Tales of the Forgotten: Eternity

June 17th, 2027 7:13 P.M.

Friendship Rainbow Kingdom Castle, Ponyville, Equestria

Want to mention real quick, the name is canon to the show. Yup that giant castle of Twilights in ponyville is called Friendship Rainbow Kingdom Castle. le proof that I wish was a joke…

There I stood in front of the doors to the castle, my hood draped over my head hiding my face from all who would try to see me and my staff held in my left hand. I lifted my right hand up to the door and hesitated to knock. Why am I hesitating? They’re waiting for me to start. GO! I screamed to myself. *Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

Three loud knocks on the door that I could hear ringing out through the castle and its various corridors connected to the atrium. It didn’t take long before I heard the shuffling of hooves coming to the door. Slowly the great doors opened inwards, a pure white earth stallion wearing a tuxedo stood in front of me. “I am deeply sorry sir but the princess is not available at this time. She is currently busy with other matters.” He stated simply.

“The same matters I have come here for, sir. I’m sure that Luna has told you of my coming, hasn’t she?” I asked as the stallions eyes gave away the slight hint of surprise.

He bowed deeply. “I am sorry I did not recognize you sir. They are expecting your presence in the dining hall. Follow me please.” He stood and turned back to the interior of the castle motioning me to follow him. As I entered I was flanked by two other stallions dressed the same as the one who was directing me.

“Can we take your robe and staff for you sir?” They asked simultaneously.

“No thank you. I wish to keep my items with me at all times.” I replied as they bowed and went back to what they were doing before as I continued following the butler in front of me. “Excuse me sir, may I ask your name?” I asked him.

He looked back at me with a cocked eyebrow. “You wish to know a butlers name? Usually creatures of the upper class never bat an eye at us.” He pointed out. I shook my head.

“You mistake me for someone of importance sir, will you tell me your name please?” I pushed. He grinned and looked ahead again.

“My name is Shining Silver. As long as we are exchanging names, what might yours be?” He asked in turn. I chuckled slightly.

“The name is Swift Hoof.” I lied to him using one of my various titles. I couldn’t let him tell the princesses who I was as I wanted to keep my identity away from the public ears for a while as I settled down again.

The rest of the walk was silent except for the sound of my boots and his hooves hitting the ground. The castle was made entirely of crystal, the only exception being the furniture and decor present all over the castle. It ranged from simply potted plants to great paintings covering large portions of the walls. There were a great many staircases present inside the castle, almost making it seem impossibly large.

It didn’t take us long to finally reach our destination. On the arch to the left of the doors was a small golden plaque stating what room this was. ‘Dining Hall’ was all that it said, nothing else. Shining Silver opened the great doors, “Swift Hoof has arrived princesses.” He proclaimed as he gave a bow and gestured to me. I didn’t remove my hood as I eyed the four alicorns and a certain draconequus standing beside them.

Celestia was the first to speak. “Please have a seat Swift Hoof, Princess Luna tells us you have a matter of grave importance to speak of?” She got straight to the point. I nodded and walked into the room, letting the door shut behind me. I started walking around the table to take a seat closer to them. “That’s far enough, you may explain from there.” She warned as a chair floated out from the end of the table. I gently pushed the chair in and pulled off my hood.

“I’m sorry Celestia but I will not be sitting at the end of the table.” I objected and she didn’t flinch as I saw Luna smirk out of the corner of my eye and the other two princesses were staring at me astonished. Discord held a paw to his mouth.

“I said to sit Sw-” I cut Celestia off.

“Now we both know my name isn’t Swift Hoof, Celestia. If you don’t know who I am already by just seeing my face, maybe this will remind you.” I growled as I yanked off my dog-tag and threw it up in the air for it to land in front of her with the name on it staring up at her and the wolf pendant laying on its side. Immediately her look of anger shifted to one of confusion and happiness. Twilights jaw dropped as she realized it as well. Cadence stood there between the two looking between the two in a state of confusion.

“Will somepony please explain what just happened?!” Cadence exclaimed. “Who is this creature?!” She gestured an annoyed hoof at me. Luna burst out into laughter along with Discord who was reveling in the confusion we had caused her.

“Princess mi amore Cadenza of the new Crystal Empire I presume? Please allow me to introduce myself, my name is Robert Kenneth Rucker. Swift Hoof was just one of the names I have gone by during my travels. You more than likely know me as Malor the fierce from my early days of traveling when I visited the Crystal Empire seeking someone to train me in using the long sword and bo staff.”

“Your husband came to the dojo with a business inquiry for my master, asking for him to come train some new recruits to fight because the other trainer broke his legs after he fell out of his second story window. The bet was if Shining Armor could beat me in a fight that he would train them. We used wooden swords as to not hurt each other too bad, although in the end we ended up hurting each other something fierce. Shining Armor won of course and well that’s when I started training harder and harder, mixing my fighting with the longsword and bo staff.”

“At first it was really awkward for me and everybody who would come in would laugh at me and call me a fool for trying to mix the two weapons into a singular fighting style. Even my master called me foolish at one point, that was when I left the dojo and stopped training under him. It took months of training to master it, but after I did I returned to the dojo. I asked my old master to allow me to show him the fighting style I had created, he refused calling it a waste of time.”

“I did what I had to do to prove myself, I challenged my old master. He used a longsword while I used my longsword, bo staff combo. Against all odds I beat him. Given that it was a close victory that left us both bloody, we made amends at the local hospital. After we were released we went back to training and I continued improving my style as I trained under my master using the weapons singularly then together. I stayed in the Crystal Empire for a year and a half training and doing various odd jobs under the name of Malor. Eventually gaining the addition of ‘the fierce’.”

“I left the night of July 16th, 2016. Two days after my master died. The dojo was shut down and what happened afterwards, I have no clue. I traveled east to Manehatten and boarded a boat to the Griffin homeland.” Cadence looked at me dumbfounded, as well as Twilight, Celestia, and Luna. Discord eyed me curiously.

“So you mean to say you were in the Crystal Empire after you left us here?” Twilight asked sounding a little hurt.

I sighed before replying. “Twilight, I’ll explain further when we have time but right now we need to switch gears majorly.” My expression grimmed as I looked up at them. Lunas expression became just as grim and serious as mine had. Celestias whole body language changed from one of happiness to that of a calm leader before the dawn of battle, leaving her nearly unreadable. Cadence held no expression but Twilight held one of concern. Lastly Discord wore one of intrigue.

I walked over towards them and took my seat next to Princess Luna. “Discord and Princess Cadence, please take a seat.” Discord snapped his fingers and summoned a large red chair in the air over the table. “Discord please sit like the rest of us, or leave. The only reason you are here is because the princesses were suspicious of who requested their audience so urgently and thus cautious of my intentions. As far as I am concerned you have fulfilled what you were here for originally. If you want to stay. Sit. Like. The. Rest. Of. Us.” I growled at him as he rolled his eyes and dispelled the chair and sat next to Twilight.

“Now before I began, I would like each of you to know that I don’t want it to be revealed that I’m back just quite yet so please in public or in front of other from this point out call me Swift Hoof, alright?” They all nodded in agreement. “Thank you.”

“I’m sure Luna told each of you that it was dire that I meet with each of you before you came here, correct?” They all nodded again. “Did she explain anything or just leave it a blank document with the word ‘URGENT’ slapped on the front?”

“She didn’t inform us on any details, that is correct.” Celestia stated. I nodded my head.

“Good, then allow me.” I said as I undid my robes belt and took it off, revealing my leather armor and longsword strapped to my back as well as knives attached to a belt at my hip on both sides; five in each carrier. I ignored their astonished glances as I pulled my satchel bag around to my side and undid the latches, revealing the ‘fairytale’ I needed.

Discord laughed when he saw the cover of the book. It had a depiction of a rabbit standing in the middle of a sunlight meadow. “Lets see you laugh now.” I said as I put the book on the table and pulled out my flint and steel. “Happy childrens book by day,” I struck the flint a few times before the book cover finally caught fire. Instead of burning like a normal book it slowly spread across the entirety of the book, transforming it into a tome of fear. The once beautiful meadow had now turned into a desolate wasteland, littered with the corpses of all sorts of creatures ranging from ponies to dragons. The bunny had been replaced by a cloaked figure with crimson glowing eyes and the sun replaced by a shattered moon. “ malevolent beings prophecy by night.”

Discords laughter faded into a look of horror. “It seems you’ve seen this book before, haven’t you Discord?” I probed as he stood up from the table and backed away. “So you know the tale and how it ends. Don’t you?” I grimaced.

“I thought I destroyed that long ago with that damned city!” He exclaimed in fear. We all turned to him with questioning glances. “It can’t be! It just can’t!” The originally composed god of chaos was now a scared foal looking for someone to protect him.

I walked up to him and held an arm out to him. “Discord, if you know what it is then you know who’s coming. Either run away with your tail between your legs now or stay with us and defend the ponies you owe your life to.” He looked down at me with disbelief and endless fear in his eyes. Deep down he was deciding what his fate would be. Would he save himself? or Would he help save everyone?

“Discord, we shall be in need of thine powers when the time comes. Without thee we may lose all that we know.” Luna spoke. Discord looked up at her for a few seconds before looking back down at me. He sighed in defeat and [1]took my hand, literally, and brought it back to his seat. I glared at the back of his head.

[1] Believe me when I say that his magic hurts, not only can I feel his his claws digging into my armor but I can feel the rift of magic that has separated my arm. Even after twelve years of living in a world of magic, it still hurt me. No where near as much as when I first arrived but still.

I walked back to my seat and yanked my arm away from him and made a pointer finger and poked Discord in the middle of his forehead before reattaching my limb. “Is there anything any of you would like to say before I begin to explain?” I asked as I sat down and put my dog-tag back around my neck and underneath my armor. No one spoke up. “Then let us begin.” I drew in a sharp breath to begin but was stopped when the doors to the dining hall opened.

I let out my breath in a sigh of agitation. “This meeting is private, whatever your problem may be it can wait. Please leave before you are forcefully removed by me or Discord.” I barked as I twisted my face into a deadly scowl. Standing in the entryway was from left to right: Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Faelan, and lastly an unfamiliar face that was undoubtedly human.

“We were invited here by Twilight sugarcube. Ain’t no way we’re gonna leave now.” Applejack responded. I sighed and looked over to Twilight.

She nodded her head in confirmation. “Fine, take a seat. My name is Swift Hoof, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance ma’am.” I nodded to her and then proceeded to turn to Faelan. “Faelan, I understand the others but why are you here. I told you to return to the house when evening fell.” I said calmly.

“I was invited by them Swift Hoof.” She gestured to the elements walking to the part of the table we were gathered at. I nodded my head.

“Why are y’all calling him Swift Hoof?” Applejack mentioned. I was about to answer before I was interrupted.

“Yes, please do explain darling.” Rarity said.

“I will explain later but for now just leave it be, we have more important matters to attend to. Also may I ask why did you bring him here?” I pointed at the human who was standing next to Faelan trying to read me.

“We thought you might want to see him, I mean he is the second human to arrive in Equestria! We figured you would want to help him.” Pinkie Pie chimed.

I let my head droop and my eye’s close, thinking. I turned to face him fully and opened my eyes as I walked over to him. “Haven’t seen another human in thirteen years. I suppose you were the disturbance I saw last night? The flashing blue light at the edge of the Everfree?” I asked him as I stood in front of him. He was a foot shorter than me whereas twelve years ago we would have been around the same height.

He kept staring straight ahead, no doubt lost in thought. I brought my hand up and snapped my fingers in front of his face gaining his attention. “Care to answer my question?”

“Sorry! Yes, I was. I saw a strange orb that looked like what my old friend described before his disappearance and tried to tether myself to Earth and well Equestria using rope.” He responded.

“Tell me, what year was it before you arrived here?” I continued questioning him as he looked at me a bit confused.

“What do you mean?”

“Answer the question.” I was short with him.

“It was the year two thousand and fifteen.” He replied as my heart sunk.

“Two thousand and fifteen you say?” He nodded his head in response. “I’m so sorry. I am so deeply sorry child.” He looked at me a little more confused as I drew breath to tell him the sad truth. I turned back towards the others as they looked onto the sad little scene with sorrowful eyes. “The date here, in Equus, is June the seventeenth of the year two thousand and twenty-seven.” I could see the child visibly lose all color in his body. “Tell me child, what is your name?” I asked sadly.

He stepped back from me. “But…but that means…” He looked at me trying to find a spot of hope in my eyes where I could give none.

“I’ve been here for thirteen years child. The closest I have ever come to returning home was but in a dream, that dream being my own funeral. I believe the date was March thirty-first, two thousand and fourteen; although the date for me in this world was July twenty-seventh, two thousand and fourteen.” I finished my small reminiscent memory as I remembered where I was and shook it off. “So, please answer me. What is your name?”

He looked at me with a surprised expression that carried happiness and sadness at the same time.  For a moment it seemed like he had frozen in time.  “Is...is that you? Robert?” He asked me causing my heart to skip a beat as I turned around to the ponies behind me.

They were just as surprised at the mention of my name. I looked back at him and nodded my head. He ran up to me and hugged me, I could feel him gripping tightly as I stood there, a few tears falling to my shoulder.  I was slightly confused before I realized who it was. I pushed him away and held onto his shoulders, “Where I have lead, you followed despite my warning not to.” I shook my head as I let go of him and turned around towards the others with my eyes closed. I walked over to my seat and sat down. Everyone but Michael was sitting, he was still standing at the entrance to the room.

I looked over to the princesses who were looking at me with a look that was asking who it was. “Do not worry, he may be of use to us yet. He can be trusted to keep the dealings of this meeting to himself.” I reassured them as they nodded and I looked over at Michael again. “Michael, sit here.” I pointed to the open chair next to me.

He nodded and silently shuffled over to the chair next to me and sat down, staring at me. “What?” I asked harshly to him.

“How are you able to sit there and act like nothings happened?!” He shouted with tear soaked eyes.

“Because your appearance is not important to me right now.” I responded coldly. “We, the creatures of Equus, are on the precipice of a disaster. If we allow it to happen it will be the second time the inhabitants of this world are erased.” I finished glaring at him. “Now let us begin or do I need to make my point far more clear by demonstration?!” I growled to all of them as a whole. Getting a few worried looks. None of them spoke up. “Good, then let’s begin.”

“...of no importance!?” He shot up and stepped away from his chair. “I have waited a year to find you. Everyone believed you were dead.” Michael jabbed the ground with his staff and pulled out a wolf pendant like mine with his free hand. “I know it’s been a long time for you. But do I mean so little? You forgot as well, even on your worst days you never scared me.” He gazed back at me through the tears that now began to run down his cheeks. The others gathered around seemed to hold their breath with how he responded to me. I glared daggers at him and maintained eye contact as I silently stood up.

“Sit. Down. Now.” I growled through my teeth.

“Or else what?” He spat bitterly. “I’ll help with whatever issue is at hand. But you do not intimidate me, because I know better than any that you aren’t all concrete. Deep down you are as terrified as I am of what could happen. You simply hide it better. I know what you’ve lost.” His expression softened as he took a step closer. “And I know how much seeing me again hurts despite however happy or not you are to see me.” He was pushing his luck fast.

“This is your last warning. Don’t make me hurt you.” I told him calmly.

“Then do it, but you better knock me out with the first swing.” He looked at me emotionlessly.

I hated to do it, more than I could put into words.  But I had to follow through with my word or it would mean nothing.  I inhaled and swung my fist at him, fast.  In the blink of an eye he ducked and blocked with his staff.  He stood up higher and kicked me in the gut.  I recovered quickly and closed the distance, followed by a flurry of quick hits and jabs, most of which managed to make contact.

When it looked like he might collapse I walked up to him to take his staff, now that he had gotten the message.  Just as I touched it he dropped to the floor and swept my legs out from under me with his own.  Once on my back he cast his own staff aside and pinned me.

“I don’t want to fight.  I will go along with this but afterwards I want answers.  Deal?”  He asked as he tried to calm his breathing.  I butted him in the head and threw him off of me.  I bolted to him and threw a hard right hook into his cheek.

“Stand down.”  I growled.  He stared at me, his eyes glistened over with anger.  He threw a punch at me that I caught in my hand, he repeated with the other which I caught as well.  He slipped out and tried punching me in the gut repeatedly with quick jabs.  I barely flinched as he did, meanwhile I punched him in his abdomen and when he hunched over I picked him up and threw him about five feet away, landing with a loud thud. I walked over to him where he lay on his back now, cringing in pain and hardly able to move.  I crouched over him and said calmly.

“You were going to get answers anyways. Where all of our family and friends back home have mourned for a year on a single loss, I’ve mourned for thirteen years on the loss of everything. I watched my own funeral that forsaken day Michael, think not it didn’t hurt me for I gave up on life after that. The ones who repaired me,” I gestured to the others in the room, “ stand here with us now. When I said you were of no importance to me right now, it’s because I’m at risk of losing everything again.”

He reached up and I thought was trying to continue fighting so I backed away, but he sat up higher and managed to hook an arm over my shoulder and pulled me closer into a hug and whispered back.

“I’m sorry…” He said, fighting back tears and still struggling to catch his breath.  I grabbed his hand and helped him to his feet.  We retrieved his staff together before walking back to the table and returning to our seats.  They had all remained dead silent since our argument began.  Faelan looked somewhat worried while the princesses generally looked shocked, although Celestia only showed it slightly.  Fluttershy looked almost like a concerned mother while the others’ expressions varied between surprised and curiosity.  Michael held a hand over his stomach while looking around at everyone in attendance before tilting his head back and fighting back a groan of pain.

“The Shadow War. A war with no winner and a war with no loser.” I began to explain the tome. “The reason there were no winners nor any losers is because after it there was no one at all.” I opened the tome to reveal the first pages.

Journal of Grimoire Dusk

“A Journal? I thought you said it was a malevolent prophecy?” Twilight asked, I looked up at Discord who held his eyes closed and then over at Luna who stared at her expressionless.

“Let me ask you Twilight, what do you know of the name Grimoire Dusk?” I asked. She shook her head.

“I’ve never heard that name before, why? Should I know it?” I shook my head to her.

“I’d be surprised if you had especially since you were born in the 1900’s. The name Grimoire Dusk predates any Equestrian history, even before Celestia but not before Discord.” I looked up at Discord. His face was serious for once as he spoke.

“Grimoire Dusk, a name that all should be wise to fear. Let me key you in on a little something princess the power you used against Tirek was the key to bringing him back. What you didn’t know is that you were playing right into his trap this entire time without even knowing it.” He spat as everybody but me and Luna stared at him in pure shock. “Oh yes it helped send Tirek back to the depths of Tartarus, but it released an even greater evil. For every benevolent cause, there is an equally malevolent effect waiting in the near future.”

“But that power came from the tree of harmony itself! Not to mention that it was sealed away in a chest!” Twilight argued as she put her front hooves on the table.

“That chest was his prison.” Discord responded flatly. The room went silent as they thought about what to say in response to this new information.

“Is that all or may I read it now?” I asked, only silence answered me. “Then let me begin.” I said as I picked up the tome and began reading its contents.

Entry I

I was told today that I was to start keeping a journal. My mother says it’s to vent my thoughts and keep me a sane human being, albeit I have no clue why not keeping one wouldn’t keep me sane. I honestly don’t know what to put down in here but I guess I’ll just put down a little about myself. My name is Jack Whitaker, I am currently an apprentice at the local blacksmith learning to craft armor and weapons for the knights of the kingdom. I am the current age of thirteen years. I wish to one day be one of the knights my father crafts for but I am still but a child and he will not allow it. The day I turn fourteen I shall no longer have to abide by his rules and will be free to choose my path in life. Hopefully I survive this winter.

May 16th, DCVI the year of our Lord.

“Does that mean he was once human?” Cadence asked.

“Once upon a time he was, would you wish to hear the leading up to his arrival here in Equus or skip to it?” They each looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

“Time is short, lets not worry for the details as of now.” Celestia replied. I nodded my head and fervently flipped through the book to find the entry in which he arrived.

Entry CCCIV

Today, Augusto XXIII, DCXX the year of our Lord, I have taken a leave from duty to visit my family. When I left my fathers apprenticeship I was disowned by him and my mother as their child for going against their wishes. I do wonder, hopefully so, if they have reconsidered and will be grateful to see me tomorrow when I arrive home in Fangbriar. When I left home I was but a scrawny lad with nothing to prove but everything to gain, now I tower over a great many people that I meet and wear my armor proudly to show that I am a knight of Lord Baldwins inner council.

Today, Augusto XXIV, DCXX the year of our Lord, I have visited my family. My mother and father had not recognized me at first due to the great difference of whom I was before I left and now. When they found out it was me they were less than happy to see me as the knight I had become was not the blacksmith they had wanted. I told them of the feats I had accomplished in the past nineteen years of my life and that I was working for the inner council. They were astonished to say the least.

Entry CCCV

Today, Augusto XXX, DCXX the year of our Lord, I saw something out of the ordinary. I had left my families home in good spirits as they accepted me back as their son, only to confront something…odd. I was returning to Wintervale as it was the next leg of my journey back to Xalor Keep. My horse, [A.]Alawynn, and I were traveling the paved path when I saw out of the corner of my eye a quick movement followed by an arrow planting itself in the tree to the left of me. I quickly clambered off of Alawynn and laid chase to the culprit. I ran for what seemed like hours before I gave up on catching whatever attacked me. I was retracing my footsteps when I came across a clearing. The edge of the clearing was nearly opaque due to the amount of trees, creating a solid circle that rose far into the sky. In the middle of the clearing was a single pedestal with an stone sphere placed on top of it. The ground of the clearing was overgrown with grass but clearly once held carvings of great importance. I approached the pedestal and inspected the sphere with my eyes. I poked the sphere but quickly retracted it as I felt something stab the tip of it through my armor. I drew my sword, ready for anything. The orb slowly became black with a small yellow light in the middle of it, I was about to approach it again before it simply dissipated into thin air.

“Wait a minute, that sphere he described wasn’t that the one you were brought here by?” Twilight probed.

I smirked at her. “Perceptive as ever Twilight. Yes the sphere he described was the one that brought me here, and that clearing he spoke of is the same clearing I found.” I pointed out getting a questioning gaze from her.

“Wait, what clearing?” Michael interrupted.

I was about to give him a look that asked if he was joking but quickly withdrew it as I recalled he never was told about my misadventure as I didn’t write it in my journal. “There was a clearing that I found in the woods on Camp Lejeune near the high school. It was where I first found the sphere.” I looked over at him whereas he had a raised eyebrow.

“There are no clearings in the forests of Camp Lejeune though.” He pointed out as I turned to him about to retort but closed my mouth as I took into consideration the future entries. This clearing wasn’t a natural one that was found in a specific spot but one that is meant for people. From what I’ve read across my journeys many a creature from this world has seemed to stumble upon the same clearing, each differing only slightly from each other. I don’t know what connected the ones who found the clearing but I have a feeling its not for something good. As far as I know that clearing connects many different worlds, galaxies, or even universes.

“Actually Michael, thank you for pointing that out. It actually makes this easier to explain.” I smiled at him as I returned to the conversation with Twilight. “The clearing explained here is similar in many ways to the one I encountered all those years ago. I remember the clearing in vivid detail because I dream often of that place but I won’t go into detail about why. The floor of the clearing was overgrown just as he spoke of and underneath that overgrowth was a floor that contained many intricate patterns. At first I had thought they were Mayan or Aztec in origin but it was quickly tossed away as the patterns didn’t match anything I’ve seen before. The symbols either predate anything our world or another world has to offer or is that of a long forgotten civilization.”

“There was no pedestal when I found the area but I suppose that was due to the effect of Jack touching it. That sphere was more than a mere portal, it was a device that attuned to his blood.” I looked around to see if they were following when Twilight had an aha moment but quickly her look faded to worry. “Exactly Twilight, he had spent a night with a maiden a few months before he disappeared. I think you will be able to put together the rest of the story.”

“So that means your...a direct descendant of his.” She said aloud to confirm her suspicion as Celestia and Cadence only grew more intrigued by the minute. Luna was still stoic in her expression while Discord was all but displeased with this news.

“Bingo. The one he slept with gave birth to her first son who continued to grow and expand the family through generations past eventually leading up to the meeting of my father and mother.” I looked over to Michael who was saddened. “I know what you’re thinking Michael, why not my brother, sister, father, or mother? Right?” He nodded solemnly.

“A question for another time that one is.” I teased them all with the impertinent information. I felt a hoof hit my shoulder and turned to see Luna acting as if nothing happened. I rolled my eyes and picked the tome back up.

Entry CCCVI

Writing like this is really hard so I will keep this short. Today, Septembris XIV, DCXX the year of our Lord, I have finally learned how to write with my mouth. Why my mouth? It is the only way I can write. I have turned into a creature that resembles a horse yet has a horn protruding from its forehead. I have a feeling that this has had something to do with the creepy sphere I found in the woods those many days ago. Alawynn is still with me yet she is able to actually speak my language fluently now. I now understand why my mother told me to start keeping this journal all those years ago. Alawynn taught me how to walk properly when this, for lack of better explanation, transformation happened. I’ve yet to find any other person or creature and we have been traveling for days. Anyways my jaw hurts from writing this long so I will end this here.

“Wait a minute, a unicorn?” Michael asked. I nodded my head in confirmation. “If he turned into a unicorn then why didn’t we get turned into another creature?” He sounded almost disappointed.

“I wish I had an answer to that Michael but sadly I don’t but if I was to take a wild guess, I’d say that his biological makeup as a human had a part to play in it.”

Entry CCCVII

Today, Octobris IV, DCXX the year of our Lord, we have found civilization albeit only a small camp.

I was cut off from my reading as Celestia coughed in a way to gain attention.

“Please, let us get to the chase as time is short.” She said with a calm tone. I simply nodded and skipped a few dozen pages before I reached the entry that marked the start of the Shadow War.

From here out it won’t be read as entry to entry but as if it were from his point of view. Hope you enjoy this little story!

Martii 22, DCXXX 2:21 P.M.

Outskirts of Beruvik, Zadal

“Commander Silver Star, are the troops ready?” I asked to the stallion standing next to me. His coat was a light gray and his mane a pure white. His cutie mark was that of a platinum shield with a golden 4 pointed star on it with swords crossing behind it.

“Yes Lord Dusk, we await your order.” He replied with confidence.

“Good, have Captain Ferreth take his troops to the southern gate.” He bowed and went to do his duties when I felt the ground next to me give a slight tremor. I looked to my right to find the towering Minotaur, Udoeak the cursed, kneeling to me. I gestured him up and over.

“Are your troops in position at the East and West gates Udoeak?”

“Yes my Lord. As a precaution we have had two of our changeling squads infiltrate the town before hand to attack from the inside. They have replaced the guards in the royal palace without being discovered. They await my command to kill that swine King Polaris.” I scowled at him as he flinched away and knelt down once again.

“The one who will kill Polaris will not be of those hideous creatures. Polaris will be felled by my sword and my sword alone.” Walking over to him I placed a hoof on his shoulder, smiling down at him. When his eyes met mine I used my magic to send him flying back into a tree. “Don’t ever make that mistake again or it will be your last.”

“I’m sorry my Lord! It won’t happen again, I swear that on my life!” He pleaded.

“Good, then tell your troops to await my command.” He scrambled away with tail between his legs as he went to relay the message to his troops. I turned back and walked back to my vantage point over the large city that held Dewmire Palace where the current King lived. The city's name itself was Beruvik. The sight before me brought a smile to my face.

Never before have I seen so many troops gathered together for one ultimate cause. Let alone the thought I was the one tying them all together. Altogether there were a total of Two Hundred Thousand troops. All of whom were cast from their homes by the Kings and Queens of their homelands. King Polaris is only but the start of our grand crusade.

Two gryphons and a Dragon landed around me. “Proteus, Thundercrest, Firroth. Why have you come?”

“We couldn’t allow you to go into battle alone, now could we Jack?” Proteus joked as I glared at him.

“That is no longer my name Proteus, it hasn’t been ever since that day. You may call me that in private but when on the battlefield or in front of soldiers you are to address me as Lord Dusk just as they.” I warned him. He walked over to me and put a claw on my shoulder.

“Oh come on don’t be like that, we’ve known each other for years now!”

I glared at him. “Yeah, you can’t just push us away and expect us to stand by while you fight for us!” Thundercrest chimed in. I sighed and looked back to Firroth for some help in trying to convince them. Yet he still looked down at us with the same emotionless stare he always had.

“These two are right, we will stand by you Grimoire Dusk. If we die in battle it will have been for a worthy cause.” He said as he bowed the best he could. Proteus and Thundercrest followed suit.

“If I can’t convince you otherwise then I will be glad to have you by my side.” I looked back over the city when I saw that Udoeak had returned to his troops and Captain Ferreth had arrived at the South gate.

“It’s time.” I said silently as I closed my eyes and used my magic to create a large cloud over the kingdom that grew into a thunderstorm. At the first glimpse of lightning all troops laid siege to their respective gates. The purpose of the thunderstorm is because Zadal was the land of the pegasi, no other race is allowed within its borders and those who did cross its border were quickly…dispatched. Unless they were of nobility or delegates of another country.

The thunderstorm would limit their flight capabilities and ground many of their troops as they were never trained to fly in inclimate weather as they controlled the weather within their country to keep favorable conditions. Those that were trained to fly in inclimate weather didn’t last long as I controlled the lightning within the clouds, dropping them like flies. “Let’s go!” I yelled back to my friends as I jumped off the cliff with them in pursuit.

I charged my horn for a teleport spell, my target being far above Dewmire Palace. “READY?!” I yelled back to them.

“READY!” They all yelled in unison as I released my spell and we appeared three kilometers above the palace. I felt Proteus and Thundercrest grab on to me but I quickly motioned them to distance themselves away as I charged my horn. “HOVER HERE UNTIL I GIVE THE WORD!” I yelled as all three of them stopped in midair and hovered far above the storm. I opened a small hole in the middle of the storm and allowed myself to fall through it before I teleported back to where I started from. This time I used my magic to propel me even faster as a mach cone formed around me. When I was about to hit the ground I teleported one last time, as I did I broke the sound barrier and rocketed past my friends yelling, “NOW!”

I quickly cast a spell around me as I rocketed into the center of Dewmire Palace followed by a large explosion as I hit the ground, bringing the palace crumbling down on top of me and whoever was inside. I teleported out of the crumbling palace and appeared in the courtyard. Above me my friends were still diving down to the castle as I saw them change direction towards me. I smiled up at them but then something happened.

The world slowed to a standstill as I saw a spear land itself in the side of Proteus’ head. I never saw it coming and evidently neither did he. The spear continued its path as it carried Proteus with it until it faded from my field of view. I felt my rage boil over as I searched in the direction of where the spear had come from. There was a small squad of pegasi throwing spears at them, I found the one who did it. Easily identifiable by the smile that was gracing his face. I teleported in front of him and crushed his helmet in from all directions making blood explode downwards and forwards from the opening in the helm.

His blood was still warm on my body as I reveled in it. “You killed him and now I will kill you all.” I cackled as I tilted my head to the sky as lightning struck down all around me, frying each of the pegasi to a crisp. The thunderstorm grew far more violent as wind speeds picked up and the downpour increased with my rage. NEVER HAVE I FELT SO ALIVE!

With each beat of my heart, fire pumped through my veins. “POLARIS!” I yelled at the top of my lungs as the rubble of the castle started to move. I slowly walked towards it as it moved to reveal some troops who were still alive and kicking, behind them was King Polaris standing tall and unscathed. As soon as his guards saw me they nodded and transformed into their true changeling forms and turned to Polaris who still held his head high. “LEAVE HIM!” I boomed as the changelings retreated behind me.

“But sir-” The changeling that spoke was cut off as I created a thin blade of magical energy and sent it his way. The blade lopped the changelings head from his body, sending it flying into the air. It landed with a disgusting crunch mere feet away.

“NEVER ADDRESS ME YOU FILTHY INSECT!” The other changelings quickly took this as their order to retreat from the battle to take place. I slowly started walking towards Polaris who simply stood there and stared at me uncaring.

“So you’re the heinous Grimoire Dusk. I expected more to be honest. The citizens of my country made you seem so much more powerful.” Polaris said calmly as I continued my approach. I allowed myself to calm down just enough to speak at a normal volume as I stood a mere foot in front of him.

“Believe me Polaris, you stand no chance. Surrender now and I may spare your armies lives.” I demanded as he laughed it off.

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“I believe you are mistaken boy. You stand no chance against me.” He snapped. I gave a sinister smirk as I readied myself to charge him, he braced himself as well as he took a fighting stance with his wings spread wide to reveal wing blades. I created four thin blades of magic and held them around me, slowly turning each one into a longsword. His eyes narrowed as he took off at me with a beat of his wings.

I brought two swords to the base of his wings but his blades moved just in time to protect himself from the blow. He growled at me as I simply smirked. He quickly realized his mistake and jumped backwards just as two more swords landed where his head was.

“Why are you holding back Polaris? It’s not nice to hide stuff from me.” I gave him a fake puppy dog look as I struck his wing blades with my four. I slowly pushed more energy into them as he struggled to keep them away as I approached. I leaned in close to his face and whispered, “Show me the monster of Dunbragh.” As soon as I said that he pushed my swords away and jumped backwards closing his wings.

“How do you know about Dunbragh? Every trace of that battle has been erased!” He growled as I laughed to the heavens before smiling evilly at him.

“How could anyone forget the battle of Dunbragh that brought the devil himself to power!?” I walked towards him putting magic into each hoofstep as I approached him, soon enough the ground was starting to crack underneath each hoof as I moved. My magic power flowing freely. “Thinking in only five years time that an entire world would forget that battle is preposterous you cretin!”

“At least I don’t have to hold back then.” He growled as I felt the air crackle around us as his eyes glowed a pure white and his wings conducted electricity to the point you couldn’t tell where lightning began or ended. He delivered a uppercut to my bottom jaw with a horrible crunch that sent me flying a few feet back, I quickly recovered from the blow and stood up.

He was already upon me, I quickly brought in each of my swords to form a large X to defend from his lightning as it struck around me. A couple of bolts making it through the open defense and striking my legs. It was evident he wouldn’t let up so I slipped a shield spell in front of me and brought my swords back allowing the lightning to strike the shield. There we go, just keep charging it up. I smiled at the thought as he kept letting his lightning hit the shield.

The shield I put up was one that absorbed magical energy so every ounce of power he was putting into this would be thrown back at him. Now! I jumped to the left as I transferred the power into each blade equally and allowed my shield to go down and the lightning to strike the ground, creating a large smoke screen made of stone dust. I moved my swords into position around Polaris and directed their energy at him. When the dust cleared he had let his guard down and reverted to normal.

His eyes went wide as he saw me grin maliciously. I let loose every ounce of lightning he had shot at me in one devastating explosion that was centered on him. It sent me flying backwards and onto the mound of rubble that was once Dewmire Palace. I stood smiling as I thought I had killed him only to receive a brutal blow to my side that sent me flying before I used my magic to create a platform in midair and land standing on it by changing my center of gravity. I looked up at him as he stood where I was breathing hard.

He didn’t get away unscathed as you could clearly tell where the lightning hit him as his front left hoof was gone and all that was left was a badly burnt nub. His tail was nothing but a charred nub as well and there were patches of his coat missing as well as his sky blue mane. He was having trouble breathing now as he stumbled forwards. I slowly shifted my gravity and the platform below me to be perpendicular with the ground before I let it fade away.

“Using my own power against me, I must commend you for that Grimoire Dusk. Although it will take much more than a missing limb to take me down.” He said as he let his power return. We stood there waiting for one another to make the first move for what seemed like hours but in reality was only a few minutes. I tensed my muscles to launch at him but just as I did something crashed into the rubble in between us throwing up a cloud of dust.

I waited for it to clear, standing there was Firroth. He glared at Polaris before speaking. “You will not harm Lord Dusk any farther scum.” He growled. My eyes grew wide with worry as I threw up a shield between him and Polaris as Polaris let loose his lightning again.

“Firroth, get in my way again and I will kill you.” I said coldly as he whipped his head to look at me with a stunned expression. “You are to relay the message to the troops and commanders to retreat.” He opened his mouth to argue with me but I simply held a hoof up. “You are to obey my command Firroth or you will find yourself an early grave.” I stated grimly as I begun walking towards him and underneath the great dragon to the edge of my shield. I only heard the beat of his wings as he flew away.

I slowly moved the shield forward and turned it into a sphere around Polaris before he finally stopped. He stood there in the middle of the lightning charged shield, waiting for me to release it on him again. I dispelled the shield, completely confusing my enemy. During his confusion I turned around and bucked him as hard as I could, the sound and feeling of his jaw breaking was all the confirmation I needed for connection.

I turned back towards him and before he could hit the ground I teleported underneath him and stabbed my horn into his back. I then proceeded to slam him into the ground before jumping back a few feet and charging my horn to create a ball of fire over him before slamming it down into him. He barely escaped in time as he flew straight into me with his wing blades, I didn’t move in time as he cut into my arm before being stopped by a quick burst of magic that sent him flying head over hoof backwards.

I condensed the sphere of fire into a small  and laced it through the wound, grimacing as it cauterized the wound. I was breathing heavily after it finished and I let the fire dissipate into nothing. Polaris was breathing just as heavily as I was but was struggling to keep himself in the air. “What’s the matter Polaris? Are you giving up?” I asked. He glared daggers at me and flung himself at me as I ducked under him and sent a beam of magic upwards where his right wing connected to his body.

I felt his wing land on my back, cutting me on the way down. The cut wasn’t deep enough to cause any lasting damage. I levitated his wing up in front of my face and turned to face the one-winged pegasus. I smiled as I crushed his wing into a small ball of muscle, bone and feathers. “Oops.” I said sarcastically as I tossed the crumpled wing at him. It splatted against his chest and fell down onto the ground, he stared at it as tears formed in the corners of his eyes.

“Let me help you with that.” I said simply as I lopped his other wing off, causing him to scream in pain. He let his body fall over as his legs gave out and he started crying. The rain picked up from its sprinkle to a torrential downpour as I approached him. I stood over the cowering fool as he looked up at me with tears mixing with the rain as well as snot running down his face as well.

“P-please…spare me.” He pleaded as I lowered my head to his eyesight.

I put a hoof on the bottom of his jaw and lifted his face up a little more, smiling. “Why would anyone spare a coward like you.” I stated happily as I used my magic to put pressure around his entire body and grabbed his mane, ears and snout with the rest of my magic proceeding to rip his head from his body. His blood spilled out onto the ground as I stood there looking into his still open eyes as I levitated his head in front of me. “And here I thought you would have put up more of a fight.” I said distastefully as I put his head down next to his body.

I conjured a platform under the remains of King Polaris and I. I slowly raised us into the sky, letting the rain wash away the blood coating me before breaking through the clouds. When I was well above the clouds I cast them away with a spell, allowing sunlight to take over the country once more. I stared down on the once grand city of Beruvik, watching as all movement from soldiers of both sides came to a stand still as I started seeing heads turn up to the sky. I let Polaris’ body and head fall through the platform, watching as a couple pegasus guards flew up to catch their leader.

They stopped with a look of pure horror as they saw he had been decapitated and his wings had been clipped. They readied their weapons as they charged at me only to have their wings clipped as well, causing them to fall to their doom. Even from my height you could see the blood splatter as they hit the ground. I put a small amount of magic into my voice before speaking.

“THE ARMY OF THE ONCE GREAT KING POLARIS! THE BODY YOU SAW YOUR FELLOW COMRADES TRY TO GRAB WAS THE BODY AND HEAD OF KING POLARIS! LAY DOWN YOUR ARMS OR THE SAME FATE WILL BEFALL ALL OF YOU! THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING!” My voice boomed over the entirety of Beruvik and for kilometers around. The only sound was that of the wind in my ears as my mane and tail billowed in the wind. After about a minute many of the troops King Polaris had controlled took to the sky, converging on my position. “THEN DIE YOU SCUM!” I screamed as I put my magic into one final spell. My Coup de grace.

Below me I started by creating a small ball of lightning, adding in part fire and acid. I continued adding to the spell eventually creating a sphere large enough to consume the entire town of Beruvik. Below was the army of King Polaris still flying at me as my troops below had finished pouring out of the city and into the countryside. They were wise to know the Storm of Extinction.

If only they were unicorns, they could cast the spell needed to protect themselves. “PROCELLA EXTINCTA LUDICIUS!” Were the final words heard as I let the spell loose, exploding in every direction as the fire and lightning mixed with the acid. I was blinded temporarily as a bit of the spell landed itself on the bottom-side of my platform, along with an eye of an unfortunate soul that quickly dissipated leaving behind not even a trace.

I stood there for a couple minutes before the spell made its way down towards the city, fire and lightning dancing within it lighting up the sky even brighter than before. Suffice to say there were no survivors from it. The acid had dissolved any armor they had as well as getting rid of some skin while the fire burnt away the rest of the fur and skin before the lightning slithered its way into the mix creating a bloody mess of their bodies.

The rain fell onto the city below, making quick work of the bodies of the dead and the civilians or wounded troops that still lingered. I started to float myself down towards the rubble of Dewmire Palace as I slowly dispelled the last of the Storm. My hooves touched the topmost piece of rubble, challenging me to stand on the slanted rock. I looked around seeing the damage and destruction that had been wrought by me and my army and laughed before the adrenaline that had been pumping through my veins only moments ago faded, leaving a weak and weary leader.

I coughed into my arm and when I pulled my head away I saw my own blood where I had coughed. I licked the inside of my mouth a little before spitting onto the ground. More blood. Looks like I over did it on the Dark Magic. I smiled.

“There’s no turning back now…”

I closed the tome, placing a piece of cloth in between the pages I stopped at. “Tell me, do any of you know where that long forgotten country of Zadal once stood?”

“I’m going to take a wild guess and say that Zadal was what Equestria is today?” Michael pipped up. I shook my head.

“Nope, take another guess.” Rainbow Dash shot up like a rocket.

“Zadal must be the lands of Griffidonia!” She exclaimed, surprising me,

“Score one for Dash. You are correct, the country of Zadal is located within what is known as current day Griffidonia. The ruins of Beruvik still lie in the uninhabitable area of Griffidonia. Procella Extincta Ludicius’ effects have long since been the cause of this contamination of Dark Magic within the area. The Dark Magic will likely not fade within our lifetime or many to come.”

“Good job Dash.” I heard Applejack whisper to her while simultaneously giving her a surreptitious hoof bump.

“Can’t we just dispel the dark energy that’s lingering there? I mean it may be dark magic but it’s magic nonetheless.” Twilight pointed out as I shook my head.

“The only reason Dusk survived casting the spell is because he wasn’t what you would call a normal unicorn. Procella Extincta Ludicius is one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful, dark magic spells in all of history. The only spell that I know of that comes even close to its power is Celestia’s Solar Damnation spell.” All heads immediately swiveled to Celestia as her calm look turned to one of slight surprise.

“Luckily for us the world has only seen one Storm of Extinction but it hasn’t been lucky with the five times it’s seen Solar Damnation. I won’t tell anymore as those stories are Celestias’ alone to tell. Before you ask where the books are that told me of it Celestia, I made sure to burn them so nobody else would know of it.” I said as she visibly relaxed and let out a sigh she was unconsciously holding in.

“Anyways the Storm of Extinction spell was designed as something for a last resort spell that would inevitably kill its user. Alicorn or Unicorn alike. In the very end it did end up being the cause of his death but how he survived so long after using it still remains a mystery up until the very end.” I grimaced at the thought of how he went. Even for someone like him, he didn’t deserve to die that way.

“What happened to him?” Pinkie Pie asked, her curiosity peaked. I re-opened the tome to where we had left off before skipping a few dozen pages.

“What are you doing?” Twilight asked.

“His descent into darkness isn’t one that should be discussed. I’m going to get to the reason why this meeting was called in the first place.” I replied flatly as I stopped and placed the book down and started reading again.

Septembris XVIII, DCXLII 8:36 A.M.

Heavenly Plateau, Adwiha [B.]

I stood at the edge of the Heavenly Plateau that overlooked the country of Adwiha watching over the two large armies standing across from one another, simply waiting for the order to be given to kill one another. The hatred… The fear… The sorrow… I drank every last bit of it in with gluttonous hunger. It was truly a sight to behold. The last of what was once a densely populated world reduced to two armies, one fighting to save this world and one to destroy it.

My ebony mane batted against the side of my neck as the wind kept flowing freely high above the world below. My once cyan blue eyes were now a dim gray-blue color. My face was littered with scars from battles past, the most noticeable one being the one that went from where my right ear used to stand all the way down to the front right of where most of my right cheek and upper lip used to be.

I wore armor made of the scales and leather of fallen dragons. Surprisingly the armor was lighter than one would think it should be. I wore no helmet but I did have a cowl made of silver cloth that was woven into the inside of the armors neck. I was brought out of my thoughts as I heard the clacking of armor to the left side of me. I turned to see that the ones approaching me were the current “leaders” of the pitiful army standing before mine.

As soon as I laid my eye on them, they stopped dead in their tracks as I didn’t turn anymore towards them, keeping my worse scars unseen. I didn’t give them a second glance as I stared down at the plain below. “Grimoire Dusk, I implore you and your forces to surrender. We are on the precipice of extinction! If you do-”

“Exstinctionem vos dicitis? [C.] Why should I care for vermin like you.” I said distastefully. “You act as if you can simply beg your way into forcing a surrender.” I turned my head slightly towards them, actually seeing them now. The one in front wore a golden armor with a stylized sun present on the breastplate, the one to the left wore ebony armor with a stylized moon on their breastplate, and the last one on the right wore silver armor with a stylized star on their breastplate. I could see none of their faces as they hid behind their helmets.

“You’re no leaders, “ I spat at their hooves as they backed up slightly, “not even willing to show your face to your enemy is deplorable. I will take pleasure in ripping each one of you apart myself.” I grinned wickedly as I revealed the rest of my face. I could see them visibly grimace at the sight. “Take a long hard look at this scar. Discord, the God of Chaos, bestowed upon me this gift that I now wear with honor as I know he lays dead in the depths of Tartarus.” I stepped closer and closer to them until I was only an inch away from the golden leaders face and could hear their worried breathing.

“You...you killed Discord?” They asked sounding stunned as I threw my head back and laughed.

“Oh but he was merely a toy to me. I hope you are more fun to play with.” I cackled as they started to back away from me before turning tail and running off of the plateau. When I finally stopped cackling and calmed down I returned to the edge of the plateau and stared down at the front lines. All of my troops stared up at me, awaiting my command. I pointed to Silver Star, Firroth and Udoeak, motioning them up to me. The three gathered together before disappearing in a flash of light and reappearing behind me.

“Silver Star and Firroth you both are to take your troops and make a path for me to the leaders of their pitiful army. Udoeak you may play with the stragglers as you see fit. This will be the last time any of you get to play so make today a good one. We will take no prisoners today. Their leaders won’t be easy to fight so when you are done with the peasants you are to distract the leaders I am not fighting but you are not to kill them. I will. You have your orders now move!” No sooner was I finished were they already down at their troops relaying their orders. A particularly loud cheer came from Udoeak’s troops as I saw malicious grins spread across each of their faces.

I disappeared and reappeared at the head of the army, donning my silver woolen cowl and starting to walk forward. Not soon after did I hear the marching behind me as my troops slowly started speeding up until they were all charging the enemy. I was still walking within the ranks as Firroth and Silver Star joined my sides as we walked through the warring fronts. I didn’t lift a hoof as Firroth and Silver Star killed any who would dare come near me. As soon as I caught the glint of gold from my adversaries golden armor I teleported above the battlefield conjuring a platform under me to stand.

Underneath me I could see that each of the leaders had split up. A truly foolish mistake on their parts. I started snaking my magic around me, slowly filling it with water causing it to grow and expand until it became an elongated stream of water. I started to define it more and more until it became what I wanted, a water serpent. “Let us see how powerful you truly are Solaris.” I mumbled as I dropped my platform and merged myself into the water serpent. Solaris looked up just as I slammed into him, making a crater with him in the dead center of it. I snaked up so that I was standing on my tail, staring down at him waiting for the moment he would get up. His body and armor turned into ash before being blown away by the wind.

“You won’t get away so easily Solaris.” I growled as I bit down on some of the ashes as he reformed into the alicorn he was, crying out in pain as my jowls bit down on his hind leg. He charged his horn and stabbed it into my eye, causing me to let go of him before receiving a magical blast to the side of my head. I reeled back in pain before jerking towards him and lunging at him as he drew his sword, barely managing to wedge it in my jowls.

“You will not be granted victory this day Grimoire Dusk!” He shouted as he tried shoving me back but failed as I used my tail to wrap around his back leg and yank it off like a twig as he screamed in pain.

“Oh shan’t I?” I kept his tail in my grasp and started beating him with it before growing tired of it and tearing off his armor to reveal him. He laid on the ground battered and bloody with one leg missing. “We’ve barely even started and you’re already on the edge of death Solaris. I hope your brother Artemis and Starlight prove to be more of a challenge.” I grinned wickedly as I brought a bolt of lightning down on top of Solaris, covering the area in a haze of dirt. “Welcome Starlight.” I said as I cast a spell on my eyes to see through the fog as he stood over Solaris’ body with a shield overhead.

“You would dare strike him when he’s down? Where’s your honor Grimoire!” He yelled as I simply glared at him.

“You’ve no right to speak of honor Starlight after what you did at the battle for the Unicorns capital. You betrayed them and helped my forces kill every last one of them.” I smirked as I felt the air around me crackle as he tried to create a lighting bubble around me as I simply kept walking towards him. I popped my head into his shield and smiled at him before scowling. “Goodbye you worm.” I said as I sent him flying with a magic blast before stomping on Solaris’ head, causing it to break against the ground creating a bloody pool of brain matter, skull, an eyeball and the bottom of his jaw.

When the dust cleared, my hoof was still in the pool of blood that was once Solaris’ skull. I stared at Starlight as he looked at me in horror. “You… you killed Solaris…” He mumbled as his head sunk enough that his mane covered his face. Now, we can fight without distractions. He shot towards me like a rocket, his eyes glowed a pure red color as he slammed into my shield. “I WILL KILL YOU, YOU BASTARD!” He screamed as he continued to try and force his way through my shield.

“I’d love to see that Starlight.” I growled as I sidestepped and released the shield simultaneously. I raised my front two hooves above my head and brought them down on the midsection of Starlight, slamming him into the ground before picking him up with my magic and tossing him across the field like a ragdoll. I smiled as I felt his power surge. He slammed into me and sent me flying across the field before I caught myself in a field of magic and disappeared behind him. I was about to strike him with a lightning bolt but he slammed a magic hammer into my side before I could.

I was sent flying once again, this time unable to recover before the hammer slammed down on me creating a crater. I laughed as I felt him land on me. “I haven’t had this much fun in a long time! Too bad it all has to come to an end so soon.” I conjured several magic swords and stabbed them through Starlight from all sides as the red faded from his eyes as he coughed blood onto me. “Bloodlust is a horrible thing Starlight, and it seems to be your downfall.” I shattered each one of the swords inside of him, turning him into swiss cheese as he fell onto me. I pushed him off of me as I stood up looking for the one I really wanted to face all this time, Artemis.

Out of the three brothers, Artemis had always proved to be the most adept in all aspects of warfare. Knowing him he was searching for my commanders to destabilize my armies chain of command and create chaos among the ranks. I saw and heard a large explosion a little ways away that was in front of me. The explosion was made of pure black flames, one of Artemis’ signature spells that he used when fighting large groups of enemies at a time. I started walking towards the explosions as I dodged limbs, broken weapons and armor that flew in every direction away from the source of the explosion.

Artemis was hovering over the field as there was a large circle cleared for him and his combatant as his troops and my troops clashed at the edges. Standing across from Artemis was Firroth who was badly wounded. I growled as I started walking towards him as a ground troop got in my way before I crushed his armor in on him. I parted the edge of the makeshift arena and walked towards Firroth as another blast of black fire was shot, this time the target me. It struck with terrifying force but didn’t do any lasting damage as I continued walking towards Firroth.

“Firroth, did he engage you?” I asked as he nodded. I heard Artemis charging another blast so I cast a shield around us the negate the spell the the surrounding areas. “I’ve taken out Solaris and Starlight, I need you to start cleaning up the battlefield of any remaining forces.” He nodded and took off into the sky, only to be shot down by a black magic beam that cut his right wing clear off. Followed by another one that cut his head off. I lowered my head and held my hooves together for a brief moment of respect to my fallen friend. I turned to face where Artemis was as he stood on the ground now, wielding a spear made of black steel.

“I commend you for finding one so strong to join your ranks Grimoire. He was truly a great warrior.” Artemis said as he bowed his head slightly in respect.

“Yes he truly was Artemis. If only you had chosen to join me those many years ago. We wouldn’t be meeting like this.” I replied as he gave a light chuckle.

“Those were the days, when you were just a new soul looking for a place in a world they had no clue about. I apologize for not showing you a better path Grimoire, but I suppose that one cannot sway you now because you’re too far gone.”

I nodded my head in agreement. “I’ve killed Solaris and Starlight.” He raised his eyebrow in curiosity. “I crushed Solaris’ skull in and ran Starlight through with a great many swords before using them to turn him into swiss cheese.” I informed him.

“I see. Do you expect it to be easy now that I know this information?” He asked flatly. I shook my head.

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“I would be greatly disappointed if it were Artemis.” I disappeared and reappeared above Artemis, creating a sword out of my magic and slamming it down onto him. He quickly blocked it with a blade of his own magical energy. I felt his sword split into two bringing the new one to my side and trying to pierce my armor only for it to shatter against it. “Dragon scales are naturally resilient to many forms of magic Artemis, these ones being tailored towards resisting all types of fire magic. Including your black flames.”

I teleported to his side and quickly turned around and bucked as hard as I could into his side. Artemis barely flinched as he looked down at me with little interest. “Don’t waste my time Grimoire.” He said as he blast me with magic sending me head over hoof backwards. I quickly regained my footing as I started to create another water serpent to possess. “That trick won’t work either, Grimoire.” He cast a anti-magic sphere around the both of us and any who would travel into it.

“Anti-magic magic? Quite ironic don’t you think Artemis?” He turned towards me before reaching to his side and pulling out a silver longsword that had runes etched into it. His wings revealed their blades now as he was hiding the blades from view with his magic.

“Ironic indeed.” He replied as I pulled out my own weapon. A red-steel longsword imbued with anti-magic runes. Currently the runes would do no good unless I got one good stab on Artemis so the runes could work their magic on his. Such is the irony of Anti-magic being a form of magic.

I didn’t even see Artemis move as he appeared in front of me, bringing his sword down in an arc at me. I quickly dodged to the right and swept my sword at his legs as he jumped backwards regaining his balance before our swords met. We stood in a power struggle for a couple of minutes before I ducked and swept his legs from under him. He fell onto his side but rolled over as my sword struck where his head was. He stood up and was about to strike as I used my sword to fling dust and dirt into the air and his eyes, obscuring his vision.

While he rubbed his eyes trying to rid them of the disturbance I took my chance and tried to stab him in the chest only for him to barely block the sword as I heard it harmlessly dink against his armor and sword. I leaped backwards and stood in a defensive position as he finally cleared his vision. He was all but mad now, exactly what I wanted.

“I’ve had enough of this little game.” He growled as he flared his wings and flung himself at me. I tried dodging his wings and sword but found myself on the receiving end of his left wing blade as it cut my left pauldron enough that it cut my skin albeit barely. As I landed he was already coming in for another attack, this time I braced myself as I ducked and slammed my sword into his. Sadly I had the stronger resolve as I saw his eyes looking at mine in surprise just before he slammed into the ground and his sword knocked across the field and outside the anti-magic range of effect.

I quickly took my chance once again and slammed my sword into his right foreleg, watching him grimace as the runes took effect. A moment later the sphere dissipated allowing me to use my magic again. I grabbed his sword in a magical field and brought it next to me as I pulled mine out of his foreleg and licked the blood off of it. “An alicorns blood tastes so much better than that of a simple unicorn or pegasi.” I grinned as he winked out of existence and reappeared a few meters away. He closed his eyes and used his magic to heal the wound I had inflicted but didn’t bother to reiterate his anti-magic spell. When he opened his eyes again they glew pure white.

“It seems I’ve underestimated you Grimoire, but I fear its time to end this.” He spoke grimly as he started creating a sphere of magical energy that pulsated with black light. I smirked as I created a platform underneath me and floated slightly into the air.

I closed my eyes and spread my magical energy throughout the entirety of my body. When I opened my eyes Artemis had turned the sphere into an arrow that was pointed straight at me. It was now an ethereal rainbow color that still gave off black light. “Harmonies Might.” He said flatly as he let the arrow loose at me. It simply phased through me and kept on going far into the distance before finally disappearing. When I looked back at Artemis he was stunned.

I laughed at him as my plan worked, and quite brilliantly I might add. “Harmonies Might, one of the only spells that rely on multiple users that are interconnected by a magical link. Sadly that link was severed when I killed your brothers.” I smiled grimly as I stabbed his sword into the ground in front of him. He still looked at me in shock as I sighed. “And here I thought you would present an actual challenge.” I grabbed his sword again and sent it flying into his chest.

His eyes shrunk to pinpricks as he looked down at the sword that protruded from his chest. “How…how did it not work…” He said perplexed. I walked over to him and twisted his sword with my hooves, causing him to drop the ground in agony. He looked at me now with killer intent in his eyes.

“Too late Artemis, you’re already dead.” I said coldly as I grabbed his sword with my magic and pulled it out, placing my sword and his in an X over his neck. “Guess this is your final goodnight.” I was about to cross the swords through his neck as I was sent flying several meters away from an explosion of magical energy. When I regained myself I saw a pillar of magical energy exploding from where Artemis and I had been. “It’s about time.”

I readied myself only to get a hoof to the face, sending me flying once again. What in the name of Tartarus was that?! I was still in the air as Artemis appeared over me and slammed into my stomach, crushing me into the ground. I gasped for air as it was knocked out of me as Artemis grabbed me by the tail and launched me into the air, proceeding to launch himself at me and stab me in the stomach with his horn causing me to cough up a small amount of blood.

“YOU WILL DIE!” He screamed in a voice that wasn’t his alone, it sounded as if he had been possessed. He sent me flying further into the air as he blasted me off of his horn, cauterizing the wound he caused. I reversed my gravity as I conjured a platform and readied myself as he slammed into my swords.

“So you were holding back? So was I.” I created a magic circle on my platform and started powering it with dark magic, allowing it to seep into my body and take hold. My cyan magic turned to a scarlet red color and I felt myself grow larger as it started to transform my body's genetic structure. “Kirin are all but real Artemis.” I growled as I sent him crashing into the ground below creating a large crater from the power.

I stood upside down looking up at Artemis as he slowly stood and glared at me, fully consumed by his hatred and anger. My hooves were now claws, my vision that of a dragons, my body was no longer covered in fur but in scales. My mane turned into spikes that ran along the length of my spine. I used my magic to create an artificial pair of dragon wings to go along with the transformation. The wings were the same color as my Scarlet magic. I drew in a large breath before letting it loose in an ear-shattering roar as I dove towards Artemis, reversing my gravity once again on the way down.

I slammed into the ground, but my target had dodged before I could hit him. He now stood at the edge of the crater looking down on me as his power surged around him. He was now shrouded in darkness, making it so you could see none of his features. The only thing visible were his pure white eyes. He jumped at me as I reached up with my left claw and grabbed his right hoof as he struck at me, he threw his left hoof at me only for it to be caught as well. I spun him around and slammed him into the ground before throwing him into the wall of the crater.

I spread out my wings and launched at him full force slamming my claws into him as I ran him through the ground and into the air before punching him a few times, each one cracking his armor more and more. I threw one last punch at him as his armor broke into little pieces and rained down onto the field below. He was sent flying before he recovered and hovered in mid-air gathering magic at the base of his horn, slowly letting it build up the length of his horn before it started crackling with energy.

I teleported underneath him and uppercutted at his underside but he disappeared in the blink of an eye and reappeared in front of me, letting loose his spell. I felt the spell hit me and send me flying but I couldn’t see anything. The next thing I felt was a sword going through my right foreleg, the next thing I saw was Artemis standing over me using his magic to drive the sword into my foreleg. I closed my eyes and phased my arm through the sword and grabbed onto his horn. “It won’t be that easy Artemis.”

I snapped his horn off, using every bit of strength to do so. The result was devastating as the area where I broke it off at exploded from the magical backlash as he was using a spell at the time. When I regained my senses I stood up and looked over at Artemis who was struggling to breath and he looked like the normal alicorn he was, minus the horn of course. I still held his horn in my claw as I walked over to him. “Oh that’s right, you need this to live don’t you alicorn?” I said smugly as I crouched over him.

“Sadly I have no more time to play with you, so you can have this back.” I proceeded to stab his horn into the side of his head, piercing through his head and appearing on the other side. Every trace of movement and breathing or pain was washed away in an instant as death overtook him. I stabbed my right claw into his chest and grabbed his heart, proceeding to crush it in my claws. “No risks, isn’t that what you taught me Artemis?”

“Artemis, Solaris and Starlight. Each of them brothers, Starlight being the youngest alicorn and a master of magic in its purest form. Solaris the middle brother of the three, master of the heavenly body known as the sun that you currently maintain control over Celestia. Artemis the eldest of the three, he was a master of warfare, and yet he was to be slain by Grimoire Dusk due to his own arrogance. Each of them were your predecessors. Each of you inherited their magical abilities and their very souls as well. In a way you are their reincarnations, Solaris to Celestia, Artemis to Luna and Starlight to Twilight.” I explained to the group before me as I closed the book.

All three of them looked at me in shock, including Luna this time. “The souls of alicorns do not simply die and go to Elysium or to Tartarus, if it were so then Discord would not be standing here with us. Discord was killed by Grimoire Dusk those many millennia ago but Discords soul as the God of Chaos didn’t die.” I looked over to Discord who was nodding his head to confirm it.

“It’s true I never died, but unlike the rest of you I retained my memories of the incident when I reincarnated. I thought that by simply putting it behind me that it would never come up again and we could move past it, but it seems now that we can’t with him returning due to you unlocking his prison.” I could feel everyones look harden on him.

“You may not like what he has to say but it’s true that you were the ones that freed him from his prison.” I pointed out as Twilight and her friends looked down in shame. “You didn’t know nor did Discord think about it at the time, so all in all we are all to blame. If I were here when Tirek arrived, he wouldn’t be able to do much to me since I have no magic.” I pointed out.

“What should we do, I mean we can’t just do nothing!” Fluttershy pointed out.

Twilight and Celestia were about to answer when I butted in. “We wait for him to come to the Equestrian border.”

“We cannot simply stand aside while this heathen harms our subjects Robert!” Celestia exclaimed, losing her serene calmness.

“He won’t be harming anybody anytime soon Celestia. He still must find his way from the catacombs of the great tomb. Knowing him he will go straight for you, Luna, and Twilight as you are his greatest threats. Once he has taken you down he will take your armies to bring upon the end once more. What we know that he doesn’t, is that he was trapped as a Kirin.” I smiled as they looked at me with raised eyebrows.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Celestia asked.

“It means he’s been draining his own magical energy to maintain that form along with the fact he’s been using Dark Magic to maintain it. After a certain amount of time, the form becomes permanent and a Kirins magic is far weaker than that of an alicorns but their physical ability is only as great as an adolescent dragon. The reason Artemis lost was because Grimoire had the magic of an alicorn and the physical ability of an adult dragon because he used his magic to boost his own abilities.”

“So basically he’s pretty much a small dragon with magic right now?” Dash pointed out as I nodded.

“For now at least, when he arrives though he won’t be that weak. He’ll have gathered enough strength that will be almost on par with Tirek.” I pointed out.

“That’s why we should attack him now!” Dash objected. I shook my head.

“If we could I would be all for it Dash. The Great Tomb isn’t an easy place to find let alone enter unless you have a death wish of your own. The Great Tomb reaches down to the seventh layer of Tartarus, with demons and spirits lining the corridors of the tomb. In two months time, the entrance to the Great Tomb will be at the edge of the Equestrian-Badlands border.” They fell into silence.

“The very last journal entry was written in Grimoire’s corrupted blood, but it wasn’t written by him. It was written by the one who had entrapped him in the Great Tomb along with the Chest of Harmony. Sadly whoever it was had left out their name from the passage.”

When the Chest of Harmony opens,

The shackles that hold Grimoire Dusk shall release.

The days of light shall come to an end once more,

And darkness will preside over the land.

The joy and laughter will cease,

Anger and remorse will replace it.

The ones who open the chest,

Will be the first victims of the new calamity.

The creature of Earth shall be claimed,

And he will embrace the darkness.

When this day comes,

All will be lost and the final days will be upon us.

I looked to each of the elements, seeing unadulterated horror present in their eyes. “So…ya mean to say that…we’re all gonna die?” Applejack asked through sputters. I bowed my head down as I let them take in the information. When I lifted my head up each of them were crying, none more so than Fluttershy who was being comforted by Rarity. Pinkie Pies cotton candy mane became straight as tears slowly dripped down her face that held an expressionless gaze. Rainbow Dash sat on her chair with her mane covering her face so none could see her cry. Twilight just stood there with bewilderment as tears streamed silently down her face.

“Please don’t cry girls, everything will be alright.” Celestia cooed, trying to sooth them. I shook my head.

“No Celestia, it won’t be fine.” I stated angrily as I slammed my fist onto the table catching their attention once again. “The reason this meeting was even called is because of a dream I had last night that only seemed to confirm my fears. The last part of the prophecy, “The creature of Earth shall be claimed, and he will embrace the darkness.”, didn’t mean that I would die Celestia.” I informed her as she looked at me with wide eyes.

“You don’t mean…” she mumbled as I nodded my head to confirm her suspicion. The room stood in silence as each one of them, one by one, understood what I had pointed out. Much to my surprise, Discord was even taken aback by it.

The room was left in stunned silence. No one spoke so I gathered my belongings and started towards the doors, motioning for Faelan to follow me. “Wait!”

I turned around as I saw Twilight holding her hoof out at me. “Where are you going?! You can’t just leave us like this!” She exclaimed as I shook my head once more.

“I’m not leaving you, I will be in contact with each and everyone of you again very soon.” I turned to face them fully and proceeded to bow in respect. “Thank you for granting an audience with me princesses of Equestria, it has been an honor.” With formalities paid I walked out of the large doors that lead into a great hall.