The Return of the Night

The burning glare of the sun was felt through the cloaks of the two mercenaries as they made their way through the badlands. Ripper wanted to fly to their home like they had  the last time, but his brother wanted to march to their cave in military fashion. Waith was always making Ripper do small things like this, mostly because Waith believe that the only way to stay sane as an immortal was to do something different each day. Ripper believed it was a bunch of yak spit, but he marched on without any prodding to keep his brother happy. Every now and then Waith would look back to check on Ripper, and give a tired smile and Ripper would smile back in kind.

Ripper was more muscular and slightly taller than his brother. His coat, when cleaned, had the natural gray that all thresals had, but sadly it was streaked with minotaur blood from last weeks battle. Ripper had no natural mane and his tail was still regrowing from being singed from dragon fire, but his tail was naturally a mix of navy blue and a deep black. His wings were black as sin and were shiny from his natural oils in the noon day sun.

On each hoof he wore weighted horseshoes each around sixty pounds in weight. Around the edges of each shoe were pointed spikes that were meant to be used for tearing flesh and maiming , but Ripper mostly used them for holding down foes or climbing up walls. The cloak he wore was given to him by his long dead friend Swirls, and could deflect most magic attacks, but impacts were still felt by the wearer of the cloak. The most interesting piece of Rippers equipment was his mask. It was a wicked piece of work, made of white iron, that instilled fear in his opponents, and had made many wet themselves on the battle field. The mask did not cover his whole head rather it covered his muzzle and was ornamented with two horrifying rows of spikes that resembled a timber-wolf's gaping maw. On his head was a navy blue bandanna with the symbol of his cutie mark, which was of a simple black helm. The sun glasses he wore, as a thresal's eyes are weak in bright sun, were made of the same white iron and were enchanted, by Swirls , to been nearly unbreakable.

Waith was smaller than his brother, but he was all lithe muscle, and a great deal more quicker than Ripper in a fight. His coat was less stained than his brothers, but was still stained nonetheless, neither brother had been able to wash do to the arid nature of the badlands, and what little water they had was for drinking. Placed on each leg, from longest to shortest, was a set of three knives each made of a dark blue metal that made an enemy weak when cut. Waith's cloak was was white with dark purple stripes and had been given to him by his teacher and mentor, a zebra shaman by the name of Zockie. On his flank were two torches each blazing with green and white fire. Unlike his brother Waithnhad a mane, and he had never once cut its black locks thus they spilled over his shoulders. Each of his saddle bags were filled with glass bottles that contained all manner of potions ready to be thrown at a moments notice, and his sun glasses were an exact replica of his brothers only purple.

The badlands they traveled were home to some of the most dangerous creatures in the world, but as long as one respected those creatures they respected you. The location of their home was nestled neatly in the middle of the badlands, and was a cave system that stretched miles across. The brothers had not been the ones to dig it out rather it was craved out by some Cerbalus spiders awhile ago.

The brother's had been sleeping in the badlands after their banishment, and when they found the cave they couldn't believe their luck as it was a perfect cave that suited their needs spectacularly. Cool and dry just the way they liked it, and it even a nice underground fresh water stream that flowed nicely into the lower level of the cave.

Unfortunately the spiders had not moved out yet, so they had to do what came natural to a hungry thresal when presented with big, juicy, giant spiders, and eat them. Several hours later their stomachs with extremely bloated and full hey had a new cave. They even left the queen alive and trained her as a pet. They named her Sally after a dog Ripper had years before the incident, and when she died they did the same with the next queen and so on and so on. They were up to Sally the ninth so far, and she was the best they had ever trained. Sadly she was in her hibernation season, so the two of them wouldn't get to play with her when they returned.

As they neared their home Waith stopped and started to bite at his ear at a tick that had been on him for two days. Ripper wouldn't have been irritated by this if not for the fact that he had been forced to bump into unwashed thresal rump. "Do you have to do that right now," Ripper voice was a deep bass, and while he was annoyed by Waith's actions he could not stop a chuckle at his brothers childish actions. "We're are right near the cave, and once we get inside you will have all the time in the world to do that."

"I have to eat it now while it's ripe" Waith said like it was the most common thing in the world to say. Waith's voice was like that of foal that was to smart for his own good, and as much as Ripper didn't like the way his brother talked he didn't want to go back to the grim years when Waith didn't talk at all. Two whole centuries Waith hadn't talked, because he believed that would bring her back.

When Waith  started to go around in circles like a dog Ripper knew it was time to put a stop to this. Ripper unhooked one of his shoes and reached out to the swirling mass that was his brother and deftly ripped the tick off. Waith stopped immediately and began to stare at the tic in Ripper's hoof forlornly. "You're not gonna eat that are you bro", Waith asked with puppy dog eyes.

Ripper didn't want to tease his brother, but chances like this are too good to pass up. With an exaggerated smile Ripper said," You mean this.... Delectable..... Juicy..... Fat.... Fang Watering tic right here in my hoof." With each word he brought the hoof closer to Waith's drooling mouth and just when Waith was face to face with it Ripper popped it right into Waith's mouth," Nope, now lets get going." With that he gave Waith a brotherly pat on the head then grabbed his shoe and began walking. Waith followed chewing with satisfied smile on his face.

As they saw the cave entrance they both closed their eyes and gave a screech that was so loud and high-pitched that only they could hear it. The screech was a magical sonar that all thresals used to use, and the brother's had been using their sonar for so long that they could map through walls as long as they knew what the other side was supposed to look like. Normally the sonar would come back with only the inside of their house, but not today for today it detected a presence and it was one that they could never forget that of an alicorn.

Like a switch had been flipped all playfulness and smiles had left their bodies to be replaced by a rapid blood lust. They turned to each other and spoke but one word, "Celestia" through gritted snarling teeth. Even after a thousand years the rancid name still made them the go mad with fury. Waith pulled out a jar filled with green liquid and tossed it at the door to the cave. As the jar cracked and the contents touched open air an explosion destroyed the door leaving a gaping hole. As the smoke was still flowing in the breeze both of the thresals jumped in prepared for the fight of their live, but all they found was a Princess Luna surrounded in a deep blue aura looking quite disturbed with tea spilled all over her coat.

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Princess Luna was just finishing her plans for bringing back her personal guard 'The Guardians of the Night' when a knock came from the door. "Who is it" Princess Luna asked. "It Is Thy Sister Who Hath Come To Speak With Thee", was the reply from the other side of the door. Then with a flourish the door opened and in walked Princess Celestia with her hoof raised in an over the top fashion. Princess Luna all but fell out of her seat laughing,

"Is that what I really sounded like two years ago." Luna said when her sides stopped hurting.

"Yes and I didn't even add the thunder and lighting." That set off another round of laughing that didn't stop for two minutes.

"How are your plans coming along" Celestia said. Leaning over her sister's shoulder.

"Everything is going great except for two very important details, "She grabbed a sheet of paper with all the names of the ponies she was considering, "I need two captains of the guard and none of these troops have any leadership experience ,"

Celestia placed a hoof on her chin and tried to remember something important,"Why do you need two captains? I always thought your guard was over scene entirely by you."

Luna sighed and a sadness crept into her voice, "It's in remembrance of my two most prized guards and friends Ripper and Waith. It's so that the new troops never forget those that came before the, and above all else it's so that the two last thresals are given in death what I only gave them sparingly in life.... respect." When Luna was finished a single tear tumbled down her face. Celestia on the other hand was stock still as she heard the names of two long forgotten foes.

Memories flooded to her of the destruction those two had wrought in the name of Luna. She remembered all of the loathing they had for her and her own guard, and that they had even withstood the magic of the elements in their quest for her ultimate destruction, but most of all she remembered that those two were certainly not dead.

Celestia was heavily tempted not to tell her sister the truth, and let the matter die in that very room, but as she looked at her sister she felt more guilt than ever before. Celestia knew that if she kept this from Luna that Luna's heart would never heal from the hole those two were leaving, and that if Luna ever found out she had said nothing, then she might loose her sister to the darkness again, " Luna they are alive.... I cannot tell you how or why, but they are alive in the badlands." She placed her face right in front of Luna's, "Go find them.... don't worry about the raising the Moon or the stars I will handle everything go find them, and when you do bring them here the four of us need to talk." With that she teleported away leaving Luna in a state of confusion.

"Their alive ....."

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Princess Luna was shocked when she realized that the spell Star Swirl the Bearded used to find Ripper's home so long ago might still work . The spell, was a teleportation spell, but it  did not teleport the user to a specific location, rather it took the user to the location of the intended pony's or in this case thresal's home. All one needed to cast this spell was an object that had value to the target of the spell. This spell was meant to replace dragon fire, but after a string of thefts the spell was banned. The only trick was finding the object, but luckily Luna knew just where to start her search.

Using her magic she vanished and reappeared inside her old home. The castle was still in its demolished state, and she felt guilt rising in the pit of her stomach so much that it made her sick. She vacated the contents of her stomach into the nearest bush, and when she was done only the guilt remained.

Her heart was heavily weighed down by her stomach's new occupancy, but she steeled her self and focused on the job at hoof. Turning towards the old guard's grounds she spotted what she had come here for in the form of a large out cropping of buildings. The buildings were in rough shape do to the ravishes of time, and not one of the flags that had flown on the tops of the buildings, in her time, could be seen. Even her personal banners were gone and they had born her own personal hoof print.

What had once been the steeple of her guardians was now a broken down hobble. She knew there was no point in looking through the rubble, so she only had one hope left. She made her way over to the main building noticing that its  golden statues of chimera  were missing. They had been hoof crafted by one of her guardian's smiths and were quite enchanting in moon light. -Probably stolen by thieves- she thought and made her way to a hidden passage, or at least it was supposed to be hidden.

The wall it was supposed to be hidden behind looked to have been blown open by magic. The bricks looked burned and no attempt had been made to had any of the damage. Luckily the stairway was still intact, but it was in ghastly condition, as the stone was withered and smooth from rain water. But the stairs still felt nostalgic to her hooves as she made her way down to the former home of Ripper and Waith. She was made haste as she walked through the catacombs of the castle, but stopped when she found the bones of a griffin and it was wearing the very item she had come to find.

As she was lifting the helm with her magic she noticed how odd the bones were. The bones were connected to a wall and the griffin looked to have been left for dead. The skull had a huge gash in its top which was shocking because griffins bones are very strong against impact,and were nearly ageless. In fact some lasted up to three thousand years without any outside influence by bone collectors.

All of this was nothing compared to the letters written in old equestrian. - Here lies a traitor of Princess Celestia- . As the words flowed into her mind they sent questions flying wherever they went 'Celestia wouldn't do this... would she? Who was this griffin and how many others had shared its fate'.  She had no answers now, but she knew just the two that might.

"With this I'll find at least one of them", she  slightly worried that they might have split up, but from what she remembered that was impossible, "Where The Ripper goes so does The Waith and vice-versa." She said remembering their old saying. She held the helm up high in her magic and began to chant the words, and in a flash of blue light she was gone.

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She opened her eyes to find herself in a cave surrounded on one side by what looked to be a shaman's hut with all manner of potions and even a black cauldron. On the other side was what looked to be an arsenal that could outfit half the guard in Canterlot, and the weapons were all glimmering in the dim light that filled the room. When she looked up she could see that white glow moss had been planted on the roof of the cave, and gave it an eerie look.

If all that evidence had not been enough for Princess Luna to know  that she was in the right place then all it would have taken was the giant banner of the Night Guard splitting the room into. On the banner were the words -Remember our Princess- in white spider-web. Luna shed a tear as she looked then lower on the banner and saw two drawings of her. They were both absolutely horribly drawn, but she loved them anyway because they were drawings of her and not Nightmare Moon.

After seeing how they remembered her she knew that she had to make their reunion special, but she didn't know how until she spotted a her old black tea-set on what was obviously Waith's side. "There's what I need" With that she found some tea and water heated it in the black cauldron, this was okay  because every-one knows shaman's don't brew dangerous potions in their cauldrons.

Just as she set down with the tea an explosion destroyed the door, and tea spilled all over her. Her magic had put up a shield around her protecting her as Ripper and Waith . She knew it was them only because they were thresals, they looked in a word fierce  with all their deadly gear out in plain view, but as she looked at them all she saw was the two teenage threasals that had protected her and her shield lowered.

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As the shield lowered and the brother's saw who their intruder really was both of them ripped their glasses off and stood stock still. The silence lasted a minute before Luna said, "Hello my loyal Sheep Ripper and Waith Fighter. Your Princess has returned to you." When she spoke both of the brothers fell over in a fit of maniacal laughter,

"Brother we have finally gone mad again haven't we" Waith said.

"Yeah, bro we have...have?" As soon as Ripper spoke they noticed that the Luna they were imaging was crying. Luna tears spilled over in droves at the sight her two long lost friends not seeing her for what she truly was.

"Ripper when we had hallucinations of Luna the last time did she ever cry" Waith said slightly worried now.

"No she didn't, but that doesn't mean that she's real. It just means that our minds are finding new ways to mess with us. " Ripper said trying to act calm in this strange situation. "Lets go and put away our things Waith", but as they began to move Luna's blue aura surrounded then and made them start to float towards her.

They struggled with all their might, but the aura that surrounded them was stronger than any they had faced in a long time, "Sheep explain this", Waith said.

Ripper knew that Waith was scared, because he had used his first name, but Ripper had nothing to say except "Brothers to the end..."

And Waith finished the saying with," We will protect Princess Luna through thick and thin" With that they closed their eyes a waited, but instead of death they found themselves in the warmest hug they had ever felt. Luna's Forelegs held them tight, as her warm tears streamed down her face.

"Please.... Please..... Please..... I am real..... Remember me..... my guardians." Luna said in choked sobs, and that was when they knew that this was real, and they both truly cried for the first time in a thousand years. Luna's wings covered them all in and their sobs formed a symphony of happiness, because they had been reunited again, and no matter what troubles they faced they would face them together.

As their tears finally dried up Luna said, "I have so much to tell you.... "