POP!

As Celestia and Luna arrived at the Ponyville Park they were met with a horrific site. Bodies and carnage everywhere. A large crater in the middle of the park. Their guards were strewn all about as if they were rag dolls. The regiment commander lay underneath the nearby Oak tree with his head slumped over to one side. Celestia looked to her sister in horror.

“Sister. Is this the result of that creature?” Luna knelt down to the nearest guard checking him over.

“I’m afraid that he is much more powerful and dangerous than we’d originally thought Luna,” Celestia's mood turned fierce. She looked at the destruction before her and then her thoughts turn to her student and her friends. That thing was with them. She had to stop it.

“Sister,” Luna called out breaking Celestia’s train of thought. “This guard. He’s coming around.”

Celestia rushed to the guard’s side and started to question him. “What happened here? Where’s the creature?”

“Graf, My head,” Strong Wind shook his head. He’d been one of the last guards to fall to Asta, fortunately. “Princesses? What are you two doing here? Where’s the creature? Where are the Elements of Harmony? Where’s the commander for that matter?”

“I know you’ve just been through a harsh fight but please focus, Uh?” Celestia just realized she’d never as the guard's name.

“Strong Wind ma’am.” Strong Wind groggily stood up with the help of Luna.

“Can you elaborate on what happened here, please,” Luna asked with a little a taxed tone.

“We came with a full regiment under Commander Steel Arms. We were here to get the creature the two of you have been watching. The commander started to tell the thing that he was to come to the castle to see you but,” He paused to steady himself. “It refused to come. That’s when thing started to get tense.” Strong swallowed hard. “It got in a small argument with the commander as it kept saying if you wanted to see it then you’d have to come to him. This went on for a few minutes and then all Hell broke loose. Private Heart Chords lost his nerves and charge the creature.” He got really quiet remembering what the creature did with just one barehanded attack and in self-defense too.

“He killed the private,” Celestia said in horror as she places her hands over her mouth.

“What?” Strong reared back a bit. “No, if anything the creature did everything he could to keep a fight from breaking out. The private just lost his cool and charged forward giving the commander the go-ahead he wanted to attack. So he took it.” He waved his arm. “The creature did his best only to knock us out from what I could tell. The commander is the only one here that actually has any serious injury. From what I saw before I lost consciousness was the creature on the ground and blood around him. I think I saw the Elements rushing to his side.”

“He was injured,” Luna was surprised at this. Especially from all the damage, he's done here. He must’ve been caught off guard. If this fight went as she expected he would have held his own quite well but it would’ve drawn out he could’ve been taken down. “Sister, I think we should seriously rethink our judgment on the events that transpired here.”

“I do to Luna, but. Where are the Elements and the creature now?” Celestia looked at Strong Wind expecting a reply.

Strong Wind could only shake his head. “I lost consciousness not long after I saw the Elements of Harmony gather around the creature. But judging from the amount of blood on the spot where it had been laying,” He points to the large pool of blood on the ground that had started to congeal. “He passed out himself and is probably in need of a transfusion if he hasn't succumbed to its wounds, yet.”

“The Elements must’ve taken him the nearest hospital,” Luna stated.

“You’ll have to be the one to teleport us this time Luna,” Celestia looked at her little sister with worry. “If I do then I won’t have enough magic left to lower the sun.”

“Strong Wind, you stay here and help the other guards get back on their feet as they come around or in any other way you can or might think of,” Luna ordered trying best to hide her exhaustion.

“Yes your majesties,” He saluted and then went t the next guard he saw stirring.

“Let us go sister. If the creature's injuries are as bad as Strong Wind said he will be in critical condition,” Luna got up from the ground where she'd been sitting as Celestia came to her side. In the next moment, there was a bright blue flash and the Princesses were gone.

The mane six and Spike were all sitting in the waiting room and had been for a few hours waiting on news of their new friend condition. Poor Fluttershy was the one who had been taking the waiting the hardest. She had managed to convince the staff to let Asta’s owl stay with the group as long as she stays with the group and didn’t fly around the hospital.

They’d managed to get Asta here with Twilight teleporting everyone at once but she neatly collapsed from the strain upon their arrival. She sitting in the corner with an ice pack on her head that one of the unicorn nurses brought her after recognizing her symptoms. The doctor got Asta into the operating room as soon as the group arrived. Now everyone was just playing the waiting game. It was when Doctor Blue Cross came out and called for anyone with Asta. They all shot over to the Doctor.

“Your friend is responding well to his treatment,” Dr. Cross looked to the girls with a serious glare. “I don’t know what's going on or how the lad ended up in this state but if it hadn’t been for you seven bringing him in when you did he would’ve died.” He opened the folder he’d brought with him and began listing off the injuries Asta had sustain. “Third Degree Spell Burns over sixty-five percent of his body. Severe damage to his leg due to the embedded spearheads and critical internal organ failures due to the stab wound and blood loss. That lad is extremely fortunate that you all brought him in when you did. One second more and he would’ve been dead.”

“You didn’t have any complications during his operation, did you?” Twilight asked cautiously.

“None at all. We had to magically reconstruct his internal organs a bit due to how deep the stabbing wound was. Then we had to rewire his nerves on his leg due to how badly they were severed from the spearheads,” Dr. Cross turned a page in the folder, occasionally eyeballing the group. “We had to give several transfusion of AAB due to having lost almost all of his blood. Should I know something.”

“AAB?” Spike tilted his head in confusion. “What the heck is that?”

“AAB is short for Artificial Adaptive Blood, Spike.” Twilight explained. “It used in place of actual blood transfusion in cased were the transfused needs lots of blood. Like in Asta’s case,” She noticed Fluttershy was getting fidgety.

“Correct Ms. Sparkle. AAB is actual the normal route in blood transfusion due to its versatility and the fact that is can be produced in mass.” Dr.Cross explained. “You see AAB is blank artificial blood that changes to match the blood type of the being once it enters their body.” He flipped through his notes and was going over Asta’s chart.

Fluttershy’s gaze was on the floor lost in the thoughts of worry as she cuddles Nero in her arms.

Hoo

Nero called out to Fluttershy to break her train of thought. She looked from the owl to the doctor who was turning to leave. She called out before he could enter the door to return to the patient area.

“Doctor, how is he doing exactly?” Fluttershy worried beyond what anyone knew. She had only met him last night but she could help but feel something for Asta.

“Well,” The Doctor knew someone was going to ask that question but he wasn’t expecting the quiet shy one to do it. “I can’t divulge that information without his consent unless your family. Speaking of, do any of you know his next of kin? And his place of employment?”

“He’s a wanderer Doc. He’s been staying with Fluttershy while he’s been here,” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she flailed her arms. She didn’t know what else to do but tell the parts of the truth that others could handle.

“He’s been working out on the farm while he’s been here too,” Applejack added causing every one of her friends to look at her in awe. “We made a deal. He’d stay at Shy's place and help her with the animals in exchange for a place to stay and he’d work with me on the farm for pay.”

“Hmmm.” The Doctor thought it was suspicious but could say anything or ask Asta.

“Doctor please,” Fluttershy pleaded. “Nero here is the only family Asta has outside the other animals.”

“Alright.” Dr.Cross lamented. “Asta is responding well to his treatments as I said but he lost almost all of the blood in his body. As of right now, he’s in a vegetative state, a coma. When he’ll wake up from it I don’t know exactly. It could be in as soon as a few hours or as far off as a few years but I highly doubt it will be that long.” He placed a hand on Fluttershy's shoulder in an understanding tone he explained. “He’s very anemic right now. Not to mention his body was in a state of complete exhaustion due to over exerting himself. I give him three days to recover before he wakes up.”

“Can we see him at all?” Applejack asked softly.

“I’ll allow it also long as it doesn’t get noisy,” Dr. Cross eyed Pinkie and Rainbow.

“Um, when do you think he’ll be able to walk out of here Doc?” Rainbow rubbed her arm trying not to meet his gaze.

“Like I said before Rainbow Dash, three days to wake up. If all goes well in that time then he’ll be up and out of here that same day or the day after,” The doctor grimaced a bit.

“What’s wrong doctor?” Rarity noticing his look.

“His work and exercising habits Ms. Belle. Feeding animals isn’t too strenuous but apple harvesting is. Not to mention how built the lad is for one his age,” The doctor looked to his notes. “One must put their body through hell to obtain his level of pure physical power. Then there are all his older injuries. Thickened areas of bone and muscle and scars. Now his leg. He’ll have to take it easy for at least two weeks and use a crutch or a cane at the least to make sure to keep weight off that leg so it’ll heal properly.”

“No worries Docy,” Pinkie jumped with joy. “We’ll watch Asty like hawks and Fluttershy will be there to take care of him. Not to mention Nero will watch him in his sleep.”

Hoo, the owl agreed.

“Very well. Now, quietly, go and see your friend.” With that Dr.Cross left to tend his other patients.

Suddenly there was a blue flash behind the group of friends. They all turned to see the Princesses of Day and Night standing in front of them with worried looks on their faces. The girls spent the better part of an hour explaining in great detail what had exactly happened at the park between Asta and the guards to the Solar and Lunar Alicorns. It was safe to say that the commander was in the wrong at this point and Asta was clearly the innocent party. Not long after the explanation was done they were all taken to Asta’s room. They were all thrown aback at the site of Asta wrapped in bandages and hooked up to IVs and machines. Fluttershy couldn’t stand the site and ran out of the room. Nero flew to her friends bedside and looked at the sleeping man with deep regret in her eyes.

“To think this crea- er stallion that had caused all that damage in the park is in this state,” Celestia looked at Asta. She hoped he didn’t hold a grudge against them. She looked to the sleeping man. “He’s earned the peaceful life he wants.”

“Hold up there Princess.” Rainbow Dash shot into Celestia's face.”It was my fault for the state of the park. I tried to pummel Asta cause I thought he put Flutters and AJ under a spell.”

“Take it easy there Rainbow,” Applejack pulled the annoyed pegasus back. “We know ya feel bad for that and don’t want Asta blamed any more than all of use but the fault here really lies with that guard commander.”

“Indeed young Rainbow Dash,” Luna agreed. “This commander will be seriously punished for his actions but this will be later. Now, we must attend to this Asta as you call him.” Luna looked to Fluttershy sitting out in the hall. “I’m worried about young Fluttershy. She seems to be affected a lot more than the rest of you.”

“Can you blame her darlings?” Rarity gave a sympathetic look. “Given her nature and the fact she looked after Asta when he was hurt last night and then he did the same for her this morning.”

“Give her some time. She’ll come to help watch over him more than anyone of us once she calms down a bit,” Pinkie joined in.

“I will have guards posted outside the room as a precaution,” Celestia said causing everyone but Luna to scowl at her. “In case he wakes up and no one is here. I want to keep an eye on him and be informed when he wakes up. There is still a high possibility that he will want revenge for what happened to him.”

“What more do you expect from him, Princess? He made it pretty clear that he didn’t want trouble in the park. We all heard him,” Twilight burst forward in anger, “Why can’t we just let him live in peace like he wants?”

“Because he has the weapons and abilities to pose a very real and serious threat to this world Twilight Sparkle,” Luna explained. “And if he decides to unleash himself upon us then there would be nothing we could do to stop him if he wants to attack us.”

“Twilight, judging from what you and the guards have told us, not even the Elements of Harmony could stop Asta thanks to this Anti-magic he wields. Then there’s the fact you said he was trying to hold back as best he could while fighting the guards.” Celestia looked at the ponies in front of her with a serious glare. “He wields anti-magic. Something that is said to not even exist and he has weapons that absorb all other magic it comes in contact with. We can’t take this threat lightly.”

“Do you realize it was because of his own cautiousness and looking out for others that he ended up in the state he’s in now,” everyone suddenly turned to look at Fluttershy standing in the doorway. “He didn’t trust himself with his own abilities to the point he ended up on the ground. He then stopped everything to save Nero. I don’t care if you put guards outside his room. I‘ll be here to look after him and when he wakes up he will be coming home with me where he’ll be able to finish healing in peace.”

“If you insist on this I won’t stop you Fluttershy,” Celestia's eyes got dark for a moment. “But if he starts a rampage I won’t hesitate to come after him in full force.”

Little did everypony realize that even though Asta’s body had been in a catatonic state his mind had been very much active. He was able to pick up on the whole conversation but after he’d had an internal one of his own.

I passed out right after I’d seen Fluttershy’s crying. Man, I hate it when I cause a girl to cry. I don’t know if it’s a sensitive guy thing or personal thing I just don’t like it. Any how, that’s the last thing I remember seeing before I found myself floating in the reddish-blackness. It looked like the Anti-magic of my Grimoire actually. I decided to nap at first but that didn’t go anywhere so then I decided to do a bit of exercising and training. I found it hard to do this without any equipment so I started to think if this is at least my mind I could conjure stuff that I could use, right. Well, it worked to a degree. I was able to conjure my gym equipment for training but I decided I wanted to take a break and play video games. Fat chance of that. I can make the tv, stereo, and console pop up but none of it worked. So, after a few rounds with these and an ax, I felt a lot better.

After a breather, I went back to my training idea and created some weights for my arms and legs. I made sure my concept of them was very heavy. I then made myself do rudimentary exercises, like stacking blocks, while wearing the weights. I did this so I could have a better grasp of Asta’s strength.

Most people think of Asta as the usual loud obnoxious anime protag with an oversized sword but the truth is that he is actually very smart. He picks up on things rather quickly when learning. Like how he learned basic swordsmanship in about a month or so. He can also adapt to his opponents and allies rather quickly. Not to mention he has the typical ability to feed off negative emotions and turn it into strength, make friends with anyone, and rally everyone to him.

Back to me passing the time in my own head. the only thing I hadn’t practiced yet was my sword swings so that's what I did. There’s only so much exercising and training a guy can do before he gets fed up with it though. After I felt I had a good enough handle on the sword I got to thinking of some way to at least have some fun. Then I thought about music. Surely I could listen to music in my own head. I conjured up a few of my old manga and then I thought of a song and sure enough, surround sound. I kept this pattern up for a few hours on end every day for a month or that’s how it felt but on the outside of my body, it had barely been a few hours. To break my pattern I decided to practice my string skills with the guitar. That’s when I started to hear a voice, a dark voice.

“Why didn’t you use the Black Form? Why did you hold back? You could’ve easily taken those pathetic pony guards,” The demonic voice growled around me.

“I didn’t even want to fight in the first place,” I shot back as I summoned my guitar and a chair and started to tune the instrument.

“Pathetic child. What is the point in having power if you’re not going to use it?” The voice growled. “You know those Princesses are talking about what to do with you right now. Why don’t you listen in?”

“Don’t really want to while you’re in the mix,” I plucked on the strings of the guitar a bit. “Any aspects that involve an evil disembodied voice in one’s own mind always ends badly for the protag. I used to do stunts action fantasy movies for a living and know all about the demon inside Asta’s Grimoire in Black Clover,” I stood up and looked back to see a towering black winged shadow with red eyes and an evil smile looking down on me. “So it stands since the Grimoire is mine that you be in it too and I’d have to hear you eventually.”

“Don’t you want revenge on those Princesses for sending those guards after you?” The demon bent down causing his eye to be level with my face.

“Why? They didn’t order the guards to attack me *Thunngg!* it was that stupid commander who thought he could get a leg up in life in by slaying the ‘big bad monster’” I did air quotes. “Sure he said he was ordered to bring me in but that doesn’t mean order the other guards under your command to kill.”

“You want to slit his throat,” The demon chimed happily.

“Dark, Dude. No,” I scowled as I started to strum a few chords. ‘Yea, I’d love to pound his face in for what he did to Nero but I don’t want him dead.” Looked around. “Something tells me I’m not in my head but the Grimoire and that I’ll be here for a while. I might as well make myself comfortable. I hope you like metal and blues demon guy,” I smiled wryly as I started to play a song.

A big shout out to Cloudynight96 for helping with the editing in this chapter. You will soon find out who Asta's older brother is