//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: Prototype 2: Equestria Zero // by 2ndGearSage //------------------------------// A/N: For anyone who hasn’t been to my user page, the reason this story hasn’t been updated lately is because I’ve been out of town. But now I’m back and ready to continue this epic story. Hope you like the new chapter Chapter 9 They thought they were doomed. When the shield broke they had honestly believed that was the end for them. They couldn’t fight a full grown dragon, especially not with an injured Rainbow Dash onboard. They had closed their eyes and prepared to accept their fate. Then “it” had come. Out of nowhere, the creature had appeared and actually kicked the dragon in the face, knocking it away from them. That alone made them question if they were seeing things, but what followed afterwards was simply too insane to believe. They had stood there with jaws dropped and eyes wide as they watched the creature not only fight the dragon, but win. They had seen it shape-shift parts of its body into blades, whips, tentacles, and freaking hammer arms and dish out horrific damage to the beast. Some couldn’t handle the unrelenting violence that took place; Fluttershy (after laying Rainbow Dash on the ground) had fainted after she saw the dragon get its hand sliced off. Rarity followed soon after when its talons had been ripped off. Applejack nearly lost her lunch when she saw the injuries done to the creature’s body after it had been caught in the dragons flame. Pinkie Pie’s hair deflated once again when she saw the tendrils burst out of the dragon’s body. Twilight hadn’t stopped shaking since seeing the dragon’s body get consumed. And Rainbow Dash… Rainbow Dash’s face was pale. It had started when she saw the creature lift the dragon by the tail and it had only gotten worse with every impossible act she had seen the creature perform afterwards. She wasn’t a mind reader, but she didn’t need to be. After watching the horrific (and somewhat amazing she had to admit) event that just took place in front of them, she already knew what her (conscious) friends were thinking. It was the same thing she was thinking right now: What is this thing? There’s no way this thing came from the Everfree. Even the dragon had said he had never seen it before, so where did it come from? 'Is it some kind of demon? Or maybe it’s an alien that’s come to invade Equestria. But if that’s the case then why did it just save us? Why did it keep running away? More importantly, if it was this powerful….why didn’t it kill us?’ Dash began rubbing her head when she realized that she had no answers to those questions. ‘Ugh, my head hurts. Why am I even thinking so hard about this? Isn’t that Twilights job?’ Looking back towards the creature, she saw something she was not expecting. The creature had grabbed its head and was shaking it back and forth as if it were in pain. Its eyes were clenched shut and its breathing was heavy. The ponies just stood there scared and confused, not knowing what was happening. After a few seconds, whatever was hurting it seemed to stop. Its hands fell away from its head and its eyes opened. It turned its head to look at them and they were surprised to see a look of…realization in its eyes. Then it started walking towards them. ________________________________________________________________________________ That was the one thing he hated about his consuming abilities. Sure, the ability to gain another persons memories was awesome, but the uncomfortable feeling of the memories suddenly entering his mind he could do without. It wasn’t painful, it was just disorienting and made his head hurt afterwards. ‘Still, for this memory, it was totally worth it.’ He thought cheerfully as he turned his head to look at the horses. ‘Ponies’ He reminded himself. ‘They’re ponies.’ The dragon wasn’t kidding when it said it had lived a long time. Contrary to popular belief, dragons weren’t just mindless beasts who liked to cause destruction for the hell of it. They were as intelligent as any pony and due to their long life span, were an unbelievable fountain of knowledge to any pony willing to listen, a fact James Heller was finding out for himself. ‘The name of this place is Equestria.’ He thought with relief, happy to finally have a name he could call this crazy place. ‘Not the most original of names, but still better than “fucked up ponyland” I guess.’ Going back to the dragons memories, he tried to recall everything he had learned. ‘I’m in the Everfree Forest, which is right next to Ponyville, the town I just came from. Again, not the most original of names but whatever. The town and pretty much the entire country is ruled by three classes of ponies, all of whom can use magic in some kind of way: unicorns who can channel magic through their horns, pegasus who can control the weather, and earth ponies who have some kind of magical connection with nature.’ While he was still skeptical over the whole “magic” thing, he wasn’t going to deny that it possibly existed in this world. Considering their technology was apparently low tech compared to his own world, “magic” was probably how they performed most of the everyday things humans used technology for. ‘When you have things like telekinesis and teleportation, I guess you don’t really need-wait a minute…teleportation!’ Hearing a light bulb go off in his head, he began to analyze everything he knew about the unicorn’s teleportation and how it worked. When he finished, he couldn’t stop a massive grin from appearing on his face. This might work. He could possibly go home! But in order for his plan to succeed, he needed the cooperation of one pony: Princess Celestia. And as luck would have it, she lived in the very castle he was headed to anyway: Canterlot. Already feeling impatient, he prepared to leap into the forest once more, only to be stopped by the sound of whimpering. Turning his gaze to the ponies he had previously ignored, his eyes softened when he took in the pathetic sight before him. Two of the ponies had fainted and the ones that were awake were shaking uncontrollably, staring at him with terrified eyes. He had to admit, even for a ruthless killing machine such as him, it was pretty sad. He didn’t know why but he actually began to walk towards them, his quest momentarily forgotten. He had only taken a few steps forward when the orange earth pony suddenly jumped up and blocked his path, glaring at him with a false determination that hid her fear. “Now you stay back, ya hear!” She yelled, trying hard not to stutter. “You take another step, and ah’ll buck yah into next Tuesday!” To her surprise, the creature actually did stop. It simply stood there and stared at her for a bit and she swore that it almost looked…hurt by her threat. He tried not to let it get to him, he really did, but there was so much of this bullshit he could take before he finally snapped. He wanted to scream. He wanted to yell. He wanted to unleash his rage on the stupid bitch, reminding her that he had saved their ungrateful asses and this was how they thanked him? He took a fireball to the face for them and this was how they showed their appreciation? But he didn’t do any of that. He simply gave her a look of disgust before walking away. ‘Fuck this world, I can’t leave quick enough.’ “Stop right there!” ‘Oh what the fuck now!’ Looking up, he groaned when he saw where the voice had come from. Flying towards him at high speed were about twenty white pegasus wearing golden armor. Instead of tackling him like he had thought, they landed right in front of him, their armor gleaming in the sun. Interestingly enough, he also noticed they carried swords at their sides. He didn’t have much time to dwell on that however, because he soon heard the sound of running coming from the forest. Charging out, were about twenty earth ponies, all of them with the same color coat, armor, and swords as the pegasus. Finally, he found himself temporarily blinded by multiple bright flashes that started to appear all around him. When he opened his eyes, he saw that twenty unicorns had teleported in to join the earth ponies and pegasus. When it was all done, he found himself surrounded by at least sixty members of the Royal Guard. ‘The Royal Guard.’ He groaned. ‘Great.’ He knew about Celestia’s Royal Guards. The dragon had encountered them a few times during his life. They were apparently very tasty, but their armor tended to get stuck in his teeth. While anyone else would have been intimidated by the large force that now surrounded him, James Heller simply yawned in boredom at the surrounding soldiers. He wasn’t afraid of them. They could have sent a thousand Royal Guards after him and it still wouldn’t have made a difference. Aside from magic, Equestria’s military strength was pitiful compared to his world. They mostly fought with spears and swords and their armor was unbelievably weak by his world’s standards even if it was enchanted. He regularly took tank shells to the face and could rip through Kevlar armor with ease. Nothing the Royal Guard had on hand was even going to make him flinch. One of them, a unicorn, started to approach him. This one wore a much more different armor than the others. Instead of the usual gold, this one was dark purple in color and was much more decorated. ‘Probably a commander.’ He thought. Behind him, one of the ponies gasped when she saw the unicorn walk forward, recognizing him immediately, ‘That’s…That’s….’ “I am Captain Shining Armor of the Royal Guard. By order of Princess Celestia I am placing you under arrest. Come quietly and no harm will befall you.” He announced calmly. Heller didn’t say anything. He just stood there glaring with his arms crossed. “Um, can you even talk?” Shining Armor asked after some time had passed. “What do you think asshole?” Heller shot back, the glare never leaving his face. “Oh…that’s good. Makes things much easier. So, what do you say, will you come quietly?” Shining Armor asked again, a little put off by the creatures tone. “I say you, your guards, your princess, and anyone else I missed can kiss my black ass.” Heller responded to his shocked face. In retrospect, insulting the one pony who could get him back home wasn’t one of his brightest ideas, but it just pissed him off when some asshole (that wasn’t his commander) tried to give him orders. “H-How dare you insult our princess!” Shining Armor yelled back, his face red with anger. The other guards looked just as furious, and all of them looked just about ready to charge him. His horn glowing with power, Shining Armor yelled “We tried to be nice to you creature. We tried to avoid a conflict. But now you’ve forced our hooves. Prepare to feel the full wrath of the-“ Completely ignoring Shining Armors little speech, Heller focused his attention on a trick he had been wanting to try out. Picturing the dragon in his head, he tried to morph his body to fit the image he saw. Looking down, he was disappointed to see hands instead of claws. ‘Had a feeling that wouldn’t work.’ He thought disappointed. ‘Tried the same thing after I consumed that Goliath. Didn’t work then either. Guess I can only transform into other humans.’ “Hey, are you even listening to me?!” An exasperated Shining Armor yelled, finally noticing that Heller wasn’t even looking at him. “Not really no. Now if you’re done talking about how big your dick is I might just be willing to give half a fuck about what you’re saying-though I wouldn’t hold my breath.” He answered flatly. “THAT’S IT!” Shining Armor roared. Literally shaking with anger, he launched a powerful paralysis spell towards Heller, who lazily dodged to the side. Even more enraged, he launched another and another. Heller danced in between each one, not even breaking a sweat as he dodged the spells from the now furious captain. Eventually, Shining Armor stopped firing spells and settled for glaring at his opponent. Knowing that getting angry would only make the situation worse, Shining Armor took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. Heller just stood back and watched, not even bothering to attack. They weren’t going to win anyway so why bother? Still, he felt the need to get into a defensive stance when he saw that the rage on Shining Armor’s face had been replaced with a calm one. Instead of glaring at Heller, he observed him with a calculating stare. ‘Yep, this kids definitely a commander.’ He thought with some excitement. ‘This might actually be fun.’ Shining Armor acted first. Launching several more paralysis spells at him, he carefully watched Heller’s movements trying to spot some kind of pattern he could exploit. Heller ducked under and jumped over every single spell Shining Armor launched his way but he had to admit, it wasn’t easy. He was actually being forced to use effort to dodge the spells. After dodging what must have been the 15th spell, Shining Armor stopped and simply observed Heller, going over what he had learned. ‘This thing is fast. Too fast for my spells to ever have a chance of hitting him. I need to slow him down somehow.’ Turning around to face the assembled guards he called out “All unicorns, front and center!” In almost no time at all, all nineteen unicorn had assembled in front of him, while the rest moved back. Turning around to face Heller once again he quickly gave out his orders. “Telekinesis, now!” Immediately, the unicorn’s horns began to glow with magic and Heller felt the familiar paralyzing sensation spread over his whole body. “Good job men. Now hold him steady.” He ordered as he charged up another paralysis spell. Launching the spell, he felt his body relax, absolutely certain that it would hit. There was no way he was escaping that hold. Or at least that’s what he was thinking until he saw Heller casually move to the side, completely avoiding the spell. All at once, sixty jaws nearly hit the floor. “T-That’s impossible…” Shining Armor stammered out. “What is?” Heller casually asked as he began to stretch his arms and legs, apparently oblivious to the fact that he wasn’t even supposed to be able to move finger. “Guards, I told you to hold him!” Shining Armor's accusing voice yelled out. “We are sir, we don’t know how he’s doing this!” One of the unicorns yelled back. As the normally experienced Royal Guards began to argue amongst themselves Heller couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for them. Had they tried this same trick 20 minutes ago it might have actually worked on him. But after consuming that dragon, he not only gained its memories, but its strength as well. And considering he was already powerful enough to overpower a dragon…well you get the idea. Deciding that their bickering had gone on for long enough, he finally spoke up. “Gotta admit boys, when you showed up I was actually excited at the idea of fighting Princess Celestia’s Royal Guards. Now after five minutes of fucking around with you…I can’t say I’m impressed.” Ignoring the angry glares he was getting, he continued “Hell, those six behind me.” He gestured to the six mares that he was sure the guards had totally forgotten were there. Shining Armor's eyes in particular widened when he took note of a particular unicorn among the group “Put up a better fight than all sixty of you. Let me repeat that for the slow motherfuckers: six girls with no military training at all, put up a better fight than sixty military trained soldiers. If your princess is choosing you bitches to defend her, I’m surprised she hasn’t run the entire country into the ground with bad decisions.” Now he knew they were pissed. All thoughts of capturing him alive were forgotten and replaced with thoughts on how to kill him as slowly as possible. When Shining Armor gave his next orders, his words were filled with cold fury. “Men, Thunder Hoof Formation.” The guards acted without question. The pegasus flew into the air, while the earth ponies pulled out their swords and charged towards him. The unicorns, realizing that their telekinesis was useless, released their hold on him and made room for the charging earth ponies. Three earth ponies reached him first and raised their blades high into the air before bringing them down on their target. Instead of hearing the sound of metal slicing flesh like they expected, they heard the sound of metal striking metal. Looking at his body, they could see why. He hadn’t pulled out a hidden blade and countered their attack like they had thought. They’re swords had struck him; it’s just that they weren’t able to pierce his new skin. During the earth ponies charge towards him, Heller had decided to try out what other abilities he had gotten from the dragon. By the time the earth ponies had gotten to him, his new power had already been activated and the results spoke for themselves. His skin had changed completely; instead of the slightly more durable flesh he had become accustomed to, his skin had separated into small, rigid, steel-like plates that now covered his entire body. Basically, he now had the scales of a dragon. Heller looked at his new body with interest, completely disregarding the twenty Royal Guards that were now uselessly trying to cut through his armored skin. ‘Nearly indestructible skin? Badass. Wonder if I also got-okay seriously, they’re still going at it?’ Glancing at the guards that were still trying to cut him, he merely shook his head. ‘If they keep this up the only thing that’s going to happen is-‘ Snap! ‘…that.’ He thought dryly as one of the guards gaped at his now broken sword. Despite being down one sword, the guards continued their attack on him. Soon, another guard found his sword in the same state, followed by another, and another. One had even tried to buck him after losing his sword. Needless to say, the other guards quickly realized that was a bad idea when that same guard had to be magically lifted away due to his now broken legs. And yet the guards still continued to uselessly attack him, losing even more swords as a result. ‘Okay either these guards are really, really retarded or are stalling. Or both.’ The sound of crashing thunder followed by the guards stopping their assault, looking into the sky, and jumping away from him told him that it was the latter. It didn’t take long for him to locate what the earth ponies had been looking at. The massive black thundercloud above his head was pretty hard to miss. ‘Clever son of a-‘ That was the last thing James Heller thought before he was suddenly blinded by a bright light. ____________________________________________________________________________ Shining Armor shielded his eyes from the bright light. Right now, he wished he had an extra set of front hooves to cover his ears, the sound of crashing thunder nearly making him go deaf. Fortunately, as quickly as it appeared it ended, allowing him to open his eyes and view the destruction. The lightning had done its job. Nothing remained except a smoking crater where the creature had once stood. The other guards looked at the crater in stunned silence before somepony in the group yelled out “It’s dead!” Almost immediately they all began whooping in excitement and hoof bumping over their victory. While he normally would have chastised them for breaking character, Shining Armor decided to give them a pass for once. It wasn’t like they didn’t deserve it. Taking off his helmet to wipe the sweat off his brow, he released a breath he didn’t even know he was holding. The Thunder Hoof Formation was a risky move to pull off. It took a long time to actually implement and it required perfect coordination between the guards but its effectiveness was unquestionable. They had once defeated a wild Cerberus using this formation so there was no way the creature had survived. Which is why he was not looking forward to reporting what had happened back to the princess. Their mission was to capture the creature not incinerate it. He hoped that after explaining the situation to her she would understand why he had resorted to such extreme measures and wouldn’t be too upset. Still, he knew he was going to receive some kind of lecture from the sun goddess. Deciding to worry about that later he focused his attention back on the still smoking crater. For some reason he couldn’t take his eyes off it, staring at it as if he expected something to jump out of the smoke. Something was very wrong about this whole thing but he just couldn’t pinpoint what it was. ‘It was too easy.’ He realized. ‘With the creatures speed I was expecting it to dodge the initial strike. That was why the thundercloud had been made so huge; that way we could have a larger blast radius and have multiple chances at striking it. But it saw the lightning coming and just stood there. It didn’t even try to dodge. Almost as if it wanted to get hit.’ He mused on that for a few seconds before shaking his head. Now he was just being paranoid. He had simply overestimated the creatures speed. He had been caught off guard by the lightning and couldn’t move fast enough to dodge it, that’s all. Satisfied with his conclusion, he turned his eyes away from the crater and turned them towards the six shell-shocked mares that were watching nearby. His gaze fell on Twilight and he almost broke character when he saw the look of fear and exhaustion on her face. It took all his will power not to run up to her, envelop her in a hug, and never let go. But he knew he had much more pressing matters to attend to: two of the mares were obviously unconscious and one them looked to be seriously injured if the dried blood on her leg was any indication. Their wellbeing outweighed his over protectiveness of Twilight. Turning back to the still celebrating guards, a single, loud cough into his hoof halted all their conversations and instantly all eyes were on him. Opening his mouth, he prepared to give them their new orders when he was interrupted by the sound of…clapping? Normally this wouldn’t have disturbed him. He was used to being applauded by his men for a job well done but this was different. Not only did it completely interrupt him while he was speaking (which the guards knew he hated) but it wasn’t a congratulatory clap. This clapping was slow, steady, almost mocking. It couldn’t have been coming from the guards; he was looking dead at them and they hadn’t lifted their hooves off the ground. It wasn’t coming from Twilight or her friends either; they all looked as confused as he was. So where… Shining Armor felt his blood run cold. ‘No, there’s no way it’s still alive.’ Slowly, he turned his head to look at the crater, the slow clapping only adding to the rising fear that he felt. The smoke around the crater had dissipated greatly and he could see into it with greater clarity. But he didn’t need to. It took only one look to confirm what he had dreaded. The clapping was coming from the crater; more specifically from the creature that stood in the middle of the crater, completely unharmed. Shining Armor heard several loud gasps from behind him, no doubt coming from his fellow guards. He didn’t have to look at them. He already knew they had the same shocked look as him. He just didn’t know which they were more shocked by: the fact that the creature was still alive or the fact that it wasn’t even hurt. Its scales (where had those even come from?) and clothing didn’t have a single speck of dirt or a scratch on them. It was like he had never gotten hit at all. The creature clapped for several more seconds before eventually stopping and folding his arms across his chest. All the while he had been looking at them with an expression of boredom mixed with disappointment. “Well, that was a disappointment.” He spoke calmly. “But I guess I’ll give you an “A” for effort. That actually was a pretty clever strategy. Sending in those earth ponies to distract me while the pegasus ponies created thunderclouds above my head. The earth ponies fucked up though. You guys jumped back way too early and I was able to figure out your strategy the moment I looked at the sky. I could have dodged it but I wanted to see how strong these scales really were.” He held that same bored expression throughout the entire explanation before a grin broke out on his face. “Well that and I really wanted to fuck with you.” Shining Armor was barely listening. His mind was working overtime, going through every strategy he knew of, trying to select one that could best neutralize the creature. He couldn’t think of a single one. This thing had survived the Thunder Hoof Formation. That was one of their best and most damaging formations and the creature had completely brushed it off. What were they dealing with here? He along with several other guards jumped back in fright when they heard a popping noise coming from the creature. That fright quickly turned to embarrassment when they saw that the creature was only cracking its neck. ‘What is wrong with me? I’m the Captain of the Royal Guard! I’ve faced down dragons, manticores, and even the queen of the Changelings herself and survived. I wasn’t afraid of them, so there’s no reason I should be afraid of this thing!’ Squashing any fears that he had, he glared at the creature with as much determination as he could muster. Heller raised an eyebrow when Shining Armor began glaring at him and groaned inwardly when he saw him open his mouth, already knowing what he was going to say. “Stop.” He said quickly and thankfully Shining Armor did stop and looked at him with confusion. “Look, I already know what you’re gonna say: you’re gonna give some gay ass little speech about how you’re the “Captain of the Royal Guard” and how you and your soldiers “won’t ever give up” and how you’ll “stop my evil ways” and some other clichéd bullshit that I don’t give a fuck about.” Shining Armors face turned red, not only with anger but also with embarrassment. That was exactly what he was going to say. “I can tell by the look on your face that I was spot on, so let me just warn you now: you aren’t going to win. At all. You can scream all you want on how “you refuse to lose”. You’re still going to lose. Hard. Actually you’re going to do more than just lose; you’re going to learn what its like to have another mans foot shoved up your ass. Every single one of you. Call in reinforcements; I’ll shove my foot up their asses too. Send in the entire Equestrian military force if you want to. I’ll line them up in front of the castle and shove my foot up each and every one of their asses while the princess watches. That’s how outmatched you are.” Shining Armor was stunned into silence. He couldn’t think of anything to say. What could he say to something like that? This thing had not only insulted him, but his men, his country, and the princess herself with his remarks. And the brazen and fearless way he had said it made him wonder if this thing was brave or just plain insane. “But” He continued “It doesn’t have to be that way. I wanna make a deal.” Shining Armor was taken aback. A deal? “Now this is something I don’t usually do for people, so think long and hard before you answer cause I don’t give second chances.” Seeing that he had Shining Armors attention, he continued “Here’s the deal: Take me to meet your princess and your ass will avoid the unfortunate fate of meeting my foot. So, what do you say?” Shining Armor was silent once again, but not out of shock. He was angry. Very angry. So angry that he couldn’t make a coherent sentence until he calmed down. It took several deep breaths for him to achieve that effect and when he did his answer came out in a low whisper. “Are you kidding me?” The creature raised an eyebrow in response. “ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!” He roared. “You think we’re going to make any kind of deal with you?! After you insulted not only us, but our princess as well! Buck you! I’ll die before I let you anywhere near the princess! So will my men!” The guards behind him nodded their heads in agreement, all of them willing to die to protect Celestia. “There’s our answer! I believe I speak for all my men when I say you can take that deal of yours and shove it! Give me one good reason why I should even consider what you have to say!” Heller didn’t answer immediately. He just stared intensely at Shining Armor and his guards for several moments. He was analyzing them, taking note of everything he could: their stance, their behavioral pattern, their physical traits. It took only a few seconds for him to reach a conclusion: They were terrified of him. He could tell by the way they nervously looked away whenever his gaze fell on them. The way they would twitch and jump at his slightest movements. They may have tried to act like emotionless soldiers but he could see the fear in their eyes; a fear he had seen on the faces of countless Blackwatch soldiers who were unfortunate enough to face him. They were all afraid. All of them except one. Shining Armors eyes held many things: anger, determination, hope, but not fear. He knew what he was fighting against. He knew and he was still willing to fight him. This guy was the real deal; a true soldier. Once again, James Heller couldn’t help but feel a sense of respect for his new opponent. He still had the advantage though. Shining Armor might have been brave, but his soldiers sure weren’t. All he needed to do was break them. Once they were scared into submission, Shining Armor would have no choice but to agree to his proposal. And he already had a perfect way to do it. Unfolding his arms, he put on a serious look to hide the amusement he was feeling. This was gonna be fun. “You want a reason?” He asked Shining Armor. “How’s this for a reason.” Opening his mouth, he inhaled a large amount of air. And out of his mouth came a massive stream of flames. Shining Armors reaction was immediate. He ducked low to the ground and his guards followed afterwards, the enormous flames passing over their heads. Sweat began to pour down their faces, the sweltering heat affecting them even from their position on the ground. Heller continued to expel the massive stream from his mouth for a few more seconds before stopping, believing the poor guards had had enough. When the flames stopped the guards didn’t get up immediately. They laid there gawking at him, as if expecting him to unleash another wave of flames the minute they tried to stand. When it became apparent that he wasn’t going to attack them they slowly began to stand never once taking their eyes off him. If they were nervous before they were straight up scared shitless now. Several of them were trembling and the ones that weren’t were slowly backing away, fully intending to abandon their duties and run if the situation called for it. Even Shining Armor was looking at him warily though his reaction wasn’t nearly as bad as the others. The reactions became even worse when some of the guards looked behind them to see the damage that had been done. Where before there was a forest now laid nothing but devastation. Whatever trees hadn’t been incinerated immediately were now burning slowly due to the quickly spreading flames. ‘Aw hell yeah, I’m gonna do some damage with this.’ He thought as he observed the scorched earth. He knew the dragon’s flames were powerful but damn. And all that power was under his control. He would have given himself a high five were he not so focused on the situation at hand. Deciding to test out just how effective his scare tactic had been, he took a single step towards the guards. They reacted even better than he had predicted; all of them jumped back in fear and began to clumsily reach for their weapons. The ones who still had swords wielded them in their trembling hooves while other fumbled with their swords before dropping them to the ground. The only one who hadn’t jumped back was Shining Armor who continued to stare at him with a blank look on his face. His plan had worked. He had reduced the Royal Guard to a bunch of trembling wrecks who were too frightened to even look at him let alone fight him. Shining Armor would have to take him to Princess Celestia now unless he wanted to see his fellow guards slaughtered before his eyes. Folding his arms confidently across his chest he spoke. “Well, is that reason enough for you?” He mockingly asked to Shining Armors still unreadable face. “So I’ll ask you again: take me to Princess Celestia and we can stop this before it gets ugly. What do you say?” He asked once more, seriously hoping Shining Armor would swallow his pride and just accept the deal. Shining Armor said nothing. He just continued to look at him with the same blank expression as before. Heller tried hard to figure out what the young commander was thinking but he couldn’t come up with anything. He was completely stone-faced. He didn’t move, he didn’t blink, hell he couldn’t even tell if he was even breathing. Just as Heller was about to approach him, Shining Armor did move though it was a move that made Heller’s heart sink. He reached for his blade and slowly began to unsheathe it. “Man trust me, you do not want to do that.” Shining Armor said nothing as he pointed the now unsheathed blade at his opponent. “Seriously man, I do not want to fight you. Just take me to your princess and we can avoid all this.” Silence was his only answer. Sighing in annoyance, he asked “Nothin I can say is gonna change your mind huh?” Shining Armor got into a fighting stance. Sighing again, this time in resignation, he spoke with a hint of anger in his voice “Fine. You wanna do this the hard way, your fucking funeral. You know, I really wanted to avoid killing anybody while I was here, but because you had to be such a stubborn jackass, I’m not only gonna have to kill you but anyone else who gets in my way when I go for the princess. So thanks pal, because of you a whole lot more ponies are gonna die. Hope you’re fucking happy.” With that said, he shifted his right arm into the blade ignoring the multiple gasps that came from the guards. He also made sure to turn his scales back to normal skin. Wanted to give him a fighting chance at least. Shining Armors expression hadn’t changed, even when his arm had turned into the blade. He just gripped his sword even tighter and narrowed his eyes. Narrowing his eyes as well, Heller got into his own fighting stance. He wasn’t worried about the other guards jumping in. Not only were they too scared to even think about facing him, but their interference would only hinder Shining Armor and they knew it. Wasn’t like he was gonna win either way but still… Looking into Shining Armors eyes he felt a sense of déjà vu. It was just like his battle with the elder timber wolf: Those eyes held a stubbornness that James Heller knew all too well. The forest was silent as both soldiers stared each other down. Heller had to admit, even though he knew he was gonna win this…something was telling him it wasn’t going to be easy. Not by a long shot The two soldiers looked at each other one last time. Then they charged. “Stop!” Only to pause when a small figure suddenly jumped in the middle of them. Both of them looked down wide-eyed at the familiar purple unicorn that now blocked their path. “Twilight?” Shining Armor gasped. Twilight was panting heavily. She still hadn’t recovered from her battle with the dragon and running all the way over here from where her friends were hadn’t helped any. But right now, her own health was the last thing on her mind. She had watched everything. The moment the Royal Guard had showed up, she remembered feeling a small bit of hope. With the Royal Guard here, maybe they would make it out alive. Any hope she felt quickly began to diminish the moment the creature and the guards began to “fight.” From the moment the creature inexplicably managed to grow dragon scales to when it managed to survive a lightning bolt, she felt her hope continue to grow smaller and smaller. It completely died out when she saw the creature breathe fire and incinerate the forest behind the guards. All the guards were obviously terrified after such an amazing display of power from the creature. All of them except one. Twilight knew her brother. She knew how stubborn he was and how he would never run from a fight, no matter how terrifying the opponent was. In her youth that was something she admired about her brother. But when she saw him unsheathe his sword, she knew that same trait was going to end up getting him killed. That’s how she found herself here, trying to stop a battle between her brother and a monster that could shape shift, lift dragons as if they were toys, and incinerate forests with its breath. ‘How do I get myself into these messes?’ She groaned inwardly. “Twilight what are you doing?” She heard her brother’s voice question her. Twilight looked into her brothers concerned eyes and answered back fiercely “I’m stopping you from throwing your life away that’s what.” Shining Armor looked momentarily shocked at her answer before he narrowed his eyes “Twilight, get out of the way.” “No, I’m not going to let you kill yourself.” She replied stubbornly. “Twilight move.” “No!” The two siblings glared at each other, both of them too stubborn to let the other win. James Heller and the other guards looked on confused, neither of them knowing what to do. Shining Armor took a deep breath and spoke to his sister in a low voice “Twilight, this is my job. I was hoofpicked by Princess Celestia herself to protect not only her but all of Equestria. If I have to die to do that, then so be it. I will gladly sacrifice myself if it means my loved ones continue to live.” “Even if that sacrifice is completely pointless?!” Twilight angrily shot back. “You know you can’t win Shining Armor. You’ll end up dying for nothing! You say you’re doing this to protect your loved ones but you haven’t even taken into account how we’ll feel about this! How do you think mom and dad are going to react when they find out you died fighting against a creature you knew you couldn’t win against?! How do you think Cadance is going to react when she finds out you cared more about protecting your honor than her?!” “I’m doing this for Cadance!” He angrily shouted. “No, you’re doing this for yourself! You’re doing this because you don’t want report back to Princess Celestia that you failed! That the creature was too much for you!” Twilight yelled back with just as much anger. “It isn’t too much for me. I’ve faced creatures far worse than this.” He stated sharply. “No you haven’t Shining Armor and you know it!” Twilight shot back, frustrated with his stubbornness. This wasn’t working. He was simply too stubborn to listen to reason. She needed something, something that would convince Shining Armor that he was simply too outmatched. But what? Dragon scales didn’t work, a massive blade didn’t work, and nearly being incinerated didn’t work so what would? She thought back to the dragon and mentally cursed when she remembered that it had been...absorbed she wanted to say. Whatever had happened to it, it was gone, robbing her of the evidence she needed to convince Shining Armor. And with no evidence she doubted she could- Her eyes widened as she remembered something. The dragons body…it may have been gone but from what she remembered… She turned her head and began to look for something. When she found it she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that it was still there. If this couldn’t convince Shining Armor then nothing would. Turning back to her still fuming brother she smirked confidently before speaking “Alright Shining Armor, still think you can take this creature on? Then do me a favor and look at that mountain over there and tell me what you see. Then tell me you can take it on.” She pointed her hoof at said mountain as she spoke. Shining Armor raised an eyebrow at such a strange request before complying. He looked at the mountain in question and squinted his eyes trying to see what Twilight was talking about. He couldn’t see anything that was particularly unique. Just a bunch of smashed rocks and- ‘Wait.’ He thought as he narrowed his eyes at something. ‘What is that?’ His eyes nearly bulged out of his head and he took several steps back when he identified what it was. He couldn’t believe it. He didn’t want to believe it but there it was staring him in the face. The other guards, noticing the distressed look on their captain’s face, turned their heads towards the mountain, trying to spot what had spooked him so badly. At first they couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary either. Then they saw it and soon they all held the exact same expression as Shining Armor. It couldn’t be real. There was no way it was real. But as they stared at the scaled skin, the sharp talons, and the blood dripping out of the end, they knew they were only lying to themselves. What they were looking at was the actual severed hand of a dragon. It was still pinned to the mountain side, the black and red tentacles still as strong as ever. Twilight thanked Celestia that the creature hadn’t decided to absorb that too otherwise she never would have gotten through to Shining Armor. Speaking of Shining Armor, she saw that her brother still hadn’t take his eyes off the severed hand, most likely trying to confirm that what he was seeing was real. After nearly a minute of silence, Shining Armor finally spoke, disbelief in his voice “I-is that…” “A dragons hand, yes.” Twilight finished for him. “B-but how?” He questioned further. “We were attacked. We tried to fight it but it was too strong. I put up a shield to defend us but it broke through and nearly devoured us. Then it saved us.” She answered, pointing towards the creature. Shining Armor swerved his head to look at his sister, a look of doubt on his face “It saved you.” Twilight nodded her head “I couldn’t believe it either but its true. The creature not only saved us but it killed the dragon. The proofs right there if you don’t believe me.” Shining Armor didn’t doubt Twilights story, especially after seeing the hand, but he still wanted to hear the truth from the creature itself. Turning his head to look at it, he saw that the creature hadn’t moved from his spot and was simply watching their conversation. “Is it true?” He asked. While a part of him wanted to say that he had only saved the ponies for the dragon’s biomass, the more intelligent part of James Heller knew it was better to just lie. Hell, this actually worked out better for him. Shining Armor was apparently well favored by the princess and if he could get him to vouch for him when they met her…he might actually get to go home a lot quicker than expected. He might not even have to kill anyone. “Yeah, I guess.” He mumbled. This seemed to be good enough for Shining Armor who simply nodded his head before asking another question “And what did you do with the dragon’s body?” “I ate it.” He answered simply. “You what?!” Shining Armor asked in disbelief. “I. Ate. It.” He repeated much more slowly. Shining Armor looked at Twilight who merely shrugged in response. "He did something to it. I don't know what it was though." Shining Armor was silent, trying to process everything he had just learned. Nothing was adding up. This ferocious, fire breathing monster had apparently saved his sister and her friends, killed a dragon, and ate it according to him. But it didn’t make any sense! Why would this creature save his sister and then violently attack him and his men? ‘That’s because it didn’t attack us.’ A voice reminded him. Shining Armor tried to ignore it, but it was true. They had attacked it. They were the ones who tried to hit it with paralysis spells. They were the ones who tried to stab it repeatedly with swords. They were the ones who dropped a lightning bolt on it. Aside from a few insults, the creature had been completely non-violent. Even the flames from earlier were obviously meant to scare them and not harm them. It had only begun to act violent when he had refused to listen to its pleas to stop. Everything that happened here was his fault. It was just like on his wedding day. He ignored Twilights pleas to listen then and he had ignored the creature’s pleas to listen now. The guilt he was feeling right now was the same as back then too. Heller did well at hiding his shock when Shining Armor looked at him with regret on his face. He had seen soldiers look at him with all kinds of emotions: anger, nervousness, fear, but never regret. He honestly didn’t know how to respond. Thankfully he didn’t need to. Turning back to the guards that were still gawking at the severed hand, Shining Armor coughed loudly into his hoof. As always, the guards brought their attention away from what they were looking at and focused it all on their commander. Some of them trembled when they saw who was standing just few feet away from him, but he managed to calm them down with his next words “Don’t worry men, there seems to have been a misunderstanding. I’ve talked with the creature and discovered that it is not violent. It was simply defending itself from us. The creature, in fact, saved the Elements of Harmony from a ferocious dragon. The proof is right there on that mountain, but if you still don’t believe me, Twilight here can vouch for me.” He gestured to Twilight, who nodded her head in confirmation. “As of now nopony is to attack the creature. Anyone who does so will have to deal with me. Understand!” The guards nodded their heads in confirmation. They were still wary of the creature, but if their captain and the Element of Magic herself said it was okay, who were they to argue. “Good, now listen up for your new orders: We have five mares behind us, one of whom is injured. I want all unicorns to supply healing magic to her and anypony else who needs it. Earth ponies, I want you to set up a perimeter around the area and keep guard. I don’t need anymore surprises sneaking up on us. I want eighteen pegasus to put up rain clouds in the sky to get rid of that fire before it spreads. I need two pegasus to head back to Canterlot and send for a carriage transport. A big one. We’re going to see the princess.” The guards saluted, before rushing off to complete their given tasks. Heller felt relief as he watched two pegasus break off from the group and head towards Canterlot. Any anger he felt at the guards for attacking him earlier was instantly forgotten and was replaced by gratitude. He was finally going home. Shining Armor trotted over to him and coughed into his hoof to get his attention. Rubbing the back of his neck, he looked down nervously before speaking “Listen, I uh, I wanna apologize for attacking you earlier. I was way out of line and as Captain of the Royal Guard I should have known better.” When Heller didn’t say anything he continued “And I also want to…thank you for saving my sister and her friends. I owe you one.” Heller’s face remained blank throughout Shining Armors whole apology. But when he was done, he smirked at the young captain “Don’t mention it. As for you attacking me, well that was my fault too. I did insult your princess after all and I guess anyone would be angry after that. Hell, I’m surprised your entire squad didn’t gang rush me after I said the thing about your dick.” Shining Armor chuckled at that last part and grinned at the taller soldier “Yeah, but it was still a stupid thing to do on my part. So what do you say, can we start over?” He stuck his hoof out in friendship. Heller looked at the extended hoof for a few seconds before gripping it in his hands and shaking it. “Yeah, let’s start over. The names James Heller by the way.” “Shining Armor, nice to meet you. So what you said earlier, about eating the dragon… A/N: Man, my fingers hurt. Over 8,000 words. Longest. Chapter. Ever. Still, I’m happy with how it turned out. I should probably point out something though. Yes, I know a lot of you were hoping Heller would gain the ability to change into a dragon, but seriously if I did that then he would be way OP (well, more OP than he already is). The fights in this story would get pretty boring pretty quickly if every one of them ended with Heller turning into a dragon and just stomping on his opponent. Besides, I think one of my reviewers said it best: “As far as I can tell Heller can only become something that is human in shape and size. He is never seen disguised as any of the infected monsters.” That’s the explanation that makes the most sense and that’s the one I’m sticking with. Besides, I think armored skin and firebreathing are a good enough trade off.