Relief was all I felt as we traveled down the grassy hill into our destination. We had finally arrived at Mors Vicus, in hopes of finding out my destiny (or at least I hope) and finding medical attention for Applejack, who had come down with a case of Rootbite from a Timber Wolf fight. The infection had finally reached her forelegs, and she was unconscious. We reached the border of the town; however, we stopped when a threatening voice shouted, "Halt!"

A lone pony appeared from the brush, and I wondered how I didn't detect him. He was adorned in the most threatening, yet badass armor I have seen. There wasn't an inch of coat showing; all I could see was black steel. His helmet covered his entire head, and the blue lenses gave off the illusion of glowing. The only thing poking out was a violet unicorn horn, which was glowing slightly, a dark black broadsword was levitating by his side, and I genuinely felt threatened.

He pointed his sword at me, "You there, what business do you have with Mors Vicus?"

I turned to him, and let my hood fall down, "We come here because we need medical attention for our friend, you see she has Rootbite and-"

He shook his head slowly after I said the words 'medical attention,' "Leave, I thought you might've been a caravan with the filled saddlebags, but if you do not have any actual business which will benefit us, then you are not welcome here." He interrupted bluntly.

I got a bit closer, "Look sir, our friend is in desperate need, and she could die."

"I told you, you're not welcome here. I don't give a hoot whether your friend dies; we have our own problems here as it is."

"Oh? And what would those problems be?" I asked.

"Humph! Like I'd tell you, if you don't get out of here in the next ten seconds I will not hesitate to cut you down where you stand." He grunted.

I wanted to avoid confrontation, but looks like I have no choice, I have to do this, for Applejack.

"If it's a duel you want than I will gladly accept your challenge." I said.

"Who said anything about a duel? I'm just performing my job, but I'm always looking for another punching bag." He scanned me while saying this, probing for weakness and any other exploits he could pull. "Very well, I accept, enter our town, and wait in the square, I will be there shortly."

Good, we're in.

I nodded to the others, and they followed me into the medium sized town. It wasn't as big as Ponyville, but close. The houses were almost the same type as Ponyville's, except they each had an open fireplace on the front stone porch, and I wondered why.

The square was packed with ponies when I entered, all of them made a ring roughly ten yards across, most looked like citizens, while some were the guard force. They didn't look the same as the pony I was dueling, but were still adorned in the black steel body armor, and mixes of weaponry between them. Most of them were unicorns, while others were earth pony and pegasi.

Two things struck me when I entered the circle, one was the statue off in the distance, it was a statue of a pegasus all too familiar, the way it was carved it gave off the illusion that it was on fire. The Fire Pegasus? Now I know we're in the right place.

Second was the lack of Celestia's guards, or the cult. I would've thought some of them would be camped out here, yet neither of them were in sight. "Hey! You done yet?" My opponent, who I assumed was the head of the guard, entered the ring, and the ponies filled the gap left behind.

"Yes, I am." I stated,

"Good, now let me note here, if there is any interruption of this duel, then it will immediately be counted as a forfeit, and I'll have to kill you and whoever interrupted, on account of dishonor. Also, get rid of your crossbow, this is a clash of steel, not distance." He explained.

I nodded my head in agreement, and I handed my bow and cloak off to Twilight, who gave me a look of concern, but felt relaxed as I looked her back, complete determination in my eyes, I had come too far to die here.

"Look he's already injured!" One of the civilians pointed out.

"Going to be a quick fight, anypony care for a bet?" Another spoke.

Luna, watch over me. I prayed silently.

"Are you sure you want to do this? You could leave now and stay alive." he asked.
I looked over at Applejack, the infection now halfway to her stomach, and looked back,

"Yes, shall we begin?"

The head of the guard nodded his head, and unsheathed his blade; it glimmered in the sunlight with the intensity of a supernova. He pointed his blade and charged towards me.

He made the first stab, the blade flew towards me at a frightening speed, and I could feel the training behind him, I dodged to the right, and rolled under him while attempting to stab him on the underside. How foolish I was, the Hidden Blade clanked at the hard steel, but didn't pierce.

I rolled out from under him, and only had a fraction of a second to react before I ducked from a horizontal swing. The guard got up on his hind legs and kicked me, hard. I skidded on the ground a little bit, and my ears were ringing. "Is that all you can do?" He taunted.

In a fight like this, my speed is my best friend, but he is actually quite mobile in the armor. I concluded.

The guard kept on the offensive, pounding me with a relentless barrage of stabs and slices, the sword moved with freakish speed, even though it was a two hoofer. I couldn't focus on retaliating. I had to keep dodging, but I kept getting knicks here and there, and I couldn't keep it up for very long.

After dodging an overhead slice I took one of my own, and with a very reckless stab I managed to pierce and break off a chunk of his armor, right above his heart.

I jumped back a little from the guard, and he took a horizontal slice me, aiming to chop my head off! It would've hit except for the fact that my Hidden Blade was still out, and the magically enhanced blade held itself against the dark steeled broadsword. It was a clash of strength, and the guard was overpowering me. However his strength was better than mine, and he ended the clash with a push of his blade.

My foreleg was thrown to the ground, and I took a painful stab to my chest, drawing blood, and probably injuring my ribs. Yet it didn't pierce any organs.

I fell to one foreleg, and panted hard for a brief second before I moved again. Dodging a downward stab, and I could feel the burning on my skin. Steam erupted from the wound, and the unexpected rush of the nearly clear gas burned at my eyes, and blinded me.

"Steam! What in Equestria!" He exclaimed.

I could tell that everypony was looking at me with wide eyes, and everypony stopped doing whatever to look at the rush of steam coming out of my chest. I managed to open my eyes, and caught sight of the guard standing there briefly before remembering we were fighting. Charging until he was right in my face, he attempted to impale me upon his blade. Only a desperate drop to the ground saved my life.

The pain was worse than ever now, my entire body engulfed in inner fire, enhanced by the wound. I could barely take it, but I knew was the time to release and end this.

I got up and jumped five feet away at an unnatural speed. All the guard had to do was turn around, and in a fraction of a second I jumped forward, and everything slowed down around me. I arrived right at the guard, and took a stab at his heart, then another, and another. All at an ungodly speed, and appeared behind him.

Fire blazed the trail where I had jumped, and steam was erupting from all over my body. My bandage was now burned off, and my left wing was folded neatly on my back.

I didn't need to turn around, the guard fell to the ground, and the screaming of ponies caused me to realize I inflicted more than just a flesh wound, I had killed him.

I didn't flinch, and none of the other ponies dared to capture or even hurt me, they all just left, and went into their homes.

Some of the guards looked at me, and I could hear one of them mumble, "He… walks the earth again?"

Walks the earth again? What is he talking about? I only had about a few seconds
before my adrenaline faded, and I fell to the ground in pain. The wound I had was deep, I would recover, eventually. I felt Twilight and Pinky get me back onto my hooves, and I nodded them my thanks.

Overall, I felt like curling up in a corner and sleeping for hours. But I had a mission to do, and I was hell bent on getting it done. Looking back at Applejack I could see the bark was now spreading up her neck little by little. It also covered her back, only her Cutie Mark and hind legs remained the warm orange color of flesh.

"Well… that was some fight" an elderly voice stated.

Turning my head I could see an earth pony, old, and I mean very old! Wrinkles covered his body, and I could smell his age even from where I was standing, which was roughly four hooves away. He had the same colored coat as I did, the top of his head was bald, and streaks of gray mane were streaming to the sides of his face. His dark grey eyes had a spark to them, as if he was planning something devious.

"You there, what's your name?" He said; I was surprised to find that his speech was very fluent.

"Adomia Fetter." I replied, still as monotone as ever.

"Hmm… and why did you come to our small village Adomia?" He asked.

I turned so he could see Applejack, "Our friend is in trouble, you see she could die from this Rootbite disease and-"

He raised his hoof shakily, "I see, Rootbite is a tough disease to cure, but it indeed can, and I just happen to know of it. Please follow me."

How… convenient? I thought.

The elder turned and trotted off, further to the north, and we followed vigilantly. We trotted for about five minutes, and arrived at a very small cottage on the top of a hill opposite of where we came. He ushered us in, and offered us food. I ate mostly apples as they're my favorite. We tried to give some to Applejack, but she was unconscious, and I was starting to fear the worst.

"Don't worry about your friend, she'll be fine, however the final stages of Rootbite are setting in, she won't wake up until she's cured, or she's dead." He interrupted, and I realized I was looking at Applejack with a very concerned look.

"Over here." He told us, and showed us into a room, filled with candles, and many pillows for us to lie on. The floors were made of a solid birch wood, and there was a fireplace in the middle with a small bridge over it, I wondered what it was for.

"Please place your friend here," he pointed at the bridge and then at a small bowl of bandages, "and Adomia you can help yourself to those, you're going to need them."

"You want to cook Applejack alive!" Rainbow exclaimed, clearly shocked and a little angry at the elder's request.

He chuckled lightly, "No, but Rootbite is hard to cure due to it being old magic, so to counter it, we have to use old magic."

"Pardon me, and I don't mean to sound rude here but… you're an earth pony, I don't see how you can perform magic." Twilight stated a little reluctantly.

She has a good point, while anypony can use magic; you have to harvest it first. How is he going to get it? I thought.

Once again we were greeted with another chuckle, "Just place your friend here, and I'll take care of the rest." He looked down at an angle which overall gave me a sense of fear, "Unless you want her to die of course."

I wasn't going to argue, and neither was Rainbow. So she reluctantly set down Applejack on the bridge while I cleaned my wound and wrapped it with bandages.

The elder situated himself on the other side of the bridge, and propped his hooves onto Applejack's chest. Then… he spoke, "Ecnalab ni niamer syawla lliw esrevinu, eht rof ecnalab rof esrevinu eht yb rehtegot thgurorb setisoppo owt eligarf si Life elihw tnenamrep si Death." It sounded like complete gibberish, but as he spoke the bark on Applejack started to smolder! The bark that was almost done covering her body turned to a charred black, and eventually burned to ash leaving Applejack unharmed.

The elder took his hooves off and, as if on cue, Applejack opened her light green eyes, "Wha- where am ah?" She asked weakly.

Rainbow got Applejack onto her hooves, and all of us gave her a long hug. "Guy's ah appreciate the gesture, but… Ah ask again… Where are we?"

"You're in Mors Vicus my dear," The elder spoke, "You've been out for quite some time, the Rootbite in your system was really set in, we couldn't have waited much longer."

Applejack's features went dark, "Rootbite… that Timber Wolf… so much pain."

Rainbow drew her into another hug, "It's alright, and it's over now." She said calmly, trying to put as much comfort into her words as possible.

While this was happening, Twilight spoke up, "How did you do that?!" She exclaimed, most likely for her curious nature for magic, "I have never seen magic in words, and I must know, what type of magic is it?"

The elder turned away, "Well… It was a gift, passed down from a long time ago, probably before the rule of Celestia."

"Would you care to explain?" I asked.

He nodded his head, "You see, Mors Vicus is one of the oldest towns in Equestria, but not many remember how this town came to be, nor what's so significant about it." He cleared his throat and started up again, "Well, our original founder, Bartholomew Faber, was a pegasus with the intent of starting his own village."

He started to stare into the fire which was now blazing, "He arrived at this location, which was an open, untouched field, and he saw another pony standing in it, looking at the sun. After the other pony saw Bartholomew he offered to help, and ignorant Bartholomew accepted. The two began to clear the field, gather the wood, and start the village, but all throughout the mysterious pony never told Bartholomew his name, and one night Bartholomew got suspicious, and followed the pony to a cave on a mountain. The pony didn't even notice Bartholomew, as the pony went into what were two giant iron doors. But before they closed, Bartholomew slipped inside, the pony revealed who he was… He called himself Destruction, and before Bartholomew could escape he was burnt alive by the monstrosity of fire."

"That's horrible!" Rarity cried.

I was just curious, Monstrosity of fire? My guess is that this is the same pony in which our fates are intertwined.

"The village was finished, but with no pony to live in it, and my ancestor found this place for herself. When she arrived, she saw a complete being of fire in the middle of the village, he looked dead at her, held up Bartholomew's skull and said one word,

"Death."

The being disappeared in a torrent of fire, and she named this place Mors Vicus, which means 'Death Village' in Old Equestrian." The elder explained.

"So that's why you have the statue and the fire places, it's to please this… Destruction?" I concluded.

The elder nodded his head, "Indeed, and in return he lets us be, and even gave us this gift" He pointed to his throat, "My ancestor called it the Statera Cantus, or Balance Chant, I believe he gave it to her after she named the town, and it brings whatever it touches back into its universal balance."

Twilight was completely appaled, and continued on with questions. Meanwhile, I thought of the story it was interesting, a little dark, yes, but overall it felt fitting for a place like this. But two things were itching at my thoughts, "So is this your religion?" I asked.

The elder laughed, and dismissed Twilight, "Hardly! More like an everyday task that we have to do, and truthfully," He nodded us to get closer, as if somepony was listening, "It can get quite annoying sometimes."

"Also, the pony I fought, he said something about this town having troubles? But he didn't tell us anything more, do you mind telling us what they were?" I asked again.

"Ah that, you see a decent amount of ponies, around a hundred or more, have settled down close to us and demanded us to join their… cult or whatever, but we declined." He explained.

"and they didn't kill you!" I exclaimed.

"I was surprised as you are, but they just let us be after that, but that didn't stop them from stealing some of our food." He stated.

"What about Celestia's guard force? They were supposed to be here." I said, thinking about the orders Celestia gave Turncoat at the night of the flight show, and chuckled at the memory. It felt like centuries ago,

"Not too long ago we heard the clash of steel, but it only lasted a day. My guess is they were killed."

I felt my features darken, "Look… I appreciate healing our friend, and all that you've done for us, but I have to-"

"What you have to do is go up to the mountain, and enter the cave. That's where you will find your answers." He interrupted.

"How did you-" I started.

"Your little 'incident' at the duel, and I can see it in your eyes. You're a pony who has been neglected of answers for all his life, and was told to come here, you just want to know what all of this is about, don't you?"

This was starting to freak me out a bit, but eyes always seemed to reveal a lot of things about a pony. I nodded my head, and the elder pointed at the door, "Go now, bring your friends along too, you'll need them every step of the way."

I looked at the mares, who were standing there just as curious as I was, "Well then ladies, shall we?" I asked.

With nods of agreement we headed out of the house, to find the answers.
---
The mountain itself wasn't too treacherous, and there was a path all carved out for us to tread. I could hear something very faint in my ears all throughout the trip, and I felt a little worried, but overall I was determined to find out everything.

We arrived to the cave, and I looked out, it was dusk, and the sun was in between the mountains, I realized that this might be the last time I see daylight, and I took it in. If this is like anything like the Fire Pegasus has showed me, I know it will take all my sanity to stay alive.

We trotted in, thoughts starting to blur, sounds in my ears getting louder and louder, begging me to come in. I looked at the iron doors, untouched, no handles only a hole in which I placed my hoof into. With a twist the doors opened, and all of us went into the void of a room.
---
I looked over the forces I have amassed over these past few months, soon, very soon would ponies know and fear the name Nightbane.

"Leader! The door has been opened!" Tullias exclaimed.

I didn't look up at him, and I thought my general was just worrying about nothing,
"Tullias, we don't have time to worry about that, we have other ponies to worry about."

Plus I want a decent challenge, Celestia's guard force is far too weak for my amusement, but they are indeed vigilant. I thought.

"Besides," I turned to look at my general, "I left a group of around twenty ponies at our settlement, with orders to attack the temple when you give the word. Just use your magic to send a message, and they'll get moving."

My old friend laughed, "Ah Nightbane, always one step ahead of me."

Something was itching at the back of my mind, and I could feel doubt starting to creep into this pony I call my friend, and I also began to doubt him as well. I could feel dark thoughts creeping into his mind, grabbing hold and-

Gah! Snap out of it Nightbane, remember why you're here. I looked over at the temporary camp, settled on mountain, very good scoping point, and was big enough to hold all of us perfectly. You will finally get your revenge Luna! Your will, will finally be brought onto everypony in Equestria!
---
"Adomia, wake up." I rose up quickly, and gasped at the sight I was beholding. The Fire Pegasus, standing over me, staring down with those soulless slits of fire. I got up to my hooves and scanned the area, and was now confused even more.

It was nothing but fire and brimstone as far as the eye could see, and the smell of death hung thickly in the air, Am I in… Hell? I questioned.

"No, you are in The Void, the place you know as Heaven and Hell do not exist, there is only The Void, and this specific part." He held his foreleg out for emphasis, "Is my domain and I believe it is time to tell you about… well… you."

I realized his tone was different, much more innocent, and sounded like an actual pony. If I had been blinded I wouldn't have believed that I was face to face with a pegasus made of fire. "Alright then, let's start with something simple first, who are you?"

"My presence has been known ever since the birth of time, Destruction."

"Destruction? Destruction of what?" I pressed.

"Destruction of everything, I'm the one who takes away a creature's last breath, the one who causes another to bleed out, the one who causes another to die in a fire." He explained.

I felt scared, no doubt, but overall was still curious, "and what are you?"

"I'll give you a hint, separately we aren't known well, but when we are put together we create a force that is feared by many, one that every creature must face, the natural end of things." He riddled.

Only one thing came to mind, the force I've worked with all my life, one force that I have mastered its secondary art form, killing. Which was the art of, "Death…" I said.

Destruction nodded his head, "Yes, I am one fourth of the force of Death, don't you remember? I left those words in your inner conscience when you were caring for your friend."

That's right! When I let Fluttershy take over. I retraced the memory, it was blurry, but I remembered the four words: Destruction, Age, Disease, Darkness.

"So… what you're saying is that you, Age, Disease, and Darkness are… Death?" I asked, stupid question, but I needed everything pieced together.

"Yes." He replied bluntly.

I was completely floored with this, I would've never guessed that the force of Death would be sentient, I let my mind wrap around it and asked another question, "Why do I seem to have these… power spikes, whenever I get angry?"

Destruction paused for a bit and began to speak, "Do you remember the Nightmare incident?" He asked in return.

How could I? I didn't even recognize Luna after she was turned back to normal,

"Yes, what about it?"

"The creature you called the Nightmare was actually the part of death, Darkness. He is the creator of dark thoughts, and dark actions, but mostly sanity. He was envious of the living, and wanted to walk the earth too, but after he realized he couldn't in his normal form he got furious, and his own dark thoughts have corrupted him… or perhaps he's always been corrupted." He thought about it for a second and shook his head, "I digress, Luna was born with a piece of him inside her, and this allowed him to visit her in the real world, much like how I've been visiting you. Darkness implanted tiny seeds of doubt and jealousy in Luna's mind, causing her to envy her sister, and eventually lead to hate. She allowed Darkness to take her body partially, and for him to walk the earth. He doesn't want any creature living in this world, due to the fact that he can't walk on it, claims it's unfair."

I could only listen, and make sure every word stuck, "However the Elements of Harmony cleansed her mind, and cast him back to The Void, but a piece was still stuck inside her. That's why her magic was so strong when she fought you; there was still a piece she could tap into."

"Is this why Nightbane wants Luna's body?" I questioned.

Destruction chuckled, "Nightbane, interesting pony I must admit. Came to me for power, he wants revenge for the death of Luna. While I disagreed, Darkness saw this as another opportunity to exact his revenge on the world. I should've stopped it, but I let it go, so now Darkness walks the earth again. I've seen this coming for a long time Adomia, so I planted a fragment of myself into a pony that will have to rise out of poverty to fight Darkness, and put him back in his place."

He trotted to me, and placed a hoof on my heart, it burned a little, but I was able to bear it, "That pony is you Adomia; you must become my mortal shell to use so that I can walk the earth too."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing, but for some reason I knew this was what I was born to do, the spark inside me… was a fragment of him, and it was calling to be reunited with its owner.

"How can I trust you?" I questioned bluntly, "You've riddled my mind with sick visions, having to watch my friends die in front of me, maybe these are your wishes, and you want to do this while Darkness is the opposite!"

"Adomia, I gave you that vision because I wanted to test your ability to withstand pain, to see how much you could take before you cracked, and let's not forget your fall from Cloudsdale. Who do you think kept you from bleeding out or suffocating, you owe your very life to me." He responded.

I don't like these odds, but what choice do I have? I questioned.
---
Adomia has been out cold for the past five minutes, the temple doors are still open, but I can't focus on him, I have to keep magical barriers up.

The cult has attacked the temple, and are trying to get inside, I've put up magical barriers to prevent entry with Rarity's assisstance

"Twilight! How are you holdin' up!" Applejack shouted, the cult was using magical rams to break down each barrier, and it was becoming harder and harder to hold.

"I'm not going to be able to hold for much longer!" I shouted back.
---
"Adomia, please, this is what you were born to do; I'm not making this up!" Destruction pleaded desperately.

I've made up my mind, "Fine, I accept, but on one condition, I'm the one in charge, it's my body, you're just giving me the power."

Destruction didn't even hesitate, he nodded his head, "Makes sense, now, prepare yourself, this is going to be painful."

On that note he disappeared into a red mist, and invaded my nose, mouth, and ears. The fire inside started to burn my insides as it rejoined its master, I screamed in agony, my entire body was burning on the inside! Each organ was turning to fire, my blood boiled, I could feel fire bursting from my ears, eyes, and mouth. I couldn't see anymore, my hearing had gone out, the only thing left was my skin, which I could feel burning off, and… thoughts… slowly… turning to… nothing.
---
I awoke, the pain now subsided, and I noticed everything had a redder tint to it, I could hear the war cries of ponies, and could feel the fear in others. I felt my body surge forward towards pitiful barriers of magic. They broke at my touch, and the ponies on the other side didn't have time to react before they were consumed by fire.

I landed on the outside of the temple, and just closed my eyes and stood panting. I felt strange, my skin… felt different, in fact, everything felt different. Sounds were amplified, my sight was wider, my sense of smell was stronger.

I could hear screams of ponies behind me, all were mares, and I could smell their fear, and I snapped back to reality. "Guys calm down! It's me Adomia!" I pleaded.

"Y-y-you're not Adomia!" Pinky exclaimed.

"What are you talking…?" I stopped when I looked down at my hoof, it was now fire, "…about."

I scanned myself, and I knew I wasn't myself anymore, my body was now fire, my mane, tail, everything was now fire. I had now become Destruction…

"I told you, I needed a mortal shell, I didn't say anything about retaining your looks." Destruction sang in my mind, he was enjoying this revelation.

I'd been tricked! Well only slightly, but still! I could feel something folded on my back, and spread them wide. I was overjoyed to find two wings standing there! They weren't pegasi wings, these were wider, and almost spanned my entire body, and lacked feathers; it looked more like web than anything.

I faced the mares again, who were all cowering in fear, "Please guys… it really is me, I just look… different." I told them.

Twilight was the only one who moved forward, she looked into my new slits of fire for eyes, and I stared back at hers. I could see a mix between pain, confusion, but most of all… fear. I wanted to hold her, and tell her everything would be alright, but I was afraid of my new body, it might burn her, maybe even kill her.

If I could weep water, I would right now, as I realized I would never be able to feel the touch of her hoof again, or the touch of any other pony, I could feel sparks escaping my new eyes and onto the ground, burning it. I was now this… monstrosity, and there was nothing I could do.

I turned to face the sun, now almost down all the way, it looked beautiful, and I felt like retreating to the shadows, I was not meant to be out in the light. So this is what Cheerilee was talking about when she said she knew who I was.

(Authors Note: Please Excuse the line above, you'll get it soon, but forgive my friends slow writing)

"Hey… Adomia, you might want these." Twilight said finally, and I turned to face her again.

She held my folded cloak, my Hidden Blades, and my crossbow. I looked at them, "What can I do with these? I'll just destroy them." I told her.

"Actually Adomia, you think that, but really you can, because you want too. I have something interesting to share with you. *Ahem* Your skin is transparent and tougher than before, and it has the ability to remember objects, however you need to let your fire course through it, in each nook and cranny until it is nothing but ash, then you can summon that object at will, however it might take a bit out of you at first." Destruction explained.

"Also you never told me you had another pony in here! But, she's cowering in fear right now; she's actually kinda cute like that."

I busted out laughing, now that was something to get me in a good mood, Now wait a second, are you showing emotion? I teased.

"Actually I'm the sanest out of all my brothers, and actually have feelings too, while I do enjoy my work it can get lonely sometimes, you of all ponies should know that." he seriously replied.

I took my items out of Twilight's hoof, and placed my cloak on my body, "Looks like I'm going to need this more than ever eh?" I joked.

The others were now out of the cave, and now realized I was still the same pony, just different looking. Taking my left Hidden Blade, the one I got from Farrar a long time ago, If I just focus my fire… Aha! I was greeted with my hoof spewing fire through the leather gauntlet, and eventually it turned to ash.

I did the same thing with my crossbow, and I could feel its shape and use imprinted in my brain, it was actually quite fascinating. After the crossbow turned to ash Destruction said to me, "Meh, I'll see if I can calm her down later, anyway, now just remember the shape, it's use, everything you know about it, and it should come onto your hoof."

I did as he told, the other just watching me, I looked at my foreleg, remembering every stab I've made, every drop of blood that seeped onto the blade, all the steel I've blocked with the gauntlet, and I could feel my skin morphing into a small gauntlet, it was tight at first, but got to full size soon enough. I flicked my hoof back a little to see a small fire blade sticking out. It was a perfect replica of the original, and I held it for a few moments before dismissing it, I was breathing a little heavier, man did that take some major draining.

"Adomia help! This pony is going to kill me!" Fluttershy screamed.

"So what now?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Now just hold on a second, got to sort something out." I replied.

Ok, Fluttershy you're already dead, and Destruction, just what in the world are you doing in there!

I could hear the skidding of hooves in my mind, and Destruction started, "I'm not doing a thing; I just want to talk to her that's all! Jeez… first confrontation with another pony other than you in the past fifteen hundred years, and she won't even speak to me."

Fluttershy, I know he's scary looking, but he's a good pony, trust me… besides I think you're stuck with him, better get used to it. I told the frightened mare.

"O-ok, Adomia… whatever you say." She responded.

I sighed with relief, and turned my attention back to my living friends, "Sorry about that, little spirit trouble, I believe there's a lot to explain huh?"
---
I filled them in on what happened on the way back to Mors Vicus, and overall, I felt a lot better. My mind was finally at peace knowing about who I was, who I TRULY was. When we arrived back I could hear ponies gasping with horror, some gasping with surprise, but I noticed that the remaining guard force of about fifty ponies all stood in a line at the entrance.

"Something wrong gentlemen?" I asked the group.

One of them stepped forward, lots of scars, battle axe on his back, Pegasus, black steel armor covering his body, "I hope you don't mind us coming back with you, it certainly seems you're going to need everypony you can get."

Reinforcements? Hmm… I guess that'd be a nice way to show that I was on Celestia's side… but still…

I nodded my head in agreement, "Thank you, but I must ask, why do you want to come with me?"

"As you know we're not normal guards, we are more or less of an order that are sworn under Destruction, since you now have him; we follow you, Adomia the Destroyer." The guard told me.

"I don't know if the epithet is necessary, but if I know one thing." I faced all of them,

"I know that soon, the cult will fall soon. This I swear."

The guards nodded, and rooted in agreement, and I got to the front of the pack, "Alright then, let's be off then."

As we all trotted out of Mors Vicus I thought of that title, Adomia the Destroyer, it said everything about my physical appearance, and my power. But what it didn't tell was the fact that I would destroy, to start anew.

This world will be cleansed, whether it be fire, or blood.

To be continued…

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