Unless all out war is what you want." Celestia said, and I could hear the hate masked behind her voice. "Like you could stand a chance with the new weapons we have. We could wipe you off the battlefield." he said. "So thou do have advanced weapons?" Luna asked. "No we don't we stole them from that abnormal human that you tried to corner of a month ago." "So are you going to start a fight, because you surly won't last a full night." the zebra said. I gave a deadpan look as I mentally groaned. 'And he is back to the rhyming.' I thought. "Sure we will." the griffin stated. "Ambassador Steel I hope you are not implying that you want to start a war. All the countries have been at peace for the past four hundred years. Would you be willing to destroy that peace, just so you can keep you're advancements?" Celestia asked. "I am willing to take that risk." he agreed. "So are thou agreeing to war?" Luna asked. "Yes, I just need to get approval form the king and we will kill anyone who tries to steal our technology." "Is anyone else going to be in this?" Celestia asked everyone else in the room. "We are a peaceful, meditative race. So we will not lift a single mace." the zebra said, so the zebras won't be participating in this. That's good. "My people may be warriors but we fight for a cause and their is no cause in getting more things from the death of our young. Count me out." "The dragons are a noble and wise race and we know when to not get into a fight, we will not fight." the dragon said, good as well. I doubt that I could come up with anything to combat dragons. "We ponies will not fight, but we will have to resolve the problem with the fact that you tried to assassinate someone today." Celestia said. "True, and we will have a talk with King Iron Beak about this. I doubt he would want to fight seeing how he is long friends with my sister." Luna added. "I hope you can tell you're king as to why you did what you did today. Guards!" Celestia yelled, and not a second later four guards came in from the doors behind us. "Escort Ambassador Steel Claw and his guards off the castle grounds. Make sure they leave and return back to their kingdom." "Yes mam." they all said, and we watched as Steel was escorted out of the room before the doors shut behind him and the guards. As the door shut I went up to the table and leaned on it, stretching my right arm and started to poke the female griffin's back paws. "I am so sorry that you all had to see that." Celestia apologized. "It is fine princess, but I must commend your human on finding that assassin." Scorch said. "Speaking of the assassin, what shall we do with said assassin?" Iron asked. "We shall take her to the infirmary where she will be healed, after that she will be interrogated for what she knows." Luna said as I felt her magic on my hand, pulling it back. 'Kill joy.' i thought to myself. "In the mean time, you all are welcome to stay here until you can get back to your kingdoms. I hope you will tell you're rulers as to what as transpired here." "We will." Striped said, getting nods of agreement form the other ambassadors. After that everyone got up and left, and I watched as Celestia grabbed the griffiness off the table before leaving. I had tried to grab my sword but I decided it would be a bad idea as the griffin could bleed out form me doing that. After Celestia left I had went and spent the rest of the afternoon with Luna before Celestia came back. She was also accompanied by Nightmare Moon, or as I had learned she liked to be called, Moon. We spent the rest of the after noon together, and I had the joy of being next to Luna's best human guard. I guess he was better than any of the other humans, but to me he seemed to be dumber than a sack of potatoes. After the day was over I went and escorted Celestia back to her chambers, though she had a few wine glasses before leaving the dinning hall. She slurred some of her words and she had a faint blush across her muzzle. When I finally got her to her room I saw two night guards outside keeping watch, and I was about to send Celestia into the room when she stopped me and looked at me. "Will you come in?" she asked. I tilted my head and gently pushed her into the room, but before I could shut the door I felt something on my arm, and when I looked I saw it was her magic. 'Fuck all kinds of duck.' I thought as I was pulled into her room, and the door shutting behind me. > Chapter 6: Evil Within > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I awoke the next morning in the hooves of Celestia, and I gave a groan as I felt her rubbing against me. I found it uncomfortable, and I slowly inched myself out of the bed. I was unsuccessful as I was pulled back in and having a sleeping mare whisper in my ear. After a few attempts I was able to free myself form her grasp. I went and sat beside her bed for a good hour before she woke up, and in that time I may have dozed off again. I awoke when I felt someone nudge my shoulder, and when I opened my eyes I saw a bed-headed Celestia with a pink mane looking at me. "I hope I didn't do anything regrettable." she said as she looked my in the eye. I hope she isn't stupid because I'm playing as a human so there would be no way for me to respond. I continued to look at her as she got out of her bed and went to another door in her room. "I'm going to take a quick shower before the day, don't go no where." I waited until she went into the bathroom and shut the door before letting out a sigh. God this is tiring, and I still have no idea how long I'm going to still be here. This was such a drag, really need to get into touch with Natalie or Erinna and tell them that I'm done here. I honestly can't stand this place. I mean don't get me wrong the ponies are nice and all, it's just that the nobles here are rubbing me the wrong way. Always looking at me with hungry eyes like I'm just some piece of meat. A prize, something to use. I could see why those guys were pissed, but killing everything in sight wasn't the smartest way to go about it. I also need to figure out what has happened to Nightmare, he hasn't talked to me in a week. Well other than the times he tells me something is bad, other than that he doesn't speak much. It actually has me worried. I could try and talk to him again, eh its worth a shot. 'Nightmare you there?' I thought to myself as I continued to sit in the same spot. "Yes what is it?'' I heard him ask. 'Where have you been man, other than the little helpful advise you haven't talked to me since I got shot.' I thought as an angry expression came to my face. "Yea about that, there has been somepony scanning equestria looking for me. I have no idea as to why, but I'd rather not be found by them." he said, causing my expression to go back to an expressionless one. 'And why's that?' "Because the magical wavelength is the same as someone I'd rather not deal with." 'Is it a cult?' I asked. "Yes and no. Yes it is a cult, and no it wasn't the cult searching for me." 'And who is this person?' "Well it's someone I tried to take over before I went to Luna, and he was as crazy as Luna was when I took over her. Add that to the power he would have gotten, and he would have been severely homicidal. Maybe even genocidal." 'Was he that bad?' "Well I make him sound like a saint, but he was alot worse than I described him. I don't want to ruin whatever innocence you have left. Plus I was trying to take over the world, not destroy it." 'If I have to lose it to protect Natalie, so be it. Anything is worth losing if it means she's safe. Specking of Natalie, is there anyway for us to get into contact with them? My mission seems to be over so I best head back.' "It'll be tricky but I can get into contact. With the small amounts of magic I have been siphoning from others it should be possible, the only problem is that it admits a small magical signature from you. My signature. So we'd need to be about a block or so away from those alicorns." he said. 'How do you suggest I do that?' I asked. "Ask to go to the training areas, act like a dog and beg to go for a walk I don't know. Just figure something out." he said as the door Celestia closed earlier opened. "If you'll excuse me I need to leave, she'll detect my magic if I continue to talk to you." "I hope I didn't take too long." she said as she left the bathroom. I just pawed at the ground like an idiot as my response. I watched as she went over to the stand to the left of the balcony and looked herself in the mirror as she started to work on her hair, that of which I just realized was pink instead of the three color rainbow. I made my way over to her on my hands and knees, something that felt more natural to me than walking on my feet, and watched her get ready for the day. "About last night," she said with a blush. I don't know why, nothing was done other than the cuddling. "I know I was under the influence but I hope that what I did doesn't make you hate me." She continued to get ready and I guess after ten or twenty minutes she was done. But before she left she did something to her hair with her magic and made it go to the three rainbow ethoral hair that it usually is. I am normally not in her room in the morning; I am usually in the Human barracks, which is just a large barn next to the guards barracks. Anyways last night was weird and I hope that I don't have to do it again I mean Im not saying it was bad, it was actually pretty nice but I barely got any sleep. "Okay that should do it. Come on my little human." she said before pausing. "You know before we go to breakfast, I think I should name you since i haven't already. Can't call you my little human all the time now can I? Anyways..... what name should I call you?" she asked herself as she sat on her hunches in thought. After a few minutes she points a hoof up. "I know, how about Alex? That sound good?" she asked. I just looked at her indifferently seeing how I didn't really care what she called me, well as long as it wasn't anything demeaning, I was fine with it. "I hope you'll grow to love it," she said before giving a small pause. "Alex." she finished with her motherly smile. I have no idea what it was, but I just felt so comfortable around her. To be honest I have felt a hole that i have had filled in while i was around Celestia, and I don't know what it is. Nightmare says its just a ploy for her to get close to you and make sure you aren't a problem, but would she know it was me? I knew that her, Luna, and Moon were weary of me seeing how they knew next to nothing other than the fact that i am abnormal compared to other humans, they can't enter my dreams, and Nightmare sometimes gives off magical signature from me for about a millisecond. My musings and whatever Celestia was talking about was interrupted by a knock at the door. "Come in." Celestia said and the person on the other side opened the door to reveal a guardspony. "Princess you are needed in the throne room for Day Court." he said as he looked at her with an even gaze. "I'll be right there, come on Alex." she said, and from the corner of my eye i could see the guard give a slight sneer when he heard the name Celestia had given me. I knew right there that this guy seemed to hate humans, and to be honest a lot of ponies do. Traumatic experiences and all. I followed Celestia as she walked out the room on her way to the throne room for her court. Since I have been here I've noticed that Celestia has held court during the day, and Luna as well as Moon hold court during the night. I have also noticed barely anyone goes at night. It might be because they are all sleeping or it could be that they are still afraid of those two. I just hope that they can get rid of that fear and learn to love those princesses. They all seem to favor Celestia; but that could be since she has been on the throne for the past thousand years while her sister, Luna and now Moon, where imprisoned in the moon because of the elements. Truth be told when i heard that these two where close to immortal and that they have been here for millennia I lost my marbles, for a short while anyway. I was brought out of my musings by a soft touch on my right shoulder. "Alex, are you alright?" Celestia asked me. I still don't know why this woman asks me if i'm okay, I can't respond. Well i could but that would reveal my cover. But still, I can tell she cares about me and everything around her. I just patted her on her hoof as a way of saying yes. She gave a soft smile before turning around, and strangely enough i smelt this weird smell again. It happened the last time i was in the kitchen with Celestia and she had just had what she said was 'the best cake ever'. "Come on, we have court to attend. And I want you to stand up front by my side." Location: Canterlot Castle, throne room Perspective: Cole Time: 12:45 pm After about four hours court closed, and thank god it did. I couldn't stand another minute in there, just full of nobles that where so full of themselves that it was toxic. There where a few ponies that came in that were nobles that weren't like that but it was a slim number. I tried to ignore what was going on but the pony grabbed my attention, and it was in a bad way. He was wearing a black cloak on his body and a weird aura around him. The color was pleasant as it was pitch black, which for a pony that means evil. Usually ponies have bright and colorful auras, but usually when they have dark colored auras they are destined for evil. He came to the court to give a warning to Celestia about the future, say that her time was coming and that the one closest to her would suffer because of it. She tried to capture the pony but before she could the pony started to decay and turn to ash. The only thing i knew could do that was a Necromancer. I tried to ignore the bad feelings I was getting form that memory since I knew who sent that pony here, or at least a good thought. I had decided to keep that at the back of my mind as something to prepare for the future, but as of this moment i need to get alone so then I can telepathically call Erinna and Natalie. I need to tell them what has happened with the griffins and maybe the fact that a Necromancer has his or her eyes on Celestia. I don't know why but I still get these feelings about her and they confuse me, how could I have these feelings of another species. No matter, I just do what i usually do and push they feelings away. I'm on a mission right now and they will just get in the way. In an attempt to get alone i decided to go to the training yards near the guard barracks at the castle. When I got there I noticed that it was empty, of both humans and ponies so I tried to contact them. "Nightmare you there?" I thought to myself. "Yea I'm here, you sure your alone?" he asked me. "For the moment I believe." "Alright then I'll start the spell needed for you to contact Erinna and Natalie. Before we start this I must warn you; you will only have a few minutes, two at most, before the princesses notice my magic signature." "Okay then get it over with, I don't know how long I can stay out here undetected." "Alright," he said be fore giving a pause. "Starting spell matrix.... applying magic to matrix.... " After he said that he was silent for about a minute or two so in the mean time I just stood there standing on my left foot with my right placed against my left knee with my eyes closed. In my spare time I enjoy meditating, it helps keep my energy within my body balanced and it helps with my anger issues. "Matrix is fully charged and stable, building connection no-" he said but I heard hoofsteps coming in my direction. "Kill the spell now!" I shouted in my head. I fell to the floor clutching my head in pain as the spell came back and hit my mind. The hoofsteps I heard before got quicker as they rushed to my side. "Alex!" I heard Celestia's voice yell. "Are you alright!?" she asked, but for obvious reasons I couldn't respond. She stayed by my side for a few minutes until the mini headache went away and I slowly sat up. I looked at her as she gave me a soft smile. for the briefest of moments i felt my heart flutter and a warmth in my face. "I'm glad your feeling better, and please don't scare me like that. I was really worried."she said as she got up on her hooves. I watched as Celestia trotted in front of my and bent her neck down until she had her face in front of mine. "On a side note I have wonderful news!" she said with cheerful smile. "I'm taking a trip to Ponyville to visit my student," she gave a pause. "and I'm taking you with me!" I wanted to give her a deadpan look since I have to go with her where ever she goes since I am her personal human guard. Darn ponies I swear; even being as old as Celestia they are still somewhere ignorant. "Princess," a guard said gaining Celestia's attention. "your sky chariot is ready to depart to Ponyville." "Alright Stone Wall," she answered before looking back at me. "come on Alex it's time to leave." I mentally shrugged as I stood and followed Celestia and the few guards to the sky chariot. I honesty find it weird to have the staging area for the chariots right next to the royal gardens, but hey what do I know. I'm just a prepubescent teen who is supposed to be a dumb human. We silently boarded the chariot before waiting a few minutes as they checked over everything. We took off after that, and let me tell you this. I HATE heights. never liked 'em, never will. Anyways i closed my eyes and decided to sit there and focus my magic and chi as to keep them balanced. I was glad not to be disturbed by Celestia as we headed to this 'Ponyville'. Sounds cringy, but what do you expect from technicolor ponies. After about an hour or two of flying we started to slowly descend from the sky. When I felt us descend I opened my eyes and looked out over the town, which didn't look that bad. I do love a good rustic scenery. We landed down outside of town, and as soon as we touched down I watched as five ponies came rushing up to us. I followed Celestia as she got off and then addressed these ponies as they bowed to her. "Twilight Sparkle, my prized pupil." "Hello Princess." said the lavender pony, whom I'm guessing was Twilight. I could faintly hear the sound of a band playing nearby, but for some reason it was getting louder. "So lovely to see you again, as well as your friends." Celestia said as the sound of a band got closer. Everyone went wide eyed as a pink pony with many sets of instruments on walked by, playing them all. I of course had a signature 'what the hell' face. I mean seriously, what the hell was that? I watched as they bounced on by, and during this Twilight walked up to Celestia. "So how was the trip? Hit much traffic?" she asked. "What is this?" Celestia asked as one of the bugs landed on her left wing before giggling. "These creatures are adorable." One of them landed on my shoulder but imminently flew away as I growled. I just had a bad feeling about these things. "They're not that adorable." the cyan pony grumbled. "I'm terribly honored that you and the good citizens of Ponyville have organized a parade in honor of my visit" Celestia said. "Parade?" Twilight asked with confusion, before her face changed to that of when someone gets an idea. "Oh yes the parade!" "Unfortunately that visit is going to have to wait for another time. I'm afraid an emergency has come up in Fillydelphia. Apparently there have been some sort of infestation." Celestia added. 'What, like this one?' I thought to myself as I continued to watch the little bugs hop by. "An infestation?" Twilight asked with a worried expression. "Yes, a swarm of incredibly bothersome creatures has invaded the poor town." Celestia said with a motherly smile. "I'm sorry Twilight to have to put you all through so much trouble." 'Why do I feel like I'm off screen?' I asked. "Trouble?" Twilight giggled. "What trouble?" "Before I have to go; would you care to give me your latest report of your findings about the magic of friendship in person?" Celestia asked as she started to climb back into the chariot. Really? That's it? I thought we were visiting your pupil not just stopping by and then dealing with a problem. And when did you get news about Fillydelphia? I never saw this or even heard about this. I don't even know why I'm ranting about this. "My... report?" Twilight asked. "Haven't you learned anything about friendship?" "Actually I have. I've learned-" Twilight started but was cut off as an ear piercing scream rang through the hills. It wasn't a sapient scream I know that, and I looked to the direction it came from and saw the bugs running back this way, as well as the pink pony. "EVERYPONY RUN! THE BAD HUMANS ARE COMING!" she screamed as she bolted past me. I watched as a large group of humans exited the forest, some looking alight but others looking paler than a vampire. The pale once seemed to be leaking black ooze coming from different spots on their body. Some of it was coming from their eyes, mouths or an open wound on their body. I didn't have time to ponder anything else as I was lifted with magic before the land around me moved. "Everypony to town hall!" Celestia yelled as she teleported all of us to the town square in front of the town hall. For the first time teleporting with conventional magic I was on the ground holding my stomach. Never again. no more teleporting for me. Anyways when i slowly got myself off the ground and rubbed my stomach with my right arm. I looked around and saw that Celestia as well as Twilight and her friends were ushering ponies into the town hall. A minute or two later and everyone seemed to have gone inside. "Princess," Twilight asked with worry in her voice. "What do we do? I've never seen a pack of humans this large." "I'll have to message Luna and have her and Moon bring in a squad of guards with them." Celestia answered with a slight lase of fear in her voice. I'm guessing she hasn't dealt with something like this before. In her pause of speaking I could hear the inhuman screams getting closer. Really wish I could talk to Nightmare with out him getting detected. "In my long life I've never seen so many infected humans in one place. One, two maybe but not this much." Before anyone else could say anything a few humans started to come to us, but they seemed to be running in fear. Behind them was the rabid group of humans we saw earlier. I walked down the steps of the town hall and stood there at the bottom and waited as the infected came closer. "Alex NO! Get back up here!" Celestia ordered and I just balled my right hand into a fist. "Alex you can take them on! Please! I can't lose you again." she said but mumbled the last part so low that even my ears had trouble picking it up. I turned my head to look behind me and say Celestia sitting at the top of the steps on her hunches with tears threatening to fall from her eyes. All I did was give her a winning smile causing her and the other mares to gasp. I ignored them as I turned my attention back to the oncoming horde. I knew this was going to be a bad idea as I went and undid the sling arm was in. And I bent down and unclasped the weights I have had on my ankles for a few months. I knew this might blow my cover but I'd rather do this then die. I doubt Celestia's sisters could get here in time to save us. "Princess we should send that letter to your sister while Alex distracts the humans." Twilight suggested. Thank you Twilight. I thought to myself as I tossed the weights to the side. They were invisible but once they left my skin the were once again visible to the world, and they also dug into the dirt from their weight. I then started to do some quick stretches as the humans formed a semi circle around the entrance to hall. I glared at the humans from the weird behavior, and that glare increased as I watched two creatures come through the crowd of infected. One of the creatures was a tall and very buff human male, who seemed to be infected seeing as his eyes were red and he had a little bit of black blood on his face. The strangest part wasn't the blood, but the black collar around his neck. The other creature was a minatour a little taller than the human, and that was kinda intimidating to say the least since the human was around six or so feet. I'm guessing here by the way. I'm also ready to piss myself and cry a river since I'm just a teenager dealing with this kinda stuff. I hate my life sometimes. "Princess Celestia," The Minatour said with a gruff voice. "What a shock to see you in this shitty small town." "What do you want?" Celestia asked with an edge in her voice that I've never heard before. I also heard the distinct sound of her magic powering up. "Ah ah ah! I wouldn't do that if I were you. If you kill me then this big guy," the minatour patter the humans arm, causing him to grunt. "Will lose all control and go on a rampage, as well as the rest. And last time I checked infected humans are resistant to all magic, no matter how powerful the being is. I also seem to remember that you and the rest of this town don't have enough power to stop this many infected humans." During his talking I heard her magic cease. "Again, what do you want?" "I first came here to destroy your precious Elements of Harmony, and then imagine my surprise when i saw you here as well. I just had to hop onto that opportunity. I know im going to win too." He said as he smiled. "Cuz I doubt your little human right there can do anything. So I'm going to be nice and send the smallest of the group." After he finished talking a male human about five feet walked out from the crowd and then charged me. This is small? I thought as I calmed myself physically and mentally. When the guy was close enough I spun around and kicked him in the stomach. I watched as he soared over the others and landed somewhere behind them. "Damn he's made of tougher stuff than I thought. Alright if you can go against that guy then you can go against all these fine beasts." the minatour said as he gestured to all the other humans besides the big guy. "Get 'em boys." I lowered myself into a martial arts stance as the humans neared me. I have no idea bow I'm going to get out of this situation safely, but I have to try. If I don't I'm as good as dead. "Princess isn't there anythin' we can do?" I heard someone ask with an accent. I paid no attention to the outside world as I readied myself for this fight. I'm going to need full concentration for this. As the semi circle of humans closed in I waited until they were a few feet away from me until I went. I grabbed the first one to get to me and pushed him onto the stairs of town hall before stomping onto his back and I heard a crack as he screamed in agony. I didn't hesitate to turn back around and dodge a lunge from another, and these guys were easy to dodge but I still couldn't get cocky. Arrogance can lead to downfalls after all. From there it went to dodging the humans and stomping on them when they fell to the ground. I'll be completely honest that I'm disappointed, seeing how I wanted a challenging fight. My thoughts were side tracked as the humans seemed to change tactics. I noticed that they had loured me further from the town hall so they could circle me. Smart. I cursed myself for falling for this but dealt with it. I then started to parry and deflect blows from the humans as they tried to hit me from all sides. I didn't notice it but they had nicked and scratched me, and for some reason I was starting to feel tired when I knew that I could last much longer than this. I decided to risk it and called forth Nightmare. 'Nightmare what's going on? why am I getting so fatigued?' I asked. "You're slowly being infected with dark magic." he said in a very calm voice. 'Your making it sound like you know what's going on.' I thought as I continued to dodge, but I was getting slower. Though at least their numbers were thinning fast. "I do." he said. 'You what?' "I made this infection, that's why I know what it is. It's dark magic in these humans." he explained. "Since the other humans can not handle the magic at all like you can they go rabid, get sick and then die not long after." I stayed quiet as I continued to do my best to avoid getting hit but my body was starting to feel like I was moving bricks. My arms and legs were starting to feel like lead and my head was staring to spin. I did notice that the biggest human in the group had started to head my way. "This was originally meant as something else about a thousand and a half years ago but this happened. You should be fine since your body accepts magic, but since you have never had dark magic I don't know how it will effect you. Just don't let it consume you." I gave a small nod as I sluggishly punched the last regular human, knocking him out. Now all that was left was the large guy right in front of me. I didn't have time to even dodge the attack from the big guy as his punch sent me flying into town hall. I smashed right through the wooden wall, and I immediately felt awake as a burning pain raced through my abdomen. I laid there in agony as I looked at my stomach. Poking out of it was a small two by four, which was covered in my blood. I tired to move it but that made my agony even worst. I cried as the pain continued, but my tears slowed as I looked around. Ponies were huddled in the middle of the town hall with what looked to be a make shift fort. A scream from outside brought my attention to the hole I made on my way into the building. I knew that scream, and I started to panic. "PRINCESS!!" several voices screamed. What will tho do? The pony closest to thou is in trouble. Let me help. a voice said to me in my head. "Cole ignore it that't the dark magic talking. Don't listen." Nightmare said. 'But what can I do right now?' I thought as my tears renewed. Everything I always love and care for leaves me when I fail them. Allow me to help thou young Cole. "Nightmare can you bring me back if I go mad?" I asked. "Alright, if you can help me then go wild. Just don't kill any of the ponies." I said. As you wish. Location: Outside Town Hall, Ponyville Perspective: Celestia Time: Error I fought with all of the earth pony strength in me as I tried to push the large human off of me. The element bearers wouldn't be any match to this beast. I continued to struggle before I heard hoof steps getting closer. "You know I never know I'd get this chance ya know? But I'm not going to dwell on it anymore. Vlad please kill this bitch." the minatour said before a feral growl could be heard from in town hall. Everypony stopped and looked at the hold that Alex had made when he flew into the building as the growl got louder. A few seconds later a black flash flew out of the hole and smashed into the beast of a human that was above me. I scrambled to my hunches as I looked at the thing that knock ed the beast about ten yards away. The memories hit me as I viewed the creature that had saved me. He was the same height as Alex, but the only difference was his forearms were covered in a shadowy black substance that went up to his elbows before turning into wisps. Instead of the usual hand, he had razor sharp claws. His hair was longer than before, and the scariest feature was when he looked at me. His eyes. It was the same man I loved all those years ago. No one could mimic his pale yellow eyes and slitted irises. He gave a howl into the air before going over to the large human and grabbing him by his throat. I watched as Cole lifted the larger human up until they were face to face. Cole then bared his teeth at the human, which I noticed where sharper than they were before, causing the human to widen his eyes in fear. Then the minatour started to walk towards Cole but before he could get close Cole punched the human in the face and threw him at the minatour. I then noticed there were more humans coming into town square, but they soon turned away and ran when they saw Cole standing in the middle menacingly. He then slowly walked over to the human and minatour. Grabbing the unconscious human and lifting him off the minatour. "Ya know," the minatour said before coughing up blood. "it seems like you want me to tell you want my plans are. Am I right?" Cole nodded. "I don't know what's funnier. The fact that you think your scrawny ass intimidates me or that my boss is going to let me live if I failed." he said while slowly standing up and clutching his chest before bursting into blue flames. "And now I'm on fuckin fire!! So I guess it's fair game. The ones who sent me were demons." He finished before turning to ash. We all stared at what was left of him as all the other humans slowly went up in flames too. I got onto my hooves and slowly approached Cole, and tried to remember what he told me on how to deal with him when he loses control. I slowly went up to him and hung my head low as I rubbed his stomach with my cheek. I felt him relax before beginning to hug me. After a few minutes I looked at him and saw he was back to normal, albeit having a larger sense of dark magic within him, but I guess that was from the other humans and the infection. His arms were back to their tan selves and his hair was back to the same length. I could see two little fangs jutting from his upper lip but other than that I couldn't tell if his eyes and teeth were fully back to normal. All I knew was I was extremely glad to have him back, and that I was dreading the paper work when I get back to the palace. But I let that go as I wrapped my wings around him as I heard the sound of chariots landing. > Chapter 7: Chaos all Around > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Location: Human Assessment and Safety Administration; Research and testing building, Canterlot Perspective: Cole Time: Unknown After I regained consciousness when the incident in Ponyville was over I was in a blank white room. Time passed before I was greeted by ponies in lab coats, and I knew automatically this wasn't going to be good. I then spent the next few weeks going from test to test. I was treated like an animal, since I was one in their eyes. I was tested on my physical capabilities to the way I could apparently handle magic. They even opened my body while I was awake, but at least they had the decency to put me on pain killers. The princess had made time to visit over the weeks, but she knew nothing about what they had been doing to me. The cuts that they had made were healed with magic so they left no marks, so the Princess was none the wiser. Really wish I could tell Celestia about the stuff going on here but it would blow my cover, and said cover is already being stretched thin. The stories Celestia told me while I was there were helping me, would help if I didn't have to wear a muzzle and a straight jacket. From her telling me about her students adventures about learning the magic of friendship to the mundane things she had to deal with on a day to day basis. The funniest thing was when they had the Grand Galloping Gala, meant to be a party for the top of society, but turned into a shit show when her students friends turned everything around. The last test was meant to be today, and hopefully it'll be different. My morning was spent in relative silence after i was given food as the usual schedule would play out. Wake up, wait, be fed, wait again, be strapped down and taken to testing, come back wan wait some more, eat, then go to sleep. I don't feel anything towards these ponies, well some anyways. There are some here i'd wish nothing but the worst towards them. I may be an animal in their eyes, but i am still a living creature. As i sat there in my cell after eating it didn't take them long before they came in and and knocked me down. "Stay down and be a good little mutt." one pony said before placing a cloth bag over my head and restraining my arms. "Solid you don't have to be mean to him." the other said. "All he is is a stupid mutt that knows nothing besides mating and doing Celestia knows what else." Solid said, and i could hear the sneer on his face. After that the walk was silent and i tried to memorize the way so in cast i need to go back to my cell, but the walk ended after a few minutes when i heard a door open to my left. "Ah test subject 735, how are you today?" im guessing a doctor asked. "Doctor you do know he can't talk right?" Solid said rhetorically. "Yes he can, abnormals can do a lot of things ordinary humans can't." the doctor chided causing Solid to suck in his teeth. "Whatever. Here's you bucking mutt." he said before shoving me. Since it was unexpected i fell to the ground. Not a second after I felt that I was being picked up in what I'm assuming was the doctor's magic aura. "Go do what you need to do Solid wall, before i have you tested next." The doctor said with venom in her voice. Listening to the sound of hooves hitting tile i waited for about half a minute before they grew distant and eventually disappeared. "Alright 735, lets go and get your final test done." she said as we went into im guessing the room she came from. Last test? This could be it, and i hope to god i don't even come back to the nightmare of a place. It may not have been grim dark and torturous, but it borderline was. I just went alone with everything until they sat me done before removing the bag on my head. The first thing i saw was blinding light as my retinas were assaulted by the brightness. When my vision returned i saw a young female human across from me. As i looked her over i saw she was chained to the wall across from me as she tried to come to me, pulling the collar tight around her neck in the process. I also noticed that there was something wrong, i could smell something in the air which made me uncomfortable. Her face was flush and she was panting as she tried to get to me. I was knocked out of my thinking when i heard the sound of the doors to this room shut and the sound of a microphone coming to life. "Alright test subject 735, you will now engage with this human." the same doctor from before said. I raise an eyebrow at that, before i heard a click. Said click caused the chain connected to her collar to drop to the ground, which caused her to start charging me. I took a defensive stance as she rushed me, but i was caught off guard as when she got near me she circled me before presenting herself to me. 'Oh hell no!' I thought to myself. I try not to curse but this is a big NO. I just ignored her and walked over to where the window and doctors were. As I neared i heard the sound of hands and feet hitting hard tile. When the sound got close i ran and did a back flip off the window. With me now behind her she crashed into the window, creating a small crack. I watched as she slumped down upside down. She was still panting and i could tell she was in dire need of relief, but sadly I wasn't going to relieve the heat within the moist cavern. Nope, this adventurer isn't the proper rank yet. Sirens went off as I heard the sound of cracking, and looking towards the window i saw that the small crack was spreading. I gave a toothy smile before walking up to the original crack. Bring back my right arm back and shattered the window. "ALERT! CODE RED I REPEAT THIS IS NOT A DRILL! ABNORMAL HUMAN IS FREE! CONTAIN IT AT ALL COSTS AND DO NOT KILL IT." I heard the speakers blare. I really couldn't run since even though the window was wide open this damned female would let me go. I kept dodging her as she tried to tackle me to the ground. I wasn't about to lose my vcard like this. It felt like eternity as i tried to dodge her before everything just froze. "What do we have here? A human not from this world, and making so much wonderful chaos." a voice echoed around. I got into another defensive stance as I turned around and around, trying to find the source. "But you weren't the one I wanted." I heard before i felt something grip my neck and choke me. I blinked and when i opened my eyes again I saw a monster. It look like a mismatch animal from a child's coloring book. I dint bother looking at it in greater detail as I tried to loosen the grip on throat. "Even though you did give me a good meal with the amount of chaos you made a few months ago, i'm going to have to get rid of you." I looked at him in horror as i gagged. "You see, you weren't the one, a fail experiment, nothing and something that should have been disposed of when you failed." he continued before tightening his grip even more. "You just had to keep on pestering the cat girl didn't you? You just couldn't leave her alone! No matter you don't need to know anything. I'll let my past self deal with you." He said before he trow me against the wall. Pain arched into my side on impact and i think i may have broke something, but it was hard to tell as i tried to breath. But every time i breathed in I felt a searing pain in my chest. 'I guess I broke a rib or two.' I thought as I sat there trying to breath. I didn't get to contemplate anything else as I started to sink into a swirling black and white portal. Location: Unknown Perspective: Unknown Time: Unknown A portal opened up in the middle of a clearing in a forest in the middle of Equestria. The swirling black and white portal remained open until Cole fell through, causing it to close immediately. As soon as he hit the ground, screaming could be heard as he rolled from side to side. The screaming was cut short as a being landed next to him and grabbed his throat. "I've been waiting to see you." the being said as it lifted Cole up and brought him face to face with the same creature from before. " "You are -argh- one ugly motherfucker." Cole said as he tried to get free from the beings grasp. "Tsk tsk tsk, is that any way to treat someone who is allowing you to live? You may have the ability to use magic, maybe even my form of magic; but you are nowhere near the power that I posses." the being said as he summoned a chair atop a hill near them. Said chair was weirdly shaped and had antlers on top and red shapes that looked to be eyes at the center piece of the chair. "Who are you?" Cole asked as he stopped struggling, knowing that it was useless to struggle any longer since this being was right. He was weak compared to him. "I am the only Draconequus in this version of existence and I am known as Discord. Lord and God of chaos." Discord responded with a theatrical bow. "And like i said before you arrived, or well i will say I guess, you don't need to know anymore since it'll be pointless to tell you. Dead men can't talk so..." he said before dropping Cole at the base of his throne. "What are you going to me?" Cole asked. "I guess I can humor you on that." Discord said as he smacked his lips. "There's this fun little thing that I like to do is to overload peoples magic and let it consume them. Turning them into mindless feral beasts." Cole's eyes widened and fear lased into them at that thought. He knew that he couldn't corrupt him with his magic since it was a form of good magic, nightmares magic however, was a different story. His was pure dark magic, magic for the evil and wicked and any who unleash it in it's entirety will be consumed by the abyss. Discord looked at him and gave a smug grin. "W-why are you doing this?" Cole asked. "Because I can, and nobody or pony can stop me." Discord said before he started humming in thought. "You know I think I'll be merciful for once in my existence. Once i cause you to go feral I'll keep you as my pet instead of killing you. Never know, these ponies might resist me and rebel against my chaos." "What?! Y-you can't do that!" Cole nearly shouted. For once he thought that dying would be better than going forward. But he knew, he knew that he had to go on and find a way back to the future to save his cousin. He just hoped that he could survive this endeavor. "Who decided you had a choice?" discord asked as he looked at Cole with a hard cold glare. "They way I see it, you have no damned decision here; no choice what so ever you piece of shit." A kick was delivered to his chest, causing him to scream in pain as he fell to the ground once more. "Don't ever question me or my thoughts, least you want to be punished." He sat back on his throne as Cole slightly pushed himself up with his arm while clutching his side with the other. "Now then," Discord began as he brought his right talon up and prepared to snap his fingers. "say goodbye to your sanity. If you do survive this it'll be hell for you." After that Discord snapped his talon, and nothing seemed to happen for a few moments before Cole started to struggle to keep himself up. Slowly it worsened until he was screaming while clutching his head and thrashing back and forth. His torso started to emit a dark mist that wafted off as he continued to thrash. If you watched closely you could see the gradual change in his body as the darkness too over. The most noticeable change was that he was forced into his wolf form, but instead of being a bright silver it started to darken before the hackle of his fur tuffed out and became thicker. His transformation into becoming a feral continued until he stopped fidgeting around on the ground. Slowly Cole rose from the ground before opening his eyes and looking at Discord. His once normal red eyes had turned a deep blood red color along with a purple mist coming from the edges of his eyes, as well as white slashes of fur that were cut in half by his right eye. Upon seeing Discord, Cole bared his fangs at him. "Someone still needs to learn his place, and I guess I could use you as entertainment until something else happens." He said right before Cole lunged at him. "This will be fun." The next few days were chaotic to say the least around all of Equestria. Day and night schedules were thrown out of proportion, animal became things they were not meant to be, temperature fluctuated, clouds became cotton candy, the ground became checkerd floors, fish swam in the air, houses and chunks of land floated in the air and so on. Sitting upon his throne sat Discord as two ponies approached him. Both had wings and a horn as well as some armor that protected them somewhat and complemented their colors. The taller one was an alabaster white with a tricolor pastel mane and tail with a sun on her flank while the other was a close color between navy blue and a midnight purple; she had mane and tail that seemed to flow like the night and had twinkles of light floating in it as if they were stars, and she had a black splotch on her flank with a crescent moon within. As they neared Discord he spun his chair around and faced them while laughing. "This is so much fun," he said as he lifted his paw before lowing it. "how about a game of pin the tail on the pony?" he asked as he brought his paw up, said paw was holding a tricolor pastel tail. One the white pony saw she freaked and looked at her flank before going back to Discord, giving him a glare as did the other pony. "Play time is over for you Discord." she said. "Oh I doubt that." He said as he munched on some black beans within a small bag, flinging them everywhere. "Hungry?" he asked as he showed them a paw full. Both mares just looked at him with unchanging glares. "Suite yourselves." Said handful was then thrown into his waiting maw. As Discord munched the two mares used their magic to bring out six gems that were hidden within their satchels. Doing so brought the attention of Discord causing him to stop eating and look at them. "Oooo what do you got there?" he asked as he grabbed his goatee. "The Elements of Harmony." the white one said as the gems began to circle them ever so quickly. "With them we shall defeat you." the dark blue one said as the gems created a dome around them and as they started to float. This act made Discord laugh; arcing over the arms of his chair as he laughed out to the world. "You should see the looks on your faces right now, so intense." he said, causing them to squint their eyes. "So sure of yourselves." While he was laughing they touched their horns together, activating a spell. A rainbow shot out of their dome and begun twisting around before becoming one and heading towards Discord. He either didn't care or was too busy laughing as the beam struck him, causing to turn to stone but not before he let out one final sentence. "Have fun with my pet will you." With that he was turned into a stone statue for the foreseeable future. As their spell died down the dark blue one looked to the other. "Sister, what did he mean by his pet?" She asked. "I do not know Luna but-" She was cut off as a growling could be heard. They looked around until a pitch black paw came out from behind Discord's throne. "Celestia look!" Luna said as she pointed a hoof towards the chair. Slowly the form of a wolf came out from behind the chair Discord was in. "What do we do? It might be Discord's pet." All Celestia could do was look at it as it came out into the open, and the biggest thing that she seemed to notice was it's eyes. Blood red irises and a purple mist. "Watch out!" Luna yelled as Cole lunged at them. He was successful in his attempt as Luna underestimated his speed, her mistake caused her left wing to be swiped at and injured "GAH!" "SISTER!" Celestia yelled as she casted a shield around them and away from Cole. "How bad is it?" "Not too bad, but i won't be able to fly. I underestimated this creature. It won't happen again." Luna said as she summoned several magic blades. "Can't we just knock the thing out and subdue it?" Celestia asked. "Do you think it'll give you the option?" Luna asked as Cole circled around the dome, looking at the sisters while showing his fangs. "You saw how fast it is and there is no telling how strong it is." "You have a point," Celestia said as the wolf began to run into the shield, obviously getting tired of waiting. "I just don't want to kill it. What if it's some poor creature that was tricked into doing his bidding?" "What if it's not, what if it's just something he conjured up?" Luna questioned. "Look sister I mean no disrespect by this, but in this moment it is either it or us and I'd rather us to live another day." As they talked, cracks formed into the shield as Cole kept bashing into it. "Now this shield won't last much longer, just follow my lead." "I trust you sister. Let's do this." Celestia said as the shield fell after Cole rammed it for a final time. Falling to the ground as the shield fell he rolled to the side as a sword embedded into the ground where he was. He jumped back with amazing speed as two more were where he rolled to. "He sure is quick." Celestia commented. "Less talking," Luna said as she continued to slash at the wolf. "More spells." This continued until Luna made a mistake, causing her to lose control of her magic and he falling to the ground. Cole slowly walked up to her before getting atop of her. He held her front hooves down as he eyed his prey. In that second Luna panicked, fear laced into her as she looked at its fangs. As she was trapped under him she looked him over before she noticed something large hanging between it's legs. It was a he. With that thought in mind she bucked him in the crouch before throwing him off of her. But by doing so caused Cole's claws to dig into her legs and tear muscle. Celestia rushed to her sister as the wolf struggled to get up after being thrown away. "Sister are you alright?!" she asked as tears came to her eyes. "Yes but now i won't be able to walk without assistance." Luna lamented. "We need to deal with beast now before he gets back up!" "Too late." Celestia said with fear in her voice as the wolf descended upon them. As he drew near they noticed that he was almost as big as them if not bigger, this only caused the fear to rise. Cole kept looking between the both of them, deciding on which should he go for first. On one paw the blue one is injured and won't be able to do much meaning an easy meal, but on the other paw the white one was untouched by him. "Celestia you have to do it, snap out of it and kill him!" Luna said causing Cole to turn his attention on her sister. Celestia for her part handled the situation as well as a prey animal could. Shivering in fear as they looked down the predator. "I-i-i...." Tears began to pool in her eyes as he was upon her, maw right in her face. As he leaned into he face he started to sniff, and looking down he noticed she had started urinating. Thinking she was trying to claim his place he looked at her to the ground and back before he growled loud, but before he could bit a black blade came and swiped at him once more. Said blade was now caught in between his teeth. "NOW CELESTIA!" Luna yelled. Celestia closed her eyes as tears fell down her cheeks. "I'm sorry." she said as she charged a spell and fired. Once it hit Cole he lost consciousness and slumped forward right between the two sisters. "Next time, kill it." Luna said with a deadpan stare. They looked at the wolf for a bit before it started to get smaller and changing shape. "What the..." When done it left Cole back in his human form, however, instead of his normal shiny silver hair it was dulled and had black streaks running through it. "What is it?" "I have no idea, but we need to get back to the kingdom and let them know that Discord is no longer a threat. And get some medical attention." Celestia said as she picked the unknown creature up and had him leaning against her neck. "What shall we do with him?" Luna asked as her sister picked her up with her magic. "I do not know, but we'll figure that out after we are healed." she answered as Luna rested across her flanks. "Amen to that." With that the two sisters left the battle area in victory as they went back to where they came from. Being more preoccupied with the wolf and leaving to get help they never noticed the 'beans' Discord have earlier start digging themselves into the ground and vanishing Just leaving Discord there by himself in a weird pose.