Anthon didn't know what happened. He remembered tackling Nightmare Moon, then he was struck with blind, debilitating panic, and then nothing. Was he dead? No, he could feel the cold hard ground under him, and he was pretty sure that unless he was in hell, whatever version Equestria may have, he shouldn't be feeling anything so unpleasant. “Rise, bull.”

At the husky feminine voice's beckoning order, Anthon instinctively did as he was told, and pushed himself up from his prone position on the floor to be standing. He noted he was now in some sort of crumbling castle ruin, the exposed full giant moon overhead lighting it all in silvery moonlight. It was beautiful. “Glorious.”

“Indeed, worshiper of the night.” Anthon turned his head towards Nightmare, oddly not feeling at all afraid, or worried. Like he knew she wouldn't hurt him for some reason. “To think, that the bull who assaulted me was a devotee, if not to me; then my night. I suppose I am fortunate to have cast the allegiance spell in my panic. How does it feel my servant? Being a balrog?”

At her question, Anthon finally registered that he indeed felt different...even more powerful. He looked at his hands, seeing his once russet fur had become a dark night blue, and when he saw he was naked, he saw the change was a full one. His once blond long fur was now a contrasting silvery gray like the moon, he grabbed a lock of his hair to see that it too was the same color. Then he inspected his horns, and the once upright curved horns had instead curled back and then forward, making his horns more suited to ramming than puncturing like a ram's horns, but still his original white and smooth bovine horns, just curled so they'd be less likely to break should he charge something.

“Mm, yes, the transformation was a very smooth one. You must truly love the night. You've even gained the eyes.” Nightmare then summoned an ornate mirror, showing that his once round-pupil blue eyes had become slitted, yet remained their deep blue from before. “This return to Equestria is turning out even better than I'd hoped! Even a thousand years of my sun-loving sister ruling, and still there are those who truly cherish my night! My vassal, I have need of your services. Your queen has a task for you.”

Anthon didn't resist, didn't feel the need to as he knelt and bowed his head to his mistress. “Yes my queen? How may I be of service?”

“There are meddlers coming here, trying to seek out the only tools capable of defeating me. They have already begun breaching my illusions at the edge of the forest, but I must remain here as I attune my magic to keep the planet's rotation stopped. Rather than waste effort dividing my attention between my task and stopping them; I want you to stop them by any means necessary.” Nightmare's horn lit up, and she cast a veil over him.

Soon, he was wearing a full suit of armor in the same style as her own, unadorned with any ornamentation save it's silver-blue coloration. It was smooth and form-fitting to his muscular frame, and had a short chainmail kilt to further protect his groin considering most species on the planet would be about level with his pelvis. Beside him spawned a mighty weapon of the same material, with the head on the stone tile, was a great spiked maul big enough to put most warhammers to shame. The head was actually shaped like a wedge with shredding spikes coming from the sides. This weapon was meant to smash, cleave, and perforate it's victims all at once.

“Now go! Be as swift as the shadows you now embody and bring me these pony's heads!” Nightmare demanded, and Anthon grasped the great maul in his hand before standing.

“Understood.” Using his new instincts, he focused a presence unfamiliar to him into his maul, seeing it begin to shimmer with wisps of shadow, and he impulsively willed it to bring him before the foals who dared displease his mistress. He lifted the maul slightly, and tapped it back to the floor. The action spawned a pool of shadow beneath him which he swiftly sank into, leaving Nightmare to cackle in victory.

“Those foals will not know what hit them! The first balrog since the mythic age now hunts them! They will be helpless before his might and fires of shadow! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha~!”

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'What am I doing here?' Anthon asked, looking around in confusion. His night vision was good before, but now the dark was just as clear as if it were in broad daylight. 'I don't see them.' Anthon was about to berate his maul for misfiring his spell, when he heard voices up above. He looked up the sheer cliff, and noticed how many faults were in it. “A good strike should do it.” Anthon grasped his maul, and reared it back with both hands on the haft. He waited until it sounded like they were close enough, and then smashed the head of the maul into the nearest fault in the cliff.

It quickly shattered as the whole cliff face began crumbling, and he sprinted away from the ensuing rockslide with a speed belying his size and the weight of his equipment. He only stopped running when the sounds of the collapsing cliff ended, and he turned to look at his handiwork through the trees. “Now to investigate if that got them.” Anthon was about to head back when he was pounced on from behind and pinned to the forest floor with a grunt.

*ROAR!* Anthon instinctively elbowed the offending creature, and pushed himself to his hooves as he spun around to confront his attacker. It was a manticore, one with a scabbed over cut on it's left cheek which had cracked open and was bleeding again.

“Oh...you again. Time I finish what I started.” Anthon began strafing, the beast doing the same, seeing him as a dangerous opponent, and also scenting that he was the one who hurt him before. Anthon took the initiative as he bellowed and charged the beast, which leaped at him in response. The manticore tried to dig it's claws into him, but Anthon had opted to keep pushing, his intended charge may have been halted, but the beast had foolishly left itself wide open. He swung his maul up into the creature's exposed stomach, instantly making it screech in the horrid pain of having it's organs pulverized, and backed away, only for Anthon to decisively finish the creature with a swift downward strike of his maul to it's head, pulping the beast's skull and spraying blood everywhere as the fresh corpse limply collapsed to the forest floor.

“AH~!” At the shrill squeal of terror, Anthon shot his vision to the left, his helm flicking some of the blood that spattered all over him to the dirt. The source of said wail was none other than Fluttershy, who was utterly horrified to have just witnessed a poor, innocent creature being viciously executed. The rest of the group was similarly scared at the sight, but more on the fact that this was their friend; what had Nightmare done to him?

“So, you survived. How quaint.” Anthon yanked his maul free of the body's head, the thing dripped in fresh sanguine. “Hmph, I'll just have to deal with you personally. I have orders to bring your heads to my queen. Try not to make me miss and ruin your faces, the queen does like her examples to have frozen expressions of terror.”

“Anthon! I know you're under an allegiance spell! If you just calm down I can-AH!” Twilight barely dodged a bolt of shadow that launched from Anthon's maul, said bolt pierced clean into a tree like an arrow before dissipating. “He's been turned into a balrog! Girls, don't stay still, don't let him hit you! Run!” Twilight teleported as a wider blast of shadow impacted where she'd been before, and Anthon quickly charged at Applejack, who gasped as she jumped back moments before his maul struck dirt, cratering the soil.

By instinct, she spun around and bucked him in the head as hard as she could. “S-sorry 'bout that!” AJ shouted as she ran away, just avoiding a retaliatory sweep of his weapon as he roared in anger.

“Hey meat-head!” Dash shouted from behind, just a split second before she flew forehooves first into the back of his head. “Wake up!”

“I'm sorry dear, but you're not in the right of mind!” Rarity shouted as she grasped his maul in her magic, slowing his swing at Dash enough that she was able to drop out of the air and jump to safety, but Rarity screamed in pain as she let go; his strength too much for her spell to overpower him.

“You are truly irritating!” As he got angrier, flames of shadow began leaking from the creases in his armor, his eyes smouldered with cold blue fire, and he was about to cast a spell his instincts told him was good for crowd control, when the unexpected happened.

The butter yellow pegasus, the one who had squealed in fear, suddenly hugged him around the neck. “You poor thing! What has she done to you~?!” The others shouted for her to get away, but her action was doing something unusual. “Calm down sweetie, you're with friends now. That meanie can't hurt you here.” She rubbed the back of his neck, one of the few unarmored parts of him, and he was surprised at himself when he felt his tension ease up, his growing fury abated, and he began calming down.

'What? What's going on? Why is this mare doing this?' Anthon was trying to resist, but for some reason he felt compelled to listen to her words. It got worse when she started humming a lullaby, and his eyes got heavy. 'Who is she? Who could possibly be possessed of such Kindness?' He felt tired...so tired. He slowly fell to his knees, then lowered to the ground until he was prone, and closed his eyes.

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A flash of purple in the darkness, and Anthon gasped as he shot up. He was confused, why was he in a forest? Wasn't he just in the town hall? “What happened? How'd I get here?”

“Anthon!” At Fluttershy's surprisingly loud tone, he turned his head to the disturbingly blood-stained mare, weeping in relief as she promptly hugged his snout to her chest as she hovered with her wings. “We were so wor-he-he-heed~! When Nightmare Moon took you, I thought you were gone forever-her-her~!” Anthon reached his hands up to try to placate her, only to notice the blood sopping his dark blue hands.

“Wh-?” He pulled away from the worried mare, and looked around. He was now nude again, but the blood he'd shed coated him just the same, and when he saw the mutilated manticore behind his friends, he quickly connected the dots. He turned away, leaned over, and promptly vomited the contents of his stomach. He'd never killed another living being, and he knew that the damning evidence clearly pointed him out as having been the one to do the deed. He cried as he shuddered, and Shy was quickly hugging his filthy face again, crying but determined to calm him down.

“Shh, it's okay. You didn't do it intentionally.” Shy cooed gently with mucus only slightly hampering her voice, letting him weep into her chest as his other friends all looked on in sadness. “It wasn't your fault. Shh, just let it out.” He lowered into his own mess, whimpering as he let the kind mare attempt to soothe him.

“It wasn't you Anthon.” Twilight's voice drew his watery red eyes to the lavender mare, who resolutely stood firm in the face of his despair. “You were under the influence of an allegiance spell. You were basically Nightmare Moon's slave. She used your love of the night to take control of you. Can you remember anything you did since you tackled her in town hall?”

“N-no...I can't. Nothing comes to mind.” 'Seriously, what? I thought magic was wonderful, but it can really do things like this? I...I suddenly want to go home and take a good, long cry.' He sniffled as he tried to hold it together. 'That bitch needs to pay! Eternal night, what a crock! We need the sun, and she tainted my view of this world!'

“Then you're not at fault. According to some of the oldest laws we have; any who were under the influence of an allegiance or compulsion spell are not guilty of their actions should they have no memory of them once the spell is broken.” Twilight's words were comforting, he trusted her, he trusted all of them. They were his friends.

“Go on home Anthon. Y'all have been through enough.” AJ implored as she approached and nuzzled him, not caring about how filthy he was.

“Indeed. You head on back and get yourself cleaned up. We'll take things from here.” Rarity said as she cast a cleaning spell on him, getting the blood and refuse out of his fur.

“Yeah, you deserve a break. A champ's gotta know when to take it easy.” Dash added. “But on the plus side of all this? You were SO AWESOME!” Her gush over how epic he was as a bad guy got leers from the others, but it made him laugh in relief; they really didn't think any worse of him.

“Yeah, you just turn that frown upside-down mister! I'll throw you a small don't-feel-bad-because-you-were-brainwashed party when this is all over!” Pinkie's words just made Anthon laugh even harder, some happy tears joining the sorrowful ones.

“Ha-ha-ha~! You wish!” Anthon quickly got himself standing, grinning to reveal his new fangs as he punched his fists together. “Not leaving you hanging! I was going to have to hunt down some monsters for the town anyway, so let's just call this a baptism in blood! I'll help out however I can!” 'You girls...you're too wonderful for me to just let you go on your own.' “I had to get manticore venom for the hospital as it is anyhow, so I'll just harvest the venom sacs after we deal with that bitch Nightmare!”

The girls all looked worriedly at him as Rarity also cast a cleaning spell on Shy to clean the blood, snot, and other icky things from her. But his determined expression convinced them; he wasn't going to leave them anytime soon.

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“And then you were all like-I'M GETTING ANGRY! And fwoosh! You lit on FIRE! Well, with black fire! That's even cooler!” Dash was hamming up how cool he was all dressed in armor, slaying a manticore and fending them off. Anthon knew she was doing it to downplay his actions, and he appreciated it. But....

“Dash, I heard you the last five times. I know I'm awesome.” Anthon still had a shit-eating grin and struggled to contain his chuckles, letting Dash know her idea to cheer him up worked.

“So how is it that Anthon can now use dark magic anyhow Twilight? You said he was now a balrog?” Rarity asked Twilight, catching everyone's attention as they continued to trek towards the castle where the Elements of Harmony, the only thing said to be able to defeat Nightmare were kept.

“Yes. Balrogs are, or rather; were, an extinct race of minotaur that could channel magic embodying a physical element of the world. Like fire, water, wind, shadow for instance. They were all characterized with their magic behaving like fire however, as the fire balrogs were the first, and last of their kind.” Twilight stated before she looked back to her latest friend. She didn't know him for more than a few hours, but she cared about him already, something she never felt before aside from her brother Shining, Cadence, and Spike. “I'm so sorry Anthon. You're not even from this world, now who knows what Nightmare's transformation of you will do for your home.”

Anthon paused for a second, before sighing and continuing to follow. “If it comes down to it, I guess I'll have to really live here, and use my house as a way to correspond with my family. We'll see Twilight. For all I know the spells woven on my Doorways could very well find a loophole.”

“Well be that as it may darling, know that we're here for you.” After a few more minutes of walking in the dark, it felt like they weren't making any progress. “Ugh..why is it taking so long? I'm tired of seeing all this muck.” At Rarity's statement, everything suddenly went pitch dark for everypony, since Anthon could still see, and the mares all screamed. “I didn't mean literally!”

“Careful what you wish for Rarity, I would know.” 'It got me here...admittedly with amazing company, but still.' Then they kept screaming, running around. Anthon blinked in confusion, he and Pinkie seemed to be the only ones unaffected, but it seemed that while Pinkie just made light of whatever was going on, he simply wasn't affected at all. “Why are you all freaking out?”

His voice fell on deaf ears, and he rolled his eyes as Pinkie starting a musical number got their attention. 'Music seems to have incredible power here...I wonder....' Anthon ignored her silly song and took out his phone, bringing up Slacker, and smirked as he selected Edguy – Superheroes.

Upon it starting up almost right after Pinkie's number, somehow echoing clear as day without an extra speaker, they all perked up, Dash especially. When Anthon started singing the lead and leading them on, when it hit the chorus, the girls all joined him in instinctive knowing of when to add to the song. It essentially charged them all with bravado, getting them pumped and excited.

It was also fitting for their situation, and helped ease their nerves, especially for Anthon, who was still getting over the guilt of killing that creature in cold blood. By the time the song drew to an end, they came upon a roiling river. They didn't see what the cause was, but Anthon proposed Dash and Shy carry them all across one at a time. However, they refused to leave him alone out here, not trusting Nightmare not to try and reclaim him without Twilight around to counter another allegiance spell.

Thankfully, any further debate was countered by the sounds of a total ham sobbing himself hysterical up the river. There was crying, and then there was just hamming it up. This sounded clearly like the latter from the tone of whoever this was. Anthon had turned Slacker off and pocketed his phone, not trusting whatever magic that powered it now to keep it from being destroyed by water. They followed the river until they came to the source of the disturbance; a writhing pompous sea serpent with far too much hair to be natural.

'Don't laugh, don't talk, don't even listen. Because you'll crack up.' Anthon told himself as he turned away and tried to ignore the conversation. Some of Rarity's words nearly made him laugh, but by the end of it, he heard the others calling to him, and he turned back around, having pretended to be looking at his phone the whole while, and noticed the serpent holding his large hands out, offering to move him across the river since Anthon was too big to just use his body as a bridge like the others.

He accepted and got quickly moved over the river, it was a novel experience. When asked what he was doing with his phone, he said he was considering playing another song, but Twilight said they needed to be focused right now, and they all agreed to hold off any any more music.

When they soon came in sight of the castle, Twilight about galloped right towards it, but with his height vantage Anthon could see that she was heading for a cliff, so he dashed after her and scooped her up moments before she would've ran right off in the low mist obscuring her vision. “Whoa...um...thanks Anthon.”

“Not a problem Twi. Not going to let anyone fall...to...their....” Anthon suddenly fell over backwards, clutching Twilight to his chest like she was a big stuffed doll. “Big drop. Big drop...rickety bridge....”

The others all gathered around him, not knowing what was wrong and trying to pry his arms open, save Fluttershy who tried to calm him down from his panic attack of realizing he almost ran right off a cliff. Sure, it was to save Twilight but adrenaline did wonderful things for bravery. “Everypony stop! Anthon has acute acrophobia! He needs to be moved away from the cliff, and then calmed down.”

The others all helped drag him back the way they came until the cliff was hardly noticeable, and then after platitudes from his friends Anthon was able to calm down and let Twilight go. “I'm...so sorry...I came all this way with you only to end up useless at the gate.” Anthon sniffled as he tried to keep calm. “I'm sorry....”

“Don't be. We're really close, so we doubt Nightmare will waste time trying to collect you. We'll get the elements and settle this! Just stay here, you'll be fine.” Twilight asserted, and then looked to the others, getting them to follow her to the bridge to find that it was out, and getting Rainbow to fly across to tie it back up.

Anthon sulked in his spot, feeling useless. He felt this way until he saw flashes of light in the castle, and could hear the girls screaming Twilight's name. 'No!' He bolted to his feet, and ran for the bridge, but he froze as suddenly the bridge was cut. He looked to the other end, seeing Nightmare smirking at him in victory, before she turned to smoke and reentered the castle. “YOU BITCH!”

Even if he had the bravery and recklessness adrenaline gave him, he couldn't feasibly cross now! Unless.... He snapped his fingers, waved his hands, tried to pull at that new sensation he supposed was magic, but he couldn't do anything! “I have to get there!” His element was shadow, it was night, what MORE could he need? A focus? No time! A concentration of shadow? He ran for the nearest tree, feeling his energy swell just being in the shade, but it wasn't enough! “Darkness! I need darkness! But where can I get darkness...deep...enough.... Deep.”

Anthon ran for the ledge looking down into the abyss of the canyon separating the castle from the rest of the Everfree. His heart pounded, his mind and irrational fear screaming at him to get away. At the very bottom, he could see nothing. Nothing at all with his see-in-the-dark eyes.

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It was over...Twilight tried her best but it was over. The Elements were now shattered, laying at Nightmare's hooves like plain stone. “Ha, ha, ha! Foal, did you really think that after so long of being dry that the Elements could get a charge from such a pitiful spark! You know not the true nature of the Elements! And now, with them broken; the night, will last, FOREVER~!” Nightmare spread her wings and cackled in victory.

Twilight lost all hope, she couldn't believe it. The world was counting on them and she failed.

“BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITCH~!” Suddenly, to both her and Nightmare's surprise, Anthon launched out of the shadow of a pillar to the side of the large chamber like a cannonball, and bulldozed the formerly celebrating alicorn with all the impact force of a truck. Sending her flying clear into the opposite wall, and through it. Collapsing that wall as that killed it's last legs. Anthon stood panting, sweat poured down his body, adrenaline the likes of which he'd never known flowed through him like fire in his veins. “THAT'S FOR MAKING ME HAVE TO JUMP YOU CUNT!”

“A-Anthon?! How did you get here?! You don't have a focus or enough practice with your magic to use a shadow portal!” Twilight was dumbfounded. Clearly Anthon had immense potential just from the fact he created the Doorways on accident, but to use a shadow portal when he'd JUST gained these new powers?

“Had to jump into the fucking chasm! Not enough darkness nearby nearly that potent! Couldn't let things be when I heard the others screaming out for you!” Anthon shouted, his adrenaline high still pumping. He'd just faced his ultimate fear, and took the plunge for her.

Upon this realization, and hearing the voices of her other new friends, Twilight gasped deeply as her eyes dilated, and a Spark ignited within her.

“Traitor!” Nightmare screamed as she flew back in through the collapsed wall, horn lowered to gore him. In response, Anthon roared as he charged right back at her, and ducked under her before flexing his glorious muscular torso, and ramming her with his rearing head right in her peytral. The armor practically caved into her chest as she was flung up into the air, causing her to cough up blood, before he jumped up at her, and delivered a fierce haymaker into her ribs, feeling a couple give from the strike, causing her to emit a garbled scream as she was launched back towards the dais in the room. After he landed, Anthon fell to his knees as his adrenaline rush ended, and all his energy left him.

The girls were all gawking at the smackdown he'd just laid on Nightmare Moon, but Twilight cut to the chase and explained things to them as he bought them time.

“You...dangerous bull...where did you come from?” Nightmare gasped out as she rose from the floor, her injuries rapidly healing as she coughed and undid her ruined peytral, letting the chest armor fall to the floor with a clang. “Not even your ancestors were fierce enough to manage to even land a blow upon me. And yet you strike me not once, not twice, but four times within a day...who are you?”

He was about to tell her as he got up, but he paused. It felt oddly...empty. “...My birth name is Anthon Robinson. Yet...that doesn't feel right all of a sudden.” At his confused words, Nightmare hissed and bared her fangs.

“So you discovered your defining trait have you? No wonder, a minotaur or balrog is most dangerous upon discovering their most potent characteristic. I heard what you did, knew of your fear, but now it has backlashed upon me.” She snorted as she prepared to charge. “Any last words Brave? Now that I won't be holding back?”

At her calling him Brave, he gasped, his eyes widening as suddenly everything felt right, and he grinned, Nightmare's eyes becoming worried at her making another mistake with this bull. “Yes. Fuck you, I'm Brave.” He felt such an absurd amount of pride and energy course through him upon acknowledging it. Embracing the concept, he felt ten times stronger, like he could lift a damn building with his pinkies. “FUCK YEAH~!” He leaped at her as adrenaline began spiking through him like before, only now he could hold onto it!

“Oh buck!” Nightmare cried out as she flapped her wings and evaded his double-jump-kick and saw it knock the heavy dais free of the floor, and skid it to the back windows like a hockey puck. “Face my magic!” Nightmare's mane spread out, and the stars within rapidly grew brighter before launching in a hail of lasers.

Brave felt like time was moving so slow, he wasn't moving all that much faster, but his reflexes were skyrocketing, his perception of the world around him slowed to a crawl as he moved just slightly faster than the rest of it. The bombardment of lasers was practically a challenge rather than a fearsome volley as instead of running, or hiding, he faced it. He ducked, weaved, and rolled through it, taking some hits, avoiding most, and he jumped right into the spray with a devil-may-care grin of adrenaline-fueled madness, scaring Nightmare with his sudden lack of self-preservation as her attack burned his fur, seared his flesh, and scored off the tip of his left ear.

“GOT-YER-HORN!” Brave childishly bellowed as he grasped Nightmare's horn with both hands, and dragged her down to the floor screaming in terror as he drove her face-first into the floor, laughing like a madcow the whole time. “NOW LICK THE FLOOR! LICK IT!”

Brave's celebration was cut short by him and Nightmare being surrounded by a rainbow tornado. Before he could ask what was happening, suddenly Nightmare seemed to be shrinking, so he let her go, and he felt a sharp stinging sensation in his nose as his injuries all healed. After a few more seconds, Brave stood there, his adrenaline high gone and all the usual associated drawbacks not present. He wriggled his nose, feeling something off about it. He got his answered when he brought his left hand up, and gasped.

He had a nose ring. Brave went to the nearest window and wiped the dirt off to look at his reflection in the coming sunlight. A Bronze nose ring now adorned the nostrils of his black snout, it seemed simple enough save the Celtic boars engraved along it in a row running around it in a complete circle. Widdershins it seemed to him. To the Celts; the boar represented fertility, Bravery, and strength, but also stubbornness, war, and Chaos.

Fucking suited him perfectly!

“Ugh...Anthon? Anthon are you alright?” Twilight asked as she recovered, but when he turned to look at her, she gasped upon seeing the ring in his nose gleaming against the sunlight.

“Name's Bronze Brave now Twilight.” He replied with a proud grin. “Whatever happens, know this is my home now.” Bronze went about helping the girls all get up, and then went over to where Nightmare once was, to see a young teenager of much lighter tones in her place. “She's so small....”

“Who is she?” Pinkie asked in bewilderment and then pulled her trademark GASP. “If she's not Nightmare Moon I can hold a party for her!”

“That would be wonderful Pinkie Pie.” The matronly voice intoned through the very air, getting them all to startle as out of the sunlight formed a mare like Nightmare, save opposite in her brilliant white coat and tricolor ethereal hair. Where Nightmare wore silver-blue armor, all the armor this mare had was a golden peytral and shoes along with an elegant gold tiara. All the mares bowed to her without question, and Bronze simple folded his arms and nodded to her, getting a smirk and a raised eyebrow out of her. “You must be our visitor from another world. I am so sorry for not speaking with you sooner, but things were quite busy.”

“Hey, no problem milady. I'm a patient taur, I can wait.” Bronze then bowed his head slightly to her.

“Well it is a pleasure to meet you Bronze...?” She let hang, waiting for him to answer for her.

“Brave. Bronze Brave your majesty. Might I know of your name?” The mares were all quietly impressed with just how casual Bronze was being with her, especially the alicorn herself.

“I am Princess Celestia. You know, if I didn't know you weren't of this realm, I'd say you were indeed a natural born minotaur. You act just like most of them do.” Celestia commented, getting Bronze to smile sheepishly.

“Ah...that might be your world having a positive influence on me more than anything.” Bronze then looked down to the stirring young mare. “So who is she?”

“She is Princess Luna; my long lost sister.” Celestia informed, getting the mares to all gasp. “Luna, are you alright? I was watching the whole time through scrying, are you unhurt?”

“Oh~...sis...enlist that balrog to our elite guard force immediately...tis a farce if he wastes his potential....” Luna grinned as she looked to the balrog her lunar allegiance spell had awoken. “He is perhaps the first berserker in a long time. Hast there been any since my banishment?”

“Not for almost two hundred years, no. But he is not even of this world sister...what you did to him....” Celestia then looked back up at Bronze, who bowed his head in resignation. “Before we can celebrate, we must see what all of this has done to you, if your home will accept you as it did before.” With this, Celestia stood, and gestured everypony to come closer. When the Elements were all gathered around them, she teleported them all back to town.

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They'd arrived in the library, where they all took a moment to collect themselves, but Celestia led Bronze upstairs alone, since there was no way for so many ponies to gather in the hallway. “I sincerely hope my sister's possessed state has not caused you any permanent harm. She won't forgive herself if you cannot properly return home.” Celestia stated in worry as she looked between the reborn balrog and the heavy mahogany door. “This is it?” She scanned it, and nodded. “Indeed...this is one of the most stable portals I've ever seen.”

Bronze looked at the door for the first time since that first night in trepidation and fear. 'If I come out like the ponies do, with clear characteristics of what they really are; then I can't go home anymore. But even if that is so, I could still remain in contact with my family. That's all that matters.' Bronze steeled himself, and opened the door before briskly walking in. When he did so, Celestia was impressed at how he shrank and turned into seemingly some other creature.

But....

“No....” Bronze looked down, and he did not see the form of Anthon Robinson. Instead of an unhealthy pale fatty, he saw a ripped tanned bodybuilder that was analogous with his Equestrian form. He reached up and felt his nose ring had shrunk down to a human size, and he felt his horns at the top sides of his head, his messy mop of silvery hair was also a standout. “Well, that cinches it.” He turned around, and Celestia blushed vividly as he unintentionally flashed her, since he was naked. “I can't come back.” His eyes were slitted still, and he was a staggering eight feet tall. He was easy to spot out of a crowd. Bronze blinked in confusion as the princess continued to gawk at him. “What? Princess I know it's essentially bad news, but I'm alive, that's all that matters.”

“Why does your original species not have a sheath for the phallus?” Celestia asked in confusion, having never seen such a thing before. Bronze vividly blushed as he quickly tried to cover himself. Tried being the operative word.

“D-DON'T LOOK!” He turned around, trying to hide his new endowment from the royal authority figure, only to get a teasing wolf whistle which made his face turn redder, and he looked back to see Applejack standing next to the alicorn with a grin and wagging eyebrows, his other friends all similarly crowded around her to get a look at him in varying degrees of interest and concern. “PERVERTS!” He stomped over to the door and slammed it in their faces, huffing in indignation. “My friends are all perverts!”

He snorted and huffed in an all-too-bovine way for a moment, before he sighed and quickly went to his room to slip on some of his old basketball shorts, green of course, and another of his Saint Patty's Day shirts, Beer+Beer=Shenanigans, which could barely fit over his shoulders, before he returned to the door and opened it to see a disappointed Celestia and six rather ashamed mares. “Look, sorry, but I'm not used to being ogled for anything. Let's not focus on me right now, we just saved Princess Celestia's sister, saved your world, and did it in style. ISN'T THIS SUPPOSED TO BE A FIESTA?!” Bronze demanded as he came through the doorway, back to his balrog form.

They all perked up, especially Pinkie as she was suddenly wearing a festive sombrero and holding maracas “TENGAMOS LA FIESTA!!!” They were all inexplicably outside, with the whole town decorated in festive Mexican style and ponies partying hard. Conga lines, wild dancing, and booze galore were the staples as the friends and royal sisters looked on in shock as Pinkie instantly began mingling.

“Sister...what sort of celebration is this?” Luna asked in perplexity as a glass was offered to her by a random pony, and she sniffed it only for Celestia to smack it away.

“Th-that's for big ponies sister, and your body can't handle that right now. The rest, however; let's enjoy it!” Celestia happily joined in the wild festivities, her sister tagging along curiously while Bronze and his new friends all felt much more content to sit by the sidelines and adjust for a moment.

“Did Pinkie just...?” Bronze asked, his brain trying not to break.

“Yes darling, she did.” Rarity sighed as she evaded a random sombrero from landing on her head.

“Y'all 'll get used to it.” AJ swore as she braced herself to join in.

“Yeah, it's just Pinkie being Pinkie. Don't overthink it.” Dash was already holding a couple shots of liquor, offering one to Bronze who held the miniscule thing between his fingers in perplexity.

“I...I'll ignore it for now. I've never seen the Princess so happy.” Twilight said as she spotted someone about to do something very wrong for his age. “Spike! No! That's for grown-ups!” She shouted as she ran into the fray, leaving the others to laugh before they all jumped in too.

Bronze felt afraid, as he always did in big crowds. But now...he could face it.

He wasn't Bronze Brave for nothing.

Author's Notes:

And thus, does the battle against Nightmare Moon leave Anthon forever scarred into being more a creature of Equestria than one of Earth.

How will he live now? Will he have to move into Ponyville? His Doorways only serving as his way to keep in contact with his family?

We shall see.