I used my thrusters to get to the top of the cliff that over looked where the Tree was, and didn't like what I saw.

Fleur and the other rebellion members were, as Discord said, fighting a group of stallions about half their number, but seemed to still be winning. It was then I saw, I have no idea how, a faint shimmer on the stallion armor. I guess what the tree did to me allowed me to see latent magical fields. Which meant, somehow, armor issued by the Caribou gave substantial protection against swords and the like.

Wonder about brute force?

I boosted up a little, making sure they heard me, and, once I was at an altitude that would have me hitting at the edge of the group of stallions, I dove, doing the two handed dive from in-game, and I saw an aura of light form around my mauler. I came down at the edge of the group like I wanted, causing enough of a pressure wave to knock all but the furthest on their asses, a wave of light coming from the impact area.

I got up and looked at the entire group. "And just what do you think you are doing here?" I asked the stallions.

"W-we don't know," one said, which got my attention. "Last I remember, we were in Canterlot when a wave of energy hit me and my friends, and now, here I am." the stallion looked up at me. "What are you?"

I ignored him. It would seem that what the Caribou did to stallions most likely created a second personality that took over, leaving the real ones no memory of what happened. Interesting. It would also seem what ever the tree did to me is able to counter act it, and remove the, for lack of a better term, sexist personality. Need to keep that little tidbit in mind. "Is that the same for all of you?" As far as I could tell, all the stallions nodded.

One, though, didn't. "And what of you," I said, glaring at him. He didn't answer.

"What are we going to do with them?" Fleur said, walking beside me.

"Tie them up," I say. "Less Caribou troops means better chance at victory."

"You sure that's safe?"

"You have enough troops for two to watch them, do you not? We'll remove their armor and weapons, too." Jeez, ponies lack common sense, don't they?

"I suppose so," Fleur said. "But the Queen won't be pleased."

"To hell with her," I say. "I care not what leaders think. I am simply joining you and the rebellion because I agree with your reasons."

"I'll have to keep that in mind," Fleur said. "You seem a little. . . shorter," she said.

I looked at her, and, indeed, I was. Where as before, I was taller than average Cabal soldiers, I was now the same height as a pony. Another change brought on by the tree, I suppose. "Indeed I am," I said, turning back to face the new prisoners. "I imagine that has to do with what I found."

"What's that," Fleur asked.

"An old force," I say. "Nothing more."

"I guess that's all I'm getting out of you, isn't it?" she asked. "Well, I need to help the others get the armor and weapons situated, so we might be here a while."

I nodded. "Do what you must. I can wait."

"Right," Fleur said. "What about you?"

I looked at the remains of the old castle. "I'll be reading. Let the others know if they need me, I'll be in there."

Fleur nodded. "Guess I'll see ya in a few hours then," she said before I made my way to the castle, using my thrusters to get past the gorge.

A few hours had passed, and I was in the library of the castle, reading a few history books. I put my hand to my chin, as I had discovered that either the three or my previous life allowed me to live in Equis pressure, so I did not need my helmet on. I had actually found quite a few things about the Caribou, including a few of their stories. One especially caught my interest, the Story of Estra. It, and every other Caribou story, had enough sex to be considered porn, but it was the ending of this story that caught my interest, for a few reasons. One was that it was why red collars were given to slaves, much as I hate that word. The other actually contradicted Caribou society. You see Caribou males see literally every female as weak, pathetic, and, really, if it was America during the eighteen hundreds, the males would be white, and the females the black slaves. You see, in this story, a cow, what they call female Caribou, by the name Estra, and her master, or lover, I don't know, were on a kind of quest to get a plant, as there was a sickness affecting all the females in their town, and, in the last leg of the journey, Estra countered the usual thinking, showing she had a will of her own that wasn't solely focused on sex, and by showing, though it did nothing in the long run, that females could do the same shit as males.

Oh dear god, even the slave south was better than this, and that is sad. At least the South let some blacks be free. Here, only if you're in the rebellion. Anyway, it also looked like, before they took the place over, the Caribou vanished a thousand years ago. You know, I agree with Spike from the comics, a thousand years ago must have been one heck of a year.

Another interesting tidbit: The males once thought the color of red would be a distraction. As I came across this, I looked down at myself, noting I now had a normal, human like figure. Why, no idea, but still, as I looked at my armor, I came to a decision. If they once thought red was a distraction, and now of submission, I thought as I clenched my right hand into a fist. But when we are through, they will see it as the color of freedom. Might add a bit of white, navy blue, and lavender color, too, to represent Celestia, Luna, and Twilight.

As I thought on that, I heard a buzzing of wings. I turned around to look at a hole in a wall and saw a male changeling flying in. "What?" I asked when he landed.

"Mau'ual, Fleur's bee taken by one of the stallions!" he said in a hurry. "It was that stallion who didn't nod at your question." Okay, not the only one to notice that. Noted.

"Where?" I asked, picking my helmet up off the table and putting it on with a hiss.

"I saw him heading towards Ponyville!"

"Then tell the others to continue. I will get Fleur back, and make my way toward your base afterwards."

"But there's a whole contingent of Caribou there!"

I grinned under my helmet. "Then I hope they have prayed to their god already," I said before activating my thrusters and flying out through the hole in the ceiling before turning towards Ponyville.

A few minutes, I had gotten just over the edge of the forest when I saw, with my helmet scanning for the specific light wave frequency that Fleur's color scheme Fleur in the center of town. I used my view to normal, and zoomed in on that location, and was unfortunately greeted with the sight of Fleur naked surrounded by Caribou and stallions. But oh, oh oh, what made me angry the most was that Fleur had on a black collar, and was getting fucked by that stallion from earlier. Someone's gonna die now.

I angled towards the southern edge of the crowd for a landing. You know, too bad I don't have a song for my entrance. I actually think I have something perfect for it. Oh well.

I landed, causing a near panic from those near my landing zone. I growled slightly, and began making my way to the center of the mob, none trying to stop me, for the most part, them getting out of my way. Only a few stallions and Caribou tried to stop me, and the stallions were flipped to the ground, the Caribou, well, one I punched him in the chest hard enough to send him flying into town hall, a second I just back handed away from me with my right hand, and the third and last? I grabbed his head, and crushed it.

The entire time, a glow came from my mauler, and I saw mares, red and black collared, bow, and I even heard a few whisper, "Harmony's champion."

I made it to the center of the mob with little resistance, even Caribou after the third unlucky asshole didn't try to stop me. "Let her go," I said to the stallion in the most threatening voice I could pull off, and it sounded like Goliath's voice from Gargoyles, which was to say Kieth David, who played himself in Saint's Row four and Anderson in the Mass Effect games, for those who don't know what he sounds like.

"Why should I?" he asked. "King Dainn said i could have any mare I wanted if I served him, and even before he came, I always founf this one," he said, stroking Fleur's cheek, making her recoil, "particularly beautiful."

"Because I can easily mop up you blood with your own body, and that of any like you," I say in my Goliath voice. "Let her go, take that collar off, or I'll show you what the color red means."

The asshole smirked, and drew a sword. "Then you'll have to deal with me and my friends," he said, a group of four Caribou guards walking next to him, as well as a single unicorn and pegasus stallion. "Of course, you have no chance at winnning," he said. "It's seven to one, and our armor protects us from magic!"

"Good thing i don't rely on magic, then," I said before I activated my thrusters, and charged at the seven, who brought their weapons up. You know, MKAlieZ would be perfect here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRkBJY1mua0

Oh, in the suit data base then? Time for some fun. Skip to fifty nine second marker.

Just as I reached the group, I grabbed two of the Caribou by the throat, then threw them up in the air as I stopped before delivering an elbow as I turned around to the third Caribou to the face, then uppercutting him with my right hand. I then grabbed one of his legs with my mauler arm, and hit the fourth Caribou with his comrade before releasing him, sending them both flying into a nearby wall with enough force to break it. The unicorn tried to take my head off with a sword of his own, but I blocked it with my mauler before grabbing it in my right hand and yanking him toward my left arm, pushing myself forward as I did so, which resulted in, at most, a caved in skull when his face made contact with my mauler. I released him just as the two Caribou I had thrown in the air came back down. I grabbed their legs, and began to twirl them like nun-chucks before slamming them into one another with enough force to where I could hear their bones break before letting them fall to the ground.

All that left was the pegasus and the asshole who took Fleur. Now that there was less distance betwene us, I could make out his features. He had a black skin with a sliver mane or hair, what ever this version of Equestria calls it. The pegasus had on armor etched with glyphs over his entire body.

"Take him," the earth pony said to his pegasus, I don't know, subordinate, who spread his wings, and flew up.

I looked up at him and said, "Oh, no you don't," and flew up in pursuit. Once we were high enough to the point I don't think any on the ground could see us, him just barely leading, I said, "Oh, screw this," and grabbed his leg, and pulled him down to my level, delivering a punch to his gut. Before he could fall, though, I grabbed him by the neck, barely applying any pressure, and said, "So, are you doing this willingly, or is it some kind of spell," rhetorically, as I saw the same magical field around him as both the earth pony and unicorn. Which was to say willingly.

"Go to Tartarus," he snarled.

"After you," I say before tossing him up slightly, boosting up to be above him, and used my jets to propel myself and the pegasus, who I had by the gut with a fist, and went about twenty-five percent of full thrust. When we hit the ground, close to where Golden oaks was, as opposed to where we had started, a crater was formed.

As the dust cleared and I got on my feet, I looked down, and saw that the pegasus was limp. Whether he was dead or not, I could not tell. "Pathetic," I say as a roar echoed across the town. I looked at the tree house. Right. Fuck me.

I braced my self as a man sized, but Bulk Biceps level of brawn in muscle mass, Spike came crashing through the wall, crawling like most dragons probably would. He had no indication as to sentience, no magical field around him, so I had no idea as to what to do. But I do remember dragon greed. Twilight, forgive me for what I must do.

I got into a fighting stance just as berserk Spike charged. He tried to claw at me, but I used my thrusters to avoid his attack. I then boosted up, then back down with my mauler poised to strike. I came down on Spike's back, between wings I can assume grew since Equestria's fall, and the poor soul roared in pain. I imagine I had literally hit a nerve, as he fell and couldn't get up, but he did move his head, and it was there I saw some part of sentience. I saw a silent plea in his eyes, one that said, Please, kill me.

I shook my head in sadness. I had hoped that we could recruit Spike, but it was clear, much as I wish it wasn't, he couldn't be saved, not now.

I made my way to beside the part of his neck that connected his head with the neck. "I am sorry," I said to him, though whether or not he heard me was uncertain, placing my right hand on the joint. "But I swear to you, Spike the Dragon, I will ensure that Twilight and the others are freed, and that, at least, you went out as any dragon should: in combat." I closed my eyes as I raised my mauler, holding back tears. Spike had never been my favorite character, but he was in the top five, and, really, he was the anchor for Twilight sometimes, and I found it sad he had to die. I brought down my mauler, and i heard a sickening crunch. I opened my eyes, and I saw that my strike had decapitated Spike. At least it was painless for him. I saw a pool of blood spreading from the former joint of his head and neck.

I reached my right hand down into it, getting the blood on my glove. I exhaled, thinking, Requiescat in pace, Italian for "Rest in peace", and planted my palm on my chest, leaving a bloody hand print on my chest. At least some part of you will see this to the end, I thought as I turned back to face the town center, where the stallion that had inadvertently caused Spike's death still lived. I got up from my kneeling position, and made my way to get vengeance.

I arrived at the town center, the crowd still there. I had taken my helmet off and attached it to my waist belt, just so they could all see my pissed off look, and who it was directed at.

The crowd parted, and I saw quite a few mares and stallions staring at the hand print on my armor, even the Caribou males didn't try to stop me. I stopped at the inner edge of the crowd, Fleur chained to the ground, the earth pony asshole standing above her. "So, it would seem you are a monster," he said. "You did just kill an innocent citizen after all.

"Yeah, I did," I said, not bothering to lie. "But he died because you thought it would be a smart move to kidnap one of my allies when I could fly to catch up faster than a pegasus or changeling. I gave him an honorable death, much as I could." I glared at him, and heard a few gasps from the crowd. "He wanted to die," I continued, "because of what the Caribou have done to him. He didn't want to know what his friends and family would think of him if the Caribou were overthrown, so I helped him the only way I could, the way he wanted."

I grabbed my helmet, and put it on. "And now, I'll give him revenge on the one that made his death happen."

The cocky, no pun intended, asshole stepped in front of Fleur and said, "Then come and get me."

"With pleasure," I say as I fire a barrage of rockets up in the air. The asshole stood in front of Fleur, so I couldn't go in directly. But I used the rockets to create a dust cloud cover around him. I activated my infrared visor setting, and stepped into the cloud, hiding me from view.

"Coward," I heard the stallion yell. "Face me like a real stallion."

"If I was a stallion," I say. "But I'm not a pony, moron!" I then side step a little to throw him off, as I knew he was just doing that to find me.

"Then what are you?" he asked just as I got into an ideal position to hit him. His right flank.

Rules of Nature, minute-thirty five mark!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3472Q6kvg0

I activated my thrusters, and flew out of the cloud at the stallion, my right hand drawn back before I unleashed the punch on his face, but i wasn't done. I grabbed his leg, and threw him in the direction I had come from before activating my thrusters again to get ahead of him, stopping with a skid just before the crowd, and delivered an uppercut that sent him flying. I jumped to add a little more power to the punch, and did a small three sixty spin before landing with a crouch and activating my thrusters again to catch up with him in the air.

He had recovered, and I saw his armor had the same glyphs carved on it as his pegasus counterpart. He swung his sword at me, but I simply avoided it, both of us still gaining altitude. I reached him and grabbed him by his armor's collar. "You realize that even if you beat me, he said, "your rebellion is doomed. We have the Elements."

"And I have the power of what made them," I said before throwing him even higher and going full thrust to get above him, stopping a few feet above him as he began to slow. Once he reached the apex, where the force of gravity and that of the opposite force were equal, I said, "Go to hell," and delivered the most powerful mauler punch I could think of before activating my thrusters to ensure he died, both my arms out in front of me. I hit the ground with enough force to completely and utterly destroy the guys chest and make a crater larger than the one in front of Golden Oaks. A second energy wave similar to the first from earlier spread out from the contact point, and, with each mare it made contact with, I saw them, somehow, gain pony sized Cabal outfits, losing their collars, and even the unicorns regain their horn. I looked down at the remnants of the earth pony and said. "Me? I'm Valus of the Skyburners, and you're dead."

It was here my legs gave out, but I did hear the sound of metal clashing with metal, and the last thing I saw before I blacked out was Fleur kneeling beside me, with Psion armor on, as well as the solar flayer mantle. But what really got my attention were the wings on her back. I chuckled. "Looks like there's now an alicorn of beauty," I say before I blacked out.

Author's Notes:

(Hate shield active)
Before you kill me and this story, the reason why Fleur is now an Alicorn is because no normal unicorn could become a flayer. I mean, the Grimoire card states that the Flayers have the mental power to possibly move Phobos, or one of Mars' moons. And please, for the love of god and every pony diety, do not kill me for killing Spike. I did not want to do it, but it was the only way I could think of to move the story forward from that point for this chapter.