Broken Shellby sworddog44ChaptersChapter 1 Chaper 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 7Chapter 8Chapter 9Chapter 1 Chapter 1 Shining Armor walked down the hall of the lunar guard barracks looking around at the doors. He hardly ever came down this hall since its inhabitants were under the direct command of the princess Luna. He stopped at a door that was painted a soft blue with the number 25 painted in black numbers. "Hmm I would have expected more from somepony with their reputation." He knocked softly before using his hoof to turn the knob and walked in. "Hello?" He looked around and saw a pony lying on the bed not completely sure if it was a mare or a colt their dark gray skin almost hiding the dark stripes on their arms and cheeks. They didn't look like he could be older than 19 "I take it you are Broken Shell?" The pony laying on the bad looked over at him their light brown hair falling into their face. "Yes I am, I believe we have met your Shining Armor right? I was in training when you were in training to become an officer." They said in a voice that left no question that he was in fact a male. Shining Armor nodded. "Yeah I remember you. You were the one who broke my record in the hand to hand combat training zone. Anyway I am here to tell you that princess Celestia has asked to see you at your earliest convenience." Broken Shell nodded, it was known that even though the order of lunar operations took their orders from Princess Luna they still listened to commands from the solar princess. "Okay I will be there. I just need a few minutes to get ready, then I will go see her." He got up and looked at his ragged outfit. "I might need to change first." Shining Armor nodded. "Take your time she is still in court for another 15 minutes or so. She said for you to go to her private quarters and she will arrive as soon as possible." He turned and walked out of the room closing the door as he left. Broken Shell sighed. "And here I thought I would have a relaxing break." He pulled his shirt off and tossed it into his hamper before pulling on a dark purple dress shirt. He looked in the mirror and pulled his hair back behind his ears showing three piercings going down the back of each ear before pulling on a Beanie and walking out the door. The walk to the castle didn't take long as Broken Shell thought. Walking into the Solar wing he looked around and saw a door with a large painting of the sun over it. "Weird, isn't there a guard here at all times?" He knocked softly before opening the door. "Hello? I was told to meet the princess here." He looked around at the spacious living room and walked over to the couch. "Well I guess I might as well wait." He sat down on the white couch. "How is this thing not stained?" He looked around and noticed that the whole room seemed to have the same white and yellow color scheme. "Well this place is colorful." There was a chuckle from behind him and he turned to see a tall mare behind him wearing a long flowing white dress with wings sprouting from her back and a large horn on her forehead. "Well that tends to happen when you are the Princess of the Sun." She sat down in a chair and looked at him. "I guess you are Broken Shell 25th seat of the Lunar Squad? Or as my sister so kindly refers to you as the Nightmare Commandos." Broken nodded looking in awe at her before quickly regaining his composure. "Yes I am. I was told that you wished to see me?" Celestia nodded. "Yes I am going to ask you for your help in a long term guard mission. You may of course refuse this. It is not an order but a request. I need someone to go and be a covert guard for the elements of harmony. I understand you are still on long term break but my sister recommend you for this. I understand if you need more time. I heard about your last mission." Broken Shell shook his head. "No I’m fine, I’ll do it. I am still kind of surprised you left one of the nation's strongest weapons in a small town." Celestia sighed. "They aren't just weapons they are ponies with lives of their own. It wouldn't be right to just take them from that. But there has been a threat on them so instead of sending a group of guards to their town to watch their every move I have chosen to send you." Broken nodded. "Okay then, but why send me. I am the last seat of the commandos?" He looked up at her and sighed. Celestia looked at him. "Simple, both me and my sister know that you are one of the few we can trust to be discreet. Now I have already made sure you have a cover story and get you a small sum of money to get lodging for the month. You will need to get a job when you get there, it would look suspicious otherwise." Broken smiled a fake smile that would have tricked most anyone. "I am sure I can find something." He took the folder out of the princess's golden magic. "I will leave as soon as possible." He got up and walked over to the door. Celestia looked at him. "Broken, trust me, it will get easier over time." She smiled at him softly. Broken nodded softly. "That's what they all say." He walked out the door and opened the file reading through it. "Hmm this is a good cover. Son of a town guard in a Saddle Arabia border town. I guess that makes sense." He closed to file and walked to his room. "So I guess I should pack my things." He grabbed a large bag and started to pack his clothes. He sighed and looked in the mirror. "Well this is it." He put a few trinkets including a broken striped sea shell in the bag and then zipped it up. The walk to the train station was quick for him as he quickly boarded the train. Broken Shell sat in an unoccupied booth putting his bag down next to him he started looking through the file again. “Hmm how am I going to keep a low profile.” He looked down at his arms seeing the dark stripes covering them. “I am guessing it will be hard to keep a low profile in this town, from what I understand it is mostly an earth pony town.” He leaned back in his seat and sighed. “I could wear a hoodie I guess.” Broken looked around before pulling the shades on his booth closed and taking his shirt off his chest sporting several faded scars standing out on his gray skin and highlighting the black stripes on his torso. He sighed and pulled a black shirt out of his bag and pulling it on then pulling on a red hoodie. He sat back down and sighed before pulling out his phone and looking at the time. “Well it looks like I have about 30 minutes.” Broken sat down reading a book on his phone waiting for the time to pass. He looked up when he felt the train stop, then stood up. Grabbing his bag he walked onto the platform and breathed in the air. "Well I guess this is where I’ll be staying for a while." Author's Note Hey guys and girls thanks for the read. I have no clue when or how this will end but I have a few ideas. Please feel free to comment with any criticism or other comments. Also I am looking for an editor so if you can help please message me. Chaper 2Broken Shell walked into the town market making sure to keep his hood low to hide his stripes. His head bobbed slightly as he listened to music in his head phones. Looking around he saw a stand selling carrots with a medium sized yellow earth pony mare with orange hair and a matching orange tail sprouting from her lower back with three carrots on her flank for her cutie mark. He walked over to her keeping his hood low. “Hey I was wondering if you knew where I could find a place to stay?” She looks up at him. “Oh… Umm I would check the billboard at the local library. Some people post things there if they are looking for a roommate.” She smiles softly. Broken Shell nodded. “Okay thank you.” He started to turn. “Oh where is the library?” He looked around having no idea where to go. “Oh yea just go down this street and you will see a large tree that is it.” She pointed down the road. Broken nodded. “Okay thank you.” He started to walk down the road in the way that she had pointed looking around taking note of how many different people there were in the town. “Wow there are more people here then I thought there would be.” He muttered to himself as he saw a large tree by the road reading the sign he sighed. “Golden Oak Library home to the element of magic.” He walked into the library and to the billboard. Broken Shell took out his headphones as he looked over the fliers. “Hmm it looks like most of the jobs here are for temporary farm workers. I am sure I could do that.” He took a flier for work on the local apple farm. “Now to find a room for rent.” He looked around and sighed. “Of course there isn’t any.” He turned around and stopped almost running into the horn of a white unicorn mare with a cutie mark of two bridged eight notes. “Oh sorry.” He moved so she could get to the board. She looked up at him her red eyes meeting his. “It’s okay, hey did you say you were looking for a room? My and my partner where looking to rent out our spare bedroom.” Broken Shell nodded. “Okay that sounds good. I was just needing a place to stay for as long as I am here.” He watched as she started to walk and followed her. “I’m Broken Shell by the way.” The unicorn looked at him. “I’m Vinyl Scratch, I will warn you right now both me and Octavia play music, so the house can get loud at times.” Broken nodded. “Okay well it looks like I will be working non-stop for at least a few weeks so I will only be using it to sleep. So how much is rent for this room by the way?” Vinyl shrugged. “I was thinking 300 bits a month but I have to talk to Octavia about it. But since it is the 20th we will give you the room free for the rest of this month and you can just pay us on the first for next month.” Broken nodded. “Okay I have enough bits to cover the first months rent but it looks like I will be working at least this farming job.” He kept looking around and sighed as the small houses remended him of when he grew up. Vinyl looked at him. “Oh you might need to take your hood off when we get there, Octavia has this weird thing about people in hoods.” Broken looked at her and gulped softly. “Okay….” He stopped after she did and looked at the house. It was bigger than most of the houses in the town but the basic design was the same. “So this is it I guess?” Vinyl nodded and opened the door. “Yes it is come on in.” She walked through the door. Broken sighed and walked in after her pulling his hoodie down hoping that his long hair will cover his cheeks to hide the stripes. “Okay so where will I be staying?” Vinyl looked at him almost in shock. “U-up stairs. You look a lot like a mare you know that right? I mean if I just saw you I would think you were one.” Broken nodded. “Yea I get that a lot. Trust me I went to a public school I am quite aware of it.” He chuckled, happy she hadn't seen his stripes on his cheeks. Vinyl chuckled and lead him up stairs. "Tavi won't be back for another hour at least." She opened a door for him and smiled. “It isn’t much but since me and Tavi have a bathroom attached to our room, the one across from you should be free most of the time.” Broken nodded. “Okay. Wait you two are lesbians?” He looked at her with a curious look, but nothing in his look was judgemental. Vinyl nodded. “Yes we are. That won’t be a problem will it?” She looked at him glaring slightly but not saying anything to show she was angry. Broken chuckled. “Not at all. Trust me I wouldn’t be hitting on either of you even if you weren't.” He walked into the room and set his bag down on his bed. “No offence but mares aren’t really my type.” Vinyl nodded. "Well okay then, I will leave you to get settled. I will call you when Tavi gets home and then we will talk about rent and all that." She turned and walked out of the door closing it behind her. Broken sighed and started to unpack putting all of his clothes in the dresser and the trinkets on top of it before pulling the knife from his bag and slipping it under a pile of shirts in the dresser. "I guess this is my home for the next few months." He muttered to himself before sitting on the bed and playing a game on his phone. About an hour later he heard the door open and shut then muffled voice one was clearly Vinyl. He sighed and stood up checking in the mirror to make sure his stripes were still hidden before walking down stairs. He saw a brown earth pony with a black mane and a violet treble clef on her cheek. “Hello, you must be Octavia. I am Broken Shell.” Octavia looked at him. “Yes Vinyl was telling me that we had someone who was going to rent our room.” She looked him up and down before nodding. “You look like we can trust you. Okay well anything that Vinyl told you can be what is going on for your rent situation.” She smiled softly. Broken Shell nodded. “Well, okay then. If you excuse me I had a long train ride and feel like getting some rest.” He walked up the stairs and into his new room closing and locking the door before changing into a pair of shorts and laying on the bed falling fast asleep. Author's Note Well here is chapter 2, I hope that you liked it and I am still looking for an editor. Chapter 3Author's Note This is my last post on this story for a while because of my summer job and limited access to the internet but I will try to post at least every two weeks. Also sorry if the end seems rushed but I wanted to finish this before I left. Once again I am still looking for an editor. Chapter 3 Broken Shell woke up early in the morning and sighed. “Ugh what time does that flyer say I need to be there?” He mumbled and looked at the sheet then the time. “Well I have an hour so I guess I shouldn’t go to sleep.” He got up and walked over to his dresser pulling out a long sleeved black shirt and a pair of jeans. Walking over to a mirror he combed his hair making sure it was covering his cheek before pulling on his beanie and walking out of his room. Broken put in his earbuds and walked out of his house heading in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. He looked around as he walked slowly down the street. “There is the school I guess.” He waved at the magenta mare with the two tone pink hair that was walking into the school before looking around again. “Ugh this town is so small how is the farm this far away.” He yawned as he stepped onto the dirt road leading to the ragged looking farm house. "Hmm I guess this is the place." He looked around at all the apple trees and yawned. "I guess I'm early." He thought as he turned his head. He heard somepony walk out of the front door. His eyes widened when he looked at the large red earth stallion with a red flannel shirt and jeans. He walked over and looked at him. "Hey I take it you are the pony I need to talk to for a job?" The red stallion looked at him. "Eeyup. You'll be helping mah sister Applejack." He looked him over. "You sure you can do do this? It's hard work. Lotta heavy lifting." Broken Shell smirked and walked over to a large empty cart and lifted the side of it grunting slightly. "Is that good?" The stallion nodded and pulled a piece of grass out of the ground and put it in his mouth. "Ah reckon so. You can go inside, Granny is in the kitchen if you’re hungry." He walked to the barn and pulled out a large cart of apples and started down the road. Broken Shell smiled and walked into the house looking at an elderly mare sitting at the table. "Hello there, the stallion said I could come in. I’m here for the job." The mare looked at him. "Ah reckon you convinced that grandson of mine then. You'll have a few minutes before Applejack wakes up since she didn't have to get Apple Bloom ready for school. A’m Granny Smith by the way." Broken Shell nodded and sat down across from her. "I'm Broken Shell. It is nice to meet you." He smiled another one of his fake smiles at her. Granny Smith's eyes narrowed. "Ah may not be no element o' honesty but ah can tell when I see a fake smile. Ah can tell something ain't right in your life but ah ain't gonna ask bout it as long as y'all work well. Ah can tell you're not a threat." Broken Shell chuckled. "And I should have known not to try and fake someone who has been around for all of your years." He looked at her. "Thank you for not asking though and I promise I am not a threat to you or your family." Granny smith nodded. "Well ah guess ah should make some breakfast. I'm sure Applejack will be hungry and y'all look like you haven't ate fer ah week." Broken She shrugged. "I don't know I can't seem to put on a lot of weight." He moved his hair making sure it covered the stripes oh his cheeks. "So I take it that breakfast will be made mostly of apples?" Granny Smith nodded. "Ya know it. Unless ya don't like apples ah can whip up a quick breakfast fer ya." Broken Shell shook his head. "No it is fine. I have heard about this farm's apples some of the best they say. Of course growing up I learned not to complain about where a meal was coming from." Granny nodded. "Good." She started to move around the kitchen with a speed of a mare a quarter of her age grabbing things and using utensils. Broken Shell turned to the stairs as he heard a pony walking down. The orange mare had on a plaid shirt and a pair of jeans with a Stetson hat on. She looked at him. "Oh hello ma'am ah didn't know we had company." Broken Shell chuckled softly hearing it for the hundredth time. "It is fine and yes before you ask I am a stallion I just like long hair." He turned back to look at the elderly mare who was walking to the table with a large stack of what he assumed where apple pancakes. The orange mare sat down by him. “So uh I'm Applejack, ah guess you are the one who is here to help with the farm work?” She put some of the pancakes on her plate and started to eat them slowly. Broken Shell nodded. “Yes I am.” He took a few pancakes and poured some syrup onto them. “I just need to make some money so I can pay my rent for the time I'm here.” Applejack nodded. “How long are ya here for? I haven’t seen ya around town before.” Broken Shell nodded. “I got here yesterday afternoon, as for how long I am here for I don’t really know. I'm waiting for a friend of mine to come and see me.” He took a bite of one of his pancakes. “Oh my this is one of the best things I have ever tasted.” Granny Smith smiled. “Thank ya, ah have been cooking since befer you were born.” Applejack nodded. “Yep Granny here is the best cook in all of ponyville. Why ah reckon she could beat all them fancy canterlot cooks.” Broken Shell nodded. “Trust me I have traveled a lot of places and this is up in the top five of the best things I have ever eaten.” He finished the rest of his stack fast before looking at the two mares. Applejack finished and looked at him. “Well lets go.” She smiled at her grandmother before walking out of the farm house. Broken Shell smiled at the old mare. “Thank you for the meal.” He got up and followed behind Applejack as she explained what she needed him to do over the day. Broken Shell walked down the street next to Applejack who had insisted on walking with him to his temporary house. He stopped in front of his house. “Well this is the place. I guess Octavia and Vinyl are gone.” He pulled out the key Vinyl had given him the night before and unlocked the door. He opened it and the lights turned on as he did and he heard what must have been half the town yell surprise including one pink earth pony mare who came up from under his beanie sending it across the room and his hair flew back showing his stripes oh his cheeks. Chapter 4Broken shell looked around and tried to grab his beanie before it fell but couldn’t as he got weighed down by the mare on top of him. He looked up at her but she was suddenly at the other end of the room. He looked around and walked over to his beanie the crowd parting for him as he walked none of them saying a word. He slid it on making sure his hair was in place before walking up the stairs without saying a word. A few minutes later he hear a knock on the door before it opened showing the face of Vinyl Scratch. "Hey Broken, sorry about earlier this town still isn't used to zebra's I mean there was a time that we would all hide from the one who lives in the forest. Plus there is the fact that you don't have a cutie mark." Broken Shell looked at her. "It's fine. Plus I am only half Zebra that is the reason I don't have a mark. The trait for that is from the father and he was a zebra meaning I got the tribe mark from him. The tribe he is from doesn't have a mark." Vinyl nodded. "Well okay then. We still have cake down stairs if you want some." She smiled at him. Broken Shell shrugged. "Nah I think I will just go ahead and go to sleep. I figure I need to find a job that will last for at least a few days so I have some steady income." Vinyl nodded and walked out closing the door behind her. Broken walked to the bathroom and sighed before taking out all of his piercings the rooms shadows suddenly getting darker. He put them in a cup before getting into the shower. Broken got out of the shower and started to dry off. He got dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a tank top feeling more comfortable showing his stripes now that most of the town knew about them. He put in his ear rings again and walked to his room putting his clothes from the day and the towels in a hamper that was in the corner. "I should try the library again for a job." He said to himself before laying in bed and falling asleep. ****************************************** The next morning Broken woke up and walked over to his bag that he had yet to unpack and pulled out a tee shirt and a pair of cargo pants and put them on before walking out of the house. "I wish I had a timetable for this job. That would give me at least an idea of how much I need to earn." He started to walk down the street pulling his phone out of his pocket as he went. "I suppose I could call and ask." He shook his head. "No it can't be that long." He slipped his phone back in pocket as he got to the library. "Great it's still closed." He sighed and started to walk down the road again. He got to the market and looked around watching the ponies as they opened up their stands. "Now this reminds me of home." He chuckled. "Of course this lacks the smells of tea and spice that those marketplaces had." He walked down the street ignoring the odd looks he got from the ponies around him. He walked up to a small stand selling rice cakes and bought a few for breakfast before starting his walk back to the library. Broken walked in and saw the library looked trashed. "Hmm well then." He looked and saw a small purple dragon walk down the stairs. "Oh hello there." The dragon looked at him. "Hi. You must be the new zebra in town." He started to clean up the books. "Twilight was up all night trying to figure out what tribe you where from." He held up a book of zebra tribe marks. "It seems like there are no tribes without marks." Broken nodded. "That's because my father's tribe was killed. I'm only half zebra so I don't really count." He shrugged. "But that was a long time ago." He yawned a little and watched the young dragon work. "Hey do you know a place I could work for a few days? I am trying to earn some rent money." The dragon looked at him. "Hmm I don't know there might be something on the board or if not you could ask Pinkie she seems to know everything that is going on around here." Broken Shell nodded. "Okay." He looked at the board before walking out the door and walking down the street. He looked around seeing that the town was more alive than it was when he left he noticed that a few of the town workers were starting to set up for nightmare night. "Huh I guess that is tomorrow." He got to the door of the oddly shaped bakery when he felt a wave of killing intent from behind him not enough to make him worry but enough to get him to look. He turned around and saw a colt who couldn't be older then ten standing behind him. "Ah I thought I would see you again." The dark red unicorn colt said nothing as he levitated a knife from his jacket and shot it at him aiming for Broken Shells head. Broken Shell dodged it and ran towards the colt aiming a kick at his legs. The colt jumped back and shot another knife at him whipping it right for his neck. Broken Shell dodged it and swung an elbow at the colt trying to hit his still glowing horn to knock his magic out. The colt ducked and shot three more knifes at his chest. Broken Shell dodged and hit the sides of the knifes causing them to fall at the feet of the growing crowds before finally punching the base of the colts horn to disrupt his magic flow. Before he could land another hit on the dazed colt a town guard tackled him. He looked at the kid. "You better run kid. Try Canterlot a small black magic shop." The colt glared at him and ran evading the town guard before hitting the edge of town. Broken Shell smiled as he watched the colt run before being knocked out by the guards. Chapter 5Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.Chapter 6Broken Shell woke up and checked his phone to see it was almost half past ten in the morning. "Ugh I slept in. I guess I should get better alarms." He got out if he'd and turned on the lights before seeing a note on his door. He read it out loud. "Me and Tavia went out. Feel free to raid the fridge." The bottom was signed by Vinyl. He shrugged and walked over to his bag quickly getting dressed before walking out if his room and down the stairs. Broken Shell walked out the door and started to listen to music as he watched the town start to put the finishing touches on their nightmare night celebration. He sighed and started to walk down the road. "This is going to be a hard night." He looked around and saw a few colts and fillies walking around in their costumes. He turned and walked over to a small stand selling masks and bought a plain white mask. He turned and walked back towards the house he was staying at and walked up to his room. He pulled a small box decorated with paint and sighed. "Its hard to believe this is all I have left." He opened the box and pulled out a few paints. He grabbed the mask and started to paint on it before setting it down by a window to dry. The painting was a simple dot with several lines coming off and serving around the mask. To most it would look like a small foal made it in a few minutes but to him it meant much more. He laid down and sighed. "I hope that it will just be for decoration tonight." He fell asleep again. Broken Shell woke up hearing Vinyl and Octavia walk in. He grabbed his phone and sighed looking at the time. "Ugh its almost time to get ready." He got out of bed and pulled a cloak out of his bag pulling it on over his black shorts and tank top slipping his knife onto his back and putting his mask on. He walked out his door and down the stairs. "Hey guys. I am heading out now." Vinyl looked at him. "There you are I was wondering if you ended up in jail again." She chuckled and gave a small smirk. Octavia shot her a quick glare. "That's mean I am sure it was just a misunderstanding." Broken Shell shrugged. "I guess you could call it that." He turned to the door and walked out. I can't let them get close to me. The farther I keep people the farther they are from harm. He thought to himself as he walked down the street. He looked over and saw Pinkie Pie leading a group of foals around the town getting candy. "This is such a strange tradition. Why give candy out to children for a day one of their princesses went insane?" He shrugged. "This country is weird at times." Broken She'll sighed and sat down on a bench watching as the town started to come out dressed in costumes. "This is close to the middle of town I should be able to get anywhere in decent time." He started to listen to music in his phone watching the hours go by. At about 8:30 he felt it a strong presence approaching the town. "Hmm it looks like it will not be a peaceful night after all." He reached up and started to take the studs out of his ears one by one before turning towards the way it was approaching from. "Gate one open the gate of striding." He started to walk and as his shadow increases his walk got faster before he knew it he was on the other side of town. "Hmm they are strong." He sat down and started to count. "Five... Four... Three..." He pulled his knife out. "Two... One..." He jumped back just in time for a large needle to bury itself where he was sitting. Out of the woods a tall stallion dressed in a nice suit with half a face mask on his right side walked out and smiled. "Ah you must be the one I heard about. The one Princess Celestia sent to protect the precious student and her friends." Broken Shell looked at him and nodded. "Yes I am. I take it if you know that then you must also know who I am." The stallion nodded and smiled. "Yes you are Broken Shell. The last of the Shadow Dancers also known as the moon's shadow." Broken Shell nodded. "Yes, now I find myself as the one at a disadvantage. You seem to know a lot about me but I know nothing about you." The stallion smiled. "My name is Wing Flower. I am sure you have heard my other name though. The Angel of Needles." He moved his wings and suddenly they appeared to shimmer as hundreds of needles dangled from them. Broken nodded. "Yes I have heard of you. You were once a member of a guild of assassins in the gryphon lands but it is said you left them in search of a way to make a real name for yourself." Wing looked at him. "Yes that is what they say but enough with the introductions I am sure we both know how this will end so how about we skip to that part?" Broken nodded and gripped his knife before running at the Pegasus and swinging for his wing. Wing jumped back and flapped his wing towards Broken sending three needles flying at his face. Broken dodged and jumped back. "Gate two open gate of the vanishing." He moved into the shadow of a near by tree and vanished appearing behind Wing and swinging again managing to cut some of the needles from the back side if his wing. Wing swung his fist back and hit Broken in the side. "I see the rumors about your fighting style are true." Broken jumped across and looked at Wing. "I fight to win. There is no honor in a fight to the death it is just two ponies trying to kill each other." He ran at Wing and swung his elbow aiming for his jaw. Wing ducked back and kicked at Broken's side trying to hit him in the kidney. Broken moved fast and swung his knife cutting Wing's leg deep and pushing him away. Wing took off into the air a few needles shooting out and sticking into Broken's arm before flying towards town his leg dripping a long trail of blood behind him. Broken grunted and pulled the needles out of his arm before running after Wing towards town. Wing flew over the town starting to feel the blood loss going to his head. "I need to kill at least one if them to ruin their power." He saw a purple unicorn dressed as an old wizard talking to an older mare next to the stage. "Perfect." He landed between them and raised a wing to shoot a needle into her neck. Twilight gasped as a tall Pegasus landed in front of her and she froze when she realized he had a needle pointed at her on his wing. Suddenly she felt a warm liquid cover her face and saw the Pegasus's wing fall off then he fell to the ground his head rolling off his body. She looked up at saw Broken standing there holding a pair of bloody knifes before she fainted. Broken looked down at Twilight not even looking at the growing crowd. "You might want to get her off the ground." He turned and walked away as the crowed opened a path for him. Broken walked down the street and stopped when his phone started to ring. He pulled it out of his pocket and sighed seeing it was Princess Luna. He his the answer key. "Yes my princess?" "Broken come to the house you are staying at now." Her voice was soft but had a hint of anger in it. Broken nodded. "Yes I will be there soon." He hung up and cut across an ally getting to the house where he was renting a room and saw the princess standing by the door talking with Octavia who had a look of shock on her face. He walked over. "You summoned me princess?" Luna looked at him. "Yes I did. Come with me." She nodded to Octavia. "It has been nice talking to you Miss Harmonic." She turned and started to walk down the path leading to the park. "Why didn't you eliminate the threat before he got into town? Do you know how many ponies could have been hurt?" Broken looked at her as he walked. "Simple. Tell them about the threat and it puts a ripple in their bubble of surroundings. If you show them the threat then they have to accept it as a truth rather than an inconvenience." He sat down on a bench. "I have no doubt I could have killed him before he even knew I was there but then it would just make the elements think they were safe from anything. If I show them now that I can't protect them 100% then they will take steps to better protect themselves." The princess sighed. “As much as I hate to say it that makes sense but I doubt my sister will see it like that. Just do me a favor and make sure the next one that comes around take care of him as fast as possible. I don’t want the girls to freak out every time a tree shakes.” Broken shell nodded. “Of course I will. Plus I doubt the mayor will be happy about a dead body in the middle of town.” He yawned. “I wasn’t ready to use that much power at once.” He looked around. “Well I guess you should go out and pretend to be the Big Bad Nightmare Moon.” He started to walk back throwing a peace sign to the princess as he started to walk back home. Broken Shell walked into Vinyls house and up to his room quickly changing into a pair of shorts and laying down falling into a dreamless sleep fast. Chapter 7Broken Shell woke up and got out of bed quickly. He walked over to his mirror and swiftly brushed his mane before pulling on his clothes and walking down the stairs to the kitchen. He opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of orange juice. He poured some into a cup then put the bottle back. "I don't think much will happen today. I should find a place to relax." He muttered to himself. He finished the glass and rinsed it out before putting it in the dishwasher and walking out of the house. He walked down the road ignoring all the looks he was getting. He got to the edge of the everfree forest and shrugged. Starting to walk down the road he stopped when he saw a treehouse that looked very familiar. “Is that a zebra house?” He started to walk towards it and looked at the runes along the doorframe. “I wonder how often ponies have walked past those just thinking they were simple decorations.” He knocked on the door knowing that if who he thought lived here did, he would not be disrupting anything this early in the morning. The door opened showing an older zebra mare. "Ah who might this be, he looks like he has something in common with me." Broken Shell rolled his eyes and sighed. "Really, are you doing that?" Zecora sighed. "Oh. Yes, sorry. I suppose I can use my normal speech with you can't I? Please come in. I am sure you have as many questions for me as I have for you." Broken Shell nodded and walked in looking around. "You know I have heard of the tree houses of great mage's of zebra clans." He looked over and saw the mark on her cheek. "Of course you do not truly have a clan, I have heard legends of the Zecora of the forest. I was not however expecting her to be from the Black Sun Clan." He sat down in a wooden chair. "So how does one with your power come to live in this forest?" He took in a breath feeling the ancient magics of his family's homeland surrounding him. Zecora pulled a teapot off her shelf and started to fill it. "Well, l as I am sure you know my clan was persecuted for standing with yours. Of course we were not hunted down to the extent yours was, in fact I hear talk of a large group of my clan living in the desert of Saddle Arabia. I however like it here in this land of peace and friendship." She sets the teapot on the coals of last night's fire. "Now, I am wondering how a Shadow Dancer come to be in Equestria." Broken Shell sighed. "Well then that will take us back to when I was only six years old." ** 13 years ago** Broken Shell looked out the window of his family's small shack as the other kids in his small village in Saddle Arabia about three days from the border with the Zebra lands. He knew his father and him were not supposed to draw attention to themselves though he didn't know why. He turned when he heard the door open and his mother and father walk in. His mother was a earth pony with a dark brown coat and pink mane and tail and a cutie mark of a red cross and a dove in the center of it. His father was a large zebra with no clan mark. His father Black Shell looked at him and smiled taking the large knife he kept on his side off and put it on a table. "Hello son." He walked over and pulled Broken into a hug. "How was your day today?" Broken smiled and hugged back. "It was good but something weird happened when I was reading. The lights flickered and my shadow acted weird." Black Shell looked down as he let go of his son. "Don't worry my son it is a part of you that it will happen like that. It means you are growing into your power." Broken's mother Huge Heart walked over and hugged her son quickly. "I will go start dinner why don't you and your father talk for a while." She walked to the small kitchen. Black Shell sat on a cushion and motioned for his son to do the same. "As you know our clan was once so powerful the rulers of the zebra land where scared of us and decided to get rid of us..." A few tears formed in the corners his eyes. "Our main powers are the ability to utilize our shadows as fighting abilities." He wiped his eyes. "What happened today means your powers are coming into effect. You must keep them under control because there are those that can sense our powers and wish to bring us harm." Broken nodded. "Of course father." He got up from the seat. "We should go and get dinner now." He winced as he heard a loud knocking followed by a door being kicked in and three zebra with robes on walked in. The leader looked at broken and his father. "Shadow dancers." He pulled out a large curved knife that split into two. "We will wipe you out you demons." He started to run towards the two and Broken's father got up running towards them grabbing the leader and hitting him hard. "Run Broken I will find you!" Broken froze for a second before running towards the kitchen to get out that way. Before he could move to that window one of the Zebras ran up and grabbed him. Broken's mother ran at the zebra hitting him trying to stop it from hurting her son. The zebra turned and grabbed her by the neck snapping it with one hand. As he did this his grip loosened on Broken. Broken ran jumping through the window stopping for a second as he heard the death cry of his father. He started to run not wasting time to cry as he ran he could cry later. He continued to run for three days stopping in the large capital city. He started to walk down the street hoping to blend into the crowed. He walked past a building when he heard someone yell out. "Hey boy!" ***Back in the present.*** Zecora nodded nod offering the normal condolences that often follow the story. "It seems you have lived a hard life started with a hard memory." She poured two cups of tea giving one to Broken. Broken nodded and sipped his tea. "Thank you. So I hear you are friends with the locals." Zecora nodded and sipped her tea. "Yes it took a long time for them to get to know and accept me, it will probably take longer for you." Broken shrugged. "I don't really care either way. I am here for this job and once it is done I shall go back to my room in Canterlot and stay there until I am needed again." Zecora shook her head. "You are hiding from something. I can tell you from experience hiding will not help, it did not help when you were six and it will not help you now." Broken looked at her trying to be mad but knew everything she said was true. "It is just so hard you know, I mean one minute he was with me sitting with me, I was in love with him and then he was gone it was my fault the hunters were there because I was there." Tears started to develop in his eyes. "It was my fault." Zecora looked at him. "It will be hard but you must let it go did you know they would be there did you know he would die when you went there?" Broken shook his head. "No I had no clue any of that would happen." He finished his tea. "But still they were in Equestria for me, they sensed my power and came for me." He let a few tears fall. Zecora sighed. "Please just let go of it. Trust me it does get better." Broken sighed again and sighed. "You remind me of somepony I once knew." He stood up. "I should go now I am sure you have things to prepare after all the moon is full and the magic will be strong tonight." Zecora chuckled. "Yes I am planing on making a potion tonight." She walked over and grabbed a small vile off a shelf. "Here take this, I am not sure how much use it will be but I am sure you can think of something to do with it. Broken took the vile and looked at it smiling. "I am sure I can find something to do with this." He slipped it into his pocket and walked out the door. He looked up at the sky. "I guess I should let it go." *** Twilight looked over the letter she had gotten then looked up at her friends. "Well it seems we are going to be heading to Saddle Arabia." Author's Note Sorry for the wait guys it has been a long few months and I hit a creative slump. Don't worry I have already started on the next chapter and have a better idea of where it and the next few chapters will go. Huge thanks to my editor CrystalWaters798 for editing and keeping on me to get this done. Chapter 8Broken walked into town, ignoring the looks he was getting. "Hmm I should probably go see if Twilight is alright. I mean, I did kill that guy in front of her." He walked up the the library and opened the door seeing all the elements there sitting in mild shock with Twilight holding a letter. "Hey, did I miss something?" Twilight look at him flinching for a second when she heard his voice. "W-we have been asked to go as representatives of Equestria to Saddle Arabia in order to open up a intellectual exchange. This might even lead to the founding of a university between the two nations." Her eyes sparkled with the idea. "I mean, we have made great strides with their kingdom the past 20 years since their new king took over." Broken nodded. "Yes, their current king is very progressive in thought." He leaned on the wall. "Who knows, this may lead to trades with other nations." He yawns. "Of course, this means I have to get a few things from Canterlot." Twilight's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean? There is absolutely no way you are coming with us. You were told to protect us here but we won't be here, so you will stay here till we get back. Got it?" Broken smirked. "I was told to protect you not just here. Plus, you will need a guide once you get to Saddle Arabia. And who better to guide you then someone who grew up there? I mean, I know the capital and most major trade routes like the back of my hand." Twilight looked at him. "Wait you're from Saddle Arabia? How did you become a knight for princess Luna? You know what, fine, whatever, you can come. But we need to leave tomorrow after lunch to make it to Canterlot and then to the harbor in Baltimare." Broken nodded. "Yes, well I need to go see if Vinyl will let me keep the room well I am gone." He started to open the door. "Oh, and dress for the heat and make sure to pack at least one nice dress." He opened the door and walked out. "Well, they don't seem that scared of me." Broken made his way down the street when he stopped mid step and turned and looked up at the sky. In the sky there was a pegasus with dark gray almost black fur and a light cyan gray mane with light stripes alternating with very light gray lines. He was muscular but had the look of somepony who enjoyed hanging out and having a nice time. "This town just gets better and better." He saw the pegasus start to move some of the clouds away from the town to the holding area for them to stay till the next storm. Broken sighed and started to walk towards the house he is staying at. He walked in and saw Vinyl sitting on the couch. "Hey Vinyl, I am going to be gone for maybe a week do I have to pay for you to hold the room or are you going to keep it for me or should I get all my stuff?" Vinyl looked at him and smiled. "Don't worry about it, we will keep your room for you." She got up. "Oh and if you want you can set up your mail to come here since something tells me you will be staying here for a while. Also don't worry about your stuff, I will keep your door locked." Broken smiled. "Thanks Vinyl. You have been great to me, especially with the whole town being scared of me, or thinking that I am a monster." Vinyl nodded. "Yes, well, something in my gut tells me I can trust you, and I am trusting that." All of a sudden she lifted her glasses and squinted, looking at him. "You have a question don't you?" Broken shook his head not really wanting to talk about it. "No, not really. I should go and pack." He started to walk past her. Vinyls arm outstretched and grabbed his shoulder with more strength then Broken thought possible from her small frame. "Come on, what is it?" Broken sighed and looked at her as her grip loosened. "There was this pegasus he had very dark gray fur and a light cyan gray mane." Vinyl smiled. "Oh Thunderlane! He is second in charge of the weather team. Wait, do you have a crush on him?! No way, I can't wait to tell Cloudchaser!" Broken looked at her. "Please don't. I may have a crush on him but I am so not ready to be in a relationship plus, I am bad luck." Vinyl looked at him. "Now what makes you say that? I am sure you would be perfect for him." Broken shook his head. "No most ponies who I get close to end up getting hurt. I mean, this is the second longest conversation I have had with anypony since I have gotten here." Vinyl looked at him and sighed. "You know, for somepony who apparently is a skilled fighter, you sure are a chicken some times." Broken's eyes narrowed. "I will show you who a chicken is. When I get back, I will ask him out." Suddenly he glared at her. "Oh you're good. Damn you are good." He walked up to his room and sighed. "I can't believe that just happened." He pulled out his bag and opened a small pocket, pulling out a drawstring backpack. He put a few small things in there including the vial he got from Zecora, a small black silk bag, his phone charger, and a broken striped shell. Broken walked out the door and sighed. 'I guess I should go grab something to eat.' He thought as he walked out the front door. He saw young foals running around and remembered that he had seen today would be a half day. He stopped at the market and looked around. He walked over to the apple family stall and looked up at the large stallion working it. "Hey, your Big Macintosh right?" The stallion nodded. "Eeyup." He looked down at Broken Shell. "How can ‘ah help you?" Broken looked at the stand and noticed what looked like small fried balls drizzled with caramel on a stick. "Wow what are those?" Big Mac looked at them. "Oh those are apple pancake balls covered in caramel. They are a newer product we started making after granny heard how much you liked her pancakes." Broken nodded. "Those sound great. I will take three of them." He pulled out some bits and payed for them before starting to walk down the street again. He stopped in front of a large fancy looking restaurant and smiled. "Hmm, this place looks nice." He finished off the first stick of apple pancake balls. Broken walked down the street in the large circle around town. He stopped at the park and looked around. "Hmm, this looks a lot better in the daylight." He finished off the second stick and smiled. Broken made it back home and finished the third stick and sighed looking, at the time. "I should go to bed early." He changed into a pair of basketball shorts and then quickly fell asleep. *** Broken woke up and grabbed a pair of boxers and his toothbrush, walking towards the bathroom. He got into the bathroom and brushed his teeth before starting the shower. He relaxed in the warm water for a few moments before washing himself. He got out and dried off with a towel and pulled on his boxers. He walked back into his room and put on a light gray tee-shirt and a pair of skinny blue jeans. After getting dressed and brushing his hair, he walked down stairs with the drawstring bag on his back and saw Octavia sitting in a chair reading. "Oh, hey Octavia." Octavia looked at him. "Hey Broken, I heard you are going out of town for a bit." Broken nodded. "Yeah I am heading out with the elements to be a delegate of Equestria. I feel like I would rather just chill here." He sighed. "But it's not up to me." Octavia nodded. "Yeah well I hope you have fun. Oh I am going to do laundry, so is your stuff in the hamper in your room?" Broken smiled. "Yeah it is. Thanks. Oh and don't worry, I will bring back gifts." He smiled and started to walk out the door, throwing a peace sign at her as he went. He started to walk towards the library knowing that Twilight would probably be up and in a panic. Broken got to the door and knocked before opening the door and seeing books strewn around the floor. "Wow, it looks like a tornado went through this place." Spike's head poked up from a stack of books. "Yeah, you have no idea how much Twilight can go overboard when she wants to study." He chuckled and started to put books away. Broken shook his head. "Yeah she reminds me of a guy I know, he is totally obsessed with knowledge. Of course he is also a master of dark magic and necromancy and Twilight is more of a book worm." Spike looks at him and starts to put books away. "Wait I thought that Princess Celestia banned dark magic about 500 years ago, and necromancy has been outlawed since before Princess Luna was banished." Broken nodded. "Yes, well he is a special case. I assume you know about the unicorn exalma. The thing that allows a unicorn to convert energy in their bodies into magic which is then put into their magical reserve?" Spike nodded. "Yeah of course I do. I had to attend all of Twilight's classes with her. But what does that have to do with black magic?" Broken nodded. "Well sometimes that exalma can be tainted and that will lead to the magic being corrupted and turning into dark magic. The princesses can not figure out how to fix it so they allow those dark mages to practice. Well that led to my friend becoming a master of it and becoming a member of the lunar operations. From what I hear he was sent to go and talk with a large pack of diamond dogs, well things went south fast and he had to kill some. He brought them back to fight along side him. From what I hear Princess Celestia was not too pleased but had to concede that it was a useful talent to have at her disposal. Of course this was before Luna got back and took control of our order." Spike watched him as he spoke. "Wait you mean the order of lunar operations has been around since before Princess Luna returned 2 years ago?" Broken nodded. "Well it was founded before she was banished. I was in fact recruited before Princess Luna returned. I was a member of a small group of mercenaries that helped protect caravans in Saddle Arabia when I was recruited." Spike nodded. "Wow how long were you doing that? I mean you must have been doing it for a long time for the Princess to notice you." Broken smiled. "Well I was adopted by them when I was only six and I had already had a little training then. I started going out on missions with some of the older members when I was 10." Spike nodded and finished putting up the books. "Wow that must have been crazy." He started to walk towards the kitchen. "Are you hungry? I have enough food to make some breakfast for you too." Broken smiled. "That would be great actually." He walked into the kitchen next to the small drake. "Hey, why don't you have wings?" Spike looked at him and sighed. "I wasn't born with them so I guess I won't get them. I mean, that's how it works right? I mean, why don't you have a horn?" Broken looked at him. "Wait what? Who in the world told you that dragons were born with wings? I know a very old dragon who has the same appearance as you. He could probably teach you a few things about dragons." Spike nodded. "I would love to meet him. I really want to learn more about dragons but all the ones I have ran into were jerks." Broken nodded. "Yes well a lot of dragons in Equestria have been away from their homeland and the ways of it for so long they are little more than greedy beasts. The dragon I know is both an ambassador for the dragon's land and a very kind soul." Spike nodded and started to cook. "Yeah the ambassador to Equestria is rarely here so I have never met them." Broken nodded. "Well it is a different experience to meet a true dragon then meeting one of the dragons here in Equestria." Twilight walked in. "Hey Spike." She looked over and saw Broken Shell. "Wow, you're here earlier then I thought you would be." She sat down at the table. Broken shrugged. "Well I figured I would be early." They all sat down to eat. *** A few hours later the group of six ponies, one zony, and a dragon, boarded the train to Canterlot. *** Once the train stopped at Canterlot, Broken Shell walked off and met a royal guard holding a large duffle bag. "I take it you are the one I am supposed to get my stuff from?" The royal guard nodded and handed him the bag before walking away. Broken walked back onto the train and sat in the large booth with the rest of his group. "Okay, now I have my stuff." He set his bag up on the luggage rack. Rarity looked at him. "Well, what did you have to get Darling?" Broken shrugged. "I needed some dress clothes and some of my casual clothes for when we are there." Rarity looked at him. "Well I am sure you would know what to dress like. If we had more time I am sure you could have helped me make clothes for the rest of us." Broken shrugged. "Well I mean I didn't really need them but I prefer to have some lighter clothes than what I brought with me to town. I also need to have my belt to look the part. Rainbow looked at him. "What do you mean ‘look the part’?" Her eyes narrowed. Broken sighed. "We are going to the capital of the Zebra's largest trading partner. I still stick out to them especially since they saw me two months ago." Pinkie looked at him. "Oh I know we can throw a party for you and them to resolve your problems.” Broken looked at her. "That party would turn into a bloodbath. There is no way around the path myself and the council chose. This was set in stone when I was six years old." Applejack looked at him. "What happened when you were six sugarcube?" Broken shrugged and sighed, starting the tale he had told Zecora the day before. The group looked at him all of them in shock about what had happened. Finally Rainbow looked at him. "What happened after that!? You can't just stop the story!" Broken chuckled. "Oh I am sure I can find time to tell you what happened after that. But that and what happened two months ago have caused this to become my own personal war." Twilight looked at him. "Well I would love to hear the rest of the story some time." Broken shrugged. "Maybe when we get there. Wait how close are we to the port?" Twilight looked at him. "Well we should be there in two hours. So we have a bit of time." Broken nodded and fell asleep almost immediately, having learned how to fall asleep almost anywhere. ********************** Two hours later Broken woke up as the train came to a stop. "Huh, what, are we here?" He looked up and saw the girls gathering their things. He got up and grabbed his bags. "So, shall we go." He lead them off the train, keeping an eye out for anything extra ordinary. He walked them to a large boat. "This is our ship. We have the whole ship to ourselves." He tossed his bags onto the ship before climbing on himself. He helped them up and smiled. "Awesome, this is great." Twilight looked at him. "Umm, what was that? After we got off the train until, we were on the ship it was like you were a completely different pony." Broken shrugged. "Because we were on open path where you would have been in more danger than anywhere else." He watched as the ship's crew took the luggage to different cabins. "Okay it is about 8:00. We should get there around noon tomorrow and we will get to the capital about 4 tomorrow night, as long as the wagon is there when we get there." Twilight looked at him. "Wagon? Why would we need a wagon? I mean it is only a 4 hour trip." Broken looked at her. "Yes but it is four hours on a path that raiders frequent. So it is better to be safe. Plus, with a wagon and caravan it will only be 3 hours." He walked down the stairs of the leading the girls to where they could put their stuff. "Plus we will get to be guarded by the best guard mercenary band in all of Saddle Arabia. The Red Scimitars." He lifted up the back of his shirt showing, a tattoo of a red scimitar in the small of his back. "They raised me after my parents died." Fluttershy nodded. "Isn't their leader one of the best fighters in the world?" Rainbow looked at her. "Flutters, how do you seem to know about this fighting stuff all of a sudden?" Fluttershy blushes as everyone looked at her. "My parents had me enrolled in a martial arts class when I was a filly. So I keep up on this stuff sometimes." Broken nodded. "Well you are right. There are five great fighters in the world recognized as the best. They are called the Malznara. My master is one of them. There is him in Saddle Arabia, one in Gouxia, one gryphon in their homeland, one zebra who is the current head of the Shadow Hunters, and one in Equestria." Rarity looked at him. "Who is it in Equestria? I mean it is probably one of the royals guards." Twilight smiles. "It has to be Shiny, I mean he is the Captain of the royal guard. That means he is the strongest, right?" Broken shook his head. "No. Actually, it is a old stallion who lives alone at the top of the smoky Mountain. I guess he was once a member of the Lunar Knights." Pinky bounced as she set her stuff down. "Oh! We should have a party when we get there to celebrate us getting there!" Applejack looked at her. "Now calm down sugar cube. We can't just be throwin’ random parties." Broken nodded. "Plus, I don't think you could find all the booze you wanted for it on such short notice. There are not many alcohol providers in the country. They weren't even allowed to drink there till about 50 years ago. Yet me and the training partner I had who is still my best friend still managed to get drunk every so often." Applejack nodded. "Wait, how old are yah? I mean we are all 21 or over." Broken smiled. "I am 19. I started training when I was 6 or so and joined the order when I was 16." Rainbow looked at him. "So that must mean you're pretty high in the order right? I mean, you were sent to guard us. You have to be at least the third strongest at least!" Broken shrugged. "Rank doesn't really matter." ***Meanwhile in Canterlot*** Shining Armor walked into Princess Celestia's study and bowed. "Hello Princess." The Princess nodded to him. "Shining Armor, you asked to see me. It must be important." Shining nodded. "Yes Princess. I am wondering why you sent the lowest ranked member of the order to Saddle Arabia with the Elements without any back up. I mean, he is the 25th seat. Doesn't that mean he is the weakest?" Celestia sighed. "He is currently 25th. He was previously the 7th seat. He just quit trying two months ago after the 6th seat was killed. He just gave up and stopped caring about what seat he held." Chapter 9Broken stretched and got off the boat at the dock and looked around smiling as he saw the small port town. This part of the country had some lush grass due to the nearby spring. He watched as the girls got off and looked around as their luggage was unloaded. He had on a pair of light tan cargo shorts and a white tee-shirt. Around his waist was a black silk sash with red tipped tassels. Tucked in it was his large knife. He saw a small group of three earth ponies walking towards them all wearing a similar sash. The first was a large gray stallion with bulging muscles that had a scimitar on his side. The second was a slender light purple mare that had a small knife on either side of her waist. The third and final member of the group was a orange colt on the verge of stallionhood with a large straight sword that seemed it would be too big for him to hold on his back. Broken smiled and pulled the large stallion into a tight embrace. “Iron, it’s good to see you again my brother.” The large stallion hugged back and chuckled. “It is good to see you as well Broken Shell. It has been far too long since we last walked the desert together.” Broken stepped back from the embrace and looked over to the elements who were right behind him. “Girls, these are our escorts for our journey. May i introduce Iron Hide, Rose Thorn, and Little Bit.” He said as he motioned to the three new arrivals. “They are members of the red scimitars guild and some of the best caravan guards there are.” Iron nodded at the girls and noticed a few of them, especially the butter colored pegasus, were looking at him with a bit of fear. Rose smiled as she looked over the group, her mind thinking of different ways to move with them to ensure the best protection. Little just looked at Broken Shell. He was clearly excited to see someone he looked up to come back again. Broken watched as the group’s belongings were put on the wagon and let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. It felt good to be home again and he knew that once they reached the capital, not even the princesses themselves could bring harm to his charges. They started walking and Broken continued to catch up with his old friends, constantly keeping his eyes on the group of mares in front of him and on the horizon. Suddenly, Little asked a question he had not been expecting. “Hey Broken, where is your friend you brought last time? His name was Growing Flower right? He seemed nice.” Broken’s breath hitched for just a second noticed only by Iron hide. Broken just looked at the colt. “He died.” Broken had a small smile oh his face as he remembered the happy look on his former coltfriend’s face when they had gotten off the same boat he had just left less than an hour before. Iron nodded a unspoken word of support before they all resumed walking. A few hours of talking later, they arrived at the capital. In the center of it were the large towers of the palace. The elements all made a slight sound of awe looking at the large city where they could just feel the energy of the life around them and the large ancient stones cut to make it. Broken looked at them. “Okay get in the wagon here. That way you’ll draw less attention and you won't get pickpocketed as easily.” They all looked at him before they silently agreed to his idea knowing he knew this place much better than they did. It took them 10 minutes to get to the palace since most of the capital's residents were at work or school. The large palace that loomed over them was much bigger then the castle of the royal sisters and a few hundred years older. There were two large guards standing out in front of the gate but they moved to the side when they saw the sashes around the mercenaries waists and shoulders. Once inside, Broken nodded at the girls to come down. “Okay, your things will be taken to your room. Just follow me and we will go and meet the king who is waiting for us inside the entrance hall. Remember to be serious but not too serious.” He looked at Pinkie Pie and Twilight especially. He led them into the large doors as the three guards they had arrived with left to go and do whatever it was they do. Broken smiled when he saw the familiar tan coat and white robes of the of the large earth pony king. “Girls I present his majesty the king of Saddle Arabia, Lionis Melran. Your majesty these are the elements of harmony.” The king smiled and laughed a friendly and hearty laugh. “Broken Shell it is great to see you again. I do hope your journey was nice.” He walked down at looked at the group of mares bowing. “Please, please, stand up and relax. I may be a king, but I hate formalities.” Broken smiled at the shock on the mares faces after hearing the king of one of the most powerful nations act so casual. “King I must know, where is your son? He is usually here to greet me.” The King nodded. “He went into town. He probably did not realize today was the day you were coming. I mean, we both know he loves to see his best friend.” Twilight looked at Broken Shell in shock. “Wait, you are best friends with the prince of the second most powerful pony nation in all of Equis? You are really strange, you know that right?” Broken shrugged. “Well I mean, we learned from the same teacher and spent most of our younger life sparing.” Twilight nodded and the king looked at them. “Please, follow Broken Shell to your rooms to get settled. He will then bring you to meet me again.” Broken nodded. “Follow me.” Author's Note Big thanks to my new editor Mystic Leaf on this one.
Chapter 1 Chapter 1 Shining Armor walked down the hall of the lunar guard barracks looking around at the doors. He hardly ever came down this hall since its inhabitants were under the direct command of the princess Luna. He stopped at a door that was painted a soft blue with the number 25 painted in black numbers. "Hmm I would have expected more from somepony with their reputation." He knocked softly before using his hoof to turn the knob and walked in. "Hello?" He looked around and saw a pony lying on the bed not completely sure if it was a mare or a colt their dark gray skin almost hiding the dark stripes on their arms and cheeks. They didn't look like he could be older than 19 "I take it you are Broken Shell?" The pony laying on the bad looked over at him their light brown hair falling into their face. "Yes I am, I believe we have met your Shining Armor right? I was in training when you were in training to become an officer." They said in a voice that left no question that he was in fact a male. Shining Armor nodded. "Yeah I remember you. You were the one who broke my record in the hand to hand combat training zone. Anyway I am here to tell you that princess Celestia has asked to see you at your earliest convenience." Broken Shell nodded, it was known that even though the order of lunar operations took their orders from Princess Luna they still listened to commands from the solar princess. "Okay I will be there. I just need a few minutes to get ready, then I will go see her." He got up and looked at his ragged outfit. "I might need to change first." Shining Armor nodded. "Take your time she is still in court for another 15 minutes or so. She said for you to go to her private quarters and she will arrive as soon as possible." He turned and walked out of the room closing the door as he left. Broken Shell sighed. "And here I thought I would have a relaxing break." He pulled his shirt off and tossed it into his hamper before pulling on a dark purple dress shirt. He looked in the mirror and pulled his hair back behind his ears showing three piercings going down the back of each ear before pulling on a Beanie and walking out the door. The walk to the castle didn't take long as Broken Shell thought. Walking into the Solar wing he looked around and saw a door with a large painting of the sun over it. "Weird, isn't there a guard here at all times?" He knocked softly before opening the door. "Hello? I was told to meet the princess here." He looked around at the spacious living room and walked over to the couch. "Well I guess I might as well wait." He sat down on the white couch. "How is this thing not stained?" He looked around and noticed that the whole room seemed to have the same white and yellow color scheme. "Well this place is colorful." There was a chuckle from behind him and he turned to see a tall mare behind him wearing a long flowing white dress with wings sprouting from her back and a large horn on her forehead. "Well that tends to happen when you are the Princess of the Sun." She sat down in a chair and looked at him. "I guess you are Broken Shell 25th seat of the Lunar Squad? Or as my sister so kindly refers to you as the Nightmare Commandos." Broken nodded looking in awe at her before quickly regaining his composure. "Yes I am. I was told that you wished to see me?" Celestia nodded. "Yes I am going to ask you for your help in a long term guard mission. You may of course refuse this. It is not an order but a request. I need someone to go and be a covert guard for the elements of harmony. I understand you are still on long term break but my sister recommend you for this. I understand if you need more time. I heard about your last mission." Broken Shell shook his head. "No I’m fine, I’ll do it. I am still kind of surprised you left one of the nation's strongest weapons in a small town." Celestia sighed. "They aren't just weapons they are ponies with lives of their own. It wouldn't be right to just take them from that. But there has been a threat on them so instead of sending a group of guards to their town to watch their every move I have chosen to send you." Broken nodded. "Okay then, but why send me. I am the last seat of the commandos?" He looked up at her and sighed. Celestia looked at him. "Simple, both me and my sister know that you are one of the few we can trust to be discreet. Now I have already made sure you have a cover story and get you a small sum of money to get lodging for the month. You will need to get a job when you get there, it would look suspicious otherwise." Broken smiled a fake smile that would have tricked most anyone. "I am sure I can find something." He took the folder out of the princess's golden magic. "I will leave as soon as possible." He got up and walked over to the door. Celestia looked at him. "Broken, trust me, it will get easier over time." She smiled at him softly. Broken nodded softly. "That's what they all say." He walked out the door and opened the file reading through it. "Hmm this is a good cover. Son of a town guard in a Saddle Arabia border town. I guess that makes sense." He closed to file and walked to his room. "So I guess I should pack my things." He grabbed a large bag and started to pack his clothes. He sighed and looked in the mirror. "Well this is it." He put a few trinkets including a broken striped sea shell in the bag and then zipped it up. The walk to the train station was quick for him as he quickly boarded the train. Broken Shell sat in an unoccupied booth putting his bag down next to him he started looking through the file again. “Hmm how am I going to keep a low profile.” He looked down at his arms seeing the dark stripes covering them. “I am guessing it will be hard to keep a low profile in this town, from what I understand it is mostly an earth pony town.” He leaned back in his seat and sighed. “I could wear a hoodie I guess.” Broken looked around before pulling the shades on his booth closed and taking his shirt off his chest sporting several faded scars standing out on his gray skin and highlighting the black stripes on his torso. He sighed and pulled a black shirt out of his bag and pulling it on then pulling on a red hoodie. He sat back down and sighed before pulling out his phone and looking at the time. “Well it looks like I have about 30 minutes.” Broken sat down reading a book on his phone waiting for the time to pass. He looked up when he felt the train stop, then stood up. Grabbing his bag he walked onto the platform and breathed in the air. "Well I guess this is where I’ll be staying for a while." Author's Note Hey guys and girls thanks for the read. I have no clue when or how this will end but I have a few ideas. Please feel free to comment with any criticism or other comments. Also I am looking for an editor so if you can help please message me.
Chaper 2Broken Shell walked into the town market making sure to keep his hood low to hide his stripes. His head bobbed slightly as he listened to music in his head phones. Looking around he saw a stand selling carrots with a medium sized yellow earth pony mare with orange hair and a matching orange tail sprouting from her lower back with three carrots on her flank for her cutie mark. He walked over to her keeping his hood low. “Hey I was wondering if you knew where I could find a place to stay?” She looks up at him. “Oh… Umm I would check the billboard at the local library. Some people post things there if they are looking for a roommate.” She smiles softly. Broken Shell nodded. “Okay thank you.” He started to turn. “Oh where is the library?” He looked around having no idea where to go. “Oh yea just go down this street and you will see a large tree that is it.” She pointed down the road. Broken nodded. “Okay thank you.” He started to walk down the road in the way that she had pointed looking around taking note of how many different people there were in the town. “Wow there are more people here then I thought there would be.” He muttered to himself as he saw a large tree by the road reading the sign he sighed. “Golden Oak Library home to the element of magic.” He walked into the library and to the billboard. Broken Shell took out his headphones as he looked over the fliers. “Hmm it looks like most of the jobs here are for temporary farm workers. I am sure I could do that.” He took a flier for work on the local apple farm. “Now to find a room for rent.” He looked around and sighed. “Of course there isn’t any.” He turned around and stopped almost running into the horn of a white unicorn mare with a cutie mark of two bridged eight notes. “Oh sorry.” He moved so she could get to the board. She looked up at him her red eyes meeting his. “It’s okay, hey did you say you were looking for a room? My and my partner where looking to rent out our spare bedroom.” Broken Shell nodded. “Okay that sounds good. I was just needing a place to stay for as long as I am here.” He watched as she started to walk and followed her. “I’m Broken Shell by the way.” The unicorn looked at him. “I’m Vinyl Scratch, I will warn you right now both me and Octavia play music, so the house can get loud at times.” Broken nodded. “Okay well it looks like I will be working non-stop for at least a few weeks so I will only be using it to sleep. So how much is rent for this room by the way?” Vinyl shrugged. “I was thinking 300 bits a month but I have to talk to Octavia about it. But since it is the 20th we will give you the room free for the rest of this month and you can just pay us on the first for next month.” Broken nodded. “Okay I have enough bits to cover the first months rent but it looks like I will be working at least this farming job.” He kept looking around and sighed as the small houses remended him of when he grew up. Vinyl looked at him. “Oh you might need to take your hood off when we get there, Octavia has this weird thing about people in hoods.” Broken looked at her and gulped softly. “Okay….” He stopped after she did and looked at the house. It was bigger than most of the houses in the town but the basic design was the same. “So this is it I guess?” Vinyl nodded and opened the door. “Yes it is come on in.” She walked through the door. Broken sighed and walked in after her pulling his hoodie down hoping that his long hair will cover his cheeks to hide the stripes. “Okay so where will I be staying?” Vinyl looked at him almost in shock. “U-up stairs. You look a lot like a mare you know that right? I mean if I just saw you I would think you were one.” Broken nodded. “Yea I get that a lot. Trust me I went to a public school I am quite aware of it.” He chuckled, happy she hadn't seen his stripes on his cheeks. Vinyl chuckled and lead him up stairs. "Tavi won't be back for another hour at least." She opened a door for him and smiled. “It isn’t much but since me and Tavi have a bathroom attached to our room, the one across from you should be free most of the time.” Broken nodded. “Okay. Wait you two are lesbians?” He looked at her with a curious look, but nothing in his look was judgemental. Vinyl nodded. “Yes we are. That won’t be a problem will it?” She looked at him glaring slightly but not saying anything to show she was angry. Broken chuckled. “Not at all. Trust me I wouldn’t be hitting on either of you even if you weren't.” He walked into the room and set his bag down on his bed. “No offence but mares aren’t really my type.” Vinyl nodded. "Well okay then, I will leave you to get settled. I will call you when Tavi gets home and then we will talk about rent and all that." She turned and walked out of the door closing it behind her. Broken sighed and started to unpack putting all of his clothes in the dresser and the trinkets on top of it before pulling the knife from his bag and slipping it under a pile of shirts in the dresser. "I guess this is my home for the next few months." He muttered to himself before sitting on the bed and playing a game on his phone. About an hour later he heard the door open and shut then muffled voice one was clearly Vinyl. He sighed and stood up checking in the mirror to make sure his stripes were still hidden before walking down stairs. He saw a brown earth pony with a black mane and a violet treble clef on her cheek. “Hello, you must be Octavia. I am Broken Shell.” Octavia looked at him. “Yes Vinyl was telling me that we had someone who was going to rent our room.” She looked him up and down before nodding. “You look like we can trust you. Okay well anything that Vinyl told you can be what is going on for your rent situation.” She smiled softly. Broken Shell nodded. “Well, okay then. If you excuse me I had a long train ride and feel like getting some rest.” He walked up the stairs and into his new room closing and locking the door before changing into a pair of shorts and laying on the bed falling fast asleep. Author's Note Well here is chapter 2, I hope that you liked it and I am still looking for an editor.
Chapter 3Author's Note This is my last post on this story for a while because of my summer job and limited access to the internet but I will try to post at least every two weeks. Also sorry if the end seems rushed but I wanted to finish this before I left. Once again I am still looking for an editor. Chapter 3 Broken Shell woke up early in the morning and sighed. “Ugh what time does that flyer say I need to be there?” He mumbled and looked at the sheet then the time. “Well I have an hour so I guess I shouldn’t go to sleep.” He got up and walked over to his dresser pulling out a long sleeved black shirt and a pair of jeans. Walking over to a mirror he combed his hair making sure it was covering his cheek before pulling on his beanie and walking out of his room. Broken put in his earbuds and walked out of his house heading in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. He looked around as he walked slowly down the street. “There is the school I guess.” He waved at the magenta mare with the two tone pink hair that was walking into the school before looking around again. “Ugh this town is so small how is the farm this far away.” He yawned as he stepped onto the dirt road leading to the ragged looking farm house. "Hmm I guess this is the place." He looked around at all the apple trees and yawned. "I guess I'm early." He thought as he turned his head. He heard somepony walk out of the front door. His eyes widened when he looked at the large red earth stallion with a red flannel shirt and jeans. He walked over and looked at him. "Hey I take it you are the pony I need to talk to for a job?" The red stallion looked at him. "Eeyup. You'll be helping mah sister Applejack." He looked him over. "You sure you can do do this? It's hard work. Lotta heavy lifting." Broken Shell smirked and walked over to a large empty cart and lifted the side of it grunting slightly. "Is that good?" The stallion nodded and pulled a piece of grass out of the ground and put it in his mouth. "Ah reckon so. You can go inside, Granny is in the kitchen if you’re hungry." He walked to the barn and pulled out a large cart of apples and started down the road. Broken Shell smiled and walked into the house looking at an elderly mare sitting at the table. "Hello there, the stallion said I could come in. I’m here for the job." The mare looked at him. "Ah reckon you convinced that grandson of mine then. You'll have a few minutes before Applejack wakes up since she didn't have to get Apple Bloom ready for school. A’m Granny Smith by the way." Broken Shell nodded and sat down across from her. "I'm Broken Shell. It is nice to meet you." He smiled another one of his fake smiles at her. Granny Smith's eyes narrowed. "Ah may not be no element o' honesty but ah can tell when I see a fake smile. Ah can tell something ain't right in your life but ah ain't gonna ask bout it as long as y'all work well. Ah can tell you're not a threat." Broken Shell chuckled. "And I should have known not to try and fake someone who has been around for all of your years." He looked at her. "Thank you for not asking though and I promise I am not a threat to you or your family." Granny smith nodded. "Well ah guess ah should make some breakfast. I'm sure Applejack will be hungry and y'all look like you haven't ate fer ah week." Broken She shrugged. "I don't know I can't seem to put on a lot of weight." He moved his hair making sure it covered the stripes oh his cheeks. "So I take it that breakfast will be made mostly of apples?" Granny Smith nodded. "Ya know it. Unless ya don't like apples ah can whip up a quick breakfast fer ya." Broken Shell shook his head. "No it is fine. I have heard about this farm's apples some of the best they say. Of course growing up I learned not to complain about where a meal was coming from." Granny nodded. "Good." She started to move around the kitchen with a speed of a mare a quarter of her age grabbing things and using utensils. Broken Shell turned to the stairs as he heard a pony walking down. The orange mare had on a plaid shirt and a pair of jeans with a Stetson hat on. She looked at him. "Oh hello ma'am ah didn't know we had company." Broken Shell chuckled softly hearing it for the hundredth time. "It is fine and yes before you ask I am a stallion I just like long hair." He turned back to look at the elderly mare who was walking to the table with a large stack of what he assumed where apple pancakes. The orange mare sat down by him. “So uh I'm Applejack, ah guess you are the one who is here to help with the farm work?” She put some of the pancakes on her plate and started to eat them slowly. Broken Shell nodded. “Yes I am.” He took a few pancakes and poured some syrup onto them. “I just need to make some money so I can pay my rent for the time I'm here.” Applejack nodded. “How long are ya here for? I haven’t seen ya around town before.” Broken Shell nodded. “I got here yesterday afternoon, as for how long I am here for I don’t really know. I'm waiting for a friend of mine to come and see me.” He took a bite of one of his pancakes. “Oh my this is one of the best things I have ever tasted.” Granny Smith smiled. “Thank ya, ah have been cooking since befer you were born.” Applejack nodded. “Yep Granny here is the best cook in all of ponyville. Why ah reckon she could beat all them fancy canterlot cooks.” Broken Shell nodded. “Trust me I have traveled a lot of places and this is up in the top five of the best things I have ever eaten.” He finished the rest of his stack fast before looking at the two mares. Applejack finished and looked at him. “Well lets go.” She smiled at her grandmother before walking out of the farm house. Broken Shell smiled at the old mare. “Thank you for the meal.” He got up and followed behind Applejack as she explained what she needed him to do over the day. Broken Shell walked down the street next to Applejack who had insisted on walking with him to his temporary house. He stopped in front of his house. “Well this is the place. I guess Octavia and Vinyl are gone.” He pulled out the key Vinyl had given him the night before and unlocked the door. He opened it and the lights turned on as he did and he heard what must have been half the town yell surprise including one pink earth pony mare who came up from under his beanie sending it across the room and his hair flew back showing his stripes oh his cheeks.
Chapter 4Broken shell looked around and tried to grab his beanie before it fell but couldn’t as he got weighed down by the mare on top of him. He looked up at her but she was suddenly at the other end of the room. He looked around and walked over to his beanie the crowd parting for him as he walked none of them saying a word. He slid it on making sure his hair was in place before walking up the stairs without saying a word. A few minutes later he hear a knock on the door before it opened showing the face of Vinyl Scratch. "Hey Broken, sorry about earlier this town still isn't used to zebra's I mean there was a time that we would all hide from the one who lives in the forest. Plus there is the fact that you don't have a cutie mark." Broken Shell looked at her. "It's fine. Plus I am only half Zebra that is the reason I don't have a mark. The trait for that is from the father and he was a zebra meaning I got the tribe mark from him. The tribe he is from doesn't have a mark." Vinyl nodded. "Well okay then. We still have cake down stairs if you want some." She smiled at him. Broken Shell shrugged. "Nah I think I will just go ahead and go to sleep. I figure I need to find a job that will last for at least a few days so I have some steady income." Vinyl nodded and walked out closing the door behind her. Broken walked to the bathroom and sighed before taking out all of his piercings the rooms shadows suddenly getting darker. He put them in a cup before getting into the shower. Broken got out of the shower and started to dry off. He got dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a tank top feeling more comfortable showing his stripes now that most of the town knew about them. He put in his ear rings again and walked to his room putting his clothes from the day and the towels in a hamper that was in the corner. "I should try the library again for a job." He said to himself before laying in bed and falling asleep. ****************************************** The next morning Broken woke up and walked over to his bag that he had yet to unpack and pulled out a tee shirt and a pair of cargo pants and put them on before walking out of the house. "I wish I had a timetable for this job. That would give me at least an idea of how much I need to earn." He started to walk down the street pulling his phone out of his pocket as he went. "I suppose I could call and ask." He shook his head. "No it can't be that long." He slipped his phone back in pocket as he got to the library. "Great it's still closed." He sighed and started to walk down the road again. He got to the market and looked around watching the ponies as they opened up their stands. "Now this reminds me of home." He chuckled. "Of course this lacks the smells of tea and spice that those marketplaces had." He walked down the street ignoring the odd looks he got from the ponies around him. He walked up to a small stand selling rice cakes and bought a few for breakfast before starting his walk back to the library. Broken walked in and saw the library looked trashed. "Hmm well then." He looked and saw a small purple dragon walk down the stairs. "Oh hello there." The dragon looked at him. "Hi. You must be the new zebra in town." He started to clean up the books. "Twilight was up all night trying to figure out what tribe you where from." He held up a book of zebra tribe marks. "It seems like there are no tribes without marks." Broken nodded. "That's because my father's tribe was killed. I'm only half zebra so I don't really count." He shrugged. "But that was a long time ago." He yawned a little and watched the young dragon work. "Hey do you know a place I could work for a few days? I am trying to earn some rent money." The dragon looked at him. "Hmm I don't know there might be something on the board or if not you could ask Pinkie she seems to know everything that is going on around here." Broken Shell nodded. "Okay." He looked at the board before walking out the door and walking down the street. He looked around seeing that the town was more alive than it was when he left he noticed that a few of the town workers were starting to set up for nightmare night. "Huh I guess that is tomorrow." He got to the door of the oddly shaped bakery when he felt a wave of killing intent from behind him not enough to make him worry but enough to get him to look. He turned around and saw a colt who couldn't be older then ten standing behind him. "Ah I thought I would see you again." The dark red unicorn colt said nothing as he levitated a knife from his jacket and shot it at him aiming for Broken Shells head. Broken Shell dodged it and ran towards the colt aiming a kick at his legs. The colt jumped back and shot another knife at him whipping it right for his neck. Broken Shell dodged it and swung an elbow at the colt trying to hit his still glowing horn to knock his magic out. The colt ducked and shot three more knifes at his chest. Broken Shell dodged and hit the sides of the knifes causing them to fall at the feet of the growing crowds before finally punching the base of the colts horn to disrupt his magic flow. Before he could land another hit on the dazed colt a town guard tackled him. He looked at the kid. "You better run kid. Try Canterlot a small black magic shop." The colt glared at him and ran evading the town guard before hitting the edge of town. Broken Shell smiled as he watched the colt run before being knocked out by the guards.
Chapter 6Broken Shell woke up and checked his phone to see it was almost half past ten in the morning. "Ugh I slept in. I guess I should get better alarms." He got out if he'd and turned on the lights before seeing a note on his door. He read it out loud. "Me and Tavia went out. Feel free to raid the fridge." The bottom was signed by Vinyl. He shrugged and walked over to his bag quickly getting dressed before walking out if his room and down the stairs. Broken Shell walked out the door and started to listen to music as he watched the town start to put the finishing touches on their nightmare night celebration. He sighed and started to walk down the road. "This is going to be a hard night." He looked around and saw a few colts and fillies walking around in their costumes. He turned and walked over to a small stand selling masks and bought a plain white mask. He turned and walked back towards the house he was staying at and walked up to his room. He pulled a small box decorated with paint and sighed. "Its hard to believe this is all I have left." He opened the box and pulled out a few paints. He grabbed the mask and started to paint on it before setting it down by a window to dry. The painting was a simple dot with several lines coming off and serving around the mask. To most it would look like a small foal made it in a few minutes but to him it meant much more. He laid down and sighed. "I hope that it will just be for decoration tonight." He fell asleep again. Broken Shell woke up hearing Vinyl and Octavia walk in. He grabbed his phone and sighed looking at the time. "Ugh its almost time to get ready." He got out of bed and pulled a cloak out of his bag pulling it on over his black shorts and tank top slipping his knife onto his back and putting his mask on. He walked out his door and down the stairs. "Hey guys. I am heading out now." Vinyl looked at him. "There you are I was wondering if you ended up in jail again." She chuckled and gave a small smirk. Octavia shot her a quick glare. "That's mean I am sure it was just a misunderstanding." Broken Shell shrugged. "I guess you could call it that." He turned to the door and walked out. I can't let them get close to me. The farther I keep people the farther they are from harm. He thought to himself as he walked down the street. He looked over and saw Pinkie Pie leading a group of foals around the town getting candy. "This is such a strange tradition. Why give candy out to children for a day one of their princesses went insane?" He shrugged. "This country is weird at times." Broken She'll sighed and sat down on a bench watching as the town started to come out dressed in costumes. "This is close to the middle of town I should be able to get anywhere in decent time." He started to listen to music in his phone watching the hours go by. At about 8:30 he felt it a strong presence approaching the town. "Hmm it looks like it will not be a peaceful night after all." He reached up and started to take the studs out of his ears one by one before turning towards the way it was approaching from. "Gate one open the gate of striding." He started to walk and as his shadow increases his walk got faster before he knew it he was on the other side of town. "Hmm they are strong." He sat down and started to count. "Five... Four... Three..." He pulled his knife out. "Two... One..." He jumped back just in time for a large needle to bury itself where he was sitting. Out of the woods a tall stallion dressed in a nice suit with half a face mask on his right side walked out and smiled. "Ah you must be the one I heard about. The one Princess Celestia sent to protect the precious student and her friends." Broken Shell looked at him and nodded. "Yes I am. I take it if you know that then you must also know who I am." The stallion nodded and smiled. "Yes you are Broken Shell. The last of the Shadow Dancers also known as the moon's shadow." Broken Shell nodded. "Yes, now I find myself as the one at a disadvantage. You seem to know a lot about me but I know nothing about you." The stallion smiled. "My name is Wing Flower. I am sure you have heard my other name though. The Angel of Needles." He moved his wings and suddenly they appeared to shimmer as hundreds of needles dangled from them. Broken nodded. "Yes I have heard of you. You were once a member of a guild of assassins in the gryphon lands but it is said you left them in search of a way to make a real name for yourself." Wing looked at him. "Yes that is what they say but enough with the introductions I am sure we both know how this will end so how about we skip to that part?" Broken nodded and gripped his knife before running at the Pegasus and swinging for his wing. Wing jumped back and flapped his wing towards Broken sending three needles flying at his face. Broken dodged and jumped back. "Gate two open gate of the vanishing." He moved into the shadow of a near by tree and vanished appearing behind Wing and swinging again managing to cut some of the needles from the back side if his wing. Wing swung his fist back and hit Broken in the side. "I see the rumors about your fighting style are true." Broken jumped across and looked at Wing. "I fight to win. There is no honor in a fight to the death it is just two ponies trying to kill each other." He ran at Wing and swung his elbow aiming for his jaw. Wing ducked back and kicked at Broken's side trying to hit him in the kidney. Broken moved fast and swung his knife cutting Wing's leg deep and pushing him away. Wing took off into the air a few needles shooting out and sticking into Broken's arm before flying towards town his leg dripping a long trail of blood behind him. Broken grunted and pulled the needles out of his arm before running after Wing towards town. Wing flew over the town starting to feel the blood loss going to his head. "I need to kill at least one if them to ruin their power." He saw a purple unicorn dressed as an old wizard talking to an older mare next to the stage. "Perfect." He landed between them and raised a wing to shoot a needle into her neck. Twilight gasped as a tall Pegasus landed in front of her and she froze when she realized he had a needle pointed at her on his wing. Suddenly she felt a warm liquid cover her face and saw the Pegasus's wing fall off then he fell to the ground his head rolling off his body. She looked up at saw Broken standing there holding a pair of bloody knifes before she fainted. Broken looked down at Twilight not even looking at the growing crowd. "You might want to get her off the ground." He turned and walked away as the crowed opened a path for him. Broken walked down the street and stopped when his phone started to ring. He pulled it out of his pocket and sighed seeing it was Princess Luna. He his the answer key. "Yes my princess?" "Broken come to the house you are staying at now." Her voice was soft but had a hint of anger in it. Broken nodded. "Yes I will be there soon." He hung up and cut across an ally getting to the house where he was renting a room and saw the princess standing by the door talking with Octavia who had a look of shock on her face. He walked over. "You summoned me princess?" Luna looked at him. "Yes I did. Come with me." She nodded to Octavia. "It has been nice talking to you Miss Harmonic." She turned and started to walk down the path leading to the park. "Why didn't you eliminate the threat before he got into town? Do you know how many ponies could have been hurt?" Broken looked at her as he walked. "Simple. Tell them about the threat and it puts a ripple in their bubble of surroundings. If you show them the threat then they have to accept it as a truth rather than an inconvenience." He sat down on a bench. "I have no doubt I could have killed him before he even knew I was there but then it would just make the elements think they were safe from anything. If I show them now that I can't protect them 100% then they will take steps to better protect themselves." The princess sighed. “As much as I hate to say it that makes sense but I doubt my sister will see it like that. Just do me a favor and make sure the next one that comes around take care of him as fast as possible. I don’t want the girls to freak out every time a tree shakes.” Broken shell nodded. “Of course I will. Plus I doubt the mayor will be happy about a dead body in the middle of town.” He yawned. “I wasn’t ready to use that much power at once.” He looked around. “Well I guess you should go out and pretend to be the Big Bad Nightmare Moon.” He started to walk back throwing a peace sign to the princess as he started to walk back home. Broken Shell walked into Vinyls house and up to his room quickly changing into a pair of shorts and laying down falling into a dreamless sleep fast.
Chapter 7Broken Shell woke up and got out of bed quickly. He walked over to his mirror and swiftly brushed his mane before pulling on his clothes and walking down the stairs to the kitchen. He opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of orange juice. He poured some into a cup then put the bottle back. "I don't think much will happen today. I should find a place to relax." He muttered to himself. He finished the glass and rinsed it out before putting it in the dishwasher and walking out of the house. He walked down the road ignoring all the looks he was getting. He got to the edge of the everfree forest and shrugged. Starting to walk down the road he stopped when he saw a treehouse that looked very familiar. “Is that a zebra house?” He started to walk towards it and looked at the runes along the doorframe. “I wonder how often ponies have walked past those just thinking they were simple decorations.” He knocked on the door knowing that if who he thought lived here did, he would not be disrupting anything this early in the morning. The door opened showing an older zebra mare. "Ah who might this be, he looks like he has something in common with me." Broken Shell rolled his eyes and sighed. "Really, are you doing that?" Zecora sighed. "Oh. Yes, sorry. I suppose I can use my normal speech with you can't I? Please come in. I am sure you have as many questions for me as I have for you." Broken Shell nodded and walked in looking around. "You know I have heard of the tree houses of great mage's of zebra clans." He looked over and saw the mark on her cheek. "Of course you do not truly have a clan, I have heard legends of the Zecora of the forest. I was not however expecting her to be from the Black Sun Clan." He sat down in a wooden chair. "So how does one with your power come to live in this forest?" He took in a breath feeling the ancient magics of his family's homeland surrounding him. Zecora pulled a teapot off her shelf and started to fill it. "Well, l as I am sure you know my clan was persecuted for standing with yours. Of course we were not hunted down to the extent yours was, in fact I hear talk of a large group of my clan living in the desert of Saddle Arabia. I however like it here in this land of peace and friendship." She sets the teapot on the coals of last night's fire. "Now, I am wondering how a Shadow Dancer come to be in Equestria." Broken Shell sighed. "Well then that will take us back to when I was only six years old." ** 13 years ago** Broken Shell looked out the window of his family's small shack as the other kids in his small village in Saddle Arabia about three days from the border with the Zebra lands. He knew his father and him were not supposed to draw attention to themselves though he didn't know why. He turned when he heard the door open and his mother and father walk in. His mother was a earth pony with a dark brown coat and pink mane and tail and a cutie mark of a red cross and a dove in the center of it. His father was a large zebra with no clan mark. His father Black Shell looked at him and smiled taking the large knife he kept on his side off and put it on a table. "Hello son." He walked over and pulled Broken into a hug. "How was your day today?" Broken smiled and hugged back. "It was good but something weird happened when I was reading. The lights flickered and my shadow acted weird." Black Shell looked down as he let go of his son. "Don't worry my son it is a part of you that it will happen like that. It means you are growing into your power." Broken's mother Huge Heart walked over and hugged her son quickly. "I will go start dinner why don't you and your father talk for a while." She walked to the small kitchen. Black Shell sat on a cushion and motioned for his son to do the same. "As you know our clan was once so powerful the rulers of the zebra land where scared of us and decided to get rid of us..." A few tears formed in the corners his eyes. "Our main powers are the ability to utilize our shadows as fighting abilities." He wiped his eyes. "What happened today means your powers are coming into effect. You must keep them under control because there are those that can sense our powers and wish to bring us harm." Broken nodded. "Of course father." He got up from the seat. "We should go and get dinner now." He winced as he heard a loud knocking followed by a door being kicked in and three zebra with robes on walked in. The leader looked at broken and his father. "Shadow dancers." He pulled out a large curved knife that split into two. "We will wipe you out you demons." He started to run towards the two and Broken's father got up running towards them grabbing the leader and hitting him hard. "Run Broken I will find you!" Broken froze for a second before running towards the kitchen to get out that way. Before he could move to that window one of the Zebras ran up and grabbed him. Broken's mother ran at the zebra hitting him trying to stop it from hurting her son. The zebra turned and grabbed her by the neck snapping it with one hand. As he did this his grip loosened on Broken. Broken ran jumping through the window stopping for a second as he heard the death cry of his father. He started to run not wasting time to cry as he ran he could cry later. He continued to run for three days stopping in the large capital city. He started to walk down the street hoping to blend into the crowed. He walked past a building when he heard someone yell out. "Hey boy!" ***Back in the present.*** Zecora nodded nod offering the normal condolences that often follow the story. "It seems you have lived a hard life started with a hard memory." She poured two cups of tea giving one to Broken. Broken nodded and sipped his tea. "Thank you. So I hear you are friends with the locals." Zecora nodded and sipped her tea. "Yes it took a long time for them to get to know and accept me, it will probably take longer for you." Broken shrugged. "I don't really care either way. I am here for this job and once it is done I shall go back to my room in Canterlot and stay there until I am needed again." Zecora shook her head. "You are hiding from something. I can tell you from experience hiding will not help, it did not help when you were six and it will not help you now." Broken looked at her trying to be mad but knew everything she said was true. "It is just so hard you know, I mean one minute he was with me sitting with me, I was in love with him and then he was gone it was my fault the hunters were there because I was there." Tears started to develop in his eyes. "It was my fault." Zecora looked at him. "It will be hard but you must let it go did you know they would be there did you know he would die when you went there?" Broken shook his head. "No I had no clue any of that would happen." He finished his tea. "But still they were in Equestria for me, they sensed my power and came for me." He let a few tears fall. Zecora sighed. "Please just let go of it. Trust me it does get better." Broken sighed again and sighed. "You remind me of somepony I once knew." He stood up. "I should go now I am sure you have things to prepare after all the moon is full and the magic will be strong tonight." Zecora chuckled. "Yes I am planing on making a potion tonight." She walked over and grabbed a small vile off a shelf. "Here take this, I am not sure how much use it will be but I am sure you can think of something to do with it. Broken took the vile and looked at it smiling. "I am sure I can find something to do with this." He slipped it into his pocket and walked out the door. He looked up at the sky. "I guess I should let it go." *** Twilight looked over the letter she had gotten then looked up at her friends. "Well it seems we are going to be heading to Saddle Arabia." Author's Note Sorry for the wait guys it has been a long few months and I hit a creative slump. Don't worry I have already started on the next chapter and have a better idea of where it and the next few chapters will go. Huge thanks to my editor CrystalWaters798 for editing and keeping on me to get this done.
Chapter 8Broken walked into town, ignoring the looks he was getting. "Hmm I should probably go see if Twilight is alright. I mean, I did kill that guy in front of her." He walked up the the library and opened the door seeing all the elements there sitting in mild shock with Twilight holding a letter. "Hey, did I miss something?" Twilight look at him flinching for a second when she heard his voice. "W-we have been asked to go as representatives of Equestria to Saddle Arabia in order to open up a intellectual exchange. This might even lead to the founding of a university between the two nations." Her eyes sparkled with the idea. "I mean, we have made great strides with their kingdom the past 20 years since their new king took over." Broken nodded. "Yes, their current king is very progressive in thought." He leaned on the wall. "Who knows, this may lead to trades with other nations." He yawns. "Of course, this means I have to get a few things from Canterlot." Twilight's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean? There is absolutely no way you are coming with us. You were told to protect us here but we won't be here, so you will stay here till we get back. Got it?" Broken smirked. "I was told to protect you not just here. Plus, you will need a guide once you get to Saddle Arabia. And who better to guide you then someone who grew up there? I mean, I know the capital and most major trade routes like the back of my hand." Twilight looked at him. "Wait you're from Saddle Arabia? How did you become a knight for princess Luna? You know what, fine, whatever, you can come. But we need to leave tomorrow after lunch to make it to Canterlot and then to the harbor in Baltimare." Broken nodded. "Yes, well I need to go see if Vinyl will let me keep the room well I am gone." He started to open the door. "Oh, and dress for the heat and make sure to pack at least one nice dress." He opened the door and walked out. "Well, they don't seem that scared of me." Broken made his way down the street when he stopped mid step and turned and looked up at the sky. In the sky there was a pegasus with dark gray almost black fur and a light cyan gray mane with light stripes alternating with very light gray lines. He was muscular but had the look of somepony who enjoyed hanging out and having a nice time. "This town just gets better and better." He saw the pegasus start to move some of the clouds away from the town to the holding area for them to stay till the next storm. Broken sighed and started to walk towards the house he is staying at. He walked in and saw Vinyl sitting on the couch. "Hey Vinyl, I am going to be gone for maybe a week do I have to pay for you to hold the room or are you going to keep it for me or should I get all my stuff?" Vinyl looked at him and smiled. "Don't worry about it, we will keep your room for you." She got up. "Oh and if you want you can set up your mail to come here since something tells me you will be staying here for a while. Also don't worry about your stuff, I will keep your door locked." Broken smiled. "Thanks Vinyl. You have been great to me, especially with the whole town being scared of me, or thinking that I am a monster." Vinyl nodded. "Yes, well, something in my gut tells me I can trust you, and I am trusting that." All of a sudden she lifted her glasses and squinted, looking at him. "You have a question don't you?" Broken shook his head not really wanting to talk about it. "No, not really. I should go and pack." He started to walk past her. Vinyls arm outstretched and grabbed his shoulder with more strength then Broken thought possible from her small frame. "Come on, what is it?" Broken sighed and looked at her as her grip loosened. "There was this pegasus he had very dark gray fur and a light cyan gray mane." Vinyl smiled. "Oh Thunderlane! He is second in charge of the weather team. Wait, do you have a crush on him?! No way, I can't wait to tell Cloudchaser!" Broken looked at her. "Please don't. I may have a crush on him but I am so not ready to be in a relationship plus, I am bad luck." Vinyl looked at him. "Now what makes you say that? I am sure you would be perfect for him." Broken shook his head. "No most ponies who I get close to end up getting hurt. I mean, this is the second longest conversation I have had with anypony since I have gotten here." Vinyl looked at him and sighed. "You know, for somepony who apparently is a skilled fighter, you sure are a chicken some times." Broken's eyes narrowed. "I will show you who a chicken is. When I get back, I will ask him out." Suddenly he glared at her. "Oh you're good. Damn you are good." He walked up to his room and sighed. "I can't believe that just happened." He pulled out his bag and opened a small pocket, pulling out a drawstring backpack. He put a few small things in there including the vial he got from Zecora, a small black silk bag, his phone charger, and a broken striped shell. Broken walked out the door and sighed. 'I guess I should go grab something to eat.' He thought as he walked out the front door. He saw young foals running around and remembered that he had seen today would be a half day. He stopped at the market and looked around. He walked over to the apple family stall and looked up at the large stallion working it. "Hey, your Big Macintosh right?" The stallion nodded. "Eeyup." He looked down at Broken Shell. "How can ‘ah help you?" Broken looked at the stand and noticed what looked like small fried balls drizzled with caramel on a stick. "Wow what are those?" Big Mac looked at them. "Oh those are apple pancake balls covered in caramel. They are a newer product we started making after granny heard how much you liked her pancakes." Broken nodded. "Those sound great. I will take three of them." He pulled out some bits and payed for them before starting to walk down the street again. He stopped in front of a large fancy looking restaurant and smiled. "Hmm, this place looks nice." He finished off the first stick of apple pancake balls. Broken walked down the street in the large circle around town. He stopped at the park and looked around. "Hmm, this looks a lot better in the daylight." He finished off the second stick and smiled. Broken made it back home and finished the third stick and sighed looking, at the time. "I should go to bed early." He changed into a pair of basketball shorts and then quickly fell asleep. *** Broken woke up and grabbed a pair of boxers and his toothbrush, walking towards the bathroom. He got into the bathroom and brushed his teeth before starting the shower. He relaxed in the warm water for a few moments before washing himself. He got out and dried off with a towel and pulled on his boxers. He walked back into his room and put on a light gray tee-shirt and a pair of skinny blue jeans. After getting dressed and brushing his hair, he walked down stairs with the drawstring bag on his back and saw Octavia sitting in a chair reading. "Oh, hey Octavia." Octavia looked at him. "Hey Broken, I heard you are going out of town for a bit." Broken nodded. "Yeah I am heading out with the elements to be a delegate of Equestria. I feel like I would rather just chill here." He sighed. "But it's not up to me." Octavia nodded. "Yeah well I hope you have fun. Oh I am going to do laundry, so is your stuff in the hamper in your room?" Broken smiled. "Yeah it is. Thanks. Oh and don't worry, I will bring back gifts." He smiled and started to walk out the door, throwing a peace sign at her as he went. He started to walk towards the library knowing that Twilight would probably be up and in a panic. Broken got to the door and knocked before opening the door and seeing books strewn around the floor. "Wow, it looks like a tornado went through this place." Spike's head poked up from a stack of books. "Yeah, you have no idea how much Twilight can go overboard when she wants to study." He chuckled and started to put books away. Broken shook his head. "Yeah she reminds me of a guy I know, he is totally obsessed with knowledge. Of course he is also a master of dark magic and necromancy and Twilight is more of a book worm." Spike looks at him and starts to put books away. "Wait I thought that Princess Celestia banned dark magic about 500 years ago, and necromancy has been outlawed since before Princess Luna was banished." Broken nodded. "Yes, well he is a special case. I assume you know about the unicorn exalma. The thing that allows a unicorn to convert energy in their bodies into magic which is then put into their magical reserve?" Spike nodded. "Yeah of course I do. I had to attend all of Twilight's classes with her. But what does that have to do with black magic?" Broken nodded. "Well sometimes that exalma can be tainted and that will lead to the magic being corrupted and turning into dark magic. The princesses can not figure out how to fix it so they allow those dark mages to practice. Well that led to my friend becoming a master of it and becoming a member of the lunar operations. From what I hear he was sent to go and talk with a large pack of diamond dogs, well things went south fast and he had to kill some. He brought them back to fight along side him. From what I hear Princess Celestia was not too pleased but had to concede that it was a useful talent to have at her disposal. Of course this was before Luna got back and took control of our order." Spike watched him as he spoke. "Wait you mean the order of lunar operations has been around since before Princess Luna returned 2 years ago?" Broken nodded. "Well it was founded before she was banished. I was in fact recruited before Princess Luna returned. I was a member of a small group of mercenaries that helped protect caravans in Saddle Arabia when I was recruited." Spike nodded. "Wow how long were you doing that? I mean you must have been doing it for a long time for the Princess to notice you." Broken smiled. "Well I was adopted by them when I was only six and I had already had a little training then. I started going out on missions with some of the older members when I was 10." Spike nodded and finished putting up the books. "Wow that must have been crazy." He started to walk towards the kitchen. "Are you hungry? I have enough food to make some breakfast for you too." Broken smiled. "That would be great actually." He walked into the kitchen next to the small drake. "Hey, why don't you have wings?" Spike looked at him and sighed. "I wasn't born with them so I guess I won't get them. I mean, that's how it works right? I mean, why don't you have a horn?" Broken looked at him. "Wait what? Who in the world told you that dragons were born with wings? I know a very old dragon who has the same appearance as you. He could probably teach you a few things about dragons." Spike nodded. "I would love to meet him. I really want to learn more about dragons but all the ones I have ran into were jerks." Broken nodded. "Yes well a lot of dragons in Equestria have been away from their homeland and the ways of it for so long they are little more than greedy beasts. The dragon I know is both an ambassador for the dragon's land and a very kind soul." Spike nodded and started to cook. "Yeah the ambassador to Equestria is rarely here so I have never met them." Broken nodded. "Well it is a different experience to meet a true dragon then meeting one of the dragons here in Equestria." Twilight walked in. "Hey Spike." She looked over and saw Broken Shell. "Wow, you're here earlier then I thought you would be." She sat down at the table. Broken shrugged. "Well I figured I would be early." They all sat down to eat. *** A few hours later the group of six ponies, one zony, and a dragon, boarded the train to Canterlot. *** Once the train stopped at Canterlot, Broken Shell walked off and met a royal guard holding a large duffle bag. "I take it you are the one I am supposed to get my stuff from?" The royal guard nodded and handed him the bag before walking away. Broken walked back onto the train and sat in the large booth with the rest of his group. "Okay, now I have my stuff." He set his bag up on the luggage rack. Rarity looked at him. "Well, what did you have to get Darling?" Broken shrugged. "I needed some dress clothes and some of my casual clothes for when we are there." Rarity looked at him. "Well I am sure you would know what to dress like. If we had more time I am sure you could have helped me make clothes for the rest of us." Broken shrugged. "Well I mean I didn't really need them but I prefer to have some lighter clothes than what I brought with me to town. I also need to have my belt to look the part. Rainbow looked at him. "What do you mean ‘look the part’?" Her eyes narrowed. Broken sighed. "We are going to the capital of the Zebra's largest trading partner. I still stick out to them especially since they saw me two months ago." Pinkie looked at him. "Oh I know we can throw a party for you and them to resolve your problems.” Broken looked at her. "That party would turn into a bloodbath. There is no way around the path myself and the council chose. This was set in stone when I was six years old." Applejack looked at him. "What happened when you were six sugarcube?" Broken shrugged and sighed, starting the tale he had told Zecora the day before. The group looked at him all of them in shock about what had happened. Finally Rainbow looked at him. "What happened after that!? You can't just stop the story!" Broken chuckled. "Oh I am sure I can find time to tell you what happened after that. But that and what happened two months ago have caused this to become my own personal war." Twilight looked at him. "Well I would love to hear the rest of the story some time." Broken shrugged. "Maybe when we get there. Wait how close are we to the port?" Twilight looked at him. "Well we should be there in two hours. So we have a bit of time." Broken nodded and fell asleep almost immediately, having learned how to fall asleep almost anywhere. ********************** Two hours later Broken woke up as the train came to a stop. "Huh, what, are we here?" He looked up and saw the girls gathering their things. He got up and grabbed his bags. "So, shall we go." He lead them off the train, keeping an eye out for anything extra ordinary. He walked them to a large boat. "This is our ship. We have the whole ship to ourselves." He tossed his bags onto the ship before climbing on himself. He helped them up and smiled. "Awesome, this is great." Twilight looked at him. "Umm, what was that? After we got off the train until, we were on the ship it was like you were a completely different pony." Broken shrugged. "Because we were on open path where you would have been in more danger than anywhere else." He watched as the ship's crew took the luggage to different cabins. "Okay it is about 8:00. We should get there around noon tomorrow and we will get to the capital about 4 tomorrow night, as long as the wagon is there when we get there." Twilight looked at him. "Wagon? Why would we need a wagon? I mean it is only a 4 hour trip." Broken looked at her. "Yes but it is four hours on a path that raiders frequent. So it is better to be safe. Plus, with a wagon and caravan it will only be 3 hours." He walked down the stairs of the leading the girls to where they could put their stuff. "Plus we will get to be guarded by the best guard mercenary band in all of Saddle Arabia. The Red Scimitars." He lifted up the back of his shirt showing, a tattoo of a red scimitar in the small of his back. "They raised me after my parents died." Fluttershy nodded. "Isn't their leader one of the best fighters in the world?" Rainbow looked at her. "Flutters, how do you seem to know about this fighting stuff all of a sudden?" Fluttershy blushes as everyone looked at her. "My parents had me enrolled in a martial arts class when I was a filly. So I keep up on this stuff sometimes." Broken nodded. "Well you are right. There are five great fighters in the world recognized as the best. They are called the Malznara. My master is one of them. There is him in Saddle Arabia, one in Gouxia, one gryphon in their homeland, one zebra who is the current head of the Shadow Hunters, and one in Equestria." Rarity looked at him. "Who is it in Equestria? I mean it is probably one of the royals guards." Twilight smiles. "It has to be Shiny, I mean he is the Captain of the royal guard. That means he is the strongest, right?" Broken shook his head. "No. Actually, it is a old stallion who lives alone at the top of the smoky Mountain. I guess he was once a member of the Lunar Knights." Pinky bounced as she set her stuff down. "Oh! We should have a party when we get there to celebrate us getting there!" Applejack looked at her. "Now calm down sugar cube. We can't just be throwin’ random parties." Broken nodded. "Plus, I don't think you could find all the booze you wanted for it on such short notice. There are not many alcohol providers in the country. They weren't even allowed to drink there till about 50 years ago. Yet me and the training partner I had who is still my best friend still managed to get drunk every so often." Applejack nodded. "Wait, how old are yah? I mean we are all 21 or over." Broken smiled. "I am 19. I started training when I was 6 or so and joined the order when I was 16." Rainbow looked at him. "So that must mean you're pretty high in the order right? I mean, you were sent to guard us. You have to be at least the third strongest at least!" Broken shrugged. "Rank doesn't really matter." ***Meanwhile in Canterlot*** Shining Armor walked into Princess Celestia's study and bowed. "Hello Princess." The Princess nodded to him. "Shining Armor, you asked to see me. It must be important." Shining nodded. "Yes Princess. I am wondering why you sent the lowest ranked member of the order to Saddle Arabia with the Elements without any back up. I mean, he is the 25th seat. Doesn't that mean he is the weakest?" Celestia sighed. "He is currently 25th. He was previously the 7th seat. He just quit trying two months ago after the 6th seat was killed. He just gave up and stopped caring about what seat he held."
Chapter 9Broken stretched and got off the boat at the dock and looked around smiling as he saw the small port town. This part of the country had some lush grass due to the nearby spring. He watched as the girls got off and looked around as their luggage was unloaded. He had on a pair of light tan cargo shorts and a white tee-shirt. Around his waist was a black silk sash with red tipped tassels. Tucked in it was his large knife. He saw a small group of three earth ponies walking towards them all wearing a similar sash. The first was a large gray stallion with bulging muscles that had a scimitar on his side. The second was a slender light purple mare that had a small knife on either side of her waist. The third and final member of the group was a orange colt on the verge of stallionhood with a large straight sword that seemed it would be too big for him to hold on his back. Broken smiled and pulled the large stallion into a tight embrace. “Iron, it’s good to see you again my brother.” The large stallion hugged back and chuckled. “It is good to see you as well Broken Shell. It has been far too long since we last walked the desert together.” Broken stepped back from the embrace and looked over to the elements who were right behind him. “Girls, these are our escorts for our journey. May i introduce Iron Hide, Rose Thorn, and Little Bit.” He said as he motioned to the three new arrivals. “They are members of the red scimitars guild and some of the best caravan guards there are.” Iron nodded at the girls and noticed a few of them, especially the butter colored pegasus, were looking at him with a bit of fear. Rose smiled as she looked over the group, her mind thinking of different ways to move with them to ensure the best protection. Little just looked at Broken Shell. He was clearly excited to see someone he looked up to come back again. Broken watched as the group’s belongings were put on the wagon and let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. It felt good to be home again and he knew that once they reached the capital, not even the princesses themselves could bring harm to his charges. They started walking and Broken continued to catch up with his old friends, constantly keeping his eyes on the group of mares in front of him and on the horizon. Suddenly, Little asked a question he had not been expecting. “Hey Broken, where is your friend you brought last time? His name was Growing Flower right? He seemed nice.” Broken’s breath hitched for just a second noticed only by Iron hide. Broken just looked at the colt. “He died.” Broken had a small smile oh his face as he remembered the happy look on his former coltfriend’s face when they had gotten off the same boat he had just left less than an hour before. Iron nodded a unspoken word of support before they all resumed walking. A few hours of talking later, they arrived at the capital. In the center of it were the large towers of the palace. The elements all made a slight sound of awe looking at the large city where they could just feel the energy of the life around them and the large ancient stones cut to make it. Broken looked at them. “Okay get in the wagon here. That way you’ll draw less attention and you won't get pickpocketed as easily.” They all looked at him before they silently agreed to his idea knowing he knew this place much better than they did. It took them 10 minutes to get to the palace since most of the capital's residents were at work or school. The large palace that loomed over them was much bigger then the castle of the royal sisters and a few hundred years older. There were two large guards standing out in front of the gate but they moved to the side when they saw the sashes around the mercenaries waists and shoulders. Once inside, Broken nodded at the girls to come down. “Okay, your things will be taken to your room. Just follow me and we will go and meet the king who is waiting for us inside the entrance hall. Remember to be serious but not too serious.” He looked at Pinkie Pie and Twilight especially. He led them into the large doors as the three guards they had arrived with left to go and do whatever it was they do. Broken smiled when he saw the familiar tan coat and white robes of the of the large earth pony king. “Girls I present his majesty the king of Saddle Arabia, Lionis Melran. Your majesty these are the elements of harmony.” The king smiled and laughed a friendly and hearty laugh. “Broken Shell it is great to see you again. I do hope your journey was nice.” He walked down at looked at the group of mares bowing. “Please, please, stand up and relax. I may be a king, but I hate formalities.” Broken smiled at the shock on the mares faces after hearing the king of one of the most powerful nations act so casual. “King I must know, where is your son? He is usually here to greet me.” The King nodded. “He went into town. He probably did not realize today was the day you were coming. I mean, we both know he loves to see his best friend.” Twilight looked at Broken Shell in shock. “Wait, you are best friends with the prince of the second most powerful pony nation in all of Equis? You are really strange, you know that right?” Broken shrugged. “Well I mean, we learned from the same teacher and spent most of our younger life sparing.” Twilight nodded and the king looked at them. “Please, follow Broken Shell to your rooms to get settled. He will then bring you to meet me again.” Broken nodded. “Follow me.” Author's Note Big thanks to my new editor Mystic Leaf on this one.
