> Just Another Job
>  by Onomonopia
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The Job
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The frozen over peak of the mountain stood before Celestia, who had a grim look on her face as she walked towards the top of the mountain. It had been a few centuries since she had last been here, knowing that it was best to stay away from this place. Occasionally she would consider telling the Ambassadors about this place, but she knew that the more who knew about it, the more of a chance somepony would try something. But there was one other pony beside her sister that she could trust with this information. And she was expecting her at any moment.

'Twilight has more than prove that she is able to handle the responsibility of this information,' Celestia thought to herself before she felt herself shiver slightly. 'I just wish that she would be on time a little more often. Especially when I'm freezing my feathers off.'

As soon as she thought this, a flash of violet light went off behind her. Celestia sighed with relief when she turned around to see the princess of friendship walking up to her, a smile on Twilight's face as she approached her mentor. "I was wondering if you would show at all. I've been expecting you for a few minutes."

"Sorry princess, but a small crisis popped up in Ponyville and I had to spend some time dealing with that," Twilight explained.

"When is there ever a small crisis in Ponyville?" Celestia asked with a smile, one that got Twilight to smirk in response. The princess of friendship then began to shiver as the cold of the mountain top began to get to her, telling Celestia it was time to bring Twilight inside. "Follow me, Twilight. There is something I wish to show you."

"I got your letter, but aside from saying this is top secret, there wasn't anything else," Twilight replied.

"And there is a very good reason for that," Celestia replied before she walked up to a large stone spike that stuck out of the ground near the side of a mountain peak. Celestia's horn glowed as she approached the spike, before she pressed her hoof across the top of the spike. The motion drew a bit of blood from the princess, who then mixed her blood with her magic. She tossed the mixture that she had made onto the wall before her and Twilight, before stepping back.

A few moments after her blood and magic hit the wall, the mountain top began to shake as if it was coming alive. Twilight glanced up at her teacher for some kind of explanation, but all Celestia did was glare ahead at the wall. A moment later the wall split down the middle and opened wide, revealing a secret chamber hidden with the mountain. Twilight's eyes widened at the sight before Celestia began to walk forward. Twilight followed her into the chamber, which, aside from another spike, didn't have anything in it.

"Um, was this what you wanted to show me, princess?" Twilight asked. Celestia didn't respond and instead chose to press her hoof against the only spike in the room. This time the action caused a circle of light to appear in the ground, one that made Twilight yelp in surprise. Celestia stepped into the center of the circle of light, motioning for Twilight to do the same. Once Twilight had joined her teacher, the circle of light began to descend deeper into the mountain, bringing the two alicorns with it.

"What I am about to show you cannot be know by anypony else aside from me and my sister," Celestia told Twilight in a no-nonsense tone, which made Twilight chuckle nervously.

"Not even my friends? You know, the ponies that have helped save the world time and time again?" Twilight asked, but a look from Celestia told Twilight the answer. "Okay, what about my sister and brother? Shouldn't those two know about this as well?"

"In time I will tell your friends. Cadence already knows and wanted to tell you herself, but she now has a foal to worry about,," Celestia stated. Twilight decided to stop asking question and shifted from hoof to hoof in place, her nerves starting to get to her. After what felt like an eternity to the purple alicorn, the elevator finally came to a stop. Celestia used her magic to pry open the stone walls in front of them, revealing a massive chamber that was filled with a radiant light.

The chamber was made up and reinforced with a metal the likes of which Twilight had never seen before. All around the chamber flew small butterflies that all shifted colors, as if they changed depending on their mood. And then there were the two giant stone sentinels that stood unmoving, but as Twilight and Celestia entered the room then turned their heads towards the pair.

All of this Twilight took in later. For the moment she was able to look at the room her eyes were glued to the massive sphere of white energy that hung in the center of the room. The sphere was the sixe of a building, with white being its primary color. Yet every once in a while a butterfly would fly into the sphere and a splash of color would spread across the sphere. It would stay there for a moment, before the whiteness took over once more.

The moment Twilight and Celestia stepped into the room with the sphere their horns and bodies began to glow with a magical power the likes of which the princess of friendship had never felt. Twilight had to stop to look down at herself with disbelief, while Celestia walked up to the twin stone beings that continued to stare at her. She stood still as blue light emitted from their eyes and scanned the princess. After a moment of scanning her the two beings sat back down and Celestia turned to Twilight.

"Celestia...where are we?" Twilight asked the princess of the sun, barely able to comprehend what was going on.

"This, my dear friend Twilight, is the greatest secret that has ever been known to Equestria," Celestia said to Twilight, motioning for the princess to join her next to the sphere. Twilight walked over to Celestia's side, unable to take her eyes off of the sphere. "Passed down from father to child, royalty to royalty, this is what we protect in this land above all else. This is what I have brought you here to show you."

"Princess, what is this?" Twilight asked.

"This is the source, Twilight. The source of all magic in Equestria," Celestia said in calm tone, yet despite doing her best to keep Twilight calm her words caused the princess of friendship to nearly explode with excitement.

"The source of all magic?! But I thought that was just a legend, a tale that mothers told their foals whenever they asked where magic came from?" Twilight asked as she took a few more steps towards the sphere, but Celestia held out a hoof and held her back.

"Do not get too close my friend, for if you do the magic may overload your senses and send you into a coma," Celestia warned Twilight, who heeded her mentors words and backed away. "I am showing this to you Twilight because you have shown time and time again that you are one of the strongest, kindest and most trustworthy ponies I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. So I deemed you worthy of sharing with my sister and me in the location of the source of all magic."

"...why now, princess?" Twilight asked Celestia in a tone that told the princess of the sun that Twilight had caught on. "Why tell me now and not sooner? I haven't done anything in recent memory that would convince you if you were on the fence about showing me? What happened?"

"Well, this took a lot of thought and consideration to trust you with something so important," Celestia said to Twilight, who gave her teacher a knowing look. "But you are right as well, there is another reason I have chosen now to show you. Because I have had a vision...or a nightmare, if you will."

"How can you get nightmares when your sister can control dreams?"

"Because Luna likes to mess with me. But no, it is not my sister. It is a nightmare that a force of evil will come and try to take this source of magic from us," Celestia revealed, getting Twilight's eyes to wide in shock. "In my vision I see a demon more powerful than any foe we have ever face ripping through our forces with ease, all to take the sphere of magic from our lands."

"That's horrible princess. Did the vision give you any clue as to what this creature may be?" Twilight asked.

"That is the terrifying thing, Twilight. The vision warned me of a force, but did not give me any images, save for one. All I saw was a monster that cut down any that stood in it's path. A monster with one, red eye. Then I told that this force of death will bring ruin to our land, a ruin so powerful that we will all drown in pools of our own blood and be choked by our own magic. And then, only we are removed from its path, will it steal the life from our world."

"That...is terrifying. But thank you for sharing this with me. I promise that I will do everything in my power to keep this place safe," Twilight said to the princess, who gave Twilight a grateful smile in response. "But this would be easier if I could tell my friends about this place."

"It probably would, Twilight. But some of your friends are more...vocal than I would like them to be. Especially about the location of this place," Celestia told Twilight and instantly the both of them thought about Pinkie and Rainbow Dash. "For the time being we four princesses will have to be enough."

"And we will be. We've fought a king of darkness, a centaur that could steal the magic from the ponies of the land and even beat a god with Discord," Twilight said with confidence. "If we could beat all of those, I don't know what force of darkness could be so powerful that it would be a threat to us. I mean, what could it be?"

/
====K>>>>>>>>>>
\

The sound of boots striking the metal floor was a small comfort to the man walking through an empty warehouse. Normally when he came to a place like this, the sounds of gunfire, shouting and death would block out the sounds of his boots on the floor. That would also mean that either a deal had gone south or that those he had made the deal with were trying to back out on their arrangement. Both ended in murder. The difference is that one of those murders would be personal.

Yet all was silent in the warehouse, telling the mercenary two things. Either this was a trap or the person that he was coming to meet with didn't believe in security. Meaning they were either very foolish or had superpowers. The merc didn't care which it was, as long as they agreed to their end of the bargain.

'Of course, there is always the chance that his men are hidden and are just waiting for their chance to die,' the mercenary thought to himself as he reached the center of the warehouse, looking around to see if he could spy any of the men that might be hidden around him. When he didn't spy any traces of assailants that would be waiting in ambush, he reached up and adjusted his mask so that his one eye wasn't obstructed at all by his helmet.

His armor was made of the strongest material known to man, with numerous explosives, guns and even a sword strapped to his back. The armor was painted black, for stealth when it was needed, but the half of his helmets faceplate with the eye hole was painted orange. He knew that it had the chance to reveal him if he were to be hiding in the darkness, but he also knew that the orange would tell those he was hunting who he was. And he knew that their terror would more than make up for his choice in color for his helmet's face plate.

He spied an open door at the end of the warehouse with a small light coming from within it. The merc walked towards the light, reaching down and grabbing the handle of one of his pistols and was strapped to his leg. He hadn't made it this far in life by being careless and he didn't plan on starting today. In a blur of motion that no regular person would have been able to keep up with the mercenary dashed into the room, pulled out his pistol from its holster and did a sweep of the room before a second had passed. Yet instead of targets for him to kill, all that there was in the room was a single table with a laptop on it.

The mercenary walked towards the laptop and moved the mouse once, causing the screen to come to life and reveal that there was a two way call already going on. There was no image of the person on the other end and they remained silent, but after a moment the mercenary realized that he was supposed to speak first.

"Meet in person, huh?" the mercenary asked the person on the other end.

"Forgive me if I take some precautions in our meeting, but your reputation precedes you, Slade Wilson," the voice on the other end spoke in a garbled manner. Slade knew instantly that they were hiding their real voice and that if he were to try and track them through the computer, he would get no results. "I figured it would be better for the both of us if we kept this meeting...strictly business."

"Does that mean you are a man that I may one day find myself hunting?" Slade asked the person on the other end.

"Let us just say that I want to stay anonymous for the time being. But you are not here to talk about me. You are here to talk about a job," the voice replied, before other pages opened up on the computer. Slade took a moment to look over the information, before a frown formed under his helmet and he crossed his arms. "I have something that I need you to find. Something that is in another world, a word that, sadly, I would not be able to find it in. That is why I need you. That is why I need the greatest mercenary in the world."

"A world filled with colorful, tiny horses if this information you have here is correct," Slade added on. He wasn't phased at all by there being a world with talking, magical horses. He'd dealt with weirder. What bothered him was the fact that these creatures looked harmless enough. Yet the person on the other end was hiring him, someone who dealt with some of the most dangerous jobs out there. The person on the other end was leaving something out.

"Yes, a strange world to be sure, but I assume that that will be of no trouble to you," the person on the other end said. "After all, I don't thin anything should be a problem to the man who beat the bat. Unless of course, you do not wish to take this job?"

Slade considered saying no. There were too many secrets about this job and people that chose to keep a lot of information close to the chest were the kind of people that would most likely end up in Slade's crosshairs. But then he flashed a glance at the price that had been put forward for completing this job and found that it was more than his past four jobs combined.

"Why the extra pay?" Slade found himself asking. "What do you care whether or not I kill the creatures of this land?"

"I do not wish to have their blood on my hands, even if you would be the one drenched in their blood," the person on the other end replied. "I am a businessman, not a killer. And while you may be known for you...homicidal tendencies, I know that you love money over all else. So will this extra pay convince you to be a little more...restrained?"

"Yes, this will suffice. However, if they do threaten my life I will defend myself with lethal force," Slade warned.

"Fair enough. Take this laptop with you. It will have all the information you need when you reach the other world," the voice said. "Also, I have taken the liberty of preparing you a transport that will be able to take you to the other world. You will find it just underneath of the warehouse. Instructions are inside. Find me what I want...and you'll be richer than you can imagine."

"Well that may be a problem," Slade said before he reached up to close the laptop. "For I have a very active imagination. But just to ask. Are you certain I am the person you want on this job?"

"Am I certain? You are Slade Wilson. The Terminator called Deathstroke. I have no doubt you will get this job done. That's what you do best."
> The Fated Meeting
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Outside of the cockpit a swirling vortex of energy and light flashed crazily, to the point that Deathstroke chose to look at the laptop monitor instead of burn his only eye out by looking at the vortex. He was going over the information that had been provided to him and the deeper he went, the more clear it became that his employer had been learning about this place for a long time.

'Equestria. Land of talking horses with magical powers,' Slade thought to himself as he scrolled through the information. 'Two of which are strong enough to move the sun and moon respectively. Sounds troubling, but according to these files they are a peaceful race that only fights as a last resort. That's a shame. If I killed the two that could move the sun and moon, I could raise my asking price.'

Yet the promise of the additional pay held back Slade's murderous tendencies. He was a mercenary first, unless the mission was personal, so as he looked over the information on the ponies he began to plan non-lethal tactics for bringing them down.

'Clip the pegasi wings. The Earth ponies should barely be a challenge. The unicorns and alicorns are the ones that will prove to be the most challenging, but they shouldn't be any harder than the other magic wielders I've dealt with,' Slade planned. Once he had figured he had gathered enough information on the ponies, he rose from his pilot's seat and walked to the back of the ship.

The spacecraft had been loaned to him from his employer and with the amount of advanced technology and it's ability to travel across reality, Slade found he was getting more and more questions about his employer by the minute. Yet for the moment he found no need to investigate further, for when he had checked on of his many bank accounts he found that half of his promised pay had already been deposited. His employer, whoever they were, were willing to make good on the payment. And that was all Slade needed to know.

In the back of the ship were numerous lockers, all of which held Deathstroke's equipment. Numerous firearms, magazines filled with all sorts of ammo, and plenty of weapons for him to chose from. Countless explosives of varying design filled some of the lockers, while others held replacement pieces for his armor in case that ever became damaged. And then there was his sword, made of some of the strongest metal in the land, which occupied its own locker by itself.

Deathstroke grabbed his blade first and attached it to a magnet on his back, designed to hold his weaponry perfectly still until he detached it. His twin submachine guns were next and he attached them, along with numerous ammo magazines, to his leg holsters for easy access. Deathstroke took his energy firing staff as well, along with numerous stun and sonic grenades. Normally he would go with straight up explosives, but as he was being paid to be non-lethal, he figured he owed it to his employer to try.

He also grabbed a few energy bolas, designed to incapacitate, along with a small gun filled with a few darts with a green vial in them. This was a weapon that he wasn't sure that he wanted to bring, as he had been saving it in case he ever battled one of the Justice League members that wasn't Superman, but Deathstroke hadn't gotten as far in life as he had by taking risks. And with two beings that could move the heavens, he knew that caution would be what kept him alive.

'Besides, I'll only hold onto it as a precaution,' Deathstroke thought to himself as he placed the weapon in his armors secret compartment, so his enemies wouldn't be able to see it until it was too late. 'If I am forced into a situation where I have to use it, non-lethal will have gone out the window a long time ago. Not to mention the reports said that there are other beings besides the ponies, ones that aren't so key on being non-violent. Precaution is the best option.'

He snatched a pistol out of a locker as well before he walked back over to the pilot's chair, sitting down in it and grabbing the laptop once more. He flipped through a few more documents on information about the land, before he came to a stop on a document about six ponies who stood above all the others. Six with the power of what was called the Rainbow Power. A magical power strong enough to bring down any evil. Deathstroke took note of that, before he glanced up to see that his ship was coming to the end of the vortex.

Deathstroke strapped himself in and took the controls in his hands, gritting his teeth as the ship began to shake violently as the end of the vortex tried to rip it apart. But he knew this would happen, so instead of worrying about the potential of meeting a blazing end, he chose to use his incredible thinking skill to steer the ship to parts of the vortex where the turbulence was at its weakest.

After a few minutes of fighting with the vortex, the spacecraft finally burst out of the end of the vortex, forcing Deathstroke to shield his one eyes as a bright light blinded him. After only a moment of being blinded, Deathstroke cleared his vision and looked through the glass to see where he was.

It was Equestria. There was no doubt about that. The way the world looked below him, along with the brighter colors than his world, and the fact that the world below matched the images given to him in the laptop, confirmed Deathstroke's suspicions. There was also a sense of magic and wonder in the land, a feeling that Deathstroke instantly killed as he began to look around for a place to land his ship.

Suddenly an explosion of energy went of right next to the side of the ship, causing alarms to blare in the cockpit as Deathstroke began to wrestle with the controls. Yet the damage done by the explosion had knocked all of the ships navigation and thrusters off line, sending the ship spiraling down towards the planet below. Deathstroke realized that he was fighting a lost cause, so he sprung from his chair and raced towards the back of the ship. He tore open a door and just about to leap out, right before a red and black mask stuck itself inside the door.

"Hey buddy, got room for one more?" the guy asked Deathstroke. For a brief moment Deathstroke stared in disbelief at the masked figure, right before the ship crashed into the ground in a massive explosion.

(DP)

A groan escaped Slade's lips as he felt his consciousness return to him, along with a sensation of pain that blazed across his body. Yet all the pain did was allow Deathstroke to shake off the cobwebs in his mind and a moment later he was back at peak thinking capacity. Slade pushed himself off of the ground and back to his feet, where he looked around to see what had happened.

He was standing in the middle of a crater, with fire and pieces of metal raining down around him. The ship that he had arrived in was in pieces and what parts of the ship that weren't destroyed were now on fire. Deathstroke then glanced down at himself and saw that, aside from some ash and scratches, he hadn't suffered any serious damage.

Deathstroke cast a quick glance around and found the laptop laying half exposed under a pile of metal. Deathstroke walked over to it and grabbed hold of it, amazed to see that it had survived a crash that had made scrap out of a spacecraft capable of traveling between reality. Yet when he pulled out the laptop, he found that there was something else attached to it. It was a hand. A hand with a black glove covering it.

"Whoo, haven't crashed that hard since the last time I flirted with the Thing," a voice said from underneath some rubble, before a large piece of metal was overturned and a person in a red and black jumpsuit stood up. "But you know what they say, any crash where you can run away from before the cops arrive is a good one. And this time both of my legs are still attached. Bonus. Now then, where..."

In a blur of motion Deathstroke appeared behind the being, placing his sword at the figures throat and pressing it against his neck until he drew a thin trickle of blood. "Whoa there, no taking me from behind until our second date. Or the first one if you ask really nicely."

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Deathstroke asked in a no-nonsense tone. "Talk, before I remove your head from your shoulders."

"Okay, barely know you for a few seconds and already you've figured out one of my fetishes," the stranger replied as he glanced over his shoulder at Slade, before he looked down and spied the laptop. "Aha! So that's where you got to you naughty rascal. You leave for a few moments and already are trying to grab this hunk of man right here. Come to daddy!"

Despite having a sword at his throat, the red clad person crouched down and swiped his hand right off of the side of the laptop. He attached his hand back to his bleeding stump and a moment later began to move the hand around like it was perfectly healed. "I can't thank you enough for finding my hand, it's so hard to regrow a new one, especially when the old one is crawling around some-"

BANG!

Deathstroke's pistol shot rang out and a spray of blood shot out of the side of the person's head. The guy fell to the ground without making another sound, leaving Deathstroke to glare down at him for a moment before he turned and started to walk away. "Alright, time to figure out where I am. I know that I'm somewhere in Equestria, but aside from that I don't-"

"Hey! Motherfucker!" 

Deathstroke spun around in time to raise his sword to deflect a pair of katana's, both of which were wielded by the red clad person who Deathstroke was certain he had shot in the head. "That was rude of you! Look, I'm all for decapitation on the first date, but just straight up shooting me in the head pisses me off!"

"You're a meta, aren't you?" Deathstroke asked before kicking the guy in the chest, getting him to back away before Deathstroke brought his sword up in a fighting stance. "Since you managed to survive, I'll ask you once again. Who are you and how did you get here?"

"You want me to talk about myself? Most people just tell me to shut up, but here someone wants to know all about me. Well, I'm usually so humble, but since you asked," the guy replied before he snapped his fingers and a single spotlight shone down on him, with the sky going black. "I'm Deadpool. The merc with a mouth. The Regenerating Degenerate. A raging sexy machine. The greatest mercenary that you've ever had the pleasure of knowing!...but you can call me whatever you want."

"Another mercenary...what are you doing here?" Deathstroke asked, slowly reaching towards his side and towards one of his grenades.

"I heard that there was a price put out for whoever can grab this magical thingy that's supposedly worthy a shit ton of money!" Deadpool explained, before he reached into his pants and pulled out an abomination of technology and magic. "So I stole this magical DeusExbullshitiestmaguffin from Doctor Strange and totally blamed it on the Hulk, before using it to teleport myself right into the wing of your spacecraft! Sorry about that. How about some ice cream to make up for it?"

"So, you're here for the magical source as well?" Deathstroke asked, before he hurled his grenade towards Deadpool. Deadpool raised an eyebrow right before the grenade went off right in the face of the merc with a mouth.

"No, not my money maker?! Do you know how dependent I am on this thing to get laid?!" Deadpool asked as he clutched at his eyes. Deathstroke was on him in a moment, impaling his sword into Deadpool's chest and driving it right up to the hilt. Yet instead of screaming in pain or simply dying on the spot, Deadpool looked down at the sword before narrowing his eyes at Deathstroke.

"Y'know, I'm starting to get the idea that you want to kill me," Deadpool said. Deathstroke narrowed his eye before he ripped the sword from Deadpool's chest, swinging his blade at the merc's head. Yet this time Deadpool deflected the strike with his katana's, before backing up and swinging his blades at his side. "Which is silly, because I'm the most partying guy in the universe! Who would want to kill me?"

Deathstroke made no reply, choosing instead to pull out one of his submachine guns and unload the magazine into the body of Deadpool. "Ouch! Ow! Pain! Agony! My kidney!" Deadpool cried out in pain as he got over thirty new holes in his body, before he slouched over with blood pouring from his wounds. Yet a moment later he stood up perfectly fine, with all of his holes rapidly healing before Deathstroke's very eye.

"First you want to swordfight and now you want to go shooty shooty bang bang time?! Come on, try to at least stick to the script!" Deadpool replied as he pulled out two pistols from nowhere, before unloading them at Deathstroke. "BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!"

Deathstroke lifted an arm to protect his one eye, while the bullets bounced off of his armor without leaving so much as a scratch. After a few moments of shooting, Deadpool's pistols began to click, getting Deadpool to look down at his empty weapons. "Um, I swear this never happens to me. Give me a minute to get these back up and-"

A kick to the side of Deadpool's head shut him up and sent him staggering backwards. Deathstroke pressed the attack and began to slash through Deadpool's body with his sword, fast and strong enough to cut through metal. Yet to his amazement, Deadpool was able to heal almost as fast as Deathstroke could strike, meaning that his previous wounds had healed by the time Deathstroke had the chance to strike again.

Deadpool spun around and blocked an overhead strike with his own twin blades, getting the two to push against one another as each mercenary tried to overpower the other. "You made a mistake coming here after that paycheck. Instead of riches, you've met your own demise," Deathstroke told Deadpool.

"Well geez, aren't you mister dark and grim," Deadpool replied in a bored tone as he found himself starting to get overpowered by Deathstroke. "We're in a magical land filled with all sorts of wonder and magic and yet all you want to do is kill me. I bet you don't have any friends, do you?"

"I have no friends by choice. My guess is that you have no friends because nobody can stand you."

"You think you can judge my life? You think you know me?! Oh that is it, you are dead!"

Deathstroke broke through the stalemate and drove his blade through the center of Deadpool's chest, pulling the blade up as he started to split Deadpool in two. Deadpool brought both of his blades back and aimed them at the one eyes that was peeking out through Deathstroke's helmet. Deathstroke and Deadpool both roared as they both went in for the final strike.

"Hiya!"

Both Deathstroke and Deadpool both ceased their attacks at the voice, a voice that was both happy and filled with joy. Both mercenaries turned their heads to the side to see a pink pony with a poofy pink mane was standing beside the two of them. She looked from one mercenary to the other, having no idea the battle she had just stopped.

"I saw the explosion from town a ways away and came out to see what was going on! You two must be new to this land. I'm Pinkie Pie! Who are you two?" she asked in a cheerful tone. For a moment neither Deathstroke nor Deadpool knew what to do. Then Deadpool's eyes lit up.

"Oh my god it's an adorable pink pony!" Deadpool exclaimed with glee, getting Pinkie to widen her eyes with excitement. "Oh I could just squeeze her till she pops and bring her home with me! I don't find horses cute but this little gal here-"

Then Deathstroke cleaved his sword upwards and sliced Deadpool clean in half.
> Daddy?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the two halves of the merc with a mouth fell to the ground, a certain pink pony that had showed up at the wrong time found herself staring down at had once been a living being with utter horror. Her eyes were as wide as dinner plates, her mouth was practically to the ground and as the body began to make gurgling noises, she slowly moved her head over to Deathstroke. Deathstroke glared down at the two halves before he flicked his sword to the side, spraying Deadpool's blood all over the grass.

"Wh...But...huh?" Pinkie asked in utter disbelief, unable to form any words to respond to what she had just witnessed. Deathstroke gave her a quick glance before he glanced down at the two halves of Deadpool, which were still moving around. Slade narrowed his eye before he turned and started to walk away. Pinkie watched him go, until her attention was grabbed by one of Deadpool's arms, which started waving in front of her face.

"Oh my gosh, you're still alive?" Pinkie asked in amazement as she looked down at Wade's two halves, which were flopping around in a pool of his own blood. A few gurgling sounds came out of the two halves of his head, but since Deathstroke had cut him completely in half, Wade's mouth couldn't make proper words since it too was cut in half. "Um, is there anything I can do to help you?"

The side of Deadpool closest to Pinkie pointed to her, then it's own half, then the half that was next to it. Pinkie got to idea and pressed her hooves against the side of Deadpool, pushing it closer to its other half. When the two halves got close enough to each other, they locked hands and pulled the two halves of their bodies closer together. It took a few moments, but eventually the two halves managed to line up the halves so that they were properly side by side. With one last pull Deadpool pulled his body back together and his healing factor took care of the rest.

"Well that hurt like a motherfucker," Deadpool said as he sat up, getting Pinkie to stare at him with amazement. "And I think one of my intestines in now connected to my heart. Oh well, going to have to deal with that later. But anyway, back to what I was saying....OH MY GOD, what an adorable pony!" 

"Um, hiya! I'm Pinkie Pie! Are you...alright?" Pinkie both greeted and asked as she looked at the spot where Wade had been split in half.

"Oh please, that is far from the worse thing that has ever been done to me. One time my mouth was sewn shut and my powers were all messed up," Deadpool replied before glaring at the sky. "Thanks for that one, Fox."

"What kind of fox did that to you?" Pinkie asked.

"The worst kind of fox. But enough about those assholes, let talk about you!" Deadpool exclaimed as he kicked up to his feet, grabbing Pinkie under her arms and lifting her over his head. Pinkie let out a laugh as she was held up, while Deadpool glanced over the pony with excitement as confetti fell out of her mane. "You look like something out of those Saturday morning cartoons I used to watch! I'm Wade Wilson, but you can just call me Deadpool, you adorable confetti filled pony!"

"Well hi there Deadpool! Welcome to Equestria! I take it you're not from around here?" Pinkie asked Deadpool.

"Not at all. I come here from another reality, in a place where we have something called television," Deadpool explained in a tone filled with awe.

"Another reality?! Wow, normally I just throw a welcome to Ponyville party for ponies, but I'm going to have to throw you a full blown welcome to Equestria party!" Pinkie squealed with excitement and Deadpool squealed along with her. "Do you like parties, Deadpool?"

"Does a cheap hooker like cocaine?" Deadpool asked in reply getting Pinkie to raise an eyebrow in confusion. "The answer is hell yes. As in hell yes I'll come to your party!"

"You'll come?! Does that mean we can be friends now?"

"Pinkie, we were friends the moment I laid my eyes on you!" Deadpool replied. Pinkie let out a laugh of excitement and joy before Deadpool tucked her under his arm, pointing in a random direction. "Come now, new best friend. Let us go party, be merry and raise ever single religions version of hell!"

"Oh wait a second! I forgot to ask your...friends name," Pinkie said before she turned in Deadpool's grasp to look at Deathstroke. "Yoohoo! You in the orange! Do you want to come have a welcome to Equestria party with us?!"

Deathstroke's response was to glare at the pony with his one eye, but while the look would make most people piss their pants, all Pinkie did was tilt her head and smile at him. Deathstroke then shook his head and walked away, pulling out a small device that he had been giving and pressing it to the side of his helmet. 

"This is Slade. Come in," Slade said into the device, hearing only static for a moment.

'Yes Slade, what is it? I gave you that device to contact me for emergencies only.'

"That's just it. There's been a...complication..." Deathstroke replied before glancing back over at Pinkie and Deadpool, who laughing as Deadpool popped balloons with his automatic pistols. "There's another mercenary here, one with powers that make him hard to kill. He says that he's here for the money as well."

'Interesting. I only hired you, so unless he believes that getting the magical source first and bringing it to me will earn him the pay, I do not know why he's there.'

"Will he get my pay if he brings you the source?" Deathstroke asked in a dark tone.

'Not at all. But if he comes from a different buyer and he returns the source to that buyer...well, let's just say that I can't pay you for an incomplete mission. But I'm sure you'll be fine. After all, a second mercenary should be no trouble for the Terminator to deal with, should it?'

Slade got the hint and ceased communications, glancing over his shoulder to see that the pink pony was looking at him once more. She waved a piece of cake towards him before trying to wave him over, but Deathstroke gave her no reply as he turned his glare towards Deadpool. For a brief moment he considered trying to kill him again, but then he turned and started to walk off.

"I don't get it. Why doesn't that guy want any cake?" Pinkie asked Deadpool, who chortled before wrapping an arm around Pinkie's shoulder.

"Look Pinkie Pie, that guy over there is a grade A a-hole," Deadpool told Pinkie. "He's all serious and "focus on the mission" kind of guy. He's the last person that you'd expect to turn up at any party, unless he was there to crash it."

"Oh, you know who he is?"

"Yeah I do, I'm his better half. That wannabe pirate is Slade Wilson, a.k.a. Deathstroke the Terminator. He calls himself that because he predicted his death would be by a stroke. Which should be any time now considering how old he is. You seen his hair? All white."

"Oh, Wade and Slade Wilson, huh? Is he your dad?" Pinkie asked, getting Deadpool to throw his head back and laugh at the sky for a solid minute.

"Me? Be that asshole's son? HA! Just because we both have the last name, are both mercenaries, the fact that my father left me when I was young and the fact that I'm practically a carbon copy of this guy with similar features doesn't mean that were-GGGGGAAAAAASSSSSSPPPPP!"

In a blur of red Deadpool threw himself at Slade, who wasn't fast enough to react to the movement. Deadpool wrapped his arms around Slade's body and pinned his arms to his side, before Deadpool lifted Slade from his feet and began to swing him back and forth.

"Oh daddy, it is you! I knew that you would return, even after it had been thirty years after you said you went to the store for a lottery ticket!" Deadpool exclaimed happily.

"Get the fuck off of me!" Deathstroke roared as he strained against Deadpool's submission hold. With his greater might Deathstroke was able to break free of Deadpool's grasp, where he instantly pulled out his submachine gun and pointed it towards the merc. Yet to Deathstroke's confusion he found that Deadpool was no longer in front of him, but had somehow teleported behind him.

"Oh I just can't wait to think of all the things we can do now that we're finally reunited!" Deadpool exclaimed happily. Deathstroke spun and pointed his gun right at Deadpool. "How would like to go bowling?!" Deadpool asked as he pulled out a bowling ball, just in time to deflect the bullet that Deathstroke had tried to put in Deadpool's heart.

"Not a fan of bowling, huh? Perfect split too much for your depth perception I suppose," Deadpool said with a shrug before he turned and tossed the bowling ball over his shoulder. Deathstroke swatted the ball out of the way, before grabbing Deadpool by the shoulder and spinning him around. The moment Deadpool was facing Deathstroke, Deathstroke pointed his gun right between Deadpool's eyes.

"I don't know who you are or what kind of insanity you have, but I will say this once. I am not your father," Slade said in a dead serious tone.

"Nice try dad, but you can't fool me. You're the reason I was created after all," Deadpool replied. Deathstroke pulled the trigger and blew a hole in the center of Deadpool's head, getting a gasp from Pinkie as brains were blown out the back of Deadpool's skull, but as Deathstroke watched Deadpool's head instantly began to heal itself, completely fixing the bullet wound within a few seconds. "And also I seem to have inherited your same murdery personality. Don't worry though, I've been working real hard on it."

"That is an interesting power you have there," Deathstroke said in a calculated voice, trying to figure out the full extent of Deadpool's healing ability. Then he glanced over at the destroyed ship and remembered why he had come to Equestria in the first place. Deathstroke scowled at Deadpool before firing another shot into his head, before tossing his body to the side. Deathstroke then took off at full speed, racing towards the trees that surrounded the crash sight.

"No daddy, don't leave me again!" Wade cried out in agony as Deathstroke ran off, reaching out for the mercenary who quickly vanished into the trees. "Why?! Is it because I'm a better mercenary than you?! Because I'm way more popular than you? Why won't you love me?" Wade asked before he hung his head, sobbing sadly.

"Um, are you alright?" Pinkie asked Deadpool as she walked up beside him, gently patting him on the shoulder. For a brief moment, even with his mask covering his face, Pinkie saw genuine sorrow on Deadpool's face as he sobbed to himself. Then a moment later he perked up and turned his face towards Pinkie.

"Well come on Pinkie, we've got a party to plan!" Deadpool said with his enthusiasm back in his voice. He hopped back up to his feet and bowed slightly to Pinkie. "Lead the way, my small, pink friend."

"Um, don't you want to go after him?" Pinkie asked as she turned her head to the spot where Slade had vanished.

"Nah, I'm sure we'll meet again. But for the time being, I've got other things to focus on," Deadpool replied. "Now don't tell anybody else, but I'm actually here on a secret mission to retrieve something. Something really important that's said to be worth a lot."

"Oh! Do you have any idea what it's called? Maybe I can help you find it?" Pinkie asked.

"Um...nope. Sorry, but my mind's like a toilet at a public restroom. Nobody has any idea what's in it," Deadpool replied, getting Pinkie to gag at the mental image. Pinkie then glanced up at the swords on Deadpool's back and then to the guns strapped to his legs.

"So, you're a mercenary, right?" Pinkie asked. "Does that mean you...hurt others?"

"I only hurt bad people, Pinkie. And, most of the time, I do it to protect others," Deadpool said with pride in his voice, before he made a snorting sound and his body shook with silent laughter. "Nah, mostly I do it for money. But sometimes for justice. Maybe. If some hot chicks or the Avengers are watching."

"Oh okay. For a second I thought you might be a meanie like Slade seems to be," Pinkie said with a happy smile. "So how do you heal so quickly? Do you have magical powers?"

"Ah Pinkie, the story of how I gained my ability to heal is long, painful and is way too horrific for the TV-7 rating of this world," Wade replied. "Ask me again when the censors aren't watching or I'm drunk off my ass."

"Is that what that black box up in the corner is? A rating? Huh."

"So where are we going anyway? I don't mean to sound rude, but I've been holding it in for hours and if I don't get to bathroom soon, I might just blow up," Deadpool told Pinkie.

"I'm taking you to Ponyville. Twilight told me that if I was to meet anypony strange to take them to see her. And you're as strange as they get," Pinkie said with a smile to Deadpool before she hopped along ahead of him.

"Ouch. Dissed by a pony."

"So where do you think Slade ran off to?"

"Please, knowing that one eyed wonder he probably ran off into the woods to practice his pirate talk. If I only had one eye you better believe I would talk like a pirate non-stop," Deadpool said. "Yeah, I bet that's it. He's not doing anything at all that might come back to bite us. Nope. No chance."

"...you think I should tell him this forest is enchanted?"

"Why ruin the surprise?"
> Differences
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Racing through the forest as fast as his legs could go brought back old memories to Slade Wilson. He recalled back when he had been in the army and was forced to train inside insect infest jungles and woods to accustom him to where he and the other soldiers would be fighting. He could almost hear the sounds of people shouting, gunfire ripping across the air and the feeling of adrenaline rushing through his veins. It was one of the few memories that he actually enjoyed visiting.

'This is not the time to be stuck in the past,' Slade thought to himself, pulling a knife out of his boot and using it to mark a large tree as he ran by it. 'Right now I need to find a way to locate where I am and how this land looks. Once I have an idea of the lay of the land, it will make it easier for me to eliminate areas where such a powerful device could be held.'

Deathstroke came across a small rive and knelt down next to it, taking a moment's reprieve to reach into his armor's compartment and pulled out a small, magical tracker device. He active it and pointed the tip of it in every direction, but he barely got a reaction out of the device.

"I must be too far from the source to be picking up a signal," Deathstroke muttered as he shelved the device. "Of course I would end up as far from the source as possible. Damn that Wade Wilson, I'd kill him if I was able to."

As Deathstroke took off running again, he found his mind being drawn back to the red clad mercenary, whose powers and abilities made Deathstroke pause for a moment to think. He had never feared an opponent before, be them hero or villain. The only hero he was nervous around was Superman, but he had plans that could deal with him. The only villains he feared were Darkseid and Doomsday. He knew there was nothing in his arsenal that could stop them.

But Deadpool was far different than the other mercenaries that he had to deal with in the past. He was insane, that much Deathstroke could tell with ease. After being around Joker, Deathstroke could tell when someone had lost their mind. It wasn't Deadpool's mental state that concerned Deathstroke, but instead it was his insane ability to heal faster than Deathstroke could wound him.

'I've come across people before who can heal, myself included, but never anyone that can heal as rapidly and without side effects like him,' Deathstroke thought as he continued his run, using the sun overhead to determine where he was going. 'I cut the bastard in half and he just sticks himself back together. I blow his brains out and all he does is start talking funny. He may be a problem down the road. I should have killed him then and there.'

'Damn that pony for interfering,' Deathstroke snarled to himself as he came to a small clearing in the trees, a place filled with all sorts of insects the likes of which Slade had never seen before. 'I would have found a way to keep Deadpool dead had she not shown up. She should thank my employer that he paid me nearly triple of what the mission was worth to not kill any of them.'

Deathstroke then looked down at his arm to see that a butterfly had landed on it, a butterfly with wings that changed color depending on the way the sun stuck it. For a brief moment it looked up at Deathstroke, before it flapped its wings and took off to the sky. Deathstroke watched it go, before he shook his head and continued running along.

'Strange world. Far more magical than Earth,' Slade thought. 'Perhaps that's why the source tracker isn't able to pick up anything. All of the magic that's just floating around in the air is blocking it out. Perhaps if I can get to a higher location I can get a better signal.'

Deathstroke spied a tree that stood above all of the others in what seemed to be the end of the forest, so without a moment's hesitation he took off towards it. For nearly an hour he ran, until he came across a small stream. Deathstroke looked down at it and narrowed his eye. He ran a little further along, until he came across a tree with a slash mark across the side of it. Deathstroke whipped out his knife and held the blade against the mark, noticing that they matched.

"I've looped around," Slade muttered to himself as he sheathed the knife, before looking up at the canopy with an idea coming to him. He hurled himself onto the nearest tree, scaling it with little effort as he headed up towards the top. Yet the moment that he got close to the top of the trees, hundreds of branches shot out and obstructed his path.

A snarl left Deathstrokes lips and he reached back to grab his sword. He pulled the blade out and began to slash away at the branches, but to his annoyance he found that new ones grew faster than the old ones could be cleared away. After trying a little longer to cut through the branches, Slade gave up and hopped back down to the ground, noticing that the branches retreated once he did so.

'This is not an ordinary forest. I keep going in a circle and if I try to climb out, the trees block my way. Pain in the ass forest,' Deathstroke snarled to himself before he glanced down at the weaponry he was carrying. 'I could just burn this forest down to the ground and be done with it...but then again, this place is magical. It may not burn and then I've trapped myself within an inferno. I'm going to have to solve this forests riddle if I want to get out of here.'

Slade reached up and took of his helmet, taking in a deep breath as he did so to take in the scent of the forest. All he smelled were trees and plants, nothing out of the ordinary. He then tilted his head towards the direction the wind was blowing, taking careful note of where it blew from. He then began to walk forward once more, keeping careful track of the forest around him as he did so.

Once more he came to the small clearing where the insects flew around. He paid no mind to the bugs as he once more took in a deep breath, yet everything smelled the same. A butterfly flew up to him once more, but this time he sidestepped it and allowed it to continue on its way. He watched as the small insect flew off this time and when the butterfly got close to the tree lines, Deathstroke noticed that for a brief moment it was blown in a different direction than the way the wind was blowing.

He dashed off towards where the butterfly was flying and once he reached the spot it had been he felt the wind shift, blowing towards where his internal compass told him was north. He followed the direction the wind was blowing, heading north along with it.

Eventually he reached a point where the wind started to blow from the west, so Deathstroke turned and started to head east, following the wind once more. He did this for each new time the wind began to blow, making sure to take careful note of the environment as he did so. And each time he changed direction based on where the wind blew, he found that the scenery around him changed each time. 

As he was clearly following the right path, Deathstroke continued to follow the wind until he reached a stranger part of the forest. There was a hallway of trees, with all of them so tightly interlocked that Slade wouldn't have been able to squeeze through if he tried. He walked forward through the hallway, unable to feel the wind anymore. As he reached the end of his hallway, he found himself standing in a small area with three other tree hallways that went off in other directions that all held darkness within them. A small, wooden sign was the only thing that didn't belong, so Deathstroke walked over to it and knelt down to read what was inscribed upon it.

'You are not far from the exit, but there is one more test you must take. There is danger down these paths, a danger none can overcome. If you must press forward, then that danger shall meet you head on. Take the path that is safe and you shall arrive at the exit. All others shall be your end.'

Deathstroke read over the words once more before he rose to his full height and looked around at the three paths, thinking carefully about what had been written on the sign. He walked to one of them and peered into it, narrowing his eye after a moment. He could sense danger in there and his senses were warning him to stay away. He did the same thing with the second hallway of trees, only to find that his senses warned him of death in that place as well.

But at the third hallway he didn't sense anything. No smell of blood or feeling of danger down that hall. It felt empty to Deathstroke. Slade slowly placed his helmet back onto his head and thought about his next course of action for a few moments more, before he turned and walked back towards the hallway he came from. 

He headed down it's straight path, before noticing that this time it turned left instead of right. He made the left turn and found himself staring at a clearing in the trees, with a massive field of flowers before him. Slade walked out of the hallway and out of the forest at the same time, smirking to himself as he looked behind him at the forest.

'Well done.'

Slade looked around for who had spoken, but he couldn't find them. "Next time, make it an actual challenge," Slade replied before he took off once more, heading towards a large hill over the ridge.

[DS]

"Dammit. I knew I should have taken that left turn at Albuquerque," Deadpool said to himself as he held a map upside down in his hands, trying to figure out how the map got upside down. And also how he and Pinkie had managed to get lost in a forest that Pinkie had no idea existed. "See, this is what happens when we don't leave breadcrumbs to know where we've gone. Now we're going to come across some wicked witch in a candy house, which we'll have to kill and then eat. Dibs on the thighs." 

"Ooo! Do you really think there'd be a house made of candy?! Do you think it's all tasty candy or is it going to be made of black licorice?" Pinkie asked as she stuck out her tongue.

"If her house is made out of black licorice then she will truly be the most evil being I have ever fought. I mean not only are you trying to eat kids, but their last meal is that crap. Hell has a special place for people like that," Wade replied as he finished folding the map, placing his new sailor hat atop his head. Pinkie looked up at it and giggled. "So any ideas on how to get out of here, my little pink friend?"

"Well, we could try to tunnel out of here? Or maybe we should fly out of here! I can inflate my head like a balloon!" Pinkie said before she started to inhale, getting her head to begin to inflate and grow larger and larger. Before it could get too large Deadpool poked Pinkie's head with the end of his sword, cutting a hole in the side and sending Pinkie flying around as the air came shooting out.

"That's no bueno, mi amigo," Deadpool said as a deflated Pinkie fell to the ground, where she popped back up perfectly fine a moment later. "See those branches overhead? They're going to stop us if we try to fly out of here like that. A balloon won't cut it."

"How do you know the branches will try to stop up?" Pinkie asked. For a brief moment a flashback went on in Deadpool's head, one which was filled with screaming, gunfire and images of thousands of trees waging war on the human race. Then he shook his head and raised a middle finger to the branches.

"Because all branches are pricks. They fall on your car, eat your kite and drop leaves in your lawn. Why do you think we burn them?" Deadpool asked Pinkie, who had never considered burning branches as a form of retribution. Deadpool then reached far up his ass and pulled out a rocket launcher, which he flipped around in his grasp and pointed it right up at the trees. "Clearly there is only one reasonable way out of this situation. I must kill all the trees."

"Hold on a moment!" Pinkie exclaimed as she threw herself on the end of the rocket launcher. "I have an idea."

"That's one more than I've ever had."

"What if instead of using the rocket to blow up all of the trees, we ride it out of here?" Pinkie put forward as she raised her eyebrows. Deadpool looked to her then slowly to his rocket. He then slowly flipped it around in his grasp and gingerly pointed the rocket end at the ground.

"I'll have you know that this rocket launcher has been used to knock the Hulk onto his ass," Deadpool told Pinkie.

"Does that mean my idea won't work?"

"It means that I can't see any way this plan can go wrong! Hop on!" Deadpool exclaimed as he held the rocket launcher between his legs, getting a cheer out of Pinkie before she hopped onto his shoulders. "Come on butt master 3000, don't fail me now!"

Deadpool then squeezed his cheeks and fired the rocket launcher, creating a massive explosion right under Wade's ass that hurled both the merc with a mouth and the pink pony high into the air. With the speed they were launched the were hurled past the branches before the forest had a moment to realize what had happened.

"WWWWHHHHEEEEEEE!" Pinkie exclaimed as the two sailed through the sky far above the forest.

"My butt is flaming!" Deadpool replied as smoke was pouring out of his ass.

The initial momentum of the explosion quickly came to an end thanks to wind resistance and a moment later both the pony and the mercenary went plummeting down towards the planet below. Both Deadpool and Pinkie clung to each other before they slammed into the ground with enough force to kick up tons of dirt and stone. Their impact created a massive crater in the ground, but unbelievably the pony and the merc were perfectly unharmed.

"We're alive! Haha, suck it God! You won't get me that easily!" Deadpool exclaimed as he raised his middle fingers towards the sky.

"I can't believe we're okay! You think that we would have a scratch or something," Pinkie pointed out.

"I think something broke our fall," Deadpool replied before he and Pinkie both looked into the crater. There, laying face down with half of his body submerged into the ground, was Deathstroke. Both Pinkie and Deadpool blinked twice as realization dawned on them and then slowly turned to look at each other.

"Think he'll be mad?"

"No Pinkie, he won't be mad. He's going to be furious."
> Pain In the Ass
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Slade's one eye snapped open and a moment later he was on his feet, sword in one hand and a gun in the other. In the blink of an eye he scanned the area around him, looking for whatever had attacked him from behind. Whatever had hit him had to have been powerful, for his armor normally protected him from any and all forms of attack. Yet when his eye spied the red clad merc and the pink party pony both sitting beside a campfire and singing songs, his rage at being attacked was replaced with a cold fury.

"Hey, look who's finally awake! You sure slept well!" Pinkie said with a wide smile to Slade, while she roasted a marshmallow on the end of a stick. "In fact, you slept so long that it's already night!"

Slade cast a glance up at he sky to see that the pony spoke the truth. Then he turned his eye towards Wade, doing everything in his power from ripping the mercenary apart with his bare hands. "Yeah, sorry about knocking you out there, daddy o'," Wade said with a wave to Slade, while he grilled a marshmallow on the end of a katana. "What are the odds that we'd fall out of the sky and land right on you. I swear it's like a bad story line where the writer keeps the main characters together so that-"

Deathstroke whipped out his submachine gun and unloaded it into Wade's chest, knocking the mercenary off of his log and pinning him to ground while blood sprayed out of his chest. Slade held the trigger down until his gun clicked. When Slade heard the click, he pulled out his other SMG and unloaded that one into Wade's chest as well, while reloading the other one with one hand.

"Argh! Ow! Shit! Fuck! Stop it!" Wade cried out as Slade unloaded another full magazine into the chest of the merc with a mouth, before aiming his newly reloaded SMG at Wade and pulling the trigger once more. 

"Slade, stop it!" Pinkie cried out, but Slade ignored her words as he reloaded and started firing once more. "He didn't mean to do it, it was an accident!"

"Don't give a damn," Slade replied coldly before firing once again.

"Dammit! Fuck! Why is this still happening to me?!" Wade cried out as thirty more bullets embedded themselves in his body, which thrashed violently as the bullets tore into him. Only once his submachine gun started to click once did Slade finally stop shooting at Wade. He lowered his know smoking SMG's to look down at the red merc, who had more holes in his body than he did actual body at that point. Yet to Deathstroke's utter disbelief, Wade sat up a moment later and looked down at his riddle body.

"Ugh, Swiss. My least favorite of cheese," Wade said as the holes in his body began to stitch themselves back together, pushing the bullet's out of his body. The bullets clattered across the ground and a few moments later Deadpool was perfectly healed. "Good thing we got those out of my body. I hear too much lead can be bad for you. And yet a gamma bomb and a radioactive spider gives a person superpowers, but lead never does. Weird if you think about it, but weirder still-"

Slade's pistol cracked out and a spray of blood shot out of the back of Deadpool's head, causing the mercenary to flump over his log. Yet despite knowing that he had decimated the brain of the annoyance, once more Slade was forced to watch as what should have been a fatal wound healed itself in a manner of seconds. Deadpool sat up once more, shaking out his head before looking down at his sword, which he had dropped during the execution.

"Well shit, I dropped my marshmallow," Deadpool said sadly, before he flicked the dirty marshmallow off of the edge of his blade, where it made a splat right on the front of Slade's helmet. "You got another one Pinkie? Some asshole ruined mine."

"Um...here," Pinkie said as she reached into her mane and pulled out another marshmallow for Wade. Wade took it happily and stuck it onto the end of his blade, which he then held above the flames. Deathstroke stayed at the edge of the light the fire created, hesitant to get too close to the merc with a mouth. He didn't like dealing with foes who had strange powers. But he liked dealing with a foe that could seemingly heal from any manner of wound even less.

"Come on dad, sit on down and join us," Wade told Slade, patting the log next to him. Slade had to resist the urge to blow his brains out once more. 

"Um, if you don't mind me asking, strange, violent person, why are so hell-bent on killing my friend?" Pinkie asked Deathstroke. The orange and black clad mercenary turned his gaze towards the pink pony, who, strangely, didn't cower under his glare like a smart person would have. "And aren't you cold standing in the darkness like that? Come on, join us for some marshmallows!"

Slade couldn't fathom what he found stranger. The fact that despite having fired nearly five magazines worthy of ammunition into Deadpool the mercenary was barely affected. Or that after having witnessed a brutal and bloody attempt to murder someone, the pink pony was offering him to sit with her. Slade chose to remain in the shadows, with only the orange half of his helmet visible to the pair.

"Oh don't mind him going all Batman on us, he's a paid mercenary like me," Deadpool said to Pinkie. "Which means that he's here on a job and he's all upset that we're taking away his precious brooding time."

"A job? Like, are you here to sell clothes or something like that?" Pinkie asked through a mouthful of marshmallow. 

"What? No, a mercenary get's paid to do whatever the guy with the money wants them to do," Deadpool explained before tossing his own black marshmallow into his mouth, only for it to get stuck on his mask. "Like find a something and bring it back to the buyer."

"You do not even know what you are here to retrieve?" Deathstroke asked, the sheer stupidity of Deadpool's words finally getting Slade to break his silence. "The first rule of being a proper mercenary is to make sure you understand exactly what you are getting paid to do. Yet you could not even find out what you are here to find? I would ask how you are still alive, but I know how."

"Hey, I need to pay my bills, okay? Sometimes clients are hard to come by, especially when you end up betraying most of them because they turn out to be evil bastards," Deadpool shot back at Slade.

"You get paid to do this?" Pinkie asked.

"Normally I try to work for money, but recently it's been harder and harder to come by. The bad guys don't pay like they used to and the Avengers save the world for free. It's hard to find a market for an unkillable mercenary with a singing voice like mine," Deadpool lamented, before turning tear filled eyes towards Deathstroke. "You're the same, right?"

"I always have plenty of work. There's always something that needs to be stolen or a person needing to be terminated," Deathstroke replied in a cold voice. "Perhaps I will be hired to kill a pony one day." Deadpool then gave Deathstroke a look that made the terminator reach for his sword.

"So is that why you're here then? To kill Pinkie?" Deadpool asked Deathstroke, who tightened his grip around his sword's handle.

"I am here to retrieve something that doesn't concern you. If I was here to terminate, none of you would see me until it was too late," Deathstroke said in a tone filled with murder. 

"Well glad that we've gotten that all sorted out. That answer all of your questions, Pinkie?" Deadpool asked Pinkie, who nodded happily while she munched on a bag of popcorn. Deathstroke released his grip on his sword, realizing that Deadpool had managed to trick him into almost revealing what he was there to retrieve.

'Perhaps this Deadpool isn't as foolish as I originally believed,' Slade thought to himself as he sized up the red wearing merc once again. 'I would do well to remember that when I am forced to kill him.'

"Okie dokie then! If you guys are here looking for something, then you two should go see Princess Twilight!" Pinkie recommended. "She helps everypony that needs help. Be it dealing with paraspirits, battling the forces of evil or even helping to plant a garden! I'm certain that she can help you find this something that you're looking for!"

"There are more ponies like you?" Deadpool asked with wide eyes, which grew even wider when Pinkie nodded. "I must meet them all. Pinkie, you will introduce me to every last one of them, won't you?"

"Of course I will! You want to try and be friends with all of them?!"

"Um, of course I will be! And if they're half as adorable as you are, then we will get along just fine," Deadpool said excitedly before he turned to where Deathstroke had been standing. "How about you, slayer? Want to go meet some-"

Yet when Deadpool looked over at the spot where Deathstroke had been standing, he found  that the orange clad mercenary was gone. Deadpool and Pinkie looked around for him for a moment, before Wade shrugged his shoulders and went back to shoveling the sweets that Pinkie had given him into his face. "Welp, dad's gone again. Guess I'll see him again when he's back from the convince store."

"Are you sure he's your family, Wade?" Pinkie asked Deadpool.

"Of course he is. I'm practically modeled after him. Why do you ask?"

"Well, he doesn't seem to be that nice to you."

"Pinkie, he's not nice to anybody. It's practically his main character trait."

"Wade...I think he tried to kill you. A lot."

"Pinkie, sweetie, everybody I know has tried to kill me, friend or foe alike. My bestest friend in the whole world Wolverine used to greet me by impaling my head on his claws and ripping it off. That's how he'd say high. Then I'd say high back by planting explosives in his bed and blowing it up whenever he'd try to have sexy time with whoever his girlfriend was at that point. Or maybe I did that first then he started trying to rip my head off? Point it, Wolverine got blown in more ways than one and people have strange ways of showing affection for one another."

"I guess that's true...the whole people showing affection for each other in different ways," Pinkie muttered to herself, before her eternal smile returned to her face as an idea came to her. "Hey, if you're low on bits and need a job, then I should take you to see Princess Celestia and Princess Luna! They're always complaining about how they need more help doing things but don't have the horse power! They would probably hire you!"

"Are you sure? Because I never got through high school if that's needed on the application."

"Yeah! They would totally love you! You're funny and wacky and like to do things the crazy way, just like I do! You're like another me, but with swords! I don't know anything that would make them happier than having another pony like me around!" Pinkie said with such enthusiasm that Deadpool couldn't help but finding himself agreeing with her.

"This plan is short sighted and will most likely end up with someone getting hurt. I'm all for it! For the money!" Deadpool agreed as he thrust his sword into the sky. "Onward, my steed! Let us make haste to the princesses and their large sums of money!"

"To Ponyville!" Pinkie cried out before she rocketed forward in a burst of speed, one so powerful that it left Deadpool eating her dust. Deadpool stared at where she had vanished to for a brief second before he shrugged his shoulders.

"Eh, I'm sure I'll be caught up to her once again in about two days time."

(|DP|)

'Princess Twilight Sparkle. I saw her report in the computer.'

Having had enough of Deadpool's insanity and having learned what he had wanted to know from Pinkie, Deathstroke had vanished from the little get together Pinkie was having and disappeared into the night. When he had first arrived in Equestria his plan of action was to find who was in charge and use them to discover the location of the source of magic that he had been hired to find. That was until he ran into Deadpool and had to deal with him first. But now that he knew who he had to find, he wouldn't waste anymore time on the regenerating degenerate. For now, at least.

'But he will be a problem later on. Yet right now I do not have the tools or the knowledge to dispose of him. I will have to make sure to devote some time to learning more about his abilities later,' Slade through to himself as he ran across the fields of grass. With his body having been enhanced to the point that he was practically superhuman, Deathstroke could run all night and not be tired by the next day. Which was exactly what he planned to do.

Yet Deathstroke also found himself thinking back to Pinkie, who seemed like an "ordinary" pony, according to his intel. But there was something about her, something that made the warning senses in the back of his mind that he had spent all of his life fine tuning go off. The same way that Deadpool had made his warning sense flare back at the fire. Perhaps this job wouldn't be as easy as he had originally believed.

'Find civilization. Secure map of the land. Discover where the rulers such as this Twilight live,' Deathstroke thought, compartmentalizing the other ideas until a later time. 'And then make her tell me what she knows...through any means necessary.'
> Crystal Train
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Getting a lay of the land was harder than Slade thought it would have been. Not because there were strange landmarks or that the land was filled with things that didn't make sense. He could deal with that. What he was having trouble dealing with was the fact that there were so many damn trees in the land, which meant even more forests that he had to run through. Like the one he currently found himself charging across.

That wasn't to say that there were dangerous beasts or carnivorous plants that tried to kill him at every turn. Wolves made out of lumber and plants that shot out of the ground with maws filled with teeth each tried their luck at killing the greatest mercenary known across many worlds. But like everyone else that had tried to kill Slade, they quickly discovered that it was not his life that was at risk. It was there's.

A timberwolf leapt out with fangs glistening, aiming itself so that it would be able to tear Slade's throat out. Slade caught the movement and reached out with his hand, grabbing the wolf out of the air and grasping it by its own throat. The beast had just a moment to try to comprehend what had just happened before Slade tightened his grip, crushing the throat of the beast. He then ripped its head from its  body, tossing the body away before examining the head for a moment.

'Interesting creature. Despite seemingly having no brain or organs of any kind, it manages to function like an actual beast of prey,' Slade thought as he glanced over the severed head, before he heard more rustling around him. He glanced over his shoulder to see two more wolves leap out from behind the bushes, lunging towards him with similar intent as their fallen brethren.

Slade chucked the head of the dead wolf into the face of the wolf that was closest to him, knocking it out of the air. Slade reached behind him and drew his blade, taking a moment to delight in the sound of the metal scrapping across the scabbard before he lashed out with the weapon. Despite being made of the toughest of bark, the blade cleaved the wolf straight down the middle as if it was made of paper. The two halves fell to the ground without a sound, leaving Slade free to turn his attention to the final wolf.

The last timberwolf wasn't any smarter than the rest of its pack. It took a step forward to attack Deathstroke, only for Deathstroke to make the first move and lung towards the wolf. The predator took a moment to wonder why it would be attacked when it was the attacker before Slade's blade impaled itself in the center of its head. Deathstroke ran his blade all the way through the wolf before the tip of the blade came out the end of the wolf. Deathstroke moved the weapon up and split the wolf in half, yet this time both halves were still attached at the bottom of the wolf.

'Even the interior is made of wood as well,' Slade noted as he knelt down an examined the inner working of a timber wolf, noting how the beasts organs were all made of plant like material as well. He couldn't figure out how it managed to function, but he was beginning to understand certain things about it. 'Doesn't look like it has a nervous system either. So they can't feel pain. Explains why they were so quick to throw themselves to their deaths.'

Vines and limbs moved behind him and a plant with a gaping maw thrust its head towards the orange clad mercenary, taking advantage of the fact that he was distracted. It was until Deathstroke had already sliced the plant into three separate parts did he fully realize that he had been attacked. He glanced down at the three pieces of plant that used to be a living organism, amused by its attempt at a sneak attack.

Before he could start to examine the remains of the plant, a massive explosion rocked the forest. Deathstroke had to brace himself to avoid falling over, while the shockwave caused numerous birds and animals to flee from their hiding places in terror. But while the lesser animals ran away from the sound of the explosion, Deathstroke ran towards it.

'Wherever there is an explosion, there's normally a fight. And where there's a fight, there's someone willing to pay good money to make sure I'm on their side of it,' Deathstroke thought to himself as he ran, cutting through anything that was foolish enough to stand in his way for more than a few seconds. Within a matter of minutes he spied black smoke billowing into the sky, giving him a clear destination to head towards. With his body's enhanced physical capabilities, it took him less than two minutes to find the source of the explosion...and take in the battle going on.

Down below him, far from the edge of the forest where he now stood, lay a train made entirely of crystals. The tracks ahead of the train had been decimated and a black crater resided where the rest of the tracks should have lay. Yet what drew Deathstroke's full attention were the two creatures battling it out near the train.

On one side he saw ponies in armor, along with a pink pony with both wings and a horn, using their magic to battle against a swarm of what Deathstroke could only identify as gem spiders. The creatures had eight legs and two sections of their bodies, like normal spiders, but it was those bodies and legs that confused the merc. Their bodies were either bronze, silver or gold in color, while their eight eyes were filled with rubies, sapphires and other rare gems.

The ponies were horribly outnumbered by the spiders, but as Deathstroke watched the battle progress he saw that the ponies managed to fend the creatures off. Well, one of the ponies did and that was the pink alicorn who flew over the battlefield, raining magic down upon the spiders, who were too far out of reached to have any chance of striking back.

'The ponies are outnumbered, but they are fighting together and pooling their skills to fend off the larger number,' Deathstroke thought as he gazed over the battle, before he glanced towards the spiders with a shake of his head. 'As opposed to these beasts that simply attack with reckless abandon, using not their minds but their sheer volume to try to prevail. It is clear that only one of these two sides has any intelligence.'

'Yet you are who is the true star of this battle,' Deathstroke thought to himself as he gazed up at the pink princess, who continued to rain meteor like spells down upon the battlefield, decimating spiders every time one of her spells connected. 'Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. The princess of the Crystal Empire. I've read your fill as well. You're one of the strongest beings in this land, aren't you? Well, it's clear why after seeing this.'

Slade began to debate with himself whether or not he should enter into the battle, as the ponies seemed to be able to handle themselves fine enough him. He also didn't want to get to close to the princess and be thought of as an enemy. Even with his armor, skills and weapons, he knew that picking a fight with her when he knew nothing about her weaknesses had the potential to end badly for him. So he sat back and studied the forces on both sides, making sure not to interfere unless his potential paychecks were in grave danger.

One of the ponies in armor made a fatal mistake in moving too far away from the rest of his group and for his foolishness he was pulled into the sea of spiders. With his terrain advantage Deathstroke watched as one of the spiders sunk their fangs into the pony, causing silver to begin to spread across his body. The pony let out a single scream before he was completely covered in silver, causing him to resemble a statue of terror and agony.

'Interesting,' was all Deathstroke thought as he watched the pony be carried off by the spiders. With one of their number having been struck down, the ponies began to fight even harder than before, yet the spiders seemed to sense that it was time for them to attack. Their rushed in on all sides, trying to use their numbers to simply overwhelm the ponies. The ponies retaliated by using the magic to construct a massive barrier around themselves, but Slade knew that was only a temporary fix. The spiders would get through that soon enough.

Just as he had predicted, the spiders used their sheer mass to break through the barrier, causing the ponies to fall back to where the train was. One of the ponies, a white one with a blue mane, was swatted in the side of the head by one of the spiders limbs and was sent tumbling across the ground. Cadence saw this and turned away from the fight to call out to him, leaving her completely vulnerable.

The spiders that she had been fighting raised their heads towards her and fired webbing made of bronze, silver or gold threads towards her. The threads wrapped themselves around her body and quickly entangled her, causing the princess to come crashing down to the ground. He heard her cry out when she hit the dirt, which drew the attention of all of the spiders. 

The princess fought to free herself from her bonds, but even as her magic began to cut through the threads that bound her, her eyes widened as she saw the swarm of spiders rush towards her. They could sense her power and they wanted it. Princess Cadence closed her eyes and gritted her teeth as the spiders closed in...only to snap her eyes open once more when she heard the sounds of metal cleaving through bodies. When she opened her eyes she was stunned to see a human standing before her, a human that was armed to the teeth and hand a large sword in his hand...with numerous spiders laying in pieces at his feet.

"Who...who are you?" she asked the man, who turned his armored head to look back at her, getting her to gasp when she saw that he only had one eye looking out at her from the orange half of his face mask.

"Someone who thinks you would be more valuable to me alive," Deathstroke replied before he turned back towards the spiders, a smile spreading beneath his mask when he gazed at their eyes and bodies, calculating how much they would all sell for. "As for you creatures...I am certain that you would be far more valuable to me dead."

(DP)

The sun shone down on the lone rider who headed forward with no destination in mind. His head was shielded from the rays of the harsh sun by a large, brown cowboy hat. The blowing winds did their best to claw at his face, but a black bandana that was wrapped around his mouth prevented them from touching him. And upon his vest shone a single, silver star, one that showed all that looked upon it that he was the law around these parts.

He rode upon a valiant steed, one who was both loyal and true. Who had gotten him into and out of trouble all the same. Despite her pink man and pink coat, all who looked upon her would be struck with fear, because they knew that wherever the pink horse of mystery went, the man that rode her was soon too-

"Are you making up a story in your head as we go?" Pinkie asked Deadpool, who glanced down at the horse that he was riding on. "Because I don't like how you described me as a steed. Shouldn't I be your partner?"

"Have you ever heard of a story where the cowboy and his horse are partners? No no no, either the cowboy works alone or he has a sidekick, mostly a native American, who tells him all about the wonders of the land before they take a bullet for him in the end," Deadpool corrected Pinkie, pushing up the rim of his very tiny cowboy hat as he stared at the town that had just come into view over the horizon. "Now come along little doggie. It's time for us to clean up this one horse town."

"Actually, there are a lot of horses in that town. Would probably make more sense if you called it a one dragon town, because Spike is the only dragon there," Pinkie pointed out, before gasping as an idea came to her. "Wait, since the cowboys in your world ride horses, shouldn't that mean the cowponies in our world should ride humans? Trade places with me, I want to try this out!"

"Eh...sure, why not?" Deadpool said with a shrug before he hopped off of Pinkie and got down on all fours, allowing Pinkie to leap up onto his back.

The sun shone down on the lone rider who headed forward with no destination in mind. Her head was shielded from the rays of the harsh sun by a large, brown cowboy hat. The blowing winds did their best to claw at her face, but a black bandana that was wrapped around her mouth prevented them from touching her. And upon her vest shone a single, silver star, one that showed all that looked upon it that she was the law around these parts.

She rode upon a valiant steed, one who was both loyal and true. Who had gotten her into and out of trouble all the same. Despite his red spandex and crash mouth, all who looked upon him would be struck with fear, because they knew that wherever the red merc of mystery went, the pony that rode him was soon too-

"Yeah, I don't think this is working," Deadpool said as he stood up, getting Pinkie to cry out before she grabbed around his neck to keep from falling off. "I wouldn't so much call myself a merc of mystery as I would a ladies man, kinda like James Bond or Austin Powers. Also, I'm not a fan of you sticking spurs into me."

"Well then I guess we're partners then, since neither of us wants to be the steed," Pinkie said to Wade, who couldn't argue with her bullet proof logic. Pinkie then turned her head towards the town and a large smile crossed her face. Her eyes relaxed as a gentle breeze gently kissed her face, getting her mane to flutter gently in the wind. A sigh of happiness escaped her lips "We're here. We're home. Ponyville."

"So this is it, huh? Where all of your little pony friends are?"

"Yup. Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash...and too many others to name," Pinkie said. "Now remember, making a good first impression is essential to helping others become friends with you. You need to be calm, cool, collected and act in a way that makes others think 'Hey, they'd be cool to hang out with'. You know what I mean?"

"Already on it!"

Pinkie turned to look at Deadpool and her eyes went wide. The merc was sitting in the center of a shopping cart that had rockets strapped to the side, with a banner saying 'Please be my friend' written in rainbow paint along the side. "Think this will make ponies want to be friends with me?" Pinkie took a long moment to drink in what she was looking at, before she gave Deadpool her answer.

"Yes."
> Guns for Hire
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The spider creatures had bodies of bronze, silver and gold, precious and strong metals that had allowed their race to survive hundreds of years. Their precious gem like eyes could allow them to see even at the darkest of nights, making it so they never lost sight of their prey. and their large size along with their numbers normally ensured a swift victory for whatever it was they went up against. But today was different. Today was a slaughter like usual. But the spiders were the ones being slaughtered.

Deathstroke lashed out with his blade and cleaved one of the golden spider's head from its body, before he reached out with his arm and snatched the head out of the air. The spider's body had just hit the ground by the time the mercenary had ripped it's eyes from it's head, holding them up to the sun to get a better look at them to determine their worth.

Without looking he stabbed with his blade under his arm, driving the blade into the face of another spider that thought it could sneak up behind him. He twisted the blade with enough force to snap the spider's head off of its body, before he brought his blade before his face and examined the eyes of the silver spider.

'Facsimiles. These are not precious gems, but rather eyes that resemble the real gems,' Deathstroke thought to himself, scowling under his mask as the loss of pay boiled his temper. He tossed what remained off the spiders off to the side before turning his gaze towards the rest of the spider army, noticing that all of the arachnids were now circling him. 'They know that I am the biggest threat here. So they do have a limited amount of intelligence. If they were smart, they would run for their lives.'

The spiders swarmed him all at once, with dozens of creatures made of bronze and silver hoping to kill the terminator simply by overwhelming him with numbers. But Deathstroke hadn't become the most feared mercenary in the world by allowing himself to be killed by numbers alone. Faster than the eye could react, he reached down and grabbed hold of the submachine guns that hung from the sides of his legs. He snapped the guns up to his side and began to spin around in a circle, firing a volley of bullets into the advancing horde as he did so.

While to the ponies it looked merely as if he was firing blindly in a circle, with his heightened reaction time Deathstroke was taking care to perfectly line up each shot so that all of the bullet's were fatal. Every time he pulled the trigger the bullet would fly right into the skull of a spider, shattering it's head and dropping it dead. He also took care to make sure that none of the bullets were sent flying towards the ponies. He didn't want to damage his reputation with potential customers this early. 

The spiders managed to piece together that running at the mercenary in a straight line was only going to get them killed, so some of the arachnids took to the air, trying to smother Deathstroke under their bodies. Had Deathstroke been feeling generous, he would have allowed a few to make it through and allow them to think that they had gotten the drop on him. But Deathstroke was never generous. Which meant the spiders had to die.

He attached the SMG in his left hand to the side of his leg once again before reaching to his back, grabbing hold of his energy staff. He stopped spinning while detaching the staff from its magnetic locks. He twirled the weapon over his head with one hand, creating a stream of energy that radiated from the ends of the weapon. The spiders that had been leaping down from above were blasted to the side by the energy discharged from the weapon and crashed down into their comrades. 

While they were down Deathstroke shot them dead with his SMG, before he lowered the weapon to his side and allowed himself to look over the carnage that he had caused. Over five dozen spiders lay dead in a circle around him, not counting the spiders that had already been killed by the ponies before he had arrived. He pressed a button on the side of the SMG and discharged the magazine from the firearm, before quickly inserting another magazine to take the previous ones place.

With the threat of the spiders removed for the time being, Slade slowly turned around to face the remaining ponies. A smile spread beneath his helmet when he turned to see that all of the ponies, aside from the princess, were staring at him with wide and terrified eyes. Said princess was busy tending to the white pony with the blue mane that Slade had seen go down earlier, yet seemed to still be alive. Slade took a single step towards the princess and instantly found himself face to point with numerous spears.

"Halt, whoever you are!" the guards snarled at Slade, who stopped his advance for the moment. "We don't know who you are or why you chose to help us, but back away from the princess. If you don't we will have no choice but to bring you down!"

Slade considered their offer for a moment before he pressed a button on his staff and caused energy to crackle at the ends of the weapon. He then very deliberately took a step towards the guards, testing them to see how they would respond. The guards didn't disappoint and with a roar they all began to charge towards the mercenary.

"Enough!" Princess Cadence roared, her royal decree halting the guards dead in their tracks. The princess rose from beside the fallen captain, who shakily rose to his hooves a moment later. The captain flashed Cadence a weak smile, getting her to smile back at him before she turned to face Slade with a stern look on her face. The princess and the mercenary met eye to eye for a moment, a silent conversation being spoken between the two of them. Then, to the shock of the guards that still stood between Slade and the princess, Cadence bowed her head to Deathstroke.

"Thank you, stranger, for your help against those beasts," Cadence said in a respectful tone. "I am grateful that a soul as kind as your came to our aid in our hour of need. I am in your debt." Slade would have laughed out loud if not for the fact that it would have given him away. He chose instead to nod his head slightly, while internally he was thinking of how he could use her gratitude to his advantage.

"I am Princess Cadence, ruler of the Crystal Empire. I say this because it is clear from your garb and weaponry that you are not from around these parts, are you?" Cadence asked Slade, who shook his head. Silence made him seem more mysterious and more intimidating. That he had learned from experience. And indeed, the guards looked at him nervously and even the princess seemed a bit put off by his silence.

"Um, I know you can speak our language. I heard you speak to us earlier," Cadence reminded him. Slade saw that she had narrowed her eyebrows and that there was a glint of anger in her eyes, telling him that it was time to speak.

"What were those creatures and why did they attack you." The modifier within his helmet that distorted his voice made his tone sound far more menacing than normal and the ponies all backed away from him slightly after he spoke. Cadence had courage however and a moment later she overcame her uncertainty.

"Those are arachnoids. Creatures of science and magic that were created over thousand of years ago," Cadence revealed to Slade, who was tempted to roll his eye at another science and magic creation. "As for why they attacked us, well..."

"We were on our way to Canterlot to speak with Celestia and Luna, the rulers of Equestria, about the recent attacks on our family by an unknown group when those spiders attacked out train. No doubt they were sent to kill us as well," the white pony spoke up, hobbling over beside the princess. "Shining Armor, Captain of the Crystal Empire Guard. That was some pretty impressive blade work out there. You might even give me a run for my money." Slade chose to answer that laughable statement with silence.

Cadence turned her head towards the train, which had been derailed, and made her horn glow. A beam of magic erupted from the end of the horn and wrapped itself around the train, lifting it into the air. She slowly used her magic to move the train back onto the tracks, where she gently set it down correctly on the rails before the magic vanished.

'So their magic can act similar to a Lantern ring. Interesting.'

"Thank you again for helping us out. We might not have made it had you not arrived when you did," Cadence said once more, turning Slade's attention back to her. "You have my eternal gratitude...um..."

"Slade," Slade answered, figuring that even a being as slow as Cadence could probably figure he was bad news by the name Deathstroke alone. "Slade Wilson. Gun for hire."

"A mercenary?" Cadence muttered to herself. Slade saw the doubt beginning to form in her eyes and for a moment he believed that he would have to use the staff against the princess. But then she glanced around at he destroyed spiders and her own wounded guard and she seemed to come to a decision. "Tell me, Mr. Wilson, do you accept gold as payment? Because it seems I am in need of somepony with your set of skills."

(D|P)

Pinkie chose to introduce Deadpool to Twilight first. Because that was a good idea.

Wade reacted the way anyone who spent the last five years of his life in red spandex and killing a lot of people would if they came across a pony with a horn, wings and an adorable little crown would. He raced right up to the princess of friendship and nearly squeezed the life out of her.

"Look at this little pony princess, thinking she's the ruler of the world!" Wade exclaimed with excitement as he squeezed Twilight tight and swung her around. Naturally Twilight had no idea what was going on and found herself slightly put off by a freak in red spandex taking her from behind and swinging her around. So she did what any rational and intelligent being would do in her situation. She set horn to zap.

Electricity crackled from the end of her horn and fried the merc with a mouth, changing his outfit from one that was black and red to a suit that was charred and burning. Deadpool released Twilight from his grip and crumpled into a heap on the ground, finally allowing Twilight to see what bout of insanity she would have to deal with that day.

"What the hell are you?!" Twilight asked with confusion as she gazed down at the human, whose body was twitching uncontrollably. She then spied Pinkie standing next to her. "Pinkie, who the hell is this? And why did they suddenly start shaking me around?"

"That's my friend Wade Wilson! He's like me!" Pinkie exclaimed happily.

Upon hearing the news that there was another being like Pinkie that existed in the universe, Twilight felt a part of her die and knew that nothing she ever did would get it back. She turned her gaze from Pinkie to Wade, only to find that the human was already fully recovered from her electric shock. He was crouched down so that he could be eye level with the princess and was now wearing her crown.

"I will warn you now Wade that if you try anything like that again I will not be so nice next time," Twilight warned Wade.

"Aw, she's so cute when she think she's being threatening," Wade said before he reached out and pinched Twilight's cheeks. "Who's a cute little electrocution pony? You are!"

Twilight was never one to break her promises, so the moment Wade put his hands on her again he found himself being reacquainted with enough magical electricity to impress even the god of thunder. Twilight and Pinkie both stared down at the smoldering body of Wade before Twilight grabbed the top of Pinkie's head, turning the pink pony's head towards Twilight.

"Pinkie. Explain."

"Like I said, this is Wade Wilson. He's my new friend!" Pinkie repeated for Twilight, who was trying very hard not to blow her top.

"I meant what is he doing here and why, oh Faust why, did you bring him to me?"

"I can explain the what and why, my dear princess. I am Deadpool, the regenerating degenerate," Deadpool introduced himself to Twilight as he leaned against Pinkie. "I'm a mercenary currently looking for both employment and a magic McGuffin which is said to make me loaded. I know how to use my sword, my gun and my other sword in lethal ways. I'm also pretty much unkillable, unless the writers have no idea what they're doing. Pinkie brought me here because she told me that you were looking to spend some money and I'm the kinda guy you should spend it on."

"I'm sorry, did you just say that you're unkillable?" Twilight asked Wade with disbelief, who then nodded his head. She burst out in a fit of laughter, clutching at her sides and trying to keep her balance. She failed and a moment later both Deadpool and Pinkie were watching as a purple pony princess laughed herself to tears in the center of town. "Oh that is rich. For a moment I thought Pinkie had brought trouble to town, but now I see she brought a comedian! Ugh, tell me another, because I have been stressed due to work and-"

BANG!

Twilight let out a shriek as Deadpool's pistol cracked out against the calm morning, sending a bullet flying from the end of his gun straight through his cranium. Blood sprayed from the side of Deadpool's head as the bullet tore through his brain, getting him to collapse to the ground at Twilight's hooves a moment later. Twilight gazed down at the body with fear and horror, unable to fathom the fact that the merc had killed himself right in front of her. She stammered out a few words before she looked over at Pinkie, who had a smirk on her face.

"Yep, I reacted the same way at first. Give him a moment."

"Holy Lord who is sweet and pure, that hurt," Deadpool said as he rose back up to his feet a moment later, getting Twilight's jaw to fall straight to the ground. Twilight watched the bloody wound in Deadpool's head stitched itself back together with no issue, before even the suit repaired itself, leaving no mark a few moments later of what should have been a fatal injury. Deadpool crouched down in front of Twilight and dangled the gun in front of the princess.

"That proof enough for you, non-believer? Or would you like to fire a few rounds?" Deadpool asked as he offered Twilight the gun.

"No...no I believe you," Twilight said before she shook her head and held a hoof to her head with a groan. "Okay, Pinkie, could you bring Deadpool to my castle? We're going to need to have a long and probably migraine inducing talk. One that I am not looking forward to."
> Contracts
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Deathstroke was used to many things. Being shot at. Attempts to murder him. Having dirty looks flashed at him by criminals that hired him and that said nothing of the looks that the heroes of Earth gave him. And he had done plenty of things to earn those looks, the looks of fear and disgust that told him those he dealt with knew just how dangerous he was. Slade Wilson was a name that inspired fear.

So it was a change for him when gazes that rested upon him were filled with gratitude and interest. As he sat on the crystal train that the princess had managed to get working once again, he made sure to keep his back to the wall and his eye on all of the ponies on board the train.

The royal guards that he had “saved” were looking at him like a person would a threat that they couldn’t identify, like looking at a person you knew was dangerous but couldn’t do anything about it. Slade had that kind of aura though and the ponies had picked up on it almost immediately, which was reflected in the way they stared at him and made no effort to hide it.

Shining Armor was a little tougher to figure out. The Captain of the Guard was slightly out of it due to being smacked around by the archnoids, but every time his gaze found itself looking towards Slade a strange smile crossed his face. The smile was a mix of uncertainty, but also a hint of respect. Slade figured the respect was directed toward Slade’s fighting skills and not his winning personality. Even if these ponies knew nothing about him, they knew he was cold and dangerous.

Then there was the princess, who sat in a seat opposite of Slade and constantly kept an eye on him. She sat alone and, from the way the guards constantly shifted as if to get closer to her, she had ordered the others to stay back. Slade reasoned that she didn’t want any of the others to get too close to him, and thus put themselves at a greater risk, so she had decided she would handle him herself. That was a very foolish way of thinking.

“You’ve been awfully quiet,” Cadence spoke at last. Slade filed his thoughts away for a later time before moving his head to show the princess he was listening. “With you being in a new world and all, I thought that you would be a little more talkative. You know, asking questions like where you are or how in the world can horses talk? None of this is bothering you?”

‘If you knew of how much I know about all of you, your attitude would not be so carefree,’ Slade thought to himself, but his exterior remained silent.

“After all, I’ve heard of what the world of humans is like. They have no magic and the thought of talking animals would make them laugh out loud,” Cadence continued on. “Finding yourself in a world like this would make anypony question their own sanity. Yet here you are, staying perfectly calm. How is that?”

‘Because it is clear how little you know of the world I come from. Magic is commonplace and a select few animals have the ability to speak,’ Slade silently thought to himself. “I am a professional, Princess. Even when I find myself in such a...world like this, i remain calm and collected. That is how I have come to be known as the greatest mercenary in my world.”

“Well, you certain have quite the iron grip over your emotions,” Cadence muttered to herself. Slade peeked at her horn to see that it had been glowing slightly, making him wonder what the princess had been up to. “Yep, I can’t get a read on your emotions. As the princess of love, I have an ability to sense the emotions of others. Nearly all the time I can tell what their emotional state is. But you...I get nothing.”

Slade bowed slightly as his answer, before a question formed on his lips. 

“I cannot help but think about the comment about gold that you mentioned to me, along with something about needing my services. Of course I am willing to take gold as payment, but only after I know what the job is and the risks involved,” Slade said in a professional tone, giving away none of his thoughts with his words or movements.

“Heh, that’s quite the business pony voice you’ve got there. You are good at this,” Cadence said with a smirk. Her horn glowed once more and a piece of parchment appeared before her, along with a quill and a pot of ink. “If you are willing to hash this out here and now, I will tell you why I will be hiring you and what your jobs will be.”

“I assume that they will be along the lines of protecting you and your family, along with the child you have at this...Canterlot,” Slade said for Cadence, whose face fell at his words. “I may not be my world’s greatest detective, but I have a very good eye for detail and am no slouch at putting pieces together. You do not become the best with anything less.”

“Well then, good to know,” Cadence said professionally. Yet Slade could tell from her body language and eyes that his information had shook her. In reality he wasn’t certain if Cadence had a child. He had deduced was Shining Armor was her husband from the way they acted around each other, but the child had been more of a shot in the dark. But from their age and the information he had on them on the laptop, which had no records of a child, he assumed that they would at least have one foal. Maybe more.

“Yes, I have a family. And that is exactly why I need some extra firepower during my trip here to Canterlot,” Cadence revealed to Slade, while she wrote on the parchment. “That attack from the archnoids was not the first attempt on the lives of me and my family. That was the third. And each time there is a new attack it is far more dangerous than the last. Yet until recently, the guards and I managed to fend off the attackers. But had you not shown up this time...”

“So you sent your kid on ahead to Canterlot in advance before you followed,” Deathstroke said. Cadence’s horn glowed with fury and Deathstroke felt her magical power floating around him. “Again Cadence, I am quite adept at figuring things out. Since your child is not with you and there is no chance that you would risk being separated longer than needed, it is clear what your course of action was.”

For a long time Cadence was quiet, but eventually her horn stopped glowing and she sat back down in her seat. “You are right once more. Celestia and Luna came to my home and brought my little filly to Canterlot before I left. She had been safe with them ever since.”

The moment the two names were spoken Deathstroke had both the image of the pair and the laptops entire portfolio on them. A smile spread beneath his helmet as he recalled their bios and their set of skills, skills that would be very dangerous for him to deal with if he had to face them with no information. But with what little he had read about them, he had already prepared over a dozen different ways to defeat the both of them if needed. Then he remembered the job and the chance to make a little extra cash while he searched for the real reason that he was here in Equestria.

“You have come to the right person, then. One of the many jobs that people ask of me is being a bodyguard. And i can assure you that nobody has ever died under my watch,” Slade promised. Which was technically true. No one had ever died while he was protecting them. After he was done was a different story.

“Oh I do not doubt your skills. From what little I saw during your battle with the archnoids showed me just how much skill and precision you have. My issue with you is the issue of trust. How can I trust a stranger such as yourself?” Cadence asked Slade, her eyes narrowing as she did so. It was then Slade pieced together her entire plan. She hadn’t just brought Slade onboard her train just to talk to him about hiring him. She had brought him onboard so that he wouldn’t escape from her sight if he proved to be a threat.

Yet while he could have killed her and the rest of the ponies then and there, he knew that he could still talk his way into a fruitful situation. And the reminder of how much extra he would be paid for no loss of life still weighed in the back of his mind.

“You wish to know how you can trust me? Simple. My trust, along with my services, are bought,” Slade told Cadence. “If you pay me to protect your family, I will protect your family. If you pay for me to stop a criminal, I stop a criminal. And if you pay enough for me to bring down a nation...”

“I get it. You’re somepony who’s only motivated by money,” Cadence spat back, less than thrilled at the revelation.

“We are all motivated by something, Princess Cadence. Love and justice. Hatred and revenge. Money and power. There is no one in all of the worlds who does something for nothing. The question simply is, who does what and why?” Slade replied in a cold voice. “You do not have to like my reasons for aiding you. You do not have to like the person i am. What you think of me I care nothing about. But if you pay for my services, then you have my solemn word that I will complete what you have paid me for no matter the cost. That is all I care about.”

Cadence leaned back in her chair and thought hard about Slade’s words. Slade knew that she didn’t trust him, but he also could see from her expression that his words had made sense to her. And he hadn’t spoken a lie. He cared nothing for what she thought of him or what she thought of his methods. But if she was willing to pay him, not only would he protect her family as if it was his own, but perhaps he could use her royal connections to learn a few things.

“You will uphold your agreement?” Cadence asked at last. “You will keep my family safe from any that seek to harm them?”

“Cadence...I will do everything in my power to make sure that you never have reason to fear for your family’s safety again. That is a promise.”

[D\S]

“So let me read this back to you to make sure that I’ve got it all straight. You’re an immortal mercenary that will take a job from anyone, and you mean anyone, to do anything and you don’t care what it is as long as you get paid?” Twilight asked as she read back what Deadpool had told her, before glancing over the top of the page to look at Deadpool. He was sitting across from her at the crystal table, wearing a tie that she didn’t remember seeing on him when he first came in. “And you also said that you’re an expert in dealing with ninjas, nazis, and something called Logan. Is all of that correct?”

“Of course that’s all correct. Does this look like the face of a person that would lie to you?” Deadpool asked Twilight as he pointed towards his still completely masked face. Twilight’s response was to raise an eyebrow, before casting a glance towards the pink pony that was chasing around a bubble that had somehow gotten loose in Twilight’s castle.

“And do you have anything to add to this...stunning resume that your new best friend has told me about, Pinkie?” Twilight asked. When Pinkie continued to chase after the bubble, Twilight shook her head in frustration and looked back at the paper. “Okay, if somehow I didn’t give up on this from reading the beginning, I’m fairly certain I would when I got to your references. Mister Fantastic? Professor X? Batman? Did you make these people up?”

“Only one of those don’t exist in my world. I’ll let you figure out which one,” Deadpool told Twilight, before he cracked and started laughing. “Okay, you got me. It’s Mister Fantastic. His whole franchise had been dead for years now!”

“I...what...moving on,” Twilight said through clenched teeth, doing everything in her power to keep Deadpool from getting to her. “First of all, this isn’t even a real resume. Second, this isn’t how we hire ponies...people in Equestria. Third, I have no need for a mercenary at the moment...or ever, as a matter of fact. And finally, how did you get here and why are you in Equestria in the first place?”

“Oh please hire me, I so desperately need this job!” Wade exclaimed as he threw himself onto Twilight’s hooves, getting the princess to start trying to kick him off. “If I don’t come up with money and soon, big bad Bob is going to send his goons to kill me!”

“I thought you said you can’t be killed?”

“And then I’ll be kicked out of my house!”

“You also said that you don’t have a home.”

“And then all of my friends will leave me!”

Deadpool pulled a picture out of his suit and showed it to Twilight. The picture was of a tied up Deadpool sitting at the end of a table, while numerous people stood around him with guns and knives pointed at him. “Oh wait a sec, that’s the wrong one,” Wade corrected as he pocketed that photo before pulling out another.

This photo had apparently been taking in the same house as the previous one, but this time Deadpool was free of the ropes that had bound him and all of the other people that had been in the photo were leaned up against the wall with their arms draped over Deadpool’s shoulders while Deadpool gave two thumbs up. The only problem Twilight had with the picture was that all of the other guys were dead.

“Pinkie, can I speak with you for a second?” Twilight asked Pinkie before grabbing her with her magic and dragging the pink pony towards the corner. “What in the hell were you thinking bringing somepony like this here?! This guy is a total nut job!”

“Aw don’t be like that, Twilight. Yeah Wade might be a little strange and occasionally shoot himself, but deep down I can sense that he’s a good guy. Like, way down though. Lower than the ocean depths down. Like at the very center of his being in a place that doesn’t see much light-”

“I don’t care what you see in him, this guy is a risk,” Twilight told Pinkie in her most serious tone. “If he was just crazy then I wouldn’t be as opposed to helping him, but this guy is a dangerous mercenary that, if what he says is true, cannot die. That means that nothing we do to him can stop him.”

“We could always ask him to stop. Pretty please always works!” Twilight let out an exasperated groan and slammed her head into the wall. “Come on Twilight, aren’t you the one always telling us that we should give others a chance! Yeah Wade might be crazy and unkillable, but that doesn’t make him any less of a living being! At the very least we should try to be friends with him.”

“...you’re right Pinkie. He deserves a chance at the very least,” Twilight agreed a moment later with her usual confidence brimming in her eyes. “I may not have any jobs that require a mercenary at the moment, but at the very least I can try to make friends with this strange, strange person. Come on, let’s go properly introduce ourselves.”

Pinkie and Twilight then turned to see Deadpool standing in front of a grill with an apron on, while the castle behind him burned in a brilliant blaze. “Oh hey girls. I heard everything that you said and decided that the best way to cement our new friendship was a friendship barbecue! Could get the grill to start though, so I used my rusty trusty flamethrower,” Wade explained before holding out a plate of hotdogs to the pair. “Weiners?”

A moment later Deadpool was hurled headfirst through one of the castle windows.
> That One Friend Everyone Has
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the crystal train moved closer and closer to Canterlot, Slade began to ponder what the best course of action would be. He may have, for the moment, found himself outside of Candence’s bad graces, but there was still the matter of Celestia and Luna to deal with. From what he had read in the reports about Equestria, the two princesses were normally kind and caring rulers. But they also had fought against nearly every evil that Equestria had thrown at them.

‘Of course, from looking at their track record, it also seems that they have been beaten by every evil force that they fought,’ Slade mused to himself as he looked through their file. Cadence had been generous enough to grant him his own train car for the rest of the journey. She had said it was so he could rest if he wished to, but Slade figured it was more along the lines of that she didn’t want him hearing what she was saying to her ponies.

Not that it bothered Slade in the slightest. The time alone allowed him to do more research about Canterlot, where the two princesses ruled over the land of magic. Two princesses who, if he were a betting man, he would wager knew the location of the magical source that he had been hired to steal. Of course, Slade rarely gambled. He hated uncertainty, discord and randomness. Those things had nearly cost him his son and had cost him his family. So he eliminated them at all times.

Having read all he needed to about the two princesses, Slade moved onto the six heroes of the world. The Ambassadors of Harmony. Twilight Sparkle. Fluttershy. Applejack. Pinkie Pie. Rainbow Dash. And Rarity. The six that had fought and defeated all of the foes that Celestia and Luna failed to so much as slow down. While the rulers might be a minor annoyance to him at best, Slade had been foiled by heroes far too many times to underestimate them.

Twilight was the first one that he devoted his attention to. She too was an alicorn and, according to his reports, meant that her magical power far exceeded that of all of the other ponies. She was proficient in magical spells and combat, was a skilled leader and negotiator, and had a nasty habit of finding a way to overcome any evil she was faced with. She was trouble, Slade knew that much.

But as he continued to read he learned that she was far from perfect. She was a neat freak with O.C.D and hated it when anything went off the rails or didn’t g o according to plan. Like him. Also, like all of the other heroes, she wouldn’t risk the lives of her friends or the innocent to stop an evil foe, for the records showed that she surrendered absolute power to a being named Tirek to save her friends. That made Slade smile beneath his helmet as numerous plans on how to beat her came to mind.

He studied Rainbow Dash next. She was fast, faster than sound, and a decent fighter according to the files. What she wasn’t, however, was a thinker or a planner. The files and records showed that she preferred to rush headlong into battle and damn the consequences of her actions. Slade sighed a little when he read that. Beating her would be too easy.

Neither Fluttershy nor Rarity gained any interest from Slade. One was a coward that worked with animals. The other was a dressmaker that was annoying and cried a lot. He could kill them both with his eye closed. They were annoyances, and yet, somehow, were both chosen to be two of the six saviors of the land. Slade wondered how could an ancient power be so foolish.

Applejack was a quick read at best. Strong, fast, and the second in command, she could provide a challenge for most evil forces that were facing her. But Slade had conquered Batman. He could conquer a small horse with a cowboy hat.

But it was the last pony on the list that gained all of Slade’s full attention. Pinkie Pie. At first, she looked like a normal, albeit strange, pony that was pink. Her achievements were hardly impressive and from what he read she seemed to be more annoying than dangerous.

But then Slade got to her list of powers and abilities, which made his eye widen with shock. Teleportation, superspeed, the ability to duplicate herself, immunity to nearly all forms of damage, blatant disregard for gravity and the other natural laws. Able to scare a monster ten times her size with nothing more than a smile. And always seems to know more than she lets on despite how silly she acts.

‘That sounds a lot like Deadpool,’ Slade thought to himself. He closed to laptop and glanced at his current weaponry, wondering if the tools he was carrying would be enough to stop a reality breaker like Pinkie. He then wondered if they would be enough to stop the merc with a mouth. ‘No, I’ve beaten the Justice League. I’ve beaten gods, monsters and everything in-between. I can handle a sugar addicted pony and some regenerating freak in red. I can best anyone.’

The train began to slow down and Slade looked out the window to see that the train was pulling into a station. He then glanced out the other window to see a very long drop on the other side of the tracks. That told him that they were almost to his destination. Canterlot, the city on a mountain. Where the princesses ruled over Equestria. And were invaded and overthrown every other month. 

Slade rose to his feet and pressed a button on the side of the laptop, causing it to begin to fold in on itself until it was small enough to fit inside one of his pouches. Once he had secured the device, he opened the door to his train car and moved between cars to enter the car containing the ponies.

Upon entering he felt every eye in the room glance over at him, allowing Slade to feel the distrust and uncertainty that they all felt towards him. Not that he was bothered in the slightest. As he walked up to the princess in the car, he felt the train slow to a halt, before a burst of steam from the front of the train informed its passengers that they had reached their destination.

“Alright Slade, here’s the deal. I’m going to speak with the Canterlot royal guard and tell them that you are working for me. As long as they know that, you shouldn’t be harassed by them,” Cadence informed Deathstroke, before her eyes turned dangerous. “However, if you set a single toe out of line or show them that you are a threat to this city in anyway, then the guard have been ordered by Princess Celestia to bring you down. And there are hundreds of them.”

“Only hundreds? Now I see why Canterlot has a habit of being invaded by the villain of the wee. They would do well to avoid me,” Slade replied coldly. Cadence wasn’t sure if that was a joke or not, but then looked at who she was talking to and assumed that he meant what he said. The doors to the train slid open and Cadence stepped out onto the platform, while her own guards stood between Slade and his exit. He could hear her talking with the armored ponies standing on the platform and from the looks on their face they were none too happy about what they were being told.

But eventually the princess won out and a moment later the ponies keeping Slade in stepped to the side, allowing him to take his first steps onto the city of Canterlot. The buildings were all made of a white material, the ponies appeared to be the cream of the crop and a feeling of magic washed over the city.

“Slade, I, tentatively, welcome you to Canterlot, home of the princesses of Equestria,” Cadence said in a less than thrilled tone. “Now remember to watch your step, because you never know what magical villain may have taken over Canterlot.”

‘Oh, I know what is here,’ Slade thought to himself as Cadence began to speak with her husband and the guards. ‘The location of what I seek. Let’s hope that the princesses don’t make getting it too…difficult.’


“I think Twilight likes me,” said a slightly crispy Wade to Pinkie as the two walked through the streets of Ponyville. After throwing Wade through her first floor, Twilight then used the same tactic to get rid of the fire. Unfortunately for Wade, he had been fascinated by a ladybug that had landed on him and didn’t see the fire come until he was already set ablaze.

Once Twilight had dealt with the fire that was consuming her house, she had glanced out the window to see both Pinkie and Wade roasting marshmallows…over Wade’s burning flesh. In a desperate attempt to extinguish him, Twilight used her alicorn powers to cause a rain cloud to start pouring down on Wade, extinguishing the fire and his fun at the same time. Then a bolt of lightning crashed through Twilight’s window and set her home on fire once more. Twilight, having enough for one day, had suggested to Pinkie that she take Wade to see her other friends before racing off to save her home once again.

“I know! I can’t believe how quickly she…warmed up to you!” Pinkie punned before giggling to herself. “It was like she was a moth drawn to a flame. I’m certain that I saw sparks fly!”

“I don’t get it.”

“Anywho, now we’re off to see all of my other wonderful friends!” Pinkie exclaimed as she hopped alongside Deadpool.

“Let’s just hope they’re as nice and friendly as the rest of this wonderful town!” Deadpool exclaimed before he started to wave at the ponies he passed by. “Hello there, friend!”

“Freak!”

“Good morning to you, ma’am!”

“Back off, weirdo.”

“What a lovely child you have there, lady.”

“I have pepper spray and I’m not afraid to use it! And so does my son!”

“Such a lovely community,” Deadpool said with a longing sigh once the pepper spray had stopped burning his eyeballs. “You know Pinkie; you’d think that because this is a full faced mask that also covers my eyes that it would be able to stop things like pepper spray. You’d be wrong.”

“I’m sorry about them, Wade. They can be a little…cold to ponies or people that they know nothing about. It wasn’t too long ago that they were all terrified of Zecora, a friend of mine who’s a zebra. It took them months before they fully welcomed her into their community. Just…give them some time.”

As Pinkie said this, a pie came flying from off screen and exploded on the side of Deadpool’s face. Both he and Pinkie turned to see an old mare shaking her hoof at Deadpool, before yelling a curse word and then slamming her windows shuts. Pinkie flashed Deadpool sympathetic eyes as he pulled the pie off of his face, though most of the whipped cream was glued to his mask.

“Wade…I’m…”

“Look Pinkie, I’m barely here a day and already they’re giving me gifts,” Deadpool exclaimed happily, before he began to eat what remained of the pie despite his mask getting in the way. “And you said that they wouldn’t like me.”

“Yeah…Yeah! At this rate the whole town will love you before the day is out!” Pinkie exclaimed confidently. “Come on, let’s go introduce you to my friends! I’m sure that they’d love to meet you!”

“We would love to meet who now?” a southern sounding voice asked.

“Applejack!” Pinkie exclaimed as she threw herself around her possible cousin. The orange mare with the light yellow mane chuckled as she patted Pinkie on the shoulder, before the two broke apart and both gazed up at Deadpool.

“So is this yer new friend that ah’ve heard so many rumors about?” Applejack asked Pinkie.

“Wow, you’ve already heard rumors about Wade? What are they saying? WHAT ARE THEY SAYING?!”

“That he’s a freak, an eyesore and has no right disturbing the peace of our small town,” AJ said with a shrug. “And those are the nicest ah’ve heard.”

“And I can be all that and more, my lovely southern belle,” Wade said as he wrapped an arm around AJ’s shoulder, immediately getting AJ to worry. “I can be whatever you want me to be, if you so wish. Tell me, are you doing anything later tonight?”

“No, why?”

“Because I have something really fun and super interesting that you could be doing?”

“And what, dare ah ask, is that?”

“Me!”

Applejack looked up at Deadpool for a full thirty seconds after he said this, while Deadpool looked back at her with a smile on his face. AJ then sighed before she slowly turned around, positioning her back to be facing Deadpool. She cracked her neck, shook out her legs, and crouched down slightly, all the while Deadpool watched with anticipation. Then, with enough force to knock over fully grown apple trees, Applejack bucked both of her hind hooves into Wade’s privates.

CRACK!

The sound of her hooves striking Wade’s manhood echoed out across the town, making every stallion that heard the sound wince all at once. Even Pinkie had to avert her eyes and grit her teeth, for simply hearing the sound was enough to inform her that the kick had to have hurt.

“Ha, you think that bothers me?! Do you know how many times I’ve been kicked below the belt before?! I’ve been kicked down there by guys with metal legs, guys with super soldier serum and even the Incredible Fucking Hulk! You think that hurt me?! I’m way tougher than that!” Deadpool roared defiantly.

Of course, neither of the ponies heard him. What they heard, as they gazed down at the man in red who was curled into a fetal position with both hands on his dick and tears streaming out from his mask, was a high pitched squealing sound. The squealing was so high pitched that the only beings nearby that were able to understand what Wade was saying were dogs.

The dogs, however, found Wade incredibly tough.
> Lurkers
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Canterlot, despite the impressive name and how much Cadence had built it up, disappointed Slade. The buildings and roads were made from marble, but the city itself could hardly be called grand. The ponies in the city were what disappointed Slade the most, however. They all acted like members of high class that he had dealt with in the past. Snobby, stuck up, and glared at the man in orange and black armor as he passed with the rest of Cadence’s group. They glared at him. He glared back. They all looked to the ground.

“Do you have to scare the citizens?” Cadence asked Slade with a disapproving look.

“It is safest for them if they know how dangerous I am right from the start. That way, none of them will try anything…foolish,” Slade said calmly. “Besides, I am not just instilling fear in the hearts of these ponies. I am also scanning the crowd for any sign of a being that might be out to get you or your family.”

“You really think that an evil force would be hiding in the city where the two most powerful beings in the world live?” Cadence asked with a smirk.

“Chrysalis,” Deathstroke shot back in reply. The smirk fell from Cadence’s face. “But yes, I fully expect them to be somewhere in this city waiting for you. They failed to kill you at the Crystal Empire. They failed to kill you on the way here. This will be the last chance to kill you before you reach Celestia and Luna, adding your power to theirs.”

“How do you know of Chrysalis?” Cadence asked after a moment. “I never mentioned her and neither did anypony else on the train.”

“There is much I know,” Slade replied. Cadence narrowed her eyes at his response, but instead of pressing the matter further she fell back and walked alongside Shining Armor.

“I still can’t believe that you’re willing to trust this guy,” Shining whispered to his wife.

“Trust him? Dear, I don’t trust him in the slightest,” Cadence replied in a stern tone. “He’s a mercenary, which means he’s done some terrible things in his life. But you saw what he did to those spiders. Hardly even broke a sweat. So I’d rather have him on my payroll and fighting for me than on somepony else’s and trying to kill me.”

“The Royal Guard should be protecting you and Flurry. Not some human merc that we know nothing about,” Shining Armor grumbled. Cadence smiled softly at him before wrapping a wing around his shoulder, pulling herself closer.

“You are here protecting me. You always have. And I wouldn’t want anypony else at my side,” Cadence said lovingly. “But they’ve made two attempts on our lives. And they tried to take Flurry. And to protect my daughter I will use whatever means I have to. Even if it’s hiring somepony like Slade.”

Shining Armor narrowed his eyes and tried to think of a way to respond to that, but after a moment he shook his head and leaned into his wife. “I guess that’s why you’re the ruler of the Crystal Empire. You make the hard decisions. But just promise me that you’ll-“

BANG!

Cadence and Shining Armor both leapt as the gunshot tore across the air, getting the ponies around the group to shriek in fear. Cadence’s eyes immediately fell on Deathstroke, who was aiming a pistol up at a building. She opened her mouth to prepare to yell at him, but right before she could a creature of horror slammed into the ground at the base of the building, blood leaking from a bullet hole in its leg.

The beasts flesh looked like it was made of melted wax, complete with holes and a rotting odor. The face of the beast was twisted and cruel, with beady black eyes that were filled with pain and malice. It bled green and had an aura of magic around it that made Cadence nauseous. It had four arms and two legs that thrashed in pain, but then it laid eyes on the princess and its mind seemed to focus. 

“Get back!” Shining roared as he placed himself between the monster and his wife.

In the blink of an eye Deathstroke was on the beast, kicking it in the side of the head to roll it over, where he pressed his pistol underneath of its chin. The creature howled and hurled a fist towards Slade, but in a flash of motion his blade cleaved through the creature’s arm and severed it from its body.

“Every time you try that all you will be doing is losing limbs,” Deathstroke whispered to the creature in a dangerous voice. The beast snarled at him in reply, but when it made no further movements Deathstroke assumed that he got his point across. “So, princess, is this one of those forces that has been hunting you?”

“No, that’s a Lurker,” Cadence explained while keeping her distance. “There monsters created when a spell of resurrection goes horrible awry. Doomed to a half-life of eternal suffering and anguish, all they can do is seek out the one responsible for their pain and try to end them.”

“And the reason it is after you is because…”

“I was about to get to that. However, due to being undead they have very weak wills and are easily swayed, both by words and magical force,” Cadence continued. “If a pony were to tell a Lurker that they could help it avenge its death, it would follow them without hesitation. Or if their magic is strong enough, the can simply manipulate it into doing their bidding. Either way, it is a tragic life for such a creature.”

“So since you weren’t the one to kill this guy when he was alive, that means this Lurker is being manipulated into attacking you,” Shining Armor slowly caught on, getting Deathstroke to roll his eye under his mask. “The question is…how is it being manipulated. Any ideas?”

“I have one,” Deathstroke replied before he pulled the trigger on his pistol. Caence and Shining both let out a yelp as the bullet tore through the Lurkers skull and blasted its head to mushy pieces. Shining retched at the sight and smell of the now headless Lurker, while Cadence stared in horror at the beheaded creature.

“Slade…what-“

“First, it was undead, meaning it was already dead. I freed it from a life of suffering,” Slade said coldly before the princess could start. “Second, I need you to use your magic to try and sense if there is any magic leaving the area.”

Cadence was still shaken by what she just saw, but she forced her emotions down before closing her eyes and concentrating. After a moment, she let out a gasp and her eyes snapped back open. “I can sense a strange and unfamiliar magic leaving the body. And it is heading towards the south of the city!”

“Then that is where your would be assassin is hiding. I’ll be back!” Deathstroke yelled before he took off at a full sprint towards the southern part of the city.

“SLADE!” Cadence roared. Slade stopped just long enough to look back at her. “Bring him in alive.” 

Deathstroke’s eye narrowed from under his helmet, yet instead of answering he turned and took off towards where the assassin was. Both Cadence and Shining Armor watched him go. “Think he’ll be okay?” Shining asked his wife.

“He’s cut down metal spiders and just decapitated a Lurker while making it look easy. He’ll be fine.”

“I was talking about the guy he was going after.”



“Alrighty Deadpool, those are all of my friends!” Pinkie exclaimed as the two of them left Fluttershy’s cottage. Deadpool had numerous venomous snakes hanging from his body and his abdomen was healing from a particularly nasty wound from where a bear had tried to rip him in two. “But wow, I’ve never seen Fluttershy get so angry or use so many swear words before! And when that bear she keeps hurled you through the front door…”

“Yep, I have that effect on people. They see what I got and they get angry that they don’t got it. Honestly Pinkie, I can’t believe all of your friends are just so jealous of me,” Deadpool replied as he unclipped the last snake, which was biting his neck. “So let’s recap. You introduced me to Rainbow Dash and, after trying to figure out if the rainbow mane was a statement or not, she kicked the shit out of me.”

“Uh-huh. Then there was Rarity, who, upon hearing that you were looking for that special somepony, hurled herself at you and begged you to whisk her away to paradise,” Pinkie continued on. “You then threw her into the trash and set fire to the boutique for good measure.”

“Pinkie, there’s hot crazy desperate and then there’s psycho crazy desperate. And your friend Rarity was the latter category,” Wade explained. “And while I may be desperate myself, I am not going to settle down with some psycho. Deadpool don’t date no psychos.”

“Really?”

“F-no. I just don’t want to limit myself before I see what the rest of this magical world has to offer me!” Deadpool shouted with glee. “And then I make one tiny comment to Fluttershy about how much better that little rabbit of hers would be in a stew and she flips out and sends her bear after me.”

“Yep. That was wild.”

“Sure was. Now come on, best friend a reino. Didn’t you say that you worked in some kind of house made out of gingerbread and candy?”

“Yeah I do! It’s called Sugar Cube Corners and it has all of the candy, cake and goodies that a person could want!” Pinkie exclaimed.”

“Do you think it has chimichangas?”

“It will when we’re done with it! Come on, let’s get going!”

“Why do that? We’re already there!” Deadpool said as he pointed up, getting Pinkie to look over and see that, indeed, they were both standing in front of Sugar Cube corners.

“Wow, we were just leaving Fluttershy’s cottage. When did we get here?”

“Who gives a fuck?! Let’s go inside!”

Deadpool kicked open the door to the store and leapt inside, immediately turning every eye in the place towards him. The cakes both stood behind the counter, looking at Deadpool with disbelief in their eyes. The patrons closest to the door had to shield their eyes from the bright, and very form fitting, spandex that the sun reflected off of. A pair of foals sat in a small crib on the counter next to their parents, eyes going wide with interest when they saw the merc.

“Hello fine ponies of this sweet store. I am Deadpool. And I am here to feast,” Deadpool said before he vaulted over the heads of all of the patrons before landing ass down in a seat near the counter, where he took a fork in one hand and a knife in the other. “I will not ask for a menu. I will not ask for a drink. All I ask is that you bring me sweets and keep feeding me until I explode. And I will explode.”

“Hiya, Mr. and Mrs. Cake!” Pinkie said as she walked behind the counter, tying on an apron around her waist and a bandana around her head.

“Pinkie, who is this yahoo and why is he here?” Mr. Cake whispered to Pinkie.

“That’s Deadpool. He’s a friend of mine,” Pinkie said as she began to gather up plates of sweets. “He’s a little…eccentric, but I think he’s a nice guy deep down.”

“Well, if you’re sure,” Mrs. Cake replied with a glance at Deadpool, who was now banging his fists on the able while chanting, “SWEET SWEET SWEETS”. Pinkie balanced three plates filled with treats on each arm before she skated over to Deadpool’s table and lined them all out for him.

“Here you go, Wade! It’s a little bit of everything we’ve got, so make sure to try them all!” Pinkie said with a smile. Deadpool’s eyes widened under the mask before he scooped up a chunk of the sweets into his arms, where he began to inhale them all down his throat. 

“Um, don’t you think you should take the mask off? I don’t know how you’re eating through it, but it certainly can’t taste that good,” Mr. Cake suggested.

“First rule of being Deadpool, Cake pony, is that…all ladies are welcome. But the second rule of being Deadpool is that the mask never. Comes. Off,” Deadpool said in a very serious tone. However, since his mouth was filled with food, all the ponies heard was muffled grumbling. The Cakes and Pinkie watched Deadpool eat, with the Cakes being horrified at the display while Pinkie smiled the entire time.

Then Deadpool’s eyes glanced towards the counter where the two foals were sitting and his eyes came to a halt on the one with the horn. Because the foal with the horn had teleported out of her foal pen and was now walking across the counter towards a stovetop. A stovetop that Deadpool saw still had flames flickering on it.

“Cookie of Salvation!” Deadpool yelled as he leapt out of his seat and hurled a cookie towards the kitchen, getting the Cakes to duck as the cookie sailed overhead like a buzzsaw. The cookie bounced off the wall, then bounced off the counter right in front of where the foal was walking, gaining her attention. The cookie bounced once more off of the stove controls, turning it off, before it came to a rest inside of the foal pen. The foal’s horn glowed and a moment later she teleported back inside her pen, gnawing on the cookie.

“Why did you throw that cookie across the room like a ninja star?” Mr. Cake asked as he rose back up and glanced back at the kitchen, only to find nothing out of the ordinary.

“To save a life,” Deadpool said as he looked to the side, with a beam of light coming down from a window on the second floor to make him look divine.

“Okay, I think we’ve tolerated you long enough. Please get out of our store and…have a nice day,” Mrs. Cake said through a tired smile.

“Fine! I know when I’m not wanted!” Deadpool sobbed as he rose to his feet, before asking in a normal voice. “Do you guys think that you can put all of that in a to go box for me?” 

“No.”

“Then I shall be gone!” Deadpool wailed as he rushed from the store, sobbing as he did so. But he had barely made it ten steps out the door before he ran headfirst into somepony. He bounced off of them and hit the ground with a swear, before shaking his head and looking up.

Two alicorns stood before him. One was as white as the snow with a mane the color of dreams. While the other was like a midnight sky and had a mane that resembled a galaxy. Both of them looked down at Deadpool with curious, and also annoyed, eyes.

“So you are Deadpool. The one responsible to making Twilight send me over a hundred letters in the last hour,” Celestia said in a calm voice, but one that held faint traces of anger. “And in her letters she says that you bothered her, mentally scared her and then tried to burn her home down. What do you have to say about that?”

“I only have one thing to say right now…your sister is hotter," Wade said to Celestia.

"Knew it," Luna smirked.
> Mouth of the Merc
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

This was what Slade lived for. The job. The hunt. Being given a task that would make a regular man question his own abilities and then making it look like it was the easiest thing in the world to accomplish. Slade lived for the thrill of being a mercenary.

The mercenary raced through the streets of Canterlot with seed and purpose, dodging and weaving his way past the citizens who were shocked to see a man in orange and black race past them. Each of his strides was long and calculated, while his eye scanned each face he sprinted past in search of the summoner of the Lurker. While he may have only been around ponies for a short time, telling when somebody was evil or not was easy for him. He just looked for someone that had eyes like his.

Some of the royal guard had tried to come with him, but with his agility and skill he had left them in the dust. Which he preferred, as the guard would most likely get in his way then be of any help whatsoever. He also suspected that Cadence and Shining Armor wouldn’t try to follow him either. Their first concern would have been their foal, so Deathstroke assumed that’s where they were heading at the moment.

‘As they should be. If this assassin is after Cadence’s family, then I highly doubt their daughter is safe either,’ Deathstroke assumed. As he himself had used child captives before to get to people in positions of power in the past, he figured that his assumption was accurate.

His thoughts of kidnapping and extortion were sidelined for the moment as his eye picked up something in a large crowd of ponies in a park that didn’t belong. One of the ponies was wearing a black cloak with golden highlights upon it…while in the center of a circle of magical energy. As if that wasn’t suspicious enough, the ponies that were close to the cloaked being all had white eyes and drool dripping from their slack jaws. Of course, Slade realized that could be the ponies regular expression, but he was willing to bet that they were being mind-controlled.

“Brethren! Behold, the being that is here to deceive and destroy you!” the cloaked being said in a raspy voice. His words caused all the mindless drones to look at Deathstroke, who knew what was about to happen. “And if he does so, none of you will be able to find your way to paradise! Destroy him, before he takes everything you love and cherish!”

The drones let out a wail and began to lumber towards Deathstroke, but the mercenary wasn’t going to give any of them the chance to do anything. The first thought to cross his mind was to gun down the ponies and claim that he was defending himself. However, he figured that wouldn’t go over with Cadence, nor the thousands of guards she would send after him. Also, he was being paid for non-lethal from two parties now. He was going to have to be careful not to kill any of them, so he left his firearms holstered and drew his staff from it magnetic holding.

The first of the mindless drones he reached to took the end of the staff right between the eyes, dropping them without a sound. The next two he raced by had their legs knocked out from under them in a single swing, allowing Deathstroke to keep his full sprint towards the cloaked pony. While only the pony’s lower jaw was visible, Deathstroke could see that the pony was starting to panic, the fear seeping in as Deathstroke ran through his henchmen with no effort at all.

Deathstroke twirled over a pair of drones before sweeping their legs with his own, before he drove the point of his staff into the chest of one of the bigger stallions. He pressed a hidden button on the staff, which caused a burst of energy to erupt at the end of the staff and send the massive stallion hurtling backwards.

“You would be wise to surrender,” Slade advised the cloaked pony. But instead of surrendering, the pony let out a malicious cackle before raising his hooves over his head. Dark lightning shot from the hooves and into the sky, summoning black clouds that swirled overhead like a whirlpool.

“Surrender? I do not know the meaning of the word! All I know is that the princesses shall be consumed by the same dark forces that they have allowed to rain upon this land!” the being roared in reply. The clouds began to spit blue lightning onto the land below and the wind howled with such rage that it sounded like a living being. “But before this darkness consumes the royal bloodlines, first it shall strike you from the land of the living and cast you into an eternal-“

BLAM!

The cloaked being screamed with pain as a geyser of blood erupted from his left arm, while the force of the bullet spun him to the side. Deathstroke holstered his gun and walked over to the fanatic, noticing that with the pony down none of the drones could so much as blink properly. Deathstroke found the fanatic laying in a pool of his own blood, muttering something to himself as his eyes stared off into eternity.

“Who are you and why are you trying to kill the princesses?” Deathstroke asked in a cold voice. When the pony didn’t answer, choosing instead to just murmur to himself, Deathstroke took his boot and placed it on the bullet wound. “I will ask nicely only once. Who are you and why are you trying to kill the princesses? And I do not want to hear anything about some unleashed darkness or death from the heavens, are we clear?”

“I would ask how you can be so blind, but it is clear that you do not have you only see half of what we with vision truly see,” the fanatic replied in a pained gasp. Slade narrowed that one eye before pressing down with his foot, getting the pony in the cloak to scream with agony. But after a moment of screaming, the pony began to laugh. “Y-you poor fool. You think that by serving the princesses that they will allow you into their light. But that light is for them alone and they shall leave you to be consumed by the darkness where they have sent so many! Repent, before you too are-“

A right hook to the face sent the pony into the land of dreams, silencing him and his lunatic ramblings. Slade shook his head at the fanatic’s words before he glanced around at the drones. With the pony unconscious, the drones were beginning to be freed from their imprisonment within their own minds. The ponies were blinking, shaking their heads and trying to figure out how they got where they were or why they felt like they had been on the receiving end of a metal bat.

Deathstroke then glanced down at the fanatic, who, despite having taken quite the concussion, was still mumbling about the coming darkness. Slade then glanced at his bleeding left arm, figuring that the pony would bleed out in a little over and hour. He knew that Cadence wanted the pony brought to her alive.

But she never said how he should be alive after he was brought to her.

{D0|0P}

“Y’know, when I found out I was coming to a land of magical ponies that were all the colors of the rainbow, I thought that maybe, just maybe, I would be able to get through it without pissing any of you off or getting myself into trouble,” Deadpool said to the pair of princesses. He then glanced up at the magical chains that Celestia and Luna had summoned to keep his limbs pulled out, leaving him dangling in the air. “But, as I can clearly see now, my charms are simply far too much-“

“Silence,” Celestia said in her royal voice before using her magic to seal Wade’s mouth shut. Deadpool raised an eyebrow under his mask, but before he could say anything witty in retort, at that moment Pinkie raced out of the sweet shop to see what was going on.

“Princess Luna! Princess Celestia! What are you two doing?” she asked with confusion.

“They’re starting my Friday off right,” Deadpool replied before another strip of magic wrapped itself around his mouth. Pinkie looked from the gagged Deadpool to the clearly troubled princesses, waiting for one of them to answer her question.

“Pinkie, we have received numerous letters from princess Twilight about a new being in the land of Equestria. One that is, how did she put it, a pain in the ass,” Luna informed Pinkie. “She told us that the being was crass, rude, did whatever it wanted with no regard for the consequences and was an unkillable force of insanity. Also that he wore bright red spandex that concealed nothing.”

“That’s…all pretty much true,” Pinkie admitted before shaking her head. “But that’s only because Twilight and the others have only hung out with Wade for a few minutes at most! Just because they’ve only seen the crazy side of him doesn’t mean that he should be chained up!”

“Don’t ruin this for me Pinkie. Normally I’ve got to pay women to do this to me,” Deadpool added on, only for magic to clamp his mouth shut once more.

“Let us talk about your other friends, because my sister and I have received letters from them as well,” Celestia continued. “And all of them said the same thing about Wade. That he was crazy. That he was a menace. And that he seemed like the kind of guy that is on the edge of snapping. That Pinkie, combined with the immortality Twilight mentioned, makes him a very dangerous individual.”

“Well, all of the letters except for Rarity’s. All hers said was that another being had come into her life and dumped her, leaving her alone,” Luna added with a smirk. “Of course, that’s what I could make out since her tears ruined most of the words. Honestly, her letters are better than afternoon dramas.”

“My point being that Deadpool here is a very dangerous individual, one who I am not sure we can trust at the moment…or every,” Celestia added with a sideways glance at Wade. “Not to mention he tried to burn down both Twilight’s castle and Rarity’s boutique. Those acts alone should get him ten years in a dungeon.”

“Okay, but he’s…still new to this land. He doesn’t know or rules or how things work,” Pinkie tried to argue for Wade.

“No, they’re right Pinkie. I’ve been a very naughty Deadpool. I deserve to be whipped.”

“Sister, this is getting weird.”

“Come on Princess, we’re the land of second chances and friendship! Yet so far I seem to be the only pony willing to give Wade here a chance!” Pinkie put forward. Celestia frowned at Pinkie’s words before lowering her head to think. “Maybe the reason he acts like this is because nopony wants to be his friend or only sees him for what you all see him as. A crazy, unkillable monster that may be a threat.”

“It’s true. I’m desperately lonely. Even the voices in my head left me.”

Celestia considered Pinkie’s words. ‘On one hoof, she is right in saying that we are the land of friendship and chances. And while Wade does appear to be nuts, Pinkie seems to be getting along just fine with him. Not to mention that I don’t want a foe that can’t be killed against us…’

“Very well Pinkie, I shall leave our…guest in your care,” Celestia agreed at last, getting Pinkie to gasp with excitement. “However, I will not tolerate any more of his attempts at arson or mentally scaring my ponies. Are we clear on that?”

“You can count on me, Princess. I promise that I will be the bestest guardian that you have ever seen!” Pinkie promised the two. Then she glanced over at the still chained up Deadpool, who had managed to get one of the chains around his neck and was now suffocating, before glancing back up at the princess. “Um, can you let him go now? Ponies are starting to stare.”

Celestia’s horn flashed and a moment later Deadpool was face down/ass up on the ground. He picked himself out of the dirt a moment later, but the expression his mask wore was anything less than amused. “Hey, how come you guys just let me go? You can’t just chain me up without whipping me. That’s not how this BDSM thing works. Hang on, I’ll show you how it’s done.”

“Honestly, I’m kinda glad that we’re leaving him to Pinkie,” Luna whispered to her sister who nodded in agreement.

“Well, now that we know who will be monitoring-I mean, showing you around, there is the matter of accommodations,” Celestia quickly corrected. “Pinkie, would you be alright with Wade staying with you for the time being?”

“Well, normally I would love to have a new best friend to come to my place to have sleepovers with, but somehow the foals I look after managed to get ahold of my party cannon and now the place is covered in frosting. It’s…going to take a while to clean out.”

“Ah. Well then Wade, is there any place that you would like to stay during your…visit to Equestria? Preferably not at the castle with my sister and me.”

“Oh please, no need to be so formal. I can sleep anywhere.”

“Please, do not be modest.”

“I’m not being modest. I literally will sleep anywhere. Condemned buildings, park benches, murder scenes…when you’re me, you can’t really be too picky in where you get lucky enough to lay your head down for the night,” Deadpool replied with a shrug. 

“What about your friends? Do they let you stay with them?”

“As long as they don’t find out I snuck in, I can stay as long as I like!”

Celestia was about to make a comment about that statement, but before she could a piece of parchment appeared before her in a puff of magic. She unrolled it with her magic and scanned the contents of the letter, her eyes narrowing into slits.

“Come sister, there has been another attempt on Princess Cadence, this time in the very streets of Canterlot,” Ceslestia told her sister, whose eyes widened in shock. “She says that she and her family are fine, but also that they’ve caught one of the ponies who is behind the attack.”

“But everytime we’ve tried to catch one of them they take their own lives. How did she manage to catch this one?”

“According to her letter, a mercenary she hired is responsible for the capture. They have the prisoner in the dungeon, but he’s weak from blood loss. If we wish to speak with him, we will have to do it soon,” Celestia advised before looking back at the other merc. “Pinkie, please keep an eye on this one until we can figure out what to do with him. I am trusting you here.”

“Don’t worry princess, you can count on me!” Pinkie said before saluting. Celestia and Luna nodded before they both vanished in a flash of light. Pinkie then lowered her arm before giving Wade a look. “So that other mercenary Celestia mentioned…”’

“Yep, it’s probably dad.”

“So Celestia and Luna…”

“Yep. They’re fucked.”
> Spilled Guts
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I will only ask this question once. Why?” Cadence asked.

She was in a dark lit room alone with the pony in the cloak that Deathstroke had brought down earlier. A single table with two chairs was the only furniture in the room, with a pony seated in each chair. The fanatic had his cloak taken from him and, aside from a bandage that was stopping the gunshot wound from bleeding, had no other items on him.

The pony’s response was to giggle slightly to himself before glaring at the princess, a dark expression on his face before he went back to murmuring to himself. Cadence sighed at his response, as it had been the same one he had been giving her for the better part of an hour.

“Do you not understand the situation you’re in?” Cadence asked the pony in a serious tone. “You and your groups attempts on my life would have gotten all of you imprisoned or banished to another realm if you were lucky. But you all had the gall to come after my daughter and threaten her life as well. That could earn you a one-way trip to Tartarus if I feel like it. The only way you can save your own neck is to tell me, right now, who you are working for and where we can find them!”

She had hoped that her threat, her very real threat, would scare the pony into talking. Yet once more all he did was look back at her with eyes that weren’t all there, yet somehow seemed to be seeing more than the princess. 

“Do you not understand the situation you are in? You have unleashed a great evil upon this land, a darkness that shall steal from us the very energy that keeps this world going. Magic,” the fanatic whispered in reply. “And without our magic, our world shall fall into chaos. Brother slaying brother. The sun falling from the skies. All because you decided to bring this evil into our home. Our world. All of this will be on you and the princesses. That is why you must be slain!”

Cadence shook her head with disgust before she rose from her chair and exited the room, glancing back one last time at the crazed pony in the chair. She then slammed the door shut behind her and walked over to the other side of the two-way mirror, where her husband and the mercenary both stood.

“I couldn’t get anything out of him. Nothing that made any sense, that is,” Cadence informed the both of them. “He said something about how the princesses had brought great darkness to the land, one that will steal the very magic of Equestria and cast the sun from the sky. If you ask me, he lost his mind.”

“Perhaps what we need is Princess Luna?” Shining offered. “She could enter into his dreams and maybe learn something that we couldn’t from talking to him? I mean, how else are we going to get information out of him when he himself doesn’t know what he’s talking about?”

“Perhaps. We could always have Luna go into his thoughts and learn the identity of somepony he works with. Then we can contact a changeling and have them shapeshift into that pony. Perhaps then he would open up some more,” Cadence theorized.

“Alright then, I’ll go wait for Luna and when she gets here we can send a message to-“

“I can make him talk.” Both Cadence and Shining Armor turned their heads to look at Deathstroke, who had yet to take his eye off of the pony on the other side of the glass. “Give me ten minutes alone with him and I can get him to spill his guts.”

“Spills his guts is exactly what I’m trying to avoid,” Cadence said in a cold tone. “I will not beat these…monsters that come after my family by stooping to their level. We already have another plan in place and-“

“It might not work. Or he may not live long enough for that plan to come to fruition,” Slade said as he narrowed his eye. “He doesn’t have long for this world. I can tell.”

“Cadence,” Shining said to his wife, who was staring at the floor as she thought.

“I cannot condone torture,” Cadence said in a stern tone, telling Slade that he would have to use his trump card to get the information he wanted.

“And I cannot condone those who go after children to get to their parents,” Slade said in a quiet voice, yet Cadence snapped her head at Slade almost as if he had screamed at her. “But they have gone after your foal before. They will do it again. And maybe next time you won’t see it coming until it’s too late,” Slade added, making sure to add a sad tone to every word.

“…do you have children, Slade?”

“I used to…until my enemies got to them.”

Cadence lowered her eyes once more, Slade’s words clearly having an effect on her. Shining Armor chose to remain silent, but Slade was aware of the looks the captain of the guard was giving the mercenary. 

“Find out what he knows. But only use what force you need to. Nothing excessive or not only will you not get paid, you’ll spend the rest of your days in a dungeon,” Cadence warned in a very low voice. “Come Shining. I want to check up on our daughter,” she muttered before heading to the exit. Shining nodded and started to follow after his wife, but then stopped and cast a glance back at Slade.

“Forcing her to choose between her morals and the safety of her child. I’m starting to wonder if the fanatics are the only evil in this world,” Shining said to Slade.

“What you wonder does not concern me in the least. You are here to protect your wife. Go do your job and let me do mine,” Slade replied in a cold tone. Shining snarled at Slade, but then turned and headed off to join back up with Cadence. With his two biggest obstacles to the truth out of the way, Slade opened the door and walked into the dimly lit room where the prisoner sat. The pony looked up with wide eyes when Slade approached, but there was no fear in them.

“So it returns. The bringer of the end,” the pony said in a whisper to Slade. Slade didn’t say anything in reply. Instead he lashed out with his foot and caught the pony in the bullet wound, causing the prisoner to scream as he fell backwards out of his chair. As he collapsed to the ground, a small leaf packet fell out of his mane and to the ground. Deathstroke scooped it up and scanned it with his helmet.

“Poison. So this is what you were supposed to take if you were captured,” Slade muttered as he grabbed hold of the pony and hoisted him back up. “I want answers and I want them now. Who do you work for, what are your plans and where is your base of operations. If you answer all of those in a way I find satisfactory, then perhaps you will be able to walk again…eventually.”

“The answers will not be to your liking. I know not who I work for, except that he wears a robe of gold. I have no base, for it constantly moves on the wind. And our plans are simple. Stop the princesses and end the darkness.”

Slade grabbed the pony by the throat and slammed him into the top of the table, nearly cracking both it and the pony’s spine. Deathstroke drove the point of his elbow into the gunshot wound, only to then clamp a hand around the pony’s mouth so that he couldn’t scream aloud. 

“You are correct. Those answers are not to my liking,” Slade whispered. “And because of that, I am tempted to rip out your organs and string you up with them. However, that would leave me with more questions that need to be answered and I do not have much time until the fools return with the other princess in tow. Now I want you to answer this next question or I will saw off one of your limbs. Why are you trying to kill the princess’s daughter?”

“Kill her? You blind fool, we have been trying to save her!” the pony spat in reply with heat and anger. But then weakness from his wounds crept in and a moment later he was breathing heavily on the table. “Princess Cadence has unleashed a dark evil upon this land. We have seen it in visions of the future. And if these visions truly come to pass, then all magic will be lost alongside so many lives. But we cannot let a being as powerful and innocent as her daughter be consumed by this darkness. That is why we shall take her to a sanctuary and protect her from this darkness.”

“So you and your order formed to protect this world from a coming evil by kidnapping children? You are not the heroes you think you are. You are nothing more than a group of fanatics trying to rationalize your own twisted actions,” Slade spat at the fanatic, who stared up at Slade without a word. “Do these visions that you place so much faith in show you your enemy? Show you the one that you believe to bring down this world? Or do you go after the princesses because a bad dream showed it to you?”

“The princesses are the ones that allowed this evil upon the world. They gave it power, gave it control and will do nothing to stop it until it is too late. We shall not allow that to happen,” the pony spat out weakly. “And the visions have showed us the darkness that shall destroy our land. It is a beast the color of the setting sun, with weapons that we cannot hope to match. It is cunning and ferocious, it is fearless and cold…and it sees through only a single, red eye.”

Slade’s own eye narrowed as the pony said these words, knowing that the comment about the one eye had to have been intentional. Then he remembered the protective glass that covered his remaining eye. And how it was a blood red.

The moment the pony saw the realization dawn in Slade’s eye he threw out his right arm towards Slade’s face. Slade’s reflexes kicked in and he leapt back just in time to avoid being hit. With Slade no longer standing over him the pony rolled off the table and back up to his hooves, with a blade of magic consuming his right arm and realization in his eyes as well.

“Yes, how could I have been the blind one?! Deathstroke, you are that darkness! You are the one that shall destroy this world!” the pony roared as he lunged towards Deathstroke. “And I shall do everything in my power to stop you! To prevent you from-“

Deathstroke hurled out a side kick that caught the pony in the throat midsentence, getting the pony to gag before he collapsed to the ground. Deathstroke slammed his boot into the pony’s right arm and shattered the limb, which resulted in the blade of magic vanishing into air. Deathstroke wrapped both hands around the fanatic’s neck and pinned him to the wall, where he glared into the eyes of the fanatic. 

“So you believe me to be the evil darkness that will steal your magic, bring ruin on your lands and cause the sun to fall from the sky?” Deathstroke asked the pony. Then Deathstroke let out a small laugh, one that filled the fanatic with more fear than he had felt in his life, even after seeing the visions of the future and what awaited them. “It seems that you and your group of fanatics are smarter than you let on. But if you know what my real purpose here is…then I cannot allow you to inform anyone else.”

Deathstroke pulled out the poisoned packet and then rammed his hand into the pony’s mouth. The fanatic gagged as the packet was forced down his throat, before Slade used his free hand to clamp the pony’s mouth shut. The pony tried in vain to spit the packet out, but Deathstroke’s grip was too strong and he held that grip until the pony began to seize…and then went limp.

“Well I’m impressed,” Deathstroke said before tossing the body to the ground. “No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t get you to talk before you killed yourself. I guess that means I have nothing to tell Cadence. Won’t she be disappointed.”

D/S

“Well, that’s all of it,” Pinkie said with a sigh. As she wiped the sweat off of her brow with the back of her hoof, she looked around at her home to find that all of the frosting that had covered the floors and walls that morning was gone. The walls and floors sparkled like they were brand new and all of the space that the frosting had taken up was now free and ready to be used. All except for the center of her living room, for that was a where a very full and very bloated Wade lay on the ground, regretting every decision he had made in the last thirty minutes.

“Thanks for helping me to clean all of that up Wade. Though you didn’t have to…eat…most of it,” Pinkie said to the overly bloated mercenary lay spread eagle on the ground.

“Kill…me…”

“Silly Billy. You’re my friend! I wouldn’t kill you even if I could,” Pinkie said as she booped Wade on the nose, before noticing that his mask was covered in frosting. “Hey Wade, your mask got all dirty. Here, let me take it and I’ll go clean that off for-“

The moment Pinkie reached out for Wade’s mask he grabbed hold of Pinkie’s hoof and forced it away from his face. “The mask. Stays. On,” Wade reminded Pinkie. Pinkie’s eyes widened at his tone, since she hadn’t heard him speak that way since she had first seen him confront Deathstroke. She backed away a bit and he let go of her hoof, but when he stood up a moment later, back to his regular shape, Pinkie could tell that his usual joyful demeanor was gone.

“Thanks for offering to let me sleep here, but I get the feeling that we’d just keep each other up all night with all our best friendedness,” Wade said with no hints of friendliness in his voice. “Don’t worry, I’m sure I can find a trash can or something to sleep in tonight. At least the rats will respect my privacy.”

“Wade, I’m sorry. I just wanted to help,” Pinkie apologizes. Wade opened his mouth to answer, then stopped and started to head for the door.” Wade, please wait!”

“Come on Pinkie, we’re going to Twilight’s,” Deadpool said in a no-nonsense tone.

“Why?”

“Because I have a bad feeling. A feeling that the princesses are about to be royally screwed.”
> Royally Screwed
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Royally Screwed.

After having “failed” to gain any information from the fanatic before he killed himself, Cadence wasn’t too happy with Slade. While the guards disposed of the body, it had been Slade’s turn to be interrogated. Of course, Cadence had never interrogated a man like Slade before, so the mercenary wasn’t too worried when the princess took him to a side hallway and began to chew him out.

“What the hell happened in there? I thought that you said you could get information out of him?” Cadence seethed at Slade.

“I was doing my best, but he had a hidden packet of poison,” Slade answered truthfully. “It’s very hard to get answers out of a being when they are dead.”

“Ugh, this is a disaster. Celestia and Luna will be here soon and they are going to have to hear all about this,” Cadence grumbled to herself before shooting Slade another look. “And speaking of disasters, care to tell me why my guards found traces of a fight in that room?”

“Simple. He attacked me with a blade of magic. I slammed him into a table,” Slade replied truthfully once more. Cadence’s eyes narrowed once again, but instead of saying anything she chose to sigh and turned away from Slade. 

“I can’t believe that I was foolish enough to trust you to do this. A great fighter you might be, but I keep forgetting that you’re a mercenary. All you care about is hurting people and getting paid,” Cadence said. Slade would have pretended to be hurt by her comment, but what she said was true. All Slade really did care about was making money. The hurting others was just a bonus.

“Your child was in danger and you took whatever steps you needed to so that you could protect them. It was a commendable action.”

“If you’re complimenting me on my choices then I know I’ve made the wrong decision,” Cadence muttered aloud, before motioning for Slade to follow her. He did so and a moment later he found himself standing in a large waiting room, one with a fountain in the center and two golden staircases that ascended to a higher section of the castle.

“I have a few princess tasks to take care of while I’m here and they shouldn’t take long. What I want you to do, what I will pay you to do, is wait here and don’t do anything that will result in somepony getting into a fight with you,” Cadence warned, her tone telling Slade that she was fed up with him. “Are we clear on this?”

“As long as you are paying me there is almost nothing I won’t do.”

Cadence narrowed her eyes once again, but seemed satisfied enough to vanish in a burst of magic a moment later. Now that he was alone Slade pressed a concealed button on the side of his helmet, activating the helmets scanning feature. With Canterlot being the magical capitol of the world, Slade figured it was as good a place as any to start searching for his real mission.

The scanner picked up massive traces of all sorts of powerful magic all across the castle, but he had been informed from his clientele that the magic he was searching for had a magical signature that would dwarf all of the others in comparison. And while the magic emanating from the throne room resembled what he was searching for the most, the magic wasn’t powerful enough to be his prize.

“So you are the mercenary that Cadence spoke of in her letter.” Slade turned his head to see the two alicorns that had given off the magic signature that he had been looking at a moment ago. Celestia stood before him on his right while her sister Luna stood just behind her sister. Both of the alicorns were studying him with narrowed eyes, while he could read caution in their features. Slade was hardly impressed by the two that stood before him, but luckily for him his mask hid any thoughts that may have been written on his face.

“And you two must be Celestia and Luna. The two princesses of this land that I’ve heard so much about,” Slade replied coldly, not bothering to keep the contempt out of his voice. From the way the two princesses narrowed their eyes, it was clear that they had picked up on his tone of voice.

“I still do not understand why Cadence would chose to hire a mercenary such as yourself,” Luna said in a condescending tone, one that made Slade’s blood begin to boil. “Does she not trust us to keep her daughter safe? While she was away there have been no incidents anywhere close to her foal. I believe all the stress is getting to her.”

“Perhaps she hired a mercenary such as myself because she has heard about all the times the both of you have miserably failed and decided that she wanted someone competent guarding her precious foal,” Slade snapped back and instantly anger formed in both of the princesses eyes. 

“And what failures, pray tell, are you referring to?” Celestia asked in a simmering tone.

“Shall I list them for you? First off, your sister turned evil and you trapped her in the moon. Good job at being a sister. Then the both of you were utterly helpless against Discord and his power, trusting others to best him. Then there was Tirek and I believed that I do not have to say anything more on that. The tree of Harmony was another embarrassing story. And clouds. How do two beings with your level of power lose to clouds? Simple. Because you’re both incompetent.”

“Listen here you little-“ Luna began as she took a step forward, prompting Slade to reach for his sword. But before either of them could start anything, Celestia stepped between them.

“It is no longer our job to deal with the evils of Equestria,” she said in a very angry and very controlled voice. “We have since passed that task on to others while we focus ourselves with the politics of the land.”

“You mean you dumped your job onto a handful of civilians because you both were too incompetent to look after yourselves, let alone an entire nation,” Slade spat back. His words caused flames to burn in Celestia’s eyes, but before she could reply Slade turned and began to walk away. “And the final nail in your coffin is what Cadence has done since meeting me. She hired me to take care of her daughter and protect her family, something that, according to the both of you, you had been handling. So no Celestia, it seems that Cadence doesn’t believe in either of you.”

And with both princesses now firmly his enemies, Slade turned and walked off into the castle to find his room for the night. Celestia and Luna watched him go, but Celestia seemed more thoughtful than Luna.

“The nerve of that man, acting like we cannot save ourselves or our kingdom,” Luna grumbled to Celestia, who didn’t hear her sister. “Um, sister. Can you hear me?

“A monster with just one, red eye,” Celestia replied dangerously

{D|P}

After the first incident with Wade, Twilight had used numerous spells to make sure he couldn’t get in. Protective spells on the doors and windows. Alarm spells that covered her lawn and the airspace above it. And spell specifically designed to blast any human that got too close into the stratosphere. Normally Twilight was disgusted by the idea of using lethal spells, but since Deadpool was essentially immortal, she figured this would be her best chance to try them out and not have to kill any humans.

However, all of Twilight’s hard work was as useless as Wade’s brain, for despite all the spells she had spent a good chunk of the day casting, with a single button press on his teleportation belt, Wade found himself within the castle once more. He popped into existence in a burst of light, which illuminated the darkness of the castle.

“Honey, I’m home!” Deadpool called out into the castle, but only his own echoing voice answered. “Huh, must have gone out drinking with her friends again. Well she never could resist the calling of a bottle of tequila. But while she’s out, I think I’ll get a little more acquainted with-“

Deadpool stopped talking when he found a letter laying on a table next to him. With no regard whatsoever for the personal privacy of Twilight or her home, he snatched the letter off of the table and quickly read through it.

“Dear Spike,” he said in his best Twilight impression. Which was shit. “My friends and I will be out all night dealing with a friendship problem. Please look after the castle while I’m gone and make sure Wade doesn’t get in. From, Twilight Sparkle-butt.”

“P.S. we’re not just partying over at Applejack’s, so stop asking.”

“Wow, Twilight, I was joking about the whole going out to party thing,” Deadpool said with a whisper before folding the note into a paper airplane and throwing it out the nearest open window. He watched it sailed away before he turned his attention back to the castle and started searching once more. “Well, it’s not my place to judge. It’s my place to do what I want while being judge. Now then, if I was going to hurt a magical being whose powers far exceeded my own, how would I go about doing that?”

Deadpool spied a piece of paper that was hidden under some comic books, (a great hiding place as he figured Twilight wouldn’t be caught dead with the stuff) which he then plucked out from between the pages. The paper turned out to be a picture, one of Twilight and her friends, with a picture of Spike tapped on to the side.

“Wow Spike, you may just be one the saddest little shits that I’ve ever come across. And that’s saying something,” Deadpool said with a shake of his head. Then his eyes widened and he looked at the picture even closer. “Wait a moment, I get it now. If I wanted to get to Twilight, I would get to her through something she loves more than anything else. And that would be…her books! To the library!”

Deadpool tossed the picture over his shoulder before he began skipping through the castle, his destination the library. Yet on his way there he spied a single open door with light pouring out of it. And like any concerned neighbor who had broken into his neighbor’s house, he had a duty to turn off all the lights before he left.

Deadpool poked his head in through the door to see quite a sight. A small purple and green dragon was fast asleep in a basket like bed at the foot of Twilight’s giant bed (the irony not being lost on Deadpool), but it was who was standing over the little dragon that made one of Deadpool’s eyebrows raise. A being in a cloaked hood with a strange symbol upon said cloak was standing over Spike menacingly.

“Whoa there, partner,” Deadpool exclaimed as he walked into the room, getting the pony to spin around to face him. “I’m the biggest piece of shit I know in my universe and even I don’t creep on kids. What is it about these little kids shows and bringing out all the weirdos? Anyway, if you’re here to kidnap what Twilight holds most dear, you’re in the wrong place. Library is thataway.”

“Well well, the crying clown, here to interfere on my holy mission,” the cloaked pony said in a raspy voice, getting Deadpool to groan.

“Oh great, you’re one those yahoos. Here we go.”

“The princesses have wrought destruction and darkness upon the land. Even now they do not see the error of their actions and instead only cast this land further and further into the darkness,” the fanatic said to Wade, who was about to clean his ear out with his pistol. “But this darkness can be prevented if the princesses are stopped. But doing so requires…sacrifice.”

“So you’re going to sacrifice a dragon to some sort of demonic god in order to destroy those that you hate. Dude, I get it. I remember my college years and all the goats I threw into a volcano. I totally get where you’re coming from,” Deadpool said.

“So…you will let me do as I please?”

“Buddy, what part of anything I just said…” Deadpool began as he reached back and drew his twin katana blades. “Sounded anything like I was going to let you do that? I said you’re acting like I did back in the day. That means I have to kick your ass.”

“Very well clown, so be it!” the pony roared. Deadpool let out a kung-fu cry before leaping into the air at the pony, both blades pointed right at his heart. The pony’s horn glowed underneath of his hood and Deadpool came to a sudden stop, magical energy surrounding his body. He strained against his magical bonds to find that he couldn’t break free.

“Um, can we go back to you being a younger me and much friendlier?”

The fanatic roared before he hurled Deadpool across the room, driving him head first through a window. Glass and pane sliced into Deadpool’s skull, but moments later his healing factor rid him off all foreign material. He pulled his head back inside and turned around to see the fanatic using his magic to levitate numerous items in Twilight’s room, including both her and Spike’s bed…with Spike still in his.

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” was all Deadpool had time to say before the fanatic started hurling those items at Deadpool. Deadpool leapt over nightstand, did the splits to avoid being crushed by a sink, snatched a pillow off of Twilight’s bed as it crashed into the corner and barely, just barely, avoided Twilight’s twenty copies of Daring Do and the No Way This Could Backfire.

Deadpool then spied the unicorn lifting Spike’s bed into the air and he knew it was time to go into action. With the aim of a madman that somehow had more skill and precision than most martial artist, Wade chucked the pillow right onto the face of the fanatic. His horn impaled the pillow and sent feathers flying everywhere, while the pillow stuck to the pony’s face and broke his concentration as he struggled to get it free. This also resulted in Spike’s bed plummeting towards the ground.

“Hang on little buddy, I got you!” Deadpool exclaimed as he leapt into the air and snatched the bed out of the sky. He did an unnecessary number of flips on his way down before rolling up into a crouched position. “Oh yeah, who’s the greatest merc in the world who always saves the day!” Deadpool exclaimed as he looked down at the bed, only to find it empty.

Something landed hard on its face behind him and he turned around to see that Spike had faceplanted right in the center of the room. He looked from the baby dragon to the fanatic, who seemed to be having the same idea as Wade. The fanatic made a lung for Spike, but Wade let his katana fly and it slashed through the side of the fanatic. He roared in pain before vanishing in a flash of light, leaving Deadpool the winner of the baby dragon toss. Wade placed the bed down before picking up Spike and placing him within it as well. Once the little dragon was all tucked in, Deadpool walked over to the wall and retrieved his katana, which he then sheathed.

“Whew.”

“Who’s there?!” Spike asked as he snapped awake, glancing around the room until his eyes rested on Deadpool. “Wade. I thought Twilight told you that you weren’t supposed to come back in here.”

“Okay I know I’m not supposed to but there was this fanatic and-“

“And what the hell did you do to this place?!” Spike exclaimed in disbelief. “It’s like a twister came through here?! What in the name of Faust would compel you to do all of this?!”

“If you’d shut your little mouth and listen for once in your life, you would find that-why do you have a button?” Deadpool asked when Spike pulled a small box with a button on it out from his blankets. He pushed down on it and a moment later alarms blared throughout the castle, followed by magical lasers all drawing a target on Wade’s chest.

“Threat detected. Threat identified as Wade Wilson, the Deadpool. Lethal force authorized.” 

Deadpool then looked from the dozens of lasers that had come out of the wall and were pointing at him to the dragon that was looking up at him with a proud smile on his face. The lasers all charged up and Deadpool prepared for horrible agony that awaited him, but first he had one last thing to say to Spike.

“Hey kid?”

“Yeah, Wade?”

“Twilight went partying at Applejacks without you.”
> Partners and Nothing More
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hired Gun and Nothing More

Slade hadn’t slept well the previous night. Then again, Slade almost never slept well. Not from a guiltily conscious, he had crushed that cricket years ago, but due to a slightly concern about being attacked in his sleep. From what he had seen of the princesses so far he knew that they didn’t seem like the types that would attack another living being in his sleep. Another knock against them.

So instead he had spent the night adding new information about what he had learned to the collapsible laptop that he had brought with him. As much as he wanted to put in what incompetent failures Celestia and Luna were, he was still a professional, and as such he refrained from adding his opinion to the documents. 

Yet as the morning rolled in and the sun began its daily ascent across the sky, he was interrupted rom his work by a sharp knock at the door. Assuming that the ponies had found a new problem to confront him with, he rose and opened the door to find Princess Cadence standing before him.

“Cadence. What brings you to my chambers at such an early hour?” he asked the princess before moving to the side to allow her inside. Cadence walked by him without saying a word and walked to the only table in the room, the very same one that Slade had his laptop on. For a brief moment he was interested to see if Cadence would take a look at it, but aside from a quick glance she paid it no mind. Instead, she reached into a portal of magic before drawing out a pouch of coins, which she then tossed onto the table.

“Your pay,” was all Cadence said. Slade raised an eyebrow under his mask before he walked to the bag, picking it off of the table. To his disappointment he found it to be rather light on contents, but when he pulled the drawstrings back and opened the bag his eye widened beneath the eye cover. In the bag was twenty coins all of which were made out of solid gold. And Slade knew it was gold because, aside from his years of experience selling the stuff, the scanner within his helmet identified the coins as gold the moment he laid eye on them.

“You are paying me in solid gold?” Slade asked in a casual tone, careful not to let any emotion be let out.

“Gold is common place in Equestria and it is what we use as our currency. What you have there is an honest weeks-worth for any of my royal guards,” Cadence revealed to Slade. “While you did stop that fanatic, any royal guard could have done that. Still, I am a mare of my word, so I figured I should pay you for doing their job.” The tone in her voice was telling Slade that he was supposed to be getting stiffed some of his pay and that Cadence still wasn’t happy with him. Yet Slade found himself smiling beneath his helmet. What was a mere weeks-worth of pay in Equestria was a small fortune on Earth. And Cadence had no idea. But he couldn’t let her know that yet.

“Very well, I thank you for you “generous” heart,” Slade replied with a scowl. Cadence smirked at him in reply and Slade knew that he had gotten the intended thoughts out of her. She truly believed that he found the guards pay to be lacking, when on Earth it would be worth far more than she would believe.

“Later today my husband and I will be heading down to Ponyville to speak with Princess Twilight. You will be coming with us as protection,” Cadence informed Slade, but there was something off about her voice. A hint of…uncertainty.

“There is something in this Ponyville that concerns you, isn’t there?” Slade asked Cadence, who narrowed her eyes in response, telling Slade he had guessed right. “And it has nothing to do with the fanatics, for you would simply tell me if you had concerns about them. No, there is something else there, something else that you do not feel safe around without me there. What kind of dangerous beast be this?”

“All I know about it is what Twilight has told me in her letters,” Cadence replied with a worried voice. “She says that there is a new kind of creature in Ponyville, one that-“

Whatever that creature was Slade would have to wait to find out, for at that moment a flash of magical light went off above the heads of the two. The flash of light was followed by the sounds of a foal’s laughter and Flurry Heart came plummeting down towards the both of them. By the time Cadence’s eyes had widened in realization that her baby was falling towards the ground, Slade had already kicked off the table, leapt into the air and snatched the foal out of her free fall.

Cadence shook her head and blinked a few times as she tried to catch up with Slade’s movements, before her eyes filled with horror as Slade tucked Flurry Heart into his arms and stared down at the foal. Her mane was a mix of her mothers and fathers, while her coat was a lighter version of Cadence’s. She too was an alicorn and Slade’s sensors showed that she had a good deal of magical power despite being so young. But what interested Slade the most was that as Flurry Heart looked up into his red eye and masked face, she continued to smile before reaching up to grab at his mask.

“Slade. I will only say this once,” Cadence said in a voice that told Slade she was about five seconds from ripping him apart into bloody pieces. “Put my daughter down or so help me Faust I will-“

“You have no reason to fear, Cadence,” Slade replied in a calm tone before he began to dangle his armored fingers just out of reach of Flurry’s hooves, prompting the young foal to reach up and try to grab them. “You have hired me to protect your daughter from harm. And that is exactly what I shall do. I am not working for you so that I can get close enough to stab you in the back. I seek to be paid. You are paying me to protect your daughter. That is all I need to know.”

Slade then cast a glance at Cadence, whose rage had seemed to dissipate and she was looking at the way Slade was playing with her daughter in a curious way. After a few minutes Slade walked over to Cadence and handed her foal back to her, before returning to the laptop and shutting it down. Cadence looked from the mercenary to her daughter, who was still giggling and reaching out for the armored hands of Slade.

“You really did have a child, didn’t you?” Cadence asked Slade, who glanced over his shoulder. “From the way you held her to how you played with her…it’s exactly like how a father would hold their child. She’s not even afraid of you in the slightest.”

“She’s young. Give her time,” Slade responded, but all his words did was gain him a look from Cadence. “But to answer your question, yes, I did have a child. Two in fact. And before you ask what happened to them it is simple. I made a lot of enemies on this job. Enemies who sought to get back at me. And they took everything from me.”

“I’m sorry to hear that Slade, I really am,” Cadence replied and Slade knew that she spoke the truth.

“Save your sympathy, I do not wish for it. Nor do I want your compassion. All compassion does is compromise missions,” Slade replied in a cold tone. “We will never be friends. I am your hired gun and nothing more. That is what is best for you, for your family, but most importantly, for me. Let us leave it at that.”

“…very well Slade, I will respect your wishes,” Cadence replied deadpan. “Keep doing your job and I shall keep paying you. Thank you for catching my daughter and…dealing with the fanatic. I hope that this business deal continues to be beneficial to the both of us.”

Cadence then placed her daughter onto her back and walked towards the exit. As she opened the door and began to walk out, Flurry Heart looked back at Slade and waved at him with a smile on her face. Slade raised a single hand to wave goodbye before the two were gone. He allowed himself to smile for a moment at how young and innocent Flurry Heart was, before he sat back down, turned back on his laptop and got back to work.

(D|p)

Pinkie hummed away happily to herself as she rolled a giant piece of dough in the back of Sugarcube Corners. The song she was humming was a song she had heard Wade singing when he took a shower at her house the other night, but due to the lyrics and the fact that there were young foals around meant that Pinkie could only hum it. 

She didn’t know where Wade had gone the previous night, only that when he got back he smelled an awful lot like smoke and charred flesh. But what she had noticed that was despite the third degree burns that had covered his body, he wore a smile on his face the lies of which Pinkie hadn’t seen since she had first met Wade.

“I got a lead on my job. That’s all you need to know. That and Spike’s a prick.”

‘I’m glad to see him finally starting to act happier though,’ Pinkie thought to herself as she squeezed icing out of a tube and onto the tops of numerous cupcakes. She then flipped those cupcakes onto a tray and tossed them into the oven, before taking off her hair net and walking towards the sweet shops main room.

Yet the moment the door opened and she walked out into the main area she heard a crashing sound coming from upstairs, followed by a copious amount of cursing. She glanced at the cashier area to see Mr. and Mrs. Cake looking up at the foal’s door with nervous looks, before they glanced over at Pinkie.  Mrs. Cake waved Pinkie over before she glanced up as another crashing sound could be heard.

“Pinkie dear, you’ve worked for my husband and I for years now and we can safely say that we consider you a part of our family,” she began with a nervous chuckle before the sound of Deadpool screaming could be heard overhead. “But I honestly don’t know how I feel about this complete stranger looking after our foal’s. He seems kind of dangerous.”

“Don’t worry Mrs. Cake, I had Wade leave all of his weapons and firearms at my place. There is nothing he is carrying that the foals could get their hooves on,” Pinkie promised with a confident smile. The Cake’s smiled weakly in reply as a loud thud emanated from upstairs. “And besides, I’m certain that your foal’s will be safe with Wade! After all, he’s immortal, so nothing they do can keep him down. And how many foalsitters have you had that can say that?”

“Well…” the Cakes began before another crashing sound could be heard, this time followed by Wade’s voice.

“That’s a very bad Pegasus! You should be thankful that I don’t have any of my toys or else you would…hey wait a second, get out of there! Even I know that foals aren’t supposed to go in there. Hey wait a second Pumpkin, put that down! Where did you even get that, that is not a toy! No wait! Pumpkin! Don’t stick that in there!”

A massive explosion of magic detonated on the second floor that was powerful enough to blow open all of the doors up top. A smoking body flopped down onto one of the tables where some ponies had been eating, getting them to screaming with horror as Wade’s body became their main course. Wade let out a groan as he picked himself off of the table, before turning his head back towards the foal’s room and raising a fist.

“Do not believe for a moment that this war is over! I will have the two of you in bed yet!” Wade roared at the foals, whose heads peaked out of their room. They both giggled and clapped at Wade before Pumpkins horn began to glow. A moment later the crib was flung out of their room and right on top of Wade, who let out a girlish scream before he was crushed by the crib.

“Oh heavens, are you okay?!” the Cakes asked Deadpool as the both of them pulled the crib off of Wade.

“Perfectly fine. Couldn’t be better. Your foals are little angels,” Wade grunted before he snapped his arm back into place. He had just started trying to get his legs to face forward once again before the door to the shop was opened and Princess Twilight walked inside. It took her only a moment to scan the room and find Wade laying burned and broken on the table, getting her to sigh.

“Why is it whenever I find you anywhere you’re either bothering other ponies, getting into a pointless fight or are on fire?” Twilight asked as she gazed over Wade’s still smoking body.

“It’s a gift, Twilight.”

“Well get up and make yourself look decent, if you can, because I need your help,” Twilight forced through her teeth, like she couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of her mouth. “My sister is coming to Ponyville later today and I want you to be there with me when I greet her.”

“Wow, you really hate your sister so much that you would force her to meet with me? What did she ever do to you?”

“Shut up and listen. It’s not my sister that you’ll be there to keep an eye on. I’ve been exchanging letters with her and it seems she’s hired a mercenary to keep her and her family safe from this group of fanatics that are constantly after us princesses.”

“Your welcome by the way.”

“For what?”

“For the other night.”

“No idea what you’re talking about, as usual. What I’m trying to say is I want you to be there so that you can keep an eye on her mercenary, to make sure that he doesn’t try anything while we’re talking,” Twilight explained for Deadpool. “Do you think you can handle all of that without messing it up?”

“Wait a moment, if I’ve got what you’re saying down, that means that you want my help. But I don’t help others for free. Which can only mean that…”

“Yes Wade, you’ve figured out my grand plan. I want to hire you.”
> The Meeting
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cadence had gotten used to being nervous over the past couple of months. First she was constantly in fear over the sake of her nation, but now that the fanatics had made it clear that they were willing to go after her daughter, she was pratcially in full blown paranoia mode. Nopony was allowed in the same train car as her, except for Shining Armor, and she wanted to have eyes on Flurry Heart at all times. Which was difficult considering how her daughter had a nasty habit of teleporting around whenever she felt like it.

Then there was the matter of the spandex wearing menace in Twilight's letter and the problem of Slade. She had deduced from the information that Twilight had chosen to share in her letter that the being bothering her sister in law was another mercenary, one that apparently had some bizarre powers. A second human mercenary, appearing in Equestria at the same time as Slade.

'It can't be a coincidence,' she thought to herself, her chin resting on her hoof as she stared out the window as the train chugged along. 'Two mercenaries, both of which are humans, show up at the same time and each attach themselves to a different princess? Well, at least tried to attach themselves. Are they working together?...no, Slade hates everypony too much to dare work with another.'

Next to her Shining Armor played peekaboo with Fluttery Heart, covering his face when he pretended to hide. Flurry, the adorable and innocent angel that she was, actually looked around for her father in confusion everytime he covered his face. Just as she began to whimper in confusion, Shining Armor would move his hooves to the side and greet his daughter, getting Flurry Heart to shriek with delight and burst into giggles. The image of the two playing was almost enough to calm all of Cadence's fears.

But sadly, her fears were still very much real. Her face softened for a moment as she gazed at her family, but then she returned to her thoughts. Her eyes shot to the only door to her train car, which had been reinforced to make sure nopony could so much as look in its direction without her knowing. She knew on the other side of the door stood Slade, standing at attention and waiting for anything that tried to get in. She couldn't see him, but she knew he was there. Despite all of her concerns about him, he did what he was paid to do. He was professional.

'But how long will that last?' she thought in a foreboding manner. 'He does what he is paid to do. Is it possible he would betray me if somepony else was to pay him more? Should I increase his pay to make sure that he stays on my side? I hate to think what would happen if we had to go up against him. He's terrifying in combat. I don't know if I can beat him.' 

"Yeah, I don't like him either," Shining Armor said, breaking through Cadence's thoughts and getting the alicorn to glance over at her husband. He had Flurry in his arms and was gently rocking her to sleep. "He's almost too good. I've never seen any being, be it pony or other, move or fight the way he has. It's like he has perfect control over his body. If you ask me, we should take him down now and save ourselves the inevitable fight that will eventually happen. Why are we trusting him so much again?"

"Who said I'm trusting him? Keep your friends close and your enemies closer," Cadence replied in a low voice, certain that Slade had plenty of tricks that he hadn't show yet and she wagered he had a way of listening in on their conversation. "But right now he's not the only enemy we face. And with the fanatics having gotten as close as they have to nearly killing us and taking our daughter...I want every tool I have at my disposal working to bring them down."

"I don't like it. He's too dangerous."

"That he is. Too dangerous to let him run loose on Equestria without somepony with power keeping an eye on him," Cadence muttered in reply. Shining Armor considered her words for a moment before he nodded in agreement. "Besides, he has shown that as long as we pay him, he'll do what we say for the most part."

"A hired gun is the most dangerous gun, for you never know which way it's truly pointing."

"At the moment it's pointed at those who seek to harm my daughter. That's all I care about right now."

The train started to slow down as the two wrapped up their conversation and the squeaking of the brakes awoke Flurry 
Heart once more. As Shining tried to calm her down, Cadence walked over to the entrance to her car. She slid open the door and found that Slade was standing exactly where she had told him to stand, ever vigilante.

"We've arrived in Ponyville," Slade informed her. She nodded and took in a deep breath to calm herself, before she gave Slade a quick look.

"You know who Twilight is talking about, don't you?" she asked Slade. "You know what's awaiting us in Ponyville."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Sure you don't. Be on your best behavior. Twilight and her friends are the greatest heroes of our world and if I've learned anything about you, it's that you and heroes have probably never gotten along in the past."

"Seems you have the ability to reason. That puts you slightly above the others that I've lost brain cells talking to," Slade replied with nothing but contempt in his voice, but Cadence decided that he was talking about the others he had mentioned and not her.

The station pulled into view and she could see Twilight hopping on the platform in anticipation of her sister in law. Cadence also recognized Pinkie Pie standing on the platform next to her friend, but to Cadence's surprise, she didn't see any of Twilight's other friends waiting for her.

Who was there, however, was the merc in red. Who was also wearing a black bowtie.

{D/S}

"You see him?" Pinkie asked Wade.

"Oh yeah, that scowl would stand out even if I was in a room stuck with over a hundred different Batman's," Deadpool whispered to her in reply. "Do I really have to wear this thing? The last time I wore any kind of formal clothing was for my wedding and whoo boy did that not go well."

"You were married?"

"It actually lasted more than three issues, which is impressive considering how modern day comic writers treat change like the black plague. Ask my friend Parker and his fucked up marriage," Deadpool muttered to Pinkie, before a scowl from Twilight got him to stand up at attention. 

The train came a halt at the center of the platform and the doors opened, allowing over a dozen of the royal guards ponies to step out and take their positions around the perimeter of the platform. Then the man in the orange and black armor stepped off of the train, locking his eye onto Twilight instantly. The two summed up each other in a heartbeat and both instantly decided that they would not like the other. He then stepped to the side and allowed Cadence and Shining to step off of the train.

"The area is clear. There are no fanatics or any other beings nearby that seek to do you harm," Slade informed the two, which gained him a brief nod from Cadence while Shining rushed forward to greet his sister. While the families reunited, Deadpool raced forward to Slade with his arms extended.

"Daddy, it's been-hello there," Deadpool said as he appeared at Cadence's side a moment later, fixing his bow tie as he did so. "Well hello there. It is so nice to meet a princess that doesn't want to kill me mere moments after meeting me. How about you and me go talk about politics after this?"

"You do realize that's my wife you're talking to," Shining Armor seethed through gritted teeth, the fact that his daughter was watching being the only factor that was preventing him from blasting Wade's head off with his magic.

"Hey man, I get you. Don't worry, I'm totally into threeways as well. See, I like to share," Deadpool said with a wink at Cadence that revolted her. "That's how you know I'm perfect boyfriend-"

Cadence had only a split second to register that Slade had placed his hand over Flurry's eyes before a gunshot tore through the air, followed by Wade's head exploding like a balloon filled with blood. The body of the merc with a mouth slumped to the side while blood painted the floor of the station a new coat of red.

Twilight bit back bile, still mortified by a being having it's head taken off right in front of her. Cadence glared up at Slade, having given him specific orders not to do anything like that. Shining gazed down at the twitching body of the human that had hit on his wife, wondering if he may have misjudged Slade. Flurry couldn't see anything, but began to cry because of the loud noise. And Pinkie just stared down at Wade, waiting for what would come next.

"Dang it Slade, I specifically told you not to use lethal force, even on someone like him!" Cadence yelled up at Slade, who had an annoyed look on his face.

"Believe me princess, I wish that had been lethal. Give him a moment."

Just as Slade had predicted, a moment later Deadpool's entire head grew back within moments. Before his face had fully formed he reached deep into his spandex and whipped out another mask out of somewhere, but that was a path of thought Slade was not ready to go down. Wade slipped his mask over his regrowing face and a moment later was standing back up like nothing had happened.

"By Faust, he completely regrew his head," Cadence whispered to herself with amazement, before she looked at Twilight. "I know in your letter you mentioned he had incredible healing powers, but to think he could regrown missing limbs completely without any repercussions..."

"Oh trust me, there are repercussions. That hurt like a bitch," Wade said with narrowed eyes as he pointed his finger at Slade. "You know, I really gave my all into this relationship, trying to get it to work. But you don't come to my ball games, you never read me bed time stories and every time you see me, you blow my head clean off or riddle me with lead. I'm starting to think that you really don't care about me."

Slade answered that question by shooting Wade in the face once more, getting the merc to slump over once more as his face went missing.

"Why do you bothering doing that?" Pinkie asked Slade. "You know he's just going to come back, right?"

"At this point it's honestly just to make myself feel better," Slade answered truthfully before Deadpool got up once again, this time pissed off.

"That's it dad, it's time for some parent-kid bonding," Wade snarled as he whipped out his twin katana's and spun them faster than the ponies could follow. "So how about a little sword play? Seems like it's the only thing you-"

Wade looked down at his chest to find Slade's sword halfway through his chest, while his own blades where imbedded on the two walls to the left and right of Wade. Slade then twisted the blade so that he forced Deadpool to his knees, where he glared into the white cloth that covered Deadpool's eyes.

"Allow me to make this perfectly clear. The only reason that you still draw breath is because I do not have the time to waste on killing you once and for all," Slade whispered to Wade. "Do you believe that you are the first regenerating immortal that I've had to face?"


"No. But keep this up and I'll be your last."

Wade and Slade glared at each other, before Slade looked down and realized that Deadpool had somehow managed to steal Slade's sword and now had it pointed at Slade's throat without Slade noticing. Refusing to show any sign of concern, Slade look back up and Wade and smirked beneath his mask. Wade seemed to know what Slade did and he pressed the blade closer to Slade's throat.

"Don't think that just because you're the reason for my creation that I won't slice your head off and mount it on the front of my car," Deadpool promised. "I will not be player two in my story. I am cooler, much better looking and far more popular than you ever will be, daddy dearest."

"If I had ever spawned someone as pathetic and worthless as you, I would have put a bullet through my brain long ago," Slade said before in a blur of motion he snapped Wade's arms and took back his blade, which he held to Wade's throat. "But only after I wiped out my mistake. And you are nothing but a mistake."

For a long moment the two glared each other down, then a small whimper escaped Flurry Heart's lips. And a moment later Deadpool was at her side. "Oh my god, what an adorable little baby! Sure it looks like a freak with how big it's eyes are and it has that will totally kill you look going on and wait a moment why does this one have pupils when the Cakes babies, who I am fairly certain are older, still have marbles attached to their faces?"

As Shining fought with every last ounce of power to keep Wade from getting anywhere close to his baby, Slade sheathed his sword with a narrowed eye. Cadence and Twilight stood next to each other, each of them giving the other a concerned look. 

"So...this is who you mentioned in your letter? I can't believe how...resilient he is," Cadence muttered, still not certain what she had witnessed with Wade's healing. "It's kinda scary."

"Scary? How about the mercenary you're working with? Did you see how quickly he disarmed Wade then impaled him?! I've never seen speed like that!" Twilight muttered with disbelief.

"Twilight, Slade shot Wade's head off and Wade got back up a moment later. I think that's the scariest sentence I've ever had to say," Cadence replied and Twilight acknowledged the point. Then a blinding flash of light went off and the two princess glanced over to see Princess Celestia standing next to them.

"Princesses, I bring good news. My sister and I have...what is going on?" Celestia asked as she gazed upon the seen in front of her. Shining had Wade trapped in a sphere of magic, with one of Wade's arms laying on the ground when it had been sliced off by the sphere. For a brief second Celestia wondered what in the heck had happened to cause a scene like this.

Then Wade's arm started to crawl around.
> Contest
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Despite having two of the greatest mercenaries to have ever lived with them, the severed and moving arm of Deadpool managed to avoid the both of them as well as the ponies magic. Eventually the arm realized it's only chance of survival and possible chance to overthrown the main body dictator, the arm crawled underneath of the station and out of sight of the group.

"Welp, I'm sure that won't come back to haunt us in anyways whatsoever," Wade said with a shrug as he crossed his arms, forcing Twilight to do a double take when she noticed that his arm and costume around his arm had already grown back. "But enough about living appendages, I believe that Celestia came here with an informative and quite possible a lucrative idea."

"Deadpool speaks the truth," Celestia managed to choke out, hating to have to agree with the merc with a mouth. "Thanks to the efforts of my sister and me, we have found a small area where the fanatics might be hiding out."

"Excellent. Let me gather some of my army and we will take the area and finally bring an end to the fanatics that have been hunting us," Cadence said with determination, but Celestia shook her head.

"Sorry my friend, but I do not believe that to be the best course of action," Celestia cut her off. "I believe that these fanatics somehow have a way of tracking our alicorn magic. It is the only explanation I can think of that would explain how they manage to know where we are at nearly all times. And as our magic is as powerful as it is, it is not out of the realm of possibility. Which brings me to the mercenaries."

"You need me to infiltrate the fanatics, find out what they know and how they know what they know, and, if possible, put a stop to them before they can further their plans in any way," Deathstroke cut Celestia off, gaining him a glare from the princess of the sun that quickly faded.

"Deathstroke is correct. As the fanatics can sense our magic, and possibly any pony's magic, it makes far more sense to send the two non-magical beings to take down the fanatics. That is if Slade will agree to help us."

"It is not a matter of whether I want to help or not. It is simply a matter of can you pay me to do your dirty work or not," Slade put forward, getting Celestia to narrow her eyes. She opened her mouth in preparation to say something, but before she could speak Cadence walked over to her and leaned in close.

"Celestia, trust me when I say this: do not make Deathstroke your enemy," Cadence whispered to the princess of the sun. "I know that the way he talks and acts can get on your nerves, but things would go a lot easier for us if you simply pay him and allow him to do his own thing. It is better than the alternative."

Celestia's face showed that she was not happy with the advice that Cadence had bestowed upon her, but after a moment she took on her royal appearance and faced the two mercenaries once more. "Very well Slade, I shall pay you for your services. As well as your services as well Wade, if you are competent enough to follow my simple instructions. However, I want to make one thing perfectly clear. Nopony dies, got it? I've seen a little of what you both can do and I am more than certain that you can take down your foes non-lethally. Are we clear?"

"Don't worry Celestia, I swear on Spike's worthless life that I will not kill anypony there," Deadpool said as he made a crossing symbol over Twilight's castle which was way off in the distance. Celestia raised an eyebrow at his choice of wording, before she glanced over at Deathstroke.

"Non-lethal operations come at a much higher pay, as I will not be able to kill my foes to keep myself safe. Double the price," Deathstroke demanded.

"Double? What I am paying you right now is enough to higher me over a dozen of the mercenaries that roam the land of Equestria!" Celestia informed Deathstroke with some heat. "You should be grateful that I am willing to pay you this much considering your actions towards my sister and myself!"

"Double or nothing," Deathstroke repeated once more, his tone telling Celestia that this was not up for negotiation. Her mane began to smoke as fire started to creep across it, but a cautionary glance from Cadence ceased the princesses rage before it could truly begin.

"Very well Deathstroke," Celestia managed to spit out through clenched teeth. "Double. But only if nopony dies."

Slade nodded in response before he walked up to Celestia, pressing a button that was hidden on his wrist armor. A moment later a fully holographic map of Equestria popped up in front of the princess, widening her eyes with disbelief. "Mark on the map the location of the fanatic hideout and they will be dealt with appropriately."

"Non-lethally."

"As you say," Deathstroke said as he closed his map, having already mentally recorded where the location was. "Though, to be perfectly honest, I guarantee this mission would go far smoother if you simply entrusted the elimination...forgive me, slip of the tongue, the downfall of the fanatics to me."

"That would imply that I had any faith or trust in you whatsoever," Celestia coldly replied. "Wade Wilson, while a maniac and possibly a menace, has one of the Ambassadors of Harmony willing to vouch for him. You have no such fortune. Wade will go with you. End of story."

For a moment it looked like Deathstroke was about to argue her point, (or cut off her head, it was hard to tell with him) but after a moment he shrugged his shoulders and walked off on his own. Celestia narrowed her eyes at him before she motioned for Deadpool to join her. 

"What's up, princess? Come to give me the same "intimidating" speech on why I shouldn't help these guys find out if there's a God?" Deadpool asked the princess.

"Wade, while you have been nothing but a pain in the flank since you've shown up and somehow made all of the other Ambassadors hate you, something I thought to be impossible, as I told Slade, Pinkie is willing to vouch for you, meaning that she sees something tiny, minuscule, barely breathing spark of goodness in you."

"Wow, way to help with all of my self esteem issues there."

"That means that out of the two of you, I trust you more. Not by much. In terms of the difference of how much I trust you more it's like that tiny, dying, practically non-existent-"

"Yeah, okay. Got it. Tag along with Slade, make sure he doesn't paint the place with their blood and come back to a huge reward and the respect of you and your peers," Deadpool wrapped up with a little bow of hope.

"Don't count on that last one, but yeah, you got the gist of it," Celestia said, ripping up that little bit of hope and incinerating it.

"Why are you all so mean to me?"

"You have a very easy to hate personality," Celestia said with a shrug before she leaned in closer. "Also, don't tell Slade about any of this. I don't want him to know that I am very suspicious of him."

"Then why are we whispering? You know with that helmet he can hear everything that we're saying, right?"

Celestia's face went whiter and she glanced over at Slade, who glanced over his shoulder to look at her. She was certain that he was smiling under his helmet as he nodded at her, before he turned back to what he was doing. "You guys honestly underestimate that guy way to much. He could probably wipe out every pony in this nation if he felt like it. Maybe he'd steal your magic while he's at it. Don't know, seems he could go either way at this point."

"Good to know," Celestia muttered. "So will you do as I ask?"

"Dunno. Am I getting double the pay like that guy over there that has done nothing but verbally smack talked you yet managed to worm double pay out of you?" Wade asked as his eyebrows went up, making Celestia wonder what the hell his mask was made out of that it allowed her to see his eyebrows beneath it.

"I have a better idea," Pinkie said with a smile, getting Celestia to let out a scream and leap back at the realization that Pinkie was now standing right next to her when a millisecond ago there was nothing there. "Hey Wade, Slade hates to lose, right?"

"His desire to win is pretty much the only thing still driving him forward. That and his desire for that sweet green riches."

"Excellent. Oh yoohoo, Slade!" Pinkie called over to Deathstroke, who visibly sighed before he turned to look at Pinkie. "I've just had the most wonderful idea!"

"Suicide, I hope," Deathstroke muttered under his breath.

"No silly. Since both you and Deadpool are asking for double the pay, I've decided that we'll make this into a contest!" Pinkie exclaimed happily. Deathstroke made no outward change, but Pinkie could tell that his interest had been piqued. "It's simple really. Whichever of the two of you can not only stop the fanatics, but do it with the least amount of bodily harm, get's triple what you were going to be paid!"

"Huh?" Celestia asked.

"Think you can do that Slade? Think you can go into an enemy base filled with magical wielding psychopaths and bring them down without severely hurting any of them for triple the pay?" Pinkie taunted. She could tell from his body language that he seemed to be considering it, telling her that she needed to use the finishing blow. "I mean, Wade here already said that he could do it with his eyes closed and without hurting any of them. Of course, he might just be better at his job then you."

"Trying to appeal to my greed and my pride, are we?" Deathstroke asked Pinkie, who smiled as if she had been caught lying.

"Aw shoot, you found out my plan...did it work?"

"Very well, I shall play your game, pony. Very little harm and a complete take down of the group," Deathstroke agreed. "For triple the pay, of course."

"If you think you're up for it."

Deathstroke nodded to Pinkie before he turned and walked into the train, closing the door behind him. A few moments after he was gone Pinkie let out a sigh and felt her mane deflate." Wow that guy is scary. I don't think I could have said any of those things to him if I didn't have you here backing me up, Wade."

"That...was incredibly clever of you, Pinkie," Celestia muttered, thinking that she may have underestimated the party pony. "Not only did you get him to agree to a far less violent version of my plan, but you also found a way to get both mercenaries to do the job without needing to pay double for both of them. Have you dealt with mercs before?"

"Nope, but I have taken care of two spoiled foals who are used to getting whatever they want. Trickery and bribery are sometimes the only ways to deal with them. So I figured it would work here," Pinkie replied with an innocent smile.

"I...see. Well, I will remember you words for the future in case I must deal with Slade again. And I will be dealing with him again soon," Celestia muttered to herself as her horn began to glow. "But now I must tell my sister of what has transpired...as well as to keep an eye on our one eyed merc. Farewell."

Celestia vanished in a flash of light, leaving Deadpool and Pinkie there to white the blind flash out of their eyes. "Y'know, I didn't say this in front of Celestia, but are you willing to go along with this even if Deathstroke succeeds in the mission. After all, you may not get paid if he does so?"

"Pinkie, what do you think I am, a child? Even if Deathstroke manages to defeat me in this competition, I will handle it in a mature and adult like manner," Deadpool replied calmly. "I give you my word, which is completely trustworthy, that I will not be a sore loser if I should so happen to lose."

"Great! Now then, you should probably be getting ready for the mission, so I'll leave you alone," Pinkie said before she hopped away, singing a happy tune. Deadpool watched her go, before he began to rub his hands together menacingly.

"Yes, I promised that I wouldn't be a sore loser! But I made no promise that I wouldn't sabotage the competition in an attempt to allow myself to win. The money, the fame, the being treated like a decent human being and not a walking pile of shit will finally be mine! AHAHAHAHA-"

"Um, you do know that we can still hear everything you're saying, right?" Twilight asked, getting Wade to turn around to see Shining, Twilight and Cadence all looking at him with raised eyebrows. "Care to tell me what was up with all of that evil laughing right there?"

"You know honestly, both me and the author kinda forgot you were here."
> Mission
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Slade had dealt with plenty of fanatics in the past, ranging from those who wished to bring back an evil monster bent on wiping out humanity or those that simply wanted to use their dark powers to make a quick buck. He had believed that he had grown used to all forms of crazy people and their different ways of being crazy.

But then he met a brand new kind of crazy. It wasn't the fanatics that he was currently watching through his helmet's enhancement feature, even as he watched them set fire to over a hundred different kinds of books in some kind of offering. No, the crazy he was thinking of was the red and black clad, unkillable pain in the ass that was sitting next to him, gazing down at the fanatics camp while using a pair of bottles held together with duck-tape.

"So daddy-o, what do you think? I'll handle the five hundred on the right and you handle the five hundred on the left?" Deadpool asked Slade, before Wade cackled to himself. "What am I talking about? I will obviously handle the five hundred and one on the right and you can handle the measly five hundred on the left. Sound fair?"

Knowing full well that he couldn't kill the annoyance, Slade settled for ignoring the mercenary instead. He zoomed in with his mask and focused on the movements and patterns of the fanatics, which there were a lot of despite them supposedly being a group of psychos. Of course Slade knew the truth. That red eyed foe who would steal the worlds magic that they were so afraid of...he knew full well who that was. Which is why he couldn't let any of them live.

"Okay, I know you're working right now but I need love and attention too," Wade cut in, slinking closer to Slade and entering his field of view. "And I'm warning you now, if you continue to ignore me I may start acting out in dangerous ways to get you to finally pay attention to me."

"Go and get yourself killed for all I care," Deathstroke spat in reply, shifting his focus from the fanatics and their patterns to the buildings and defenses of the camp. The buildings were made out of brick and clay, but strange, shimmering light surrounded each of them. He assumed they were covered in magic, the kind that might make it hard to sneak in. He also spied, in the very center of the camp, a giant vat of some kind of magical power, the kind that made the liquid swirl and lightning to crackle inside of it.

Slade glanced to his right to see that Deadpool had vanished, causing Slade to be concerned for a brief moment, but he banished any thoughts about the moron from his mind before he went back to his planning. 'There's a brief gap in-between each rotation of the fanatics. Every time one of them moves to a new location, there was a brief, five second period where none of the fanatics were able to see certain spots of their camp. Slade knew that if he timed his movements just right that he-

"To battle my majestic stallion!"

Slade had just enough time to realize what was said before a shopping cart with flame erupting out of the rear of it blazed overhead. Slade snapped his head skyward in time to see Deadpool, in a kiddies seat, driving a rocket powered shopping cart down towards the fanatics camp. Slade heard alarm bells start to ring out throughout the camp, before the cart hit the side of a building and exploded into a ball of fire. 

From his tactical location Slade had front row seats to watch the explosion launched Deadpool's flaming ass into the air, before the burning merc slammed face first into the ground. Crazy as they were, even the fanatics had to take a pause to stare at the regenerating degenerate who was now laying face down in the center of their camp. Then Deadpool kicked up to his feet, unsheathed his blade and started to scream like a madman as he lunged towards the fanatics. And while the fanatics may have been crazy, they weren't dumb enough to stand anywhere close to Deadpool and his incredible sushi making skills.

"What the fuck?" Slade asked himself as he, bless him, tried to make sense of what Deadpool was doing. After a moment he gave up and simply drew his energy staff, figuring that there was no time like the presence to act. With his ability and skill he reached the camp of the fanatics within moments, leaping over their walls in a single bound and landing among the chaos that their camp had become.

While the fanatics may have had no idea what to make of Wade Wilson, the moment they laid their eyes on the red eyed monster, the very one that they had been predicting would bring about the end of their would, what little reason they possessed returned to them and they all went on the offensive against the orange merc. They had numerous spells and attacks primed and ready to bring down Slade, but before they could allow those spells to escape from their horns Slade had already sprung into action.

In a blur of motion he sliced off the horns of the fanatics with them while using his staff to break the legs of the other fanatics that had a more traditional sense of weaponry, such as spears and swords. Their weaponry compared to Slade's was like an ant with a toothpick tacking on a warrior covered in steel. Slade cleaved through most of their weapons, and some of their bodies, with his superior weaponry. He even allowed a few of the blades to strike his nth metal armor to show his foes just how hopeless a battle against him was.

After dropping a few more of the hooded fanatics Slade reached the center of the camp, where the swirling vortex of magic awaited him, clearly fueled by a powerful source of magic. But his helmets sensors were also telling him that whatever the fanatics had been brewing was also highly volatile, meaning that one good explosion would cause an eruption that might have been strong enough to wipe the entire fanatic camp off of the face of the planet.

He pulled out a small explosive from one of the compartments on his suit and chucked into the center of the concoction, before racing off towards a building that had far more decoration and guards that any other. That was where the Terminator assumed that the most important fanatic would be hiding. The fanatics at the entrance roared at the sight of Slade and lunged towards him, but they had barely taken five steps before Deadpool materialized out of thin air (literally) and drove the hilts of his katanas into the side of the ponies heads, dropping them into dreamland within moments.

"Don't worry dad, I've got these guys. You get in there and prove to Celestia that you are trustworthy and-snirk-someone that they don't need to worry about," Deadpool told Slade with a snicker. Slade made sure to drive his staff between Wade's legs before he raced up to the main building, kicking open the doors and leaping into the room. What he saw gave him pause, but only for a moment.

In the center of a dimly lit room was six fanatics, all of who were sitting cross legged with eyes closed and muttering an incantation. In the center of their friendship circle was an old looking stallion, who had a white mane and blindingly white eyes, which Deathstroke instantly recognized as blindness. He also had a long beard that seemed to be floating on its own power, yet his tactical visor told Slade that there was a magical aura surrounding the pony.

Upon Deathstroke's entrance the other ponies rose to take on this new challenger, but the elder pony held out a hoof and they froze in place. He then motioned his hoof to the door and the ponies left in a moment, leaving Deathstroke alone with the elder.

"So you are the red eyed monster that seeks to take the magic from this world," the elder said to Slade, who stalked over to the elder. "i have had visions of meeting you, but I will admit that I did not think it would take place so-"

Slade slammed the end of his staff into the skull of the elder and sent him crashing to the floor. The fanatic elder had only a moment to let the pain sink in before Slade grabbed him by the throat, only to hurl him into the wall a moment later. The elder cried out weakly as he slumped down to the floor, slowly trying to get back up before Slade lashed out with his foot and caught the elder in the side of the head.

"I don't have time to hear what you have to say or banter with you," Slade told the elder before he grabbed the pony by the throat and squeezed until all the fanatic could do was squeak weakly. "Now I am only going to ask this once? How did you know that I came here to steal your magic and can those that may stand in my way figure out my plans?"

"There is so much violence in you. I can see why the princesses were intrigued by you and your ways. They always try to use force to stop a foe that they cannot understand. Tirek, Discord-" Another blow to the side of the head shut the elder up. "Very well, I shall answer your question. I have been granted the ability of sight, the sight to see into the future. Celestia, the damned fool, has only seen a fraction of the prophecy, the one that shall bring about the end of the world! You."

"So she cannot see the whole picture, she can only see a fraction of it. That is good to know," Slade muttered to himself with a smirk, before another thought crossed his mind. "Since you are feeling so talkative, how about you answer one more question. How many of the followers in this camp know that I am the one that will bring the end of your world?"

"Heh, they are all my children. I have told them all that I know. Only those that choose to hide among the princesses fools do not know-" The elder gagged in pain as Deathstroke tightened his grip around the elders through and began to squeeze.

"That was all I needed to know. Thank you for your cooperation," Slade muttered as he tightened his grip. The elders blind eyes widened in fear and he pawed at Deathstroke's hands to try to get him to break his grasp, but with one swift twist of his hands Slade put an end to any kind of resistance. Slade then rose to his feet and sheathed his staff, deciding on his next course of action.

'So all of them know about me, do they?' Deathstroke asked himself as he rose and walked towards the entrance. 'That leaves me with an interesting dilemma. Do I kill all of the fanatics to preserve my secret and make an enemy of that fool Celestia? Or do I let them live to ensure that the princess do not turn on me right away and risk on of these psychopaths exposing my secret?'

Then Slade opened the door and found Deadpool standing right next to the vortex of magic potion, having scooped something out of it a moment ago. All of the fanatics that Slade had missed were all tied up together around the potion station, while those that had been knocked out were laying in a pile nearby.

"Hey daddy, saw you drop this into the vat, so I fished it out for you. Am I a great guy or what?" Deadpool asked. That alone was enough to push Slade's decision in a single direction.

D]P

The bat pony had watched from the shadows as the two mercenaries attacked the camp. She had watched as they had used nonlethal measures to take down most of the fanatics, even though Deathstroke had implied some harsher tactics in bringing them down. But then she had used a life scanning spell as Slade entered into the main temple and watched as a life force was slowly extinguished, at Slade's hands. That alone would have been plenty for her to go back with. 

What she hadn't been expecting was for the whole camp to explode into a ball of magical fire a few moments later, forcing the bat guard to cover her eyes as the blinding light lit up the night. When she could see again she found, to her horror, that where once the camp had once stood was now a giant crater of ash. She did her life-scanning spell once again to find that there were only two life forces left. One of them was Deadpool, who was busy being a bunch of tiny pieces of flesh.

And the other was Deathstroke, who was running away from what remained of the camp without so much as a scratch on him. The guard knew that she had to report all of this to princess Luna. And she knew what would follow after that.
> Right In Her Heart
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

They had found out about his actions.

As Deathstroke stood alone in a chamber within the halls of Canterlot, after having been relieved of his guns and weapons he noticed coldly, he assumed that the death of all of the fanatics had been the reason that Celestia and Luna had demanded that he be brought before them to "speak" with him. That or they suspected that he was responsible for the explosion that killed all of the fanatics. He had hoped to be able to play it off as an accident that they caused, but the princesses seemed to have him trailed. The smartest thing they had done yet.

He wasn't that worried about what they would say to him, though. The fanatics knew what he was there for and if word of that got out, he would find the entirety of Equestria, perhaps the entire world against him. And as good as he was, those kind of odds were too much for him. But if it was just princess Celestia and Luna against him, then this would be a breeze.

He didn't turn around when he heard the doors to the empty chamber open and two sets of hooves walked across the marble floors. Slade didn't need to turn around to know who had entered the room with him. It was obvious by their footsteps who was there. He also didn't bother to face them, despite the fact that he was certain that they might have been there to cause him bodily harm. He could crush the two of them with ease.

What Deahtstroke was more concerned with was not if he could beat the princesses, but how he should deal with them. He could beheaded both of them and mouth their skulls on the end of his staff. That would be the easiest solution. But that would turn the world against him. Talking his way out of this, lowering his head and taking whatever chastising they had for him, would be the smartest decision. But that wasn't how he did things.

'We'll play along for now and go from there,' Slade finally decided, before he turned to face the princesses. Like he had expected, the both of them had looks of absolute fury on their face. 'Guess I'm not going to be able to talk my way out of this one. Very well, force it is.'

"Slade," Celestia began in a voice that dripped with all of her rage. Slade smirked at her attempt at being angry. "It has been brought to my attention by one of my subordinates that you are responsible for the death of the fanatics. Do you deny these claims?"

"No. In fact, I took a sick joy in choking out the old, blind fanatic until the light faded from his empty eyes," Slade replied in a voice filled with merciless mirth. The result of him telling the truth was for Luna and Celestia to look at him with a sickened horror, the kind of looks he was used to getting. "Forget the formalities and royalty talk princess. I'm a merciless and ruthless killer, who will slaughter any in his path to achieve his goals. Forget about the fanatics. You don't really care about them. Tell me what you real want to talk to me about."

"You sick son of a-" Luna began, but Celestia held out a wing to stop her sister from getting any closer to the mercenary. "Sister, do not stop me! This monster deserves to be punished for the acts of evil that he has committed, both in this world and for what I am certain the acts he committed in his world as well."

"Stay back sister. Even without his weapons I am certain that he is the most dangerous being in this room," Celestia said with wise caution, but also, what Slade took sick delight in finding out, a tone of worry and concern for her sister.

'And there's your weakness.'

"You are correct, murderer. I do have another topic that I wish to converse with you. A legend, if you will," Celestia began with narrowed eyes. Slade pondered whether or not he should bother to answer her question or simply crush the both of them there and then. But he figured what her question would be and thought about how much fun it would be to crush her soul before he crushed her spirit. 

"Before you showed up in my land, a vision came to me in my sleep. It was a vision of my nation being destroyed, of my ponies being slaughtered and our magic being stolen from us by a fearsome foe. A foe with a single, red eye. Tell me Slade, are you this being? Did you come here to kill us all and steal our magic?"

"Truthfully, I don't give a damn if your nation lives or dies. But as for stealing your magic, yes, the main reason I am here is to find the source of Equestria's magic and retrieve it for my client," Deathstroke said with such brutal honesty that neither of the princesses bothered to question his words. "And now that the both of you know the real reason that I am here, I am certain that you will both try to do something foolish, such as trying to stop me."

"It's almost like you've been in this spot before," Luna snarled with dangerous intent as she crouched down, her horn spewing magic. Celestia took up a defensive position next to her sister, eyes narrowed as her horn burned with the might of the sun.

Slade studied the both of them for a moment. Their magic was dangerous and their immortality might have made them a problem if he was foolish enough to fight them in a head on battle. But Slade was no fool.

Faster than either of them could register, Slade whipped out his nano-gun from within a hidden compartment and shot a dart straight into Luna's chest. Luna let out a cry more of shock than pain, before she ripped the dart out of her chest and tossed it to the side. For a moment she and Celestia gazed at the wound and waited for something terrible to happen, but when nothing did they both turned to face Slade with smiles.

"Seems you managed to keep a weapon concealed from us. Unfortunately for you it did not amount to much," Celestia said in a very angry tone as she began to walk towards Deathstroke. Deahtstroke's response was to push a button on the side of the nano-gun.

The moment he did Luna let out an agonizing shriek of pain and collapsed to the ground, her limbs writhing in agony while blood began to leak from her eyes and mouth. Celestia was at her sisters side in a heartbeat and cried out to her, but all Luna could do was scream as an unknown force tore apart her body from the inside.

"What are you doing to her?!" Celestia screamed at Slade.

"Killing her. Was that not obvious?"

"Cease at once!"

Much to Celestia's surprise, Slade did as she asked and a moment later Luna stopped screaming, but she continued to lay on the ground and breath heavily with shaky breaths. Celestia took a moment to comfort her sister and try to stop the bleeding, but then she slowly turned to face Slade, her eyes resting on his gun.

"Quite an ingenious invention, isn't it? Nanites. Little robots that are as small as your blood cells, which can tear apart a living being from the inside out if they are told to do so," Deathstroke told Celestia, whose eyes shrunk in her head as she looked from the merc to her sister. "And that is exactly what they will do to Luna, unless you listen and do everything exactly the way I tell you to. Now stand."

Her body shook with rage as Celestia slowly rose up to her hooves, her eyes glued to Slade as he walked up to her. "Code Red," he spoke aloud as he approached her, getting Celestia to narrow her eyes in confusion. "I have just activated a code within the nanites, programming them to destroy their host in 24 hours unless they hear a code word that deactivates them for another 24 hours."

"What? Why would-?"

"To make sure that you understand completely that any attempt to go against me will result in the very painful demise of your sister," Slade whispered as he moved his helmet mere inches away from Celestia's face. "Here is what you will do. You will go back to you allies and let them know what happened to the fanatics was the fanatics fault. You will also not speak to them about what happened in here. And just as further insurance..."

He reached into another hidden compartment, and made Celestia contemplate how many of those he had, and pulled out a tiny, insect looking machine. He pressed a button on the back of it and it fluttered to life, lifting off of Slade's hand and flying to Celestia, where it roosted right underneath of her crown, hidden from view.

"That will be my eyes and ears when I am not nearby. If you say or do anything even remotely close to informing someone else about my goal or what I have done to your sister, I will kill her without delay. If you go against my orders in anyway, I will kill her. If that machine shuts down for any reason, I kill her. Are we clear?" Slade asked Celestia. Celestia narrowed her eyes and glared at Slade, who then backhanded her a moment later with enough force to draw blood. "I said, are we clear?"

"Crystal," Celestia spat back.

"And just so you know, I have two more vials of the nanites. Meaning that if you force my hand to kill your sister, there are still two others that you can get killed as well," Slade said to Celestia as he walked past her, stopping next to Luna to glare down at her for a moment before he kicked her in the spine. Luna cried out and Celestia roared with fury, but her fury was quelled a moment later when Slade held a finger to the button. "Perhaps I will inject Twilight with the nanites next. You seem to be fond of her. Or maybe it will be Flurry Heart. Shall we add a foals death to your guilt as well? Think wisely, wise ruler."

"You're a monster," Celestia spat at Slade as he reached the door, her words stopping him long enough for him to glance over his shoulder. "You twisted, vial, heartless monster!"

"Celestia, please," Slade began as he turned to leave. "Flattery will not spare your sister."

{d:P}

Pinkie snored softly to herself in the tiny corner of the room where she now resided, having offered to give Wade her bed to make amends for trying to peek under Wade's mask. Wade did his best to ignore the snoring and the sounds of Luna screaming, which was still a few paragraphs too close for comfort, as he gazed down at a map that he had been "generously given" by one of the fanatics that he had spoken to.

'How adorable. The way of finding the greatest treasure in Equestria, and also the treasure that will earn me a shit ton of dough, is a treasure map. They even have a little X on it and everything. Oh these little fanatics are so adorable that it almost makes me wish that I hadn't blown their heads off,' Wade thought to himself with a happy smile, which was made even wider when he glanced at the fat sack of coins that was sitting on the nightstand next to his bed.

'That has got to be the second biggest sack filled with gold that I've ever seen,' Wade thought to himself, stifling a laugh when he thought of the first. 'But it was nice of Celestia to award the pay to me even when I totally chopped off at least three fanatic's heads. Then again, she can't prove I killed any of the others and even if she could, no court would convict me.'

"Yet here is my problem. i have no idea where the fuck any of these things on the map are located," Wade grumbled to himself as he tried to read past all the pony pun city names and locations. He gave up after his patience gave out, which was exactly three tenths of a second later, and flung the map across the room where it landed on Pinkie's sleeping face. "How in the hell am I supposed to find this place if I can't even-"

"Map. Locations. Twilight. Table," Pinkie snored allowed, having read the map even though she was asleep. Because she slept with her eyes open. Wade found it cute. He was the only one that did.

"So Twilight knows where this map leads, eh? Thanks best buddy, I promise to split the pay with you fifty-fifty when I get it...oh who the hell am I kidding, it's totally going to be seventy-thirty," Wade snorted with laughter as he stared out the window at the blood moon.

"Yyyyyaaaahhhhh-SNORE!"
> Treasure Hunt
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike was just about to crack open the newest comic in the X-ponies story, apparently introducing a new mercenary character that would fight the team, when Twilight kicked in the door to their room and slammed it behind her. Her horn crackled with power as she infused the door with all of her magic, making so that even a nuclear bomb wouldn't even put a dent in the thing. She then flipped her bed in front of the door as well, all the while Spike watched with raised eyebrows.

"The librarian from the library where you didn't return that book finally found you, didn't she?" Spike asked with a sigh as he pulled out a list of other ponies he could live with from a cabinet. "Well it was a good run Twilight, but sadly it looks like I won't be able to live here anymore. After she's done with you who knows what she'll do to the place."

"It's not the librarian, Spike. I lost her in the mountains of the Himarelians years ago," Twilight replied with a small smirk, before a noise outside caused her heart to turn to ice. "No, this is far worse that the librarian. It seems that our favorite merc is back...and he wants to talk with us."

"You didn't let him in, did you?" Spike asked in horror, all of his previous snark gone from his tone.

"Of course I didn't! I came home and found him in the living room with his muddy boots on the carpet!" Twilight shouted back.

"He got in on his own?! What is the point of all these state of the art magic defenses if they can't even keep one guy in red spandex out?!" Spike asked as he clutched his hands to his head, the panic starting to set in. "Where is he now?"

"Last I saw of him one of the electric traps was ripping him apart with it's power."

"So we've bought ourselves a few minutes at most. Great," Spike muttered as he pressed his shoulder to a book case and pushed it to the side, revealing a box that had the words "In case of Wade, break open" scrawled on the top of it. He kicked open the lid and pulled out what looked to be a black hole inside of a glass case. "You really think it will come down to this?"

For a moment Twilight pondered if her last resort would be needed, but then a knocking on the door was heard. "Oh yooohoo! Best friends?! I have a question for you and I need an answer!" the voice of Deadpool sang from the other side of the door. "Oh also Twilight, I need to borrow your limited Daring Do and the Unkillable Monster. It was taco night at Pinkie's and I'm going to need a lot of toilet paper. Think you can loan it to me?"

"Yes Spike, the black hole bomb is going to be needed," Twilight said with a solemn confidence as she nodded to Spike.

"It's been a good ride, hasn't it Twilight?" Spike said with a bitter smirk as he cocked the black hole bomb back and took aim at the door. "Thanks for being such a good friend."

"You too, Spike," Twilight replied before she used her magic to rip open the door, revealing one Wade Wilson who was about to knock once more.

"Ah thank you, I was beginning to wonder if-"

"Eat fire and die, monster!" Spike yelled as he chucked the black hole bomb towards Wade. An eyebrow went up underneath of Wade's mask before, with speeds that baffled the pony and dragon, he swiped the bomb right out of the air and looked down at it. 

"Your guy's room looks different. Did you clean it up because you knew I was coming over? Aw, there was no reason to do that," Wade said as blush marks appeared over his mask on his cheeks. "And a black hole bomb as a gift to boot? You really are the bestest friends that a guy can ask for."

"Why are you here, Wade?" Twilight asked with venom in every word as she clutched at her limited edition Daring Do book like it was her child. On command, Wade reached into his pants between his legs, getting both Spike and Twilight to scream in horror, before he whipped out a rolled up sheet of paper from within a hidden compartment. Both dragon and pony sighed in relief at the appearance of the paper, though after taking a moment to glance at it a look of curiosity crossed Twilight's face.

"That paper...looks old. Like, older than Celestia and Luna old," Twilight muttered as she approached Wade.

"Wow. A piece of paper that's older than dirt," Wade said in awe as he gazed at the map once more. "But it's so much more than an old piece of paper. It's an old piece of paper...with drawings on them!" Wade revealed as he opened up the paper. Twilight only had to lay eyes on it for a moment before she recognized what it was, but just to be safe she swiped the paper from Wade and looked over it. "It's a treasure map, right?"

"It's a map to something, that much I do know," Twilight muttered in reply. "But I don't know about treasure. Wade, where did you get this?"

"Off of a dead guy's body," Wade replied, netting him a nasty look from Twilight. "Hey, I wasn't the guy who killed him. I was the guy smart enough to not leave a dead body unlooted. Haven't you every played an RPG before? Duh."

"Going to ignore everything I just heard and focus on this map instead," Twilight replied, closing her eyes for a moment to bleach her mind of everything irrelevant that Deadpool had just said. Once that was done she walked over to her bookshelf and pulled out a large map of Equestria. She used her magic to re-right her bed before she laid the map atop the covers, before laying Wade's map over it. For a few minutes she tried to find a way to make the two line up, before a laugh of victory escaped her lips as she lined up the two maps.

"I've found it! I've found where this map leads! It's leads to...oh, that's a mood killer."

"What's the matter Twilight?" Spike asked as he hopped up onto the bed.

"The map leads to the valleys of the souls," Twilight explained with a concerned look on her face. "The valley of souls is an ancient and forgotten part of Equestria, one that is said to be certain death for any that step foot into it. There's a long and complicated history involved with it that I should probably explain for the both of you. Listen and listen well."

"Can't we just skip this step?" Deadpool asked desperately. 

"It all started in a thousand years before King Solaris came into power, the original founder of Equestria. Back then Equestria was an inhospitable land, filled with monster, devils and lawyers. It was a place no pony could survive in. That was before King Solaris implemented the politcal system that we would use for a few centuries. I suppose I should go into that as well. The system was-"

BLAM!

Twilight let out a screech as Deadpool's brains spread themselves across her wall and bookshelf, painting everything in her room a nice shade of red. For a moment Twilight looked down at Deadpool, who was missing a chunk of his head, before she sighed and used her magic to start to scoop up his brains.

"Is it over?" Deadpool asked a moment later as he sat up, the wound in his head completely healed.

"Yes Wade, it's over. Please don't do that again," Twilight asked in a very unnerved voice. "Still can't get used to that."

"Oh sure, Deadpool blows his own head off to avoid one of your lectures and he just gets off with a don't do it again. I try to sneak out of one of them and I'm grounded for a week. Where's the fairness in that?" Spike grumbled to himself.

"Well that's simple, Spike. Twilight just simply doesn't like you," Wade replied.

"Don't tell lies, Wade."

"I spit only the truth. It's just a matter of perspective," Wade smirked back.

"Don't start. Come on, help me clean this mess up so we can get ready to go," Twilight said to both Wade and Spike, but she only tossed Spike a mop that she conjured with her magic.

"Where are we going, Twilight?" Spike asked.

"You are not going anywhere. The valley of souls is way too dangerous for you. As for you and me Wade, we are going to be heading out to that valley to find what secrets that it holds," Twilight informed the both of them. "And the secrets must be pretty important if the fanatics have a map to the place. You, me and any of my friends that think they can tolerate your presence will be coming with us. I expect this to be a very small search party."

"At least I know that you will be there for me," Wade said as he went in for a hug, but Twilight teleported herself outside of his grasp. Twilight rolled her eyes at Wade before she left the room, leaving Wade to follow after her. Wade followed the pony to the door, where he stopped and glanced behind himself and Spike, who was looking at the pair of them with a look of dejectedness and longing.

"Oh alright, but don't tell Twilight," Deadpool said to Spike as he pulled out a backpack and opened it. Spike squeeled with delight before he hopped into the backpack, which Deadpool zipped up. A few moments later he then unzipped it slightly, remembering that Spike needed to breath.

"What's in the backpack, Wade?" Twilight asked as she glanced at the X-men backpack that Wade was wearing, with all of the Wolverine images cut out. 

"My secret weapon. Nah, it's a body. Wanna look?" Wade offered Twilight.

"No. No no no. You stand a little further over that way," Twilight replied with a shake of her head. "No offense Wade, but you are one messed up son of a bitch."

"Correction, I am a bastard, not a son of a bitch. My mother was a lovely person. At least, I think she was. It's hard to keep track with all of the times my origin story has been changed. Hey, want to hear about how Wolverine is actually an otter?"

{D|P}

"Welp, this is pretty much what I figured would happen," Twilight said a few hours later as she and Wade stood next to an airship that had been parked near her castle. She had sent a message to each of her friends asking if they would help her and Wade explore the valley of souls. Some of them had said no on account of that they were terrified by the valley of souls (Fluttershy and Rainbow, though she worded it differently). Applejack and Rarity had said no based on the fact that Wade was there. And Pinkie had showed up to hang with her two best friends.

"How is it in the few days that you've known them, you've managed to turn not just nearly all of my friends, but most of the ponies in both Ponyville and Canterlot against you?" Twilight asked Deadpool.

"How I'm written, mostly."

"Do you piss off your friends in your world this much or do you just not have any friends to begin with?" Twilight asked once more.

"See, that's actually something I've been wondering. One issue I'm on speaking terms with Wolverine and Captain America seems to respect me. Then in another issue I'm being sliced apart and kicked in the nads by old man Cap. Would it kill the writers to give me some form of continuity?" Deadpool asked. "Sigh, that's the price you pay when you're one of the most popular comic book characters. Everyone writes you differently."

"What?"

"Nothing. So are we going to go adventuring or not?" Deadpool asked before he glanced at Pinkie. "Because I can only imagine how much fun it will be to explore a place that nobody has been to in God knows how long. Hey Pinkie, think that we'll find zombies first or ghosts?"

"Ghosts. There's no way we're not getting some warning from the ghosts about not entering the place before the zombies come out," Pinkie said confidently.

"See that Twilight, that's smart right there. Why isn't Pinkie the leader of your little League?" Deadpool asked Twilight, who sighed as she slapped a hoof to her head.

"Come on, let's get going. It's obvious that nopony else is going to show up."

"Wrong again, Twilight. Must be a trait of the princesses to be wrong so constantly."

Twilight, Wade and Pinkie looked at the road to see Deathstroke walking towards them, instantly putting Twilight on guard while Deadool let out a happy gasp.

"Daddy! You're coming adventuring with us?!" Deadpool asked with glee.

"Against my better judgement, yes. I am coming with you. I am interested in this valley of the souls and the secrets within it as well," Deathstroke said as he glanced at Wade and in that moment both mercenaries knew that they were thinking the same thing. Which scared Deathstroke slightly.

"How did you know we were going to the valley of souls? I didn't send you a letter," Twilight asked.

"Simple. I had you bugged back at the train station," Deathstroke said as he extended his hand and a tiny, mechanical bug flew off of Twilight and landed on his hand. "Celestia was kind enough to teleport me here once we learned of your goals. Seems that she wants an actual professional looking after you and your friends."

"Sure she does," Pinkie replied warily, getting Deathstroke to cast her a look. Before either could say anything Deadpool threw his arm over Slade's shoulder.

"YEAH! Family outing! Let's a go!" he said before he threw his backback over the side of the ship, where a faint "ow" could be heard. Twilight followed up after Wade as he hopped onto the ship. Deathstroke and Pinkie took a moment to stare at each other.

"I don't know what you're up to Slade, but I would recommend being on your bestest behavior," Pinkie said, before she pulled out her party cannon and pointed it at him. "Because I'm starting to wonder what you would look like cover in frosting. You don't want to find that out." She then put her cannon away and hopped onto the ship, leaving Deathstroke to stare at the spot where the cannon had vanished.

'So she can materialize things like Deadpool,' Slade thought to himself before he hauled himself onto the ship. 'interesting. Very interesting.'
> Sacrificial Lamb
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Wow, I've never seen something composed mostly of clouds and magic burn so well," Wade said with some amazement as he stared at the blazing remains of the airship, the very same one that he had been piloting mere minutes before. After hours of nagging, Twilight had finally succumbed to Wade's instance and allowed him to pilot the airship for a few minutes. That would be the first of many mistakes that she would make on that adventure. "Think my insurance company will be willing to forgive me for this?"

"I would kill you for this Wade, but I know that it would be a futile effort," Deathstroke snarled at Wade as he scanned the nearby area with his helmet. "So instead I will be devoting that time to figuring out where we are and how close we are to our destination."

"Oh Sladey, don't you know how these stories work? We didn't crash in the middle of nowhere, miles away from our destination. This is a comic slash magic story. We're right next to where we need to go," Deadpool replied before he grabbed hold of some foliage and ripped it down, revealing, much to Deathstroke's increasing frustration, that Wade was right about his crazy ramblings. The temple that the treasure map lead to stood before them, seemingly untouched over the thousands of years that it had stood.

"Another temple, huh? Man, the author must have loved Indian Jones as a kid to use so many of them in so many of his stories. Hey Twilight, how many stories of his have temples in them now?" Wade asked Twilight, who was buried, head first and up to her waist, in sand near the wreckage while Pinkie tried to pull her out. "Jeez Twilight, I know that stick in the mud is your default setting, but do you have to do it all the time?"

A gun shot tore apart Wade's head and left him bleeding out on the ground a moment later, telling Pinkie that Slade had finally reached the end of his patience for Deadpool's ramblings. As Slade walked towards the temple with his pistol out, Pinkie focused her efforts on Twilight once more. With another few tugs she finally managed to unearth Twilight from her ostrich impersonation, but she was far from conscious when Pinkie laid Twilight on the ground. 

"Come on Twi, time to wake up and smell the roses," Pinkie said as she gently shook her friend, who made no indication that she had heard Pinkie.

"Oh, does Twilight need waking up?!" Deadpool asked as he raced over beside Pinkie, smacking the back of his right hand against his left. "I know a surefire way of waking her up. In fact, I woke Wolverine up the same way back when he passed out a few years ago. Huh, I also remember that he was knocked out in a plane crash and that I was the one piloting the plane. Must be a coincidence. Alright Pinkie out of the way, I've got a pony to wake up."

"Actually Wade, I think I've got this one," Pinkie said before she cleared her throat. "Oh Twilight, Wade managed to get his hands on your limited edition Daring Do book. And it looks like he's heading for the bathroom!"

"I'll kill him!" Twilight exclaimed as she suddenly sat up, before blinking her eyes twice and looked at the both of them. "Let me guess, Wade crashed the ship and knocked me out? Why am I not surprised?"

"See Twilight, this is why you and I aren't friends, because you have this nasty habit of blaming others for your mistakes," Deadpool pointed out, getting Twilight to look at him like he was nuts.

"My fault?! How is you crashing the ship straight into the ground my fault?!"

"Twilight, you knew full well who was asking you to fly the ship and you still put the wheel in my hands. Clearly this is on you," Deadpool replied calmly. Twilight opened her mouth to answer, realized what Wade was saying and closed it again as she realized that Deadpool was right. "Now come on, Deathstroke has gone off on his own and only God knows what that means for the rest of us!"

Within moments the three of them managed to catch back up with the Terminator, who was staring at a massive stone wall that blocked the path into the temple that they needed to get into. Twilight a look at the entrance to see numerous blast marks on it, telling her that Deathstroke had tried his usual approach to getting inside.

"It's locked by three layers of magic, twelve different locks and an ancient ritual that I know nothing about," Slade informed the rest of the group as they joined alongside him, without bothering to look at them. "Explosives won't work and I've solved three out of the twelve locks. Are you going to help me with the other ones or am I going to have to-?"

Before Slade could finish the doors to the temple swung open. For a brief moment he wondered what in the hell had happened, before the realization sunk in and he shot a glance over at Deadpool, who had crushed his arm into the shape of a key.

"What? We could stand around and use insight to try to get it open or we could cheat and just get to the parts of the story everyone is here to read," Deadpool said with a shrug. "After you."

Slade entered the temple first, but didn't go that far. Twilight went in next, while giving Wade a look, before it was only Pinkie and Wade left. "Y'know Wade, I'm sorry that the rest of my friends didn't come along. This would have been a good chance for you to bond with them," Pinkie said with a sigh as she entered in with DP. "But I guess that they couldn't get past their initial opinions of you to come with us on an adventure."

"Oh silly Pinkie, you really don't believe that your friends wouldn't want to get to know me, right?" Deadpool asked Pinkie with a laugh. "No, what really happened is that the author doesn't want to think about how I would interact with each and every one of them, so he thought of a BS reason to keep them out of the story and away from me just to make it easier to write. They shouldn't take it personally being cast to the sidelines for the sake of the story. From what I've heard Applejack should be used to it by now."

"If you're done being a lunatic, we've reached the first real trap," Slade informed the group, holding up a hand to stop their advancement. Before the group rested a set of stairs that went all the way down into what seemed to be endless darkness, where numerous sounds of monsters and other things could be heard. Deadpool let out a sigh before he took off his backpack and handed it to Pinkie.

"What trap?" Twilight asked as she scanned the place with her magic. "My magical sensors aren't picking anything up. Are you sure that-?"

Before she could finish Slade grabbed a hold of Wade and threw him down the steps. He had barely made it a few feet down before the walls, floor, sides of the walls, the stairs, and a skeleton all came crashing together in a rapid motion of crushing force. The ponies and Deathstroke watched as Wade went from a mercenary in a red suit to a red paste within a matter of moments. When the trap finally subsided, Wade was just a bubbling puddle of red on the floor.

"I'm surprise this still bothers you," Slade muttered with a shake of his head as he glanced over his shoulder to see both Twilight and Pinkie staring at the sight with horrified faces. "He's not dead. We wouldn't be that lucky. Thankfully his immortality will come in use disarming each and every trap in this place."

Deadpool grabbed hold of the back of his head and pulled himself back up a moment later, perfectly fine. Slade grabbed him once more and threw him into another hallway, which was illuminated a moment later by geysers of fire that consumed the mercenary. Pinkie and Twilight followed after the pair, neither one of them sure what to think of Slade's strategy.

"Should we really be letting him do this? I mean, Wade's my friend and I don't know how I feel about him being used to bait out the traps. Healing or no healing," Pinkie muttered in an unhappy tone.

"I'll give Slade some points for creativity, but I have to agree with you, no matter how much Deadpool annoys me," Twilight said in agreement, before she trotted forward to catch up with Slade, who was watching numerous saw blades rip apart the merc with a mouth. "Slade, this isn't the way we should be doing this. I'm sure there are numerous ways to get through the temple without throwing Wade at all of them."

"I am certain there are as well. This is just the fastest and most effective way of doing it," Slade replied in a cold, professional tone. "Besides, it's not like I'm causing any lasting damage to the fool, no matter how badly I wish it upon him."

"He's right Twilight, I'm just happy to be actually helping!" Deadpool called out from down below in the saw blades. Or rather his head called out, as the rest of him was being ripped apart by the blades. After using her magic to place all of his pieces back together, Twilight and a still slightly miffed Pinkie followed after the two mercs. Slade had his eye open and was on constant guard for any trap or trick that might lash out at them. Deadpool walked ahead like he was strolling through the park.

"Welp, here we are!" Deadpool said as the group reached the doorway to the main chambers.

"Wait, how did we get here?! A moment ago we were walking past the pillars of fire and the saws and-" Twilight tried to argue in confusion, but before she could start Pinkie put a hoof on her shoulder and shook her head with a smile. "Fine, sure. Here we are. Yeah, go us. Let's just get inside."

"Got it! Open says me!" Deadpool said as he pressed his hands against the door. Now normally there would have over a dozen different security features that would have activated to keep any intruders out, but due to the age of the temple, the fading of the spells and the general lack of foresight by the ponies that made the place (they didn't have modern, Equestrian tech so give them a break) the door simply fell over and allowed the group access into the main chamber.

There wasn't much to speak of in the main chamber. It had a green tint thanks to the green torches that lined the room, while in the center of the room rested a single slab of stone resting a top a stand. Twilight wanted to take a moment to gaze at the room, taking in the awe of ancient history and pay her respects to those that came before, but a moment later Deadpool and Deathstroke were already at the slab, along with Pinkie, all of which told her to hurry the heck up.

"So what's it supposed to be?" Deadpool asked as he picked up the slab and held it at numerous angles. Slade snatched the slab out his hands and turned it towards him, allowing Twilight to glance at what was on the slab. It was a large sphere, in the center of a room that was all too familiar to her. Fear clutched at her heart as she realized what Slade was looking at and a moment later she fired a blast of magic from her horn that destroyed the slab in his grasp.

"What the hell was that for?!" Slade asked Twilight with fury in his voice, getting Twilight to nervously smile as she stepped back from the merc. "We had the item that the fanatics had be so desperately searching for and you went and destroyed it. Why?"

"M-must have been one the magical spells around this place. Caused my horn to go off," Twilight tried to fib, but, even though she couldn't see it, she knew that Deathstroke didn't believe her for a moment. Yet, to her surprise, Slade let out a sigh and seemed to repress his anger.

"Whatever. All this trip has proven to be is a waste of time," Slade said with a snarl as he held a hand to his helmet. Sensing that this might be her only chance to leave alive, Twilight raced out of the room with Pinkie and Deadpool chasing after her. Slade waited until they were gone until he pressed a button on the side of his helmet, bringing up the image he had taken of the slab moments before it had been destroyed. "Fools. Thinking that I would allow it's destruction to hinder me at all. Now I know what I'm searching for. Which takes me one step closer to my goal."

"Hey Pinkie, look what I got," Deadpool whispered to Pinkie once they were outside of Slade's range, reaching into the backpack and pulling out the actual slab.

"Wow, when did you switch them?" Pinkie asked.

"Right before Slade took it from me. Fortunately, I was able to hide it with my little buddy here," Deadpool said as he opened the backpack to reveal Spike. "Thanks for holding onto that for me and sorry I hit you in the head with it."

"You forgot I was in there, didn't you?"

"Completely."
> Catching On
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Slade stared at the holographic image of the slab that he had constructed with his helmet. Said helmet rested on the table of a room that had previously had belonged to Celestia, until he had decided that it would be the best place to avoid being bothered while he worked. Pinkie and her annoying band of friends seemed to avoid the place unless they needed to be there and the rest of the pony populace avoided it out of respect for their princess. So as long as she was silent about the change, and she would be silent, that same kind of avoidance would continue even though Slade was the new occupant.

Slade had expected there to be more rebellion from the princess of the sun. With a fire and personality that came with her, along with her own sense of entitlement, Slade had been waiting for the first signs that she was going behind his back. But his bug had informed him of no attempt so far to try and outsmart him or go behind his back. It became clear to him that she valued the safety of her sister above all else, hence why Celestia rarely left her sister's side. That's why once every few days Deathstroke would activate the nanites in Luna's bloodstream and bring her to near death. Not because Celestia had rebelled, but just to remind her he could end her sister if he so chose at any moment.

'Yet while my success with the princess had been easy so far, this image has been anything less than an easy puzzle to crack,' Deathstroke thought to himself as he walked around the holographic image, hoping to find some clue that would tell him where the source of the lands magic was located. Yet all that the slab chose to reveal was the image of the sphere of magic in a room that was unfamiliar to him. 'Curse that Twilight for destroying the real slab, perhaps it truly had some clue or hint upon it that could aid me. I will make her suffer for her actions later. I wonder how attached she is to that dragon?'

Pocketing his ideas for revenge, Slade picked up a book of ancient arcitexture in Equestria off of a nearby table. He had appropriated the book from the Canterlot library, despite the librarian's best attempts to prevent him from doing so. The guards had been called in to deal with them, but the look on their face when Celestia herself showed up and called them off made the whole endeavor worth it. 

'There is something similar to the structures on this slab, but they are not a definite match,' Slade thought to himself, glancing up from a page that he had marked to the actual image upon the slab. While some of the architectural choices done in the image were similar to that of the image he had in the book, there were too many difference to declare them a perfect match. 'If I can discern when the place housing the source of all magic was built, perhaps I will be able to weed out all locations in Equestria with buildings or structures with similar architecture. But there are to many difference. How to do this?'

He closed the book and tossed it onto the bed, before resting both of his arms on the table and resuming his staring contest with the slab. 'Even the princesses aren't old enough to know about the location of this object. Though I will be asking Celestia about it later. Perhaps with her sister screaming for her life she will be more inclined to give me answers to the questions I ask? Perhaps I should summon her and-'

A buzzing from his phone caused that train of thought to come to a halt and a moment later he flipped open his communication device with his client. "This is Slade."

"Slade, I am calling to check up on you," the voice of the client, who Slade still couldn't piece together what they were, said on the other end of the phone. "You are almost out of time. You promised me a month at most, yet here we are, with only a few days left until you run out of the time we agreed on for you to complete the mission."

"There have been complications. Mainly the red and black pain in my ass that keeps thwarting my plans wherever he goes," Slade snarled into the receiver. "He has a nasty habit of showing up when he's not wanted and has prevented me, numerous times, from getting hold of vital information that would help me get this done sooner. And the ponies haven't been much more than roadblocks either. If you would allow me to dispose of a few of the more problematic ones..."

"We had a deal Slade. You would learn the location of the source of their magic without killing any of them. With your skill and knowledge I assumed that you would have no trouble doing this."

"Considering they will all die when I take the source of magic from their world, I don't see why you are paying to keep them alive," Slade muttered, but said these words in hopes of squeezing out any hint of information that he could learn about his client's true motives.

"Let us just say that these ponies are special to me. I have big plans for the ponies of this world, plans that involve seeing how they would do without their magic. For you see, these infernal beasts are so proud of their magic, that they flaunt it on the face of all of the other nations of the world. I want to leave them alive so that when their magic is stolen from them, they live to see how the rest of the world will respond to the might rulers of the sun and moon, when they are powerless, as they deserve...forgive me, I have seem to have lost control for a moment. It has been happening more and more recently."

'Well, I wanted to learn more about my client and it seems I have. They are not as benevolent as they tried to appear when I first was contacted by them,' Deathstroke noted. Not that he cared about his clients personal grudge against the ponies or what plans he had for them. As long as he was paid, it didn't matter in the slightest to him what they did.

It was at that moment that a flash of light went off in the room, causing Deathstroke to unsheath his blade and point the tip of it at the intruder that had dared to disturb him. Yet instead of a pissed off princess or some unstoppable evil that Slade had been expecting, he found that his sword was now pointed at young Flurry Heart, who was sitting on the bed.

"Aunty Celestia!" Flurry Heart exclaimed happily, before she blinked her eyes and registered who she was looking up at. For a moment Flurry and Slade stared at one another, before the smile on the young foals face grew even wider and she clapped her hooves. "Pirate!"

Even though Slade didn't take kindly to being called a pirate, he still sheathed his sword and walked over to the bed. He picked up the small foal, with one hand under each arm, and shook his head at her as she reached out towards him. "You are not a very bright foal, if you constantly teleport yourself to danger like this. Imagine if you did manage to teleport yourself to Celestia. Your very life could be forfeit under that fools watch. And that must be your mother."

The sounds of hooves racing across marble reached his door a moment before the door was blasted off of its hinges and sent flying across the room. Slade stepped to the side to avoid being hit by the door, before turning his gaze back to Cadence, who had just murdered the door to Celestia's room. She glanced around the room in a frenzy, but her fear turned to confusion when she spied Flurry Heart, and then Slade.

"Slade, what are you doing in here?" Cadence asked in a cautious tone.

Slade knew that she wanted to yell at him and say some other things, but she didn't dare do anything that might cause her daughter to worry. Once more though, Slade found her staring at him with fear and terror in her eyes, more for the safety of her daughter than of Slade. One day he would have to show her why she should be more worried of him. Flurry flapped her wings and reached out towards her mother. Slade released her and a moment later Flurry was in Cadence's grasp, causing the mother to hold her filly tight.

"I am here because Celestia was kind enough to allow me to use her room for the time being, at least while I am dealing with what remains of the fanatics," Slade informed Cadence, who glanced at him out of the side of her eyes. "If you do not believe me you are free to ask her. She will confirm my story. You must keep a better eye on your daughter, however. It would be tragic if she managed to teleport herself into the fanatics grasp."

"Noted," Cadence replied, in a tone Slade couldn't read. "But for some reason she keeps ending up close to you. I think that she may be taking a liking to you."

"That would be a mistake on her part. I trust you can rid her of these dangerous delusions about me."

"Of course," Cadence said. She then cast her glance towards the bed and the book that sat atop the bed. A book that was opened to the page that Slade had marked. The mercenary cursed himself internally for leaving the book open, but his outward appearance was one of calm and confidence. Cadence glanced at him to see if he was looking at the book, but his thoughts seemed to be elsewhere.

"Is there anything you need, or can I get back to work?" Slade asked Cadence, who sighed as she turned to leave.

"No, you're perfectly fine, Slade. I just came in here looking for my daughter," Cadence said as he placed Flurry on her back and turned to leave, before she looked over her shoulder at Slade. "Oh, I thought I should let you know that Twilight and her friends will be coming to Canterlot. Celestia called a conference to discuss what we're going to do about the fanatics, now that most of them have been...slaughtered."

"A tragedy what happened to them. But actions have consequences," Slade sad without remorse.

"Yes, I suppose they do," Cadence said as she left. She waited until she was far away from Celestia's room before she leaned up against the wall, holding a hoof to her heart as she tried to calm herself down. 'Flurry teleporting away from me again was scary enough, but for her to be back in that mercenary's hands. And was he looking at Equestrian architecture? The same architecture that makes up...it has to be a coincidence, right?'

Cadence then cast another glance at where Slade occupied, before she turned and headed off towards where Celestia was staying, needing to ask for her guidance. About what to do about Flurry's teleportation, how to handle the fanatics...and about whether or not bringing Slade to Canterlot had been the biggest mistake of her life.

D\P

"It's not fair. That jackass gets most the chapter to himself and I get the dregs. I'm pissed," Deadpool muttered to himself as he crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair that was inside of Twilight's castle. Then a blast of purple magic knocked his ass out of the chair he had been sitting in.

"YOU'RE PISSED?! You brought a child into a dangerous temple, one that he should have been nowhere near, and put him in harms way without telling his guardian!" Twilight screamed at Deadpool with enough ferocity to shatter the windows of her own castle. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't teleport you into the sun right now and be done with you?!"

"Wow, not even going to call yourself his mother or sister, eh Twilight? Ain't you just the cold bitch," Deadpool muttered, before moving his head to the side to avoid being shot by Twilight. "As for one good reason why I shouldn't be teleported into the sun, I can give you two. One, it won't kill me. I'll be back. The second is that you won't get to find out what I have."

"I don't need to guess. You have a hole in your chest where your body used to be," Twilight snarled as her horn crackled to life once more.

"Wrong. I've got the slab. Meaning that I've got a piece of the puzzle leading me to the source of all magic," Wade said right to Twilight's face. Her eyes shrunk in her sockets as the light left her horn, leaving the mare staring at Wade with disbelief. "Oh yeah, I know all about that. Now the question is, how much do you know about it?"

For a long time Twilight didn't know what to say. She also didn't know what scared her more. The fact that Deadpool somehow knew about the source of magic...or that there was none of the strange and joking tone in his voice that he normally had. There was something different about Wade Wilson and it terrified Twilight.

"I...I don't know anything about it," Twilight said in a whisper at last.

"Well well, Twilight. Looks like we'll have to work on that lying of yours as well as your trust issues," Wade said with a shrug as he rose off of the floor and cracked his back, before giving Twilight a look. "But that's fine for now. I don't need to know at the moment. Sooner would be appreciated rather than later. I'm going to hang out with Pinkie and hit all of the restaurants in this town. Today we find out if I can eat myself to death."

"What happened to you?" Twilight asked before Wade could leave, getting the merc to look back at her. "You've never been this serious before. Why now?" For a moment Deadpool seemed to think about her words, before he looked back at her with narrowed eyes and, even though it would be hard since he had the mask covering his face, an expression that Twilight couldn't read.

"Because we're now in the third act."
> A Lifetime to Prepare
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was times like this that Slade wished that he had his other eye. As Cadence and Twilight embraced and the princesses friends poured into the large chamber that Celestia had called them all to, he began to prepare himself for the amount of trouble that Wade was going to cause. And he knew that Wade would do something unexpected. That was about all Deathstroke could figure out about the red merc. He needed to keep his eye on him.

But he also needed to keep an eye on Celestia as well. With all of her most powerful allies in the same room as her, Slade wouldn't put it past the princess to try something foolish in a vain attempt to save her sister. He also didn't know why, but Cadence seemed far more wary of him than she had used to be. Yet he knew for certain that Celestia or Luna hadn't said anything about the nanites (he had secretly bugged Luna as well), so he just had to assume her common sense had finally kicked in and she had learned to be scared of him.

The ponies in the room took to their seats, with Twilight conjuring a kiddie seat for Deadpool to sit on. Slade didn't know what he found stranger, the fact that Deadpool kept getting invited to these clearly important missions when he wasn't wanted. Or the fact that he sat down on the kiddie seat without a second thought. Slade chose to remain standing right next to Celestia, just to be a constant reminder to her that any attempt to thwart his plans would end in her sisters demise...and possibly the demise of others.

"I think Twilight would make an excellent hostage if Luna were to perish, wouldn't you?" Slade whispered to Celestia. To her credit, her face didn't so much as twitch at Slade's words, even though he knew for certain that she was furious with him. Figuring that she would behave, Slade walked over to Pinkie, who raised an eyebrow at his approach.

"Well well, here's something I never expected to see. What would the mighty and scary Deathstroke want with little old me?" Pinkie asked in a rhyme, making Slade wonder if she did it by accident or if she enjoyed pissing him off. But a quick glance at Deadpool showed that the merc with a mouth was paying careful attention to their conversation and Slade wasn't ready to deal with Wade...yet. But that was fine. He was there to talk.

"if you are in fear for your life, there is no reason to be. I am simply here to ask you something," Slade replied in a professional tone, yet Pinkie's face showed that she wasn't going to buy anything he was selling. "All I ask is that, once this is all over, that you give me an hour to speak with you. You are a very interesting individual and I am certain that we could both learn something from one another."

"Uh-huh. Look, I don't know what crazy scheme you're up to or what you want from me, but I've seen what you can do and what you might do, so I don't think sharing anything with you might be in my safest interests," Pinkie replied in a serious voice that wasn't like her usual, jolly tone. Slade narrowed his eye under his mask and wondered if he might have underestimated the pink pony. She seemed a lot smarter than she let on.

"So you will not even consider my offer?"

"I'll considered it...okay, I'm done considering it. My answer is still no," Pinkie replied with a smile. "Now if you would please go away, Deadpool and I are trying to figure out the best way to make a never ending river of lemonade. Something that is clearly far more important that whatever it was that you wanted to talk to me about."

With Wade watching Slade didn't dare try anything then and there, but he made himself a promise that if Celestia did get her sister killed, Pinkie would be the next one he would use the nanites on. Slade turned and returned to Celestia's side, his eye narrowing when he saw that she was smirking slightly at him being blown off like that. Retaliating out in the open wouldn't be in his best interest, but there would be time to make Celestia suffer later.

"Ponies, dragon and other, talking about you Deadpool, hear my words," Celestia said in a loud voice, stopping everypony from talking and turning their gaze towards her. "You are all aware of the fanatics and the threat they pose to this nation. And even with the...actions...of Slade and Wade Wilson-"

"Don't lump us together like we're family."

"I will do what I like. And even with their "help" we still face a considerable threat from them. I have recently learned that not all of the fanatics were stopped when Wade and Slade decimated their camp, meaning that we've got to stay on our guard," Celestia warned the others, who all nodded somberly in agreement.

Deadpool cast a glance around the room (not caring that it was supposed to still be Slade's part of the chapter) to see how each of the ponies would react to the news. Twilight looked determined, Pinkie seemed concerned, Cadence and Shining both held their child a little closer and he didn't give enough fucks to care about the rest of the Ambassadors. Then he glanced over at Deathstroke, who stood as still and emotionless as ever. Deadpool was pretty good at reading how a person was feeling, but aside from the periods when Deathstroke got really angry, Deadpool couldn't tell what was going on in his head. That was a small concern to Wade.

"Well then why are we all still sitting around here waiting for them to come to us? I say we got out there, hunt down the rest of them and give them such a stern talking to that they will see the error of their ways right away," Deadpool suggested to the others. Yet once more, his serious attempt to help was met with sighs, stares and a few face-hoofs. Pinkie was once again the only one that put any stock into his idea, but he held out a hand when she tried to speak on his defense. He knew how this would end.

"Anypony else have any other ideas that might be marginally better than that? I know it might be difficult with the bar set as high as it was, but please, you are welcome to try," Shining asked the rest of the ponies in a mocking tone. Wade figured he was still mad from the time Wade had tried to show his daughter the magazines that Deadpool collected. "No? Then all non-ponies should be quiet and let those that actually know what they're doing speak."

"I hope you realize that you just lumped Spike in with Slade and me," Wade pointed out, getting Shining to give Wade a look while Spike stared at the table in front of him with sad eyes. "Y'know, for an entire world of supposedly friendly and nice creatures, you all can be pretty mean."

"Forgive us if our patience has been strained between the fanatics trying to kill my daughter and having to deal with two very dangerous mercenaries," Cadence replied in a calm tone that had an underlining threat beneath the exterior. Flurry let out a groan and began to squirm in Cadence's grip. Cadence placed her daughter atop the table and the foal began to crawl around excitedly, though Cadence used her magic to change her daughter's path every time she tried to head towards Wade or Slade.

"We have all been under a considerable amount of stress lately. What would be best is that we deal with these threats before anything else happens," Luna replied in a calm tone. At least, she tried to. But underneath all of her regal and calm exterior there was a trace, an almost non-existent trace, of fear. A hint of fear that turned Wade to look at the princess with a raised eyebrow.

"Then we shall deal with the fanatics and leave as soon as we are able," Slade said, taking control of the situation and the story once more. "Finding the fanatics will not be difficult so long as I am able to get my hands on one of them. For when I am alone with one of them, I can get them to do whatever I want."

"Whoa there Slade, there are children here. Save the kinky bedroom talk for another time," Wade cut in, getting Slade to glare murder at Wade. Twilight and a few of the others snickered at the reaction Wade got out of Slade, while Shining was too busy covering his daughters ears with his hooves.

"As much as i loathe to admit it, I have to agree with Wade. This is no place for children at the moment," Shining agreed begrudgingly. "Spike, would you please take Flurry Heart and wait outside until we are finished?"

"Sure," Spike sighed sadly, walking over to Shining and picking up the foal. She laughed before flapping her wings, taking off out of the room with Spike in tow.

"Alright, now that they're gone, I want to talk about what's really been bothering me for a while now," Shining said in a far more serious tone, glaring at Slade the entire time. "Because I've been thinking and I think I know what's really going on. And that's-"

A crash and the sound of magical explosions came from the other side of the doors that Spike and Flurry had just come through, getting everypony at the table to leap up out of their seats. The others had barely started to process what might have happened before Wade and Slade kicked open the doors, weapons drawn as they aimed at who was on the other side. But what they saw stopped them both in their tracks.

A fanatic in a silver cloak was on the other side, with a long, white beard and a eyes that were far more focused and evil than the eyes of the other fanatics. But what kept Slade and even Wade from doing anything was the fact that he had a long, silver knife, which he had pressed against a dazed Flurry Heart's neck. Spike was under one of his hooves, with a nasty bump on the back of his head, yet all eyes were on the slightly moving filly.

"Flurry," Cadence whispered in absolute horror before her horn started to glow slightly, but Slade held out a hand to stop her before she did anything to get her daughter killed. "You bastard! Release my daughter at once or so help me-!"

"Silence. Listen and listen well, for I shall only say this once," the fanatic said in a cold voice, before pressing the blade closer to Flurry's neck. "I am taking this foal as well as this baby dragon. Despite your best efforts to corrupt them to your evil and twisted ways, I can sense that they can still both be saved. But I shall not allow myself to be captured here. So if any of you, and I mean any of you, so much as twitches the wrong way, I will slit her throat. Am I clear?"

"You son of a bitch, if you think we will-" Luna began, before a blast of magic erupted from the fanatic's horn and caught Luna in the shoulder, causing her to cry out as a gash appeared in her arm and blood trickled to the floor. She seethed with rage and took a step forward, but once more Slade held out a hand to stop her from getting the foal killed.

Slade then glanced behind him to see Cadence glancing up at him, all of her mistrust and fear towards him gone as a hope that he could somehow save her daughter gripped at the heart of the mother. Slade turned to face the fanatic once more, eye narrowed as it all came back to him. The attack on his family, the gunmen that he ripped through like they were nothing. And the one with the knife that had held his son Jericho. It was all too familiar. A scene that had haunted Slade's nightmare's for nearly all of his life. But he had spent decades reliving that moment again and again, making the perfect plan to ensure the safety of the one being held at knife point. Flurry would not be harmed.

"Alright," Slade said as he put his hands behind his head and got down on his knees. "You win. Take them and leave. We will not do anything."

The ponies and even Wade looked at him like he was nuts, but a glare from Slade got them all to do the same. Even Deadpool, after a moment of debate, followed Slade's lead. The fanatic smirked at them before his horn glowed and a moment later he, Flurry and Spike were gone. Cadence let out a roar of anguish as she raced over to where the fanatic had vanished. Shining, Twilight and the others were at her side a moment later, but Slade was too busy pushing buttons on his wrist to pay them any mind.

"You let them get away. I assume you have a good reason for this," Celestia asked Slade.

"I do. The first is that anything we tried would have resulted in Flurry being scared for life physically," Slade said. It wasn't a guess. "The second is that not only did we ensure the foals safety, but now I can track them to the fanatics main base by tracking the nanites that are inside of Flurry Heart."

"The...what...?" Celestia asked in absolute horror as she gazed at Slade, who slowly turned his head to look at her. "You...you put those things...inside of her...when?"

"Not long after I first met her. She often teleports to me when Cadence isn't watching. It was easy," Slade said to Celestia in a voice so cold that a serial killer would have shivered upon hearing them. "I have found in my line of work that having a little insurance isn't a bad thing, especially when dealing with beings that don't want to cooperate. Just in case your sister doesn't hold up."

"You...you..." Celestia muttered, unable to think of a way to describe Slade.

"Be quiet. We are wasting time," Slade whispered before walking over to the others. "There is no need to fear. I have placed a tracker on Flurry and know where the fanatic took her to. We can now find their base and deal with these monsters once and for all. But we must move quickly before they try to do anything to Flurry and Spike," Slade instructed before he glanced back and Celestia while fingering the nano-gun. "Any objections?"

Celestia stayed silent and all of the others agreed with Slade immediately, especially Cadence and Shining. Slade shared the coordinates with the others and Cadence began a teleportation spell. Celestia and Luna begrudginly came along with Slade, knowing that their strength would be needed to get Flurry Heart back. Yet it was only Pinkie who noticed that Wade wasn't standing with them.

"Wade, are you coming?" she asked Deadpool, who had just gotten done scooping up some of Luna's blood into a vial.

"Huh? Oh, give me a second," Deadpool replied as he pulled out a sticky note, wrote something on it, before attaching it to the vial. He then pressed a button on some device, which opened a rift next to him that he threw the vial threw. "I'm coming, Sir Lancelot!" 

"What was that all about?" Pinkie whispered once Deadpool was next to her.

"Let's just say I've reached my rebellious phase of being a son," Deadpool said with a wink. And then the teleportation spell took hold.
> The Core Difference
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The light from the teleportation hadn't even had time to fade before Slade and Wade had already sprung into action. Slade dashed forward onto the edge of what looked to be a castle turret and activated the scanner on his helmet. A quick swivel of his head was enough for him to discern that they had been teleported to an ancient and decrepit castle, one of which was filled to the brim with fanatics of all shapes and sizes.

"I know where Spike and Flurry are," Deadpool said to the others as he drew a katana and a sidearm. "She is, of course, in the tallest tower surrounded by the biggest and meanest guards. What the hell is it about princesses that people feel the need to lock them in a tower?"

"All I care about right now is getting my daughter back and laying waste to all those that dare to take her from me," Cadence roared in an unholy voice as she took a few steps forward. Yet her actions drew the attention of numerous ballistic weapons that were lined all along the castle. Bolts of black magic came thundering out of the ballistic weaponry and exploded all around the group, who were forced to take cover within the turret.

"Dammit it all, they have anti-magic weaponry," Celestia snarled with rage as she studied some of the dark magic that had floated down with them. "It is an ancient and thought to be exterminated form of magic that can kill the magic of any magical being it comes into contact with. We cannot get close to that tower without being blasted apart by this dark weaponry. To think the fanatics had something like this on their side..."

"Well luckily for the lot of you, you have to have two very skilled and very dangerous beings without magic who can still go up there and give those evil villains what for," Deadpool reminded the group, who all gave him a hesitant look. "Oh God dammit. Look, i know practically none of you like me, but right now, Slade and i are your only hope of getting your daughter and your dragon manservant back. Whether you like it or not, you're going to have to trust in us."

"I trust you, Wade," Pinkie spoke up, getting Wade to smile at the pink pony.

"Deadpool is right, zas much as it pains me to admit it. The ten of you will be useless in this fight," Slade informed the group. Each of the ponies aside from Celestia and Luna began to argue, but he held up a gun to silence them. "Allow Wade and I to deal with this problem. Flurry was kidnapped on my watch, after you paid me to keep her safe. This is a mistake that I will personally make up for."

"And as much as all of you like to abuse Spike, I actually like the little guy. Imma go get him back," Deadpool said with a smirk. The two then turned and began to ascend the steps, until Cadence cleared her throat to stop the both of them once more.

"Slade, I have only one last thing to say to you before you go...I authorize lethal force," Cadence spat with venom. A wicked smile spread beneath Slade's helmet, but externally all he did was nod his head before he and Wade burst out onto the turret once more, finding that the entire army of the fanatics had been assembled to deal with the pair.

"So what's the plan, daddy oh?" Deadpool asked.

"Get to Flurry and kill everything in your path," Slade replied as he drew his blade.

"And Spike."

"What about him?"

"We need to save him to. He's a pretty funny guy once you get back the whole child servant thing."

"Why do you care so much about a small dragon?"

"I'm a very caring guy once you get to know me. It's amazing how many people forget that."

"Whatever. Let's go."

Slade and Wade sprinted forward, firing bullets with lethal precision into the horde of fanatics that had begun to charge towards them. Slade whipped out his sniper rifle and fired a single shot that tore through the skulls of ten fanatics, spraying blood all across the comrades that had been running with them. Realizing the threat that Slade brought, all of the fanatics turned their attention to Slade adn took their eyes off of Wade. Much to their demise.

Rockets filled with confetti and fire rained down on the fanatics, blasting them apart into chunky bits of flesh that had confetti all around them. Wade let out a joyish cry as if he was on a roller coaster as he raced along and fired his duel rocket launchers at anything that got in his way, blasting them to hell.

Magic, arrows and all others forms of weaponry devised to caused a painful and brutal death rained down upon the twin mercenaries, but the pair of them hardly even slowed under such a barrage of pain. Deathstroke's armor prevented any of the weapons, spells or other tools of death from so much as scratching him, allowing him to rush on ahead without worry. Deadpool's body was burned, pierced and ripped apart by the weaponry that carved into him, but he was far too pissed off to care about some nicks and scratches. Not to mention he healed almost instantly from all of the wounds.

Slade decapitated a group of fanatics before tossing a grenade into a group of the fanatics, spraying the area with blood and guts. Wade had decided to go with a more delicate way of dealing with the fanatics, so as his minigun roared to life and shredded hundreds of the fanatics into a bloody paste, he shook his head at Slade's barbaric ways of dealing with his foes.

"Where do you keep all of those weapons?" Slade asked Deadpool as Deadpool slipped his minigun behind him and causing it to vanish.

"Up my ass, where I also keep my guns, my swords, my other swords and my jokes," Deadpool replied with a smirk, yet Slade noticed the slight hint of menace in the smile. "Come now father, we must go save the princess and the dragon from the tower! Somebody here doesn't know how these things are supposed to work. The dragon is supposed to guard the princess and you're already gone."

Slade cleaved and shot his way through the remaining fanatics that stood in his way before he finally reached the pinnacle of the castle, kicking in the door to revel a long hallway ending with an alter that stood along beneath a stain glass window. Both Spike and Flurry lay on the alter, both of which had blank eyes. The fanatic that had taken them stood over them, muttering something under his breath while he held a dagger in above the both of them. Then he plunged the dagger towards Spike's chest.

BANG!

The dagger shattered into pieces of metal and was swatted out of the fanatics hoof by the bullet, getting him to curse in pain before he turned around to see Slade and Wade, the latter being the one that had shot the dagger. "Good job saving the dragon, Slade. You were really going to stay there and watch a kid get murdered?"

"I was not paid to protect him. Had the pony been threatening Flurry it would have been a different story."

"You're a real prick, you know that? And speaking of pricks," Deadpool began as he turned to face the fanatic, who was glaring at both Wade and Slade, but mostly Slade. "Hey asshole, I believe that you have a two little kids that don't belong to you. And while I may love free candy as much as the next guy, you've got a special place in hell for your actions. But if you let the kids go, I'll make your trip to that fire painless. My daddy may not. What's it going to be?"

"This is all because of you," the fanatic said to Slade.

"Oh cool, being ignored."

"You are the one in the prophecy, the one that will steal magic from this land and cause blood to rain from the skies. The one that will bring an end to all that we know and love," the fanatic continued, his eyes locked onto the one red eye of Slade. "The princesses and their hidden magic may have begun the end, but you shall be the one that ends us all."

"Bringing the end to a world doesn't sound like my MO, but I suppose if I was paid enough," Slade began as he drew his sword and one of his pistols, a smile spreading as he had the final piece. "But right now all I've been paid to do is kill you and retrieve the princess. So this is where we part ways."

"Indeed. It is."

The fanatic then whipped out a five sided item from within his cloak and fired a beam of black light at Slade, who was able to get out of the way in time. However, his pistol had been struck by the light and the upper half of it was gone. Slade dove behind a column for cover and scanned the missing half of his gun. It had not been disintegrated, it had not been burned away: it simply had been erased from existence.

"A weapon that can erase anything from existence, huh?" Slade muttered to himself as he gripped his sword. "I've dealt with worse."

"Hey asshole, did ya forget about me?!" Wade roared with rage as he lunged towards the fanatic, both blades held over his hand. "I'm used to getting strange looks and being insulted, but if you seriously think for a moment that I'm not the most dangerous guy in the room, you're in for a bad time!"

The fanatic spun and fired a blast of dark light at Deadpool, but just like Slade Wade was also quick enough to get out of the way of the blast. He landed right behind the fanatic and swung at his head, but his blades bounced off of a barrier of magic that the fanatic constructed around his body. Deadpool flipped out of the way of another blast of dark light, before landing on the alter.

"Oh look, I was needing a dragon and a princess to complete my medieval collect and now I have them!" he exclaimed joyously as he bent over to scoop the pair of them up. The fanatic let out a roar as he fired three blasts of the dark light towards the merc with a mouth. Deadpool managed to completely avoid two of the three beams, but the third one managed to graze his arm.

"Mother fucker that hurt!" Wade exclaimed as he rolled backwards and let fly an army of shurikens towards the fanatic, who blocked them all with his magic. Wade rolled behind a pillar and examined the spot on his arm where the magic had struck him, finding a small piece of his body had been taken out. And, much to his annoyance, he found that the piece of him wasn't growing back. 'Great, another writer thinks that they can create some mcguffin that can kill me and keep me dead. Fine, we'll go along with it for now. Before I can give them shit for being so original I've got to get Spike and Flurry.'

Deadpool peaked out from behind his column to see that Deathstroke was already engaging the fanatic, with both of them dodging and deflecting each others attempts to harm the other. Seeing that this was his moment to get the two kids, Deadpool raced over to the pair, gaining him the attention of the fanatic.

"You shall not claim them!" he roared as he spun and pointed the amulet at Deadpool, only for the amulet to fly into the air a moment later when Deathstroke severed his arm from his body. The fanatic barely had enough time to register that his limb was missing before Deathstroke made his head join his arm. A moment later both were rolling around on the floor and Deathstroke extended his had to catch the amulet. For a brief moment Deadpool and Deathstroke shared a look, both of them knowing what this meant.

"Hey daddy, considering you've missed, like, every single on of my birthday's since I was born, would you mind giving me that fancy stone there as a present?" Deadpool asked as he pulled out his twin swords and took up a fighting stance.

"How about I give you something that you've needed for a long time? I'll grant you death," Slade snarled as he held the amulet in one hand and his sword in the other. Then the fanatics body exploded in a blinding fury of magic and death. The explosion tore both Deadpool and Deathstroke from their feet and hurled them to opposite sides of the room, while the amulet fell to the ground inbetween the two.

Deadpool groaned as he shook his head, before his eyes widened as he realized that this was his chance, as Deathstroke was still stunned. But he had barely taken a step towards Deathstroke when he heard a cry of fear. He glanced over at the table to see that Spike and Flurry had awoken and that the dark fire was blazing around them and the entire room. With Deadpool not being magical in nature, he didn't have much to fear from the fire. But the two of them did. So he sprinted towards them.

Deathstroke let out a groan as he tried to clear the cobwebs, not able to remember the last time he had been hit by an explosion like that. He then looked up to see that the ceiling was coming down right on top of him. He raised his arms to defend himself, only for the debris to shatter harmlessly against a barrier of magic that had been constructed around him. With some confusion he looked down to see Flurry Heart sitting at his feet, using her magic to protect the both of them.

"Good girl," he said with a smirk as he scooped her up, before looking across the floor to see the amulet laying there. He then looked to his side where Deadpool was trying to free Spike from the table, in need of help. And vulnerable. Without a second thought he raced towards it, scooped it up, fired a blast from the amulet into the back of Deadpool, grabbed Spike from the table as Deadpool lay burning and hurled himself through the nearest window, using his body to shield the two from any of the debris. He slammed into the ground some twenty feet down just in time as the castle above exploded into a ball of fire and death. Slade picked himself up and cradled Flurry and Spike gingerly, before he walked over to where the others were.

"FLURRY!" Cadence and Shining exclaimed when they spied Deathstroke walking towards them with Flurry clutched in his arms. They swiped the filly from him and cradled her together, both of them sobbing softly. Slade watched the pair for a moment before he looked towards the others.

"SPIKE!" Twilight exclaimed as she snatched the dragon out of Slade's grip and held him tight. "Thank you. Thank you for saving him."

"Of course. The best saves everyone."

A moment after Slade said this a giant ball of burned flesh and singed suit slammed into the ground near the ponies, where a very broken and battered Deadpool lay in a pile and struggled to move.

"Pain...all I know is pain," Deadpool said weakly as he began to snap his limbs back into place. "So did anyone get the number of that bus that exploded in my face? I think the driver was from New York, but nearly all of them drive angrily and explode so I can't be sure."

"I believe it is time we go home," Celestia said with a sigh of relief, looking over her friends with a smile as she saw that everypony was safe.

"Indeed, there is much we need to discuss," Slade said with a look at Celestia that made the princess shiver slightly. That was until Pinkie walked up to Slade and tapped on his armored leg.

"Hey Slade...thanks for saving Flurry and Spike," Pinkie said softly. "Maybe...I was too quick in dissing your request. Whatever it is, as long as it doesn't hurt anypony, I'll help you with it."

"Pinkie...you have no idea how much of a help that will be to me."
> It All Comes Out
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Slade took enjoyment in the look of disgust that crossed Celestia's face as he walked into her throne room, knowing full well that she wouldn't try anything to dare endanger her sister. Said sister was sitting on the throne that was slightly lower than Celestia's and she wore the same look of anger and rage that her sister wore, except that Luna's face had far more traces of fear in it. Deathstroke assumed that was  because his finger was around the button that would tell the nanites to kill her. Which he was considering greatly.

"Celestia, it has been nearly a week since I saved your apprentices dragon and Cadence's daughter from the fanatics, hasn't it?" Deathstroke asked as he casually looked around, making sure that Celestia saw the trigger and that his finger was upon it. 

"Yes it has. And during that time you have spent a considerable amount of time with Pinkie, much to Deadpool's dismay. He would come into my place at least twice a day and whine to me about missing his friend," Celestia replied in a calm voice, before her demeanor broke and a snarl spread across her face. "Cut the shit, Slade. What are you actually here for? The only time you bother to talk to me is when you want something."

"I see that you are learning Celestia. If I wasn't going to eventually kill you I would say that there is hope for you," Slade replied, the malice in his voice catching the sisters off guard. "I do not mean that I am here to kill you now, but perhaps one day. Of course, I will kill your sister and then Flurry if you do not answer my next question to my liking. Where is the heart of all magic in the world?"

Celestia's eyes shrunk down while filling with fear, telling Deathstroke that she knew exactly what he was talking about. He could also tell that her brain was firing on all cylinders as she tried to think of a lie that would buy her time. Slade's response to her attempt to think of a lie was to finger the button that would kill her sister, shaking her head slightly as he did so. Celestia looked from the weapon to her sister, wondering if she should betray her nation or her only living flesh and blood. Family won out.

"On a mountain. A mountain in the center of Equestria. Guarded by a barrier that can only be opened by alicorn blood," Celestia admitted through gritted teeth. "Inside you shall find a massive sphere of rainbow magic, the core of which supplies the magic of every magical being in the land. As well as the land itself. If you take the sphere-"

"Then every magical being in this land might die," Slade finished for her. "Oh well, loses were to be expected on this job."

"You...you are seriously going to kill every being on this world, and then the world itself, simply because you were hired to take the sphere?" Luna asked, unable to fathom how Deathstroke could say such a thin with such a neutral voice.

"I always fulfill my contracts, Luna. No matter what I must do to ensure my success," Deathstroke said with a smirk, one that went unseen by Celestia and Luna. "And I know that right now both of you are considering stopping me, so I will say this to the both of you. If you do try to stop me, I will kill Flurry Heart first. But if you let me go and take the sphere, I will bring her with me to my world, so that she will survive. It is your choice, princesses. Try to stop me and watch a filly die a painful death, before the rest of your nation follows suit. Or let me go and ensure the survival of one pony. You have ten seconds to decide."

It was an impossible choice. Celestia and Luna both knew that they couldn't let Deathstroke take the sphere of magic, as it would bring the death and destruction of their entire world. But they also knew that they couldn't defeat him quickly enough to stop him from killing Flurry Hearth. If they could beat him at all. But if they stood aside and let Deathstroke go, he would doom their world for certain. And they only had the world of a maniac that was planning on destroying their entire world that he would spare Flurry. Neither could decide which option was worse.

Then the doors to their throne room was opened once more and the Ambassadors of Harmony, along with Cadence, Shining and Flurry Heart, all walked into the room. For a brief moment Celestia, Luna and even Deathstroke were too stunned to speak. Then Celestia, taking control of the situation, cleared her throat and smiled as best she could at the new arrivals.

"Friends. You have all come at a rather...bad time. Whatever is troubling you I am sure that it can wait a little while longer, as I have to finish my talk with Slade," Celestia said as calmly as she could, watching Slade thumb the trigger and tilt his head towards Flurry Heart, telling her what would happen.

"But that's just it, Celestia. We came to help you," Twilight said, getting both Celestia and Slade to look at her like she was crazy. "All of us received a letter from you saying that you were in grave danger and that you needed us to assemble in your throne room at once. We grouped together and then we came here to help."

"But I never sent any letter. And who else would possibly-oh shit."

"Surprise!" 

The ponies all screamed as a red and black clad mercenary burst through one of the windows, the most expensive and with the most beautiful image carved into it, and rolled across the floor until he came to a halt in the center of the room, right between where the ambassadors were and where the princesses and Slade were standing.

"There is no need to fear anymore my friends, I, Deadpool, sex master extraordinaire, am here to save you all!" Deadpool exclaimed as he placed his arms on his hips and stood in the beam of light that was shining in through the window he had broken. "I have learned of the evil that plagues you and I am here to stop it. I sent the letter to all of you so that you can all help me in bringing down-"

"ENOUGH!" Celestia roared with such fury that she shook the entire castle, shutting Wade up and turning all eyes towards her. "Twilight, please take you and your friends and leave this place. I need to speak with Slade alone and I do not want any of you here to bother us. As for YOU!" she snarled as she turned to Deadpool, who slowly pointed a finger to himself. "I have all but had it with you. Get out of my castle, get out of my nation, before you make this situation a thousands times worse than it already is. I don't know how you would do that, but I'm certain you will find a way."

"But, I-"

"Out. Now."

For a long moment Deadpool just looked at Celestia, pain clearly visible beneath his mask. Then he looked at each of the other ponies, each of who either glared at him or averted their eyes as he looked over them. All except for Pinkie, who shook her head slightly and motioned for him to continue. Then he rounded on Celestia once more, all of the pain replaced with rage.

"You know what, sun butt? Fuck you!" Deadpool roared at her. "I bust my ass since the moment I arrive here trying to get to know you guys, trying to help out and all you do is scorn my help and get mad at my attitude. I even decided to not go through with my contract to find and steal the source of all magic just because I liked you guys too much. But you, oh you and the stick you've got rammed so far up your ass that you can't even see it, just can't tolerate someone like me, can you? Someone who's truly different? Well, if you don't want my help, too bad."

Deadpool then whipped out one of his guns and fired right into the side of Luna's chest, getting her to cry out in pain as she collapsed to the ground. The ponies barely had any time to register what he had done before Deadpool aimed under his arm and fired another shot into the side of Flurry. The little princess cried out as she shook with pain, yet the filly had barley begun to cry before Cadence was hurling herself towards Deadpool with murder in her eyes.

"YOU FUCKING SON OF A-"

Deadpool chopped Cadence on the back of the neck and she fell to the ground, snarling in rage as she tried to move her body but found herself unable to do so.

"Give it a moment," Deadpool told them all, never taking his eyes off of Slade.

Just as Deadpool had said, a moment later Luna sat up, looking down at the spot where she had been shot to see a small syringe sticking out of her. The others examined Flurry and found the same syringe sticking out of her, one that had emptied an orange liquid into the both of them.

"Wade, what was that?" Pinkie asked Deadpool.

"That was to destroy the nanites in their bodies."

The room went deathly silent after Deadpool had spoken. Celestia and Luna looked at him with utter disbelief, unable to comprehend how he had known or how he had taken care of them. The other stared at the merc with confusion, but the looks on Celestia and Luna's faces told them that it was something serious he had just done. And then there was Slade, who gazed at Deadpool with an amused look beneath his mask.

"How did you figure it out?" he asked Wade.

"When the fanatic shot Luna, she bled a little on the floor. You were so gungho about getting Flurry back that you didn't notice, but I took a moment to take some of her blood and send it to Stark, asking him to examine it. And in exchange I would stay out of his series for a while," Deadpool explained with narrowed eyes. "He sent me an antidote and a way of detecting the nanites. But I already figured that they were in Luna from the way Celestia shoved her nose up your ass. If you had infected her she would have gone down with a fight. But if you had infected someone she loved..."

"Wade, what are nanites?" Pinkie asked.

"Little robots that Slade injected into Luna's and Flurry's blood stream so that he could kill them if Celestia didn't do what he said," Deadpool quickly exclaimed. All eyes snapped towards Slade as Wade said this, who calmly surveyed the room. Cadence shot back up to her feet, her magical aura blazing even greater than it had been.

"Is this true?" she asked in a whisper far more terrifying than the greatest hurricane or earthquake.

"Yes, it is. I needed leverage over all of you so that I could find the source of this world's magic without being hindered by you," Slade admitted in a way that made it sound like he was announcing the time of day. He saw the rage and hatred spread in all of their faces, but at that point he didn't care about them. The only one he kept his eye on, the only one that was remotely a threat to him, glared at him with narrowed eyes. "Yet why does this anger you? You are here for the same reasons I am. What do you care if I killed these animals?"

"Luna I don't give two shits about. I thought it was kind of funny you made bitch tits over there bend over backwards for you," Deadpool replied in a low voice. "But when I found out you did this to Flurry Heart, a baby, that you finally cemented yourself on my shit list. Also there was the fact that you shot me to save Spike, all so you could look good in their books. Hey dad? I'm going to kill you."

"I'm certain that you will try."

"You bastard," Celestia began, charging up her magic. "Now that my sister is free, I'll-"

A moment later blood splashed across Celestia, blood that came pouring out of Deapool who was suddenly in front of her. The sound of the gunshot that would have killed her followed a moment later as Wade fell to the floor, causing her eyes to widen as she realized that Wade had just saved her life.

"You'll what, Celestia? Had Wade not dove to shield you there, you would have died without ever knowing you were dead. That's how easy it would be to kill you all," Slade said with a wicked smile to Celestia, before holstering his pistol. "However, I have wasted enough time here. Wade, you are smarter than I gave you credit for. That's all the praise you will ever get out of me. As for the rest of you, enjoy your last days of life."

Deadpool pulled out his blades and lunged towards Deathstroke, yet the assassin pressed a button on the side of his suit and he vanished in a burst of light, leaving Deadpool to slash at the air where he had been a moment ago.

"Of course he's got a fucking teleporter. Mother fucker beat Batman," Deadpool growled to himself as he sheathed his weapons, turning around to see all of the ponies looking at him. "What the fuck do you all want?"

"Wade, Deathstroke his heading to the source of all magic in this world," Cadence told Deadpool, who rolled his eyes under his mask. "He is the most dangerous foe that we have ever faced and he plans to kill us all by taking our magic. If we hope to stand even a chance of stopping him, then we will all need to-"

"Let me stop your right fucking there. There is no "we". There is only you and him," Wade snapped back in a far angrier tone than any had heard him use. "You think after everything you've said and done to me that I'd help you fucking bunch of rainbow pukes? I stuck my neck out for you guys, tried to be your friends, and even destroyed the nanites that would have been used to kill Luna and Flurry. And how did you all respond? By calling me a freak, by trying to kill me and acting like everyone else. Acting like just because I'm a funny immortal guy that I'm not a person. Fuck you all."

"Wade-"

"No. Shut it. You're on your own. Good luck against one of the few guys in all of the multiverse that could probably kill me," Deadpool said as he pressed a button on his belt, causing his body to begin to glow. "Because when you fail to kill him, he's going to wipe out your entire world. I'd say it was nice knowing you, but that would make me a liar."

And then Deadpool vanished in a flash of light, leaving the ponies alone and very much afraid.
> The Mask Comes Off
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pinkie and the others found Wade exactly where she expected they would find him. In her room, with the door locked and every attempt to get him to open it met with a remark or comment that sounded like it was coming from an angry six year old. Which was something that the ponies could handle. Up until Deadpool threw one of his katana's up to its hilt through the door and sliced half of Rarity's mane off. The girls then had to spend twenty minutes dealing with Rarity and her crisis before they could focus on Wade once more.

"Wade, please let me in. I want to help you!" Pinkie pleaded with the mercenary, summoning all of the sympathy and caring she could in her voice. Deadpool responded with an offensive comment and a crack about Rarity's mane, which set her off once more and resulted in another thirty minutes of her crying.

"We don't have time for this!" Twilight exclaimed with fear, anger, frustration and a little bit of insanity. "Every moment we waste here trying to get Wade out of your room to help us is another moment that Slade get's closer to finding the source of magic and claiming it as his own. Which, as I feel I shouldn't have to remind you, will result in the death of everything in our world! Pinkie, what we need to do it-"

Pinkie spun her head a full one hundred and eighty degrees to look at Twilight, completely with the sickening cracking sounds that one would expect to hear when a neck spun that way. Yet it wasn't Pinkie's new foray into being a chiropractor that horrified Twilight, though it didn't help. No, what scared Twilight was the look on Pinkie's face. One that she hadn't used in a long time.

"Um, Pinkie, you've got...the look on your face," Twilight whispered calmly as she and the others stared in the calm yet raging eyes of the pink horse.

"Yes I am, Twilight. Because you are not making this situation any better," Pinkie said in a tone so calm that it was more terrifying than her screaming. "My friend is in there, emotionally distraught, and all you care about right now is saving the fate of the world."

"My response is that saving the world is way more important than a persons feelings, especially when that person is Wade."

"See, there you go again. Ignoring Wade's feelings and treating him like he's not a human, like he's some kind of freak of nature that deserves all of our hate and disgust."

"Have you met the guy, Pinkie? Every out of his word is either insane or some sexual innuendo," Applejack said with a shiver. "He honestly creeps me out."

"Really? Did any of you even give him a shot? Try to learn about him or get to know him as a friend?" Pinkie asked the other, holding up a hoof when the other started to open their mouths. "The answer is no. You fell for the same thing that everything else fell for. The jokes, the smart mouth and the annoying things he does. None of you see the tears hiding behind that mask."

"Actually we can't see anything behind the mask."

"Ugh, just stay out here and let me handle this," Pinkie asked, before she slammed her hind hooves into the door and kicked in clear across her room. Of course, the moment she kicked the door off of its hinges she activated all of the mines that Deadpool had in his spandex for whenever he didn't want somebody walking in on his alone time. Yet to the girls and even Deadpool's surprise, the explosion of the landmines turned into an explosion of confetti a moment later, allowing Pinkie access into her room. There, laying in her bed with the covers draped over his body, was the merc with a mouth, hiding from the ponies.

"Heya Wade, how are you doing?" Pinkie asked in a kind tone as she walked into the room.

"Fuck off," Deadpool said from beneath the covers as a gun came pointing out from underneath the sheets. The five ponies that hadn't followed Pinkie into the room gasped at the sight of it, but Pinkie smiled softly and shook her head.

"Come on Wade, we both know you won't shoot me. Even if you did, I'm not afraid of a water gun," Pinkie responded. Wade looked at his weapon to see that indeed his firearm had been replaced with a water pistol. With a shrug he threw the gun and Pinkie, who moved slightly out of the way to avoid being hit.

"Why are all of you here? Shouldn't you be off trying to save your world from Slade? It won't be long until he finds the source of magic and kills you all."

"That's what I'm saying! We don't have time to-" Another glare from Pinkie silenced Twilight, before she glanced back down at Wade with her comforting face.

"We're here because we care about you. Because we're you're friends. Even if we don't always show it the way we should."

"Oh here it comes. The friendship bullshit speech that's suppose to make us closer than ever and inspire me to go fight Slade for you guys because none of you can beat him," Wade snarled as he kicked the covers off of himself, sitting up and glaring eye to eye with Pinkie. "Well let me tell you how this is going to go. That little speech of your's can go straight to hell, because I'm not helping you guys. Get killed by Slade for all I care. All it does it get rid of another group of beings that hate me."

"We don't hate you Wade. And you don't really mean that," Pinkie comforted once more, gently patting Wade on the shoulder. "If you didn't care about us you would have left Equestria and us to our fate. But here you are sticking around, like the hero you are. If you didn't care you wouldn't be-"

"HERO?! Bhahahahahaha! That might be one of the funniest things you've said yet Pinkie, and I've heard a lot of funny things from you," Deadpool cackled, throwing his head back for dramatic effect as he did so. "Please, I'm a sleezeball mercenary that only cares about himself who came to this world because I had hoped to make an easy buck in the process. Don't think for a moment that I'm anything other than that. Others can attest for me."

"Uh-huh, sure. You're all those things and more. That's what you want people to think," Pinkie replied softly, getting Deadpool to narrow his eyes beneath the mask.

"Oh I know what you're doing. You're about to give me the other barf inducing speech. The one about how it doesn't matter what I'm like when I have the mask on, it's what's underneath the mask that counts, right? Well my dear ponies, do you want to see what's underneath the mask?! What I really look like?"

Before any of the ponies could say yes or no, Wade reached up and ripped the mask clean off of his face. There, in all of it's unholy glory, was Wade's face. Deformed, scared and looking like something one might see out of a horror movie. Tumors pulsed, flesh convulsed and one of Deadpool's eyes faced in a different direction.

Each of the ponies reacted to Wade's face in a different way. Twilight's brain immediately began searching it's vast history banks in search of a memory erasing spell that would be powerful enough to erase the image that was being seared deeper into her mind with each second she stared at it. Applejack tried to tear her eyes away only to find that her willpower had abandoned her in this moment of need. Rainbow Dash's wings acted where her brain failed and flew her straight through Pinkie's roof, freeing her from the terror before her.

Rarity turned over the guard rail for the second floor and puked her guts up all over the floor bellow, knowing that no amount of showers or spa days would ever make her feel clean again. And it would take a full team of paramedics to tell whether Fluttershy, who was laying on her back with her stiff legs sticking straight up, was alive or dead.

Pinkie didn't even flinch.

"And?" she said after a moment of staring at Wade's face, a bored look on her face.

"And? Aren't i repulsive to you? The most horrifying thing that you've ever seen?" Wade asked, not used to a person, or pony, hardly being phased by how he truly looked.

"So you don't look like how I thought you would. Whoopie," Pinkie said with a shrug. "Besides Wade, like you were going on about, I don't care what you look like on the outside. It's what's on the inside that counts. And that's why, after seeing what you're like on the inside, that I know you're a hero."

"A hero? Really, me? No Pinkie, I'm a merc. A merc just like Slade that's only interested in money and bitches." Now it was Pinkie's turn to laugh and laugh she did. She clutched at her stomach as she fell onto her back and laughed at Wade's words, while the merc stare down at her like she was crazy.

"That might be the funniest thing I've heard YOU say!" Pinkie managed to spit out in-between laughs. "Is that what you want me to think? That you're a terrible person like Slade is. Oh no my friend, I know you all too well to fall for that."

"What do you-"

"What do I know? I know that Slade wouldn't prioritize saving Spike over getting a weapon that could hurt him. I know Slade would put a death device inside of a foal to get what he wants. And I know for certain that Slade wouldn't throw a cookie like a shuriken to save a foal that had wandered out of its crib," Pinkie told Deadpool in a knowing tone.

"How do you...?"

"I'm like you Wade. I see things that I shouldn't be able to. Like how ever since you've gotten here you've been helping us, whether we know it or not. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see what a sicko Slade was until it was too late," Pinkie said with a bitter smile. "But I don't need to see all of these things to know that that's the key difference between you and Slade. Deep down, Slade is a terrible person who cares only about himself. And deep down, you care about others, now matter how you try to convince us otherwise. That's how I know you're a hero."

Pinkie then reached up and gently placed her hoof on the side of Deadpool's horrifying face, smiling up at him as if nothing was wrong. "That's why you saved the little Cakes. That why you saved Spike even when you nearly got vaporized for it. It's why you saved Flurry and Luna despite everything the princesses have said about you. Because deep down you are a hero. Like really deep down. Deeper than the ocean depths down. I don't even think our planet goes down deep enough to-"

"I get it Pinkie," Deadpool replied as he gently reached up and removed Pinkie's hoof, smiling softly at her with a tear leaking from his eye. Which was still really disgusting with his face. Then he glanced over at the other ponies, half of who had managed to somewhat recover from the shock of looking into the face of absolute horror. "And what about the rest of you? You agree with what your friend says?"

"Wade, I-urp...I think I have been quick to have been swept up into your persona," Twilight admitted in-between attempts to keep the vomit down, a natural response to seeing Wade. "I thought you were exactly what you sold to me. A perverted jackass that only care about money. But if Pinkie can see past all that to see good in you, then I will try as well."

As Wade looked over each of the ponies, they all nodded in agreement as best as they could without losing their lunches (except Fluttershy who was still paralyzed on the floor). Then he glanced down at Pinkie once more, who smile grew larger as she handed Deadpool's sword back to him.

"So what do you say Wade? Friends?"

"Oh what the hell. You're all so cute that I can't stay mad at you," Deadpool said in his regular tone, before pulling Pinkie into a squeak inducing hug. "Alright, you guys have convinced me. I'll go kill a nearly unstoppable psychopath for you all."
> The Prize
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The icy wind that sliced across the mountain top tried its damnedest to stop Slade before he could reach his destination, but the cold was barely a minor annoyance to the man known as Deathstroke. His hands grasped the icy rocks with such strength that they had no hope of shaking him off of the mountain. The wind blew the snow sideways and would have made an impassable barrier, but the technology inside of Slade's helmet allowed him to pierce the veil with ease.

His sensors had locked onto an incredibly powerful source of magic, one that dwarfed every other magical signal that he had encountered on his journey in Equestria. even though the signal was being somewhat hidden by magic dampening fields, whatever was generating the magic was far too powerful to be contained. It had to be the source of all magic. His goal.

With one last pull Deathstroke dragged himself onto the mountain top, instantly aware of how the wind ceased to blow and the chill held back the moment he was atop the mountain. There was also an energy in the air, one that permeated his suit and made his nerves tingle, in a way that put him on guard. Yet he didn't spend much time thinking about the energy. For his eye was drawn to the large, and somewhat hidden, doors that were carved into the peak of the mountain before him.

He didn't need his sensors telling him that the doors were ancient to know that they came from an age long before this Equestria had come to be. The material that they were carved out of was an element that didn't come up in his database, while the magic that flowed through them. according to his sensors, was cast by someone that eclipsed the princess ten times over. He was glad that whoever cast the spell on the door no longer seemed to be around.

A shake of his head drove such thoughts away. If the caster was still there, Slade would have killed him. He couldn't let his thoughts betray him now, when he was so close to his goal. He walked towards the giant doors and spied something off to the side. His scanners indicated that there were tiny traces of the princesses blood on the spot, which had been covered by magic to make it look like there was nothing there. Yet while they had magically protected the spot, Slade wagered that they had never accounted on someone like him finding the place.

He reached into a compartment on his suit and pulled out a small vial of Celestia's blood, which he had taken from here without her knowledge. Deadpool hadn't been the only one to believe that the princesses blood might hold some secrets, but now Deathstroke truly understood why he had been advised by the computer to gather some of their blood. He poured the blood onto the spot, not bothering to try and make it look nice, and waited for a moment for something to happen.

'Of course, there has to be more too it than just their blood. Any idiot with a pointy stick could get those fools blood,' Deathstroke realized, before glancing at the slot once more. He then pulled out his staff and drove the end of it into the magical barrier that was supposed to keep it hidden. The staff, which had traces of Nth metal in it, drove the magic protecting it into the slot. The moment the magic was within the slot, the doors slowly began to rumble and spread apart, causing Slade to shake his head in disappointment.

'Using the same magic that is needed to open the doors to guard the entrance. These princesses truly are fools,' he thought to himself before he slipped in-between the opening doors. Once past the doors he found there was a simple room on the other side, with a long elevator shaft that headed very far down into the planet. Knowing that the elevator would take too long and would most likely have another form of security for him to get around, Slade pried open the shaft and grabbed onto the chain that held the elevator, sliding down it deep into the planet.

He had plenty of time to think as he descended. What he thought about the most was why the princesses and their cronies hadn't been waiting for him when he reached the mountain top. Even though he had teleported and had a head start on them, they knew the true location of the source of magic while it had taken him some time to find it. Even with his head start, they should have been there waiting for him.

'Yet there wasn't so much as a trace of them, meaning that they finally learned they have no hope against me, or, as I am more inclined to believe, they are planning something. The only question is what,' Slade asked himself as he continued to slide down. His free hand touched the compartment where he kept the five sided artifact that he had taken from the crazy fanatic, the only weapon he had ever seen hurt Wade and keep him hurt. While Slade had no doubt that if he had to fight Wade without the weapon he would win, he preferred having a much simpler way of destroying the merc.

After a long time, Slade finally hit the bottom, kicking off the roof of the elevator that was down there and landing with his sword drawn. He didn't know what other kinds of traps would be down here waiting for him, but he knew that they would not claim him. His sensors told him that only one more door stood between him and his goal, the source of all magic in Equestria and one of the biggest paychecks that he had ever received. If he truly wanted to, he could stop working after this job and retire in peace for the rest of his life. But he would never do that. They job is what he lived for. The money was an added bonus.

Deathstroke reached the last set of doors and placed his hand on them, looking around to see what kind of switch or trigger would need to be activated for him to get inside. Yet the moment he placed his hand upon the door, the ancient and unmoving doors slowly slid open, allowing Slade full access to the room beyond. That instantly put him on high alert, as there was no chance in hell that the doors would open to his presences unless one of the ponies wanted him to go in. To his doom.

Yet with his mission resting on the other side Deathstroke pressed on and walked into the room. Instantly he felt a massive wave of magic course through his body, stopping his advancement and forcing him to look up at the colossal sphere of rainbow colored magic that took up a large chunk of the room. He could feel it. That this sphere didn't just generate magica for Equestria, but for all of the world. It truly was the heart and soul of this world. He wouldn't even blink when he tore it out.

Slade reached to his side and pulled out the interdimension device that he had been told to use when he finally found what he had been sent to find. He brought it up and prepared to activate it, before he caught on to the fact that he wasn't alone in the room. He glanced to the side to see a man in a red suit with black additions sitting cross legged in front of the sphere, a man that Slade had come to loath in the short time that he had known him. He sheathed the communicator once more, knowing that he would need to deal with the merc first before he could claim his prize.

"You know we're a lot alike you and I," Deadpool said to Slade as he opened his eyes and rose to his feet, fingers moving slightly as he held his hands by his guns. Deathstroke lowered his hands next to his firearms as well and waited for the first move to be made. "We're both insane mercenaries that don't really care what we have to do as long as we get a paycheck. Both of us have similar names and use pretty much the same weapons. Hell, I'm pretty much your son if you think about it."

"I would prefer not to."

"But there's one key, very key difference between the two of us that a lot of people seem to forget or ignore. A key factor about me that often gets overlooked," Deadpool continued, ignoring Slade's words and even the fact that he was there. "See, everyone sees me as the immortal funny guy, the guy that cracks jokes about chimichangas and breaks the fourth wall and who can't die. That's what most people think of when they think of Deadpool. They think of the meme."

Deadpool then slowly turned to look at Slade and for a moment Slade felt something that he had never sensed coming from Deadpool before. It was the same intensity and pressure that he felt whenever he faced off with Superman or Batman, or any of the heroes. And it made his trigger fingers all the itchier.

"They forget that all I wanted to be in life was to be a hero. They forget that despite all the jokes and breaks, I still go out there and do my damnedest to save lives and help others. Yeah, at times I might be complete shit at it, but I try. At my deepest core, at the truest of my origin, I'm a guy with cancer who was given a second chance to be the person he always wanted to be. Sometimes they forget that. Sometimes I forget it. But wanting to be that hero is what drives me. So what kind of hero would I be?" Wade began before he drew his pistols and pointed them at Slade, who already had both guns drawn. "If I didn't do everything in my power to stop the guy who wanted to take out an entire world?"

"You'd be just like all the other heroic fools that stood in my way," Slade spat back as he and Wade slowly began to cirlce each other. "And I am done speaking to you."

Deathstroke then pulled the triggers on his guns and bullets tore into the body of Wade. But only after a few moments did Deathstroke have to reload. He reached down to grab the extra magazines that he kept on his suit, only to notice that they were gone. He quickly did a suit check for any more of his ammunition, but to his confusion he found that he was out of bullets.

"Aw what's the matter daddy, out of ammo?" Wade taunted as he started firing on Deathstroke, who lifted his arm to shield his eye as the armor took most of the impact. "Maybe if you hadn't spent so much of the story shooting at me and had decided to save your ammo for  the big fight in the end you might not be at such a huge disadvantage."

"You...you planned this. This is why you constantly antagonized me," Slade finally put together, his eye narrowing as he did so. "So that I would waste my ammunition on you before I knew how to kill you."

"Come on, we're two genetically altered mercenaries that hate each other and are both fighting on opposite sides. Of course we would fight each other at the end of the story," Wade said with an insane smile spreading beneath his mask. "So I made sure to spend the story making you waste as much of your weaponry as I could. Give myself a little advantage at the end of it. See, so many people think that I'm just some whackjob running around with guns and swords, with no idea what he's doing. But I know full well what I'm doing."

"And It's amazing what people will let you get away with when they think you're not that smart. Yet here we are. Your move, Slade."
> Death Match
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gunshots tore through the air and shattered against the armor that Slade wore, barely doing anything more than causing him a moment of pause. However, while the bullets were no concern to the armor that Slade wore, it was the fact that a vast majority of those bullets were being aimed at where his only eye was gave Slade a good amount of concern.

'He knows where to hit me and how to hurt me,' Slade pieced together as he started to slash bullets out of the air with his sword. Deadpool caught onto Slade's movements and began to fire one gun from over his head while the other he fired from between his legs, mixing up his timings and shots so that Deathstroke had a far harder time trying to figure out where the next shot would come from. 'Need to get in close. Can't let him keep me at a distance.'

With an incredible burst of speed Deathstroke closed the distance between Slade and Wade in a moment. In a flash of motion Deathstroke was upon Wade and slashed down at him...only to blink once and find that the red clad mercenary was gone once more.

"Wrongo!" Deadpool laughed as he slammed a foot between Slade's legs. However, all the kick did was tell Deadpool that Slade had the foresight to cover all of his body in the nearly invincible armor, leaving Deadpool to hop around on one foot while he clutched the other one and cursed. Deathstroke spun and aimed to cleave Deadpool's annoying head from his shoulders, but once again in the blink of an eye Deadpool was on the other side of the room.

"How are you doing that?" Deathstroke asked Wade, who was dangling off the side of the sphere of magic, which was slowly disintegrating his legs. "If you had the ability to teleport you would have used that long before now."

"Come on Sladey, the dumbest thing a professional can do is reveal all of his tricks before he has to use them," Wade said with a smirk as he pulled up a bit of his costume to reveal a silver belt with a reactor in the center of it that gave off way more power that would be legally safe. "Teleporter belt. Whenever I need to get out of a bad situation, like an army of zombie ninjas or needing to pay child support. Or dealing with a merc that thinks he's so much cooler and edgier than he actually is."

To prove his point Deadpool teleported once more behind Slade, kicking him in the side of the head and teleporting away when Slade spun around to slash at him. Deadpool shot Deathstroke in the leg, before teleporting to the side to shoot at his eye, aiming to make Slade the famous pirate Double Patchy the pirate. Slade knew where Deadpool would be aiming for, so by the time the bullet left the chamber Slade's armored arm was already covering his eye to deflect the bullet. Deathstroke took a slash at the belt, but once more Deadpool teleported out of harms reach.

"So apparently everyone and their mother thinks that you're the greatest mercenary since that guy from James Bond. Well let's just go over your list of accomplishments and see if you live up to that title," Deadpool said as he pulled out a long sheet of paper while he dangled from the rafters, out of reach from Slade. "Beat Batman multiple times. Beat Superman. Beat the entire Justice League while wounded. Killed more people than I have patience to name off. Has almost never failed a mission and has the greatest pirate cosplay twelve years running. Not bad."

Deadpool then vanished in a blink and appeared beside Slade, sweeping his feet out from beneath him and causing Slade to slam onto his back. Deadpool leapt onto the merc's chest and kept him pinned for a moment. "Yet even with all that, the thing people are going to remember you most for is being that creepy old guy that kept hunting a bunch of teenagers in tight spandex. I know it might seem strange coming from me, but you may need some counselling."

Deathstroke lashed out at Wade, but once more the merc teleported well out of reach. Deathstroke spun up to his feet and drew his blade once more, spying Wade hanging out near the edge of one of the platforms. Deadpool clearly wasn't interested in play sword fights right then, because he aimed his SMG's at Slade and pulled the triggers until the guns went click.

Deathstroke peeked out from behind his arm to watch Wade reload, but to his amazement Deadpool didn't bother to reload at all. He looked at his guns, shrugged, and tossed them away, before pulling out two more machine guns that Deathstroke was certain that he hadn't been carrying the moment before. Deadpool once again showed Deathstroke in a rainstorm of bullets, but Slade had grown tired of staying on the defensive. It was time for offense.

With another burst of speed that was almost impossible to track, he sprinted at full speeds towards Deadpool. The merc either didn't have time to teleport out of the way or didn't feel like it, because instead of vanishing he drew both of his blades and used them to intercept Slade's attack with his own.

"Why are you even bothering at this point?" Deadpool asked Slade, all of his usual levity and mockery gone from his voice, replaced with a cold tone that made Slade far more nervous than he thought he could feel. "I can't be killed by you and it's only a matter of time that I get past that armor of yours. That's another difference between you and me. You have to keep me down long enough to somehow find a way to get this massive source of magic to your client. That means crossing realities with the hopes that I don't heal in time to stop you. All I have to do is kill you. Guess which one of those is easier?"

"Allow me a question in reply!" Slade snarled before he swung his blade down with the force of a superhuman. Wade's blades collided with Slade's and the better made sword won out, shattering Wade's blades to thousands of little shards. Wade looked down at the handles of his swords for a moment before he tossed them to the side and drew two new and completely fine looking blades out from behind him.

"Why are you here? Something about this has always felt...off to me," Slade said in a cold voice, narrowing his eye at Wade. "Your involvement, the way you have effected how things have gone...it is almost like you aren't supposed to be here. Like you don't belong."

"Heh, got a strange feeling that there's a little something more going on than your aware of? Yeah, you're starting to see the world the way I see it," Deadpool confirmed for Slade, who tightened the grip on his blade. "This ain't my story. This is supposed to be yours. The story of how you crushed the ponies and stole their magic from them, leaving their world one of agony, death and pain. That's what that metal bastard wanted to happen. But A friend of mine that's as crazy as me didn't like that ending. So he sent me to screw everything up and maybe, just maybe, write an ending people like. And who doesn't love miniguns in their endings?!"

Deadpool then pulled out his minigun and unloading enough bullets into Slade that Slade would be able to reload all of his guns with the rounds being pumped into him. Slade crouched down behind his sword and used it to absorb most of the rounds, but over time Slade realized that Wade never seemed to be running out of bullets. Taking a chance, Slade hurled his blade towards the minigun, slicing through the barrels and jamming up the weapon.

"Well that can't be good-"

A massive explosion erupted from the minigun, blasting apart the gun and Deadpool while launching Slade's blade into a dark crevasse near the source of magic. Deathstroke was also tossed back by the blast, but he managed to hit the ground and roll up to his feet, just in time to see twin katana's being swung towards his face. His arms got up just in time to avoid losing his head, but this time when the blades collided with his armor, both the blades and bits of his armor came cracking apart.

"Well that's what I call progress!" Deadpool exclaimed with a laugh as he swung again. This time Slade was ready for it and he caught the blades between his hands, twisting them to the side to shatter them completely. "Seems that your fancy armor can't keep taking hits like that over and over. Seems to me that it has trouble keeping up in its old age, something you and it have in common, am I right?"

Slade chose not to answer. Instead, he pulled out his staff and activated the ends of it, cloaking the ends of the staff in energy. He raised the staff, getting Deadpool to focus on it, before firing the last dart filled with nanites that he had into the chest of Deadpool. The merc looked down with surprise, but before he could act or comment Deathstroke activated the nanites and caused Wade to begin to twitch and squirm.

'Those nanites won't keep him down for long. Need to act now!' Slade thought as he dove forward, driving the end of the staff into Wade's teleportation belt. The belt shattered into pieces and Slade backflipped away, just as Wade stabbed a syringe into himself. "Come on, I give Stark more shit than anyone else for the numerous times he nearly ended the world, but he's pretty good at coming up with solutions to problems that he didn't cause."

"Let's see how well you fight without that teleporter of yours," Slade said as he spun his staff a few times. Wade let out a sigh as he rose up to his feet, dusting off his pants before he tore off the broken teleporter.

"Come on Slade, you really think this will stop me? I've got a second one of these...hang on, where did it go?" Wade asked as he started to search around his suit. "I swear that I had a second one around her someone. Hang on Slade, I swear that this never..."

Wade's words died in his throat as he glanced over at Slade, who was dangling a silver belt from his grasp. A belt that was very similar to the one that Wade had been wearing a moment before. "Were did you get that?" Wade asked. Slade's response was the tighten his grip and crush the belt, before letting the pieces fall to the ground. Then Deathstroke reached behind him and pulled out of his blades, before he reached to his side and drew forth two more machine guns.

"The ability to summon anything out of thin air. A strange ability that makes no sense and has no rhyme or reason behind it," Slade said as he sheathed his guns and swung his sword, turning to look at Deadpool as he did so. But even with the mask over his face, Deadpool knew full well that Slade was smiling beneath his mask. And that caused him to take up a fighting stance. "But as with any ability, even one that I cannot understand how it works, if one person can do it, then another, with the proper training, can replicate it. If they are taught."

"Pinkie..." Deadpool whispered in horror.

"The poor fool truly thought that there was any truth to my words, when I told her about my tragic backstory and how I would use these abilities to further protect others. While the loss of my family is indeed truthful, I had no desire to use anything she taught me to help others. Only to finish this," Slade said as he finally drew forth the weapon Wade had been waiting for. The stone with the power to erase him. "But she was the only other one besides you who could draw items out of thin air. So if there was anyone that could teach me, it was her. It took a while, but I eventually got the hang of it."

"So at this point you've used the princesses, used a foal, used a dragon that I find fun and used my best friend all to try and kill everyone in this world?" Deadpool asked, before cracking his neck as he sheathed his swords. Then he pulled out a blade that was different to the ones that he normally carried. This blade had a white edge, a black hilt and Deathstroke felt very concerned by simply looking upon it. "That's it. We're ending this here and now. One of us isn't making it out of this alive."

"For the first time since I've met you, Wade...I agree with what you said."
> Mission Complete
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sparks flew from the ends of both of the mercenaries blades as they clashed in the center of the chamber, the force of their blows strong enough to send each other skidding backwards. Deadpool, with his healing factor, was the first to recover and in the blink of an eye he was on Deathstroke. Deathstroke had training and experience backing him up, so even though he was caught on the defensive he was able to deflect the strike and retaliate with a blast from the stone.

Deadpool knew that was what Slade would follow up with, so by the time the beam had emitted from the stone Wade was already in the next phase of his plans. He rolled to the side and scattered explosive spheres all around Deathstroke's feet and detonated them the moment they hit the floor. Both Wade and Slade roared out in pain as the explosions rocked their worlds, but thanks to the armor of one and the healing ability of the other they both managed to remain standing.

As both of them knew that guns wouldn't get anything done at this point, it came down to a battle of the blades. On one side was Slade and his blade which was a mix of promethum and the god killer blades, which he had mixed into one to created the ultimate killing weapon. On the other was Wade's katana that made every single one of Slade's warning senses blare at red alert. Both blades collided with enough force to cleave through anything, except for the other mercs blades.

Deadpool slashed at Slade with what seemed to be reckless abandon, but to Deathstroke's trained eye he could tell that Wade had no pattern what so ever to his movements, meaning what he had to do was block in a place he wouldn't normally block, be it with his blade or his armor.

Slade stabbed, slashed and lashed out at Deadpool with deadly precision, taking careful note of his foes openings to strike with the highest chance to inflict a devastating injury. Deadpool knew just how good Deathstroke was. Meaning that he simply blocked in the places where the best in the world would go for. And with the both of the mercenaries able to predict where the other was going to strike, neither was able to gain the upper hand on the other in the battle of blades.

The stone stolen from the fanatics turned the advantage to Slade's favor, however. In-between slashes he would fire off a blast from the stone, forcing Wade to either move to avoid being hit, opening up an opportunity for Slade to press forward, or take the blast and force himself to wait for a bit until his healing factor could deal with the chunk of his body that was no longer there. And that took time he didn't have.

"I've finally realized how that healing factor of yours works," Deathstroke said before he slammed a fist into the side of Wade's face with enough force to spin his neck one hundred and eighty degrees around his body. "It may allow you to recover from any wound, but that's only if there's the tiniest bit of you to come back from. That's why this stone can hurt you and keep you hurt far longer than anything else. It doesn't damage the body. It erases it, meaning that there's nothing to come back from. Meaning that if I erase your entire body with it, you stay gone. Not dead. No, I'd wager you can even come back from that. But being erased...might just put even you down."

"Congratulations, you finally figured out what most people in my world deduced a long time ago," Deadpool mocked Slade, before slamming the hilt of his blade down on Deathstroke's helmet and staggering him. "But if it was so easy to completely erase me, someone would have done it a long time ago. But I'm still here, which means that all of them, even those with the means to kill me, couldn't do it. What makes you think you can?"

"Because as you said. I always complete my mission," Slade said before he rammed his helmet into the bridge of Deadpool's nose, staggering Deadpool for just long enough. Slade pointed the stone at Deadpool's blade and fired a blast from it, striking the blade and erasing nearly all of it from existance. Without any weapon to protect himself, Slade cleaved Deadpool clean in half, before slicing off all of his limbs, leaving him a pile of flesh and blood on the ground.

Deadpool's healing factor would have him back up and in fighting shape again in a matter of moments. But that was enough time for Slade. With deadly precision he fired the energy from the stone at each and every speck of Deadpool that his scanners could find, erasing him down to the last tiny speck of blood that his scanners could find. He saved the head for last, picking it up and ripping the mask off so that he could look into Deadpool's eyes before he killed him once and for all.

"You are one ugly mother fucker," Slade spat at Wade, who glared back up at him.

"And you're one black hearted bastard. One who lacks any form of sympathy," Wade's head spat back.

"And that is what makes me the better mercenary. You have the ability to heal, to draw forth any weapon that you wish and a completely unpredictable fighting style. But I have the one thing you will always lack. Conviction. Because when I take a mission," Deathstroke said as he pointed the stone right at Wade head. "I finish the mission. No matter what I must do to so."

One last blast erupted from the stone and erased Wade's head from existence, putting an end to the merc with a mouth once and for all. Deathstroke rose up and looked at the hilt and small fragment of the sword, all that was left of Deadpool, before he turned and walked up to the source of all magic.

'So this is it, huh?' Slade asked himself as he scanned the sphere, amazed at the sheer volume of magical energies that it was pumping out. Enough to fill an entire world with magic. He then pulled out the small communication device, the one that he had been holding onto his entire journey through Equestria, and stared down at it for a moment. 'When I activate this, it will inform my client that i have secured the source. And then I will be asked to return it to him. Which will kill everything magical in this world. The ponies, the others...even little Flurry.'

And for a reason that he couldn't fathom at the moment, that thought gave him pause. But only for a moment.

"GRAH!" Deathstroke roared in agony as a fraction of a blade was driven into his back, piercing his armor and burying itself into his muscle. He spun with an elbow strike and slammed it into the fucked up face of a merc, a merc that made his one eye go wide with shock and disbelief. Wade crashed to the ground and quickly rolled up to his feet, allowing Slade to see that he was alive and buck ass naked, which in itself nearly blinded Deathstroke.

"But...how?" Slade asked as he reached back and pulled out what remained of the carbonadium sword from his back, gripping the hilt with disbelief and rage. "I got rid of you. I erased you so that there was nothing left. You shouldn't have been able to regenerate!"

"Got that right, daddy. You erased every last trace of me that you were fighting. But you see, you forgot all about Jill," Wade explained to Deathstroke with a smile filled with evil intentions. When Deathstroke narrowed his eye, Wade held up his left hand, which still had the glove from his costume on it. "Remember when Shining Armor sliced this bad boy off? Seems you let a small part of me slip past your gaze. Which is understandable, considering the one eye."

Deathstroke snarled before he lifted the stone to finish his mistake, but Deadpool was far quicker on the draw. Wade whipped out a pistol and fired into the stone, kicking it out of Deathstroke's hand. For a brief moment Deathstroke looked down at the loss of his greatest weapon against Wade, before he glanced at the small sliver of the sword he had stolen from Deadpool.

"Not even giving you the chance!" Deadpool cried out as he lunged forward, racing his naked body towards Deathstroke and giving his face a full body tackle. "You ain't going to beat me the same way I could beat old Logan! If want to get rid of me, then you're going to have to face all of me."

Wade pounded on Deathstroke's helmet, but with one well placed elbow strike Deathstroke removed Wade from his helmet, while another kick to the side of Wade's head knocked him down for a moment. Taking that moment Deathstroke rolled to the stone and grabbed it, spinning around to fire at Wade. That was his plan until the remains of Deadpool's sword imbedded itself in the stone. The stone sparked with light, giving Slade just enough time to toss it away before it exploded, taking both the stone and the sword with it.

"And there goes your edge," Deadpool replied as he pulled out a grey and black version of his costume, which he slipped into within moments. And though he would never speak it aloud, Deathstroke was grateful that he didn't have to fight a naked Wade any longer. The suit also came with a new set of guns and swords, the latter of which Deadpool drew. "You've lost the stone and you lost what remained of my blade, perhaps the only two things in existence that have a chance of keeping me down for the count. You've lost your edge."

"Please, I may have lost my greatest tools against you, but even in my old age the one thing I've never lost is my edge," Deathstroke replied as he drew his blade once more, narrowing his eye beneath his helmet as he began to calculate what to do next.

"Guess you're right about that, edge lord. But today you're going to lose your edge and your life," Deadpool spat back before lunging at Deathstroke. Deathstroke blocked the initial hit and followed up with a kick to the guts that slammed Deadpool into the wall. With two precise slashes Deathstroke knocked the blades out of Deadpool's hands before, with a roar of unholy fury, he drove his blade into Deadpool's gut. He then slammed his foot into the hilt and buried it all the way into Deadpool's body, to the point that only the hilt and the guard were still visible. The rest of it was buried in both Deadpool and the wall, pinning the merc with a mouth to the wall.

"It's over," Slade said with a tired sigh, amazed slightly by how much stamina he had drained in the battle with Wade.

"Come on Slade, you know this is just an inconvenience for me," Deadpool said with a sigh as he reached down and yanked on the handle, finding that he couldn't move it an inch. "So it will hurt like hell when I saw myself open to escape. You still can't kill me."

"You're right. I can't. You've proven that you're ability to stay alive is your most annoying factor," Slade agreed, before he pulled out the communicator to his client. "But then it occurred to me over the course of the battle. I don't have to kill you to win."

"Come again?"

"I was never being paid to kill you. It was something I wanted to do. No, what I'm being paid to do is secure the source of magic for my client. Which means all I have to do to get past you," Deathstroke began, before he reached into a compartment and pulled out the nano gun, which had another dart loaded into it. Then he flipped open the communicator. "Is keep you incapacitated long enough to finish a phone call."

"But...you said you only had three of those," Deadpool whispered. "You've used all three of those. On Luna, Flurry and Me."

"Wade, my annoying enemy...when did I ever say I used this on Flurry? I just said that...to make you waste your cure."

"NO!" Wade roared as he started to saw himself to escape, but before he could get anything more than a few cuts Deathstroke fired the dart into Deadpool's chest. The nanites had just began to make Wade seize before Deathstroke drew his pistol and fired ten times into Deadpool's brain, scrambling his eggs and leaving him incapacitated for the moment. He then walked away from Wade and stood in front of the source of magic, resting his thumb on the button to call his client. And yet, once more, he found himself thinking of an annoying little alicorn.

"She saved your life." Slade looked back over at Wade, who had reformed enough of his head to speak in a garbled tone. "I saw what happened when the fanatic tried to kill us with that stone. She used her magic to protect you! You'd be dead if not for Flurry! And this is how you repay her. By killing everything she loves and sending her to an early grave!"

For another moment, Deathstroke stared at the communicator. But it only took a moment for him to decide.

"As I said, I complete my mission, no matter the cost," Deathstroke replied before shooting Wade in the head a few more times. He then pressed the button and a screen materialized in front of him, revealing only static. "This is Deathstroke. Are you there?"

"Yes, I am here. I assume that you are calling because you have secured the source of magic in that world?" the client asked.

"Yes, the source is secured. I had some complications with Deadpool. But for the moment he is incapacitated," Slade replied, before activating the nanites and causing the repaired Deadpool to begin to seize once more, before a few more rounds to the head prevented him from moving.

"Deadpool? That is who was bothering you? Ryan you bastard," the client snarled, before he regained a more professional tone. "Excellent work. I knew that I sent in the right man for the job. Bring the source of magic to me and I will pay you the rest of what you are owed," he continued on, before a vortex of energy large enough to fit the sphere appeared at the end of the room.

"Actually, I will take my pay now," Deathstroke said in a business like tone. "You hired me to secure the source of this worlds magic and I have done that. There was no part in the contract about me bringing it to you. If you wish for me to do that, then you will need to hire me to do so. At the moment, I want the rest of my pay before I will consider taking on the next job."

"Oh very well," the voice replied before an alert came to Slade, telling him that the money was in his account. "Now then, I will be waiting for you to deliver the source of magic to me. Push it through that vortex and it will be within my grasps. I will even allow you to use that vortex to return to my reality, as you broke the jet I gave you. That sounds easy enough, right?"

"Yes, with Deadpool indisposed bringing the source of magic to you would take only a few minutes," Deathstroke agreed as he looked over at Wade, who was fighting with all of his willpower to break free of the nanites that plagued his body. And if he had more time, he might have actually done. But his body wouldn't be rid of them soon enough to stop Slade. And Slade knew this.

"She saved your life," Deadpool spat once more.

"Excellent, then I should expect to see the source of magic in a few minutes. You have done an excellent-"

"Actually, you will not," Slade replied in a cold voice, one that silenced both the voice and Deadpool, who had been yelling at Slade.

"What?"

"As I stated earlier, you did not hire me to bring you the source. You hired me only to secure it. And I have done that. There is nowhere more secure for it than with me. I have completed the mission that you outlined for me in our contract. I am done."

"Damn you mercs, you all think the same. Very well, I shall hire you again to bring it to me. Does that get around your little loophole?"

"It would, if I was willing to take your mission," Slade said in a cold voice, but Deadpool could have sworn that Slade was smiling. "But I have just completed a very long and taxing mission, one that will require a long period of time before I am ready to work again."

"I picked you because you always completed your mission. You are not finished!"

"Actually, I am. I have done everything you hired me to do. I secured the source. You never said anything about bringing it to you. And I choose whether or not I continue to work with a client. And given the fact that there is something I just don't trust about you, I am ending our partnership here," Slade replied curtly. "Enjoy the rest of your day. And next time learn to be more specific. Being too vague often comes back to bite you."

"...Don't do this Slade. If you don't bring the source, you will not live long enough to regret it."

"So many have said, yet here I am. We're done."

"Then I shall be forced to have my other-"

Deathstroke crushed the communicator in his grasp and ended the call, dumping the pieces onto the ground before he walked over to where Wade was still pinned to the wall. He reached down and yanked the blade out of the wall and Wade with his enhanced strength, leaving Wade to fall to the ground with a look of confusion behind his mask.

"What?" Slade asked as he sheathed his sword and saw the look Deadpool was giving him.

"You actually did that. You refused what your client wanted and screwed him over for the ponies, even going so far as to deny another contract. You failed your mission," Wade said with disbelief in his voice.

"Correction, I did everything my client hired me to do. It was his own fault that he failed to specify. As for the ponies I don't care if they live or die. They were fortunate that my decision allowed them to live. I always complete my mission and here is no different," Deathstroke began as he turned and began to walk away, before he stopped for a moment and turned to look back at Wade. "And when you get back to the ponies, as I know you will, tell Flurry that my debt is paid."

"Wow, so Deathstroke has a soft spot under all that armor," Wade said with a small smile as Deathstroke began to walk away once more. "So did you really not use your nanites on Flurry? Because Tony's cure never did anything to her."

"The only nanites inside of her were the tracking kind. She was never in any danger from me," Slade clarified, before smirking back at Wade. "But if telling the ponies that I had placed them within her would keep them obedient...well, honesty is not a strong suit of mine."

"You really always do look for the best way to screw over others. Hey, what do you think that guy meant by saying-?"

Before Deadpool could finish, the sound of an engine revving filled the room. Both of them turned to the portal just in time to see a rocket bike fly through and come skidding to a halt in front of them. A bike that was carrying one hell of a rider atop it.

The rider had pale white skin that could barely contain his muscles, black dreadlocks that want down to his shoulders and one hell of a handlebar mustache on his face. Leather was his one and only clothing choice and he wore plenty of it. A chain was wrapped around both of his arms and he had a shotgun on one leg and a massive knife on the other. And sticking out of his mouth was a cigarette, one that illuminated the red eyes that stared at both Wade and Slade.

"Well ain't this a kick in the crotch. Not only to I get to get paid a shit ton for simply taking that giant sphere, but then I also get the bounty of bringing in two of the most wanted mercenaries in any reality," the being said with a boisterous laugh as he stepped off his cycle and onto the ground, shaking the chamber as his boots hit the floor.

The being smirked at the two mercs, one of who was looking down at his Iphone, while the other drew his sword and took up a fighting stance. That was the mercenary that made the figure smile an evil grin. "What's up Slade, you old fuck? Been a long time since I last kicked your ass. How have ya been?" 

All Slade could do was say one word in reply.

"Lobo."
> The Main Man
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A backhand from the Main Man sent Deathstroke spiraling back across the chamber, where he crashed into the side of the barrier that was protecting the source of all magic. With blood in his mouth and pain in his body he forced himself back up to his feet, though he didn't know what good trying to fight back would do. Lobo walked towards him, the same arrogant smirk on his face that he always wore.

"Man, when I woke up today I did not expect to get to kick your ass. Of course, before I knock your lights out how about a little catching up. How ya been since the Suicide Squad?" Lobo asked Deathstroke. The mercs response was to draw his sword and shift his feet, getting a smirk from Lobo. "Right to business, eh? I can respect that, we've both got other things that we'd rather be doing. I'll make this quick."

"Okay, but before you do that, you must tell me how you get your hair like this." Lobo looked over his shoulder to see a red and black clad mercenary resting on his shoulder (confusing Slade, who was certain that Wade had been wearing a different suit) and holding some of Lobo's braids in his hand. "After all, fighting in space and dealing with the scum of the worlds would give anyone split ends, but your hair here is as smooth and shiny as if it was new. You must tell me what moisturizer you use."

"It's on a planet called Galvin-5, a little place that is known for their fruits that can make a person look younger. Shit does wonders for my hair," Lobo replied with a smirk before he slammed the back of his fist into Deadpool's face, rocketing him off of Lobo's shoulder. Deadpool crashed skull-first into the wall and slumped to the ground, but was up a moment later.

"Alright Lobo, thanks for the tip. Now I'm going to cut that well moisturized head off of your shoulders and mount it in my bachelor pad!" Deadpool promised the main man.

"Yeah yeah, I'll get to you in a second," Lobo said without even looking at Wade, waving his hand at him like he was an annoying little child. Which wasn't that far from the truth. But the real prize to Lobo was Deathstroke, who was backing further away from Lobo as Lobo advanced. "Y'know something, one eyed wonder? I've always wanted to seriously go at it with you. I've heard plenty of people say that you're the greatest mercenary that they've ever faced. Including Supes. And I can't allow that to stand, letting people think that you're better than the Main Man. So I'm going to kill you."

"You're welcome to try," Deathstroke spat back, going over ever plan that he had ever come up with for beating Lobo. Of course, all of those plans had been on his world where he had traps and allies already in play to bring down Lobo. And while he might now be able to draw forth any weapon he wanted, Slade still hadn't perfected the technique, so he couldn't draw forth any of his really big guns. Which were the ones he needed to bring down Lobo.

"Wait, before you guys start I've got snacks!" Deadpool called out before he leapt onto Lobo's shoulders, dropped a sticky grenade into his face, and leapt over to Deathstroke right as the grenade when off, smothering Lobo's face in a massive explosion. "Now remember to chew slowly and no swimming until thirty minutes after you've eaten or a shark will kill you. Alright Daddy dearest, what's the plan?"

"That's Lobo, one of the more dangerous beings from my reality. He has strength and  durability akin to Superman, while he also-"

"Yeah yeah, I know all of that. I read his Wiki in-between chapters. What I mean is how the hell do we stop someone with hair like that?" Deadpool asked as Lobo walked out from the smoke with the smile still on his face, envy in his voice that Lobo's hair was perfectly untouched.

"We have to find a way to wound him, then start burning away his body until there in nothing left," Deathstroke figured. "Have anything in your magic pocket that might be able to do the trick?"

"I've got a few of Tony's secret weapons, some godly belt and a few nukes. Would any of those help?"

"Those would maybe piss him off. Alright, hard way it is," Deathstroke replied as he grabbed a machine gun.

"Isn't that always the way it ends up? No matter hos sophisticated or advanced our weapons get, we always end up just poking people to death with a sharp object," Deadpool replied as he drew his two katanas. "You know this would be easier if you hadn't destroyed my special sword."

"And this fight would already be over if you hadn't destroyed my stone. Be quiet and-"

A chain wrapped itself around Deathstroke neck and a moment later Slade was whipped into the wall, shattering stone with his body. Lobo was on Deadpool a moment later, slamming a fist into Deadool's face with such force that Deadpool was nearly driven through the platform that was supporting him. In fact he would have if his head hadn't popped like a balloon from the impact.

"Come on DP, I heard you have a healing factor that even surpasses mine. I've been wanting to see if it's true for a long time. Don't disappoint me," Lobo said down to the decapitated body of Wade. Sure enough, Deadpool kicked up and slashed at Lobo a moment later, his head regrowing to show that Wade was now very pissed off. Lobo blocked the blades with his arms without any sign of injury, much to Deadpool's disbelief. "There we go! Head smashed in an your back up and kicking a moment later! That's what I want to see!"

Lobo grabbed Wade by the face, slammed him into the ground, and began to run forward while dragging Deadpool through layer after layer of metal. He then ripped Deadpool free of the metal, threw him into the air, and then slammed a fist into his body with such force that he slammed into the wall next to where Deathstroke had been. Lobo narrowed his eyes when he saw that the orange clad merc was missing and he began to spin his chain around while he searched the room.

"Come on Slade, running away? That ain't how ya do things," Lobo taunted into the air, glancing around for where Slade might be hiding. Lobo might have been stronger, faster and tougher than Slade, but what Lobo wasn't was a fool. He knew just how dangerous Slade was, even to a being like him.

"Alright, so you won't come out to play. Fine with me. Guess I'll take my prize and leave," Lobo said with a shrug as he began to walk towards the source fo all magic, what he was being paid to grab. He sensed a murderous intent and sidestepped just in time to avoid being impaled by Deathstroke's blade. Deahtstroke's one eye went wide as he realized that he had missed, before Lobo grabbed hold of the weapon and whipped it and the guy carrying it into the floor. Deathstroke hit hard enough to cause him to bounce, while Lobo ripped the weapon from his grasp and examined it.

"Sweet sword you got here. I can feel all of the magical energies that it's got," Lobo said, before he grabbed it with both hands and drove the flat side against his knee, snapping the blade in half. "Too bad that it's got nothing on the Main Man. Now then, time to wrap this up."

"My thoughts exactly!"

Before Lobo could respond, Deadpool pinned a stretchy material to the side of Lobo. He then began to run all around the mercenary, tangling him with the material as Lobo swiped at Deadpool, aiming to take off his head once again. Yet after a few trips around the Lobo, Lobo was completely entangled by the stretchy material. He strained against it with a might that could match Superman, yet he found that the bounds wouldn't break. "What the hell is going on? Why...can't I...break this?!"

"Because, my large and muscular friend, these are bonds made of the strongest material known to my reality. Not Adamantium, not Vibranium, no, nothing as weak as those. These bonds are made out of the Hulk's pants!" Deadpool laughed as Lobo hopped backward, trying to escape his bonds. Wade was at Slade's side a moment later, helping him to his feet. "Don't worry Eyepatchy the Pirate, I think that will hold him off for a little bit."

"Is the Hulk the strongest being in your world?"

"One of them."

"Has he ever held a blackhole or moved so fast that he rewound time?"

"Um, no. That's incredibly, stupidly overpowered."

"Then Lobo should escape any-"

Just as Deathstroke had predicted, a moment later Lobo ripped his pants to freedom, before he turned to face the two mercenaries with the smirk that he had been wearing gone from his face. "Hey ass face, did you wash those pants before you wrapped me up in them?"

"Um, no? Why would I do that."

"Alright, that's it. No more mister nice guy," Lobo snarled before he drew forth his shot gun and aimed it at the pair. Deathstroke knew what was coming and threw himself out of the way, while Deadpool was too busy trying to read what was engraved on the side of the gun to move. The twin barrels fired at once and ripped apart Deadpool's body, spraying pieces of him all across the room.

Deathstroke knew that wouldn't be enough to keep Wade down, at this point he was starting to wonder if Wade was truly immortal, but the bigger problem was that he was down an ally to fight against Lobo with. Lobo turned his eyes towards Slade and a moment later the chain lashed out once more, wrapping itself around Slade's arm. With a single yank Deathstroke was ripped off his feet and dragged over to Lobo, who hoisted him up like a fish he had just caught.

Lobo smiled at Slade, who drove a fist into the side of Lobo's face in response. Lobo let out a laugh at the defiance of Deathstroke, before he started to Hulk slam him back and forth across the ground. Bones broke, organs ruptured and all around Slade had a bad time as he was slammed back and forth. After a few moments of being slammed around, Lobo lifted Deathstroke once more, with the merc being far more lip and lifeless this time around.

"Well see, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Lobo laughed at Deathstroke before blowing smoke into the helmet of the mercenary. Deathstroke didn't bother to response. While he also had a healing factor, it was nowhere near as quick or efficient as Deadpool's or Lobo's, meaning that it would be quite a while before he was back in fighting shape. And by that point he would either be dead or captured. Neither of which he could afford at the moment.

"Leave my daddy alone you big meanie!" Deadpool exclaimed as he flung himself back into the battle. Lobo snarled at the return of Deadpool and threw out a punch to finish him, but Wade ducked under the blow and found himself in a spot that he believed to be Lobo's weakness. So he lashed out with a kick and drove his leg right in the crotch of Lobo. "Haha, take that!"

Lobo's response was to raise an eyebrow at Deadpool, who slowly lowered his leg to the ground as he realized that his surefire plan had failed. Lobo the lashed out with his on leg and caught Deadpool in his little man, kicking him between the legs hard enough to rocket Deadpool up to the ceiling, which he bounced off of, before falling back down to be grabbed by Lobo.

"Wade, wake up!" Deathstroke snarled over at Wade, who replied in a tone so high that only dogs could understand what he was saying. "I know that wasn't enough to kill you. Believe me, I wish it was."

"No point...in living...anymore..." Deadpool managed to spit out.

"Now that we've gone through the motions and you've both realized that fighting me is as pointless as killing a superhero and expecting them to stay dead, how about we wrap this up?" Lobo asked the both of them. Deathstroke tried feebly to fight back, but a headbutt from Lobo put an end to that. Deadpool was far too dead inside to even try. "See what happens when we all work together? Now give me just a second to grab that source thingy and then...what the hell is that?"

Deadpool and Deathstroke both looked up so see a small, alicorn baby resting on Slade's head, glaring at Lobo with all the ferocity a toddler could muster. For a brief moment all Lobo could do was stare in disbelief at the small pony, before both Deadpool and Slade vanished in a flash of magic. Lobo looked down at his empty hands before he turned around to see where they had gone.

The both of them laid on the ground and standing between them and Lobo was a group of ponies, all of who stared him down with looks of determination and power. Six Ambassadors, three princesses, the captain of the guard and one very angry foal that had managed to come along anyway, despite her parents trying to stop her. And all stood against Lobo.

"Okay, who the fuck are you guys?" Lobo asked, legitimately confused.

"Pinkie! You came for me! All of you fucks did!" Deadpool said with tears pouring out of his mask.

"Of course we did. We're hear to save our friend!" Pinkie said as she and the others began to glow with harmonic magic, illuminating the room with magic and power. The six Ambassadors, the three princesses and the captain of the guard all stood triumphant, there to save the man that had saved them. "We're here to save Deadpool!"

"And what about Slade?" Lobo asked.

"Screw him."
> A Fate Worse Than Death
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chains of magic wrapped themselves around the limbs of Lobo, who strained against the combined might of the four princesses of magic. Strong as he was, and minus Superman's lack of resistance to magic, the four princesses powers combined were enough to hold him in place for a moment. And a moment was all Deadpool needed.

"Flying Explosive Dropkick!" Deadpool yelled out as he leapt into the air, spinning over a dozen times unnecessarily, before extending both legs and ramming them into the chest of Lobo. Like the common housefly smacking into the windshield of a car going well over eighty miles an hour, Deadpool splatted against the pecs and delts of the Main Man and crumpled in a heap at his feet. The healing factor, which at this point had never had a day off, kicked in and a moment later Deadpool flipped over to the ponies.

"It can't be. How could he had survived my final and clearly well known finishing attack?" Deadpool asked Celestia, who was too busy trying to keep the merc from moving. Then a massive explosion consumed Lobo and set his entire figure on fire. "Oh that's what it was, I hadn't properly synced the explosives with the kick. Whoops."

"Is now really the time for your infernal insanity?" Deathstroke asked Deadpool as he stood next to the ponies, glancing down at Pinkie who was observing the flaming Main Man. "And why would all of you bother to save me, knowing full well what I had planned to do to your world?"

"We didn't. She did," Shining informed Slade, causing him to turn to see Shining Armor holding Flurry Heart. "Despite all you've done, she still saved your life. Either she's too young to know what an evil monster you are or she is a saint, but she keeps saving your life. She must get that mercy from her mother."

"Great, I am in the debt of a baby filly once again. I must pay that back immediately," Deathstroke snarled as he drew his blade and turned to face Lobo, noticing Deadpool drawing his swords along with Deathstroke. "As much as it pains me to say this, only together can we hope to have a chance against Lobo. For their sake, let us put aside our hatred for each other and work as a team."

"Sniff...that is the nicest thing anyone who hates my guts has said to me," Deadpool sniffled, tears leaking out from beneath his mask. Deathstroke rolled his eye before the sound of chains snapping gained both of their attention, before the both of them ducked to avoid the four princesses that flew over their heads and into the back walls. Twilight was the first one up and she leapt over to her friends, the six of them charging up to their Rainbow forms.

"Two mercs, four princess and a whole crayon box of ponies. This is one of the weirder days," Lobo said with a chuckle as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a cigarette, which he then lit with a wielding torch. "But I gotta admit, this seems like a hell of a lot of fun. Alright, you rainbow pukes, come and get me."

"One more, girls. We just have to beat one more threat and then our world is safe once more!" Twilight roared before she and the other five began to fly around Lobo, blasting him with their Rainbow power. Lobo snarled as he was pushed back by the power, but aside from some burning on his arms the Rainbow power didn't seem to be hurting him all that much.

"You can't be serious," Celestia said as she and Luna made it back up to her hooves. "The Rainbow powers strength should be amplified in here, but even with that additional boost it's still not enough to so much as wound this madman!"

"That is where you are wrong, Celestia," Deathstroke said as he narrowed his eye, zooming in on the area where the magic was striking Lobo. "The Rainbow power is wounding him, but his body heals at the same rate that he takes damage. At this point neither seems to be able to out do the other."

"Great, another weirdo with the ability to heal. Does everyone in your world have that ability?!"

"Not at all! There's only Wolverine, Hulk, X-23, all the weird Deadpool rip offs, She-Hulk, Red Hulk, Abomination...and don't even get me started on Doomsday. His healing makes mine look logical."

"The solution, Celestia, is to overtax his healing ability," Deathstroke informed the princesses. "While Deadpool's may allow him to recover from anything short of being erased out of existence, Lobo does have a theoretical limit to how much he can heal."

"What do you mean by theoretical?" Luna asked.

"What he means is that no one has ever hit Lobo hard enough so that he stays down," Deadpool translated. "But hey, I've seen plenty of things weirder than a healing factor that shorts out."

"Do either of you have anything that is strong enough to take him out for good?" Cadence asked.

"I've got enough nukes to keep the Hulk at full power for the next thousand years, but I'm fairly certain that Lobo can come back from that," Deadpool replied with a concerned tone. "And I'm fairly certain that you've got nothing in your bag of tricks that can stop him?"

"You are right. Even with my new ability to summon weapons, none of the ones I own can stop Lobo," Deathstroke snarled. "But...with the Rainbow power...follow me."

Deathstroke lunged into the fray, throwing grenades into the face of Lobo. The explosions temporarily blinded the Main Man, getting him to string together a slew of curse words that Shining hoped that Flurry wouldn't remember. Deathstroke roared as he drove his blade into the head of Lobo, the blade being strong enough to pierce the Main Man's skin.

"Ponies, focus all of your power into this point!" Deathstroke roared, pointing to where the blade was slowly digging into Lobo's skull. The girls all nodded to each other and concentrated all of their magical power into that one giant ball that shook the room with its power. The very color was drained from the air as the ball sucked in all of the magic that it could find, which, being next to the source of all magic, was an incredible sum. Then, with one last roar of power, the girls fired their blast towards Deathstroke's sword.

Slade had the good sense to leap out of the way before the magic struck him, giving Lobo just enough time to snarl before the magic caught him square in the head. His screams echoed throughout the chamber as the magic seeped into his skull, before his entire head detonated and unleashed a shockwave powerful enough to fling everyone and pony into one of the walls.

Celestia and Luna's magic protected Deadpool, Cadence, Shining and Flurry. The Ambassadors Rainbow powers protected them from their own attack. And Deathstroke's armor just barely managed to keep him alive in the face of such an explosion. Yet despite surviving the blast, the knockback was still strong enough to hurl everypony into the walls. The ponies collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, having been drained of nearly all of their magic. Celestia and Luna could barely remain conscious. And Deathstroke couldn't feel any of his body, while his own healing factor put in overtime trying to stitch him back together.

"Is it over?" Pinkie asked, being the only one of her friends who could remotely move. All eyes turned towards the eye of the explosion, where a now headless Lobo lay on his back, with his blood pooling from his neck. A sigh of relief escaped the lips of all of the ponies and even Deathstroke laid his head on the ground in relief.

Then both of Lobo's middle fingers went up...and his head exploded back out in a spray of blood a moment later.

"Holy shit that hurt," Lobo said with a laugh as he rose back up to his feet, cracking his neck a few times and checking his mustache. "Got to hand it to you little pukes, you hit hard. Not hard enough to stop me, but it's safe to say that I'm impressed. Course, still gotta kill you all, but at least I'll remember you this time. But first. Slade. Time to end this."

"Heh, this is what I get for trying to help others," Deathstroke muttered to himself, unable to so much as lift his head. None of the ponies had the strength to move their limbs, nevertheless try to take down a practically unkillable monster. Only one person had recovered fast enough to get back up, but even Wade knew that he wasn't strong enough to stop Lobo. But then, Wade never won his battles by being stronger than his opponents.

"Twilight, hey Twilight," Wade said as he slide down next to Twilight, who barely had the strength to move her head to look at him. "How much magical power would you say you have left?"

"Enough to maybe cast one more spell. But it doesn't matter. I don't have anything that's remotely close to strong enough to bring him down," Twilight weakly wheezed, cursing her own weakness. 

"That's perfectly alright. Because I don't need a spell to hurt him physically. All I need to know is one thing. Can you transfer a persons mind?" 

For a moment Twilight stared at Deadpool with confusion. Then she fully grasped what Deadpool was planning to do and she looked back and forth between Deadpool and Lobo with horror in her eyes.

"Wade...isn't that...you can't...even he doesn't...this can't be-"

"Banned by the Geneva Convention and considered an illegal use of force in three million different countries. But it's all we can do," Deadpool said as he laid a hand on her shoulder. "Come on. Be a friend."

"Lobo...forgive me," Twilight whispered before her horn began to glow.

Lobo picked up Slade by the neck and dangled him in the air, before he rested the other hand on top of Slade's head. "Well Slade, gotta admit that it's been a fun few years fighting with ya, in both ways, but money is money. I'm sure that if you could kill me, you'd go after me too. But this how things work. Time to-"

'Hold on a minute partner.'

"What the fuck?" Lobo asked as he looked around for the source of Wade's voice, only to see the red clad merc laying braindead on the floor. "How do I hear your voice?"

'Because I'm in your head, silly. Oh we're going to have such a wonderful time together, but first I have to get you caught up. Ready to go on a journey?'

"What, you going to try to take control of my body?"

'Nope. Just going to help you see the world...the way I see it.'

"Ha, like that would...how can there be so many different realities? All the different versions, the different stories. GRAH! All the pain, t-the..." Lobo began to scream as he held his hands to his head, his eyes darting back and forth across the room before they locked onto something but nothing at the same time. "You mean...so many...reading and watching...but that...am I really...nothing more...than a comic-"

A snapping sound was heard and a moment later Lobo fell over, his eyes rolling back into his head while his tongue dangled out of his mouth. Everypony stared at him in disbelief, before Deadpool sat up a moment later. "Wow, that guy's mind was weird. Who thinks about that much leather?"

"Wade...what did you do to him?" Cadence asked.

"Simple Cadence. I let him into my mind," Deadpool replied. All of the ponies look at the motionless and drooling Lobo, each of them taking a moment to pity the now broken man. "Seems that he couldn't handle how I do things. But it's over now. He's done."

A sigh of relief spread across the group, with the ponies all helping each other up. The full weight of what they had just avoided sunk in and cheers began to spread out across the group. The Ambassadors all gathered around Deadpool and gave him a big hug, only to back up almost immediately when they realized he was drenched in his own blood. Cadence and Shining shared a smile before hugging each other. And even Celestia and Luna sighed in relief. That was until Flurry sobbed.

"Pirate gone," she whimpered.

All eyes snapped towards where she was staring, only to find that what she said was true.

Deathstroke was gone.

"And he took my Deusexbullshitmacguffin!" Deadpool realized as he looked down his pants. "That motherfuc-"

"Language!"

And then Shining blasted Wade across the room.
> He Who Laughs Last
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thousands of ponies crowded the streets of Canterlot, all of them trying to cram into the main courtyard, trying to catch a glimpse of the merc in red who was single handedly responsible for saving the world. (Any mentions of Slade would get a pony kicked out.) Despite having spat on his body a few weeks ago, all of the ponies were there to cheer and praise him, because who doesn't love a hero?

Deadpool stood alone on a grand stage, looking out a the crowd while occasionally waving, posing, or flipping off the ponies as he saw fit. Pinkie and her friends stood off to the side, all of them beaming at Deadpool, except for Fluttershy, who had walked in on the merc with his suit off and was once again in a comatose state. But the paramedics said that she would recover. Probably.

"Wade Wilson," Celestia said in a booming voice, one that silenced the entire crowd of ponies. Wade stopped talking to one of the ponies that had managed to get on stage so that security could escort him out, before he turned to face the two princesses. "Wade, you have been called here to receive the greatest awards and medals for what you have done for Equestria. We are here to honor your bravery, skill and refusal to take a hint."

"Oh shucks, all this attention is going to make me blush," Deadpool said as he held his hands to his face, though, since his mask was red, nopony could tell if he was blushing or not. "Stop it, don't look at me. Except for you in the third row. Do not look away. Your life may depend on it."

"Wade, when I first met you it was quite possibly the worst day of my life," Celestia admitted with a chuckle, getting Wade to look at her. "I mean, I've had to send my sister to the moon, sacrifice my power to keep my nation safe and even slay my own father to get the throne. But meeting you was the single most soul crushing, dream ending, horrifying moment that I can remember in my very long life. Nothing even comes close."

"I like to leave an impression."

"You've left more than that. You've shown us all that you're not just some unkillable pervert in tight, red spandex. You've proven to us all that you're a heroic pervert in tight, red spandex," Celestia said with pride. She then looked over to her sister, who nodded, before Celestia materialized a giant medal in front of Wade. "This is the pony Medal of Valor. It is given only to those who have served this nation in its darkest hours."

"What an honor! I'm gonna pawn the hell out of this," Deadpool said as Celestia slid the medal over his head and let it fall to his chest. She then pulled out another medal, this one with a star and wings making up its design. "This is the medal for those who protect the princesses and those they love in their darkest hour. Not only did you save my sister from one very evil pri-"

"Language, Celestia," Cadence warned, covering Flurry's ears.

"Pirate, but you also saved your Flurry Heart from choosing such a terrible role model to hang out with. This is to thank you."

"Does this mean I get to be her role model instead?" Wade asked as the second medal was placed onto his chest.

"Hell no. And finally, this third medal is for listening to Twilight's entire explanation about the proper procedures and protocol for attending one of these awards ceremonies," Celestia said, pulling out a medal that was a passed out pony with Z's over its head. "This is the rarest and hardest medal of them all to obtain. I have only given it to one other and they are still in a coma. I am impressed that you sat through the whole thing."

"I only tried to kill myself four times during it," Wade said as he wore that medal with pride. "But yeah, she really can blather on about nothing, can't she?"

"It's not nothing! There is proper protocol and procedures that must be kept! Such as dress, posture, how to properly form each syllable in your acceptance speech-"

"Twilight, please, you're scaring the children," Luna warned, before she too smiled at Wade. "All of those medals come from my sister, Wade Wilson, but there is still more to give you. For saving my life from your father, I have decided to craft a statue of you made out of moonstone. No other pony has ever received an honor of this caliber before, so I hope that you enjoy. Also, there will be a feast in your honor."

"A feast! Now we're talking. Eating till we get fat is the best way to celebrate any successful mission. Of course I doubt Celestia will be joining us since it looks like she needs to hit the gym instead of the buffet table, am I right?" Wade asked as he elbowed Luna. Luna would have agreed with Wade, but a glance over at her sister told her it was time to move away from the merc or suffer the consequences.

"Actually Wade, remember that statue Luna mentioned? How about I give it to you now?" Celestia asked with a wide, murderous smile.

"Sure. Lay it on me."

"As you wish." The princesses horn flashed an a moment later a large statue of Deadpool crashed down on top of the merc with a mouth, burying him underneath the twenty tons of stone. "How do you like it?"

"Can't see. How's my ass look?"

"Mares and Gentlecolts, the hero of Equestria!" Luna rang out, causing the crowd to cheer wildly. The Ambassadors of Harmony walked over to Wade, who had managed to squeeze one of his arms out from beneath the statues.

"Isn't this great, Wade?! Now the ponies of the world finally see you the way I do!" Pinkie exclaimed with joy as she grabbed his arm and hopped up and down.

"This is the happiest day of my life," Wade's muffled voice said from beneath the statue. A moment later Wade was out from beneath the statue, waving to the crowd and drinking in the applause.

"So what now, Wade Wilson?" Twilight asked Wade, who glanced over his shoulder at her. "Are you going to go back to your own world and raise hell there? Or are you going to stick around here a little longer until we throw you back to your own world? I mean, you are the hero of Equestria now. You will always have a place here...until you push it too far, which you will."

"Think I might stick around a little longer. Seems like ponies here are always getting into trouble and need an unkillable friend to look out for them," Wade said, before he glanced down at AJ. "Besides, our little southern belle here never did give me an answer on my offer."

"What offer was that?" Applejack hesitantly asked.

"If you're fine with me ridding you like we were at a rodeo."

A sigh escaped AJ's lips as here friend's faces went red at Deadpool's words. She stretched out her hind legs, cracked her neck a few times, before she turned around and positioned herself. She took precise aim, before lashing out with legs powerful enough to rip appletrees out of the ground. Right into Deadpool' crotch.

"Oooo...!" the crowd winced.

D/\P

Slade had heard about the party that ponies were throwing the celebrate Wade saving their world and had pondered crashing it just to remind them the part he played in their salvation. But he was too tired of this world and the merc with a mouth to stick around to be yelled at. So instead he took the device that he had stolen from Deadpool and found a secluded part of the world, a place for him to activate the device.

'I will be glad to finally be rid of this god forsaken world,' Slade thought to himself, before he glanced down at the braindead Lobo, who had yet to so much as move since his run in with Wade. 'But at the very least I will be able to turn in the numerous bounties on your head and make a pretty penny. So perhaps this world wasn't a complete waste.'

Slade pulled out the device, a jumbo of different pieces and machines that made no sense whatsoever, and turned it on, having spent a few days figuring it out. A golden energy surrounded the merc and he felt himself being ripped from his reality and back to his home. He closed his eye and waited until he felt the screaming pain of his body being ripped apart as it was thrown across space and time.

It took a few minutes for the pain to finally stop and for him to regain control of his senses. From what he could feel he was laying face down on some kind of concrete, but strangely enough he could hear the sound of turbines spinning wildly around him. There was also a strange smell in the air, not to mention the sounds of people shouting. Had he been teleported home in the middle of a road?

Slade finally opened his eye and rolled over, only for his sight to go wide at who he saw standing over him. One man held a shield painted with the colors of the flag, with a suit to match. Another was in a metal suit that would put the batsuit to shame, with numerous missiles and guns aimed at him. And behind them stood a colossal, green monster that was covered in nothing but muscles. And standing in front of all of them was a man with an eyepatch and a trench coat, who was smirking down at Slade.

"So this is Deathstroke the Terminator. Gotta admit, it's nice to finally meet a person I can look eye to eye with," the man said with a smirk.

"Who are you? Where am I?" Slade asked as he backed away and reached for his sword, only to find it was gone.

"Where are you? You're in for a world of trouble. As for how you got here, I think you'll want to read this," the man said as he handed Slade a sheet of paper.

'Dear Avengers, it's me, your pal Deadpoo.'

'Sorry about stealing that what's it to go to another world, but great news! Somebody else stole it from me! I've messed with the device to bring him and it back to your world though, so I hope there's no harm done. Oh yeah, the guy I'm bringing is a really evil prick. Murder, arson and being a terrible pirate (without his own ship, ugh), so you might want to lock him up the moment he gets there. But he only has one eye, so maybe him and Fury can be friends! He could always use some more. And for my dad, sorry that you didn't make it home, but now you get to visit the world that made me! And you can stay there as long as their penitentiary cells can hold you. Have fun!'

'Wade Wilson.'

'P.S., I also took your weapons, your gadgets and aaaallllll the money in your bank account. A merc's gotta get paid, am I right? Just think of this making up for all the birthdays and Christmas's that you missed. See you when I get back!'

For a long time Slade just stared at the note, completely ignoring the agents that surrounded him with guns drawn or the fact that more heroes in different costumes had shown up to apprehend him. He had lost his weapons, his way home and now even the money that he had worked so hard to achieve all of his life. All to a fool in a red suit. Then something deep within his psyche finally snapped and he threw his head back to the sky and screamed,

"DDDDDDEEEEEEAAAAAADDDDDDDPPPPPPOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLL!"