The land of Ashfeld was different from Equestria. It's valleys were filled with dead forests, lakes of acid and rivers of lava that came seeping down from a volcano that had erupted one thousand years ago but it was also the homeland of the knights of the golden sun.

The army had been travelling for three days after destroying Bluebloods fortress with their newest recruit; Marshall. The former mercenary was now baring the crest of Celestia's Sun on his tabards and was given a fresh suit of armor to go along with his new sword but despite being given such a great honor the warden had questions and he had a feeling Shining Armor could answer those questions.

"Commander Armor." Marshall addressed his commanding officer with respect while keeping pace.

"Please, just call me Shining." Shining Armor replied in a friendly manner as they kept walking.

"Why is it that we are fighting our own countrymen? What has happened to Equestria?" Marshall's question wasn't surprising, many who were not there to witness the fall had no idea what was happening back in their homeland. Feeling he could trust him, Shining Armor began to tell the story of how he became the banished prince.

It all started back in the Crystal Empire, Shining Armor and Princess Cadence were visited by a group of caribou priests who said they were representing Equestria's newest king and that they had come to free the prince and their fellow men from the shackles of enslavement. Their proclomation seemed odd to the couple until they began chanting some kind of spell onto Shining Armor causing him great pain as images of his own wife being ravaged in numerous ways began flashing through his mind and after the spell was finished the priests ordered for Shining to attack his wife and rape her in front of the entire empire.

Cadence became scared as her husband began to breathe heavily like a wild beast and stare at her with murderous intent but instead of obeying the priests command he drew his sword and cut him down right where he stood, the caribou were completely confused as to how this could happen when Shining told them that he had gone through some rigorous mental training after he was maniuplated by Queen Chrysalis to make sure that could never be controlled by an enemy again.

"Men! Arrest these barbarians!" The prince ordered but his men did nothing. The two remaining priests began to laugh as they pointed out that he wasn't the only one affected by the spell.

The male guards suddenly began ganging up on their female members and started to rip away their armor and weapons before viciously raping them on the cold ground, some even began to beat them to stop their screaming. Shining Armor and Cadence felt like they had just walked into a nightmare as four guards managed to grab hold of them, they forced the prince to watch as his wife's clothes were ripped from her body while she kicked and screamed for help yet all the other guards were doing was laughing. A special ring was placed on both their horns to cancel out their magic before the guard standing above Cadence allowed his trousers to drop revealing his hardened member but just as he climbed on top of her, he was impaled by a spear tip from behind while the guards holding Shining Armor had their throats slit.

The ones who had saved Cadence and Shining Armor were members of their personal guard who had undergone the same mental training as their prince.

"Quickly your majesties!" One of them pointed an escape route through the streets as Cadence was covered up while Shining Armor was given back his sword. The group ran fast through the streets of the city and saved as many civilians as they could and ran beyond the safety of the empires magical barrier but the tragedy did not end there as the priests began to use their twisted magic on the Crystal Heart to give it a more perverse shape.

"Behold! The crystal cock!" A priest shouted triumphantly with arms raised high as the betrayers of the empire cheered. On that day, The Crystal Empire fell.

"It was after that, we learned of Bluebloods betrayal and of Dainn Stonehoof." Shining's story came to a halt when he spotted a smoke stack rising out of a nearby forest.

"Hmm...Marshall."

"Sir?"

"Go see where that smoke is coming from and do not engage unless necessary."

"Yes sir!" The warden rushed into the forests without a moments hesitation while the rest of the army hanged back. As Marshall drew closer to the source of the smoke, he spotted a large campsite surrounded by cages filled with mares and fillies.

"Slave traders..." He whispered hatefully while sneaking closer to the camp when one stallion popped out of a tent dragging a young pegasus by the hair. The filly was no older than ten and had her wings plucked and sealed in black cases to make sure her feathers couldn't grow back while a black color was strapped around her neck. The girl kicked and screamed as the stallion dragged her to a more secluded part of the camp to avoid any unwanted attention.

"GET DOWN THERE!!" The thug shouted as he threw the defenseless filly to the ground and began unbuckling his belt.

"No..." The frightened child whispered as his pants drooped to the ground. She was grabbed by the hair once more as the stallion pinned her head to the ground while raising her flank in the air.

"This'll teach ya!" He said smugly while prodding her entrance with his tip as she began to cry and that was all Marshall could take. The warden ambushed the assailant from the side and cleaved his head off with one clean sweep as his target let out a short scream, the filly whom he had saved turned around to see the gruesome sight and gasped in horror before a hand was placed over her mouth.

"Sssh!! It's alright!" Marshall whispered before she finally calmed down to see two blue eyes staring at her from behind the knights helmet; eyes that showed no hate or lust, only concern.

"Now. I'm going to move my hand away from your mouth. Do you promise not to scream?" He asked as the little filly nodded. Once she had calmed down, the warden cleaned off his blade and asked the child her name.

"S-Scootaloo." The little pegasus answered nervously, still in shock of what happened.

"My name is Marshall, I am a Knight of The Golden Sun. Can you tell me what is going on here?" He asked gently as the filly nodded again before telling him of how she and her friends were sold off as slaves in Ponyville and how she overherd the guards saying they were being moved to a Training Center that lied just beyond the other side of the forest but before she could explain any further, a scouting party showed up armed to the teeth. Marshall had noticed some of them were members of the crystal and canterlot guard.

"A dog of the golden sun has wandered from his pack." One of them said while brandishing a flail made of solid crystal. Scootaloo was starting to become afraid and hid behind the warden for safety.

"What is this madness? Why have you turned your backs on the kingdom?!?" Marshall demanded an answer but was met with silence as the group began to fan out slowly.

"Since when does a mercenary care about anything other than gold?" Another soldier asked as they drew closer while Marshall readied his sword.

"What has become of your oaths?!" The warden shouted angrily but was once again met with silence and knew what was coming next as he whispered to Scootaloo.

"Scootaloo. When I tell you to run, take that path and don't stop til you reach the road."

"Kill him!" The first scout shouted as the rest of them came at the warden with swords swinging.

"RUN! NOW SCOOTALOO!!" Marshall quickly knocked back the first soldier to give the filly a chance to escape, Scootaloo made a break through the trees running as fast as her feet could carry her while hearing the sounds of clashing steel and shouting as Marshall fended off the enemy.

"Get the little bitch!" The enemies leader shouted sending two of his men after Scootaloo only to see them have their legs cleaved off by a sweep of the wardens blade while two others were cleaved right across their guts killing them almost instantly. The fighting died down for a second as Marshall looked at the enemy with nothing but hatred and disgust before readying his blade once again.

"You are not worthy to be called Knights!" The warden declared with fury before unleashing his sword skills upon the enemy and by the time he was done, many soldiers were either missing their arms and legs or their heads. Only the leader was left to face Marshall.

"Fine. I'll do it myself." The enemy knight grunted while readying his flail. Marshall struck first in an attempt to break the enemies shield but the iron was too thick and he soon found himself at the mercy of the weapon swinging towards him, the knight was being pushed back with every step until he made another attempt to strike the enemy.

"Fool!" His opponent shouted before pushing him to the ground as he winded up his swing for the killing blow.

It seemed like this would be the end for Marshall until his foes arm suddenly came flying off before he was impaled through the spine by a poleaxe. The warden was greeted by another lawbringer with blood red tabards marked by the same crest as his.

"I got you brother." The mysterious knight said while helping him to stand as the other knights of the golden sun appeared with enemy prisoners from the camp.

"These are all the prisoners sir." Said one of the soldiers to the stranger. The lawbringer began to walk up slowly to the captives and removed his helmet to show he was a pony from the Crystal Empire, yet his coat did not shine or sparkle and his face was dark and brooding with eyes full of hatred as he began to dispense judgement upon the prisoners.

"You men are convicted of crimes against Equestria. Unlawful imprisonment, five years! Attempted rape of a minor, twenty years! And above all the buying and selling of innocent lives."

"Let me guess. Life?" A prisoner joked before being viciously impaled on the lawbringers poleaxe while the other prisoners looked on in complete terror.

"Death." The crystal pony whispered while blood began to stain his armor. Marshall had never seen such brutality before as several large wooden pikes were brought up for the enemy soldiers to be impaled on one by one and for the entire afternoon, their cries of agony echoed through the forest leaving the warden a bit traumatized by what he had seen.

"You there, soldier!" The red knight called out to Marshall after wiping some blood off his face.

"What is your name?"

"Marshall, sir."

"I saw what you did back there, Impressive work. I am Sergeant Quartz; Shining Armor's second in command. Report back to the commander and tell him we've taken care of the slave traders in this area."

"Yes sir!"

Marshall reported back as ordered and delivered the news to Shining Armor who seemed relieved to hear that the last of the slave traders in this area had been dealt with. The army soon arrived at the valley where their stronghold was located and like much of Ashfeld, it was a barren wasteland but what made this place more gruesome was the number of rotting corpses and skeletons held up by the wooden pikes that decorated the field. No doubt more of Quartz's handy work.

"Gruesome isn't it?" One of the soldiers asked Marshall who only nodded in response before asking.

"What do you know about Sergeant Quartz?"

The soldier hesitated for a moment as he looked around to make sure the pony in question couldn't hear them.

"Well. The story is that Quartz was a member of the Royal Guard back in Canterlot before the fall and he was the bodyguard of a wealthy ambassador but when the other guards turned traitor they killed the ambassador that sent him over the edge. Since then, the Sergeant has been executing any traitor he finds. They call him The Blood Knight."

Marshall could easily guess as to how the sergeant earned that name thanks to the numerous victims of his brutal execution methods decorating the valley. A true example of what happens to those who would betray their oaths.

He then began to wonder what would have happened if he hadn't met Shining Armor and the other knights and if he was even worthy of joining them since he spent most of his life fighting for gold. The commander however saw something in that warden, something that would be useful in the war that was to come when they would bring the fight to King Dainn.

End.

Author's Notes:

Today's MC is from: Lord of Flies