> BOOM > by Khanathara > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Mr. BOOMbastic > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight watched in frightened confusion as a large metal airship descended from the dark clouds in the sky. It carelessly came down in town square causing several collems to collapse to rubble, luckily everyone had backed away from it already so no one was in danger. A heavy metal ramp dropped from the airship and from it several men wearing helmets vaguely shaped like wolf heads and thick plates of metal descended the ramp carrying some kind of box. A boy who barely seemed older than Spike with short grey spiky hair fallowing behind them. They set down the box when they reached the bottom of the ramp, the boy walking up to it to grab a microphone off the back causing it to unfold into some kind of speaker. "People of Equestria, we come on behalf of the fearsome, the powerful, the mighty Storm King! And now, to deliver his message, put your hands together for Commander Tempest!" The boy spoke with a lisp, giving the signal for a woman to come down the ramp. "Tempest, is it?" Celestia asked as she and the other princesses made there way forward, Twilight right behind them. "How may we help you?" Twilight glanced at Celestia as she spoke, there was a edge to her voice she hadn't heard ever before. "Oh, I'm so glad you asked. How about we start with your complete and total surrender." "Hi there, princess of friendship." Twilight stepped around the other three to try and lower the ambient hostility. "I'm not exactly sure whats going on, but I know we can talk things out." "Oh goody, all four princesses." Tempest said, her sabatons clinking on the ramp as she walked. "Here's the deal, ladies. I need your magic. Give it up nicely, please, or we make it difficult for everyone!" "And why should we cower before you? There's on of you, and hundreds of us." Luna said while gently pushing Twilight back behind her and her sister. "Oh I was hoping you would choose difficult." At the end of her sentence more airships began to descend from the sky and the men with the wolf-like masks activated their magic, causing themselves to be encased in a dark grey ethereal glow that resembled some form of large beast. More men began to fall from the ships, their magic already activated, and proceeded to engage in combat with the guards and anyone else that stayed to fight and not run in panic. Tempest was running to engage the princesses with several green glowing black orbs in hand. But before she could throw one a large explosion shook the ground under her, causing her to stop to keep her balance. Twilight looked to the ships looking for cannons but saw none. 'But, if they didn't cause it... then who did?' She thought to herself looking around to see almost everyone had stopped and was looking towards the source, smaller explosions flashing on a side street. Just as Tempest was about to take advantage of the distraction another large explosion went off with a warcry, "DIIIIIE!!!" and sent a number of her solders flying, one tumbling to a stop right in front of her looking sufficiently beaten. The man responsible stepped through the smoke. He was wearing what seemed to be torn and tattered civilian clothing that had some armor under it. The man raised his hand in-front of himself, a series of small explosions coming off of it before he yelled out. "THESE ASS-HATS YOUR GUYS BITCH?!" He was met with quiet shock as everyone just stared at him. He seemed to have enough of the silent treatment as he dipped forward in a charging position and threw his hands behind him with another series of much stronger explosions sending him flying forward, another warcry on his lips. "DIIIIE BITCH!!" The princesses and elements of harmony, as well as the other civilians and combatants present, watched in shocked awe as he cleared town square in about five seconds and threw a large right handed hay-maker that ended with another explosion. Everyone saw as more flashes of explosions came through the smoke, some solid yellow and red and others multicolored blue. Twilight turned to go help others in the square only to see that the attacking force was watching in interest, as if they head never seen someone stand toe-to-toe with their commander. They had even deactivated their magic in order to watch. She turned back to the fight to see the smoke partially cleared and the man throwing another obvious right hand hay-maker and tempest already in position to block it and counter. Only instead of throwing an attack like was expected the man grabbed her arm and used his other arm to set off a chain of explosions to both dodge Tempest own explosive attack and spin himself into a throw, sending Tempest flying towards the edge of the mountain city. Tempest manged to perform some mid-air acrobatics to catch herself before she went over the edge. As both combatants charged at each other Twilight had a thought and dipped her vision into the ambient magic of the word to watch as there magic itself moved to try and figure out what spells they where using. The only explosive spells she knew of where long range demolition spells, which were not used as much nowadays in favor of dynamite and wrecking balls which were more accurate and safer. With her vision in the magic spectrum she could see the fight far more clearly. The first thing she noticed was that both of them had enough magic power to rival Starlight, and maybe even herself. The second thing she noticed was that the mans magic was highly volatile and she would be surprised if he could do anything other than cause explosions with it. And Tempest was casting actual spells that she knew but something was causing them to fail into an unguided mess at the last second. The last thing she noticed was their lymbotic system's, or the magic neural system. The mans was normal for the most part but seemed to be gathered in large enough clusters on his forearms that she could see with perfect accuracy the smallest of movements in his forearms and hands as well as the exorbitant amount of magic coursing through them at highly unsafe levels. Where as Tempest lymbotic system revealed why her spells were failing. Her lymbotic system looked like it had been torn to shreds as there were four large gashes running through it. The magic coursing through it escaping the system and connecting to the ambient magic of the world, allowing her to more easily pull on said ambient magic but also causing her to force more magic through then needed and collapsing any spell she cast. The only way she could cast a proper spell would be out side of combat where she focus entirely on it or to cast different parts of the spell in different parts of her body and then contort herself into awkward positions to cast it. Twilight is finally pulled from her observations as the mans magic begins to rapidly swirl around him, causing an ethereal wind to pick up in the town square alerting every one to the fact that an incredibly powerful spell is about to be cast. The wind then changes direction to an updraft around Twilight, sending Celestia's and Luna's hair blowing upwards, and a downdraft on the other side of the fight as the man sends himself into the air and proceeds to start spinning himself with explosions. These explosions seem to have some kind of spell cast with them but Twilight is unable to make them out as they fade and are covered by another to rapidly. His spell reaches the point that the wind is now affecting other things and making Twilight, The princesses, and the elements have to hold their skirts/dresses down, Aside from Rainbow and Applejack that is, as all of their hair is now billowing upwards. The man then throws his arms forward and lets out an explosion strong enough for the shock-wave knock everyone back. Celestia uses a spell to clear the smoke and reveal the man was sent back into a building and was slowly pulling himself out while Tempest was nowhere to be seen, until a section of the square collapses to fall down the mountain and an alarmed yelp brings attention to a hand griping the hand rail right next to the collapsed part. Tempest slowly pulls herself up only to freeze as she hears a crack and the area she is hanging on begins to crumble. Twilight begins to cast a levitation spell to save her only lose her focus at the repeated sound of explosions and the man fly's past her to Tempest. Fearing the worst Twilight tries her spell again only to stop as he grabs Tempest and then uses his explosions to redirect them back onto solid ground before they both collapse from exhaustion. It's Pinkie that finally breaks the silence. "Well... that happened." > Research > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Binds of humans. Base Three 1) The Arcane Bound(Unicorn) have an elf like appearance and average height for a human. They have the most natural talent when it comes to magic and are often the pioneers of new spells, but often have trouble with magic out side their specific study's and talents as depends on the specific Aracne Bound. 2) The Sky Bound(Pegasus/Thesteral) are light and lithe. The tallest of them only around four and a half foot tall. Unlike the Arcane Bound they can naturally summon ethereal wings without expending unneeded amounts of magic, said wings capable of taking the form of bird or bat like wings. And with the use of there magic can manipulate weather and stand on clouds. They also have much better night vision and hearing then the other bindings, but they struggle with Arcane Bound magic and most are completely incapable of Earth Bound magic. 3) The Earth Bound(Earth Ponies/Buffalo) are tall and built like a mountain. The shortest of them don't often dip below six foot while the tallest push nine foot on average. They have a natural connection to the earth and plants. Most turn their skills to farming or working a forge, but there natural magic can also make them terrifying geomancers and floramancers. The are opposites of the Sky Bound as they struggle with Arcane Bound magic but are almost in capable of Sky bound magic. Sub-bindings Earth Bound Sub-bound Gem Bound 1) The Crystal Bound(Crystal Ponies) are not to different from the Earth bound, but there are noticeable differences. The first is that they have a crystalline appearance and more talent with gems and crystals. The second is that they prefer arctic climates and are rather skilled in frozen aquamancy. 2) The Dog Bound, also known as Diamond Dogs, have more difference to them as they can emit an ethereal aura that could be mistaken for a werewolf under the right conditions. When this aura is emitted they and carve through the earth like a fish in water. They are also known for hording, and supposedly eating, gems. Sky Bound Sub-bound Feather Bound 1) The Hunt Bound(Griffin) are prideful hunters and are known for spending more time on the ground then the Sky Bound. It started as a way to have and 'honorable' hunt but became a part of who they are centuries ago, since then they have developed natural ethereal claw magic as well. 2) The Ocean Bound(Hippogriff) are, at best, an anomaly. While they have wings like the Sky Bound, they are also capable of breathing under water and summoning a fish like tail in the same manner as their wings. They have night vision even better then the Sky Bound, likely to see in the depths of the ocean. A number of them also have an incredibly unique voice magic that earned them the name, Siren. Arcane Bound Sub-bound Transformation Bound (the few that undergo true transformations) 1) The Rage Bound(Kirin) are so similar to the Arcane Bound that the only way to truly tell the difference is their skill in pyromancy and weather or not they burst into blue flames and transform into a Demon, or "Nirik" as they call it, form when angered. 2) The Centaur Bound, or Centaurs, appear as a mix of the powerful build of Earth Bound and elven appearance of the Arcane Bound. They have a transformation of there own that they can activate at will to transform into a second form, most of which have the appearance of a horse with a human upper body instead of a head. Rarely some are known to have the form of other quadrupedal animals or even an animalistic humanoid. Unclassified 1) The Drakon(Dragon) have very little known about them. But what we do know is from experience with them and recent discovery from my assistant Spike. They are not born like most mammals, but hatch from eggs similar to a Platypus or Manticore. They have reptilian eyes and tails, as well as claws and scales on certain parts of there body, and the ability to breath fire. They are capable of emitting an aura that gets larger with age, greed and/or anger in the form of a dragon. More information will be added as it is discovered. 2) The Changelings, they are capable of shape-shifting and almost any magic but seem to have similar limitations as the Arcane Bound where they are limited based on the individual. More information will be added as it is discovered. 3) The Beast Men with the wolf masks. More in formation will be added as it is discovered. 4) Discord???? 5) May there be more? The Unbound Incapable of magic, average with no unique features Ascension Bound 1) Unbound, few unbound have managed to gain 'Magic.' Though it is nothing but rumors many scholars suspect otherwise and say that any Unbound that gains magic likely to be violent and unpredictable. Caution is recommended, even if they don't exist. 2) Any of the bound can find themselves in this category to become ascended. 3) Discord???? Ascended, AKA Gods 1)Their appearance is a mixture of all the abound and are capable of the magic of any of the bound, the only limits being their personal knowledge and domain of power. They are theoretically immortal, and only six are known to exist in Equestria. How ever many more might be in the world is unknown as they have a tendency to hide among the populace as much as they can to avoid being worshiped as gods or given responsibility's they don't want, but there are at least ten known outside of Equestria and one in Tartarus. 2) Discord???? Twilight Looked over her notes again and again trying to figure out what kind of Bind this Bakugo Katsuki had, while also being thankful for the existence of public records. His name is similar to the names of that the few explorers that go to the Unexplored West and come back speak of, so it is likely that he is from there. But he is not the first and therefor should still fall into the known binds, yet he doesn't seem to match any of them. His ears are short and rounded so he's not an Arcane, he is to short to be a Earth, but to tall to be a Sky. He has no scales, claws or tail and magic scans revealed that any ethereal emission magic he had was soully focused on his forearms and hands. This left two, maybe three, options. Number one and least likely, he is an incredibly short Earth Bound. Number two and more likely, he was an unknown Bind like the men with the wolf masks that fled or surrendered at Tempest's defeat. Or three, the option that was most likely and scared her the most, he was an Unbound that gained magic. Making him an Ascension bound and possibly an Ascended at some point in the future. With what Twilight saw of him she wouldn't be surprised if he Ascended and started calling himself 'King Explodo-Kills' or something stupid like that. "What is this? Age of the Ascended or something?" Twilight asked herself hands massaging her temples. "First myself, then I find out about Sunset and a portal to a world without magic, and then Starlight comes along and shows that she's just a small push away from her own ascension. And now... Now based on magic power alone there's two more. Ugh... I need a break from the constant world ending threats." Luna was searching the dream realm for this man, this Bakugo. She had just left Tempest dream where she found out what she could about the Storm King as well as the reason for her mangled lymbotic system. As it turns out beings made of magic don't leave very much physical wounds, but the Ursa Minor left magic 'scars' instead. The scares will fade with time, but she will most likely be on her deathbed from age alone before her lymbotic system even comes close to being fully healed. Luna's thoughts were interrupted when she felt a strong dark dream. It wasn't a full nightmare yet but it was rapidly approaching one, and would likely fly past to full on nightterror if she didn't interfere. Approaching the dream orb she realized that this was both a lucky break and a bad sign as Bakugo's dream was the source of the nightterror. As she entered the dream all of her senses were swiftly assaulted. The smell of blood and sweat hung in the air, flashes of light and sound blinded and disoriented her. When Luna was able to properly orient herself she saw a raging battle all around her, arrows and spells arching through the air as steel sparked against steel and severed limbs. Looking up she saw that not even the sky was clear of conflict as Sky Bound fought and cast spells at each other and the ground. Luna attempted to end the dream only to be shocked at the strength of the dream, no, the memory. To end it would require her to find the dreamer. Luna rose to the air to begin her search and was satisfied to see explosion signaling were she need to go. Thanks to being able to be incorporeal she was able to reach him with little issue, however she paused at the sight of his fight. Not because house sized Drakon opponent, the fact he was dodging spells and attacks form all directions, nor how much younger he appeared to be. But because of who his allies are. Fighting with him against the Drakon and the opposing army were the Pillars of Equestria. Luna was started out of her shock as everything around her suddenly froze, spells stopped mid air, bodies floating. Bakugo suddenly turned to look at her rapidly ageing to his current age, and as they made eye contact he snarled in a way that would cow a starving and desperate wild predator to abandon its prey, and the dream shattered and forced both back to the waking realm. "Oh shit" > Reunion > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Flash Magnus; Equestrian Legionary, Pillar of Equestria, Royal Guard Captain. Even with all of these titles and all his experience he found himself in a situation he was unsure what to do in. The same could be said of all the Pillars. Bakugo Katsuki, a person that none of them had ever expected to see again, had turned up when he was thought to be dead. But the same could be said for them as well. Everyone had thought that they died to an unknown foe. So now he, the rest of the Pillars, Princess Celestia, Princess Cadence, and all but one of the Elements sat in the castles war room discussing the attack. But he was unable to focus. The young man, barely out of his childhood last he saw him, was fully grown and still alive thousands of years. He had joined Twilight when she started pulling Bakugo's public records expecting him to be a descendant, but what he saw was inconclusive. Bakugo had a house in a small and underdeveloped town of Appleloosa. The town has been around for about fifty years and Bakugo was one of the original residence but he hadn't been seen in the town for nearly a decade. His occupation was marked as a Mercenary, but very few of his jobs had official records on them. It just wasn't possible for Bakugo Katsuki to still be alive, unless... Unless he ascended. That is unlikely, but there is an explanation that might make more sense. Bakugo had always been a unique being. When the Pillars had first met him he was Unbound and yet still capable of... something. It wasn't magic per say, even if Starswirl said otherwise, but it was still something that an Unbound shouldn't have been capable of. It wasn't until nearly a year later, and repeated lectures from Starswirl, that Bakugo had started to show progress with real magic and the beginning developments of a Lymbotic system. The explosions he caused gaining some arcane properties but not much else. That is until a month later when there was a massive change and Bakugo had disappeared to an unknown place and time. The witnesses of this event described it as some kind of portal appearing and sucking him in faster than anyone was capable of reacting to. Search party's were sent out to look for the boy, but none of them turned up anything. And a month after he disappeared he reappeared in the same fashion. A study from Starswirl and several other scholars showed that no more than three days could have passed for him. Such disappearances became common place for him, disappearing and reappearing at random time intervals. Sometimes being gone for months and sometimes reappearing seconds after with others. And yet the time he was gone never added up with how much time had passed for him. A side affect of this being his Lymbotic system developing an impressive rate, but also causing his mana pool to be highly unstable. A year before the Equestrian Civil War, a war that was lost to history, another similar being was found by the pillars. In terms of random appearance and disappearance that is. This creature was quite unusual, having the appearance of a true dragon from tales spread by the Drakon. It was from this creature and Bakugo that Starswirl was capable discovering several things. His time magic, the mirror portals, and the discovery of a magic disease that he called Malchronomorbus. A disease that messed with ones placement in time. "What do you think, Flash?" "Huh? Oh, uh, sorry. I lost focus for a moment. What were we talking about?" Flash asked. "Flash, I understand your distraction. But we must focus no-" Starswirl spoke with irritation written across his face, but was unable to finish as a faint boom ever so slightly shook the castle. Silence reigned in the room til another boom rang in the distance. "Where are Luna and Twilight?" Somnambula asked. "Twilight was pulling the public records on Bakugo and Aunty Luna said something about using her dream magic to learn more about Tempest and Bakugo." Cadence explained, only for all of the Pillars to swiftly stand with looks of worry across their faces. The Pillars cast glances to each other before rushing out of the room, the Elements and Princesses following shortly after. Twilight pulled her eyes away from her research as a noise caught her attention, the noise had been getting louder and closer for the last five minuets or so but had now reached the point of distracting. Focusing on the sound solidly identified it as yelling and... explosions? She rose from her seat and headed for the door, but was forced to throw up a shield as the wall next to the door exploded into the room and something- no- someone impacted the opposite wall. Twilight turned to see Princess Luna pulling herself out of the rubble, her clothing showed signs of combat but Luna herself appeared more shaken then anything else. The crunch of broken brick and mortar brought Twilight's attention back to the hole blown in the wall. "YOU THINK THAT YOU CAN ROOT AROUND IN MY HEAD, MEINU!?!" Yelled the man that Twilight had been in the process of researching. "AIN'T NO ONE ALLOWED IN MY HEAD 'CEPT ME! NOT EVEN FAUSUTO IS LET IN MY HEAD OROKANA FAKKU!!" Bakugo leaned forward into the same charging position as when he fought Tempest bet before he could charge he was grabbed from behind in a bear hug and lifted into the air. "Bakugo my boy, calm yourself." The familiar voice of Rock Hoof was heard as he lifted Bakugo off the ground. Twilight expected thrashing and curses to spew from the mouth of the mercenary, but instead he seemed to freeze and a look of shock overtook his face. Rock placed Bakugo back on the ground where he turned to see Rock Hoof and the rest of the Pillars of Equestria standing in the hall behind him. "W-what are..." Bakugo started to speak but seemed unable to find his voice. "It's been a long time Sir Kishi Bakugo." Starswirl said as he stepped forward. This seemed to knock Bakugo out of his stunned state as he took a step forward, punched Starswirl and began to rant in a language that only Flash and Somnambula seemed to understand. "Ittai dō shita no! ? Anata wa yukue fumeideshita anata wa orokana fakku! Watashitachiha chīmudearu koto ni natte ita, ASSHOLES!" > Let Loose > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Applejack watched as this guy, Bakugo acording to Twilight, as he was exercising in the guard training field. Well, exercising might be a bit too generous seeing as most of the training golems where in pieces. She didn't know why, but somthing told her that he wasn't trustworthy. It was almost like his exictance was a lie. That was the only way she could think to describe it at least. He almost felt like Discord to her. An explosion and another golem in pieces heralded the arival of a small group of gaurds and some guy that looked like a noble. They talked for a bit, but she was too far away to tell what was said, and then he joined the noble looking guy as he steped into a sparing circle. The noble took off his suit jacket and handed to one of the guards before the two of them took up positions across from each other. "Who in the hay is that?" She asked herself. "An' what do they think they're doin'?" "That looks like Prince Blueblood," Applejack jumped at the unexpected response to her question and turned her head to see who had joined her. "And it looks like he and young Bakugo are getting ready to spar." Finished Flash as his wings dispated behind him. "Oh, hey. What 're you doin' here Flash?" "I could ask you the same thing Applejack. I came to check on Katsuki. He was quite the ball of rage when he was younger and when I heard the exploions stop I wanted to make sure no one was hurt." Magnus told her before returning his attention to the spar. "Getting him to calm down enough to stop blowing things apart used to take a lot of work. It would seem that the Prince knows a way to dsitract him though." The explosions had been a constant beat for the past few hours. It reminded Rockhoof old times. When Flash had directed Bakugo to the guards training field it had taken Starswirl telling the Princesess that it was the best to let him work through his anger. Of course they also wanted to know how we knew him. The looks on their faces when we told them that he had babysat them when they were but babes was hilarious. When the explosions stopped both Somnambula and Flash had taken off to check on him. Now he, the Princesess, and the rest of the Pillars were making their way to the training field as well. If exlosions have stopped then he must have calmed down enough to properly talk afterall. "Don't feel to bad Little Luna," Rockhoof started. "You should have seen how he reacted when your Mother tried to check his dreams as you did." "What do you mean? Why would anyone react like that to Princes Luna Dreamwalking?" Twilight ask him. "Ha, I don't rightly know myself. But I do know that he hates it when anyone goes in his head for any reason. He almost killed Starswirl over it once. In fact, if it wasn't for Magnus and Somnambula calming Bakugo down he likely would have died." Rockhoof turned to Starswirl as he finished. "Ain't that right, Swirl." "I still refuse to tell you what I saw, Rockhoof. I promised Katsuki that I would not tell anyone what I saw." Starswirl said. "But yes, I likely would not be here now if the two of them had not stepped in to stop him." "The first time someone tried to enter his mind it was a good thing that he lacked the power he has now." Mistmane continued. "Queen Faust likely would not have had such lovely daughters if he did. He ended up talking things through with her, though that only happened because she sat on him and refused to move untill he calmed down." She finished with a chuckle. A chuckle that all the present Pillars joined as they remembered the day. "As entertaining as these memories are, I belive we should hury. We need to make sure he has actually calmed down and didn't acidently injure someone after all." Meadowbrook said as she took the lead with a hurried pace. "Bakugo!" 'I know that voice.' I thought as I turned to see Blueblood walking up to me with a small entourage of guards around him. "Hey BB, I see you aunts have upped your guard count." I said with a smile. "Yes, they did. You can blame yourself for at least half of them as they doubled after your little bout with Luna." He said, the look on his face saying that he was bemused. "Hey, it's her fault for going in my head. The only one alowed in my head is me." He rolled his eyes as I said that. "Really, she gose Dreamwalking in your dreams and wreck half the castle because of it?" 'Ooh, incredulous today are we?' "It was not half the castle, but yes. My head is mine not for anyone else to explore." He shook his head at that. "So, what are you here for BB?" "I came to reprimand you for your actions. But seeing as you have destroyed a good portion of the training golems perhaps you would like a sparing partner instead?" I felt a smrik cross my face at that cause it ment that I get to see how many of these gaurds are in the know and how many aren't. I put on the most suductive look I could and said. "Ooh? Is Daddy going to punish me? You normaly wait for us to be in private for that." 'Aaand the only reactions I got were a few blushes. Dam.' Blueblood snorted in what I belive was amusement befor he responded with a smoldering look of his own. "Oh you know full well that I will be doing just that later. But right we will do no more than spar." 'Oh yeah he used his sexy voice.' I smiled. "Alright, lets get started then Master~."