"Well, that's a problem," Red said. "What makes you say that?" Red took the chance to sprint toward one of the other head's and stabbed it through the eye. The other head managed to chew completely through the dead head before Red sliced it down the middle. The chewed stump of the head began to squirm and then two more heads burst from the stump. "Dammit," Red muttered. He jumped back as one of the heads attempted to chomp his am. Red sliced at it as he jump, only managing to scratch it. The other head rammed into him, while he was occupied with getting away from the other head. As the wind was knocked out of him, Red was thrown ten feet back.

He slowly got back up, just in time to see it charging at him yet again. Red had to time to react, and was hit with the hydra's full force. As Red felt the pain, he grinned again. He stabbed on of the heads, and then slit the the other's throat The only head that was left was the one with it's eye missing. It growled, then roared. Red ran straight at the head, but just as he was about to end it, it managed to chomp into his shoulder. But all the pain did was fuel Red's adrenaline even further. Yelling, Red stabbed the head, right through it's other eye. All the force the bite had disappeared. As Red lifted the head off of his shoulder, he heard the feminine voice laugh menacingly. "My, my, it seems that you are more powerful than I had anticipated." Even though it was a compliment, Red felt like she was insulting him.

As Red sheathed the sword, and his gin faded, he looked at his shoulder. It looked terrible, if he was able to move it, it would be a miracle. As his adrenaline wore off, he found out just how much pain the bite had inflicted on him. He fell to his knees, breathing heavily. It had been a while since he felt pain this intense. "Well, it seems you not only survived, but were able to kill both creatures, it looks like we have a champion." Red slowly got up, the pain making it hard to do so. Oh, Red thought, I never told you my name, did I? "No, my champion, you did not." "Well," He said, gritting his teeth, "Just call me Red."

"Hm, what a rather peculiar name. Very well, I am known as Nightmare Moon." "Pleasure to meet you, Nightmare. One question though," Red said. "What is it?" "Why this 'gauntlet'?" Red asked. "Well, I wouldn't want somepony weak to get me out of these ruins, and more importantly, this forest,now would I?" "Wait, you mean, you're going to be hitching a ride out of here, in my head?" Red asked. "Well, more or less." "Clever girl," Red said.

As Red made his way out of the ruins, although it was his only serious injury, the bit on his shoulder had gotten worse. Far worse. He had to take a break several times on his way out of the castle. After that, Nightmare was beginning to genuinely worry for him. "If you want, I can heal it." "No, Red told her, "Some wounds, I'd rather keep, as a reminder." "You are not right in the head, you know that, right?" Red chuckled, "Oh, I know that all too well."

As Red neared the bridge, he groaned. "Great, now I have to cross with this shoulder, how wonderful," Red complained. "Oh, quit your whining, you're still alive, aren't you?" "Heh, good point," Red admitted.  Red crossed the bridge quicker this time around. Once he was out of the forest, he saw that the sun was beginning to set. "Damn, was I really in the forest, all day?" Red asked himself. He saw the cottage, with one of the princesses outside. It was Luna, which Red thought was odd, considering that she was princess of the night, and the sun was setting. As he walked toward the cottage, Luna noticed him, saw the wound, and rushed toward him. "What happened?" She asked, looking at the wound with alarm. "You were only out for a day." "Eh, heard whispers in the morning, noticed they were coming from the forest, went into said forest, found the ruins of an old castle, went inside, heard a voice, found a sword made by said voice, fought a manticore and a hydra, nearly lost my arm. So, yeah, pretty uneventful day." Red answered.

Luna's jaw had dropped, and her eyes were wide. "Uneventful day?" She asked, "If today was uneventful, then what would an eventful day be?" "Eh, something involving the fate of the universe, at the very least." Red answered. Luna shook her head. "I really don't want to know what kind of world you come from." "Yeah, I get that a lot," Red said. "Well, I'm guessing that you're not just here to see how my day went."

"That is true, we have been worried about you," Luna said. "Ah, you shouldn't have," Red joked. Luna gave Red a stern look. "Okay, fine, I guess I should have told someone about where I was going. I'm sorry, but this happens a lot to me, and I can't change that," Red said. Luna sighed, "Well, at the very least, tell somepony ahead of time if you're going to do something like this." "I can't make any promises, princess." Just then, the door to the cottage opened, and Fluttershy came out. Once she saw Red, she rushed to him and hugged him. "Hey Fluttershy, I guess you were worried about me too, huh?" Red asked. But Fluttershy looked at Red sternly before saying, "Don't you ever go off into that forest without telling me again, okay?"

Red sighed, "Alright, I won't, I promise." Luna looked at Red, unamused. He just shrugged. "Now come inside, we need to get that wound bandaged right away," Fluttershy ordered Red, pulling him along. "Yes ma'am," Red said, walking inside the cottage. Next Chapter: Revelations Part IV Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 3 Minutes