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Brother Moon

by Archon The Manic

Chapters

Prologue

One thousand, one hundred years. That is how long I have been here in this world, and how long  have waited here. I still recall the events of my entire existence until now, though I am unsure why. I was around twenty years of age when the events occurred which brought me to this world of 'Equestria' from my home of Earth. I was an avid fan of many things back home, and on the night in question I had gone to an event known as a convention. It was a place for people sharing the same interests could gather, and so I went dressed as a monster from one of my favorite games, known as a Necromorph or more specifically a slasher. I was walking to meet with a friend and later with one of my siblings to have fun with them, when I came across a small shop set up in an alleyway. I entered, and found a man dressed as a character from a game similar to mine, but of a different variety. A being known as the Merchant, from a game known as Resident Evil. I bought a prop of a weapon from the same game that my costume was from, and departed the shop. I only made it a few feet before the prop I had purchased burst with a burning light which completely enveloped me.

I awoke in a dark forest, with freezing rain covering me. I attempted to stand, but my body would not move. My body felt wrong, disjointed and broken. My mind pounded, voices not my own screaming against my own for dominance. The voices screamed for blood and death, and for me to bring an unnatural death onto all things living. I resisted, forcing down the pain for as long as I was able. It took a a great deal of time, but I came to terms with my state. Whatever that light was had changed me. My body was that of a Necromorph, an enhanced slasher variant to be precise, while still bearing some resemblance to my previous self in face, and only one pair of blades and legs to live by.

For almost 100 years I lived alone in those woods, constantly at war with the voices which screamed for suffering and bloodshed. On the rare days that the voices gave me rest I explored, and learned of the small creatures which inhabited this world. Each time I met them, I was forced to flee either to prevent myself from succumbing to the voices from forcing me into doing their will by them, or for the fact that they lashed out, terrified of my appearance. I did not blame them, as I knew the way I looked and would seem. To them I was a towering monster of bent flesh and black-green blood, adorned with only a plasma cutter (something which they would have no way of recognizing), and a well-worn backpack. For years I lived secluded in those woods, lost both in world and in my own mind. Until that day...

The day I was saved...

The day the princess of the moon, barely an adult, reached out with her magic and her will, and turned the darkness which tore through me into light.

The day that the screaming of the brethren moons were forced from me, and replaced with the kind song of the sister moon as I would come to know her as...

Chapter One: Recollection

I sat alone, curled into a ball. It was night, and as per usual it was all I could do to keep myself in the cave which I made my home of sorts, struggling against... them. The brethren moons... I was a necromorph, and I wasn't sure how many of the things from my world, or from the game. From what I knew, both from what I had seen in this world, and from the barest bits of what I understood from the cacophony of the moons, there was nothing else out there except for the natural parts of this world. But that wouldn't last. I could hear the brethren moons, and that meant that someday, maybe not now, maybe not even for centuries, but someday... They would come. The markers would emerge, and this world would be baptized in blood and fire. Something was holding these events back though, and the moons sought to break me, to make me into the weapon by which the end of this world would come. I would raze all which lay in my path, spread their corruption and then release the seals of the pit which bound the markers influence. But I would not. I did not break, and even still I struggle against them each night they haunt me and only in the day do I have any amount of control other than keeping them from using me.

The screams rose one night, going beyond all else that they had ever done to me. But this was different. The voices which screamed with anger and hate now showed... fear? They were afraid, and desperate to break me. I was spasming on the ground, screeching in pain. I was finally at the edge, nearly lost in the dark when suddenly... nothing. All went silent, the voices gone from me for the first time in almost a century. Then I heard something new... singing. A song filled my broken mind, singing of sorrow and peace. A young woman's voice sang through my mind, and for the first time since my arrival, I sank into the peaceful bliss of a dreamless slumber.

When I woke, the sun just barely had risen, and for the first time I felt... happy. My mind was completely my own. Each day before I had still felt the moons calling me, echoing in the back of my mind. But today, as I felt out for anything, the only thing in my mind was the simple song of that woman. The song did not command action or desire my obedience, it simply wanted peace. It was a song without words, but it still conveyed kindness and sympathy, and hearing it I felt as if the one who had brought my mind back into itself wanted nothing but the best for me.

My mind was clear, the fog blown away. Everything that I was rushed back to me, and I finally remembered all that I had lost. Until now I was just a broken shell, barely able to hold myself from being overwhelmed. I looked to my side, and saw the backpack with my belongings, only opened in the time that I'd been here so that I could maintain the materials inside from being degraded. I had kept my materials from harm in the basic way I had lived. The walls of my cave were marked with scratches, to the point where I had to clean the walls at the end of each year to keep time. I looked about my cave and then opened my bag. Laying inside were the belongings I had from my world. A phone and charger, long since drained. A wallet, now holding useless money  that would hold no value here. Keys to an apartment and car I did not doubt would have been given up in my absence. Then the items of true value that I sought. A simple outfit of jeans and a T-shirt, that I had never worn in my dazed state for fear of destroying them in my madness, and the plasma cutter which had brought me to this state. I felt a grin cover my twisted features.

"My name... My name is Jack... I remember now. I remember it all. I do not know you, savior, but you have my thanks and eternal gratitude. "

I rasped, starting to dress myself, having to be delicate around the parts of my form such as my blades. For the first time in my recent memory I knew of myself and I knew what to do. I finished putting myself back together and set out. My future on Earth was stolen away, and I was most likely thought dead. Here though, I at least knew that there was someone out there that cared for me despite my form. This woman of an unknown age and species, on an alien planet which I finally had the mental fortitude to explore and learn about, was out there. I owed her my life, and so I set out to pay her back for all that she had given back to me...

Chapter Two: The Walker of Dreams

The day passed quickly as I followed the echoes in my mind towards my liberator, and I refused to halt for a single moment until night fell. My body felt worn, and so I set a small place to stay for my self, collecting some plants from the forest to eat. I lay upon the ground, and after a moment I fell into a dark sleep.

When I next opened my eyes, I was in a forest other than the one I slept in. I looked about, and found myself in a small clearing. My body seemed to be ethereal, shifting between the form I lost and the form I gained. I looked up, and saw the moon above me, shining in blue light. I heard the song then, slow but powerful, and calling to me. I wandered toward a hill nearby, which was shown in the light to seem as if the moon could be touched from it. I was at the bottom of the hill when I saw her.

She was tall enough to reach the chest of my necromorph form, and yet she seemed larger than anything else I could see. She was a rich blue, with a mane of shimmering stars. She hovered, barely touching the ground with her back hooves and with her wings spread wide. A slender horn was upon her head, releasing a light that seemed to move with the rhythm of the song. I thought I went unnoticed, but she turned around to face me, a gentle smile on her face. Her eyes shined white, and she seemed to speak in a way I could hear over her song.

Well hello there. I am Luna, newly risen guardian of the night. We hope you are well after the things we found in your mind. I am unfamiliar with your kind, but I take it you are happy with my help?

I slowly nodded, numb for a moment before sinking to my knees.

"Thank you... Thank you..."

I shuddered for a moment before breaking. The emotions that I had subdues for so long finally returned to me, the sorrow for what I had lost, the hope I'd regained for the future, and all of the pain of my life here. All of this and more finally broke through me and I sobbed openly. Luna reached for me, and pulled me into an embrace.

Sshh sshh sshh... There there... All will be well...

You poor soul, I have glimpsed the creatures which have tormented you throughout ages and I will tell you now that they are gone. May you have peace at last, and find your way through the darkness...

---

I awoke in the forest from the previous night, my face wet with tears and yet a smile on my face. I stood up again, and continued forward, finding my way to a massive trench, spanned by a small rope bridge. I crossed it, and looked up to see a towering castle standing above me. I cautiously approached it, knocking upon the door and then lowering myself toward the ground to appear smaller to them. The door was opened by one of the ponies of this world, a dark brown stallion wearing silver armor with a blue plume. He took a single look at me before yelping and slamming the door.

I waited a moment before hearing a scuffling inside. the door was thrown open.

"Begone infernal guard! The beast you speak of is not what he seems, and besides he is our guest!'

Then I saw her. The mare of my dream who had liberated me. She was being pulled on by the guard, until they were both cut off by a firm voice calling out.

"Enough! Luna, Captain Star, what is the meaning of... this...?"

Her voice wavered by the end as she saw me in the doorway. She resembled Luna, but was somewhat taller, with a mane of cool hues and a white coat. She wore a golden chestpiece and matching a matching tiara and horseshoes. I looked down and realized that Luna was wearing a similar set, made of  black metal and colored with small moon emblems.

"Celestia remove this guard, the one at the door is our guest!"

'Celestia' calmed slightly after hearing that, though she still seemed wary of my presence.

"sister are you sure of this character?"

Luna nodded quickly.

"...well then, Captain Star remove yourself. If my sister says she trusts this being then you have no reason to halt her"

The captain blustered a bit, but quieted after looking at Celestia

Luna gave a short nod, and then waved me to walk into the castle. I stood up, spooking the guard further with my full height.

"Come, come friend! We would like to begin the spell now!"

I was confused by this, but still followed her along.

She was aware of my entire situation it seemed, as she had seen all of the brethren moons actions, and subsequently my own fractured thoughts, as she had sought to clear my mind. It was her place, as the princess of the night, to help protect the dreams of all those who lived in her and her sisters kingdom. She had recently been given the duty of watching dreams in this way, but had only recently been able to find me. As she described it, the dreamscape was a realm where all of the sentient beings of Equestria were connected, with their own little area of it. As it was, there was a massive wall of darkness around me, formed by all of the years of their haunting me. The darkness did not spread as all the other nightmares that haunted the dreamscape,  and seemed to be stuck to me. Luna actually wasn't supposed to approach my mind however, for the fact that the haze about my mind only reacted to other parts of the dreamscape when someone else attempted entrance to my mind. Luna had nearly been overwhelmed in her efforts against the moons, and had been taking a massive risk just for the fact that she had refused to abide my suffering. I blinked twice at this, before leaning down and hugging her. She looked up at me then with a sad look.

"I am merely sad about the fact that I could not help you sooner. But I do have something that may be able to make up for it somewhat"

I tilted my head in confusion, wondering what she meant. She led me into a large throneroom, clearly divided to show that there was a side for both her and her sister separately. She opened a chamber in the floor, showing a stone construct bearing six stone orbs.

"These are powerful relics, known as the elements of harmony. They are extremely powerful, and with them we were able to defeat a madgod named Dicord, who held the land in a case of eternal chaos. And with them"

She turned to face me with a confident grin, three of the orbs opening behind her.

"I have found a way to mayhaps mend your damaged form"

Chapter Three: Balance of Power

"I have found a way to mayhaps mend your damaged form"

I stood unmoving as she continued speaking.

"I wield three of the elements, Kindness, Laughter, and Magic. With these, my power is greatly increased and so now that I have you here I may be able to find a way to heal you"

I rushed hugged her, and she giggled in response.

"I am glad to see that this pleases you, but while I may heal you I'm... I'm afraid that we may not be able to send you back to your home world..."

I shook my head and rasped out

"I have been here too long. Anything which I had there is now gone, forever lost to me..."

She nodded in understanding.

"Well then, let's begin"

The next few days were spent with Luna using her magic to scan me, take some samples and see how my body reacted to the elements. The two of us became quick friends, and I came to feel a burning loyalty to her for all that she had given me. I no longer cared if I was returned to my true self, though I would like Luna's plan to succeed, but even if not I would still have a roof over my head, food, and most importantly a friend that could save me from the darkness.

Of course there were some problems. All of the ponies in the castle were terrified of me, though the servants did their best and I fully understood the reasons why. Other than that, The captain I had met at the door clearly disliked me though, and I came to the conclusion after observing that him that he was a complete bigot to anyone that was not a pony, and that I was some kind of demon. I didn't argue against being a demon, but I still didn't get along with him. Celestia seemed neutral to me, as if she merely tolerated my presence for Luna's sake though we did get along fairly well and she helped Luna with introducing me to the ponies of the castle and the many ponies who made the journey through the forest to meet with the princesses.

After a few days I began to notice something amongst the ponies. Of the two princesses, all but the thestrals (one of the least common of the four races) seemed to prefer Celestia over Luna, ignoring even the fact that Luna was just as powerful as her sister, if a small bit younger. The ponies had developed a great fear of the night after years of monster attacks, and seemingly had begun to associate those attacks with Luna herself. The thestrals naturally  preferred the night, but also felt a similar loyalty to Luna like mine, as she had saved them in a similar way. From what I had been told, The thestrals were once hunted by the other races of ponies, treated as hellspawn. Luna had intervened, saving them from extinction and then eventually becoming a revered figure amongst them. As a result, Luna had her areas of the castle staffed with the surviving night ponies. But they were the minority, and other than them only a few of the 'daywalkers' would pay Luna any mind. I decided that the best way to apply myself now, now that I had others feeding me and the desire to earn my keep, was to join Luna's personal guard.

They all accepted me with open arms, assigning me first to learn as mush as I could about Equestria, seeing as any instruction I took would become useless if Luna succeeded with helping to make me human again. For the next couple of days I spent most of my time with Luna in her lab, reading all of the books I could in regard to Equestria. It was from this I began to determine something.

I had magic. Whether it was there from before or after my coming to Equestria, I wasn't sure, but after reading a number of tomes on pony magic I began testing. I went through the steps used by younger ponies to feel out for their magic before applying it. After I went through all of the steps with the full expectation of not having any magic, I was shocked when I actually felt something there. I didn't test any further from there, unsure if my own magic reacted similarly enough to that of a pony to be used in the same way. I went to tell Luna about what I had found, and that was when she told me the news.

She had done it. She had found a way to make me human again.

---

It took a few hours to put everything together, with both Luna and the group of thestral unicorns that worked as royal mages working to finish a spell array. After that I was placed in the center with Luna's elements floating in the air, circling around me. The spell only took a moment, before a wave of pink, purple, and red light erupted from the elements and enveloped me. The light burned, filling me with complete agony. My bones seemed to dissolve as I floated in the air above the mages casting the spell alongside Luna, my senses burning with pain. The thought crossed my mind that Luna had betrayed me, and this was all meant to destroy me. I banished the thought, refusing to believe that Luna would do such a thing. The pain passed, and I collapsed to the ground in a state of disorientation. I slowly rose, placing a hand upon my...

Wait a second.

I had hands!

I shoved myself to my feet, taking stock of my new form. I wasn't sure what I was, but I believed my self to be something of an amalgam of my bodies. I was human in build,   with the same facial features and even hair, but my skin was all pitch black, looking as if I were crafted out of tar. My hands lacked nails, rather ending into pointed claws. My hair hung in front of my face, in a style like I wore on earth but of the same color as my skin and so looking to be made of darkness. I looked down to the marble floor, and saw that my eyes were changed only in shape. They were both a glowing yellow, like those of my necromorph body. I burst out laughing after I saw my reflection, I looked like I was a heartless from Kingdom Hearts or something!

I looked over and saw unsure looks on the faces of the mages, and saw a look of total defeat on Luna's face.

"Yo Luna, what's with the sad face?"

She looked up at me, our eyes locked or a moment before she spoke

"I failed. With all of out best efforts you are still not as you were"

I burst out laughing again. She looked confused now.

"Luna, after all you've given me I wouldn't care if I was still a full necromorph! Hell, having the form of both is even better. You didn't fail me in a single way, so stop with the sad face"

She smiled at this, and I grinned at her. I grabbed my clothing from where I left it (for the spell to work I wasn't able to wear clothing, though all of the mages and Luna were extremely polite about the whole situation) and got dressed, with my plasma cutter at my side. I spoke up.

"So, now that I'm transformed you wanna be the first to scan the magic of an alien?"

She brightened up and gave me a bright smile. The moment I told her I had magic she had gotten completely enthusiastic about the idea of seeing how it would work in regard to Equestrian magic, and so I figured that would be a good way to pick up her mood. She placed a protective mask over her head, and then looked back to me with a toothy, half maniacal grin.

"Verily..."

Chapter Four: Tests of Power

The first test of my magic was a simple one: Luna and I went into a magically shielded room and then I tried to use any amount of magic while Luna absorbs. I felt out for my magic, and a rush of power flowed through me as I tried to make it do anything. I nearly gave up after a while of nothing happening. I tested the boundaries and collected some power into my arm. I jokingly decided to go through the motions of alchemy from Fullmetal Alchemist, and placed a hand onto one of my arms and waved it as if my hand was transformed into a blade with the expectation that-

My arm went numb, and I heard a sickening sound of flesh tearing and bone breaking. Sensation returned to me and I saw my right arm had bent and realigned, my clawed hand replaced with a massive blade of muscle and bone. I yelped and waved my arm about as if it were on fire, and I felt all of the magic drain from my arm as it returned into being my hand.

"Well then! It would seem your magic is tied into transformation..."

I looked at Luna as she said this, somewhat unsure.

"Okay, what's that mean?" I said apprehensively

"Well most magical beings have are born with a natural affinity towards a certain school of magic, destruction, illusion, conjuration, restoration and the like. Transformation is one of these, based around transforming ones self, other beings, or changing materials. It would seem you are magically directed towards transforming your physical form."

I looked back at my hand.

"Well how about that?"

I prepared to continue my testing when a thestral mare walked in, a small thing with orange eyes, a dark red coat and a gray mane.

"Excuse me your highness, but I was sent to retrieve the human Jack for an entrance exam to the Night Guard. If it is an issue then I can inform them that he is busy here"

Luna shook her head.

"If you want to gain entrance to the guard it is important you are there without my influencing outcomes in your favor. I will see you when you have completed your trial, though I must warn you that it will be a difficult ordeal. Captain Crimson Blade you may take him"

I turned and followed her to the room where I would be tested for entrance. As I knew of it, the night guard were less of a guard for the castle and more of a private guard. The Night Guard acted as a personal force for Luna, with them protecting her as well as receiving specific assignments that the normal guards of pony settlements were unable to handle from her.

The test itself was constructed as an obstacle course, meant to determine magical, physical, and strategical abilities in the ponies...er, people in my case, seeking entrance and training from the Night Guard. I would be left in the entrance chamber, and then I would proceed through all of the rooms ahead, solving each puzzle, test and challenge set against me. As I proceeded, I would be magically monitored for all that I did so that they would be able to fairly determine my abilities and they had presented me a simple bronze amulet that I could use to alert them that a test was too much for me to handle, and so the chamber would cancel and I'd go to the next. I wondered early on about why there wasn't anything to test intelligence, but from what I'd seen Equestria was similar to medieval Earth in terms of the nobility being the ones that focused on education, even though Luna and Celestia were fair and kind rulers.

The first chamber was simple; a room full of holes, with spikes popping out at quick intervals with a few small points without spikes to stand upon. I took a moment to learn the patterns, then dodging through to the other side. the next was strange, an empty room without an extra door or any obstacles. The only thing there being a small table with a button on it. I walked to it, and took a look. There was nothing on it, no inscriptions or wiring or anything. I pressed the button, and immediately flinched away as the walls all around me opened into magical lightning. A small part of the floor rose into a barrier that I hid behind as one of the walls shined with magic to reveal the exit.

The magical blasts kept me pinned down, and the possibility of using the amulet passed through my mind. It seemed that the chamber couldn't be passed without my taking a massive hit. Then something hit me. I could transform and get the abilities of a nercomorph, so what was there to say that I couldn't use abilities from the other breeds? I thought of all the varieties I could for something that I could use before I took my gamble. I focused power through my right arm, legs, and the half of my torso in between. I rushed forward as I forced my body into changing shapes. Muscle folded and grew, bone expanded and hardened a  charged forward. I was exhilarated that I had succeeded, and I was glad for at least having a fraction of the power of a necromorph Brute as I charged forward. My affected arm grew out into a massive shield of bone and hardened skin, absorbing most of the lightning flying at me as I charged forward and smashed through the door to the next chamber.

I took a moment to recover after my body reverted. Okay note to self: the bigger the necromorph, the bigger the physical drain once I returned to human. Still, having the power of an actual necromorph was pretty exhilarating. I stood up and looked around, finding myself in a large corridor. There was a thestral stallion standing in the center of the room, a dark gray pegasus wearing the armor of the Night Guard in my way. He spoke to me slowly, in a deep voice.

"Greetings. I am Iron Shield, the test of strength. To continue you must find a way to get past me."

I wasn't sure if I could manage another transformation to a Brute form again, and even then this stallion was almost as tall as me, with a good deal of muscle. As I was, strength to strength wasn't going to work. I decided I'd test myself a bit further, sending a wave of magic down my  arm. I rushed forward, making it half way before I lashed out, cracking the whip to my side with my arm, shredding it into three barbed tentacles, those of a lurker necromorph. I whipped back and forth, sending a wave of barbs all around the stallion, catching his attention as I darted past, rushing to the door and barely getting through before the door shut behind me.

I wasn't sure if I would pass the test or not, but either way it was gonna be one hell of a way to test my new abilities out.

Chapter Five: The Test of Magic

The next test, from what I understood, was a test of range. There was a hook on the ceiling with a white line running from it to the door, and from what I figured then a unicorn was to use magic to pull it down, pegasi flew up to grab it, and earth ponies would have to climb using slots in the wall. I chose the earth pony route, climbing the wall halfway, and due to my height above the ponies I reached out and grabbed the hook easily before hopping down. I wasn't sure what to think about what happened next. The entire wall opened rather than the door, and revealed a large pit in the ground. There was a metal bar across the ceiling halfway, and then a rope piled up on the floor near the wall on my side. I thought back to the fact that most ponies had a medieval education and shrugged. I grabbed the robe and tied it to the hook, and then used it as a grappling hook to cross the divide.

Many of the tests were like this, clearly aimed for ponies. Even though I couldn't hold transformations other than my slasher blade for very long, I managed to get past the tests with the 3 forms I'd already started using. I reached what seemed to be the one of the final tests before I actually was unsure of what to do.

In the center of the room lay a massive stone circle, made of interlocked stone pieces and small glowing gems. There was no door, just this stone puzzle circle on the ground. The thing was covered in dust, as if t hadn't been messed with in a while. I started moving pieces around, eventually watching the last piece fall into place. The final appearance of the circle was an 'X', that sank into the ground when it was solved. The walls followed after, flattening out with the ground. I looked around and found myself standing in one of the underground chambers for spellcasting, similar to the one Luna used to help make me human. There was a long bench and table with a few of the Night Guard furiously writing notes, some looking at me with shocked expressions. A few thestral mages stood around, horns glowing. Luna was standing in the center, looking at me excitedly. The stallion that had said he was a test of strength stood of in a corner, looking at me with frustration. It looked like I made him pretty ticked when I got past him without actually using strength. I looked over and saw a tall thestral mare, almost as tall as Luna. She lacked a helmet, so I could see that she had a shortened black mane, and a pair of deep blue eyes and a blue-gray coat. She Looked at me as if she were appraising me, and then locked eyes with me and spoke in a confident tone.

"Well then Mr. Jack, training for new recruits starts one week from now."

She turned away from me.

"Welcome to the Night Guard."

---

Luna told me why the ponies in the final chamber were so shocked by my arrival. As it turned out that of the tests I had gone through, a lot of them were designed to be unsolvable, that way the various ways possible recruits would try to solve them could be recorded until they ended up using the amulet to show they couldn't pass, and then there would be different possible doors to access. The whole test was built somewhat like a maze, to give different sequences of tests before eventually converging onto the seal. The seal was a test of prior puzzle solving skill, only solved by a small number of unicorns that sought entry. I burst out laughing when she told me that even she didn't understand all of the things in the test, but the thestrals that put them together did seem to know what they were doing as the recruits that passed went on to do very well for their tours of duty.

"Now that you've completed the test, let's return to testing your magic. I'm rather curious over the ways you used it earlier."

I nodded and kept pace beside her.

"Yeah, it just sorta came naturally to me. Takes a lot out of me though. By the end  the test I started feeling like I was gonna drop off..."

She nodded as if she expected this.

"That is natural for one using so much magic. It is no surprise that you have such ease however, for a pony with a special talent in magic then their alignment allows for them to use certain spells easily. From what I saw in your mind of the creature you became, they are naturally adaptive and transformative creatures. It would make sense that you would have a natural skill for those same transformations, albeit with a higher magical cost. With training, you should be able to greatly increase your magical ability to the point where such transformations can be made to last a great deal longer, with lower magical cost."

I grinned at this.

"That would be pretty useful to learn. That's a part of the training for your guard, right? Combat applications of magic?"

She nodded.

"Indeed. I have made sure that for the training of my guard they are given an education that most Equestrians other than the nobles lack. We give them education in math, history, magic, physical combat, as well as some small amounts of other subjects. As your people place more priority upon education than ours, you already have the level of education required other than those skills related to combat and magic. Although I believe you would benefit from having some education on the side in regards to Equestrian history. Though I still wonder, of all the jobs you would take here, why become one of the guardsponies?"

I looked at her with an earnest expression and sank to my knee in front of her.

"I'm not just becoming a random guard Luna, I'm becoming one of your guards. Luna, you saved my life and gave me a friend in my darkest hour. I'm gonna do everything I can to repay that debt, and if I can do that by being one of the people to fight beside you and for you then that's what I'll do."

She gave me a small smile and blushed.

"If you must Jack. Thank you."

I stood back up and smiled at her.

"So, wanna go bug Captain Star? That jerk's been begging for some trouble ever since I got here."

Luna thought for a moment before flashing me a grin. She raised on her back legs.

"The captain shan't know what struck him!"

Chapter Six: Getting the Lay of the Land

"RUN LUNA! RUN BEFORE CAPTAIN CRUNCH GETS YOU AND LECTURES US BOTH ON PRINCESSLY BEHAVIORS!"

Okay, maybe putting super-burn hot sauce in Captain Star's armor was a bad idea. And running past him and smacking the back of his head with a fish Luna and I caught wasn't a good idea either. And the tripwires rigged all throughout his quarters to cover him in dirt.

Yeah today hasn't been a day of good ideas today. On the upside, Luna was screaming with laughter as we ran to escape the Captain's clutches.

"THOU SHALT NEVER TAKE US ALIVE CAPTAIN! NEVER!"

The two of us reached a dead end, with the Captain dead behind us. I panicked, and grabbed Luna and leaped out the window, my legs morphing into the tail of a Leaper necromorph to hook onto the windowsill. The two of us swung around, landing in a lower level of the castle.

"Huzzah! We have escaped the Captain!"

Luna exclaimed this as we landed onto the floor, and I thought of how happy I was that Captain Star had no power over any member of the Night Guard since he would undoubtedly try to expel me for all this.

"So I take it that you two are the reason that Captain Star has been scrambling about the castle in an enraged frenzy?"

Celestia stood above us with a small smile. Luna and I replied unanimously.

"Nooooooooooo..."

Celestia smiled further at this. From what I could tell she'd begun to warm up to me a bit. She spoke again.

"Well I am sorry to end you two's fun, but Luna there's a matter which I'd like to speak privately with you about."

Luna nodded and then turned to me.

"It seems I am needed. I will see you later Jack, until then the library should have some further books relating to transformation magic for you."

I nodded and waved them goodbye.

"See you guys later."

I went to the library and retrieved the books mentioned, and then returned to my quarters to get a quick nap, as I would need to adjust my sleep schedule to that of the Night Guard and Luna, being able to sleep and be awake at any hour of the day. I laid down for only a moment before I sank into unconsciousness, an aware of what was about to hit me.

---

I looked around, and found myself standing in the throne room of the castle. I looked around, and saw that the entire area appeared... ruined. The ceiling was blown apart, revealing a toxic looking green sky, and...

No.

NO.

There in the sky lay a number of brethren moons, slowly approaching. I ran to find Luna, Celestia, SOMEONE. There was blood scattered across the wall and floors, but no bodies. I reached the Library before hearing a faint scratching somewhere else in the castle. I ran forward alone, before running out one of the exits to the castle. I looked around after I exited and that's when I saw it. It was a necromorph, unlike any I'd seen. It was a massive monstrosity, towering over me, with a form somewhere between a pony and the Snowbeast Necromorph. It had a twisted horn, almost resembling a Black Marker. It roared at me, showing a mouth of malformed teeth and tentacles. A pair of bone plated wings spread on its back and it lunged for me. Darkness took me and I found myself standing alone on the edge of a wide, pitch black pit. I looked down the mountainside opposite the pit, and saw a field of broken bodies, belonging to Night and Day guards alike. Mixed amongst them were the bodies of various other creatures, wearing the armor of the two guards or simple black armored robes. I heard a rumble echo from the pit behind me. I turned around, and that's when I heard it.

They cannot be saved. The end has come for this planet as it did for all those before it. This place will be consumed, and then return to the darkness of its birth.

And you cannot stop these events from overtaking this place.

The last thing I heard was the sound of Celestia sobbing. The last thing I saw before the darkness in the pit swallowed me, was a red outline deep withing the pit.

The outline of a marker.

---

I shot awake, drenched in a frigid sweat. I didn't move, laying in bed staring at the ceiling locked in numb fear. It took me a moment to remember where I was, and I stood up from bed. I looked over and jumped back in fear before calming down. Standing in the doorway was a pale gray mare, with a a limp hanging white mane, long enough to touch her forehooves. Her eyes were lacking in any feature other than a uniform white glow. Her body was adorned by a ragged blue cloak. She spoke in a strange voice, sounding as multiple unanimous voices speaking in an alien tongue but still understood by me.

The blood moons will come for this place on the eve of war, when there is blood spilled on the sacred stones. First their followers shall emerge, and the first waves of the dead will come forth. Then, on the thousandth anniversary of the day the sisters of sun and moon are parted will the pit open, and the world will flow red with blood of the demons and of the warriors who halt them...

I stood unmoving, afraid of what the mare before me had said, and the way it paralleled the nightmare I had just seen. The mare shook her head as if clearing fog from it. She looked up at me in surprise.

"Sorry dear, did you say something?"

I shook my head.

"Well alright then."

She turned and left, and I burst from the room. I charged past everything in the castle and found Luna standing alone in the throne room. I ran straight for her, and sank into her hooves, sobbing. Luna didn't say a word, merely stroking my back and telling me it would be alright. After a few minutes I told her of all that I had seen and the words of the unknown mare. She told me the mare was the Oracle, a mare that carried the voice of prophecy within her. She told me that my dream may have been a premonition of things to come in the future. But even premonitions were only predictions, and could be changed with the proper effort. It was a good effort, but made no difference in the dread I felt.

Luna helped me with getting my worries of things to come off my mind, and so I poured myself back into study, practicing with my magic until I was able to levitate objects and cast light.

---

Eventually the time came for me to start training with the guard. The first class was fairly simple, we were all lined up one night, each of us partnered up with another recruit and entered into practice against other guards that already passed training. I looked over at my partner. He was a tall lanky stallion with a deep yellow coat and a short, dark pink mane. He was a thestral pegasus, with a pair of wngs big enough to match his height. His cutie mark was of a pair of armored thestral wings, showing a set of wingblades. He spoke with a medium voice, and in a quiet tone. I could tell he wasn't quiet out of fear, but out of thought for his actions and those around him.

"Uh. Hey, you're that thing from the forest that Luna brought in, right? I heard about you from some of the other guards."

I nodded.

"Yeah. Name's Jack, yours?"

He smiled.

"Wing. Razor Wing."

I smiled back.

"So we're partners then?"

He nodded.

"Seems that way."

The first guys we were put against were a green thestral unicorn mare with a purple mane, and the same stallion from my entrance test, who claimed to be a test of strength. The mare had a cheerful look about her, and seemed fairly nice. The stallion, Iron Shield if I remembered correctly, had a look of murder in his eyes. It would seem he held a grudge over the way I skipped over him. Well this'd be a load of fun.

Chapter Seven: Guard Training

The mare spoke first.

"Alright boys my name's Orchid and my partner here is Iron Shield, and we'll be your trainers starting today. Iron here specializes in hoof-to-hoof and heavy blade combat, and I specialize in nature and healing magic. Essentially I act as a support for colts and fillies like Shield that can go into the fray directly, magically boosting their abilities beyond their normal limits. For the first days of your time here in training, we'll determine your strengths and place you into separate groups for further training. So..."

She paused for a moment before looking at us in an almost predatory fashion.

"Let's begin, shall we? GET 'EM SHIELD!!"

Orchid leaped away and sent a stream of magic into Shield as he charged straight toward Razor and I, both of us dodging to either side. Razor darted off into the air, and I watched as Shield took out a large bronze broadsword. He spoke to both of us, slowly inching towards me however.

"This is one of the guard's practice weapons, which can be grabbed over in the corner. It'll behave with most materials like a regular blade, but it's enchanted so if it hits you in a way that would harm you then it's gonna feel like an actual sword, when in reality it's gonna phase right through you like a ghost. For example,"

He whirled around mid-sentence and slashed my leg, causing me to buckle slightly. I grunted in pain, refusing to sink over as he seemed to expect.

"So we're allowed to go all out then? You guys can take the punishment and all?"

I looked at Orchid as I said this. She giggled slightly before responding to me as one would to a child.

"Sure. You can go 'all out' on us."

Iron Shield stood over me, looking pleased with himself over his little cheap-shot on me. I looked at him with a savage grin, before morphing into my body to be like that of a brute necromorph, before slugging him with a heavily muscled and armored arm. The guys landed on the ground a few feet away. I walked over, my entire body other than my right arm returning to its normal state. I stood over him, offering my normal arm to help him up.

"That was for the cheap shot. So, now that you got one on me and vice versa, we all good Mr. Test of Strength?"

He looked at me with a pissed of expression for a moment, before bursting out into laughter as he took my outstretched hand and got up from the ground.

"Yeah, guess we are kid."

---

The rest of the day passed pretty smoothly, and now that they had a better idea of my ability they cut it out with some of the kid talk. By the end of the first day I felt sore all over, but in a good way. As I went back to my room Luna met up with me in the hallway.

"So how was the first day of your training Jack?"

I gave her a tired smile.

"Pretty good Luna, pretty good. I think I made some friends too."

She smiled back at me.

"Well that is important. I am glad to hear that you are enjoying your time with the guard. For now you seem rather worn from the  night's training. Have a good day's sleep, dear Jack."

I lay down on my bed and smiled at her.

"You too Luna, you... too..."

I  barely finished talking before slipping into a dreamless sleep.

-----

"Jaaaack.. Hey Jaaaaaaaaaack.... JACK WAKE THE TARTARUS UP! WE'RE ON DUTY!"

I shot awake and collapsed out of bed at the sound Orchid yelling at me. It had been almost two months since I had joined the Night Guard, and Razor and I had long since graduated. The two of us already had a lot of the educational requirements to go into actual duty, and since we were older than most recruits we had been able to make it with only combat training and evaluations. The two of us had luckily been placed in the same team with Iron Shield and Orchid. Of course, this had meant that all of us were subject to Orchid's little "wake up" calls, which usually was her giving us two chances to wake up in a gentle voice before screaming at us full force. I looked up to see Orchid laughing at me where I was on the ground.

"Yeah, laugh it up..."

I stood up and started changing out of my pajamas into the set of armor that had been crafted for me. The blacksmith for the castle and the Night Guard had a field day when he found out he got to craft not only a suit for a new species, but also the fact that he would need to make it for a transformation magic user. By the time he was done, I had a suit of Night Guard armor crafted out of what Luna informed me was Lunar Bronze (a metal crafted out of ten parts Lunar Steel and one part Mythril), with the capability of shifting and reshaping along with me as I turned into different forms (although this enchantment only could stretch to forms that remained within a certain size of form, as well as any transformations that made me smaller). Along with all of this, the armor had the standard green dragon's eye amulet embedded in the chestpiece, though something about my black necromorph-human meld body disrupted the part of the enchantment for recoloration, so the amulets effect was restricted to simply giving me the increased senses that it gave the other guards as well as the illusion of me having slitted pupils rather than my eyes being entirely yellow. I finished putting my armor on, thankful for the fact that Luna was able to get the info I knew about old medieval human armor from my mind and give it to the blacksmith.

"Seriously though Jack, we gotta go. There's something happening today and Princess Luna says she wants our team and a couple of others to grab breakfast and then head to the great hall."

I nodded, rubbing the back of my head as I popped my back and grabbed my plasma cutter. By this point along with my belt I both had it and a Lunar Steel short sword, for just in case my transformations failed or I ran out of magic. It only took a few minutes for us to meet up with the others and finish breakfast.

"So what does the Princess need from us? Something up in one of the provinces?"

Razor asked as he fiddled with the set of armored Celestial Gold wingblades he had been assigned. Iron Shield shrugged.

"Dunno. But she says head to the great hall, so that's where we're gonna go."

The four of us entered the hall, and lined up with the other teams that lay there. We all looked around and saw several groups of Day Guard teams as well, all of them giving us those little hate filled glances they gave whenever Celestia wasn't around. It was no surprise that many of the ponies in the Day Guard, whether Celestia would ever notice or not, had old grudges against thestrals tracing back to the nobles that once hunted them. As it was, Celectia seemed to reject the idea of any animosity between the two Guards much in the way she seemed to be disagreeing with Luna more and more. The glares of the Day Guard were almost equally matched by the stares of the Night Guard, including me. Everyone in the room finally broke the staring match as Celestia and Luna entered, the former flanked by Captain Star and the latter by my commanding officer, a middle aged thestral pegasus mare with the sort of color that Night Guard armor normally had to apply with enchantments by the name of Captain North Wind. Celestia addressed us first.

"I know you are all wondering why we have gathered you here today, so we will get straight to the matter at hoof. Our ally, the Crystal Empire, is in severe need of our aid. Control over the entire Empire has been seized by a mad stallion by the name of King Sombra, and so it has been determined between Luna and I that we will embark to the Crystal Empire with all of you, the best of our guards, to face Sombra and cast him down from power and liberate those ponies that he has enslaved in his madness."

Luna stepped forward.

"We hope to strike him hard and fast, and take him from his throne without casualties on any side, except for Sombra himself if there is no other choice. All of you are to be ready to depart by day's end, at which point you will be debriefed the details of our collective attack plan."

Murmurs echoed throughout the room between the guards on each side as we were dismissed to prepare ourselves. I stumbled back to my room before sinking down to sit on the end of my bed.

This was it. My first real mission with the Night Guard. I just hoped I was ready.

Chapter Eight: The Crystal King

It was late day, the sun setting in the distance. All of us were set up at key locations at the edges of the empire, ready to move in. We'd all been warned not to engage the guards, as it turned out 'Sombra' was a dark mage, with a horn of red crystalline stone and a talent for summoning corruptive crystal and dark possessive magic. Each crystal pony in the kingdom was completely under Sombra's control, and would not hesitate to set off every available alarm if they saw us. We all looked up and saw the moon, and then an almost unnoticeable  flash on its surface, the kind that would only be seen if one was looking specifically for it.  We all were tense, and inched ever closer to the castle. Each squad was assigned to a specific entryway to the castle, that way the castle would be completely sealed off from the possessed ponies around it that would rush to aid Sombra. My team, named Aron squad, made it in and securely barricaded off the entrance, and rushed through to the main chamber. We reached the edge of the chamber and slowed, hoping to get the drop on Sombra. We all heard the echoes of the two Princesses voices.

"Your villainy ends here Sombra, we have come to liberate those that you have enslaved and free the empire!"

We heard Luna's voice echoing around. We heard a rough voice going through the room, sending a chill down everyone's spines.

"Fools... Did you really think I wouldn't be prepared? I may not have found the true Crystal Heart, but I found something better...."

Razor Wing and Orchid snuck around to the other side of the door. We all got a good glimpse of Sombra. He was a tall stallion, about as tall as Celestia, with a deep ashen coat and a black mane. His entire form was covered in steel looking armor and a crown, drawing focus onto his face, which bore a pair of harsh red eyes illuminated with purple and green light, and his horn was just as described, a red spike with a black glow about it. He stood at odds with the two Princesses and the two captains, and he continued speaking.

"I found the designs behind them, every rune and enchantment. And with those and the help of the church, I have made something better. Oh, and don't think I haven't sensed your little soldiers. The torches about each of the castle walls monitor a wide area, so I am aware of all those you have stationed, and I have sent my brother Unitologists out to... greet them, let's say."

He showed a toothy grin, and levitated out a black crystalline heart with his final sentence, the heat emblazoned with the shape of... Oh God. A marker.

Everything hit me hard. Unitologists. The followers of the Markers, and a religion of madmen and zealots. That meant that my dream of the Marker... Crap. This was really bad. I looked up, and saw the Princesses and Captains lunge for Sombra with horns and wingblades aglow with power. We prepared to move in to join them, when a wave of energy burst from the Black Heart. Bolts of magic went wild throughout the room, and Captain Star rammed Celestia to the ground as the black lightning reached out. I watched in shock as a bolt of it went for Luna, before Captain Wind rammed her out of the way and took the blast and landed hard on the ground. This was worse than I thought, that heart had the power to instantly kill, and we were the only ones that weren't pinned down by it. I locked eyes with my team, and we all nodded. We all knew the drill, we all had been given combat plans for the case of magical artifacts.

Orchid stood back by the doorway sending magic into Shield as he charged and tackled Sombra from behind. Razor flew threw the air, sending waves of electrical wind from his wingblades into the stunned Sombra. I ran up the steps to the throne and morphed out into the shaping of a Lurker necromorph, and shot out an grabbed the Black Heart, wrenching it from Sombra's magic. I landed on the ground with the heart and rushed away, getting to Luna and Celestia's position. I heard Sombra roar in anger, and I turned around just in time to see him grab Razor's wing in his magic and use him to smash Shield away, and I saw both go down after slamming into a wall. Orchid launched a volley of magic at Sombra, and he just shrugged it off and sent a surge of power through the ground, sealing off the half of the room with the rest of my team with a wall of black crystal spikes. He turned and finally seemed to notice me. He narrowed his eyes.

"Creature I will give you this one chance to relinquish the Heart or else feel my wrath."

I could feel his magic grasping around the Heart. I knew I couldn't let him get the heart, and so I tightened my grip on the heart. Our eyes locked. I looked in the crystals formed behind him and saw Luna and Celestia charging magic, and I steeled my resolve. He spoke again.

"So be it."

His magic wrapped around the heart, and in a panicked move I transformed and wrenched my rib-cage open and pulled the heart in as I morphed my body into a larger size and sealed myself around the heart. I felt a surge of maddening rage surge from the heart and a wave of power pulsed into me. I struggled to keep myself aware, and focused on the faint hum of Luna's magic running through my mind.  Sombra sent a wave of crystal from the floor, spikes tearing into my body at all ends. I struggled for a moment in pain before morphing into one of the forms I still struggled with, but now had no fear of with the temporary boost from the heart. The necromorph Ubermorph, a regenerator capable of healing itself against most harm. I grew a good foot taller, and my arms extended out into multi-tipped blades. My vision increased as three additional eyes formed on my face. The crystals stuck through my cracked and shattered as I healed my wounds and pulled my body back together. Another row of spikes shot out from the ground in front of me, only to be caught and halted by my blades. I looked up  to see a look of confused horror on his faces. I'd almost forgotten that Unitologists worship all things necromorph, so having one o your gods show up and start wailing on you must be pretty shocking. I darted around the crystal, and made a move on Sombra. One of the tactics covered by the Guards for this kind of scenario was to actively attack the horn of the enemy until they're captured or in the most difficult of cases, until their horn was cut off to prevent magic usage. I had a feeling that this guy wasn't gonna sit there and let himself be taken in. I saw his eyes lock on Luna and Celestia.

Oh HELL no!

Rage gripped me again as I saw him sent a blast of magic towards the, and I planted myself in the way, taking the blast through my chest, tearing my torso and arms apart. I watched him rush over to me, seeking to rip the Black Heart out of me where I lay. A sickening sound of blade through flesh echoed around the room. One of my blades now ran through Sombra, starting in the end of his hoof and running until nearly hitting his shoulder. He gasped for pain, and I struggled to stand as my body painfully reasssembled and reformed. I saw his horn light up for a moment, only for him to yell in pain as I grabbed my plasma cutter in a tentacle from my back and blasted it into his chest repeatedly. I looked and saw the two sisters standing ready with magic. I slammed Sombra into the ground, knocking him unconscious, and threw the Heart on top of him. Both sisters send twin blasts of magic and the room was filled with burning white light as I ran to get some distance from the body.

I heard ponies yelling as I sank against a wall, reverting to normal. Note to self, regenerated limbs work just like the old, but when I go human again they hurt like hell.

I woke up to someone shaking my shoulders, and then smacking me while yelling at me in Razor's voice:

"JACK! DO NOT GO INTO THE LIGHT! THERE IS NOTHING THERE FOR YOU!"

I groaned and opened my eyes.

"Hey guys... wassup?"

I said groggily, somewhat out of it. I blinked and woke up further as all three of my teammates hugged me, Razor and Orchid on either side and then Shield hugging all of us. I spoke up softly.

"Um guys... I'm good for the hugging normally but my everything kinda hurts right now..."

Orchic 'eep'ed and leapt away while Razor and Shield let go. Razor spoke up again.

"Uh sorry dude. You kinda spooked us when we got back in after everything blew up and we saw you all collapsed and bloodied against a wall. We thought you got pasted!"

I gave them a somewhat pained grin.

"Well I'm still here, aren't I?"

I remembered everything that happened, and started forcing myself to stand.

"Wait a sec guys, what happened!? Are the Princesses alright? Is Sombra dead? Did we win?"

I heard Luna speak up.

"I believe I can answer that."

I looked up and saw Luna approaching us with a sad expression. I felt dread wash over me.

Luna filled us in on what happened while I was out and my team was patching me up. Sombra hadn't been kidding about having ways of keeping track of enemy soldiers. We'd only survived since we managed to get in without getting spotted, it seemed that the other guards had been heading in when the alarms went off and the Unitologists struck. Our forces had won eventually won, but at heavy casualties. Sombra had been beaten and the Black Heart destroyed, and that event ad sent out a surge of power that liberated the minds of those that Sombra enslaved, and the guards of the Empire that were inside the castle had immediately turned to our side and helped to drive off the Unitologists that Sombra had in waiting. After that our forces took out the barricades on the doors and let in all of the now-free crystal ponies. All that was left of Sombra was a charred horn, a Unitologist Marker necklace,  and the fragments of the Black Heart. But the losses...

Almost half of the Night Guard teams brought here had been either wounded or even killed. My team helped get everyone we could to the medical station set up by the crystal ponies. Something I noticed was the lack of Day Guard wounded. There was only a fraction of the number of wounded Day Guard, and no casualties. That sent a chill through me and I decided I would find out what was going on with that fact.

---

We in the Night Guard had no family save each other and Princess Luna. We all felt the loss equally, as we had all lost brothers and sisters on this day. We gave them all a short funeral, and the crystal ponies had constructed a small memorial statue, made to be of a mare and stallion in Night Guard armor. The Day Guard was in attendance, but to the anger of all the remaining Night Guard they all carried the looks of teenagers made to go somewhere they'd rather not be by their parents. I knew I wasn't the only Night Guard hearing the whispers going around among the Day Guard, and I was thankful that Luna didn't have a dragon's eye amulet like we guards had boosting our senses.

The Night Guard did find something good in the Crystal Empire though, as it was clear that thestrals and myself were completely welcome among the crystal ponies. Any whispers heard from the Crystal Ponies were positive and kind. It seemed we made a good impression upon them. We ended up staying a few days before something big happened. The elected leader of the crystal ponies, a teal stallion by the name of Geode, went to speak to Princess Luna. He spoke in a smooth voice.

"Princess Luna, we are eternally grateful for everything that has been done for us and the sacrifices made by your guard. I have been sent here by my fellow crystal ponies to ask if you would like to stay here with your Guard, and rule over the Crystal Empire? We need someone like you that can protect us from the church, and everypony here loves you and your Night Guard!"

Luna stood stock still, as did everyone around her. She seemed lost in thought, and slowly glanced at Celestia. She got a resolute expression and looked back to Geode, and silently nodded.

Chapter Nine: The Crystal Moon

I walked down the hallway and heard Celestia and Luna arguing with each other. Celestia sounded pissed off about Luna's decision.

"Luna, you can't be serious! Without you I can't use the elements to defend Equestria, besides we're a diarchy! I can't rule without you!"

I looked in and saw Luna whirl around on Celestia.

"You can't use the elements?! Ha! Sister it has been plain to me for a long time... The ponies of Equestria cherish you as they do the sun, and just like you they only tolerate my presence, constantly circumventing me and going to you for their own benefits. Not to mention those little whispers among your Guard constantly testing the patience of mine. The Night Guard may not know this, but by their presence my own senses are amplified through them. I hear every word of hate spoken. Here, my Guard would be able to live peacefully and be treated with kindness as other ponies are. In Equestria I am unwanted, but here I am not only needed, but wanted. As the thestrals have set as a custom, there was a celebration in the names of the dead and so I went down among them and the ponies here. They legitimately care for me, almost as Equestria does for you. The crystal ponies are cautious of the creatures in my night, but they do not fear it as the ponies in Equestria do. This is my choice to make sister. I will send a portion of my Guard here to Equestria with you to collect my belongings and then help with the movements of the rest of the Night Guard here.  There can only be one princess in Equestria, and that princess will not be me."

She turned and walked past me in the doorway, leaving behind a distraught Celestia. Luna walked in the doorway I was hiding behind and turned to me with a sad look,

"Come along, dear Jack. I know you have been hiding there."

The Night Guard was completely content with the move, sending back groups to retreive their belongings. There was a bit of apprehension but there was a small enough number of us that no one really objected to getting out of Equestria, the memory of the way that the thestrals had been saved from the brink of extinction fresh in all of their minds, and I still sought to repay my debt to Luna. If being here would make her happy, then I would do everything I could to help make that happen for her not to mention the fact that I wanted to look into the unitologists previously in control of the empire.

---

It took a few weeks to move everything of Luna and the Night Guard from the castle but we finished. The whole city was in celebration throughout Luna's coronation to being the new Crystal Princess, and with the final words from Luna, the ceremony was done. Luna's standard black metal ornaments had been replaced with a new set, crafted of white gold and moonstone. her face was shining with a bright smile throughout. The castle had been redecorated somewhat, and now was decorated with a mix of the tapestries and the like from before Sombra, but now with the sorts of things placed about the parts of the castle owned by the Night Guard and Luna. I myself had been given the title of Luna's Champion, and was one of her most trusted allies. I was honored, and even now I argue of whether or not I was deserving of such. After the coronation celebration was over I stood by Luna's side in court, ever vigilant. My memory still held a streak of a perfect memory, and I knew from Dead Space that the unitologists weren't to be taken lightly. I looked up when one of the Night Guard's mages dashed in with an urgent manner.

"Princess Luna!"

The mare panted, out of breath.

"We found the designs for the Crystal Heart!"

The Crystal Heart was a relic similar to the Elements of Harmony, but made with different properties and uses. Ever since we arrived, none of our efforts to find the heart had produced anything, until now. Luna brightened.

"Excellent! Court is adjourned for the night, come along Jack."

I fell in line behind her. She spoke more when we had exited the throne room, walking with the mare that had told us of the discovery.

"I hope that we can use the plans for the heart in a way better than Sombra. With luck we will be able to assemble a new Heart with the abilities of the original, but perhaps even more powerful in conductance of magical power in order to defend the empire."

I nodded.

"The Heart conducts magic provided from the citizens of the empire along with the ambient magic in the area, right?"

Luna nodded.

"Do you think we could use it to take a look throughout the empire and maybe weed out any Unitologists in hiding?"

She shook her head and answered.

"I'm afraid not. Even if that were possible I fear it would come off poorly if it were revealed that I was spying on the entire kingdom. I can, however, find them through the dreamscape much in the way I found you."

I nodded.

"Yeah, that is true. Anyway, I'm gonna get a copy of those notes to give to some of the crystal mages. From what I've seen they're the closest thing that ponykind has to the engineers and scientists of my world. They seem excited to get a chance to look at 'advanced alien technology', and they seem to be more interested in science alongside magic rather than the Equestrian preference for only magic. I hope that maybe they can use the stuff from my world like my phone and then my plasma cutter to give the Crystal Empire a bit of a technological jump ahead of what it normally would have."

Luna nodded.

"Indeed it would be useful to have such advancements should we have another threat from the Unitologists in hiding."

After dropping off the plans and then my belongings from Earth (I warned them to be careful and not try to disassemble anything, seeing as it would destroy my phone and the plasma cutter... well, seeing as it had unlimited shots rather than the standard 12, I didn't want to run the risk of it flooding the castle with plasma) Luna and I went out to the Guards barracks to spar. Something I had gotten into the habit of doing ever since I was knighted to be Luna's Champion was sparring against Luna and then the other guards. After a few weeks I was beginning to become a skilled swordsman, both with my original shortsword I received when I joined the Guard and with the different arm blades from my various necromorph forms. Something I noticed from this was the fact that when transformed, my armblades were durable enough to hold off even the heaviest of broadsword strikes, albeit with some strain depending on my muscles. I still was nowhere near Luna, but I was a fast learner. Luna and I clashed blades, going back and forth in who had the advantage. We both were throne off by the door slamming open to the training room. I looked up and saw  Razor and Shield standing in the doorway. Shield spoke first.

"Princess Luna, Jack, there's trouble out in the west! There's a massive dragon making its way towards the city!"

Luna nodded.

"I will stay behind to keep the populace calm, and then to be a final line of defense. Jack, take your team and head out to speak to the dragon. If he comes in peace then escort him back, but if he means harm then you know what must be done."

I nodded, and started heading out with Razor and Shield. We walked along for a bit before I stopped. I looked at Razor.

"Hey Raze. Where's Orchid? She's usually with you?"

A furious blush and a stupid grin came across his face.

"Um. She's on... leave."

I looked at him for a moment before the pieces clicked in my mind.

"Oh. OH. Raze you sly dog!"

I gave him a slap on the back and Shield just laughed.

"I knew you guys were into each other but dang! Good for you guys!"

He held the same nervous smile.

"Yeah, thanks. I'm just kinda happy/nervous over all of it. Anyway, let's keep going. I got an important date with a pretty mare tonight, so I think we should hurry up."

I nodded and Shield just kept smiling.

"Yeah sure thing Raze."

It took the three of us a while to make it out to where the dragon was supposed to be. We looked up and saw the bugger. A massive dragon, covered in silver scales and looking down on us with gold colored eyes. I recalled the standard procedure for dealing with dragons. Not all dragons were sentient, but it was best to attempt discussion with any that approached. Depending on the dragon it could be talked into passing by in peace, going the other way, or simply negotiating. Many dragons were quite civilized in behavior, and would behave in the same way as  a pony. On the off chance that the dragon was feral or a sentient that would harm or attack anything near it the first option would be to drive it off with a show of force, and if that failed then the guard was allowed lethal force. I hoped that this dragon would be one of those that fell into the first category, namely being heading for the kingdom with peaceful intent. I called out to the dragon.

"Hail great dragon! For what purpose do you pass these lands!?"

He looked down at me with a disdainful expression, before landing on the ground directly in front of us. He spoke in a voice that conveyed that he was a long-lived dragon, as was confirmed by the tears in his wings and the patches of torn off scales.

"Hail strange creature of unknown heritage in the guise of the Night. I am Tharn, the elder dragon of the north.  I am here to claim what I am owed by the Crystal King Sombra, as agreed."

I wasn't sure what this could mean.

"And what would that agreement entail?"

He grinned as me, showing off almost every tooth and fang.

"The entire store of the Empire's metals in exchange for the obliteration and consumption of the Elder's Cairn hidden in the frozen north."

"Sorry  Tharn but Sombra's been deposed. Any agreements with him are now null. Sorry, but it looks like you worked for nothing. You have the apologies of the now liberated kingdom."

I didn't know what in the hell the Elder's Cairn was, but I decided that I would find out later. Currently, Tharn looked more than a tad pissed off.

"I must apologize as well then. I was hoping to have the ability to get the treasure I am due and then depart, but it seems I must take it out of that crystal city of yours."

He grinned at me again, but this time with malice. I was glad that Shield and Razor were skilled enough at reading body language that they could tell what was about to happen and dodge away as we all dashed to avoid the wave of dark red flames that Tharn sprayed at us. It seemed the time for words had passed. Razor shot into the air and started darting around Tharn, slashing at the patches of him that lacked scales. We'd learned a while back during advanced training the different breeds of dragon. From what we'd learned, as a dragon gets older the materials they consume vary, and alongside the meat, gems and vegetation they consume metals are added to their diet. The gems they eat boost their magical field, and the metals can sharpen and strengthen their teeth, enhance and harden their scales, even change the effects and color of their breath, all based off of the type of metal consumed. It even had the ability to change the appearances of their scales. From what we knew, this meant this would be a dragon with years of enhancement upon him. That meant that his scales would be near impossible to breach, other than the previous wounds on him.

"Haha! You cannot stop me fools! I will take what I am due!"

He swatted at Razor while Shield charged his right side with his sword. I morphed my right arm into a blade and then drew my sword with the other. I rushed for his left, morphing my right arm into a blade and then plunging it into an exposed spot on his neck. He turned to me and sent a wave of flame that I barely dodged by rolling below him. He dropped down with the intent to crush me, and I dashed to roll to the other side of him. I darted around him, cutting at the various weakened points in his hide. I could see Shield having to put in the extra effort to go fast enough to avoid Tharn, but he still did a good deal of damage. The first few minutes we did well, and Tharn was visibly slowing after a while of having to go between the three of us he was wearing out. He couldn't fly away anymore, as Shield had managed to get a full strike off, splitting through the membrane and crippling it. He was getting desperate to turn the tide before it was too late. That's when things started going wrong. Tharn finally got a read of our movements. With a single move he managed to bring down Razor with his good wing, and then launched him into Shield's path. Both of them were still alright, but stnned for the moment. That was all Tharn needed. Time slowed, and I charged in between Tharn and them. I panicked and tried an ability that I had thought of but never tested. Ever since Luna cast her spell, and ever since I gained this new form, of black flesh and yellow eyes, I had learned more and more about my abilities. I had transformed most of my body into necromorph forms, mixed and matched parts, and even gotten skilled enough to transform at a moments notice. But there was one thing I hadn't done with my forms.

Creation.

I surged with my magic, first morphing my arms into an ubermorphs blades, and then splitting them each in two and grew them out. I forced another transformation, reverting my arms into human form while maintaining the separation. At this point I morphed again, shifting both sets of arms and then the rest of my body into the form of a necromorph brute. I used the extra arms and increased body size to surround Razor and Shield, just as the wave of crimson fire engulfed me. It covered my entire body in searing hot pain, and I yelled out in pain but still refused to give way. My night guard armor stretched to its limit to shield my full form, and even with the enchantments upon it against dragonfire it peeled away and shattered after a few seconds of continued flame. After a moment the flames ceased, no doubt so that Tharn could glimpse his handiwork. I looked down at Shield and Razor, both of whom were looking at me in total shock. I spoke in the low voice which accompanied my morph into a brute.

"Get to cover. Now."

I held the transformation, and forced a bit more ubermorph power throughout myself, giving regeneration to mend some of the patches where the flame had burned through my bone plating after it tore apart the armor on my back and arms. I looked at Tharn, who now expressed genuine shock, not only that I took the full blast but that I was sitll alive afterwards. I roared and charged for him, leaping on top of his head. He reared back, and tried to shake me off, I was already at the edges of my magic but I still forced another transformation. My upper arms shook with strain as I extended blades out of my forearms, on the backs of my hands. I ran both of them into his eyes as he screamed in pain. He managed to grab me in his claws, and I cracked off the blades from my upper arms with the lower, leaving both spiked into his eyes. He threw me, and I sailed into the distance. My body felt like it was on fire, and after landing I collapsed in my original body. The remainders of my armor from my transformation was enough to reform into a mostly intact set of armor for my default form, albeit damaged, though I still had my dragon's eye amulet fully working. I looked over myself and saw I still had the extra set of arms, although they still matched my other set in being fully human.

"Huh. Well that's... new."

I looked up and saw Tharn charging for me. I tried to dodge, but I wasn't fast enough. He seized me in his claws, and threw me through the air and into his mouth. His jaws started to close, and I bought out my sword and stabbed straight upward, piercing through his jaw and into his skull. I screamed out in rage throughout.

"CALL ME HARRY POTTER YOU OVERGROWN FUCKBAG!"

A roar of pain echoed from inside the dragon, and I brought the sword  down in an arc, tearing into the back of his throat. He leaned his head back to force me down his throat, and I used my new arms with my legs to hold my sword in place, running a massive gash down the back of his throat and nearly into his stomach. I finally hit the end, barely holding myself from falling into the toxic death of dragon stomach acid below. I felt the dragon shudder violently, and then collapse to the ground. I pushed forward with my sword. It was pitch black, and the only way I could see was by the power of my armors amulet boosting my sense to give me some sense of sight. I pushed forward with my sword, struggling not to be crushed under the weight of the dragons throat. It was difficult going, my upper arms holding the way open while my lower cut forward, slowly grinding ahead.

From my best guess, it was a long while before I finally cut free. My sword was worn from the effort of piercing the scales of the dragon, nearly broken from the effort. My armor wasn't much better, now scrap metal at best. I collapsed on the ground, a freezing snow falling down. I shrugged of the ruined armor and stuffed it all into the small knapsack I kept at my side. The only part of the armor I kept on was my amulet, which still functioned. I activated on of the spells charged int the thing, a compass of sorts. The last safe location visited would be saved to it, and so I used it to find my way back to the empire. I stumbled through the streets, undoubtedly scaring quite a few ponies, seeing as I was a four armed demon covered in dragon blood wielding a broken sword.

I was frigid and barely standing when I reached the doors of the castle. The guards at the front were about to stop me, but I held out the amulet and they recognized me, about to offer help before I waved them off. I threw the door open to see a Luna with a tear marked face, along with Orchid, Razor, and Shield. I threw all  four of my arms in the air and in my state of being frozen, wounded, and low on blood after said wounds, yelled out.

"HONEY AH'M HOOOME!"

And promptly collapsed onto the castle floor.

Chapter Ten: The Daughter of Tharn

I woke up from unconsciousness to find myself in a bed in the medical wing of the castle, with my team and Luna standing over me, arguing with a doctor. I looked over myself, and found almost every part of me covered in some form of enchanted healing bandage, new arms and all. I felt around and mentally grinned at the fact that I had recharged some of my magic. I pulled in some of the magic from the bandages, and used them to charge my own magical reserve. As I did this the bandages slowly faded to gray. I listened to what everyone was talking about while I charged.

"Princess I'm sorry but we don't know when he'll wake up, if ever! The best we can do with a new species like him is to bandage what seems broken as best we can with our knowledge and then use small healing spells to help his body fix itself."

I decided that I was gonna rub this doctors nose in it as I cast my magic into a minor transformation. Nothing form altering, just giving myself some regeneration to fix the most broken bits of me. After a moment all of my bandages had faded to a dirty looking fray, and I used my claws/hands of my necrohuman (as I decided to call it) form to tear out. I heard everyone gasp as I did this and stretched carefully. I wasn't on deaths door, but I was still sore like hell. I tore off the bandages on my mouth and the second I looked up I was immediately pushed back over by the force of my team and Luna glomping on top of me. I grit my teeth throughout, as it seemed that along with the soreness my body was still heavily bruised. Luna looked me  dead in the eyes with an angry expression.

"I thought you were dead, and then you show up in that kind of state!"

I was a bit glad everyone other than Luna had moved so that wouldn't get knocked off, and a hoof clocked my jaw. I was seriously happy to not have all of the weaknesses of a human at this point, as I was sure that would've knocked out a tooth if I were an average man. Immediately after clocking me Luna went back to hugging my chest. With a diabetes-inducingly cute sad expression.

"I thought you were dead."

I petted her head and returned the hug with my original arms.

"Sorry Luna. On the upside, I did kill a dragon from the inside out."

Luna nodded.

"Yes, you and your team did. As reward for facing off with the dragon I have sent off a group to retrieve  the scales of the dragon, and his fangs."

I looked at her in confusion.

"Uh, what for?"

She climbed off of me.

"It is customary among dragons to take the scales and teeth of any larger dragon that they have slain. Do not misunderstand, it won't be the dragons hide or anything, merely his armored scales. with the fangs we will create some of the strongest weapon components available for Razor Wing and Iron Shield, and with the scales a suit of the strongest armor for yourself. With all of the dragon's scales, the fragments of your broken armor, and some additional materials we should be able to forge armor in the same way we made your original Night Guard armor, in the way that it could collapse and expand in the same way with your transformations."

I wasn't sure.

"Okay, so my team gets weapons and I get the armor? Shouldn't we each just get some of both?"

Razor spoke up.

"Well we already decided that. We figured that since... Well you're the one who takes the most of a beating for the rest of us while we do damage when we can that it'd be best to give you some armor that can take the punishment for you."

I blushed a bit and hopped out of bed and pulled them all in for a hug, holding all four of them in one of my arms.

"Thanks guys."

Luna looked down and spoke up.

"Jack if you don't mind... Why do you have extra limbs?"

I laughed and let go of them. I explained what I'd done in my moment of panic to try and protect my Razor and Shield, and that afterwards when I burned out of magic they hadn't gone away. As far as my magic went, the additional limbs didn't drain from my magic like any of my transformations. That meant that I'd actually made a permanent change to my normal body. I looked at Luna with a cheeky grin.

"Sparring's gonna be fun I think."

Luna got a blank expression before bursting out laughing and collapsed to the floor, rolling around giggling. I helped her u and remembered something.

"Hey Luna... I gotta ask you about something that Tharn said. What's the Elder's Cairn?"

She looked at me with  and unsure expression.

"The Elder's Cairn is the resting place of all the previous rulers of the Crystal Empire, as well as a place which many ancient relics are stored. It is customary as well for each new ruler of the empire to make a pilgrimage to the Cairn to receive the blessing of the spirits that reside there, although it is allowed to bring a single guard along, as princesses of old were not versed in combat. Why do you ask?"

I told her all of what the dragon had said. Her face paled.

"WHAT?!"

---

After a few minutes I managed to calm Luna down, convincing her that we would both head out to investigate once my armor was done. It would take a few days before it was done being forged however, and so we spent the time going about normal business in the empire, and then a new bout of sparring with Luna. My new training regiment included wielding a short sword in each arm, as well as training with my arms transformed into different forms. Something I had noticed was the fact that my strength in my transformations was dependent somewhat on the state my necrohuman body was in, so it paid off for me to train and try to improve myself even without the transformations. I made full use of my time waiting on my armor to recover and then train.

One of the nights I heard a meek knock the door while I was sitting on my bed and reading more on magic. I stood up and opened it. I looked and saw Razor and Shield standing on the other side with a nervous expressions

"Oh, hey there guys. What's up?"

Razor spoke up first.

"Uh... w-we just came down here so that we could...um..."

Shield talked over him.

"We wanted to apologize for getting our asses handed to us when we were fighting Tharn! If we hadn't let ourselves get knocked around like we did then we could've beaten him without you nearly getting eaten. It was our faults that you nearly... you know..."

Both of them hung their heads. I spoke up.

"Being Luna's champion makes me a higher ran than you guys, right? I'm not the highest but still."

They nodded.

"Okay. In that case I order you to train and improve yourselves until you stop beating yourselves up. I don't hld anything against you, and what happened is in the past."

They both nodded, small smiles coming to their faces. Razor's eyes widened, and he spoke again.

"Oh yeah! We got you something! You know how Princess Luna took all that info and stuff about human weapons and armor?"

I nodded.

"Well after they finished making Tharn's teeth into new wingblades for me and a new broadsword for Shield they had some left-"

Shield cut him off.

"So we decided that since your sword got busted from you cutting through Tharn we took all the extra fangs and the pieces of your sword and had them make this!"

He reached and took a wrapped parcel from his back and handed it to me. I unwrapped it and my mind blanked.

Inside the wrapping was, crafted of Lunar Steel and dragon fangs rather than ebony ingots and daedric hearts was a daedric sword, straight out of Skyrim. Instead of being black with a red glow it was a pale silver color with white accenting. It seemed Luna had taken fictional weapons and armor along with the realistic ones. Years of nerdiness from Earth poured through me and I tackled both of them in a hug.

I took the sword and tested it. It had a good balance and was wickedly sharp. If dragon tooth was as strong a material as everyone had said then it most likely had a good deal as much durability as a real daedric sword. I took the blade and planted it into the empty sheath of my original sword and put it back on my belt.

"It's also enchanted to be extra durable in combat and to be capable of withstanding even dragon bile! We decided to name it Tharn's Fang too, just for effect."

I grinned and ruffled their manes.

"Thanks guys."

Shield spoke up again.

"Oh yeah, they told us to tell you that your armors done!"

---

I looked over myself with a massive grin. It looked like my sword wasn't the only thing that had its design borrowed from Skyrim. Tharn's scales had been forged into a modified suit of dragonscale armor, with the only difference between mine and the game's being the lack of shoulder guards to allow for all four of my arms to have free movement, the silver color of the scales, and the fact that my armor's original amulet was embedded in the top of my cuirass. The metal points of the armor were crafted of the remains of my armor and then some raw mythril Luna ordered be used if any additional metal was needed for the armor. As it was, my armor was capable of surviving a direct dip in magma (though it wasn't watertight), able to deflect most blades, and was heavily to almost all magic, save for a few types such as that used mainly by earth ponies in metalworking. I personally added onto the armor a pair of sword sheathes on my back for my upper arms and at either one of my hips for my lower arms. I was finally prepared to go when a crystal pony rushed in.

"Oh good, you haven't left yet Champion Jack. My name is Sharp Gem, and I'm here on behalf of the college that has been studying all of the information and technology that you and the Princess gave to us."

I thought for a moment before remembering what he was talking about. Along with my plasma cutter I had loaned all of the technology I had from Earth, and I had allowed Luna to retrieve information from my mind, mainly all of my knowings as to the varying technologies of my world. Luna had filtered them into raw data and then filtered them into a number of reports as to different fields. I recalled that I had been a college student seeking to become an engineer back on Earth, so I already had a good deal of knowledge. With my necrohuman form's strangely perfect memory Luna and I had been able to replicate a good number of textbooks of my world. I looked back to Sharp Gem.

"Alright, what's going on?"

The pony panted for a moment before speaking.

"Well after all the time spent analyzing all of the information and items you presented. We may need to hold onto them still but we have managed to compile our researching to create these."

He handed me a saddlebag, and I took and opened it. Inside, crafted of Lunar Bronze, and mythril were a pair of plasma cutters. On the front where the three dot cursor would project were three glowing topazes. I looked at him in confusion.

"How? These were nearly impossible scientific instruments, I don't even know how the original works."

He grinned.

"Well we used magic to scan all of the technology and so we compiled both the results of the data along with some of the technology we of the empire possess, although basic by your world's standard, as well as some of the notes from the creation of the Crystal Heart to make something of a facsimile of the original cutter you gave us. They work much like the original, but powered by magical energy stored inside the device. The three at the front project a cursor for aiming as well as aiming the blasts. There are internal clips locked into each which, while not offering infinite energy as the original did, are marked with gem powered runes that will draw ambient magic from the environment around you to power them as well as having a modest charge to them. They're both engineered so that they'll only bond to the one person which activates them."

I nodded and picked up both of them in my lower arms, clicked the small mechanism on the cutters. Both of them popped and primed to fire, with amber colored displays on the backs with the currently charged number of shots. The two registered at twenty shots, with a small gauge on the right side of the number that showed the rate of the shots recharging. I smiled at Sharp.

"Well alright then. Let me know any other developments of your research."

He nodded.

"Very well sir. I was also sent to inform the Princess that we have finished the new heart to shield the kingdom from the harsh weather so that she may cease shielding the city."

I nodded again.

It only took a few moments for Luna and a few crystal pony mages  placed the Heart into the array in the castle's center, and powered the shield. The gem, known now as Luna's Heart (much to Luna's own happiness), was of deep blue sapphire with an image of Luna's symbol off her flank engraved upon it. Until now, Luna had been using her own magic to cast a shield to keep out the fierce weather, along with the thestrals outside the Guard who had followed her.

Finally everything was prepared. I had all four of my swords, my cutters, a backpack full of supplies, and most importantly my armor prepared. Luna met me at the edge of the empire, adorned in full battle regalia of the same build as her new regalia of her coronation, made of mythril and moonstone however. At her side was a weapon especially crafted. It was built as a short rod, one end extending into a double edged dagger and the other end into a warhammer. The two of us set out along the path, exiting the barrier and into the snow. After a while of hiking along the path we found ourselves in the mountains, walking along a stone path. I heard a few small roars, sounding like a dragon. I held up a hand to halt Luna and leaned in and whispered.

"Wait here, I'm gonna look ahead."

Luna opened her mouth to argue, but I cut her off.

"I know you can fight if need be, but as your champion and guard it is my duty to check the path first to make sure you don't have to get in harm's way if at all possible."

She closed her mouth and gave a curt nod. I slowly approached the wall of stone and ducked my head around to see what was ahead. I saw a group of teenage dragons standing around a small creature I didn't recognize. The leader of the dragons, from what I could tell, was a tall drake covered in deep crimson scales, with a yellow underbelly, a pair of golden eyes, a pair of yellow ear frills, a set of short wings and a ridge of pale red and spiky crest lining his back. Along with him was a dragon of the same build but in shades of light green,with sharper and longer claws, a set of yellow eyes, and a pair of large wings. The next was a female dragon, with a sleek build, white scales and a pale gray underbelly and silver eyes. The green and red were both taunting the small creature while the female was laying out of the way, unconscious and bruised looking. I leaned back to Luna and told her what was going on, the only part I was unsure of being the creature.

"And the thing they were taunting was this little biped dog creature. It looked sorta like a female wolf puppy but with big arms and a vest."

Luna nodded.

"It sounds as if it is a gem hunter. They are sentient, with their own culture of gathering in packs."

I nodded and told Luna to stay there while I stopped them. I wasn't about to let the equivalent of a child get pushed around by a couple of bullies. I walked around the wall and spoke up.

"Alright boys playtime with the pup's over with."

The two turned to me and dropped the child, who rushed to the female dragon's side. The red spoke up.

"Oh yeah? And who in the Tartarus are you to stop us from keeping our bosses' stuff in check?"

I raised an eyebrow.

"And who is your boss?"

The green answered.

"The two of us work for Tharn. He shares the gems and stuff that he gets in exchange for us keeping slaves like the little fluffball and his daughter there in check."

I burst out laughing. The red seemed to get angry.

"And what's so funny you fucked up freak?"

I stopped immediately and locked eyes with him.

"Because I felt guilty about killing Tharn, but now after learning a bit more about his character I feel better."

They both were confused. I looked and saw the pup had roused the dragoness. The red spoke up, trying to seem tough.

"Yeah right, how could a runt like you kill a dragon?"

He blinked, and I used that instance to rush forward. I seized his throat in my upper left arm and used my right upper to draw Tharn's Fang from its sheath and put it against his neck.

"My blade is crafted of Tharn's teeth, and my armor of his scales. You wanna know how?"

I leaned in to his ear frill and whispered.

"I went down his throat and cut him apart from the inside..."

I could tell both dragons heard me, and I threw the one I was holding to the ground.

"Now, do I have to clip your wings and shove them down your throats, or are you going to get the fuck away from what is now MY stuff?"

They both were shaking, and rushed away, the green one yelling out.

"Let's get outta here!"

I watched them leave and waved Luna forward. I started walking towards the dragoness and pup, and the pup saw me and dropped onto all fours, shaking in fear but still growling at me. She was a small white thing, with blue eyes and a black vest now that I saw her more closely. Luna looked on in sadness. I halted when she started growling. I took off my helmet and spoke softly.

"Shh shh shh... It's alright, I won't hurt you. All that stuff about owning you was just for show to spook those jerks."

The pup looked unsure. I decided to try a human tactic for dealing with dogs. I held out my hand for her to sniff and when she did I started scratching her head. Her face gained a dopey smile and she loosened up. I moved my hand and she shook her head, as if clearing fog from her mind, and looked back to me, attempting to seem fierce but only looking adorable.

"I'm not gonna do anything, I just want to help her."

I gestured to the dragoness, who looked at me with half closed eyes. The dragoness reached out a claw and put it on the pup's shoulder and spoke in a smooth voice, giving a gentle smile.

"It's alright Akira. Don't worry."

The pup gained a worried expression and looked to the dragoness and spoke in a small voice.

"Okay mama."

I took off my backpack and started applying some healing bandages and giving her healing potions. I talked with her throughout.

"My name's Jack. I take it the kid's name is Akira, so what's yours?"

She looked away and answered.

"Livyathan. But I go by Livy."

"Well it's nice to meet you both. I'm glad I was able to stop those jerks for you. See I'm travelling with Princess Luna over there to see if Tharn really destroyed the Elder's Cairn in the north. But I think Luna will agree if we stop off to check out Tharn's cave to set some slaves free."

I looked back at Luna, who nodded with a fierce look in her eyes.

Livy looked surprised, and her eyes shone in happiness.

"Really? Thank you so much! Aki and I were trying to escape to get help before Tharn returned, but those guys showed up and... Well, you can see what happened."

Livy was mostly patched up, and I helped her to stand, supporting her with my upper right arm. Luna placed Akira onto her back and we all departed to what would be the first stop on our journey.

Chapter Eleven: The Elder's Cairn

After a short journey we came upon a hidden entrance to Tharn's cave, belonging to Livy. We walked up and headed in, hearing the echoing of voices as we walked deeper inside.

"I DON'T CARE IF THARN IS DEAD! NO ONE IS LEAVING JUST CAUSE SOME THING SAYS HE KILLED HIM, AND EVEN IF HE IS DEAD THEN THAT MEANS THAT THIS PLACE IS MINE!"

The healing potions I had given Livy had finally started working and she was able to stand without me. I waved for Luna to stay back and watch Akira while Livy and I approached. Standing in the center of the cavern were the two dragons I'd driven off of Livy and Akira, with the green being held by the throat in the hands of a taller dragon. Whereas the two I had already seen were a good foot shorter than me, this one was possibly a few inches taller. He was bulky and covered in muscle with silver scales and golden eyes. Tharn's scales and eyes. i leaned back to Livy and whispered.

"Friend of yours?'

She grimaced.

"My elder brother, Tyrath."

I looked around the rest of the cavern and shook in barely contained rage. All of the walls had gem hunters and ponies digging and mining at the walls, placing bits of gems and metal into carts. All of them were in chains, with a few other teenage dragons watching them and driving them to work further. I could see tunnels running off of the cavern, most likely containing even more slaves. I leaned back to Livy.

"Tyrath is the biggest of them, right?"

She nodded.

"Good. Watch Luna and Akira, if this backfires then get them out of here and back to the Crystal Empire."

She looked unsure, but nodded. I walked forward into the chamber and into the sight of the dragons.

"HEY TYRATH! WHAT'S THAT YOU SAID ABOUT THE GUY WHO KILLED THARN?!"

He turned at me with a look of hate. I spoke up again.

"HOW ABOUT YOU PUT YOUR CLAWS WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS? I AM JACK, SLAYER OF THARN, AND I CHALLENGE YOU TO ONE ON ONE COMBAT FOR OWNERSHIP OF THIS HORDE!"

He looked at me and laughed.

"Well then... Alright, I'm game. Let's do this. Drakes, call the slaves up and keep them in the upper tunnels and out of the way of the center chamber floor. I want them to see what happens to those who challenge me."

I narrowed my gaze at him.

The slaves all moved out of the way and the two of us squared off, my weapons all set off to the side as per the rules of our battle. The green dragon stood above us with a makeshift flag.

"Okay, one... two..."

As he said two, Tyrath rushed for me, only for me to dodge to the side and extend all of my arms into blades. Tyrath's eyes widened in shock as I charged him. He started slashing at me, only to get pushed back by a flurry of slashes. After a few tries to gouge me, his scales were chipped all over and he had a few cuts to him. He dodged back, and blasted towards me with a blast of fire which I matched with necromorph puker bile, a new ability I'd developed. The two blasts collided and mine managed to get past his, with him narrowly dodging the blast of acid from hitting him. I allowed him a moment for him to watch the bile burn into the ground and sizzle against the stone. He spoke in a quiet voice and looked at me.

"What.. are you?"

I grinned at him.

"I'm Jack, champion of Luna and enemy to those who would harm others for their own gains."

He sent a stream of fire at me, and I dashed to avoid it. I morphed my upper arms into those of a brute necromorph and kept my lower as slasher blades. I waited for the opening where Tyrath inhaled again after firebreathing at me, and I rushed him, smashing him against a wall and then using one of my upper arms to hold his throat to halt him from blasting me with fire as I pinned him to the ground with my other upper held his claws down I placed both of my bladearms to his throat below where I held him.

I leaned in.

"I win."

His eyes were wide with both shock and anger, and he narrowed his eyes before nodding. I let go of him and he slowly stood. I looked to the gathered dragons. I turned my back to Tyrath, fully prepared for him to attempt a cheap hit on me.

"I have beaten Tyrath in combat, and so this horde is mine. All dragons here who worked for either he or Tharn are to clear out of here, NOW!"

I heard movement, and turned to see Tyrath's face puffed up and prepared to blast a fireball. I turned and swiftly socked him with one of my brute arms, and watched the flame leave his mouth into the wall. I seized his throat again, and leaned in to quietly whisper.

"I allow you that one attempt. Next time you harm any other sentient being in anything other than self defense and I find out, then I will not hesitate to hunt you down and finish the job."

I carried him in that fashion past the other dragons and threw him out of the main entrance to the cave. I walked back in and turned to the remaining dragons who stood there with uncertain expressions.

"GET OUT NOW!"

The all scrambled and rushed past me and into the open mountains. I looked to the bound slaves. This may take a while.

---

It took a while, but Luna had magically called in a contingent of the Night Guard, led by Razor and Shield, to help us with escorting the freed gem hunters and ponies back to the empire. The castle had plenty of room, and we converted a good deal of the empty space into a care center for all of those rescued. Levy and I had also embarked to lead some of the guards to help with moving the treasure out of Tharn's cave, that way the Empire would have additional funding for giving care to all of those we had liberated, as well as giving additional metals for the empire to use. In case there were any other dragons that had been in hiding as we unchained and freed all of the slaves, Livy and I were scouting ahead in the cave.

"Holy shit... Tharn wasn't kidding about taking the most sacred treasures of all other dragons he slew but..."

I heard Livy say this as she looked down a hidden passage in the wall of Tharn's personal chamber. I walked over and looked in, and was just as shocked as her. Inside of the chamber was a lava pit with a number of dragon eggs sitting half submerged.

"What the hell? What's all this!?"

Livy walked in and looked at me.

"Dragon eggs take a lot of heat to incubate, so most dragons either warm them with their flamebreath or set them up in such an arrangement  sitting in lava to keep them warm until they're ready to hatch. It looks like along with the hordes from lesser dragons he took their unhatched eggs so that he could take them as his own. That way he could have another group of dragons to watch this place while he was away, that way he could off all the current guards before they got big enough to challenge him."

"Well we can't leave them here. We can store them back at the empire, one of the sublevels of the castle and try and have soem of the unicorns make a new lava pit, that way we can care for the eggs when they hatch."

Livy nodded and we both called in some of the unicorns amongst the guards we had brought to move the eggs, though we had to take them out of the chamber ourselves since Livy and I were the only ones with bodies that were able to handle the heat., Livy as she was a dragon and therefore flame proof and with my necrohuman form it was a bit toasty but still livable. After a while we had all of Tharn's slaves freed, the eggs moved to a safe place in the castle to be watched over, and his horde had been collected.

Livy and I were the last ones to leave the emptied cave behind, and the two of us brought up the rear of the guard.

"So what's the story behind you and Akira?" I asked, attempting to make conversation.

She looked at me with a sad smile.

"A while back when Akira was a newborn, barely teething, she and her family were taken by Tharn. Her parents ended up fighting and getting killed by Tharn, and if it wasn't for the fact that she was asleep and out of the way he would've killed her too. I had been in the middle of an escape attempt but I ended up finding her and so I took her back to the room Tharn usually kept me trapped in. I wanted to get her out of there, but I wasn't sure if she'd survive a trip through the wild, what with the arctic winds and all. I ended up putting up with it all for a few years, and so I cared for Akira as if she was my own, giving her all the food and stuff she needed out of the stuff Tharn gave me. I kept her completely hidden from all of the other dragons until I finally decided that she was old enough for us to escape. That was when you found and saved us from the guards that found me using that secret entrance I dug out. You saved me and my daughter from a life of enslavement, and for that..."

She stopped and turned to me with a serious expression.

"Thank you. For saving me, the slaves, my daughter... Thank you."

I gave her a small smile.

"You're welcome. Anyone that would do that sort of thing to someone else for their own selfish gain is an enemy of mine, and I'm glad to have been able to help you all."

The two of us arrived at the Empire after a while more of walking, entering the castle to see Luna and Akira standing between two Night Guardstallions jumping rope. They both looked up when they saw us enter. Akira bounded towards Livy and rammed her to the ground with a hug, yelling out:

"Mama!"

Livy laughed and returned the hug.

"Hey there kiddo. Have you had fun with auntie Luna?"

Akira nodded her head fiercely.

"Uh-huh! We did double dutches and jumping ropes!"

I smiled at this and walked over to Luna, who looked at the child happily. I stood next to her.

"You have fun with Akira?"

She nodded.

"It has been a most enjoyable experience to have her about. We hope to spend more time with her once we have finished investigating the Cairn. Did you have fun with Livyathan while exploring the caves alone?"

I nodded.

"Yeah, Livy's a pretty cool person."

Luna kept an even gaze to Livy and spoke again.

"She has a rather shapely build as well, hmm?"

I blustered for moment before Luna shushed me.

"I was merely jesting dear Jack. I was just seeing if you possibly had any interest in her."

"What!? No I don't!"

Luna looked at me slyly.

"Methinks thou dost protest too much!"

I huffed and turned away.

"Anyway, are you ready to embark again for the Cairn?"

I nodded.

"Everything should be in order for a while, and I got all of my gear replaced that I used to patch up Livy and Akira. Let's go."

We told everyone we were heading out again to finish investigating the Cairn, and after a few goodbyes to everyone we were prepared to go. I thought about how ridiculous Luna was to think I would have interest in Livy like that...

Right?

I shook my head, hoping to forget such thoughts as we set out.

After another long walk Luna and I found our way through the wilds and then to the top of the mountain above the entrance of the Cairn. What should have been a simple circle of stone that opened into a crystal stair well was torn apart into a massive cavernous pit, torn apart roughly, with the stairwell obliterated and the ground below barely visible. Luna was livid.

"HOW DARE HE?! HOW COULD HE HAVE VIOLATED SUCH A SACRED PLACE!? Jack I am glad you slew him, for someone that would destroy a place so sacred for his own gain... To enslave others and force their laboring... Tharn was a monster that needed to be stopped."

I gave a grim nod. I reached into my pack and took out a long length of cloth wrapped chain and then bound it to a frozen tree a good distance from the pit. After it was securely set in place I threw the other into the pit.

"Okay, Luna you fly down there and I'll use the cord I brought to slide down there. Since there's supposedly another exit to be used when the pilgrimage is complete then we can use that to leave."

She nodded, and I started sliding down the rope slowly, thankful that my armor included dragonscale gauntlets that could withstand rope burn. We both landed down at the bottom after a minute, looking around. The first chamber was filled with the wreckage of the ceiling and stairwell. We looked around and entered the second chamber, finding the way heavily damaged and covered in scorch marks. We were about to leave the otherwise nondescript room when we heard something. A voice echoed, sounding heavily distorted. We saw a mass of light illuminate the chamber and on either side of it a doorway slid open in the wall. Each door was the same design, but above one a glowing emblem of a crown ignited and above the other a sword. We looked at the light, which seemed to bend and reform into a spectral visage of a large stallion. His coat was a dark brown and his mane a deep gray. His eyes were silver, and he was adorned by a rough coat along with a crown of wrought iron which lacked any adornment. He looked at us with a neutral gaze and spoke in a deep baritone voice.

"I am Chancellor Level Head of the Earth Ponies. I am the first spirit to dwell in this place since the first days of the wendigos' onslaught of weather cold enough to match the hatred of pony kind. I led my people to this ancient land and worked to create an artifact powerful enough to protect us from the freezing death around us and bring life to the land. This place is the burial ground of all previous rulers of the Crystal Empire, save for the late Princess Amore. There is no bigotry in the Empire, but this place was made to test the worth of those who would rule over it. Along with this it would test their most trusted guardian, both in whether they would remain loyal to their charges and if they have the strength to protect those around them that are in need. Understand, the one true way to prove yourselves worthy is with the blessing of this place, but if you are not..."

His gaze narrowed upon us.

"Then this place will become your own tombs, not in the honor of a monarch but the shame of a scoundrel. So may you prove worthy if you take this challenge, Lady of the Moon and Necrotic Knight..."

With this final warning the specter dissolved into the air, leaving Luna and I alone in the dimly lit chamber.

Chapter Twelve: Fear of Failing

Luna and I looked at each other for a moment.

"So it seems that when it said you could bring a guardian along it really meant that your guardian could be tested as well."

Luna nodded. We looked at each other for a moment.

"Be safe Luna."

"And you as well dear Jack."

We both nodded and entered the opened doorways. I sighed as the door closed behind me. This was gonna be stressful. I looked around the room and saw the long chamber was adorned on either side of me with sets of armor,made for all sorts of species and each one broken of damaged in some way. Behind each suit was a weapon, in the same state of disrepair. I looked ahead and at the end of the chamber was a final suit of armor, one I recognized in crown and build.

It was Sombra's armor. Some how there was a suit of Sombra's armoring and crown here. It was stood in front of the door, and I walked to move it. My hand was a centimeter from touching the suit when a blast of black magic burst out of the crown and the world faded to white...

---

Huh? Why am I back at the castle? Wasn't I in the... What was I doing again? I shook my head as I picked myself up from the ground where I was laying and I heard a scream tear through the empty and otherwise silent halls. I looked and saw a wall had been smashed apart above me. That explained what was going on. I rushed back into the throneroom through the hole I'd been flung and..

Oh Gods.

Blood was splattered across the floor, pooled around the scattered forms of...

My team. All of them were heavily wounded and I didn't have to check to see they weren't breathing. I looked over and saw Celestia's bloodied body prone on the ground, her wings twisted and her horn snapped. I rushed forward and saw Luna being held aloft in Sombra's magic, and as I looked I saw a massive jutting of black crystal erupt from the floor, extending...

Straight through Luna.

Oh god... All of my best effort and Sombra had obliterated us all...

I failed.

I killed all those I cared about.

But that didn't mean that I could stop. There were others in this kingdom that needed me, and I would still do me best to avenge their deaths.

I roared and charged for Sombra, tears streaming down my face. I pulled all of my magic into a necromorph form I'd never used before, out of concern for the magical cost and harm to my default form...

But now it didn't matter. I surged with power into a full body transformation, converting my whole form to beings reformed into having the traits of one of the boss necromorphs, namely the spider. Tentacles tore from my back and both of my arms burst out into massive blades. I used the tentacles to seize Sombra's throat and horn as he laughed maniacally at his success, cutting off his lungs and horn from helping him. I ran both blades into his chest and watched his eyes widen in pain. I roared and tore him apart and crushed his horn into dust. I turned from him to the Black Heart. I seized it in my blades and then pushed on it, charging it with my magic and then bringing it down to the floor as hard as I could. I took Luna's bladed-hammer from the ground, and then brought it down on the heart. In a wave of light the heart broke, and I knew no more...

---

I stumbled back from the armor as if it had burned me, falling over on the ground, by breath hard and my heart pounding. I took a moment to slow my breathing and recall where I was.

So that was... What? An illusion? A dream?

I thought this as I stood back on my feet. I looked and saw the armor melt into a suit of a similar build, but lacking a crown and forged out of a metal the color of my world's bronze. A glowing spectral form of a crystal pony stallion formed. He had a dark brown coat, a light green mane and gray eyes. He had a resolute expression as he looked at me, and he spoke in a gruff voice.

"I am Emerald Blade, the late defender of Princess Amore. One of the most important duties of one such as us is the willingness to give our lives in the defense of our charges, and then if  we fail the willingness to ensure their deaths would not be in vain. You have shown these qualities thus far. The armor and tools around you belong to those who have fallen in the defense of their charges and in the avenging of them. I failed to stop Sombra but you have fulfilled my duty and took him into the death he deserved. You have finished my work and for that I give you this."

He drew a sword from his side, made of a black metal and in the design of a Greek gladius. I took it and felt a faint hum of power from it.

"That is the sword Finis. It was crafted by an ancient being, before the age of the three pony tribes. It was found by my grandfather and it carries the power to bring a final death onto those spirits that are brought back from the afterlife. Wield it wisely, and use it for the trials you will face ahead."

I nodded. As he began to fade away I called out.

"Wait a second!"

I took off the sheath on my back that held a regular Night Guard sword and held it out after replacing it with Finis and its sheath.

"Here. You'll still need a sword, right?"

He gave me a small smile, and took the sword from me. He laughed heartily and slowly faded into nothing leaving behind no evidence but the sword on my back for evidence. I smiled and walked into the next chamber. I walked into the next chamber and saw...

The Oracle? This kept getting weirder and weirder. I walked in and saw the Oracle sitting at a table on the opposite side from me, eyes closed and face kept in a blank expression. There was a chair on the side of the table closest to me and I sat down and looked at the Oracle. Her eyes opened, bearing a glow the same color of the gems that the castle was magically grown of. She locked her eyes on me and a faint mist poured from her mouth as she spoke.

The blood moons will come for this place on the eve of war, when there is blood spilled on the sacred stones. First their followers shall emerge, and the first waves of the dead will come forth. Then, on the thousandth anniversary of the day the sisters of sun and moon are parted will the pit open, and the world will flow red with blood of the demons and of the warriors who halt them...

I knew this prophecy. I had heard it before, but I still felt dread at its being repeated.

There will be a darkness unlike any other, one that will consume all that it touches. Monsters of times forgotten and sealed away into mere legend will return, emerging from nightmares into the waking world. The moons will come to bring light into darkness, and there will be the death of all things good, and the corruption of all things wretched.

Her eyes locked with mine.

And the end of days will be your burden to bear, Guardian of the Moon...

My vision went black for a moment, and I heard them once again. The moons. They called out in anger, and they sounded... Smug? My sight returned along with a feeling of dread, and the room was empty other than the chair I was sitting on. I stood up uncertainly.

I had to hurry and find Luna.

---

I walked into the next chamber, which opened into a massive cavern. In the center was a stairwell leading up to a large altar, made in a circular arch.  walked forward and stood on it. A mare's voice echoed throughout the entire cavernous area.

"Welcome Jack, slayer of dragons, challenger of Sombra, and defender of Luna. Here is the final place of your pilgrimage. The chambers appear different to all those who enter this place, yet this one remains the same. Should you choose to continue, this will be the true test of your worth a you are judged heart, mind, and soul. Do you accept this final challenge?"

I nodded without hesitation.

"Very well. Place your claws onto the altar."

A curved slab of stone rose from the ground, and I placed all four hands onto it.  A surge of pain went through me and I strained to keep my hands in place. Wisps of light swarmed the air around me, whispers to faint to hear echoing. Finally, all went silent and the voice from before returned.

"You have been deemed a worthy guardian, Jack, defender of Luna. Go forth with your charge, and be the shield and sword she will need you to be."

I saw all of the wisps fade away and a final spectral form appear. She was a mare with a yellow-brown coat, a messy light brick red mane and rich green eyes. On her hooves were horseshoes crafted of a dark green metal, seemingly made for hoof to hoof combat. My gauntets floated off of all four of my hands and seemed to melt apart, separating dragonscale from metal. Her hooves glowed and I watched liquid metal flow into the air in straight lines from four points in the floor. The scales from my gauntlets and the metal brought from the floor merged and then were covered in a blinding light before showing two sets of gauntlets, made of the same metal as her horseshoes. The mare spoke.

"I am Smart Cookie, the first guardian to be lain to rest here. I have overseen all those warriors that have entered this place, just as my charge Level Head has overseen all royals. The gauntlets of our blessing will grant your Necrohuman form the capacity to cast magic other than your form changing, and will disappear as you transform, giving you full freedom to change shapes while still returning as you revert to this form. Go forth Jack, and halt the coming storm.."

With this cryptic warning the specter of Smart Cookie faded away, and the final door opened.

Chapter Thirteen: A Waking Nightmare

The gauntlets that now adorned my hands were light weight, but still felt durable. I sent out magic as if the gauntlets were a part of me, and went through some of the motions of casting magic. Until now whenever I'd attempted to cast any of the magic I had studied there had only been a wave of pain surging back at me, but now I could feel my magic properly bending and reforming. Until now I couldn't get any practical skill but I had still made an effort to study some basic skills in other fields of magic.  I gathered magic between my upper hands, and pulsed together to form a small ball of light, and then floated it to follow me.

"Thank you ancients. I will bear this responsibility as well as I can."

I descended the stairwell and smiled as I walked through to find Luna waiting for me. She looked the same as when we split up, but her tiara had been replaced with a full crown, crafted of the same white gold as her other ornaments and bearing a moonstone emblem of a full moon. She rushed and hugged me as I entered.

"Thank goodness! I was worried about how you fared through the test."

I returned the hug.

"Same vice versa for me."

I remembered what the warnings and let go of Luna.

"Luna, I think something's going on back at the empire. It could be nothing but I think we should hurry back."

She nodded and we rushed out of the cairn, confident of ourselves and hoping to arrive before anything could happen.

---

It was dark out as we both rushed back to the kingdom, my dread increasing as I saw plumes of smoking rising in the city. Luna and I charged, rushing towards the city before Luna charged magic and teleported into the throneroom. As it turned out, Luna's new crown acted both as a badge of her passing through the Cairn as well as being a spellbook full of spells and magical knowledge that she could use, one of them being a way to teleport by converting into magic and then passing through crystal. Seeing as the whole kingdom is crafted out of crystal then it was a simple matter to warp in. I looked around and saw the doors thrown open and heard shouts outside. Luna and I locked eyes for a moment and I spoke.

"I'll go help the guards outside, you get any woundeds inside and then figure out what's happening."

Luna nodded and I drew Tharn's fang in my upper right hand and Finis in my upper left. Along with that I drew both plasma cutters in my lower arms.

I rushed out and saw a group of ponies in gray unitologist robes fighting against a squadron of Night Guard, civilians being escorted past and into the buildings around the castle, a rough barricade built to keep a certain area around the castle sealed off. I rushed forward and grabbed the unitologists in all four arms, throwing them past the damaged wall. I watched the Guards light up a they saw me and then rush to patch the wall. I saw Iron Shield rush up towards me.

"Thank the sun and moon you guys are back! Things have been insane here, the unitologists struck when they knew you guys had stepped out, and ambushed us. All of them are insane, and think everyone in the kingdom that isn't one of them needs to 'be cleansed'! We managed to evacuate a great deal of the civilians into the area we secured behind the barricades, and between the Night Guard and the Crystal Guardstallions that joined up with us not to mention that dragoness and the freed gem hunters that are healed enough to fight, we've managed to put up a good defense against them. Still, there's a lot more of them than we originally thought. It's been pretty tough."

I nodded and looked over the strategical plans set up by the Guards and then started redirecting.

"Okay, strengthen the walls here, here, and here. The gem hunters are able to tear through the ground like nobody's business, so take them to some of the mine tunnels and plan to strike at the enemy form below. I know these unitologists, if they attack then they're already too far gone to take. Unless they seem to be one in a position of power then you kill them like the animals they are! I'll lead a charge here, at their central gathering point. From there we can take out their leadership and hopefully force them from the city. Razor Wing you lead the mages and aerial defense, Iron Shield you take the heavy fighters to maintain the barricades ad defend the civilians inside and Livyathan you lead the Gem Hunters and take the undergrounds to sneak out any civilians that haven't been evacuated out of there and knock out some of their numbers, and finally Luna, you head to the top spire of the castle to magically monitor the movements of the Unitologists and then warn everyone ahead of time so we can stay ahead of them. Everyone with me?"

Everyone nodded.

"Good. Let's get this done clean, fast, and without any further casualties."

---

Everyone was in place and the last thing remaining was for us to get the signal that Livy had gotten all of the captive civilians to safety. The group I was leading was in position to strike at the leaders of the attack and all of us, Luna, Shield, Razor, and I had magical gems that Luna had crafted, made so that when Livy smashed her gem to show the civilians were safe it would cause all of ours to glow. I looked down and saw the faint light emit from my pocket and I took out the gem and crushed it, making sure that the light wouldn't be noticed. I silently slid all of my sword of their sheathes. I would use the plasma cutters for the extra range, but one thing the cutters did was produce light, and that would get us noticed. I waved the three thestrals forward to follow me, and I slunk up behind the guards. The two didn't notice me, seemingly out of it all and babbling about things under their breaths. I brought my blades on them, lower arms slicing up and upper arms slicing down, effectively beheading them both before they notice. I stood on one side of the doorway with one of the guards and the other two that came with me stood on the other side.

I entered the dark doorway and slowly went along, hearing undecipherable voices ahead. I found my way by a light doorway that opened into a larger chamber. I could hear the voice speaking more plainly now and...

I knew that voice! All of my memories of playing the Dead Space games rushed back to me. That... That was the voice of Dr. Mercer! I leaned in to hear what was being said. I saw him now, a tall and thin unicorn with the striped coat of a zebra, in colors of blood red and black. His irises and pupils were a bright yellow and the whites of his eyes were a soulless black. His body was adorned with a white and gray outfitting with a similar appearance to what Mercer wore in the game, and his horn was seemingly formed of red stone, looking like that of a Marker and had a faint red glow.

"Already the Sun has fallen to us, and will take Equestria into the glory of the oncoming moons! The unbelievers and heretics will be brought forth in the death we give them, ascended as we into the divine embrace of the Markers! Soon, we will amass as one and tear down the shackles of the pit that withhold the strength of the Marker from reaching the world. We will spread the Marker's divine voice into all creatures, not simply those such as I who have been born with the touch of the Marker in out hearts! Our world and we the faithful will ascend and the vile demon that dares to imitate the power of the Marker will be cast down! Already he fights our divine quest, and still he defies us! Watch him now, alone now that we have taken the trio of heretics that followed him have been struck down, and watch as he falls!"

With this he sent a blast of red magic from his horn, and  just barely dodged to the side to avoid it. I looked and saw in the hallway behind me, the three stallions I had watching out rear were bleeding and dead on the ground, and a large number of Unitologists stood over them. i looked around, and I was surrounded on all sides.

Shit.

I morphed all four of my arms into enhanced necromorph blades.

"Well then. You fuckers want necromorph? I guess you got it..."

The next few minutes were a bloody blur of me slashing against the swarm of sword and magic wielding cultists and struggling to not be buried underneath it all. After a while it was just me and Not-Mercer standing in the chamber. I was about to lunge at him, only for a single beam of magic from him to strike me, passing through my armor and seizing me with pain. My arms reverted back into their necrohuman state and I sank to my knees, overcome with pain.

"So I finally face the heretic knight that halts our holy quest. As foreseen you cut a bloody swath through the followers of the Markers, but these are just the few that lurked behind in this kingdom, the rest have already made their way to Equestria to join the fallen Sun in liberating the Marker from its bondage and send forth the signal to bring about the birth of a new holy moon."

He looked at me as I forced myself back into standing against the pain.

"I can see how you struggle to stand against my magic. That is but one of the blessings afforded me by the Marker. It brought me forth from the weakness of my birth, a weak creature born of a Zebrican shaman and an Equestrian noble line leading straight to the ancients of Princess Platinum's age. I was born with a broken body, weak in body, unstable in magic, and uncertain of mind. But it was this that allowed me to hear the call of the Marker, and so my magic, a forced fusion of Zebrican Alchemy magic and Unicorn Aether magic, was brought into order by its teachings. One of the blessings it gave me was that which you feel now, the power to halt your mockery of its divine power. I am Tenebris Mercer, son of the Marker. I leave you now, heretic, and go forward to aid in the oncoming convergence event in Equestria."

His horn ignited with a sickly yellow glow and his body seemed to burn away in a flash of light. The pain on my body left and I immediately rushed out to find Luna. If I understood what Mercer had said, that meant that Celestia, and subsequently all of Equestria was in grave danger!

---

I told Luna, Livy, Razor, Orchid and Shield about what I had heard from Mercer, and all of us stood silently in the throneroom. Luna placed the rest of my team and Livy in charge of repairing and guarding the kingdom until we returned, as they were my closest subordinates in the guard and Livy was the de facto leader of the freed gem hunters now living in the Empire, and then the both of us went out. We gathered a battalion of Guards, made of thestrals, crystal ponies, and gem hunters and as one we went forth to find Mercer, and to save Equestria.

Chapter Fourteen: Sol Semel Occidit

We had made it through the wilds and into the heart of Equestria, approaching the Castle of the Two Sisters quietly. The sky was black, and fittingly it was a new moon. The castle was ahead, with not a single torch or window lit. We all slowly approached, and with Tharn's Fang in my upper right hand along with both of my plasma cutters in my lower set I pushed the door open. We entered the dark halls and slowly made our way along through the unnatural, almost suffocating silence.

We made it through the first blood stained hallway before anything happened. The sound of a rock hitting the ground echoed, and from every open door poured out blood stained unitologist soldiers. We fought through them, making our way along. I heard voices from all directions, and for the first time I felt the voices of the brethren moons push against the song of Luna, way in the back of my consciousness. One of our soldiers waved us to go ahead.

"We'll hold them off your highness, you two save Princess Celestia!"

Luna and I nodded, and rushed forward. We found ourselves in front of the door to the throne room, and I opened it and entered first. As we slowly walked forward the torches on the walls slowly lit up brighter and brighter with a deep crimson glow. I looked in and saw a lithe form of a mare dancing around the throne. I heard Celestia's voice singing and echoing through the chamber

"Soon oh soon my lovely moons, your light shall pierce the skyy~yyyy!

Soon oh soon I'll watch your doom as all good things then die!

There won't be peaceful transi~tions!

The apex predators will lose their positions!

All the ponies will bleed!

The world will soon need!

A push to proceed!

In the glory of evoluti~on!

The torches erupted in a burst of light, fully lighting the room. I could see Celestia was the mare dancing, and her coat was covered in blood stains. She was lacking in any royal outfitting, save for an amulet of red metal, bearing the image of a Marker in glowing ruby. Her eyes were wide, and her face pulled into a tight, toothy grin. Her head jerked as she turned to face us.

"Oh Lulu! I knew you'd come back for the convergence!"

Luna seemed unnerved by this turn of events.

"The convergence?"

Celestia shook her head fiercely.

"Uh-huh! All the little ponies are gonna get dead, well not the ones in the castle since I already killed them all, and then become one with the marker in Tartarus! Oh sure we'll need to open the pit and let all of the monsters and stuff out, but hey! All life will be cleansed anyway, so who cares!?"

Luna shook her head.

"Sister snap out of it! You are under the influence of the Marker and need to look at yourself!"

Celestia's face turned into an ugly glare and she seemed to finally see me.

"Oh I get it now! You're one of those little meanies in the north that want to stop us from ascending! Well I'm not gonna let you!"

Luna called out again.

"Celestia snap out of it! You need to stop this!"

Celestia gave us one final hate filled glare as her wings spread and she lifter into the air, a crimson light surrounding her amulet and then wrapping around her entire body in a wave of light.

"I'm not Celestia anymore! I am Sol Daemonius!"

She was now a different mare than when she stood on the ground with us. Her coat was a pale red, as if her white coat was now dyed in blood. Her eyes had changed to resemble Mercer's, but with bright blue pupils and orange irises, giving the appearance that her eyes were two flames in a void of darkness. Her wings were jagged and bent, as if they were a fusion of the wings of a dragon and a pegasus. Her horn was curved now, the same color as her coat but ending in a point that resembled a piece of white hot metal. Her body was covered in jagged battle regalia, made of the same crimson medal as the amulet she had been wearing, which was now fused into the front of the regalia. Her mane was now shades of orange and red, resembling a burning forest. The ceiling above her collapsed and we could see the sun rise with jerking movements, now glowing with a black and red aura, making the sky seem to be the color of blood.

"AND MY SUN WILL BE THE PLACEHOLDER OF THIS WORLD'S DEATH AS I BRING THE BURNING WRATH OF THE MARKERS ONTO HERETIC FILTH LIKE YOU!"

Luna lunged for her, only to be rammed aside in a wave of magic. I aimed my guns only to see her turn to me.

"Oh don't think I have forgtten you..."

In her magic I saw a charred horn, a unitologist necklace, and the fragments of the Black Heart float out. The remains of Sombra. She let out a maniacal laugh, I saw Tyrath the dragon float out, bound in chains. His body erupted with her magic and he screamed in pain as she brought the materials to him. A wave of light blasted forth, along with the sound of flesh bending and tearing. When the light cleared I looked up, only to see... it.

The monster from my nightmares. A massive monstrosity, towering over me with a form somewhere between a pony, a dragon and the Snowbeast Necromorph. It had a twisted horn, almost resembling a Black Marker. It roared at me, showing a mouth of malformed teeth and tentacles. A pair of bone plated wings spread on its back as it stood over me. My dream was coming true somehow... Just like in my dream it lunged for me, but this time I changed the out come by jumping into the air and barely avoiding it. I dodged around, and looked up to see Luna and Celestia clashing magic above me. Luna was already unable to magically overpower Celestia, and that was before she was magically powered by a Marker. She needed me. I turned to the monster before me, preparing to fight one of my worst foes yet.

It lunged for me a few times with its claws, only to be slashed by my swords. I could hear its flesh seem to sizzle as Finis' magic cut into it, and Tharn's Fang still cut massively deep wounds. All the while I blasted away with my plasma cutters, scoring hits on the bulging yellow weakspots that formed on it. I dashed behind a pillar as the monster took a deep breath and then unleashed a wave of rancid smelling, sickly yellow flames at me. I wasn't hit, but the pillar was all but melted. I dashed back into the fray, dodging around its legs and slashing away at it. Then I saw it. Roughly aligned in its mangled ribcage was the Black Heart, formed of the fragments of the original and the flesh of Tyrath. I was distracted for a moment, and it smashed me away with its tail, sending me sprawling and then throwing both Finis and Tharn's Fang and my plasma cutters from my hands. I drew my secondary shortswords in my lower arms and looked up in time to see two massive tentacle erupt from its maw and seize my lower arms, ripping them both off of me and throwing me against the wall. I landed hard, and barely rolled out of the way of another blast of flame. I made myself stand again, and surged with my magic, pushing against the Marker and then forcing my right arm into the bone shield arm of a Brute and then my left into an Ubermorph's blade arm. I screamed against the pain and charged, using my Brute arm to smash aside his claws and then plunge my bladed arm into the Black Heart, sending out a massive wave of red light as the abomination was torn apart from the inside out. I crumpled to the ground on the other side of the room. I reverted my arms and concentrated my magic into giving my body an Ubermorph's regenerative abilities. It took out a lot of my quickly waning magic but I felt it as my lower arms regrew and my injuries mended slightly. I stood up, and saw Luna crash down into the center of the room. I limped towards her, and heard her speaking as she cast magic into the floor.

"Oh dear sister... I am sorry but you have given me no choice but to use these..."

The floor opened next to her, and the pedestal with the Elements of Harmony rose up. All six elements lit up a floated to her, circling at great speeds. Celestia released a charged up a crimson blast of power, only for it to clash with a rainbow of energy from the elements. The two clashed and Celestia was slowly overpowered as a final wave of energy from the elements hit her, carrying her straight into the sun. As she seemed to hit, the sun had power ripple across it along with a scream from Celestia until finally the sky cleared and it was shown to now shine with a faint blue light. Luna sank to the ground, and sobbed. I walked over, and Luna collapsed into my chest.

I didn't say a word as she cried. There was nothing I could do to help except offer a shoulder for her to cry on as she wept for her lost sister. I heard a familiar voice echo in the chamber.

"No no no! She was supposed to kill them both, not be destroyed! that amulet I gave her for Mercer should have given her enough power to be unstoppable!"

I turned my head slowly and saw him.

Captain Star.

Luna had gone rigid in my arms, and I allowed her to stand on her own.

I rushed him before he could run, and seized his throat.

"So you did this? YOU brought Celestia into madness and forced all of this bloodshed?!"

His eyes went wide with fear, and he gasped like a fish out of water as I cut off his breathing.

I extended one of my arms into a blade and held it back to run it through his skull, only for Luna to halt me with her magic.

"No, dear Jack. He will face the punishment of the whole kingdom for his sins..."

Luna had a sad look, and one that showed heavy restraint to not end him there. I slowly nodded, still livid. I dropped the unconscious captain to the ground.

We both stood there in silence, mourning the passed when a voice cut through the room.

"The fallen sun still lives"

We both jerked our heads around and saw the Oracle standing between the two thrones.

"For a thousand years the sun she once bore will be her prison, and in the thousandth anniversary of this night the dark moons will aid in her escape"

Celestia was still alive.

Chapter Fifteen: Aftermath

"So... What now?"

I looked up at Razor.

"Now we try and repair Equestria. The Day Guard was almost completely taken over by the unitologists, and those that were not one of them were killed as traitors. Luna's been out of things for the past week and a half ever since she had to... Yeah. For right now, it's up to the four of us and Livy to bring Equestria to order. A large amount of the Nobles have been ousted as unitologists, but there's been a few that weren't. I had a couple of crystal mages work with some of our Night Guard unicorns to create these."

I took out the latest creation of the Magic College in the Empire. They resembled the original dragon's eye amulets used by the Night Guard, but rather crafted out of emerald rather than yellow topaz.

"They're called Wraith's eyes. They have all of the original enchantments of the original set, but they can counteract the maddening effects of the Marker, not just on the person wearing one of them. They're all heavily charged with magic, and create a small bubble that disrupts the Marker's effects on sentients. I doubt it will destroy any that are as far gone as a full necromorph but anyone who's only got the mental touch of the Marker will be mentally overloaded with white noise."

Razor looked impressed.

"So any unitologist that's got a guard near them gets taken out?"

I nodded.

"Yeah, add that to the fact that there'll be Guards at every corner of Equestria and in every town, not to mention the fact that we'll have guards for every road in and out of Equestria and we should be able to root out every last one of them and get them locked up. And with the help of Livy's gem hunters we have a big enough supply of gems to make all the Wraith eyes we need. Along with that all of the enchantments are being put together with a full set of six Crystal Hearts to be used by the survivors of the settlements that got destroyed her in the mainland. There's gonna be a lot more settlements in the north now, and there's plans to try and set up the hearts in a magical network. You know how the whole north of the world is frozen from the Windigoes that came to live there in the age of the three tribes?"

He nodded.

"Well with the six Hearts of Harmony as they've been named, we should have the ability to connect a few key points in the area around the empire with Luna's Heart, and from there the seven hearts should have the power to undo a large portion of the curse on the land, and then bring it back into being as much a paradise as Equestria. All we have to is wait or Luna to be well enough to initiate the process. After that we'll have a much easier time with moving ponies and supplies. Not to mention the fact that we'll need something like this for the reforming of the two countries."

Razor gave me a confused look.

"Equestria is without a leader, without guards, without a way to survive. The ponies of Equestria have opened up to Luna, the thestrals, even the gem hunters after all this. The current plan that I've worked with the nobles of the Empire and Equestria is to merge the two into one force, to be called the Equestrian Empire. The new capital will be right here, in the original Crystal Empire. So far nobody seems against the plan."

"And after we're all one big country, what then?"

"Then I take a team to make sure Tartarus is secure. If there's a Marker there then I want a guard station to make sure no unitologists can even come within a mile of it. Along with that I'm gonna send a team of guards and workers to join those already stationed at the castle to move all of the stuff left behind, all of the armor and weapons and magical tomes out here to the Empire. It's gonna be a while before we can get everything settled, so I hope that you can handle some long nights."

He nodded and then went to spread the plan to the others, while I went to find Luna.

---

Along the way I was stopped by the sound of yipping and running behind me.

"Jack! Jack!"

I looked and saw Akira bounding towards me, and I caught her as she leaped into my chest in a hug. She looked up at me.

"Auntie Luna's gotten all smooshie-sad!"

I gave her a small smile.

"Well we'll have to see about fixing that."

I lifted her around and onto my back, my lower arms holding her as she planted her paws on my head.

"Mush, noble steed!"

I gave a small chuckle and bounded down the hall with her shrieking in laughter. After a few moments we found Luna's room. I knocked on the door and then opened it.

"Hey Luna you have a visitor."

She was sitting by the window, looking sadly at the sunset outside. She didn't respond. I walked up and placed Akira on the ground beside her.  Akira took her in a small hug.

"You know, maybe you should take a walk? Everyone's getting worried."

She let out a small sigh. I walked over and took her in a brief hug with all four arms. I knew she was mourning, but I decided then that I had to do something.

"Luna... I'm sorry for this but just sitting here and mourning won't bring her back."

She whirled on me, livid.

"And what would you know!? I have lost the only family I have in this world!"

I looked down, and then looked back at her with fir in my eyes.

"One hundred and two years. That's how long I have been in Equestria and the first hundred of that was spent in madness. Luna you've lost a sibling, and I lost both my own sister and my parents. Your sister will return in a thousand years , but my family is gone forever. But I got over it with your help, and so I'm gonna repay the favor."

She had a blank expression at this, and then looked sad.

"I am... Sorry, Jack.  I had forgotten that yo- eep!"

I cut her off by hoisting her over my shoulder and heading for the door.

"Jack release me!"

"Luna I'm taking you out partying with the kingdom, and you are going to have at least a short while where you cheer cheer up!"

Akira waked alongside me as I carried Luna, giggling.

"Akira, go get Razor, Shield, Orchid, and your mom. Tell them I said that we're going to discuss plans for the Empire and then we're gonna get plastered in the name of Celestia!"

Akira gave a brief salute, and I was glad that she was old enough to know what 'plastered' meant and that Livy wouldn't sock me for using the term.

It only took a short while for Luna to catch up on the basic plans we had set up, and after that we all found ourselves in one of the ballroom areas of the castle, the whole area raised into a celebration of the unveiled plans for the Empire and for the idea of helping Luna.

I looked around and could see Orchid and some of the female gem hunters had led out Akira and all of the children of the guards, hunters, and nobles into a separate chamber. I could see the whole ballroom was filled with celebrating ponies of all tribes, along with the gem hunters and even a few dragons that had come here to help us out for slaying Tharn. As it was there were quite a few orphaned dragons that had escaped and wanted revenge on Tharn for killing their families. Part of this was that they took responsibility for the stolen eggs with their siblings and into their care. Everyone down below was laughing and singing and it only took a moment to find Luna swaying and singing with Razor and Shield, producing a drunken rendition of "I'm Walking On Sunshine".

"An doon it fell gooood!"

They all lit up when they saw me. Yeah, they were pretty buzzed already.

"Jayack! You gotta get somma dis!'

Shield yelled this in my ear as he put a hoof around my shoulders. I took the mug he held out and flashed a grin.

"Well alright then!"

The next few hours were spent between heavy drinking, singing, dancing, and then eventually blacking out. Even to this day I can only remember brief flashes. Luna stage diving off of a chandelier, Shield punching a gem hunter, Orchid leading a drunken Razor away, me somehow chugging down a small keg of scotch, Livy attempting to lift a pillar, a room wide singing of 'We Are The Champions'...

It was one of the best parties I've ever been to, and it was all fun until I woke up the next morning. My head screamed in pain, and I saw through blurry eyes the sun shining through the window. I was only wearing a T-shirt and jeans, and not my armor. This set off alarms in my extremely hungover head as I had grown accustomed to wearing it almost everywhere, and I had been wearing it to the party last night. Along with that I was laying down on the weirdest pillow ever. It was rough but still soft, and seemed to emanate warmth. And it was...

Snoring? I opened my eyes and saw the sleeping form of Livy wrapped around me.

Well shit.

Chapter Sixteen: One Hundred and Fifty Two Years Equestrian

"So um. That certainly... Happened."

Livy nodded.

"Yes it er... Did."

The two of us stood in awkward silence in Livy's room where we both had woken up.

"Hey Livy?"

She looked at me.

"You wanna grab a drink sometime?"

Her expression went blank, and she fell on her back on the floor, laughing uncontrollably. Somewhere during this I cracked a grin and started laughing alongside her. Eventually she looked over at me.

"Yeah. I think that'd be alright."

From there the two of us went our separate ways for a while, her wanting to retrieve Akira from the sleepover that Orchid had hosted for the kids of everyone that went to the party, and made a mental note to thank Orchid. Even though she had to leave guard duty while she was pregnant she still did so much for everyone. I walked slowly through the castle, staving off my headache with some basic healing magic I had learned. Livy managed to remember that I had left my armor in my room, but I still could summon the four gauntlets I had received from the Cairn to cast magic. I found my way to the throneroom and I could see Luna sitting on the throne with a pair of sunglasses on. She turned to me.

"I did it."

I blinked once.

"Did what?"

"Until now the nobles and mages of the college have been struggling along to use the Heart for the purpose of raising the sun, but this morning I woke and did it myself."

She gave me a sad smile.

"For the first time, I have managed to perform my sister's duty, and in doing so relieved Equestria of the weight of the sun."

I nodded and patted her shoulder.

"Don't worry.  We have a thousand  years to find some way to save her. Until then we can do all we can, you with finding a way to free her from the Marker and me working with the Guard."

She took off the glasses and gained an expression of having recalled something.

"Oh I almost forgot Jack. Here."

She levitated something over to me. It was a badge crafted of an orange metal, made to be a crescent moon that was curving around a sun.

"The Guards of Night and Day lost a good deal of lives, and so for your role in the fighting against the church the Guards all petitioned me to promote you. As the Crystal Guard, Day Guard, and Night Guard are all made into one force, the Equestrian Guard, you are promoted to the rank of Commander. As it stands you are one of the highest ranking Guardstallions of the kingdom. Bear the title well, and may you have the strength to shoulder the responsibilities that you will soon possess."

"I... Wow... I don't know what to say. I don't know if I can handle all this but..."

I looked at Luna with a resolute expression, and saluted her with both of my right arms.

"I will do my best! For you, for the Guard, and for Equestria!"

---

"So. I already opened up to you with me and Akira's life story, so how about you? What's the grand origin of Jack the Dragonslayer?"

It had been a few days since my promotion and the party, and now I was finally freed up to take Livy out. The two of us were sitting on a hill outside the city, a basket of gems and fish sitting between us, along with a small keg of ale that I'd gotten from Shield. Something I had found out early on about the Empire was the fact that they were open to omnivores. Since there was limited space for farming then someone a while back had turned to fishing and hunting out in the wastes to get food. Ponies here seemed to have some trouble digesting meat, but they could still eat it. I looked away from Livy and at the setting sun. I sighed.

"Well I guess you can tell that I'm not exactly a common creature, y'know with the black inky skin and yellow demon eyes and four arms and all."

She giggled.

"Well I suppose that's true."

I smiled, still looking at the sunset. I reached into my knapsack and withdrew my original plasma cutter. I had gotten it back after a while more of the college studying it, and so I had been carrying it around but refraining from using it in combat. I continued speaking.

"Well once upon a time I lived in a different world entirely from this one."

I used some of the magic I had been learning, namely illusion magic, to summon up a little lightshow above us to illustrate my story.

"I was born on a world called Earth, a planet of technology and science, somewhere far away from here. I lived in a country called the United States of America. I was raised in a family of three kids, namely my older brother and little sister, along with my two parents. I was a bit of a nerdy guy back then, and along with that I was in study to become an engineer..."

At times I would have to stop and explain things to Livy, such as what video games were and such things. She of course had a few laughs about my nerdy tendencies. I went through the important moments of my life, and by the end she was seemingly invested in the outcome. I went through all of what happened since I arrived to Equestria, and then to the moment I met her.

"And then you know the rest."

We looked at each other.

"Well that's quite the story, Jack of Earth. Normally I would call you crazy, but after seeing you in action I actually believe your story."

I smiled at her.

"Well thanks for that. Still, let's move on to more cheerful things."

She nodded with a smile.

"Sure. So how's being the Commander of the Guard going?"

"Fairly well, no major screwups in moving all of the contents of the Castle of the Two Sisters and the group sent to construct an outpost at Tartarus has done well. Along with that we've gotten the full support of the ponies of Equestria in the forming of the Equestrian Empire, and the Hearts of Harmony are all in place to clear the frost from the land. After the hearts are activated we should be able to use the efforts of pegasi from across Equestria to clear out the remaining storm clouds and the land will once again be livable."

She nodded.

"Yeah and all of the gem hunters that followed me here have started spreading out and finding their places across Equestria as full citizens and the mages that have been maintaining all of the remaining dragon eggs from Tharn's horde are doing a good job, and so the eggs will be able to incubate properly until we find families to adopt and care for them properly. All of the eggs can be hatched by any magic wielding creature, all it takes after they've spent enough time developing is a god enough burst of magic. Usually that would be done by the mother dragon of the egg, but any female with enough magic can hatch and bond to them, regardless of species."

I shrugged.

"Well as long as they can care for the hatchlings properly."

We sat for a moment, twiddling our thumbs. I looked over at Livy.

"Wanna go catch a timberwolf?"

She smiled.

"Hell yeah."

---

"And that's how, after one romantic meal and a keg of ale, I came to possess a small ebony timberwolf puppy."

Luna gave me a look that showed she was not amused.

"Jack you must return it to its parents."

"I can't do that Luna he has my smell now, they'll never accept him!"

"Jack. If you keep this timberwolf then you need to take care of it. That means feeding and watering it, trimming its extra branches, and training it to not urinate on the floor. It will be your responsibility, but if you can handle all of this then you will have a near immortal pet that will be loyal onto you until death."

I nodded, and she sighed.

"Very well then. What shall be it's name?"

I thought for a moment.

"Fenrir. Imma call you Fenrir!"

I said, smiling and lifting the yipping puppy to my face.

"Okay, let's get you housebroken!"

---

"Alright everyone, we're all gathered here to unveil one of the latest innovations of The University. This... is a train!"

We were all gathered up for one of the many Earth inventions being implemented. After a long while of collaboration and arguing between the mages of Equestria and the Crystal College (the two had ended up fusing into one group known as The University) they had finally begun to understand the data retrieved from me and my Earth-tech. One of the first they had actually begun to place into usage across the country was a basic railway between  and the six towns that had been constructed around the Hearts of Harmony. Each of the Hearts, as planned, had a settlement forming around them. The two towns were currently named were Alderic and Cantervale, and there were four more cities planned. If I had my say then at least one of them would be named Camelot and another would be named Sheoth. Anyway, the first set of rails were built in the areas thawed by the hearts, allowing for easy movement between the settlements both with people wanting to settle but also for moving supplies for construction. Currently we were all gathered to see the maiden voyage of the Crystal Express, heading on the full circuit from the Empire capital to the other cities. As it was my knowledge that they made this from, Livy, Akira and I were both riding along in the back car with Luna, Shield, Razor, and Orchid.

"So they got stuff like this all over the place back where you came from?"

Shield still had trouble believing me about some of the stuff from Earth.

"Yeah. A lot more than this."

Shield grinned.

"Well here's hoping that the University can keep the cool stuff coming!"

We all laughed at this. I decided to tell them about one of the plans I had for the Guard.

"Well the University already has finalized the plans for the new wave of plasma-cutter rifles for the Guard, so with that then we can have some better ranged munitions. Rather than drawing off ambient magic they do have to be loaded with these little rune covered gem clips. They use gems charged with magic, and with that their blasts can be given different properties based off of the gems used. With that they can be used even in environments that are lacking in ambient magic."

Razor perked up.

"So if a rifle has a sapphire clip then it'll be enchanted with ice magic, fire for ruby and so forth?"

I nodded.

"Yeah, and there's even talk about trying to create some specialized rounds that can release bursts of healing and strength boosting magic onto wounded Guards."

Orchid smiled at this.

We all looked up when we heard the the conductor yelling.

"We're coming up on Alderic! Gather your belongings everybody!"

I grinned a bit at this. Ever since I had become commander then people had been emulating some of what I said, namely saying 'everybody' instead of 'everypony' and such...

It won't last.

I froze in place as I heard this. A voice that wasn't mine spoke in my mind.

Mercer's voice. My vision slowly blurred as Mercer's voice continued.

We are not yet slain. You will not stop the convergence, and it is only a matter of time...

I collapsed to the ground, hearing the shouts of my friends in the distance.

---

I was floating in the air, unsure of where I was. Below me, a large desert was consumed in a large battle. Waves of ponies, gem hunters, and dragons dressed in what looked like a level 5 Advanced RIG from Dead Space, but made of the Lunar Bronze of the Night Guard's armor charging into war. On the other side, pouring from a pitch black pit were waves of pony/necromorph hybrids along with massive necromorphs of the same build as the monster that Sol Daemonius had made from Sombra and Tyrath. Scatter about the side from the pit were ponies and what looked like minotaurs and griffons wearing unitologist robes and various other necromorphs of other types charging in. My vision faded and  found myself alone in a pitch black cavern. I stood up and turned around to find the Tartarus Marker behind me. In front of it was Mercer, eyes blazing and a sword made of the same crimson metal as the amulet that had corrupted Celestia. The sword carried a faint red glow, and seemed to be drawing power from the Marker. It was crafted to have the appearance of the Marker as well, two blades curving around each other. I was adorned in my dragonscale armor, but something was... Different. My head seemed to screech in pain when I tried to figure out what was changed. I drew Tharn's Fang, Finis, and... Two other swords from their sheathes. The other two swords seemed to be in the same category as my armor in figuring them out, it seemed. I looked up and locked eyes with Mercer. I was speaking, but I couldn't tell what I was saying. I saw a wave of light pour from the Marker, all of it flowing into Mercer. His whole body was covered in white cracks, and the last thing I could see was his outline, burning somewhere inside the ball of light before me...

"-ack? Jack! Guys he's waking up!"

I was laying on the ground in the infirmary, Livy holding my head and calling out. I looked up and saw Shield, Razor, Orchid, and Luna standing around the room and then walking over to me.

"Uuuuugggghhh... What just happened? I just had the craziest dream..."

---

A premonition. That was the second one I would have, and this time I would not be caught off guard. The last one I had almost forgotten, but still it came true. This one I would be ready for.

I made use of every second of the next few years, planning, building, training. I made the Guard below me into a strong fighting force, and I made myself as great a warrior as I could be. Along the way of this, it came to my attention that we had enemies. The unitologists that had escaped from the Equestrian Empire had spread to other countries, and brought the influence of the Marker with them. As it was, the Griffon King had begun to sink into the same pitfalls that had claimed Celestia, and rumor had it that the same was planned for the Emperor of the Minotaurs. So far they made no movements on us, but we were still wary. I myself had been involved in some of the dealing with other countries, and a few occasions that could have been war-starting disputes I had solved with simple combat. Something I took advantage of was that both the Griffons and Minotaurs had traditions rooted in combat, and so I had been involved in one to one duels over matters of state, of which I had lost none. This gained me a fierce reputation amongst other countries, and with good reasons. After a hundred years of madness and a little over half that as myself I began to make the Guard into a fighting force that was strong enough to hold its own in combat, and I made myself into an adept of student of combat, both in my transformations, my swordsman skill, and in my magical prowess.

Chapter Seventeen: What If You could Live Forever

What would you do if you were immortal? Most people don't have to answer that question. I suppose I should clarify, my name is Jack, and five hundred years ago I arrived in the country then known as Equestria, in the body of a monster known as a necromorph, namely a slasher necromorph. The first hundred years of this I spent in madness, until I was found by a benevolent being known as Luna. She reached out to me, and released my mind from the grasp of a group of beings known as the Brethren Moons. They were the ones that sought to control my mind, and they wanted nothing less than for me to be the weapon by which they razed this world. Luna fought them off, and suddenly I was my own being again. Even with this, Luna went further to help me, using powerful magical objects known as the Elements of Harmony to mend my form. I was reborn from that, given a body into not quite human, and not quite necromorph. My form was human in build, but of black, inky flesh and burning yellow eyes. I went forward to repay my debt to her, and so I became one of this world's defenders against the reach of the moons that had held me for so long. As I went forth I changed, becoming stronger in mind and body. I bore the powers of the demons that haunted me, and I used these powers against their followers. In the four hundred years I have lived by my own will I have seen many things, and I learned much.

I have raised children, both adopted alongside my wife and then taken in as students. I have taken in children, adolescents, and even adults as my followers and I have trained them as I could so they might fight beside me in the defense of Equestria.

I have buried too many friends to count, and too may of their children and descendants alongside them. I act as a guardian and friend to all their descendants that last to this day, and I will follow this duty to my grave.

I have been the sword of Equestria, and the Guard I have built its shield and so with the students I take and the soldiers I train I have kept Equestria from harm for all these centuries.

I have slain dragons, manticores, hydras, and so much more. Many have fallen in my path as I refuse anything that would harm the inhabitants of the Equestrian Empire to pass me by.

I have seen combat extensively, and I have trained my mind, body, and soul to be stronger than ever before. I have made myself a master of almost all of the schools of magic, and  have made myself a builder of machines of highest caliber.

I wield armor made from the scales of one of my earliest battles. I wield a sword made of his fangs and I fought for the liberation of those he enslaved.

I have loved and lost.

I have hated and destroyed.

I have wept and nearly been lost in sorrow.

I have heard the voices of the fallen and the lost, and I have heard he voices of demons that would be gods.

I am Jack the slayer, and I have seen the end of days.

Five hundred years ago I arrived to Equestria.

Four hundred years ago I was set free and I found reasons to live, and along with that I made friends, became a warrior, and fell in love.

Four hundred years ago I fought and played a role in the banishment of the monster Sol Daemonius that stole my friend Celestia away, and so began to prepare for Marker of Tartarus and to destroy those who follow it.

Three hundred years ago my first friends in this world save my princess, my wife, and my pet all lay slain. My team, fallen either to age or in the defense of Equestria now buried.

Three hundred years ago it was found that my body was biologically immortal. I could grow, change and improve, but unless I was killed then I would never die.

Two hundred years ago it came forward that those who followed the Marker still lurked in the shadows beyond the Equestria Empire.

One hundred years ago my wife died, fighting alongside me to defend our home, and in the same battle I lost myself for only a moment, but still when I awoke to my actions, all my foes lay slain and my own soldiers looked on me with fear.

Fifty years ago it was found that the poison of Unitology, despite our warnings to the world, had been ignored by the King of Griffica (the land of griffins) and the Emperor of Minos (the land of Minotaurs).

And now, I face a threat unlike those before.

War is on doorstep of Equestria, and I face it alone.

Chapter Eighteen: Beginnings

I woke up to having a rough muzzle rubbing against my face. I looked over blearily to see Fefir sitting and staring at me expectantly. I smiled at him and limply petted him. At this he leaped onto the side of my bed between me and the wall, and shoved me out of bed and onto the ground. I had caught him on me and Livy's first date. At this point he was a fair size enough to push me if I let him. Something I found out after a while of having Fefnir around was that they could be nearly as long lived as a pheonix if raised right. Every time he began to show signs of aging it was a simple matter of finding a tree of decent age and of decent quality of wood and chopping it into small pieces. And then smashing Fefnir with a hammer. Since timberwolves reformed after being smashed or crushed, if the cut apart tree was nearby then the fragments of the tree would be absorbed into Fefnir, making him younger and bigger. Even if there wasn't any wood to add then Fefnir would still reform, but instead of growing he would shed a bit and become smaller. Personally I made sure to add wood every time I needed to do this, usually every few decades. As a result of this and the magical plants (timberwolves were omnivorous, mainly carnivorous but they could live off forest materials if necessary) I fed him, he was much different than other timberwolves. His body was mismatched in color, going between different shades of wooden color, with his head and front legs being made of ebony wood, and gradually paler and paler wood until his tail was nearly white. His eyes had been affected similarly, and he had eyes of different colors. One eye resembled carved amber, and the other was crystal blue. He was halfway between the size of Luna and an average pony, and so he was a perfect size pet for me, as over time I slowly grew as well. By this point I was at least a foot taller than Luna, and so I towered over even many minotaurs. I was thankful for the fact that Fefnir could alter his wooden pelt as well. He was able to choose how soft/armored/rough his body was. I stared at him where he sat on my bed, with a smug look on his face. One thing he was good at was the fact that he could always wake me up before the sun. I groaned.

"Uuuggghhhh. Fine. I'm up you stupid pile of lumber..."

I stood up and he kept that look of smug satisfaction on his face. I took off my sleepwear and put my armor together. I smiled slightly as I put on my armor. It was worn and showed sign of battle, and felt like it was slightly too short for me, though it still fit. A suit of Skyrim-style dragon scale armor, crafted of silver scales and without shoulder plates so as to allow all four of my arms free movement. In the chestplate as always was my wraith's eye amulet. By this point I had finally been trained by Luna to clear my mind of my own accord, though it never hurt to have an extra line of defense. On my back were two sheathes, one holding Tharn's Fang and the other containing Finis. I had two more sheathes at either hip, both bearing a set of first-generation Night Guard swords. The Guard had long since changed methods, making blades out of Guardian Steel, namely a metal forge from Lunar Steel (used by the Night Guard), Celestial Steel (used by the Day Guard) and the barest hints of other (more powerful) metals that could last longer and do more damage, but at the cost of being less magically conductive. As a result, the swords I held for the moment were both enchanted, one to shock and the other to burn. Along with the swords at my sides, I held my original plasma cutter on my right and then an Equestrian cutter at my left. On each of my hands I wore an Orichalcum gauntlet, given to me before I became Commander of the Equestrian Guard. I picked up my iPhone (at this point in time it barely held against time by the enchantments placed around it to extend its life now that it could be charged) and smiled at the fact that Equestria had finally begun to catch up to Earth in technology, though still a few decades behind in some aspects and ahead in others. I picked up the final item for me to be ready for the day, namely my knapsack. I took some various supplies and packed them, mainly some first aid supplies and a few other small things. I finished getting ready and started off for the day, Fefnir following me along. As we walked I pondered all of the plans for the day.

"Alright, first the meeting up with my nieces and nephews, then the session of training for the new recruits to the Guard in how to handle military plasma weapons, and then finally the check with the border patrols using the scrying mirrors."

By 'nieces' and 'nephews' I meant the descendants of my old friends and of the children that I adopted with Livy. I made a personal matter of watching over them all, as an extra parent, bodyguard, adviser, and whatever else they needed from me. At this point there was a pegasus descended from Orchid and Razor by the name of Humming Wing that was a musician here in the Empire, as well as a unicorn named Power Shield descended off of Iron and a mare he married after he left the Guard that work with the current generation of Guards as a combat mage (specializing in defensive magic). Then there were my kids. First of my current offspring being a teenage dragon in the Guard by the name of Spiro (as he was a winged indigo colored dragon with a bright orange underbelly, straight sharpened horns, and eyes, this name seemed incredibly fitting when I recommended it to his parents, my Nth-edly great grandkids) who was descended from one of the dragon eggs Livy and I adopted worked as a berserker knight and could fight a dragon twice his size, and then there was Lupus. Lupus was descended from Akira, and I still loved him like a son, but honestly...

Lupus was a bit of a lazy shit.

He had a build of a larger gem hunter but with all of Akira's looks. He was tall, sleek, muscular, and bore a shining white pelt. His eyes were sharp and were a venomous yellow, and his claws were primed for digging, combat, and had a good deal of possibility for learning new skills. The only problem was the fact that he was the exact stereotype of an angsty teenager, rock music and all. I actually enjoyed a lot of that stuff since I was in college when I arrived in Equestria and still kept most of my preferences throughout time, but he was against me. For some reason or other he viewed me in much of the 'authority figure to resent' point of view. I still made an effort to visit him and make sure he's alright, but of course he gave mostly monosyllabic answers to my questions.

I walked along, waving to a few ponies as I went toward Lupus' house first. His parents had been killed in a cave in a few years back, but I still gave him an allowance of my own money so that he could live on his own and then find a job. The house was a simple crystal building, of the standard design. It did stand out from the fact that his house, by his own tampering, was crafted of a pale orange crystal rather than the usual teal. Oh, and the skull carved in his door. There was that. I pushed the doorbell and then opened the door.

"Hey Lupus it's me! I'm coming in!"

I called out.  walked into the dark room. Most of the furniture was of roughly carved wood that Lupus had gotten himself. On the walls were various posters for musical bands and such. I walked down the stairs to the basement he had made his room in. I walked down the stairs and found him laying on his bed.

"Hey."

He said in a low voice.

"Hey kiddo. Just stopping by as per usual to check up."

"Yeah yeah. You know, I'm not some kid you need to watch over,  can handle myself."

I laughed.

"Loop, I'm five hundred years old. Everyone but Luna and any dragons that have been hiding for that long, is a kid compared to me. Of course, you are one of my to the Nth-grandkids. That means that no matter what, when, or where, I'm gonna do my best to be there to make sure everyone of you is alright."

He huffed and looked away.

"Alright kid I get the message, I'll be going. I have to go check up with Hum at her rehearsal next."

He perked up slightly. I smiled internally. One thing I had managed to figure out on my own was the fact that Lupus had it bad for Humming Wing.

"U-uh.. S-so Hum's having a rehearsal?"

I nodded.

"Yeah, all of her friends are invited but everyone's busy. Even I can only stop in briefly."

I leaned in to him.

"You know, it would mean a lot to her if only there were a strapping young wolf around that could go over with me an then stay for her rehearsal."

His ears dropped and he got a miffed expression.

"Fine, point taken. Where is it?"

I smirked and waved him along.

"This way kid."

The rehearsal was in the music hall her in the original Empire, in a building named the Celestial Hall. It was a tribute for Celestia, but by this point Sol Demonius was a boogeyman for kids and Celestia herself had begun to fade from memory. As me and Luna planned, by the time Sol returned and we freed Celestia from her, the two would be viewed as entirely separate beings. The hall was a tall building of carved white marble, with an emblem of the sun over the door and as the theme of the place. We both entered and walked in and took a seat in the empty concert hall. On stage was Humming wing, a green/yellow pegasus with a pink mane and deep blue eyes. Her mark was a wing with waves (meant to resemble sound waves) on either side, and to match that she was concert violinist. She stood on her back legs on the stage, absorbed in her playing, and when the song finally ended both Lupus and I stood clapping. She looked and saw us, and then got a big smile. She set down her violin and then flew down and hugged me. She spoke in a high voice.

"Heya Grampa Jack!"

She looked at Lupus and then gave him a brief blush before sliding back, bushing.

"H-hey Lupus."

I looked between them both knowingly and then spoke up, placing a hand on Hum's shoulder.

"Well Hum I'm glad I got to hear some of your music but I'm afraid I have to go take care of stuff for the Guard. Of course Lupus here doesn't have anything going on and he wants to stay for your rehearsal."

She smiled and looked at Lupus.

"You really want to hear all my playing?"

He gave a tentative nod.

I patted them both on the heads.

"Well I'll see you two later on. Have a good rehearsal!"

With that I departed. These visits of mine never really lasted the same amount of time, how long I stuck around mainly relied on what all was going on with everyone. The next visit of mine would be part of the plasma cutter training, as Power and Spyro were both guards near the end of their training. I walked back towards the castle, passing through to the Guard training grounds. All of the group I was training was gathered already, a group of gem hunters, ponies of all types and a few dragons along with Spyro. I walked out and started speaking, looking over the table of weapons before me.

"Alright everyone, today I'm going to go over the procedures and safety measures behind using plasma weaponry..."

I took training days like this extremely seriously,  as each new generation of weapons made by the University from my original plasma cutter had behaved like Earth weaponry, becoming increasingly more powerful. After a while I finished the procedures, and alerted the group to the fact that soon they would be tested for entry into the full Guard, and so informational days like this were of high importance. I went over to talk to Power and Spyro afterward. Spyro spoke before me.

"Oh hey Gramps. Sorry, but me, Power and some of the other recruits are gonna study up for the tests and stuff. See you later!"

With this the two rushed of, and I sighed and shook my head. They seemed to be well enough. Now for the final matter of he day, checking the borders. A while back the University had constructed what was known as a scrying mirror, made of technology and magic together. Currently there were sets in most Guard posts of mirrors, to allow communications between different parts of the Empire. Ever since we started getting rumors of unitologist activities in other countries I made sure to check up with the border posts with Luna. I entered the room and was greeted by Luna.

"Hello Jack, how are y-"

A wave of crackling static came from the mirrors, and one of them formed a scrambled image that reformed into the image of one of the outposts.

"Hello!? Hello!? Anyone there!?"

I stepped in front of the mirror.

"Yes, this is Commander Jack. What's going on down there?"

The guard on the other side saluted.

"Sir, it's the griffins! There's an army of them gathered and their King is at the front demandi-"

The guard was cut off by someone else in the room grabbing him and puling him off screen. The mirror turned to face a large griffin, the mirror barely able to fit him. He was a royal griffin from the look of him. I hadn't met him before, but I kew he was the King. His body was covered in armor made of the crimson metal of those either empowered or possessed by the Marker, and had a crystal marker on his chest like the one that was in Sol Demonius' armor. His claws were wrapped in golden claw-gauntlets and a crown of gold and ruby sat on his head. On his back was a massive broadsword, sitting in a sheath. He spoke in a deep voice.

"I am King Graaf of Griffica. For the recent actions of Equestria against us on the borders and in the lands around such, I hereby issue a challenge of war on the behalf of my kingdom. You have one chance to settle this dispute, in the field of battle between two warriors. In five days may your country send out one champion to represent you against me. The winner of this will decide how this will be settles, be it war, discussion, or otherwise. I have spoken. You have five days."

With this the message cut out, leaving Luna and I in silence.

Chapter Nineteen: The King's talon

"Are you sure of this? Surely we could-"

"Luna you heard him. It's either I fight him and run the chance of winning and even if I lose I'm expendable, you fight him and if you lose then the Equestria Empire will collapse without you, or we send someone else off to die. He isn't willing to negotiate, and I'm the only being with power to match, if not pass you, that is expendable. The Equestria Empire will have its army ready as a backup, I have no doubt that they can hold the lines if  fall, and if the King pulls a fast one then you can be there to take my place. but I won't risk any other life for this except my own if at all possible."

Luna nodded, and then sighed. I spoke up again.

"Hey, even if he tries to use power from the Marker then I have my wraith's eye and my own training to clear madness away and then my swords. Tharn's Fang can take the punishment and besides that I have my cutters and Lunar Steel swords. Not to mention the fact that I have Finis."

The reason I bring up Finis is the fact that... Well, Finis was an anomaly. It never showed any signs of damage or aging, it was able to nullify any magic that impacted it (to the point where Luna could go full force and it wouldn't even be warmed), and no matter what it was cold to the touch. I used Finis regularly with Tharn's Fang, but most of my battles hadn't really given me any chances to show what Finis could do. I thought at the time that Finis would be useful because I was fighting an elder spirit. By elder spirit I essentially mean beings such as Celestia and Luna that were interwoven to the natural forces of Equus. Just as Luna held the moon, Graaf and his line steered the winds. Of course, Graaf wasn't an immortal. His family was very long lived, but not eternal. Somewhere back down the line his family learned how to control the winds, and with every new generation of the family all of the knowledge, skills, and power of those before were passed down. After a few hundred generations of constant improvement Graaf, a griffin with the strength and power of an alicorn. And if this continued then his child would be even stronger. I hoped that with Finis and my own necromorph abilities that I could even out to the point where I would be able to make up for having less blade skill (five hundred years of training versus a being with the memories and skills of a few thousand) with my own magical skill. By this point I was a master of elemental and combat spells, and even an adept at the other schools. With enough magic charged up I could even perform a teleport, though it's a massive mana drain and renders me unable to do magic for a short while.

I looked at Luna with a comforting grin.

"I won't lose Luna. I swear it."

With a slight bow and a final look, I was off.

---

The sound of the train, rhythmically puffing and chugging along, did little to relax me as I rode towards the border station. The whole train outside my car was filled with Guardstallions, even a few f the recruits and I was trying to steel myself to go against Graaf. He was a true threat to Equestria, and if I failed then we could fall straight into a war torn wasteland. This would be a pivotal moment, if I could free Graaf from the Marker Amulet then it would not only give us a chance to get Griffica under the rule of someone who know the evil of unitology firsthand, but it would show that we could do the same for Celestia when she returned. If I failed then I would be killed, and unitology could overwhelm Equestria. I had to beat Graaf, no, I would beat Graaf!

When we arrived it was worse than I thought, around the back of the outpost was a massive battalion of Griffins adorned in armor made of a light blue metal. From what I had been told, the metal was known as Wind-Silver. It was a metal that had a recipe known only to the Griffins. It was enchanted so it could touch and manipulate clouds, and it was light enough to the degree where it would barely inhibit the speed of the Griffin wearing it. I could see the group of guards stationed here being held by Griffin guards, and with them I could see Graaf himself.

A large Griffin with a light brown coat of feathers, with those around his head of a slick black coloring. He glared at me when I stepped off the train, as if he could tell I was the one to fight him. His body was covered in a suit different than Celestia's, made of interwoven Wind-Silver and the same crimson metal of the Amulet, which I had nicknamed Crimtane. On his wings were large wingblades of wind-silver and his claws were still covered in the same golden gauntlets. The ruby Marker symbol on the chest of his armor glowed faintly, sending power into him. He spoke.

"So you are the Champion of The Equestrian Empire?"

I nodded.

"I am Jack the Slasher, and I will not allow for you to harm my country."

He nodded with the same glare.

"Very well then, Jack the Slasher. I am King Graaf, ruler of winds and King of Griffica. Follow me, and we shall begin our duel."

---

The chosen arena was a place on the border known as the Crag. It was a massive canyon that ran along the border and had no life in it. The two of us would both remain in the Crag and not leave, so as to have a limit to the area we would effect and so that our forces would be outside of the crossfire between us. The two of us stood a good distance from each other, both of us waiting for the other to make the first move. He took it, surging forward in a small wave of wind towards me, claws bared. I brought out my Lunar Steel sabers barely in time to defect the blows as he went into a flurry of strikes. I jumped back and tossed my sabers to my top arms and then grabbed my mana plasma cutters in my lower and then started blasting as Graff's gauntlets started crackling with pulses of lightning. He flew back and started launching bolts of green lightning at me and I intercepted them with shots from my cutters. I looked up at him as he charged energy onto his wings along with his claws and rushed past me, extending out with his wingblades. I caught them with my sabers, blocking the actual strike but still getting shocked with the lightning. I yelped in pain from it but managed to recover in time to dodge from a lighting pulse from him. I rushed after him and swapped my sabers back to my lower arms, and brought out Tharn's Fang and Finis. He flew up started surging me with gusts of wind, pushing me back from him until I channeled some of my own magic through Tharn's Fang and sent out a bolt of my own lightning at him.

"Fear me heretic! I will be your end!"

He grabbed the sword off his back and drew it, lunging for me and bringing it down in a heavy strike. I held Tharn's Fang and Finis to block the blow, still grinding back. In my lower arms I brought up my sabers and went back and forth against his wingblades. I decided to pay back the lightning he blasted me with. I sent a pulse of electricity along his sword and he flinched back, waving his sword and blasting me with a torrent of wind. I sheathed my sabers and conducted magic through my Cairn gauntlets and summoned a magical shield in front of me. He summoned a mass of cloud above him, the entire thing sinking into a deep black color and crackling with power.

"Uh oh."

He flew out of the cloud and out of sight. I opened a hole in my shield and dashed out, just barely avoiding the massive bolt of lightning that shot down and shattered my shield and left the spot beneath a blackened smear. I looked back at the cloud and started dashing along the ground to avoid the blasts of lightning coming down. I sheathed all of my swords, until he came down they wouldn't be any good. I grabbed my plasma cutters in my top hand. With luck I could get a shot on one of his wings and bring him down, but that'd be useless until I saw him. I charged mana in my lower gauntlets and started casting spells to modify my vision, hoping to find him in the clouds by his magical signature. I figured that would be best since someone with his abilities would have a massive amount of mana around him. I finished the spell as I ran and then started gather ice magic in my hands. I looked and saw him at the center of the cloud.

"THERE YOU ARE!"

I unloaded my cutters around him and he started weaving around the cloud to try and avoid being hit. He finally dropped below the cloud, drawing the rest of the magic in the clouds into a massive bolt of green lightning. I sent out the pulse of ice magic I had charged up and the two clashed in a wave of energy. Graaf flinched away and then continued weaving through the air in a tornado of wind to avoid the shots from my cutters. Finally he drew his sword and surrounded it with a small tornado of powerful winds. I braced my self for it. I finally got a look at his sword as he charged me. It was a pale blue color, made from some sort of alloy of Wind-Silver, and held an aura of ice magic about it. Now that I had a look at it seemed almost... Familiar? Wait a sec! That sucker looks just like the Skyrim sword Chillrend! Uh oh. Chillrend was more powerful in the game depending on level, and now it was being wielded by a Griffin with the collective knowledge of hundreds of years. That meant that the enchantments on the sword would increasingly be...

Uh oh.

I drew Finis and managed to block the blow, the arctic wind about it buffeting me. I brought Finis around with Tharn's fang and wrenched the sword from him and he hopped back from me. He gained a look of rage at this.

"Enough of this! I will not be opposed!"

The Amulet sent a wave of energy over him, and his eyes gained the same glow as Mercer's. He gained a manic grin, and then made a final charge for me. I sheathed Tharn's Fang, holding my sabers out to the side and then Finis two handed. His claws lashed for me, and my sabers locked against his gauntlets. Energy surged down them and shocked me, and in a final push I rushed him and sank the tip of Finis right into the gem on his chest, watching my sabers shatter against his claws. Red energy crackled from it, only to be nullified by Finis as cracks spread across it. I watched him as he lurched away from me and into the air.

"GYAAAAGH NO! YOU FOOL!"

The gem on his chest crackled and glowed with power a final time before shattering in a wave of power. Graaf collapsed to the ground, his armor completely destroyed except for the Wind-Silver patches. His wingblades and sword had fallen to the ground around him, and his crown had rolled a few feet away. I walked over to his unconscious form and stuck a health potion into his beak and one into my own mouth. He sputtered and slowly opened his eyes. He looked at me in uncertainty.

"What the- wait. I  know you. You are the one known as Jack, correct? What am I doing here...?"

I nodded and held out a hand to help him up. He was able to recall me from the collective memory passed down from his forefathers. As it was, a similar political coup to what was attempted with Celestia and Equestria. Unitologists lurking in his kingdom had tracked him and gotten him to wear the Amulet, and he had actually agreed with it at first, but by that time he realized it was possessing him it was too late. He agreed with me that a war with the Equestrian Empire wouldn't end well for any of those involved. He seemed concerned when he saw my broken sabers.

"Hmm. It would seem that the blades of the night which you have worn through the ages have been broken by me in my madness. Aha! Here,"

He picked up the Chillrend-look alike sword and held it out to me hilt first.

"This is the sword held by my family for generations, crafted of Wind-silver and the same Tartarus Ebony used for the binding of the gates of Tartarus. It bears the power of storms and can bear the force of any wind, any form of material produced in a cloud, and even the arctic and scorching might of the frozen north and southern desert wastes. It holds the name Ultima Ventus. The Final Wind."

The magic seemed to fade from it and the blade shimmered into a deep gray color, with the golden hilt fading into a silver color. I reached out and took it. He spoke out again

"I can see through my family the fact that those blades have been with you for as long as you have lived among the Equestrians, and so I hope this can make up for it. The Ultima Ventus has great meaning in Griffica, and it bears the nickname of The King's Talon. May it bridge the gap between our people."

I nodded and took it, placing it into the sheathe at my right hip with my lower right arm.

"Thank you King Graaf. i hope it may do the same as we keep our respective people from harming one another."

He gave me a small smile, and I took his claw and shook it. With a final move I levitated the broken pieces of my sabers and placed them in my knapsack. I spoke up.

"Alright. Let's go tell everyone, and hopefully we can remove the unitologists from your country."

He nodded, and we both crossed over the hills to where our armies had been gathered. Nothing could have prepared us for what we saw next. We both froze in place. I managed to speak.

"Oh...Oh Gods..."

Scattered around, some still fighting, were the fallen, bloodied bodies of our forces. I looked and saw the Griffins screeching like mindless beasts, their eyes held in the burning yellow glow of necromorphs. Then I heard it. A low, hollow laugh. I turned slowly to the left, and there he stood with a manic grin. Mercer. Hundreds of years, and yet he seemed unchanged other than being slightly taller and thinner.

"Nice of you to arrive heretic."

Chapter Twenty: First Blood

I didn't think, I just reacted. My arms all for expanded into brute form and I charged forward, with the intent of ending Mercer and the unitologists once and for all. He laughed and dashed away, keeping ahead of me and just out of my reach. I followed him as he jumped over a ridge. My right arms dissolved and erupted into Leviathan necromorph tentacles, lunging out and grabbing him, only for his body to dissolve into the form of a dead griffin. I released the body and lashed out, just barely grabbing the edge of the ridge, and pulling my self up. As I pulled myself up I heard his voice again.

"Hmm... Oh so quick with the bloodletting yet so slow on the recovery. Ahh, to be unaware of one's own sin. Still, you will soon see the truth heretic to the moons. This day is merely the first of many that will water the world with heretic blood. You may halt us now..."

His voice sounded as if  it spoke into my ear, as a simple whisper.

"But soon enough, you will fall. And on that day, you will burn for your defiance..."

I shuddered a moment before shaking my head to regain my focus. I ran into the fray, my arms reforming into blades as I cut through a few of the maddened griffins and helped up a wounded Guard.

"Soldier what's going on!? When  left everything was fine, albeit tense!"

The guard was shaking.

"A few minutes A-After you guys left, all of the griffins went nuts and started attacking, and everypony that's been downed took out as many as they could..."

I nodded and cast a healing spell on his wounds, before laying him down behind cover.

"Alright, thank you. I'm gonna see if I can end this."

I charged into the fray, yelling out to the remaining Equestrians.

"GUARDSTALLIONS! FALL BACK WITH KING GRAAF AND TAKE THE WOUNDED TO THE STATION AND SET A DEFENSIVE POSITION!, HE'S NOT INVOLVED WITH THIS!"

I started gathering magic for a transformation, a big one. I sent out a pulse and my gauntlets disappeared into my mana. I would call them back when this was over. I looked at Graaf, who had flown up to me.

"Jack, have you figured out what has happened? None of my people are listening to me, some even attacked!"

I nodded.

"They're not your people anymore. They've all been possessed like you were, but with spellcraft and not an enchanted object like you. Graaf I am sorry but they have killed so many of my men, and I will end this NOW!"

He nodded and flew back with the Guards left. I unleashed my mana as the remaining griffins started circling me from all sides, as if sensing the power I was gathering. Something I had learned along with my biological immortality was the fact that my magic would grow along with my age. After a few hundred years I finally could, with some struggle, use some of the 'boss' necromorphs in my transformations. For this one, I chose a cross between an ubermorph and the Tormentor. My height shot from eight feet to twelve, my whole body gaining muscle and bone plating like when I entered a brute form, but more. In the game, the Tormentor was the same as a brute, but three times bigger, stronger, and more deadly. The only weakpoint was the shoulder, which was composed of yellow infected looking tissue, which I lacked due to my ubermorph regeneration. My armor entered one of the lesser enchantments, teleporting off of me with my gauntlets so as to not  be broken by the change in my size. I roared as the griffins descended at me. All of my arms ripped into what I had named 'uber-mentor' blades, ubermorph blades but with the mass and size of a Tormentor behind them. The griffins that charged me were cut down, and the rest that didn't took up crossbows and started launching bolts at me. I charged more magic and then unleashed a torrent of Puker bile at them, a number of them falling from the sky as it burned at them. A number of them took to weaving around me, diving in to cut me with their claws, only for me to lunge and strike them down. I charged into the remainders of the maddened griffin army, blades swinging. Somewhere in this my mind faded, rage at the death and hate brought onto my brothers in arms by them consuming me. It was only a few minutes, and when I came to, I was on my knees, tears streaming down my face. I had reverted to normal, and all of my armor had reappeared. I was surrounded on all sides by torn apart griffins, and I was soaked in blood, both my own and of the griffins. I stood up uncertainly, and stumbled towards the station where my men were. I looked up numbly as rain stated pouring down. I entered the station, barely holding together. My whole body ached from the massive transformation. The blood on my body and armor had been washed off somewhat by the rain, but I still received bewildered looks from my soldiers and Graaf.

"... Alright everyone. First order, collect up the our fallen brothers and sisters out there. Graaf, I'm sorry but we aren't going to be able to gather the fallen griffins, and you'll either have to come with us to Equestria or head back to Griffica on your own."

They all held the bewildered gaze at me.

"THAT'S AN ORDER! I won't stand or leaving our dead out there in this weather, and we have to bring word back to Princess Luna that the unitologists have got enough magical power to posses this many people. Those griffins fell because of the unitologists, and so we need to get back to the capital to bring word and plan for their next move! Now get going!"

They all shook their heads and went outside to gather the fallen. Graaf held a sad look to him, and spoke.

"So many... So many have died for these unitologists... I will go to Griffica now, and bring word of this! If I have my way, all of their kind will be- GACH!"

A sword had plunged through his back, erupting from his chest. I looked and saw a griffin standing there, his eyes yellowed, but not in the madness of the Griffin soldiers, but rather like... Mercer! His body feathers were a brownish red, and his head feathers were white. He laughed and took out a Marker Amulet, teleporting from sight before I could grab him.

Then I heard Mercer again, his voice drilling through my head.

"This is only the beginning..."

Chapter Twenty One: The Sun and Stars

"This is only the beginning..."...

I was cut off from my writing about the attacks of the unitologists throughout the ages by a hoof pulling on my leg. I looked down and gained a small smile. A small filly with a golden coat and a red and yellow mane, about eleven years of age and with a cutie mark of a half red and half yellow sun on her flank. Along with her was a small purple unicorn of almost eight years with an indigo/purple mane with a pink stripe, and a mark of a pink star with smaller stars around it on her. I spoke up.

"Hello there Sunset, Twilight. Is something the matter?"

Her face puffed up a bit.

"Jaaaaack!

"Twilight won't stop bugging me!"

"Sunset won't help me with my studying!"

I chuckled. I still remembered the day I met these two hellraisers. It was a few years ago, at a place known as Luna's School For The Gifted. Luna had set up the place both as a way to find a pony with the spark of life to them that could use the elements and as a way for magically adept Equestrian children of all species and races to learn how to control their magic. On the day in question the school was holding tests for unicorn foals to gain entrance, and they would do so for the rest of the week. I had made a point of being nearby in case one of the foals was a flare (in other words a unicorn with a great deal of magical power but also little ability to control it without training. It had happened before that a foal had finally gained access to magic and then once they showed themselves as a flare their magic behaved like a shaken bottle of soda being opened) and  needed to get involved to clear people from the area. I was walking around outside when I heard a small scraping sound. I walked down a path to one of the back entrances to the room where the foals to be tested waited, and found her. A small unicorn foal with an unwashed mane like ketchup and mustard, a coat that might have once been golden, and a cutie mark of a red and yellow sun. She was picking at the lock with her magic, and it seemed that she wanted to be tested without the proper procedures. My eyes widened when the lock fell to the ground with a clank. She was about to open the door when I spoke up.

"You know kid usually foals need their parents permission to be tested here."

She whirled around with a look of fear, which increased when she saw who I was. I held up a hand to calm her before she screamed or anything.

"Hey. I'm not gonna hurt you. But seriously, where are your parents?"

Her face puffed up and she turned away from me, almost as if hiding tears.

"No parents then? I know how that feels."

She turned to me slightly before looking away, refusing to meet my gaze.

"You know kid you have a lot of magic on you. I can feel your aura around you, like a big bubble. Nothing as big as Luna's, but definitely a higher amount than the average unicorn, or foal for that matter. I actually can see why you would want to enter the school, you could benefit from having someone teach you to control your flares. Of course that would require your parents to sign off on you and a lot of other things that, while I have no doubt you could find a way to get what you need, would take too long. Not to mention that it'd be a waste of time."

Her eyes widened and she whirled up at me with a defiant expression but I cut her off again.

"I like the cut of your jib miss. You know what you want and you go for it. You've shown yourself to have a lot of talent just by getting past that lock but hey, waste your time here... If that's what you want. Or you could come with me. Learn directly from one of the top mages in Equestria and find your own path, rather than sinking down with every other foal, pup, dragonling, grif-chick, and otherwise in the school. But either way, let me know if you want a hand in finding your true potential. I'll be at the castle courtyard at eleven tonight, rain or shine. Come and find me if you want."

And sure enough when rain poured down that night in the courtyard, I heard small hoofsteps approaching me. I looked at the kid with one eye. She spoke.

"I want to find my true potential."

After that she became my apprentice, learning all I had to teach. She was an adept mage in all schools of magic that she tried her hoof at, and even became an adept fighter when she became old enough to handle the guards training weapons. I came to care for her somewhat like a daughter, and after a few years my little 'family' grew as Luna took a foal named Twilight Sparkle a her own student. The two children rubbed against each other like a pair of magnets, but still came to be as sisters. Which made moments like these where they came to me with their problems adorable. I looked down at them.

"Sunset at least take a look at Twilight's homework. You're years ahead of her so you should be able to help her easily. Twilight, sometimes Sunset has other things to take care of, if she says she can't help you after you ask a few times then consider getting help from someone else."

The two had brief moments of realization and then glanced at each other and briefly apologized.

"Sorry Twilight, I can help you with your homework if you really need it."

"Sorry Sunset, you don't have to help if you don't want to."

I chuckled as they walked away. In a few short years Daemonius Sol would return along with the unitologists, but I still enjoyed moments of simple peace like this that could make me smile. Those two foals would carry Equestria, whether they knew it or not. I could feel it deep down, they carried importance. Whenever I allowed myself to hear the faint echoes of the moons, they seemed to recognize these two... And fear them. Twilight would help light the way while Sunset cleared the path.

I would count down every day, and I would be ready. I had only ten years left until Celestia in her controlled state would return, and the Marker would be freed from its bounds. I would not allow for darkness to take this place. I could feel the weariness in my bones as the years grew shorter until the end. I lacked the sight to see past the oncoming darkness, but I did not fear. I had prepared my Guard to face the demons that lurked beyond sight, and a student that would be the first to take the lead from me. I would find my way to the Marker of death which I would slay...

After all, the Sun and Stars would light my way

Chapter Twenty Two: Beginning Of The End

"Hey Jack the time of return is approaching. Any standing commands for me or the troops?"

I shook my head.

"No. Everyone had their orders and we've begun moving troops to the crater around the pit. When the time comes, we will be ready."

"Alright sir. May I go and hang out with Twilight?"

I nodded and watched Sunset leave. Sunset would be leaving soon as well, and given the situation I understood her wanting to spend time with the mare who was like a little sister to her.

I sighed. We had a week left. One week and then our only chance is spent. Forces are gathered, of every standing member of the military sans the city guard. They were all adorned with armor as I saw in my visions, a hybrid of Isaac' engineer armor and that of the Equestrian Guard's original gear. All of them, pony, dragon, griffin, and gem hunter alike. This would be our only chance, the forces of an actual hell versus those of the mortal world. Tartarus would open, and in doing so release the full force of the Marker and then every single one of its denizens. All of the worst beings to exist in this world, and each of them twisted further by an eternity of the Marker flooding power into them. My troops would be led by my apprentice, the mare I raised from childhood and proudly promoted to being my second in command after years of service. As Twilight led the elements against Celestia (Twilight had been kept in the dark about the troop, and Luna has made plans for her to be one of those who bear the elements) so would Sunset lead the military. She would lead the charge, and under her the forces of Tartarus and the Marker would be held back. As they did this, I would be the one to enter hell itself, finally destroy the Marker, and end this. I looked over the suit of armor in a display case in my room. After all these years it still held together fairly well, a suit of silver dragon scales and mythril. Patches of it had been replaced, the plating remade with lunar steel and celestial gold, the chain mail with wind-silver, and the bindings had been remade with materials from one of the strongest creature of Equestria. An ursa major. Part of this was the cape-like addition onto the back of the suit, made of the beast's pelt but then heavily condensed with magic into a magically powered armor. It still held the same qualities that made it look like the night sky. My helmet was long shattered, and so it was replaced with a helm like those of the modern guard. It looked like the fifth version of Isaac's helmet from the first game, but crafted of shining white mythril and glowing with a bright green color. Along with this was a RIG crafted by the University, made in the same way of those in the games. They were filled with bright purple liquid, a potion made to restore mana and enchance the healing of the body. It was built to connect to my body underneath the ursa cape. Around my armor lay four swords.

Ultima Ventus, the King's Talon.

Tharn's Fang, a gift of friends made from the teeth of a dragon elder.

Crescent, a blade reforged of my original pair of Night Guard swords bound into one and bearing all of the magical power.

And finally, Finis. The unknown end.

On each of my hands I wear a gauntlet of orichalcum. The bindings of my oath to never cease until Equestria is safe.

I look over my room and take out a relic of my own creation. A necklace made of topaz and mythril, in the shape of a diamond. I send a gentle pulse of magic into it, and a rift of magic opens in front of me about the size of a small treasure chest. I levitate all of my belongings from the room and place them into the rift. I made this amulet for this purpose, to be a way of holding all that I need to retrieve from my own magical field later. I put the amulet under my shirt with my Wraith's Eye. I looked down as something rubbed against my leg. Fefnir.

"Hey boy...."

He whimpered and I petted him.

"Yeah. I'm worried. I... I may not come back from this."

He gave me a sad look and I knelt down to hug him.

"It's alright boy. It's alright."

Fefnir.

Even now staying with me. Some part of me wondered if Livy intended for him to help me so much.

I thought back over my life. So many faces... So many family members lost, people I cared for as children buried... But one thing was sure. They would want me to keep going. I rolled my shoulders and took Fef with me as I went to Luna. We had a short goodbye. Neither of us could handle anything longer, and I could feel my resolve shuddering. I left Fef in her care. It would be better for him to stay here. Nothing but death lay where I was headed. As I walked away from Luna for the final time I felt my resolve steel as I recalled the one thing which set me on this path. I walked out from the throne room for a final time, fully suited in my armor.

My name is Jack, champion of Luna.

This battle will be the death of the Marker.

This battle will be the death of Mercer, and all of unitology.

And this battle will be the last this world sees of me.

Chapter Twenty Three: Moonset/Sunrise

Dead silence. That is what held the soon to be battleground surrounding Tartarus. I had been preparing myself, every enchant on my armor recharged, every weapon sharpened save Finis (as always, the blade never wore out or dulled) and every other weapon cleaned and primed. I had my original Plasma Cutter with me, as well as three of the latest copies. On my back lay a powerful rifle made of the same tech as the copies, and in my knapsack lay a good deal of medical and survival supplies. I slowly walked forward, facing those who I would lead into battle.

"We gather here today to face the scourge which has besieged Equestria for the past thousand years! Tartarus will open and release a horde of creatures beyond our knowing, and it is our role to stop the tides! We will face the darkness and make it regret EVER messin' with the Equestrian Empire! Alpha Beta Gamma squads take the primary charge! Delta Zeta Phi squads take the defensive, hold the lines and take out anything that gets past the charging forces! Epsilon and Ro squads, you're on ranged, stay behind the defenses and help keep firepower onto the weakpoints of anything hydra-class or larger! Iota Kappa Lambda you're on reserve, if there's any gaps then you fill them, we can't have any fuck-ups today! Omega squad you're with me! We're going after the Marker, and I need backup to be able to punch enough of a hole to get to it! If that Marker gets destroyed then all Necromorphs will be reduced to slag! NOW WHO'S WITH ME!"

A resounding roar echoed out across the field, and I never felt more pride than looking there, on the army of mixed species raised under the same flag, all willing to give their lives so others wouldn't have to... Somewhere out there I knew Twilight and Sunset would have fulfilled Luna's visions and begun their journey to the elements, and just as well I would make my final journey here. I drew my swords and waved them forward. We held for a moment, waiting for something...anything... A sound of tearing metal and the roars of unnatural necromorph hellspawn finally breaking loose. We moved as one, facing the surge of necromorphs that met us, Omega squad and I punching a slight hole in the enemy ranks as we made for the entrance to Tartarus. Omega team was more of a trio than anything, with the only members being Spyro, now aged to being halfway between a teenage and adult dragon, and Lupus, now known as one of the few 'elder wolves'. Essentially that being the mortal Alicorn equivalent among Gem Hunters, one that is born every few decades. He would age but he could easily live a few centuries. These were the two remaining descendants of my children, and I felt they were the only ones other than Sunset, Twilight or Luna I would trust to have my back in combat. I shifted into Brute Necromorph form and the three of us made our charge across the plains as the forces of Tartarus and Equestria clashed. The three of us wasted no time on any one Necromorph, our goal was the source of it all.

With raw force we punched through, Lupus and I quickly moving to Spyro's back so that he could speed fly us across the field. Withing minutes we crossed enemy lines, seeing just what had been lurking within the pit. Dragons of massive, almost unbelievable size twisted and skeletal, with wing rotted and turned into little more than blades... Demons, melded abominations of other creatures made only more grotesque by the corruption of the Marker... Hordes of twisted creatures of an unidentifiable sort mixed with them, all forming an army akin to what you'd expect in the most horrid of nightmares. We dove forward, moving past them all and going straight into the pit. Necromorphs lined the walls all around us as we fell, some leaping at us only to be smashed aside. Less than a minute passed before we were completely blanketed in the darkness of the pit, led only by the occasional bit of light from Spyro's flame breathing. Eventually we landed at the bottom of the pit, all three of us looking about the derelict cells and prisons before us. We all glanced at one another before nodding and moving forward. Eventually we arrived and found ourselves facing the walkway to the main cell of  the pit, trailing out of sight into the void below. Blood was splattered across the ground, as well as signs of a colossal struggle. The pit was entirely empty, everything held here now involved with the struggle on the surface. We all kept moving, knowing that time was of the essence for our objective.

The path spiraled down, into the darkness  as we went, and eventually we saw it. Stood atop a broad circular platform of stone...

The Marker.

It stood as a monolith, if we weren't on a path above it then it would have been towering over us... It was larger than even the eldest of dragons, made of a black-red metal that seemed to emanate pure death. All across every inch of it bands of alien markings were carved and forged into it. We all made the leap and landed at the edges of the platform. A voice echoed all around us. Mercer.

"So...The heretic brings his young before the holy article...Truly your hubris is great..."

Mercer seemed to materialize in front of us in a haze of shadows, his stature seemed to have grown to be equal to even Luna over the years... That didn't mean he looked well. His form was sickly, with his from seeming to be barely held to his bones. He sneered at me as his horn began to light up, and he seemed to be lifted into the air as he drew power from the Marker.

"Now, heretics... Face the righteous fury of the Marker, and be PURGED!"

His whole body was encompassed with a deep red energy, shining with the same aura as the Marker. When it cleared he hovered above us, his frail form brimming with muscle and his horn now a curved scythe in appearance. Off his back extended a pair of twisted and demonic wings which almost resembled fused necromorph blades. His horn ignited again and released a wave of power into the darkness below the platform. The form of a necromorph dragon clawed itself up from the depths, before launchng off and holding itself in the air with a pair of ragged wings. This dragon unlike the others, I recognized...

Tharn. The Marker had brought back one of the first enemies I had slain in Equestria. Mercer continued speaking, in a slow voice.

"You see, heretic... This is not a matter of winning nor losing. It is a matter of time... I do not need to slay you myself, the Marker shall do that, it is only until the Convergence begins that all will be done... You have minutes at best, and that is time I will not allow for you...For that end, I have specifically chose two beings to revive, a pair you will undoubtedly recognize."

Then I heard the second being rising up behind us. I turned slowly and saw...Her. The bastard... He had DARED use Livy in this... I locked eyes with Mercer and spoke to Spyro and Lupus.

"Spyro take Tharn you're not as big as him but you're a hell of a lot smarter."

"Got it."

"And Lupus-"

"I know sir. I'll take the other one."

Tharn was massive, of that there was no doubt, but Spyro was enough for him I was sure. Livy was a bit bigger than Spyro when she had fallen, but I had confidence Lupus  could handle that thing Mercer had made of her. While they kept them bust I made for Mercer, charging dead for him. He drew a pair of the same Marker-designed swords that I had seen before and I drew Tharn's Fang and Crescent. He swung his blades at me form odd angles whichever his magic allowed. I parried them all and Smashed them both out of his aura and into the void below. He roared and sent a storm of magical bolts at me from all directions. I bobbed and weaved through them all and intercepted them with shots from my cutters, rapidly swapping between my weapons. He sent a bolt of continuous magical energy at me, which I blocked with my orichalcum gauntlets. It pushed me back, until finally  I surged forward and past it. I drew Finis, the one blade which could damage something as powerful as the Marker, and in one fell stroke I plunged it into Mercer's chest and sank it into the Marker until only the hilt was still visible. The second I did so pain lanced through me and I stumbled away. Mercer laughed, not even fazed by the sword run through him.

"Fool! Have you forgotten what you are!? Your form may be bound by those wretched Elements but deep down, deeper than you dare glimpse... You are just as much a product of the Marker as I. To kill the Marker is to kill yourself!"

I froze. So... That was the cost. My life for the Marker's...I looked back at Spyro and Lupus, both facing opponents beyond them, trusting me to do this. I thought of the legion on the surface, fighting to buy time until we could finally lay down our weapons from this eternal war... Then I thought of Sunset and Twilight. Somewhere out there, they were fighting just as hard as I. I reached out adn ripped Finis out and held it in a single hand. Mercer grinned as he rose from where he fell.

"So you finally see... You have no future but the Marker, child. Join us... Make the Marker whole in a willing member of the great Unity! Soon we shall all-"

I cut him off from speaking, splitting his head from his torso in a single swing of Finis. I held it in all four of my hands and charged forward and bringing it down against the Marker with all my might. Agony tore through me again, but this time I stood against it. The chamber shook witht eh Marker, and when I looked I saw the reanimated forms of Tharn and Livy roaring in pain with me. I barked out orders to Spyro and Lupus as they took the opportunity to strike their enemies into the pit below.

"The chamber's coming down with the Marker! I'll take the Marker out but I'll be right behind you!"

They looked at each other and back to me with uncertainty.

"There's going to be Necromorphs that'll start trying to get back down here now that I'e actually started damaging the thing, I need you guys to get to the surface and make sure that they can't get to me! That's an order, GO!"

The both seemed uncertain still but nodded and started walking back up the path. I turned to the Marker and charged it, again and again cutting deep gashes into it and being blasted back by the energy released. I forced myself forward, never ceasing until finally I plunged my sword into it a final time, and being sent flying back by the final release of the Markers power. All of Tartarus shook and the platform the remains of the Marker and I stood on collapsed and plunged us into the void below. With a final crashing sound and wave of pain the Marker shattered into naught but fragments below, a fact that I finalized with a final strike from Finis.

Giving myself up for the Marker... That was a choice that I had already made in my head from the start of all this. Pain tore through me as The Marker finally grew silent, as my entire body tore itself apart from within. I landed on the ground by the Marker with a hard impact, the final dying sparks of its power fading being the last thing I would ever see...

Epilogue- Lost In The Multiverse

Or so I thought. I looked around to find myself...Floating? I realized I was... In the same chamber. I was in a small gap left by the pit collapsing, and there in the room with me... Was myself. My body, at least. My armor was still functioning, but was now slowly shutting down from suddenly having the being inside begin to degrade. Just like the rest of the Necromorphs, the second I was without Marker signal my body was left as nothing but raw biomaterial without anything holding it together. I looked and saw the shattered bits of the ruined Marker scattered about the small chamber, and I felt pride that I had at least finished the fight. But then...

How was I still here? Why was I still here? Was I a ghost? A mere soul trapped in the claustrophobic space of my death?

"Hardly."

I whirled to face the speaker and saw an odd figure in the chamber with me. He stood shorter then me, as even in spirit it seemed I was ten feet in height. He looked like a young adult, at least in visible age. His skin was an ashen light gray, and his hair was white though stained with dust of the same color. He had a pair of slitted yellow eyes and when he spoke I saw he had razor sharp fangs to him. He wore a black tank top, with the sleeves jaggedly ripped off. Along with that he wore a pair of black jeans and sneakers, and had a black khopesh at his side made of... What? It seemed to be... The same metal as Finis. I could see on his shoulders a pair of emblems of scarabs, bearing a green-blue glow to them. He spoke as I looked him over and sized him up.

"You are a spirit, true, but you are far from trapped."

He moved his hand and I saw a small orb of pure light in his palm.

"Currently though I have your soul, that is also true, though I have it merely so I might speak to you."

"...Why?"

"A proposition. Well, that implies I'm the one who benefits from it other than you. But really this is something you yourself will want to have sway in."

I didn't say a word. He took this as me telling him to continue.

"Tell me Jack, do you know what happened the night Earth was lost to you?"

Earth. Now that was a name I had not hear din a long time, as well as one I had lost reason to return to.

"No. What happened that night?"

He locked eyes with me.

"You were not alone. Your siblings and friend fell the same way as you."

Sibling? What did he mean by- Distant memories stirred in my mind, and the world seemed to fade away...

---------

1105 years ago...

"ShitshitshitshitshitshitSHITSHITSHIT I OVERSLEPT!"

I yelled this as I ran full speed down the street, late for the first day of my junior year in High School. The school came into sight and I dashed right for the front door, only to be tripped by something hidden behind one of the pillars to the sides of the entrance. I went sprawling and slowly stood up, turning to face whatever caused it. My eyes met with those of another guy the same age as me. He had deep blonde hair and a pair of hazel eyes which were almost golden in appearance. He wore a simple outfit of a blue T-shirt and jeans and gave me a cheeky grin a I picked myself up. Most importantly however...

He was my best friend. I growled at him.

"The hell Calvin!? I'm late for class! Wait... Why aren't you in class?"

He shrugged. "Cuz Ms. Walker is a bitch. Figured I'd start the year off right by showing up halfway into her class."

I sighed. Calvin was my friend, but he didn't care that much about showing up to class. To be fair he was smart enough that he always kept his grades up despite this, but it still pissed off a lot of teachers. I waved him to follow.

"Well whatever! C'mon we gotta go before they think we're skipping or some shit!"

He laughed and ran behind me as I went, and the two of us talked a bit on the way to class.

"So Cal, I'm gonna go on a limb here and guess that you at least helped me out by taking Jen to school for me?"

"Yup, her and Kyth even made a new friend like five minutes after we got here. And an enemy. Pretty good start I'd say!"

I groaned and questioned why I was friends with such an asshole.

"Shit! Look out dude, Principal B-hole is here!"

He shoved me behind a locker and he hid behind one on the opposite side of the hallway, and we watched the silhouette on the floor pass by us. Principal 'B-hole' as he called her was actually Principal Fisher, a man known for how harsh he was with any disciplinary matters. If he had seen either of us then it would've been instant detention, on the first freakin' day of school. Calvin stepped out first to check that he was really gone and then waved me to follow. Oh yeah, the fact that he was always willing to take the fall for a friend without remorse... That's why I put up with him. After a moment Calvin threw open the door to the classroom and made himself known to the few oblivious people that hadn't heard the door slamming open.

"Greetings Ms. Walker! I'm late cause I felt like it and he's late because he overslept! How ya doin!?"

And thus started the eleventh grade, in a blaze of my friend's stupidity.

--------

1100 years ago...

The memories skipped forward a few years to the last time I spoke with my brother...

"Are you sure you don't want to come? I'm sure Calvin wouldn't mind you tagging along with us to hang out. Hell, Jen's already gone out and is gonna meet up with us with her little boyfriend."

I heard the person on the other side of the phone sigh. Currently I was talking with me and Jen's older brother Will, in an effort to get him out of his apartment and to hang out with us. We were all planning on going to a convention that would be in town, all of us in cosplay. I was going as a Necromorph slasher, Jen as a cartoon character named Jenny XJ9 Wakeman, Calvin as Golden Freddy, and from what she told me Jen's boyfriend was going as Cthulhu. The last one sounded like a costume that'd be more trouble than it'd be worth but I figured it was his choice.

"Look Jack I got a lot of homework from my classes. Maybe I'll go to Comic-Con when it gets here."

"Oh yeah, that's in like a week or two, right?"

"Yeah I think. Look, you guys have fun. I'm just gonna take it easy tonight."

"Ugh, fine. Whatever then, suit yourself.  Bye Will."

"Bye Jack."

I sighed as I put the phone down. Lately my brother had been on rough terms with out parent  and I had been wanting to check how he was actually doing. I heard a knock at the door to my bedroom and met eyes with our father, a tall man of middle age, wearing a police officers uniform.

"Son get your sister and meet us down in the basement. There's been more war talks and your mother and I are wanting to make sure we're all able to remember the procedure for getting into the safe room we had constructed in the basement."

I wordlessly nodded. There had been talks going on for weeks about war and the like, personally I didn't buy into it enough to agree with all the measures that our parents had been taking. If we got nuked I doubted a basement bunker with a weeks' rations would save us. I stood up and went up to my sisters room and opened the door. I saw my sister, a girl sixteen years old at the time with the same brown hair as me and Will and a slightly pudgy build. She was on the phone with her friend Violet, trying to see if she wanted to go with us to the convention just as I was doing with Will. I whispered to her when she looked up at me.

"Hey, mom and dad want both of us downstairs for one of those military drills with the basement safe room."

She nodded and went back to her phone and talking to her friend.

“Sure thing! Well Jack says we gotta go, apparently my parents are getting paranoid about all of that war talk. Seriously, have you heard all the crazy rumors about us going to war? Personally I don’t buy it but still my parents are freaked out. Heh sure thing Vive. I’ll talk to you later, kay?”

She hung up and got up from her bed and talked with me as we headed to the basement.

"So, anything from Will?"

"Nah, he said he had too much homework. How about your little friend?"

"Eh Vive didn't want to go since she didn't have a costume ready."

I nodded again and decided to review our plans for what to do at the convention.

"Still, just cause mom and dad want us to be safe and all that junk what's the plan again? Just to make sure you still remember."

She laughed and punched my shoulder.

"Okay you and Calvin go out on your own for a bit and try to scare people, him as Golden Freddy and you as a necromorph, and me and Kyth meet up before hand and go in without you. Later when its time to get food then we meet up with the two of you and hang out."

"Right, and remember to grab souvenirs! Cons always have awesome stuff!"

---------

Another skip in the memories went by, pushing me to the night of the convention...

I walked in a purposefully jagged stride, my body hidden under a bulky costume. To any onlooker in the barely-lit street, it'd seem a if an actual Necromorph was approaching them. If they didn't pay Dead Space then it'd look like an abomination of an undead was approaching. Either way I'd be getting some good scares out of passerby. I went like that for a little while, scaring some people before coming across a small shop close to the actual convention proper. I went inside and saw someone dressed in a costume of their own. I vaguely recognized him as a character from Resident Evil (a game series I hadn't gotten my hand on yet) named the Merchant. I looked around the shop at all the little baubles and items he sold, before finally deciding on a replica of a Plasma Cutter from Dead Space. It didn't go with my costume (as it would be wielded by someone that'd kill the being I was dressed as) but I thought it was cool anyway and bought it. Thing cost a hundred bucks, but even if it was just a replica that was a fair price for the quality of the thing. As I went I took out my phone to call Calvin and tell him about it, and maybe to see where he was. He answered after a moment of dial-tone.

"Hey Jack, what's up? You free from class yet?"

"Yeah, and I decided to suit up necromorph style for the con."

"Pfft! Ripping off my idea much?"

"Yeah well I'm not a guy in a furry costume!"

The tow of us bantered for a bit before I got to the point.

"Anyway I figured I'd let you know there's this little shop near the con that has all this cool stuff, I just got this plasma cutter and the thing looks super realistic! It even- Gah! What the fu-"

A wave of light burst out from the Plasma Cutter, along with a searing pain that spread across my entire being. I saw myself falling into a black void, eternally falling... My bones broke and bent, my flesh extending, morphing and melding in a twisted transformation. Eventually I found myself in some kind of forest, my clothes torn and ruined on my form and my backpack the only thing holding together. I looked and saw my arms replaced with crude blades of bones... My entire form felt profoundly wrong... A wave of pain tore into my skull, and choruses of madness and bloodlust echoed throughout my very being...

That was the first night I would spend, in the hundred years of agony before I would be saved...

---------

I shook my head and looked at the odd figure.

"The shop that gave me the cutter... The cutter is what sent me here, isn't it?"

He nodded.

"And... Oh god I told Calvin about that shop. That means that he's... But why haven't I heard of him being here if he was sent here too? And... Could Jen or Kyth have found that little shop?"

He nodded. "Give the man a prize. And there's a reason they haven't been seen in your Equestria..."

"My Equestria? Wait... You mean there's other Equestrias out there? Like... Parallel universes?"

"Indeed. You friend... Your brother... Even your sister and her mate have found their own paths."

"But... Why are you telling me all this? I don't even know you..."

He looked at me and then to the fragments of the Marker.

"Because. There is a wide multiverse out there... And there is a darkness coming which will pose threat to untold masses should it not be halted. Even now you can see an agent of such arriving here, to take a threat from your universe but just as well use it in that of another..."

I watched as a line of white light seemed to be drawn in the air, slowly forming a tear... Out of it stepped a being I recognized as a character from the games Calvin's costume had been from. The name eluded me for a moment until I finally found it...

Springtrap. Though he... He didn't look like in the game. Within the costuming and grown onto his animatronic lay an unknown material, bearing a sickly green/gold glow. On his side was a black glaive with a silver edge and at the other was the hilt to a... Lightsaber? I was growing more confused by the moment. He walked forward slowly, seeming to collect every single fragment of the Marker that remained. He spoke in a low, scratching voice...

"Ah... So this is where his little friend wound up... Dead in Tartarus with a shattered Marker. I was rather curious to see a Necromorph in action, though i suppose one more dead friend of Calvin's is just as well..."

My eyes widened. How did this guy know Calvin!? I looked back at the odd figure I'd been speaking with.

"What is he going to do with the remains of the Marker if not use it here?"

"Simple. He'll use it elsewhere. Specifically as a way to harm your sister and her mate."

"What!? He's going after Jen and Kyth? Why!?"

"Firstly to harm Calvin, as he views them as siblings just as you. Secondly to give rise to a being that could obliterate anything in its path..."

I didn't speak further as I surged froward. I might have been incorporeal but that didn't mean I would let him leave without a fight! All of my blows seemed to pass through him, and I swore under my breath.

"Really? You do understand you aren't a physical being anymore, right? Your corpse is literally right there."

"I'm not going to let him hurt Jen!"

"Then LISTEN."

He spoke with a boom and I turned back to him.

"I am known as Messenger. I have come here to offer you the opportunity to live once more and aid me in stopping these events to come. You will be able to return to this world at times, but they will be far apart and short. Will you take this chance?"

"To save Calvin, Kyth and my siblings? Do you really need an answer to that?"

I held out my hand and shook his, and the world seem to fade to burning blackness...

---------

I drew a jagged breath as I felt my body, physical and alive once more. I felt myself pulling together, my form no longer bound to the Marker but to a higher source. I looked down at Finis and nodded, knowing its purpose now by impossible means. This blade... It was a way for me to be found when the time became right, just as it had upon my death. It had been planted here from the beginning of time by Messenger, just to find me. I sheathed all of my weapons and saw the form of Springtrap disappearing and the rift closing. I moved Finis in a diagonal slice and watched it tear a new rift to follow with, its power made whole by my connection to Messenger. I looked into it and nodded to myself.

If my friends and siblings were lost to the tides of an eternal Multiverse...

Well it would be my job to wade in and pull them to safety.

This Path I Walk...

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