Chapter 1: not a statue

This story is set after the events of both seasons and is a similar kind of idea to a human in Equestria fic but it's not one of those. The appeal to me of the human in equestrian fic has always been the contrast between the regular plain old human and the insanely bight, friendly and colourful world of Equestria. This story is set in Equestria but it's humanised, All the names are the same and the characters are the same but Earth ponies are called earth folk, unicorns are called the mystic folk or horned folk depending on the situation and who you talk to and the Pegasus are either the sky folk or winged folk depending on how formal the situation. Alicorns are called the great folk.
Anyway without further blabbering here it is:
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In the gardens of Celestias' palace there is a small curving section of path that winds it's ways between a large number of statues. Most of these statues were just statues commissioned by Celestia to decorate her garden. Some of the statues weren't. The most famous statue in the garden for example was discord. But of course it's now known that discord wasn't a statue. There were other statues in the garden that were similar to discord, in that they weren't actually statues, but rather other people from ancient times imprisoned in stone by powerful magic. The oldest statue in the garden was just that. A prisoner statue. This prisoner statue was around for a thousand years before discord himself was first imprisoned. Indeed when Celestia first found the statue she thought it was a prisoner. But after almost two thousand years the statue had not changed at all. It seemed like a prisoner statue in that it was exquisitely carved and incredibly detailed similar to the discord statue. But after two thousand years and not a sound Celestia had come to believe it was just a regular statue that was simply incredibly well made.

The statue in question depicted two men. One man looked like a regular earth folk who was swinging a sword towards the other man, but was being stabbed through the middle by an oddly thick short sword. The other man depicted looked like nobody alive today. The man had two large wings behind his back. Not like the feathery wing of a sky folk or a great folk but large and leathery with pointed tips. He also had horns, not the regular single point of a mystic folk or the sharpened tip of a great folk but rather two horns that curved back over his head.

Many who wondered through the garden wondered what it represented or why Celestia even kept such a violent depiction in the first place. The statue had no label and no artists' signature and didn't appear to have any great significance other than it was exquisitely carved, with such detail that every line of fabric or dent in the steel was visible. But despite the grumblings Celestia always kept it in the gardens for no reason other than it was an enigma to her. A small puzzle that she'd never quite figured out.

One night after over two thousand years of doing nothing a crack appeared in the leg of the statue. This was followed by a crack in the arm of the statue then in an explosion of stone the two men who had been imprisoned together for so many years where released.

The one, who had been stabbed, finished the ark he'd swung his sword in that he'd started two thousand years ago, officially setting the record for the slowest sword swing the world has ever known. Despite this record the blade move whip quick and the strange horned man had half his throat cut before he jerked away leaving his short sword inside the normal earth folk. The winged horned one fell off the base of the statue with a gurgle and both hands going to his throat. The man with the sword inside him smiled down at his vanquished foe for a second before he noticed the sword lodged inside his gut and collapsed to his knees before also falling off the base. He landed on the ground head first and was knocked unconscious.

A guardsmen that had been patrolling nearby heard the explosion the "statue" had made and came around the corner to see what had happened. Upon seeing the two wounded figures on the ground grabbed a whistle that was around his neck and blew a long pure note that was heard by other guardsmen nearby who heard the whistle and they also raised whistles to their lips and blew. A short time later a bell was rung and the entire palace guard was patrolling the gardens in force. Princess celesta was awakened and both injured parties were attended by a doctor. Princess Luna who had also been awakened by the racket was in the palace private hospital watching the normal earth folk who was handcuffed to the bed. He was currently unconscious.

After a while the doctor having done his basic look over said to the princess 'He'll be fine. He just needs time to rest up and recover.’

Luna thanked the doctor and continued to watch the unconscious man. The man was obviously not from Equestria. His hands had swordsman's calluses and his face was lined with deep scars and his skin was the dark colour of an earth folk who had spent his life in the sun. He looked to be in his early thirties. His clothes were rough and travel worn before the doctor changed them for a patients robe. And even though he was unconscious the man looked dangerous and far from peaceful.

Celestia opened the door and stepped in. She stood next o her sister for a second before she spoke 'The doctors say the other one will be fine.'

Luna nodded and said 'Can you feel it?'

Celestia nodded 'the other one is powerful, almost as powerful as you little sister.'

'Do you know what it is?' Luna asked in a quiet voice.

Celestia shook her head. 'My question is how was an earth folk able to wound a creature with the power to rival one of the great folk?'

Luna was about to respond when the man on the bed shifted. They stared at him for a second before he sat bolt upright and was jerked to a stop by the hand cuffs around his wrist. He said nothing for a second while he took in the room. He ran a calculating eye over the two princesses before asking a three word, three syllable question: 'Is he dead?'

Luna answered. 'No. He's hurt but recovering.'

The man nodded before saying 'How bad is he hurt?'

It was Celestia that answered 'He's in worse condition than you. When you cut his throat his lungs filled with blood and he had no oxygen in his brain for a minute'

The man nodded. Then he very calmly said 'You need to finish him before he wakes up.'

Luna and Celestia exchanged glances. It was Luna that responded 'What's your name?'

'Kain' said Kain.

Celestia spoke this time. But when she spoke there was an undertone of cold anger that would make any of her subjects quake in their step. 'Why do we need to kill him?'

Most folk at this stage would behave as demurely as possible but Kain spoke without fear. Partly because he didn't know who Celestia was, partly because he'd just recovered from being unconscious but mostly, it was because there were few things in the world that could make him afraid anymore. 'Because he's killed thousands' He said this looking Celestia dead in the eye 'and if he wakes up, which he will in a couple of hours, He will escape and kill thousands more.'

Maybe it was because Celestia had no trust for anyone that was imprisoned in statues, or maybe it was because Kain had spoken to her without any of the courtesy and respect she was due, but when she spoke she said something that she would later for all eternity wish she could unsay.

'I will wait till he awakes and hear his side of the story'. She said as she walked out the door leaving Luna alone with the imprisoned Kain.

'You have to kill him.' he insisted once the door closed.

Luna looked at him. 'I will respect my sisters' decision.' She said. Luna thought he looked sincere, but she didn't want to countermand her sister. 'Who are you?'

'Kain Artun…. A soldier'. Kain looked at her 'Who are you?'

Luna wasn't surprised to hear he was a soldier, he certainly seemed like one 'I'm princess Luna.'

Kain nodded. 'What's the date?'

Luna new that he was really asking "how long have I been imprisoned?" 'You were still trapped in that statue a thousand years ago when my sister first built this palace. When she found you you'd been imprisoned for a long time before that.' She paused for a second 'Who is he?'

Kain spat 'He's an abomination, a murderer, a sadist and a fiend and his name is Xath.'

Luna asked 'how did you did two get imprisoned together?'

'Do you know what the elements of harmony were?'

Luna nodded 'Are', she corrected him.

Kain smiled, 'They're still around? Good. I was allies with the people who at the time were the elements. They helped me in the final fight against him. The fight didn't go well. None of them were particularly good fighters but they had the magic and I needed them. We fought him for some time but eventually it became apparent he would win.'

'Was he more powerful then the elements?' Luna interrupted concern in her voice.

'No he wasn't. It was just whenever they tried to cast the spell he would attack the element of magic and break the spell before it could be cast. Eventually I deliberately let him stab me to buy them time to cast the spell. It worked a little better than I planned because I almost killed him with my counter strike. But they cast the spell and both of us were imprisoned. I thought it would kill us rather than imprison us.'

Luna was a little shocked by this 'You were willing to die so that he would too?'

Kain looked at her 'Princess, I would do whatever it took, no matter how many people got hurt, to see that monster ended.'

'And what if that makes you just as bad as him?'

Kain thought for a second before responding 'Then I would hope that someone would do the same for me'.

Luna didn't respond. She just left.
---

In another room in the hospital a thing awoke. His enhanced healing powers waking him hours before the doctors predicted. It wasn't instant healing but it would heal most wounds in a couple of hours. Xath his name was. He rose up slowly to an upright position, a lone doctor was in the room with him. he had his back turned and hadn't noticed Xath sit up. Xath was handcuffed to the bed he was lying on. His horns absorbed light for a second while the handcuff chains silently broke. He rose silently off of the bed and walked up behind the doctor. He reached over the shoulders of the doctor and grabbed the man's throat. He lifted the man up one handed and turned him around examining him with a curious eye. The was dressed strangely and Xath was in a strange place. Xath wanted to know why. The man he held was one of the mystic folk.

'Where am I' he asked the struggling man in his hands.

The man in his hands was flailing and kicking and trying to breath. He tried to cast a spell but for some reason he just couldn't use magi

'You'rgghhe in Ccchanterloht private' the man struggled out.

Xath didn't like this answer. It wasn't very helpful. So he broke the man's neck with a squeeze of his hand. He dropped the corpse and stepped over it to the door before stepping out into the corridor There were two guards posted across the hall watching his door. When the guards saw the door open and Xath step out they drew their swords. When they saw the doctors body beside him one of them charged Xath and the other blew this whistle around his neck. The first guard, the one that charged, swung his sword at Xath. Xath almost laughed at the clumsy imprecise stroke. Xath calmly stepped around the blow and punched the man in the throat with a quick but powerful jab. The cartilidge in his throat collapsed and the guard fell on his back gurgling. The sound was pleasant in Xaths' ears. Xath took the sword from the dying guard and moved with such speed that the guard who was blowing the whistle only saw a dark blur as the sword removed the head from his Shoulders.

Xath giggled at this. Then he stopped giggling and looked at his hands. They were coated in blood.

Xath fell to his knees 'I'm still alive!' he began sobbing uncontrollably 'Why can't I just die! He killed me. I saw it he cut my throat I'm dead and it's over and I'll stop hurting people and everyone will be better. I'm dead and this isn't real. Oh god why won't I die!'

'Oh shut up you whiney bitch' He answered himself in a different voice. 'You're alive and that's the way it should be.'

Then a third voice piped up 'Yeah it wasn't like we killed everyone you ever loved.' Then Xath broke into a fit of giggling.

The giggling soon turned into sobbing 'Get out of my head! Xath shouted. 'Leave me alone!'

The giggler answered 'But we love you Xath. You mean the world to us. If only you could return that love. Oh it's so sad how one sided some relationships can be.'

'What the h..'

Rage Xath looked up and saw a guard staring at him with a look that combined horror and confusion. To Rage Xath this look seemed a little judgemental. This made Rage Xath angry. So he leapt across the room and jammed his fingers through the guard's eyes. The guard fell to the ground with a scream as he covered his bleeding eyes with his hands. Rage Xath looked at the blood on his claws. He decided that he didn't like this place. The people here were annoying.

He walked through the hospital for a while trying to find a way out. He got lost pretty soon but he noticed that in all the rooms were sick and wounded people. He wondered why they were all dumped here. He encountered a few more of those useless guardsmen posted outside a door and killed them too. He felt curious as to why they were outside this door so he poked his head in and saw something that pleased him greatly. Hand cuffed to a bed was his old friend Kain.

Kain looked up and saw Xath. 'Oh hell'.

Giggling Xath responded 'Well hello there.'

Kain started yanking his hands cuffs trying to get free or jerk them lose. 'You son of a bitch I'll kill you yet!'

Giggler Xath responded 'Oh? Will you just? As I see it our last encounter left you in worse shape than me.' Giggler Xath walked forward and through the hospital blanket off Kain. 'Look at this' he exclaimed 'They stitched you up well.' He chuckled at that 'I might have to stab you again' to emphasize his point he raised one of the two bloody swords he'd used to kill the guards. 'But then you are so much fun, you know except for that one part where you cut my throat' He finished as Rage xath took over halfway though the sentence. 'I want you to know how much fun I had butchering that son you were so proud of. He was a very strong little boy.' Rage Xath's eyes sparkled with joy at the memory 'I'm just sad you weren't there to see him squeal like pig'.

Kain didn't respond. He new if he tried the only sound he could make would be a strangled croak.

Xath laughed Giggler returning. 'You need some help with those cuffs' he chuckled while lining up his sword with Kains right wrist Right above where he was hand cuffed. 'Let me get that for you' he said as he swung the sword down
Kain saw the movement and threw his body weight to the left. This caused the bed to rock briefly and lined the hand cuff chain up perfectly with Xaths cut. The sword was fairly sharp and in the super human hand of Xath it cut into the chain. The links were bent horribly out of shape allowing Kain to wrench his right arm free. Kain then jumped over the left side of the bed flipping the bed over in the process. Xath took a step back from the upturned bed.

'You were always the better swordsmen then I was, weren't you?' he chuckled.

Kain stood up from behind the bed. He didn't reach his full height because he was still chained to the bed.

Xath swung his sword at Kains neck but it was blocked buy one Princess Luna. She'd teleported into the room just in time to block the sword stroke. Xath used a flap of his wings to pull himself out into the corridor. He could feel her strength. It was greater than his own. This unnerved him. Giggler Xath changed into Rage Xath.

Luna appraised him calmly. She was a greater folk. Their magical power was unrivaled and their strength and agility was superhuman. She could feel the magic coming off this creature. She knew he was powerful but was certain she could simply over power him with magic.

She shot a lance of lightning at him from her glowing horn and he did something she had never seen anything ever do before. He caught the bolt with his hand and tossed it back at her. She blocked it with a barrier of her own.

'You're a real powerhouse lady…. You reek of magic.' Rage Xath said. 'I hate that smell.'Xath wrinkled his nose in disgust

'Don't cast spells on him he can redirect and control the magic of others.' Kain said 'Defensive magic will work though'. Luna nodded her understanding. 'He's also an expert swordsman and has super human strength.'

Rage Xath smouldered 'I'm a master not an expert! I killed my master and took his sword. Just like you did!'

'That was after your transformation and at that age he hadn't touched a sword in five years.' Kain answered the contempt clear in his voice.

Rage Xath shouted 'It doesn't matter he's dead and I'm here, and you're about to join him!' he roared.

He charged forward and he swung one sword at Luna who blocked it with her own before he spun past her and chopped at Kain. Kain did the same thing he did last time, maneuvering himself so the blade cut through his other handcuff while at the same time with his free hand he jabbed the nerve ending In rage Xaths' wrist. This caused Xath to drop one sword. Kain grabbed it up and swung it at Xath. Xath ducked back. Right into Luna who ran him through with her sword. It went through the stomach and far from a graceful attack. Giggle Xath decided to take over. He grabbed the sword blade and pulled it the rest of the way through his stomach and held it in his hands. Lunas' sword was wrenched from her hands and she was forced to duck back as Xath stabbed behind himself at her with his original sword. She ducked back out the door as one of Xaths' wing whipped out and buffeted her in the face. She ducked back into the corridor Xath swung at her but had to pull his attack short to avoid a stab quick from Kain.

He combat rolled into the corridor just as Princess Celestia was heading up it to see what the commotion was. He saw Luna and Kain battling Xath with swords. She intervened in the worst way possible. Princess Celestia, the second most powerful magical force in the Equestria other than the elements of harmony shouted a warning to her sister Luna and cast a spell at Xath. Luna heard the warning grabbed Kain and teleported him and herself down the corridor out of the path of the magical assault. The assault itself was a beam of bright white energy that traveled down the corridor obliterating everything in its path. Xath caught the beam and formed it into a ball which he flung to his left with a grunt of exertion. The ball blasted through several walls before bursting into the outside night. Xath being wounded and tired decided that rather than fighting two creatures more powerful than him, decided now would be a good time to escape. He flew through the hole he'd created and escaped out into the night.

Luna stepped forward next to her sister. Kain stood back for a second catching his breath.

After some time Celestia was the first to speak 'What… was that?'

Kain spoke up still panting from the pain in his recent stab wound and the exertion 'That, was Xath…. My younger brother.'
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They were in Celestias' throne room now. Celestia and Luna were seated on their thrones and Kain was seated on a chair that had been brought in for him. As he sat there, he thought he could feel the scrutiny of the two princesses on the throne.

'Tell us your tale from the start.' Ordered Celestia.

'Gladly but could I have some water. The tale is long and I'll need a drink' Celestia waved her hand and a table appeared next to him with a jug of water and several empty glasses next to it. 'Thanks' he said.

He sat down and began his story. 'I grew up at least 1000 years ago. Probably more, I don't know. I was the eldest of three. I was named Kain, my younger brother was named Xath and the youngest my sister was named Thae'ah. We were born under the regime of one of the greater folk named Gallerion. Galerion ran a class based racist society. Mystic folk were high class. The sky folk were soldiers and the earth folk like me and my younger siblings were farmers or trash. We couldn't do magic, we couldn't fly and all we could do was grow food so our betters may eat while we starve. However my youngest sister was born the element of honesty. So my family was elevated above its peers. Me and My brother were apprenticed to blade masters. My brothers master was a gruff but kindly veteran and mine was a bastard who enjoyed hurting me.'

He stopped to take a sip before he continued 'As time wore on Gallerion made life even harder for the earth folk and Sky folk. Eventually a revolution broke out. The sky folk and earth folk united against the mystic folk and the few greater folk. The war was short lived. With most soldiers and generals siding with the earth folk it was soon obvious the winners would be the rebels. My sister being the element of honesty was one of the few earth folk who sided with the mystic folk. As the war went on her loyalty slowly changed and me and my brother decided to defect along with her. Gallerion found out and afraid of losing control of the elements of harmony imprisoned her. Me and my brother escaped and vowed to free her. The war eventually hit a snag when the greater folk recalled their soldiers to several well defended fortresses that the rebels could not penetrate. As the stale mate lased it became apparent the rebellion was wearing itself out. As long those fortresses contained greater folk we could not penetrate them. We needed a way to overcome the greater folk or we were doomed to a slow defeat. That's when my brother left. He didn't return for several months but when he did he was as you see him now. But he wasn't crazy yet. With his help we won the war. His magical deflection allowed him defeat the greater folk. We rescued our sister and we both slew our blade masters in the final battle, claimed their swords and earned the title blade master.'

He stopped for another drink 'After the war was over peace settled in. Over time my brother started to behave strangely. He kept muttering to himself. One day He snapped. He killed an entire village full of people. 121 people in total. Then he turned himself in for justice. That night he broke out of his cell and killed another 48 veteran soldiers. After that he roamed the world as he saw fit and killed suddenly and indiscriminately. I tried in vain to stop him on my own but without any magical power to speak of I was unsuccessful. The only power I knew of that could overcome his magical manipulation were the elements of Harmony. The problem was they were as divided by the war as the kingdom had been. Four followed the rebels and two allied with the Greater folk. I had to find them and get them to agree to work with each other first. And I did. It took years but eventually I found them in all the different corners of the globe. In that time my brother had killed thousands more and the two mystic folk elements only agreed to work with me on the condition that they would be allowed to execute me after as a traitor. I agreed. I returned and learned that my brother had killed all my family other than my sister in my absence. I worked with the elements of Harmony to destroy Xath but rather than kill him we were imprisoned in stone. They must have thought we were both dead anyway. Now however many years later the spell broke and we were released. Then the events of tonight happened.

Kain turned a critical eye on the two princesses 'You fools should have listened to me, and killed him when you had the chance. Now he's on the loose and has to be stopped again.'

Celestia didn't appreciate anybody calling her a fool. 'You will watch your mouth in the presence of the Princess of Equestria in future.'

Kain snorted 'I'm sure I will.'

Celestia ignored his comment as she pondered the predicament in front of her. 'It sounds to me that in order to defeat him we need the elements of Harmony and someone of equal power and skill to him.'

Luna weighed in 'I'm of slightly higher power and strength than him.'

Kain laughed 'Lady she said power and skill, not power and brute force. Believe me when I say if he came at you alone he would kill you. Other greater folk during the war made the mistake of thinking of strength and skill as the same thing. No, to beat him you will be needed, but other things will be needed from you in order for that to happen.'

Celestia examined Kain and said 'I take it you have a plan?'

Kain nodded. 'Last time I tried to kill him the effort was rushed and sloppy. I was the only person fully prepared to face him. This time we need to go in prepared and have a stronger team and plan in place. In order to do this I'll need a few things. First I'll need three to six months. I'll need either her or you' he pointed at Luna and Celestia 'I'll need enough armour and weapons for at least 8 people. It would be better if its custom forged. I'll need a way to travel fast and lastly and most importantly' he paused for a second thinking how to phrase the request.

'What?' Celestia asked suspecting she knew the question.

'You still got those elements?'
End of chapter.
If you liked that chapter then read the next. Otherwise please review and tell me what I'm doing wrong.