Recap: The story so far…

Spoilers if you haven’t read previous two stories but this will be a short version of what has happened.

Trips Into The Unexplored.

Dave was a normal human teenager, as far as video games, school and social skills were concerned. But while finishing a sandwich from a shop, Dave fell through a portal into Equestria, landing into a tree with enough force to injure himself.

Upon awakening, Dave discovers his wounds are already beginning to heal and is put asleep by a spell cast by Twilight Sparkle. Dave quickly becomes introduced to the town of Ponyville but is shocked when a few of the more important residents begin throwing themselves at his feet.

The appearance of the human also catches the attention of the princesses of Equestria, the royals invited Dave and his new friends to stay at the castle for a few days. It is here he meets a Sergeant in the Royal Guard called Strong Shield.

Along with his healing powers, Dave begins to feel stronger, faster and generally bad tempered. But when one fatal injury is healed his willingness to experiment with his new abilities brings him face to face with Princess Luna.

Dave and the princess share a few nights talking before sharing a kiss. The princess ends the relationship before it begins and the human returns to Ponyville slightly more confused.

It isn’t long before Dave is recommended for a task to investigate a series of earthquakes at a town called Appaloosa. The earthquakes were actually being caused by a dragon tunnelling underground, and Dave’s interruption allows the dragon to leave happy and the town to survive unharmed.

On the train journey home, Dave is surprised that Princess Celestia commissioned a house to be built on the outskirts of Ponyville for the human. Dave is surprised again with a housewarming party and is surprised once more when he awakes to find Celestia in his bed.

Relived that he didn’t become intimate with the princess, Dave and the alicorn settle into a relationship relatively easy considering their multiple meetings prior and his encounters with Luna.

As Dave’s life begins to become simpler, he is thrown astray again as he discovers that his body is being shared with a spirit of hatred called Odio. Odio being the culprit for Dave’s healing, strength and bad temper.

Odio also reveals that he was banished from Equestria and had used Dave to return by using the human as a vessel. The spirit of hatred is confused when the human reveals that he doesn’t hate Odio for taking from Earth and they eventually become good yet reluctant friends.

Dave is soon in trouble when Rainbow Dash and Luna fight over him, both ponies still wanting to have him as their own. Rainbow Dash ends up badly hurt and Dave’s only way to distract the princess of the night was to kiss her.

Celestia finds out Dave’s kiss with Luna and finds out how deep her sister’s feelings are for the human. Celestia decides that she doesn’t want to see her sister become violent and ends up making the guards prevent Dave from going to see anypony but Luna.

When the human resists and fights his way to Celestia, the princess is assured that he truly loves her and so uses a spell to remove the human/pony barrier between them. Dave isn’t pleased with the transformation and soon begins to feel unwell and have painful side effects.

The pony Dave ends up in a cell, his imprisonment disturbed by the deep pain in his body. Sergeant Strong Shield soon discovers that Dave is actually resistant to magic, and the ponies all find Dave, transforming painfully back into a human.

Celestia only just reaches her lover’s side as he passes away. Odio revives Dave later on and the human is secretly whisked away from the castle by Strong Shield. Meanwhile the bearers of the Elements of Harmony and the princesses all discover their feelings for the human and end up hating each other.

Once Dave is found to be alive again he becomes adopted by Strong Shield, the normally emotionless pony caring for the human’s wellbeing. Celestia takes Dave into her quarters for a day of ‘quality time’ where the lovers are reunited again until Dave meets the others.

Eventually Luna’s feelings get the better of her and the princess requests a harem with her sister and Dave. But Celestia requests that Dave enters a harem with Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Rarity instead. Pinkie Pie being the only one excluded as all the others all hate each other over having feelings for the same human. The resulting lack of friendship means that the Elements of Harmony are useless unless Dave makes them all friends again.

Dave refuses the idea and ends up alone, fearful that he has lost Celestia and all his friends. The ponies all find Dave back at his home and talk him into forming a harem. But the peace is short lived when Dave realized that he may have gotten Celestia pregnant, his magic-resisting body reacting with an alicorn body that can be impregnated by almost any race.

Celestia is relieved to find out she isn’t pregnant but causes an argument with Dave when she denies herself being with him. The human takes the stressful opportunity to run away and disappears, the ponies panicked as they can’t find a trace of him.

Strong Shield soon finds a lead but destroys evidence of Dave’s whereabouts and only tells Princess Celestia on the condition she doesn’t force his adopted son into doing anything he doesn’t want to. The veteran guard loses his job as a result of his actions regardless.

Dave meanwhile arrives at a dragon territory, a large mountain being home to many dragons including the one he encountered in Appaloosa. The dragon becomes known as Adamas and shows Dave that the mountain itself is a large, ancient dragon.

The elder dragon uses magic to learn about Dave’s being, also stumbling across Odio but keeps that information secret. The dragons then reveal that their physical growth comes from greed whilst magical growth comes from generosity.

The elder makes Dave a coat from a few of his scales and warns him that something evil intends to use Dave’s magic-resisting powers to oppose Celestia and Luna. The solution was for Dave to stay with the princesses and remain in their protection.

Dave is launched back to Ponyville, finding Celestia wants to have a serious, monogamous relationship but Dave doesn’t want to deal with potentially being rejected again.

This doesn’t last long as Dave and Celestia soon become a couple again and the princess even goes to prove her commitment by being seen in public, kissing the human.

The reveal of the evil being’s coming forces Dave to train so he can defend himself. Odio provides Dave with a means of tapping into his energy to shoot bolts of hate energy in an emergency.

Meanwhile Princess Luna can’t keep herself from loving Dave and tries to get him to feel the same as the human begins to feel even grumpier from Odio’s growing power. The fog having to physically manifest inside the human just to overcome the magical resistance.

Dave eventually finds out that Odio was the evil spirit and he could easily use Dave after having such a long time in his body. But the being of hate says that Dave has nothing to fear because all Odio wanted was to come home and live peacefully even though he harbours sour feelings towards the princesses.

With this new information, Dave struggles to find a way out of training and keep the presence of Odio a secret. But unfortunately uses some of Odio’s power in a rage and is mistaken for Odio himself.

Dave is captured and the Elements of Harmony are used against him, locking him away in stone. Meanwhile Celestia discovers she is pregnant with Dave’s child but still believes that the human is Odio.

Odio manages to break Dave out of the stone prison and the human finds himself in the Changeling hive, exchanging some of his love for directions through the wasteland he is in. The Changeling Queen Chrysalis uses her love to rejuvenate her sister Princess Larva and the queen soon gains an abnormal obsession with the human.

Celestia and Luna try to reconcile each other after thinking they have been tricked by Odio. Celestia wanting to have her new child removed from her but is discouraged by her sister.

Meanwhile Strong Shield grows suspicious of Adamas’ frequent visits to Canterlot and demands to know why. As Dave passes through Ponyville, his presence is discovered and soon the princesses are aware that Dave is on his way to them.

Dave’s magical resistance helps Odio to assault Canterlot, the fog and human taking the castle quickly and capturing the Elements of Harmony and the princesses as a result. Everypony finds out that Dave and Odio are two different beings and Dave merely wanted to return to tell Celestia that he truly loved her before leaving.

Odio reveals that he used Dave this entire time, to make the Elements of Harmony hate each other so they would prove ineffective. Dave is released into the city as Odio begins the second stage of his plan.

Dave makes it back into the castle with the help of Strong Shield and Adamas, the Unicorn and Dave both making it into the throne room with ease as Odio awaited their return.

Strong Shield takes an attack for Dave and is blasted out of a window. Dave uses his blood to sever the magical bonds around the princesses before helping the ponies to recover the Elements of Harmony and use them against Odio.

The fog reveals that was another one of his plans and the energy he has amassed will cause an explosion. Dave can carry Odio due to his magical resistance and carries him to a series of catapults that fail until he makes a revelation.

Odio won’t go without him.

Dave sits on the final catapult with Odio, the ponies refusing to use the lever and send Dave to his death. The injured Strong Shield pulls the lever before falling unconscious, life fading from him.

Luna keeps Celestia back as Dave rises into the sky before exploding. Odio reveals that he wanted the princesses to know the suffering he went through but ultimately he hadn’t expected Dave to become such a close friend and mentions that Dave won’t be hurt.

Dave and Odio both disappear in the explosion that sends a shockwave towards the city. Adamas takes the force which awakens his dragon magic and makes his scales pure diamond. The dragon returns to watch his elder die and the responsibility of reforming dragons is passed to him.

Strong Shield is taken to hospital where he is placed into a coma to keep him alive, his wound not able to be fully cured in his condition.

Celestia and Luna both decide to remember Dave and to take care of his child once it is born.

A few months later a therapist on Earth is visited by an odd boy who retells the story and reveals that Dave spent so long with Odio that they melded slightly, Dave’s normally resistant body actually changed to absorb any magic Odio released.

The boy reveals that he is Odio and Dave’s death was a short plan he created so Dave could live forever with his family and Odio. The fog ends by leaving through a portal he made connecting Earth to Equestria, stating that Dave will return when the time was right.

Unexplored Paths.

Four months later…

Dave returns as Celestia goes into labour, the human only able to return as a skeleton. Dave makes his way to Celestia’s side in time for their son to be born, the new colt’s contact with Dave restores the rest of his body by causing the rest of his dormant magic to surge.

The foal is named Noxporta but is called Nox for short as life seems to return to a confusing yet normal state. Luna reveals her feelings are still there for Dave and Celestia reveals she is fine with Dave being with her sister as well.

More confusion is thrown into the relationship as Nox suddenly ages to that of an older child and is almost instantly showing an interest in Sweetie Belle and then Applebloom. Applebloom being the one who returns the feelings and begins to hang around with the colt.

Odio returns to Equestria as a changeling, the spirit of hate attending a peace conference between the gryphons and changelings as an opportunity to sneak into Dave’s body. The human attending as a guest of Adamas who became an ambassador to try and bring peace to Equestria.

Dave refuses, claiming he can’t allow other feelings to come between him and his family. The human is re-joined to Odio but the fog of hate is only allowed to be around on the condition he stays out of Dave’s mind and body.

Strong Shield’s wounded state is soon discovered by a pair of ex-guards that used to be very important to the unicorn. Flux, a Pegasus, who used to be a lover to Strong Shield and Battering Ram, an earth pony, who used to be his best friend.

The ponies that haven’t been together for thirty years fight, Strong Shield’s wounded body is supported by Dave who wasn’t much help against the trained and powerful Battering Ram.

Strong Shield reveals that Flux and Battering Ram turned bad when convinced by a pony called Puppetmaster that martial law could easily remove crime if implemented correctly.

Strong Shield thought he had killed Flux and Battering Ram but they took advantage of Strong Shield’s new injuries to try and recover one final project that Puppetmaster had hidden away.

Project Unity. The project would create a monster that would ingest and kill all life to create one perfect being combined from all races. The only missing piece being an alicorn. Unfortunately Battering Ram and Flux both were unaware that this was the true purpose of Project Unity.

Strong Shield reveals that he has the key to the project and knows where the vault is that the project is stored in. Dave takes the key from Strong Shield, the pony had the key hidden in his eye that had been cut out many years ago.

Flux and Battering Ram both have the same skill set as Strong Shield and the unicorn is in no position to fight both of them. And they refuse to believe his warnings about Project Unity.

As the two ponies focused on revenge begin to have close encounters with Dave and Strong Shield, they begin to wonder what they are truly doing. Flux begins to reconcile with her only love as Battering Ram discovers more about his own morals and what Strong Shield sacrificed to keep their original betrayal a secret.

Strong Shield worries about the closing danger, unaware of the outcome and decides to find the vault with Dave, intending to throw the key into the vault and lock it forever.

Meanwhile Dave proposes to Celestia with Luna making an eclipse to make the moment special. Luna meets with Dave and collapses after raising the moon, the repeated movements of the moon causing her to grow tired.

Dave stays by Luna’s side and his own concerns causes his old love to rekindle and he takes up the offer of being with both Celestia and Luna. The human saying he has to put Nox first and marry Celestia before marrying Luna.

Strong Shield informs Dave that the vault to Project Unity is locked away in a prison called Tartarus, the only accessible way in being a train called the Daedalus.

Flux and Battering Ram both discuss and realize they have wasted their lives following their dead leader and try to talk with Strong Shield, begging forgiveness. The unicorn is about to agree when the location of the key is leaked and the unicorn is forced to flee with Dave.

Flux and Battering Ram both realize that Strong Shield and Dave were right about Project Unity and pursue them, knowing Project Unity needs a brain from any creature that isn’t already assimilated. The creatures include alicorns and humans.

Dave, Odio and Strong Shield make it to the Daedalus and begin their journey. Crashing into the Changeling Hive and Dave agrees to stay in Chrysalis’ company as long as nothing is attempted on Dave's person or Strong Shield's life.

During the night, Dave has a vision and his arm is branded with the symbol ‘1EC’. The mark is a sign that the bearer is a prisoner of Tartarus. The small group arrive at a large black dome but the train takes them inside to where a large black cube rests inside the dome.

Dave enters the prison and discovers why Tartarus is the worst prison. Hungers can’t be sated, thirsts can’t be quenched and death isn’t the end. One day outside the prison results in a year inside, Dave’s one year stay is full of pain, anguish and despair.

The warden of Tartarus finds out that Dave admitted himself into Tartarus willingly and reveals that the marks on every prisoner is actually a rating system. 1EC being the most dangerous.

Dave and Warden make a bet. If Dave returns to Tartarus for any reason then he must stay for eternity. If Dave finds one good thing about Tartarus then he can become the warden.

When leaving, Dave discovers that the pain he received inside the prison never fades and is cursed with eternal agony, the Tartarus curse meaning he will only find relief if he returns. Then they discover the vault was only in the dome rather than in the prison itself, nopony having ever entered the actual prison.

Celestia receives a letter from Tartarus and takes Luna, Nox and Adamas to Tartarus to find Dave. Flux and Battering Ram also arrive as the princesses, prince and dragon arrive and they all break the dome.

Nox uses a portal to hurry to Dave’s side, the vault activating upon the alicorn’s arrival causes it to activate. Dave manages to get Nox out but is dragged in himself. The ponies all break the vault open and Odio manages to pull Dave to safety as Adamas burns the vault and believes everything to be destroyed.

Strong Shield, Flux and Battering Ram are placed into prison cells as Dave lays in a coma. Dave awakes soon after, a bandage over his mark and a slightly disconnected personality is all that he shows upon regaining consciousness.

Celestia is oblivious to Dave’s changed, ruthless personality until he reveals that Project Unity removed part of his brain responsible for love and compassion. His survival instincts that had become dormant since gaining his healing powers had awoken and had taken control over his entire body.

Project Unity is driven to be complete and travels to Canterlot in search of Dave. The human creates a set of armour and a crystal sword that resists not only magic but physical things as well. Dave and Unity fight before Dave removes his missing part of brain from Unity and completely destroying the body.

Dave returns to normal, marries Celestia and is visited by Warden again. The prison warden informing Dave that Tartarus never truly leaves him. Flux and Battering Ram both try to make up for past mistakes and Strong Shield convinces everypony else to give them a chance.

Flux tries to reignite the love between her and Strong Shield but she has to adopt Dave as her son as well. The Pegasus agrees and is reassured when she hears Dave call her mum.

With the small family created, Dave goes on a honeymoon with Celestia. Everything is now resolved and a lasting peace finally being formed.

Except that during the fight with Unity, a decent amount of Dave’s magic-resistant blood landed on an imprisoned being called Discord. The portal to Earth only accessible by powerful magicians being a tempting target for any mischievous villains.

Unexplored Worlds takes place one year after the events in Unexplored Paths

Author's Notes:

Hopefully this attempt at this fic works out better this time. Updates should eventually return to a daily basis so long as studies go well until January. Thanks for any criticism as my writing should be rusty after all the time off I had.