"A Human? Within the Everspring? And here, I thought you knew everything!" Zecallo told Zeena.

"Zecallo! Have the years blinded you? Come see for yourself, and you'll know it is true!" Zeena replied to her husband.

"Where am I?" Justin asked.

"That look you give, it's troubled, no? What's happening that makes you feel like so?" Zeena asked Justin.

"I need to find my daughter! She's still on that airship! Did you see where it went?!" Justin asked.

"You fell from the ships that sail in the sky? How in the world did you not even die?!" Zecallo asked.

"Zecallo! Why would you even ASK that kind of question?! Of course he didn't come from that ship! A fall like that could make even Princess Celestia die, if she didn't have a protection spell on her!" Zeena complained to Zecallo in Druathican.

"Actually, I did fall from the airship." Justin said in Druathican, which caught the two Zebras by surprise. "In fact, I was on a trip to Equestria, when we were ambushed, and I was thrown overboard."

"They called themselves 'Black Wings'... and when they abducted our villagers, they were last seen headed towards the Druathican Grasslands, within the far-eastern side of the island!" Zecallo and Zeena both said to Justin.

Once Justin stepped outside the door, Zecallo grabbed his left shoulder, and said in a worried tone, "You can't be serious! They'll kill you, or everyone in there, if they see you!" Justin, however, pulled his shoulder free, and continued walking.

Before he took five steps, Justin turned his head to the left, and replied, "Yes, but if I don't go, I may never see my daughter again!" At that, Zecallo's eyes widened, while Zeena stepped beside him.

"Where are you, beast?!" A Diamond Dog in a "Black Wings" uniform asked, now looking around in a circle. "Come on out! I know I saw you standing here!"

"Y-YOU?! I thought we killed you, already!" It asked, now sounding more angrier than scared.

Justin smirked, and replied, "Well, I guess you thought wrong, then! So, you'll tell me where my daughter is, won't you?"

"Th-the camp i-is in the far-eastern side of the forest! Y-you can't miss it!" The Diamond Dog replied nervously.

Justin sat on the top of a tree, examining a giant wooden fortress.

Justin's mouth opened widely, and out of pent up aggression, his arms began to shake as he saw a cage that hung on a rope over the camp, which contained Ruby, who was visibly crying, and curled up into her knees. "I'll freakin' kill them for this!" Justin whispered to himself through clenched teeth.

"Well, well, well! Looks like the human, as you called yourself, knows how to, not only survive a deathly fall, but fight, as well!" Iron-Hoof stated, before he reached his right arm behind his back. "I have a proposition for you, if you'll listen!"

"If you're thinking I'd serve the guy who nearly killed me, and kidnapped my daughter, then you must be out of your mind!" Justin retorted.

"Why would you think that my actions came without reason, though? Didn't anyone tell you what your 'daughter' is?!" Iron-Hoof asked.

Silently, Justin shook his head, and replied, "Alright, then... I'm listening."

"Good! I'm sure you know that her race is known as an 'Alicorn', but do you know what makes an Alicorn so special?" Iron-Hoof asked.

Justin nodded, and replied, "According to the books, an Alicorn is a race that represents the highest of royalty, and according to the books, and rumors, the sun and moon themselves are raised and lowered by two Alicorn Princesses." Then, his eyes widened at the realization. "But nobody else can do that..."

Iron-Hoof nodded his head. "Exactly! So what I have in mind is this... I -err, we can take the two of you to Equestria, the land that those two Alicorns rule, and they can teach her all about her unknown powers!" Then, he rubbed the back of his head. "Also... I never really noticed that the little Alicorn was your daughter, to be honest!"

"Thanks." Justin began, before shaking his right pointing finger left and right. "Now I know how to spot a liar when I see one!"

"Quite a shame... a good eye like that could've been useful!" Iron-Hoof stated, before grabbing onto two giant greatswords, which melted, and crawled onto his arms, turning them into spiked-knuckled metal arms.

After giving a blood-curdling roar, he rushed towards Justin, who at this point, drew his staff, and held it in a defensive stance, while Iron-Hoof leaped up, and had his right fist stretched back, and ready to collide with it's target.

For over twenty meters around the arena, dust flew upwards, causing most of those within it to be untraceable. Ruby squinted her eyes, and tried to see if her dad, Justin, was okay.

Her expression turned into one of great joy when she saw the two figures' shadows through the sand. One of the figures was Iron-Hoof, who had his right fist caught on something.

Beneath his fist, Justin stood his ground, with his staff somehow still intact, even though it was made entirely of wood. Around the two, the circles that were drawn were completely dissipated, while a large crater sat where Justin's circle used to be.

With his eyebrows raised, Iron-Hoof asked, "W-WHAT?! How did you..."

Justin grinned, before replying, "Isn't it obvious, Mr. Copperbottom? I'm not using an ordinary staff!"

As he said that, he quickly pushed Iron-Hoof's right fist away with his staff, before twirling it behind his back, and swinging it forward. When he did, a large gust of wind followed the direction, causing Iron-Hoof to fly back a few meters, which was enough for Justin to rush forward, and lift the staff in the air.

Iron-Hoof braced himself, and curled both of his metal fists in front of his face, prepared for impact. What he didn't expect, however, was for Justin to slam the staff on the ground between them, and launch himself in the air.

Caught off guard, Iron-Hoof attempted to turn around, and punch the ground where he thought Justin landed. When the smoke cleared from where his fist landed, however, he found that his attempted swing was a miss.

Behind his back, Justin managed to kick him with both feet, which caused him to dive head-first into the ground, which formed another crater where he landed.

Spitting a small hint of blood from the ground, Iron-Hoof quickly used the momentum to roll forward, and charge in the opposite direction, before leaping a small distance, then sliding his hooves and right arm onto the ground, while crouching in a pouncing position, as he turned around, and was facing Justin again.

Justin held his straight face, and positioned his left hand in front of his body, outstretched, while he held his staff with his right hand, angled behind his back. His left leg was outstretched, and his right foot was leaned downward. His back was arched forward slightly.

Iron-Hoof huffed out a small hint of steam from his nostrils, before charging head-first towards Justin, while letting out a blood-curdling roar. Justin took this as a chance to brace for impact again.

Mere moments before Iron-Hoof could reach him, however, Justin grunted in pain when he felt an arrow strike him in the right leg, creating a painful-looking cut in the center of his calf. Turning his head towards the direction the arrow came from, he realized that the pirates were defending their leader at this point, much to his disgust. "Oh, how pirate-like can these clowns even get?!" Justin thought to himself, right before he ended up getting rammed into a pile of crates that were all filled with an assortment of wines.

Quickly, Justin stood from the broken crates, and glared at Iron-Hoof, who managed to stop himself once he managed to hit Justin. The pirates all laughed at their victim, who glared daggers at Iron-Hoof, before smirking.

"D'aww, look at that, Iron-Butt! You couldn't handle me yourself, so you had to get your wittle helpers!" Justin taunted, as he stood back up.

Iron-Hoof grinned slyly, before replying, "Only a fool rushes into a battle alone! Especially when they go against a pirate!" With that, large numbers of the pirates began to break from the circle, and rush towards Justin, who drew his staff, and held it in a defensive position.

Finally, he threw his staff in the air, drew his bow, and shot a ghost arrow towards the top of a distant wall behind Iron-Hoof. As it whizzed in the air, the group of pirates were distracted by the staff, until Justin backed up, positioning the staff between both, himself and the arrow's designated landing spot.

When he turned into a breeze of air, the staff transformed with it once the breeze made contact with it. This caused the pirates to look around confusedly, until one-by-one, they started to get shot by random arrows from different directions.

Eventually, the pirates backed away, and tried to retreat, only to get shot down in their backs.

When Iron-Hoof saw this, he glared nervously, and began looking around, yelling, "What the- SHOW YOURSELF, YOU COWARD!"

The next thing he knew, he heard Justin reply from behind his back, "You brought it on yourself, Copperbottom!"

Out of frustration, Iron-Hoof turned around, and hit the ground again, creating yet another crater. This time, however, he didn't turn around, and merely swung at the air, which yielded no results.

Turning around, he punched the air, only to find that he was swinging at, literally, nothing. "That is NOT my name!" He shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Strange, because I'm pretty sure your bottom might be stained with a copper color, by now." Justin replied from behind him again.

Out of frustration, Iron-Hoof swung behind his back again, but this time, it managed to make contact. "SILENCE, YOU FOOL!"

After a few seconds of the dust dying down, Justin began to laugh from behind him again, as he realized that he just punched his spiked knuckles into the corpse of one of his own men... although considering how the corpse was twitching once the dust cleared up, it was clear that it wasn't a corpse a few seconds ago.

"ENOUGH PLAYING AROUND! FIGHT ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT!" Iron-Hoof shouted, before adding in a much more silent manner, "Or I'll just forfeit, and hunt your daughter down, instead!" That statement caused Justin to stop hiding, and appear in front of him. Instead of his former sly grin, he was now holding an enraged expression.

"Trust me when I tell you this... you shouldn't have gone there..." Justin replied, as his tone began to lower. "And now, I show no regrets in agreeing... play time is over!"

In the matter of seconds, a ghost arrow landed behind Iron-Hoof, which caused Justin to teleport behind him, while he grabbed his metal left hand with his right one. Then he caught Iron-Hoof's attempted right-armed swing, which he tried by turning around clockwise, which ended up the same, only this time, Justin's arms were crossed. When he caught the other hand, Iron-Hoof's eyes widened, as he felt the metal on his hands bend into his flesh inside, causing him to yell in agony.

"And now..." Justin began, "I think you owe Ruby an apology!"

Iron-Hoof spat on the ground, then replied, "Buck you!" With a shrug, Justin uncrossed his arms, which caused Iron-Hoof's arms to cross instead, resulting in more pain and yelling.

"Care to rephrase that?!" Justin asked, now getting annoyed at this pirate's attitude, even while facing death.

"I ain't apologizing to some brat!" Iron-Hoof retorted, now spitting in Justin's face.

This caused Justin to release him, and wipe the mucus-filled saliva out of his eyes. At that point, Iron-Hoof quickly picked him up, and rushed him into one of the massive bird-shaped wooden statues. In self-defense, Justin raised his feet into the air, and kicked Iron-Hoof halfway across the battlefield, before rushing towards him with his staff drawn again.

Iron-Hoof, who lied on the ground at that point, used his hooves to kick Justin in the chest when he was within range, which caused him to stumble to the ground. Then Iron-Hoof pinned him to the ground with his metal hands, and growled, "It's over, human! I've won!"

Justin glared at him, and replied, "Oh, really? You think you've won, even though you cheated?!"

Iron-Hoof smirked, before replying, "Once a pirate, always a pirate!"

Justin looked around for a silver-lining for his situation. It was then that he found the statue of the bird was falling towards them, beak-down.

Then Justin created a small blaze with his hands, and heated Iron-Hoof's metal arms unbearably, which caused him to yell in pain again, and loosen his grip. While freed, Justin quickly kicked Iron-Hoof off of him, and then rolled to the left, as Iron-Hoof stared wide-eyed at the eagle statue that had it's beak in a direct collision-course for his chest.

The next thing that could be heard was a loud masculine scream, followed by an even louder bang, and then silence. Standing up, Justin looked behind his left shoulder, and saw Iron-Hoof lying under the eagle's head, with it's beak pierced completely through his chest, and into the ground.

"Yeah... you took your job straight to the heart, huh?" Justin said to the corpse, as he walked towards the gates of the gallows, which led to the main entrance.

When he got there, he was greeted by a loud cheer. Looking around, he saw a large number of Zebras, Gryphons and Diamond Dogs who wore torn rags, and a few Wyverns and Ponies, some in rags, and others in the clothes that they wore from the Airship. He wasn't entirely focused on most of them, though. In fact, there were only two out of the hundreds that he was focused on. One of them was already running his way.

"DADDY!" Ruby joyfully yelled, which caused Justin to smile, and lower to one of his knees, with his arms stretched out.

When she was within reach, he quickly embraced is daughter, and lifted her up, while she had her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. "I... I'm so sorry I ever doubted you, Daddy!" Ruby said through her tears.

Justin's own tears built up in his eyes, while he replied, "Shh, it's alright, honey... I would NEVER let anything harm you... I've already promised you that... and I intend to keep it!" He then closed his eyes, as his tears broke from his eye-barrier. "At first, though, I was scared that I might've failed you... I thought I lost you for a second... but I'm just thankful that I was wrong about that."

As the reunited father and daughter embraced each other, a crowd gathered around them, some confused, some deeply touched, and some turning to their loved ones, and embracing them, as well.

"And you're sure you can't stay with us?" The Zebra Healer asked Justin, as he, Ruby, and Gilded stood at the entrance, with Gilded holding a map that was supposed to take them to the nearest port town.

With a smile, Justin shook his head, and replied, "I'm sorry Zeia, but we really need to reach Equestria as soon as possible. Thank you for the offer, though! Perhaps we'll be able to send Zecora here to tell y'all if we made it back home, or not... but for now, we'll say it in person. Thank you all for the supplies y'all have given us... we will never forget y'all. To me, you're all our friends, now!" After saying that, he waved his right hand, and smiled at the Zebra Village, which gained a ton of new inhabitants... namely the Pony and Wyvern couple, who have decided to live there instead, and avoid the dangers of the outside world. Everyone else have decided to stay, and wait a month for a few guards to arrive and escort them to Draemarth, the Capital City of Druathica.

"We shall never forget you, Justin! Human Savior of Goldwood Village!" With that, the entire town cheered loudly, as Justin blushed, and nodded his head, before the three waved their final good-byes, and headed out the gate, and into the dark, dirt road through the brighter-looking jungle.

"Daddy?" Ruby asked Justin, as the three of them walked out of Goldwood's reach.

"Yes, honey?" Justin replied, lowering his ear to her.

After a few seconds of a delay, she popped him in the back of the head. "Ow! What was THAT for?!"

"Scaring me when you carried me out of the cage!" She retorted.

"What?! I already told you that-" Justin began, before he was interrupted by Gilded Blade popping him in the back of the head as well. "OW! Gilded?!"

Gilded grunted, before saying, "And that was for taking your sweet time!" Then the three of them slightly chuckled. "Seriously, though... thank you for the save, Justin!"

Justin nodded his head, and replied, "Any time! You know I've already considered you a friend, right?"

Gilded lightly smirked, while he looked up. "Yeah, I kinda figured that... but it's still going to take some getting used to, though..."

Ruby looked up at the two, and asked, "So, Mr. Gilded! Where will we be going, now?"

Gilded smiled at the little Alicorn Filly and replied, "Well, it'll be about a day's length of a walk from Goldwood to Draemarth, and somewhere between the two is the Druid Lake. Perhaps we could set up a camp there!"

Justin clapped his hands together, and smiled. "Well wherever we go, I'm looking forward to some rest! This arrow wound ain't gonna heal that well if I keep moving on it, right?" The others nodded their heads, as they continued through the forest, and towards the horizon, where the sun began to rise.