> Shadow Hunter
>  by ShadowmancerElite
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Convention Intervention
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

We had finally beaten the evil lord Malgrath and was about to face Malgrath's monstrosity when one of my team mates, Lenora, grabbed my shoulder and started to whisper in my ear, "Wake up~" Looking over at Lenora I could see her changing into... My sister? 

"WAKE UP!" 

Blinking owlishly I could only mutter, "whuh?"

She face-palmed before grabbing something and shoving it into my face. Without my glasses it looked like a blurry rectangle. After putting my glasses on it started to morph into my... Calendar? What on earth does my calendar have to d-FUCK! Today was the convention!

Leaping out of the bed I was assaulted with dizziness, and with its eventual fading I could hear Angel giggling and singing, "You've got thirty minutes~" WHAT!? Ooh, I'm so going to kill her if Mom doesn't kill me first for getting up late!

After getting dressed in my trench coat I placed my fedora on my head and looked in the mirror and sighed, "I really wish I could get a staff or somethin to go with it, but hey! I have a costume!... I really should get more friends..."

I was six and two/sixths feet tall with a scraggy beard growing in. For some reason I looked a lot older then I should've. I'm fifteen. Yeah, I'm fifteen and stand at six and two/sixths with a rough beard growing in. My Mom says it was just a premature growth spurt, but I keep on growing. At this rate i'll be eight feet tall by the age of nineteen if this keeps up! But enough about me, my costume is what I envisioned as a monster hunters outfit, which basically was a trench coat, a fedora, multiple necklaces with strange emblems, and.... Right, can't forget my scarf! My Mom made it when I was around ten. It's a dark blue scarf with emerald green threads running through it.

After checking myself in the mirror I opened my door and took three steps at a time and headed towards the kitchen. Looking in I could see no one cooking anything, so being the chef I am, I decided to whip up a couple slices of toast with sunny side eggs.

After consuming my quickly made breakfast I jogged to the garage to see the van quietly waiting, meaning that either Angel lied, unlikely, or I still had time. Climbing the stairs to my room I started digging through my junk to find my "revolver", a decoy six chamber revolver loaded with rubber bullets that I had coated with silver paint. The revolver itself  had tar colored paint covering it with a single word on both sides written in silver ink, "Umbra".

After stashing the revolver in my coat's pocket I ran downstairs to see Mom rushing about in her costume, a vampire. My sister was dressed as, guess what? An angel... Ironic ain't it? I wish our Dad was here to go with us, but he had a "business trip" to Las Vegas. Sometimes I think he doesn't have any business at all, but uses all his money gambling. I seriously don't know, but it feels like it with how he talks about his trips.

As we climb into the van I can practically hear the convention beckoning! This is my first convention and I've been praying that nothing bad would happen at the convention. I've been hearing stories about disappearing cosplayers, hell, I've even watched a video! Dad said it was computer animated, but it looked so real! The police also said it was fake, but the way they are described and the video looked too...oh, what's the word? Lifelike! That's it! The way these things are described is too lifelike!

Relishing in my victory over my forgetfulness, I looked out the van's window and decided to just gaze at the sprawling urban homes surrounding our neighborhood.



 

We were about to go and destroy Malgrath's monstrosity an-wait, haven't I been here before? Yeah! This was a dream! Wait, I'm not usually conscious in my dreams... Weird. Looking around I started noticing things were... Off. That's the only way I could put it. The castle was a rectangular mall and I was in my monster hunter costume, but as I gained more awareness of my situation I realized I wasn't about to face Malgrath's monster, but going to a convention. Not to mention my little sister shaking me. "Come on! We're here!"

Groaning as the bright light of the sun attacked my eyes I managed a simple reply, "Bug off..." Angel then decided it was high time to just leave me be... And let me fall onto the pavement. "Ooow" 

She just laughed at me and twirled away, the little worm.

Dragging myself to my feet I could see Mom waiting as she made a 'hurry!' motion with her hand. Looking back into the van I grabbed my last piece of my ensemble, a pair of odd looking welding goggles. The thing about them is that they worked like glasses using sets of magnifying lenses so they can be used a binoculars or actual magnification to look at smaller objects. These ones also have a sunglasses effect on them for my sensitive eyes.

Placing my home-made goggles atop my head, I rushed over to Mom and went in with her. "Whoa..." My sister looked like an exact replica of my face as we gazed at all of the booths surrounding our trio. After staring and wandering for what seemed an hour we finally found the food court and started discussing our game plan.

Mom, as our leader, started, "Okay, you both get thirty dollars each. Just... Don't use it all in one go, alright?" Angel just gave her 'gimme' hand and had a look that had her excitement spelled out word by word. Me, as the more responsible one here, gave her our reply, "Sure thing Mom!" Mom sighed before pulling us into a hug and whispered, "thanks...." she let us go and we both started walking towards before Mom shouted at us, "Stay together!" and stay together we did.





"Hey!" 

Angel ran off, again. She had yelled something about the perfect armor and ran off. I mean, really, what kind of angel wears armor? As I scanned the crowd I could see her talking to a man cosplaying as the merchant from Resident Evil 4 at a booth. I tried catching their attention before finally snapping and blatantly decided to roar out "HEY!" 

As they turned I could see my sister's expression as I stomped over. She had a look of regret, the kind when you know you pissed someone off and it's coming back to bite you in the ankle. The 'Merchant' had an odd anxious look, the kind where you know you want to be in and out... Which was really odd considering he's running a booth. As my earth shaking steps come to a close, I shifted my glare into a more accusing glare as I stood their before saying, "Really? You run off to go look at a stall? It isn't going to grow legs and run off you know." 

She winced and nodded before grabbing my hand pointing at a set of well made golden armor. "It looked so nice, plus it would go great with my costume!" 

Looking at it I could see that it did look quite nice with her suit. 

'Might as well get something for myself' As I looked over the booth I could see multiple knick-knacks from several shows and games. but what really caught my attention was an odd staff with a blue crystal entrapped in what seemed to be cobalt roots on one of the ends, while the actual staff was made of what looked like cobalt too. As I went to grab the staff I noticed four other things, an odd leather satchel, a necklace that had a triangle with an eye in it, a metallic hand with needles where it should attach itself to the wrist, and a journal with a hand drawn picture of a coyote with a scorpion tail, bat wings, a snakes head, and a lizards neck frill.

The necklace reminded me of my favorite show, Gravity Falls. The main villain in it was Bill Cipher, a dream demon. The hand was just as an oddity to place in a case or something really. Looking at the 'Merchant' I asked, "How much for the armor, staff, dream demon necklace, journal, and hand?" He just stared at me and stayed like that before muttering something that sounded like a curse, "Fine, fifty dollars for it all" 

Me and sis just stared. Fifty? that's a lot less than what I expected! Grinning like a loon I sealed the deal with a Devil, "Deal!" 

After He gave us our new props, I turned around to ask Angel if she wanted to put it on now. But instead I could feel a shiver go down my back. Every, last, fucking, person was MISSING! The entire place was empty except for me, Angel, and the Merchant. Spinning on my heel I could see him standing right in front of me. Scrambling back a few steps I could see him, not the Merchant masquerade. No, something much worse. I-it can't be described. The only thing I could compare it to was seeing a Gods true form, pure energy. 

The thing chuckled and said, "You and only you are allowed to see this. You might get more powers, but it depends on the little demon. Now, time for you to LEAVE!" With those final words I could see things falling apart into...nothing? Just a...Void. Wait, where's Angel!?!

Twisting around I could see her drifting off. From the way she looked she was definitely unconscious. I tried drifting over to her, only barely grazing her hand. Before I could try again I saw one of the worst things possible. A gaping hole right in front of us, slowly but surely, we were getting pulled in. 

As we fell I could see Angel falling in the opposite direction from me. I tried so hard, but in the end, I still FAILED..."Sigh, at least we're in the same dimension...WAIT, DIMENSION!?!" THUD
> Destination: unknown
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Location: unknown
time: 5:36
Subject: Daxinium, A.K.A. Dax 
System: rebooting mainframe...Done





"Oow, what hit me?" 

Getting up I could see nothing except trees, trees, weird dog, more trees...Wait, dog? Looking over I could see an animal that could only be described in three words, Awesome and freaky. It had a scorpion tail, a pair of bat wings, a snake-like head with fangs and obvious poison glands, a lizards neck frill, What seemed to be a huge bug carapace on it's...chest, and some freaky long claws. Oh, did I mention it was three feet tall? No? Well, it was three feet tall, and-Wait, haven't I've seen him somewhere before?

The journal! It had a picture of i-wait, it's coming to me! Me and sis went to our first convention, Mom let us loose on the place, Angel ran ahead, we bought some trinkets, and then...DEAR GOD! Where's my sister?!? I-I promised mom... I'm a god damned failure! I can't even protect my own sister! I-I got to fix this! A-and-Hold up kid! 

"Gah! Who's there!?!"

Oh, nobody except for your local dream demon fragment! 

"Local dream demon?" 

YEP! call me Cipher! Bill Cipher! 

"Cipher? THE Bill Cipher!?!" 

Yep, again! Hey, can I suggest something? 

"you already did." 

Fair point, but there is a local structure that was made by whatever flesh-bags are dominant here, and it would make a perfect base until we can get a better grip of this place. 

"Okay, first off, why should I trust you? you're Bill Cipher for Pete's sake!" 

Good point! But there's a pair of wooden golems coming our way and I don't think It's a welcome committee! 

I was stuck with two options, either go to Bill Ciphers "Base", or stay around for the local greeting committee. The choice was kind of obvious, "Alright Bill, where to?" 

See the tree I highlighted for you? 

I looked around till I could see a simple tree glowing with an unnatural gold color."Yes." 

Good, thats the direction of our safe house. And if I were you I would, RUN! 

Me being the genius I am, ran as if Hell was on my heels. Sneaking a look back at the two deranged golems, it looked like that Bill's statement was a tad bit more truthful than I realized. A pair of what looked like wooden golems shaped as wolves were hot on my tail as I ran through the forest as fast as I could.

After running for for a few minutes I could see a pair of trees glowing gold, "Which way Bill!?!" 

LEFT! 

Racing down the trail I leaned backwards and twisted my torso, holding out a hand to stabilize my self. As I continued to run alongside the edge of a rather wide river, it came to me, "Bill!"

WHAT!? DON'T YOU REALIZE YOU DON'T HAVE TO WASTE BREATHE!? THINK BOY, THINK! 

Fine! How on earth was I able to do that?

What do you mean!? 

How was I able to turn like that!?

That would be me!

GAH! WHAT THE HELL IS A SECOND VOICE DOING IN MY HEAD!?! 

Oops, he he? Call  me S.P.A.R.C.! I'm your Specialized Personal A.I. from Recreational Cedars. And you somehow got attached to me! Aren't you lucky!

Where are you? 

Look at your hand! 

Looking at my hand while running was difficult, but manageable. Wait, that weird prosthetic!? WHERE THE HELL IS MY LEFT HAND!?!

TAKE A RIGHT KID! 

We will be speaking about this later! 

Yes sir!

To my right was a bridge crossing the raging river. It looked a little rickety, but I was willing to take my chances! As soon as I was halfway across the wolves finally caught up to us, I mean, me... I think? 

HURRY! I DON'T WANT TO SPEND AN ETERNITY IN A RIVER, OR WORSE!

As soon as we were almost all the way across the bridge collapsed with both of the weird wolves on it, thus sending them on an unexpected cruise down the river. Luckily enough, the bridge didn't collapse all the way, though it could've...

"Phew.... Alright Bill, which way?... Bill?" 

Kid...did you use magic? 

"Um, no. Why? Actually, should I be worried?" 

Something pulled that bridge into the river...we better hurry before it thinks we're snacks too... 

Looking back at the river I could almost see something down there"Yikes..." 





"This it?" 

Yep, looks a bit rundown, but it's gonna be home! 

The castle was destroyed. Not the rundown destroyed, more like battle destroyed. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if a massive battle of epic proportions happened here decades ago. The main way onto the castle grounds was the old decaying bridge from one side to another across a gigantic chasm surrounding the castle.

Let's go explore it! 

"not so fast!" 

What's the hold up kid? We're here! 

"Somethings seriously off..." 

fine, let's explore stealthily! 

Groaning and walking across the rope bridge across with my staff ready to swing like a baseball bat, we entered the castle.

As we entered we could see a main hall reaching all the way to a massive wall made of rubble that had fallen from the years of decay. "Looks like we will have to find way through..." 

So...We get to explore? 

I sighed,"Yes...We get to explore..."





This is really boring, you positive there is someone or thing, here? 

Groaning for the hundredth time I said, "I'm positive! There are tracks all around the place!" 

I had found a pair of tracks while wandering the halls of this gigantic castle an-You mean the tracks from the Ge.Mo.Ho.? And I'm positive we've walked this way fifteen times already... 

Stopping and grabbing the pendant on my chest I screamed, "You mean you knew that something was trailing us!?! And that we've been down this way FIFTEEN times!?!"

Er, yes? Besides it practically is your pet!  

"Pet!?! What do you mean pet!?!" 

I think he means your Familiar 

"Familiar? What do you mean by Familiar?" 

Familiars are a spell-casters pet bound to them by magic, so no hassle of collars or leashes! 

"That doesn't exactly spell animal friendly..." 

It's actually better nowadays so both get something out of it! 

"Alright second question, what on earth is Ge.Mo.Ho?" 

The Ge.Mo.Ho. stands for Genetically Modified Horror, there are tons of them spread out across the universes, specifically the dimensions we now reside in! 

"Alright, now what? Just ask it to come out?" 

Basically  

Groaning I pinched my nose, "Come out Ge.Mo.Ho.!" 

Imagine my surprise when it dropped from the ceiling of all places. As I recovered from my shock I walked around it as it sat on the floor and sat there panting. It was the same coyote monster hybrid thing from the forest when I had first woken up. "Hey Bill?" 

What's up kid? 

"Why does it have a collar?" 

A collar? 

"Yeah, a collar...Think it's someone's that isn't us?" 

If it belonged to somebody else it probably would've ripped your face off by now 

"That's definitely not a terrifying thought..." 

As I got closer to get a better look it didn't react at all except when I grabbed the collar and brushed against it's carapace protecting it's front it started...Purring? Alrighty then...Lets see...Xavier? Not a bad name. Sounds like something I would name...Him? I really hope I don't have to check that... 

The name was actually most likely pulled from your mind, whoever put me and Spark here would most likely do it again. 

Shuddering at having my mind invaded without a care really put me on edge. Looking at Xavier I tried speaking in what I assumed was a gentle voice, "You can stick by me as long as you don't harm someone without my consent, alright?" 

To my amazement it...er, HE, nodded in confirmation. So our long walk down the hallways began, again this time with Bill guiding me through it.



 

We had reached the other side of the collapsed entry way to find ourselves in a decayed throne room. There was two thrones, one made of a dark blue stone, while the other one was a lavish golden throne. I preferred the blue one over the other, but they also had an obsidian throne right above the two on an arch over the thrones that had once most likely lead to the rulers/lords rooms, but a huge cave in was right behind it and showed a perfect view of the setting sun relinquishing the sky to the rising moon.

There was quite a few statues depicting pegacorns, or winged unicorns. There was a total of four I've seen so far. Two were guarding the entrance while the other two were here were watching over the throne room. There was two different designs. One was a larger pegacorn made of white marble, while the other one was dark blue. They practically mimicked the thrones in design.

There was also a bunch of banners all over the place covered with either a sun, moon, two pegacorns floating over the planet, or other various banners depicting the lords of their kingdom. I saw one with two swords crossed with a silver drop right where the swords crossed, or one with a cane with a top hat laying on it...hmm, maybe they were tailors? 

Ooh! Now this is one I can appreciate! The one I had just spotted was one with a gunmetal gray background with an Axe and what appeared to be an early model of the rifle. On the center was a picture of...Xavier? Maybe something similar to how he looked, was with a guns sight right over it. They were the olden version of monster hunters for sure! 

After pulling the banner down for a keepsake I found an odd indentation in the marble that made up the wall. A safe perhaps? After poking and pushing did nothing a certain demon spoke up, Maybe it opens with magic? 

"Magic?" 

Well, you do have large reserves due to me, spark, and your reserves combined! 

"Um, Bill...I don't have magic." 

What do you mean? After you started wandering I decided to go through our reserves and see how much we have, and we have a ton! Not to mention that I went and figured who's who's and all that junk. Turns out you have quite a lot kid!

After sputtering for a minute I managed to choke out, "WHAT!?!" 

I've never had magic! Sigh, doesn't change the fact you still have magic! just focus it into your preferred hand and shove it out in a steady stream, got it? 

I reluctantly nodded and put my left hand on the indent and started digging for the string or tide of magic in me and tried to coax it out. 

Turns out that was the easy part. The hard part was trying not to get caught up in it. As I tugging it I could feel my eyes starting to itch and a glow from the interior of my goggles confirmed my suspicions that my eyes started had started glowing and for some odd reason my right eye was a swirl of deep blue and gold. 

After what felt like a few hours I got what I wished for, just too much of it. Yeah, when it did come out it shot out and obliterated the wall except for a metal box with odd indentations on it. Not to mention getting thrown back several feet, hitting my head, and breaking a pedestal with a rusted sword on it. Looking up I saw that the safe was sitting with its entrance wide open. 

As I sat up I could feel something akin to aftershocks from the blast. Looking at my arm I could see jolts of blue energy racing up my arm and down again, though when I tried my magic again I could feel A 'pathway' of some sorts had opened up to my left hand and when activated my prosthetic would glow dark and light blue as they swirled surrounding it, akin to a small fire.

Getting up was difficult, but not impossible. After my small feat of undying devotion to standing I went to take a look at what the safe contained. It was difficult to see what was in it but from what I saw there was a few things. The first was a gun, a .38 special revolver with all chambers filled. The second was a thick book about a few thousand pages long with notes sticking out at odd angles. The last was a pair of daggers that had runes carved into it. 

Picking up the random miscellaneous goodies from the safe I stored them where they belong on ones person. the daggers getting set on my belt, while the revolver went into the opposite of my other revolver, and last but not least, the book that was as heavy as a fucking boulder...not really, but a dozen pounds at least! That went into my satchel, amazed it fit really.

Hey kid! 

Groaning in frustration I answered, "What the hell do you want Bill?" 

Well I thought you would be happy to have a chance to learn magic! With me and that journal on magics I thought you would like to learn how to control it! So, what do you say pal? 

I looked around at everything before answering, "Looks like I'll be having magic lessons, now won't I?" 

I finally decided to fuck my back and sleep on the thrones. I groggily stood up and made my way up to the blue throne and collapsed and started to nod off with Bill muttering to himself about lessons and plans for...his...student...*snore*....
> Supply Raid
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Daxinium a.k.a. Dax
Time: 7:45
Mission: Ensure survival in hostile environment
Goals: Find aid, Find supplies, Find local with knowledge of surrounding areas





I had fallen into a pit for the tenth time. The area was surrounded by fog, letting nothing in or out. I was getting frustrated and confused. The nights have become something for me to dread, along with the dreams they bring. It had started after a week of training from Bill. Same thing happened every time, wake up surrounded by fog and a labyrinth, see a shadow resembling Angel being dragged along by someone in a cloak. I would proceed to follow them through the labyrinth and would die by pits with spikes or some other horrid death.

I can't tell what was different but something was obviously off. As I looked around at my settings I begin to notice a certain shadow on the wall where there shouldn't be any shadow at all. The shadow was an isosceles triangle with an...eye? There's only one being with that shape! 

"Bill! About time you got here!" 

The shadow began to peel off the wall and gain color and grew some legs and arms. "About time you noticed kid! I was starting to get bored!" 

He then decided to float around and land on my fedora with his legs hanging off the edge. "Was kinda difficult to get here, your mind is like a labyrinth, get it!?" 

I decided to grab a frying pan an-where on earth did I get a fucking frying pan? 

"This is your mind! You can do anything here if you will it strongly enough! Besides, I've got some news for ya kid!" 

I willed a chair into existence and sat down before giving my response, "Anything good for being able to stop this?" 

"Yes I do! In fact, there's two things that will help!" 

I took a bite of my newly made pizza before swallowing and asking, "So what is it?" 

He begins to float in front of me and grabs a pizza before shoving it into his...Mouth? I didn't realize he even had a mouth...odd.

"Alright, bad news first! The nightmares you're experiencing are being made by an outside force, which means you'll have to either 1) Find the source and destroy it, or 2) Find a way to block it from entering your mind!" 

I gave Bill another slice before reaching for another one for myself and asked, "I have a feeling it can't be destroyed, so option number two will have to do... But how on earth are we going to find a way to block it?" 

Bill just gave a sigh before saying, "We are going to have to find another fleshbag to help us, and unfortunately, I've found one that might suit our needs..." 

Bill just sat there munching on his dream pizza before saying, "We'll talk more when you wake up...just...don't get yourself killed alright?" 

He faded as he looked at me with an oddly sincere look. As he faded completely I Just stood there shocked. THE Bill Cipher, the dream demon of insanity, cared for my health? When will wonders ever cease? Well, with this world, most likely not...





I was laying on the blue throne, again. We have been living here for about a month now, but Bills lessons started two weeks ago. I've gotten better with magic during the past 2 weeks, if no longer getting sent flying backwards was an improvement. But by now I've mastered levitation, magic bolts, and magic sight. Magic sight was what I had felt earlier when I had blown open the safe, but it allowed the user to see different things, such as people or magic currents.

I grabbed my staff and used it to propel myself forward and upwards so I could get something to eat-*growl* Speak of the devil and he shall appear, this time as my stomach. So off to the 'pantry'! The pantry was basically an old storeroom containing some cooking ware that needed some serious cleaning, but in the back was a magic fridge. It was a room with runes on the walls with magic laced throughout them to keep the food cold.

As I reached the back and grabbed on of the wrapped squirrels Xavier brought in for me every so often I could see our meager supply of food and ammo that was kept in here. We barely had enough food to last a week, much less however long we would stay here. We need food, ammo, and maintenance supplies. The castle isn't going to fix itself y'know!

Wait, didn't Bill say he would tell me where the local was when I woke up? If so, then where the hell is he? I went to the throne room and set the squirrel above the fire in the middle of the room. 'For your knowledge, I went to double check if that was the place where the fleshbag lives!'

"Took your sweet time doing so." 

He just grumbled while I went to grab the last of the bullets for the .38 special, fifty of them. Wouldn't last long, so we also need a way to get more ammo... 'I could have told you how to make a bullet press and-'

"That wouldn't work. We don't have the materials for it." 

'Oh...'

I could hear Bill mutter once more before saying, 'The place is surrounded by demon, spirit, monster, and magic wards. That means you'll have to go in without me and try not to get killed, alright?' 

I frowned, going in without Bill? That spells trouble because of two things. 1) I don't know jack about bargaining and 2) they may prove hostile and will attack.

'I'm positive they won't attack, well, Unless you start it of course.'

I scowled at the triangular pendant before tucking it into my shirt and grumbling, "I don't start fights..." 

'He he, sure you don't kid~ Your memories prove otherwise~'

"WHAT!?! You dug through my memories!?!" 

'Being stuck in your mind has it's advantages!'

I groaned, "What did you see?" 

'Not much, just some of your more vivid memories, like when you asked the fleshbag called Sharina-'

"Bill, don't go through my memories or I will make it painful to exist there." 

As I said painful I grabbed the pendant and squeezed, eliciting a painful yelp from Bill. So the pendant can hurt him? I don't know whether that's a blessing or a curse.

I gave the pendant a slight squeeze before asking him, "So where is this local?" 

Bill was almost...reluctant with his response. 'The place is three miles east of here... While you're in there I'll be in the pendant and will limit contact with you till we're out of range, you got it kid?' 

Sighing I put Bill back, grabbed my cooked squirrel, and bluntly answered, "Got it" 





The walk here wasn't bad for once. No gigantic monsters to avoid until I get better weaponry or learn stronger magics, no plants trying to munch on me, and I saw a pair of deer pass by. So all in all, it was actually good for once in this damned forest. Wonder if that's an omen of some kind?

Well, nothing is going to get done if we sit here all day! The place Bill sent me to was a literal tree house, As in it's a literal tree carved out and made into a hut kind of tree house. As I went to knock on the door I saw the wards Bill was talking about, they looked like the masks native Africans carved from the trees for their ceremonies, and apparently to ward off danger from their abodes.

I straightened my fedora and my trench coat before untangling the pendants with various symbolic emblems on them, then fixing my scarf over my mouth and nose with my goggles on my forehead with my glasses on to create a powerful look of someone who means business. What? First impressions are everything! At least that's what Mom said...Mom...And here I go dredging up old memories...Whatever, lets go meet our closest neighbor! 

I raised my fist, hesitated, then brought it down. "Knock, knock, knock", And now we wait. After hearing clattering from inside I started growing worried before I heard the locks being, well, unlocked. Can't back out now! As the owner opened the door I got my first look at a sentient creature besides me or Xavier, and boy was she different! She stood at four feet tall with a lean figure and... Fur? A snout, tail, and hooves was what I could see. She had the stripes like a zebra, except she stood on her hind hooves like a satyr from Greek mythology. She also wore a leather dress to hide her "reproductive organs".

She gave me a look over before saying, "What be you? I've never seen something like you dear, please give me a clue." 

She rhymes... I've seen weirder. I cleared my throat and said, "Hello miss! I had a... friend tell me that you were living here and might help me with an issue I have at my place I'm currently staying at and wondered if you could help me!" 

I tried putting my best voice on, but she wasn't buying it, "You did not answer, therefore you must answer mine in kind sir." 

Yikes... I groaned and just said, "I'm something quite rare to these lands and I really kinda doubt you've heard of my kind." 

She just scrutinized me for another minute before pinching the bridge of her snout and waved me inside.

As I walked in I realized something. I'm too big for the doorway. I gave a cough to grab her attention before realizing she was standing there with barely contained mirth on her muzzle. She once again waved me inside with barely contained laughter. Oh, you want to be funny? I can fix that! As she began to laugh at my predicament I shoved against the frame and bust through, taking the doorway with me.

She immediately stopped and gaped at me as I brushed the dust from the door off. That gape became a frown and she went and grabbed a staff from who knows where and struck me across the head. I winced at the impact, and muttered, "Ow..." She apparently had heard me and whacked me again. She waved her staff at me before grabbing glass vial filled with goo and covering the broken frame and muttered a few words. The most surprising thing about that was the door frame growing back and in an even bigger frame more suitable for someone of my size. 

She then turned to me and motioned to a chair and intoned, "Please seat thyself, and do refrain from smashing my stuff" 

She then turned around pulled a chair from a dusty corner before sitting down. I took a seat and began, "Well, my friend said you might be able to help me find supplies for my abode deeper here in the forest. Be it food, ammo, weapons for defense, or just regular building supplies. I was wondering if you could either tell me where I could find such things or if there's a way I can buy some stuff from you, if that's possible?" 

She had a look of consideration before getting up and started digging around on one of her shelves. 'That wasn't half bad, but next time sound more authoritative!'

I rolled my eyes and said, "I'm authoritative already Sparks." 

I heard a clatter behind me before the zebra asked, "Are you well? If not this can wait before my proposal I was about to tell." 

I choked on air before sputtering, "W-what d-do you e-ever m-mean?" 

She just gave me another weird look before setting down a piece of paper with some instructions and what seemed to be a map. She noticed me eying the paper before her before she chuckled, "While I don't have the materials you wish so dearly for here in my little eden, but I do have way to get the supplies for you from a diamond dog den. It holds all of your needed supplies for your own little eden garden, but I have one wish for you that will do plenty of good for everyone in that warden." 

What did she mean by every one in the warden? Wait, she doesn't mean that theres-"I beg of you to free those enslaved, but beware their canine captors and the chosen that patrol the halls of the place after the lights have darkened."

SLAVES!?! They will be lucky if I don't kill everyone in there! She saw my murderous look before stating her last part of her request, "But I wish to accompany you to aid in this liberation, But the chosen is not to be mistaken." 

I mulled over my thoughts and the pros and cons of her proposition and the supplies that I might be able to scavenge from the warden after the battle. I would get the needed supplies while she freed slaves from wherever they were kept in the den, while she could get hurt by me or those supplies she mentioned are fictitious.

'I for one, don't think she's lying. She has a good reason to go there, and helping you would be a plus for helping free slaves from a lifetime of lethal work!'

Maybe Sparks is right. I gave the zebra an outstretched hand and said, "You've got yourself a deal." 

The zebra smiled and handed me a...Jar? I grabbed the jar and gave it a wary look before asking the zebra, "This isn't going to kill me is it?" 

She just laughed and waved me off before opening the jar pulling out a map and directions from inside. Now don't I feel stupid?

She laughed at my expression before stuffing the map and instructions back into the jar and handing it back to me. I graciously accepted it with the grace of a floundering walrus. She continued laughing for a few seconds before telling me to head to the place the directions lead to and to meet her there. She also gave a rundown on what this forest is called and the main dominant species.  Miss Zecora apparently knows what this place is called, the Everfree. The main species, ponies, call this one of the most dangerous places in all of their nation, Equestria.  I just gave my assurance that I would be there in time. 

As soon as I was out side her abode I started running in the direction the map specified, only stopping for a few seconds to change course and check the map every once in a while. After a while I made it at to the large rock in the middle of a very spacious glade in the eastern Everfree. After looking around for any scouts I walked up to the gigantic rock, and by gigantic I mean the size of a small trailer. 

As I looked around for the entrance Bill decided to speak up for the first time since we left, I have something that might help you in there kid... 

I looked at the triangular pendant with confusion, "What is it?" 

Since you know the 'show' I'm from, does that mean you know of my deals? 

I once again gave a confused look at the possessed pendant, "Um, yeah. What does this have do with your deals?" 

"That fire I often use in deals is called demon fire. It is extremely dangerous to wield if your not a demon, but with me being inside you... Well lets just say your part demon, now what kind of demon, I have not a stinking Aetherian clue. What I do know is that you're able to wield demon fire. All you gotta do is focus your magic into your hand and imagine it having demonic properties such as soul binding, deal making, and burning your foes and sending their souls into the void! It also makes a great light source for underground expeditions!"

"Bill..." 

He gave me an uncomfortable look, "Yeah kid?" 

I gave him a smile, "Two things, first you sounded like an ad," 

He shifted uncomfortably, "and your right in front of me." 

He gave a confused look before looking down at himself before doing a spit take in shock. Right in front of me was Bill Cipher in all his triangular glory. "HUH!?! How!?!" 

I shrugged in response and said, "astral projection?" 

He started rubbing below his eye before nodding his top half in agreement, "Most likely..."

He continued rubbing below his eye before shrugging and asked, You still want to learn how to wield demon fire?" 

I shrugged and said, "Might as well, we have quite a bit before Zecora gets here..." 

He did what I assumed what was a victory dance before teaching me the basics of wielding demon fire without sucking my soul out into the void.





We had gotten to how to seal deals with mortals when I heard something approaching from the direction of Zecoras hut. I glanced at the demon whispering a warning, "She's here Bill, go!" 

He gave me a salute before disappearing with a pop. As Zecora bust through the shrubbery I got a good look at what she was wearing for our expedition into a 'diamond dog' warden. She was still wearing her leather dress, but this time with a cloak on her that looked perfectly made for her. 

She came to a stop right in front of me with an almost disappointed look on her face. I smirked underneath my scarf and turned my head inquisitively and asked her, "What's wrong? Thought I'd get lost?" 

She just shook her head and asked me, "Did you find the entrance to the warden? We need it for the supplies for your eden garden!" 

I shook my head in a negative, then she walked up to a random stone sticking out of the ground and grabbed a ridge that stuck out and lifted it open revealing a dark tunnel straight down into pitch black, or that's what Zecora saw. I saw no shadows, in fact I could see perfectly in the dark tunnel. 

Huh, I've never seen so easily in the dark before! It's like looking with a bright light on your head. Hmm, maybe... 

Something wrong Bill? Just a thought... 

I looked down and jumped down with a stone-faced Zecora right behind me, but unknown to Zecora, Xavier also followed right on our tail. How did I know? Because I told him to.

As our descent came to a close I could see the hole curve so we would slide right out onto our butts. Then we were out, me on my feet because of preparation and Zecora on her butt because of insufficient lighting for preparation. As she stood up I could see the cavernous tunnel we found ourselves in was empty. When I was done I could see Zecora pulling out a lantern from her cloak and tapped it a few times to wake up whatever was in the jar, in this case, lightning bugs. She turned to me and put her fingers to her lips. I just rolled my eyes, it's kinda dumb since I already knew to stay quiet. 

She sat down and waved her hand to suggest for me to sit down, which I objected to and simply kneed down and tilted my head in confusion. She looked at me in an odd manner before shaking her head with a smile and whispered, "If you are to progress, you must know of the monstrosity they possess. It is called a chosen, a diamond dog who has sold their soul for special abilities such as their ability to quickly heal their fallen. It must be avoided at all cost, for it will rip you to shreds for no cost!" I blinked, a being more monstrous than the monsters it lives with? I'm not passing this up!





It has been three hours since we split up. Zecora went to the right while I took the left. I had been using my magic sight for quite awhile and all I got was a flash from up ahead to the left that was steadily growing into a bright glow. After a while I came upon a break in the carven tunnels wall. It was a simple doorway with a simple piece of wood with a crude hammer drawn on it.

This must be their armory! From what Zecora told me they have mostly spears and rusty swords, but sometimes they have something good. Peeking in the door way I could see racks of spears and swords, but in the back row there was something I didn't expect to see. It was a trench knife, it was bit rusty, but nothing a bit of cleaning and sharpening wouldn't fix!

 

My Dad had one of these at one point and since he was a history buff, he decided it was a good idea to tell me the history of trench knives. All the way from WW1 to modern day trench knives. Most trench knives have three features, the blade, the brass knuckles, and the striking pommel. From what my Dad told me, the striking pommel was used to cave in the skulls of their victims.

The armory was quiet except from some snoring from behind a counter in the back where two figures were laying. There also was also what sounded like...weeping? As I went to grab the trench knife I got a glimpse of one of the figures from behind the counter. It was a canine like face, the kind you would expect of a bull dog. I stared before grinning with maliciousness practically pouring off it as grabbed the knife and crawled over to the diamond dog. 

As I got closer I saw more of the other figure, and what I saw set my blood boiling. It was a mare from the looks of it and once had mascara or something because I could see the dried black make-up on her face. I felt my eyes flaring and when I turned the trench knife to look at my eyes I saw the yellow and blue glow turning into a mist and flowing into the air from my eyes. I turned back to the monstrosity that lay before me.

I took the blade and pressed it across it his throat and hissed "Burn in hell" The dogs eyes shot open in shock and reach up to grab me, but it was too late. I already cut across his throat cutting almost all the way through his throat. I stepped back to admire my handiwork as he grabbed at his throat trying to stem the flow of blood. His eyes dimmed and glazed as the pool of blood spread across the floor. I walked forward and grabbed the mare and heard a disgusting "shlorping" sound as I lifted her across my shoulder. 

With my other hand I covered the blade in a piece of cloth and stuffed it in my satchel. I though about it for a moment. How did a WW2 tench knife doing here in another dimension entirely? Maybe my entrance pulled other things with me? It seemed like a plausible thing that my entrance from my dimension made a hole and it sucked out other objects though, or worse, people! 

I shook the thoughts away and got back to the task at hand and pondered where to place the mare. I tossed the idea to wake her up and just leave to fend for herself. I tossed away a few more ideas away before settling on calling Xavier and having him take her out of here and to her home. I patted my leg and whistled a low tune. He fell from his perch on the caverns ceiling and glided down to meet me. 

As he set down right next to me he gave a look of confusion at the mare on my shoulder before settling on looking me in the eye and gave a quiet yip. I rubbed his head and set the mare on his back. As I stepped back I could see her more clearly. She had a pair of of bat like wings and had gray fur with a black mane. She was an odd looking thing to say, but not the weirdest. Trust me, seeing a guy dressed in a demoness costume and trick or treating at our door with a little boy dressed as a knight puts some uncomfortable images in your head. 

As I was about to tell Xavier his instructions I realized that the weeping had stopped. Looking at the mares face I found two wide eyed orbs taking in my image. She continued to stare before I coughed into my hand to grab her attention. She at least had the audacity to look sheepish. I stood there for a few minutes as she put herself together. After standing for a few minutes she asked something that surprised me, " my name is Night Blossom, what's yours?"

I stood there before saying, "Dax, Daxinium Berlin..." 

Her muzzle scrunched up and said, "That's an odd name..." 

I chuckled and said, "Mom had odd names for me and my...sister." 

Sigh, There I go again, dredging up bad memories...Night Blossom was sitting there with a worried expression, "Are you alright Mr. Berlian?"

I chuckled and said, "Mr. Berlian is my Dad, call me Dax" 

She looked at me with a smile and a blush, "sorry..." 

I chuckled and waved her off, and asked my final question, "Where do you live?" 

She gave me an odd look before saying, "Ponyville, why?" 

I looked her in the eye and said, "Xavier, Take her home. And Night Blossom," 

She answered with a meek, "Yes?" 

I smiled , though she couldn't see it, and said, "Direct Xavier, and...Good luck..." She stayed there looking at me and was about to say something before Xavier bolted and cut her off.

I continued walking towards the end of the cavern, this time humming a cheery tune. I though about Night Blossom and what she said, 'Ponyville, why?'. Apparently civilization was closer than Zecora. Maybe I would visit her sometime...





It was another hour before I came upon another door way, this time with what seemed to be a mug of ale above it. I didn't realize they had taverns here...Maybe I would visit one later, but it was time for this one to be exterminated. As I stealthily peered in I could see a group of these 'diamond dogs'. They appeared to be having a drinking contest. Too bad they won't be able to see the winners...I grabbed the trench knife from my satchel and crept towards the crowd. 

As I came into striking distance I saw what they were doing. They were indeed having a drinking contest, but their bets were making my eyes practically turn into miniature bonfires. They were betting mares and piles of gems. I grabbed the furthest dog, dragged him outside while covering his muffled yells, and slit his neck in the main cavern. I snuck back in and kept grabbing dogs and slitting their throat. I was able to do this several times before I was discovered.

I had crept back in for the tenth time one of the dogs who had been apart of the drinking contest had paused for a breath and had scanned the crowd for second before his eyes landed on me in the corner trying to minimize my size so I wouldn't be found, but it was for naught as he drunkenly stood and pointed right at me and slurred out, "Intrrruderrr!" 

Every one stopped and in unison looked at me. 

Fuck.

There was only eight left out of the eighteen when I was spotted. I stood up and drew my daggers and got into a low stance similar to a wrestlers. As the first two reached me with two drunkenly held spears I dove to the ground sprung up and shoved the daggers into each of the backs right where their hearts should be. As the two fell with their hearts pumping out their blood, I turned and parried two swords from cutting me open like a butter knife through cake. As the two dogs stood there dumbfounded, I took the daggers and slit their throats and they fell clutching their throats. As I did that a larger dog knocked my daggers from my grip and brought down a large club which I caught in my mechanical grip. While the large dog gaped in horror at his club being splintered by my hand I grabbed my trench knife and stabbed him repeatedly before he collapsed onto his knees. 

As I looked at the last three which were standing stock still gaping in horror at me. Looking down I grimaced. My coat and tail was drenched with blood a-wait...Tail? As I looked at my new tail which was now crimson red I tugged at it and felt a jolt of pain race up my back. I pulled my sleeve up and gaped in shock at the gray fur covering my clawed hand that had pads like that of a canine. I gripped my scarf and felt my new muzzle. I stood there before screaming mentally for Bill. What is it kid-whoa...so that's one heck of demon you turned into! I mentally screamed in frustration before saying, "What am I Bill!?!" He snorted and said You're a hunter, a demon of the hunt, but for you and the energy you're exerting, I'm thinkin the hunter of the night. I checked myself before asking, 'Can I look normal again?' He answered cryptically, Yes, and no. 'What's that supposed to mean!?!' He sighed before saying, When you revert back to your human form you will retain some qualities of your demonic form. 

I groaned and the horror stricken dogs scrambled back and started whispering what sounded like prayers. I shot a single magic bolt for each and ended their lives. The mares on the betting table were awake and shivering in pure fear. I walked up and they shut their eyes waiting for the end while I rolled my now normal eyes and used my trench knife and cut the ropes that bound them. I undid their gags and handed them the weapons from their captors and left them to their own devices, be it to kill every dog they find, or run for the hills.

I just continued walking down the main cavern towards a steadily growing glow. It would take about an hour or two before I reach there. I just kept on walking and trying to get used to having a tail and muzzle.





I had finally reached the end of this Hell be damned cavern. It was a simple door with no sign depicting what was inside, but I do know that there was a ton of life in there due to my magic sight. I just wished it would differentiate the species who's life it picks up, but sadly this wasn't possible. So here I am, peeking in the room at the end of a Hell be damned cavern.

when I peeked in I stood stock still as I watched the dogs whip different ponies and other species. They were digging, for what I have no clue. I continued watching until one of the mares, a pegasus, tripped and fell onto the ground right in front of one of the dogs. What he did made me snap. He took one look at her and casually stepped on her neck until I could hear her spine snap as it was broken. But he didn't stop there, no. He picked up on the pickaxes left in a cart and separated her head from the neck and held it up like a trophy. The slaves gaped in horror while the other dogs howled in malicious happiness. 

I could feel the rage surge inside of me. I could hear Bill and Sparks shout for me to stop, but I didn't stop. I could feel power radiate off of me as I calmly opened the door and slammed it hard enough to send the door of its hinges. The howls of delight stopped as they slowly turned to me. 

The one who had took the mares head grinned and said, "Brother! Come rejoice with us!" 

The others nodded their heads with mad grins on their faces. The slaves stared at my roiling power as it literally came off me in waves. The dogs stopped laughing as they too saw my magic. The one who had the mares head walked up to me and stuck his hand out warily, "Brother? Are you alright?" 

He continued edging towards me when I gripped his wrist in my left mechanical hand. He started screaming when my magic started melting his wrist and hand. I just continued before lighting my hand with demon fire. The fire raced up his arm and set the entirety of him on fire. I let go once he was being consumed by demonic fire and turned towards the rest of the dogs. 

The stench of urine was heavy in the air as several dogs shakily held their spears up to point at me. I grinned with the insanity of Bill the original and said, "Is it just me or is it getting hotter in here?" 

When most of the dogs started getting on their knees and praying I laughed. Not the he he, nor the ho ho. I mean a downright chilling two tone malicious laughter straight from the pits of hell. "HeheheHEHEHEHAHAHAAHAAA! 

Then I killed half the dogs in a blaze of demonic fire, while the rest took demonic magic bolts to the head. I then proceeded to use their corpses as targets for more demonic bolts as they pierce their skin. 

After thirty minutes of insane laughter and merciless slaughtering and burning of corpses I stopped. I looked around at the pile of diamond dog limbs  being used as fuel for a bonfire and looked for the slaves. I found them huddled behind the closed entrance of a mine. When I opened the door they either started screaming bloody murder or praying. Either way, it was starting to kill my ears. After thirteen minutes straight of hearing them scream I decided to just levitate them out into the main cavern and just leave them there. After six minutes they started to realize they weren't dead yet and ran. Another ten minutes pass by and they're all gone. 

I lean against the wall and rest for a second when Bill decided to speak up, Are you, um, finished? 

I looked around at the blood bath I had created, "What do you think?" 

He hummed content with keeping to himself before sighing, You snapped big time kid. Your lucky this is what he expected of you. 

I frown, "Who?" He once more hummed, The Merchant that sent you here.

I sighed, I can't keep myself together can I? If I was in you place I would've done the same thing kid. 

I sit there for a few minutes before I hear shuffling from behind the door. After a few minutes a voice calls out, "Are you alright my friend? I don't wish to disturb but we must be be going for our work is at its end." 

I sit up, "I'm coming Zecora." 

As I shuffle to the door I hear sigh of relief. She must've ran into the ones from the blood bath I had created.

As I shuffle out the of the main mining room I saw Zecora. Her cloak was in tatters, as was her dress, but less so. She gave me a look over before saying, "you didn't mention being part demon, for their rage is hard to contain." 

Wait, no freak out, no 'oh my god I'm going to die', no screaming bloody murder? She certainly was a work of art. 

She had dragged a large mine cart behind her and had started putting things that I had requested in it. But what I thought to be a single mine cart turned into a line of five large mine carts. Each one was capable of holding enough food to supply a group of twenty for a week. I turned to Zecora to find her...piggy backing on me. I stood there for a few minutes before sputtering, "W-what are y-you d-d-doing!?" 

She just chuckled and said, "I am tired from heaving the line of carts and wish for you to carry me, or suffer the wrath of my staff of which I carry with me!" 

I grimace at the memory of getting whacked upside the head and simply grabbed the cart handle and started pulling for the long run back to the entrance.





SIX FREAKING HOURS!! I was pulling the damn cart line for SIX hours! As I began to kiss the ground Zecora leaped off of me and onto the main cart. She started humming in thought before saying something I didn't want to hear, "I wonder why we didn't run into the chosen when we were in the warden, maybe it was out ravaging the forests natural gardens?" 

I frowned and asked, "Zecora, why would a dangerous monster want to destroy natural shrubbery?" 

She opened her mouth but stopped in horror, "DAX! BEHIND YOU!" 

I turned around to face the table sized hand just as it grabbed me and pulled me underground.





Oow, what hap-shit. As I cracked my eyes open I saw something I didn't want to see. Above me stood the largest diamond dog I had seen since I had entered the warden. It stood at twelve feet tall and was five feet wide. The odd thing was is that it was...waiting? Like it didn't want to kill me just yet. That's because it doesn't want to yet you idiot! He's going to challenge you to a show of power! And unlike him, we're out of power! So, when he shows his neck in a show of a challenge, I want you to run! 

As I contemplated what Bill said the huge monstrosity backed up and lifted its head up and showed me its neck and waved its hand to tell me to do so. 

I shakily lifted my head to show my neck. DO YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH!?! 

Both of us stayed like that for a few minutes before I felt a paw press against my chest and most of my neck. I could feel the claw tips of the paw and continued to stay still against all odds. As the seconds ticked on I could feel my heartbeat in my hands and throat.

After what felt like hours I felt the paw leave my chest. I looked down to see...a lifeless corpse. What the hell just happened? I feel like I had just run hundreds of mile in second! As I knelt down to look at the corpse I grabbed one of the monstrosities arms and watch as it faded to dust in seconds. What happened to the arm happened to the rest when I tried to pick them up. I just sat there in a pile of dust when I felt it. It started as a gentle lapping but turned into a tsunami of power.

I got up and the world tilted around me to deranged angles and twisting vision of the cavern I was in. As everything turned back to its original color I patted myself down, mentally, physically, and magically. Nothing. Not a stinking thing! Just what did he do? I sighed and focused at the problem at hand when all of a sudden I felt something strike my head and the world went black.





...I've got to stop waking up like this. I was once again waking up from a forced slumber, but this time instead of a dark cavern I'm in a cozy bed. I forced myself to open mddy lids before realizing several things. First, I was in a bed in the castles throne room just a few feet away from the blue throne. Secondly, I was full, like stuffed full with food. Third, Zecora sat a few feet away talking to a Dorito-wait, no it's a triangle. After a few seconds passed the triangle morphed into..."Bill?"

Apparently I wasn't supposed to be awake yet if Zecoras impromptu Chucky impersonation was anything to go by. She looked worried and started fussing over me before I waved her off. I turned towards Bill and asked as seriously as my raspy voice allowed, "What the hell did it do to me?" 

He floated there for a few minutes before sighing and saying, "I don't know myself kid. What I do know is that we're going to practice a new spell!" 

He grabbed my ripped trench coat and uttered the last thing I expected, "You're going to learn the repair spell!" Well shit...





I was lying in my bed sore from the magic exertion from practice today. Zecora was lying down in a cot she had brought from her hut here, same with her cauldron and my bed. She apparently was going to stay for a few weeks to keep an eye on me. Bill also had plans for me, such as the build spell, the heat spell, and fine manipulation of my magic. But the most interesting thing was that Zecora was perfectly fine with me being a demon. Another thing that plagued my mind was what did the Chosen do to me? And why did it choose me of all people/beings/ponies/zebras/minotaurs/griffons/diamond dog/demon...Okay I'm gonna stop now. Lets just hope the rest of the month will go fine...*Snore*
> Meeting the sunny side of the DEADly Everfree
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

subject: Daxinium Berlian, A.K.A. Dax
Mission:  Take out the so called 'Sunny town'
additional objectives: Save Mitta the earth pony, save the 'champions'
Time: 6:20
Goals: Finish training




I'm currently hanging by a thread over the a large chasm that separates the castle from the rest of the Everfree. Earlier Zecora had contributed the idea of me training under pressure, which includes climbing chasm walls to find the odd rare plant that hides itself in the rocky crevices that I have to search. Bill, being the annoying fourth-dimensional entity he is, agreed whole heartedly with her and set up a schedule for me to follow religiously or suffer the wrath of Zecoras stupid staff.

I had finally reached the next crevice successfully without getting stuck when I felt a tug on the line that was supposedly there to stop me from falling, but I don't think it would be able to hold up a pound of sugar given the chance. As I climbed up to the edge I could see Zecora and Bill having a heated debate about something. I stayed there and listened with my relatively canine ears as they argued. Bill was going on about a settlement in the forest that was called Sunnyville or something like it. Zecora was going on about an infectious curse that plagues the town. 

After listening for a few minutes I decided to speak up, "Um, guys?" They both turned to me and shouted, "WHAT!?!" I stared at them before mumbling, "Geez, I was just going to ask if you needed something..." Zecora at least had the decency to look apologetic. Bill just glared at her before turning to face me and told me one simple thing, "I've got something for you to do kid!" Joy, straight to the point, thats Bill alright. Zecora glared at him before uttering a single syllable, "No!"

While they continued their argument I grabbed all of my gear and stuffed it into my B.i.t.i.s., or bigger in the inside satchel...should I copyright that? Whatever, I grabbed my gear, stuffed it into my B.i.t.i.s., and started walking towards the entrance of the castle. As I went inside I reminisced over past eight months since the Diamond Dog Warden Massacre I had created.

After the D.D.W.M I've had several visits from Zecora who would come and stay for few days to work with Bill on helping me survive here in the forest by making a list of chores, tasks, and exercises for me to do. I was subjected to being tortured with a staff if I moved an inch during Zecoras meditation. I was also made to run with her to make me 'faster' and have more 'endurance'...It was my personal hell.

Me and Bill continued our training and got me to learn a new spell every week, if a shaky when doing them. That's also why Bill made a practice time before each lesson to practice each spell and try to perfect it. After learning for five weeks he started me on spell matrices and how to use and make them. From what I've learned spell matrices are spells intertwined together to make a large spell that does multiple things at once. The only thing that makes it a pain in the ass to use is the fact that you need to connect it to something that holds magic extremely well, like gems and other crystalline structured objects. The bigger the crystal, the bigger the spell matrix it can hold. I had also tried making a few of these complex matrices and had only two complete ones out of the seven weeks I've been working on them. 

I had finally reached the restored throne room which had been remade into a living room of sorts. Zecora had gone out to the local village and went and grabbed those local giveaway couches and chairs that are left at the curbs. There also was a generator I had made from scraps of various metals we had scavenged from the warden. The generator ran off of ambient magic from the surrounding forest, which grew back. 

There was two exits besides the main entrance, the exit to the right was a staircase decorated with gold and polished marble leading to a hallway with a door leading to a rather lavish room that was decorated similarly to the hall and stairs, which we dubbed this area the solar wing. 

The left one was also a staircase but instead it was decorated with topaz, sapphire, amethyst, and some kind of blue marble. It was similarly made like the solar wing, but with darker materials. The room at the end was poorly lit room with purples and blues being its main colors. The room was much more modest with an oak desk for writing, a few shelves filled with interesting books on magic theory, a few dressers for any clothes I might acquire, a spacious closet, a large dog bed for Xavier, and a comfy bed for yours truly. we had dubbed this area the lunar wing. We also had another wing for guests that you had to enter from the main hall, it wasn't used very often by anyone except the common spiders. 

Speaking of which, where's Xavier? I snap out of my memories and look around and spot him laying in his huge dog bed, curled up with stinger hanging right above his head. He was terrifying when I first met him in this very castle, but after spending months with my little horror I've grown attached to him and all of his little quirks. I've even grown to see him as 'cute'  when he decides to curl up next to me or play catch with gemstones. rock balls had turned out to be too easy for his strong jaws to crush, so we got him large gems to play with. 

As walk towards Xavier I look at the glint of one of his more rounder gems. I still had my wolfish features from the warden,  but they were less feral. I had my gray wolf ears, but my fur wasn't like that of a wolf, but rather akin to a small layer of fur to insulate me from the cold even more. And my tail was like a diamond dogs but more hairier. My hands kept their pads and their claws.

As I remember the fun times we had I pass by Xavier and walked towards the only window in the room that was covered most of the time. I open the curtains to look beyond them and see...Bill. This should prove to be either a request or a mission, which is basically a request without the asking. He knocks on the window and simply hangs there with an annoyed expression on his...eye? Whatever, better to finish this now. 

I open the window and ask, "What is it Bill?" He looks at me before handing me a paper and... floats off. That's odd, even for Bill. Hmm, I wonder what he wrote in the paper? As I look in the paper I read not only Bills handwriting, but Zecoras as well. They probably came to an agreement on whatever they were arguing about. I read it out loud,





We both have come to an agreement on a rather important subject, your training. We had done some digging around and found a village called sunny town with a terrible curse. We believe your training we have done with you has prepared you for this dangerous mission. At first we both disagreed on this subject, but we have come to an understanding that if you do well with your mission you will be given something to...aid you in your 'Quest' to find your sister. So your mission is simple, free the town of its horrid curse. You're allowed to bring Xavier. But we cannot come with for we cannot be there for you all the time. We have included a map to the village on the backside of this paper. And a few words of advice, nothing is what it seems, especially under the sunlight.

Good luck, 
Zecora and Bill





Well shit...*Sigh* Better stuff some essentials into B.i.t.i.s. and wake Xavier up. Wait, Zecora didn't rhyme...Odd. As I go about my work I think of Angel and where she might be right now...I just hope someone is looking after her...

-----------------Angels P.O.V.--------------

WOW! These Pancakes were DELICIOUS! I turn towards Ms. Fleur De Lis and thank her once more and her friend, Mr. Fancy Pants, "Thank you! These were delicious!" Ms. Fleur just laughed her melodious laugh and simply said, "No problem dear Angel! Now with breakfast aside, what do you remember about your brother?" 

At the mention of my dear protective brother my eyes start to well up with tears, "I-I don't kn-now, *sniffle* all I remember is that he was wearing a trench c-coat and a fedora, n-not to mention he bought the n-necklace, book, staff, and h-hand. O-oh! H-he was also wearing this b-beautiful dark blue scarf that had emerald laced through it that was made by *sniffle* M-mom..." As I cried I could feel Ms. Fleur's arms holding me across her chest stroking my four wings comfortingly, but I didn't care. I want m-my big b-bro!*sniffle* I hope he's alright, *Sob*...

-----------------Daxiniums P.O.V.-------------

I had finished packing and went to wake Xavier only to find him sitting in front of the door my staff in his jaw. I had forgotten about it after I had woken up for todays schedule! Zecora had shown me how to wield the staff properly both physically and with Zebrakin magic. I still barely use it, but now it's more useful then a flash light! Yay!

I pick my staff up and thank Xavier which he replies with a bark. I go back into my room and open the desk which contains my trench knife and places it in a sheath on my belt before heading to my bed and grabbing the twin daggers underneath it. I then proceed to the closet and grab my .34 special and Umbra. Before I put both in their holsters Zecora had made for me I looked at Umbra and admired its physicality, such as the calibers it took, .45 mm. and the multiple scratches on its tar paint. I also looked at the .34 special and smiled at the silver paint covering it. It also had a single word engraved on its side, Lux. I then proceeded to put them in my holsters on my belt.

I looked at my mechanical hand and opened a panel on the back and messed with a few wires to activate a few 'upgrades' I had found on Sparks mainframe. In my free time when I wasn't dead tired from training I had decided to mess with Sparks system and found that a lot of upgrades that hadn't been turned on, so I had decided to try a different one every week to find out what they did. One of these 'upgrades' actually made Sparks into a solid hologram by using a spell matrix so fucking complicated I had gone through fifty different spells only to find that I was only 0.0001% through all the spells that made up the hologram. Another upgrade made my dull mechanical fingers into freaky sharp claws at will. 

After I  was done meddling with my hand I woke up Sparks from her sleep mode. When she turned on I turn to find her holographic form. She was an opaque pink unicorn with what looked like electric connections over parts of her barrel, she was also more equine then her counterparts because of her walking on her four hooves. The only thing that was offsetting was her bright blue eyes that reminded me of a good friend of mine. She was also energetic when it came to physical and magical work.

She turned to me and looked around curiously before noticing me, "Oops... umm, good morning?" I smiled and rubbed her head and looked around for anything for I had missed during my retrieval of weaponry. After checking everything off my mental list I smiled at her and explained everything that had conspired during the few hours before I had woken her up.  She was curious about the town but was wary because of the warning Bill and Zecora gave us in the letter. I chuckled when she decided to be my personal 'body guard' since she was just a hologram. She was so light I could toss her fifty feet easily.

After grabbing Xavier we headed out towards the bridge we had created using the spells Bill taught me. It was a simple stone arch with wood as guardrails. We finally hit the forest line that had receded because of our recent building projects scattered throughout the castle, which I've deemed the Everfree fortress. So it was just Xavier, Sparks, and me. How hard could this be?





"Hello?" It was the same thing happening over and over again. I would see a little filly and try to talk to her to try and find out why she's in the most dangerous forest in existence, only to see her disappear before our eyes. "I'm getting odd readings off the filly, I advise we keep moving." I look at the filly who looked at with bright yellow glowing eyes-WHAT!?! Doing a spit take I look back to were I had seen the little filly standing a few seconds ago. She was gone, and coupled with Sparks readings... 

I turn towards her nod with a forced grin, "Probably should fine shelter soon eh?" Sparks just nodded with assurance and pulled the map from B.i.t.i.s. and started deciphering our position and which direction to go. While Sparks did her job I found my mind wandering back to the little filly. She had a gray coat and had an orange mane with lighter highlights throughout it. She also had a cutie mark, a magnifying glass. 

As I kept wondering over the odd filly I let my eyes wander over the Everfrees shrubbery and such when I spotted her again, But this time she wasn't smiling, she was frowning  like I was directly disobeying her orders. I got up to get a closer view when she started walking forward. As I watched her come closer I nudged Sparks and nodded towards the approaching filly. Sparks looked wary but trotted up to her only to have phase right through her and keep on walking in my direction.

I've had enough! I quickly get to my fe-er, paws, and start walking towards the little ghost. as soon as we were within kicking distance she suddenly stopped. I stumbled over my feet before stopping in front of her. She stood there for few minutes before...Breaking into a smile? What is wrong with this filly? 

She then put up a hand said, "Nice to meet you! My name is Ruby! What's yours?" I stand there dumbfounded before stumbling over my words and choked out a response to the filly, "C-call me D-Dax..." Ruby giggled before turning serious, "You're after Sunny town, aren't you?" I grin nervously before saying, "Y-yep...Y'know a way there that doesn't take forever?" She scrutinized me for a few seconds before grinning and saying, "Yep, but you gotta help me too!" This didn't sound fun, "Lead the way Ruby..." Somehow I knew I was going to regret this...





As I look over the small town I feel slightly overwhelmed at the size of it. When Bill or Zecora talked about it they made it seem like a village consisting of five hundred, maybe less. This was close to a thousand and I don't do so good with crowds. 

As I paced a few feet away from the ledge that overlooked the town I started worrying about what ruby told me, 'Everybody will be dangerous, but you can trust Mitta. She used to take care of me, but those meanypants keep her from me and drive me out whenever they see me. You can trust her...She's the only one...' 

So, lets get our game plan together. We go in, find an earth-pony named Mitta, get her to tell us what the curse is, find a way to break said curse but find a way to keep Mitta safe when I deactivate/break the curse. I look back over the town and sigh. This was going to be difficult with a few thousand cursed ponies out to stop/kill me from breaking the curse. 

I call Xavier to my side and gave him a reassuring smile, rub his head, and said, "lets go boy." and we begin our journey to free Sunny town and complete our mission to try and find my sister. At least, that's the hope... Lets not dwell on bad subjects and look forward to the better things! Like being possibly killed by a town with a horrible secret! "I don't see how that's better" I glowered at the approaching unicorn before sticking my tongue out and blowing a raspberry. Sparks just shook her head and started walking towards the town with us in tow.





We had just entered the town before we were stopped by a pony, an earth-pony to be exact with a gray coat and black mane and tail. He gave me a rather toothy grin and said, "Welcome to sunny town! We don't get many visitors during this time of year, but we can surely accommodate to your size!" He just stood there with one of those smiles that I knew very well, the kind where you know something and just want to share it with the world! No, not really. It's one of those, 'Hey! We got some poisonous mushrooms for free! Try one!' and I wasn't buying any of it. 

After a few minutes of staring at each other he just coughed into his fist and held it out with a boisterous, "My name is Grey hoof, what's yours?" He held the hand there for a few more seconds before I gripped it in my mechanical hand and shook it firmly and said, "Daxinium." Grey just stared at my hand before grinning like a loon and saying, "Welcome to the party! We're celebrating the towns 1004 anniversary! Come, try some of Starlets cupcakes! Have some punch! We're so happy to have another visitor here at our little sunny town!" 

I nod and say, "Glad to get out of that damn forest! It's been too long since I've talked to an actual person besides Sparks!" His eyes light up but turn confused before looking around, "um, not to be rude or anything, but where's this 'Sparks'?" I grin under my scarf before rubbing Sparks little holographic head and said, "This here's Sparks, my good friend!" Grey just looks at her before smiling saying good-day and walking off. Odd guy, I don't really trust him...

After our meeting with Mr. Grey we just wandered around taking in the sights and wasting time before night fell. I had put Sparks into sleep mode while Xavier went hunting for his food. It was about an hour or two before the sun set when I decided to grab a muffin from the table before recoiling and spitting out the muffin I had just stuffed into my mouth. When I had looked at it the cupcake was decorated with simple white frosting and felt like a cupcake when I shoved it into my mouth before gagging. I spit it onto the ground and saw a pile of dirt and dust where what should've been a nice cupcake. After staring at the pile Something clicked in my mind, a story from when I around thirteen. 

It was called the 'Thief of always', a story about a boy and a magical house that would suck away your years like a vampire. The catch was that you wouldn't be able to live those years that the house took away. The part that I had remembered was when the boy shoved the houses food into one of its servants and the food turned to dust right in its mouth, killing it. The food was dust and so was this places food, so time was a part of the 'curse' they were talking about? Seemed like it!

The same happened with the punch, just filthy rancid water. I started asking questions to a few locals, but they always said they had to do something when I started asking questions about the town and its odd quirks such as why was the majority of the towns population earth ponies? Or why was there tons of different species besides the regular ponies? I'm not kidding on that one! Seriously, there was around a few dozen diamond dogs just sitting around, a bunch of griffons were brooding on a roof, while there was even a minotaur standing at the end of the alley beckoning to me...What? 

I stepped backwards towards the alley to get a better look when the minotaurs meaty arms grab me and heave me onto his shoulders and began to run like hell hounds were on his tail. I was fighting the entire time I was being held like a sack of potatoes on his shoulders. After another five minutes of bruising the guys shoulder he dropped me like the potato sack he thought I was and ran, again.

I sat up and looked around to see a simple little cottage. It was so simple that I almost missed the door. It was a simple door with no paint, but it wasn't the door itself that caught my attention, but rather the hinges. They were bent like someone had forced themselves inside, but for what reason?

After standing there for another minute I decided to knock on the little cottages door. *Kno-whumph* Oops... There goes the door. Really hope that was just because of the shitty D.I.Y. repair on the hinges. After staring like a retard at the door I come to my senses and just knock on the door frame like any other normal person. *Knoc*-"Y'know I'm out here right?" 

I twist my head to see a mare sitting right in front of the house just staring at me with an irritated look on her muzzle. She frowned before patting the ground next to her and said, "Don't talk much do you?" I sat down and nodded my head 'yes' to her question. In truth I have never actually been much of a talker. I only really talk with my friends and family, or basically anyone I trust very much.

We sat there for a few minutes before I gathered my words together and said, "You're Mitta?" She matched Ruby's description. A gray coated mare with a blood red mane, yep! It's her! She just gave me a look that I can't really decipher before saying, "Ruby?" I nod again and ask, "What was with the escort?" 

She looked back at the village and sighed before saying, "You're not the first 'champion' that Ruby sent this way..." Huh, so that panicked minotaur was one of these 'champions'? How many has there been? Dozens? Hundreds? And if so, what have they been doing all this time? "Prepping for the right one?"...Shit! I just said that out loud! I turn my head to look over at Mitta only to get a face full of....Nothing? She's just sitting with a grim look before turning to me and saying, "What do you think? We need the power to break the curse, but all we've been getting from Ruby is earth ponies, Minotaurs, even a few griffons, but no unicorns!"

But that doesn't make sense! I saw a few dozen of them on my way through the village! I turn to tell her that but I'm stopped by her look. It was look of... realization? As her look of realization continued to grow it morphed into confusion, then consideration, and finally horror before she grabbed my hand and yanked me to my feet with her as she tried running with me in tow. 

After stumbling with her tugging on my arm I had managed to stop our movement and ask, " Why in Hell are you pulling me like your life depends on it!?" She looked around before saying, "You've been here before! About 1001 years ago! And they never forgot the first one to escape, you. You even gave me instructions to take you to river where you would meet up with your friend!" Friend? By the river none the less? What do you say to that? 

Apparently my choice was made for me when she pulled me along for the ride, again. This village seems to enjoy pulling people around, or maybe it's just me. Anyways, after being pulled along for about fifteen minutes we had arrived at a large cliff over looking the river. I had finally pulled my hand from her grip when i heard voices. "Get back here Mitta!" We both turned to see Grey Hoof with a group of a few dozen earth ponies.

Mitta shouted back, "He's going to stop you! You and your madness! He's going to kill all of you for killing my daughter!" Well shit..."You don't deserve your immortality! You'll see! You see when he comes to collect on his debt!" And with that she promptly shoved me off the edge to my odd and unfortunate demise in the watery hell that's called a river...





Ow...Just ow...Wait, how am I still kicking? I was shoved off a fucking cliff into a river filled with sharp rocks for Christs sake! I should be dead! How am I not dead!?! Actually, forget that, where the hell am I? After forcing my eyes open I got an eyeful of a caves wall. Not very helpful in my opinion... alright up we go!

Again, cave, but this time there's more! There's moss, stones, a box covered with what looks like river weed, a large river next to the other side...Wait, box? I grab the bow and pull off the weeds before seeing a box with an emblem I didn't expect to see here of all places, the flag of the U.S.A., my home. But how the bloody Hell did it get here? and what the Hell was the box's contents?

Well, you could start by opening the damn box or we could twiddle our thumbs. Oh wait! I DON'T HAVE THUMBS! Got it Ms. asshole...What did you call me!? Nothing! Geez! After prying the lid off with my trusty trench knife, one of the only other thing I have seen from my world, I saw...fabric? No, thats Kevlar!

There's a bunch of plain Kevlar fabric, a bullet-proof vest made of Kevlar, and a pair of gloves with extra padding on the palm and the bottom of the fingers. I put the vest and gloves on, but after careful consideration I had decided to put the plain Kevlar to good use on my jacket. 

After three hours I had managed to sew/weld the Kevlar onto the inside of my trench coat. As I was about to put it on I caught my reflection in one of the pools of water near me. I was what could be considered a furry lovers wet dream. I stand at seven ft. and a few inches now due to my little transformation. I now had a somewhat visible six pack with large arms that practically writhed with muscles when I moved them. I have a face similar to a diamond dogs, but my muzzle was a bit more narrow. My tail was a bit of a combination between a diamond dogs and a wolves tail. Hell, I could pass for one if I put one of the collars on with one of their vests!

I realize  that I never really looked at my under clothes very well because they also seemed to have changed with me. I was wearing some tan cargo pants with two large pockets under the regular ones while my shirt was a simple gray with an odd emblem on the left shoulder, it looked like the Brotherhood of Steel emblem, though this one was modified like it was made personally for me. Instead of the almost angelic wings outstretched, it was a pair of almost demonic bat like wings. The other piece modified was the back ground was the back ground it was placed on. It was a on a dark blue flame... Odd. I shake off my odd sense of deja vu and get back to putting my clothes on.

As I continued to put on my stuff I heard the sound of something surfacing in the river that ran next to the other wall of the cave. As I turn around I'm greeted by the sight of... A sea serpent. He hadn't noticed me yet as he started moving things around the pile of rocks before pulling out a...Comb? I've got no words...How on earth does it keep it's form underwater?

As I gawked at the impossible sight before me the serpent had gone to put the comb away and went to look at where I had lay. Only to find that I'm not there. We both look in each others eyes and I begin to sweat. What was he going to do with me? As I sat there on the verge of a panic attack he smiled and extended his hand and said, "I'm Steven Magnet! What's your name darling?" What. The. Fuck? 

I managed to shake his hand after a minute while saying, "Daxinium." Steven looked at the box next to me and somehow his grin became bigger. "I'm so glad someone found a use for that fabric! There wasn't enough to cover me or to make a hat, but it fits you perfectly darling!" I rub my head in embarrassment an-wait a second!

"Steven, where's my fedora and goggles?" Steven seemed to shrink when I asked about my missing equipment. I asked again, "Steven, where is my fedora and goggles." Except this time It wasn't a question, it was a command. After a few minutes he sullenly pointed at a pile of fabric and glass. Please tell me that isn't what I think that is.





Here we are after an hour of looking for the pieces to my fedora and goggles, but the hat still has a ton of holes while the goggles are missing an entire lens and chunks of the strap is gone. I'm going to need a new hat and goggles or someone's going to get the smack down of a life time! 

As I sat wallowing in my stewing anger Steven had started digging around his pile of rocks which I assume is where he stores his stuff and grabs what seems to be a top hat and a pair of amber goggles. He sat both down gently in front of me and backed up and started twiddling his thumbs with a rather depressed look on his face. Poor guy probably hasn't had anyone to talk to besides himself due to his unique looks. Damn, now I feel like a jerk... I'm gonna have to make this up to him later, but for right now we could be.... Friends. 

As he sits there I walk up to him tap one of his scales to grab his attention. When he looks at me I smile say, "Thanks... Friend." The look that lights up his face could've been mistaken for a firework. After a while hugging me awkwardly he let go and started to make coherent noise before freezing up and looked at me before grabbing me again and pulling my goggles over my eyes and started rambling about getting me up to surface because of a letter he found on the bank about me seeing a friend or something. In all honesty it seemed to remind about something Mitta said, though for the life of me I and remember... Oh well, Maybe I'll remember later.

After he rambled for a few minutes he said, "I've got to get you to the surface! Hold your breath!" Fuck! I was horrible at holding my breath! We plunged into the icy river and swam back to the surface with me clinging on for dear life at the ludicrous speeds he was going. After a few seconds of rushing water the surrounding liquid existed no more as we popped out of the river. Steven sat me down on the bank of the river before waving happily and diving back into the river to his home.

After sitting there trying to gain feeling in my hands I go and collect several branches and set them in a pile before grabbing an armful of stones and making a ring around the pile of wood and the proceeded to light the fire with a spark spell. After I had managed to gain back the feeling in my hands Xavier landed next to me with a rather anxious look plastered onto his snake-like muzzle. 

He started to cuddle up to me and began to lick my hand like a dog would when their owner had been away for a while, which in this case had exactly happened. So there we were, sitting next to a fire cuddling next to each other for warmth before I fell asleep next to my precious little horror.





Ugh, what time is it? It's 'get your lazy bum up and kill sunny town for trying to end us!' time! Well aren't you just a cheerful ball of fluff. Did you get a virus or something? No... I think your personality is messing with my personality core. Hmm, maybe. I need you to reboot me, it's the only way to fix my personality core. But what about sunny town? You'll be fine. Just don't die, besides you've got Xavier!

"... Fine, how do I reboot you?" It's voice activated. So all you got to say is, Neo Coral Mathens. " That it?" ...Yes... I look at the hand containing one of my few friends and hesitantly said, "Alright... Neo Coral Mathens... Are you there?" She was gone till her reboot was over.

Xavier was still lying next to me despite probably having been awake for a few hours. When I started getting up he started getting up along with me. After putting out the still lit fire I started to head back towards sunny town and its deadly citizens. 

During the walk there the moon never moved oddly enough. It was almost like someone was forcing it to stay in place, but that's impossible right?....RIGHT!?!...Bloody hell... I really hope that's impossible... Anyways, onto more important subjects like our arrival into sunny town! After we finish the trek there...





It was another three hours before we managed to reach the towns outer limits. With the moon out and shadows everywhere we used them to their fullest. Basically darting around in the shadows and hiding in them when one of their patrols came around. How did I know they were patrols? Well, when one had spotted me because of poor timing on my part, the 'pony' pointed right at me and let out an ungodly scream. 

As they got closer I could see what was wrong with them. they were in various states of decay, be it just barely a pile of shambling pile of tendons or bones with barely any flesh. The more cruel looking ones were in a more decayed state than the others, but that didn't stop them from shambling at ridiculous speeds towards me. I grab the pair of large daggers from my sides and rush them.

Unfortunately, there was around ten of these 'ponies' in the entire group. What made it even more difficult was even if I cut their heads off they would simply walk over and put it back with a disgusting crunch. After a while of chopping heads off I decided that fire might be a possible route. 

After burning one in a blaze of demonic fire one of the more decayed ones walked up to the ash and poked before saying, "Three leaf? That's not funny...T-Three leaf?" The pile of ash didn't respond to the ghouls call. The others started looking panicked for some reason. Were they supposed to put themselves back together after being turned to ash? Wait...Demon fire literally takes ones soul and shoves it into the 'Void', the place between universes. Does that mean since her body was ripped from her body, everything goes to ashes? That actually makes sense because without a soul in it everything self-destructs and burns up, erasing their existence from this universe entirely...Wow... Never really thought about it like that...

After sitting there thinking about what happens to the souls after they're dumped in the void, Xavier bumps his muzzle against my gloved mechanical hand with a confused sounding wimper. I look at Xavier and he motions his head to the abandoned pile of ashes... Abandoned? Where the hell did they go!? As I look over the ashes I see their hoof prints running off in the direction of the center of town. I actually never saw the center of the town because of my impromptu departure by Minotaur. We walk side by side as we walked towards the center of the cursed town and the source of these ponies curse. 





We had finally reached the center when I got tackled from behind. As I hit the ground I twisted my body and rolled away before coming to a kneeling position with my daggers held backwards, ready to make a scissor cut and hopefully chop their head off and buy me enough time to concentrate and send demon fire their way. As I was about to do so I caught the face of the person who had tackled me. "Mitta?" She started to grab my hand and started pulling me towards an alleyway, presumably to talk. 

After dropping my hand she hugged me once more before rambling on about how I was back to kill the ones who killed her daughter and other less important stuff. After making sure we were alone I covered Mitta's mouth before asking a single question, "Is everyone that Ruby sent gone?" Mitta nodded her head yes before I asked my next question, "Where is the cause?"





Wow, I was expecting something large, but not this large. We had stopped on one of the many rooftops surrounding the town square. After taking one look at the monstrosity before us I knew that this could very well end very badly, like bloody bad, or boom bad, or zombie bad. One of those three... I think... Anyways, the cause of our most likely gruesome death was a gigantic generator, which was basically a gigantic crystal with machinery surrounding it on scaffolding or just bolted on haphazardly.

The other issue was the mob of zombies surrounding it. The numbers were in the hundreds and the favor was with them. After looking at their numbers I realized something, "Um, Mitta?" She looked over and said, "Yes?" I looked once more at what could be the saving grace I hoped for before asking, "What's that odd building connected to the building?"

The building in question was an odd looking cottage with window shining out a dark blue light. Mitta just shrugged and said, "Some kind of regulator, why?" A regulator? Hmm, this could be the opening I was looking for! But I need a distraction because of one little issue. The building was what the entire mob seemed to be focused around. I need something like... I've got it! I turn towards my undead companion with a glint in my eye. Mitta shifts nervously under my gaze and asks, "What?"





We watch as Mitta walks towards the edge of the crowd and shouts, "The first went that way!" While pointing in the opposite direction of my hiding spot and runs along with them. Our plan was to have Mitta distract the main crowd and split off from them and get a safe distance. Why? Because I've decided to go out with a boom. Literally. The reason I had to die was because of several reasons, but the main fact being that I don't know teleportation nor will I have the energy to do so. 

The generator was similar to the one in the castle, it drains natural magic from the surrounding area and uses the power to generate the curse. The thing is with the generator running on something as volatile as magic it needs a regulator to control the flow of magic, but without a regulator it will most likely go boom in a week, but that won't be happening because it needs to go off now. So it needs to overflowed with even more volatile magic and the largest source of magic is me. So, after almost everyone is gone I make a break for the generator and break the regulator and start shoving magic into the crystal as fast as possible because once I start every single cursed one will be after me and it becomes a race for time.

After mostly everyone is gone I look across the plaza and look at the last pony standing there, Grey hoof. He's already looking at my spot with a grim smile across his face as he beckons me to come closer. I oblige and jump off the single story house with ease and walk until we're mere yards apart. Grey hoof smiles and chuckles before saying, "Y'know how this little shindig going to end don'tcha?" He looks at me with a grin before saying, "You're not one for words are ya?" I simply stand there glaring at him before saying, "Move Grey hoof, we both know that Sunny towns time is up." 

He once again looked at the ground before sighing a grabbing a beautifully made rapier from a sheath on his side and gives a look over before saying, "Was my great, great, great grandfathers. I've held onto it for over a thousand years and I've never used it once. I guess that's about to change eh?" We stared at each other for a few minutes before grabbing my daggers out and getting into a combat stance, Grey did likewise. And the battle for the fate of Sunny town commenced. 

------------------Mean while-------------- 2nd P.O.V.

An odd figure watches from the shadows of a nearby building. They are completely covered in stealth armor provided by a contact in Canterlot. They stand there for a few moments before tapping a small button their helmet activating a com-link and mutters, "Info on target seems to be useless as he combats the abnormality and seems nervous, almost scared despite the false bravado. The abnormality seems fixed on detonating the time conversion generator and is willing to sacrifice it's self. Orders?" The pony shifts nervously before a crackling sound comes from the com-link, 

"Keep an eye on the abnormality, but don't engage. When the battle ends I want you out of there. A hover fly will be there for quick EVAC, and do not engage the abnormality at any cost. I have feeling he might join our cause later, so lets not cause trouble. Got it agent Sweetie drops?" 

The mare confirms and gets to higher location to watch the battle for better viewing. After few minutes the mare notices the fight winding down when the abnormality scores a hit on the targets right leg. She stops recording and leaves for the EVAC zone. She looks back and stands there before heading towards the EVAC zone once more.

------------------Back to Dax-------------

I had finally hit the mayors leg when he fell for my feint. After a few slashes he was laying on the ground groaning. I simply light a small fire on my index and I tap his nose with an inaudible "Boop" and walk towards the rapier laying on the cobblestone. As I look at the rapier I feel dozens of emotions flood my consciousness but the most dominant being relief.

I chuckle at the thought. I really doubt this is the end of the line for me, I bet some how, some way, that a god or something is going to save my ass just to laugh at me later. I grab the rapier and put it in my bag. I turn back to the now blazing demonic bonfire and salute it almost mocking it and open the door to the regulator.

There wasn't much there except the machinery itself. I chuckle at that, the cleanest spot so far is the thing keeping them alive. Well, not for much longer! I grabbed a single pipe from a box, most likely for repairs, and began hitting the regulator with all I got. *clunk* First hit and the machinery is already bending, pretty shoddy if you ask me. *clunk* The glass container where you could see magic flowing now has a web of crack. *crunch* The wires holding things suspended broke, everything is on the ground now. *crac-THOOM!*...Ow... I had finally burst the main container, but the magic was under pressure, which would explain me being thrown several feet backwards.

The regulator is gone, now all I need to do is overflow the crystal with magic. As I walk up to the crystal Xavier walks alongside me, almost persistently nudging me with his nose, most likely to show that I wasn't alone. There, a group of cracks surrounding the point where the regulators needle would enter the crystal. I place my hands there and focus. C'mon, just like your first time! And just like that, magic crackled around me, flowing straight into the crack. 

It took two minutes before I even felt tired from magic exhaustion and the other events catching up with me. I was so emotionally drained from everything, I idly wonder if there is something higher than a god. Maybe not, maybe yes. I don't know, but are we supposed to know anything in reality compared to the higher being? All I could tell was that I was tired...I can see myself leaning against the crystal, sliding down to sit down on the floor. Xavier is here, nuzzling my hand. He looks worried, I wonder why? Oh... The crystal's going off... I can feel myself...falling.....................Help me....

------------------Shining armor's P.O.V.-------------

Things were finally looking up, princess Celestia was found alright and Nightmare moon was defeated, tough I wonder who defeated her. After idly looking out the window I could see the sun barely above the Everfree forest when something akin to an earthquake hit. After getting every one calm I was about to tell them to go and check on the civilians when, *BOOOM* "Sweet Celestia and sauerkraut!" As both me and Celestia's main advisor, ink well, raced towards the window to see what looked like a gigantic fire bomb going off in the everfree, which was the closet thing to Ponyville besides the sweet apple acres. 

I turn towards ink and yell, "Get to the old wing and start project 'Equestrian shield'! NOW!" Ink nodded and left while started grabbing whatever soldier was nearest to me and handing him a hastily scribbled note and told his to give it to Philomena and to double time it. As I look out over the Everfree I could only hope we can contain the remaining fires...
> A meeting with a Shados of a father
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Dax, A.K.A. Daxinium Berlian.
Time: {CORRUPTED}
Mission: {CORRUPTED}
Goal: {Deleted}
System check: {PAUSED}




I'm on what seems to be ship in the middle of the night, or thats what I thought. I'm standing on the main deck and I could hear waves splashing against the bow, but there wasn't a spray or anything, just the sound. After looking around at the pitch black something came to me. Why can't I see? My eyes are extremely good at night due to my wolfish traits and demonic inheritance, so why can't I pierce the darkness surrounding me? "ThAt WoUlD Be Me.." 

Turning around I could clearly see a man, but not like any I've ever seen. He stood at nine feet tall, taller the me even! He also was thin as hell. I'm talking Gaster from undertale thin. After looking at his frame I noticed his face. It was... odd to say the least. He has a muzzle that was better placed on a fifth graders picture of a shadow wraith. "WoW... tHaT's HaRsH. ShOuLdN't HaVe ExPeCtEd AnY bEtTeR fRoM mY sOn..." 

I feel my spine straighten and I take a closer look at him before snarling, "You're not my Dad." 

He chuckled and nodded before saying, "PoSsEsSiOn WoRkS wOnDeRs DoEsN't It?" 

I sit there for a few minutes before it strikes me, he possessed my biological Dad and basically fucked my Mom. Bloody fucking fantastic. I kept looking at him before saying, "So you're my Dad.... Why?" 

He didn't expect that. It even took him even a few minutes trying to think about it. He answered my question with a lengthy explanation, "I nEeDeD aN hEiR tO tAkE mY pOsItIoN. WhIlE mOsT vOiD dWeLlErS lIkE tO bElIeVe ThAt ThEy'Re eTeRnAl, It IsN't TrUe BeCaUsE wHiLe UnIvErSeS cAn PaSs In A bLiNk Of An EyE, ThErE's OnLy So MaNy BlInKs We HaVe. 

He stopped for a moment before continuing, "I'm GoInG tO pAsS oNtO oBlIvIoN sOoN aNd I dOn'T wAnT aLl ThIs PoWeR tO gO tO wAsTe WhEn I pAsS, tHiNk Of It LiKe... InHeRiTaNcE."

I think on that for a few moments before saying, "So, when you... kick the bucket I inherit all your power?" 

He nodded and said, "BaSiCaLlY. BuT i WaNtEd To GiVe YoU sOmEtHiNg BeFoRe YoU gO. PaSs Me YoUr BoOk ThAt YoU BoUgHt FrOm ThE mErChAnT." 

I dig through my satchel and grab the thick journal containing the picture of Xavier. I hand the journal over and he gently lifts it and starts weaving what looked like pure darkness around it until an entire cocoon of darkness covered it. He twisted the strands hard and they snapped, retreating back to wherever they belong. But instead of the simple journal between his hands there was a journal similar to the ones from gravity falls, except it had the same emblem from my shirt on it where the hand should be, plus the bold word edged with silver proclaiming "Bestiary of Equestria and surrounding countries". It had a book mark attached to it with a piece of metal in the shape of a certain dream demon. It also had a silver clasp with a button in the middle acting as the lock, but it seemed... off. 

'Dad' chuckled and said, "It CaN oNlY bE oPeNeD bY oThEr DiSpLaCeD, oR oThErS lIkE yOu. BuT I WaNt YoU tO sHaRe YoUr DiScOvErIeS wItH tHe OtHeR oNeS." Hmm, so all I've got do is write about beasties from Equestria and her neighboring-wait... Others like me? Displaced? 'Dad' Chuckled again and nodded in what I hoped was understanding and spoke in his gravely voice saying, "YeS, oThErS lIkE yOu. YoU'rE nOt AlOnE iN tHiS. OtHeRs HaVe BeEn TrIcKeD iNtO ThEsE UnIvErSe'S. To Be AbLe To MeEt OtHeRs YoU wIlL nEeD tO AcTiVaTe It. YoU'vE gOt To SaY a MeSsAgE wHiLe HoLdInG iT aNd FoCuS yOuR pOwEr InTo It. AnD mY rEaL nAmE iS ShAdOs." 

I nod and hold the book perfectly still, then I began focusing my power into it before saying, "For those with a need call upon me, Daxinium, demonic hunter of the night, son of Shados the void dweller, destroyer of sunny town, and keeper of Bill Cipher the Dream Demon. If you harm my family and friends, prepare for a world of pain, but beware those who hurt others for the good of none. Because if you do, I will bathe you in DeMoN fIrE and send your soul to the void for everlasting solitude. But for those with good will, glad to meet'cha. Unlock the book and we will be acquainted." After finishing I looked at 'father' and asked, "That should do it right?"

'Dad' chuckled again and nodded before grabbing the book, dropping it into a portal that looked like it simply broke it into fractals before the original dropped back into his hand and handed it back to me before saying, "I aLsO hAvE oNe LaSt GiFt FoR yOu. If YoU wAnT iT oF cOuRsE..." 

Another gift eh? "As long as it's something fun." 

'Dad' nodded and handed me another book, though this time it had nothing fancy, just some obsidian colored words spelling UMBRAMANCY AND IT'S USES. Other then that, the book was covered with a simple leather binding. 'Dad' nodded and spoke again, "YoUr MaIn InHeRiTaNcE iS tHe UsE oF sHaDoWmAnCy, A pOwErFuL mAgIc  CaPaBlE oF aLmOsT aNyThInG. 

He leaned closer and pointed a finger at my forehead and said, "NoW... SLEEP..." 

As the world fell away, I dully noted that I fall unconscious like this way too often for my tastes, whatever they may be...
> What? Time travel!?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Dax, A.K.A. Daxinuim Berlian
Time: 3:54
Mission: Find a way to survive 1002 years back
Goal: Find a safe spot and contact other beings in the same situation as you





Oow, what happened this time? Cracking open my eyes I could see… a plaza. Not just any plaza either, the one I had defeated Grey Hoof in. Looking around I couldn’t see any of the town's local brain munchers. As I quickly got into a fighting stance just in case of a surprise attack, I spotted both books sitting there with a binding around them. Just like ‘Dad’ had given me, UMBRAMANCY AND HOW TO USE IT and Bestiary of Equestria and surrounding countries. Huh, so that wasn’t some weird day dream? I grab both books and look around for anything else when I caught sight of something else.

It was one of the zombies that composed the  town, but it was one that was familiar, Mitta. But something was off about her. She didn’t seem to recognize me. After sitting there with her staring at me, it clicked. She had said that she had seen me at least a thousand years ago, but this Mitta seems to not recognize me. I needed to go quickly though, because I could hear shuffling coming from the other side of the plaza.

After a few seconds, I made my decision ran straight towards Mitta. However, my decision was a second late if the enraged screams and yells were anything to go by. I ran past Mitta while shoving the letter from before into her hands as I ran to what I hoped was the exit. As I continued my escape, I ran into one of the other ones who had apparently patrolled the town that came face to face with me, until Xavier came out of the sky and tore its esophagus out. After that we continued to the towns main entrance using the back alleys.





We had finally made it out of the town when I tripped on something. We were a few miles out so I could take a break in our mad dash to base, or whatever it was during this time and age. As I sat down on a tree root sticking out of the ground I caught sight of an odd looking marble like seed. I had a compulsive feeling to pick it up.

As soon as I did I felt like the world had slowed down around me and there was a male voice speaking, “If you find this… then chances are I’m alive. Please summon me. I could use the temporary break to be away from the Mist. All you gotta do is plant this seed and offer strong prayers…”....Whoa...So that’s what it’s like to hear from one of the tokens,er, at least I think this is a token.

Well, I’ve got nothing to lose! I whistle to grab Xaviers attention and nod my head towards the vicinity of the castle. As we set out again I felt happy to finally see someone in the same stew pot as I was.





Turns out the surrounding area around the castle was a bustling city. I saw tons of ponies, but mostly unicorns, if their horns were anything to go by. As I walked past them they looked at me with mostly with curiosity. Why? Because I was hiding my muzzle with my scarf. Damn, my scarf was good for this sort of thing! Even when it isn’t necessary! Anyways, I had finally found the castle, which was still smack-dab in the middle of a roundabout chasm. Wait, there’s something else.

I could feel what could only be described as a massive illusion that was right next to the chasm. I pulled my goggles over my eyes before using magic sight to see through the massive illusion. As I looked at the massive stairwell cut into the chasm face the only thought running through my mind was the fact that I didn’t notice this before. It was powerful for sure, but to last a thousand years? I haven’t heard of something like that before. Well, as I’ve said it before, I’ve got nothing to lose.

As I called down Xavier from his flight above the city I turned to look at the guards in front of the arch leading to the blindingly white castle, but they acted as if I never existed, which frankly, creeped me out. I just assumed it was a part of the illusion. Whelp, down we go!

While I took the steps Xavier decided to fly around and land on the bottom. When I had finally reached the entrance at the bottom I could see faint glowing ahead, perhaps bioluminescent fungi? Well, whatever it was, it provided enough light that I could see perfectly in the dark cavern. After a few minutes of wandering the cavernous cavern, I spotted the source of the light, a small grove of glowing trees. Though the biggest one had odd indentations in its bark.

There also was several patches of empty dirt. But what caught my eyes was a small hill that was completely barren of any life. I smiled as I calmly walked over to the little hill and dug out a shallow hole and placed the tiny seed in it. I covered it with the dirt and stepped back, then I kneeled before it and prayed, “Please let me find my sister safe and sound, so that I may once more hug her, or something like that,”

After a minute that nothing happened I scrunched up my muzzle in confusion a bright glowing orb shot out of my chest and into the sprouts hill before fading away to reveal…. a sapling?

Suddenly from out of thin air, there was floating orb of light that slowly descended down to sit there in front of me. The orb glowed softly before briefly flashing and then revealing a young blue-haired humanoid, he was wearing a leather brown vest and a sleeveless gray shirt that was tucked under his belt, he wore blue baggy pants and brown leather shoes, he looked to be around twenty. On his right wrist was some sort of red gauntlet with a green gem in the center. On the front of the gauntlet was a short but pathetic looking spike that hardly looked like it could hardly be used as a weapon. The last two bits of detail for me to notice was that he had blue eyes, I even noticed the back of his leather vest was a flame symbol.

After observing our interesting fellow displaced, I held my mechanical hand out for a handshake, and gave a friendly, “Howdy!”

“... What exactly were you Displaced as?” the young blue haired asked as he held out his hand to shake mine.

I chuckled at that before answering, “It’s my own thing, a monster hunter. Kinda ironic because of me being part demon… but that’s that! Who’re you?”

“Vahn, it's not my real name but this whole Displaced business forced me to remember it differently,” Vahn said in a slightly annoyed tone of voice, “but it does have its perks.”

“Perks? What kind of perks do you have besides having your memories being messed with?” I asked, really not wanting my memories being messed with, especially if I was a displaced like that.

“Oh, no, none of that, just my name... Oh, and before I forget, please don’t freak out if you hear her voice, but this is Meta, my Ra-seru,” Vahn explained before his gauntlet started to glow a gentle red.

“Greetings, I am Meta,” a voice reverberated in my head.

After making sure I wasn’t hearing things I waved my hand in Vahn’s direction with a brief, “Hello?”

“She’s right here,” Vahn said with a chuckle as he raised his arm that had the gauntlet. It took my brain a few seconds for me to realize where it was coming from.

Suddenly, another orb of light floated from above, in a pattern that is best described as ‘a drunken Scot trying to walk straight’. It stopped a bit higher than the one Vahn came from, and flashed, revealing a blue-haired female, wearing a beautiful white dress, with a rainbow colored gauntlet that is mostly blue, and holding onto a white-colored metal staff.

Unlike Vahn, who appeared standing on the ground, she appeared above the ground in a belly-flop-esque position. When she opened her eyes and looked down, she looked surprised, and then that is when she fell down.

I then realized she is about to fall… onto me! I widened my eyes as I felt the weight of the woman crashing upon me. I was able to withstand the weight but now I had a woman draped over my shoulders like a scarf. After gently pulling her off my rather square shoulders I set her down next to Xavier who started sniffing her, right before he starts licking the odd ladies face.

“Ooh boy...” Vahn said, as he made his way over, “you alright, Azura?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Azura said, waving her hand towards the direction of Vahn’s voice, “I just wasn’t expecting to drop in unannounced.”

Then she looks around, and asked, “Also, what licked me? I felt-” her eyes widened as she noticed Xavier.

Azura was now, suddenly, behind Vahn looking at Xavier with fright filled eyes, “What in the light of the Dawn Dragon is that?!” she asked with a squeak in her voice.

I blink as I realized she was talking about Xavier, “He’s Xavier, my familiar...Oh! He’s a genetically modified horror, or just Horror, ain’t he cute?” I scratch the part where his carapace meets his fur and he practically melts in my hands.

Azura looked at Xavier then to me, a forced grin apparent on her face, “Yes… cute…”

“Well, not the worst I’ve seen, compared to the Serus,” Vahn said as turned to the side to check on the sapling, “Ah, I see you planted the first Genesis seed too,” he commented with a smile.

My smile faltered into a confused look, “What on earth is a Genesis seed?”

“The token you planted,” Vahn explained as he checked on its health. “Within the year it will grow with prayers ‘til it reaches ten feet.”

I was taken aback by that. Ten feet in a year? “Grows really fast if you ask me. Erm, how big would it grow in a thousand years?”

“That’s about it, ten foot. Unless me and Azura revive it, then it’ll be much taller. How much do the ponies here pray? A year is just on average if they casually pray,” Vahn explained.

I grimaced at that. “Erm, well you see… This place wasn’t exactly made to be found…”

“What do you mean?” Azura asked as she looked around, “And where exactly is ‘this place’?”

I look around at the large cavern before saying, “It was a cavern not meant to be found if the massive illusion was anything to go by…”

“Well, the tree doesn’t look evil or anything… right? The ponies here shouldn’t really take it as a threat, it's meant to help against anything evil, well at least not yet but eventually it’ll grow big enough to radiant its power gently,” Vahn explained before looking over at me. “I hope I didn’t mess up something here...”

I think about the way the Illusion was designed and said, “No, I think the illusion is to protect the tree, er, trees from harm, though that be an issue if I’m able to break it, but in all honesty, it was made to protect the trees.”

Azura looked around at the other trees, then at the cavern walls, and looked to her multi-colored gauntlet and spoke, “Mule, echo-location.”

The gauntlet glowed for a brief moment letting out a few high pitched ‘pings’, before a voice resonated, a different one from Meta, “Location identified as: Everfree Forest, caverns under the old Castle.”

I looked at the gauntlet before uttering a question that had been plaguing my mind since Meta had first spoke, “Um, what are the gauntlets?”

“They’re called Ra-Serus. Remember when my token mentioned the mist? Our partners protect us against the serus who have gone insane from its effects,” Vahn explained.

As I took in the information more questions swirled through my mind, such as, “What on Earth is a Seru?”

Vahn raised his right arm into the air as the gem of Meta glowed softly. Something started to form in front of me, taking on a strange shape. It had the head of a bird but it had no eyes and feathers, it had a long chain-like spine ending with two sharp looking blades. It floated above the ground by some power. “This is Gimard, a fire type seru,” Vahn explained

I looked at the oddest looking bird I’ve ever seen when Xavier leaped between me and the odd bird and started growling with a murderous glint in his eyes. I knelt down and scratched his sweet spot before asking, “How does one get a Seru?”

“Well, you’d find plenty back in my home world, but I can give you a seru. However, you’ll need to re-tame it since it’ll under your ownership or whoever you want to give a seru too...” Vahn explained. Gimard started to explore the cave like that of a curious animal exploring its territory.

I rise rise an eyebrow in concern before voicing them, “ What do you mean when you say, ‘re-tame’ them?”

“Well, you don’t have a Ra-seru to control them plus I’m the first owner, so they don’t know how to react to being taken care of by others,” Vahn explained.

I think about before asking, “How would one show that they can be trusted to a Seru?”

“Well, a lot of them are pretty much like animals except more like Siamese cats where its hard for it to trust another. So try taming it like you would to a wild animal. There are some however are that intelligent as a human,” Vahn explained as he reached out toward Gimard, the creature returned to him and was absorbed back into the Meta.

Now that intrigued me, “What do you mean some are as intelligent as a human?”

Meta’s gem glowed again, only this time a weird purple and yellow creature with an eye appeared, it looked like a bit of like a jester too. It looked toward me and bowed in greeting. “This is Puera, a dark type seru the strongest of the two, category three,” Vahn explained.

As I inspected the creature I looked towards Xavier to see how he would react to Puera, but oddly enough the only expression on his was curiosity and what almost...joy? He must be happy to see something also out of place in this crazy place. After a few minutes of awkward silence I stuck my hand out and said, “Howdy there Puera”

Puera let out a strange squeaky language I couldn’t understand as it shook my hand. “It can’t speak our language but it does understand it. Now, if you were to bond with it or allow it to fuse with you, then you would be able to hear its voice in your language,” Vahn said as the black jester suddenly ran over to Xavier.

As Puera ran over to Xavier I let it happen because I had a certain gut feeling for this sort of thing and it was a-churning that I let this happen. As Puera stopped in front of Xavier he poked out one of his fingers and gently pressed Xavier’s nose. The only thing that happened was the large lick Xavier gave Puera. I turned towards Vahn and asked, “How come he’s perfectly fine with Puera, but freaked out when Gimard came out?”

“That, I don’t know, but I will tell you that Puera is quite friendly, just don’t let it play a card Death Game unless you want to take a chance of killing or healing yourself or whoever it is playing with,” Vahn said, he raised his gauntlet and gave a tug motion when Puera start taking out its card, the mental command from Meta made sure that it didn’t. “But if you can give it a different deck to play with, its powers won’t be as deadly depending on what kind of cards you gave it,”

I smirked at that, another person to play cards with? I always enjoyed card games, came with having to pass time in cars for long trips. I smiled at Puera before ruffling it’s little hat and said, “Puera sounds like my kind of guy! But others might freak out if he was to follow me everywhere, you said something about a gauntlet?”

“Ra-serus can control the Serus, however you’ll have to control it differently, prove to it you’re worthy of taking care of it. Would you like to try, or would you like me to explain all of the other Serus?” Vahn asked with concern. Puera however suddenly looked up at Vahn in surprise and fear.

I knelt down a few feet away from Puera and waved and said, “L-looks like we’ll be stuck together eh?”  The little jester ran away and clung to Vahn’s leg.

“I’m sorry bud, but he does want to take care of ya. Give Dax a chance, plus you might like it here since the Mist isn’t here to drive you mad,” Vahn said as he patted the jester’s head. Vahn got up and looked at me, “now, Meta is going to release her hold, so Puera might be a little confused at first.

I stepped back and to give Puera some room and not scare him. As Vahn told Meta to release her hold over Puera, I had a last thought to make Puera at ease. I motioned for Xavier to come to me due to Puera being at ease near him. As he was let go from her hold he looked around as if he finally noticed how big the cavern was. He started looking around before alighting on me and Xavier and rushing over as if something might crush him in an instant. When he finally reached us he leaped into the air and started squeezing my chest and trying to cover itself with my jacket. After a few seconds it calmed down and simply stayed there. I sent a confused look over to Vahn and quietly asked, “What’s wrong with him? He wasn’t like this earlier…”

“It’s reverted a child a little bit, so it may take some time for him getting used to the sudden change, but eventually it will be like before, an intelligent, playful, but mischievous seru.” Vahn explained as Meta watched the exchange between me and Puera.

I looked at Puera before a thought crossed my mind, “Is Puera his name or is it his species name?”

“Species name,” Vahn answered as he looked over to Azura. “You’ve been awfully quiet...”

“Just been thinking,” Azura stated, then looked between Xavier and Puera, “first I might think that being a Seru of the Dark aspect might be why Xavier was comfortable with the Puera.

“Also,” Azura continued as she looked over to Vahn, “would you like me to show him one of the Water Serus or not?”

“Go ahead if he’d like a look,” Vahn answered as she took a seat on the ground.

Azura’s gauntlet, Mule if I remember what she said correctly, glowed blue, and before them appeared to be similar to an adult male lion mainly colored dark-blue for the color of the ‘mane’ and light-blue for its face and body. A prominent feature was the forked spikes on its head.

“This is Freed, a Water attributed Seru,” Azura stated, “this one here has been brave and calm in many of our adventures.”

I grin as I look over the fierce looking water Seru. After a bit of staring at the cool looking lion look-alike I asked, “Cool, but, umm, why are you showing me it? Unless you just wanted to show off of course”

“Well, you did ask what a Seru was and I believe showing one would of been better than explaining it, and if I did, we were would all day considering there’s seven elements to a Seru, each element having two or four serus each. Azura showed Freed to you and there’s... Quite a lot,” Vahn explained.

I chuckled as I agreed when my stomach started growling. I chuckled again before saying, “I don’t have any food, and you guys would probably cause a panic of a new and unknown species infiltrating, so I’m going topside and grab some food, alright?”

Vahn had a slight frown on his face. “Shame, thought this was a lucky break from the Mist, but I suppose it’s better than nothing,” Vahn said.

I nod as a pat my leg for Xavier to follow as I secured the jester in my coat.







~~~POV Switch: Third Person~~~


As Dax walked up the stairs, Azura returns Freed into Mule and Vahn remained sitting on the ground. He takes a soft breath of the clean air that had no traces of the mist. There is a soft silent conversation between Meta and Mule.

“Vahn, I believe it would be of best interest if we take a look of the outside through a Seru’s eyes,” Meta said.

“Wait, you could do that?” Vahn asked with a raised eyebrow. The blue-haired boy doesn’t recall the original Meta being able to do that.

“Yes, although it is something we’ve never done. You see, during our travels, I’ve noticed a strange energy within me. I’ve been experimenting, although I’ve been doing it while you two were asleep as to not spend too much of this energy. We have learned a few things we’d like to try,” Meta said as the green jewel glowed.

“Wait, we?” Vahn asked.

“Indeed,” Mule said suddenly, “the both of us have this energy and have been seeing what it can and can’t do.”

After Mule finished explaining, Meta summoned a winged Seru that looked like a gray bat.

“That’s Vera, the Light Seru,” Vahn stated, recalling the memories of all the times it healed them in times of need.

Then Mule summoned a floating blue colored, centipede-esque Seru.

“And that’s Gola Gola, the Fire Seru,” Azura stated, remembering when she had saved it from the mist.

Both Meta and Mule’s gem glowed softly as did the Seru’s eyes.. Soon enough, the eyes changed to match the gems now that they were in control of the Serus. Without a word, Vera flew out into the open world, causing a few ponies to jump back in fright.

Gola Gola approached Azura, and Mule said, “It would be quite odd for a creature looking like Gola Gola to exist, could place a fitting, magical disguise on them?”

Azura nodded, then closed her eyes in concentration, began to vocalize her song again as she held out her hand towards Gola Gola, making him appear more like a giant serpent.

Gola Gola then took off towards the castle, causing some ponies to shout or scream in fear.







~~~POV Switch: Dax’s~~~


As I returned to the surface I came face to face with one of the guards. Again, he didn’t bat an eye at my appearance or anything. I simply chuckle and poke his cheek to see if he was even alive, but to my surprise he snorts and blinks his eyes in rapid succession and looked around warily before resuming his stance.

I smirk as I place my scarf over my canine like muzzle before looking up at the circling silhouette above me and nodding in the direction of what smelled like food. As I neared the stands holding the food I stop and dig around in B.i.t.i.s. and grabbed a bag as large as my head and proceeded to grab a handful of crystals to barter with and stepped in front of the stall to see… BACON!?

Right in front of me was a griffon who was selling what I assumed was freaking bacon! I was salivating at the thought of having crispy bacon again when a claw waved in front of my with a confused, “Hello~? You in there mister doggo?” I straightened my back before promptly shoving eight of the crystals and pointed at a stack of bacon with a, “these for those my good sir!”

The griffon gave me a weird look before grabbing the crystals and muttering, “Damn diamond dogs are always so eager for this stuff…” Then grabbed the crispy bacon before placing it in paper like bag and handing it to me with a look between sour and amused. I for one didn’t really care how he acted, I was focused on the delicious meat before me.

I walked away with a purchase of a lifetime as I started weighing decisions whether to go back to share or not when I caught sight of an out of place being. It was a large semi albino bat, but its eyes were glowing in a certain familiar color. “Vahn? What are you doing out here? Er, your seru anyway...”

I looked at the bag in my mechanical hand before pulling out six strips and handed it to the bat after saying, “Give this to Vahn and Azura, or if you’re in direct control, share.”

The bat nodded before taking off towards the cavern once more. I turned to see an expectant Xavier. Sigh, if this keeps going I’m not going to have any left! I toss him a couple of strips to sate his appetite before waving him back towards the sky. I kept walking along I noticed several poster on a board of wood pinned to a wall. Though none of them really caught my eye one did, a ‘royal’ invitation to a tournament in town that will be hosted by the royal sisters themselves. I rolled my eye until I saw the prize for the tourney. An authentic dragon egg to do whatever you want with it.

I let that sink in. A dragon egg? Even having one in possession could be extremely dangerous for both the dragon and the owner of said egg, not to mention if certain people got a hold of it. I grab the paper for later and started rushing back to the cavern buying two apples for Vahn and Azura. As I neared the entrance I felt an odd tapping on my shoulder. I turn to see-HOLY GOD ON A CHEESECAKE! WHAT IS THAT THING!?! Unfortunately I freaked out right next to the stairs. All aboard the pain train! THUMP!





Oow, I have to seriously stop getting up like this… I crack open my eyes to see both Vahn and Azura munching on their apples. I also saw Xavier napping in the corner, but that struck a thought in me as I turned back towards Vahn, “How long have I been asleep?”

Azura wipes her mouth clean of the juice from the apple before replying, “A little a bit over an hour.”

“I had Vera heal you but you must of hurt your brain,” Vahn said with a frown.

I groan as my head starts throbbing, most likely from the fall. Oddly enough I can’t remember what made me fall...Hmm. Whatever, OH! “Before I forget! I think I’ve solved the prayer issue for the tree!”

Vahn looked over at me curiously. I smile as I wave my hand at the small sprout saying, “Why don’t we link it with something that gets tons of prayers every single day? Like a church!”

“That would help it out, but what if someone feels the new energy in this area?” Vahn asked with concern.

I smile, “I’m pretty good at hiding things from others, this should be pretty easy!”

“Alright, I trust you can keep the Genesis Tree secret once it grows, but make sure its passive growth, otherwise it’ll glow a bit too brightly,” Vahn warned.

I nod and ask before it gets too late, “How can I call you guys, er... guy and gal, back later?”

“Simple, just place your hand on the sapling or tree, close your eyes, then talk to us in your mind. But if there are others watching, just act like your praying,” Vahn said with a smile. “Oh, before I forget… Puera can turn into an armor piece and fuse with one part of your body, your dark powers will increase, allow you to use the same death game, enter dreams and even make your own. Just be careful as the dream is as real as the real world. I mean that’s what Puera told me. He’ll start off small piece of armor but eventually grow until he can cover more parts of your body, even into a suit, whole armor, or light clothes. Or if you train him hard, the two of you can become one for a whole new form.  ” Vahn explained.

I nod in understanding before the token gives me an Idea. “Here, let me try something.” I reach out and focus on Vahns magic signature and trace it back to his dimension before letting the intended object lay in his hands. His token, The Bestiary to Equestria and surrounding nations. I hand my duplicate token to Vahn and said, “Contact me anytime bud.”

“Awesome. We’ll call on ya if there is ever a tough boss, or if you just want to go adventuring. We’re still trying to clear out the mist by reviving the other trees. Azure? Is there anything you’d like to say or do?” Vahn asked as he finished the last bit of bacon.

Azura nodded then looked at me before saying, “Don’t forget that even if you just want to talk or be with someone, just contact us, OK?”

I nod and give her a thumbs up before realizing, “Er, how do I send you guys home?”

“Just say ‘our contact is complete’ and we’ll be on our way.. Well..” Vahn said before turning toward Azura, “Azura came by accident, so she might have to grab my hand or something..” he said unsure of how she got pulled by accident with him.

Azura, quickly, gripped Vahn’s hand tightly without saying a word, with him being just as quiet, as Azura stated, “Ready.”

I looked at them and gave them a sad smile before saying, “Our contract is complete.”

“Take good care of Puera, I’m curious of how your bond with him will go.” Vahn said as their Serus, along with Vahn and Azure, were surrounded by a golden ring. With a brief flash, the four were gone. 

I smile down next to the small mischievous one-eyed jester and grab my B.i.t.i.s. and pulled out my sleeping bag and layed down with Xavier next to me as I dozed to whatever nightmares may plague my sleep......
> Tourney prepping 1/2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Dax, A.K.A. Daxinium Berlian
Time: 11:13 PM
Mission: Prepare for the upcoming tournament
Goals: Get on the good side of the Princess's
{Princess Luna: 1/2}
{Princess Celestia: 2/2}





I crack open an eye as I hear my alar-Wait, I don't have an alarm clock! I jolted off my little cot before seeing a comforting sight. "Sparks! Your back!" 

I could almost hear her rolling her digital eyes at me, "I wasn't shut off you dolt, I was just rebooting." I chuckle before getting out of my cot and checking on where the Hell Xavier went to.

Funnily enough, he was hanging from one of the bigger tree's branches like a massive bat. I nudged him awake before checking in on Puera, who I've decided to call Jest due to his jester like appearance, and started walking towards the exit to find a more decent place to stay and to find out how to sign up for the tourney. But that got shoved out of my mind when I came chest to face with what looked like a unicorn maid. She just looked at me with what looked to be shock before resolving to anger. 

She grabbed my ear with her magic and forced me to my knees and harshly whispered into my ear, "What in Tartarus were thou doing down there?!" 

Pushing back my panic at being discovered, I managed to push her back into a guard, while I began running with wild abandon and started weaving through the crowds to avoid the angry "maid". I don't know how the Hell she saw me, but she managed to break the illusion without even trying to. 

After a few minutes of running I found what looked like a library, if they were supposed to look like the Greek pantheons. I run inside and take a left between the main wall and a huge bookshelf. I kept taking turns till I was positive only somebody who knew everything about the library could find me. After a few minutes of looking around pensively I decided to relax and grabbed a few books and sat down.





Apparently I had been in the magic section if the impressive diagrams in the books were anything to go by. I was currently halfway through a guide to the inner workings of a ponies magic systems when I felt a familiar magic signature closing in on my position. I set the book down and looked over towards the magic sig. when I saw... Nothing? Wait, there it is, an illusion. An extremely good one, I almost couldn't detect it.

After unraveling the illusion I was greeted with a fuming pegacorn, er, Alicorn, if the book was correct. She wasn't using the guise of a little maid or cursing out loud like she was before. Instead she looked like she had calmed down a little and sat right next to me before asking, "How?" Very simple question, too bad the answer was not as simple.

"Well, I felt the illusion and decided to see what was underneath, which by the way, was incredibly big, which is kinda what gave it away really. I then came across the stairs which I took to the bottom and saw the cavern with a grove of glowing trees," She tensed up at the "grove of glowing trees", but let me continue with my explanation, "After meeting some friends down there I went to bed, woke up and came out to see an angry maid, which I'm assuming was you...?" 

She gave a nod before we fell into silence. She kept fidgeting before asking, "Haveth thee heard of the competition we have set up with our sister, Celestia?" 

I blinked before grabbing the poster out of my B.i.t.i.s. and showed it to her, "Y'mean this one? I was thinking about joining-" 

She interrupted me with a loud, "HALT! Thou means to enter our competition!? Which side!?"

I was on the floor the entire time she was screaming questions, but after few minutes of just sitting there she realized I was in a fetal position on the floor covering my poor ears.

She lit her horn up and my headache was almost gone without a whisper. She cleared her throat before asking again, "Which side hast thou chosen?" 

I merely said, "Lunar...?"

Whilst rubbing my sore head, She looked like she just won the lottery or something. After a while of rubbing my head, she had gotten up and left for a few minutes before coming back to her chair, all the while humming a familiar tune, though I couldn't place it.

She set down a heavy book with a thump before turning to me with a look that would've fit my face better. She then proceeded to push the book towards me. I looked at the books cover before raising an eyebrow. "What's this?" 

The book's cover was decorated with certain landscapes like a simple garden, a barren desert, even a freaking volcanic wasteland. She chuckled before explaining, "This book is about how to magically create environments to suit your needs. I thought I could, 'help', thee." 

I reeled back at she had said, change the environment to suit my needs? I frowned before asking, "What do you mean by 'assist'? I thought the competitors were not supposed to have any outside help?" 

If it was even possible, her grin stretched even wider before saying, "We're not assisting a competitor, we're merely assisting Somepony that we feel could use tips and... "lessons" for future "Events"!"

I blinked before realizing what she meant. She could help me prepare for the tournament because I haven't entered yet, so the rules don't apply till after I sign up.... Smiling, I look her in the eye before sticking my hand out and said, "You better teach me something worthwhile." 

She grinned and shook my hand with a much larger smile.





After studying for over eight hours I was able to learn quite a few things, such as her name, which was Luna. When I saw the light beginning to disappear from the windows, I decided it was about time to head back to the cavern, when Luna pulled me by the sleeve of my trench coat and shook her head and said, "No, we shan't have our champion resting in a cavern! We shall have thou sleep in the guest quarters of the castle! Not some hideously pungent cavern like a heathen!" I was then whisked away by the princess of the night to her looming castle.

As we stumbled through the streets of Canterlot we got a ton of looks from passing ponies. I suppose having one of your Princess's practically drag a D-Dog look-a-like through the streets isn't very common. I just went along with it just because I needed to stop by the cavern anyways to pick up Jest. Not to mention, it would be nice to sleep in an actual room for once. As we neared the bridge I told her that I needed to grab some stuff, she just nodded with a faint amount of confusion and told the guards to let me in when I come back.

I walked down the chasm-side stairs and entered the cavern, to see Jest playing with Xavier. I whistled a sharp, piercing cry to grab their attention and patted my thigh to indicate that they were to follow me. Both nodded and ran, er, trotted in Xaviers case, to my side. I grabbed Jest and sat him on Xavier's back, and we made our departure.

After we exited the cavern and got back up the stairs, we confronted the guards.  The guards were apparently from a different shift and said we're not allowed in due to it being to late. I argued some more before I made a split second decision and began smacking one of the guards across the face with my rather blunt prosthetic hand before yelling, going on a rant about the entire day I've had, and the insanity that came with it. Then I proceeded to take his helmet and started striking him in the face with it repeatedly, all the while his fellow guard was staring in shock as I beat the original guard. 

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!" 

I looked over to see Luna standing on the marble bridge leading to the castle. I dropped the helmet and pointed to the guard and said, "He started it!"

...And now I look like an idiot. Luna just shook her head and grabbed my arm while muttering certain obscenities during our walk. "So, you going to patch up that guard up or what?" 

She just lit her horn and briefly shot a spell in the direction of the guard and muttered, "Done."

We kept on walking for a few minutes before coming to a stop at two gigantic doors. I'm not kidding, they're literally around twenty feet tall. Luna spoke with the guards in front and waved her hands around rather dramatically, but the oddest thing was the fact that I didn't hear a thing. After a minute of her arguing with them I decided to see what was happening with magic sight and looked at the web of magic surrounding them. 

As I drank in the rather complex magical structure, Luna had apparently finished with the guard and was tugging me into the room beyond the doors, but was still having issues with the guard. So you know what she did to me? She dropped me like a sack of potatoes. I rubbed my now tender side and got back up. The guard was arguing with the princess again, but this time without the silencing spell.

Luna spat, "What is the matter with us entering the court to see our own sister!?"

The Guard slammed the spear's butt onto the ground, making a noticeable 'Thump' and shouted back, "The court is in session! No pony is allowed in, especially with what you did!"

I could feel Luna's anger reaching its peak. I had to stop this before it gets worse. I took a step between the two and tried to play peacemaker, "She's your princess right? That's her sister in there and she needs to talk to her quite badly so why don't yo-" 'THWAP'

Did... Did he just fucking slap me? He just fucking slapped me!? I saw the red creeping in as I looked the guard in the eyes and lifted an eyebrow to which he replied, "I don't want to hear it Dog! That witch and her pets are not allowed here!"

...."Why does thou speak like this to your prince-" 'THWAP'

He slapped Luna.... One of my few friends here.... He's going to regret that....


---------------------Celestia's P.O.V.---------------------


Raven Felt had to take a few days off due to an illness, but the Nobles felt that she had been fired of all things, for some reason. So here I've been, listening to the dolt's that call themselves nobility try to place their own children into the position. 

'Thump' I turned to see the doors shudder from the impact. 'THUMP' By my Mother's mane, what are my Guards doing!? I picked myself up and started walking towards the shuddering door as more impacts hit them. Just as I was outside the doors reach, they slammed open and a Guard was sent flying right by me. He made an interesting noise when he flew by, just short of 'EEEH!' and a bit higher than 'AAAAH!'. But what interested me more was the oddest being I've ever seen, well, besides Discord of course.

He looked like a diamond dog but he was taller, maybe a hoof's worth. His main apparel was the oddest coat, it reached all the way to his knee's, but it didn't care about its coat. He also had a top hat of the fancier kind, and his face was covered with a beautiful scarf that looked like it was made of the night sky and had emeralds woven into it. 

He had several weapons strapped to him, but the most noticeable was the large cobalt staff strapped to his back. He had an interesting leather satchel that had an interesting spell matrix surrounding it on him, but the most interesting thing about him was his magic. It shifted from a familiar magic, to a completely unknown one, and then to one produced by his rather odd looking metallic hand. 

Another interesting thing was Luna staring at him in an all too familiar way. "Ahem, this yours?" 

I turned back to see he had one of my guards held three feet above the ground in a choking grip on his throat. I put on my best smile and said, "Please put him down, he has a family. And it wouldn't do to have you murder anyone, now would it?"


-------------------------------------------------------------Dax's P.O.V.--------------------------------------------------------------


I continued to glare at the snow white Alicorn before me before dropping the Guard onto the hard granite tiles. She smiled and lit her horn before whisking the guards away, probably to the medic bay. The Alicorn continued to smile that 'smile' before asking, "Tea?"

I went to open my mouth when Luna literally teleported to my side and said, "That would be lovely Sister!"





Luna, Celestia, and I were all sitting at a simple mahogany table with four cups of tea on it. The owner of the fourth cup hadn't entered yet, but the two royal sisters didn't seem to mind. I meanwhile was enjoying a nice cup of peppermint tea. It's a thing I've picked up from... Mom... I really need to see if I can find a way home..."So who's your friend Luna?"

Hmm? Oh, Luna and her sister, Celestia have been talking for a while. And they finally got to the topic of me, but I'm not complaining. It just meant more time for me and my delicious tea. Meanwhile Luna kept on fidgeting, barely noticing her tea.... Do you think I could grab her tea? 'No, because you can always ask for more and it's rude to steal someone's cup of tea!' True... Ooh! Luna's talking again! "Our friend is a diamond dog with a most interesting ability to perform acts of powerful magic. And his name be-ith Daxinium, dear Sister."

Celestia nodded her head before looking over to me.... "Do you like the tea? I had it 'specially' brewed for this occasion~."

Huh, wonder what she meant by that? 'I knew it! She's drugged you!' And Luna has apparently come to the same conclusion, "WHAT!? Thou spiked his tea!?"

Celestia just kept smiling her creepy little smile and said, "Yes, we both know what would happen if he gets angry again and besides, all it was some wolf's bane mixed with peppermint tea."

Luna meanwhile had decided to start imitating the weeping angels. I swear every time I blinked she was a few inches closer to Celestia. This kept going on until they were face to face and having a conversation behind a silence spell. After a few minutes of their silent yelling at each other, I decided to leave the small room we were, a tea room Celestia had called it. 

The first thing to happen when I left was a shrill scream from my right. Turning I could see one of the castles maids freaking out and screaming about Diamond Dogs invading the castle. I shrugged and decided that she may want a hug, to reassure her that I wasn't going to hurt her, but it seemed that it may have reassured her too much that she fainted with relief! And because I'm such a gentleman, I carried her over to one of the adjacent rooms and placed her on one of the beds in what I assumed was a guest room. She should wake up in a few hours. ''Ahem"

I turned around and saw my blue friend, Luna, staring at me and the now unconscious maid sleeping in the bed. She just raised an eyebrow and waved her hand in one of those, 'What the heck happened here?' fashions. I smiled and simply said, "She was screaming and I'm a gentleman of the highest degree."

Lulu just shook her head and pulled my sleeve and said, "Lets get thou in a bed for now."

I pouted and said, "Do I have to? I really would like to see more!"

Lulu again shook her head and said, "No, tis final."

I sucked up my attitude and glumly nodded and said, "Fine you big, blue, moon..."

I smirked at her reaction to that. I swear she went from a blue moon to a harvest/blood moon in seconds... Geez, I'm making Moon jokes all over the place aren't I? "Get in thine bedding or we will knock thou out!" 

I nod once more before stripping off my armor and clothing and dive into the admittedly large bed. I twist my head enough so that I could make one last cheeky comment, "Comin'?"

The only answer I got for my trouble was a blast of magic hitting right next to my head and a flustered, "S-shut thine mouth or the next blast hits thine head!"

I grinned at the thought-'Don't do it, I know you want to, but I want my owner to stay alive a tad bit longer if you will.' I grumble and let it go as I pulled the sheets over my body. After a minute of making sure I wasn't about to run around nude, I heard Luna clip-clop away.

I stayed there for few minutes before hearing the creaking of the door opening, again. I strain to hear the almost imperceptible sounds of leathery wings beating as whoever that was got closer to my bed. Giggling and then a silent pomf sounded before the wing beats decided to leave. Huh, guess I'll find out in the morn..."Snore"





Ooow. What in the name of Hell happened last night? I remember busting into the court room and....Shit. That fucking bitch poisoned me! 'Wow, took you long enough!', What happened? Er, besides being poisoned? 'Lets see, you scared a mare so badly she fainted and you put her on a bed, you embarrassed Luna so much she nearly took off your head, a Thestral came in last night and left something for you. That's it really....'

Alrighty...What's a Thestral? 'A Thestral is a pony with bat wings instead of regular pegasus wings. And never in any circumstances call them bat ponies.' Why? 'It's basically a racial slur, similar to redskins.' Huh...Wait, how do you know that? 'I may have gone through your memories....' 

I really wanted to push the matter, but the throbbing in my head stated otherwise. I got up and walked into the huge bathroom before flinching at the state of my body in the mirror. It wasn't bad, but it was... Different, to say the least. I used to be a tall, slightly chubby kid and yet, here I am, even taller and more lean than I should be, probably from a diet of just random forest critters, casting magic half the time I'm awake, and running around for the other half. Not to mention the different genitals... No, I'm not going to even try to think about it right now. 'Y'know, the local female diamond dogs might try and seduce you into their burrows if they saw you nude...'... Shut the fuck up Sparks.

Walking up to the sink, I grabbed the knob and twisted it, and to my surprise, got cold water gushing out. Most likely a spell used to make the water cold. I then cupped my hands and drank from the sink. I know, I could've grabbed water from the  kitchens, but there's a few problems with that. First, I don't want a rerun of last night, two, I don't have a fucking clue as to where they are during this time.

After watering my thirst, I decided to grab my clothes, my gloves, my hat, my scarf, and armored coat and get dressed. Now standing in front of the mirror I can see what I look like. Not bad really, though the hat kinda shades my face pretty well, though I can still see the outline of my face.... Wait... I can see shadows again!? What the Hell happened!? 

'I have a theory on that.' Yea? Well then, please explain the sudden night vision loss! 'Hold your horses would'ya!? Alright, the idea is that since you're part demon, a hunter no less, you're going to have abilities that surround your 'thing', like the Succubus of lust would be able to sense lust or the lack of it.' So since I'm the Hunter of the night I've got certain abilities related to the night? 'Bingo! You just need to activate it!' 

I do as said and... Voilà! No more shadows! I chuckle under my breath and muttered, "Neato..."

Turning around I could see about everything in the room. From the crevice's that were hidden by the shadows, to the parcel on the bed-wait, parcel? I slowly walk over and eyed the mundane package. Just some brown paper surrounding a thin object. What the Hell is in it? And why was it so important it needed to be delivered during the middle of the night? 'Um, it's actually midnight right now....' 

What!? There's no way my natural clock just flipped like that! Where's a window!? There! I rush forward and almost yanked it off to see-'Dong~, dong~, dong~, dong~, dong~, dong~, dong~, dong~, dong~, dong~, dong~, dong~!'- The clock tower strike twelve... Holy shit... I feel like it's the middle of the afternoon! 'Calm down Dax, you're experiencing body changes-' This is not the time for the puberty talk! 'I'm not talking about puberty you idiot! I'm talking about your demonic side showing itself!' Showing itself!? Am I going to have split personalities!? 'Would you stop!? No, you're not going to go insane! You're demonic abilities are starting to show up! But if you keep this up, you're going to make me go insane!' 

I grit my teeth and closed the curtains, forcefully. I started to grab my weapons when I realized something else. They're gone. Someone took my weapons... It was that bitch isn't it? 'Wouldn't put it past her...' Great, now I'm gonna have to get it from the armory.... 'We know where the armory is?' Don't you remember, this was our base at one point in time! I know that place inside and out! 'Oh, I need to update the map again don't I?'

I chuckled and said, "Don't sweat it Sparks, just use the old map. Should be good enough."

Sparks mumbled a little more before putting the map on holographic display. I nodded once and started to go before remembering the little gift on the bed. I went back and grabbed it and carefully opened it and nearly dropped it in shock at was in it. No, not a death threat, blackmail, nor a trap. It was... Nudes...? How does one respond to that? I've only been here for what? A day? And I thought they didn't have cameras now? I look over them carefully before seeing carefully made strokes of paint and lead. I shake my head and just quickly stuff them in an inside pocket of my jacket. I'll deal with them later and made to leave.





The hard part wasn't the part where I had to go. The hard part was getting in. I mean, seriously! What kind of training do these guys go through to look like statues!? And for three fucking hours! I had to sigh in impatience as a group of dark colored Thestral Guards went in to the Armory for some reason. There was an 'issue' afterwards inside the Armory, causing both of the outside Guards to head in...I really don't want to guess what the 'issue' was, but I've got to go in there.

I rush forward and grab the door before it closed and slipped inside. The inside wasn't anything special. Just a few rows of racks holding swords, spears, a couple of tower shields, and a few staffs. None of them were mine though. Where the fuck does she keep the things nobody is supposed to have? In some kind of storage most likely. Where would storage be?... The Quartermasters area! At least, I think that's where they're called. Basically they're area's made to hold the weapons and the Quartermaster, who sells the weapons to the soldiers, or in this case, Guards.

I skulked around for a few minutes before finding the objective. The only issue being, the group of thestral guards surrounding it. As I made my way to a group of shadows, I could hear something I've heard once before, slurred words, which means one or some of these idiots are drunk. As I made myself comfortable, I could hear the supposed leader of the group slur some words out, but for all my good hearing couldn't make it out, either it was so slurred it was gibberish or he was too far away. I may not have known what he said but the Quartermaster did, "Ya know tah rules Shine, no bein' drunk in here, so get tah buck out." 

This time the leader, Shine, decided to be a bit clearer, "I don' neerd no rruless to stell me wha ta d-do! I jusst neerd a ssimple sspear! Sso hooof it o-over Q-quart!"

They continued arguing before one of the more coherent Guards tried dragging 'Shine' away. Then it turned into a full out fist fight. Meanwhile, I stayed back and watched the entertainment. It only took a few minutes for it to die down before the victor was revealed, and it certainly wasn't the drunkard. The drunkard had passed out and was being dragged out by one of the more coherent Guards. Soon the rest were filed out by the only actually coherent Guard on the scene. After they were all filed out, the Guard came back and began apologizing to the Quartermaster, "Sorry sir, I shouldn't have let him. That's my fault and I'll take full punishment sir!"

The Quartermaster just chuckled and said, "It's alright sonny, just make sure they stay out alright?"

The Guard nodded and saluted him before leaving. I smirked before heading over to the Quartermaster. I've got to give him credit really, didn't even flinch when I appeared. In fact, it looked like he was.... expecting me? "I'm goin' out on a limb and assuming yah're here for yer weapons?"

I.... What? "How did you....?" 

The Quartermaster Just chuckled and said, "The Princess said yah'd come lookin' for yer weapons, and here yah are. A bit odder lookin' then ah expected, but still a D-dog."

Odd? Whatever, he has my weapons and possibly something from the princess if that big bag he was hauling anything to go by. After he had set down the bag he grabbed a box from the back and set it next to the bag. After a minute of him going through them to make sure they were there he slid them over to me. I nodded my appreciation and said, "Thanks sir."

The Quartermaster just chuckled and said, "No problem sonny, just keep out of trouble would'ja?"

I gave my usual response of a nod and sifted through the box and placed all my gear on me. My daggers, my trench knife, my staff, and both Lux and Umbra. After that I began opening the bag to see the mystery thingamajigs. Whelp, it wasn't a weapon, well, unless you can count 10 different books as weapons. After I opened it, I noticed an old picture on one of the books that I haven't seen in a while, a Manticore. It kinda reminded me of...Xavier? 

I pack the books quickly into B.i.t.i.s. and rush out into the hallway and looked up. As I suspected, Xavier was up climbing ceilings as usual and this time, from the looks of it, Jest was riding him. I looked both ways before waving them down. As Xavier landed, I noticed that Jest wasn't lookin' very good. As I picked him up off of Xavier, I could feel him shaking. He must not like heights very well, who knew? As I started to put Jest back into my coat where he gladly started to snuggle into my chest I could hear voices. And very familiar ones at that. 

If I remember correctly, they were the guards who had been the cause of my little outburst yesterday... Er, two days ago? I can't remember... 'It was a day ago Dax.' 

Ah, thanks Sparks! 'No problem Dax, not like I have much to do in here...' 

Rushing to a patch of shadows behind a abnormally large pot, I listened to see how close they were. Unfortunately, it sounded like they were close, so I sat my butt down and waited.

After waiting for a minute there I realized that they were talking about me. Ugly number one had said somethin bout being demoted? Good, they deserved worse, but it'll do. After that, ugly number two said, "I hope we don't ever see that damn bitch again, and her fucking pet.

The fuck did they just say!? Tonight's bout to get a bit more bloodier...

W-what!? When did I ever think like that!? Wait... The diamond dog warden! I kinda... Lost it then too... I just need to wait for them to pass... 

After a minute they entered the armory and were out of sight. I signaled Xavier upwards and then took off down the hallway.





Finally! I slammed the door behind me and looked around at my new environment. Bushes, ivy, benches, a fucking fountain? I guess I've found the courtyard. Now, let's get somewhere quite, isolated, and nowhere near any pushy princess's...

Looking around, I could see a few different places to go to, but my best option seemed to be the open window, bout two stories up, and opened up to a nice warm looking area. Possibly the Royal Library? I don't know, nor do I give a flying fuck. All I care about is the warmth emanating from it.

Looking at the nearest wall, I begin to run a visualization of what I am about to do in my mind. 





Taking a couple of steps back, I run full speed ahead at the closest wall, scaling several feet up the wall, and jump off it, soaring into... A maid's workroom. Holy shit. Looking back outside, I gape at the distance I just leapt. From the wall I had literally rebounded off of, to here, it was easily over twenty feet. I doubt many back home could even do a ten foot jump, much less twenty. Hell bells, even I couldn't do that before going to Sunny Town.

But here I am, leaping twenty to twenty five feet across court yards like a fucking game character. Turning back from the gigantic leap I had just made, I assessed my current surroundings. No Maids, meaning it's either too late for them to be up, or they're all out and about. There's tons of cubbies on the left wall, acting as a kind of locker for the Maids, with most of them being apparently used for pictures and the occasional memoir. 

Another thing that was extremely noticeable about the room was the massive 'vats' in the adjoining room, viewable from the where I stood. The steam coming out of them was enough to keep a sauna going for hours on end. Not much else was in the room besides racks full of cleaning utensils, Maid uniforms, and the odd towel mixed in. 

Sprinting towards the door, while somehow listening for more annoying Guards, I made a quick decision and began going down the left, albeit, at a slower pace. However, from the looks of the deserted halls, this wasn't going to be much of an issue. I mean, come on! You're a huge target to anybody that wants to gain control of this place, and you barely have Guards on one side of the castle, while the other side is jam packed full of them.

Though in all honesty, I probably shouldn't be complaining. This saves me the headache of avoiding them, and finding a place to stay away from them.





Turning the latest corner actually gave me some headway in my self-made castle tour. It seemed that I was correct in one way or another about the Royal Library. This was definitely the right area to find it if the massive doors with the inscriptions of "Regius Bibliotheca" above it, were what I think they are.

Walking up to it, I grasp the thick handle on the left door and decided to do multiple things to try and open it. First was the push down and pull/push, the usual way of opening doors of course. When that didn't work, I tried just pushing on it, which also prevailed to no avail.

Hmmm... Come to think of it, there's another possible issue here... It's locked... "What now, oh great and powerful Hunter~?"

"Hey! Don't act all high and mighty! I can fucking figure this out on my own!"


~~~~~~~~~~7 minutes later~~~~~~~~~~


Gritting my teeth, I finally lift up my mechanical hand and say, "Fine... What did you have in mind Sparks....?"

I can almost feel the smugness coming off of the stupid prosthetic..."Well... Remember the safe from the older version of the castle?"

"... Yes...?"

"Do you remember how you opened it?"

Fuck... "So you're saying I'm goin to have to do that again.... Fuck, that isn't going to be fun."





It took a couple minutes to prep myself for multiple things that were going to happen. First, most likely the sharp jolt through my arm when I do. That's going to be painful... Second, the rush of guards that're going to descend upon the hallway the moment this thing opens up. What? Didn't expect a door this big with a lock this difficult to have defense besides a magic shock when you touch it? Learned that one the hard way... But, we, well, I am positive I do this without getting tackled.

Taking a step back and placing my left hand, er, paw? against the door and began focusing it. Dark blue in the chest, A dull yellow from the locket, and a neon pink from the prosthetic all combining in my actual... paw, I begin slowly forcing it into the door. 

The first few seconds weren't too bad, but then I started getting what I can only describe as "feedback". Basically, I could feel a magic beginning to flow back into me. And it hurt. Imagine someone threading multiple threads through your arm and then have them all settle in your chest. It hurt. A lot.

Trying to ignore the increasing feedback, I begin to shove more magic in, enough magic to power a small generator for three weeks, and yet... It still wouldn't open. Cracking open my eyes, I grit my teeth and shove as much magic as I possibly could into the damn thing.


"CRRRTHUNK"


'...Holy shit. I thought they were big... These things are actually really... Small..?' 

The doors had opened alright, with enough magic to actually hurt me pretty bad. My hand was smoking a ton and my arm had what looked like burns going up it, though fortunately, they were healing pretty fast. Fun. The doors themselves actually weren't gigantic as I had thought. The doors were cut out of the "Gigantic doors" and simply stood about 9 feet tall, a few inches taller than me, which is still rather large in human terms...

Taking a step in, I can see why the doors are allowed to be so freaking large. The entire room was massive, the ceiling reaching a lot higher than the giganticus doors, the back wall was almost completely out of sight, and the side walls were about four vertical tennis fields apart.

"I'm assuming the Princess's let you in?"

"Holy shit!" 

Flinging myself back out the door, I cautiously poke my head back in to see the cause of my shock, an elderly unicorn, standing there with "No nonsense" kinda face, once again asking, "Well? Did they? Or am I going to have to call the Guards on you?"

Taking what info I could, that being "Princess's", ''Guards'', and "Let you in?", I made the intelligent response of, "Umm... Yes. Totally."

Her curiosity sated, the unicorn went back to what she was doing before, organizing books apparently.

Meanwhile, I was left to my own devices. And in doing so, gave me freedom to wander freely amongst the books of magic, life, and apparently physics. Didn't realize they had physics this far back, albeit very different from the physics I'm used to.

Grabbing a couple, I situate myself in what could be considered a reading lounge with rather cushy seats, and begin reading the lore of magic and how its origins, spoiler, came from an Alicorn! Yay. 

Another thirty minutes in, and I'm engrossed in it. Maybe I should stop and try to actually find Luna for once... Meh, a couple more pages never hurt anybody...





End Part 1