If anyone had told him a year earlier that he would be brutally beaten up by two pony princesses, one of which he beat up in return, all in the same day, he would have called that person insane. Now, he was just running with the punches, for while pretty princess ponies are well... pretty, are they brutishly strong.

*Good thing this is a dream and I am not actually experiencing pain.* The stallion thought to himself as the foal sized shape of Luna punch slapped him repeated in the face while screaming in olden english how he had defiled her mother, after having embedded him twenty inches deep into the stone wall of a castle in his own dream. It had been going on for a good amount of time now and he was starting to have enough.

Pulling his right hoof free from the wall he caught the Princess' hoof and asked in a calm voice while looking her in the eyes, feeling a bit like spiderman since he was upside down. "Okay, I think that is enough. Do you feel better now that you have brutally punched me in the face?"

"A-aye We feel rejuvenated. This was most pleasant." The little princess said as she lowered her hoof and slumped down on her haunches, panting softly as all of the energy spent beating him up made her both tired and awake at the same time.

Although, Maleficus was getting kind of tired with all of the old way speaking going on. It was getting a bit annoying. "Okay. First of, the olden english speech you ponies us is getting old, no pun intended. You speak like a LARP:er who is overly enthusiastic with fantasy games. Second, it is good that you feel better. Now how are you inside my dream?"

Luna just stared at him, his words making her brain hurt as she tried to figure out just what in the name of the gods he was talking about. "Olden Aenglish Speech? Fantasy? Games? Lairper? Thou art speaking foreign words to Us."

Maleficus groaned and pulled his hind legs free and shifted himself upright, thus pulling himself out of the wall. "Ah... right never mind. You ponies speak like this because you ARE stuck in the middle ages. Bloody hell I do not want to have to educate the entire population on how to talk, I am not a certified teacher. Nor is English my natural language either."

The Princess of the Moon decided that she did not want to figure him out anymore, she was getting a headache, so she went to answer his second statement. "We art here in thy dream because when thou devoured the Nightmare, the link she hath with Us was connected to Thee. The link is bound by the Curse of the Elements of harmony which bound Us both here upon Our moon. Only thou art not mentally bound to sleep for a thousand summers. We suspect that the curse did not affect thee like it did Us is because it was meant to affect Us, as we were the main target."

"So when I absorbed the freaky blob thing I absorbed not only her fragmented knowledge but also the mental link that she had with you? All of this possible because of the shiny marbles of dumbass?" At the Princess' nod the stallion just stood up on his hind legs and rubbed his forehead with one of his foreleg hooves. "Oh lovely. As if it was not enough that the Harmony shit nuggets messed up my life, now the nightmare blob did it as well. Well at least the nightmare part was my own fault, partially. At least I know how the mess with me and Celestia got going, even if she over reacted. Man this is so fucking stupid."

Luna blinked at how he insulted the Elements of Harmony, but with her recent exile to the Moon, she was willing to let him insult the gemstones to his heart's content. But it made her wonder just exactly what had happened while she had been asleep? And what was this about a mess between him and her older sibling? "What is wrong? Hath something happened while We were asleep?"

Maleficus froze at her questions and "Ah... Well shit. Let's see... How do I put this delicately."

He did not, in fact, put it in any fashion of the word 'delicately'. "I told your sister about how I am the Green Star, the Stallion of Torment, and apologized like a groveling dung beetle . She decided to demand my death, I declined, she declare war at me, cursed me to appear on the planet's surface for a month every time there is a Red Solar Eclipse. I fought her and the Equestrian army just a few hours ago. I beat up the army, which was stupid enough to take out some of its own, I got into a fight with Celestia, and won. I accidentally broke her horn during the fight, but I fixed it. She swore that she would keep on hunting me and put me to the sword. And that's it. pretty messed up right?"

Luna stared, she just stared, then she slowly stood up, opened the gate to the castle, entered, closed the gate. And then the entire structure began to vibrate and shake like a mixer when her incomprehensible, but clearly frustrated and angry sounding, screams started.

Pondering if he should calm her down the stallion moved over to the door way to open it when a swarm of blades suddenly impaled the door from the other side, making the gate look like a makeshift porcupine. Seconds later the sound of stone cracking was heard as a stone spike the size of a tree split apart one of the castle walls. *Ah... yeah. Even if I know that I cannot feel pain in this place am I NOT going to try to calm her down when she is such a bad mood.*

Deciding that he had better things to do then to risk further mental trauma, Maleficus went back to the beach and sat down on a new beach chair. Leaning back he enjoyed the sun and the sound of the waves, sure the agitated screams and sounds of destruction were a bit of a let down but he would take what he could get, plus it was fairly easy to just imagine some earplugs. Soon his vision darkened and he felt his dream disappearing, he was probably waking up. Should be right, it had felt like he had been in the dream for several hours.

The red shine of the Red Sun shone upon the land of Equestria, and its glaring light pierced the veil of sleep of the one known as Maleficus. His transformed body yawned as he rose from his slumber. Standing up on his hooves he stretched his limbs, including his wings, before feeling something he had not felt for years. Hunger.

Realization hit him, even if he was an immortal being, was his body still having cravings for sustenance to replace the energy he had spent. Since he had been able to drain the magic of the Moon while in his Exile he had not required food or water, but now. Now all of those years of solitude and famine was striking his body like a sledge hammer."I... I have not eaten for over a century... Gods I am starving."

As luck would have it was the tree had been sleeping beneath a fruit tree, a plum tree to be exact. And since it was autumn were the fruits ripe, even if some of them were almost rotten. Lifting his left hind leg he buck kicked the tree, not at full strength, at the base of the trunk and smirked as a shower of fruit rained down upon the ground.

Scooping up the better looking fruits he gorged himself on their sweet juice fresh, even going so far as to chew up the seeds. While he had been human he would have felt an intense pain or distaste from tasting the plum seeds. Yet now he was starving enough to not give a damn that his metallic teeth let him ground up plum seeds like they were peanuts, nor did he care about the disgusting taste.

Scooping up a hoof full of plums he hefted them open his open mouth and then squeezed them, making plum juices drink down like a waterfall into his mouth. He repeated this savage eating manner for up to an hour, even some of the rotten plums ended up being eaten. At the end had he eaten half of the fruits on the tree and felt for the first time since he came to this world, satisfied.

Sighing in content he let out a soft burp before wiping himself clean with the blanket he had conjured, the cloth would disappear after a day or so anyway. Magically conjured items were not permanent unless you put some effort into making them. Looking around he took a bit more notice of the shack near the tree had slept beneath. It was old and abandoned, looked more like an old workshop, a forge perhaps?

Walking over to the open doorway, the door way lying rotten and rusted on the grass in front of the doorway, looking inside he saw what could only be described as a mess. It was clearly an old forge, there were several forge based tools, two large anvils, rather well preserved, and a large stone built furnace like forge oven at the end of the room. There were some books and personal effects lying around, from what Maleficus could tell was this place left in a hurry, there were... regular chairs lying scattered on the floor? Seriously? How do they sit in chairs? Anyhow, fallen chairs, a small round dirt covered table, some kind of bench covered with various dirty old boxes and scattered black piles of rot that could be assumed to be cloth, wood, leather or even food, far too long gone to tell the difference.

*Not much use of... anything really. I should probably check the boxes at least, they could have something of use.* He thought to himself as he moved over to the boxes. Opening one of the wooden lids he discovers that the content of the box is was NOT what he was expecting. It was not metal ingots, it was not tools, it was not nails, it was not rotten food, it was not leather scrap or even a pile of rust. It was pieces of various types of armour. He could determine that there were chain mail, plate mail, splint mail and even scale mail. It was... a lot of pieces.

There were no breast plate like he had designed his own armour, instead there was a pair of metal harnesses made to be strapped on the belly and on the back. There were no holes for wings however and judging by the hole in the helmets' foreheads were these armours made for unicorns. At least the helmets, could be that some could have be made for earth ponies.

The armour pieces were made out of what looked like a strange kind of bronze, it did not look like bronze, it was not tinted, and it definitely did not feel like bronze. It had a high density, equal to iron actually. This was more then likely some kind of alloy, perhaps used by ponies before they got tossed around by that Discord guy. It was designed like a medieval knight's armour, the helmet even had a visor with several circle shaped holes.

*Hmmm... this helmet design reminds me of the helmet of Holden Cross in the game For Honor.* He blinked as that sentence ran through his mind and he smirked as an idea got into his head. Summoning his powers he altered his shape once more, no longer was he a crimson red pegasus with a golden blond mane, now he was an elder looking Earth Pony. His pelt became dark brown, looking slightly faded and grey with age. And a short cut mane and tail that looked like they had once been pure brown were a pale brownish grey, almost white. His eyes were golden and upon his flanks laid the mark of a golden maltese cross.

Checking out his changed form Maleficus nodded to himself, he could not make out anything odd about the new shape he had made. Felt a bit weird to not physically have wings or a horn, but he was not concerned, he could still use his magic through his hooves. *Perfect. This disguise will work. If needed I can just use the lore of the Lawbringers from For Honor and make up some crap to fool the people of these lands. That Discord fellow sure made a lot of things possible when he tossed around the ponies. Hopefully the disguise will last me the entire month or I might have to consider less subtle methods.*

Rummaging through the pieces of armour the disguised Alicorn donned himself in the strange armour, it felt rather well fitting, as if the pieces molded themselves to his body. Checking the back of the small smithy he found a lot of dust covered weapons and tools, most of them had wooden and leather strapped hilts or shafts, all rotten into dust, only leaving the metal parts behind.

But he found a most fascinating weapon, a poleaxe, or as more commonly called, a Halberd. A polearm with the tip of a spear, the blade of an axe and the blunt edge of a hammer. There were around five of its kind in the storage closet, all of them made purely out of metal. *Wonderful work, I wonder what manner of metal this is. It would be very interesting to find out how they made it. Perhaps i can figure out a way to discover it through magic? It should be possible since I doubt the secret for this metallurgy was secret if they were made in this small shack.* Spinning the weapon a little in his hooves he nodded a bit in satisfaction, it had good balance.

He would try and save what he could of the books, parchments and notes in the workshop. It would probably not be as effective as a professional, but he did not want to risk losing any of these tomes. So he took a large piece of dusty linen, well kept inside a crate, and made it into a sack. He then sewed a runic pattern into its fabric. It took a bit of time and effort but soon was the simple linen sack glowing blue as the runic array activated. He then opened the sack and with a careful application of telekinesis, put everything of value, except for the weapons and armour, in the hut inside its dark insides.

Not even as a pile of tomes, notes, books and parchments flew into its dark shape did the sack seem to be filled up, it was as if it was larger on the inside then on the outside. Closing the sack after the final piece of parchment had been put away, Maleficus looked around the old workshop one more time, to make sure he had not missed anything, before tying the sack to his left side.

*Okay... now what to do about these weapon and armour... I cannot fit them into the sack I made, it is still limited by the size of its entrance after all.* He then got an idea, smirking he temporarily called forth his horn and began to cast an advance transmutation spell.

Advanced as in, multiple transmutations in a wide area to make different parts to then put together into a single object.

Planks shifted, nails pulled, support beams groaned, glass vibrated, stone shook, hinges creaked and screws well screwed. The entire structure groaned like a dying beast as the magic of the alicorn shifted it apart. First came the roof, breaking apart into shifting spiraling planks, wooden beams and roof tiles. Second came the walls, doors and windows, exploding out into fragments of wood, metal and glass that joined the shifting mass of material. Then came the floor, the foundation and the furniture, erupting into a shower of metal, wood, stone and sand.

The objected shifted and changed as the transformed alicorn stood up on his hind legs, spread out his forelegs far and wide, as he coordinated the process. Wood linked together into a frame and structure while metal reinforced it and protected both its exterior and interior. Stone tiles were put into a small roof on top of the wooden frame while stone was embedded into the wood of four newly shaped wheels. A flowing mass of sand and glass melted together into wooden frames, forming lanterns. Strings of fiber and leather shifted and changed into leather straps and reigns, connected to the frame's front by a two long wooden poles to which they were tied to. And then as the final piece of stone embedded itself into the wooden wheels, laid his new construction complete.

Smirking a bit in satisfaction Maleficus made his horn disappear once more before moving over to his newly shaped wagon. It was a bit of a makeshift job but he felt a bit of pride in its construction, no matter how basic it might be. It looked a lot like the wagon of a wandering gypsy, fortune teller, entertainer, merchant or charlatan of the old west. He would make sure to carve some runes into its frame later, for now he was content with his product and now he just needed to load the weapons and armour into its interior, then there would be nothing left of the old shack but a square shaped hole in the ground.

Carefully he put the weapons and armour pieces into newly made barrels and crates. He then made one final adjustment of the wagon, and put up a linen cloth banner on top of its frame, coloured black, green and yellow in the shape of the symbol of the Iron Legion of For Honor. A black sword with roots growing into the hill beneath it, a black tower with a white cross shaped window on each side of the sword on the hill. A black sun on the upper left and a white crown on the upper right. With a background of three vertical lines, one white on the lower left, one yellow on the middle and one green on the upper right. He did not realize why he had picked this symbol, perhaps it was nostalgic, perhaps it was on a whim, all he knew was that it felt appropriate.

Looked out at the unused country road the old looking earth pony strapped himself to the wagon, his halberd and sack strapped to his sides, and with powerful strides began to pull it towards the road, uncaring of which direction he was going. All he cared for was the road ahead of him, a chance to enjoy the world he was so limited in experiencing, even if for only a month.

The Red Sun had faded back into its original golden brilliance upon the waking of twilight. White clouds remained after the heavy rainfall that had come the day before, the fields and trees were moist with water and the birds were singing as they bathed in the springs and the puddles along the overgrown road going through the country side.

A long line of wagons were going on the road, pulled by groups of two or four. There was a total of twenty wagons, each designed in a unique manner by its owners or their earlier owners. This was one of the many caravan wandering nomad tribes of Equestria. Ever since the Chaos God Discord drove the land into chaos had many ponies been separated fro mthe rest of the kin. Even after his defeat were they unable to reach their brethren as the Green Star fell upon the land and covered the lands around the Castle of Two Sisters with what was now called the Everfree Forest. No pony could breach its wicked thorns, thickets and branches, an evil forest denying them the kinship with their own people. And with the disappearance of the Princesses and their castle, had many ponies outside of the forest taken up different ways of life.'

Many decided to become nomads, wandering the lands like their ancestors did when they left their ancestral home in the wake of the Windigos. Others settled down into different manners of settlements. Others started up orders and groups of explorers, adventurers and knights, seeking to bring some manner of order and prosperity to their scattered people.

Sadly enough had not all ponies taken up the peaceful or honourable aspects of life. Far too many had taken up the ways of banditry and murder, there were many bands of such disturbing characters all over Equestria. The reason being that even with the honourable orders were founded, was there a far too great lack of power to enforce law and order through out the land. This meant that there was no way to properly stop the ravaging bands of bandits and raiders, the lack of order had giving way for far too many less decent ways of life.

This group of wanderers were called the Blue Grass Clan, they specialized in wandering the steeps and fields of Equestria, gathering foods from the fields, drying the plants and even the grass itself, into long lasting rations. They were not the largest clan yet they were not the smallest either. Yet the years had not been kind to them and their numbers were limited to a bit over one hundred, more then thirty of them foals not even past their fifth summer.

But recently had the clan been feeling anxiety and fear. When the moon grew a black shadowy monstrous image upon its shape, the crater formation of a unicorn directly next to ti. Then a massive eyeball formed out of the darkness before catching fire, taking on the shape of a burning green and black fearsome creature. And then, less then a year later, was something stirring again. On the morning of the rise of the Red Sun the burning specter on the moon's surface started twisting and turning, turning into a spiraling vortex of darkness and green flames. Before it exploded down towards the land into a second Green Star. And ever since that event had the clan been fearing that once more a dark force would put the world in danger.

Yet there was hope, just a week before the event had they heard words of the reappearance of one of the Princesses, the Princess of the Sun had returned. And a new home for all ponies had been built out of one of the mountains of the mountain chain known as the Bucky Mountains. A place called Canterlot. So they had decided to travel to this new home of the ponies, Canterlot, to finally settle down in peace after a century of being separated from their kin.

One of these wagons was more like a small eatery on wheels then a wagon. It had a base floor split into two rooms, one being an open surface with four rectangular tables with chairs, and the second being a fully stocked kitchen with three magically enchanted stone stoves sued for cooking in all manners. The upper floor was a single large room with hay mattresses, some furniture and many toys.

Inside of the kitchen of the eatery wagon was a young pegasus pony filly helping her pegasus mother with the preparation of the food. The filly's pelt was cream white while her mane and tail was lime green, while her mothers pelt was chocolate brown while her mane and tail were lime green just like her daughter's. Astoundingly enough was the mother without a cutie mark while her daughter had one, in the shape of a pie decorated with a chocolate sauce based smiley face on its yellow surface.

The filly's name was Happy Meal and she was the daughter of the nomad's main chef Grand Feast. Her father had been one of the guards of the Caravan, a brown pelted and white maned pegasus named Shifting Wind with the cutie mark of a cloud shaped like a spiral. He died less then a year ago protecting the caravan from a manticore who had come rampaging out of the Everfree Forest in a mad sense of terror, obviously frightened witless when the dark flames of the moon were ignited. Shifting Wind took down the Manticore but died from its poison.

Sadly enough was this not the first death of their little family. Her husband's second wife Swift Delight had died from raiders four years ago, along with her son Grand Stand and Grand Feast's own son Wonder Sail. All that was left of their herd was her and her daughter and she had, had little time to morn these events, she needed to remain strong for her child who was too innocent to know of what had happened to the rest of their family.

"Oh mom! The third chestnut pie has been finished!" The little filly said with a wide smile as she pulled out the recently finished pastry from the oven of the second stove before putting it on the wooden table were they were putting the finished food products. Grand Feast just smiled at her daughter and ruffled her head a little, making her little filly squeal in protest as she struggled away from her mother's ruffling hoof.

"We be finished with the seventh pie honey. Be sure to check the other ovens while we put it in." She said in a kind and warm voice as she put in the newly finished pie into the now empty oven. The little filly saluted, her large wooden spatula held like a weapon of honour. "Okay mom!"

And so the family of two kept on cooking, enjoying the quiet morning as the wagons rolled down the road.

Upon a hill a far bit away stood a gruff looking pony dressed in Equestrian Gold Armour of the Support Unit, his pelt was orange and he had blue mane and tail, with the cutie mark in the shape of a wooden flute. He was holding a spyglass and looking down the road when he spotted the group of wagons moving along it. Smirking he shouted down the other side of the hill.

"Hey Boss! There be a group of them nomads approaching, counting thirty wagons at least!"

At the other side of the hill was a group of around forty to fifty armoured ponies, each dressed in armours ranging from bronze to gold plate. The one the scout had shouted out for was a tall unicorn with a yellow pelt, green mane and a cutie mark of a silver goblet. Said unicorn was dressed in the full plate armour of the Royal Guard, and as for the reason why he and his fellow soldiers were here and not with the main force back at Canterlot?

They were deserters. Soldiers who took the defeat of not only them but their Princess as a show that they had no more reason to remain loyal to their monarch.

The one who had organized this group of deserters was the unicorn Royal Guard, Silver Feed, who was born a noble pony but denied his inheritance. Thus he had sought for more riches then what his family had. He sought to use the army to achieve this, yet when the fiendish alicorn Maleficus ruined the army and defeated Celestia, he saw Equestria no longer as a gold laying goose but a shitting goat. Silver sought to get his justifiably deserved riches, even if it meant going behind the Princess' back and roaming the country side for it.

He had no reason to return, his family had given his younger brother Gold Bar the right of inheritance when it was discovered that he had no desire to use his riches for anyone but himself. The army had failed to grant him an alternative income of riches, so he took the best option available to him, in his mind, banditry. Of course the actual dirty work would be done by his minions, he was still of noble blood and thus had no reason to dirty his hooves with common work. Besides, he had always enjoyed being the brain rather then the brawn.

Even if his group was more commoners then nobles would he use them to their full potential, no need to let the truth of their inferior status affect their minds. He could play the benevolent leader like any truly educated noble pony could. Now he was about to pluck his first golden egg, the first of many to fill his coffers. "Excellent work Animal Call! Gather up colts! We got us a golden opportunity here! Prepare for ambush!"

The group split up into portions of melee, ranged and support. Just like they had been taught during their brief military training. However this time it would be different, this time it was not the unstoppable force of nature that was an alicorn, this time it was just some rag tagged group of nomads. And they had every confidence in their capability in handling such weak opponents.

There were mostly shield and spear bearers, making up one third of the total number of soldiers, thus they would act as the front line force and cover for the ranged soldiers. The caravan approached the two hillsides the road was going through and the soldiers had hidden themselves behind a line of tall thick leaved bushes the unicorns had planted and rapidly grown to grant cover for the ambush.

As the caravan approached the soldiers got ready. The moment felt intense, yet they were certain. Then as the line of wagons reached past the check point of the hill, the unicorns cast their spells.

First came a shower of red fire balls the size of dogs, they struck several of the wagons and more then ten of the armed warriors wandering on hoof around it. The nomads reacted rather quickly and disciplined, obviously used to ambushes. yet they were not ready when a wave of magic and projectiles was fired at them. Magic in the shape of ice spikes flew along with arrows, javelins and crossbow bolts, piercing the lined up warriors like lambs for the slaughter.

Not even letting the wounded nomads regain their senses the melee range bandits charged out of the bush lines in a shield wall motion, linking their shields together to shield from the projectiles and spells of the few remaining defenders. The result was not pretty.

As the former soldiers reached the wounded and disoriented warriors, they shifted their spears and jabbed them forward with powerful straight thrusts, and pierced their unprotected body areas, throat, gut, side and muzzle. Pony blood was shed by pony weapons. And the soldiers turned bandits swarmed the caravan in a mad frantic frenzy of blood, greed and... lust.

Grand Feast had no idea what was happening, one moment everything had been a normal great day with her cooking with her daughter. Then a loud resounding shout emerged from around them and the wagon began to shake. she could hear the clash of metal and the screams of pain. She had to get Happy Meal to safety that was all that mattered. Clutching her daughter she carried her into the storage room at the back of the wagon.

"Mama, what be happening? We are scared." The little filly murmured into her mother's fur. Her mother smiled at her and gently rubbed her head before lifting her up and looked her into her eyes. "Everything shall be fine Happy Meal. We will keep you safe." The little filly did not notice how her mother did not mention her own safety, and thus she did not protest when her mother opened the lid of one of the empty barrels and put her inside.

Gently rubbing her daughter's head she murmured into her ear. "Whatever may happen, stay in here until it be safe once more." The little filly sniffled, her eyes slightly teary but she nodded before speaking. "What about you mama?" Grand Feast did not her own personal fear emerge and just gave her foal a brave smile. "We will be fine honey, now keep quiet, just like when we play hide and seek. We love you Happy Meal." The mare gently kissed her little foal by the cheek once last time before closing the lid, but not before hearing her daughter respond to her feelings. "Okay, we love you too mama."

Choking back tears Grand Feast moved out of the wagon, she had to attract the attention of the bandits, make them more interested in her then in her wagon. She had barely the time to run past five wagons when an aura of blue energy grabbed her by the legs and she found herself lifted into the ground. The one holding her was a pony bearing a golden plate mail armour, a unicorn. He had wicked smile on his muzzle that sent shivers down her spine and when he took her to a open space among the caravans she felt a chill down her spine as she saw her friends and clan members being treated like sex slaves by the bandits.

The unicorn holding her removed the cloak she had covered herself with and seemed surprised by her appearance. "Well, well, well. What doest we hath here? A fine rose among these loitering weeds. Thou shalt make a fine broodmare for our future kin." Grand Feast did not need a translation,she knew the intentions of the stallion. Yet her own safety and humility she did not care one bit for, she only cared about one thing. Her daughter.

Not even as her legs were chained and her hind legs spread apart with a wooden pole connected to her hind leg shackles, did she utter even a word. *Gods please protect Happy Meal! Please, whatever may happen to us! Keep her hidden! Keep her safe! We beg of you!* Grand Feast thought with tears streaming down her cheeks as the bandit leader unbuckled his lower armour, before mounting her.

Even as her body was ravaged she kept silent, not willing to give him the satisfaction of hearing her voice. Around here were some experiencing even worse fates then she was. A young mare was being used by a group of three, her hooves not even touching the ground as they kept thrusting. Two mares were being forced into a sixty nine position while a group of six mares and four stallions was forcing themselves upon both of them. A stallion was being double teamed by a mare and a stallion.

A young colt foal was being used by a pair of mares, while many young fillies were being treated in similar ways. It made her nauseous and also heartbroken. This could just as well happen to her own little girl if she was discovered, intensifying her mental prayers even as the stallion raping her released his first load inside her loins. *Gods! Please! Keep her safe!*

A lone wagon was rolling down the main road, a heavily armoured earth pony wearing plate armour was pulling it. Of course this is Maleficus in his disguise as an earth pony. He had been pulling the wagon for a few hours and already traveled a good distance.

*Sure is a nice day today. No rain, no clouds. Yeah. This is a wonderful summer day.* The immortal pony thought to himself as he pulled the wagon down the road, the fields were thick with grass, flowers and insects. The trees and the bushes were sprouting berries, fruits and colorful flowers. It was truly a wonderful sight and the warm sun and the gentle breeze was almost making him feel sleepy.

But it was disturbed all of a sudden when a thick scent of burning wood and burnt meat filled his nostrils as the wind shifted. Blinking in shock he tried to see the location of the scent and saw the thick column of black smoke rising up from behind some tall hills in the distance. *That is not a good omen, I just know something is going on and it is NOT a barbecue.*

Raising his forelegs he began to speed up, the wheels of his wagon creaked while the entire frame groaned in protest as he rushed down the road. His hooves kicked up dust, stone, grass and dirt into the air as he used his weight to get a better grip on the road to launch himself forward with powerful short leaps.

Soon enough he passed the hills and came upon the sight of a large group of wagons, some of them burning, with the dead bodies of ponies lying around it, while armoured ponies gleefully roamed around like thuggish bandits. Even from the distance could he see it, it was not a nice view.

Maleficus had seen a lot of terrible things even before he came to Equestria, but what he stumbled upon was a sight that would haunt him for a very long time. A sight that he, himself, would use as a reminder, that in the end, no matter how you justify it, your choices bring consequences and it is more often then not that it is not you that pay for them, but others. And it was also a motivator, a motivator to do something he had never done before his entire life, for the first time he would take a life to save another.

The armored earth pony took a second glance at the ravaged caravan and the immediate area around it, it was a frightening sight. Several of the wagons were burning, corpses littered the group in the dozens and the screams and cries of the tormented was filling the air. Truly. This was something he could only describe to be hell.

Then one tragic sight caught his eyes, a small foal, skewered by an arrow while clutched in the forelegs of its butchered mother or father, impossible to tell because of the burns. The image blurred for him for a few seconds and he could almost see a human child, a toddler, clutched by its parent, both brutalized, the image felt so intense it almost made him go into shock.

The intense moment passed and then the sensation of a hollow growing within his chest stopped, to be replaced by an intense fire that began to spark a great bonfire. The burning rage boiled up his blood, he could feel his entire body tense and clench as it flowed more rapidly through his veins. He felt his jaw clench so hard that blood started sipping from the gap of his metallic teeth. Unstrapping himself from his wagon he took his helmet from the wagon, put it onto his head, and ran straight at the hellish scene in front of him. *THEY WILL NOT GET AWAY WITH THIS!*

There were no chance for the outer guards to miss his approach, he stomped forward like a rhinos, his armoured body making a loud resounding metallic clang and clink as he moved. The four ponies stationed as look out shouted out for their comrades who were enjoying themselves with the defeated nomads, but the four look out also decided to take care of him themselves.

"Ey pal. Looks like we got us some would be hero ei?" "Aye, just like them fools that remained with the army." "Well we have already give words about his approach, shall we take him out?" "Eh why not. Makes our guard duty less boring." After all, he was one pony, even if heavily armored, what could he do to four trained former Equestrian Soldiers?

"Aim for the legs!" They lined up their bows and fired. The gold tipped arrows flew with true aim and speed and impacted the plate covered forelegs of the charging pony. Yet to their surprise bounced their arrows off the armour without even nicking it. Growing a bit uneasy they tried again, yet again to no avail. Growing desperate they drew their weapons and charged at him.

Once he might have shown mercy, once he might have held back, once, he might have let them live. But unfortunately for them, was he not willing to give them any of those options.

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Roaring out Maleficus meet their charge. Rearing back he slammed his forehead forward and his helmet's horn skewered the first attacker in the eye, piercing straight through his skull. Then he tossed the first one aside with a flick of his neck and then he reached out and slammed his left foreleg into the unprotected snot of the second attackers. There was a loud resounding crack as the pony's head went from up right to upside down, as his forehead meet his back as it was broken apart like a twig, his muzzle crushed into a meaty pulp. The corpse had yet to collapse even as Maleficus charged past it.

The third and the fourth had barely time to flinch when the earth pony reached them and slammed their skulls together after grabbing them by the helmets. With a loud crunch the two ponies' heads folded together as their helmets were crushed along with their helms. Flesh poured out of the visors, grounded meat and bits of bones erupted down the neck, eye balls exploded out of the visors with the blood. And THEN, as the metal was being pressed tighter and tighter together there was a loud crackling sound before a geyser of bits of brain and bone sharps erupted as a large crack was formed on the top of the helmets, completing the grotesque work of blood, flesh, bones and metal, which had once been a pair of helmeted pony heads.

Tossing the two corpses aside Maleficus lowered hos forelegs with a heavy stomp before he once more charged forward. His gore covered hooves carried him past the line of wagons and a spear of bronze was sent straight for his head. The spear appeared out of nowhere, yet he reacted in time to not only stop it, but retaliate as well.

Launching his left foreleg in an upward angle he punching the spear head. He not only halted the momentum of the thrust, he flattened the spear heard and pushed the shaft back with a tremendous force, sending the pommel of the short spear straight through the chest of the bandit who tried to stab him. Using his own momentum he moved forward and with a heavy gong slammed his hoof into the already dead bandit's chest and sent him flying into a pile of wreckage.

What greeted him, once his vision was no longer hindered by the armoured bandit, was a sight he had been expecting, yet was not eager to see.

There were mares being raped, some even being used by more then one bandit. Even some of the stallions were not safe, and were the unfortunate victims of either bandit mares or stallions. Bloody and gory bodies of butchered ponies laid across the ground, some even showing signs of having been raped post humorously. All the while the bandits laughed and cheered, only to halt when Maleficus made his entrance. The front view of the consequences his actions had brought. He felt shame, self loathing, anger and despair. And yet he drew out of it, he drew out of the billowing emotions trying to drown him, and then... he acted.

Silver Feed snorted as the outer scouts shouted out that some armoured pony was approaching and fast. He was having a good time with this nomadic mare, and he would not have some random hoodlum disturb him. "Go and bucking kill the interloper then."

Few of his underlings wanted to leave the carnal pleasures they were enjoying with their captives. Yet one of them decided to do as ordered and went to the side of the wagon where he could heard the approaching pony. Obviously the outlooks did not bother attacking him so he was most likely just some would be grunt who wants to play hero. As the heavy hoofsteps approached closer the raider jumped out and made a swift front a stab with his short spear.

In return he found himself skewered by the pommel of his own spear and sent lying into a pile of a wrecked wagon, dying as blood poured out of him like a fountain. In his place stood a very big and very heavily armoured pony, his forelegs plates and hooves, dripping with fresh blood.

The group of confused former soldiers looked as the earth pony killed one of them, having expected him to die easily. Their surprise was evidently big since they had not even registered the fact that they had removed parts of their armour to enact their vile desires. And when the earth pony stopped and looked upon the scene of the raping and the killing, he stood up on his hind legs, drew his poleaxe and began... to sing.

Silver Feed snarled out as the music began, things would not go well if they just acted like staring foals. "Kill him!" Meanwhile was the voice of the earth pony being carried through the wind, his voice making it feel as if the very air was vibrating.

"I spoke to the Gods today and they said that they're ashamed."

Several of the soldiers scrambled from their positions and drew their weapons and shields from the ground before getting into formation. It took less then a minute. One of the unicorn fired a spear length of ice at the earth pony, who stepped to the side before moving forward.

"What have I become."

"Line up shields!" A line of ten shields took shape in front of the moving earth pony and they aimed their spears in synchronization and made an attempt to stab him from many angles. He took a step backwards, making them stab empty air, before moving forward and pressing oen of his hind legs down on the overlaying spears, pressing them into the ground.

"What have I done."

The armoured earth pony swung his polearm at the shield wall with a wide sideways swing, the blade of the axe missed the shields, instead was the beard of the axe blade used to hook into the first shield and then he forcefully dragged the weapon into all of the other shields with brutish force.

"I spoke to the devils today and they swear they're not to blame."

This momentum caused the shields to slip off their forelegs. Ponies have no fingers and thus they only used straps to keep hold of the shields. But that was not only all, the spear tip of the poleaxe, was long enough to not slice open their jugulars as it passed through their ranks. Ten ponies fell to the ground, clutching their throats as they began to bleed to death.

"And I understood 'cause I feel the same!"

Stepping on top of the skull of one of the dying he crushed it with his hoof before leaping forward over the dying and the dead, his poleaxe swung downwards, splitting the skull of an archer.

"Stance wide open!"

Pulling back the corpse he blocked a rain of projectiles and spells, the poor deceased pony was torn apart by the force fired at him.

"I stand alone!"

A charging unicorn wielding a pair of swords got the pommel of the polearm slammed into his throat, crushing his wind pipe, causing him to fall to the ground as he tried to breath as he could no longer get any air into his lung, choking to death on his own crushed throat.

"I'm no hero and I'm not made of stone!"

A powerful thrust from a unicorn in the sky was blocked by the flat side of the axe head which was then used to slam into the pegasus' left side, crushing her ribcage. The flying bandit landed in a bloody heap on the ground, spewing blood as her crushed ribs pierced her lungs.

"Right or wrong!"

A pair of earth ponies bearing Sun Guard armour found themselves beheaded by a sudden sideways slash of the polearm as they tried to charge him together. Their corpses collapsed on the ground three seconds after they lost their heads.

"I can hardly tell!"

The polearm's pommel struck out into the face of a unicorn wielding an axe trying to attack him from behind, the metal pommel crushed the bone and pierced through the skull of the unicorn by brute force, shattering the horn that was in its way in the process.

"I'm on the wrong side of heaven and the righteous side of hell!"

The unicorn's corpse was used as a meat shield from another wave of spells and projectiles, torn apart just like the earlier makeshift shield had been by the intense force of the spells. Leaving the armoured earth pony unharmed.

"The wrong side of heaven and the righteous side!"

Side stepping a beam of light the earth pony spun his pole arm with his forelegs before gripping it with the spear head pointed downwards. He then hunched down and leaped forward with his kinds legs while making a forward downward aimed thrust with his polearm.

"The righteous side of hell!"

Silver Feed's face got splattered with blood as the polearm's spear head was sent straight into the open mouth of one of his bandits and out through the mare's neck. The spear tip erupted out of the flesh along with a fountain of blood. He held back a high pitched scream of horror, barely, while most of his underlings began to back away from the blood covered pony as he tossed aside the corpse stuck on his weapon, sending the dead mare into a burning wagon.

Even with their shields linked, their weapons and spells ready, the raiders' bodies were shivering with fear, making their armours rattle. The bloody monster of an earth pony in front of them, was making them more afraid then what that alicorn Maleficus had ever done.

Spinning his weapon clean of blood the earth pony stepped forward, still standing on his hind legs, he looked less like a pony and more like a bipedal demon to the bandits. And he resumed singing.

"I heard from the Gods today and they sounded just like me."

One of the bandits lost it and in a frantic madened state rushed forward with a great sword, swingign like a mad pony at the heavily armoured opponent. "Ahhhh! Die! Die already! Di- URK!"

"What have I done and who have I become."

The fanatically screaming pony went silent and limp as the spear tip of the poleaxe pierced his throat and left him hanging like a straw dummy on top of the Weapon. Even more blood filling the air in crimson streaks as it coloured the ground and grass red.

"I saw the devils today and they looked a lot like me."

With a savage yank the pony dislodged his weapon from the corpse and stepped over it. His movements carrying his blood soaked form towards the second shield wall.

"I looked away, I turned away!"

Charging forward the earth pony slammed straight into the frightened shield wall, his initial impact sent two ponies flying like rag dolls into a burning wreckage. Their screams echoed through the battlefield as unlike their earlier brethren, they were not lucky enough to be dead when impacting the flames.

The rest of the shield wall scattered by the impact, two of them stuck on their backs while the rest tried to gather up around
the large earth pony to take him out.

"Stance wide open!"

Stomping down with his left hind leg he crushed the skull of one of the downed soldiers while splitting apart the skull of the second by thrusting down his poleaxe's axe blade into her helmet. Blood soaked hooves stepped onto the ground ,bits of bone, brain and meet mixed among the mass of blood.

"I stand alone!"

Eight spears and two halberds were sent from all angles, yet the pony shifted his forelegs as to guard his face, letting the weapons impact him.

"I'm no hero and I'm not made of stone!"

The bandits felt their despair flee and their determination grow as they felt the impact of their weapons. Yet they grew pale and horrified when they saw the tips of their weapons bent or flattened as they failed to penetrate the plates of the armour.

"Right or wrong!"

A brutish sideswipe cut off the upper part of the skull of one of the shield wielders, cutting it off perfectly where the skullcap's edges ended.

"I can hardly tell!"

The pommel of the poleaxe was sent with a thrust backwards after the side swipe and slammed into the visor of another, crushing his face and breaking his neck as the force of the thrust flattened his visor and muzzle.

"I'm on the wrong side of heaven and the righteous side of hell!"

A second wave of frantic thrusts slammed into the pony, yet they did not do anything but further damaging the bandits' weapons.

"The wrong side of heaven and the righteous side!"

With a wide swing were three heads crushed apart like overly ripe tomatoes as the hammer head of the poleaxe sailed through the air. Bits of bone and brain covered the other shield wielders who let out shrieking screams.

"The righteous side of hell!"

But their screams were silenced as the axe head of the poleaxe was swung back into a full circle and cut off their heads by the necks, sending their frozen screaming frightened faces into the air, while their bodies fell over, one by one. The earth pony did not even both turning around to watch the heads fall to the ground, instead he stepped over the dead bodies that had once surrounded him and once more, spun his poleaxe clean of blood.

"I'm not defending."

A rain of fireballs was sent at him this time, but he quickly hefted one of the corpses on the ground up with his poleaxe and blocked the spells and kept moving forward even as half of the corpse he held was blasted apart.

"Downward descending."
'
A rain of arrows and bolts pierced the flesh of the corpse but did not penetrate through it. Rearing back his gruesome cargo the earth pony threw the pin cushioned pile of dead pony meat at its still living comrades who fell back screaming in panic, some of them outright fleeing.

"Falling further and further away."

With four long strides he hunched down and took a powerful leap up into the air and then landed hooves first on the back of one of the fleeing bandits, a unicorn. The impact not only send the poor stallion to the ground it also crushed his spine when the weight of his killer's body and armour pressed down upon him.

"Getting closer every day!"

Grabbing hold of a discarded spear the earth pony threw it, it pierced the back of one of the fleeing pegasus who tried to fly away, making her land in bloody heap upon the ground. Her body skewered from the stomach and out of the neck.

"I'm getting closer every day."

Now almost all of the bandits were fleeing, yet the earth pony kept following. There were no more pegasis alive so there was no way of the other ponies to flee but on the ground. They were surprised when the earth pony suddenly rushed up on top of one of the burning wagons and leaped onto the ground in front of them, making them scramble to halt as he stood in front of them like a nightmare made flesh.

"To the end, to the end, the end of the end."

As if preparing for something huge the earth pony spread his hind legs, gripped his pole axe by the handle and held it low. And then as the bandits clenched their teeth, tears streaming down their eyes, he roared.

"I'M GETTING CLOSER EVERY DAY!"

Rushing forward like a mad bull the earth pony slashed his poleaxe no longer with the grace and finesse of an experienced warrior, but that of a mad berserker. Blood flew through the air, legs were dismembered, head were split open and armour was utterly rendered as he became a whirlwind of utter carnage.

"Stance wide open!"

He slammed his pommel through the throat of a unicorn and then ripped off her head with his hoof and slammed it into another, skewering the unfortunate bandit's skull with her horn.

"I stand alone!"

His poleaxe free he made and upward swing and cut open one from the stomach to the throat with the spear tip, spilling his frontal organs and even his tongue for the world to see. A shower of blood pouring out over the warrior.

"I'm no hero and I'm not made of stone!"

With a savagery headbutt his helmet's horn pierced the eye of another of the bandit, instantly killing him. Yet he did not even bother to pull the corpse off his helmet as he impaled another onto his poleaxe.

"Right or wrong!"

The corpse slipped off as he swung down the hammerhead of the poleaxe and crushed the helmet and skull of an earth pony, the shield she had wielded folded like tinfoil by the force of the blow.

"I can hardly tell!"

Stomping down upon the foreleg of one of his targets he broke bone and plate armour with ease, sending the screaming unicorn to the ground before crushing the head with another stomp. Brain matter, flesh and blood was by now covering his hind legs' hooves like a bloody mass of meatloaf.

"I'm on the wrong side of heaven and the righteous side of hell!"

Silver Feed was stunned and appalled, the ruthlessness ,the savagery, it was not anything he had ever heard or even witnessed before. Not even the blood lust he had experienced while murdering and raping was anything like the brutal butchering he was witnessing as one of his fellow Sun Guards, a unicorn mare, was bent in half by an axe had splitting her in half by the middle of the barrel, pilling her blood and organs over the ground.

"I'm on the wrong side of heaven and the righteous side of hell!"

And still the murderous earth pony kept on singing, and silver Feed was feeling he was reaching the final parts of the song. And yet, there was but two of his raiders left, himself not included.

"The wrong side of heaven and the righteous side!"

The last remaining earth pony tried to flee past the earth pony while a unicorn tried to frantically kill him with a spear. Yet the unknown warrior sent a side way blow with his free hoof and the earth pony's neck not only broke, his head was split open like an overly ripe cherry.

"Righteous side of hell!"

The final bandit, the unicorn, found herself sent on her side when the pommel of the poleaxe struck her side. And then, with a savage thrust the opponent impaled the unicorn through the stomach and then sliced to the side, splitting her guts over the ground. He then looked upon the pale and shivering Silver Feed, blood dripping from his entire armour and weapon, and began to walk towards him.

"W-wait! Please stop! We hath Bits! We can give thee money!" The approaching warrior did not even pause at those words. he kept moving forward, ignoring the begging of the bandit leader.

Silver Feed squealed in fear when the poleaxe was impaled upon the ground in front of him, and the smell of carnage and death was joined by a stinging scent of urine. The unicorn almost blacked out by fear when he found himself grabbed by the head by a powerful foreleg hoof, his teary eyes quivering with fear as the blood covered visor of the warrior looked down upon him.

And then a chill ran down his spine as the second hoof of the pony, reached out for his horn. "Wait! What art thee doing!?"

The thick, angry, rumbling and utterly thunderous voice beneath the helmet almost made him faint, but the fear of what was going to happen to him was making him unable to faint. "You have brought death, destruction and depravity upon the innocent. Thus in accordance to your crimes, I, Golden Cross, the Lawbringer, shall bring Judgement upon you. And deal upon you, your punishment. As is fitting for your crimes. "

"In the Name of the Gods."With a powerful grip upon the horn, the now named Golden Cross began to shift his hoof, and Silver Feed could feel the strain of his horn as it was slowly being bent. "In the Name of Justice." And pure utter panic struck him and he tried to struggle free from the grip, screaming frantically whole punching and struggling to no avail. "And In the Name of the Innocent." "Stop it! Stop it! STOP! STOP!"

"Amen." The pain grew even more, there was a startling sound of cracking, creaking and twisting, Silver Feed howled out i nutter despair and pain. "NOOOOOOOO!!!!" Before a loud resounding crack filled the air, as Silver Feed's horn was completely broken off the base of his skull.

Released from the grip of the earth pony the unciorn clutched at the bleeding hole on his forehead and cried out in pain and despair. "AAAAHHHHH!! OUR HORN! GIVE BACK OUR HORN! AHHHHH!" Yet no pity was given and a powerful blow to his jaw knocked him out cold, his torn off horn tossed into the fire where several of his bandits laid burning.

Slowly turning towards the frightened and traumatized nomads, Golden Cross removed his helmet, revealing his elderly visage. Holstering his helmet onto a hatch on his flank armour plating he moved over to the nomads and began to untie them. "Do not be afraid, I have come to aid you."

The nomads were still frightened beyond words by this ruthless warrior. And yet as their bonds were removed and their freedom returned, the feeling of fear slowly receded.

One of the mares, one who had been violated by the bandit leader. Reached out for the elderly warrior and spoke out to him in a choking voice. "Please, our daughter, she be hidden in our wagon in a barrel. Please, make sure she be safe for us." Gently removing her grip on his armour he pulled out a blanket from the pile of loot the bandits had gathered near their 'pleasure spot' and warped it around her before speaking. "I will find your daughter and bring her to you."

He then moved away from the recovering nomads to find the lost child.Using a bit of his magic he sensed the life sign of a small pony within one of the wagons. Walking into the slightly looted wagon he found a barrel marked 'flour' and gently knocked on it. "It is safe now, you can get out of there."

Happy Meal shivered as she laid inside the barrel, the fighting, the screaming and the shouting had stopped. She had no idea if it was safe to leave. There were voices outside, yet she could not make out whom they were. She was scared and sad, she hoped her mother was okay.

Then a gentle thump was heard as something knocked on the barrel. And then a kind and warm male voice spoke up, even if muffled it still sounded friendly. "It is safe now, you can get out of there."

She went still, not willing to move, the voice was that of a stranger. There was no way of telling if he was one of the meanies, one of her clan or a stranger. A second round of soft knocking sounded and the voice spoke up still kind and warm. "I know you are afraid kid, but there is no reason to be frightened. The bad people are gone now. Look, I will even open the lid and let you look for yourself."

Happy Meal wanted to protest, to say no, but when the lid was slowly removed she heard the sound of her clan members talking, there were crying and weeping, she did not like that. but her clan was alive still, and that meant that the voice did not lie. He was not one of the meanies.

Slowly she stood up and looked out of the edge of the barrel, an elderly earth pony dressed in strange metal clothing greeted her with a warm smile on his muzzle. The earth pony was clearly old, his mane so pale in colour like her old granny and grampy's manes had once been. His muzzle was slightly wrinkled and his coat a worn out pale colour. This was a very old pony. "Hey there, you are safe now." He gently reached out and lifted her out of the barrel before putting her down on the ground.

Fire was being put out by several of the surviving nomads, the unicorns summoning water while the pegasus created small rain clouds, while the earth ponies carried buckets of sand and water to toss over the flames. The little filly was uncertain what to do, her home looked damaged and many others of the clan's homes looked hurt or destroyed. Were was her mother? She missed her. The old stallion gently pushed her with his foreleg and nodded his head towards a group of mares and stallions covered in blankets and drinking from cups. "Come, your mother is very worried."

At those words a jolt went through her tiny body. Happy Meal did not wait for the old pony to guide her, she ran frantically over the red stained old cobble road and with tears running down her cheeks she leaped into the warm fur of her mother who hugged her tightly. "Mama!" "Happy Meal!" Mother and daughter cried as they hugged each other. It brought some small joy to the surviving clan members, even if it was only slight.

The old stallion smiled at the scene before moving over to one of the overturned wagons, it had bee nturned over onto its side and it would have to be manually flipped upright before anything else was done. Hunching down he grasped the side of the wagon with his forelegs, took a deep breathe and then began to heave a he lifted with his lowered hind legs and with a loud groan and a thud the wagon was turned upright. It was a feat worthy of legends, a wagon of such size would be something even a group of five earth ponies would find difficult to turn upright.

Several of the nomads stared at the old earth pony in shock, but he did not seem to notice and just investigated the wagon for any damages before moving over to another wagon. This one was completely destroyed. So it was obvious that it would have to be taken apart to save resources. He began by emptying the wagon of anything that was intact or could be repaired before gathered the ruined or destroyed into a pile. he then began to pull the wagon apart into piles of different parts.

Normally the nomads would have helped, but they were in no condition to do much physical labor in the state they were in. Almost one third of their clan had been killed or severely injured. The rest traumatized in different fashions. Without pause the elderly stallion moved along the line of wagons, repairing broken ones and dismantling destroyed ones. While also trying to save what could be saved form each wagon.

Happy Meal and Grand Feast did not leave one another, the mother and daughter not wanting to leave the other's side after the horrors that had happened this day. Grand Feast looked on as the elderly earth pony worked, his blood stained and armour covered frame moving along the wagons, helping wherever he could. When he approached her wagon she felt a bit uneasy, but all he did was grab a broom and start to sweep out the damaged items and ruined food. He even went as far as to covering the pies with cloth as to keep the dust from getting on them.

"He be kind, that elderly saviour of ours." She muttered softly, the nomads that heard her nodded in agreement. Even for them, for a strange to act in such a selfless manner was rare, even other nomads and the pony villagers in the land did not act in such a benevolent and generous way.

It would be the early afternoon when the last wagon was fixed and the elderly stallion returned to the nomads. "I have fixed what I could. Sadly enough could not ten of your wagons be saved, I had to tear them down into separate parts. I tried to save what I could from the wagons while leaving what had been damaged beyond repair in piles by each wagon they were part of. This way you can try and put together your homes as good as possible considering the circumstances."

The corpses of the bandits had by now been tossed into burning wreckage, no one gave a single mind to memorize their looks or cutie marks, they were just tossed onto the flames to be burned. While the dead clan members were dug a line of graves, each with a specific grave stone with the pony's name and cutie mark engraved into the stone by the elder of the clan. They had been doing this an hour after the mysterious stranger started fixing their wagons.

An old unicorn walked forward, his name was Tall Sprout, his mane was grey and his pelt orange, he had the cutie mark of a growing bean stalk. "We thank thee for thy aid stranger. We art Tall Sprout, leader and eldest shaman of the Blue Grass Clan. Please, tell us, what be thy name?"

*Oh geez, why did it have to be Olden English? And badly spoken Olden English at that?* Maleficus, currently being Golden Cross, groaned in despair at the mangled words he was hearing but kept it inside himself and just responded with a polite voice. "I am Golden Cross, of the Lawbringers, sadly enough the last of the Lawbringers."

The old unicorn nomad nodded. "We art grateful Sir Golden Cross. We of the Blue Grass Clan will forever in thou debt." Golden Cross just smiled a bit, but said smile was a bit strained when not only the elder bowed to him, but the entire clan did. *Gods this is awkward, I am NOT used to such attention. Just keep your face straight Maleficus, just keep it straight.*

Reaching out with a hoof he raised the bowed elder up from his posture. And then Golden Cross spoke to the clan in a kind voice. "I just did my duty, my order is one that brings law, order and judgement upon the lands were no laws are followed or given. And those who act in the ways of the lawless and the criminal for their own selfish gains shall be given the just Judgement of the Law which I bring upon them. to protect the innocent and judge the guilty, that is what I do."

The old pony then gave a bow of his own to the clan before turning around and walking away from the caravan and towards his own wagon, left a good distance ahead of the caravan. Once he arrived at his wagon he checked the straps, the wood and the interior, no one had tried to touch or steal anything. It was probably safe to assume that he had taken out all of the bandits, well hopefully, there might be a possibility that some stragglers escaped, he could not be certain.

As he finished examining his wagon he ventured down towards a river that was flowing down by the side of the road. He would need to clean up his armour, both it, his fur and his weapon were... rather dirty.

Unlatching the armour, piece by piece, he undressed it from his body, even pulling off the chain mail after wards. He then lowered himself into the edge of the river, the water was pleasantly cool in the heat. And then he began to scrub, not only himself, but each piece of his armour clean.

As he dragged the piece of clothe he was using over the metal, the water beneath him began to turn red and flow down the river, like a crimson streak swaying in the waves. Remembering the song he had sung during his battle he looked into the crimson water, and the red image of his pony face, and began to sing softly, in an low and sorrowful voice.

"I spoke to the gods today, and they said that they're ashamed. What have I done. And who have I become?"

As he sang he thought about how he had changed from who he had once been. He thought of the lives he had taken he felt shame, as he thought about the pain he had brought he felt depression and he felt his body twitch at the memories of his body burning inside out. Shaking his head clear of the depressing thought he focused on his work, unwilling to let the ghosts of his own mind drag him down. *I will not go down that path. There is nothing but misery dwelling upon it.*

An hour went by as the disguised alicorn cleaned up his armour. The sun warmed up his body as he got out of the water, the armour pieces were dried by a dry cloth and after completely cleaning up his own fur and drying it he began to put on the pieces once more. Once he had put everything back on, except for the helmet which he holstered onto the belt on the right side of his armour, he began to walk back towards his wagon. *Alright, let's get going.*

Happy Meal was happy that her mama was okay, even if she seemed much more sad then before. The little filly had inspected their home with her mother after she had recovered from the shock. At first they had been expecting a mess of bins, pots and wares turned over and spilled out. Yet apparently had Golden Cross not only leaned up the dust and dirt from the wagon, he had put everything back up straight and proper.

Even the pies they had been painstakingly cooking all morning were okay, cold but otherwise completely untouched. Then Happy Meal got a bright idea, an idea to offer her thanks to the nice old pony who saved her mama and her clan. "Mama! Let us make Mister Cross a pie! We will make him the biggest tastiest pie ever!"

Grand Feast looked at her brightly smiling filly for a few seconds before hugging her and ruffling the giggling foal's mane, while speaking up with a smile on her muzzle. "Oh bright child of ours. A most wonderful idea. Let us not just make one for our savior, let us make a grand feast as well, to celebrate our arrival at Canterlot."

The mood of the family wagon got warm and comfortable once more and the sound of cooking could be heard from its interior, a mother and daughter both happily laughing as they cooked together. Even with the gloomy atmosphere and the sorrow of the other Blue Grass Clan Members, was the sound of Grand Feast and Happy Meal making them cheerful once more and the clan made preparations for resuming their journey towards Canterlot.

It would not be long before the Blue Grass Nomads once more would be on the road.

Old Tall Sprout smiled to himself as the cheer was brought back to his clan. He had an idea of how to keep their spirit up on their journey towards the city of ponies, and it would require a bit of aid from their savior. So with a confident stride in his legs the old unicorn walked down the road where he had seen Golden Cross wander off to.

What Golden Cross found when he got back to the wagon was the elder of the nomad clan waiting for him. And what the old unicorn had to say, was not what he was expecting. "So wait just a minute... you want ME, to guide YOU, to Canterlot?"

The old horned unicorn nodded. "Aye indeed. We art no longer as secure as we once were. We hath lost several of our clan members. Thou art a strong warrior and thus we would ask thee to aid our clan to reach Canterlot."

Sighing the old earth pony rubbed his forehead a bit. He had not wanted to go to Canterlot yet, he had wanted to explore the unseen regions around Equestria. But then again, it was perhaps for the best that he made himself familiar with the exterior and interior of Canterlot while he had the chance. It was far more likely then not that there were already several dozens of pathways and tunnels made in the city and the central keep's architecture. If he had a chance to explore the city before time would erase the records of the constructions, then he might make use of them in the future.

"Very well I will act as a guard and guide for your people until we reach Canterlot. I have not been there myself though, I only know the way from some passing soldiers and farmers. My Order's duty is to bring justice upon the lawless and the guilty, not to act as a guide, but in case there are more deserters turned bandits like those that attacked you, it might as well be in my interest to keep you safe."

The relieved look on the old unicorn's face made him assume that there were more reasons for having him guide them then being protection. Hopefully it wasn't anything dubious or ill intended, he was not certain how he would deal with anything like that right now.

"I will be moving out soon, so you may as well tell your people to prepare themselves. Since I will be moving at a steady pace do you not need to worry if you cannot see me, I am just down the road ahead of you." The old unicorn disappeared in a blur towards his clan, leaving a befuddled Golden Cross behind. *Wow... how the heck can such an old person move so freaking fast?*

Deciding to not think too much about it the disguised Alicorn went over to his wagon and began to check on his pantry, he had gathered some fruit and veggies when he had been going down the road. He had no real stove in his wagon, he might have to invest in one in the future, so for now would he survive on some fresh apples, wild carrots and various kinds of berries. Golden was rather amazed that the world he was in had so many similar kinds of plants, fruits and veggies to that of his own home world.

As he was pulling out a bowl of apples from his pantry he caught the whiff of a strangely delicious smell in the air. It was making him feel tingly. The scent smelt a bit nutty and fruity, with the sweet hint of a scent of honey with a weak background taste of baked sweet pastry, and it was making him drool quite a bit.

Putting back his goods he tried to discern the source of the scent, sniffing the air loudly, his stomach growling like a mad beast every time the scent filled his nostrils. He was sniffing the air like a blood hound as he looked out the window of his wagon. Sensing to where the scent was coming from he looked down the road towards the hills were the Nomads were located. The scent was overpowering the smell of burning wood and flesh, it was the most delicious thing he had been smelling for ages, and yet it made him feel so nostalgic.

The scent was a bit nutty but it also held a familiar cooked fruit scent that was making him think of his childhood. Of something he and his siblings were given as a dessert from time to time by his parents. *What was it... what was it that father used to bake back then? Back when I was a child. I know it. It was... it was.... apple pie!*

As much as he wanted to run down the road in a childish glee did he not want to presume too much, as much as he'd like to have a taste was he not sure if it would be alright. Even if he had saved them all, would he not want to intrude upon them just because they were baking one of his childhood favorite desserts.

Even as his stomach grumbled he just leaned out the window eyes closed and enjoyed the scent, it was far more enjoyable then one might think. Besides, once the scent was gone, he would enjoy his fresh apples even more.

"Pie is done mama!" Happy Meal called out as she pulled out the large apple and chestnut pie she and her mother had baked together. As she laid the big steaming crust covered pastry onto a table. Grand Feast took a piece of white cloth and tied up the hot pie, as to keep it from getting cold.

"Come honey, let us give our savior his reward." The mare said with a smile while her daughter nodded with a smile on her muzzle. With the pie in fold the duo left their wagon together and walked down the road towards were the Clan Elder has said Golden Cross' wagon was located.

As they moved down the road they saw the rickety wagon, it looked a bit shambled and run down ,and yet had a bit of charm to it. The old earth pony could be seen leaning out the window, his armoured forelegs crossed over one another to give his head a spot to rest. His eyes were closed and he had a nostalgic smile on his muzzle for some reason, his nostrils sniffing the air.

"Hi! Ser Cross! We hath a pie for thee!" Happy Meal shouted out, the old earth pony seemed a bit startled as his head sprung up and he looked around a bit in surprise before spotting the pair approaching his wagon.

"Oh. Hi there. Wait. Do you mean that pie is for me?" Grand Feast was honestly surprised by the confusion and shock on the old earth pony's face, it was like he was not used to being thanked or given rewards. But she guess she could not blame him, if his Order truly acted out like he had done before, there were no little chance that ponies would shun them for their actions. She knew, shamefully enough, that if she had not been a victim herself, she might have been too terrified to even approach him.

Her sweet innocent filly Happy Meal however was just smiling brightly and nodding her little head. "Aye! We and our mama made it for thee!"

The old earth pony's eyes seemed to grow glazed and slightly teared for a second, but it seemed to disappear, but the warm smile on his muzzle, did not. "That is most kind of you. I have not eaten a home cooked meal for decades."

While those words made Grand Feast's heart clench a bit, she steeled herself and just smiled at her savior and walked over to the old pony's wagon and held up the pie for him. The old earth pony accepted her tribute with a smile and then seemed to ponder something before speaking up. "Say, would you like to come in? I would not mind sharing. It is a big pie."

"We... well..." At first Grand Feast wanted to decline, but the kind face of the Golden Cross and the pleading look on her daughter's face, not to mention her own stomach slightly grumbling, made her agree. "Very well."

Stepping into the wagon she felt a bit uneasy by the lines of weapons and armour kept in one of the rooms, thankfully was the old earth pony only opening the room to put away his weapons and armour he had been wearing. The old pony's coat was lined with old scars from all manners of wounds. It made her amazed that he was able to function with how many of the scars were located by his joints, spine and throat.

There was no kitchen in the wagon, only a pantry with a small room for eating connected to it. The room had a square table, some short stools and a cupboard with wooden bowls, wooden plates, knives, spoons and some strange small pitchforks.

Golden Cross lead them to the table and with a swift hoof he cut up the piece into several smaller pieces before pulling out three plates for each of them, with a spoon for each of them. Having a seat the old pony smiled as Happy Meal sat down on the opposite side along with her mother.

As the old pony took a bite out of the pie his eyes seemed to quiver before he swallowed the bite and spoke up with a wonderfully warm voice, his eyes closed, a lone tear sliding down his left cheek, "This, is the most delicious thing, I have eaten, in a long, long time."

"Yeah! Mama makes the best food in da world!" Happy Meal cheered while chewing her own piece of pie, while Grand Feast just smiled while eating her own piece. The old earth pony and the mother and daughter ate together, enjoying the cooked meal together while talking about various subjects.

Most questions came from Happy Meal. Were did he come from. How did he get his cutie mark. How long did it take for him to get so strong. And so on.

The old pony answered each question as best as he could. He was from a now destroyed fortress in the east. He got his cutie mark when he was dubbed a Knight of the Lawbringer Order by the Grand Master. He trained, and still trained, since his early childhood. It was a variety of topics but those three subjects stood out the most. It gave Grand Feast a bit of insight into Golden Cross' childhood and Order.

He was most likely born and raised in the Order, trained for an early age and since he was knighted must the Order have either been commanded by a noble or been a group of self proclaimed knights. It would not be a rare thing, when Discord threw everything into disarray was there no way of knowing who was noble or not. most records had been destroyed and so had many proclaimed themselves noble to gain the privilege.

But even if the way he was raised was a bit distasteful for her could Grand Feast not disagree with the result that the Order had made if Golden Cross was an example of their members. It made her feel like the world was a bit safer with people like Golden Cross around, even if he was the last could there be other similar ponies doing things for the good of the people, she was sure of it.

Finishing the meal the mother and daughter said their good byes to the old warrior who waved back at them. He then went back into his wagon to put his armour back on, he would be on the move soon, and so would the caravan of the Nomads.

*That was a most fine meal. I hope I can eat like that more often, it is not like I can cook food on the Moon.* Golden Cross thought to himself as he walked down the road, pulling his wagon while just a hundred feet or so behind him, was the caravan of the Blue Grass Nomads following him.

Even with the good food in his tummy was the situation not one he felt comfortable with. In fact. He felt very, very awkward acting like a guide for such a big group. It made him ponder about the great figures of legends and religion he read while in school and on the internet. *If this is even an inkling of how it was for Moses when he lead the Hebrews out of Egypt then I applaud him and his efforts. It could not have been easy.*

The trail of wagons rolled down the road in a perfect line up. Even upon the old and untended cobblestone road the wagons moved with ease, showing just how used the nomads were to wandering these old ruined roads. Golden Cross' wagon was shaking a bit more, but his was far smaller then the wagons of the Blue Grass Clan. And he did not seem bothered by it, just walking forward without a pause in his legs.

As the road reached a small mountain area it became steeper as the wagons were forced to ascend the hill side of the mountain to reach the path of the road going through a pass between the small rocky peaks. As the caravan passed a cross road when they had passed the mountain pass, they were greeted by another group of nomads, also pulling wagons. Golden Cross did not pause nor speak to them, he just strode forward, determined and unrelenting in his goal.

The sight of the heavily armoured pony guiding the Blue Grass Clan seemed to inspire the other Nomads to do the same and soon the trails of wagons had doubled in size. And even as they moved further down the road, more and more ponies joined up with them. Many individual wagons and many groups on hooves trailed after them. eEven two more nomadic clans joined the march.

Golden Cross felt ridiculous about the whole thing. He thought he was just to guide the Blue Grass Clan to Canterlot as a favour, how did it end up with him guiding what seemed to be the entire Nomad population in Equestria!? *How the fuck did this even happen!? I am quite certain we have become four times as large a number of wagons then before! And that is NOT counting the individual families of ponies to boot! There got to be over a thousand of them!*

As the ponies behind him chattered and laughed, some of them even bursting into song, he restrained a groan of frustration and tried to not show any kind of grimace while he just kept on moving. The roof tops of the taller buildings of Canterlot could be seen in the distance. Once they passed the next hill they would be within eyesight of the city. and as he reached the top of the hill he let out a sigh of relief at the sight of the city walls greeting his sight. *Good, now I just need to get these ponies there and I can get some time to inspect the place by myself.*

He stopped and looked back at the ponies behind him, all who had halted when he did and looked at him in curiosity. "We are soon there. Just a bit further ahead is Canterlot, it is a magnificent view. Rejoice, for you are soon home." The old earth pony then turned his head forward again and began to walk down the road towards the city. He felt a slight twitch on his lips as the ponies behind him cheered at the sight of the city, the awed gasps of the foals and the warmth filled laughter of the elderly. Yeah. It was a good feeling, to help others.

Meanwhile in a hidden spot beneath a dark mountain side, was a group of shadowy forms gathered around a candle lit map of the region. There were five shapes in total, two of the far larger then any pony, the remaining three were pony sized. One of the large shapes looked upon the map and spoke with a gleeful voice filled with twisted desires. "It be good then, yer info?"

"Aye, those deserters art filled with information. The Princess of the Sun is temporarily wounded by the Stallion of Torment, he who hath called himself Maleficus Victoria. Her wounds makes it so that she can not cast magic." One of the pony sized shadows said.

Another pony sized shape giggled in a mad fashion while scrapping something sharp against something metallic. "Ehehehehehe! Then we art ready for the biggest heist in our lives! So many necks to slit!"

"Ahahahaha! Indeed we be lucky! Those richie ponies in them pretty houses of theirs must hath good booty!" The other large shape said.

"So we all agree then. We shalt gather all our forces, and conscript all of the local clans to our cause. This coming full moon. Canterlot, will burn." Said the final of the pony sized shadows while slamming a jagged dagger into the spot of the map were the mountain were Canterlot stood, was marked. All five of the figures laughed and cheered, while outside of the dark gathering, were shapes of various creatures working in a large campsite, a campsite, filled to the brim with weapons and siege equipment.

Danger was fast approaching Canterlot, and with the recent defeat of the Equestrian Army, was there little doubt that it would have dire consequences. But for whom? That is yet to be determined, for anything can turn the tide of the disaster into a windfall of victory. All one need, is an opportunity.

Author's Notes:

Staadnauthursil: Well that's another late chapter, but it is finished now. Even if I did not enjoy writing some parts of it.

Pinkie: Why did such bad things have to happen!?

Staadnauthursil: Can't be helped, I wanted to show that my Inserted Self's actions had consequences, and not to mention that I cannot know how well I would have handled myself if I experienced and saw in such a scene. The me in this story has experienced years of pain, loss and more. I can say for certain that I would never intend to kill someone, but for the me who has been traumatized and experiencing PTSD? Yeah that's not so clear and thus I must make harsh decision about what I might do in such a state of mind even if I do not like it.

Pinkie: It is still saaaaaaaaad!

Staadnauthursil: Of course it is. That is the point, not every point of a story is nice, not every story has happy endings, and your actions bear consequences, no matter your intentions or situation. This makes the happy parts stand out more.

Pinkie: I guess... At least that family will come through this.

Staadnauthursil: Aye, You will hear about the Meal family later as well. But when is not to be told yet.