Asta back and surprisingly calm, on the outside that is

In the dark of night, a lone portal opened in a field next to a stream in a field. Out of it walked the Anti-magic Knight Asta Ferris from his recent excursion to another world where he’d face off with that world’s princess of the Sun. During his fight, he’d relinquished most of the anger he’d been holding to for his own world’s Celestia and felt all the better for doing so. Even though his anger was for his Princess was gone he still didn’t care that strongly for her but he was willing to look past her past transgressions with a renewed heart.

Asta began to stretch out, “It was cool to finally be summoned but man these portals feel weird to go through. Don’t think I’ll ever be used to them,” he said moving his head in a circular motion popping his neck bones in the process. “Wonder how long it’s been since I left here. I’m in the same spot I left from so the girls should and Spike should still be close by as long as it hasn’t been more than a couple of weeks.”

Asta then started to walk back to the site of his and his companions’ camp. As he started to walk Asta could feel something was off, as well as the familiar smell of a foul odor emanating from the grass around him. He merely played it off as the stench from when the girl had cleaned their dinner early as they all had been subsisting off the land more since their departure from Equestria.

The smell began to grow stronger and so did the feeling that something wasn’t right. Asta then remembered what that smell was, it wasn’t dead fish or animal remains but the smell of rotting burnt flesh. The feeling he was getting was the ki of the dead, something that was very distinct and learned to recognize from his recent visit to the other world he was just in. Asta rushed to the nearest source of the rancid energy. Kneeling down to get a closer look her discovered a Caribou hunter’s body with large burnt gashes running along its torso.

“Christ, what the hell did this?” Asta looked down at the body. “Wait, if this is a hunter then that must mean that the other bodies are all hunters of some degree too.” Asta shot back to his feet and rushed from body to body under the full moon’s light. He quickly found them to all be in the same armor, all killed in similar ways to the first hunter he’d found. “If these are all hunter, god no,” Asta said as he rushed to his friends’ campsite only to find a large tree surrounded by large earth walls. Next to the barrier were more bodies but these seemed to have been crushed rather than burnt. Asta then laid his eyes on the remains of a very large golem.

Asta walked over and placed a hand on the golem and closing his eyes, he concentrated on the golem trying to read the remain energies left on the colossus. The mage was trying to find out what exactly had transpired in his time away. Quickly images began to flash through his mind as he read the ki of the golem.

“No,” Asta said through his teeth.”DAMN IT, NO!” he yelled in anger as his fist struck the stone of the golem’s shoulder in front of him. “Why, now? I can’t let this happen, they were my responsibility. Instead of ignoring the summoning I was off playing around, DAMN!” Asta brought his other fist up and slammed it against the rock “It’s not too late,” he realized as the energies were still fresh, no more than a day old. “I have to get to the capital and to the Shadowbolts’ hideout, but how. Ymir,” Asta’s eyes shot open wide as he called out to his Dragon partner both vocally and mentally only to receive nothing in return. “Those bastards took her to.” He gritted his teeth as his knees hit the dirt.

“NONONONONONO!” Asta said as he aggressively pounded the ground repeatedly until his anger turned to sadness and ceased. As his mind began to clear so did his senses allowing him to sense a familiar and living ki’s nearby. “No, I can fill her ki,” Asta said to himself, “She close and with Spike as well. There are other ki’s with them, one that is very… unpleasant.” Asa got to his feet and ran to the source of his friends life forces all while mentally calling to his dragon.

The Caribou had left a hand full of hunter behind to watch over the spoils of their raid from the day before. The group was charged with watching over the large winged lizard, a rare type of owl only found in one place, and the salamander kid that had single-handedly killed many of their fellow hunters. They were also told to keep the books that taken from the individuals they’d helped captured and away from the Drake.

Spike was being kept in a tent, bound in heavy chains and gagged as the hunters didn’t care to hear they didn’t have to listen to the dronings of how head get them for what they’d done. To get back at the kid for killing their comrades the hunters had each taken turns beating and torturing the young boy.

Now Spike sat in the corner of the tent bruised and beaten glaring at the hunter in front of him happily gorging himself on freshly cooked food. The was suffering from fractured bones and several gashes across his body. One, in particular, was a large X shaped wound on his upper right forehead. It came from the lashes of two opposite crossing whips.

The Caribou finished his meals and hen turned to Spike with a wicked smirk on his smug face as he spoke, “Hehehe… You should’ve just handed over those slaves kid. E could’ve avoided all of that bloodshed,”

True earlier the day before Spike had lost himself to his inner dragonic demon and slaughtered many of the Caribou with his own hands. At first, he was shocked by what the hunters had told him but later after the shock wore off he was glad he’d done it. He knew the stories of some of the runaways that had come to the palace asking for his mother’s help.

‘I’d gladly do it again if it meant protecting my friends from you evil bastards,” Spike muffles through his gagged as he glared at the hunter.

“What was that?” The hunter mockingly put his hand to his ear. You want another beating, why sure. I’d be more than happy to oblige you, you little shit.” He got up and walked over to Spike lifting him up by the collar. “You killed a lot of our men. No, I’d don’t care for most of them but some were decent hunters and they’re going to be hard to replace. So the least I can do is see to it that you suffer under their names.”

The other hunters were all sitting around the campfire and joking about what they were going to do once they all got back to the capitol. They all wanted to know what the slaver had planned for the new stock that had caused them so much trouble but were quickly put off the subject by the orders to guard the large cart pulling lizard, owl, a stack of books, and the Salamander that they’d enjoyed beating on. They drank and made merry not noticing the man approaching they’re campsite.

“So, what are your plans Jons?” Asked one hunter.

“Get back bang my bitch sip on some nice drink and get on the road and ern more coin to do it again,” Jons laughed.

“Same here,” Another replied.

“You hear that,” the first said, setting his cup down.

“I think it’s just your imagination Borus,” Jons chuckled.

“No there’s someone come up here,” Borus remarked as he shakily got to his feet pulling out his sword. “I know you're there, so you better come out with your hands up, stranger.”

“Maybe it’s an escaped slave,” Jons smirked. “We might get to have some fun other than beating on that brat in Hawk’s tent.”

Asta came in to view slowly with his hands in his pockets. “Sup fella.”

“Ah it’s just some guy,” Jons said downing the rest of his drink. “What the hell is a guy like you doing out here? You look like you were in some kind of a fight.”

“I’m looking for a group of friends that were staying nearby,” Asta smirked mockly hiding his anger. “They were a group that consisted of three mares, a salamander boy, a large flying lizard, and a very rare bird.”

“Oh, so you’re the former owner,” Jons hiccuped. “Sorry, buddy but the law of these parts is if you abandon your property then its fair game for others to take.”

“Meaning what exactly?” Asta’s smirk turns to a scowl.
“We took them and now they belong to us, or actually the guy who hired us,” Borus pointed at the mage shakily as he got up and refilled his tankard. “The slaves are gone but if you’re willing to pay you can have what’s left.” The hunter smirked knowing that Asta couldn’t pay the price.

“Ya and from the looks of ya,” ANother hunter remarked. “Ya ain’t got jack, Jack.”

“Oh,” Asta said slowly. “But I do have stuff,” he remarked slowly as his Grimoire floated in front of him. The hunter then shut up and all dropped their drinks in horror as they recognized the type of book that was floating in front of the mage. Asta slowly pulled his Demon-Slayer sword and Demon Dweller sword from his Grimoire while proceeding to point the tips at the hunters. “See I have swords and seeing as how you told me part of what I wanted already, I don’t really need you alive anymore.” Asta glared at the Caribou and with a swipe of his Slayer, cut off their heads without the slightest hesitation or mercy. The blood sprayed from the body and came down pelting the area and tent in a shower of blood rain. The bodies slumped over in the bloody dirt.

“What the hell are you fools do-” The headhunter said as he came from his tent only to have Asta throw the Demon Dweller sword straight into his stomach back into the tent pinning him to the center post. “What the hell?” The hunter said as he slowly looked down in horror. “AAAAHHHH!”

Asta slowly walked in and glared down at the hunter. “Tell me what I want to know and I might heal that wound.” the hunter nodded vigorously. “Good, now what did you do with my friends?”

“The mares were taken to the capitol to be sold by a slave trader. We were hired as muscle, the drake is over there and the animals are placed out back on the side of the hill out of sight.”

“Spike,” Asta said rushing to his friend’s side. The boy was unconscious and bloody, “Hang on there man,” Asta dropped his Demon Slayer on the ground and deactivated his Grimoire. He held his hands over his Spike and using a ki manipulation technique and an ancient magic healing spell, closed and healed the young salamander as best he could but the boy would retain many of his more severe scars.

“I told you what you wanted to know so heal me now,” the hunter demanded.

Asta got to his feet and placed the slowly awakening drake on the ground. The mage picked up his Demon Slayer and walked in front of the hunter and looked down while slightly cocking his head to the side. “I said might heal your wound, never said I would for sure,” Asta said darkly as he raised the massive blade above his head. “You and your friends hurt my friends and you must pay-”

“Wa-” the hunter started to yell but never finished as Asta pulled the Dweller from his belly spilling his guts as Asta then brought the Slyer down cleaving the bastard in two.

Asta returned his weapons to his Grimoire and picked up Spike and threw the boy on his back. He then flowed his friends ki and found the Grimoires all in a strong box and brought it with him as he went to Ymir and Nero’s side. He placed Spike on the ground against the chest and then went over to Ymir and Nero.

The dragon was heavily drugged and under heavy chains binding her to the ground while Nero was being kept in a cage. He quickly pulled his Slayer again and cut Ymir's bonds and destroyed the lock on Nero cage. The owl happily hopped out and flew to Asta’s shoulder nuzzling him affectionately.

“Good to see you too,” Asta said in relief as he scratched Nero under her chin.

“Rah…” groaned Spike as he finally came too. “What happened? Uh?” He shot to his feet only to be hit with dizziness causing him to stumble and hit his knees. Spike took a few seconds to reorganize his thoughts as he noticed he was no longer bound and gagged. He scoured the land in front of him till his gaze came to rest on Asta, Nero, and Ymir’s forms.

“Easy Spike, easy,” Asta rushed to his friend’s side/

“Asta, I’m… sorry. I couldn’t protect the girls,” Spike started to cry.

“I read the ki from the battle, you did all you could,” Asat tried to comfort the young Drake.

“No I lost myself to the demon, I lost sight of everything and went on a killing spree,” Spike clenched onto Asta’s shirt. “I see now what you go through to maintain control. It’s hard.”

“Will work on it Spike but right now I need you to get it together and send a message to your mom telling her what’s happened,” Asta said placing a hand on his friend’s head.

“Right, will need all the help we can get to get the girls back,” Spike steeled himself with resolve to save the girls. “What should it say?”

“Everything, from when I left to now,” Asta said taking a quill, paper, and ink from his Grimoire.

“Everything?” Spike questioned.

“Yes,” Asta confirmed. “This was my fault. I should have gone to the capital and ignored the summons. I want you to tell her everything.” Asta turned to his dragon. “I’ll be tending to Ymir in the meantime. Request a squad of Shadowbolts to come here, immediately,”

Spike immediately wrote out a brief summary of the events and lit it on fire sending it Straight to his mother. Almost right after a letter returned. Asta took it and read it aloud.

Asta as much as you blame yourself, and I know you do, we have to get Twilight, Applejack and Fluttershy back immediately. You have permission to use any means you deem necessary to rescue the Element Bearers. This act is seen as an all-out sign of war on the Caribou's part. Please, save my ponies, keep my son safe. We will discuss further actions when next we meet. Luna has sent a splinter of her main forces to your location and is using the rest to gather information in the Caribou Capitol on wear the Element Bearers are located. Gods’ speed to you.

“Good,” Asta said handing the letter back .”Now I’ve got to be on my way as soon as the Shadowbolt sare here.”

“I’m coming too,” Spike said, getting to his feet.

“You’re in no shape to do anything Spike. I may have healed you up, but you’re far from one hundred percent enough to help out, “ Asta immediately held out his hand.

“I don’t care what you say and your reasons why,” Spike slapped Asta hand away. “They are my friends and this is partly my responsibility. They’re my family on top of that. I’m going Asta and you can’t stop me.”

“Fine Spike, have it your way,” Asta sighed crossing his arms. Suddenly from the shadows came several ponies led by none other than Nightingale,

“We’re here to look after the dragon and Prince,” She said as she looked at Asta in disgust.

“Ymir’s over there under heavy sedation,” Asta motioned to his partner. “Spike is coming with me and he’s the one that said it. If you have issues then take it up with him.” Asta then started to walk off and pulled a Pokeball from his belt. “Should've left them here too,” He said to himself. “Spike, your Grimoire is in that chest.”

“Right,” Spike said running over and breaking open the chest pulling out everyone’s Grimoires. He quickly joined Asta.

Your highness, we have orders to treat you and have you stay here,” Nightingale got in front of Spike.

“Move,” Spike said easily pushing the soldier out of his way. “My friends need me,” he said giving the rest of the Grimoires to Asta who place them in his own Grimoire.

Asta reeled back threw the Pokeball he’d pulled off his belt and threw it into the air.”Come forth Rayquaza!” he yelled as a giant Red shiny pokemon come from the ball. Asta then summoned his swords and placed them back in the Grimoire. He looked to Spike.

Spike opened his Grimoire and it lit up with a green and purple fire. “Dragon’s Body!” he cried as he then became bathed in the flames to emerge in a full plate Dragon style armor. Wings then shot from the armor’s back and began to flap allowing Spike to take to the skies.

“Nero is staying here with you Nightingale,” the owl then flew and landed on the slumbering Ymir. Asta then jumped up and landed on Rayquaza’s head sitting cross-legged. “Let’s go get the girls,” he said as Rayquaza turned and headed in the direction the Shadowbolts came from.

“Right,” Spike acknowledged.

The duo set off for the Caribou Capital in a flash...