> The Forgotten Promised Land
>  by PokeGail
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Smiles were plastered across the faces of a few of my more devoted followers, not from my intervention, but from the love that they share for each other. A few older individuals crowed around a single man laying down, slowly withering away on a medical bed, his eyes closed, the only sound the steady beeping of a monitor.

It has been many centuries since I've last interfered with the mortal realm taking a spectator approach when dealing with them, but moments like these, moments of peace and love remind me of why I created these beings. So with a gesture of my hand, I fed life into the man for one final time giving him peace, and a chance to say goodbye, even if only for a moment. 

Standing back and observing the scene, I knew my interference would affect the world in some other way, maybe me doing this will cause a hurricane that will kill thousands, or make a man go insane from catching a glimpse of me, but I was prepared for the repercussions. I've lived long enough to know that certain actions have consequences and that I will have to face them when they appear.

After watching the friends say their farewells, I thought that it was high time to bring this poor soul, and have him join the wheel once more. So with a flick of my wrist, the man drew his last breath, with many tears shed, and many a prayer given. I began to judge the soul that was brought before me. Like reading from a menu I began to read.

I nodded my head slowly as I went through his life, judging him and determining what to do with his soul. I had several opinions I could choose from, I could simply return him to the wheel, and let fate decide what happened to him. Several things could happen to him in fact, some good, some bad. He could simply be reincarnated into a slug, or if he was really lucky he could be born to a rich family, given everything he ever wanted, and live a peaceful pampered life, but fate is a cruel mistress, and after seeing his achievements, and all he went through I started to grow a liking to this fellow. So I looked at his soul one last time, examining the blue orb as it swirled around in my grasp, and decided to ask his thoughts on the matter. 

Within a moment the orb changed to an ethereal small child, then quickly to a teenager, then a grizzled-looking middle-aged man, then finally back to an old man. This man looked nothing special, he wasn't too tall, he wasn't too strong, and after closer inspection, he didn't look all that smart, overall he seemed about average.

After circling him several times I decided to awaken his spirit. 





My eyes groggily fluttered open, opening to a vast empty void. I looked around cautiously, the last thing I remembered was being surrounded by a few of my old war buddies, the memory brings a slight smile to my face. Then as quickly as it came I started to feel a sense of dread come over me as I thought about my current predicament. Am I dead? Is this the afterlife? I contemplated this for a moment, then I heard a voice come from behind me.

"No, no, this isn't the afterlife my friend, more like something in-between."

I did a quick one-eighty, my gazing shifting and watching as a 'man'  slowly approached me. Curiously, and warily I watched, I had a good idea who this was but I didn't know if I was dreaming or if I died. I watched on, and what caught my eye as he got closer was not a sense of divinity, but a sense of normality. This individual seemed almost to average, perfectly so. Average looks, average height, everything. I studied him for a few more moments noticing that his hair wasn't just one color, nor were his eyes, they seem to be a fix of all of them, mixed together perfectly. I opened my mouth to speak but he raised his hand, and there I was standing next to him. He shook his finger at me, and a sigh left him. 

Sigh "Are you really not impressed?" I just looked at him my expression turning to one of confusion. "Your lord and savior stands in front of you, and all you can do is give him a weird look? Kinda a weird response." I was perplexed, I didn't know how to respond. I just stood there and decided the best thing to do was to stay silent.

He looked at me for a few more moments, his eyes felt as if they pierced my very soul. I tried to look away from him but when I did, he appeared instantly to reaffirm his gaze. So with nowhere else to look, I decided to just look straight down. As I looked down I saw that my body was a bluish transparent color that I could see through. This spooked me, making me jump just a bit. I could hear a chuckle come from behind me. "Yeah, that usually gets them." 

I decided this was as good as a time as any to try and talk, with a slight cough to clear my throat I began, "So I'm dead am I?" 

He smiled at that, "Technically your body on Earth died, but your soul is still here. So in a matter of speaking Yes and No." I nodded my head at that, 

"Well I lived an interesting life, a few complaints but overall it was decent," I stated, as he nodded

"That's all I could hope for, all I ever strived for, all I ever wanted was for you all to live a life you found meaningful, to live happily, and to live free." I quirked a brow at this statement, 

"There's not a lot of happiness down on Earth right now sir, millions are dying, millions more will follow, if you wanted happiness for us, you're not doing a good job, from all the books I've read about you, your all-powerful why not fix the world?"

For a split second, I saw a ping of sorrow in his eyes, "That's a question I get a lot, and the answer is always the same." He turned around and gestured to the empty expanse. "I will show you why I don't intervene, why I refuse to." As he finished his sentence  the void went from being complete darkness to several million different scenes, scenes of different natural disasters, to deadly wars being raged, he looked at me sorrow clear in his voice, "No matter how small I intervene in the world, the consequences are always severe, me trying to push someone in the right direction to do better, might have the adverse effect." Pictures of different dictators flashed in front of me ranging from Queen Mary the First to Adolf Hitler. 

I fell to my knees, I was flabbergasted, I had no idea how to respond to what I was being shown. I looked up to the God that I worshiped my whole life, and saw not God but a man trying to find purpose. He shook his head, and the scenes before me dispersed and darkness reigned once more. He looked over to me with a face that has seen so much sorrow that it lost the ability to cry, it broke my heart. I tried to speak, but something in my throat stopped me, as I tried to hold back tears. "Sad, I know, all this power and the good I could do, but the rules I put in place millions of years ago restrict me." 

Sigh He gave another sigh, "But discussing my shortcomings is not why I brought you here." He helped me up off my knees and gestured to a table that he summoned up. "I have a proposition for you, the world you live in, is out of my control but there is another that I made long ago that I keep tabs on every so often, I can't interact with it as freely as I would like, but I can do enough." He slowly bent over and put a rather large box in the center of the table. 

I gave him an inquisitive look, "What are you getting at?" He smiled, a deep smile that a child would give when excited. 

"Well," He started, "I propose that instead of sending your soul to the wheel to be reincarnated back on Earth, I send it to a different planet, the one I stated earlier, with all your memories intact!." He finished excitedly. I slowly nodded my head, 

"Ok, so let me get this straight, you want to send me to an unknown planet, why? For what purpose?" 

He started to get a bit giddy, "Well first off it's not somewhere entirely unknown to you, you used to watch a tv show in your youth that was quite similar to this place." I looked at God, confusion clear on my face, 

"I have no idea what you're talking about still." He rolled his eyes and started to hum in a familiar tone. Instantly memories started to flood back to me, and I looked at him confused for what felt like the millionth time. "Uuuh God, so you're telling me that you made another planet off in the vast expanse that is space, that is based on a TV show on Earth?" He shook his head, 

"No, no, the TV show was inspired by the planet, see I took one of the inhabitant's soul and put it on Earth, remnants of her past life must have seeped through." 

"Uh-huh." I mumbled, "I gotta admit sir that this is quite a shock, reminds me of a few fanfictions I read in my youth." He stood from his seat and pointed at me, 

"That is exactly what I am getting at, it will be almost exactly like that." He walked over to the box that he put on the table a little while ago. "See I am having quite a problem on that planet, lots of baddies are planning some really scary stuff!" He started to take books, papers, and pencils out of the box. "While looking into your past I saw that you enjoyed a particular game." Looking him in the eyes I wasn't paying attention to what he brought out, "In most fanfictions that I have glossed, some powerful entity gives the hero special powers and makes them almost impossible to beat, in this case, I will just be making you unique to the world." That is when I turned my head to see what he was referring to, and in shock, surprise, and finally recognition I understood where he was going with this. 

I started to laugh a little, but not because anything was funny, just from the sheer weirdness and how unbelievably ridiculous everything was at the moment. God stood there a smile plastered across his face as he held in his grasp an old dusty copy of the Fifth Edition Players Handbook for Dungeons & Dragons. 





I stood there stoic with a smile across my face as the old man laughed at the absurdity that was being displayed. I know I was being a little bit over the top but I didn't want him to feel out of place or to be pressured too hard. I let him laugh for as long as he wanted, which lasted a few good minutes. When he finally calmed down, I looked at him and told him to scoot a little bit closer to me. He did as I asked and I started to explain some things to him,

"See the rules of your new home are much like those back on Earth, the exception is that I will be giving you a form of magic that doesn't exist there, and a few other boons so you don't die outright." I opened the book and turned to page 45. "You can choose any of these classes, stats don't mean anything on the sheet in this case, your strength, and all that will be for you to determine, and grow,"

The old man nodded, and a mischieve smile crept onto his face, "So I can choose any of these classes, and you won't object." I gave him an affirmative look, "Well, in that case, I want to be a Paladin, with you being my Diety." I looked at him, not expecting this, which made me crack a smile. 

"Clever, clever boy!" I praised him, but I was also shaking my head. "I would love that, there is nothing in the world that would make me happier, but on that planet, and Earth I can't use the full extent of my power, the smaller deities there would be a much better choice." The old man shook his head, 

"No can do God, I have no idea about any of the Gods on that planet, the only one that I have any idea about is you, so that is who I choose as my diety." 

I looked at him, and patted him on the shoulder, "Well I guess this is going to be more hands-on than I expected." 

I stood from my seat and gestured for the old man to stand up, as he did everything disappeared, I held out my hand for him to take, which he took causally. "These are the first of the several boons that I will be giving you, first I will allow you to sense being that are either Heavenly, Undead, or Devishish in Nature at will." A light golden glow started to form around the old man, "Second I will give you the ability to heal wounds and treat diseases of not only yourself but others." Soon the glow from the old man would seep farther into his Ethereal form. "Lastly as a personal gift from me I will bestow upon you two separate gifts, the first will be a mind that can neither be read, or controlled, and second the ability to negate the negative effects of both Fire & Ice, don't want you dying of heat, or freezing to death. " I joked. 

As I finished, no longer did a blue Ethereal old man stand in front of me, but a golden Ethereal grizzled young man with a look of determination on his face, I eyed him impressed on how well, and how willing he is to just accept his fate. I watched him approvingly looking him up and down. After a few moments of me walking around him making sure everything was in order, the Golden Boy decided to speak up, "So, now that we got that out of the way I must ask what exactly do you want me to do down there?" It took me a second to respond, 

"I think you will know when the time comes, can't give you all the answers that's cheating." He stared at me for a while giving me the stink eyes but soon gave in. 

"So how will I be getting to the planet? Will I be taking a spaceship, teleported?" 

I looked him dead in the eyes as I spoke, "There is only one way for you to get to that planet." I stated.

"And what would that be?"

I giggled, "The old fashion way of Course!" As I snapped my fingers and my Ethereal champion disappeared and sored through the void, returning to the wheel. The faint sound of a baby crying echoed, it filled my ears with the sweetest sound I have ever heard in the past millennium.
> Chapter 1 : New Beginnings
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Light filled my eyes as I slowly regained consciousness, black blurs seemed to dance around the room as my eyes tried to readjust. I tried with all my might to reach out and grab anything or anyone but to no avail. The room that I was in was eerily quiet with not a word being spoken, and the only sound that I heard was of several different people breathing. I layed in what I assumed was my old hospital bed, remembering the odd dream that I just had. After a few moments, one of the blurs started to approached me and started to lift me softly from where I was laying, this made me highly concerned. 

'How the hell is this person lifting me so easily?' I thought to myself as they lifted me higher, and higher.

Soon I was being cradled in their arms feeling the warmth from their body, and then a realization that I must have been naked started to cross my mind, heat filling my cheeks at the thought. Being cradled for a few minutes my eyes started to adjust to the light and when I shifted my gaze up I saw a beautiful Blue-haired woman smiling down at me, I reached up to her and that is when things got weird.

I lifted my hand and instead of seeing my old wrinkled hand, a small baby hand was in its place. That is when it hit me, that was not a dream, that was all real. I started to hyperventilate at this point, which put a worried and frantic look on the women's face holding me. She looked around frantically, then quickly handed me over to a man in a white doctor's robe whose hands started to glow green, as I felt my eyes get heavier and heavier. 

Several Hours Later

I awoke peacefully in what appears to be a nursery, shaking my head at the absurdity that was taking place, I looked to the ceiling and inwardly sighed. 'What the hell did I get myself into?'

I laid in that nursery for several hours falling in and out of consciousness, soon the call of nature overtook my body, and I grimaced, 'I fucking hate this body!' A nurse came by every so often to 'change' me, the anger and embarrassment that I felt were overwhelming.

After a while, a woman in a wheelchair being pushed by one of the nurses approached where I was located. The woman had a strange beauty to her, she had pure white hair which brought back memories of a quiet snowy day. Her eyes the color of honey, sweet and innocent. She looked at me with pure love, the look that only a mother would give, I'm ashamed to admit it, I wanted to hug this woman, so I reached up for her, slowly flexing my baby fingers to get my point across. She smiled and look towards the nurse who gave her the go-ahead. 

The woman who brought me into this new world picked me up, she was so careful about it as if I was a diamond worth all the money in the world. She brought me in close, and held me, softly cooing to me, giving me words of encouragement, and overall, all the love she could muster. I gave in, it has been many years since I felt something as pure as this, something this perfect to protect. I looked up to my new mother and smiled playing into the part that was given to me. She held me for hours, feeding me a bottle when I got hungry. 

Then a man approached us as she was playing with my feet, his hair like fire, eyes like garnet, a smile that could warm the coldest of rooms. He bent down and kissed my mother on the cheek, and laid his hand on her shoulder. He looked at me warmly, "If that is not the cutest thing I have ever seen, I don't know what is!" He joyfully bellowed. He leaned forward towards me poking my stomach, "Did they ever discovered which of the three clans he is?" My mother shook her head.

"No, none of the normal tests are working for him, they told me to watch him carefully when we take him home, that babies will start to display their heritage early on." The man that I could only assume was my father nodded, 

"Well I hope Akadi smiles down on him, I want this boy to fly." My father began to flex, and red Ethereal wings sprouted out his back. My eyes widened at that, this world is nothing like I imagined, and I was grateful. No talking horses, I wasn't a horse!

My mother scoffed playfully at him, "Well I hope Azuth gives him her blessing, magic makes everything so much easier." She said as a Honey-colored aura floated a bottle into my mouth. They talked some more, but almost instantly I tuned most of it out as I drank greedily from the bottle. After the bottle was empty, my mother smiled at me as she set me back down on the crib, she then leaned over and kissed me on the forehead. She looked to her husband, and started to softly whisper to me, "I'm sorry my little Snickerdoodle, me and your father have to leave you here one last night, the doctors want to do some last-minute test on you, just to make sure everything is ok."

I made some baby noises at her, she kissed me once more than left without another word. A few hours passed in silence but would be broken by a doctor, and his two nurses came in. They wheeled my crib out of the nursery that I was in, and took me through the hospital, then finally outside. The nurses were carrying a strange device with them, while the doctor held a clipboard. The doctor turned to the nurses and began to speak, "First we will test to see if this boy has the blessing of Akadi." One of the nurses walked forward, and picked me up into her arms, as she held me she summoned two pink Etheral wings and started to lift off, I was worried, I had an idea as to what they were doing, and I didn't like it. 

She flew higher and higher into the air to the point where breathing was getting a little hard. She looked at me, poked my stomach then unceremoniously dropped me out of her arms. I started to plummet, faster, and faster. I started to wail like a child, tears forming around my eyes. ' What the hell is wrong with these people! Who the hell drops a baby!?' As I fell I saw the nurse who dropped me, casually flying next to me, I looked at her with as much hate as a day-old baby could muster. As we neared the ground the nurse decided that we had fallen enough, and decided it was time to scoop me up back into her arms. As she did that I could feel bile rising as I puked all over her as we landed. 

As we landed the nurse that I just puked on handed me to one of her co-workers, as she began to clean herself off. The nurse she handed me to I recognized was the same one who must have delivered me the other day. She gave me a wide smile as she set me back into my crib. Looking at the doctor I saw that he was writing something down, then crossing another thing out. "Well he isn't blessed by Akadi, let us see if we have any luck with Azuth."

One of the nurses walked forward and started to set up a little machine next to my crib. They messed around for a bit, pressing buttons, and connecting cables, then pulled out what looked like a tinfoil hat from within the machine. One of the nurses placed the hat onto my head and pressed a button, soon a soft humming could be heard emanating from the machine. This would go on for a bit, the doctor would write some notes every so often, then the humming changed from soft to something more akin to a large car engine, grumbling loudly, and vibrating softly. The doctor's eyebrow raised at this.

A minute later the hat's vibration became more and more intense, visible shaking violently, I could feel slight shocks on the top of my skull. Involuntarily I began to cry, and wail from the pain. The doctor quickly grabbed the remote from the nurse and started to press buttons, which only made shocks worse. Soon I could smell a little bit of burnt flesh start to fill the air. The nurse that first delivered me rushed forward to try and force the hat off but was blown back by an unknown force, the clouds above us started to grow dark, lightning cracking across the sky. The people in front of me looked on in horror as the top of my head slowly started to cook. 

I screamed and screamed begging in my mind for the pain to go away, I tried to open my eyes, to beg, to plead with the doctor to make it stop. The only look that the doctor had was a look of complete horror on his face, he had dropped the device he was carrying and tears were streaming down his face, the nurses were wailing, and begging whatever God they worshipped to make it stop. I looked to the now stormy sky and called out in my mind for God to save me, save me from this pain, my life had just started, you couldn't be so cruel to let it end so quickly.

As that thought left my mind, I could feel a golden aura wrap around my head, the pain slowly subsided, the burns quickly healed. The machine strapped to my head exploded in on itself sending black mist into the air, which formed into a cloud and floated away. I could feel the golden aura wrap around me, filling me with warmth, and security. I could feel inside my mind God talking to, "I'm sorry my friend, I wasn't expecting that to have such a reaction, usually, the Gods of this world are more merciful, to try and kill a kid, shameful." 

I was breathing deeply at this point, tears were flowing freely from me, "This is bad, my interfering here will have repercussions on this world, please don't call for my aid anymore unless it is necessary" I could hear him making a clicking noise with his tongue, "I understand that you had no other option, so I won't blame you for anything that comes from this."  Soon I felt the presence in my mind disappear as the nurses rushed up to me, looking me over, holding me close to their bosom, I wanted nothing to do with them. I cried and cried until they put me back into my crib.

One of the nurses rushed off along with the doctor somewhere that wasn't the hospital.  They would soon return with my mother and father in tow. My fathers was enraged he punched the doctor, and started to scream at the top of his lungs, my mother ignoring everything else rushed up to me and put me in her arms, holding me tightly, tears streaking down her beautiful face, soon my father joined us leaving the doctor, and held me and my mother close, tears running down his face also, the worry that they were showing me broke my heart as I also started to cry once more.
> Chapter 2 : Origins
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Three years would fly by, these years would go relatively quickly and peacefully, my mother 'Honeydew' and my father 'Passion' would give me all the comforts they could afford, and those comforts didn't come cheap either. The price of things wasn't really a concern for my parents, see Passion used to be a guard in Canterlot working directly under one of the Princesses, but my father crossed some noble and was given a 'promotion' to come here and work as the Captain of the Guard, and Honeydew would work odd jobs around town. The town we lived in 'Graycott' wasn't anything to write home about, it was the southernmost town on the border of Equestria, but it served its purpose as a resupply point for explorers going out into the badlands. 

Early on in my development somewhere in the one-year mark, my parents decided that I must have been of the Heritage of the Earth, getting my blessing from the God Grumbar. Later that same year I made it apparent to my parents that I could walk, talk, and read. This sparked something inside of them, what it sparked was what I could only assume was pride, they thought I was some kind of genius, Honeydew would start to buy school books for me, and help me study with them, and my father would take me outside every so often to work on my sword arm swinging around sticks. I enjoyed my time together with them, of course, I breezed through the stuff that my mother was teaching me, most of it was simple math, one plus one, and all that. 

What interested me though, was what my father was teaching, he taught me almost every trick in the book when it came to sword fighting. Parrying, blocking, countering, every day it was a different maneuver or technique. Even on the days that he wasn't around I would go outside and practice what he taught. It was hard work, having the body of a child was hard to adjust to, and the fact that I never used a sword in my life outside my old Full Dress Unifrom was showing, but I tried my damndest. 

Another year would pass with nothing of note happening, with the only interesting thing being that on the day of my fourth birthday my mother would approach me, and tell me that she signed me up for school a year earlier than most. This news kinda excited me, after four years of having barely any contact with anyone I was starving for interactions with anyone else, even if they were just stupid kids. I asked her to take me shopping for school supplies, and she agreed wholeheartedly.

On the morning of my first day of school I arose quickly, showered, and started to get dressed, as I was getting dressed in an outfit you would see in an old western, I happened a glance at a mirror in my room. What I saw in the mirror was something I still couldn't believe. What I saw wasn't the man I looked at for seventy years, but a completely different one. I wasn't complaining, I wasn't ugly by any means so that was a plus, my hair and eyes were what interesting me though. My eyes and my hair were the color of gold, my parents told me that my eyes weren't that color when I was first born so I can only speculate that God must have done something to change them. After finishing changing I went downstairs and ate a small breakfast with my family then it was off to school. 

There was only one schoolhouse in the town, which served a dual purpose as a town center in which people would discuss the happenings of the town. I started to walk to the school, walking at a brisk pace waving at the faces of people that I recognized. The walk was peaceful, the heat was hard to adjust to, back in my previous life I preferred cold places but I would live. What caught my attention as I was walking was I heard crying coming from somewhere. I gave a quick three-sixty but couldn't see anyone, I began to walk towards the sound, but the distinct sound of a slap against flesh rushed me. 

I started to run, and when I turned a corner into an alleyway I saw four older kids, three guys, and a girl bullying a younger girl that looked about my age. The older green-haired girl raised her hand again, and without thinking I jumped into action. I rushed forward putting my body in between the two different parties. There was a resounding SMACK as I took her hand across my face. I heard a gasp from behind me but ignored it as I looked up to the girl in front of me. 

She looked surprised at my sudden arrival but quickly regained composure. She scowled at me with her crimson red eyes and with a hiss she spoke, "What do you think your doing boy?!" She demanded. I looked up at her defiance in my face,

"What do you think you're doing!" I Yelled.  "Going around attacking a girl much younger than you, shameful" I finished, as I slightly shifted my stance.


(Minus The Gun, and knife)

I could see the annoyance on her face grow, "I'll give you one more chance stupid this has nothing to do with you, so leave or Slob here will make you!" The girl behind me put a hand on my shoulder, I chanced a look towards her, when I did I saw that this girl had hair like snow with a pink braid going down her back, but her eyes were what gave me pause. Her eyes were the prettiest light green-blue color eyes I had ever seen. Cutting me out of my sputtered she began to weakly speak in a very hard southern drawl, 

"Please just go, I don't want you getting hurt because of me."

I shook my head at her then moved my gaze back at the Green haired girl and her three Stooges.

"Well, you can't say I didn't warn you! Get him, Slob!" She barked, pointing a skinny finger at me.

Stepping forward in front of everyone a big one-hundred-pounded nine-year-old. with shaggy dirty brown hair, and shit brown eyes came lumbering out. He walked towards me cracking his knuckles threateningly, when he was mere inches from my face he began to speak, "Desert Flame ordered, you small, me big, you hurt now." When he spoke it hurt my ears just listening to him, he sounded so dumb it made me feel stupid just listening. 

I watched him expressionless, he must have expected me to run because when I didn't he looked back towards Desert Flame confused. She gave an overly dramatic wave of her arms and responded.

"You dumb idiot beat him up then!"

Slob made a grunt of acknowledgment and turned back around to face me. This thought was when I leaped into action he stepped forward towards me and threw a slow right hook, I easily ducked around it and rushed him. As I got into range I grabbed onto the front of his shirt, slid my right leg behind his lower calf, and shoved him hard into the sand. 


(This is basically how it looks)

As he laid there splayed out being dazed and confused, I delivered a hard jab directly to his nose, busting it with a spray of blood. He clutched at it as blood ran down his face, I pulled my hand back waving it back and forth to alleviate the pain. 

'Fuck that hurt more than I thought it would.'

Desert Flame in complete shock and horror at my display quickly sputtered out orders to her two remaining goons.

"Glob! BLOB, Get Him!'

The other two boys started to rush at me, I stood there prepared to take my beating like a champ, the fist of the one I assumed was Glob was streaking towards me. Just before it was about to connect a whistle from the other end of the alleyway caught everyone's attention. There standing tall and important stood the Mayor of this small town, Mayor Goodberry, tall, slender with the darkest green hair. Standing next to her stoic in their leather dusters stood two of the town guards there faces obstructed by the Stetsons that they wore. With the two guards flanking her she approached the group waving her finger at all of us.

"What do you boys think you're doing fighting in my town!"

I stayed silent, Glob's fist still hanging in the air inches from me, they stumbled over each other trying to talk. The mayor just stood there tapping her cowboy boots into the sand. I weighed my options, I could tell her what was going on, book it, or I could just see what happens. 

So I decided to stand my ground electing to see where fate took him. As Goodberry was waiting for a reply, Desert Flame decided to step out from behind her two thugs and pretend to cry.

"Oh mother it was terrible, this hooligan and his friend started bullying me in this alleyway for no good reason, Glob, Slob, and blob heard it and came to my rescue."

I smirked at this, she was a damn fine actress, tears and all, she could probably get somewhere in life if she formally trained.

Mayor Goodberry wasn't taking this news well, she kept side-eyeing me while her daughter was talking. I knew when she peered over at me, my situation didn't look good, Slob was still laid out on the floor blood running out his nose, and worst of all was that my face had a distinct red mark on it, which Desert Flame justified as her defending herself. 

After finishing her conversation with her daughter she once again turned towards me shaking her needle-like fingers at me,

"You young man and young lady are both in for a world of trouble! How dare you go about bullying my daughter, and hurting her friends!" 

She came up to me and grabbed my ear harshly, I just let it happen, nothing I can do against her. I could try and struggle but that would just cause more problems.

"We are going to Miss Haven to discuss both of your punishments."

One of the guards came up to Goodberry and started to whisper something into her ear, I felt her grip on my ear tighten as he finished. 

"Now everything makes sense, you're the son of our new guard captain, huh, that explains a lot." 

I felt a little venom in her voice as she spoke, so I decided now was the time to speak up.

"What do you mean by that ma'am? My father is a respectable and honorable man."

The constant frown that was on her face deepened.

"What I meant is of no concern to a bratty child like you! Did your father not teach you manners, talking back to an adult."

I was a bit irked at her sudden attitude change and decided to be a bit cheeky.

"Pft an adult, I thought you had to at least have some kind of common sense to be one of those." 

She scoffed at my response her face turning a shade of red I've never seen before, she started to stammer and reared her hand up. As she raised her hand I looked her dead in the eyes.

SMACK

For the second time today, I was struck in the face, the taste of iron filled my mouth. I leaned to the side and spit out some blood along with one of my baby teeth to the horror of the girl behind me. Then I looked back up to Goodberry and gave her a toothy grin. 

"Oops, it looks like you slipped, you silly boy." She mocked, her face still as red as a tomato, "You gotta be more careful, don't want you losing any more of those precious teeth of yours." 

I was still grinning at her as she replies.

"Yes thank you for your concern ma'am I think me and my friend here will be on our way," I said as I grabbed the girl's hand. 

She nodded in agreement, "Well if we're all on the same page, you're free to go." She stated as she started to calm down a bit.

I could hear Desert Flame protest as I walked away, the unknown girl's hand firmly grasped in mine. As we got a good distance away I finally turned around and addressed the girl. 

"Are you ok? Does anywhere hurt?"

I did a quick gloss over her, I saw that she was holding several areas where I assumed she had bruises. When I looked at her face I saw that it had several red hand marks adorning it. I gave a disappointing look at her, and all she just went through.

'I thought that this world was supposed to be peaceful, but stuff like this still happens huh.'

As I was looking over her I saw that she kept side-eyeing me, then quickly looking away with a blush, I sighed at this.

'Damn this isn't what I wanted, this girl probably thinks I'm some kind of knight in shining armor.'

When inspecting her I saw that she was in a lot of pain so deciding to bite the bullet I started to use some of my powers on her. So with a quick prayer and put positioning my hands on her wounds I started to use my 'lay on hands' ability to heal her. Soon a golden aura would start to omit from my hands and the pain, and the bruises she had started to disappear. 

Her expression turned from being shy/embarrassed to surprise and excitement.

"NO WAY MISTER! YOU CAN DO HEALING MAGIC!"

I gave her a concerned look, and looked around to see if anyone had heard her, when I knew the coast was clear I started to whisper to her, "Shhh, keep your voice down ok, you have to promise me you will keep this between us."

She looked confused, "But mister, healing magic is super rare and high tier magic, only world-class doctors, and the Princesses can do it."

I started to get even more concerned, I don't want anyone knowing about my powers yet, I at least want to be able to defend myself before I start using them willy nilly. She tried to speak again, but I quickly put my hand over her mouth. 

"You can't tell anyone ok, you have to pinkie promise me."

I held her mouth until she nodded yes when she did I slowly lifted my hand off of her. She then blurted out a question at me, before I could stop her."What's a pinkie promise?" I rolled my eyes at this, and showed her, interlocking our pinkies together and shaking them. 

Trying to change the subject I started to ask her some questions instead, "First off, what would your name be ma'am? I would like to know the name of the girl I just saved."

A blush spread onto her cheeks, "Well mister my name is Cinnamon Twist, but my friends just call me Twist." 

"Cute name, but I got another question for you. Why did you let those guys bully you like that? Why don't you try and stand up for yourself, or at least tell your parents?"

I could feel the mood shift drastically, "I don't got any parents mister, they died a year after I was born, folks say they died exploring the badlands." I shook my head and gave her a look of pity.

"I'm sorry to hear that, but if you don't mind me asking where do you live then?" I questioned.

She began to answer slightly stuttering as she spoke. "Th- there's an orphanage that is run outside town, Mayor Goodberry set it up. Says that dumb folks will always try and explore the badlands, and the only good thing that comes out of it is more youngins for the mine." 

I swiveled my head towards her, "What do you mean workers for the mine? Please don't tell me that she has kids mining!" The girl nodded.

"Of course, she says that is how we pay our keep, gotta put food on the table somehow she says."

I got up from where I was healing her and started to walk away, I was appalled, this can't be right, there has to be some kind of child laws put into place to protect kids. Then out of nowhere a heard a gasp, and turn to see Twist putting a hand over her mouth, horror etched across it. 

"Mister mister, you can't tell anyone what I just done told you, Mayor Goodberry made us all swear that we'd not tell a soul! She be mighty upset with me if she found out I told you anything!" Twist elaborated, running up to me barely taking time to breathe.

"I promise up to a point I won't tell a soul, but you have to hold up your promise as well." I told her, waiting for her to agree before continuing, "I'll only tell my father if I find out what she is doing is illegal, and have the needed proof to bust her." 

"No! You can't tell anyone if she found out I told you she'll have my hide, and I don't know what she'd do then." Twist pleaded. 

I rolled my eyes, "Ok, ok... no need to lose your socks Twist. Only if it is absolutely necessary will I tell anyone."

She seemed to resign to the fact that she couldn't convince me to fully drop it, so with our little discussion done, we continued on our way making it to the schoolhouse a few minutes after the bell. When entering the school I got a feeling of nostalgia, school was one thing in my youth that I really enjoyed, even if I wasn't that popular I still had fun.

As we entered the classroom,  the whole class including the teacher was in the middle of the Equestrian pledge. My father many years ago taught me the pledge, but I refused to do it for him, telling him my allegiance was to something far, far away. He had no idea what I was talking about which sparked the one time I saw my father get visibly angry, I carefully explained to him that I just didn't feel the need to pledge myself to two Princesses that I had never seen before. I swore at that moment my father's head was going to burst from the pressure, but my mother was able to calm him down, saying that I'd come around. I understood my father's plight, he served the Princesses half his life, and for his son to not share his loyalty would frustrate anyone, but I digress. As we stood there they continued the pledge, singing it to a flag of a Sun and Moon, with Twist joining in on it.



"The Sun and Moon are always there, when one is gone the other cares, when help is asked we always share, we pledge ourselves to our Princess's care."

The pledge ended as quickly as it started, all the kids laughing and the teacher settling everyone down. Everyone after a bit went to their respective seats, but I just stood at the front. Miss Haven gave everyone a warm smile and looked over at me, she looked like a nice young lady, quite attractive with her Indigo-colored hair, and dark purple eyes. She began to introduce me to the class,

"Calm down everyone, calm down, I have some exciting news for you all today! We have a new addition to the class." She announced, "Would you like to introduce yourself?" I gave an affirmative nod towards her and began my introduction.

"Hello everyone my name is Snickerdoodle, but I gotta admit in all honesty I don't care for the name, So instead I would much rather you all call me Varian Proudmoore." I snickered to myself as I finished, deciding to use my old Paladin name from dnd. 

Miss Haven clapped her hands together in glee, "Well kids it looks like you all have a new friend! Welcome to the class Varian, you can take the seat next to Cinnamin Twist." 

I looked to see where Twist was seated and saw that she sat in the middle of the room right next to Desert Flame, this confused me for a second until I remembered my mother telling me that only one teacher taught all the kids in town, and used a general system of education to teach them all at once. Focusing on and helping those who lagged behind. So I took the seat to the left of Cinnamon Twist and gave her a reassuring smile. I saw Desert Flame side-eyeing me and decided to also smile at her, making sure to show my missing tooth. She huffed at this and turned her attention away from me. 

The school day would drag on, everything that was being taught was too easy, even the stuff for the older kids was too simple. The math taught only advanced to basic multiplication, and everything else taught revolved around the Princesses. What I did learn though that interested me was that Princess Luna was still trapped on the moon, living out her banishment. That tidbit of information tells me a lot about the timeline of the world and tells me that the events from the show haven't transpired yet, which means God must have purposely sent me back before the start of the show, which does raise some questions about time travel, and the laws of cause and effect, but who cares about all that.  I didn't really think about it much further, I started to get bored and decided to rest my head on my desk and close my eyes, thinking about everything that has transpired today,

I've discovered a lot of things about this world today that kinda disappointed me, its not as jovial as I thought it was. It seems darker than what I was expecting. The mayor seems to be running some kind of child labor racket from orphaned kids, and people here still seem prone to violence just like back on Earth. Worst of all everyone seems to be less educated than I would like, I'm assuming most things like the lights probably run on magic or something. Which brings me to another interesting note, the magic here seems to be in all life, no matter how minuscule or gargantuan, from what I could gather it seems that the Gods of this realm like to pick and choose people to give their blessings to, and those who get the favor of the Gods become extraordinary. This leads me to believe that the main six are probably blessed by their respective Gods/goddesses.

Soon the bell would ring signifying the start of recess and lunch, all the kids jumped up from their seats and rushed outside to the small playground in the back. I stayed in my seat with my head on my desk. As I was about to fall asleep, I heard footsteps approach me and the soft voice of Miss Haven speak to me, "Varian I know it's your first day and everything, but wouldn't it be best to go and play with the other kids? You might make a few friends if you do." I raised my head from the desk to look at Miss Haven.

"Sorry to disappoint you ma'am but I really don't want to affiliate myself with any of them, I'm fine with where I'm at, thanks for the concern though." 

Miss Haven gave me a concerned look, "It's not healthy to be alone Varian, friendship is one of the most powerful things in the world, Princess Celestia promises that it will one day be the thing that brings her sister back to her!" I rolled my eyes at this, "And besides friendship could very well save your life one day!" I listened to her and understood where she was trying to go with this, but her words fell upon deaf ears. I looked around the room to see if I could do anything to stop her rant, and that's when I spotted Twist eating her lunch at her desk, and Desert Flame in the corner with her goons. 

I held up a hand to stop Miss Haven and began to speak, "I understand Miss Haven, but I have already made a few friends!" I pointed towards Twist, and Desert Flame, "I met them while on the way to school, Desert Flame was nice enough to show me the way here, and also introduced me to her mother." Miss Haven seemed to be thrilled beyond belief at this news for some reason, she started to jump up and down excitedly. I had to look away quickly to not arouse suspicion, as her rather plump bosom wasn't dissuaded by gravity, happily bouncing up and down. 

"Oh, that's great to hear Varian! Cinnamon Twist has had such a hard time making friends, and with Desert Flames mother being the mayor it hard for kids to approach her." She patted me on the head as she continued, "I know you guys will all make great friends, and make a lot of good memories together!" After she finished speaking she turned around and walked towards the door, "Well you kids behave in here, I gotta make sure everyone is behaving outside" She said as she walked out, closing the door behind her. 

I watched her leave the room and after yawning loudly I decided that now was the best time to get some shut-eye, who knew listening to a teacher talk about stuff I learned years ago would take it out of someone so quickly. Closing my eyes I tried to let the sweet embrace of sleep take me, but the sound of a desk being scooted towards me awoke me once more. Annoyed I peeked one of my eyes open and squinted at what was making the noise, not surprising me one bit I saw Twist slowly trying to scoot her desk closer to mine. I sighed internally.

Every few seconds she would scoot an inch or two closer, stop for a few moments to check to see if she woke me, then repeat the process. This went on for a good five minutes until I felt her desk bump into mine. I paid it no mind and just continued to try and sleep. The problem that I faced when trying to sleep was that Twist seemed eager to speak with me, and was constantly fidging in her seat. So against my better judgment, I decided to sit up startling her. I looked at her with a bored expression, "What can I help you with Twist?" I asked tiredly. 

She started to twiddle her thumbs, and look away from me shyly, I let out an audible groan. 

"Well-l m-mister I-I mean Varian, I never did thank you properly for helping me, I'm mighty grateful!" She nervously told me, I looked at her and nodded.

"Well your welcome, it was no problem at all," I told her, slowly lowering my head back down. She started to stammer, and tried with all her might to get a response out but seemed unable. Too tired, and bored to care anymore I closed my eyes one last time and thought about my new life. All the new things I might be able to accomplish, and the adventures that I might have. Soon I was on the precipice of unconsciousness feeling it slowly evaporate away, right before I embraced the sweet darkness I felt a slight pucker press against the side of my cheek, and for one more time that day, I let a smile escape my lips.
> Chapter 3 : Another Year
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Images flashed before me, images of strange beasts, and monsters. Images so strange yet somehow familiar, I absorbed everything shown, but soon the images turned horrid. Horrible scenes of families being massacred, men and women crucified, children, being lead to the slaughter, and being devoured. I tried to close my eyes to try and stop the onslaught of these gruesome deceptions, but they didn't stop. It was as if my whole world was transformed and these images were the reality as if this was what life was, and forever would be. I started to shake violently try to escape, shaking and screaming. Trying anything, but my voice was hollow and the only sound I heard was the sound of the dying around me. I collapsed and started to fall, I fell for what felt like an eternity. I saw the ground approaching fast and was glad for it, I held my arms out wide as if to hug it, longing for its embrace, but that embrace never came. What instead embraced me was rotten and decaying. Hundreds of the dead moaning in pain, and all asking the same question. 

'WHY'

As if they were all just one big broken record, some pleaded, some accused, some were just confused. I didn't have an answer for any of them. I started to hyperventilate, they started to crowd around me even more, some started to climb over each other and soon I was under them. Feeling their weight, feeling their pain, feeling the life slowly drain from me, all I could muster as I started to fall unconscious were two simple words, a simple 'I'm Sorry!"







I awoke with a start sitting straight up in an instant. I heard the faint sound of someone falling over next to me but I paid it no mind. Cold sweats racked my body, and I was breathing heavily, it felt as if my heart was racing a thousand beats a second. My eyes darted around the room but couldn't fully focus on anything. I tried to steady my breathing taking long deep breaths, minutes passed and I could feel my heartbeat start to slow down, and my eyes able to refocus. 

When I looked around I saw that I was once again in Miss Havens's classroom, and saw that Cinnamon Twist was on the ground staring at me, she displayed a look of worry. On the other end of the room, I spotted Desert Flame alone gawking at me. I ignored them as I tried to regain my composer, taking another few minutes to settle myself. In that time period Twist rose from the ground, and was over in her seat staring at me. I stood from my desk and absentmindedly made my way over to a nearby window and peered out it. I wasn't looking at anything in particular just making sure everything was still the same, and to escape the gaze of the two girls in the room. 

As I looked out the window I watched as the kids playing went about their day enjoying life and experiencing joy. I had to shake my head violently as scenes from my dream flashed in front of me for a split second as the playground outside transformed into a graveyard. I started to think to myself at this point, What the hell is happening! Was that some kind of premonition? Or something far worse?

I gave a quick prayer to God but expected no answer. He hasn't said a word to me since that incident when I was a child, I understand his reasoning and why he stays silent, but that doesn't mean it doesn't piss me off. As I was contemplating all this I felt a slight nudge to my left, assuming that it was Twist I turned towards the nudger. Instead of Twist what greeted my eyes was Desert Flame she looked at me warily and then began to speak. 

"What is wrong with you? One moment your sleeping, the next you're acting all frantic, everything with you so far has been strange, Can't you just be normal for like five seconds." 

Looking away from her I decided not to respond, I wasn't in the mood to deal with her, or to make any snarky comments at the moment. I turned away from the window and made my way back to my desk, I started to pack up everything, deciding at that moment that school was the least of my concern that I needed to focus on more important things. Such as learning how to wield a blade better, and seeing if I could tap into any more of my Paladin abilities. After gathering all of my stuff I made my way towards the door, I could feel Twists and Desert Flames eyes upon me as I exited the room. 

When I exited the schoolhouse, I could see all the kids packing up ready to head inside. Acting quickly so I wasn't spotted by Miss Haven I rushed over to a nearby slide and took cover behind it. I watched as the bell rang once more and all the kids started to head inside. Miss Haven stood at the door taking attendance as the kids filed in, I waited for her to go inside before I made my move. 

In all honesty, when dealing with Miss Haven I could have just walked away, and maybe sparked an argument with her over her curriculum, but just like with Desert Flame I wasn't in the mood, so I made my way home.

While traversing through the town I thought about what I was going to do with my life. What I was going to achieve and my future aspirations, I knew that when I got big enough I'd leave this town and do a little traveling, maybe do some good old dungeon crawling to beef up a bit, and maybe earn some money. The problem though at the moment is that I was still a little rusty with the blade. Don't get me wrong I wasn't bad but I wasn't that good either, I could probably give someone a run for their money if it was a fight for our lives. 

While I was contemplating everything I finally reached my home, entering the front door and announcing my presence to my parents. I didn't get a response so I assumed that they were away working, so I settled in and made myself a sandwich. After completing devouring it I went up to my room to retrieve my practice sword and went to our backyard to start my daily routine training, The training I did was similar to what my father said they did in the military academy in Canterlot, a lot of running, hitting things hard, and swinging around swords. Usually, I'd do this training with him because some of it requires a second person to make sure you're doing the techniques right.

I'd train for hours that day using everything I was taught, the day would fly by in a flash. Training and sweating was the only thing that kept my mind occupied, I was out there until my parents finally arrived back home. First, it was my mother, she came out to converse with me and ask me about my first day of school. I told her straight up that I was no longer going to attend, being a reasonable gal took about five seconds to process that then decided it was time to freak out. She ranted about how school was important to one's growth, and yatta yatta yatta, I stopped listening after the first sentence. Soon she would tire herself out, and send my father to talk to me. I did exactly what I did with my mother and just continued training, he would get bored of trying to talk to me relatively fast and instead start helping me train. 

Another year would pass, and quite a bit would happen in that year. First off I decided that I wasn't going to keep my promise with Cinnamon Twist, the lives of the kids were more important than some stupid promise. So a few days after my first day of school I told him the full story and telling him who told me. I warned him that if the Mayor found out he knew Twist would most likely feel her wrath. He took this news better than I expected, after I told him I heard him mumbling something to himself about reporting back, but then nothing else. After this, though he increased my training regiment ten folds, saying if I wasn't going to school he was going to run me ragged until I changed my mind. I accepted his challenge and would try with all my might to do everything he told me. 

Also during that year Twist would make it her obligation to visit me every day, she claimed that it was to deliver homework from Miss Haven, but I had a feeling she had alternative motives, most likely she has a crush on me but I wasn't interested. She'd sneak into my backyard to watch me train, I would spot her easily enough but would do nothing to dissuade her from watching. I might not see her as anything other than a child, but my parents took a liking to her, they would give her snacks and invite her over. My mother was particularly fond of her teaching me how to cook, and to do simple magic. Which was interesting to watch, magic here was somewhat like dungeons and dragons, you couldn't understand the text unless you trained to learn the spell, but it wasn't as restricting. The only limit to how many spells a person could cast was how much mana they had in reserves. My mother told me that her mana reserves were somewhere in the realm of a bucket, but then told me that people such as the Princesses reserves must have been something like an ocean. 

My father's interest in Twist was something akin to a child's interest in an anthill, which was to simply hassle me about her every day,  saying that it was cute that I had a girlfriend already at my age. The thing about her visits every day and her obvious interest in me, I thought up a way for her to actually be of use. I asked my father if she could join our training, he got a wide smile on his face when I asked but I quickly tried to dash any thoughts he was having. I simply told him that if she was going to hang around she could at least be of use, and even could help me train when he's gone. He agreed to this but the smile never left his face. 

So within that year Twist and I got stronger, and a friendship kinda started to appear, Twist was a shy girl and only really spoke when I addressed her. She did start to become a fine swordsman within that year, training with her magic to hold a sword, while also training with one in her hand, it was damn impressive. 

Also, I would see no more of the Mayor or Desert Flame that year, and my father would tell me nothing about what she was up to, or even if he was investigating her. This irked me beyond belief, I understood that he was a soldier and had to follow orders, but what she is doing is wrong and sometimes orders need to be disobeyed for the greater good.

Somehow within that year Twist tried to convince me to help her shed light on the Mayor's mining scandal, and to help infiltrate it, which I quickly said no to, not wanting her to get herself killed. She was hesitant to agree with me at first but agreed to stop pestering me if I convinced my parents to adopt her. Which I saw no problem with so I happily asked, which they seemed to like the idea. So that's where the year ends with Twist and I becoming family.
> Chapter 4 : Family Affairs
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gathered around the kitchen table with nervous expressions and barely concealed excitement stood my parents along with Twist. They stood Hastily signing papers and having small talk with an employee from Goodberries orphanage, it was tuff goings for my parents to try and get everything orchestrated for this day. The Mayor made it almost impossible for them to adopt her, but through sheer willpower, and constant bickering and my father pulling some strings on the side they were finally able to adopt her. My parent's decision to adopt Twist was based on the fact that she was around us almost every day, and with a little help from me, they conceded. They said that if she was going to stay around all the time, we might as well keep her.

Life goes on though and it wasn't that much different with Twist around, The only problem that arose was a few weeks after she moved in, I was able to convince her to open up about her time at the orphanage, to me and my father. Some of it was gut retching, she told us that the kids had two options when it came to working, they either spend twenty hours a day in the mines or were severely beaten or whipped, to make matters worse, she in tears explained that when the girls or boys get to a certain age Goodberry would start having you 'working rooms'. She wouldn't elaborate on what 'working rooms' meant, but I had a good idea she was prostituting the children out. I asked her if she was ever forced to 'work rooms' but she shook her head, and stated that only the older orphans did that unless a customer specifically asked for someone younger. What dropped the camels back though was that she explained that she would often see some of the local guards going to the establishment, and would often have the girl's or boys 'workrooms.'

This seemed to cross a line for not only myself but my father, I could physically see him shaking, and a look almost alien on his face, a look of pure unadulterated anger. I could tell he was seething, but so was I. What made me simmer down and start to feel regret was the knowledge that I knew something was wrong a year ago and did nothing. I could see my father coming to what I guessed was the same concussion, my inability to stop the acts, and the fact that no matter what I did, my small body wouldn't have let me change anything, especially if the guards were in on it. My heartfelt heavy, and a low fiery pain began within its center. 

'I could have tried something, anything to stop it, it shouldn't matter if it cost me my life!'

I clutched at my heart, a look of worry striking Twist's face.

'Everything they've suffered for this past year is all because of me!'

I began to beat on my chest, trying to alleviate some of the burnings, but nothing seems to work, my inaction to do anything seemed to backfire, and it hurt physically. My vision began to swirl, the burning resonating all the way to my soul, burning some of it away, and a simple message being brought to bear and branded into me.

'Do Better.'

Slowly my fit of fiery pain started to alleviate, my vision becoming spotty until it finally gradually returned. The knowledge that I could be physically assaulted by what I could only assume to be God kind put me down, but I let my mind leave that for the moment, as my vision fully returned. As it returned, Twist seemed to be over me shaking me softly, her eyes slightly tearing up, my father behind her looking down worried.

"What happened son, is everything alright?"

I stared at them both for a second before I responded.

"Everything that is happened this past year in that orphanage is my fault, I could have tried something to stop it!" 

I stammered out, my father clasped me on the shoulder moving so we were staring eye to eye. "Son, none of this is your fault! I didn't even know or hazarded to guess that things were this bad! If I had known, I would have tried to shut it down personally if I had to."

He let my shoulder go, and took a few steps back, "Ain't none of this your fault Varian." My father tried to reassure me, using my preferred name over the one my mother gave me. "We have no one to blame but Goodberry herself." 

Twist wiped her eyes and spoke up also, "It's a good thing you didn't say anything Varian, who knows what she would do if she found out." Fear was in her voice as she finished, feeling sorry we practically forced this info out of her, I stood up from my prone position and took her into a vice grip hug. We stayed like that for a while, with our father joining us shortly after it started. The hug was only interrupted because Honeydew entered the room.

"What's with all this ruckus in this room?" She asked a smile spreading onto her face as she saw us all hugging, "Just having a nice hug I see, where was my invite?" She questioned as she also entered the hug, Twist burring her face into her bosom.

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Life would go on like usual, Twist would continue to go to school every day, and I'd help her study when she asked. Even though the stuff that I taught her was far above what she was learning, she quickly caught on and was soon breezing through her studies. Acing almost every test she took. 

On special occasions Miss Haven would stop by for a parent-teacher conference, she'd talk proudly of Twist achievements. Then afterward she'd try and convince me to rejoin and attend school. I'd shoot her attempts down every time. She got so agitated at one point she took it up with the Mayor.

I didn't see the Mayor myself, my father made sure of that. What she wanted though was to force my parents to make me take a quick test, to access my intellect, and to prove that what I knew was far beyond what Haven could teach. The only thing I struggled with on the test was the history of the world, and Equestria itself, but after the test, I made sure to read up on it so I wasn't completely lost. I did learn some interesting lore on the world, like that 'Nightmare Moon,' or Princess Luna hasn't returned from her exile yet, and that it has been exactly 984 Years. This tells me that the events from the show are still many years from taking place, and by the time she came back, I would be around twenty years old. This does give me a sneaking suspicion that God strategically placed me well before any of the major events of the show so I could assimilate easier, but what do I know.

The world also wasn't as peaceful as I first thought, though Equestria itself hasn't had any wars in a few hundred years, that doesn't mean they still don't skirmish with nearby kingdoms, mainly the barbarian tribes to the south, they live primarily in the badlands that we live next too. They are known for kidnapping, raping,  and raiding settlements for slaves, and to use as practice. To the West of Equestria stood Felis Leo or the Kingdom of Lions, mostly warring tribes with a centralized king, they are hardy people wearing lion skins and ridding upon Griffons. In the North stood a frozen waste that was long abandoned, and what I knew held the Crystal Empire. East of Equestria was a vast open ocean, that has yet to be explored, for the most part, the only know region out there is a month journey way, its name is The Principality of Sand, it contains a sentient race of half snake and half man know as Gemini, they are a warrior race that reminds me a lot of middle eastern warriors, with scimitars and turbans to boot. 

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Weeks would go by, and this one started like any other it started, with me out backing training with my sword, the only difference from my schedule was when I spotted Desert Flame and her posse watching me from the edge of the property. At the moment no one was home, they were all out shopping for gifts and food for the upcoming celebration. I kept my eye on them as I slowly shuffled over, pretending it was a part of my training as I got near. I trained on the edge of the property for another five minutes, not even acknowledging their existence. That's when I heard a 'hurmp' come from Desert Flame as she leaned on the fence line. 

"You know it's common courtesy to invite people inside when they come over! She yelled accusingly. 

I ignored her, glaring daggers at her, and striking hard into one of the many hay dummies around my yard.

She 'hurmped' again, "If you won't answer I'll take it as a yes?!" A grin finding its way to my face I motioned for them to enter through the closes gate. 

She looked behind herself and motioned for Glob, Slob, and Blob to enter. When they entered and slowly made their way towards me,  I saw that a year away from them didn't do them any good. They were slightly bigger, fatter, and far more ugly than the last time I saw them. What made it worse was that it seemed Slob's nose never fully healed, making it disfigured and crooked. I felt a pinch of satisfaction, some people have to learn lessons early in life.

Desert Flame pushed through them and waited until she was in front of me to start talking. 

"Well, well long time no see Varian it's been a while I almost forgot what you looked like." She said slowly circling around me. 

"You sure have changed a lot, you weren't nearly as ugly the last time I saw you." She halfheartedly laughed, sparking the boys behind her to laugh also.

"Yes, time is a cruel mistress," I stated matter of factly, a smile reaching my lips. "But you my dear Desert have started to earn that name of yours." She squinted her eyes at me confused. "You've become as radiant as a burning flame in the cold, amidst the moon's eternal glow."

She took a few steps back after that complement, reeling in shock, her face burning red.

"Shu-Shut up stupid!" She barked, turning around so I couldn't see her face. "I don't care what you think!" She finished stomping her foot on the ground kicking up sand everywhere. I laughed out loud at her response, but I had to admit there was no happiness in that laugh, only anger, the anger I felt towards her mother was still resounding inside me, and I couldn't help feeling that hate towards her offspring too. She was only seven from what I remember, the logical part of my mind knew it wasn't her that was doing anything wrong, but my emotional side couldn't see past it. A year away from her didn't do much to change her appearance either only that her hair had grown very long, instead of just being to her shoulders it had grown all the way down to her waist.

Finishing her little fit, she walked up to me poked me hard in the chest.

"Listen here buddy, we didn't come here to argue with you or fight! We came to ask for your help."

I raised an eyebrow at this statement, "You came for my help? I questioned, patting my chest. "We barely know each other, last time we met I had an unfortunate accident remember." I smiled, showing off the tooth that was slowly regrowing. 

She groaned,  "Please don't tell me you're still mad about that, that was a year ago, and besides you busted Slobs nose we're even!" 

I cast my gaze towards Slob and winked at him, he grumbled and shuffled behind Glob. I looked back and decided to ask Desert Flame something, "Hypothetically if I did help you, what would you need my help with?"

She answered quickly losing a lot of the redness that was there, "Well you see," She started. "Glob, Blob, and Slob were doing some exploring on the outskirts of town a few weeks ago." 

I interrupted her, "You mean in the Badlands, that's really dumb and dangerous you guys." 

She shushed me and continued her story. "Yes they know it's dangerous, but they found something, some kind of cave system. They said they didn't go in but I can bet that there's something of value in there."

I know it was dumb and stupid to even listen to any more of their talking, but I was intrigued at this point, and kinda surprised that these idiots managed out in the Badlands, even if they were only a short distance away from town. Usually, you need a patrol of guards with you to keep the monsters at bay, the Badlands doesn't get its name for its hospitality. Desert Flame saw my increased interest in this idea and took advantage of it.

"I know you've been training to fight, training aggressively this past year, and we could use that skill if things get dicey."

I smiled at her compliment and decided to play along with her.

"I'm no master with a blade, but I could probably hold my own if it came down to it," I told them sheathing my practice sword.

Desert Flame clapped her hands together excitedly, "So what do you say? Will you help us?"

I began to rub my chin, "Say I do come and help you, what guarantee do I have that this isn't just a setup to attack me?"

Desert Flame looked taken aback and seemed to grow frustrated again. 

"You think if I wanted to have you beaten up I'd need to take you to some random cave! I'd do it where everyone could see it, to show everyone who is boss." 

I rolled my eyes at her and stared pointedly at Slob, "No need for threats ma'am, we all know how that ended last time, but," I sighed, leaning against a nearby fence I continued. "This is a stupid idea, and I'm surprised that you thought of it, this seems like a plan one of your lackeys would come up with."

This seemed to enrage her, her hands going a crimson red, as I assumed she activated her magic, this spooked the three boys behind her as they dove for cover. The sand around her seemed to snake its way around her, slowly starting to encase her starting from her feet. The sudden display of aggression threw me off guard for a second, but my training kicked in and I stopped the threat in mere moments. My training sword leaving its sheath swiftly, and the blade streaking and colliding with the side of Desert Flames head, some sand seemed to have come up to try and deflect the blow, but it wasn't enough. 

Desert Flame's body went limp as she lost consciousness, her three goons instantly rushed to her aid when they saw she was no longer using magic, catching her before she fell. I silently sheathed my sword for the third time, and just nodded my head towards where they came from. Feeling slightly pleased with myself, a little bit of anger quelled for the time being. 

'Well, at least they won't be going into the badlands today.' I grimily thought.

The boys carried Desert Flame towards her mother's manor while one of the boys ran to the orphanage that was connected to it. Twist and I shared an awkward few seconds as she walked in just as they were leaving, carrying a bag that was thrown from her hands when they bumped into her. What fell out seem to be gifts of some sort, all wrapped by hand in colorful wrappings. She regained her composure shortly after being knocked on her but, and crawled over to them, scooping them back into the bag, while yelling.

"No, no you can't see them yet!" She yelled pulling the bag away towards the house with her magic. 

I just stood there for a few more moments a smirk gracing my face, I then made my way towards the door along with her. As I opened the door with her, we found it to be completely dark, but several different aromas bombarded me instantly, the smell of my mother's famous honey glazed carrots, different assortment of sweets, cakes, pies. My mouth stood ajar drool forming in the corners for several seconds until the lights in the room suddenly sparked to life, and my mother and father jumped out screaming 

"SUPRISE!" Knowing that something was up, I didn't act to surprised but made it seem like they got me. Twist on the other hand was spooked out of her shoes as she jumped, giving a very unladylike scream.

"So what do you think?! Honeydew excitedly asked, gesturing to the decorated room, a poster on the wall written in crude handwriting stating 'Welcome to the Family Twist.'

"Wow, unbelievable!" She dumbfoundedly replied, I looked around and was impressed with the decorations it reminded me of something straight out of Harry Potter, floating candles, moving pictures of Twist with us in different areas. Twist was crying at this point hugging both our parents, while I was silently astounded. After the initial thanks and welcoming's she started to get real gitty, going all over the house trying anything and everything. This brought wide smiles to all of us, my mother and father suddenly feeling compelled to rush both of us and scooped us into a cozy hug. We stayed like that for a good few minutes just enjoying the comfort and love, and warmth that radiated. Moments like this one reaffirmed my belief that this was my new family, not just some strangers that birthed me, and take care of me, but people I would protect with my life if I had to. 

Sooner than anyone of us wanted, the hug was broken but the love and warmth never left us for the rest of the night, it found its way to creep into the walls. Moving as a pack over to the dining room we decided to indulge ourselves in the fruits of our mother's labor, eating a multitude of delicious meals. Things such as honey duck, roasted ham, and gravy, reminded me a lot of thanksgiving back on Earth.

Soon the night changed from eating to gift-giving, the gifts were heartfelt and meaningful. My parent's gifts to each other were interesting, my mother got two rings, one for herself and one for my father. The rings weren't normal though, the rings acted as an emotional gateway of sorts, they could feel the emotional state of the other person wearing the ring, and tell if they are safe. She told my father that it was to help reassure her, that my father was safe at all times. My father's gift though not as grand as my mother's was still meaningful. He got her an Equestrian Roiəltē (Royalty) Cookbook, how he got it was a mystery to us all as it is only available in Canterlot, but it was something my mother always wanted. It fit perfectly to because since my mother was a child her dream was to one day become the personal chef of the Princesses, a dream she has long since abandoned.  

The gifts that I got for my parents and Twist were nothing expensive or significant to them, l just handcrafted them all elegantly made rosaries carved from polished oak wood, over the course of a few months. The cross meant nothing to them but they all knew it was important to me. They knew I believed in a higher power, but just not the ones they did. See I didn't buy into what they did, the people of this land believe Celestia and Luna are demi-goddesses that control the sun and moon, I think there just powerful spell casters that have been blessed by their gods and have been able to live a long time due to that.

The rosaries had a mixed reaction from my family, my mother said she loved it and thought it was beautiful. Twist had a similar reaction to my mother, she liked how it looked but didn't know what it was for, she put it on with a smile on her face. My father's reaction was slight, it was barely noticeable if you weren't paying attention. His face gave a slight frown when he first opened the gift. He barely lifted it out of the box, before he gently placed it back in. He looked over to me and began to softly speak, 

"I'm sorry Varian I can accept your gift, but I can't wear it, for the Princesses are the only Gods that I keep close to my heart." He mournfully finished, showing me a golden sun and obsidian black moon necklace, the holy sigil of the state religion. 


(This is what it kinda looks like, but the sun is gold and the moon obsidian)

I nodded my head, "It's ok father, we all have our own beliefs and I don't fault you." I expressed to him, trying to show him that it didn't bother me that he refused to wear my gift, I would do the same thing so I can't fault him. 

He smiled once again and waved me over, we shared a hug at that moment with Twist and my mother soon joining us. That was how the night ended us hugging, and talking about our different beliefs, I decided that now was a good time to tell them some of mine, so I went into length about the bible and even told them my favorite passage from it. 'Revelation 21:6'
> Chapter 5 : Into The Depths
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The night was cold the moon high in its zenith, the moon's light streaking across the room, illuminating a young boy fast asleep snuggling up in his blankets. The only noise in the house being the shuffling of feet scraped against the hardwood floor, as several cloaked figures moved shiftily from room to room, slowly coming upon the slightly cracked door of the sleeping boy. One of the figures peered into the boy's room while the others watched the hallways making sure the coast is clear, soon after a purple aura started to levitate in a smoking canister of some kind covering the whole room in some kind of smoke. The boy awoke struggling to stand he tried to kick the canister as it dropped, but he lost his footing and fell face-first into the floor, going unconscious. The cloaked figures worked fast, they rushed into the room scooped up the boy, and left behind what seemed to be a note. They left the way they came, stalking out into the night from whence they came.

___________________________________________________

I awoke with a start my hand instinctively reaching and rubbing a bump on my forehead, my eyes groggy as they readjusted to the dim light. Confused and slightly worried I started to rub my eyes and survey where I was at. 

Low torches burned on what appeared to be cave walls, the light flickering obscuring everything beyond the light, and making the shadows dance. I tried to stand up after confirming I couldn't see anything, but a chain on my leg prohibited me, the metal digging slightly into my flesh. Concern started to rear its ugly mug, 

'This isn't a dream is it.'

Grabbing the chain with both hands I tugged as hard as I could, but the chain seemed to be locked in deep to the cave wall. Frantic at this point I started to search the dirt for anything that could be of assistance. While searching I could start to hear the rattling of metal then footsteps of several people closing in, frantically I started to sift through the dirt until my fingers found something smooth, small, and jagged, upon closer inspection it seemed to be a bone of some kind, but I ignored where it might have come from for now and shoved it in my pajama pocket.

The footsteps grew closer and the sound of their steps were heavy, meaning they were either real fat or wearing some sort of armor. I tenses when the sound stopped right outside of my vision in the darkness. Shuffling could be heard, but I didn't say a word to them, I just glared dead-eyed at the abyss and I wondered if it glared back. Several silent minutes would pass with neither side giving in, until a woman and several men walked out of the dark. At first, I didn't recognize any of the men because they were wearing turbans, but the women's face was something I recognized as clear as day. 

"Goodberry."

I growled out, silently to myself.

Her ears seemed to perk up as I barely said her name, seeming to understand what I said she answered back, 

"Why yes, it is young man."

She giggled that last part, her face becoming a mask of a pleasant smile, and her demeanor shifting to one of non-aggressive. She stood stock-still and stared at me, her eyelids half-open as if she was squinting at me, and it unnerved me. I've seen wacky people in my life, I've met a few stone-cold killers who would smash a baby's head into a wall without batting an eye, and the vibe I was getting off her fit all the criteria.

I slowly started to inch away from her, my hand not fully touching it but hovering the jagged bone, just in case. She saw my meniscal movement, her eyes like a hawk, she smiled and turned away from me, and whispered something to one of the cloaked guards behind her. The guard stepped forward, a metal baton slowly hitting his hand as he approached. He came right out of range from me and gestured for me to approach him, not saying a word. 

Still sitting I refused to come anywhere near him, which seemed to anger him greatly. He stepped forward and brought the baton down hard into my side, instantly knocking the air out of me and nearly making me vomit. The blow wasn't anything to write home about, but this child's body of mine probably couldn't take much more of those. I held my stomach but didn't get to much time to recover as another swing came soon after, it being brought to bear on my shoulder, some cracking could be heard and unintentionally I let out a cry of pain. 

Goodberry let out a manic laugh as I gasped from the pain, her shifting completely, personality and all. Her 'mask being shed away to reveal something more sadistic underneath, it only got worse the longer the guard beat me. 

After beating me bloody, and several more strikes to get his point across, the guard stopped his assault, I tried to look up at him to smile, but couldn't find the strength to do it. The guard stepped back, as Goodberry was regaining her composure, making sure her hair and outfit was in pristine condition. She put her 'mask' back on and smiled almost seductively down at me. 

"Now that young man was for Desert Flame, she told me what you did to her little group." 

She leaned down and whispered into my ear.

"But don't think for even a second were anywhere near done." 

She leaned away giving me a wink, as she and her entourage left from my vision. I laid there bleeding slowly, the blood pooling under me, twitching from the pain, and unable to move my mind began to race.

'Where did I go wrong?'

Memories of what I assumed was the night before began to resurface, 'Did they take my family also?'

That thought stayed in my mind, and wouldn't leave, but soon the shoulder that was struck started to act up, the pain overriding anything else, reminding me I need to fix it. That's when I remembered I could heal myself, shaking my head in disbelieve that I didn't think of it before, a golden glow started to nit some of my minor wounds, and partially fixing my shoulder, giving me some relief from the pain, and letting me think again. 

After fixing myself I tried to stand up but felt all the blood rush from my head to my feet and I fell over with a huff, sighing I stood up once again using the wall to prop me up and using it to slowly catch my breath. I was getting tired of being chained up and wanted to see if there was any way for me to escape, so I went to where the chain met the wall. Searching to see if anything was loose failed, but I was determined, so I began to pointlessly pull trying my damnedest to pry anything off. 

I continued at this endeavor for as long as my muscle would allow me until my arms were like noodles, and my legs we shaking to hold my weight, with no progress whatsoever. My body feeling fatigued it decided to rebel against me and collapse into the sand, my eyes soon did the same failing to reopen no matter how hard I tried taking away my conciseness and ferrying me into the world of dreams.
> Chapter 6 : Bloody Side-effect
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vivid images flashed in my mind rapidly shifting and changing around me, showing me of my youth, of me being happy alongside my family, that soon went away as I was harshly overwhelmed and reminded of all my failures, and the bleak horrors I went through. The echoing of screams deafened every other memory, explosions blinded and brought a singular memory up from the rest, playing as if it were happening in real-time as if I was reliving it once again.

There I laid, waist-deep in mud my gun planted firmly on the ground pointed off towards an enemy shrouded in mist, the whizzing of bullets passing dangerously over my head. Someone next to me seemed to have been hit multiple times, the bullets burying into his chest and a few of them taking his arm clean off, I spared him only a second of horror as my attention was drawn and focused on what was happening above me. Hundreds of planes sailed overhead, their engines like a siren song, singing us our demise. One of my squadmates seemed to grabbed me and dragged me back into the foxhole with him behind us, as explosions began to violently raddle the ground, sending dust and blood spraying everywhere. 

I think I saw my buddy screaming but all the noise around us was drowned out, the only sound entering my mind was buzzing, and the raddling of chains, he tried to shake me out of it, but I only stared at him confused. Moments later my vision became blurry, and the next thing I knew I was running in an open field, my squadmates and I seemed to be rushing the enemies position, but before we could make it to their trench, several machine gun emplacements opened fire on us, culling us like sheep to the slaughter. I saw several of my buddies brutally massacred, them being torn limb from limb by the burst of hellfire, their blood staining the ground, and my mind, their faces forever etched and ingrained in me. 

As we all ducked for cover, I could see a dark-haired woman in the distance watching the display with curiosity, but I didn't get much time to think as my mind shifted painfully once again, and I was screaming. One of my legs was partially gone, a small hole that used to contain a mine was behind me along with bloody chunks of meat, what was left of my leg was barely being held together, the slight sliver of meat holding what was left of it. 

Looking around for help, I saw that I was inside what appeared to be a crater, no doubt made from the previous air raid. I wasn't alone in the crater either, along with me was a medic wearing a uniform that didn't belong to either side of the war, it was unrecognizable, the medics' hair flowed freely it was like a breeze was blowing in the wind when there was none. She tried to apply pressure to the wound, but I was losing to much blood, she tried her best to staunch the blood flow, but could only watch on as I slowly bleed to death, worse yet was when the sirens began to sing once again, hundreds of them flying overhead once again, the last thing I saw before I closed my eyes was the woman's teal eyes looking up as a bomb started to plummeted straight towards us inches before it hit, water was splashed on me waking me from my slumber, the cold sweats that I was suffering through covered by the numbingly cold water. 

Waking up and standing straight up put me eye-level with Goodberry, her looking over my body up and down. 

"Curious most curious, and also wonderful!"

Goodberry exclaimed jumping up and down like a schoolgirl,

"How did you recover so much from that beating? It's like you weren't even attacked."

'Oh shit, I might have just fucked myself'

She circles me, her guards only a foot away, just in case I do something, she started to poke and prod me with the tip of her heels, nothing that hurt it just got a little annoying after a bit. 

"My records show that you were blessed by the God Grumbar, is that correct?" She didn't wait for an answer, "Did he give you a special blessing?" She leaned in real close, the smell of her blueberry perfume wafting in my face, "Did he? Did he? Did he?!?!" 

She kept asking, but I didn't respond making her frown harshly,

"Fine if you won't tell me your secrets, I'll get them out another way." 

She waved to her guards and had me unshackled, I thought for a moment to try and perform an epic escape, but wisely decided against trying the six to one fight. The guards put a bag over my head and started to lead me throughout the cave system, taking many turns and leading me through several loud areas filled with the crying of what I assumed was children and shouting of guards. After walking for ten minutes the guards pulled the black burlap sack from my head, revealing a room that seemed to be at least one hundred feet in height and several hundred feet wide. In the center of the room was a large crater, with many bleachers surrounding it, reminding me of some of the old Roman coliseums. I could hear cheering and painful howling coming from inside the pit, as we got closer the smell of blood was prevalent, a sinking feeling of what I was about to see started to take over.

'Please don't tell me these psychopaths are using children,'

I tried to stop myself from the displeasure of seeing kids killing each other, but one of the guards made sure I kept moving, shoving me until I reached the edge. When we reached the hole grunts and the pounding of flesh could be heard, being forced to watch by one of the guards, I saw that there were two kids down there, both of them only a little bit older than me, ten maybe twelve years old. One was on top of the other bringing his fist down upon the other boy's face like a hammer, the teeth were flying everywhere with every strike, his nose was already caved in, and it wasn't long until his face did the same. With a nasty crunch, his entire face was gone, brain matter leaking out from his crushed skull. The crowd went wild standing from their seats, the exchanging of gold from bets, it seemed like the entire town's guard was down here, which explained to me that most likely the whole force was in on this, which might also include my father, but I couldn't know.

The victorious red-headed boy kept hitting the corpse until one of the guards rang a bell, and he seemed to just go into a daze, seeming more like a zombie as he was escorted into one of the cells that lined the walls of the crater. Some of the guards started to notice me and smiled as they got their buddy's attention, some of them pointed and cheered me on, saying good luck. The guard that was shoving me before gestured for me to take a stairway down that seemed to have just appeared out of nowhere, I listened to his order and descended the stairway, it disappearing back into the wall as we finished the last step. The guards brought me to the same cell the red-head had entered and signaled for one of the guards above to open the cell, he gave a thumbs up and activated some device to unlatch the door. I was shoved in, and the door was closed behind me with a slam, knowing I wasn't alone I paid no mind to the door and watched the boy I just saw murder someone sitting in the corner.

When seeing him closer I saw the boy was barely skin and bone, I couldn't tell how old he was due to how much he seemed to be starved. I had a grip on the bone in my pocket as I slowly approached the boy, he was hunched over something, but I couldn't see what as he was blocking my field of view. He seemed to notice me at this point, turning towards me and snarling like a wild animal, he tried to use one hand to block what was behind him, but I saw, a little girl younger than me, who seemed to be in a worse situation than the boy. She was missing several of her fingers, and if she was breathing I couldn't tell from where I was at. All around her and the boy was moldy bread, the few bites that were taken from it seemed to be the only none moldy parts of it. I didn't know if it was the boy who was eating the bread or the girl, but I didn't care as I stepped back, and made my way to the other side of the cell. 

Taking a seat on one of the dirty mattresses that lined the cell seemed to put the boy at ease, him cooing to the girl and brushing her hair with his bloodied fingers. The girl didn't seem to respond to any of the affections, so I just assumed she was dead at this point. Leaning back against the cave cell, I decided to get the lay of the land and take a look outside my cell, seeing another fight already taking place. This one seemed different though, it seemed that two young wealthy nobles were having a friendly boxing match, their elaborate outfits seeming out of place in a death pit. Not partially caring for their duel my eyes drifted to all the cells around the room, spotting nothing of interest until the last cell. Inside the cell to my surprise was three idiots that I recognized, Slob, Glob, and Blob.

'Why are Desert's friends here?'

The three boys seemed absolutely terrified completely out of their element as they held onto each other, I genuinely felt sorry for them, nothing seemed to change though as they cowards, so I decided the best thing to do for now was just wait, so I watched the two young nobles who seemed to be around fourteen and fifteen do there match. The fighters seemed to know exactly where to strike each other as to not leave a mark, their hair and clothe staying in top form as they casually struck at each other. This situation made me laugh a little, these two boys were some of the budding elites of this world, and it seemed that they didn't care about anything that was happening here, they seemed complacent, reminding me a lot of my old world, and shattering any hope that this new world was a peaceful utopia. I wasn't as fazed as I thought I would be either, the death itself was nothing new, I was a solider I did my fair share of killing, young and old, but these people come from a somewhat peaceful world, where the last war fought was over a thousand years ago, so what brought upon all this chaos. I expected better, and sadly I was let down.

The noble's match would end, the boys bowing to each other, then the crowd and leaving from the staircase. That's when Goodberry stepped down from her little throne, and made her way to the center of the ring, making a grand display of it, using her magic to send sparks into the air. Her face glowing with anticipation and badly hidden excitement as she took up a microphone. 

"Hello, ladies and Gentlemen! How is everyone DOING TONIGHT!?"

She held the mic towards the crowd, which roared to her delight.

"That's good, real good to hear, I hope you all are excited for our main event for the evening," 

She started to circle the room.

"Today we have a very special group of boys that are going to be tussling it out." 

She stopped in front of Glob, Slobs, and Blobs cell.

"We have the boys that failed to defend my daughter when she was brutally beaten and humiliated." 

She gestured to the three boys inside, which got all the audience to start booing, she then made her way over to my cell and stared right into my eyes.

"versus the boy that did the brutal, unjust beating, and cruel humiliation."

The crowd was angry tossing whatever they could get their hands on at all four of us, a rock making contact and cutting my eyebrow. 

"Tonight they shall duke it out once more, no holds bar, no interruptions, and of course NO MERCY!"

Shaking my head I had no idea what to think about this situation, of course, I didn't want to fight the boys, but I also really didn't have a choice if they attacked, so I decided that I would only act if they struck first. After her speech, I heard a click from above, and the cell started to rise opening the way for me. I stepped out, and just stood right outside of my cell, seeing if I could see anything of use, and spotting nothing but a few corpses and peddles. I could see several guards trying to talk to the three boys, dropping them something from above, I was wary of that, wondering if they got dropped a shiv, but that was dashed as Glob, and Blob quickly scooped up whatever it was consumed it almost in an instant, the only one who didn't was Slob as he put whatever it was in his pants pocket. 

The boys stepped forward a little closer, them seeming a little more confident, slight smiles on Glob and Blob's face. 

Goodberry who had retreated to her makeshift throne spoke one last time while ringing a small bell to add dramatic flair.

"Let's make this bloody boys!"

Immediately afterward the howling of what sounded like animals erupted from every cell, Glob and Blobs bodies started to convulse their limbs twisting every which way in breaking several times as they got longer, foam started to froth from their mouths, their eyes rolling back into there skulls, as they turned a pale white. The sound of bones cracking and twisting overwhelming the cheering crowd, the two boys hunched forward like gorillas, them seeming to have gone feral.
> Chapter 7 : Deal To Remember
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The two boys growled at Slob as he took a few steps back and tripped over a nearby corpse, him falling over onto his butt and scrambling back to try and escape. The Glob and Blob watched him with an animalistic curiosity, their heads tilting to the side like a dog, drool starting to leak from their mouths. They started to descend upon Slob, going on all fours slowly approaching, Slob just seemed to freeze after bumping into the corpse, his eyes going from his two friends back to the corpse. Thinking of what I could do to help him and give him a fighting chance if even a little, I ran forward a little and started to throw my arms into the air, making as much noise as possible.

"Slob you idiot, RUN!"

My yelling seemed to agitate the boys them turning towards me and deciding that I was a nuisance that needs to be erased. I turned and started and just started to put distance between us, yelling back to Slob, "Get somewhere safe Slob, I'll keep them distracted." Slob seemed conflicted with this choice, he looked towards me, then back to his friends. Doing what must have been the dumbest thing I could have ever imagined he shook his head and spoke. 

"Slob leave no friend behind!"

He almost instantly regretted talking as his former friends turned back towards him, and pounced on him. He only had a split second to regret his decision as Glob and Blob started to wail on Slob with a fierce animalistic rage, using the bottom of their fist to hammer down on any open skin of Slobs, beating him severally in seconds. I facepalmed, and rushed to help, 

'What an idiot, all he had to do was be quiet and I would have at least stalled them.'

Even though I didn't particularly care for Slob, I wasn't going to let some boy die in front of me if I could help it, so when I reached them I instantly sprung into action, jumping on the back of Glob I started to punch right behind his ear as hard as I could, knowing that a good strike there can knock a fully grown man out pretty quick. Of Course, Glob tried to buck me off him but I was latched on pretty tight and wouldn't let go, after striking him several times he bulked over, I was barely able to combat roll off of him to avoid being crushed, him going limp behind me. Righting myself as I stood I cautioned a glance over to Slob and cringed when I saw him, he looked absolutely pulverized, so doing the only thing I could think I I rushed over to him, and I used all the muscle that my little legs could mister and jumped up into the air delivering the hardest dropkick I could into his side. This staggered him off of Slob, him turning to me bearing his teeth and rushing, exhaustion seemed to catch up with me, my breath going heavy, and my legs in pain from the strain of the running and yesterdays beating not fully healing. 

The first thing that happened when I failed to evade his attack was his head colliding with the center of my chest, knocking any of the remaining air out of me, and sending me tumbling, Blob not even taking a second for him to jump on top of me just like he did Slob, his fist coming down to strike me. I was able to put my arms up before the first strike hit my face, but the damage it did to my already damaged arm was tremendous. It hurt like hell, and I cried out in pain with each strike, the cheering of the crowd just becoming white noise as I focused solely on not becoming a paste.

Switching my mind off, I decided it would be best to let my training take over, my hand instinctively reaching for a knife but pulling out the jagged bone instead. This worked though as I stabbed him as he came for another strike, the bone lodging itself into his wrist, him reeling back from the pain. Using this as the perfect opportunity I brought my elbow straight into Blob's junk, a howl of pain echoing, the guards around making an 'ooooooh' as Blob fell to his side curling into a ball. Shakily getting to my feet, my arms badly bruised and barely usable at this point, I slowly limped over to him, blood leaking from my nose as one of the punches was able to get through. I stood over him, no emotion on my face as I brought my foot me only seconds from crushing his throat, a feeling overcoming me, not a spiritual one in any way, or anything unnatural, but one from my conscience it whispering to me in my own voice, 'Do Better!' 

This brought me back to my senses my foot slamming hard as I redirected the kick from his throat, to his temple instead, Blob going limp from the attack. There was silence all around, the cheering seemed to stop, even the wild hooting from the cells was gone, the only sound I could hear was the beating of my heart, and the soft shallow breaths coming from the three boys. I looked around the crowd, opening my arms up as if to taunt them, it seemed to have the opposite reaction that I was hoping for, as the silence soon turned to hysterical cheering, the noise from the cells growing louder also. The guards were falling off their seats in excitement, some of them having their mouths gapped as if what they were seeing was impossible, while several other members of the crowd were exchanging large bags of gold.

Goodberry stood out from the rest, her expression the same as when I started the fight, her slowly clapping at my display,

"This is beyond my wildest expectation Varian, I knew you were doing some training, but I never expected you to be this good!" She moaned out.

Ringing the bell once more all the noise around us ceased, the guards pulling themselves together as Goodberry left her throne, and descended the stairs. "You will be quite useful to me Varian, the amount of money, and the warrior you could become seems to be almost unparallel." Goodberry not seeming at all worried strolled right up to me, "So I have a proposition for you, one I think you won't refuse." 

Deciding now was a good time to break my silence I answered her, "And what might that be Goodberry?" Genuinely curious as to what she was offering, and wondering why she just didn't force me to do what she wants. 

She cooed at the sound of my voice, and leaned forward, "Well all that I ask of you my little bird, is that you become my champion!" Circling behind me she started to whisper into my ear, "and do whatever I say."

Kinda creeped out at this point I shook her off my shoulder and asked her something, "And what do I get out of this deal? It can't all be one-sided can it?" She seemed upset that I wasn't flustered in any way, but recovered.

"Of course not, that wouldn't be fair, would it. The first thing that I o so generously offer you is the safety of your family, them being off-limits to any of my operations." I nodded my head at this, "Also I'm no slave driver," Her face going into a wide grin, she pinched two of her fingers together and rubbed them, "Second, I will compensate you for every fight that you survive." I didn't really like the sound of that, but I nodded my head again. "Lastly, you will have free reign of both the town and their accompanying facilities," She put her hand forward towards me to shake, her eyes almost bulging out of their sockets. I was curious about many things, and couldn't think of a reason not to ask them, so I just went for it.

"Why make a deal with me Goodberry? Why not just threaten me, and force me to fight?" 

She shook her head furiously, "No, no, no that never works, I've done it before and every time it backfired, the person gets mad, they seek vengeance, and most of the time a lot of my people die in the process, I don't want that, bad for the business you see. So I decided to go a more diplomatic approach, first I needed to test your skills so I had you go against some rather impossible odds that I never expected you to win. Colored me surprised when you did, don't get me wrong though, I would have stopped the fight if you were about to die, but thankfully you didn't come anywhere near it." 

Kinda surprised at her detailed explanation, I didn't really know how to react, "What happens if I refuse?"

"Nothing at all, I swear to you Varian, that if you refuse this offer and no longer have any dealings with me or my kin, you will be left alone, but one mishap I will come down hard on you, and your own."

Really in retrospect, I can't refuse, my father, and Twist are already trying to investigate Goodberry and her orphanage. So refusing here would guarantee a death sentence for us, and I couldn't allow that, so without thinking any more on it, I shook Goodberry's hand. She gave a toothy grin as she pulled me in close, and into a hug, "Ohhh Varian, I knew you would come around." She held me tight in her bosom while combing my hair with her hand, "and one more thing Varian, as Glob, Blob, Slob are indisposed," She pulled me away and began shaking me slightly all excited. "You shall for now on be taking up the mantle as Desert Flames personal bodyguard!"

Shaking my head in bewilderment I closed my eyes as she shook me, 

'What the hell is happening? I can't get a read on anything that's going on."

(XP Gained 50)
> Chapter 8 : Meeting Someone Special
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Life went on as it usually does, the whole affair swept under the rug by Goodberry, the whole situation somehow turning out ok and in my favor. Goodberry had two guards return me back to my house that same day, them escorting me to the door and knocking, making sure my parents saw them. My father and mother were quite angered making a big uproar to the two guards about my disappearance, but Goodberry came up with a cover story, and the guards explained it to my parents. The story was that I came over to the orphanage at night to apologize to Desert Flame for all of the 'bullying' I did to her and that I decided to sleepover in one of the spare beds instead of risking being caught on the return home.

My father seemed quite suspicious, him quickly dismissing the two guards and pulling me inside, he then started to question me away from my mother, asking me things pertaining to the orphanage. Asking if they did anything inappropriate to me, or if the place felt off in any way, I knew I couldn't tell him anything that actually happened or his life would be in danger. Goodberry had the whole guard force stationed here in her pocket, and it would literally be him against the world, so I decided to lie. I told him that I didn't see anything out of the ordinary, that I did my own little investigation and couldn't find anything to prove that Twist said. I don't know if I convinced him or not, him walking away grumbling as Honeydew took over and started to badger me about the dangers of going out alone at night, and all the things that could have happened. 

The whole time Twist was in the corner not saying a word, her eyes shifting from me to the ground, I could tell she wanted to speak up and ask something by all the fidgeting that she was doing. 

"What do you have to say for yourself;f young man?" Honeydew finally finished her rant ending with a question.

Only paying attention to half of what she was saying I smiled at her putting on my innocent child look and answered her, "Yes mother, I'm sorry for worrying you, I didn't intend for that to happen at all, I'll try and not doing something so irrational again." Honeydew huffed and shagged her shoulders, 

"I guess that's all I can ask for, your such an independent person at such a young age, it almost crazy to believe your only five." She sighed, "Just stay out of any more trouble." She finished giving me one last hug as she left the room to finish some chores. I started to follow after her when I noticed Twist becoming even more agitated, so I stopped and waited for my mother to leave the room before I spoke with her. When Honeydew left the room closing the door behind her it was Twist who talked first, asking me a very simple question, "Varian, why did ya lie to ma and pa?" 

I didn't really have a grasp on what I lied about so I probed for answers, "What do you mean Twist? What did I lie about?" 

"I saw ya being carried last night, who was those people?" I froze up, this mishap being a side-effect of Goodberries planning, and if this was told to my father would bring up a whole hep of trouble that we don't need. So deciding to be a little aggressive I put my hands to my lips and shushed Twist. "Shhh Twist, you weren't supposed to see that, and you can't mention it to anyone, ok?" I moved towards her until I was right in front of her, her fidgeting getting more fierce, and making me slightly nervous. "Twist you gotta promise me something, nod if you understand."

She nodded her head, "You have to promise me that you won't tell anyone what you saw last night, it has to stay between us ok." 

She looked hesitant about agreeing, so being a bit underhanded I started to weave a false narrative to her, "Twist those people who carried me away last night were agents of the Princess," She looked at me shocked, her eyes sparkling, "So you gotta keep this between us Twist I'm on a mission for them that no one can know." I kinda felt bad for lying to her and taking advantage of her belief in me but I have to lie to save her. It seemed like she wanted to ask more questions, but I put a hand up to silence her, "Sorry Twist I can't talk about anything, Princesses orders." 

Twist seemed offended that I wouldn't tell her anything and left without another word, closing the door to her room. Taking this chance I shimmied off to my own room to get some real rest, still aching a little from the day before I used the rest of my lay on hands to heal the rest of my wounds, getting rid of the bruising and evidence of what happened. Laying down in my bed was like heaven it had me instantly falling into a deep slumber, where once again I plummeted into a somewhat lucid dream. My mind flashed me back to the arena from the night before, showing a more gruesome scene in front of me, on the back of Glob riding him, but instead of punching him, the bone was sticking out the side of his neck, blood like a sprinkler gushing out everywhere, making me crimson as I basked in it. My focus then shifted to Blob who was still beating on Slob, this time instead of rushing him I snuck up behind him, grabbing a decently sized rock on my approach. I came softly up behind him, becoming like a shadow as I came right up and slammed the rock into the side of his head. Blob tumbled over, his head slamming into the ground, stunned and hurt he didn't react as I began my onslaught with the rock, hitting him until he fell unconscious. 

I looked over to Slob and saw the life leave him as he drew his last breath, his chest no longer rising for air. Once again I was towering over Blob, this time I did deliver the finishing blow, my foot coming down and crushing his windpipe, but I kept kicking his throat as he gargled and choked on his own blood. Just like before after I finished the match I turned to the crowd to taunt them, but this time there was no one there to cheer, I started to spin to see if I saw anyone and didn't until I came upon Goodberries throne. There were two women there, one of them seated, and the other in chains. The one seated wore a dark purple victorian style dress that radiated authority, and a half-moon tiara adorned her head. I had a good idea who these two women might be and was slightly concerned as to why I was seeing them. 




The woman in chains next to her wore nothing but a plain black dress with nothing distinguishing she also had her eyes cast down, she wore a chain around her neck, which the other women held the end of in her hand. Looking at her brought memories from a previous dream I had a few nights before and she looked rather similar to her. The other women's face looked eerily similar to hers like they were twins but it was slightly off, her eyes were sunken into her sockets them being nothing a void, with what looked like black mist trying to escape from them. Her hair was also a darker shade than the other girls giving her an overall just evil vibe.

The regal women leaned back in her throne as our surroundings started to fade away, the arena disintegrating and being replaced by what appeared to be a grand throne room, the cheap throne she was sitting upon being replaced with one made from pure obsidian, the bleachers being replaced with pillars and banners that adorned the walls every few feet, and braziers that littered the room under every banner, them lighting up the moon sigil that were displayed. The women spoke after everything had been revealed, and she was fully inside of her castle, when she spoke though her lips didn't move none of her face moved for that matter, it stood stock still, it seemed she used some kind of telepathy to communicate,

"Hello boy!" Her voice like a chalkboard in my mind, "We've been watching your dreams for a bit and we have got to say that they are delicious, so much violence and death, so many new devices to kill, all of them that we've never seen before. It almost makes our heart want to start beating again!" It was unsettling listening as she didn't move at all when she spoke, even when she sounded excited. "So in light of the fact that your so young, and seem to be quite infatuated with violence I have come to ask something of you, something that I believe you will find rather impossible to deny." She finished her face making the first expression I had seen so far, it, of course, being a sinister smile.