"Famine." I repeat as I stare him down. He's another centaur, much like War, but completely different. He has dark green skin and black fur over most of his body. He carries a long wooden staff that twists open at both ends. At the ends of the staff are dark green balls of energy that has black energy that wisps away from them. His eyes are deep yellow and his body seems to be brittle and starving. But the thing that has me most concerned, is the massive horn coming from his head.

"Storm Cloud, its good to see you again." He says with a slight bow to Storm, running a hand down his long grey beard.

"AAAAAH!" I yell as I thrust a palm at him, but nothing happens. I try to turn my magic on, but no matter what I do I can't get it to work.

"I'm afraid magic won't be allowed for our discussion. Now..."

"Spartans!" I yell as I swing my rifle around an open fire.

PATPATPATPATPAT

I run along the side of the room as I empty my clip. He just stands there with his shield raised, waiting patiently. I look over to see Storm trying to assist me, but his sword is out of energy. When my clip runs out I throw it back and pull out my sword, trying to fill it with my magic but being unable to access it. I charge at him as I raise my blade.

FOOSH

THUD

He had spun his staff around and sent a blast of black energy at me, sending me flying back and crashing into the wall behind. Before I could fall to the ground he pointed his staff to me and held me in the air, choking me as he does so.

"Miles!" Storm yells as he tries to get air born, but no matter how hard he flaps his wings he can't. Before he could get half way Steelwing dropped in front of him, fighting him back as he swings his blade back and forth. As Storm deals with him, the others run to aid me.

The first to make it over was Regina, who tried to hack Famine with her sword. Famine just jabs at her with his staff, making her fall to the ground as she holds her stomach. True Will and Boomy both try to jump him at the same time, but he just spins his staff around and blasts True Will away with the back energy as he uses his magic to lift Boomy into the air.

"Feed me." Famine says as he puts a hand onto Boomys' forehead. I watch as all of the color from him fades to grey. His shaking body soon become still as a red energy is sucked from him and fed into Famine's arm. He tosses his lifeless body aside as he looks back to me. "Now, where were we?" He asks as he loosens his hold on my neck, letting me gasp for air.

"Go fuck yourself!" I yell as I draw my revolver and fire at him. He simply raise a shield and deflects the last of my shots. Even when my pistols empty, I continue to try to shoot him.

"Ahahaha, good try, but all for not." He says as he lowers his shield.

SMACK

The moment he lowered his shield I threw my revolver at him, hitting him right in the face.

"You get that one for free." He growls at me. "Now listen closely..."

RING RING RING RING

We both look down to my pocket as my phone begins to ring. He just sighs as he drops me and walks over to Regina, placing a hand directly over her.

"Make it quick or else." I look back to see that Steelwing has already killed the other mercenary, but has a few cuts on himself. I think about it for a second before I pull my phone out and answer Luna's call.

"Luna?"
"Miles..."

"Whats going on. Are you safe." I ask before she could say anything.

"... no." I take a deep breath as I glare at Famine. I should of seen this coming. "Miles, War and Steelwing are here with me..."

"Steelwing?" I ask as I look back to the fight on the other side of the room. Storm suddenly stabs the griffin in the chest, making him change into a different griffin...

"They say they want something from you, and if they get it, they'll leave."

"Right... and what would that be?"

"..."

"Luna?"

"..."

"LUNA!"

"..."

.................................................................................................................................................................................................

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

"AHH... this better be important." I grumpily say as I roll out of bed and head to the door. I haven't been sleeping well the past few days, due to estrus and a lack of Miles. But I soon found a way to sate my needs. After a rather shameful morning I had finally satisfied myself enough to finally start to sleep, when the knocking came. I marched straight to the door and swung it open, scaring the poor guard behind. "Yes, can I help you?"

"Uh.... Princess Celestia requests your..."

"Tell her I'm asleep." I say before I shut the door in his face. I walk back to my bed and lay down...

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

"Oh for the love of..." I mumble as I get up and head back to the door. "I said..."

"Hello Nightmare Moon." Steelwing says as he pulls out a dagger from the guards neck and licks it clean. "Miss me?"

"STEELWING!"

KA-BOOM

I had tried to blast him away, but at the last possible second he jumped out of the way and started to run down the narrow stairway. I teleport myself to the bottom of the stairs and...

FOOSH

I slide against the smooth marble floors as a blast of black energy struck me from the side. I look up to see a massive figure dropping down towards...

CRACK

When I regain consciousness I look around to find myself in in the castle dungeons, tied up to a chair. I can feel dried blood on my forehead and have a mind splitting head ache. I reach out for my magic, but can't seem to find it...

"Ah you're awake. Good, good." Says a deep voice from behind.

"Who are you! Show yourself!" I demand as I try to break out of the ropes.

"You know me as War." He says as he walks out in front of me. He turns to me and puts the edge of his naginata to my throat as he looks me over. "I am in need of your assistance." He says as he continues to walk around me.

"What makes you think I'll help you." I snap back.

"Because we can save Miles from his eventual demise." He says as he circles behind me. I stay silent from this. I don't want to help these ponies at all, but.... "Good, so listen closely. Miles' people have a form of magic that is unparalleled in power. The archaic circles. We want you to find out how he makes them and report back to us. If you do this, then we will cure Miles and leave you be for the rest of your lives."

"... and how exactly will you 'cure' Miles?" I ask as he circles back in front of me.

"Do not worry about that. Just know that you will spend the rest of your lives together." He says with an even look about him. I think about it for a moment before I nod.

"Bring me my phone." I say as I hang my head in shame.

"Phone?" He asks as he raises an eyebrow to me.

"The little glass thing in my top left drawer."

"Hmm... Steelwing!" He yells, getting him to open the jail door and look in. "Go fetch her... phone. The glass thing in the top left drawer."

"Got it." He says before running off. I sit there in silence as we wait for Steelwing to return. War just stands there, looking over his weapon. After a few minutes of silence he returns with my phone and presents it to War.

"I need my magic to use that. I can call him right now and give you what you want, I just need my magic." I say as I eye my phone.

"Hmm.... give her the antidote."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Steelwing asks as he pulls out a vile with white liquid inside of it.

"I said, give it to her." He says sternly. I smile as he walks over and feeds me the solution. I cough a few times as I feel the potion work its way through my body, but simultaneously feel my magic return to me. "You have five minutes to get me what I
want. Five." He says as I take my phone with my magic. I go ahead and call Miles, waiting for him to answer.

"Luna?" I hear his voice call out.

"Miles...."

"Whats going on. Are you safe." He asks before I could finish. I take a deep breath as I ready myself to answer him.

"......no." I say. I can hear his breath shorten from this, so I continue. "Miles, War and Steelwing are here with me..."

"Steelwing?" He asks curiously.

"They say they want something from you, and if they get it, they'll leave." I say as Steelwing and War both stand before me.

"Right... and what would that be?" Miles asks cautiously.

"..." I hesitate to answer him as I stare at the two of them.

"Luna?"

"..." The rest of our lives, when they want to kill everypony...

"LUNA!"

"..." What would be the point...

"Luna answer me! What do they...."

"Miles." I say softly, getting him to quiet down. "They want me to get information from you, but I will never ask you for this. In time, I hope to tell you what they want to know in our most private of places, but in case I don't make it out of this... I love you." I say before I teleport my phone back to my room.

"So be it." War says as he motions to Steelwing. He walks up to me and smacks me across the face, forcing me to look to the left. He then puts his top half up on the chair so were face to face.

"You... will regret this..."

"You..." I start, getting his attention. "Are an idiot."

CRACK

Luckily for me, they weren't smart enough to tie down my bottom legs, so I kicked up as hard as I could, hitting him in his testicles. As he falls to the ground screaming I use my magic to break out of my ropes...

FOOSH

As I tried to make a run for it War had swung his naginata at me, sending a wave of back energy at me. I slammed against the back of the cell and fell to the ground. I tried to get up, but another blast hit me and pushed me against the back of the cell. I can feel wounds opening up on my side as blood starts to trickle down.

"You will die for your insubordination!" War yells as he raises his blade and gets ready to impale it against me. I race against him to fire anything to stop him from striking me down.

KA-BOOM

A beam of white energy fired from my horn and collided with War, causing a massive explosion. I shake my head as the world around me turns to a blur. I try to stand, but am too dizzy and keep falling back down. I feel something grab my head and lift me up. As my vision starts to clear, I find myself face to face with War.

"Not good enough." He says as he lifts his weapon and puts the blade to my throat.

"Probably not." I say as he readies to slit my throat. "But he'll do better." I say with a smile. War looks at me funnily before looking behind him to see the large crystal rainbow dragon standing there. "Alistair."

"Oh shit..."

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWW!" Alistair lets out a power roar as he grabs the back of his blade and body and lifts him up. In a panic he drops me as he tries to stab the dragon, only to get tossed against the wall outside of the cell. "Run for it Luna, I'll deal with this!" Alistair says before facing War. I charge my horn and teleport away.

"AAAAAAAHH!" Some mare screams as I appear in the court hall.

"LUNA!" Celestia yells as I stand up and look around. As I stand up, a vortex of smokey black energy appears before me, so I create my energy swords and wait for him to appear.

"DIE!" War yells as he charges through the smoke, right for me. I charge back at him as I swing my swords forward, both of them catching his weapon mid flight. I begin to create and drop sword after sword as I slash and stab at him. He expertly spins his weapon around himself as he blocks attack after attack. Soon Celestia and all of the other guards charge him from all sides, moving to stab him at once.

"ENOUGH!" He yells as he slams the blade of his weapon into the ground, making a pulse of dark energy form around him and send us all back. As I start to get up I look over to see him walking towards me, twisting his weapon above his head.

FWUUUUUUUUUUMMM

From the left windows a white beam of energy shot through and slammed into War, sending him into the right wall. Alistair crashed through the opening and charged straight for War, running on all fours. He collides with him and goes hurling through the wall as they both fall to the gardens below.

"Luna! Wait!" Celestia yells as I stand up and run after them. I jump out of the hole in the wall and launch myself after them, flapping my wings as hard as they'll allow me to. The two of them are locked in heated battle, with War making several strikes against Alistair. As Alistair stands square on all four to let out another beam of the white energy, War leaps into the air and dodges the attack, lining up to bring his blade onto his neck.

"NO!" I yell as I fire a beam of energy at him, hitting his side and sending him flying back. I land beside Alistair as we both turn to face War. He gets up and spins his weapon around as he faces the two of us.

"You shouldn't of come Alistair." War says as he starts to walk to the side. "Death back at midnight castle would have suited you better."

"You seem to forget who won that day." Alistair replies in his deep voice. "As long as the rainbow of darkness exists, I shall always be here to fight it off. Now either go back to your puppeteer, or die." He says as he stays facing War.

"HOW ABOUT YOU DIE!" I look up to see Steelwing drop onto Alistair's back and to start stabbing his neck, making him move around violently. I was about to assist him when a beam of black energy forced me to jump back. I go to...

CRASH

CRASH

Before I could do anything, two massive, full grown dragons landed behind War, having an assortment of all creatures jump off their backs and swarm around him. Steelwing flew down from Alistair's back and joined the group, bowing as the last creature jumped off the dragons back.

"Honestly War, you can't follow a simple order, can you." Mocks another centaur. This one is a female, with light brown fur and yellow skin. She seems to have patches of fur falling out and has sickly hair matting her scalp. Her face is covered in warts and moles as her body is peppered with sores and oozing, puss filled wounds. As she walks down, she turns to the side to reveal the she has a pair of large yellow wings... she's a pegasus centaur.

"Pestilence." War growls. "I have everything under control. Leave!"

"Under control? All of the royal guards are on their way as the Spartans are tearing apart Fort Misery. Death has ordered a retreat..."

"WHAT!" He yells. "I won't do.."

"Now War." Pestilence says as she reaches towards War. Two of her black finger nails are long and come to a point. She runs her nails through a bit of his hair, making it fall to the ground. "Are you going to be a good little boy or not?"

"Don't." Alistair says as I start to charge my horn. "We held the advantage before, but now we would surely die. Let them leave."

"But.... *sigh* fine. I'll trust your judgement on this one." I say as I release my magic. I don't want to let Steelwing get away, but I trust Alistair's judgement on this.

"Very well. Lets go then." War says grumpily as he climbs onto one of the massive dragons backs. As the royal guard finally start to show up, they begin to take off, whipping up dust as they take flight.

"Luna!" Celestia yells as she runs straight towards me. I give her the cold shoulder as I turn to Alistair.

"Alistair, please escort me to the medical wing." I say as I walk off.

"As you wish." He says as he follows after me. I don't like this. Why are they leaving. What did she mean by the Spartans tearing up Fort Misery?

.................................................................................................................................................................................................

"Right... and what would that be?"

"..."

"Luna?"

"..."

"LUNA!"

"..."

"Luna answer me! What do they...."

"Miles." She says softly, getting me to quiet down. I don't like the sound of this. "They want me to get information from you, but I will never ask you for this. In time, I hope to tell you what they want to know in our most private of places, but in case I don't make it out of this... I love you....."

"Luna... LUNA!" I yell as the other end falls silent.

"It seems that her time has come to an end." Famine says mockingly. "Such a shame, but it is the future of all. Now... where were we." He says as he lifts me up and reaches out for me.

GIVE ME CONTROL

Famine pauses from this as I continue to listen to the silent phone. I can feel a pressure from within swirl around, as if something is trying to force its way out.

"Fascinating... so you're one of them." Famine says before he continues to reach out for me.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Storm yells as he charges at Famine from behind. Famine just points the back of his staff at him, getting him to lift up into the air and shake around violently as grey energy starts to seep from him.

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? SAVE HIS SOUL!

"FAMINE!" I yell as I drop my phone and throw out my left hand, making a bright light that blinds everyone for a moment. When I can see again, I find that the end of my hand has become imbued with the Laminis Lux, and that I've maxed out with my magic.

TUUM ANIMA ERIT SCIENT MORTEM
"TUUM ANIMA ERIT SCIENT MORTEM"
TUUM ANIMA ERIT SCIENT MORTEM

"Hehe, come then, Hominem De Bellum." Famine says as he backs away from me, raising his staff as he charges his horn, dropping Storm behind him. I charge at him, pushing myself magically, and ready to drive my energy blade into his chest...

F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-FLASH

I slide to a stop as Famine continues to flash about the room. He would appear in a spot, then teleport to the other side of the room before teleporting somewhere completely different. I began to swipe anywhere I thought he would appear, trying to land hits where ever I could, but ultimately and completely missing every shot.

"RAAAAH!" Famine yells as he appears in front of me and blasts me with another shot of the green energy. I fall back and try to get up, but stop when my stomach pains me. Hungry. No starving. I don't know, I feel as if I've gone my entire life without food. I look to my arms to see that my lines have dropped to my elbows.

"Wha.... what is this?" I ask as I try to force myself up, but can't find the energy to do it.

"Hunger, famine, starvation. Both physically and spiritually." Famine says as he walks up to me. "Now, I shall take what I want from you." He says as he reaches for me.

"Hehe..." I mumble as I start to chuckle.

"Something amuses you?" Famine asks, hesitating to touch me.

"Yeah..." I say as I look up to him. "I love fighting idiots." I say before I swipe at his hand, cutting him across the palm. He rears back as he screams out in pain, holding his hand above himself. I spin my legs around until I'm standing beneath him. He falls back and goes to strike me again, but I begin to blast at him with Laminis Lux. He dodges every blast by teleporting around again, only this time I wait.

"RAA..."

"HA!" I yell as I jump up and blast the spot I was standing in with my blade. As the explosion shoots out I push my other hand towards it, sending down a ball of ice that tuns the flames to solid ice. I land against the ceiling and launch myself at the mass of ice, shooting a beam from my energy blade to shatter it to thousands of tiny shards. When I land in the center of this I take a moment to find my target before taking control of all the broken ice and sending it flying at him.

Instead of jumping around, he just creates a small barrier before himself, melting the ice. When I send the last of the ice towards him I spin back and thrust my hand at the ground before him, sending a bolt of electricity through the water and up his body.

KRUUUM

He shook for a bit until he redirected the energy through his horn and shoot it back at me, hitting me right in the gut and knocking the wind out of me. I drop to my knees and take a look to my arms. The archaic lines are up to my shoulders now, I love fighting idiots.

"You must know that this is pointless. I've had hundreds of years to master the art of magic. Everything from alteration to zeamorphic polyfications are at my disposal. How could you possibly hope to combat me?" He asks as we circle one another.

"I could care less if you could transform inanimate objects. I'm Spartan. I hold the advantage in being a combat specialist.
You will die..."

"As will your friends." He says with a smirk. I glance around to see Storm trying to crawl over to Dust Devil as True Will tries to drag Regina out of the room. "You will fail, because you cannot protect those you care about. Your friends will die. Your wife will die. You... will suffer as you watch them fall, one... by one. Until you finally fall yourself. Give up, and avoid that pain." He says as he starts to charge his staff, making the cracks in it start to glow green. I continue to walk around Famine as the others start to retreat. Once they're down the hall, I begin my attack.

I start out by sending a blast of energy from my blade, which he blocks easily by raising a shield. I spin back and punch at him, sending a beam of icy void at him as he fires a beam of green energy at me. The two energies collide and blast outwards, crashing into the walls around us and destroying them. I continue to blast away as he holds his stance, neither of us backing down. I can feel myself starting to sweat as my arm starts to feel numb, this is too much. Despite a pain growing in my arm, I can see the black energy break through his and start to head towards Famine, making him panic.

FLASH

When he teleports away my beam goes straight through the back wall and continues through. I drop the spell and fall to my knees. My arm feels as if its going to fall off. That, along with the pain in my stomach, should be making me pass out, but something is keeping me up.

"Impressive." Famine says as he circles around me. "Not many can use such a power, but you're...."

"SURRENDER!" I look back to see Shinning Armor and a multitude of griffins running in.

"Hmm, city guards. Well Miles it would seem that you win the day. But we'll see each other again." He says before he flashes away. As the city guards run around me and start to scour the building, I drop my Laminis Lux, and then pass out.

A/N: Shout out to Rainbow Dragon for the OC Alistair. Be sure to swing by my blog to add additional OC's. Brony on!

Next Chapter: Chapter 124 Victory? Estimated time remaining: 57 Hours