Razgriz

Chapters

Chapter One: Worlds Divided
Chapter Two: The Return
Chapter Three: Getting Settled in
Chapter Four: The (Old)-Newcomers
Chapter Five: Past Present
Chapter Six: Night Watcher's Plight
Chapter Seven: A New Twist Develops
Chapter Eight: The Revolts

Chapter One: Worlds Divided

“Alright Children,” Cherilee told her students, “Stay close and remember do not cause any trouble.”

A series of nods and agreement shouts came from the Ponyville Elementary class as Cherilee guided them into the stone garden outside of the palace. To be honest, she was still really nervous about taking her students back there, considering what happened the last time. But Princess Celestia assured them that nothing wrong would happen this time. And considering most of the class hadn’t seen the east end of the garden thanks to the Cutie Mark Crusaders little argument, this would be a great day.

The east end of the garden held Equestria’s greatest heroes from Star Swirl the Bearded to Hudson the great explorer. Each of the students had their eyes filled with wonder and awe as Cherilee explained each and every one of the great heroes. Until they reached one, that stood out from the rest.

Twist noticed it first, “Excuse me Miss Cherilee!”

“Yes Twist, do you have a question?” Cherilee asked with a warm smile.

“Yes I do mam,” Twist answered, “Who is this statue of?” She pointed to a caped bipedal creature dressed in armor and a winged helmet. The creature was holding a sword that was spewing fire and using his cape to shield three fillies, one of each race, from harm.

“Ah a very good question,” Cherilee answered walking over with her class behind her, “This, my little ponies, is the statue of the Great Razgriz.”

Applebloom trotted around Cherilee and looked up at the statue, “Why does he look so different from us?”

“Because my child” said a regal voice from just left of the statue, “He isn’t from around here.”

The class turned and saw Princess Celestia walk up brandishing a warm smile. Instantly the class bowed to their princess to which she simply waved off.

“Your highness,” Cherilee said a bit awkwardly, “I wasn’t expecting you to be out here. I hope we’re not disturbing you.”

Princess Celestia laughed, “Not at all Miss Cherilee, I was actually out on a walk myself. It’s no trouble at all.”

“Oh,” Cherilee sighed, “Then would you please?”

“I’d be honored,” Celestia answered before clearing her throat. The class held their breath in anticipation from a lesion from the great Princess Celestia herself. With a smile and warm remembrance look in her eyes, Celestia began. “This is the statue of the Great Razgriz, or Lord Jamantie as he is known elsewhere. He comes from another world far away, where bipedal apes called Humans reign supreme. Long ago, before the time of Nightmare Moon, he came to us when Equestria was threatened by an outside force.”

“Changelings…?” asked a student.

“No, aliens,” Princess Celestia answered, “A force called the Silver, led by the Evil Apocalyptyo attempted to invade and occupy Equestria. They filled the skies with great ships and covered the land with soldiers dressed in silver. Hope seemed lost, but then Razgriz came to us. Brought here by unknown reasons, he helped Equestria in its hour of need.”

“Why’d he do that?” Silver Spoon asked.

“It was in his nature my dear. For you see he was a Demon Lord. On his planet, Demon Lords are great people. A cross between an Archangel and a Legion Demon, they are the keepers of the peace, policemen for all races, who’s missions in life was to bring fairness and justice to the people of his home world. When he saw our plight, he did not hesitate to help us. But it came at the cost of his life. In the final battle he sacrificed himself to save all of Equestria, and for that we honor him today.” Celestia finished.

A chorus of ooh’s came from the class as Celestia finished her story. When she was sure the princess had finished, Cherilee walked up, “Okay kids time to move on, say thank you to Princess Celestia.”

“Thank you Princess Celestia!” the class said in unison.

“Awww you’re welcome my little ponies. Now run along and enjoy the rest of your lesion.” Princess Celestia giggled.

With beaming faces, the class got up and followed Cherilee as she led them on. Only Celestia stayed, looking at the statue with a somber smile. The story she had told them wasn’t entirely true, as it did go to over glorifying Razgriz’s role in that war and diminishing the role he played before hand. But Celestia did feel that it did the man she loved Justice. If he ever did listen to the story, he’d probably feel happy it was told that way.

Celestia gave the statue one final nod before turning away. But when she did, she saw her Sister Luna standing on the balcony overlooking the garden. Luna’s eyes were sad as she gazed down on that particular statue. She probably had heard the whole encounter, maybe more than that, and was looking down at the statue with regret and loneliness. For while Celestia had loved Razgriz as a friend, Luna’s love for him was deeper. And Celestia remembered the heartbreaking moment of that final battle very well…

…The day had been long and yet there was still no end in sight. The fields outside Canterlot marked by only one small plateau had become red with the blood of good ponies, zebra’s, and griffons that had already given their lives. At still wave after wave of silver soldiers roared over the battle field charging towards the defenders. High above, a massive spiked ship cast a shadow over the burning city.

Celestia, her pink mane and golden armor reddened with blood and grease, charged back into battle sending magical pulses into the army. Each blast sent Silver after silver screaming to the ground in agony until they died. Any that dared approached the mighty warrior princess was then cut down by her magical Blade Solaris.

Adrenaline coursed through her veins as the battle raged on. Using the Sun’s warming light to power her every strike, she had an unlimited source of energy. To which she used well. Celestia powered up blast after blast of magical energy that flattened areas of the battlefield while avoiding hurting any of Equestria’s valiant defenders. One Silver tried to charge her from the right. But Celestia would have none of it and impaled it with her sword. Blood ran down on to her as she pulled it out with pride. When the creature fell limp Celestia raced back into the battle.

Soon the mighty princess caught up with Princess Luna, her darker night armor also stained by blood. Luna was happy to see Celestia as she cut down another enemy. “Tis good to see thee Sister,” Luna said.

“Likewise my sister,” Celestia nodded as she cut down another Silver, “How fairs thee?”

“We have maimed many, and you?” Luna smiled blasting another silver soldier with her magic.

“We have fought well.” Celestia nodded chopping off an enemy head. Celestia looked at Luna as they fought the enemy and could not help but feel proud. She had overcome her anger and resentment towards the treatment of her night thanks to Mike’s help. But that being said, Mike was nowhere to be seen. “Where’s Razgriz?” Celestia shouted.

“He chased that foul Apocalyptyo into that cave over yonder!” Luna answered. She then powered up another attack. Molding the energy into a sword, she swung her head around in a horizontal swipe. The energy blade followed her movements, magnifying as it cut its way through the Silvers. Hundreds of them were cut down in seconds, as if an entire battalion was squashed like ants. Luna gave out a victory cry after it was over.

Proudly Celestia looked at the cave she was talking about. There seemed to be signs of a greater battle going on inside the cave. Then another wave of Silver’s came charging towards the duo. But before she moved away to cut down another Silver, she heard something. A shout, a cry out from Razgriz; “Wait! Don’t!”

Then in a heartbeat, it all ended.

A titanic explosion that blinded the soldiers and shook the entire planet erupted from the cave. Celestia and Luna were thrown to the ground, their ears rumbling from the concussive shockwave. Fire, smoke, rock, and other debris were hurtled into the air, vaporizing the plateau. Instantly the Silvers were liquefied into puddles of liquid while the massive ship vanished in the flames.

When it was all over, only the defenders of Equestria remained. The spot where the plateau once stood had now become a smooth land of stone. Anything that was there was gone. Silence fell over the battlefield until Princess Luna regained conscious. When she saw the aftermath she screamed a loud and long, “NO!”

Before Celestia could blink Luna took off and raced to the still settling ground zero. When she got there, the shock and distraught alicorn began to weep and sob. It was clear when Celestia arrived, that while no body was there, Razgriz was dead. Celestia was in deep shock as she sister sobbed relentlessly at the epicenter. Finally gaining some composure, Celestia approached her sister. “Luna…my dear….sister…Luna.” she said, her voice very shaky.

Instantly Luna turned and glared at Celestia, “GET BACK!” Her eyes had changed; they had lost their normal white and turquoise to become a dragon like dark blue. Her teeth grit as she hissed Celestia back, “I should’ve gone with him! Why did I not join him! WHY!”

Celestia took a step back, to heartbroken by the event to even console her grieving sister…

…That day hung with Celestia for a long time. It even burned heavy in her heart when Luna became Nightmare moon. She had learned to live with it and put it behind her in the one thousand years since that horrible day. However before she could dwell on it more, one of her guards approached, “Your highness, a messenger from the Crystal Empire has arrived.”

“Ah” the Princess nodded turning to face the guard, “I see. What is it about?”

The guard’s face turned grim, “Your highness, its better if he tells you himself.”

Celestia looked at the guard puzzled, “They didn’t send a letter?”

“No milady,” the guard shook his head.

Celestia swallowed hard. That generally meant nothing good was about to come. “Where is the messenger now?” she asked.

“In the great hall demanding your presence and Princess Luna’s.” the guard answered, “I’ve sent another to retrieve the Princess of the night.”

“No need,” the duo heard Luna shout, “I will meet you in the Great Hall sister.”

“Be quick Luna!” Celestia shouted. Then she mumbled softly to herself, “Something is not right, something is quite wrong.”

Then she jumped into a quick gallop. As she ran through the castle, all Celestia could keep her mind on was what new evil was threatening Equestria again. But none seemed to come to her mind. Just as the sun princess reached the doors to the Great Hall, Luna caught up to her. “Perfect timing dear sister,” Celestia nodded.

“To you as well Tia,” Luna agreed, “Whom do you think is threatening us this time?”

“You speak as if it is a regular occurrence,” Celestia giggled.

“I’d be lying if I said it was a joke.” Luna said with a smug smile.

“Well in any case, like the countless foes before we will face and defeat this threat to Equestria.” Celestia said using her magic to open the door.

The messenger stood in the middle of the hall, a petrified look on his face, a bag with a bloody base sat near him. When he saw the princesses enter, instead of becoming more relaxed, his expression got worse. The already caramel colored crystal pony practically screamed when he saw them, “Princesses! There’s been an attack upon the Crystal Empire!”

“Be calm my little pony,” Celestia soothed as the duo walked in.

“It came out of nowhere! Killing innocents at random! Took two battalions just to hold it back!” he screamed and panted.

“Easy,” Celestia said, “Who did this?”

“I do not know that is why I am here.” the messenger whimpered.

“Must be a villain of old times,” Luna murmured.

Celestia nodded, “Do you have any evidence of this attacker?”

The crystal pony nodded. He opened up the bag and reached inside before placing the contents on the ground. What he brought out horrified both princesses. The already ice white coat of Princess Celestia turned even wider while Luna’s became a sky blue. Their expressions mortified with fear beyond any previously known. There before them was the severed arm of a creature, with a long silver blade protruding from the wrist.

“Impossible….” Luna said her voice barely above a whisper.

The two princesses were so stunned by this; they barely heard a guard scream at them: “YOU’RE HIGHNESS! AN ATTACK IS OCCURING RIGHT NOW AT PONYVILLE!”

At that moment, a single thought entered Celestia’s mind. Equestria was in need of a miracle.

----------------------------------------Meanwhile in another realm----------------------------------

My name is Michael Adams, I am a Demon Lord. More importantly I am the Demon Lord of the New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut districts. To my colleges I’m known as Lord Jamantie. To the rest of the world, I am known as Razgriz. I’ve been in this business for about three years now, keeping all the races of Heaven, Hell, and the Human world in line in my districts. There’s one other important fact I must mention; I was born a Human, the first Human to become a Demon Lord.

Back story aside, life as a Demon Lord is extremely tough. However being slammed through three walls of a mausoleum made mostly of marble is even tougher. To say nothing of the fact that I was fighting, a level seven vampire with a hunger issue. After the dust settled and my senses returned, I gripped the hilt of my sword. The flame blade had been extinguished in my impact, so I had to restrike the flint at the top to reignite it. Just as the flames extended from the hilt and formed the sharp metal like substance that was my fireblade, my enemy jumped through the hole I had made.

He hissed at me with his fangs, but I returned the gesture with a stone like glare through my red eyes. “That wasn’t very nice Joshua,” I said to the Vampire.

He didn’t respond, he just hissed at me. Then in a flash he rushed me. I brought my sword up to defense as the Vampire lashed at me with his claws. This wasn’t any normal vampire, as I had mentioned previously this was a level Seven vampire. That meant this sucker could transform his body to become basically a humanoid bat. I had already de-winged Joshua the last time I had fought him. Oh yeah it wasn’t the first time he and I crossed paths, in fact this was the third time I had to fight him. And just like the previous three times this one was because I caught him feeding off an innocent human instead of his usual Animal prey diet. Now he and I were locking blades again.

After protecting myself for several seconds from his claw slashes, I managed to gain a good footing and go on the offensive. Finally I drove home the attack by charging up a fire ball and sending it into Joshua’s stomach. The attack blasted him through a wall and out on to the lawn of the cemetery. Breathing heavily, I extinguished my blade and walked out towards Joshua.

He was struggling to right himself as I drew nearer. “Please Razgriz!” he struggled to say, “Please don’t judge me I was hungry!”

“And I’d be inclined to believe you if this weren’t the third time you have used that same defense!” I said walking up to him. I glared down on the beaten vampire, my eyes piercing into his soul. “Your crimes are the non-consented drinking of blood from a human being, aggravated assault on said human, assault on a Demon Lord, and unwarranted violence. How do you plead?” I asked him as I stretched out my right arm and hand making them parallel to the ground.

“I’m innocent man, please, I was just hungry!” he pleaded.

I shook my head, “We’ll see. Judgment!” With that I snapped my fingers and brought my right hand to my left cheek before clenching my fist. In my clenched fist, black smoke whirled around as the Demon Lord Council conveyed the evidence. When a ruling was made seconds later, I brought my hand to my right hip and opened it. The smoke then turned red. “Guilty,” I said, “Your sentence is twenty years in Darkling Prison.”

“No…” Joshua said with fear filling his complexion. But in the next second he began to fade away in a cloud of black. Of course the vampire fought every single second of it, but soon enough he was put away. I took a deep sigh of relief when the process ended.

“Everything finished milord?” a deep and gruff voice asked from behind me.

I turned around to face a large, burgundy colored, old Dragon. “Everything is finished Gidrah, let’s call it a night.”

“Agreed, I think your mother is still not too pleased at you being out this late for your regular patrols.” Gidrah agreed.

I smiled and walked over to the old dragon before climbing up onto the saddle. When I was onboard, the Dragon flapped his wings and took to the air. I met Gidrah a few days after I became a Demon Lord, in fact he found me. My predecessor, Lord Godriech, was a known Dragon Rider and when I inherited his powers so too did I gain his Dragon Riding abilities. It wasn’t uncommon for Demon Lords to have trusty steeds, which Gidrah was. In fact most did, each coming with their own unique quirks. Gidrah for example could change his size from his full size of twenty feet long to about the size of a small lizard. He even could turn himself into energy and become a part of me, a trick I still don’t know exactly how it works.

Anyway; by the time Gidrah got me home later, it was very late. Mom was probably asleep by now so I didn’t want to wake her. I kept my noise to a bare minimum as I climbed in through my bed room skylight. Once I had it closed, I whispered, “Vanquishment achieved.”

My Demon Lord Armor began to evaporate off me and fuse itself back into the pentagram seal on my left shoulder. Since I am human my Demon Lord Powers, armor included, could be sealed away in this magical seal when I do not need it. The only powers I have access is my Demonic super strength, my Angelic super hearing, and my elements heat vision while I am in human form. When I do need all my abilities; only a special Key can unlock all of my powers when it is pressed upon my shoulder seal coupled with my own personal chant. This is a golden power coin, no bigger than a silver dollar. On the front is the engraving of a black Raven while on the reverse is a matching pentagram to that of my seal. When I transform, my clothes that I have on previously as well as all items I have on me are placed into the seal before being replaced my Armor and cape. My eye color also changes too, from dark blue to bright red. I also gain a demonic gruffness to my voice but that’s where the changes end.

When my transformation was complete, the power coin appeared before me floating in midair. I snatched the coin out of midair before placing it on the nightstand next to my bed. When that was done, I changed out of my clothes and into pajamas. Then I knelt down by the foot of my bed for a short prayer. When that was complete, I crossed myself and said “Goodnight Gidrah.”

“Goodnight Milord,” Gidrah answered.

I crawled up into bed and soon drifted off to sleep. It wasn’t a long sleep as the sun rose probably five hours later. But it was summertime so I knew that Mom and Gidrah wouldn’t mind me sleeping in. That however, didn’t happen. When the clock struck eight in the morning, I was awoken by a strange sensation in the back of my head. It was a sensation as if I was being called somewhere. When I woke up, I knew exactly where I was being called. And if I knew, I knew that Gidrah knew as well.

“Milord,” Gidrah said as I rose from the bed, “the Council beckons us.”

“I know Gidrah, I can feel it. I’ll get a bath started.” I said climbing out of bed.

“No,” Gidrah said extending his wing to stop me, “They want us to attend this personally.”

I froze. Usually Demon Lords on the western Hemisphere would submerge themselves in water to transmit themselves to the council chambers. This method was similar to astral projection and would make a Demon Lord to appear like ghostly holograms within the chambers. It’s only one of the many tricks water can do for Demon Lords; probably the most important is that of being able to heal a Demon Lord from any wounds. Getting back to the point; when the Demon Lord Council summons you personally, it’s never for a good reason.

“Great,” I said, “That means we’re off to Romania.”

The Flight over to Romania was a long flight, but it did allow me to catch up on my sleep. Mom was okay with me leaving anyway, since I told her that something big was in the works and to not expect me home tonight. I think by now she’s used to my line of work, considering she was married to a Nassau County cop. Anyway, after about three hours and ten minutes of Gidrah flying at or above the sound Barrier, we reached the Hoia Bacu forest in Romania.

The Hoia Bacu forest, also known as the forest of the dead, was home base for the Demon Lords. It had been that was since August 12th, 1160, when the seven extraterrestrials that became the Demon Lord Council came to Earth. Residents steer clear of the forest, claiming it to be haunted. In a sense they aren’t far off. The trees above ground are actually chambers that hold the captured souls of Darkling Prison. Many psychically inclined people can hear the screams of the occupants, but everyone who enters the forest sees the trees as trees. My eyes however see the occupants as ghostly images hanging in front of the trees. For a Christian kid like me, it’s the closest thing to hell I can go.

After we landed, Gidrah shrunk in size and hopped onto my shoulder. “Ready Milord?” he asked me.

“Yes,” I sighed, “Let’s get this over with.”

And with that I began my walk into the forest. As I walked through the forest, all the souls imprisoned in the prison began screaming at me for mercy or of their innocence. But I ignored them all. Demon Lords are nothing if not completely impartial, and considering that in the long history of Demon Lords only one person has been misjudged, whoevers placed here deserves here. Soon as I walked through the forest, I approached what was known as “the circle.”

A perfect circular area of complete nothing, no trees, no grass, and not even a weed would grow in this area. This area was the entrance to the underground Demon Lord chambers. But as I reached the circle, I happened upon a chilling sight. Imprisoned within one of the trees closest to the circle was a creature of nightmares. It stood seven feet tall with two hands that had three daggers as fingers. It had no head, and on its body was four rows of Teeth aligned in two crescent moons that ran parallel to each other. In between those crescent moons was a single red orb that acted as its eyes and mouth.

“A silver razor.” I said.

“Impossible.” Gidrah said, “That simply cannot be here.”

“Yea,” I nodded, “They’ve should’ve been sealed away.” I looked at it with anger and rage filled eyes. I had encountered one of these monsters before, nearly two years ago…

…I was resting on a pillar at Hicksville train station waiting for the 2:59 to Ronkonkoma. It was a warm, sunny day in May. Farmingdale State College had just wrapped up my second semester there and I was only going back to finalize some things. Plus I had been invited to my friends Graduation so I knew I couldn’t pass it up.

While the world was bustling around me, I was simply resting on the pillar reading the daily newspaper and listening to a song. Actually I was blasting the song, and sure enough Gidrah wasn’t too pleased about it.

“Will you turn that racket down!” he shouted within me.

“Easy Gidrah, it’s only Iron Man.” I laughed.

“I don’t care, it’s too damn loud!” he snapped.

I continued laughing as I reached into my pocket and paused my song, “There, better?” It was no secret that despite my upbringing, I was a huge Rock/Metal fan. So it wouldn’t come to much surprise that I have “Iron Man” on my playlist.

“Much,” he sighed, “Anyway, what are you reading milord?”

“Another news article, you and I made page 2 again.” I told him.

Gidrah didn’t answer, but I could tell he wasn’t too happy about that. Rule number one about the Demon Lords was that they were to guide humanity from the shadows, enforcing the law and keeping those who wish to destroy and control at bay. However I was never a true believer in that helping humanity from the shadows would do any good at all. That was because of a story I heard once when I was a kid, when my mom would alter stories about the bible just to keep it original when I re-asked for them. One of them she told me was about a Paul-Like character that was named Razgriz that went from being a destroyer of the holy land to a helper of Jesus’s cause. One of Jesus’s lines from that story that stuck with me was that “…All these people have the potential to be good, they only lack the light to show them the way. I can be that Light Razgriz, and you can be the one who guides them to it.”

That was particularly why I chose the name Razgriz when I became a Demon Lord, or at least chose Razgriz as my public name almost a year ago. Now like any normal superhero, I have never revealed who I truly am. But I did take pride in my alter ego getting attention. Especially after my first arrest, Kratic. But that’s another story in itself.

Just as I turned the page, a train heading to Penn Station pulled in on track two opposite of mine. I glanced at the train as it pulled in and thought nothing of it. All that changed however when the train began to disembark. I began to have my danger senses go on full alert, as if an unspeakable terror was on that train. Closing my paper, I looked towards the rear car of the train. The final person to step off that train, sent chills down my spine. He looked like any normal fellow, except he had a bald head, stood seven feet six inches, and was wearing a grey suit. But what made me cringe was the fact he had a pair of red iris for eyes.

I began to slowly rise from my resting position as the man looked at me. I felt extremely uneasy and began to reach for my pocket that held my power coin. “Gidrah, what is that?” I asked.

“I’m not entirely sure milord, there’s something strangely familiar about it. But I can’t…” he started.

Just then the man’s arm shot up and a bloody silver chain shot from his arm. I had just enough time to shout, “Everyone off the Station!” At the end of the silver chain was a long dagger aiming right for me. I just managed to get out of the way in time before it impacted and destroyed the pillar. Rolling over myself, I got to my feet and pulled out my coin.

The creature launched another attack at me from his other, and I managed to avoid that one too by leaping out of the way. “Okay my friend, you now have my attention.” I said raising my power coin to my shoulder. Once I was sure no one was around to see me, and surprisingly I was blocked out of a camera’s view by the smoke of the destroyed pillar, I placed the coin to my shoulder.

“The Fire burns red, the fire burns bright.” I chanted, “All of my enemies shall be vanquished tonight!”

A ring of flame suddenly appeared around me. The fire then shot up into a pillar that incased me in fire. My right hand slid down my left arm until both my writs met. When they did I opened up my right hand fully, activating a small ember about a meter in front of me. I then moved my hands shoulder length apart; the ember followed making a long trail. This long trail then turned into a rectangular, thin layer of haze. My hands clenched into fist and came to my side as the door closed on me. As I passed through it, my clothes vanished and my Demon Lord Armor now covered me. . I opened up my left hand as my fire sword hilt appeared. When I clenched it, the pillar of fire blew itself out. My “alter ego” Razgriz was standing there in my wake, cape fluttering in the wind.

The creature seemed unimpressed at my little transformation display. Suddenly, in a gruesome scene I shall not describe, its skin fell off it. Standing there in its wake was a creature I was completely unfamiliar with. Gidrah however, recognized it immediately. “No…” he gasped, “…A Silver Razor, it can’t be.”

“Well you’re new.” I said to the creature while ignoring Gidrah’s horrified stature. Just then the monster rushed me. “And Deadly!” I shouted igniting my fire sword to block.

The creature retracted its chains and charged with its three talons like hands. I managed to block the attack with my blade. But the creature was strong and nearly knocked me off the station. It struck again and again with its talons, but I blocked each of them. I tried to strike back but the creature wouldn’t give me any openings. Then after following through with one of its strikes, one of its hands then suddenly changed direction and back handed me. The strike was so hard it sent me flying.

I crashed through stone and steel as I rocketed down the station, finally coming to rest on the station’s bench. Catching my breath, I got to my feet as the monster fired another blade and chain attack. I waved my right arm around in a circle that created a small shield that blocked the attack.

“Milord, you must kill it!” Gidrah shouted.

“Gidrah,” I grunted, “You know the rules. Thou shall not kill!”

“That doesn’t matter with these things! You must kill it in order to…!” Gidrah started. He never finished that sentence.

Just then the silver blade cut through the shield and scared my face. Then the monster rushed me with speed I had never seen before, and with one punch it knocked me off the station. I hit the pavement hard and rolled for several moments before the creature landed several feet away from me. In a fit of pure frustration I charged up a fire ball and sent it right at the Silver Razor.

The thing stumbled back for a moment. Then something weird happened. Electricity began to arch around it as it straightened itself out.

“What are you doing?” I said.

Just then a small black hole appeared where the red orb used to be. I began to get sucked in despite my best efforts not too. When the pull became to great, my strength left me and I was dragged into the black hole. However I wasn’t done yet. I jammed my blade into the top of the creature, trying to claw my way out. But it was futile and I was dragged in, blade and all…

…That day began an adventure I’d much like to forget. I would find out later that after I was sucked in the black hole collapsed on itself and the creature exploded. However there was the pressing matter of this thing.

“Why are you here?” I asked.

It said nothing.

“Answer me!” I snapped grabbing the red orb.

“Leave it alone Lord Jamantie!” a voice told me.

I looked towards the circle and saw Lord Grata, the speaker of the council, standing there. I did as he ordered. “What is that thing doing here Grata, it’s not supposed to be here.” I said.

“Exactly,” Grata told me, “That’s why we called you here.” Then Grata began to lead me into the circle and we entered the lair of the Demon Lords. We both walked through the underground caverns towards the council chambers. The chambers were surprisingly void of life as we walked through; I guess the council was holding this meeting secretly. Soon I approached the council Jurors themselves. The council themselves were a group of beings that no earthling has seen in person. Their likeness is transmitted on seven slabs of granite shaped in perfect squares. And even then their images are merely outlines. But do not misjudge these beings, for they uphold the law and social order better than I’ve ever seen anyone before. The seven members of the council did not go by names, but by numbers, we simply referred to them as Jurors.

Juror one addressed me first, “Lord Jamantie welcome. Two years ago you were transported by one of Apocalypto’s Silver Razors to the planet of Equis am I right?”

“Yes your honor.” I answered.

“It is there you fought a massive battle against Apocalypto and then returned after the battle’s completion?” Juror two asked.

“Yes your honor.” I answered.

“Well since that time we have kept a close monitoring on the planet of Equis.” Juror six said, “Recently we’ve picked up events that seem to point to attacks upon the planet and its occupants. We believe these attacks are being taken out by Apocalypto’s Silvers.”

“And we believe that one of these Silvers managed to reopen the portal between these two worlds.” Juror four added.

“Impossible,” I said, “Apocalypto died on that planet. He died and took his forces with him.”

“While we do not dispute that fact.” Juror seven said, “These recent events are troubling.”

“Lord Jamantie, you know that planet better than any of us. We would like you to return to that planet and investigate. If it is Apocalypto, he must be stopped again.” Juror one commanded.

I bit my lower lip as my heart sank. Going back to Equis wasn’t high on my to-do list. Despite what the Council believes, I didn’t leave there by choice and there was a lot of heartbreak on that planet. But I couldn’t refuse a direct order from the council and they were right, I knew that planet better than anyone. So I nodded, “When will I leave?”

“One moment.” Juror three said, “Be forewarned, a thousand years has passed since you last were there. Your likeness may seem strange and out of place to those creatures you call Equestrian Ponies.” Then a silver bracelet floated down before me. “Here, take this. When you put it on, you will have the same form of the others there. Only take it off when you transform and try to avoid direct contact if you can.”

I looked at the bracelet, and then back at the Council, “Very well.”

“Good Luck Razgriz,” Juror five said, “And may Justice prevail.”

I then grabbed the bracelet and everything went black.

Chapter Two: The Return

Chapter Two:
The Return

The first thing I felt when I regained consciousness was the ground coming up to meet me; very, very hard. Dazed and confused, I rolled onto my back as all my senses slowly began to return to me. I could feel and smell grass beneath me; it felt softer than the grass back home and actually had a sweet smell to it. I could hear the birds chirp in the trees around me, they reminded me of the birds in Eisenhower Park with their happy songs. And finally I could feel the warmth of a sun gently shining on my body.

Groaning, I opened my eyes. After giving them a moment to adjust, I sat up and looked around. I was indeed in a forest. It wasn’t Hoia Bacu; it was a livelier forest with bright colors. As my eyes wandered around, I looked particularly at the trees. They looked like trees from Earth, but they weren’t. Not being horticulture savvy, I really can’t explain how, I just knew they were different. After a moment of silence, I figured out where I was. “Everfree…” I sighed, “It’s been a long time.”

I was back on Equestria. For me, it had been two years. For Equestria, apparently, it had been a thousand. As I tried to get to my feet, I found out I was very stiff. I was also back in human form; obviously the transport caused a reversion. As I began standing up and stretching myself out I asked, “Gidrah, you still with me?”

“Haven’t left you Milord,” Gidrah answered within me. He popped out of my back and came to rest several meters away while growing to about half his full size. The burgundy Dragon looked around, “It seems we’re back.”

“Yea we are, but a thousand years later. That is if we trust the council’s judgment on that one. Anyway you still got a mental link with them?” I asked.

Gidrah nodded, “Yes Milord, it is weak but I have it.”

“Good, we may need it.” I sighed. At least this first time out was starting out better than last time. But I waved my mind off of thinking about the past; right now there we’re important matters to attend to. I switched over to my thermal vision and scanned the area around us. Thankfully there was no one anywhere near us. “No signs of any life around us, so we’re clear for the moment.” I said.

“Either way, you’ll need to put the bracelet on now. If anything milord it’ll get you started on your persona.” Gidrah told me.

“Can’t argue with that logic,” I said as my vision returned to normal. I began to look around for the bracelet. Sure enough the thing was lying on the ground about a meter from where I had landed, right next to my power coin. I picked up the coin first and pocketed it before picking up the bracelet. It was a silver bracelet with a blue gem in the middle of it, nothing extraordinary about it. I slid the bracelet onto my left arm and the blue gem began to glow a dingy amber color. Seconds later, I blacked out for the second time in less than an hour.

When things started to become clear again, I heard Gidrah speaking to me. “Easy,” he said, “Take it slowly milord.”

Everything felt different. I felt different. I couldn’t feel my hands or my feet, my face felt longer and I did feel shorter. I groaned as I stretched out my new amenities. “Did it work?” I asked as my eyes slowly opened.

“Perfectly milord, so please take it slowly.” He told me.

Stretching myself out, I lifted my right arm towards me. That’s when I spotted my first real change, my arms and hands were replaced by hooves. I waved both hooves for a moment, testing out how everything felt. As I rolled to a sitting position, I took notice of my fur. And it was a color I wasn’t expecting. “CARAMEL!” I shouted, “Are you kidding? Why in the world would they make me caramel?”

Gidrah laughed, “I’m not sure milord I think you look adorable.”

“Don’t you start Gidrah,” I said before I waved my hoof through my hair; which was now a short, thick mane and the color was a dark black, “At least the mane makes a good complement of my fur.” I noticed the tattoo on my flank; I think the Equestrians called it a cutie mark. It was a solid black shield with a fiery red raven on it. Behind the shield were two red swords arranged in an X. “And the cutie mark ain’t half bad.”

Then, with very shaky hooves, I brought myself to a standing position. I checked my tail, which was a long, stringy tail. “Take it gently milord,” Gidrah talked me through.

“I feel like Bambi,” I said as my legs shook. I tired taking a step, only to have my front legs collapse from underneath me.

“Milord,” Gidrah said, “May I make a suggestion, why not walk one side at a time?”

“Explain that please Gidrah?” I said, struggling to get back to my feet.

“Move your legs in this order milord.” He said walking over to me, “Right front, right rear, left front, and then left rear; in that order exactly.”

“You think that will work?” I asked.

“It’s how I learned.” Gidrah smiled smugly.

Shrugging off my mentor’s smugness, I slowly got to my hooves. With one tentative step forward, I did as Gidrah instructed. My right hoof went first, and then my right rear hoof, following them was the left side. It was very awkward at first, as I felt I was going to fall all over myself. But pretty soon I began to get the hang of it. Finally I was trotting around the small clearing with glee. “Look at me I’m trotting!” I said.

“Look at you indeed milord,” Gidrah said, “Now let’s go find some civilization.”

“Indeed Gidrah,” I said with pride, “I’ll lead the way.” But my joy was cut short when I tripped over a small tree root I had failed to see. After landing face first into the dirt I heard Gidrah chuckling behind me. “Say anything Gidrah and I’ll rip that smug off your face.” I snarled.

Getting back on my hooves, I began walking again. It was awkward at first as the terrain was far from ideal. I stumbled a few times, much to Gidrah’s amusement, but soon I was able to find my stability and we were off. I was surprised on how little Everfree had actually changed in the one thousand years I had been away. Truth be told, it had gotten spookier since I was here last. But in my line of work, spooky is another day in the office so it didn’t faze me. However, after a while of wandering through the forest, I focused on finding a road.

Coming to a complete stop near a large tree, I scanned the area for a road. Soon I found a possible lead: a large clearing of trees that looked to linear to be naturally made. Sure enough it was a road. It seemed old, and very rarely traveled. And I wasn’t sure which route took me to civilization. “Well nothing ventured, nothing gained.” I said.

I turned to my right and headed that direction down the road. After what seemed like a good hour of walking, and crossing a less than reasonable stream, I found myself upon a familiar sight. “The summer castle of the royal pony sisters,” I said. I stood at the rope bridge that led to the castle, looking at it with a warm sight. It looked like it hadn’t been used in ages, rundown in a lot of towers, vegetation growing everywhere, and from what I could tell signs of a long forgotten struggle in one of the rooms. But it was still a nice sight to see…

…Water is a Demon Lord’s best friend. Not only does it transmit a Demon Lord’s likeness to that of the council and replenish us after long days, but it can also heal a Demon Lord from any injuries or ailments he or she receives. Salt water is for quicker fixes while fresh water can heal a Demon Lord more gradually. But there is one thing I’ve always found consistent about whatever body water I go into. Regardless of whether it’s a lake, river, pond, stream, or ocean; the water always has foulness to it. Probably because of years of pollution, but I will not speculate.

However, that was definitely not the case with this body of water I awoke in. Despite my senses slowly returning to me, I was very sure I was in a cold and crisp body of water. But the prevailing feeling I had was the pureness of the water. Soon I regained full control of my body and senses, and my memory of what had happened at the train station became prevalent.

Slowly, I opened my eyes into a sea of blackness. I was certainly not at Hicksville anymore. I was floating upside down, staying primarily neutral in the water. I was also back in my human form and wearing my human clothes. The only things missing were my phone and iPod, which I had sent home during my transformation to Razgriz. Part of me was actually glad I did do that, not only would they be utterly useless after being exposed to water, but I wouldn’t have to pay a fortune to replace them. However I couldn’t call for assistance and that was terrible since I had no clue where I was. Thankfully, I still had my power coin.

“Milord,” I heard Gidrah say within me.

“I am here,” I thought back to Gidrah, “At least you are still with me.”

“Yes I am. Do you know where we are?” he asked.

“Only one way to find out for sure.” I said. I righted myself and let out some air. When the bubbles began to float upwards, I followed them. Soon, the surface became visible and closer. As I drew nearer to the surface, I became aware of someone crying. Then I broke the surface. The first thing I spotted was the morning sky above, and the fact that the few stars I could see were completely different than the ones at home. In my youth I had become very aware of what stars were where and at what time, primarily due to my room’s skylight. That told me that I was either no longer on Earth, or in a completely different time frame. All the while, I heard crying.

I began to tread water as I looked around for a discernible landmark. But none could be seen. Then my eyes fell on a double banner. The banner on the right was a bright yellow banner. In all four corners of the banner were pink emblems of a sun, blazing in the sky. In the center of the banner was a larger sun with the white head of a Unicorn looking out. All the while, I heard crying.

The banner on the left was similar to its partner on the right. However the left banner was a shade of purple, with crescent white moons replacing the suns. In the middle was another, much larger crescent white moon along with a blue unicorns head looking out from it. All the while, I heard crying.

“Okay that’s certainly different.” Gidrah said.

“I agree, where the hell are we?” I asked.

“A very good question milord, this looks like nothing I’ve ever seen on Earth.” Gidrah answered.

“Who’s there?” I heard a female voice said.

“What?” I shouted, looking around. I swam to the opposite side of the water body. As I pulled myself out of it, I discovered that I was in a garden; a large and seemingly very lavish Garden that had a large stairwell several feet behind me. And I had just pulled myself out of the pool that was in the middle of it. I looked around further, and soon I spotted a castle. It wasn’t a large castle, with one four spires and one large rotunda.

“Probably a summer home.” I said, “Not big enough or lavish enough to be a primary place of residence.”

“Possibly milord, the English were known for keeping their castles pretty plain.” Gidrah answered.

“Yea but this place lacks one thing, no guard towers.” I said, “Defiantly a summer home.”

“Who are you!?” I heard the female voice shout.

I spun to my right and spotted a stunning sight. Walking towards me was a unicorn with a pair of wings. Her coat was a dark sapphire blue while on her rear were matching markings; a crescent moon hanging in starry space. Her mane and tail were a shade of blue similar to a moonlit night sky, complete with small white dots indicating stars. The weird thing about it was, both of them were flowing as if being blown, but there was no wind at all.

Her canyon blue eyes were glaring at me with a mixture of rage, anger, despair, and sadness. There was also a redness and puffiness to them, probably from hours of crying. “We will ask once more, identify thy self!” she demanded.

“Gidrah that horse is talking.” I said completely dumbstruck.

“Indeed it is milord; we defiantly aren’t in Kansas anymore. Very curious,” Gidrah agreed.

“While I appreciate the movie reference Judy I really think we should be serious now.” I said keeping my eyes locked on the horse.

“Who sent you!? Was it thy sister, or was it one of the villagers in Canterlot that shun our beautiful night like a plague!? Answer or we will end you here!” she demanded getting just feet from me.

“Whoa easy there mam,” I started, “I’m just as…”

“MAM,” she bellowed, her horn glowing blue and eyes becoming dragon like slits. They’re canyon blue gone and replaced with turquoise, “DO THOU KNOW WHO WE ARE? WE ARE THE NIGHT! WE ARE PRINCESS LUNA!” She then raised herself onto her hind legs as if ready to charge.

I reached for my power coin, ready in a moment to transform and take her down. But neither of that would be necessary. “Contain thyself Luna,” commanded another female voice from the stairwell, “That is not how we treat our guests.”

We both looked at the stairwell. Descending the steps towards us was another winged unicorn. This one had an ice white fur, with a long pink mane and tail that acted like the other. She looked at us with canyon red eyes. I guessed that this was the sister that “Luna” referencing.

“You call this a guest Tia?” Luna shouted, stomping her hooves, “How do we know this isn’t one of your intolerable pranks!?”

“Because dearest sister, this is too tame to be one of my pranks.” Tia soothed as she reached us. She looked me over with curious eyes. I could tell that like me, she had never seen this sight before. “Besides, I have never seen this type of creature in Equestria before.”

I kept my mouth shut in all this. Neither Gidrah or I knew what was going on, or what was going to come next.

“Of course dear sister, blind as you are to the obvious truths. If you have never seen creatures before, they should be labeled as possible threats. And threats should be dealt with.” Luna said scornfully.

“Peace sister, I will deal with this. It is time for you to rest anyway, your night is done and my day is about to begin.” Tia said.

“Very well sister, I shall sleep after another joyous night.” Luna said her voice reeking of sarcasm. She gave me one more sneer before she wandered off.

I looked back at Tia with an awkward look, “Um, hello.”

“Hello there strange one, I am Princess Celestia and welcome to Equestria.” Princess Celestia said…

…I crossed the bridge and surveyed the castle. Sure enough it had been utterly abandoned. However, much looked the same as I last remembered. But then as I reached the chamber of the elements, I came upon an interesting sight.

“Well, now that is indeed something,” Gidrah said as he popped out of me and walked next to me.

I stared at the holder that once held the five spheres that made up the elements of harmony. When I last was in Equestria, this was filled by five spheres. Now, those spheres were gone.

“The Elements are missing.” I said. I trotted over the pillar. Surveying the area, I had found that the dust that had collected on the ground had been disturbed. It had been a few years since the disturbance but it was still clear something happened. “That is not good.” I said aloud. Then I noticed a small piece of fabric on the ground. I trotted over to the fabric.

I found myself in an interesting position. I needed to examine the fabric, but simply looking at it wasn’t going to work. However I had remembered talking with Princess Celestia about this once. Remembering what she had said, I imagined myself reaching out my hand and picking it up. Sure enough it worked. Examined the fabric, I discovered it was straw. Probably from a hat considering it lasted so many years. “So,” I said, “We got ourselves a big mystery within a big mystery. What happened to the elements?”

“We won’t find our answers by poking around here.” Gidrah said, “We’ll have to find civilization.”

“Good idea,” I said dropping the straw fabric, “Lets head in the other way down the road.”

Sure enough, after another three hours of walking through Everfree, I found myself onto a town. It was large town that was completely new to me. I could see buildings everywhere, small ones no taller than three stories, but buildings none the less.

“This shouldn’t be here,” I said, “Or at least wasn’t here last time.”

“And the mysteries pile up.” Gidrah sighed within me.

“Indeed,” I said, “So where…”

“HI THERE!” A bubbly and high pitched voice said next to me.

I jumped and looked to my left. Looking back at me was a pink pony with a puffy pink mane with three balloons as her cutie mark. “Uhhh, Hi there,” I said completely off balanced.

“Oh my gosh, are you new pony to Ponyville? Of course you are why should I ask such a silly question? What’s your name, where you from? My name is Pinkie Pie, are you coming to stay or just visiting. What’s your favorite color? Mine’s Pink, I hope you like pink too cuz that would be so cool!” the pony said almost a mile a minute.

I was completely taken back by what just happened. “Umm….say that all again but slower.” I said.

“Oops sorry silly Billy, My name is Pinkie Pie. Welcome to Ponyville?” she said blushing, “I’m sorry I just get really excited when I meet a new pony.”

“Ponyville,” I asked having no clue what I was going for, “This is Ponyville.”

“Yep, yep, yep,” Pinkie said bouncing up and down.

“Uh huh,” I said, “To answer one of your questions yea I’m not from around here.”

“Oh where you from,” she asked.

“North,” I lied.

“Where from the north,” she asked.

“Let’s just leave it at north for now.” I said.

“Where from the north?” she asked ignoring my answer.

“I’m just visiting for a few days.” I continued, “On a little vacation.”

“Oh cool, I love vacations.” Pinkie said, “Oh by the way, what’s your name?”

I looked at Pinkie for a moment, in all my time in the forest I had yet to pick out a name. I knew none of the names I had from home would work here. So I improvised, “Night Shield.”

“Night Shield, what an awesome name, not as awesome as Rainbow Dash but what are you going do to?” Pinkie said happily, “Well Mr. Shield if you’ll excuse me, I have to prepare your welcome to Ponyville party!”

“I’m sorry what?” I said. But Pinkie sped off in a flash of pink. I stood there near the edge of town with my mouth a gape completely stunned. “Well that was an interesting reception. Certainly better than the one I got last.” I said. Before Gidrah could say anything, I walked into town.

Ponyville was certainly lively, not a street empty of life. And all of it was peaceful and the pony residence seemed to be enjoying their day. I was almost reminded of Greenport back on the North Tip. With a smile, I took acknowledgements of a beautiful day and welcomes as I made my way through the town. All the while, I kept my ears listening for information and eyes open for clues. But nothing was coming.

“Where do you find information?” I asked myself, “Head to your local library.”

I turned down a few alley ways to make my way towards a library. I soon caught sight of a large tree with the sign, “Golden Oaks Library” in front of it. But before I could clear the alley way to head towards it, I spotted a small purple alicorn walking towards it. Before she could see me, I hid myself in the alley way, “There are three of them now?”

The alicorn had a pair of saddle bags on filled with books; following her was a baby dragon with purple scales and green spikes. The dragon seemed to be pleading something. I tuned my ears to listen into their conversation.

“Please Twilight,”

“No,”

“But please Twilight, how often do they have opals that big.”

“And I said no Spike, I have a lot of studying to do for Princess Celestia and I’m also very low on bits.”

“But Twilight,”

“I said no!”

“Fine Princess Sparkle, whatever you command.”

I snickered, “Mother and child it seems.” I watched as the duo walked into the library and closed the door behind them. So not only did I find the library, but I also found the town’s librarian. And apparently this librarian was an Alicorn Princess. It seemed the rare breed of Equestria wasn’t so rare anymore.

I was about to exit the alley way when a massive explosion and several screams caught my attention. “Library will have to wait.” I began to gallop towards the market street I had left previously. The once busy street that had been filled with happy ponies had turned into a zone of panic. One pony was already faint as her friends tried to drag her out of the way.

“What is it? What’s going on!” I shouted.

“A monster!” one of them screamed, “A monster is attacking Ponyville!”

Just as she said that, a building near the end of the street several blocks away from me tore itself apart with fire. Launching itself from the rubble was a silver sphere with spikes all over its center. The sphere rolled into the middle of the street as the building collapsed behind it, blocking the road. When it reached the center of the street, it unrolled and stood upright as a bipedal creature.

“A Silver sphere,” I said, “That proves it.”

The silver sphere was a short, stocky creature. Unlike its cousin, it was more rounded in shape, with short spikes along its shoulder blades and arms. It also had a head, a perfect sphere in its own right, with two orbs for eyes and no mouth. Its fingers were the only similarity, three long daggers. In its palms were two razor sharp disks that it flung out like shurikens. One disk struck a building to my right, tearing its front apart. While the other struck a building to my left, collapsing its roof.

Before I could do anything, a canyon blue Pegasus with a rainbow mane swooped down on the creature. It tried to attack the Sphere, but the Silver simply swatted it away with ease.

“Rainbow,” I heard a country voice shout.

An orange pony with a Stetson hat, the likely host of the fabric I found within the castle, came out of the alley with a lasso. It flung the lasso towards the Silver, but again the creature grabbed the lasso and flung it and the pony away with extreme ease. Then the creature began to charge a small grey filly with blonde hair that was crying several feet from me. I knew I had to do something, but I also knew I was powerless in disguise.

I had limited time to act. I leapt back into the alley way and out of sight. In one moment I pulled out the bracelet, pocketed it the moment I was in human form, pulled out my power coin, and placed it to my shoulder. When the connection was made, I said my sixteen key words.

“The fire burns red, the fire burns bright. All of my enemies shall be vanquished tonight!” I chanted.

As I did that, the Sphere decided to torture the filly. Instead of killing it out right with its blades, it stopped feet from the filly and charged energy into its eyes. This was the Spheres back-up attack, something called fire eyes; actually very self-explanatory. Once fully charged, a wall of fire would be shot from the Sphere’s eyes. Just as I finished transforming, I heard the filly’s mother shout her name.

“DINKY!” she screamed.

I had just enough time to finish transforming, blast my way out of the ally in a veil of smoke, grab the filly, and cover it with my cape just as the sphere opened fire. The action was so fast, the crowd watching the disaster only caught a glimpse of black before Dinky was covered in a wall of fire. The filly was screaming and shaking in my arms as I held her close to me. The fire roared around me like a freight train rushing by. But since my element was fire, it was doing more good to me that bad.

When it stopped the attack and the smoke cleared, I heard the crowd gasp. I crouched there for a moment, holding the petrified filly. Then when she realized she was safe, I pulled my cape back from protecting her. The filly looked up, yellow, walled eyes looking into my piercing red demon eyes with confusion and fear. To distill any fear, I smiled warmly, “Your safe, go to your mother.”

I placed her on the ground. Dinky then smiled, spun around, and ran into the arms of her sobbing mother several feet away. Replacing my smile with a cold, stoic expression, I looked at the crowd. The Rainbow Pony and the Country pony were apart of them, being helped by Pinkie pie and a Yellow Pegasus. Princess Twilight was also there with Spike. All of them looked at me with awe and confusion.

“It can’t be.”

“I thought it was just a legend.”

“Who is that?”

“What is that?”

All the while, Princess Twilight Sparkle looked at me with complete confusion. I recognized the expression. It was the same I had when I first came here. Without saying a word, I turned around slowly to look at the Sphere, my cape fluttering as I did so. When the silver got a good look at me, it took a step back in fear.

I smirked, “You recognize me, good. Now you’ve managed to ruin a very nice and peaceful day here. Not to mention the fact that you’ve destroyed at least three houses, a place of commerce, and threatened the lives of these innocent ponies. That’s honestly something I can’t allow. So you have two options, surrender and well do this the easy way. Or we can do this the hard way, now mind you; I’m actually pretty good at what I do. Don’t mess with me.”

The creature glared at me. I knew if it had a voice it’d be hissing at me. But I didn’t break face as I stood there, between it and the ponies of Ponyville. I stood ready for an attack, and sure enough it came. The creature threw two of its disks right towards me at breakneck speeds. But just as flash, I struck the flint on my hilt and ignited my fire sword. With two swipes, I cut the silver disks out of the air.

“Big mistake,” I told the creature.

The Sphere leapt towards me, rolling into a ball and charging at full speed. I rested on my back foot and brought my sword up to block. As it reached me, the ball took to the air and came at me from above. Stepping to the left, I allowed the Sphere to crash next to me because as it did so, it unfurled to bipedal form to strike. I blocked each swipe attack with my blades, barely giving an inch in my footing.

The creature then came at me with a frustration fuelled swipe of its left arm. Blocking another strike with my blade, I freed my right hand and took the sudden opportunity and punched the creature with a haymaker. With my strength charging the attack, this sent the sphere rocketing down the road. When the monster stopped sliding down the street, it righted itself and charged me again in sphere form.

“Think again!” I shouted.

I swung my left arm in a circle, deploying my translucent shield of fire to block the creatures attack. With a furious spin, the creature impacted the shield and grinded against it like steel scrapping along steel. All the while this was happening, the Ponies of Ponyville watched in sheer disbelief. The Rainbow pony twice wanted to say something in a cheer, but was silenced both times by sheer awe. The same could be said of Pinkie pie, which had pulled a bag of popcorn out of seemingly nowhere and was barely enjoying it.

The creature pressed home its attack, forcing me to actually back up a step. But that soon turned into a disadvantage for the Sphere. Using my newly found footing, I launched the sphere into the air with a strong forearm shiver. This propelled the sphere into the air, but before it could get too far I sent a flame rope its way. The rope rapped around the sphere before becoming a chain of steel. When that happened, I pulled the light taught and pulled the Sphere back to me. When it reached me, I punched it back into the air. Like a paddle ball, I repeated the process several times, landing several strikes that sent the town shaking slightly.

One of my strikes again launched the sphere down the road. The monster, dazed and stunned, hit the road with the thud near the end of the market street and was slow to get up. Seeing my opportunity, I charged the creature finally leaving my spot. With blade in full ready to strike, I propelled myself forward with a full amount of energy. Upon reaching the creature, I had actually put a little too much into my propellant and over shot the Sphere. But not before slashing its backside on the way by. Getting on my feet, I hacked at the creature with my blade.

Since all Silvers are robots and not technically alive, destroying it with undue prejudice wasn’t against the first commandment; so I didn’t need to pull my punches or strikes. So when I chopped off one of its arms, I didn’t feel anything within regards to regret. I slashed again and again, ripping piece after piece of Silver metal off the monster before blasting it back with a wall of fire and heat.

But the Sphere didn’t seem fazed, and the moment it got to its feet it showed me its final pallor trick. It regenerated its arm as if it was nothing.

“Oh right,” I said, “They do that.”

The Sphere then began to rapid fire disks my way. Acting primarily on reaction, I cut the disks out of the air with lightning quick motions. After blocking a good volley, I charged the creature again. With a good swipe, I sent the Sphere stumbling back before coming at it again. Raising my blade over my head, I dove down on the monster. But it stepped back and my blade dug into the ground. Using its opportunity, the creature brought its claws to bear against me. But I blocked each attack before punching the creature’s chest rapidly. Finally using one of my punches to punch the Sphere back, I pulled out my blade.

In one upwards motion, I held my blade in reverse grip and slashed the creatures front side. But the force of my attack also made me loose grip on my blade. So as the Sphere backed up in pain, I leapt into the air and grabbed my blade. Spinning around, I landed on my feet and positioned myself into my batting stance. I charged my energy into my blade for my finishing move.

“Home run Strike!” I shouted.

I swung my blade around like a Batter swinging to hit a baseball. My blade struck the Sphere center mass in a perfect strike. The Sphere flew away from me and bounced around like a rag doll. It finally came to rest near an apple stand. It was struggling just to move a part of its body as I went airborne and impaled my blade through its left shoulder.

If the creature had a voice, it would’ve been screaming in pain. But I did honestly care. I also knew the charges against it couldn’t be held, simply because this creature was under the control of another. So I added it to the list of crimes I was going to hold Apocalypto for. In order to do that, I had to get a message to him.

So with full might, I dug my hand into the creature’s chest and ripped out its center core. It looked like a ball of perfect silver, almost like an Apple of Eden. But in the middle of it was a red dot that went through the center. I looked into the dot with piercing red eyes.

“This planet is under my protection.” I said to the sphere before crushing it. Silver Spheres were nothing more than advanced scouts with little knowledge of Apocalypto’s workings. So destroying its power core was no loss to my investigation. After its core die, the creature melted into a pool of silver. The battle over, I turned my attention back to the road and to the citizens of Ponyville. All in all, Ponyville had suffered minimal damage. But the shock of the Ponies was something else to deal with. As I walked towards them, Princess Twilight began to gingerly walk towards me. She looked up at me with a mixture of fear and awe that had been present since I first appeared. But I could also tell that she didn’t recognize me.

“No need to fear,” I said, “It won’t harm you again. Now that I’m here, you all are safe.”

“Who…” she started with a meager voice, “Who are you?”

“Razgriz,” I said, “A friend.”

That was Gidrah’s cue. The mighty dragon had departed me before the battle had started and had kept watch to make sure nothing else would disturb the town. Now with it over the mighty dragon grew to full strength and flew towards the market street. Just before he reached me, he rolled to his right to let his riding chain hang freely. I reached out and grabbed the chain as it reached me, and when Gidrah flew by I was propelled into the air. I climbed up the chain and mounted Gidrah as he flew back towards Everfree.

I looked back only once, and spotted an air wing complete with a flying carriage heading towards Ponyville. I recognized the two Alicorns on it and my heart began to feel heavy. This was going to be anything but an ideal return.

* * *

“Twilight,” Flash Sentry shouted as he hit the ground and ran towards the dumbstruck Princess.

Twilight hadn’t moved an inch since that mysterious being left. In fact she was so dumbfounded and shocked at what had just transpired that she barely felt Flash Sentry hit her with a hug. When she did snap out of it, she returned the hug, “It’s alright Flash, I’m okay we’re all okay.”

“Good, I was worried. We heard about the attack at Ponyville and we raced over as fast as we could.” Flash sighed releasing Twilight.

“Is any pony hurt?” Twilight asked looking around.

A collective “No” was said by all. Thankfully Rainbow Dash and Applejack were tougher than they looked, their injuries were nothing. Twilight then heard something that made her heart sank. “Sister look,” Princess Luna said from a distance away.

“Indeed Luna, it is just as I feared. He’s back.” Princess Celestia said somberly.

Twilight and her friends began to move towards the Princess. Fluttershy froze when she saw the puddle of silver, but the rest continued to get right next to the Princess. “Princess Celestia,” Twilight said, her voice half filled with Glee.

“Hello Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia said soberly, not even looking at her most faithful student.

That made Twilight’s heart sank even further. Something was seriously wrong when Princess Celestia didn’t use that title. “What’s wrong, what was that thing?”

“An evil being, but just one of many machinations that haunted Equestria in its past,” Princess Luna answered for her sister.

“By who,” Applejack asked.

“Yes what heathen would build monsters to do its dirty work? Mind control I can understand, but creation for destruction, its completely uncouth.” Rarity said.

“Only one,” Celestia answered, “But the better question is, who stopped this creature?”

“That’s the thing Princess, I’m not sure. It was this bipedal creature, similar to the humans Lyra’s always talking about.” Twilight said, “He seemed to know us, or at least know our kind. But…”

“Um…Princess….” Fluttershy started her voice barely above a whisper, “I think I may know who it was.”

Twilight turned around, stunned that Fluttershy might actually know something about Equestrian History Twilight didn’t.

“Who was it Fluttershy?” Flash asked.

“My mother always used to tell me stories about him, how he existed before the time of Nightmare Moon. And I didn’t believe it until I saw his statue in the garden during the Grand Galloping Gala.” Fluttershy started.

“Yes dear,” Rarity asked, “But who is it?”

“Razgriz,” Fluttershy answered.

The name passed over the mane six as if it was nothing. The same couldn’t be said for the Princesses. Celestia tried to hide her stunned disbelief and sheer horror behind a stoic expression, but Luna was failing miserably to control her emotions. Tears began to well within her eyes as she looked at Fluttershy with a mixture of anger and loss.

“Oh yea,” Twilight said, turning to her mentor, “That’s the name he used to introduce himself. Before a dragon came by and took him.”

“Gidrah…” Luna whispered.

Then the six noticed Luna. “What is it Princess,” Fluttershy asked, “Is there something wrong.”

Luna didn’t answer, she turned and walked away. Celestia turned to her sister but said nothing. Then she looked back at the Ponies, “I want you all to stay here, keep an eye out for anymore creatures. We will work this out.”

“But Princess…” Twilight started.

“No buts Twilight do as I command!” Celestia said, a tear forming in her eye.

Twilight bit her lower lip before nodding.

“Flash Sentry, you and your team stay here to guard the town. Report anymore sightings of Razgriz immediately,” Celestia ordered.

“Uh, yes mum. But mum what do we do if we run into him again or if one of those things come back?” Flash asked.

“Stay out of his way.” Celestia said somberly before walking back to her carriage. She turned to look back at Luna and muttered under her breath, “You shouldn’t have come back Demon.”

Chapter Three: Getting Settled in

Chapter Three:
Getting Settled in

Twilight led her friends back to Golden Oaks Library. Flash Sentry told her that he’d join after he sorted out the town’s safety and establishing checkpoints. She was semi-amused at how meticulous Flash was being, considering he was far from being anything like Shining Armor. Though Twilight agreed that if Shining was here, he’d have the town placed under Martial Law after what just happened.

When the six reached the library, Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders raced up to them spewing all kinds of questions. Apparently, the CMC had returned to Ponyville along with the Princesses’ delegation and hadn’t seen what had happened. Spike however had been a witness, ironically from the safety from inside the library. And the poor baby dragon was asking all kinds of questions, questions that Twilight really didn’t have an answer to.

But once order was restored, Twilight managed to find a spot to begin.

“What was that thing attacking us Twilight?” Spike asked.

“Yeah, I really like to know who’s behind that little punk!” Rainbow Dash shouted.

“I’m honestly not sure,” Twilight answered, “I believe the Princesses recognized them, but I’ve never seen nor heard anything within regards to something that looks like that.”

“But it’s got to have a home right? I mean all things have homes. And didn’t the princesses say someone created it? So who could’ve created it?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“The Princess mentioned something about these things haunting Equestria’s past. But beyond that nothing.” Twilight answered.

“Well it couldn’t of been Discord, ah reckon that this be too complicated even for ‘im.” Applejack said.

“Certainly not,” Rarity agreed, “And that being was made of Silver, not crystals, so no King Sombra.”

“What about Nightmare Moon?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Twilight shook her head, “Not her style.”

“Um…excuse me!” Fluttershy’s voice broke through.

In one moment, they all looked at Fluttershy, who was meekly standing near the door. Twilight then noticed that Fluttershy had been trying to get their attention the entire time. Twilight bit her lower lip; she usually didn’t like it when she or any of her friends passed over Fluttershy’s input, most of the times though Fluttershy’s input turned out to be very useful. “I’m sorry Fluttershy, you have something to say.” Twilight said.

Fluttershy nodded and walked into the group, “Well…I mean…I don’t know much….but…”

“Anything will do right now,” Spike said, “I mean if Twilight doesn’t know anything about this guy then he must be serious trouble.”

“More so if you consider the expressions on the Princesses,” Flash Sentry added as he walked in, “By the looks of things, it seems that both those things are bad news, that Razgriz especially.”

Twilight was glad to see him, somehow having him around made things much calmer for her. But there still was the ever present matter of who exactly Razgriz was.

But Fluttershy dispelled that just after he finished his comment, “But that’s just it, he isn’t bad news.” She turned her head and looked at each and every pony in the room, “My mother used to tell me bed time stories about Razgriz the Great. She said that he was a being from a faraway world that came to Equestria and saved it in her hour of need.”

“Wait a moment,” Rainbow Dash piped in, “He’s that Razgriz?”

Fluttershy nodded.

“Every Pegasus in Cloudsdale knows of the tale of Razgriz.” Rainbow said.

“Then how come yer didn’t recognize the name until just now?” Applejack asked smugly.

“I always remembered that hero a little differently; I always imagined he was an Earth Pony that rides a dragon. Never once did I think he was a….what do ya call ’em?” Rainbow asked turning to Twilight.

“Humans,” Twilight murmured.

“Thanks,” Rainbow winked.

“Well…um…my mom was pretty specific.” Fluttershy whispered.

Twilight mused for a moment, “Wait, I never even heard of the story of Razgriz the Great. And I’ve read every book ever written about Equestrian history. At least…”

“At least what Twilight,” Spike asked.

“Well I focused most of my history studies on the time of and after Nightmare Moon.” Twilight said.

“That’s why you never heard of Razgriz then,” Fluttershy put in, “He was around before Nightmare Moon.”

“But I’m sure Razgriz isn’t behind what happened today, I mean he did assist us in fighting off those bad creatures so he can’t be evil at all right?” Pinkie Pie asked.

Twilight turned to Fluttershy, “Is there any mentioning about these things in the Razgriz legend?”

Fluttershy pondered for a moment, “I remember Mom talking about his great enemy. A being that used machines made of Silver to rain destruction down upon Equestria. Thousands of ponies, Griffins, and even Changelings were killed in his attacks. I think Mom called him Apocalypto. But when Razgriz came, he and the Royal Pony Sisters turned them back.”

“The Battle of Canterlot…” Rainbow Dash said, “Now I remember those stories!”

“The Battle of Canterlot,” Twilight asked, “You don’t mean the one we were in.”

“No egg head,” Rainbow Dash sighed, “The two Princesses called on every army in Equestria to mass and fight off Apocalypto.”

“Ah take it they won,” Applejack said.

“Yes,” Fluttershy answered, “But at the cost of Razgriz’s life.”

This struck Twilight, “Wait you mean that Razgriz died?”

Both Pegasi nodded.

“Then…” Rarity asked, “Who was that who saved the town?”

Both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash looked at each other before shrugging. Twilight raised a hoof to her chin; pondering the events that had just transpired as well as the story she was just told. “Well it seems obvious we’re all going to have to do more research on the matter of Razgriz. Meanwhile let’s worry mostly about the town.” Twilight said.

“Ah agree, Rainbow and I will get to work on repairing most of the town.” Applejack nodded.

“I’ll get to work on corralling the animals,” Fluttershy volunteered.

“And Rarity and I will work on calming in the people.” Pinkie pie smiled.

Twilight nodded, “Alright everypony, you all know your jobs. Get to them.”

The five other ponies nodded and exited the library. Flash watched them go with an amused smile, “Jeeze if it’s not one thing it’s another in this town. Does it always get like this?”

“Amazing isn’t it,” Twilight grimaced. This got a warm chuckle from the duo. Even Spike got into the laughter, but only just. When the chuckles died down, Twilight headed over to Flash and gave him a soft nuzzle. “So you have a place to stay” She asked with a welcoming smile.

Flash blushed, “Well I’ve really not had time to…”

“Well then,” Twilight beamed, “Spike can you make up the guest room?”

“Seriously Twi,” Spike asked with a face of discontent.

“What’s wrong Spike,” Twilight asked, her complexion changing to sheer confusion, “You and Flash have gotten along fine.”

Spike was about to explain himself, but Flash caught on and interrupted, “Uh Twilight its cool. I’d feel better staying near my men. Plus I think Captain General Armor would have a cow if he’d heard I was staying here.”

Twilight laughed, “Of course that’d be the source of your concern. Don’t worry; I don’t think Shining Armor would mind given the circumstances. Anyway I would feel a lot safer if you were close by.”

Flash was moved by the show of affection, “Alright honey, for you I’ll stay nearby.”

Gidrah landed about a mile out of town. It wasn’t until the old dragon rested his wings against his body did I get off. “Vanquishment achieved.” I said. After that I began to power down. As I did so all of my energy focused on my chest and exited out through my breastbone. Then the energy materialized into the power coin which I snatched out of thin air. The clothes I was wearing before I transformed had returned to me in their proper places. The bracelet the council gave me was also resting within my pocket.

Gidrah also shrunk in size and hoped on my shoulder, “Well, now you’ve done it. It’s going to be hard to hide that.”

“Since when was I ever good at keeping myself secret,” I asked my mentor.

“Good point; any way what now milord,” Gidrah asked.

“We return to the town.” I answered.

“Certainly not that quick,” Gidrah advised, “The ponies may be a lot of things, but our experience has shown that they aren’t stupid.”

“Well that remains to be proven.” I told Gidrah, “But you are right.”

So I waited until sun down before I made my return as Night Shield. It was of no surprise to me that most of the town had been rebuilt by days end. Ponies were very good at rebuilding their towns after disasters. That I remembered first hand. However what did surprise me was that most of the ponies have seemingly overcame the trauma of the event. That led me to conclude that it wasn’t the first time this town had seen action.

As I made my way through town, I began looking for any lodges close to either the Town’s square or the Library. Fortunately I was in luck. The Inn of the Prancing Pony was still open for business. However, I did take pause on the name. “I’m not sure whether I should commend this place for the reference or just shake my head for another Horse pun.” I said.

“Makes you want to bash your head with something doesn’t it.” Gidrah amused, “Though not as much as Manehattan, Baltimare, or Fillydelphia.”

“Yeah the last one was pushing it a bit.” I said.

“You know, since this is our second go-around here maybe we should make a list of all the bad horse puns here.” Gidrah laughed not meaning a word of it.

“I’ll play along with that, I’m sure it’ll be a long list by weeks end. Although I’d love to see the pun they make on Saudi Arabia. Maybe it’ll have something to do with saddles.” I laughed.

“Or…or maybe a play on Germany, huh something like Ger-mane-ny.” Gidrah laughed.

“The United Stirrups of America,” I added.

“Picasso and his wonderful many Pintos’,” Gidrah continued.

“The works of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Colt Doyle,” I put in.

Gidrah started to laugh harder, “Lady and the Trots.”

“Oh Gidrah how you sleigh me,” I laughed.

“I will admit I do get a little buggy at times.” Gidrah answered.

“Okay I’ll give you a Seabiscuit for that one!” I laughed hardly.

“Careful milord, your voice might be horse by the end of this.” Gidrah added.

Now I was laughing pretty loudly. The two of us went back and forth until the Inn keeper opened up his door, “Excuse me, are you going to come in or just stand there all night and laugh at something?”

I instantly stopped laughing, mostly out of pure embarrassment. “Sorry, just remembering an old funny story I once heard. I’d tell you it if you like.” I grimaced

“Not in the story-telling mood I’m afraid. Are you in need of anything?” he shot back.

“Yes, umm…. I need a room.” I answered.

“Well you’re in luck we got one open.” He said, “Come on in.”

I nodded, “Thank you, I’ll be in in a moment.”

He nodded and slunk back inside.

“I swear I thought ponies were easier to hear coming.” I sighed.

“Maybe you should call up the Princesses and make another Royal Decree.” Gidrah laughed. He still was in stiches about earlier.

“Saying what?” I whispered as I began to trot inside.

“That they bang coconuts together while they walk.” Gidrah laughed.

Seeing as the moment of laughter had passed, I simply sighed. But I did quip, “And he sells it with a Monty Python joke.”

After going inside, I began to talk with the inn keeper about reserving a room. He did agree to allow me to stay for a few nights as I was on vacation, and then came the deal with Money. “Oh, I’m very sorry but I don’t have any bits to spend.” I said actually thinking it was a deal breaker.

To my surprise, he shook his head, “Ah forget about it. First few days are free.”

“Oh well that’s very generous of you.” I said bemused.

“Well with all that’s happened today you really shouldn’t be surprised. It’s a town law that new comers stay for free if the town gets attacked while they visit.” He said, talking as if the rule was the bad thing and not the cause.

“Oh, does it happen often around here?” I asked.

“Never used too, then that damned Princess Twilight Sparkle moved in. Don’t get me wrong she’s a good pony and all. But ever since she arrived in this town has been the center of some weird and scary folk. However, today was the worst I ever saw.” He explained.

I nodded, “Yeah I heard something was going on, did you see what it was?”

He shook his head, “To busy hiding. Anyway your rooms set up. Go on up there and get some rest. Room 016 is yours for however long you need it.”

I nodded, “Thanks, and once again thank you for your generosity.” After that I headed up to the second level. Walking carefully through the hallway, I soon found my room. Unlocking the door and gently walking in, I was actually amazed at how long the bed was.

“Looks like it’ll just fit me in human form.” I whispered. I was keeping my voice low for two reasons: the obvious reason was the lateness of the hour but the other reason was I wasn’t sure how sound proof the room was. In the dim darkness, I could make out a small closet and table that also occupied the room. Unfortunately there was no TV, but I was used to life without it anyway.

“Indeed milord,” Gidrah said popping out of me and hopping onto the table, “Seems like very quaint accommodations.”

“Compared to the treatment we got last time, quaint is a very good term for it.” I said pulling off the bracelet and then slumping onto the bed. The bed was very soft, if not having a sort of stale feel to it.

“So what now milord, do we rest for the evening or do we begin our investigation?” Gidrah asked.

I sighed. “I’m not sure.” I said after a silence…

…When the carriage suddenly lurched forward, I wasn’t ready for it. And like any unbalanced idiot, I fell all over myself. I could hear Gidrah laugh at my misfortune but I paid him no mind. Princess Celestia, if I got her name right, did however give me some attention.

“Oh apologies, we haven’t used a four pony chariot in a while. It seems that my guards do not know their own strength.” The pink mane Alicorn said. Alicorn, that’s the species’ name apparently. After only twenty minutes of being on this planet I guessed I wasn’t on Earth anymore, let alone my same system. And while Gidrah and I tried to figure out where we were by asking Celestia, she would only answer in “Wait and see.” She did tell me however of the types of creatures that lived here, all creatures from Earth’s mythology: Unicorns, Pegasi, Griffins, Changelings, and even Dragons along with regular animals from Earth. While the latter two are actually present on Earth, I was most keen on seeing the former three.

Getting back, I was riding in the chariot next to the Princess Celestia. It was already mid-day on this new world as we road along. Slumped over near the back of the awkwardly large chariot was Princess Luna, the dark blue horse I met when I first popped out of the pool. I slowly got to my feet as I felt the bumpiness of the road vanish, “Indeed, though I’m still trying to figure out the logic behind horses riding in horse drawn carriages.”

Either Princess Celestia missed my comment or chose not to acknowledge it. Instead Gidrah answered it with, “That’s probably how it is here.”

But then I was drawn by what was actually going on around me. The chariot was flying. It was soaring high above the trees of the forest at great speed. I’m sure I had gone faster with riding Gidrah, but the speed the Pegasi guards were pulling us at was impressive. After I marveled at the sight for a moment, Princess Celestia raised her front right hoof, “This is Equestria. The land where all ponies and animals may live free and how they please.”

“Impressive,” I said, “Most impressive. How far do the borders extend.”

“While I’m not sure of the actually number,” Princess Celestia answered, “I do know that the space is vast.”

“Over five hundred million acres,” Princess Luna snipped, raising her head and looking at Celestia, “We thought thou knew this from classes!”

Celestia turned and looked at her sister, “Thou do know that numbers were never my strong suit.”

Luna rolled her eyes and went back to slumping over the edge of the chariot. I stood there pretty bemused over the whole encounter. I had only been on Equestria for about four hours and yet in that time, the two of them seemed to do nothing but snip at each other. Being an only child, the finite points of sibling relationships was a mystery to me. But I always did remember the cardinal rule dad always told me: “When it’s other people’s families, don’t get involved until you’re sure.”

Anyway I focused my attention on back to the view. “Ponies being the dominant species here huh, I wonder what the city names are like.”

“Probably very bad horse puns.” Gidrah sighed.

I chuckled softly, “Maybe the capital city’s name will have something to do with the names as well. I’ll bet it’s probably going to be something about Canters.”

“Milord, we’ve only just met this species and you’re going to make jokes?” Gidrah said.

“Hey you started it.” I laughed softly. The wind rushing by drowned out most of my conversation with Gidrah, so I was sure Princess Celestia wasn’t listening to me. “Anyway,” I said back to Gidrah, “Wanna put good money on that.”

“You know what I’ll bite. But only when we get back.” Gidrah answered.

I laughed, “Done.”

I didn’t have to wait long to get my money. Soon we came over a hill and there in the valley below lay our destination. “Ahead are Equestria’s capital, and our home, Canterlot.”

“And the money is yours.” Gidrah said.

I smiled at my victory, but I was also taken back by the vastness of the city. Built into the side of a mountain with large stone walls surrounding, it reminded me mostly of Gondor from the Lord of the Rings. The only thing the city was missing to make it a perfect comparison was the massive stone spire and the marble white stones used in construction. However, the Castle was white in its color with beautiful blue roofs contrasting the white. All the while, gold accents were thrown in around the castle.

“Impressive construction,” I said.

“Thank you for the complement.” Celestia smiled, “I think you’ll find Canterlot to be a very polished town.”

I heard Luna huff in disgust but neither Celestia and I paid her any mind. Soon enough the carriage landed and the three of us disembarked. Luna left us almost immediately, flanked by a group of guards. Another group of Royal guards soon flanked us as Princess Celestia gave me a tour of the castle. I was pretty amazed at the sights I was seeing; lavish hallways adorned with many statues and priceless works of art.

“Not bad,” I said trying to keep my wonder hidden.

“I’ve seen better,” Gidrah retorted.

“We try our hardest here in Canterlot. However do not mistake the lavish for ignorance. This castle is very plain compared to the many other royal homes within Equis.” Princess Celestia said, “Neither my sister or I feel ourselves above the ponies we rule.”

“A good trait to have.” I said.

“That remains to be seen,” Gidrah warned, “We’ve only seen a partial view.”

I nodded at this statement. So far in my time here, I had seen Equestria through the eyes of the Princesses. Despite the very ‘down to earth’ mentality Celestia carried, the life she lived seemed to be very gilded. And with Luna’s earlier comments of distrust towards the ponies of Equestria still in my mind, I couldn’t help but wonder what the conditions actually were like here in Equestria.

Soon we approached a set of wooden doors. “And here is where you will stay.” Princess Celestia said stepping in front of the doors.

“I see.” I said walking next to her.

Celestia’s horn glowed bright yellow as she used her magic to open the doors. The room inside was quite stunning. The walls were a shade of bright blue while the floor was a shade of mahogany red. A large bed that was circular in shape and had drapes covering it. The sheets were white while the curtains were a light shade of yellow. Across the bed was a bookshelf filled with books. Next to the book shelf was a study desk complete with a candle lamp.

I walked into the room, “You always treat your guests with this much grace?”

“Tis our way,” Celestia answered, “I’m glad you enjoy what we have to offer. However I’m afraid I cannot show you the city right now. I have matters to attend to. I beg for your forgiveness.”

I waved my hand, “No problem, I’ll just get settled.”

“Splendid,” Celestia smiled and began to back up, “I shall return when my duties are attended to.”

“Take your time,” I answered as she closed the door. The moment it was closed I plopped down on the bed. Gidrah jumped out of me and landed upon the desk. The two of us looked at each other for a moment without saying a word. Then I said, “Well this is certainly interesting, within the span of a whole day we have engaged a stranger from the past, transported to another realm where ponies rule the land, meet their leaders, taken to their capital, and finally getting put in a statesmen-like guest room.”

“Indeed milord, and to top that all off we have another seemingly worse problem; I have no mental connection with the council.” Gidrah said coldly.

I looked at Gidrah with a scared and shocked completion, and then I realized that I didn’t have the connection either. “We can’t contact the council and they can’t contact us. This isn’t good.” I said.

“Agreed, any operations we take here will be surely handicapped as we can no longer rule on decisions. Or at least form any impartial opinions.” Gidrah said.

What made that even more horrifying was: he was right. When a judgment is about to be reached, the Demon Lord snaps his fingers creating what is called The Judgment Smoke. He then brings the smoke to his face, preferably the opposite side of his snapped hand, and a direct link is formed with the council. In microseconds the council goes over all the evidence the Demon Lord has acquired on the suspect as well as suspect’s functions like body language and mental thoughts, impartially, and a ruling is made. Without this, a Demon Lord could rule any one without even a scrap of evidence. He could lose the very title of a guider and become a ruler.

It was a scary thought, even for me. “This isn’t good at all.” I said, “To say nothing of the fact that we don’t know the situation back home.”

“Agreed, more of those Silver Razors could be out there.” Gidrah said, “However I believe we do have another pressing matter here.”

“What do you mean,” I asked.

“I don’t think we were brought here without a reason. That Razor brought us specifically here. And if it’s the reason I’m thinking of, this planet is in grave danger.” Gidrah told me.

“From who?” I asked.

“The being who controls those monsters, a man named Apocalypto. The Demon Lords fought him once. He’s a man hell bent on conquering Earth, for reasons that were made clear though I do not recall them. We stopped his plans back in 1908, 106 years ago.” Gidrah explained.

“Well then, if we were brought here for a reason, I think we need to find what that reason was.” I said.

“Agreed, but that means getting out of here.” Gidrah responded.

I switched my vision over to thermal infrared and looked at our only exit. I could see two guards standing near the door. “Well we’re not going out that way.” I said, “I guess we should wait until Princess Celestia returns.”

“I suppose your right, and we’ll do a more thorough investigation tonight.” Gidrah agreed…

…I pondered the question for some time. Finally I remember the fact that staying in the VIP room back in Canterlot got me nowhere. Now two years senior from that event, I was now surer of my feelings. “I think it’d be wise to do a little night time exploring. Least we’ll get to know the lay of the land first.” I said.

Gidrah nodded but before he could reply a yawn interrupted him.

I chuckled, “I’d think it’d be better if you stay home tonight Gidrah, I’ll do the strolling.”

The dragon nodded and laid his head down to rest. Gidrah, despite his energy, is over five hundred years old. It wasn’t rare for him to tire easily, especially after a dimensional jump we made. Besides, it wasn’t often I go on investigations alone. So I slid on my bracelet and quietly ventured out into the night.

Ponyville at night was very, very quiet. Most of the shops and places of business had closed down. Best of all, most of the towns folk had seemingly gone to bed. That made moving around the town a whole lot easier. Despite the heavy amounts of troops I had seen comb the city after the Sphere attack; none of them seem to be left, all the more reason to think that this town was no stranger to random attacks.

I soon made my way back to the market street and to the spot where I first laid eyes on the sphere. The building it had destroyed had been rebuilt, but still telltale traces of the attack remained. Using my infrared vision to track the heat residue from the day’s attacks, I followed the path down a narrow alley way. It seemed the monster had torn up a good portion of the town than I had originally known. Thankfully there didn’t seem to be any traces of ponies getting injured or killed in the attack.

Soon I followed the trail to the edge of town, about a good twenty kilometers from where I had entered. It appeared that the two of us had taken parallel routes into the town at almost seemingly the same time. What bothered me even more was where it had come from: The Everfree Forest. Exactly the same area I had come from. I could’ve been within feet of the creature and didn’t even see it. Still whatever reason of why it had landed in Everfree or the location of where it touched down was going to have to wait until morning. Even a thousand years later, Everfree was still a dangerous trek. This was amplified at night.

There were even stories of ponies venturing into the forest at night, and never coming back. I wasn’t about to take those odds. So I turned my attention back to the attack pattern. I climbed up one of the houses, quietly of course, and took a good survey of what I could see. The Sphere had cut through most of Ponyville like a Knight on the chess board, making a very distinct L pattern before I intercepted it. Plotting out the pattern of the attack had I not intercepted, I guessed it was going towards the most dense area of the town. Right smack at what seemed to be the town hall.

This didn’t fit Apocalypto’s M.O. at all; he wouldn’t go straight for the towns head with just one silver. Let alone use a Silver Sphere to get the job done. More likely that this attack was nothing more than bait, bait to test the response time of the towns defenses. But then why not engage the nerve center directly; why not use this on Canterlot itself? My answer became very clear very fast. I turned in the general direction of Canterlot and got my answer.

The town and the castle had been completely rebuilt, halfway up the Mountain of Equestria. I took a deep and thankful sigh, for two reasons. One, I figured that it solved the problem of having any more armies attack from the ground, and second because it was good to see that they had rebuilt after the devastation suffered during the final battle. Now that begged the next question to be asked; what made Ponyville so special that Apocalypto would target here? That answer was simple, the new Alicorn Princess Twilight Sparkle.

Judging by her size, I figured she was still extremely young. And considering her lack of personal guard here in the town, I guessed she was still new to actually being an Alicorn, as crazy as that sounded. But this was all speculation. I figured it was now high timed to meet this new Princess. I was about to call it a night and take care of that tomorrow when I heard music floating in the air. And it wasn’t wayward music sung by an insomniac pony, this was party music. I looked around and noticed that it was coming from the town hall. Figuring that I might actually get my chance sooner than I thought, I headed towards the party.

To my surprise, the hall was packed to the brim with ponies dancing, chatting with others, and enjoying themselves. I wandered in gingerly, with a warm smile on my face. I was no stranger to parties but mine were more geared to New York City’s night life, this one was surprisingly tame. However one thing was surprisingly the same: the heavy beating of DJ music that was blasting my ears. After no less than five seconds of being a part of the party, I found a familiar face.

“Oh Night Shield,” Pinkie shouted, “I forgot you were still in town. You won’t believe what happened, this monster showed up and was all blowing up the town and such…”

“Yea Pinkie I saw!” I shouted, “I was wondering what all this was about?”

“Well we’re celebrating another successful day of Ponyville surviving another attack.” Pinkie cheered.

This was met with cheers by the ponies around us. I nodded with a warm smile, “Alright, I guess you guys do this often?”

“Oh all the time, what with this place constantly under threat of nasty’s, it’s important to keep the towns spirits up.” Another voice chimed in.

Both Pinkie and I looked to our, or really my, right to see the one and only Princess Twilight walk up to us. “Oh Twilight good I’m glad you’re here, there’s someone I want you to meet,” Pinkie smiled.

“Wow Pinkie I never would’ve guessed,” Twilight said with a sarcastic yet surprisingly warm smile. Judging from that alone I guessed these two were good friends.

“Well you should know me better Twilight. This is Night Shield, I met him this morning. He’s on vacation from the North.” Pinkie introduced.

I smiled warmly and bowed, “It’s an honor your majesty.”

“Oh Twilight is perfectly fine,” the Princess blushed, “I’m still trying to get these ponies from constantly bowing to me.”

I laughed at this, “I bet it’s not an easy job.”

Twilight also laughed, “Oh no, it isn’t.”

Just then the song that was playing came to a close. Pinkie then bounced, “Oh yay I know what’s next, excuse me.” Just then the pink pony raced up towards the stage in a bright flash of pink. In a flash, she had picked up a microphone and turned to the crowd, “Okay Everypony, it’s time for the moment we’ve all been waiting for: Karaoke!”

I actually smiled truthfully at this, this party seemed fun and now the prospect at actually singing excited me. The crowd cheered at this. But when it came time for volunteers, no one raised their hooves. Twilight wasn’t surprised, “Usual Ponyville ponies, also wanting someone else to do the fun stuff.”

“I’ll do it,” I volunteered. I actually had a voice, tenor by trade. This was thanks to being in chorus and church choir during my youth. It had been awhile since I actually sang on stage, even longer here. The chance to do it again excited me. It was a bit of vanity but when in Rome. So I raised my hoof and waved it around until Pinkie called on me. The other ponies cheered and stomped their hooves in applause as I approached the stage.

Pinkie then presented me a book of the song list for the night. Thankfully there was a Rock’n’Roll page. Surprisingly, many of the songs there were tunes I had brought over from my last visit. After combing through that shortlist, I found my tune and pointed it to the DJ.

“Oh that’s an oldie,” she said, “Good I haven’t played it in a while. Be a nice change from all the dubstep wubs.”

I laughed, “Thanks, when you’re ready.”

The blue mane, sunglasses wearing DJ nodded and I stepped in front of the mike. Despite the fact that I was in character, I felt a lot better raising myself on my hind legs and dancing bi-pedal. I had practiced this a little bit in the forest, and as long as I didn’t move too much I was fine. It wasn’t long after I stepped up to the mike that the song began.

As the opening beats played, I clapped my right hoof against my right flank in beat. That also had the effect of having me gently rock my hips in tune as well. The crowd caught on quickly and began to stop in sync. All the while I kept my ears tuned to when the lyrics started. When they did, I didn’t miss ’em. “I get up in the evening, and I ain't got nothing to say. I come home in the morning, I go to bed feeling the same way.” I sang before I grabbed the mike with my left hoof, “I ain't nothing but tired. Man I'm just tired and bored with myself.” I then gave a seductive, if not playful and unserious look to the crowd, “Hey there baby, I could use just a little help.”

This got a good cheer from the mares in the crowd, as well as a snicker from the colts as the music swelled. “You can’t start a fire,” I sang rocking my hips, “You can’t start a fire without a spark.” Then I pointed my right hoof towards my face singing, “This guns for hire, even if we’re just dancing in the dark.” When I sang the last part, I thrusted my hips forward three times before switching directions when I hit “in.”

The crowd cheered at my little display. I knew I had them on my side. As I hit my next verse I did an amended, if not more open, version of the Carlton Dance. “Message keeps getting clearer, radio's on and I'm moving 'round the place. I check my look in the mirror, I wanna change my clothes, my hair, my face.” I sang. Then I picked up the mike and stand while leaning back a bit, “Man I ain't getting nowhere! I'm just living in a dump like this! There's something happening somewhere, baby I just know that there is.”

I hit the chorus again and repeated the dance I had done earlier to great effect. Now the Ponyville residences were completely on my side. But by now I had noticed someone had joined Twilight. Actually it was more of a group of ponies, most I had seen earlier. But one caught my eye, an orange pony with a blue mane wearing an armor chest plate but no helmet. He was standing awfully close to the princess, enough to make me guess that not only was he her Personal guard, but a love interest as well. That solved the mystery of the guards, and made me smile as I got to my next verse.

“You sit around getting older! There’s a joke here somewhere and it's on me. I'll shake this world off my shoulders; come on baby this laugh's on me. Stay on the streets of this town and they'll be carving you up alright. They say you gotta stay hungry, hey baby I'm just about starving tonight!” I sang, “I'm dying for some action. I'm sick of sitting 'round here trying to write this book. I need a love reaction, come on now baby gimme just one look.”

I then hit the final chorus, which was different from the others, but I kept the dance the same. “You can't start a fire sitting 'round crying over a broken heart. This gun's for hire. Even if we're just dancing in the dark.” I sang thrusting my hips. I then restarted the process for my final run, “You can't start a fire worrying about your little world falling apart. This gun's for hire. Even if we're just dancing in the dark. Even if we're just dancing in the dark. Even if we're just dancing in the dark. Even if we're just dancing in the dark…”

The music came to a close and the crowd cheered. I stood on the stage for a moment before bowing. Now appeased of the fact that I quelled that desire, I knew that my work could really begin.

Chapter Four: The (Old)-Newcomers

Chapter Four
The (old)-newcomers

Luna paced around the royal throne room with a mixture of anger, confusion, worry, and fear. Her moon had only been up less than hour. Celestia had long since gone to sleep, as was custom by the Royal Sisters, though Luna was sure Celestia wasn’t sleeping at all. The fact that both Razgriz and Apocalypto were back was extremely unnerving. But what was gnawing the princess of night even more was the fact that Mike didn’t die in the explosion. If that was the case, then where had he been the past one thousand years? Better yet where was he when she needed him the most?

All these questions, as well as the flurry of emotions, tore the Alicorn Mare apart. Though she kept herself well composed, her conflict was manifesting in her restless and endless pacing around the throne room. She kept mumbling to herself the very questions that were within her heart. However not once did she focus on the more threatening issue, the return of Apocalypto. It was true that Luna still had no clue as to how he survived as well. But her mind figured that if she’d figured out how Mike survived the answer to Apocalypto would present itself.

Despite this fact, no answers could present themselves. In a fit of rage, Luna smashed her hooves on the floor before retreating to the throne. Putting her bum down upon the throne, Luna sat glaring at the door gritting her teeth. She was frustrated, there was no mistaking that. Now she was only hoping that somepony would come in with either a report or a problem. The one knock against this was that it rarely happened.

Though Equestria’s night life had improved tenfold since she was banished, the chances of any pony coming in with an issue were still slim. Most now wanted to come in and socialize with Princess Luna, which she wasn’t complaining about at all. Luna then turned to look out the window. Despite the new window pane’s ink, she could still see the lights of those in Canterlot still working. Most were completely unaware of the ramifications of the day’s events. In fact the events of the past, including the burning city, haunted Luna even during her expulsion to the moon. If both of those participants were back, then history seemed destined to repeat.

Canterlot would burn again. Sure what Apocalypto lacked this time around was the Traitor, but that didn’t stop him from damaging both the Crystal Empire and Ponyville. If history was going to repeat, then what would happen to all that Equestria has gained? What was to stop him from tearing Canterlot to ribbons? Those thoughts alone made Luna stop gritting her teeth. But then those thoughts were interrupted with the throne room doors knocking. Luna snapped back to reality and looked at the doors, “Yes come in.”

The doors opened and one of her night guards walked in, “Forgive me your highness. But we heard a noise from within here.”

Luna waved a hoof, “Not to worry Sargent, I made the banging sound.”

“Well then, begging your pardon milady, but is something wrong?” he asked.

Luna lowered her head for a moment, “Today’s events are weighing heavily on me. It’s been a long time since we’ve faced an enemy like this. It’s just a little unnerving.”

The guard nodded, “The attacks on the Crystal Empire and Ponyville have been very unsettling. However Princess, I’m sure our defenses will protect both parts of Equestria from any more dangerous threats.”

“I hope so,” Princess Luna said, “Has there been any more sightings?”

The Guard shook his head.

“Drat!” Luna cursed, “Who’s in Command over in Ponyville?”

“Lieutenant Flash Sentry mum,” the guard answered.

“But he’s with a contingent of rookies, they’ve only been on the job what seven weeks?” Luna asked.

“Ten, with a short tenure in the Crystal Empire,” He corrected, “Flash has been in command the past Seven weeks. Before then they were under Captain General Shining Armor’s command.”

“You sure he’s up to the task?” Luna answered with a raised eyebrow.

“Captain General Shining Armor trusts him as does Princess Twilight.” The guard answered.

She had only met Flash Sentry once and didn’t really think much of him. The field reviews didn’t place him with high water marks neither, so it was curious that Princess Celestia would put him in command over in Ponyville. Luna did have half a mind to object, but considering The Equestrian Defense force was spread thin there was literally no one more qualified available.

Shining Armor had taken more than a third of his force to help rebuild the Crystal Empire’s security force. Yet despite the Captain General’s best efforts that force was still in a poor state. Then there was Captain General Steelwing, but he was busy with the border of Equestria and Horsca. Asking him to pull back would be near impossible, as Horsca’s currently bad economic and political situation had left them quiet vulnerable. The final Captain General; Secretariat, was stuck with Equestrian colonization in the Desert. The remaining forces were dispersed around Equestria’s main cities. Calling any of them back would be illogical.

Of course there was her guard force. But Luna needed them to guard Canterlot at night. And since their forces were only three years old with a very week recruiting base, they were grossly undermanned to even attempt to protect and secure Ponyville. Not that Flash’s unit was any bigger, but they were big enough to get Ponyville covered.

Luna was sure that no one was available to sure up defenses in Ponyville, which had become a very critical location in the past three years. As much as she wanted to dismiss him, Flash Sentry and his team of recruits were the best they had. Still that didn’t leave her with much satisfaction. Apocalypto’s forces were extremely deadly and sufficient in their attacks. If he decided to launch a full scale invasion now, Equestria would most likely fall. Maybe Razgriz’s return was more beneficial than initially realized.

“What about Razgriz?” she asked, “Has he been spotted.”

The Guard seemed puzzled, “Before I answer that your majesty, may I ask a question.”

Luna nodded.

“I was aware that he was only a legend, a tale us Pegasi were told as a rallying story. How could he be real?” the guard asked.

“He was real Sargent...a long time ago. Before…my transformation to…” Luna started.

“I see your highness.” The guard nodded, “Then having him around is a benefit right?”

Luna nodded, if only unsurely.

However her guard did pick up her unsureness. “I see, well then no your majesty he also hasn’t been located. To the best of my knowledge he has disappeared into the night.” He answered.

“Thank you guard,” she nodded.

The guard bowed, “Is there anything else mileage?”

Luna looked out the window. Now she was more concerned about the weather, and to her enjoyment, it looked like a perfect night for a flight. “Inform the watch I will be going on a midnight flight.” She ordered.

“Yes your majesty.” The guard said before leaving.

Luna watched him go with a kind smile. But that smile vanished and a look of anticipation caught her face as she headed over to the window. It had been a few days she had taken one of her night flights. Before her transformation to Nightmare Moon, in fact during Mike’s stay in Equestria, she had taken to night flights so often that it almost became routine. In fact, it was on one of these flights that she first met Razgriz…

…Princess Luna gritted her teeth in rage and frustration unmatched by anypony in Equestria. For the millionth night, no pony except her was enjoying her glorious night. They had all gone to sleep in their homes, shunning the beauty that was her night. Worse still, anypony that could be awake had absolutely no problems to bring to the Lunar court. And so she sat in the throne room, glaring at the door, praying to any deity that would listen to send someone through them.

But alas, as the minutes clicked by, no one was coming. It struck the Alicorn deeply. If she wasn’t so well refined, she’d be sobbing right now. In fact she was sobbing last night. However her tears had been interrupted by the newcomer. How she loathed him. Despite not knowing a thing about this new creature who called himself Mike, she hated him for two very good reasons. First, he had caught her in a moment of weakness that nopony should ever see their regal princess in. Second, and most damming of all, he had grown instantly close to Celestia.

This was enraging to the Lunar Alicorn, he’s not even here twenty minutes and already he and Celestia are very close. Make no mistake, Luna loved her sister dearly. Since their parent’s died, Celestia was all that Luna had. Without her sister, Luna would be alone and Luna would do anything to make sure that never happened. Though that love didn’t mean she didn’t have to unconditionally love Celestia. There was a sound level of jealousy within Luna. Celestia was the first born of course; Mother and Father always treated her a bit better. But so too did the ponies of Equestria. As previously stated they all reveled and played in Celestia’s day while they shunned Luna’s beautiful night.

It seemed the Alicorn couldn’t catch a break. And now this…human creature…was in the picture. A strange being if anything, walking on two legs, no fur except on the forehead, an omnivorous apatite from what she gathered at dinner, and being an absolute foreign concept to Luna. But not to Celestia it seemed.

No while Luna slept to rest her weary body from a hard nights work, Celestia spent half the day with this creature showing him the wonders of Canterlot Castle and even the interior of Equestria Mountain. Better yet, she was absolutely fascinated with this creature, his likes, his dislikes, even his home planet he affectionately called Earth. It disgusted Luna. Well that wasn’t a fair assumption. True she was just as curious of this creature as Celestia was more so even since Luna had a far deeper understanding of Cryptozoology and Astronomy than Celestia would ever know. What disgusted her was that Mike was very friendly to Celestia and gave Luna the cold shoulder.

Seething with rage, Luna wanted to tilt her head back and roar with furious anger. But that was uncouth, and Luna knew better. So she opted to do the next best thing, go for a relaxing flight. Thank Lord Solaris there wasn’t a decency law against that. All she had to do was inform the night guard she was going out. The Alicorn got up from the throne and walked over to the door.

“Guard,” she said, “We are to take our night flight, we shall return shortly.”

A disgruntled groan was all she got in response.

“And for Solaris sake present yourself Knight, thou are in the service to the Princess and we expect thee to be decent.” She said before turning around and heading over to a window. Luna didn’t give the guard a moment to respond before she opened up the window with her hooves, spread her wings and took to the air. It was cool that night; a gentle breeze blew from the southwest. The air was crisp and not harsh. A few stray clouds from the Cloudsdale settlement had strayed over into Canterlot, but Luna didn’t mind. They added to the view very nicely as she soared.

Luna wasn’t sure what the deal was with Cloudsdale, she had always respected the Pegasi greatly. But they had always taken offense to her Uncle Archduke Stallion and his ways. Luna always did try to ask Celestia about it, but when she did Celestia would always respond with “Trust me this isn’t something you want to get yourself involved in.” That was probably the only political advice Celestia gave that Luna didn’t outright question. The whole ordeal seemed like a hassle and she was glad not to be involved, though she would make a point of talking to the Archduke when he came during the winter.

The only thing that mattered right now to the princess was her flight. After circling Canterlot for almost twenty minutes, Luna came to rest on one of the clouds. It was a very fluffy cloud that provided her with a lot of comfort. Furthermore there was a coolness to it that was pleasurable to the Alicorn mare. She rested her head on the cloud and looked at the castle. The majesty of it couldn’t be ignored at all. It was too bad that it was a house divided.

Just then, Luna saw something off. From the north side of the castle, an inky black vapor slinked its way out one of the windows. The vapor slithered its way down the castle wall until it reached the floor. Then the vapor coalesced into a figure, one resembling a large raven. Luna stared at the event with sheer awe. Once the coalescing stopped, the…being began to move quickly. The being stood tall with a form similar to Mike, at least his bipedal stature, and had a long stride as it ran. Flowing behind it was a cape that almost looked like wings had Luna not been so observant. On its…head…was a crown with two wings. Other than that no features were discernable as the being was totally black.

It made its way through the court yard at a fast pace. It leapt over railings, glided down stairs, and brushed through the bushes. All the while it made its way towards the edge of the castle, which hung over Canterlot. The drop was a good eighty feet. Any pony, griffin, or other being attempting to jump off it without wings or magic would face certain injury at the bottom.

All the while, Luna couldn’t bring herself to move. This spectacle was simply amazing to watch. The being moved with extreme skill and silence, not even her well-tuned hearing could pick up the creatures hoof falls. Just then it leapt onto a railing and launched itself into the air. This made the Alicron jump to her hoofs, wings ready to flap in flight. She was ready to race over and intercept the creature. But before she could even flinch, a ball of light appeared out of the creatures back, shot away from it, and took the form of a large Dragon.

The dragon flapped its wings as it swung around and flew underneath the black being. Luna watched in complete awe as the being landed on the creature’s back and began to ride it! The Dragon soared over several buildings of Canterlot before rolling inverted and allowing the Black being to land on the roofs. The Dragon then shrunk in size and landed on the black creatures shoulder as it ran on the roof.

Luna’s mouth lay agape as she looked at this. The creature ran from rooftop to rooftop before it came to a halt near the towns square. It leapt onto the ground and slowly began to make its way through the town. Luna guessed it was looking for something. Obviously she didn’t know what it could be. So she guessed it was time to investigate. The Princess of the night leapt off the cloud and soared down upon the town. The creature moved from street to street, slowly gazing at the houses and huts. Luna didn’t dare land, for fear of alerting this potential enemy to her presence.

She wondered what if anything it could be looking for. But nothing came to her mind. Just then the creature came to a dead halt. Panicking over the fact that it might’ve caught on to her trail, Luna quickly dove onto a rooftop to hide. She only peeked when she was sure it wasn’t looking. She turned out to be dead wrong. The creature hadn’t moved, in fact it was looking around. Slowly, Luna began to pant. The breathing was hard enough for the creature to hear. It suddenly spun around and looked up at the roof, in Luna’s general direction. What Luna saw next horrified her to her core, a pair of red eyes glared up at her.

They weren’t like any normal eyes, as a Red iris was common among some Earth Ponies born near the mountain range. These eyes were burning red and unblinking. They weren’t looking at her, they were looking through her. A piercing glare so deadly, it scared even her. Luna couldn’t tear herself away from looking at this sight. There was even an almost Evil presence to it. Any other creature that gave off this foreboding an intimidating feel would’ve been an easy challenge to the Alicorn, even without Celestia. But those eyes…They were completely unnerving.

Luna couldn’t blink; she felt icy sweat pour from her mane. It had found her, and only Solaris knew what it would do next. Thankfully it wouldn’t do anything dangerous. In fact it wouldn’t do anything to her at all; a scream in the night would change everything. It was a scream of terror that alerted both Luna and the creature. That made Luna snap back into reality. But before she could do anything, the creature acted first, darting towards the scream’s origin faster than anything Luna had ever seen.

The Alicorn shook her head in stunned surprise before charging after. “Wait!” She shouted as she chased after, “What are thou doing?”

It didn’t answer. It only continued to run down back alleys and roads. As she galloped after the creature, Luna was actually surprised at how unkempt the roads were. But she couldn’t dwell on it because the creature called for her immediate presence. And then it came upon the location of the Scream. A mare lay on the ground crying as another pony, a colt, ran off with a sack full of supplies. They had just come upon a robbery.

Theft in Canterlot was nothing new, and while the Royal Guard did their best it was just another facet of life on Equestria. However the most prominent thing about theft was it always happened at night. Surprisingly this wasn’t a source of anger for Luna, quite the opposite actually as it told her that some Ponies enjoyed her night. What was concerning her was that this apparently dark creature was so interested in this theft. A woman was bawling near the front entrance of her home, her valuables taken by the thief who was bolting down the muddy and unkempt road at break neck speed.

The dark creature surveyed most of the crime scene before turning towards the fleeing thief. Luna stood behind him, her body covered in shadow. Just then she saw the creature motion towards the thief. “Not so fast.” It said its voice deep and raspy. The closet thing Luna could relate to was the voice of Sombra, but much more demonic.

Just then it raised its hand which suddenly became engulfed in fire. In a flash, the creature channeled that flame into a ball and sent it hurtling towards the thief. It hit with such precision that it knocked the thief off his hooves and sent him tumbling, while the stolen goods hit the ground harmlessly.

“Gidrah,” the creature said to his dragon, “Go retrieve the stolen property.”

“Yes milord,” the dragon responded. Then the burgundy dragon lifted off the creatures shoulders and flew towards the stolen property. Meanwhile, the dark creature waved his left arm and sent a string of flame towards the incapacitated thief. The string wrapped around the pony's right hind leg before transforming into a chain of steel. The dark creature then pulled hard on the chain, which went taught and dragged the thief towards it. All the while the thief begged and pleaded for his release and innocence.

“No please! I didn’t mean to, I’m just so desperate for bits! I can’t survive any more on these bucking taxes!” he pleaded as he drew closer.

When he reached the creature, it kept pulling until the thief hung upside down from him. The creature held left his arm up high so that the upside down pony can look the creature into his eyes.

“Oh by Celestia…” he started.

“Quiet!” the creature hissed, “Do you admit to stealing those valuables?”

Now scared out of his mind the pony nodded furiously.

“Why,” the creature asked.

“Because I needed the money,” He answered.

“Yeah I figured as much,” the creature answered.

“No please you don’t understand! The taxes here are to crippling!” the thief screamed.

Luna shook her head, no pony had ever complained about the taxes before. Why was this one doing so now?

“Listen, I know little if any of the laws and punishments of this land.” The creature said, “So you’ll get a warning from me. But that pony behind me is one of the rulers of the land so I assume she knows a thing or two.”

Luna froze, all the while her fear had told her not to do anything to help or intervene. Now that she had confirmed that the creature was aware of her, more specifically where she was, she nearly wet herself in fear. That fear was justified when the creature looked back at her for a moment before returning his attention to the thief.

“But I do have a message for you and to any of those like you. If you plan on breaking laws again that are just and fair, you’ll have me to deal with. The name is Razgriz, and I am a Demon Lord.” Razgriz said.

Luna stood there, motionless. The primary question that rang in her mind was, ‘What is a Demon Lord?’ This thing had appeared out of nowhere, more terrifying than anything in Tartarus, and was proclaiming itself to be a creature of the law? Luna was about to make a protest when the creature turned around and walked over to her, still holding the terrified thief. She wanted to back up, move away, fly, run, or do something to get away. But nothing came. Her fear before had turned into paralyzing panic. Razgriz’s glowing red eyes burned like a fire no pony could even approach. Worse, he was approaching her.

Luna tried to use a spell, but her horn got only as far as to emit its bright glow. This illuminated the area around her, and gave more light onto Razgriz. To Luna’s complete shock, he was a human! His facial features were similar to Mike’s, but the skin was paler, the hair that was visible from the helmet was black, and his posture was more rigid. The expression was also something Mike hadn’t shown, fierce determination and anger mixed with stoicism. He allowed the chain to go lax in his hand, dropping the pony on the ground right at Luna’s hooves.

“He’s yours to deal with,” Razgriz said. His original demonic voice softening a bit but his dangerous look did not waver.

But it was enough to shatter Luna’s fear, “Umm….why….”

“Its standard procedure, I’m not entrusted with the safety of this realm. So I can’t do anything without the consent of the rulers. Demon Lord Prerogative,” Razgriz answered not breaking face.

“But why must thou…?” Luna asked, still shaking though not as bad.

“Let’s just leave it at; I’m a protector and a friend.” Razgriz said before walking away. The dragon, which throughout all that had returned the stolen property to the very grateful owner, flapped its wings and followed its master.

Luna stood there, aghast of everything that had just happened. “Wait, what!” she shouted spinning around to look down the road that Razgriz had walked. But he wasn’t there. He had left Luna standing there with the groveling thief. Luna pondered for a moment what had just happened, “So it seems Mike wasn’t the only Human to join us.”

Then she turned around, remembering her duties as a Royal Princess of Equestria…

…Princess Luna stood in the windowsill remembering that night. It may have been a brief and terrifying meeting, but one that looking back had to happen. The only question now was what was going to happen this night? The Alicorn took to the skies with a great lurch. Unlike that Night over a thousand years ago, there were no clouds in the night sky. So the Princess soared through the night with a somber smile.

It seemed so simple back then. Now was a completely different story.

The next morning, Twilight Sparkle woke up earlier than usual. Part of her wanted to see Flash Sentry get a good start to his day, but of course the tannish orange guard pony was up and about long before her. She could never understand how he was able to get out of bed, make himself a nice breakfast, and leave without disturbing the generally light sleeping Twilight.

Flash had initially been very nervous about staying with Twilight. However the Princess had made him promise that nothing funny was going to even remotely happen, plus she was sure both she and Cadence had enough of a grip on Shining to keep him from doing anything rash. Flash had always been a gentleman, even after Twilight re-met, so there was somewhat of an assurance that he was going to behave himself. Plus there were more pressing matters to attend to.

So the purple princess descended the steps towards the library to research all she could about Razgriz. There was no fathomable reason why she, Twilight Sparkle, had no clue that Razgriz was. Furthermore how both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash knew about him while the rest of the gang didn’t. There also was the question of how and what connection Razgriz had with Celestia and Luna, and why they were trying to hide him. And if that wasn’t enough, there was also the threat Apocalypto held.

Groaning over the whole ordeal, Twilight shuffled over to her work desk and began to magically pull over books. One by one, the new Alicorn rummaged through the pages of Equestrian history to find any detailed information regarding Razgriz. But surprisingly none was coming. Sure there was detailed information regarding Discord, King Sombra, Queen Chrysalis, and even Nightmare Moon. But Razgriz and Apocalypto were nowhere to be found in her Library’s history books.

“GAH!” she shouted throwing a book halfway across the room.

“OH MY,” Spike shouted abruptly.

Twilight spun around to see the baby dragon clutching his head in sudden surprise. She hadn’t even heard him coming up the stairs, and because of that she nearly injured her number one assistant again. Twilight blushed with embarrassment, “I’m sorry Spike. I didn’t know you were there.”

“Well I was brining you some breakfast.” Spike lamented, referencing to the tray of food that was on the floor, “But I can see that I’ll go have to cook another round.”

“That’s okay Spike,” Twilight said getting up and walking over to the baby dragon, “I wasn’t really hungry.”

“Are you sure Twilight? Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” Spike said.

Twilight giggled, “Well, if you put it that way… alright then.”

Spike smiled and headed back to the kitchen to re-prep another breakfast. Meanwhile Twilight quickly cleaned up the mess she made before returning to her dead end. Knowing that her library contained nothing regarding the topics, Twilight still flipped through the books looking for any type of clue. She was hoping for something, anything to pop up that would give her an indication.

So much so that when a knock came from the front door, she raced down it like Pinkie Pie when she hears the word Party. Thankfully to the pony on the other side of the door, Twilight collected herself before opening. “Good morning, welcome to Golden Oaks library. How may I help you?” Twilight said with a warm smile.

“Practice that line much?” a familiar voice giggled.

Twilight looked through the door frame and smile, “Night Shield what brings you here?”

The red eyed, caramel colored, black mane pony had a warm smile on his face as he walked in past Twilight, “A few things actually. I’m interested in acquiring a map.”

“Well you’ve certainly come to the right place. That is if you want a map already finished.” Twilight grimaced closing the door behind him.

“Actually it’s funny you say that, every map maker in Ponyville pointed me to you.” He said to her with a smile before walking into the Library. After giving the place a once over, Night whistled, “Not bad of a collection.”

“Three levels, two of them filled with books,” Twilight said, “My own little sanctuary of knowledge. Well that’s actually not really true, I allow other ponies to rent these books like any normal librarian. But that doesn’t mean I don’t read these books often. I do. But only when…”

Night laughed, “You always get this articulate?”

Twilight blushed, “Not always. So back to business then, what type of map are you looking for?”

Night turned around and faced Twilight with a warm, yet determined smile. “Yes I’m looking for a detailed map of the Everfree Forest.” He explained, “Preferably the most up to date one you have.”

Twilight was shocked by this request. It was certainly out of left field for a pony on vacation. Even more so for a pony that was staying of Ponyville. “Oh really?” she asked.

Night Shield nodded.

“May I ask what for?” Twilight asked.

“Well, when in Rome.” Night answered, “I’m here in Ponyville and I hear that the Everfree forest is one of Ponyville’s landmarks.”

“It’s a pretty huge forest, many towns have settled near it. We’re not the only one.” Twilight replied.

“True but you are the closest. And this place has dealt with the forest more thoroughly than any other place in Equestria.” Night Shield pointed out, “Seems only right that this place would have something along the lines of a map.”

“Well,” Twilight grimaced, “We do. It’s just not up-to-date.”

Now it was Night Shield’s turn to be stunned, “Really?”

Twilight nodded with a bit of sorrow. She always hated disappointing ponies, especially one as engaging as Night Shield.

But Night shocked her; he didn’t seem disappointed at all. He almost seemed to be expecting the answer and even had a response penned. “Oh come on Twilight, you’ve read these books millions of times. I’m sure one of them has a detailed map of Everfree.” He said.

Twilight pondered for a moment before getting an idea. “Well I do have some old friends in the Canterlot archives. I have been meaning to send them a request for new books, I’m sure I could include a request for Everfree’s map.” Twilight said. Now she knew how Rarity felt when she was making more than generous offers.

Night Shield smiled, “And how long will that take? Surely a pony of your stature is pretty busy so I’m guessing at least a week?”

Twilight blushed again, “Not really. If I know my old friend, it’ll be here in a few days. Should be here next Thursday if I send the request today, plan on sticking around?”

“I did have a lot of vacation time accumulated,” Night said, “It won’t be a problem.”

“Great, I’ll get too it soonest.” Twilight smiled.

Night Shield nodded, “Also, since I’m here. Do you mind letting me rummage through your history section?”

“Certainly,” Twilight said.

“Twilight, Breakfast is ready!” Spike shouted.

“Okay Spike, be right there!” Twilight said, “Oh I almost forgot, my assistant Spike made some celerity soup, would you like some?”

“I’d be glad.” Night bowed.

Twilight smiled. Thankfully Spike had heard the whole interaction and had anticipated making a meal for the guest. Soon the duo was enjoying a well-made breakfast while enjoying the history section of the Library. In fact, Night had been extremely interested in the era surrounding Nightmare Moon. It was almost eerie and Twilight would’ve picked up on it had she not been so intrigued over the guest.

Night was smart, inquisitive, and even a little good looking. While he didn’t compare to Flash, he certainly was enough of a well-rounded pony to make Twilight interested. “Well here we go. The Complete History of Equestria Chapter two.” Twilight said levitating the big book over onto the table, “Complete with pictures.”

Night laughed at the joke, “Hope they’re pretty good. You know I’ve always found pictures to make or break a Book.”

“Really” Twilight asked, a little bemused.

“Not really,” Night smiled.

Twilight laughed as she used her magic to flip through the book, “Well let’s see. Ah here we are.” She had flipped to the period before and during Nightmare Moon. Night Shield began to read it with the same eagerness he had had previously. But then his expression slowly began to sower. He began to read and then re-read passages a couple of times before flipping through the pages. “That can’t be right.” He said his voice lousy with worry.

“What, what’s wrong?” Twilight asked with concern in her voice.

“This information all false…” Night said.

“That can’t be, the best historians in Equestria wrote this book, compiling all the information from records at the time.” She explained.

“That’s impossible!” Night exclaimed, “They must’ve done it wrong then.”

Now Twilight was more disturbed than concerned, “How do you know?”

Night looked as if he was about to answer, before better judgment got to him. He took a deep breath and collected himself, “I’m sorry I guess I got my history wrong.”

“I would say so,” Twilight agreed, smiling a bit to defuse the now very tense atmosphere.

Night Shield nodded, “Oh um…tell me….whose Nightmare Moon.”

Twilight leaned back, her eyes wide in shock, “You mean you don’t know?”

Night shook his head, “As you probably already surmised, the history books from where I’m from aren’t entirely accurate.”

“Where are you from again?” she asked.

“Juneau, a town way up in the northern mountains.” He answered.

Twilight nodded, beginning to piece things together. The Northern Mountains always did have a different sort of situation with Equestria. And many of the towns up there were so remote that it was feasible for them to have situations like this. So Twilight flipped to the section detailing Nightmare Moon, “Well Nightmare Moon was once Princess Luna. She, as you know, controlled the moon raising it at the end of day and setting it at the end of night. So in turn, she controlled the night. Princess Luna was always bitter about how ponies slept or shunned her night. So much so that one night she refused to lower the moon.

“In her anger, she declared herself the true ruler of Equestria and declared the night shall last forever.” Twilight continued, “She was defeated by Princess Celestia and banished to the moon for a Thousand years.” Twilight was about to continue, telling Night Shield of her involvement with Nightmare Moon when she saw Night’s face. The same expression he had when he first read the book was back, this time mixed in with a look of sadness. Twilight could even see a tear form in his eye.

“But…” he said softly, “She got over that…”

“Excuse me?” Twilight asked. Night had said his statement so low that she could barely hear him.

Night, realizing Twilight was noticing him, stifled his sadness with a shake of his head. “It’s nothing just something in my eye.” He explained rubbing his eye. Though when he was done, Twilight did catch him mouthing a line. She then noticed his ear twitch, as if someone was speaking directly into it. Then to her complete amazement Night Shield stood up. “Excuse me Princess, I have to be going now. There’s something I need to do.” He said before leaving.

Twilight stood there, dumbstruck at what had just happened. “Well,” she said, “That was…weird.”

Chapter Five: Past Present

Chapter Five
Past Present

“Milord calm down!” Gidrah snapped as I bolted out of town.

I didn’t hear him; or rather I chose to ignore him. Yanking the bracelet off me, I reverted to my human form as I reached a small river bank way on Ponyville’s outskirts. There was no one around to see me, not for a good distance, but I really didn’t care at that moment. Everything I had just read, more or less heard, from Princess Sparkle was ringing in my ears. None of it could be right. My emotions were fighting to breakthrough my control, and were winning the fight.

“Luna had gotten over her anger and resentment, I know she did I helped her overcome it!” I shouted. I tried to gain control, or at least keep control, but it wasn’t working as I paced up and down the river bank.

“Milord,” Gidrah snapped, but again it fell upon deaf ears.

“What the hell was that book?! What the hell was all that I read, none of it was correct. It couldn’t be right.” I continued, “I mean I didn’t expect my absence to go over well here but I didn’t think they omit such a huge part of their history! And what about Lulu…” Then my emotions began to gain a foothold and I began to break down, “How could she just….succumb to them…How…why?”

I was about to cry when I felt a scaly object strike me across my face. The object was Gidrah’s tail. The old dragon slapped me so hard he made my head ring.

“Thanks,” I said as my good conscious returned, “I needed that.”

“You’re welcome milord. May I now say something?” Gidrah asked.

I nodded.

“It’s been a thousand years, and do remember how things were fairing for Equestria back then. Things may have gotten lost in translation over that time.” Gidrah explained, “We don’t know for sure what happened between the last engagement and the time we returned.”

I took a deep breath, “Your right Gidrah. But I guess we should chop that onto the list of mysteries we have to figure out.”

“The first of which is what happened to the Elements of Harmony,” Gidrah said, “Since it will take some time for our inquiry to be fulfilled.”

I was about to nod when a shriek caught my attention. Spinning around, I turned my attention to the edge of the forest. Something was going on over there, probably something worth my attention. “Actually,” I said, “First thing will be to figure out what that’s all about.”

“Might be a good idea to put the bracelet back on,” Gidrah advised.

“Not this time Gidrah come on!” I shouted.

Rolling his eyes, the old dragon flapped his wings and took to the air. As he did so, his chain reigns slipped off him allowing me to grab ahold and pull myself up. It wasn’t rare that I rode Gidrah in my human form, but I only did it in a pinch. Soaring high above Ponyville, I looked down on the sight of the disturbance. At first it didn’t seem like anything I should concern myself with. A cottage near the edge of the forest seemed to have a rather large amount of animals running around in a panic. Further still the yellow Pegasus I saw earlier was having a fit trying to corral all the animals.

“Oh my,” I heard her plead rather quietly, “Why is everyone so scared? Is there something wrong? Everyone please calm down, oh please pretty please.”

“Seems like some animals are loose about,” I said, “Good question would be what spooked them all.”

“I think I can answer that.” Gidrah answered. He then nodded towards the northern part of the ranch, where three fillies were desperately trying to herd a herd of cows. It didn’t seem like they were having much luck at their efforts, though I have to commend the guts it took to even attempt something as crazy as cattle ranching.

I laughed at their misfortune, “I don’t think we need to get ourselves involved in something like that Gidrah.”

“I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss milord, if that herd gets loose...” Gidrah said.

“I thought my jurisdiction was only paranormal creatures.” I snickered as Gidrah, growing tired of flapping over a location, decided to come to rest upon a cloud.

“And why do I think we have had this conversation before?” Gidrah asked.

“Maybe we have.” I said, “Maybe we have. Come on; let’s get a patrol in so we know what’s going on here.”

“Define going on here milord,” Gidrah sneered.

“We’ve been in Ponyville only two days and know very little about the town’s layout. Let’s fly around the town and see what we can see.” I told him.

The dragon sighed, “Now I know we’ve had this conversation before.”

I shook my head as I pulled out my power coin from my pocket and placed it to my shoulder. “The fire burns red, the fire burns bright.” I said, “All of my enemies shall be vanquished tonight.”

Soon enough I transformed into Razgriz and the dragon set off. We flew around the town just high enough to stay out of sight of the town’s folk, very few of them looking up anyway, but low enough that I could keep a wide field of vision while still maintaining some detail. However as we flew around, I couldn’t help feel a lingering feeling that Gidrah and I did already have that conversation before…

…Since I took the mantle of being a Demon Lord, I’ve discovered three very amazing facts. The first is the simple misjudgment everyone including myself has made about what actual Element my powers are. The fact is I don’t control just one element but two, Fire obviously as well as Steel. Probably one of the best tag team elementals in history, as they not only allow me to manipulate one of the most destructive forces ever and one of the best building elements ever. The second is the sheer underestimation people have at fire’s ability. Most often think that fire is a destructive element and should be avoided, while others simply think it’s a tool for providing heat. The truth is: Fire is both. Better yet, anyone and everyone can make a case for Fire being a life form.

The final fact I learned is that when someone like me, a person with the powers of the universe at his disposal, gets bored it’s very easy to find something to do. Having the fire element means I can pop into anything with heat; fire, electrical current, hot water, or whatever. So that means I can be a very devious trickster. But throw steel into the mix and I can create any tool imaginable to feed my boredom.

In this case I crafted myself a nice little steel ball and chain to use as a crude form of a yo-yo. It wasn’t entirely perfect as the thing bounced off the walls harder than I probably wanted it too. However, lying on the bed tossing the ball towards the incredibly high ceiling of my room and then yanking the chain to pull it back before Sir Isaac Newton told the ball to stop was very gratifying.

Last night’s search of this city called Canterlot had turned up very little that could tell me why I was brought here or even what was so damn special about this place. The smart thing I did was try to find a library. But a robbery mess up any plans and Princess Luna stalking me made sure I wasn’t going to find it. I tried to search again a few hours after I ditched the princess with the robber but by then the sun was rising. Of course I could probably ask Princess Celestia about finding a library but I did run into two significant problems. The first was Luna, from what I read about her reaction to me last night was that I didn’t leave her with a trusting impression.

True, my Demon Lord form leaves many quivering in puddles of urine but those with the grit and gall to see past that can tell I’m a likeable guy. The fact that Luna was in a state of near panic told me clearly I didn’t leave with a good first impression. My second problem was a bit more complex. Medieval history often tells us that in most towns Royalty lived in very prestigious, very glamorous, very gilded households or castles. The same could not be said about the town folk, who often lived in areas one step above disgusting caves. That was very clearly on display here.

I could honestly tell there was a separation between classes here in Canterlot, and if that was the case in the Equestrian capital than it was going to be the same everywhere else. But what made this a problem for me were the Princesses. Last night Luna seemed absolutely stunned the condition of Canterlot, almost to the point that she disbelieved everything she saw. And if that was true about Luna, the same could be said about Celestia. And from what I could tell of her, Celestia wasn’t in charge very long and her naiveté ran deep.

Asking her to take me to a local library would be a bad idea for that reason alone. But then, if there was a separation between classes and personal, then it’s a good bet that information was separated as well. An interesting position for me, made even worse that I was far from my jurisdiction and in no contact with the council on what to do next. My hands were pretty much tied. So I just lay on my bed, tossing my custom yo-yo around, with absolutely nothing to do.

Gidrah, my loyal pain in the ass, was quick to remind me of it. “You know milord if you are bored, we can always go around the channels.” He said.

“Like my predecessor would always do Gidrah?” I asked.

“Not often but when the situation mattered the most.” He told me.

“And this situation qualifies?” I asked again.

“Depends, but I would feel better if you knew more before anything did make this situation dangerous.” Gidrah answered.

“Grammatically and politically incorrect,” I told him, “We’re guests in this world, completely forgetting the fact that we don’t exactly know how these channels work. If I start running around the system, which may get me a worse rap than the one I’m already on. You said it yourself; we don’t know what is going on.”

Gidrah looked at me with an unamused smile, “So we just bide our time?”

I grimaced, “I don’t like it I’ll admit it, but we got nothing better to do.”

To my surprise, a snort came from the old dragon, “You know there was a time where you would’ve been foaming at the mouth to get something figured out. Even went so far as to break into a prison to interrogate a suspect.”

Now it was my turn to look at him with an unamused face, “You know what just for that I’ll leave you here while I walk around this place.”

Gidrah chuckled, “You’re not going to get off that easily milord. We have free reign of this castle according to Princess Celestia. Why not go directly into the Royal Library and get some level of information?”

“Because if there is any information denied to us…” I started and then stopped when I realized the futility of that conversation. Gidrah had a valid point, and the only reason why I didn’t want to do it was simple public relations problems. If we were home, I wouldn’t argue since Razgriz was a polarizing character regardless of what I did. Here I didn’t want to mess with anything. However there was a way out of this that would benefit both sides. I smiled at Gidrah, “You up for a little sleuthing?”

“Milord…” he asked, “What are you planning?”

“To use a phrase, ‘you want answers; you go for the horse’s patoot.’” I answered.

“I’m afraid I don’t follow.” Gidrah continued.

“Library’s not going to tell us anything if there is a class level. But we might be able to pick up some information from the locals...” I said.

Then Gidrah got it, “…and the guards.”

“Exactly,” I smiled.

“You think the duo by the door would allow us?” Gidrah said flatly.

I turned back to the door while switching to my thermal vision, and to my utter amusement both guards were incapacitated. Probably fast asleep. With a flicker of my angelic hearing, I confirmed that. “I don’t think we need to confirm that, those posers are asleep.”

“Seriously,” Gidrah asked.

I nodded, “Let’s move before one of them thinks about waking up.”

Gidrah nodded and popped inside me. I walked over the door and slowly began to phase through it. Sure enough the two guards were asleep at their posts and that allowed me to solidify and leisurely walk away with a smug grin. Soon enough I began strolling through the hallways searching for anyone in conversation. However I think the Equestrian Royal Guards are a little too good at what they do. Most of them didn’t talk, and those that didn’t stand there ridged faced were passed out.

That didn’t mean my walk remained leisurely. I was almost sure that I wasn’t allowed around the castle without escort, so I remained out of sight where ever I could. All the while Gidrah and I played a little game of trying to see which guard was actually doing their job, or passed out. It got to be pretty funny, since turning my body into formless heat has many humorous advantages. Fooling the guards with sudden temperature changes, applying heat in certain locations, and the undying trick of hot foot where our primary means of determining.

But what was even more hilarious was how much Gidrah was winning. I’ll give my mentor one thing, he knows a good bet when he sees it. And the smarmy dragon bet on the ratio favoring passed out than awake. As previously mentioned, any guard that wasn’t rigidly at attention guarding a window or a door, was asleep. And with alarming consistency I began to notice more and more passed out on the job. Soon enough it moved from being funny to terrifying.

If that Silver wasn’t alone in his tribe and did have friends here on Equestria, he and his friends would have free reign of this castle in a manner of minutes. Worse yet, many if not all the windows were open. True it was a nice summer’s day and it looked like the shades could move. However that didn’t justify having all of them being open. After passing through a particular hallway that was completely unguarded, I materialized and investigated the windows. Earth castle windows are rather small, primarily because of design but they did have some practical use as well. The practicality is that it’s harder to spy on the daily life of the Castle’s interior.

Canterlot did not seem to bother with even addressing that problem. These windows were not only large, but clearly see through. Anyone with a telescope or good vision could see the daily activities of what ever took place within these walls. Now that wouldn’t be such a glaring problem if the city’s defense walls actually reached a protective height. Again, Canterlot missed that problem entirely with its wedding cake design feature. This leant itself to a castle that was not only easily see-through, but primarily defenseless against any aerial assault.

If whoever was controlling the Silver had picked Equestria as his prime target, he picked very well. I was almost stupefied by this. “Who the hell designed this defensive layout? Bang on all you want about Harmony and peace, but I’ve never seen a world that is purely pacifistic.” I said looking out one of the windows.

“Indeed, this castle does seem to be at a grave disadvantage. I’d almost call it hubris at best.” Gidrah agreed.

“Yeah but we also have to remember, defense isn’t our concern at the moment, we need to figure out what’s going on.” I said.

“Define Going on milord? Obviously the guards aren’t into talking.” Gidrah stated.

“Good point, but the locals are. If we can get out of this castle unseen, we may be able to get a clearer picture of Canterlot. More importantly find out if anything interesting has gone down.” I said.

“Well why not just float your way through as energy particles?” Gidrah asked, in such a way that this answer was blatantly obvious.

But I shook my head, “I’ll have to rephrase sometime and I don’t want to risk it with so many locals down there. Plus my energy transfer might be detected by the Unicorns. No we’re going to have to do this the old fashioned way.”

Gidrah nodded, “Well then we’re going to have to get passed those guards. And I don’t think even Daedalus and Icarus can get past those colts.”

Another good point because unlike the guards in the castle the ones, guarding outside were wide awake and alert. I shook my head in somewhat disgust at the difference of Guard conditions, but if anyone was going to be awake and alert, it’s gotta be the outside guards. But then I remembered something about the reference Gidrah made.

“True Gidrah, but Icarus and Daedalus leapt from the highest tower.” I said. Keeping that in mind, I looked around for any tall structure within the Castle complex I could throw myself off of. Sure enough, leaning out the window and looking above me I spotted the tall tower of Canterlot. “Ah ha, there’s our Eagle point,” I said, “Let’s go.”

“Best hurry,” Gidrah added.

Part of me wanted to transform to Razgriz, dematerialize, and then glide my way up to the tower. Yet that part was overshadowed by the urge to climb my way up. Parkour wasn’t something I was into before my tenure as a Demon Lord. All that changed when I got the job and it became a physical requirement. Makes good amount of sense, dematerialization require a good portion of my energy and if I’m not within location of a heat source it could drain me dry. Plus, nothing beats imitating Batman or Ezio by stealthily moving through the rafters or up buildings. So I decided to climb my way up.

I climbed my way up the window frame until I was out of the castle and onto the roof. Once on the roof, I began to run up the tilted roof towards the peak for better balance. Wasn’t a tall order as the slope wasn’t so high. Soon enough I reached the base of the tower. After finding a path up, basically breaks in the outer wall that I could get a handhold and foothold on, I began my climb. But as I climbed, I happened on something interesting.

“Good day sister, it’s a rare occurrence to see thee up.” Celestia’s warm voice seeped through.

I froze, for a second I thought I had been busted.

“Good Day sister,” Luna answered, “Yes, our mind is what keeps us up.”

I looked around, scanning the skies or the roof of the church looking for the duo. But when I saw nothing but open sky, I realized that they were coming from within the tower. I looked up and spotted a window within climbing distance. After leaping and shimming my way over to it, I peered into the window. Guessing from the furniture and lavishes the room was decked out in; it had to be Celestia’s room. There they were, the two Alicorns in their glory, resting on two bean bag chairs. Or what I thought were bean bag chairs.

I couldn’t see their faces, as they were sitting with their backs to me, but I could tell that Luna was still disturbed from our meeting last night.

“Is something not well dear Lulu?” Celestia asked.

“Now that’s a nickname,” Gidrah laughed.

“Well, that depends,” Luna answered, “We encountered something last night that was most ominous. It seems that another…human…has appeared.”

Celestia seemed confused, “Whatever doth thou mean?”

“We are not sure. The creature was clad in black, stood tall and firm, ran with a speed our eyes have never seen, and seemed to have the beck and call of a dragon.” She explained, “We saw the creature appear from out of the castle and head into town. But when we attempted to pursue it, it saw us. It had these eyes, bright red and unblinking….Celly we have never seen eyes like this before.”

“Were they evil?” Celestia asked.

“No of course not,” I whispered jokingly, “They’re only just for show.”

“We aren’t sure. There was no direct feeling of evilness or wickedness. They were scary, to there we are sure. But before it could act upon us, a robbery occurred a ways away and it responded. It captured the robber, returned the goods, and then handed it to us for judgment before vanishing.” Luna answered.

“Interesting, I will ponder on this. When next I see Michael, I shall ask him about this.” Celestia answered.

Luna snorted, “Why not deal to matters now Celly, as thee are clearly not doing anything.”

“Thou does not understand Lulu; I am taking a break at the moment. Today has already been a headache with dealing with correspondents from Griffon land, and what with General Typhoon due to arrive with his forces any week now, I’ve been a bit preoccupied.” Celestia answered.

The rest of the conversation I didn’t listen too, as that was not my business. I climbed up the window and further up the tower until I reached the roof. Soon enough I surveyed the area, resting the urge to pull a Leonardo DiCaprio moment. The entire landscape was just beautiful, despite the town being one step above slums. Well that’s an unfair tag, the town did look good but it was clearly run down if looked at it from above.

“Well milord, we’ve reached our top height, shall we begin?” Gidrah asked.

“Yeah, I answered, let’s.” I answered.

Soon enough I pulled out my power coin and got ready to transform.

“The fire burns red, the fire burns bright, all of my enemies shall be vanquished tonight.” I chanted.

Soon enough I transformed into Razgriz, and Gidrah and I were soon sailing over the castle. My plan worked, we were high enough to fly right over the guards without any of them looking up to see us in time, or even in their peripheral vision. We were sailing over the city in no time at all. But again I soon ran into the same problem. No one was talking about anything related to my investigation.

Over and over again I continued to hear conversations about the crushing taxes, poor state of the townsfolk, or something involving the Pegasi of Cloudsdale. All these were important don’t get me wrong. But my law as a Demon Lord kept me from pressing an investigation: if nothing paranormal is involved, stay out. That didn’t mean I completely ignored it.

“Well we’re getting nothing,” Gidrah said.

“Well we do know more about the capital of Canterlot. What’s bugging me is what these ponies are talking about. From what their describing, the princesses seem to be merciless and ruthless. And yet our dealing with them doesn’t show that, nor do I sense that from their thoughts.” I answered.

“Maybe it is a façade, a shield they put up for new comers.” Gidrah answered, playing devil’s advocate.

I shook my head, “No I would’ve picked up on that ruse.”

“Then maybe there is nothing in this town for us to pick up.” Gidrah answered.

Again I shook my head, “You were right about one thing, that monster brought us here. We have to find out why.”

“Well we certainly won’t do it flying around at night, all these ponies seem to sleep at that time.” Gidrah answered, “Much to Luna’s disappointment it seems.”

I nodded, “Agreed, she seems to be the only one dedicated to pulling an all-nighter to keep an eye on this town.” Then I got a wicked idea. “What say we visit her?” I asked.

“She’s already scared of you milord, if not confused by your intentions.” Gidrah shot back, “Going in your Demon Lord form now would get us nowhere.”

“True, so how about I talk with her in my human form.” I asked.

“That sounds like a solid idea milord.” Gidrah answered.

“Good, now let’s head back, I might need to get some rest for my big night.” I said…

…Gidrah touched down on the roof on the inn we were staying at and in an instant I was back in pony form heading in. I swear regardless of where ever we land, no one is watching. Either Gidrah is really good at finding landing zones or the people we protect just don’t know how to look up. Anyway I headed back to my room to rest.

Celestia’s sun hung low in the sky, and the day was nearly done. Today’s patrol had gotten me nothing, but my heart was still heavy over what I had just learned.

Gidrah felt it too, and he hopped out of me and walked onto the table in the room. “You still uneasy milord?” he asked.

“Would you be?” I asked.

“Fair point.” He answered, “Well the day is almost over, get some rest.”

“Yea, I will,” I answered, crawling into the bed to sleep.

Celestia touched down in her room, her heart still very heavy. Today had been a completely stressful day. Though the thousand year leader didn’t show it. Razgriz was back, Michael was back, and so too was Apocalypto. Luna was a nervous wreck, though she didn’t show it. Her emotions were probably all over the place. The last time Mike came up between the royal sisters, it had ended in disaster.

But Celestia couldn’t ignore her own feelings. Regardless of whatever was going on in Luna’s head and heart, anger had filled hers. Razgriz, the very demon that changed everything, was back. She had put him behind her, never once during her solitude reign without Luna did she think of him. That would’ve been too painful. Today was a different story; she couldn’t get Michael out of her head. She loved him yes, though she was content with Luna claiming him as her own.

However that day, long after the Battle of Canterlot ended, that day had lingered long and hard in her mind…

…It was raining hard over the grim graveyard. A perfect fit for today. Thousands of ponies, dragons, chimeras, griffins, and changelings huddled on the stormy grounds for the massive funeral to the fallen. Celestia stood on the stage next to the podium, draped in black, and heart heavy. As the speaker, Windbreaker of Cloudsdale spoke to the crowd by commemorating the fallen and the heroes Celestia found herself glancing towards a single coffin.

This coffin was draped in the royal flag, unlike all the others. The Royal seal looked dark and destroyed upon it, like it had been burned onto the casket rather than draped. That was Mike’s coffin. Though they hadn’t recovered his body, the chances of him surviving that explosion were impossible. He was dead.

And that stung at Celestia. But it tore into her sister Luna, who’s red and puffy eyes couldn’t break away from that casket. She hadn’t spoken since she stopped crying. She hadn’t eaten anything except scraps. She even shut herself into her room refusing to come out. Celestia couldn’t help but feel horrible for her sister. Luna had loved, adored, and admired Mike for all he did. He helped her recover from her depression, better yet; he treated her like a normal pony.

He had done that to everypony he met, included Celestia. Better yet, his alter-ego stopped the war with the Pegasi, and discovered Apocalypto’s informant, who now will forever be nameless except for Traitor. And he had died in protection of Equestria. But for all those glorious things, Celestia couldn’t help but feel nothing but pure sorrow. And she couldn’t figure out why. She knew she had feelings for Michael, but nothing as deep as Luna’s. So why was her heart so heavy?

“And now, people of Equestria, I shall turn the podium over to the great Princess Celestia.” Windbreaker finished.

Celestia looked back towards the podium. In her depressed filled sorrow, she had lost track of time. It was now her turn to speak. All through the time leading to now she had rehearsed a speech for the crowd. Now she had forgotten it. A commanding public speaker she was, she had forgotten her speech. But the people begged her to speak, so speak she shall. So with heavy hooves, the leader in mourning made her way to the podium.

She felt Luna’s eyes fall upon her, if only just. It didn’t bring comfort, just more pressure. Soon Celestia collected herself. “My fellow inhabitants of Equestria, many years ago our forebears came to these lands looking for peace and prosperity. After hard work upon endless days of constant struggle, they created the fair nations we are a part of today. Nations filled with those united by their beliefs, and lead by those who wished nothing more than further peace and prosperity. But then, a being of immense Evil threated to destroy all that we had worked for.” Celestia said. It was a tough speak, as she was trying to hold back tears and keep herself in order. Though no one below noticed her plight. “We engaged this evil and met him on this very land in battle. This very land that we now dedicate to those fallen in battle. Those heroes regardless of race, culture, or even species we shall commit to the earth.

“Let us not forget these souls. I certainly will not. For they have given their lives to defend the ideal that was ours. Those brave, both living and dead, who struggled for the very victory we have gained. History will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to finish the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us. Harmony will come to Equestria, to Equis, to us all. May harmonies light guide us all.” She finished.

There was no applause, as those who viewed it were still somber over the day’s event. But none would forget her words that day. Other speakers followed Princess Celestia, all repeating the words she said. But soon it came time for the moment no one wanted, the burial. One by one caskets large and small were given a solemn prayer, and then lowered into the ground.

When it came time for Mike’s to be lowered, Luna found it hard to let it go. As she sobbed over the casket, begging for it not to be true, Celestia found herself standing nearby, motionless. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t think, she was in too much shock. She watched helplessly as Luna was pulled off Mike’s casket, and it was lowered into the ground forever…

…She had buried him. She had forgotten him. Celestia had moved on. She had accepted his death. And now he was back? Alive, living somewhere else on Equestria all this time? Her firsts thoughts were as to where? Then to why? But every answer she could find made her more and more angry.

How could he do this to her, to Luna? How did he manage to survive, escape, and hide without anyone noticing? Did he return the very feelings Luna and Celestia had for him? Did he not recognize his place in history? Why did he run away!? Celestia paced around her room, begging for enlightenment that wouldn’t come. Then she began to think about the issue that had burned within her since she heard that name get spoken again.

“If it wasn’t for Razgriz, my sister wouldn’t have turned on me!” she hissed, “It’s his fault Luna became Nightmare Moon!”

Now her rage had peaked. Whether he was willing to admit this or not, Nightmare Moon was entirely his fault. For years Celestia wondered how directly involved Mike was with Nightmare Moon’s rise and rebellion. While she admitted that while he was alive, he kept that part of Luna under control, when he left was a different story.

That part had to be true. Luna would never have gone evil if Mike didn’t chase Apocalypto into that tunnel. Things would’ve been different. Everything would be different. Celestia wouldn’t have to have lied to everyone! Nightmare Moon would never have occurred. She wouldn’t have lied!

“He shouldn’t have comeback.” Celestia said, “That demon shouldn’t have come back!”

“Twilight,” Flash shouted as he trotted into the Library, “I’m back.”

For the first time ever, there was no answer. Usually Twilight would acknowledge her coltfriend when he arrived or when he got back. Either with a shout from another room, or directly walking in and kissing him. But today it was different. As was the case with everything this past week.

First his team gets sent from the Crystal Empire to Canterlot to assist in Celestia’s personal guard. Then Ponyville gets attacked; now his rookie team was guarding Ponyville. Weird didn’t even begin to describe things. How the things in Flash’s life have changed after Twilight bumped into him.

Flash soon made his way onto the second level of the Library. There he found his marefriend’s nose buried in a book. “Well this is a familiar sight.” He said.

Twilight’s head shot up in surprise, “Oh Flash I didn’t know you were back.”

“Just walked in actually. Anything good?” he asked walking over to Twilight.

“Well it’s the Complete history of Equestria.” She answered as Flash snuggled up to her.

“Haven’t you read that book like a thousand times?” Flash asked.

“Like a million times,” Twilight laughed.

Flash laughed again, “Then what are you doing reading it again? Tell me you don’t have another test coming up?”

“Nothing like that, I actually had a pony come in today. You met him at the party last night, Night Sentry.” She answered.

“Oh I remember him. He seemed like a nice pony, had a rad singing voice. Anyway what about him?” Flash asked.

“Well he stopped by today, asking for a complete map of the Everfree Forest. I told him I didn’t have it on me but I could order it. He didn’t mind and he even stayed by for lunch. Night seemed to be very knowledgeable about law and order, especially down here in Equestria. But when we got to the topic of Equestrian history, something troubled him.” Twilight said her expression sobering.

“Like what?” Flash asked.

“Well, he said that this history book was wrong. That many of the facts it states shouldn’t or couldn’t have happened. Especially when it comes to Nightmare moon.” Twilight asked, “I mean I saw back into that time, how this history book can be wrong is beyond me. Do you have any idea what he was on about?”

Flash grimaced, “Well I will admit that it does omit a pretty big part of Equestrian history.”

Now Twilight looked at Flash funny, “Excuse me?”

Flash nodded meekly, “It doesn’t mention how we Pegasi were treated prior to the Battle of Canterlot.”

Twilight became confused, “Okays that’s three now, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash are saying that Razgriz was a massive hero to the Pegasi of Cloudsdale. Now you’re saying that the Pegasi were treated differently before his death?”

Flash was quiet for a moment, then came to a realization, “Oh my….they’re the same person. I didn’t recognize him. Oh man dad would kill me for that mistake.”

“What mistake?” Twilight asked, jumping to her hooves and looking down at her coltfriend.

“Well…Razgriz is a hero to us Pegasi. He helped us move from low class status and to become equals to the earth ponies and unicorns of Equestria.” Flash answered, “He gave us equality.”

Chapter Six: Night Watcher's Plight

Chapter Six
Night watcher’s plight

I found it hard to sleep that night. I tossed and turned within the bed, trying to force my weary body to sleep. But it did not come. So I just lay in bed, struggling to get some sleep. My mind kept flashing back to memories of my first time here. I tried to forget everything about it, or at least everything not pertaining to my investigation. But it didn’t happen. Guilt haunted my every thought. For better or worse, a realization seeped in; I had abandoned Celestia and Luna in their hour of need. It didn’t help that I didn’t have any choice in the matter. But still, I had abandoned them.

I turned towards the desk where Gidrah was resting. The old dragon was out like a light. Honestly when that Dragon sleeps, he sleeps. I wanted to wake him, to talk with him. But I know where that conversation was going to go, “You couldn’t have done anything milord.” So I kept my mouth shut. That still didn’t help my insomnia, or the stress I was feeling.

A common occurrence in my investigations is I generally find myself absolutely nowhere. And generally when those happen, my stress level peaks. This time was such an occasion, as I tend to hate it when I’m nowhere, more so when there’s a body count. Thankfully, by this point in both of my investigations there wasn’t a body count. Still my blood pressure and stress level were up over my feelings towards what happened to Luna. After a long while just thinking about Luna, I finally lost it and sat up. Sweat was building at my hairline and I was breathing deeply, two clear signs I was stressed.

Needed to get some fresh air, I made my way to the window and opened it. The night air was especially good to my skin. Reminded me of the night I actually first talked to Luna. I smiled at that memory, as things began to go well for me by then. Surprisingly enough, that actually began long before Luna even woke up. It was also when I was truly introduced to Equestrian cuisine…

…Gidrah and I landed back at the castle around late afternoon. Our search of the town had yielded nothing, though I was now sure of my next move. Luna was still asleep, or so I was told, so talking would have to be put on hold for a while. Quickly transforming back to my Human form, I only had a matter of seconds to collapse onto the bed before a knock came at my door. Gidrah leapt off the desk and joined within me as I rose up from the bed and answered the door.

To my surprise Princess Celestia was on the other side. “Oh Princess Celestia, what a surprise, to what do I owe the pleasure?” I asked.

“Well I am here to escort you to dinner,” Princess Celestia smiled.

“Surely no doubt to ask you about Razgriz,” Gidrah murmured.

“I’d be honored,” I answered, paying Gidrah no mind, “Lead the way if you would.”

Celestia smiled and nodded before backing up to allow me a path to leave. I walked out with the Princess, keeping in step with her trots. All the while I noticed that her personal guard kept a fierce eye on me, and Celestia herself kept me within her peripherals. For a moment, the two of us didn’t say a word as we walked towards the dining hall.

“So what do you think of Canterlot so far Michael?” Celestia asked.

“Mike,” I corrected, “And it is not bad I must say.”

“Cept for the god awful defense design,” Gidrah quibbled.

You know sometimes I love having Gidrah inside my head, because he vocalizes everything I’m thinking and has the hindsight to not do it in public. I however just smiled as Celestia took the complement I said in stride.

“Well you complement is most gratifying, Father put a lot of time into this castle.” She said.

“Oh your father built this place?” I asked.

“Yes, he used to tell us that he built this place with his own bear hooves. Many years ago after the union of the three tribes of Equestria, the ponies looked for a home where they could build a strong and vibrant homeland. My father, Lord Solaris and one of the last Alicorns on the planet, built this luxurious castle for himself and his wife Lady Galaxia or my Mother.” Celestia answered.

“And I’m guessing Luna’s too?” I asked cheekily.

Celestia gave me a smug smile, one that was actually quite cute. After returning to her normal passive face, she continued, “Well after a few years, the ponies of Equestria looked towards this palace as a symbol of strength and asked Lord Solaris and Lady Galaxia to serve as rulers of Equestria.”

“A tough choice,” I said as we turned a corner, “Judging by how things are now I guess they accepted.”

Celestia nodded.

“So I take it after that things settled down accordingly?” I asked.

“At first it seemed so, but recently we have been faced with blow after blow to the harmony of our empire.” Celestia answered grimly.

“How so?” I asked.

“The ruler of the kingdom to the north, King Sombra, recently succumbed to dark urges. He went from a fair and just ruler to a tyrant. Sister and I managed to defeat him, but in defeat Sombra took his kingdom with him.” Celestia explained.

I nodded, “My condolences.”

“Tis not your concern, but they are appreciated.” Celestia answered as we turned a corner.

“You mentioned ‘blow after blow,’ I take it that the fall of Sombra’s kingdom wasn’t the first?” I asked.

“No,” Celestia answered, “More recently we’ve had strife with the Pegasi, who have expressed discomfort over their lifestyle.”

“Interesting turn of phrase,” Gidrah murmured.

“What exactly are they complaining about?” I asked.

Celestia was silent for a moment. That set off several alarm bells off within my head. It almost seemed that the walls of wholesomeness and joy were falling away to reveal the dark leader within. I was hesitant to classify a Tyrant, as the better tag would be ‘Out of Touch leader.’ Still, I became wary of my company. But then something weird happened.

“I’m not sure.” Celestia answered genuine.

That comment made me stop dead in my tracks. I scanned her brain and sensed genuine feelings behind her. There were no signs of deception anywhere.

“How can you not be sure?” I asked, trying to contain my shock.

“I do not deal with this matter usually, my uncle The Archduke deals with this matter directly. If you wish to find out more, thou may ask him yourself when he arrives in the winter.” She told me.

I bit my lower lip and nodded. Content on that subject matter I didn’t continue the conversation until we reached the dining hall. To my surprise Princess Luna wasn’t there. “Shall Princess Luna be joining us?” I asked.

“She usually does not. Right now she is lowering the moon.” Celestia answered as we both sat down at the long dining table.

I noticed that Celestia did not sit at any of the two regal looking seats at either end of the table. But rather she sat in a chair near the middle that looked rather plain and same. I wondered whether that was in commemoration of her fallen Parents. I sat in a chair opposite and one seat to the left of hers. The table had six seats besides the two were in, most empty. In fact aside from the two of us and a pair of butlers, the room was amazingly empty.

I also noticed that both butlers and the eventual servers were all Pegasi. “How does that work anyway?” I asked.

“Forgive me but I missed that question.” Celestia responded looking up from the table towards me.

“How do you raise the sun and Princess Luna the moon?” I asked.

Celestia seemed to smile a bit, “Well its complicated magic indeed. But you see we don’t actually raise or lower them. We just help them along their way. When we cast our spells, we grip the two celestial bodies and move them across. So when, say I want to raise the sun, Luna lowers the moon to the horizon line and raises the sun to the opposite side. Then I take over the sun and rise in the sky.”

“And in turn the rising sun will push the moon down.” I figured.

“Correct. And when Luna wishes to raise the moon, the opposite action occurs.” Celestia answered.

I nodded, “So the day is controlled by a magic trick?”

“Beg pardon?” Celestia asked a bit confused.

“A human statement, don’t worry.” I waved her off.

About that exact moment, dinner was served. One of the two serving Pegasi who clearly had no desire to be there brought my a steaming bowl of soup. “Oh thank you,” I said with a warm smile. The Pegasi looked at me with a mixture of distrust and shock. Obviously she looked like she had never received a compliment for doing her job in a while. I just looked back at her with my warm smile. Instead of calling me on anything, the Pegasi backed up slowly. I took that as my sign to check out my dinner.

“I do have to ask, what is this?” I asked.

“Dandelion soup, a delicacy here in Equestria.” Celestia answered.

“Really,” I murmured with a mixture of disgust and uninterested.

But when I caught a glimpse of the nervous servers, including the one I just complimented, I knew that a bad punishment for them would ensue if I didn’t like the meal. So I picked up the spoon and took a bite. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. The real problem was substance; it was mostly mush with little taste.

I licked my lips, “Not bad.”

Celestia, and the servers, grinned warmly. “I’m glad you enjoy it.” Celestia said.

“Well I will admit it’s not the trappings of home. But when in Rome.” I admitted.

Celestia seemed puzzled, “Excuse me?”

I chuckled, “An old Earth phrase. Means when you’re in a foreign country or surroundings you enjoy the native’s customs; or something along those lines.”

“Indeed,” Celestia nodded, “You’ve mentioned very little of your planet.”

I paused, looking up at Celestia before I took another sip of my soup.

“She’s baiting you Milord.” Gidrah told me.

I almost wanted to tell him that I already figured that out, but I stopped myself from gratifying that remark. Instead I finished my sip and leaned back in my chair, “Earth’s not really much of a place to talk about.”

It wasn’t that I didn’t want to talk about Earth. Actually strike that, it was because I didn’t want to talk about Earth. First off I knew the Princesses didn’t know of my alter ego, nor should they. Rule number 3 of being a Demon Lord: keep your personal identity secret. That being said, Earth isn’t the wholesome place to talk about anyway especially in this Princesses presence.

“Well you would forgive my curiosity about your planet, especially considering all your questions when you first arrived.” Celestia answered.

I had to give her that, “Well true, so what would you like to know.”

However just before she asked her question, a knight came into the room. A split second later, my danger senses tingled. Something was going on. So I switched on my Angelic hearing. Unfortunately, whatever was going on was outside my hearing range. But my senses were sure that something serious was going on. As I was running through the lists of what it might be, the knight reached Princess Celestia. So I tuned my hearing to them.

“Mileage, it appears one of our patrols has run into a disturbance outside of town.” the knight whispered.

“What sort of disturbance?” Princess Celestia asked.

“We’re not sure your highness; we believe the creatures are from the Everfree Forest. However they have a feature we’ve never seen before from Everfree creatures.” The knight answered, “These creatures appear to be made of silver.”

That caught my attention.

“Well that’s certainly something,” Gidrah said.

“Interesting, gather my guards and inform Princess Luna. I shall be heading over there to investigate.” Celestia answered softly. Then she turned towards me, “If you’ll excuse me, an urgent matter calls forth. Forgive me.”

I shook my head, “It’s no problem I’ll wait here.”

Celestia nodded, and with the knight in tow she left. I waited for about a minute, keeping my ears locked on them until I was sure they were gone. Then I slowly got up. “If the princess returns before I do, mention to her that I had some personal matters to attend to.” I lied to the servers and guards “Excuse me.”

None raised a hoof to stop me so that gave me the sign that I was in the clear. However before I left, I stopped at the Pegasi who served my food. “By the way, not for nothing but please inform the chief, a pinch of spices wouldn’t go amiss.” I whispered.

The Pegasi looked at me with bug eyes, as is she couldn’t believe I was even talking to someone as low as she was. In turn I gave her a warm smile, “If it’s not too much trouble.”

“Yes sir,” she said her voice barely above a whisper.

I nodded and then left. The halls were surprisingly empty as I ran through them, turning my senses back to whatever had alerted them. Soon enough I managed to get an approximate location about five miles east of Canterlot. Around that same time I came upon a long hallway. Its direction ran from east to west, and at the far end of it was a large window plane that looked out from the Castle towards the Everfree Forest. As I looked out onto it, I became aware of several smoke plumes rising up from the location where I figured the disturbance was.

The sun was barely below the horizon line so the twilight still illuminated much of the area. Sadly that didn’t help me see what was going on.

“Guess we’re going to have to go there personally milord.” Gidrah said.

“Guess you’re right.” I answered.

I channeled some of my heat energy into my hands before waving my arms in a pushing motion. This generated a warm gust of wind that blew through the hallway and blew the windows open. Then I began to run, run as fast as I could. With my demonic strength and stamina, I began booking around thirty miles an hour through this hall way. The window was coming up fast, but I had time to transform.

“The fire burns red, the fire burns bright.” I said pulling my coin out of my pocket and placing it to my shoulder, “All of my enemies shall be vanquished tonight!”

In no time I was enveloped in my column of fire. I transformed as I ran through the hallway, the column of fire moving with me. The floor became charred, but the blackness receded seconds later. My transformation was just finishing when I reached the window. With all my might I leapt through it just as the column dispersed. Gidrah popped out of me, grew to full size, and flew under me as I soared out of the window.

I mounted my steed and the two of us tore out towards the battle zone. In no time at all, and way ahead of Celestia’s precession, we reached the area. A thick fog covered the battle zone. But with my thermal vision, I managed to spot five pony guards fighting with three creatures.

“Gidrah you see this,” I asked.

“I do milord, Silver Spheres.” He answered.

“That’s what their called?” I asked.

“To the best of my memory yes, yet I still cannot figure who made them.” Gidrah responded, “Regardless, we have to get in there.”

“Right, let’s go.” I shouted drawing my fire sword hilt.

Gidrah banked left and rolled in towards the battle. Once we were just over it, he went inverted and allowed me to fall off. I righted myself just in time to land on my feet. The impact however did shake the ground, though my body absorbed much of it with little damage. Demon Lord Physiology is a lot tougher than a normal human, which allows me to take harsher punishments than a normal human. The impact caught the attention of the Silver Spheres, who stopped attacking the ponies and turned my way.

Through the fog I could only see the outlines of the ponies and spheres before me, and I imagine that only my silhouette was visible. I struck the flint at the top of my hilt and ignited my fireblade, which instantly began to burn off much of the fog around me. I guess this made for a very imposing if not scary sight as the look on the Guards faces showed me they weren’t sure if I was friend of foe. Coupled with my burning red eyes, black outfit and cape, and tall statue I can’t really blame them.

Still I had a job to do, “Back away from the guards now.”

The Spheres looked at me with their red orb eyes. I only glared back. For a moment nothing happened, then the sphere closest to me struck first. It crumbled into a ball, hence the name, and rushed me. I waved my free arm, which was my left, in a circle and created my flame shield. The moment the Sphere reached me, I swatted it away with my shield.

But these Silvers were nothing if not well prepared. Almost instantly the second, in humanoid form, came out of the fog with its blades aimed right for my chest. I brought my blade up and deflected the attack. The force of the attack was great, which forced me to give some ground. Yet I held firm against the Silver Sphere. At least until the third and first attacked me, both in spherical form.

I threw off my humanoid friend and cut the first sphere, leaving a decent scar. The second sphere opened up to its humanoid figured in midair, trying to dive on me with an attack. Not wanting to kill the creature, I rolled back before getting good footing and slicing off the thing’s right hand. The third hit almost a second later, but I countered with a blast of telekinesis mixed with fire. That blasted the Sphere onto its back, knocking it senseless.

It seemed the battle was over. Gasping for air, as the ferocity of the attacks had left me with little chance to breathe while at the same time mixing a lot of Adrenaline, I smirked at my victory. The last time I faced a silver creature, I was dumped into Equestria. Now in this new land, I had claimed a victory.

“Alright,” I smirked, “Now let’s get to your charges.”

But before I could even think about trying the creatures, the three creatures began to get to their feet. The Sphere that I slashed went to full humanoid and brushed off dirt seamlessly, its scar vanishing. The same could be said of the one I disarmed, whose blade hand returned with little effort. The final sphere seemed completely unfazed after getting the senses knocked out of it.

I gulped, “Okay, that’s not fair.”

“Milord!” I heard Gidrah shout, “Don’t worry about killing them?”

“Gidrah now’s not the time to discuss my morality complex.” I said taking a step back as my foes advanced.

“No milord, they aren’t living creatures. My memory tells me that they are machines, robots made to kill nothing more.” He told me.

“So, no soul, no life.” I realized, “And that means, no restraint.”

Usually, when I fight, I don’t kill. My Christian upbringing taught me that life is sacred and shouldn’t be squandered; hence why I follow the seventh commandment to the letter. But when I fight beings that are robotic or soulless, that rule becomes moot as they have no life to begin with. Argue sentience all you would like and I certainly would if I had the time, but my rule is: No killing anyone with a soul. That forced me to often hold back unleashing my full strength, not like my enemies were aware of that anyway.

So when situations came around where I could cut loose, I cut loose. After switching blades to my left hand, I charged up my energy into my right hand, readied my attack, and then charged the first Sphere. Attacking with a powerful and fire charged Haymaker; I punched through the first Sphere causing it to shatter. As I followed through, I gripped my blade with both hands, swung around, and sliced the second Sphere in half. The third was ready for me, blocking my attack.

I pressed home, but the creature was ready. It matched my strength with force of its own, locking our blades in a heavy duel of weight. This managed to allow the other two Spheres to regenerate.

Gidrah, seeing this, swooped in and blew fire at the two spheres. This allowed me to break off my opponent and again blast him back with a fire attack. The second and first spheres came at me, blades held high. I leapt into the air and rolled over the second Sphere, who came at me first, and came down with my blade on the first. The Sphere wasn’t prepared for this and I split it in half.

But it recovered quickly; knitting itself back together faster than my blade could cut through. Fortunately I managed to recover my blade before it could get stuck. Just as I pulled it out, the third Sphere hit me in the back. That forced me to stumble towards the wounded and now unconscious guard ponies. They’d live, but Celestia’s precession was going to have to reach them very soon. That meant I had to hold out or defeat these Spheres soon. I spun around to face my attackers, with a defensive stance and blade held high.

With Gidrah doing strafing runs with his fire breath and wind kicked up by his wings, I knew I wasn’t entirely outmatched. But the fact that these things could recover fast meant that this was going to be a long fight. Then I remembered something, how I defeated the Silver Razor. I pierced the red orb in the middle of it. If these things were made by the same man, then there was a good guess they’d have red orbs in them.

The trick was getting to them. I charged back into the trio, itching to break something. And that I did, slicing off arms and limbs in a desperate effort to break through. But none of the attacks unveiled the locations of the Sphere’s red orbs. Worse, it helped them recover while I was running out of energy.

Finally, after ferociously fighting the beasts, I found myself in the middle of a triangle. Surrounded on all three sides by the Spheres, I couldn’t escape. And the Silver Spheres knew it. So they decided to taunt me, by launching shuriken like disks at me, one sphere at a time. However, the Spheres had drastically underestimated my reflexes. Either by bending out of the way, or matrix style jumping, I dodged each blade sent my way.

Furthermore, I saw each come out of the hands of the spheres and fly my way in slow motion. This allowed me even more time to figure out how to react. So, none of the silver disks ever touched me. After leaping into the air to dodge the final volley of Disks, the Sphere’s looked at me with what I assumed was hatred. Their eyeballs glowed in preparation for another attack. Quickly I readied myself. But to my surprise, they came at me with torrents of fire.

I saw my chance, stretching out my arms with palms out to absorb the fire attacks. This caused the flames to encircle me in a large wheel of fire. The Spheres only increased their attacks, which gave more fuel for me. Finally the spheres gave way and ended their attacks. I channeled all of the fire into my core, building it up into a blast that would end this fight. With the fire absorbed, I pulled my arms towards my chest clenching my fist. The flames roared within me, begging to be released.

The three spheres looked at me, waiting to see what I would do next. I gave them their answer. With a roar comparable to that of Godzilla’s, I threw my arms open and exploded all the energy. A wall of fire expelled out me in a shockwave that blasted through the battlefield. It came with a deafening noise and forced many of the nearby trees of Everfree forest to sway almost to the breaking point.

But more importantly; it annihilated the three spheres and their orbs while keeping the surviving guards intact and unharmed. I stood there in the epicenter of the blast, panting for a moment as I tried to catch my breath. Stillness came over the field, a perfect ending to what had transpired before. Soon, after letting the stillness calm me down, I figured something out. Gidrah was right; we were brought here for a reason. The Silvers were in fact here. That meant that I now had a sure reason to investigate.

Just as I came to that conclusion, I heard Princess Celestia’s precession approach. I looked to my right and saw the Princess leading a group of Equestrian Knight’s right towards me. The two of us looked at each other, both of us with stoic faces. But before she could even issue a command my way, Gidrah flew right over me with his chain hanging. I gripped it and was propelled into the air. As I climbed up the chain while we flew away, all I heard from Celestia was, “It seems like Luna was right…”

…I roamed around Ponyville remembering that time. As I walked I noticed once again at how quiet the town had become at night. Almost as if a strict curfew was imposed. Still that didn’t stop the odd household from having at least one night reader. That at least brought a smile to my face. I knew that somewhere, Princess Luna at least now was better. Probably also happy too that Ponies were enjoying her night.

Luna walked around the outside of Canterlot’s tallest tower, sometimes stopping at the telescope to peer down at the land below. However her gaze and attention was more towards the sky and memories. Usually while she’s up here, Luna would be on vigil looking for any threats that might come Canterlot’s way. Not tonight, as has been the case the past few nights. Her mind was elsewhere. The stars shone brightly in the night sky. Almost the way they did the night she first met Mike. Well first truly met Mike…

…Princess Luna rested her hooves on a guard rail in the middle of the Canterlot Gardens. All around her flower buds readied for the suns warm in the morning, a bit of an ironic place for her to rest. None of the flowers enjoyed her night, rightly so, since they needed sun to survive. It reminded Luna so much of the ponies that it strangely brought a sense of comfort to her. Celestia called it “Hope in total darkness.” Luna called it relaxation.

She looked up at the full moon that shown brightly in the night sky. Her heart was very heavy. For another night she would be alone. Or so she thought.

“Waiting for Superman?” a voice asked.

Luna looked to her left and saw Mike walk up towards her, “Whatever do thou want?”

“Just taking a midnight stroll, why am I not allowed?” he asked.

Luna was caught off guard, “Well, nay thou are not.”

“Well thank you,” Mike answered with a warm smile, “Now let me ask you this, what are you doing in the middle of a Garden?”

Luna snorted, “We do not need to answer that question, because tis not thou’s business.”

Mike nodded, “Forgive me your majesty, you seemed lonely.”

That caught Luna even further off guard, “Whatever doth thou mean?”

“Call it a good judge of character,” Mike answered, walking next to the Alicorn and resting on the same guardrail, “Though a guess I honestly wish was wrong.”

“And why is that?” Luna asked.

“Well, because on a beautiful night like this, no one should be lonely.” Mike answered warmly.

Luna was silent for a moment. She did not expect him to even be awake let alone wandering the castle. Moreover she did not expect him to appear in the gardens and be talking to her. She almost expected him to be like everyone else, yet she was wrong. Still she didn’t want to give up her inner thoughts. “Thou are only being modest, we suspect thou is just like all others in shunning my night.” Luna snipped.

“Ooh that’s a little harsh don’t you think, considering we don’t know each other.” Mike rebuffed rather stoically.

Luna didn’t comment, she just huffed.

Mike was unfazed, “Well we could’ve learned a bit more about each other at dinner. Come to think of it why weren’t you there.”

“We do not have dinner with our sister,” Luna answered immediately. Though the minute those words came out she wanted to pull them back in.

“Now that’s not true, she is your sister after all.” Mike sighed.

Luna sighed, “True, and that statement was false. We were lowering the sun and raising the moon.”

Mike nodded.

“Why, what was discussed?” Luna asked with genuine intrigue. She still wasn’t sure what Mike’s motives were for talking with her so late. However she also hadn’t quelled her obsession with finding out where he was from and what he was. And now that he had shown her that maybe he wasn’t like everyone else, she let this curious intrigue out.

“A few things, mostly about where I’m from.” Mike said.

It seemed to Luna like he was baiting her, trying to get her to start talking with him. Almost as if he wanted her to talk. And it was working.

Luna nodded, “Well, where are you from.”

Mike paused for a moment, “It’s called Earth, a planet that’s far away from here.”

“What’s it like?” Luna asked.

“A far cry from what this place is.” Mike sighed, his comment sounding like it was more off the cuff rather than factual.

Luna gave a puzzled look, “Whatever do thou mean?”

Mike snickered, “Okay maybe that was a bit of an unfair statement. I mean homes got its moments but…..it’s complicated.”

“Earth’s complicated?” Luna asked tilting her head.

Mike nodded.

“How so,” she asked.

Mike gave her an unamused look, “I figured you’d ask that question. Well I’ll tell you the same thing I told Celestia: the short story. You see, besides all animal populations, Earth is divided up into three main realms. The first is the Angel world; some call it Heaven, me included. Heaven is a place where…Our creator Jehovah lives, along with his underlings of Angels and pious humans. The second is the Demon World, some call it Hell but I stopped calling it that a while ago. There is where Our Creator’s counter lives, Lucifer, with his army of Demons, hell spawns, sinners, and a few other nasty creatures.

“The final spot is my realm, called Terran world. Many, in fact most, Humans only know of this realm and call it the Human world. However we share the realm with Vampires, Werewolves, Fairies, Pixies, and other creatures. Out of all three, the most dominate is the Demon race, the creatures of Demon World. Humans are the next, and unlike all the others; Human’s do not get along with each other well. We’re very territorial and prone to violent outbursts. We’re also incredibly blind, because we think we are alone on Earth.” Mike explained.

Luna nodded her head with every word Mike said. It was all so fascinating. While he wasn’t exactly going in depth with his details, the ones he was giving were amazing bits of information. But what struck her most of all were the blatant similarities between Earth and Equis.

Yet she did have questions, “Thou mentioned Humans are unaware of their planetary brethren, is it because they don’t know or don’t acknowledge them?”

“Mostly because they don’t know,” Mike answered, “You see most humans clump the other two worlds as Paranormal and themselves as Normal. And those same humans consider the Paranormal to be the stuff of fantasy.” Mike answered.

“Thou also spoke of strife between humanity,” Luna started.

“Yea, do not read too much into that. Humans don’t fight every single person they meet, just those who consider themselves above others for whatever reason. For the sake of your sanity I’d rather not explain it.” mike interrupted.

“Tis not wise to interrupt a Royal Princess,” Luna sneered, “What we were about to ask was, has the strife escalated to global conflicts?”

Mike snorted, “More time than I can count. But Humanity does have one major saving grace. Just when we get within sight of the line of extinction, or find the ways to make ourselves extinct, we always pull ourselves back and end the conflict right there.”

“Fascinating,” Luna said.

Mike’s ears twitched as if someone was speaking into them and he smirked. But Luna didn’t question him on it. There was one major nagging question she wanted to ask.

“Tis but one last question I have to ask,” She mentioned, “What does ‘Waiting for Superman’ mean?”

Mike looked at her a bit perplexed, “Come again?”

“We do not need to repeat our self.” Luna smirked.

Mike looked at her inquisitively for a moment. Luna returned the look with a smug look of her own.

“We are waiting,” she said.

“It’s an old term for people who look like they’re down on their luck, waiting for someone to come in a sweep their troubles away.” Mike answered.

Luna took a step back for a moment, “Did thou think we were like that?”

Now it was Mike’s turn to look at the Princess with an inquisitive look, “You tell me, were you like that?”

“No….no…no we are very happy and proud of our tenure as ruler of this lands.” Luna stammered.

Mike nodded with a disbelieving smile, “Uh huh, and all that fluff of…”

“An inquisition of a startled pony,” Luna cut in.

Mike kept the smile on his face, “Oh now don’t give me that. Something’s eating you.”

“WHAT!” Luna jumped, “Where?”

Mike laughed, “It’s an expression Princess, means there’s something troubling you.”

“Oh,” Luna answered meekly, “Well why thou didn’t just say that.”

“Nasty habit of my culture, forgive me.” Mike answered with a mocking bow.

Luna snickered at the joke before trotting back to the rail. The duo was silent for a moment before Luna spoke, “Well since you gave me the bare bones of your home, we figured we must tell you of our strife.”

Mike nodded, “Just the small stuff.”

“Exactly,” Luna agreed. Then she paused. She had to steel herself, she has never told anypony of her problem before. The thought of telling anyone, let alone this stranger, make her shake. But there was something about him, an air of trustworthiness. Plus he seemed reluctant to even tell Celestia about Earth, so maybe it was only fair. “We…I feel my night is under appreciated.” Luna whispered.

Mike was quiet as he pondered what Luna said, “In what way?”

Luna gulped, “The ponies, our ponies, you see how they dance and relish my sister’s beautiful sun. It pains us that they do not do that for our night.”

Mike nodded. He was silent for a good few minutes, “Well not for nothing but you do provide a rather beautiful night.”

Luna blushed, “Oh most gracious.”

“But I think it’s my turn to ask a question.” Mike said, “Do Ponies need sleep?”

Luna looked at him, “Of course, all ponies do need sleep. I’m sure Humans are the same way.”

Mike nodded, “Okay, now do they sleep during your night?”

“We are afraid that we are lost.” Luna answered.

Mike sighed, “I see, that’s It.” He then paused, “Alright I’ll get back to that later.”

“Excuse me, but why not discuss this now.” Luna asked.

Mike looked at her with a concerned look, “Not now, it’s too personal of a conversation for either of us to have at this point.”

Luna didn’t understand at first. Then it came to her, the direction the conversation might take would be border line personal and deep, a position either she or Mike were at considering their very brief acquaintanceship. It also meant that Mike was willing to talk with her more, on later dates.

Or at least that’s what she figured, “Okay.”

“Good, now to change the topic, may I ask a magic related question?” Mike asked.

“We shall allow,” Luna smirked.

“Is it possible for Unicorns and Alicorns for that matter, to conjure beings out of steel?” Mike asked.

Luna looked at him for a moment, “You do not mean the creatures that were spotted out of the Everfree forest a while ago?”

Mike smiled meekly, “I overheard a conversation between Princess Celestia and one of her guards and it caught my attention.”

Luna looked at him, “Well we shall discuss the consequences of your eavesdropping another time. But if you must know, it is possible for magic users to bend certain metals to their will, especially to make them life like in design. Yet giving them life is a magical impossibility, currently. We aren’t sure if we or our sister could perform the act.”

Mike nodded soberly, “I see.”

“While we are on the topic of that, do you know of another human that came with you? One that is clad in black and has burning red eyes?” Luna asked.

Mike was silent as he looked out towards the full moon. Luna leaned her head over to get a good look at his face. It was almost as if he was conflicted about telling Luna the information about her inquiry. His ears twitched and twitched. Then after rubbing his hands together, he turned to look at the Night Alicorn.

“I’m not sure what he calls himself, but we know him as Razgriz. He’s a protector of sorts. I’m not sure how he came to this planet.” Mike answered.

“Thou are sure?” Luna asked.

Mike nodded honestly. His testimony seemed genuine, almost flawless. Yet there still was the matter of his uncertainty.

“We take it Razgriz is not well liked among the Human race?” Luna asked.

“No he isn’t,” Mike said soberly.

Luna nodded.

A heavy silence fell over the two for a moment before Mike yawned, “Excuse me Princess but I fear it’s getting late and I have to get to bed.”

Luna nodded, “Indeed, have a good night.”

“Yea same to you. Listen, if you’re not busy tomorrow, why not join Celestia and me for dinner tomorrow.” Mike asked.

“Why?” Luna asked.

“So we can talk some more, if that’s not okay we can talk afterward.” Mike asked, “I could tell you more about my home, and maybe you tell me a few things about your night.

“No, no, we get that. What we asked was why you want to talk with us some more. Surely we aren’t that interesting.” Luna asked a little flustered.

Mike shook his head, “I like talking to you Luna.”

Luna’s cheeks blush bright red but said nothing.

Mike seemed not to take notice of her status, “Well anyway, good night.” Then he began to walk away.

Luna was quiet for a moment before stammering out a “Yes, Good night to thee as well.”

With a wave, Mike left the bewildered pony alone in the garden once again. She turned back towards the moon with a look of wonder on her face. She had just made a new friend, maybe something more if she played it right…

…She remembered all of it as she looked up at the moonlit sky. Much like how she was on the night she first met Mike; her hooves were rested upon the railing of the tower. However unlike last time, she was sure that no one would come for a conversation. That was okay with the Night ruler, this time she wanted her memories as company. The good memories, the ones that made her happy. She began to hum a tune, a tune she heard Mike sing twice. Once during the Equinox celebration, and once especially for her.

“She’s just watching the clouds roll by and they spell her name, like Lois Lane. And she smiles, oh the way she smiles.” She sang to herself.

Author's Note

HEY GUYS I'M BACK!

Sorry for the long wait, can't tell you how long it took for me to write this thing let alone feel it out. Now the reason for this Author's note is to point out the link in this chapter. If you haven't clicked on it when you read the battle, please do and reread the battle, because i put it there as a test. Primarly i wanted to see if i could do combat scenes with music in them. i was waffling a bit on this or For Whom the Bell Tolls, but i stuck with Ozzy. Tell me what you think if you care. furhter more i'd like to denote that the brief conversation Razgriz has about religion and God was my effort to bring a bland explination of how God works on Earth while at the same time keeping Mike's christianity views presenet. If this offends anyone i sincerely appologize.

Chapter Seven: A New Twist Develops

Chapter Seven:
A new Twist develops

The next two weeks in Ponyville was boring. I mean it, complete and utter boredom. Sure Pinky Pie threw a party here and there, but those almost became old after a while. And whatever trail I thought I picked up on had grown cold. Twilight’s order came in on time, but the map turned out was more unintuitive than going in blind. Trying to decipher the bloody thing was like taking a course in quantum mechanics in one hour. Still, I had to be at least respectful to the Princess and use the damn thing. But even that came with a constraint.

Flash Sentry and his team were very hesitant about allowing anyone to leave the town. Primarily because of Razgriz but also because another silver was spotted in the griffin kingdom, so anyone leaving Ponyville needed to have a really good reason. And mine was a flimsy reason at best, considering I couldn’t come out with the truth. Thankfully, I managed to ask Twilight to give me permission, and she did so. I just had to constrain myself to two rules; join her and Flash for dinner on Saturday, and take Flash along for the exploration.

So as we trekked our way through the Everfree Forest following the old path of the Silver Razor, I let Flash hold the map while I followed the barely visible trail. That didn’t stop the mood between us being almost grating.

“Are you sure you’re on the right path.” Flash asked for the twentieth time.

“Trust me Flash, if we were lost, you would know.” I told him. Truth be told, the trail was extremely hard to see. But three years in the Demon Lord Corp allowed me to pick up upon even the most subtle of clues.

“Yeah but it doesn’t look like our path is producing results.” He shot back.

“What, did they ever teach you about patience in Basic training?” I asked smugly.

“Well, yeah. But never in regards to walking along a trail.” Flash responded equally smugly.

“Touché,” I grimaced, “But come on Flash Sentry. Where’s your smell of adventure eh? A big young strapping fellow like you, this should be a joy to behold.”

“Hiking through the forest on a wild goose chase is not my idea of adventure.” He sighed, “What are we looking for anyway?”

“The home of those Silvers,” I answered. I almost wanted to take it back, but I realized I was going to have to stay on good terms with the guards of Ponyville. Plus if I did find what I was looking for, it would be pretty hard to pass it by Flash.

“You serious, you’re from out of town, why would you care about things that go on here in Ponyville?” Flash asked.

“Well think about it, problems in the Capital rarely stay within the Capital.” I told him, “Ever hear about the Pegasi Riots?”

“You mean the Cloudsdale Revolution?” he answered, “Every Pegasi has. That supposed to be an example?”

“Is it,” I asked back turning back to look at Flash Sentry.

Flash pondered the question for a moment, “Guess I see your point.”

“Good, Now onwards as always.” I said as we resumed our trot. After letting the conversational air stagnate for a bit, I decided to chime up another topic point, “So how long have you known Twilight Sparkle?”

“About eight months, we met in Canterlot.” Flash answered.

“See her often?” I asked.

“When we get a chance, though I know for sure her Brother is doing everything in his power to make sure those chances are rare.” Flash answered.

“Well he’s a big brother that’s his job.” I said, though I really didn’t have any experience to go on since I was an only child.

“Job is putting it mildly when your older brother is Capitan General of the Equestrian Royal Guard and Prince of the Crystal Kingdom.” Flash sighed.

I chuckled, “No kidding. It must suck to be you, though I’m not really one to talk.”

“Why’s that?” he asked.

“Well, like you I had a princess too.” I sighed off the cuff. Then I stopped talking, almost wishing I could gobble that line back up. But it was no use, and Flash knew it.

Flash snorted, “Oh really, which one?”

I almost wanted to say Princess Luna, just to gage his reaction before dismissing it with a lie. But I caught myself, “Princess Yuna of the nation of Horsca.”

Flash stopped trotting for a moment, “Oh, you still with her?”

I shook my head, “Personal issues got in the way.”

“I’m sorry bro,” Flash said sincerely.

“It’s fine, really, we parted on great terms.” I told him as we resumed our trot.

“How’d you rope the Princess of Horsca?” he asked.

“Well how did you rope the Princess of Friendship?” I shot back.

“Touché,” Flash answered.

“Word of advice Mr. Sentry,” I told Flash, “If you really want to win a princess’s heart, take her to dinner. Preferably a place where there’s a singer. If you can’t find a place, sing to her yourself. And if you can’t do that, learn how to sing; wins them over in a heartbeat.”

Just then a bird rustled his wings and took off into the sky…

…Ten weeks, ten long weeks of no leads. Ten weeks, seventy days of nothing. It’s honestly amazing I didn’t go insane. I may have still been a rookie Demon Lord, but not even a Lord as green as I would let a trail like this go cold. It’s not like I didn’t do anything, whatever chance I got I searched Canterlot and its surrounding regions for clues. All the while coming up with nothing, no evidence, no trail, not even a smoking gun, I was starting to wonder what if any was the plan.

Though I have to admit, the ten weeks weren’t bad at all. I got to spend more time with the Princesses of Equestria. Celestia was almost all too eager to accept my company. We would spend most days talking or exploring various areas of Equestria; all the while though curiously avoiding direct contact with the regular ponies of Equestria. But it must be said, Celestia didn’t seem to be at fault for this. I soon discovered that she was showing me these locations not to avoid my view of the downtrodden, but because she had been to these locations a lot herself.

That started to make me wonder just exactly who was in charge of Equestria. Celestia did make mention of the Royal Solar court, but that most them were away with this Duke to discuss relations with the Griffon empire. I couldn’t understand why, as that situation seemed to be completely resolved. But I’m getting off track.

Demon Lord Code specifically states that Demon Lords should not get involve with their district’s politics, and I chose to adhere to that rule. I would soon come to regret that choice.

Luna on the other hand was a lot more wary of my friendliness. After that first night, our discussions became more of a common tradition or routine, but barely any of them garnished anything. Luna, as I soon found, was extremely reserved about herself; a far cry from her extroverted sister. But I soon deduced that her reserved nature wasn’t because of an introverted mentality, but because of something less quantifiable.

Anytime I brought up the Equestrian population with Celestia, she always talked about them with a caring attitude that was maligned by the sense that forces were at work over them that were beyond her control. Luna meanwhile spoke of the Equestrian population with disgust and anguish. And anytime I quizzed her as to why, she would always respond with “they shun my beautiful night.” This was ironic because she gave a similar, if not reversed; answer when I asked her why she treated me so differently. “Because thou do not shun our night,” she would say.

The mannerisms aside, I figured that something was indeed up with Princess Luna. While I had little idea of what type of person, err Pony, she was, that didn’t mean I couldn’t investigate her as a possible lead. Her personality obviously fit a good motive for unleashing silver like creatures upon a landscape. And further, if she did have a bias or hatred of the people she ruled over, it was feasible for her to be the mastermind behind all this.

But it was soon that I had to dismiss Princess Luna as a possible suspect. First and foremost I had to take into account my first encounter back on Hicksville Train station. Gidrah knew about these beings when the Silver Razor appeared to us on the platform, and that was before we came to Equestria. Furthermore, the almost erratic appearances of these Silvers didn’t fit the mindset of someone who was out for revenge.

The same could be said about Celestia. Her honesty and kindness fit the role of a benevolent leader and not that of a tyrannical overlord. Moreover, Celestia’s reaction at the dinner when the three Spheres attacked was more that of confusion than practiced shock. So she was out.

Then there was Gidrah’s familiarity with these Silvers, yet his inability to figure out exactly who was originally behind these monsters. So how exactly did all this fit?

All this I considered as I sat atop the highest spire in the Canterlot tower. Well okay not sitting on the spike, I sat actually at the antenna’s base, but I was still extremely high up. Celestia’s shinning sun glinted nicely over my Demon Lord Armor, and the gentle wind blew my cape lovingly. I gazed down on the city below with hard eyes. Gidrah was resting across my shoulders, obviously in the same frustrated state I was in.

“If I can only remember who exactly was the original controller of those Silvers.” He told me.

“You know I’m not one to criticize Gidrah, but if you could only remember we’d be a lot better off right now.” I snipped.

“I know you’re frustrated milord, I am too, but right now we must remain vigilant.” He told me.

“Ten weeks,” I responded.

“Does not matter at all, Ten weeks or ten years, you are a Demon Lord you stay vigilant.” Gidrah shot back.

I waited for the following line of, “But remember this isn’t your district.” But it never came. And that caught me, “Do remember this isn’t my district. Hell I highly doubt there is even a Demon Lord Corps on this planet.”

“Regardless, this threat is present both here and within your district. You remain vigilant. Moreover, I’m sure the council would agree that under the circumstances, you’re presence is needed.” He responded.

“Presence for what; we have zero leads, we have zero headway, and hell I highly doubt we have any clues what so ever.” I snapped my voice thick with frustration, “What could I possibly do at the moment?”

My point wasn’t entirely without merit. As I agreed this wasn’t my district. Back home, the boundaries of Demon Lord Law allowed me to access crucial areas to gain any and all headways regarding a case. If I had to break into a jail to interrogate a prisoner I could do that, if I had to dig through personal files to gain private information I could do that too. So long as I did not forge evidence or follow leads based on no evidence, Demon Lord Law allowed me to have full and free investigation rights within my district. But Equestria and Canterlot in particular wasn’t my district.

So my hands were tied. And Gidrah knew it, “Milord, at the risk of sounding like a broken record; my advice for you would be to wait and remain vigilant.”

I sighed, “Fine. You know there is Special Law One.”

“Done,” Gidrah seethed.

“I was kidding,” I shot back, “Jesus you old Dragon, you can’t take a joke anymore.”

Gidrah sighed; I knew then that the frustration about this case had gotten to him. The fact of the matter was: we were both very bored. There were no leads and nothing really important to do. I was finding that this was a usual occurrence with my job as a Demon Lord; ninety percent of the time was complete boredom. Plus, Luna was asleep. I found that during my stay, I had grown rather close with Luna, more so than with Celestia. I’m not sure what it was, but Luna’s personality complemented mine very much so as we were both lonely people when not on our job.

She also was very knowledgeable about cryptozoology and astrology, two key things of a Demon Lord. But there was one other thing that turned me on to this pony, she was funny. While I will admit Celestia was the master of practical jokes, Luna was exemplary at telling jokes and funny stories. Not to mention the fact that, get passed the fact she’s a pony, she was quite beautiful. I soon found that not having her around was a bit saddening. And that added to my boredom.

Resigning to the boredom, I scanned the area below me. At that exact moment, I finally got something interesting happen. My vision helped me spot a pony scrambling through the streets like a bat outta hell. A small smile actually graced my face as I watched him run.

“Well at least we don’t have to be bored.” I said.

“Now milord, please do not indulge. Do remember what you are.” Gidrah warned.

“Why do you think I keep you around Gidrah?” I said getting up and leaping off the tower.

Gidrah almost wanted to pop out and fly me over to the pony. However I wasn’t entirely sure that a large dragon flying over Canterlot in broad daylight would go over well with the ponies below, so I stopped him. Instead I phased over towards him using my fire powers to propel me as black smoke. I landed upon a roof of a building the pony was running past. Looking over onto the street below, I noticed that well behind the pony was a squad of guards charging after him.

“Good thing those guys are up and spry.” I whispered as I surveyed the other side of the street.

The running pony had a rucksack thrown over his back and several valuable goods within it. He was managing to hold on to it with his teeth. I must commend these ponies and their jaws, for it seems they manage to do amazing things with their mouths. And if anyone wants to take that thought to an interesting place, you need to get off the internet right now.

Any who, I managed to position me to intercept the fleeing pony. With a good thrust, I propelled myself off the building to next. Jumping from rooftop to rooftop, I got ahead of the fleeing pony. Satisfied with my distance, I rolled off the roof and landed in front of the pony. Much like the thief I intercepted the night Luna met my alter ego, this one nearly wet itself in fear.

“By Solaris…” I heard it say.

“Okay,” I replied, “What did you do?”

“Stop thief!” I head one of the guards shot as they galloped up.

“It’s not what you think! I didn’t steal anything.” The pony pleaded.

I looked down upon the pony. “So, if you didn’t steal anything, why are they chasing you?” I asked.

The Guards approached and rather quickly surrounded the pony and he became quiet rather quickly. Then the guards noticed me and fear took hold. It was then I realized this was the first time I actually had revealed myself in public in daylight. But it didn’t take me long to find a way out of the situation, because the universal first question was asked.

“Who…..what are you?” one of the guards asked.

“Razgriz,” I answered, “A friend. This pony’s yours; do with him as your laws desire.”

I then began to move off, and almost instantly regretted my decision. I’m still not sure what the conversation was that lead to this event, but when I did tune back in it was already too late. The guards began to beat the robber pony.

Despite not having any leads or any clues as to my case, I did manage to fill some of my time addressing myself with Equestrian Laws. None of them allowed for the beating of a criminal before or even after a trail. Acting upon this knowledge, and before Gidrah could even stop me, I spun around and grabbed one of the attacking guard’s hooves.

A mixture of rage and shock was one my face as I glared into the stunned guard’s eyes. The return reaction I got from him and all the other guards was the same, terror and fear. All except for the Captain, who returned my glare with that of coldness, although I could tell it, masked the fear behind his eyes. I let go of the guard’s hoof and walked over to the guard.

“What gives you the right to assault a member of your own kind?” I asked sternly.

The guards were silent for a moment as the beaten robber whimpered.

I repeated the question, “What gives you the right? Save for a choice in careers this pony is the same as you!”

“What gives you the right to question us?” the captain responded, “You are neither our leader nor our ruler, what are you to question us.”

“He’s right milord, you’ve done all you can.” Gidrah said rather evenly.

I wanted to protest, I wanted to say something. But I couldn’t. Gidrah was right, as was this merciless Captain. As much as it pained me to do so, I had to pull back. With only a mournful glance at the hurt pony, I left. As I did, I could hear the guards resume their assault. I dematerialized and flew up back to my room.

“Not even Judas would run from that.” I scorned, rematerializing in the room.

“As you’re bible is quick to remind you Milord, Judas was a human not a demon lord.” Gidrah shot back.

“Yeah well newsflash Gidrah, I am a Human AND a Demon Lord!” I replied sternly, “You saw what they were, hell still probably are doing, to that pony. I don’t even think my predecessor would allow that!”

“You’re right, he wouldn’t have,” Gidrah nodded with a stoic look, “If this was back in our district. As we are both aware, we are not in our district but we aren’t on Earth any more. The Code of the Demon Lord states that you must not interfere unless directly ordered by the council.”

I gritted my teeth, “And it’d be a good idea to remember that we aren’t in contact with the council!”

“Indeed milord,” Gidrah sighed.

I wanted to punch something out of pure frustration, I actually almost did. But mindful of my surroundings and the fact that I was a guest in this world, I held myself back. Breathing deeply to collect myself, I turned back to the old dragon. “Was there any way we could get around the laws.” I asked.

Gidrah gave me a stern look, “The only way, I mean only way is to ask permission from Princess Celestia.”

I sighed, “And that’s not going to happen without her becoming extremely suspicious of me. It’s tough enough dodging questions about how Razgriz got here and I had no clue of it. But add in the rigors of keeping this land crime neutral while at the same time trying to figure out what these Silvers are doing…” My voice trailed off, indeed just coming out and telling Celestia would have been the best option but then that would be against Demon Lord Code as well. I’ve had my hands bound by the Code in my previous cases, but this was the absolute worst. I couldn’t do anything, I couldn’t help these ponies, I couldn’t inform the leaders of the situation, and worst of all I couldn’t peruse this case in the detail I needed.

Despite having a calm demeanor, my frustration was boiling over. Already set back by being the only human in a world full of magical creatures, I was set back even further by being an utterly useless Demon Lord! Gidrah looked at me with pitiful, but strict eyes that only confirmed how tied up I was in this. Finally fed up, I swore to myself and walked out of the room. I needed some fresh air so I made my way towards the garden.

It’s ironic that walks always, always, end up putting me on the right path even without me noticing it. Do you know how this one worked out for me? Well the first clue is the obvious, I still hadn't transformed back into human form. Took me a while to catch it actually, considering my door guards were again asleep, as it wasn’t until I was outside and found myself in a garden of statues did a gust of wind catch my cape. My heart almost stopped beating for a moment in complete shock.

This hadn’t been the first time I had forgotten I was in Demon Lord Form, as when I’m really emotionally invested in something I tend to forget. Thinking quickly I looked around to see if anyone noticed me. And thankfully no one was, or at least none that I could initially see. I was about to transform back when I heard hoof falls in the distance. Almost instantly I knew that whoever was approaching me was doing so from behind me.

And whoever it was, it was close. So I knew I would likely be spotted powering down. Despite the sun being out, I still didn’t have enough energy left to dematerialize and zoom back to my room. There was the option of just flying away or calling Gidrah, but that would’ve made an already bad screw up even more complicated. The only option left that would’ve given me any dignity was to face the piper.

To my muted shock, when I turned around there was Princess Celestia. A stoic look took her face but I could tell from her eyes that she was surprised to see me. I looked at her, my demonic red eyes glowing slightly. She looked back at me with her own pale magenta eyes, unblinking and focused. A gentle breeze caught both her pink mane and my cape, making them both flutter gently in the wind.

Celestia then sized me up, “Enjoying the garden of statues?”

I was taken aback by the question, but I didn’t show it. Certainly it was the weirdest first question I had ever gotten thrown my way.

“Am I allowed to?” I shot back.

“What would make you think you weren’t?” Celestia responded.

“Usually a castle garden is restricted for the foreigners and common folk.” I said.

Celestia nodded, “Well then, your assumption is wrong. But I will ask what your business in the Garden of Statues is?”

“Simply admiring the statues,” I lied, partially, “They are quite pieces of work.”

Celestia remained still as her gaze met mine, “They aren’t pieces of work, at least not all of them.”

“Oh?” I asked inquisitively, “Then what are they?”

“You seem to be an inquisitive one Mr. ...?” Celestia asked.

“Razgriz,” I replied, “And my own question remains unanswered.”

Celestia nodded, “Well I think I’ll give you the courtesy, if I can trust you.”

I snickered, “A fair point Princess, I am after all different to most of the folks around here.”

“You are human,” she asked in an almost matter-of-fact tone.

“No,” I responded quickly.

“Then what are you? A demon,” she asked.

I nodded, “Some see me as such. The proper title is Demon Lord.”

Celestia moved closer, albeit very slowly. I could see the tension and fear in her steps. She began to move around me, taking great care to view every inch of me over. “So if you are a demon, why did you rescue my guards and stop that pony thief?” she asked.

“It’s what I do,” I responded flatly.

“That isn’t an acceptable answer,” she said rather evenly.

“It will be the one you get right now.” I shot back.

“You are quite fierce in your tone…Demon.” She said.

Now that was interesting, the tone of her voice wasn’t stern in the slightest. Rather it was very even, but I could tell that she was hiding whatever intention she had. Suspicion aside, she was trying to get information out of me. And I wasn’t going to have any of it.

“Trust me princess, if I could tell you more I would.” I said.

Celestia walked in front of me and faced me, “Why won’t you then Demon?”

“Because,” I responded, “It’s against the rules.”

“What rules?” she asked.

I gave Celestia a displeasing look, “The Code of the Demon Lord.”

Celestia gave me a grumpy look in response, “Well then Demon, I see no way this conversation can continue if you won’t give me the answers I need.” She then began to march away, “The garden is yours to view at your displeasure.”

I nodded as she walked away in a bit of a huff. She was almost out of ear shot when the sound of wing feathers caught my attention. The sound was far too faint to be from either Princess Celestia or Luna. However it was also too soft to be a bird. I spun around and looked towards the direction of the sound but all I saw was empty sky.

I scanned the sky for any sign of what could’ve made that sound. It was completely empty. Then the sound came again from my right, and this time it was accompanied by the rustling of leaves. When I looked, I could see a small bush had its entire left side displaced, something had moved through it. I made my way over to the bush and quickly found something.

“Hello,” I said softly, examining a set of light hoof prints in the roots and grass, “What are you doing there?”

The distant rustling and the sound of wings flapping came again. I looked up to see a gentle trail that had been left behind by the perpetrator. I moved forward, staying on the trail trying to see who was making it. The perp moved in and out of bushes as if stalking something. It took me a moment to realize the target. I figured it out when I spotted the pink mane of Princess Celestia.

Still in a bit of a huff, Celestia was walking through the garden keeping her gaze locked on the sky above. She didn’t notice the very real threat coming her way. I noticed it as she left the nearest bush towards Celestia; it was a sky blue Pegasus with a dark lavender mane. She was clutching a dagger between her teeth and the look on her face was pure anger.

The Pegasus stopped just twelve feet from Celestia and moved the dagger from her mouth to her hoof. That gave me all the indication I needed to act. Having just enough energy for a dematerialization and arrest, I dematerialized and raced over towards the Pegasus. However I was too late to grab her as she took to the air.

“Hey Princess,” she said, her voice filled with rage.

Celestia spun around and looked upon her attacker with pure horror.

“For my people!” the Pegasus screamed sending the knife at Celestia before she could even act.

Thinking quickly and acting even faster, I quickly rematerialized and formed a flame chain. Just a split second before the Pegasus could attack, I threw the chain right at her. It wrapped around her neck, turned to steel, and became taught. Once that happened I pulled the chain back, quickly choking the Pegasus as she was flung towards me. The act was so fast it dislodged the knife from her grip, somehow, and sent it flying off harmlessly.

The Pegasus hit the ground hard, but to her credit she struggled back to her hooves to attack again. I yanked on the chain again and pulled the Pegasus over to fiercely. The moment she was close, I grabbed her by the neck and pressed her against the ground. I glared into her eyes, “Alright answer straight you were trying to kill the princess, why?”

“Go to hell,” the Pegasus choked before spitting on my face.

I looked back at the Pegasus with a stern demeanor, “That wasn’t very polite, and my read of the beings here is that they are very polite.”

“Your highness!” a guard shouted.

“About time they show up,” I muttered.

The Pegasus struggled against my grip, “What does it mean to you anyway!? What I did, I had to do for my people.”

“Certainly there are better ways of expressing grievances over assassination.” I said.

“Would you…” she started before losing the breath of air she had. I relented, but only enough to allow her to breathe again. After coughing hard, the Pegasus looked at me, “Would you not resort to such measures when you’re people are being mistreated.”

I leaned in to her, “Killing someone ain’t what I do, I uphold the law.”

“These laws, these laws support the Pegasus mistreatment.” The Pegasus spat.

“No law does nor would ever, not while I’m here.” I replied as the guards ran up. I looked at them fiercely; I could tell from the look in their eyes that they had the intention of hurting the Pegasus more than already done by me. Remembering what the guards did to the escaping pony, I couldn’t allow this Pegasus fall into a similar fate. She had already been tortured enough. Gidrah would probably have a fit, but I really didn’t care.

So I released the Pegasus, “Go.”

“What,” She asked a bit confused.

“You’re free, go,” I said, turning to face the guards.

The guards raised their weapons at me. “What are you doing?!” the Captain shouted.

Celestia remained quiet, the look of her face was the text book definition of dumbfounded. I still wasn’t sure if it was because somepony tried to murder her, or I was letting that assassin get away.

The Pegasus seemed puzzled to but didn’t argue. She then took off as fast as her wings could take her. The guards were about to make a move but I stopped then by igniting my fire sword under the captains chin. Not wanting to make a scene even worse, the captain looked at me, “Why did you let the prisoner escape?”

“That pony is nobody’s prisoner.” I said, “Besides she wasn’t here to kill the Princess, she was here to deliver a message. If I were you I’d start figuring out how she got in.”

The captain took a massive gulp of saliva before I began to walk off. Celestia however, stopped me by walking out in front of me.

“Why did you let that pony escape?” she asked softly.

“She was desperate and scared; I don’t think that pony was in the right frame of mind when she committed that act. Plus, I figured she’d instantly regret her decision,” I lied.

Celestia nodded, and then with genuine sincerity added, “I had no idea that anypony would be this desperate enough. The fact that she targeted me scares me.”

“You needn’t worry your majesty; I intend to get to the bottom of whatever the actual motive may be.” I assured the Princess.

“But why, what possible motive would you have?” Celestia asked.

“Leave that to me,” I reassured.

“I’m not talking about her motive,” Celestia said, “Why do you want to help; you are a stranger in these lands.”

I nodded, “You’re right I am. But back where I am from Demon Lords are the policemen of the world; we protect everyone and that’s what I intend to do here, with your permission, of course, your majesty.”

Celestia gave me another confused look, “Must you need my permission?”

I nodded, “Standard operating procedure.”

That put a smile back on Celestia’s face and she nodded. Celestia smiled a rosy cheeked smile, “Well then Demon, you have my permission.”

I bowed before the Princess before walking off. As I walked I heard the Captain approach the Princess, “You sure that’s wise, letting someone who allowed an assassin to escape free reign of this kingdom and its laws.”

“Of course I do, because he stopped that Assassin where as my guards allowed her to walk freely around this castle.” She answered sternly.

A smug smile took my face as I walked away. Though I didn’t notice it at the time, I later learned that Princess Celestia watched me walk away with dreamy eyes…

…I looked in the direction of where the bird took off. Just beyond the trees from which it was perched, I noticed an unusual clearing. True a lot of things in Everfree were unusual, but this was something more. Not only could I see clear sky unobstructed by trees, but I couldn’t see any ground.

“Hey Sentry come take a look at this,” I said.

Flash Sentry noticed my call and trotted over, “Yeah what is it?”

I raised my hoof in the direction of the unusual sight, “Look at that picture and tell me what’s wrong.”

It didn’t take Flash Sentry long to see what I was seeing. “Yeah, that is weird.” He told me.

“Right, let’s check it out.” I said and we began moving towards the gap.

Turns out, the gap was a bit more accurate than I thought. A massive crater was there waiting for us, a crater that looked like it had been formed centuries ago. The odd thing was it didn’t look like it was from a meteor. The crater looked like it had been neatly, I just couldn’t tell what. But what ever did cut it out, it obviously was a large object that then proceeded to rest within it.

Flash and I looked it over as we trotted out of the tree line. “Tell me something Mr. Sentry,” I asked as I ventured into the crater, “What are we looking at?”

“A crater by the looks of it,” he answered.

“Exactly, but take a good look; no ejection debris, no impact zone, and not even scarring on the grounds around it. What ever made it obviously was very careful not to do any damage.” I examined.

Flash shook his head, “But meteorites aren’t selective, and there have been no reports of one landing in Everfree.”

“Again exactly,” I said, “So what are we looking at?”

Flash gave me a look but then realized my question was rhetorical. I had just as much answers as he did. Then I noticed something, a small ridge about two feet from my position. It was a small pool of silver. I walked over to it and dipped my hoof into the silver puddle.

“Well that’s even more interesting,” I said softly, “And it’s fresh too, looks like Silver was here and rather recently.”

Just then a series of wings flapping caught my attention. Flash Sentry shouted, “Get back to the tree line!”

I looked up in the direction of the wings and saw a large, blue green Dragon swooping in teeth bared. It didn’t take me long to realize that the Dragon was intent on harm. Not waiting for a second command, I ran with Flash back into the tree line as the dragon swooped over the crater. The two of us watched as the dragon flew over the crater.

“Well that’s something,” I said.

“What in Celestia’s name is a dragon doing here?” Flash asked.

“An increase of dragon activity,” Luna asked rather surprisingly.

“Indeed,” Princess Celestia responded.

“What could bring this upon?” Luna asked, “The dragons haven’t acted up before.”

“That’s what’s strange. There’s been no real warning. I suspect that Apocalypto might be involved, but as you may guess dear sister, the Dragon Kingdom is being rather tight lipped.” Celestia answered.

The two ponies were sitting in the Canterlot royal courtroom. The sun was hanging low in the sky, indicating to Princess Celestia that it was time to lower it and then raise the moon.

“Have there been any attacks?” Luna asked.

“Thankfully not yet, but it is worrisome.” Celestia answered, “It’s not uncommon for Dragons to get aggressive.”

“Indeed,” Princess Luna nodded, “What is being done to combat this new update?”

“Alerts have been sent out to all our guards who are out of town. Most of them have been reinforced with some of your night guards Lulu, I hope you don’t mind.” Celestia smiled.

Luna shook her head, “I would’ve made the same order myself. Not a problem sister.”

Celestia nodded, “Okay Sister, it’s time for me to lower the sun. Will I see you for dinner tonight?”

Luna paused for a moment. It had been a long time since Celestia actually asked Luna if she was coming to dinner. Ever since her return, Luna had always gone to dinner in an attempt to rekindle her friendship with her elder sister. Celestia frankly rarely asked for Luna’s appearance, only doing so when her attendance or absence was required. Thinking a bit more about it, the very first time she got asked to dinner was when she learned more about Earth, and particularly Italian Restaurants…

…Princess Luna walked into her sister chambers just after Celestia had lowered the sun and raised the moon. A small scowl was on the lunar princess’s face, because once again another unappreciated night was going to take hold on Equestria. One day, Luna promised herself, she’d make the night last a little longer than normal just to force the citizens to love it or at least acknowledge it.

However Luna got rid of that silly thought. She was mad yes but not that mad, yet. Anyway the scowl vanished when her elder, pink mane sister flew in. A warm, if not blissful smile was on Celestia’s face as she landed and trotted into her room.

Her voice was even cheerful was she greeted Luna, “Ah Lulu good to see you.”

“Well, tis appear thou are in a good mood.” Luna snickered, “May we ask what the occasion is?”

Celestia giggled a school girl’s giggle, “Well if you must know sister and I know you must, I met our resident Demon.”

Luna’s expression went from pleasant enjoyment to confusion in a second, “Thou speak of Razgriz? Where was he?”

Celestia nodded, “I ran into him in the statue garden.”

“Why were thou in the statue garden? Moreover, why were thee?” Luna asked.

“I couldn’t be sure of his motive, but I was there because the meeting with the Cloudsdale ambassador went extremely poorly. I must say I don’t know how Uncle is able to keep them in line.” Celestia sighed, resting on her cushion, “Tis getting so bad dear sister I fear that Cloudsdale might revolt if not rebel. But what is worse is I still do not know why they are complaining, we have given them all they asked for.”

“Or at least that is what Uncle claims; do thou think we should visit Cloudsdale to see for ourselves?” Luna asked.

“The thought has crossed my mind repeatedly, but my advisers against it strongly, plus I just know Uncle would give me a lecture when he gets back if he even caught whiff of the idea.” Celestia answered. Then she sighed mournfully, “I just don’t know what to do with the Pegasi. Do you know I almost had an assassin come at me today? I’ve tried to be like father, but I fear I am doing more harm than good.”

Luna sighed; her problems seemed pale in comparison to her sister’s plight. Despite the fact that her night had continued to be unappreciated, she couldn’t help but feel for her elder sister. Taking a deep breath, Luna decided to return the conversation back to its origin.

“Well put that fear to bed for now dear sister, tell us more of your encounter with Razgriz.” Luna smiled waving a hoof.

Celestia seemed to perk up almost instantly, “Oh right, I almost forgot. Anyway after the meeting I decided to walk through the sculpture garden and there he was. He was all authoritative and dignified in his posture, as if he almost knew I was coming before I did. Oh Luna you should’ve seen him, he was extremely radiant in his stance.”

Luna snorted, “When we saw him, the demon nearly scared us stiff.”

“That feeling was present there too; do not mistake me Luna, but it magnified the presence he had. I swear those red eyes were looking straight into my soul, it was scary and yet invigorating. It was as if I could tell there was both evil and good within him.” Celestia explained almost dreamily, “Anyway I asked him about his presence and his reasoning for being in Equestria. He, of course, answered none of it. So that got me really peeved, but I also felt like he wanted to tell me that he wanted to open his soul to me. But yet his Demon Lord code prevented him.”

“Demon Lord,” Luna asked, “What is a Demon Lord?”

“Alas, the full potential of that answer has yet to be achieved.” She sighed, “So, basically answerless, I left him. I continued walking though the garden when that assassin came at me. But before she could do any harm, Razgriz stopped her. He came out of nowhere and pulled that Assassin back with his fire chain. He pulled that Pegasus back effortlessly and even grilled her for information so fiercely, oh Solaris Luna it was a sight!”

Luna laughed, “We think thou are about to have an Accident dear Tia.”

Celestia gave Luna a slight disapproving look, “Well it was something to behold.”

Still laughing Luna asked, “Tell us, what became of the Assassin?”

“He let her go after finding her reason.” Celestia answered casually, “Said he wasn’t going to indict her or something, mentioned that she was a message, and then let her go.”

Luna nodded, “Compassion maybe?”

“That’s my thought as well; if that’s the case maybe he can be helpful in resolving the crisis facing us.” Celestia smiled.

“Well, may we pray for better skies,” Luna smiled.

Celestia nodded, “Speaking of better skies, Mike has been asking for you to come to dinner.”

Luna’s ears perked up, similar to how Celestia’s did when she changed the conversation back to Razgriz. Over Mike’s stay in Equestria, the duo had grown rather close. He would always come see her once her rule over the night had begun and the two would get into all sorts of conversations. Luna had found Mike to be extremely knowledgeable of a lot of things, including astrology and cryptozoology. He even would mention things about Earth that he wouldn’t to Celestia. Yet not since their first night together had he talked had he really pushed her on her problems. Plus he was even a fan of her joke telling.

He was also a joy to have around, always having something uplifting and rather enjoyable to say. She found that she quite enjoyed having him around. So to have him ask for her at dinner was rather quite rewarding for the lunar princess.

“Has he,” Luna asked.

Celestia nodded, “And since tonight seems to be one of your best, I’d hoped you join us for dinner.”

Luna didn’t need a second to think as she agreed, “Of course we would come to dinner.”

“Splendid, let’s go,” Celestia smiled.

With a big smile on both their faces, the two alicorn sisters headed off to dinner. Luna enjoyed every step of the way, as she was thinking about how dinner would be with Mike. She almost wanted to go fetch him herself, but much to her surprise he was already in the dining hall having a conversation with one of the servers. The Server seemed stunned that he was even speaking to her, yet was pleasantly responding to his questions. But when he saw Luna enter, he stopped his conversation and smiled.

“Well look who finally decided to show up for dinner,” he smiled as he walked over to the table to take a seat.

“Forgive the delay; the sun was particularly stubborn tonight. It really didn’t want to lower itself today.” Celestia smiled.

“As if it was impossible tame to the sun,” Mike laughed.

“No that would require our sister to actually work for a change.” Luna giggled.

Even Celestia laughed at the witty comment as the sister princesses took their seats across from Mike. As the trio sat down, the servers dished out the proper silverware for the night. The food was still being prepped so there was a bit of a wait. But there was a clear ambience that was missing.

Celestia gently cleared her throat, “Excuse me, but what has happened to our pianist?”

“Terribly sorry mum, but it appears that Eric Horseshoepin has taken ill tonight.” The head server responded.

Celestia nodded, “That’s a shame. Will he recover?”

“Yes mum, it’s a simple case of the cold.” The server responded.

Luna sighed, “Apologies Mike, tis seems we will have to wait and eat in silence.”

But Mike had a different idea, one that caught Luna off guard. “Oh no worries,” he said, “I can play until the food comes.”

Luna tilted her head, “Wait what, thou can play instruments.”

As if to prove that he was serious, Mike quickly got up and headed towards the piano which was located near the head of the table. It was a large, white baby grand piano that Galaxia had installed to make dinners and social occasions in the dining hall livelier. However, since the death of her parents, most of the moods had been somber and reclusive; which was why Luna was no longer attending them.

Mike however, strode over to the piano with a bounce in his step and a small but proud smile on his face, “I would hope so. Had to learn how to play the damn thing back in Elementary and Middle School, I might as well make the most of it.” He sat down at the piano and began to fiddle with the keys, as if trying to hear how it was tuned. “Personally,” he said after he got the full sound, “I like the guitar more, but whenever I can get a chance I play. I can sing too, thanks to being a part of school chorus, if you would like.”

“Seems like thou is showing off, Mr. Adams,” Luna snickered.

“Not at all,” he answered, “If one has the talent, one must flaunt it my father always said.”

“Well then,” Celestia interjected, “May we hear a tune from Earth?”

Mike turned to face them, “Any particulars?”

Luna was the first to answer, “How about something lively, no offense sister but the music around here has been a bit…”

Celestia raised a hoof, “Needn’t worry sister, I brought that up with Master Horseshoepin. I’m aware he has new material but is still refining it. Anyway I am in agreement, something lively.”

Mike turned back to the piano and seemed to think for a moment, letting his fingers rattle over the piano as he tried to find the right song. After a good impromptu riff that was lively in itself, he found his song. “Well okay, I’ll give you one written by someone from my neighborhood that is a real big shot back home. It goes like this.”

He then started playing a piano riff, a slow one that was very melodic. Keeping his tempo even, he carried through the opening piece very smoothly almost as if playing at a dinner party. Then he began to sing, “A bottle of whites, a bottle of red, or perhaps a bottle of rose instead. Get a table near the street, in our old familiar place, with you and I face to face.

“A bottle of red or a bottle of white, it all depends upon your appetite. I’ll meet you anytime you want, at our Italian Restaurant.” Mike sang, keeping the melodic beat and keys. Both Luna and Celestia were star struck with his very melodic playing style that almost seemed masterful. After getting the lyrics out, he then began into a slow jazzy type of tune that slowly and slowly began to build. Then without warning the tempo changed.

It became very rhythmic as he tapped away on the keys, almost as if he was improvising for a drum set that wasn’t there. Luna could harken the sound to one as if it was at a carnival. He then began to sing again; as if he was talking to the person he wanted to meet. “Things are okay for me these days, I got a good job, I got a new office, I got a new wife, got a new life, and the family is fine. Oh we lost touch long ago, and you lost weight. I did not know you can ever look so nice after so much time.” He sang, “Do you remember those days hanging out at the Village Green, with the engineer boots, leather jackets, and tight blue jeans? Oh we drop a dime in the box to play a song about New Orleans, with cold bear, hot lights, in my sweet romantic teenage nights.”

The song was so upbeat, so catchy, and so lively that the princesses began to bop along with the beat. He began to build this very happy atmosphere, almost as if the room had been magically transported to a carnival or to a Carvalli city street. And then, just as the melody was building again, Mike changed it. The riff became very deep with intermix of the lighter keys that somehow kept the atmosphere consistent. After going through that riff, Mike brought it back to the Carvalli tone and feel.

Then the tune slowly became harder, as if the jazzy feel was replaced with more of a rock motif. Luna wasn’t good with music, but she was enjoying the piece immensely. As was Celestia, and to her surprise the servers; a few were even dancing. Noticing this, Mike smiled and said, “Okay I see you liked that, well now here’s another story about two friends of mine, called Brenda and Eddy.”

Stopping his speech for a second to regain the melody, Mike began his story. “Brenda and Eddy were the popular steadies and the king and the queen at the prom. Riding around with the car top down and the radio on,” He sang, “Nobody looked any finer, or were more of a hit at the Parkway Diner. And we never knew we could want more than that out of life. Surely Brenda and Eddy would always know how to survive.”

He then harmonized with the piano riffs before continuing. “Brenda and Eddy were still going steady by the summer of Seventy Five, when they decided the marriage would be at the end of July.” He sang.

“Oh how romantic,” Luna whispered.

“Everyone said they were crazy. ‘Brenda you know that you’re much to lazy, and Eddy could never afford to live that kinda life.’ Oh but there we were waving Brenda and Eddy goodbye.” Mike sang, waving his hand at the end of the lyric. He did a riff on the piano for a bit before snapping into the bridge, “Well they got an apartment with deep pile carpets and a couple of paintings from Sears, a big waterbed they bought with the bread they had saved for a couple of years. Yet they started to fight when the money got tight. They just didn’t count on the tears! Long live Rock’n’Roll!”

He then went into this very intricate piano riff that seemed to blend the jazz of before with the up tempo rock mix he had now. All the while, he spazzed along with the beat really enjoying what he was playing. “Well they lived for a while with a very style but it’s always the same in the end. They got a divorce as a matter of course and they parted the closest of friends. Then the king and the queen went back to the green. But you can never go back there again!” he sang before harmonizing.

“So much for romance,” Celestia snickered.

“Least they left happily.” Luna said to which Celestia nodded.

“Brenda and Eddy had had it already by the summer of eighty five, from the high to the low to the end of the show for the rest of their lives. They couldn’t go back to the greasers, the best they could do was pick up their pieces, and we always they would both find a way to get by. Oh and that’s all I heard about Brenda and Eddy, I can’t tell you more cuz I told you already, and here we are waving Brenda and Eddy goodbye.” Mike sang again waving his hand.

He harmonized for a bit more as he seemed to play off the Rock’n’Roll beat. Then with a rousing riff, he brought the music back to the original melodic riff he had started the song from. “A bottle of reds, ooh a bottle of whites; whatever kind of mood you’re in tonight. I’ll meet you any time you want, in our Italian Restaurant.” Then with a gentle touch on the keys, he played the song out to applause.

After Dinner, Luna decided to walk Mike back to his room, claiming it would fill up their allotted time together for the evening.

“So is that how things are like in Italian Restaurants?” Luna asked.

Mike chuckled, “Not really, what the song was about was a man catching up with a long lost friend and filling him in stories he had. One of them was reminiscing and the other about the failed romance of Brenda and Eddie. I’ll tell you I did my best with the song though, but Billy’s got an entire band with him.”

“Tis must be an incredible sight.” Luna sighed.

“It gets better when you see him in Maddison Square Garden. This is a mega arena in the heart of New York City, I mean you play here you reach legendary status. And when Billy Joel plays, every nut and bolt of the place reverberates with his melodies and tunes. It seems, I could swear, that the place was made for him. Either him or Sir Elton John but that’s another time.” Mike explained.

“Is he really that good of a singer?” Luna asked.

“Well I am biased since Billy grew up five miles from my house.” Mike snickered, “Besides I never had more fun preforming a Billy Joel Song, except for when I do Queen or Metallica.”

Luna laughed, “Tis matters not, it was still a spectacular performance.”

“Well I’m glad you approve.” Mike smiled as they reached his door.

Luna nodded warmly, “Well while we have you, we would like to ask something. The celebration of the autumnal equinox is approaching and Equestria is having a celebration worth the ages. We would like it for you to attend.”

Mike gave a warm smile, “Why I would love to Luna, thank you.”

Luna smiled warmly as Mike opened his door and slowly descended into his room. Once he locked the door behind him, Luna headed off towards the royal chambers to watch over another night. Then she looked out the windows and caught the sight of campfires in the distance. Her expression went from joy to confusion. To her knowledge there were no battalions out on night patrol.

However, the night pony simply chalked it up to nomadic tribes simply passing by…

…Luna smiled warmly as she nodded to Celestia’s request.

“Wonderful Lulu, I shall go get things ready.” Celestia smiled.

“I’ll be there in a minute.” Luna nodded as Celestia wondered off. Luna headed over to the railing and looked out on the twilight sky. She hummed a gentle tune to herself remembering times past. Meanwhile far off in the distance, a group of Dragons flew through the air towards Ponyville.

Author's Note

OH MY GOD IT IS FINNALLY DONE CHAPTER SEVEN IS UP!
You don't know how long it took me to work out the details of this chapter. well okay maybe you do but still. Well i can say now that exposition is comming to a close and this plots gonna start gaining traction. PS put up with the Ponyform and the songs for just a few more time, Mike only sings one more song after this and i even give Luna a performance but thats all in a later chapter. Anyway the biggest battle of this book before the finale will begin in the next addition. stay tuned

PS: This is the Razgriz Article from Ace Combat, look it over to see what the Razgriz demon really was from the AC series: http://acecombat.wikia.com/wiki/Razgriz

Chapter Eight: The Revolts

Chapter Eight:
The Revolts

“Riddle me this Ms. Sparkle,” I said as I paced around the library, “What would create a crater without an ejection debris field and without causing massive devastation to the land around it?”

“I’m not entirely sure,” Twilight answered.

“Moreover is something that would get a dragon interested in it?” Flash Sentry added.

“Let’s not forget the pool of silver, or the fact that the creature that attacked Ponyville came from that very crater.” I included, “There’s a connection here but I’m not sure what it could be.”

Spike shrugged, “Beats me.”

“Intuitive little Dragon,” Gidrah sneered.

“Honestly, if I saw a connection here I think we’d probably be looking into it,” Twilight sighed, “But right now it’s those dragon’s that concern me.”

“She’s right Dragon’s wouldn’t do anything without a reason.” Flash sighed.

I also sighed, “Good point, what are you gonna do?”

“I’ve got my guys on high alert and I’ve requested assistance from Canterlot. Hopefully they’ll arrive before any major attacks happen.” Flash told us.

“Do you think they’re will be?” Twilight asked.

No one really answered the comment.

I took a deep sigh, “If anything, vigilance is called for. If you’ll excuse me I gotta head back to my apartment for a bit, I have to go over everything that’s happened.”

“And prepare for dinner?” Twilight asked.

With all that had been going on I completely forgot that I had promised Twilight and Flash dinner tonight. I couldn’t back out now, especially since this dinner was the bottom end of a deal that had gotten me the ability to investigate the Everfree forest. I took a deep sigh; I guess I was going to have prepared for dinner.

“Exactly,” I said with a half-smile, “If you’ll excuse me.”

Before either can answer, I trotted out. As I headed back to my apartment, my mind was far from anything regarding dinner.

“Gidrah,” I said, “Correct me if I’m wrong, but Dragon’s in our world aren’t the greedy gold misers we make them out to be?”

“Most,” my mentor said appearing on my back, “Those who are can be few and far between. And even then, most would rather give their gold for noble causes.”

“So, what about the Dragon’s here?” I asked.

“Completely different story, most here are very greedy and very miserly.” Gidrah said, with a bit of disgust, “Of course this information was gained over a thousand years ago, but I doubt that it has changed.”

“From your read on them, would they commit to such an attack upon a town?” I asked.

“There could be any number of reasons.” Gidrah replied, “Greed, revenge, or even just for laughs all could be among them.”

“From your take on them, is it possible for outside influence to be a factor?” I imputed.

“Ah now there’s the X factor, because even in our world this remains a constant threat. Milord, if someone has enough will-power to do something, he or she can and will pull that trick off even if it means mind controlling beings of immense power.” Gidrah responded.

I gave him that point, “So mind control is in fact possible.”

“But not for Apocalypto,” Gidrah said, “He could only directly control creatures he creates. I was never aware of him taking over the mind of another.”

“Good point,” I said, “his style would always be to force others hands. So what’s this new chess piece entail?” Then I looked up at the clear blue sky and remembered that very fact…

…The one thing I would never discredit Equestria for is it beauty. Not just in the environment or design of cities, but in the days and nights. Even when clouds would make appearance, there was almost an artistic design to them. I knew that clouds in Equestria weren’t made naturally but rather artificially, and to whoever designed they should be congratulated.

That was one of the many things I was thinking about as I made my way around the Castle in Canterlot trying to pick up on any and all information. But like the many times I had done so before, most of the guards were completely tight lipped. However this time I had a way out. My conversation last night with one of the servers managed to get me one bit of tip-bit.

“If its information you need here,” she had told me, “Ask the help.”

So I made my way through the castle, I knew exactly where to go. It took a bit of looking, but soon enough I walked into the kitchen. The ponies inside were already busy making lunch for the castle. As I walked in, the commotion was light but thick and so I was barely noticed. Not wanting to push my luck, I rested my back against the wall out of the way. But a moment later one of the chiefs noticed me.

“Hey what are you doing here?” he asked.

“Nothing important,” I replied, “Just looking around the castle. Am I not supposed to be here?”

“Oh don’t mind him,” one of the waitress’s commented, “It’s not often that we get visitors.”

“And when we usually do, they’re usually complaining.” Another sighed.

“Are you here to complain?” the first waitress asked.

“I haven’t yet,” I answered.

“So then,” the chief asked, “What are you here for?”

“Information mostly, I heard that this’ll be the best place to gather that information.” I replied.

“Information, really that’s why you came to a kitchen?” the chief asked, “Couldn’t you have gotten it from the guards or maybe the princesses.”

“Oh come off it Sugar Joe, you know Luna keeps the Guards up half the night so they sleep during the day, and the princesses are nice but even they can’t tell you everything. State secrets and all,” another chief, a mare, answered.

“State secrets,” I asked, “What secrets?”

“Hey, that’s not what we do,” Sugar Joe retorted.

I twitched my lip, obviously running into a road block. I needed to find a way to get that wall out of my way. Quickly I remembered the best way to get cooks to talk.

“Alright, well I do actually have a complaint.” I smiled, “There ain’t enough variety in your menu.”

Sugar Joe stopped, as did the rest of the kitchen. He scoffed at me and said, “Well excuse us for not having any of the cuisine from your homeland.”

“I could teach you.” I smiled.

Sugar Joe looked at me, “Really?”

I nodded, “Yeah, I’ll teach you one of my particular favorites.”

The kitchen was silent for a moment.

“I need six hard boiled eggs and some mayonnaise, you got those things?” I asked.

Sugar Joe nodded and motioned for two other chiefs to get those things. Soon enough they arrived as I headed over to a sink to wash my hands. Once I got the hygiene part out of the picture, I inspected the eggs. The other ponies crowded around to watch with awe.

“Okay what I’m gonna teach you today is one of the easiest meals to make with eggs, it is called egg salad. First thing we do is remove the shell of the egg.” I said taking one egg and cracking the outer shell. After removing the outer shell, I turned to Sugar Joe, “Then we chop this thing up into small bite sized pieces.”

“But that won’t be enough to fill up everypony,” one of the onlookers commented.

“That’s why I got about five other eggs here to do.” I replied grabbing a knife. As fast as I could I cut the egg up into bite sized pieces, and then grabbed a mixing bowl to put them in. Soon enough I repeated the process to the other five eggs, “Okay now that’s done, you take a few spoon filled with mayo and mix it in.” I did that and then mixed in the mayo. After a few spins of the spoon in the bowl, the meal was almost ready, “And finally some salt and pepper to give it some extra flavor.” I said throwing in the spices, “And here we go!”

Sugar Joe took the spoon full of the stuff and took a bite. After chewing for a moment I could see his expression softened up.

“Alright, what do you want to know?” he asked.

With that, the kitchen went back to work. All the while they kept their ears trained to the conversation and were ready to jump in when they needed to.

I smiled and grabbed an apple from a nearby bowl, “A pegasus tried to assassinate Princess Celestia the other day.”

“Yeah, and that dark demon thing who calls himself Razgriz stopped her,” another chief answered.

“Razgriz isn’t my concern,” I told them, “I want to know why anyone would want to kill the Princess.”

Then Sugar Joe did something odd, “Hey Shimmer, get over here.”

A yellowish Pegasus walked up, her wings barely visible underneath her server attire. She had a dark reddish mane and dark blue eyes, but she also had a concerned look on her face. “Yes Chief Joe.” She asked her voice barely above a whisper.

I quickly recognized the waitress as the server I spoke to a few weeks ago. Sugar Joe quickly explained why he had called her over, “Starlight Shimmer here is one of the fifty Pegasi who work here in Canterlot’s Royal Castle. If you can call what she does work.”

“I wait the tables, clean the floors, and do the dishes,” she answered weekly.

“Sounds like a normal job,” I said flatly.

“Yeah, problem is, she gets merely seven percent of the pay the rest of us get. She isn’t allowed to live in the castle like the rest of us, and worst of all she gets none of the benefits we do if she gets injured or has family in trouble.” Sugar Joe responded.

I raised an eye brow, “Why is that? Are you a criminal or something?”

“Well, if you’d believe the Unicorns of Platinic she did. Her crime was being born a Pegasus.” Sugar Joe said before dismissing the Pegasus.

That hit me hard, so much so that I took a step back in shock. With a gasp I looked around the room at the faces. None were smiling; they all had an upset but hard expression on them.

“That can’t be.” I said softly.

“It’s true, despite all of Equestria’s claims at being a land of harmony in reality it is anything but.” One of the other chiefs responded, “The Unicorns run the show, despite what the princesses believe.”

“What do you mean Éclair; those two are wrapped around the courts finger. And the court is made up entirely of unicorns.” Another shouted.

“Why is that,” I asked, “What makes the unicorns special?”

I really didn’t need a hard answer to that question, as the moment it came out of my mouth I got my answer. But the answer came anyway.

“Magic,” Éclair answered, “Unicorns can control the magic of Equis, which puts them a step ahead of every pony else.”

“Then why don’t earth ponies get the same treatment?” I asked.

“We can cultivate the land better,” Sugar Joe answered.

“Okay that makes sense,” I answered, “But don’t Pegasi control something, I mean if what I read about Equestrian history is correct I thought Pegasi we’re excellent weather ponies.”

“Unicorn magic can control the weather,” Shimmer spoke up, “Not great, but enough.”

“So in a sense, they can do that better than Pegasi.” Sugar Joe answered.

“Okay but if these biases exist surely the princesses would do something about it?” I said.

“You would think, with Equestria being a monarchy.” Éclair answered, “But in actuality, those Alicorn sisters are just figure heads at the moment. When Lord Solaris and Lady Galaxia passed, the Royal Court obtained emergency power.”

“And they’d keep that power until the Princesses were ready to take their rightful places.” Sugar Joe finished.

“And they have yet to give it back,” I sighed. A story I had heard so many times before back home was starting to come together in my head. But there were still questions I need answering.

“Okay so now I know why that Pegasus would kill the Princess, she’s only the face of a larger organization. But that doesn’t explain what would force her hand. Surely even Pegasi would know what to do and what not to do.” I said.

“Funny being this human,” Sugar Joe answered.

“Have you ever been so desperate that you’d do anything to escape your living hell?” Éclair asked.

“Fair point,” I conceded, “But I wouldn’t kill the Princess.”

“You maybe, but that Pegasus and General Storm Guard would.” Éclair answered.

“Who,” I asked.

“The leader of us,” Shimmer responded.

“He’s been building his Pegasus forces for revolution.” Sugar Joe added, “And has been making ultimatums left and right for Pegasi equality. Thing is, if he don’t get it he will invade and burn Canterlot to the ground.”

“What about the ponies that live in Canterlot, from what I saw of the towns below that don’t look like privileged living.” I said.

Sugar Joe chuckled, “All the members of the Royal Court and their families live in the Castle dear human, no unicorn lives in the town below.”

“We all live in Platinic or Manehattan,” the other chief added.

I nodded as I started to piece together the framework of what exactly was going on. This information was fine in itself but it also was a key to my own investigation of the Silvers. Now I had a possible lead, this General Storm Guard could be the mastermind behind these creatures here in Equestria. But that still didn’t account for the one on Earth. Regardless, I finally had a name with a clear motive. I made a mental note to ask Princess Celestia for a chance to visit Cloudsdale and see this General.

But as fate would have it, that visit was going to happen much sooner than anticipated. Just as I turned to walk out of the kitchen, horns began blaring all over Canterlot.

“Hmm,” Sugar Joe hummed, “I guess some foreign dignitary has arrived.”

My ears however heard something different. I heard heavy and fast hoof falls from all around the palace. Hoof falls that weren’t running to dress positions, but to battle stations. Furthermore, a distant and much high pitched horn blared. The sound wasn’t traveling away from me, but rather to me. It was obvious someone was coming, and whoever it was, he or she wasn’t welcome.

“That’s no dignitary,” I whispered and left.

With a fast pace I ran away from the kitchen, ditching the apple in the nearest waste deposit. I ran through the halls to try and find a clear vantage point to the outside of the kingdom to see what in fact was going on. I rounded a bend and soon ran into Gidrah who was just getting back from his patrol. He remained his diminutive size to allow safe flight through the halls.

“Ah Milord how did your meeting with the kitchen staff go?” he asked me.

“Not now Gidrah what the hell is going on?” I asked.

“Well a large pegasus army has massed just outside the gates of Canterlot.” He told me, rather evenly.

“What,” I snapped, “I have to see this!”

Gidrah nodded, “Alright this way.”

He then took off down the hall and led me to a path leading to the outside ramparts. I soon caught sight of what Gidrah was talking about and walked in front of him in awe. His statement of a “Large Pegasus army” was completely underestimating the scale of this force. Two large forces with each two thousand strong were visible, one hovering in the air and the other on the ground around large trebuchets and catapults. Each Pegasus and sympathetic earth pony wore armor to cover them that looked thick enough to block even the sharpest of arrows. Furthermore, each had an expression set to kill.

“That’s an army built for one purpose: Destroy Canterlot.” I said.

“Indeed milord, I suggest we move to a safer location.” Gidrah said.

I spun on my heels and looked at the old Dragon, “Excuse me?”

“What we are witnessing right here is an internal Equestrian affair,” Gidrah explained, “Those ponies are clearly not paranormal by the definitions the Council has laid down, nor are they being aided by the Silvers we are here to investigate.”

I was about to protest when I caught wind of a loud exchange between the two armies.

“General Storm Guard, explain this behavior at once!” shouted Princess Celestia.

I spun back to see both Princess Celestia and Luna land near the front gate, surrounded by guards and dressed in their own armor. Celestia’s expression was stoic, but Luna’s was more readable: that of confusion. It was clear that neither princess were aware of the General’s ultimatums or this armies approach. I could also see a very smartly dressed unicorn general stand next to Celestia, probably the commander of the forces here in Canterlot.

“Do not feign ignorance Celestia,” shouted what I assumed to be the General. It turns out I was right, the dark blue coat with yellow, red, and black mane General floated out in front of his ground force to speak with the Princess directly. “I told you what would happen should you ignore my ultimatums. But I am no longer just here under some foolish threat of words, I stand here now to not only reclaim the dignity that is so rightfully ours and the equality YOU AND YOUR PARENTS promised all of Equestria, but to act as the pony who brings vengeance for your unprovoked attack upon Cloudsdale with your superweapons!” he shouted.

“Attack,” I said, “What attack?”

Celestia was equally off put, “I know not of this attack you speak, for I did not order it nor do either I or Princess Luna wish to see Cloudsdale come to harm!”

“Milady he clearly will not submit based upon your word.” I heard the general whisper.

“I have to try.” Celestia shot back.

“Milord, we must leave,” Gidrah said.

“Why,” I asked, “Because we’re not supposed to get involved is that it?”

“Yes, you of all people should know the danger you possess within you. A Demon Lord’s power far outclasses even the Archangels of God back on Earth and from what we’ve seen you may even be more powerful than the Alicorns themselves. Should you wish to take this land as your own; NO ONE will stop you.” He said sternly, “That is why the council put the Code in place to not allow…”

“They did put in Special Law One!” I snapped back.

“We spoke about that already and you are not going to enact that law!” Gidrah responded.

I turned back to look at the confrontation.

General Storm Cloud stood firm, “You have deceived us many times Celestia how I can be sure that you aren’t deceiving us now?”

“Milady, they will attack, diplomacy isn’t an option. By order of Lord Solaris those ponies out there are rebels!” the Canterlot Commander said.

“Rebel,” Luna walked up, “Thou are speaking to fellow Ponies: they are our brothers and sisters!”

“Bah, they lost that right when they decided to mass that army in protest!” The Commander snipped.

“Thou watch thy tongue or we shall take it!” Luna snapped.

“Milady Celestia, you command us, I remind you of your duty to the ponies here. Those Pegasi aren’t here to negotiate!” the commander shouted.

I watched the exchanged with boiling blood. I couldn’t just sit by and do nothing while war would engulf the land I’ve come to call my temporary home. Plus, what if Luna or Celestia got hurt, what if they were killed? I wouldn’t be able to live with myself or call myself a man of God if I did that.

“You’re damn right I will,” I seethed.

“Milord,” Gidrah snapped.

“Shove it Gidrah,” I shouted, “Those Pegasi have every right to be angry. They live in a lifestyle that makes Apartheid look civil and just!”

“That is their problem not ours, we were not brought here to uphold a revolution!” Gidrah continued.

“Who’s to say that, you, you barely even know who created the thing that indeed brought us here?” I pointed out.

“And what gives you the right to look upon this land and declare what they are doing here to be wrong? What law gives you that right?” Gidrah shot back, “Special Law One only rescinds the Code of the Demon Lords not common sense and morality! You are a man of God and the Law; if you get involved you will be endangering yourself, me, the princesses….”

“The Princesses are already in danger!” I shouted, “This entire planet is! That General out there may be connected to those Silvers or he may not be I don’t know! But I will be damned if I let a planet of Harmony destroy itself. And who knows maybe this is exactly what the real perpetrator behind those silvers wants, this world divided and killing each other so it’d be easier to rule!”

“He may also want you to get involved to distract you!” Gidrah shot back.

“Fair point but look there are risks in every step we take. You and my Predecessor Godriech told me that Demon Lords are meant to be guiders, and I told you that I can’t guide my people if I hide in the shadows. This land is dying and it is about to light itself ablaze before anyone has a chance to heal it! Now I have that chance and if it means enacting Special Law number One than I will do that!” I told Gidrah.

Gidrah sighed and looked back out at the two armies still staring each other down. Despite Princess Celestia’s pleas for peace, both sides had their arrows and heavier weapons ready to fire. It was clear that what the Princesses want was second to what was going to happen: War. Gidrah also looked around at the land they were fighting on. I still don’t know what he saw that prompted his next line, but I’m glad he saw it.

Gidrah swallowed, “If you do this Milord, you need to promise me right here and now that you will not go overboard. You will not try to seek power nor will you impress or promote your views on anyone. You may mediate but nothing more.”

“And should that fail me,” I asked.

“If force is required, so be it. There are somethings in the world that even I can’t control.” he said.

I smiled, “If I step out of line, pull me back immediately.”

“Agreed,” he smiled back, “So what are we going to do?”

I turned around, “Exactly what you said, mediate. But if that doesn’t work, I’ll take care of the forces on the ground can you handle the fliers?”

“Of course milord,” he nodded.

“And remember, don’t kill any of them. I may be rescinding the code by not the commandments.” I said.

Gidrah nodded and then took off into the sky. I took a big breath of air and quickly dematerialized.

Meanwhile down below at the brewing battle, General Storm Guard had had enough. “This parlay is meaningless Celestia, you and your court wanted a war with the Pegasi and so here it is! Mares and Colts of Cloudsdale, my brothers and sisters, it is time for us to reclaim what was rightfully ours!” he said slowly ascending into the sky, “Prepare to…”

But before he could give the order, Gidrah swooped in with a loud roar. He flew at full speed towards the gap between Canterlot and the Army of Cloudsdale. Once he got just feet off the ground, he lit his flame and creates a line of fire in the grass. The flames cut the break in half and had smoke high enough to obscure the archers of Canterlot. Gidrah’s sudden appearance forces General Storm Guard back on to the ground, and his aerial Pegasi to drop a few feet in altitude.

But the line was only meant to stall nothing more, for with a gust of wind it quickly extinguished itself. Well okay it didn’t do it because of the wind, I kinda needed the fires to help rematerialize. I appeared, still in human form, standing just where the line was right in front of the gate. My eyes, though still my human blue, were locked on General Storm Guard with a stone cold stare.

My appearance caused everyone to mutter.

“What is that?”

“What’s it doing?”

“Where did it come from?”

“How did he get out of the castle?”

Celestia stood in stunned silence, finally breaking face to displace clearly her shocked and horror to see me standing in full view of both armies.

Luna was even more horrified than Celestia, “MIKE WHAT ART THOU DOING GET OUT OF THERE!”

But I ignored her comment as I stared down the army. The heat from the fire line was still strong and helping me build up my energy. Plus the sun was shining strong too, so I knew I had a good supply once this line was depleted.

General Guard looked at me with a mixture of shock and amusement, “Well if it isn’t the human I have heard so much about. What would your favorite new plaything be doing outside of his kennel Celestia?”

I ignored the comment. “You cannot bring your army any further General. I won’t allow it.” I said stoically.

The General and many of the Pegasi burst out in laughter. The Canterlot guards looked at each other in confusion. Celestia and Luna could hardly believe what they were seeing.

The General composed himself, “Oh now isn’t that cute, he thinks he can stand up to us. Are we supposed to be afraid of this one alien?”

“Actually,” I smirked, “You should be.”

The General stop smirking.

“Now you clearly have a grievance, and one that is warranted. Princess Celestia is willing to hear you out but only if you order your force to stand down and leave peacefully. And if you do, I’ll get out of your way and no one gets hurt.” I told him.

“What gives you the right?” the General sneered through his teeth, “Do you really think I or any of my brothers or sisters will bend our knees to our captors and grovel? I never have and I never will.” He then turned to one of his bowman, “Dispose of him.”

Without being told twice, one of the archers fired her arrow straight at me. A loud collective gasp came from behind me and I was sure I heard Luna scream. I saw the arrow fly at me and instantly my powers took over. The world slowed down allowing me to size up the situation. It was a wooden arrow but very well made, and it was coming at me pretty fast. Still, my Angelic reaction time gave me more than enough opportunity to catch the arrow. And I did, just inches from it piercing me between the eyes.

I held it there for a second to allow the spectacle to sink in. It may have been a bold and shameless display yes, but I wanted to make sure that if the Silver maker was watching, he knew whom he was dealing with. After holding the arrow for a few minutes I set it on fire and threw it away, the arrow became dust before it hit the ground.

More gasps of astonishment and surprise came from both sides. I shook my hand for a moment before reaching for my pocket.

“Okay seeing as how you won’t listen to diplomacy, I guess we’re going to have to resort to much more, forceful measures. But just remember,” I said still smirking, “I warned you.”

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my coin. Flipping it into the air high above me, I caught it just as its fall put it level with my face with my right hand. I then raised and extended my left arm forward and placed the coin on the pentagram I had on my left shoulder. All while this was happening, my blue eyes turned blood red.

“The fire burns red, the fire burns bright. All of my enemies shall be vanquished tonight!” I chanted.

I pressed the coin into the star and began my transformation. Quickly the column of fire enveloped me with a roar that shook the heavens. The ponies watching the spectacle gaped in stunned horror as I transformed, many of the Pegasi lowered their weapons in fear and some began to shake. Princess Celestia’s and Luna’s eyes nearly popped out of their heads as they looked.

Within no time at all my power was unleashed and I stood before the army in my Demon Lord Armor. I ignited my fire sword and held it at the ready. Instantly the General’s expression went from shocked to horror to sheer anger as he looked upon me. I got it then that he had heard of my counterpart. My message was received.

“Kill him!” he shouted.

Again more archers raised their arrows towards me. But this time I wasn’t going to let them fire. I spread my legs apart and crouched into my battle stance, charging up my first attack. Then like a flash of light I attacked, charging the army at speeds well above the sound barrier. I flew past the General and into the crowd of ponies.

Not until I was deep within the ranks of the Pegasi did I make my first strike. Sending all of my energy into my sword, I impaled the blade into the ground. The energy erupted from my fire sword and propelled any pony within five feet into the air.

All this happened so fast that many were completely caught off guard. Those that recovered quickly from the shock, charged me with blades and bows drawn. I pulled my sword out of the ground and slashed at the first two Pegasi to reach.

The blade barely touched them, but the contact it made zapped the ponies of their body heat for a fraction of a second and the intense heat coming off my blade robbed them of air; rendering them unconscious. With another slash of my sword, I took out a group of archers that tried to fire at me.

An Earth pony jumped at me from my left, his sword ready to cut me. Ducking underneath him, I elbowed his belly knocking the wind out of him. As he fell to the ground, I charged a group of sword wielding ponies. Two slashes from my fireblade cut their swords apart, and then with a quick blast of fire, they were down. I spun around and grabbed a pony by her tail and swung her around, smashing her into a few of her comrades.

A Pegasus leapt onto my back and tried to wrestle my cape over my face. But I was quick, unclasping the thing and detaching it. The cape quickly turned to smoke and the Pegasus fell to the ground, where a jab to her face put her out of co1mmission. I swung around again and spotted several ponies trying to get their trebuchets to fire at me.

Gidrah however was all over it. The dragon swooped in from the sky and breathed a torrent of fire upon all the large machines the Pegasi had brought with them. However the fire only burned the wooden structures, giving the earth ponies on them ample time to get off. This made me smile, because now I had less to destroy and less chances to kill anyone.

I returned to the attack, charging my way through battalion after battalion of Pegasi and Earth ponies. They put up some fight, some even getting some good swings at me with their swords, but I plowed through them with ease. Gidrah meanwhile dispatched with the rest of the airborne Pegasi in quick order. Soon enough I managed to work my way back to the main officer core.

Yet once again, a cloud of arrows rushed me. Apparently I had forgotten about a rather large group of bowmen, err bow-ponies, which had managed to detach themselves from the main army. A quick blast of fire vaporized most of the arrows, but not all of them. Six to be exact, four of them cut up my arms and shoulders, and the other two impacted my right forearm.

“Ah dammit,” I shouted in pain.

Wincing in pain, I pulled both arrows out of me and melted the metal into my bloodstream so I could use it. Instantly General Storm Guard rushed me flaying his sword trying to cut me up. I was hurt yes, but not out of commission. I raised my blade to block. His attacks came like a fierce storm striking upon a town, a wonder how he got the name Storm Guard but whatever, and moved with a quickness I was not used to.

“Ah you’re good.” I said as I tried to block each strike.

“And you aren’t as strong as you seem.” He responded.

His attacks kept me off balance, and the fact that his remaining forces also charged in made for overwhelming odds. But fire, unlike water, is a fierce thing. It does not wait, withering down its opponent until it breaks; fire takes the first opportunity it sees and attacks. My opening came when the General over extended himself.

“Actually, I’m holding back.” I grimaced.

I ducked in under his attack and found that the other ponies were waiting for him to finish before they rushed in. Rolling underneath him, I blasted an Earth Pony right off her hooves. Instantly forming my fire chain, I whipped it around a Pegasi and used him as a mace to beat another; three down, with five to go. Bringing my chain whip back I used it to whip another pony so hard she flung back. Extinguishing my chain, my ears caught the flutter of another arrow and I kicked it away. The bowman was already lining up his next shot but I wasn’t going to have any of it. Sending a fireball his way, I put the final bowman out of commission.

Five down, and three to go; Gidrah helped with the final two before the General. He came in and picked up both Pegasi with his feet before literally throwing them back onto the ground from a few hundred feet up. I actually still wonder why they didn’t use their wings to stop the fall, but the fog of war can do interesting things. Standing alone, General Storm Cloud attacked.

But by this point, anyone and everyone knew the battle was over. I positioned myself into my batting stance and waited for the Pegasi to charge. I didn’t wait long. Soon the General was in the zone.

“Home run strike,” I shouted and swung.

The impact sent the General flying back from what was once the front of his ranks way towards the back of his ranks. He landed hard, knocking a lot of the wind out of him.

With the battle over, I took a look at my surroundings. The army that was once formed to raise Canterlot to the Ground now lay upon that very ground outside Canterlot. Most we’re hurt, some badly, but they all would pull through. But the General, of course, didn’t know that.

He bravely struggled to his feet as I approached him, blade ready. All around us a soft haze coated the battlefield, remnants of my fire attacks.

“I’ll give you this,” I said as I approached him, “You’re persistent. I wonder if it’s a common trait here that Pegasi don’t know when to quit.”

The General stood his ground for a moment before collapsing to the ground in pain, “Well then, what of you alien? Will you finish me off or continue and gloat like the regal puppet you are.”

I put my boot on his body pretty firmly pressing down and glaring into his eyes. The general squirmed underneath me as I pressed down. I leaned in towards him.

“You’re angry, I get that. From what I’ve learned from your kind second-hand, you have every right to be here in protest. And if we were back on my home world I would’ve let this protest continue uninterrupted.” I said, sticking my blade into the ground close to his head.

“And what gives you the right to justify stopping us! You said it yourself, you have not seen firsthand the humiliation we Pegasi endure!” the General spat back.

“Do not miss-judge me; I am sympathetic to your plight. Where I draw the line is when you bring this army to force your freedom with violence. And when you commit yourself to these acts, you only breed more violence. It will continue to spiral on and on until your cause is washed away under a torrent of blood.” I said, “And history will not remember why, just the fact of its occurrence.”

The General coughed, “So then what are you alien, some kind of peace keeper?”

“Hardly,” I hissed, “I stop crime. And I’m about to stop a crime on this planet.”

I plucked my blade out of the ground. To the General and the onlookers on the Canterlot wall, it looked like I was about to strike him down. But instead I turned around. Walking back towards the wall, my cape reappeared and began to flutter in the gust of wind. Gidrah shrunk in size and came to rest on my shoulder.

“I hope you know what you’re doing milord.” He said.

“That makes two of us,” I whispered back.

Just before I approached the gate, the archers and guardsmen of Canterlot raised their weapons against me. Celestia had now gotten over her shock, outwardly at least, and gazed upon me like I was a threat about to target her. But I could see within her eyes that an almost wondrous admiration, almost like a high school girl watching her crush be awesome. Luna meanwhile was more outward of her emotions; she was still stunned and confused.

But those types of emotions were not within me, I portrayed a cold demeanor that hid my concern. If this failed, a lot more ponies were gonna be lying down in pain.

I raised my free hand up and pointed at the wounded army, “These Pegasi need medical attention. You will open the gate and send out your healers to treat your brothers and sisters.”

“And what makes you think we will accept those terms?” The Captain General shot back in a pompous tone, “Those….Pegasi….are rebels and traitors. And the Earth ponies that lay with them are no better.”

“Those ponies are here to protest the harsh and humiliating living conditions you submit them to!” I shouted back, “They have every right to be here and are well within the merits of logic to be angry! You are all Equestrian Ponies and as such you share the same blood and breathe the same air. As such they are your brothers and sisters and it is your duty to help them!”

“We will not aid those whom betray the crown!” The Captain General snapped, “Your Highness this is absurd. We cannot allow this…outsider….to dictate to us let alone lower our defenses to rabble!”

“Commander,” I said, “Need I remind you that those ponies outnumbered your defense force and I whipped the floor with them. If you plan to stand against me, you will fail.” Then I took a step forward to address Celestia personally, “Princess, you told me once that this was a planet of Harmony. Well, I have yet to see it, why don’t you prove it to me by providing these ponies a fundamental element of harmony: Friendship?!”

Celestia’s lip twitched for a bit. Luna took a step back from the gate and her head vanished from my sight for a moment. No one said a word, though the mournful groans of the injured ponies. Then after a moment, I saw Celestia turn her head in Luna’s direction.

A few moments later Celestia turned to the Captain General, “Open the gate Captain General.”

“Princess,” he gasped, “You can’t be serious!”

“Open the Gate Captain General Shield, by order of us, Celestia Princess of Equestria and Controller of the Sun!” Celestia repeated looking back at me.

The General scowled, “The Archduke will have serious…”

“THE ARCHDUKE DOES NOT COMMAND EQUESTRIA, I DO!” Celestia snapped, spinning her whole body to glare at the Unicorn with fierceness, “Now Open the gate or I will relieve you of command.”

In her eyes, I could tell she meant what she said. But I also saw something else, something I did not expect: Fear.

That was all the Captain General needed and he turned, “Open the gate! Send out our healing ponies!”

My heart swelled when I heard that, and even more so when the gates open.

“I shall coordinate the relief efforts milord.” Gidrah said, “It seems you have some explaining to do.”

I wanted to berate him, but Celestia cut me off. “So, mister outsider, who exactly are you?” She asked, with a mixture of wonder and caution.

“My name is Lord Jamantie, and I am a Demon Lord.” I responded…

…My memory was shattered when a deafening roar shook the town. It didn’t take long for either Gidrah or me to figure out the culprit. Or rather culprits, as a large flock of Dragons flew in from the blue sky above and attacked. Many had teeth bared, wings flared, and some were already setting buildings up in flames. In a heartbeat, the peaceful day at Ponyville was shattered.

“Well that’s certainly something.” I said looking up at the attack.

“Why does this always happen upon the best days,” Gidrah sighed.

“God must really have a sense of humor wherever I go.” I nodded.

With a deep sigh, I ran off into a nearby alley and took off my bracelet. As I did so the commotion of the town came into my ears. All around me, once again ponies ran for cover. But unlike last time, there was nowhere else to go.

“Dragons,” I heard someone shout, “Dragons everywhere!”

“Why, why are they here!?”

“Forget about that run for cover!”

“Cover? What cover? They’re torching everything.”

Then I heard Flash Sentry shout to one of his colts, “Where are the reinforcements?”

“They’re about to arrive.” I whispered as I returned to human form. I pulled out my power coin as Gidrah popped out of me.

“I’ll deal with the Dragons above milord, give you more time.” Gidrah said.

“Be careful Gidrah, they may not be able to tell the difference between you and the attackers.” I said.

“Noted milord I will try to be.” He shouted as he took off.

The moment he was airborne and full size, a large blue scaled Dragon roared at him something I couldn’t make out, though I will say it made Gidrah respond in a way that I won’t repeat. The Dragon roared and flew towards his elder, but Gidrah bore out his front claws and ripped two massive gashes into the Dragon’s wings. It landed in a street on its head, knocking it out.

“Try to keep the collateral damage to a minimum Gidrah!” I shouted placing the coin on my shoulder.

“Milord these are Dragons, large beasts. Either way there is going to be collateral damage.” Gidrah responded as he flew off to deal with another dragon.

“Eh good point,” I conceded.

I pressed the coin upon my shoulder.

“The fire burns red, the fire burns bright. All of my enemies shall be vanquished tonight!” I chanted.

The pillar of fire surrounded me and I transformed into Razgriz. A red dragon spotted my transformation and flew over just as the pillar vanished. I looked at it as he came screaming in mouth open and fire brewing. Before I could flinch he sent a torrent of fire right at me. The initial gust of wind made my cape stick out sideways and then I was engulfed within the fire.

Absorbing the heat to give me an extra boost, I charged through the torrent of fire and popped out in front of the dragon. He instantly stopped his attack and looked at me with a shocked face.

“That wasn’t very nice.” I said as I sent a flaming fist into his nose.

The impact stunned the dragon and allowed me to grab it by one of its spines and throw it to the ground. Touching back down on the ground another dragon came my way. As it flew overhead, I created my fire chain and swung it towards him. It wrapped around the creatures left hind leg, allowing me to pull him out of the sky. The dragon fought every second of it before spinning around to see me pulling. Rage filled his eyes as his looked upon me.

With a swoop of his tail, he knocked me off my feet. But I never let go of the chain. Instead I wrapped some of the chain around my hand and took a firm grip. Holstering my blade, I grabbed another handful of the chain and held on. All around me, Dragons were still harassing the town.

I had to work fast, but I still had to incapacitate this dragon. My chance came faster than I hoped. Another Dragon, seeing his friend’s plight, raced in. The chained dragon decided at that point to start dragging me along the ground, hoping to knock me off. But that actually worked to my advantage, as it allowed me to get my feet underneath me. Once I was fully upright, I yanked even harder on the chain. Using my full strength, the dragon stood no chance.

I pulled him off his feet and then leapt into the air. The chain managed to drag the creature air borne. Once he was high enough off the ground I swung the dragon over my shoulder and into his approaching friend. The impact knocked the two of them out and forcing them to land on an empty street. As I fell back towards the ground, I began to spread my arms and legs out to slow my fall. And almost on que, I was swept up but what I thought was Gidrah.

However when my senses came to, I found I was on the back of the Rainbow Pegasus. “Hey, you’re not my dragon!” I said.

“Ow, hey what are you doing!?” she snapped, stuttering in her flight.

But before either of us could comment further, a greyish dragon came charging right at us. Grabbing ahold of the Pegasus’s mane, I rolled her to the side so we wouldn’t get hit. Thankfully this one responded the way I wanted to and we both did a roll to get away from the creature. After recovering the Pegasi came to a complete stop.

“Sorry about that.” I said.

“Are you kidding? That was awesome!” she responded gleefully.

“Well at least one of us thought that.” I grimaced as she hovered in the air. Then our attention was drawn back to the battle over Ponyville.

The five other ponies I had seen when the Razor first attacked, including Shining Armor and his squad, were fighting other Dragons around the town. It was then I got a complete stock of how many there were. About fifteen total, including the four I had taken out and Gidrah, so that meant it was a good size force to cause chaos and destruction.

The grey dragon that we eluded before spun around and came charging at us. I turned to the rainbow Pegasi I was riding.

“Well, up for some more awesome miss…?” I asked.

“Rainbow Dash, and are you kidding I live for awesome!” she responded.

“Really, that’s your name?” I asked, “Sounds kinda cool.”

Rainbow Dash beamed and I swore that she squealed with enjoyment before I took hold of her mane again. With a swift, yet gentle, kick to the sides the two of us raced off towards the dragon. I’ll give this Pegasus this; she was faster than Gidrah, and Gidrah regularly broke the sound barrier. The dragon quickly closed on us, evidently surprised at our closing speed.

I drew my blade out and prepared myself for an attack. With a quick strike I slashed at the dragon’s nose. Drawing a small amount of blood, Dash managed to avoid the Dragon’s counter attack and swung around to kick the creature in the back before I could protest.

“Ha take that!” she gloated.

“Focus Miss Dash, we still have more enemies out.” I said.

I kicked her over and we began charging another, yellowish green Dragon. But then a squeal took our ears. It was the Yellow earth pony who was suddenly caught in the claws of a big black dragon.

“Applejack,” Rainbow Dash screamed, “I’ve got to help her.”

“Alright go on my mark.” I said leaning towards the yellow dragon. Inside I counted backwards from five. Once I reached one I screamed, “Go!”

Leaping from Dash, I soared through the sky towards the dragon. Channeling my energy into the blade, I brought it down onto the dragon’s neck. When the blade hit the dragon, the shock of the impact instantly put the creature out of action. Two more Dragons appeared just behind the creature.

Flying over the unconscious yellow dragon, I grabbed its wing. Using my strength I tossed the creature into the other two. But before I could see the results of my attack, a fourth dragon came at me fire already spewing from its breath. Putting my hands up to cover my face, gravity managed to move me out of the way of the attack.

But it also put me into the roof of a Ponyville house. Slamming through the seemingly strong straw roof, I landed hard onto a wooden floor. A mint green unicorn and a yellowish gray earth pony with pink and blue hair held each other in what I quickly discovered was a bedroom. Both of them looked at me with fear in their eyes as I climbed to my feet.

“Oh pardon me,” I grimaced, “Hope I’m not interrupting.”

Just then the Dragon that tried to burn me appeared over the house. It roared at me with ferocity and made the unicorn scream. I looked around and found a table lying on its side, obviously because of my entrance.

“Excuse me ladies but I need to borrow this.” I said grabbing the table.

Before either could react, I threw the table right at the dragon. It hit with such force the table actually splintered right across the dragon’s snout. But I knew it would take more than that to knock this monster out. I leapt out at the creature; however I was met with a claw striking my entire body.

Enraged at my table throwing, the dragon had recovered fast enough to swat me out of the air. Flying like a rag doll down the alley I tried to recover. But my equilibrium came too late. I bounced along the ground several times before slamming my blade into the ground and sliding to a stop. I jumped to my feet just as the dragon crashed into the alley and sent a torrent of fire my way. The blast was powerful, and if I tried to absorb the attack it would probably cook me alive.

So I swung my arm in a circle in front of me and formed my shield. When the blast hit it hit with the force of a freight train, and yes I was hit by a freight train it’s a long story but sufficient to say the saying lives up to its merit. Nearly collapsing to a knee as I tried to weather the attack, I fought against the blast with all my might.

“Tough son of a gun!” I shouted through grunts.

Then salvation came. The Dragon grew more frustrated and stopped its attack and took to the air. But before it could come at me a burgundy dragon crashed into it.

“Excuse me sir, but that’s my rider!” Gidrah shouted as he grabbed the dragon and then sunk his teeth into its neck.

The dragon screamed for a moment as Gidrah held its windpipe. A few seconds later the Dragon passed out and Gidrah let it fall. It was hurt and unconscious, but dragons are extremely durable creatures so it was going to make it okay.

I was grateful at my mentor’s arrival, but still felt a little snarky. “Well you took your time.” I said.

“Excuse me milord, but would you like him to be woken up?” Gidrah responded.

Just then a massive roar caught our attention.

“Looks like the Dragon king arrived.” He said.

“The Dragon what?” I asked.

“From what I gathered, it’s their leader.” he told me.

“You spoke to them?” I asked. Before he could answer, I answered for him, “Oh wait yes you can cuz you’re a dragon. Well did you at least get a reason for this attack?”

“Something about a volcano,” Gidrah responded, “But nothing specific.”

“Right, let’s get back in there.” I nodded.

Agreeing, Gidrah flapped his wings and tore through the ally with his leash chain hanging down. I grabbed the chain as he passed and was propelled into the air. As we flew back into the battle over Ponyville I caught wind of the situation. Flash Sentry was leading his squad of five ponies on a direct attack of the dragons while Twilight’s friends were now helping with evacuation.

Soaring overhead however was a new problem. A rather large, black dragon with eyes bathed in fire swooped out of the blue sky towards the town. The dragon had large mass and equally large wings. It looked old, older than Gidrah and had extremely sharp ridges on its back. This made the dragon look impressive, especially if this was the King Dragon Gidrah spoke of.

“That him?” I asked.

“Yup,” Gidrah responded.

As if to prove a point, the king dragon attacked. With one mighty heave it sent a puff of green fire towards the city. Like a napalm bomb impacting its target, the ball of fire hit the ground and spreads out setting several buildings alight. And from what I could feel, the fire was extremely intense.

“Okay, that’s something different.” I said, “Come on let’s put this one out of business. Maybe then we can end this foolishness.”

Before we could charge into battle, a flash of purple nearly blinded us. When my vision returned I was amazed with what I saw. A large pillar of purple, white, and light blue energy slammed into the king dragon, pushing it back up into the air. The energy was so intensity I could feel my hair stand up inside my helmet. Gidrah came to a complete stop midflight as he and I watched in awe.

The king dragon fought against the pillar for a moment but it became clear that it was completely over matched. Then further adding to my amazement, the pillar grew tentacles that shot out from it and impacted the seven dragons still in the air. Gidrah was thankfully missed, but even he was stunned at the sight. My eyes followed the pillar down to its origin. There was Twilight Sparkle, struggling and straining to keep the spell going.

When the spell flashed again, I turned my attention back to the dragons. The King Dragon was sent hurtling away at supersonic speeds into the sky, while the rest of the dragons simply fell to the ground, energy exhausted. In one quick swoop, Twilight Sparkle had ended the battle.

“Amazing, I don’t think even the princesses could put a spell like that together.” I said.

“Milord we may never get an opportunity like this again.” Gidrah commented.

“Right,” I said.

Gidrah swooped down towards a smaller dragon struggling to get back on its feet. I leapt off Gidrah and landed on the ground. Quickly I chained up the Dragon’s wings and forced it onto the ground. Grabbing it by the neck, I looked down upon the wounded creature.

“Explain yourself, now.” I said.

The dragon growled.

“He says that he has nothing to say to you milord.” Gidrah translated.

I squeezed my hand and the dragon struggled, “Not the answer I want to hear, why you attacked Ponyville?”

The Dragon struggled but managed to growl out an answer.

“He says it was payback. Apparently a pony here caused a volcano they were resting in to erupt prematurely. Many of their young were severely hurt or killed. This was the Dragon kingdoms retaliation.” Gidrah translated.

I looked back at Gidrah, “I thought you said Dragon’s didn’t particularly care about each other. Let alone have a kingdom.”

“Apparently a reformation was made in our absence.” Gidrah murmured, “Anyway, he says the pony had a creature of silver with him.”

That statement made me turn back towards the dragon, “This Silver, what did it look like?”

Gidrah paused for a moment as the Dragon responded, “It was a Silver Razor milord.”

I grit my teeth and snarled at the dragon. It was my best dragon tongue for “Thank You” before I jabbed my elbow into its face knocking it out. Taking a deep sigh I collected my thoughts for a moment. It seemed like Apocalypto was making his move.

“Gidrah,” I said, “It’s just like before.”

“Indeed milord, we must be very vigilant.” Gidrah responded.

“Right, if we miss something, it could mean genocide.” I said.

Author's Note

Bit of side trivia on this story, i was originally going to contact Fluttershy20 and ask him if i could include Razgriz in the same, or Alternate, Universe as his legendarly awesome epic Last of the Dragonlords. Why? because it is awesome and epic and probably the most creative story i've read on here not penned by Pennstroke. However this chapter fell WAY behind schedule and i soon felt that i needed to get this chapter out and stop making all of you wait. So i decided not to do that and made that ending an obscure reference that i know have spoiled. But fuck it this chapter took FOREVER to write so i'm going to be petty and promotional. Also Fluttershy20 is awesome end of story.

News update though, the next chapter might take a bit longer than this one. So in response i have officially declared this Chapter to be the end of ACT ONE: SHADOWS OF THE PAST.