> To Err is Equine
>  by RLYoshi
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> 1: No Sense, No Memory, No Fingers
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mistake
1 - an error in action, calculation, opinion, or judgment caused by poor reasoning, carelessness, insufficient knowledge, etc.
2 - a misunderstanding or misconception
3 - me




Every brony's dream is to go to Equestria. So when I woke up surrounded by grass, trees, and Poison Joke, confirming my location to be the Everfree Forest, I was quick to dismiss it as just that: a dream. I yawned and tried to go back to sleep.

A roar yanked me back awake, and I glared in the direction of the offending noise. A manticore glared back.

"Go to hell," I grumbled at it before putting my head back down. A large pain across the side forced me up onto all fours, and I rolled a few feet away. Grunting in pain, I tried to cover the spot where I had been hit with a hand to suppress the pain, but I didn't feel my hand. I felt a hoof.

...I've read enough fan fics to see where this is going, I thought in minor annoyance. Had I realized that the events were real and not a dream, I would have been less irritated and more excited. Well, the manticore still wanting to eat me was also a factor in this difference of emotion.

I turned to the overgrown cat and pawed the ground, snorting angrily. The manticore looked nervous that I was suddenly facing it down, but put on a brave face again and roared.

"You call that a roar?" I scoffed. "This is a roar!" I inhaled deeply before shouting "FUS RO DAH!" as loudly as I could. I expected it to not actually work and just confuse the manticore, but instead, it actually blew the sucker back into the forest. He pretty much disappeared, and all I saw was his silhouette getting up and running away, whimpering. I chuckled, electing not to think about it and just assume it was part of the dream.

"Who is out shouting in these woods?" an echoing voice came through the trees. "Show yourself, please, if you could?"

Startled and panicking, I considered hiding from the voice that was obviously Zecora (I've always been kind of shy), but reassuring myself that this was all just a dream made me decide to meet her. I walked towards the voice, moving as though I had always been a pony. It felt normal.

"Right here!" I called casually.




Whoah, hold on. I think I started at the wrong part here. You guys have no idea who I am (unless you're a stalker...or Mobius), yet I'm acting like I've met you all personally. Alright, give me a bit, and I'll tell you about me.

My name? Doesn't matter. My job? None. My skills? Failing. My hobbies? Ponies, ponies, and more ponies.

Okay, now you know all the important stuff about me, so now it's time to find out why I'm in Equestria. The truth? I don't know either. Yet.

I remember my life on Earth easily, except for three days. The three days before I woke up in Equestria. They're nothing but fuzzy, vague memories that dash into my mind, flip me off, and run away before I can catch them. All I know is I was still a human then, but now I'm a...you'll find out.

Being a brony, I knew quite a bit about Equestria, but being a part of the fan fiction community meant I also sometimes couldn't remember what was canon and what was just a bunch of theories. I mean, Derpy is canon, but what about Lyra's human obsession? Many people consider them both canon, but only one is. I often get these mixed up and begin forgetting which is which.

Actually, I tend to forget a lot of things, thanks in part to being autistic and easily distracted. I'm like Pinkie Pie in terms of mental activity. Since the place I lived in on Earth was mainly full of assholes, my weirdness kept me from meshing well with them, and the end result was a lack of friends, a habit of spending my whole life on the computer, and my shy personality that I have around strangers.

I guess there are a few things you should know about me. I'm basically a cross between Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, depending on the situation. Put me near people I know, or leave me alone, and I'll be cheerful, if a bit sarcastic. As soon as I'm near a stranger or someone I don't like, though, I become quiet, reserved, and try to become invisible. This confuses a lot of people, such as when a friend of mine introduces me to their other friends and I go all silent.

And now I'm suddenly telling you my life story. Because I'm sure you care. Why am I in Equestria? Well, at the current time in this story, I don't know. And I don't figure it out for a while. But I eventually do, and trust me, you will too...once I get to that point in the story. But for now, let's skip back to the ponies, since that's what you're here for.




"Right here!" I called casually. I trotted towards Zecora's voice and eventually saw her through the trees. I walked up to her and smiled.

She punched me in the face and backed up several steps.

"Ow! What the hell!" I yelled, grabbing my face with a hoof to suppress the pain.

"Begone, demon of ice and cold!" Zecora yelled, sounding both fearful and angry. "I will not allow your plans to unfold!"

Demon? Cold? Plans? What am I, a snowman – er, snowpony?! "What're you talking about? I'm not gonna do anything!"

"I know of your species' actions in past history! Blatant lies will do nothing to fool me!"

I got mad. "Species? You mean ponies?! I'm not a damn Draconequus!" I stomped the ground and snorted in annoyance. Zecora's face, previously one of rage, suddenly became one of confusion.

"A simple pony you claim to be?" she asked, still sounding a bit distrusting. "Is your real self impossible to see?"

I blinked in confusion. That told her enough, and she relaxed slightly.

"I don't quite know who or what you are...but perhaps I went a bit too far," she admitted. She turned somewhat, as if heading away. "Follow me, please, back to my nook. There, you will see how you actually look."

She trotted away, and I followed. I didn't know what was going on, but by this point, I could tell I likely wasn't dreaming. I wouldn't be feeling pain if I was. Obviously, I was somehow in Equestria – or insane. Probably the latter, though I'd prefer the former.




Zecora's hut looked exactly as it did in the show. Same decorations, same pot, same everything. Still, it was interesting to actually walk into the hut and see it all, as though it was the first time seeing it.

As soon as we entered, Zecora held up a mirror for me to look in. At first glance I just looked like a normal pony, but after carefully examining myself, my jaw dropped.

I was entirely light blue, somewhat darker than Rainbow Dash's coat, and had a constantly flowing mane like Celestia's. My head, though a pony's head, was longer and came with white eyes; no pupils whatsoever. My body carried a ghostly, lightweight feel, as though I could fly just by jumping. I looked exactly like a certain creature from the Hearth's Warming Eve episode.

I was a Windigo.

Granted, I didn't look exactly like a Windigo. I was smaller – about the size of Big Macintosh, if not shorter – and had hind legs, whereas the Windigoes from the show just had a ghostly trail behind the front half of their body. My hooves were also more pony-like, which would explain why I thought I was a normal pony upon feeling them.

"...what the hell?" I said out loud. Zecora was watching, silent, waiting for something to happen. "I'm a Windigo? What kind of bloody joke is this?!" Yes, I say 'bloody' as a cuss substitute. No, I'm not British.

"I can sense genuine surprise in your reaction to your form," Zecora finally spoke after several minutes of me examining myself (not like that). "I can tell you did not come to brew up a storm."

"Even if I wanted to, I wouldn't know how," I confessed. I kicked my back hooves on the floor a bit, as if I was testing to see if they were real. "Heck, I don't even know how to fly."

Zecora started to say something, but I didn't hear her. My brain was perforated by a weird feeling, one that muffled all sound, sight, and feeling. Well, I could still hear, see, and feel, but my brain didn't register those senses nearly as much, even if they were still working fine. It was too busy focusing on that strange feeling that seemed to be pulling me...

"...you going?" Zecora's words finally became clear, and I suddenly lost the strange feeling. I blinked and everything returned to normal. I realized I was halfway out the door.

"I...I felt something weird," I explained. "Like it was drawing me towards it..."

"That is the instinct of the Windigo," she responded. "They are lured by hatred to spread lethal snow."

"So...I felt hatred?" I tried to clarify. She nodded. "I don't like this."

Zecora sighed, but it wasn't a sigh of annoyance. Rather, it was one of relief mixed with caring. "Despite your appearance, you are most certainly tame. If you don't mind me asking, what is your name?"

I froze. (Ha ha, froze, ice creature, get it? I hate myself.) I could've given my real name, but considering I was in Equestria, the land of names like Pinkie Pie, Shining Armor, and Scootaloo, something like Max would make me even more out of place. Even if I looked weird, the least I wanted was to blend in right. Having an odd name would make me stand out even more, if that was possible.

Think of something quick...okay, on the Internet, I called myself RLYoshi...can I get anything from that? Yoshi? No...R? Just R? No, that's even worse than Max. Think fast, she's getting suspicious!

"RL," I said suddenly. I paused briefly before pronouncing it differently. "Arrell." Nice job, genius. 'Arrell' isn't even a word...then again, Zecora isn't either, right?

"Arrell...a word that sounds familiar to me..." the zebra said thoughtfully, putting a striped hoof to her chin. What? "Though for now, it may be best to leave that be."

"Uh...sure?" It was more of a question than an agreement.

"Arrell, if you don't mind to say, do you know where you are going to stay?" she continued. I shook my head honestly. She walked over to the door and pointed in a direction. "Head down that path and over the hill. There, you will find a place called Ponyville."

I looked off, down the path. You'd expect my first thought to be something like Oh god, I'm going to Ponyville, but instead it was:

"I don't see a hill." I'm a snarky bastard.

Zecora shrugged. "I did not have time to think up a better rhyme."

"Fair enough." I started leaving, then turned back. "But...what do I do when I get there? Won't they be freaked out by the fact that I'm a Windigo? And I can't just tell them I'm a weird-looking earth pony. With eyes like these, a mane like this, and a blank flank on a grown stallion, they'd see through that like a window."

"Simply tell them the same as you did I," she replied softly. "That you mean them no harm; no reason to lie. I acted on instinct, thinking you a crook, but the ponies know not to judge the cover of the book."

I thought for a moment, eventually deciding she was right, though I was still a bit nervous.

"I guess," I decided, still sounding uncertain. She smiled warmly.

"Do not fret about them turning on you at first sight," she comforted me. "With what has happened lately, they will wait to hear your plight."

'With what has happened lately'? What? ...don't ask, find out later. The ponies will tell you.

I bid Zecora goodbye, thanked her for everything, and promised to come back and visit eventually. I headed off in the direction she pointed me, extremely anxious to get to town, but also worrying about making a good first impression.

The mane six hopefully won't judge me just because I'm a Windigo...they'll base me on my actions, not my looks. And if the other ponies don't like me, the girls will either set them straight, or join them and turn on me. ...whoah, that thought got dark quickly. Think of something else, Max – er, Arrell. Call myself Arrell, gotta remember that. Speaking of Arrell, why did Zecora say that it sounded familiar? Is there somepony here with that name? Is it an actual word? Or maybe she misheard me...wow, my train of thought got seriously derailed there. I shook my head and chuckled. Still...there are a lot of things I don't get yet. Obviously, there's the question as to why I'm in Equestria, but there's also the question of why I'm a Windigo, and not a human or pony. And why am I different from the Windigoes in the show? They didn't have back legs or normal hooves, and I don't think they could do a Fus Ro Dash. Why can I? ...I'll figure it out eventually, I suppose. Once I get accepted into Ponyville, I'll have to find Princess Celestia.

I finally exited the forest and stepped out into the light, seeing the sun shining overhead. Fluttershy's house was a short distance away, but it looked empty. Ponyville itself was also close, so I started heading for the town.

Rule of Human in Equestria stories: they always go to Twilight first. Let's see what happens when I try that.
> 2: Cliché Introductions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I tried to keep hidden as I went through Ponyville, staying in bushes and hiding behind houses so ponies wouldn't freak out at the sight of me. I decided it would be best to talk to Twilight, get her on my side, then reveal myself to the public. If I did it the other way around, then I'd make a bad first impression. And if Twilight heard about some 'monster invading town' then she'd freak out at the sight of me and never listen.

Her tree house was much bigger than it appeared in the show, though part of that could be attributed to the fact that I was now about four feet tall. I waited until nopony was strolling around in front (took about half an hour), swallowed nervously, and trotted out into the open. With nopony around, I relaxed a bit, and knocked on the purple unicorn's door. I didn't hear any voices or hoofsteps, so I knocked again, this time a bit louder.

"Spike! Get the door!" the famous voice of Tara Strong's called.

"Alright, alright," another voice grumbled, and I heard steps coming towards the door. The knob turned, and the wooden door opened. I braced myself for the inevitable scream and door slam.

Spike appeared in the doorway, looking no different than he did in the show – well, he was a bit taller, but I attributed that to me being shorter and some time passing. He still had the same purple skin, green scales, clawed hands – you already know what he looks like.

He was also wide-eyed in fear. And then he was gone, replaced by the door, vibrating from being shut so quickly.

"Saw that coming a mile away," I sighed.

"Spike? What's wrong?" Twilight asked from inside. He responded with incoherent stammering. "Who's at the door?" More stammering. Bored, I knocked again. "Coming!"

The door swung open in a purple glow, and Twilight herself walked into my vision. I waved nervously, expecting her to react just like Spike did.

"A...who...I..." the purple unicorn stuttered, staring at me.

"Hi?" I broke in. She gasped.

"Oh Celestia, it talks!" She backed away in fear. Or awe. One or the other.

"Yes, I do," I replied, annoyance evident in my tone. "Before you freak out, I'm not gonna hurt you, your friends, or anypony for that matter. Long story short, I don't know anything about myself aside from name and species, so I'm here to try and settle in for a while before finding some answers. I'll explain the whole story later."

Twilight seemed surprised by my little monologue, but after a few seconds she motioned for me to come inside. I did, albeit hesitantly.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you. It's just I've never had a chance to study a Windigo before." She sat on a cushion and motioned for me to do the same. "Could you tell me a bit about yourself?"

What is she, a psychologist? "My name is Arrell, I'm a Windigo, and I have no idea how to use any of my powers aside from having a more powerful version of the Royal Canterlot Voice," I explained. I opted not to tell her about the whole 'human' thing just yet. I probably would eventually, but if I was going to tell her weird things, I'd rather have her on my side first.

"My name is Twilight Sparkle," she answered, though I already knew. Then she put a hoof to her chin, thinking. "Arrell...Arrell...isn't that Olde Equestrian?"

I blinked in confusion.

"It's an Olde Equestrian word, I think," she elaborated. Using her magic, she pulled out a nearby book from a bookshelf and flipped through it. "Yes, it is! It roughly translates to 'comeback'. It was used as a battle cry when the losing side in a war gained the advantage."

What.

"I don't know if it's significant of anything, but it's pretty interesting," she continued. She noticed my perplexed look and levitated the book back onto its shelf, a small blush forming. "Sorry, I got distracted there."

"Happens to the best of us," I replied. And the worst.

Before she could speak again, the feeling from before suddenly returned – the feeling of hatred. I managed to keep myself still this time, but it continued to try and draw me towards it. Twilight kept speaking, unaware that my attention was being forced elsewhere.

Finally, the feeling left, and I shook my head to clear my senses. Twilight was reading out loud from another book, apparently having gone on another tangent.

"I'm sorry?" I asked, cutting her off. "I wasn't paying attention."

She glared. "For how long?"

"Since I last spoke."

She facehoofed and sighed. "Basically, I was looking up information about Windigoes to see if I could find anything that didn't match between them and you, since I knew something was off."

"I have hind legs and my hooves look more normal," I answered for her.

"Oh, all Windigoes have hind legs," she said. "They just turn into the windy tail that they're known for when the Windigo flies, and return when they land."

That made sense. Still didn't explain my hooves. She seemed to anticipate me asking about them, and spoke before I could.

"As for the hooves, that could be because you're not at full power. Windigoes become stronger as they get older, and their shape changes as they become stronger. Young Windigoes look almost exactly like regular ponies, and it isn't until they're much older that they become more distinguishable."

I was understanding this, but what I didn't get was why this was all true. I mean, Windigoes had little to no explanation in the show; just that they were evil, flew without wings, controlled ice, and fed on hatred. Yet there was all this information that actually existed, and we never found out? Though to be fair, this probably wasn't the kind of thing little kids would understand.

"Though one thing that confuses me is your ability to talk," she continued. "Windigoes normally can't talk to anypony or anything outside their species." She thought for a moment. "Plus, they usually travel in packs, yet you're all alone. What's going on?"

"Until this morning, Twilight, I didn't even know I was a Windigo," I chuckled.

Her eyes widened. "How can you not notice something like that?!"

"No mirrors?" I offered sheepishly.

"Wouldn't you have noticed you were born in a place full of Windigoes and surrounded by them all the time?" she asked. Instantly, I realized I was trapped. I could either lie, which would come back to bite me on the plot real hard in the future, or tell the whole truth, which would bite me on the plot now. I elected to lie.

"The truth is, I can't really remember much of anything from the past," I said, making the story up as I went. "I woke up in the Everfree Forest this morning, but I can't remember much before that about myself. I know my name, but that's all I know." Quickly noticing a small contradiction, I added, "Though I can still remember some stuff about Equestria. Not everything, but bits and pieces."

Eating my excuse like lunch, Twilight smiled. "Well, don't worry. I can help you get settled in, then I'll write to Princess Celestia to see if she can help."

Everything's fixed like that? How Mary Sue can I get?!

Suddenly, the window was smashed to pieces as a blue blur flew in, tackling me to the floor. I felt my assailant stand up and groan in pain.

"Rainbow!" Twilight yelled, both in surprise and concern. "What happened?"

Now Rainbow Dash is here? What's next? Let me guess...whatever Rainbow was doing turns out to involve Applejack, who shows up in a few seconds to check on her, followed by Fluttershy coming in after seeing the crash to make sure nopony's hurt, Rarity looking to get help from Spike, and Pinkie Pie popping in because she's Pinkie Pie. That's the most cliché way to introduce the mane six, so of course it'd happen to me.

Before any of that could happen, Rainbow had jumped off of me and looked ready to fight. Apparently she saw me and thought I was dangerous. Acting on pure instinct, I cowered behind my front hooves and braced myself for a beating.

"Rainbow, wait!" Twilight's yelling didn't stop the pegasus from charging at me, grabbing me by the neck, and holding me up in the air.

"Let go," I gasped, trying to sound threatening, but it came out more of a plea.

"What are you doing here?!" she demanded, ignoring me.

"Rainbow, let him go!"

"Him? Him who?!"

"The pony you're holding!"

"Twilight, have those books made you blind?! It's not a pony! It's a Windigo!"

"I know, but he's not here to cause trouble!"

"Oh, you're just gonna take its word for it?"

"Yes! Now put him down!"

"Why? What's it gonna do if I don't? It can't-"

She didn't get any further, as she suddenly stopped, then fell to the floor shivering. Released from her grip, I took a second to get some air, then ran over to her to see what was wrong. Twilight was there before I was, even though I started out only a couple feet away.

"What the heck happened?" I asked.

"I don't..." Twilight trailed off, then suddenly realized something. "Oh, I know! You froze her!"

My eyes widened. "I what?!"

"You probably didn't mean to, but you must have subconsciously channeled your body to give off extreme amounts of cold air that forced her to let go and stopped her wings," she elaborated. "You were likely feeding on her hatred at the moment without even meaning to."

I looked down at Rainbow, who had passed out, but was clearly still cold. "Why is she freezing right now if I stopped, though?"

"Maybe you're still giving off the cold air?"

"If I was, wouldn't you be feeling it too?"

"Well...maybe it's a lasting effect that'll go away eventually," she suggested. She used her magic to pull out a book and flipped through it while I put a blanket over Rainbow. "Here it is! When a Windigo freezes another creature, the intensity of the cold determines the effects. If the cold air is strong enough, it kills the creature, while weaker amounts can do no more than knock the creature out for about an hour, usually even less. Extremely small amounts may not even do that."

"So she'll be out for an hour?" I tried to clarify.

"Actually, probably not even half that," she answered. I groaned.

"Well, I know what I'm using that time for."

"What?"

I bolted for the door. "Getting the hell away from her!"
> 3: Risk It All
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I collapsed in a heap, coughing blood out from my mouth and holding a hoof over the gash in my stomach where I had been cut. Glaring up at the form in front of me, I tried to summon a freezing spell, but as soon as I started glowing, I felt another stab in my stomach. My concentration broke, and the spell ended before it began.

"You've caused me far too much trouble," the shadow in front of me growled. "Ever since you arrived..."

This guy's a damn lunatic! I thought, my brain deciding this was a good time to state the obvious. My vision started to fade, the shadows around me somehow becoming even darker.

"I never got to thank you for releasing me," the demon added with a grin. "Consider your reward to be the honour of dying at my blade."

"Could you get any more cliché?" I complained.

"What if I told you I was your father?" the shadow replied in the same snarky tone as me.

I couldn't reply. I just spat out another small puddle of blood and went limp as everything disappeared.




Forcing myself awake, I groaned quietly, hoping to avoid attracting attention. My first night in Equestria, and I spent it in the alley next to Sugarcube Corner, hiding in a cardboard box.

My brain tried to collect my memories of the previous day – I ran from the library, narrowly avoided running into Pinkie Pie, jumped into the alley beside Sugarcube Corner, and hid for the entire day, eventually falling asleep without realizing it.

And then...that dream.

I shook my head, trying to forget the dream. I crawled out from underneath the blanket draped over me, carefully stepped out of the box, and-

Wait.

Blanket?

I looked back at the box. Sure enough, there had been a blanket covering me during the night that wasn't there before. It was brown and ripped in a few places, but looked fine otherwise. It didn't even have any dirt on it. I regarded it with suspicion.

"Hey, you're up."

Startled, I whirled around at the speaker. I found myself looking at a rather ragged-looking...unicorn pony? The spot where his horn should be was completely broken off, leaving only the jagged and cracked base. His coat was light brown, with a darker brown mane and tail, and a cutie mark of a smiling skull. What made him stand out was the huge amounts of dirt and several cuts covering his body.

"Hi?" I greeted with a question. He chuckled.

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt you," he said. He held out a hoof. "Name's Risk Reward. Never met a Windigo before."

I cautiously shook his hoof. "I'm...Arrell," I replied slowly. "Nice to...meet you?"

He laughed again. "I can tell you're kind of nervous. Here, let me tell you a bit about myself." He sat down, and I did as well. "I'm originally from Canterlot, but when I got my special talent for stunts, I felt too out of place. Everypony there's way too uptight and snooty, except for maybe one or two ponies."

"So you moved to Ponyville?" I asked.

"Yep. Only when I got here, some things happened." He sighed. "First, I got into a fight, and my horn broke off. Then I couldn't get a job, so the guy I was staying with kicked me out for not paying rent."

"Wow," I grunted. "What a dick."

"I know, right?" Risk agreed before continuing his story. "Anyway, for the past week since then, I've been living in this alley, trying to find a job. Then I found you here last night and wasn't sure what to do, so I just decided to wing it and see how a face-to-face meeting went."

I smirked. "You're acting pretty casually for somepony who's standing in front of a live Windigo."

He shrugged. "I went to the town librarian for help this morning, and she said she knew about you and that you were harmless. She'll be by later to check on you."

My eyes widened. Twilight's coming by?! Oh no... Suddenly, my panicking stopped as quickly as it started. Wait. I'm not scared of Twilight. It's Rainbow I'm scared of. Twilight's fine.

"Until then, what's your story?" Risk grinned. I gave him the same amnesia story I gave Twilight (hey, if I'm gonna lie to several ponies, I might as well use the same lie each time). After I finished telling him that, I told him about the previous day's events that led up to my night in the alley.

"So now I don't really know what to do," I finished. "I could try to regain my memory, or start fresh. In all honesty, I'd rather start fresh, but I don't even know what to do from there."

"Well, considering you're a Windigo, you've probably got some sort of destiny," Risk offered.

"Maybe, but what kind?" I sighed and stared off into space. "Am I supposed to become a hero? A villain? The new ruler of Equestria? Maybe I'm just another pony who happens to be a Windigo, and I'm not special at all."

I sighed again, and Risk tried to comfort me. "Hey, if worse comes to worse, at least you're not evil, right?"

"Yeah, I'm not evil," I agreed. "But I'm sure as Tartarus pretty damn unlucky."




As Risk promised, Twilight showed up about fifteen minutes later. At that moment, I was still tired from a rough sleep, as well as hungry due to not eating since arriving in Equestria, so I really didn't want to go through more questioning. I made myself very vocal about this (keeping out the whole 'just arrived in Equestria' part, of course).

"I only have a couple of things to bring up, and then I can help you out," Twilight replied, sounding a bit annoyed herself. I tend to have that effect on people – or ponies, now.

"Fine," I sighed. Risk had opted to leave us alone and go for a walk around town, so I was stuck on my own for this.

"First off, you don't need to worry about Rainbow," Twilight assured me. "I managed to get her calmed down, and I told the rest of my friends about you, so we're willing to help out if you need it."

Mary Sue levels...rising...

"Well...except for Applejack and Rarity," she added with a hint of sheepishness. "They said they're not sure they trust a Windigo who just shows up out of nowhere. Even Rainbow's not entirely sure."

"Alright," I sighed, waiting to just get the questions over with. "Anything else?"

"I was going to send a letter to Princess Celestia about you, but before I did, I wanted to make sure you were okay with it." She levitated a piece of paper and a quill out.

I squinted my left eye in confusion. "Where did you get those?"

For a moment, I thought I saw her eye twitch, as though I reminded her of something traumatic. She covered it up quickly though. "Never mind. Are you fine with me sending a letter?"

I shrugged. "Sure."

She began scrawling the quill across the paper for a few moments before stopping. It wasn't like she was done; she just hesitated, as if she didn't know how to spell a word or didn't have the right facts. She turned to me.

"Before I finish this, there's a question I need to ask," she said.

"What is it?" I twirled my hoof in a 'get on with it' motion. She then proceeded to ask the one question I didn't want to have to answer.

"Are you a human?"




Dear Princess Celestia,

Rather than a friendship report, I have something else I wish to inform you of.

"I...uh...a what?"

"A human."

Just yesterday, I met a pony named Arrell...well, the thing is, he isn't actually a pony. He's a Windigo, who claims to have lost his memory and only remembers a few things about himself and Equestria.

"...what makes you think that?"

"Come on, Arrell. A Windigo who acts like a normal pony, showing up out of nowhere and claiming to have amnesia?"

Unlike the Windigoes told about in legends, he doesn't seem evil or malicious in any way. He acts pleasant and casual, as though he's just a regular pony, and actually seems to be scared of what's going on. He doesn't even know how to use any of his abilities, aside from sensing hatred.

"How does that make me a human?"

"In the past while, we've had other humans showing up in Equestria, and all the ones I know of have taken on new forms. Diamond Dogs, griffons, Changelings..."

I had my suspicions that he is not all he seems to be, and sure enough, when I questioned him...

"...I'm sorry."

"For what?"

...I was right.

"For lying to you..."

"So it's true?"

He is yet another human.

"Yeah..."

But unlike the ones we know of, he doesn't seem to have any idea whatsoever of what to do now. All the others found some kind of goal and purpose, but Arrell doesn't even have a clue of where to start. I think we need to find some way to help him.

"Okay then. I'll make sure to tell the princess about this. I'm sure she'll be able to help you."

If you come up with any solutions, please let me know. We'll keep an eye on him until then.

"Twilight?"

"Hm?"

"...thanks."

Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.




After writing the letter, Twilight went back to the library so Spike could send it. She wanted me to follow her, but I told her I'd catch up. I needed to do something else first, so I waited around in the alley.

Risk came back from his walk a few minutes later and saw me sitting there, waiting impatiently. He trotted over to me.

"Where's Twilight?" he asked.

"Back at the library," I answered, standing up. "I'm heading back there now. So are you."

He blinked, confused. "...I'm sorry?"

"You're homeless. You're weak. You need help. Yet you helped me instead of running away like any other pony would upon finding a Windigo in their 'home'." The word 'home' was dripping with sarcasm, considering I was referring to a freaking back alley and a box. "So for that, you're sticking with me until you get back on your hooves again."

His jaw dropped, and I chuckled slightly. He started to speak, but I shook my head, and he stopped. Motioning with my head for him to follow, I headed off in the direction of Twilight's library. While we walked, I had time to think.

So according to Twilight, there are other humans here...and they've all come in here as different species, not as humans or ponies...why does this sound familiar?

I tried to think back to my days as a human, where something like this may have happened. I couldn't recall it, unfortunately. Must be from the three days before I arrived here...the days I can't remember for the life of me.

"You alright?" Risk asked, walking up next to me.

"Just trying to remember," I explained. Technically not a lie. It occurred to me that I'd have to tell him the truth eventually. How would he take it? Not just me being a human – he took me being a Windigo well enough, so I wouldn't have to worry about that very much – but the fact that I lied about the amnesia.

When he finds out I lied, will he just shrug it off or hate me for it? I was hoping we'd be able to stick together for a while, but if he just up and leaves me, I'll be all alone. Even with the mane six – or at least the ones willing to help me – it won't really be enough. They've got jobs, plus they have their own adventures to go on, and I probably wouldn't be able to help them. A thought occurred to me. Maybe if I find those other humans? Sure, Twilight said the ones she knows all have goals and such, but maybe I could join them? Or at least think of something I could do myself. Yeah, that might work. But first I have to wait for Celestia's reply. If I get to meet her, I'll see if I can talk to her about getting to know some of the humans, or maybe I'll just meet some other ponies around here like Risk.

I almost didn't realize I was at the library. I opened the door with my hoof somehow and walked inside, Risk following in after me. Twilight must have already had Spike send the letter, since she was just lying on a cushion and reading a book. She looked up when she saw us come in.

"Hope you don't mind I brought a friend," I greeted with a friendly grin. (Well, I think it was friendly. I didn't know what Windigo teeth looked like at that point.) "He hasn't got anywhere to stay, so I figured I'd drag him along on whatever trouble I get into for a while."

Twilight giggled. "Sure thing. By the way, I sent the letter already, so we should hear a reply from the princess soon about helping you out."

Risk looked at me, confused. "Letter? Princess? Helping you out?"

Well, moment of truth...or truth telling, anyway. "Take a seat, pal," I offered. "I've got a long story to tell you."
> 4: A Comeback Eclipsed
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Three days had passed since Twilight sent the letter to Princess Celestia. I had told Risk about me being a human and all, and he actually didn't hate me for it. The rest of the mane six also knew, but at the moment, the only ones who would come near me were Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy. Applejack and Rarity always stayed away from me and shot me dirty looks when they came over, and Rainbow Dash...well, I hadn't even seen her since I almost killed her, so I don't even know about her. Though Twilight assured me that Rainbow was doing well, and had Pinkie Pie Promised to keep my identity secret, as did the other girls. Though Pinkie herself seemed disappointed that she couldn't throw me a huge welcome party...yet. She was still hanging onto that 'yet' like it was the most important thing in the world.

Celestia hadn't given us any ideas for what I could do so far. In fact, aside from a very short reply letter to Twilight to confirm she had received the first letter, she hadn't contacted us at all. It actually scared me a bit; I kept expecting her to suddenly come by one night, take me away, and lock me up in a dungeon somewhere.

Yeah, I'm paranoid.

One night, Twilight was running some tests on Risk's horn, looking for ways to repair it for him. I was bored and just lying around, staring at the walls. Normally I'd be reading, but you can only read the entire Daring Do series so many times.

"I've heard of cabin fever, but library fever?" Twilight joked as she watched me. I groaned in response. "You don't have to stay in here, you know. You could go out."

"Not until I know what I'm gonna do," I declined. I sat up to face her and prepared for a speech of my meticulously carved plan. "If I reveal myself to Ponyville and they like me, that's good, but what if they don't like me? I'd either become ignored, which would be bad enough, or hunted down. You know how evil Windigoes are in legends. They'd think I'm lying with the whole human thing. They'd try to capture or even kill me, and then I wouldn't have anywhere to go. I can't hide behind you girls – and Risk and Spike – for that. I'd have to run away somewhere, and then I'd be at an even bigger loss for what to do, because not only would I not know what to do, I'd also have no way of finding out, because Princess Celestia wouldn't be able to contact me. So the best course of action would be to wait until she replies, and then reveal myself, because if they chase me out at least I have something to do from there." I lay back on the sofa, Twilight looking quite surprised at my sudden monologue.

"I didn't understand half of that," Risk spoke up. "But since you sound like you've thought this over a lot, it probably makes sense in some weird way."

"It does," I replied with a small nod.

"Well...the princess should have responded by now, I'd think," Twilight suddenly realized. "Somepony like her should have some sort of idea...or at least given us other ponies to ask. Why hasn't she replied?"

I didn't say anything. I was expecting the sudden convenient timing of Spike burping up a letter upstairs and taking it down to us, or even Celestia herself suddenly teleporting into the room. Neither happened.

Instead, I suddenly felt the feeling of hatred once more. This had happened at least once a day ever since I arrived, so I had managed to get used to it and learn how to keep most of my senses intact. My vision still blurred slightly and the urge to run towards the source was pretty strong, but other than that, it was basically like a headache that lasted about ten seconds.

But one thing I noticed was that it didn't seem to happen often enough. Sure, Equestria is full of love and friendship and other stuff like that, but every episode in the show had hatred at least once during it – and that was just with less than fifteen characters. So there had to be roughly as much hate in Equestria as on Earth...so why was I only feeling it once a day, occasionally twice?

I questioned Twilight about it, and she said that it could be I'm not close enough to the source of hate. Windigoes can normally sense hatred at any point in the world, but since I was so young and weak, I probably had a much shorter range. This actually made a bit of sense. She also added that I probably couldn't sense hatred unless it was mutual – hence why my hate sense didn't tingle when Rainbow tackled me. This actually relieved me, since I wouldn't have to deal with that feeling twenty four seven.

After getting that out of the way, I went back to being bored. I must have fallen asleep at some point, because one moment I was listening to Twilight groan about how hard it was to replace Risk's horn, and the next I was being blinded by sunlight and the two unicorns were nowhere to be found.

I rolled off the couch and onto the floor with pretty much no noise whatsoever, thanks to not weighing much. Twilight told me that Windigoes were lighter than regular ponies – even more than pegasi – so while I didn't feel particularly lightweight, I probably didn't even weigh a hundred pounds. Honestly, without Twilight around, I probably wouldn't know anything about being a Windigo. It's a weird feeling. Imagine there being one person who you need to tell you everything about being a human, and without them you wouldn't know or be able to do anything that isn't common sense.

With that journey from the couch to the floor (and another from the floor to the bathroom), I figured I was ready for the day. Oh, how wrong I was.





Twilight and Risk got up shortly after I did. Risk had spent the night in the guest room originally given to me, but since I pretty much took the couch that night, Twilight let him take it instead. I didn't mind. It was a comfy couch.

I expected the day to be like any other: boring. Instead, at just a bit after noon, there was a knock at Twilight's door. I quickly ran into the kitchen to hide, waiting for the signal that it was safe. I could hear talking through the walls as Twilight opened the door.

"Hello, how may I – Princess?!" I heard Twilight nearly squeal.

"I apologize for arriving so suddenly, Twilight Sparkle," a calm, motherly voice replied. I recognized it as belonging to Princess Celestia from the show. "However, this is an urgent matter, and as soon as I found out about it, I could not lose time warning you, and had to head here instantly."

"What's going on?" Twilight asked, sounding nervous. I couldn't tell what put her off more: the fact that something bad was happening, or the fact that Princess Celestia had suddenly shown up without giving her time to prepare.

"Where is the Windigo you spoke of in your letter?" Celestia asked, not answering Twilight's question. Sensing that it was safe, I peeked my head out of the kitchen, catching the alicorn's attention. "Ah, there you are."

"Hi?" I greeted nervously, slowly trotting out of the kitchen. The princess was a lot more intimidating in person, though to be fair, I think anyone bigger than me is intimidating. And as we've seen, the princess is over twice as tall as a regular pony. And while normally she didn't look too hostile, it seemed like she was deliberately trying to scare me at the moment.

"Princess, what's going on?" Twilight asked again. This time, Celestia turned slightly to her faithful student, but didn't take her eyes off me.

"I sensed a great evil coming from this area. I needed to see what was wrong, and I think I know now."

"What's wrong?" Twilight asked, swallowing nervously. She seemed to have caught on at the same time I did, and at the moment, all I could think about was how much I wished I could have been an ordinary unicorn and teleported away.

"Arrell, please come with me," Celestia ordered.

"I didn't do anything!" I yelled nervously. "I-"

"Come now, or I will have to take you by force." She glared. It penetrated my very soul.

"Princess, wait!" Twilight begged. "Arrell isn't evil! He's a human! He's no different from the others we've met!"

Celestia glanced over at Twilight for a second before looking back to me, but she still spoke to the unicorn. "My faithful student, you need to learn that not all humans are good."

Twilight blinked. "What do you-"

"Why do you think so many humans have horrible lives?" Celestia interrupted. "You cannot have suffering without a cause. You may not have seen it yet, but I have a feeling Arrell is such a cause."

"Not deliberately!" I blurted out.

"Come with me, Arrell. I wish I didn't have to do this, but I do what I need to in order to protect my citizens."

Casting a final pleading look at Twilight and receiving no response, I slowly moved towards the princess. It's over. Already, everything's over. Either she'll send me back to Earth, or lock me away in a dungeon, or send me to the moon, or kill me...

Then, before anything could happen and my fears could be realized, something happened. Something small, yet important, that would save me from a long list of possible conclusions, all of which I would do anything to avoid.

Risk walked inside.

"What the heck's going on here?" he asked. Celestia, surprised, looked over at him, her attention drawn away from me. With her distracted, I made the first move I could think of: I ran.

I charged out the door, running right past Risk. I heard Twilight and Celestia yelling after me, but I didn't stop. I ran through Ponyville, ignoring the screams and stares, and just kept going until I was out of the town. And from there, I kept going even further.

Don't stop running. If you stop, you're dead. Just keep going.

It wasn't until I saw new buildings pop into view that I realized how many hours I had been running for. That was when it all caught up to me, and I suddenly collapsed. I couldn't get up, even though I wanted to. I just lay on the ground, panting, until my eyes forced themselves shut and I fell into the world of dreams.
> 5: False Fronts and Quid Pro Quo
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now this is a story all about how
My life got flipped, turned upside-down
And I'd like to take a minute, I've got time to kill
I'll tell you how I got chased out of the town of Ponyville!

Shaking my head to clear the horrible parody from my head, I felt my senses return to my brain. The music faded away, as did the darkness as I opened my eyes.

I was in what looked like an ordinary bedroom. I seemed to be alone, but I felt like there was somepony nearby. Pulling myself to my hooves, I took a better look around.

I had been lying on a bed pushed up against one wall, with a door on the opposite wall. There wasn't a lot of furniture in the room; aside from the bed, a set of drawers, and a bedside table, it was pretty much bare.

There was a window above my bed, which I peeked through to see that it was the middle of the night...though that'd be nearly impossible to tell if not for the moon in the sky.

Everywhere I looked, I saw buildings with lights on, ponies walking around casually, and carriages rolling both ways on the road. It was like nopony realized it was nighttime. Then it hit me: I was in the city.

I never lived in a city before. My hometown as a human was pretty calm and quiet, even during the day, and I lived on the outskirts of that for the past several years. The only times I had been in a city were either to visit my since deceased grandmother, or when I went to a convention in the United States. And only in the latter had I ever seen a city at night.

I stopped that train of thought and focused on the fact that I was in a city, not what cities I had been in before. I tried to recall any cities from the show, but I could only think of two: Canterlot and Manehatten. Well, there might also have been Fillydelphia, but that place had never been actually shown. So there was that selection, and really, none of the options were looking too good for me. Canterlot was closer to Celestia than I wanted at the moment, Manehatten was full of snobs, and I knew nothing about Fillydelphia aside from its name. No matter where I was, if it was one of those three places, I'd have some trouble.

Deciding to take a chance, I walked over to the door and opened it quietly. I walked out into a dark hallway and waited for my eyes to adjust to the light (or lack thereof). After a moment, I could see another door, as well as a staircase going down. Common sense dictated that if I wanted to leave, I'd have to go downstairs, so I went towards the staircase. Before I could begin descending, however, the door creaked open. I froze in place.

A mare's head peeked out and stared at me. I stared back. Neither of us spoke for a few seconds. I was never good at starting conversations with people normally, let alone with a pony whose house I was sneaking out of. Fortunately, she spoke up first.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, opening the door a bit wider and stepping out into the hall. It was too dark to see her clearly, so I couldn't figure out what she looked like.

"What?" I replied, confused by her question.

"You were passed out when I found you. Are you feeling better?" she clarified. I nodded slowly, and she smiled lightly. "Come on inside, we'll talk."

She stepped back into her room, leaving the door open for me to follow. I could have taken this opportunity to dash out the front door and run far away from her, but something inside me kept me from doing that. Probably knowledge that this mare was actually trusting me. I slowly walked inside the room she went into and closed the door behind me.

Since the room was actually lit up thanks to the presence of a candle (how a single candle lit up the room like proper lightbulbs, I have no idea), I managed to actually get a proper look at the mare. Her coat was light pink, with a straight light purple mane. Her tail was also light purple, but had twists of pink in it as well, and was curled up similar to Rarity's. She didn't have a horn, so she wasn't a unicorn, but I couldn't see if she had wings or not since she was wearing a dark blue robe. The same robe kept me from seeing her cutie mark...and that sounded a lot more perverted than I intended.

"Who are you?" the mare asked almost instantly.

"I'm wondering the same thing about you," I replied, sounding a bit more irritated than I intended. "And a few other things too. Such as where I am, why you're not freaking out over a Windigo, et cetera."

"I'm not exactly lacking with my share of questions either." The mare sat down on a cushion and motioned for me to do the same. I got brief flashbacks to my first interaction with Twilight, but I ignored them and just sat down.

"Quid pro quo," I offered.

The mare blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"Quid pro quo. Tit for tat. You scratch my back, I scratch yours," I clarified. "Since we both want to know stuff, let's ask questions back and forth, one at a time. No lying, no exaggerating, no conveniently forgotten details. That's usually how I figure stuff out from others."

The mare thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Sounds fine. You first."

"Where am I?" I asked instantly. Best to get that out of the way first.

"You're in my house in Manehatten," the mare responded simply. "Now, my turn. Who are you?"

...well, that whole "no lying" rule just came back to bite me in the flank...wait. She just asked who I am, not for my backstory...

"Arrell," I finally said. Not a lie, not an exaggeration, and I didn't conveniently forget anything. I just left out what didn't need to be said. "Now, who are you?"

The look on her face told me she didn't appreciate the loophole, but she didn't say anything about it. "My name is False Front. I'm a Royal Guard assigned to watch over Manehatten."

Aw buck, Royal Guards! Everypony dip! My mind yelled, digging up lyrics from one of my favourite fanmade pony raps. I ignored it.

"Now, you're not sneaking your way out of this question," False said with a smirk. "What's your story?"

Play dumb, Arrell. "Story?"

"Your past. Your personality. Your skills. Why you're a Windigo who acts like a regular pony. Everything, Mr. Arrell. No loopholes this time." She crossed her front hooves.

So here, I had two...no, three...actually, four options. I could lie my way out and break my own rule; I could tell the truth and risk being arrested; I could suddenly attack her and escape; or I could just stay silent and refuse to talk. In reality, all of those had bad consequences waiting to happen, and all I could do was choose the consequence I could live with the best.

Time to lie.

"I woke up in the Everfree Forest a few days ago," I explained, deciding to use the same story I told Twilight and Risk before they found out I was a human. "I couldn't, and still can't, remember anything from my past."

"Lies."

Somewhat startled, I blinked rapidly before silently calming down. "Lies?"

"Lies. Truth, now." She glared, but for some reason I felt like it lost a bit of its effect because of the robe and how tired she looked.

Alright, improv time. "The truth is that...well, I'm a Windigo, but I was always different from the others, so they sent me down to Equestria-"

"More lies," False broke in, not even letting me finish. She stood up. "Third time had better be the charm, bucko, because I'm losing my patience."

Oh horseapples...how can she tell I'm lying? Do I have a tic that gives it away? Alright, no more taking chances...hate to do this, but I'll have to tell the truth.

So I spent a couple minutes recounting to False what had happened previously. How I used to be a human, couldn't remember my last three days as one, and woke up as a Windigo. I even described the show to her, but quickly added in how Equestria probably wasn't fake; just a different dimension. Surprisingly, she took all this information in calmly, even sitting back down and losing the glare. I hesitated to tell her about Celestia, but I did anyway, since I figured I might as well get it all out at once.

When I was done, I sunk down lower and waited for her to respond.

"Pretty interesting story," she commented. "Even more interesting is how true it is."

I looked up. "How can you tell when something's a lie and when it's the truth?" I asked.

"It's my special talent," False replied. She lifted up the part of her robe near her flank. On instinct, I looked away, a small blush forming. I heard her giggle. "It's fine, crazy. Just look."

I turned back and she gestured to her cutie mark. It was a mask, sort of like a drama mask you see on posters for theater performances. One half was white and the other was black. The white side's half-mouth was smiling, while the black side's half-mouth was frowning, and its eye was half-closed as opposed to the white side's, which was wide open. The final touch was a very noticeable crack in the white side, as if it had been dropped or smashed against a wall.

"I don't get it," I said finally.

"My talent is lying and covering things up," False finally explained. "And not just doing it; I can tell when another pony is trying to hide things."

"Like a living lie detector," I said in awe, more to myself than her. "But...how can you have skill at lying?"

She shrugged as she lowered the corner of her robe she was holding. "I just do. Ponies believe me when I lie a lot easier than they would others, as long as I'm not saying something that's obviously not true. For example, if I told you black was white, you wouldn't believe me. But if I told you that I had ten brothers and they were all standing behind you, about to attack, you'd believe it."

I quickly looked behind me, paranoid. Nopony was there. I heard False laugh.

"It was a lie, crazy," she chuckled. I relaxed again. "Now, you've asked two questions, so I get to ask two as well."

"Sure, go ahead," I sighed. "I don't have much else to say anyway."

"First off, what do you plan to do in Equestria now that you're here?" she asked. "And secondly, how do you plan to escape from Princess Celestia?"

"I don't know for either of those," I replied. "Besides, you're a Royal Guard. You're probably just waiting to go report to the princess that you've found me."

"Why would I do that?" False looked genuinely surprised. "You're clearly not evil."

"She thinks I am, though!" I threw my hooves up, as if surrendering. "I appear in Ponyville at the same time as her sensing evil in Ponyville. Obviously she's gonna think it's me!"

False put a hoof to her chin, thinking for a bit. Finally, she spoke up. "You know, I think I can help you."

I perked up. "Really?" Then I deflated. "Or was that just another lie?"

"I'm serious," she assured me. "But you'll owe me twice for it. Once for finding you outside, and once for this."

I nodded. "Deal." We shook hooves on it.

"Alright, I'll put my skills to work," False declared. "You can stay in my house until I've settled the issue."

"Thanks," I said with a smile – the first one I'd given her. "But...one last question."

"Shoot."

"I asked this earlier before the whole quid pro quo thing and it didn't get answered," I began. "Why aren't you surprised to see a Windigo who acts like a pony?"

She just smirked. "As a Royal Guard, you see a lot of crazy things. As long as you don't freeze me in my sleep, we're on good terms."





Author's Note: Ohai there! First of these I've done in the story. I probably won't make too many of these; just when I have an announcement. Which I do here, but it's a somewhat small one.

Since I had a bit of trouble visualizing Risk and False without making an image of them in a Pony Creator, I had a feeling some of you might have the same problem, partially due to me being horrible at describing appearances. My question is this: should I insert pictures throughout chapters whenever a new main OC is introduced to show you what they look like, rather than just vaguely describing them?

Let me know in the comments below. Thanks, and I hope you like the story!
> 6: From Solution to Adventure
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Turns out I didn't need to wait more than a couple of days for the result of False's attempts to contact the princess. Being a member of the Royal Guard, she could easily get to her to tell her things, and as soon as Celestia heard about how "the evil Windigo" had been caught, she didn't hesitate to follow False back to her home.

As the princess entered the earth pony's home (yes, False is an earth pony after all), she likely expected to see me tied up on the floor, struggling to break free. Or maybe stabbed in the chest, a pool of blood forming around me.

She didn't expect me to be casually sitting on the couch, flipping through a newspaper. I glanced up at her, my heart almost stopping, but I mentally assured myself that False had everything under control.

"Ohai," I greeted nonchalantly, going back to my reading material. Celestia looked at False with a confused expression.

"I thought you said you captured him?" she asked.

"Look at him," False replied. "You think he needs to be captured, even if he was evil?"

"I heard that!" I called, not taking my eyes off the paper.

False ignored me. "I just told you that to get you down here quicker. He's not evil. If he was, he would've...I don't know, done something. He's had plenty of chances."

"He was always being watched back in Ponyville," Celestia argued. "There weren't any chances then."

"No, but there were after that," False shot back. I almost cringed at how snappish she was being with the princess. "He and I were the only ones who knew he was here, and I couldn't exactly watch him all day. He had multiple opportunities to escape, attack me, or do anything really. But he hasn't."

Celestia narrowed her eyes. "You left a potentially dangerous creature alone several times a day?"

"He's not-"

"Look at him!" Celestia demanded. They both turned to me. I just kept reading, pausing only to scratch my face. I looked at my hoof after doing so.

"I didn't know you could scratch without fingers," I noted out loud. Shrugging, I went back to the paper. False shot Celestia a smirk.

"See? Not dangerous," she stated. Celestia sighed, then trotted over to me. I looked up at her, still holding onto the paper like a shield.

"Arrell." Her face had pretty much no emotion on it, so I couldn't tell what she was thinking.

I tried to say "Yes?" casually, but my fear took over, so it came out as more of a squeak. She didn't seem to notice, but False did, judging by her giggle.

Celestia didn't speak. Instead, she lit her horn, and I suddenly felt myself being held in place. Panicking, I tried to struggle free, but it was pointless.

"Hold still, Arrell," Celestia said quietly. Her voice didn't sound angry. Instead, it sounded...apologetic? ...nah, that was probably me getting hopeful. Either way, I found myself complying, halting my attempts at breaking free while staying completely scared out of my mind.

Suddenly, her horn glowed even brighter...and I blacked out.





I tried to run away from the searing flames, but I couldn't even budge. The fire hurt me even more now than it did as a human; back then, at least I could move, but here, I felt like I was...melting.

I collapsed and stared at the ground as my vision blurred. All I could see now was the flames as they engulfed my body...and then a voice called to me.





"...rell? Arrell?"

My eyes snapped open to see a familiar wooden ceiling. I turned over onto my front and stood up, groaning as I felt my joints crack. Once I was fully awake, I turned my head to see Celestia looking at me in worry.

"Ohai," I greeted as I took a glance around the room. Bookcases, wooden walls, a sofa that I had been sleeping on. Twilight's library? Twilight's library. Why am I back here?

"It's good to see you awake," Celestia responded with a smile. "You had been unconscious for at least a day, and then you suddenly began screaming."

"Why was I unconscious?" I asked, having trouble recalling previous events.

Celestia shifted uncomfortably, but explained anyway. "Back in False Front's home, I decided to try and use my magic to search your mind and body for the feeling of evil that I sensed before. However, in order to find it, I had to put you to sleep temporarily."

"Did you find it?" I asked, nearly pleading.

She nodded. "I did find it, but...strangely, I cannot remove it. All I could do was block it off inside of you."

I let this thought process in my brain. "So...I have an intense evil, powerful enough to make you want to capture or kill me to keep it away from other ponies...just trapped inside of me, unable to get out?"

"Yes."

I facehoofed. "Yeah, I don't see anything wrong with this picture!"

"What do you mean?"

I turned my head at the new voice. Twilight had walked in from a different room, unnoticed. She didn't look surprised to see me, for whatever reason. The princess probably told her about how I was safe already.

"Never mind," I sighed. "Good to see you again, Twilight."

"You too, Arrell," she greeted with a smile. "The princess told me already what happened."

Knew it.

"So...am I safe?" I asked, turning to Celestia.

"Not quite." Oh crap. "While I am fine with letting you go free, I still plan to keep an eye on you for a little while, just in case. The seal I placed to block off the evil within you should be enough to keep you from accessing it, deliberately or accidentally, but I just want to make sure."

I swallowed nervously. "So...now what?"

"For the next while, I'm allowing you to do whatever you want...within reason," she added with a mild glare. "However, I insist on keeping a member of my Royal Guard nearby at all times."

"So, I'm basically on probation?" I deadpanned.

"In a sense," she replied with a shrug. She turned her head. "False Front, could you come in here please?"

I looked over at the door Twilight had come through earlier. Now, False walked through. I have to admit, I was surprised to see her again. I had a feeling that once the whole thing with Celestia was sorted out, I'd have headed back to Ponyville and wouldn't see her anymore.

"False Front, I am assigning you to watch Arrell for however long I deem necessary," the alicorn proclaimed. False merely nodded, and Celestia nodded back.

"Hold on," Twilight suddenly broke in. "Princess, why do you need one of your guards to watch Arrell? Couldn't the girls and I do it?" She was asking not out of curiosity, but because she thought Celestia didn't trust her enough. I could tell.

"My faithful student, while I have the utmost faith in your abilities, I believe this is for the best," Celestia comforted her. "We do not know enough about Arrell as of now, and I cannot task you with watching his every move. It would distract you from your work. However, this sort of thing is what guards, such as False Front, are supposed to do."

"Plus, I probably won't be staying in Ponyville my whole life," I added, walking up. "Until I know exactly what I'm gonna do here in Equestria, I'm probably going to try a lot of things. Travelling, honing my skills as a Windigo, and all that. Would you really want to leave your friends and home just to listen to me make bad puns for who knows how long?"

Twilight thought about it for a second, then smiled. "I guess you're right...sorry about that."

I shrugged. "It's cool."

There was a brief silence before everypony in the room, sans me, facehoofed simultaneously. I just smirked.

"I warned you."





After chatting for a little bit more, Celestia decided she needed to head back to Canterlot, and left. Twilight went to explain to her friends what just happened, taking Spike with her. So I was left all alone with False in the library.

"Wait, where's Risk?" I suddenly asked out loud when I realized it was just the two of us.

"He went out to practice something while you were asleep and hasn't come back yet," False explained. She nudged me. "By the way, you still owe me two favours."

I sighed. "Yeah yeah, I know. Let me guess, they're gonna lead to some annoying fetch quests that take me days to complete?"

False blinked. "What? No. I don't even know what I want to use them for yet."

So instead, she'll save them until she's trying to get me to do something extremely dangerous and life-threatening, and then call on one of her favours to make me do it. Because that's so much better.

"Anyway," she continued, derailing my train of thought. "How long until you start travelling, do you think?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, slightly absentminded.

"You said you'd be leaving Ponyville soon," she reminded me. "Sightseeing and training and stuff like that."

I shrugged. "Probably tomorrow or the day after, but I know I won't be staying away. Ponyville's probably gonna be my home. I'm just going a safe distance away so I don't destroy it while training."

"And how long do you plan to train for?" False raised an eyebrow.

"The first time I leave? Probably several days, maybe even weeks. I won't return until I've learned how to do the things normal Windigoes my age can do. After that, if I leave to perfect a new power or test a theory involving my skills, it'll probably only be for a couple of days, if even that much. It's the sightseeing that'll keep me away from Ponyville for long periods of time." I paused, then looked at her suspiciously. "Why?"

"I have to follow you, remember? I want to at least know what I'm getting into." She sighed, not sounding particularly happy with this fact.

I smirked. "I also want to know what I'm getting into. Too bad I can never find out until it's too late."

The door to the library opened at that point, and Risk walked in. The dirt covering his body had been cleaned off, but aside from that he looked the same – broken horn and all. I mentally cringed, seeing his horn still useless. He smiled upon seeing me.

"Twi told me you were back," he greeted, holding up a front hoof. "Good to see you again."

I knocked my hoof against his in my first literal brohoof. "Same to you. You up for an adventure?"

He chuckled. "I'm up for anything."

Risk Reward joined your party! I couldn't help myself from making an RPG reference, even if it was just in my head. I looked over at False, who groaned.

"This isn't gonna end well," she declared with a shake of her head.

False Front joined your party...rather reluctantly.

"I'm part of the group, False," I replied with a grin. "Of course it's not gonna end well."





Author's Notes: Here you go, have some pictures of the OCs. The images won't show up, so I'll just link them:

Risk Reward

False Front

Whenever I introduce a new OC from now on who will be important, I'll put a picture of them in the Author's Notes at the end of their debut chapter (or a later chapter if they don't become important for a while). This is what a couple of you suggested, so I hope it works!
> 7: Differing Viewpoints
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Perspective: False Front]

I can't believe the princess would do this to me. Instead of being able to just send Arrell or whatever his name is back to Ponyville and go on with my life, I have to watch him for 'as long as necessary'. And knowing the princess, that's pretty much a life sentence.

I've only known this guy for a couple of days, yet Princess Celestia thinks I'm the perfect pony to have watch him? Why not have some of the higher-ranking Royal Guards take care of him? They'd keep him in line a lot better. I can't even hope to handle him. Give him an opportunity to do anything annoying, and he pounces on it like a manticore on a young colt.

"You alright there, Miss Front?" I heard a male voice ask to my left. I turned, snapping out of my trance to see...Risk, I think his name was? I only met him just yesterday, and this was the first time we ever had a conversation without other ponies joining in. I was in the guest room Twilight had offered me, unable to sleep through Luna's night. Apparently Risk was having the same problem.

"Just call me False," I replied. "And yes, I'm fine."

"You were zoning out," Risk said. "I've seen Arrell do that. Usually it's because he's trying to remember something, but other times, he's just daydreaming."

I wanted to facehoof, but given the circumstances, it wouldn't look very professional. I settled for just an irritated sigh. "Of course somepony like him would spend his time daydreaming," I grumbled. Risk raised an eyebrow.

"What's eating you?" he asked, a hint of annoyance creeping into his voice. "What did Arrell ever do to you?"

I could tell I wasn't getting off on the right hoof with this guy. He seemed to think I knew more than he did, or was a threat to his friend. Really? Arrell is a Celestia-damn Windigo. If I even wanted to hurt him, I'd be dead before I got a chance to try.

"He annoys me," I said simply. "He never shuts up, he's always making dumb jokes, and he doesn't leave anypony alone. Almost every time I turn around, he's behind me. It's like he's stalking me."

Risk relaxed somewhat and closed his eyes. "False...you haven't known him very long, have you?"

"No, I haven't. Why?"

"Arrell is...different." Understatement of the century. "Everything you described about him just now doesn't really fit, does it?"

I glared. "What do you mean, it doesn't fit?"

He opened his eyes. "Think back to when you first met him. Was he at all then like he is now?"

I opened my mouth to say 'of course', but then I thought about it. I recalled my first encounter with the Windigo – finding him passed out, just outside Manehatten. He looked absolutely helpless. When he woke up hours later and we had our first talk, he...did act a bit different than he does now. He was all business, trying to figure stuff out, and tried to avoid saying anything he didn't want to say. But now, it's like he's done a complete one-eighty. It wasn't until the next day he started acting so much more casual, and even then he didn't pick up his entire personality until he was back in Ponyville.

"No," I replied at last. A short and simple answer.

"Think about it," he began. "You've seen two personalities of his. One is carefree, optimistic, and – to be blunt – weird. The other is serious, quiet, and shy." He looked directly at me, and for the first time in my job as a Royal Guard, I felt scared.

"Which do you think is the real Arrell?"





[Perspective: Risk Reward]

I think I managed to talk some sense into False. She's a nice mare, but she gets ticked off a lot easier than she should.

When I asked her that last question about Arrell, she didn't answer. She thought for a moment, not saying anything. She just kept staring at her hooves.

"Let me know once you've figured it out," I said at last, leaving the room. She didn't respond, so I just closed the door and shook my head.

Twilight only had one guest room, so I took the couch and Arrell was...somewhere. Really, that guy just seemed to do whatever he wanted. He always justified it by saying 'Spiderman dot MP4', whatever that means. Probably some kind of human joke.

I checked the clock. Midnight. All three of us should have been asleep, since Arrell was planning to leave tomorrow, but neither False nor I could fall asleep. And I obviously didn't know how Arrell was doing.

Sighing, I decided to make the most of my insomnia and pulled out some books on pony anatomy. I needed to find some way to fix my horn. Twilight said she knew there was some way it could be done, but she couldn't remember exactly how. I took the matter into my own hooves, seeing how she was busy with other things and we would be leaving soon anyway.

After about an hour of reading, I heard one of the upstairs doors creak open. Looking up, I saw Twilight step out of her room. Her mane and tail were messy, so she probably had been sleeping and just woke up. I waved at her.

"Can't sleep?" she asked, obviously knowing the answer. I nodded. "If the couch isn't comfy enough, you can take my room."

"It's not the couch," I said, shaking my head. "I'm just not tired."

She hesitated, but nodded finally. "If you're sure. Say, do you know where Arrell went?"

"I don't think even Arrell knows where Arrell went," I joked. We laughed. "He's probably sleeping somewhere outside so none of us are left without somewhere to sleep."

"Oh, I hope he's okay..." A worried expression overcame Twilight's face. I chuckled.

"Arrell knows how to stay safe. Besides, it's Ponyville. What could happen to him?"

"Ursa Majors, parasprites, timberwolves, gangs of thugs, or the evil within him getting released."

"...now I'm worried too."





[Perspective: Arrell]

I stood facing two doors. They didn't seem to be attached to any walls, but then again, there wasn't anything for them really to be attached to anyway. I was just floating in a white void with them.

The doors were both pure black, to the point where I almost thought they were just holes in this bleak expanse. But they were clearly made of wood, as evidenced by the sound made when I knocked my hoof against them, and they had doorknobs on them.

I looked between the two of them. I felt like I had to choose one, and I had to choose now. Neither door was unique; they both looked and felt the exact same way.

I decided to experiment. I reached for one door and opened it, then let myself float backwards away from it (don't ask how I managed that). Through the door, I saw a sea of red. It looked like blood, but it was swishing around like water.

Through the second door, I saw a similar ocean, but this one was blue. Not as blue as oceans normally are, but rather a darker shade. I looked between the oceans, trying to choose one.

That's when I got another dumb idea. I reached into the red ocean and got my left hoof coated in the red water. When I pulled my hoof out, it actually looked like it was covered in red. Floating over to the blue ocean, I stuck my red hoof inside, hoping for a reaction by mixing the two.

I heard the sound of someone's hoof hitting their forehead, followed by a voice.

"You weren't supposed to do that..."

Suddenly, the blue and red water leaked out from their respective doors, covering me. I tried to swim, but the liquid was like air; I couldn't move in it, yet I couldn't breathe.

"You were supposed to make a choice!" the voice yelled. "You can't always take a third option!"

The now-purple ocean swallowed me up, drowning out the voice, and I blacked out.
> 8: You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Perspective: Arrell]

I woke up in a cold sweat, looking around me nervously. The purple ocean dream may have only been a minute or two long, but it felt like forever I was drowning in that liquid. And I couldn't get that stupid voice out of my head.

Calm down, Arrell. Surroundings, take them in. Where did you fall asleep?

A spot check told me that I was lying on a park bench like a hobo, the sun was just peeking up over the horizon, and I was still tired as hay. I would've just gone back to sleep, but the bench was really uncomfortable. I tried to roll off the bench onto the much comfier-looking grass, but by the time I worked up the energy to do even that, I was too awake to sleep.

Well, back to the library...once I figure out what direction it's in.





[Perspective: False Front]

"Which do you think is the real Arrell?"

The question kept ringing in my head. Risk made a valid point, and not just the obvious one. In a sense, he was forcing me to realize that I knew next to nothing about Arrell.

Is Arrell actually just that annoying, with some quiet moments? Or is he always shy with just an optimistic facade to hide it? ...gah, I can't think straight without sleep!

I managed to doze off for a few minutes during the night, but most of the night was spent thinking. And waiting. I was used to waiting, but not for a whole night. And I really was not used to being so tired. Having to deal with Arrell and Risk in this condition would be hell.

Stupid stallions, they drive me to insanity.





[Perspective: Arrell]

"I've stoked the fire
Seen more pain than you can know
The tears of the broken
Have washed away my soul..."

I continued singing one of my favourite songs, albeit quietly, as I made my way back to the library. Apparently the town was used to me by now, as they didn't even bat an eye at this. Or maybe Celestia just ordered them to treat me normally. And ignore any horrible singing.

"Pushed by desire
To change the way my stream will flow
Now I've awoken
And I'm taking back control..."

I finally found Twilight's library again (after being lost for roughly an hour) and stepped inside. I didn't even bother knocking, since this place was already my home until I could afford an actual house. Yet I didn't even stay here last night. Waste of a home.

"I try my best to block out the screams
But they're haunting me in my dreams
Please break my shackles
I want it to stop..."





[Perspective: False Front]

My eye twitched.





[Perspective: Arrell]

"Am I the only one who slept last night?" I deadpanned.

False had huge bags under her eyes and was constantly glaring at me, Risk, or the floor. Her mane and tail were messier than normal, and the only time she spoke was to tell me to shut up about three or four times. Risk's eyes refused to stay open, and I had to repeat things frequently for him, since he kept dozing off. Even Twilight was still yawning and looking rather messy as she trotted around the library while the rest of us prepared.

"Shut up," False grunted. Five times now and counting.

I rolled my eyes. "Well, if you two are going to be this energetic, maybe we should just stick around town for another day?" It was actually a good suggestion; I hadn't seen much of Ponyville in person (in pony?) aside from anything flying past my vision on my run away. That and the park bench. A comfy park bench I wanted to return to...or maybe a bed would be better.

"Sounds good to me," Risk yawned, instantly flopping back on the couch and going back to snoring. That pretty much made the decision for us, so False returned to the guest room for some more sleep herself.

Twilight came out of the kitchen and saw me standing in the middle of the room, alone sans for an unconscious Risk. She smirked a bit, which I returned before walking out of the library.

As soon as I left, I was hit by my hatred sense again. This time, however, I grinned; now that I had almost complete free reign over where I went, as long as False was moderately nearby, I could do something about it.

I let my guard against the sense down, and allowed it to pull me in a direction.





[Perspective: Risk Reward]

My sleep only lasted a few minutes, but I felt a bit better when I woke up. I knew I'd have to sleep some more during the day, lest I fall asleep in the middle of conversation again, but I decided to get up and actually do stuff for a while.

My first thought was to read some more about my horn, but I stopped as I reached for yet another book. I had spent plenty of time reading, but not enough time experimenting. One theory was that gemstones could be used by all species sort of like a unicorn's horn to use magic. So, ostensibly, couldn't I use one as a horn replacement?

I smiled at the thought and set out to find Rarity. I had met all of Twilight's friends, and they seemed pretty nice. Though Applejack and Rarity still seemed unsure of Arrell, and Rainbow Dash...come to think of it, I have yet to see her interact with him. And she doesn't speak highly of him either. She was probably the only one who didn't seem concerned when he was brought in unconscious on Celestia's back. Hay, she even laughed.

I scowled. Once I'm finished getting a gem from Rarity, I'm gonna have a talk with Dashie about this. Not liking somepony is alright, but laughing when they're hurt is...just cruel.





[Perspective: Arrell]

My hatred sense finally began to disappear, which confused me. Shouldn't it get stronger as I got closer to the source of the hate? ...well, at least I didn't have to deal with the feeling now.

I felt myself being released from the pull and looked around. I was on the main (or mane...I'm sorry) street of Ponyville, which was less crowded than normal. This could likely be attributed to it being rather early in the morning.

My senses kicked in again, this time very lightly, and directed my attention to a familiar mare arguing with an unfamiliar stallion. I recognized Rainbow Dash quickly, despite having only seen her once since my arrival, but had no idea who the other one was. I trotted up to figure out what was going on.

"I already paid it all off! Give it back now!" Rainbow yelled at the stallion, looking absolutely pissed off.

"Ya think I'd just let ya go like that?" the stallion asked with a smug grin. I instantly wanted to punch all of his teeth out. He had a dark green coat and brown hair, wore a pair of sunglasses, and was...smoking? I didn't know Equestria had cigars. To top his 'total jackass' look off, he had a brown trenchcoat on and a spiked collar.

"I paid you the money you wanted," Rainbow hissed. "Give me back the book. Now."

The stallion's grin widened and he lowered the shades from his face. "Nah, we ain't done yet, little filly. Come with me, and I'll show ya what else ya gotta give me."

I'd seen and heard enough by that point. I stomped up to them, making my presence known to the both of them, and stared the stallion right in the eye.

Now, I never paid much attention to my eyes when I arrived, but I knew they were pure white, without pupils. Now I knew just how useful eyes like that could be, because as soon as I locked eyes with this guy, his grin vanished and he took on a look of nervousness.

"Hello," I greeted him, very calmly. "I believe I overheard you two talking about something suspicious?"

"Uh..." the stallion uttered, sweating a bit. "N-no, nothing at all..."

"Really?" I let out a puff of icy air, causing him to shiver. "Because it sounded like my friend here was paying you to try and get something back from you."

His eyes darted back and forth comically. I felt like Phoenix Wright.

"You're going to give her back whatever she's been trying to get back from you," I ordered. "As well as any money she's paid you. And you're not going to bug her again."

He nodded frantically, reached into his trenchcoat, and pulled out a book and a small bag. He tossed the two items to Rainbow and began to back away. Before he could get too far away, I walked up to him and grabbed him by the neck.

"You have seen what my eyes can do," I told him. "Don't make me show you what the rest of me can do." I let him go and he bolted, not looking back.

I turned to Rainbow, who was staring at me in surprise. She tried to speak, but no words came out.

"No need to thank me," I said as I walked past her. "Just stop avoiding me. It hurts me worse than what I could have done to that guy."

With those words, I began my walk back to the library, the hatred sense now silent.
> 9: Rebuilding the Burned Bridges
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Perspective: Risk Reward]

I trotted out of Carousel Boutique with a sigh. Rarity had been kind enough to give me one of her gems to try and use as a replacement horn, but for some reason, it didn't work. I couldn't funnel my magic into it enough to produce more than a tiny blink of light. Maybe I was losing my touch after so long without magic, or maybe gems just wouldn't cut it for me. Either way, I'd have to go without magic for a while longer.

My next objective was to find Rainbow Dash. It was around the afternoon, so I knew she'd be walking around somewhere. I searched high and low (well, just low really, since I couldn't fly) and eventually found her trotting through the mane plaza.

...I'm getting more and more like Arrell every minute. That wasn't even intentional.

"Hey! Rainbow!" I called to the blue mare. She looked over at me and stopped walking, letting me trot up to her. "I think I should talk to you about something."

"Is it about Arrell?" she asked.

I nodded. "It's about time you got used to him."

"Risk..."

"I know you don't like him because the two of you got off on the wrong hoof..."

"Risk?"

"But still, you're being kind of racist, when you think about it..."

"Risk!"

"Just because he's a Windigo-"

She grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me. "Risk!"

I blinked. "Yes?"

"You don't need to lecture me about Arrell." She sat down on a bench, and I joined her. "I don't hate him like you think I do." She paused. "...anymore."

"What happened?"

"Well...it's a long story, and before you say you have the time for it, I don't." I closed my mouth. "So I'll just give you the basics. Earlier today, I was dealing with this creep who wouldn't give me back my private journal, and then Arrell stepped in out of nowhere and intimidated him into handing it back over."

Arrell? Intimidating? I'll believe it when I see it.

"That's all?" I asked for clarification. She nodded. "So...you hated him at first because he accidentally froze you, made a big deal about it, then stopped hating him when he helped you get back your diary?"

"Journal. And yeah."

I thought over that for a moment. "Seems kind of...what's the term I'm looking for?"

"Anti-climactic?" a voice came from behind us. We spun around and saw Arrell there.

"Yeah, what he said," I told Rainbow before turning back to the Windigo. "Didn't see you there."

He shrugged. "Probably because I just walked up five seconds ago. Or fifteen, rather, since we've been talking for about ten seconds and I sound way too much like Twilight right now." He facehoofed...is it still called a facehoof when a Windigo does it? "Anyway, I've been looking for you. Any progress with your horn?"

I just pointed at my forehead. He looked at what was clearly still a broken stub.

"...maybe I should've noticed that."

"Yeah, probably," Rainbow chuckled. Arrell looked a little surprised that she was talking to him, but regained his composure quickly. He came around the bench and sat down on the edge.

"I tried using one of Rarity's gems, but I couldn't get more than a little spark out," I explained.

"Gems?"

"According to one of the magic books I read, gems can be used to produce magic," I told him. He got a weird look in his eye. "You okay?"





[Perspective: Arrell]

Gems producing magic...that sounds familiar... My mind kept on racing with possible theories for this. I never paid attention to the magic books, and Risk never read out loud, so I didn't hear the theory from there. Twilight also never talked about magic with me – not unicorn magic, anyway. And obviously it wasn't possible back on Earth... Where have I heard it before then?

"Equestria to Arrell?" Rainbow broke into my thoughts. I snapped out of my trance and looked up to see her flying above me, face uncomfortably close to mine. I yelped and fell backwards off the bench, causing her to crack up laughing. "And to think you chased off that guy earlier!"

I grumbled a few choice words as I stood up. "He wasn't taking advantage of my haphephobia," I shot back.

"Haphe-what?" Risk asked. Rainbow looked similarly confused. Great, I get to explain this to yet another person.

"Haphephobia means a fear of being touched," I explained. "And for me, it's intensified when it comes to females, because I'm an awkward nerd like that. Add in the fact that I startle easily, and you get fourteen. Simple math." I don't know where I got fourteen from either.

"...you're afraid of being touched," Rainbow deadpanned.

"Hey, shut up. You're the one who's afraid of ponies finding out that you like reading."

Her eyes widened and she put a hoof to her lips. "Shh! Don't let anypony hear you!"

"Then don't make fun of me for not liking physical contact," I retorted. "There's a reason I was always single."

"I would've thought that reason would just be your shyness," Risk broke in.

I shrugged. "That doesn't exactly help either."





Later that night, Risk and I returned to the library, but not before I bought myself a wristwatch. What? I like being able to tell time. Plus, I always wore one as a human, so it was kind of a memento as well. Even if it technically wasn't even a human wristwatch.

When we got back, False was already asleep in the guest room again. Twilight explained that the earth pony had wanted to get up early to leave, so Risk and I decided to crash for the night too. He took the couch once more, and I went off in search of a bench.





[Perspective: False Front]

I found myself walking through Ponyville, along a street I didn't recognize. Nopony was around, but I didn't feel alone. There was no sun, moon, or even stars in the sky, nor were there any lights on around me, but I could see just fine. I didn't have a destination in mind, but I kept walking. It wasn't that I was being forced to walk; rather, I just wanted to keep moving in one direction.

Eventually, I was outside of Ponyville. I didn't know where I was, so I turned around to go back into the town. But when I turned around, it was gone, replaced by a black void. I opted to keep walking in the direction I was going, since at least there was land there.

The place I was walking through slowly became more and more empty. At first it seemed like a giant field, with grass, trees, flowers, and even a waterfall at one point...but slowly, it all vanished. Now I was walking on grass that I couldn't even feel, and there was no scenery aside from the black void behind me. I began to trot faster, hoping to get away from it.

"Stalliongrad."

I stopped at the sound of the voice and looked around. Turning behind me, I saw a figure floating in the void. I had trouble making out what it looked like, but whatever it was, it appeared to be female.

"Take your friend to Stalliongrad," the figure told me. "There, he will meet someone important."

I tried to respond, but no voice came from my throat. Despite this, the figure seemed to know what my question would be.

"I am the one who brought your friend to this world," she explained. "You may call me Styx."

I rolled my eyes and tried to speak again.

"Yes, I understand that you do not consider him a friend," Styx replied to my unspoken statement. "But, in time, you will. He will become invaluable to you, as you will to him."

I raised an eyebrow.

"No, I do not mean in that way. The two of you, as well as your unicorn friend, will all learn to rely on each other for help. If more should join you, they will as well. Keep this in mind. With the way things are coming along, none of you would survive on your own." Styx began to disappear, and I tried to yell after her, but she disappeared without answering.





Author's Notes: And so we finally learn what god - or goddess, in this case - sent Arrell to Equestria. Anyone who knows who the goddess Styx is (and not just about the river with the same name) might begin to see why Arrell became a Windigo.

And good news: next chapter, the adventure finally resumes, with no more filler! I wanted to just patch up things between Arrell and Rainbow and do away with the plothole of why Risk didn't just use a gem to replace his horn. And now, we can finally continue the action!
> 10: Styx and Stones May Break My Bones
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Perspective: Arrell]

Okay, two nights in a row of sleeping on park benches can not be good for your back. Oh well. I'm always hunched over now anyway since I have to walk on all fours, so take that, chiropractors!

Anyway, I made my way back to Twilight's library, where Risk and False were actually well-rested and packed. They were each wearing a set of saddlebags with some supplies in them. Another set was waiting for me, and I checked inside it. There didn't seem to be more than a few days' worth of stuff inside.

"I thought we were leaving for several weeks," I pointed out.

"We're not just going to be wandering around aimlessly," False explained. "We'll be stopping by some towns and cities. We can pick up more supplies along the way."

"I knew we were going to different towns and cities," I replied with a roll of my eyes, briefly forgetting that my lack of pupils made it impossible for them to see such an action. "I just thought it'd be easier – and cheaper – to pack everything we need from the start and only buy more stuff when we need it."

"Do you want to haul around five times that stuff for several weeks?"

Memories of failed weight lifting came back from Earth into my brain. "Touché." I slipped the saddlebags on. "Where are we going first?"

"Stalliongrad," Risk answered. He motioned towards False. "According to her, it's only a couple days travel away, so we're good to go. Even though it's not even on any maps."

"That tends to happen when cities have just been built in the past couple years," False said with a shrug. "I personally just consider it to be a combination of the snobs of Canterlot and the thugs of Manehatten, mixed with some bigotry and racism just for laughs."

My eyes widened. "Racism?"

"Yeah, racism. As far as I know, nopony in that city likes...well, anything other than ponies. Why? Not a big deal."

...are you so blind you can't see why I'm worrying, or are you just not giving a damn? I felt a little irritated, but whether it was at False or Stalliongrad's residents, I couldn't tell.

"Leaving this early?" a voice came from upstairs. I looked up and saw Twilight looking at us from the second floor.

"Yep," I answered with a nod. "Sorry, but I will be coming back to Ponyville eventually."

Twilight giggled. "Oh, I don't mind. It was fun having you around." She started coming down the steps. "Before you go, though, I have something for you."

I looked at False and Risk, as if expecting them to know what it was. They looked equally confused. While we were having our impromptu three-way staring contest, Twilight levitated a can out of a nearby drawer. Closer inspection revealed it to resemble a soda can, but whatever label might have been on it had been partially washed away. All that was left was some red and part of the serial code.

"Zecora went back to the spot she found you at, and this was there," Twilight explained as she slipped the can into my left saddlebag. "She didn't know what it was, but she made sure not to open it. She believed you'd know what it was, or at least have some use for it."

"Maybe," I replied with a shrug. "Don't really recognize it right now though. I'll check it out later." I gave her an awkward smile. "Thanks."

She smiled back, not looking nearly as stupid as mine. "You're welcome, Arrell. Don't do anything dangerous, okay?"

"Not on purpose," I promised with a chuckle. I turned back to False and Risk. "Let's hit the road! ...or the dirt path, given the circumstances. Either one."





[Perspective: False Front]

As the three of us trotted out of the library, I searched my mind for the directions to Stalliongrad. After a moment, I nodded at Arrell and Risk, heading in one direction. They followed without any argument, trusting my leadership. As they should.

"If we keep going this way for a while, we'll see Stalliongrad, and then we can just correct our course if we need to," I told them. "Hope you both like walking."

"As long as it isn't running," Arrell cheerfully replied. I fought the urge to roll my eyes.

"Say, Arrell," I suddenly remembered. "Can I talk to you about something?" His smile vanished to become a look of confusion and...fear? Whatever it was, he nodded, and motioned for Risk to keep walking. Risk trotted up ahead of me and kept moving, giving me and Arrell time to chat as we walked.

"If you're gonna yell at me, just get it over with," Arrell said. His reaction surprised me. I ask to talk to him, and he instantly gets scared and thinks I'm going to yell at him? I would've thought he'd jump at the chance to have a conversation.

"That's not what this is about," I responded. "Does the word 'Styx' ring a bell?"

"...like, the sticks on the ground, or the River Styx?" he asked.

"What? Neither. I mean a person. Do you know anybody named Styx? Possibly a female, and almost definitely from your world?"

He thought for a moment, getting lost in memory for a bit. He stopped walking after a few seconds, and I had to stop as well so he wouldn't be left behind. Eventually he snapped out of it, and as we trotted to catch up with Risk, he gave me his answer.

"I think there was a mythical goddess called Styx," he explained. "I don't know the whole story, since Wikipedia isn't very informative, but from what I know she was the goddess of the River Styx I mentioned, which has a story of its own that I won't bother getting into right now. She was the first to side with Zeus, the king of the gods, during the Titan war, and so Zeus declared that every oath must be sworn upon her. She was also the goddess of hatred, if I recall."

My eyes must have been as wide as dinner plates. Here was some idiot I barely knew, spouting complicated facts of his own world like it was common knowledge. All I can say is that I'd have trouble calling him stupid for a while.

"Why?" he suddenly asked, snapping me back to reality. I explained my dream to him, expecting him to brush it off as being 'just a dream'. Instead, he took it all seriously, as though he believed me.

Actually, he did believe me.

"So the goddess Styx sent me to Equestria?" He put a hoof to his chin in thought. "Well, that explains why I became a Windigo...goddess of hatred and all that. But why me, why Equestria, and...well, why me?"

"Arrell?"

We looked up and saw Risk in front of us. He had a serious look on his face, and we could tell he had heard our conversation.

"The River Styx...could you tell us about it?" he asked politely, somewhat contrasting his look.





[Perspective: Arrell]

He wants to know about the River Styx? Why? It wasn't the river that sent me here...

I shrugged. "Alrighty then. I don't remember all of it, though." I kept walking, and Risk and False followed. "The River Styx was like a path from Earth to the underworld – sort of like the Tartarus for humans. There are a bunch of different legends about how one would cross the river. Some say you had to put a coin in the mouth of a dead body, to pay a toll of sorts for a boat ride."

"Sounds weird," False broke in.

"There's weirder legends and theories, trust me. Anyway, they say that Achilles, a great hero in myth, was dipped into the river by his mother. The river made him completely invincible, except for his heel, since his mother held him by the heel to dip him in. Long story short, he later got shot in the heel and died, but that's another story."

"Why didn't his mother just dip his heel in afterwards?" Risk asked.

"And if the river made people invincible, why didn't they just swim across rather than pay for a boat ride?" False added.

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger. I don't know either of these things. And I don't know anything else either about the river. Those two legends are all I know of, plus the one about the goddess."

Risk thought for a moment. "Well, I don't know why you came to Equestria of all places...but I think I might know why you were chosen."





Author's Notes: Sorry for a short chapter; the next one is going to likely be a long one and take a while, so I wanted to get this out first.

And ooh, cliffhanger! What do you guys think the reason is for Arrell being chosen, and what does it have to do with the River Styx? I enjoy watching speculation, so feel free to post guesses in the comments!
> 11: Level Up
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Perspective: Arrell]

I stared blankly at Risk. He stared back. False just looked back and forth between us.

"...well?" I asked impatiently.

"Huh?" Risk seemed to snap out of whatever trance he was in. "Oh, sorry. Had to make sure we were in the next chapter."

...what?

"Anyway, here's my theory," he continued. "You said that in order to cross the River Styx, you had to pay a toll, right?" I nodded. "That got me thinking about why you were chosen to come here. I think, maybe, you did something like that."

"I paid a toll?"

"Maybe not exactly like that, but you did something that pleased or helped Styx, so she brought you over to Equestria. I don't think you were randomly selected. Something you did made her think of you as being unique."

I chuckled. "Well, can't argue on the whole 'being unique' thing, but I doubt it's in a good way."

"Maybe we don't even need to be making theories like this," False broke in. "If Arrell just told us what happened in the three days before he came here, it'd give us a clue."

"I'd tell you if I remembered!" I yelled, irritated. This was, what, the tenth time I told them I forgot?

Fortunately, Risk intervened before False or I said anything we'd regret. He got us back on the path to Stalliongrad, and before long, we were silently walking along. Not a word passed between us for at least an hour.

"Boooooring..." I sighed, breaking the streak. C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!





Later that night, we had stopped for camp and set up a couple of tents that Risk packed. Due to her orders, False was required to sleep in the same tent as me, which naturally made everything a lot more awkward for me.

Eventually, after lying awake for several hours, I crawled out of the tent, deciding to get a headstart on my practicing. The first thing I wanted to do was figure out the origin of my little 'FUS RO DAH' power from my first five minutes in Equestria. I hadn't used it since, nor had I even tried to figure it out. Now was the time to fix that.

I walked for about fifteen minutes away from the sleeping site and eventually came to a small forest. It didn't seem nearly as big or dangerous as the Everfree, so I crept inside. The lack of nearby dangerous creatures and plants calmed my nerves, and I prepared to unleash another voice attack on a nearby tree.

"Mind telling me what you're doing out here?"

Startled, I exhaled the breath I had taken in, falling into a small coughing fit before turning around. False stood a few feet behind me, looking annoyed as usual.

"Getting interrupted from my training," I replied. "How about you?"

"Interrupting you from your training, it seems." She shrugged. "Or rather, following orders. I'm not supposed to let you just slip away."

"Weren't you asleep when I left?"

"Royal guards are trained to be very light sleepers, so that even the quietest of sounds would wake them up."

"Fair enough." I looked away. "Considering I'm just trying to practice, which is half the reason we came on this trip, I doubt you can really hold this against me."

She glared. "Arrell...there's so much I can already hold against you."

...why did my mind suddenly fall into the gutter at that remark?

"But no, I'm not going to report you to the princess, if that's what you're thinking. Though I'd prefer it if next time you went to train, you let me know."

I looked down at the ground. "I didn't want to wake you up."

Before you think I'm all heart, keep in mind that part of the reason I didn't want to wake her was because I knew she'd be crabby, and another part was that I didn't want her to keep me from going. So I'm more one-third heart and two-thirds idiot.

"Well, you did anyway, so c'est la vie. What exactly are you doing anyway? I know you're training, but I followed you for almost twenty minutes and all you've done is stare at a tree."

I briefly explained my little manticore encounter and the voice attack I used. I avoided talking about Skyrim for fear of raising more questions and prolonging my training further.

"I was about to try it again on that tree, then you interrupted me," I finished. "I don't know if I can just pull it off whenever, but I kind of hope that I can. It'd be useful."

False nodded. "Agreed. It'd make any hostile encounters a lot less dangerous." She stepped a safe distance away. "Have at it." I saw a small smile on her face.

I turned back to the tree and focused, trying to draw energy from within my very being to channel into a force greater than man or pony could ever imagine. That didn't work, so I just inhaled deeply and aimed at the tree.

"FUS RO DAH!" I screamed, even louder than back with the manticore. Back then I was still groggy and not really serious, but this time, I was putting more energy into it. And it showed.

Instead of just cracking the tree with my voice or something, I ended up snapping all of its branches off, as well as those of several trees around us. I didn't see if anything else happened, because the force launched my unprepared body backwards, flying past False and straight into another tree. I heard a crack as I collided, but I couldn't tell if it was my bones or the tree. If it was the former, I was too numb to notice.

"Arrell!" False cried, rushing over to me. "Are you okay?"

I tried to breathe out an answer, but all I did was start another coughing fit. Every time I tried to inhale and say something, anything, all I got to do was lapse back into nearly suffocating on my own air.

Finally, after regaining sense in my body, I looked up. The tree I had been aiming at had toppled over, but the other trees in the crossfire, while damaged, remained upright.

"Didn't...expect that," I panted, slowly climbing to my hooves, False helping me up. Her sudden caring nature was not lost on me, but I didn't point it out. Too busy trying to keep my lungs working. Suddenly, I heard another crack like the one I heard when I crashed into the tree...oh no.

I turned around slowly, looking at the tree I had been thrown at. Apparently Equestrian physics were slacking off that day, because even though the tree should have fallen in the direction opposite where I hit it, it began to lean towards us. And leaned further.

And further.

Horseapples.





[Perspective: False Front]

I stared, jaw open, as the tree began to fall towards us. Naturally, my instinct was to get out of the way of the tree, but one glance at Arrell told me he wasn't having the same thought process. For some reason, that single thought kept me from moving myself to safety.

"Arrell, move!" I yelled, feeling as though everything went into slow motion. The tree seemed to take hours to fall, when in reality it likely didn't even take three seconds. I wanted to move out of the way, but seeing Arrell in a trance and ignoring my warnings kept me rooted to the ground, as though doing so would keep us safe. I shut my eyes and waited.

The tree didn't land on us.

I cracked open an eye to a surprising sight. Arrell was crouched low to the ground, his eyes shut as though concentrating. Around us was a strange, bubble-like dome, which the tree was resting on, having landed on it instead of us. Arrell opened his eyes to the same sight.

"Move!" he suddenly yelled, jumping to the side. I finally managed to do the same, just as the dome around us faded and the tree fell onto the ground. It landed right where we had been just seconds ago. If not for that dome, we – or Arrell, at least – wouldn't have had time to move out of the way.

I looked at Arrell, who seemed to be shocked, enthusiastic, and scared, all at once. He looked at me with wide eyes, which looked pretty weird given his lack of pupils. He then looked back at the tree, then down at the ground. As if trying something, he crouched low again and shut his eyes.

The dome suddenly reappeared around us, startling me. I looked around nervously for whatever was causing it, taking a moment to realize that Arrell was making it. I walked up to one of the walls and tried to tap it, but my hoof went right through it. A few steps showed me that I could walk through the walls of the dome without an issue.

Then how did it stop the tree?

The dome disappeared once more, and Arrell looked absolutely delighted. He looked at me with a giant grin.

"Drop Shield!" he proclaimed, as if I knew what the hay that meant. "I don't know how I got it, but I got it!"

"Drop Shield?" I asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Long story, but it's kind of like my voice attack in terms of origin. Something impossible from back home that I can do here, except this is the first time I've done it."

I cocked my head. "Considering I could walk through it, it doesn't seem like a very effective shield."

He shrugged. "From what I know, living beings and vehicles can pass through it, but nothing else. That must be why it stopped the tree. Though it only lasts a few seconds, so it's not as useful as an actual barrier or magic force field."

"It's not useful at all compared to those," I snapped. "If we got into a fight, that'd just keep them from throwing things at us. It wouldn't stop them from walking up and cutting us open."

"It's better than nothing. At least I have a theory as to why I have my voice attack – and now, the Drop Shield." He started walking back in the direction of our tents, me following.

"And what would that theory be?" I inquired.

He smirked. "Styx knew that I didn't know much about fighting, and that I wouldn't be able to master Windigo powers for a long time...so she gave me video game powers."

There was a silence.

"I hope you weren't expecting a dramatic gasp," I finally said.

"I wasn't. Though I was expecting some questioning about what a video game is."

"Honestly? I don't care. I just chalk that kind of thing up to 'human crap' and leave it that way."

He thought for a moment. "Probably better that way."





Author's Notes: Okay, we didn't get to the long chapter yet. Hopefully soon though. And yes, Arrell has video game powers. First Skyrim's FUS RO DAH - or as he calls it, the voice attack - and Halo's drop shield. I'll be giving him a few more as time goes on, but don't worry about him becoming a walking video game console; he'll be likely using Windigo abilities more.
> 12: Memory is the Key
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Perspective: Arrell]

The morning after my training session, we were on the road again. I took a few minutes to show my voice attack and drop shield to Risk, just so he wasn't out of the loop. He took it pretty well, though I think he's still confused about why every time I do the former I say "FUS RO DAH".

That day, I felt as though something was different about all of us. False, rather than being grumpy and irritable, actually seemed patient and caring. Risk, normally lost in thought and only talking when we talked first, was a lot more energetic and kept trying to get conversations going. Me...well, I was quiet. Probably because I was tired.

I hadn't slept at all the night before, and while I'm no stranger to insomnia, I had enjoyed having restful nights for the past...however long I had been in Equestria for. But the previous night, I had been too anxious to fall asleep, unlike False, who was out cold just a couple minutes after lying down. I envied her ability to sleep.

"...then we can stop by Canterlot before heading back to Ponyville," Risk finished something he was saying. "Sound good?"

I blinked and looked up at him. "Huh?"

"I'm trying to plan out our trip a bit more," he explained. "We can't just go to random towns. We need a set order."

"You've been around Twilight too long," I accused jokingly before yawning. "Ugh...I hate coffee, but right now I'd be willing to pay for it."

False looked at my saddlebag. "Why not just drink that can Twilight gave you?" she suggested.

"Because I have no idea what's in it and I don't want to find out it's poisonous."

"I highly doubt it's dangerous, let alone poisonous," Risk laughed. "It was found at your arrival spot in the Everfree. For all we know, it arrived with you and you just didn't notice it."

That suggestion clicked with my brain, as though digging up a memory. I stopped walking, trying to put all focus towards bringing up said memory. Risk and False noticed and stopped as well, looking worried.

Come on...come on...remember...something about the can...

...

Red...

Acting on a hunch, I sat down, pulled out the can from my saddlebag, and looked at it. A familiar tab to open it with was on top. Since I didn't have thumbs, though, I had no idea how to open it.

"Little help with this?" I asked my partners, gesturing to the tab.

Risk picked up a stick, walked over, and pushed it underneath the tab. A little pressure on the other end, and the seal was broken, popping it open. I thanked him and stared at the contents. A familiar dark liquid stared back at me.

"If I die, tell Twilight I'm going to haunt her for this," I said in a completely serious tone. Clutching the can with both front hooves, I held the opening of the can to my mouth and tilted my head back, pouring the drink into my mouth and swallowing it. In a few seconds, I had downed the whole can.

"How was it?" Risk asked. He seemed to say something else, but it became blurred. My vision started fading to black, and I fell to the side into unconsciousness.





[Perspective: Risk Reward]

I watched as Arrell drank for a few seconds. He soon finished and lowered the can from his mouth.

"How was it?" I asked. He started to wobble. "Arrell? ...oh crap."

He fell to the side, eyes closed. The can fell and rolled away, but neither False nor I paid attention to it. We rushed up to our friend's side and began to shake him.

"Arrell! Wake up!" I yelled. "Stop falling unconscious like that! It worries us every time!"

"Is that really the right thing to say right now?" False snapped.

"I don't know!" I looked around in panic. In the distance, I saw a small town – or rather, the rooves of houses in a small town. I couldn't see anything else due to it being far away and off course from our trek to Stalliongrad, but it was better than nothing.

False caught my eye and saw where I was looking. "We need to get him over there," she declared, reading my thoughts. "Help me pick him up."

It took a minute, but we managed to get Arrell onto False's back. I picked up Arrell's saddlebags and the empty can, following False with them to the town at the fastest pace we could go while being weighed down.

We just HAD to encourage him to drink it, I thought to myself in anger. We just HAD to...





[Perspective: Arrell]

I always liked weekends. I didn't have to put up with schoolwork; I could just lounge around on my computer all day. Granted, schoolwork wasn't that bad, but still.

It was about two in the afternoon. I was doing some writing on the computer when I heard a weird noise. I checked my open tabs, but nothing was producing sound. Shrugging, I went back to work, only to hear the same noise a few seconds later.

Confused further, I pulled off my headphones and looked around my room. It seemed normal...except for the ghostlike woman sitting on my bed. I did a double-take, only to see her smile and vanish.

Needless to say, I was pretty freaked out after that.





The next day, I was back on my computer, reading some stories on FIMFiction. Specifically, Chess Game of the Gods stories. I really liked them. I was even considering making my own to submit, but that might take a little while. I already had three other stories to work on.

A familiar sound reached my ears, and I spun back around to see the same woman from the day before. This time, however, she didn't disappear. We stared at each other for what felt like hours before I spoke up.

"What the hell got slipped into my Coke and who the hell did it?"

The woman smiled in amusement. "I am not a hallucination, friend."

"I'm not your friend. I don't even know who you are...or even if you exist."

"You will learn more soon. For now, I need to prepare you." She got up from sitting on my bed and walked towards me. I backed away until my chair was trapped against my desk. I considered fighting, but given how she was somewhat translucent, I had the feeling I wouldn't do much of anything. Or anything at all.

"Back off," I threatened. "I have a Poltergust 3000."

She giggled. "I'm not here to hurt you. I need your help."

"Help with what?"

"You will learn soon. For now, you must be prepared." She reached her arm forward, her hand resting on my forehead. I held my breath and waited for pain. Or death. Whichever came first.

Instead, I saw a quick slideshow of images. They went by too quickly for me to properly examine them, but I could tell it wasn't my life flashing before my eyes. Though the images did seem somewhat familiar.

"Tomorrow," the woman said, taking her arm away. "Wait for me tomorrow." She vanished.





I felt it best to obey the strange ghost lady and wait for her, rather than run away. For some reason, I trusted her. Whether or not that was from brainwashing, I didn't think about.

Soon, she reappeared, again on my bed. It's like that was her spawn point or something. She stared at me seriously.

"It's time," she told me. She got up and walked to my two closet doors. I watched in curiosity as she waved a hand over each door's knob.

"Why did you wave at my closet doors?" I deadpanned.

"Activating the portals," she explained. If one could call that an explanation. "Now, you must make your choice."

"Red pill, blue pill?" I asked.

"In a sense," she replied. She gestured to the door on the left. "Enter this portal, and you will stay here, with all memories of seeing me removed." She moved on to the door on the right. "Enter this portal, and you will join the game."

I just lost the game. "What game?"

"I cannot tell you that right now. You must make your choice."

I looked back and forth between the two doors. On one hand, I could stay here and pretend this whole thing never happened. On the other hand...this woman seemed trustworthy. Plus, the idea of joining some kind of mysterious game was intriguing. I picked up a can of Coke and walked up to the door on the right, opening it.

Inside, instead of my usual closet contents, was a white void. I looked back at the woman, who smiled.

"Hang on," I said. "Yesterday you told me to prepare...I haven't prepared for anything. You never told me what to prepare for."

"I never told you to prepare," she replied. "I said that I must prepare you. And by granting you the knowledge and skills you will need to survive, I have done just that."

"Knowledge? Skills? What?" I was getting more confused by the minute.

"You will learn soon," she assured me. "For now, just remember:

Be not my rook, nor my knight
As a bishop, you shall not fight
Be my king; be the leader of my side
Make your own rules by which to abide
Be not alone, but find a clan
Form a team of the greatest friends you can
For in the end, when disaster arrives
Only teamwork will help you survive."

As she finished, I felt a force push me through the door and into the void. I dropped my unopened can of Coke and watched it plummet through the abyss...with me quickly and partially unwillingly following.





[Perspective: False Front]

The village we stumbled across, while shocked at the sight of a Windigo, was trusting enough to take us to their hospital. It was a rather small area, so there was only one hospital around, and it wasn't very grand. But it would have to do.

Two stallions took Arrell into a small, one-room building while Risk and I waited outside. About an hour passed before we suddenly heard screams of shock. My royal guard instinct kicked in, and I threw open the door, jumping inside the hospital with Risk on my tail.

The two doctors were staring at Arrell, the shock of being scared slowly fading. Arrell was standing up on a small cot, a strange blue aura coming off of him. His drop shield had been cast, seemingly by instinct, but that naturally didn't stop me from stepping through it towards him.

As I got closer to the bed, I began to feel colder. Arrell looked up at me with those blank eyes of his, panting heavily, and stared at me. After a moment, I felt the cold begin to disappear and the drop shield vanished. Arrell seemed to calm down, his breathing returning to normal. He looked at me, then to Risk, then to the doctors, then back to me.

"Arrell?" I spoke hesitantly, almost afraid of setting him off.

"I just remembered..." he spoke, though it seemed to be more to himself than to me.

"You remembered the three days?" Risk chimed in. Arrell shook his head.

"More than that," he answered cryptically. A smirk broke out on his face. "I think it's time to get back to training."





Author's Notes: Yes, that is a Red VS Blue reference in the title. And yes, that was a can of Coke that Arrell drank. And yes, crap is about to get real.
> 13: The Elder's Rock
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Perspective: Arrell]

Remembering those three days was...interesting.

I knew that not only was I technically in a fan fiction – or a series of them, rather – but for all I knew, everything I did could just be some author's contribution to the Chessverse. Heck, maybe it's my contribution. Maybe everything that happens to me is actually decided by me...well, not me me, but a different, still-human me.

I'm even confusing myself now. I'll stop.

"Why do you need to train so suddenly?" False asked me, catching up to me after I left the building that seemed to act as a hospital.

"Because now I know all the Windigo skills I'm supposed to know by this point and I want to test them out," I replied without missing a beat. "Also, where are we?"

"Some village we came across," False said simply. Risk came up to continue..

"According to the ponies living here, it's just been built a few weeks ago, which is why it's so small," he explained. "It's called Smooth Grove, and aside from its inhabitants and us, next to nopony even knows it exists."

Kinda creepy.

"Now it's my turn to ask something," Risk continued. "What happened in those three days before you arrived?"

I explained most of it to them. I obviously left out the part about us being in a work of fiction based on another work of fiction, since that'd take forever to explain and lead to too many Inception jokes. I also threw in how drinking the can of Coke must have somehow caused a spark that allowed me to regain my memories, but I wasn't sure why I lost the memories in the first place.

"Maybe you landed on your head when you arrived," Risk suggested.

"Or you're just that stupid," I heard False mutter. The urge to retort to that was stronger than it had ever been since arriving in Equestria, but I fought it off.

"I also have another theory on the 'evil' inside of me," I added, catching their attention. "I think it might be some kind of failsafe Styx gave me."

"Why would she put evil inside of you?" False asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, long story short, I'm the kind of guy who isn't too violent normally, but you do not want to piss me off unless you need a shortcut to the hospital." I could've sworn I saw False swallow nervously. "I think what Styx did was magnify that trait in case of emergency, to the point where Princess Celestia sensed it as being evil and had to lock it away."

Risk thought for a moment. "So...right now, the evil – or rather, magnified trait – is inaccessible?"

I nodded. "I'd probably have to get a lot angrier than normal to even put a crack in its prison. I guess that makes it more of a last-ditch thing. Unless I'm already dealing with something that's going to end all of Equestria, there's no way that anger will be unleashed. Styx probably didn't plan that, but eh, it works."

"Getting back on topic...you said you remembered your Windigo abilities?" False tried to clarify. I nodded. "Does that include those...'video game powers' you talked about?"

"No, I don't think so. I don't remember anything else along those lines. I just know how to do Windigo stuff. Styx probably set something up so I'd only get those video game powers as time went on. She's a goddess, she can do that."

"...but why would she do that?"

"To screw with me? I dunno. Point being, I need to practice my Windigo abilities before something happens, like this town being attacked or something...and I totally jinxed it, didn't I?"





[Perspective: Risk Reward]

While Arrell wandered off to test his Windigo powers outside of Smooth Grove, False and I walked around the town to talk with the inhabitants a bit more. No longer worrying about Arrell, we finally took in more of our surroundings.

First off, the village was easily one of the smallest I've ever seen – there were less buildings throughout the entirety of it than there were on Stirrup Street back in Ponyville. Also, I noticed that most of the inhabitants were earth ponies, with a few pegasi and no unicorns. This made me feel a little out of place, but an unwanted mental reminder that I technically wasn't a unicorn anymore pushed that feeling away.

"I think we need to go find whoever's in charge of this village," False suddenly stated. I looked at her in confusion.

"Why? Need to file a complaint?" I asked.

"Need to figure out more about this place," she corrected me. "Less than fifteen buildings. Less than ten homes. Only about twenty to thirty ponies here, plus us. Something seems weird about this place."

I chuckled. "Getting suspicious? It's just a new village, False. Ponyville was pretty small before the Apple family went and helped make it famous."

She shook her head. "I know that, but...why have a village out here anyway? Ponyville's not too far away, and neither is Stalliongrad for that matter. Unless there's some kind of valuable resource out here, it doesn't make sense for them to put a village right here."

What she said made a bit of sense, but I still thought she was just being paranoid. Did she think these ponies were going to kill us in our sleep or something?

"Plus, they're not fazed by much," she added. "When we brought Arrell in, it was just a confused look or two before they kept moving. But everypony else who's seen Arrell was at least scared of him for a bit before talking to him."

I cleared my throat.

"...okay, everypony minus you. But still, even Zecora was scared of him. Zecora, the zebra who lives in the Everfree Forest and sees nigh-impossible stuff on a weekly basis without batting an eye. It just doesn't add up."

"So you want to find the mayor, or whatever they have here, just to figure out why they're living here and why they're stoic?"

"Yes."

I facehoofed.





[Perspective: False Front]

After getting directions from a couple of townsponies, Risk and I found ourselves at an ordinary-looking house. The only thing that allowed it to stick out from the other small shacks was a crude sign out front, labelling it 'Village Elder's Home'. I knocked loudly on the door, and after a few seconds, it creaked open to reveal a rather old stallion.

He was about our height, but rather skinny. His coat was a dull orange, appearing to have once been bright and brilliant. He was bald, but his tail was pure black with streaks of red. Like most of the ponies in the village, he was an earth pony. He looked at us with a pleasant look, but seemed to be masking a bit of confusion.

"How may I help you?" he asked, opening the door some more and inviting us in. "Make yourself at home, youngsters."

"Thanks, but we likely won't be here long," I replied. While Risk gazed around at the rather sparse interior decoration, I launched right into business. "We wanted to ask a few things about this village."

The elder cracked a grin. "Ah, so you too wish to learn more about the Fine Rock?"

Fine Rock? "I'm sorry?"

"The Fine Rock is an old jewel that has been passed down through my family for generations," the elder explained, taking a seat. I did the same. "Normally it's only considered to be a good luck charm, but when my father gave it to me before passing on, I felt something from within."

"What did you feel?" I pressed, intrigued in this strange relic.

"It's strange, but...I felt protected, yet threatened. As if by merely holding the gem, somepony wanted to hurt me, but another pony wanted to protect me." He stood up and walked slowly over to a small box on a counter, Risk watching carefully. "My father never felt such a thing, and neither did any of my other ancestors. However, I found several other ponies who did feel such a thing, and so we vowed to work together to unlock the secrets of the Fine Rock."

He opened the box and pulled out what appeared to be a small jewel, about the size of a marble. It glowed faintly, producing a warm orange light that instantly made me feel safer. He trotted back over to us with the stone and sat back down, examining it.

"One pony, Nimble Night, said he felt an extra sensation – a feeling of being pulled somewhere. We all followed him for several days, eventually arriving here, where he said the gem stopped pulling him. We began to build our village here, hoping to learn over time just what the Fine Rock wants with this place."

"Who is Nimble Night?" Risk asked, focusing intently on the Fine Rock.

"A young colt whose parents were killed by Diamond Dogs a few months back," the elder responded. "He lived in an orphanage for a while, but since we came to this village I've started taking care of him."

I stood up. "I'd like to speak to him."

The elder laughed. "Oh, that's easier said than done. Nimble isn't called as such for no reason. He's a ninja."

There was a long silence between us. Risk and I were waiting for the elder to laugh again and say he was joking, while he was waiting for a reaction.

"...a ninja?" Risk finally broke the silence.

"Yes. His father was a royal guard for several years and his mother was a sneaky criminal for just as long, and so they taught him both fighting skills and ways to sneak around. Hay, I hardly get to see Nimble, and he lives in my house." He chuckled for a bit. "He spends most of the day either wandering around town or sleeping, but at night, he heads outside and begins searching for the secret to the Fine Rock. I swear, this thing has him more captivated than it does anyone else in Smooth Grove."

"So we'll need to find him?" I asked.

"Oh, no, I can introdue you later today when he comes home. But he might not be very open. He doesn't like to talk much. He's still a young colt after all."

Risk raised an eyebrow. "Young as in our age?"

"Young as in about ten years old."

...a ten-year-old ninja. Smooth Grove gets weirder and weirder every minute.





Off in the distance, a small squad of tough-looking ponies were staring intently at the cluster of humble homes a short trip away. They all knew that not only was the Fine Rock there, but so was that Windigo they heard about. Arrell.

They could kill two birds with one stone. All they had to do was wait for night and launch their assault. They easily outnumbered the amount of ponies in Smooth Grove; no doubt they'd outmatch them as well.

The apparent leader of the group, an enormous earth pony stallion with an axe held in his teeth, grinned around the handle. It wouldn't be long now.
> 14: Mysteries Solved, New Ones Opened
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Perspective: Risk Reward]

The elder was not kidding when he said Nimble didn't like talking.

Nimble was a small, skinny gray earth pony with black and white hair. His mane was styled somewhat messily and his tail was cut rather short. Both of his eyes were mostly black and he didn't have a cutie mark...at least, not a visible one.

"His special talent is sneaking, so his cutie mark is invisible," the elder explained.

"Makes sense," I replied with a shrug.

"Look, Night, all we want to know is what you know about the Fine Rock. It's not that hard," False said for what must have been the fifth time.

Nimble just pawed the ground nervously and looked away.

"I think his special talent should be silence," False grumbled, seemingly giving up as she started to trot out the door.

"Hold up," I called to her. She stopped and looked at me. I turned to Nimble and crouched down so I was at his level. "What's wrong, kid?"

Nimble looked up at me, but didn't say anything. Well, at least I managed to get him to make eye contact with me. Already I was doing better than False was.

"Listen, whatever's got you down, we can help you with," I continued. "We just need to know what it is that's bugging you."

Rather than answering, Nimble looked up at the elder. The elder nodded and pulled the Fine Rock back out of its box, passing it down to him. The young colt took the gem in one of his hooves and it started glowing. He turned around and began walking away, out of the house.

"Follow him," the elder told me. "He's trying to lead you somewhere."

I nodded and started following the gray colt, who had went from walking to running. As I trotted out the door, I turned to False.

"Go find Arrell and bring him back here as soon as possible," I ordered her. "I'll figure out what's going on with our nimble neighbourhood ninja."

With that, I was gone, chasing after our only clue to the mysteries of Smooth Grove.





[Perspective: False Front]

"Arrell!" I yelled as I ran through Smooth Grove. I had been calling his name for fifteen minutes and hadn't seen him. And, apparently, neither had any of the villagers. How you can somehow remain oblivious to a Windigo wearing a wristwatch practicing strange powers, I'll never know.

When I saw suspicious movement a distance from the town while searching the outskirts, I naturally thought it was Arrell. Looking closer, I realized that it was a group of ponies – at least twenty to thirty of them. And they were headed this way.

Not good.

I was briefly torn between looking for Arrell and running back to warn the elder. I soon decided Arrell could take care of himself if he ran into those guys and headed back to the elder's house. I didn't even bother knocking, choosing instead to barge on in.

"Miss Front?" the elder asked, surprised and seemingly a bit irritated. "What's going on?"

"There's a group of ponies coming this way," I explained quickly. "Do you have any defense measures for this sort of thing?"

His eyes widened. "A group of...? No, we don't. We didn't think we'd get attacked."

"Dammit!" I stomped a hoof. "I'm a royal guard, but I can't take on that many ponies. Heck, even with Arrell helping me, we probably wouldn't do much, and I can't even find him."

The elder thought for a moment. "For now, we need to ensure that all of our citizens are safe," he decided. "Go around town and warn everypony you see to go home, lock their doors, and not come out until I personally tell them it is safe."

I noticed the elder pull on a jacket and start heading out the door. "What about you?"

"As the village elder, it's my job to protect the village, as well as the Fine Rock. I'm going to find Nimble and see what he's up to, hide the Fine Rock, and then confront this group of ponies to see what it is they want." He was out the door before I could question him. Gritting my teeth, I charged out and began barking orders at everypony I saw.

"Everypony, get in your homes!" I demanded. "Stay inside and don't come out until the elder says you can!"

I repeated these orders multiple times as I ran through town, watching ponies lock themselves away with looks of fear, confusion, or both on their faces. In the back of my mind, one thought kept trying to force itself to the surface.

Arrell, where are you?!





[Perspective: Risk Reward]

Nimble had taken me to the outskirts of Smooth Grove, into a forest that reminded me vaguely of the Everfree. However, it seemed considerably less dangerous. He finally slowed down, but continued trotting along, never fully stopping.

"Nimble, I thought the Fine Rock pulled you towards where Smooth Grove is now?" I asked. "Why are you taking me outside of it?"

"This is where it is pulling me," he replied, speaking for the first time. I shook off any surprise I may have acquired from him finally speaking to focus.

"So it's pulling you somewhere new?" He nodded. "Why?" He shrugged. "So much for you finally talking."

"I am sorry, I just prefer to stay quiet," he explained. "Ponies usually do not listen to me anyway."

I noticed he had a bit of an accent. He must have been from somewhere a fair distance away before coming to Equestria. "Well, I'm listening, and right now I seriously need information."

Nimble shook his head. "There is nothing I can tell you that I have not already said."

"You don't know anything about the Fine Rock aside from the fact that it pulls you places?"

"I know of where Elder got it from, but that is all. Right now, it is not pulling me to a location, but a pony."

"A pony? Why?"

"I am not sure. Perhaps it thinks this pony is to be the next one to receive it, or is a threat to its safety. Either way, we need to find this pony."

I nodded. "Agreed. We should probably-"

A cracking noise silenced me and caused us both to stop moving, but Nimble continued on after just a couple of seconds. I followed along, struggling to stay quiet.

"They are close," Nimble whispered. He suddenly stopped, looked at the Fine Rock, and then straight up. "Up there."

I blinked, then looked up, finding myself staring up a very tall tree. Near the top, I could make out a familiar form...

"Guys?" a voice I easily recognized called down. "Can somepony get me down from here?"

I facehoofed. "Arrell, what are you doing up there?"

"I was learning how to fly...I got distracted, and ended up landing on a branch here...I really don't like heights."

I turned to Nimble. "Is he the one the Fine Rock is pulling you towards?" He nodded. "Well, while he certainly isn't a threat to the Fine Rock, I somehow doubt he's to be the next one to receive it."

"The Fine Rock works in mysterious ways," Nimble said with a shrug.

"They say the same thing about Princess Celestia, and she sends ponies to the moon."

"Anypony gonna get me down or what?" Arrell snapped, reminding us that he was still up there.

"I will help," Nimble offered, putting the Fine Rock down on the ground and hopping up the tree like he had been doing it all his life. Which, according to the elder, he had been.

A few minutes later, I heard Arrell and Nimble arguing about something...then a scream. I looked up to see Arrell falling towards the ground, barely pulling himself up into a flight before hitting the ground. His hind legs vanished, becoming a foggy tail, and he hovered a foot or two above the earth.

"That little jackass pushed me!" he gasped at me as Nimble casually hopped back down the tree.

"Was there another way out?" the colt asked.

"...not that I saw."

"Then quit complaining." Nimble picked the Fine Rock back up and his eyes widened. "The village!"

"What is it?" I demanded, panicking slightly. Arrell seemed worried as well, fully landing to peer at the jewel.

"The village is in danger," Nimble nervously answered. "Somepony is attacking the village!"





Author's Notes: In the next couple of chapters, things get really interesting. Fight scenes shall take place, the mystery of Smooth Grove shall be unlocked, new powers shall be gained, and lessons shall be learned...okay, maybe nopony really learns anything, but hey...fights, mysteries, and powers. That's good enough, right?

Nimble Night
> 15: Beware the Nice Ones
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Perspective: False Front]

After I got everypony into their homes, I had gone back to meet with the elder just as the moon began to rise. He wasn't at his home, so I went back to where I first saw the gang from. Sure enough, he was there, and the gang was just arriving. I took a defensive stance, but the elder seemed quite relaxed.

I looked over the group. Most of them were unicorns or earth ponies; I only saw one pegasus, and she was in the back with her wings tied. She seemed to be either a hostage or a...I didn't want to think about it. She had several cuts and bruises on her body, indicating that she wasn't exactly given first-class treatment. The rest of the group had their share of marks, too, but they seemed more like they were earned in battle than from beatings.

The apparent leader, an earth pony stallion at least twice the size of Arrell, stepped forward. He was black with brown markings and a blood-red mane and tail. His cutie mark, an axe dripping blood, seemed to give away his talent pretty well. Speaking of axes, he held one in his mouth, looking ready to chop the head off anypony who opposed him.

"Welcome to Smooth Grove," the elder warmingly greeted them. "I am the elder, and this is my friend, False Front. May we assist you in any way?"

"Give us the Fine Rock and Arrell," the group's leader replied instantly, speaking through his axe.

"I'm sorry, but the Fine Rock stays in our town until we can understand it," the elder said, never losing his smile.

"And you're gonna have to get through me before you hurt my charge," I added.

The leader snorted. "I wasn't asking." He nodded at the ponies behind him. "Crush, kill, and destroy."

With a loud war cry, his followers charged past or into us, beginning to tear Smooth Grove apart.





[Perspective: Risk Reward]

Nimble and I arrived at the town just in time to see the chaos unfold.

Arrell, after learning that Smooth Grove was in danger, just flew into the air and didn't come back. I assumed he was heading here, but I didn't see him anywhere.

"Nimble, take the Fine Rock and hide in the forest," I told the colt next to me. He looked at me with confusion and worry. "Trust me. Whatever these guys are doing, they're probably doing it to find that gem. We can't let them have it." He nodded and ran back the way we came.

I turned back to the attack and charged into it, dodging around everypony and everything that came at me, my past work with stunts and speed coming in handy. I found False fighting off two giant unicorn stallions, and quickly gave her a hoof by bucking one in the groin, putting him out of commission.

"Took you long enough," False grunted as she gave the second one a buck to the face. "Where's Nimble and Arrell?"

"Hiding and I don't know, respectively," I replied as I looked around. "Where's the elder?"

"I lost him when I was fighting," she snapped. "We need Arrell. We can't deal with thirty of these punks."

I looked around some more and saw something out of place. Two unicorns – one stallion and one mare – weren't fighting. Instead, they seemed to be standing guard over a pegasus mare who was tied up and looking around nervously. If she's with them and not being held captive, I'll buy a hat and eat it.

"Not exactly thirty," I said to False after she took care of the stallion she was fighting. "More like twenty-nine."





The two guards watched as Smooth Grove began to crumble. The gang had began fighting and tearing apart homes, even lighting one on fire. They just wished they could have joined in.

"Why were we assigned to watch this stupid girl again?" the stallion asked.

"Because Bloodbath doesn't like us," the mare replied with a shrug. There was a brief pause before she spoke again. "Even if we're not helping out, this is a neat sight, don't you think?"

No answer. She turned and saw that her partner had disappeared. Instinctively, she drew her sword and turned around, only to meet a pair of pink hooves before everything faded to black.

I gave a nod to False as she drug the mare over to where I had the stallion's unconscious form. I quickly looted their weapons, acquiring a sword for both of us and a rather weak-looking helmet for False. It was something, though.

"Now her," I stated, walking towards the mare that was tied up. She seemed scared, as she was currently in the fetal position with her eyes closed. A careful slash of my new weapon, and I had cut the ropes around her. She cracked her eyes open to see my outstretched hoof and tentatively took it, allowing me to help her up.

"You...you're not g-gonna hurt me?" she whispered. I shook my head.

"We're the good guys," I assured her. "What do you know about those ponies that took you?"

"Th-they kidnapped me in Stalliongrad...said they n-n-needed...'insurance'..." Her legs buckled and I put her hoof over my shoulder, helping to keep her up. "They...hurt me...so much..." She was absolutely terrified, and she had every right to be. I grit my teeth.

"False." The royal guard walked up to me, sensing the anger in my voice and knowing not to interrupt me. "Take her into the forest behind Smooth Grove until this all blows over."

"What, you're going to fight these guys all by yourself?" False asked disbelievingly.

Before I could reply, the ground suddenly began to shake – it was a slight shake, but still noticeable. It stopped after a moment, though, and the air began to feel...cold.

I smirked. "No, I'm not."

"HEY, TEAM OF MORONS!"

For a split second, the air suddenly became much colder – enough to make me shiver, even though I'm normally used to the cold. As soon as it did, though, it went back to normal – and I saw a very small wave of air converge in the middle of Smooth Grove, as though collecting energy from all around. As soon as it all met in the middle, it formed a pure white ball, gathering the attention of everypony around. False, on a gesture from me, took the mare we just freed off into the forest, utilizing the distraction.

"NEWS FLASH!" The ball of cold slowly lowered itself to the ground. "YOU DONE SCREWED UP!"

Suddenly, the ball drove itself into the ground. As soon as it did, a field of ice spread out, coating the entire ground around town in a sheet of slippery frozen water. The members of the gang lost their footing, falling over constantly whenever they tried to move. Just a few seconds later, something else came from the sky: a giant ice pillar.

The pillar of ice landed directly in the middle of town, where thankfully no ponies or buildings were. On top if it stood Arrell. He glared down at the gang members, who looked up at him in fear.

"I found a lake in the forest," Arrell declared. "This is what I did with it."

He jumped off the pillar and landed on the ground, cracking the ice where he landed. The gang members around him looked at each other, then glared at him, trying to charge him...only to either slip and fall, or be 'voice attacked' to the other side of town.

"And now." His white eyes began to glow, and from the ground, he pulled two more, smaller ice pillars. "I'm going to freeze you all alive if you don't leave in five seconds."

Two more gang members charged him. He slammed them with the ice pillars, knocking them out.

"Time's up."





In case you missed it last chapter since I put it in a while after publishing:

Nimble Night
> 16: Have An Ice Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Perspective: Arrell]

Well, suffice to say my dynamic entry into Smooth Grove wasn't met with cheers and applause, but rather with screams and pain.

I can deal with that.

The idiots trying to tear down the town turned on me, ready for a battle. I had already knocked away a few of them, but most of them were back. I estimated that I had about twenty ponies left to take care of.

Me versus twenty trained fighters...normally I'd say the odds are clearly in their favour, but... I cracked my neck, grinning wickedly. I'm feeling pretty good right now...and I think I know why.

Deciding to take the Leeroy Jenkins approach, three of the guys charged me at once. I inhaled for another voice attack, but apparently they learned, and dove to the side. What they didn't expect was my Plan B: pulling small ice pillars out of the ground for them to smash their heads against.

Still holding my breath, I turned and unleashed a mighty shout on the frozen lake behind me, causing the top half to break off and slowly slide onto the ground below. This resulted in a tremor that knocked several other of the group members off their hooves.

I jumped into the air and let my back legs fade away, flying up and over the town. Seeing me take to the sky, about five of the gang's unicorn members pulled out bows and arrows, aiming for me. I quickly called up my drop shield, deflecting all of their arrows...for the moment.

Okay, maybe I should've thought this over before just flying into the air where I can't really attack them...

Looking around with the last few precious seconds I had before my shield dissipated, I spotted Risk down below, charging into the fight. On the other side of the town-turned-battlefield, False was sneaking into the forest with another mare by her side. Where's Nimble?

Suddenly, my shield vanished, and one arrow flew right by me. Seeing more coming at me, I continued to dodge, but I knew I couldn't keep it up for long. Sure enough, it was only a matter of time before I flew to the left instead of right, and an arrow hit me in the-

Don't make the reference. Don't make the reference. Don't make the reference.

Wincing as I shook my leg, I pried the arrow out with my mouth and let it drop to the ground below. Glaring, I summoned a cold aura around myself, acting as a fog to hide me for a little while.

Okay, new strategy. They have weapons for combat both close and far, are lethal with both, and can take more of a beating than expected. I'm gonna need some help and some time...but I don't have either! Gah!

The fog began to disappear, and I knew I wouldn't last long without it. I braced myself for the incoming onslaught of arrows and hoped for the best.





[Perspective: False Front]

The mare and I galloped through the forest, hoping we hadn't been followed. We eventually stopped by a large tree, sitting down to rest. The mare suddenly passed out, likely tired from everything that had happened. I watched over her while I waited for everything to finish up over in town.

At least, it should've been that simple.

Only a couple minutes had passed before a knife suddenly flew by my head, striking the tree behind me. Drawing my stolen sword, I faced the direction the weapon had come from, seeing two earth ponies from the gang running towards us.

Dammit! They must have snuck after us!

I held my sword and prepared to fight, but I knew it would be pointless. There were two of them, one of me, and I was tired. Plus, I was using a weapon I was unfamiliar with, in a place where vision was extremely obscured by darkness and trees, and guarding an unconscious mare.

This would not end well.

I slashed once at the duo, completely missing as they jumped to separate sides. One of them pounced on me from behind, but I ducked and let them sail over me. I turned to the second one to find him holding a knife to the still sleeping mare's throat...

...until he got kicked in the head and knocked out.

Nimble Night, the Fine Rock clutched in one front hoof, flashed me a small grin before looking worried. "Behind you!"

I turned quickly, but not quickly enough – the pony I hadn't been paying attention to flung a knife at me, which I failed to dodge. The blade sunk into my front right leg, causing me to collapse and let out a grunt of pain as my sword dropped.

Taking the opportunity, the pony charged with another knife held in his mouth, but Nimble jumped in front of me protectively. Taking this as a challenge, the pony grinned and went for the colt rather than me. I protested, but my voice came out quiet and weak as my vision swam...

That...that knife...

I looked down at the weapon still stuck in my leg. It felt like it took hours, but I pulled it out with my other front hoof, revealing a few remaining drops of a strange liquid on it. Poison.





Living up to his name, Nimble proved difficult to catch. The pony he faced tried every one of his strategies, but all his foe had to do was dodge or hide in the shadows to stay unstoppable. Feeling great anger, the pony finally gave up and just threw the knife.

Nimble dropped the Fine Rock, stuck out his hoof, and caught the knife out of the air.

"Leave."

That word was enough to send the pony running off, anger turned to fear of his young enemy. Dropping the knife in exchange for the Fine Rock, Nimble trotted up to False, who was now unconscious.

Worrying greatly, Nimble leaned the pink mare up against the tree that the other mare was up against – but not before moving aside the limp form of the first pony attacker. Looking around for anypony else, the young colt saw nopony to help, stressing him further.

I need to find help...quickly!

Nimble concentrated on the Fine Rock, managing to use a bit of its magic to levitate it a few inches over his back and hold it there, allowing him to move without needing to manually hold it. He galloped out of the forest after memorizing where False was, looking for Risk or Arrell to help.





[Perspective: Risk Reward]

I charged through Smooth Grove, swinging my new weapon at everypony who tried to stop me. I had seen Arrell get shot and put up the fog, and I knew he was in trouble. I had to cut down on their numbers as much as I could.

I made sure not to deal any lethal blows and aimed to get the gang members down, but not entirely out. Killing wasn't on my agenda, and I didn't want to put it on unless it came down to it.

Glancing up at Arrell's fog cloud, I saw it slowly disappear, opening him to more attacks. As the first round of arrows flew up at him, I looked around for their source, hoping to take down the archers before they took Arrell down instead.

"Mr. Risk!"

The familiar voice drew my attention, and I saw Nimble hiding in the shadows of one building that had taken little to no damage. Somehow, he camoflauged perfectly, and I galloped over to him.

"What is it, Nimble?" I asked, panting for breath as my adrenaline rush began to wear off.

"Miss Front is hurt!" he half-yelled, keeping his voice low to avoid being overheard. "She got poisoned back in the forest!"

I gritted my teeth. As if I didn't have enough problems already... That's when I noticed the Fine Rock hovering over him.

"Why did you bring that?!" I asked, panicking. "That's why these ponies are here!"

"It wants to get to Arrell," he replied simply. "I need to get it to him, but I can't fly up to him!"

A scream interrupted my response, and I turned to see Arrell fall from the sky, no less than four arrows sticking out of him now. My eyes widened as he hit the ground, vulnerable.

"Well, that solves one problem," I grunted. "Except now it opens about fifty more."
> 17: Climax of a Scuffle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Perspective: Arrell]

You know, being used as a pincushion is usually supposed to hurt a lot. Yet I seemed to be doing...moderately well.

While having several arrows stuck in my body did keep me from flying or moving around much, I was able to bear the pain and keep using my voice attack to keep ponies from getting too close. I could tell that their numbers were going down, though I began to doubt that I'd be able to stay up long enough to finish the job.

"Arrell!" Looking towards the voice, I saw Risk and Nimble charging towards me. Seeing that he had my attention, Risk threw something at me. It fell right at my hooves, and I got a better look at it. The Fine Rock.

I quickly scooped it up, instantly feeling something in my brain. Part of it was a pull towards somewhere, but I ignored it in favour of the other feeling. A feeling of power.

Acting purely on instinct, I turned around in time to see one pony charging at me with a knife. I opened my mouth, but instead of shouting, I let out an icy breath, literally freezing him in his tracks. I didn't know if he was alive or dead, but at that moment...I didn't care.

The pain from the arrows was gone, even though they remained in my body. A flash in my brain warned me of another arrow coming from the side, and I ducked to avoid it. I felt as though I could sense everything.

I let myself float into the air, the Fine Rock slowly moving from my hoof to float over my body. I barely noticed as the ponies around me stopped fighting, destroying, or even moving as they stared up at me. The few that hadn't been focusing on me before sure were now. Even those that had bows and arrows weren't trying anything, though whether that was because I had the Fine Rock or because they knew arrows wouldn't work, I didn't know.

The Fine Rock felt sort of like a point of focus – like if I concentrated hard enough, I could transfer energy through it. Energy of what kind, though? Ice? Fire? Magic? ...wait.

A realization hit me. I suddenly knew what to do with this gem once Smooth Grove was safe – assuming they'd let me keep it. But for now, I had ponies to fight.

I expanded my weird sensing abilities all around Smooth Grove. Everypony who was still alive was staring up at me, and everypony who was dead was...well, dead. I expanded my sensing further, off into the forest. I found a few prone bodies – one of which was False's. My blood ran cold as I felt the pain running through her. She must have gotten into a fight and been injured, poisoned, or both.

I did not like that.

At that moment, the Fine Rock's power seemed to dim, though not fade. My Spider-Sense ripoff disappeared and the pain of the arrows returned, but I felt strong again. It was as though the gem had healed me...

What were Risk and Nimble talking about? They said the Fine Rock...something about me being the next one to "receive" it? Maybe when I got it, it connected with me or something, and it healed me...kind of like regeneration in Doctor Who, except I didn't die. And I still look the same. I hope. An arrow flew by me, reminding me of the current situation. Oh yeah, giant battle. Better get back to that.

"Risk! Nimble!" I yelled at my companions, who still stood right near where I had been lying. "Go help False! I'll hold down the fort until you get back!" ...or whatever's left of the fort, anyway.

They nodded and ran off. A couple of the ponies tried to chase after them, but acting on instinct, I thrust one front hoof in their direction. Several giant icicles – were they icicles, or just icy daggers? Either one works – flew out from my hoof and stuck in the ground in front of the chasing ponies. Obviously this didn't make much of a barrier, but it directed their attention back to me and away from Risk and Nimble.

"Ignore them, fellas. I'm getting lonely over here. Are you gonna try and shoot me or not?" I grinned. This time, I had a plan.





[Perspective: Risk Reward]

Nimble and I made it back to where False was, and I saw that she wasn't alone. The mare that we freed earlier was also unconscious and leaning against the same tree False was up against. Nearby was another pony, whom I assumed had been the attacker – or one of them, anyway.

"Nimble, get that guy out of here," I ordered, gesturing to the unconscious attacker.

"Where should I bring him?" Nimble asked.

"Anywhere far away from here where he can get lost. If you can dump him in a patch of Poison Joke or something, all the better." He nodded and ran off while I focused on False. Aside from the fact that she was poisoned, I didn't know anything about her condition. Even if I did know anything, I wouldn't know how to cure it, and the hospital back in town was out of the question. Taking a poisoned, injured, unconscious pony into the middle of a battle was just begging for trouble.

I turned to the mare beside False and began shaking her, trying to wake her up. Her eyes opened after a moment, but it was clear she was still tired.

"Listen, miss...didn't get your name, but we'll worry about that later. My friend here is poisoned and possibly injured in other ways, and honestly, I have no idea what to do." I looked her right in the eyes, which were now wide open. "If you have any first-aid knowledge – whether from professional training, watching somepony else, or even something from a comic book – please help!"

The pegasus slowly got to her hooves and took a few tentative steps, as though she wasn't sure she could walk properly. She managed, and stood over False. She looked her over, then her attention turned to a deep cut in False's front leg.

"Look around for anything that could have made this cut," she told me. I nodded and began searching for any weapons that the attacker may have left behind. The darkness made it difficult to see, but I soon found a knife, lying discarded beside False. I mentally kicked myself for not seeing it before, then passed it to the pegasus mare.

Picking the knife up, the mare looked over it. How she could see so well in the dark, I didn't know, nor did I care. After a minute or so, she looked to me.

"This is 'deadly recluse'...a very rare type of poison," she said with mild surprise. "It's extremely hard to brew, so almost nopony uses it, to the point where the recipe doesn't appear in any books – the only way to make it is to figure it out yourself, or learn it from somepony else."

My eyebrows were raised by this point. This mare was maybe Arrell's age – assuming pony years and Windigo years were the same – and yet she knew about one of the most unknown poisons in Equestria.

"How did the gang figure out about it?" I asked.

She shifted uncomfortably. "Well...when they kidnapped me, they found out about my abilities, and...well, from there, they learned that I knew how to make deadly recluse, and it went downhill from there."

"And how did you find out about it?!"

"I'll explain later." She turned back to False. "Deadly recluse is known for working fast to knock out its victims, but it doesn't actually start killing them for about an hour. It's a strange delayed effect, but once it starts working, it works fast. Within five seconds, it begins pumping itself into the heart and melting right through it. You can guess what happens from there."

Something told me I didn't want to guess. Nor did I want to find out. "How do we cure it?"

"It's simple, really...in theory, at least. Deadly recluse only starts to kill if the victim is unconscious, so if we can wake your friend up before it kicks in, she'll be fine...so long as she stays awake until she gets the poison out."

"So we just have to wake her up?" I began to feel a surge of hope.

"Yes, but it's not as easy as you'd think. The unconsciousness brought on by deadly recluse is akin to coma. I've seen it used many times, and only once has the victim been woken up and cured."

"How did they get woken up?"

"He was kicked in the groin by five ponies at once."

I slowly looked at False. "Yeah...I don't think that's gonna work for her."





[Perspective: Arrell]

I panted for air as I looked around, standing on all four hooves once more on the dirty ground. Literally every gang member who came at me was now knocked out or dead. I felt especially guilty about the latter, as I had never meant to kill any of them – either my icicles went a bit too high, or I went too long with my ice breath, or my voice attack ended up smashing them through a house that didn't have as many support beams remaining as I thought.

But hey, at least Smooth Grove was saved...well, what remained of it. Every building had sustained some form of damage, and at least three were completely destroyed. The fires had been put out, but it was clear they had done some damage. The ponies hiding inside their homes were mostly unharmed, but there had been a few casualties before I arrived.

I won...so why do I feel like I lost?

A stomp sounded behind me, and I turned quickly. A giant earth pony stood behind me. Black with brown markings, red mane and tail, axe dripping blood as his cutie mark...I didn't need to be a genius to know this guy wasn't on my side. The threatening way he held an actual axe in his mouth only supported this claim.

"So...you are Arrell," he said quietly through his axe. How he talked perfectly with that in his mouth, I didn't and still don't know.

"Yeah. Who the hell are you?" I growled.

"My name is Bloodbath, leader of the Bloodshed Brigade. I came to this town looking for two things: the Fine Rock, and you." He smiled. "And now I found them both."

"What do you want from me?" This wasn't a snarky remark; it was a genuine question. "The Fine Rock I understand, but...me? Aren't there, like, fifty million other guys you could go after? Like Griffin? Or Knightmare?"

He shook his head. "They are far too strong, and besides, they are useless to us. You are the new controller of the Fine Rock. You are the only one it will respond to, now that you have it." He smirked. "And now, we have you."

I laughed. "'We'? Who's 'we', Bathy?" I gestured around with a hoof. "Look at your so-called Brigade! If they aren't knocked out and ready for arrest, they're dead! You're the only one left! I took down...what, twenty? Thirty? What's one more?"

He glared. "Do not underestimate me, puny Windigo!"

I acted scared. "Ooh, you're bigger than me! Ooh, you have an axe! Ooh, you have a name like Bloodbath – which I gotta say is a pretty cool name, kudos to you for getting an awesome name like that. But getting back on track, look at me. What do you see?"

"I see a pint-sized fool just getting in my way!" he roared, slamming his axe blade-first into the ground.

"Yeah yeah, enough insults. Seriously though, without being angry, sarcastic, or funny, tell me. What do you see when you look at me? Literally, what do you see?"

He seemed confused, but he stared right at me and answered. "I...I see a Windigo."

"Go on."

"A Windigo with the Fine Rock hovering over him...a Windigo that I am trying to capture."

I nodded like a satisfied teacher. "Very good. Now, let me tell you what I see when I look at you." I began to walk forward slowly. "I see a giant earth pony, ready to kill...but at the same time, ready to die. Willing to do anything for his followers, but at the same time, willing to sacrifice them all to achieve one goal. Wielding an axe to battle with, but judging by this is the first time I've seen you during the fight, you haven't swung it yet since you got to Smooth Grove." I smirked. "You haven't been fighting. You've been waiting for me. Waiting to fight me...to capture or kill me. For you, either one works, because if you kill me, you'll just go look for the Fine Rock's next receiver."

"What are you saying?" Bloodbath asked, honestly confused.

"I'm saying that you don't know who I am...but I know who you are."

My smirk vanished, and suddenly, Bloodbath realized that I was right in his face. I punched him hard in the muzzle, following up with a loud voice attack that sent him flying backwards. He recovered quickly, but it was clear I had caught him off guard.

"YOU! ARE! MY! ENEMY!" I screamed at him, rising up into the air as the energy from the Fine Rock began to flow through me again, fueling my power. "AND I AM YOURS!"
> 18: A Comeback and a Bloodbath
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Perspective: Arrell]

The fight between Bloodbath and I could likely have been heard from Stalliongrad.

Dude was a really good fighter, I have to say. While my voice attack had caught him off-guard and temporarily knocked him away from his axe, that was pretty much all it did. He didn't seem harmed at all, and before I even landed he was back on his hooves and charging at me.

Now, you're probably wondering why I didn't just summon a bunch of giant ice blocks and smash him, or whatever. Well, I tried; I honestly did. But I couldn't summon anything more than a chilly breeze, even with the Fine Rock pumping power into me. That was when I realized...I wasn't a fighter.

My massive burst of power earlier had been from anger and hatred. Windigoes, as you know, feed on hatred, so after having a feast on the anger of the Brigade - without even realizing it - I was able to make my dynamic entry. But then that power ran out, and it took the Fine Rock to just keep me conscious.

And now its power was becoming more and more drained, and soon, I'd be as strong as a regular pony. Nothing but a bug for Bloodbath to crush.

Horseapples.

My brain processed all of this in the span of half a second, but that was half a second too long. Bloodbath retrieved his axe and was heading right for me. Using my flight to my advantage, I soared into the air to get away from him and think something up.

My voice attack was good, but it didn't do much of anything against somepony as bulky as Bloodbath. My shield wouldn't protect me unless he had projectiles. My freezing powers were too weak to do anything now, unless I could find some actual water or ice to manipulate rather than having to outright create it. I was bucked.

And then I remembered the river.

The giant hunk of ice that was once a large body of water was still in Smooth Grove, but during the gigantic fight, I had failed to notice it melting. The chunks of it that had been bucked, broken, or blasted off were all just puddles of water now, but there was still a large icy rock in the middle of town. It wasn't nearly as big as before - hell, it was just barely taller than Bloodbath - but it would have to do.

Flying over to the ice, I landed on it and used my powers to break off large chunks of it. Holding the frozen substance in a magical grip I didn't know Windigoes had, I faced Bloodbath and waited for him to run at me.

He didn't. Instead, he just threw his axe right at my face.

I had to drop the ice chunks and throw up my shield, just barely stopping the deadly blade. It stayed stuck in the wall of the dome until I let the shield down, and it dropped to the ground. I grinned. Now that Bloodbath lacked a weapon, he was open.

Picking up my ice chunks, I went to launch them...but he was gone now. I looked around, confused, until my genre savviness kicked in again and I threw up my shield once more in case of a sneak attack.

Am I ever gonna get to use this ice? I bemoaned in my head as I looked around for my enemy. He seemed to have completely disappeared.

Time ran out, and my shield dropped. Just as it did, I picked up my ice chunks for the third time and looked around carefully. I saw some movement to the left behind a large pile of burning debris, so I threw them both in that direction. One missed completely, but the other struck an exposed leg, and I heard Bloodbath cuss as he attempted to hide said leg.

"I see you," I called in a singsong voice. He didn't come out. "Come and get me~!"

He still didn't leave. Growing impatient, I hopped off the giant chunk of ice and turned to it. Focusing my energy, I ripped the entire thing out of the ground, turned, and launched it up in the air. If my calculations were correct, the ice would land on top of the pile of debris, crushing it and anything behind it.

My calculations were not correct, because instead the ice landed behind me, in the remains of a burning house. The fire licked at the cool substance and began to melt it in seconds. I took time out of the dangerous scenario to facehoof.

"Now we both lack a weapon," a smug voice said. I saw Bloodbath slowly come out from behind his cover, smirking. "I don't have my axe. You don't have your ice. It comes down to close combat."

I looked around. "Where's your axe, anyway?"

"Oh, did I say I didn't have it? My mistake."

Before I turned my head back, he ran up and drove his weapon into one of my front legs, causing me to scream and collapse. My vision blurred slightly as I saw the blood from my right front leg dribble out.

"If you insist on becoming such an annoyance," Bloodbath growled, "then I'll just get rid of you...permanently!" Grabbing me by my neck with his mouth, he threw me into a burning building's remains, grabbing his axe from me along the way. I screamed even more as I felt the fire wash over me, trying to force myself to stand up.

I tried to run away from the searing flames, but I couldn't even budge. The fire hurt me even more now than it did as a human; back then, at least I could move, but here, I felt like I was...melting.

I collapsed and stared at the ground as my vision blurred. All I could see now was the flames as they engulfed my body...and then a voice called to me.

"Arrell!"

I heard a grunt as Bloodbath was hit by something, and then I felt something grab me. The next thing I saw was the air as a gray blur jumped with me out of the deadly fire. Time seemed to pass by slowly as I forced myself once more to stand, the pain all over my body making it next to impossible to do anything. Finally, I looked at the gray blur as my vision came back, giving it a weak smile and a nod.

The gray blur, who turned out to be none other than Nimble, looked down at the stallion he had just toppled. He must have slammed into the guy pretty hard, as he wasn't moving to get up. I could tell he was still alive, though; his chest moved up and down, showing that he continued to breathe.

As I stood up, ignoring the pain in my leg, the young ninja looked at me with worry in his eyes. He motioned with his head for me to follow, and then ran off back into the forest. I watched him go, not yet inclined to follow. I looked down at Bloodbath.

He must have been out cold, since he wasn't getting up. His axe lay right in front of me. Before I knew what I was doing, I had picked the axe up in my mouth. It was heavy, but not so heavy that I couldn't wield it properly. Yet I felt awful just for touching it.

This axe had killed at least a few dozen ponies in its lifetime, judging by the wear and tear on it. It was the weapon of a merciless killer. And now I was carrying it.

It hit me then that Bloodbath was still alive and still dangerous. But now that I had a lethal weapon, I could just kill him before he woke up. Simple, really. But for whatever reason, I couldn't bring myself to swing the axe. I imagined the scenario playing out in my head multiple times – I'd swing at his neck, cut his head off as he would have done to me, and he'd be gone. Dead.

It would be easy. And nopony would blame me for it. Bloodbath was evil, heartless, and deadly. Getting rid of him would be a blessing.

So why can't I do it?!





[Perspective: Risk Reward]

The pegasus mare and I heard noises coming from one direction and turned quickly. They turned out to be coming from Nimble, who had apparently long ago gotten rid of the stallion's body. He ran up to us with a proud yet worried expression.

"I brought Arrell," he told us as he stopped to catch his breath. I looked around, but saw no sign of the Windigo.

"Where is he?" I asked. Nimble looked behind himself and saw that Arrell had not followed him. He slowly facehoofed.

"I'm right here."

Out of the darkness, Arrell finally appeared, plodding along slowly. When he reached us, we realized he had something new with him: a large axe, clutched in his mouth.

I did a double take at the weapon. Is that the same axe that...

Arrell spat the weapon onto the ground like it tasted horrible (which it probably did, in fairness). Since Nimble and the pegasus mare were focused on the Windigo himself, they didn't notice what I saw as I watched the axe hit the ground: a small splatter of fresh blood, coming off of the blade and falling onto the dirty ground.

I looked up at Arrell. He wasn't the cheerful and snarky guy that I was used to. Instead, he was quiet and avoiding eye contact. Guilt was practically written all over his face. I wondered what caused this, but decided it wasn't the time.

Later, though...later. I'll ask him later.

While I was lost in thought, the mare had apparently explained the situation to Arrell. He began to talk a bit more, but still did not behave entirely like his old self.

"You need to wake her up and keep her awake," Arrell summed up. "I'm pretty sure I know how I can get her up, but I need you all to promise me that what you see will never be repeated to anypony, anyone, or anything else for the rest of time. And if False does not remember what I did, she will never find out. Because if she found out, I'd be fourteen different types of dead."

I nodded. "Promise."

"Pinkie Pie promise."

Having been in Ponyville for a while, I knew what such a promise was, so I led Nimble and the mare through it and we all swore ourselves to secrecy. Arrell found this satisfactory and nodded.

"Good. Here we go then." Turning to False, he walked up to her, leaned down...

...and shoved his lips onto hers, giving her possibly the biggest kiss I've ever seen.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nimble trying to restrain his laughter.

After finishing up his five-second makeout session, Arrell pulled away and walked a short distance away before proceeding to shove his hoof down his throat in an attempt to induce vomiting. I didn't figure out if it worked or not, because I was too focused on False, who chose that moment to wake up.

"False!" I ran up to her and helped her to her hooves, though they were still weak and had trouble supporting her. The other mare joined in to help keep her up.

"We need to take her back to Smooth Grove," the mare instructed. "It's safer than this forest."

I looked back at our Windigo companion, who was still expelling his guts behind a nearby tree. "I think Arrell's kind of busy right now."

"I will take him back when he is done," Nimble offered. "You two, take Miss Front back to town."

I nodded, and we began the process of essentially dragging False back to town while doing our damnedest to keep her awake.
> 19: Safety of the Asylum
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Perspective: Arrell]

Hours passed since the battle, and now I was sitting in what remained of the same hospital I woke up in upon first arriving in town. That seemed to be so long ago, despite being just the day before.

Turns out more ponies died than I thought in the battle. At least half the Brigade died; quite a bit more than I assumed. The rest, while alive, still didn't escape without a few serious injuries – broken bones being only the tamest of them. Literally only four ponies in the Brigade got off with little more than unconsciousness.

And the ponies who lived in Smooth Grove didn't get off easy either. Thanks to my delay in arriving and drawing their attention away, the Brigade had already brutally murdered quite a few ponies. Some died from being stabbed. Some died from being trapped in a burning house. At least one pony died of poison – the same poison that nearly took False.

Speaking of False, she eventually healed. Risk and the pegasus mare took care of her, with help from a couple of the actual nurses. Fortunately, they didn't need me to help. I wouldn't have been able to do anything.

I myself had refused medical treatment, insisting that I would be fine. I had somehow escaped the battle without any broken limbs, and my worst injury was the deep gash in my leg from Bloodbath striking me with his axe.

Bloodbath.

As soon as the name popped into my mind, I felt like throwing up again. Stumbling up from the chair I sat in, I made my way to a (somehow intact) washroom and heaved into the toilet. That name would haunt me for months. Possibly years.

I heard a knocking on the door and groaned. "Whoever it is, can you wait?" I managed out before going back to releasing what little food I had left. The doorknob turned and the door opened. Since my head was still in a giant bowl, I couldn't see who it was.

"Are you alright?" a mildly familiar voice asked.

"...did you seriously just ask that?" I grumbled back in response. "Sorry for being rude, but I just fought off thirty guys, had my leg nearly chopped off, haven't slept in almost forty hours, and now I'm throwing up." I paused to catch my breath. "Though I will admit that there are definitely worse outcomes to this situation."

"Such as death?"

"Yeah." My stomach calmed, I forced myself to stand up. "If you want to keep talking with me, just give me a few minutes. I'll be out soon."





After leaving the bathroom with a much calmer (and emptier) stomach, I saw the pony who was talking to me. The pegasus mare.

Now that we were in a lighter area and everything wasn't a blur of activity, I got a good look at her...no, not in that way. She was a light yellow colour, with a light blue mane and tail. Her eyes were a deep blue and her cutie mark was a cartoonish heart, sporting a bandage. I briefly wondered if her talent was heart surgery.

Like practically everypony in town, the mare had injuries of her own. Most of them were just some cuts and bruises, meaning she may have gotten off the easiest out of everypony around. From what I heard, she was taken hostage by Bloodbath until Risk and False saved her. I knew nothing else about her, though.

"Ohai there," I greeted with a small nod. "I'm Arrell."

"Yes, I know who you are." She nodded back, her voice rather quiet. "I'm Asylum."

"That's a...nice name," I replied. Honestly, I wanted to say it was a weird name, but then again I was the guy going around calling himself Arrell. "So I heard you were...held captive?"

She looked saddened for a moment. "Yes...I don't really like talking about it, though..."

"Crap, sorry. Didn't mean to bring up memories..." I grasped for a new topic. "So...what do you do, Asylum?"

"I used to be a nurse over in Stalliongrad, but after seeing how things are going here..." She looked around the room. Aside from the two of us, the only present pony was Nimble, and he was fast asleep. Everypony else in town was either in one of the rooms healing, or helping fix up others. "I'm probably going to stay here in Smooth Grove until it's back up and on its hooves again. After that, though, I'm not sure. I don't have any family to go to, and the only thing that kept me in Stalliongrad was a lack of other places to go."

I thought over what she had just said. "Asylum."

"Hm?"

"Do you wanna come with me?" She looked at me in the eye as soon as I said that, no longer letting her gaze wander. "'Cause if you do, then I should warn you...you're gonna see all sorts of things. Ghosts from the past. Aliens from the future. The day the Earth died in a ball of flame. It won't be quiet, it won't be safe, and it won't be calm. But I'll tell you what it will be...the trip of a lifetime."

I could practically see the gears in her head turning as she contemplated what I said. After a few seconds, she blinked.

"...ghosts? Aliens? Ball of flame?"

"Just a reference. Ignore that part. Seriously though, want to come along?"

Asylum looked away, biting her lip in thought. "I'm not sure...who else is with you?"

"Well, there's Risk Reward and False Front...they're the ones who saved you." I looked over at Nimble, still sleeping. "And there's Nimble Night. I'm pretty sure he'll be joining us. He hasn't said he will, but he hasn't said he won't either. Plus, I don't think he'd want to get too far away from the Fine Rock."

"Speaking of which, where is the Fine Rock?" Asylum questioned.

"I gave it back to the elder for now. He offered to let me keep it, and I plan to take him up on that offer, but not right now. Until everything's better, I want as few things as possible to remind me of the giant freaking tussle that took place." I shuddered.

The yellow mare smiled in amusement. "Isn't it funny? That was a battle to determine the fate of this entire town, and possibly a good portion of Equestria if the Fine Rock is as strong as they say. We all came out scarred – physically and emotionally – and only some of those wounds will heal. Ponies lived, ponies died, but either way, ponies fought." She giggled. "And you can't think of it as anything but a 'giant freaking tussle'."

I shrugged. "I was always a dork. Besides, what else are we gonna call it?"

"Well, I've heard some ponies refer to it as the Dusk of Ice and Fire. That might work."

"All I'm going to call it is the day stuff happened that I wish didn't happen." I walked back over to my seat and sat down. I glanced to my left, and there was the axe.

Bloodbath's axe. I had taken it with me, almost unconsciously. When I got to the hospital and realized I still had it, I wanted to chuck it away. Too many memories. Instead, I kept it. Celestia knows why. ...actually, even she probably doesn't know.

Asylum sat down to my right and watched me with sorrow in her eyes. "Are you going to be okay?"

I wanted to say yes. I wanted to brush it off, say I was fine, and that I'd get over it all. I wanted to slip back into my cheerful, goofy, annoying self. Not this depressed, stoic, jackass self. The words "I'm perfectly fine" were right on the tip of my tongue, when I looked Asylum right in the eyes.

It was like her eyes compelled me to tell the truth. I couldn't lie. I couldn't claim to be fine, that I'd get over it. I couldn't make a joke, or a snarky remark, or a change of topic. My brain...my heart...wouldn't let me.

"...no," I admitted after what felt like forever. "No...I'm not okay." Tears began to sting in my eyes. "I don't even know what 'okay' feels like anymore..."

As my vision blurred behind my tears, I felt hooves wrap around my body in an embrace. I returned it slowly as I buried my face in Asylum's coat. For the first time since arriving in Equestria, I finally began to cry.





[Perspective: Asylum]

I don't know how long I sat there holding Arrell for. Time seemed to go by slowly, but also quickly. Eventually, I heard his sobs quiet down, and he fell asleep. I smiled lightly as I laid him down in a more comfortable position on the chair.

"You need a rest," I told him quietly, even though I knew he couldn't hear me. "You deserve it."

I headed back to help the recovering patients, but one thing remained in my mind. Arrell's offer.

He asked me to come with him...should I? I don't have much else to do, but it seems awfully dangerous...

"Asylum, there you are!"

I turned, hearing my name. A brown stallion was walking up to me...Risk, I think his name was.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

"Nah, everything's fine. I was just looking for you." He looked over into the waiting room. "How's Arrell doing?"

I thought about what to tell him. "He's...well, it's complicated."

"Yeah, that sounds like Arrell alright. Overcomplicated."

I giggled. "Really though, I'm not entirely sure. I found him getting sick, then he began acting nonchalant...then he just got lost in thought, and then he started crying."

Risk raised an eyebrow. "Crying? That doesn't sound like him. What did you say to him?"

"Nothing!" I backed away, afraid he was accusing me of something. "I just asked if he was okay!"

Risk smirked. "Chill out, I'm not mad. I assume he said he was fine?"

"No."

The smirk faded. "What did he say?"

I tried to remember his exact words. "He just said...no. He said he wasn't okay, and he didn't really even know how 'okay' felt anymore."

The stallion looked back at the waiting room. "Huh..."

We stood there, silent for a few minutes. Finally he looked back at me.

"Anyway, we should probably get back to work," he decided. I nodded, and followed him back to where the injured ones were.

Arrell...what are you really like?





Author's Notes: Yes, a much calmer chapter now. This was mainly to wrap up the previous chapter, as well as finally get around to naming and describing that mysterious mare.

Asylum

Assuming the next chapter isn't a Christmas / Hearth's Warming Eve special, it'll likely be the true finale to this arc, though don't assume you've seen the last of Smooth Grove.
> 20: Avengers Assemble
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Perspective: Asylum]

It was a little past noon when I was finally able to sit down.

By now, all the ponies in the hospital had been patched up to the best of our ability, with the exception of Arrell. Even after waking up and being much calmer, he still refused to be treated, stating that he wanted to be ready to leave as soon as possible and not spend days lying in bed. So instead, he was passing the time by wandering around the remains of Smooth Grove.

Risk hadn't slept yet, so when he passed out on one of the waiting room's chairs, I didn't wake him. False was feeling much better, but we still had to keep her awake for the rest of the day to be sure; my previous experience with deadly recluse suggested that by the time the sun rose again, she'd be able to sleep. Nimble, having woken up recently, was off talking with the elder.

That left me. And I had nothing to do.

The remaining doctors and nurses were able to handle anything the injured ponies needed, so they told me to go relax. The problem was that I couldn't. Whenever I tried to sleep, Arrell's words came back to me.

"I want as few things as possible to remind me of the giant freaking tussle that took place."

"Though I will admit that there are definitely worse outcomes to this situation."

"I don't even know what 'okay' feels like anymore..."

"You wanna come with me?"

The last one particularly kept me awake. Did I want to go with him? There was the promise of adventure, but also danger. I never liked fighting. But on the other hand, it could be interesting. And he seemed pretty nice, along with his friends.

...well, most of his friends.

Risk seemed to like Arrell, and while Nimble didn't have any real feelings, he didn't exactly detest the Windigo either. False, meanwhile, grit her teeth at just the mention of Arrell's name. I thought back to the conversation we had earlier.

"Look, Asylum...you just met us, so obviously you don't get this yet. But Arrell is...well, he's an idiot."

"What do you mean?"

"He never stops talking, he makes jokes about everything, he doesn't think twice...hell, I don't think he even thinks once."

"That doesn't sound like him..."

"Yeah yeah, you respect him because he saved your town, all that crap. But that was pure luck. He's got power, I admit, but it won't be long until he screws up and kills himself. He didn't even know how to fly until just yesterday, and when he first found out, he got stranded on a tree branch and was too scared to fly off! Trust me, Asylum, he's a bucking moron."

Comparing what False told me about Arrell, and what I actually heard straight from the horse's mouth (pardon the pun), it just didn't fit. False knew an Arrell that was stupid, dangerous, and scared. The Arrell I knew...only one of those fit, and it wasn't either of the first two.

I decided that in order to get some closure on this, I needed an unbiased opinion. I could talk to Risk, but given how surprised he was when I told him Arrell was crying, he'd be more inclined to agree with False. Plus, he was asleep. That left one pony.





"Nimble?"

The gray pony looked at me as I called his name. I had found him wandering one of the halls, apparently bored.

"Can I talk to you about something? It's...it's about Arrell."

He tilted his head a bit in confusion, but nodded. We walked outside and sat down with our backs against the building.

"What is it?" he asked politely.

"Arrell...what do you think of him?" I decided to cut straight to the point.

He thought for a bit, staring off into the distance. For a moment I thought he got distracted and hadn't heard me, but then he turned back. "I don't really have any particular feelings about him," he finally replied.

"Exactly." I smiled. "False thinks he's an idiot, but he doesn't seem that way at all."

Nimble blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Well, first of all, he did save the town."

"...yes, he did." The colt shrugged.

"He stood up to thirty trained killers to protect a town he knew nothing about aside from the name. As soon as he saw that False was poisoned, his first goal was to help her. And when I talked to him earlier today, he seemed cheerful, but it wasn't long before he broke down crying." I sighed, looking away. "Everything that happened...it really got to him. He didn't just pretend it never happened."

Nimble was quiet for a few seconds before speaking. "I have not known Arrell much longer than you...but I can tell you this."

I focused my attention back on the little ninja and waited for him to continue.

"Everypony has a limit to how much they can take. Depending on what you do, how you were raised, and other things, this limit can change. Look at me, for example. I was raised by a royal guard and a criminal. I have been taught how to fight, hide, and even kill. And I am only ten years old." He looked me right in the eye. "My limit is much, much greater than that of, say, Risk Reward. If I were to kill a pony, it would certainly affect me, but I would be able to contain it. After all, it is what I was trained to do. But Risk, if he were to murder, would not be able to take it. From what he has told me, he never witnessed a single death in his life until so recently. Just watching a murder alone would affect him greatly, let alone actually committing it."

"And...what does this have to do with Arrell?"

"Arrell's limit, based on what you have told me, is lower than mine...or even yours." Nimble stood up and began pacing slowly, as though this would work his brain faster. "He was in the middle of that battle, and he killed several ponies. At the time, either he was unaware of it, or he was too focused to care. But after Bloodbath was taken down, he stopped fighting. And then it caught up to him.

"Think of it as like a balloon. You fill it with air, and then it bursts. Arrell's balloon can't take much air. Perhaps this is because of something back on his world. Perhaps this is just because of his personality. Or perhaps he is so used to hiding his fear and sadness that when he was unable to..." Nimble stopped pacing, looking down at a rock in front of him. He closed his eyes and brought his front hoof down onto the rock, shattering it into pieces. "He broke."

There was silence between us for a few minutes. I finally found the courage to speak again, and cleared my throat.

"Well...that all makes sense, but it doesn't really answer my original question," I pointed out.

"You asked me what I thought of Arrell," Nimble responded. "I told you."

I raised an eyebrow. "All you did was tell me about the limits of his sanity."

"Exactly. That is what I think of him: a Windigo who has a lower limit than most. Your opinion of a pony cannot be determined from that of others. No pony has a specific way you should feel about them. You can only take how they act and form your own opinion."

"That's the problem!" I threw my front hooves in the air. "I don't know how Arrell acts because everypony has a different opinion of him! False calls him an idiot. Risk thinks he's a nice guy. You just think he goes crazy easier. None of these even fit!"

"The ponies around you have different opinions because they see Arrell in different ways," he explained. "For example...look at me. Am I young, or am I old?"

My anger was replaced with confusion. "Uh...young?"

"If we were to ask, say, a two-year-old, they would say I am old. It all depends on who you ask." He gestured to the hospital. "Is that building small, or big? To us, it is big, but to a dragon, it is small. What about this whole town? Again, it is big to us, but anypony who has been to Canterlot would think it to be small. Opinions vary from pony to pony, and are never permanent. All you have to do is change the way you look at something a little bit, and your opinion could become entirely different."

The little colt's words made sense. I never thought a ten-year-old would be acting like an elderly mentor to me, but now it was happening, and it made sense.

"So who is Arrell to you, Miss Asylum?" Nimble asked suddenly.

"...I don't know who he is," I admitted. "But I know one thing."

"What?"

I stood up. "I want to find out. I'm going with him."





[Perspective: Arrell]

"AVENGERS, ASSEMBLE!"

The ponies surrounding me looked at each other, then at me.

"...of course, you don't get that reference."

Currently, I was standing outside the Smooth Grove hospital as the sun began to set. Bloodbath's axe was beside me, the blade buried in the ground. I had decided to keep it; if not as a weapon, then as a memento.

Risk, False, Nimble, and Asylum stood around me. Nimble had agreed to come along, and Asylum came up to me as soon as I got back from my walk to say she'd be coming as well. Having more ponies in the group was good.

"So...the past while has been hectic," I said with a sheepish grin. Understatement of the century. "Fortunately, it all worked out in the end. Smooth Grove won, and the Brigade fell. The town is being rebuilt, and if we can spread the word of its existence, it won't be practically empty for long."

"Are we leaving already?" Risk asked suddenly, looking a bit confused. "I know it feels like forever, but we've only been here for about a day. And there's still stuff we haven't figured out."

"Like what?" I asked.

"Well, for one thing, why did the Fine Rock draw these ponies to this spot in the first place?"

I smirked. "We don't have to solve everything, you know. We'll probably figure it out later. It's not like we're leaving the rock behind."

He blinked. "Wait, what?"

Reaching behind myself, I pulled the Fine Rock out of...I don't know where, really. Letting it go, it floated in front of me.

"The elder said we can keep it," I explained. "Besides, it chose me as its next holder. But I don't really need what's basically a unicorn horn." I looked right at Risk. "You, however..."

The Fine Rock floated over to the brown stallion, and with a flash of light, linked itself to his broken horn. The rock stretched slightly, forming the shape of a brand new horn. When the light dimmed, it looked as though Risk's horn had never been broken.

He seemed extremely surprised as he felt it with his hoof, having nothing to say.

"I think you need that more than I do," I chuckled. "Now, getting back to the original question...no. We're not leaving yet."

False raised an eyebrow. "Weren't you the one who wanted to go as soon as possible?"

"Yes, I was. But Stalliongrad can wait. I think we could use a break." I looked around at them. "That okay with all of you?" They nodded. "Then go off and do whatever. I'm gonna relax."

As we separated, I heard somepony follow me. Turning around, I saw False trotting up. Ugh, here we go.

"So according to Risk, you were the one who saved me when I was poisoned," she stated as though it was a crime. I put down the axe in my mouth to speak.

"Yes. I was." He better not have told her how.

"...thanks."

I looked at her in surprise. Did she just thank me?

"Consider that as your first favour to me," she added. "Don't forget you still owe me another one, though." And with that, she walked away.

Of course. I sighed, picked the axe back up, and found a tree to lie under. We had been offered some guest rooms by the citizens of Smooth Grove, but the ones still in good condition were few and far between. False had to stay awake anyway, but that still left me, Risk, Nimble, and Asylum. I saved them the trouble of finding other places by sleeping outside.

My eyes closed and my mind wandered. Despite sleeping earlier that day, I was still tired, and it wasn't long before I fell asleep just as Luna's moon rose into the sky.
> 21: Visit
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Perspective: Arrell]

Snow.

Seeing the white powder fall from the sky practically hypnotized me, even though I had seen it numerous times as a human. Smooth Grove didn't have enough pegasus ponies to control its own weather yet, so it's a good thing the forest right next to it had Everfree Forest weather that didn't need pony manipulation.

And now that weather was granting the small town with snow, just the day before Hearth's Warming Eve...or is it Hearth's Warming Day? Either way, it was a little early, but Smooth Grove apparently celebrated it a week or so early, so...whatever.

"You coming in or not, Arrell?" I heard Risk call from the doorway of a nearby house. "You're gonna get sick standing out in the cold."

"I'm a Windigo, genius," I called back with a smirk. "Zero degrees Kelvin couldn't get me sick!"

"Suit yourself." He rolled his eyes playfully and closed the door. The house he was currently in was one of the biggest ones in town, but its residents either died or moved away due to the Dusk of Ice and Fire. Shame, too; it was one of the first buildings that was finished being repaired, since it suffered minimal damage. The elder had kindly given it to our group for whenever we were in town.

Not very many ponies were outside, and that made me feel sort of...lonely, I guess. There were a couple of young colts and fillies goofing around, along with their parents watching from the front door, but that was it.

Maybe I should go back inside, I thought to myself. I let my hind legs disappear and flew up, looking at the town from above. It hadn't been fully repaired and no new ponies had arrived yet, but it still looked amazing.

Me and the others originally planned to stay for just a day or two, but after I found out how close Hearth's Warming Eve was, the thought of attempting to celebrate while walking for miles seemed somewhat dull. We elected to stay in town for just a little while longer. Fast forward just under a week, and here we were, getting the first snowfall as the sun began to set.

I closed my eyes as I hovered in the air. Risk had a new horn, False was completely healed, Nimble had passed on the Fine Rock, and Asylum was saved from Bloodbath. Things were looking up for us.

...for them, anyway.

I sighed and thought about my own situation. A human trapped in the body of a Windigo, sent out by the goddess of hatred to...I never found out what she wanted me to do, actually. I just had to "be the king of her side" or whatever. Was I supposed to fight? Hide? Relax? Die? She never told me, and aside from her dream interaction with False so long ago, she hadn't contacted me directly or indirectly to elaborate.

What had happened since I arrived? I was attacked by Rainbow Dash, nearly arrested or killed by Princess Celestia, constantly insulted by False, and caught up in the fight between the Brigade and Smooth Grove. I was still alive, but for how long?

Snapping back to reality, I realized I had been hovering right over the house the others were in. I landed silently on the roof and considered hopping down to go in, when I saw something on the roof that caught my attention.





[Perspective: Risk Reward]

"...then he says, 'Are you my mummy?', and I'm just laughing, going 'Arrell, get that mask off before somepony bucks you'!"

We all shared a laugh at that, even Nimble. I was currently telling the others about some of Arrell's shenanigans in the past few days. While I had never been a fan of talking behind the backs of others, I eventually decided that Arrell would have told the story anyway if prompted, so it didn't really matter.

"Then just yesterday, we-"

CRASH

Startled, we looked in the direction of the unlit fireplace, where the noise had come from. A soot-covered figure emerged from within, smiling at us.

"Hearth's Warming Eve on a rooftop, saw a chimney, my whole brain went 'what the hell'!" Arrell proclaimed as he shook himself to clear away the soot. We all sighed; Asylum and I in relief, False and Nimble in annoyance.

"Next time you're gonna do that, wait for the fireplace to be lit," False grumbled.

"I'll ignore that," the Windigo said in response before turning to the rest of us. "So...now what?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. Today's been pretty boring. You coming down that chimney was probably the most interesting thing I've seen all day."

"Well, in other news, I got these earlier!" Arrell reached behind himself, pulled out a pair of saddlebags, and sat them on his back. I raised an eyebrow.

"...where were you keeping those?"

He looked at me incredulously. "In my saddlebags, obviously."

"No, where were you keeping the saddlebags?"

"Again, in my saddlebags."

"...you were holding the saddlebags in the saddlebags?"

He smiled. "Yep!"

I decided against continuing the topic. The saddlebags he had were somewhat strange; the left saddlebag was a deep royal blue, while the right saddlebag was a bright yellow. Nothing seemed to be inside them.

"Where did you get those?" Asylum asked curiously.

"They were hanging on a tree branch in the forest. They were empty, nopony was around, and they weren't locked down, so I followed gaming logic and took them!" He slipped them off of his back and onto the ground.

Gaming logic? ...don't ask, Risk. Just don't ask.

Silence fell for a few moments before it was broken by Asylum.

"Well...that killed five minutes. Now what?"





[Perspective: Arrell]

The moon was soon up high in the sky, and all of us were starting to feel tired. We had spent the past hour or so just sitting around and talking. No problems, no fights, no arguments. Hell, even False and I managed to have a civil conversation for about fifteen minutes.

Nimble was sprawled out asleep in front of the fireplace, which was now lit and providing us with some relaxing heat. Even though I was immune to the cold, that didn't mean I was against feeling warm either. Just as long as it didn't get too hot.

"I think we should turn in for the night," Risk suggested with a yawn. Nopony argued.

False and Asylum headed off to their room, and Risk to his. Normally he would have taken Nimble, but since the colt was still asleep in front of the fireplace, we didn't bother waking and moving him. If he woke up during the night, he'd find his way to his actual bed.

I was lucky enough to have a bedroom to myself – though the fact that my large body made it impossible to share beds of these size may have contributed to that. I headed upstairs to my room and walked inside, prepared to sleep as soon as I hit the pillow.

But this is me, so naturally things weren't that easy.

Someone had apparently beaten me to my room. And I say "someone" because it wasn't a pony; it was a human. A ghostly human. The woman who sent me to Equestria. Styx.

"Hello," she greeted me politely with a nod of her head. She was sitting on my bed, looking as though she had been waiting a while for me to arrive.

"...is something wrong?" That was my first question, despite having about a million others. What are you doing here? How did you find me? Does anypony know you're here?

"You defeated Bloodbath and his comrades, but Smooth Grove is still in danger," Styx told me, seemingly ignoring my question. "You must be the king of my side, and a king must protect his soldiers."

I blinked in confusion. "Soldiers? If you're telling me to protect this village, then you don't even need to tell me. I know perfectly well that this place needs to be watched over. But I'm not going to stay here my whole life."

"I never asked you to," the goddess of hatred giggled...wow, that's a sentence I never thought I'd say. "Do not stay here forever, but do not leave forever. This village, unknown as it is, plays a crucial role in the survival of Equestria. There is a reason its location was chosen by the Fine Rock."

"You know about the Fine Rock?"

"Of course I do. That isn't all I know, either. But it is all I can tell you."

I facehoofed. "Why do you have to be so cryptic? I can't just solve everything tossed at me! I need specifics! Being vague just makes it harder for me to do what you want!"

"But you are already doing what I want."

I looked back at her, anger replaced by confusion. "...what do you want?"

"I told you." She stood up and looked down at me. "I want you to be the king of my side."

"...that tells me nothing."

"You will understand it in time." She walked closer to me and put a hand on my forehead. "For now, continue on to Stalliongrad. This visit to Smooth Grove may have been a worthy stop, but you still must reach the city soon. If the timing is right, you will be meeting someone there that I want you to meet."

I tried to ask who, but I couldn't speak. I couldn't even move.

"Rest, Arrell. You will not leave town tomorrow, but the day after. Tomorrow, relax. Enjoy your peace...for it will not last long."

Those were the last words I heard before I blacked out.





[Perspective: Asylum]

My sleep was interrupted by a loud roar. I woke up with a start, looking around for what could have made the noise.

I saw nothing. False was fast asleep in her bed beside mine; the few pieces of furniture we had were in the same spots as before; the snow outside was blowing normally.

Must have been the wind... I thought to myself, lying back down and closing my eyes. They opened again almost instantly. But Arrell would say it wasn't the wind...that it's never the wind...

Carefully, I got up and looked out the window. The snow was blowing much harder than it was earlier. A blizzard...but so suddenly? I heard the roar again, and I ducked as though something was coming at me.

When I regained my courage, I looked out the window again. This time I noticed something I hadn't seen before: a shadow. A shadow in the sky.

I couldn't make it out properly, but whatever it was, it was flying. It roared a third time, and then the snow began blowing even harder. The entire window was covered in white, and I became unable to see literally anything outside.

Then, it let up. The snow began falling slowly and peacefully once more. The shadow was gone. The roaring stopped.

What was that? I asked myself. I...I better tell the others...tomorrow.

I went back to bed, still nervous but no less tired. I dreamed of snow, cold, and scary roaring shadows...
> 22: Ice-sick-le
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Perspective: Risk]

A lot of ponies consider the day after Hearth's Warming to be the most depressing day of the year. For me, it's just another day that I get to sleep in.

The previous day had been fun; we all went off and did our own thing, though we mostly stayed in Smooth Grove. I say "mostly" because Arrell spent most of his time off in the forest, which he eventually named Snowflake Woods for seemingly no reason other than to call it something other than "the forest". Somehow, it stuck, and now even the mayor calls it that.

The rest of us walked around town, talking with the locals. Asylum was still rather shy around them, and False had a habit of getting too brash, but nothing too bad happened. It was a peaceful day, and for once, I was thinking we'd be able to have a little while where nothing bad happened.

Of course, Celestia had to prove me wrong.

A noise had roused me the morning after Hearth's Warming, and when I looked at the clock on the wall of the room I shared with Nimble, I saw that it was only about six in the morning. Mumbling something even I couldn't comprehend, I went to drift back to sleep...when I heard the noise again. The sound of somepony throwing up.

My eyes shot open and I sat up quickly, looking over at Nimble. The colt was up as well, but the noise wasn't coming from him.

"Stay here," I told him, heading for the door. The girls' room was across the hall, and I wasted no time walking over to knock on the door. Asylum answered, a white and purple robe around her body.

"It's not us," she answered before I even asked. False showed up then in a blue robe, looking quite annoyed. We all looked at the stairs at the same time, just as another puking sound reached our ears.

I quickly trotted up the stairs towards Arrell's room, the others following me. His bedroom door was open a crack, but when I peered inside, he wasn't there. Another barfing noise came from the bathroom a few feet away, and I slowly walked up to it.

"Arrell?" I softly called through the door. A groan came as the only reply. "Are you okay?" This time, no reply came at all, and I slowly opened the door.

Inside, I saw Arrell with his head almost completely inside the toilet, his front hooves grasping the sides for dear life. The rest of his body was flopped down on the floor, so still that if not for his panting breaths I would've thought he was dead. He heaved once more, his entire body tensing up as he did so before falling limp again.

"Oh Celestia..." I muttered as I walked up to the Windigo and knelt down to his level. "Arrell, are you okay?"

"He's obviously not," False snapped from the doorway. I glared back at her, silently telling her to put a lid on it. She listened.

"Arrell, how are you feeling?" I asked, turning back to my ill friend. He turned his head to look at me, opening his mouth to speak, only to choke and turn back into the toilet, continuing to throw up.

In these few seconds, Asylum had walked over to join us, kneeling down on Arrell's other side and rubbing his back. Since she knew more about illnesses and cures than the rest of us combined, I got up and stepped back to let her take over.

For a few minutes, nothing happened aside from Arrell occasionally furthering to vacate his stomach. Eventually, he slowed to a stop, and his breathing became moderately normal. Asylum put one of her front hooves to Arrell's forehead.

"He's burning up," she told us. She helped him to his hooves, using one of her wings to flush the toilet as they stood. "False, help me get him to his room."





[Perspective: Asylum]

As soon as we laid Arrell on his bed, he was asleep once more. I pulled the covers up over him before dragging over a chair and sitting in it, positioned right next to his bed.

"What's wrong with him?" Risk asked, worried. He and False were on the other side of the bed, wearing similarly concerned expressions. Nimble finally came upstairs and sat next to me on the floor.

"I'm not sure," I admitted. "It could just be a fever, but I don't know much about Windigoes. It could be some disease nopony has ever even heard of before."

"Gee, I feel safe," False sarcastically grumbled.

"Risk, go to the hospital and see if one of their doctors can help us. Nimble, get the mayor; if this gets bad, we may need to quarantine this house."

The two of them nodded and left, heading off to complete their assigned tasks. I turned to False, who looked back at me.

"What should I do?" she asked.

"Knowing you, I would've thought you'd avoid helping him at any cost."

"Look, he's annoying, but I still have to watch him. Half of my job is making sure he doesn't cause trouble, but the other half is making sure he stays safe. If I let him die from sickness, Celestia would send me to the moon. So, what do I do?"

I gave a small smile, but covered it up before she saw it. "For now, nothing. We just wait for Risk to get back here with the doctor."

"Can't you do anything to help him now? Like, give him water or something?"

"False, like I said, I don't know anything about Windigoes. For all we know, water could make it worse."

"It could also make it better."

"Well, I'm not going to experiment on him!" I was frustrated, and it was showing. I rarely get angry, but right now I was fighting just to stay awake. I didn't need to deal with False.

"Sheesh, sorry. Just trying to help."

I sighed. "I know, and thank you. But right now, there's nothing safe we can do."

Her ears flicked. "What did you say?"

"...I said, there's nothing we can do."

"No, you said there's nothing safe we can do." False stomped her hoof quietly on the floor. "When has Arrell ever done anything safe?"

"Um...I haven't known him long..."

"Here's your answer: never. And he's still alive." She looked at the bedridden Windigo out of the corner of her eye. "...for now, at least."

I glared at her. "False, I don't care what you say, I'm not trying anything until I know if it'll work."

"He's a Windigo, Asylum! He's exactly like a regular pony! He's just bigger...and colder. And he has those creepy white eyes. But those don't matter! He's not going to have an entirely different system of organs!"

I mulled this over. She was right; we could at least try to dull the fever until the doctor got here. "Alright. Get some water."

She left the room and came back a minute later with a cup full of water. I took it and lightly shook Arrell awake, noticing how his body was even colder than normal. His eyes opened slightly, and I put the cup of water to his lips.

The water instantly froze, right in the cup.

All of us, even Arrell, seemed confused by this. I pulled the cup away, and the sick stallion fell asleep again within seconds. False and I stared at the cup of ice, then at each other.

"Does that usually happen when he drinks?" I asked.

"Not that I've seen."

"I don't think this is just a fever..."





Risk arrived with the doctor just a few minutes later. Nimble hadn't returned yet, but that was to be expected; the mayor's house was farther away than the hospital.

The doctor, a tan unicorn pony with a black mane and tail, took a look at Arrell. We explained to him and Risk about our failed attempt to give him water, and this made the doctor's eyebrows jump.

"What's wrong?" False asked, noticing this.

"Well, normally I'm not good with non-pony creatures, but..." the doctor responded thoughtfully, putting a hoof on Arrell's forehead. "I think he may be going through the early stages of evolution."

"Evolution?" we all chorused at the same time.

"Yes, evolution. As anypony can see, your friend here doesn't much look like those Windigoes from the stories." He pulled a book out and opened it, searching for a page before presenting it to us. "This is what they normally look like."

The Windigo we saw didn't look too different from Arrell, really. It had a longer snout and stranger hooves, but aside from that, they looked almost the same.

"That doesn't seem to be too big a change," I commented. "Why is it making him sick?"

"Oh, that isn't what he's becoming."

My blood ran cold.

"See this?" The doctor flipped a page and showed us another picture. "This is a Lord Windigo."

The Windigo in the picture...it was frightening. It had the face and hooves of the one on the previous page, but that wasn't all. Its mane looked like a rainbow of different shades of blue, and almost appeared to be on fire. Its front hooves had claws on them, and it looked to be standing upright, except it had no hind legs – it must have been flying. In the picture it was shown in, there was destruction everywhere; a town below was shown with ponies running away, screaming in fear.

"He..." I swallowed. "He's...going to become...that?"

The doctor nodded. "Lord Windigoes are one of three types, and it's very rare for a Windigo to evolve into one. However, your friend here is exhibiting all the symptoms; if he was becoming a Warrior Windigo or a Scout Windigo, he wouldn't be sick at all."

"Warrior? Scout?" False was confused.

"Warrior Windigoes are bred for battle; once they grow up, they protect the Lord Windigo with their life. Scout Windigoes are the most common types, and the ones with the least power. All they do is hunt for food for the clan. They're typically the ones you hear about in legends."

False shook her head. "I'm not letting him become a monster. I'm just not."

"Oh, don't worry about that! His personality won't change with his evolution; only his appearance and powers. Besides, this is only his first stage of evolution. He won't be fully evolved for a year or so. All this stage is doing is lowering his body temperature."

I cast a look back at him, lying in bed, still asleep. "But...he was throwing up earlier...is that from the evolution too?"

The doctor thought for a moment. "I don't think so. He must have just gotten a fever at the same time his evolution started, and it magnified his symptoms." He put the book away and began leaving. "Just be sure to keep him in bed for a couple of days, and try to keep too many ponies from being near him. If his Windigo instincts kick in and he starts feeding on hatred, the less ponies around to fuel him the better. For now, just treat it like a typical fever, and let me know if anything changes."

With that, the doctor left, leaving us behind with a sick soon-to-be Lord Windigo. I looked back at the bedridden stallion, who had slept through the entire thing. Sighing, I trotted over to my chair, sat down, and rubbed his forehead with my hoof.

"An event that will change the way ponies see you, both literally and metaphorically...and you're fast asleep." I let out a small giggle. "You'd probably find that funny if you were awake."

Arrell moved slightly and mumbled something in his sleep. His breathing slowed to a more moderate level, and a smile found its way onto his face.
> 23: I Know That We Have Never Really Met Before
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Perspective: False Front]

Instead of leaving that day, we found ourselves caring for a sick Windigo. At least one of us had to be at the house at all times, preferably in the same room as Arrell. Since we were all woken up early, we were all tired, which made this task even harder.

After Nimble brought the mayor, we explained the situation to him. He decided that while the house didn't need to be officially quarantined, it'd still be best to keep the townsfolk away from Arrell for the time being. That just reinforced our decision to keep him in bed until he was able to walk again.

Asylum volunteered to watch Arrell for a while and let the rest of us go get some more sleep. Risk practically pounced on this offer, and while Nimble declined at first, he eventually relented and went off to rest. Ninja or not, he was still ten years old, and he needed sleep.

Being a royal guard, I was used to waking up early, or even staying up all night – several nights in a row, if need be. So rather than go back to bed, I just took a shower and headed out into town.

By now, it was around seven-thirty, and so ponies were beginning to come out of their homes anyway. I didn't have anything particularly important to do, so I just wandered around for a while, thinking to myself.

I started wondering what would happen after Arrell got better. Would we just keep heading to Stalliongrad, or would his evolution change anything? Would he keep getting sick over time as his actual evolution drew closer? What would the rest of us do if he got sick in the middle of nowhere, rather than a friendly town?

And why am I assuming I'll still be around if that happens?

Once the princess hears about the Dusk of Ice and Fire – which shouldn't be too long, considering I sent her a report just a few days after – she'd probably be willing to let Arrell go, and I wouldn't have to keep watch on him anymore. I could go back to Manehatten and live peacefully again. Back to my normal job.

The last time I thought this, it made me smile, looking forward to it. Now it seemed almost depressing, as though I didn't want to leave.

"Why wouldn't I, though?" I muttered to myself, not realizing I was talking out loud. "Arrell's too annoying, Nimble's too quiet, Asylum's too shy, and Risk...okay, Risk doesn't really have anything wrong with him, but that doesn't make up for the others. I just want to get away from them." I stopped walking, looking down at the ground. "...I think..."





[Perspective: Asylum]

Half past noon, and False wasn't back yet.

Risk had taken over watching Arrell for a while, letting me shower and clean up. I felt a bit better, but now I was worrying about two ponies instead of just one. I expressed my concerns to Risk and Nimble, but neither of them seemed very worried.

"Don't worry about False," Risk assured me. "She's a royal guard. She can handle herself. Besides, it's just Smooth Grove. She's probably just walking around."

"Still...it's hard enough seeing Arrell like this. I don't want anypony else to be hurt." The Dusk of Ice and Fire had left a pretty big impression on me. Nowhere, not even this little town, seemed safe.

Risk stood up. "Tell you what, I need to go pick up some more food anyway. I'll look for her and bring her back."

"I will come too," Nimble decided, standing up as well. I smiled.

"Thanks, guys. I'm probably just being paranoid..." No, I knew I was just being paranoid.

"It's fine. We're all a little nervous after that fight." The unicorn cast a glance over at Arrell's axe, which was leaning against the wall. "Not that the reminders help much..."

They headed out, and I suddenly felt very alone.

I tried to busy myself, but without the others to talk to, there wasn't much to do. Only five minutes passed, and somepony knocked on the door, both scaring and exciting me. I rushed to open the door, revealing a rather odd-looking pony.

He was about as large as Arrell, if a bit bigger, and a black cloak covered most of his body. Dark sunglasses covered his eyes, and a scarf obscured the rest of his face. What little bit of his coat I could see was a light blue. Something about him scared me, but I didn't know what.

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to ask.

"I know that we have never really met before," the odd stallion said with a shrug. "But tell me, does this rag smell like chloroform?"

Before I could speak, he pulled out a cloth and shoved it in my face. That was all I saw before I blacked out.





[Perspective: Risk Reward]

"Asylum! We're back!" I called as I entered the house, False and Nimble behind me.

Silence answered me, and we looked around the living room. Nopony was around. We began to grow fearful.

"Asylum?" I called as I headed upstairs. Entering Arrell's room, I saw the Windigo still lying asleep in bed, but the light yellow pegasus was nowhere to be found.

"Risk, look!" False yelled as she burst into the room, a note clutched in her mouth. Nimble trotted in after her, actually looking worried.

"What is it?" I took the note in my magical grip and began to read it aloud.

Arrell,

We know of your evolution. We know what you will become, and we will not allow it. We have taken your friend with us up to our kingdom. If you do not surrender yourself and allow us to execute you, she will be the one to die instead.

Make your choice, Arrell.

-Lord Frostfiend of the Rancid Windigoes

"Lord Frostfiend?" False questioned. "Who in the hoof is that? And who are the Rancid Windigoes?"

"I don't know, but they're going to die."

All of us turned quickly to Arrell's bed. The stallion who had been under the covers just a few seconds ago was now standing upright beside the bed, a look of anger on his face. He looked as though he was ready to go fight...except for a few things.

His eyes, normally blank white, were actually bloodshot. His entire face looked a little pale, and he was wavering slightly on his hooves. It was obvious that he was still sick and tired.

"Arrell," I said slowly. "Go back to sleep. We'll handle this."

"No you won't. You can't fly. You can't get to them."

I blinked. "What does flying have to do with this?"

"They said they took Asylum up to their kingdom. Besides, they're Windigoes. Windigoes live in the sky."

"We can get the princess," False told him. "Both of them, if we need to. They can help us-"

"No they can't!" Arrell shouted, stomping the floor with a hoof. "By the time they get here, to this town they don't even know about, the Rancid Windigoes will have killed Asylum. Besides, they're expecting us to either surrender or go for help. They're not expecting us to attack them ourselves. They know I'm evolving, and they think that'll deter me from doing anything. But it won't."

False, Nimble, and I looked at each other. "How do you know about the evolution?" I asked.

"When I'm sick, I sleep like I'm in a coma. I'm aware of everything around me. I heard what you said, and frankly, I don't give a damn right now." He began heading for the door, but False stood in his way. "False, move."

"No. You're sick. You're not supposed to even leave your bed, let alone this house. I'm not letting you go off fighting."

"False, I swear to Celestia that if you don't get out of my way, I will freeze you to death in ten seconds flat." Arrell tried to push past, but False stood firm. "I'm warning you..."

"No, Arrell! I'm warning you!" the earth pony snapped. "I didn't want to do this, but by the power invested in me as Celestia's royal guard, I order you to return to your bed! Failure to comply will result in penalty of execution without trial!"

All of us were shocked silent by False's order. We had never seen her pull rank as a royal guard before, not even to Arrell. Nimble and I just looked at each other while we waited for Arrell's response.

"Fine."

The Windigo turned and walked slowly back to his bed. The rest of us breathed sighs of relief, and once he was lying down, we left the room.

"That's settled," False declared. "Now, we contact the princesses. If they know how big of an emergency this is, they'll come quickly."

"How do we contact them?" Nimble pointed out. "We are rather far from Canterlot."

"I'll send them a letter. If it has the royal guard symbol on it, they'll know it's urgent. He's escaping out the window right now, isn't he?"

"Probably," I admitted.

Throwing the door open, our fears were confirmed: Arrell's bed was empty, the window was wide open, and the sick stallion was nowhere to be found.

"Buck," we all cursed simultaneously.





[Perspective: Arrell]

I don't care what False said. I'd rather die than let Asylum be killed.

The only problem was that I didn't know where the Rancid Windigoes were. But I had a hunch.

I'd need a few things...none of which would be easy to obtain. One wrong move, and those three would be holding me down and keeping me from going anywhere.

For the first time since I got to Equestria, I was truly on my own, fighting against those who previously helped me. And I don't know if it was the sickness getting to my head or a side effect of my evolution, but I liked it.

It was time for some action.
> 24: Bad Windigo
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Perspective: Arrell]

Ironically, my first stop would be where I started: home. Well, temporary home, but home nonetheless.

I flew around the skies for a while, high enough to avoid being seen but low enough to see below me and not fly away from town. Eventually, after I decided enough time had passed (and when I started feeling tired), I flew down again.

As our house came into view, I aimed for the roof and landed quietly. I listened intently for voices, but heard none. I smirked. They're out of the house. Good. If they were in, they'd be talking about what to do; either about me, or about Asylum.

I flew back in through the window to my bedroom, looking around quickly. Nopony was around, so I was safe.

Alright Arrell, time to begin your first ever real life fetch quest. Item one: Bloodbath's axe.

Said weapon was still against the wall, and I trotted over to pick it up. It felt even heavier than normal, thanks to me still being sick, but I hefted it up and held it in my mouth by its handle.

Item two: saddlebags. Those were beside my bed, and I flipped them onto my back with a hoof. Item three: Fine Rock.

...

...right, Risk has it. DUH.

I turned to the window, but quickly realized I wouldn't fit now that I had this giant axe. I sighed and headed for the door instead. Unfortunately, I had apparently used up my good luck so far by escaping in the first place, for when I opened the door, Nimble was sitting right there on a chair.

"Risk said you would come back," he stated, a hint of anger in his voice.

"Really? Good to know. Where is he now?" Might as well get some information from-

"Not telling."

...son of a griffon.

"Nimble. I have an axe. You do not. Therefore, I have the power here. Tell me where Risk is." I hated threatening my friends, but right now, I was in a hurry.

He narrowed his eyes at me and stood up. "No."

We both stood and stared at each other in silence.

"...what, did you think I was actually gonna kill you?" I asked incredulously. "Dude, I'm cold, but not cold-hearted."

"Then it looks like I win."

"Hm...nah." I jumped back into the room and moved to close the door, but Nimble was in the room with me before I even reached the handle. He tackled me, and with surprising strength for a ten-year-old, knocked me over.

As I hit the ground, the axe fell from my mouth, and I grunted in pain. I tried to push myself up, but my body was weakened by the sickness, and all I did was tire myself out more thanks to the ninja colt standing on top of me.

"Do you give up now?" he asked smugly.

Smugly.

I. Hate. Smugness.

"FUS RO DAH!"

I aimed my face straight down and unleashed my voice attack, breaking through the floor beneath me. Gravity kicked in and pulled me down, along with Nimble, who fell off. As soon as the excess weight was gone, I kicked into flight mode and grabbed the axe again.

Heading back down through the hole, I saw Nimble just getting up. I turned to the front door and flew at it as quickly as possible, breaking right through it and flying off into the sky.

Two items obtained, one friend pissed off. At least it's just Nimble. Risk is gonna be the biggest threat; he has magic, and I have to literally take it away from him. This is gonna be  fun.





[Perspective: Risk Reward]

With False asking around town and Nimble staying behind at the house, I was left to look in Snowflake Woods for a certain runaway Windigo. As much as I understood his concern for Asylum, he had invoked the death penalty False threatened him with, and if we didn't get him back home to bed before he did anything, a fever would be the least of his worries.

I didn't know how deep in the woods I was when it started getting colder. Thinking it was Arrell, I began looking around more carefully, inspecting every nook and cranny.

"Arrell?" I called. "Just come out already! I'm not gonna hurt you! I just-"

"TIMBERWOLVES! TIMBERWOLVES!"

The yell startled me, and I turned around quickly. Arrell was running towards me, a panicked look on his face. My eyes widened.

"Get behind me," I ordered, lighting my horn to prepare a small fire spell. "If they get close, I'll burn them."

"Yeah, no, sorry."

A flash of pain shot through my forehead and I fell to the ground. When it faded away, I stood back up and turned to Arrell – only to see the Fine Rock floating in front of him.

"I am still technically chosen by this thing, so it makes sense I could take it back whenever," he explained. "Thanks, by the way. I'm gonna need this."

"Arrell!" I growled, pouncing towards him. He just threw up his shield, and I slammed into it.

"Sorry about this, Risk – and that's not sarcasm, I really didn't want to have to just take this from you – but I'm the only one who can save Asylum, and you know it!" He punctuated his sentence by bucking the tree behind him, the trunk of which was within his shield.

A huge pile of snow fell from the leaves above, landing on his shield and covering him up. I jumped back in surprise, but after the snow settled, I began digging through it. Two seconds passed and it all fell to the ground, the shield having dissipated.

Arrell was gone.





[Perspective: Arrell]

Flying above Snowflake Woods, I began heading back to town. I didn't have my axe or saddlebags on me; if my hunch was correct, they wouldn't be useful. Yet. Instead, I had hidden them behind the mayor's house, under a pile of snow. I could get them later.

Okay, this is the longest shot ever, but hopefully it's right. The Fine Rock chose this spot, and it chose me...and then Windigoes attack this spot and me...I don't think that's a coincidence.

I focused on the Fine Rock, willing it to direct me to where it had really been trying to take Nimble and the rest of the townsfolk. Sure enough, it pointed up. I began flying upwards, following its directions until it finally stopped.

There I was, in the middle of the sky, miles above the ground...and it was a blizzard. There was no snow falling below, so I guessed this little weather problem was contained within the area.

"Alright, Rancid Windigoes! Lord Frostfiend! Show yourselves!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

The snow around me began to converge in a single spot, and after a moment, it formed what almost seemed to be a window of ice. In fact, that's exactly what it was...but a window to where? It was just floating in the middle of the sky.

Suddenly, the window flashed, and through it I could see a room. A cold, white room, made of snow and ice. In this room, there were three Windigoes – Warriors, I assumed. But that wasn't all.

In the middle of them all, there was Asylum, looking cold and frightened.

"I will talk to Arrell," one Windigo said, stepping closer to the window.

"Oh, will you? That's nice. Hello." I waved sarcastically.

"Lord Frostfiend's plan nears completion," he responded. "The clan is almost ready. You will not intervene."

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? Why's that then?"

One of the other Windigoes shoved Asylum forward. The first Windigo grabbed her. "We have your associate! You will obey or she will be exterminated!"

There was silence. The Windigoes all looked at me with smug looks on their ugly snouts. Asylum looked at me with fear written all over her. I just stared back emotionlessly, until finally I spoke.

"No."

All of their eyes widened. The Windigo holding Asylum hissed.

"Explain yourself!"

"I said no." I glared threateningly.

"What is the meaning of this negative?!"

"It means 'no'."

"But she will be destroyed!"

"NO!" I flew right up to the window, actually causing the Windigoes to take a step back. "'Cause this is what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna rescue her. I'm gonna save Asylum from the middle of the Rancid Windigo clan! And then I'm gonna save Smooth Grove! And then, just to finish off, I'm gonna wipe every last stinking Rancid Windigo out of the sky!"

The Windigo who had been speaking this whole time just looked at me, smugness now replaced by surprise and fear. "But you have no weapons! No defenses! No plan!"

I grinned. It wasn't a warm smile, nor a knowing smirk; a creepy, uncomfortable, dangerous grin. "Yeah. And doesn't that scare you to death?"

He just stared at me, slack-jawed.

"Asylum?" My creepy smile vanished.

"Yes, Arrell?" Her voice was full of fear, but at the same time, hope was rising in it. And that sparked hope in myself.

"I'm coming to get you," I promised. Then, with all my strength, I turned and bucked the window. It shattered into thousands of pieces, flying away as the snowstorms picked up again.

I flew straight down, heading back to Smooth Grove. The mayor's house popped into view, and I altered my flight path to land behind it. As I landed, I stretched and cracked my joints, ready for action. I turned to the pile of snow I had left my stuff under.

Risk, False, and Nimble were all standing in front of it.

"Welcome back," Risk said icily. "Having fun?"

"Good thing the mayor saw you burying your items, so we knew where to find you," Nimble added angrily.

"Put down the Fine Rock and come with us," False ordered, venom practically dripping from her voice. "No more playing."

I glared at all of them. "For your information, I wasn't playing. I was working. And for the record, I succeeded. I found the Rancid Windigoes, I found Asylum, and from everything I found, what was most important was what I found out."

"Oh? And what would that be?" False asked, not seeming that interested.

"They're scared of me." I pawed the ground. "And you all should be as well."

Risk shook his head. "Arrell, look at us. Nimble is a ninja who could, quite literally, kill you in five seconds. False is a royal guard and has already issued a death threat on you. I'm the weakest here, and let's be honest, even I could probably take you out in hoof-to-hoof combat. You're sick, you're weakened, and you're unarmed."

"And before you try that stupid voice thing again, let me remind you that there are three of us," False pointed out. "Aim at one of us, there's still two of us to get you from behind."

I nodded. "You bring up good points. But there is still one tiny little detail that you forgot to cover for."

"What would that be?" Nimble asked.

I kicked away my hind legs and rose into the air. "I can fly."

I promptly charged straight at the three of them. Startled, they all jumped out of the way, and I dove into the pile of snow I had left my stuff in. I flew out a split second later, axe in mouth and saddlebags on back.

"Wish I could stay and fight, but I've got a friend to save," I yelled down to them as I rose higher into the air. "Maybe you could make yourselves useful instead of impeding my progress!"

With those words, I flew off, heading back up to find the Rancid Windigoes. Contrary to what they thought, I did have a plan. A four-step plan, in fact:

Crush. Kill. Destroy. Swag.
> 25: Palace of the Rancid Windigoes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Perspective: Arrell]

Back at the spot where the window appeared, I started looking around. If my assumptions were correct, the window had been magically enchanted to act as a means of communication. However, as far as I knew, Windigoes couldn't use unicorn magic like that, so they must have a unicorn on their side – or in slavery. Either way, unless the unicorn in question was Twilight Sparkle, they wouldn't be able to keep the magic going over long distances, so they had to be nearby.

Of course, trying to find a Windigo hideout in this sky-high blizzard was like trying to find a specific piece of hay in a haystack. The Fine Rock didn't activate unless I flew too far away, so it wasn't very good at bringing me to the exact location. To top it all off, I couldn't clear up my vision by just stopping the snow, since there was too much to hold onto and my powers were still weak.

Times like this I wish I had a dungeon map.

Suddenly, a scream pierced the air, coming from my left. I turned and began flying in that direction. As I flew, the snow picked up and the wind got stronger, nearly throwing me off my flight pattern. If not for my immunity to the cold, I'd probably be freezing to death.

Eventually, I saw a large building come into view. It was pure white and looked like some sort of castle. It didn't take a scientist to know that this was likely the Rancid Windigoes' hideout – or palace, as the case may be.

I found a window and flew in, fortunately into a hallway that nopony else was in. The blizzards no longer obscuring my view, I took a look around to see just what kind of place this was.

The walls, floor, and ceiling were pure white, as though made by snow (which they probably were). The floor had a "carpet" made of ice, though I managed to hold proper footing on it thanks to being a Windigo. In fact, this place seemed designed for Windigoes, just enforcing my guess that this was where I'd find the Rancid Windigoes.

I headed off one way, levitating the Fine Rock into my saddlebags for safekeeping. I continued to hold my axe in case I had to fight anything, though the idea of killing made me want to throw up.

I did enough killing in the Dusk of Ice and Fire...don't make me do more.

The room I walked into was, again, empty. It was another hallway, but this one had more doorways to other rooms. I began heading for one, but when I heard hoofsteps that weren't my own, I froze.

"...said he's coming soon. We need to prepare the clan for battle," one voice echoed through the halls.

"What about the prisoners? Somepony needs to watch them," a second voice replied.

"Lord Frostfiend said he'll put Breeze in charge of the prisoners."

"Breeze? That coward? He'd surrender if somepony made a scary face at him!" At this point, I could see the two Windigoes; they were both about my size, surprisingly, and wearing red armor. They each had two swords attached to the sides of their armor, presumably for close combat.

"The prisoners don't exactly know that, do they? As long as they see a Windigo with a weapon guarding them, they won't even speak."

"You better be right, Frostbite..."

The voices trailed off as the two Windigoes passed through the hallway and went in one of the side rooms. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding, pressed up in a corner so tightly I'm surprised I didn't fall through the snowy walls.

Coming out from my rather bad hiding spot, I headed for the doorway the two guards went through. Slowly and silently, I peeked around the corner. It appeared to be a training room of some sort, as it had several pony-shaped training dummies, pieces of armor, and various weapons lying around. It was also unoccupied, much to my relief.

I trotted into the room, put my stuff down, and set to work. I started donning a suit of red armor, which was a little big but would have to do. I looked around for swords, but all I could find were some sai, so I took two of those and slid them into the proper spots on my armor. Now, if any Windigoes saw me, they'd think I was just another Scout...hopefully.

My next order of business was to deal with my axe and saddlebags. Carrying them around with me would just make me suspicious, but leaving them lying around somewhere was out of the question.

Suddenly, I had an idea.





The saddlebags and axe in my mouth, I bravely walked towards a green-armored guard. He was guarding a door that I assumed was locked and quickly made a mental note of. As soon as I approached, he looked at me suspiciously.

"What do you have there, Scout?" he asked gruffly. I spat the items onto the ground.

"Found them lying around. Wasn't sure what to do with them," I replied in what I hoped was a similarly gruff tone.

The guard narrowed his eyes. "Didn't Lord Frostfiend tell you? 'Any strange objects are to be brought directly to the item holding chamber, no question.'"

"Well, these objects aren't strange. I know what they are. It's an axe and a pair of saddlebags."

"Snarky, are we?" You have no idea. "Fine, I'll take them there myself. Guard this room while I'm gone." He picked up the objects in his mouth. "And don't expect me to be back soon, Scout."

He walked out of the room, and I smirked. Part of me wanted to follow him and find out just where the item holding chamber was, but the rest of me wanted to get this door open. I turned to it and examined it.

It seemed to be made of ice, but it was rather thick and had a handle and keyhole. Looking around, I spotted a key on a ring hanging from a hook up near the ceiling. They make this too easy.

Making sure nopony was around, I flew up, snatched the key, and dropped back to the ground. I slid the key into the hole, turned, and opened the door. Peering inside quietly, what I saw both frightened and angered me.

There were three Scout Windigoes inside, but they weren't paying attention to me. They were all screaming and had swords or knives. But that wasn't all that I saw. I saw ponies. Ponies that were covered in various cuts and bruises, either begging for the Windigoes to stop or just outright unconscious. Maybe even dead. And the Windigoes were screaming at them and attacking them.

"What about the prisoners? Somepony needs to watch them."

They were holding ponies captive. For what reason, I didn't know, but I could guess. Either they were hostages or slaves. Whatever they were, they needed to be freed. I growled quietly, stepped through the door, and closed it behind myself.

"Attention!" I yelled. The Windigoes stopped and turned to me. I improvised. "Lord Frostfiend has ordered all Scouts and Warriors to proceed to the training room for last-minute combat practice! Our attack will commence shortly!"

They looked at each other, then back to me. One spoke up. "We're getting our last-minute combat practice..."

"Are you disobeying Lord Frostfiend's orders?" I snapped.

"No sir!"

"Then get to the training room!" I began stomping down the stairs as the three of them went past me. One stopped and looked at me.

"Aren't you going?" he asked.

I shook my head. "I've been ordered to watch the prisoners."

"I thought Breeze was gonna watch them?"

"Yeah, well, Breeze is a coward. He'd surrender if somepony made a scary face at him."

The Windigo laughed and left the room, leaving me alone with the prisoners. I turned to them and they all cringed. Some started crying. Then, in the corner, I saw a flash of light yellow.

Asylum. Looking at me. Scared of me.

...she can't tell who I am because of the armor... The realization dawned on me painfully. Not only did I have about fifty imprisoned ponies all looking at me in fear, one of them was a friend of mine. I can't drop my cover yet. I need to keep playing this part for a while, at least until I know a bit more.

"Alright all of you, listen up!" I yelled, still using my gruff voice. They all quieted down, though a few of them were still sniffling. "I want to learn a few things, and you're going to tell me. Got it?"

They nodded. I looked around, my eyes soon resting on a red pegasus stallion with orange hair. He had a black eye, gashes on his left side, and one of his hind legs was twisted in an unnatural war. I walked up to him and looked him in the eye.

"You. Tell me, what is Lord Frostfiend's plan?" I demanded.

"I...b-but...wh-why do you need to-" he stammered, shivering. I stomped a hoof.

"Answers, dammit!"

"Th-th-the town below...Smooth Grove, or s-something...he's g-going to invade it...and then the rest of Equestria..."

So this isn't just Smooth Grove at risk here...it's all of Equestria. And nopony knows about it except these prisoners. And me.

"Good." I turned to a nearby earth pony mare, who had a purple coat and green mane and tail. "You get question two. Does Lord Frostfiend have any sort of special weapon or technique he's going to use?"

She nodded, tears in her eyes. "I-I don't know wh-what it is, though..."

At least I know to expect a surprise. "Alright. Last question, this one for all of you."

I backed away from the crowd slightly, letting them all look at me. I paused for a moment, then grabbed my helmet and threw it away. My intimidating face turned to a smile.

"Who wants to get out of here?" I asked in my normal voice.

They were all silent, just staring at me in surprise, confusion, and a bit of distrust. Finally, a voice from the back spoke up.

"...Arrell?"

I turned to the yellow mare. "Yes, Asylum. I'm here. And I'm getting all of you out of here."

"No, you're not."

Startled, I turned to the doorway, where the green-armored guard from earlier was standing, glaring down at me.

"Arrell, huh? I should've known something was off about you. That armor sure seemed a few sizes too big."

I shrugged. "Well, worth a try."

"Come with me. I'm taking you to Lord Frostfiend. You can't escape, Arrell." He grinned smugly.

Smugly.

I. Hate. Smugness.

"Who says I want to escape?" I hissed, flying into the air and using my front legs to grab the sai from my side. He responded by drawing his sword with his mouth and charging at me.

He jumped and swung, but I avoided the blade and dove in to stab him. Unfortunately, his armor must have been pretty strong, as my weapon didn't even leave a scratch. I cursed mentally at my failure, and then again when he hit me with the flat of his sword, knocking me to the ground.

Before he could stab me or cut off my head or whatever he was planning to do, I unleashed a voice attack on him, knocking him backwards into the wall. The prisoners gasped at this, apparently not used to it. Can't say I blame them.

I jumped up, but as soon as I did, my sickness decided to kick in. My vision blurred, but I fought to keep myself awake. I started feeling warm...hot, even. I felt like I was melting.

...this isn't the sickness.

I grinned, and with a shout of power, I unleashed a wave of flames from my body. The fire flew out, striking the guard and causing him to scream in pain. Thankfully, the flames died down before they reached the prisoners. Surprisingly, none of the snow around melted.

Din's Fire. Thank you, Ocarina of Time!

As soon as the fire faded away, I looked over at the guard...who was no longer there. His armor lay on the ground, soaking in a puddle of water.

...I just killed him.

I just killed again.

...what is wrong with me?

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the prisoners. They were looking at me in awe, but also fear. Never a good combination.

I'll get sick later...for now, I have more important things to do. I put my sai away and trotted over to the armor. Rooting around in it, I found a key, likely for the item storage room. I went over to the prisoners.

"First thing's first. Here's what we're gonna do," I stated. "Any pegasi here who can fly will go down to Smooth Grove, preferably carrying an earth pony or unicorn with them. Once you get there, tell the mayor about this. If you can, there's a pony I need you to find: a brown unicorn stallion named Risk Reward. He has a broken horn, you can't miss him. Give him this." I reached into a pocket in my armor and pulled out the Fine Rock, which I had smartly decided not to keep in my saddlebags before giving them to the guard. "He'll know what to do with it. Then, I need you to also find a mare named False Front and a young colt named Nimble Night. Three of you pegasi need to carry Risk, False, and Nimble up here. Then, any of you that can, start carrying the rest of the earth ponies and unicorns down to the ground, where they'll be safe." I cracked my neck. "Then, you just stay down there and let me and my friends take care of Lord Frostfiend and the Rancid Windigoes. Anypony who wants to help is welcome to, as an army is better than a small group. Now, before we waste any more time..."

I started trotting away, when one stallion suddenly spoke up. "Hang on a minute," he haughtily called. "Who put you in charge? And who the hell are you anyway?!"

I slowly turned back to him and the other prisoners. "I'm Arrell. I'm a human. I'm from the planet Earth in the galaxy of the Milky Way. I'm sixteen years old, and I'm the pony who's gonna save your lives and all several billion creatures in the world below."

They all stared at me in surprise. The stallion who questioned me was slack-jawed.

"You got a problem with that?" I quietly asked.

"No," he quickly answered.

"In that case..." I turned to the door. "Allons-y!"

With that, I galloped off, the prisoners all following me. As soon as we got in the hall, I looked around for guards. None, thankfully. I chose a direction and we ran that way. Thankfully, I chose wisely, as we reached the main door to the palace.

Two guards in green armor were standing outside the door, but they were standing rather stupidly near the edge; two earth ponies in my little parade just ran up, bucked them in the head to knock them out, and shoved them over the edge. I nodded at them approvingly.

"Alright pegasi, take off!" I ordered. All pegasus ponies grabbed onto a unicorn or earth pony and flew off, heading down. Some ponies protested, saying they'd rather stay and help, much to my appreciation. There were about fifteen pegasi, so by the time they left, there were twenty prisoners left behind. Five of them were right beside me, silently making themselves part of my army.

Now, as long as they follow my instructions properly, we'll have reinforcements soon...but they might not be quick enough...

I felt somepony tap me on the shoulder. I turned, and saw Asylum.

"Why aren't you heading down?" I asked.

"Because I'm not letting you do this alone," she stated.

"I'm not alone. Risk, False, and Nimble are coming, and some of the freed prisoners are helping."

"You know what I mean." She glared at me. "I made my choice a long time ago, and I'm never gonna leave you."

My heart actually started running faster at that, but I ignored it. I smiled at her. "In that case, welcome to the...group." My smile vanished as I became slightly confused. "Huh. We need a name."

"We'll think of one later," she giggled.

"Arrell, sir! Guards incoming!" one of the ponies shouted. I turned quickly towards the open door, and sure enough, five Scouts were flying down the hall towards us.

Rolling my eyes, I walked up to the large door and slammed it shut. Five thumping sounds were heard on the other side, and then it went quiet.

"Problem solved," I stated. "Asylum, stay here with the ponies that want to go home, and send Risk, False, and Nimble in when they arrive. The five of you who are staying with me for now, come along. I have a few objects I need to get back."

We opened the doors once more and headed on in. With five ponies following me, I felt like I was leading an actual army. We quietly crept through the halls, peeking into rooms. They probably thought it was to check for guards, but really, I was doing it to find the item storage room.

"Sir?" one stallion asked, trotting up to me.

"Don't call me 'sir'," I replied.

"What should I call you?"

"Arrell. Or Master Chief. Whichever you prefer."

"Alright...we think we found something, Master Chief." Of course he chose that. Hopefully I don't get sued.

"Show me." He trotted away, and I followed. A few minutes of walking took us to a locked door right in the middle of a hall.

I inspected it briefly before pulling out my key and trying it. It worked. The door opened, and inside, I saw more stuff than Link could ever hope to hold.

"Jackpot," I whispered. I turned to my little army. "Get in there, grab a weapon or two, and get out. If any of your own possessions are in there, I'll hold onto them."

They filed in, me right behind them. My axe and saddlebags were right in the corner, and I picked them up quickly, ditching my suit of armor to make the saddlebags fit. What few items were handed to me were stuffed inside them, somehow never filling up completely. I chalked it up to an "infinite inventory" ability Styx gave me.

Soon, everypony had some kind of weapon. Two stallions had swords, while a third had a baseball bat. Better than nothing, I guess. One mare had a rope, and another was using unicorn magic to work a bow, a quiver of arrows strapped to her back.

We were ready.
> 26: Lord Frostfiend
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Perspective: Arrell]

You know how in movies, cartoons, and other stuff, splitting up always turns out to be a bad idea because everyone either gets lost, picked off one by one, or both?

Turns out if you actually split up into good teams, that doesn't happen. Seriously, who would ever think it's a good idea to make Shaggy and Scooby go off one way and the brave people go the other way? ...but I digress.

Baking Soda, the earth pony stallion with the baseball bat, turned out to be just as eager to take down the Rancid Windigoes as I was. Apparently, they kidnapped him several weeks ago from Manehatten, but that wasn't all they did.

"My father tried to stop them, and they killed him on the spot," he told me. "No warning or anything. Just glared at him, and the next thing I know, he's turned to ice."

"Did you watch it happen?" I asked.

"Yes. Why?"

"Just making sure we didn't end up with a Darth Vader scenario." He looked at me questioningly. "Don't ask."

Turns out he wasn't the only one who was looking for revenge more than freedom; in fact, everypony had some ulterior motive for coming with me. Greengrass, the unicorn mare with the rope, lost her brother in a similar situation to Soda's during her kidnapping. High Note, one of the sword-wielding stallions, had his entire house destroyed when the Rancid Windigoes were looking for him.

"I was out with my girlfriend, and when I got home, my home was flattened and three Windigoes were waiting for me," he explained. "I tried to run, but those guys are fast. Plus, unicorns aren't really known for their speed."

Speaking of unicorns, the unicorn mare with the bow, Flicker, was taken along with her mother. Her mother died from abuse while imprisoned, just days before I arrived. And then there was the other swordsman stallion, Burning Rubber; an earth pony whose wife was in labour at the time of his kidnapping.

None of them were happy with the Rancid Windigoes, and neither was I. I made Soda my second-in-command and had him take High Note and Flicker, sending them off to check the various rooms around the palace. Greengrass, Rubber, and I went straight down the halls, looking for Lord Frostfiend.

"Chief?" Rubber trotted up to me. "...what do we do when we find him?"

"We yell at him, get pissed off, and fight him," I replied casually.

Rubber swallowed nervously. "But...won't he kill us?"

"You'll be safe. Trust me." Can't say the same about myself, but better to leave that unspoken...

We walked for a little bit, Rubber and Greengrass occasionally peeking into rooms on the side out of curiosity. Surprisingly, we never came across any guards; either we were exceptionally lucky, or Frostfiend knew about us – or me, at least – and had them all assembled by his throne room.

And knowing my luck, it'd be the latter.





It was the latter.

We could tell where Frostfiend was based on the fact that there were about a hundred Windigoes, in both red and green armor, standing in front of a giant door. As soon as we trotted into view, they all raised their weapons – swords, spears, knives, the works – and pointed them right at us. Greengrass and Rubber flinched, but I stepped forward confidently.

"There you all are," I sighed. "Seriously, we've been looking all over the palace for one of you stupid guards. Can't even guard your own base properly? Sheesh."

"Come with us," one guard ordered, stepping forward. "You will be taken prisoner for your actions."

I rolled my eyes, briefly forgetting that nopony could tell I did such a thing due to my lack of pupils. "If it's all the same to you, I was hoping to request an audience with Lord Frostfiend."

"Request denied."

"What? Not even gonna ask your lord himself? Taking it all into your own hooves? Who are you, anyway?"

The guard raised his head proudly. "I am Chill, leader of the Rancid Guard. I make the decisions, and everypony obeys them."

"Everypony except Lord Frostfiend," I pointed out.

"Just be quiet and come with me."

"Uh...no. I came here to have a peaceful conversation with Lord Frostfiend, and I don't see how you get to decide who does and who doesn't talk to him." I took a closer look at him. He was wearing green armor, but it had golden markings on either side, signifying his higher ranking.

Chill glared at me. I glared back. After a few seconds, he sighed. "Squadron Delta, take Formation B around them. Make sure they don't try anything. I will go talk with Lord Frostfiend."

He headed off, two guards in red armor holding open the giant doors for him and closing them once he went through. About ten guards, all wearing green armor, trotted up and stood in a circle around us, facing inwards.

"We will be confiscating your weapons," one guard declared, stepping up to me.

"Guys, I could literally kill every one of you in this room right now, with or without my weapon. If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead already. Taking our weapons is just redundancy." I shook my head at him.

He actually looked a little nervous and stepped back again. "Fine, keep them. But if you try anything funny, you will be taken prisoner."

"No, if I try anything funny, the Rancid Windigoes will no longer exist."

He shut up.

When Chill came back out, he stomped a hoof, and all guards instantly faced him.

"Alright, back to your regular positions, all of you. If you find any more intruders or freed prisoners, take them to Lord Frostfiend immediately." They all nodded and ran off, leaving two guards by the door and Chill staring us down. "Come with me. Lord Frostfiend has approved your request and will speak with you now."

I led Greengrass and Rubber through the door, Chill trotting beside me and watching carefully. I knew I could probably cut his head off by just moving my head a bit, but considering I was trying to get on Frostfiend's good side – to an extent – that likely would end up being counterproductive.

Within the room, I saw the first thing that actually scared me since the Dusk of Ice and Fire: Lord Frostfiend. A Lord Windigo, blood covering his face and claws, and the bodies of several deceased ponies surrounding him. Whether he killed him or they died from abuse in imprisonment, I couldn't tell, and couldn't care less about. The point was they were dead, and he was practically bathing in their blood.

"Hello there, Lord Arrell," he greeted me. I raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not a Lord Windigo," I pointed out.

"Not yet, you're not. You still have the title." He examined his claws idly. "I hear you came to speak with me?"

His voice was one of the creepiest things I'd ever heard. Windigoes normally just had regular pony voices – if a bit echo-y – but his sounded like ten ponies talking at once, with voices of various pitches. And every voice was full of malice.

"I wanted to talk you out of your invasion of Equestria," I said calmly. "There's no reason for you to attack."

"Oh, but there's every reason!" he declared, his speech patterns reminding me of Discord. "We feed on hatred, as I'm sure you know. Equestria...well, it's not exactly a good place for that. We're starving here."

"Normal food works too," I retorted. "I haven't fed on hatred once, and I'm still alive."

He shrugged. "Hatred is like a delicacy to us. Besides, we don't often have access to regular food. Windigoes aren't usually welcome on land...you excluded, of course."

"Of course."

"If we were to invade Equestria, and then the rest of Equis, we could corrupt every pony and creature to turn them into living hatred generators!" Frostfiend exclaimed, spreading his arms. "We'd never have to hunt for food again! We just walk outside and fill up!"

I glared. "Except I'm not letting that happen, Frostfiend. I could kill you right now. Just give up and stop causing trouble, and I'll let you go."

He shook his head. "No deal, Lord Arrell. Oh, by the way? Killing me isn't as easy as you'd think." He snapped his claws. "Not when you're a puddle of water."

Suddenly, a cage dropped from the ceiling, slamming down and trapping the three of us inside. The next thing I knew, the icy carpet beneath us started sliding open...revealing a pit of fire below.

That son of a changeling! I thought angrily. The bars of the cage were too close together for me to squeeze out, and looking up, I saw that the top of the cage was slowly coming down. If I tried to fly, it'd just push me down into the flames anyway.

Turning to Greengrass and Rubber, I saw that they were even more scared than I was. I looked at the horn on Greengrass's head, and grit my teeth.

"Greengrass!" I barked. She turned to me, shaking.

"Y-yes, Chief?"

"Can you teleport?"

"Um...yes, b-but I'm not strong enough to take all of us..."

I looked at Rubber out of the corner of my eye. "Can you take one of us?"

"M-maybe..."

"Then you two, get out of here. Go to the entrance and tell Asylum what's going on. When my friends arrive, bring them here." Doubt they'll be fast enough, though...

Rubber just stared at me, wide-eyed. "But what about you, Chief?"

I looked down at the fire. "Oh...I'm just warming up."

They looked at each other for a moment, then Greengrass lit her horn. A flash of light later, and the two of them were outside the cage, a few feet away. Frostfiend, who hadn't been paying attention until now, glared.

"What are you doing?!" he bellowed as they ran off. "Guards! Stop them! Stop them!"

It was a good thing I got the guards to let us keep our weapons, because as soon as Greengrass and Rubber were stopped, they went into action. Rubber stabbed one guard in the chest, while Greengrass took a page from Applejack's book and had the other tied up in half a second. I smiled slightly. Never thought a unicorn could work that fast.

"Well, I still have you," Frostfiend gloated, smugly grinning at me. "Lord Arrell, enjoy your death." He sat back to watch.

I sighed and sat down, sliding the saddlebags off my back and dropping my axe to the floor. I knew there wasn't a way for me to escape. Frostfiend laughed, seeing me give up, and I closed my eyes to keep them from watering.

I just hoped the others could stop the Rancid Windigoes when I couldn't...





[Perspective: False Front]

That little idiot! ...gah, I can't hate him when he's saving Equestria, but still...that IDIOT!

As soon as we arrived at the palace, we found Asylum, who filled us in. Now the four of us were running down the halls, looking for Arrell. Every time a guard spotted us, we just knocked them out and kept going, not stopping for more than a few seconds.

Suddenly, two ponies came running towards us, and we skidded to a stop to avoid a crash.

"Asylum!" the mare shouted, noticing the yellow pegasus. She then looked at the rest of us. "Are you Arrell's friends?"

"Right now, 'friend' is a pretty operative term, but yes," Risk growled. His horn, now fixed with the Fine Rock, glowed slightly.

"Come quick!" the stallion shouted. The two of them turned and ran off, and we followed. A few seconds of running later, our ears were pierced by a scream.

Arrell's scream.

Which soon stopped.
> 27: The Cold War
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Perspective: Arrell]

Pain. Pain was all I could feel.

The flames around me were relentless, licking at all parts of my body. The chamber had nowhere safe, and I was too weak to fly. Even if I wasn't, I wouldn't be able to get out, since the cage I was in now acted as a plug for the hole I got dropped into.

My axe and saddlebags, for whatever reason, weren't burning. It was as though they were completely fireproof; there wasn't even a single burn mark on either of them. My mind barely registered this, though, as it was currently busy shutting down.

I felt myself shrinking as my body slowly turned to water. I couldn't stand, I couldn't move...I could barely breathe at this point. My vision darkened and I felt my heart slow down. I couldn't make my legs move with a bulldozer at this point. Finally, I gave up, and just put my head down, waiting to finish melting.

"Arrell!"

...that's not the sound of me melting...

A couple of crashes reached my ears, but they sounded far away. A scream. The feel of hooves wrapping around me, and suddenly, the heat was gone.

The next thing I felt was the ground, but this ground wasn't burning. It was cold, and the feeling of it against my body was amazing...but it wouldn't help. The fire had taken its toll. I was already too close to melting.

I heard voices, but they were distant and quiet, even though they sounded like shouting. I forced my eyes open, seeing a light yellow pegasus in my vision...Asylum.

"...wake up..." she was saying. "...please..."

I groaned, and she jumped back, far enough that she just became a blur. I couldn't stand, so I just continued lying there. After a moment, she trotted up close again.

"Asylum," I grunted, surprised at the fact that I could speak again – the cold of the floor must have at least helped somewhat.

"Arrell, please-"

"Stop." She stopped. "Frostfiend...get him."

She choked back a sob. "But...what about you?"

"Forget me. I'm..." It hurt just to say it. "I'm dying. Melting. Just leave me and go."

"No!" she screamed, nearly shattering what was left of my hearing. "...no...please don't...please..."

I heard her crying, but I couldn't see it; my sight had left me again, and there was only darkness.

"Asylum..." I coughed out, voice beginning to give away. Her sobbing decreased, but it was still there. "Do as I would've done."

My senses faded.





[Perspective: Asylum]

He's dead.

I stared at the melting Windigo in front of me. He had shrunk so much now that he wasn't even as big as Risk anymore.

He's dead.

I put my hoof on his body. Not only was it wet, but my hoof nearly passed through him. His entire body was turning to water, and I couldn't help him.

He's dead.

No more talking. No more moving. No more breathing.

...

False put a hoof on my shoulder. I shrugged her off. Behind us stood Risk, Nimble, and the two ponies that brought us here. Lord Frostfiend had disappeared as soon as we ran into the room. Time seemed to stop.

"...alright then." My voice was quiet, but firm. I turned to the small group behind me. "Let's go find Frostfiend."

They looked at each other. Risk was the first to speak. "Asylum? Are...are you okay?"

"I'll be much better when Frostfiend is dead." I began trotting for the door, but False got in front of me. "False, move."

"No. Asylum, you're not thinking straight. You need to cool down." She glared at me. I glared back.

"False, what were you going to do when you found Frostfiend?" I asked bluntly. "You can't really arrest him, and he's obviously not going to be talked out of this. We have two options: kill him, or let him take over Equis."

She looked at me in surprise. "...well, the princesses-"

"The princesses aren't doing hay to help us!" I screamed, causing everypony to step back. "You all wanted to wait for them to show up! But it would've been too late! Arrell did the smart thing, and I don't care how much you hate him, you can not say he screwed up this time!"

"He died!" she retorted.

"And if he didn't come here, then almost a hundred other ponies would've died instead by this evening, and several thousand more after the invasion!" I shouted back in her face. "He died helping! But you, False Front, will die hindering if you don't GET OUT OF MY WAY!"

Shock evident on her face, False stepped to the side, almost unconsciously. I huffed and trotted past her. "Now, are the rest of you going to help, or not?"

Hoofsteps slowly fell into place behind me, and we all walked out of the room, leaving Arrell's body on the floor to finish melting. There was no point in a burial if he was just going to be a glass of water by the time this was over.

Had we stayed behind just another moment, we would have noticed the cracks appearing in the walls.





[Perspective: Risk Reward]

Today has been a really bad day. I looked at the sun out a window we trotted by, watching it slowly move down towards the horizon. And it's not even over yet. We'll be fighting all night.

Asylum had pretty much wordlessly taken over as our leader, with no real objections. After the stallion and mare – Rubber and Greengrass, as they introduced themselves – said that they had a couple other ponies wandering the palace, our task became to find them.

There were Windigoes all over, but all of them wore red armor, which meant a lower ranking according to Asylum. We hadn't seen any guards with green armor, which may have been a good thing; the lower-ranked Scouts and Warriors we came across were tough enough. Panic wasn't pumping us with adrenaline anymore, so we couldn't blast through them like a cannonball.

"We're taking too long," Asylum grunted after almost half an hour of searching. "Where the hell are these friends of yours?"

"They could be anywhere by now," Rubber admitted. "They might have gotten caught, for all we know."

Asylum stomped the icy floor. "Then forget it! Let's just go get Frostfiend already!"

"What're you gonna do to him?" Rubber snapped. "He's over twenty times your size! Maybe thirty! The only reason he hasn't killed us yet is because he doesn't think we're a threat! We can't j-"

His sentence ended abruptly, and we all stared at him. Some blood trickled out of his open mouth before he fell over, a knife sticking out of his chest.

At the opposite end of the hall stood about twenty guards, all of them clad in green armor. They all held a sword, spear, or knife in their mouth – except one guard, who had just thrown his knife into Rubber's body. He smirked at us.

"He was right, you know," the guard informed us. "We didn't consider you a threat. But we know you are one now. And so we will be dealing with you in the proper way."

...today has been a REALLY bad day. That was all I could think as the guards surrounded us, weapons at the ready. They trampled over Rubber's body, moving in towards us.

"I don't think they're gonna arrest us, guys," I sighed. "I think they're out for blood this time."

"They are, are they?" Asylum asked rhetorically. Suddenly, she dashed at one guard, slamming into him and knocking them both onto the ground. Moving fast, she grabbed his sword, stabbing him in the chest in the process, and stood to face us. "Well, so am I."

The guards began looking back and forth between her and the rest of us, briefly wondering who to kill first. Apparently they decided on her, as about half of them turned and ran straight at the yellow pegasus. She grinned around the sword she held in her mouth, fire almost literally visible in her eyes.

The first unlucky guard to reach her tried to stab her, but she just knocked his knife away with her own blade and stabbed him in the side. Two more decided to tag-team her with their own swords, but she blocked every one of their attacks, finally managing to pierce the chest of one and buck the other away.

...when did she get good with a sword? I briefly wondered before noticing something: the guards around us were distracted. They were all watching Asylum. I lit my horn and grabbed a spear from one guard's mouth, turning and stabbing him with it not half a second later.

"Get busy fighting, or get busy dying!" I yelled back at False, Nimble, and Greengrass. Instantly, we were all involved in the fight; False drew her sword, Nimble pulled the knife out of Rubber's corpse to use, and Greengrass held her rope in her magical aura. Apparently other guards either were being called in or heard the fight, as a bunch more Windigoes in both colours of armor began pouring into the hall.

If the guards thought we were a threat before, they were right!

I dodged a flying knife, avoiding ending up like Rubber, and charged for its launcher. The guard quickly looked scared, but he didn't have time to run. Before he could even turn around, he had my spear impaling him.

Nearby, False was taking on three guards at once; every attack from them was swiftly blocked, though it kept her busy and prevented her from dealing any damage of her own. A fourth guard began creeping up on her from behind, ready to stab her in the back...only to get tackled by Greengrass, who then proceeded to jump into False's battle and help take down the trio of guards, using her rope as a lasso.

The only one I hadn't been able to account for by that point was Nimble, but given that he was trained to hide and strike suddenly, this didn't surprise me. What did surprise me was when he dropped from the ceiling (don't ask how he got up there, because I don't know either) onto a guard and slit his throat. Two other guards charged at him from opposite directions, to which the colt responded by jumping in the air and letting the guards crash into each other.

Soon, the number of guards began to fall, and no more reinforcements arrived. I noticed that shortly after dying, each Windigo would melt into a small puddle of water. I wasn't sure if the water was normal or not, but I wasn't willing to take the chance, so I just avoided all the puddles. The others seemed to have the same idea, as they avoided any traces of water as well.

Eventually, the last of the guards were down. We stood around, tired and covered in blood. None of us sustained any fatal injuries, but we definitely had a few cuts. Nimble had a pretty big gash in his side that made it hard to walk, so False put him on her back and carried him.

"Where to now?" she asked calmly, as though she didn't just aid in the slaughtering of dozens of Windigoes. As soon as she asked, a crack appeared in the wall. "...that's not good, is it?"

Similar cracks began appearing in the floor, ceiling, and other walls. All around us, the hall began to crumble apart – and we had a feeling it wasn't just the hall. The entire palace was likely falling apart under our very hooves.

This realization hit us all at approximately the same time, and we reacted appropriately.

"Son of a changeling, run!" I shouted, galloping for the door. Asylum took to the air to follow, while False began running as fast as she could with Nimble holding on tight. Greengrass ran after us as well, but she only took a few steps before her hoof landed in the melted remains of one Windigo guard.

The effect was instant. From the puddle, ice formed around her hoof, holding her in place. More ice quickly ran up her leg and over her body, freezing her solid. Then, after vibrating for about a second, she shattered into pieces.

I stood there for a moment, staring slack-jawed at her remains, before finally snapping back to reality and running through the door after the others.
> 28: It All Falls Down
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Perspective: Risk Reward]

I'm not sure exactly what happened. We ran for a while, the castle crumbling around us. Whenever we thought we were safe, the cracking would start up again, and we'd have to keep moving. It felt like this went on forever.

Finally, we reached the exit to the palace...but once we ran out, we realized something.

"How do we get down?" False asked.

We all looked at each other. Asylum could fly, but that still left the rest of us. Said pegasus thought for a moment before coming to a decision.

"Wait here a moment," she told us. "I'll fly down and see if there's something – anything – that can help us." With that, she flew off, not even giving us a chance to respond.

We were silent for a moment, then the icy ground that made up the balcony-like entrance began to crack. We were all silent, but inside, we were panicking.

"Having fun, my little ponies?"

And then Frostfiend decided to show up again, floating over us smugly.

"I decided to just get rid of you fools in the simplest way possible," he declared. "Destroying my palace, with you still in it!" He laughed loudly. I glared up at him.

"That's how you're gonna end this?" I asked disbelievingly. "Just drop Arrell into a pit of fire, then send us to the ground? That's how you get rid of your biggest enemies?"

He shrugged. "Why make it overly complicated and fancy?" His smirk returned. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an invasion to prepare."

"One question, Frostfiend."

Frostfiend actually stopped, looking for the pony who spoke. Asylum flew back up into view from under the palace.

"When your palace falls apart, it's supposed to fall down, right?" she asked.

Frostfiend narrowed his eyes at her. "Yes, it is. Don't you know how gravity works?"

"Yes, I do. That's why I'm confused." She looked at the castle. "It's not going down."

"What?!" the Lord Windigo shouted. He flew down and grabbed Asylum with one giant claw. "Explain!"

"It's not falling down!" Asylum grunted, struggling to free herself. "It's falling inwards! Like it's imploding! Like something's pulling it in!"

A stunned look flashed across Frostfiend's face, and he dropped Asylum to the slowly disappearing floor. We all looked up at him, awaiting his reaction.

"...impossible," he breathed. "He...he can't be..."

Suddenly, the ground beneath us gave out.





[Perspective: Asylum]

I screamed, forgetting about my wings as I fell. The wind rushed by. My body flipped and turned. I had shut my eyes so tightly I couldn't even try to open them.

And then it stopped.

There was no impact, no pain, nothing. It just stopped, and after a moment of hesitation, I forced an eye open.

The ground was only a few feet below me, but I wasn't getting any closer. Looking slowly to my left and right, I saw Risk, False, and Nimble in the same situation. And then I realized why we stopped: we were being held up by pegasus ponies.

"Ah, welcome back!" a familiar voice called. We were lowered to the snow-covered ground, and when we looked up, we saw the elder of Smooth Grove coming over to us. "I take it your mission was successful?"

We looked at each other for a moment, and his smile turned to a confused look. Finally, Risk stepped forward. "...no. No, it wasn't."

"What do you mean?" the elder asked. The pegasus ponies that had caught us – along with a small crowd of other ponies that had gathered – all sat down to listen.

"We didn't stop the clan," False bluntly stated. "Arrell died, the castle crumbled, and we all fell down." She looked up. "...though Asylum, you raised a good point. Why is the castle being sucked in, rather than falling?"

"Arrell...died?" The elder seemed completely shocked by this revelation. I nodded sadly.

"No, he didn't!" a pony from the crowd suddenly yelled. I looked at him, and he trotted forward. I recognized him as the doctor that came over when Arrell was sick. "Did you see him actually melt?"

I shook my head. "He was melting when we last saw him, but we left before he actually melted."

"Then he wasn't dead. Windigoes melt when they're dead."

"That was a while ago, though!" False countered. "It wouldn't take more than a few minutes for him to melt, right?"

The doctor shook his head. "Not in a place like that. Windigoes thrive on cold, and with all the cold air around, it would've kept him alive for a little longer." He gestured up towards the castle remains, which were now converging on a single spot. "Enough time to do that."

I looked up at the scene, then back to him. "...what?"

"Cold air wouldn't be enough to heal a Windigo. Ice, however, would. They absorb small amounts of ice to heal their wounds after a battle. Arrell probably didn't know he could do that, though." He smiled. "Now, he's absorbing the entire castle."

As if on cue, a sudden flash of light came from above us, and we all looked up. Some ponies shielded their eyes. The remains of the palace had formed a sphere, which was glowing brilliantly. For a few seconds, it just hovered there, shining...and then it stopped.

The ice converged in, being absorbed into whatever was in the middle of it. And then it was gone, and something else floated there. Something we could barely see due to being so far down, but I could recognize perfectly.

Arrell.





[Perspective: Arrell]

My senses returned.

I felt...strong.

Healthy.

Alive.

I opened my eyes. Sky all around me. Nothing within viewing distance. That didn't stop me.

"I know you're there, Frostfiend," I said calmly. "Come on out."

Frostfiend blinked into existance, staring at me in shock. I smirked. He frowned.

"The fire should have killed you," he stated.

"It didn't." I looked around. "Where's your army? Surely you'd need an army in order to invade Equestria, right? And considering I'm in your way again, you might need it."

Frostfiend glared and snapped his claw. On cue, at least a couple hundred Windigoes flew down from above, having hidden behind cloud cover. They all formed up behind Frostfiend, awaiting his orders.

"I didn't think I'd have to use my entire army against you," he admitted. "But you've left me no choice."

I smiled. "Frostfiend, if there's one thing video games have taught me, it's to never underestimate your opponent. For example, I've planned how to face you rather well." My attention snapped to a guard that was flying forward. "Stay back, pal." He cowered.

"You will not get in my way!" Frostfiend declared. "I will take all of Equestria! I will conquer all of Equis! I will defeat you! I! WILL! DEFEAT YOU!" His eye was twitching. His sanity, if he had any to begin with, was wearing away.

I faked a yawn. "Yeah yeah, all that evil villain speech crap. Done yet? Good. My turn."

All of them stared at me. I stared back, and finally, spoke.

"I said I would rescue Asylum. I did. And while I was at it, I saved all those other prisoners you had. I don't know what happened to the five who joined me, but-"

"Dead." Frostfiend grinned. "Those two that came with you escaped, but my guards killed them. And the other three were caught and killed while you were in the fire pit." He flipped his body into a sitting position. "How does it feel, Lord Arrell, to have taken five innocent ponies to their deaths?"

I glared at him, then closed my eyes slowly. "It makes me angry."

I felt my body begin to grow.

"It makes me mad."

Cold air began to surround me.

"It makes me enraged."

I sensed a guard coming at me from behind.

"It makes me...dangerous."

Without turning around, I cast Din's Fire, melting the guard before it could reach me.

"You, Lord Frostfiend, tried to feed your clan. But in doing so, you brought about its destruction."

Something inside of me snapped. It felt as though something was released, and was fueling my body even more than the ice.

"You have unleashed a great evil...within a good pony."

I opened my eyes, and the entire clan – Frostfiend included – flinched. I was angry now. More than ever. And I knew what that meant.

"Lord Frostfiend. Rancid Windigoes. Meet your greatest obstacle." I spread my front hooves in a dramatic 'look at me' fashion. "The Master Chief of Equestria...Arrell Ragnarok."
> 29: Get Ready to Ragna-Rock
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Perspective: Arrell]

The entire clan was staring at me in shock. Honestly, I was a little surprised myself, but I decided to do what I always did: just roll with it.

"And I'm not alone," I declared. Looking down, I saw a huge crowd of ponies. The prisoners we freed, the population of Smooth Grove, and probably some ponies from Stalliongrad who saw what was going on. But in the crowd, I saw a certain four ponies. "Let's even the playing field a bit."

With a wave of my hoof, I began channelling my ice magic down into the ground. Nothing happened at first, but then the earth began to shake and crack. A large area of the ground began to rise, pushed up by sheer ice that I had summoned, with a convenient staircase on the side.

Catching my drift, the four began galloping towards the stairs and climbing them. Frostfiend saw what I was doing, a confident smirk making its way back onto his face as he regained his composure.

"Calling in reinforcements?" he taunted.

"I just want you to meet the team," I replied with a calmer voice, meeting his smirk. "Let's see, who do we have? There's Risk Reward, the unicorn powered by an ancient artifact. False Front, a royal guard trained to kill things like Discord and beyond. Nimble Night, a ten-year-old who could even snap your big neck. And Asylum, the pegasus mare who's almost as dangerous as me when she gets angry. You're about to be in for a wild ride, pal."

He continued to smirk. "I have hundreds of Windigoes in my army. You only have four little ponies."

"Five."

He raised an eyebrow, smirk vanishing. "Five?"

"Five. There's somepony I forgot to mention."

The next thing anypony knew, I was right in Frostfiend's face, staring him right in the eye from inches away.

"Me."

Two guards tackled me, pushing me away from their leader. I swung my front legs, smacking them backwards. They spun in the air, trying to regain balance, but I didn't let them. One casting of Din's Fire later, they were nothing but drops of water falling to the platform below, which had stopped just a few feet below where we were all floating.

Just as my friends made it to the top, Frostfiend snapped his claw...and the battle was on. Before his army could do anything, though, I flew down to my team and threw up a shield, keeping us safe for a moment.

"You guys ready to fight again?" I asked my companions. They nodded, and I turned to the army outside of our protective barrier, which the army was trying to break. "Rancid Windigoes!"

They looked at me expectantly, halting in their efforts to shatter the dome. I grinned.

"You better get ready to die."

I let the shield dissipate and we dove into the battle. Using weapons that they must have gotten from inside the castle, my four teammates charged in without hesitation, stabbing or slashing any Windigo that got too close. Asylum took to the air near me, helping act as anti-air. The others stayed on the ground, sticking close together so they wouldn't be overrun.

A few Windigoes tried to ambush me from behind. Asylum tackled them and drew their attention away, preventing me from even needing to use Din's Fire. Within seconds, Asylum had reduced her opponents to shreds with expert swings of a sword. I would've given her a thumbs-up if I wasn't busy myself (and if I had thumbs).

I grabbed one guard that made the mistake of getting too close, ripped his head off, and chucked his divided body at another two guards, knocking them back. Looking down, I saw that Nimble was having trouble keeping up – he was beginning to limp, and he was relying on the knife he had more than his typical evasiveness. Figuring something must have happened earlier, I dove down and scooped him up, pulling him away from a four-on-one battle that didn't seem to be going in his favour.

Unfortunately, this had the side effect of drawing all the guards eyeing Nimble towards myself, in addition to the ones already on me. I couldn't cast Din's Fire without hurting Nimble, so I had no choice but to book it.

I started flying up higher, catching Asylum's attention. As soon as she noticed my extra load, she flew up and in front of the Windigo swarm. While this didn't exactly keep their attention off of me, a few of them went after her and those that didn't still got caught off guard and paused, giving me more time to escape. Reaching a far corner of the platform, I set Nimble down and returned to the fray.

Now that Nimble was a safe distance away, I dove into the giant mob of Windigoes and unleashed Din's Fire, melting every single one within a fifteen-foot radius. As their numbers began to drop, they started focusing less on me and more on Risk and False, who were still on the platform and having some difficulty with keeping up now that Nimble was out.

I waved a quick gesture to Asylum, silently telling her to go down and help out on the ground – or platform, rather. A few guards went after her, but one well-timed voice attack slammed them into the ice hard enough to crack their skulls. A couple of guards bodychecked me, but my natural resistance to pain plus my new form kept it from hurting much, and all it did was knock me down a few feet. I grabbed the two guards who hit me and slammed them together, knocking them both out. Seeing no need to kill them when they were already incapacitated, I just dropped them to the icy platform and went back to fighting.

I tried using Din's Fire again, but I noticed the flames that came out were much weaker. I bit my lip and started going back to close combat and voice attacks. Finally, the army began to deplete much more; only a dozen Windigoes or so were left. I flew down to the platform with the others.

They were all tired, injured, and bleeding, but they kept fighting off the guards as they came at us. Nimble had even limped over and was back to his knife work. Grinning, I happily joined in with our last stand.

The guards began to hesitate and flew back away from us, but made one mistake: they formed a straight line. Smirking, I opened my mouth, looking right at them.

"FUS RO DAH!"

My voice attack hit every single one of them and knocked them back into each other; those that weren't killed by becoming a giant sandwich were at least knocked out, and they dropped like swatted flies.

Everything went quiet as the fight finished and we just stared at what remained of the battle. All around the icy platform, dead Windigo bodies were everywhere, just starting to melt. Frostfiend was nowhere to be found.

I sighed and relaxed, feeling as though my body was getting smaller. My anger began to dissipate, and I felt as though whatever snapped earlier was mending itself. I sat down, nearly falling over completely as I did so. I just then realized how tired the battle made me.

"Well..." I gasped, my voice weak. "I hope they were ready to die."

Nopony reacted, and I turned to look at them. They were all staring at me, breathing heavily. Risk looked skeptical, False looked pissed, Asylum looked ready to cry, and Nimble...well, he never really showed emotion anyway.

Suddenly, I found myself tackled by a mess of yellow and feathers. When my vision was clear again, I was staring up at the night sky, now lying on my back. A pair of hooves were wrapped around my shoulders, and Asylum was pressing her face into my neck.

"Don't! Do that! Again!" she half-yelled, half-sobbed. I just lay there, unable to respond. For a few minutes, nopony spoke; the only sound I could here was Asylum crying.

Then, of course, the silence was broken.

"How emotional," a familiar voice droned in boredom. "Oh, somepony get me a tissue, I may cry as well."

Asylum jumped off of me, and I hopped up, glaring at the reappeared Frostfiend. He smirked, as he had done millions of times.

"Oh, is little Arrell not so strong anymore?" he crooned. "Wasted all that ice palace energy on my army?"

I shook my head. "That wasn't ice palace energy," I replied.

He raised an eyebrow. I thumped a hoof against my chest.

"A while ago, Celestia found some kind of evil inside of me and sealed it away," I explained. "Turns out that it wasn't evil; it was my true anger. Which you unleashed. And now it's back in its seal."

He glared. "My point is, you're not strong enough to stop me anymore."

"When did I say that?" I grinned. "Sure, that rampage was natural, but I did still absorb an entire ice castle. And though I used most of that energy healing myself and creating this platform...there's still one thing I can do."

"What?" He faked a yawn, leaning back in the air as if ready to watch a movie.

I channelled the remains of my ice magic and began pouring energy into the platform we were standing on. I turned to the others.

"Might wanna get to the ground," I warned them. They nodded, and with little hesitation, began galloping down the stairs.

As soon as they were safe, I split the platform in half down the middle and began to move the halves. With how big the platform was and how little energy I had left, it was pretty hard, but I managed.

Frostfiend watched curiously as I separated the two halves, then started lifting them up. He continued to stare until I had each half positioned perfectly; one to his left, one to his right. Instantly, he caught on.

"...well then," was all he could say. I smiled.

Then I slammed the two platform pieces together, crushing him in between the halves.

The collision shattered the platform pieces into billions of ice shards, which fell to the ground below. I watched as they dropped, hitting the snow harmlessly, along with the melting bodies of a few hundred Windigoes.

"Everything has its time and everything dies," I said quietly as I slowly headed down myself. I escaped death this time, but Celestia knows how long until my time ACTUALLY comes...

I ignored the cheers of the crowd, my exhaustion beginning to dull my senses. My friends sensed something was wrong and gathered around, supporting me as they led me back to Smooth Grove and our house.

"No more waiting," I whispered as we walked. "The longer we stay here, the more I kill. We're going to Stalliongrad tomorrow."

I thought nopony heard me, but as it turns out, Asylum has good hearing. She shook her head. "You fought through it, but you're still sick and evolving," she reminded me. "You're probably going to feel awful as soon as you lie down. We're not leaving until that passes."

I sighed. "Yes, mother."

"Hey." She nudged me, smiling. "You did great back there."

I couldn't help but smile back. "So did you. ...where'd you learn to use a sword?"

"Back where I lived, you need to learn to defend yourself, or you won't last long. I didn't learn a lot, but it was enough to survive."

Minimal effort, just to get by? She's almost exactly like me.

I chuckled at the thought and closed my eyes, finally managing to relax for a bit as we trotted home.
> 30: Rising Tensions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Perspective: Arrell]

The moon was still high in the sky. Everything that had happened, happened in the course of one day. It was so...surreal.

I lay in bed, thinking about the day's events. My feelings were mixed about the whole thing – happy that Asylum was safe; sad that innocent ponies died; ashamed that I turned so violent. But out of all the feelings I felt, fear was probably the biggest.

I was afraid because it finally hit me that I wasn't invincible, even as a practically godlike creature. I was afraid because if not for a deus ex machina ability, I'd be dead.

But most of all, I was afraid of myself.

Once we got home and everypony else went away, the five of us had a few things to sort out. First on the list was False's little death sentence – I wormed out of that one easily, pointing out that she had told me to go to bed, not stay in bed. She seemed both annoyed and relieved when I pulled that one out.

Next up was future plans. I made it very clear that once I was past my sickness, we were heading to Stalliongrad, no matter what. All I needed was another disaster centered around this small town to make me go even more insane. Nopony argued with me.

And then we reached the topic I was dreading.

My anger.





"Arrell, you can feed us all the lies you want, but remember what my special talent is." False gestured to her cutie mark. "I'll see through them, and I won't let you leave until you tell us the truth. So answer me: what happened out there?"

I maintained a stoic expression. "I got angry."

"That much is obvious," Risk remarked. He'd been in a much more sour mood since we got back. Probably because of me tricking him earlier in the day.

"We've seen you angry, Arrell. The Dusk of Ice and Fire? That was you being angry. This was...different."

I sighed. "Fine. Long story short, I released the evil that was sealed inside of me."

"Evil?" Nimble and Asylum asked simultaneously.

"Right, you weren't there. Basically, when I was sent here by Styx, she took part of my anger and magnified it. Then Princess Celestia sensed it and sealed it away inside of me, thinking it was evil. Which technically it is, I guess, but I digress. As a human, I was the kind of guy who you could take the piss out of nonstop as long as you didn't do something that REALLY got me mad. Once you do that, you're doomed."

"Kind of like what happened with the Dusk of Ice and Fire," Risk added.

"Right. Styx decided to increase that for me to make me stronger, but she increased it so much that Celestia sealed it within me. Fortunately, I rarely get mad anyway, so I didn't end up accidentally destroying Ponyville before she got to me. I ended up unsealing it while dealing with Frostfiend because of just HOW angry I got. But after the fight was over, it went right back into its seal."

"How do you know?" Asylum asked.

"Because right when the fight was over, I...powered down, I guess. I went back to normal size, normal mannerisms, all that stuff. I'd still be like that if it didn't." I yawned. "Are we done?"

"I suppose so," False decided.

"Good. I need to put my stuff away." I pulled out my saddlebags.

"Whoah, whoah, whoah!" Risk yelled. "Where did you get those?"

I rolled my eyes. "From my saddlebags. Do we have to go over this again?"

"I thought they burned in the fire! And your axe too!"

"You mean this axe?" I pulled Bloodbath's axe out of the left saddlebag. "I had it in my saddlebags."

"...I'm not sure what's weirder. The fact that you pulled those saddlebags out of nowhere, or the fact that your axe somehow fit inside them."

"Oh, that second one can be explained. These saddlebags are limitless. Must be one of the powers Styx gave me; infinite storage space." I trotted up the stairs to my room, saddlebags on my back and axe in my mouth.

False watched me go with a raised eyebrow. "Why not just carry the axe up in your bags then?"

"I'm too lazy to turn around and put it in," I called back around the handle.

That was the last thing I said before I entered my room and shut the door with a sigh. I could only stay in a good mood for so long...





Fortunately, I avoided talking too much about my little rage fest back there. I just diverted their attention away from that topic and left as soon as I could. I had pulled that trick enough times as a human, so I had it perfected to an art form.

Honestly, the only reason I didn't want to talk too much about my anger was because I was afraid I'd start talking about...past events. Other things that happened as a human because of my anger. And that'd scare them.

I didn't want to scare anypony.

If I had a choice, I'd just turn from a Windigo into a regular pony. Maybe a unicorn or something. Being a villainous creature just drew more attention to myself.

Sighing, I buried my face in my pillow, pretty much the only thing still in its original position. Ever since I walked into my room just half an hour ago, my room had gone from neat and straight to an absolute mess. My saddlebags were just dumped by the door, Bloodbath's axe on top of them. The covers and blankets on the bed were thrown onto the floor, completely useless to my coldproof form. The few trinkets and extra pieces of furniture around the room were either knocked over or moved somewhere else based on my OCD. Heck, at one point my mattress got flipped upside-down, and I don't even remember doing that.

A quiet knock at my bedroom door startled me, and I grunted ambiguously in response. The pony at the door took this as a "come in" and did so. Said pony turned out to be Risk.

"Yelling, arguing, demanding answers, or all of the above?" I asked upon seeing him.

He blinked. "Uh, none. I just came to make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine. Besides the whole 'evolution' thing, anyway."

"That's horseapples and you know it."

"What could possibly be wrong with me aside from the obvious?" I asked rhetorically, sitting up on my haunches.

"You just killed an entire clan of Windigoes today, and indirectly led five ponies to their deaths. Considering how shook up you were from just killing a couple ponies in the Dusk of Ice and-"

The rest of his sentence was cut off when his body was slammed backwards into the wall. I held him there, my hoof on his throat; firm enough to shut him up, but not enough to prevent him from breathing.

"You're great at dangerous stunts, Risk," I breathed. "But bring up any of that again, and no amount of training will prepare you. Understand?" He nodded, and I let him go. "Now get out. I know you meant well coming in here, but you chose your words poorly, and I'd rather not lead into a situation we'll both regret because of a repeated offense."

Rolling his eyes, the unicorn trotted out of my room, and I walked over to my bed. I hadn't even laid a hoof on it when somepony else knocked on the door. I groaned audibly.

"That any way to treat a guest?" False asked, opening the door and walking in. I glared at her.

"Says the pony who insults me in half of her sentences," I shot back.

"That's not true!"

"Yeah, it's more like three-quarters."

She facehoofed. "Why are you such a stubborn little moron all the time?!"

"Case in point!" I stomped the ground, temper reaching a boiling point. "I can never please you, can I? When I'm happy, you think I'm annoying. When I'm angry, you think I'm stubborn. When I'm sad, you think I'm overdramatic. And on the rare occasion where I do something right, such as saving your life or protecting all of Equestria, you conveniently forget in less than a day!"

"I didn't forget!"

"You sure as hell act like it!" I shoved her backwards a few feet, just enough to get her out of the room, and slammed the door as hard as I could. I expected her to open it back up, but she didn't. Instead, there was silence, and then I heard her hoofsteps walk away and downstairs.

That escalated quickly, I thought to myself with mild shock. Risk comes in and I'm irritated. False comes in and I'm pissed off. Hopefully Nimble and Asylum stay out, or I may end up murdering them.

I sighed. Risk and I were on such good terms before, and now he was probably going to just leave the group. And while I can't say False and I were ever on good terms, they probably wouldn't be getting better anytime soon, and she'd head back to Manehatten as soon as she was relieved of duty. Nimble and Asylum would probably hear about this and, coupled with my rage-induced superpowered form, think I'm absolutely insane and stay behind in Smooth Grove.

Maybe I'm overreacting. Maybe everything will be fine. I paused. ...who am I kidding? Even I know when lines have been crossed. Give it a week, and I'll be all alone.

With that final depressing thought, I took to my bed, suddenly tired. Maybe my lack of sleep was affecting my thoughts. Maybe some rest was all I needed. Maybe over the next few days, everything would go back to normal.

Or maybe I was being too optimistic.
> 31: Wild Cyndaquil Appeared [Crossover with non-canon story]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Perspective: Asylum]

I gasped, sitting up quickly in bed and panting heavily. My eyes darted around the room, making sure everything was safe before I relaxed. I had just had a horrible dream about the Rancid Windigoes coming back, and now I was in a cold sweat.

It was still late at night, and False was fast asleep in the bed beside mine. I put my head back on my pillow to get back to sleep, but I couldn't nod off again. Now that my brain was fully active once more, it was going crazy.

Memories of Arrell yelling at Risk and False flooded my mind. I had heard it all happen, even from downstairs, and it took all my willpower to not go up myself. Surprisingly, neither Risk nor False seemed too upset with Arrell. They brushed it off as Arrell being stressed and tired, though False also admitted that maybe "he was right". She didn't explain much more, choosing to quietly mull over something in her mind until we went to bed.

I sighed and flopped onto my other side in bed. Now I definitely couldn't get back to sleep. I wasn't even tired anymore, and there were still several hours until daylight.

chink

I sat up quickly again, looking around. The noise repeated itself a few times and appeared to be coming from outside. It sounded like small amounts of glass being broken. I trotted to the window and looked outside.

A short distance from the house, Arrell was sitting in the snow, doing something with a block of ice. He seemed to be chipping off little pieces of it, then taking the small pieces and carving them into shapes.

Curious, I quietly trotted out of the room and made my way out of the house, grabbing a scarf on the way to keep warm. The weather was calm, but it was still cold, and I didn't have the immunity to low temperatures like Arrell did. Walking around the back of the house, I made my way to the Windigo.

I watched silently, as he hadn't noticed me yet. He had seven small pieces of ice now, formed into odd shapes – squares, lines, Z-formations, and more. He carefully placed them on a cloth beside him and turned his attention to the block of ice he had been chipping the pieces off of.

Using his hoof and his ice magic at the same time, he broke a small slab off the large block, pushing the rest to the side. He started hollowing out the slab; a process that took a rather long time. He glanced at his watch occasionally, but I was too far away to see what time it was. It must have taken at least half an hour, but I barely noticed the time go by.

Eventually, apparently satisfied, Arrell pushed the slab back a bit and looked at it. He had hollowed it out, leaving a large hole in the top. It was now more of a thin box. Reaching for the cloth, he lifted the seven small pieces and carefully placed them inside the box, one at a time.

When that was done, he pulled out a familiar gem. The Fine Rock. He must have taken it from Risk when he was asleep. Channeling its magic, the Windigo cast a few spells on the box, then reached over and pulled back the remains of the ice block he had used earlier. He broke off a piece of it and attached it to the front of his hollowed-out box, then took more small pieces from the block and stuck them on the front. It was like he was assembling a remote out of ice attached to the box, but it only had a few buttons. Well, if they could be called buttons, being nothing but chunks of ice.

Finally, Arrell cast another few spells with the Fine Rock, placing it on the cloth when he was done. He pressed his hoof down on one of the "buttons", and amazingly, it appeared to do something.

From the top of the hollow box, one of the pieces he created earlier began slowly descending towards the bottom. Using his hooves, he pressed down on the other buttons, and the piece began moving differently. It moved side to side, even rotating. After a second, he pressed one last button, and the piece instantly dropped to the bottom, staying perfectly in place.

Another piece began its slow descent from the top, and he repeated this process for it and several more. The pieces seemed to be infinite, despite him only making seven earlier. Whenever he created a full line of pieces on the bottom, they disappeared, and the pieces above dropped down to fill the gap. It seemed to be a game of some sort.

He played for who knows how long. I stood there, watching in awe. After every few lines he got rid of, the pieces would speed up, eventually so fast he barely had time to move or rotate them into place. Finally, it got too fast for him, and the pieces ended up stacking all the way to the top of the box. They stopped coming and he sighed in irritation. Pressing a button, all the pieces disappeared, and he began again.

"What is that?" I finally asked, almost not realizing the words were coming out of my mouth. Arrell jumped, startled, and turned to me. He took a second to press a button, stopping the piece in the middle of its fall, before answering.

"It's an old human game," he explained, voice sounding a little weak. "It's called Tetris. I played it all the time back on Earth."

I trotted up to him and looked at the icy creation. "It's...made of ice."

"Have to work with what I've got. The human version is done on televisions or computers or what have you. This is the closest I can get."

"How do you make it work like that, though? You only made a few pieces..."

He shrugged. "Magic. Plus, I'm tired. When I'm tired, I don't really notice what I'm doing. I just think about doing something, control my body, and it somehow gets done. Assuming I don't fall asleep halfway through, of course." He chuckled a bit at that.

I laughed as well. "Speaking of sleep, you should probably-"

"Can't. Insomnia's acting up again." He nudged the box. "I usually play Tetris whenever I can't sleep, so that's what I'm doing."

"You need to recover, though. You've only been sick for one day. You won't be perfectly fine that quickly without sleep."

"I'll get some sleep. I'll just do it in the daytime. Not like I'd be leaving the house anyway, unless you get kidnapped again." He smirked.

I sighed, but playfully. "You know, I never really thanked you for that," I pointed out.

"And rightfully so. ...or rightfully not? Which one's grammatically correct in this situation...?" He stared off into space for a second, then regained his focus. "Anyway, I just did what anypony would've done. You don't thank somepony for breathing, because everypony does that."

"But not anypony would've done what you did," I protested. "You followed a hunch that only you had, did things only you could do, and saved all of Equestria because of it. There's a difference between things everypony wants to do, and things everypony can do."

He didn't answer at first, instead just looking down at his hooves for a moment. Then he looked back at me. "I really wish I didn't have to, though...I know they were Windigoes – and not the good kind, like me – but still. Killing them felt wrong, especially the way I did it. I just...exploded, almost literally. I didn't even know what I was doing. All I could think was 'kill them, kill them, kill them'."

"You did what you had to do," I tried to comfort him. "Besides, you can't change the past. But the present is going to become the past eventually, and you can change that."

He smiled a bit. "I guess so."

"Come on. You need sleep."

Sighing, he turned to his Tetris box and pressed a button. The piece on it vanished, and he picked the box up. "Let's head inside then."

"Won't that melt? It's made of ice."

"Enchanted ice. It's as strong as metal now, and not nearly as heavy." He laughed, gathering the cloth and Fine Rock. "I love magic."





[Perspective: Arrell]

This city...sucks.

That was the only thing I could think upon looking around at Stalliongrad. I lived my whole life in a small, clean town in Canada, and Stalliongrad was pretty much the exact opposite of that. Dirty, crowded, noisy, and way too big for my liking.

Several days had passed since my rampage against the Rancid Windigoes. I spent my days sleeping, and my nights either playing Tetris or talking with the others. Sometimes both. Surprisingly, neither Risk nor False held any ill will against me, though False did seem a bit more distant and less vocal.

As we walked together through the dirty city, I sighed. I hope whoever I’m supposed to meet here shows up soon. I don’t like this place one bit.

Suddenly, a scream pierced my ears, and my train of thought went crashing off the rails. I looked around for the source of the sound, which appeared to be getting progressively louder.

I then heard a great crash as something flew over my head into the wall to my right, followed by an annoyed groan coming from the projectile.

“I said a CATAPULT, not a ballista! Catapults lob things you stupid-” the voice paused for a second, “-thing!”

It was then that I got a good look at the creature. Small, yellow belly, eyes closed...my brain jumped to a realization.

“Oh dear Celestia, a Cyndaquil!” I (embarrassingly) squealed. Before it could even pick itself up off the ground, I had done that for it, dashing over and grabbing it in a tight hug.

“Yay! Hugs!” the Cyndaquil said, hugging me back.

Wait a second...Pokemon don’t talk. I dropped the Fire-type unceremoniously, staring at it in confusion. “You talk?”

“Of course I talk,” the Pokemon said with an obviously false posh accent. “What self-respecting literate individual would not be able to talk?”

I just blinked. “...you know, after what’s happened in the past month, I really shouldn’t be surprised by anything anymore, but...still...a talking Cyndaquil.”

“Yes,” It replied calmly.

I heard the others catch up to me, but didn’t react. I was too busy trying to put my fractured mind back together. The Cyndaquil, however, regarded my friends with interest.

“You must be ponies,” it said.

All four of them facehoofed. I laughed. “Congratulations, you’re the only living creature aside from myself to make Nimble facehoof.”

“I take great pride in my ability to make others see me as...” it trailed off. “I’m not sure how to finish that sentence.”

“A troll?”

“No, not a troll. More like a...” it trailed off again. “By a troll, do you mean a large creature that wields a club, or a giant buttface that insults people on the internet?”

“More of the second...wait. You know what the internet is?” I stared with newfound curiosity.

"Know of it? I practically lived in it!” it replied. “Not really though. Although it would be really cool if I did."

False looked between myself and the Cyndaquil. “Okay, seriously, what the buck is going on?” she demanded.

“I have no idea...yet at the same time, I do,” I replied.

“I just don’t,” the Pokemon said.

“Maybe we should go somewhere that isn’t right in the middle of the street,” Risk suggested. “We’re starting to catch some stares.”

“If you are anywhere within a mile of me, that’s pretty much a constant guarantee,” the Cyndaquil said, examining its front legs. “Hey! That rhymes!”

I blinked again. “...I honestly can’t think of any response to that. Any.” I shook my head. “Let’s just go somewhere more private. I hate eavesdroppers.”

“But private’s boooring!” the Fire-type stated in a whiny tone.

I sighed, slowly getting annoyed. “Buddy, I just got out of early stages of Windigo evolution. I want boring.”

“Evolution, you say?” the Pokemon inquired, making one eye slightly higher on its face than the other. It reminded me of how people would raise an eyebrow when I said something weird.

“...not Pokemon evolution. Just...oh for Celestia’s sake, can we just go somewhere else?” I finally gave in to my primary instincts and facehoofed.

“Fine. I have no problem with that. Not like it’s boring or anything,” the mouse-like creature replied calmly.

“Good. False, you’ve been here before. Know of any not-so-public places?”

“It’s Stalliongrad,” she replied, annoyance in her tone. “The best you can get aside from home is a bar.”

“Close enough.”

“Can I get a beer even though I’m underage?” the Pokemon inquired.

My reply was quick and firm. “No. The last thing I need is a drunk Fire-type.”

“I think you mean first,” it replied.

“If I had a death wish, yes.” I left it at that and motioned for False to lead, following behind her.

“Do you have a death wish?” it asked innocently.

I didn’t answer. I just shot it a glare that rivalled the stare of a ReDead and kept walking.

“Hey!” I heard it say, trying to catch my attention.

I turned back to it, my left eye twitching slightly. Now I know how False feels...

“Leer,” it said simply, it’s eyes opening and glowing red.

I felt like every fear I’d ever had was pushed to the surface of my brain. My heart began to race, my thoughts sped by too quickly to catch, and I stopped walking. All I did was stare back.

But thanks to my blank white eyes and ‘stepford smiler’ personality, to everypony else, we were just having a staring contest. A few moments passed before I turned away, shaking my head, but by no means unaffected.

“It has little effect,” the creature muttered.

We walked along in silence after that, eventually coming to a bar that False seemed familiar with. It was rather noisy inside, causing my ears to flatten. I never did like noisy or crowded places.

The Pokemon, however, immediately rushed to the bar before I could stop him – acting on my hunch that it was a him, at any rate. He called for the bartender. “Vodka martini. Shaken, not stirred,” he said before I pulled him back with a sigh.

“Ignore him,” I called back to the bartender, who rolled his eyes and walked away. I was a bit surprised he didn’t question two strange creatures being in his bar, but ignored it. I turned to the Cyndaquil. “I wasn’t kidding when I said no alcohol. Not yet, at least. Once we figure out exactly what’s going on, then you can drink all you want.”

“Letting an adolescent have alcohol?” he replied, peeved. “For shame!”

“I’m only sixteen myself, and personally, I couldn’t give a damn if I tried.” I chuckled a bit, taking a second to gaze around the establishment. “Besides, you’d probably get a drink as soon as I looked away anyway.”

As I looked back, the Pokemon wasn’t there anymore. I sighed, and I heard Risk hold back a laugh.

“Okay, I’m pretty sure there’s no doubt. He’s a human. A weird human, but a human nonetheless.” I sat down at a table. “Somepony go make sure he doesn’t burn the place down.”

Nimble walked off to find the Fire-type, leaving me with Risk, False, and Asylum. Risk and Asylum sat down across from me and beside me respectively, while False stayed standing.

“Mind telling us exactly what a Send-a-quill is?” Risk asked.

“Cyndaquil, Risk. Cyndaquil. And to make a long story short, a Cyndaquil is a porcupine, but instead of needles it has fire. And it can breathe fire and do a bunch of other things involving fire.” I shrugged. “You see the problem yet?”

They all winced a bit, realizing where I was going with this. Asylum moved closer to me. “Shouldn’t we get away from him then?” False asked.

“No. He’s not particularly hostile towards us. He’s not even a ticking time bomb like I am; more of a deactivated one that can turn back on if the right buttons are pushed.” I shrugged again. “Besides, with the way he acts, do you really think he’d try to hurt us? And if he did, do you really think he’d succeed?”

I saw something out of the corner of my eye and turned. Nimble was currently working on dragging the Cyndaquil back over to where the rest of us were seated, said creature mewling pitifully. From the looks of things, he had just been denied alcohol once again. I laughed quietly. The Cyndaquil squeaked as it was thrown onto the table.

“Welcome back,” I greeted nonchalantly. “Gonna focus less on drinking and more on talking this time?”

“Well, I wasn’t expecting any of you to chase after me. I had a nice comeback and everything,” it said grumpily, moving onto a chair. “I am disappoint.”

“Speaking of ‘I am’, care to tell us your name? We still haven’t gotten to that point yet,” I stated.

“Clever segue,” he replied. “I am Cinder, bane of Timberwolves everywhere! Also their friend! I told them my name was The Bane.”

“...Cinder? That all you got? You are not very original.”

“I was rushed for time!” he replied, clearly offended.

“So was I, and at least I got something that wasn’t practically the name of my species. I’m Arrell, on that topic. Arrell Ragnarok, the Master Chief of Equestria.”

“I will call you ArrelCorn. Now who are your companions?” he replied.

...ArrelCorn? I don’t get it. “The guy who dragged you back here is Nimble Night. He’s a ninja.”

Nimble silently nodded.

“The brown unicorn over there is Risk Reward. He’s...well, there’s not a lot to say about him, really.”

Risk raised an eyebrow. “Should I be offended?”

“...no. The pink earth pony is False Front. She’s a Royal Guard and pretty uptight. Don’t annoy her.”

“I am disappoint ArrelCorn,” Cinder said. “You are the only one so far without an alliterative name.”

“Just to prove you wrong there, the light yellow pegasus next to me is Asylum. She’s kind of the medic of the team.” The mare in question nodded and smiled.

“Oh, but you didn’t prove me wrong,” he said with a sneaky smirk. “Notice I said ‘so far’ in my statement. Your argument is therefore invalid. Victory to the Pokemon!”

“OBJECTION!” I slammed my front hooves on the table. “Your name is not alliterative, and you were introduced before that statement was made. Therefore, you proved yourself wrong!”

“AHAH!” Cinder cried. “That is where you’re wrong! I never told you my last name!”

“Assuming you have one and won’t just make something up, that won’t work anyway, because you didn’t say your last name during introductions. Therefore, you didn’t play fair.”

“Fair is for the weak. As is sanity. Now, for my point. My last name is...” He stopped to think for a moment. “Carboniferous! Therefore, I win! Unless you prove some false point true. But there is no way that you can possibly win this time, Phoenix WRONG!” He laughed maniacally.

I smirked. “Cinder, it’s pretty obvious that you’re a human turned into a Cyndaquil. I highly doubt a human would be named Cinder Carbon...whatever you said. So both your names are made up, and so do not count.”

Cinder sighed, slumping down. “Okay, you win,” he said, shrugging. “Now what?”

“...you gave up rather easily.”

“Being bipolar is kinda my thing,” he replied calmly.

“That’s my thing, though! ...ah, whatever. You do raise a good question, though...now what?”

“Well, I was thinking we could go swimming! That ended real well the first time!” he suggested brightly. “Hashtag sarcasm.”

I laughed. “Yeah, even I can tell that wouldn’t go well.” Suddenly, a thought struck me. “Hey, Cinder...why are you in Stalliongrad anyway?”

“Well, for starters, Ungy made me, but also bec-”

“Wait wait wait. Ungy? Who the hell is Ungy?” I asked, cutting him off. Arrell used Interrupt! It’s super effective!

“He’s the god that sent me here. Ungehorsam, means disobedience in German,” he clarified.

I scratched my chin. “Huh...never heard of that particular god before. Styx sent me here. Goddess of hatred. Guess that explains why I’m a Windigo. Anyway, you were saying?”

“He told me to go here,” he explained. “So I went. It’s that simple.”

“Now,” a new voice said from behind Cinder. “About that earlier comment. Care to clarify?”

I leaned to look around Cinder and see who was talking. A tan pegasus pony with a brown mane and tail was staring intently at us. Me, in particular.

“Mind not eavesdropping?” I snapped at him.

“Mind showing some respect?” he replied, sitting down next to Cinder, his eyes flashing red.

“I don’t show respect until it’s deserved. All you’ve done is listen in on our conversation, so you haven’t really deserved anything but a punch in the face yet. Who are you?”

Cinder winced and looked back at the pony. He looked uncomfortable. “This...is the aforementioned god...” he said slowly. “Is there a ‘no killing’ rule in this bar?”

I raised an eyebrow, admittedly surprised. “God? That changes things. A little. I’m not gonna drop to the floor and beg for forgiveness, if that’s what you’re waiting for, but I’ll let your eavesdropping slide. That’s the best you’ll get from me.”

“I suggest you answer his question,” the god rumbled, eyes flashing red again. "Because I just love breaking rules."

“In that case, here’s a rule: you’re allowed to try and kill me.” I love loophole abuse.

The pegasus faded into red light. Cinder let out a breath.

“You. Are. So. Stupid!” he cried. “Don’t piss off Ungy like that! I did, and he almost leveled the Everfree Forest!”

I turned my glare, previously aimed at ‘Ungy’, onto the Fire-type. “Better advice: don’t piss me off. Some ponies did, and I collapsed an entire castle just by waking up.”

“Your face is a banana,” he said quickly.

I had no response. Sarcasm mechanisms...malfunctioning... My eye twitched.

“Are you mad? Because I learned Ember when I fought that manticore! I bet I could do something!” he said with a cocky grin on his face.

As soon as the words left his mouth, the others reacted. Risk’s horn lit up, False pulled out her sword, Nimble jumped behind him to prevent an escape, and Asylum took to flying directly over him. He was surrounded on all sides.

“Oooooh, protective, very nice. Now, if I wasn’t joking around and we were in direct sunlight, then I might actually stand a chance. But I’m not. So let’s just...uh...NOT kill each other?” he suggested, his grin still in place.

“My body count is over three hundred and I’ve been in Equestria for about a month. One more won’t make much of a difference to me,” I told him darkly. Inside, I was screaming at myself for using deaths I didn’t even want as a threat, but I shut the inside voices up. My anger was slowly resurfacing.

His smile just got bigger. “You know, you aren’t the only one with protective companions. And mine isn’t on good terms with you right now. Also, he’s a god. So yeah.” He grinned at me happily. “Good luck if you try anything.” Red lights began surrounding Cinder, spinning around him in a furious orbit.

I smirked. “Yeah...you look so intimidating right about now.”

Cinder started laughing his head off right about then, falling off of the chair. “Oh the look on all of your faces!” he cried in between breaths. “Priceless!”

We smirked and glared...how was that priceless?

“Well that lightened the atmosphere a bit. Now we can talk without the looming fact that every pony, griffon, and other thing in this bar is staring at us. Now, I’m not a fan of collateral damage, but I see you don’t care. Let’s see what happens should you start something, hmm?” he said, tilting his head slightly.

I just sighed and slumped back in my seat, suddenly tired. “I did way too much fighting in the past week. If you were honestly trying to kill me, there’s a fifty-fifty chance I’d just let you do it.” I shook my head.

“Now now, let’s not get suicidal,” Ungy joined in, a pair of eyes forming in the red orbit around Cinder. “Then we won’t be able to kill you ourselves.”

I remembered something, surprised at having forgotten about it in the first place. “Hey, Ungy. Earlier, you asked me to clarify something, back when you first popped up and before we started bickering. What were you referring to?”

The god was silent for a few tense moments. “None of your business, pawn,” he snarled.

“...actually, it is, because it was a question you asked me before we got sidetracked. I’m just, you know, trying to answer it.”

The red orbit around Cinder intensified.

“Well, if you didn’t want me to answer, you shouldn’t have asked.”

I turned away, staring out the window, Cinder barely visible out of the corner of my eye. He was almost completely covered with a sphere of red.

“WRONG,” I head Ungy say, “MOVE”. The sheer rage in those words startled me, though I didn’t show it, choosing to just keep looking out the window. 

The red sphere around Cinder dispersed suddenly. In his stead was another Cyndaquil. But this one was different. His eyes were red; where there was green, there was purple. And he looked very, very pissed.

“I’mma let you finish,” I sighed, “but first, let me ask." I threw my hooves up. "WHAT DID I DO WRONG?!"

The Cyndaquil shrieked. “Fahr zur Hölle du Sohn einer Hündin!”

And then he attacked.
> Bonus Chapter 1: Arrell's Sleepless Night
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Perspective: Arrell]

Two thirty-eight.

I looked away from my watch for what felt like ten to fifteen minutes. I looked back.

Two thirty-eight and four seconds.

I sighed. The process repeated.

Two thirty-eight and seventeen seconds.

I smiled. Time was speeding up.

Sleep is normally something that evades me like a pro dodgeball player dodging a ball – yes, I'm redundant – but ever since arriving in Equestria, I'd been able to fall asleep like any normal person would. Convenient too, since I was now a dimension away from my sleeping pills.

But tonight, I found myself sitting in a lit room, staring at my watch, waiting for my eyes to suddenly tell me they want to be shut. We'd be leaving for Stalliongrad soon now that I was feeling better. Normally I'd go to bed at eleven PM, fall asleep twenty minutes later, and wake up whenever the hell I felt like it – usually around noon. I had become a lot more lethargic since the whole Rancid Windigoes incident, likely due to my body needing plenty of rest after so many sleepless nights and being sick.

But this time, I had gone up to my room at eleven after saying goodnight to everypony, plopped onto my bed, and lay still for two hours. My eyes didn't want to close, and I didn't know why.

At about one-thirty I got up, pulled my Tetris device out, and played that for a bit. That got boring and my hooves stopped working quickly enough, so I put that back just before two o'clock. Since then I had just been pacing or sitting on my bed.

Part of me wanted to go talk to one of the others, but I knocked that idea out of my head. Waking somepony up at almost three in the morning to help you get to sleep isn't exactly a way to get on their good side. Even Asylum would probably just glare at me and go back to sleep.

I began feeling an urge. It was a weird urge, one that I hadn't had since being a human. I wanted to work. I wanted to be productive, even if it was on something pointless. Usually I'd solve this by writing, editing videos, or solving random physics problems, but I didn't have a way to do any of these. I started trembling slightly as the prospect of doing absolutely nothing for another eight to ten hours hit me hard.

Slightly freaking out, I quickly trotted out of my room, not making too much noise but also not deliberately keeping quiet. I made my way downstairs and out the front door, only realizing when I stepped out onto the now only slightly snow-covered grass that I could've used the window. One facehoof later, I had begun walking in..."circles".

I say "circles" with the quotation marks because, really, I was just walking in random shapes. Figure eights, squares while moonwalking, triangles on my hind legs, and whatever the hell shape you'd call staggering around like a drunk after angrily smashing my head against a tree for two minutes straight.

In other words, what I usually do when I'm tired and have a lot of open space.

Apparently I was making a lot of noise, because I heard a door open. On instinct, I activated my camoflauge...which was more or less just absorbing myself into the snow beneath me, taking its form. I learned I could do this not too long ago, but given how it only works with snow and ice, it isn't very useful.

Watching from the ground, I saw False step out of the house, a robe wrapped around her. She looked both confused and irate, and she started looking around for the source of the noise that woke her up. I stayed motionless until she gave up and went back inside.

Maybe I should go somewhere else, I thought as I reformed. Snowflake Woods seems good. I can make noise there and nopony will hear me. I'll just come back here if I get tired.

With this plan in mind, I headed for the trees, hoping that I'd just walk around for a while and then get tired enough to come home.





[Perspective: False Front]

Yawning, I opened my eyes as the light from the sun greeted them. Normally I'd have been up hours earlier, but nothing was planned for the day, and I was allowed more rest than I normally got. I was honestly the most active out of the five of us, and always up first to get everypony on track, so I enjoyed being able to sleep in.

Asylum was apparently already awake, as her bed was empty. After cleaning myself up, I went downstairs to see Risk and Nimble playing cards. That was normal enough, but what bugged me was how neither Asylum nor Arrell were around. Usually they both liked having company...when the latter wasn't being depressed, anyway.

"Where are the other two?" I asked. They shrugged. "Whatever. They'll turn up."

I made to step outside, but ended up having the door smack me in the face as it was thrown open from the other side. I glared at the intruder, only to see that it was Asylum. As if on cue.

"You guys have to see this!" she cried, flapping her wings excitedly as she floated a couple feet above the ground. Before we could respond, she flew back outside. I followed her, both worried and intrigued. Risk and Nimble trailed behind me, having had to put their cards away before getting up.

We ran after the light yellow pegasus for a few minutes, and I realized she was taking us into Snowflake Woods. She was forced to land, as the tree branches and leaves made it harder both for her to navigate and us to keep track of her. We trotted along at a brisk pace for another ten minutes or so, then she stopped. The rest of us did as well. I was about to ask what was going on when I heard somepony talking.

"...using the example of the Fat Man atomic bomb, which had a blast yield of 21 kilotonnes, or 88 terajoules..."

I raised an eyebrow. Asylum put a hoof to her mouth, silently telling us to stay quiet, and crept forward. The rest of us followed.

"...were it compressed into a space of 0.54 feet cubed, it would make for an effective grenade, if not for the likely chance of getting caught in the blast..."

Soon, we came to the source of the voice: Arrell. Standing in the middle of a giant snow-covered clearing, pacing and talking to himself.

"...therefore making the answer 31.5691 terajoules!" He had apparently finished his train of thought, and he smiled, writing something into the snow on the ground.

I did a double take when I realized that the entire clearing had writing in the snow. All sorts of numbers, letters, and equations, with circles around what appeared to be final answers to various questions.

In one part of the clearing was a long series of numbers and bits of data that eventually led to the conclusion of taking three hours, four minutes, and fifty-one-point-four-two-zero-seven seconds to travel from Smooth Grove to Stalliongrad at top flying speed. Another section had exact information on how many sheets of glass a twelve-pound ball broke when dropped from a certain height, followed by exact answers as to how many sheets would be broken instead with certain variations on ball weight, distance from the ground, glass thickness, and more. The area that Arrell had just apparently finished up in held all sorts of random data about nuclear weapons that went right over my head, culminating in how strong an explosion would be needed to destroy all of Snowflake Woods.

I gaped.

Arrell, having apparently not noticed us, sat down with a sigh and looked over his work. For a moment, nothing happened, but then he facehoofed.

"I did it wrong again!" he cried. Groaning, he summoned up a cold breeze, and everything pertaining to nuclear weapons and explosions was replaced with fresh snow. "Let's try again..."

"What the hell?" I finally got out. Arrell snapped his head over to us, looking startled. His normally white eyes looked a little bloodshot, and he was blinking a lot.

"Oh...hey there." He sighed, which turned into a yawn. "I couldn't sleep, so I came out here to do some walking. My mind wandered, and I started trying to figure out when would be a good time to leave for Stalliongrad if we wanted to get there by noon on whatever day we leave. And...well, this happened." He gestured to all the writing in the snow. I also realized that there were carvings in some of the trees...and piles of leaves that were arranged a little too specifically to be natural...

My eye twitched. "You...did this...overnight?"

"Yeah. Couldn't sleep."

"...math. And physics. And science. And...and...HOW DO YOU KNOW ALL THIS STUFF?!"

He looked at his writing, then back to me. Back to writing. Back to me. He shrugged.

I stood there, twitching for several tense moments, before falling over as everything went black.
> 32: Super Effective [Crossover with non-canon story]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Perspective: Arrell]

Hopefully the bartender won’t blame me for the wall that got shattered when Cinder tackled me through it.

I rolled on the ground for about twenty feet or so before managing to get back on my hooves, looking around quickly for my assailant. He was only about three feet away, getting back up himself. I didn’t know exactly what was going on, but I knew for a fact that if anypony questioned me in the future, the fourteen words I yelled at that moment would sum up the event entirely:

“OH MY GOD WHAT WAS THE HECK WAS THE WHAT THE WHAT THE WHAT?!”

The enraged God/Pokemon just screamed as he flung himself at me. I dodged to the right, the blow cracking the ground where I was seconds before. After another wordless scream, his eyes narrowed. “Swift!”

Before he even finished saying that word, he rammed into me with surprising power for such a small creature. I went flying a few feet once more, but the attack itself didn’t hurt me too much. I hopped to my hooves in time to see the possessed Cyndaquil charging at me again, this time at a slower - but still quick - pace.

I saw his lips form the words “Fire Spin” and reacted quickly, throwing up my drop shield, just in time for him to become a spinning ball of flame. He rolled at me anyway, either not noticing my shield or not caring about it. This proved to be a mistake, as he just slammed into the barrier and fell down, dazed.

“I don’t know what’s going on with you, but snap out of it!” I yelled, letting my shield fall. “I didn’t do anything wrong!”

“You know what you did,” the possessed Pokemon growled. “Rollout!”

He curled himself in a ball again, and sped towards me a lot faster. There was no time to throw up my shield again, so I decided on a cheap tactic: I flew into the air, about twenty feet above him.

“No I don’t!” I yelled down to him, growing more annoyed by the second. “Why don’t you come up here and tell me? Oh wait, you’re not a Flying-type! Shoulda been a Charizard!”

“Fire Charge!” he growled, his body producing flames at a rapid rate. Then, they were suddenly sucked into him, the glow in his eyes increasing and turning to a deeper shade of red.

Fire Charge, Fire Charge...that makes him stronger, basically. Would also probably give him more power for his fire attacks, meaning he OH HORSEAPPLES!

Quickly, I flew up another thirty feet or so, just barely avoiding a barrage of flames he spat upward.

“Holen Sie hier unten du Feigling!” the possessed Pokemon cried up at me. I had no idea what he was saying, so I just flew up higher.

This is NOT going well, I thought to myself as I tried to figure out what to do next. I couldn’t get anywhere near him, or I’d be burned to a crisp...or a puddle, rather. And I didn’t have enough long-range attacks to knock him out from afar.

The Pokemon narrowed his eyes. “Ember,” he declared with determination. I barely dodged out of the way as a barrage of flames way too large to be embers flew up at me.

“Okay, overpowered Ember... I’m calling hacks on that one,” I muttered to myself. Coming up with a plan, I turned towards him and began flying back down. As soon as I was close enough, I unleashed Din’s Fire, hitting him with his own element at as close a range as I could.

He shrieked out “Rollout!” as I got close to him, rapidly spinning towards me through the fire. Before I could process a DragonForce reference in my mind, he slammed into me, sending me flying into the brick wall of a nearby building and leaving a rather large dent. I staggered to my hooves, only to be hit by yet another attack and slammed back into the wall. How I didn’t end up going through it, I’m going to attribute to pony logic.

He prepared for a third go, but I jumped out of the way in time, and he went through the wall without taking me along for the ride. Using this momentary distraction to my advantage, I turned and began running for safety. I saw Risk and False along the way and skidded to a stop in front of them.

“Before you ask, I don’t know what’s going on either, aside from the fact that I’m getting my ass handed to me by a creature that’s only a quarter my size,” I told them breathlessly. “How’s it going for you? And where’s Nimble and Asylum?”

“Asylum’s looking for help and Nimble’s wherever he is,” Risk answered. “I’ve given up trying to keep track of him.”

“Yeah, ninja and all that. Nice. Mind helping me not die? I don’t know what’s going on, but that Cyndaquil’s got moves he shouldn’t have for another evolution or two.”

Risk raised an eyebrow at my words, but elected to not bother questioning it. “That’s what we’re here for. Go hide somewhere, we’ll handle this.”

I nodded, for once not against hiding from a fight. I galloped off, leaving them behind to take care of the fiery ball of rage that burst back onto the streets at that moment.





[Perspective: Risk Reward]

False and I got ready for battle the second we saw Cinder appear. As soon as he saw us, he charged, apparently deciding we were the threats instead of Arrell.

He ran towards us, narrowing his eyes at False, then focusing his gaze on me. “Swift!” he cried out, and as soon as he said it, I was hit by a force seemingly going at impossibly fast speeds. I was thrown into the air and sent flying backwards several feet, but hours upon hours of training with False had given me durability, and I landed on my feet with nothing bruised but my pride.

False, meanwhile, jumped at Cinder from behind. This was an unfortunately poor choice, as before she could even reach the Pokemon, dark purple flames sprouted from his back and threw her backwards, hissing in pain.

She got back up quickly, but by that point, the living ball of flame had turned to her and was charging straight at her. She jumped out of the way in time, but he wasn’t deterred, simply turning around without missing a beat and trying again. This time, though, he came at her much faster than before. She prepared to dodge, but before she had the chance, it mouthed something like “Tackle”, and almost immediately she was sent flying backwards, skidding for a few feet, as the Pokemon stared at her from where she had once stood.

I looked on in shock as False hissed at the creature as she stood, drawing her sword. Of course, it was after she was blocking a blow from the creature that I realized I should be fighting too. I quickly charged up the Fine Rock replacing my horn and prepared to fire a blast of magic at the creature.

What I was not prepared for, however, was how close the two were as they were grappling, and I couldn’t get a clear shot at the creature without having a chance at hitting False. I swore silently, diffusing the magic I had built up. This was going to get either complicated or messy, both of which were the worst option.

I saw False throw the creature off of her and into the air. Acting quickly, I caught it in a net of levitation, lifting it up into the clear. Again, I charged up my horn to cast an attack spell, but I couldn’t concentrate on two spells at once with the small amount of magic practice I had, and my levitation faltered for a moment, making the powerful spell miss the frozen creature completely and smash into the home behind it. Hope that was unoccupied.

I decided to just stick with levitating the creature at that point. I had little practice controlling the crazy amount of magic that came with having a powerful magical artifact for a horn, and if I missed, there was going to be a lot of collateral damage.

I had assumed that I could just keep the creature suspended while False disabled it, and was about to tell her so, when my spell simply ended. It was a strange feeling. I was casting it, but it wasn’t having any effect. Where the creature should be levitating, he was on the ground, cracking the bones in his neck menacingly.

“Wha...” I barely got out before he ran at me. I braced myself for another collision, only to watch as he was sent flying to the side by a gray blur. Nimble landed on the ground where Cinder was just before, glaring at the temporarily downed Pokemon.

“Have a new opponent,” he growled before charging again at amazing speeds. I don’t know where he came from, but honestly, I didn’t care. While he tussled with Cinder, I ran over to False to make sure she was okay.

“I’m fine,” she grunted before I even said anything.

I nodded. “Nimble’s got Cinder right now. I think he’ll handle it better than we did.”

She raised an eyebrow. “What makes you say that?”

“They’re both roughly the same size and speed, Nimble’s stronger than he looks, and he can probably dodge anything Cinder throws at him.” I bit my lip. “Still, Asylum better hurry back here, or we may be in serious trouble.”

“Smokescreen!” we heard the Pokemon shout. My eyes stung as the area around the street we were in almost instantaneously filled up with a thick cloud of smoke.

I heard False coughing beside me, struggling for air. I did the same, getting low to the ground. I tried to tell her to do the same, but I couldn’t get a breath in from the insane amount of air pollution that had appeared.

“Tackle!” I heard the Pokemon shout, immediately before Nimble went flying past us. He got up instantly and sprinted away from us. Unfortunately, that was evidently the wrong way to go, and the exact same thing happened. Nimble groaned from his spot on the ground.

“That did not go in the way I was expecting,” he muttered to himself, getting up off the ground just in time to avoid another attack from the creature.

As Nimble was being his namesake and dodging most of the Pokemon’s attacks, the smoke was starting to slowly clear up. I saw a pair of blurs exchanging blows before simultaneously backing off, seeming to come to a standstill.

Then one of the blurs was gone. I sucked in a breath. I was almost certain it was the Pokemon that had disappeared. I looked around frantically, coughing slightly to get the smoke out of my lungs.

It was only then that the idea came to me I could have created a wind to blow the smoke away, and cause the creature to forfeit his prime advantage. I swore loudly, mentally berating myself for not giving Nimble the early advantage to possibly end the fight early.

Now, the young pony in question lay in front of me silently, letting out a wheeze before checking out a spot on his side that looked like it was bruised. He winced silently, rising slowly to turn back to face his assailant.

The creature just glared, saying nothing. Then, it grinned. “You do know you cannot defeat me, correct?” it hissed loudly to us. Nimble glared and coughed in return.

“We will never know unless we finish this fight, will we?” the young ninja whispered in return, sprinting to the right and running quickly around the Pokemon, seemingly looking for an opening. It only occured to me later that he was creating an opening for us to attack the creature, not him.

Nimble suddenly cut backwards and began running around the creature closer, and in the opposite direction. The Pokemon calmly curled into a ball and said “Defense Curl” the instant before Nimble struck it. The creature went flying into the house across from the one I had accidentally destroyed, passing right through it unharmed. I thought I heard it shout something before entering the house through the second story floor. It sounded like “Fire Thing!”, but I wasn’t sure.

Nimble hadn’t moved, looking exhausted. He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, before turning around and walking away.

He never saw the attack coming.

I never thought I was going to see Nimble surprised, or even startled. But to see him outright shocked when he was hit with a spinning ball of flame was not even considered.

It scared me.

The creature’s attack had sent Nimble flying into the debris of the house I had earlier destroyed while trying to subdue the Pokemon, crashing through the one standing wall, having it then fall on top of him. I didn’t even hear him cry out.

The Pokemon took out a small seed from who-knows where and put it into his mouth, a small bit of yellow energy leaking out of his mouth as he stood. False and I gaped as he did, the flames on his back now bigger than ever. He didn’t even look out of breath. He turned to us, smirking, and started running at us. I braced myself for whatever he had in store.

“THAT’S IT!”

Suddenly, a light blue blur crashed onto Cinder from above, causing him to slam into the ground. The blur turned out to be a certain Windigo we thought had fled.

“Arrell?” False nervously asked. Whether she was still scared of Cinder or more startled by Arrell’s appearance, I don’t know.

For his part, the Windigo didn’t respond to her. He simply stepped off of Cinder and glared at him.

“I don’t know what the hell’s gotten into you in the past fifteen minutes, but I don’t like it. You’re going to stop this, right now, or I’m going to be very angry. Got that?” he hissed.

Cinder stood up and shot a barrage of flames in Arrell’s direction. They were instantly deflected by the latter’s shield, and as soon as the flames died down, he tackled Cinder and shoved him up against a wall, front hoof on his neck.

“Wrong move.” Arrell glared harder. “There are a lot of things I don’t like. Some are fears, some are pet peeves. You may control fire, my biggest fear...but you’ve also hurt my friend. And that is my biggest pet peeve.” He slammed a hoof into Cinder’s face. “You don’t just waltz in here and start beating up me or my friends. It’s just something you don’t do. But you’ve done it, and therefore, you’ve broken a rule. A rule that I made. And I don’t like it when my rules are broken.” He grinned maniacally. “You like Pokemon attacks? How about Sheer Cold!”

Suddenly, Arrell opened his mouth, and out came a visible cloud of freezing air. As soon as the air made contact with Cinder, he shivered, and the fire on his back went out. He stopped struggling and hung limp. With an enraged roar, Arrell turned and slammed Cinder down onto the ground, causing a large assortment of cracking noises. The Fire-type stayed there, not moving or breathing.

The Windigo stood there for another minute or so, just panting angrily and glaring down at his defeated foe. I moved to approach him, but his glare snapped up to me when I did so, and I instantly stopped moving.

Finally, it all seemed to catch up to Arrell, and his glare softened. He looked back and forth between Cinder, Nimble, and myself for a moment, then suddenly took off. He just flew away, not even saying anything else. And just as he left, Asylum came back with two Royal Guards behind her.

“What happened?” she asked as she surveyed the scene, clearly shocked.

“Arrell happened,” False quietly replied.

I looked at the two confused Royal Guards and sighed. Time for a lot of explaining.
> Bonus Chapter 2: Arrell's Sparring Match
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Perspective: Arrell]

It began with a scream.

A scream of "FUS RO DAH!", specifically.

As soon as it was let loose, I followed it up by charging at my now airborne target. Rather than actually flying, however, I just jumped and landed on her, pushing her back to the ground and leaving her even more disoriented.

Of course, False wasn't a Royal Guard because she got dizzy easily. Within a second of us landing, before I could even figure out my next move, she threw me off of her and rolled onto her feet. Drawing her sword, she glared and waited for me to attack next. A good strategy, considering I was used to countering attacks rather than initiating them.

I was about to launch another voice attack when some movement caught my eye, and I quickly jumped backwards, barely avoiding a flying Nimble. Now with two foes in my line of sight, I had to figure out who to take first. I quickly decided, turning to the ninja colt and jumped at him, but he was faster and rolled away. My face met the ground and he tackled me, this time successfully.

Quickly, I activated Din's Fire, scorching him and forcing him to loosen his grip enough for me to throw him off. Reaching into my saddlebags, I withdrew Bloodbath's axe. As he got up, I whacked him in the head with the handle, putting him back down while I turned my attention back to False...

...who was now three inches from my face with her sword.

"GYAH!" I yelped as I jumped back, barely avoiding her blade. "I NEED AN ADULT!"

Unamused by my little quip, False jumped at me again, and I manipulated my axe to block her sword, leading to a pushing match. Even if I had less weapon training than her, my weapon was still a lot bigger and stronger, and I easily knocked her back. Swinging again, I managed to knock her several feet away with the flat of my axe's blade.

Looking back, I saw that Nimble had disappeared. Typical. Keeping vigil, I approached False as she stood up. My paranoia proved useful, as I risked a glance to the left just in time to see a gray blur and swing my axe, knocking the running Nimble down. He got up quickly, though, and ran at me just as False did the same.

Two against one. This is unfair...they should've brought more backup.

I threw my axe in the air and jumped, landing on its flat edge and using it as a platform to jump again. The two ponies below me stopped running and jumped to the side to avoid the weapon of death as it narrowly missed them. I angled my body towards them as I fell, inhaling for another voice attack.

Then I got tackled by a winged yellow torpedo.

Asylum's unexpected strike sent me flying into a tree, causing a loud cracking noise that I'm fairly certain wasn't wood breaking. I fell to the ground with a groan, trying to block out the pain in my back. It was only a second or two before I stood back up, but it felt like much longer. When I finally got up, I was greeted by a hoof in the face. I recoiled, using the momentum to spin and thrust out my back legs. They connected, and when I turned another 180 degrees, I watched Asylum unwillingly flying backwards.

Tired of having my attacks interrupted, I ran at her and jumped just as she hit the ground, tackling her and kicking my back legs away to remain in the air, a few inches above the ground. I started punching quickly with my front hooves, delivering a flurry of hits that wouldn't be out of place as a combo in Marvel VS Capcom. To finish, I landed back on the ground and kicked her upwards, making her airborne once again.

False got back into the fight at that point, jumping at me from behind with her sword. She managed to get a cut on my side as I tried rolling away, and I hissed in pain for a moment before tackling her. She dropped her sword and left herself open to a powerful punch, sending her gliding across the ground a couple dozen feet.

Nimble came back then, popping out from nowhere with a knife. I ducked as he tried stabbing my eye out, then grabbed his leg and pulled, causing him to fall over. I jumped back to get away from his little dagger, but ended up just jumping right into a brown unicorn's waiting hooves.

Risk bucked me in the back of the head, knocking me forward and right over Nimble. I landed with a grunt and hauled myself back up, looking around. Asylum landed in front of me, having recovered from my previous barrage of attacks. Nimble jumped to my right, knife still in his maw. False was back up and had retrieved her sword, preparing it to my left. Behind me, Risk was still standing there, waiting.

"I've always wanted to be at a disadvantage," I chuckled. "This is probably as close as I'll get."

Darting forward, I went for Asylum first. She saw me coming and flapped her wings, but before she could take off I grabbed onto one of them and pulled down. She yelped and fell over just as Nimble tackled me. He and I wrestled for a second as he tried to pin me down, but being ten years old tends to put a damper on your strength. I threw him off and used him as a shield to block False as she tried to get a surprise attack in on me.

Dropping the little guy, I gave the surprised False a punch, then grabbed her and spun her around before throwing her into Asylum. Risk got involved then, using his magic to cause a burst of fire right next to me. I jumped away from it, but he didn't let up, continuing to create these small fireballs wherever I went. I grew more and more on edge before suddenly realizing that he wasn't actually trying to hit me – he was distracting me.

Hoping luck was on my side, I ducked instantly. Turns out I was right, and Nimble's knife flew just over me, grazing my mane. Risk's eyes widened and he jumped to the side to avoid getting stabbed in the throat by the flying knife. With him taken off guard, I ran at him as fast as I could and used Din's Fire, giving him a taste of his own firepower.

After following that up with a powerful buck, I turned around and rolled to the side just as False's sword came at me. Asylum tackled me as I rolled, however, and held me down with surprising strength. I struggled to get out from under her, but she held firm. False slowly stepped up to me, sword at the ready.

Thinking quickly, I began lowering my body temperature. This was a trick I had learned about when researching Windigoes back in Ponyville, but hadn't used. Apparently Windigoes were capable of lowering their body temperature to amazingly low levels, and now I was going to test that theory.

Asylum yelped and pulled her hooves back, my body now so cold it burned. Throwing her off of me, I just barely avoided False's blade, and got back to my feet. She swung at me once more, but I surprised her by grabbing her sword and yanking it away from her. I spun around, throwing it away, and grabbed the pink earth pony by the throat when I faced her again. A little twist, and I had her on the ground – just in time for Nimble to jump at me for the millionth time.

I jumped up, shoving my hind legs onto Nimble's face to jump higher while slamming him to the ground. Seeing me in the air, Asylum flew up to me and delivered an uppercut Ryu would be proud of. Kicking away my hind legs, I flew at her with an uppercut of my own, but she avoided it easily and bucked me in the back of the head.

"You haven't done much fighting in the air, have you?" she taunted.

"Admittedly, no. I take it you have?"

"A bit." With that, she charged at me, but I grabbed onto her and spun myself downwards before letting loose a voice attack, sending her flying upwards out of control. I flew down, grabbing my abandoned axe from the ground, then chased after her quickly.

"FORE!" I yelled as I swung before she could recover, knocking her sideways with the flat of my blade. She went spiralling away, finally flapping her wings to stabilize herself and flying back towards me.

They keep thinking just blindly charging me will work. They're dumber than I am. I readied my axe...only to be surprised when Asylum dipped, flying down below me just as I swung. I caught a glimpse of her as she flew straight up then, punching me in the stomach and knocking the wind out of me. My legs came back just then and I lost control over flight, but I wasn't too focused on staying airborne once Asylum delivered a second punch to my gut.

I fell to the ground and rolled a few feet before coming to a stop, my axe skidding several feet away from me. I grunted as I stood back up, fighting the urge to vomit. I noticed Risk staring at me in amusement.

"You better not be done yet." He lit his horn, preparing a spell.

I smirked. "I'm never done."

His eyes widened as I suddenly jumped at him, doing a backflip and kicking him in the chin in the process (no, I don't know when I was suddenly able to do that). He fell backwards, and I flew up about twenty feet before dive bombing him, making sure to land on the space between his hind legs.

"Good luck fixing that with the Fine Rock," I commented before flying off to deal with Asylum again. She was still in the air, but much lower now and expecting me. I tried punching her, but she caught my hoof and swung me into the ground.

I managed to throw up my drop shield just in time as she tried to dive bomb me, giving me a few precious seconds to stand up and think of a strategy. Looking around, I saw False trying to get Risk back up while Nimble was heading over to where Asylum and I were. My shield dissipated, and I turned towards Nimble, still watching Asylum out of the corner of my eye. She thought I was distracted and flew down at me, but I moved at the last second, and she ended up tackling Nimble instead.

A flying axe caught my attention, and I watched as my axe landed stuck in the ground less than half an inch to my left. Looking up, I saw that Risk was back on his feet, his horn just finished glowing from launching my weapon. False had her sword back again and was beside him, ready for action. Turning, I saw Nimble and Asylum get back up, the former having reclaimed his knife at some point.

This won't end well.

All four of them charged at me, and I began to mentally panic. As they grew closer, I tried to think of what to do, and eventually did the first thing I could think of that wouldn't end in my death.

I pulled my saddlebags off of my back, dropped them on the ground, and jumped inside the left bag.





[Perspective: Risk Reward]

Our eyes all widened as Arrell vanished just as we dove, and we all smashed against each other directly above the saddlebags. We fell to the ground, groaning and rubbing our noses.

"Did he just..." Asylum began, motioning to the bags. I nodded. "Wow. He wasn't kidding about them being bottomless."

"Of course, we can just do this," False pointed out as she stabbed her sword through the bag Arrell had gone into.

Nothing happened.

Confused, she pulled her sword out and poked the bags. Frustrated, she started stomping on the cloth containers until they were completely flat on the ground.

"...seriously, what the hell?" I finally asked.

We waited for another few minutes, staring at the flattened bags. They began rustling, and we quickly assumed battle positions.

Arrell finally poked his head out of them and crawled out, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Hammerspace is huge!" he informed us. "It's a whole other dimension, for crying out loud! I wandered around forever until I found a way out!"

We all just looked at each other, then sighed and dropped our guard. "I think we're done sparring for today," False decided. The rest of us agreed.

"I'm honestly surprised you managed to hold your own against all of us at once," I told Arrell.

"All you did was charge at me and hope you could get in a few punches. Really, you kind of got predictable," he replied.

"Yeah, a bit. That happens when you don't have freaking voice attacks, giant shields, and axes," I shot back with a smirk.

He laughed. "Be glad I didn't get angry. This would've gone from sparring to fighting for your life."

"...that's true."
> Bonus Chapter 3: Arrell's Silence
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

LOCATION: Ponyville
DATE: April 19th

[Perspective: False Front]

Today is important.

That was the first thing I thought when I woke up. The next thing I thought:

...wait, why is it important?

I shook my head and just got up, stretching my body before heading off to shower. About fifteen minutes later, I stepped out into the sunlit town of Ponyville.

Arrell had taken us back to Ponyville after we were finished in Stalliongrad, and since then, he was constantly either here or at Smooth Grove. Sometimes he'd bring one of us along, sometimes not. I didn't have to watch him anymore, yet for some reason, I was still hanging around him. I didn't know why. Probably because I had nothing better to do.

Anyway, he had come back from another trip out just last night, but he seemed really tired, so he just flew up to a cloud and fell asleep after saying nothing but a hello to me. Ever since he discovered how comfortable clouds were, he stopped using benches or couches on the nights where he didn't have a bed. I have to admit, with the way he talked about them, I was a bit jealous that he could sleep on them and I couldn't.

He must have gotten up early this morning, because I saw him walking around when I stepped out. Something seemed off about him, though. If a pony approached him, he only nodded to them, sometimes showing them a slip of paper. He never stopped to chat.

I raised an eyebrow. This was odd, but didn't exactly seem important to me. I just shrugged and started looking for Asylum. She had been with Arrell when he went to Smooth Grove, but I didn't see her come back with him. I assumed she went to find a hotel as soon as she got back. Even though Risk and I kept offering her a place to sleep in our home, she always refused. So did Nimble, but from what we knew, he barely slept anyway.

With mild curiosity as to Arrell's odd actions still lingering, I continued to search.





I finally found Asylum near Twilight's library. She was sitting on a bench, playing with some familiar object. I walked over to her, and as I got closer, I recognized it. It was that weird thing Arrell made that he played games on. He called it the "DevIce" or something. I don't think anypony laughed at that pun.

Asylum looked up and waved at me. I raised an eyebrow again. I was right in front of her, not twenty feet away. She could've just said "hi".

She must have noticed my confused look, because before I could ask anything, she turned the DevIce off and held a note out to me. I briefly recalled Arrell doing the same thing earlier. Sitting beside the pegasus, I took the note and looked over it.

Today is the Day of Silence.

The Day of Silence is a human tradition that Arrell told me about. It is a day for all the gays, lesbians, bisexuals, pansexuals, and transgendered individuals that have been bullied because of the way they are. On this day, supporters go the entire day without speaking, to symbolize the "silencing" of these types of ponies.

I have elected to take part in the Day of Silence. As such, I will not be talking for all of today.

I just stared at the note, surprised. Now I knew what Arrell was doing and what that paper he had was – he was taking a vow of silence based on a human tradition.

But why did he make Asylum join in? Why is he forcing human habits onto her?

Looking over at the pegasus, I saw that she had a look of joy on her face. I narrowed my eyes, but she didn't react. She only turned back to facing forward, still smiling, and began playing with the DevIce again. I blinked, surprised.

I read over the note again. And a few more times. Why go quiet just to protest bullying? Aren't there other ways to do it? Going quiet doesn't do anything! Nopony's gonna notice if...

My train of thought was derailed when I noticed something. Or, rather, a lack of something.

Noise.

I looked up, thinking the place had been deserted. I was wrong. Ponies were still trotting about, but as if hit by some spell, they were all...quiet. Only the sound of hoofsteps penetrated the air.

Some ponies were nodding at each other, making motions and gestures with their hooves and head. Some were writing on paper and showing the notes to each other. Some were even communicating in Morse code by tapping the ground or other objects with their hooves.

But not a single word was spoken into the air.

Another piece of paper entered my vision. Asylum was holding another note to me. I took it and looked at it. It was much shorter than the last one, only being three words long.

They DO notice.

I looked back at her. She smiled again, seeming both joyous and...proud?

I just stared down at the ground for a while. Eventually, I got up and began walking home.





[Perspective: Risk Reward]

I yawned as my eyes opened. I had woken up late once again.

Sighing, I crawled out of bed and went for a quick shower. I was stopped in the hall, however, by False.

I opened my mouth to say hello, but she held up a hoof, silencing me. She then held out a note...
> 33: A Tale of Two Sides of the Same City [Crossover with non-canon story]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

LOCATION: Stalliongrad
DATE: December 28th

[Perspective: Arrell]

My mind was just a swirling mess of emotions right now. I had flown around the city until I was completely lost, and was now just aimlessly wandering around trying to get my brain straight.

This obviously wasn’t my first kill - not by a long shot - but it was the first time I had killed another human. Even worse, it was the first time I had directly killed someone who wasn’t evil.

I had really screwed myself over now. Aside from myself, only three ponies were conscious enough to vouch that what I had done was self defense, and because of Stalliongrad’s infamous racism, I didn’t think it to be too farfetched that the guards around here would look for any possible way to lock me up.

“Halt!”

Speak of the motherbuckin’ devil.

I stopped walking and looked behind me. A trio of guards were approaching me; two pegasi, one earth pony. I got a bad feeling of hostility from all of them...naturally.

I sighed. “What do you want?”

The earth pony, who seemed to be more or less the leader, stepped forward. “We want you to come with us quietly.”

“Why?”

He snorted. “Why else? You’re under arrest.”

I glared. “Listen, I’m not in the mood for this BS. I’ve had a bad day, and for me, what I call ‘a bad day’ is the same thing you would call ‘a permanently traumatizing event’.”

“Resisting arrest, are we?” He smirked, as if he was hoping for that response.

“There’s nothing to arrest me for in the first place!” Okay, that was a lie, but I really just wanted nothing more than to walk away from that scene uninhibited, so I was kind of just hoping I could fib my way out. “What law have I broken?”

He opened his mouth to speak again, then stopped. He thought for a moment, and it was in that moment that I realized... He doesn’t know. Maybe he didn’t know I was the killer, or maybe news hadn’t travelled yet and he wasn’t aware of the crime at all. Either way, he didn’t know I killed someone.

He looked at his two companions for help. They shrugged. I realized he was literally looking for reasons to arrest me. What the hell is with this city!

“Uh...possession of a hidden weapon?” the earth pony guard finally answered sheepishly. I narrowed my eyes. “Oh for...just come with us already!”

I shook my head. “No. I’m not dealing with your racist crap. Leave me alone.” I turned to walk away, but as soon as I did, that asshole guard tackled me to the ground.

“You’re coming with us, and that’s final!” he yelled.

The next thing he yelled was a single drawn-out syllable as I threw him off of me and into a nearby building. I was NOT taking this crap. The two pegasi guards quickly drew swords and ran at me. I activated Din’s Fire, and they were forced to jump back to avoid the flames.

“Ah-HA! I was right!” the earth pony guard shouted, standing back up. “You are carrying a hidden weapon!”

“It’s not a weapon,” I calmly informed him. “It’s magic. A power. Ability. Whatever the hell you call it.”

“It’s still the same thing!”

“I don’t give a buck if it’s the same thing!” I snapped. He cringed. “I just wanted one day to relax! One day where I didn’t have to worry about crazy monsters, evolution-caused sickness, or...you know...dying!” I slowly walked up to the earth pony guard as I yelled at him. “But I couldn’t get that day. Not here. And you know why?”

He shook his head. “Wh-why?”

“Because the damn SECOND I get here, I run into some Fire-type with a bloodthirsty asshole for a god controlling him trying to kill me!” I scream. “And once that’s over I end up meeting you three jackasses trying to arrest me just because I’m not a pony!”

They all looked at each other. It was clear they were scared, but still trying to look like they were in control. I could see why; a crowd was slowly forming, and I doubted the guards wanted to look like they didn’t have any authority. I turned and tried to walk away, but the guards weren’t so quick to let me go.

“He’s resisting arrest!” the earth pony guard shouted. The crowd of ponies instantly turned to me. “Get him!”

I just stopped. A fair amount of the ponies were confused and not bothering to do anything, but most of them were taking action. Charging me, flying up to divebomb, pulling out weapons. I sighed.

“I told you...”

The first pony reached me.

“I am not...”

I nonchalantly grabbed their hoof.

“Dealing...”

With a twist, I spun them around and slammed them into three other ponies coming at me.

“WITH...THIS...CRAP!”

My drop shield came out almost on instinct, and everypony was pushed back. My front right hoof began to glow. I heard the ponies yelling something, but they were drowned out by the shield. Finally, the shield fell, but I noticed the ponies were hesitant to approach me.

Except for one certain asshat earth pony guard.

“FOR THE PRINCESSES!” he cried, diving at me with a sword out. I just turned and looked at him. It may have been a trick of the light, but for a second, I think he just stopped diving midair and froze, a pure look of fear on his face. “...uh-oh.”

I swung my glowing hoof at him. It connected with his stomach, and he went flying straight backwards, smashing right through the wall of a building. And I think he smashed through the opposite wall as well, but I wasn’t paying attention.

My hoof stopped glowing, and I just stood there. It was quiet for all of ten seconds. Then, there was a loud clattering of hooves, and the area was deserted. I was the only one left.

With a sigh, I resumed my aimless walking. I had a feeling ponies would leave me alone now.





[Perspective: Risk Reward]

False was explaining what had transpired to the guards that had shown up with Asylum.

Asylum and I were digging through the rubble as quickly as we could while still being careful, trying to find Nimble. It was partially my fault he was trapped in there. I felt my eyes sting as I blinked rapidly. I didn’t know what had even transpired in the battle. It had lasted so long, but had been over so fast. I rubbed my eyes with a hoof as I saw False coming this way.

I couldn’t meet her eyes.

“Risk,” she began, moving a rock out of the way, “What happened to Nimble wasn’t your fault.”

I sighed and moved to reply, “False, you c-“

I was cut off by the sight of collecting magic rushing towards a point just outside my line of sight. I gasped and looked towards where it was gathering, quickly lowering the Fine Rock and charging it with magic. False drew her sword cautiously. Asylum came up next to us.

“W-what’s that?” she asked softly, looking at the magic converging on a certain ice-ridden spot on the ground.

My eyes widened as I got a general idea of what was happening, “It’s…” I stammered, “It’s… it’s…” I thought for a moment longer. “It’s something to do with Cinder…” I finished lamely, causing False to roll her eyes.

I studied the magic. It was starting to look like a particular color. There were reds, oranges, and yellows still swirling about, slowly stirring down as the sphere of influence got smaller and denser. Soon, it was just a hemisphere of yellow magic, swirling furiously. It stayed still for a few moments. I edged closer to try to get a read on exactly what it was, when it suddenly projected into the air, forming a bright yellow beacon shooting straight up from a point, a white shape flying down the pillar until the lights came to a rest.

After that, I heard an all-too familiar voice.

“R-r-r-respawn!” Cinder shouted, in all his laws-of-the-universe-defying glory.

There were several seconds of deafening silence, in which I briefly wondered where Arrell had gone off to, before False spoke.

Well, spoke is a generous term.

“Wha… But… How…” she stammered, portraying everypony’s thoughts on the scene perfectly.

“If no one will humor me and ask me where that line is from, then I shall enlighten thee on the subject of respawning in Pokémon,” Cinder said deeply, taking on a very fake accent. “In the original Pokémon games, Pokémon would only faint, and would not be subjected to harshness of death and decay.” He paused, “However, that was only because the game was for small children, or foals, if you will. Now, when a Pokemon fainted, you merely had-“

“We get it!” False shouted, “Get to the point!”

“Fine,” Cinder said snarkily. He then paused for a second. “If I had eyes, I’d be rolling them.

“Ahem,” he said forcefully. “Now, this item here,” he pulled out a seed of some kind and held it above him, scrutinizing it. “It is called a Reviver Seed. When consumed, it-“ He was cut off by a guard, who had finally come to her senses about the whole situation.

“Hold it, criminal scum!” she shouted. “All of you are under arrest! You will leave your weapons on the ground and come towards me! Do not try to resist, and do not attempt to escape!”

“Aaaaw,” Cinder said grumpily, advancing towards the guard. “Don’t you want to know about it?” He asked, holding the seed up close to her face. “Immortality?” he said softly, so that I could barely hear him.

The guard was silent for a few seconds. When she opened her mouth to speak, Cinder immediately stuffed the seed into her open mouth and head-butted it closed.

He then immediately ran back, shouting “Run!” as he whizzed by me towards the wreckage of the building. I quickly followed him, still greatly perplexed about what was going on.

“Halt!” the guard yelled again. “You are under arr-“ She was rudely cut off by a large mass of orange flame spewing out of her mouth, causing her to panic and retreat.

I turned to Cinder, who just smiled and said “Blast Seed.”

I ran to the rubble with him, not knowing what I was getting into.
> 34: Broken in the Aftermath [Crossover with non-canon story]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

LOCATION: Stalliongrad
DATE: December 28th

[Perspective: Risk Reward]

I dug through the ruins of the house with False and the creature that caused its destruction. It was slow going, and there was now a high likelihood that the guards would be back soon. Asylum had gone off to find Arrell, leaving just the three of us to try and find Nimble.

I carefully levitated a large rock out of the way on the northern side of the house, before hearing an excited shout come from the opposite side.

“I see him!” The voice was Cinder’s. I quickly put down the chunk of masonry and ran across, finding Cinder carefully extracting a familiar small earth pony from the wreckage. I immediately activated my magic, lifting Nimble and a fair amount of rocks up from the pile. I let a smile grace my features as I heard False sigh with relief.

“Got him!” I cried out, the wounded colt finding his way onto my back, minus many of the rocks.

“Now we need to get out of here before more guards arrive,” False said, looking behind her cautiously.

“Yup yup!” Cinder replied, “We need to bamboozle out of here before they show up and I am forced to make them eat things that cause undesirable status effects!”

The two of us gave him a blank look, knowing for sure it would be a third if Nimble was conscious.

“Exactly,” the mysterious Pokémon said craftily, giggling to himself. “Let’s vacate this undesirable location!” He looked directly in my eyes. “It would be undesirable for us to stay.”

I groaned, putting a hoof to my face in a well-earned gesture to the Pokémon. “Can you stop saying ‘undesirable’?”

“I can,” the Pokémon replied, “but the question is, ‘should I?’”

All he got from me was a glare.

“So it would be undesirable for me to continue?” Cinder intoned.

“Keep it up, and I’ll do something ‘undesirable’ to you!” False broke in.

“I’m not sure if you were mocking me with saying the word that I have used in such undesirable situations or it was just a ridiculous mistake,” the Pokémon replied with a grin, before turning away from the direction that the guard whom he had caused to breathe fire had run. “Shall we?”

Giving up on the topic, I just began walking, careful not to jostle the unconscious colt splayed across my back. False followed along to my left, and Cinder to my right.

“Oh yeah,” Cinder began, causing me to automatically wince before he continued. “You should have Nimble eat this.” He tossed me a blue berry that he got from who-knows-where. “It should make him feel a bit better.” He paused. “I think.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “You just nearly killed him, and now you’re trying to feed him stuff?”

“Well, I haven’t used one yet, and it only heals 100 hp, and I’m not sure how much you have or if it will work or if it will even affect him at all,” Cinder said. “Zombies are healed by damage potions, after all.”

Part of me wanted to not trust him, but really, by this point I wasn’t sure if Nimble was going to live much longer anyway. I levitated the berry to the colt’s mouth, and surprisingly, he unconsciously bit down on it, swallowing it whole.

The Pokémon stood watching, evidently curious. I opened my mouth to ask him if he knew how long it would take, but was interrupted by the colt on my back taking a deep breath.

I looked back at him, noting that many of the bruises and scrapes he had procured were gone. The burns hadn’t healed, but the change in his condition was remarkable.

“...how did that...you know what, I’m not going to question it,” I sighed. False was equally surprised by the sudden healing. “We need to get out of this city. The longer we stay here, the bigger the chance the guards will find us.”

“That situation could either end with us emerging victorious over a city’s worth of guard, or us in some...” He paused as he looked straight into False’s eyes as I realized what was coming. “Undesirable situations.”

I fought the urge to scream. False didn’t even fight it.

“But in all seriousness,” the creature began, me feeling surprised that it even knew the word, “I need to get back outside as well.”

I raised an eyebrow at him, wondering why for a brief second before he explained.

“My travelling companion forbade me coming in here,” the creature said with an aura of carelessness.

“And you didn’t...actually, never mind,” False began before cutting herself off. “You disobeying orders doesn’t surprise me.”

Cinder let out a terribly staged gasp, seemingly hurt, “False! How could you say something like that?”

“Very easily.”

“Touché...” the Fire-type said, bringing one of his paws up to his face, apparently pondering her answer.

I broke into the conversation at that point. “Look, this has been fun and all...actually, not really. But still, whether you have to leave or not, I’d suggest getting away before Arrell comes back. If he sees you up and about, he’s not gonna wait for an explanation.”

“I see the logic in that, and I think it would be best if I would now take my leave from this remarkably fun league of ponies you found yourself in,” the Pokémon said with a flourish. “Also, when you see Arrell, ask him if the narwhal bacons at Tuesday.”

“Ask him if the what does what when?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You heard me!” Cinder said, going up to a seemingly random pony and pulling on his wing, the two of them disappearing in a cloud of brown smoke, followed by a familiar giggle.

False and I just looked at each other. “...did that just happen?” she asked.

“Whether it did or not, I’m going to just forget it ever did.”





[Perspective: Asylum]

I could say it took me a while to find Arrell, but really, it wasn’t that hard. I was flying around when a pony suddenly crashed through the wall of a building nearby, unconscious. It startled me, but after a moment, I flew around the building to see Arrell walking away.

I was about to approach him, but I hesitated. He didn’t seem to be particularly happy, nor did he seem sad. He seemed angry, and anger was the one emotion I had seen him in and been scared of.

Finally, I gathered my courage and flew up to him. “Arrell?”

He sighed in annoyance. “What do you want?”

“Um...are you okay?”

“No. Go away.”

I blinked. Go away? “Arrell, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“But you just said you’re not okay...”

“I’m not.”

“Then how can nothing be wrong if you’re not okay?”

He whipped around and glared at me. “Magic! I don’t know! It just is!”

“Arrell, calm down!” I stomped a hoof. “Why are you so angry?”

“Oh, right. You weren’t there.” He paused, and I swear he rolled his eyes. “Cinder was possessed by his god and tried to kill me, and long story short, Nimble got hurt instead. So I freaked out, killed Cinder, and flew off.”

I shook my head. “Cinder’s alive, Arrell. And he isn’t possessed anymore. Last I saw him, he was helping Risk and False try to dig Nimble out of the rubble.” I sighed. “Why did you fly away?”

“Why wouldn’t I have flown away? I killed someone!”

“You’ve killed tons of ponies and Windigoes already!” I yelled. I thought he’d have a response, but all he did was go quiet, staring at the ground. “...Arrell?”

“...it’s getting easier.”

“What?”

He raised his head to look at me. “Back in the Dusk of Ice and Fire, most of my kills were accidental. I had to force myself to deliberately kill Bloodbath himself.” He sat down. “Then, with the Rancid Windigoes, I never thought twice about all of my kills. I didn’t even try to just knock them out. Sure, some could argue that they were honestly evil and deserved it, and that it was self-defense. Honestly, it’s that argument that's kept me from freaking out about it during the days after.”

I tilted my head, confused as to where he was going with this.

“But then I went and deliberately, knowingly, killed a fellow human! What’s gonna happen next? Am I going to level Ponyville the next time I have a temper tantrum?” He looked both scared and angry. "Sure, it's all been self-defense so far, but how long's that gonna last? If it keeps getting easier and easier to kill, how do I know I'm not gonna wake up one day, deciding to test just how easy it is? What if I murder someone who wasn't against me? Who doesn't deserve it?!"

“Arrell, stop!” I shouted. “You didn’t kill Cinder, and you’re not going to turn into a monster like you think you are!”

He stared right at me. “Asylum, I know I’m not gonna become a monster.”

“Well, then-”

“I already am one.”





[Perspective: Arrell]

“No, seriously. You suck, I hate you, and I don’t care if you’re a god, I still say I hope you rot in hell!”

Styx just sighed, taking my verbal assault (weak as it was) with a grain of salt. The goddess didn’t seem angry, upset, or anything similar. She just seemed like she was waiting for me to finish so she could get on with something.

“Are you done?” Yep, she was waiting for me to finish.

“Yes.”

“Good.” She walked around me, leaning against the tree I had chosen to sleep under. The others were a distance away, sleeping in a tent. I hadn’t spoken to any of them, save for Asylum, since the incident with Cinder. “Now, do you understand why I wanted you to come here?”

“To traumatize me?”

She chuckled. “No. I needed you to find your inner rage. Your adventures in Smooth Grove helped, as well as got you the Fine Rock, but it wouldn’t be until you got here that you truly unleashed your anger.”

“Why here?”

“Stalliongrad is a city of racism, and you are a different race. As soon as you walked in here, I knew you’d end up getting mad at somepony. The Cyndaquil merely helped.”

“Did you plan for him, too?”

She shook her head. “Not for the fight, but for the meeting, yes. I had a feeling if you two met, it would end badly.”

My eye twitched. “...you wanted it to end badly?”

“The worse things get, the angrier you get. And the angrier you get, the stronger you become. You need to be strong to win this game.”

“What if I don’t want to win this game for some crazy-ass goddess who goes out of her way to traumatize me?!”

“Then I’ll send you back to Earth.”

I laughed darkly. “Lady, I’m not one of those cliché people from your everyday human-in-Equestria story. I’m not an orphan, and my parents didn’t hate me. I had friends, even if they were pretty much all over the Internet. I had goals and dreams; plans for the future. No girlfriend - or boyfriend - but I was getting there. I won’t say my life was perfect, because it wasn’t, but it was good. The only reason I chose to come here was because it was a split-second decision and I was bored, and the only reason I haven’t asked you to send me home yet is because it’s freaking Equestria.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that if you sent me back home, I personally wouldn’t care. Everything would go back to normal. I can adapt.” I sat down. “So come on. Send me home. Or do one thing for me, and I’ll actually start playing this game to win.” Not like I know how to play to win anyway, though...

“Oh? And what would that be?” She seemed disinterested. Either she was already planning to say no and send me back home, or she was expecting me to ask for something trivial. Too bad.

“Leave me alone.”

That caught her attention. “Excuse me?”

I stood up and glared at her. My hoof began to glow. “I want you to leave me alone. Stop pushing me towards places to get me angry, and stop setting up obstacles for me. Just let me go about doing whatever the hell I want to do.”

“That’s not how chess is played.”

“Look, you wanted me to be the king of your side. If I recall, once the king dies, you lose. And you’re literally sending me into situations where death is certain if I didn’t have help. That’s not a very good way to play chess.”

She matched my glare. “I play chess however I want.”

“Look, you can’t worm out of this. If you send me home, you lose the chess game. If you leave me here, I do what I feel like doing rather than what you push me towards. I will ignore any messages you give me. I’m not a masochist.”

She leaned right down in my face. “Listen, Arrell. I brought you here. I make the rules for you. You are my chess piece, and nothing more! Do you understand?”

THWACK!

Styx stumbled back, clutching her face. The glow around my hoof faded away.

“Focus Punch,” I belatedly warned her.

She glared back at me, even more harshly than before. She tried to cover her face with her hand, but I saw a drip of blood coming from beneath. “Chess pieces don’t attack their players.”

I simply laid back down for some sleep as an alternative for flipping her off. “I play chess however I want.”

I heard no response. When I looked back up at where she was after a few minutes, I saw that she was gone.
> Bonus Chapter 4: Arrell VS The Fourth Wall
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

LOCATION: Smooth Grove
DATE: December 30th

[Perspective: False Front]

Muffled speech passed through the walls into my ears, rising me from my sleep. I groaned a bit, recognizing the voice that had woken me up. At first I thought his insomnia was just acting up again, but then I noticed the sunlight coming in through the window and realized that, on the contrary, I had slept in.

Yawning, I crawled out of bed. We had stopped by Smooth Grove for a night or two on our way back to Ponyville, so we were back in "our" house. The elder said he knew of a shortcut from here to Ponyville that would greatly cut down on time, so we weren't in a rush.

I was, however, in a bit of a rush to figure out what was going on with Arrell. It sounded like he was talking to somepony, but there were no responses. If he's finally gone completely insane, I'm just gonna say "I told you so" and go back to bed.

Throwing on a robe, I made my way downstairs. He was sitting in the kitchen, talking to...

"You know, part of me feels like the focus hasn't even been on me for a while, so you guys don't even know what I've been saying."

...a wall.

"Arrell, what are you doing?" I asked impatiently.

He turned to me, then back to the wall. "Lemme guess, you've been seeing things from her perspective. So everything I said was just muffled and incoherent. Well, now I'm gonna have to repeat myself..."

"Arrell!" I yelled. He sighed and turned to me completely.

"Yes?"

"What in the name of Celestia's solar-flaring mareheat are you doing?!"

He blinked, then turned his head as though looking at something beside me. "Wow, author. Reading too much Fallout: Equestria lately, are we?" He looked back at me. "For the record, I'm breaking the fourth wall."

"You're not breaking a wall. You're talking to it."

"Actually, that's right. I now realize I was just talking to a wall. Damn author decided to switch things up and have this chapter be from your perspective or something, so I have to talk to you to talk to the readers."

"...what?"

He sighed. "I'd ask the readers to explain it to you in the comments below, but I doubt you'd be able to read them."

"...what?"

"False, let me try to explain this. Have you ever read a book?" I nodded, wondering where he was going with this. "Well, imagine that we are actually inside a book, and we're being read."

I blinked. "...wha-"

"Stop saying that, or people are gonna think it's your new catchphrase."

I growled. "START MAKING SENSE."

"I already explained it to you. We're in a book...of sorts. Fan fiction, specifically. Long story. But yeah."

"NO WE'RE NOT."

"Yeah, we are."

I glared. "Can you prove we are?"

"Can you prove we aren't?"

We stood in silence for a moment.

"..."

"Dot dot dot."

"...why did you just say 'dot dot dot'?"

He shrugged. "I was repeating what you said."

"I didn't say anything!"

"We were silent. Therefore, your dialogue would have been shown as being an ellipses. Or, as I like to call it because I can never remember its actual term, 'dot dot dot'."

"..."

",,," He smirked. "Heh. The dots are bleeding."

My eye twitched. "...I'm going back to bed now."

"It's ten in the morning."

"I just want to wake up and pretend this was all a dream." With that, I turned around and walked back to my room. This was too much for me.





In eastern Ontario, Canada, a sixteen-year-old teenage boy sat in a chair, dressed in a blue Doctor Who t-shirt and black sweatpants. He blinked at his computer screen, which was covered in a little over seven hundred words that he had just typed down without even fully realizing it.

"...what the hell did I just write?" RLYoshi asked aloud. Nobody answered, as nobody was around. Shrugging, he copied the chapter from Google Docs and pasted it into a blank chapter on FIMFiction.

He read over the chapter a couple times to check for any errors, wrote a quick author's note about getting back into the swing of things, then hovered his mouse over the Publish button. He hesitated, considering just deleting this weird bonus chapter and waiting until he could make the next real one.

Finally, he sighed, and published. "I can see the comments already."
> 35: Windigo's Dilemma
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

DATE: February 24th
LOCATION: Everfree Forest

[Perspective: Arrell]

“I’M A BIRD, MOTHERF-”

CRASH

“No, you’re not. Get up.”

I groaned as I hauled myself to my hooves for about the fifteenth time. How I hadn’t broken any bones yet, I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t even sure if Windigoes had bones. Someday, I needed to start learning more about my own damn species.

Risk sat idly by, his back against a tree. He had been watching me for the past hour as I trained. At some point, I decided to practice using my abilities while flying...and somehow started thinking about flying too much, and the next thing I know, I can’t even take off anymore.

Bucking centipede’s dilemma.

“You know, you could just try taking off from the ground...” Risk suggested again.

“There’s no danger in that. This way, I’m falling, and it gets my brain to realize that if I don’t start flying, I’ll be in pain!” I reasoned as I climbed back up the giant tree. I was getting very good at climbing it.

“Well, hopefully your brain starts realizing that soon, or you’re gonna break something,” he sighed. “Aside from the ground.”

CRASH

“...how about a world record for deepest hole?” I grumbled, climbing out of my steadily growing crater.

“It’s plausible.”





Okay, maybe I should give you all some context before I keep this going.

Between my meeting with a certain Fire-type Pokémon and my struggle with overthinking, it’s been maybe two months. We got back to Ponyville, but were weighed down a bit thanks to Nimble not quite being fully healed again. Smooth Grove didn’t do much for him. Even with the elder’s shortcut, it took us a few days to get back to Ponyville and get him in the hospital.

He came out fine. Some scars, but that aside, he was no worse for the wear in the end.

We stuck around Ponyville for a while, though part of me wished we stayed in Smooth Grove. Sure, Ponyville was...well, Ponyville, but lately all the action had been happening in other random places. If something exciting actually happened in Ponyville, it happened while I was training. I went back to Smooth Grove once or twice, but usually nothing was happening.

I had set up a strict training regimen for myself that I frequently procrastinated on. I was supposed to spend several hours a day in the Everfree Forest working on my powers, but I was lucky if I went out there even three times a week. I’m lazy like that.

Aside from training, nothing much was going on. I wasn’t on probation anymore, but False still stuck around. Risk and Asylum both seemed like they’d rather stay in one place instead of travelling around and having adventures like Styx wanted me to, so I wasn’t sure what their plans were. And Nimble was just going along with whatever the majority vote was.

All in all, things were at a standstill. My training was the only thing we considered interesting that was going on, and even I was beginning to doubt its usefulness. After all, I hadn’t had even a regular battle since Cinder, let alone one on which the fate of Equestria hinged. Everything was slow and steady.





[Perspective: RLYoshi]

...well, that’s just dull. Can’t have that. Plot device time!





[Perspective: Arrell]

CRASH

“Thirty-six.”

I hauled myself out of the crater again, flopping down onto the ground. My body was scraped up, I likely had a broken rib, and I couldn’t even feel my legs anymore. I coughed a bit of blood up, which instantly wilted the grass it hit.

Risk just nonchalantly levitated my saddlebags over to me. “We’re done. Just heal up.”

I sighed, nodding. We had stashed several large bags of ice in my endless saddlebags, so I could absorb it and heal up if I got hurt. This was a good example of such.

With Risk still holding the saddlebags in his magical grip, I began absorbing the ice from within the saddlebags.

That would turn out to be a big mistake.

I felt the ice struggling against something as I tried to pull it out. Confused, I made the stupid move of just trying harder. The saddlebags started to vibrate, and Risk’s magic suddenly took on a dark aura. I saw that he was just as confused as me, and also seeming worried.

With a flash of light, the Fine Rock disconnected from Risk’s horn and flew over to the bags, which were still being held by the dark aura. He slowly backed away; a move I would have emulated had I been capable of moving.

The Fine Rock came into contact with the saddlebags, and for a second, everything stopped.

And then exploded.





[Perspective: Risk Reward]

I regained consciousness with a splitting headache.

Groaning, I grabbed at my forehead, faintly realizing I didn’t have my full horn. Opening my eyes, I saw that it was the middle of the night...and I was still in the Everfree Forest.

Panic overcoming pain, I jumped up and looked around. Arrell was lying still several feet away. His saddlebags were crumpled on the ground between us, the Fine Rock lying beside it. I snatched the jewel up and fixed my horn before walking over to the Windigo.

He must have unconsciously absorbed the ice I was trying to give him, because most of his injuries were gone. All that he had left were some cuts. I shook him, trying to wake him up.

“Arrell? Arrell, wake up!” I yelled, before realizing yelling in the middle of the Everfree Forest was probably a bad idea. Sure enough, a manticore growl pierced my ears, though it seemed distance.

Quickly, I lifted Arrell onto my back (and he was not light), grabbed the saddlebags in my mouth, and started heading back down the path towards Ponyville. Whatever happened tonight, the others need to know about right away.

Arrell began to wake up on the way back. We just got out of the forest when he finally caught my attention. I stopped and lowered him to the ground. “You okay?”

He mumbled something incoherently, then repeated himself. “Been better, been worse...” He rubbed his eyes and yawned. “The hell happened?”

“There was a big flash of light. That’s all I remember. It knocked us both out.” I helped him stand up properly. “Can you walk?”

“Yeah. I’ll be fine.” He staggered a bit, but managed to walk at a decent pace after a few missteps. “Do you think what happened has to do with the Fine Rock?”

“Probably. I don’t know why your saddlebags were involved, though.” We continued walking in silence for a while after that, both of us trying to figure out this little mystery. “Any theories?”

He shrugged. “Either some kind of extra part of the legend of the Fine Rock, some douchebaggery by Styx’s hand, or just magic gone wrong. Or some combination thereof.”

“...sounds about right.”





[Perspective: Arrell]

Most of us were now assembled in the living room of Risk and False’s house. I say Risk and False’s house because they were the ones to pay for it, and because the rest of us typically didn’t stay there. Nimble went off to do his own thing, Asylum rented a hotel room or stayed with somepony for a night, and I had discovered the comfort of clouds.

Clouds made excellent beds, even without blankets. Not like I even needed blankets, being immune to the cold night air. That proved to be very convenient. But now I’m getting off track.

The only one not present was Nimble, but that was because we just couldn’t find him. Not surprising. Instead, we had Twilight, whom Risk had fetched on our way back. She seemed both confused and annoyed at first, which may have had something to do with my way of explaining the situation. Apparently “Giant flash rock bags stuff help” doesn’t translate well.

Fortunately, Risk explained what was going on much more coherently, and after we got back he did the same for False and Asylum. Now we were more or less waiting, as Twilight had used Spike to send a quick letter to Celestia explaining the situation and asking for her assistance. Until she arrived, all we could do was keep an eye on my saddlebags so they didn’t pull any other magic tricks.

I’ll admit I was feeling extremely nervous. I had only had one completely peaceful interaction with Celestia out of three interactions total. So just over sixty-six percent of my meetings with her had gone south. So I wasn’t betting against her showing up, instantly blaming me for what happened, and banishing me and locking me up in a dungeon in the place she banished me to.

Just as that train of thought finished, there was a flash, and we were joined by the solar princess. Almost instinctively, everypony sans myself and Twilight moved to bow, but the alicorn spoke before they could.

“This is not a time for formalities, my little ponies,” she said ominously. “There is a problem afoot, and it must be dealt with immediately.”

Twilight nodded. “That’s why I-”

“That’s why I am going to take action right away,” the princess interrupted. She lit her horn, grabbing me in her aura. “Arrell...we need to talk.”

With a flash, we were gone.
> 36: Alterspace and Appleloosa
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

DATE: February 24th
LOCATION: ???

[Perspective: Arrell]

It was a black void.

Well...maybe not black. It had that kind of shade you see when you close your eyes; not quite black, but...just darkness in a different way.

There was ground, somehow. I was standing on an apparently solid floor, even though there was just an abyss below me. And above me, beside me, in front of me...

Celestia stepped in front of me. “Arrell?”

I shook my head, snapping out of my little ‘abyss everywhere’ trance. “Yeah?”

“You are familiar with the concept of the multiverse, I assume?”

“Well...I did come from one universe into this one, so yes, I think I’m a bit familiar with that idea.”

She chuckled, a bit of a smile crossing her features. Instantly, I relaxed. Whatever she brought me here for, it wasn’t because she was mad at me. You don’t laugh when you’re angry.

“Yes, you did. And now you are standing in the single connecting link between every single universe in existence.” She gestured to the void. “Welcome to Alterspace.”

“...needs better interior decorating.” I stepped forward, looking around. “Seriously, there’s literally nothing here.”

She nodded. “The links between universes are generally closed. If they do open, such as when you humans came to Equestria, it’s never for long. It’s so quick that any regular being wouldn’t even see it happen. It could happen several thousand times while you were busy blinking.”

“How is this relevant to the exploding saddlebags thing?” I asked, trying to avoid sounding rude.

“Where did you think your saddlebags led to?” she responded, smirking. “They’re a condensed portal to Alterspace.”

I blinked. “But I had stuff in my saddlebags! Where is it all?”

“It’s in here somewhere. But Alterspace is, quite seriously, endless. The only reason you could always pull out what you needed when you reached into your saddlebags was because of the bond you have with it.”

...bond? “I’m bonded with Alterspace?”

She nodded. “I’m not sure how it happened myself. Perhaps it was something your god did, or perhaps it has to do with the Fine Rock. Either way, you are, and because of that, you have unleashed a great danger upon all of Equestria.”

I did a double-take. “Wow, don’t sugarcoat it for me, Princess!”

“The explosion that happened was an incredible case of good timing and bad luck,” she continued, not replying to my annoyed remark. “When you tried to access the contents of Alterspace through your saddlebags, you opened up a link between here and Equestria. However, with the Fine Rock’s magic already being connected to Alterspace from Risk Reward levitating the saddlebags, the link began to feed on extra power.”

I blinked. “So...what kind of danger got released from me trying to pull out some ice?”

“For reasons we don’t - and likely never will - know, a link between Alterspace and a different universe opened up at this moment. The Fine Rock’s magic began to fuel that link as well, keeping it open, and soon Alterspace grew unstable. Thousands, if not millions of links began to open. That explosion was all the links beginning to bring the universes together.”

“...I just caused the apocalypse, didn’t I?”

“Not yet. Since the link to Equestria was the ‘originating’ one, it began to act as a vacuum, and started to pull various objects and entities from other universes. When Risk passed out, the Fine Rock’s magic was cancelled, and the links started to close. But they weren’t fast enough. They were replaced by links to other places in Equestria, and the objects were scattered.”

I rubbed my temple. “So, wait. There’s a bunch of stuff from other universes spread around Equestria now? How is this a problem?”

“The Fine Rock-”

“GAH!” I stomped the invisible ground. “Every-bucking-thing is about the Fine Rock now! I just want to smash that damn thing to pieces!”

“...as I was saying.” Her tone was rather annoyed now, and I shut up. “The Fine Rock’s magic lingered in Alterspace. Each object absorbed a bit of its power, which seemed to magnify its own traits based on its purposes, its original universe, and more.”

I nodded slowly. “So...if one of these objects was, say, a gun...it’s become a lot more powerful now?”

“That is simplifying it a bit, but yes, it is along those lines.”

“So now there’s about a million dangerous things around Equestria based on movies, video games, stories, and a bunch of other things I wouldn’t even know existed...and let me guess, you want me to collect them.”

She frowned. “It is, I admit, a rather difficult task. These objects must be collected and restrained from causing further damage until we can establish a new link between Alterspace and the object’s original universe to send it back.”

I let out what was supposed to be a groan, but it came out almost like a sob. “I can’t ever keep a peaceful life going, can I?”

“Well, you are a Lord Windigo trying to fit in with a society of ponies.”

“...point.”





“New mission, Winter Solstice!” I declared the next morning.

Everypony just looked at me weird. “Winter what?” False asked.

“Winter Solstice...I thought it was a cool group name.” I shrugged. “Anyway. Irrelevant. Topic: Mission.”

Celestia had released me from Alterspace and helped me explain the situation to the others - sans Nimble, whom Risk took care of once he showed up. She told me she’d stay in touch, letting me know if she discovered where any of the objects - articles, as I called them so it sounded less boring - had cropped up. As it was, nothing in particular had shown up that could be attributed to something from another universe.

Until that morning. Celestia must have tapped into my bond with Alterspace, because I woke up to an annoying buzzing in my brain. As soon as I focused on it, I began to visualize a location, and seemingly random thoughts were forced into my brain.

Attacks. Badly beaten. Strange energy abilities. Many injured. One killed.

The location? Appleloosa. And we already had our train tickets.

“Hope you’re all ready for a trip to the west, because we’ve got some investigating to do in cowpony town!” I cheered, adopting a rather horrible western accent.

“...you know Appleloosa’s to the south, right?” Risk asked.

“Details, details!”





[Perspective: False Front]

“Ah can’t say Ah’m absolutely sure of what Ah saw. Hard fer even mahself to believe it,” the sheriff told us. “But if y’all believe me, then it’s gotta be true, right?”

I looked down at the notes I had taken. The sheriff had been woken up in the middle of the night by the sounds of a commotion, and had run outside to see what was happening. It was too dark to see clearly, but behind the saloon, he saw one pony fighting several others - and the one pony was winning by a huge amount. The others couldn’t even get a hit in.

What struck him as odd, though, was the weird fireball-like attack that the fighter used at the end. It seemed to come from the fighter’s hooves, and it killed its victim instantly upon contact.

“And you’re sure this wasn’t just ordinary unicorn magic?” Risk asked.

The sheriff nodded. “Ah didn’t see no horn on their head, even in the light their fireball gave.”

“Besides, Appleloosa is primarily an earth pony town,” I reminded the unicorn. I turned to Arrell. “Any ideas?”

Arrell wasn’t looking too good, but then again, he was a Windigo in the middle of the desert. It wasn’t so hot he’d melt, but it made him rather uncomfortable. He rubbed his temple. “I can think of about a thousand things that that could make fireballs. Anything else?”

The sheriff rubbed his chin. “Well...it wasn’t, say, red or orange fire. It was...blue.”

“That narrows it down to a hundred.”

Nimble stepped forward. “Did you hear anything unusual?”

“Whoever it was, they didn’t say a lot. Ah heard them say somethin’ when they were done, though...”

I got ready to jot down more notes. “What was it?”

“Somethin’ about an answer...lyin’ in a battle? Ah can’t remember...”

Arrell turned to look at him in the eye. “The answer lies in the heart of battle.”

The sheriff nodded. “Yeah, that’s it.”

“Sheriff...are you sure this pony didn’t say anything else? Even if it sounded like random gibberish?” He seemed a lot more intent now.

He must have thought of something... I looked at the sheriff, awaiting his response.

“They made a lot of noises when they were fightin’...oh! There was that weird thing they yelled when they threw that fireball.” He frowned, trying to remember. “Hah-somethin’. Hah...hah-doo...ken?”

“Hadoken,” Arrell said quietly. We all looked at him.

“That’s it. Why?” asked the sheriff.

“Hadoken...Ryu...Street Fighter.” He looked at me. “We’ve found our first article. And it’s already fallen into the wrong hooves.”





The victims were mostly unrelated to each other, according to the ponies we questioned. Two of them were brothers, but aside from that, there weren’t any common links. Even the one who was killed had nothing in common with the others.

As it turns out, the murder victim was a young stallion, barely my own age. He had gotten drunk (on salt, even - I reminded myself to ask somepony later on how that even worked), and when he saw a fight breaking out, he decided the wise move would be to join in. Everypony else had either been knocked out or run away by the time the pony with the article turned on him.

Asylum and Nimble had gone to examine the scene of the battle while myself, Risk, and Arrell questioned some of the other victims. But of course, none of them were any help.

“All Ah saw was a stallion chargin’ at me, then he just starts whalin’ on me,” one victim told us. “Woke up with a nurse hoverin’ over me.”

“Is that all?” I asked, sighing. He nodded, and I stood up. “Well, that helped in no way. Thanks for your time, at least.”

“Define ‘whaling on you’,” Arrell suddenly said. Risk and I looked at him, confused. “Did he just start pounding your head against a wall? Kick you in the stomach? What did he do?”

The victim rubbed the back of his head. “Can’t say Ah understand the question.”

Arrell stepped up to him. “Was he just attacking you wildly, or did he seem to be using well-practiced moves?”

“Er...well, he seemed to know what he was doin’...and it seemed like some kinda marshall art.”

“Martial, not marshall. So just like I thought. Thanks.” Arrell turned and started walking off. We followed.

“What was that about?” I asked.

“I wasn’t completely sure before, but now I am. Whatever this article is, it’s giving somepony the fighting style and powers of Ryu,” he responded.

“Ryu who?”

Risk intervened. “Human thing, right?” Arrell nodded. “Thought so. How does this help us?”

“More than you’d think. My Street Fighter knowledge is meager, but I’m pretty sure Ryu never carried any weapons, and he didn’t have much of a uniform either. If this article came from him, it’s got to be one of maybe three things. All of which would be pretty noticeable.”

I nodded, seeing where he was going with this. “So we just have to figure out who in town has gotten one of these things. What do we do with it once we have it?”

“Pop it into Alterspace. Celestia told me that once I’ve thrown an article into there, all of its effects are neutralized. Then it either stays there, or she moves it to something called the Black Vault, until we can send it back.” He suddenly stopped walking, eyes wide.

Risk waved a hoof in front of his face. “Arrell? Equestria to Arrell?”

“Red headband...” he mumbled to himself. We turned in the direction he was looking, but whatever he saw, it had already passed. “Risk. False. From here, which direction is the saloon?”

I pointed to the left. “Two streets that way. Why?”

“Because the headband-wearing criminal always returns to the scene of the crime.” He broke into a gallop, heading to the left. “And once he gets there, he’s got Nimble and Asylum as prime Hadoken targets!”





[Perspective: Asylum]

I sighed. Nothing of importance was behind the saloon. There were some bloodstains on the ground and the wall where the murder victim died, but everything else had either been moved or cleaned up.

“Well, this didn’t turn out to be very helpful,” I muttered, sitting down against the wall. Nimble walked over to me, also having found nothing. “Hopefully the others had better luck...”

Nimble’s ears flicked, and he looked to the side. I looked with him. A dark gray earth pony was galloping, his black mane and red headband flowing in the wind. He was running far faster than I thought capable of a pony...

Then, I realized he was charging right at us.

“Shoryuken!”
> 37: Street Fighting
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

DATE: February 25th
LOCATION: Appleloosa

[Perspective: Asylum]

“Shoryuken!”

I screamed and shut my eyes as the pony rushed at me, his hoof glowing. A dull thud reached my ears, and after realizing I hadn’t been hit by anything yet, I opened my eyes.

At the last second, Nimble had tackled the pony to the ground. That didn’t hold long, however, as he was kicked off easily and the pony jumped back up. With a brief growl of rage, he lunged at the downed colt...

...who suddenly wasn’t there anymore.

I blinked, briefly confused by what just happened. The pony with the headband, meanwhile, didn’t seem confused at all. Instead, he just turned to me and growled again.

Flapping my wings, I quickly flew up into the sky safely...

“Hadoken!”

...and just barely dodged a searing ball of blue energy.

I yelped, remembering the lethality of that attack. Darting to the side, I started looking around frantically for somepony to help, but considering we were behind the saloon, not a lot of ponies were nearby.

“Hadoken! Hadoken!” He continued firing balls of energy up at me. He sometimes jumped to try and reach me, but he just fell short. Even then, it was horrifying, since he was at least fifteen feet below me and was still only a few inches away after a jump. “Hado-”

“Will you quit spamming that! FUS RO DAH!”

The pony was suddenly sent flying by a burst of powerful air from a familiar Windigo. Arrell charged in, dropped his saddlebags on the ground, and turned to look up at me.

“Asylum, go get the sheriff! We might need back-” He was cut off when the pony ran up to him and punched him square in the face. He went flying into the wall of the saloon.

Cringing, I turned and flew off as he ordered. Please be okay, please be okay...





[Perspective: Arrell]

I am SO not gonna be okay when this is over.

I rubbed my jaw and stood back up just in time to be Shoryuken’d. This sent me into the air. Thinking fast, I tried to kick away my back end and start flying.

THWUMP

Instead, I landed on the ground, and got kicked in the gut for my troubles.

“You know, I really wish this was an actual fighting game so I could pull out some kind of Super Move,” I groaned up at my attacker. He apparently didn’t care for what I had to say, because he picked me up and threw me at the wall again. “...that was just rude.”

“Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!”

...and here comes the hurricane kick. Buck that. I cast Din’s Fire, sending out a wave of heat that knocked the wannabe streetfighter back before he reached me. I got up, my body aching terribly, and started charging my Focus Punch.

...well, I thought I did, but my hoof wasn’t glowing. I stared at it in a panic. First my flight, now this?!

My opponent didn’t feel like waiting, though, and while I was trying to get my hoof to glow, he ran up and kicked me in the chin, knocking me upwards and causing me to crash-land on my back. Groaning, I tried to pull myself up, but I was stopped by a hoof landing on my chest. I gasped, the breath knocked out of me as he held out his front hooves.

“No no no no no...”

“Hadoken!”





[Perspective: Risk Reward]

We galloped after Arrell, but even when he wasn’t flying, he pulled ahead of us easily. After briefly getting lost in a crowd of ponies, we made our way to the saloon - just in time to see somepony charging out from behind it.

I grunted in pain as a sudden surge coursed through my head. False looked at me in worry and said something, but all I could think of was that pony. Something about him was ringing alarm bells.

“...the article!” I suddenly gasped. “That pony has the article!”

False looked at the stallion who was quickly getting away. She looked back at me. “I’ll go after him! You go find the others!” She ran off before I could respond.

The pain fading, I dashed around the saloon to the back, hoping everything was fine. I nearly tripped on Arrell’s saddlebags, which he had apparently decided to just leave in the middle of nowhere. Looking around, I soon found the Windigo himself.

Arrell was lying still on the ground, not moving. Bruises decorated his body, and a mixture of water and blood was dampening the ground below him. The heat of the sun combined with his injuries was slowly melting him - assuming he wasn’t dead already.

“Arrell!” I ran to his side, shaking him. “Wake up! Arrell, wake up!”

He was breathing, but he wouldn’t wake up. Whatever hit him must have almost killed him. I hoisted him onto my back and began trotting back around the saloon, grabbing the saddlebags in my magic on the way.

“The headband is the article.”

I turned with a start, seeing Nimble come out of almost literally nowhere. “What?”

“The headband the stallion wore. It is the article. I sensed something off about it.” He looked around. “Where is he? And where is Asylum?”

Asylum... I froze. She was back here too. Where did she go?

“False is going after the headband,” I told Nimble. “I don’t know where Asylum is, but right now, we need to get Arrell help. He’s hurt, and if his injuries don’t do him in, this desert heat will.”

Nimble nodded. “Are you sure False will be fine?”

“Why wouldn’t she be?”

“The pony with the headband is very strong. He is the one who defeated Arrell.”

I swallowed nervously. “She doesn’t know what she’s getting into...”





[Perspective: Asylum]

I flew about in a hurry, getting lost constantly. I had no idea where the sheriff was, and in the state of mind I was in, it never occurred to me to ask for directions. I was panicking.

“Asylum!”

I looked down, seeing False run beneath me. I flew down and glided along beside her. “False! What’s wrong?”

“We found the guy! Risk is checking on-” She halted her speech. “...you! Weren’t you behind the saloon? Where’s Nimble and Arrell?”

“Nimble just...disappeared! And Arrell’s fighting somepony who we’re pretty sure has the article!”

She completely stopped running. “...Asylum...I’m chasing the guy with the article!”

“What?!”

“So if he’s out here...and Arrell’s back there...what happened?!”

We were silent for a moment. A loud yell, crash, and the screams of several ponies jerked us out of it.

“He’ll...he’ll be fine,” I tried to assure her - and myself. “We need to stop this guy before he kills somepony else!”

False nodded, and we began running off in the direction the noises were coming from.

Everything’s just falling to bits...
> 38: Panic and Power
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

DATE: February 25th
LOCATION: Appleloosa

[Perspective: Risk Reward]

Panic.

New Appleloosa was in a crazed, enormous panic. Everypony was screaming and trying to run from something, but none of them knew exactly where it was, so they were just running in random directions. The town had done a complete 180 from how it was when we arrived just hours earlier.

Nimble had run off to find False and Asylum, hopefully before they got into the fight. I was busy trying to find a place for Arrell to heal up. As it was, the best place for him was inside the saloon, if only because it was away from the sun’s intense heat.

A few of the ponies inside had actually been rather helpful once I explained what was going on. Two stallions offered to stand guard outside in case the pony with the headband came back, and another few stallions and mares were gathering together anything cold they could find to place around Arrell, who was lying on a table.

“C’mon, wake up!” the bartender shouted at the Windigo’s sleeping form. “Y’can’t just sleep through somethin’ like this!”

“He’s slept through worse,” I muttered. I felt a poking at my leg and looked down to see... “Nimble?”

He nodded. “False and Asylum are at the sheriff's office. The headband pony is there too.”

“Son of a...” I groaned and turned to Arrell. “Come on, dammit! Wake up! False and Asylum are out there probably getting their flanks beaten and you’re asleep! Wake up!”





[Perspective: False Front]

We didn’t stop to think. We just followed the cries of “Hadoken!” and found ourselves at the sheriff’s office. Ponies everywhere were running around, screaming like it was the end of the world. They were tripping over each other, galloping in random circles, and occasionally fainting from pure fear.

I have to say, if we weren’t in such a rush, I would’ve stopped to slap them all and yell at them to calm down. This was an overreaction if I’d ever seen one.

Dashing into the office, we found the pony with the headband holding the sheriff in a chokehold. I drew my sword and charged, catching his attention. He threw the sheriff to the side and ran at me, bringing a hoof back.

I swung my sword, trying to get a hit on him, but he rolled to the side and hit me in the stomach with an uppercut. I went flying up, and he jumped to get to where I was, punching me so hard I slammed down into the ground and left a crater at least a couple inches deep.

As I sat up, I saw the pony dashing towards me again and quickly rolled out of the way. Clenching my weapon in my mouth, I got to my hooves and turned to where I thought he was, only to find nopony there. Slightly paranoid, I looked around quickly, but couldn’t find him.

“Hadoken!”

He was above me.

I tried to jump away from the projectile, but I wasn’t fast enough. It hit my side, which hurt a lot more than you’d think. I cried out as I fell to the floor, my sword being flung from my grasp. My entire body felt weak and in pain; I couldn’t even stand back up to see where Asylum was.

The sound of collisions behind me told me enough, though. A yellow blur hit the wall, revealing itself to be the pegasus, now looking bruised. She groaned as she fell to the floor.

“Who the hell is this guy?” she asked, her voice straining.

“You think I know?” I finally managed to get back onto my hooves, though my side was still burning in pain. I barely turned around before I took a hoof in the face so hard I flew right into the wall alongside Asylum.

The pony with the headband just stared at us with a look of disapproval on his face, then turned and began walking away.

“None of us have reached our full potential.”

That was the last thing I heard him say. My vision blurred and went dark. Just before I slipped into unconsciousness, I heard Asylum groan again in pain.





[Perspective: Arrell]

...

...

...

“...th...a...el...”

...

“...now...id...er...”

...

“...rell...”

...huh?

Wake up.

...

Arrell. Wake up.

...I told you to leave me alone.

Yes. You did.

...

You need to wake up.

...no.

Your friends are in danger.

I’m not falling for your tricks again.

This is no trick.

Oh? I just got nearly killed by some crazy pony - an event that I’m willing to bet you orchestrated, again - and now you’re telling me to wake up and get back into the battle. I’m not throwing myself into the arms of death that easily.

They need you. Can’t you hear them trying to wake you?

Not over you.

Then listen.

...

“...ake up...”

...

“...can’t just...thing like this...”

...

“Come on, dammit! Wake up! False and Asylum are out there probably getting their flanks beaten and you’re asleep! WAKE UP!”





My eyes shot open.

I felt...alive. Healthy. Strong.

Dangerous.

Risk said something. I didn’t hear it. Other ponies yelled something. I didn’t hear it. I just got up and began walking.

Nothing around me registered in my brain. I had one sole focus in my mind, and it was nearby.

And then there it was. A red headband.

“HEY, ASSHOLE!”

The pony turned to look at me. Our eyes met, and for a brief moment, I saw a flash of confusion in his eyes.

“Round two. Fight.”
> 39: Article Showdown
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

DATE: February 25th
LOCATION: Appleloosa

[Perspective: Arrell]

“Hadoken!”

I grinned. This time, I was ready.

I rolled to the side, avoiding the deadly blast, and dashed forward. He turned to me and began preparing for what I could only assume would be one of those uppercuts. Rather than give him an easy shot, I waited until I was just within range, and then jumped.

His attack missed, while I landed behind him. I turned, but he turned at the same time and tried again. This time, he connected, and I was launched into the air.

Plan B! Plan B!

Before I could fall back down, I regained my balance as best as I could while floating in the air and angled my head downward. As soon as I was aimed at him, I let loose my voice attack.

...well, I tried to. Nothing came out.

...I feel like there are a lot of immature people laughing right now.

I plummeted to the ground, right on my face. Knowing there wasn’t any time to sit and comically rub my nose, I rolled to my hooves and kept my eye on my foe. He was already running at me again.

Now what?! All my powers are gone! How the hell do I fight without them?!

He fired another Hadoken. I jumped to the left to avoid it.

Bloodbath’s ax is too cumbersome to use against a fast guy like him, and even if it wasn’t, I’m not trying to kill him...I just need to get that headband away from him...

He tackled me. I went flying several feet with him until we hit the ground. I managed to use my strength to push him off, but he just darted away before I could deal any actual damage.

...wait...do I still have...?

I had roughly two seconds. I used them to remember that I left my saddlebags back by the saloon.

...mother-

“Shoryuken!”

I went flying again. This was really starting to get old.

Headband...headband...gotta get that headband. Think, think! There’s got to be some kind of chekhov’s gun you can pull out of your ass here!

…

...

“Shoryuken!”

...well, I got nothing.

His hoof was aiming right for me, going too quickly for me to dodge. I braced myself for the impact, hoping I’d come up with a better plan during my next little flight.

And then, with me barely even controlling it, my hoof grabbed his.

The uppercut was halted, inches from my face. The pony’s eyes widened briefly in surprise. And I had no idea what was going on.

But, hey, I wasn’t gonna pass up a chance to gain the upper hand.

I pushed with my hoof while forcing his own upwards, continuing the uppercut for him before slamming him back down to the ground. He tried to get back up, but for once, I was faster than him.

Jumping onto him, I slammed down onto his back, forcing him to stay down. I made a grab for the headband, but his strength outmatched my weight, and he pushed me off. I didn’t give up that easily, though, and grabbed at his neck before I toppled away, pulling him with me.

I got to my feet while trying to hold him down, but he forced himself into a standing position as well. Now with his hooves free to fight back, he threw a punch at my gut, knocking the air out of me. Nevertheless, I kept my grip, even bringing my other hoof over. I didn’t even know what I was doing until I began strangling him.

He swung his hoof again, this time nailing me in the snout. I knew I was bleeding, but I ignored it as I kept my tight grip, trying to cut off his air. Just to unconsciousness...just to unconsciousness...

One more punch came, again at my face...only for him to hiss and pull his hoof back in pain as it made contact with the blood already leaking out. I couldn’t help but smirk.

It kills plants, it poisons ponies, and it’ll burn your skin if you touch it! The blood of your enemies can sometimes be your own pain! Windigo biology rocks.

He let out a grunt as he tried to fight for air, no longer using his hooves in his struggle. His eyes shot open, and for a split second, I saw something new in them.

Previously, when I looked in his eyes, they just seemed stoic and lost. Now, I saw genuine fear and confusion.

The article...it’s actually controlling him...

I loosened my grip. He collapsed, gasping for air. He looked up at me, still seeming afraid.

“...h...help...me...”

I grabbed for the headband again. I managed to take hold of it, but yelped as I was treated to an electric shock coursing through my body. Shaking my hoof to get rid of the sensation, I looked at the pony again to see his eyes shut and his breathing becoming ragged.

Crap! He’s losing control again! Do something, do something, do something!

Bracing myself for pain, I grabbed the headband a third time. The surge of electricity began again, but I refused to let go. That turned out to be a very painful decision, because rather than just a single zap, I was now being continuously shocked.

I grit my teeth, trying to pull the article away. I could hear the pony screaming in pain, and I knew the electricity wasn’t just harming me. Part of me wanted to join him in screaming, but instead, I held my breath and kept pulling.

It felt like it took hours to get it to move just a tiny bit. My body protested greatly, already starting to feel paralyzed in some areas. My back legs gave out, but my front legs still worked, allowing me to keep pulling. I couldn’t let go now.

“You...won’t...win...!” I hissed, images flooding my brain. Images of the ponies who had been hurt already. Of the one who was killed by this article. Of the other ponies in town who were only safe until now.

Of Asylum, barely getting out of the way of one of several lethal Hadoken attacks.

“I won’t...let you...” I opened one eye. “Hurt...another...PONY!”

With one final pull, the headband came off.

The electricity died down. The pony collapsed, unmoving. I fell onto my hindquarters, my entire lower half not responding to the signals of my brain. The red cloth of disaster hung limply in my grasp. Anyone who walked in now would never suspect it of being so dangerous.

My vision swam. I tried to stand, but for obvious reasons, I just fell down again.

I heard somepony yell my name. Risk. It must have been Risk.

I think I replied. It probably sounded like “got headband I hurt”, if it was even that coherent.

No clue what happened next. I just remember darkness.





[Perspective: Risk Reward]

I sighed as I looked over at the only one of us who wasn’t currently in the hospital. Nimble continued to sleep.

We were back in Ponyville, two days later. We took the train back after finding False and Asylum. Neither of them were in good condition, and Appleloosa couldn’t provide any medical help past a few bandages to tide them over. Arrell, while not visibly hurt beyond a few bruises, was being checked for any signs of permanent damage or paralysis. The desert heat didn’t help him either.

Ryu’s headband was thrown into Alterspace as soon as Nimble found Arrell’s saddlebags again. The pony who was wearing it died; the electricity was too much for his body to take. Hell, the only reason Arrell survived was because his body was built for taking more damage, and even he was in pretty bad condition.

“He’s awake.”

I looked up at the nurse who had approached. I smiled weakly. “Thank you.” Standing up, I cast one quick look back at the sleeping colt, who had somehow gotten a small pillow that he decided made for a good cuddle buddy.

...how can a pony capable of snapping necks look so adorable?

Chuckling lightly, I walked down the hall until I reached the room I knew a certain Windigo was in. Carefully opening the door, I looked inside.

While Arrell was definitely conscious, the jury was still out on whether or not he could be classified as “awake”. His eyes were maybe a quarter of the way open, his body was limp, and his breathing was slow and steady. He didn’t even move his head when I walked in.

“Hey there,” I greeted quietly, closing the door behind myself. He finally looked over, eyes opening a bit more. “You okay?”

He opened his mouth to speak, but a yawn got out first. He let that finish before proceeding with his actual sentence. “...could be better, could be worse.”

I sat beside him. “Any news from the doctors?”

“Said I’ll be jes’ fine...in a day’r two...” Either due to being tired or an effect of the electricity, his mouth didn’t seem to want to enunciate properly. “How’re th’ girls?”

“They had a few injuries, but nothing too serious...Asylum won’t be flying for a week or so, but other than that, they’ll be out tomorrow.”

He just nodded a bit, returning to silence afterwards. After a few moments, just when I thought he had fallen asleep again, he spoke. “...I can’t do stuff...”

I tilted my head. “Pardon?”

“Can’t fly...or use my powers...think something’s up...” He sighed. “Feels like I’m gettin’ weaker...”

“Well...maybe you could talk to Styx about that...?”

He snorted derisively. “Wouldn’t be surprised if she was the one doin’ this...”

...something tells me the two of them are not on very good terms.

“Whatever...I’ll be fine...” He yawned again. “Think I’m gonna sleep more, though...”

I chuckled. “Good idea. Get that done now while False isn’t around to wake you up early.”

He gave me a look that, if he had the energy to form one, would likely have been a glare. “Not funny.”

“...sorry.”

He didn’t speak again. He just returned his head to the position it was in when I first entered and closed his eyes - not like they weren’t pretty much there already. I took that as my cue to leave, standing up and heading for the door as silently as I could.

All that happened while fetching just one article... I sighed. This is going to be interesting, to say the least.
> 40: Sickness, Round Two
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

DATE: March 3rd
LOCATION: Ponyville

[Perspective: Arrell]

A week passed since the incident with Ryu’s Headband. Most of our injuries healed up. The only one that was still worrying was Asylum’s right wing. Turns out it had more damage done to it than they thought, and it wasn't healing properly.

Now they weren't even sure if Asylum would be able to fly ever again unless she had some kind of expensive operation done. As it was, it hurt her just to open her wings, let alone try to flap them. She spent most of her time with me now, while Risk and False spent most of their time together and Nimble spent his time doing...whatever Nimble does.

Even though we were all healed - more or less - we were drained. Celestia sensed this and, instead of sending us after another article right away, let us have some time to rest.

Which was good, because wouldn’t you know it, it was time for another bout of evolution sickness.





[Perspective: Asylum]

I couldn't help but feel a sense of déjà vu.

I sat beside Arrell as he lay in bed, practically comatose. This time, thankfully, we were in a house in Ponyville that was at the very least in somepony’s peripheral vision most hours of the day. If anything suspicious happened, it’d be seen.

Nimble was also asleep, but unlike Arrell, he wasn't sick. Lately, he had been out doing something during the night, and would spend his day hours sleeping. Whenever we tried to question him about what he was doing, he would just go silent.

Risk and False were downstairs, discussing something. I could hear their muffled voices through the floor, and from the sounds of it, they were arguing. I rolled my eyes. Arguing was all False ever did nowadays. Sometimes it was with Arrell, sometimes with Risk, or sometimes with me. Though usually, when she tried arguing with me, Arrell would get involved, and it’d turn into an argument between them instead...

Arguing had become a core part of our group’s workings, if you can’t tell.

I was jolted out of my thoughts when Arrell started to stir. Quickly, I got up and left the room, trotting down to the kitchen and retrieving a bag of ice from the freezer. As I did, the argument ceased; likely so I wouldn’t hear what it was about. I decided to take a moment to poke my head into the room where they were.

They were both standing in the middle of the living room. I gave them a partial glare. “You know, the next time you two want to bicker like Princess Celestia and Nightmare Moon, would you mind doing it somewhere other than directly below the room containing two sleeping ponies?”

They looked back at me a little guiltily. I shut the door and made for the stairs to get back up to Arrell.

No, I wasn't in the best of moods that day.

Once I got back into the room, I saw that his stirring had turned to full scale tossing and turning. I took the bag of ice over to him and emptied it out, watching as he absorbed every last bit of the cold substance the instant it went anywhere near him. His form relaxed, and he went back to being still.

This was a new development in his evolution sickness; whenever he began to move, that usually meant he was starting to become bothered by one of his symptoms, so we gave him ice to help. It also acted as his only form of sustenance, since we couldn't properly give him food or water. He couldn't wake up until this sickness was over, and that would take at least a couple days.

I sighed and hung my head as I sat back down on the floor, feeling tired. Since his sickness began the day before, I hadn't slept. I spent all day beside him, making sure things didn’t get too bad. The others offered to help so I could go rest, but I couldn't sleep, no matter how exhausted I was.

A hoof landed itself on my shoulder, and I gasped. Turning around, I saw that Nimble had apparently woken up, and it was his hoof that found its way there.

“You know, we need to tie a bell around your tail or something,” I said with a giggle.

He either ignored the joke or just didn’t find it funny. “You seem tired.”

I sighed. “A bit...”

“You should sleep.”

“I can’t...”

He tilted his head. “Could the others not watch Arrell for the time being?”

I shook my head. “They’re a little too busy loudly debating over some trivial matter. Again.”

He walked out from behind me and sat beside me instead. “Is it trivial, though?”

I looked blankly at him.

“Surely if it is cause for argument, to them it is not trivial.”

Rolling my eyes, I reworded my statement. “Fine. They’re loudly debating over something that might be important to them, but in the long run, it’s probably not going to help us in any way.”

“Jumping to conclusions is never the best option, but I will admit that you do present a likely outcome.” He shrugged as he looked towards the door. “Still, the fact remains that if you need a break, they could watch over Arrell for you.”

I shook my head. “No...I don’t know why, but...it doesn't feel right if I’m not the one taking care of him.” ...how does that even make sense?

“Perhaps that is the doctoring side of you?” the young ninja suggested. “Or perhaps it is something else?”

I decided I did not want to continue this conversation. “On the topic of sleep, didn’t you have some of that to take care of?”

“If you want to be rid of me, you only need to ask.”

“I don’t, just...can we not talk?”

He nodded. And we were silent.
> 41: A Break From Action
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

DATE: March 5th
LOCATION: Ponyville

[Perspective: Asylum]

I gasped, lifting my head quickly. I wasn’t sure when I fell asleep, but I hoped it wasn’t too long ago.

I looked left and right, expecting to still be sitting beside Arrell’s bed. Instead, I was in a bed of my own. Blinking, I slid out from under the covers, looking around some more.

Right...this is my room...well, mine and False’s. ...why am I here? The realization hit me like a club. Oh...duh. I probably fell asleep and they took me here...

Yawning a bit, I made my way out of the room and started trotting back to Arrell’s room. I heard what sounded like mumbling coming from inside. Confused, I opened the door.

Risk and False were sitting beside Arrell’s bed, looking at the sleeping Windigo in confusion similar to my own. Arrell was out cold (pun not intended), but seemed to be talking in his sleep.

“What’s wrong with him?” I asked as I walked up.

“Besides the obvious, I don’t know,” False replied tersely.

Risk took it upon himself to elaborate. “He started mumbling things about ten minutes ago. We can’t figure out what he’s saying, though.”

Now feeling a little worried, I sat down on the opposite side of the bed. “Do you think he’ll be okay?”

“He better,” the other mare snorted. “Somepony needs to hunt for articles, after all.”

Risk shot her a glare. “I think the rest of the Royal Guard are doing an okay job of it.”

“Wait...what?” I tilted my head, wondering if I heard wrong. “The Royal Guard?“

“Princess Celestia sent out some of the Royal Guard to retrieve articles that aren’t as dangerous as Ryu’s Headband,” the unicorn explained. “Just so we can get some of them out of the way while Arrell’s sick.”

“Oh...” I looked back at the unconscious Windigo. “How long will he be like this?”

Risk shrugged. “Maybe another day or two. He doesn’t have a fever in conjunction with this like he did last time, so it shouldn’t take as long.” He sighed. “This is his second period of evolution sickness, you know...he’s halfway to evolving.”

“...that’s...” I thought back to Frostfiend. He was a fully evolved Lord Windigo, and he was... “...scary.”





[Perspective: Arrell]

“You’re welcome.”

I sighed. “Yeah, yeah...thanks for waking me up and all that.”

Styx sat with her arms folded, an unreadable expression on her face. “Anything else you want to say?”

I glared at her. “No.”

She sighed. “Well, so much for that...”

“...you know, I still want you to leave me alone.”

“Why?”

I rolled my eyes. “You forgot already?”

“Arrell, I’m not going to leave you alone...but if you really don’t want me telling you where to go, that’s fine by me.” She sighed again. “Besides, with this whole ‘article’ business, you’ll probably be traveling a lot already.”

I nodded. “That’s probably a given...” The mention of the topic made me remember something. “Also...what happened to my powers?”

“Hm?”

“My powers. You know, my voice attack, Din’s Fire, bubble shield...?”

She smirked. “Do you really need those now? You did just fine without them.”

“...I got my ass handed to me twice in one day.”

“Then learn to get better. I only gave you those powers to get you started. Not my fault you didn’t take the time to train.”

“...really?” I gave her a deadpanned stare. “You’re leaving me with just my stupid ice powers? What happens when I have to go up against someone with fire magic?”

She shrugged. “You’ll figure that out if and when it happens.”

“And what about my flight? You took that away too!”

“No, I just took away your knowledge on how to fly.” She grinned. “That’s what you get for punching me.”

I gawked before regaining my composure and shaking my head. “That’s just unfair. I need my flight!”

“Get to relearning it, then.”

“...you suck.”





[Perspective: Asylum]

“He’s waking up...”

I lifted my head, unsure of whether or not I had actually fallen asleep. As False said, Arrell was beginning to stir, his eyelids slowly rising. Getting the signal, Risk got up and left to retrieve some ice.

As he did this, I reached down and rubbed Arrell’s shoulder. “Hey there...you okay?” I asked quietly, feeling like I was talking to a sick animal. Which, in a way, I guess I was...

He responded with a quiet mumble before he spoke in a somewhat clearer manner. “...no, the cat’s got it with the salad...”

...well, I did say somewhat clearer...

“Um...pardon?” I questioned, hoping I could get him back to coherent phrases.

“...yeah, I’m okay...” he mumbled.

I sighed in relief. False looked at him. “So how long until this is over?”

I glared. “False, he’s sick and half-asleep. Don’t bombard him with questions.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re the one who was asking if he was okay.”

“That’s hardly a-” I cut myself off when I felt something grab my hoof. I looked down at it and saw that Arrell had turned around and was now holding onto my hoof like a stuffed animal as he let his eyes drift closed again.

False chuckled. “I think he thinks you’re a teddy bear.”

I couldn’t help but giggle. Risk came back at that moment with a bag of ice, which he poured onto Arrell and let him absorb. By now, the Windigo was definitely unconscious once more.

“Any reason why he’s cuddling your leg?” the unicorn asked as he sat back down.

I shrugged. “He just grabbed it before falling back asleep...I don’t have the heart to pull away.”

He laughed a bit. “Assuming he’d even let you. He strikes me as the kind of guy who’d have a steel grip even when he’s asleep.”

“You think you can watch him for a while?” False asked. I nodded. “Alright then. Come on, Risk.” She stood up, Risk standing up with her, and they headed for the door.

As they left, I looked down at Arrell and sighed. Someday...I’ll figure out what really goes on in your head.





[Perspective: Arrell]

...

…

...what if your legs didn’t know they were legs?
> 42: Cuddles to Troubles
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

DATE: March 6th
LOCATION: Ponyville

[Perspective: Arrell]

...

...wait...am I awake...?

So that’s how I woke up the day my second round of evolution sickness ended.

As I fell from dream land back into the real world, I couldn’t help but feel like a statue, having been lying down for what felt like years. Yawning, I began the process of opening my eyes as I forcefully unwrapped my hoof from...

...what was my hoof wrapped around?

Slowly, I continued my efforts to open my eyes, and soon my mental question was answered. A light yellow blob was lying in bed with me.

I blinked a bit, then used my apparently unwrapped hoof to rub at my eyes. The blob soon became less so, and I recognized the form of Asylum.

“...did I get drunk or something?” I asked aloud. My voice was apparently enough to stir the sleeping pegasus, as she began to shift in her sleep a bit. Her own eyes also began to open, and they locked onto mine.

For about ten seconds, we just stared at each other. Then, simultaneously, as our brains finally turned on completely, we yelped and jumped backwards - which had the result of both of us crashing to the floor, Asylum dragging the blankets with her.

As I struggled to get back up (hey, I had been lying down for at least a couple days; don’t blame me if I forgot how to stand!), I heard hoofsteps rushing from downstairs, and the door swung open. Risk and False stood there, looking confused and worried.

Of course, when they saw me and Asylum sprawled out on the floor, they looked more amused than anything.

“Finally woke up, huh?” False chuckled as she walked over to me, extending a hoof to help me up. I can’t say I wasn’t surprised, but I wasn’t looking a gift pony in the mouth, so I grabbed it and she hauled me to my hooves. “Took you long enough.”

“What happened to you?” Risk asked Asylum. “I can understand Arrell falling out of bed, but...you weren’t even in the bed.” He paused. “...were you?”

The pegasus blushed as she tried to answer. “W-Well...he was hugging my hoof last night...” I was? “...I tried to pull away, but he just pulled back, and I ended up on the bed, and...well...I was tired...”

Risk blinked. “So...Arrell’s a cuddler, huh?” He smirked. “Didn’t see that coming.”

I glared. “Hey! In my defense, from what I remember, she was warm - and in a good way, not the way that’s dangerous to Windigoes!”

His smirk didn’t fade. He turned to head out the door. “Whatever you say. You two snugglies come down when you’re ready.” He left, False following him with a smirk of her own.

I wasn’t sure if I was blushing or not, or if Windigoes even could blush, but I definitely felt heat in my cheeks. I turned and slammed my head against the wall - partially to hide my possible blush from Asylum, and partially because I just wanted to knock myself out and sleep another day until this was forgotten.

Long story short, all I ended up doing was giving myself a headache and standing against a wall for half an hour or so before finally going downstairs. Asylum left pretty much instantly after I attacked the wall with my noggin, so at least I didn’t have to face her yet.

I wish I was still sick.





After walking into the kitchen, I found Risk downing a glass of milk. When he saw me, he put the glass down and grinned. “So, how was-”

“If you finish that sentence the way I think you’re going to, I will break all your legs completely in half and use the bones to stab your eyes out, then reach down your throat and pull our your intestines to tie you up with so you can’t escape as I burn you alive and bury you in a patch of Poison Joke.”

“...how was...the...trip...down the stairs...?” His grin became a rather disturbed and frightened look.

I smiled calmly. “It was just fine.” I walked past him to the fridge, opening it and looking for something to eat. “Where are the girls? And on a similar subject, where’s Nimble? Haven’t seen him since I woke up.”

He shrugged, seeming to get over my wordy threat. “It’s Nimble. No point even trying to keep track of where he is if he’s not in the same room as you.” He finished his milk. “As for the girls, Asylum’s showering and False is looking over an inventory list for Alterspace.”

“Inventory list? For the articles?” I came out with an apple. Not the best breakfast, but it was all I could find that didn’t require actually putting anything together.

“Yeah. The Royal Guard snagged a few while you were out. Pretty tame ones, though.” He put his glass in the sink. “Last I heard, they were looking for some kind of white hoodie, or something.”

I choked on the piece of apple I had going down my throat. It started making its way out, but I coughed and shut my lips to keep it from popping out. I swallowed it quickly. “Did you say...white hoodie?”

He nodded slowly. “They don’t know what it does yet. Somepony found it, and it seemed to possess them into wearing it. They then just ran off, and the guards are looking for them.”

“Where are they?” I demanded. If this is what I think it is...

“You really need to calm down-”

“Where. Are. They.”

He sighed. “Cloudsdale. You happy?”

“Cloudsdale...how far is it? What’s the quickest way to get there?” I started walking towards him. I couldn’t tell, but I probably had a very freaked-out look on my face.

“Arrell, you’re scaring me...”

“POINT ME TO CLOUDSDALE.”

He gulped and backed away a bit. “I-I don’t know...I think Asylum can show you...she’s been there before...”

“Thank you.” I turned and darted off. “Asylum! Get your cuddly flank out here! We’ve got a hoodie on the loose!”





“Night, mom! Night, dad!” the colt called as he trotted into his bedroom. With a yawn, he flopped down onto his bed and pulled the covers over him, waiting for sleep to take him.

Instead, he felt...uncomfortable. Paranoid. Like somepony was watching him.

Nervously, he opened his eyes and looked around the room. At first he saw nothing out of the ordinary, but then he noticed two crazed-looking eyes.

And they belonged to a crazed-looking pony.

The colt screamed as the pony started trotting towards him, a very large knife held by his wing. He giggled, paying no heed to the screams of the child or the worried yells of the parents currently making their way towards their child’s room.

“Go to sleep...”
> 43: Cloudsdale
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

DATE: March 6th
LOCATION: Ponyville

[Perspective: False Front]

Alright...got the small flashlight thing...got the red bag of bandages...got the weird blue flute...wow, I really need to ask Arrell what these things actually are.

I continued to look down the inventory list. The guards didn’t know what to call the articles either, so they had just drawn a small sketch. It was my job to make sure they were all still there in Alterspace, and so I was looking through Arrell’s saddlebags with a purple cloth around my hoof to keep the articles from having any effect on me.

“...let me dry off first!”

“You can air dry while flying!”

I lifted my head towards the sound of voices, pausing with my hoof in the bag. From around the corner, Arrell dashed in, Asylum stumbling along behind him and looking soaking wet. How he wasn’t reacting to the way she looked, I wasn’t sure.

“Sorry False, I need this!” He grabbed the saddlebags, tossed them on, and ran out, dragging Asylum along with him. Within seconds, I heard the front door open and shut.

I blinked. ...what just happened?





[Perspective: Arrell]

“I hate Styx. So much.”

It took a long time, but finally, Asylum and I had reached Cloudsdale. I still couldn’t fly, so we had to take a hot air balloon. Needless to say, having to wait so long to arrive nearly made me even more insane than I normally was.

The two of us walked around, looking for anything suspicious. We didn’t have a lot of luck; mainly because neither of us knew exactly how to get around, so we ended up going in circles for a lot of the time.

“Arrell, sir!”

I turned my head at the sound of the voice. Two pegasus guards were coming our way, moving in perfect unison. That’s the military for you.

“Drop the ‘sir’. What is it?”

“We heard you were supposed to be resting,” one guard replied. “Is something the matter?”

“Not resting anymore. Got over it. And yes, something is the matter. I hear you’re on the lookout for a white hoodie?”

They both nodded before one spoke. “We didn’t think it was dangerous at first, but we just got word that a child was attacked and nearly killed last night. It seems too closely connected to be a coincidence.”

Asylum stepped forward. “Where is this child? We should have a talk with them...”

“His parents are refusing to let anypony speak with him. The incident has left him exceptionally paranoid and traumatized.”

I sighed. “Great. Our one lead and he needs four years of therapy before we can question him.”

“What about his parents? Could we talk to them?” Asylum asked, ignoring my remark.

The guards nodded, again simultaneously. “Come with us.” They turned and began walking off. I nodded to Asylum, and we followed.





He looked in the mirror.

The crazed face he had come to love looked back.

He kept smiling, even as he brought his knife up. Without any reaction whatsoever, he began to carve away at the skin around his mouth. Soon, he had a bloody smile etched permanently onto his face.

He giggled, tilting his head left and right. He never blinked; he had taken care of that problem already by burning out his eyelids. Now he could see his beautiful face forever, as bloody and scarred as it was.

Once more, he laughed, turning around. A full-grown stallion and mare were collapsed behind him, their stomachs and chests cut wide open and leaking major amounts of blood. They had stopped breathing long ago.

“You lied to me.” He stated this very plainly, then walked on past the corpses.

Pulling the hood of his new article of clothing up and over his mane, the psychotic pegasus hopped out an open window, spreading his wings and flying off.

Anypony who looked up to see him would never have noticed anything out of the ordinary. To them, he was just another pegasus pony out for a flight.

But he knew who he was.

And that was all that mattered.





[Perspective: Asylum]

“Oh dear...”

My eyes widened a bit when I saw the stab wound in the father’s shoulder. It was bandaged up, but the material still had obvious signs of bleeding underneath. The mother was physically unharmed, but she was shaking the entire time.

The father was a gray stallion; rather well-built, even if he looked a little weak right now. His head was bald, but he had a short black tail, right by his thought bubble cutie mark. The mother was a dark blue mare maybe half his size, with a long purple mane and a hair ribbon as her cutie mark.

He noticed my reaction and smiled weakly. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it, miss.”

I gulped and nodded. “R-Right...sorry, um...” I trailed off, not knowing his name.

“Nucleus,” he finished for me. “And this is Pageant.” He indicated his trembling wife.

“It’s nice to meet you both.” I tried to smile. “I’m Asylum. This is Arrell. Sorry it couldn’t have been under better circumstances...”

I glanced around a bit as I said that. There were two guards standing outside the house, guarding the front door. A third was guarding the back door. There were another two wandering around the first floor of the house, and there was another upstairs.

All of this because of one little white hoodie...

“We’re fairly certain Drizzle - our son - will be fine,” Nucleus said. “He’s a tough kid...though I can definitely understand why this sort of thing would scare him.”

“So can I,” Arrell muttered. “How is he?”

“He won’t leave his room,” Pageant responded. “He keeps looking around as if something’s going to jump out at him...aside from that, he’s doing fine. He seems to think the entire incident was just a realistic nightmare.”

Arrell sighed. “It’s a nightmare alright. Frankly, I’m surprised he isn’t hiding under his bed.” He looked at Nucleus. “Did you happen to get a good look at the pony with the knife?”

He shrugged. “I was more focused on the knife itself. I know he had on a white shirt or something, and his body was either white or a light gray. I didn’t get a look at his cutie mark or mane.”

“White shirt...sounds about ri-” Arrell suddenly stopped mid-sentence and hissed in pain, grabbing his head. “Gah!”

My eyes widened. “Arrell?!”

He grunted in response. Nucleus and Pageant seemed similarly worried, though they appeared to be more confused than anything.

Finally, he seemed to fight through it. He turned to the parents again. “Drizzle’s room is upstairs, right?” They nodded. He turned to a guard. “How many guards are upstairs right now?”

“One,” the guard answered. “Stationed directly outside the child’s bedroom.”

“...outside his room?” His eye twitched.

“We thought it would be safe. The door is the only entrance, aside from the window, and the room is two stories off the ground.”

Arrell stood up and slapped the guard across the muzzle. “WE’RE IN CLOUDSDALE, YOU IDIOT! THE CITY FULL OF PEGASI! I DON’T CARE IF THE WINDOW’S FIFTY STORIES OFF THE GROUND, IT’S STILL EASY TO GET THROUGH!”

As if to punctuate that very sentence, a scream came from upstairs. Shoving the guard out of his way, Arrell bolted for the stairs, dipping his head into his saddlebags as he went.

I stood up quickly, turning to Nucleus and Pageant, who were about to get up. “Stay here.”

Nucleus glared. “My son is-”

“Sir, please sit down,” a second guard ordered as he came over. “The situation is under control.”

“Like Tartarus it is!”

I put a firm hoof on his shoulder and leaned down, getting right in his face. “You know that Windigo who just went upstairs?”

“Yeah?!”

“He fights armies when he should be in a coma. One pony with one knife is like breakfast to him.” I removed my hoof from his shoulder and began a quick trot to the stairs. “And I’d say he’s pretty hungry right now.”





[Perspective: Arrell]

Please, Styx, I know you hate me...but I’m begging you, please, please, PLEASE don’t let me be late!

I shoved past the guard in front of Drizzle’s room and slammed the door open, the handle of Bloodbath’s ax clutched in my maw. I glanced at the scene before me to determine if my prayers had been answered.

For once, they had.

Drizzle was backed up against the wall while on the bed as a freakish-looking pegasus pony loomed over him, knife in wing. Neither of them even had any time to turn and look at me before I pounced.

“GET AWAY FROM HIM, YOU SON OF A CHANGELING!” I jumped, swinging the ax down. I aimed correctly, landing the blade right between the two pegasi, cleaving the bed itself in half.

Drizzle screamed again while the pony in the hoodie jumped backwards. He giggled, and I turned to him with a glare. He apparently took this as the signal to attack, because he threw the knife at me.

I raised my hoof and caught it.

His smile faded momentarily. I was surprised myself; I didn’t think my reflexes were that good. But I wasn’t going to let this moment go by without taking advantage of it. Quickly, I stabbed the knife into the ground to keep it out of play, then hefted my ax up and jumped once more.

Once again, the pony got out of the way, but this time, he didn’t prepare for another attack. He jumped for the already open window and flew away.

“NO!” I shouted, running to the window. I silently cursed my inability to fly once again. A few flaps of his wings, and the pony was gone; camouflaged in the white clouds, likely making his way back to wherever he hid.

“Arrell!” Asylum ran into the room. “What happened?!”

“He’s on the run!” I shoved the ax back into my saddlebags. “We need to go after him!”

Her eyes widened. “What?! How? You can’t fly!”

I grit my teeth. “I know...but...we can’t let him...”

She shook her head. “He’s not gone, Arrell. He came here twice, he’ll be back a third time.”

“But...”

“No. I’m sorry, Arrell, but we can’t just blindly chase after him when you can’t even fly!”

I sighed. She was right, but I still hated it. I was so close to getting him, and he got away...

“The guards know what they’re doing,” she continued. “Let them guard the house. If he comes back, they’ll hold him until we can get here.”

“And what if they can’t? What if, next time, this guy comes back with even more weapons? Something better than just a kitchen knife?”

At that moment, one of the guards - who had apparently been watching us talk for the past bit - spoke up. “We’ve sent a request for backup to the princess. Our forces will be doubled at least.”

“Because I’m sure that a dozen Royal Guards can stop bucking Jeff the Killer!” I snapped.

SMACK!

“Arrell. Calm. Down.” Asylum glared at me, her eyes locked onto mine. “You don’t have to do everything.”

I was too stunned to reply. Occasional sparring matches aside, Asylum had never once tried to hurt me. “...but...”

SMACK!

“No! For once, you are going to step back and let the professionals handle something, okay?! The guards are trained for this sort of thing! All you know how to do is kill things!”

That one hurt. I winced, more from the comment than the slap. I glared back at her.

“When did I bring False along with me?” I asked coldly, heading for the door. I knew she was following me, unaffected by my sarcastic question. I sighed, wanting to scream, but I knew it'd be pointless.

Because I knew she had a point.
> 44: Hotel Room
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

DATE: March 6th/7th (it’s the middle of the night, okay?)
LOCATION: Cloudsdale

[Perspective: Asylum]

Despite his determination to chase after the pony with the hoodie, Arrell seemed rather excited at the idea of just relaxing and walking around Cloudsdale after a bit. I had a feeling he was just in the heat of an adrenaline rush or something, and now that he was calmed down, his more lazy side was beginning to kick in.

We spent most of the day wandering aimlessly, occasionally stopping by places for food. Now we were in a rented hotel room, trying to get some sleep.

...well, I was in the hotel room. Arrell had left, saying he ‘preferred clouds’, apparently not realizing that the bed was made out of clouds.

...the fact that there was only one bed in the room may have had something to do with it…

Either way, I was lying in said bed. However, as tired as I was, part of me was forcing my eyes to stay open, locked onto the one window in the room. Even I wasn’t entirely sure why.

Maybe I was expecting the pony with the hoodie to come through the window for me next. Or maybe I was waiting for some signal from the guards that the pony had been caught.

Whatever the reason was, it kept me from completely freaking out when somepony decided to knock on the window from the outside.

After a small mental debate over whether to check on the sound or hide under the covers, I chose the former and slipped off of the bed, carefully moving over to the window. Peeking out, I expected to see the crazed face of the hoodie-wearing psycho.

Instead, I saw Arrell, lying on a cloud and looking more than a little sheepish.

I opened the window. “What’s wrong?”

He didn’t answer right away, instead hopping off the cloud and through the window, landing on the floor. He turned and hastily shut the window, leaving his cloud abandoned to float around freely. “I wanted in.”

“...there’s a door, you know...and why did you want back in? I thought you preferred clouds.”

He shrugged. “I don’t have a key. And it’s too cold for me out there.”

“...you’re a Windigo. You can’t feel too cold.”

“...oh. Right. Then...it’s too warm.”

I facehoofed with a sigh. “Arrell...”

He sighed too, realizing I wasn’t buying it. He moved over to the bed and sat on it. “...I didn’t like being alone.”

I raised an eyebrow as I sat beside him. “Don’t you go off on your own all the time?”

“Yeah, but...I...” He looked away. “...I don’t like that guy.”

“...you mean you’re scared of him?”

“No!” he snapped defensively. “...yes...”

I giggled. “I think everypony who knows about him is scared of him, Arrell.”

“Yeah, but they’re scared of him. I’m scared of the article itself.” He fiddled with his hooves. “I assume I haven’t told you the origin of that article’s story?”

“You mentioned something about Jeff the Killer, I believe…?”

He nodded. “I’ll give you the condensed version of the story. It’s a horror story from Earth about a boy named Jeff. He went insane, killed some guys, and got his face burned. After getting out of the hospital, he...” He looked at me, as if trying to gauge whether or not he should continue.

“He what?” I prompted.

“...he cut a permanent smile onto his face so he could always smile, and burned his eyelids off so he could always see himself in the mirror without needing to blink.”

Now I understood why he had hesitated. “...um...wow...that’s...”

“Narcissistic?” he joked. I couldn’t help but giggle, even if it didn’t seem like the right time. “I know what you mean, though. After that, he killed his parents when they tried to stop him, and then his brother...just because he was there, I think. And since then, he would go around sneaking into people’s bedrooms and killing them...all the while wearing a white hoodie that, of course, now ended up in Cloudsdale.”

I blinked. “Well...that explains what this article does...”

“Yeah...” He swallowed nervously. “...it’s one of the few stories that’s actually scared me. I literally couldn’t sleep without a light on for several days after reading it...and now he’s real...”

Finally, it all clicked into place. He had been so freaked out about even the idea of this article because he already knew about its story. The Royal Guard had been sent to retrieve articles that were, or at least seemed, harmless...and this one definitely was not harmless.

Slowly, I wrapped my forelegs around him in a hug. He didn’t fight it at all; instead, he simply mirrored the action, hugging me back tightly.

“...I don’t want to be alone when he’s out there...”

I smiled and rubbed his back in what I hoped was a comforting manner. “You won’t be...I’ll stay with you...”

That’s when I felt something on my shoulder. Something wet.

He was crying.





[Perspective: Arrell]

I wasn’t sure what it was. Maybe it was the fact that it was the middle of the night. Maybe it was my lack of powers. Maybe it was the fact that I was being reminded of the one physical thing to ever truly scare me as a human.

Whatever it was, it made me feel trapped, as if the walls were closing in on me. Even with Asylum next to me, I felt alone.

It was like I had a gun pointed right at my head, and even though there seemed like no way out of its range, I wanted to keep trying...but part of me knew it was pointless, and all it would let me do is accept it...but I knew there was a way...but it seemed pointless…

All I could do was cry. I had my biggest nightmare come to life and roaming the streets within a ten mile radius of where I was; I had lost almost all the abilities I needed to combat this nightmare; and I didn’t have anyone I could go to for comfort without getting laughed at.

Except Asylum.

Finally, my mind began to take in exactly what was going on. Asylum and I were just sitting still, holding each other, with her hoof occasionally making soft movements along my back as I sobbed my eyes out into her shoulder.

As my brain registered this, it began flashing red alerts, telling me to pull away before things got weird. Normally I would have listened, but this time, I didn’t. I worked on stifling my crying down to a sniffle, but I didn’t pull away. I stayed in the hug and instead managed to shut off the red alerts.

Finally, Asylum pulled her head back, but kept her hooves around me. She looked me in the eye with a caring smile. “Feeling better?”

I nodded. “...c-can I stay here? Please?”

She didn’t even nod. She just giggled and pulled me down into a lying position on the bed, keeping the hug going the entire time. “Do you even need to ask, silly?”

Then she kissed me on the nose.

And I came to the conclusion that, yes, Windigoes definitely can blush.

Slightly red-faced herself, Asylum just giggled again and pulled me closer as she closed her eyes. “Good night, Arrell...”

I was a little stunned, to say the least. “G-Good night...Asylum...”

Finally getting over it, I relaxed into the embrace, closing my own eyes and drifting off into a peaceful slumber.





Again, he aimed for the window. This time, to his surprise and delight, it was already open. He flew in unhindered.

“Freeze!”

He turned. Three ponies in official-looking armor. One of them stepped forward.

“You are under arrest for repeated cases murder and attempted murder!” he declared. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you-”

He was cut off by a knife to the throat.

“Get him!” one of the other guards shouted, pouncing for him. The third guard, instead, ran out the door, yelling for backup.

The guard that pounced received a knife in the stomach for his troubles. He screamed and coughed up some blood before the knife was removed and plunged into his chest, shutting him up forever.

The voices from downstairs were beginning to grow louder.

“Evacuate the family!”

“We need backup, now!”

“Where’s the kid?!”

“Contact the princess! This is an emergency!”

He laughed as he began to slowly walk down the stairs. He barely noticed one guard ushering three ponies out the front door, and he growled.

“Those are mine.”

He was distracted when another guard came at him, this time with a sword. He swung it, but was easily avoided. The knife found its way to his neck, and he fell instantly.

“This game is fun.” He turned to the remaining guards, who were all trying to get out the door. “Let’s play some more.”

He spread his wings and flew at them. As the guards got outside, they all took off in separate directions. One unlucky guard became his target.

This time, the blood didn’t spill indoors. Ponies walking around below screamed as the red liquid poured down around them, followed by a poor guard’s corpse.

He panted, looking around. Unfortunately for him, he had lost the other guards, as well as the family. He growled.

“I will find you...”
> 45: Unblinking Eye of the Storm
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

DATE: March 7th
LOCATION: Cloudsdale

[Perspective: Arrell]

“Arrell! Wake up! Arrell!”

I couldn’t tell who was speaking, but the panic in their voice was enough to get me up without any of the usual grogginess. My eyes snapped open and I sat up quickly, already blinking in the dim sunlight before my brain was even fully functioning.

“Arrell! We have to go! He’s back!” Asylum came into focus beside the bed. Judging by her messy mane, she had only been awake for a few more minutes than I had been.

Her words took about three seconds to register in my brain. Once they did, I blinked, and quickly jumped off the bed. In one smooth motion, I picked up my saddlebags, put them on, and pulled Bloodbath’s ax out. I turned to the pegasus.

“Lead the way.”





Turns out it wasn’t as early in the day as I thought. In fact, it was only a couple hours since I had fallen asleep. My watch said it was five in the morning, but I wasn’t sure if Equestria had differing time zones or not, so I just had to believe that Cloudsdale and Ponyville were in the same one if it did.

Whatever the time was, more ponies were up and about than you’d expect. Some guards were evacuating ponies from houses near where Nucleus, Pageant, and Drizzle lived; others were flying around with megaphones, directing ponies away from certain areas. Backing them up were members of the "Aerial Patrol"; I wasn't sure exactly who they were, but from what I gathered, they were the closest thing to a division of the Royal Guard that Cloudsdale had.

I found it hard to believe. This one pony, because of one article, had brought the entirety of Cloudsdale to its knees.

All to find one colt.

I saw one guard on the ground and ran to him, pulling him away from his conversation with another guard. “You. Tell me. Where is Drizzle?”

“Who?”

“The kid that this guy is trying to kill!”

He blinked before finally realizing who I meant. “He and his family are being held safely in the Cloudiseum. We’re hoping to evacuate them from the city in a couple hours.”

I grinned. “Perfect. Where in the Cloudiseum are they?”

“Ask the guards out front. They’ll show you.”

I nodded and ran back to Asylum. “You know where the Cloudiseum is?”

She nodded, not bothering to ask my intentions. She just turned and began to gallop off. I followed her, actually feeling excited for the first time in a while.

They’re already in the perfect place...now I just need some outside help.





[Perspective: Asylum]

We sat in the room with Nucleus, Pageant, Drizzle, and a dozen guards for a long time.

Arrell had figured out a plan on the way over, but he refused to tell me. Instead, he had asked a number of guards to round up as many weather pegasi from around the city as possible. He gave them all some kind of task, then went back to sitting in the room.

We were silent for a long time. I stole a glance at Arrell’s watch and saw that it was approaching noon. Drizzle and his family should have been evacuated hours ago, but Arrell said not to.

“As soon as we get them out of here, he’s going to strike. And I’m not taking the chance that somepony else will die, whether it’s them or somepony trying to protect them. We’re going to keep them here until the time is right, and then we’re going to get rid of him once and for all.”

That was all he said. It was the only thing he had said when I was in earshot since we got to the Cloudiseum.

“Arrell.”

He looked up at the guard who had walked in.

“They’re in position.”

He stood up. “Drizzle, come with me.”

Nopony questioned him. They knew not to try that anymore. The young colt slowly stood up and wobbled alongside him as he headed outside.

“This guy isn’t in his right mind. He’s not going to question why his target is walking around unguarded. He’ll just take the shot.” He grinned. “And I’ll be ready for him.”

I was starting to like this plan less and less, and I didn’t even know what it was.

The guards led myself, Nucleus, and Pageant up some stairs to what seemed to be the stands for the crowds during events. They were barren now, obviously, which gave us a good unblocked view of the area below.

The ground, which normally had a large hole in the bottom, had been completely plugged up with solid clouds. This allowed Drizzle, who had apparently been sent out while we were still going upstairs, to walk around freely.

At first, nothing happened. Several minutes passed uneventfully. Then, there was a flash of white against the blue sky - and it wasn’t a cloud.

I opened my mouth to scream, but a guard shut me up with a stern glare. I stayed silent, watching with a feel of helplessness as the hoodie-wearing pegasus descended into the arena.

“Now!”

All at once, everything changed.

Arrell ran out from behind a pillar, jumping in between Drizzle and the hoodie-wearing pony just as the latter landed barely a few feet away. A guard flew in, grabbing Drizzle and carrying him away, out of the arena. Pageant looked ready to scream, but a guard shushed her.

The hoodie-wearing pony didn’t look too pleased. He seemed like he was about to fly after the guard, when suddenly, a swarm of at least two hundred pegasi appeared, each one holding a large chunk of cloud.

At once, they pushed the clouds forward, the edges of the puffy material meeting at just the right point and merging. The sunlight that lit the arena began to grow dimmer, candles on the walls of the arena soon being the only source of light.

Within seconds, the open top of the Cloudiseum had been closed off with completely solid clouds.

“Let’s go,” one guard said quietly. He motioned to a nearby door.

My eyes widened. “We can’t just-”

“Arrell asked that everypony be evacuated. No exceptions.” He opened the door quietly. “Come along, or we’ll have to drag you out.”

I looked down at the massive arena, then to Nucleus and Pageant. I sighed and began to walk to the door, the rest of the guards following along and forcing the parents to come.

As soon as were outside, the door was shut, locked, and barricaded. Now there was no way in and no way out.

And Arrell was still inside with his greatest nightmare come to life.
> 46: Go to Sleep
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

DATE: March 7th
LOCATION: Cloudsdale

[Perspective: Arrell]

I sighed. It worked.

The pony with the hoodie didn’t look too pleased. He turned to me with a growl, glaring about as well as he could without having eyelids to lower. I cringed a bit when I realized that this guy went the whole three miles with becoming a pony ripoff of Jeff himself.

However, I didn’t have time to think about that. It was showtime.

I grinned.

“Bring it on, pal. Throw it all at me.”

Apparently taking me literally, he chucked his knife. In a near-perfect repeat of the day before, I caught it with my hoof by pure instinct.

“That’s not going to cut it.”

I threw the knife over my shoulder and into my saddlebags, where he wouldn’t be able to retrieve it. I then turned to face him and saw him charging at me at top speed.

...oh.

He slammed into me, sending us both flying across the Cloudiseum. He recovered quickly, pulling a hoof back and slamming it into my face so hard I felt teeth crack.

If I ever meet Colgate, she’ll probably faint when I open my mouth.

He repeated this action a few times before I decided enough was enough, and grabbed his hoof. With a sharp twist, I got him to let out a scream of pain before I shoved him off of myself and stood up.

“You gotta do better than that!” I taunted.

He pulled a machete out of his hoodie pocket.

“...how did you even fit that in there?”

He didn’t answer - not like I expected him to. Instead, he ran at me again, ready to swing. I tried to back up, only to be reminded that I was right up against the cloud wall. With a startled yelp, I jumped to the side instead, barely avoiding getting some sharp metal stuck in my skin.

He didn’t relent. As soon as he regained his balance - which took all of one-tenth of a second - he turned and swung again. This time, I couldn’t dodge in time, and he left a mean slash across my cheek. The only reason he didn’t take my head off completely was because he didn’t think to move closer to me before attacking.

...ow. Well, at least now I’ll get to see if Windigoes can get scars.

I jumped back as he tried to swing again, avoiding any similar cuts. Then, switching things up, I jumped forward and grabbed him in a headlock.

Falling prey to the natural instinct of anyone to have their head trapped, he dropped the machete and tried using his hooves to pull himself free. I just let go and shoved him down, diving for the weapon and throwing it into my saddlebags just like his earlier knife.

“Come on, man! You gotta do better than that!” I chided as he stood back up. He growled and spread his wings, taking off into the air.

I frowned at seeing him do what I couldn’t, but I knew he’d have to come down soon. I sat and waited, keeping my eye on him.

He flew in circles for a while, then turned and tried to dive bomb me. With a smirk, I rolled to the left, and he slammed face-first into the ground where I just was. Growling, he hefted himself up and lunged at me, taking me by surprise with how fast he stood up.

Once again, he had me underneath him, and looked ready to punch me in the jaw once more. But instead, he grinned maniacally, and brought both hooves up as he leaned back, looking like he was trying to get onto his hind legs.

What is he - oh no…

Before I could react, he brought his entire body weight down on my stomach. I gasped, feeling the breath get knocked out of me and being especially glad I hadn’t eaten that day. He reared back to do it again, and even though I saw it coming, I couldn’t avoid it. I was too busy trying to breathe again.

He slammed onto me again. I would have gasped, but I didn’t have the energy. I couldn’t breathe at all. He reared back and did it a third time, and I saw black appear around the edges of my vision.

Then, he finally made a mistake. Rather than continuing his assault, he reached into his hoodie and pulled out what must have been his last weapon; a meat cleaver. A tiny part of my brain questioned why meat cleavers existed in Equestria.

In the time that it took him to pull the weapon out, I had managed to - finally - suck in a small amount of air. It was all I needed to buck him off and begin the slow, torturous process of standing back up.

“You...gotta...do better...than that!” I panted, even as I struggled to stay on my hooves.

He growled and threw the cleaver at me. Rather than trying to be all showy with catching it, I just ducked, letting it sail harmlessly over my head. He’s getting angrier...losing the tiny bit of mind he has left…

As quickly as I could while still getting air back, I turned and plucked the cleaver from the wall it had gotten stuck in, tossing it into my saddlebags. Now, he was completely disarmed.

Except for his hooves. And my apparent fondness for taking my eyes off of him.

He tackled me, beginning to slam my head against the cloud wall. I know that doesn’t sound painful, but these clouds were as solid as stone. It was like a brick wall to me. I felt something wet starting to leak from my forehead, and I could’ve sworn I briefly forgot my name.

He let up, and I fell down. My vision was swimming, and the blackness in my sights was closing in. The pony with the hoodie stared down at me, giggling madly.

“Go to sleep…”

Sleep...sleep sounds good…

“Go...to sleeeeeep…”

Sleeeeep…

“GET AWAY FROM HIM, YOU SON OF A CHANGELING!”

In what little vision I had left, I saw the pony with the hoodie turn his head, then get knocked away by something. I blinked, confused.

I struggled to sit up, my vision very slowly returning as I fought away the urge to actually pass out. Up against the wall was Asylum, holding the pony with the hoodie in a chokehold with strength I wouldn’t have expected from her.

Finally, my brain got back to full capacity, and I blinked. Standing up, I stumbled over to where they were. I didn’t question what the mare was doing here; whatever the reason, she saved my life, and now she was giving me the opening I needed.

As she held him down, I grabbed the hoodie and began to pull it up, trying to get it off. Just like with the headband, electricity began jumping off of it, but in much smaller amounts. I would later discover that the reason for this was because the clouds beneath us were absorbing most of the static charges (and creating quite a few storm clouds that I would later avoid any blame for the creation of).

Slowly but surely, I edged the hoodie up and over his head, finally pulling it off of his form completely. Breathing heavily, I looked down at the article of clothing I now held, unable to fully believe that it was all over.

Because it wasn’t.

Asylum released the pony from her grip...and he started to scream. He grabbed at his face, feeling his eyes and the cut he had made for his fake mouth, screaming all the while as he felt all the pain he had inflicted upon himself.

Guards began trickling in, coming to check on myself and Asylum. All of them were carrying swords or knives, just in case. One of them ran up to the pony.

“Sir, please, calm down-”

“MAKE IT STOP!” he screamed pleadingly. “DEAR CELESTIA JUST MAKE IT STOP!”

“Sir, please-”

The pony took his hooves away from his eyes and saw the knife the guard had attached to his armor. With a final scream, he grabbed the weapon, turned the blade towards himself, and sunk it into his chest.

“Make...it...stop...”

We all stared in silence as his breathing slowed. He collapsed to the ground, lifeless eyes staring upward and permanently open. Blood trickled from his self-inflicted stab wound onto the clouds beneath us.

I continued to breathe heavily as I watched this all unfold. I turned to Asylum, who had made her way over to me. She had been watching the scene as well, but when I turned to her, she looked back.

“...I tried not to kill him,” I whimpered. “I tried...”

She moved closer to me. I think she hugged me. I’m not really sure. I blacked out at that point.





The pony who found the hoodie had actually been a teenager; maybe a year or two younger than Asylum. He had a habit of going around with his friends and making fun of, if not outright beating up, younger kids.

Drizzle had been the witness to several of these, and had told his parents about it. They told Aerial Patrol, and in the end, all of the ponies who took part in this were either given jail time or left to the punishment of their parents. The pony who found the hoodie got away with just the latter, but he wasn't happy about it. So once he had the hoodie and it took over his mind, his first instinct was to go after the colt who got him in trouble.

His parents were found dead the same day the hoodie was removed. The only other member of their family was an older sister, who wasn't even in the city at the time. Apparently she was in Manehatten. I left the job of explaining what happened to her to the Aerial Patrol.

The clouds around the Cloudiseum were eventually removed, bringing it back to its original state. Soon, the entire city was back to normal.

Me? I missed all of that, because I was unconscious. Asylum had to tell me about it all later on.

"Arrell?"

Speaking of whom...

I turned away from the window to the yellow mare, shaken out of my thought process. "Yeah?"

"It's a little late...shouldn't you be sleeping?"

I chuckled. "I slept all day. Unwillingly, in fact."

She smiled a bit as she stepped closer to me. "How are you feeling?"

I knew what she was referring to. I touched my bandaged cheek and winced. "Feels normal as long as I don't touch it...kind of surprised they didn't have more ice anywhere in the city."

"Well, they use what they need to make the snowflakes." She sighed. "Anything else that hurts?"

"My stomach still aches, but not too bad. It'll be gone by morning." I looked to her. "Thanks again...for getting involved...even though I told the guards to keep you out."

She smirked. "You did, and they tried."

"...what happened, exactly?"

"Oh, nothing much...I could hear pretty much everything, even if it was hard to tell exactly what was going on. You started sounding more and more in pain, and then he said 'go to sleep'...I kind of freaked out..." She looked down. "The guards tried to hold me back, but I just shoved them off of me and ran for the door."

I blinked. "...I told them to lock the door. And barricade it."

"They did."

I blinked again. "...oh."

She giggled. "See? You're not the only one who gets adrenaline rushes."

I smirked. "Yeah, guess not..." Anything else I had wanted to say was interrupted by an unwilling yawn. "...you know, I think I'll take up that offer of sleeping now."

She smiled and walked back to the bed, climbing in and underneath the covers. I followed, though stayed on top of the covers for obvious reasons. She wrapped her forelegs around me, and I did the same. It wasn't for comfort or warmth or anything; it just felt nice.

Just like the night before, she pecked me on the nose. "Good night, Arrell..."

I smiled, nuzzling into her as I closed my eyes. "Night, Asylum..."
> 47: Friendship
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

DATE: March 8th
LOCATION: Ponyville

[Perspective: Risk Reward]

“...check.”

I sighed and moved my rook, blocking Nimble’s bishop just as False walked in. “Any word yet?”

She shrugged. “Princess says that a lot of the Royal Guard have been sent to Cloudsdale - pegasi only, of course. That either means Arrell’s dead in a ditch, or he’s doing something stupid that will somehow result in his victory.”

“Check.”

I looked back to the game briefly, moving my knight to topple his own and save my king. “Probably the latter. If it was the former, she probably would’ve told us.”

“Still, you never know.” She hopped onto the couch and began reading a book.

“Check.”

I sighed and moved my rook once more, taking his queen out. As I did, I heard the door open, and my ears perked up.

“...and he says, ‘Edgar is the one in the hole!’ And you can probably guess how everyone else reacted.”

The response to what sounded like Arrell was a laugh. “I wish I could’ve seen that!”

The Windigo, along with a certain pegasus, walked into the room. I raised an eyebrow when I saw the bandage on Arrell’s cheek, then raised it even higher when I saw Asylum’s wing wrapped around him. “Uh...welcome back?”

Both of them turned to us. “Oh, right! Heya!” Arrell greeted belatedly.

“So...what happened…?” False asked, also seeming a little confused by the state the two of them were in.

“Eh, long story. But we got the hoodie.” The Windigo turned to Asylum after saying that. “I’m gonna go get some ice, okay? The bandage is starting to itch, so I want this cut taken care of ASAP.”

She nodded, taking her wing back. “Alright. I’ll just go shower and clean up.”

He smiled and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Seeya soon then.” He walked off to the kitchen while Asylum flitted upstairs.

I blinked at the scene that just took place. “...uh...did that just happen?”

“I think so...” False answered slowly.

“Checkmate.”

I looked back at the board. Sure enough, my king was trapped with no safe movements. “...great. Two things in five seconds that have confused me.” I stood up with a sigh. “I need a nap.”





[Perspective: Arrell]

“So...you and Asylum, huh?”

I sighed. “Hi to you too, False. Think this could wait?”

“No. Get out of the fridge.”

Groaning, I pulled my head away from the cool air and closed the door. “It felt good…”

She rolled her eyes. “Seriously, though...how did it happen?”

“What, you writing a gossip column? Nothing special happened. It just...did.” I sat down in a chair. “Not everything needs to be detailed and complex.”

“Arrell Ragnarok, lecturing me about things not needing to me complex? Can you spell ‘hypocrite’?” She sat in a chair across from me. “I just don’t want to see either of you two get hurt from this.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You don’t want to see me get hurt? Who are you and what have you done with the real False Front?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You kidding me? You’re like the Falco Lombardi to my Fox McCloud. You’re the Knuckles the Echidna to my Sonic the Hedgehog. You’re the Francis to my Louis, the Squidward to my SpongeBob, the Gimli to my Legolas...none of these comparisons are making any sense to you, are they?”

“No, but it’s kind of amusing to listen to you rattle off all these random names as if they do.” She smirked.

I sighed. “What I’m saying is that, even though you and I are supposed to be working together, it seems like we spend more time going at each other’s throats, or at least you at mine.”

She finally seemed to get it, as she looked down at her hooves in thought. Finally, she looked back up and stepped closer to me. “Arrell...I’m going to be honest with you, okay? But I want you to hear me out completely.”

Blinking a bit, I nodded. “I’ll listen.”

“Thank you.” She took a breath, gathering her thoughts. “To start off...Arrell, I don’t think this is news to you, but...you can be a hoofful to take care of. You’re rambunctious, you’re hyperactive, and you’re...to be blunt...annoying.”

I nodded, staying quiet.

“When I first met you, you were...different. You were quiet and shy and nervous...I thought that was just how you normally were. Then you went back to ‘normal’ after you got used to me, and while I put up with it for a bit, I eventually got tired of it. Then I was assigned to watch you, and...well...I wanted to quit my job.

“Over time, though, I started seeing more sides of you. I realized how you could be when you got angry; when you got sad; when you got sick, hurt, or lonely. Sometimes I felt like I was dealing with a hyper younger brother that I wanted to slap, and other times I felt like I was caring for a helpless little child who was too scared or ill to even go outside.

“Really, my opinion of you wasn’t changed and solidified until the Rancid Windigoes incident. After you...died, temporarily...I felt bad. But then I saw how Asylum reacted, and...well, she looked like she just lost literally everything.”

I blinked. Really? No one had ever really told me the specifics of what happened while I was nearly dead. I just knew that the four of them escaped, the former prisoners who joined me died, and when I came back, the Windigoes were ready to fight.

“I guess until then, I didn’t realize that I was the only one being affected negatively by you. It was hard to imagine someone being so broken because of losing you, especially considering getting away from you was something I had wanted for a while.” She looked down at her hooves. “Then when you yelled at me that night...that kind of finished the job. It hit me that, even though you’re annoying, you’re still a living being. You can love, hate, feel emotions...and yet here I was, thinking you were just a being sent from Tartarus to irritate me for all eternity.”

“False, I need to stop you right there,” I finally spoke up. “You’re going to turn me into a Mary Sue if you keep talking like that.”

“...a what?”

“Never mind. Look, on one hoof, yes, I do have feelings and emotions. But I do have flaws as well.” I chuckled. “If I asked you to overlook all of my negative attributes just because I had positive ones, that’d be just stupid. It’s all up to you whether or not you can handle them both.” I lifted a hoof and booped her on the nose. “If you want to be annoyed by me, that’s fine. If you want to be friends with me, that’s also fine. I’ll live with whatever you choose.”

She giggled. “I think I’d like to give the friends thing a try, maybe.”

Then, she hugged me. I was a little surprised, but didn’t hesitate to hug back. “Thanks...”

“No problem...” She didn’t keep it going too long; only a few seconds before she detached. “I’m not gonna make any promises about never getting angry with you, but at the very least, I’ll try to keep in mind that you’re just as much a pony as the rest of us. That okay?”

I nodded, smiling. “I can live with that.”

She smiled as well. “Alright then...now, I think you’ve got a girlfriend waiting upstairs for you.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Waiting? She said she was going to take a shower.”

She winked. “Exactly.”

“...” I blushed as I started getting mental images. “...I hate you.”

All she responded with was a giggle before turning and leaving the room.
> 48: Winding Down?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

DATE: March 8th
LOCATION: Ponyville

[Perspective: Risk Reward]

I rubbed my head with a sigh. The nap idea didn’t work out so well, so instead I had spent upwards of an hour just lying in bed in the middle of the day. Yet every time I thought about getting up and going downstairs, my body instantly became too tired to even sit up.

Is this how Arrell feels when he gets lazy?

I stared up at the ceiling, thinking things over. Judging by the conversation between Arrell and False that I overheard, the two of them had patched things up, and False in general was calming down. Add that to how Arrell and Asylum were apparently a thing now, along with the lack of obvious immediate problems involving Nimble or myself…

It was as if things were looking up for once. But it didn’t feel right.

Too quickly, everything that was broken had mended itself, and in the process, new things had formed. Every problem I knew about was taken care of, giving us a fresh start. So why did it feel wrong?

Knock it off, Risk...you’re just being pessimistic.

Am I, though?

Things are fine. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, as the saying goes.

This doesn’t look like a gift horse to me. Looks more like a gift metal box with a timer on the side.

Arrell is happy. Asylum is happy. False is happy. Nimble is…

…

...okay, so it’s hard to tell if he’s happy or sad or whatever. But he definitely seems to be well off, so I think it’s safe to assume he’s happy.

Happiness shouldn’t ever be this easy…

You say that as though this was easy. Maybe for you it was, but for the others? You don’t even know what happened in Cloudsdale. It could have been just a standard job for Arrell, or it could have been the worst thing he’s ever gone through. Just let them enjoy their peace and hitch along for the ride.

I sighed, realizing faintly that it was the first real noise I had made since lying down. Arguing with yourself was more tiring than you’d think. Thankfully, I was interrupted from resuming it by a knock on the door.

“Yeah?” I called as I sat up. The handle turned and a familiar pegasus walked in. “Oh...hey, Asylum. What’s up?”

“Um...do you have a moment?” she asked, closing the door behind her. “I wanted to talk about something...”

I nodded, shuffling to the side to make room on the bed for her. She took the silent invitation and sat down. “What is it?”

She fiddled with her front hooves. “...what’s going to happen next?”

I tilted my head. “What do you mean?”

“It just...feels like everything’s resolved itself. I don’t know what’s happening now...”

I blinked, surprised that she shared the same thought process as I had been running through my brain for a little over an hour now. “...well...I guess we just keep going after articles. Why?”

“It seems too simple.” She sighed. “Arrell told me once that one thing he liked about stories was how they never had a strict routine, or even much of a pattern. Everything that happens in them is new from what previously happened, at least slightly...yet here we are, falling into a routine.”

“Well...we’re not really in a story, are we?” I questioned. “Ignoring Arrell’s attempts to ‘break the fourth wall’.” I still hadn’t decided on whether to classify those attempts as him actually having multi-dimensional awareness, or just bouts of insanity.

“Maybe, maybe not...but it feels strange either way.” She poked the bed. “It seems too good to be real. Something’s bound to go wrong...or maybe there’s something going wrong that we’ve missed...”

I put a front leg around her comfortingly. “Hey...try not to think like that, okay?” I ignored my mental screams of blatant hypocrisy. “All loose ends are tied up...if more problems arise, then we’ll take care of them. End of story.”

She shifted nervously. “There’s got to be something we’ve missed...something going wrong that we haven’t paid enough attention to...”

I sighed. “You’ve been hanging around Arrell too much. His paranoia is rubbing off on you.” I pulled her into a full hug. “I promise you...nothing is going wrong.”





[Perspective: Nimble Night]

I waited until it was dark and the others were asleep. I crawled out of the house, using hidden passages I had dug rather than the noisy doors. Before long, I was outside.

Using the one bit of magic I could harness, I focused and let my body fade into invisibility. Nopony would be able to notice me now.

Walking around Ponyville, I timed my hoofsteps and breathing with those of the few other ponies who were out and about so I couldn’t be heard. All the while, I made my way towards a building I remembered as Carousel Boutique.

I didn’t like doing this. But I hadn’t been given a choice.

I snuck around to the back, letting myself turn visible again since nopony was nearby anymore. I squeezed through a hole in the ground up against the wall, dropping down into a small tunnel. It was barely large enough for me to crawl through; I had a feeling that it wouldn’t be long before even I couldn’t fit through.

Moving as quietly as possible, I slowly trotted down the dirt corridor I had been down many times by this point. I heard the sounds of rustling coming from above me. I mentally cursed, knowing that meant I’d have to wait.

I reached my destination and waited, just below the floor and a certain container. I had cut out a portion of the floor, then carved a careful hole in the bottom of the container not too long ago, replacing the piece I cut out and using a stick to hold it up from beneath the tunnel. Nopony ever noticed anything was off about it.

I didn’t have to wait long; maybe fifteen minutes. I heard hoofsteps heading up a flight of stairs, followed by a door opening and closing. Just to be safe, I waited another five to ten minutes, then made my move.

Reaching up, I put one hoof on the bottom of the container and used the other to remove the stick. I then carefully lowered my hoof, bringing the bottom of the container with me. I only brought it down a few inches so as to prevent the contents of the container from spilling out noisily.

After putting the stick to the side, I used my now-free hoof to reach up, blindly plucking an object from the container. I brought it down and placed it beside myself, then reached up to repeat this process. I continued until I had about twenty to thirty of them, then replaced the bottom of the container and moved the stick back into place.

Guiltily, I turned to the pile of gemstones I had just pilfered. Once again fighting away the urge to put them back, I gathered them all onto a cloth and wrapped them up before making my way out of the tunnel.

There were ‘dropoff points’ in literally every town or city I had been to. Manehatten, Stalliongrad, Smooth Grove, Ponyville...there was even a place in Appleloosa, even though I hadn’t even been there for a full day. They kept careful tabs on me, it seemed.

As I had done every other night, I walked along the path to the dropoff point for this particular town, silently depositing the makeshift sack of gems beside a stone marker.

“If little pony want parent ponies to live, little pony keep bringing gems.”
> 49: Taking Inventory
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

DATE: March 8th/9th (middle of the night)
LOCATION: Alterspace

[Perspective: Arrell]

“...rewinds time by three days, rounding up to the nearest morning. Any attempt to use it before the three days is up will only bring it back to where it last brought the user back to. Only the user has any memory or knowledge of the fact that time has been turned back.”

I spoke out loud as I levitated a pen and paper, writing down everything I said. Once I was finished, I attached the paper to the Ocarina of Time and let it loose to float around aimlessly, making sure to keep it from going through the rift I used to come here in the first place.

Since I could manipulate Alterspace as much as I wanted, it was the best place to test what each article did. Obviously I already knew what Ryu’s Headband and Jeff the Killer’s Hoodie were for (and I didn’t want to even think about the latter), but there were still a few articles that the Royal Guard collected that I didn’t know about.

I was about to start testing what looked like a DJ Hero turntable controller when a rift opened nearby and Celestia walked in.

“Greetings, Arrell,” she said with a nod. “I take it you’re having difficulty sleeping?”

I shrugged. “Didn’t even try yet. Just figured I’d get this done.” I poked the turntable. “Where did the guards even pick this up?”

“A club in Stalliongrad. It didn’t seem to be causing any negative effects when they first picked it up, though the pony who had it didn’t seem very eager to get rid of it.” She walked over and sat down beside me. “I assume it produces music.”

“Probably.” I slid it to the side, deciding talking was the more important matter here. “Why’d you come here, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I’ve managed to track down the original universe of the article you found in Appleloosa,” she answered. “I was going to send it back now.”

Nodding, I willed Ryu’s Headband to travel over to us. “Sounds good to me. One down, millions to go.”

She laughed a bit at my pessimism. “A little is better than nothing.”

“True...” I stood up. “Mind if I watch?”

“Watch? Arrell, you need to do more than just watch.” She stood up as well, taking the headband into her magical hold. “You need to help.”

I blinked. “...pardon?”

“The rift to the universe this article comes from can only be opened through Alterspace, and I don’t have the power required to open an interdimensional rift to anywhere other than your own world. And even then, that’s only because there’s already been ‘leaks’ - as in, our world being a television show in your world.” She shook her head. “The only dimensional contact Equestria has had with the universe this headband comes from was when it came here in the first place.”

“What am I supposed to do? I can’t open rifts to anywhere other than Equestria.”

She smiled. “That’s because you don’t know where the other universes are.” She leaned down, gently placing her horn against my forehead. “Hold still.”

I tried to ask what she was doing, but before I could speak, my vision blurred. All sorts of strange shapes and locations flashed before my eyes for what could have only been half a second; maybe a full second at most. Yet it felt like several minutes.

When she finally took her horn away, I stumbled slightly as my brain tried to force some kind of information to the front. I couldn’t even tell exactly what it was. All I knew was that I needed to do something. Now.

Hissing, I focused on doing whatever this information was trying to make me do, and a giant rift opened not too far from myself and Celestia (I think; it’s hard to gauge distances in a black void). As if being pulled by a vacuum, Ryu’s Headband shot out of the princess’s magical hold and into the rift, where it disappeared.

Finally, my brain calmed down, and the rift closed on its own. I gasped for air, having forgotten to breathe the entire time. I temporarily wondered how Alterspace could have air, but I quickly chalked it up to magic so I could move on from that topic and get to the fact that I was currently facedown on an invisible floor and it was not very comfortable.

Celestia put a hoof on my shoulder. “Arrell? Are you alright?”

I tried to stand up, but my legs were jelly. I couldn’t even muster up the brainpower to make Alterspace just give me energy. “...y-yeah...alright...”

The princess used her magic to pick me up, setting me on my four hooves. “You should get back to Equestria and get some sleep.”

I shook my head. “...taking inventory...”

“The articles can wait. You need rest.” She nudged me towards the rift leading back to my room in Ponyville. “Go on.”

I sighed and staggered towards the rift. She’s right...I need sleep.





My eyes opened, and I found myself in a white expanse. For a moment I was confused; just a moment ago, I had been lying in bed with Asylum. It only took a few seconds for me to realize I was dreaming.

“How fitting...you already know this is a dream.”

I spun around to see Styx standing behind me. “How many times now have people started talking to me from behind rather than walking in front of me? ...and what do you mean by ‘fitting’?”

She chose to only answer the second question. “Not everyone feels like calling you the ‘Master Chief of Equestria’. Really, that’s just a tacky nickname.”

“Well excuse me, princess!”

“Some gods have taken to calling you the Lucid Dreamer,” she continued. “You’re aware of just how ‘real’ everything is, as well as how to shape it to your desires...”

I sighed. “You know, all it took was knowing about some weird fan fictions before being sent here. It’s really not that special. Any other human who explored the net more probably would’ve found it.”

“Even so, they didn’t, and you did...and now here you are.” She looked me in the eye. “I hope you don’t think you’re anywhere close to being done.”

“Trust me, I know I’m nowhere near,” I replied. “I’ll be rotting in Tartarus long before all these articles are taken care of, and even that’s a long time coming.”

She nodded. “Though I can’t say this is what I planned on you doing when I brought you here, it may win me the game yet.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, the game...just so you know, I’m not doing this to help you win.”

“Oh, I know. You’re just doing what comes naturally to you...as in, you’re doing whatever you want.” She smirked. “Whatever you do, keep doing it. You’re definitely making a name for yourself, and that’s still scoring points for me, so I’m fine with it.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, yeah...it all comes back to you in the end. Well, don’t expect too much from me, lady.” I smirked back. “Things are finally calming down, and I like it that way.”
> 50 - The Finale: No Mistakes, No Regrets, Still No Fingers
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

DATE: March 9th
LOCATION: Ponyville

[Perspective: Arrell]

My ears flicked at the sound of a rapid yet gentle assault against the house as my mind slowly began to reactivate. With a yawn, I forced my eyelids to lift up, greeting my vision with the sight of an adorable pegasus mare asleep next to me.

Smiling, I gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead. I then proceeded to slowly sit up, removing her forelegs from around my torso, before turning to look out the window. Sure enough, there was a heavy downpour of rain going on outdoors.

Definitely made the right decision to sleep in a bed rather than on a cloud.

A quiet whining sound brought my attention back to my bedmate. Chuckling, I lowered my body back onto the bed properly, and she wrapped her forelegs back around me with no hesitation. She stopped her whining, and smiled wider as she unconsciously snuggled against me.

...yep. Definitely made the right decision.

I sighed happily, closing my eyes once more to drift back to sleep, continuing to cuddle with Asylum.

I could get used to this…





“Wakey wakey, cuddlies! Sun’s been up for hours now! Can’t sleep all day!”

I groaned at the sound of the yelling waking me from a great dream. Knowing there was no point trying to get back to sleep, I sat up, rubbing my eyes. I could feel Asylum shifting around beside me.

“About time you two got up,” Risk continued, standing at the foot of our bed. “It’s half past noon. How can you even sleep that long?”

I shrugged, yawning. “I’m a lazy Windigo…?”

He rolled his eyes. “Tell me something I don’t know. Now get up.” With that, he turned and left the room.

Sighing, I hopped out of bed, turning to see Asylum also climbing onto the ground, though at a significantly slower pace. I chuckled. “Still a little groggy?”

She tried to answer, only to be cut off by a yawn. This caused me to yawn as well, leaving us both temporarily incapable of communicating. Finally, we finished, and she managed to get out her response. “...a bit, yeah...”

I chuckled. “I think we just need a shower or something. That’s always a good way to wake up.” I made my way to the door, looking back at her. “Coming?”

She blinked, having apparently gotten temporarily lost in thought, and blushed a bit. “R-Right, coming...” She trotted hastily over to the doorway, joining me in walking down the hall.

“Lost in daydreaming?” I questioned.

“A-A bit...” she admitted.

I smirked, nudging her. “Did it have anything to do with the shower I mentioned?”

That definitely got her. Her faint blush increased greatly, and she averted her eyes. “U-Um...”

I laughed a bit, nuzzling her. “Oh, relax. I doubt we could even share a shower anyway, unless you’re fine with cold water. A stream of hot liquid isn’t exactly good for me.”

She smiled lightly and giggled. “Well...if you ever decide to give that a try, I think I can handle it.” She winked, bumping her flank against mine before turning and walking into the bathroom.

My face heated up and I facehoofed. Note to self...don’t try to get the last word in. Ever again.

“Well, look who’s finally out of bed.” I turned to see False coming down the hallway, looking about as cleaned up as she normally looked. “You and Asylum have a good sleep?”

I chuckled. “I know I did...haven’t asked her yet.” The sound of rushing water reached our ears. “...she got to the shower before me.”

“Just walk outside. There’s probably enough water out there for you to get one of your own without having to wait for her.”

“Yeah, because that wouldn’t defeat the purpose of an actual shower at all.” I rolled my eyes. By now, the others had learned how to tell when I was actually doing that, despite my lack of pupils, so it didn’t feel weird to do anymore.

She chuckled. “Whatever you say.” She knocked on the door to the bathroom. “Asylum! It’s False! Can I come in?”

I took that as my cue to leave, heading off down the stairs. Judging by the sounds of a door opening and closing behind me, False was given permission to enter.

With a bored sigh, I flopped down onto the couch. My saddlebags had apparently been abandoned right beside it, so I reached down into one bag and pulled out my little Tetris box, which I had taken to calling the DevIce.

Yeah, no one else thought it was funny either.

Rather than starting up a new game of Tetris, I turned the DevIce around so I was looking at its back. I started using my ice magic to deconstruct it when I realized that I didn’t have any extra ice to do what I was planning on. I contemplated getting up and walking to the freezer, but...

“Riiiiiiiiisk!” I called.

The unicorn poked his head out of the kitchen. “What’s wrong?”

“Can you bring me some ice?”

“...can’t you just get it yourself?”

I attempted a pouty face. “I’m comfy.”

He facehoofed, either at my face or my reasoning. “Hang on...” He went back in and came out a minute later, several bags of ice in his magical hold. “What do you need them for?”

I took the bags. “Thank you. And I’m just making some upgrades.”

“Upgrades?”

I nodded, pulling out a small block of ice and beginning to chip at it with my hoof. “Tetris has started to get boring.”





Are any of you readers out there game developers? Or, at the very least, do you know the process and work that goes into making a game?

Now imagine trying to recreate that game using blocks of ice.

Yeah, let’s just say it could make Valve Time look like weekly releases.

Tetris had been easy, but this time, I was aiming for recreating Pac-Man. Just carving the ice into a perfect copy of the maze itself took me about three hours. I didn’t even notice when Asylum called to let me know she was done with the shower; it took waving her hoof directly in front of my face to get me to snap out of it.

One cleaning later, I was back to work. Risk didn’t mind relinquishing the use of his horn so I could use the Fine Rock’s magic for myself, so thankfully that wasn’t an issue. Trying to figure out how to make the Pac-Man ice sculpture’s mouth open and close, however, was.

This is a great story to tell. “What did you do when you weren’t collecting articles?” “Oh, I recreated Pac-Man on a block of ice.”

I felt weight on my shoulders and looked back to see Asylum casually resting her forelegs on them. “Whatcha doin’?” she asked in a singsong voice.

I smiled. “Remaking retro human stuff with ice cubes.”

“Like Tetris, huh?” She hopped over the couch and sat beside me. “You’re really bored, huh?”

“Kinda.”

She hummed. “Well...False just got a message from the princess. She didn’t want to contact you directly in case you were still recovering from Cloudsdale, but apparently there’s a new article that just showed up in Stalliongrad.”

I groaned. “We have to go back there?”

“Oh, calm down. It’s not that bad. Besides, it gives us a chance to visit Smooth Grove.” She pecked me on the cheek. “So, how about it? Up for chasing down a glove?”

I sighed, putting the mostly unfinished game back into my saddlebags. “Only because you asked so nicely.”

She giggled. “I’ll let the others know.” She hopped off the couch and went off to find the other three.

I slid the saddlebags onto my back. ...you know what? I still say I could get used to this. As often as it’s all gonna hit the fan, at least it’ll be fun.





Mistake
1 - an error in action, calculation, opinion, or judgment caused by poor reasoning, carelessness, insufficient knowledge, etc.
2 - a misunderstanding or misconception
3 - me, and I’m damn proud of it!
> SEQUEL: To Forgive, Celestial
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's out now! Click here to see it!

WARNING: As the description states, this sequel will have an increase in its dark content, as well as have sexual references and even outright sex scenes (though noted so they can be skipped), so it's been rated as Mature.
> To Forgive, Celestial (SFW)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Someone wanted to know if I could publish an "alternate" version of this story's sequel, To Forgive, Celestial, without any of the sex scenes so they could read the story without needing to activate "View Mature". Understandable.

While FIMFiction has a rule against posting the same story twice, which it would technically be if I made two versions of the story, I came up with a solution: release Safe For Work (SFW) versions of the chapters via Google Docs!

I'll be announcing the posting of each SFW chapter on my blog, so you can follow me if you want to find out when new SFW chapters are released. They will be somewhat later than the regular chapters, but not by too much.

Go here for the SFW chapters!