(Ace's POV)

Ow! Dammit, that hurt! Though, considering the fact that I'm currently flying through the air instead of lying dead with my entire torso turned to mush, I guess I should be thankful. Wonder where I'm going to land?

Wait... was that a cottage at the edge of the Everfree Forest? That can only be Fluttershy, and given my angle in regards to the cottage...
...
......
...................

"Castle of the Sisters, here I come!"

"Gah! Ow! Dammit all!"
Needless to say, crashing through several layers of stone walls and floors, no matter how old they may be, is painful. Thankfully, I seemed to be slowing down, so I should stop soon.

smack

And of course as soon as I say that I land, spine first, on a rock. Ouch. Luckily, all of the previous pain seems to have numbed my body, so it wasn't too bad. I chose to ignore the fact that the force should have at least affected how I moved as I stood, taking in my surroundings. I seem to be in an area of the castle that hasn't been shown in the show yet, but that's to be expected, as they haven't actually shown a lot of it.

Wow. I almost forgot I was in Equestria. Granted, it's an anthropomorphic Equestria, but the Multiverse Theory dictates that in the Multiverse, any and all possibilities can and will happen, so that isn't too much of a shock. But Equestria! How? All I remember is putting on this stupid amulet that I bought from that guy at the Con. Could he be behind this? But how? And, more importantly, why?

Oh well, I'm not gonna dwell on that right now. First I need to find a way back to Ponyville so I can help Spike with that weird Timberwolf. Now, let's see... I seem to be in some kind of cell, what with the rusted bars across the doorway, so I'm probably down in the dungeons. I just hope that rust has weakened the bars enough, otherwise I'm gonna have to climb my way out.

I walk over to the bars in question, inspecting them at the edges. They seem pretty weak, but looks can be deceiving, as the Manticore in the first episodes proved. Now, let's see, the bars seem weakest at the edges, so if I just... and push right here... kick that out... and voila! Freedom! Now, let's see about getting out of the castle proper...

"...young Master..."

...what was that? I swear I just heard a voice. A quiet, raspy voice, almost like someone hasn't had a drink for over a thousand years.
"Who's there?" I ask aloud, despite the fact that it could be some kind of body-snatcher. What, I'm paranoid sometimes!

"...young Master...help me...please..."

Okay, now I have to know what it is.
"Where are you?" I say, hoping that they could hear me as I slowly walked down the hallway. Rusted bars to ancient cells lined the walls, shadows seeming to stretch on forever within. Perhaps some kind of light-hating creatures were inside, sealed away by great magics for their crimes against the populace. Or maybe they were just shadows.

"...I'm in...the armoury...hurry..."

As the voice replied, I rounded a corner that lead to the first actual door in the hallway, an almost completely faded plaque fixed upon it, no doubt once stating the purpose of the room beyond with great pride.

"A... Mo... Y? Amoy? Armoy? Armoury! Hold on, dude, I'm coming!"
I charged forwards, barging into the door and knocking it off it's hinges instead of just stopping to open it. No one was inside, just a short sword lying on a large chair.

Granted, considering everything else I had seen so far, the fact that both sword and chair were in pristine condition caught me off guard, but otherwise I was just confused. Who was calling me? I shrugged, turning to leave, when I heard the voice again.

"...so you're not...going to...help me?...I should...have known..."

I whipped back around, scanning the room. My eyes fell on the sword again. Was that who was talking to me? It wasn't so far off, I mean, Equestria, but still...

Screw it.

"You're the sword, aren't you." I deadpanned.
"...Yes..."
"And you want me to take you off of that chair?"
"...Yes..."
"The chair that you were probably left on for a good reason.
"...When did we...start playing...twenty questions?..."
"When I realised I was talking to a magic sword, that's when." I snapped. "Now tell me why you were left here!"
"...I was...forgotten..."
"And why should I take you? You belong to someone else."
"...my wielder...he is dead...killed by the Nightmare..."

Oh. Well then.

"...Fine." I said, moving to the chair. I reached out, stopping just above the hilt.
"You're not going to drain my life force, are you?"

The sword took a moment before answering.
"...no..."
"So why do you need my help? And why do sound so weak?"
"...I was forged...by ancient Changelings...to house...a spirit..."
"What kind of spirit?"
"...one...of Courage...I feed...on bravery..."
"Like a Changeling feeds on Love?"
"...yes..."
"Well okay then!"

And with that, I grabbed the hilt of the sword, raising it dramatically over my head. I felt the energy flowing from my heart, through my arm, out of my hand and into the sword, multiple different colours visible through my skin for the briefest of moments.

"That feels so much better!" the sword... said? Must be some kind of psychic communication. Cool. "It is so rare for every element to be present in one being!"

... okay, that threw me off.

"Whadd'ya mean, 'every element'?" I asked, brow arched sceptically.
"Why, the Ten Elements, of course. Don't tell me that ponies forgot about the Ten Elements in a mere thousand years!"
"You'd be surprised what these ponies forget in a thousand years, dude." I said, shaking my head. It truly was ridiculous. "They thought Nightmare Moon and Discord were just fairy tales until they broke free."
"How could Celestia allow such a thing to happen!?" He - he sounds like a he - asked, genuine anger present in his 'voice'.
"Dunno. But that's for another day, there's something that I need to do, and you can help me with it."
"Of course, young Master. How may I serve you?"
"I need to get back to Ponyville ASAP. There's a monster attacking. D'you know the fastest way there?"
"Why not fly?"
"I can't."
"Of course you can! The Air element is present in your veins! Merely focus on channelling the very Air itself through me, and I shall guide you from there."

Gotta admit, flight would be pretty cool, and the whole 'Air element' sounds familiar. For now, though, I'll just do as he says. Focusing on the feeling of the air on my skin, I pictured it feeding into the blade in my hands. A breeze picked up, visible lines of wind flowing outwards in front of me, curling around the room and back to travel up my arms and into the sword. Before my eyes, the sword erupted in a cyan glow, the blade becoming longer, thinner and lighter. It was like it weighed absolutely nothing! As the light faded, the blade was revealed to have transformed into what appeared to be a katana, though the handle was that of a lightsaber.

"Cool. Now what?" I asked, eager to get in the air.
"Now you must envision my blade slicing the air itself, and you stepping through the gaps."
"So it's not so much flight as it is I'm walking on air?"
"Precisely."
"Cool."

Quickly running back to the cell that I landed in, as I knew that one had a path leading outside, I ran through the steps in my mind.

Step 1: Envision the blade slicing the air.
A cyan energy enveloped the blade, allowing me to actually see the air. I quickly swiped sideways, creating a small 'step' of solid air for myself. I grinned, already loving this power.

Step 2: Will yourself to walk on the air.
A tentative step up proved that I was successful in this step, and I quickly repeated Step 1 before lifting myself up again. I was now roughly four metres above the ground, so I quickly faced the hole I had made my entry through and continued, eventually building up the courage to create steps as I ran. Eventually I found myself floating above the castle, attempting to find which direction Ponyville was.

"So what's you're name?" I asked, the sword in my left hand as my right shielded my eyes from the sun.
"Beg pardon, young Master, but you have not given me one." he replied.
"Well what did your old master call you?"
The sword was silent for a while before answering. by that time I had already started moving, having saw a rainbow blur shooting up then down in the distance.
"My old master... he could not access my alternate forms." he said, obviously deep in thought. I stayed quiet, allowing him time. "He knew of them, but he was unable to use any of the Ten Elements. However, he still thought of me as a useful ally, even in my Core form. Because of this, he named me Core Strike."
I thought that over for a moment. Clearly, the sword's old master had loved it, even without it's full power. Striking from it's very Core, defending it's master as much it could.
"I like it. Has a nice ring. But I feel like you should have a name for each form..." I looked down, seeing my feet running on the wind... "A-ha! I know!"
"What is it, young Master?"
"I shall name you using the most refined language I know! Your Air form shall bear the name Kaze no Ran'na, Wind Runner!"
"By your will, young Master."
"And please, dude, call me Ace."

(Third Person POV)

Ponyville Market was completely destroyed, all because of a single timberwolf. Spike was thankful for his draconic heritage, as that meant that despite the amount of time he had spent fighting this thing, he was still pretty far from getting tired. Rainbow Dash and Twilight had arrived not long after the beast had catapulted Ace away, working together to make sure it stayed in one place while Spike took care of the fighting himself. Applejack had returned shortly after ensuring her sister's safety, along with Rarity and Pinkie Pie, and all three had began helping Twilight and Rainbow with keeping the perimeter. Fluttershy was helping the citizens.

Spike growled, baring his fangs and claws as he charged the timberwolf again. The wolf also charged, fangs dripping with rancid saliva as it pounced at Spike's face. Spike dropped to his knees, sliding under the wolf and raking his claws against it's underside. When he was at a safe enough distance, he turned to see what damage he had done and winced. The deep gouges in the timberwolf's wooden body were quickly disappearing, leaving no sign of injury whatsoever. Even with a regular timberwolf's regular ability to heal dismemberment, they could never normally repair any damage to the wood itself. This was no ordinary Timberwolf.

"What the heck is that!" Rainbow screeched, pointing at the air above the Everfree Forest. All heads, even the Timberwolf's, turned to observe what Rainbow had seen - a furless Earth Pony running on nothing, twenty feet above the ground!
"Is that Ace?" Rarity asked, squinting slightly. Her eyes widened after a moment. "It is Ace! I didn't know he could fly!"
"Who's Ace?" Twilight asked.
"A human, like from the other side of the mirror." Spike replied. "I don't think he's from the same place though. He seemed to know about us."
"Is that what that guy was?" Applejack asked, scratching her head. "Ah thought he was some kinda bald Earth Pony."
"Guys! Twitchy tail!"

At Pinkie's outburst, the five mares and one drake promptly scattered, attempting to find any cover they could. The timberwolf just looked around, confused, before a long, thin blade plunged through the back of it's head, the tip emerging from it's lower jaw. The wolf's eyes widened before the purple smoke faded away. The wolf's body slowly began to fall apart, wooden chunks falling to the ground. Ace pulled the blade of Kaze no Ran'na from the wolf's wooden skull with a flourish, the blade emitting a cyan flash of light as it reverted to it's Core form.

A tense silence filled the air as Ace inspected the blade of Core Strike, wiping some sap off. Rainbow Dash broke the silence accordingly.
"So awesome!"