The clouds in the sky sat pregnant with rain, just waiting to disgorge themselves of their watery payload of life giving liquid. A peal of thunder range out. And again and again, faster almost like musical accompaniment to the thunder rumbling overhead. A clash of blade on blade, sparks flying into the tumultuous air. A cry, loud and vibrant, rang out.

“Gotta do better than that bitches!” came from a masculine source.

A glaive seemingly made of moonlight swung down as irresistible as the thunder ringing out overhead; only to be blocked by a knife, not quite a short sword, and followed up by a kick from a hoofed leg. The figure, white fur contrasting with the golden armor upon her form was flung back several yards from the swiftly moving figure dancing among the other combatants. A darker form in silvered armor was furiously swinging a war scythe made of pure flame in sweeping arcs. A third figure in teal colored armor was deftly stabbing with two long swords, one seemingly floating in the air. The dancing figure was just a little larger of the white combatant, but noticeably heavier; bulkier and more muscled.

“Sister!” cried the dark fighter, hoping into the air and taking off while keeping the fighter distracted with a barrage of beams of light. Heedless of the harm it might sustain, the figure jumped after; only to be blindsided by a flurry of blows from the teal armored swordsmare.

Weird, horses using magic AND blades? I know I have seen some shit, but that REALLY takes the cake. Guess I need to end this and find those damnable doors again. Guru has a shitload to answer for this time.Blocking and dodging for all it's worth, the Fighter kicks out with its left hind leg while planting its right foreleg on the ground for stability. A boom fills the air as a concussive wall of force, from the hoof hitting the lower jaw of the Fighter's assailant, blasting debris around the pair away. The teal fighter is sent skyward in a cry of pain, only to be sent crashing down when the Fighter slams it's rear hooves into her chest in a viscous double hoof drop, flinging her into the ground from thirty feet in the air. A decent sized crater is the result and a stunned face looks out from the hole, agape with worry.

If he has that much strength, what could he really do if he was angered!?

+Your Highness! We found the pod he was in, its been ripped open...from the inside! And the guards are nowhere to be.....fou...BY THE STARS WHY ARE THEY EMBEDDED IN THE CEALING?!+

If it isn't one thing, its another. HE DIES TONIGHT. For all he has done, for all that he is undoing, he DIES! With that mental oath, she flings herself out of the crater. Looking around, she sees that the Fighter had been catapulted into the air by one of the other fighters and was on his way down. It would take all of around ten seconds to hit from that height.

“Celestia! Luna! My guard have finally made it to where we had placed him, he KILLED the guard assigned to watch the pod. His injuries had been severe. How he is capable of these feats of might I have no idea, but by the laws of the land I call for his head, the Changelings that died weren't the only ones he killed. Just the first by choice.”

“Chrysalis, surely you cant mean that that stallion was capable of murder? A fighter he might be, I just cannot see him being able to kill.” stated the principle diarch of Equestria. Celestia looked to Luna.

“We must subdue him, even if her claims are true, he needs to be tried.”

“Sister, I for once agree with Chrysalis. We cannot hold yon ruffian, no cell nor prison could hold....THAT.” Luna spat, both verbally and physically. A globule of crimson blood shot through with silver hit the ground. Taken aback, all three stared at the silver. Ichor. The life blood of an Immortal was nigh impossible to draw, but if one were able to do so, they were capable of ending their life. Two sets of eyes steeled themselves and looked to the male as he hit the ground. The third could only stare in shock as the two old enemies stood shoulder to shoulder against a threat that would take them both to face. Almost immediately he stood and cracked his neck.

“Nice! I felt that one.” he stated with a chuckle, “But I think you lot need a larger handicap when that seems to be your best.” He reached up and began removing the hooded shirt he was wearing. The design on the shirt was that of a pony's skeleton, vividly picked out in red upon the gray fabric. The remaining bits of his attire were just as odd. A pair of pants, a faded blue with many pockets, rested on his rear half. Upon his thighs, however, was the cause for more concern. The sheaths to his blades seemed to be made of leather and an unknown hard substance. The three mares stared in horror at the body under the clothes he just removed.

“By the stars themselves....” whispered Celestia, horror lacing her tone. His fur was matted down with blood, his and others. Where he had fur at least. His barrel was a literal lattice work of scar tissue, weaving lines like some form of demented road map. And it wasn't that the scars were large or livid, it was just the sheer number of them. The largest scars seemed to be made of burn scars, lining the entire right side of the body, wrapping in such a way that it seemed instead of a singular column of flame, it was many smaller sources of heat.

As she stared in macabre wonder, Celestia realized that her initial guess was wrong, his fur was just thin or lighter in color; the rain and blood that covered him were letting his scared form through. His face was at one point in his life nice enough, if what was looking back at them was any indicator, the livid burns and smaller patterns of scar work giving him a slightly demonic aspect in the lightning laced dark. His mane was short and black, windswept if not just outright unruly. A trimmed goatee surrounded his mouth. What really caught Celestia's attention, however, were his eyes. Many times had she looked into the eyes of one of her ponies and seen their true selves. Eyes were windows after all.

His were a conflicting mix of cold dead orbs seemingly made of glass and living, vibrant eyes of one who had seem much and wanted to share it with his family. The contrast was unsettling and very stark compared to his demeanor. “What manner of life has he lived to warrant....that....”

“His eyes...is he dead or living?” whispered Luna.

“Oh, come on now! Don't tell me y'all ain't seen no scar work before?” the stallion called out as he walked back over. “If that is the case, y'all wouldn't believe me on how one of my...companions looked after he woke up one day.” The latter half of his statement took him a moment to phrase.

“Is he worse off than....this?” asked a suddenly subdued Chrysalis. The emotions she was getting from him were now more like those of her children, open and saying more than she ever thought she might get from a pony, or at least that is what she wanted to say. He seemingly felt nothing; as a total sociopath would. Chrysalis hissed quietly towards Luna. Luna looked over and noticed her flick her ear. Luna focused, confused, and started listening.

Many were the duties the diarchs had and almost as many were no longer needed. One of the duties she still possessed and honestly hated exercising was being an aspect of death. Chrysalis was an odd Immortal, she had ties to death as well, but in a different fashion. For her aspect it wasn't a deep endless slumber; but as a aspect of emotional turmoil and finding balance; the violent death. Luna's was about the passing and acceptance of moving on, the calm death. She 'felt' it almost instantly. And in that moment, she knew why her fellow guardian of the long dark was asking for her to listen.

Voices, quiet and full of sadness were calling out. And they were directed at HIM. The voices were just outside of hearing and seemed to be....no it was more than one voice, not overlapping as she had thought. A mare and a...a foal? No several foals. They were crying out for him to stop, for him to listen. It sounded as if there were...three foals. One was a colt, the others were fillies. Looking at Chrysalis, Luna flicked her ear and nodded.

“Naw, he just doesn't look like hisself anymore. Should'a seen my reaction to living and working with him after we met.” he responded before Luna could stop him with her own question. She looked back at the stallion and asked a question that caused all in the courtyard to stare.

“Why?”

“I need a reason to get in a decent scrap?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“No, why do the dead cry out for you to stop.” Luna said, being blunt.

“Simple. My family is waiting for me on the other side.” he said after a moment of quiet among the falling drops of rain, which was finally letting up. Before any could ask more questions, he continued, “But seeing as I know where I am bound after I die, I wont ever see them again. I know because I have been there. Goddammit, I've been to Hell, fought with the demons in the lakes of fire. Seen things that fucking damn near drove me insane. And to top all of that off, I went and pissed off an eldrich entity I had had prior knowledge of, trying to usurp him and take his place as a king in Hell. He promptly bitch-slapped me into Valhalla. The Aesir are honestly not as big a bunch a pussies as I thought they might be.”

“If that is the case, shy do you not seek atonement?” asked Luna, unwilling to believe he had come from a realm from which the diarchs would never even consider sending the inmates at Tartarus to.

“Shit girl if that were possible I wouldn't do that yet anyway. Got too many useless motherfuckers to kill. The bastards that killed me and my family are still out there, and they got a date with the devil I plan on seeing them keep.”

“What?! But you are clearly alive right now!” cried out a stunned Celestia, looking at him and seeing the energy of life flowing through him. Her aspect of life was just as strong as death was in her sister.

“Tell that the Gatekeeper of Hell.”

“Surely the ones who...killed you have been brought to justice by the criminal courts of your homeland?”

“You would think that. The assholes invaded and took over. Killed off any supers and villains who opposed them. I was part of a cell of super powered individuals who were fighting back under direction of one our biggest villains, Doctor Destruction. I joined because it was fight in a war from the shadows or have God alone knows what happen to me in a blue-skin camp.”

“You were a hero?” asked Luna, shock evident on her face.

“No, I was a professional fighter who was married to a great woman. I was a father trying to keep a roof over his family's heads and feed them. The V'sori bastards had shown up and stopped an invading army of shark-men from taking over. We learned of their betrayal in a ceremony to honor them and the heroes who fell defending our world. They killed our biggest hero, The Champion of the Alpha Force, while broadcasting the entire event. The fired a giant ass laser at him and managed to kill him. He couldn't really fight back because the crowd was at his back and if he avoided the beam, he would have doomed the people within it to death.

He bodily blocked the beam of light and tried to endure it. I was near the front with my family. When the beam started to eat through him, it covered the field that we and the crowd had been herded to. As I shielded my wife and children, I screamed; from the pain of the light that caused my back to blister and burn, the noise bursting my eardrums, the feeling of being powerless as strong and as tough as I was from my nearly two decades of fighting both on the streets and off of them in a ring. They screamed, in pain and in fear. And then they turned to ash in my arms; as I held them they burned while I endured the beam. I couldn't save them; I couldn't even die with them.” The last part of his statement was said bitterly, looking down at his forelegs. “If I had been tougher I would have kept them alive, if I had been faster, or better...”

Chrysalis spoke up hushed and quiet, “If that is the case, why do you seemingly feel nothing?”

“Chickadee, you answered your own question. If all of your family, all that was truly precious to you, everything that you felt mattered more than life itself were in your arms and the only thing between them and death was your body or mind or whatever the hell it might be, how would you feel if you not only failed to keep them safe; but somehow kept living?” Silence greeted his response. “If that is really all you lot have to ask me...get back on your hooves and fight. I ain't dead yet, and that means I haven't lost.”

The trio of rulers looked on aghast as he stood on his hind legs and drew his blades and got into a readied stance. After that brief parley, he still wanted to fight? After barring his soul? What manner of stallion was he, to keep fighting for vengeance that he apparently knew wouldn't make a difference?

It is as if he doesn't care about his own life. He stated he knows for where he is bound for after passing, what awaits him. And his family cries out for him to stop...to rest. They can feel his pain and want to ease it. Why does he not just lay down his arms?! Thought a thoroughly distressed Luna. This stallion was an enigma. He was as driven as any pony she had ever met, was as strong as she or her sister, had fought with THREE Immortals and drawn Ichor, and was not so passively aware of his eternal damnation. And here he stood still defiant to the end. The stallion hadn't moved since he readied his blades, and just waited.

“Ladies first.” he said, smirking.

“One last question.” stated Luna. At his glance in her direction, she started to channel magic into her horn. “If these you hear this, what these spirits have to say, would you stop?”

“What do you mean spirits?” the Fighter asked, guarded and wary.

“Simple, one of my many duties as a diarch of Equestria is helping to heal those touched by death, just as it is my duty to safe guard the Night. There is a group of voices that cry out around you. I am honestly surprised you can't hear them, even if you couldn't understand them. The feeling of talking to a spirit is akin to getting a hunch; and all life here in the realm can hear the spirits to a small degree.” Luna's horn grew brighter as she talked, shades appearing near the Fighter, looking at him, reaching for him and yet not not there enough to be tangible, like a faded picture. He stopped as he saw something they didn't, SOMEPONY they didn't.

NIKOLAI! PLEASE! Just....please...You tried, and you fought for us. YOU DIED TRYING TO MAKE IT RIGHT. please just stop and rest. You might not be with us, but we are always with you, so just stop FIGHTING. You have to move on... the mare was crying, looking over his shoulder, looking into the past. She was far shorter than he, but still taller than average, with a decent build. In front of her were three foals, two older fillies and one young colt. The oldest wasn't even ten by how big she was.

Daddy, please just listen to mommy...when you listened before it was always better in the end...whimpered the younger of the two fillies. The older one just held her siblings and was quiet. The colt was the most unnerving of the children to the trio of rulers. He looked to them as he looked around. Chrysalis just watched as his head swung back to her and looked her dead in the eyes.

If you can hear me, don't hate my daddy. Bad men and aliens hurt him. He isn't like he used to be, not like mama or my sisters tell me about. Please, help him. His words were those of one far older than he seemingly was, a babe of no more than a year. A question was upon her lips, but she couldn't find the will to voice it. I know what you want to ask, and no. Mama was carrying me when she died. I wasn't even born yet. A hollow thud was heard as the Fighter, Nikolai, crashed to his knees and looked in shock... in pain at the shades in front of him. And all Chrysalis could feel was sorrow. Sorrow from him, from the shades, from herself and the royal sisters. He knew her pain, the one that demanded that he die; he was on that path already if what was said was true. Tears streamed from his eyes as he closed them. His knives lay on the ground near him. Then all the Changeling Queen could feel was anger, a rage so profound it hurt to feel.

+when I finally kill you, I will take your skulls. And I will take my time+ “DOING SO!” Nikolai roared at the top of his lungs, grabbing his knives. I can hear his thoughts.....was all Chrysalis could think as he jumped nearly 200 feet straight up. Luna's reaction was to stare at him as he fell down, knives extended as he neared her face, shock immobilizing her. Just as the blades would have parted Luna's head from her shoulders, a glaive interposed itself betwixt the enraged stallion and his target.

“Why do you attack my sister now, if what she has shown you is true-”

“THAT FUCKING WHORE WAS IN MY HEAD; AND I WILL HAVE HER SKULL FOR THIS! NO ONE FUCKS WITH MY FAMILY OR MY MEMORIES OF THEM! NO ONE!” screamed Nikolai, irate and inconsolable as even through the rage could Celestia see his pain. He thinks that was Luna manipulating him...to get his guard down!? What manner of war was he involved in? What beings would use such tactics as to defile the dead themselves just to get an advantage?! The issue at the moment was actually subduing this stallion. As he flew into his current rage, Celestia noticed that his body seemed to swell with barely contained energy. His last blow would have actually killed her sister, based on how hard he had been hitting them before. While he hadn't been pulling his blows before, he was not striking to kill. If I don't end this soon, somepony will die. I wont let another die tonight if I can't help it.

Chrysalis could only watch as the elder royal sister clashed again with the stallion, over and over. Magic flew threw the air, along with debris from the field. The stallion, No, his name...is Nikolai, grabbed a chunk of masonry from the ground and hurled it at Luna as he kicked out at Celestia. Celestia teleported out of the way of his kick, only to end up in front of her sister, still struggling to react. Raising her glaive to block she deflected the thrown section of the wall.

“LUNA! Get your head in reality, or you just might lose it!”

“Sister, he doesn't believe he was talking to his family, his wife...she is still trying to get him to stop...by the stars above, this insanity is only partly his fault...I added fuel to this flame.” she looked to her elder sister and moved her out of the way with her wing as gently as she could. “At least let him vent a little, from what his wife has been yelling all he has known for the last two years is war, almost day in and night out.” with a somber tone, Luna finished her impromptu speech and walked towards the silently raging stallion. She readied her scythe, and adopted a guard. “If you must fight, at least let me be the only one you fight.”

“When all is said and done, wench, you will be kneeling in a pool of blood and BILE!” was his response, not even trying to dodge the war scythe as it came around to hit his hind legs. He instead kicked out and knocked it from Luna's telekinetic grasp, such was the force he used. He then reared back and slugged her so hard the blow broke the sound barrier as it hit. The loud crack was felt more than heard for all the combatants, and as it happened, he stopped, a light coming down from the moon above lighting him and Luna from the heavens. He seemed to have an epiphany, for his rage filled expression became one of shock and horror as Luna's head snapped to the side, Ichor and blood in equal measure flying out from her mouth. He jumped one last time, catching and shielding her body before the force of his blow sent her into a wall nearly fifty feet away. The crater that his impact created was almost ten feet around, and nearly three deep. He hacked one cough due to the dust in the air and slowly eased out of the new hole in the castle wall. He then laid Luna on the ground as Celestia and Chrysalis flew over.

“I...I don't...I can't...” he tried to say something, something that he felt was needed. Looking around for some way to inspire himself, to find the right words, he sees the destruction his rampage had caused. One castle, a charnel house in the lower floors; a missing spire; a group of ponies, pegasi, and unicorns in golden armor standing watch from the battlements on the other side of the courtyard; ten beings on the ground near the far door, shock and horror evident on their faces to various degrees. Four of those faces were that of children, one young dragon looking thing and three younger foals.

“She only wanted to help...All I could think of was how she knew any of that, I haven talked about any of this with my companions as we each had a tale like it, even if mine seemed the worst. I have never been the smartest man, always the butt of intelligence jokes, but I didn't care. Now it seems like my luck has started to catch up to me.” he muttered at the sky sitting facing away form the three leaders. He looked back over his shoulder, scared flesh rippling as he seemed to shrink. “I don't normally care, I can't, not when that means the mission might fail; but just now, I almost heard her voice again. And she was still saying stop...” he turned to face the sky again.

“What do you want to do now? You have a story that needs telling and crimes to answer for.” asked Celestia in a quiet voice.

“Hey, in my defense I was attacked first; I just lashed out. I cant help if I love a decent scrap, nothing back home could make me work for it any more. I haven't been able to do my job, my profession in nearly two years.” Celestia could hear the smirk in his voice disappear as he talked. He started up again after a few moments almost long enough to for Celestia to think he had stopped,

“In all honesty, I should go find those doors again, the ones I was sent through. Can't be too many forty five foot tall doors made of stone just standing in the open, right?”

“And then?”

“What else?” he looked back over his shoulder and smiled lightly with his eyes closed. Why does that make him seem more handsome than he would be without his scars? Celestia wondered as he continued. “Go back to being dead, I shouldn't be alive.”

“Celestia, we need to talk.” Chrysalis was somber and quiet, subdued form the outbursts she had been having earlier. Moving in, she whispered “Mentally.”

Celestia, he was not lying at all through out the entire endeavor, he honestly thinks he is dead and come back. While I did feel a pulse of life, it wasn't from nearby. And as for my children, one of the guards is alive and telling my chief body guard what happened. So far it matches his description, except he WAS attacked by a guard. The one that didn't survive jumped and swung her spear and clipped his face. That is really all I think you should know, the rest of what happened...one sided is all I can think of to describe it casting a glance at his back, and I no longer have the burning rage to feed my desire for revenge with. He actually feels remorse for his actions towards Luna at the very least. Please, while I want him to pay, he no longer needs to die to sate my and my broods' bloodlust and-

+If you are going to talk about me, at least do it in a language I can't speak.+ he said quickly as he got up and walked to his shirt, back by his original position draped over a larger rock.

“And then there is that.”

“....quite. So you want him to actually pay SOMETHING, if only to keep appearances?”

“To a point, he seems to understand that more than many would. Even if it is just....” Chrysalis stopped and got a nasty grin on her face. “Give him to Twilight and her friends and see if he can 'learn the magic of friendship'. I doubt he will see that coming.”

“You are an evil mare and should be ashamed.” deadpanned Celestia. “Good thing we think alike, even if for different reasons.” The shit eating grin she gave Chrysalis was enough to make her counter part smirk.

The stallion was walking back by that point. Once he was close enough, Celestia started to speak again. “I have an idea for your punishment, but first we must see that Luna is taken care of. Go wait by the Solar guard,” Celestia motioned for him to go stand near the guard on the ramparts. “After I see to gathering everything that needs to leave, we are away.”

“Sounds fair. When is the trial and can I get a decent lawyer?”

“If that is what you think is happening, you have much you need to rethink. Here I can pass judgment, and I will do so once my sister awakens and can hear this verdict.”

“Okaaaaaay...” Nikolai started to say then smacked his forehead with a hoof, “OW. Not to self- no more hitting face. Anyway, why do I get the feeling that the judicial process just got set back around 200 years?”

“I have no idea what you are talking about. Now go wait with the guard....other than Nikolai, what can I call you?” asked Celestia, suddenly thinking of a fact she needed for the whole process to work.

“My name isn't used by anyone any more. Y'all can all me Morgue. ”he said, crouching as he put his shirt on. Once it was on and covering his scars again he resumed speaking,

“My name was and still is Nikolai Morgan, now known as Morgue to my enemies, and one of the Destruction Trinity, among the foremost agents of Doctor Destruction. Pleasure to meet ya.”

With that final utterance, he jumped, a whoop on his lips and a grin on his face. It was good to be back in the world of the living, even if he was a fuckin' horse now.

Life couldn't get any better now that he was alive again
...Right?

Author's Note

Well that was a thing.

So if anyone is confused, just look for a blog or 'Author's Nose' chapter, i can explain some here, but it would take to long.

Basic jist of this story is Nkiki is a super villian from a rpg called Nessecary Evil. He was a BRICK.
A literal FLYING BRICK once he picked up the ability to jump 64 yards straight up. That should tell y'all waht he is going to be like. side note-
he is around THIS big ==V

and that has to due to a thing regarding his powers.