KOA: A Pony's Fateby The JoekerChaptersThe body is the soul's prison unless the five senses are open.Fortune and glory, kid, fortune and glory.No one is useless in the world who lightens the burden of another.Freedom itself seldom comes for free.A government's first duty is to protect their people, not run their lives.Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.Be curious, not judgemental.Why!? because f*** you, thats why!Training DayCourage, above all things, is the first quality of a warrior.The body is the soul's prison unless the five senses are open.As Celestia, Luna, Twilight and her friends approached Tartarus, everypony looked a little apprehensive and Celestia couldn't blame them. "It won't be long now my little ponies." Celestia said to the 6 mares, Luna and had treked this path before, as did Twilight when she brought Cerberus back here, but she was still a little nervous. As they approached the gate, the Caretaker opened it up for me. "Thank you for turning up your highnesses, good evening young ones." he said to the other mares. All of them, even Pinkie Pie nervously waved hello not doing her usually upbeat greeting. "My time is up your majesties, would you honor me by inspecting the cells this time every year until you find a new Caretaker?" he asked. "Of course Great Gate, we would be honored farewell, old friend." she said. He nodded "Goodbye Celestia, farewell Luna, happy travels, adieu mares" he said, and relinquished the keys to Celestia and walked away, into the dark forests. "It's such a shame to lose such a good pony." Luna said. Celestia shook her head "No, not a good pony... a good friend..." she said and allowed a single tear to fall for him. "Come on little ponies, let us enter." said Luna with a hopeful smile. -Meanwhile in Tartarus- As Castellan Corvus Frederick awoke after his little spell mishap, he instantly recognised the bars and atmosphere of a dungeon. "Get busy living, or get busy dying." I mumbled as I got up. I went over to the gate... iron? rusted iron at that... really? hah! no problem. I grabbed the bar and yanked to the right, tearing the cell door open, years of training with all type of melee weapons has left me very strong, I can beat a troll down with my bare hands! Suddenly I was beset upon by a three headed dog, if I can remember my history books on mythology... Cerberenius, or Cerberus, is guardian of the underworld... is this Hell? But it just stood there, I concentrated my magic to read it's mind and it said: 'You are not a prisoner' over and over again. Hmm. Suddenly a voice rang out. "You, you can get me out... he does not attack you..." I looked and there was a creepy old guy with a nose ring, I myself have two gold earrings but this guy... "And why would I do that? you have committed a crime." I stated "As have you, or else you wouldn't be here." he said. "The dead don't commit crimes." I said and used magic to blast a hole in the wall, I was on the fifth floor, so I jumped down and landed in a roll. I took off in a sprint toward the forest as... alarms blared? I never knew this place had alarms... I looked back and didn't see anything, luckily, no one was following me. I got within the treeline and bolted away even faster, I mean, I had no idea where I was so I wasn't going to stick around, one things for sure, I'm not in Amalur anymore. I took cover behind a particularly large tree and looked back, there was no one following me. Why was I in prison anyway? I just teleported there! and the gates weren't that strong, I'm pretty sure the average person, with a little struggle could pry them open no problems, so why couldn't, or don't, the inhabitants just break the doors open? I mean, it would be easy, except for the likes of that old guy who probably couldn't lift a rock. I kept running further into the forest, hoping to come out the other side... and then... I have no idea what to do next... I mean, I had no clue where I was and what awaited me, for all I know trolls could rule this land! Except I can kill trolls, if I can take down a Prismere troll I can take down any troll, as well as root golems, man I hate those things. As I burst forth from the forest I noticed I was actually in a clearing, not clear from the forest at all. I put the Captain's armor set on so I could sneak around easier. As I was preparing to make camp I heard: "Ah, Ahuizotl it certainly has been awhile." I quickly dived behind some bushes, earning a somehow quiet 'ouch!' from its current inhabitant. "What's the deal pal?" she whispered harshly. "Sorry." I said simply and crouched down, getting my Dverga Blades ready at my side. "Wait, are you one of Ahuizotl's minions?" she asked, I could see her put up her dukes from my peripheral vision. "Listen lady, I ain't anyone's minion, Belen knows I've had to deal with plenty of them myself." I said with a roll of my eyes. "Anyone? don't you mean anypony?" she asked. "Any what?" I asked, when I turned to look at her, and her at me, we both almost screamed. "What in Celestia's mane are you?" asked this Equine I was face to muzzle with, we were both still managing to be quiet somehow. "A Varani male, or human if you want to be more collective, and you?" she asked in turn, even though I already knew. "a Pegasus mare, or pony if you want to be more collective." she replied. "Castellan Corvus Frederick, you can call me Frederick." I said and stuck my hand out, she seemed to get the gesture and we shook hands/hooves. "Daring, Daring Do." she said and we turned to watch event unfurl from our hidey place. -Meanwhile, outside of Tartarus- "Cerberus! what happened?!" asked Celestia and read his mind. "No pony has escaped, it was just a non-prisoner and he blasted a hole in the wall, which is now fixed." he thought. "A non-prisoner? who would want to be in Tartarus?" she asked. "He was locked in a cell, but not tagged as a prisoner." thought the guardian. "Well, he must have been a prisoner we forgot to mark!" exclaimed Luna. "Yes, we must find him, or who knows what havoc he'll cause." said Cadence. "You hear that girls? keep an eye out for the prisoner!" said Twilight, which got a positive reaction from the girls, Celestia was worried for her student however the prisoners in Tartarus were very dangerous, she would warn her student later. Author's Note I have updated this chapter, this story will take place BEFORE the Canterlot wedding now. Fortune and glory, kid, fortune and glory.As me and my new ally watched from our bush, we peered out from it and revealed a horrendous creature It had an elongated dog-like head, except for his eyes, which are positioned over his nose at the end of his snout, it walked on all fours, with dog-like hind limbs and ape-like forelimbs, and a long monkey-like tail with a hand on its end, with a tuxedo style coat, having dark blue fur over most of his body, while its stomach, lower jaw and limbs are of a lighter blue, it wore golden colored jewelry, such as a necklace, a single earring, and three bracelets, one for each foreleg, and one around his tail's wrist. "What in Amman is that?" I asked. "That is Ahuizotl, my arch nemesis, what is he up to now?" she asked. "With these villains, it's never good." I said. "You don't have to stick around you know?" asked Daring. "Yeah, but it's been awhile since I've dealt with a villain, I settled for the quiet life for a good few years, I'm still as fit as a fiddle, but I need a little shape up." I said with a smile. "You said you found a wooden structure, Ahuizotl?" came a voice, we both snapped our attention to the front. "Yes, I wasn't able to enter, but I found this." said this 'Ahuizotl' and it was my blade! "Heartbreaker..." I mumbled. "What?" asked the equine next to me. "My sword, he has it..." I reached to my back and turned red, this was embarrassing, how had I forgotten to check for my swords?! I only had my daggers now that I checked. "What do you use that for?" she asked. "For eliminating my enemies, what else?" I asked. She suddenly(somehow) turned pale. "Are you ok?" I asked. "You... you kill ponies with that?" she asked. "No, I kill Boggarts, Brownies, Giant Rats, Wolves, Bears, Gnomes, Humans, Dokkalfar, Ljosalfar, Barghest, Leanashe, Threshes, Spiders, Undead, Golems, Kobold, Murghan, Sprites, Niskaru, Crudok, Banshaen, Ettin, Jottun, Bolgan and Trolls" I named them from the top of my head. "Ok, so, no ponies?" she asked. "Ehh, I'd only do it if they attacked me first." I said. "Fair enough." she said and we turned back to the enemies. "We'll settle at 1,000 bits, no more Ahuizotl" came another male voice. "They're trying to sell my sword? hell no..." I said and got up. "What are you doing?" asked Daring. "Trust me." I said and lunged into the trees. Before hoof could meet hand on this deal I spoke from the shadows. "It is not wise to sell other beings property." I said, remaining out of sight. "Your property? and what constitutes this as your property?" asked Ahuizotl. "The fact I forged it with my own appendages I should think." I spoke. "And wha-" he stopped as I launched with impossible speeds through the clearing using Blink and used Mark of Flame on them both. "Throw that blade into the clearing or with one thought from me you explode into fire." I deadpanned. "Ow! it burns!" yelled Ahuizotl, who threw the blade in a blind panic, and it landed in front of me. The other had run as soon as the Mark was administered, I turned it off, reclaimed my blade quickly and crept back around to Do. "Your turn my Equine friend." I said, she took her cue and jumped into the clearing with fleur. "Well, Ahuizotl, it seems I foiled you again." she smiled, my god she was small, ranging at about... 4 foot tall, no more no less. "Daring Do?! it was you all along?" he asked. She looked back to the bush and just saw me nod. "Yeah, I was playing tricks with you!" she yelled and jumped back into the bush, which I had vacated a minute ago. "Curse you Daring Do!" yelled Ahuizotl. -meanwhile- As I sprinted through the forest again, I was following the tracks of Ahuizotl and the unknown pony, where they came from, eventually they lead out of the forest, and to a set of waterfalls I got to a point where I saw Ahuizotl's tracks lead off in a different direction. I followed the tracks for a good hour before coming across... no... Gravehal Keep? how? More importantly, where? I looked around and noticed it was rather beautiful out here, in Amalur, these are called 'falls' usually with a first name, it was also nighttime which made everything stand out. I opened the gates to Gravehal and- -Meanwhile- As Princess Celestia read through her usual notes she spotted something curious, a note from Daring Do, Celestia is the one who published the novel for Daring as no books can legally be sold in public without royal approval. The note read thu- "Good evening sister." came Luna's voice as Celestia nearly jumped out of her skin. "Luna! I'll get you back for that!" she said. "What have you there?" asked Luna. "A note I was just about to read before somepony interrupted me!" she said with a glare. "Well, night court is now on, so your business is also my business dear sister." said Luna. They both settled to read the note. (Best read on Garamond format text, located in top right corner) The note read thus: Dear Her Majesties Celestia and/or Luna. Recently I was on another of my adventures when the most odd thing happened, as I was crouched in a bush, something jumped at her- me. Sorry I'm so used to writing novels about myself in the third person, ahem, I was hidden in a bush and about to spy on Ahuizotl, when something jumped beside me and almost crushed me! Upon further inspection it was revealed that it was a masked bipedal creature, and it is very tall! It told me about itself but I can't for the life of me remember what it said, not even its his name. He helped me defeat Ahuizotl by using magic of the likes I've never seen! Last I saw of him he was heading toward Winsome Falls. If you wish to know more about this being, I would advise searching that area. Yours Respectfully Daring Do. (Back to your usual format) "This sounds like the being that escaped Tartarus!" exclaimed Luna. "Daring Do said he helped her defeat her arch nemesis, so maybe he isn't all that bad, we should at least talk to him first." said Celestia. "What?! are you mad Tia? have you forgotten the reason why we created Tartarus? or how dangerous it's inhabitants?" asked Luna. "No, I have not forgotten, nor have I forgotten every face/muzzle or whatever we put in there, none of them would have helped her! they would have worked with Ahuizotl not against him! I will talk to this supposed criminal before I render any judgement, come Luna, we will leave in a week, so we can sort out paperwork first, we have some long nights ahead of us sister, inform Twilight to meet us at Winsome Falls in a week." said Celestia. "I see your reasoning sister, excuse us- me for being so brash, it's just I've seen so much conflict and death and suffering and war... and being on the moon for so long... it has affected me, can you accept my apology?" asked Luna. "Of course Luna, I know it's hard, but ponies expect us to be a lot more forgiving nowadays." she said and embraced her younger sister. Author's Note Hey guys! back with another chapter! What is inside Gravehal Keep? why is Corvus here? why are the Princesses(including Twilight ) so damn hot? why? why? why? and why am I asking you so many question? can you tell me? can you Marl? can you God? Ahem, Marl here, sorry for my homie's little episode there, I had to pry the laptop off of him! anyway, why the dislikes mares and colts? tell us how we can improve!(barring a story rewrite of course) we love you ponies! Thanks LamuneSoda for the fav! it means a lot to the story! NyxKnight: thanks for all the support man!(or woman) the comment, the cover art and the advice! Oh, and we mentioned a screen problem last chapter, here is our cracked screen, you can imagine how annoying this gets, it's worse than it looks in the pic, luckily we're still up and running: Peace Y'all Marl out. No one is useless in the world who lightens the burden of another.-4 days later- "Princess! we have bad news!" said a guard as he bowed to the Sun Goddess. "What is it?" she asked. "Twilight is already near Winsome Falls!" said the guard. "What?" asked Celestia. "Her assistant said she was gathering Knowledge Leaves." explained the guard. "Tell her friends to go and get her, we still need to prepare." said Celestia. The guard bowed and ran off to send a message. -Meanwhile, in Winsome Falls- As Twilight Sparkle took a deep breath to enjoy nature and the beauty of Winsome Falls. "Ahh, it is so beautiful." she smiled and bounded around... at least it was beautiful out here. Suddenly a beast climbed out of the pools the likes of which Twilight has never seen before. (credit goes to daenzar for the image) And then other rainbow coloured beasts also climbed out: (A rainbow Niskaru) Twilight panicked as they closed in on her and fired magic at them, it affected them but not that much. She backed off but tripped on a rock and fell, making her vision go blurry. She thought it was over as they crowded around her. But suddenly she saw a flash of light and a figure jumped in front of her(start at 00:40 for the vibe I'm going for with the flashing cleaver). He jumped down and slashed a monster with his blade, he spun past it and used the spin to power his next slash, a decapitation of the next monster, then he slashed upwards diagonally right at the next one, he thrusted forwards and impaled the last one, he spun from the impaled monster and was facing the bigger monster and it flew away then. He turned to Twilight as she passed out from concussion, worried in case he experimented on her... As Corvus watched the Niskaru Lord Jacken fly away he turned to the purple pony who was injured as she passed out, he crouched over her and put a hand on her forehead. "Concussion, probably need bedrest, magic will speed up process." he said, he heard a growl from nearby. He scooped her up in his arms like a baby, more like a small child but still, he carried her to Gravehal Keep nearby, hidden by some magically placed trees. He kicked open the door to the Keep, the 'Sentinels' as he called them turned to him but quickly resumed their duties, they were 'blank' ponies as he called them, dressed in Azurite armor, some of them in Spiritweave in the library and some in Dreadscale in the armory and courtyard, except that it fits a pony and they patrolled the grounds of Gravehal, they listened to any order I gave but otherwise just patrolled. He took her into main keep and ran up the stairs and put her on the bed. "Sanando deos benedicas cum munere vestro! patere tua virtute curare!" (Healing gods, bless me with your gift! allow me to heal with your power!) He said as light came from his hands and healed her up, she would be unconscious for a few hours however. He took a breath and walked out, going down the stairs sitting on his throne, two pony guards in Bolgan's Bane armor stood next to it. He sat there leaning his head in his hand while his elbow rested on the armrest. -In the bedroom 20 minutes later- As Twilight awoke she tried to quickly get up but immediately regretted it as her head throbbed, she looked around the room she was in, she was in a room in a bed with red colours and an intricate design there was a mirror in the left corner and a chest in the right. She also saw a shield on the wall. A standard sized shield with a symmetrical upwards curving top and an asymmetrical angular shaped bottom is supported by a bipedal metal thing wielding two weapons. Which seem to be levitating many objects, and eye behind the figure seemed to give some kind of strange comfort as if the person was watching over you while you slept. The thing was standing on a mountain and looked to be some kind of authority figure. The shield itself had 12 colors. it carries a motto, which reads: "Peace, justice, progress. We are the Warsworn." (Sorry about the image size. and imagine it as a shield) She got out of bed and found she could at least walk. She walked out of the room and there was a grand hall with a line of soldiers leading to a set of stairs opposite this set, one of them gestured her to walk the path they lined. Here is a video if what Gravehal looks like: She walked between the walls of armoured ponies which just stared at the one opposite them. She walked along a balcony between the soldiers until another small set was visible and the guard line stopped, she walked up the small set and saw a dining table with a figure similar to the one on the shield without the metal, he had a bright outfit on covering his figure apart from his head, he looked young, with brown fur on his face. He was sitting on the left side of the table at the end, with two guard ponies flanking him on both sides with horned armour on. "Ah, you are awake, good, sit down and eat." he smiled and gestured to the chair opposite him. Twilight sat down to a grand meal, with so many fruits and vegetables on the other beings side were red soft things, which she didn't have, so it must be a thing only he can digest. She was about to ask questions before her stomach rumbled and when she opened her mouth to say something instead she dug into the feast. -Meanwhile outside Gravehal in Winsome Falls- "Twilight!" called everypony. "I wonder where she went." said Spike and scratched his head. Suddenly an 'Eeep!' from Fluttershy made them all run. They went to her and noticed a mall patch of blood. Rainbow inspected it. "If she hit her head, she would most likely be concussed from a wound that made her bleed, tracks lead into the forest." said RD. Everypony stared at her. "I've had to deal with injuries from the Weather Team before." she said in a 'duhh' voice. They all began their trek into the woods. -Back in the Keep- As Twilight finished up the bipedal figure stood up and gestured to the small stairs down and she followed him silently, the two guards walked behind her. He stood on the balcony. "Back to your duties!" he said. Twilight jumped but regained composure. He smiled at her and walked down to another table and sat in the middle and she sat opposite him, they were in closer proximity. "Hello there." he said. "Hello." replied Twilight. "You were knocked out after you tripped when Niskaru attempted to attack you, I fought them off, but there will be more, I brought you here to heal, welcome, to Gravehal Keep!" he said and gestured widely with his arms. and stood up "What are you?" asked Twilight. "I am a human, a Varani to be exact." he said and sat back down. "I am a pony, a unicorn, my name is Twilight Sparkle, thank you for helping me, saving me and welcoming me into your Keep, but why?" she asked. "You were in the wrong place at the wrong time, it has been awhile since I've saved anyone personally as well. Remember, no one is useless in the world who lightens the burden of another." he said. "So then, are you a hero of some kind?" she asked. "So they say." he affirmed "I saw your... symbol." said Twilight. "Ah, my Coat of Arms, yes, I am a Warsworn if the pay is right I solve problems, I am Castellan of this Keep, those guards you saw are Warsworn I suppose, but they are mindless, I know not where they came from." he said "I see." said Twilight. "Something you should know is I just broke out of prison, even though I was not a prisoner there." he said. "So you are the non pony who escaped Tartarus?" she asked. "Aye, but I was trapped in there undeservingly, I had a little spell mishap and landed in there." he said. "I will send a message to the Princess soon and let her know you are here and wish to help." said Twilight. "Thank you miss Sparkle." he smiled. "Please, just Twilight." she smiled in turn. "Very well, explore the Keep at your leisure but do not leave yet, with that concussion and the Niskaru that may be stalking around you would not be safe, feel free to browse the library for information about my world or the armory for our weapons." he said. "Weapons?" she asked. "Ah, yes, I've explained this before, I only attack things if they attack me first." I said. "Oh, that is fair." she said. A guard marched up to them. "Castellan! there are 5 ponies and a small dragon at the gate!" said the guard. "They are my friends, they are looking for me." said Twilight. "You should know I removed your magic and it is upstairs under the bed in a small chest." I said. "Ok, I'll get it and join you." said Twilight. Corvus walked out of the main building to see the 5 surrounded by guards. -5 mins earlier- As the 5 mares approached the gates to the fortress, AJ could've sworn she saw a pony in a tower walk away. They opened the gates and spears were immediately pointed at them. "Stay put and the Master of the Keep will be with you shortly... or you'll be on your plots outside the gate." said the guard deadpan. They saw no choice but both AJ and RD were in ready positions while Fluttershy was scared out of her mind. They waited for a minute before they saw a figure walking down the path... Author's Note Hey guys! so many dislikes why???? To those who like it, we keep going for you! I made this chapter longer because I've writers block on Desire's Truth! Freedom itself seldom comes for free.As I approached the group of Sentinels surrounding the 5 mares and dragon I pushed them aside and turned to face them. "I told you to be wary of intruders! not to scare them half to death!" I gestured behind me at the mares, one of which was shaking and hiding behind her friends. "Sir-" started one. "Dismissed, go about your duties." "You heard him men! back to work!" I crouched down to their level and made eye contact with the yellow mare. "It's ok, they won't bother you anymore." I smiled and stood back up as she stood up with her friends. "Where is Twilight and what have you done with her?!" asked a rainbow maned pony, obviously the protective one of the group. "She is in the Keep, getting her magic, and she is fine, I assure you." I said in the most soothing voice I could manage. "How do we know that?" asked the orange pony, another protective one. "Because I'm right here." came a voice from behind, and Twilight was standing there. "Twilight! you're ok!" exclaimed Spike. "Of course I am, in fact Castellan Corvus Frederick here saved me." she said. "Please, if we're talking titles, it's Castellan, if it's names, call me Corvus." I said. "Thank you for your hospitality Mr. Corvus, but we must be going." smiled Twilight but when they turned to leave two guards moved spears in their way. "Alas, I cannot let you go without an escort, those creatures that attacked you are still out there Miss Sparkle." I said with an ominous voice and gestured to the gate. "You were attacked?" asked Rainbow. "Yes, and Castellan saved me and healed me, but what are those things?" asked Twilight. "Come, and I will show you." I said and led them into the library. After exchanging brief introductions I showed them a Niskaru picture book. "These, are Niskaru, an enemy of the Warsworn, of which I am part of, I am the Amaldor of them in this world, the de facto leader, years ago we were formed to fight them, they since went extinct and we became mercenaries, but we chose our contracts to help people rather than rob them, but the Nikaru rose again about 2 years ago, before I beat them back down, to conclude, they are a scourge and must be killed." I said. "What? surely we can reason with them!" said Fluttershy, I had learned their names a minute ago. "No, not I've tried but if you try they will simply cut you down, they are ruthless monsters and will wreak havoc on the world, they are very aggressive and kill on sight, it happened to my old mentor, Ost Ordura, he was killed by them, but then again, the fool wasn't looking behind him during battle, ha, a weakness on his part." I chuckled at the memory of how weak I was back then, compared to me now. "Oh, I'm sorry about your mentor." said Twilight. "No need to dwell, that was years ago now... but I remember it as if It were yesterday as I stay the same my memories are all I had as I settled into a quiet life, it was the Niskaru stirring that led me to be thrown here in the first place." "How do we defeat them?" asked Twilight. "Good old fashioned weaponry, bows, arrows, swords, greatswords, hammers, daggers and magic, but the leaders are different, this particular group is led by Jacken, one the few known Niskaru Lords, how he got here and why he is here is currently a mystery to me, but I intend to find out whilst I am here, luckily my forged weapons are strong enough to take him down, much better than trying to find a weapon of light. Rest in peace General Tilara." I said. "We need ta tell tha Princesses about this threat" said Applejack. "If you think it will help, of course tell them, Niskaru tend to follow their lord, so if he decided to head to your capital, well..." I said. "They are actually coming to visit tomorrow, and so will I, I will warn them about the danger." said Twilight. "I will post guards on the outskirts of the forest to guide you in, I need to make the forest little more complex and dense to deter the lesser Niskaru, tell your Princesses they are welcome in my Keep, under the condition they surrender their magic while they are here, and I will relinquish my weapons as a sign of good faith." I said. "I will let them know of your conditions Mr. Corvus." smiled Twilight. "Excellent, I will be expecting them tomorrow, handy I should imagine." "Anyway, we should really get going." said Twilight. "Hold on, Castro!" I called my loyal friend who luckily teleported here with the Keep, he is a Crowned Eagle and a trained messenger bird, and a formidable foe in combat. "What is that?!" asked Rainbow Dash. "It is so majestic, yet terrifying." said Rarity. "It's a bird silly!" replied Pinkie to Rainbow. "Thats one o' the biggest birds ah ever seen." said AJ. "Wow, even Owlicious can't hold a talon to that!" exclaimed Twilight. "I think he's wonderful." said Fluttershy, Castro flew over to her and perched on her back for a second, he looked quite happy. "Yes, he is wonderful isn't he? this is Castro, my Crowned Eagle, make no mistake, he may look harmless now, but... he is a very deadly bird of prey, he can kill a monkey with a squeeze of a talon and has even took down a bargest in one swoop at one point, the equivalent to a barghast here would be a timber wolf." I said as he perched on my arm. "Wow..." said Twilight. "Yes, he will accompany you to your rulers, he is 1. my ambassador, and 2. a messenger, this bird also carries magic, and we can use it to communicate short range, tell your leaders to send him ahead of them when they are coming." I said "Will do, we should be going before it gets dark." said Twilight "I agree, however I must be insistent on you not going alone, me and two of my men will escort you out of the woods." I said. Twilight nodded. "It would be good to have the protection." she smiled. "Well then, lets go, stick close." I said and exited the library with them, I called my two main guards to our side. We headed down to the gate and opened it, anxious to see if anything was waiting on the other side... Author's Note suppermug: thanks for the comment! We're back ponies! with another chapter for you, hope you guys enjoy! A government's first duty is to protect their people, not run their lives.We opened the gate to find... Nothing, absolutely nothing, which means there is definately something out there... "Be ready, stay close and don't wander off girls, I don't want to have to either drag your corpses to your rulers or deliver them in cardboard boxes, are we clear?" I asked. "Crystal. if thats ok with you..." said Fluttershy with a shy nod as I reassured her with a smile. "Indeed." said Rarity. "Yeah yeah." said Rainbow. "Yeah, I hear ya." said AJ. "Okeydokie liddely wokie!" exclaimed Pinkie. "Yes sir! I will protect these fair ladies with all my might!" said Spike and saluted next to Rarity who giggled at his display and I rolled my eyes, I'd teach this kid about romance later, god knows I've seen enough of it to know what to not do... "Hear that girls? be ready for a fight, except for you Fluttershy." said Twilight with a roll of her eyes as Fluttershy 'eep!' 'd when 'fight' was mentioned. "Hey Castro, look out for Fluttershy, yeah? protect her." I said, he did a sorta salute with his wing and perched on her back... is this place making him more intelligent or am I crazy? both options are possible at this point... I shook my head and walked out the gate with the 6 mares and the dragon, I really hope he can breathe fire... My two guards flanked our rear sides, hanging back a meter or two to keep an eye on us from the back. -Meanwhile above the forest- "The meddler is leading the mares out of the forest sir, what are our orders?" "Do not engage, we will prepare for the arrival of Lord Jacken first, he will give us our directive." "Yes sir, as you command. he won't know what hit him..." -Back at the edge of the forest- "That went better than I expected!" said Twilight as we exited the dense woodland. "Yeah, strange, then again, Niskaru Lords tend to make their minions smarter, likely their biding their time..." I said. "You could be doing the same!" said Rainbow Dash. "I agree, I could be." I said. "In any case, we'll head back to Canterlot for now." said Twilight. "Castro, you know you need to stay." I smiled at my bird who cooed in response. "I'll see you tomorrow Twilight, until next time girls, give my regards to your rulers and adieu!" I said as I trudged back through the forest, back to the Keep. -2 hours later in Canterlot- Twilight Sparkle walked through the door to Canterlot Castle they were met by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. "Twilight Sparkle! finally! I thought something had happened to you!" exclaimed Celestia, the girls had gone back to Ponyville but Spike had stayed. "No, in fact the prisoner from Tartarus helped us and saved my life! he is expecting you both and me tomorrow morning, the girls have gone home but he brought his bird companion." said Twilight, as if on cue Castro flew in and perched on Twilight's back before giving a bow to the Princesses. "Such a regal bird..." said Luna. "Yes, he is certainly majestic." smiled Celestia as Luna and her both bowed back in respect. "His name is Castro, and the Castellan would like you to give up your magic when you enter his Keep as we will he along with any weapons." "If he thinks-" started Luna. "We will do as he says Luna, in his Keep we entertain his preferences." said Celestia. "Very well sister." smiled Luna. "What is he like Twilight?" asked Celestia. "He is very heroic, he saved me from some creatures that tried to... get me, and carried me to his Keep, where he healed me, fed me and its as if he 'cleaned' my magic, it feels a lot smoother to use now, he is also very disciplined and disciplinary, he has a force of guards, that are... almost automatous, they follow only his orders and patrol his Keep, he is a part of a band of warriors that protect the land he is from." said Twilight. "He saved you? from what Twilight Sparkle, please elaborate." said Luna. "They are called Niskaru, they are very aggressive and cannot be reasoned with, he told me to warn you about their threat and that they may attack Canterlot, their leader looks like you a little Princess Celestia, except his neck bones are different colours and transparent and he has a longer muzzle, his name is Jacken." she said. "I see, tomorrow, show us where it is Twilight." said Celestia. "He had guards to guide us through the forest, which is there to protect the Keep." said Twilight. "What type of bird is Castro, Twilight?" asked Celestia. "He is a Crowned Eagle, he may look nice, but the Castellan told me he is a bird of prey, and has took down things the size of Timberwolves." said Twilight. "Wow, so beautiful... yet so dangerous." said Celestia, who noticed Philomena had stirred and was watching him. "Very well, tomorrow we shall depart, get some rest for now Twilight Sparkle." smiled Luna, Twilight headed to her old student dorm and Castro perched next to Philomena who seemed to take an instant liking to him. "They make such an adorable couple." said Celestia and Luna chuckled at her sister, who had wanted Philomena to have a... male friend for a while. "Sister, we should get to bed, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow..." sighed Luna. "Of course, lets go." she smiled as they walked to their chambers. Author's Note Thanks to all who favorited! Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.As Princess Luna and Princess Celestia prepared for their visit to Gravehal Keep, a squawk from Philomena reminded Celestia to put her helmet on. "Thank you Philomena." smiled Celestia, she squawked happily in response. Castro was perched next to Luna who was looking him over. "Sister, you should see his talons... they are incredibly sharp." said Luna, it was true, how he manages to perch on ponies backs without hurting them mut take great effort, because one side of Philomena's perch had deep holes in from where he had perched. "He is a bird of prey, unlike Philomena, his talons need to be sharp." explained Celestia. "Indeed... to take down a timberwolf..." Luna trailed off and shuddered. "It is ok Luna, we have our armor on in case anything goes wrong." reassured Celestia and draped a wing over Luna. "I know, I am ready sister." said Luna and floated her helmet upon her head. "As am I." said Twilight who had her own purple armor made last night, much to the ire of the royal blacksmith who was trying to sleep, the Princesses awarded him with a pay rise and he could stay off work until they came back. "Good, let us depart." said Celestia. Celestia floated Twilight onto her back and the sisters spread their wings, Castro prepared to take off with them. "Hang on Twilight." said Celestia as they took off to Winsome falls. On the way the sight was beautiful... until they saw Niskaru below... suddenly Twilight looked back and immediately regretted it... "Princess! Jacken is behind us!" she exclaimed, both rulers looked back and saw a massive beast following them. Luna went to engage but a swipe from Castro just missing her face warned her to keep on going and not to engage. She took the hint and they kept flying. "There! the forest!" exclaimed Twilight. Both sisters landed in front of it and saw two ponies in strange azure armor... "This way your highnesses." said one and led them into the forest, they risked a look back and saw a floating ward made up of symbols appeared in front of Jacken whenever he tried to get within close proximity to the forest The three ponies breathed a sigh of relief and followed the guards. They saw Castro fly overhead to the Keep which the top of was now visible through the blanket of leaves. Eventually they saw the grand gate of Gravehal Keep in all it's glory. "Enter the Keep your majesties, the Liegelord is awaiting your arrival in the throne room." said a guard, what they didn't know was that a certain Warsworn was following them through the forest, sneaking behind them, he then used a spell to teleport himself to the throne room. "Did you hear that sister?! throne room... who does this creature think-" Celestia cut her off. "Did you hear 'Liegelord' Luna? he doesn't claim to be ruler of Equestria, only of his Keep!" she said. "You are correct sister... I only paid attention to 'throne'..." apologised Luna. "It's fine Luna, you just have to be open minded." smiled Celestia and entered the Keep, what they saw amazed them both, Twilight had already seen it. Guards in the same azure armor, some in strange masked armor and others in robes lined their route to the throne room as befitting royalty. "Your highnesses, my Master requests you relinquish your magic within this chest, apart from you Miss Sparkle." said a guard. "Of course." said Celestia and pointed her horn at the chest, which slowly and rather smoothly removed her magic. "Well? how does it feel?" asked Luna, suddenly Celestia let out a childish giggle quite unlike her. "Tingly." she chuckled. "Ok..." said Luna and did the same as Celestia, she fought the urge to giggle but it got the best of her. "Hehe, ok, I see what you mean." chuckled Luna as they straightened up and walked the lined path, they looked to the left and saw... an odd sight... there looked to be a beast pen with a hydra, a manticore, a chimera and a cockatrice. "Luna, look at that, that cockatrice is looking down, it looks to be tamed." said Celestia. "All those animals do, it would take no less than our whole army to take this Keep as most would get lost in the forest, then it looks as if he has archers, assuming we make it this far, the beasts would weaken us even more, then his soldiers, and his unicorns, and his spies, providing we make it through that we still have the Liegelord himself to deal with as well as his deadly bird." said Luna. "Not to mention his personal guard." added Twilight. "He even has personal guards? this does not looks good..." concluded Luna, she was always the tactical mind, but the fact she thought they didn't have a chance to take this Keep worried Celestia immensely, Luna was rather good at judging their chances at winning a battle, as she made it her duty to know the military strengths and weaknesses and was the best at judging such things.... They stood at the door to the Keep and took deep breaths. "Ok, here we go." said Celestia and entered the throne room. They entered the throne room, which was incredibly grand, they saw the Liegelord on his throne, a lute in his hand and his eyes closed as he sang. "Of all the songs in halls of lore, there echoes none more grand, than Olyen's many feats of might, the pure, and lady of the light, she is a knight of golden knot, she is the cureseeker, the conscience of the Summer Fae..." he was softly singing in an unrecognisable accent. He slowly opened his eyes and placed the lute to the side. "Your majesties... welcome... to Gravehal Keep!" he exclaimed and slowly stood and raised his arms. "Thank you for your hospitality Liegelord." greeted Celestia. "It is no trouble, and please, ponies as beautiful as yourselves can call me Corvus, welcome back Twilight." he greeted. "Thank you Corvus." smiled Twilight and hugged him, which he hesitantly returned, meanwhile both sisters were blushing. "Err, thank you Corvus for inviting us to your lovely Keep." said Celestia as Twilight released him. "Yes, it is lovely, you have a nice Coat of Arms." complimented Luna, trying to get rid of her blush. "Thanks." he replied and gestured with his claw, motioning for two ponies to enter with the chest. it was placed on Corvus' lap and he opened it. "Whew, this is some powerful magic, not as powerful as mine, but still..." he said. "How powerful is your magic?" asked Luna. "Very, enough so that it could eliminate Jacken, even so, I only wanted to make sure you really would give up your magic." I explained and gave them their magic back. "Thank you Corvus." said Celestia. "No problem, now come, I wish to talk with you over dinner, we shall eat here." he said and gestured to the table. They both nodded and he motioned for them to sit around the center while he would sit at the end, so they could talk. Suddenly ponies brought in massive plates of food balanced on trays on their backs. "Do you eat with your claws?" asked Twilight. "My what? oh you mean my hands? yes." he said. "Do you use utensils?" asked Celestia. "Yes." he replied. Suddenly they picked up knives and forks in their magic. "Come on Luna." said Celestia and she obeyed. "No no, you don't have to, it' just less messy for me if I do you see." he said and they nodded and put them down. Celestia and Twilight used their magic to pick up the food and take bites like Corvus while Luna stuffed her muzzle, much to Corvus' amusement. "I have a question..." said Luna between mouthfuls of her favorite food, daisy sandwiches. "Shoot." said Corvus, using utensils and eating like Celestia, sophisticated. "Eye ere ou en artaus?" asked Luna with a mouthful of food. "Luna! swallow your food and then talk!" berated Celestia. She complied. "Why were you in Tartarus?" she asked. "A little spell mishap, I tried to escape a trap using teleportation runes, but they kept changing at the last minute, I cast the spell anyway and landed there, which brings me to my question, I ripped that cell open like nothing, how do you keep prisoners there?" he asked. "Our cells have magic embedded in them, it should have been impossible for them to break without the key." said Celestia. "Hmm, maybe your magic doesn't affect me as much..." he said while eating. "Maybe, by the way, do you enjoy it out here all alone?" asked Luna. "I used to, but now I find myself longing for company, meeting your friends Twilight reminded me of how much I missed the company of my dear friend Agarth, that old Fateweaver always did find trouble, at least he's fine last i heard." he chuckled. "If you want, we can magically move this Keep near Ponyville, and you can be it's Liegelord during this... 'Neskeru' threat." said Celestia. "Very well, it's pronounced 'Niskaru' by the way." he said with a smile. "By the way Corvus, I've been wondering, what is that red stuff you eat?" asked Twilight. "This? this is red meat, I require the protein in it to survive, grow and keep my energy up, usually we eat mindless chickens, cows or fish, I am aware ponies are herbivores so you haven't got any." he said. "I see, we won't judge you because of what you eat, but you must know that some of the animals here are intelligent, so everypony would frown upon you eating them." said Celestia with a slight frown, trying to think of a way. "I could make due with animals in the forest, such as some of the creature' I've tamed here, thanks to my old friend Cillian Keen teaching me his tricks..." he said and reminisced. "Deal." said Celestia, Luna was on her third plate. "Excellent." mumbled Luna. "Don't tell Fluttershy though, she'll freak." said Twilight. "I will keep that in mind Twi." he said. After the meal was finished they wrapped up. "That was most satisfactory, thank you Castellan." smiled Celestia. "No problem your highness." he said. "Yes, those sandwiches were delectable." Luna licked her lips. "I wouldn't know." he chuckled. "Yes, because you ate them all." Celestia turned a playful glare to Luna. "I'm sorry..." she said and Corvus chuckled. "It's fine, I can't eat daisies anyway." he said. "Who prepared it?" asked Twilight. "I did." he said. "Really? I order you to stop being Castellan of this Keep and be hired as our new royal chef!" said Luna half seriously. "I will have to pass." he said. "This will mean war." warned Luna playfully. "Bring it on." he said and Luna made a pie appear and threw it at him and he stopped it with his own magic. "Maybe later you two, come Corvus, we will call the royal unicorns to help move the Keep." smiled Celestia. "Very well, let me get my other armor on." he said and went to his bedroom, he came down moments later with the same armor Twilight had seen him wearing when she first was here but it was red, and more shiny and he had a helm tucked under his arm. "Let us go." he said. "Hold on Corvus." said Celestia, he held on to her wing she jumped a little as he touched her sensitive spot with a cold metal gauntlet. "Sorry." he said and took his gauntlet off, putting it in his pack and replacing his hand, she managed to hold in the jump... and his hands felt so soft... "Sister..." Luna waved a hoof in front of her sisters face which looked a million miles away. "Oh, sorry." she said and flexed her wing trying to get him to rub it a little more... She then teleported them outside of Canterlot. "Woah..." said Corvus and swayed a little but regained composure. "Let's go..." he said as they pushed open the gate... Author's Note We're back bitches! That is all. Be curious, not judgemental.As the gates to Canterlot opened with the Princesses magic all eyes turned to the newcomer, who in turn looked over the ponies before him in disdain. "Ignorance." he mumbled as he looked over the snobby nobles, by his guessing most of them were bastards, unaware of the toils of the hardworking, Corvus had to fight to get where he was, and he had to fight hard, these nobles know nothing of life's true grit, the simplicity of working on a farm, to the complexity of ruling a kingdom. "What was that?" asked Celestia. As they walked he explained. "Most of the nobles here have no idea what war, death or hard work, these are all things that define a person, I assume these nobles have less personality than a cardboard box at the best of times?" he said. "War? these hasn't been war in Equestria for over 1000 years..." said Twilight and Luna slightly hung her head at that. "Well, war has come to you, it won't be a large scale war, not whilst I'm here, but if left unattended the NIskaru will spread and destroy everything." said Corvus. "Should we mobilise our troops?" asked Luna. "No, I need a few, but they would have to be Sworn to War." I said. "What?" asked Luna. "Warsworn, the faction I am a part of, an oath to protect the innocent, and punish the wicked, this is how we started in our world, to combat the growing Niskaru menace, I don't need soldiers, I need hardened, trained warriors, the best of the best." he explained and suddenly a rainbow flash was seen and RD was saluting in front of me. "Captain Rainbow Dash of the Weather Team reporting sir!" she said and he circled her, looking her up and down. "Rainbow, were you following us?" asked Twilight. "To make sure nothing happened." she said as he stopped in front of her after the third circle. "Strong wings, good biceps, strong figure, being Captain doesn't mean shit in the Warsworn, Hireling, prove your worth and you may yet become a Pledgeshield if you survive." he said and they kept walking until they reached the castle and pushed open the doors. The guards all tensed upon seeing the heavily armed newcomer but relaxed as the Princesses also entered with Twilight. Suddenly a group of unicorns appeared in a flash of light. "We have moved the structure and it's inhabitants as you requested your highness..." came a rather sinister voice... "Good, I sent the order with magic to the royal unicorns when you weren't looking." she smiled. "Thank you Celestia." said Corvus. "You are dismissed." said Celestia to the group. Suddenly Corvus noticed the shroud surrounding the lead unicorn... "It's a traaaaap." he mumbled as the doors slammed shut as did the windows and Niskaru jumped from behind the pillars, engaging the guards and Rainbow Dash in combat, who were obviously not going to kill them. The lead unicorn revealed himself to be a human Farlanghi and he simply raised his hand at the group of unicorns behind him, pushing them away and knocking them out. Corvus meanwhile had changed into his House of Sorrow robes, and donned a Mastercrafted Ebony lightning staff and put two Prismere chakrams on his belt. He held the staff in two hands and the Farlanghi charged. Corvus bided his time, and when the enemy was close enough, raised his staff above head level, sending a shockwave, sending the warrior flying over the throne and hitting the wall. Corvus summoned a Faer Gorta and ordered it to help the guards. As the mage recovered and ran at him again, Corvus sent a Storm Bolt, which hit him full on, sending him across the marble floor steaming and killing him. Suddenly the NIskaru, as one was about to rip a guard's heart out, dropped said guard and they all moved toward Corvus, Twilight and the Princesses circling them, suddenly a shield enveloped the three mares by Corvus and he was floating, holding his also floating staff in front of him, building up electricity. As the Niskaru charged he threw the staff into the floor with magic, sending out a huge shockwave, killing three of the five Niskaru that were not close enough and leaving a scorch mark on the floor. The remaining two had chakrams sent their way individually merely keeping them at bay rather than actually hitting them, each time they returned to their master they attempted to advance only to be hit again. Suddenly the chakrams stopped coming and they saw their opportunity and charged, as they got within range of Corvus he suddenly jumped back backwards into the air, throwing his chakrams into the floor in front of him, killing the two Niskaru. "Now that I've leveled up from that, I'm too powerful for them, damned Gray Names." he mumbled to himself as he took bits from the corpses. "That was awesome!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash with a cheer. "You need to learn to kill Niskaru to be Sworn to War, even if you show mercy, they won't." he said, suddenly the Farlanghi stood up again and had yellow glowing eyes. "Your time is up Fateless One, you could have become a Niskaru champion, instead you declined, and now you and your new friends will pay." said the corpse as Corvus approached it. "Fuck you." he simply said with his staff in his hands and flicked the bottom of his staff, hitting the corpses stomach, sending an electrical shockwave and sending it flying again and almost reducing it to ash. "Any other Niskaru want to talk?!" he yelled to the throne room, when no reply was evident he took a breath... Why!? because f*** you, thats why!Why!? because f*** you, thats why! Castellan Frederick stood panting after the battle, the Niskaru had attacked Canterlot, what this meant for the future, was uncertain. "Is he...?" asked Luna. "The mage? dead, yes." he confirmed, pulling together after his first true battle in years. "It has been so long since Equestria has seen death..." said Celestia. "Death has come to Equestria it seems." said Corvus, putting his staff in his inventory and got his Primal Greatsword out and his Primal Longsword and equipping Eagonn's armor without the helmet. "So, to be a Warsworn, I need to kill Niskaru?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Yes, remember, they will not show you mercy, so you show them none in return, the first time I encountered them, they killed my fellow Hirelings and then my mentor, and he was one of the best, any of us can slip up at any time, and that was a man willing to kill Niskaru." explained Corvus. "So, what rank are you?" asked Rainbow. "Castellan, Truesworn, Amaldor of War, take your pick, it takes a lot to become a Firstsworn, but due to certain... circumstances to do with the Niskaru, I shot up the ranks, eventually owning my own Keep, Gravehal." Corvus told them. "And me?" she asked. "You're a Hireling, prove your worth and I'll consider making you a Pledgeshield, a few years under your belt, you'll become an Oathblade, impress me enough and maybe, although it is rare you could become a Truesworn, one rank under Castellan." I explained, all the guards, Rainbow, Twilight and Princesses were listening intently. "So, how did you defeat them before?" asked Celestia. "Well, we had good leaders... sort of, Tine Delfric is our leader, the Ancient of War, Castellan of Shieldring Keep, then Grian Shane, who was sort of good, he was more interested in his armor polish than Artifacts or any important history, he was Castellan of Helmguard, then there was Oda Celfred, historian and Castellan of Ironfast Keep, and then Sverri Kura, Amaldor of our forces in Mel Senshir, in the army, across the sea, then me, Castellan of Gravehal Keep, Warrior expert and Liegelord of a town." he explained. "So, I need good leadership skills?" asked Rainbow. "One of the many talents needed, yes." as he said that, Rainbow flew to the troops and started tactical planning. "In a practical sense how?" asked Luna, ever the pragmatic. "We cut the head off the snake, killed the one summoning them, Anru Besin, an ex-General who believed the army could use Niskaru to help in the war, he was laughed off and cast out, but the one he was serving is far more deadly, a Niskaru Lord named Khamazandu, he is the God of Chaos, and is imprisoned in a mountain in my world, he is mostly harmless there but speaks to people, promising power and all sorts, and twisting people to attempt to free him. But if I was teleported here, it is possible that upon discovering my teleportation runes the cultists followed suit, if they teleport Khamazandu out of his prison and into Equestria... the Chaos would be horrendous, he would be unstoppable, and the Warsworn will have failed." asserted Corvus. "I see, so you need my best soldiers?" asked Celestia. "I need those whom I and you can trust, not just any soldiers." he explained. "I will hold a tourney, so all soldiers have a chance to impress you." smiled Celestia. "Very well would you mind if Castro and I stay here for a few days? we need the rest." asked Corvus. "Of course not, you can stay." said Celestia. "Twilight, could you and your friends see to my Keep for now please? just check on it, tell the guards if they don't let you in, 'What happened in Alabastra was... ungodly' " said Corvus. "Sure." smiled Twilight. "Thank you Twilight." lauded Corvus. "It's no trouble." she smiled, she bowed to the Princesses, as she turned to leave, Celestia gestured her back. "How much do you trust him?" asked Celestia. "With my life." she smiled, she still owed Corvus for her life, thank the sun he didn't save Spike or he'd never hear the end of it... "Very well, before you leave, we should show our guests our 'Harmony' hm?" asked Celestia. "Sister! are you sure it is wise...?" asked Luna carefully. "If her majesty Luna does not trust me, I will not interfere, I would be adverse to create a rift between you." said Corvus. "No it is fine, it is not like you can do anything anyway." smiled Luna. "I feel as though there is a backhanded- sorry, hooved comment there." said Corvus as they started walking. "I meant no such thing!" exclaimed Luna. "Calm down Luna, he was joking with you." chuckled Celestia. "Joking... what is this joking you refer to?" asked Luna. So, to quickly conclude our walk before it begins, Corvus spent the 10 minute walk telling Luna the fundamental of a joke, and joking and everything related, while Twilight and Celestia listened intently, holding back snickers. They entered a grand hallway, with a single door at the end. They got to it and Corvus stood unimpressed. "This is the latest in our security." said Celestia. "I can spot at least five flaws, but I'll stick with one... one lock... really?" asked Corvus. "Only, I, my sister or Twilight can open it!" exclaimed Celestia. "Hmm... let me see..." he said and got a Prismere lockpick out and easily picked the lock, seeing as how Prismere absorbs magic, it registered the pick as a horn, and because Corvus had been walking with the Princesses, it had picked up their magic. All three mares were almost aghast. "You certainly are resourceful..." said Twilight. "You are a Human of many talents..." said Luna. "You always seem to surprise us..." concluded Celestia. Corvus, unlike himself, blushed at their compliments. "And that is not a backhooved comment." said Luna and we all laughed. Celestia levitated a box from the dark room that was on the other side of the door. "These, Castellan Corvus Frederick, are the the Elements of Harmony." said Celestia and presented him with 6 pieces of jewellery, to the untrained eye, mere necklaces and a crown, to Corvus, he saw the pureness in them, the magic, the power, the raw potential, and it scared him to see they can both be corrupted and used for good... if he looked hard enough into them, he could see what Fate had planned for them, in the past. "They are beautiful... and deadly... enchanted, but not just any enchantments, no, these are extremely powerful... I have used more powerful things in the past, and still have some ut for your world, these are powerful..." said Corvus, they seemed to react with Akara's Tears, and a piece of wood Nyralim gave him from his bark, he simply said 'this will be of use to you someday...' damn cryptic bastard tree... Admittedly, not as cryptic as some Fae or Alyn at times... heck, he was starting to get cryptic in his old age, even though considering his immortal lifespan, he was probably not that old, now he was young again by a good few decades, time to live it up a little... Training DayThe next morning, Celestia awoke to the sounds of shouting in the courtyard, she opened her eyes and realised she had slept in! the servants should have awoken her hours ago! She looked outside and saw the sun was up... That was strange. She opened her door, dressed in her usual regalia. She then encountered a fatigued Luna slowly ambling down the corridor, bumping into things every now and then and looking half asleep. "Luna? what are you doing up at this hour!?" asked Celestia. "Night Court only just emptied, all the... Nobles wished to know what happened." said Luna between a yawn. "Why didn't you wake me?" asked Celestia, concerned for her sister. "It was Night court, not day court sister, since you were asleep it was not your problem, but now you're awake, you can have all the problems." said Luna with as much enthusiasm as she could muster in her run-down state. "Where is Corvus?" asked Celestia. "Barking at the men, he hasn't slept, I believe his exact words to me when I inquired were: 'I'll sleep when I'm dead, your majesty' or at least something along those lines." said Luna putting on an exaggerated deep voice for Corvus. "I see, well, you get some sleep Luna, if you need me you know where I'll be." smiled Celestia, Luna smiled, nodded, yawned and adjourned to her room. Celestia headed down to the courtyard training area and saw the men doing push ups in synch and him barking at them, she couldn't make out what he was saying above the grunts and whines of the guards, Castro was squawking in the ear of those that stopped, prompting them to keep going. "I can't do it!" said one. "If you don't do it, I'll feed you to a damn timberwolf! now another 5!" yelled Corvus and the guard nodded. "sir, yes sir!" he said and pushed on, when Celestia made herself known, Corvus raised an eyebrow and turned. "Men! up and salute your Princess, that's enough for today." said Corvus, and the guards all lumbered up and gave professional salutes when Corvus was happy, he nodded. "Princess Celestia ma'am!" they bellowed. She nodded to Corvus and he smiled. "At ease men, take a dunk in the lake and two hours off, then return to your posts." said Corvus, they nodded thankfully, and left. "Two hours? that is generous." said Celestia. "I reward hard work, they deserve a good rest." said Corvus, who didn't look tired in the least. "So, you are training them?" asked Celestia. "Yes, they need some good discipline." said Corvus. "How are you faring?" asked Celestia. "Fine, better than I've fared in years, I'm finally doing something productive." said Corvus. "Let me guess, you were sitting on a throne for years, waiting for the day either something interesting happened or an assassination attempt actually succeeded." said Celestia. "Well yeah, but the assassin would have to work for it." he said. "I was much the same, until I realised all my little ponies were depending on me, then I steeled myself and carried on." said Celestia. "I have no such comfort, if I died, my Curate would take over and life would continue, likely Amaleur would mourn me, and keep on keepin' on." he explained. "So, is there a special somepony back home?" asked Celestia. "Well, it took long enough for that question, didn't it?" he laughed. "I suppose so." chuckled Celestia. "The term is 'somebody' or 'someone' back home, but truly? I don't know, I lost my memory at one point, I didn't even know who I was, so it is possible, but from what I've been told by old friends, no, there wasn't." he told her. "Well, I'm sure you'll meet Miss Right one day." smiled Celestia. "Knowing my luck, I'll meet Miss Left." he chuckled. "So, will you need warriors?" asked Celestia. "Truly? no, I can do this singlehanded, but I want to train your guards and maybe some others how to defend themselves, just in case, I won't be teaching them to kill, they have to know that if it comes to it they'll have to, but I won't allow them to kill anything if they don't have to." he said. "You have no idea... How much a relief that is." smiled Celestia. "I know your ponies don't understand murder, or violent death apart from accidents." he said. "How far are you?" asked Celestia. "The men are starting to understand, and Rainbow Dash flew by and I gave her some self defence lessons, I told her to keep a fitness regime, like the men, push ups, sit ups, weights, and so on." he said. "That is good, will she make a good Warsworn?" asked Celestia. "By our standards? no. By Equestria's standards? absolutely." said Corvus "We she become a... Pledgeshield?" asked Celestia. "Eventually, yes." he said, they suddenly noticed they had been walking through the gardens and were near the gate to Canterlot High Street. "Well, I better go attend to day court." said Celestia. "Sure..." replied Corvus, and suddenly he got lost in her beautiful magenta eyes... She was equally as lost in his red eyes, with light reflection, unless you concentrate they appear brown. "Ahh aunty, I was- dear Discord! what is that?" came a voice famailiar to Celestia, she slightly growled and took a breath. "Hello Blueblood, this our guest." she said and stepped aside so he could introduce himself. "Castellan, Castellan Corvus Frederick, but please, call me Corvus." he said politely. "Aunty, what is that... Hairless ape doing in the castle gardens?" asked Blueblood, acting as if he wasn't there. "This 'Hairless ape' is current Liegelord of Ponyville, Prince Blueblood, show some respect toward your social superior, as you only own bars and clubs here in the city." shot Celestia, her words almost laced with venom. "Hmm, yes aunty." he said and raised his head and walked away. "Is it wrong that I want to flatten him?" I asked. "Only if it's wrong that I want to use him to bait the Niskaru by tying him to a tree and waiting for his screams for help to attract them." replied Celestia and they both burst out laughing. "Anyway, I'm going to hit the town, see you later sweet eyes." he said and walked away and left Celestia blushing at what he said. Author's Note We've changed the timeline, the chapters are before the Canterlot wedding, so I removed Cadence from the first chapter. Courage, above all things, is the first quality of a warrior.As I sat in the heart of Gravehal Keep on my throne, I took a look at my throne room. When I first took over Gravehal, it was no more than a hunk of shit, a husk of what it once was, but since then it has become much more, I have my own Warsworn garrison here as well, and I am Castellan of it, and I am known as Castellan Corvus Frederick, everyone thinks I'll be the next Ancient of War, I became the Amaldor of our forces at Mel Senshir for a time when I went there for the first time because I was the highest ranking member there, I became known as one of the best warriors of our time, although I begged and still do, to differ. I defeated Gadflow at his WInter Court and restored the balance, but Fate has replaced itself upon the world, not long after Agarth proclaimed Fate was nonexistent, he tried to read a soldier's fate and it worked, he then looked at a load of other people's Fate and found it was just rearranging itself, that everyone's Fate was only changing, apart from mine which still remained as blank as a slate. I looked on as life in the keep went by, Sunhilda Lorelle waved at me and I waved awkwardly back, why did Mya give me the impression she was to marry me? I need to berate that girl... or better yet... send her on a diplomatic mission with itching powder in her dress! I also saw Paddy staring at that statue he stares at daily and I chuckled, I don't know what was so interesting about the damn thing, Paddy and I were good friends and have a drink every now and then together. Cillian Keen, a fellow Traveller was Innkeeping as usual, while providing us smuggled goods, we work with our fellow Travellers on the mainland, as well as the Warsworn and the Scholia Arcana, who often ask me for advice via communication magic, some of the House of Ballads writers have come to get inspiration from the island, and reside here, much to the ire of our local racists, which there were very few of, and no one who is important to the Keep is racist. And unfortunately I am also the only remaining member of the House of Sorrows although I am the Champion of the House of Valor, in fact because of my immortality(not invulnerability, he can die) they consider me a Fae, well the non-racist Fae do, all the House of Ballads members and High King Titarion consider me to be a human-like Fae, and some of the Summer Court also do. I myself am a Varani, a Wayfarer, but have settled down to life in Gravehal, which isn't the usual way of life for Varani, I am a Universalist as well, i am very efficient in all forms of combat, I can blink and fight with spells, wield a great or longsword, a kite shield and heavy armor, or I can fight with a bow and daggers or faeblades in combat, this was me a few years ago: And this is me now: I've invited many Warsworn soldiers looking for some peace and quiet, fighting the wildlife whenever they could, I also had the Keep extended immensely around the sides, and into the mountain, sure, it didn't look like a Warsworn Keep from the outside, but that's what we wanted we were separate from the Warsworn in the Faelands and had our own style, peace and quiet is what we wanted apart from the contracts to kill Faer Gorta and other wild animals which pester the locals, it has been awhile since I'd been to Rathir or Mel Senshir, or even the Faelands for that matter, they were all a huge distance away. I wear The Children of Erathell armor set without the hood to show I am the Master of The Keep but when I go out I wear Eagonn's Armor, and I wield a Primal Longsword with extra melee and piercing damage called Heartbreaker and a greatsword with the same stats called Heartsbane, although I prefer the quicker attacks of the longsword, and I also use spells. I was on my throne sitting there, waiting for something, I saw my Curate, Kail Murdagh standing by the contract board in her newly acquired Azurite armor, she was ecstatic to be named Curate and thanked me nonstop for a week. -2 hours later- 'Courage, above all things, is the first quality of a warrior.' I went into this with nary a clue except: 'Niskaru.' that was all I knew, it's said you need courage to go into something as blind as I do, so I suppose I have courage aplenty. I blocked a blade that was sent my way and cut the sender in half, sending its guts spilling out, I dodged another blade and set a lightning spell it's way, killing a few more attackers. I walked over to the last downed Niskaru and pulled out my bow and executed it. "Bloody Niskaru..." I mumbled as I recovered my arrow and carried on further into the dungeon, it wasn't often the Master of Gravehal took a contract personally, but there was a Niskaru infestation here and it smelled of cultists, Fahrlangi most likely. I walked ahead in my armor with my sword hanging in my hand by my side. I turned a corner and saw something glinting in a room, I walked in and a gate shut behind me, and it was a Prismere gate! fuck! Prismere gates are nigh impenetrable, the contract was a trap I knew it! I saw a mage, not anyone important, just a mage came out of a hidey hole. "Hah! we have finally caught Castellan Frederick! this was an ingenious idea!" she exclaimed. I remained silent and looked her in the eyes. "Oh, don't worry, we don't wish you to talk, we wish you to die!" she laughed and walked away, did these idiots not know I'm immortal? "Gordon Bennett..." I mumbled, luckily I have a plan in situations like this! I carved symbols in the floor with my Dverga Blades and on in the ceiling, which took me no less than 30 mins to do because of my expertise. Then I looked at them and some symbols were slightly off, I corrected them easily, and was satisfied they were correct. I chanted a spell: "Da mihi potestatem, hoc carmine transportaret." I chanted, the symbols started glowing but they were off again when I corrected them! "What the fucking Infernum..." I asked as I was teleported somewhere unknown... -meanwhile in Canterlot Castle- As Princess Celestia looked over some papers she saw a familiar symbol, and at first it filled her with dread... the symbol of Tartarus prison... She took a breath and opened the letter, breathing a sigh of relief when the Caretaker was retiring and was requesting one last inspection from the Princesses, but maybe the Elements need to see it... If she was going to make Twilight a Princess soon, Twilight needed to know Tartarus inside out, Celestia did and now so did Luna, Cadence was learning and Twilight needed to, if there was a breakout, and the cell block it happened in was mentioned Celestia could pinpoint exactly where it was without hesitation and get to it as fast as she could, as could Luna, they would all inspect it, first the letter to Twilight, then Cadence, then she would tell Luna, they owed the keeper that much at least. Suddenly it dawned on Celestia how alone Twilight really was going to be, if she became a Princess, being immortal means losing people over the years, that would include her 5 friends, Spike was a dragon and also immortal, so could he cope? he would lose Rarity eventually, even Celestia found herself longing for a partner, as she was sure Luna did every now and then, none of them ever had any partners, in any way, shape or form, apart from a hoof during heat, but there are no male Alicorns heck, there are even no immortal stallions! she didn't care what it would be, as long as it was immortal like her and cared for her. She sighed and started her letter Dear Twilight, My most faithful student... Author's Note Hey guys! Joe and Marl here! with another story for your pleasure! the spell is an incorrect Latin translation, it is incorrect on purpose so it's not just Latin it's their own twist on it, anyway 'Da mihi potestatem, hoc carmine transportaret' translates to: Give me the power, with this spell to transport.
The body is the soul's prison unless the five senses are open.As Celestia, Luna, Twilight and her friends approached Tartarus, everypony looked a little apprehensive and Celestia couldn't blame them. "It won't be long now my little ponies." Celestia said to the 6 mares, Luna and had treked this path before, as did Twilight when she brought Cerberus back here, but she was still a little nervous. As they approached the gate, the Caretaker opened it up for me. "Thank you for turning up your highnesses, good evening young ones." he said to the other mares. All of them, even Pinkie Pie nervously waved hello not doing her usually upbeat greeting. "My time is up your majesties, would you honor me by inspecting the cells this time every year until you find a new Caretaker?" he asked. "Of course Great Gate, we would be honored farewell, old friend." she said. He nodded "Goodbye Celestia, farewell Luna, happy travels, adieu mares" he said, and relinquished the keys to Celestia and walked away, into the dark forests. "It's such a shame to lose such a good pony." Luna said. Celestia shook her head "No, not a good pony... a good friend..." she said and allowed a single tear to fall for him. "Come on little ponies, let us enter." said Luna with a hopeful smile. -Meanwhile in Tartarus- As Castellan Corvus Frederick awoke after his little spell mishap, he instantly recognised the bars and atmosphere of a dungeon. "Get busy living, or get busy dying." I mumbled as I got up. I went over to the gate... iron? rusted iron at that... really? hah! no problem. I grabbed the bar and yanked to the right, tearing the cell door open, years of training with all type of melee weapons has left me very strong, I can beat a troll down with my bare hands! Suddenly I was beset upon by a three headed dog, if I can remember my history books on mythology... Cerberenius, or Cerberus, is guardian of the underworld... is this Hell? But it just stood there, I concentrated my magic to read it's mind and it said: 'You are not a prisoner' over and over again. Hmm. Suddenly a voice rang out. "You, you can get me out... he does not attack you..." I looked and there was a creepy old guy with a nose ring, I myself have two gold earrings but this guy... "And why would I do that? you have committed a crime." I stated "As have you, or else you wouldn't be here." he said. "The dead don't commit crimes." I said and used magic to blast a hole in the wall, I was on the fifth floor, so I jumped down and landed in a roll. I took off in a sprint toward the forest as... alarms blared? I never knew this place had alarms... I looked back and didn't see anything, luckily, no one was following me. I got within the treeline and bolted away even faster, I mean, I had no idea where I was so I wasn't going to stick around, one things for sure, I'm not in Amalur anymore. I took cover behind a particularly large tree and looked back, there was no one following me. Why was I in prison anyway? I just teleported there! and the gates weren't that strong, I'm pretty sure the average person, with a little struggle could pry them open no problems, so why couldn't, or don't, the inhabitants just break the doors open? I mean, it would be easy, except for the likes of that old guy who probably couldn't lift a rock. I kept running further into the forest, hoping to come out the other side... and then... I have no idea what to do next... I mean, I had no clue where I was and what awaited me, for all I know trolls could rule this land! Except I can kill trolls, if I can take down a Prismere troll I can take down any troll, as well as root golems, man I hate those things. As I burst forth from the forest I noticed I was actually in a clearing, not clear from the forest at all. I put the Captain's armor set on so I could sneak around easier. As I was preparing to make camp I heard: "Ah, Ahuizotl it certainly has been awhile." I quickly dived behind some bushes, earning a somehow quiet 'ouch!' from its current inhabitant. "What's the deal pal?" she whispered harshly. "Sorry." I said simply and crouched down, getting my Dverga Blades ready at my side. "Wait, are you one of Ahuizotl's minions?" she asked, I could see her put up her dukes from my peripheral vision. "Listen lady, I ain't anyone's minion, Belen knows I've had to deal with plenty of them myself." I said with a roll of my eyes. "Anyone? don't you mean anypony?" she asked. "Any what?" I asked, when I turned to look at her, and her at me, we both almost screamed. "What in Celestia's mane are you?" asked this Equine I was face to muzzle with, we were both still managing to be quiet somehow. "A Varani male, or human if you want to be more collective, and you?" she asked in turn, even though I already knew. "a Pegasus mare, or pony if you want to be more collective." she replied. "Castellan Corvus Frederick, you can call me Frederick." I said and stuck my hand out, she seemed to get the gesture and we shook hands/hooves. "Daring, Daring Do." she said and we turned to watch event unfurl from our hidey place. -Meanwhile, outside of Tartarus- "Cerberus! what happened?!" asked Celestia and read his mind. "No pony has escaped, it was just a non-prisoner and he blasted a hole in the wall, which is now fixed." he thought. "A non-prisoner? who would want to be in Tartarus?" she asked. "He was locked in a cell, but not tagged as a prisoner." thought the guardian. "Well, he must have been a prisoner we forgot to mark!" exclaimed Luna. "Yes, we must find him, or who knows what havoc he'll cause." said Cadence. "You hear that girls? keep an eye out for the prisoner!" said Twilight, which got a positive reaction from the girls, Celestia was worried for her student however the prisoners in Tartarus were very dangerous, she would warn her student later. Author's Note I have updated this chapter, this story will take place BEFORE the Canterlot wedding now.
Fortune and glory, kid, fortune and glory.As me and my new ally watched from our bush, we peered out from it and revealed a horrendous creature It had an elongated dog-like head, except for his eyes, which are positioned over his nose at the end of his snout, it walked on all fours, with dog-like hind limbs and ape-like forelimbs, and a long monkey-like tail with a hand on its end, with a tuxedo style coat, having dark blue fur over most of his body, while its stomach, lower jaw and limbs are of a lighter blue, it wore golden colored jewelry, such as a necklace, a single earring, and three bracelets, one for each foreleg, and one around his tail's wrist. "What in Amman is that?" I asked. "That is Ahuizotl, my arch nemesis, what is he up to now?" she asked. "With these villains, it's never good." I said. "You don't have to stick around you know?" asked Daring. "Yeah, but it's been awhile since I've dealt with a villain, I settled for the quiet life for a good few years, I'm still as fit as a fiddle, but I need a little shape up." I said with a smile. "You said you found a wooden structure, Ahuizotl?" came a voice, we both snapped our attention to the front. "Yes, I wasn't able to enter, but I found this." said this 'Ahuizotl' and it was my blade! "Heartbreaker..." I mumbled. "What?" asked the equine next to me. "My sword, he has it..." I reached to my back and turned red, this was embarrassing, how had I forgotten to check for my swords?! I only had my daggers now that I checked. "What do you use that for?" she asked. "For eliminating my enemies, what else?" I asked. She suddenly(somehow) turned pale. "Are you ok?" I asked. "You... you kill ponies with that?" she asked. "No, I kill Boggarts, Brownies, Giant Rats, Wolves, Bears, Gnomes, Humans, Dokkalfar, Ljosalfar, Barghest, Leanashe, Threshes, Spiders, Undead, Golems, Kobold, Murghan, Sprites, Niskaru, Crudok, Banshaen, Ettin, Jottun, Bolgan and Trolls" I named them from the top of my head. "Ok, so, no ponies?" she asked. "Ehh, I'd only do it if they attacked me first." I said. "Fair enough." she said and we turned back to the enemies. "We'll settle at 1,000 bits, no more Ahuizotl" came another male voice. "They're trying to sell my sword? hell no..." I said and got up. "What are you doing?" asked Daring. "Trust me." I said and lunged into the trees. Before hoof could meet hand on this deal I spoke from the shadows. "It is not wise to sell other beings property." I said, remaining out of sight. "Your property? and what constitutes this as your property?" asked Ahuizotl. "The fact I forged it with my own appendages I should think." I spoke. "And wha-" he stopped as I launched with impossible speeds through the clearing using Blink and used Mark of Flame on them both. "Throw that blade into the clearing or with one thought from me you explode into fire." I deadpanned. "Ow! it burns!" yelled Ahuizotl, who threw the blade in a blind panic, and it landed in front of me. The other had run as soon as the Mark was administered, I turned it off, reclaimed my blade quickly and crept back around to Do. "Your turn my Equine friend." I said, she took her cue and jumped into the clearing with fleur. "Well, Ahuizotl, it seems I foiled you again." she smiled, my god she was small, ranging at about... 4 foot tall, no more no less. "Daring Do?! it was you all along?" he asked. She looked back to the bush and just saw me nod. "Yeah, I was playing tricks with you!" she yelled and jumped back into the bush, which I had vacated a minute ago. "Curse you Daring Do!" yelled Ahuizotl. -meanwhile- As I sprinted through the forest again, I was following the tracks of Ahuizotl and the unknown pony, where they came from, eventually they lead out of the forest, and to a set of waterfalls I got to a point where I saw Ahuizotl's tracks lead off in a different direction. I followed the tracks for a good hour before coming across... no... Gravehal Keep? how? More importantly, where? I looked around and noticed it was rather beautiful out here, in Amalur, these are called 'falls' usually with a first name, it was also nighttime which made everything stand out. I opened the gates to Gravehal and- -Meanwhile- As Princess Celestia read through her usual notes she spotted something curious, a note from Daring Do, Celestia is the one who published the novel for Daring as no books can legally be sold in public without royal approval. The note read thu- "Good evening sister." came Luna's voice as Celestia nearly jumped out of her skin. "Luna! I'll get you back for that!" she said. "What have you there?" asked Luna. "A note I was just about to read before somepony interrupted me!" she said with a glare. "Well, night court is now on, so your business is also my business dear sister." said Luna. They both settled to read the note. (Best read on Garamond format text, located in top right corner) The note read thus: Dear Her Majesties Celestia and/or Luna. Recently I was on another of my adventures when the most odd thing happened, as I was crouched in a bush, something jumped at her- me. Sorry I'm so used to writing novels about myself in the third person, ahem, I was hidden in a bush and about to spy on Ahuizotl, when something jumped beside me and almost crushed me! Upon further inspection it was revealed that it was a masked bipedal creature, and it is very tall! It told me about itself but I can't for the life of me remember what it said, not even its his name. He helped me defeat Ahuizotl by using magic of the likes I've never seen! Last I saw of him he was heading toward Winsome Falls. If you wish to know more about this being, I would advise searching that area. Yours Respectfully Daring Do. (Back to your usual format) "This sounds like the being that escaped Tartarus!" exclaimed Luna. "Daring Do said he helped her defeat her arch nemesis, so maybe he isn't all that bad, we should at least talk to him first." said Celestia. "What?! are you mad Tia? have you forgotten the reason why we created Tartarus? or how dangerous it's inhabitants?" asked Luna. "No, I have not forgotten, nor have I forgotten every face/muzzle or whatever we put in there, none of them would have helped her! they would have worked with Ahuizotl not against him! I will talk to this supposed criminal before I render any judgement, come Luna, we will leave in a week, so we can sort out paperwork first, we have some long nights ahead of us sister, inform Twilight to meet us at Winsome Falls in a week." said Celestia. "I see your reasoning sister, excuse us- me for being so brash, it's just I've seen so much conflict and death and suffering and war... and being on the moon for so long... it has affected me, can you accept my apology?" asked Luna. "Of course Luna, I know it's hard, but ponies expect us to be a lot more forgiving nowadays." she said and embraced her younger sister. Author's Note Hey guys! back with another chapter! What is inside Gravehal Keep? why is Corvus here? why are the Princesses(including Twilight ) so damn hot? why? why? why? and why am I asking you so many question? can you tell me? can you Marl? can you God? Ahem, Marl here, sorry for my homie's little episode there, I had to pry the laptop off of him! anyway, why the dislikes mares and colts? tell us how we can improve!(barring a story rewrite of course) we love you ponies! Thanks LamuneSoda for the fav! it means a lot to the story! NyxKnight: thanks for all the support man!(or woman) the comment, the cover art and the advice! Oh, and we mentioned a screen problem last chapter, here is our cracked screen, you can imagine how annoying this gets, it's worse than it looks in the pic, luckily we're still up and running: Peace Y'all Marl out.
No one is useless in the world who lightens the burden of another.-4 days later- "Princess! we have bad news!" said a guard as he bowed to the Sun Goddess. "What is it?" she asked. "Twilight is already near Winsome Falls!" said the guard. "What?" asked Celestia. "Her assistant said she was gathering Knowledge Leaves." explained the guard. "Tell her friends to go and get her, we still need to prepare." said Celestia. The guard bowed and ran off to send a message. -Meanwhile, in Winsome Falls- As Twilight Sparkle took a deep breath to enjoy nature and the beauty of Winsome Falls. "Ahh, it is so beautiful." she smiled and bounded around... at least it was beautiful out here. Suddenly a beast climbed out of the pools the likes of which Twilight has never seen before. (credit goes to daenzar for the image) And then other rainbow coloured beasts also climbed out: (A rainbow Niskaru) Twilight panicked as they closed in on her and fired magic at them, it affected them but not that much. She backed off but tripped on a rock and fell, making her vision go blurry. She thought it was over as they crowded around her. But suddenly she saw a flash of light and a figure jumped in front of her(start at 00:40 for the vibe I'm going for with the flashing cleaver). He jumped down and slashed a monster with his blade, he spun past it and used the spin to power his next slash, a decapitation of the next monster, then he slashed upwards diagonally right at the next one, he thrusted forwards and impaled the last one, he spun from the impaled monster and was facing the bigger monster and it flew away then. He turned to Twilight as she passed out from concussion, worried in case he experimented on her... As Corvus watched the Niskaru Lord Jacken fly away he turned to the purple pony who was injured as she passed out, he crouched over her and put a hand on her forehead. "Concussion, probably need bedrest, magic will speed up process." he said, he heard a growl from nearby. He scooped her up in his arms like a baby, more like a small child but still, he carried her to Gravehal Keep nearby, hidden by some magically placed trees. He kicked open the door to the Keep, the 'Sentinels' as he called them turned to him but quickly resumed their duties, they were 'blank' ponies as he called them, dressed in Azurite armor, some of them in Spiritweave in the library and some in Dreadscale in the armory and courtyard, except that it fits a pony and they patrolled the grounds of Gravehal, they listened to any order I gave but otherwise just patrolled. He took her into main keep and ran up the stairs and put her on the bed. "Sanando deos benedicas cum munere vestro! patere tua virtute curare!" (Healing gods, bless me with your gift! allow me to heal with your power!) He said as light came from his hands and healed her up, she would be unconscious for a few hours however. He took a breath and walked out, going down the stairs sitting on his throne, two pony guards in Bolgan's Bane armor stood next to it. He sat there leaning his head in his hand while his elbow rested on the armrest. -In the bedroom 20 minutes later- As Twilight awoke she tried to quickly get up but immediately regretted it as her head throbbed, she looked around the room she was in, she was in a room in a bed with red colours and an intricate design there was a mirror in the left corner and a chest in the right. She also saw a shield on the wall. A standard sized shield with a symmetrical upwards curving top and an asymmetrical angular shaped bottom is supported by a bipedal metal thing wielding two weapons. Which seem to be levitating many objects, and eye behind the figure seemed to give some kind of strange comfort as if the person was watching over you while you slept. The thing was standing on a mountain and looked to be some kind of authority figure. The shield itself had 12 colors. it carries a motto, which reads: "Peace, justice, progress. We are the Warsworn." (Sorry about the image size. and imagine it as a shield) She got out of bed and found she could at least walk. She walked out of the room and there was a grand hall with a line of soldiers leading to a set of stairs opposite this set, one of them gestured her to walk the path they lined. Here is a video if what Gravehal looks like: She walked between the walls of armoured ponies which just stared at the one opposite them. She walked along a balcony between the soldiers until another small set was visible and the guard line stopped, she walked up the small set and saw a dining table with a figure similar to the one on the shield without the metal, he had a bright outfit on covering his figure apart from his head, he looked young, with brown fur on his face. He was sitting on the left side of the table at the end, with two guard ponies flanking him on both sides with horned armour on. "Ah, you are awake, good, sit down and eat." he smiled and gestured to the chair opposite him. Twilight sat down to a grand meal, with so many fruits and vegetables on the other beings side were red soft things, which she didn't have, so it must be a thing only he can digest. She was about to ask questions before her stomach rumbled and when she opened her mouth to say something instead she dug into the feast. -Meanwhile outside Gravehal in Winsome Falls- "Twilight!" called everypony. "I wonder where she went." said Spike and scratched his head. Suddenly an 'Eeep!' from Fluttershy made them all run. They went to her and noticed a mall patch of blood. Rainbow inspected it. "If she hit her head, she would most likely be concussed from a wound that made her bleed, tracks lead into the forest." said RD. Everypony stared at her. "I've had to deal with injuries from the Weather Team before." she said in a 'duhh' voice. They all began their trek into the woods. -Back in the Keep- As Twilight finished up the bipedal figure stood up and gestured to the small stairs down and she followed him silently, the two guards walked behind her. He stood on the balcony. "Back to your duties!" he said. Twilight jumped but regained composure. He smiled at her and walked down to another table and sat in the middle and she sat opposite him, they were in closer proximity. "Hello there." he said. "Hello." replied Twilight. "You were knocked out after you tripped when Niskaru attempted to attack you, I fought them off, but there will be more, I brought you here to heal, welcome, to Gravehal Keep!" he said and gestured widely with his arms. and stood up "What are you?" asked Twilight. "I am a human, a Varani to be exact." he said and sat back down. "I am a pony, a unicorn, my name is Twilight Sparkle, thank you for helping me, saving me and welcoming me into your Keep, but why?" she asked. "You were in the wrong place at the wrong time, it has been awhile since I've saved anyone personally as well. Remember, no one is useless in the world who lightens the burden of another." he said. "So then, are you a hero of some kind?" she asked. "So they say." he affirmed "I saw your... symbol." said Twilight. "Ah, my Coat of Arms, yes, I am a Warsworn if the pay is right I solve problems, I am Castellan of this Keep, those guards you saw are Warsworn I suppose, but they are mindless, I know not where they came from." he said "I see." said Twilight. "Something you should know is I just broke out of prison, even though I was not a prisoner there." he said. "So you are the non pony who escaped Tartarus?" she asked. "Aye, but I was trapped in there undeservingly, I had a little spell mishap and landed in there." he said. "I will send a message to the Princess soon and let her know you are here and wish to help." said Twilight. "Thank you miss Sparkle." he smiled. "Please, just Twilight." she smiled in turn. "Very well, explore the Keep at your leisure but do not leave yet, with that concussion and the Niskaru that may be stalking around you would not be safe, feel free to browse the library for information about my world or the armory for our weapons." he said. "Weapons?" she asked. "Ah, yes, I've explained this before, I only attack things if they attack me first." I said. "Oh, that is fair." she said. A guard marched up to them. "Castellan! there are 5 ponies and a small dragon at the gate!" said the guard. "They are my friends, they are looking for me." said Twilight. "You should know I removed your magic and it is upstairs under the bed in a small chest." I said. "Ok, I'll get it and join you." said Twilight. Corvus walked out of the main building to see the 5 surrounded by guards. -5 mins earlier- As the 5 mares approached the gates to the fortress, AJ could've sworn she saw a pony in a tower walk away. They opened the gates and spears were immediately pointed at them. "Stay put and the Master of the Keep will be with you shortly... or you'll be on your plots outside the gate." said the guard deadpan. They saw no choice but both AJ and RD were in ready positions while Fluttershy was scared out of her mind. They waited for a minute before they saw a figure walking down the path... Author's Note Hey guys! so many dislikes why???? To those who like it, we keep going for you! I made this chapter longer because I've writers block on Desire's Truth!
Freedom itself seldom comes for free.As I approached the group of Sentinels surrounding the 5 mares and dragon I pushed them aside and turned to face them. "I told you to be wary of intruders! not to scare them half to death!" I gestured behind me at the mares, one of which was shaking and hiding behind her friends. "Sir-" started one. "Dismissed, go about your duties." "You heard him men! back to work!" I crouched down to their level and made eye contact with the yellow mare. "It's ok, they won't bother you anymore." I smiled and stood back up as she stood up with her friends. "Where is Twilight and what have you done with her?!" asked a rainbow maned pony, obviously the protective one of the group. "She is in the Keep, getting her magic, and she is fine, I assure you." I said in the most soothing voice I could manage. "How do we know that?" asked the orange pony, another protective one. "Because I'm right here." came a voice from behind, and Twilight was standing there. "Twilight! you're ok!" exclaimed Spike. "Of course I am, in fact Castellan Corvus Frederick here saved me." she said. "Please, if we're talking titles, it's Castellan, if it's names, call me Corvus." I said. "Thank you for your hospitality Mr. Corvus, but we must be going." smiled Twilight but when they turned to leave two guards moved spears in their way. "Alas, I cannot let you go without an escort, those creatures that attacked you are still out there Miss Sparkle." I said with an ominous voice and gestured to the gate. "You were attacked?" asked Rainbow. "Yes, and Castellan saved me and healed me, but what are those things?" asked Twilight. "Come, and I will show you." I said and led them into the library. After exchanging brief introductions I showed them a Niskaru picture book. "These, are Niskaru, an enemy of the Warsworn, of which I am part of, I am the Amaldor of them in this world, the de facto leader, years ago we were formed to fight them, they since went extinct and we became mercenaries, but we chose our contracts to help people rather than rob them, but the Nikaru rose again about 2 years ago, before I beat them back down, to conclude, they are a scourge and must be killed." I said. "What? surely we can reason with them!" said Fluttershy, I had learned their names a minute ago. "No, not I've tried but if you try they will simply cut you down, they are ruthless monsters and will wreak havoc on the world, they are very aggressive and kill on sight, it happened to my old mentor, Ost Ordura, he was killed by them, but then again, the fool wasn't looking behind him during battle, ha, a weakness on his part." I chuckled at the memory of how weak I was back then, compared to me now. "Oh, I'm sorry about your mentor." said Twilight. "No need to dwell, that was years ago now... but I remember it as if It were yesterday as I stay the same my memories are all I had as I settled into a quiet life, it was the Niskaru stirring that led me to be thrown here in the first place." "How do we defeat them?" asked Twilight. "Good old fashioned weaponry, bows, arrows, swords, greatswords, hammers, daggers and magic, but the leaders are different, this particular group is led by Jacken, one the few known Niskaru Lords, how he got here and why he is here is currently a mystery to me, but I intend to find out whilst I am here, luckily my forged weapons are strong enough to take him down, much better than trying to find a weapon of light. Rest in peace General Tilara." I said. "We need ta tell tha Princesses about this threat" said Applejack. "If you think it will help, of course tell them, Niskaru tend to follow their lord, so if he decided to head to your capital, well..." I said. "They are actually coming to visit tomorrow, and so will I, I will warn them about the danger." said Twilight. "I will post guards on the outskirts of the forest to guide you in, I need to make the forest little more complex and dense to deter the lesser Niskaru, tell your Princesses they are welcome in my Keep, under the condition they surrender their magic while they are here, and I will relinquish my weapons as a sign of good faith." I said. "I will let them know of your conditions Mr. Corvus." smiled Twilight. "Excellent, I will be expecting them tomorrow, handy I should imagine." "Anyway, we should really get going." said Twilight. "Hold on, Castro!" I called my loyal friend who luckily teleported here with the Keep, he is a Crowned Eagle and a trained messenger bird, and a formidable foe in combat. "What is that?!" asked Rainbow Dash. "It is so majestic, yet terrifying." said Rarity. "It's a bird silly!" replied Pinkie to Rainbow. "Thats one o' the biggest birds ah ever seen." said AJ. "Wow, even Owlicious can't hold a talon to that!" exclaimed Twilight. "I think he's wonderful." said Fluttershy, Castro flew over to her and perched on her back for a second, he looked quite happy. "Yes, he is wonderful isn't he? this is Castro, my Crowned Eagle, make no mistake, he may look harmless now, but... he is a very deadly bird of prey, he can kill a monkey with a squeeze of a talon and has even took down a bargest in one swoop at one point, the equivalent to a barghast here would be a timber wolf." I said as he perched on my arm. "Wow..." said Twilight. "Yes, he will accompany you to your rulers, he is 1. my ambassador, and 2. a messenger, this bird also carries magic, and we can use it to communicate short range, tell your leaders to send him ahead of them when they are coming." I said "Will do, we should be going before it gets dark." said Twilight "I agree, however I must be insistent on you not going alone, me and two of my men will escort you out of the woods." I said. Twilight nodded. "It would be good to have the protection." she smiled. "Well then, lets go, stick close." I said and exited the library with them, I called my two main guards to our side. We headed down to the gate and opened it, anxious to see if anything was waiting on the other side... Author's Note suppermug: thanks for the comment! We're back ponies! with another chapter for you, hope you guys enjoy!
A government's first duty is to protect their people, not run their lives.We opened the gate to find... Nothing, absolutely nothing, which means there is definately something out there... "Be ready, stay close and don't wander off girls, I don't want to have to either drag your corpses to your rulers or deliver them in cardboard boxes, are we clear?" I asked. "Crystal. if thats ok with you..." said Fluttershy with a shy nod as I reassured her with a smile. "Indeed." said Rarity. "Yeah yeah." said Rainbow. "Yeah, I hear ya." said AJ. "Okeydokie liddely wokie!" exclaimed Pinkie. "Yes sir! I will protect these fair ladies with all my might!" said Spike and saluted next to Rarity who giggled at his display and I rolled my eyes, I'd teach this kid about romance later, god knows I've seen enough of it to know what to not do... "Hear that girls? be ready for a fight, except for you Fluttershy." said Twilight with a roll of her eyes as Fluttershy 'eep!' 'd when 'fight' was mentioned. "Hey Castro, look out for Fluttershy, yeah? protect her." I said, he did a sorta salute with his wing and perched on her back... is this place making him more intelligent or am I crazy? both options are possible at this point... I shook my head and walked out the gate with the 6 mares and the dragon, I really hope he can breathe fire... My two guards flanked our rear sides, hanging back a meter or two to keep an eye on us from the back. -Meanwhile above the forest- "The meddler is leading the mares out of the forest sir, what are our orders?" "Do not engage, we will prepare for the arrival of Lord Jacken first, he will give us our directive." "Yes sir, as you command. he won't know what hit him..." -Back at the edge of the forest- "That went better than I expected!" said Twilight as we exited the dense woodland. "Yeah, strange, then again, Niskaru Lords tend to make their minions smarter, likely their biding their time..." I said. "You could be doing the same!" said Rainbow Dash. "I agree, I could be." I said. "In any case, we'll head back to Canterlot for now." said Twilight. "Castro, you know you need to stay." I smiled at my bird who cooed in response. "I'll see you tomorrow Twilight, until next time girls, give my regards to your rulers and adieu!" I said as I trudged back through the forest, back to the Keep. -2 hours later in Canterlot- Twilight Sparkle walked through the door to Canterlot Castle they were met by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. "Twilight Sparkle! finally! I thought something had happened to you!" exclaimed Celestia, the girls had gone back to Ponyville but Spike had stayed. "No, in fact the prisoner from Tartarus helped us and saved my life! he is expecting you both and me tomorrow morning, the girls have gone home but he brought his bird companion." said Twilight, as if on cue Castro flew in and perched on Twilight's back before giving a bow to the Princesses. "Such a regal bird..." said Luna. "Yes, he is certainly majestic." smiled Celestia as Luna and her both bowed back in respect. "His name is Castro, and the Castellan would like you to give up your magic when you enter his Keep as we will he along with any weapons." "If he thinks-" started Luna. "We will do as he says Luna, in his Keep we entertain his preferences." said Celestia. "Very well sister." smiled Luna. "What is he like Twilight?" asked Celestia. "He is very heroic, he saved me from some creatures that tried to... get me, and carried me to his Keep, where he healed me, fed me and its as if he 'cleaned' my magic, it feels a lot smoother to use now, he is also very disciplined and disciplinary, he has a force of guards, that are... almost automatous, they follow only his orders and patrol his Keep, he is a part of a band of warriors that protect the land he is from." said Twilight. "He saved you? from what Twilight Sparkle, please elaborate." said Luna. "They are called Niskaru, they are very aggressive and cannot be reasoned with, he told me to warn you about their threat and that they may attack Canterlot, their leader looks like you a little Princess Celestia, except his neck bones are different colours and transparent and he has a longer muzzle, his name is Jacken." she said. "I see, tomorrow, show us where it is Twilight." said Celestia. "He had guards to guide us through the forest, which is there to protect the Keep." said Twilight. "What type of bird is Castro, Twilight?" asked Celestia. "He is a Crowned Eagle, he may look nice, but the Castellan told me he is a bird of prey, and has took down things the size of Timberwolves." said Twilight. "Wow, so beautiful... yet so dangerous." said Celestia, who noticed Philomena had stirred and was watching him. "Very well, tomorrow we shall depart, get some rest for now Twilight Sparkle." smiled Luna, Twilight headed to her old student dorm and Castro perched next to Philomena who seemed to take an instant liking to him. "They make such an adorable couple." said Celestia and Luna chuckled at her sister, who had wanted Philomena to have a... male friend for a while. "Sister, we should get to bed, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow..." sighed Luna. "Of course, lets go." she smiled as they walked to their chambers. Author's Note Thanks to all who favorited!
Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.As Princess Luna and Princess Celestia prepared for their visit to Gravehal Keep, a squawk from Philomena reminded Celestia to put her helmet on. "Thank you Philomena." smiled Celestia, she squawked happily in response. Castro was perched next to Luna who was looking him over. "Sister, you should see his talons... they are incredibly sharp." said Luna, it was true, how he manages to perch on ponies backs without hurting them mut take great effort, because one side of Philomena's perch had deep holes in from where he had perched. "He is a bird of prey, unlike Philomena, his talons need to be sharp." explained Celestia. "Indeed... to take down a timberwolf..." Luna trailed off and shuddered. "It is ok Luna, we have our armor on in case anything goes wrong." reassured Celestia and draped a wing over Luna. "I know, I am ready sister." said Luna and floated her helmet upon her head. "As am I." said Twilight who had her own purple armor made last night, much to the ire of the royal blacksmith who was trying to sleep, the Princesses awarded him with a pay rise and he could stay off work until they came back. "Good, let us depart." said Celestia. Celestia floated Twilight onto her back and the sisters spread their wings, Castro prepared to take off with them. "Hang on Twilight." said Celestia as they took off to Winsome falls. On the way the sight was beautiful... until they saw Niskaru below... suddenly Twilight looked back and immediately regretted it... "Princess! Jacken is behind us!" she exclaimed, both rulers looked back and saw a massive beast following them. Luna went to engage but a swipe from Castro just missing her face warned her to keep on going and not to engage. She took the hint and they kept flying. "There! the forest!" exclaimed Twilight. Both sisters landed in front of it and saw two ponies in strange azure armor... "This way your highnesses." said one and led them into the forest, they risked a look back and saw a floating ward made up of symbols appeared in front of Jacken whenever he tried to get within close proximity to the forest The three ponies breathed a sigh of relief and followed the guards. They saw Castro fly overhead to the Keep which the top of was now visible through the blanket of leaves. Eventually they saw the grand gate of Gravehal Keep in all it's glory. "Enter the Keep your majesties, the Liegelord is awaiting your arrival in the throne room." said a guard, what they didn't know was that a certain Warsworn was following them through the forest, sneaking behind them, he then used a spell to teleport himself to the throne room. "Did you hear that sister?! throne room... who does this creature think-" Celestia cut her off. "Did you hear 'Liegelord' Luna? he doesn't claim to be ruler of Equestria, only of his Keep!" she said. "You are correct sister... I only paid attention to 'throne'..." apologised Luna. "It's fine Luna, you just have to be open minded." smiled Celestia and entered the Keep, what they saw amazed them both, Twilight had already seen it. Guards in the same azure armor, some in strange masked armor and others in robes lined their route to the throne room as befitting royalty. "Your highnesses, my Master requests you relinquish your magic within this chest, apart from you Miss Sparkle." said a guard. "Of course." said Celestia and pointed her horn at the chest, which slowly and rather smoothly removed her magic. "Well? how does it feel?" asked Luna, suddenly Celestia let out a childish giggle quite unlike her. "Tingly." she chuckled. "Ok..." said Luna and did the same as Celestia, she fought the urge to giggle but it got the best of her. "Hehe, ok, I see what you mean." chuckled Luna as they straightened up and walked the lined path, they looked to the left and saw... an odd sight... there looked to be a beast pen with a hydra, a manticore, a chimera and a cockatrice. "Luna, look at that, that cockatrice is looking down, it looks to be tamed." said Celestia. "All those animals do, it would take no less than our whole army to take this Keep as most would get lost in the forest, then it looks as if he has archers, assuming we make it this far, the beasts would weaken us even more, then his soldiers, and his unicorns, and his spies, providing we make it through that we still have the Liegelord himself to deal with as well as his deadly bird." said Luna. "Not to mention his personal guard." added Twilight. "He even has personal guards? this does not looks good..." concluded Luna, she was always the tactical mind, but the fact she thought they didn't have a chance to take this Keep worried Celestia immensely, Luna was rather good at judging their chances at winning a battle, as she made it her duty to know the military strengths and weaknesses and was the best at judging such things.... They stood at the door to the Keep and took deep breaths. "Ok, here we go." said Celestia and entered the throne room. They entered the throne room, which was incredibly grand, they saw the Liegelord on his throne, a lute in his hand and his eyes closed as he sang. "Of all the songs in halls of lore, there echoes none more grand, than Olyen's many feats of might, the pure, and lady of the light, she is a knight of golden knot, she is the cureseeker, the conscience of the Summer Fae..." he was softly singing in an unrecognisable accent. He slowly opened his eyes and placed the lute to the side. "Your majesties... welcome... to Gravehal Keep!" he exclaimed and slowly stood and raised his arms. "Thank you for your hospitality Liegelord." greeted Celestia. "It is no trouble, and please, ponies as beautiful as yourselves can call me Corvus, welcome back Twilight." he greeted. "Thank you Corvus." smiled Twilight and hugged him, which he hesitantly returned, meanwhile both sisters were blushing. "Err, thank you Corvus for inviting us to your lovely Keep." said Celestia as Twilight released him. "Yes, it is lovely, you have a nice Coat of Arms." complimented Luna, trying to get rid of her blush. "Thanks." he replied and gestured with his claw, motioning for two ponies to enter with the chest. it was placed on Corvus' lap and he opened it. "Whew, this is some powerful magic, not as powerful as mine, but still..." he said. "How powerful is your magic?" asked Luna. "Very, enough so that it could eliminate Jacken, even so, I only wanted to make sure you really would give up your magic." I explained and gave them their magic back. "Thank you Corvus." said Celestia. "No problem, now come, I wish to talk with you over dinner, we shall eat here." he said and gestured to the table. They both nodded and he motioned for them to sit around the center while he would sit at the end, so they could talk. Suddenly ponies brought in massive plates of food balanced on trays on their backs. "Do you eat with your claws?" asked Twilight. "My what? oh you mean my hands? yes." he said. "Do you use utensils?" asked Celestia. "Yes." he replied. Suddenly they picked up knives and forks in their magic. "Come on Luna." said Celestia and she obeyed. "No no, you don't have to, it' just less messy for me if I do you see." he said and they nodded and put them down. Celestia and Twilight used their magic to pick up the food and take bites like Corvus while Luna stuffed her muzzle, much to Corvus' amusement. "I have a question..." said Luna between mouthfuls of her favorite food, daisy sandwiches. "Shoot." said Corvus, using utensils and eating like Celestia, sophisticated. "Eye ere ou en artaus?" asked Luna with a mouthful of food. "Luna! swallow your food and then talk!" berated Celestia. She complied. "Why were you in Tartarus?" she asked. "A little spell mishap, I tried to escape a trap using teleportation runes, but they kept changing at the last minute, I cast the spell anyway and landed there, which brings me to my question, I ripped that cell open like nothing, how do you keep prisoners there?" he asked. "Our cells have magic embedded in them, it should have been impossible for them to break without the key." said Celestia. "Hmm, maybe your magic doesn't affect me as much..." he said while eating. "Maybe, by the way, do you enjoy it out here all alone?" asked Luna. "I used to, but now I find myself longing for company, meeting your friends Twilight reminded me of how much I missed the company of my dear friend Agarth, that old Fateweaver always did find trouble, at least he's fine last i heard." he chuckled. "If you want, we can magically move this Keep near Ponyville, and you can be it's Liegelord during this... 'Neskeru' threat." said Celestia. "Very well, it's pronounced 'Niskaru' by the way." he said with a smile. "By the way Corvus, I've been wondering, what is that red stuff you eat?" asked Twilight. "This? this is red meat, I require the protein in it to survive, grow and keep my energy up, usually we eat mindless chickens, cows or fish, I am aware ponies are herbivores so you haven't got any." he said. "I see, we won't judge you because of what you eat, but you must know that some of the animals here are intelligent, so everypony would frown upon you eating them." said Celestia with a slight frown, trying to think of a way. "I could make due with animals in the forest, such as some of the creature' I've tamed here, thanks to my old friend Cillian Keen teaching me his tricks..." he said and reminisced. "Deal." said Celestia, Luna was on her third plate. "Excellent." mumbled Luna. "Don't tell Fluttershy though, she'll freak." said Twilight. "I will keep that in mind Twi." he said. After the meal was finished they wrapped up. "That was most satisfactory, thank you Castellan." smiled Celestia. "No problem your highness." he said. "Yes, those sandwiches were delectable." Luna licked her lips. "I wouldn't know." he chuckled. "Yes, because you ate them all." Celestia turned a playful glare to Luna. "I'm sorry..." she said and Corvus chuckled. "It's fine, I can't eat daisies anyway." he said. "Who prepared it?" asked Twilight. "I did." he said. "Really? I order you to stop being Castellan of this Keep and be hired as our new royal chef!" said Luna half seriously. "I will have to pass." he said. "This will mean war." warned Luna playfully. "Bring it on." he said and Luna made a pie appear and threw it at him and he stopped it with his own magic. "Maybe later you two, come Corvus, we will call the royal unicorns to help move the Keep." smiled Celestia. "Very well, let me get my other armor on." he said and went to his bedroom, he came down moments later with the same armor Twilight had seen him wearing when she first was here but it was red, and more shiny and he had a helm tucked under his arm. "Let us go." he said. "Hold on Corvus." said Celestia, he held on to her wing she jumped a little as he touched her sensitive spot with a cold metal gauntlet. "Sorry." he said and took his gauntlet off, putting it in his pack and replacing his hand, she managed to hold in the jump... and his hands felt so soft... "Sister..." Luna waved a hoof in front of her sisters face which looked a million miles away. "Oh, sorry." she said and flexed her wing trying to get him to rub it a little more... She then teleported them outside of Canterlot. "Woah..." said Corvus and swayed a little but regained composure. "Let's go..." he said as they pushed open the gate... Author's Note We're back bitches! That is all.
Be curious, not judgemental.As the gates to Canterlot opened with the Princesses magic all eyes turned to the newcomer, who in turn looked over the ponies before him in disdain. "Ignorance." he mumbled as he looked over the snobby nobles, by his guessing most of them were bastards, unaware of the toils of the hardworking, Corvus had to fight to get where he was, and he had to fight hard, these nobles know nothing of life's true grit, the simplicity of working on a farm, to the complexity of ruling a kingdom. "What was that?" asked Celestia. As they walked he explained. "Most of the nobles here have no idea what war, death or hard work, these are all things that define a person, I assume these nobles have less personality than a cardboard box at the best of times?" he said. "War? these hasn't been war in Equestria for over 1000 years..." said Twilight and Luna slightly hung her head at that. "Well, war has come to you, it won't be a large scale war, not whilst I'm here, but if left unattended the NIskaru will spread and destroy everything." said Corvus. "Should we mobilise our troops?" asked Luna. "No, I need a few, but they would have to be Sworn to War." I said. "What?" asked Luna. "Warsworn, the faction I am a part of, an oath to protect the innocent, and punish the wicked, this is how we started in our world, to combat the growing Niskaru menace, I don't need soldiers, I need hardened, trained warriors, the best of the best." he explained and suddenly a rainbow flash was seen and RD was saluting in front of me. "Captain Rainbow Dash of the Weather Team reporting sir!" she said and he circled her, looking her up and down. "Rainbow, were you following us?" asked Twilight. "To make sure nothing happened." she said as he stopped in front of her after the third circle. "Strong wings, good biceps, strong figure, being Captain doesn't mean shit in the Warsworn, Hireling, prove your worth and you may yet become a Pledgeshield if you survive." he said and they kept walking until they reached the castle and pushed open the doors. The guards all tensed upon seeing the heavily armed newcomer but relaxed as the Princesses also entered with Twilight. Suddenly a group of unicorns appeared in a flash of light. "We have moved the structure and it's inhabitants as you requested your highness..." came a rather sinister voice... "Good, I sent the order with magic to the royal unicorns when you weren't looking." she smiled. "Thank you Celestia." said Corvus. "You are dismissed." said Celestia to the group. Suddenly Corvus noticed the shroud surrounding the lead unicorn... "It's a traaaaap." he mumbled as the doors slammed shut as did the windows and Niskaru jumped from behind the pillars, engaging the guards and Rainbow Dash in combat, who were obviously not going to kill them. The lead unicorn revealed himself to be a human Farlanghi and he simply raised his hand at the group of unicorns behind him, pushing them away and knocking them out. Corvus meanwhile had changed into his House of Sorrow robes, and donned a Mastercrafted Ebony lightning staff and put two Prismere chakrams on his belt. He held the staff in two hands and the Farlanghi charged. Corvus bided his time, and when the enemy was close enough, raised his staff above head level, sending a shockwave, sending the warrior flying over the throne and hitting the wall. Corvus summoned a Faer Gorta and ordered it to help the guards. As the mage recovered and ran at him again, Corvus sent a Storm Bolt, which hit him full on, sending him across the marble floor steaming and killing him. Suddenly the NIskaru, as one was about to rip a guard's heart out, dropped said guard and they all moved toward Corvus, Twilight and the Princesses circling them, suddenly a shield enveloped the three mares by Corvus and he was floating, holding his also floating staff in front of him, building up electricity. As the Niskaru charged he threw the staff into the floor with magic, sending out a huge shockwave, killing three of the five Niskaru that were not close enough and leaving a scorch mark on the floor. The remaining two had chakrams sent their way individually merely keeping them at bay rather than actually hitting them, each time they returned to their master they attempted to advance only to be hit again. Suddenly the chakrams stopped coming and they saw their opportunity and charged, as they got within range of Corvus he suddenly jumped back backwards into the air, throwing his chakrams into the floor in front of him, killing the two Niskaru. "Now that I've leveled up from that, I'm too powerful for them, damned Gray Names." he mumbled to himself as he took bits from the corpses. "That was awesome!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash with a cheer. "You need to learn to kill Niskaru to be Sworn to War, even if you show mercy, they won't." he said, suddenly the Farlanghi stood up again and had yellow glowing eyes. "Your time is up Fateless One, you could have become a Niskaru champion, instead you declined, and now you and your new friends will pay." said the corpse as Corvus approached it. "Fuck you." he simply said with his staff in his hands and flicked the bottom of his staff, hitting the corpses stomach, sending an electrical shockwave and sending it flying again and almost reducing it to ash. "Any other Niskaru want to talk?!" he yelled to the throne room, when no reply was evident he took a breath...
Why!? because f*** you, thats why!Why!? because f*** you, thats why! Castellan Frederick stood panting after the battle, the Niskaru had attacked Canterlot, what this meant for the future, was uncertain. "Is he...?" asked Luna. "The mage? dead, yes." he confirmed, pulling together after his first true battle in years. "It has been so long since Equestria has seen death..." said Celestia. "Death has come to Equestria it seems." said Corvus, putting his staff in his inventory and got his Primal Greatsword out and his Primal Longsword and equipping Eagonn's armor without the helmet. "So, to be a Warsworn, I need to kill Niskaru?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Yes, remember, they will not show you mercy, so you show them none in return, the first time I encountered them, they killed my fellow Hirelings and then my mentor, and he was one of the best, any of us can slip up at any time, and that was a man willing to kill Niskaru." explained Corvus. "So, what rank are you?" asked Rainbow. "Castellan, Truesworn, Amaldor of War, take your pick, it takes a lot to become a Firstsworn, but due to certain... circumstances to do with the Niskaru, I shot up the ranks, eventually owning my own Keep, Gravehal." Corvus told them. "And me?" she asked. "You're a Hireling, prove your worth and I'll consider making you a Pledgeshield, a few years under your belt, you'll become an Oathblade, impress me enough and maybe, although it is rare you could become a Truesworn, one rank under Castellan." I explained, all the guards, Rainbow, Twilight and Princesses were listening intently. "So, how did you defeat them before?" asked Celestia. "Well, we had good leaders... sort of, Tine Delfric is our leader, the Ancient of War, Castellan of Shieldring Keep, then Grian Shane, who was sort of good, he was more interested in his armor polish than Artifacts or any important history, he was Castellan of Helmguard, then there was Oda Celfred, historian and Castellan of Ironfast Keep, and then Sverri Kura, Amaldor of our forces in Mel Senshir, in the army, across the sea, then me, Castellan of Gravehal Keep, Warrior expert and Liegelord of a town." he explained. "So, I need good leadership skills?" asked Rainbow. "One of the many talents needed, yes." as he said that, Rainbow flew to the troops and started tactical planning. "In a practical sense how?" asked Luna, ever the pragmatic. "We cut the head off the snake, killed the one summoning them, Anru Besin, an ex-General who believed the army could use Niskaru to help in the war, he was laughed off and cast out, but the one he was serving is far more deadly, a Niskaru Lord named Khamazandu, he is the God of Chaos, and is imprisoned in a mountain in my world, he is mostly harmless there but speaks to people, promising power and all sorts, and twisting people to attempt to free him. But if I was teleported here, it is possible that upon discovering my teleportation runes the cultists followed suit, if they teleport Khamazandu out of his prison and into Equestria... the Chaos would be horrendous, he would be unstoppable, and the Warsworn will have failed." asserted Corvus. "I see, so you need my best soldiers?" asked Celestia. "I need those whom I and you can trust, not just any soldiers." he explained. "I will hold a tourney, so all soldiers have a chance to impress you." smiled Celestia. "Very well would you mind if Castro and I stay here for a few days? we need the rest." asked Corvus. "Of course not, you can stay." said Celestia. "Twilight, could you and your friends see to my Keep for now please? just check on it, tell the guards if they don't let you in, 'What happened in Alabastra was... ungodly' " said Corvus. "Sure." smiled Twilight. "Thank you Twilight." lauded Corvus. "It's no trouble." she smiled, she bowed to the Princesses, as she turned to leave, Celestia gestured her back. "How much do you trust him?" asked Celestia. "With my life." she smiled, she still owed Corvus for her life, thank the sun he didn't save Spike or he'd never hear the end of it... "Very well, before you leave, we should show our guests our 'Harmony' hm?" asked Celestia. "Sister! are you sure it is wise...?" asked Luna carefully. "If her majesty Luna does not trust me, I will not interfere, I would be adverse to create a rift between you." said Corvus. "No it is fine, it is not like you can do anything anyway." smiled Luna. "I feel as though there is a backhanded- sorry, hooved comment there." said Corvus as they started walking. "I meant no such thing!" exclaimed Luna. "Calm down Luna, he was joking with you." chuckled Celestia. "Joking... what is this joking you refer to?" asked Luna. So, to quickly conclude our walk before it begins, Corvus spent the 10 minute walk telling Luna the fundamental of a joke, and joking and everything related, while Twilight and Celestia listened intently, holding back snickers. They entered a grand hallway, with a single door at the end. They got to it and Corvus stood unimpressed. "This is the latest in our security." said Celestia. "I can spot at least five flaws, but I'll stick with one... one lock... really?" asked Corvus. "Only, I, my sister or Twilight can open it!" exclaimed Celestia. "Hmm... let me see..." he said and got a Prismere lockpick out and easily picked the lock, seeing as how Prismere absorbs magic, it registered the pick as a horn, and because Corvus had been walking with the Princesses, it had picked up their magic. All three mares were almost aghast. "You certainly are resourceful..." said Twilight. "You are a Human of many talents..." said Luna. "You always seem to surprise us..." concluded Celestia. Corvus, unlike himself, blushed at their compliments. "And that is not a backhooved comment." said Luna and we all laughed. Celestia levitated a box from the dark room that was on the other side of the door. "These, Castellan Corvus Frederick, are the the Elements of Harmony." said Celestia and presented him with 6 pieces of jewellery, to the untrained eye, mere necklaces and a crown, to Corvus, he saw the pureness in them, the magic, the power, the raw potential, and it scared him to see they can both be corrupted and used for good... if he looked hard enough into them, he could see what Fate had planned for them, in the past. "They are beautiful... and deadly... enchanted, but not just any enchantments, no, these are extremely powerful... I have used more powerful things in the past, and still have some ut for your world, these are powerful..." said Corvus, they seemed to react with Akara's Tears, and a piece of wood Nyralim gave him from his bark, he simply said 'this will be of use to you someday...' damn cryptic bastard tree... Admittedly, not as cryptic as some Fae or Alyn at times... heck, he was starting to get cryptic in his old age, even though considering his immortal lifespan, he was probably not that old, now he was young again by a good few decades, time to live it up a little...
Training DayThe next morning, Celestia awoke to the sounds of shouting in the courtyard, she opened her eyes and realised she had slept in! the servants should have awoken her hours ago! She looked outside and saw the sun was up... That was strange. She opened her door, dressed in her usual regalia. She then encountered a fatigued Luna slowly ambling down the corridor, bumping into things every now and then and looking half asleep. "Luna? what are you doing up at this hour!?" asked Celestia. "Night Court only just emptied, all the... Nobles wished to know what happened." said Luna between a yawn. "Why didn't you wake me?" asked Celestia, concerned for her sister. "It was Night court, not day court sister, since you were asleep it was not your problem, but now you're awake, you can have all the problems." said Luna with as much enthusiasm as she could muster in her run-down state. "Where is Corvus?" asked Celestia. "Barking at the men, he hasn't slept, I believe his exact words to me when I inquired were: 'I'll sleep when I'm dead, your majesty' or at least something along those lines." said Luna putting on an exaggerated deep voice for Corvus. "I see, well, you get some sleep Luna, if you need me you know where I'll be." smiled Celestia, Luna smiled, nodded, yawned and adjourned to her room. Celestia headed down to the courtyard training area and saw the men doing push ups in synch and him barking at them, she couldn't make out what he was saying above the grunts and whines of the guards, Castro was squawking in the ear of those that stopped, prompting them to keep going. "I can't do it!" said one. "If you don't do it, I'll feed you to a damn timberwolf! now another 5!" yelled Corvus and the guard nodded. "sir, yes sir!" he said and pushed on, when Celestia made herself known, Corvus raised an eyebrow and turned. "Men! up and salute your Princess, that's enough for today." said Corvus, and the guards all lumbered up and gave professional salutes when Corvus was happy, he nodded. "Princess Celestia ma'am!" they bellowed. She nodded to Corvus and he smiled. "At ease men, take a dunk in the lake and two hours off, then return to your posts." said Corvus, they nodded thankfully, and left. "Two hours? that is generous." said Celestia. "I reward hard work, they deserve a good rest." said Corvus, who didn't look tired in the least. "So, you are training them?" asked Celestia. "Yes, they need some good discipline." said Corvus. "How are you faring?" asked Celestia. "Fine, better than I've fared in years, I'm finally doing something productive." said Corvus. "Let me guess, you were sitting on a throne for years, waiting for the day either something interesting happened or an assassination attempt actually succeeded." said Celestia. "Well yeah, but the assassin would have to work for it." he said. "I was much the same, until I realised all my little ponies were depending on me, then I steeled myself and carried on." said Celestia. "I have no such comfort, if I died, my Curate would take over and life would continue, likely Amaleur would mourn me, and keep on keepin' on." he explained. "So, is there a special somepony back home?" asked Celestia. "Well, it took long enough for that question, didn't it?" he laughed. "I suppose so." chuckled Celestia. "The term is 'somebody' or 'someone' back home, but truly? I don't know, I lost my memory at one point, I didn't even know who I was, so it is possible, but from what I've been told by old friends, no, there wasn't." he told her. "Well, I'm sure you'll meet Miss Right one day." smiled Celestia. "Knowing my luck, I'll meet Miss Left." he chuckled. "So, will you need warriors?" asked Celestia. "Truly? no, I can do this singlehanded, but I want to train your guards and maybe some others how to defend themselves, just in case, I won't be teaching them to kill, they have to know that if it comes to it they'll have to, but I won't allow them to kill anything if they don't have to." he said. "You have no idea... How much a relief that is." smiled Celestia. "I know your ponies don't understand murder, or violent death apart from accidents." he said. "How far are you?" asked Celestia. "The men are starting to understand, and Rainbow Dash flew by and I gave her some self defence lessons, I told her to keep a fitness regime, like the men, push ups, sit ups, weights, and so on." he said. "That is good, will she make a good Warsworn?" asked Celestia. "By our standards? no. By Equestria's standards? absolutely." said Corvus "We she become a... Pledgeshield?" asked Celestia. "Eventually, yes." he said, they suddenly noticed they had been walking through the gardens and were near the gate to Canterlot High Street. "Well, I better go attend to day court." said Celestia. "Sure..." replied Corvus, and suddenly he got lost in her beautiful magenta eyes... She was equally as lost in his red eyes, with light reflection, unless you concentrate they appear brown. "Ahh aunty, I was- dear Discord! what is that?" came a voice famailiar to Celestia, she slightly growled and took a breath. "Hello Blueblood, this our guest." she said and stepped aside so he could introduce himself. "Castellan, Castellan Corvus Frederick, but please, call me Corvus." he said politely. "Aunty, what is that... Hairless ape doing in the castle gardens?" asked Blueblood, acting as if he wasn't there. "This 'Hairless ape' is current Liegelord of Ponyville, Prince Blueblood, show some respect toward your social superior, as you only own bars and clubs here in the city." shot Celestia, her words almost laced with venom. "Hmm, yes aunty." he said and raised his head and walked away. "Is it wrong that I want to flatten him?" I asked. "Only if it's wrong that I want to use him to bait the Niskaru by tying him to a tree and waiting for his screams for help to attract them." replied Celestia and they both burst out laughing. "Anyway, I'm going to hit the town, see you later sweet eyes." he said and walked away and left Celestia blushing at what he said. Author's Note We've changed the timeline, the chapters are before the Canterlot wedding, so I removed Cadence from the first chapter.
Courage, above all things, is the first quality of a warrior.As I sat in the heart of Gravehal Keep on my throne, I took a look at my throne room. When I first took over Gravehal, it was no more than a hunk of shit, a husk of what it once was, but since then it has become much more, I have my own Warsworn garrison here as well, and I am Castellan of it, and I am known as Castellan Corvus Frederick, everyone thinks I'll be the next Ancient of War, I became the Amaldor of our forces at Mel Senshir for a time when I went there for the first time because I was the highest ranking member there, I became known as one of the best warriors of our time, although I begged and still do, to differ. I defeated Gadflow at his WInter Court and restored the balance, but Fate has replaced itself upon the world, not long after Agarth proclaimed Fate was nonexistent, he tried to read a soldier's fate and it worked, he then looked at a load of other people's Fate and found it was just rearranging itself, that everyone's Fate was only changing, apart from mine which still remained as blank as a slate. I looked on as life in the keep went by, Sunhilda Lorelle waved at me and I waved awkwardly back, why did Mya give me the impression she was to marry me? I need to berate that girl... or better yet... send her on a diplomatic mission with itching powder in her dress! I also saw Paddy staring at that statue he stares at daily and I chuckled, I don't know what was so interesting about the damn thing, Paddy and I were good friends and have a drink every now and then together. Cillian Keen, a fellow Traveller was Innkeeping as usual, while providing us smuggled goods, we work with our fellow Travellers on the mainland, as well as the Warsworn and the Scholia Arcana, who often ask me for advice via communication magic, some of the House of Ballads writers have come to get inspiration from the island, and reside here, much to the ire of our local racists, which there were very few of, and no one who is important to the Keep is racist. And unfortunately I am also the only remaining member of the House of Sorrows although I am the Champion of the House of Valor, in fact because of my immortality(not invulnerability, he can die) they consider me a Fae, well the non-racist Fae do, all the House of Ballads members and High King Titarion consider me to be a human-like Fae, and some of the Summer Court also do. I myself am a Varani, a Wayfarer, but have settled down to life in Gravehal, which isn't the usual way of life for Varani, I am a Universalist as well, i am very efficient in all forms of combat, I can blink and fight with spells, wield a great or longsword, a kite shield and heavy armor, or I can fight with a bow and daggers or faeblades in combat, this was me a few years ago: And this is me now: I've invited many Warsworn soldiers looking for some peace and quiet, fighting the wildlife whenever they could, I also had the Keep extended immensely around the sides, and into the mountain, sure, it didn't look like a Warsworn Keep from the outside, but that's what we wanted we were separate from the Warsworn in the Faelands and had our own style, peace and quiet is what we wanted apart from the contracts to kill Faer Gorta and other wild animals which pester the locals, it has been awhile since I'd been to Rathir or Mel Senshir, or even the Faelands for that matter, they were all a huge distance away. I wear The Children of Erathell armor set without the hood to show I am the Master of The Keep but when I go out I wear Eagonn's Armor, and I wield a Primal Longsword with extra melee and piercing damage called Heartbreaker and a greatsword with the same stats called Heartsbane, although I prefer the quicker attacks of the longsword, and I also use spells. I was on my throne sitting there, waiting for something, I saw my Curate, Kail Murdagh standing by the contract board in her newly acquired Azurite armor, she was ecstatic to be named Curate and thanked me nonstop for a week. -2 hours later- 'Courage, above all things, is the first quality of a warrior.' I went into this with nary a clue except: 'Niskaru.' that was all I knew, it's said you need courage to go into something as blind as I do, so I suppose I have courage aplenty. I blocked a blade that was sent my way and cut the sender in half, sending its guts spilling out, I dodged another blade and set a lightning spell it's way, killing a few more attackers. I walked over to the last downed Niskaru and pulled out my bow and executed it. "Bloody Niskaru..." I mumbled as I recovered my arrow and carried on further into the dungeon, it wasn't often the Master of Gravehal took a contract personally, but there was a Niskaru infestation here and it smelled of cultists, Fahrlangi most likely. I walked ahead in my armor with my sword hanging in my hand by my side. I turned a corner and saw something glinting in a room, I walked in and a gate shut behind me, and it was a Prismere gate! fuck! Prismere gates are nigh impenetrable, the contract was a trap I knew it! I saw a mage, not anyone important, just a mage came out of a hidey hole. "Hah! we have finally caught Castellan Frederick! this was an ingenious idea!" she exclaimed. I remained silent and looked her in the eyes. "Oh, don't worry, we don't wish you to talk, we wish you to die!" she laughed and walked away, did these idiots not know I'm immortal? "Gordon Bennett..." I mumbled, luckily I have a plan in situations like this! I carved symbols in the floor with my Dverga Blades and on in the ceiling, which took me no less than 30 mins to do because of my expertise. Then I looked at them and some symbols were slightly off, I corrected them easily, and was satisfied they were correct. I chanted a spell: "Da mihi potestatem, hoc carmine transportaret." I chanted, the symbols started glowing but they were off again when I corrected them! "What the fucking Infernum..." I asked as I was teleported somewhere unknown... -meanwhile in Canterlot Castle- As Princess Celestia looked over some papers she saw a familiar symbol, and at first it filled her with dread... the symbol of Tartarus prison... She took a breath and opened the letter, breathing a sigh of relief when the Caretaker was retiring and was requesting one last inspection from the Princesses, but maybe the Elements need to see it... If she was going to make Twilight a Princess soon, Twilight needed to know Tartarus inside out, Celestia did and now so did Luna, Cadence was learning and Twilight needed to, if there was a breakout, and the cell block it happened in was mentioned Celestia could pinpoint exactly where it was without hesitation and get to it as fast as she could, as could Luna, they would all inspect it, first the letter to Twilight, then Cadence, then she would tell Luna, they owed the keeper that much at least. Suddenly it dawned on Celestia how alone Twilight really was going to be, if she became a Princess, being immortal means losing people over the years, that would include her 5 friends, Spike was a dragon and also immortal, so could he cope? he would lose Rarity eventually, even Celestia found herself longing for a partner, as she was sure Luna did every now and then, none of them ever had any partners, in any way, shape or form, apart from a hoof during heat, but there are no male Alicorns heck, there are even no immortal stallions! she didn't care what it would be, as long as it was immortal like her and cared for her. She sighed and started her letter Dear Twilight, My most faithful student... Author's Note Hey guys! Joe and Marl here! with another story for your pleasure! the spell is an incorrect Latin translation, it is incorrect on purpose so it's not just Latin it's their own twist on it, anyway 'Da mihi potestatem, hoc carmine transportaret' translates to: Give me the power, with this spell to transport.
