{Chapter 3}
“If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.”
- Regina Brett

As to be expected, the hospital staff were… displeased to say the least. After a long lecture on why that was a bad idea, he was deemed ‘recovered’, and Arcane was discharged from the Brismane hospital.

“Celestia damn it Arcane! You had one job!” Yelled a, now slightly red, pegasus, who had greeted him out the front of Whitetail woods’ first, and only, medical establishment.

“I was just trying out something!” Arcane defended as he trotted alongside his brother.

“And that was?” Steel inquired, not even bothering to hide his anger.

“I… can’t remember…” Arcane admitted, it seemed to have… slipped his mind. Leaving only a void in his memory. “All I can remember was that it was important.”

“Really? That’s your excuse?” The green stallion asked, disbelievingly.

“Yeah… it’s like it just… disappeared.” A warmth spread from… something, in his saddlebags. Yet, it did little to grab the scholar's attention.

“If you say so…” An awkward silence drifted through them, as they continued walking towards the pegasus’s home. It was modest, two bedroom, one bathroom, a kitchen and a living room. Out the front, a small garden filled with lavender, rosemary, and other herbs.

“Home sweet home.” Steel murmured, as he walked up the garden path, towards the wooden door.

With a click, the door swung open, inside a pile of boxes sat in the living room. On the sides, a few labels had made their home on the cardboard. A few jumped out at the blue unicorn, ‘Living room’ ‘Books’ ‘Study’ and finally ‘Nerd crap.’

“Huh? You’re coming over to the nerd side?” Arcane asked, slightly confused. ‘Nerdy’ was not something Steel could be described as. ‘Geek’ maybe, but not nerdy.

“Mmm? Na, that’s your stuff.” Steel stated plainly, as he made himself a sandwich.

“And why is my stuff in your house?” Arcane inquired, as he started digging around the book box.

“Well, I can’t afford the rent on your place. And your office was… evicted.” Steel nervously muttered,

“Why? I still have to work, I’m not fired or anything… right?”

“Didn’t the docs tell you? They don’t want you anymore.” Steel said, his voice confused and laced with slight sadness. “I gave them the letter and everything. They said they’d pass it on to you.”

“Well… That’s… disappointing. I’m just… going to put my stuff away.” Grabbing the boxes in his magic. He looked over to his brother, who seemed to being having some trouble dealing with this… situation.

“Alright, your room is the one on the left. Let me know if you need anything.” With but a sound, Arcane started moving towards his room. The carpeted floor muffling his hoofsteps, the only sound being from his magic, and whatever Steel was doing in the kitchen.

Opening the door to his room, Arcane took note of the furnishings. There was little, but there was a medium bed settled in the top left corner, with a small bedside table. To his right, a decently sized bookshelf was snuggled next to a desk and chair. Other than that, there was a built in wardrobe in the top right corner of the room.

Placing the boxes in his room, Arcane began the tedious task of unpacking. Starting off with his saddlebags, he pulled out his runic book and placed in on the shelf.

‘I don’t need to blow up my brother’s house today… Not sure about tomorrow though.’ The stallion thought to himself with a slight chuckle.

Next, he moved… it. Being careful to only touch the glass with his magic, he placed to golden liquid’s container on the bedside table. ‘Last time, it was able to overload the runes… granted, they weren’t the most powerful, that is still… concerning.’

Resisting the urge to ‘test the buck out of it,’ Arcane moved onto the rest of his stuff.

There wasn’t much of interest, other than the odd Pre-Discordian text, it was mainly little trinkets that he had collected over the years. Yet, the book shelf filled quickly, despite the efforts of space, there was a few that had to take up a temporary home on the bedside table.

“Alright. I think that’s everything…” He murmured to himself, as he stood, awkwardly, in the middle of the room. “What now?”

Arcane’s thoughts drifted to the liquid, but, not the one of gold, instead he thought about the godly elixir known as coffee.

“Well, that’s a plan.” He admitted as he walked out to the kitchen, the lack of a certain pegasus had made itself prominent as Arcane searched fruitlessly for the holy liquid.

“You looking for something?” Asked the aforementioned pegasus with no lack of amusement.

“Maybe…” Arcane replied slowly, as he turned to his brother. Unfortunately, it seemed Steel wasn’t standing there with coffee.

“You’re looking for coffee aren't you?” He said with a deadpan tone.

“Yeah…”

“I don’t have any-”

“HERETIC!” The unicorn screeched as he started shaking the very confused heretic. It lasted only a moment, as before the heretic had regained its senses, Arcane had grabbed his wallet and was halfway out the door.

“Wha-” Steel began dumbly.

“I’m going to get coffee. Au Revoir!” And with his statement, Arcane left the building.

’Ahh… that never gets old.’ He thought to himself, as he began on his epic quest for the elixir of the gods.

It hadn’t taken too long, at the edges of the town, a café sat proudly. Out the front, a slightly worn sign displayed the name of the establishment.

“Hmm? Black Bow Coffee Company? Alright. Let’s see if they make any good coffee.” Arcane muttered to himself, as the inspected the spruce sign hanging over the gravel path, which is commonly referred to as a road.

Walking into the store, Arcane could’ve mistook the place for a bar, except instead of alcohol, they seemed to be serving coffee. Thankfully, it wasn’t a seedy bar, in fact, it was quite clean. The serving bar, the stools, even the tables, were all well maintained, and the place seemed quite popular.

Over in the corner, there seemed to be ‘caravan’ game being played. Other then that, everyone seemed to be having a good time. The smell of good coffee penetrated the air, adding to the atmosphere.

‘Well… This is interesting.’ Arcane thought to himself as he made his way over to a unoccupied stool, looking up at the menu, he marveled at the sheer amount of options. ‘C.A.F Coffee? Blackbeard's delight? Snipers’ Hide coffee? V-Tac Berzerker blend? Woah…’

Snapping out of his thoughts, Arcane looked over to the barkeep. The hardy earth pony was hard at work cooking up something or other, his fur was tan and seemed to have a large collection of scares riddling his hide. Yet, he seemed quite friendly, it only took him a moment to pass the brew over the bar. Holding onto the mugs seamlessly with his hooves, betraying years of experience. Yet, his deep brown mane was chopped short, with but a inch of length to it, and his cutiemark of two bows crossed in a way that made them into a X shape, seemed to indicate that he wasn’t always a barista.

“What’s ya’ poison?” The barkeep asked, his voice deep and gravely.

“Umm… Let’s go with the Black Bufflo.” Arcane replied, picking whatever looked interesting.

“Aye’. yer’ first time ere’?”

“Yeah, I’m usually up in Canterlot.” The blue stallion admitted,

“Hmm? You’re Arcane?” The barkeep moved around the place at a rapid pace, brewing liquid gold.

“Yeah, that’s me. How do you know my name?” This only seemed to justify a chuckle from the scarred stallion.

“Word spreads real quick, Heck, Ah’d be surprised if anypony didn’t know ya’.” The barkeep explained, his accent thicker than oil.

“Yeesh, that bad?”

“Ye’, it ain’t every day that a visitor gets shanked.” He seemed to be trying to hold back said accent, he probably got a few complaints about it.

“I guess I’m just special.” Arcane joked, brushing his unruly mane out of his eyes.

Pausing for another hearty laugh, the barkeep brought over a steaming mug. “Ye’, seems so. Ere’ it’s on the house, ya’ been though enough to warrant one, don’t ya’ think?”

“Heh, thanks.” the unicorn thanked, surprised.

“No prob’.”

Bringing the mug to his muzzle, Arcane savored the smell of the blessed drink. With a sigh of relief, he sipped the steaming drink, the warmth spreading throughout his body.

“This is the good shit.” He murmured to himself basking in the coffee.

Turning his gaze ahead of him, Arcane took notice of a set of silver armour. It was quite large, and seemed to be made for an earth pony, judging by the lack of horn or wing holes. He was faintly reminded of the royal guard’s armour, but this set seemed to be a lot bulkier, armour plating all around it, and at the joints, chainmail occupied the area.

The set was in great condition, yet, it’s helm looked more like something from a medieval fantasy book. With a large face guard set on sturdy hinges, and on the sides of the helmet a symbol of a winged sword shone proudly.

Above the armour, a massive warhammer was mounted on the wall. Like the armour, it’s steel plating shone brightly, but, unlike it, it had signs of use. A crack here, a chip there, yet, it still looked like it was more than able to cave a few skulls in.

Past the damage, Arcane could see carvings all over the thing. Around the head, it seemed to depict a last stand between a pony and The Hordes of Tartarus, down the bottom of the long shaft, on a stylised spike, there was the same winged sword.

Unlike the usual warhammers, this one lacked the armour piercing spike on the head, there was just the big brick of stylised steel.

‘I guess who ever used it, didn’t need it…’ Arcane thought with a shudder, before returning to his heavenly coffee. Almost half had been consumed, and even though he had been focused on the armour, it was still piping hot.

‘Least the coffee is good.’

After the last of his drink was consumed, Arcane made his way to the notice board.
It was placed by the door, and it was covered in pages of parchment. Some of them outlined events that were coming up, or even gambling nights. With a quick glance, he took note of the amount of courier jobs. Some were close, like Canterlot, others were quite far, some as far as the dragonlands. They seemed to pay well, but most of them asked for ‘experience fighting monsters’,

‘Well, that’s not going to work…’ Arcane thought to himself, before moving on to the next pamphlet.

None of them were particularly appealing, but after a little bit of digging, Arcane found a note with the symbol of a winged sword as the header.

WANTED:
DEAD OR ALIVE
Jekyll
Monster, Daemon, Abomination,
Reward: 500,000 Bits
ARMED AND DANGEROUS! FOR EXPERIENCED HUNTERS ONLY!
LAST SIGHTED NEAR THE EVERFREE FOREST!

WANTED FOR CRIMES AGAINST THE CROWN, ANY AND ALL INFORMATION GIVEN WILL BE REWARDED.

THIS BEAST IS A KNOWN SHAPESHIFTER, DO NOT BE CAUGHT OFF GUARD, IT WILL NOT HESITATE TO KILL ANYTHING IT CATCHES.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Behind it, a few more pages of bounties were hidden. But, there wasn’t anything as… extravagant, as the front page. Not all of them were about killing somepony, a few were for monsters to be slain, others, were for ‘hired help’, in both meanings of the word.

‘Half a million for some… monster? That seems a bit… overkill.’ Arcane thought to himself, ‘Maybe the barkeep will know what the fuss is about…’

Walking up to the bar, the unicorn’s mind started to wonder. ‘I can’t believe I got fired...after multiple years of loyal service, this is how they repay me? Sitting at the bar, Arcane’s mind turned down darker paths. ‘It was probably one of those assholes in the ‘noble’ court, it’s not like they liked me. It was always ‘why didn’t you approve of my idea? It was flawless! I’ll have your job for this!’’ He sighed, thinking back to the sheer amount of horseshit he had to deal with whenever a ‘noble’ came through. ‘I guess they got me in the end… moronic bastards.’

“Ya’ need somethin’?” With the question, Arcane was snapped out of his brooding by the barkeep.

“Yeah, I’ve got a few questions... If you don’t mind of course.” He hastily added, slightly nervous. The barkeep didn’t seem to mind.

‘He probably gets this a lot…’ he mentally admitted.

“Aye, whatcha’ what ta’ know?”

“Who is Jekyll?” The blue stallion asked, quite frankly. ’No sense beating around the bush.’

“‘Who is Jekyll?’ He’s a beast! He’ be the murderer of thousands! Beyond mortal, a monster whose power radiates with a darkness that casts a shadow upon darkness itself!” The barkeeper's eyes burned with a fury that only a defeated hunter could ever hope to conjure.

“Y-you seem to know a lot about him…” Arcane stammered, trying to rein in his speeding heart. Yet, the barkeep only seemed to find this amusing.

“Know of em’? I hunted that bastard for months! But, wen’ ah’ found em’, ah’ was damn near killed. He fought... nay, he danced with death! My entire squad was… disabled, with ease. He didn’t even kill us! He broke bone, tore flesh, and pulverised limb, but never killed! Maybe he wanted to scare the others, or he was unable to finish it, ah’ don’t know the reason, but ah’m still not sure what was worse…” He trailed off, almost like he had forgotten about his audience. About halfway through his story, the other members of the bar had lowered their tones to listen to the old barkeep. A few even moved closer, but the only ones unaffected by the story, seemed to be the ponies playing caravan in the corner.

“But you’re alive! It’s better to live then to die!” One of the bar goers shouted from... somewhere.

“Kid, ah’m an old cripple. My hip was destroyed in that... slaughter, and ah’ can barely walk straight!” With a shudder, he continued.

“Ah’ still remember the feeling ya’d get from lookin’ em’ in the eyes… He was… indifferent to us, no rage, no anger, nothing! Ah’ barely got a hit on em’, and look at the hammer!” The stallion ranted, pointing out the wrecked Warhammer.

“But… why? Why were you trying to find him?” Arcane quietly asked, almost fearing the answer.

“Ah’ was apart of an ol’ group of mercs. Real old, besta’ best, we where. Called us the ‘Silver Swords’... ah’ ain’t sure iffa’ the group is still ‘round.” The old stallion remised, his eyes looking beyond what was infront of him.

‘Well… that is certainly something to think about…’

After a few questions, the crowd dispersed and returned to their day to day lives. But Arcane was gone long before then, maybe it was because of the story, or he had enough of the atmosphere. Nevertheless, he was gone.

At the other end of the town, a stream flowed, creating a natural barrier to defend Brismane from one side. Despite this, a bridge was built a great deal of time ago. It’s stones worn by time and weather, and yet, it stands strong, indifferent to the passage of life.

This bridge was a good distance out of town, close enough to be apart of it, but far enough away that it could be unnoticed by the inhabitants. Around it, only the sound of calm wind and moving water could be heard, yet, nopony was there. But there was someone, a mist congregated into the form not unlike a timberwolf, but this form was… smoother, it seemed to have fur instead of bark, and it seemed a lot more… alive, despite the fact that it was a mist. Throughout it, little sparks of light calmly floated. Not unlike the stars against the night sky, yet, they seemed to move, ever so slowly.

The mist had it’s two front… paws, resting over the side barrier of the bridge. It’s gaze looking out in the direction of the town, it seemed… peaceful. Like a prisoner freed after a life of imprisonment, like a elderly stallion who had accomplished everything he wanted.

It was this feeling of inner peace that the being clinged onto, almost desperately. It’s eyes shining in the midday sun, and, if one was to look, they would swear they could almost saw little whispers of knowledge, dancing across them.

“At last… I’m… alive.” The being whispered to itself, the fog within it’s mind had lifted, maybe for the first time.

Maybe even the last…

Banishing these thoughts with a quick shake of it’s head, it focuses back onto itself, determined to finalize its form. Its ‘anchor’ to sanity. Soon, it became a he, and he, in turn, became solid. He was no longer a mist, he was a being. Granted, one who can change it’s form at will, but a being none the less.

He was now able to eat, to drink, to… live. Gone were the days of mindless following, gone were the days of eternal servitude to the whims of reality. At long last, he was free.

Or not…

“Maybe I should find him… he did do… whatever he did to free me.” He thought outloud to himself, before adding in a extra thought, “Even unintentionally.”

The populace would brand you a freak…

“Well, I could always wait until he is alone… hopefully he will be open minded about… me…” The being whispered, lost in thought.

We’ll see…

After leaving the ba-Coffee shop, Arcane spent the rest of the day looking for a source of income. Not many positions were open, and despite his luck, the best he was able to find was a librarian position.

It didn’t pay spectacularly, but it was enough to pay the bills. The library itself was more of a bookstore. But even then, that was being generous. It had in total around five shelves of books, and the whole place was quite run down.

It wasn’t unlivable, but it was close.

‘Seems like nopony here cares much for literature… Let’s see if I can change that.’ Arcane thought to himself, filling up with determination, he set off for home. ‘Maybe Steel can give me a hoof with repairs…’

“Ah… ah… AH CHOO!” Steel sneezed, before rubbing his face.

He paused, thinking for a moment before deflating.

“Aww shit...”

After a quick walk, Arcane opened to door to his new… home. Steel seemed to still be at work, since the house was almost silent. But that didn’t deter the unicorn, he was in a good mood, and by Celestia, he was going to make to most out of it!

Shifting though his supply of books, Arcane choose a few to add to the library’s meager stores. Halfway through sorting, he took note of a relatively new newspaper. With a flash of remembrance, he grabbed the paper with his magic.

‘Ahh yes… I remember, Equestria is going to war… this is gonna be a shitshow…’ he thought to himself, dampening his mood slightly. Before finishing his train of thought with a chuckle. ‘I guess I’m not the only one having shitty luck lately.’

“Here’s to hoping they don’t have to start drafting ponies.” The blue stallion murmured solemnly. With a quick spell, the newspaper was tucked away into one of his shelves. “There is no point dwelling on what cannot be helped… Who knows? It mightn’t even get past planning.”

Spending a few more moments searching through his room, Arcane’s thoughts returned to his runes and the… issue with his previous experiment.

‘Why did it act like that? It was a protection rune for Celestia’s sake! Not an explosive one!’ The unicorn fumed, as he brought about both the liquid and his Rune book.

’Flip’

’Flip’

“...”

’Flip’

’Flippity flip’

“Hmmm… how about this?”

“...”

“Maybe I should do this outside…”

After moving his setup outside, Arcane began the tedious process of etching runes into parchment. It took a good hour, but soon enough, Arcane laid the rune-riddled parchments onto the grass.

The stallion had moved his operations to the edge of the forest, which was -thankfully- a good distance away from any and all passersby. And after the first… disaster, Arcane had decided to go all out on the runes. Instead of the basic setup he was using, the unicorn had gone with layers and layers of crazy runes.

‘Alright then… this should work.’ Arcane thought to himself, looking intently at the center of the array.

Using his magic, he levitated the golden liquid into the epicenter of the runic circles. With it in place, he double checked the safety protocols.

‘Hopefully, it won’t explode this time… I’m not even sure how the damned thing survived the first one…’ The blue stallion wished with a chuckle.

“Let’s do this!” he yelled, slamming his hoof into a gap in the runic circuit.

It took only a heartbeat. Maybe it was because of his luck, or maybe he had overlooked something. Regardless, things starting to go wrong only barely a second after Arcane began the test.

It didn’t explode, thankfully, but it did blind anything looking in that general direction. It even caught the attention of the local militia, despite their laid back approach to their jobs.

The flash was powerful enough to rival the sun itself. And with it, a great wave of heat blasted outwards, raising the temperature by at least ten degrees.

It was enough to cause a shockwave that pushed Arcane a good ten meters. Coming down, he collided with the ground. Not quite enough to bring about the darkness, but enough to disorientate him.

But before it could do any more damage, protocol came into play as a shimmering shield erected around the array. It seemed to be layered, but the inner layers were stripped away after but a moment. With only the outer shield holding the detonation at bay, one of the other arrays kicked in and reinforced it.

The shield crackled and hissed, straining under the sheer force of… whatever was going on. And, while it was able to stop the shockwaves, the shield wasn’t able to stop the grass inside, and outside the array, blackening and smoldering.

Shaking himself off, Arcane raised from his prone position. He found himself staring at the runes with a mix of fear and awe, fear due to the power of the detonation that was currently in progress, and awe from the sheer amount of energy needed to create such a reaction.

He began to laugh as the emergency protocols launched the overload of energy into the sky, causing a great pillar of bright blue light. The sound of crackling lines of power filled the air, raising from a dull drone, to a deafening scream, causing Arcane’s ears to ring and bleed.

He barely noticed himself falling to his hunches, as his laugh of mania reached its crescendo. His eyes, reduced to pinpricks, his forehooves, raised above his head, his mind, just a little more broken.

The passage of time meant little to the unicorn now, as did the arrival of the militia. For now, his concentration was solely on his creation of madness. It’s meaning, meaningless, it’s purpose, irrelevant, for now, it was a display of power, it was to show the world that he was more alive than ever before.

He has seen true power. The power used to move mountains, to level cities, to own the world! Never again will he be restrained by the concept of morality!

Never ag-THUMP!

And the darkness greeted it’s old friend, once again…

The town was in a panic, as, but a few moments before, a massive shockwave rocked houses and destroyed windows. During this, the old barkeep was finishing up for the day. The questions really took it out of him, and, now he’s just going to leave the bar to his employees.

But alas, the universe had other plans for him.

After the shock wave, he had rushed over to where it had originated. But ‘rushed’, was quite relative, for him, it was more of a hobble due to his bum leg. Either way, he was the first on the scene, well, at last that’s what it seemed like.

In front of him, an orb of cracking mana slowly burned away the grass near it. Only a few meters away, a blue unicorn sat, bewildered.

‘Isn’t that Arcane? What in tartarus is he doing?!’ The barkeep mentally screamed, but before he could make any further action, Arcane burst into the laughter of a crazy pony.

Almost as if it was reacting to him, the orb began shooting the energy into the sky, burning away a few clouds above it. Over the other side, some of the local law enforcement gathered, unsure on how to proceed.

Acting on instinct alone, the barkeep rushed forward, ignoring the roar of the orb, ignoring the pain of his leg, focusing all his might into one bull rush.

Seconds ticked by, as he galloped over to Arcane, the sound, growing ever louder. After the agonising run, the barkeep fruitlessly tried to get over to the unicorn.

But in the end, it didn't matter, as one last blast ripped up the earth around the orb and flung it in every direction. Which, included Arcane’s direction…

THUMP!

Beep…

Beep…

Beep…

The familiar beeping of a heart monitor greeted Arcane, but this time, it was accompanied by the feeling of the light breathing of somepony else.

Opening his eyes, Arcane took note of the familiar restraints and nullification ring. But this time, near the door, a guardstallion stood, clad in gray armour with a short sword strapped to his side. Instead of the royal gaurdsponies, the militia lacked the ‘uniform enchantment’ that made their coats white or grey.

In fact, this guard was a bright blue, with fiery eyes, and it seemed he was a earth pony. But that was of little importance, first, Arcane needed to figure out what happened.

“Ummm… sir? Can I please know what happened?” Arcane shyly murmured,

“You were hit by flying dirt and rock.” The stallion deadpanned.

“Uhhh… how?” the hospitalised unicorn replied, confused.

“You were sat too close to the center of a very powerful spell.” The stallion clarified, still in his deadpan tone. “You can expect a word from the Lieutenant.”

“Ah…”

An hour or two passed with little chatter.

’It seems, despite their lesser training, they are just as tight lipped…’ Arcane mentally groaned.

Thankfully, not long after his mental comment, another guard entered. But, unlike the original, this one had a gold trim to his armour, and, on his left shoulder pad, a small golden bar had been attached.

With a glance, the lieutenant dismissed the original guard, before pulling up a chair next to the hospital bed. For a few moments, the two ponies sat in silence. But, it wasn’t to last, in the end, the orange furred lieutenant broke the silence.

“What were you doing?” He asked bluntly, not bothering with subtlety.

“I-I”m not sure what you mean…” Arcane began, before being silenced by the lieutenant losing his shit.

“You know damn well what I’m talking about! The bucking pillar of light!” The pegasus fumed, “You were found ten meters away from it! So I’ll ask again! What the buck did you do?!”

Before Arcane could formulate an answer, three knocks resounded from the doorway behind the captain. Who, after pausing for a moment, muttered a curse and left the room. Leaving the blue unicorn to his musings.

A good amount of time had passed, and like the time, Arcane’s wakefulness disappeared. But, it wouldn’t stay that way for long…

“So you’re Arcane,” A voice stated, distorted by the unicorn’s grogginess.

“Wha?” Arcane murmured, half asleep. And, before he could properly awaken, a unwelcome slippery appendage entered his left nostril.

“Gah! What the hay Steel?” Arcane protested, quickly raising from his bed and scanning the room half-heartedly.

“Try again,” The voice said as Arcane noticed… him.

Before Arcane stood a horror from the darkest pits of Tartarus itself, the monster’s face bare inches from his own. Its fiery red eyes were cold, dispassionate, as though it wasn’t capable of caring whether Arcane spoke or died. The creature’s face had a short nose instead of a proper muzzle, but was arranged in a way that left no doubt to its predatory nature. The front facing eyes, boring a hole into Arcane’s own. It’s mouth, left slightly open so he could notice… them.

Teeth. Razor sharp, pointy, teeth. They only added to the image of the perfect apex predator.

Even the beast’s mane looked deadly, as though it was actually a number of venomous snakes waiting for the moment to strike. Every feature Arcane’s eyes crossed only heightened his fear and sense of helplessness, and each one was the same glossy black with bright red veins to accent the monster’s alien features all the more.

“Y-you’re Jekyll, your wanted poster is hanging in the coffee shop,” Arcane noted absently. His mind skipping the panic stage and moving instead to disbelief.

“Good, that means you know my threats aren’t empty and telling you not to do that again might actually achieve something,” Jekyll continued, ignoring the fear of the blue furred stallion.

“But-” Arcane tried to protest, before he was cut off by… him.

“I fucking hate that word more every day, say it again and I’ll geld you. I don’t care what you did to make that pillar of light, but I could see it from Ponyville. More importantly, I could also see the panic it caused there. I don’t know yet if the gryphons, or any of the other races, could see it or whether they’re using it as an excuse to wipe this pitiful town off the map along with the rest of Equestria, but if I see another stunt like that again… Well, I think you know by now. Are we clear?” Jekyll asked pointedly, his voice dripping with malice.

“Th-that wasn’t supposed to happen! It was only supposed to make a shield...” Arcane pleaded, eyes wide at the beast’s threats; both implied and explicit.

“How do you fuck up a shield rune so badly that it does that? Who the hell let you out of school without at least being able to carve one damn rune?” The monster asked, his anger slowly bleeding away into curiosity. After a moment, he grabbed… it.

‘What the buck!? I’ve blown that liquid up, twice! How in Celestia’s name is it still here?! Let alone in this room!?’ Arcane mentally screamed as Jekyll carved a shield rune into the side of the flask.

Once he had finished scraping away with his talon, he asked “How far from this was it?”

“It was the same… ish...,” Arcane replied, trying to hide his little slice of insanity known as the ‘Golden Liquid’.

‘Note to self: Find better name for it…’ Arcane deadpanned to himself.

“Then maybe it’s not the rune, dumbass,” Jekyll mused, completing the circuit with a claw. Finding it working perfectly, he handed it over to Arcane, “Low power, go for a shield around the flask itself. And at least try not to destroy the room.”

‘Why didn’t it explode? Waaiiit a moment… He activated it using his claw… Maybe he’s resistant to magic? Or maybe it is the resistance from the skin, muscle, and other tissue…’ Arcane pondered, his thoughts getting increasingly complicated every second.

Absentmindedly, he did as Jekyll has instructed, and, unsurprisingly, the flask exploded, throwing shards of glass in every direction and leaving a few scratches on Arcane’s muzzle for good measure.

“Fascinating, it almost looks like the rune was allergic to your magic. Impossible, but fascinating,” The beast mentioned, ignoring a few… disturbing noises from the other side of the door.

“You’re really curious about this? The poster made you seem like-” Arcane began.

“A dumb but unstoppable brute, I’m aware. I also couldn’t care less what they say about me. Back on topic, I would recommend testing your magic on things that don’t almost kill your stupid ass until you can track down exactly what keeps going wrong. Do I need to give you an incentive to avoid runes until then?” Jekyll asked, not really expecting a yes.

“No, bu-although I may have a theory.” Arcane began, catching himself before he angered the predator in front of him.

“Before I was… injured... I could handle runes just as easily as anypony else, I think it might have to do with what happened,” Arcane bluffed, ‘I’m not sure if it would be a good idea to mention the liquid… Better play it safe.’

“You got stabbed or something right? Join the club. I doubt that would affect magic like this. Just because I legitimately want to know, for some reason, I’ll be posting a messenger in the woods. Walk out alone and he or she will find you, just don’t trust every timberwolf you come across. Or do, even if you get eaten I still win on account of not having to deal with this crazy bullshit anymore. Keep me posted on your findings and I might even call in an expert or two to help,” Jekyll offered.

“You’re studying me?” Arcane confirmed,

“Heh, you’re more clever than most, usually you lot never figure out how you’re being used and twisted. Yes, I am. However, if I had to watch you all day, I’d probably just eat you and call it an early lunch on the first day. But you seem competent enough to not die before you can diagnose yourself, so I’ll be expecting you to check in whenever you find anything and ask for help when you inevitably end up eyeball deep in trouble,” The monster stated.

“Uh, wow, I wasn’t expecting that much,” Arcane commented.

“I wasn’t expecting a bright ass pillar of blue light interrupting my lunch and pissing me off, but shit happens. I’d just be happy that you get the chance to study yourself, there are worse possibilities,” Jekyll rebutted, “Like vivisection.”

“Okay, I’ll tell your messenger whatever I find,” Arcane relented, “So, what happens now?”

“Now I collect my gryphon before she actually does eat somepony that isn’t actively exploding and then I’ll go home, you carry on with your...what the fuck? I swear I watched that explode,” Jekyll stumbled, noticing a flask of golden liquid sitting on the table.

“I-” Arcane attempted. Panicking internally ‘shitshitshitshitshit!’

“Meh, must’ve been two of them,” Jekyll excused, though his eyes scanned the room suspiciously.

“Uh, yeah, two of them,” Arcane agreed nervously. ‘Thank Celestia… that was too close…’

“Well, it’s about that time,” Jekyll declared as he stood to his full height and turned towards the door, “And Arcane, don’t make me come back or I’ll try out this ingenious little surgery I’ve been itching to do. I doubt you’d enjoy it, but the advancements in the medical field would be far worth any discomfort. To have a subject’s living brain moved into his rectal cavity...who knows what we’d be able to discover.”

Arcane could only nod as the intimidating figure of Jekyll confidently strode out the door and into the maelstrom of shouts and threats that had brewed from his presence.

“He’s all yours. Gilda, we’re done here,” Jekyll shouted, just out of view.

“You won’t get away with this!” A familiar voice cried to the retreating sound of Jekyll’s footsteps.

Not a moment after the door clicked shut, it was roughly thrown open by a familiar green pegasus decked out in silver militia armour. The pegasus seemed to be filled with rage, that was, fortunately, not directed to Arcane… yet.

When the enraged stallion’s gaze fell on the form of Arcane, his features softened as he hurriedly rushed over to his brother.

“Did he do anything? Did he hurt you?! I’ll kick his arse!” Steel worriedly asked, before jumping into an angry tone at the possibility of the monster hurting the only family he had left.

“Nonono, he didn’t do anything. It’s fine.” Arcane rushed, trying to defuse the situation before somepony did something stupid.

“Alright… now. WHAT THE BUCK WHERE YOU THINKING!?” It seems with one situation defused, another took its place…

“This time, it’s not my fault!” Arcane stubbornly replied, “I reject your reality, and substitute my own.”

“Suuuure. Just like how the last explosion wasn’t your fault.” Steel replied, not buying it for a second. “I’d expected that after THE FIRST TIME, you’d learn NOT to buck around with your damned runes!”

“Bu-” Arcane tried to retort, but it was fruitless, Steel wasn’t done with his rant.

“And THIS TIME you brought in THE MOST WANTED CRIMINAL IN EQUESTRIA!” Steel raged, as the other militia soldiers, who had originally planned to enter the room, decided to leave the two to their argument. “What in Celestia’s name possessed you to think THAT was a good idea?!”

“... Sorry…” Arcane murmured, cringing away from his younger brother’s outburst. “I wasn’t expecting it to do… that…”

Steel didn’t look satisfied with this answer. At all. But, with a deep breath, the green furred stallion calmed his tone to a reasonable volume. “Alright. That’ll have to do… I guess. Just… Don’t do that again…. Please.”

“I won’t… ‘Sides, I’m meant to be the older brother, I’m supposed to keep you out of trouble.” Arcane replied with a smirk, trying to lighten the mood.

“True that.” Steel admitted with a chuckle. “Anyway, you feeling alright?”

“Surprisingly, yes, I’m feeling just fine.” Arcane said, with a happy sigh.

“Good.” Steel replied, before sighing and continuing, “Now, you’ve going to need to answer some questions from my C.O. But, the medical staff say you’re good to go. So, I think we’ll head home for the night.”

“Ummm… what? Is that legal?” Arcane asked, surprised.

“Eh… sorta.”

“Uhhh… Alright…”

“...”

“Who was that?” The creature of blue mist asked to nobody. He had waited outside of the hospital for hours, waiting for his savior to awaken.

He was going to enter, but then the monster had appeared. It had talked to Arcane.

It had threatened him…

It was going to hurt him….

It was going to hurt his savior…

Kill it… it dared to threaten our savior… it does not deserve to live…

“But I can’t… it is too strong… too smart...”

Then we must get stronger… we must protect our savior… it is our duty…

“Yes… That will work.” He resolved, slipping away from the window and into the night.

The monster talked about a messenger… it would be weak… we must kill it… leave a message for the messenger…

No… we must be smart… not let the monster know of us… till it is too late…

Feast… grow… become stronger… then we will hunt… then… we… will… kill…

“Then we are in agreement… Let us feed… and grow....” He stated as he neared the forest edge.

Yes

“This is a stupid idea!” Arcane whisper shouted at himself, as he dangled half out of his bedroom window. “I could go to sleep! And never deal with this horseshit again!”

The chilly wind seemed to agree with him, and yet, he lept out the window and onto the grass. After raising his hoof and closing the window with a near silent click, he began the trek to the forest.

“Then again… I really don’t want to piss off Jekyll…” The blue unicorn murmured to himself. “But what about Steel? Surely he’d understand…”

Somehow, he doubted it.

The rest of the trek passed in silence, the only sounds being from the creatures of the night and the dull rustle of Arcane’s hooves on the grass.

And yet…

There was barely a sound from the animals.

The crickets were Arcane’s only company. Even as he trespassed on the forest edge, the trees were still, almost as if they feared something… something… powerful…

“Maybe this is a bad idea… A really bad idea…” He murmured to himself,

Just as Arcane began to turn, his mind jumped back to… Him.

His mane, his teeth… his eyes. Everything about Jekyll screamed ‘bad’, and even without his reputation, it seemed like it would be a horrible, horrible idea to cross him. To the point that death would most likely be a better idea.

“N-never mind! Back into the freaky forest… Celestia damn it… what did I do to deserve this?” Arcane sighed as he went back to the forest, not even bothering to lift his hooves above the bare minimum.

Further into the forest he trudged, the sounds of the animals unchanging. And, unsurprisingly, the mood only got worse. After a while, the screams started.

Blood curdling screams rang across the forest, seemingly bypassing Arcane’s ears, for no matter how hard he stuffed his hooves into his ears, the screams still rang true.

The sound wasn’t from a pony, but whatever it was, it went on and on. Making sure the world knew of it’s pain and misery.

‘Where is that coming from?!’ Arcane mentally screamed, fruitlessly trying to hear himself over the mind numbing screams.

No matter what he thought of, his mind always returned to the screams, until they just… stopped.

Silence dominated the forest once more.

‘Well… that was… abrupt…’ He dumbly thought as he removed his hooves from his near bleeding ears. For a moment, he just sat there, looking around him, scanning the forest as if the answer would just jump out at him.

Safe to say, it didn’t.

‘Maybe a song will help?’

‘...’

That. Is a stupid idea.

“Whaaat the buck what that!? Who’s there?!” Arcane jumped with his shout, as he whipped around trying, and failing, to find the source of the voice.

Everyone.

And no one.

“Come on! There’s two of you?! Stop messing with me!” Arcane yelled into the darkness, too tired to deal with this riddle speaking pile of horseshit.

There are a many of us...

Yet there is only one of us...

“All tied together by fate...” A new voice said, unlike the other voices, this one didn’t skip Arcane’s ears. But at the same time, it seemed to echo ever so slightly.

“Show yourselves!” Arcane cried, lighting up his horn and ruining his, half decent, night vision.

As You “Wish...” The voices seemed to overlap almost seamlessly, the only difference between them being different… feel.

Whilst the first seemed elegant and flowing, the middle seemed to burn with anger, yet, at the same time, it didn’t seem angry.

But the final one… it was different. Stronger than the others, louder than them. It seemed the closest to ‘normal’, because aside from the echo, it could be mistaken for a normal pony.

But with it… it seemed like it held great power behind it.

Arcane was snapped out of his thoughts by a shape emerging from the foliage.

It looked similar to a timberwolf, yet, it didn’t move with the jerky movements that came with being made of wood. Instead, it moved as if it was a flesh and blood creature, even though it seemed to be slightly see-through.

It’s pelt seemed to be made of a light blue mist, condensed into a solid form, and, throughout it’s body, it seemed to have tiny stars glinting in the moonlight. On top of all that, the slight wind seemed to move it’s fur as if it was a pony’s own.

The strangest of it all was it’s eyes. They had no pupils, and instead, the glowed with a powerful light, yet, no light escaped them, only a mist that wrapped around the back of it’s head.

The more Arcane stared, the more he felt like something was wrong with this… thing. Then, it hit him.

“W-what happened to your leg?” Arcane asked nervously, gesturing to the creature’s back right leg.

Said leg only went down to it’s knee, everything below that was gone. Replaced only by mist, leaking out of it.

“An unnatural monster didn’t appreciate our presence. They shouldn’t even be on this plane of existence...” The creature calmly explained, sparing the aforementioned leg only a glance.

It will not make that mistake again...

Don’t interrupt! This isn’t our place to talk.

We are f-!

“Silence! Both of you!” The creature barked at… himself?

Whenever the other voices said anything, the creature’s jaw moved as if it was speaking, and it’s right eye… changed.

When the elegant voice talked, his eye went a calm green.

But when the angry voice talked, it went a hateful red.

Arcane’s surprise must’ve been clear on his face, for only a moment after he noted this observation, the creature went back to talking.

“Do not worry about them. They are unimportant at this point.” The creature assured, it’s tone… calming.

“W-who are you?” The unicorn asked after a few moments of awkward silence.

“We do not have a name.” The Not-Timberwolf admitted evenly,

He doesn’t want to make one...

At least, not one in your tongue...

“What did I say? Not a moment ago?” It hissed to the other voices, displeased with their behavior.

‘Hmm… so it’s a he? Can’t say I’m surprised…’ Arcane pondered over this small piece of information, ignoring the venomous tone the creature used when addressing the other… parts of itself.

“We have taken the form of a ‘Wolf’. From what we can remember, it was a animal in the old world.” The self proclaimed ‘wolf’ explained, taking on a tone of a… teacher.

“But, like the rest of your kind, we do not expect you to remember the old world.” He sighed, before continuing with i-his makeshift lesson. “A long time ago, before there was the land of Equestria, this place was different. It controled itself, it regulated it’s own seasons. And, it had it’s own creatures.”

“But, when the ponies came, they changed the land. They killed the independance of the weather. And, they destroyed the creatures who had called this land home.”

“But, we accept this outcome. They were strong. And only the strong survive.” The wolf explained, a glint of admiration in his eyes.

“Why are you telling me this?! We’re sitting in the middle of the forest, in the dead of night, and you’re giving me a history lesson!” Arcane yelled, exasperated. “Can you please tell me why you are here?”

“Hmmm… It seems like the Elixir has already taken hold...” The creature murmured, almost too quiet for Arcane to hear. “Regardless, we are here because of you. You did something in that hospital room. Something… impossible. And now we have returned to existence.”

“We are fragmented, and we do not remember all that has happened in our past life. Nor do we have all of our power, but, the fact still remains, we exist because of you. And that is something we are unable to repay.”

So we shall be bound to you.

Till’ death do us part.

“B-but I didn’t do anything!” Arcane protested, raising his hooves above in head in an effort to get his point across.

“But you did, and now we are bound to you.” The creature replied flatly, as he moved away from the foliage fully and laid down near the confused unicorn.

“I didn’t ask for this…”Arcane muttered, ‘Why can’t these things be easy? I just want to go back to my boring life… heck, I’d be happy if paperwork was all I had to deal with...’

“Neither did we, yet here we are.” The creature returned, still in his flat tone.

The two beings sat there for a time, barely saying a thing, and, after some time, Arcane became a bit more comfortable with the Wolf’s presence. But, in the end, all good things come to an end…

Our time runs short… daylight approaches,

As do the others… it seems like they did not take kindly to the… manticore incident.

“Unfortunate. I guess I shall just skip to the point.” The creature sighed, before lifting a paw and condensing the leaking mist from it’s eyes on top of it. “Take this, it is a physical representation of our connection. And with it, we shall be able to better protect you.”

“Is that…? Wait… My necklace!” Arcane exclaimed, wide eyed at the familiar necklace the creature created out of it’s… mist.

“Curious… It wasn’t supposed to exist in this form… It seems we are tied closer than I expected.” The wolf murmured with surprise before passing the necklace into the telekinesis of the blue furred unicorn.

“Well… this has been an interesting day…”

Author's Notes:

(Update: Formatting)
AN: Alright! The first major tie in to 'Monster is, as Monster Does' is done!
I hope everyone enjoyed it, and if you want to know the story behind Jekyll, you'll have to go over to the other story (Link above).

Weapons_X's Note:
And this is why it took a month to get chapter 22 of Monster published. Oh, and if you can figure out why Jekyll's lines are different in this version, you get an OC in both the stories.

Militia Man's Note: Another perspective to tell the bigger story. Sounds like a good time to me. Can't wait to dig real deep with this one.