Brave New World: Fallen.by StardustSurvivorChaptersPrologueChapter 1Chapter 2PrologueEthan sat up with a loud intake of air. It took all of his willpower to not scream as he felt like he awoke from the most vivid nightmare one could have. But he knew better. "Holy fuck. I'm...I'm free," Ethan thought to himself. "But...Where am I?" Ethan asked out loud, just to hear his voice. He knew when he was. He was over 1000 years in the future. Centuries ahead of when he was immortalized in stone by Discord. "Over one thousand years ahead of Bright Eyes..." Ethan noted. The door opened and Ethan turned to face it. A tall white alicorn walked in. One might say she and Ethan were old friends. Celestia herself spoke when it was clear Ethan was not going to. "Ethan," She began with a smile. "Welcome back to the land of the living," "Celestia," Ethan said with a nod. "Where are we?" He asked. "We are in canterlot castle," "That old outpost you put on top of a mountain? It's a castle now?" Ethan asked. Canterlot mountain was previously home to a small watchtower during the beginning of Celestia's rule. After the Nightmare Moon incident, the capital city that previously resided in the everfree was destroyed, and the capital was moved to canterlot mountain. The center of the Equestrian territories. "Well it's not much of an outpost. It's so much more now. Have you looked out your window?" Celestia said, gesturing to the curtains beside Ethan's bed. Ethan took this opprotunity to examine the room he was in. The first thing he took notice of was that it was fancy and had a really high ceiling. A pegasus could fly comfortably around the room. The furniture was fancy too, there was a sitting area surrounded by couches and armchairs to ethans right. To his left was the door along with a dresser and a wardrobe. Ethan swung his legs over the side of the bed and let his feet touch the floor. The fact that his sneakers had survived over 1000 years was amazing. It took an amazing amount of effort for Ethan to attempt to stand up. "Hold on, i have you!" Celestia said as she hurried over to Ethan's side and helped his balance by lowering her neck under his arm. "Thanks," Ethan said with an embarrassed smile. The pair maneuvered over to the window where Ethan used his free arm (The one that was not wrapped around celestia) to open the curtains. What he saw left him in shock. Canterlot was a beautiful city. It reminded him of how he imagined rome back when caesar was emperor. A stone city with tall spires and guard towers that shone in the light of Celestia’s sun, houses, apartment complexes, he could even see a few parks littered around. But one thing was missing. "Celestia...Where's the mountain?" ethan asked hesitantly. He was sure he would not like the answer. "The mountain, dear Ethan, is below us. The city of Canterlot is built on top of Canterlot Mountain." Ethan stumbled a little as he tried to get as far away from the window as possible. Which wasn't very far without celestia, who caught him with her magic and brought him back to her side. "Sorry, sorry," Ethan said, out of breath from his struggle and fall. "I'm...not a fan of heights..." "I figured. And I apologise for startling you, but you of all pon--people should know that I prefer honesty when addressing my subjects." Celestia helped Ethan hobble back to bed where he sat down. "Well at least you've not become a Discord. May that bastard rot in his stone prison." Ethan said with clear distaste in his voice. Celestia's wince as he said that went unnoticed by Ethan. He didn't know of Discord's recent release and reforming. "Ethan I have something I need to--" Celestia was interrupted by a rumbling coming from Ethan. Specifically his stomach. Ethan can find out later. "I think maybe we should go eat. I haven't had food in 1000 years!" Ethan and Celestia both shared a small laugh at that. Celestia helped Ethan up again and they hobbled out of the room together. Two of the oldest friends in history reunited and spending time together once more. Little did they know of the deep blue pair of eyes watching their every move. Ethan and Celestia had finally made it to the dining hall. They had managed to get there fairly quickly as Ethan was getting better at walking the farther they went. Celestia used her magic to open the large double doors that led inside. The large table was already set for lunch as Ethan had slept through breakfast. Celestia helped Ethan over to the chair next to hers where Ethan fell like a rock onto the seat. Celestia sat next to him after making sure Ethan was comfortable. “Are you sure you’re fine Ethan? I can ask the servants for more seat pillows, I can have some meat ordered in from--” Celestia’s overbearing rambling was interrupted by the doors slamming open and the sound of four larger than normal hooves scrabbling across the floor as fast as they could carry their owner. Luna had arrived. “ETHAN! YOU HAVE RETURNED! WE ARE MOST EXCITED THAT WE ARE ALL REUNITED AGAIN!” Luna was shouting in the royal canterlot voice at Ethan and Celestia. Mostly at Ethan though. Celestia made a hoof motion for luna to adjust her tone and Luna cleared her throat before speaking normally as she ran up next to Ethan with a guilty smile on her face. “Lucy!” Ethan said, not having been phased at all by Luna’s royal canterlot voice. Luna had shouted at him long enough in the past that he was very very used to it. Ethan opened his arms and motioned for Luna to give him a hug. Luna latched on to Ethan like a tick and squeezed him as gently as she could. Luna had broken his ribs enough times that she knew how to handle the frail man. “So lucy have you been a good girl while I was away?” Luna and Celestia both gave him nervous smiles as Ethan looked down at Luna. “Well...erm…kinda…” Luna said as her face became very solemn. Luna took a quick glance at Celestia who nodded Luna. “I...I...Ibecameamonsterofthenightanddestroyedthecapitalandcelestiabanishedmetothemoonbutiforgaveherforthatbecauseideservedthatbecauseihurtsomanyponiesand--and--and---” Luna quickly devolved into a sobbing teary mess at the admission of doing something Ethan obviously wouldn’t approve of. Luna valued Ethan’s opinion highly, which is why he was the only one allowed to call her Lucy. Ethan hugged Luna tighter and began to stroke her mane, an action that comforted her often when she was young. “Lucy it’s fine. Don’t worry, I’m not mad. If anything you two should be mad at me. After all, I did do something incredibly stupid before all this,” Luna ceased her crying and both her and Celestia looked up at Ethan with shocked expressions. “Ethan!” Celestia began. “How could you ever assume that we would be mad at you for doing whatever you could to protect what you had? You had every right to turn us in to Discord and while I was slightly miffed at the time, now I am even more impressed at your bravery. You are still our first knight of Equestria and not only did you risk both yourself physically and mentally to protect our little ponies, but you almost died in the process of protecting those you loved,” “And if I recall correctly we still owe you your armor and blade seeing as how we did not have a proper kingdom at the time of your knighting,” Luna said as she dried her tears. “Well let’s worry about eating first. I’m still hungry as all hell. Where are those servants you mentioned Celestia?” Chapter 1Ethan lay in bed face up. It had been three days since his return. Celestia and Luna had been overbearing and overprotective as they always had been. Well on the contrary, overprotective Celestia was new. But that’s a story for another time. He wasn’t objecting to being slightly pampered. Especially since in the thousand or so years he’d been gone pony kind had gotten closer to the technology he had back home. They’re not quite at computers yet but they’re getting there. Ethan regretted not learning engineering. No he had to go study library sciences. At least he had something named after him here. the white system. He took the dewey decimal system from his world and named it after himself. the ponies just ran with it. They thought it was a neat way to organize books. He had gone into the library yesterday and found that they still used it in fact. Ethan sat up and scooted over to the edge of the bed. He sorely missed the mornings before his thousand years in stone. He had someone to hold then. But that was in the past. Everyone he knew then is long dead. There were exceptions of course. He got off the bed, walked over to the window and opened the curtains. The night sky was beautiful. Luna and Celestia had to explain that they controlled the sun and the moon now. It also came as a shock that Luna also controlled the stars. Ethan thought it might be best if he kept the fact that there were some starts trillions of times bigger than the sun to himself. Ethan closed the curtains with a sigh and flopped down on the bed. He needed sleep. As much as he wanted to stay up all night, he needed to be well rested for his armor fitting. Ethan closed his eyes and let sleep take him. Ethan sat up with a shout, dried tears clear on his features. It was that dream again. There was fire, brimstone, Bright Eyes being burned alive, everyone from his past lives there calling out to him. They hated him for leaving them to rot and burn. But he knew he had no choice in the matter. Something else took him away. Something that he had no control over. Ethan needed to go for a walk. He got up and opened the door-- “Ow! Sorry sir, I just don’t know what--” The pony began to speak but stopped when she noticed Ethan on the floor, just staring at her. Not yelling, not berating, not complaining. This was a new reaction. One that Ditzy ‘Derpy Hooves’ Doo was not familiar with. “A-Are you alright sir?” She asked concerned for her wellbeing as well as the creature that just tripped over her. “Those eyes....” Ethan said softly. “Yeah they’re all messed up...You can go ahead and make fun of them now, I’m used to it…” Derpy said, taking Ethan’s observation the wrong way. Ethan on the other hand was appalled that anyone could make fun of those eyes. The eyes that ponies used to belong to his beloved. “Oh! Ummm...sorry...I didn't mean to come off like that I mean...Your eyes just remind me of someone that...Someone that was very important to me…” Ethan trailed off as he once again was lost in those beautiful golden eyes. Derpy was both shocked and confused by his response. Her eyes reminded him of someone else. Someone that he didn't make fun of for having messed up eyes. Someone that from what she heard about this creature, wasn't around anymore. Derpy suddenly perked up, remembering something she completely forgot. “Oh! I have a package for you! It sorta just appeared in my mailbag so I thought I’d get it to you right away!” Derpy then stuck her head in the bag hanging from her neck and fished out a small box that she handed to Ethan with her teeth. Ethan snapped out of his stupor and took the box. “Thanks miss…?” “My name’s Ditzy Doo! But most ponies call me Derpy, on account of my clumsiness,” Derpy said, holding out a hoof as if offering a handshake. The gesture must have been fairly new as ponies looked at him funny when he did it. Before he was a statue. Ethan reciprocated the gesture and gave her hoof a firm shake. “My name is Ethan White. Human. The only one in Equestria,” Ethan introduced himself, and threw in for good measure, “Also Equestria’s first knight if the history books don’t mention that fact,” “Actually they do! Or well...used to!” Derpy said, “After the nightmare Moon incident Celestia had most of the history books rewritten to leave out anything about her sister or past conflicts. Ever since then, being a knight has only been an honorary title,” “Well how do you know about me then?” Ethan asked, curious as to why anything would be allowed to escape Celestia’s watchful eyes. “Well this one family a reaaaaaally long time ago was allowed by the princesses to keep a series of books about everything that was redacted from the history books. And well ummm...you got your own book....and I have that book...but it wasn't my family that got the book. Some old mare from Hoofington gave me the book when I delivered her mail. She said that It would be better if I have it,” “Wait a second, if you knew about me because of the book, why did you barely react when you realized it was me that tripped over you? Sorry about that by the way,” “It’s fine, and that’s probably because ever since discord was freed, there isn't much that--!” Derpy didn't finish her sentence before she noticed Ethan was gone, and the package was now on the floor. She looked around cautiously in search of Ethan. The hunt was on for her new friend. The door to the throne room slammed open. “HE GOT OUT?!?!?!” Ethan shouted at Celestia who had been listening to a smaller purple alicorn. But that was not what concerned Ethan at that moment. An obviously irritated Ethan began to stomp up to the throne when the smaller alicorn faced him and took a defensive pose, flaring up her magic, yet Ethan was undeterred. Just as she was about to let loose a spell, Celestia stopped her. “Twilight, no. Ethan is a friend. Now tell me Ethan, who got out?” “You know damn well as I do that you can’t lie to me Celestia. You know who,” Ethan spoke the name as if it was the most vile thing he’d ever heard. “Discord,” Unfortunately for Celestia, Twilight took this opportunity to speak up.”Oh that’s old news! discord’s been free for a couple of years now, we basically reformed him!” The lights in the room suddenly dimmed as the room grew colder. Twilight looked around for the source of the entity that did this. A magical force was at work here. Twilight noticed Celestia’s eyes were widened in abject horror. She followed Celestia’s gaze to Ethan. Ethan had a look of pure unbridled rage etched onto his face. But that wasn't the only thing about him that was different. The bottom of his duster was waving around as if in the middle of a great wind, and a dark energy began to seep from the walls in the dimmed hall, as if from the shadows themselves. The energy began to engulf Ethan starting from his legs. Ethan was hunched over as if in great pain, and all the occupants of the room could do was watch, guard and princess alike. The black energy made its way up Ethan’s legs, his torso, down his arms, until it had fully covered Ethan. To the untrained eye of the guards and Twilight sparkle, Ethan had just become a creature made of ink and shadow as a black liquid substance began to drip off of Ethan. Ethan was in immense pain. All he could feel was the energy driving itself into him like thousands of knives stabbing him everywhere at once. And the rage. Pure hate and fury washed over him as he no longer felt pain, but a gnawing thrashing hunger. A hunger for revenge. Just as the blackness began to bubble and grow, a shout came from outside the open throne room doors. “Ethan! Where are you Ethan?! You left without a goodbye hug!” Almost as if scared of the owner of the voice, the blackness instantaneously disappeared and the room lit up once more. Ethan fell over with a thump, now unconscious as Derpy walked into the room. “There you are Ethan! Why are you on the floor? Did you trip over somepony else?” It was then that Derpy noticed the mysterious yellow puddles underneath the guards in the room, and the looks of fear, shock, horror, and even mixes of all three as everyone in the room (Save the unconscious man in the center) gained both a new fear and respect for Derpy that day. “Gosh I knew Ethan’s sort of a new species but come on guys! Don’t be so scared! He wouldn't hurt a fly!” Chapter 2Celestia had seen many things in her long long life, many of them had been indirectly caused by the arrival of one creature in this world. Ethan. Discord’s imprisonment in stone could not have happened without Ethan. Sombra would not have gone mad with power had Ethan not revealed the magical properties of crystals. The Nightmare Moon incident was a direct result of Luna’s failure to protect Ethan from Discord. The gate to Tartarus itself was inspired by Ethan’s design for an inescapable prison. But the magic used to create it had corrupted the forest around the capital and resulted in the Everfree. But with all of the negative things that Ethan had impacted there were great positives. The tree of harmony and by extension the elements of harmony owed their existence to the man. Discord could not have been captured, Luna could not have been purified, and many demons and monsters would roam, free to terrorize the land had Ethan not come. Celestia paced around her room. Ethan was developing magical abilities. Terrible powerful magical abilities. She didn’t want to weigh the goods and bads of keeping Ethan. She couldn’t bear losing him again. But the risk to herself and her ponies were too great. Ethan would need to be trained, and schooled and that’s not even mentioning the fact that she hadn’t even given him an official citizenship BEFORE knighting him. The paperwork was piled up, the nobles were in a frenzy and there was even the emergence of another human on her hand. Celestia was hyperventilating at the thought of being even slightly overwhelmed for the first time in a millenium as a princess. The double doors to her chambers were ripped off their hinges as Luna burst in. Luna’s hysterical fit was making her cries unintelligible, but Celestia could make out one phrase in Luna’s panic as she was curled up on the floor. Ethan had disappeared. Derpy made her way through the castle. The guards were in a panic, the maids were shouting and calling out for someone, and Blueblood was screaming like a little filly about a monster on the loose. Of course Derpy ignored all this and went straight to the room Celestia said her best friend would be staying in. Derpy opened the door to Ethan’s room. “Hey Ethan are you the--” As she looked in she stopped. Ethan was nowhere to be found. “Ethan? Are we playing hide and seek now?” Derpy asked cautiously. She searched under the bed, under the table, inside the cabinets and drawers, but there was still no sign of Ethan. Derpy shivered as a breeze blew into the room through the set of closed curtains on the wall. “Better close that window for when Ethan gets back from wherever he’s hiding!” Derpy thought aloud to herself. As she opened the curtains and reached for the window she paused. The window was open far wider than it would normally be for someone hoping for a bit of fresh air. She looked down and lying on the windowsill was a single white feather. Celestia’s attempts to calm Luna had somewhat worked. Luna had given Celestia a note she found on Ethan’s bed. A note written on a crystalline parchment she had found only when her and Luna had become the spirits of the sun and moon. When Cadance became the spirit of love, and Twilight the spirit of friendship. A note that like it’s predecessors had only a single word on it. REVENGE. It was too late for Ethan. All that was left was to wait for his polar ascendant. Ethan landed on the rocky southern face of the mountain with a muffled thump. He cursed his wings. As he put his duster back on. They reminded him that he wasn’t human anymore. That there was no way back even if he found one. He set down the bag he had been carrying his duster in and opened it. Inside the bag was a sheathed sword and a set of light metal armor custom fit for him two days before. The perks of being a knight were sweet. Ethan laid all the armor out on the ground and equipped the pauldrons, arm guards, gauntlets, greaves, and cuisses. Ethan stuffed the chest piece, helmet, and sabatons back into the bag before strapping the sword onto his belt and slinging the bag over his shoulder. Ethan started on his long trek down the mountain. Deep beneath Equestria, even deeper than tartarus, and even farther than the sleeping gods of old, there stood a man. But calling him a mere man would be a lie. He was a god, or rather, The God. The creator of everything on his twisted little version of Earth. His Earth had been lost a long time ago. He stood at an altar, watching. “I see your plan has been set in motion. My move old friend,” He spoke to nobody in particular. He snapped his fingers. Nothing happened. Not even the clicking sound that normally accompanies the snapping of fingers. “Fucking fingers...an infinite amount of lifetimes to practice and I still can’t get it right. Oh well. I don’t need to add flourish anyway. Nobody’s watching of course.” And with that, the next piece was in play. “Your move,” It had been an hour since Ethan set off down the mountain. The trail from canterlot to the nearest town was overgrown yet not very worn out. The train to canterlot was much faster and easier, so almost everypony chose it over the mountain path. But as a result those that do risk being attacked by the animals that have moved into the area. Namely manticores. RRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! The feral sound came accompanied by panicked shrieks coming from a pony. Ethan dropped his bag and ran towards the sound, one hand on the hilt of his sword. The shrieks became clearer and gave way to somepony speaking. “Trixie does not want to be cat food! Trixie would like to be anything but cat food right now!” There was another roar and the sound of wood breaking. “Go away please! Trixie did not mean to disturb you!” Ethan burst into the clearing and skidded to a halt. A blue pony with a silver-grey mane topped with a ragged wizard’s cap and wearing a torn starry cape was cowering on the ground between a very scratched up cart and a very hungry looking manticore. “Hey ugly!” Ethan shouted drawing his sword. The manticore’s growling paused as he turned his head to face Ethan. The blue pony looked up at Ethan with wide fearful eyes. “Trixie does not want to trade one evil for another! Manticore, Trixie implores you to protect her from the scarier thing with the armor and sword!” The manticore charged at Ethan with a roar. Ethan clumsily dodged it while trying to counter. Not used to fighting with a sword, Ethan missed and ended up falling over. “Fuck, anime made this shit look easy,” Ethan grumbled to himself as he stood up. The manticore recovered and charged again. Ethan tried to dodge and counter a second time, and only managed to succeed in not falling over. The manticore scored a scratch on Ethan’s side. “FUCK man! That hurts!” Ethan shouted while holding his side. Ethan was in too much pain to dodge the next charge. The manticore trampled Ethan and didn’t stop until it reached the edge of the clearing. Ethan, too hurt to get up, looked over to the blue pony who had taken off her hat and revealed her horn. The unicorn was charging up a spell as the manticore slowly stalked over to Ethan. Wary that it’s new prey may have some tricks up it’s sleeve like other ponies on the path. The blue unicorn went unnoticed by the manticore who now stood over Ethan, one claw raised to prepare to finish off the struggling creature beneath it. “LOOK OUT BELOW!” The manticore brought it’s claw down but was immediately knocked over by a grey and yellow blur. The blue unicorn let loose her spell in surprise. Ethan was losing blood fast from the scratch on his side. It cut deep, he couldn’t move. He wished that he had stayed in the castle instead of going out and seeking revenge. The blue unicorn walked up to Ethan with the gray blur, Derpy. Sound and sight were fading as Ethan slowly slipped into unconsciousness. “Ummm miss? do you think you can fix ethan?” The world went dark as Ethan blacked out from the pain and blood loss. “Trixie is not sure if she should. Is this ‘Ethan’ dangerous?” Trixie asked Derpy. Derpy gave Trixie a large smile. “Of course not! Ethan couldn’t hurt a fly!” “He certainly couldn’t with those skills…” Trixie muttered under her breath. “Well then let’s see what Trixie can do for the fellow. He appears to be bleeding quite...heavily…” Trixie’s voice trailed off as she got a closer look at the scratch in Ethan’s side. It was less of a scratch and more of a gash. Trixie blanched at the amount of blood pouring out. “Let’s hurry if we want him to live!” Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It wasn’t a void of white or black, it was just nothing. Ethan didn’t know if he was alive or dead. “Oh Ethan, there’s no need to worry. You’re very much alive. But that’s not what we need to worry about right now…” a female voice spoke from all directions. A shape began to form in the nothing that Ethan could see. Limbs began to form off a long snaky torso with a serpentine tail. Limbs that didn’t belong together. “Discord?” Ethan wondered. “No my dear. Someone far more powerful. Someone who may help you restore what you’ve lost,” The shape began to take on more detail. The head began to form and grow long white hair. When the draconequus was complete she gave Ethan’s general direction a devious smile as she slithered through the air. “The name is Eris. Charmed to finally meet you Ethan. Or I should say...The King in Grey,”
PrologueEthan sat up with a loud intake of air. It took all of his willpower to not scream as he felt like he awoke from the most vivid nightmare one could have. But he knew better. "Holy fuck. I'm...I'm free," Ethan thought to himself. "But...Where am I?" Ethan asked out loud, just to hear his voice. He knew when he was. He was over 1000 years in the future. Centuries ahead of when he was immortalized in stone by Discord. "Over one thousand years ahead of Bright Eyes..." Ethan noted. The door opened and Ethan turned to face it. A tall white alicorn walked in. One might say she and Ethan were old friends. Celestia herself spoke when it was clear Ethan was not going to. "Ethan," She began with a smile. "Welcome back to the land of the living," "Celestia," Ethan said with a nod. "Where are we?" He asked. "We are in canterlot castle," "That old outpost you put on top of a mountain? It's a castle now?" Ethan asked. Canterlot mountain was previously home to a small watchtower during the beginning of Celestia's rule. After the Nightmare Moon incident, the capital city that previously resided in the everfree was destroyed, and the capital was moved to canterlot mountain. The center of the Equestrian territories. "Well it's not much of an outpost. It's so much more now. Have you looked out your window?" Celestia said, gesturing to the curtains beside Ethan's bed. Ethan took this opprotunity to examine the room he was in. The first thing he took notice of was that it was fancy and had a really high ceiling. A pegasus could fly comfortably around the room. The furniture was fancy too, there was a sitting area surrounded by couches and armchairs to ethans right. To his left was the door along with a dresser and a wardrobe. Ethan swung his legs over the side of the bed and let his feet touch the floor. The fact that his sneakers had survived over 1000 years was amazing. It took an amazing amount of effort for Ethan to attempt to stand up. "Hold on, i have you!" Celestia said as she hurried over to Ethan's side and helped his balance by lowering her neck under his arm. "Thanks," Ethan said with an embarrassed smile. The pair maneuvered over to the window where Ethan used his free arm (The one that was not wrapped around celestia) to open the curtains. What he saw left him in shock. Canterlot was a beautiful city. It reminded him of how he imagined rome back when caesar was emperor. A stone city with tall spires and guard towers that shone in the light of Celestia’s sun, houses, apartment complexes, he could even see a few parks littered around. But one thing was missing. "Celestia...Where's the mountain?" ethan asked hesitantly. He was sure he would not like the answer. "The mountain, dear Ethan, is below us. The city of Canterlot is built on top of Canterlot Mountain." Ethan stumbled a little as he tried to get as far away from the window as possible. Which wasn't very far without celestia, who caught him with her magic and brought him back to her side. "Sorry, sorry," Ethan said, out of breath from his struggle and fall. "I'm...not a fan of heights..." "I figured. And I apologise for startling you, but you of all pon--people should know that I prefer honesty when addressing my subjects." Celestia helped Ethan hobble back to bed where he sat down. "Well at least you've not become a Discord. May that bastard rot in his stone prison." Ethan said with clear distaste in his voice. Celestia's wince as he said that went unnoticed by Ethan. He didn't know of Discord's recent release and reforming. "Ethan I have something I need to--" Celestia was interrupted by a rumbling coming from Ethan. Specifically his stomach. Ethan can find out later. "I think maybe we should go eat. I haven't had food in 1000 years!" Ethan and Celestia both shared a small laugh at that. Celestia helped Ethan up again and they hobbled out of the room together. Two of the oldest friends in history reunited and spending time together once more. Little did they know of the deep blue pair of eyes watching their every move. Ethan and Celestia had finally made it to the dining hall. They had managed to get there fairly quickly as Ethan was getting better at walking the farther they went. Celestia used her magic to open the large double doors that led inside. The large table was already set for lunch as Ethan had slept through breakfast. Celestia helped Ethan over to the chair next to hers where Ethan fell like a rock onto the seat. Celestia sat next to him after making sure Ethan was comfortable. “Are you sure you’re fine Ethan? I can ask the servants for more seat pillows, I can have some meat ordered in from--” Celestia’s overbearing rambling was interrupted by the doors slamming open and the sound of four larger than normal hooves scrabbling across the floor as fast as they could carry their owner. Luna had arrived. “ETHAN! YOU HAVE RETURNED! WE ARE MOST EXCITED THAT WE ARE ALL REUNITED AGAIN!” Luna was shouting in the royal canterlot voice at Ethan and Celestia. Mostly at Ethan though. Celestia made a hoof motion for luna to adjust her tone and Luna cleared her throat before speaking normally as she ran up next to Ethan with a guilty smile on her face. “Lucy!” Ethan said, not having been phased at all by Luna’s royal canterlot voice. Luna had shouted at him long enough in the past that he was very very used to it. Ethan opened his arms and motioned for Luna to give him a hug. Luna latched on to Ethan like a tick and squeezed him as gently as she could. Luna had broken his ribs enough times that she knew how to handle the frail man. “So lucy have you been a good girl while I was away?” Luna and Celestia both gave him nervous smiles as Ethan looked down at Luna. “Well...erm…kinda…” Luna said as her face became very solemn. Luna took a quick glance at Celestia who nodded Luna. “I...I...Ibecameamonsterofthenightanddestroyedthecapitalandcelestiabanishedmetothemoonbutiforgaveherforthatbecauseideservedthatbecauseihurtsomanyponiesand--and--and---” Luna quickly devolved into a sobbing teary mess at the admission of doing something Ethan obviously wouldn’t approve of. Luna valued Ethan’s opinion highly, which is why he was the only one allowed to call her Lucy. Ethan hugged Luna tighter and began to stroke her mane, an action that comforted her often when she was young. “Lucy it’s fine. Don’t worry, I’m not mad. If anything you two should be mad at me. After all, I did do something incredibly stupid before all this,” Luna ceased her crying and both her and Celestia looked up at Ethan with shocked expressions. “Ethan!” Celestia began. “How could you ever assume that we would be mad at you for doing whatever you could to protect what you had? You had every right to turn us in to Discord and while I was slightly miffed at the time, now I am even more impressed at your bravery. You are still our first knight of Equestria and not only did you risk both yourself physically and mentally to protect our little ponies, but you almost died in the process of protecting those you loved,” “And if I recall correctly we still owe you your armor and blade seeing as how we did not have a proper kingdom at the time of your knighting,” Luna said as she dried her tears. “Well let’s worry about eating first. I’m still hungry as all hell. Where are those servants you mentioned Celestia?”
Chapter 1Ethan lay in bed face up. It had been three days since his return. Celestia and Luna had been overbearing and overprotective as they always had been. Well on the contrary, overprotective Celestia was new. But that’s a story for another time. He wasn’t objecting to being slightly pampered. Especially since in the thousand or so years he’d been gone pony kind had gotten closer to the technology he had back home. They’re not quite at computers yet but they’re getting there. Ethan regretted not learning engineering. No he had to go study library sciences. At least he had something named after him here. the white system. He took the dewey decimal system from his world and named it after himself. the ponies just ran with it. They thought it was a neat way to organize books. He had gone into the library yesterday and found that they still used it in fact. Ethan sat up and scooted over to the edge of the bed. He sorely missed the mornings before his thousand years in stone. He had someone to hold then. But that was in the past. Everyone he knew then is long dead. There were exceptions of course. He got off the bed, walked over to the window and opened the curtains. The night sky was beautiful. Luna and Celestia had to explain that they controlled the sun and the moon now. It also came as a shock that Luna also controlled the stars. Ethan thought it might be best if he kept the fact that there were some starts trillions of times bigger than the sun to himself. Ethan closed the curtains with a sigh and flopped down on the bed. He needed sleep. As much as he wanted to stay up all night, he needed to be well rested for his armor fitting. Ethan closed his eyes and let sleep take him. Ethan sat up with a shout, dried tears clear on his features. It was that dream again. There was fire, brimstone, Bright Eyes being burned alive, everyone from his past lives there calling out to him. They hated him for leaving them to rot and burn. But he knew he had no choice in the matter. Something else took him away. Something that he had no control over. Ethan needed to go for a walk. He got up and opened the door-- “Ow! Sorry sir, I just don’t know what--” The pony began to speak but stopped when she noticed Ethan on the floor, just staring at her. Not yelling, not berating, not complaining. This was a new reaction. One that Ditzy ‘Derpy Hooves’ Doo was not familiar with. “A-Are you alright sir?” She asked concerned for her wellbeing as well as the creature that just tripped over her. “Those eyes....” Ethan said softly. “Yeah they’re all messed up...You can go ahead and make fun of them now, I’m used to it…” Derpy said, taking Ethan’s observation the wrong way. Ethan on the other hand was appalled that anyone could make fun of those eyes. The eyes that ponies used to belong to his beloved. “Oh! Ummm...sorry...I didn't mean to come off like that I mean...Your eyes just remind me of someone that...Someone that was very important to me…” Ethan trailed off as he once again was lost in those beautiful golden eyes. Derpy was both shocked and confused by his response. Her eyes reminded him of someone else. Someone that he didn't make fun of for having messed up eyes. Someone that from what she heard about this creature, wasn't around anymore. Derpy suddenly perked up, remembering something she completely forgot. “Oh! I have a package for you! It sorta just appeared in my mailbag so I thought I’d get it to you right away!” Derpy then stuck her head in the bag hanging from her neck and fished out a small box that she handed to Ethan with her teeth. Ethan snapped out of his stupor and took the box. “Thanks miss…?” “My name’s Ditzy Doo! But most ponies call me Derpy, on account of my clumsiness,” Derpy said, holding out a hoof as if offering a handshake. The gesture must have been fairly new as ponies looked at him funny when he did it. Before he was a statue. Ethan reciprocated the gesture and gave her hoof a firm shake. “My name is Ethan White. Human. The only one in Equestria,” Ethan introduced himself, and threw in for good measure, “Also Equestria’s first knight if the history books don’t mention that fact,” “Actually they do! Or well...used to!” Derpy said, “After the nightmare Moon incident Celestia had most of the history books rewritten to leave out anything about her sister or past conflicts. Ever since then, being a knight has only been an honorary title,” “Well how do you know about me then?” Ethan asked, curious as to why anything would be allowed to escape Celestia’s watchful eyes. “Well this one family a reaaaaaally long time ago was allowed by the princesses to keep a series of books about everything that was redacted from the history books. And well ummm...you got your own book....and I have that book...but it wasn't my family that got the book. Some old mare from Hoofington gave me the book when I delivered her mail. She said that It would be better if I have it,” “Wait a second, if you knew about me because of the book, why did you barely react when you realized it was me that tripped over you? Sorry about that by the way,” “It’s fine, and that’s probably because ever since discord was freed, there isn't much that--!” Derpy didn't finish her sentence before she noticed Ethan was gone, and the package was now on the floor. She looked around cautiously in search of Ethan. The hunt was on for her new friend. The door to the throne room slammed open. “HE GOT OUT?!?!?!” Ethan shouted at Celestia who had been listening to a smaller purple alicorn. But that was not what concerned Ethan at that moment. An obviously irritated Ethan began to stomp up to the throne when the smaller alicorn faced him and took a defensive pose, flaring up her magic, yet Ethan was undeterred. Just as she was about to let loose a spell, Celestia stopped her. “Twilight, no. Ethan is a friend. Now tell me Ethan, who got out?” “You know damn well as I do that you can’t lie to me Celestia. You know who,” Ethan spoke the name as if it was the most vile thing he’d ever heard. “Discord,” Unfortunately for Celestia, Twilight took this opportunity to speak up.”Oh that’s old news! discord’s been free for a couple of years now, we basically reformed him!” The lights in the room suddenly dimmed as the room grew colder. Twilight looked around for the source of the entity that did this. A magical force was at work here. Twilight noticed Celestia’s eyes were widened in abject horror. She followed Celestia’s gaze to Ethan. Ethan had a look of pure unbridled rage etched onto his face. But that wasn't the only thing about him that was different. The bottom of his duster was waving around as if in the middle of a great wind, and a dark energy began to seep from the walls in the dimmed hall, as if from the shadows themselves. The energy began to engulf Ethan starting from his legs. Ethan was hunched over as if in great pain, and all the occupants of the room could do was watch, guard and princess alike. The black energy made its way up Ethan’s legs, his torso, down his arms, until it had fully covered Ethan. To the untrained eye of the guards and Twilight sparkle, Ethan had just become a creature made of ink and shadow as a black liquid substance began to drip off of Ethan. Ethan was in immense pain. All he could feel was the energy driving itself into him like thousands of knives stabbing him everywhere at once. And the rage. Pure hate and fury washed over him as he no longer felt pain, but a gnawing thrashing hunger. A hunger for revenge. Just as the blackness began to bubble and grow, a shout came from outside the open throne room doors. “Ethan! Where are you Ethan?! You left without a goodbye hug!” Almost as if scared of the owner of the voice, the blackness instantaneously disappeared and the room lit up once more. Ethan fell over with a thump, now unconscious as Derpy walked into the room. “There you are Ethan! Why are you on the floor? Did you trip over somepony else?” It was then that Derpy noticed the mysterious yellow puddles underneath the guards in the room, and the looks of fear, shock, horror, and even mixes of all three as everyone in the room (Save the unconscious man in the center) gained both a new fear and respect for Derpy that day. “Gosh I knew Ethan’s sort of a new species but come on guys! Don’t be so scared! He wouldn't hurt a fly!”
Chapter 2Celestia had seen many things in her long long life, many of them had been indirectly caused by the arrival of one creature in this world. Ethan. Discord’s imprisonment in stone could not have happened without Ethan. Sombra would not have gone mad with power had Ethan not revealed the magical properties of crystals. The Nightmare Moon incident was a direct result of Luna’s failure to protect Ethan from Discord. The gate to Tartarus itself was inspired by Ethan’s design for an inescapable prison. But the magic used to create it had corrupted the forest around the capital and resulted in the Everfree. But with all of the negative things that Ethan had impacted there were great positives. The tree of harmony and by extension the elements of harmony owed their existence to the man. Discord could not have been captured, Luna could not have been purified, and many demons and monsters would roam, free to terrorize the land had Ethan not come. Celestia paced around her room. Ethan was developing magical abilities. Terrible powerful magical abilities. She didn’t want to weigh the goods and bads of keeping Ethan. She couldn’t bear losing him again. But the risk to herself and her ponies were too great. Ethan would need to be trained, and schooled and that’s not even mentioning the fact that she hadn’t even given him an official citizenship BEFORE knighting him. The paperwork was piled up, the nobles were in a frenzy and there was even the emergence of another human on her hand. Celestia was hyperventilating at the thought of being even slightly overwhelmed for the first time in a millenium as a princess. The double doors to her chambers were ripped off their hinges as Luna burst in. Luna’s hysterical fit was making her cries unintelligible, but Celestia could make out one phrase in Luna’s panic as she was curled up on the floor. Ethan had disappeared. Derpy made her way through the castle. The guards were in a panic, the maids were shouting and calling out for someone, and Blueblood was screaming like a little filly about a monster on the loose. Of course Derpy ignored all this and went straight to the room Celestia said her best friend would be staying in. Derpy opened the door to Ethan’s room. “Hey Ethan are you the--” As she looked in she stopped. Ethan was nowhere to be found. “Ethan? Are we playing hide and seek now?” Derpy asked cautiously. She searched under the bed, under the table, inside the cabinets and drawers, but there was still no sign of Ethan. Derpy shivered as a breeze blew into the room through the set of closed curtains on the wall. “Better close that window for when Ethan gets back from wherever he’s hiding!” Derpy thought aloud to herself. As she opened the curtains and reached for the window she paused. The window was open far wider than it would normally be for someone hoping for a bit of fresh air. She looked down and lying on the windowsill was a single white feather. Celestia’s attempts to calm Luna had somewhat worked. Luna had given Celestia a note she found on Ethan’s bed. A note written on a crystalline parchment she had found only when her and Luna had become the spirits of the sun and moon. When Cadance became the spirit of love, and Twilight the spirit of friendship. A note that like it’s predecessors had only a single word on it. REVENGE. It was too late for Ethan. All that was left was to wait for his polar ascendant. Ethan landed on the rocky southern face of the mountain with a muffled thump. He cursed his wings. As he put his duster back on. They reminded him that he wasn’t human anymore. That there was no way back even if he found one. He set down the bag he had been carrying his duster in and opened it. Inside the bag was a sheathed sword and a set of light metal armor custom fit for him two days before. The perks of being a knight were sweet. Ethan laid all the armor out on the ground and equipped the pauldrons, arm guards, gauntlets, greaves, and cuisses. Ethan stuffed the chest piece, helmet, and sabatons back into the bag before strapping the sword onto his belt and slinging the bag over his shoulder. Ethan started on his long trek down the mountain. Deep beneath Equestria, even deeper than tartarus, and even farther than the sleeping gods of old, there stood a man. But calling him a mere man would be a lie. He was a god, or rather, The God. The creator of everything on his twisted little version of Earth. His Earth had been lost a long time ago. He stood at an altar, watching. “I see your plan has been set in motion. My move old friend,” He spoke to nobody in particular. He snapped his fingers. Nothing happened. Not even the clicking sound that normally accompanies the snapping of fingers. “Fucking fingers...an infinite amount of lifetimes to practice and I still can’t get it right. Oh well. I don’t need to add flourish anyway. Nobody’s watching of course.” And with that, the next piece was in play. “Your move,” It had been an hour since Ethan set off down the mountain. The trail from canterlot to the nearest town was overgrown yet not very worn out. The train to canterlot was much faster and easier, so almost everypony chose it over the mountain path. But as a result those that do risk being attacked by the animals that have moved into the area. Namely manticores. RRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! The feral sound came accompanied by panicked shrieks coming from a pony. Ethan dropped his bag and ran towards the sound, one hand on the hilt of his sword. The shrieks became clearer and gave way to somepony speaking. “Trixie does not want to be cat food! Trixie would like to be anything but cat food right now!” There was another roar and the sound of wood breaking. “Go away please! Trixie did not mean to disturb you!” Ethan burst into the clearing and skidded to a halt. A blue pony with a silver-grey mane topped with a ragged wizard’s cap and wearing a torn starry cape was cowering on the ground between a very scratched up cart and a very hungry looking manticore. “Hey ugly!” Ethan shouted drawing his sword. The manticore’s growling paused as he turned his head to face Ethan. The blue pony looked up at Ethan with wide fearful eyes. “Trixie does not want to trade one evil for another! Manticore, Trixie implores you to protect her from the scarier thing with the armor and sword!” The manticore charged at Ethan with a roar. Ethan clumsily dodged it while trying to counter. Not used to fighting with a sword, Ethan missed and ended up falling over. “Fuck, anime made this shit look easy,” Ethan grumbled to himself as he stood up. The manticore recovered and charged again. Ethan tried to dodge and counter a second time, and only managed to succeed in not falling over. The manticore scored a scratch on Ethan’s side. “FUCK man! That hurts!” Ethan shouted while holding his side. Ethan was in too much pain to dodge the next charge. The manticore trampled Ethan and didn’t stop until it reached the edge of the clearing. Ethan, too hurt to get up, looked over to the blue pony who had taken off her hat and revealed her horn. The unicorn was charging up a spell as the manticore slowly stalked over to Ethan. Wary that it’s new prey may have some tricks up it’s sleeve like other ponies on the path. The blue unicorn went unnoticed by the manticore who now stood over Ethan, one claw raised to prepare to finish off the struggling creature beneath it. “LOOK OUT BELOW!” The manticore brought it’s claw down but was immediately knocked over by a grey and yellow blur. The blue unicorn let loose her spell in surprise. Ethan was losing blood fast from the scratch on his side. It cut deep, he couldn’t move. He wished that he had stayed in the castle instead of going out and seeking revenge. The blue unicorn walked up to Ethan with the gray blur, Derpy. Sound and sight were fading as Ethan slowly slipped into unconsciousness. “Ummm miss? do you think you can fix ethan?” The world went dark as Ethan blacked out from the pain and blood loss. “Trixie is not sure if she should. Is this ‘Ethan’ dangerous?” Trixie asked Derpy. Derpy gave Trixie a large smile. “Of course not! Ethan couldn’t hurt a fly!” “He certainly couldn’t with those skills…” Trixie muttered under her breath. “Well then let’s see what Trixie can do for the fellow. He appears to be bleeding quite...heavily…” Trixie’s voice trailed off as she got a closer look at the scratch in Ethan’s side. It was less of a scratch and more of a gash. Trixie blanched at the amount of blood pouring out. “Let’s hurry if we want him to live!” Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It wasn’t a void of white or black, it was just nothing. Ethan didn’t know if he was alive or dead. “Oh Ethan, there’s no need to worry. You’re very much alive. But that’s not what we need to worry about right now…” a female voice spoke from all directions. A shape began to form in the nothing that Ethan could see. Limbs began to form off a long snaky torso with a serpentine tail. Limbs that didn’t belong together. “Discord?” Ethan wondered. “No my dear. Someone far more powerful. Someone who may help you restore what you’ve lost,” The shape began to take on more detail. The head began to form and grow long white hair. When the draconequus was complete she gave Ethan’s general direction a devious smile as she slithered through the air. “The name is Eris. Charmed to finally meet you Ethan. Or I should say...The King in Grey,”
