***

“So then, little Applejack - come at me.”
David Elliot, The Avatar of Albion.

***

Applejack.

“Come on then, ya demon! Ah’m not gonna back down!”

“I’m glad. I’d have been disappointed if you did.”

***

Ponyville. May 5th. Year 3 of the New Diarchy Calendar.

About ninety minutes earlier.

The first thing the group had needed to do was go to Twilight’s library to get Spike. There, they had found Spike, who had been organising shelves for Twilight while she was at the pond writing her letter. He was more than a little annoyed at Lyra when he heard that she had had the chance to save Twilight from being foalnapped and hadn’t taken it.

“You mean you were more interested in the fact that the thing carrying her off might have been something from one of your stupid cryptozoology books than in the fact that it was carrying Twilight away?!” he had yelled at the mint-green Unicorn, who had the decency to at least look abashed. “Are you that stupid?!”

“Spike,” Applejack had said as diplomatically as she could, “we don’t need to make the poor mare even more guilty - she’s feelin’ it mighty fine as is.”

Spike had scoffed at that. “Oh, she feels guilty. Sure, that makes it ok!”

“Spike,” Pinkie had said quietly. “This isn't the time to start being mean. Lyra’s sorry. We need to send a letter to Princess Celestia and tell her Twilight’s been foalnapped!”

Spike had calmed down, nodding sullenly.

Quickly, Rarity had drafted the letter (with some choice edits made by Rainbow, which were surreptitiously scribbled out by Rarity the minute the cerulean mare was done) and Spike had sent it on its way. With that done, Spike had promised that he would wait here for the Princess to arrive.

Now the only thing they had to do was find Twilight.

***

“So this is where they entered the forest?” Applejack asked with a frown of consternation.

Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie and Lyra were standing at the edge of the Everfree forest. The looming trees cast a long shadow over the small group of mares. They stared into the forest - no matter how many times they had entered the Everfree, the old rumours of the place being haunted still leant a sense of dread to it. Still - their friend was in danger, and so they had to brave the place once again. Rainbow had gone to fetch Fluttershy and update her on precisely what was going on. Those two would meet up with them in the forest, where they would hopefully have found the human’s trail.

“This is the place,” Lyra said with a nod. “I’m sure of it!”

Pinkie had a look of unusual seriousness on her face. Rarity frowned at her.

“Pinkie, darling, are you alright?” she asked.

Pinkie suddenly smiled brightly. “Oh, sure, Rarity! I mean, worried for Twilight, but otherwise okie dokie lokey!”

Rarity raised an eyebrow. “You looked a little… lost in thought.”

“Oh, that,” Pinkie said, waving a hoof almost nonchalantly. “I just had a feeling of foresomething.”

“Foreboding,” Lyra corrected absently.

“That’s the one,” Pinkie said brightly.

“Foreboding?” Rarity repeated. “Why do you have a feeling of foreboding?”

“I have no idea,” Pinkie said brightly, a smile lighting up her face. “I just kinda do. Kinda like a Pinkie sense.”

“And what's it saying?” Rarity asked.

“Just that this is… big,” Pinkie said quietly. “Or bigger than we think it is anyway.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves on this one,” Applejack said evenly. “We’ve got a pretty scary job ahead o’ us now. The future’s its own beast, an’ we’ll save it for when it comes, how’s about that?”

“That sounds like common sense,” Rarity said with a nod. “Which I think we’ve been sorely needing.”

“Right then,” Applejack said quietly. “Lyra, lead the way.”

“Me?” Lyra asked, looking at her with a frown of confusion.

“Eeyup,” Applejack said with a slightly wry grin. “After all - this is yer chance ta go meet yerself a real ‘hooman’ or whatever ya called it.”

“Human,” Lyra grumbled, but she smiled back, turning to look at the forest. Unlike the others, she had never ventured further than the edge of the Everfree. Despite being an alien forest of mystery the Everfree had never really contained animals that couldn’t be found elsewhere in Equestria. For how bizarre it was in all other aspects, the living woods were almost mundane to her. That and they were bucking terrifying, of course. Clouds that moved on their own were just uncanny.

Ok, Lyra, she thought to herself. This is your practice run for the round the world trip. If you can do this, you can travel to the ancient battle-plains of Dagoram. No pressure.

She took a breath, swallowed hard and led the way.

***

“So,” Pinkie asked quietly. “What is a ‘human’, anyway?”

They had been walking for maybe fifteen minutes. Most of that walk had been in tense silence - the others were still more than a little annoyed at Lyra for having let Twilight be foalnapped (seriously, what was I supposed to do? Charge it yelling ‘Mol Aurak Malaki’ and hope for the best?). Pinkie’s question was the first break in it since they had entered the Everfree.

“You were at my lecture,” Lyra pointed out.

“Yeeeaaah,” Pinkie said sheepishly, “I… kinda fell asleep. Just a little.”

Lyra sighed, this happened every time. “I was wondering who was snoring.” She paused. “Well, without repeating a whole three hour lecture -”

“Please don’t,” Applejack said quietly.

“- the humans are a mythical species that pop up in texts of ancient history,” Lyra said. “Most history only mentions them in the vaguest sense - the Jorogumo of Yamato called them ‘the first husbands’ - or maybe ‘the lovers’, or ‘the prey’.” She shuddered slightly at the thought. Reading up on Jorogumo mating was… not up there. “It kind of all means the same thing in their language. The Griffon Empire has records of ‘strange bipeds’ from the East, but that’s from the original Aquilan Empire so it’s fragmentary history at best. Horssia and Mongeldia have the most -”

“I thought you weren’t going to repeat the whole lecture,” Rarity said scathingly.

Lyra glowered at her. “Ok, fine. Best way to put it simply is, ‘they’re an ancient mythical race and nopony or anything else seems to have a clear idea what they are’. Happy?”

“See, was that so hard?” Rarity asked sarcastically.

“No, but it was the grossest oversimplification of my career since I described the Qilin as ‘basically ponies’ in my first cryptozoological essay,” Lyra said, shuddering slightly. “That was embarrassing.”

The memories of mocking laughter came to mind. It had been a bad idea to immediately start presenting before the Obscure Bestiary Community at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns in her first week as a member.

“‘Course, then I did my paper on the Ayakashi of Yamato and all the different races that live there, and that made up for that debacle brilliantly,” Lyra added with a slightly nostalgic grin on her face. “Though, have you ever tried researching Kitsune? Really hard. It doesn’t help when half the stuff you read about them was Tamamo No Mae literally writing nonsense to prank future historians…”

As Lyra looked at her travelling companions she could see that everything she was saying was washing over them without any recognition. Once again her attempt to talk about her life’s work was hampered by her fellow ponies’ ignorance to the world around them.

Philistines, she thought to herself with a roll of her eyes.

“Anyway,” Applejack said brusquely. “Ah haven’t seen any sign of a trail - this ‘human’ must be pretty good at hidin’ his tracks.”

“Or we’re lost,” Rarity added. “Either’s possible.”

“Nah, we ain’t lost,” Applejack said, turning to glower at Rarity. “Ah know nature, and mah sense o’ direction is second to no-”

With a thump, she walked straight into Rainbow Dash, who had been walking diagonally across her path. The two ponies collapsed in a heap, as the butter-yellow form of Fluttershy appeared immediately next to them.

“Oh dear!” she exclaimed. “Applejack, Rainbow Dash, are you alright?”

“Fine,” Rainbow said with a wince. “Though I think Applejack may have bruised one of my ribs.”

“Don’t be silly,” Rarity said with a scowl. “I doubt your impact could have been that bad.”

“Applejack’s never run into you,” Rainbow pointed out with a slight frown of her own. “Anyway, we picked up the trail.”

Fluttershy coughed, a slightly shy look on her face.

“Well, Flutters did,” Rainbow corrected, slightly sheepish.

“I know a little bit about tracking,” Fluttershy said modestly. “And I think whatever this ‘homon’-”

“Human,” Lyra corrected testily.

“Sorry, human,” Fluttershy said, blushing slightly. “Whatever this human is, it’s wearing shoes.”

There was a momentary pause at that. Finally, Applejack, who had pulled herself up from the ground with a huff, raised an eyebrow.

“It’s… wearing… shoes,” she said.

“Yeah,” Fluttershy said. “It’s tracks aren’t made by natural feet, they’re shoeprints.”

“Huh,” Lyra said with a frown. “That implies that he’s from a civilisation, at least. They’d need to have at least a basic infrastructure to have shoemakers.”

“I wonder what else they have?” Rarity pondered aloud. “What might an entirely different species’ dress sense be like -”

“Fascinating as their fashion is to discuss,” Rainbow said sarcastically, cutting her friend off, “Twilight’s still in danger. The tracks lead further into the Everfree.”

“He might be at an old clearing that some bears use occasionally,” Fluttershy said quietly. “Come on!”

She led the way, and the others followed quickly.

***

Canterlot Palace. May 5th. Year 3 of the New Diarchy Calendar.

Canterlot was the jewel of Equestria. It had once been called a fortress disguised as a fairytale, and that was a more than apt description: elegant spires glittered, marble and magical false-ivory glimmering in the beautiful daylight. the city glowed as the white marble of the walls and the golden decorations that adorned every district and structure caught the sunlight and reflected it. The city sprawled over the Canterhorn Plateau and hung over the edge of the steep cliff that led down the side of the enormous lone mountain.

At the centre of it all was the Royal Castle, a beautiful palace that exhibited every feature of Classical Equestrian architecture. Here the tallest towers in the entire city looked out and surveyed all, serving as both a historic landmark and a reminder to the ponies of Equestria that their princess was watching over them.

Upon a throne in Canterlot palace sat one half of the diarchy itself: Princess Celestia. The alabaster mare was regal, long wings and a graceful form holding strength and delicacy all at once, the very picture of marehood who could lead armies at the turn of a pin and yet bring peace and understanding with a few words and a simple nod. Ageless eyes seemed to survey everything with a slightly amused expression permanently residing there.

“So,” she said to her attending Guard, a grey Earth Pony named Steady Hoof. “What’s on the agenda for today, Guardspony Hoof?”

He checked a list in his hooves. “Prince Blueblood’s got an appointment at three, your majesty, to discuss the holding of this year’s fifth Ducal Airship Race.”

Celestia scoffed good naturedly. “Mainly so he can defeat all the comers again in the Sunrider. Still, that shouldn’t be more than a formality, and it’s always good to check on family. Hopefully he won’t make much of a scene when he wins.”

Hoof rolled his eyes. “Yes, Your Highness. Also, there are some minor reports of territorial disputes heating up in the colonies on our border with the Griffon Empire.”

At this, Celestia sighed. “Again. I shall have to have a word with Emperor Augustus - much as I respect the amount of power he’s devolved to these local colonial governors, they take too many liberties.”

“Couldn’t comment, ma’am,” Hoof said. “Also, you’ve a letter from Tamamo No Mae -”

“You haven’t opened it, have you?” Celestia interrupted with slight concern in her voice.

“N… no, ma’am,” Hoof said, confusedly.

Celestia chuckled. “Well, don’t. If it’s not a slightly overly-dangerous prank, I’ll go on a diet for a month.”

Hoof blinked, hesitant to comment on what his princess had just said. “Ah. Well, I’ll have that sent up to your quarters posthaste, Your Highness.”

Celestia chuckled. “And other than that, nothing?”

“That’s correct, ma’am,” Hoof said with a nod. “I dare say -”

With a flash of green light, a scroll appeared in front of Celestia. She blinked: a friendship report from Twilight Sparkle? But Twilight didn’t usually send them at this time of day, unless -

She opened it quickly, her eyes scanning the parchment. After a moment, she lowered the paper, her eyes wide and her expression full of shock - and worry.

“Guardspony Hoof,” she said quietly. “Summon my sister. Now.”

Steady Hoof saluted and dashed off at once, and for that, Celestia was grateful. For the first time in a long time, she didn’t know how to react to something. She reread the parchment.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Twilight has been foalnapped by a creature we are told is called a ‘hooman human’ by Lyra Heartstrings. We are endeavouring to track it into the Everfree Forest, but I fear we shall need your assistance with whatever brutish creature this thing may be, ‘human’ or otherwise.

Your subject,

Rarity.

Celestia’s lips thinned in concern. She couldn’t believe what she had just read. This… was troublesome. Very troublesome.

***

A few minutes later, they reached the clearing. Approaching carefully, they tried to see if they could see anything, but much of the foliage was too dense.

“Careful now,” Applejack whispered. “This thing might be dangerous - we don’t know what it’s got.”

“If Twilight’s in danger, we can’t spend forever being careful,” Rainbow hissed. “I say we rush it!”

“If we rush it,” Rarity pointed out, “then it might just -”

The snapping of a twig made them all hush. They looked amongst each other, only to see Pinkie Pie standing on the broken twig in question. She looked up at them all sheepishly.

“Oopsie?” she said quietly.

Before any of them could say anything else, a strident male voice called out into the woods, its tone commanding - not to say intimidating.

“Come on,” the voice yelled. “I can wait here all day to -”

In a flash, Rainbow had moved before anypony could stop her. Groaning in frustration, Applejack went after her, and the others followed. The element of surprise, for what little it was worth, had been lost.

“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash called out from somewhere. “Take that, you… human!”

“Rainbow!” Twilight’s voice yelled, sounding shocked. “What are you doing here?”

“Saving your flank of course,” Rainbow said with a raised eyebrow. “Whaddya think I’m doing here? And the best bit is, I didn’t come alone.”

It was at this point that Applejack and the others finally managed to get through the foliage. They saw that Rainbow had knocked the human into a tree, where it lay stunned. Twilight was nearby, tied to a tree by some thick vines.

“Are you alright?” Fluttershy asked her, clearly feeling beyond worried.

“I’m fine, apart from being tied to a tree,” Twilight replied, “but -”

“NO!” the harsh voice of the human yelled out in absolute shock.

The ponies turned to look at where the bipedal thing had fallen. It was stood, staring at the group in what could only be described as horror, or possibly fear, though neither emotion made sense to any of the ponies.

“You're… you're dead,” it said simply, his voice shaking. “I… you… you’re dead! You're dead! Y-you're DEAD!”

Rainbow smirked cockily, flexing her wings. “I know you are, but what am I?!”

Before the human could answer or any of the others could stop her, Rainbow dashed at it again - only for it to grip her hooves, blocking her charge. Applejack blanched - Rainbow charging was not something she had ever imagined anypony being able to just stop like that.

Rainbow and the human grappled with each other for a minute, before the biped shoved her hard enough to send her to the other side of the clearing. Stunned momentarily, Rainbow shook her head, before glaring at the creature. The others spread out, suddenly sensing that something unpleasant was about to happen.

“What… what the hay are you?” she asked.

The human flexed its muscles, though it still looked shocked. “This is a nightmare. This is a fucking nightmare.”

Lyra and Pinkie exchanged confused glances. What was it talking about?

The human narrowed his eyes, before taking what could only be called a combat stance. “I killed you once. Nightmare or not, I can do it again.”

And then without warning, the thing charged straight at Applejack. She had time to steel herself before he reached her, lashing out with a fist. She tried to block, but then his other fist caught her in the chest. He grabbed her by the throat, hefted her and then threw her heavily to the ground, but before he could capitalise on this brutal assault, Rainbow had charged at him again.

He took a solid hoof to the face, and another, before he was able to start blocking her moves, moving faster than any of the mares could have imagined. Rainbow lashed out, again and again, but he blocked every blow until he caught one hoof in his palm, closed his grip around it, gripped her foreleg at the elbow and swung her straight into a tree.

Before he could take advantage of the brief moment disabling the Pegasus had given him, he was hit by spells from Rarity. The alabaster Unicorn fired spell after spell at him, the same type she had seen Twilight use to stun the Changelings at the Royal Wedding (she’d insisted on learning it, in case of future emergencies). Impossibly, the first one only manage to knock him off balance, making him stumble, and then he held up a hand, blocking the others like he had blocked the attacks from Rainbow Dash. He held up his hand, and suddenly a bolt of golden light flashed past Rarity, hitting a tree and causing a small fire. Yelping in alarm, the seamstress ducked behind some cover.

There was a brief moment of calm as the human stood, breathing heavily.

“Well?!” he yelled at them. “What else?!”

A purple spell smashed into his head, knocking him straight off of his feet and flipping him over, where he landed in a heap. He growled, pushing himself up slowly, and found himself facing Twilight Sparkle, who had been untied by Pinkie. The pink Earth Pony was stood slightly behind her friend, looking somewhere between confused and worried.

The human’s expression was one almost of betrayal as he regarded Twilight.

“And I was almost believing you,” he said quietly. “Well, you’re a damn clever bitch, I’ll give you that Commander.”

“I’m not a Commander,” Twilight said quietly. “And I just wanted to stop you from hurting my friends. If you’ll just let us explain -”

“There’s nothing to explain,” the human snapped at her. “I came here for somepony else anyway - running into you was just a bonus. I don’t know how you’ve managed to come up with this lot,” he gestured at the others, who were gathering around him, each of them standing tensely, “but…”

He trailed off, his eyes landing on Lyra. She was looking at him with an expression somewhere between fear and amazement.

“Lyra?” he said quietly. “What are you doing here?”

She didn’t answer, but her eyes widened in shock. The human seemed to stare at her for a moment, the look in his eyes one of yearning, as if he was searching for some sign of recognition on Lyra’s part. Lyra, in return, simply stared back in shock, her excitement over seeing a real live human swamped by her terror at seeing such an angry and aggressive creature.

“How do you know Lyra?” Twilight asked with a frown.

The human looked up at her, and suddenly his face was a mask of rage. “What did you do to my friend?”

“Your - what?” Twilight said, frowning. “I don’t…”

He didn’t answer, instead suddenly rolling to the side, heading for the tree with his metal weapon. In a flash, Twilight blasted the thing in two.

“Bitch!” the human swore as he reached the tree.

He reached inside, pulling the other dagger he had had before out of the coat, before dodging backwards as Twilight sent another spell, this one a stunning spell. He rolled and sent a leg out, landing in a crouched position, before launching himself at Twilight. She quickly put a shield up, and he slammed into it with a snarl. Acting fast, Twilight extended the field until it surrounded him completely, trapping him and preventing him from reaching any of her friends.

“Please!” she said. “I just want to talk with you!”

He dropped the dagger, considering his options. And then he did something Twilight would have called both impossible and stupid.

He punched it. Once, twice, three times, his face contorting into an increasingly extreme mask of rage. It didn’t seem to be having any effect - and then his hands started glowing with some sort of golden light. A fourth punch impacted the shield - and Twilight felt it weaken. A fifth punch lashed out, and the same happened again, a definite feeling that the shield’s integrity was failing.

“Rarity, Lyra, help me,” she said, her voice small. “I don’t think I can hold him for long.”

Rarity and Lyra stepped up, their own horns glowing, but he just kept punching, and though Twilight felt the others add their strength to the shield, his punches were still weakening it. And then, horrifically, it started cracking. The surface of the shield was fragmenting like a pane of glass struck by a rock. He punched again: the power his hands seemed to be surrounded by augmenting the power of his increasingly enraged punches until finally, with one last punch, the shield shattered and the human grabbed Twilight by the throat and hefted her.

“What. Did. You. Do?!” he snarled in her face.

“I-I d-don’t kn-kn-know w-what y-you’re t-t-t-talking ab-bout!” Twilight stuttered, her voice cracking through his chokehold. “P-p-please, let go!”

The human said nothing, his grip only tightening…

… and then another voice cut through the forest.

“Let go of my student.”

In a heartbeat, the human had dropped Twilight, and she landed on the ground heavily. Twilight looked up, and to her immense relief she saw her mentor, Princess Celestia, standing in the clearing, her eyes blazing with righteous anger. They were saved.

“Twilight,” she said quietly. “Take your friends and go.”

“You,” the human whispered, eyes wide.

Twilight looked up at him, but he had apparently forgotten all about her. Instead, his eyes were fixed on Celestia. Twilight quickly scrambled away, standing on the edge of the clearing, as the others moved to do the same.

“Bold of you,” the human said to Celestia, “to come alone.”

“She did not,” another voice said stridently. On the other side of the clearing, Princess Luna appeared, an expression of disdain on her graceful features. She was shorter than her sister, but only just, and she held herself with more authority and less calm wisdom than Celestia did, giving the younger Princess a burning energy her sister lacked.

The human’s eyes flicked over to her, a slightly ironic grin gracing his features.

“Oh, well now,” he said. “This is nice.”

“I am Princess Celestia, Diarch of Equestria, Princess of the Adamantine line, supreme commander of all Equestria-at-arms,” Celestia said, and Twilight’s eyes widened at the collection of titles, some of which were rarely - if ever - used anymore. Twilight had read some of the more detailed history books, and Celestia’s collection of titles was certainly… impressive. “You will name yourself and your purpose in Equestria.”

“You’re a lying bitch,” the human said to her, still grinning. “That’s not your name at all, or at least not anymore it isn’t. Still, since you asked…”

He held out a hand, and his smaller projectile weapon suddenly flew from where it had landed to his outstretched palm. He brought it up, and before Twilight could shout a warning the weapon fired, a large bang sounding through the forest. He fired again and again, at least six times, before the weapon clicked.

Celestia stood impassively. Between her and the human was a golden field of energy that had blocked his projectiles, melting them almost in an instant and rendering them to slag. With a smirk, he tossed the weapon aside.

“Figures,” he said. “Couldn’t have been that easy.”

“Many have tried to kill me before,” Celestia said evenly. “Usually, I know why.”

“If you have to ask, you’re just insulting me,” the human said. “Clever trick, whatever you did to Sparkle to make her forget the war. That one threw me for a minute.”

Celestia frowned in confusion. Luna, on the other hand, snorted in derision.

“What war?” she asked, stepping up to join her sister. “We have not encountered anything like thee in many millennia, let alone waged war against thou or thine kin.”

“That trick’s a better one, though,” the human said, gesturing at Luna. “How’d you do it? Illusion spell? Necromancy? Some trick where you made an FA look like her?”

Luna scowled. “I do not know what an ‘FA’ is, and I am alive and well. Thou art delusional, creature.”

“And thou art a mockery of a mare who died ten years ago,” the human replied without missing a beat, “but we all have our flaws, I guess.”

Luna’s eyes narrowed. “What?”

The human rolled his shoulders back, ignoring her. He gestured at Celestia, almost casually.

“So, before we begin do you at least want to use your proper name?” he asked. “Or are we content for the lying to be how we do this? Because there’s probably a good reason you wanna carry the charade on, but it’s really getting old.”

“It’s no charade,” Celestia said quietly.

“Whatever,” the human shrugged. “It’s all fine by me. I get to kill you either way.” He drew himself up, a soft glow suddenly coming over his skin. “If you will not name yourself, then I name you - Astra Solamina Maxima.”

Luna raised an eyebrow at that.

“‘The supreme, resplendent, Royal Sun’?” Celestia translated, frowning in confusion.

“A grandiose title that thou art not fit to hold,” the human sneered. “Thou art a Demon-Empress and the scourge of Earth, an enemy of all humankind. Thou art a murderer, and in thine name a thousand atrocities have been committed. No more.”

The change in his manner was so abrupt that Celestia found herself feeling wary. Something was afoot - and that glow was a form of magical power, though she was having difficulty getting a read on it.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“I am Death, come for my due,” he said, beginning to pace around her, forcing her and Luna to pace too. “I am justice, come for your head. I am David Elliot of Earth.”

The glow only got brighter, and suddenly there was a flash of light that surrounded the figure, blinding everypony there. When the light receded, the figure that had been standing there had been replaced by something else.

It was the same human - he had the same features, though the stubble had resolved itself into a full beard. His black mane had grown, blowing about his head as if stirred by wind of its own. In place of his battered clothes, however, he wore shining silver armour, ornate and beautiful. Interlocking plates covered him, across the chest, the arms and right the way down the legs, only a few gaps showing shining silver ringmail underneath. In one hand he held an ornate longsword, long and elegant with golden letters etched into the blade and a ruby set into the golden hilt. Slung over his shoulders was a hooded cloak in deep burgundy.

“I am the vengeance of a world,” he intoned, his voice deep and full of some hidden power. “I am the Avatar of Albion, and I swear, I will kill you, Tyrant.”

***