Walker of the Abyss

Chapters

Awakening in a new world.
Protector of those who are weak
Enemy of my enemy...
... is still my enemy.
Taking the plunge
Meeting of the great leaders
Gathering forces
Horrible discoveries

Awakening in a new world.

Artorias stood across from the undead warrior, looking for a breach in his defenses. When one was not found, he simply did what he was trained to do: attack relentlessly and wait for the perfect opportunity to show itself. However, this undead hero seemed to be much more powerful and dangerous than he previously expected, dodging and blocking everything that he threw at the undead. At various points during this epic battle, Artorias has attempted to gain more power from Manus, yet the undead still managed to stop him before he could gain the power.

The battle had been going on for several hours, before Artorias made his first slip up.

He stabbed forward with his great sword, meaning to impale the warrior on the tip, but he was quicker than Artorias had previously seen. Showing an amazing amount of dexterity, the undead side stepped the blade, jumped up, and stabbed Artorias through the heart with his blade, enticing an ear-rending screech from the Abyss Walker.

After years of tormenting the souls of other innocent beings, Knight Artorias, walker of the Abyss, has been released from the Abyss' grasp, free to die in peace.

'This was for the best,' Artorias thought, moments after he was stabbed, 'I destroyed homes,' He began fading into the darkness, 'killed innocent women and children.' As he faded off, two words could be heard by the undead warrior, who would later realise his fate as the chosen one: "Thank you..."

_____---==%^(!!~*~!!)^%==--_____

Darkness.

All that Artorias could see and hear was utter darkness. 'This is the afterlife?' he thought to himself, standing and looking around. 'Oh well. I guess this is what I deserve.'

THIS IS NOT THE AFTERLIFE, GREAT WARRIOR.

Artorias drew his sword, looking in all directions, "Who is there?"

A FRIEND.

"If you are friendly, then show your face!"

I CANNOT. BUT KNOW THIS, KNIGHT OF LORDRAN, IF I WANTED TO BRING YOU HARM, THEN I HAVE MORE THAN ENOUGH POWER TO DO SO.

Artorias lowered his sword, and sat on the unseen ground. "Well then, what is it that you need?"

FOR YOU TO ACCEPT.

"What am I accepting?"

A SECOND CHANCE AT YOUR LIFE.

Artorias was stunned, being inclined to believe this malevolent voice. "Do I deserve this chance?"

YOU SERVED THE KINGDOM OF LORDRAN FOR MUCH LONGER THAT MANUS HAD YOU IN HIS GRASP, AND DURING THAT TIME, YOU DID A GREAT MANY GOOD THINGS. THINGS THAT WENT WITHOUT PAY OR REWARD. I AM GIVING YOU THIS AS YOUR REWARD. DO YOU ACCEPT?

Artorias contemplated the voice's offer. To have a second chance would mean to not only have a physical body to call his own again, but a chance to not be consumed by the raw power of fear and hatred generated by the Abyss.

On the other hand, this would also mean that he would have another chance to be consumed by the Abyss, a chance that he does not want to take again. So, he replied to the voice with a question of his own: "If I were to be resurrected and given another chance at life, would I still be able to be consumed by the Abyss?"

THAT IS SOMETHING THAT YOU MUST DISCOVER ON YOUR OWN, BRAVE KNIGHT.

Artorias thought it over for a few more minutes, mentally making lists of the pros and cons of resurrection, and finally made his decision. "Voice, I accept your offer. Bring me back to the world of the living."

VERY WELL. BE STILL, YOU MAY FEEL LARGE AMOUNTS OF PAIN AS YOUR PHYSICAL BODY REFORMS, AS THE PROCESS IS QUITE CHAOTIC.

A blinding light enveloped the knight, preparing him for rebirth into the world of the living. He thought of something he must ask, and shouted, "Will I see you again?"

OH, I THINK YOU WILL. I AM PUTTING YOU IN A LAND FAR DIFFERENT FROM LORDRAN OR OOLACILE, AND I AM KNOWN ALL ACROSS THE LAND. WHEN YOU WAKE UP, FIND THE ONE WITH THE MARK OF THE SUN AND ASK FOR THE LORD OF CHAOS. THAT IS HOW YOU WILL FIND ME.

After that was said and done, the light covered Artorias and sent him away. Away to a world full of surprises, hardships, and new challenges. But mostly, a world filled with one thing. A thing that Artorias had almost never encountered in his many travels through his world:

Friendship.

_____---==%^(!!~*~!!)^%==--_____

Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia's star pupil, sat at her desk late into the night. Her more recent studies have required her to stay up well into the night, either gazing at stars or reading ancient tomes. She was midway through one of these studying sessions when a knock came to her door.

"It's a public Library, you don't really need to knock." Twilight said, giggling and walking towards the door.

Twilight opened the door to find her good friend Pinkie Pie, who was bouncing in place waiting for Twilight to answer. "Oh, hi Pinkie!" Twilight said, opening the door wider to let her in. "Would you like to come in?"

Pinkie Pie just now realized that Twilight had opened the door, and tackled her through the doorway. "TWILIGHT! WE HAVE A PROBLEM!"

"Pinkie Pie, calm down!" Twilight said, levitating her friend off of her and getting up. "Now tell me, what's wrong?"

"It's horrible, and I knew you could help me best!"

Twilight huffed impatiently, "Well Pinkie? Spit it out? What happened? Is another evil king, or ancient god of chaos, or some kind of bug trying to take over Equestria again?"

Pinkie stopped bouncing mid-air, and said "No, I just ran out of sugar at the bakery, and wanted to know if you had some!"

"..." Twilight face-hoofed, realizing that she never even considered that Pinkie was overreacting again, 'It's like the cupcake incident all over again...'

"So..." Pinkie Pie asked, trotting closer to Twilight, "Got any sugar I can use?"

"Yes, Pinkie, I do," Twilight said, trotting towards the kitchen, "but next time, can't you at least make it seem less serious?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Twilight," Pinkie said with a straight face, "this is a VERY serious problem! I have a party to throw, and without those cupcakes made I can't throw the party and if I can'tthrowthepartythenwhowillbecauseI'mthepartyponyofponyvilleandnoponycanthrowapartylikemesoitwouldn'tmakesense-"

She was interrupted by Twilight, who stuck a hoof in her mouth to silence her. Rubbing her own head, she said to Pinkie, "I get the point; it's important to you to throw this party, and you need the sugar for baking. Just... don't make it seem like a much bigger problem next time, okay?"

Pinkie removed the purple hoof from her mouth, "Well, what could be a bigger problem than this?"

"I can name seventy six right now, and at least five hundred more in the next two minutes."

Before Pinkie Pie could argue further, another knock was heard from the front door, making Twilight groan in frustration before screaming at the door, "IT'S A PUBLIC LIBRARY, NOPONY IS REQUIRED TO KNOCK, YOU CAN JUST WALK IN!"

"Are you okay, Twilight?" Pinkie asked, tilting her head to the side, "You seem kind of stressed out."

Twilight tried to reply, but was interrupted by the sound of somepony clearing their throat to get her attention. She jumped up and ran to the stallion, "Sorry, I got distracted for a moment, welcome to the golden oaks libra-"

The royal guard stomped once on the floor, effectively silencing her. "Twilight Sparkle, I presume?"

"Yes sir, and to what do I owe this pleasure?"

Another pony walked through the doorway, "That would be me coming over here, Twilight."

Twilight gasped, "Princess Celestia!" She immediately bowed low to the ground, looking over and expecting her friend to be doing the same. Pinkie Pie, however, had simply bounded over to Celestia, jumping onto her back.

"And hello to you too, Pinkie."

"Hi Celestia! If I had known that you were coming, then I could have brought over some cake!"

Celestia didn't laugh, or even smile at that. 'In fact,' Twilight thought to herself, 'Celestia seems rather exhausted. Normally she'd have been smiling and standing up a bit straighter...' Celestia was not in the best of conditions, her coat and mane seemed to have lost their usual luster and brightness, her mane sagging slightly in the ethereal wind that blew through it. She had dark rings under her eyes, and looked like she hadn't been to sleep in a while. "Princess... what's happened?"

Celestia looked at her student, and she stood up straighter, regaining her regal poise, "Gather the elements and meet me back here as soon as possible, I'll brief you on the way to Canterlot."

With that strange, and rather short, explanation, she left, returning to the large passenger chariot that she came here in, presumably so she could bring the six ponies back with her.

"Well then..." Twilight said, dumbfounded, "That was rather... sudden."

"I'll get Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, can you get the other two?" Pinkie said, rushing out the door at mach speed, zooming off to retrieve the two pegasi.

Twilight teleported to get Rarity, and found Sweetie Belle in the living room, eating an ice cream bar. Twilight quickly said, "Hello Sweetie Belle," and ran upstairs to get Rarity. She got to Rarity's room and banged on the door, yelling into the room, "Rarity, grab your element, we're needed!"

She heard a squeak and a thud, presumably Rarity falling out of bed. Soon after, the door opened, revealing Rarity with her element, and a frazzled mane. "Really now, must you be so loud? Allow me to freshen up a bit before-" Whatever Rarity was about to say was cut off when Twilight teleported the both of them to Sweet Apple Acres, running up the path, yelling an apology to Rarity, and went on to find Applejack.

---(00@00)---

The great warrior awoke many hours later to find himself in a clearing, surrounded by lush trees. He tried to stand, but was drained of energy, so he simply lied down on the dirt and thought about his experiences; the fight with the chosen undead hero, that strange voice coming from the darkness, and the cryptic message the voice left him still confused Artorias.

'Find the one with the sun mark,' Artorias thought to himself, attempting to decipher the odd message left by the malevolent voice, 'and ask for the lord of chaos...' He couldn't figure out what it meant by "sun mark", and the only way to find out was to regain control of his exhausted body, which would either require adrenaline or magic. 'Unless some monster comes marching up or someone throws a fireball at me, I'm stuck here for a while.'

Just as he finished that thought, a tremendous roar came from his left, shaking the earth that he lay upon with its might. "That'll do," Artorias spoke to himself, the thought of once again vanquishing foes for good sending him into a frenzy, pumping adrenaline through his veins.

Wearily, he stood up, his legs shaking and stance wavering slightly. Artorias looked towards the source of the beastly roar, drawing his greatsword and facing the treeline, which he could now see two glowing red eyes peeking out of. "Well what are you waiting for, beast?" He said, taunting it, "COME GET SOME!"

The trees parted, to show Artorias the creature that had been attempting to intimidate him: a beast with a scorpion tail, bat wings, and the body of a lion. He stared face to face with a Manticore, with no fear in his heart, only excitement for finding a new creature to kill. "It's showtime."

He ran towards the beast, ignoring the pain in his legs from the sudden movement, and thrust his sword into the Manticore's arm, severely wounding it, but not slowing it down in the slightest. The Manticore swiped at Artorias, knocking him back a few feet and scratching his armor slightly. Artorias charged up his magic reserves and activated dark seekers, which quickly overtook the Manticore, its dead body falling to the ground in a mass of muscle and blood.

Artorias retrieved his sword, and walked out of the clearing and into the forest, wanting to find civilization as soon as possible. 'As long as I don't run out of Estus flasks or green herbs, I should be fine.' He thought to himself, as he trudged through the undergrowth of the dense forest.

On and on he went, deeper and deeper into the forest, slicing through vegetation and animals on his way. He had only 2 Estus flasks left, which worried him greatly. 'I need to find a merchant, or a bonfire, and soon.' While he was thinking, he distracted himself and tripped on a tree branch, tumbling down a hill at increasing velocity.

Faster and faster he rolled, constantly descending the seemingly endless hill, until finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he landed at the bottom, plunging into a lake at the forests edge. Artorias struggled to get to the surface, the fall having taken most of his stamina. Beginning to drown, he swiftly breached the surface of the water, gasping deeply through his helmet.

The knight swam to the edge of the lake, panting from exertion and the fall, when he finally took a good look at his surroundings.

To his back, on top of the large cliff he just fell down, lay a massive forest, the wide and healthy trees making it impossible to look inside. Each tree appeared to be vibrant in color, yet strangely malevolent as he continued studying them. He could see birds flying above the trees, looping around and landing on the branches. Below the trees, and at the bottom of the cliff face, was the lake he had fell into. Now that he had a chance to look at it properly, he could see that it was truly a beautiful sight to behold. It's surface gleamed like the sky, a light bluish tint the only indication of color. He could see the bottom of the lake, and all of the little fish inside of it.

To his left, more of the forest lay, though the trees are slightly more parted, so he could see inside. Figures moved about in the shadows, getting close to the edge of the forest before quickly retreating, either from fear of the Knight, or weakness to the light. There was a small stream of smoke pouring from the treeline, showing him that either there was something on fire, or something could breath fire, which was considerably worse.

To his right, he could see as far as his eyes would allow, the flat plain leading to a small town in the distance. "Perfect," He said to himself, getting up and checking if he dropped anything, "maybe I can finally get a bonfire, or perhaps a way to reverse the cursed dark sign... After all, new world, new rules. Right?"

He halted his idle conversation with himself when he heard some chatter coming from the forest to his left. He looked, and saw a previously missed path leading deep into the forest. It sounded like two females speaking to one another, and in his language even!

The two females continued their approach, so he decided to straighten himself up a bit, wiping grime off of his armor and cleaning the blood and tree sap from his blade. When he was done, he stood straight and looked at the pathway, waiting to introduce himself.

He wasn't prepared to see two winged horses.

Well, 'horses' is used loosely, because they were very small. Each of them only actually came to about his knee, the increased height a side effect of Manus' dark powers flowing through him. They appeared to be the source of the talking, which baffled Artorias even more. With his sanity being questioned, he looked the two horses over.

The one on the left was a bright yellow in color, and had gigantic blue eyes. Seriously, they looked as big as his fist! Her wings were tightly attached to her body, as if she was scared of them. Her mane and tail were both a vibrant pink, a much more cheerful color than he's ever seen. Her head was hanging low, and she looked to be a shy one. There was a marking on her flanks of three butterflies, which was, once again, very bizarre to Artorias.

The other one walked with a sense of arrogance and pride. Her coat was sky blue, and her eyes were a light magenta in color. Unlike her yellow friend to the side, she appeared to be flaunting her wings, as they were out and erect on her back. They seemed like delicate things, and didn't seem to be able to lift her off of the ground. Her mane was a wide spectrum of color, but, never having seen a rainbow before, Artorias was clueless what to call that strange combination of colors. The mark on her flanks was a cloud with a lightning bolt made of the same strange spectrum her hair was made of.

Neither of them saw him, so he quickly dove into the lake, seeing it as the only cover from the strange creatures. As soon as he breached the surface, he could hear one of them, presumably the blue one, yell "Hey! Who's there?"

He made no reply, and only sat at the bottom of the lake, quickly draining his oxygen supply. The blue horse flew over the lake and looked into it, seeing Artorias at the bottom. She motioned to the other horse, likely knowing that he would run out of oxygen. 'Curses,' he thought to himself, 'They found me. Oh well, they already know of my presence, no reason to keep killing myself.'

As both of the horses started to get worried looks on their faces from him being under the lake for so long, he slowly started stepping out, surprising the blue one and making the yellow one dart out of his field of vision. 'Figures, I knew she'd be the shy one.'

Artorias stepped fully out of the lake, and the yellow one approached him. "Oh my, y-you're big."

'That's it?' he decided to bide his time and let them speak to him, before he actually spoke.

Before the yellow one could say anything else, the blue pegasus - 'Finally remembered the lore about these creatures!' - got in his face and clearly stated, "Just what were you thinking, diving into the lake like that? You could've drowned, you dumb animal!"

'Note to self, blue pegasus is annoying and shouldn't be trusted.'

"R-rainbow Dash," the yellow one said, lightly tugging on the other one's tail, "I don't think that's such a good idea. Let me talk to it."

'Rainbow Dash' groaned and backed away, leaving room for the yellow one to walk up to me. "I'm sorry about her, she's not very good with animals. My name is Fluttershy." Her voice held a soothing quality, and made Artorias feel comforted and safe. Which is exactly why he became more cautious. "Are you lost out here?"

He nodded, preferring the simple way of talking that she has provided. 'Apparently she has experience dealing with creatures that can't talk.' He slowly knelt down to at least seem less large to Fluttershy. This apparently helped her become more comfortable with him, as she stepped closer. 'Good, let them get comfortable with me, so I can strike with more vengeance if they're hostile.'

"Well, if you're lost, then we can go back to my cottage, and get you a place to rest. Would you like that?" He nodded again.

"Are you sure about that Fluttershy?" Rainbow said, earning a look from both Artorias and Fluttershy, "I mean, have you ever seen or heard of anything like what this thing is? And what if it's, like, really intelligent? It could just be a trap!"

Artorias was stunned. This little pegasus just completely explained what he was doing just based on an assumption that he was evil! 'Well, no time like the present.' He took a breath, "Well, I wouldn't say that I have evil motives, but yes, I am indeed intelligent, lady Rainbow Dash."

Fluttershy made a squeaking noise and backed away quickly, while Rainbow flew up to him again. Apparently, his deep, gravely voice unnerved them both. "HA! For once I'm right about this! So, what are you, a spy? Who do you work for?"

Artorias shook his head, "I am not a spy, and I work for whoever needs help."

Rainbow dash snorted, "As if. A mysterious and smart creature comes from the everfree forest and doesn't have some kind of evil plan, THAT'S not an obvious lie at all! Now, spit out the truth, buddy, or else I'll just have to beat it out of you!"

Artorias simply stood there during Rainbow Dash's rant. After she was done, he started laughing. "Ha ha ha, even if I WAS evil anymore, you wouldn't stand a chance against me! I obviously have much more training and experience, coupled with your lack of a proper weapon or any armor, the battle would be over before it started!"

She was mad. Like, REALLY mad. Her ego had been challenged, and downright insulted, and she refused to sit idly by while he laughed at her threat! Rainbow Dash then did something very foolish: She bucked Artorias in the chest.

The laughing stopped immediately.

Artorias stood with an amulet in his hand, grinning maniacally behind his helmet. "I was waiting for that." Rainbow Dash looked confused. Confusion turned to surprise when Artorias brought his hands together over his head and light started to emit from the amulet. A shockwave of golden light shot out from the amulet, and a ring of light appeared around Rainbow Dash. She tried to move away, but found that she was extremely slow suddenly.

"W-w-w-what d-did you d-do to me?" She said slowly, becoming terrified of Artorias extremely quickly.

"That, Rainbow Dash, was Tranquil Walk of Peace." Artorias said, striding up to Rainbow. "It will wear off with time, but know that I don't take kindly to people, or in your case, pegasi, hitting me. Apologize," He drew his Greatsword, the very sword that had slain countless terrors from the deep, and that he owed everything he was today, "Or you shall face the legendary warrior of Lordran."

Rainbow Dash realized that she made a grave mistake in challenging this great warrior, but her pride would not let her back down. "And what if I refuse to apologize? What then?"

"If not?" Artorias said. "Nobody has ever refused to apologize, so I assume that I would just kill you."

A cold feeling fell into her stomach. "Kill me..." She mumbled, thinking over her options.

"I assure you that should you choose to apologize, Nobody would hold it against you, as I am indeed a feared warrior. There is honor in surrendering."

"... Fine." Rainbow Dash said, hanging her head, "I apologize for kicking you." She winced when his armored hand cupped her chin and made her look into his helmet. She could see icy blue eyes staring back at her. They seemed gentle, but also scary. They spoke of ages long past, and held the thousand yard stare that only a seasoned soldier could conjure, yet he held it even when attempting to comfort a friend.

"Apology accepted. Now," Artorias said, standing up, "Fluttershy, you said that you could provide me with lodgings?"

She squeaked again, a noise that he thought was adorable, and nodded. "I-if it's not too much trouble anyway..."

Artorias sighed, "If you don't have the proper setting for me, then I can just fashion a home in the forest, Miss Fluttershy." They both looked at him with their mouths hanging open, stuck in a state of shock. "What? Is it not normal to make a home in the forest?"

"No!" They said in unison, shocking Artorias. Fluttershy was the first to speak up, "The Everfree isn't natural, and it's filled with terrible creatures that want to hurt ponies! Manticores, Timberwolves, Cockatrices, even the occasional Hydra!"

Artorias laughed again, causing the two ponies to look at him with equally confused looks on their faces. "I've already slain quite a few Manticores timberwolves and cockatrices on my way to this here lake, and I've fought Hydras before! I can handle anything that this forest can throw at me, trust me on this." The ponies still looked apprehensive of letting him wander into the forest, "Look, if it makes you two feel any better, I'll stay at the forests edge."

"It does make us feel better." Fluttershy said, giving Artorias a small smile, "But let's go back to my cottage for now, I have some questions I'd like to ask."

"Lead the way, Lady Fluttershy."

And onward they went, towards Fluttershy's cottage, where he may recount his tales of Oolacile and Lordran to the Ponies. One thing was for sure known by the two ponies, and that was that they had found quite the strange creature in a lake.

---(00@00)---

Back at the library, Twilight Sparkle was not having a good time.

She had looked everywhere for Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, but couldn't find either of them. "Argh! Of all the times that they could've disappeared, it had to be when Celestia needed us all!"

Celestia looked up from her seat next to Twilight and placed a hoof on the purple mare's shoulder. "Calm yourself Twilight, it may be urgent, but not urgent enough that your friends need to be here at this very moment. Give them a couple of hours, and check their houses again."

Twilight sighed, calmed down by her teacher's words, "I guess you're right Princess, maybe I was overreacting a bit."

"Well, that's nice and all," Rarity said from across the room as she approached the pair, "but might we be able to get filled in on what exactly you called us here for? I mean, no offense to you Princess, but this is quite an hour to suddenly call us for nothing!"

"You're right, Rarity," Celestia said, straightening herself. "I have been neglecting to tell you four, haven't I?" They all nodded, and leaned in to hear what the Princess had called them for. "The six of you sealed Discord away exactly a year ago, and since then, you've been dealing with small threats around Equestria, not including the Changeling invasion last month. You are considered heroes throughout the kingdom, and have saved it countless times." They all seemed rather put off by Celestia's recounting of their adventures, but nonetheless, she continued, "You six friends have faced all of Equestria's greatest threats with relative ease, and have always come out on top.

"But, I'm here to tell you of a new threat that has entered my kingdom, and I need you to eradicate it."

The four ponies in the room relaxed a bit, "That's it?" Pinkie Pie said, giggling, "Another baddie we gotta blast with friendship rainbows? Princess, you could've just said that, I would've started preparing the celebration for when we got back!"

"No Pinkie," Celestia said, sounding somber and sad, "This new foe will be more powerful than anything you have ever faced before. Discord was not able to defeat him when they fought, and neither would me and my sisters be able to. The Elements of Harmony may not be enough this time." Each pony had a look of confusion and fear playing across their faces, worried about what could make Celestia worry this much. "You and the rest of your friends will be outfitted with armor and weapons suitable to your talents, and will have an entire army to back you up, as well as me and my sister. Shining Armor and Cadance will be there as well for support.

"My little ponies, the abyss has opened into our world, and in doing so, has declared war on Equestria."

They all gasped, until Twilight decided to speak up. "Uh, your highness, what's so bad about this 'Abyss' place that it needs all of this attention? And shouldn't we try a diplomatic solution first?"

Celestia shook her head, "Diplomacy is not possible at the moment. The Abyss is a place of malice and hate. It's not accessible by most ponies, and thus we can't try to be diplomatic. No, only force will work here. The first time we made the mistake of trying diplomatic resolutions, the castle was set ablaze, and all of my ponies were killed or worse."

Twilight looked to her friends, who all nodded to her, and she looked back to Celestia. "Princess, as protectors of peace in Equestria, we would all be honored to go to battle with you."

"Will my armor at least be stylish?"

"Woohoo! Can I throw a party for the soldiers we have to help?"

"Well shoot, Ah can't turn down a Princess even if ah wanted to."

Celestia frowned at them all, "That's it? No hesitation? You aren't worried that you could be killed in battle?"

Twilight looked to Celestia, "With all due respect princess, why would we be? With the entire equestrian military on our side, along with you two, we should win this in no time!"

Celestia sighed and pinched her nose, "You clearly don't understand the gravity of this situation, Twilight."

"Care to enlighten me, then?"

"*Sigh* Very well." Celestia got up and strode across the room, preparing a spell. "Long ago, when me and Luna still ruled in the Everfree, a portal to the Abyss opened merely fifty miles from the castle." As she spoke, a screen protruded from her horn, revealing what looked to be her and Luna in the throne room. They were watching Celestia's memories. "We sent a scout into the portal to find out if anything was hostile. He never returned." The picture changed to a black slit in the air with a white outline, and a pony walked through it. After walking through, they could hear him scream in agony, and all was silent.

The picture changed again. "That was when the invasion started." Flaming buildings covered the screen, and strange bipedal beasts ran after ponies. Some ponies got consumed by them, others were simply ripped to shreds. "The minions of the Abyss were ruthless, and they were never easily stopped." The picture went to one of the Abyss creatures that had six swords, a halberd, and several arrows piercing him, yet he still ran around and killed everything he could see.

"Eventually, after many ruthless days and nights of slaughter, we managed to push the remaining forces back to the portal." The picture changed to hundreds of ponies, including the princesses, surrounding the portal, along with about a dozen of the creatures, which were still trying to kill everything they saw. A dragon came into view, and started to below great swathes of fire onto the Abyss creatures. "By that time, we had sent couriers to Draconis and Gryphonia, and their reinforcements arrived just in time to save us. We were all so happy to see the Dragons and Gryphons, that we let our guards down after all of the creatures were dead.

"And that was a huge mistake." The ground rumbled in the picture, and a great behemoth stepped out of the portal. It towered over even the largest of Dragons present, its great size enticing fear into the hearts of even those watching the memory play out. It held a staff that seemed to be simply made of wood. "Manus, lord of the Abyss, came to fight us. And fight he did." Bolts of dark energy shot from his staff in every direction, killing ponies, Gryphons, and Dragons, each falling just as easily as the next. Manus strode through the battlefield, their magic and weapons powerless to stop him. He swatted them away like flies, not caring about the devastation that he caused.

"But then, me and Luna got the Elements and went to face him." The screen switched to Manus facing Celestia and Luna, the Elements of Harmony swirling around them in a vortex. "YOU WILL HARM OUR SUBJECTS NO LONGER, MANUS! FACE THE WRATH OF THE ELEMENTS!" Luna screamed on screen, before Celestia and Luna blasted him with a harmony ray. The blast kicked up a lot of dust, so it was impossible to tell if it did anything. They thought that they had won, until two balls of dark magic shot out of the dust cloud and hit them, making them fall out of the sky.

Manus emerged from the dust with a hole in his chest. The hole was large, and looked painful, but he pressed on. When the hole started to slowly heal itself, the two sisters knew that they had been beaten. "Only by sheer luck, and a little bit of help from the family, were we able to finally defeat him." Manus was about to step on the two Alicorns, when something as large as him and flying crashed into his side, and knocked him away. The two sisters looked over to find Manus in a melee fight with a giant Alicorn. The Alicorn's wings looked to be made of the sky itself, and had a starry coat. It's mane looked to be made of liquefied stars. He looked back at the two sisters, winked, and said "I thought my daughters could use some help, so me and your mother showed up."

Celestia and Luna watched as their father fought with Manus, and leaped away to allow another giant Alicorn, this one brilliantly bright and flaming all over, to fall on top of Manus and make him collapse. The Alicorn looked to the two sisters and asked them, "How are my little gi-" Manus tripped her and threw her into the distance, earning another hoof to the face from the male Alicorn.

Growing tired with the fight, the giant male Alicorn charged up his horn, and screamed, "FACE THE WRATH OF THE NIGHT SKY, BEING OF DARKNESS!" A giant beam of pure moonlight struck Manus, which he, amazingly, blocked. The other large Alicorn returned and did the same with a similar cry, "WE ARE THE ETERNAL GODS OF LIGHT AND DARK! YOU SHALL NOT DEFEAT US SO EASILY!" A beam of sunlight poured from her horn into Manus' back, which he also blocked.

With a flick of his arms, Manus canceled out both beams and knocked both Alicorns back. Then, after all of that, he chuckled. "Foolish gods of good. I am amazed that you are so dull to not realize who I am." They tried to launch an attack, but they were both trapped in a cage of darkness as soon as they tried to move. Their attacks did absolutely nothing to the bars, and all seemed to be lost. "I AM MANUS! DARK RULER OF THE ABYSS, AND ANCIENT GOD OF DESTRUCTION!" His voice could be heard across the planet, so all of the worlds creatures could hear his dark voice, "I HAVE BEEN REAWAKENED, AND NOW I SEEK MY REVENGE! NONE SHALL BE LEFT STANDING IN MY WAKE, AND I SHALL START WITH YOUR TWO GODS OF LIGHT AND DARK!"

His dark cages constricted them, and he sliced them into bits, their golden blood seeping into the soil below them. Cries of sorrow could be heard from the two princesses as he killed their parents in front of them. Manus laughed and addressed the world again. "YOUR GODS LAY DEAD AT MY FEET, AND THE PRINCESSES OF EQUESTRIA WEEP LIKE CHILDREN! I ASK YOU ALL NOW: IS THERE ANY WHO WOULD STILL DEFY ME? ARE THERE ANY OF YOU WHO COULD STAND A CHANCE AGAINST ME?" When he said that, a great rumbling was felt within the earth, shaking him and making him lose his balance. The earth cracked in front of him, and started to split open.

The memory went dark, and Celestia ended the spell. "After that, I fainted. I never knew what the ending looked like, but I will carry the memories of what he did for the rest of eternity." Tears flowed freely over her face. Remembering these horrible memories was not something anypony should endure, and the four elements present in the room knew it. Each of them were crying for Celestia and Luna, Twilight more than the others. They all were a mess, and couldn't believe the atrocities that Manus did to the world.

"But, how did he finally get killed, Celestia?" Twilight asked between sobs. "Did you ever find out?"

"Yes," Celestia said, "But those memories lie with Luna, for she didn't faint like I did. I doubt that she will ever want to tell anypony after she told me, it was too painful and horrid."

After that explanation, everypony present took a moment to collect themselves. Each pony took a turn in the bathroom to wipe off their face and look presentable, Celestia and Rarity taking longer than the others. When they all finally got themselves pulled together, Celestia looked much better than she had when she originally told Twilight to get the girls. "I thank all of you for letting me tell this memory. Keeping it inside was painful, and it was good to have somepony to tell about it."

Twilight and co. smiled and hugged the Princess. Twilight then gasped, "WAIT! If the portal opened again, doesn't that mean we should close it now while we still can?"

The princess looked at Twilight, and sincerely said, "Nope." After Twilight started to go insane from the mundane answer, Celestia explained a bit further, "The portal was found at 2:00 this morning. It took at least a week before it started sending soldiers in to Equestria. We have plenty of time to prepare, but also not enough time to find a way to close it effectively. So, we can wait to gather the elements, but we can't wait too long, or-"

*knock knock knock*

Twilight snapped after hearing too many ponies knock on a public library door. "I am so sick and tiRED OF PONIES KNOCKING ON THE PUBLIC LIBRARY DOOR! YOU CAN JUST COME IN, THERE'S NO NEED TO KNOCK! EVER!" She was breathing heavily, clearly stressed out a lot over what Celestia just told them.

"O-oh, I see..." A quiet voice answered from behind the door, "I-i'll just come back later then."

Twilight rushed to open the door, and saw Fluttershy turning to leave. "Fluttershy! Good, you're here. Do you know where Rainbow Dash is?"

Fluttershy smiled at Twilight, "She's at my cottage helping with my new guest. Actually, I was hoping you could come look at him, I think he's a new species."

Twilight's face lit up immediately, the thought of discovering a brand new creature appealed to her greatly, and she needed to take her mind off of the Abyss. "Sure, let me just get a few things and we can go. Come on in and take a seat, it'll just be a couple of minutes!"

"Thank you, Twilight." Fluttershy walked in to see Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity surrounding Princess Celestia, all of which were in some form of physical contact with the Alicorn in the room. Pinkie was hugging, Rarity was leaning, and Applejack somehow got on Celestia's back. "O-oh, m-my..."

Celestia smiled, "Hello Fluttershy, care to join us?" She wiggled her eyebrows to add extra effect to the prank. All three of the ponies attached to her stared at her and Fluttershy.

Twilight walked out the door with her saddlebags, and Fluttershy said, "Sorry, but I've been in enough group 'sessions' this week. Bye girls!" She left on that, leaving behind a VERY stunned group of ponies.

"Did... did she really say that?" Celestia was laughing, and fell onto her back in laughter. "I never expected a response like THAT from her of all ponies! Priceless!"

Fluttershy closed the door behind her, giggling and catching up to Twilight. "What are you laughing about, Fluttershy?"

"Oh nothing," She said, smirking, "Just something Celestia said while you were getting your bags. It wasn't important."

The walk to Fluttershy's cottage was uneventful. Nopony bothered them, because they knew that Twilight with bulging saddlebags was usually either something very good that needed to be documented, or something really bad and they needed to panic. But, luckily, nopony panicked. They knew that Fluttershy and Twilight could handle just about anything.

Twilight turned to Fluttershy while they were walking, and started the questions, "So, what can you tell me about the new creature?"

"Well," Fluttershy started, "It's name is Artorias, and it can speak Equish. It can also cast magic with a weird object that he carries on his belt."

"So wait, we can understand him?" Twilight was grinning maniacally, excited to meet some strange new creature that can speak. "What kind of magic have you seen it cast? Simple levitation? Can it use advanced magic, like teleporting?"

"Well, umm," Fluttershy started, but before she finished, she looked up to see that they were at the cottage. "I'll let him answer that for you."

Twilight and Fluttershy approached the door to the cottage, when they heard a commotion going on inside. They could only make out a few words, but what they made out sounded bad. "Stop... never... off... kill... flying horse... annoying..." Fluttershy walked in with Twilight, both ready to break up a fight, but it wasn't necessary.

There was no major problem. Rainbow Dash wanted Artorias to take his helmet off, and he said no. So she tried to do it for him.

They both stopped immediately when Fluttershy and Twilight walked in. Artorias sat down, because his full height would hit his head on the roof, and Rainbow Dash stood to the side trying to look innocent. Twilight didn't care, though. She trotted up to Artorias immediately, and said "Greetings, sir Artorias, I am Twilight Sparkle. I'd like to ask you a few questions involving your sudden appearance in Equestria, and of your intentions thereof. Would that be okay?"

Artorias smiled, glad to meet another scholar. Back in Lordran, he loved to read, and he was very well versed in all subjects. "Miss Twilight Sparkle, it would be my genuine pleasure to alleviate your worries about me. Ask away."

She beamed and started her barrage of questions with a simple one: "What is your species called, Artorias?"

Artorias thought long and hard for an answer to this question. "Do you want to know what I was originally, what I was prior to coming here, or what I am now?"

Twilight was not expecting that answer. Thinking quickly, she said, "I need to know all three, please."

Artorias sighed, "I can tell one story, and one story only. Having the rest will only confuse you, and likely make you fear me. I apologize, lady Sparkle, but you must decide between one."

"Well," Twilight started, squinting slightly as she considered the questions she could ask, "I guess I'd like to know what you were prior to arriving in Equestria. Were you not a knight then?"

Artorias sighed, hoping that she would've asked him about anything but that one. "I was, but... but I was not the same knight."

Twilight sat still, a smile plastered on her face, eager to learn of this strange creatures world, and what he was. Artorias envied her naivety. She had everything here - Good friends, plenty of clean air and water, no hollows, death not constantly around the corner - while Artorias killed everything he ever loved in the name of Manus.

"I was a warrior then, too," Artorias started, "However, not the kind one that your friends found in the forest. No, I was being controlled." Artorias showed her a relic that Manus gave him a long time ago - Manus' catalyst and staff - which, unbeknownst to him, Twilight recognized immediately as the same staff that Manus used all those years ago against Equestria. "I was under the influence of the Abyss. Namely, its master, Manus.

"I was known then as Artorias the Abyss Walker."

Author's Note

This is an idea I've had for a while, and after seeing so many Dark Souls crossovers die off and be terrible, I decided to write my own and see where it goes. Hope you all like it, and future chapters should, like with all of my stories, have an unknown amount of time before being released.

Yeah, I'm not very good at planning. But, luckily for you, I had a lot of fun writing this, so it's most certainly going to have more chapters in the future!

As always, like and favorite, and if you see any errors, don't hesitate to tell me, either in the comments, or through PM.

-lunarstallion

P.S. To address any questions about Artorias' inventory, here's how I set him up:

He pretty much has a mule active, but instead of 99 of everything, he only has about 20 or 25, depending on the item, and only had his equipment when it comes to weapons and armor. He has his sword and shield, as well as a spare shotel, a longbow, and 250 of each kind of arrow. He was a trained warrior, after all. And warriors need supplies for war.

And that scene with Manus in Equestria was written very quickly, and may have some mistakes in it.

Protector of those who are weak

"... And that, my small companions," Artorias said, getting up and stretching (At least, as much as he could stretch in the small house), "was the tale of Artorias the Abyss walker."

Artorias looked around the room to see mixed reactions come from the ponies. Even with his toned down version of the story, skipping the first 2 years or so of him being a servant of the Abyss, all of them had some sort of horrified expression. Fluttershy had fainted about halfway through, though Artorias had continued without her, electing Twilight to fill her in on the rest. Rainbow Dash looked like she was about to vomit, and Twilight herself looked like she could start crying at any moment.

'Perhaps I should have toned down the fight scenes a bit more...' Artorias, still hunched over so he wouldn't hit his head on Fluttershy's roof, looked to Twilight. "Are you three okay? You seem a bit shaken up about my tale."

"A bit shaken up?" Twilight said, slowly looking to Artorias, "You just told us an hour long story about how you killed a bunch of your own kind! What did you expect our reactions to be?"

"Well, I expected you to take it in stride." Artorias sighed, "My world is a cruel one, and I am much too used to even the bravest or kindest of men falling prey to the demon inside. I assumed this world would be at least similar..."

Twilight sighed, opening the door, "Well, since that seems like all I will be able to get out of you for now, why don't we go introduce you to the town?" Walking out, she added, "I know a few ponies that would be ecstatic to meet something as... exotic as you, Artorias."

Bowing slightly, not an easy feat due to his current position, Artorias motioned for Twilight to go ahead, "I will be at your back, M'lady." Twilight rolled her eyes and giggled, motioning for him and the rest of her friends to follow her.

Before they could all leave, Rainbow Dash stopped Artorias. "Listen buddy, you may be stronger than me, but nopony is faster than I am. Try anything funny, and you'll regret it." She turned, before remembering something and turning back, "And you'll have to take that helmet off eventually, and I'll be there to see it."

"I'd like to see you try." Artorias walked through her, shoving her to the side. Before Rainbow could say anything, she looked to see him and the other girls way ahead of her.

Continuing down the path, Artorias, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash headed towards Ponyville with excitement. For Fluttershy, she loved all animals, and Artorias, at least to her, was just a lost animal in a new land. For Twilight, Artorias was something new to be discovered, a metaphorical pool of knowledge just waiting for her to take a dip into. And for Rainbow Dash, well, she saw him as a new challenger. He had shown his ferocity and powers to her, to an extent. Not knowing what all he could do was troublesome for her, but she tended to not dwell on these things for long. She knew she was faster, and possibly a better fighter.

As for Artorias, he had very different thoughts about everypony he had met so far. He thought of Fluttershy as some sort of healer, thinking to himself that she would've made an excellent fire keeper, had she been born to his world. Twilight he thought of as simply a fellow studious mind, and actually looked forward to learning about her world from her, and telling her about his world. Well, his world, at least, before the Abyss attacked, and before the cursed darksign began it's plague. Rainbow Dash, however, was a different story all together.

He had seen the way she, not only fought, but how she viewed new beings in her land. He saw how fast she reacted violently when Artorias emerged from the water. Her decisions were brash, she was easily angered, and worst of all, she had the speed and skills to back it up. However, there was a good side to her. Apparently, she was almost willing to die for her friends, as she defended Fluttershy from the 'big scary monster' that came from the water. She also had a pretty color scheme.

All in all, Artorias felt very highly of the ponies, as they had shown him kindness, something only a few had done since the darksign had shown up, and their land was peaceful. He was about to ask a question about the perpetual peace in the land, but Twilight interrupted him with a "Oh look, we're here!"

Looking around, Artorias saw small houses everywhere. Each house looked to be made of wooden planks, some metal, and thatched roofs. Each one of their doors came up to about his lower chest, and was smaller than the door to Fluttershy's house. 'She must take care of some of the larger animals...'

Continuing along the path, they quickly came to what looked like a marketplace, with ponies behind stands hawking their wares to anypony that happened to be trotting by. Though, usually, marketplaces are very loud. And not filled with ponies that were looking at the massive, bipedal knight standing in front of them.

Which may or may not be the exact situation that Artorias currently finds himself in.

Panning his view about the market, he quickly identifies three different emotion levels in their stares: One, "EVERYBODY PANIC WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE" Two, "KILL IT WITH FIRE!" and three, "What the hell is THAT thing?"

Choosing to completely ignore all of their stares, Artorias motioned for Twilight to introduce him, secretly hoping that the ponies would run away, as then he wouldn't have to deal with their constant staring anymore. "Um, hello everypony." Twilight said, scratching her neck with her hoof, "This is Artorias, a creature we found in the forest."

"In the Everfree?" Some random stranger said, obviously trying to start a riot of some kind.

Twilight sighed, knowing that there was fixing to be mass panic, "Yes, he was found in the Everfree, but that doesn't mean that he's a-"

"MONSTEEEEERRRRRR!"

And then everypony started to panic. Mares screamed loudly enough to make Artorias' ears ring, and stallions simply ran off, hoping not to be called into battle with the beast from the forest. Artorias sighed and looked to Twilight, "Is this how everything that's new is viewed around here? With screaming and running?" When Twilight nodded, Artorias sighed yet again and shook his head, starting to get ticked off at the screaming ponies that, instead of running into their homes, seemed to only run in circles, as not a single pony has left the area yet.

Taking matters into his own hands, Artorias took out his talisman and held it high above his head, letting it emit a blinding yellow light, and casting runes around everypony in the market. Upon seeing the golden circles and their own impaired movement, the ponies simply closed their eyes and awaited doom. However, they were not expecting the beast from the everfree to speak to them. "Good, now that that's over with, how about we go about this like how I assume civilized ponies do." Taking a sweeping bow, Artorias said to the crowd, "My name is Artorias, and I will be staying here for an unknown amount of time. Get used to seeing me."

Nopony relaxed very much, but they at least stopped looking like they were about to be gutted. "Well then," Twilight started, "Thank you for that, Artorias. As he said, he will be staying in Ponyville until we can find a way to send him home, and until then, I expect you all to treat him with respect and dignity." At Twilight's words they relaxed, softly nodding and mumbling to one another.

"Well that went better than expected." Artorias said, looking to Twilight, "I was expecting torches and pitchforks."

"Torches, maybe, but Ponyville isn't such a violent place anymore, not since Pinkie started having parties to keep their spirits up," Twilight said, continuing along their path through the town, "And even before then, they only apparently got violent if something attacked, not if it was different."

Artorias nodded slowly, still looking around at all of the curious ponies staring at him, "I presume that you've been in this town for a long time, Lady Twilight?"

Twilight giggled, "Just Twilight is fine. But no, I've only been here for a couple of years now, I only know all of this stuff because I live in the library."

Artorias nodded in understanding, and fell silent. The group continued their journey through Ponyville, everypony making their own contributions to Artorias' history lesson.

"Over there is Rarity's boutique. She's a fanatic of all things fashion, so when you end up meeting her, expect to be asked to step out of the armor." Twilight said, giggling a little bit. Artorias slowly nodded, warily eyeing the building.

The three ponies lead Artorias around the majority of Ponyville, showing him all of the major landmarks; Sugarcube Corner, the Spa, Town hall, etc. It was during the trip to the library when Twilight turned back to Artorias with a questioning look.

"So, Artorias," Twilight said, trotting up to him, "about your magic..."

"If you have a question about my magic, lady Sparkle, then I would suggest talking about it in a more... 'secluded' place." Artorias looked around, noticing a few straggling ponies continuing to stare at him, "I don't think most of these ponies are ready for what I have in store."

Twilight sighed, "Well, I guess you're right. Come on, let's go to the library."

They continued their journey to the library in silence, each one of them contemplating what their next move would be. Artorias obviously wanted to know more about the world, as he might be here for a long time without some portal to get back. Twilight was worried about Celestia's reaction to this creature from the Abyss. After the harrowing tale about the war with Manus, she wasn't entirely sure how badly Celestia would want to hurt Artorias. Rainbow was thinking about flying, obviously. Fluttershy was contemplating what foods she might need to stock up on, considering she didn't know what Artorias ate.

Naturally though, all of their thoughts came back to one subject alone:

"Something's going to go down at the library."

__~*(^^@+@^^)*~__

Twilight stopped the group at the door of the library. Voices could be heard from inside, 'Four females, possibly armed and dangerous. Be on guard.' Artorias thought to himself, his mind trained to do so after the decades of wars and battles he has fought in.

"Alright, listen up Artorias," Twilight began, looking to the giant, "You're a rather strange anomaly, even for this world. So, don't expect the... 'nicest' of welcomes. And be careful what you say, the co-ruler of Equestria happens to be in here at the moment."

"Co-ruler? I have dealt with kings and queens before, she should be no problem." Artorias said, no hesitation in his voice. Remembering the story he had told them, he quickly amended that, "Er, I mean, I have spoken with rulers before, not... you know what, never mind, let's go." He shook his head, confused as to why he was so nervous.

Twilight magicked the door open, to show four ponies sitting in a circle around the table.

One, clearly the most physically fit one in the room, had bright orange fur, a blonde mane and tail, and a cute little brown stetson cap on her head. Her cutie mark was of three apples in a triangle. She was the first to see them, as she was the one facing the door.

The pony to her left was... Artorias didn't know the color that she was, as it was far brighter than what he would find in his world, but she was COVERED in it. Her mane matched her coat by being simply a different shade of the color. Her cutie mark was three balloons, in the same pattern that the first pony's apples were in.

The third pony was, simply put, elegant. She had a styled up curly violet mane, and a snow-white coat, with no signs of dirt or grime anywhere on her. Her cutie mark was of three diamonds, in the same pattern as the other two.

However, the one that drew the knight's attention the most was the pony sitting with her back to him.

Clearly taller than the rest, she was the most unique. While all the other ponies had wings, horns, or neither, this one had both. Her white coat shined in the sunlight, emitting what seemed to be a white aura of light. Her mane flowed in an invisible breeze, making the multi-colored hair sparkle eerily. Her cutie mark was the most unique as well, being the sun itself. 'Huh, I know someone that would be happy to see that...'

Twilight walked into the room first, exclaiming "Hi everypony! I'd like you all to meet the creature that Fluttershy and Rainbow found!"

After realizing that Twilight had spoken, the first three ponies looked to Artorias, expressions of fear flickering across their faces. The white one let out a short scream and hid under the table, the second pony looked over and bounced behind the orange one, who was getting up and taking a fighting stance. "Jus' what in tarnation is that thing, Twilight?"

Before Twilight could answer, he spoke up, "My name is Artorias, and I'd appreciate if you treat me with respect."

That stopped all activity in the room, making the orange one look at him not with fear, but curiosity. "Oh... uh, well ah wasn't expectin' ya to talk..."

"Ponies usually don't."

During this whole confrontation, Celestia had sat still, silently listening. Suddenly, she stood up, closing the door with her magic. "Twilight, get Applejack and the others out of this room. I need to have a chat with your new friend. Alone." Twilight seemed confused at first, but after seeing the look in Celestia's gaze, she teleported herself and all of her friends upstairs, secretly listening in on whatever was about to happen.

Artorias stood by the door, in a defensive posture. "I assume that you're the princess?" He said, getting into a more passive mindset.

Celestia finally turned around to face him, and what he saw shocked him. Celestia's face was contorted in anger, her piercing gaze looking right through Artorias. "You..." She stepped closer to him, "You came from the Abyss, didn't you? I can smell its foul stench on you. What have you come to do to my subjects, monster?"

Artorias held up his hands in defense, "I mean no harm to you or your subje-"

"DON'T TRY TO PLAY GAMES WITH ME!" Celestia shouted in his face, her wings flaring threateningly, "WHY DID MANUS SEND YOU HERE?"

"I no longer serve Manus." Artorias idly fingered the talisman on his hip, "Now, if you would be so kind as to-"

He wasn't able to finish before Celestia grabbed him and threw him into the wall with her magic. The impact shook the tree slightly, and cracked the wall. Artorias was saved by his armor, but he could feel the raw power emanating from the attack. "DON'T YOU LIE TO ME, BEAST! YOU SERVE THE ABYSS, AND I WANT TO KNOW WHEN MANUS PLANS TO ATTACK!" She stood over him as he slowly sat up, lighting her horn for another attack.

'That's it.' Artorias thought, focusing his power into the amulet that was now in his hand, 'time to end this.' Before Celestia could react, Artorias activated the amulet, and created a harmless shockwave, knocking Celestia back and giving him some space. He quickly put up a powerful magic barrier that could deflect attacks, and got into a readied stance. "I mean you no harm, but I will defend myself if necessary. Now, will you speak with me normally, or will we continue fighting like a couple of animals?

Celestia would have none of it. She stood up and fired a magic bolt at the knight's chest, which got absorbed into the barrier he put up. He raised his amulet and created another shockwave, pushing Celestia back even more before he held it above his head, where it created a golden light, and runes appeared around the princess. Realizing what he had done, she simply glared at him. "Why do you not defend yourself? FIGHT ME!"

"I see that Manus has been to this world before... this is troublesome..." Artorias said, slowly walking towards Celestia. She attempted to shoot him a couple more times before realizing his barrier was preventing all magic damage, so she tried to swing at him, which he deftly dodged. "Who did he kill?"

"And why should I tell YOU, monster?" Celestia snarled, still trying uselessly to land a hit on the towering knight, "You probably helped kill them, servant of darkness!"

"You must calm down, Princess. I only want to speak with you-"

"LIES! YOU'LL DO WHAT HE DID ALL THOSE YEARS AGO! I'LL NOT ALLOW MY SUBJECTS TO FALL ONCE MORE!" Celestia went into a blinding rage, firing as much of her magic as she could at Artorias, hoping to hurt him as much as possible.

But before she could fire any more magic, Artorias was gone. In the blink of an eye, the legendary knight had ran behind Celestia, still unharmed even after her constant barrages of magic. "It was someone close, wasn't it? Sister? Brother?"

"Parents?"

Celestia couldn't take it anymore. Centuries of suppressed feelings of sadness and rage were released at Artorias. She let out an ear-shattering wail, and would've fell to the floor if Artorias hadn't caught her. At first she tried to resist, but his grip was firm and gentle. She tried to tell him off, but all that came out were choked sobs.

"Heed my words, Celestia, for I will not repeat myself," Artorias whispered into her ear, making her pause to listen, "I will never allow Manus to take this land again. If he is to return, he will face the wrath of Artorias, and know true fear on that day. Fret not, for I WILL protect you, and all others that you rule." Artorias broke the hug, standing back up to his full height. "I was once stuck in his control, which is what caused you to attack me. The stench of the Abyss still remains on me, and even my control over some of its dark powers remain. However, I no longer serve him. I am no longer the servant of darkness, I am now the sentinel of peace. I will protect your lands, Celestia, or die trying."

__~*(^^@+@^^)*~__

Ghastly gorge. A dangerous place in the middle of the land of peace. Rogue winds constantly tearing at the floor of the chasm, large land - dwelling eels have made their homes in another part of the gorge, eating anything and everything that passes through their territory. Spiked vines grow wild throughout all of it. And even the walls are unstable, the slightest tap being able to cause a massive landslide.

However, it is none of the natural scenery that has brought us here today.

In the direct middle of Ghastly gorge, where the eel territory meets with both the vines and the wind, there is an unstable piece of reality laying at the bottom. This tear was first created when Manus, the primeval man and father of the Abyss, first came to Equestria. It is the weakest point in reality, and could be easily torn at any moment, given one had the knowledge to do it.

Suddenly and without warning, the tear ripped open at a blinding speed, revealing an endless pit of darkness and despair. Black fog seeped about the edges of the hole, giving of an aura of fear and the unknown.

Only a few minutes after the tear opened, it began to spread wider, allowing easy access for the being that was about to enter the realm.

From deep within the hole, a massive hand came up, shrouded in darkness and covered in what looked like teeth. The hand smashed into the ground and began to pull, lifting whatever beast that was inside the darkness out into the light.

A dark, guttural voice chuckled from deep inside the darkness. "I have returned..."

Author's Note

Alright, it's done, and the OOC is real. The second chapter of the Abyss has been put out there! Also, gonna throw it out there right now that the ending was literally written in about three minutes, after I hadn't had sleep for about 30 hours, so I can tell you right now that I will be fixing it up. Hell, this message may be pointless, it may already be fixed, YOU'LL NEVER KNOW!

Get it? You won't know cuz I never fucking publish the... Aw, forget it.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed chapter 2 of Walker of the Abyss! like it, favorite it, do whatever it is you guys do.

-lunarstallion

P.S. I thank everyone that told me about how Artorias should speak, and about his lore, but in reality, I'm probably just gonna stick with how I have him speaking. At least for now... The lore will be mentioned later, when a certain lunar princess I may be a bit too fond of decides to look into the guys dreams. Also, on an unrelated note, I'm kind of bad at writing Celestia anyway, so go ahead and give me shit about that. I just suck fat wangs with her dialogue for some reason... Or it might be that she's so OOC in this chapter, that it's hard for me to think you guys could see her like the aggressive vengeful bitch she was. And on a totally related note, don't expect very many ponies to be in character for very long, I tend to get brutal with my stories!

At least, I would if any of them decided to get their lazy asses out of my head and into the computer, but NOOOO, they just HAD to start getting into anime! Fucking Abyss here wouldn't stop binge watching Netflix long enough for me to make a longer chapter anyways, so yeah.

As you can see, I'm fucking insane. In case you're new here, thought I'd mention that.

Enemy of my enemy...

After their little moment, Celestia had calmed down a lot, and has been apologizing profusely to Artorias for her behavior. When they called the others back down into the main room, they learned that early on in their little misunderstanding, Twilight needed to cast a sound barrier around the library, and around her room. Their entire fight was confidential, and only the two participants knew about what went down.

Celestia thanked her student for being so attentive, and promised to fix the large crack in the tree herself later on. Meanwhile, while Twilight explained things and Celestia fixed the wall of the tree, much to Twilights annoyance (She insisted that it wasn't her fault and as princess she shouldn't need to fix it), Spike had pulled Artorias aside for a discussion he'd been meaning to have with him.

"What can I help you with, little one?" Artorias said, sitting in the corner of the room with Spike next to him, "I assume that this isn't something the others would approve of you asking."

"No, they'd be fine with it. Twilight says it's good for me to have questions, and the others pretty much take whatever she says in stride, seeing how she's kind of the leader of their little group." Spike explained, "I just wanted to know a few things about your world, that's all."

A bit confused about his cautious approach, Artorias nodded. "I was hoping to give all of them the basics when this whole situation started, but I might as well answer a few questions for you now." Artorias stopped Spike before he could start, "But I must warn you ahead of time: my world is a cruel one, and people are killed very often, so my answers may not be for the weak of stomach." Spike nodded, and Artorias motioned for him to continue.

"Well, first of all, is this your skin?" Spike poked his breastplate, enticing a small chuckle out of the knight.

"No little one, this is my armor." Artorias said, "My actual skin is underneath it. Although the armor has become something like a second skin for me, as I wear it all the time."

Spike nodded a bit, "Alright, how about an easy one, why do you need to be armored all the time? Were you in a war or something?"

"Ah, now that question will be asked many times, so I'd prefer to keep that answer until the rest are ready to speak about it." Artorias looked towards the others, and saw that Celestia was not as good at fixing walls as she thought she was. The crack had somehow gotten bigger, prompting a small argument between her and Twilight. "Which may take a while..."

"Heh, yeah. I'm not sure about the princess, but I know that Twilight is probably gonna make things a bit worse herself before somepony else walks in and fixes it for her."

'Strange, she seemed rather capable to me...'

"Anyway, I had a couple more questions, if that's alright." Artorias nodded and twirled his hand at spike, as if saying 'Get on with it.' "Well, I wanted to know if there were dragons in your world."

Artorias thought about the question for a moment, not sure of how to answer Spike. "Well, sort of. There used to be ancient dragons inhabiting my entire world, but the strength of lords was granted to men, and they slew the ancient dragons." Not seeing Spikes face pale a bit, he continued, "Although, there were indeed still dragons, the ancient ones were simply the eldest. The dragons that lived were vicious creatures, burning anything and everything that challenged them."

Spike tilted his head, "But I thought you said there used to be dragons. What happened to those dragons?"

"Well little one," Artorias said, "My king, lord Gwyn, selected four of his greatest knights to go combat the dragons, one of the knights being me." Spike started shaking a little, but Artorias didn't notice, "I wasn't as good at killing multiple at a time, but I was the best at resisting their flames. No, the real dragon slayers of our group were Ornstein, and 'Hawkeye' Gough. Ornstein was a natural at killing the lizards, being the only one of us that could take down an entire family on his own. Father, mother, children, none of them could match his sheer speed and agility. Not to mention the lightning on his spear.

"And then we had Gough, the best damn shot with a bow anyone had ever seen. No matter how far away they were, and no matter how large, he would either make sure we could get it by taking out the wings, or he would just plain kill it. Even when a black dragon by the name of Kalameet took his sight, he was still able to kill dragons with that bow of his. I remember a time when me and him were breaking some eggs, when Ornstein showed up with the father bleeding out with no wings, and-"

"I-I think I've heard enough," Spike stuttered, backing away towards Twilight, "T-thanks for the info, h-hope we get to talk again sometime!" And with that, he ran off to Twilight, who had just finished the wall with help from Applejack and Celestia.

"Huh," Artorias said to himself, standing up, "Was it something I said?"

__~*(^^@+@^^)*~__

"Alright Artorias," Celestia said, after they had all finally gathered around the table. Spike had excused himself to make the rest of the rooms occupants some refreshments, so there were only eight beings in the room at the moment: Artorias himself, Celestia, and the Elements of Harmony. "As I'm sure that you're aware, the Abyss has been in this world before. Now, I'd like to grill you for information about it, but since everyone here has questions for you, I feel that I have time to wait before I get my information. So, I figured, we could have a little Q&A session, so to speak. Would that be alright?"

Artorias nodded, "That would be fine, Princess Celestia. I have some questions of my own anyhow, so this could be beneficial to both of us." The seven ponies smiled at him. "Now, how about we have an organized way of doing thi-"

Pinkie Pie raised her hoof high in the air, shouting "OOH, Me first! Please please please please PLEEEEEEAAAAASE!"

"Er, alright, Miss Pinkie first then." Artorias turned his attention to her, while she just smiled at him. "What is your question, young one?"

"I wanted to know what kind of food you eat! Like, what's your favorite kind of cake, or chocolate, or, um... something like that, yeah!"

Artorias blinked once, "Okay, can you put that into a simpler question? Are you asking about my eating habits?" Pinkie furiously nodded, making Artorias shrug. "Well, I'm an omnivore, so I eat a lot of meat. Though I can eat plants, meat has essential nutrients that my body needs, and I need to eat both meat and vegetables in order to survive."

Pinkie Pie stood on her seat and leaned in closer to Artorias, "Ooooh, so what kind of meat do you usually eat?"

"You seem strangely okay with me being part carnivore, even though this society is made of herbivores..."

"Well Artorias," Celestia started, taking it upon herself to explain some of the more confusing aspects of Equestria, "Not only do some of our neighboring countries eat meat, such as the Gryphon kingdom, and many of them come to Equestria. As a matter of fact, you're quite strange, being able to eat both plants and animals, usually sentient beings here only eat one or the other."

"Well, that explains that then." Artorias turned back to the pink ball of energy, "To answer your question, I usually eat basic meats, like pig, cow, or occasionally snake." He thought about it for a few seconds, "Although when I'm on the road or completing a task given to me, I usually have an over abundance of dragon meat available."

The ponies cringed a bit at this, but they all decided to keep their thoughts to themselves for the moment, allowing the next pony to ask something. Seeing an opening, Rarity decided to raise her hoof. "I have a question I'd like to ask, if you'll listen."

"I will indeed listen, lady Rarity," Artorias turned his attention towards her, "Please, ask away."

Rarity took a breath, "I happen to notice that the shiny parts of you are not your skin, but in fact are armor, correct?" Artorias nodded, "Then my question is this: What kind of clothing do you wear underneath the armor, and would I be able to see it at all?"

Artorias shook his head, making Rarity deflate a little, "My armor has essentially become a part of me during the time I've had it. I forged it myself, and it is very comfortable. However, more out of training than actual necessity, I wear a leather tunic and pants underneath the armor. And no, I will not take the armor off."

Rarity nodded, looking a bit sad, but sitting back down anyway. Rainbow Dash was the next one to raise her hoof. Artorias pointed to her, "Alright, so we all know that you've got that gigantic sword on your back, right?" Everyone in the room nodded, "So tell me this, you got any more weapons on you that we need to worry about?"

"Well, you don't really need to worry about them, but yes, I indeed have other weapons." With that said, Artorias reached into the bag he had on his hip, and pulled out an evil looking curved blade, which looked rather impractical for normal battle.

"What the hay is that?" Rainbow exclaimed, "It looks kinda like something I'd find in farming equipment."

"This, my prismatic compatriot, is known as a shotel." Artorias gave it a couple of practice swings, startling the ponies around the table, "it's a kind of sword that was made for the sole purpose of getting around an enemy's shield. It is not very good in normal combat, but if your enemy has a shield that you can't seem to get around, then this is perfect to use against them."

Artorias put the shotel back into the bag, and pulled out a large bow, promptly pulling the string back and releasing it, creating a loud *TWANG* sound. "This is just a simple long bow, rather simple to use. Pointless to use in close combat, but if you want a sneak attack from far away, then put some poisonous arrows in this and they won't even reach you."

"Why all the weapons?" Rainbow flew a bit closer to him as be put the bow away, "Are you scared that you'll be unprepared?"

"I'm afraid of very little, and that is not something that I am afraid of, Miss Dash."

Rainbow smirked, "Afraid of very little? Well, yours truly is afraid of nothing, and doesn't need weapons, or armor!" She did a flip mid air, and landed on the table. "What do you say to that, oh so great knight?"

Faster than the rest of them could even blink, Artorias had grabbed Rainbow by the neck, pinned her against the table, and had his shotel in his other hand, which was currently pointing straight at her neck. The other ponies tried to intervene, but Celestia made them sit down, her gut telling her she should let him teach Rainbow some humility.

"Tell me, miss dash," Artorias said calmly, bringing the shotel slightly closer to her neck, "What do you do when, little miss I-don't-need-weapons-or-armor gets into combat with someone with superior training, better weapons, and armor that's immune to your punches and kicks? Is there anything you can do to get out of this? Riddle me this, Dash," Artorias lifted the shotel up so she could see it, "How many slices to the gut could you take before falling in battle?"

Rainbow dash's eyes were pinpricks, her breathing erratic, and her heartbeat faster than she could fly. She was let go, however, and he stood up with the shotel still in hand. "Being a knight does not mean having no fear, it means having the courage to protect the weak from that which you fear. And with the weapon," He held out his own arm, and raised the shotel high in the air, "if you ever go to war, make sure you can protect your soft skin. Otherwise," He slashed at the armor on his arm, creating a piercing whine, "you will not be as fortunate as my arm."

Rainbow Dash lowered her head and hovered back to her chair, staying silent and sulking. Artorias shook his head lightly, but wanted to continue on with the questions. Applejack was the next pony to raise her hoof, prompting the knight to call on her. "Well, I was wonderin', uh, how do ya keep all o' them weapons and such in that tiny little bag?"

"Excellent question Miss Applejack," Artorias said, putting his inventory bag on the table. "This is what is known where I am from as an inventory bag. It's been heavily enchanted by... a good friend of my king. It has no real bottom, allowing anything and everything to be put in there. However, as that would be very confusing and heavy, there are a couple more enchantments, mostly light weight and cataloging enchantments."

Applejack sat there for a moment, processing the information he had just told her. "So, it's a bag that has no bottom basically?"

"Yes, basically."

"Well why didn't ya say that in the first place, then?" Applejack laughed, while Artorias tilted his head quizzically. "Well, that's all that I got, who's next?"

'I thought that WAS what I said...'

Fluttershy raised her hoof a bit, hiding behind her mane. "Um, I have a question, if it's alright for me to ask..."

Artorias looked towards her, smiling beneath his helmet. "Of course it's fine, young one. Please, feel free to ask." His gentle tone with her surprised a couple of the ponies in the room, not used to hearing him speak with such a gentle tone. He was always calm, but there was usually a gruffness in his voice that was currently absent.

"Okay, um, I was wondering what kind of animals you had on your world..." Fluttershy stopped hiding behind her mane, awaiting his answer eagerly.

"Well, that's a rather broad question, but I'll answer as good as I can." Artorias took a few seconds to think about it, "Well, most of the animals in my world consist of cattle, such as cows, pigs, and other animals. We had basically everything you have here, except for the cockatrice, that was rather new to me." He chuckled, remembering his laughter at the wild cockatrice that tried to attack him, "Anyway, there are magical constructs that run around, but those aren't technically animals. There are dragons of all shapes and sizes, dogs, bulls, demons, snakes, and shiny lizards that have rare ores attached to their back for some reason."

"Um, what kind of animals do you like?" Fluttershy asked, making Artorias freeze in place.

Artorias stood as still as he could, hoping his stance wouldn't show the memories that were flooding back to him. 'Sif... you were still just a pup, why did I foolishly bring you to the Abyss with me...' After a couple of minutes, Artorias sighed deeply, "Wolves. My favorite animals are wolves, Fluttershy."

"Wolves?" Fluttershy said, inching a bit closer to him, "But they're feral, it's not very easy to tame them, why are they your favorite?"

"*Sigh* I guess there's no backing out now, huh?" This startled the ponies a bit, making them skeptical of whether or not they should let him finish, but before they could tell him not to, he began:

"One day, while wandering the forest, I stumbled upon a small puppy in the woods. It was the pup of a great gray wolf, a massive wolf that towers above even me. So, seeing it so defenseless, I took it with me back to the castle, where it stayed with me. I became rather fond of it, and began training it to fight with me. I trained her to fight with a greatsword, and she became very good at it. I named her Sif. She was my mascot, howling for me in battle, and fighting alongside me with her sword. We became very close friends, and I don't think I could've lived this long without her help.

"During my traversing of the Abyss, she followed me. When things got too heated, and I feared for her safety, I used the power from my shield to cast a ward around her, shielding her from the everlasting darkness of the Abyss. After that was done, I don't know what happened to her. She may have gotten out, but I refuse to believe she perished in there. She was strong, and I believe she may still be alive, even today."

--[Darkroot Garden, Lordran]--

An undead warrior stood before a massive archway, waiting impatiently for the large doors to open. When they did, he found a large gravestone, riddled with swords and corpses, one giant sword sticking out in particular.

Upon approaching it, he heard growling coming from above him. Not fearing anything, he looked up, to see a canine face quizzically looking at him. The great grey wolf stood atop the gravestone, as if guarding it from intruders.

The wolf barked at him and grabbed the giant sword in its mouth, jumping off of the grave to land behind the undead. It switched what side the blade was on, and growled at him.

"Oh, fuck me." Was all the undead could say before getting cleaved by the massive sword-wielding wolf.

--[Equestria]--

"But, I may never know, and that fact makes me wish I could've said goodbye..." During his explanation, Artorias grew sad, remembering all the fun times he had with Sif, and how good she had been to him, only to realize that he left her alone in the Abyss, with only a sword to protect her. "Oh well, nothing I can do about it now. There's your explanation, Fluttershy. That's why I love wolves more than all other animals."

Fluttershy looked like she was about to cry, but nodded and went back to her seat anyway.

"I believe that the only ones who are left are Celestia and Twilight, correct?" The two mares nodded, earning a shrug from Artorias. "I care not who asks first, go ahead and find it out among yourselves."

Celestia smiled at Twilight, "Go ahead, my faithful student. I can wait a bit longer for my questions."

Twilight smiled back and nodded, turning her attention back to the armored giant, who had his head turned towards her. "Well, I actually have a series of questions I'd like to ask, if that's alright with you, of course."

"It is."

"Good!" Twilight beamed, pulling out a quill and paper, "Then let's get started! First of all, earlier you said that a friend of your king was able to put powerful enchantments onto your bag, correct?"

"Why yes, what about it?"

"Well, who was that friend?" Twilight got her quill ready to write, and waited for Artorias to answer her question. "And how long did it take him to add such powerful enchantments to the bag?"

Artorias thought for a moment, and finally answered, "Well, my kings friend was a dragon by the name of Seath the scaleless. He created magic in my world, and has ancient knowledge of the arcane that nobody but him could ever know. As for how long it took, I'd say, about, two minutes? Give or take a couple seconds of course."

Twilight dropped her quill, and Celestia's mouth hung open after hearing that. "Only two minutes? Are you serious?" When Artorias nodded, Twilight picked her quill back up and started writing very quickly, "Not even the Princess' could cast such powerful enchantments in under ten minutes! You're sure that he cast them that fast? And that he was a dragon?"

"I was present when he enchanted it, so yes, I am sure." Artorias paused, "About the dragon part, I'm still a bit skeptical about that myself. His build is certainly that of a dragons, but his wings are more fragile than normal dragons, and instead of legs, he has some kind of tentacles, which, according to my king, he got as a side effect of creating magic."

"Interesting, very interesting indeed," Twilight said, still writing things down. "Now, onto my next question. What is the extent of your magical powers?"

"The extent?" Artorias said, tilting his head thoughtfully, "Well, whatever I have the proper scrolls for, I suppose."

"Scrolls? Like, paper scrolls?"

Artorias nodded. "They have runes on them that, when read, are imprinted into your memory, and if you have the right catalyst, then you're able to cast the spell."

"And what would these catalysts look like?"

"Let me show you." Artorias once again reached into his bag to pull out three objects: A small orb with what looked like cloth coming from the bottom, a large, gnarled stick that was about half Artorias' height, and what looked like a tiny ball of fire. "These, my little ponies, are the three catalysts of my world." He first picked up the orb, showing it to the crowd of ponies. "This one is known as a talisman, and is used to cast miracles. Miracles are mainly defensive spells, such as magic barriers, or healing. However, there are also offensive miracles, such as Tranquil walk of peace, and my personal favorite, sunlight spear."

Celestia's eyes widened at 'Sunlight Spear' "So, you can use that to summon a spear made of sunlight?"

"Well, sort of." Artorias put the talisman down. "The spell itself is not actually made of sunlight, but is instead a beam of lightning that's shot from the talisman, usually with enough sheer force to knock a full grown dragon down, not including the heat and electricity it emits."

Celestia nodded in understanding, prompting him to continue his demonstration. Picking up the stick, he held it out to the ponies. "This is called a staff, even though this one is kind of mangled looking. It's used to cast sorceries, which are the more basic spells. Soul arrow is a popular one among most mages, as it can be cast the most amount of times before needing to be recharged. There are still defensive spells that can be cast, like fall control, but it's mainly offensive and enchanting."

"This last one is a bit more volatile, but still a catalyst nonetheless. This," He picked up the ball of fire, which promptly overcame his hand, making it seem like his hand was on fire, "is a pyromancy flame. It's used to cast pyromancies, such as fireball, or chaos storm. It has very few defensive spells, but the ones it does have are extremely effective, like flash sweat or iron flesh."

Twilight's quill managed to get snapped in half, and she summoned another one in, which promptly continued scribbling notes onto the parchment. "This is absolutely fascinating! Could you show us a demonstration of some of the spells?"

"I'm afraid not." Before Twilight could ask why, Artorias held his hand up, silencing her, "The spells produced by these catalysts are far too volatile and dangerous to use in here. I could damage the literature, or, heavens forbid, you seven. I won't risk it."

"Actually, Celestia said, grinning, "I may have a solution for that problem. Hold still everypony, and Artorias."

Her horn began to glow a soft yellow, which Artorias took as her preparing a spell. He stood still, like he was told to do, and awaited her spell. The other six ponies looked exactly like he did: pretty much statues that breathed and blinked. After a few seconds of standing still, Celestia's horn emitted a shockwave of white light and created a sphere around the group, which immediately popped out of existence, revealing that none of them were there.

__~*(^^@+@^^)*~__

When the group reappeared, they were in what looked like a field of stars. Gentle white lights floated around them and over the horizon, giving off the impression of being in space. The magic in the area was palpable, making it seem like they were swiming in an endless void of magic. While the other ponies stared around in awe of the new scenery, Artorias looked around silently, content to keep his true feelings to himself.

'These may be colorful ponies with horns and wings, but damn they're good with magic.'

"Knight Artorias?" Celestia said, interrupting his inner monologue, "I believe that you wanted to demonstrate some spells for us." When Artorias said nothing, Celestia corrected herself; "Or, at least Twilight wanted to see some of your magic."

"Guilty as charged!"

Artorias stared into the distance thoughtfully, and finally turned back towards the group of ponies. After a couple minutes of looking between the ponies of the group, he finally spoke: "Twilight, Celestia, Rarity, you three are adept at magic, correct?"

"Us two more so than Rarity, but we can use magic, yes." Twilight said, stepping forward a bit. "Why do you ask?"

"The three of you create as powerful of a barrier as you can, and hold it." Artorias said, getting out the three catalysts. "If you do not, then you will all be either seriously injured or killed in the process of my spells."

At that, the two unicorns and Alicorn looked at each other and nodded, igniting their horns as one. Slowly, a large magical barrier formed around the entire group of ponies, different parts of the barrier being light blue, magenta, or golden. When the barrier was finished, the seven ponies were surrounded with a magical shield that Shining Armor would be damn proud of. "Alright Artorias," Celestia said, nodding towards him. "Fire when ready."

Artorias nodded, and chose to take the pyromancy flame out first. Thinking of which spell to use, he quickly decided on a weaker spell first, to test the strength of the shield. Charging up his flame, he let out a short burst of flame, that went away as quickly as it came. It hit the shield and immediately bounced off, leaving no marks, and not at all straining the ones making the shield.

"..." Twilight stared blankly at the great knight, who just basically tickled the shield with a lighter. "Was that it? Was THAT why you had us put up this shield?"

Artorias said nothing, and simply prepared a new spell. "I was testing the shield. Now, prepare yourselves." Artorias' warning went a bit unheeded, as Twilight and Rarity both just rolled their eyes and weakened their spells a bit, not expecting much more from the tiny flame. Celestia, however, figured that he was serious, and kept her magic on high power levels, without realizing that Rarity and Twilight had weakened the shield by putting less magic into it.

Suddenly, from the pyromancy flame leaped an unholy fire, much larger than the last pitiful excuse of a flame. It hit the barrier with such force that it nearly shattered, causing Rarity and Twilight to pour their remaining magic into supporting it. What they did not account for, however, was the lava that was left behind after the massive fire blast.

It quickly melted through the top of the shield, singing Rainbow Dash a little and scaring the hell out of everypony else. Artorias was quick, however, and he dove straight through the shield, pushing all of the ponies out of the way immediately, and taking the brunt of the flames. Celestia tried to help him, but upon further inspection, realized that he wasn't harmed in the slightest. "The spells that I cast are unable to hit the user, therefore preventing me from taking damage." He explained.

"Okay, that's good." Celestia said, sitting down. "I'm just glad nopony got hurt."

"Nopony got hurt?!" Rainbow exclaimed, "Half of my tail burned off from that fire!"

"Speaking of which," Artorias said, slowly making his way towards the two unicorns, who were avoiding eye contact with him. "WHAT did I tell you two about how volatile these spells could be? One of you could've melted, or worse!"

"W-well, after your first demonstration, we assumed that was the best your little flame had, darling." Rarity said, looking Artorias in where she assumed his eyes were, "We didn't know that you would be casting such a powerful spell right after that weak little fire..."

"I'll let this one slide," Artorias said, getting closer to them. "But there are two things I need you both to know. One: Pull something like this again, and I'm demonstrating no more magic. And two: While I am using magic, ALWAYS assume that there is going to be much more powerful spells for me to cast. Understood?"

"Yeah..."

"Yes, darling."

"Good. Now, don't bother putting up the barrier for now. I need a strong volunteer." Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash all raised their hooves at once, each one knowing that they're strong. Or that they're having fun by raising their hoof, or something like that. "Applejack, Rainbow Dash, come here."

"Sure thing partner, what do you need?" Applejack said as she and Rainbow Dash approached. Rainbow still looked a bit bitter about her tail, but Applejack seemed cheery and happy to help. 'It's good that she's mad.' "Alright, I'm going to be demonstrating two different spells with both of your help. Who is strongest at kicking here?"

"That's AJ." Rainbow said, pointing to the mare in question.

"Good." Artorias said, taking off half of his leg armor, along with the armor on one of his arms. "Now, I'm going to be demonstrating a miracle and another pyromancy here. Applejack, I need you to hit me in the leg as hard as you can. Rainbow, you do the same for my arm."

Rainbow Dash looked more than happy to do it, but Applejack was a bit skeptical. "Are you sure y'all want me to do that, sugarcube?" she said, stepping towards Artorias, "I'm mighty stronger than I look, and I don't wanna hurt you..."

"Just trust me on this, I'll be fine. Go when ready, both of you." At that, Rainbow Dash promptly flew high into the air, and sped back down, her hooves outstretched to hit the knight's unarmored limb. At the same time, Applejack turned around, and bucked his leg as hard as she could, resulting in a sickening crunch noise that made them all cringe. When Rainbow hit him, his arm made the same noise, except blood was clearly visible, and his arm flattened very easily.

Artorias let out a yelp, and fell to one knee, but he still stopped the ponies from helping him. He got out the Talisman, and muttered something into it, resulting in a soothing light that began to circle the wounded areas of his body, resulting in their complete repair. After the spell was over, he seemed good as new, earning a gasp from the crowd of ponies.

Pulling out the pyromancy flame, Artorias turned back to Applejack and Rainbow Dash. "This may hurt you guys a little bit this time, but could you hit me again with the same force?" They each nodded, still seeming a bit squeamish about breaking his limbs again. They decided to take turns, so Applejack turned around and reared back for a kick, but just before she kicked, Artorias cast a spell on himself, resulting in some kind of metal skin going over him and his armor.

When Applejack kicked him, a large clang was heard by the ponies, right before Applejack yelped in pain and fled back to the rest of the ponies, cradling her back hooves and staring at Artorias, a little resentful at him for hurting her. "This particular spell turns my entire body into iron," said Artorias, slowly walking towards Celestia and Twilight, "It's unmatched in physical defense, but leaves me unable to move properly and still weak to magic."

"So, basically it's a temporary shield that only blocks against weapons?" Twilight said, getting Artorias to nod at her. "Fascinating..."

"Put the shield back up, you three." The three ponies nodded, and pout up their shield, which was stronger now that it was being maintained by three different spell casters. "I'm going to demonstrate sorceries now, which are exceptionally powerful. Keep the shield up, and make sure it's strong." At their nods, Artorias pulled out the large, gnarled stick from earlier.

Concentrating on it, he caused the tip to begin glowing blue. Before anyone could marvel at the glowing stick, a spear of blue energy hurled out from the stick, pounding into the powerful barrier with the force of a speeding train, causing Celestia to noticeably flinch, while Rarity and Twilight both recoiled heavily.

"I'm not sure I can keep this up much longer, Artorias," Rarity said, sweat dripping down her face, "Perhaps one more offensive spell, then maybe some less deadly ones?"

"Very well. Let me show you what is perhaps the most deadly spell the Abyss has to offer." Celestia's eyes went wide, and she began to grin with anticipation. "Prepare your shield again, and put everything you have into it. It will likely shatter." Twilight and Rarity nodded, their horns gaining brightness by the second, quickly making it difficult to look them in the face. The rest of the group simply stood idly behind the three horned ponies, watching with increased anticipation as Artorias charged up his staff.

Because of the blue spell that was launched before, Celestia and Twilight were surprised when they saw the staff glow a sickly black, corruption and darkness evident on the tip of the staff. Artorias rushed forward, standing at point blank range from the super charged shield, forcing the three ponies to prepare themselves to be barraged.

They weren't prepared enough.

Before they could blink, seven small orbs of pure darkness crashed into the shield at a terrifying speed and power, shattering the shield almost instantly. Twilight and Rarity were both blasted back from having their spells broken so violently, while Celestia was merely pushed back a couple of feet. The breaking of the spell caused a wave of energy that washed over all of the ponies, pushing them back and inflicting small amounts of pain.

After everypony had settled, and the unicorns were standing and recovering, Artorias explained the spell, "The type of spell I used was made purely from dark magic. In my world, I said there were only three kinds of magic; pyromancy, sorceries, and miracles. The fourth, being dark magic, is an extremely evil and immensely powerful version of sorcery." Artorias put away the staff, "It was also forbidden to use that magic, although some still studied and practiced it in secret."

"What makes it so powerful?" Celestia said, stepping towards the knight, "Surely there's a reason it was able to break my shield like it was made of leaves and twigs."

"That's a very good question, Celestia," Artorias said, leaning down ever so slightly to be eye level with her. "But tell me this, princess. What kind of attacks was that shield useful for blocking?"

Celestia gave him a 'What are you going on about' look before answering; "I made it especially resistant to magic, seeing as that was what you were using."

"And THAT'S the kicker." Artorias pulled a small scroll out of his inventory bag, and promptly unfurled it. "The runes that make up the spell have an added effect, one that most dark dark magic shares. Along with dealing devastating amounts of magical damage, the spell is also able to deal bone-crushing physical damage as well, making it especially effective at taking down shields, and making targets stagger."

Celestia was stunned. Never before had she heard of something that could deal magic and physical damage, except for enchanted weaponry, and certain talismans that allowed the user's hoof to be imbued. It was a foreign idea to her, and yet it made a lot of sense when she took into account her previous encounters with dark magic. Manus' own bolts of darkness were able to shatter even her father's shields, which could withstand the might of a thousand unicorn mages at their weakest.

"Artorias," Celestia said, in a more stern voice than usual. "I am going to return us to the real world now. When we get back, I would like to speak with you in private about the Abyss. Understood?" Surprised at her sudden change of mood, Artorias slowly nodded, walking towards her. As soon as everypony and the knight were all together, Celestia lit her horn with magic, and teleported the group out of her little pocket dimension.

__~*(^^@+@^^)*~__

The group of seven ponies and one undead appeared in the library with a pop, golden light remaining around them for a brief moment before fading into the natural light of the sun. The ponies that were not used to teleportation shook themselves out of a daze, while the unicorns and Artorias simply shrugged off the dizziness of teleportation. Celestia turned towards the rest of the library, when a peculiar sight greeted her eyes.

Sat upon an upside down couch, that was floating eye level with her, was a peculiar creature to behold. A patchwork being made from other animals, this particular creature had the head of a pony, the body and arm of a gryphon, the paw of a lion, the leg of a goat, the leg of a lizard, and the tail of a snake.

This being was known as a Draconequus. However, what made this particular one special was its peculiar powers over the fabric of reality. His name was Discord, and at the moment, he was eating a bag of what looked like chunks of stone.

"Why hello there, Celestia," Discord said, slithering off the couch to come face-to-face with her, "Did you miss me?"

"Discord, what are you doing here?" Celestia said, not noticing Artorias tensing up behind her, "I understand that you're free now, but that doesn't necessarily mean I trust you."

Before Celestia could reply, she was violently shoved to the side, much to the surprise of the other ponies. Now stood in front of Discord, who was the only one to stare eye level with the giant, was Artorias. "It was you who brought me here, was it not?"

"Well I don't know, why not read the first chapter again to find out!" Discord said, looking in a random direction for a strangely long amount of time. "Anyway, yes knight Artorias, I was the one who brought you here. As you can see by my current dish, and the couch I was on," Looking behind Discord, Artorias saw the floating couch had now grown fangs, and was attempting to bite the small dragon that was running away from it. "I have certain... powers over reality. Control over chaos, if you will."

"Well then, creature of chaos, allow me-"

"No no no no, my name is Discord." He said, opening his arms wide for the firework show that exploded at his name, "Please address me as such."

"Alright then, Discord." Artorias composed himself, tuning out the accusations from Rarity and Twilight about attempting to assassinate the princess. "What is the reason you have brought me here?"

Discords expression grew grave, and at that moment, the light in the room dimmed to an almost pitch darkness, where the only things that could be seen easily were Discord's eyes and the glow of magic coming from the unicorns and Alicorn. "I brought you here, because I felt a magical disturbance that I had not felt in thousands of years."

At this, Celestia got up and walked over to him, curious to hear why the knight was summoned to this realm. "This magical surge was the very same one that I felt before the fall of King Solaris. I felt the presence of an ungodly powerful enemy, the likes of which this realm hasn't seen in countless centuries." Celestia's face paled, and her expression turned to one of horror. Artorias twirled his fingers, as if saying 'get on with it.'

"I speak, of course, of the awakening of the Abyss."

Author's Note

I decided that this whole story is going to be based AFTER Discord was reformed, but BEFORE Twilight's ascension. So, the place that Celestia teleported them to, which is where Twilight gets her wings, is not known by anypony but Celestia and Luna themselves. Discord may know about it, but I don't think he gives a flying fuck either way about it. Either way, it's a good place to test volatile spells like dark bead, and soul spear, and shit like that.

Also, EXPOSITION!!!!!!! The teacher becomes the student when Celestia wants to know about Artorias' magic powers! Whoopee.

These first three chapters were what I like to call "Prologue chapters", where it's pretty much an introduction, and it's where all the explaining happens. You know, how he got here, how strong he is, what his plans are, his purpose (Optional), etc. This chapter marks the end of this phase, and lets me move on to the next phase, which is preparing Equestria for war.

Hope you all have a great day, and I'll see ya next time!

-lunarstallion

... is still my enemy.

Author's Note

HOLY FUCK SOMETHING GOT UPDATED!

Yeah, it's updated yet again, and, if any of you saw the blog post about it, I really hope to be writing much, much more in the future. I really enjoy thinking up this story, and I'm glad to see that you guys, those of you who still read of course, are enjoying it too.

A fair warning, once again, things get kinda brutal, although still not as bad as the Manus fight scene, that I still have yet to edit and fix :twilightblush: . Let's see, what else? Um, Luna is da bes, that's something I have to say.

And, well, that's it! I hope y'all like the chapter, and feel free to comment down below what I did wrong, or anything else that you think is fucked up, I really appreciate the criticism, and I try to fix it as often as possible. Or, I will now. Because I suck at updating. We all know this by now.

Have a nice day, and enjoy.

... is still my enemy.

"I speak, of course, of the awakening of the Abyss."

The group of ponies sat there, stunned looks upon their faces. After what they heard from Celestia about Manus' power, and Artorias' own stories from when he was consumed, this was not something to be taken lightly. Celestia and Artorias were not taking it as well as the other ponies, the former becoming paler by the second, with a look of absolute terror upon her face.

Artorias lunged forward and grabbed Discord by the neck, bringing him face to face with the knight. "Tell. Me. Where."

Discord just grinned and placed a claw on Artorias' chest. With a burst of magic, Artorias was blown back a couple feet, Discord's magic having little effect on him. "Good, now that that's over with, why don't we discuss this like normal ponies, and-"

With no time to react, and no warning whatsoever, Discord was pinned against the wall, a greatsword placed against his throat preventing him from moving. Looking up, he could see two things: the terrified and surprised faces of all the ponies.

And what he assumed to be a demon of wrath.

A black glow had encompassed Artorias, the odd magic oozing off of him like a strange mix of fire and slime. Beneath his helmet, his eyes glowed a sickening red, their piercing gaze staring into the chaos god's soul. "Do not test me, creature." Artorias said, bringing the blade closer to Discord's throat, "I have slain many a beast more powerful than the likes of you on my quest for Manus. You WILL tell me where he spawns, or you will perish at the end of my blade."

Discord, being the immortal god of chaos he is, didn't realize the danger the blade posed to him. So he simply laughed, right in Artorias' face, and said, "Oh really? And what could you, a mere mortal, do to me, a god of chaos? Riddle me that, knight of darkness!"

And in that moment, the supposed god of chaos felt something he had never experienced before. Something that, were it any other being, they would've known how to deal with it.

Pure, unbridled fear.

His taunting of Artorias had led to him being pinned to a wall, the only thing keeping him from falling was the knight's greatsword, which stuck very proudly out of his chest. Searing pain rippled through the ancient draconequus, tearing at the very fiber of his being. The sword, meant to banish the evil that was the Abyss, could apparently be used as a sword of other evil's bane as well.

Which meant for Discord, that he was pretty fucked.

The group of ponies had a mixed reaction to this. In a split second, Fluttershy was being held back by both Rainbow Dash and Celestia herself, the anger felt towards the knight radiating off of her. Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie sat there, stunned at what they had just witnessed happen. Applejack was trying to form words, but found herself unable to.

Artorias himself was simply getting more and more angry. 'I never should've mingled with these ponies,' Artorias thought, the handle of his blade firmly gripped by his powerful hands. 'I wouldn't be killing any more gods, and I would have a second chance to stop Manus.'

Discord, finally comprehending the sheer amount of pain he was in, let out an incredibly primal and painful screech, his claws uselessly trying to pull the offending piece of metal from his body. It was pointless, he knew that much at this point, but if he was to die, he would go down with a fight..

When he began to black out, Artorias did something that nopony expected from the enraged being.

The blade was pulled from the Draconequus with ease, fresh blood pouring out of the wound in his chest. Everypony fell silent as Artorias drew his talisman from his belt. "Now, 'god of chaos,' I will give you a choice." He twirled the talisman in his hand, expertly catching it in a ready position. "I have the ability to heal all of your wounds in an instant, all with a little flick of this here talisman. Nod if you understand." At Discord's nod, he continued, "I will do this when I get the whereabouts of Manus' lair. Tell me, or I will allow you to bleed out on this floor."

"B-but that's barbaric! Can't you see that he's in pain?!" Twilight exclaimed, gesturing at the hunched over creature, and the blood constantly spilling out of him. "Why would you kill him just to find out where Manus is?"

Artorias looked at Twilight, and the look he gave made her freeze up and pale slightly. Gone were both his anger and happiness. All that remained underneath his helmet were two orbs that spoke of pain and sorrow. But one emotion showed through them both, and that was what confused Twilight the most.

She saw regret, oh so much regret, when she stared into the eyes of this once great and renowned warrior of sunlight.

"It would not be the first time that I have had to resort to such tactics," Artorias said, looking back to the dying draconequus, "and it certainly won't be the last." Twilight fell silent after that, quietly accepting that the knight was doing this horrible act, whether or not they wanted him to.

Discord muttered something, but Artorias was unable to hear him. Leaning forward, he silently waited for the beast to repeat himself. "... Ghastly... gorge..." was all that he heard.

Nodding in understanding, Artorias gripped his talisman, and uttered a silent prayer into it, causing a golden light to illuminate him and Discord, followed by the rather gruesome sight of Discord's chest mending itself shut. When that was all done with, man and beast stood up at the same time, their similar heights allowing them to stare into each other's eyes. "For what it's worth," Artorias said, extending his hand, "I am sorry it had to come to that."

Discord looked at his hand with disgust, and begrudgingly accepted it into his own, shaking lightly and briefly. After that, Artorias turned towards Princess Celestia, while Discord came to Fluttershy to calm her down. "Point me to this... 'Ghastly gorge.' I wish to end this."

Celestia, even after seeing him nearly kill Discord, stood as tall as she could, and refused. "While you may need revenge, you are not the only one that Manus has touched. Either we all go together, and face him as one, or I will not allow you to go-"

She was unable to finish, as Artorias threw her to the floor and aimed the sword at her throat. This time, all that was holding the elements back was Discord, who knew what would happen if they interfered with him, having experienced it himself. "While I would prefer to avoid doing what happened to that creature again, I am fully capable of doing so anyway, princess." Artorias said the word 'princess' as if it were poisonous, spitting it at the pinned down Alicorn, "Now, will you allow me to keep your people safe?"

The malice in his voice was palpable, to say the least. The pure, unbridled rage and hatred coming off of him was enough to make even Celestia quake with fear. His eyes spoke of the terrors his anger could bring down upon Equestria, and the ponies knew at that moment, that he was a force far more powerful than any other they had dealt with in the past.

Before Celestia could say a word, Rainbow Dash stepped forward, regardless of the others' protests. "Artorias," she said, gaining the attention of the ancient warrior, "I'll take you to ghastly gorge."

The anger in his eyes was gone in an instant, and Artorias stood up from his crouched position over Celestia, slowly helping her up. When he looked over to Rainbow, he saw a glint in her eyes. He did not know if it was hatred for what he did to her ruler, or concern for what she had gotten herself into, but she wanted something, that he could tell. "What is the catch, miss Dash?"

"The catch is," She began, looking towards the other elements, being held back by Discord, "that you allow us to help you with your quest."

Artorias quickly shook his head, "I cannot allow that. I am the only one in this world with enough power to face off against the darkness, and with the knowledge to do so. This is what I was meant to do, and I intend to do it for as long as I still breathe." He raised his sword once again, challenging the ponies to defy him yet again. "Now, will you or will you not take me there?"

"Pfft, yeah yeah, 'big scary knight.' Put down that sword, you know that you won't really hurt us." Rainbow said, her ego clearly getting the best of her, "You may have stabbed Discord, but you knew he could heal with your magic, so it wasn't a big deal."

"Hey!"

"In any case," Rainbow continued, confidently poking her hoof into the knight's chest, "Seeing how you're not only a visitor to our world, but also that you're outnumbered eight to one, I'd suggest you listen to us, and let us help you."

The library had fallen silent. 'Did she forget what he could do?!?' Twilight thought, nervously looking from the prismatic pegasus to the towering knight. 'Does she not understand the extent of his power?' She thought for another moment, 'Do any of us?'

Artorias simply stayed silent. Him and Rainbow were having a staring contest, his height allowing him to loom over her and the other ponies menacingly. Wordlessly, he placed his sword onto the ground, alongside his shield. Seeing the confused look upon the other's faces, and the cocky smirk on Rainbow's, he decided to elaborate: "You know not what I am capable of, little one. I have slain many a foe greater than any in this room, and I will continue to do so until my time has come." Before Rainbow could interrupt him, he held up a hand to stop her. "My weapons may be able to take you down with ease, but I assure you that, even without my sword, I can kill any of you faster than you could blink."

Rainbow grinned at that, "Yeah right. You're looking at the fastest pegasus alive right here, there's no way I wouldn't see you coming from a mile away!" She leveled her gaze, hovering so she could be eye level to him. "Now, why don't you drop your pointless tough guy act, and let us help you?"

Without any hesitation, with no warning, Artorias' hand shot forward, and grabbed her by the throat. "I am growing impatient." He said, making sure that she could breathe just enough to stay awake. "I did not want any of this, You could've led me to the Abyss without any fuss, and none of this would've happened. But now, you have attempted to intimidate me, hurt me, and delay me in my quest to stop the primeval man known as Manus. I am sorry, but I will not allow any more delays."

With that, he threw her towards the ground, a sickening *CRUNCH* coming from one of her wings. She screamed in pain as Artorias simply grabbed his weapons and made for the door. "Heal her, please!" he heard Twilight say, the desparation in her voice extremely apparent.

He turned for a moment, and continued to walk out, ignoring their cries of anger, pain, and betrayal. One voice, however, he stopped for. "I brought you to this world, and this is how you treat us? Hostility and anger?"

Discords voice made him stop cold. 'ask for the lord of chaos... of course it was him.' the knight turned towards the group, which was now huddled around Rainbow Dash, Twilights horn glowing softly in what he assumed was an attempt to stop the pain. "Discord," He said, getting the creature to look at him. "I should've stayed dead in Oolacile. I was not meant for this world."

With that, he left the tree house, not knowing of what awaited him at Ghastly Gorge.

After taking Rainbow Dash to the hospital, the other five elements and Celestia met up in the center of town to go to ghastly gorge.

"While he is immensely more powerful than I previously expected," Celestia said as their group trotted at a brisk pace, "I believe that with the element of surprise, we should be able to at least subdue him long enough to talk some sense into him." As the group continued to run, Celestia's horn glowed with golden light, and a small yellow ball erupted from it, flying off towards Canterlot. "I have sent word to my sister to meet us there. She was always better with spells than me, and it should pay off here."

Twilight looked up at the princess with worry in her eyes, "What if it's not enough? What if he has more magic that we haven't seen yet?"

"I know he does, Twilight," Celestia slowed down a bit, letting the group catch their breath for the time being, "he showed us some incredible things back there, but I somehow doubt a seasoned warrior such as him would show all of his attacks to anyone, even an ally."

'Or a former ally' Twilight thought bitterly, as they resumed their fast pace towards the gorge.

During their trot, the group saw a midnight blue carriage flying in above them. The two ponies piloting it, night guards, banked left and began to land close to their position. Celestia ran ahead to their landing zone, and began conversing with Luna who, at this point, had stepped out of her transport. The girls caught up, and Luna looked to them with a grim expression on her face. "While it may have been Discord who brought this 'Artorias' here, his coming is no mistake." Luna walked up to Twilight, "Discord merely ensured he kept his original form through the portal that had taken him here. Portals to other worlds tend to make you a denizen of the world, and if that had happened to sir Artorias, I fear he wouldn't be here."

Twilight looked baffled. "Wait, why are you concerned for him? He stabbed Discord, threatened Celestia, and broke Rainbow Dash's wing! If anything, we should go back to get the elements!" All of her friends nodded in agreement save Pinkie, who was still being depressed in the corner.

"Twilight Sparkle, while we know not to trust Discord, we also know that there is a foe far more powerful awaiting our world in that gorge." Luna sighed deeply, remembering all the times they tried to question what Discord did, "It would be best if we made peace with sir Artorias, and give ourselves an invaluable ally in the war that is to come." With that said, Luna teleported herself away from her guards and the group, likely to go encounter Artorias for herself.

After Luna did this, Rarity turned to Celestia and said, "Why didn't we just do that from the beginning?"

Celestia furrowed her brow, thinking back to when they began trotting. "Well, I... forgot?" She gave Rarity an embarrassed look, "I'm sorry, but some rather old and horrifying memories have been brought to the forefront of my head, and they have clouded my mind ever since." She looked towards where Luna teleported, "But now, I believe we may take our time. Artorias might be strong and fast, but my sister is unmatched in magical prowess.

"If anypony can talk some sense into that knight, it's her."

Princess Luna popped into existence about a foot away from the edge of Ghastly gorge. She looked into the great cut in the earth, and saw only darkness. 'So it is true, then,' she thought, growing afraid of the darkness below, 'the Abyss has awakened once again...' With a beat of her wings, she sent herself flying over the gorge, observing just how far the darkness had spread. 'Excellent, it is still contained within the gorge. perhaps if we collapsed it...'

Her train of thought was stopped when she saw a lone figure approaching the darkness, striding tall and unafraid of what lies below. She descended to meet him, who she assumed was the knight she had heard so much about. Landing in front of him, she noticed the knight tense up at her sudden appearance. In a deep gravely voice he spoke, "Who are you, and why do you stand in my way?"

"You need not be so hostile, Knight Artorias," Luna said, looking up at the towering knight, "While my sister may care not about the way you speak to her, I do. And I am-"

"Princess Luna, the herald of the night." Artorias finished, impatience edging into his voice. "Your sister told me that much, and that's all I need to know. Now step aside, lest you get hurt." He began forward, but was stopped when she stepped into his way yet again. "Luna, I wish not to harm you or any other under your rule. But if you and your sister continue to force my hand, I will not hesitate to do so."

She didn't move an inch. "Knight Artorias, you are not prepared to face what lies beneath that curtain of shadows." Luna stepped back slightly, looking into his eyes, "The darkness is ripe with dangers even you would be hard pressed to fight, and you need assistance." It was at this moment, she realized that a strange noise had been coming from the ancient warrior.

He was chuckling.

Luna blanched, not at all used to ponies outright laughing at her, especially when she was warning them of the imminent danger! "How dare you laugh at me!" She stomped right up to him and hit him in the chest with her hoof, doing nothing more than gaining his attention once again. "Explain thyself at once, knight! Why dost thou laugh at us?"

Once Artorias had collected himself, he took a deep breath. "My apologies, princess, but having someone else warn me of the dangers lurking in what used to be my domain simply made me laugh, that's all." At her startled look, he explained a bit further, "You see, Luna, before I came here I fought Manus himself in combat. My sword arm had been broken saving..." He paused, seemingly uncomfortable with bringing up the one he saved, "... someone, from the clutches of darkness. Naturally, without my good arm, I was horribly outmatched. Instead of killing me in search of his pendant, he simply converted me into his slave."

Luna, surprised at the honesty, thought his speech over for a moment, before something stuck out at her. "Wait, sir Artorias, what was this about a pendant?"

"The broken pendant that was dug from the grave of Manus is what brought about his ire in my world," he said, glancing down into the chasm beside them, "I would assume he simply has a grudge with this world for defeating him once before, if Celestia's tale was to be believed." Artorias sighed, a deep sadness settling into his eyes. "I have seen what Manus can bring about. The damage that comes from his coming to any world. For such a thing to happen to this place, this land of friendship," Artorias whipped his head to Luna, a fierce glare in the eyes of the warrior. "That, princess, is why I was summoned. I will not allow such a thing to befall your people."

At that moment, when Artorias set his shoulders and stared into her very essence, Luna knew what he said top be true. He would brave the everlasting darkness below, and sacrifice his own soul, his very existence, just to save her ponies. 'But why? This stranger to the land, why must he be the one to sacrifice so much for ones who he has hardly interacted with?' Steeling herself, Luna met his gaze with her own, determined look. "You and I have the same goal, Artorias. I fully intend to plunge into that darkness, and vanquish whatever eldritch horrors lie beyond. I will go, whether I follow after you, or beside you."

Artorias, seeing her determined expression, sighed in defeat. "Very well, Luna. I will allow you to come with me, and aide me in my journey through the Abyss. But know this," Artorias raised a finger and pointed it in her face, stopping just short of touching her snout, "what we are about to walk into is something you have never seen before. The things we shall likely encounter beyond the veil of shadows are more gruesome than your worst nightmare, and I will not slow down if you fall behind."

"Knight Artorias, I was trapped on our moon for a thousand years." Artorias looked surprised a bit, but nonetheless stayed silent, "For all that time, three wars fell upon my ponies, and I was up there, completely unable to help in the slightest.

"If you think your warnings will stop me from protecting my ponies yet again," She gained a sadistic smile, "then you will learn why my sister needed the elements to banish me all those years ago."

With a smile and a nod, Artorias and Luna plunged into the deep dark side by side, prepared for the horrors Manus' Abyss would place in their way.

Taking the plunge

On and on they fell, Luna becoming unaware of the amount of time they'd been falling. Had it been seconds? days? months? Time was a relative concept in this deep expanse of darkness that Manus called home. Luna tried to feel around with her magic, attempting to find a wall, or some other point of reference, but was unable to. She looked to her left, where Knight Artorias fell alongside her, stoic as one of her own night guards, and nearly as silent.

"We are approaching the bottom, princess," she heard him say, Artorias briefly glancing over to her, "I'd suggest casting some sort of feather falling spell on yourself, it's going to be a rough landing." True to his word, Luna looked down and saw a great expanse of grey coming up to meet them, supposedly the ground.

Casting a quick spell over herself, Luna instantly became immune to the fall, and therefore no longer worried for her safety. Artorias, however, never made a move to cast anything. He simply continued falling like a massive rock, not slowing in any way. "Artorias," Luna asked, "would you like me to cast the spell on you as well? I can cast it again and still defend myself."

"No need, Princess, I can survive the fall." With that, the two hit the ground, Luna landing with a soft thud, and Artorias slamming down into a kneeling position, his sword already prepared in his left hand. "Ah, it feels good to have this arm hold a sword yet again," Artorias said, giving a few practice swings to the air in front of him, "my time as a corrupted champion of this place kept my arm broken, so I was always forced to use my right hand."

Luna nodded in understanding, before walking closer to him. "So, Artorias, now that we are down here, where must we go to encounter the one called Manus? Do you know the path?" Artorias looked around them, and at the great expanse of grey land they were standing on. He went to his knee yet again, and scooped some of the ground into his hand. He brought it up to the visor of his helmet, and sniffed it. "What are you doing, exactly?"

"All will be explained in a moment, please allow me to concentrate." Artorias quickly said, returning to his strange observations of the ground beneath them. He seemed to be doing multiple unorthodox tests on it; tasting the dirt, smelling it, rubbing it on his gauntlet, strange things like that. After about five minutes of Artorias making a fool of himself, he stood and turned to Luna. "Alright, here's the problem Luna. This Abyss is different than the one I am used to. I know not how to navigate it, or where we will find Manus, and we are effectively trapped down here until Manus is defeated, or he storms the surface."

Luna took a moment to let what he said sink into her mind. Finally, she spoke up, "So, you mean to tell me, that after all of those strange things that you did to the dirt, all you have to say is the layout is different than you're used to?" At Artorias' nod, she just sighed in defeat. "Well, let's start walking then."

With that, they turned in the same direction, and began to walk, knowing not what lurked ahead in the darkness.

Back on the surface, Princess Celestia and the elements, minus Rainbow Dash, arrived at the edge of the gorge. Celestia sent a message to the captain of her guard, as well as Luna's, to come to the gorge to assist with containment. Ten minutes after her message was sent, several pops were heard behind the group, and when they turned, a small army stood behind them, beginning to set up camp at the edge. "Punctual as always, captain." Celestia said to a pony walking up to her. He wore the decorated armor that Shining Armor once wore, before he was permanently stationed to the Crystal Empire to protect it alongside his wife.

"Captain Iron Hoof reporting, your majesty." He offered a quick salute, to which she replied with a curt nod. "My stallions are setting up base camp over there, so I'd like to know what's going on, if you don't mind me asking, your highness."

Celestia rolled her eyes playfully, "Captain, while I appreciate the sincerity, I have told you many a time that you need not address me by any titles. In public yes, but we are around friends." At his nod, she continued. "Now, first of all, I need your five best fliers to report to me immediately. What I have to say they must carry on to our allied nations."

Iron Hoof nodded and turned around, shouting for five pegasi to come to them. Once they arrived, the captain turned back to the princess. "I'm sure I don't need to introduce you. You asked for the best, and the Wonderbolts are just that."

Celestia sighed. "Very well. I would've preferred somepony a bit less 'high profile' but they will do." Spitfire smirked, and Iron smacked her in the back of the head, making her wince, but causing her to focus on the princess' speech. "What I am about to tell you is not to leave this camp. The only others you will tell are to be the world leaders I sent you to. Not to their messengers, not to their consorts, not to anyone but themselves personally, do you understand?"

"Yes, princess," the Wonderbolts said in unison, saluting.

"Very well. Let us begin." With that final sentence, Celestia began telling them the same tale she had told the elements in the library earlier that day, although she cut it down to the bare essentials. Coming to an end, Celestia began explaining the situation. "This tale was not for your benefit, and it was not the message. The message you will carry is this: 'The darkness returns in the pale eclipse.' Bring this message to the leaders of the Griffins, the Minotaurs, the Zebras, the Dragons, and the Horses. I will contact the less friendly ones myself." Celestia heaved a great sigh, and looked into the setting sun with weary eyes. "Manus is to return to this world, and I'll not have him destroy it again."

The Wonderbolts saluted. "We won't let you down, ma'am." Spitfire said, ordering takeoff for the others in her squad. They all flew off in different directions, heading towards each leader with due haste.

"Great, now with that out of the way, Celestia." The captain said, gaining the attention of the princess, "What would the containment procedures be in this situation? How are we to contain the darkness within?"

Celestia looked down into the Abyss, and a deep sense of dread filled her heart. "With how large the tear is, captain, I'm amazed it has not sent anything into Equestria yet." She looked back over to Iron Hoof, her eyes set into a piercing glare, betraying her emotions towards the situation they are being held in. "There will be no containing it now, Iron. Our only hope is to slay whatever comes through, and hope that Manus himself is feeling lazy."

"Very well, I will have my best ponies standing guard at all times." With a salute, Iron Hoof trotted back to the main encampment, immediately barking orders at lazy privates.

Celestia had never felt older than that moment. Staring deep into the eternal darkness waiting below, she wondered what would become of them. 'Last time, my parents and most of the other elders had to sacrifice themselves simply to send him away,' She looked away and began heading towards the main barracks the guards had set up. 'I pray to whatever gods may listen that it will be easier.'

"Princess?" Twilight said, snapping Celestia out of her stupor, "You don't need to worry. Princess Luna knows what she's doing, and I'm sure Artorias will be able to handle anything Manus can do." She nuzzled Celestia, "They will be able to do this. I know they can."

"I pray that you're right, Twilight." Princess Celestia said. She continued to look deep into the Abyss, sharp pangs of fear rocketing through her body and mind as if she was a small filly again, afraid of the dark. Subconsciously, and not without her present company noticing, Celestia reached a hoof up and began rubbing it against her chest piece, the gold decoration shifting softly against her barrel. "Because if you're not, our world will be torn asunder by the dark powers that lie in wait below."

Artorias and Luna walked side by side, neither one willing to stray from their set path, lest they lose one another. The dark Alicorn, despite being in control of many powers of darkness herself, felt a great sense of fear and foreboding in the black fog that constantly choked out any light source they attempted to make.

Pony magic, in reality, is just about useless in the Abyss, Luna had discovered. When she attempted to create a light source with her magic, the darkness jumped out at her, attempting to latch onto her horn. Artorias was quick to dispel it, but Luna didn't risk activating her magic again. "Your magic attracts the darkness like a moth to the flame, Luna," Artorias later told her, "it is unique in this place, so it will do whatever it can to get rid of it. The fact that you could soften your fall was simply because our velocity was too much for the darkness to grab a hold of you, apparently."

"So what you're saying, is if I try to use any magic, it will be taken by the darkness?" Artorias nodded, and Luna looked to her horn. With a sigh, she looked back to the ground they were walking on. Remembering something Celestia had mentioned in her letter, she quickly began to speak, "Sir Artorias, if my magic is unable to be used in this place, then how would yours fare? Would it have the same fate as my own?"

Artorias chuckled at the question, withdrawing a small flame into his hand. "Not at all, princess. You see, Manus is originally from my world, as is the Abyss that he now controls. It may look different than my worlds Abyss, certainly," The flame in his hand flared up in intensity, and a large fireball was sent hurtling through the darkness, sailing into the distance until it landed and dissipated. "but it still stays true to the same laws. Therefore, the only difference is the kind of magic we use."

"And what would the difference be? I too can cast fireballs, but simply not in this place, while you can."

"It's not the spell that matters, but where the magic comes from within yourself, princess." Artorias stopped, and allowed Luna to approach him for a demonstration. He pulled out the gnarled staff he used to show his magic off to the elements, and showed it to Luna. "Answer me this, Luna. When you cast a spell, from what energy source does the spell draw within you?"

"That is simple, really." Luna sat on her haunches, preparing to go into lecture mode, something she would never tell her sister she did, "The magic cast by a unicorn, or in this case an Alicorn, comes from a pool of mana that resides within our bodies. All ponies have this mana, but are simply able to use it in different ways. Earth ponies channel theirs into their hooves to till the fields and plant trees, Pegasi channel it into their wings to manipulate clouds and fly faster, and Unicorns channel them into their horns, effectively giving us enhanced magical capabilities over the other two races. As Alicorns, me and my sister have not only a much larger pool of mana, but we are also able to channel it into any of the three types of pony magic, or all of them at once."

"Very interesting, very interesting indeed." Artorias took the staff and held it close to him. "Magic works much differently in my world. We do not have a specific mana we channel, but our spells are limited by the scrolls we use to harness them. Instead of this mana pool you use, we have developed the ability to use magic by utilizing our own life force. In other words," He fired off a soul spear into the distance, watching it as it faded away, "what you just saw was an extension of myself. A spear made purely of soul energy, sharp enough to pierce any shield, and deadly enough to slay the hardiest of beasts."

Luna watched the spear go, jaw dropped to the floor. "You... you use your life force? The magic of your people is Soul Magic?!" At Artorias' nod, Luna shook her head, "Such practices have been highly illegal in Equestria for eons. We never believed that anypony remembered it, and now I am learning that an entire world uses that as its main source of magic."

"Perhaps an exception can be made in the laws, Luna." Artorias chuckled a bit, putting his staff away and retrieving his sword yet again. "After all, I am unable to use magic other than when I'm explicitly trying to, so there's no particular risk in allowing me to continue-"

Artorias stopped suddenly, his head darting to Luna's right, an aura of hatred suddenly radiating off the knight. "Artorias, what is-"

"Quiet," he hissed at her, his off hand quickly filling with a small talisman. "Get behind me, and stay there. Our enemy has noticed our presence." After he said that, a white glow encompassed his right hand, the talisman giving off a soft white light. The next second, a white barrier cast itself around Artorias, just in time for him to get hit in the chest by what looked like an orb of pure darkness. Without hesitation, Artorias lunged forward into the darkness, an inhuman scream following him to his attacker.

Luna heard very little of what happened beyond the veil of darkness, but what she did hear involved meaty slashing noises and gurgled screams of pain. Artorias returned looking perfectly fine, aside from the black goop covering his armor. "Am I to assume that they are not welcoming us?"

He chuckled. "Well, it appears that you have a sense of humor after all, Princess. We may become friends yet." With that, he stalked towards her side and motioned for her to come closer. "Now, onto more important matters. I assume you're aware that your weapon situation is quite... grim at the moment, yes?"

Luna nodded, confirming his suspicions. "To be honest, We had fully expected to be able to use our magic to create a sword, or simply cast offensive spells, but that apparently is not an option."

"Very well. I shall entrust you with this then." With that, Artorias reached into his bottomless bag and pulled out a weapon. It looked to be a simple sickle, just curved to be more circular. The handle had what looked like leather, and from Luna's point of view, it looked sharper than anything she or any of her blacksmiths could ever forge. "This, Luna, is known as a Shotel. If used properly, not only can it cause major bleeding in targets hit by it, it also has the unique ability to completely cut through enemy shields. Basically, it's essential for taking down enemies that have a tendency to... 'turtle up' as we might have once said in Anor Londo."

"So, it has a shield piercing enchantment, then?" Luna said, eyeing the piece of metal in her hand, "You didn't have to make it sound so cryptic, Artorias."

"That's because that's not what I said, Luna." Artorias took the blade away from her, and stood up. "Allow me to demonstrate to you what this thing is capable of." With that, the knight stood up and walked a small distance away, taking out his shield in the process. "Now, pay close attention to the blade, and you will understand." With that, he planted his shield into the soft ground, wound up his arm, and swung as hard as he could.

The blade went directly through the shield. No teleporting, no moving out of the way, the blade simply went right through. "Wha... bwuh...?" Luna, understandably, was confused. After all, laws of physics exist stating that exactly what just happened shouldn't happen without magic of some sort, and she had just witnessed those laws breaking for the second time. The first time was an unfortunate experience with a certain pink party pony, but that is a story for another day.

"While it may be prone to do this, know that it only works when you attack with all of your might. If you simply try to chip away at enemies, then it will just bounce off the shield." With that being said, Artorias tossed her the shotel, which she caught in her mouth, ignoring the obvious taste of a leather handle. "Now, with that out of the way," Artorias pulled his shield out of the ground and set it into his right hand, "How about we close some distance between us and the primordial man?"

With that, Knight and Princess sprinted off into the darkness, both prepared for anything that could stand in their way.

Deep in the darkness, an evil presence stirred, annoyed that those he had been watching simply left. With an angry guttural noise, it shifted into a dark mist and followed close behind, making sure the ones it's following would never sense it among the darkness.

Author's Note

To be completely honest, I'm fuckin horrible at writing military encampments into my stories. I'm more affiliated with something like a barbarian tribe, or just sticking with the whole solo and small group adventure thing. Military ain't my shtick, so I feel like I won't be focusing on that.

Meh, it was mainly to give an excuse for Celestia to send somepony to the other nations of the world in warning.

Anyway, here's the next chapter! Raw, unedited, and filled with more new questions than an episode of Lost. Must be a day that ends with 'y' am I right? Don't answer, I know I'm an idiot. Plus it was kinda rushed, as my new schedule for writing has made things a bit hectic for now, but in the end, I think it turned out at least mostly okay.

Well, that's all I really have to say. I hope y'all enjoyed it to some degree, and I want you to know that I've already started the next chapter, although, once again, I'm not very consistent when it comes to updates, especially with the new stories I'm trying to fit into all of this. Nevertheless, look forward to it. Or don't, I can't exactly make you.

As always, feel free to point anything out that you found to be wrong or misspelled down in the comments below, and I hope you all have a nice day.

Meeting of the great leaders

Author's Note

So, I've got some explaining to do.

Sorry for the wait, but in the time between chapters, I read my story again and didn't like how it looked. Read more into the inevitable rewrite in this blog post.

Anyway, if the rewrite goes as planned, then I hope to speak with you again soon. Enjoy the chapter, although it's written quite sloppily. It's short and I didn't take as much time to edit as I would've liked. Don't worry though, it'll be getting rewritten too, except this will be the last rewrite before I start working on any new chapters.

Meeting of the great leaders

Lordran, Firelink Shrine

The chosen undead was tired. After a long and arduous battle against Seath, a legendary scaleless dragon, he warped to Firelink to gain some semblance of rest. The crestfallen warrior that always sat on a pillar near the bonfire was gone, possibly attempting to end his torment himself. The chosen one didn't much care for him in the first place, but was glad he wasn't here. Silence is what he needed now, and the world seemed as if it would give it to him.

The world, however, had different plans, as the primordial serpent Frampt saw the warrior simply basking in the fire's heat. "Chosen undead, have you completed your task that has been laid before you?" Frampt asked, knowing the truth, "Because you know that it is necessary for the future of this world that the fire be kindled."

"And how will that happen, Frampt?" The chosen undead asked, in a rare bout of speech. "You've told me that all I need to do is gather the four lord souls and offer them at the altar, simply so I can succeed lord Gwyn and inherit the flames. What then? Will the world simply become a better place? Will all of our problems simply cease to be, and all of the demons will return to whatever realm they once came from?"

"I'm sure something will be worked out with the demons-"

"No, Frampt, nothing will be worked out. The demons will still be running free, the world will still be broken, timelines will still be skewed, and the only thing that will change is Gwyn will die, and I will apparently rule over this new world." He paused to take a breath, and look at the stunned serpent. "This world is cursed, Frampt. Not the curse of the undead, not simply a curse that can kill, but a curse that sends this world into torment. Ever since fire was discovered beneath the ancient dragon's feet, giants and humans alike have constantly been fighting over one thing or another. I'm beginning to think that we can only wait until the day the earth dies, and we all perish along with it."

Frampt shook his head, "Nevertheless, warrior, you cannot know any of that to be true unless you defeat Gwyn, and take his place in the fire. Perhaps it will not fix everything as you said, but there is always a possibility that sacrificing yourself will fix the world, and all that is ailing it. The only way you may tell is through the doors behind the altar."

The chosen undead sighed, standing from his position at the bonfire. "Whatever, serpent. I have three of the four lord souls, so I must continue going. Farewell, Frampt. I shall see you again soon."

With those parting words, the chosen undead ran towards the catacombs, aiming to obtain his fourth and final lord soul.

Artorias and Luna pressed ever onward, allowing themselves to be lead by the Abyss' inhabitants, slowly but surely making progress though this dark and desolate place. Every once in a while, Artorias would stray from their intended path, just to test and see if Manus would be paying attention. Every time, without fail, a humanity creature would pop out of the darkness, its white eyes looming over his head.

After what he assumed to be a good ten hours of walking, he could hear Luna panting behind him, clearly winded from their endless trek through darkness. Turning back, he regarded her weary state with a critical eye only a warrior could gain through years and years of battle. What he saw wasn't pretty. "Perhaps you should return to the surface, Luna. You don't appear to be in any condition to do battle against the evils of this place."

Looking up into his helmet, Luna steeled her tired gaze and shook her head. "Nay, sir Artorias, we shall press on 'till we can walk no more." Luna began forward yet again, but was stopped by an armored hand. Looking up once again, she addressed the knight angrily. "I understand thy worry, Artorias, but I assure you, I will be fine. 'Tis been far too long since I have done anything so dangerous, I'm afraid that I have grown a little soft..."

"I understand, princess." Artorias reached into his item bag, "But allow me to assist you." Holding his hand out, he gave her two items that she gingerly took in her hooves. One a green moss type plant that seemed to glow with energy. The other, a small white bone that appeared to be composed of pure magic. "Eat the grass, then crush the bone beneath your hoof. It will help, I promise."

Nodding, Luna took the strange magical plant into her mouth and ate it, immediately receiving its magical benefits. "Amazing! I feel invigorated once again! What was that curious plant?"

"It was a green blossom. A few leaves of that, and you will have stamina enough for ten grown men. Now, princess, the bone?" She nodded towards him, giddy and glad that she can continue.

Upon breaking the bone, Princess Luna was immediately swept away in magical dust, taken back to wherever she considered home.

"I truly am sorry, Princess Luna. You were an excellent companion," Knight Artorias spoke to the empty darkness around him, slowly drawing his sword from its sheath, "but this is a quest I cannot allow any other to partake." With a shout, he began sprinting with incredible speed in a random direction, immediately encountering and slaying three humanity sprites.

'I must find him quickly, lest he gains more power and begins his siege on the surface.' Running into what he assumed was the horizon, Artorias swung his sword in front of him expertly, never slowing, never stopping.

Whatever horrors Manus has conjured up this time, Artorias knew he would face them, or truly die trying. He would not allow himself to be corrupted yet again, and would not allow Manus to do to this peaceful land what he once did to Oolacile.

At the surface camp, Celestia and the Elements were organizing evacuation efforts as smoothly as possible. Nopony was told exactly what was going on, or how dire the circumstance. They were allowed plenty of time to pack, although few did, seeing that Princess Celestia herself was organizing the efforts. Upon seeing her outside their door, most of the ponies on Ponyville would immediately sprint out of their homes, joining the rest of the evacuated ponies.

A few hours after she had sent the Wonderbolts away with their messages, the Abyss began its assault. It was only a paltry few enemies, but they were enough to break through the guards stationed around the gorge. It took Celestia's light magic to slay them effectively, as they were too fast and unpredictable with their movements. The horrible bloated creatures were just the beginning, though, and Celestia had immediately ordered Ponyville evacuated. The elements, of course, immediately volunteered for the evacuation crew.

Now, every single pony or otherwise that lived in or around Ponyville was getting loaded into several trains to take them to several different cities, the bulk of ponies going directly to the palace itself. 'They will be safe there, for the time being.' Celestia thought to herself, beckoning Twilight and her friends to come with her back to the military camp.

Upon returning, immediately Celestia's gaze was drawn to the many new occupants of said camp. Dragons, huge mountains of scale and muscle, stood angrily around the gorge, staring into the deep depths of the Abyss. Griffons, ever the stalwart soldiers, stood with Iron Hoof, discussing military strategies and defense points. Minotaurs sharpened their weapons in the back, eagerly awaiting the inevitable battle with an almost uncontrollable blood lust. Zebras stood in a corner by themselves, brewing potions and chanting defense hexes. The horses were nowhere to be seen, but Celestia expects them to arrive later anyway.

Approaching the camp, every occupant immediately stopped what they were doing to regard the princess and her entourage. At once, a dragon landed in front of her, its black scales glinting in the light of the setting sun. Immediately following the dragon was a Griffon with golden feathers, the clear mark of a royal bird, and a massive Minotaur, even by their standards.

"The time for formalities and hatred is now in the past, Celestia," the Griffon leader said, nodding towards her in respect, "we are all here to aid in our plight."

"The bird is correct," The Minotaur replied, stepping forward, "Our nations have been cold towards each other as of late, but I am willing to set that aside for this sort of problem." He then proceeded to kneel in front of her, a gesture that showed her his words spoke true.

The Zebra mare that stood next to the great trio simply nodded to Celestia knowingly, acknowledging that they would always be allies.

All parties looked towards the great black dragon, who had yet to speak at all. Slowly, it lowered its large head to be eye level with the Princess. "Know this, ruler of these ponies: We are not friends. As a matter of fact, I despise your race. The only true reason that I have not ordered your country burned to cinders is because of your control over magic and the celestial bodies." Celestia secretly knew the dragon was lying, but allowed him to continue anyway. "However, this is not a threat that the dragons or any other race can face alone, even those with such magical prowess as you. I will be an ally in this endeavor, but likely no other."

"I'm glad for your allegiance, Darkscale," she said to the dragon, nodding deeply at the massive head. "As I am for you three as well, King Gold feather, King Strong Arm, High Priestess." She bowed deeply to the trio of rulers, and they reciprocated. "Now, onto business."

Celestia's horn glowed with a sickly green light, forming an orb and shooting it to the horizon to the south. She did the same with many different colors of magic, and shot them in seemingly random directions. After she was done, she turned again to the six mares behind her. "Twilight, are you aware of what I have just done?"

Looking around a bit owlishly, she snapped her head back to Celestia, "Um, I'm afraid I'm not, princess."

"What I did was send the same message that these four leaders received to every other nation across the world. That means the Changelings, the Naga, and many others that Equestria has long since considered to be either hostile or extinct. I need the words of you and your friends that no ill intentions will show up during their stay here. You need not make friends with Chrysalis, but tolerate her presence, as this is not something we can do without her, or any other.

"Do you understand?" Celestia ended, questioning Twilight.

Twilight herself faced a dilemma. She hated Queen Chrysalis for what she did to her brother's wife, but ultimately understands that this matter is something Equestria has never truly experienced before. "I, and my friends, will do our best to hold back our grudges, right everypony?" She turned back to see her five friends nodding together, coming to the same conclusion she did.

"Good, because it appears she will be arriving first," Celestia said, looking towards a growing black cloud of changelings in the distance.

Gathering forces

Princess Luna awoke with a gasp, standing up to find herself inside of her room in the castle. Confusion encompassed her being as she looked around, not fully comprehending what led to her being here. 'Let's see...' She thought, bringing a hoof to her chin in thought, 'Knight Artorias gave me that green blossom to give me stamina, and the bone to crush beneath my hoof...' Looking down at her hooves, she saw no trace of anything that resembled bone. '...'

"THAT SCOUNDREL!"

The entirety of the castle staff, what was still in the castle anyway, was awoken by her deafening shout echoing through the castle. With a resounding crash, Luna's doors were broken open to make way for the furious princess. Spreading her wings, she took flight through the halls and out the front gates, startling the skeleton crew of guards left behind to tend to any problems.

Looking at each other in confusion and mutual understanding, the guards decided it would be best to simply turn around and walk inside, ignoring the royal blue missile heading for Ponyville.

Back at Ghastly Gorge, preparations were being made even as Celestia's new allies were being tested. Machines of war that had not been used in millenniums were being brought out of storage and placed strategically by several large dragons. Minotaurs and Griffons were leading the ponies in both training exercises, and cutting whatever came out of the darkness to pieces.

"The Abyss seems to have stopped its spread for now," Celestia said to the other species' leaders, "But we must not let our guard down. As long as this opening is still here, more and more creatures shall come out as time goes on. We will need 24 hour surveillance on the gorge, as well as magical containment procedures."

The Minotaur King hefted his large war hammer, chuckling lightly to himself. "My warriors can hold the line for many days. They've been trained to need little sleep." Strong Arm looked to the black dragon standing to his right, "And I'm sure dragons share a similar ability of needing little sleep, isn't that right Darkscale?"

"You would be correct, bovine." The great black dragon lifted his head and gave a shout in his native language. Two massive red dragons landed beside him, and with a quick command from their ruler, they began flying and circling the Abyss, shooting small jets of flame at anything that looked to be coming from the darkness. "They will be patrolling until they wither away, should I command it. The others that I brought for now are building several ballista from the forest of Everfree."

Celestia gave a sigh, "I wish you had asked me before they began to cut down that forest, but I cannot deny that they will be helpful, should Manus himself come from this opening. Hopefully, Artorias will be able to weaken him, if not slay him altogether."

"Ah yes, and this 'Artorias' you keep mentioning. Who might that be, exactly?" King Gold Feather asked, scratching his beak.

"I suppose I should have mentioned him earlier, but it must have slipped my mind. Artorias is a knight from another world, in fact, he hails from the same world as Manus does originally." The other rulers looked rather surprised at that, and before they could speak up about this, Celestia continued, "He has fought Manus before, and unfortunately lost. After he gave me a demonstration of his powers though, I believe he has a slim chance of victory, perhaps even more than we would, fighting as individuals, anyway."

"And you sent him in, alone, regardless of the fact that he has lost once before with those very same abilities on his side? Oh Celestia, you never fail to amuse me with how unbearably naive you can be." A harsh, dual toned voice added. Looking to the sky, the Changeling hoard had arrived in full, changelings immediately beginning to set up camps and start patrolling. There were some dirty looks from the Equestrian guards, but overall, the armies seemed to get along fine.

Celestia turned fully towards Chrysalis, eyeing the changeling up and down. "I hope my message didn't reach you at a bad time. Despite what happened at the wedding, I would still like to negotiate peace at a later time." Chrysalis visibly flinched at the mention of the wedding, but said nothing. "And for your information, my sister Luna went into the Abyss with Knight Artorias. I'm confident in their abilities."

Chrysalis gave Celestia a confused look, and pointed back towards Canterlot. "Then why, may I ask, is she flying here from Canterlot as we speak?"

"Huh?" Celestia looked and, sure enough, there was a small blue dot rapidly approaching from the capital city. Looking closer, she could indeed confirm that as her sister. "But... how did she..."

The blue dot disappeared, and with a resounding pop, Princess Luna appeared between the two conversing rulers, panting lightly from the flight. She turned to Celestia and began to speak: "Sister, there are many foes in yonder Abyss. Knight Artorias and I slew many, yet only more came. He gave us some sort of plant to rejuvenate our stamina, and a strange bone to crush beneath our hooves. When we crushed it, we awoke in our bedchambers, and returned here posthaste. What is the situation on the surface?"

Celestia shook her head a bit to clear the confusion. Gathering herself, she replied "The situation is as good as it can get under these circumstances. Small groups of Abyss creatures walk out, get incinerated by dragons, and blasted by our mages. With the addition of the Changelings, the defenses should hold indefinitely." As an afterthought, she added "And watch your language Luna, you're slipping back into the old tongue."

Clearing her throat, Luna nodded and turned to the rest of the gathered leaders. She bowed her head slightly, "I apologize for not being here to greet you all, but I was in the Abyss with Artorias, and otherwise preoccupied."

"Think nothing of it, my dear." Gold feather said with a wave of his talon, "You were on the front lines. As much as I would like to be upset with you for not being here, being in the Abyss is a rather good excuse."

"What do you intend to do now, Princess?" The minotaur asked, glancing once again to the gaping darkness that is the Abyss, "You cannot be considering going back in there, can you?"

Luna shook her head. "We had traveled far from the place we landed first. I am afraid that, even with my powers over darkness, I cannot navigate too well in the Abyss. I will stay up here and conduct military matters." She began walking away, only to turn back with a rather sly grin, "My sister has never been one for tactics, her strengths lie in politics."

Celestia rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof. She had been found out.

Artorias strode through the rocky terrain of the Abyss for hours upon hours. Time was strange in this place, that is true, but the Knight would not be denied his final battle. Creature after creature were slain by his blade. Bloated excuses of humans, Chained prisoners, humanity sprites, and any other foul beast the Abyss could throw. All were cut down in Artorias' deadly march towards he who ruled the Abyss.

Artorias came across another drop off. Sighing heavily, he stepped back, dashed forward, and leaped through the air, dropping below. Yet again, he dropped for what seemed like an eternity, until finally his boots hit something that could be considered ground, although it just seemed like he was standing in the inky blackness, hovering in place. Looking about for any landmarks, and finding none, Artorias continues to move forward before a sudden screech stops him from walking.

Turning to face the noise beheld a massive grey warrior, seemingly covered in petrified spikes. It simply hovered through the darkness, going well below where Artorias stood, and well above his height. In its hand was a massive, gray wavy sword that didn't seem too sharp. It gave another ear splitting roar, and began hovering towards the Abyss knight.

'So... the Four Kings are here as well... So be it.' With a roar of his own, Artorias rushed forward to meet the charging king, only to quickly roll to the right as a beam of purple energy shot toward him. Standing back up from his dive, Artorias was quickly knocked down yet again by a stab from the king.

It was quite clear that Artorias wasn't as prepared as he thought he was.

Taking his talisman out, he quickly charged a lightning spear and hurled it at the king, taking a large chunk out of its side, and causing it to emit a third screech, this one of pain. Rushing forward, Artorias weaved out of the way of the kings sword, and sliced through its exposed side. The king let out a final cry of pain as it faded away, white mist signaling its death.

Before Artorias could catch his breath, he was knocked violently to the ground by a wave of purple energy. Spinning around, he saw yet another king hovering in place, this one charging up more dark magic.

Thinking quickly, Artorias attempted to reach for his silver talisman, only to have to dodge several dark magic beams before he could grab it. The king lunged forward, and grabbed the stunned Artorias.

The Knight felt his very being begin to be torn from him. Unable to move in the clutches of the King's grasp, he could do nothing but writhe in place and scream as his life was sucked out. The king dropped him after a good while, and disengaged as yet another king appeared, smacking Artorias aside with his sword.

Upon getting up, Artorias was met with the sight of two identical warriors floating in the dark nothingness of the Abyss. He grimaced, and steeled himself for the battle ahead as the two kings of darkness rushed forward to meet his blade.

Author's Note

I know you're all probably a bit disappointed with the length of this chapter after having to wait for so long for it, but to be honest, this story is beginning to stretch out a bit too far, I've noticed. I need to start making things happen a bit faster if we ever want to get to any kind of final showdown or something, although I will definitely be making the next chapter longer to make up for this rushed smattering of garbage.

Here's the Chain Prisoner if you don't remember what it is, lord knows I needed to remember what they were called, the weird fucks.

Anyway, have fun with the new chapter. I'm glad I actually got around to writing this, although I feel like I could've done better during the fight with the Four Kings. I don't know why, it just seemed to go by too fast or something, let me know if I'm right in that respect.

Horrible discoveries

The chosen undead continued through the Tomb of the Giants. Large were his foes, and in great number, but even the deadly skeletons of this forsaken place were no match for the chosen one's blade. Archers, sword fighters, towers of bone, even the pinwheel creatures, all fell without a thought.

Before advancing any further into the tomb, a familiar noise made itself known to the undead warrior. A noise that signaled someone entering his world, more than likely, to bring harm to him and hinder his progress towards the Gravelord.

Walking along the edge of a cliff, the chosen undead spotted the trespasser. Cloaked in a dark red aura, the phantom wielded a massive club of some kind, evidence of apparently high strength on his part. The shield in his left hand glowed with a holy golden light, enveloping the red man with its power. His armor was holy, to say the least. Gleaming golden plates engraved with holy symbols, and a cloth robe with patterns of some unknown god to the chosen undead.

This was the Paladin, Leeroy, a previous acquaintance of the Chosen Undead, and a fierce warrior, high of strength and resolve.

"Well met, chosen one," Leeroy said, bowing to the knight that stood before him, "Although I wish it had been under better circumstances. It would seem I am here to kill you."

The chosen undead merely nodded, accepting of the inevitable fight.

"Then if you don't mind, I'd like to skip the small talk and get right into it." Placing his shield on his back, Leeroy rushed forward, intent on crushing the chosen one on the first strike. His hammer was effortlessly smacked to the side with the shield of the undead, and with a burst of strength, Leeroy found himself plummeting down the cliff side, a fresh hole where his heart once was.

'Over before it even began, eh?' he thought to himself as he fell into the endless mist of this forgotten place. 'What should I have expected from that god among the cursed?'

The chosen undead looked to where he shoved the Paladin down, his eyes betraying the sadness he felt from being forced to slay one he called ally. Shaking his head, the undead picked up the shield and weapon that was dropped, and placed them within his inventory.

Pressing on, the chosen one cut down several more bone towers, massive skeletons, and clones of the demon Pinwheel, before coming to a doorway surrounded by a massive amount of what seemed to be wooden spikes. The doorway itself was filled with a viscous fog, the likes of which the Chosen one had seen many a time before, just before he fought a powerful demon, usually.

Thinking through his plan once more, the chosen undead drew out a holy weapon, an Uchigatana, and stepped through the fog wall. Immediately, this was different. Instead of leaping straight into an epic battle, he found himself in a small room with a large hole at the far end. Stepping forward, he stared down the hole to see nothing but the ground roughly fifty feet below. Shaking his head, he uttered a small prayer for himself, and jumped down into the cave below.

The rough landing was followed by an immediate dive to the side as two skeletons rose from the ground and swung their rusted weapons at him. 'Dull, but effective nonetheless. I must be careful if I wish to speak with the Gravelord...' One good swing from his holy sword made short work of each skeleton.

More skeletons appeared from behind the only corner in the room, a massive pillar directly in the center. Before they reached him, he gathered his breath and shouted "Gravelord Nito, first of the dead and wielder of the Lord Soul, I wish to speak with thee!"

To his pleasant surprise, the skeletons all immediately stopped in their tracks. They seemingly glanced back slightly, before simply collapsing wherever they happened to be. A deep rumbling began from the opposite side of the pillar in the center of the room. The chosen undead walked around it to find a massive coffin, likely built specifically to hold the massive mound of bones he saw within, which began to move. Two giant skeletal arms reached up from the sides of the bone pile and began to pull.

Now about halfway out of the coffin, the mound of skeletons drew its massive legs beneath it, and stood, bones of unknown amounts of dead creaking and snapping in protest. A cloak of black energy shot forth from the heads of the skeleton mound, enveloping its bottom half as it stood to its full height. One skull, directly in the center of the pile, moved towards the chosen undead. This appeared to be the actual head of the creature, although when it spoke, its voice seemed to come from everywhere.

"We cannot say that any of thine undead kin hath attempted to converse with us before, slayer of our fellow bearers." The Gravelord said, leaning down to get a better look at the chosen undead. "Why speak with us, when one of our fellow Lord Soul bearers would have been far better for conversation?"

"Great Nito, I was led astray by one who claims to serve Gwyn, the lord of sunlight. He goes by the name of Kingseeker Frampt, and I believe him to be leading me into some sort of awful fate, so I came to one who would likely give me better answers." The chosen undead started, the strain from never using his vocal cords affecting him only slightly. "I was led to believe that I could fix the world with all four lord souls, but as my quest went on, I discovered that burning myself for eternity wasn't exactly a way to fix everything that went wrong, no matter how Frampt worded it. I came to you because you were the only one left, plain and simple."

Gravelord Nito seemed to ponder this for a moment before nodding slightly, "It is true that rekindling the flame shall not fix the world of the living. But what dost thou think that we can do about such a thing?"

"I..." The chosen undead thought for a long moment. 'What did I hope to accomplish by coming to the Gravelord?' After a few minutes of intense thought, the undead warrior gave a long sigh, "I do not know. Perhaps I simply wished for answers. Maybe I hoped that you would have something for me to do that could solve this riddle. Perhaps I truly did come here to take your soul."

"This is an ill advised way to acquire our own soul, undead," Nito said, leaning down to stare into the eyes of the warrior, "But perhaps thine reasons for coming here were to inquire about one you hath recently felled. A warrior, perhaps, that hath escaped death's own clutches."

"I don't believe I know what you're talking about," The chosen undead said, "I have killed many a warrior in my time in Lordran and beyond. Are you saying that one of the many lost souls I have sent your way has escaped you somehow?"

"Verily."

"Who could've escaped death itself? What power would a soul need in order to accomplish such a feat?"

Nito leaned back in contemplation. "Before thou wandered into our abode, we thought upon this for a long time. Death is infallible, even for beings such as those who wield the Lord Soul shards. Even for a being such as us, who is death's agent in the world above. Few would have the power required to escape the icy clutches of death, and fewer still would be able to in time. We were shocked to learn that the escapee was thy doing."

The chosen undead thought yet again, and came up with nothing. "Great Nito, I am afraid that I still do not know who you are talking about. Who is it that I have slain that has escaped the clutches of death?"

"A warrior that we hath known, millennia ago, by the name of Knight Artorias." Stunned silence was all Nito got in reply, the thought of Artorias himself escaping from death somehow seemed to terrify the undead. "Unknown to us is how he hath escaped, but what we wouldst enjoy knowing is how this warrior escaped our clutches many years after his death."

So, the chosen undead told him. He told him of the crystal golem that held Princess Dusk, of the purple portal that dragged him to the past. He told the god of the journey through the forest, the discovery that he was indeed back in time, and finally, of Artorias himself.

"I had never fought a more difficult combatant. And even then, he seemed... off. His arm hung limply from his side, as if it was broken, and his stance was like nothing I had ever seen, even in all my time on this world." The chosen undead stopped reminiscing, and yet again focused his attention on Gravelord Nito. "If it is true that he has escaped from your clutches, then I must stop him from doing anything harmful to this world. Do you have any idea where he is?"

Nito leaned down to be face to face with the relatively small undead. "No, we do not. But we can inform you that he hath left our sight completely; It seems thine foe hath found a way to transcend this plane, and flee to another. Perhaps with his own powers, perhaps with another's. We know not."

The chosen undead steeled himself, and looked into the main face of the skeletal behemoth. "Can you take me to him, so I may finish what I started?"

"No."

"Then can you tell me who can?"

"Yes."

"Who?"

Nito stood back to his full height, and backed away into his coffin. Before settling down, he uttered "Knight Artorias drew power from the everlasting darkness. The Abyss."

With those last words, the dark magic cloak surrounding the mass of bones faded away, leaving only a pile of bones, alone in their tomb. The Chosen Undead nodded in thanks, pulled a glowing white bone from his pouch, and crushed it in his hand. He took one last look at the Gravelord's tomb, and his vision was swathed in fog and flames. He felt himself shift without moving his body himself, and the next thing he saw was the grassy terrain and stonework of Firelink shrine.

A warrior in light chain mail briefly looked up at his arrival, but put his head back down towards the ground, seemingly lost in thought. Loud snores could be heard from one end of the shrine, signifying that Frampt was asleep yet again. 'Good,' the undead thought, 'I don't want to argue with him about my plan.'

The Chosen Undead stepped quickly down several sets of stairs, and came to an elevator, which he promptly went down. Coming to the bottom, he stepped out of the elevator and into the New Londo Ruins. Ignoring the mindless cries of the several hollows that were around him, he quickly set off towards the main ruins of the city, pausing in the middle of a wooden bridge to absorb the power of a small, ghostly hand into him. This paid off when the terrifying visage of a woman came floating towards him, large transparent knives held out in front of it. A quick swing from his weapon put a stop to her advance, and caused a scream to echo from her remains.

Slaying yet another ghost, he came to a drop off, which he jumped down onto a large wall atop a pool of water about a foot deep, which he splashed down into next. Walking slowly forward, he found himself face to face with a Darkwraith. To any normal warrior, the sight of a muscular being cloaked in black, with the face of a skull, would've sent them scurrying away. The chosen undead, however, has encountered these beings many times before, and could fight if he needed to.

"Let me past, Darkwraith. I seek only to drop into the Abyss, not to kill you and your company." The chosen undead took a step forward.

The Darkwraith drew his sword.

"So be it. You've chosen your fate." The undead drew his blade, and crossed swords with the Darkwraith. The battle was over quickly, with the chosen undead's sword sticking through the spine of the Darkwraith. The chosen undead continued on his way, slaying several more of the warriors on his way, and at last came upon a wall of dense fog.

Before stepping in, he took one of his rings off, and replaced it with a small green band that glowed with power. With that done, the chosen one forced his way through the fog wall, and began descending the degraded stairs.

Artorias stood up, pain wracking his body. Another blow with his sword, three more beams of purple energy. Another King had risen from the darkness, making the battle that much more difficult for the Abyss Knight. The wounds he has inflicted upon the two kings he had been fighting were great indeed, but he is significantly worse for wear than they. 'I fear I may die here, and succumb to this darkness in my heart.' Artorias thought to himself, dodging two of the blades, but getting hit by a shockwave from the third King, sending him flying backwards in pain. 'But I will not go down easily!'

With a shout of determination, Artorias rushed forward, a burst of eneergy allowing him to dodge the three grey swords swinging his way. He made his way to the first of the three kings, and somersaulted forward, bringing his blade over the king's head, and slicing him in half, killing him instantly. Artorias stopped for a second to relish in his small victory.

A second was all the other kings needed.

With yet another burst of purple light, a beam of dark magic pierced Artorias yet again, knocking him down. The moment he got up, he was grabbed by the third king, who began to suck the life out of the knight.

Artorias could feel his life leaving him. He could feel the darkness rapidly approaching, eager to reclaim the great warrior from this new place. Artorias struggled with all of his might, but it appeared that it was all for naught. Gasping in pain, Artorias looked up, not wanting to look the king in the eyes as his soul was sucked out.

Something glinted above him. Something shiny. Something coming down fast.

Something sharp.

With a resounding crash, an armored figure dropped down from the top of the Abyss, sword pointed down, directly on top of the king that held Artorias. The king screeched in pain, and dropped Artorias, who then put as much distance as possible between him and the kings. The armored figure wrenched his sword from the king, and swung it again in a great arc, beheading the grey monarch with one swing. When the mist faded from view, two kings stood seemingly in the distance, staring at the two knights with contempt. The final two kings raised their swords as one, and launched purple beams of darkness at the warriors.

Thinking quickly, Artorias pulled out his Silver Talisman. Getting ready to deflect the blows from him and his savior, he noticed with a bit of confusion that the unknown knight also pulled out an identical talisman. Deciding to ask later, they activated them at the same time, glowing golden spheres appearing just in time to redirect the dark magic away from them, and somewhere into the Abyss.

Artorias looked to the knight, sensing some familiarity from him. Looking back to the kings, Artorias simply said "I will take the right, you take the left."

Artorias saw the knight nod once, and immediately sprang into action. Hefting his greatshield in front of him, Artorias charged directly at the king, tanking the sword hits in a way that he couldn't have if the other king wasn't distracted. He weaved around an attempt to grab him, and drove his blade into the back of the king, getting one final screech of resignation as he wrenched the sword to the side, shattering the chest of his foe completely, and sending it to the darkness from whence it came.

He gave a small sigh of relief. Looking over, Artorias noted that his savior had easily dispatched the final remaining king as well. 'Good, at last those fools are put to rest. Now to find out who this is, and why they helped.'

As he approached the knight with his back turned, Artorias saw him take off his helmet. Before he could say anything to the warrior, they turned around to fully face the Abyss knight.

Artorias' original killer, the Chosen Undead, stood before him.

"Well, it seems Nito was right," The chosen undead said, closing the remaining distance between him and Artorias, "Going to the Abyss was the right way to find you. I just wasn't expecting the kings to be back."

Artorias was at a loss for words. In front of him was the man that had slain him once before, the undead that killed him while he was consumed by the Abyss' lord, Manus. "I am grateful for the assistance, great warrior, but I must ask, how did you get here? And how are you able to walk in this cursed place without perishing?" Artorias held up his hand, showing the undead the green band around his middle finger, "As far as I know, I and my wolf pup are the only two who have this ring, and it is the only thing allowing me to be in here right now."

The Chosen undead smirked at the knight, and held up his own right hand, revealing an identical ring. "Well, I obtained one nonetheless. I will not say how, for fear of upsetting you, but know that now that I see that you are of your own mind, I am no enemy of yours." The Undead put his hand down and thought for a moment. "As a matter of fact, I would like to ask you why you are down here. It seems rather strange that a legendary warrior such as yourself escaped death to simply come face down the Four Kings."

So, Artorias sat down, temporarily forgetting the peril being faced in the world above, and told the Undead the tale of what has happened to him ever since he died. The voice that heralded his arrival, the meeting of the ponies, his small show of power, which got a good chuckle out of the undead, and the rest. "And when I was about to give up, you came plummeting down through the ceiling, and you know the rest."

The chosen undead sat for a moment, his head in his hands. "You say it's another world altogether, right?" Artorias nodded. "Then, why would Manus want anything to do with it? Surely, someone up there didn't find his Pendant?"\

Artorias put his hand up, as if to dismiss the thought, when he stopped suddenly. 'Did... did I ever ask?' He thought to himself, suddenly getting very worried. "I... I do not think I asked, I just leaped in once I heard it was here..."

The chosen undead didn't hesitate, "Well, looks like it's time to go ask them." He stood up from his position on the 'ground' and helped Artorias to his feet. "Do you have a way to take us back to the surface?"

"Well, I believe that, since I have apparently died and disappeared completely from your world, if I use a homeward bone, I will be taken back to Equestria," Artorias pulled a bone from his bag, "But I don't believe it's possible for two people to use a bone at the same time. It's unheard of."

"Well, it's worth a shot, isn't it?" The Chosen Undead grabbed Artorias' shoulder. "If not, we can meet back here when you come back down."

"I don't think you fully understand how long I ran to get here."

"Artorias, crush the bone. It will be fine."

With that 'encouragement,' Artorias crushed the pearly white bone in his hand, and mist slowly surrounded the two of them, making them leave that dark place.

Things had been steadily getting better on the surface. The equestrian forces, pony or otherwise, held off whatever stragglers from the Abyss came through with ease, and eventually, it seemed as though they stopped coming entirely. The dragons used the opportunity to grab a bite to eat from the Everfree, the ponies and other mortal races used it to get some much needed sleep. The leaders of each race, however, could not stop for a moment from their discussions. Evacuations and fail-safe plans don't wait for anyone, goddess or otherwise.

So far, none of Celestia's special messages had reached their intended recipient, other than Chrysalis. Luna thought of this as a good thing, stating several times that they had "more than enough to stem the tide of darkness."

After the third time this was said, it appeared to have calmed Celestia down enough for her to get to work on her side of running Equestria: Politics. Any and all evacuation efforts were organized by her. She sent out commands to mayors and guard captains to all cities of Equestria, hoping to keep it all as organized as possible while not being there to organize it herself. Other than that, the minute her sister arrived, she took to the sidelines, avoiding the military leaders and their discussions, instead opting to simply stare into the Abyss.

Luna approached her on the left. "Terrifying, isn't it?" Luna said, staring into the darkness with a stony look on her face. "To think that this small bit of darkness has the power to break Equestria apart..."

Celestia draped a wing over her sister. "It will not come to that, Luna. We will not allow him to destroy this place as he once did all that time ago."

Luna rubbed a hoof on her necklace, subconsciously feeling the ancient pendant beneath it, the one her father gave her when she was but a filly. "I certainly hope so, sister."

Author's Note

Yeah, poor attempt at "ye olde" english for Nito, but I tried, at least.

Unlike I did for Artorias. I don't think I'll ever live that down... Especially with the deus ex machina shit I just pulled getting the chosen undead in there.

Oh yeah, and on the subject of the undead, I need a name to refer to him as; I feel like I'm running "The chosen undead", "The chosen one", and "Undead warrior" pretty dry. If anyone's got a suggestion, feel free to let me know.

Also, exposition. And that TOTALLY amazing "twist" ending right there, that was great, right? Bullshitting my way through plot points has never been so hard.