“So, are we ready for the Equestria games?” Shining Armour yelled into a microphone in the centre of the stadium in the Crystal Empire  

“Are we ready to light the torch?” he turned to Spike

“Ha, who needs a torch?” I laughed, fists blazing as I hovered below the crystalline chalice, inhaling, and then exhaling a narrow stream of crimson flames into the bowl of the cup, lighting the double helical ‘spires’ that bent in opposing directions at either side of the chalice, and the ornate carved structure that started from the centre-on-upward, leaping through the flames, changing to Alphamon form as I came into contact with the blood-red fire

-=-

“Sabotaging the games, eh Brother?” Blaze chortled as we made it back to Canterlot after the games’ passing

“Maybe” I winked “If they wanted someone to light the torch, they could’ve easily asked either me or Natsu, I mean, yes, I may be a pain in the arse, and yes, I may be unpredictable, but at least we’re reliable when people need us”

“Prove it” Twilight half-smirked, half-frowned

“I sorted out that mess in Africa, didn’t I?” I tilted my head ever-so slightly

“Don’t remind me…” she mumbled “putting that aside, what else have you done?”

“You’d have to ask my superiors, I don’t want to risk letting slip of the tongue, and allowing classified material to be brought to the public”

“Fair enough,” she leapt unto my back, draping her arms around my neck “My stallion”

“After all that I’ve done, you’d still take me over anyone else?” I glanced back at her with a relatively shocked expression

“It’s not what you do, it’s who you are,” she giggled, “Isn’t that what you taught us, Rick?”

“So it is, Sparkles, so it is,” I sighed

“Ricky-o,” a nearby mare exclaimed with glee, Twilight glanced backward, then leapt down to the ground

Turning around, I was promptly knocked to the ground by Autumn Heart

“Where have you been?” Autumn Heart lavished my face and neck with small, ye affectionate, kisses

“I’m sorry Autumn Heart, what with the Equestria games and all” I bit my lip

“Then I forgive you,” she nickered with a cute giggle “but where, were you the week before?”

“Earth, but only for a little while, I’m sorry for not telling you, my little tinker” I GAVE A SLY SMIRK

“My little Ricky-o” she winked

=-=

As we entered the throne room, I was met by the icy glare of Celestia, along with the faint smiles of Faust, Luna and Cadance

“Sensing a dense atmosphere in here Daddy” Snowdrop glided unto my head

“How could you?” Celestia snarled

“It’s called freedom; you’d be surprised what we humans had to do for it a few hundred years back,” I quipped “And whilst we’re at it insert comment about how humans having rights and freedom of both actions and speech wouldn’t mean a damn thing on Equis”

“You’re acting like a child” she scoffed

“Coming from th one who ruined my early life just to get me back?” I boomed “I think you’re being a little hypocritical, Princess”

“One-nil to Daddy” Snowdrop chimed

“Thank you Snowy” I smiled

“You’re welcome Daddy” she squee’d as she smiled with a gracious glimmer

“I would reply to that, but all I’d get is a comment on how I’m corrupting you, my dear little Snowflake” I snorted, Celestia’s horn began to glow, AND Snowdrop hovered above me “turn it off or I break it off, or are you also going to attempt to take my life, just I’m different, or because you don’t like me, I can handle both, Celestia, so go ahead, do your worst”

“I’m seeing something here,” Snowdrop chimed once again as Luna levitated her carefully to the ground via a dark/neon cobalt magic aura, the Pegasus in question then retook her place upon my head “This is like when Twilight and her friends met Zecora, they hated and feared her because she wasn’t like them, and thus, avoided her, now, are you going to do the same, Princess Celestia, or are you going to grow up and do as Daddy once advised you to do, get over it and move on?”

“One-nil Snowdrop” I laughed

“Thank you Daddy” Snowdrop giggled

“You’re welcome, my little Snowflake” I winked up toward her

“Getting your rear figuratively handed to you via an abomination, and a filly,” I blinked “speaking of, how old are you Snowdrop?”

“I don’t age,” Snowdrop’s tone became somewhat sad, and monotonous “I can become smarter, stronger, and faster, and even better than most, but I won’t age, I’m sorry Daddy”

“It’s Alright, I know you can do it, Snowdrop, I have faith in your ability to persevere” I winked again

“How was I to know that you’d turn out like this?” Celestia glowered somewhat murderously toward Snowdrop and I

“You should’ve thought about that before you made me,” I hummed “although if you hadn’t I would never have met my friends and family, and I wouldn’t be a part of an awesome guild and have friends like Natsu, Erza Grey and the others, so I guess thanks are in order”

“Clearly” she raised an eyebrow “when’re you going to apologize?”

“For doing what I feel is right, or for being in ‘your’ kingdom?” I raised an eyebrow in return

“For ruining the games” she snapped

“Where’s the Cellsy I actually liked gone then?” I frowned “And on that note, I surrender my full title as Knight of Equis to you, Cellsy”

“And I hereby remove it forthwith” she tutted “Now, what’re we going to do with you?”

“Use me as you will, I only request that my friends and family be left out of it”

“Dramatic as ever” she stood up from her throne “when you mentioned the six gods of Equis, were you-?

“Referring to you alicorns?” I cut her off “Yes, yes I was” I grinned “I also apologize for the interruption

“And as always, thou speakest with thy own heart rather than thy mind” Luna smirked

“Can’t change who I am” I shrugged

“So we can’t but we can help you, all you need do is ask” Celestia trotted toward me, changing to her anthro form, complete with the full set of attire/dress that went with it, draping her arms around me, embracing me

“Can’t… breathe…!” I gasped for air as she let me go, panting for breath, collapsing to my knees as she let out a light giggle, sitting beside me

“Sorry” she passed me a warm smile, her voice sweeter than sugared honey, draping a wing around me

“How can one such as yourself be so kind?” I hummed

“I could ask you the same thing” she raised the other eyebrow

“Touché, Sunflower, touché” I slowly nodded

-=-

“What happened to my horn it’s gone all floppy!?” Twilight chided as Rainbow Dash landed upside-down, somewhat entangled in one of the ladders in the library ladder after breaking through the front door

“Zecora’s cursed us!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed

“So it’d seem” Rarity hummed, her mane and tail now ‘shaggy,’ covering her face “This isn’t the usual ‘bad luck’ sort of event”

“It’s not a curse!” Twilight argued

“You’re right, I’d say this is more of a hex” I glanced toward Applejack, who was now the size of a thumb, standing on my shoulder “it’s too benign or jovial to be an actual curse”

“I’d have to agree,” Rarity sighed “though if it’s a hex or a curse; then there must be some way to remove it

“Then what’re we waiting for?” Rainbow Dash declared boldly “we go to Zecora’s and force her to get rid of these curses!”

“Applebloom, I can’t help but notice you look, normal….”I glanced toward the golden filly with the scarlet mane and tail with the lilac bow

“So do you, Ah guess?” she giggled

“You have the cure for poison joke, do you not, Sparkles?” I raised an eyebrow

“What’re you getting at?” Twilight blinked

“I’m suggesting that you look where you place your hooves next time you go through the forest” I smirked

-=-

“So why don’t you use magic at the farm?” I glanced toward Applejack after their ‘curses’ had been lifted, returning them to normal, still sat in the library, now reading one of the spellbooks I’d gotten from the somewhat magical land of Skyrim

“We at Sweet Apple acres have been doing things the Earth pony way for generations now; we’ve not used a bit of magic mumbo-jumbo since it was founded alongside Ponyville” Applejack grinned

“Mumbo-Jumbo,” I frowned “being a mage; and that of the ‘Fairy-Tail’ Guild no less, I could take offense to that”

“Humans an’ ponies are different, let’s leave it at that” she smiled

“You don’t use the slightest bit, even though you’re a dragon slayer, whereas humans and mages of Fiore use it with-and-for pretty much everything” I grinned “Whereas you have brawn, we have all else”

“Are ya calling me thick?” she growled

“Not at all, Jackie, not at all” I shook my head, albeit, slowly

“Another spellbook I assume?” Twilight sat beside me on the couch

“Correct, Twilight Sparkle” I smiled “This one in particular teaches the reader about transmutation”

“Transmutation,” she blinked

“Turning lead or iron into gold, basically”

“It‘s alchemy then?” she nickered

“It’s a bit of both, really, Cellsy’s gonna kill me for it though” I laughed

-=-=-

“Firefly” I nodded toward the pink Pegasus, who gave a curt nod in return, landing in the castle after gliding through the entrance

“Human” she gave a light frown as she nodded, landing beside Iris, Galaxia, Faust, the princesses and Daring Doo as I stood with my friends and family, Autumn heart, Twilight, her friends and Spike included “I’m here as per Celestia’s request, apparently our local archaeologist has found something somewhat magnificent”

As we were led by Celestia into an area underneath the castle, I was confronted by a large, shining grey cube levitating on one of its corners, kept in suspension between twin runic symbols on the floor and ceiling

“What is it?” Twilight stepped forward

“We don’t know as of yet” Daring Doo tutted “I’ve delved into the deepest crevice, fought through the densest jungle, climbed atop the highest mountain, and never in my career have I seen anything like this”

Stepping beside Twilight, I held out an arm, lighting the hand on the end of said arm, the cube let out a blood-curdling groan, its colour becoming a glimmering crimson as it expanded slightly tilting itself upright, the flames surrounding my hand quickly flickering out

“So, it absorbs magic,” I hummed “and in doing so, it seems to grow, I wonder how far that goes”

“If that’s the case, we’d best not continue an extended use of said magic, right Brother/” Blaze grinned

“I think I’ve seen this before,” I laughed “this is one of those things, where, if you give it too much energy, it more-or-less destroys the world”

“And you’re certain of that?” Iris raised an eyebrow alongside Firefly and Galaxia

“It’s a possibility” I shrugged

“In that case, I’ll assign guards to this entity, whatever it is,” Faust hummed

“Best be pegasi or Earth pony, wouldn’t want this thing going AWOL and wrecking the castle any more than I have” I gave a smug grin “unless…”

“Unless what?” Luna gave a faint smile

“What if it’s not an ‘end-of-the-world’ device,” I raised an eyebrow “what if it’s a container for something?”

“Like an egg?” Celestia blinked

“That’s possibility number two” I gave another shrug

“And if it’s an AI of sorts?” Blaze patted my side with a gentle paw

“And that’s possibility-two, variation-one” I tilted my head ever-so slightly

“An AI, as in an artificial Intelligence,” Twilight’s stare shifted between the cube and I

“It’s an enigma, that’s for certain, I gave a slight nod

“I wonder what the Xeno-archaeologists from the UNSC would think of it” I rolled my eyes

“I say we crack it open, assuming it is an egg” Blaze stepped forth, I blocked her with an extended arm, she frowned at me “what’re you doing?”

“If we attack it, it might retaliate,” I began, “for all we know, it could be extracting the magic it took from me, and multiplying it an infinite amount of times over, feeding itself off of that one little flame I made,” I went on “or it could be simply waiting for more energy, in which case, I’ve no clue as to what to do” I sighed

“You really are a deep thinker when you want to be, aren’t you?” she laughed “”What about overloading it?”

“We don’t know how much energy it can take, so that’s not really an option” I mumbled

“Well, we can’t exactly sit here and do nothing” she frowned

“There isn’t much we can do” I bit my lip

“So, we’ve a potentially alien cube whose origins are unknown, and we also know that it can absorb energy, but for what?” Firefly hissed impatiently

“An egg, an AI, or a doomsday device, I know not which” I clenched my fists

“To hay with this” she snapped, lunging forward striking the cube with an armoured hoof, said armour shattered, and the cube released a bright orange wave of energy that ripped through Firefly, sending her flying in the opposite direction

“Looks like your ‘AI’ theory needs a little tinkering,” Blaze pursed her lips inwardly “that being said, it knows how to defend itself, so it’s obviously sentient, somehow”

“That was fire energy” Celestia glanced toward me as Faust and Iris tended to their fallen comrade “it used your attack to hurt Firefly, how?”

“Well, it acted as a ‘delayed’ mirror, so to speak,” I raised the other eyebrow “it uses energy from one attack, and then repels it toward, or against, the second, it’s the ultimate weapon, seeing as it seems to be undamaged, and Firefly’s armour broke”

“What’re you doing?” Cadance gaped as I stepped forward slowly raising my arm “didn’t you see what happened to Firefly!?”

“I’m not, trying to destroy it, let alone anything of the sort, Cadance” I gently placed my hand against the cubes’ surface, said cube let out a hum, as if glad that I meant it no harm

“You didn’t mean it harm, so it didn’t attack” Blaze whistled “so it is sentient, after all” I clenched my teeth “are you Ok,” I quickly let go of the cube “what happened?”

“It went through my memories…” I staggered back a little

“Which ones?” she stared at me

“All of them” I rapidly shook my head

“Kinky” she chortled, I shot her a glower “Sorry…”

“Why did it go through your memories?” now it was Celestia’s turn to step forward

“Probably searching for something, who knows?” I hummed, again

“What if it’s trying to tell us something?” Littlepip suggested

“That’s possibility three, My Littlepip” I carefully placed my hand on the cubes course surface again, a wave of images pierced my frontal lobe as I tensed my muscles “Ok, that’s a definite”

“What’d you see?” Velvet Remedy tilted her head; I gave a quick summary of the ‘images’

“Huh, odd” Twilight blinked

“So, we were right about it being alien” Faust let out a short hum “What do we do?” she glanced toward Celestia, then toward me

“Keep it under surveillance, for now, right now; I’ve other things to do” I grunted

“Don’t go…” I turned to face the cube, which, by now, was slowly changing shape, first came the face, and then the head, neck, body legs and tail, complete with a metallic mane and wings

The cube had turned into a metallic, albeit winged, Applebloom

“Don’t leave me, Rick” the cube-turned pony/enigma hovered between the runes on the floor and ceiling

Launching a fiery dart toward the runes, the Applebloom lookalike landed with a light Clink on the stone floor

“What are you?” I crouched down to the metal filly

“I‘m what’s known as an ‘enigma,’ we’re one of the lesser-known species in existence,” the metallic pony smiled with an almost-robotic, feminine tone  “And I know all about all you, Rick, all that you are and ever will be, and all that you’ve done, and ever will do, say, and think, I can tell you anything about yourself, even if you don’t even know it yet”

“Sounds cliché” Blaze grinned “Shouldn’t we know by now that not everything is set in stone, or in this case, metal?”

“Don’t you recognize me?” the Enigma tilted its/her head “it’s me, Applebloom”

“You’re a machine” I replied somewhat curtly

“I can be whoever you want me to be,” she purred “even Sylgja-!” said Enigma was then sent flying across the room at around fifty-KMH

“Touchy” Blaze backed away slowly

“No shit” I snapped, fists blazing

“Who was Sylgja?” Twilight blinked

“It doesn’t matter” I avoided her gaze

“It does if you give that bad a reaction” she frowned, albeit, lightly, very lightly

“Put it one way, I refuse to allow anyone to end up dead because of my recklessness” I tasted iron as chewed my lip

“Then I won’t question it any further, and I’m sorry for your loss” she placed a fragile hoof on my leg

-=-=-

“So how long does it take for you to master one of those spellbooks you have?” Twilight hovered beside me, pecking my cheek

“Not very long,” I smiled ”but you have to realize something about magic; it’s not simply cast and forget,” “most magicka takes great concentration until you've practiced the spell enough to truly master it, but, as I’m sure that you’re ware; concentration, it also wears down on your strength, as you’ll never see any mage in particular battle with purely spells, and because the energy they drain is deceptive, you only realize how much you've used after you’ve stopped casting”

“You’ve been listening to the old man again haven’t you?” Blaze grinned

“If you mean Guildmaster Makarov, then yes, yes I have” I beamed “age tends to make one wise as well as powerful”

“Any proof of that?” she smirked

“Fairy Law” I grinned

“Touché” she gave a slow nod

“What’s ‘Fairy Law’?” Twilight blinked

“It’s one of the most legendary spells in existence,” I began “the ability to render enemies -and only who the user’s heart sees as an enemy, to mere dust just by thinking about it”

“Not sure if classified or not” Blaze hummed

“Eh, if the Guildmaster wishes for it not to be spread about the public, who am I to question him?” I shrugged

-=-=-

“So,” the centaur-demon growled, he who’d just burst/rampaged through the castle to get to us in the throne room “Which one of you vermin is ‘Sir Rick’?”

“I accept your surrender” I nodded…

-=-

“Finale, brother,” Blaze smirked.

“Eigō Hōseki Ryū,” I nodded, inhaling sharply, exhaling a vast torrent of both flames and thunderbolts toward Tirek “Hōkō!” the almost-unceasing amount of magical energy sent the deformed quadruped flying back through the doorway.

“Clean up on aisle five!” she guffawed “but did you have to quote Thor?”

“I felt that it’d lessen the density in the atmosphere” I shrugged.

“Speaking of which, why don’t we go to Asgard?” she smirked.

=-=

“Well that was interesting,” I laughed as we landed back in Ponyville.

“To say such would be an understatement” Luna hummed.

“Ricky-o,” a brown unicorn mare with a darker, flowing mane and tail knocked me to the ground.

“Hello Autumn Heart,” I smiled, pecking her cheek.

“I missed you, Rick” she pecked my cheek in return.

“And I you, my little Autumn Heart,” I said with a smile.

“-=-“

“Why hello my good friends,” Discord cheered as he appeared before us, us being Nat’s Erza, Lyra, Twilight, our friends, Spike,, the princesses, Lulania, Faust and Crystal alongside my family, Blaze also included.

“You’re not good, nor are you a friend of mine, Discord” I snarled.

“Then perhaps you’d like to play a little game with me…?

“Princess Celestia, these are the intruders, as you requested,” The new Equis’ variant of Shining Armour declared with a snarl as we, my friends, family and I, Twilight, her friends, Spike, Emerald Opal and Garnet entered the throne room after him, the princesses, Faust and Lulania included alongside Nyx.

“How is this possible?” the new Equis’ Celestia stared at each of us with a gasp.

I stepped forward “I can warp through reality, and since our variant of Equis fell to Discord, pun not intended, we had no other choice to but to seek out another, with your permission Princess, we’d like to settle down here, we promise not to cause any more trouble than what may or may not be necessary.”

“That seems fair enough, although your abilities seem to be somewhat questionable,” she frowned.

“You’d have to ask Crystagia,” I bit my lip.

“You know the gem dragon goddess?” the new Equis’ variant of Cadance eyed me from head to foot.

“Are you familiar with dragon slayer magic?” I tilted my head ever-so slightly, Snowdrop having perched herself there, she shook her head, “I take it that’s another thing I’m going to have to explain…”

“Hundreds of years ago, there was a great war between humans and dragons, a few of the dragons sided with the humans, granting them their magic, but then, a group of humans rose up against dragons on both sides, killing them, thus was coined the term ‘Dragon Slayer’ magic,” I explained.

“And you can use this magic?” Celestia gave me a rather flat stare, I sighed with a roll of my eyes, fists blazing in twin radiant, whitish-golden fireballs, “So you can, but what of your friends?”

“They are like me, without a place to call home, if you’d allow us, we’d gladly settle down, depending on what’s available, of course,” I gave a faint smile, the flames around my hands dissipating.

“I’ll see what I can do…?” she raised the other eyebrow.

“Rick” I smiled.

“Come to the arena, I’ll inform Luna of what you can do….”

“Are you sure about this Princess?” Shining Armour glanced toward Celestia as she and the others stood in the crowds alongside the new Equis variants of Twilight and her friends , Celestia nodded, whereas Cellsy winked at me, I grinned, giving her a light wave.

“I’ll be here to step in should anything unusual happen,” Celestia smiled with a nod.

“Then I ask that you come at me with you’re all, Sir Rick!” Shining Armour gave a short laugh, charging toward me head-on, I stopped him, grabbing him by the shoulders

“What rank did they say you were again?” I grinned, throwing him back, watching him slide across the smooth, stone surface of the arena floor

“Captain, why?” he tilted his head

“Captain, and yet you make the rookie mistake of charging in before assessing what I can do, if this were war, you’d have yer head on a pike already,” I tutted, scales appearing upon my arms, wrists and hands as I burst into flames, “En Guarde, Captain.”

“What is that?” Celestia glanced toward Cellsy, who let out a small giggle.

“Dragon force;” Cellsy nickered, “the ultimate final form of dragon slayer magic, only three are known to use nit within Rick’s guild; Fairy Tail; and all three have exceptional magic abilities, I think your captain’s about to be barbequed.”

“So you create flames, but I bet I can extinguish them!” Shining Armour charged forward again.

“Eigo Hoseki Ryū Jin…!” I dodged his advance, quickly taking to the sky, inhaling copious amounts of air, and then exhaling a vast torrent of whitish golden flames down to the arena floor “Hokou!”

As the smoke died down, Shining Armour lay, motionless; suddenly coughing, staggering to his hooves.

“That was…!” Celestia once again turned toward Cellsy, who merely grinned.

“Congratulations Rick,” Celestia winked at me, I grinned

“He… you... how…?” she gasped.

“Is this over or what?” I called out, she suddenly turned to face me with a look that combined, curiosity and borderline-horror “I wouldn’t continue this if I were you, Shiny-pants here might end up killing himself.”

=-=

“You’re not scientifically possible..!” the new Equis variant of Twilight stared at me in horror.

“Neither are talking ponies on my world, but here you are anyways, Twilight Sparkle,” I raised an eyebrow in amusement as we sat in the dining hall during lunch.

“You fly, you breathe fire, and, I have no doubt in my mind that you can eat gemstones also, why is that?” she frowned.

“Ironically, I’m part dragon,” I gestured to my horns, she paled.

“So you are,” she shuddered “is there anything else that your ‘part’?

“Let’s see, human, dragon, eon, demigod, crazy sonuvabitch, nope, I think that’s about it,” I laughed.

“You’re a what?” she boomed.

-=-=-

“Where did you say we were going again?” Blaze mumbled.

“Just somewhere I can pay my respects to a few fallen heroes, that is all,” I clenched my fists as we walked

“Here we are,” I frowned as we reached the side of the castle in the Everfree forest,  clapping my hands together as my current passengers clambered to the ground, slamming my hands onto the ground as cyan lighting stormed across the grass-laden earth, and a large statue arose from the ground, depicting a small alicorn filly, a larger, armoured stallion, and a unicorn mare, amongst a couple of others, a another unicorn, who stood beside the filly, and another stallion, this one wearing a special type of saddle with twin rifles attached, said stallion was flying above the others with a watchful eye, smiling down at me, a Pegasus flying beside the first, smiling down at me, and the final one, of a wolf, barking at an unseen opponent with unrestrained ferocity in its eyes.

“Rest in peace my friends…” I mumbled, placing my rucksack on the ground, retrieving a series of shotguns, pistols, rifles and other types of weaponry from the bag, placing them in a pattern at the base of the statue, placing a series of faintly glowing orbs in the gaps between the weapons and grenades “May the divine one watch over you in heaven…”

As I sat before the assorted weapons and the like, staring at each of the ponies in the statue, I brought out a hammer and chisel, etching the words; ‘may these’ ponies’ souls never be strayed from the light of the divine sun, let each of their names go down in the annals of legend, forever heroes, forever legends, forever friends, and forever missed…’ placing the tools back in my inventory afterwards collapsing onto my back.

“Our friends from the wastes, minus Littlepip,” the Typhlosion gave a light hum, “a tribute of sorts, am I to assume?”

“Correct, Blaze,” I slowly nodded, “‘tis a tribute to heroes fallen, or at least, those who are non-existent in this world, nor the last.”

-=-

When I got back, I was met with a flying tackle from Snowdrop.

“Where’ve you been Daddy?” Snowdrop perched herself atop my head.

“Just a quick trip Snowy, nothing too serious, next time I’ll tell you before-hoof, Ok?” I winked toward the icy-blue filly.

“Ok, Daddy, I love you!” she exclaimed.

“And I you Snowdrop, and I you,” I smiled.

“Come one come all!” a voice echoed from within a nearby stage wagon that was set between us and the town hall, “come to bear witness to the Great and Powerful Trixie!” a pale blue-cobalt unicorn with a stereotypical wizards had and cape with stars scattered on both burst forth from within the wagon as it unfolded doing so by means of smoke effects.

Before long there was a large crowd of ponies, both Twilight’s and both sets of the bearers of harmony included alongside both Spike’s, stood before the azure blue mare, who continued to show off what I assumed she thought wa talent

“Haven’t we already done this once?” Blaze grunted with an indignant sigh and roll of her eyes,

“There’s nothing wrong with talent, is there?” the new Equis’ Twilight glanced toward me.

“Nothin’ at all, ‘Cept when yer showin’ it off like a filly with fancy new ribbons,” the new Applejack frowned at Trixie.

“Yeah, who needs a pony like her showing off, especially when you got me around being more awesome than the rest of us?” the ‘new’ Rainbow Dash chimed with a wide grin.

“That depends, are you the son of the Gem Dragon Goddess?” Blaze gestured toward me.

“He’s the, what now?” Applejack stared at me, I smirked.

“Adoptive son of Crystagia, since I don’t know who my real parents are,” I shrugged.

“Well, well, it appears we have some neighsayers in the audience,” Trixie snarled.

“I got a friend who’d easily show you how outclassed you really are, but he’s dealing with Discord at the moment, so it’ll have to wait,” I tutted.

“I hereby declare a challenge, anything you Ponyvillians can do, I can do better!” she laughed with a mad cackle.

I Dunno, can you slay a dragon?” I gave a sly grin, her smirk faltered.

“Say what…?” she blinked

“Can you say you’ve slain a dragon?” I raised an eyebrow, folding my arms with a smug grin

“I’ve done far greater things than you’ll ever dream!” she retorted with a wicked scowl.

“Really, you’ve beaten a flame-god slayer..?” I ‘mock-applauded’ with Blaze, the two of us sharing a whistle and a laugh, “Congratulations.”

“Whatever you can do, I can do better!” she reiterated with an icy glare.

“Alright, watch me,” I changed to my Alphamon form, “now you do the same.”

“How did you even…?” she awed at me.

“Not so ‘Great and Powerful’ then?” I turned and left, reverting to my human form, Snowdrop still perched atop my head and Blaze still by my side as I walked toward the castle in the Everfree, Velvet Remedy, Blackjack Littlepip walking with us alongside Scootaloo as Gracy Gloom and Winter Bell perched themselves on my shoulders.

“So, this is where you went” Blackjack gave me a sombre stare as we arrived at the statue, “Cellsy’s gonna kill you if she finds out that you used alchemy again Y’know?”

“I can handle a few meagre death-threats, especially those from a loved one,” I smiled.

“Can you?” Velvet Remedy nodded behind me, I turned, both sets of the element bearers were there, staring at the statue, and then toward me; both in awe; I quickly turned back.

“Rick?” Twilight stood beside me, glancing between myself, and the statue, “who are they?” I pointed to each of the names that were etched into the base of the statue

“Calamity, Steelhooves, Delta, Forest Rain, Homage, and epsilon…” she turned back to face me “these are your friends, Rick?”

“I don’t want to talk about it…” I bit my lip.

“Don’t tell me they, she turned again, staring at each of the statuettes, then back to me, “they, died…?” I gave a forlorn nod.

“When did this happen?” Applejack tilted her head.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Talking might help,” Twilight pecked my cheek as I sat before the statue, my friends and family sat with me.

“Rick?” Littlepip

“Mmhm?” I glanced toward the silver mare, who levitated an item from her saddlebags; that of which resembled a Pipbuck.

“Whilst we were on the old Equis I found this in my former home,” she bit her lip, “it’s nice to have you back, Rick,” she placed the Pipbuck onto her left foreleg.

“You too, my Littlepip,” I pecked her horn-tip, resulting in a few sparks.

“Careful, last time you did that she nearly split you clean in half with a burst of unparalleled magic,” Blaze grinned.

“I got better,” I frowned.”

“And the next time you challenged a magical entity you got your insides turned to liquid shit.”

“Again, I got better, and I’m now technically made of rubber,” I smirked.

“You’re made of rubber?” The new Twilight stared at me somewhat vehemently.

“They had to infuse my being and physiology with that of a rubber tree just to keep me together,” I raised an eyebrow.

“What’d you do?” she said, glaringly.

“Defend my family from a tyrant?” I offered.

“Close enough” Blackjack laughed.

=-=-=

“Nice to see my house made it through the portal,” I sighed, “if nothing, it’ll give me a place to relax.”

“As did the guild,” Blaze pointed to the large, castle-like structure nearby, “I hope everyone’s Ok…”

“And the portrait you had out front is also there,” she beamed, gesturing to the large image that i’d received not a year prior.

“Speaking of art…” I said with a smile, sitting by the front door, setting my rucksack beside me all the while, retrieving the art-related items from within, beginning to create a new project/ continuing with an old, unfinished work “I never got to finish it.”

“So you didn’t,” she laughed.

-=-

“Cellsy?” I glanced about the throne room as I was allowed entry, Celesta, Cellsy and both sets of alicorns were stood around the throne at the end of the room

“I am, what is it that you need, Sir Rick?” Cellsy smiled, I smiled back, retrieving the latest artworks, placing them on the floor beside me, turned, and walked out into the gardens, mny family walking beside me, Snowdrop once again perched atop my head.

“Shall we?” Snowdrop chimed, I nodded

“When I see your smile

Tears roll down my face I can't replace

And now that I'm strong I have figured out

How this world turns cold and it breaks through my soul

And I know I'll find deep inside me I can be the one,” I chorused, gesturing for the pony atop my skull to continue.

“I will never let you fall (let you fall)

I'll stand up with you forever

I'll be there for you through it all (through it all)

Even if saving you sends me to heaven,” Snowdrop sang with the voice of an angel, with Winter Bell performing the background vocals.

“It‘s okay, it's okay; it's okay…

Seasons are changing

And waves are crashing

And stars are falling all for us

Days grow longer and nights grow shorter

I can show you I'll be the one,” I cooed, gesturing toward Blaze, who nodded, singing with gusto

“I will never let you fall (let you fall)

I'll stand up with you forever

I'll be there for you through it all (through it all)

Even if saving you sends me to heaven,” Gracy Gloom and Snowdrop sang, Winter Bell once again performing the background vocals

“Cuz you're my, you're my, my, my true love, my whole heart

Please don't throw that away

Cuz I'm here for you

Please don't walk away and

Please tell me you'll stay woah, stay woah,” Scootaloo gleamed as she sang.

“Use me as you will

pull my strings just for a thrill

And I know I'll be okay

though my skies are turning grey,” Blaze continued.

“I will never let you fall

I'll stand up with you forever

I'll be there for you through it all

Even if saving you sends me to heaven

I will never let you fall

I'll stand up with you forever

I'll be there for you through it all

Even if saving you sends me to heaven” we sang together, finishing the song with smiles on our faces, and warmth in our hearts.

I turned around at the sound of hooves being clapped; the princesses were there, smiling with apparent amusement.

“Didn’t know you were an artist and a singer, Rick” Celestia raised an eyebrow.

“I’m an eon of a select few talents; let’s leave it at that, Princess,” I smirked.

“You’re also artificially created, so I hear,” she gave a faint grin.

“Yep, made from the DNA from an individual of almost every sentient species in the universe,” I gleamed.

“And you’re not bothered by that?” she blinked.

I shook my head; “Not really,” I flashed a wicked leer, “I’ve no reason to be bothered by what’s been done, not one billion years past, and I’ve certainly no right to be angry at my mother for bringing me into this world.”

“And who is the mother of whom thou speakest?” Luna, the new Luna, gave a light giggle, I pointed toward Cellsy with a flat stare “Ok….”

“You see me as your mother, even though we have no actual relation?” Cellsy gasped, tears in her eyes and a look of guilt spread across he features.

“You bought me into the universe, and that alone, in my view of things, makes you my mother, Cellsy.”

“I love you son,” she stepped forward, draping her arms and wings around me.

“I love you too, mom,” I mimicked her, draping my arms and wings around her.

=-=

“Spike, for the last time there’re no such things as zombie-ponies!” the ‘new’ Twilight growled.

“There are; but you ponies in the wastes referred to them as ‘Ghouls,’ rather than Zombie-Ponies, Twilight Sparkle,” I laughed.

“And how would you know that?” she snapped as she, her friends, and the other set of the element bearers stared at me with a mixture of confusion and suspicion.

I frowned; “I can, quite literally, fly through reality, I’ve seen in three hundred years more than you ponies will see in a millennium, period.”

“Like what?” she asked, glaringly.

“The fall of Equestria for one thing, and it’s rebirth for another,” I sighed, “it’s not something I wish to converse to others, ponies in particular, about a potential apocalypse, so, if there are any Ghouls, you stay behind me, got it?”

“Ok…” she gave a slow nod as I changed to my ‘Spartan-Armour’ form, picking up the M34-SS firearm from where it leant against the outside wall of the house, placing the Spartan Laser on the magnetic clamps on the back of my armour.

“Good, now, where were we going?” I nodded in return.

“You’re really not taking any chances with this ghoul business are you Rick?” the other Twilight trotted beside me as we walked through the forest

“I failed once, and I don’t plan on doing so again, Twilight Sparkle,” I frowned behind the ‘Scout’ variant helmet.

“What do you mean, ‘you failed’?” she glanced toward me as we ventured through the foliage.

“What do you think?” I rolled my eyes agitatedly, “why do you think I made that statue?”

“You failed…?” she gasped, “Rick, I…” I she shook her head

“Save it for when I care,” I stormed off with a growl.

“It appears to be a statue, but I wonder if I can’t change that, the new Equis’ replica of Discord hovered between the statue and I, turning to face me as I approached…

“Touch it and I’ll blow your fucking head off, chimera, your kind has no place in my home, now, would you kindly make like a banana, and piss off!?” I bellowed, he quickly vanished, a look of unrestrained horror struck upon his mismatched face.

“Now that that’s dealt with,” I sighed, again, removing my helmet, placing it by the scattered weapons, grenades, and memory orbs, leaning the shotgun against the base of the statue, sitting before the statue, glancing to each of the characters that’d been crafted there.

“Epsilon, Forest Rain, I’m sorry,” I bit my lip, “I let you down, I failed you when you needed me most, and because of that…” I stammered. “I wish I could go back, to right what I did wrong, but I can’t, as that would most likely cause the universe to cave in on itself… so, I leave you with a final goodbye, and a final apology, my little Rain, and you also, my little Epsilon…”

()=)(-)(=()

I stood in the arena, the populace made of both Ponyvillians and Canterlot citizens watched me as Discord entered the arena with a mild display of fireworks

“Are we ready?” Discord smirked as I promptly burst into flames, scales once again appearing on my face, arms, wrists and hands, sparks of thunderbolts dancing across the veil of flames that enveloped me

“Modo Raien Ryū…!” I boomed, using my legs as pumps to accelerate my blood-flow, “Gia Sekando!”

“Go get ‘em Daddy!” Snowdrop exclaimed from her place in the crowd beside my friends and family.

I disappeared for a split second, appearing right below the self-proclaimed ‘Chaos God,’ delivering a hard uppercut, sending him flying upwardly…

“Metsuryū Ogi, Shiranui Gata, Guren Hōō ken,” I bellowed, striking Discord in the stomach, both fists were blazing with a whitish-golden flame that was encased in a veil of primrose-shaded thunderbolts “Yokugeki!” I roared, performing an impossibly fast and agile forward flip, bringing my heel down unto his skull “Kagizume! I then went on to create larger fireballs that encompassed both my wrists and hands, slamming them together against the serpentine creature “Ryū Jin no Koen!”

“Suishō Hasu Hoseki Ryū Shugo Tenshi!” Snowdrop, Scootaloo, Winter Bell and Gracy Gloom cheered with me in perfect unison as Discord came crashing down unto the cold, hard stone floor, leaving a reasonably sized crater in his wake…

“If anyone needs a slight case with pest removal, feel free to let me know, I’ll either be in Canterlot, Ponyville or the surrounding area, if not, just send me a letter,” I bowed to each side of the crowd in turn, ”Class dismissed.”

“You beat Discord…” Celestia stared at me, awestruck, wide-eyed and slack-jawed.

“Yeah, because banishing your problems for a millennia, only for them to eventually return solves nothing, No offense Mother,” I bit my lip, glancing toward Cellsy.

“None taken, Rick,” Cellsy gave a light giggle.

“What, would you propose, Rick?” Celestia gave a light frown.

“I’ve no right to do such a thing, Princess, I’m not f this world, nor am I in any rightful position to do so in the first place,” I quickly bowed.

“Quite the charmer; is he not?” the new Luna glanced toward Cellsy, eyebrow raised.

“He’s my son;” Cellsy laughed “he’s every bit as pure as I may be, maybe even more-so.”

“That remains to be seen,” Blaze chuckled; I quickly shot her an icy glare, “sorry…”

“Thought so,” I grinned.

“But you have to admit it,” she grinned “you, being pure, after all that we’ve gone through?”

“I’ll admit the concept is a tad farfetched, but I don’t doubt the wisdom of the eternal ruler of just over half of our home-world, Blaze,” I raised an eyebrow.

“Even after your trials, you remain, how is it that you do it?”

“You do everything you can to make up for it, knowing that you’ll never succeed in getting rid of the guilt. You devote yourself to spending every second trying to do better despite the fact that it’ll never be enough. And you pray with every single good act you do that somehow, when your life is over, that you came close to making up for the wrong you did,” I avoided Celestia’s gaze.

“Perseverance…” Blaze mumbled as I turned and left; my family and friends walking with me alongside Blaze.

“Oh, and Celestia,” I glanced toward the solar goddess, with an icy glare, “I made a nice little statue in tribute to my friends in the forest, should your serpentine friend come within two-hundred yards of it, there won’t be enough of him left to fill a shot glass let alone a tin of beans, are we quite clear?” she gave a light nod “Good.”

“You quoted me?” Blackjack laughed.

“So I did,” I smiled with a roll of my eyes as we made our way down the corridor, “after all, perseverance is your virtue, as Sacrifice is Littlepip’s.”

“That it is,” Littlepip gleamed.

“And what’s yours?” the alabaster alicorn glanced toward me with a wide, warm smile.

“I don’t know,” I mumbled, “Faith maybe?”

“That’s one possibility,” she nickered, “I’d have to put an estimate on purity, or innocence.”

“That’d be P.S, not me,” I clenched my fists.

“Ah yes, the little undead filly in the space suit,” she snorted, “Did she find her mother?”

“I hope so; Thor only knows what could’ve happened to her,” I bit my lip.

“Hey, whilst we’re here do you want to play game of cards?”

“What’d you have in mind?” I smiled as I brought a deck of traditional playing cards from my inventory.

“How about Blackjack..?” she winked, “the actual game of course….”

“But of course, wouldn’t want to attempt to take advantage of a sensible mare like that,” I laughed as we sat opposite one-other beside the wall of the corridor, also bringing out a crate of whiskey

-==-

“So that’s what three-two?” Blackjack laughed with a rather slurred tone in her voice

“I think you’ve had enough,” I rolled my eyes.

“Have I Rick, have I?” she winked again, flirtatiously this time, “or is it you who can’t stand my beauty?”

“Says the one who’s been through a dozen six-packs,  I gestured to  the pile of whiskey bottles that was slowly making its way up the wall of the corridor, “I’ve barely had any.”

“You don’ know what yer missin” she waved a dismissive hoof’ “when you get to be my age, you forget about those things…”

“I’m around three-centuries older than you,” I raised an eyebrow.

“Are ya?” she tilted her head “you look as thou yer twenty’” her speech slurred even further as she down another bottle, giving a loud belch, followed by a light giggle “Better out than in.”

“So it is,” I sighed, “you still playing?”

“Nah, I’m game for now” she grumbled, dropping her cards to the floor, staring at me with a pair of scarlet eyes “Buck me but you’re alright…!” she leapt at me, knocking me on my back, immediately planting her lips against mine, quickly forcing her tongue between my teeth, grinning at me as she parted, dragging me by the hand with the use of her magic, my arm being pulled in a mild orange glow.

“Rick?” I glanced downward; Cellsy was there alongside Blaze and Celestia, eyebrows raised

“Don’t ask,” I shrugged as Blackjack pulled me into an empty bedroom, locking the door with her magic after she laid me down on the bed, quickly leaping onto the bed after me, climbing along my body, placing her front hooves either side of my head

“Now, isn’t this the part you rut me senseless, after all, I’m a bad pony, Rick-o?” she gave a somewhat sadistic grin.

“Not at all,”

“Huh?” she blinked, “what do you mean ‘not at all’ isn’t this the part where the royal knight beds the princess?”

“I’ll not take advantage of an intoxicated woman, Blackjack, least of all one of my marefriends,” I argued back with a frown.

“Would you rather me do it, that way you’ll still have your so-called purity?” she batted her eyelids at me, I shrugged, “suit yourself…”

=-==-=

“Note to self; never play games with Blackjack” I mumbled, now stood with my family and friends in the centre of ponyville

“May I have your attention please!?” Twilight echoed from atop a small bridge, everypony present stopped and turned toward her, eyebrows raised in confusion, “it has come to my attention that a large dragon has taken root  in a nearby mountain, and its snoring is causing the smoke you see above you to spread all over Equestria.”

“This should be fun,” I snorted as both sets of the element bearers and I trekked up toward the dragon’s lair alongside the alicorns from both worlds.

“There’s no way in Equestria that you can slay a dragon…!” the new Rainbow Dash frowned at me “it’s not possible!”

“Try telling that to Discord…” Blaze laughed.

“So, does everypony know the plan?” Twilight, the new Twilight, turned to each of us in turn, wincing as she glanced toward me, I raised an eyebrow in return, everyone present nodded.

And so, she went forth, only to return a few moments later, covered in soot, and with a rather agitated expression

“Didn’t work huh?” Blackjack smirked.

“To hay with this!” the new Rainbow Dash soared into the cave, kicking the dragon in the jaw, only for it to send her reeling with a hard jab, knocking both sets of the element bearers to the ground.

“And that’s not a very good idea, for the dragon could go on a rampage and attack the nearest defenceless village,” I explained.

“And I suppose you’ve got a better idea!?” she blared as she rose to her hooves alongside the others, aren’t you supposed to be a dragon slayer or something?”

“I shan’t take a life, save for when I need to, Rainbow” I spat, “and besides, I thought you ponies were against violence, or are you just that stuck-up and arrogant?” I marched forth, into the mouth of the cave.

“Must I do everything myself?” I used my legs as pumps, just as I did before, my body heating up to the point where my sweat evaporated.

“What in tarnation?” the new Applejack stared at me alongside her friends and Celestia.

“Gia Sekando,” I grinned, bursting forth with energy found anew, firing Gatling –like punches toward the dragon, sending it sliding across the floor, several hundred tonnes worth of gems falling to the floor until the dragon came to the far end of its cave.

Eventually, the wall began to crack, and the large reptile flew through the newly made hole in the wall, falling all the way down the mountain.

“That was a pain…” I mumbled, falling flat on my rear in the middle of the now-separated pile of gems the steaming effect wearing off alongside the technique, picking up a nearby ruby, devouring it within seconds.

“SO, you can eat gems,” Celestia spoke with a rather concerned tone, I turned, facing her and the others “What was that ability you jus used?”

“Oh, that,” I began, swallowing the remains of the ruby “that was ‘Gear Second,’ or at least that’s what I call it,” she gave a slow nod “I use my legs as pumps, as to hasten the flow of blood around my body, thus, enhancing the amount of oxygen to my  muscles and to certain parts of my body, the smoke, or steam, as some people refer to it as, is my body getting hot enough that my sweat evaporates.

“That’s impossible!” The new Twilight gasped, staring at me in unadulterated awe/horror.

“I’m rubber, remember?” I stretched my arm, extending it to her; she gave it a light shake with her hoof before shuddering as I retracted it.

“So, this is now your hoard then?” Celestia raised an eyebrow.

“I may be part dragon, but said part isn’t large enough for me to be a selfish tyrant, no offense to any of the dragon gods or kings,” I laughed.

‘The new’ Pinkie Pie gasped; “I didn’t get to throw you a ‘Welcome-to-Ponyville’ party!”

“It can wait can’t it?” I raised an eyebrow, “we’ve all the time in the world to…!” suddenly, the scenery changed to the inside of the library, where what seemed to be everyone in ponyville smiled at me “get back… well, we’ve two centuries, so there’s something.”

“Two centuries to what?” she blinked.

“Now that would be ruining the surprise, Pinkie Pie,” I grinned.

“I love surprises, especially the one we had planned for you Ricky-o!” she laughed with a light giggle.

“Then you’re going to have an absolute blast with the next one,” I chortled.

“Cupcake?” she offered me a heavily-laced cake, the top of which wasn’t visible with the amount of icing

“You got any muffins?” she quickly swapped the tray of cupcakes for one crowded with muffins, I carefully took one, “Thanks pinks.”

“No problem-o Ricky-o!” she nickered, I rolled my eyes with a smile. “So, what d’ya think, were you surprised, where ya, where ya, where ya?”

“Mildly,” I titled my head after finishing the muffin.

“Rats, I’ll have to put more flare into the next one,,” she grumbled with a light frown.

“And risk giving someone a heart attack, let alone an aneurysm?” I blinked “I think there’s a fine line between surprising someone and putting them in hospital, Pinkie

“Hmm, good point, unless…” she pulled on a rope, that of which appeared from nowhere, revealing in a jack-in-a-box, which also appeared from nowhere, which burst open, revealing a whole series of banners one of my artworks hung from each one

“Where did you get those?” I gave a light frown in return.

“Oh, are they yours’ I just found them in the castle and thought that nopony wanted them,” she giggled; I turned and left, marching toward the forest, fuming to myself as I went.

After I’d calmed down -and that wasn’t including the destruction of a few species of animals native to the forest, giant astral bears included- I found myself by the statue of my friends…

“You finally settle down into a new home, and what happens? The local part animal decides to steal them and then use them as her own source of entertainment!” I boomed at the top of my lungs, blinking, was I really just that loud? Awesome,”

“Almost priceless artworks, now most likely in ruin,, no matter, I can always create replicas from near-perfect memory…”

-=-=-

After what felt like mere minutes, the first portrait was complete, it was a picture of Earth, complete with the sun, moon and stars around it, and little grey dots representing the craters.

“Onto the next one…” I mumbled.

-=-=-

After a week or two, I’d finished what I hoped to be perfect replicas of my previous works, every single one of them in almost-spotless condition, minus the odd speck of dust, be it here or there…

The artworks in question were stood in a folded pile before me

“Where were you?” Blaze frowned, arms folded as I carried the portraits into Ponyville.

“Out by the statue,” I gave a faint grin, “I replaced the old artworks with new ones.”

“So you have, but what if the Pink Party Pony of Ponyville should happen to sneak a peek at one of them?” she raised an eyebrow.

“Frankly, I’m not in the mood for such antics, which is why I’m delivering these to the sun goddess herself.”

“Or you could keep them in the house, I mean, it’s not like she’s going to rob you of anything, I doubt she’s that stupid,” the Typhlosion snorted.

“That remains to be seen…”

As I sat on the front lawn, I felt something soft land atop my head…

“Hello Daddy,” Snowdrop chimed.

“Hello Snowy,” I smiled “How’ve you been?”

“The same as usual,” she giggled “were you by the statue?” I nodded, “I told everypony not to panic, but they wouldn’t listen to me…”

“Nopony ever listens to foals nowadays…” I laughed, “I’d listen to you, whether my life depended on it or not remains to be otherwise irrelevant.”

“I love you Daddy…” she gave a light hum.

“I love you too Snowy; and I always will,” I gently picked her up from my head, setting her in my lap, draping my wings around her, as if shielding her.

“Your feathers are tickly,” she nickered with a cute giggle.

“Oh? Then what’d happen if I did this?” I ruffled my wings, causing my feathers to shake uncontrollably.

“Stop it, that’s enough,” she laughed, tears streaming down her muzzle as she writhing in glee in my lap, “Alright, that’s enough, please?” I stopped, “thank you…” It was then that I noticed that everyone present was staring at me, slack-jawed.

“Just taking care of my little Snowdrop,” I smiled, “look me in the eyes and say you wouldn’t do all that you could to look after your little next of kin.” All I got as a reply was a dozen sighs of relief, a few waves, a couple-dozen smiles, and even a wink or two…

“I love you Daddy,” Snowdrop nuzzled into me.

“And I you, Snowy, and I you,” I pecked her forehead.

=-=

“So… just because she’s different, all of a sudden she’s labelled as evil?” I frowned as the new Equis’ variants of the element bearers and Spike, alongside my family and I stood in the darkness of the dimly-lit Sugarcube corner, the only light available to us coming from that of Celestia’s sun.

“That ain’t what Ah meant,” Applejack took a step backward.

“I do believe the people at the TV-tropes page would call this ‘Fantastic, racism,’” Blaze spat, “Shows what you think of us, doesn’t it?”

“I think I’ll move to Canterlot, the ponies may be a load of stuck-up moron’s but at least they keep it to themselves,” I turned and left, my family and Blaze quickly following me as I changed to eon form, Snowdrop perching herself once again upon my head, Scootaloo and Gracy Gloom upon my back, and Winter Bell upon my neck respectively.

Blaze; make sure the door’s locked, and after that, make sure no one goes near the statue, guard it with your life if you have to.”

“Will do; Brigadier General Hawkins Sir!” Blaze saluted me, as I took to the sky, heading for canterlot

“Rick, what brings you here?” Celestia raised an eyebrow; I levitated the portraits toward her via Purple flare, having reverted to my human form “Didn’t you give us these?”

“Somepony decided it’d be fun to break the laws of physics and steal them,” I shrugged, “And so here they are again, Princess.”

“Why would one of my little ponies, Pinkie Pie in general, want to steal from you?” she frowned.

“You tell me, you were there when she used them at the party,” I blinked “by the way, have you heard the latest craze that’s sweeping through the nearby town?” she shook her head, “just because there’s a zebra in town, everyone runs with their tails between their legs and locks themselves in their houses, just because she’s that little bit different.”

“I’ll have a word with them about that then, thank you for reporting it, Sir Rick,” she smiled.

“I’m not a knight, nor a lord, a prince, or a saviour,” I frowned “and with that I bid thee adieu.”

-=(+)=-

When I got back, the front door to my house was locked, I rushed to the statue, Blaze was stood, alert, and vigilant

“Sir,” Blaze saluted me.

“At ease Sergeant,” I laughed.

“As you say,” she laughed.

“I trust that nobody’s come near it?” I nodded toward the statue.

“Not a soul Sir, save a Zebra, Zecora I think her name was, rather nice too, shame the ponies seemed to shun her for being who she was…”

“You needn’t refer to me as I would be in the UNSC; Blaze, just ‘Rick’ will suffice” I smirked.

“But it’s so much fun!” she chortled.

“Touché, Sergeant” I grinned.

“-=-”

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight instantly bowed alongside her friends, and for that matter, every other pony in sight

“Rise,” there was no emotion in Celestia’s voice as she approached the lavender mare, Twilight gradually rose to her usual height, staring the princess in the eyes “I’ve caught word of a bit of negative activity happening between you and a certain Zebra, is this true?”

“But, how did…?” Celestia nodded toward me somewhat discreetly, “Oh…”

“Now, what exactly has been going on between you and this Zebra…?”

=-=

“You told Celestia on us?” Rainbow Dash growled as we stood in the throne room, alongside both sets of element bearers, my friends, family and the alicorns.

“I don’t see what the big deal is, you see a bully, or are bullied in school, what do you do, that might be the sensible option?” I popped my knuckles.

“Tell the teacher?” Twilight held up a hoof.

“Good…” I chimed, “So, what makes this so different, disregarding the fact that this isn’t in a school, and the fact that Zecora’s a zebra?”

“Not much?” she stammered.

“Good at least to see somepony’s got brains around here” Blaze replied snarkily.

“Blaze, be nice.”

“Yes sir” she quickly silenced herself with a grin.

“‘Sir’...?” Applejack frowned, I sighed, changing to my Spartan form, tilting my head “Oh…”

“There’s still no way you’re better than Shining Armour!” Rainbow Dash spat.

“I’ve already proven otherwise once, I needn’t do so again, Rainbow” I grinned

“Prove it!”

“Alright, try lifting me” I held my arms by my sides.

“Easy!” she laughed, hooking her arms under my own, attempting to lift me from the ground, with quite visible effort, eventually conceding and returning to her original place beside Twilight and the others

“How heavy is that armour?” Twilight eyed me from head to foot

“One-thousand pounds, on average, costs the same as a small starship; and I’d advise against trying to make your own, due to its complexity, Twilight Sparkle,” I nodded.

“It’s a hunk of scrap,” Rainbow Dash tutted.

“Titanium-alloy counts as scrap now, Rainbow?” I blinked “try hitting me, hard as you can.”

“If you say so” she scowled, rearing back an arm, hitting me square in the chest-area, quickly regretting her actions, falling to the floor, clutching her hoof as she writhed in agony.

“How many sets of this peculiar armour do you have?” Celestia raised an eyebrow

“Around one-hundred thousand, all augmented for war, both mentally and psychologically, Princess,” I quickly bowed, “They called us super-soldiers for a reason…”

“There’re how many of you?” Twilight stared at me.

“I don’t think I need repeat myself, Twilight,” I frowned, “in this, I’m more-or-less bulletproof, to a certain extent, of course,” I continued with a sly grin, unseen by all but myself, “would you rather we do a little field test, assuming you ponies have anything better than the ye olde average bow and arrow?”

“We’ve a few crossbows with diamond tipped bolts?” Celestia raised an eyebrow.

“Case in point…” I rolled my eyes.

“Would you rather we fire hyper lethal bolts of magic at you?” she frowned.

“You can try, I mean, this armour can survive anything up to a nuclear explosion, and then some,” I slowly shook my head, walking from the throne room to the arena, my friends and family walking with me from the great chamber -reverting to my regular human form-, to the arena.

“So, we’re just waiting for the year to end, then what?” Blackjack smiled.

“Then our home, the guild, and the statue and all its surrounding content go back with us,” I frowned, “Discord’s game will last not any longer than that Cellsy saw to it that it was the highest he’d set the proverbial timer…”

“I did what now?” Discord appeared before me.

I launched myself toward the demigod, delivering punch after punch, fists blazing with angry, crimson flames that burnt away his fur and skin as I fired a barrage of jabs all along his serpentine form, leaping into the air, creating twin, massive pitch-black fireballs, slamming them together against the chaos god.

I grinned somewhat sadistically as he screamed in agony, teleporting away.

It was then that I noticed my eyes were stinging, and my vision had gone a little blurry.

“Daddy..!” Snowdrop cried out, I blinked my vision returning to normal as the stinging also stopped, I turned, rushing to her, crouching to her level, she clung onto me, knocking me onto my rear end.

“I’m sorry Snowdrop;” I draped my wings around her and the other members of my family as they surrounded me “Truly, if I could’ve seen that coming, I’d have held back, really.”

“I know Daddy, I’m just scared of what Princesses will do to you now,” she cried, the teras that cascaded down her face soaking my shirt.

“Rick…?” I looked up, Celestia, Cellsy and the others were there; each pony donned a rather worried expression.

“I didn’t…” I trailed off, “I’ll take whatever punishment you may choose, Princess….”

“What happened?” Cellsy marched right up to me, sitting by my side, draping a regal wing around me.

“I got angry… I mumbled.

“At who..?”

“Discord,”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want him interfering in what doesn’t belong to him.”

“You summoned black flames, how?” Celestia frowned, “I’ve not seen or felt magic this sinister since Sombra’s being frozen in the ice due north of the Crystal Empire..!”

“Do with me what you will, just save the talk.”

“We’re going to have to either exile you, or extract the dark magic from you, manually,” she bit her lip.

“You’ll do no such thing!” Cellsy bellowed at the top of her lungs, “you so much as lay a hoof on my son and I’ll see to it that you won’t see the light of day ever again!” I tried summoning a flame, eventually succeeding in summoning the usual whitish golden fireball.”

“Seeing as your son’s magic seems to have reverted to normal, I suppose I can let this one event slide, but I’ll be keeping an ey on him from now on,” Celestia scowled at me

“You won’t need to, I can take care of him myself,” she growled

“See to it that you do.”

-=-=-

“How..?” Cellsy glared at my icily once we were alone, “How could you let your emotions get the best of you like that?”

“I…”

“I don’t want excuses Rick, I want the truth,” she snapped, interrupting me “Whether it be who you are, or something else, I want to know, and I need to know now!”

“You know me, I see someone being like him around my friends and I get a mild tendency to go overboard…” I bit my lip, she glowered, “I’m sorry, that’s all I can say,” I clenched my fists…

“You poor fool,” she slowly edged toward me, suddenly draping her arms and legs around me, pecking my cheek “I should’ve known it’d happen eventually, your anger and pure emotions driving you to your own discovery and use of dark magic…”

()+-+()

After having the dark magic (painfully) extracted from me, I staggered out of the throne room, falling flat on my face within a few feet of the entrance to the castle.

“Here,” Blackjack levitated a pile of gems to my side, “I saved them when we were in the wastes, just fort you, Ricky-o.”

-=-

“So, King Sombra’s returned?” Blaze raised an eyebrow as we disembarked the train.

“To put it bluntly,” Celestia frowned at me.

“And I’m guessing that we need an ancient artefact known simply as the Crystal Heart’ to put an end to his tyranny?” she raised an eyebrow “Same thing happened to us, Spike and Twilight found the heart, I held the oncoming darkness at bay, to put it simply, child’s-play.”

“I assure you this won’t be easy, eon” she scowled…

That’s what she said,” I snorted, unsheathing the day breaker and Daybreaker, placing them beside one-another combined energies of the two blades resonated from one-another as they merged.

“Kami no shinken; Shinsei danzoku!” I boomed (Divine God’s Sword Nova-Breaker!)

“Got any other slurs or slights you’d like to send my way, Celestia..? I tutted with a curt nod,

“Nova breaker…!”  Snowdrop chimed, perching herself atop my head once again, Celestia awing at me as we marched to the Crystal Empire

“And this is where the Heart’s supposed to go?” Celestia nodded with a light frown.

I de-fused the Nova-Breaker, sheathing the two blades that it was composed of, changing to eon form

“Blaze, Gems I rolled a claw toward the Typhlosion that stood beside me

“Are you sure about this?” she handed me a basket of gems.

“Have you got any better ideas, other than searching for the Crystal Heart?” I frowned, she quickly shook her head as I bit down on one of the gems, tearing my crystalline heart out, , eating as many gems as I could as it began to regenerate, channelling a small amount of my magic energy into the gemstone, placing it between the tower-like structure that stood beneath the main tower in the city.

The effects were immediate, as a shining Aura burst forth from the now spinning crystalline artefact as it pulsated with light and energy both found anew,  the immediate area turning form a dull, lifeless grey to a shining, azure-silvery colour, the dark cerulean blues turning cyan, alongside every other shade of colour in the city that shone like the sun.

“You… how…?” Celestia stared at me in apparent horror.

“You’re city isn’t the only entity with a crystalline heart,” I grinned, tapping my chest symbol.

“You tore your own heart out!?” Twilight screamed.

“You don’t have to yell…” I mumbled.

“I think yelling would be somewhat appropriate, considering your actions just now, Rick,” Celestia raised an eyebrow.

“-=-=-“

“Alright you sonuvabitch, bring it on,” I growled from atop the tower in the crystal empire as an enormous black shadow threatened to destroy the shield that my heart had placed over the city, leaping forth, charging toward the demonic apparition retrieving a small, spherical gem from my pocket, devouring it in an instant.

“Star Dragon Seraph,” I boomed, my two upper sets of wings fusing into one as a golden set of somewhat archaic armour appeared around me, completing the picture was the combined form of the Duskfall and Dawnbreaker.

That battle itself only lasted mere minutes, and in the end, Sombra lay on the frozen earth, shattered into a billion shards of his former self.

“I told them I could do it…” I collapsed, the armour disintegrating as I fell from the sky, the Starblazer reverting back unto the Dawnbreaker and Duskfall as I plummeted to the ground, only to be caught by four familiar foals.

“We’ve got you Daddy,” Snowdrop chimed as she, Gracy Gloom, Scootaloo and Winter Belle lifted me to safety.

“Thank you, my little Snow Angel,” I smiled as they set me down atop the balcony on the tower.

“We know you’d do the same for us, we’re fall family, right Daddy?” she giggled.

“You’re more than family, you’re my Nakama, Snowdrop, Gracy Gloom, Winter Bell and Scootaloo,” I smiled, pecking each of them on the forehead, “And no amount of dark magic or tyranny is going to change that.”

“We love you Daddy,” the four of them chimed in perfect unison, landing on my head, neck and back respectively as I changed to eon form, collapsing to the floor.

“And I you, my little angels,” I smiled.

Glancing behind me, dragging myself into a turn, I saw Celestia and the others stood there, wide-eyed and slack-jawed, save Cellsy and the older set of Twilight and her friends.

“I said I could do it, Celestia.”

“So you did, and I’m sorry for ever doubting you, Rick.”

“No harm no foul,” I glimmered, “Besides, I sued more magic energy than what I hoped to use…”

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