On one peaceful afternoon, Artorias was strolling around in Ponyville as usual with Ornstein by his side, seeing the condition of Ponyville live in the field. Twilight and the others under the protection of Sif went inside the Everfree Forest to visit Zecora, and thus leaving the two in town.

"Just like the days of old..." Ornstein said as he waved at three unicorns trotting pass them.

"Of course...halt. Do you sense that?" Artorias stopped as he felt a powerful oppressive presence in the vicinity.

"I sensed that." Ornstein said as he began scanning his surroundings for any signs of malice.

The ponies around them felt something was coming their way, as they saw their protectors stood watch with alarmed expressions clearly seen on their faces.

"Everypony." Artorias said calmly "Return to your homes immediately and stay there." As everypony began to clear the area, a spine-chilling roar was heard and large black dragon swooped down from the sky with its claws ready to tear Artorias and Onrstein to shreds.

Instinctively, the knights evaded the attack and the dragon landed precisely on its attack trajectory kicking dust into the air. As the pony citizens burst into panic and ran for their lives, the dragon began spraying it everything around it with black fire. The dragon itself didn't look like a normal dragon as there were lots of glowing red eyes on its head, small horns protruding from its face and decayed physical condition.

Corrupted.

The knights knew for certain that the utter blackness corrupting the dragon, was none other than the Abyss.

Artorias and Ornstein drew their greatsword and spear respectively and prepared to engage the dragon.

"Captain Artorias, Dragonslayer Ornstein we'll assist you!" Said a pegasus royal guard as he and four of his comrades charged the dragon head on with their spears.

"No! It's too strong for you!" Artorias screamed loudly, trying to warn them. But before his warning could reach the guards, the dragon snuffed the guards out in a dark blaze of inferno; leaving nothing but trails of scorching black fire and piles of ash.

Artorias cursed under his breath and tightened his grip on his greatsword.

Just then, another beast entered the fray. A massive multi-headed black canine beast with hellish glowing red eyes with dark purple sludge dripping from its jaws with similar aura color radiating from it. Roaring.

"Two of them?!" Ornstein scoffed as he formed a back-to-back defensive position with Artorias. Facing their respective foes, Ornstein with the dragon and Artorias with the canine beast.

"We've been through worse." Artorias said "We have to lure them away from here."

"I take the dragon, you take the...dog." Ornstein said "On my go...go!"

Ornstein and Artorias dashed towards their opponents at a speed that would make Rainbow Dash jealous, quickly striking their opponents.

Artorias managed to run underneath it; slashing the legs of the multi-headed creature, spilling black corrupted blood to the ground and severely hindering its mobility.

"Come on you beast of darkness!" Artorias taunted it as he performed a mock gesture "Do my small dagger deter you?" With a roar of anger, the beast pursued Artorias as he ran towards the outskirts of Ponyville.

On the other Hand, Ornstein already did a number on the dragon. Blasting it with lightning and impaled it with its spear repeatedly, but the dragon was still alive and kicking; whereas most dragons would be dead.

"Damn, this one is strong." Ornstein mused as he evaded an overhead tail swipe from the dragon and impaled the dragon's tail with his spear and tore it off it's body; causing it to roar in pain. Having enough, the dragon flew and proceeded to ram the Dragonslayer.

Sensing a winning opportunity, Ornstein leaped on the dragon's back; causing it to fly high up into the clouds in an attempt to throw the knight off its back.

Intending to finish the fight as quickly as possible, he mustered his lightning power to its peak; channeling it to his spear...

Artorias, decapitated the beast's heads after successfully cutting two of the beast's legs and gutting it open. After exhaling a breath of relief, a thundering explosion echoed from the heavens followed by a silhouette of Ornstein dropping from the sky as well as pieces from the dragon.

"That Ornstein..." Artorias chuckled as he picked up the pace towards Ponyville.

"Artorias!" Ornstein greeted as soon as he saw his best friend entering the town.

"What an untidy fight." Artorias commented as he saw dragon's innards and other parts scattered everywhere around Ponyville. Several ponies were already out; wondering if the fight was already over. They were horrified, some of them even fainted on the ground.

"Are you jesting? This is a work of art!" Ornstein said with pride before looking at the crowd of ponies "Well, maybe not for them."

"It's fine now everypony, the situation is under control!" Artorias told them but regardless, they stood there. Frozen.

Just then, two royal chariots and several military chariots carrying lots of royal guards entered the skies of Ponyville. After seeing their leaders, the ponies dispersed from the area for they knew everything's going to be fine; although some remained at the scene.

"Well, the Royals are here." Artorias commented as the carriages landed in front of them and the Princesses disembarked from them.

"Congratulations my friend." Ornstein whispered as the guards formed a perimeter "I know about you and the Princess of the Night."

"Gough and Ciaran told you, right?" Artorias asked to which Ornstein replied with a nod. Just then an anthropomorphic Luna hugged Artorias tightly, despite his hard steel armor; Artorias felt it and returned the hug.

"Thank Faust you two are okay." Luna smiled softly as she let go of the hug and changing back to her alicorn form.

"We are fine." Artorias said "But...we lost five royal guards today." he said while looking at the remains of what were previously valiant guards.

"I will make sure they receive the highest of honors and of course proper funerals." Celestia said as four unicorn guards levitated the ashes and placed them in elaborately decorated urns with even more unicorns spreading out to clean up the bloody mess "We flew here as soon as we felt this...oppressive feeling."

Before Artorias and Ornstein started their explanation; Twilight, her friends, and Sif arrived on the scene.

"H-hey we saw Cerberus' remains on the outskirts and now pieces of...I don't know! What happened?!" Twilight asked frantically before realizing the Princesses were there.

"Nevermind the formalities Twilight." Celestia said "We have a more serious issue on our hoofs."

"Lets just say, we encountered an old enemy." Ornstein said "But I am sure Artorias has more experience to explain..."

"My friends, the Abyss...is here. On this very land." Artorias replied solemnly. Although having heard nothing but stories and rumors, the ponies knew this could be worse than anything they had faced before "We must act soon. For if we don't, the Abyss shall consume this land."

"Princess, do you know these creatures' origins?" Ornstein asked.

"The Black Dragon and Cerberus are from Tartarus...both acting as guardians of the hellish prison." Luna said "Something is not right at Tartarus."

"Then how do we stop it?" Rainbow asked with her hoofs crossed.

"The Abyss cannot be destroyed, it can only be contained. In order to do this, we must destroy its source of power; but I must warn you, this will not be easy. Many could die...or worse." Artorias told them.

"Very well, then we shall march our army to Tartarus. We will leave tomorrow as soon as preparations are complete." Celestia said "Twilight, you and your friends will accompany us as well. The Elements are probably the only way to end this."

"Of course Princess Celestia. Come on girls, we have work to do." Twilight said before leaving the scene with her friends.

"For now I shall return to Canterlot to coordinate our forces with Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor." Celestia stated.

"I shall stay here and coordinate Ponyville's defense." Luna said before taking off and rounding up the guard commanders.

"Very well, then you will also have a garrison of guards in your disposal." Celestia said while getting on to her chariot "Take care now." and soon, the pegasus guards flew her chariot back to Canterlot.

"Well, that was...brief and clear." Ornstein stated "Now what shall we do?"

"I...don't know." Artorias said while staring at the ground "Why don't you help with defense coordination? I need some time to think." he said while standing up "You stay here too Sif." he said before walking up to a grassy hill overlooking Ponyville.

Not long after, it was already at night. Artorias sat on the hill with his greatsword and supplies beside him, watching over Ponyville while also trying to collect himself; what if the Abyss consumed Equestria and all of its inhabitants? What if the Abyss corrupted him once again or even worse...the ones he cared for? Those were only fragments from what was swirling inside of Artorias' heart and mind. He stood up, took his belongings and prepared to leave for Tartarus alone.

Just then, he felt presences behind him and turned around. There he saw Luna, Ornstein, Sif, and Twilight accompanied with the Element Bearers; all of them being very concerned about him.

"Look Artorias, I know this is not something you could easily unwind yourself from; but you shouldn't strain yourself too hard about this." Twilight said.

"Twilight is right Artorias." Fluttershy said while walking towards him; an aura of valor emanating from her "I appreciate your concern, but I know...somehow I know that if we do this together; we are all going to be alright."

"The little one is right Artorias." Ciaran said as her and Gough's apparitions appeared before them "You went into the Abyss all by yourself, with only puppy Sif on your side. Everything would be alright should you took all of us with you and focused."

"Now, do not repeat the same mistake my friend. The consequences of your previous actions already devastated Lordran...please do not destroy this place by a reckless action."

"We can't afford to lose you Artorias...I can't afford to lose you." Luna said "It would be too much for us to bear."

"And have you thought of that yourselves?! I do not want to lose every single one of you...I lost a lot of my comrades once and I am not planning to go through that again. Forgive me." Artorias said while getting up, preparing to leave.

"Is this the Abysswalker I know? Running away from danger in fear of losing his comrades?! How selfish of you to say so!" Ornstein belowed, stopping Artorias in his tracks "Remember when we fought the dragons? We fought side by side with others who sacrificed themselves so Anor Londo may live, to prevent those dragons from slaughtering the entire city. In battle, there will be casualties but its up to us whether to live, fight, and cherish their memories or to just let them die in vain."

"You are right...all of you are right." Artorias turned around "I am neglecting my responsibilities now. If the Abyss prevails, there will be nothing for us to live for or to fight for."

"Besides if I am going down, I am planning to go down fighting." Ornstein said while patting Artorias on the back "Together?"

"Together."

Author's Note

THIS STORY LIVES!

HOLY DAMN! Its been waaaaaay to long since I updated this one...(I am not sure if the word 'sorry' is going to be sufficient this time ) and also, we are close to wrap this one up! OMG I am so excited about this!

Hopefully I am able to finish this in two more chapters and minus the time of waiting

Well that's all for now guys, click that thumbs up and that star button if you like my story and do not hesitate to comment down bellow because I am really looking forward to hear out from you guys about this chapter. Until then, stay awesome guys and I will see you in the next chapter!