“Was it something I said?” Iron Fist asked as he watched Nick storm out of the building.

“No, it’s my fault. I sort of tried to force myself on him..” Silk Sheets said rubbing her arm with her ears pinned back.

“What!? Seriously Silk? I can see you hitting on him, but trying to rape him?! What the Tartarus Silk?! Do you have any idea how hard it is to get you in his herd now?” Iron said pacing back and forth, each word making her shrink back until he said herd.

“Herd? What are you talking about?” She asked meekly.

“I was hoping he would start a herd with Trixie. I have everything stacked on him thanks to that worthless noble Steel Hands. He saved her from some bandits outside of the City, so when Steel Hands went and said he was going to invoke the right of championship, I panicked and claimed him as my Champion. He seems kind enough and noble for risking his life for my Daughter, but a bit dense. Your changeling's Hive mind would help tremendously with his training.” Iron said and took a seat.

“What about my hive mind? He isn’t a chanling, and even if he was he isn’t from my Hive. So how would it help?” Silk asked confused while taking a seat across from him.

“Did you happen to see the mark on his right hand?” Iron asked.

“Now that you mention it, yes. Was it not a cutie mark of some sort?” Silk asked.

“No, and even if it was it would either be on his hip or his shoulder. No that was the mark of a familiar, and a very powerful one at that. A long time ago in my youth I was curious to see if minotaurs could wield any form of magic besides our natural strength magic.” Iron Fist said.

“And did you find anything?” Silk asked.

“In the end I found that we could use enchanting runes by mixing the glyph paint with blood instead of having to infuse it with magic like unicorns do. The effects isn’t as strong as if a unicorn or alicorn were to do it, but it lasts far longer. I still have enchanted armor I made when I was twenty that still works, but I’m getting off topic. At some point I studied summoning out of idle curiosity. When I did I memorized a few of the glyphs that familiars possess.” Iron explained.

“So he is a familiar, I still don’t understand how this has to do with my Hive mind.” Silk said getting frustrated that he wouldn’t just spit it out already.

“Normally a familiar possesses one of many different seals that lock with their summoner’s. But a rare few summoned by very powerful unicorns have special glyphs that allow others besides their master to link their magic to it, this allows everyone connected to the familiar to share power and abilities with one another. Your hive mind would allow him to learn much faster as the memories would be shared between you two. I could teach you both at the same time allowing him to learn faster, but in order to form that link he has to want to! How am I supposed to convince him now?” Iron finally stated his reasoning.

“So you want me to link myself to him, and then teach us how to fight?” Silk asked a little frightened by the idea of fighting. She was a Silk dron not a warrior drone!

“You wouldn’t actually have to fight anyone, just some light sparring to increase your skills” Iron said trying to calm his friend.

“I don’t know… I’m just a low level silk drone, not a warrior. And after what I did he would never herd with me.” Silk said with the beginning of tears in her eyes.

“Look kid, how about this, you learn along side him and try your best to win him over. With any luck he’ll forgive you and give you a chance in time. “ Iron suggested.

“I… well, as long as I don't have to fight anyone. Could I at least disguise myself so he could give me a chance instead of shunning me right away?” Silk asked afraid that Nick wouldn’t give her a chance.

“That might work, or it could end in disaster. I’ll leave that up to you. For now if you could complete those clothes for him I would really appreciate it.” Iron said thinking over the idea and tossing her a bag of bits for the clothes.

“Sure, I’ll have them done by tomorrow morning. When do I start training by the way?” Silk asked shuffling nervously in her seat.

“Tomorrow morning.” Iron said.

“What!?” Silk shouted not expecting to start so soon.

“We only have seven months to get him in shape for the battle, and less time to get you linked with him. We have to start as soon as possible, the only reason we aren't starting today is because there is too much to do today.” Iron Fist said getting up from his seat and making his way to the door. “Be there six o’clock sharp ok?” Iron more stated than asked.

“Do I have to do this?” Silk asked.

“Do you want him as you're mate?” Iron asked and left her with that question. Silk thought about his last question. Did she want Nick as a mate? She just jumped him out of overwhelming lust… it couldn’t hurt to give it a try at least. The friendly love he could give her would cut her expenses a bit, and if at any point grew into something more….

Zangetsu chuckled a bit at Nick’s expense. Nick didn’t normally have women throwing themselves at him like that, and he was pissed after that. Meanwhile Zangetsu had been teasing him the whole time. He calmed himself once again as he spotted the mare oogiling Nicks package again.

So you going to give it to her or what?” Zangetsu teased.

“Shut up zangetsu.” Nick thought to his tulpa for the millionth time.

"Come on, a little one night stand won’t hurt.” Zangetsu chuckled at him.

"Shut UP zangetsu.” Nick thought to his tulpa once more. He watched as the mare walked over to the nearby table and put down the equipment she had been using to take measurements and take a deep breath.
Come on man, look at her. She wants you inside her! How can you just leave a lady wanting?” Zangetsu said floating over to the mare and wrapped an arm around her.

"Alright, are we done he-MMPH!!” Nick ignored him and turned to Silk only for her to leap at him and kiss him. Zangetsu lost his shit at that and fell through the floor in a laughing fit. He continued to fall for another fifty feet until he faded out leaving Nick to deal with this problem on his own.

Nick stormed down the cobblestone road following what he thought was the path to his temporary home. How did he get mixed up in all of this? All he meant to do was stop a couple of bandits from having their way with some poor girl, and now he could either leave it at that and move on, which would apparently get the girl he saved forced into a rape agreement and let that snob Steel Hands take the poor dudes home and business, or he could stay and risk his life again by fighting the dude.

Now he could handle himself rather well in a fight normally, but if this dude was as good as they said then he would have to learn how to fight quickly. He could learn fast thanks to the stone enhancing his mental capacity, but he only had seven months to do so, he would have to train from dawn to dusk every day to get to where he needed to be!

Nick was jolted out of his thoughts as he looked around and didn’t recognize where he was. He could see the town gate from here and contemplated on making a run for it, but decided against it for now. In front of him was a tall chapel with large doors. He was never a religious lot, as he actually knew about the higher beings instead of just believing in them on nothing but faith.

Many where simply conjurations of human imagination for one reason or another, but many of them were real, but none of them were completely who they said they were. s it turned out very few actually had the power to make a universe, it took an ancient to do that. smaller universes could be created by lesser beings, but his was just far to large for even a being like Zeno to create. given the size of his universe and the presence of angels, the evidence led to it being an ancient, though e was skeptical at times.

But he wasn’t in his resident universe anymore, and that meant a whole new set of deities to deal with. He had no idea if there was a singular deity ruling this universe, a pantheon? Did they do anything? Were they attentive or not? Only one way to find out.

He walked up the steps and entered the chapel, thankfully it seemed to be open. He wondered if this was a one day of the week chapel or if it was open twenty-four seven. He walked down the pews that appeared to be empty, the whole place appeared to be empty. At the end of the chapel were several statues of what he assumed were this universe’s deities.

Starting from the right going left was a statue of a massive minotaur wielding a giant war hammer, the horns were golden, the plaque beneath said King Golden Horn- King of Minotauria-God of earth. Next was a statue of what appeared to be a merman horse person wielding a wicked looking tridant, the plaque beneath his statue said lord Kelpbeard-Ruler of the seas-God of water.

Next was a statue of an anthro reindeer holding onto a leash with a female reindeer collared beneath him. The plaque beneath him said King Diane-king of Tundaria-God of snow. Next was a statue of what he guessed was a kirin as it looked like an anthro version of one it was wielding a staff with a diamond at the end, the plaque at the bottom said Lord Magnus-Lord of Etharia-God of magic.

Next was a statue of a horse woman wielding a great scythe that had a moon emblem at the part where the staff met the blade. The staff part was made of a dark wood while the blade was made of steel, the plaque beneath her said Princess Luna-Co-Ruler of Equestria-Goddess of the moon.

Finally at the middle was a statue of a huge horse woman holding a book in one hand with a quill in the other, the plaque beneath her said Queen Faust-Mother of all creation-Goddess of Equis.

“Well, at least I know who the chief deity is.” Nick mumbled.

Next up was one that surprised him slightly. It was a statue of monster tits! She was wielding a massive golden greatsword in on hand, and in the other was a scroll. The plaque beneath her said Princess Celestia-Co-Ruler of Equestria-Goddess of the sun.

“Well, shit. I pissed off a deity.” Nick said now a little wary of her wrath. Next to monster tits was a picture of a shorter Horse woman, what was with all the horse people?!, she had curly hair unlike the other three that seemed to only have ethereal hair. She wielded a bow with an arrow primed. The bow was made mostly out of crystal with a wooden center. The arrow was tipped with a heart shaped crystal. The plaque beneath her said Princess Cadence-ruler of the Crystal empire-Goddess of love.

“Damn, wouldn't mind getting freaky with her…” Nick mumbled. After her was a statue of a werewolf. His claws and teeth were made of sharp steel and his eyes were rubies. The plaque beneath him said Lord Shadow Fang-lord of Sub Terra-God of shadows.

“Well, he looks scary…” Nick said and looked at the next one which was a statue of a griffin's wielding a pair of curved daggers. The plaque beneath he said Lady Typhoon-Queen of Griffonia-Goddess of air. Finally there was a statue of a dragon with curved horns with a golden ring around one of them. The plaque beneath him said Dragon lord Torch-God of dragons-God of fire.

“Well, there certainly a lot of horse women up their.” Nick said taking a seat.

“As tall as they are, they aren’t horses young one.” A voice said next to him. Nick jumped when the new person snuck on him.

“Don’t! Scare me like that.” Nick said regaining his composure.

“Sorry my child, I did not mean to scare you.” The elderly priest said.

“It’s alright, just don’t sneak up on me like that.” Nick said and looked back at the statues. “And if they aren’t horses, then what are they?” Nick asked.

“I’m surprised you do not know, but they are ponies.” The priest said.

“Aren’t ponies just miniature horses?” Nick asked causing the priest to chuckle.

“As similar as they are, they are as much horses as they are zebras. They may be equins all the same, but they are not the same species.” The priest said.

“Alright, so how do I tell a horse from a pony?” Nick asked bewildering the priest.

“A horse is as tall as a minotaur. And the tallest ponies don’t go above five foot five except the princesses and their mother.” The priest said shaking away his shock.

“Hey old man Stone Pages, have you seen a- never mind there he is. Hey kid! I’ve been looking all over for you! Come on, you can oogle Trixie instead of Celestia’s tits, you need to get up early tomorrow and it’s getting late.” Iron Fist said irritating Stone pages when he disrespected Celestia.

“How many times have I told you to respect the deities Iron?” Stone Pages seethed.

“And how many times have I told you to worship dat ass!” Iron Laughed as he and Nick walked out of the chapel.

“Damn you Iron…” Stone sighed and went back to his duties.

Nick snored peacefully as he dreamed of flying through the highlands of scotland. He remembered in great detail souring through them a couple years back. He landed on a hill and took a deep breath of the fresh mountain air. His happy dream was interrupted however as something burst into his dream and kicked him in the side of the head sending him flying.

“What the hell Zan… get...su….” Nick said but stopped at the glare of one of the goddesses he had seen in the chapel from before.

“Finally we hath found thee creature. You will regret hurting dear Twilight as you did. Now you turn thyself in at once or face our wrath.” Luna said as she stomped towards him. She was confident that this mortal would obey one of the more feared deities that could wreak havoc in his dreams should he not.

She did not however, expect him punching her in the tit and sending her flying herself. She landed in the side of the mountain making a creator in the side. She may have been the guardian of dreams, but a lucid dreamer could still cause problems if they were skilled enough.

“I don’t care if you are a deity! Stay the fuck outa my head bitch!” Nick said and forced her out of his head much to Luna’s surprise. Luna sat there stunned at what had just happened. Did he really just punch her in the tit, curse her out, and then force her out?!

“Oh, tis verily on mortal.” She said lividly cracking her knuckles. She charged back in furious that he dared to defy her. When she entered his dream once more the place had changed. Obviously he was a very skilled lucid dreamer if he could do this.

He had replaced the highlands with a massive dark room with a lit grid pattern and a massive cube in the center. The cube itself seemed to be made up of many smaller cubes. Near the top was one that seemed to be different from the others as it had an opening. Above the opening said ‘enter at your own risk.'

“It would seem this mortal is stronger than we thought. No matter! We accept thy challenge mortal! Prepare for the greatest nightmare thee shall ever have!” She said and charged into the entrance of the massive cube.

“LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT!” Luna shouted pounding on the wall of the cube she was in as the torso with one arm and a giant eye in place of it’s head clawed it’s way towards her. She had thought she knew fear, that she knew what true horrors were, but this individual had proved her so wrong.

Over the past seven hours she had gone from cube to cube, each a massive room with some new monstrosity, puzzle our horror she would have to face. She recalled how this all went wrong as she finally solved the puzzle and barely escaped the lovecraftian horror.

She had entered this horror fest thinking that she was going to teach some mortal a lesson, but she had never been more wrong. The first room she entered had ten twisted abominations that looked similar to a centaur, but it was all wrong.

The torso was on the middle of it’s back, it’s fingers were razor sharp claws, the front of it’s lower body had an equine head filled with razor sharp teeth and one massive eye in the middle of it’s head, and finally the part to make it one of the single most horrifying thing she had ever seen, was that it was completely bare of skin!

She was glad she had went in prepared, as they would have torn her apart if she hadn’t. The next had a massive quadrupedal griffin with the head of a vulture. After that was a puzzle that took thirty minutes to solve, by far her favorite room so far, after that was a room that took the shape of an abandoned city that had taken her a full two hours to get through.

The town was constantly covered in a thick fog, with horrifying creatures lumbering about. She had lost her dream armor when one of them sprayed some sort of acid at her. She made quick work of it, but it was after when she attempted to make a new set that she learned just how much she was in some deep shit. Her powers didn’t work! She had attempted to leave the dream, but that failed to!

She had begun panicking when a book suddenly fell in front of her along with a stick that acted as a quill somehow without an ink well. She cautiously took the book and read the words as they appeared on the page.

“So you finally tried to leave my little game eh? Well I’m sorry to say that isn’t happening. I warned you to stay out, and that you would be entering at your own risk. Now you are at my mercy. I am not your ordinary dreamer and have been taught by one who is far stronger than you in the dreamscape.” the words said, presumably from her target. She wrote back hoping to get out of this… horror.

“Please let me out! I promise to stay out of your dreams just let me out!” She pleaded.

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible. You were warned, and now you get to face the consequences. I want to play a little game.” Her target said.

“What!? No please, I beg of you! Let me out!” Luna panicked.

“Calm down now, or I will make this even longer.” Her target said causing her to tear up, but listen.

“Alright, what is your game.” Luna said as she regained her composure.

“The game is simple. You will go through each room until you find the center of the cube. Each room has a timer that will start after you enter it. You will have exactly thirty minutes to find the exit to the next one before the cubes will shift. You may be one room away from being done, but if that timer goes off you might find yourself near the beginning, or visa versa.” He said causing her to pale at the thought of possibly starting this nightmare over. She suddenly had an idea, she would just wait out this dream!

“I will not have to play your little game, your dream should be over any minute now. I’ll just wait it out.” Luna said smugly.

“Do you honestly think it’s that easy? Oh I applaud your effort I truly do, but you aren't getting out just like that. No, you left my dream the moment you entered the cube. This is my mind. I woke up two hours ago, you will be stuck here until I say so. So get comfortable, you're in for hell.” Her target said ominously. She hoped hell wasn’t a synonym for tartarus…

She had spent the next hour trying to find her way out of that place. The moment she closed the book she heard sirens go off, and the entire city went from terrible, to beyond horrific. The surface of anything she saw suddenly started pealing as the sky darkened. Suddenly a massive creature with a pyramid shaped head started stalking towards her dragging a massive blade behind it…

Nick dodged another swing from Iron and delivered a kick that at him that was effortlessly countered. They had been working at this for three hours already. Had left the moon goddess to suffer for her arrogance in his mind. While he started off with him mimicking Iron as he went through the motions of several fighting techniques. He had managed to get them down rather well after some correction from Iron as Nick showed him what he was able to pick up.

Suffice to say Iron was impressed at how quickly he had mastered the technique. Normally it would take at least a month for anyone to do this, but Nick had done so in just a few hours. He had quite a while to go before he would be able to go toe to toe with Steel Hands, and longer until he could face Iron Fist, but at this rate he might be able to get him ready for Steel in the time that he had.

“Alright kid, let’s have have a break. I’m going to go see how Nimble Fingers is doing.” Iron said and went over to the mare that had shown up this morning. Apparently Iron had picked up another student not to long ago, and Nick would be lying if he said he didn’t find her attractive.

She had a slender build, dark grey fur, and teal hair with green eyes. She apparently was still new to this as even before they started she said she wouldn’t be able to take him. She seemed a bit shy, as she avoided his gaze whenever she saw him looking at her as if he was going to hurt her.

“Ok kid, now the next step. We need to exploit that learning ability as best as we can. We are going to be sparing none stop all day every day for six days a week until Steel hands issues his challenge. Now I’m not as young as I used to be, so I will be using these to keep my stamina up.” Iron said holding up a crate of bottles with Green liquid in them.

“What are they exactly?” Nick said picking one up.

“These, are stamina potions. I’ll set a timer to let us know when to stop so I can take one. For now I want you to come at me as hard as you can and I will match you. Around four we will stop and get to work in the forge alright?” Iron said getting a nod from Nick.

“Alright! Listen up. We have a long way to go before you can beat Steel Hands.” Iron said tossing a wooden bastard sword to Nick. “let’s get down to business, to defeat, steal hands.” Iron said charging Nick who did the same and they started exchanging blows with their weapons. “Come on! Did I get a Daughter when I asked for a son!” He said tripping Nick up and pinning him with the tip of his sword. “Boy you can bet before we’re through, mister I’ll make a bull, out of youu!”

The next day they trained all day as the day before, but Nick was still leagues behind Iron. Iron sent a flurry of punches at Nick who was hit by every last one. With each hit he took Nick got angrier and angrier. He lunged at Iron who daftly dodged it and delivered a chop to the back of Nick's neck temporarily paralyzing him.

“You cannot let your anger get the better of you. You must be tranquil as a forest, and on fire within to keep the fight going.” Iron said and pinched an area below where he had struck Nick. “Come on now, you have to look within yourself and know your limits and what you need to improve first. Once you find your center, you are sure to win, or at least do better than swinging blindly!” Iron said as Nck jumped at him foaming at the mouth.

“Aaagh!!” Nick roared and charged at the older bull who dodged left and knocked him out.

“You're an angry, reckless, dence one, and you haven’t got a clue. But still, somehow I’ll make a bull out of you.” Iron sighed and went to see how his disguised little changeling student was doing.

A month later Nick had improved immensely, he had grown closer with Trixie, after having a little trouble when he walked in on her exiting the shower. The experience had made him thankful that he could regrow testicals. After a few hours she apologized for overreacting like she did and said she would make it up to him. He wished that she hadn’t as he learned the hard way why she normally wasn't allowed in the kitchen.

“I’m never going to keep my lunch!” Nick said and barfed again into the toilet causing Trixie to lower her ears in embarrassment. Meanwhile Luna dodged under the purple flames of a dragon who didn’t seem to let up despite her having whittled it down to little more than scraps of flesh on bone.

“Say goodbye to those who knew me!” Luna said and ducked behind a rock as it launched another fire breath at her.

Another month later Nick had actually managed to keep up with Iron in hand to hand, Iron was holding back of course, but he was still impressed with Nick's progress. Iron was very disappointed in Trixie however who had admitted to skipping out on her training causing her to be too weak to defend herself from those bandits.

“boy was I a fool for cutting my training..” Trixie huffed as she made another lap around the house. When her father had found out she had been getting lazy he made her join in on the training.

“This guy’s got him scared to death.” Zangetsu muttered munching on some popcorn and watched as Nick ran at a manically laughing Iron fist wielding a burning wooden bastard sword.

“Hope he doesn't see right through me..” Silk thought as she watched Nick charge their teacher before going back to her training.

Another month passed and Nicks martial prowess grew even further. Currently they were outside of town camped in a cave under a mountain next to a fast paced river that he had to walk across on logs that Iron was tossing in. Apparently this month was the start of the "heat season" as Iron Fist had put it so they needed to hide out for a couple of weeks. He cursed as he fell off a log and was dragged down stream along the bottom.

“Really wish I could fucking swim!” Nick said as he tried again.

“Come on son! You have to be just as swift as the river to get past it!.” Iron laughed heartly.

Another month passed and Nick was able to adapt and move fast enough to get past the river. Now he had to fight Iron Fist at the peak of a mountain that they had to walk up every day with weights on a wooden pool. The winds at the top made fighting difficult for him, but Iron shrugged it off as if it was nothing.

“Come on kid, you have to match the force of a great typhoon to fight up here!” Iron said throwing another punch at him.

After a month of fighting at the top of the mountain he had become accustomed to adjusting his body accordingly to keep his balance. Now that he had that down Iron amped things up by fixing weights to his arms and legs.

“You have to fight with all the strength of a raging fire! So let out your inner flame and fight with passion!” Iron said sending a punch that Nick blocked and returned another with a fire in his eyes.

A month passed and to Nick's surprise, he had actually grown stronger from the mountain training. Stronger in the sense that he was physically stronger than before without utilizing the stone. Yet his muscles remained the same size…

Now they fought in the woods at night. Nick had to adjust to the dark setting as he waited for Iron to come at him from any angle. He unfortunately failed as Iron launched an uppercut from a bush.

“Come on boy, you have to be as mysterious as the dark side of the moon.” Iron said as he looked at a now unconscious Nick. “At least when you're awake…”

Meanwhile Luna dodged under another lighting blast from the mouth of a tentacle. They came at her endlessly throwing spells at her or trying to bite her. It was only when she spotted the large bulbous creature with a massive eye in it’s mouth that she found their source.

“Stop staring at my ass!” She shouted and shot an acid spell at it’s eye causing it to shriek in agony.

Another month passed and Nick had mastered fighting in the dark by relying on his hearing instead of his sight. He and trixie had grown ever closer as she trained along side him. He had also gotten close with Nimble Fingers as he helped her with her training when he could.

“We only have one more month until my birthday, time is racing towards us until Steel Hands arrives.” Iron said sending a flurry of punches at Nick who dodged and countered them accordingly. “Heed my every order, any you might survive.” He said as they started fighting with wooden bastard swords.

Iron was very pleased with Nick’s progress, he was actually starting to keep up with him. Unfortunately at this rate, it would be another six months before Nick could actually match him in combat without him holding back, but by the end of the month he would be ready to take on Steel hands for sure!

“In order to beat Steel hands you have to be as swift as a coursing river, fight with all the force of a great typhoon, with all the strength of a raging fire, and as mysterious as the dark side of the moon!” Iron said as Nick dodged under another swing.

Author's Notes:

just a few lore edits, replaced the place holder god with my own lore finnally.