Celestia sighed as she took off her regalia, her sister doing the same as they settled down for the evening, the day having been filled with too much excitement for that day.

“Sister,” said Luna, drawing the larger alicorns attention, “I am worried…”

“About what Luna,” said Celestia, moving close and placing a wing on her back.

“It’s just…” started Luna, “The way Regwald and the others reacted to when Discord mentioned his title, I…I know his magic can be harmful at times, but the way they reacted…”

“I know,” said Celestia, “they like his magic could…could…”

Celestia didn’t want to say, but Luna knew where she was going with her words. As bad as Discord had been when he had ruled over Equestria, he had never killed anypony, not even once. Oh sure, he had tortured many ponies, but no one had died.

But the way those ponies had spoken, it’s was as if they had lost people to such magic, and in such ways that it had scared them horribly.

They were brought out of their dreadful musings by a knock coming to their door, but before either of them could reacted it opened, and Gravelyn and Victoria walked in.

“Princesses, could we have a word with you a moment?”

Celestia looked to her sister, then nodded her head, “Please, what do you wish to speak with us about?”

“It’s…” started Victoria, “it’s about Regwald.”

“What about him?” asked Luna.

“We…we came to warn you about him,” said Gravelyn.

Both rulers looked confused by this, then Celestia spoke up, “Explain.”

“…Look,” said Victoria, “we wouldn’t be telling you this otherwise, but…well, unless Warlic pulls something out of his hat and spirits us back home, we may be here a long time, and in that case, you need to know about Regwald. You see he’s…well, he isn’t exactly what he seems.”

ஜ۩۞۩ஜ

Regwald stared out at the town from the balcony of his room, the tranquility of the place both soothing…and unnerving him at the same time. If he had to place a finger…no…a hoof on what the problem was, Regwald knew it had to do with the fact that for essentially the past five years of his life, he had been at war, a war that had spread even into his tranquil home town of Battleon, tearing it apart.

To see such peace again, it was sadly foreign to him, though, if he reached far enough across his memories, he knew that eventually that feeling would fade, for it had many times before.

He was brought out of his dark thoughts by the sound of his door opening, and he looked up to see Twilight Sparkle walking into his room, looking concerned.

“Princess, how can I be of service to thee?”

Twilight looked hesitant for a moment, and then she closed the door, giving him a look before speaking. “Regwald, what are you?”

“…I don’t understand the question.”

“Back when you attacked Discord,” said Twilight, “when you used your magic to grab him, I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but…well, whatever you were doing to hide your magic slipped, and I saw your magic for what it truly was, which is why I want to know what you are, for you can’t be a simple hero with the kind of magic I saw in you.”

Regwald looked hesitant a moment, then he sighed, getting up and walking over to Twilight before speaking. “Very well, I guess you deserve to know more than most, being the princess of this village. However I must warn you Twilight, once you know what I truly am, you may not be able to look at me the same way again…you may even come to despise me.”

Before she could speak, his eyes glowed, and suddenly the entire world vanished around her, leaving her alone in a vast empty blackness. After a moment, she found herself on a stone platform, and after a moment more, a dragon larger then Kira and blacker then the night itself rose out of the blackness, his red eyes glowing brightly as he stared down at her.

“This Twilight Sparkle, is my true form,” spoke Regwald, his voice sounding like rolling thunder as it reverberated around them, sounding like it came as much from the blackness itself as it did from his own scaly lips. “I am a being older than time, and have gone by many a name. The First Being, The Ageless One, Shaper of Time and Space, these are just a few Titles I have held throughout my immeasurable existence, but the title I am most known for is one which describes me best, The Eternal Dragon of Time.”

He spread his great wings, a great golden ring forming behind him as he leaned his head down to expose his back to her. “Climb on, we have much to see, and when things get going, you will need a safe place to stand.”

ஜ۩۞۩ஜ

“So your telling me,” said Celestia, her hooves rubbing her temples as a headache began to form, “that not only is Regwald a god, he is in fact the god that is responsible for your universes existence, as well as time itself in your universe?”

“That is what we’re telling you,” said Victoria, “and believe me, we were just as shocked as you when we found out.”

There was a long moment of silence following that, and then Luna spoke up. “This is indeed troubling, but what we cannot understand is why he would not tell us, nor why he would appear as a lesser creature.”

“That’s because he has grown accustomed to living wrapped in a mortal coil, which honestly most of us don’t see the point in him doing that, after all in his true form he has powers the likes of which most of us can’t conceive.”

“So he is more comfortable in a mortal guise?”

“Precisely,” said Gravelyn, “but this makes him extremely vulnerable, despite his stating the opposite from time to time. But that is not why we warned you, it…it actually has to do with the being called Discord.”

Celestia looked up at that, “what about him?”

Victoria looked hesitant for a moment, and then spoke up, “We wish to know what methods you possess to defeat such a creature, and if they are still available, could they be used on others?”

ஜ۩۞۩ஜ

Twilight had lost track of how long they had been flying, nor how far, for it was still the same endless black that it had been when they started, not changing a bit.

But soon Regwald stopped, somehow managing to land upon the blackness as he looked around. “Were here,” he said.

“I’ll take your word on it,” said Twilight, but as soon as she said that a shape appeared in the blackness, and she soon gasped as she saw that it was Regwald.

But the dragon flying toward them looked much different from the one she was riding upon now. For one, his scales were green, not black like the one she was sitting upon, and for another, he only possessed four limbs, whereas the dragon she was standing upon possessed six.

“Like many great story tellers,” Regwald began, “I prefer to begin at the beginning, or in this case, the very beginning of things. Back then, the universe was unformed, no stars, no planets, and no time.”

The dragon from what Twilight now realized was Regwald's past landed on amongst the blackness, laying down to sleep as Regwald continued to speak. “As far as I know, I have always existed, and to tell you the truth my oldest living memory is of opening my eyes to the blackness, and flying about before sleeping again.”

“You must have been lonely,” said Twilight as she looked around.

“I was, which is why I brought us to this point, for this is when I crafted time.”

Twilight watched as the dragon lifted his wings, the claws on them beginning to glow as light flowed from out of the blackness, swirling around faster and faster till they burst, and suddenly the entire space around them filled with starts.

“You see, I was already a being who existed in his own time, so I thought, what if the world could exist in my time as well. So, I gathered up my power, and then flung it out of the world around me, and then…everything else began to exist as well.”

Twilight looked confused, so Regwald explained. “You see Twilight, without time, things simply don’t exist, take this creature for example.”

As he said that, he conjured up a simple looked animal, which was running in place in front of Twilight at a steady pace. “Now, watch as I steadily increase time.”

Suddenly, the creature began speeding up, faster and faster till finally it vanished, which caused Twilight to blink in shock. “Now tell me Twilight,” said Regwald, “does it exist?”

“What,” said Twilight, “of course it does!”

“Oh really, what evidence do you have that can show me it exists.”

Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but stopped, realizing that she honestly had no way of proving that the creature existed or not. “So what does this mean?”

“It means that without time, nothing can exist, for if there is no time, then how do we measure our existence?”

“I wouldn’t know,” said Twilight honestly, “I guess…we couldn’t could we?”

“No we couldn’t, even I couldn’t if I wasn’t who I was.”

Regwald Spread his wings again, gliding after his past self as the once black expanse became more and more filled with stars, Twilight looking around in amazement as they flew through the vast expanse.

“After I forged time, I flew around to see what it had birthed, and was surprised when I sensed life beginning to form on many of the planets that had recently formed, many of them varied, but none of them like me. And then one day, as I was flying through a particularly dense nebula cloud, I heard something…calling to me.”

As they watched, The Eternal Dragon suddenly shot up from the cloud, and floating above it, was a creature which caused Twilight mass confusion.”

“Wait a moment, isn’t that…”

“The Queen of Monsters?” said Regwald, “yes…that is her, for she was the one calling to me.”

The Eternal Dragon approached The Queen, looking hesitant, but then she moved in close, grabbing him by his face and staring deeply into his eyes.

“We shared many words that day,” said Regwald, “Many secrets, many unimportant things. I honestly can’t remember anything we talked about that day…but I do remember how it ended, for that was the day…I found my first love.”

“Wait, you not saying you…”

“Loved her?” finished Regwald, “sadly, yes I did. But you must understand, at the time, she was the only one like me I had ever encountered, and the same could be said for her in regards to me. We were after all gods, and pretty much the only ones around at the time, for it would be many years before the lesser gods would come into existence.”

He then shook his head, as if he was trying to shake away bad memories. “But I digress, that is not important. After a long while, we started wandering the universe together, watching as life sprung up on planets here or there, and even influencing the evolution of some worlds.”

Twilight watched as the two beings approached a world, watching as their magic stretched out, influencing the ecology of the planet and making it suitable for many forms of life.

“Sadly, as time passed, a pattern began to form within the universe, a pattern which caused my mate to grow more and more hostile as the years passed. This pattern came in the form of the persecution upon The Queen’s chosen people, the monsters, who were being hunted and slaughtered due to fear and prejudice.”

Again the images changed, but when they did Twilight nearly threw up, for it was depicting scenes of monsters getting attacked and butchered by various other humanoid races, and above, The Queen of Monsters looked on with tears streaming down her face.

“I can assume by your look you are not used to such carnage,” said Regwald in a comforting tone.

“No,” said Twilight, “I mean we have monsters in our world, even some that eat ponies, but we do our best not to kill them, even the most hostile. We only resort to killing when it becomes absolutely necessary, and even then we do it with trepidation.”

“Well in the case of our sentient races, they held no such trepidation, mainly due to the oldest fear to plague such races, the fear of what they do not understand. Because of this fear, they slaughtered monsters without any consideration, which lead to The Queen of Monsters fall.”

Suddenly, the images switched to a new world, and as they watched the skies above exploded as The Queen descended upon it, her eyes glowing blood read as she lead a score of grand beasts to lay siege to the world.

“She was swift in her retribution, and soon, the entire universe was in turmoil, for even the gods who had come into being after us could not stand against her, even united. So, with a heavy heart…I was forced to do battle with her.”

The scene changed once more, and Twilight jumped as a bellowing roar tore through space. Twilight then ducked, for The Eternal Dragon of Time flew over them, his mouth opening wide as a torrent of blinding light flew from his mouth to strike The Queen of Monsters, who blocked it with a feral his before unleashing a torrent of lightning bolts from her hands upon him.

The Eternal Dragon dogged out of the way, roaring a bit as it clipped his wing but he kept on going, the great halo upon his back beginning to spin before he stopped in midair and spread his wings wide, the plate on his chest glowing bright before unleashing a beam of blue light that incinerated part of The Queen.

“Our battle lasted for days, shaking the heavens of all the planets of the universe. But with being like us, we couldn’t die, so…in the end I was forced to do something that I would never do again…I removed her from time.”

The scene changed one final time, showing a battered Eternal Dragon standing over an even more battered looking Queen, who was collapsed upon her belly and slowly being pulled into the gaping maw of a black hole, looking up at The Eternal Dragon with sorrow in her eyes. “Please…don’t do this…please…”

“I’m sorry,” said The Eternal Dragon, “…but I must.”

He then slammed his wing claws together, causing The Queen to be sucked in before the hole closed, and then his wings to his sides, the mighty dragon throwing his head back and unleashing a heart wrenching roar at the loss of one so dear to him.

ஜ۩۞۩ஜ

Celestia gave the two rulers a skeptical look, and then spoke, “I don’t know if that is information you should know at this time.”

“I am afraid I have to disagree,” said Victoria, “for if The Queen of Monsters starts her campaign in this world, Regwald will insist on fighting against her. And if he does, we will need a method of dealing with him…should the need arise.”

“And why would we need to deal with him?” asked Luna.

“Because during the war of Chaos, Regwald was our greatest warrior, at least till he came up against Drakath. When that happened, Drakath was able to chaorrupt him, turning him against us which in the end, even when we managed to bring him back, resulted in the release of The Queen of Monsters.”

“…Chaorrupt?”

“Sorry,” said Victoria, “I should have known you might not know that term. “Chaorruption is basically when a person falls victim to the ravages of chaos magic, which warps them into a twisted version of themselves.”

Celestia actually smiled a bit at that, “so, like when a pony is discorded?”

“…Explain.”

“Discorded was a method of control used by the spirit Discord, which caused a pony to act against their nature, essentially making them an opposite of their former self.”

“I see,” said Victoria, “then yes, much like that. For when Regwald was Chaorrupted, he went from a savior…to a conqueror.”

That last bit made the room grow cold; Luna and Celestia staring at both the rulers till Gravelyn spoke up. “The thing is, even after he came back to us, he still held within him the chaos which had chaorrupted him, one he says he has control over…even if we disagree with him.”

“And that’s why we want to know how you were able to gain control of this Discord, for if it can control him, it may be able to be used against Regwald if he…were to slip.”

Celestia turned to Luna, who nodded, causing Celestia to sigh as she spoke. “I am afraid that the weapon we have which fist defeated Discord was not used to gain control over him, however, it may be able to purify him of any remaining chaos influence that may remain.”

That got a hopeful look from the two rulers, causing Victoria to speak up, “What is this weapon?”

“We call them the Elements of Harmony, which come from a magical object known as the Tree of Harmony. The tree is our worlds shield, and the elements are our worlds sword, and combined they create a force which has managed to defeat every enemy that has been through against us over the years. Recently, they have chosen Twilight and her friends as their wielders, and have granted them their full power, though we have yet to see what that entails.”

“And you said they can purify beings of chaos,” said Gravelyn, “do we have more than your word on that?”

“…They purified me,” said Luna, causing both rulers to look shocked.

“What?”

Luna sighed, “Ages ago, I became corrupted by my own jealousy towards my sister, causing me to turn into a creature known as Nightmare Moon, a beast who sought to bring about eternal night for the entire world. The first time I was hit by the elements, they banished me to the moon, but after I returned a thousand years later, Twilight and her friends were able to use the elements to purify me of the darkness in my heart and return me to what I once was.”

“…and you think this could do the same for Regwald?” asked Gravelyn.

“Most likely yes,” said Celestia, “for we have seen it purify chaos from others before, especially those who had been discorded.”

At this, Victoria began tearing up, and in response Gravelyn reached out a wing to comfort her.

“Prithee,” said Luna, “what causes you such grief.”

“Victoria’s father…and my technical step father; fell to Chaorruption, to the point where Regwald was forced to kill him. To hear that these elements can purify chaos…it pains our hearts to know there was a method to save him, even if it was out of our reach.”

Celestia could understand their pain, and much to their surprise got up and wrapped them both up in her wings, comforting them both.

“Um, Princess Celestia…” started Victoria.

“Don’t mind my sister,” said Luna, “she does this to everypony, which has resulted in her being regarded as one of the most approachable rulers in our world.”

“I see,” said Gravelyn, managing to extract herself from the hug before speaking again. “So, do you think you will be able to convince Twilight and her friends to purify Regwald?”

“I’m sure we will be able to,” said Celestia, “after all, he is a god, which means we need to make sure he stays on our side if he is as powerful as you claim.”

“He is, and more so, we honestly don’t know if his powers have any limits…if only he would use them.”

“Well maybe that is something I can discuss with him in the future,” said Celestia, “for now, let us go speak with them, for I can sense both are awake.”

They all got up, and as one left the room, the two smaller alicorns actually bearing smiles on their faces as, in their minds, thing were finally going there way.

Author's Note

OK, before I go into what comes next I have to say my peace here about a part which I know is going to cause some controversy amonst those readers who do know the story of AQWorlds.

Now before any of you who have played the came react to Gravelyn calling King Alteon her step father, please let me explain. I have played pretty much every game Artix Entertainment has made, from Adventure Quest to Pony vs Pony, Mech Quest to Oversoul. However, it is the information gathered from both Dragonfable and AQWorlds, as well as lore from Sepulcher's villain wiki page which led to this decision. Basic thing is, the same woman who was married to King Alteon and gave birth to his three daughters also gave birth to Sepulcher's daughter Gravelyn. Hell, Alteon alleges to this during his death scene in AQWorlds, commenting on the fact that she has the heart of her mother.

Ok with that out of the way, not to explain about this chapter. Yes, I know its kind of an exposition dump. Yes, I know some of what I invented about the Eternal Dragons past, especially his connection to The Queen of Monsters was kinda strange, but I feel it fits. And yes, I know this chapter has Part 01 in its title, but there is a reason for that.

This chapter will be one of many chapters where Regwald explains not only about his own past, but also about the past of Lore, the other hero's who's memories he shares, as well as the special connection Regwald shares with the Hero of Falconreach, AKA, the hero before him.

These chapters will be dispersed throughout the story, instead of grouped together like I have seen other part chapters before. What this means is that there will be a few chapters between each of these "lore" chapters (hah), which will hopefully keep the exposition decently spaced out, while managing to tell the parts of Regwald's story that needs to be told, for there is a lot about his character that results from the lives of the hero's who came before him, and will also, in my own way, piece together all the games from Artix Entertainment into a cohesive, and hopefully satisfying whole.

Anyways, next chapter will be an intermission chapter, which will include The Queen of All Monster's being confronted one of Equis's less well known guardians (Remember what Celestia said about the shield). After that, we will get new main chapter, however it wont be a lore one (hm, maybe I should make chapter tags), instead it will be more dealing with how Gravelyn and Victoria are in regards to how the react around Regwald himself and his method of story telling.

Till then guys, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to drop them by, I love hearing from you guys.