Author's Notes:

I dunno who all will be left to read this but I'm sorry for the... 3 some year hiatus. I was... away, and it's a long story I don't really like to delve into unless someone really badly wants to know. But anyways, I'm back

Evan's Perspective:

I felt her muzzle nestle into my neck, making me giggle gingerly as she tickled me. My eyes were closed but I could still sense all of my surroundings perfectly as if they were open. The brisk fresh morning air, the ponies all bustling by...

“Get a room!” I heard Dash laugh out from on board the train, “Come on, you're gonna miss the train.” My right eye opened slowly, taking in the scenery as I turned to Twilight with a soft smile, her returning it.

“Alright remember, feed her from the bottle every-” I cut her short.

“I know, I know. Every couple of hours, make sure it's warm but not too warm or she'll get a tummy cramp. Baby food only three times a day, no matter how much she wants more,” I replied with a smile. “We'll be fine, I promise.” I gave Twilight a kiss on the cheek.

“Okay... it's just that you've never been alone without me this-” she was cut off by the conductor's voice.

“Last call! LAST CALL EVERYPONY!” He yelled out.

I looked to her with a smile. “We got this, right Spike?” I asked the young dragon beside me. He looked to me with a stunned look.

“Whoa, don't drag me down with you man. I'm strong, but not 'that' strong,” he mentioned, making me chuckle. I wasn't exactly sure how, but our child had an immense amount of strength, going so far as to lift the side of the couch when she loses something under it.

“Okay, I have to go. Be good you two,” she gave me one final kiss before looking to Spike. “Watch over them,” she told him, making me frown. “I'll be back in a few days.”

Spike and I watched as Twilight boarded the train, waving one final goodbye. I cradled our child in my arms as we watched the train depart. After a few minutes passed, Spike and I made our way back home.

“So...” Spike trailed off.

“So?” I asked back.

“What's for lunch?” he asked curiously, making me chuckle.

“Awwww, you're going to make me watch the kid 'AND' cook?” I laughed jokingly. “Well I can already see how this week is going to end up.” I brushed against him teasingly and he pushed back with a laugh.

Holding my child with one arm, I rubbed my grey stubble with my free hand. “Well, I mean... we could have-” I cut myself short as my nose twitched. We stopped in front of Sugarcube Corner, my stomach grumbling from the smell of fresh pastries.

It was at this point that my daughter awoke, rubbing her eyes with a yawn. Her eyes fluttered awake and she looked up to me with eyes that could melt a cold heart. Her nose twitched however and she too looked to Sugarcube Corner. Her front hooves reached out, trying to grab at it adorably.

“No,” Spike spoke up, shaking one of his claws in a disapproving way. My stomach grumbled.

“Maybe just one?” I asked, giving a pouty face. Spike shook his head.

“Gosh, you know what happens when she has sugar,” he replied and I widened my eyes further, my lip pouting. “Lassie could do that...” he trailed off, cutting himself short, my expression of pout fading quickly at the mention of her name. “I'm sorry, I-” I cut him off with a wave.

“No, it's alright. I... it's not your fault,” I told him before perking a smile. “Come on. Let's go make like fifty grilled cheese and eat till were fat,” I laughed off my emotional turmoil like it was nothing, making Spike chuckle.

“You have the appearance of an elderly pony but the attitude of somepony in their twenties,” he laughed, the two of us making our way back home...

I let out a partially held back burp as I patted my stomach with a sigh. Letting out a sigh, I wiped my mouth with a napkin. My child sat in her booster seat, making a mess with her baby food.

Twilight and I used to try and feed her ourselves with a spoon so she wouldn't make such a mess, but sometimes she'd grip our arm so tight she'd nearly break bone while trying to get ahold of the food.

We just decided it would be better, and safer, to just let her her make a mess. It was ungoddessly strange how powerful she was at such a young age. Spike leaned back, wiping the ketchup from the side of his lip.

There was a loud burp that came from my child, one so fierce her lips jiggled a little like Homer Simpson. It made both Spike and I laugh, a little uncontrollably if I might add. This of course made my daughter laugh and clap, burping again so that we'd keep laughing. The laughter died down shortly after as Spike and I sighed contently.

“That was good,” Spike mentioned under his breath. My daughter looked over to the counter and spotted my box of Twinkies that I had from back on my world. They were ancient, well, old anyway. But Twinkies never went bad. She reached out as though her forelegs would just extend to grab them. She made some baby noises to get our attention drawn to the pastries.

“Uhhh... no sweetheart. That's not the best idea,” I told her. She seemed to understand because she gave me a very pouty face. “Awww, don't be like that.” Her eyes widened and started to swell with moisture. The look was just too adorable. “Oh... maybe just-” Spike cut me off.

“Remember when she got into Pinkie Pie's cookie jar?” the young dragon inquired, bringing back memories from just a month ago...

When I had tried to pick her up she literally just tossed me aside like a twig or piece of debris.

Even Big Mac and Spike were thrown around, and that's when it kicked in. The sugar rush. She was nearly moving faster than Pinkie Pie could. Just as all hope seemed lost and our get-together seemed ruined, Twilight shook a baby rattle, stopping all the chaos.

Our child made a few baby noises before crawling over to her. Twilight picked her up and carried her up for a nap while the rest of us tended to our injuries...

The flashback faded and I chuckled. “Oh... oh yeah... maybe it's not a good idea. Sorry sweetie, no sweets for you. You're already sweet enough,” I told her, to which she began to bawl. “Aww, no, don't cry...” I trailed off, standing and picking her up out of her foal-seat as I tried rock her back and forth. It was no use, she went into full tantrum mode, beating her hooves off my chest and nearly knocking me to the ground.

“Jeez, nap time for you huh?” I asked. She had already had a nap today but...

I walked up the stairs, cradling her in my arms as I rocked her, whispering a soothing melody to her. Ever so softly she came down from her fit of foalish rage while I gave her a pacifier. She suckled on it quite intensely but quickly succumbed to her exhaustion and passed out. Setting her down in her crib, I smiled with a sense of genuine love and care.

I let out a deep exhale before leaning down to plant a kiss on her forehead. “I love you sweetie,” I whispered before standing straight up with a slight grunt. “Sheesh, you could be more gentle though,” I muttered, rubbing my chest where she had pounded me.

Twinkies, mass strength... she definitely took a few things after her father, that was for sure. I went back downstairs and to the kitchen to help clean up, rubbing my now sore chest ever so gingerly.

“Do you think you can actually handle this for a week?” Spike asked and I went wide eyed as I let out another deep exhale.

“Oh yeah... I mean, probably... how hard can it be?” I replied, Spike perking a brow.

“It's only been an hour an a half,” he responded, making my whole body deflate a little. “And Twilight's not here. Somehow, she never gets hurt by her,” he mentioned and I nodded.

“I know, it's like she has a way with the beast,” I joked with a short laugh which Spike joined in on. For the next few minutes we finished cleaning up the kitchen until it was spotless once again.

I turned to Spike before stretching out my back. “So... wanna stretch out and do some exercises?” I asked. With how my body had aged so rapidly, it didn't take long for Spike to outpace me in strength. It made me proud to see how far the young dragon had come. That didn't mean however, that I stopped altogether, just not as hardcore as I used to be.

He shook his head. “Sorry, I actually have plans with Sweetie Belle. Speaking of which... do you mind if I take Cadance?” he asked, making me chuckle.

“Well hold on there mister... hold on. You can't go nowhere until you put new oil in her,” I told him, Spike perking a brow.

“But the stick thingy says there's enough oil in it,” he replied, to which I smirked.

“Nah, that's not what I meant. Come on, Hotshot, I'll show you.” We walked outside and to the side of the library where my old '97 F250 resided. “Now,” I grunted as I pulled over some cardboard to lay on along with a drain pan. “Every... oh jeez, about seven thousand kilometers, you need to change the oil,” I told him, starting to go through the routine.

“I picked up the oil earlier, knowing I'd need to do it. But if there's none around here, just go ask Flim and Flam. They've worked on this truck almost more than I have so they'll have anything you need, or know whatever it is you need to know, fix whatever you need to fix... you get the idea,” I told him, Spike nodding as I slid underneath my old girl.

“Now, I'll do it just this once for you, that way you don't get all mucky before you're big fancy date,” I laughed, making Spike blush. “But if you're gonna be driving her around on a regular basis, you're gonna need to learn how to do the regular maintenance on her as well. I won't be around forever to show you...” I mentioned, going silent after the last part. Spike just looked to me with a gloomy look. “I didn't mean... I'm sorry, I know you and Twilight-” he cut me short with a nod.

“I know. You're body it's... it's old,” he replied. Him saying that felt like a kick in the gut. I nodded then shrugged.

“Hey, don't worry. I've still got a lot of kick left in me and I can still teach you some pretty cool stuff. Promise,” I said in a perky voice, smirking. He nodded as I started to drain the oil, showing him step by step the process of a proper oil change on my old girl.

As I removed the oil filter, a spurt of oil spilled down on me. “Ahhh... for buck sakes...” I cursed, dropping the filter into the drain pan, which resulted in a splash of oil landing on me. “For fu... ughh,” I grumbled, Spike chuckling.

“You sure that's the proper way of doing it? Looks a little messy,” he remarked, to which I shot him a stupid look.

“This is why I offered to do it for you. Be thankful...” I laughed to myself as I laid my head back down, warm oil tainting my hands and once clean shirt. 'Oh well,' I thought to myself, 'At least the back side is still clean.'

I finished my tutorial with Spike, cleaning up the mess on the ground before handing him the keys. “Thanks Evan, it means a lot,” he told me before going to give me a hug. I put a hand out to stop him.

“Woah kiddo. I did it so you wouldn't get dirty...” I told him. The young dragon gave me a once over, realizing that a hug from me would result in him getting covered in oil as well. “Now go on. Go have fun with your fillyfriend,” I gave him a wink. He gave me a happy nod and shortly there after was gone in my truck. Not so long ago I would have never let anypony, anyone drive that truck. 'Oh, how times have changed,' I thought with a gruff exhale.

Just before heading back inside, I head a chipper voice call out. “Evan, wait up!” the voice shouted. I turned and saw Derpy bolting towards me. My eyes went wide.

“Derpy! NO WAIT!” I yelled out but it was far to late. She crashed into me joyfully, letting out a thrilled laugh as she nuzzled her head into my chest, having knocked me flat to the ground. Used to be I could catch her and remain standing, barely moving an inch.

She stopped for a minute to inspect herself, realizing there was a warm, icky dampness stuck to her now. “Yuck... what is this stuff... oh Evan, it's all over you to... I didn't do that to you, did I?” she asked and I chuckled as we both stood up.

“No, no. I was trying to warn you. I'm covered in motor oil.” The back side of my shirt was dirty now too.

“Oh, it's so great to see you. It's been so long!” She chimed. I rose a brow as the mailpony started rummaging through her sack.

“It's only been three days since we last saw each other,” I commented as she pulled out a mouthful of mail, most of it now covered in slobber. That was fine by me though. I took the mail from her and went through it.

“I know,” she replied to my comment. “But for me, that's wayyy too long to see my bestest friend,” she responded back, making my heart flutter a bit as she gave me another hug. “We should hang out sometime and do something fun soon!” I looked into her crisscrossed eyes and nodded.

“Sure thing Derpy. I'd like that, when you're not busy with work though, okay?” I told her and she nodded before scooting off in a random direction. As I walked back into the tree house, I sorted through the mail before tossing it on the table and heading for a shower.

The shower was nice, relaxing, refreshing... just what I needed. Hoping out, I quickly slipped on some new pants and a shirt. The shower was relieving, making it seem like the weight of everything had been lifted off my shoulders, at least for now... or maybe that was due to the fact my daughter was having a nap.

I quickly checked on her crib, noting that she was fast asleep, before heading up to the balcony. Sitting down with my legs crossed, I placed one hand into the palm of the other, resting both into my lap as I let the warm noon air breeze into me. Celestia's sun beamed down it's wonderful aura and I basked in it, letting my eyes close.

I let my mind slip, focusing on nothing yet even so, everything in the world came into focus. My body remained almost entirely still, only my chest heaving up and down with each breath. In through the nose, out through the mouth.

Despite my near perfect style of relaxation and peace, despite all the meditation, the months of training with Twilight... I still couldn't wrap my head around the concept of levitation spells. It was one of the only spells that I couldn't handle. Other more advanced, even seemingly impossible spells, I managed with ease. Some even shocked Celestia and Luna, like the time I accidentally teleported myself into the bathhouse while they were washing. Goddess alive that was embarrassing. Twilight had only started to instruct me on how to perform the spell, not how to direct it, which ended with me teleporting to a random place.

This time though, all I was doing was finding my inner peace. I continued to just let my mind slip further and further into the abyss. All my angers, my hatreds, every negative thought, just started to disappear.

This was one of the original therapeutic meditations I learned while I proved to myself that Twilight was not my mother. It was a semi-lengthy process and I was thankful that over all this time, that Twilight had put up with my attitude and ridiculous ways. In the end, what had happened was that my mind had coaxed me in to believing she was my mother in a way to cope with my childhood trauma involving my real mother. But now all that was gone. No anger, no hatred... just a deep sense of longing.

Some time must have passed because I was suddenly awoken when there was a nuzzling at my side. “Oh... hey there sweetheart. I didn't even hear you wake up,” I told her as I stood up, picking her up into my arms and carrying her downstairs with me.

As I walked passed her crib however, I noticed it was completely demolished. “Ugh...” I groaned in disdain, making my daughter laugh uncontrollably. “No, not funny,” I scolded her lightly. She looked at me with a puzzled look as I rolled my eye, the other being covered by the eye patch.

Walking into the kitchen to grab a banana, she started to reach over my shoulders to try and grab the box of Twinkies, making noises to try and draw my attention to them. “No,” I told her as I grabbed a banana. “Do you want a nana instead?” I offered but she gave a grossed out look, sticking out her tongue. “Figures... what else do we...” I trailed off as I looked into the fridge, finding a big mason jar labeled 'Baby can eat'.

“Oh hey, look at this. Auntie Jackie made you some applesauce,” I informed her, a bright smile spreading across her face as she started clapping in excitement. Sometimes, more often than not, when she ate, I would swear she was from the Apple family. She loved apples, and I mean 'loved' them.

I set her down in her booster seat, the mason jar in the middle of the table before going to grab her a bowl and spoon. Grabbing a fair sized bowl and spoon, I turned around to head back to the table. I paused in disbelief as the spoon and bowl fell from my hands, hitting the floor with a 'CLACK'. In the short time, maybe thirty seconds that I had turned my back, she had crawled up onto the table, opened the mason jar of applesauce and ate it all. Actually, judging by how it was splashed all over her cheeks, she probably chugged it. Now I wondered if she was related to Pinkie.

“Oh...” I trailed off, my daughter giggling and laughing before licking it off her cheeks in a cartoonish way. “Well then...” I trailed off before cleaning the mess and bringing her into the living room. “Okay yah little gremlin,” I joked while pulling out some lettered building blocks, pouring them on the ground for her to play with.

As she went about building, I pulled out an Equestrian bible. I wasn't exactly sure, but somehow I had lost my bible from Earth. It just disappeared one day. The Equestrian style bible was far different from the earth one too. There was far less dark themes in it. No brimstone and fire, everlasting torment in hell, or any of that. There was mention of a place called Tartarus which was the pony equivalent of hell I reckoned.

I went through a couple of verses before saying my prayer to their lord. Setting the bible aside, I grabbed the newspaper Derpy had brought with the mail and went about the crossword. Putting on some reading glasses, I sat there for maybe an hour, stumped on a couple of harder words. Before long, I heard my daughter make some adorable baby sounds. Lowering the paper, I looked to the blocks she had placed together. She had spelled the word 'ASTROLOGICAL'. I blinked before setting the paper down, looking to her with a nod.

“You're your mother's daughter, you know that?” I asked with a laugh, the foal laughing in return before covering her eyes with her front hooves. I let out a gasp. “Oh no, where's the baby, she disappeared!” I said in freight. She let out a laugh before 'reappearing'. “There she is!” I said in relief, picking her up. She put her one hoof over my good eye. “Uh-oh! Somepony turned off the lights! I can't see!” I proclaimed. She giggled wildly before taking her hoof away.

“Oh, whew! I was so afraid,” I told her. She giggled while grabbing my hands and raising them to my face. “Oh, it's time for Daddy to disappear?” I asked, my daughter nodding. I placed my hands over my face before activating an invisibility spell. She let out a gasp, having never seen that before. “Where's daddy?” I asked aloud before actually reappearing in front of her, hands off my face. “There he is!” I laughed, making her cackle wildly in fascination. Clapping her hooves, she quickly reached over to pull my hands back up to my face.

“Again?” I asked, her nodding. “Okay...” I trailed off, putting my hands over my face. “Where's daddy?” I asked, turning invisible once again. This time I waited just a bit longer before reappearing. “There he-” I cut myself off as I realized she was no longer in front of me on the couch.

“Sweetie?” I asked, quickly standing up and checking under the cushions. “Sweetheart?!” I asked aloud, checking around the living room before heaving the couch up entirely off the ground. “Honey?!” I called out, worried that maybe I had misused the spell and turned her invisible instead...

Third person...

“Where's daddy?” the man asked. The foal giggled before promptly hopping off the couch and hiding in a small foal sized cardboard box. “There he-” the man cut himself off. As he started to frantically look around the living room for her, she ever so sneakily made her way to the kitchen, hidden from sight in the cardboard box.

As she reached the kitchen, she shed the box and looked up to the counter top where her prize lay. Looking around, she crawled over to the side of the counter and pulled out the bottom draw to it's maximum draw length, the drawer above it only halfway and the top drawer only partially out.

With this done, she simply used the opened drawers like a set of stairs, albeit unstable stairs. Reaching the top, she crawled over to the box of Twinkies with an ever widening smile. They were hers, finally. Grabbing the box, she went to dump them out but found the box unopened. Fidgeting with it for a moment, she quickly got irritated and bit onto the box then began shaking it like a wild animal.

The box's structure gave way and she quickly got it open. Stripping open the plastic wraps, she quickly indulged into all the pastries at once just as Evan entered the kitchen. “Ba-” he cut himself off in utter horror as he saw her eating the last Twinkie. “Uh-oh...” was all he managed...

“Sweetheart... please...” Evan gasped, bruised slightly from the ordeal and with a split lip that bled slightly. The library was now a complete mess and an utter right off. The foal's entire body seemed to vibrate with energy, her pupils shrunk to a near pinhole size. Just before she went to terrorize the house more, she suddenly let out a deep exhale, her body seeming to deflate.

She slumped over with a yawn as Evan let out a relieved exhale. “Sugar crash, phew...” he muttered. Gently picking the baby up, he shook his head in utter dismay as he looked to the mess while walking up the stairs.

He stopped at her crib with a groan. “Ugh...” he grunted, remembering at this very moment she had decimated it during her escape earlier. “Well... guess you get the bed, huh?” he mentioned as he went to the main bedroom and tucked her into bed for the time being. “Seesh, how many times do you sleep in a day?” he asked aloud before heading back downstairs to clean the torrential mess...

Evan's perspective:

I let out a deep exhale as I flumped down on the couch. This... this was a huge mess. Spike was right, and I didn't even give her sugar, she had just taken it all on her own. I leaned back, flipping off my eye patch as I relaxed. Flicking on the radio that Spike had gotten me for Hearth's warming all that time ago, I let myself drift away in the music...

As I dozed, I dreampt of days passed. In the early days of my life in Equestria I had been a nearly unequaled titan of raw strength, usually slamming my power around to accomplish whatever it was that needed to be done, but about as thick headed as they came.

In the years since, I had evolved, changing my ways. I had learned to love, be loved, make friends, show emotions, listen... and with the help and support of my friends I even pushed passed my mother issues.

Now however, with my body aged, I was fairly feeble compared to my once hulking size. No longer were the days of throwing around my weight to accomplish things. Oh well, I suppose you can't have everything...

My dreams continued as I thought back to my dog on Earth, Ally. I wondered how she was. A tear dripped from my eye. The day I had left I had told her I'd be back that night to take her on a walk. I wondered if she still waited for me, never to return. The tears fell into a darkness that started to surround my feet.

I thought to my brother, wondering what ever became of him, and how he was doing in life. My grandmother and grandfather, even wondering if my real mother would even bother wondering what happened to me.

My thoughts drifted on to the farm where I had worked, wondering if my boss would wonder where I had disappeared to. The farm would've been the last place I had ever been seen, my boss being the last human on Earth to have ever saw me.

In my dream I closed my eyes, thinking back to all the adventures I had with Derpy, escaping from the hospital on several occasions, or when I had brought her muffins while she was hospitalized. The destruction I had caused in Manehatten searching for Derpy when the mob foalnapped her.

My adventures with Daring Do. Where I had first met her in those caverns while she looked for Peg Leg's gold and I had gotten lost with misdirection. When we had climbed Mount Tia and both nearly perished.

Echo Jewel, how we had traveled with her on a mission of revenge... and Derreck had impregnated her with a child...

The spell induced coma I had been in with Derreck and Luna where we had fought through the Eastern front of the second world war, albeit all just a dream.

Twilight and her friends, all the days we had spent in the sun, or even in the rain. Hearth's Warming, where I had staved off the cold to try and find her a present, only to stumble upon Hearth... or maybe that was a dream too.

The time spent with Nightmare Moon on Burdick Estate, along with Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo who constantly came to visit. Our butler Alfred.

The first time I worked for Applejack and subsequently met Flim and Flam who refueled my truck for me. Our relationship, and how it transpired. Their desert garage.

My heart skipped a beat as I thought to Lassie. The first time I had met her at Fluttershy's cabin. How we had taken her in. How we used to smuggle her into fancy restaurants. How Twilight and I would take her out on our romantic outings. How, even before she could speak, she was trying to court us both together... the first time she did speak and how I had fainted. When her, Discord and I traveled to Baltimare to stop Coldmare, or Freeze as she liked to be called.

How we had to go save Lassie later on when she was kidnapped by her so called parents, the fake mother actually turning out to be quite loving and sacrificing herself for Lassie...

'Lassie...' I could hear my own thoughts, like an echo in a tunnel. Recurring flashbacks of her death began to continuously to play over and over in my head. I tried harder and harder every time to save her but every time I felt like I was failing worse and worse.

The world around me turned darker, quieter. Tears dripped from my eyes but continued to fall endlessly into the never ending abyss of darkness beneath me.

Through all the silence I could hear a soft clip-clopping coming closer and closer to me. I looked up, still on my hands and knees, crying in my failure. A figure dressed in all black robes approached me, scythe in tow.

I looked on to him with a pale expression. Usually one would be terrified of death. “So that's it then?” I asked. “The 'Life flashes before your eyes before you die'? That was it?” I asked him. I could see two faint red glowing pupils deep within the confines of his cloak's hood.

“You should be thankful. Not many ponies get the privilege of dying peacefully in their sleep,” he told me. His front bony hooves slid out from the confines of his cloak, grabbing me by the neck as he stood to his hind legs, hoisting me off the ground.

Instinctively, my hands grabbed at his hooves but I didn't resist. There was nothing I could do. This was Death after all. I felt my world start to fade, everything going vague. My skin began to go pale.

However, ever so faintly, I heard a nearly feral, most animalistic, roar of anger. Death was plowed into by a massive force that sent him hurtling away, Death's body skipping across the ground. “I don't think so!” came an ever familiar voice. “Nopony kills Evan but me. Destiny has reserved that pleasure for yours truly,” he remarked, pointing his thumb at himself.

I felt my vision return just before he grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and hoisted me to my feet. “Look at you! What a pathetic slob of a mess!” he boomed in my face. “Fight back for Celestia's sake!” he roared at me as Death was staggering to his hooves.

“Derreck, there's no point, it's Death-” he cut me off with a slap across the face.

“No point? NO POINT?!” he roared out, slapping me again. “Perhaps it should have been me to survive and you to perish!” he boomed. “You have a child, a lover, friends, family!” he roared in my face.

“It's Death, Derreck, you can't-” he again cut me off, this time with a punch to the gut while at the same time letting me fall to the ground, gasping for air.

“IT'S A NAME!” He roared out in terrifying echo. “THE NAMESAKE IS MEANINGLESS IF THE OWNER DOESN'T LIVE UP TO IT!” He boomed, arms cocked at his side. The ground beneath us began to shake as he let out an even more ground shattering roar. I felt gusts of wind pushing against me with incredible force. The darkness beneath Derreck began to crack, splitting open and revealing a hellish red glow.

The hood on Death's cloak had been blown back, his bony foreleg placed in front of his skull to protect himself from debris. Derreck continued to roar wildly, muscles beginning to swell and grow significantly larger.

A blood red aura quickly surrounded him, gusting outwards with even more torrential force then the powerful winds. His iris turned a deep hue of red while veins bulged from his forehead. His pure, unrelenting rage continued, static electricity began to crackle all around him.

“Know this!” He stared at me with great fury that struck a deep fear into me. “When the time arises, I am going to kill you. And believe me, that time is coming soon!” he told me, making me gulp. He let out one final roar of power before finally settling, if you could call it that. His muscles were swelled, bulged... I could feel his intense power from here. Red currents of electricity still crackled and sizzled through the air around him.

“My name... Derreck... It means 'gifted ruler of all'. And I intend to live up to that namesake. Him?!” he shouted, pointing his index finger to Death. A tiny red glint sparkled off the tip of his finger before a thin beam shot out, piercing through the chest of Death. “He could never live up to his namesake against someone like me!” he shouted. Death began to gasp and wheeze as his skeletal body began to crumble apart, turning to dust.

“Ashes to ashes... dust to dust... and I'll throw your dust into the wind!” he shouted at Death who quickly fell into a heaping pile. “You see?! A meaningful namesake given to a weakling! Just like you! Learn the meaning of your name and live up to it!” he roared at me, stepping forwards. I stood up, spitting blood from my mouth. “And then... and then we can have our epic battle!”

Third person...

The foal woke up with a yawn, clucking her tongue several times as she looked around. The upstairs quarters were dimly lit but the light coming from the main floor was slightly brighter, though still fairly dim itself.

Hearing her father's distressed grunts, she hopped off the bed from which she lay and crawled over to the stairway's edge. Looking down, she saw her father, huffing and exhaling, mumbling things in great distress as he twitched and twisted in his sleep, suffering from a horrific night terror.

Not having the equilibrium or proper height, the foal turned her rear to the stairs and descended backwards to the main floor before making her way to the couch. She looked to her father in a most curious way as he struggled, muttering something under his breath she couldn't understand.

His breathing was heavy, raspy, sounding much like he was struggling to breathe. Crawling up onto the couch, the young filly foal slipped her body up underneath one of the man's arms, nestling herself into his chest. Almost instantly the man stopped, his breathing slowing, his heart rate returning to a much more docile pace. He wiggled a little before finally relaxing with a deep exhale.

The little filly closed her eyes and started to rest as well but only managed a few minutes of sleep before she was awoken by a most dreadful noise. Her father snorted a bit and began to snore loudly.

Letting out a huff, the filly squirmed out from beneath his arm and made her way to the kitchen. Opening the fridge, she pulled out a bottle of breast milk left by her mother. Ascending up the counter much like she had to get the Twinkies earlier, she grabbed a coffee cup and poured herself a glass before setting the cup in the microwave and warming it to just the right temperature.

Her father continued to snore loudly as the microwave beeped, indicating the designated time had concluded. Taking out her coffee cup of breast milk, she sat at the edge of the counter, hindlegs dangling down off the edge as she sipped on her beverage, the sound of her father's snoring ever present.

Finishing off the rest of the milk, she set the cup aside before grabbing a clothespin. Hopping off the counter with the bottle of breast milk in tow, she set the milk back into the fridge before heading into the living room, looking to her father who just kept snoring and snoring... and snoring...

She shook her head, hopping up onto his chest and clipping the clothespin to his nose, shutting it down as an airway. He snorted and jerked a bit before rolling over. The filly took the clothespin back off her father's nose and he began to snooze peacefully again.

Tucking herself back under his arm, the filly quickly dozed off...

Spike scurried into the tree house, inhaling one deep breath as he struggled to get the door shut, intensely powerful and cold winds pushing back against him. Finally fighting the door shut with a slam, he exhaled deeply.

The slam woke Evan nearly immediately. “What the?!” He shot up, a little drowsy and unsure about everything.

“Crazy weather we're having, huh?” Spike asked. “Good thing Cadance has four wheel drive,” he mentioned, Evan perking a brow just as Spike looked around and saw the mess. “Goddess... I thought outside was bad. What the hay happened?” he asked. Evan let out a groan as he rubbed his eyes, waving off his question. “You gave her something with sugar, didn't you?” he inquired and the man chuckled.

“I didn't give her nuthin',” he told him. “She got into the Twinkies by her own volition... filly after her father's own heart,” Evan commented, making Spike laugh.

“I warned you,” he said back, the old man nodding as he peaked out the frosted windows and let out a groan.

“Ughhh...” Looking to the sky, he let out a huff. “You know... much as I love her, I knew leaving Derpy in charge of the weather in Ponyville while Dash was away would be a bad idea,” he mentioned. Turning back to the living room, he let out a groan. “I guess while we're still up, we should try and clean this place, huh?” he asked, Spike stifling a laugh...

Evan's perspective...

Setting away some more books, my attention was drawn to Spike, who piped up with a question. “Hey, how'd a breadbox get in the living room?” he asked, holding up the green box.

“You don't wanna know,” I chuckled, making him laugh.

“Anything else I don't wanna know?” he snickered as he made his way to the kitchen to put it away. I continued to put away books and toys. A moment had passed when suddenly the door was whipped open, followed by a wicked gust of icy cold wind and snow. I turned to the doorway but had to cover my face with my arms to block the snow blustering into my eye.

A moment passed and I lowered my arms, my heart stopping for just a moment as one single name left my mouth in such a whispered and frightened tone, even I couldn't hear it.

“Ah-ha, so you do remember me. I thought after all this time you might have forgotten,” she replied cynically. I began to circle my way around the room so that I had positioned myself between her and the couch, where my baby daughter still rested.

A voice came from the kitchen, getting closer with each word. “Jeez... Evan close the...” Spike trailed off as he stepped into the archway between the living room and kitchen. “Uhhh?” he asked in slight confusion.

I quickly held out my hand without looking to him. “Spike, get back in the kitchen,” I ordered in a sharp voice. Freeze laughed.

“No Spike, come join in the festivities. We were just about to have a real 'blast',” she quipped, slowly slinging down her freeze cannon from her back. I waved my hand for Spike to move back.

“Spike, seriously... get... back,” I told him slowly. Freeze slowly took her cannon into a more combative pose.

Freeze spoke up in a sinister tone. “Now... how about we all just... FREEZE!” she punned just before letting loose with her canon. Hurtling backwards, I flipped the couch with one hand whilst grabbing my child with the other, only praying that Spike heeded my warning. Ice spewed across the room, turning the other side of the couch to pure ice.

The sudden drama had woken my child up and had her in complete tears, her screaming more audible than the gusting winds coming through the door. “Aww, isn't that cute,” Freeze cynically began. “Father and child, fro-” she was cut short as a deafening gunshot went off inside the home, ringing my ears and making my daughter scream even louder.

“ENOUGH!” Spike roared, in a stunningly terrifying way. I would've never thought him to be capable of that. I looked to him, standing in the kitchen archway, Belladonna drew in an Isosceles stance.

I quickly set my child down and hopped between them. “NO!” I roared. “Please... no... don't, either of you.” I turned to Freeze. “Whatever this is, however you came back... we can settle things between us, just please, leave them out of it,” I pleaded with her before turning to Spike.

“Spike... I've taught you a great many things, but killing a pony... nopony can teach you that... and believe me Spike... please goddess believe me, it's not something you want to know,” I begged him. Spike kept his aim true at Freeze which had her frozen in spot. She knew what Belladonna was, what she could do.

“Spike... please... lower the gun. You don't want to do this,” I spoke in an easing tone. Ever so slowly, he began to lower the gun. A squeaking foalish noise came from behind the couch as my daughter began to crawl out.

Freeze let out a shrilled cackle as she leveled the cannon at her. “But I do!” She laughed. I let out a roar as I charged into Freeze, just as Spike rose Belladonna back up and let off a wild shot. The brilliant muzzle flash lit up the entire room, light cascading out the windows for just a brief moment.

I tackled into Freeze and took her to the ground, hitting the floor with an audible 'THUMP' that knocked the wind out of both of us.

I groaned in agonizing pain, gripping the side of my ribs. Frig that hurt. I was really feeling my age. Freeze quickly got up, bringing her cannon up as well but noticing the shot had damaged her weapon. Letting out a huff, she said a few last words. “Well, looks like we'll just have to do this the old fashion way.”

Her horn began to flash, swirls of snow blustering around in the room. Spike was quickly blinded and had to cover his face as Freeze cackled. Just then everything seemed to stop and a thin yellow beam of energy shot through her chest from behind her. Freeze coughed and wheezed before falling to the ground, lifeless.

“I killed you once before,” came a voice as everything started to thaw out. I groaned and rolled over, quickly getting to my feet and scurrying over to retrieve my daughter, who was at this point just bawling.

“Discord!” Spike gasped, lowering the handcannon. The draconequus nodding in response as he rose his still smoking finger and blew away the vapors. He looked to me as I rocked my child back and forth.

“This is madness!” Discord mentioned and I nodded. “First Sombra, now her,” he mentioned and I rose a brow.

“Wait... what?!” Spike questioned. Discord rose his brow.

“Haven't you heard. Chaos is spreading all across Equestria. And it isn't even my chaos!” he informed and I went to ask but a tremor in the floor shook us violently, like a massive seismic earthquake.

We all rushed to the door where, in the far off distance, we saw a massive beam of red light shoot up towards the night sky. “What... the... buck...” I muttered under my breath, Spike beginning to panic.

“Oh sweet Celestia... not good... this is not good,” he stammered. I felt my heart skip a beat before swallowing deeply. Without even turning to him, I spoke.

“Discord,” I said, giving my child one last kiss to the forehead. “Take her and Spike somewhere safe,” I said, still looking to the massive red beam that skyrocketed towards the sky. I handed her over and Discord took her gently, the filly laughing uncontrollably from his funny appearance.

“But Evan, you're-” I quickly cut him short.

“I be fine,” I told him sternly.

“But-” I shot him a glare.

“DISCORD! Right now the most important thing is that my daughter and Spike are somewhere safe... please, bring them... Fluttershy's cabin, or my old estate. I don't care. Somewhere where nothing can hurt them,” I told him. He paused for a great long time before finally nodding.

“A-alright. If that's what you want, I'll make sure of it,” he told me and I nodded before turning to Spike and leaning down for a hug.

“Spike, be good, alright?” I asked and he nodded as I stood back up and looked to Discord. “Thank you for everything, my old friend,” I smiled to him and he nodded before placing his claw hand on my shoulder.

“Of course... this time, I've got your back,” he told me and I nodded. Just before he could step back, I stopped him.

“Wait,” I told him. Quickly, I slipped off my ring and looped it with some lace before placing it around my daughters neck. “I'll always be with you,” I told her before nodding to Discord. He took hold of Spike and in a poof of dust and glittery sparkles they were gone. I knew with Discord they'd be safe as houses.

I groaned in pain as I went down to the basement, quickly changing. Slipping on my old camouflage cargo pants, I put on a fresh shirt that was quickly soiled. I took a deep breath, slipping on my old camouflage jacket to match my pants. The clothes I wore when I first arrived. Slipping on the holy necklace around my neck, I slipped on my leg holster for Belladonna and put her where she belonged. It would end just like it began.

A shiver went down my spine as I went back up the stairs and out the front door, closing it behind me. I made my way over to Cadance. She'd be the only way I'd make in tim-

My body was plowed into the ground by a speedy blue blitz, followed by cackling laughter. I grunted as I tried to bring myself to my hands and knees but felt a brutal kick hit me in the gut that sent me airborne. I hit the ground a few yards away with a pained yelp.

I could hear voices slowly approaching. “Nice kick Stratus,” said a more masculine tone.

“Yeah, I've been working on that one for a while,” replied another, equally as masculine, tone. “Gonna make this enjoyable, Charger.”

“Well, would you two lugs hurry it up. I'm freezing out here. Nopony said anything about snow!” Came a very feminine, very posh, voice.

“Aww come on Starry, don't you remember what this thing did to us?” Came the first male voice again. I managed to role over and saw four figures dressed in dark blue colored leotards. They kinda looked like Wonderbolt outfits but... darker.

The one with frazzled hair that had electric currents running through it spoke up in a jittery tone. “Yeah-yeah! He totally blew my head of, like, PCK-KOW!” She made the motion like her head was exploding. I quickly drew out Belladonna, drawing a sight on the fritzy one.

Like a lightning bolt, she slammed into me, knocking Belladonna clean out of my grip. Grabbing the gun with her mouth, she spoke in a garbled voice. “Ahph. Wih dis ting!” She mentioned just before the gun went off, the recoil knocking the gun clean out of her mouth. “WOAH THAT WAS CLOSE!” She exclaimed before casually picking the gun up in her mouth again.

I went to stand but the gray one with the scar on his lip charged forwards and booted me another few yards back, hitting my ribs extra hard and making me cough up blood that spoiled the fresh virgin snow. “Oh... oh yeah, I'm going to enjoy this!” he laughed whilst making his way towards me in a menacing way.

Just as he was within a few feet of me, a streaking blur blustered down, knocking the big stallion to the ground with enough force to send him skidding through the snow. Every pony stopped in utter shock, gasping and going slack jawed.

A hoof kick mark was embedded deep into the stallion's face, splitting his lip and leaving it bleeding fairly profusely. He tilted his head to get a look at the figure who had booted him away, whom now stood before me in a defensive way. “B-boss!” the stallion gasped. “W-what are you doing?!” He stood to his hooves, spitting a glob of blood into the snow.

“This is going to sound insane... but I can't let you do this,” came a seemingly, rather vaguely, familiar voice. I wiped my eye clear to see a blue pony in similar outfit as the other ones, still poised in a defensive stance, her blue mane even darker than her fur.

“Boss, that's nuts!” said the other stallion, whom had kept his goggles on. “You can't be serious!” he demanded. The mare stepped forwards in an aggressive way.

“I am. This... this thing... it spared my life, like I was some helpless foal!” she screamed out. “And his debts... must be... repaid!” she yelled out, seemingly just as angry at me as she was towards them, though I didn't quite understand what was going on.

The gray stallion with the split lip stood tall, spitting a glob of blood between the two of them. “You're bucking delusional Shade. What? Are you two buck buddies now or something?” he insulted, blood running down his face and staining his fur. The feisty blue one, who hadn't stopped jittering this entire time, spoke up.

“Yeah Nightshade! He totally blew off my head, like-” she was cut off as Belladonna once again went off, nearly taking off her head and the gun landing just inches from my body. “Yeah, like that. It was mind blowing... literally,” she punned. That's when it clicked. These were those ponies from that one nightmare I had where I was ambushed... at least, I thought it was a dream. I had been turned to stone but woke up suddenly in my bed...

Nightshade took another step forwards. “As commander of the Shadowbolts, I'm ordering you to stand down, NOW!” she snapped. The grey one with the scarred lip stepped forwards, the others in tow. The other, much darker, stallion spoke up.

“I vote in Stratus as the new commander,” the other stallion said in a deep tone. The pink haired mare was the next to speak.

“I second that vote,” she said with a swish of her mane. The blitzy blue one continued to bounce up and down before stopping to clap her front hooves together.

“Oh-oh-ohhh, I vote me as the new boss. Me! Memememememe!” she squealed, the others looking to her with slightly annoyed looks. “Oh, I mean, I vote for Stratus too!” She looked to Nightsade and held her hoof beside her cheek, blocking the others from seeing her lips. “I still think I'd make the best boss, Boss” she said aloud so that Nightshade could hear, but thinking as though by holding her hoof like that, the others couldn't hear her.

Stratus rolled his eyes from her comment with a deep, annoyed exhale before taking another step forwards. “You heard 'em Shade. Now, as the newly appointed leader of the Shadowbolts, I'm giving you a direct order to stand down and step aside.”

Nightshade turned back to me. “Go on, get outta here. But this squares things up between us. We're even now, got it?!” she snapped and I nodded as I stood to my feet. She turned back to face the others while she spoke to me. “I've got your back. Now go on, and don't try to help me out, you'll only get in my way.”

I gave her a thankful nod before holstering my handgun and making my way towards Cadance. The stallion known as Stratus yelled out in fury. “Don't you dare turn your back to us!” he boomed, shooting towards me at great speed but was rewarded with a sharp bucking kick to his chin that flipped him back, landing on his belly whilst still skidding back. He let out a pained gasp as the other, Charger I think his name was, took his place on the offensive.

I didn't bother sticking around, Nightshade had mentioned I would only get in her way, and by the looks of it, she could handle them... I hoped. I hopped into Cadance, leaning back against the seat.

“Shit...” I muttered as I started the truck. “I'm making a bucking mess in here,” I muttered while the truck warmed up for just a moment. She'd need to be cleaned once this was all over.

Slipping her into drive, I pinned the accelerator. Normally cold starting a diesel truck then gunning it was a horrible thing to do, but right now there was a more pressing matter at hand. The truck thundered along loudly, turbocharger howling. I looked to the rear view mirror as I sped off, wishing Nightshade well. The mirrors were vibrating from the shaking power of the 7.3 Powerstroke motor but even so I could make out who was who in the battle.

I quickly sped out of town, making my way towards the Everfree Forest, where that hellish red light was coming from. As I reached the outskirts of the town's limit, the snow seemed to just disappear a few hundred yards ahead, as if it were some imaginary border. Freeze must have only spread her wrath to Ponyville as to not arise too much suspicion.

I wasn't sure how or why all this was happening but I had an assumption it was a plot against me. Both Freeze and those weird leotard dressed ponies had come after me specifically. “Why can't they all just let me retire, for buck sak-” I was cut off as a pegasus pony slammed down into the snow a few dozen yards in front of me, a ghostly white being slamming into them right after.

My foot hit the brake pedal, tires locking up as I slid towards the scene. With a wincing grimace knotted into my face, I spun the wheel, the truck spinning sideways and coming to an abrupt, skidding stop just a few feet away from the battle.

Hopping out of the truck, the ghostly white beast looked to me and my heart skipped a beat. “A Windigo?!” I gasped in a crispy tone. The beast went to let out a howl but Belladonna was up in a snap, gun bucking in my hand as I let of a quick trio of shots.

The massive 300g slugs would've torn apart it's head, had the beast been living flesh. Instead it simply vanished into a puff of snow. Rushing over, cannon in hand, I skidded to a stop as a familiar pegasi stood up. “Daring?!” I gasped, her chuckling as she brushed off her shoulder.

“Damn old man, I see age hasn't slowed you any,” she laughed. “Perfect timing too.” I blinked in complete confusion. She seemed to answer my thoughts. “I heard there was some freak storm this way and was just coming to see what all the hullabaloo was about, but-” she was cut off by a screeching from about.

Both of us looked up and saw two Windigos circling us from above, creating a vortex around us of blistering snow. “Looks like they're mad you shot their buddy,” Daring quipped and I nodded before going to line up a shot.

Wind hammered us to the ground and the shot went wild, missing completely. My body was slammed belly first into the snow. “Damn!” Was all I managed before I felt a force hammer me in the back, dragging me face first in the snow a few dozen yards before launching me.

I hit the ground, hard! My body rolled a few times before coming to a stop, myself lying on my back. I flumped my head back, Daring suddenly landing on top of me with an equally hard impact as I had hit the ground with, knocking the wind out of me. She let out a gasp as the wind was knocked out of her too. The Windigos began to circle us like vultures. Daring was wheezing for breath and I was feeling it too.

Suddenly, there was a thunderous crack in the air, like that of a whip but millions of times louder. Like something threatening to split the reality of time and space. An amazing light gray eruption of light spewed across the skies and something shot through the skies at blinding speeds. The object, or being, was a mere smear of gray light. “Shit...” I muttered as I tossed Daring off me, knowing what was too come.

No sooner had I thrown Daring off, than the object plowed into me. The ground around me cratered, blowing up a mass of dirt and snow from the impact. I coughed violently, hacking up a bit of blood and spitting it to the side. I couldn't take much more of this. Wiping my lower lip clean of blood, I looked down to see a huddling gray pony.

'Twice in one day... must be my lucky day,' I chuckled from my thoughts. “Hey Derpy... great to see you again,” I whispered, the pegasus' ears twitching from my voice and looking up.

“Evan!” she cheered, giving me a tight hug which made me wince from the pain in my ribs. Looking up though, I was relieved to see that her hyper-sonic eruption had annihilated those Windigos.

As we stood up I waved to Daring then noticed something. I couldn't hear my tru...

I turned and gasped. “CADANCE!” I yelled. The truck had been overturned from the seismic shock Derpy had caused, which also resulted in the motor shutting off. “No, no, no, no, DAMN!” I yelled, Derpy whining in repsonse.

“I'm really, really, REALLY, sorry Evan. I just don't know what went wrong,” she apologized, nearly in tears. I shook my hands.

“No, no Derpy. It's not your fault at all. In fact... heh, you kinda saved us,” I laughed, looking to Daring who rolled her eyes. “Just... ahhh...” I grunted, looking to my overturned truck. She was going to need more that just a cleaning when this was all done. Okay, well, guess I was walking.

“Damn... this sucks,” I muttered, Daring nodding as she made her way over.

“Yeah. Talk about bad weat-” She cut herself off with an all too feminine pitched gasp that sounded more like it belonged to Rarity than a super adventurer like Daring. “Evan, you're-” I cut her short.

“Yeah, I know. Don't worry about it,” I told her sternly, covering myself up.

“What do you mean don't worry about it. We need to get you to a hosp-” I cut her short.

“No. Right now, I need to go there,” I said, pointing to the big red beam thingy. “And you're not stopping me. If somepony doesn't stop this, who knows what'll happen,” I told her. Derpy was a little puzzled.

“What's wrong? Why do you need to go to the hospital?” she asked but I just shook my head.

“Don't worry about it Derpy. It's just Daring overreacting... right Daring?” I asked sternly. Derpy's ears perked.

“Daring? Like Daring Do? Like the book character?” she asked and Daring groaned, myself realizing Derpy wasn't in the loop with Daring.

“No,” Daring replied in an upset tone. “My name is Daring Ood,” she replied. Derpy cocking her head to the side as though inspecting her. “Anyway... if you won't go to the hospital, than I'm coming with you. Someone has to watch your flank, you old stubborn geezer,” Daring teased, making me roll my eyes. Derpy pipped up as well.

“Me too! I'll watch your back!” she said, bringing back memories of when her and I rescued Dash from a bunch of Timberwolves. Back then Derpy had been so panicked that I had to snap her out of it, asking if she had my back.

“A-alright... if you two insist,” I replied begrudgingly. I didn't want anypony else getting hurt in all this but they seemed pretty adamant about coming with me. We continued on and too the Everfree. The other two stayed up front just a little, by a few feet. They were a bit faster than me in my old age. I gripped my side for just a moment, applying an easing pressure to it to alleviate my pain. It still hurt, but not as much. We reached The Everfree Forest, the temperature difference here and in Ponyville were drastically different.

As we entered the Everfree, Derpy looked back to me. “Hey Evan, what do you think it is? That's causing all this?” She asked and I shook my head, taking my hand away from my side and wiping it off on my pants.

“Dunno, but whatever it is, it isn't-” I was cut off from my sentence as a Timberwolf plowed into her. “Derpy!” I roared, ramming myself into the beast. I grabbed it and threw it into the air, Daring delivering a flying buck to it that sent it flying into the woods.

I helped my gray friend to all fours. “You alright?” I asked her and she nodded before there were several howls echoing all around us. We all went back to back, Derpy pressing up against me hard then leaning away slightly.

“Evan, you're all wet on your side!?” she asked and I nodded.

“It's nothing, don't worry about it,” I told her as several Timberwolves circled us, snapping at the jaws and emitting a rather foul odor. I whispered to the others. “Okay... so you guys fly straight up... and I'm gunna plow through their line... then either climb a tree and swing like Tarzan or you two come pick me up from said tree and rescue me... okay?” I asked and they nodded.

“On three,” Daring said. Derpy spoke up, in her usual ditsy voice.

“Three!” And with that she was airborne, Daring scoffing and muttering something about how it doesn't work like that. I turned to the Timberwolves and clenched my fists. I didn't have enough ammo for all these wolves, but I did have something else up my sleeves... up my arms rather.

“Alright guys... listen, you don't wanna do this,” I told them but they kept inching closer and closer. “Maybe you do!” I snarled deeply. My body flexed and I let out a roar. The left side sprang out first, blood spurting out as the Shadow Steel encased claws erupted from between my knuckles. The right side came next but with excruciating pain that brought me to my knees.

“Gah, fuck!” I yelped out, looking to my right hand. The blade between my index and middle finger had failed to come out all the way, only coming out half. The arthritis was getting severe in my body. It's bad enough to a normal pony when your bones start to grind and weld themselves together. It's another thing when your bones are infused with indestructible Shadow Steel and you develop arthritis.

The Timberwolves took the opportunity and leapt at me, one of the bigger ones taking me to the ground. I could hear Daring's voice from up above. “Well, so much for that plan...”

The wolves took that opening and all darted towards me. The first one piled into my back, planting me face first into the dirt as it bit into my shoulder, wooden teeth gouging through my jacket and into my flesh.

I saw another one coming at me and I took a swing at it. My swing was pitiful at best and didn't even deter the beast as we began to roll around on the ground, wolves biting at me in every direction. With my age weakened strength, the razor sharp Shadow Steel claws barely had enough force to even cut the bark skin they had.

The impact of the second one flipped me to the side before more and more wolves piled onto me. One of the wolves biting at my belly got a powerful boot that sent it hurtling away but it was no use. There were at least six on me, with at least a dozen more lined up to get a piece of me.

I struggled and swung wildly but my strength didn't have enough force to drive my claws through their thick wood bodies. Suddenly there was a powerful force that hammered into the group atop of me, followed by another, just as swift, strike that knocked off all but one of the Timberwolves, the last of which kept snapping its jaws at me.

Taking a wild swing, I managed to cut it deep enough to have it jump back, yipping in pain. I staggered to my feet, Derpy and Daring covering my back. “Well... needless to say your plan went almost accordingly,” Daring quipped, making me roll my eye.

Blood dripped down the deep gash across my left cheek, and the one that went straight down the right side of my face. I think I also had a cut that went diagonally down my face, crossing paths with the one going down the right side of my face.

Blood stained my previously white shirt, my camouflage jacket a little tattered, also spoiled with blood. Several cuts bled but nothing too profuse or worrisome. “For fu... fuc...” I gasped, my lungs on fire. I spit to the side, the taste of blood slightly cleared from my mouth.

The Timberwolves had corralled us. “Alright... you guys take off. I'll... I'll handle them,” I told them through a wheeze, knowing all too well they wouldn't be able to lift me away fast enough, if at all.

“No way,” Derpy shouted over her shoulder, Daring quickly chiming in.

“Yeah, we saw how well you handled them last time,” she commented. Before I could even say anything in response, the wolves charged from all around. I charged right back, cocking my right arm for a mighty swing. Before I could swing however, one of the wolves leapt low, taking me out at the feet.

I tripped and hit the ground hard, skidding as the wolf held tight around my ankle. I tried to kick at it but quickly found myself engulfed once again with Timberwolves. I struggled, swinging and kicking about wildly.

One bit down on my arm and started dragging me a bit. I looked out and saw Daring holding her own pretty well. Her form and figure kind of reminded me of Rainbow Dash now that I looked at her. Strange I had never noticed that before.

I heard a wailing cry of pain and my attention was drawn to Derpy whom was pinned down by a Timberwolf, another about to pounce on her. The wolf grabbed her by one of her wings and started to shake its head, drawing blood.

A deep boiling rage engulfed me, my eye blazing in anger. Brows furrowed down and lips curled back, I let out a fearsome roar of anger, swinging my free arm at the wolf holding my arm. The Shadow Steel cut right through its neck, decapitating it, head rolling away lifelessly. I pivoted my weight and swung my injured arm over the opposite shoulder.

The tips of the blades found home inside the skull of another wolf which went limp almost instantly atop of me. I took a deep plunge into my very core, searching for everything I could muster before letting out another shout and throwing myself up, the wolves all flinging off my body.

In a few short strides I had reached Derpy, plowing into the wolf that stood atop of her. I took it by complete surprise, driving my claws deep into its sides. The wolf let out a shrieking howl of pain that caught the attention of all the other wolves as I lifted it high above my head then twisted my wrists outwards before pulling downwards, my claws bisecting the wolf, its two halves landing on each side of Derpy.

I spun on my heals, turning to the wolves that dared face me at this point. Daring was still occupied with three wolves, one of which she booted away before shooting straight up into the air then dive bombing towards the two others.

My brows furrowed even more as I let out a horrifying roar of hatred. Blood dripped down my arms, down my face... down just about every part of my body, but it didn't deter me in the slightest as I charged them head on.

The beasts ran towards me as well, a fatal mistake on their part. The Shadow Steel claws began to fume with some sort of mystical dark blue mist as I swung viciously, and precisely. The first wolf that leapt at me ended up sliced perfectly down the middle. The next fell to my side, headless.

One by one I chopped my way through them, bits and pieces of Timberwolf scattering the ground behind me as I kept charging. The final Timberwolf was impaled upon my claws by its underbelly before I drove it into a tree. I let out a final roar of pure rage as I began pulling my claws from its body and ramming them back into it, rotating hands used with each strike.

After what felt like eternity, but only surmounted to about ten or twelve seconds, I swung back and sliced hard with my right, decapitating it but also cutting the tree down that I had pinned it against. As the tree fell, I turned to the other wolves that still remained, the lifeless corpse I had just assaulted still stuck to my left hand claws.

Yipping in terror, the other wolves scurried off as I kicked the body off my left claws. As they ran, I hurled the lifeless corpse at one of the fleeing wolves, tripping it slightly. I was breathing heavily as I staggered over to Derpy. My left claws attempted to all retract but the middle one failed to. Finding a rock, I pushed the tip against it and ever so slowly the blade painfully retracted back to its normal spot.

I reached Derpy's side and she was grimacing while standing to her hooves. “D-Derpy...” I coughed violently, spitting blood to the side. “A-are you... you a-alright?” I wheezed and she looked to me with a petrified look.

“Evan! You're... you're...” she could barely say it but I just waved it off.

“Nah, they're just bite marks. Nothing deep. They look worse than they are,” I gave her a smile before wiping the blood clean of my face.

“B-but y-you're-” I cut her short by bringing my left hand to her mouth, which was unfortunately also covered in blood which smeared onto her fur.

“Derpy, these bites aren't gonna kill me. Don't worry,” I told her reassuringly, before looking to her wing. It look pretty chewed but not horrific or anything. Using my right hand claws, which where still extended, I cut pieces of my shirt off to make bandages for her wing. “Heh, you're in worse shape than I am Derpy,” I joked teasingly. “I'm surprised you can even stand... definitely tougher than me.” She looked back to me with a deep blush

“I-it's nothing, really,” she said modestly. I took a deep breath before grabbing my half extended claw with my left hand and pulling it out the rest of the way, the blade cutting into my palm. I let out several grunts of pain as blood began to ooze from my left hand, blood also spurting from between my knuckle where the claw was coming from.

With the claw finally extended to its fullest length, I let all three retract back into my forearm. I let out a sigh of pained relief before ripping some more of my shirt to tie around my left hand which continued to bleed.

“Jeez,” Daring muttered as she fluttered down to our side, her face pale from the mere look of my bloodied state. “I remember when you used to take on hoards of giant pony eating scorpions like they were nothing. Now a couple Timberwolves have you bloodied and gasping for air...” she remarked, making me roll my eye.

“Derpy... your wing is in pretty bad shape. Daring, can you get her to the-” we were all put in silence as a massive howl echoed throughout the forest. It wasn't one combined howl of many wolves. It was just one.

I stood to my full height as we all turned to face this new threat. My stomach sunk as one massive Timberwolf emerged from the forest shadows. Daring groaned. “Oh yeah...” she muttered. “I forgot they could do that.” I let out a deflated exhale. I forgot too. They could all merge their bodies into one massive-

My thoughts were cut short as its body suddenly erupted, a green blast hitting it in the side. Splinters and smoldering pieces of sticks landing all around. Daring, Derpy and I all had puzzled expressions on our faces as Daring spoke up. “Uhm... I don't recall them ever doing that...”

A black figure emerged from the shadows which had me relieved. “Oh phew... Chrysie... perfect timing,” I said through deep breaths. The Changeling queen approached us, a worried look on her face. From behind her, a dog followed close behind. The dog was Lassie and Max's pup, but now no longer a puppy in size.

“You look horrible,” she said to me but I brushed it off.

“Nah. Derpy's the one who really got the worst of it-” the gray pegasus mare quickly cutting me off.

“I'm not that hurt, see-” she was cut off by her own yelp of pain as she tried to hover above the ground. I helped her up with a shake of my head.

“Derpy... you're my bestest friend. I can't let you go on like this. I don't wanna see you get hurt.” I looked to Daring. “Can you get her to a hospital?” I asked, the other mare nodding before Derpy interjected.

“And you're my bestest ever friend. I can't leave you now. Who's gonna have you're back?!” she cried out. I pulled her into a hug, spreading more of my crimson red blood all over her fur.

“I love you Derpy, more than you may ever know. You were my first true friend. You always had my back, through thick and thin... and I'll never forget that. You were the most normal thing to me when I first came to this world. The first pony who didn't treat me like I was something different. And I can't bare to see you get hurt anymore than you already are,” I told her, still holding her tight, her hugging back even tighter. I could feel tears coming down her cheeks and onto my open shoulder, the jacket all torn to hell.

“We're going to see each other again, right?!” she nearly cried through a sob.

“Of course Derpy. Chrysalis is going to watch over me now,” I told her and she pulled back to look me right in the eye.

“Promise?” she asked and I nodded, turning my rear to her.

“Tail-Twist swear Derpy,” I promised and we bumped flanks before turning back to one another. “Alright... now you gotta go,” I told her, Daring helping Derpy take flight.

“I'll see you soon okay,” Derpy cried out as they took off, Chrysalis stepping up next to me, shadows covering our facial expressions as she spoke.

“Why did you lie to her?” she asked, almost all too knowing. I shook my head as I turned to her.

“I didn't,” I replied in a very stoic tone. I wanted to cry but I couldn't right now. It hurt more than anything to do that to Derpy but the truth of the matter was, that by the end of it, we would be seeing each other again, just not until it was her time. I was almost positive of that.

Nopony would have been able to tell my feelings from just a visual but Chrysalis somehow did. “You can cry, if you'd like. I won't judge you,” she told me. There was a moment's pause. “I feed off love and emotion. I can tell what you're feeling,” she informed me and I swallowed deeply.

“Chrysie...” I trailed off, deep sorrow in my voice which choked my words slightly. I took a deep breath. “You were the first ever pony I met in this world,” I told her and she chuckled.

“Changeling, actually,” she joked and I laughed.

“You... you know what I mean. I didn't care that others thought you were some kind of... some kind of monster. Hell, I even thought it was strange that after Zecora told me what kind of monster you were, that you didn't want to loot some houses with me when Ponyville looked like a ghost town... I... I guess I just wanted to say... thank you. For showing me that a pony isn't always what they're cracked up to be. That not everything is what it's said to be...” I told her, a little out of breath.

I looked to the forest ahead. It wasn't far now... wasn't long now. Chrysalis looked to me, sadness in her eyes. “You don't have to do this,” she told me. I closed my eyes, letting my conscious clear itself of all my woes. With my eye still closed, I looked up to the night sky, feeling the cool breeze brush against my wounded skin. I just wanted to... to lay down...

I could feel the wounds healing, but very, very slowly. “I know,” I told her. Lassie and Max's pup brushed up against my leg, looking to me with equally sorrowful eyes, just like Chrysie. I gave the dog a few pats on the head, looking to Chrysalis and contemplating it all. I couldn't just go back... a hospital couldn't fix this... and I couldn't just leave it up to somepony else at this point. What if it got too out of hoof before they arrived?

“The worst thing a pony can do... is not to do evil...” I told Chrysalis, while I looked back up to the sky. “But to do nothing, when they could have done something.” There was a long pause before I started walking towards the ominous glow, Chrysalis and her dog in tow.

“Evan?” Chrysalis asked, myself giving her a silent nod to continue. “I always wanted to thank you. F-for... for giving me a chance when nopony else would. For helping me find love. For helping me find Max. For taking me in. Introducing me to ponies... for everything,” she told me, a lone tear trickling down my face.

“I... I enjoyed our times together Chrysie,” I told her before taking a deep breath. “Nobody knows what it's like...” I trailed off and she giggled lightly with a smile.

“To be the bad mare,” she said, slightly changing the lyrics. We continued to sing the first song we had heard together as we traversed towards the beaming red light that still shot sky high.

We finally reached a clearing. The red light was coming out of some kind of geyser in the ground, the ground itself cracked and getting wider and more unstable with every passing minute. Dark spirits seemed to be escaping through the geyser and before it stood a lone, cloaked figure.

“Tartarus!” Chrysalis whispered.

'No...' I thought silently. 'Something much worse...'

Chrysalis went to step forwards, her horn glowing but my left arm crossed her chest. “No... Chrysalis, go get help,” I told her but she shot me a defiant look.

“You told me the worst thing a pony could do was nothing,” she responded but I shook my head.

“Somepony has to get help and know where all this chaos is coming from... while somepony else has to try and slow it down,” I told her. She seemed defiant but I turned to her with a pleading look. “Please, Chrysie. I have a daughter. I won't be able to run back as fast as you could fly. I haven't the energy to muster a teleportation spell and somepony needs to do something.” She shook her head.

“I can teleport you!” she snapped back, almost furiously. “You said it yourself, you have a daughter to go back to!” The words hit me hard but I shook my head before pulling her into a kiss, her eyes going wide. It wasn't exactly passionate, or sexual... it was just...

“Chrysie,” I told her, pulling back from the kiss. “I may have a daughter... but I don't have much time left as it is. You still have your youth and... no amount of magic or medicine can save me now,” I replied. Tears poured down Chrysalis' face as she pulled me into a hug, holding me tight. “Hey Chrysie?” I asked and she looked up to me. “I always did think you were really cute.” I gave her a smile which she tearily returned as she took a few steps back. I could see it in her face. She didn't want to. I could feel it, her anguish and sorrow. She had lost Max... and now me.

There was a bright green flash and just like that she was gone, along with her dog. I turned to the clearing around the geyser, to the figure who stood lonesome and with that, I began my approach. My fists clenched. I could feel it. Somehow, I didn't know how, I knew who he was.

I stopped within a few feet of him, his rear still turned to me. My lip twitched, brow furrowed. “Yes...” he hissed. “I can feel your anger...” he nearly laughed. A deep burning inside of me began to boil over. I could feel my wrist bones start to separate, the skin between my knuckles split as the Shadow Steel claws began to emerge. “Do it... sate your hatred upon my body...”

But just as quickly as my hatred had came, it was gone. A tidal wave of calm splashed over my body as I inhaled deeply. My fists went limp, fists unclenching, bones buckling back together and my expression shifting to a more gentle expression. Blood still ran down just about every inch of my body.

“It's over,” I told him, the figure just laughing as he pulled back his cloak's hood, revealing his unicorn horn, blue fur and mane. He tossed a book up over his shoulder which landed by my feet. It was my bible, the one from earth. My one eye went wide.

“Quite an interesting read you know. Our bible doesn't read about brimstone, and death, and mass famine or rapture where the lord comes back and purges the planet... his greatest battle taking place here among our mortal realm,” he laughed as he rose another book in his front hoof for me to see. The book of Unlimited Fantasy. My heart skipped a beat as I realized what he had done.

“You didn't!” I growled and he merely laughed.

“What? You're religious aren't you? You'll be spared the rapture of your dearest lord and savior, won't you?” he laughed cynically. “A world infested with vermin, finally purged of all its evils. Only those that are pure in the lord's eyes will be spared... isn't that right?” he cackled. I slowly walked up beside him, the glow of the red light illuminating our features but never once making eye contact with one another.

“Tristan... it's not too late to stop this,” I told him, the unicorn stallion merely laughing at me.

“Stop what? This is the end time. But worry not. You'll be spared, right?” he laughed.

“It doesn't need to be like this. Tristan...” I trailed off, looking to him without turning my body, and him to me in a similar fashion, the crimson lights casting our great shadows upon the forest behind us.

“Then tell me, how should it be?” he challenged.

“I... I understand why you did what you did... to your sister,” I told him, the stallion shooting me a hateful glare. “Because... in a sense, I'm much the same,” I told him, the stallion's hateful gaze softening slightly, curious to my explanation.

I looked back to the deathly light. “Yes... I hurt somepony I held very dear on a conquest to receive love,” I told him, Tristan's look had slight confusion in it. “You see... I wanted nothing more than the affection of motherly embrace and love... and it would seem I stopped at nothing to get it, even the feelings of that same somepony I wanted the love from...” I trailed off.

Tristan was silent as I continued. “So... despite the fact that the love we sought after so badly was different, it was the same in the fact that we hurt others to get it...” I trailed off and looked to him, dead in the eye. “Tristan... despite all that you've done... all those that you've hurt, even killed...” I said, thinking remorsefully of Lassie and Trixie.

“I forgive you,” I told him, the world seeming to sit still all around us. His look was one of pure awe. It took everything inside of me to do that, to mean that... to stand by that and not simply rip his throat out for everything he had done. But time had changed me. No longer were the days of killing or violence or vicious revenge. I put a hand to his shoulder. “It's over now...” I trailed off as I drew out Belladonna but kept her pointed to the ground. “I came here to kill you...” I said as I rose the gun's barrel to his forehead, his eyes going wide. With one flick of the wrist however, I tossed the gun aside.

“But it's time for us to forget about past. For the last embers of this fruitless folly to finally go out,” I told him, hands now on his shoulders in a surrendering way. He paused for a good long while, looking to my handgun that I had tossed away so casually. He finally looked back to me, an expression of awe still in his face.

Before I could even react however, a blast of energy hit me in the chest, launching me several feet back and myself skidding against the ground before finally coming to a stop. I groaned, my chest smoking from his blast. “You're a fool!” he snapped. “It seems that you've forgotten... nothing is forgotten. Ponies won't welcome me with open hugs and warm kisses,” he snapped. I tried to crawl back as he hit me again with another blast, sending me further back.

“Look at you. Bleeding like a stuck pig. You didn't come here to try and reconcile me... you came to try and get me to stop because nopony could stand against me. Not Celestia... Not Luna... not the Element of Harmony Bearers... and especially not you,” he snapped, launching me again.

“When this is all over... my sister will accept my love... and maybe, in time...” he trailed off, smiling cynically to me. “Even your daughter.” My eyes went wide and he laughed. “Oh yes... I know of her. She's going to become quite the looker. I can tell. She'll make a fine addition to my herd,” he cackled, laughing towards the sky.

My eyes burned with anger, my restraints of calm and peace shattered into a billion pieces. My right hand shot out, reaching towards the direction of my faithful handcannon, Belladonna. The handgun glinted in the distance. There was a slight wiggle...

“Oh yes... when I'm finished with you I'll-” his words got cut short. The gun zipped through the air and straight into my palm, grip fitting perfectly. The polished chrome gleamed brightly. 'Belladonna' glowed along the right side of the barrel while the left side shone brightly, the inscription glowing ever brighter. 'And thy lord shall set thee free'.

The gunshot almost seemed silent... The flash from the muzzle brilliantly overwhelming the hellish red glow for just a moment's time... the slide kicking back and spitting out a still smoking shell casing... the gun tilting up in my grip from the recoil... then back down for what could have been a follow up shot that was never needed, or used...

The world was still, neither Tristan nor I moved an inch. We just stayed like that, looking at each other, a look of shock on his face.

Fur on the side of Tristan's neck was fluffed and he flinched, the world returning to motion as he staggered back and stood still for a second before a gush of blood began to stream down his neck. I had clipped him, but the shear mass and force of the 300g .50AE round had severed his jugular.

He coughed and blinked in utter shock before collapsing to the ground, gagging wildly as he tried to hold the wound closed. I stood up and slowly made my way over to him. “It didn't have to be like this...” I trailed off as Tristan spat up a glob of blood, his horn glowing as he tried to heal his wounds. “Nothing can heal a wound from her,” I said, brandishing Belladonna in the crimson light for him to see.

He coughed again before laughing, his teeth all bloodied. “You would know... wouldn't you?” he chuckled before coughing up more blood, a pool now forming beneath him. I closed my eyes as I pulled aside my jacket, a memory from not all that long ago flashing through my head...

'Freeze let out a shrilled laugh as she pointed the cannon at my daughter. I charged towards Freeze with a roar, Spike also bringing up the handcannon. I tackled into her as the handcannon went off with a deafening report. I felt the jacketed hollowpoint round hammer into my side, clipping me and puncturing my lung...'

I had been going this whole night with a punctured lung and a fatal gunshot wound that, regardless of magic or medicine, could never be healed. I would bleed to death and that would be the end of it. It's why I couldn't go back. Spike would never forgive himself. Even though I had warned him he wasn't ready for it, he didn't deserve the knowledge of knowing what he had done...

Tristan laughed, coughing violently as his end neared. “Look at you... even in death... I've won...” he mocked. “You can't stop what is to come... and you're too blame... you're bible... was what brought about this world ending event... and despite everything... you couldn't stop me,” he said, pulling out The book of Unlimited Fantasy. I looked to it. The one thing that could save this world. I went to take it but before I could even touch it, Tristan tossed it into the geyser.

I watched as my last hope was tossed hopelessly away. My eye went wide, first in disbelief, then in anger. “TRISTAN!” I roared but he simply laughed, coughing up one final spew of blood.

“I... I'll, ack... kack... see y-you... in hell,” he died with a twisted smile on his face, his eye color fading to gray as he passed away. My hands fell to my sides before I fell to my knees. He... he had beaten me... again... but this time, it wasn't just one pony... one being I had let down... I should've let Chrysalis help me... or somepony... once again I had done things arrogantly, on my own... I thought I could fix this on my own...

I scooched up against a tree... I didn't know how to fix this... I watched as the geyser continued to let chaos enter the world, growing larger with every passing minute... all those evils... and then a rapture would come... and not one deserving of this world... no... that rapture... it was meant for mine...

“Twilight...” I reached out towards the sky, blood dripping down my hands and arm. “Everypony...” I whispered as my eye closed. My lung had collapsed long ago and it was only a matter of time. “I'm sorry... I failed you... a-agai... again...” I dipped my head down in shame, arm falling to my side as my eye closed. I felt it... the darkness... shrouding around me...

“D-Derreck... y-you... you wouldn't... wouldn't have failed...” I whispered...

The world around me faded, along with my life. This was it...

Suddenly I was jolted awake by a presence. “Evan,” she spoke, waking me up abruptly. I coughed, blood coming up from my lungs. “Evan, wake up,” she spoke. I looked to the tall slender being, my eye coming into focus one last time as I looked upon her. She was no longer with foal, which meant that Derreck would've been a father... and that Nightmare was a widow because of me. I groaned before I closed my eye again for the last time.

“Nightmare...” I whispered. A thought... an idea, came to mind... probably a delirious one... but none the less, one last chance to stop it. Tristan had given me a hint as to how to stop it... where he had thrown the book...

“Evan, get up,” Nightmare pleaded.

“Night... mare... I'm sorry, for what I did,” I told her. I could tell she was confused. “Derreck... wasn't killed by Tristan... he died... by my hand. I killed him mercilessly so that I could survive...” I trailed off and there was a long silence. I could tell she couldn't believe it. “As you learned with Luna... there can only be one... and I vanquished Derreck so that I would remain...” I told her.

I suppose it wasn't far from the truth. Sure... Tristan had brainwashed Celestia into having Luna and I confront Derreck in some convoluted excuse that he was a danger, that if we didn't defeat him that Celestia would go after Nightmare... all to set the stage for Tristan's takeover... but I had chosen myself over Derreck. Maybe that's why Derreck just let me kill him, to see the repercussions of my own action. In knowing that he was the best, he knew that I wouldn't be able to protect my friends like he could have... and he was right.

Those were my last thoughts...

Nightmare hit me with something so fierce... so brutal... it felt like my flesh had been scorched off my bones. I lay huddled on the cold ground... it felt like... like asphalt...

I gasped, still smoldering... 'Why... how am I alive?' I thought to myself before I heard an echoing laugh.

“You're not,” he chuckled. I looked up, taking note that both my eyes worked. “Yeah, yeah, I know, crazy right?” the figure asked from nearby on a park bench. The rest of this place was pitch black. There was a small asphalt path leading up to the bench, then going past it but leading into eternal darkness. A lamp post sat just behind the bench, only illuminating this small area with a dim haze.

“I'm dead?” I asked, and the figure laughed again.

“No... not quite. This is where the in-betweens go.” I stood up, noticing that I had my clothes on but no longer bled profusely, on top of that my clothes were in pristine condition. I slowly walked over, noticing this... this stallion, this pony... looked familiar. It was like I had seen him somewhere before... perhaps in a dream?

“Sit down... I don't bite... anymore,” he laughed, pulling up his mask to smile, but had no teeth to do so, giving me a look of slight disgust on my face. “See?” he laughed. I cautiously sat beside him and there was a moment's pause. “You don't remember me?” he asked in curious wonder. I bit my tongue. I should... but...

“The Face of Death?” he asked and it hit me like a wrecking ball. “Yeah... well, looks like we're stuck here together... probably forever,” he mentioned and I cocked a brow. “Like I said, this is where the in-betweens go,” he said.

“In between what?” I asked curiously.

“In between death and life. See, not everypony or everything that dies comes through here. Only the ones who aren't supposed to be able to die come here, or who aren't ready for death yet... you know, like a near death experience?” he asked. I blinked. “Anywho... well, I had some witch cast some soul in a jar spell or something on me so I wasn't supposed to be able to die... like, ever... like, never-ever no matter what. I've been completely obliterated and came back from spit left over on a chimic-” he informed me before I cut him off mid-sentence.

“But then I killed you?” I asked curiously. Technically Derreck had killed him.

“Exactly, you and that... that,” he pointed and I noticed Belladonna was with me too, holstered to my thigh. “It somehow made me dead enough that I can't return to life. But since I can't die either, I ended up here, and since my soul had been sealed away, I can't really die, so that two legged cat thing won't take me away,” he said and I rose a brow.

“Two legged cat?” I asked, picturing some kind of amputee feline as I shifted in my seat to look him more dead on.

“He's like... a conveyor of the dead to help them on their way to the afterlife. Like... guides lost souls to where they need to be. That kinda thing... I think,” The Face of Death informed me. “He's got no fur, but he kinda looks like a cat and walks on his hind two legs. Oh, and he's got these wicked cool hieroglyphics fused into his body, like, really cool ones. And he carries around this weird cane and cross thing too.”

I thought to myself before the pony interrupted my thoughts. “So how did you end up here?” he asked and I shrugged, turning to face the endless abyss of darkness.

“I died,” I replied and he just laughed it off.

“No you didn't,” he stated, perking my interest. “Ponies and things that die don't get to keep their clothing and belongings, except folks like us who are 'beyond' life but cannot reach death... at least not yet,” he informed me, piking my interest more. “See with me, my soul can literally not die, because of that witch. But my body can, so now I'm stuck here. You... well... I dunno... there was this other guy that came through here too a long while ago. Looked like one of your kind, but real scarred up. Like he had been through a war,” he mentioned.

“Derreck,” I muttered, The Face of Death's ear twitching at the mention of his name.

“Mhmm... that kinda rings a bell. But anyway, that cat thing... he'll be coming soon to check you out...” he trailed off and I let out a deep exhale. If he let Derreck pass on, then he should let me pass on too, and then I could stop all the madness and chaos from engulfing Equestria.

“So this... cat... what happens?” I asked and he just shrugged.

“He comes along, checks you out, then puts you in his floaty boat and off you go to the other world... unless you're me... which brings me to my next point,” he started, myself perking a brow. “Last time I tried to hitch a ride in his boat to the other world, he threw me out with some magic. Bastard won't let me die. Leaves me to my insanity in this endless nightmare. Do you know how lonely it gets?” he asked as I cleared my throat.

“So... you're asking me to stay with you?” I asked and he shook his head.

“No no, see, way I look at it... and the way you're going to look at it... is that you owe me for killing my body,” he mentioned, myself cutting in.

“You wanna switch places with me when this... cat thing shows up?” I asked and he paused for a moment.

“You know... I've tried to con my way through a few other ponies but I doubt it'll work. No... you distract him, and we steal his boat and get the hay outta here,” he said and I rose a brow.

“We just... take his boat and leave? He won't realize we're stealing his boat? Or once we're on it without him he's just powerless to stop us?” I asked. His plan seemed pretty flawed.

“Naw... we'll just figure out something to deal with him when the time comes,” he stated. I went to say something when an ice cold chill went down my back, shivering my entire body. A light, black, mist coated the ground. I closed my eyes as I could feel a presence approaching. Tingling chills coated my skin and made me shiver.

I opened my eyes as I stood up, another bone shaking shiver going through my body. “Anubis...” I whispered fearfully as the ancient jackal god approached. Back on earth in my younger grade school days we had researched ancient Egypt and all the gods, and this one stood out amonsgt all the rest. He stood tall, a good couple of feet taller than me. His skin was jet black, with golden hieroglyphics merged into his body that glowed brightly.

He rose one of his hands, his long clawed finger pointing directly to me. “You there... human... come forth,” he ordered but in a fairly gentle tone. I was struck in absolute fear. Far worse than when I first met Celestia... far worse than any encounter with Death...

I stood and walked forwards, Anubis tilting his head ever so slightly as he eyed me up with his glowing red eyes. There were no pupils, no iris, nothing. Just glowing red orbs. His muzzle was long and snarly, razor sharp teeth protruding out of his closed lips like an alligator. “So young... sooo much wasted potential,” he hissed.

He started to circle around me, eyeing up my every inch of being. “So... the infamous Evan Burdick... hmm?” he asked, making me swallow hard.

“Y-you... y-y-you've... h-heard of me?” I asked shakily and he nodded with a laugh, stopping to stand behind me, putting me between his boat and himself. I slowly turned to face his terrifying presence.

“Fear not. For I have not come to harm you... I am merely a conveyor for the lost spirits. To help you find your way,” he said, making me feel slightly less intimidated. “I have... heard of you... the one who defies Death... who kills Death...” he hissed. “No... No it was not you who killed Death. No, that was your other half-” he was suddenly cut off by his own gasp of pain. “W-why?!” he hissed in shrieking agony, making me stumble back in shock.

Suddenly, on a diagonal slant, he slid in half, a perfect line sliced through him. His body fell lifeless to the ground, his glowing eyes now dull and extinguished of life. “JESUS CHRIST!” I screamed, being answered by a laugh.

“Nah, it's just me. The Face of Death,” laughed that cynical pony freak that had been sitting on the bench. I looked to him, then to Anubis, my heart rate going up extraordinarily.

“Oh no... oh no... shit shit shitshitshitSHIT FUCK!” I screamed as The Face of Death cleaned off his katana blade.

“What?” he asked, oh so nonchalantly.

“W-what do you mean, 'what'?!” I yelled, pointing to the dead body of Anubis. “You just fucking killed him!” I yelled, the pony just shrugging.

“Yeah, so?” he asked, still casual and careless. My heart was thumping in my chest, which was weird because technically I was kinda sorta dead and a spirit.

“Yeah so... yeah so!... YEAH SO?! He's Anubis, god of fucking the dead!” I yelled in complete panic. I just knew this was going to get a whole lot worse, really soon. The Face of Death just laughed.

“Actually I think they call that necrophilia,” he joked, making me glare at him. “Fucking the dead? You know, sticking it in dead bodies... you know?” he asked, putting a twist to my cursing but still not breaking my panic. "Sheesh, tough crowd." He clucked his tongue while the pause lingered. “Besides, how else would we have gotten on his boat?” he asked and I looked to him with a slacked jaw.

“When I asked what we were going to do, you said we'd figure someway to deal with him,” I yelled and he just laughed, pointing to him with his katana.

“Yeah... and I dealt with him,” he laughed, making me fall to my knees before the dead god. This was bad, really, really, REALLY, fucking bad.

“Oh my god... oh my god... oh my god, OH MY GOD!” I began to panic.

The Face of Death laughed again. “Well, I just killed that god, so hopefully you aren't praying to him.”

“What the hell are we gonna do now?” I asked. This was just getting worse and worse. The god killer just pointed to the boat Anubis rode in on.

“Well... I suppose we do what we originally planned. Hop on his boat and get back to the world of the living. Once in a lifetime opportunity my dude,” he offered with a laugh, sniping up Anubis' cane and cross before hoping in the boat. “You coming?” he laughed. I realized at this point I'd have to deal with one problem at a time. I stood up, straightening my posture in a prideful way.

“I need to go to hell,” I told him, his face turning to a frown.

“Jeez, usually you send other ponies there, not yourself,” he commented.

“I have a score to settle,” I told him and he chuckled.

“Can't it wait till you die? I mean, I doubt the other guy would be going anywhere, if he's in hell that is,” he mentioned and I pointed back to Anubis' body.

“It can't wait now,” I told him and he rubbed his chin.

“Oh yeah... forgot about that little detail... huh... okay, well it'll only be a one way trip. I'm not staying in hell, err, Tartarus, wherever... Satan has it out for me, something about when I porked his kid,” he commented, making me groan.

“Jesus Christ,” I muttered out a groan, making the stallion laugh.

“Uhh, no. I said Satan's kid, not God's kid. Now are you coming or what?” he asked, making me inhale deeply before hopping on the weird boat craft. It was now or never I guess. “All aboard, next stop... Tartarus, choo-choo” he said like some kind of goofy conductor. The boat began to shift and move on its on.

Within seconds we were traveling through the darkness. The Face of Death spoke to me as we became engulfed in the darkness. “Usually when you run into the darkness, you end up coming out on the opposite side of that boardwalk with the lamp...” he trailed off. In a blink the boat jerked and shuddered before the scenery changed to a most hellish one. It was hot, boiling even. Lava scorched the ground, the place looking like some kind of satanic cavern... well, I guess that's why they called it hell and Satan and all that.

The boat pulled up to a shoreline. There were hundreds of souls, trapped in cages, floating aimlessly, screaming in horror and anguish. “This is as far as I go,” The Face of Death told me. “From here on, you're on your own.” I hopped out of the boat and turned to look at him one last time.

“You sure you don't wanna come with? I could probably really use your help. I'd definitely owe you one,” I told him, making him shake his head as he pushed his boat off the shoreline.

“Nah... we're square now. You killed me, and then helped me come back to life. I don't feel like holding a debt to a dead man,” he called out before traveling downstream of the lava. That was fair... I guess. Now the question was how to find that damn book and reverse all this.

Having read the bible, both the Equestrian version and the one from my world, I would've half expected myself to be able to handle this, all I had to do was find a book, and with my youthful body restored it should be no problem. But this place truly lived up to its namesake.

I began walking, sweat quickly pouring down my face and body.Traversing across the desolate plains of scorching ground... it felt like asphalt but looked more like hard compacted dirt. Even through my boots, the ground felt like it was scorching the bottoms of my feet with every step I took, every movement being a struggling battle.

The streams of lava that seemed to run everywhere produced a heat so extreme, that even walking as far away from them as I was, I still felt like I was burning, like the hair on my head was going to sizzle away, the skin on my body burning to a crisp. A headache from the blistering heat quickly ensued and I could barely keep my train of thought. It felt like my head was going to explode. My eyes burned. My feet were sore and felt as though they had been scorched through my boots. Every breath was a battle to be won, but even so my lungs felt torched from the heat of the air. I began to shake and quiver from all the extreme stress my body was undergoing.

Everywhere looked the same. Giant stalactites hanging from the uppermost parts of this place. Immense hills, some of which had rivers of lava streaming down them. I staggered a bit, wiping a smear of sweat from my face that burned my eyes. I closed them, screaming out in agony as I fell to my knees. I didn't know why I even tried this. I was too weak... too pitiful. I...

I slammed my fist into the ground, eyes still clenched shut, burning painfully. My hands felt like they were burning against the ground. “Fuck...” I cried out, knowing this was impossible. If only... “Derreck...” I gasped. I knew... somehow I knew, if he were here everything would have been fine. But we had all been played, from Tristan brainwashing Celestia and having her have me kill Derreck with Luna's assistance, to luring us to that blasted mine and killing Lassie to...

My fist slammed into the ground again as I let out another wailing curse. I cursed again, and again, and again... I stopped as I managed to force open my eyes. I could barely see through all my tears and even so, the tears felt like they were boiling hot, burning my eyes further. My knuckles had been peeled open from the rough terrain. The bones... they were still coated in Shadow Steel, an intense mist of dark blue fog poured off of them before my skin sealed shut. At least I still had that going for me...

My eyes clenched shut as I tried to calm my breathing but found it nearly impossible. I stopped thinking all together and just let my mind clear itself. 'What would Derreck do?' I asked myself hopelessly. Celestia alive, it was like asking what would Shining Armor do. I had no idea what he'd do and he used to be a part of me.

I slammed my fist into the ground again. “FOR FUCK SAKES!” I boomed, again slamming a fist into the ground as I began to lose my mind. I kept pounding my fists into the ground until once again the knuckles were peeled open and bleeding, the blue magical mist pouring out from the steel cased bones. My whole body tensed as I began to lose myself in a fit of anger.

Tristan... that little no good shit... he had raped his sister, played me like a fool, had me kill Derreck, killed Lassie... and then... and then, of all things, when I finally came face to face with him again I had the audacity to offer him mercy. “MERCY!” I roared. “I'LL KILL YOU TRISTAN!” I screamed, yelling out that his killing would be his mercy.

I grunted, tears welting up in my eyes. I could feel it, my grasp on things slipping as I edged closer to insanity. A lone whimper escaped my mouth before a scream of anguish. He was in hell, I had sent him here, or rather, we were in Tartarus... and if he was here, than I could settle the score right. I could feel my vision change. My pupils slanted like that of a cat's, matching Nightmare Moon's. I'd bleed him...

The steel cased claws erupted blood from between my knuckles as they sprang out. I'd gut him, show him parts of himself... for all that he'd done. The things I'd do to him would make this place seem like heaven once I'm done...

I let out another horrifying roar as I felt myself slip even further into darkness, the shadow of hate consuming my mind and soul. Veins bulged from my muscles as they swelled and flexed, giving me an ungodly amount of strength.

My eyes closed once more and with a deep breath through my nose, I could see everything, even things past my regular line of sight. Rivers of lava, smoldering banks of ground...

And that's when I found him. He was standing near the geyser he had opened from this place, to the land of the living. I could even smell that damned book. I leapt forwards, body rearranging mid-flight so that I landed on all fours like a wild beast, claws digging into the ground. Normally it wouldn't be feasible for me to move quickly in the posture I was in. I looked more quadrupedal, like a wolf, than bipedal like that of a human. I looked more beast-like, more feral.

Regardless, I moved like a lightning bolt, red fumes smoldered off my figure as the powers of the Teumessian Fox granted me unparalleled speed. In the blink of an eye I had arrived, anger and hatred pouring off my body in the form of the blue smog.

“Tristan!” I snarled like a wild animal. He had his back turned to me, looking up to the geyser he had created. Even now more souls of villains and evil doers floated up, back to the world of the living.

Without looking to me, he spook in a soft tone. “Can you hear them? It's... beautiful...” he said, as though this was a great work of art. “They're calling out their thanks... singing... they're... overjoyed...” he said.

I growled, snarling as drool started to slip from my mouth. The more hatred that poured from me, the deeper I fell into becoming a mindless beast. My canines had grown, so much so they were more like the fangs of a wolf, curling over my bottom lip.

“Turn to me...” I hissed. “Turn to me so I can see your eyes... the expression you make... as I pull out your insides,” I growled, clenching my teeth as my fists tightened, blood running down the blade claws and dripping from the tips.

He slowly turned to me, flipping back the hood to his cloak. “Is that so?” he asked toyingly. “Well then, I shouldn't keep you from your temptation, now should I?” he asked, shrugging off his cloak and holding up the book. “Won't be needing this I guess,” he laughed, tossing it into a river of lava. The book quickly sizzled and burned into nothingness.

My gut twisted. That was my only hope to sealing that geyser. Tristan must have felt my anger building up further, like he knew what was coming. He stood to his hindlegs, widening out his front legs in an inviting way. “Do what you will. I won't stop you,” he offered, almost too easily. I took the bait and charged wildly but in a mere fraction of a second, a much larger, much heavier being struck into my side and plowed me into the ground. “But he will.”

The beast was ferocious, wild, unrelenting. Its fists pounded my head into the ground, crushing me. If it weren't for the Shadow Steel, I'd have been crushed. The beast grabbed me by my ankle and whipped me away.

I bounced and skidded off the ground for a few feet before flipping myself mid-flight, claws grabbing into the ground and grinding me to a sudden halt. I wiped the blood from my lip and looked on to my attacker and with that, everything seemed to pause as he spook. “How pathetic. I expected more from the Grace of God,” he snapped. “Yet in a mere few minutes of being down here, you've succumbed to nothing more than a murderous beast,” he spat. A few minutes? That's all I had been down here for? It had felt like hours on end. Days even...

All my hatred and anger seemed to simply vanish in that moment and I almost immediately reverted to my old self, the claws retracting back into my hands. “Der... Derreck?” I asked as he stepped forwards, spitting to the side. He was well kept, in his massive hulking form. He looked to be on par with Schwarzenegger during his performance in the original Terminator movie. Every accent of his body looks perfectly chiseled and well kept. The way he moved was confident, prideful... determined. I swallowed deeply as he stopped just a few feet away from me.

Without looking to him, Derreck spoke to Tristan. “I thought you said he wouldn't retain the steel skeletal casing from Nightmare Moon when he died,” he inquired, Tristan stepping forth, a few feet behind Derreck and slightly to his right side.

“Things didn't exactly go accordingly,” he replied. My heart skipped a beat.

“Der... Derreck, you... have you been working with him? This whole time?” I asked, things seeming even more dire than before.

“No, not this whole time. Just the last hour or so,” he explained. Tristan interjected.

“I found him when I arrived in Tartarus. Derreck here had already claimed the throne as leader of this place an-” Derreck cut him off quickly, and most abruptly.

“SHUT UP BLUE HORSE!” He roared. Turning to him, Derreck gave him a glare that instilled a look of terror across Tristan's face. “You make my sacrifices and efforts sound simple and meager!” Tristan took a few more steps back before Derreck turned his attention to me.

“I made a deal with the devil of this world so that our finest hour could commence...” he trailed off. “My name?” he asked and I felt as though I should answer.

“Derreck?” I asked curiously, making veins bulge from his forehead in what I perceived as silent fury.

“I am the ruler of all men... of all ponies! It was my destiny, my namesake foretold it!” he roared. Tristan interrupted again.

“You said you would kill him once he arrived. I've held up my end of the bargain, now it's time for you to-” he was swiftly cut off as Derreck swung his right arm towards Tristan, a gust of powerful wind blustered towards him, kicking up debris and skidding the unicorn back several feet. I could see the look of pure rage upon Derreck's face.

“I'LL KILL HIM WHEN IT SUITS ME, BLUE HORSE!” He roared. “The deal was that you would lure him here and I would kill him. There was nothing in that deal that said you had to remain alive. Don't make your usefulness towards me run short!” he boomed not even once glancing towards the unicorn. Tristan swallowed hard and stepped back several more feet. I dared to speak.

“I disappointed you? I'm pathetic?” I asked Derreck, turning his attention back to me. “That pony you've allied yourself with... he raped his sister... he killed Lassie... he's released literal hell upon Equestria!” I yelled, making Derreck's whole body tense.

“And he has done no wrong against myself, or Nightmare Moon!” he boomed back.

“He killed you!” I screamed.

“YOU! You killed me! You and that miserable alicorn.” Derreck roared back.

“He brainwashed Celestia and had her threaten Nightmare Moon to blackmail me into killing you!” I countered back.

“And it was a mercy killing! He put me out of my misery!” he roared and his statement took me aback. “I... my soul... is several millennium old,” he began.

“I was a banished spirit... rejected from the heavens and exiled to spend all eternity in hell. With my exile came great strife, anguish and hatred. Hatred against those who had wronged me. In myself I found my namesake... Derreck. In ancient text in means 'The ruler of all people... ponies'. Several millennium ago I began to live up to that namesake. My soul, my mind... I could possess those on the battlefields. It was a simple meager task, to possess those broken by war, violence and death... over the millenniums past I have partaken in many great wars... overthrown tribes... governments even. In every great war there was someone so riddled with anguish and despair that their mind and soul were easily overthrown, and I would become the physical embodiment. I may have technically been dead, but my spirit lived on through them, all the hatred and anger.” His words struck deep into me but I could tell his fury was only starting to heat up.

“But... in the start of the twenty first century, there were no great wars that plagued the earth as so many had done before. Governments that came to power began to coexist with one another, even if out of fear of mutual nuclear annihilation,” he said. “There were no great wars... no great anguish that would rip across nations abroad... and with it, people of great potential and strength who suffered immeasurable anguish began to diminish greatly.” There was a long pause before he glared deep into my eyes.

“But then I found you. You... suffering from parental issues to an extent that it nearly drove you to insanity... I took advantage of that anguish, but unlike before, this time I allowed your mind and soul to remain. I needed a balance if I were to ever truly start to rule over man, not just on the battlefield. I'd need a ying to my yang.” His fists seemed to unclench as his body deflated just slightly.

“But in doing so, parts of your emotions began to mix into me, corrupt me... just as I had been corrupting you. You were, as your name suggests, The Grace... you show love and compassion to all, even those who are completely undeserving of it.” He looked up, eyes closed as what looked like tears, trickled down his face.

“And then it happened. We ended up in this world... full of love and compassion, which only furthered your own emotions corrupting me even further. The only saving grace was that I could unbind myself from the mental constraints and become a true physical embodiment of myself. I could transform your body into my own... but even then, your impact on my soul had been driven too deep. I too began to feel love and compassion. Even during my rampancy when you laid dormant, ever so slowly I began to deteriorate... settle down... I learned to truly love another, see them as an equal. Would you believe me if I said that at one point I believed that living that kind of life was worth it all, throwing away my namesake? My pride?” he asked.

I stood there, a little lost in his monologue. He said he was supposed to be some kind of great ruler of all but the way he explained it, his soul just got lost in the mindless carnage and vicious appetite for killing. He didn't seem to want to rule, just keep killing.

“And when you came to kill me, that's when I realized it... that no matter what, no matter how hard I tried, I would always be living in the shadow of my former self. There would be no turning back for me at that point... there was only one way for me to return to the way I was before... AND I WANTED THAT LIFE BACK!” He roared.

“Derreck, I didn't have a choice!” I yelled in return.

“There was a choice! There's always a choice! With my powers, we could have overthrown Celestia! Luna! Cadance and Shining Armor... anypony who would have dared stood in our way... but I knew you wouldn't play along... and I knew my grasp on you was slipping... and that I was no longer the powerhouse I once was... I was corrupted, and above all else, I WANTED TO BE LIKE I WAS BEFORE! Ruthless and cold, uninhibited by foolish emotions!” he roared. I dared to speak

“So that's just it?” I asked. “What about Nightmare Moon? Are you just going to stop caring for her? What about your child she's given birth to?” I asked.

His whole body tensed before he let out a roar so powerful it pushed me back several feet. The ground beneath us began to shake and crack. “WHAT OF THEM?! When this is finished I will return to my wife and we shall rule the world together!” he boomed.

“So that means you still love, Derreck,” I challenged him and his anger began to boil over, along with the sheer amount of power he was putting out.

“There is no desire of love within me. No compassion. Nothing. Only hatred, anger... and a burning desire to rule over everypony else,” he roared.

“Derreck... let it go. There's still time for us to change this. I know you still love Nightmare. I can feel it. Love will always triumph over hatred,” I told him to which he laughed.

“Than show me, oh graceful one. Show me the power of your love and compassion for those foolish ponies. And I... I WILL SHOW YOU THE TRUE POWER OF HATE AND FURY!”

At this point Tristan intervened, stepping up beside Derreck, horn glowing. “If you won't hurry up and finish this, I will. I've had just about enough of this monologuing, sentimental-” he was met with a blow so furious that it sent him hurtling to the side, bouncing several times off the harsh, unforgiving ground.

“This does not concern you, blue horse!” he yelled without even looking at him, all his focus and attention on me. “This is between me and this love stricken fool!” he boomed. “Interrupt again and I'll erase you from all existence.”

I hunched just slightly, taking a very defensive stance. “So how's bout it... shall we commence?” he asked, the aura of power surrounding him still pushing out powerful gusts of wind that threatened to throw me off my feet.

“This isn't the time Derreck... we... I need to shut that geyser,” I told him, realizing that he would probably never help me in doing so. His right hand lifted to the side, arm out straight as his palm opened, pointed towards Tristan.

My mouth parted slightly in disbelief as he fired some sort of energy blast at the pony. The blast however missed him entirely and blew open another geyser. “So be it... if you want more ponies lives piling up on your conscience that is!” he retorted. Tristan gasped in utter disbelief.

“That's right...” Derreck said aloud. “Thanks to my unrelenting anger and fury, my powers have superseded even godlike abilities. I can split and bend even the fabrics of time and reality to my will.” I was in pure disbelief, and horror. “Just think... with two of those portal things opened, twice as many evil spirits will be pouring into Equestria and the world you loved... and what about all the ponies you loved? Twilight, Spike... even your new daughter... what will happen to them? So what will happen if I open three or four? Maybe a dozen?” he asked cynically as my focus slowly turned all to him. My teeth clenched. Regardless of strength difference... ability difference... all around difference... I'd have to stop him, otherwise...

The claws extended from the confines of my arms, out to their fullest length. “Fine...” I trailed off, a devilish smile crossing his face as he got precisely what he wanted. “I'LL SHOW YOU THE POWER OF LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP!” I roared, charging full speed towards him.

I reached him in a fraction of a second but his reaction was blindingly quick. A painful blow from his knee formulated itself into my gut, making me wheeze and instantly lose momentum to a standstill. That strike was followed by a devastating elbow strike to the back of my skull that slammed me into the ground with enough force to make a crater around my body.

“And that is but a mere fraction of my fury,” he stated, staring down to my body as I rolled over to try and get up. A stomping kick to my chest buried me deeper, the crater widening from the force of the impact. He looked over to Tristan who was battered with shock and awe. “It's time for you to leave blue horse-” I coughed and interrupted Derreck.

“No, Derreck! Don't! He'll-” he cut me short with another brutalizing stomp.

“He'll do nothing but abide me, his absolute ruler. He can have his sister, I don't care about that!” There was a slight pause. “And I'll have my queen, my child, and my empire!” he boomed. My whole body seemed to explode with power as I let out a scream of anguish. I couldn't let that happen to Trixie, or to anypony for that mater. Not again.

The whirlwind of power blew Derreck off my body. I flipped backwards and to my feet, turning to charge Tristan, claws extended. Before I could even make it a few steps however, a sharp elbow strike was driven into the side of my head. I staggered back but hardly had even a moment's time before dozens of punches were driven into my body in a mere second of time.

I heard Derreck yell to Tristan. “Or stay to watch the spectacle, but I warn you. You may be killed in the ensuing chaos,” he laughed, still driving punch after punch into my body. I let out yet another horrifying roar as I clenched my fists, claws still extended. I drove them straight into Derreck's chest before he could even react.

I coughed slightly, breathing heavily and painfully as Derreck gasped. “These... are a gift... from Nightmare...” I panted but my expression changed to one of horror as his hands grabbed around my wrists with a vice-like grip.

“And I'm going to give her one back,” he responded as he pulled my hands sideways, slicing the claws out of his body. I watched as the wounds healed shut. “Your head on a platter,” he laughed before twisting my wrists. The pain dropped me to my knees and Derreck took this moment to drive his forehead into mine, the force slamming me into the ground. His hands went down to grab me but the claws of my left hand drove through his forearm and I yanked down, hard. Pulling him off balance, my right hand claws drove into his side and I twisted his body, pulling it to the ground as I used the resulting momentum to flip my body up on top of his.

My claws drove into his chest several times, spurts of blood coming from the wounds that quickly closed shut. His legs hooked around mine and in an instant he rolled our bodies so that he was once again on top. With one brutal blow, he slammed my head into the ground with enough force to create another crater.

Shit... this must have been what Wolverine felt like trying to fight the Hulk. Grabbing me by the throat, he hoisted me into the air, my feet dangling several inches off the ground. My hands wrapped around his wrists, his arm extended out straight yet he never wavered in the slightest. Despite my heavy weight, he managed to hold me like this as though I was a feather.

“Y-you... don't need... to do this...” I wheezed. He had his fill of blood now, as far as I was concerned. We had our fight. His grip tightened. “I know... I know I killed you... for selfish reasons... and I'm sorry... you were... you were always better... you were the best... but not when you were like this,” I gasped. His grip tightened further and I began to gag, legs twitching violently.

His brows furrowed. “You're only saying that because you know I've won. You cannot defeat me. You wouldn't even know how to begin to kill me,” he growled. I drove a hard kick with all my remaining strength into his gut.

His grip loosened and I struggled free, dropping down and grabbing for my right thigh. In a moments time I had Belladonna drawn, pointed towards his still beating heart. “With this,” I explained, the inscription along the barrel glowing ever brightly.

Derreck was frozen in shock. He knew as well as I, that Belladonna would end not just his life but his existence entirely. Being already dead, he would simply cease to exist, his soul dying off. “But I won't... not again...” I said as I slowly stepped back, holstering the magnum handcannon. “What I did to you was wrong. I deprived you the love of being a father... of a wife having her husband... and of your child having a father,” I told him.

He stared at me with dead silence as I continued. “I won't further that mistake. I'd sooner let myself die than lose hope in you, but only if I was sure that in my death you'd make the right decision.” Derreck was so hesitant, I could tell. “I was wrong Derreck... and I'm sorry that I crossed you and misplaced your trust in me, and I don't expect you to forgive me... but please, don't take it out on everypony else,” I pleaded with him. I hadn't taken notice before, but Tristan was still here, watching this unfold.

Derreck clenched his fists once again. “So what? We just make up and everything is hunky dory?” he growled.

“No... but I imagine with all your powers, that there's a reason you never just blew open a portal for yourself to return to Equestria and have your revenge. You wanted me here, to suffer as you have suffered,” I told him. I walked up to him and drew the pistol once more, but this time I placed it in his hands. “If it will bury the hatchet, then do it. But please, don't bring harm to my loved ones... protect them, as I am no longer able. Without you Derreck, I was useless.”

Derreck was left speechless and it was at this point that Tristan chose to voice his opinion. “Blech, this sentimental downpour is brutal. Just shoot him already,” he snapped. Derreck held the gun and looked to me in awe, and in that moment I saw it. All his anger, hate and fury had left. There was nothing left but a deep sense of remorse.

He lifted the gun so it was leveled on my head. With that I closed my eyes and whispered to him. “Please... protect the world I loved.” I opened my eyes to meet his. I could see another tear trickling down his scarred cheek.

In an instant his brows furrowed, lips twisting into a face of fury and my heart skipped a beat. I thought for sure he had reverted once again back to his old ways and I had failed yet again but alas it was not so. He swung the gun towards Tristan but in that very moment let out a horrifying scream of pain.

Red hot marks burned into his arms, sizzling his flesh. The marks looked like those of chains. His finger squeezed the trigger and Belladonna went off like a crack of thunder, deafening me momentarily and partially blinding me with her brilliant muzzle flash.

Tristan hadn't even the time to flinch as the 300 grain slug barreled towards him at super sonic speeds. The shot missed however, the burning chains having knocked Derreck's shot off target.

The bullet grazed the fur on Tristan's cheek, making him blink and stumble backwards before falling on his rump. More red hot chains laced Derreck's body, making him scream out in anguish as everything became dimly lit in a dark haze of red. “A DEAL WITH ME CANNOT BE BROKEN!” Roared a terrifying voice. With it, the geyser portals between Tartarus and Equestria began to flicker and close. Tristan scrambled to his hooves and rushed towards one of them.

I went to charge after him but stopped as I heard Derreck's scream of anguish behind me. Time seemed to come to a stand still. I could easily catch up to Tristan, and punish him for everything. Or, I could go back and try to save Derreck. On one hand, I was certain I could stop Tristan, on the other I was less than positive that I could help Derreck. However, without the book, Tristan wouldn't fare much against the likes of Celestia... I hoped. Whereas I had betrayed Derreck and felt somewhat obligated to at least try to help him.

It was probably a bad choice, but I ran for Derreck. I looked back only once, briefly catching a glimpse of Tristan leaping into the portal geyser just moments before it closed. I grabbed at the burning red hot chains that ensnared Derreck and yelped as they scorched my hands.

The chains had dragged him to his knees. “A deal with me cannot be broken!” boomed the same voice from before. My fists clenched, the Shadow Steel blades erupting from my knuckles as I slashed into the blistering hot chains and cut Derreck free with one feral swipe. The blades cut through the chains like a hot knife through butter.

My hulking friend grunted in pain as he rose to his feet, the burns slowly healing. “Why didn't you go after him?” he huffed. I shrugged.

“I guess I kinda figured I owed you one,” I replied. “So what gives?” I asked, the world darkening around us.

“I uhhh... I uhm... I might have kinda...” he swallowed hard.

“Come on man, out with it,” I ushered.

“I made a deal with the devil of Tartarus. I'd get to go back to Equestria and rule unchallenged,” he said through gritted teeth.

“And in return?” I asked. He didn't get to answer as I let out a scream of agonizing pain. The same style of chains that had encased him earlier now wrapped themselves around my body and pulled me down to my knees.

The chains burned deep into my skin, stopping at the Shadow Steel that encased my bones. A voice returned my question with an answer. “I get you,” spoke a hellish voice. A figure emerged from the shadows, pointing a rather bony finger at me, a long nail protruding off the end of his finger.

He turned to Derreck with a scoff. “Don't think I've forgotten about your little stunt, oh great ruler,” he laughed the last part. “Now be gone!” he hissed. Derreck stepped backwards and disappeared into the shadows, leaving me on my own.

“G-g-god... damn...” I screamed, making the demonic ruler laugh and cackle.

“There is no god here for you...” he laughed, the chains tightening further and making it impossible to breath. I let out one final scream that expelled all the oxygen left in my lungs. The shadows began to blow away suddenly, a cool breeze washed over me that felt like a tidal wave of ecstasy compared to the scorching heat I had endured the last hour or so. Gusts of cool wind began to bluster in almost every direction, whipping up a whirlwind of force.

I heard a roar echoing from up high, gaining both my attention, and that of the demon ruler. A dark red aura flashed brightly, so powerful that it cast it's own dark light upon the shadows and drove them away. “A deal is a deal. I brought him to you, and I shall rule over all, INCLUDING YOU!” Derreck roared horrifyingly.

His hands cupped together tightly as he took an iconic stance. “An old friend taught me this one, I think you'll 'love' it,” he challenged. “Ka...”

The demon focused his attention to Derreck. “You've become quite the thorn in my side, oh great ruler!” he barked.

“Meh...” Derreck continued, making me laugh. How childish...

“A thorn which I am going to pluck out and burn!” The demon ruler yelled.

“Hameh...” Derreck continued. The demon rose his bony finger and pointed it at Derreck. I let out a scream as I clenched my fists, claws extending, driving through my own chest. The blades cut through the chains on my backside and loosened them altogether. I knew I wouldn't have much time.

I leapt forwards with a roar, the demon king only getting a glance towards me as I drove the claws into the corner of his neck and shoulder, making him shriek in pain while swatting me, flinging me aside.

He turned back to finish Derreck but as he rose his finger to the air once again, Derreck was engulfed in a fume of red dust and vanished from sight. The ruler of Tartarus just blinked in confusion but his confusion was soon answered as Derreck appeared directly in front of him with his hands still cupped, a sphere of blue energy shining brightly throughout the darkness.

“Surprise motherfucker,” Derreck laughed, hammering his cupped hands into the demon's chest and letting out a billowing roar that shook the ground as the blast fired, engulfing our enemy in a stream of light blue light.

There was a long moment's pause before Derreck lowered his hands and stumbled over to me, heaving me up and flopping one of my arms over his shoulders, making himself into an impromptu crutch for me to use. “The Kamehameha wave... seriously, that's what you think to use?” I chuckled. It was nerve-wrackingly childish but I guess it had worked.

We looked on to the wide expanse of Tartarus. “So?” I asked, Derreck looking to me with a wrinkled smile.

“So?” he asked back before I coughed in pain.

“I guess that's it then?” I asked and he shrugged.

“Yeah... I suppose... for now anyway. I guess all that's left is for us to make it back topside... as friends,” he mentioned and I laughed painfully.

“Do I have a choice?” I asked and he laughed back.

“Nah, not really.” We both looked at each other for a moment, basking in all the glory of it. I stood on my own, Derreck standing next to me as we looked out to the amass underworld of Tartarus. Maybe things hadn't turned out so bad. Maybe things would turn out alright in the end. “You know...” Derreck began. “It's nice... in a kind of satanic cult chic way.” His words made me laugh. I guess things turned out alright in the end.

“Hey D...” I looked to him, both of us taking in the victory. I reached into my jacket pocket and retrieved the old stogey cigar I had been carrying around since my arrival in Equestria. “I suppose this is a good a reason as any to smoke this?” He cocked a brow.

“Yech... that thing is probably stale as a German loaf of bread...” he trailed off whilst pulling out a metal flint lighter. Holding the cigar to my mouth while Derreck lit the end, I took the first drag of the old cigar, fumes filling my mouth. It tasted... pretty gross. I took a moment to enjoy the serenity of everything as Derreck took the cigar and had his puff. We stood there, smoking the cigar together... as friends. After some time, the cigar burned away and Derreck flicked the butt end down between his feet and stomped out the final embers.

“Welp...” he trailed ,off, leaning his elbow on my shoulder. “I guess in the end everything kinda turned out... okayish, I guess.”

We stayed standing like that for a good while before things suddenly got dark and gloomy again, a dark presence enveloping us both. “Goddess alive, what now?” I asked. We had just taken on the devil, so my first thoughts were that nopony, nothing, would be crazy enough to take us on.

“Our version of the devil. Tristan brought him here with that book... kinda like a fail safe if I wasn't able to beat you...” Derreck muttered, my heart skipped a beat. “He's come to collect,” he mentioned. We both stood in silence. I thought to myself about our possible options. We had just killed the devil of this world, but in doing so had tuckered ourselves out. Maybe if we could get our power back... or maybe if Derreck distracted him I could shoot him with Belladonna... or we could try and... I muttered to myself about how fucked we were.

“Quite royally,” the demon overlord hissed. “First you kill Anubis, and now him...” he said, holding up the Tartarus version of Satan, lifeless. I scratched the backside of my one hand, looking like a child being scolded by a parent.

“Don't suppose saying sorry will make it all better?” Derreck joked. The Devil gave him a glare. This wasn't going to end well. “To my defense, I didn't kill Anubis,” he joked, the satanic being giving a glare as he pushed forwards The Face of Death whom gave us a wave.

“Suh Duu?” he said in a fairly upbeat tone. I was at a loss of words but he quickly filled me in. “So... yeah, turns out traversing the afterlife? Not as easy as it sounds...” He looked back over his shoulder with a giggle before turning back to us. “Oh yeah, and this guy's a lot harder to try and kill than that cat guy.” Both Derreck and I covered our faces in disdain from his comment.

“Indeed,” the satanic voice boomed. “And you shall all pay the price for your-” Derreck quickly cut him off.

“WAIT! Hold on! Just... just, hear me out,” Derreck yelled. There was a moment's pause before he spoke. “I don't suppose you'd be interested in a deal?” he asked, the devil's interest piked. Of course... the devil always likes making deals.

“We fucked this up... so let's unfuck it, together,” Derreck said as he stepped forwards. The Devil looked to him with a very unimpressed stare. “A lot of bad shit has happened... so, we want you to change things back to the way they were before all this crap happened,” Derreck told him.

The Devil just laughed. “That sounds like I would be fixing it. And for what? The goodness of my heart?” he cackled. Derreck shook his head.

“No, you can have us,” he said, motioning to himself and I. My heart sank, but in that moment I realized that The Devil would only accept a deal if he got something he wanted in return. The Devil twitched his lip and pointed to The Face of Death.

“And he has to become the new Death... as punishment for killing Anubis,” The Devil stated. The Face of Death quickly piped up.

“Hey, no way. I have a thing with Death...” There was a long pause as we all looked to him. “You know... like... a sex thing,” he commented and we all gave him a glare. “Okay shit... shit, I'll do it...” he grumbled. I didn't particularly like this but I didn't think we had much of a choice. We just killed this world's Satan, there was goddess only knows how many undead villains running rampant topside and technically we were already dead, plus Anubis was killed and... the list went on.

“Alright then,” Derreck said. “Do we have a deal?” he asked, holding out his hand to be shaken, The Devil quickly piping up.

“Are you sure? You'd give yourself up, and for what? For all of them up there?” he asked, Derreck looking to me.

“Sometimes a ruler has to make the hard decisions,” he commented.

The Devil looked upwards and began to roll his eyes in disdain. “Oh for the love of...” he trailed off. “Fine, there, it's done,” he quipped. It didn't seem like anything had happened but suddenly the Satan of this world was back to life. But with a flick of his wrist, our Devil tossed aside the one of this world.

“Now then-” he began but I cut him short.

“Wait! Wait, hold on!” I piped up. “There's one more person I want to bring back,” I commented and he merely laughed.

“Asking to bring yourself back won't work,” he laughed but I shook my head.

“No... no, it's not like that... her name is Lassie. She died before all this happened... I just... can you bring her back too, but let me see her once before you do... do that, and we'll go willingly,” I said, The Devil looking to me with even greater disdain than he did Derreck.

“You'd give your soul up so that she... a dog, could live again?” he hissed and I nodded slowly and surely. With a huff, he clapped twice and Lassie appeared before us. She blinked in shock and looked around.

“Yeah, and I said... I uhh... I'm lost here, what's happening?” she asked, having obviously been in previous conversation. I stepped forwards and pulled her into a hug.

“Lassie,” I whispered to her. She pulled back from the hug and looked to me curiously, not recognizing me at first due to my younger appearance.

“Do I know y-” she cut herself off as she went wide eyed. “Whoa, hey Evan! You look great! What's your secre-” I cut her off by bringing a finger to her lips.

“Lassie... this isn't exactly a reunion,” I told her and she paused for a moment while taking in the surroundings, no doubt seeing Derreck and The Devil behind me. “When you get back, I want you to give this to Twilight,” I said as I handed her my journal that recounted up to the most current of events. I could tell Lassie's heart sputtered for a moment.

“No... no way, you're giving it to her yourself,” she challenged but I merely shook my head as I also unbuckled my leg holster and strapped it to her. “Evan, stop! You're not-” I cut her off as I pulled her into a hug.

“T-take care of them,” I held back my sobs of sorrow as she squeezed me tight. “Tell Twilight I... I'm sorry, for everything.” I felt tears welting up in my eyes, but I knew that Lassie's tears were already pouring out, on account of my shoulder starting to feel rather wet. I swallowed hard, holding the hug for as long as I possibly could.

“Don't go...” Lassie whined, squeezing me harder. “Don't...” she trailed off through a sob as I finally parted our hug.

“I'm sorry Lassie,” I told her, taking a step back. She looked on in despair. “Watch over my daughter,” I barely managed as I choked back a sob, tears flowing down my face. Lassie rose a paw out to me as she spoke.

“I lov-” she was cut off as she simply vanished, back to Equestria, back to the world of the living. I nearly fell to my knees in utter despair and anguish.

“That's enough of that... it's time to go...” mentioned the dark entity. With one clap, The Face of Death was dressed in black robes, a scythe in tow. He went to make a comment about how black wasn't his color but was quickly teleported away. A second clap and chains wrapped around both Derreck and myself. My body went limp as I let him drag us off. That was it. It was over... after everything we had been through it was-

I felt the ground beneath us start to get rougher, the friction scrapping against us became fairly intense. I heard The Devil grunting in effort as he continued to pull us along. Suddenly I felt the ground beneath us crack and crumble, crushing beneath our ever increasing weight.

I looked up to see The Devil turn to face us and heave with all his might yet now he couldn't even budge us an inch. “GAH! WHAT?!” He boomed in fury, his eyes blazing. There was a luminous light that burst upon us all, blinding The Devil, his arms covering his eyes as he screeched.

Like an angel's touch, I felt something invisible pick me up, and noticed Derreck being picked up as well, and our bodies slowly began to float into the bright light. “NO!” The Devil roared in utter shock. “HOW?!” He continued to roar. My eyes cracked open and I saw the heavenly skies above.

“The... the sacrifice!” The Devil roared in realization. “NO! We had a deal! They belong to me!” he screamed. I saw Derreck raise his right hand and gave The Devil the finger.

“Go fuck yourself,” Derreck barely whispered, but loud enough that The Devil could hear. Suddenly we were grabbed by spiny, bony hands. The fingers pierced our bodies, making Derreck and myself yell out in pain.

“YOU CAN'T DO THIS! THEY BELONG TO ME!” He roared, fighting the heavenly pull. His clawed fingers dug deep, piercing my flesh and making me scream out in horrifying pain. “THEY... BELONG... TO... ME!” He continued to roar, finally managing to overcome the heavenly pull, starting to drag us back to the hellish depths below.

A powerful voice boomed above everything else, a far more regal voice than anything I had ever heard before. The skies above fell upon a dark blue storm, the fiercest storm I had ever seen. Black clouds formed up above, canceling out the heavenly light. Lightning stormed and crackled as a lone figure emerged from the clouds, eyes gleaming a pure white shine. Her dark blue wings spread wide as she roared out.

“Nightmare...” I heard Derreck mutter out before the deafening voice of Nightmare Moon continued.

“As per our wedding vows... he belongs... to ME!” Her voice boomed, the tip of her horn flashing out a whirlwind of magic that shot out in all directions. It was all I could do but cover my eyes as the blinding light overtook us and my world went blank...