“No problems setting everything up, right?” I asked the pony before me as he took a look around the small set of stands, they were constructing for the Running of the Leaves the next day.

“No, sir,” the stallion giving me a mock salute. “We set these stands up every year, so we know what we’re doing.”

“Yeah… well, Rainbow Dash and Applejack want to make a spectacle of the run this year and we all know how they love get into pissing matches with each other,” I sighed as I thought about how the two were currently duking it out at that moment back on the farm.

“As long as we don’t have to rebuild town hall… again,” the pony sighed as he wandered away.

“Thank you for helping with the setup, Mr. Reaper,” Mayor Mare thanked as she stood beside me. “The run isn’t really that big of a deal most years, but if the Princess is going to be here for it this year, the least we can do is prepare for it.”

“Come on Mayor, how many times do I have to tell you to call me, Chris,” I sighed, shaking my head.

“In public, it’s important to be addressed appropriately and the majority of Equestria already refer to you by that name, so I don’t see an issue,” the older mare smirked. “Besides, I thought I told you to call me Mary.”

“Bah humbug!” I snapped back good-naturedly. “You’re the Mayor and I’m Chris. Let the tourists call me Reaper and you Mary and the problem’s solved.”

“I’m beginning to see why Princess Celestia had her misgivings about you,” Mary laughed as she walked with me away from the field.

“She just needs to get laid,” I replied off handedly. This was usually how the two of us talked whenever I spent time in the office instead of walking around town.

“And there’s a line from here and to the moon of individuals more than willing to do that,” Mary replied, surprising me as she continued to walk with me towards my own destination instead of heading to Town Hall to get ready for tomorrow.

“There a reason your following me around that doesn’t involve my sophisticated banter?” I asked,

My plan was to meet Derpy and Cotton at the Hospital, since today was one of Cotton’s appointments.

Cotton had to see a head doctor twice a week. I usually attended the sessions, mostly by staying just outside the office door, but I wanted to check on the construction job quickly.

“I’m just off to see my sister,” Mary replied with a shrug.

“You have a sister?” I asked, surprise to learn the mayor had a sister, let alone one currently in the hospital.

“Yes, a younger sister,” Mary replied as the hospital came into view. “She’s an architect and was the one who designed our Town Hall and the fountain in the square.”

“That’s pretty impressive,” I nodded. “What’s she doing in the hospital though?”

“She went to Manehatten a few years ago to design a few community buildings,” Mary began with a heavy frown. “A few months before you arrived, there was an accident that resulted in a few deaths and she ended up with some scaring and brain damage.”

“Damn,” I muttered with my own frown. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

I took a moment to think about the ponies I knew where at the hospital, seeing as I go there so often. There weren’t that many that stayed there full time, let alone go there in the first place.

Contrary to how strange thing seemed to happen in Ponyville weekly, no one ever really really gets hurt.

Except for me that is.

“When they told me that she would need constant care, I had them move her here,” Mary continued as I held the door open to her.

“She’s actually a big fan of yours,” Mary continued, chuckling as she led the way towards the Psych ward. “Wont she be so surprised when she meets you with me?”

“And yet you haven’t asked me why I was here,” I commented.

“I thought it was because you couldn’t stop looking at my flank?” Mary replied with a smirk as she hip checked my side.

“Eh, Pinkie’s is better,” I shrugged, not even bothering to look as I walked up to Derpy and a slightly familiar looking mare.

She had a light blue coat and white mane and tail. A patient’s gown was covering her body and an orderly was standing nearby.

He was your run of the mill stallion and kind of blended into the background even though he had a dark orange coat.

“… and that’s how I got this,” the other mare said as she moved aside a part of her mane and revealed a large scar where hair wasn’t growing.

“I’m glad to see it hasn’t got you down,” Derpy replied with her usual smile. It was an infectious smile that had developed more since she had started living with me and having to worry less about working several jobs to pay for rent, expenses and repairs.

“Cotton not out yet?” I asked as I drew the two mare’s attention.

“Not yet,” Derpy replied.

“Oh, my Celestia, its him!” the mare besides Derpy squeaked, her eyes dilating a little.

“Good afternoon, Screwy,” Mary greeted, moving forward and nuzzling the blue mare with a smile.

The mare who I figured to be Screw Loose, simply continued to stare at me, not even registering the fact that Mary was greeting her affectionately.

“So, you must be the Mayor’s sister…” I replied as I began to feel uncomfortable under the mare’s gaze.

“Y-yeah, my Mayor’s the Sister,” Screw Loose replied with a smile.

“I think you got that mixed up,” I chuckled under my breath as the mare suddenly launched herself from her seat and into my chest, clinging to it like some kind of cat.

Which was odd seeing as I was in my armor, helmet hooked to my side.

“I heard you saved one of the princesses from a group of deadly assassins!” she began to almost yell at my face, her pupils small. “And… and… you’re the town Warden, and this year’s representative for Equestria during the Equis Tournament and…”

“Uh… they were actually mercenaries…” I replied as Derpy, Mary and the orderly worked to pull the mare off of me, which she didn’t seem to notice.

“Screwy, please get off of him,” Mary asked as the three pulled hard on the gown she wore.

“And and and and!” the mare began to continually repeat, her pupils sized differently from one another, causing me to worry.

“Sorry about this,” I quickly apologized before switching to my “Soul Vision” for a moment and putting her to sleep quickly.

To me, it looked like a smoky gray hand was wrapping itself around the small blue flame that was her soul. To everyone else… it looked like I had just stabbed my hand into the mare nearly elbow deep.

“W-what did you do?!” the orderly yelled as he caught the mare as she fell from my chest without any wounds. Even Mary was looking at her sister in worry as Derpy looked on in confusion.

“She’s unconscious,” I replied holding my hands up placatingly while releasing my switched vision.

“She has brain damage! Do you know how dangerous that is?!” the orderly yelled back.

“I didn’t knock her out in a conventional manner,” I quickly began to explain before things got any worse. “I kind of just… told her soul to go to sleep. I didn’t harm her in any way that would cause her any issues and I can wake her up now if you want. Otherwise, she’ll be up on her own in a few hours.”

“If you could wake her back up now, that would be great,” a new voice spoke as a nearby door opened.

Cotton and a mare both exited the room, both showing signs of concern and confusion as they took in the situation.

The mare’s name was Doctor Psyche and she was the Ponyville Hospital’s main psychiatrist. She had an eggshell white coat and dark blue hair wrapped up in a small bun. She had hazel brown eyes, thin rimmed glasses and her cutie mark was that of a brain surrounded by a few needles.

“Sure, Doc,” I replied as I switched my vision again and gave Screw Loose’ soul another squeeze.

“I’m awake!” Screw Loose shouted as she shot up from her prone position, fully awake and aware.

“You had yourself a little problem there again Ms. Screw,” Doctor Psyche said as she drew the mare’s attention straight to herself.

“But I saw him, Doctor!” Screw Loose smiled brightly, a small shine in her eyes. “He was here and he was just like my sister said!”

I was about to say something before a small shake of Doctor Psyche’s head made me keep my silence.

“And what did I tell you to do when you did meet him so there wouldn’t be any issues?” the Doctor asked with a calm smile.

“To take a few breaths and greet him like a normal pony…” Screw Loose replied with a frown. “But I did… didn’t I?”

“Now how about we try that again then,” Psyche said as she directed me forward with a wave of a hoof.

The moment I walked into Screw’s view; her eyes began to dilate once again.

“Ms. Screw, remember what I said,” Psyche said, quickly drawing the mare’s attention once again.

“Uh…r-right,” Screw Loose replied before taking a few deep breaths. Once she was done, I noticed her eyes had returned to normal and she looked up at me with a calm smile.

“Hello Mr. Reaper, I’m Screw Loose,” she greeted, her voice a little shaky. “It’s an honor to finally meet you.”

“Hello, Screw Loose,” I greeted in return. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

“There we go,” Psyche nodded. “Now, Ms. Screw, if you would please enter my office, I’ll be in there in a few minutes.”

“B-but…” Screw began to protest before heaving a heavy sigh. “Okay, Doctor Psyche.”

Everyone watched as the suddenly depressed mare trudged into the room, closing the door behind herself.

“Sorry about that,” Psyche said as she looked at me. “She’s been making great strides and her tests have been showing improvements, but she still has her moments.”

“Its fine,” I replied while kneeling down and ruffling Cottons mane good-naturedly. “How was your session, Cotton?”

“It was okay…” Cotton shrugged as she pushed my hand away. She didn’t like coming here, but she didn’t hate it either, even if it did actually help with her mental state.

“She’s doing really well,” Psyche nodded as she gave Cotton a smile. “Same time next week, okay Cotton?”

“Okay…” Cotton replied with a small frown.

“Well… I won’t take any more of your time,” Psyche said as she looked towards Mary. “Will you be joining us in today’s session Mayor?”

“If it’s no trouble,” Mary replied as the two entered Doctor Psyche’s office and the orderly took a seat outside it.

“You two wanna go see Applejack and Rainbow Dash pointlessly challenge each other to challenges that don’t make much sense?” I asked Cotton and Derpy.

“Don’t they always do that though?” Derpy replied.

“Oh, but this time, they’re keeping score,” I replied while picking up Cotton with one arm and giving her a few ear scratches with the other.

“I’ll swing by the house and grab a fire extinguisher,” Derpy giggled as she left ahead of us.

“So… what’s got you down now?” I asked as I walked through the hospital, making my way to the exit.

“I just… I don’t want you to go to the tournament,” Cotton mumbled as she took my offered helmet in her hooves and fit it over her head. Ever since I had gotten the thing, if it wasn’t in my hands or on my head, Cotton was wearing it.

It didn’t activate when she put it on, so she couldn’t see anything, but it made her feel safe.

“You’ll… have to go away for a long time,” Cotton said, her voice echoing slightly. “And I’m afraid the bad ponies will show up while you’re gone.”

“I… I know it’s scary,” I began, trying to think of a response as I finally made it outside. “But your safe here in Ponyville.

“Valiant said she would stay at the house while I’m gone and obviously Derpy and the other girls will be there to make sure no one hurts you.”

“But I don’t want you to go!” Cotton shouted through the helmet. “If you go, then I want to go!”

“You know that can’t happen,” I replied softly. “I already said I was going to do this and it’s really important that I do.”

Aside from a few sniffles, Cotton remained silent for the rest of the day, not removing the helmet or leaving my side.

“…and now I can’t take it off,” I grumbled at Twilight, explaining to her why I was in the race and fully armored.

“But why would the princess make you wear that though; it can’t be that comfortable?” Twilight commented, her horn flashing briefly as she took a scan over the armor, looking for the spell that prevented me from taking it off.

There actually wasn’t one, but the enchantments the armor had to stop others from pulling it off of me should be enough for her to at least think there was.

“Not as bad as a Flack and Kevlar, but it’s not like wearing regular clothing either,” I replied while doing some side straddle hops for a warm up. “It has a few enchantments to help keep me cool or warm depending on the area.”

“’Flack and Kevlar’, those were things you had to wear back on your home world?” Twilight asked, watching my warmup with a raised brow.

Stopping my jumping jacks, I used my magic to create a thick tan vest like object and a green rounded helmet.

“Yep; The Flack is a vest we wear that we can have pouches put on to help carry gear and can even have protective plates inserted into,” I replied, holding the tan vest up first before switching to the helmet. “A Kevlar is our helmet, typically made up of synthetic materials meant to help redirect projectile weapons. It sometimes has its namesake in the mix as well.”

“Fascinating,” Twilight said as her eyes widened like they always did when something intrigued her.

It was absurdly cute.

“Pretty good stuff where I’m from, but not that useful here,” I replied, allowing the Flack and Kevlar to dissipate.

“Did you have to run in that stuff too?” Twilight asked as I returned to my warm up exercises.

“A few times, but nothing like this though,” I replied while doing some squats.

“Are you going to run in the front with Applejack and Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asked as she started some odd-looking stretches that made her look like a cat.

“No, I’m gonna stick in the back in case someone gets hurt,” I replied. If I used my magic, I was pretty sure I could stay close to the front, but I wasn’t here to race like Applejack and Rainbow Dash.

I unfortunately have other plans for this race.

“I even picked up a few things from Nurse Red Heart in case of an emergency,” I replied, patting one of the small pouches at my belt. Thanks to the spells and enchantments on them, I had plenty of room for bandages, water, cold packs and other odds and ends that could be useful; and that was just in one of my two pouches. “The Mayor told me about a few accidents they had last year and I just don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

“Then I’ll stick with you then,” Twilight smiled up at me. “I read in a book that it’s actually a good idea to save your strength early in these things and then push forward at the end.”

“As long as your running in front of me, I won’t mind a bit,” I replied, glad that my helmet was hiding my smirk.

I was so gonna stare at her ass the whole way.

“You just want to stare at my flank the whole way, don’t you?” Twilight replied with an accusatory glare and a slight blush.

“I plead the fifth,” I replied as Pinkie Pie began to direct the preparations for the start of the run from up high in the sky. I could even see Spike waving from the balloon the two were sharing.

Twilight simply turned her head at me as her blush deepened slightly. But she did still move in front of me, an obvious sway of her hips drawing my attention.

“That helmet makes it really easy to tell where your looking you know,” a very familiar voice said, drawing my attention to my right shoulder.

“Not again!” I blurted out as a small version of myself in a set of blue jeans and a red tee shirt sat on my right shoulder like nothing was wrong, shining blue eyes looking at me and a knowing smirk on his face.

“Talking to yourself like that makes you look crazy,” my voice said from my left shoulder, drawing my attention to a mini me in my new armor staring at me with red eyes.

“What happened to the cammies?” Blue-eyed mini-me asked Red-eye.

“What happened to agreeing to keep quiet?” Red-eye responded as he suddenly appeared beside Blue-eye and glared.

“I had to say something,” Blue-eye shrugged, smiling. “If he’s not careful, ponies will think he’s a pervert.”

“What. The. Fuck…” I mumbled staring at the two as they got into a mini argument on my right shoulder.

I had unfortunately been catching more glimpses of these two ever since I had been to the Tree of Harmony. It was usually out of the corner of my vision, but they would always be gone by the time I tried to look directly.

“Uh, Chris?” Twilight called, drawing my attention to her concerned face. “Are you okay?”

“I’m seeing them again, Twilight,” I replied, looking back to my shoulder and finding it empty. “They were calling me a pervert this time.”

“That joke is beginning to get old,” Twilight replied, rolling her eyes as she turned away from me.

“Yeah… joke,” I mumbled, Red-eye and Blue-eye showing up for a brief moment on top of Twilight’s head and flipping me the bird. “Because this is my life now.”

This wasn’t the first time I had shared the knowledge of Red-eye and Blue-eye with someone, but they never took it seriously. The princesses had been quick to tell me that it was just my magic settling and my human mind working to understand it.

I was calling bullshit on that though.

Something about the two felt both familiar and very foreign. Even more foreign then the feeling I got using or draining magic, and one day, I was going to get a proper answer.

“…drink in sips, now,” I said, handing a small bottle of water to the panting stallion bellow me.

“Th-thanks, R-Reaper,” the stallion said as he took the water and began to drink.

“Next time, I recommend drinking more water before doing a run like this,” I replied as I continued down the path, paying little attention to the pony to begin with.

I had already stopped a few times since the run had begun and it was mostly to fix a few things Applejack and Rainbow Dash had messed with in their haste. But when I had stopped to check on the stallion, I immediately realized something was wrong.

First was that I knew he hadn’t been in the group at the start of the run and aside from a few out of town participants, the vast majority of the race were made up of locals only.

“Wait… is that blood?” I quietly questioned as I noticed a dark red patch off to the side of the road, a dozen yards away from where I was with the exhausted stallion. Moving to the spot, I looked down at the small red puddle with some concern.

“Did someone get hurt?” I asked quietly as I noticed a small trail of the red liquid traveling deeper into the surrounding forest.

Looking around, I quickly noticed that things didn’t seem right.

First was the small puddle of blood, sitting on the side of the path with a thin trail leading farther in. Nothing in the area looked like it could cause any real harm and there weren’t any tracks around that would speak of an animal attack.

Hell, the running alone would cause most animals steer clear due to the large groups.

Most ponies were curious creatures, so the fact that no one else was around to check it was also confusing.

It was also absurdly quiet.

“This has to be a trap,” I thought to myself with a low growl.

“Everything okay Mr. Reaper,” the stallion from earlier asked as he made it to where I was, the bottle of water held in a hoof and half empty. “Somepony get hurt?”

“I don’t know,” I replied, sparing the stallion a quick glance. “I’ll check it out, but could you head back and tell someone about this?”

“Y-yeah, you got it,” the stallion replied before turning around and running back the way he came.

“Running pretty fast for someone who was just suffering from exhaustion,” I mumbled as the stallion sprinted away at a speed that should have put him well in the front group.

Activating my soul vision, I looked towards the direction the small blood trail went. I could see the small flames of animals and bugs scattered in the distance.

I had been getting batter at using this alternate vision and had found that I could focus more on a certain flame and, in doing so, found that I could focus on it more cleanly. This allowed me to see who, or what, I was looking at, even if they were hidden in complete darkness.

Just at the edge of my vision, I could see several different colored flames that I could make out to be a few ponies, diamond dogs, gryphons and a minotaur.

“How dare they try something so close to my home!” I internally growled.

“Might as well get this over with,” I sighed, reaching deep into one of my pouches and pulling out my sword by it handle.

“Man, I love magic,” I smirked, strapping the sheathed blade to my side as I began to make my way towards the waiting group.

“It just pulled a sword out of one of its pouches,” a gryphon relayed quietly to a thestral mare on a branch to their side, both of them were hidden in the branches of a large oak tree just outside a small clearing, giving them a clear view of the distant path. “It seems to be proceeding with caution.”

“It may know something is wrong,” the thestral muttered before looking down at a large gray minitour that hid behind the tree they were in. “Is everyone else in position?”

Several quick whistles and tweets were given in response to the quietly asked question. Even a unicorn who lay in the middle of the small clearing with a fake cut in their side gave a groan in response.

“It’s almost in range,” the gryphon lookout whispered as the human came closer. “Get ready wi-guh! It vanished?!”

“What, where did it go?” the minotaur questioned, still keeping his voice quiet.

For several moments, no one moved as everyone in the area kept their eyes and ears open for the human.

“You’d think professionals would know how easy it is to hear whispers,” a masculine voice breathed into the thestral’s ear.

Just before she lost her head.

“W-what in the name of Tartarus?!” the gryphon who had hidden in a tree with a thestral mare shouted as I removed his comrades head with a quick swing of my sword.

The special blade easily cut through skin, muscle and bone as the mare fell from the tree, allowing me to take her place on the branch. The thestral’s body crashed hard onto the ground as their head fell several feet away from it.

“Now you fool!” the gryphon shouted to someone as I took another wide swing, aiming at the gryphon, catching one of his claws instead of his throat as they jumped away.

A wave of magic swept through the area after that and a sudden weight fell upon my shoulders and I felt myself start to become sluggish and heavy.

“Ahhh, it cut my bloody claw off!” the gryphon shouted as it dropped from the tree and moved into the clearing with a unicorn stallion that was getting to their hooves, a fake shallow cut in their side.

“Yah, piece of manure!” a growl came from below me as the tree suddenly shook. I was just barely able to keep myself from falling out of the tree as a large minitour punched a chuck of the tree out with his bare fist.

“Get over here, Greengot!” a diamond dog growled at the fuming minitour. “It’s not going anywhere anymore.”

“It’s killed Shade!” Greengot shouted, punching out another chunk.

“And your next if you dont turn and leave, NOW!” I shouted back, directing my magic to my hand, only to find that it wasn’t moving as fast as it typically did, it was also impossible to form anything more than a thin mist covering. “What the hell?”

“So, the barrier does work,” a pony smiled as I looked over the group.

I simply glared down as a few other gryphons and ponies began to walk into the clearing and join the group as I held onto the tree the minotaur struck again. Sheathing my sword to my side, I reached into one of my pouches with a free hand and pulled out a small vial of mostly clear liquid that had a slight green tint.

“You should have run when I gave you the fucking chance!” I growled before tossing the vial down atop the minotaur’s head.

Everyone around watched as the vile broke, covering the minotaur's head in the green liquid.

“And just what was that supposed to do?” A dog barked with a laugh, only to fall silent as the minotaur started to screech in pain.

The failed ambushers watched as smoke began to rise from the minotaur, portions of flesh and fur that the green liquid had touched began to boil and froth as the acid quickly began to do its work.

“Hydrofluoric acid motherfuckers,” I called out after retrieving a handful of vials with two chambers. One chamber had a clear liquid and the other had a yellow liquid. “And these are for you!”

Throwing them at the stunned group, most landed around or between some of the individuals while one landed on a gryphon’s chest and broke.

“Buck!” the gryphon shouted as he tried to wipe away the solution, only mixing them further, probably thinking it was more acid.

“What -cough- is going -cough cough- on here?!” the Diamond Dog shouted as their sensitive nose caught the ammonia bleach mix even from a distance.

“You honestly think I wasn’t prepared for this?” I asked, activating the respirator in my helmet in case the mix was more powerful than I had thought.

Celestia had come to me the other night and told me that she got word of a planned attack against myself during the run. She didn’t know who was behind it, but I was pretty sure there was a long list of possibilities.

“how dare they try something, especially at a time like this!” I had almost shouted as worries rushed through my head.

I couldn’t help but envision a colt or filly just happening to wonder into the area they set up and get hurt, or taken hostage.

Worse would be if the Cutie Mark Crusaders wandered into the area.

The town wouldn’t survive…

“You should be running,” I growled as I pulled out my phone. The barrier they had mentioned before was making it almost impossible to activate my magic outside of my body, which was worrisome.

It seemed to not only prevent me form calling magic outside of my body, but I could almost feel the empty air around me and the lack of natural magic energy.

But I knew this thing’s weakness without much thought.

I had once asked Twilight about using such a method to prevent riots and attacks from unicorns and other magic users, but it turns out there was a very easy loop-hole that was also pretty dangerous.

Barriers like this, worked by stopping all magic in the area, basically making it an empty zone. The trick to getting rid of them was by overpowering the barrier, either from inside or outside.

Taking the chance while the group bellow me began to panic, I pulled out my phone and started the music app, picking the first song I could see.

As the music started to play, a dull pulse began to radiate around the area in beat with the quite music. Each pulse radiated from a small orb the minotaur had dropped when he was hit by the acid and, as the intro began to pick up, small cracks could be seen forming.

Normally, nothing odd would happen when I played music, especially when it was music coming from my phone. But apparently, the “World”, as Twilight had put it, loved music and the magic in the air was a way for it to listen. So, if it couldn’t hear it, it would try to fix that.

It reminded me of Ghostbusters for some reason.

“Buck, stop -cough- the music, quickly!” one of the ponies shouted as the group finally began to move.

But even as they began to move, the lyrics began to play and with that, a new pressure began to surround all of us as the small orb began to shake. Even then though, the few still moving tried to reach the tree I was in, but by the time they reached me, it was too late.

With a loud shattering, the orb broke and the music began to blare louder than it should have been able to as the pressure and sluggishness disappeared.

The same magic that allowed ponies to sing in harmony with one another without practice was exactly the reason such barriers were rarely used.

Holding my phone firmly in my left hand, I re-drew my sword in a reverse handed grip and dropped from the tree, stabbing the screaming minotaur in the shoulder as I landed on him, driving him into the ground as I heard a solid crack come from his chest. I worried about my phone and how it would impede me in combat, but Twilight had made sure to drill into my head to NEVER interrupt a song when the World was listening.

The first to reach me was a large Diamond Dog with a patchy brown coat and thick studded armor. He swung a large battle-axe at my head with the obvious intent of taking it off.

Deflecting the strike using the white metal on my left wrist, I quickly followed it up by ripping my sword out of the minotaur and slicing into the Diamond Dog’s undefended gut.

As the song played in the background, I could feel my body try to shift slightly to… follow along in a small way.

“Caps!” a gryphon shouted as I followed up the cut with a back handed stab, shoving the blades tip into the under portion of his jaw and pushing it through the skull. Once partially in, I switched my grip to a proper one before twisting it to the side and pulling the sword free.

Everyone stopped moving for a moment as they watched the Diamond Dog drop into a pile of its own blood and guts.

As the music continued to play and before the group in front of me could react, I launched myself over the corpse of the dog and towards the two closest individuals, a gryphon and a unicorn.

The gryphon tried and failed to shoot me with a crossbow, the bolt bouncing off my armor like it was made of rubber, while the unicorn reacted on instinct and tried to shoot a blast of magic at me.

The blast barely grazed me before I was already absorbing it and negating whatever it would have done.

I tried to make a swipe at the two of them, but they were able to move out of the way before anything besides a few hairs and feathers could be cut.

Before I could follow up, a Pegasus rammed into my side, and with surprising strength, flew twenty feet into the air with me, striking at my armor with their bare hooves along the way. A gryphon met us in the air and made a swipe at me with a large bladed mace.

I tried to block the strike with my right arm, and while I was able to prevent myself from getting clocked in the face, the strike was still enough to cause me to lose my grip on my sword.

“Grab it!” the Pegasus shouted as he continued to strike my sides, the gryphon trying again to knock my head clean.

I ignored what was happening below me as I quickly activated my Devil Arms and stopping the gryphon’s attack with my bare hand, taking a firm grasp of the mace head and taking it from him. The force of grabbing the mace was enough to throw off the Pegasus’ grip on me and I quickly found myself falling to the ground…

And right on top of a pony that had moved to pick up my sword.

“Mother bucker!” the pony growled as I quickly fixed my grip on the mace and smashing it down onto the top of their head with enough force to embed one of the mace’s blades several inches into their head.

“That the best you fucking got?!” I growled, looking up.

“Okay, you’ve had your fun,” a Black feather gryphon growled as I picked up my sword.

Looking around myself, I found that I was surrounded by a mix of at least twenty ponies, eight Diamond Dogs and a few gryphons.

“You got a few of us, and I’ll give you a nod at catching us off guard. But this is where it ends,” the same gryphon spoke as the group surrounded me, a few in the air. “We got paid good gold to get rid of you.”

“If you think that’s all I’ve got, your wrong,” I replied, sheathing my sword and standing up fully. “Dead wrong…”

Before any of the surrounding individuals could react, I activated my magic and created a new construct around my body. It had no form, but surrounded me in a gray orb of smoke ten feet around myself, hiding me from sight.

“What the Tartarus is he doing?!” one unicorn shouted.

“Fire into the damn smoke!” the black feathered gryphon shouted, raising his own crossbow and shooting into the smoke blindly.

But just as the other attackers raised their weapons to attack, a human shaped blob of smoke rushed out of the larger orb and rushed one of the surrounding individuals.

“Buck!” a unicorn shouted, blasting the smoky human away with their magic.

“It’s just a distraction!” a Diamond Dog growled. “Just shoot the-“

Before the Diamond Dog could finish, two human shaped blobs rushed out of the orb toward two different targets. Red mist could be seen where eyes would be located as the blobs rushed forward.

Worried of what would happen if the blobs touched them, these two were also blasted away. But no sooner than the two blobs dissipated, did four more rush out.

For each blob they destroyed, two more took their place.

In the midst of all of these, I drew my M1911 from a special holster hidden in my right thigh’s armor and began to fire from inside the orb of smoke. Using my “Soul Vision”, I could see the colored flames of the attackers surrounding me.

“Gah!” a gryphon shouted as one of the blobs finally reached a target. All it did was tackle the gryphon, causing them to fall backwards before it dissipated on its own.

“Fall back, fall back!” the black feathered gryphon shouted as he looked around. “We’re out of time!”

“What, uhg, about the wounded?” someone shouted as I watched the flames of those still standing began to retreat and scatter.

“Screw them, its everypony for themselves!” someone shouted before a few flames suddenly disappeared.

“This isn’t over, Reaper!” I heard the black feathered gryphon shout before he and several others ran away.

Several flames still surrounded me, but by their position, they were down and injured.

“No one said you could run!” I shouted, reaching out and grabbing a specific individual from outside the smoke. As the smoke surrounding me dissipated and I returned my vision to normal, I found the black gryphon floating in front of me, held by my magic.

“Let go of me you monster!” the gryphon growled, trying in vain to escape my grasp.

All around us were bodies of the dead and dying. Off in the distance, I could see more flashes of gold appearing, and were most likely the royal guard finally showing up and doing their job.

“Were you the one leading this little group?” I asked, bringing the gryphons face close to my own.

“Buck off!” the gryphon spat, as I noticed him shift his beak in an odd way.

It took me a moment to recognize it, as it was the same look Gilda got when she was trying to chew something too hard.

“I don’t think so!” I snapped back. Letting my phone drop, I reached forward and forced my hand into his beak. While my gauntleted hand was to large to fit down it, I was able to grip the bottom of his beak and keep it open. Releasing my magical hold, I used my other hand to grab the back of the gryphon’s head while forcing him to the ground and keeping him from tilting his head back.

“What are you doing?” Celestia’s voice called out as the gryphon tried to fight against my hold.

“I think he was trying to brake a capsule in one of his teeth. Probably a suicide pill or something,” I growled, noticing the gryphon freeze for a moment. “Warn your guards that others might try the same thing.”

“They know cleansing spells,” Celestia replied as the gryphon disappeared from my grasp and appeared before her. She held him beside her magically as her eyes looked around the field and at the dead bodies around us.

“I didn’t expect so many to show up,” Celestia noted as the gryphon slumped in her grasp after passing out. “Sent quite the message though.”

“Fuck!” I shouted in reply, ripping my helmet off and letting it fall to my side.

The air stank of copper, burnt flesh and gunpowder. A few of the attackers that were still alive could be heard moaning as a few guards saw to them first.

"Fuck, fuck, FUCK!" I found myself shouting as I stomped over to a nearby body. It was a Diamond Dog with brown fur and looked to be female with a few bullet holes in her chest.

"FUUUUUCK!" I bellowed, releasing a suge of magic that launched the body away from me and into a tree.

"Calm down, Christopher!" Celestia snapped, drawing my gaze. "You won, there's no need to desecrate their bodies."

"Screw them," I growled quietly, working to settle my anger and self disgust. "I told them to leave, but they didn't."

"Then they have no one to blame but themselves," Celestia said, looking me straight in the eye. "They thought the coin was worth their life and you simply proved their thought wrong."

"And yet they only decided to run when they "Ran out of time"," I groaned, looking at the black gryphon. "Everyday I learn just how different this world is to what I had expected."

"This is simply how things tend to work here," Celestia voiced as she looked over her guards working.

“I’ve been receiving letters from every other ruler and nation on Equis concerning you for awhile now.

“The attack during the Gala only got them talking; especially when they found out that you weren’t even the target to begin with,” Celestia continued, using her magic to take my helmet from the ground. “Your actions today will end up with me getting more of their incessant letters.”

“How do you know it wasn’t one of them who sent these guys to begin with?” I asked, snatching my helmet back and looking it over impassively. “I would be just as concerned if I was in their position.”

“Trust me,” Celestia replied. “Compared to me, you’re as dangerous as a newborn foal. They will not take you from me.”

“From you?” I asked, raising my head in confusion.

“Of course,” Celestia nodded as she held her nose up high. “Who else can I beat senseless and not have to worry about looking bad in front of my ponies?”

“If I didn’t already know that insulting me like that was how you relived stress, I’d actually be insulted,” I sighed, clipping my helmet to a small loop on my belt. “I better get going, before Twilight and the others start thinking I got lost.”

“Let me take you,” Celestia said, stopping me before I could leave as she floated the gryphon she had to a waiting pair of guards. “You might actually get lost going back.”

“One of these days, Celestia!” I replied in mock anger, feeling only slightly better about the situation. “Bang! Zoom! Straight to the sun!”

“Just follow me, you idiot,” Celestia huffed as her horn flashed for a brief second.

“What was that one for?” I asked, pointing at her horn.

“Your armor,” she pointed out, causing me to look down at my clean armor. “I don’t think it would be a good idea to show up covered in blood.”

“It wouldn’t be the worst thing I’ve shown up in,” I commented.

“A while back, I went with Fluttershy to Froggy Bottom Bog and…”

“There you are,” Twilight smiled as I made my way over to her and the other girls.

“Oh, thank Celestia, I’m not last!” Rainbow cheered as I crossed the finish line at a slow walk.

The others simply shook their heads with good-natured smiles before looking at me.

Those smiles quickly disappeared as they noticed Celestia by my side.

“Princess, what are you doing here?” Twilight asked, looking at her mentor with a raised brow. “Shouldn’t you be getting things ready for the tournament?”

“I needed to talk to Christopher about a few things and didn’t want to cause a commotion here before I had the chance too,” Celestia replied, moving forward and nuzzling Twilight affectionately.

“You should be proud Princess,” Rainbow Dash chirped. “Twilight placed third in the race.”

“I am always proud of my student, Miss Dash,” Celestia replied, drawing a deep blush from the purple mare. “As well as the rest of you girls.”

“Ah shucks Princess,” Applejack replied as the rest of the girls blushed as well.

As they all began to talk and gossip a bit, Fluttershy came up beside me and drew my attention.

“You smell like blood,” she whispered to me, causing my eyes to widen slightly.

“There… was an incident back in the woods,” I quietly replied with a heavy sigh. “I’m kinda hoping to just go home and take a nap and try to forget it.”

“Just come with me then,” Fluttershy stated as she took one of my hands in a hoof. “We’ll go back to my cottage and I’ll make you a nice warm meal while you get some rest. If you want to talk, I’ll be there to listen and if not, I’ll make sure nopony bothers you.”

“I guess I’m okay with that…” I sighed with a smile while looking at the others. “Derpy’s watching Cotton for the day and I don’t need to go to town hall for anything, so I’d love to spend the rest of the day with you at the cottage.”

“Come on then,” Fluttershy smiled as she began to push me away from the group. “The sooner we get to my cottage, the sooner you can rest. Then, the sooner tomorrow comes.”

“And what’s so important about tomorrow?” I asked as we passed by several other groups of ponies, a few giving me a wave as we passed.

“Your going with me to, Zecora’s,” Fluttershy stated moving to stand beside me as we made our way down a small path that would take us around the town and towards Fluttershy’s cottage. “I asked her to prepare some potions and elixirs for me.”

“And just why did you do that?” I asked with heavy sigh.

“To help with conception,” Fluttershy replied with a confident smile.

“Bow chicka wow wow,” Blue-eyes chirped, appearing for a moment atop Fluttershy’s head.

Author's Notes:

Happy New Years Everyone!
Like all the times before, go ahead and quote the chapter title.
Getting closer to the tournament and I got a Whole bunch of ideas for that. So expect it to be crazy as hell and introduce a whole lot on new things.