The Equestrian Warden

by Lunar Clover

Rating: teen
Tags: Alternate Universe, Romance, Adventure
Length: 33049

The Darklings are attacking Equestria. In this Alternate Universe, Equestrian is at war with an ancient evil. The main six are here, but they are not together. Instead follow Comet, a Grey Warden, who fights to save pony kind from the darklings.

Prologue

Look upon my kingdom, look upon it and see its perfection.
Now look at it again as my Golden City is darkened,
For each step you take brings evil to its golden halls,
Sins against heaven, shall bring hell upon the earth.
Friendship is lost.

-Celestia

The Chantry teaches us that it was the foolishness, and greed of ponies that brought the darklings into our world. The mages attempted to breach the very heavens, but instead they destroyed it. Celestia, queen of the heavens, threw them back down to earth. Darkness and corruption twisted and cursed their minds and their bodies. They returned as monsters, husks of their former selves. They became a mighty darkness that ate the light, a true blight upon the land.

The earth ponies were the first to fall, pushed to near extinction by the darklings. And from deep underground the darklings attacked again and again, nearly destroying the world like they did the heavens.

Until the Grey Wardens came.

Mares and stallions from every race. Pegasi and unicorns, earth ponies and griffons. The Grey Wardens sacrificed everything to stop the darklings, and they prevailed.

It has been four centuries since that victory. And we kept our vigil, watching and waiting for the darklings to return and destroy the world. But those who once called us heroes have forgotten, and now we are put a few light against the overwhelming darkness. And our warnings have been ignored for far too long. It may even be too late. For I have seen with my own eyes what is coming on the horizon.

Celestia have mercy on us all.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2016-12-26 03:04:37 UTC

Prisoner I

I woke up in a small prison cell. All my clothes had been taken, and all I wore was rags. The metal bars were rusty, and the cell hadn’t been cleaned in years judging by the skeletons decorating the floor. Groaning I sat up and rubbed my head where the guards hit me a week ago. Suddenly a voice spoke from outside my cell.

“Hey you! Prisoner!”

I quickly stood and walked over to the bars of my cell. All I could see was a stairwell to the right that led to somewhere else in the prison, but across from me was another cell. And inside that cell were two blue eyes. I could barely see the face of my fellow prisoner, but seeing how the only light in the prison was a small hole in the ceiling, she probably couldn’t see me either. I was surprised that anyone was in that cell considering that she hadn’t spoken the entire week I was there. The guards only brought food at night.

“What’s your name prisoner?”

The voice sounded desperate. She didn’t sound hostile, but I was still wary giving any information away about myself, even to a fellow prisoner. When I didn’t answer she groaned in frustration, but still asked another question.

“Can you at least tell me what race you are?”

I looked at the blue eyes, but I still didn’t see any hostility in them.

“Pegasi, Earth Pony, Unicorn? Anything?”

She listed the races proudly, as if she accomplished some big test. I groaned in annoyance, before I answered,

“Pegasi.”

There was a long silence until the inmate let out a long laugh that made my skin crawl.

“This is an earth pony prison! You’ll be lucky to last a week in here. If there is anything these earth ponies hate most, it’s pegasi and unicorns.”

I growled at the mare’s laughter before smiling smugly.

“Then I guess you won't last long either bat pony!”

The laughter suddenly stopped, and silence seemed to grip the room. But then mare spoke in a now low and sad tone,

“How did you know?”

Although she couldn’t see my smile, she could still hear the smugness in my voice.

“Your eyes. No other race in Equestria has eyes like yours.

What’s a bat pony doing in an earth pony prison?”

“What’s a pegasi doing in an earth pony prison?” The mare shot back defensively.

Before I could respond, we both heard a loud clicking sound that rang throughout the room.

“The guards are coming! Get away from the bars!”

She whispered hastily as her eyes disappeared deeper into her cell. I moved away from the bars quickly and I pressed my back against the wall as ponies came down the stairs. I could see a small light stopping in front of the door to my cell. Then I heard the sound of a key being turned and the door was quickly pushed open blinding me with a light. When my eye’s finally adjusted I could see the guards standing over me, one holding a lantern, while the other one held a sword.

“This is the pegasi.”

The one carrying the lantern sounded unimpressed as he looked down at my wings that I kept folded to my side.

“How the mighty have fallen.” The one carrying the sword said as he pointed it at me.

“Come with us pegasi. You and your bat pony friend are going to fight today.”

I looked at him in confusion.

“Excuse me-“

I was cut off by a quick kick to my stomach. I doubled over in pain but the one with the lantern, probably the one that kicked me, grabbed me and pulled me up.

“Come on now. I hope you aren’t this soft in the arena. You wouldn’t want to get your friend killed.”

I tried my best to ignore the pain in my stomach and the guard with the sword went to open the bat pony’s cell. It sounded like there was a little resistance as the bat pony hissed and growled how she didn’t want to fight any more, but soon the dark figure joined me, but I did notice her bruised on her lip.

“Let’s go.”

The guard with the lantern stood in front of us while the guard with a sword brought up the rear. They escorted us up the stairs and down a narrow hallway. The guards didn’t seem to mind our slow pace, so I decided I might as well talk to my bat pony companion.

“So what’s-“

“How are you at fighting?” The mare asked quickly, interrupting my question.

“Excuse me?”

“I asked if your any good in a fight? Your race is known for their war like culture. What’s your weapon?”

My confusion disappeared and I answered honestly,

“I'm not a warrior. I'm only a scholar, I write about history.”

She looked at me for a couple seconds before looking away.

“I'm dead. I'm dead. I’m so fucking dead.”

She repeated it over and over again as she looked at the ground. So much for a friendly chat. We were quiet for the rest of the way, until we stood in front of a large steel door about ten feet high.

“Good luck you two.”

One of the guards muttered with no remorse. They closed a gate behind us to prevent us from escaping. I stood in front of the large metal door, curios about what was on the other side. However, I turned away when I heard the bat kneeling, her eyes closed muttering s a few words that I didn’t understand.

“What are you muttering about bat pony?”

“A prayer to my gods. May they give us a quick death.”

“Charming.” I muttered, “Your gods aren’t here for you.”

“Then what do you expect me to do Pegasi.”

I looked at her before turning towards the metal door again.

“A ponies last thoughts should be of home. I learned long ago that gods do not help mortals. They simply sit aside and help when they feel like it, or when it’s convenient for them.”

“And what brought this hatred for gods into your heart pegasi?”

I looked at her for a couple heartbeats until there was a large clang and the metal door slowly started to open.

“I'll tell you. After we win.”

Prisoner II

When my eyes adjusted to the light I looked around in amazement. Around us was a large stone arena, larger then any cloud arena that the pegasi had, and probably made with great delicacy and care. If I didn’t know it was an arena I would have mistook it for a city.

How many years did it take to make this I wonder?

In the stands were earth ponies. I had never seen so many earth ponies in one place before. In the walls around the arena were statues of earth ponies holding weapons in their teeth and wearing battle armor. If they were meant to look intimidating they diffidently succeeded. We looked up and and we saw one earth pony with an unusually large beard, staring down at us from a tall balcony with many well-dressed ponies behind him. Somehow his voice boomed throughout the entire stadium.

“Welcome, to the Proving Grounds! Where Earth ponies young and old can fight to prove their worth to their race, and their ancestors!”

The earth ponies cheered but a small motion from the old colt quickly quieted them down. Next to me the bat pony whispered,

“That’s the proving master. He oversees and announces all the fights.”

I nodded to her but looked up when the proving master spoke again,

“Today however is a glorious occasion for our young warriors. For on our borders we captured a pegasi making deals with the Carta, the very criminals that plague our great city of Orzammare today!”

The earth ponies booed as they looked down at me, but the bat pony just had a look of amazement and horror in her eyes.

“YOU’RE in league with the Carta. The most powerful criminal organization in earth pony history.”

“I’ll tell you about it later.”

I said not wanting to explain my history with the Carta just yet. She seemed to get the hint and the proving master continued.

“This pegasi is a stain upon earth pony culture. He is a threat to us all. But fear not my fellow earth ponies, for I have the honor of presenting the warriors who will slay this feathered fiend. May I present to you.

Prince Thunderhooves of House Thunder, and his second in command Lord Onyx of the Warrior Clan.”

A gate on the other side of the arena slowly opened, and out stepped the biggest earth pony I had ever seen. He wore golden armor which was probably enforced with many layers of steel. A helmet covered his face, making him look more like a walking armory then an actual living pony. However, I noticed that on the side of his armor was the image of a lightning bolt.

“Look at the size of those hooves!”

The bat pony whispered fearfully and I saw that she had a point. This earth pony had some remarkably large hooves, and I dreaded to think about what those hooves would do to me if he got too close. So this was Prince Thunderhooves. Beside him stood another earth pony fully armored, except he wore no helm so we could actually see his face. His face was as black as charcoal with bright purple eyes, and white ashen hair. His armor was much like the princes, however it was a darkish grey, and instead of a thunderbolt he bore a sword and shield on his flank. He also had a dangerous looking sword sheathed on his side, probably the one he would use to cut us down.

The crowd cheered as Thunderhooves struck a pose, while Lord Onyx simply waved. Fear shot through me as I watched the two earth ponies.

“The fight will begin shortly. Warriors and outcasts prepare yourselves.”

“I have a feeling the outcast part was for us.” The bat pony muttered darkly.

“Do we get any weapons?”

As if to answer my question two earth ponies approached us holding a chest between them with the handles in their mouths. They quickly set it down and departed. The bat pony walked over beckoning with her tail to follow. When she opened it all we saw was what I could only describe as junk. There was single set of armor, if you could even call it that was nothing but a bunch of scrap metal hammered and nailed together and missing certain pieces.

I noticed the dry blood on some parts of the armor that unnerved me, and judging from the many dents and scratches this wasn’t the first time it had been used. The only weapon inside was a small rusted sword that looked practically useless. The bat pony beside me sighed and her face showed exactly what I was feeling. Fear, regret, and frustration at the odds of us even making it out of here alive. She obviously had no hope of us getting out of here alive, and that alone made me take action.

“Take the armor.” I said, trying to keep my voice from quivering.

“What?”  She looked at me in surprise.

“You heard me. Take the armor. Let’s face it. You obviously know a lot more about this then me, and I don’t have a clue how to fight. You’ll have a better chance to live if you take this.”

I knew it probably wasn’t true. The armor would probably shatter from just one hit from Thunderhooves, but what else could I do.

“What about you?” she asked, I was surprised to hear concern in her voice.

“Don’t worry. Maybe if I’m lucky your gods will give me a quick death.” It was a bad attempt at a joke, but small smile still formed on her face.

“Fine, I’ll take the armor, but you take the sword.”

“Won't you need a weapon-“ I stopped when she flashed me her sharp  three inch fangs. Although I didn’t know how well they would fair against armor that thick they were still formidable.

“My father always told me that I came out of my mother bloody and screaming, so I should die the same way. I think the same goes for you.”

That’s one hell of a father.

I nodded and slowly bent down and grabbed the hilt of the sword between my teeth. It tasted foul! I looked at her and I could see her smiling at the disgust on my face. I set the sword down on the stone floor, and bowed my head in respect.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what’s your name?” She looked at me with uncertainty, “If we’re going to die, I think we should at least know each other’s name.”

She smiled warmly and bowed her head.

“Azura. Yours?”

“Comet.”

We both smiled at each other sadly, when the proving master spoke again.

“First one to fall is vanquished. Fight!”

Prisoner III

“Comet! Look out!”

It was too late as I felt a large armored hoof slam into my face. I groaned as I felt something crack. Probably my skull. I hit the hard stone ground as the crowd cheered around us. Thunderhooves stood above me, his massive size and armor made him a true terror to look at.

“Time to die little pegasi.”

I groaned as blood leaked down from my nose onto my now broken lip. He let out a shout of victory as he reared up on hind legs, his large hooves ready to smash my head in. I could just imagine my head being smooshed like a grape, and seeing my blood splatter on the floor. And that made me angry.

“Not today!”

Thunderhooves let out a surprised grunt as I slammed into his chest with all my strength. Since he was rearing back on his hind legs my push managed to send us both toppling backwards with me landing on top. I felt a sharp pain shoot through the side of my body when I hit his metal chest, but the rage and adrenaline pumping quickly through my body replaced it.

I started to slam my hooves repeatedly into his metal helm. The sound of metal crushing beneath my hooves brought a sick smile into my eyes. I was a pegasi. My race were warriors. I had warrior blood in my veins. I ignored the pain in my hooves as they cracked, I ignored the fact that the stadium grew quiet as I continued my assault on the prince. Then to my surprise I heard a scream somewhere to my right in the arena!

Azura!

I hesitated for just a moment but that was enough. Thunderhooves slammed both his fore hooves into my chest pushing me off him. My ribs cracked and I hit the ground groaning as I rolled against the stone floor. The crowd around me cheered, and I heard the sound of armored hooves running towards me. I groaned and weakly raised my hoof in a pitiful attempt to fight. I was surprised to find a gentle pair of hooves take my own and slowly pull me up. When I got to my hooves the pony allowed me to lean on them. Then I realized it was Azura!

“Not bad pegasi! I never expected you to last this long.”

I gave her a weak smile, but where was Lord Onyx? When I looked back at the arena I saw the warrior was on his side, unmoving, his eyes looking at nothing. And on his neck were two large puncture wounds. I looked at Azura in horror, and that’s when I noticed that on the tip of her fangs were two large drops of blood. Azura looked at him with her sapphire eyes, there was no sorrow in them. However, I swear I could see a small sliver of regret in her eyes.

“I tried convincing him to stop. I tried Comet. He just wouldn’t listen. I had to do it.”

It sounded like she wanted to hear me say it wasn’t her fault, but before I could say anything a shout interrupted me.

“You killed my friend!”

We both looked up to see Thunderhooves glaring at us. He had removed his helmet and now held the sword I had before he hit me.

The large pony’s eyes were filled with a burning hatred that sent shivers down my spine.

“You winged feigns! I won't let you get away with this.”

He lowered his head and dragged his fore hooves against the ground. I looked at Azura and her back at me. He was about to charge. I looked Azura over as her eyes refocused on Thunderhooves. She didn’t seem to be injured, only a couple bruises and pieces of armor missing from were Onyx must have slashed her. We were in a bad situation. This wasn’t going to end well for either of us. Scratch that. Azura was going to be in a lot of trouble if she stayed with me.

“Azura,” she looked down at me, “you need to run. I'll only slow you down. You’ll have a better chance of beating him then me.”

She looked at me in silence, before shaking her head.

“Don’t give me that crap. You honestly think they would let me live even if I did manage to beat him. Nope. If I’m gonna die, I’ll do it standing beside my partner.”

I wanted to tell her no. I wanted to tell her to run, but I couldn’t do anything else. I was too tired. I used all my energy. Then Thunderhooves let out a loud roar and charged towards us. His metal hooves slamming against the hard stone made the ground rumble, he gripped the sword tightly between his teeth. I barely knew how to use that rusted piece of junk, but I didn’t want to find out how well he could use it.

“Azura…” I managed to croak as I held on tightly to her.

“She gave me one last glance before turning towards the charging earth pony.

“Damn it all.”

She groaned before she did something that surprised me and possibly everyone else watching. With a roar she bit into her fore leg, allowing her blood to drip on the floor. Suddenly she started quickly chant. I knew it was a chant for a spell, but I didn’t recognize any of the words. Then I realized why.

“Burn!” She shouted and suddenly Thunderhooves stopped in his tracks. His sword clattered as it it the floor, and Thunderhooves was screaming loudly.

“Help me!”

He screamed and I noticed steam was coming from the inside of his armor. His face was turning an unhealthy red, and I could see sweat pouring down his face. He looked around frantically for help before his eye’s focused on us, specifically Azura.

“Witch!”

He shouted and started towards us. His steps were slow, as if every step he took was hurting him. Then his skin started to blister. The blisters were growing at an accelerated rate. Blisters were glowing on blisters, and soon his hatred turned to terror and his screams were louder than the crowd around them.

“Please! Help me!” He cried as blisters started growing on his eyes, and soon his screams were muffled as they grew on his tongue. Azura’s eyes were cold and unwavering, that’s when I noticed that her sapphire eyes turned yellow.

“Shut up and die!” Azura growled coldly.

The prince groaned as the blisters closed his eyes and his tongue bloated up further with blisters. Blood slowly started to leak from his closed eyes and mouth. The heat from his blisters melted his golden armor and sealed it to his already burning skin. The prince was nothing but a big blisters ready to pop.

“Begone!!!”

She shouted, and that one word sealed his fate. His body expanded further until it finally popped. Blood, skin, and melted metal splattered against the stone floor. The earth ponies screamed in horror at their prince’s death. However, the proving master’s voice boomed above all of them.

“Our prince has been slain by blood magic! Magic is strictly prohibited in the Proving. Guards! Take them to their cells!”

The guards entered the arena through the gates, but Azura held me tightly in her arms her yellow eye’s turning back into their normal sapphire look.

“Come on Comet. We’re ok. We’ll be ok”

She whispered frantically as the guards slowly surrounded us and my vision started to fade. The last thing I heard was her gentle voice saying the same thing.”

“We’ll be ok.”

Prisoner IV

Once again I woke up in my cell. The cell was still dirty, and the bars were still rusty. The only difference was the fact that I was covered in bandages. My friends the skeletons were still there in all their boney glory. However, a familiar voice spoke from outside my cell.

“C-comet!?”

I looked up at the bars to my cell before slowly pulling myself up. I groaned as I stepped on my hooves and I realized that my hooves weren’t bandaged tight enough. The second I took a step I collapsed in a rather pathetic heap. Her voice was firm but worried,

“Stop moving Comet! I’ll come to you.”

I looked at the metal bars in confusion, but I could hear her shuffling in her cell and then at that very moment I heard a small clank. Silence. I looked around confused. Then I heard that familiar clank only this time it was in my cell! I turned just in time to see a pile of skeletons being pushed up until they fell away to reveal a small grate. The grate quickly opened and a small head popped out so I was looking at two big red eyes.

“Hey!” she said cheerfully, surprising me.

She seemed a bit…different. When we first spoke she was more curious then suspicious. Then when she found out we were fighting together she didn’t seem to be very interested in who I was until we got to the arena. Probably the only time we actually bonded was in the arena. Now here she was all cheerful, it was…an okay change.

“Hey.”

I said weakly and immediately she was by my side. She checked me over quickly and she growled in frustration and anger.

“Those bastards didn’t even bandage you correctly.”

She looked at the wound on my hoof and I was surprised when she licked the gashes. I quickly pulled my hoof away and was surprised to see hurt in her eyes. Guilt prickled at me, but I still flashed her a questioning glance.

“Sorry, my saliva has healing properties. One of the props of being a bat pony mage. I’m sorry Comet.”

Oh. That’s why. I didn’t want to admit it but after seeing what she did to Prince Thunderhooves and Lord Onyx I was a little skeptical about letting her anywhere near my blood. But I guess letting her check me over wasn’t too bad, considering that she basically saved my life. I extended my fore hooves out to her hesitantly and she looked at me surprised but smiled in such a sweet way that all my guilt quickly melted away. And soon my pain followed as she cleaned my wounds with her forked tongue and even over my chest to heal my broken ribs.

“I admit, when I left you to fight Thunderhooves I really didn’t expect to see you giving it to his highness big armored ass.” She purred in amusement.

“Thanks?” I said hesitantly.

I must have made a weird face because she tried her best to hold in a small giggled and a snort. It was good seeing her like this. Though I was still wondering,

“How did you get in here Azura?”

“Oh, every one of these cells has these grates connecting them. The pony that was in this cell, I think she was a unicorn, managed to unlock theme with her magic. We talked a little before she got killed off in the arena.”

Oh. I was surprised when she blushed and tried to give me a serious look.

“Is something wrong Azura?”

A gentle blush touched her cheeks and she blinked several times before looking at me again.

“In the fight you got a fracture and a lot of your face was bloodied badly. I was wondering if you’d let me…help you.”

I felt my face and I just noticed that it was bandaged as well. What did she mean by that...oh. I looked at her in surprise but she was looking away in embarrassment. I cleared my throat,

“Well if it helps me heal faster…”

She nodded and took a deep breath before gently unwrapping my bandages. I tried my best to look at anywhere else but her, however I couldn’t stop myself from blushing when I felt her tongue start to gently lick my black eye. I took a couple deep breaths, but that honestly didn’t seem to help.

I closed my eyes as her warm tongue gently trailed over a couple cuts on my cheek. I was surprised by how warm it was, and how gentle her strokes were. The black eye and scratches actually felt like they were healing. Her tongue gentle made its way to the fracture on my head, and I swear I could feel the fracture start to heal itself.

“Feel better?”

I opened my eyes and found myself looking deeply into her red eyes that seemed to be glowing with pride. There was a small blush on her face and she smiled warmly at me. I smiled back and nodded.

“Thank you Azura.”

She giggled and gently nuzzled my cheek.

“Glad I could help.” She whispered.

We looked at each other for a couple seconds before I cleared my throat.

“Soooo, what happened after the fight.”

She shook her head and smiled in embarrassment.

“Right…the fight. The guards separated us before I could heal your wounds and threw us back in our cells. I wanted to help you sooner, but the guards insisted they were going to bandage you up. And by the looks of it they did a pretty piss poor job.”

I nodded. That’s about what I expected.

“Umm, Comet…” regret flashed on her face, “Are you…afraid of me?”

I looked at her surprised.

“No, should I be?”

She looked at me for a long time before turning away.

“Maybe…Comet, are you scared of blood magic?”

So that’s what this was about.

“I can’t say I was surprised. Your people invented it.”

Suddenly her eyes flashed yellow and she leaned forward so close that our muzzles were nearly touching. However, she barred her fangs and hissed in a low threatening way. Her large bat wings spread out wide to make her look bigger, and I had to admit that they worked.

“That’s not true! My race didn’t make blood magic. That’s a myth and a lie!”

I gulped as she glared at me with those dangerous eyes. I needed to calm her down.

“Shhhh, everything is ok. I'm sorry, I didn’t know. In the history book-“

“The books are wrong!” She growled. I took a deep breath and looked into her eyes and whispered,

“I guess they are.”

She took a couple deep breaths before her wings slowly tucked in, and the yellow slowly left her eyes. Along with the yellow went all of her anger and soon sadness clouded her eyes instead.

“I'm so sorry. I don’t know what came of over me.”

She looked away, ashamed of herself. I took a deep breath and thought quickly. I needed to find some way to cheer her up. I looked at her for a good minute before an idea finally formed in my head.

“I like them.”

“What?” she looked at me in confusion.

“Your wings. I think they are wonderful specimens.”

She looked at me for a couple seconds before she pressed her hoof against her face. At first I thought she face hoofed. But then I realized that her shoulders were shaking. She was laughing!

“Wow! I've heard ponies comment on my wings before, but I’ve never heard anyone call my wings specimens before!”

She wasn’t even trying to hold it back. I felt hurt start to swell in my chest. I didn’t know what else I could say. My eyes went wide when I realized that she was blushing. She was trying to hide the blush with her hoof.

The hurt quickly left and a small smile found its way to my mouth. She finally managed to calm down, and she smiled back at me.

“Thank you.”

“My pleasure.”

We smiled like idiots for a couple seconds until we both heard the familiar sound of a metal door being opened from outside my cell.

“Someone’s coming!”

She whispered, and I swear have never seen a pony move so fast in my life. She shot towards the grate but before she reached it the door to my cell swung open. A pony in a white cloak stood in the doorway looking straight at me.

“Hello.”

Prisoner V

I looked up at the pony whose face was hidden in under the cloak. Although I could barely see anything the light from outside my cell did show that whoever it was, had a sword on his or her side. I looked towards the closed grate. Azura was nowhere to be found. The cloaked figure followed my eyes to the grate.

“Come out.”

It was a mare. Azura didn’t appear. After a few seconds the mare spoke again. This time however, it was in a threatening tone.

“Come out of the grate or I’ll kill the pegasi.”

My blood ran cold as the cloaked pony took a step towards me. Just then the grate shot open and out came Azura her eyes glowing a dangerous yellow. She landed right in front of me, her bat wings spread to their full length, baring her fangs and hissing.

“You won't lay a hoof on him!”

The two ponies stared each other down. Azura was dangerous with her fangs and blood magic, but something about this pony didn’t feel right. I had to stop them from fighting.

“Azura! Stand down.”

Azura looked at me with surprise.

“Don’t worry Azura. She won't kill me. She just wanted to lure you out.”

I looked at the cloaked figure curiously.

“What do you want with us?”

The cloaked pony was silent before raising a hoof towards her hood. With one fluid motion she pulled it off making me and Azura gasp in shock.

“A unicorn!”

The unicorns horn flared up and a little ball of light appeared in front of us lightning up the room. She was a grey unicorn, with brown eyes and brown mane. There were small wrinkles on her forehead, but her eyes shined with years of experience. I noticed that the small split in the front of her cloak revealed that she was wearing silver armor, and on the side of his cloak was the symbol of a griffin. Wait, a griffin!

“Who are you?” Azura asked hesitantly.

“A Grey Warden.” I said in amazement.

Azura looked at me in surprise then looked at the Grey Warden in awe.

“You’re a Grey Warden?”

When the warden nodded Azura actually stepped back, her eyes changed back to their usual blue, her wings folded, and her mouth was open in a small ‘o’.

“Hello, my name is Midnight, Commander of the Grey Wardens in Equestria. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

I shook my head and quickly stood on my now healed hooves and bowed my head

“It is an honor to meet you Midnight.”

Azura soon followed my example and bowed as well, though she was trying her best to hide her excitement.

“Please stand.” We quickly followed her orders, but the warden looked at us with a solemn expression.

“You both must be wondering why a Grey Warden is here of all places standing in front of you in an earth pony prison.”

We nodded.

“I watched from the stands as you two battled those two warriors. It’s not every day you see a pegasi and a bat pony kill a noble and his second in command in such a…surprising way.”

When she said that last part she looked at Azura who looked down at the ground, her excitement replaced with shame. I looked the warden straight in the eyes,

“Thunderhooves and Lord Onyx would have killed us if she hadn’t used blood magic when she did.” Azura and Midnight looked at me, surprised but I wasn’t done.

“I don’t care if she is a bat pony, or that she used blood magic, she fought side by side with me in that arena, and defended me when I couldn’t defend myself. And healed me when those earth ponies couldn’t do it themselves. She deserves more than being locked up in prison.”

Azura’s eyes were wide with shock, but then she gave me the largest smile I had ever seen, as her eyes filled with relief. I had just accepted her for using blood magic and defended her against a Grey Warden.

“I see. It’s good to see you that you care about your friend.”

I was surprised to see Midnight was actually smiling.

“Now back to why I’m here. I’ve talked to the earth pony king. And I’m afraid I was forced to use the Right of Conscription.”

“What’s the Right of Conscription?” Azura sked, but luckily I knew the answer.

“The Right of Conscription is used by the Grey Wardens to recruit people into their organization. It’s not used often.”

I thought about what I said then I looked at Midnight in surprise.

“Are you-?”

“Yes, I am conscripting both of you into our organization. I plan to make you both Grey Wardens.”

Azura and I didn’t say anything for a minute. We both probably looked like slack jawed idiots. Then Azura crashed into me, her hug was so tight that I could have sworn my ribs were cracked again.

“Oh my Celestia this is amazing! I never thought I’d become a Grey Warden. Me! Us!”

I didn’t know what to do, so I gently hugged her back. Midnight let out a small chuckle, but stopped the moment I noticed.

“Yes. However, I just want you both to know that being a Grey Warden is not an easy life. You will both endure a life of hardship and sacrifice to protect the world from an evil that can never be conquered. But fear not. It is also one of valor, and you will inspire others to think that they can be more than what they want to be. YOU can be more.”

We looked at her with wide eyes as we thought about her words. Was what she said true? I looked at Aura and she back at me. Then we both nodded and stepped forward.

“I will be a Grey Warden.” We said in unison.

She looked at me, then at Azura, before she turned and walked out of the cell.

“Come.”

Forest I

We left Orzammare, in the Crystal Mountains, and made our way south to the Castle of the Two Sisters on the edge of Hollow Shades forest. They say the castle was built by the Alicorn goddess Celestia and her mortal Alicorn sister Luna. They say once Luna died, Celestia in her grief destroyed the Tower of the Moon, and only the Tower of the Sun remained. Unfortunately, we wouldn’t reach it for at least a couple more days.

…

“Quiet! There are darklings nearby.”

We both froze and looked around. There wasn’t any darkling in sight, but the look on Midnights face said otherwise.

“How do you know that?” Azura asked hesitantly.

“Grey Wardens have the ability to sense where darkling’s are. It helps us become more efficient in locating them, and driving them back underground.”

“Will we be able to sense darkspawn?” Azura looked at her curiously but Midnight kept her usual solemn face.

“Maybe.” Was all she said before she continued forward.

We looked at each other before following Midnight deeper into the forest. The caravan we were traveling with asked us to scout ahead for any bandits or darklings. We continued walking for a couple more minutes, until Midnight once again stopped us from advancing.

“Look up.”

We looked at her, confused, but slowly did what she said. My mouth dropped. Above us were pegasi. No. These weren’t pegasi. These ponies were shells of their former self. These pegasi had no hair, their skin was green and deformed and almost gone. Many of them didn’t even have all the skin on their face. Their green glowing eyes looked around for prey. In their mouths they held various weapons, and their armor was stained with red paint. Or at least I hope it was paint

“What are those?” I asked, trying to keep the fear out of my voice.

“Hurlocks. Pegasi who were corrupted by the darkling taint. The darklings personal flying force”

“A-and those?” Azura asked fearfully, looking straight ahead.

I followed her gaze and was surprised to see that there was a large group of darklings in front of us. These ones had no wings or horns, but they looked a lot like the hurlocks.

“Genlocks. Earth ponies affected by the taint. Many of the Grey Wardens simply call them cannon fodder. Easy to kill unless they gang up on you.”

“What do we do?”

Midnight looked at us before her horn sparked up and from beneath her cloak she pulled out two daggers.

“I can handle the genlocks, but I need you two to handle the hurlocks. Consider this to be your first test as Grey Warden initiates.”

I nodded and gripped the dagger between my teeth and Azura grabbed the other, and we waited for Midnight’s order. Midnight drew a silver sword from under her cloak, and turned towards the genlocks.

“Go!”

I shot into the air with Azura by my side. We tried to be sneaky, but a hurlock noticed us right away and let out a loud screech to warn the other. Azura flew past me and engaged the hurlock, but the other were rushing to help their comrade. I managed to intercept one, but the hurlock didn’t seem fazed. The hurlock attacked with terrifying ferocity. I could barely keep up as I parried its savage sword swings.

The hurlock seemed to be impatient, if they could even get impatient, and the ferocity of its attacks grew, they sloppy. Every time it over extended itself during an attack, I darted in and slashed at any opening in its armor. Soon it was bleeding from cuts all over its body, and soon my dagger found its way into its heart.

I had to close my eyes as black blood sprayed onto my face and dripped off my dagger, but I watched in satisfaction as it plunged to the earth bellow. I saw that Azura was busy fighting two hurlocks, she quickly dispatched of the one who raised the alarm, but it looked like she needed a little help. I flew toward the two remaining hurlocks. Their focus was on Azura, so they didn’t see me coming until it was too late. One of the hurlocks let out a blood chilling screech as I shoved my dagger into its back repeatedly. I was glad that Midnight taught me a couple moves after we left Orzammare.

With one final screech it plummeted to the earth below. The last remaining hurlock turned to me, ready to strike when Azura with lighting speed slashed her dagger across it’s throat.

“Not bad Comet. You’ve gotten a lot better.”

“Thank you.”

We flew down towards the forest floor where Midnight was waiting for us, surrounded by genlock corpses.

“This was just a small patrol. The rest of their group should be somewhere nearby, and they’ll be wanting revenge for what we did here. We should get back to the caravan, and warn them of the coming danger.”

We returned the daggers to her, before starting back towards the caravans.

…

“Mommy. I'm really tired.” Said a little unicorn girl walking back with her mother behind me.

We returned to the caravan and Midnight told their leader of the possible darkling threat. The leader of the caravan, was a large earth pony who was leading his entire family away from Orzammare. He only had a handful of pegasi mercenaries, but he didn’t seem frightened by Midnight’s warning. The caravan moved on through the night, through next morning, until early in the evening. Luckily Midnight told me and Azura to get some rest in one of the wagons, so now we were up and ready for action. Others however, weren’t as fortunate and couldn’t afford to sleep in the wagons.

“Don’t worry. We’ll be there soon.” Her mother replied.

I looked at Azura whose eyes were scanning the forest, probably using her bat hearing to check for any darklings nearby.

“Calm down Azura. We have pegasi guarding the skies, and Duncan who can sense when the darklings are nearby. We’re perfectly safe.”

She looked at me for a couple seconds before looking at the ground in defeat.

“I know. It’s just that the darklings are a lot more…frightening then I thought.”

I was surprised to hear that. Was she was actually scared of the darklings?

“But last night you killed that hurlock so easily.”

“I know.” She whispered. “But just because it was easy doesn’t mean they weren’t scary. I’ve always put on a strong face, but that doesn’t mean I can’t admit when something scares me.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. To me the darklings were just another thing to kill. They may look terrifying, but they bleed just like us. I'm sure Azura already knew this, but I guess she was taking it a lot harder than I thought. Before I could think of any comforting words, the leader of the caravan stopped the wagons.

“Oye! We stay here for the night. We should reach the castle by morning.”

Midnight who was traveling behind the leader spoke.

“I will take a couple of pegasi to scout the forest for any nearby darklings.” He looked at me and Azura.” Azura, Comet, stay here with the rest of the pegasi to guard the camp.”

Midnight went off into the woods with pegasi mercenaries, while the rest of us set up camp. Once we got a fire going, and food was given out, I guess you can say we had a little party. It took me a while, but after a drink or two and maybe a little pushing from the soldiers, I asked Azura to dance. It must have been a little strange to see a pegasi and a bat pony dancing in the air, but the the music, and the light shining in Azura’s sapphire eyes was worth it. We danced around for a little longer, and only stopped when everyone started going to sleep.

We sat near the fire with Azura resting her head on my shoulder with my wing draped over her shoulders.

“So tell me Comet. How did you get involved with the Carta?”

“You still can’t get over that can you?” I asked, taking a swig of my drink.

“Can you blame me? You got to have some serious balls to get involved with those criminals.”

I waited a couple seconds, sometimes opening my mouth like I was actually going to tell the story then closing it just to tease her. That of course resulted in her hitting my shoulder, and threatening to suck my blood, but I just laughed and soon she laughed with me.

“I ran away from Cloudsdale when I was just a filly. Over a disagreement with my dad over my life.” She smiled,

“Oh, so you were a bad boy?” She giggled, sounding drunk.

“Nope, I wanted to be a simple scholar, and he wanted me to join the pegasi royal guard like him. I ran away when my mother told me he was preparing a suit of armor for me. She gave me a bag, a knife, and sent me on my way.”

“I traveled around Equestria for a couple months. Then I joined a gang of mercenaries that were willing to let me join because apparently their cook was killed in the last battle.”

“How noble of them.” She muttered, hiccupping and taking another sip of her wine.

“Yeah… anyways, I traveled with them for a couple weeks until we found ourselves in Orzammare. They were trying to make a deal with the Carta, in exchange for gems and future business, we would give them some…questionable items that they could sell on the black market. The Carta managed to slip some of us into one of Orzammare's abandoned mines were we could make the deal. But it turned out that it was all just a set up.

The Carta turned on us, they killed all my men, and they would have killed me if a couple of nearby guards hadn’t heard the commotion. But of course the Carta has many powerful allies, and soon all their guys were out of prison and roaming about, while I was stuck in that cruddy dwarven cell.”

“And that’s how we met!” Azura said a little too loudly, but I didn’t mind.

“That’s one hell of a story Comet. I never would have guessed you could be this interesting.”

“Oh,” I smiled teasingly, “do I really look that boring?”

She looked at me for a couple seconds before gently licking my cheek.

“Nope!” She giggled, making me blush.

Wanting to change the subject I cleared my throat and asked,

“So I told you my story. Why don’t you tell me a little about you?”

At first she checked to see if I was serious before holding up the mug in her hooves.

“Only if you keep these coming.”

She never did tell me her story, but I still managed to get her a couple drinks from one of the caravan drivers. I guess she would tell me some other time. After a while I told her I was heading to my tent, she surprised me by asking,

“Can I sleep in your tent tonight? I forgot to set mine up.”

I had to force myself not to blush and strangle the pegasi guards nearby who were whistling and winking at me. At first I was gonna tell her to find her own tent, but considering how drunk she was, she probably wouldn’t even be able to find her tent. When I nodded she giggled and whispered,

“No funny business.”

I couldn’t hold back my blush, which only made her giggle more. I lead her to my tent and helped her into my sleeping back, and soon joined her. No funny business my ass! The second her head hit the ground, she fell asleep, but not before wrapping her fore legs around me and cuddling up to my chest.

I tried to resist but I had to admit, her fur was pretty soft. And she was very warm too. Maybe I had a little too much to drink. But soon that thought left me as I fell asleep.

Forest II

I woke up to the sound of voices. I groaned a little and looked up at the night sky, and if I were to guess it somewhere around midnight. Then I felt something soft brush against my chest. I looked down to see Azura rubbing her cheek against my chest. A small smile seemed to be glued onto her face, and I had to admit that she looked pretty damn cute.

“We’re all goanna die!”

That did it. Azura’s ear twitched, and pretty soon her eyes were wide open.

“Comet… What the fuck is going on?”

I smiled as her eyes looked around all confused and her nose did a little twitch. I pulled her closer to me, making her blush.

“Hehe…it’s not that I’m not enjoying this Comet, but seriously what’s going on?”

Sighing I slowly pulled myself away from her.

“Don’t know. I’m gonna go check it out.”

“I’ll come with you.” I nodded and once she was ready, we left the tent.

It seemed like the yelling didn’t just wake me up. Other ponies woke up from their sleep and directed us towards the disturbance. The yelling seemed to be coming just outside the camp. When we finally reached the outskirts of the camp, we saw that an old earth pony was arguing with one of the pegasi guards.

“What’s that guy’s problem?” Azura asked, her pupils turning into slits.

“Don’t know, but we won't get any sleep if he keeps yelling like that.”

We made our way to the two ponies.

“Our leader has betrayed us. He left us to die here! Left us to the darklings!”

The old earth pony yelled, foam starting to form at the corners of his mouth. The pegasi soldier tried his best keep a straight face, but I could tell that the old stallions behavior was making him nervous.

“Please try to calm down sir. I can assure you-“

“You fool! You’re in league with him! You’re trying to kill us off just like him!”

The earth pony yelled and pointed his hoof at the pegasi accusingly. It was clear this wasn’t going anywhere fast. I quickly stepped between the two ponies and looked at the older pony.

“Come on. Keep your voice down, your scaring the everyone.”

The old man seemed surprised to see me, but before he could say anything Azura stepped in.

“This isn’t the time or place to yell. We’re all scared enough as it is. Yelling about the darklings and your leaders “betrayal” won't do shit for any of us.”

The old pony stared at Azura for a long time, and for a second I actually thought she got through to him. But instead of calming down the man’s eyes lit up and aggressively shoved his face into Azura’s.

“You watch your mouth little bat pony. You may be a Grey Warden, but that doesn’t mean shit to me.”

Azura’s eyes flashed yellow and before I could do anything to stop her (not that I really wanted to) her hoof slammed into the earth pony’s face. The earth pony stumbled back, holding onto his now bleeding nose.

“I’ll show you what a bat pony can do!”

She screeched baring her fangs, but before she could pounce I held out my wing blocking her path.

“That’s enough Azura.”

She looked at me, and I had to do my best to not look away from her piercing yellow eyes. But soon her eyes were back to normal and she stepped back, but she flexed her forelegs as if ready to attack at any moment. I looked back at the old pony who was still holding his bloody nose.

“Anything else?” I asked, trying my best to keep my anger in check.

His eyes were filled with unease, but any of the craziness that was in them before was now gone. I allowed myself a small sigh of relief before turning to the pegasi mercenary.

“Get this man’s nose checked, and make sure he is watched. Come get us if he starts again.”

The pegasi nodded, and I turned to the ponies watching the entire scene.

“Please go back to bed. You’ll need that strength tomorrow when we reach The Castle of the Two Sisters.”

The crowd quickly dispersed and went back to their tents. However, the little unicorn child and her mother approached us both.

“Thank you stopping that man. Ever since we left Orzammare he was muttering about the darklings, and how we were all going to die.”

Azura smiled and bowed.

“No problem. If you need an old pony punched, I’m your mare!”

The mother looked a little uneasy at these words, but the little girl bowed her head and looked up at me with admiration.

“Mr. Grey Warden. Are you going to protect us from the darklings?”

Her question surprised me, but I couldn’t help but smile at the admiration in her eyes. She really thinks I can stop the darklings. I gave the girl a small smile before looking at Azura who nodded her head.

“Yeah kid. We are Grey Wardens after all. Killing darklings is what we do best.”

The little unicorn smiled at my words, and we watched as she and her mother walked back towards their tent.

“Sometimes I wish I was a kid again.” Azura said quietly. “Not having to care about the worlds problem. It’s sad that so many children will be forced to grow up in this world where the monsters that hide under their beds are a real and walking just outside their backyard.”

Azura had a sad look in her eyes. I wanted to comfort her but something in me held me back.

“It’s better for the children learn that the world they live in isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Maybe then they could understand why their fathers leave and fight their wars for them.”

Azura looked at me in shock for couple seconds before sadness filled her eyes.

“It sounds like…your talking from experience. About your own father”

When I didn’t say anything, all she could do was sigh.

“Oh Comet. I’m-“

“Grey Wardens!”

I looked back at the pegasi mercenary. Did the old pony do something? To my horror, the old pony was laying on his side with a knife in his head, and a puddle of blood forming under him. I quickly made my way his body, the pegasi guard was looking around anxiously.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know. Everything was quiet and the old man told me he was feeling better. Then this dagger flew in from nowhere and hit-“

He never finished. Two arrows dug deep into the pegasi’s head killing him instantly.

“Comet! Green mist!”

I followed Azura’s eyes, and I was surprised to see that she was right. A green mist was slowly making its way through the forest. The green mist let of a bright glow and I could see dark figures climbing down from the branches and running through the trees towards us. Darklings.

“Azura! Get the soldiers and wake the camp!” I shouted, barely managing to dodge one of the darklings throwing axes, and a fireball from one of their mages.

“I'm not leaving you Comet!”

She yelled trying to find cover from the darkling’s arrows.

“You have to! I'll be fine.”

I looked at the pegasi corpse nearby and quickly grabbed his sword. Azura looked at me for a couple seconds before pulling the dagger from the old pony’s head. At first I thought she was gonna fight beside me, but luckily she turned and ran to wake the camp. The moment she left the darklings were upon me. The genlocks charged with terrifying ferocity, but luckily I was prepared.

With a slash of my blade I decapitated one of the genlocks, and fended of the others. I blocked a blade aimed for my throat and another one aimed at my wing. I managed to kill a few more, but the genlocks didn’t waver. They practically threw themselves at me, Midnight wasn’t wrong when she called them cannon fodder.

They were crafty however, three of them attacked me from the front while the other two circled around me and nearly did me in. No matter how many I killed they continued to swarm me, probably trying to overwhelm me with numbers. A screech from above distracted me for a split second, allowing one of the genlocks a chance to slash one of my cheeks. Above us came the hurlocks, their green eyes glaring right at me. One of them, probably the leader, was diving straight towards me. But before he could reach me, a shadow leaped past me and tackled the hurlock in the air.

“Azura!”

The bat pony stabbed her knife into the hurlock multiple times, and suddenly by my side were the pegasi mercenaries. And a couple of them shot into the air to help Azura fend of the hurlocks. With the soldiers by my side, we managed to push the darklings back. Suddenly a fire ball shot over our heads and I watched in horror as it landed right in the middle of the camp. We could hear the screams behind us as the camp burned, but one voice drowned out all the screams. It was Midnight.

“Retreat! Fall back into the forest.”

Retreat? Why? I wanted to ask why, but I knew now wasn’t the time to question Midnight’s orders.

“Retreat!” I shouted as loud as I could, before opening my wings and shooting towards Midnight.

The mercenaries followed me, and Azura managed to kill one more hurlock before following as well. We followed Midnight into the forest, and we could hear the hurlocks and darklings behind us. Arrows shot by us and nailed a couple pegasi guards. Their screams would haunt my nightmares as the darkspawn tore them apart.

Suddenly right in front of us, the leader of the caravan along with a lot of earth ponies armed with weapons stepped out from behind the trees and charged at us. No. They were charging at the darklings behind us. Midnight skidded to a stop in front of the caravan leader, as the earth ponies and pegasi charged the darkling. Azura and I landed next to Midnight and the caravan leader.

“Thank you Grey Wardens for getting us this far. But I’m afraid King Soarin needs you more than we do. The Castle of the Two Sisters should be a day’s walk from here.”

“We can’t just leave you here!” Azura looked at the caravan leader with wide eyes, but Midnight shook her head.

“We must.” She bowed her head before turning and galloping into the forest. We followed her, but there was a knot in my stomach as the fighting seemed to echo through the entire forest.

“Midnight! Or we really just going to leave them to die?”

No response.

“Midnight!”

I yelled desperately.

“I thought Grey Wardens were supposed to protect people from the darklings! Why are we running away?”

Azura asked desperately.

“You’re not official Grey Wardens yet.” Midnight said firmly, but looked back at us. “However, if you really want to help.”

“We do!” We said in unison.

She didn’t say anything for a while, until we the sound of fighting was finally gone.

“Very well. That fireball that destroyed the camp was magic. That means a darkling emissary is nearby.”

Before we could ask what that was she explained,

“Darkling emissaries are capable of magic, and actually know how to speak the common tongue. Judging by how powerful that fireball was, this must be one of their strongest spell caster. If we kill him, then the caravan may survive.”

“Well let’s get to it then.” Azura said, hope flashing in her eyes. Midnight nodded and led us further into the forest.

It didn’t take us long to find the emissary, but it didn’t seem surprised when we showed up. If anything, it looked glad, if a darkling could even look happy.

“Kill the Grey Wardens!”

It shrieked before hurling a fireball at us. Midnight rolled away, throwing off her cloak, while Azura and I shot into the sky. Duncan drew her silver sword and started hacking away at the darklings, trying to get to the emissary. The emissary didn’t look that different from a genlock, however it did have a curved horn like a unicorn, which unnerved me a little, but explained how it could cast spell. The emissary shot bolts of magic into the sky, trying its best to kill us.

We tried to dive down and attack him, but whenever we got too close it would shoot lightning and fire from its horn to keep us away. Luckily we were fast enough not to get torched or shocked, and Midnight was slowly making her way towards the emissary. But the emissary saw her coming a mile away, and soon turned its attacks on Midnight forcing the Grey Warden to take over behind a tree. Unfortunately, with its attention away from Duncan, Azura saw an opening and charged, with me right behind her. But as we dove towards the emissary Midnight yelled,

“Don’t do it! It’s trying to draw you in.”

But it was too late. The emissary saw us coming and we were too close. I would be able to dart out of the way, but I knew Azura’s bat wings wouldn’t be able to make that sharp turn. Speeding up my pace, I slammed into Azura sending her spiraling out of control, and a safe distance away, but I wasn’t so lucky.

The emissary turned towards me, and I was going too fast to stop myself. All I could do was curl up in a ball as the flames enveloped me. A burning pain shot through my back and my wings. I closed my eyes tight, but the breath was knocked out of me as I slammed into a tree and tumbled down to the ground below.

I tried to hold back tears as I opened my eyes. The smell of burning skin made me choke, but my eyes widened in fear as the emissary looked down at me with a wicked grin across its deformed face. Its horn sparked up, as it powered up a spell, but the the magic aura surrounding the horn slowly died away the tip of a silver sword dug through its back and out the belly, as Midnight appeared behind him. As the emissary collapsed, Azura and Midnight were at my side immediately, trying to see if I was alright, but I couldn’t say anything as darkness slowly close around me.

…

I opened my eyes to the sound of birds chirping above me. When I looked around I saw that we were in a different part of the forest. I felt something soft brush against me and looked to see Azura cuddled up beside me. Just like the night before.

“She stayed by your side the entire night you know.”

I looked up to see Midnight sitting in front of a small fire nearby, sharpening her sword. Pulling myself up, trying my best not to wake Azura, I saw that Duncan had two saddles next to him, and one over his white cloak.

“I went back to the camp and managed to salvage a couple saddles that the darklings didn’t burn or take. They should have everything we need to make the journey to the cast.” Her words got me thinking about last night and although I was scared to ask, I needed to know.

“Did…anyone survive?”

She looked at me hesitantly, before finally shrugging her shoulders.

“I don’t know about the soldiers, but when I got to the camp I did some tracking. It seems they all fled north towards a windmill. I had to turn back when the darklings nearly spotted me, but I’m sure that’s where they ran too.”

Hope filled my heart.

“Then we have to go find them. They might need our help!”

“Comet…” She looked at me with sadness and sympathy. “I know you want to help those ponies, but what if they were killed and the darklings are waiting for us.”

“Come on Midnight. What if the soldiers found them, and they fought them off? They could still be fighting off the darklings while we sit here and do nothing.”

Midnight stood, shaking her head firmly.

“Let me make it very clear. The soldiers were probably overrun by darklings, and are dead. Those caravans have no weapons or armor, so the chances of them surviving is even lower than the soldiers. You barely escaped with your life yesterday Comet. If it wasn’t for your friends, magic you wouldn’t even be able to stand. If it wasn’t for ME, you would still be rotting in that earth pony prison or worst. If it wasn’t for ME, you and her wouldn’t even be traveling to the castle to become Grey Wardens. If it wasn’t for ME, you wouldn’t be standing here arguing despite the fact that all I've done is save your life these last few weeks. The least you could do is listen to me, and maybe consider the fact that what I’m saying might be true!”

I took a step back as Midnight lectured me and lowered my head in shame at her words.

“What about the little unicorn girl Midnight?”

We both turned to see Azura standing now. Our little talk must have woken her up.

“What about her mother? What about the soldiers who fought so we could get away? Are we just going to turn our backs on them when they might need our help?”

She stood beside me looking Midnight in the eyes.

“It’s obvious that you want to help Midnight. You could have just led us away, but instead you lead us to emissary. You wanted to help. Isn’t that what a Grey Warden is supposed to do.” Azura

sighed and shook her head.

“Thank you for saving our lives, but if turning our back on ponies is the way of the Grey Wardens then you should have just left us in that prison.”

Midnight looked from Azura to me and back again before sighing and igniting her horn. The two saddles levitated over to us and strapped themselves on our backs. My saddle had my sword strapped to it and the dagger Azura used to her own saddle. When that was done Midnight smothered the fire and turned and started walking.

“Let’s go find them.”

...

While we walked Azura checked to make sure I was feeling right.

“You really had me scared Comet. Your burns were so bad my magic was barely able to heal you.” I blushed as I remembered how she healed me last time and she noticed and smirked. Fortunately for me, Midnight noticed too and let out a small chuckle.

“I’m guessing she told you that her saliva has healing properties.”

Azura’s eyes widened, but I nodded.

“Yeah…why?”

“I’ve been around Equestria, and I’ve met bat ponies before. I once met a bat pony, and he told me that licking was how mare bat ponies imprint.”

“Imprint?” I asked, and was surprised to see Azura blushing.

“It’s how bat ponies CLAIM things.” Midnight actually winked at me, and I looked at Azura who was blushing like crazy.

“It was simply a moment of weakness. You were wounded, we fought in the arena together, and…I just wanted to…help you.” She cleared her throat and huffed defensively glaring at me. “You should be ashamed of yourself Comet, putting a lady on the spot like this.”

“Hey! Don’t point blame me. You’re the one who licked me!”

We both glared at each other for a couple seconds before turning away in a huff, but Midnight only chuckled with amusement. It was good to hear the old warden enjoying herself considering our last conversation. I guess now would be the perfect time to patch things up while she’s in a good mood.

“Midnight.”

She looked back at me and I took a deep breath.

“I'm sorry for saying all that stuff back there. I didn’t mean sound so ungrateful.”

“Don’t worry about Comet. I use to want to help ponies all the time when I was just a knight. But when I joined the wardens I learned that some sacrifices must be made for the greater good. I just hope that someday you will understand this as well.”

We continued the rest of our journey in silence.

…

The smell of smoke was clear in the air as we approached the mill that Midnight mentioned. Bodies were scattered all around us. Blood seeped into the ground, and fires burned down the wagons of the caravan that the earth ponies must have fled in. The night before I was smelling my own burnt flesh, but now the smell of so many ponies burning made me want to throw up.

“No…Comet…look.”

Azura was looking down at one of the burning corpses, but one I recognized all too well. It was the mother of the unicorn girl. Azura looked around at the carnage, the sadness in her eyes made my stomach twist in a knot. I gently draped a wing over her shoulders. She tensed up, but then gently wrapped her hooves around me and leaned her head on my shoulder. We both looked up as Midnight stood over the corpses of the soldiers.

“They came back. They followed the caravan and died fighting the darklings.”

Midnight bowed her head and slowly removed her cloak and draped it over the earth pony that had given us our opening to escape the darklings.

“In War, Victory. In Peace, Vigilance. In Death, Sacrifice.”

She looked at us, and I couldn’t help but notice that his cutie mark was that of two griffons. The sign of the commander of the Grey Wardens.

“This is the code the Grey Wardens live by. This is code you two will live by if you’re are accepted into the order.”

It was strange, buts he seemed to be telling himself as much as she was telling us.

Before I could say anything, Azura’s grip on me tightened. Her ears were twitching as she her eyes scanned the area around us. Then her eyes fell upon the charred house.

“Someone’s in the house.” She whispered.

Soon all three of us started to converge on the house. Midnight and I armed with our swords while Azura gripped her dagger.

“Darkling?”

Azura shook her head.

“Maybe a bandit.” Midnight said.

Midnight took point, while we followed close behind him. Once we were in position Midnight bucked the the door down and we charged into the house weapons ready. What we saw next stunned us more than the corpses outside. Because instead of pony corpses, the house was littered with darkling corpses. Their bodies burned to the bone, and their armor nothing but melted metal. And in the middle of all of this was the little unicorn girl, curled up in a ball in the middle of the room.

“Poor girl.” Azura whispered, ready to rush forward, but I quickly put my wing out.

“Wait. Isn’t it a little strange how out of all the corpses in this room she is the only living thing here. And remember, we killed the the emissary. So why is the mill on fire.” Azura looked at me in surprise but Midnight nodded her head.

“Good thinking Comet, and you’re probably right.” Midnight looked at the unicorn girl before looking at Azura.

“Azura, check to see if she is alright. If what you two say is true, and she just lost her mother, a female figure may be better at handling her.”

Azura nodded, but I whispered for her to be careful.

Azura slowly approached the girl, whispering gentle things to the little girl. The girl looked at Azura, tears still streaming down her face.

“Ms. Warden…are the monsters gone?” Azura smiled at the little girl and extended a hoof to her.

“Don’t worry. Their gone. It’s just you, me and the other wardens.”

The little girl looked at the hoof for a long time before taking it. Azura pulled the girl into an warm embrace, and something must have snapped inside the girl, because the second the Azura’s arms wrapped around her the little girl broke down into tears and cried into the bat pony’s chest.

Soon we were on the road again, but now Azura carried the unicorn child on her back. They talked a little, but the soon the little girl was asleep.

“What happened at the mill?” I asked Azura trying not to wake the child.

“The caravan managed to escape the darklings, but there were a lot of casualties. Morale must have been low. They got to the mill and the pegasi were ready to help them, but the darklings caught up to them. They started slaughtering every pony, the pegasi mercenaries and earth pony militia arrived but were overrun. The girl’s mother…was killed right in front of her. Something must have snapped and the girl’s magic went out of control. We saw the aftermath…”

I sighed and looked at the girl. She looked peaceful, it was hard to believe she could cause so much destruction.

“No matter.” Midnight said quietly, looking at the road ahead. “We will figure out what to do with the girl once we reach the castle.”

The Castle I

And so we made our way to the castle. A Grey Warden. Her two initiates. And a child. I thought I was going to join the Wardens and stop the darklings, but in this cruel world you never get what you want. And I would learn something about Azura that would affect our…relationship.

…

I read about the castle when I was younger, and I had to admit that the drawings did it no justice. It was every bit of the mighty fortress I had read about, wedged between a narrow pass into Equestria’s hills. Above the entire fortress stood the Tower of the Sun, one of Equestria’s greatest landmarks.

The little unicorn girl, she still hasn’t told me her name, walked beside Azura staring up at the sights, and listening to Azura’s little jokes. However, since Midnight took of her cloak I couldn’t help but stare at her cutie mark. She noticed and soon asked if something was wrong.

“It’s just…why is your cutie mark the Grey Warden symbol?”

“It is a part of the joining. In truth my cutie mark was nothing but a simple sword and shield, but when you become a Grey Warden and go through the joining, your cutie mark will change and you become one with the order in mind and in body.”

“What is the joining?” I asked curiously.

“All will be revealed in due time. In due time.” We continued walking without another word.

Once we moved farther into the fortress we were greeted by a pale blue pegasi with long dark grey hair, probably the same age as me and golden heavy plated armor, and green eyes. Next to him stood two guards, but I was quick to recognize the royal pegasi guard armor when I saw them. My father wore it every day before I ran away.

“Midnight!”

“King Soarin! I wasn’t expecting-“ the young pegasi smiled,

“A royal welcome? I was afraid you weren’t gonna make it back in time.”

“Believe me Soarin, I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

“Then I’ll have the mighty Midnight at my side! Glorious.” The king took a deep breath before turning towards me as if just noticing my presence.

“Who are you?”

He asked, looking me up and down curiously. I sighed before straightening my back and saluting.

“King Soarin. My name is Orion Comet. I prefer Comet. You may know my father. His name is Rising Star.”

The guards standing beside his majesty both went to an attention position and saluted. King Soarin seemed surprised at my words, but a friendly smile crossed his face and he too snapped to an attention position.

“At ease.” The guards and I quickly dropped our salutes.

“I know your father. He is currently here in the castle, but I’m afraid my commander Lord Sombra sent him on a scouting mission. I'm not sure when he’ll be back.”

“That’s fine your majesty,” I said quickly, “I’d rather avoid my father. I’m sure you understand.” The young king grinned and nodded.

“Fathers, am I right?”

However, his attention was soon focused on Azura who got bored of the conversation and was telling the unicorn girl another joke. Azura wasn’t prepared for his approach until he was directly in front of her, but when she did notice she and the young unicorn did a quick bow.

“Apologies your majesty, I didn’t see you there.” Soarin smiled as he looked at Azura. I couldn’t help but notice that the look he was giving her was more than friendly.

“No, no, don’t mind me at all. What’s your name?”

“Azura, your grace.”

“Azura… what a pretty name.” Azura’s eyes widened but King Burloin simply kept that charming smile on his face.

“Your eyes are pretty too. Did you know my favorite color was blue?”

I felt my muscles tense. He was flirting with her! Midnight groaned behind Soarin, but before she could say anything I beat him to the punch.

“Your majesty with all due respect, I’ll need to ask you to keep a safe distance away from Azura. If that’s not too much to ask.”

King Soarin looked stunned as I stepped between him and Azura, but then his eyes went from Azura to me, and to my surprise they went to the little unicorn girl at Azura’s feet. Then a big smile appeared on his face again, though this one was one of surprise and amusement.

“I see…I see!” He patted me on the shoulder.

“I must say my friend, that you have great taste.”

Oh Celestia have mercy he thinks me and Azura-. A tried my best not to blush, but when I looked back to Azura I saw that she was trying her best not to giggle and blush, but was failing miserably. King Soarin turned back to Midnight.

“I must say that you keep interesting company Midnight.”

“Agreed, but these are my future Grey Warden. They will soon be fighting with us on the field.”

“Truly? That’s wonderful new. We’ve already pushed the darklings back twice, and tonight shall be no different.”

There was disappointment in the king’s voice.

“You sound disappointed your majesty.” Azura said, taking her place beside me.

“Yes…I thought it would be like the stories of old. A noble king riding into battle with the Grey Wardens to do battle with an ancient evil. But I’m afraid this will have to do.”

He turned to us all and bowed his head.

“Until next time Grey Wardens.” We bowed until he departed and then Midnight turned to us.

“That went better than I expected.”

Azura giggled and gave my cheek a quick lick,

“Aww, my little Comet got all protective of me.”

She giggled when I blushed and Midnight allowed herself a small smile, before returning to her usual solemn expression.

“Some say the king is young and inexperienced, but he is king. I expect you both to act like the Grey Wardens you are meant to be. There is another Grey Warden in the camp named Dash. Find her and tell her to gather the other recruits as well. The girl can stay with me until you are ready. The Grey Warden tent is on the other side of the camp should either of you need to speak with me.”

The Castle II

It took a little convincing, but the unicorn girl eventually went with Midnight to the Grey Warden tent, and started our search for the Grey Warden named Dash. We wondered around the camp for a little while, Azura badgering me with questions about meeting my old man and even teasing me about how defensive I got when Soarin started to flirt with her.

“Aww calm down. I thought it was cute.” She purred shaking her head in amusement.

“This is what I get for defending your honor?” I growled in annoyance.

“Aww, calm down Comet. Though I admit that the king is kind of cute.”

I looked at her in alarm, but she just smiled and rubbed her head against my shoulder affectionately.

“It’s ok. I already have one cute pegasi, I don’t need another.”

I sighed, slightly annoyed, but couldn’t help but smile at her words. We managed to find Dash, but he seemed to be a little…occupied.

“What is it now?! Haven’t you Grey Wardens asked enough of the Circle?”

A unicorn, wearing mage robes asked, looking rather annoyed and angry. In front of him stood another pegasi, but this one had armor similar to Midnight, and had the Grey Warden symbol for a cutie mark. What also made her stand out was her light blue coat, and rainbow colored mane and tail.

“I just came to deliver a message from the revered mother. She desires your presence.” She rolled her eyes, not even bothering to hide her annoyance.

“Does it look like I care about what her reverence desires? I am busy helping the Grey Wardens, under the king’s order!”

“Should I have asked her to write a note?” Dash asked clearly not taking this seriously.

“Tell her I shall not be harassed in this manner!”

“Right, I’m harassing you, by delivering a message. And here I thought we were all getting along. I was even going to name one of my children after you. The grumpy one!”

“Enough! Let us see what your reverence wants. Out of my way!”

And with that, the unicorn shoved past the Grey Warden and walked to somewhere else in the camp.

“Well, he was charmer.” Azura growled, rolling her eyes.

“Your telling me.” The Grey Warden said, turning towards us and quickly composed herself.

“Dash. Senior Grey Warden. You?”

“Orion Comet, and this is my friend Azura. We’re the new recruits Duncan brought in.”

Dash’s eyes lit up when she heard this and her composure quickly broke.

“Thank Celestia. I’m glad to have some new blood in the wardens.”

She gave us both a hoof bump.

“My name is Rainbow Dash. Glad to meet you.”

“Rainbow Dash? I understand the Rainbow part, but why Dash?” Azura asked.

Dash stuck out her chest and huffed.

“I'm the fastest pony in the Grey Wardens! No pegasi has every beaten me before.”

“Oh yeah?” I smirked unfolding my wings. Dash seemed a bit surprise, but a grin quickly found its way to her mouth and she unfolded her wings as well.

“Umm, hey. Didn’t Duncan send us here for a reason.”

I groaned. Why did Azura have to ruin my fun? Even in Pegatapolis me and the other pegasi use to race all the time. I admit that I missed the friendly competition. Dash flashed me a look that gave me a clear message.

We’ll finish this later.

I nodded as we both folded our wings, and Dash nodded her head.

“Alright, we need to go find the other two recruits. Daveth and Sir Jorey. They should be somewhere around here.” Dash opened her wings again and shot into the sky, but looked down at us when we didn’t join her.

“What’s wrong?”

“You mean you want to fly around the camp?”

“Of course. All three of us have wings. What’s the problem?”

I looked at Azura for a couple seconds before I replied.

“I guess we’ve gotten so use to walking with Duncan.”

Dash nodded and laughed.

“I know how that feels. But come on. You’ve got wings. Let’s use them.”

And so we took off and flew over the camp searching for our two fellow recruits. But I learned a little about Rainbow Dash.

“Why was that mage mad at you?”

Dash snorted and rolled her eyes.

“Before Midnight found me, I was training to be a Templar.”

“You were a Templar?” Azura asked while flying beside me. Was that fear in her voice?

“Let me make this as clear as I can. I was a Templar in training. I never took my vows. I never swore my oaths. And I’ve never hunted a mage before.” Dash shook her head sighing

“Unfortunately that doesn’t mean anything. Because in the end the mages still hate me, and the revered mother sends me to harass them, and they know it.”

Dash gritted her teeth in anger.

“Why doesn’t the chantry like the mages.” I asked quietly.

“Don’t you know your history?” Dash asked.

“I do actually, but I do my best to avoid any religious books. Those tend to send the wrong message to people.”

Dash smirked and nodded.

“Smart, but basically the Chantry hates mages because Celestia’s mortal sister, Luna, was killed by the mages from Unicornia, a kingdom ruled by magic wielders. Since then the Chantry has always kept a tight leash on the mages, and that leash unfortunately is the Templar Order.”

I nodded. I was starting to see why that mage wasn’t very kind towards Dash’s message.

“Regardless, I’m a Grey Warden now. And you will be too, once we head into Hollow Shades.”

There was a gasp behind me. I turned and saw Azura had stopped flying and was looking at Dash fearfully.

“We’re actually going into the the forest?”

Dash looked at Azura with confusion.

“Yes. It is part of the joining. Is that a problem?”

Azura looked away.

“I…I need to talk to Midnight.”

“Wait, Azura!”

Azura sped away without another word, towards the tent with the Grey Warden symbol on it.

“Let her be. I’m sure she’ll be back before you know it.”

Dash continued flying towards another part of the camp. I wanted to go after Azura, but I knew she wouldn’t have flown away if it wasn’t important. I flew after Dash, but my mind was racing. Why did Azura leave so suddenly?

…

It was interesting meeting Sir Joy and Dagger.

Dagger lived on a streets and apparently tried to pick Midnight’s pocket. The guards were ready string him up but Midnight stopped them. Apparently she saw something in Dagger, what it was I don’t know, but Dagger somehow got conscripted into joining the Grey Wardens.

Sir Joy however was a knight up in Ponyville. He married a girl named Helena and apparently she is pregnant with child. After the Blight he plans to go to her and start a family.

After meeting with them we all went to see Midnight for the next part of our joining. But when we got to him I was expecting to see Azura with him. However, the only one with him was the little unicorn girl.

“Good, I see you’ve met your fellow recruits and Rainbow Dash. I’m assuming you are ready to begin preparations. Assuming your finished arguing with the mages Dash.”

She fixed Dash with a hard look.

“What do you want me to say Midnight? The revered mother cornered me. If those mages have a problem, they should take it up with her!”

“They did. And they took it up with me too. Do not forget that while you were once a Templar in training, you are now a Warden. And being a Warden does not give you the right to sass the mages. We cannot antagonize people and expect their help in the future.”

Rainbow Dash sighed and bowed her head.

“You’re right. I’m sorry Midnight.”

“Now that you’re all here, we can begin. You will do two things. All of you will be heading into Hollow Shades, and collect three vials of darkspawn blood, one for each of you. Although you must work together to fight the darkspawn, the vial shall be your own.

There was once a Grey Warden outpost in Hollow Shades that has been abandoned since the second Blight. But it has come to our attention that there are scroll, treaties, in the outpost. It is magically sealed to protect them. Only a Grey Warden can retrieve these scrolls, which is why I’m sending Rainbow Dash to accompany you.”

“What are these treaties for?” Joy asked.

“These treaties were made long ago, but they still hold great value. They give the Grey Wardens permission to call upon allies to fight the darkling when we need them the most. Although it is possible that the scrolls were destroyed, but the magic should have held despite how long it’s been. Are you ready?”

Everyone but me nodded their heads.

“Is something bothering you Comet?”

“Yes, where’s Azura.”

“Your bat pony friend told me she wanted to go first, and scout out for any possible danger. Although I was unsure she assured me that she will meet you all at the outpost.”

I wanted to be relieved, but something in me just didn’t sit well. Why would Azura want to go into the forest alone?

“May Celestia watch over you all. Once you return, you will be Grey Wardens.”

…

I wish we could have flown to the ruin faster, but both Sir Joy and Dagger were unicorns so we had to take a relatively slower pace.

Before we left the camp the little unicorn girl asked me to come back with Azura. I told her I would, but something was different about the girl. On her flank, her cutie mark appeared to be one of a tower. I was confused when I saw this, but on our way to the warden outpost I asked Rainbow Dash if she knew anything about it.

“I thought her cutie mark looked like a tower. Tell me, did this girl happen to have some magical outburst before you found her?”

When I told her how me and Duncan found her, Dash sighed.

“Wow. That’s pretty sad. But back to the topic at hand. You know of the Circles of Magi right?”

“Yes, they are where ponies and others go when they cannot control their magic. Most Circles of Magi have a tower were they can train these mages.”

“Mostly correct, but you’re missing a couple of key points. You see, sometimes when a unicorn or any other creature shows a great display of magic beyond your average levitation and lock picking spells, and beyond their control, then their cutie marks become a tower, showing that they are meant for the Circle of Magi. The Templars are trained to hunt these ponies down and bring them to the Circle were they can learn to control their magic. Although some do try to hide, the Templars have a special ability that allows them to track down the ponies with these cutie marks no matter where they are.”

“How do the Templars get these abilities?”

Dash shrugged.

“I don’t know. I never became a Templar. But can I tell you something.”

I nodded, but the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

“The Templars will never stop hunting her.”

I didn’t say anything else as we continued on.

…

Darklings seemed to be around every tree as we fought through Hollow Shades. Luckily this made it a lot easier to get the vials of darkling blood. However, when we finally found the outpost, most of it was in ruins. But the real problem was what we found the chest.

“What in Luna’s name! The treaties aren’t here.”

“No, there not.”

Our eyes turned to a dark part of the trees. In the branches were to sapphire eyes staring down at us.

“Azura!”

She shot forward and sat on the chest in front of us.

“Hello Comet. I’m sad to say that Grey Warden treaties are not here.”

Dash flapped her wings lifting herself up so her eyes were staring straight into Azura’s.

“Where are they Azura? Only a Grey Warden can open the the chest.”

Azura didn’t flinch, instead she shrugged her shoulders.

“I didn’t take them, but I know who did.”

“Who!” Dash said, barely holding back her anger.

“My mother.”

“What!?” Both Dash and I said in unison, but Azura only sighed.

“Yes. When I heard of Midnight’s plan to send us into the forest, I knew my mother probably took the treaties. I wasn’t thrilled to return here since I ran away, but I knew that you could never find her hut. So while you were assembling your little party, I managed to find my mother’s hut. If you want your treaties, you’ll have to follow me.”

“How do we know this isn’t a trap?” Dash asked, not liking Azura’s explanation at all.

“Whether you believe me or not doesn’t matter. Unless you want to return to Midnight without the treaties then I suggest you follow me.”

Dash’s eyes flashed in anger as she started reaching for her sword, but I quickly got between them.

“Please Dash. Let’s see if what she says is true. What do we have to lose.”

“Our lives.” Dagger grumbled.

“Please Dash. I understand why you don’t trust her, but it sounds like the Wardens really need these treaties. Can you stay your hoof until we return to Duncan with the treaties?”

Rainbow Dash looked at us both for a couple seconds before groaning in frustration.

“Very well. I'll follow her. But if she tries anything, I might just put my Templar training to good use.”

“Are we really going deeper into this forest?”

“Are you scared sir knight?” Dagger asked smugly.

“No, I just don’t feel like putting my life in the hooves of a bat pony.”

I felt my anger grow, but Azura didn’t say anything and simply hopped of the chest and walked deeper into the forest leaving us to follow her.

I quickened my pace so I was walking beside her.

“Why didn’t you tell me any of this?” I asked, trying to keep the hurt out of my voice.

“Because I’ve been trying my best to avoid ever coming back to this forest. My mother is an…interesting pony. I mean come on Comet, look around you. There are a lot more dangers in this forest than darklings, can you really blame me for wanting to avoid this place.”

She had a point. On our way here we had to avoid manticores, timber wolves, and many other things.

“I don’t blame you for trying avoid this place, but the unicorn girl is really worried about you.”

Azura shook her head.

“I know. But I promised her I’d come back. I already have my vial of darkling blood. And once my mother hands over the treaties, I’m going back and I’m becoming a Grey Warden with you.”

I was happy to hear this, but one question still hung in my mind.

“Will your mother actually hand over the treaties?”

She looked at me hesitantly before looking at the ground.

“I don’t know.”

The Castle III

We walked through the forest for a while until we neared a small hut in the middle of a clearing. And the pony waiting for us was not what I was expecting.

“Mother, I bring to you four Grey Wardens-“

“I see them. Hush girl!”

Azura immediately stopped talking and looked away from her mother. Her mother was an almost a perfect mirror of Azura. Except for a few wrinkles, and instead of Azura’s purple mane, her mother’s was a dark gray, and unlike Azura’s blue eyes, the old crone had glowing red eyes that I did my best to avoid looking directly into.

“You’re a witch!”

Dagger said, looking at the old bat pony fearfully. Joy spoke up quickly,

“He doesn’t mean that miss.” He turned to Dagger, “If she is a witch do you really want to make her mad?”

“There’s a smart lad. It’s unfortunate that you won't be taking part in this story any longer.” The old mare said with a very devious smirk.

Joy’s eyes widened fearfully, but she quickly turned her attention to me.

“You. My daughter told me your name is Comet. Tell me Comet, do you think I am a witch? That my daughter is a witch?”

I looked at Azura and then her before answering.

“Believe or not. Some things must be accepted.”

“There’s the answer I seek. An open mind, but not made of mush.”

She turned to Azura smirking.

“I see why you like him daughter. He is simply delicious.”

The word delicious sounded so unnatural coming from her that it made my skin crawl, but Azura simply muttered a thank you and kept her eyes to the ground. Dash who was standing behind me, lost her patience and stepped up so she was beside me.

“Enough. Tell us where the treaties are Witch of the Wild.”

“Witch of the Wild? Did Azura tell you that? When she was young she enjoyed it when I told her those stories. Oh how she danced in the moonlight.” The old crone cackled, but Azura looked like she wanted to fall into the biggest hole she could find.

“Mother, please. May we have the treaties?”

Her mother flashed Azura a look that made her daughter squeak in fright, and I probably would have done the same. But the old crone nodded and walked towards the hut.

“Yes yes, I have them right here. And before the rainbow pony starts barking, your precious seal wore off ages ago.” She walked back and dropped a small box containing the treaties in them.

‘I’ve been protecting them ever since.”

“You-,” Rainbow Dash started before stopping. “Oh, you’ve been protecting them.”

“Indeed. Take them back to your Grey Wardens, and tell them that this Blight is far worst then they realize.”

“Far worse than we realize-, what do you mean by that. Tell us!” Dash asked stomping her hoof, but I quickly gave a small,

“Please.”

“Oh such manners. Always in the last place you look.” She looked down at her hooves before muttering.

“Like stocking.” She cackled and looked back at us. “You have what you came for.”

“Thank you mother. We must be going now.” Azura turned quickly.

“Stop.”

Azura stopped in her tracks and looked back at her mother fearfully, whose eyes seemed to pierce her very soul.

“You’re staying here Azura. I can’t have you going off and becoming a  Grey Warden now can I.”

Azura whimpered and turned to her mother desperately.

“But I’ve always wanted to be a Grey-“

“Silence!”

Azura quickly shut her mouth, but couldn’t stop whimpering. I quickly stepped forward so I was looking her mother directly in the eyes.

“Why won't you let her become a Grey Warden. If she wants to-“

“Are you saying that a mother has no right to tell her daughter what she can or can’t do. Azura is nothing but a child, and no matter how much you say you care about her, her place belongs with her mother. And I can assure you, there will be no running away this time.”

“How dare-“

“Please Comet.”

I looked back at Azura who was trying her best to hold back tears.

“You can’t fight my mother. I’ll be fine don’t worry.”

My heart tore in two but she slowly took her place beside her mother, but with a sad smile across her face.

“The little unicorn girl… her name is Krystal. Please take care of her alright. She’s been through a lot.”

I felt tears start to form in my own eye’s and I held a hoof up to wipe them.

“I promise Azura. I promise.”

I tried to stop myself from crying when I felt something wet lick my cheek. I looked up to see Azura standing right in front of me, her beautiful sapphire eyes made my heart ache more at the thought of never seeing them again. She smiled and gave my cheek another lick, before whispering.

“Be safe ok. We’ll see each other again. I promise.”

I didn’t know if she believed in her own words, but I guess she couldn’t say anything else. I smiled sadly. I wanted to say something too, but what? Taking a deep I leaned forward and gently licked her cheek. Her eyes widened in surprise and a blush somehow found its way to her cheeks, and although I felt a little weird for doing that, it somehow felt right.

“Let’s go.”

I couldn’t take it anymore. I turned and walked away from the hut. Away from my friend Azura. Towards the castle, where I would become a Grey Warden.

…

We made it to Ostagar after the sun set. No one said anything on the way back, but I could feel Dash’s gaze on me the whole way back. When we finally entered the camp, Dash ordered Dagger and Joy to take the treaties and their vials to Midnight and that we would join them shortly. When they left I expected Dash to yell at me for taking command of the group after we left the hut, but instead a gentle hoof touched my shoulder.

“You alright Comet?”

I shook my head weakly.

“Look, I don’t know what went on between you and that bat pony, but it’s clear she was special to you. I’m sure she’ll be alright, but you need to keep moving forward. If you don’t want to be a Grey Warden, and you want to go back and try and win her back then I won't try to stop you.”

I was surprised at the sincerity in her voice, but I had already made my decision.

“Even if I went back, her mother made it abundantly clear that she wouldn’t let her go no matter how many times I begged. I’ll become a Warden, and I won't be doing it for me. I’ll be doing it for Azura too.”

Dash looked at me, clearly surprised at my statement before smiling.

“Good. You’ll be a great Grey Warden Comet. I’m sure-“

Suddenly we heard a small scream near the Grey Warden tent.

“What in Celestia’s name.”

We flew over to see what all the commotion was about. When we got their however, we were not expecting so see Midnight facing off against two unicorns. Behind her stood Krystal, who was cowering behind Midnight, looking up fearfully at the two unicorn. We landed next to Midnight and I quickly went to Krystal’s side.

“Are you ok Krystal?”

She seemed surprised that I knew her name, but quickly hugged my foreleg.

“Comet, they’re trying to take me away!”

“The hell they will.” I growled turning my head towards the two unicorns. One was an older mare dressed in red mage robes, while the other one was a stallion in full body armor, unlike Midnight’s however, this armor seemed more bulky, and instead of the Grey Warden insignia on his chest plate was a sword covered in flames. The Templar Insignia. Oh boy.

“This is unacceptable! You Grey Wardens cannot keep this child from us. She belongs in the circle with the rest of her kind.”

The Templar said, glaring at Duncan.

“I'm afraid I cannot allow you to take her. I told you that I have already given her the Right of Conscription. When she comes of age we will make her a Grey Warden.”

“This is unacceptable!” The unicorn growled.

“You heard Midnight. Leave her alone.”

The Templar glared at me and stepped forward, his magic enveloping his sword. But he stopped when Dash stepped in front of him.

“What is the meaning of this? You dare stand against your fellow Templar.”

“I’m no Templar. I’m a Grey Warden, so back off before I stomp your face in.”

The two glared at each other, before the older unicorn in the red robes stepped forward.

“Please, there is no need for violence. I simply want to talk.”

“Then talk.” Midnight said, but it was clear she was losing her patience.

“Very well.” She looked at me and Krystal.

“Please. It is obvious you wish to protect the girl. So please, ask yourself. Is she truly safe here? Surrounded by darklings who would gladly kill her and you without hesitation. The girl is a threat to those around her, she must be trained so she can never harm anyone with her uncontrollable magic. You must understand this.”

I didn’t like it, but I did understand what she was talking about. The carnage I had seen at the mill unfortunately confirmed what she was saying. I looked down at Krystal but her eyes were clouded. It seemed she was taking in the mages words.

“But that doesn’t change the fact that she was conscripted by Midnight, our commander. You can’t take her away now.” Dash pointed out.

“Yes that does complicate things.” The old mage closed her eyes, digging deep into her mind until they opened again and a look of determination on her face.

“Grey Wardens. I have a proposition.”

“Wait, what are you doing?” The Templar asked, looking at her confused.

“Quiet! Let her speak.” Midnight commanded. The mage nodded her thanks before continuing.

“Let us take the girl. I’ll personally take the girl under my wing, and ill train her to control her magic. You can come visit her whenever you want, even if she stays in the Circle she will still be a Grey Warden recruit. And when she is ready, you can come and take her to become a Grey Warden. She’ll be safe in the circle tower, I can assure you.”

Although I didn’t like the idea of leaving Krystal, the idea of her learning to control her magic, and seeing her whenever I could did sound good.

“But please Grey Wardens. Make your decision soon. I will be leaving soon to return to the tower.”

“Now hold on Wynn, you honestly think you can make a deal like that without consulting the First Enchanter or the Knight-Commander. You don’t have the authority-“

“And you do not have the authority to stop her.” Midnight said coldly. “You should be thankful, for she has made a good proposition. However, I would like to speak to Krystal and Comet before we make our decision.”

We walked a little away, out of the earshot of the two unicorns.

“What do you think of Wynn’s proposition?” Midnight asked.

“Wait, first,” Krystal looked at me, “where’s Azura?”

Damn it. I was hoping she wouldn’t bring her up.

“Azura…couldn’t come back. She wanted to, believe me Krystal she did, but things happen.”

Krystal looked at me sadly, and she could see I was trying hard not to cry as I thought of Azura. She surprised me when she pulled me in for a tight hug.

“What happens now?” Krystal asked quietly.

“Now…I don’t know. Azura told me to protect you, but be honest with me. What do you want?”

She didn’t say anything for a while until she looked up at me with a small smile on her face, but tears in her eyes.

“I want to stay with you. Other than Azura, you and Midnight took care of me the entire trip here. I don’t want leave. But,” She sniffled and wiped her tears away, “I don’t want to hurt innocent ponies. And she seems nice enough, but the Templar…”

“I still know a couple Templars in the order. I could contact those in the Circle of Magi, maybe get a couple of Templars to make sure she isn’t mistreated.” Dash said.

“You would do that?”

Krystal asked in shock. Dash nodded and grunted in surprise when Krystal hugged her. Dash gave her an awkward hug back before Midnight spoke again,

“So you’ve made your decision?”

“Yes…” Krystal said barely audible enough for us to hear.

We walked out of the tent and back to Wynn and the Templar.

“I will go with you to the Circle of Magi, and I’ll stay until I’m ready to join the Grey Wardens.”

Wynn gave Krystal a gentle smile, but the Templar face was still stone cold. Dash marched up to the Templar her voice dangerously low.

“That girl better be treated well, or else you’ll have to deal with me.”

The Templar simply glared at Dash. Krystal turned to me, a sad smile on her face.

“You’ll visit me…right.”

I smiled and leaned forward so my muzzle touched hers.

“I promise. And when the Blight is over and your old enough I promise that I will find you.”

The wall was broken, tears streamed down her cheeks as she hugged me. I hugged her back, letting her cry into my shoulder.

“I don’t want to be alone!” She cried.

I looked past her to Wynn.

“You’ll protect her?”

“I will.”

Wynn looked at us sadly, but I smiled and leaned down to whisper into Krystal’s ear.

“Goodbye.”

She nodded and slowly pulled away from me and soon she was walking way with Wynn. But before she disappeared into the crowd of waiting mages, she turned and waved back to me. I waved back, but I felt a small knot in my chest. All I could do was hope that I could see her again. The mages left the fortress and Wynn and Krystal left with her.

A gentle hoof touched my shoulder, but I knew it was Dash.

“Damn. Two goodbyes in one day, I don’t know how you’re still standing.”

I sighed.

“Neither do I.”

“You’re either the strongest pegasi I’ve ever met, or the unluckiest.”

“Probably both.” I chuckled bitterly.

She smiled sadly and patted my shoulder, but Midnight spoke.

“Come. Before I was so rudely interrupted, I sent Dagger and Joy to a part in the camp were we can do the joining in private. Follow me.”

I sighed, but followed him, Dash was next to me, trying her best to cheer me up.

…

“The more I hear about this joining the less I like it.” said Sir Joy as me and Dash walked into a ruin the Grey Wardens occupied.

Midnight left us to go fetch something for the joining, but no before taking my vial of darkling blood.

“Here we go again.” Dagger groaned in annoyance.

“Why all these damned tests? Haven’t I earned my place.”

“Maybe its tradition, maybe they’re just trying to annoy you.”

“Calm down friends. They’re nothing we can do about it now.” I said, trying to calm Jory down.

“My wife is in Ponyvile pregnant with my child. It just doesn’t seem fair.” Joy looked down.

The weight of the situation must have finally caught up with him.

“They brought us here for a reason. The Wardens do what they must to fight the darklings.”

“Including sacrificing us.” Joy asked.

Sacrificing us. Was there something Midnight hadn’t told me while I was talking to Rainbow Dash. I looked to Dash for an explanation, but her attention was focused on Joy and Dagger.

“I’d sacrifice a lot more if I knew it would stop the Blight.” Dagger said grimly.

“You fought the darklings Joy, wouldn’t you sacrifice everything to protect Helena from them.”

“I-I-“

“Maybe you’ll die. Maybe all three of us will die. But if no one stops the Blight, we’ll all die for sure.”

Before Jory could reply, Midnight walked in levitating a chalice to sit on the table nearby.

“And here we are. It is time for the joining. The Grey Wardens did this at the end of the First Blight, and brought pony kind back from the brink of extinction. This was when the first Grey Warden’s drank darkling blood, and mastered the taint to kill the darklings.”

“Y-you mean we’re goanna drink the blood of those creatures?” Joy asked, the uncertainty clear in his voice.

“Those who survive the joining become immune to the taint. But we can use it to sense the darklings and slay their leader, the Archdemon.”

“However, not all who drink the blood survive. And those who do are forever changed in body, and in soul. Which is why the joining is a secret. Rainbow Dash, please say the words.”

Rainbow Dash bowed her head.

“In War, Victory. In Peace, Vigilance. In Death, Sacrifice.”

Midnight nodded his head, before picking up the chalice with his magic.

“Dagger, step forward.”

Dagger stepped forward without any hesitation, and took the chalice.

“You are a Grey Warden.”

Dagger nodded and slowly took a sip. Once he was done, Midnight took the chalice and we all stepped back. Dagger was fine at first but soon he was on the ground, screaming in pain, his hooves clutching his head.

When his eyes opened, there was only white.

“Celestia have mercy!” Joy cried, taking a couple steps back.

“I’m sorry Dagger.” Midnight said, bowing his head as Dagger collapsed on the ground unmoving. Dead.

“Step forward Joy.”

Joy’s eyes widened, and drew his sword with his magic.

“But I have a wife… a child-“

“There is no turning back now.” Was all Midnights said as she approached Joy.

“No! I cannot, you ask too much. I will not die like this.” Joy backed up until his back was against the wall of the ruin.

Midnight didn’t say anything, but from her belt she drew a dagger. Jory grew desperate, and in her desperation she swung at Midnight. The Warden ducked from the blow, and shoved the dagger directly into Joy’s neck.

“I’m sorry.”

Was all Midnight said as blood spurted from Joy’s neck and onto her face. She slowly pulled the dagger out and Joy collapsed on the ground also dead. Midnight didn’t bother wiping her face, instead she turned to me.

“Comet, step forward.”

I gulped. Should I run? Where would I go? Then a thought came to my mind. Azura, Krystal, my mother. I made a promise to all of them. I turned to Dash. She was scared for me, but she nodded and that was all I needed. I slowly took the chalice in my hoof, and I raised it to my lips. I had to force myself not to gag as the black liquid slipped past my lips.

“From this moment on. You are a Grey Warden.”

The moment Midnight said that I felt my head start to ach. Like a million insects were feasting on my brain. My insides felt like they were being turned inside out. My legs gave out, and I could have sworn heard voices all around me. Whispering things. And then.

I died.

The Castle IV

A dragon. I’d seen pictures of dragon, but this one was terrifying. It was dark and corrupted. All I could was scream as it roared, and got so close that I could see its eyes. No emotions, just an empty black void.

…

“Wake up! Come on Comet!”

I gasped as my eyes opened. I was afraid I would wake up to the dragon, but instead I was looking into the faces of Rainbow Dash and Midnight.

“Welcome back Comet. We were afraid you weren’t goanna make it.”

I ran a hoof through my mane as I pulled myself up to my hooves.

“Two more deaths. In my joining only one died, but it was…” Dash shook her head. “I'm glad you made it.”

“How do you feel?”

Midnight asked, worried.

“Y-you killed….” I said weakly as I tried to shake off my head ache.

“Joy knew the risk, but when he went for his blade he left me no choice. I did not enjoy killing him, but in order to end the Blight we must make sacrifices. In Death, Sacrifice. Just be glad that you are alive, proof that their sacrifice wasn’t in vain.”

“Did you see anything? I had weird…visions in my joining.” asked Dash.

I was about to tell her about the dragon, but Midnight interrupted.

“Such dreams will come and go. Soon you will be able to sense the darkling. Whatever questions you have can be answered in the next couple of months. But I must ask you to accompany me to a meeting with the king to discuss tactics for tonight’s battle, but I do not know why he asked for your presence. Dash, bring forth the armor.”

Rainbow Dash nodded and went to a small chest hidden behind the table and took out something. When she flew over and handed it to me, I was surprised to find blue, well-trimmed and well-made leather armor, with the Grey Warden symbol on the chest. It didn’t have the heavy armor like Midnight and Dash, but I didn’t mind because it felt very comfortable on me. After I put it on, Dash whispered.

“You might want to check your cutie mark.”

My eyes widened and I looked back at my flank only to see my comet cutie mark was gone, and in its place was the mark of a Grey Warden. As if the new armor wasn’t enough, Midnight pulled from her back, a lance. The vamplate of the lance was the design of a griffin. I didn’t know how I didn’t see it on her back before.

“While Dash waited for you to wakeup I though it necessary to give you this. The lance of a fallen Grey Warden. Before you go to the meeting let Dash show you how to use it. You may need it for tonight. Report to the tent when you are ready.”

Midnight left and Dash looked the lance over and started gushing over the cool griffon design, but I wasn’t listening. The armor, the lance, the cutie mark. I was finally a Grey Warden.

…

After running a couple drills with Rainbow Dash on how to use the lance, we made our way to the meeting with the king. When we got there we were surprised to see the king arguing with a black unicorn.

“Sombra, my decision is final. I will join the Grey Wardens in this assault.”

Dash and I took our seats at the far end of the table. Near the middle of the table stood Duncan, with her usual solemn expression. Next to her stood a unicorn dressed in a Circle robe, and a pegasi with a Chantry robe. They paid us no mind, instead they focused on the quarrelling pegasi.

“You risk too much Soarin. The darklings are too dangerous for you to be playing hero on the front lines.” The black unicorn replied, his look was as hard as Midnights. It was clear he had a lot more experience then King Soarin.

“If that’s how you feel then maybe we should wait for the troops from Canterlot to arrive.” Soarin said stubbornly.

“Again I must protest. We do not need any crystal ponies from Canterlot to fight our battles for us. Tis a foolish decision.”

“It is not a foolish decision. Our hostilities with the Crystal Empire are in the past. Surely you haven’t forgotten that I am king.”

“I spent 30 years driving those crystal ponies out of Equestria. I fought beside your father King Burloin. Yet you’d let them back in with open arms!”

I knew he looked familiar. This must be Lord Sombra. And old general who fought beside king Burloin when Equestria was taken over by the Crystal Empire. He was hailed a war hero, and was appointed to the title of Lord for his services.

“Then our current forces will have to do. Midnight, are your men ready for battle.”

“They are.” Midnight replied.

“And this is the pegasi I met earlier. Where is your bat pony friend?” The king asked.

I sighed, trying to keep my mind off Azura.

“Unforeseen circumstances. She had to leave before she could become a Grey Warden.”

“That’s a pity. Stallions tend to fight better when fighting beside a mare they care about.” I tried to hide my blush.

“Regardless, congratulations on becoming a Grey Warden. Every Grey Warden is needed. Now more than ever.”

“Your fascination with legends and fantasies will be your undoing Soarin. Get your head out of the clouds, and come back to reality.”

“Very well.” Soarin rolled his eyes and returned to looking at a map of the fortress.

“The Grey Wardens and I will draw the darklings to attack our lines.”

“Then you’ll alert the tower to light the beacon signaling my men to-“

“Flank the darkspawn.” Soarin interrupted. “I remember. The beacon shall be lit from the Tower of the Sun, but who will we send to light the beacon”

“I have a couple men standing by there.” Sombra started.

“We must send our best. Send Rainbow Dash and Comet to the Tower of the Sun. They will light the beacon.”

Dash and I quickly bowed our heads.

“You rely on these Grey Wardens too much Soarin. Is that truly wise?”

Questioned Sombra who was giving me and Dash a very unfriendly look.

“Enough of your conspiracy theories Sombra. The Grey Wardens are here to help.”

“Your Majesty. We must take into account that the Archdemon may appear.” Midnight interrupted.

“There has been no sign of any dragons in the wilds.” Sombra said.

“Isn’t that what your here for Midnight?”

“I… yes.” Midnight quickly regained her composure.

“Sire the beacon is unnecessary. The Circle of Magi-“, Began the mage, but the old pegasi in the Chantry robes interrupted him.

“We will not trust any of your spells MAGE.”

The mage turned to her, not bothering to hold back his anger.

“And what’s that supposed to mean REVERED mother. Isn’t there some serving boy you need to take care of? I hear you like them young.”

Dash’s mouth dropped and I had to do everything in my power not to laugh. The revered mother looked at the mage appalled and opened her mouth to retort, but Sombra was quick to stop it.

“Enough. It is decided. The Grey Wardens will light the beacon.”

“Thank you Sombra. Imagine, the Grey Wardens standing beside the king of Equestria to battle the forces of evil.” He sounded like a child that had just been given a toy he had always wanted. I couldn’t help but smile at the kings enthusiasm.

My ears twitched however when I heard Sombra mutter something under his breath as he walked away. It was probably nothing.

…

“You heard the plan. You and Dash shall go to the Tower of the Sun and light the beacon.”

“I heard the plan. I’m just confused why I’m can’t go into battle with you and the other Wardens.” Dash grumbled, kicking the ground.

“If the beacon is not lit. Then Sombra's men won't know when to charge.”

“So what? He expects two Grey Wardens to stand up their holding the torch while the rest of you do the real fighting.”

“I agree with Rainbow Dash. We should be fighting, not sitting on the sidelines.” Dash smiled when I agreed with her, and puffed out her chest, but Midnight held firm.

“If Soarin wishes that the Grey Wardens light the beacon then we must abide by the King’s wishes. The Grey Wardens WILL be there. We must do everything in our power to stop the darklings. Whether it’s exciting or not.”

“I know. I know” Dash grumbled. I wanted to cheer her up.

“Look on the bright side. Maybe the king’s next order will be for us to put on a dress and dance in the front lines.”

Dash looked at me surprised before smirking.

“US shimming down the darkling lines. Sure. We can kill the darklings while their laughing.”

Midnight groaned, but me and Dash gave each other a hoof bump.

“The tower is on the other side of the gorge. You must cross the gorge and head to the gate of the tower entrance. You will reach the top, looking over the entire valley. We will signal you when the time is right. Dash knows what to look for.”

“What if the Archdemon appears?” Dash asked, clearly wishing to fight in the battle. The idea of facing the leader of the darklings was not a very pleasant thought.

“If the Archdemon does appear I don’t want either of you to play the hero. Leave it to me and the senior Wardens to deal with it. Stay in the tower and guard it from any darklings that may sneak past our lines.”

“The battle is about to begin. Once I leave I expect you both to be ready to move out. You have wings, put them to good use. Do what you must to complete the mission. I have faith in both of you.”

“So why won't your let us fight?” Dash practically begged, making Midnight chuckle.

“There will be more battles in the future Rainbow Dash. Now remember, you are both Grey Wardens. I expect you both to wear that honor well.”

“Midnight…” Rainbow’s eyes suddenly grew serious. “May Celestia watch over you.”

“May she watch over us all.”

…

We took to the sky. Neither of us spoke as we flew over the fortress. In fact, the whole fortress was quiet. Earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi all waited for the darklings to appear. Priests and sister walked through the group of soldiers, giving silent prayers to the soldiers.

From our vantage point we could see Midnight and the King standing on a small hill outside the fortress with their army. And just like that night at the camp, the chanting started. It started out small, nearly overpowered by the thunderstorm. The pegasi in the air were trying their best to keep the water from blinding them, but we didn’t need your eyes to hear the chanting as it slowly grew closer and closer.

And soon the green mist started to set in. And with it came the darklings. We could see their torches in the green mist. We could see their dark figures slowly drifting out of Hollow Shades and into the open. The sky was no different. Hurlocks were hovering over the tress, I could see their red eyes glaring up at us hungering for our flesh.

Suddenly a horn blew from within the forest and like a swarm of locust the darklings surged towards the armies on the grounds and in the sky. Bellow us we could somehow hear the king over the roar of the darklings and the rainstorm. Midnight must have used a spell to project the kings voice.

“Archers!” The pegasi archers in the air and the unicorn archers on the ground quickly drew their arrows and took aim. And with a signal from the king they fired into the charging darklings. Hurlocks fell from the air and genlocks landed on the hard below as they fell by the dozens, but more kept coming.

“Hounds!” I looked down in surprise and to my amazement a group of dogs actually charge towards the darklings. I had seen these dogs around the camp, but to see them in action was bizarre. They leapt upon the darklings, teeth and claw tearing into the rotten flesh of their foes. Holding up his sword the king shouted,

“For Equestria!”

And just like that, the real battle began. Ponies charged towards the darklings, all thoughts of death in the back of their minds, their bodies moving on their own as they challenged this terrible foe. The pegasi around us charged down to meet the hurlock. Arrows whizzed in the the air and in the ground and from the forest the darklings launched boulders from their catapults.

The flaming boulder surged over us, one nearly hitting me. I watched as it zoomed past and crashed into a nearby tower sending the ponies who were posted their down to their doom. The sound of steal smashing steal, blades cutting flesh, arrows whizzing past. This was nothing compared to the battles before. This was war. And it had only just begun.

“Come on!” Yelled Dash as we flew towards the tower.

“We have to be ready to light the beacon.”

We flew as fast as we could, avoiding any incoming darklings that were in our way. When we got to the tower however we were surprised to see pegasi flying away from the tower in a panic. Dash managed to grab one of the fleeing pegasi and held him by the scruff of his armor.

“What happened?!”

The pegasi whimpered, “Darklings have taken over the tower. They struck from underground. The genlocks dug holes right up into the first floor, and now they’ve taken the whole tower.”

Dash let the pegasi go in shock, before turning towards the tower.

“Come on Comet. We’ll get those darklings!” I nodded and we both shot towards the top of the tower at full speed. But then for some reason my mind flashed back to when I first read about the Tower of Ishal. This one memory made me speed towards Dash.

“Dash! Stop!” Dash looked back at me surprised, but luckily she slowed down enough for me to slam into her. And it was a good thing I did to, because as we tumbled through the air, giant projectiles fires at us from the tower. Ballista. The Tower of the Sun had built in ballista at every window and balcony. I explained all this to Dash once we were a safe distance away. An aerial assault would be impossible on the tower now that the darklings were mounting every ballista.

“Damn it. Then we’ll have to work our way up the tower. Let’s go.”

We flew to the bottom of the tower, barely managing to avoid the ballista bolts and we slipped into the front gate. It was difficult fighting in the cramped confines of the tower. Luckily with some good maneuvering we managed clear half of the tower.

“Luna’s protect us. What are these darklings doing ahead of the rest of the horde? They were never supposed to reach here!”

Dash asked as we both wiped the sweat from our brows. We only had a few cuts and maybe a couple bruises, but at least we were still alive.

“Weren’t you complaining that you wouldn’t get to fight.”

“Ha! Good point. Funny how these things work.”

We shared a small smiled but her face grew serious again.

“In any case, let’s keep moving.”

We kept fighting our way through the tower, but before we reached the room I was surprised to find that we had found the hound room. While Dash distracted the darklings, I pulled the lever freeing the hounds. The hounds leapt at the darklings tearing out their throats. All except one of the hounds chased the fleeing darklings, except for one who barked and nuzzled my chest.

“Aww look. You have a new friend.” Dash said, amused.

“I think he’s trying to tell us something.”

The dog barked in confirmation and raced to a nearby chest. When we opened it I was surprised to find a round shield with a Grey Warden symbol on it.

“Nice!” Dash said and quickly went to work strapping the shield to my shoulder.

“I'm sure your know how to use a shield.” I nodded and we continued to the top of the tower with my new shield and companion.

When we climbed the stairs to the top of the tower we stopped when we saw the creature guarding the top of the tower. It was a giant monster in the shape of a mountain goat, with claws and one yellow eye. It let out a loud roar and stood upright and dug its claws into a nearby boulder and threw it straight at us. Rainbow Dash slammed into my side, out of the way of the incoming boulder.

“That’s the biggest ogre I’ve ever seen!”

Dash shouted, drawing her sword. Before I could pull myself up, the ogre let out a loud roar and charged at us. Our wings flared out and shot into the sky out of its reach. The tower shook as its head slammed into the wall behind us. The hound leapt forward biting into the ogre’s leg. Dash darted in to help the hound and dug the tip of her sword into the creatures back. Dash held on for dear life as the ogre shook itself, the hound and I managed to keep it distracted. The dog kept darting forward for quick bites at the ogre, while I dove and kept kicking at its head, but I wasn’t able to get a clear hit with my lance.

We managed to slow the ogre down little by little, giving Dash the opening to pull out her sword and escape. The ogre swung at the dog repeatedly, barely managing to stay out of its reach. We managed to keep our distance and avoid the ogre as it ripped out huge chunks of the floor and threw them at us.

“The tower will collapse if he keeps this up!” I yelled as I avoided the ogre.

“The dog is keeping him busy. I’ll get his attention, and when you see and opening shove that lance right into his chest.”  Dash ordered. I nodded and waited for her to make her move. Luckily at that moment the dog ran right between the ogres legs. The ogre either was really stupid or had the intelligence of a child. It looked between its legs, giving dash the opening she needed. Dash speed forward and slammed into the ogre’s back at full speed. The ogre flipped and slammed onto it’s back with a loud crash.

“Now!”

I shot up to the ceiling, getting as high as I could before diving down towards the ogre. The ogre was still stunned, and could on sit there as I dove towards it. I let out a battle cry as the tip of my lance broke skin and entered the ogres chest. Black blood spurted into my face and a little in my mouth. I gagged at the horrid taste, but the ogre raised its arm and its fist zoomed down to me. I raised my shoulder, and braced myself as the ogres fist slammed into my shield. I didn’t hesitate, I shoved the rest of my lance into the ogres chest. The beast roared in pain, but the floor below it slowly crumpled sending the beast crashing through down into the floor below. I managed to grab the dog and dropped him off on what remained of the floor.

Dash flew towards one of the windows and grabbing one of the torches started to wave it, giving Sombra's army the signal.

…

Down below, an army was waiting behind the darkling forces. In front of the army stood Loghain, and his Lieutenant Flash Sentry stood beside him, waiting for the signal. Loghain watched as the darklings continued their assault on the fortress.

“Lord Sombra! The battle is getting worst.” Flash Sentry said, concerned.

Sombra nodded his head, his eyes still focused on the battle in front of him. Flash Sentry looked at his general, confused by his lack of concern.

“Should we attack?” He asked, desperate to enter the battle.

“We wait for the signal.” Was all Sombra said.

“But sir, the kings is in danger. Should we not-“

Before he could finish however, one of the soldiers cried out behind him.

“Look! It’s the signal!” Flash Sentry looked up at the tower, and smiled when he spotted the torch that signaled for them to attack. He spread his wings, eager to fly into battle.

“Sound… the retreat.”

His jaw dropped as he looked at Sombra who still looked at the battle in front of him.

“Retreat? But the king-“

“Do as I command!” Sombra growled glaring at Flash Sentry.

Flash Sentry glared back. They stayed like that until finally Flash Sentry nodded and turned to his soldiers.

“Alright boys move out! We’re going home”

The soldiers looked at each other in confusion before turning and marching away from the battle. Sombra simply stood there, watching the battle rage on for just a couple more seconds before turning away from the battle, from his king, from the castle, and from the Grey Wardens.

…

Down below, Midnight was fighting alongside King Soarin. Her body was covered head to toe in darklings blood, and the king was no different. Right after she decapitated one darkling, she could hear whispers in her head. The Archdemon was speaking. Commanding one of the darklings to-.

Her eyes widened in shock and she turned around, but she was too late. A pair of giant claws dug deep into her chest and sent her flying through the air and against a rock. The ogre roared and charged at the king and before Soarin could do anything, the ogre had his hand around his neck and slowly lifted him so he was staring into the ogre's eye. Then with a mighty roar, the Ogre squeezed.

The Kings armor was crushed, and Midnight heard the loud snap of the king’s spine breaking and blood spurted from the king’s body as the ogre dug his claws deep into the kings chest. Once the king stopped moving the ogre threw the body until it rolled and stopped in front of Midnight. She looked into the eyes of the lifeless king before glaring at the ogre who roared to the sky in triumph. Without saying a word, she grabbed the sword of the fallen king with her magic and picked up her own sword.

With her own battle cry she charged at the ogre. The ogre turned, ready to fight but Midnight was too fast. She slammed into the Ogres chest, unbalancing it. With blind rage, she stabbed the blades into the ogre’s chest repeatedly. The ogre tumbled backwards but could do nothing as Midnight lifted her sword, and stabbed the ogre in the head, killing it instantly.

Midnight smirked, but it was short lived as the the wounds on her chest took their toll.  She groaned as she dragged herself to the king’s body. She coughed, trying to ignore the blood in her mouth, and looked up at the Tower of Ishal. The signal. It was the signal! She looked around, but didn’t see Sombra or his army anywhere nearby. Then her mind flashed back to the meeting, when they discussed the plan she heard Sombra muttering.

“Yes my king. Glory for us all.”

She saw the look in his eyes, but thought nothing about it. But now it all made sense. Sombra should have been here by now. There she was, in the middle of the battle, surrounded by her fellow wardens who had already fallen in battle, and her fallen king. She was alone against the darklings, her body broken, her magic gone.

“In War, Victory. In Peace, Vigilance. In Death,”

A group darklings charged towards her, the one in the lead raised its sword. Midnight closed her eyes.

“Sacrifice.”

…

“Watch out!” I looked towards the stairs, only to feel the sting of three arrows hitting my chest.

“Comet!” yelled Dash. “Comet!”

I couldn’t say anything, as I blacked out.

Flemeths Hut-End of Part I

The dragon. It was standing in front of me. Its eyes looked at me angrily. Then it let out a mighty roar. It was a roar of victory, a roar of triumph. From its mouth came purple flames that rushed towards me!

“Noooo!”

…

“No!”

I sat up and pain shot through my body when I did. I groaned in agony and collapsed on the…bed?

“Comet?”

My eyes shot open and I looked around. I was in a small house by the looks of it. But when I looked at the other side of the bed, my heart stopped. Sitting there was a pony with a light grey coat, pointed ears, bat like wings, fangs, and two blue glowing eyes. Azura. Tears streamed down her cheeks as a small goofy smile formed on her face.

Without thinking Azura wrapped her hooves around me and pulled me into a tight hug. Although it was slightly painful I couldn’t stop myself from smiling and hugging her back.

“Azura. I’ve never been happier to see any pony in my life.”

Azura sniffled and her hug softened and I gently rubbed her back with my hoof. We stayed like that for a little while until we finally we broke our embrace. She wiped away her tears and shook her head, her happy smile was soon replaced by a sad look.

“I’m so sorry Comet. I didn’t want to leave you and Krystal. I wanted to be a Grey Warden. I really did, but… but… “

She started to cry again, but I quickly wiped her tears away and gave her a gentle smile.

“Hey its ok. Your hooves were tied. I don’t know what your mother is but she seems like a powerful pony.”

Azura shivered and shook her head.

“She’s evil! If you thought my blood magic was brutal, then you should see what my mother. What she’s done to achieve her power…what she’s done to ME.”

Her eyes turned yellow and she bared her fangs. I had to stop myself from backing away. Just what had her mother done to her?

“Azura… please just calm down. Everything will alright now.”

She calmed down but not by much. I shook off my fear and I reached out a hoof. She turned to me and hissed threateningly, but that’s when I noticed that her eyes were glazed over with hatred. I had to keep my breathing steady as I stretched forward. Azura’s eyes followed my hoof, until it finally reached the back of her ear. Then I started rubbing. Azura’s eyes looked at me, but I continued rubbing until finally she leaned into my touch. Soon she closed her eyes and began purring. Once a small smile appeared on her face I knew she was back to normal. I slowly pulled my hoof away but she was still leaning towards it, and a devious idea sparked in my mind. I leaned forward and gave her cheek a gentle kiss. Her eyes flashed open and she blushed furiously, and opened her mouth to speak but all that came out was a quiet,

“Oh…my.”

I smiled and nuzzled her cheek before clearing my throat.

“Anyways. What happened to the darklings?”

Azura’s blush disappeared and her face grew grim.

“You were badly wounded. Lucky for you, mother was there to rescue you.” She tilted her head in confusion. “By the way, when did you get a dog?”

Ignoring her question I thought about the battle then looked at her sadly.

“The king…Midnight…”

“The unicorn, Lord Sombra, fled the field the darkling,” she sighed, shaking her head, “Midnight and King Soarin didn’t make it. Rainbow Dash… isn’t taking the news well. She is outside, waiting to see you, and coping with what happened.”

Grief. It was like a heavy stone in my chest, I didn’t know King Soarin or Midnight for long, but the fact that they were gone still hurt.

“Anything else?”

“The darklings… I watched the battle from far away, but I saw most of it. Bodies everywhere…the darklings were eating them. Can darklings even eat? And the survivors, they dragged them underground. Sweet Luna, the screams…”

I sighed. I didn’t know why the darklings did what they did, nor did I really care.

“Why… why did your mother save us?”

Azura gave me a serious look.

“I don’t know. The thought of mother saving anyone is… scary.”

“Are my wounds healed?” I asked.

“They were pretty bad, but mother was able to heal them. Though judging by the way you woke up, you’re probably a little sore.” She said kindly.

“I need to talk to Dash.” I said, slowly pulling myself off the bed. I would have collapsed if Azura didn’t rush to my side.

“Hey, come on. Just lean on me. Only until your strength comes back.”

I was gonna argue but looking at her cute smiling face quickly stopped me. I gave her a quick peck on the cheek making her blush again, but we headed towards the door of the hut.

…

When we went outside, Dash was looking at a small fire she must have made, and the dog was sitting beside her. The dog noticed me and ran around me and Azura in excitement. Dash smiled in relief when she saw me and to my surprise, gave me a very tight hug.

“You’re alive! The witch told me you were safe, but your wounds.”

She pulled away and looked at me sadly before shaking her head.

“I’m sorry. This just doesn’t seem real. If it wasn’t for Azura’s mother we’d be dead on top of that tower along with the rest of them.”

“It’s rude to talk about someone and pretend they’re not here.”

I turned in surprise to see her mother standing just a couple feet away from us.

“Sorry, but what do we call you? What’s your name?” Dash asked.

“Names are useless out here in the Shades, but you may call me Flemeth.”

Dash’s jaw dropped at these words.

“Your Flemeth? The Flemeth? Dagger was right. You are a Witch of the Wilds. You’re THE Witch of the Wilds.”

I was shocked too. My own mother told me about Flemeth. How she was a powerful witch that could shapeshift and steal children away at night. She of course only told me those stories whenever I was misbehaving.

“Yes. I know a fair bit of magic, and it has saved you many times in the past has it not?”

“What about the darkling? Can they find us?” I asked, pulling away from Azura so I could stand on my own.

“The horde has moved on. We are safe for now. But the darklings can sense the Grey Wardens, just like you can sense them. They will come for you eventually.”

“If you truly are Flemeth then you must be very powerful.” I said respectfully.

“Maybe I am, I have lived a very long time thanks to my magic.”

“Then why didn’t you save Midnight.” Dash growled, “She was our leader!”

“I’m sorry for your Midnight, but duty must come first before vengeance. The Grey Wardens have always fought against the evil of the darklings, and unite the land against the Archdemon. Or did that change in the last century or two, and I wasn’t looking?”

“Of course not!” I yelled, and that got Dash fired up too.

“We were fighting the darklings! If Sombra hadn’t chosen the cowards way out, King Soarin would have defeated them. Why would Sombra do this?!”

“Good question. Why do ponies do anything? Maybe he think the Blight is an army he can outmaneuver and fight, perhaps he does not see the true threat behind it.”

“The Archdemon.” I whispered, before shaking my head. “We need to contact the other Wardens and tell them what’s happening.”

“Soarin already summoned them. But even if they try to come, I’m sure the traitor already has plans to stop them.” Dash said darkly.

“I’ve read about it but what exactly is the Archdemon?” I asked curiously.

“It is said that the Old Gods of Unicornia were banished deep underground by Celestia, left to rot in their prison. The darklings dig down and taint the Archdemon and unleash it upon the land.”

“Then you must kill the Archdemon.” said Azura.

“By ourselves? No Grey Warden has ever stood against the Blight before without the support of the entire nation.” I said. The path set before us seemed impossible.

“Don’t the Grey Wardens have allies?” Azura asked.

“I don’t know.” Dash said. “The Grey Wardens from the Crystal Empire are sure to arrive, and I’m sure Arl Sundance won't stand for this betrayal” Dash said, actually looking a little hopeful.

“Sundance? You mean the Arl of Ponyville?”

“I suppose. Sundance wasn’t at the battle, so he still has all his men. And he was Soarin's uncle!” Dash smiled, and stood taller than before.

“I know him! He’s a good pony! He is respected by all the other lords. We could go to him for help!”

“Wait Dash, your forgetting about the treaties!” I said, starting to get excited.

“The treaties!” She marched up to me smiling up at me confidently.

“Grey Wardens can demand aid from earth ponies, mages, deer, and many others. They have to help us during the Blight!”

“Hmm funny.” Flemeth smirked. “All of these allies, earth ponies, mages, and deer. It sounds like the start of an army to me.”

“We can do this! We can gather up as many allies as we can, go to Ponyville, and build and army. Right?” Dash looked at me confidently, and I actually felt a surge of hope shot through my body.

“I don’t see why not.” I smiled but then frowned. “Although I don’t think it will be that easy.”

Flemeth cackled.

“When is it ever easy?”

“We have to do this.” Dash said firmly. “It is our duty as Grey Wardens to stand against the Blight.”

“Then you are ready? Ready to save Equestria as Grey Wardens?”

“Yes.” I said, bowing my head. “This may sound strange, but thank you Flemeth.”

“No thanks needed. It should be amusing watching your progress, but before you go. Azura!”

“Y-yes!” Azura squeaked.

“Come here girl!” Flemeth ordered, and Azura quickly followed her mother command.

“Let me ask you child.” Azura looked at her mother fearfully, but a small smile appeared on Flemeths face.

“Do you wish to go with your Grey Warden?”

Azura’s eyes widened. She looked at me and then back to her mother.

“W-What?”

“Do you have cotton in your ears? Do you wish to go with Comet and Dash?”

Azura stared at her mother for a long time before finally she realized just what her mother was asking.

“Yes! Yes, I do!” She smiled, and she surprised us all when she gave her mother a big hug.

“W-what? Get off me?”

Azura didn’t let go, instead she only hugged her mother tighter. It was a little funny seeing the powerful Witch of the Wild being held captive by her daughters hug. When Azura pulled away, Flemeth quickly distanced herself from her daughter, but Azura’s smile never wavered.

“If that’s the case, then why wouldn’t you let her come with us before?”

Dash asked suspiciously.

“Well I didn’t want my daughter to be killed fighting off darklings, and besides, while you were off doing Grey Warden business. I was teaching her how to better use her magic.”

“How so?” Dash asked.

“You’ll find out soon enough, but enough chat.”

Suddenly with lighting speed, Flemeth shot towards us. A second ago we had nothing on our backs, but when we looked again, we had all of our weapons and armor on, and a saddle bags. I looked at Azura who wore what seemed like fur armor, and a headband with a couple feathers sticking out from it.

“The die has been cast, and the darklings aren’t betting on losing. So I suggest you Grey Wardens, and witch, get moving before they come.”

“Mother,” Azura looked at her mother, tears in her eyes. “ Thank you for this. All this time I thought-“

“Shush child. No matter what you thought of me, I only wanted what was best for you. And it is clear that what is best is for you to finally leave the nest”

Flemeth turned to me and fixed me with a hard stare.

“Orion Comet. Protect my daughter with your life. She is my most prized possession, and you will not want to see me when I find out you’ve hurt her in more ways than one.”

I gulped and quickly nodded my head, “I would have protected her either way.”

She smiled then turned to Dash.

“There is a long road ahead of you Rainbow Dash. You and Comet are the only Grey Wardens left in Ferelden. Your cause can change ponys hearts, and unite whole kingdoms, or destroy them. In that respect, you are more powerful than me by far. You will go far Rainbow Dash, but only if you keep your eyes set on the horizon, and embrace your destiny.”

Rainbow Dash looked at Flemeth for a couple seconds before nodding with a sly smirk.

“Thank you Flemeth, but I make my own destiny.”

Flemeth chuckled.

“Right you are. Now if you don't mind, it is time for this old bat to finally lay down her head.”

Morals

Cloudsdale.

In the castle, in the middle of monarch’s hall stood many ponies. On one of the balconies above stood Sombra, flanked by his two guards, and his daughter Radiant Hope.

“-I expect each of you to supply these troops. We must rebuild what was lost at The Castle of the Two Sisters, and quickly.” Sombra said, looking at the ponies below.”

“The Orlesians may wish to take advantage of our weakened state, but we must defeat this darkling invasion with sense and without hesitation.”

“If I may speak!”

Sombra looked down at a male earth pony with green eyes, mustard colored mane with amber highlights, and a light gold coat. It was easy picking him out of the crowd, because all the stallions and mares around him wore wore hats. The stallion in question wore a brown hat and a brown vest, but the other ponies around him greatly respected him.

“You have declared yourself Queen Hope’s regent, and you say we must unite under your banner for our own good.” He practically spat the words out.

Sombra frowned but nodded for him to continue.

“But what of the army at the castle? Your withdrawal let those brave ponies die!” His supporters quickly raised their voices in approval, while Sombra’s supporters booed.

“Everything I have done is too keep Equestria safe. I have not shirked my duty to the throne and neither will any of you!” Sombra said angrily.

“Ponyville will not bow to you simply because you demand it.” The yellow pony said defiantly.

“Know this, I will not stand for any treason. Not from you. Not from any of you.”

Sombra stalked off with his guards, while the yellow pony and his supporters quickly followed him towards the large double doors.

“Lord Braeburn! Please!” Cried Radiant Hope, looking down at the yellow pony.

Braeburn looked up at her with a frown.

“Your Majesty, your father risks civil war. If Sundance were here…”

“Braeburn, my father is doing what is best for Equestria!”

Braeburn just gave her a cold look, and turned to leave.

“Is that what he did for your husband, your Majesty?”

Radiant hope gasped and then placed a hoof over her heart. She remembered staring into her husband’s, King Soarin’s eyes, before he left to fight the darklings. She looked up only to see Braeburn and his supporters marching out the front door. Hope sighed and turned to follow her father deep in the castle.

…

“Wakeup boys. A few more travelers to attend to. I bet that pegasi is the leader.”

The unicorn stallion pointed at me as we crossed the bridge. Soon the rest of his little group was up as well.

“Umm, they don’t look like the others boss, maybe we should let them pass.”

“Nonsense. Hello there!”

“Highway men. Preying on people fleeing the darklings, the cowards.”

Dash growled from beside me.

“How can they be so cruel!” Azura asked, appalled.

“It doesn’t matter. Let’s just kill them and be done with it.” Dash said, eyeing her sword.

“Now is that anyway to greet somepony? Maybe if you hand over ten silvers and I’ll forgive your friends rude behavior.”

“How can you do this to ponies? They are trying to survive just like you?” I asked.

“Well some of us have to make a living somehow. Think of us as toll collectors, the only difference is that we aren’t.”

I groaned in frustration and turned to the dog, which I named Fang.

“Sic ’em boy!”

Fang leapt at the nearest pony and quickly tore out his throat. The other highway ponies were stunned for a seconds, and we took advantage of it. I galloped forward and ran one pony through with the tip digging deep into his neck. Their archers tried to draw their bows and aim, but Azura was already upon them. In a flash of light Azura was gone and in her place was a giant spider, as big as a pony.

The archers screamed in fear and fired their arrows, but the spider leapt into the air and landed right on top of one of them and sank her fangs into it neck. They tried to run, but she quickly leapt from pony to pony, either hitting them with her stinger, or digging into them with her fangs. Rainbow Dash was all over them, her lightning fast speed outmatched any of the enemy pegasi. Her sword made quick work of them. The fight only lasted a couple seconds, until the leader of the group and three out of the twelve ponies remained.

“Please, we surrender! We’re just trying to get by before they darklings kill us all.”

“Get by? Youre criminals!” Shouted Azura, who was back to her normal self.

“Y-yes. We are criminals. I’m sorry we ever attacked you!”

“We should turn them into the authorities.” I said.

“There aren’t any authorities, just the Templars! And they’ll execute me.”

“Then I’ll do it now and save you the trouble.” Dash said, grabbing her sword again.

“Wait Dash! Give me a second.” I looked at the bandit. “Give us all the money you’ve stolen.”

“Yes! Of course.” He tossed me a large coin pouch. “A hundred silver, the rest are in the chest nearby.”

“Good, now get out of here. I don’t want to see you bothering these ponies again!”

Once they fled Dash immediately got in my face.

“What the hell was that? We had them! Why would you let them go after what they’ve done to so many other ponies?”

Azura quickly got between us.

“Come on Rainbow Dash, don’t you think enough blood has been shed. It’s one thing to fight someone, but to kill them after they surrender is just wrong.”

Dash growled, but slowly nodded her head.

“I get what your trying to say. But what if they harm some other pony? What if they go to some other village and try to pull this shit again, and maybe with better weapons next time. What then Comet?”

“I…” I looked down at my hooves. “I never thought about it. I thought I was doing the right thing.”

Dash looked me up and down before sighing and nodding.

“While it’s good to have your own morals in check remember that we have a war to fight. The darklings won't wait for you to do the right thing.”

When I didn’t say anything Rainbow grabbed the coin pouch and walked towards the chest the highway man was talking about.

Azura gave me a weak smile.

“It’s okay Comet. I know you did the right thing.”

“Then why do I feel like crap?”

“Because that’s how the world works.”

She nuzzled my cheek affectionately before turning and walking away, leaving me to follow along with Fang, who was trying to cheer me up by chasing his tail. At least one of us was having fun.

Appleloosa I

“Ah there it is. Appleloosa.”

We stood outside the village of Appleloosa, outside of the palisade surrounding the village, but luckily the Templars opened the gate when we approached. Dash turned towards me and Azura.

“Ok, before we enter I think it’s time we discussed where we intend to go first.”

A thought came to mind that I didn’t think about before.

“I need to find my father! He was at The Castle of the Two Sisters.”

“King Soarin said he was under Lord Sombra’s command.” Azura reminded me, her voice trying to sound gentle.

“Oh. Right.” I said. My father was under the command of the very pony that wanted me dead.

“Then he is either at Cloudsdale or dead.” Dash said. Azura glared at her with her sapphire eyes.

“VERY sensitive.” Azura said sarcastically.

“What I mean is that it is foolish to go looking for your father when we have no idea where he even is. The Shades are overrun with darklings, so we will either find him outside the wilds with others, or not at all.”

Dash said, trying to sound as sympathetic as possible, and although she wasn’t very good at it I respected her for trying.

“If your father really did die, then I suggest you do him a favor and fight the darklings first and then we can look for him later.”

“I think what Flemeth said was a good idea. We should use these treaties to our advantage.” Azura said, trying to change the subject.

“R-Right, let’s talk about that.” I said eagerly.

“There’s the earth ponies in Orzammare, the deers in the Everfree Forest, and the Circle of Magi at Lunar Lake. And judging by what Dash said, we might also be able to get the support of Arl Sundancer.” Azura said.

“What about the Grey Wardens?” I asked.

“There are the Wardens of the Crystal Empire, but they’re a thousand miles away.”

“Where do you think we should go Dash?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I’ll go wherever you go.”

“Wait.” Azura looked at the rainbow pegasi in confusion. “You’re the senior Grey Warden here, why don’t you choose?”

“Look, I have a long history of trusting my gut and rushing into things, and although it doesn’t happen as often any more, when I do something like that, I tend to regret it. I don’t want to fight about it either.”

“Ok.” I said nervously. “Never mind that then, do you have any ideas?”

“Well, there is one.” Dash said uneasily.

“Go on.”

“I say we attack him directly. We go to Cloudsdale, and kill Sombra. Then we can focus on the treaties in safety.”

I stared at her for a couple seconds. Now I understood what she meant by rushing into things.

“Umm Dash, it’s not a bad idea. But surely you haven’t forgotten that Sombra does have the advantage of an army, and experience, and-“

Azura started, but Dash quickly cut in.

“I was asked a question and I answered. If your plan is to stand there and list off all the reasons why my plan is stupid, the darklings will already be upon us.”

I sighed and shook my head.

“Let’s get going.”

“As you wish. We can talk more when we have all the necessary supplies.”

…

Dash suggested we talk to one of the Templars for information, but the news we received was grim.

“Move on when you can. Appleloosa is lost.” The Templar said.

“Umm, I was actually just hoping you could tell me some news.”

“Alright, but most of it is probably rumors. We’ve had refugees coming in here every day, the tavern and local Chantry are full. There isn’t enough food to go around, and all we Templars can do is keep order. Believe when I say you should probably move on. I’m sorry but if you have any more questions then please speak to the Revered Mother at the Chantry or Knight-Captain Silver Wings.”

And so we continued our walk through the town. Apparently the bandits I let go had taken the belongings from a couple deers seeking refuge in Appleloosa. When I told them they were gone, they gave their thanks and went to go find the goods the bandits took from them.

“Alright, maybe what you did was a good thing.” Rainbow Dash muttered making me smile.

We looked around until we stumbled upon a large cage with something… interesting inside it. It appeared to be a pony, but this pony was covered in stripes and appeared to be sitting…cross legged. It’s cutie mark were strange markings I didn't understand. Its eyes were closed until we approached the cage.

“You aren’t one of my jailors. If you came here seeking entertainment, then I suggest you move along. I don’t do tricks. Leave me in peace, pegasi.”

“What are you?” Azura asked, clearly just as surprised as I was.

“I am in a cage. Could I be a prisoner?” It said flatly, making Azura turn away in a huff.

“I am Zen of the Beresaad. A warrior of the Zebra Nation.”

“I’m Comet. Pleased to meet you.”

Zen looked at me for a few seconds before speaking,

“Are you mocking me, or are you just showing manners that I have not come to expect in this land? It doesn’t matter, I will die soon enough.”

“This is a powerful creature. Trapped like a bird in a cage, left for the darklings. If you cannot find a use for him, then I say release him for mercy’s sake alone.” Dash said, surprising me.

“Mercy? I wasn’t expecting that from you.” Azura said teasingly.

“What I’m trying to say is that zebras are renowned for being great warriors. If we can set him free, then he may join us. What do we have to lose?” Dash asked, looking at me intently.

“I suggest you leave me to my fate.” Zen said indifferently.

“Funny, it seems I find myself in need of some skilled help.” I said, looking to see if the zebra would react.

“It appears you do. What help do you seek?”

“I have sworn to save Equestria from the Blight.”

“The Blight,” He looked at me closely before nodding. “I see you are a Grey Warden.”

“How’d you know?” I asked, surprised.

“Your cutie mark is the Grey Warden insignia, and your armor has the same insignia.” I wanted to slap myself for asking such a stupid question.

“I have heard legends about the Grey Wardens strength and skill, but only legends.”

“And I’ve only heard tales of Zebra’s being great warriors. But those are just stories.” I shot back, but the zebra didn’t react.

“If you go to the Chantry and manage to somehow convince the Revered Mother to free me, I will consider joining you group.”

I stroked my chin. It would be nice to have the extra muscle around, and having a zebra for an ally would make ponies think twice before confronting us.

“Ok Zen, I’ll go talk to the Revered Mother. Maybe if I tell them we are Grey Wardens, she may come around.”

“Farewell Wardens.” He said before closing his eyes again.

As we walked away Dash sighed.

“Leaving him there to die for the darklings. It just doesn’t seem right.”

“I agree.” Azura said, and both looked at me intently, but I was already walking towards the Chantry.

…

“The legions of evil are coming, and when they come they will feast upon our hearts. There is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, the evil will sweep across the land and swallow the world in darkness!”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Groaned Azura.

When we approached the Chantry we were welcomed by a familiar screaming old pony, surrounded by others who were either trying to calm him down, or listening to him in fear.

“You know this pony?” Dash asked.

We told her how we knew him and she whistled and shook her head.

“Damn… Why not just let Azura punch him and get it over with? It may smack some sense into him again.” Dash asked, shrugging her shoulders.

“Gladly.” Azura said, her eyes flashing yellow.

“No.” I said firmly. “If these villagers see us assault a troubled pony then their look on the Grey Wardens will diminish.”

“A couple villagers won't hurt us.” Dash said, again shrugging her shoulders.

“No… no.” Azura said, her eyes returning to normal. “He’s right. We don’t know what ponies think of the Grey Wardens. To ponies the Grey Wardens failed the king, and let him fall on the field of battle. I wouldn’t be surprised if a couple ponies are mad at the wardens.”

“Fine, but can we at least shut him up before the Templars kill him.” Dash growled trying to cover her ears.

We approached the man who was still ranting about the evil coming to kill us all.

“Better to slit you children’s throats then let the the darklings take them.”

Taking a deep breath, I stepped in front of him.

“Hey, long time no see.”

“You…You! This stallion is infected by the taint!” He turned to Dash, “And this one too. They will kill us all.”

“Why don’t you quiet down.” Dash said, though I could hear the strain in her voice.

“I watched the darklings descend on my people, I will not be silenced!”

“Please somebody shut him up!” begged a unicorn. The pegasi next to him however said,

“Isn’t he right. The soldiers left us. We’re goanna die!”

“These two are among the first who will destroy us!” The old earth pony shouted, pointing at us. Dash finally losing her patience stalked up to the earth pony,

“Don’t be a fool!” She looked at the ponies around them. “Darklings can be killed.”

“No! I have seen what they can do with my own eyes. You cannot run! You cannot hide! You cannot fight!” He raved on.

“Standing here and yelling at these ponies won't save you!” Dash almost screamed her wings flaring out.

“There is nothing to do! There is no hope!”

“Equestria has fought of the Blight before, and we’ll do it again. With or without you.” Dash growled.

“Are… are you calling me a coward?!” Yelled the old earth pony.

“I’m calling you an idiot! Listen to yourself! What good is this doing for any pony!”

The old pony stared at Rainbow Dash before looking at the ground.

“I have shamed my ancestors. But the darkness will come…”

The earth pony slowly trotted away. Another earth pony dressed in Chantry robes looked at Dash and shook her head.

“He was right, wasn’t he? We’re all goanna die.”

Dash looked at her for a few moments before laying a hoof on her shoulder.

“Listen to me. There is always hope! Restore your courage. Do not lose faith!”

The earth pony nodded, confidence beaming from her face.

“Your right. We can’t give up now!”

“But we can’t fight. What are we supposed to do?” asked a pegasi.

“We can’t lie down and die either! Let us go north to Cloudsdale.” said a unicorn and just like that, the crowd dispersed.

A Templar, who was watching, approached Dash and bowed his head.

“Many thanks to you Grey Warden. You gave those people hope to live, and for that I am grateful.”

Dash smiled and bowed her head as well.

“Just helping out wherever I can.”

Dash turned to us and had a pretty confused look when she saw us smiling at her.

“What?”

“Nothing.” Azura said smiling. “But I guess you can say we finally understand what Flemeth meant when she talked about Grey Wardens inspiring ponies.”

Dash actually blushed and shook her, but still wore a big cheeky grin.

“Just helping out wherever I can.”

Appleloosa II

When we entered the Chantry we talked to the Knight-Captain, Silver Wings. Lucky for us he was a Grey Warden sympathizer, and he quickly filled us in on what happened. Apparently, Sombra told everyone that the Grey Wardens betrayed the king and left him to die. Luckily, Silver Wings didn’t believe in the ridiculous story and offered a reward for driving of the bandits, but we declined. On the other hoof, he did tell us about the Chanter’s Board outside the Chantry, a number of jobs that could result in a reward. We left him, but we also stumbled upon an old friend of Rainbow Dash.

“Oh… Pardon me, I didn't see you coming.” She said.

“Spitfire… is that you?” Dash asked, shocked at seeing a familiar face.

Spitfire was a yellow pegasi, with orange eyes, an orange mane with amber stripes, and a cutie mark that looked like three licks of flames, and she wore the armor of a knight.

“Dash! Thank Celestia!” Spitfire smiled and gave Rainbow Dash a quick hoof bump before pulling her in for a tight hug. “How are you? I thought you were dead.”

“Not yet, but maybe if Sombra catches us.”

Spitfire growled and slammed a hoof on the ground.

“If Sundancer was well, he would put Sombra in his place!”

Dash looked at Spitfire in alarm.

“Sick… If he is sick, then why are you here?”

“Every knight in ponyville is searching for the Urn of the Alicorns. They say the ashes of Princess Luna could cure any illness. Some days I don’t even believe the urn exists, my hope fades.”

“Shouldn’t you be fighting darklings?” I asked, but Spitfire shook her head.

“My mission takes priority, but I’ll have to return to Ponyville sooner or later.”

“We actually wanted to meet Arl Sundancer.”

“Why’s that?” Spitfire asked.

“We want his help against Lord Sombra.” I said.

“Hmm, it’s true that my lord is a popular stallion, but Sombra is a hero throughout Equestria. But I can’t focus on that now. My mission comes first.”

This time Azura spoke up.

“What if Sombra had something to do with Sundancers illness?”

“Sundancer got sick before the king’s death but,” Spitfire rubbed her head in frustration. “what if Sombra planned that too? If that’s true, then I fear for what his plans are for the rest of Equestria.”

“Don’t worry Spitfire were gonna go to Ponyville and see what we can do.” Dash said.

“I hope so Dash. Regardless, I hope to see you there after I return. I’m sure Lord Breaburn will be happy to accommodate you.”

“I hope I will, but what exactly are you waiting for Spits? Why not return to Ponyville now?” Dash asked.

“I’m waiting for my fellow knight Fleetfoot. She should have been here by now.” Spitfire said, clearly worried.

“We’ll keep our eyes open.” said Dash.

We said goodbye to Spitfire and spoke to the Revered Mother. She soon told us that Zen had apparently killed a family of farmers, outside of Appleloosa. Then he just sat there and waited for the Templars to come and arrest him. It took a little convincing, but luckily after I told her that we were Grey Wardens and willing to take Zen off her hooves, she agreed as long as we never bring him back to the Chantry. However, she asked me if I wanted the blessing of Celestia but I refused, which wouldn’t have been a problem if Azura didn’t start asking me questions.

“I just don’t understand why you don’t believe in Celestia and Luna. Even my mother, Flemeth acknowledge they existed and she’s been around for who knows how long.” Azura said as we made our way to Zen’s cage. “You promised you would tell me why you don’t believe in the goddesses.”

I sighed and shook my head.

“Let’s just drop it for now. I’ll tell you later.”

Azura frowned, but didn’t ask anything else. Dash just shrugged indifferently. We approached the cage and the zebra was still sitting in the same position. He stood when I approached the cage and immediately noticed the key that hung from around my neck by a string.

“I confess that I did not believe the priestess would part with it, or that you would actually get it.” He said flatly.

“She did agree to release you, but under my custody.” I said.

“I see. Open this cage and I will follow you against the Blight.”

I opened the cage and he slowly stepped out and stretched his legs.

“I will follow you into battle, and in doing so I will atone for my crime.”

“Welcome Zen. Glad to have you with us.” I said, sticking out a hoof.

He looked at me for a couple seconds before pushing his hoof against mine in a hoof bump. We walked around the town until we finally found the tavern, but a pony outside the tavern warned us that some ponies were looking for us. When we entered the tavern however, I stopped in my tracks.

The tavern was filled with countless ponies, all probably fleeing from the Blight. But when we stepped in I immediately saw ponies wearing the pegasi royal guard armor, but it was one pony with a whitening beard, and blue coat just like mine that stood and walked over to us flanked by the other guards.

“Hello, son.”

“Son?” Dash said, looking at me in surprise.

“Hello father.” I said.

“Tell me how why my own son joined the treacherous Grey Wardens, and brought dishonor upon his family.”

I frowned and shook my head.

“Father I haven’t-“

“You were meant for so much more. You could have joined the guards, maybe actually do something with your life. Instead you run away, turn my own wife against me, and helped the Grey Wardens kill our king.”

“Please father you have to believe me. The Grey Wardens didn’t kill the king. Sombra betrayed the king, he lied to everyone about what happened. You have to believe me.”

My father looked at me for a couple seconds, as I was begging for him to come to his senses. My father had always been that one guard who was always by the books. But there were a few times when he actually acted like he was my father, I prayed that this was one of those times.

“I’m not sure what to believe any more son, but if you truly want to end this, then please surrender. I'll take you to Cloudsdale and we can work something out with Sombra. He already has a plan for stopping the darklings, and I’m sure he can find some use for you, and maybe a little convincing from me and he’ll drop all the crimes on you as a Grey Warden.”

My eyes widened at his offer.

“Really?”

“Yes, and I’m sure your mother will be thrilled to see her son again.”

I couldn’t believe it. My father was actually trying to help me. He actually wanted me to come back with him, be his son again. But before I could think of anything else I stopped and raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“What about my friends? What’ll you do with them?”

“They will be arrested and taken to Cloudsdale as well, for assisting a, fugitives. Your fellow Grey Warden shall be tried, as well as the bat pony and… whatever that thing is.”

The happiness and hope in my chest dropped almost immediately at these words. My companions however took the news a lot worse than me.

“Oh yeah! I’d like to see you try!” Dash shouted.

“I refuse to be caged again. Especially by some foreign king.”

Zen said, both of them got into a fighting stance.

“Comet… you wouldn’t let him imprison us, right?”

Azura looked at me with hopeful eyes, but I didn’t know what to say. It was my father. Could I really kill him? Choose my friends over him?

“Please, maybe we should all calm down.” said a gentle voice.

A unicorn with a light green coat, green mane and dark green highlights stepped forward wearing chantry robes.

“Let’s us all just have a drink and calm down.”

“Stay out of this sister. This is between me and my son. Speaking of whom,” He turned to me. “What is your choice?”

“I-I… I don’t know.”

My father looked at me for a couple seconds before shaking his head, and his eyes now filled with anger and frustration.

“This is what I expected from you. My own son can’t even make the right decision even when it is right in front of his own eyes. Your own mother had to help you run away from home, and now you’ve joined a band of murderers. If only your mother where, so she could see how much of a disappointment her son is.”

I took a step back, the hurt in my chest was immeasurable. Azura looked at me in shock, and turned to my father her eyes turning yellow.

“Your son has saved my life and everyone in our little group at least once. He fought the earth ponies in Orzammare. He saved a little girl from the darklings. And he fought at The Castle of the Two Sisters against the horde of darklings even when Lord Sombra fled the field of battle. He has earned his place among the Grey Wardens, and no matter what you say he and Rainbow Dash will avenge the Grey Wardens and stop the darklings from destroying Equestria.”

My eyes widened at her words. The soldiers around us drew their weapons, and my father’s eyes filled with rage as he reached for his own weapon. I acted fast, and stepped in front of Azura as my father swung his sword, and it bounced off my shield. The rest of my companions moved to attack. Dash quickly pulled out her sword and darted at the pegasi warriors who tried taking to the air.

“Azura! Help Dash!” Azura nodded and shot into the air as well. My father continued to slash his blade against my shield, as he closed the distance, making my lance nearly useless. Seeing this, my father flapped his wings and darted to my side. His blade whizzed down towards my head, but before it could hit me, a shadow darted between us.

The unicorn. The mare drew a knife from her robes with her magic and parried my father’s sword. My father recoiled in surprise but the unicorn was quick and pulled out another dagger and started her assault. I was impressed, the mare was a whirlwind of death as she drove my father back. I turned to see how the rest of my companions were doing.

Zen ran right past me and leapt towards the nearby wall. I watched in awe as he pushed himself off the wall and shot towards one of the pegasi who was aiming an arrow at Dash and Azura, who were busy fighting their own foes. Zen’s leap was impressive, and the pegasi didn’t see him coming. He quickly had the pegasi in a chock hold, and didn’t stop until the pegasi dropped his weapon and fell to the ground. Zen landed next to the limp body, but before I could say anything, he grabbed the ponies head and quickly snapped its neck. My jaw dropped at the brutal kill, but before I could say anything Zen grabbed a nearby table and chucked it towards me. I ducked as the table flew overhead, but was surprised to see the table slam into a pegasi who was sneaking up behind me. Zen nodded before his eyes focused on something else. I turned and saw that my father was barely blocking the unicorn’s quick strikes, but he was slowly gaining the upper hand.

“Fang!” I yelled.

My hound who was tearing into a pegasi that Dash knocked to the ground turned to me and I pointed a hoof at my father. He barked and launched himself at father and bit deep into his wing. My father screamed in pain, dropping his sword only for the unicorn to buck the side of his head, cutting off his scream. He collapsed to the ground, as Fang let go of his wing. My father dragged his body until he sat with his back pressed against the wall. The unicorn turned to me, sheathing her bloody daggers in her robes.

“Sister! You protect these traitors? You will share their fate.” He growled glaring at the unicorn.

The mare shook her head.

“How can you call your own son a traitor? May Celestia have mercy on your soul.”

She looked at me as I approached, and bowed her head.

“What should we do with him?”

I didn’t answer. Dash and Azura landed on the floor, while everyone who was in the tavern who had tried their best to steer clear of the fight watched intently, like children being told a story.

“Kill me.” My father said weakly, looking up at me defiantly.

“I never knew my father to be a coward.” I growled.

“Excuse me?” He asked.

“You sit there, begging for death, when you can still go home. Tell my mother anything you want, that I’m a traitor, that I shamed you and her, brought dishonor on the family. At least you’ll be alive and mother won't have to bury another member of our family.”

Father looked at me for a couple seconds before looking away. I looked at the unicorn.

“So what’s your-.“

“Watch out!” shouted Azura.

The unicorn pushed me out of the way just as a sword slashed just were my head was. My reflexes kicked in. I slammed my shield into the sword, knocking it out of my father’s mouth, and I without a moments hesitation I plunged my lance into his chest. I watched as the life slowly left my father’s eyes as his blood slid down my lance.

“Comet…” he groaned before his eyes slowly closed.

I pulled the lance his chest and watched as his lifeless body collapsed on the ground. The whole tavern was quiet. I tried my best avoid the stares, but I couldn’t handle it.

“Comet!?” Azura yelled as I ran past her and Dash, and out of the tavern.

…

I ran outside the village and towards some abandoned farmland. I didn’t know what I was doing there, but I didn’t care. All I did was sit there, no tears, no grief, I just…sat there. I don’t know how long I sat, but I heard some pony approaching me.

“I don’t want to talk right now Azura.”

“That’s unfortunate. The bat showed great concern for you.”

I looked up to see Zen looking down at me with a bored look. Fang was behind him, but was too busy rolling through the grass. I looked away from Zen and back to the cornfield, but Zen quietly walked over and sat beside me.

“This sword. Its pommel has the marking of a comet. Why is this?” Zen asked, as he held the sword my father used in his hooves.

“It’s my family sword. They say that long ago a comet fell from the sky and crashed outside my ancestor’s home. My ancestor, Rising Comet, a lowly blacksmith, saw it and got his cutie mark. He was angry at how pitiful his cutie mark was and they say he took the comet and forged it into a sword. With that sword he made a name for himself, joined the royal guard, and the family name “Comet” was passed down from generation to generation. My full name is Orion Comet. My father’s name was Soaring Comet. My sisters name…”

I didn’t continue, but Zen shook his head.

“Your ancestor was foolish. How can one forge a comet into a sword?”

I smiled and shook my head.

“Yeah, I guess it’s pretty stupid. Why don’t you take it Zen?”

“Regardless of your ancestor’s foolish story, it is a fine blade. But I’m afraid I cannot accept this. I will only fight with my sword.”

“Your sword?” I asked.

“Yes. I swore I would not tell anyone about why I killed that family, but you’ve earned my respect after what you did in the tavern.”

“But I haven’t done anything to-.“

“Zebras do not have mothers or fathers or at least we are not raised by our mother or fathers. But I have seen with my own eyes the bond between parent and child. I saw…when I slaughtered the family. I understand it was hard to kill your father, yet when he didn’t surrender you did it without a second thought. I do not know what to expect from you as a Grey Warden, but I will respect you for the choices you make.”

“…Thank you Zen.” I said, bowing my head. “What exactly happened?”

“Me and my fellow warriors came to Equestria to see if this Blight is truly a threat. But before we could collect our information, we were ambushed by bandits. I was knocked out from behind, and when I woke I was surrounded by the farmer and his family, but my sword was missing.”

“I don’t understand. Is your sword really that important?”

“A zebra’s sword is something they themselves make, and they themselves use. It is a very important part of our culture, and a very important part of our lives as warriors. When I lost it…I turned my rage to the family, the mare and the fillies. The Chantry Templars found me sitting there and you know the rest.”

“Wow Zen. I’m sorry.”

“I did not ask for your pity. You won my respect.”

He held the sword out to me.

“Take it. I do not see any worth in it, but maybe you do.”

I took the sword and tied it to my saddle.

“Where’s is every pony?”

“They are burying the bodies. The bat told me to check on you, and I simply obliged.”

“I see…How do you feel about a little work Zen.”

Zen, Fang, and I spent the next couple hours doing jobs around the town, helping a little boy find his mother, killing a couple animals, driving off more bandits, but we also found the body of Fleetfoot. We took a locket and a note from her body and returned to Spitfire.

“Her locket…and a note… Thank you. I’ll return to Ponyville, and… I’ll try and see if I can throw in a good word for you.”

I thanked him, and luckily one of the rewards I got was a sword from the Chanters Board. I gave it to Zen.

“What makes you think I will accept this any more than your family sword?” He asked.

“Your sword may be your life, and I know you are lethal with your hooves, but if we are goanna stand against the Blight then I need you at you best.”

“The darklings won't care about what I fight with.” He pointed out.

“But I do. You may not like it, but wield this sword until we find yours.”

“You’ll… help find my sword?” He asked, surprised.

“Yes. I promise.”

Zen looked at me for a couple seconds before nodding and drawing his new sword, looked at it, before sheathing it.

“It will do.”

After getting enough money and buying a few supplies we made our way back to the tavern. The man who owned the tavern told me that they took the bodies outside the town to bury them. We managed to find them just as Dash scooped the last bit of dirt over my father’s corpse. Azura spotted me and trotted over to with a worried expression.

“I wanted to go after you, but Zen insisted that you needed space and that he would talk to you when you were ready.” She squeaked in surprise when I pulled her into an embrace.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you worry.”

“Nah, we knew you needed time to cope.” Dash said.

“Thank you… all of you.”

I looked at each of my friends, before looking at the unicorn, who to my surprise was no longer wearing her Chantry robes and instead was sporting some well-crafted leather armor. On her back was a bow and arrows, and in her gauntlets were her two daggers. I needed to talk to her, but first. I walked over to where Dash buried my father, and I bowed my head.

“We didn’t always see eye to eye father, and we probably never would have. But I have a path that I myself must walk. But you won't have to worry father, I'll take your sword back to mother. I tell her how hard you fought to bring honor back to our family. I promise this to you.”

No one said anything, but I slowly pulled myself up and trotted over to the unicorn mare.

“And you are?”

“Clover. I saw those men were about to attack and I thought I could end the matter peacefully. Unfortunately, I was wrong.”

I nodded.

“Thank you for your help. I feel like I should give you something in return.”

“No, I don’t need anything, I just have a request.”

“Yes?”

“May I join your group?” she asked.

My eyes widened in surprise.

“Umm ok. May I ask why?”

“Because Celestia told me too.”

I looked at her blankly for a couple seconds.

“Celestia... the Sun goddess?”

“Yes.”

“Your saying she spoke to you.”

“Yes, she told me that you were coming and that I need to join your group to help drive away evil, and spread her word to all corners of the earth.” She gave me such an innocent smile.

I looked back at my companions.

“Believe me, I was just as confused as you were when she told us why she wanted to join.” Dash said, rolling her eyes.

“Azura?” I asked, looking at her.

“My thoughts? Well I don’t know about the whole Celestia wants me to do this thing she’s selling, but she did pretty well in the tavern. I say give her a chance.”

“Zen?” I looked at him.

“I say we walk away, quickly.”

“Fang.”

“Woof.” He barked.

I turned to the girl and nodded my head.

“Alright, your in. I won't turn away help.”

“Thank you. I appreciate you giving me this chance, and I promise not to let you down.”

And so with all of our supplies, we left the town. Or at least we were on our way out of the town until we saw two unicorns dressed in strange clothing being attacked by darklings. The one in charge of the group seemed to be one large armored hurlock who roared commands to them.

“Zen, Fang, your both with me, we’ll take the leader. Dash take care of those archers in the sky. Clover keep the genlocks off us with those arrows, Azura use your shape shifting magic to cover her. Go!”

I shouted my orders quickly as we charged the darklings. I blocked a blow from one of the darklings and jammed by lance tip into its chest. I didn’t have time to push its corpse off my lance as more approached so I simply lifted my lance and continued running darklings through until at least five of them were piled onto my lance. I couldn’t move with all the extra weight, but luckily I wasn’t alone. Zen let out a battle cry as he decapitated a genlocks that was approaching my left, and Fang tackled another.

Above us, Rainbow Dash was flying circles around the darklings, taunting them and slashing them every chance she got. One hurlock dove towards me, but an arrow thumped against its chest and it crashed next to me. I looked back to see Clover had pulled the bow from her back and was firing arrows at any darkling’s that got too close. The ones that did manage to get close found themselves facing a giant bear, Azura, and their cries were cut short when one of her large paws swiped at the darklings, knocking their heads clean off their bodies.

Zen and Fang took point and quickly cleared the way for me to get to the leader. The large hurlock spreads it wings and took to the air, attempting to escape but I had wings too. I launched myself towards the hurlock, and it dove down towards me. I aimed my lance, and it raised its large axe as we got closer. Then with a mighty roar it swung its ax, but I was smaller and quicker. I spun to the side, not breaking my momentum and I smiled in satisfaction as my lance hit home, severing the hurlocks head so now it rested on the tip of my lance. I shook my lance dislodging its head from the tip, and I watched as it’s body hit the ground below.

“Thank you! Thank you!” said one of the unicorns. From the looks of it, they were twins.

“He’s Flim!” said one, pointing to his brother with the mustache.

“He’s Flam!” The mustached one said, pointing to one without the mustache.

“We’re the Flim Flam Brothers!” They said, striking a pose.

“The whosa and the whata?” asked Dash, who was hovering above us.

“I say, you have our thanks Grey Wardens. We wish to give you a reward, but I’m afraid we don’t have much to give.”

I looked at their broken wagon and nodded.

“I see, well be careful. Nice to meet you Flim and Flam.”

“We promise to repay you one day.” They called out as we walked away and out of town towards our new destiny.

Prologue

"Look upon my kingdom, look upon it and see its perfection.

Now look at it again as my Golden City is darkened,

For each step you take brings evil to its golden halls,

Sins against heaven, shall bring hell upon the earth.

Friendship is lost."

-Celestia

The Chantry teaches us that it was the foolishness, and greed of ponies that brought the darklings into our world. The alicorns attempted to breach the very heavens, but instead they destroyed it. Celestia, the Alicorn queen of the heavens, threw them back down to earth. Darkness and corruption twisted and cursed their minds and their bodies. They returned as monsters, husks of their former selves. They became a mighty darkness that ate the light, a true blight upon the land.

The earth ponies were the first to fall, pushed to near extinction by the darklings. And from deep underground the darklings attacked again and again, nearly destroying the world like they did the heavens.

Until the Grey Wardens came.

Mares and stallions from every race. Pegasi and unicorns, earth ponies and griffons. The Grey Wardens sacrificed everything to stop the darklings, and they prevailed.

It has been four centuries since that victory. And we kept our vigil, watching and waiting for the darklings to return and destroy the world. But those who once called us heroes have forgotten, and now we are put a few light against the overwhelming darkness. And our warnings have been ignored for far too long. It may even be too late. For I have seen with my own eyes what is coming on the horizon.

Celestia have mercy on us all.