Shit went south pretty quickly and pretty randomly sometime in October, I'd been training with blunts day in and day out with no sign of improving, but the crowd that came to watch seemed to grow each day. Either random ponies secretly liked watching fights or they openly liked to watch me get my ass kicked. Vinyl Scratch, Tavi, Derpy and a load of others I knew turned up frequently and a couple randoms too. Most had been around twenty or so. I had thought Spearpoint would get pissed and tell everyone to fuck off but he didn't seem to notice the spectators. I'd joked with Diamond and Rainbow a few times about building a stadium and make a proper spectacle about it for Ponyville but after a quick think about it made very sure to make sure people knew it was just a joke. I'd also been learning about the fact Equestria, or at least Ponyville celebrated something called Nightmare Night, which seemed like it was basically the pony equivalent of Halloween. Which I got right on top of almost immediately after learning about it. I found a Halloween store pretty quickly, it used to be some place that sold quills and sofas. Seriously, that's all it fucking sold. For October though it sold Halloween crap and sofas. Twilight was absolutely livid to hear about how the only store in Ponyville wasn't selling quills anymore and wrote up a letter to Celestia to order quills in bulk. Well tried, once she discovered she had no quills left I thought she would end up going insane. That problem was solve by me volunteering Spike to travel to Canterlot to personally ask the Princess. Twilight was happy, Spike wasn't. So Diamond ended up going with him.

And me. I fucking hate my friends.

But as I was saying, maybe a week after that shit went down, I had my Halloween costume sorted, pissed about with Diamond, Dash or Spear and genuinely just lived my life. That was until Twilight burst into my room one afternoon with pure terror on her face. I hadn't been doing anything lewd nor just finished doing anything lewd so was definitely paying attention to life.

"Aron!" She shouted, I would've jumped but since she slammed my door open with either her horse legs or magic I was already aiming at her with my crossbow on the verge of a heart attack. "Good you're in, we need you outside." When I didn't immediately move she added. "Now!" I jumped up and started to move towards her. She ran out of my room and went straight outside, nobody else was in the house as far as I could tell so I just followed her. The moment I left the library I heard the screams and the noise. Something was attacking Ponyville.

"Twilight!" I called to her, she turned around but looked like she wanted to continue. "The fuck's goin' on?" I asked. She looked completely terrified.

"An Enfield ran out of the Everfree, it's attacking Ponyville!" I froze, I had no idea what an Enfield was, besides the gun, but anything from the Everfree was bad news. "Well I gotta get armour on, weapons, shit Twilight the fuck did you expect me to do?" I asked. She paused slightly.

"We were evacuating Ponyville, Celestia and some guards are already on their way." Twilight said more calmly. Oh, she hadn't actually expected me to fight. There was a loud explosion noise and a cloud of smoke appeared from a far off building. I ran back inside the library and into my room. "Aron what are you doing?" Twilight asked.

"Go get Diamond, it takes at least twenty minutes to get to Canterlot at full speed. and with Celestia it will take longer. We wait for Celestia there won't be a Ponyville. Just one Enfield yeah?" She nodded. "Go get Diamond. And any unicorns that can use combat magic." She didn't say anything and ran out of the house.

"My fucking day off as well." I muttered, strapping the small amounts of armour I had on. I didn't expect it to really protect me, it was a guide for real armour and padding for light armour. But anything was better than nothing. I grabbed Spiritus and my already loaded crossbow, even bagged a couple grenades. I was somewhat scared how quickly I readied myself for battle, some of the armour was loose and my scabbard would fall off soon enough but it would do. I hoped. I ran outside again to see Diamond in full guard armour and two non-descript unicorns.

"Where is it?" I asked, another scream, close to the smoke. "That way then." I ordered and started to run towards the danger and probably my death.

"Plan?" Diamond asked.

"Unicorns stay back, use whatever offensive spells you have. Diamond keep it moving and use your wings to an advantage. I'll tank it, hopefully." I replied. There was another crash very close by, but I saw nothing of this creature. I was hoping it wasn't invisible or some shit.

"Enfield's can fly Aron." Diamond said.

"Fuck." I spat. "Alright, try and ground it as quickly as possible, that goes to everyone. But still, unicorns stay away from the fight as much as possible and check your fire. I don't want a fire ball shot up my ass." I ordered and turned a corner. I could hear pretty large steps now and what sounded like a bark. We ran out into an open area at the edge of town and the scene before me looked like a bomb had gone off. A couple ponies were bloodied or limping away and a few were still fleeing the area. A good four homes were in complete ruin and another three needed serious repairs.
The creature that did all this was already facing us. About three, maybe four times the size of a pony it dominated the landscape and homes around it. The main body looked like an over-sized fox, with light grey dog legs and tail at the back, and two huge eagle-like wings. It's eyes were a fierce purple and some of the fur was dead, exposing purple goo of some kind around the infected areas. The thing barked at us as soon as it saw us, showing off a lot of very sharp teeth. I was very much scared of this thing. The two civilians though got right in there however and started firing spells at the creature, both aimed for the wings thankfully. I didn't really have any kind of plan before I learned it was a ten foot beast, so whilst the unicorns were peppering the monster I just charged the fucker, Diamond took to the air and aimed his spear and roared. The Enfield started to run towards the unicorns, one of it's wings was actually on fire and frankly that was a terrifying sight. The flames spread to a bit of dead skin and seemed to... glitch about. Turning all pixel-like and shifting colours. All through the spectrum until it set on a dark purple.

"That can't be good." I muttered and stopped my charge. "Oi fuck 'ed! Over 'ere!" I shouted, shooting it with my crossbow, I didn't expect it to do much damage, and little damage it did, the bolt piercing into a piece of flesh near the fox head, but it pissed the creature off and instead started running towards me. Got distracted very easily it seems. One of the mages stopped firing once it began to run towards me but the second arched a lightning bolt of some kind around me in a semi-circle, burning a lot of the ground and striking one of the paws of the creature. It yelled out and paused it attack. I put my crossbow on the ground and drew my sword, like I had thought the scabbard just feel off my jeans into the dirt. I swung the sword around a bit and began to edge closer to the creature. Diamond took that chance to dive down and stab straight through the thing's better wing, which made it roar out with some really odd sound. A fox bark, eagle shriek and a wolf howl all combined into one, which was just.. wrong. I managed to run round the beast which was now aimlessly swiping at Diamond who dodged with the masterful level experience a Royal Guard would have. I got to one of the back legs and with no other plan in mind I stabbed into the leg. The blade went straight through into muscle, flesh. It broke through bone with no issue, the Enfield seemed to completely freeze up and stopped making it's horrible shrieking sounds, it was completely silent. Crimson blood started to seep out of the wound and Spiritus started to glow white. I felt, immense power. Like I could strike down Celestia herself and live, I could control the universe if I put my mind to it, My entire body felt relaxed and my mind was clear, for the first time for as long as I could remember. I felt everything and nothing, I could feel the now dying Red-Crossed Enfield before me, it's pain and memories. Yet felt no sadness myself. The blood stopped leaking out and the purple Taint of the Everfree began to cover my blade, Spiritus sucking it up like a vampire would blood. Diamond was flying overhead unsure of how to continue, the purple Taint Fyre began to change back into the normal red flame and I saw through the Enfield's eyes as life was drained away. I was completely still myself, unsure as to what I should do, just letting the power of Spiritus take control of me.
I pulled the sword out of the Enfield and the connection was lost. I just felt the power and bliss without knowing the creature. It slumped down in a cry and the weird purple goo continued to get sucked into the still glowing blade of my sword. The line of misty liquid stopped after a few seconds and the Enfield finally shut up again and died. I had learned so much from the beast yet as soon as I cut connection, a lot of it fled my memory. I suddenly knew what breed, age, gender of the creature I'd known about for less than a minute. I learned about something called Taint and had a glimpsing memory I knew a lot more about it than just the name. Out of pure shock, once my brain had processed everything I threw the sword onto the ground, the glowing stopped as soon as it touched the dirt and I took a step back from the dead creature. Diamond landed next to me with a fairly concerned look on his face.

"What the actual fuck just happened." I said, it wasn't even aimed to be a question.

"Spiritus is an enchanted blade. Apparently." Diamond replied. I nodded slowly.

"Let's.. Let's go find Twilight." I muttered, Diamond nodded slowly. I knelt down to pick the sword up and paused. After a brief hesitation I grabbed it, my scabbard and crossbow and started to walk over to the two unicorns.

"You did good today, let's let everyone know it's over." I ordered, the two unicorns smiled and nodded.

"Been a while since I have used any kind of destructive magic, what a rush!" One pony said, the fire ball one. Not that they are getting any kind of description.

"Don't let adrenaline overtake you dude." I replied, the unicorn said nothing and the four of us started walking in a direction I very much doubted was the right way.

Twilight eventually found us and was surprisingly situated in the direction we had been going, she seemed surprised, scared and very happy we'd made it out without any injuries.

"Is it.. Dead?" Twilight asked. Diamond nodded immediately.

"Turns out Spiritus is enchanted. Guess the Diamond Dogs weren't worth it's time. I stabbed it in the leg and the whole thing froze up. I kinda need to talk to Celestia, could you message her?" I asked.

"Wai- Wait what?" Twilight asked.

"It is true. Aron stabbed it and the Enfield basically turned into a statue, it ignored the pain completely and just, stood there. Eventually it just dropped to the ground." Diamond replied for me. I nodded.

"I'll get Spike." She said and wandered off, the rather large group of ponies started to trickle back into town, some with concerned faces. A good few homes were destroyed in the attack and people's belongings completely destroyed.

"So what exactly.. Happened?" Diamond asked. I paused for a second.

"I'd rather wait til Celestia gets here, though I have a bad feeling she might teleport me to Canterlot. I'll explain in brief just in case she comes here. If not I'll explain when I'm back." I replied.

"Fair enough." He grunted.

"I'm not overly sure, I seemed to, I dunno, fuse? With the creature. I could see through it's eyes at one point and felt every emotional, every memory it had ever had. I learned things I shouldn't possibly know. That thing was a, red-coated or red-crossed Enfield or something. I learned that weird purple goo shit is called Taint. Which is why I want to talk to Celestia about the fight. If Spiritus is the Spiritus then I want to know about demons and how-slash-if they link to this Taint shit at all." Diamond nodded.

"I'll admit a bit of a blank on my knowledge of Demons and the Everfree, besides it's an evil place." He said after a brief pause. "You seemed completely out of it though, I thought you had been stabbed by a claw or something to begin with."

"I was out of it. I felt immense power dude, I could've taken on freakin' Celestia in that trance. Though most feelings were cut off as soon as I let the Enfield die. I'm pretty sure the thing was in pure agony until I took Spiritus out. It seemed to drain the Taint out as well, no idea where the fuck it went. But the blood stopped and purple mist or goo started to shoot towards the blade." Another nod.

"I wonder why it didn't affect you this way with the dogs?" He asked.

"Like I said, I figured they weren't worth Spirituse, Spirituseses. The sword's time." I grunted the last bit, really struggling to say all the fucking s's. "If the sword is effective against godlings it's also clearly powerful against either Everfree monsters or Taint monsters." I added. I heard a weird pop sound behind me and turned to see Celestia. I almost started to laugh.

"Is that really the noise teleporting makes? Sounds like a wet fart!" I declared. Celestia immediately rolled her eyes.

"If I came all this way just for you to insult my teleporting finesse I can go back to Canterlot." She said with no emotion.

"Jokes and shit later. An Enfield just invaded Ponyville, destroyed a few homes." I reported.

"I am aware of that Aron, I was on my way here." She replied, more naturally.

"Me and Diamond dealt with it. We learned a few things from the fight; one is that Spiritus is very much enchanted, and the second is more of a question: what does the word Taint mean to you?" I wanted to add 'and not the sexual kind' but fuck sex jokes, and I was pretty sure Dash was somewhere nearby.

"You have some explaining to do." She muttered. I began to tell her the story back, how some fire had changed colour and pixelated on contact with the Enfield, and how Spiritus had just shut down the creature. I put a bit more detail than I did with Diamond and Twilight Sparkle decided to make herself known about halfway through. Still no sign of Spike though. Fuck Spike.

"I will have to borrow Spiritus for a time Aron, the unicorns in the Mage Tower will need to have a look at it. You say it sucked Taint out then killed the thing?" I nodded. "Alright. I shall also send some books for you on Taint, there is a lot of history and lore behind that substance, some of it very close to home. The basis is, it corrupts all and drives ponies and beings made, they change into something else." I nodded again and pushed the sword away from me. I wanted to object, to keep Spiritus close, but just the glimpsing thought alone made me more determined to hand it over. Celestia grabbed it with magic and floated it away from her.

"I still can't read Equestrian by the way." I said. Celestia nodded.

"You read signs though?" She asked, a third nod.

"Magical lettering, it is solely for any non-pony visitor. They can still read the basic things such as signs or maps no matter what language they speak. I will send a spell book to Twilight so she can translate for you." She answered a long dormant question of mine.

"Bitchin'. What's gonna happen to the now homeless ponies?" I asked.

"The guards that were meant to dispose of the beast are still on route, I shall leave a chariot here and give temporary housing to those affected by this attack in Canterlot until their homes can be rebuilt." Celestia replied.

"Alright, I'll be seeing you then." I said, Celestia nodded and turned to Twilight. I immediately blanked out and stepped away from the pair, towards Diamond.

"What's the time?" I asked him.

"Dunno, twelve maybe?" He replied.

"Let's go see if the bar's open." I muttered, he smiled slightly and nodded.

"Bit early, but fuck it." He replied. We started to walk back into Ponyville. Rainbow Dash ended up landing next to us as we walked away from the cluster of ponies.

"Where you two going?" She asked.

"Bar. Spiritus really put me in shock and I haven't had a drink in a while." I answered.

"Fair enough. Mind if I join you?" And so the three of us went down to the Ponyville bar and drank our problems away whilst Ponyville regrouped from the attack.

The next event was The Grand Galloping Gala: I still didn't want to go and I had forgotten about it, however I had a girlfriend as well as a getup which Rarity had made me so I didn't have an excuse.
But by christ was it horrible. It looked straight out of an Edwardian museum or something. The thing was made of very colourful cloth, greens, purples and blues. It was basically the embodiment of gay and in any other circumstance I would have just set fire to the thing. But I needed a suit and couldn't get out of going to the Gala, no matter how hard I tried. The thing that sold it fully was that Dash wanted to go, and I'd skipped out on stuff previous partners had wanted to do and it had never ended well. I'd also recieved a package from Celestia, which Twilight opened, following the tradition of other people opening my mail. She'd sent four pretty big books which Twilight translated. I had yet to read them except the titles: 'The Encyclopedia of Demons and Demonology', 'Starswirl's Book of Magic and Enchantment', 'History of the Dragon Wars', and 'The Book of Black Magic: Taint'. Each were fairly self explanatory as to what they were talking about. I had them all on a pile near where my sword usually sat in order of what I wanted to read first (the Taint one first). They were all cripplingly big but I'd read larger back home in the form of cringey fan-fiction because fuck my life.
The Gala was three days before Halloween so I presumed today was the 28th of August, but wasn't overly sure. Equestria has the same months as Earth but as far as I know, that could be the only similarity. Was weird Equestria had the same months but everyone here spoke English so what did I know. Turns out it's bastardised English as well, like with that guard captain I met a while ago, Shining Armour. Turns out they spell his name without the 'u'. As well as mom, honor and basically everything else the Americans fucked up. I wasn't sure what to expect from the Gala and frankly hadn't looked it up at all besides how it's posh. Fucking posh shit always getting in the way of my fun.
The original plan was by Twilight which was frankly the weirdest fucking plan I have ever been around to hear and discuss. Though the whole day was pretty odd.

It started out with Spike, Twilight, Diamond and myself sitting on the grass near Rarity's place. The idea was that we'd all met there since she had the dresses or whatever. I was in filthy casual clothes because I refused to be seen out in public with my gala suit for anymore time than I could help and was just laying down watching the clouds and pulling and grabbing onto grass with one of my hands, it was fairly cold out but I'd elected to use my jumper as a pillow rather than wear it, I preferred being slightly cold than really uncomfortable. It was safe to say I was kinda bored. Spike was talking to Diamond about something and Twilight was reading some book. I could only presume a spell book as the look on her face made me believe she was about to try out some human swears. Which was usually the look she had when learning a new spell, much like how I look coding. Fuck java.
We were outside for maybe half an hour before Pinkie Pie appeared and started jumping around, I swear this is true, but at one point I blinked and suddenly a trampoline was under her and she used that to bounce up and down. All she did was just shout: "The Gala's tonight! The Gala's tonight!" It got on my tits pretty fucking fast and if I still had a sword and had worn it today I would have made very threatening gestures of gripping the hilt and glaring at her. But instead I resorted to glaring at her and debating whether I should tell her to fuck off or not. One thing I had noticed about Equestria, or Twilight's friends I should say. Is that if you see one of them, there is a 50/50 chance the others would materialise out of nowhere. Since we were all meeting anyway I presumed everyone would start appearing out of nowhere.

"Pinkie! Stop shouting, I'm trying to concentrate!" Twilight shouted, Pinkie did stop but her bouncing didn't, and without her talking I noticed there was a very cartoon level boing sound ringing everytime she bounced. It was fucking freaky. Suddenly, Rarity:

"Pinkie Pie! Stop that right now, it's time to get prepared for the Gala and I refuse to let you try on your new dress if you're all sweaty!" She bitched. Pinkie suddenly ground to a halt.
Now I was barely paying attention to begin with and only looked to her when the entertainment began, but she physically skidded to a halt mid-air after Rarity said that and landed softly on the trampoline without disturbing it at all.

"I'm in a fucking saturday morning cartoon." I muttered. Almost surprised

"What's a cartoon?" Pinkie asked, laying next to me. Which was just too much for me and I jumped up and stood upright faster than I thought was physically possible, grasping at a sword that wasn't there.

"Fuc-Fucking hell Pinkie." I gasped. She didn't react at all and just stood next to me smiling. "It's a Earth thing, too hard to explain." I explained, Pinkie shrugged and bounced on over to Twilight.

"So whatcha doin'?" She asked. Twilight actually looked at me with defeat in her eyes before answering, which tipped me off it was something I would be against.
Before Twilight could answer the others decided to appear from nowhere, I presume it would've been off-screen since cartoon world and all. Applejack, Fluttershy, Dash and Lyra all kinda wandered over. Dash flying as usual and Lyra and AJ talking about something.

"Hold ya horses girl we're here." Applejack declared. I was unsure who she was talking to but I really didn't care. Twilight then stood up and looked over to Spike. She did actually say 'hold your horses' by the way. I wanted to comment on that but never got the chance.

"Alright Spike I'm ready." She said, he walked over and placed an apple onto the ground in front of her.

"Ready for what?" Dash asked. I walked over to the others and crossed my arms, Diamond did likewise and just stared ahead with a blank expression.

"Just watch." Twilight replied, closing her eyes and making her horn glow. The usual struggle of casting a spell was on her face and the apple started to shift and change, like someone trying to pierce a nylon bag or something, with the same ear raping sound. Eventually there was a puff of smoke and the whole thing turned into an actual full blown carriage. Gold wheels, a dark oak doorway, a stalk with a little apple based banner. A window at the top with yellow stained glass. The carriage received a load of 'whoas' and 'oohs' and frankly it fucking impressed me as well, Diamond seemed unfazed but he'd probably seen this shit before. I immediately wanted to know how far fruit based construction went. I wouldnt have been shocked if someone told me that the bakery Pinkie lived in was an actual magical cake. Only thing missing from the carriage was some horses to drive it, which would have been weird to say the least.

"That's not all." Twilight said, and turned to look at me. I stepped back and began to raise my arms, Twilight winked and turned again to face Fluttershy. "Did you bring your friends?" She asked. Four actual tiny mice appeared from F-shys mane and I quickly saw where this was heading. Fucking Disney fairtales man.

"Yes." The yellow one said quietly, moving her head down and letting them off her head, they all scurried onto the ground in single file and stood not far from the Pegasus. Rarity looked visibly disgusted and I was close to crushing the little fucks myself. If they were rats I would have. "Will they be safe?"

"You have my word." Twilight said. I took a glance at the book she had been reading that was just tossed onto the grass but naturally I couldn't read the title on the front. Again Twilight's horn started to glow and after a second there was another cloud of smoke and suddenly four mice-horse-things stood before me. All white, yellow manes and tails, some royal ornaments of some kind about them. I threw up my arms and walked off.

"I'm out. I'm getting the fucking train." I declared and continued to leave. I heard Diamond trot after me and the flapping of wings follow behind.

"Aron wait up!" Dash declared. I turned to see her, Lyra, Diamond and Rarity following me. I stopped and let them all catch up. "Don't leave, how are you going to get to the Gala?" She asked.

"The train, chariots, I'll fucking walk it. That disney-esk mice driven carriage was a bit too much for me." I replied.

"Disney-esk?" Dash asked.

"Something from Earth, they made entertainment based on fairy-tales, one was Cinderella. Some chick who goes to a Gala event in a carriage made from a pumpkin and had mice turn into horses to drive it." I answered. "That was just a bit too weird for me." I added.

"Honestly I don't know why Twi wanted us to go in a chariot anyway, that would take alllllllll day." Dash replied after a second, I smiled and nodded.

"Why'd you follow me?" I asked, looking at Rarity. She looked around for a second and blushed slightly.

"I-I don't know. Mice are vile creatures and I thought you were running away too." She stuttered out. I raised an eyebrow and she blushed harder.

"Well to send a letter I'll need Spike so I'mma head back, we ain't far from the reason of 'em." Then started to walk back to the others without waiting for a reply, turns out they followed me back anyway. Fucking sheep. I thought.

As it turns out the chariot thing Twilight had conjured was a dead end anyway, Rarity's cat had appeared and scared the mice off and apparently that was the end of the world so Twilight was having a bit of a fit.

"Who will pull our carriage now?" She cried. I walked over to her and knelt down, putting a hand on her back.

"Twilight." I said calmly, she stopped moving and stared at me, I made sure to look into her eyes and we shared a look for a solid thirty seconds. "We can take a fucking chariot." I said, I wanted to slap her for effect but held against that. She stared at me and eventually just nodded. "Spike send for a chariot will you?" I asked without looking away from Twilight. "You don't have to impress Celestia Twilight, you're her number one student. Calm down, and enjoy tonight." Again she just nodded.

"T-thank you Aron. I get.. Stressed, sometimes." She replied. I just shrugged and stepped back. I heard a burp from Spike and a few seconds later another came back.

"Alright Princess Celestia is sending some chariots." He declared. With that I just walked back to my spot on the grass and lay down. There was panic immediately since nobody was ready. I heard a minor stampede into Rarity's pad and just started giggling to myself, closing my eyes and relaxing. Not ten seconds past when the sun light was blocked by someone standing in front of me, I heard a slight cough and opened one eye. Rarity was standing before me.

"Waddup." I said. Not meaning it to be a question, I knew what she was going to say.

"Wad-up?" She replied. "Waddup?" She said again more angrily. I shut my eye and waiting for the storm. "You get Spike to call a chariot in NOW, before any of us are ready. You decide to then lay on the filthy grass and lie back like nothing is wrong, whilst you are also not ready. And you DARE ask ME. Waddup?"

"Dude chill, I'm just winding you up, where am I getting changed?" I replied. Opening my eyes and standing up. She rolled her own eyes and just turned around to walk inside, as I had heard everyone had fucked off and was inside the store. She had a sign on her door saying 'Closed for an event'.

"The men are downstairs, do try to be quick." Rarity replied as we entered the shop. Both Spike and Diamond were down here and had their getup on a table near them as well as a divider thing that people stand behind to change in some old films, or I presume old times in general. Rarity didn't say anything else and I decided not to comment how the guys won't be the issue in changing fast. I just wandered over to my ungodly spawn of a getup and started stripping down, it took me less than a minute to get everything off, then everything on again. I still felt fairly abused purely due to how horrible this suit thing looked like. I left my divider and found Spike wearing a shirt and blazer thing, fairly normal, and Diamond had his guard armour on and a kind of suit thing underneath it, looked pretty cool but not my style. As I expected the chariots arrived before any of the girls were done so us three men just hung out outside. Well me and Diamond did, Spike stayed inside in case they finished. Sunflower and Grumble were part of the five chariots that had come to pick the nine of us up. Once I noticed that I just walked over to them, Sunflower blushed slightly and Grumble saluted.

"Cut the crap Grumble." I said, he dropped the salute. "How y'all doing?" I asked.

"Oh you know, the usual, got ordered out to pick up some random town ponies and some jumped up human. You know how it is." Sunflower replied.

"Christ I do not envy you." I said smiling slightly.

"That's a nice out-" Sunflower started.

"Don't. This thing is god awful and you fucking know it." I replied.

"Not for ponies, not really. Our whole thing is bright colours and happiness remember?" Diamond said, I turned to him and crossed my arms.

"Alright, you wear the explosion of colour and I'll wear protective armour to a major event." Diamond just rolled his eyes, Spike then left the shop followed by all the girls. They all wore various kinds of dresses and looked pretty dolled up. I don't care enough to remember what they were all wearing though. "I'm on Sunflower and Grumble's chariot. Only sane people can join me." I declared, I was not riding the whole way to Canterlot with guards I didn't know and stuck with Pinkie or Rarity. Luckily for me Diamond and Rainbow joined me on my chariot.

It wasn't long after that where we took off and started our trip to Canterlot, there was silence for a while until we stopped ascending and were making a beeline to the city.

"So whatcha think?" Dash asked, bopping me in the back as she did. I turned to face her and actually took in what she was wearing. It was very ancient Greek for a start, I presume to follow the whole lifestyle that Cloudsdale, or the Pegasi as a whole, I couldn't remember. Her hair was done up in some cool plat thing so her back mane connected to itself more, looked pretty funky how the green, purple and blue of her hair mixed into itself. She had the necklace on from the dragon event and some gold accessories in her hair and around her body, a golden leaf looking thing curved around her ears, she had a gold saddle like thing on her back, holding up the dress, which was just plain white. Her shoes were also gold and the front ones had a bit more detail to the back. It was weird looking at a horse, that I'd fucked, wearing makeup but she did look pretty good.

"You look beautiful hun." I replied, smiling slightly. She smiled back and nodded.

"A little birdie tells me you have something prepared for Nightmare Night." Dash said after a short pause. I winked at her.

"I do." Was my answer.

"You going to tell me what it is?" She asked.

"I will. On Halloween."

"Aww come onnnn.." She beg, leaning against me.

"Dashie dear. It's a surprise for a reason, if it goes to plan it'll be awesome."

"Just a hint?" Pleassseee?" She asked. I said nothing. "Please."

"Fine. Me and the costume guy have a little plan in mind. With a bit of human intervention and some illusion magic I may actually scar some kids on Halloween."

"You think it's that scary huh?" She asked, unimpressed but holding the smile.

"Yeah, why what you going as?" I asked.

"A shadowbolt."

"A what?" I asked. Dash rolled her eyes.

"Remember when we defeated Nightmare Moon?" I blinked. "When you first got here, Elements of Harmony. Timber Wolves." She added.

"Oh right yeah, I got Spiritus that night. What about it?"

"Well when we reached the castle I flew over to fix the bridge, some dark, evil ponies appeared before me and offered to let me join them in something called The Shadowbolts. They looked cool, so I'm going as one of them."

"Fair enough, if it works for you."

"The Shadowbolts.." Diamond muttered. "That was the name of an elite force of Nightmare Moon cultists years ago." He added.

"Huh. So they're already a thing, cool." I said shrugging. Thus ending that conversation.

"You've mentioned cultists that followed Luna, or Nightmare Moon before. They still a threat?" I asked. Diamond smiled slightly.

"No they are not, history barely mentions them but from what I know the cult was forgotten eventually, Nightmare Moon fading into myth. Though since Luna's return there have been reports of cultists reforming." He replied.

"Celestia going to hunt them down?" He shook his head.

"Not with the numbers they have. If the reports are accurate. and they usually are, the numbers they have are not enough to do anything more than a usual band of bandits. Plus they are situated up north, if they are not already all we would need to do is chase them into the Griffin lands and it would be their problem."

"Speaking of, any griffins going to the Gala?"

"No, the Grand Galloping Gala is a solely pony designed party. There are yearly events that all races are invited to but most do not show."

"How come? I would've thought it would be great for race relations?"

"It is, but with Princess Cadence and the other delegates Celestia has under her most races have decided to stay as far away from Equestria as possible. We have many allies and many trade partners. But little friends."

"Seems, counterproductive?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well ponies are meant to be the race of friendship and magic, yet you have no friends outside ponies."

"That is the problem Aron." He paused. "Look at it this way, does Earth have griffins?"

"No. In myth yes but not for real, they were meant to be pretty powerful and majestic. I presume they would be a warring nation if they were sentient."

"Spot on. They are carnivores, which immediately puts a buffer in our relations with them. They see us as weak and small, that it is only our magic keeping us alive."

"Is it?"

"Without pony magic much of the world would be lost." Eerie but okay.

"So the griffins hate you because they probably see you as prey, and think your OP magic is OP. What about the others?"

"I would not say they see us as prey, but I also wouldn't doubt it. The Naga despise us for many reasons. Being cave dwellers they hate land based creatures, they hate magic, they hate fliers, they hate the quadrupedal form. Basically everything about us they hate for one reason or another."

"What do the Naga look like here?" I'd started to bite my nails a bit but was still paying attention. Horrible habit.

"What do you mean?"

"On Earth the mythical description of Naga was split in two. One, more used and common depiction was they were half human and half lizard, or half snake. We had a bunch of mythical creatures that were made of two of more creatures. Centaurs for example, half horse and half human."

"I see. I suppose they resemble humans. They resemble you at least. Muscular. Covered in scales and spikes, a snake-like tail. They are human-like I suppose. I haven't seen one in a while, nor have I seen one with a human, or many other humans." Diamond replied.

"Fair enough. Naga's dangerous?"

"Potentially, they stick to themselves but do not exactly welcome outsiders. Plus as I already said, they hate ponykind for many reasons. There obviously isn't any relation details on humans."

"Suppose not. Besides Equestria being under annexation by High King Aron of Earth." He rolled his eyes at that. "I've yet to actually see a map of the world, or known world. What's it like?"

"Known world, we know there are undiscovered areas, but do not have the resources to discover it. With the world as dead as it is there isn't much to discover."

"Fair enough. What's the known world like then?"

"Well there is Equestria, in the center. Or at least our maps say we are central."

"It's the same on Earth, you look at a map made in say, England where I'm from and we're in the center."

"There is the Griffon Kingdom above us, then an area of decay where the Horses live. Further north is Old Equestria. Then The Edge of The World."

"Sounds edgy." I said. "Wait. The world isn't.. Flat is it?" I immediately asked.

"No. The Edge is just the furthest north anypony has gone. On record anyway. An old unicorn once went north in hopes of finding answers."

"Answers for what?"

"I do not know, it's old history. Answers for magic I presume. A few have followed him, recently one of Equestria's top mages went to find his workshop, both of them studying the same school of magic."

"Which one?"

"Interdimensional travel."

"Heh. Call 'em back. Jus' wait 'til they meet me."

"Suppose it is too late for that, he left over a year ago."

"Eh whatever. I'm surprised I haven't been called to the mage tower or a museum or something yet since I'm so alien."

"I wouldn't know, you would have to ask Princess Celestia."

"True. So, the globe. We done up't'norf. What else is out there?"

"Far south is the dragon lands, there is one close to Equestria called The Badlands but there is a much bigger area for their central realm. Tartarus and the war is further. East of Equestria is The Great Ocean, a big landmass with the Cats, Dogs and Naga. West is mostly undiscovered. If you want excitement you either go North or East."

"Alright. I doubt I'll ever leave Equestria but you never know where fate takes you." I replied. "Especially with me being a fighter now."

"You know you could earn money from that, sign up to be a guard or something."

"Would I actually have to, guard shit?"

"Most likely." I snorted.

"Yeah fuck that noise." Diamond shrugged. Thus ended the conversation.

Canterlot was as beautiful as ever, ponies littered the streets and the city look much brighter than usual and more guards were out. Much of the population appeared to be in the castle gardens or around the palace. I couldn't see the front or the north side, but presumed the same could be said of there. We landed with no issue and began to gather at the front of the chariots. I fist bumped both Grumble and Sunflower, both of which accepted it like the sluts they were. Supposedly the whole thing of hoof bumping was spreading like crazy across Equestria, god knows why though.

"Have fun Aron." Sunflower said. I rolled my eyes and just booped her nose, she went cross eyed for a bit until Dash appeared next to me and she blushed and started unhooking herself from the chariot. I put an arm out for Dash.

"Shall we?" I asked. She smiled and flew up and meet my arm with a hoof.

"Let's." She replied and we walked into the party together. Well we got stopped at a door and had to hand over our tickets, then walked into the party together.
We were inside the main entrance way of Canterlot Castle for all of thirty seconds before Celestia walked over and welcomed us.

"I'm glad you could make it, flight wasn't too bad was it?" She asked. Now, I hadn't been paying attention but I found out later Rarity was having a total shit fit because the wind had fucked up her outfit. Before I could reply to the Princess, Twilight Sparkle appeared besides me.

"Hi Princess Celestia. I've been so excited to spend time with you-" She began.

"Yes me too Twilight, but first Aron and I need to chat. If you would excuse us, Dash. Twilight." Celestia said. I audibly gulped after that, her voice sounded normal but I was never sure what she wanted to talk about. I felt Dash grip harden on my arm but I eased it out from her.

"I'm following you." I said, Dash floated down but said nothing. "Go find the Wonderbolts Dash, it's why you're here innit?" I asked, she smiled and zoomed off without a word. Twilight looked pretty depressed but likewise said nothing. Celestia walked away and I followed, she went to the top of the main stairwell and stood next to Luna, was seemed to be greeting guests.

"Welcome to The Grand Galloping Gala Aron." She said with a smile. I nodded as I past.

"Hey Luna." I replied. Then took a position besides Celestia. She didn't say anything for a while and I took up an 'at ease' pose next to her, staring straight ahead, unblinking. When she did finally say something I jumped a little.

"I'm sorry if I gave you concern Aron. I just did not wish to deal with dear Twilight tonight."

"That's fair. I live with her, couldn't imagine her being my student." I replied.

"You could move out. The dragon hoard has given you more than enough money to build a house if you wished."

"One day. But not yet. I suppose if Twilight was my student my lessons would be far sexier." Celestia actually choked a little bit with that.

"I.. I didn't know you were that close." She muttered.

"We aren't. You should know I try and trip you up whenever we talk."

"Oh I see."

"Sorry."

"That was such good banter dearest sister." Luna said suddenly. I smiled slightly.

"Thank you Luna." Celestia muttered.

"So is there anything you wanted to talk about or am I just here to look pretty?" I asked.

"There are always things I wish to talk to you about Aron." There was an awkward pause where Luna greeted a few random ponies, they both gave me a weird glance but said nothing.

"Go on..." I muttered once I'd gotten bored.

"The sword is very much enchanted and incredibly dangerous." She said after a second. Her usual happy voice gone.

"I see."

"Spiritus was used in one of the most deadly and bloody wars in history, it can tear through most armour and... drinks the soul of it's victims, if they are considered worth storing. Which explains why the dogs weren't leeched. Their souls are too small. Spiritus has a corrupting power but it is small."

"When you say small?"

"You'd have to kill thousands for it to affect you."

"You say that like you're giving it back." She paused again.

"I am. You claimed Spiritus Aron, and you've seen the power of the blade. If you wish you can have it back now." That made me pause.

"Can you just send it back to Ponyville? I didn't bring the scabbard and I'd rather not carry around a sword in public."

"Of course." Celestia said, her horn lit up for a second and she nodded. "It is done."

"Awesome."

"How are you finding the books I gave you?"

"Dull." I replied. "But informative." I added. "Taint seems really fucking dangerous and I'm kind of worried that a Tainted being attacked Ponyville."

"As am I Aron. Taint is very common in places like The Everfree, more so in Everfree Central. But the afflicted rarely wander so close to civilisation. The theory is something in the forest bigger than Einfields spooked it or has attacked a breeding ground, pushing them closer to Ponyville. Then the Einfield picked up some Taint and just happened upon the town."

"Makes sense I suppose. That mean more of them are nearby?"

"Potentially."

"You should build a fucking wall around the forest."

"Do you know how big the Everfree is?"

"Hey I don't care how fucking impractical it is, I wasn't the genius that built a town right next to a fucking Taint filled evil forest. Full of motherfucking giant foxes and wooden wolves."

"Ponyville was built before The Everfree." Celestia said quietly.

"So where'd it come from?"

"A long time ago there were, complications." She said.

"I fell to the darkness, become Nightmare Moon. I had no idea it had spread so much though." Luna muttered. I didn't say anything at that. So it was Luna's fault, or Nightmare Moon's fault?

"It wasn't your fault Luna. Taint corrupts all, it is under control now..." Celestia trailed off for a bit before standing in silence. Luna welcomed a few more ponies before I spoke up.

"So is Nightmare Night anything to do with you Luna?" I asked.

"Nightmare. Night?" She asked.

"As far as I know it's like Halloween, er.. You dress up, scare each other and give out free sweets. Or candy since this is America." I replied.

"I.." She began.

"It was made after Nightmare's banishment sister. It is all in good fun." Celestia said quickly.

"Why do you ask Aron?" Luna asked.

"It's soon, or at least in Ponyville it's soon. Was just askin'." I shrugged.

"I would have thought you to be too mature for something like Nightmare Night Aron." Celestia said sarcastically. I stuck my tongue out at her and flipped her off.

"That's funny that. I'll have you know not only am I going as something that might scar children, but I wholeheartedly intend to get as much free shit as possible."

"Please do not spread too much terror around Ponyville Aron. I'd so hate to send guards to calm down villagers."

"It won't be nearly as awesome as I'm hoping but y'know." I shrugged. I saw Rainbow Dash at the bottom of the stairs next to some other pony in what looked like blue latex. It took me a moment to figure out she was one of the Wonderbolts from the show. But I didn't know their name. Her hair looked fucking amazing though, like fire or some shit. "I don't see Twilight, am I free to depart?" I asked.

"I suppose so Aron, please stay close." Celestia replied.

"What, don't trust me?"

"I just wish to not deal with Twilight at the moment. I haven't given her a big assignment for a while now and I fear she may get.. Needy."

"Just tell her to make friends with everyone in Ponyville and send a report on them all. You'd get her off your back and you'd get to spy on Ponyville."

"You would be punishing me with that Aron. Twilight Sparkle is no spy and I would have to read each report."

"Fair point. I got nothing then.” With that I started down towards my girlfriend. I noticed that unicorn, or ex-unicorn I’d met on my first trip to Canterlot, Roseluck I believe in the line. I gave a ‘hey’ passing her but she didn’t react, was talking to some other chick. Once I reached Dash and Wonderbolt my girlfriend smiled.

“Princess Celestia let you enjoy yourself then?” She asked. I looked to Wonderbolt chick for a second.

“I’ll explain later.” I said, seriously.

“I see, that important eh?” She asked. I just nodded. I don’t think she caught on to what I meant and looked pretty worried. “Er.. This is Spitfire, she’s in the Wonderbolts.” Dash said, aiming a hoof at the random chick. I nodded to her.

“Sup.” I said, I put my fist out for her and she actually bumped it.

“Hello Aron, I’ve heard a lot about you.” Spitfire said. Her voice was disturbingly similar to Dash’s.

“That’s a surprise. I’ve heard a lot about you as well, Dash here is a bit of a fan.” I replied. I’d never heard of Spitfire before, or at least didn’t know anything of her. I just knew the Wonderbolts were a thing.

“News spreads fast in Equestria when something interesting happens. And you have caused quite an interest for certain parties.”

“Like?”

“Well us for one, none of us knew where you lived but were wondering if you wanted to come to some of our shows. Free of charge, just to show you some Equestrian culture.” Free advertisement you mean, the alien watches your show so people come to your show.

“I was never a man for racing on Earth. I could do a mean hundred meter sprint in the day but that was about it. I know Dash likes them though so if you’re ever in the neighbourhood we’ll come see. I don’t worry too much about cash, got my own secret dragon hoard.”

“That’s a shame. I assure you our races are nothing like whatever they were like on your world Aron.” She almost sounded full of herself.

“I kinda went to one show a while back, the Young Fliers thing in Cloudsdale. Dash won it.”

“Yes she was saying, I remember her, and you being there now you mention it. How were you walking around on Cloudsdale? I don’t think any race besides Pegasi can walk on clouds.”

“Magic, a unicorn Dash and I know; Twilight Sparkle, cast a spell that let me walk around the cloud layer. It’s been used on me a bunch of times now.” Usually to have sex.

“That makes a lot of sense. What did you think of Cloudsdale?”

“The city is wonderful. Stunning, beautiful. I’d live there if I could actually walk around and shit. Kinda makes me wish I had wings or something.” She smiled and nodded.

“Princess Luna.” Spitfire randomly said and bowed down, I side stepped and looked behind me, sure enough, the night mare was standing before me.

“We apologise for interrupting. But if we could steal sir Aron away for a brief moment.” Luna said, Spitfire just nodded, Dash did after a pause. I turned and followed Luna, followed her through the party and outside into the gardens. Fluttershy was out there looking pretty lost. “Is this mare a companion of yours?” Luna asked.

“Yeah I know her, lives in Ponyville, pretty shy and timid. Why waddup?”

“No reason, just making idle chatter.” The Princess replied and walked me over to a balcony, overlooking a huge expanse of nothing. Luna started to lean against it. I decided to stand as far away as possible without meaning to be rude. She noticed though. “Dost thou wish to join us?” She asked.

“Afraid of heights, I’m cool here.” I explained. She shrugged and stared out into the distance for a while. “Our last conversation ended on some sour words Aron.” She muttered.

“It did and I do apologi-” I began.

“No need. Celestia hast now informed me that was all in jest. Water under the bridge if you wish it.”

“Of course.”

“This pleases me greatly.” She paused. “I wish to learn more of you Aron of Earth.”

“Ask away Princess. I expect some knowledge of you too though.”

“Please, call us Luna. You do not respect titles so don’t use them.” Oh so she was still bitter about our last talk. Whatevs bitch.

“I never said I didn’t respect them, I just never grew up around those who did. But whatever. What do you wish to know?”

“What have you been up to since we last met?”

“I dunno where to start with that.I’ve killed since we last met. Some Diamond Dogs who kidnapped a friend of mine, and a Tainted Enfield that attacked Ponyville.”

“So I’ve heard. How does that make you feel? Taking a life?” I paused, she seemed like she honestly cared.

“Horrible. I never wanted to fight, but I got called to action and.. Took action. I have nightmares most nights about the dogs. Not so much about the Enfield, I don’t think that was sentient. I hope it wasn’t anyway.” I muttered.

“The first kill is always the worst.” Luna muttered. “My sister.. She doesn’t understand, she has killed, but not like me. After a while you start enjoying the rush.” She sounded strange towards the end, and I felt worried for my life. At least until: “I hate it. I hate what I’ve become.”

“It’s psychology, your brain adapts. If it didn’t and you killed and killed you would end up going numb to it all. Being able to look back and see yourself as a, as a monster. It means it’s adapted the correct way. I’m not a psychologist so I can’t fully explain it, but the best thing is to be able to hate yourself. It’s grim but it’s science.” She looked at me like I was an idiot for a second, which I very much was.

“Do you know how many you killed? Their names?”

“Five dogs. One Enfield. I don’t know any of the dogs names, or even if they had names honestly. I could describe them all though. Their faces when they died.” Luna was silent for another minute or two.

“I don’t know how many I have killed in the name of peace. Ponies, dogs, cats, naga. All gone. Whole blood lines destroyed…” She trailed of, looking down at the floor again.

“As long as you can regret it I suppose.”

“We suppose.”

“Do. Do you want a hug?” I asked. She looked back at me, she looked like she was about to cry and nodded. I walked forward and embraced her, she had the same level of perfection to her hugs that Celestia did, and likewise with her I never wanted the hug to end. Just for her to hold me until all my pieces stitched back together. “Hey Luna?” I asked. She murmured a response. “Have you ever gotten pissed?”

“Pissed?” She asked into my shoulder.

“Drunk?”

“A few times, why dost thou ask?”

“Depressing talk, alcohol doesn’t exactly help, you still have that guilt and shit. But for a night, it lets you put down whatever baggage you have on your shoulders for a time. Being blackout drunk is the closest to peace I’ve found.”

“What are you suggesting? We should become an alcoholic?”

“No. I’m suggesting we ditch this party and go get drunk somewhere.”

“I have a private sitting room.”

“Know any bars?” She let go of the hug and was smiling.

“The Night Guard bar has just opened.”

“Awesome, so Luna. Wanna go get drunk with an alien in front of your men?” I asked. She smiled and nodded. “Alright, wait here I gotta go tell Dash I’m ditching the party. This ain’t gonna get me in trouble with Sunbutt is it?” She giggled slightly at that and sniffed, wiping a tear away. I started to walk away, smiling slightly.

“No. We shall deal with our sister.” Luna replied. I nodded and continued to walk back into the party to find my girlfriend. In truth I didn’t give two shits if Luna wanted to go drinking or not, had she said no I would’ve bailed and found a bar myself. I hate depressing talk and my first instinct is to find alcohol until I pass out usually.

It didn’t take long to find Rainbow Dash, she had a pretty big crowd around her and she seemed to be enjoying herself. I smacked her ass lightly to get her attention and after avoiding a kick from a startled horse she turned to see me.

“I gotta do a thing for Luna, sorry I can’t stick around but Princess duties came up. I don’t think I’ll be back tonight, or most of tomorrow.” I explained.

“I suppose you have to do what you have to do. I was telling these ponies all about you.” Dash replied smiling. It was then I noticed Dash had gathered a bunch of young looking mares, all pretty flustered and giggling.

“I don’t want to know. Cya bae.” I said and kissed her cheek. Then walked off to find Luna inside watching me from the door. “A’right let’s bail from this shit.”

“You have a very interesting speech pattern Aron.” Luna muttered, we started walking through the party together, more than a few royals watching us.

“I have a very slang based speech pattern, I skip words or use shortened versions. On Earth it was used by lazy people and stupid people.”

“I see.” Was all she said to that. We made our way out of the castle and into Canterlot. Which just so happened to be one of the last things I remembered but was very much the start of an epic night.

Author's Notes:

this took a while

dash