Nick walked out to the black forest adjusting to his new body. Retracting his entire magic network into such a small body and re expanding it had taken it’s toll on him. It wasn’t like losing a limb and retracting it into his torso. He considered himself to be… was he even still human? He had been wondering that more and more lately. At first he knew only humanity as a true sapient species, though he had a suspicion that there might be life elsewhere in the cosmos, he reserved judgement until he had evidence to support it, so he considered that as his main link to being human other than his shape seeing as he had catalogued thousands of different animals on earth, everything from elephants to spiders, and as many endangered species as he could get his hands on. Storing all of that DNA had become somewhat of a problem, he had genetic caches all over his body but there was only so much room he could have before they became cumbersome.

“Trixie” Nick thought over the link.

“I’m a bit busy at the moment, can it wait?” Trixie responded.

“Just to let you know I’m going to be camping in the black forest for a bit, pissed off a dragoness, she was way to strong for me to fight, I’ll meet you at the docks in a few days.” Nick answered.

“......I can’t turn around for five seconds without you getting yourself into trouble can I?” an exasperated Trixie responded.

“You know you love me.” Nick answered coyly.

“See you then I guess… and you owe me a freebie, I’ve got two mares that’ll possibly be joining our herd, one of them’s my sister.” Trixie responded.

“You got a sister?” Nick asked surprised.

“By adoption, long story.” Trixie responded.

“Alrighty then.” Nick finished.

“Hmm, think I’ll keep these wings, they’ll make good shields.” Nick said idly as he walked. Nicked walked for several hours until he was a good distance in the forest before he picked a spot, “this should do.” Nick said raising a fist above the opposite shoulder and focusing a large amount of magic into it. With a swipe of his hand Nick unleashed a torrent of magical energy blades that tore apart the surrounding trees and ground until he had made a small clearing in the forest. Nick clapped his hands and then put them on the ground focusing the power of his philosopher's stone into the ground and turning the dirt into a solid stone wall around him to keep out any bandits.

“Alright, I’m going to be here for a couple of days, might as well get some training in, to bad I don’t have zangetsu with me, we could have really progressed with excalibur.” Nick said scratching his beard.

“Either way, let’s see what I can do if I train my hardest for the next three days!!” Nick shouted flaring his magic.

Kevil

Pride smiled as he walked through the burning village. Another group of guards charged him hoping to be the ones to take him down, they didn’t make it far. Before they were with ten feet of Pride they were all impaled with spikes of shadow. He was acquiring a decent boost in power from all the souls he was absorbing, though it was still far from what his father possessed. As he walked through town he looked for clues as to where his target might be.

He likely wasn’t here anymore, so he needed to find a lead on where. He laughed as he made his way to the chapel, maybe the local priest might know something? As Pride approached the chapel steps he was stopped by a barrier.

“You are not welcome here monster, you will not enter this sanctuary protected by faust's power!” The priest shouted in hatred of the monster before him. The Evil grin on it’s face betrayed it’s visage of a small innocent foal.

“You can’t hide in there forever reverend. Sooner or later you’ll need to eat something, how much food can you're little chapel hold? Enough to feed everyone in there indefinitely?” Pride asked with a smirk.

“Monster, by the power vested in by faust I command you to leave this place!” The priest shouted.

“Do you? Sorry, but you're command isn’t very compelling. We both know faust has no real power outside holy places such as your chapel.” Pride shrugged. The Priest sneered at Pride. He was right, while faust’s power was beyond all the other deities on the pantheon, the divine laws prevented her from interacting with the physical world outside sanctuaries, or if a total war of the gods took place could she stop it.

“You're wrong about one thing monster, we can stay here as long as needed, Faust will provide all that we need until you are gone.” The Priest boasted.

“Very well then I will make you an offer, tell me where the familiar Nick is, and i’ll leave your little village is in peace.” Pride said.

“I’ll never tell you anything monster.” The priest said and began walking towards the door of the chapel.

“Make no mistake reverend. I will get what I came for. However I suspect you’ll need some incentive to tell me. I know that I can’t get in there, but how many screams can you take before you come out here or tell me what I want?” Pride said sending a tendril of shadow towards a nearby bush dragging out a young minotaur cow.

“What are you doing you monster!?” the Priest asked as he turned to see her being dragged.

“Tell me? Have you ever heard the screams of a child that’s being slowly torn apart? I haven’t.” Pride said ripping off her fingers.

“No stop!” The Priest shouted almost rushing outside the barrier.

“Tell me where Nick is then.” Pride said riming off the upper part of her hand.

“I don’t know!! Now please, stop! I beg of you!!” The Priest begged.

“If you don’t know then why should I stop? I haven’t been told the information I need. Maybe it’s hidden in her arm somewhere? Best pick it apart slowly so I don’t miss it.” Pride said as he began peeling the skin of her arm off dragging out her screams to new heights. The priest dropped to his knees.

“Please I don’t know!” The priest shouted.

“But I do.” Steel hands said walking up to Pride.

“And who might you be?” Pride asked looking over at the minotaur.

“The name’s Steel Hands, the pleasure is all yours. Now then, I know here that filthy little monkey is. He stole a couple of things from me that I want back. I have an offer for you. Return them to me and you can have the monkey.” Steel Hands said.

“I’m listening.” Pride said.

“He has with him a young unicorn mare, she belongs to me. Bring her to this location. The second is an item of great interest to me. It has a similar energy signature as this.” Steel said tossing Pride a scroll and holding up a chunk of metal.

“Steel! You bastard what are you doing with that!!” the priest shouted in disbelief.

“None of your business old man.” Steel said holding up a crossbow over a burning bush. He aimed it at the wooden door of the chapel, “the unworthy might not be able to enter chapels, but are inanimate objects barred from entry?” Steel said pulling the trigger.

“So where is Nick?” Pride asked tossing the cow aside, no longer having a need for her he impaled her and absorbed her soul.

“He made for omsbeak in the Griffon kingdom. Do me a favour? Kill everyone else in this town? I don’t want any witnesses to blow the whistle on me.

“As you wish.” Pride said looking at the now burning chapel, ”tell me reverend, does that little barrier stay when the chapel is ash and rubble?”

Frozen Tundra

Twilight shivered as she and Midnight made their way through the snowy blizzard. Why was she being forced to take the long way?! They could have easily made their way back with the Equestrian embassy! She just hoped she could get away from Midnight once they got to Equestria. Once they were in Equestria she would be recognized immediately.

She had questions for Celestia when she got back. Why was her magic inside of her like that? Celestia would never do that to her, maybe it was accumulated magic? The guards had to be rotated away from the castles at least once a year so they didn’t accumulate to much. She knew that strong magical beings leak out enough magic for it to seep into their surroundings, it’s why strong unicorn wizards possessed a medium other than their horn to channel magic through, it could become an enchanted item just by constantly being in their presence, so maybe that was it! She had been within the castle walls for most of her childhood, so Celestia’s magic could have just unintentionally seeped into her.

“Hey Shorty corn! Hurry up!” Midnight said looking back at her.

“Will you stop calling me that!?” Twilight said in irritation.

“Grow above five feet and maybe, now get your flank in gear and get moving!” Midnight said. Twilight was quickly finding herself hating the Kirin. Once they were in Equestria she was going to sell her to blueblood.

“This Isn’t fair, first I lose my familiar, then I get taken out of equestria, then finally I’m stuck walking through a blizzard with a half breed freak!” Twilight grumbled.

“This half breed Freak can hear you you know, and I’m Not afraid to leave your ass out here with a broken tit!” Midnight said without looking back.

Twilight shut her mouth for now. Midnight’s magic had been holding back the brunt of the blizzard, while she wanted to point out that there were no bones to break there, she didn't want to risk getting left out in this blizzard unprotected. They walked for hours, the everlasting storm never letting up, even getting stronger as time went by.

“Don’t you think we should get out of this storm?!” Twilight shouted over the howling winds.

“As much as I hate agreeing with your scrawny ass, you’re right. Expending any more magic to keep this up would have me spent in a few hours, and it’s only going to get worse once the sun goes down.” Midnight said looking around. For the most part the area was just plains of snow, and visibility was almost zero preventing them from scouting for a cave.

“You know any transfiguration magic?” Midnight asked.

“A little, Why?” Twilight replied.
“Can you make a stone dome? A few heat enchantments will work just fine.” Midnight asked.

“I think so!” Twilight said focusing some magic into her horn. With a beam of magic she made the snow around them form around them as a stone dome with a small elongated entrance.

“Not bad.” Midnight said zapping Twilight with a restraint spell.

“Hey! What’re you doing!?” Twilight said as she fell to the ground.

“Just some precautions. I’m not taking any risks with you.” Midnight said as she weaved her magic into the stone igloo.

“Are you kidding me!? Let me go this instant-mmf!?” Twilight said just before another beam hit her mouth forcing her lips shut.

“Next spell’s a broken tit if you don’t keep silent.” Midnight said sitting down and pulling out something to eat from her backpack. If looks could kill Twilight’s glare would have left Midnight as little more than a scorch mark.

“What? Didn’t think i’d trust you to behave while I slept did you? You Celestia worshiping ponies are almost never trustworthy, at least, not the inner circle ones. I’ve been to the outer parts to equestria a few times. Most ponies out there are pretty nice, my brother even took a couple mares into his herd.” Midnight said. Using her magic she heated up her dinner.

“With you it’s mostly cuz you're a bit of a cunt” Midnight shrugged.

“Mmph!!” Twilight protested.

“I suppose it’ not entirely your fault. Those damned zealots really hammer in celestia's supremissy hard. And based on her subjects, being around her personally since you were young? I’m surprised you're not a complete zealot right now, else you wouldn’t even be open to the idea that sunbutt isn’t perfect.” Midnight said taking a bite.

“Mmph mmph m mmph” Twilight sneered.

“I honestly don’t know why I’m doing this. As far as i’m concerned I could leave your scrawny ass out here, but that could alienate me from Nick and his group.”

“Mmph m mmph mm mmph?” Twilight smirked.

“I can’t risk it. I’m already taking enough risks as it is. If I do this it’s gain a good amount of trust with Nick.” Midnight said.

“The biggest issue is going to be getting you into canterlot and out without you trying to alert any guards, don’t give me that look, you have a bad habit of speaking your thoughts out loud. Meh i’ll sleep on it.” Midnight said plopping onto the ground and going to sleep.

Twilight laid there thinking on how she was going to get out of this mess. Her horn was numb, so magic was unfortunately out. If she tried to get outside she would be dead in a matter of minutes. It seemed she would just have to wait for an opening. Twilight slowly drifted off to sleep…. That was it!! Sleep! Maybe luna could help her! She thought on how she might be able to call out to her. She new a few rituals, but in her current state, she couldn’t even do the basic ones. Twilight could only hope that Luna would visit her.

Cloudsdale

Luna sat at rainbow dash's side looking over her injuries. Thankfully nothing fatal, but unfortunately the mare could not be considered a candidate for the wonderbolts any longer with the loss of her wing. Unfortunately the one who took her wing would no0t face justice anytime soon, if at all. This was getting worse and worse. Ever since her return she had seen the many changes in her ponies and kingdom.

The ponies in the new capital had gone from paragons of integrity, to self entitled little twats. She could count the number of independent stallion nobels on one hand, and her work to abolish slavery had been completely undone. Many of her ponies had been indoctrinated to follow Celestia without question. Every day that passed her desire to split their kingdoms grew. This was the last straw.

In the other bed was another one of her pegasi in a deep sleep. She had been on life support and brain dead when Luna had arrived. Evidently the excitement from their encounter had been to much for her weak heart to handle and had suffered a massive heart attack shortly after arriving here, If it had not been for luna’s divine magic she would have been dead.

Separating would be beyond difficult in the current state of affairs. Celestia had been very careful to make sure it was impossible. But she had failed in doing so, as it seemed she overlooked a place that barred a dark part of Luna's history, that would be the start of her new nation. The citadel she had made in secret had been maintained by her old honor guard, or former honor guard. Unfortunately they had to become her final punishment for her past.

In her madness she made them a backup plan, and over time her alter ego had replaced their image of her. When she arrived they welcomed her with open arms, but as it turned out they had planned to bring back the nightmare thinking she had been under some form of spell. Their reaction when they found out otherwise was… violent.

Only the foals were spared. The rest were too far gone. Currently her thestrals had taken their place along with a few hundred pegasi she had recruited from the fringes of equestria. She had to be careful though as she was screening ponies in private she had found several spies amongst her thestrals!

Her window for starting was shrinking every day, at first she just wanted a new city for her thestrals, but now? She could no longer tolerate her sisters neglect of their ponies. Soon the New Lunar Republic would announce its sovereignty, and she would separate her realm from her sisters, effectively shrinking celestia’s prison.

She had to plan this move carefully though. She had gained the eyrie of the other gods for her nearly killing them all, but they recognized she was not in her right state of mind. With her lack of a demigod/demigoddess, she was at a severe disadvantage. While she could not enter the realm of of another deity that had barred her entry, demigods and demigoddesses could roam freely due to their mortal halves.

She had none, so she lacked a champion to fight for her. She may have been one of the strongest members of the pantheon, but the law still applied for her, so she could not directly involve herself in any war with another deity, so she was at a severe disadvantage.

She needed a champion, but no mortal could handle that kind of power and raising a champion would take at least a century if she birthed one today. Blueblood despite his pompous attitude was a formidable opponent. The most she could give any mortal would barely allow them to last a few minute against him. Perhaps…. She had a plan.

Later that night

Luna sat on her bed as she focused her mind. She lit her horn and casted her dreamwalker spell. She searched for her target. Luna’s body fell into a deep sleep as her spell took effect. She flew the astral plain heading towards Twilight. She entered her dream to find a large field of flowers, in the middle was twilight having a picknick with the other element bearers. Luna regretted dispelling the peaceful dream.

“Twilight sparkle!” Luna shouted announcing her presence startling the young mare.

“Princess! What’s going on?! Where am I?!” Twilight said shrinking in fear as she fell into a chair as the dream shifted into a room with a fireplace.

“I’m sorry to disturb your dream, but this is of utmost importance.” Luna said.

“Dream! You mean that Nightmare I had…. Oh no…” Twilight said tears forming in her eyes, “why is this happening to me?” Twilight asked to no one in particular.

“That I cannot say. It could be mere circumstance, or it could be Fuast steering you on your journey without you knowing. Maybe even a combination of both.” Luna began, “but that is not why I am here.” Luna continued.

“Why are you here? Can you help me?” Twilight pleaded.

“We- I, fear not, I am here to to ask for tho- err your assistance.” Luna stuttered.

“Are you ok Luna? You're trying to talk in modern standards.” Twilight asked.

“Indeed. Speaking in the royal we has been… difficult in the new era.” Luna said, “but my speech habits are not why we are here.” Luna said.

“Well if you can’t help me directly, could you send some guards to help? I can tell you exactly where I’ll be soon!” Twilight began.

“Twilight, Something is wrong with Celestia.” Luna stated stopping Twilight dead in her tracks.

“What…?” Twilight asked in confusion.

“I hate to admit it, but that mare is not the same mare I knew before my corruption. Before I fell to my madness we both were working to erase slavery along with the rest of the pantheon.” Luna said.

“W-what? But I thought-” Twilight began.

“You were taught wrong sparkle. When the pantheon first entered into the lives of the mortal realm it was chaos, beyond even what discord would cause. As a result we created Tartarus to contain this chaos. Slavery, was just one of the many things my sister has allowed to go on for far too long. We were both equally bent on righting the wrongs that had gone unchecked during our rest, but celestia has changed, she not only allows, but commands it to be so, so I am parting our realms.” Luna said.

“What!? But you can’t! That would-” Twilight protested.

“Twilight! Open your eyes! Look at what she has done!” Luna interrupted showing her all the atrocities her sister proudly presented to her upon her return.

“No!” Twilight shouted closing her eyes, “that’s not Celestia!!” Twilight continued, “”you're not Luna!! Get out!!” Twilight said covering her ears.

“Twilight.” Luna said gently sitting next to her, “please, I know it’s hard to believe. Look, if you don’t believe me here, then meet me in person, I’ll meet you on the outskirts of Equestria.”

“LEAVE!!!!!”

Three days later

Trixie sat on the railing of the boat watching the docks go by. Octavia sat to her left twiddling her thumbs.

“so...”

“I already told you, you’ll have to get on Nick’s good side too, ‘m not making any promises until then.” Trixie said irritated.

“Somepony’s whipped.” Vinyl said looking at her nails nearby.

“I am not!” Trixie defended.

*WHIP*

“Hey octavia, you still good with a whip?” Iron called from across the deck.

“I don’t think I should have one, Trixie’s pretty whipped as it is.” Octavia called back.

“I AM NO-”

“True.” Iron shrugged.

“Buck it!” Trixie stormed off.

“Trixie…” nick called over the link.

“WHERE THE BUCK ARE YOU!?!?” Trixie shouted back.

“Stuck on the side of the boat, help.”

“What in the world is that!” A sailor called looking over the side of the boat.

“It’s the kraken!!!” Another sailor shouted.

“It’s too small.” The first sailor deadpanned.

“A baby one then?” The send sailor suggested.

“That’s my colt friend” Trixie sighed.

“....ponies have some weird tastes..” The first sailor said walking away.

“Nick, what the buck are you doing…” Trixie asked looking over the side of the boat.

“I over did it this time…” Nick smiled sheepishly.

“One of these days you're going to end up killing yourself like this, and I’ll be sure to kick your ass after we drag it back.” Trixie said tossing a rope over the side.

“Hehe… guess I should ease up a bit.” Nick said as he was hefted onto the ship and morphed back.

“Honestly you confuse me sometimes boy, with your powers you should be able to recover in minutes.” Iron said walking over.

“It’s all relative, depending on how much stone I have and how charged it is I could recover from physical injuries, but my magic network is harder to heal, all I can do is speed up its recovery a little if it’s damaged enough. While I was away, I was working on expanding my magic network, I succeeded a little, but doing so took it out of me..” Nick chuckled.

“Wait you expanded it? How!?” Trixie asked.

“I pumped a metric fuck ton of magic through it till it got so engorged on it that new nodes had to form, had to stop half way through the second day else I would have ended up shattering existing ones.” Nick explained.

“But… that’s not how magic networks work though…. Do they??” Trixie asked looking over to Iron.

“I have heard of Kirin and some elite unicorns doing so, plus Grand master said he had been able to do it through his training, I called manticore shit until he shattered a granite boulder from a hundred feet away.” Iron said.

“HE WHAT!?” Nick shouted.

“Yep, old fart somehow mastered tossing his magic out his fists like a shockwave. I asked him to teach me, but he told me by the time I built up my magic network I’d die of old age.” Iron said.

“Think he could teach me?” Nick asked.

“Depends, all things considered you’ll probably need to learn under him for several years after you surpass me.” Iron shrugged.
“Then let's… ughh i’ma take a nap.” Nick said passing out.

“Wait! Damn it!” Vinyl said running over.

“So, this is him?” Octavia aid looking over her potential mate.

“Yep, headache and all.” Trixie sighed sitting next to him, which was a bad idea since he was leaning just enough to fall on top of her, “get him off!!” Trixie said as she felt like she was being crushed by a house.

“On it!” Iron said rushing over and grabbing onto him, Damn he was heavy!

“Buckbeak get over here!” Iron shouted as the others went to help him.

“I LIVE!!! Trixie shouted after she wiggle out from under him.

“What the buck is he made of!!” Octavia said panting from picking him up.

“Owwwwe” Trixe said holding onto her side.

“Trixie are you alright?” Iron asked.

“I think I cracked a rib.. And my arm…” Trixie said as she sat down.

“Nick! Wake! Up! And! Fix! This!” Iron said punctuating every word with a brutal slap to the face.

“huh?” NIck said groggily.

“You fell on trixie and hurt her, fix her now.” Iron said irritated.

“Oh shit sorry!” Nick said rushing over to her, he grabbed onto her and mended her injuries.

“Thanks, why are you so heavy now?” Trixie asked.

“Dragon DNA, I’ve rearranged a lot of me to match that of a dragon, my bones and muscles are ten times as dense now, and I don’t even have my wings or armor right now.” Nick said.

“Sooner or later you’ll start falling through floors, you know that, right?” Trixie said facepalming.

“Are you calling me fat?” Nick asked.

“You know what I meant.” Trixie said.

“Sorry.” Nick said mending her.

“So, you're the guy huh?” Vinyl asked walking over to him.

“Hey I remember you, you're that crazy stalker bitch.” Nick said looking her over.

“.....Gave up my home for this fucker…” Vinyl muttered.

“Nick, be nice.” Trixie chastised him.

“Alright, but which ones joining the herd?” Nick asked.

“Both.” Trixie said as her ribs rer mended.

“Wait what!?” Nick said in surprise.

“Yep.” Trixie said as he finished mending her wounds.

“No hold a sec, I don’t even know them! Your sister i’ll give a pass, but her?” Nick said pointing to vinyl, “She doesn’t.”

“Please Nick?” Trixie asked.

“Maybe at a later time, but for now, little stalker doesn’t get a pass.” Nick said.

“I was on a mission you dolt!” Vinyl said.

“Yeah yeah a mission from sunbutt i’m guessing?” Nick asked.

“How did you-” Vinyl started.

“You wreak of her energy, not enough for her to have implanted it into you directly, but enough that i can tell you're from her nation.” Nick said.

“What do you mean?” Vinyl said taking a step back getting nervous.

“Ever since coming here I’ve noticed something strange, ambient magic exists everywhere, where I’m from it’s so faint that it would take me a hundred years to collect for even the smallest spell, here however, it’s enough that I can do simple levitation by consuming the surrounding magic, but… there’s something different about it here, and each nation I’ve been to, the magic is different. Eventually it hit me, this world is mostly ruled by physical deities, so I did some research and found that their magic seeps off enough to become ambient magic tuned to them. Since you lived there your entire aura is tinged with it.” Nick ranted.

“.......Are you saying I stink?” Vinyl asked.

“Did you shower last Night?” Nick asked.

“.......you win this one.” Vinyl said going below.

“Trixie, you alright?” Nick asked.

“Yeah why?”

Thud

Author's Notes:

does anyone know what happened to the option to import google docs?