The Warrior From Azeroth

Hearthswarming had come and gone which meant spring was just around the corner meaning it was time for one of Ponyvilles most busiest days; Winter Wrap Up. It didn't come as a surprise to Pendragon now that he had been living among the ponies so long as they cleared the snow and clouds while bringing the birds back from the south and awakening the animals from their hibernation, if anything he was impressed.

"Morning Pendragon! How's your cold?" Spike came waltzing out the front door with two hot coacoas for them to warm up before starting the day.

"I'm fine now Spike, thanks to the tea Twilight made for me."

"Glad to hear it. A toast to your health!"

"Heh I'll drink to that."

With a quick tapping of the mugs the friends shared a toast and headed into town to meet up with Twilight who was busy coordinating the various teams that helped clean up winter.

"Okay ponies we got a big day! Rainbow Dash are your flight teams assembled?"

"We are good to go!"

"Applejack how's the field coming along?"

"First field is already planted!"

To see a princess working in such a manner came as a bit of a shock to Pendragon, Twilight was different from the royalty he knew back on Azeroth she was kind hearted, hard working and not afraid to get her hooves dirty when it came to manual labor.

"Morning Twilight!" He called out waving hello as the teams dispersed to do their jobs.

"Oh morning Pendragon. Feeling better?"

"Much. So what's going on?"

"Not much. We're just a little behind schedule with clearing the snow."

"Really?" He turned towards the field to see a few of the local stallions plowing the snow and were having a hard time doing it.

"Hm that looks like fun. Mind if I try it?"

"Uh sure I guess. The plows are over there." Twilight wasn't sure how he was going to push such a large wagon given the thickness of the snow and some of the townsfolk had stopped what they were doing to see how he was going to pull it off.

"You think he can do it?"

"Come on you'd have to be as strong as Big Mac to push one of those."

The ponies continued to watch as the human did a few stretches before cracking his knuckles. With one well placed push the plow began to move forward slowly as Pendragon gave it everything he had to get it moving which surprised some of the ponies watching.

"Hey not bad soldier boy." Said Rainbow Dash swooping down to get a closer look.

"Heh! This reminds me of the time I had to haul a cannon halfway across a battlefield during a siege."

Like any war veteran, Pendragon liked telling tales of battles long past as a way to pass the time while working and by noon most of the clouds were cleared giving way to warm sunlight that made the human work up a sweat.

"Eesh! It's getting toasty out here!" He groaned before removing his shirt now drenched in sweat and when this happened the mares in the area became instantly stunned at his figure. The human had a burly upper body covered in scars yet that seemed to make him all the more attractive yet Rainbow Dash seemed unphased by his looks.

"whistle~! You're packing some serious muscle there pal!" The pegasus complimented as he finished plowing the last of the snow off the field.

"Thanks. I do at least fifty push ups each morning."

Their conversation was cut short by the crowd of mares that seemed to appear out of nowhere and all seemed to have a dazed look in their eyes along with drooling mouths.

"Uh is there something I can help you ladies with?"

"Oh don't mind us." A mare swooned as he helped put away the equipment when Rainbow Dash broke up the crowd and told everypony to get back to work while clearing up the remaining clouds, with the snow all cleared up the ponies went about their day like normal but for Pendragon things were a bit chaotic now that he had established Ponyvilles first order of knights and with that came many young recruits looking to become knights themselves.

The first thing on his schedule was taking the recruits through a rigorous exercise course followed by a few combat drills. The results were somewhat less than satisfying.

"Alright fellas take a break! We do fifty laps around town later." He shouted while the recruits groaned in agony from their aching bodies. The paladin could only sigh and shake his head in disappointment but it was to be expected since the kingdom he was living in was one of peace despite the occasional monster attack or all powerful being bent on world domination.

"Morning~!" A voice called out when Pendragon turned around to see Pinkie hopping up the street with her usual happy expression.

"Hey Pinkie."

"Hi! So how's it going?"

"In a word: Lousy." Pendragon huffed before taking a few sips of water from his flask.

"How is it your kingdom has stayed safe this long? Why doesn't Celestia raise an army?"

"I asked her that myself." Twilight Sparkle came flying in with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy who seemed a bit concerned about the condition of the trainees.

"Celestia told me that the last time she raised an army was during the war against King Sombra and during that war she lost many soldiers. Some were even close friends of hers."

"Well I can understand that. During the war against the Lich King I lost many good friends of mine and I wondered what was the point in fighting but then I remembered the cause."

"The what?" Asked Rainbow perking an eyebrow.

"The cause; The reason why we fight. We were fighting to protect our homes, our families but most of all to avenge the loved ones we lost during that war and..." He paused for a moment and became lost in thought.

"Hello! Anybody home?" Rainbow Dash bonked him on the head a few times to snap him out of it.

"You alright? You spaced out for a bit."

"Sorry. I'm just wondering how things are going back home." He sighed before noticing two colts crashing to the ground with a set of lances on top of them.

"Snips! Snails! Be careful with those!"

"Sorry sir!"

"Won't happen again!"

"Ugh! Squires." He grumbled before resuming the training while the rest of his friends went about their day.

That Afternoon

The sun was at its highest when Pendragon finally allowed himself to rest on the balcony of Twilights castle as a gentle breeze began to blow in with a few clouds to block out the sun and the rest of the day seemed people when a flock of birds suddenly whooshed past the castle in a frenzy followed by a few animals from Fluttershys' cottage then the pegasus herself came sliding onto the rooftop.

"Fluttershy!" Pendragon noticed she was in a panic out of breath like she had seen a ghost.

"Fluttershy what's wrong?"

"LOOK OUT!!" The pegasus shrieked when a large bat-like creature came crashing down on top of her friend. Pendragon instantly recognized it as a gargoyle and wasted no time in wrestling the beast away from Fluttershy before blasting it with his magic but the beast was barely phased by the attack and proceeded to pin the human on the ground before opening its jaws as a set of fangs prepared to chomp down on his head.

"Fluttershy get help!!"

"But-!!"

"GO NOW!" Pendragon snapped at her while keeping a firm grip on the monsters jaws as it continued to press down on him. Fluttershy quickly rushed into town to get help especially after hearing the terrifying shriek from the gargoyle, she flew as fast as her wings could carry her when she crashed into Applejack who was just on her way to the castle along with Rarity and when the two heard what was happening they rushed over to the castle at full gallop.

Meanwhile

The gargoyle was just inches away from turning the human into an afternoon snack when the the mares bursted onto the scene as Rarity shot the beast straight in the eyes allowing for Pendragon to make a quick escape while Applejack delivered one of her signature kicks that sent the beast spiraling to the ground with a few teeth flying in the air.

"Take that you fiend!" The unicorn shouted in triumph before checking on her friend.

"You alright darling?"

"I'll live." He said rubbing his neck before looking at the creature.

"Fluttershy where'd this thing come from?"

"W-well I was feeding the birds when all of the sudden this huge cloud rolled in and the next thing I knew that monster was attacking-!! There it is!" Fluttershy pointed to a massive cloud hovering in the distance and it seemed to be moving against the wind as it drew closer. Pendragon looked on suspicously when he noticed a piece of a stone structure coming into view.

"That's no cloud..." He said in an ominous voice before rushing downstairs to grab his armor and sword with Applejack following close behind.

"Was that what I think it was?" The farm mare asked even though she was fully aware of what they all saw.

"Naxxramas! The Scourge are on the move. I need you and the others to get all the townsfolk in their homes!"

"What about you?"

"I can hold them off for a few minuets...give or take." That last part made Applejack feel uneasy and as she watched him rush straight for the door she couldn't help but say.

"Pen! Be careful sugarcube..."

Pendragon could see the fear in her eyes and could not think of anything to say so all he could do was nod in acknowledgement of her concern and ran towards the outskirts of town while she went into town to warn the others. By the time Pendragon reached the nearest hill the fortress was already in sight causing many of the ponies to panic.

"Listen up everypony! We need all of you to stay inside until it's safe!" Applejack was in the town square with her friends trying the keep the ponies calm when they saw a pillar of light shoot up from the horizon and instantly knew that Pendragon was already locked in battle with hundreds of enemies as they saw all sourts of nightmarish creatires descending to the ground from the fortress. It was at that moment when Snips and Snails arrived along with the other squires ready to help in any way they could.

"Snips? Snails? What're you guys doing here?" Asked Spike who had just finished getting the last of the ponies indoors.

"We thought we could help." Snips answered while the others looked at each other for a moment when another pillar of light shot towards the sky.

"Alright. Spike you stay with them and make sure everypony is safe, the rest of us will go back up Pendragon."

"You got it Twilight!"

The six friends then raced off towards the battle to find hundreads of undead monsters burned or cut to pieces but the enemy seemed endless as they continued to rain down from above and amidst the battle the paladin felt an eerie cold as the ground beneath him turned frozen while the sound of rattling chains filled the air as he turned around to see a floating skeleton dressed in robes and a jeweled headdress; A Lich.

"You...." In that moment, Pendragons blood began to boil and his eyes flared with an uncontrollable rage.

"The last time we met was in Northrend wasn't it?" The creature asked in an otherworldly voice and just the sound of that voice alone made the paladin lose all control of his emotions.

"KEL'THUZAAAAAAAD!!!" Pendragon had remembered this monster all too well from the war in Azeroth, it was him who had destroyed his homeland and killed his friends and it was also him who had brought the plague that killed off so many of his loved ones. Twilight and the others arrived on the scene to see their human friend locked in a duel with the lich yet something seemed off, he was swinging his sword blindly and recklessly casting one spell after another while his opponent seemed to be amused by his efforts.

"My turn." The lich spoke before blasting Pendragon away with ice magic.

"PENDRAGON!" Applejack called out as she and Rainbow charged towards him.

"Stay back!!" Pendragon shouted just before Twilight put up a barrier that intercepted another of the sorcerers attacks.

"Amusing."

"Leave them alone lich! Your fight is with me!!" Pendragon swung Quel'Delar with such force that he was actually able to cut the lich on his chest. As Kel'Thuzad stared at his wound he felt a small tinge of annoyance.

"So you wish to die? Very well." And with just a wave of his hand, the lich fired a black mist that sent the human flying and knocking him out cold.

"NO!!" Twilight shrieked after hearing her friend scream in agony while Rainbow flew out of the barrier and went straight for the lich in a fury.

"YOU LEAVE HIM ALONE!!" With lightning fast speed, the pegasus smashed into the sorcerers headdress leaving a small crack in the jewel. When Kel'Thuzad realized this he immediately ordered a retreat despite having the advantage and ordered his minions to retreat to the everfree forest.

"Yeah you better run!!" Rainbow shouted at the fleeing monsters before checking on Pendragon who had just regained consciousness.

"You okay?" Pinkie asked while helping him sit up.

"I think so."

"What in the world was that creature you were fighting?" Twilight and the others were curious to know when they noticed the fortress floating back to the forest.

"That...was Kel'Thuzad. Master of the Cult of The Damned..."

End.