Death Dealer

Chapters

02 - Rise of Darkness
03 - Silence is Golden
04 - Power of the Helmet
05 - Acts of Evil
06 - Chance Encounter
08 - History Lesson
09 - Berserk
10 - Blood is Thicker Than Wine
11 - Cobra
12 - Hive
14 - Sweet Apple Massacre
01 - Unexpected Alliance
07 - Blood in the Forest
13 - A Moment's Rest

02 - Rise of Darkness

Rise of Darkness

The cave they were in was cold and damp, dimly lit by Chrysalis' green magefire lamps. Chrysalis sat upon a throne made of bones watching as the mad mage vigorously dug into a bowl of stew the witch had prepared before she left to free him. Chrysalis knew that Discord would need to recover his strength fast, and the food would help more than anything. She raised her eyebrow however as Discord conjured a glass of chocolate milk out of thin air and washed down his meal, not with the milk mind you, but with the glass itself. He then let the milk fall to the ground where it promptly shattered like glass.

"I see you have regained some strength..." Chrysalis said with a small smile. Discord merely smacked his lips relishing the taste still left in his mouth.

"Now, I believe we have some planning to do. Both of us have been defeated by Celestia's forces before, what do you propose we do about that?" The witch offered in hopes of keeping Discords attention.

Discord's eyes focused into pinpricks as he locked eyes with Chrysalis, his eyes halting their jaunt through the rainbow and stopping on the color red. Red gaze locked with green, and Chrysalis could not help but feel unnerved and wonder if it was the right decision to put her faith into this madman.

"I propose we neutralize any and all threats before they know I have escaped..." Discord said in his moment of lucidity.

"Threats such as the elements?" Chrysalis asked sitting up in her throne, eager to keep Discord on track.

"They will not be a problem, but if the princesses band together, they will still be able to take me down. Then it is a matter of time until you fall as well. W need something to help us stop that from happening." Discord said, a rare stern look on his face. Though he found such planning as boring and dull, he hated being trapped in stone or bound in one of Celestia's magic binding cells even more.

"Don't worry about the Elements? Are they not what defeated you twice already?" Chrysalis said with a smug grin as she taunted the mad mage for falling for the same trick twice.

"Why would I worry about these?" Discord said, pulling a gem encrusted box from behind his back and handed it to the witch. As she opened the box, the Elements of Harmony illuminated the cave with their glory. Chrysalis only grinned malevolently at the sight of Celestia's fail safe being in her possession.

"Now, about facing the princesses... You seem to be on the 'in' when it comes to secret magical knowledge, know anything that will help?" The mad mage said, starting to lose his focus. Discord's eyes returned to drifting through all the colors of the rainbow, and his eyes dilated as he looked around the cave once more.

"I may know of one such object that will aid us, Celestia has it though..." Chrysalis said, baiting Discord's attention back to her by not finishing her answer. The mad mage focused slightly more on the witch, still somewhat aloof.

"The horned helmet." Chrysalis purred. Discord's eyes immediately snapped back to full attention on Chrysalis their shade stuck on a glowing amber.

"You know where it is?" Discord said in wonder, "I searched for where it was hidden for years..."

"Celestia was the one who hid it, she knows where it is. All we need do is hold one of her precious little citizens ransom, and she will tell us where it lies." Chrysalis smiled triumphantly, with the Elements in her possession the rest of her plan was now easy. The mad mage had proven his use to Chrysalis already, and he would no doubt come in handy when they executed the next part of her plan.

"Who do you propose? She will not give up such info for just any regular person. Are you thinking one of the Elements?" Discord inquired, fully interested in this planning that would bring him closer to what he had sought, and what had driven him mad.

"We strike where the heart is weakest of course... We are going for her family, her niece to be precise..." Chrysalis said relishing the look on Discord's face as he shared her smile.

Twilight Sparkle lifted herself off the ground dusted her blouse off and looked at the sky, it was just shortly after dawn. She had left near sunset, this meant she was out for quite a while. The image of those red eyes still burned in her memory. She looked again at the name in the book, it looked so strange. She had never heard of a name like this before, perhaps it was simply an old dialect?

"Um, Twilight? Are you okay?" Fluttershy said the concern still showing on her face. It was not safe near the forest, and her friend had been there all night apparently.

"Huh? Yeah i'm fine Fluttershy, just had a bit of a scare back there..." Twilight said, finally noticing her friend's concern, and glancing back into the forest. She was not going back in there anytime soon.

"Oh, what scared you? If you don'y mind that is..." Fluttershy tried to inquire to help console her friend.

"Well, when I was in there I was attacked by some timber wolves and I couldn't use my magic." Twilight started to explain, a look of defeat on her face as she knew what was about to come.

"What?!" Fluttershy nearly yelled, "Are you sure you're okay? did you get hurt?"

Fluttershy started hovering in the air with her canary yellow wings as she looked at Twilight from every angle to make sure her friend was not hurt. Timber wolves were very dangerous, and one bite could easily turn a wound septic if not treated and cleaned. Many travelers before had died soon after reaching town because they did not find medical care in time.

"Fluttershy I'm fine, someone saved me I think. He was in the old castle when I was attacked, and he scared them off." Twilight said, not willing to admit to her friend that she had also been in a dungeon at the time, lest she scare the timid girl even more than she had. Talking to the pink haired girl did give Twilight time to think clearly as she calmed down a bit. The man had saved her after all, otherwise she would not be here right now.

"Oh, he sounds nice then." Fluttershy said with a smile. Whenever someone else showed kindheartedness, the element of kindness always got a warm and fuzzy feeling. "What did he look like?"

"Well... He was really tall, he was taller than Big Mac, and was really muscular too. He was wearing armor, and his helmet covered his face. His eyes glowed red from behind them too." Twilight said, remembering the daunting figure the saw in the torchlight.

"Never mind, he sounds scary." Fluttershy said nervously. Both girls then shared a laugh at the joke Fluttershy had made.

"Well I need to write a letter to Celestia, so I will catch up with you later Fluttershy." Twilight said to her winged friend.

"Okay Twilight, by the way Rarity wanted me to ask you if you were up to a trip to the spa after lunch today." Fluttershy said with a smile on her face, she loved going to the spa, especially with friends.

"That sounds great I'll be there." Twilight smiled as she answered, a trip to the spa was exactly what she needed after the night she had been through. All she needed to do was send the letter to the princess, then she could unwind all she wanted. She had her book with names that would bring the ancient tales she sought out of Celestia, and she was safe from the forest. Things were looking up for Twilight and she planned on celebrating.

Fluttershy waved as she flew off to tend to her animals, she still had a lot of work to do before noon came around. Her yellow sundress drifted in the breeze as she glided a few feet off the ground towards her cabin. Twilight waved after her with a smile, and began walking back into Ponyville. The sound of a twig snapping caused Twilight to come to a halt. She turned suddenly, her navy blue hair with its pink and purple stripe whipping the air as she spun.

In the tree line, Twilight could make out a shadowy figure with two glowing red eyes turn back into the forest and walk away. He had been sitting right there in the trees, watching over her and making sure she was safe. Why would he do this? Twilight wanted answers, but she was still afraid of the forest. Her knees began to tremble as she remembered the wolves back in the forest. The shadowy figure was starting to blend in with the other shadows of the forest, Twilight needed to decide now.

Twilight fell to her knees as she gave up the notion of following him. She was tired and hungry, plus Spike was no doubt worried sick about her. Rubbing her eyes to try to relieve her drowsiness, Twilight then looked back up and could no longer see the man. With defeat hanging over her now, instead of the accomplishment she felt before, Twilight headed home for a quick nap and something to eat.

Gath trekked back into the forest, his heavy plated boots crushing the forest growth in his path. Taking a deep breath he stretched, the chain mail armor he wore rattled a he moved his pale white limbs, loosening them up from his night of watching over the young blue haired maiden. Gath was not usually one to lend a helping hand, preferring to stay away from civilization. But there was something about that girl, something that provoked him to finally leave his cell.

After he had lost all that he cared for all those years ago, he had let the sun princess capture him. He had cared not for running from those who hunted his power any longer and had sought a place to hide from the troubles of the world. Men such as he were not meant to live forever, but this accursed helmet held him prisoner as much as Celestia had. Though the god inside no longer whispered in his ear, it tormented him with it's power.

That girl however gave him hope, for he realized the world had forgotten him. She saw him, and only feared for her life. She showed no signs of recognition to him, and that meant he could roam the land again free of those who would hunt him. Gath smiled under his helmet as he thought of his freedom.

Coming to a halt from his trek, the large barbarian came to a sudden realization. He was unarmed, and while the helmet had granted him with the strength of the god within it's metal, only a fool would go on unarmed. It took Gath less than a second to decide on what had to be done. He took a deep breath and turned back towards the town he was heading away from, surely it had a blacksmith, or a shop that would sell some weaponry. Perhaps even a place where he could find some food.

Gath then went to test his theory on whether or not the land had forgotten the scar he had inflicted upon it those thousands of years before.

03 - Silence is Golden

Silence is Golden

The apple family worked hard in their orchard, all three siblings hurrying to get the apple harvest complete. The two older siblings wore their work jeans, cowboy boots, and flannel shirts. Applejack was in her usual orange flannel while Big Macintosh wore a red flannel. Little Applebloom was in her overalls and canary yellow t-shirt. Applejack shook the apples from the trees with a mighty drop kick as Applebloom then picked up the fallen apples, only the ripe and ready ones would fall with this method assuring the quality of the Apple family products. After Applebloom filled a bucket, Big Macintosh would then carry the buckets to a wagon, and when the wagon filled he would haul it back to the barn where Granny Smith waited to cook and package the apples.

The Apple family prided themselves on their hard work and the quality of their apples, for truly they were the greatest in all of Equestria. The princesses themselves frequently had the Apple family apples shipped to Canterlot for the royal bakers to cook. This was why the Apples toiled day and night during harvest season, for if they did not hurry they would fall short on stock. Luckily for them however, Twilight had taken the liberty of creating a harvesting schedule that would keep the apple farmers on top of the demand in a timely matter that would not leave them ragged. Because of Twilight's time management they were able to even afford some personal time in their days instead of running around the far harvesting trees at random all season.

Now was one such time as the day quickly approached noon, and the family took it's break. Granny Smith returned to her rocking chair as she watched the day lazily go by, Applejack and Big Macintosh were taking back the last wagon full of apples, another hard days work done and the two older siblings were eager to go on with their days. Applejack was going to join the rest of her friends for lunch, then help Rainbow Dash train at the gym. Big Macintosh was eager to get to the other chores around the farm, lest they go undone for too long.

While her two older siblings were heading back to the barn, Applebloom made a beeline through the orchard for the 'Crusader's Clubhouse' where her friends Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo were waiting for them all to try and find what their special talents were. The three young girls were determined to find something they were good at in hopes of finding jobs of their own, marking them finally as adults.

As Applebloom made her way towards the clubhouse, she noticed something unsettling. She was not alone in the orchard, a rather large man was reaching into one of the trees and grabbing apples. He had very pale skin, as if he had not been in the sun for many years and he wore a black fur jerkin over chainmail armor. The chainmail continued down to the back and sides of his calf, but left the shins up to above the knee open as it came back into a large leather belt with a skull buckle. The grass was torn from his plated greaves, and his face was hidden behind a horned plate helmet that covered everything but the tip of his nose to his chin. What gave Applebloom the largest reason to fear this armor clad man was his eyes, they glowed red from the shadowy eye sockets of the helmet.

The man looked her way and seemed to size her up with an apple hanging from his mouth, the juices dripping to the grass as their gazes met. Applebloom did what any rational young girl would do in her position. She screamed as loud as her little lungs could muster, and ran back to the barn to fetch her siblings.

Gath merely watched her run as he took the apple from his mouth to take another bite.

"Applejack! Big Mac!" Applebloom yelled in a frightened voice for her siblings. Her siblings heard her and rushed to see what the matter was.

"What is it Applebloom?" Applejack asked, a look of concern on her face, "Have the timber wolves come out of the forest again?"

At this Applebloom shook her head and continued on, "No, there is a big scary man in the orchard. He was eatin' some of the apples and he was wearin' some really scary lookin' armor!"

At this Big Mac lifted the lumber axe he was carrying onto his shoulder and looked at Applejack, both of them nodded to each other as they ran off towards where Applebloom was pointing.

The run only took a few minutes until they saw the apple thief still lazily munching on some apples. As they drew closer to him, the siblings stopped abruptly. Applebloom was not lying about him being big, the man was at least a head taller than Big Macintosh, and his muscles put Mac's to shame. The siblings shared a look with each other, then advanced slowly on the man.

Wiping his mouth withe the back of his hand Gath finally spoke to the two farmers, "This your land?" Gath inquired.

"It is, mind if I ask what you're doin' here scarin' mah' lil' sis?" Applejack shot back.

"Was hungry, ate a dozen or so apples, here." Gath said, as he reached a hand into a small leather pouch that hung form his belt and procured a golden coin. He then flipped the coin at Applejack who caught it.

Big Macintosh lowered the axe as he looked at the coin Gath had flipped at his sister, both of the siblings were wide eyed. Gold was rare, the main currency was copper coins, and sometimes silver for the higher amounts. Rarely had gold been present in the small town of Ponyville, this was enough to pay for half a wagon of apples, let alone a mere dozen.

"Umm, this is mighty kind of ya', but you're payin' a bit over what you owe..." Applejack said with the utmost honesty.

"Show me around town, perhaps to a smithy and we can call it even." Gath grunted out, not sure how far his coins would get him in this new age.

At this offer Applejack perked up, she was not one for robbing a man blind, and was happy to work off what she was paid. Nodding at Big Mac that she would take on what the man had hired her for, she motioned for him to follow, but then stopped and turned back to him.

"You might want to take off that helmet, it is a little bit spooky. Wouldn't wanna' scare the entire town now." Applejack laughed nervously at the stoic red gaze from behind the shadowy helmet.

"Doesn't come off." Gath said in a stiff voice. He was not one for talking, he did not like talking. He had learned that listening was better, too often had he seen words be the death of someone. And as they said, silence was golden.

"Beg y'er pardon?" Applejack said with a questioning look on her face.

To make his point, Gath grabbed the helmet and tugged at it, trying to remove it. Sure enough, the helmet stayed put on his head, despite his best efforts. At this Applejack shrugged and lead on to Ponyville, wondering what the man wanted to do at a smithy.

The girls were all meeting at Ponyville cafe for lunch. Twilight was feeling better after her breakfast and nap. She was still famished however, and the last friend to show up was Applejack. Twilight was hungry yes, but she could wait a little bit more for her friend. Rainbow Dash was another story.

"Ugh, where is she?" Rainbow whined, she had slept through the morning and had missed breakfast completely and waited impatiently for the farmer to show up.

Rarity tutted at Rainbows whining and scolded her, "Rainbow Dash, it is most unladylike to whine in public."

"Didn't stop you when you were captured by those diamond hunters." Sniggered Pinkie, unable to stifle her laughter.

The rest of the girls excluding Rarity broke into a mighty fit of laughter, even the timid Fluttershy giggling openly at the joke.

Rarity fidgeted in her white dress and fiddled with her styled purple hair as she remembered the embarrassing moment.

"Ooh, lookie! There she is, and she has a new friend!" Pinkie said enthusiastically pointing out the cafe's window.

The other four girls looked out the window and saw in the street Applejack with a rather large pale man that was wearing armor and had a rather large axe hanging from his belt. Twilight was the most taken aback by the man, for she recognized him. The glowing red eyes were a dead giveaway.

"Woah, look at the size of him!" Rainbow Dash said admiring the athletic figure of the man, her feathers began to ruffle up at the sight of him.

"Getting a little excited aren't we Rainbow Dash?" Rarity quipped, getting revenge for the rainbow haired girl's earlier remarks.

"Twilight, um... Isn't that-" Fluttershy started before getting cut off by Twilight.

"It's him!" Cried Twilight suddenly, breaking form her stupor.

The other girls gave her a questioning glance save Fluttershy who looked ready to bolt, for Applejack was leading him right into the cafe.

As he entered the door, the cafe fell silent. All the denizens looked bug eyed at the armed man. Very rarely had anyone entered the town armed other than the guards, and they had always been trouble. Because of this the townsfolk were always quite wary of anyone carrying a weapon. His visage did him no justice, only when they noticed the local hero Applejack seemingly leading him did they ease up slightly, slowly returning to their own conversations.

"Hey gals, sorry a'hm late. Was showin' this feller here round town. Hope ya'll don't mind I invited him to join us, paid me a pretty bit to show him around and I thought it would be mighty kind." Applejack said to her friends.

"How much are we talking?" Rarity questioned, wondering why Applejack was being so neighborly to the stranger.

In response Applejack held up the solid gold coin. Her friends gasped at the valuable material, only the nobles carried gold anymore after the mines ran out of the precious metal.

"Wowie, you must be super rich mister!" Pinkie said jumping to her feet and running up to Gath. The man stoicly held his ground as the pink haired girl got close to him. He did not want to cause a scene, and despite the discomfort he felt at having the young lady so close to him, he did not know what social norms were nowadays. Back before his incarceration however, he would have killed a man for coming so close. This town seemed peaceful enough however, he silently wondered if Celestia had finally reached the peace she sought so dearly for her kingdom.

As Gath turned his attention from the bouncing Pinkie to the other girls, he froze. He recognized two of them, Twilight and Fluttershy if he remembered their conversation he overheard at the edge of the forest. Gath's eyes narrowed as he stared at Twilight, she was looking at him strangely. He wondered if she had told any guards of his presence, if word got to Celestia that he had escaped he would be back on the run again. Gath did not want that.

Twilight noticed that the glowing eyes were directed at her, and shifted nervously in her seat. Seeing her discomfort, Rainbow stood up form her chair to defend her friend.

"Hey, whats your deal?" Rainbow said glaring at Gath.

"Rainbow, its okay..." Twilight started nervously, "He saved me when I was in the Everfree Forest."

Rainbow, Rarity, and Pinkie gaped at what Twilight said. She was in the Everfree Forest? They looked back at the intimidating man with a new found respect. If he saved their friend he was okay to them. Gath visibly relaxed as he observed the friendly expressions the girls now had. Twilight motioned for Gath and Applejack to join them at the table.

Gath took the seat next to Twilight as the rest of the girls returned to their seats. The dark blue haired girl glanced sideways at the large man, trying to decide how best to approach the issue she wished to discuss. The group placed their orders as a nervous waiter approached them. Twilight finally decided on what to say.

"So... Gath, what brings you to Ponyville?" Twilight baited, trying to get the man to slip up and give some information as to what he was after.

"I did not give my name yet." Gath responded looking down at the scholarly girl, the corners of his mouth pulling down into a frown.

Twilight froze realizing the mistake she had made. Under his disapproving gaze she seemed to shrink, the other girls did not know what to make of the exchange. Applejack just wondered how Twilight knew who he was, and doubted it was a lucky guess. Gath was not a name she had ever heard before.

"Must I ask how you know my name?" Gath said, the frown becoming more evident as he wondered if he made a grave mistake coming into the town for supplies. His hand instinctively drew closer to the handle of his new axe.

Twilight procured a rather ancient looking tome from the pack that had lain hidden on the floor by her chair. As she opened it, realization donned on Gath and he let his hand drift further from his axe. She knew only that he was imprisoned, not why. The frown melted into an impassive look, giving Twilight the courage to talk again.

"Your name was in here... Mind if I ask why?" Twilight started again.

"Yes." Gath said simply as the waiter began plopping down steaming plates of food. Gath looked at the meals the other girls had ordered, then looked down to the cut of meat on his plate. He smiled, the salads and sweats the girls had ordered were not for him, he had hungered for this for quite some time. As he sunk his teeth into the meat, picking it up with his bare hands instead of using his untensils Rarity gasped at his lack of manners.

"My word..." She tutted

Gath gave her an uncertain look as he chewed his meal. Twilight then tried to intervene before Rarity could go over the top on scolding him for his manners.

"He is not form around here Rarity, they must have different traditions where he is from." The scholarly girl offered, hoping Gath would catch on.

"Things are indeed very different here. More peaceful." Gath responded. Twilight sighed in relief as Gath followed up on the comment she had given. Then as a thought occurred to her she looked rather curious.

"Gath, would you mind swinging by my home at the library later tonight. I have some questions I would like to ask you." Twilight said, hoping for the man to accept. He seemed to weigh his options however.

"I do not know where that is. Applejack did not point it out, so why don;t we meet at the edge of the forest where I left you?" Gath offered, not wanting to meet a stranger on a turf as familiar to them as their own home, lest there be an ambush of guards waiting. Out in the open he could be prepared for a fight if it came to that.

Twilight did not like the change in plans, but went with it nonetheless. Perhaps she could even coax him back to the library to take notes if she got his trust. She wanted to squeeze as much history as she could from him, if her theory was right, he could be as old if not older than the princess herself.

"Very well, shall we meet just before sun down then?" Twilight offered.

"That will be acceptable." Gath said in between bites, "Bring me some wine skins in exchange for your questions though."

The other girls watched the exchange with some great interest. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were still sizing him up, wondering just how strong he was. Pinkie was trying to plan a party for him, but was not sure as of yet where to throw it seeing as he did not have a home in Ponyville. Rarity was keeping a look of disdain at his manners as she watched him dig in. But Fluttershy, she did not like the looks of him. She got a bad feeling just looking at him and had barely touched her food.

Gath procured a golden coin and set it upon the table as he stood up. He turned to leave and looked back to the girls.

"On me." he said, as he turned back and left the cafe. The girls stared at the coin on the table.

"At least he has some manners." Huffed Rarity.

The waiter was staring wide eyed at the valuable metal on the table, he looked over at the girls almost as if to confirm it was real.

"You might want to open a tab for him..." Twilight mumbled, barely loud enough for the waiter to hear. The waiter merely nodded stiffly as the girls all left the table to carry on with their days.

Gath looked up from the work he was doing, it was not much yet but it was a start. The tree he found in the forest was a magnificent specimen, and would serve as a good place to build his new home. Now it was only partially hollowed near the base, but he had dug around the roots and had made a den for himself. It would do until he could put some more time into it. Looking to the sky he noticed the sun had set, and he looked back down to his now dulled axe. The design was not meant for the kind of work he used it for, for the bearded axe blade still served the purpose he had for it.

Making his way out of the forest he came upon something he did not expect. Twilight had fallen asleep waiting for him. She was lying on her side in the grass, her blouse and skirt offering little protection from the cool of the night as she shivered on the cold ground. Gath held a defeated look in his eyes as he briefly considered leaving her there, but decided against it. He still needed to make sure she did not turn him in yet. Without a place to call refuge, he did not want Celestia after him yet.

Gath scooped up the young lady and began walking towards the library. He had lied earlier, Applejack may not have showed him where it was, but the sign he saw on the old tree was clear enough. As he walked on, Twilight grasped his jerkin pulling herself closer to him feeling the warmth as she slept. Gath looked down at the fragile girl, when she was not giving him those condescending looks she was not so bad to be around. He watched as her lips moved as she mumbled something in her sleep. His gaze followed them as if they were dancers, putting on a show only for him. He watched as their ballet drew his attention fully into them, he barely noticed where he went as he subconsciously followed the path to the library.

As he reached the door however, something in the dancing lips made him freeze, snapping him out of the stupor he was trapped in. She had mumbled a name in a way that meant she knew it well, Twilight had mumbled in her sleep, "Princess Celestia."

The door opened and a small boy with green hair in purple shorts and jacket stood in the doorway. Gath took in his reptilian eyes, and the fangs he had as the child gasped at seeing him. This was a dragon child, one of the very breed Celestia gave to all of her pupils as assistants. Gath turned his attention back to the girl he had just been admiring in his arms. She had a direct line of contact to Celestia, Gath now had to keep a close eye on her.

"T-Twilight?!" Spike stuttered out seeing the sorceress he served unconscious in this mans arms. Gath had to think fast, lest the dragon boy send an urgent message worrying for Twilight's well being.

"Don't worry, I was late and she fell asleep waiting for me." Gath offered, a reassuring tone to his voice. Spike then hesitantly stepped aside to let the large man in with Twilight still in his arms.

Twilight stirred at the sound of Spike's voice, and slowly started taking in her surroundings. She realized then she was being carried. Looking up she recognized the pale skin and dark helmet of Gath. A small blush formed on Twilight's face as she realized he must have carried her all the way back from the forests edge.

Gath set the girl down on a sofa, and grabbed a nearby chair which he set himself down on. Gath crossed his arms and leaned back in the chair, taking in the blushing girl. Twilight noticed his gaze on her, and looked at his muscular arms as she blushed a deeper red.

"So, you had some questions then?" Gath pressed, wanting to get past the awkward silence that was building as she watched over him. The dragon child watched him wearily he noticed, Twilight noticed this as well.

"Spike, would you mind getting something for us to drink?" Twilight asked, moving to sit upright in the sofa and levitating a quill and parchment over near her. Gath did not like her having the utensils she needed to rat him out in her hands. His anxiety grew as Twilight began jotting something down on the paper with her magic keeping her focus on him as she did so. He sat upright and threw his axe at the floating parchment, pinning it to the wall.

Twilight jumped back into the sofa, curling her legs from beneath her at the sudden aggression he showed. Gath stood up, knocking the chair to the ground and striding over to her. His face hovered a mere foot away from Twilight's as he held her gaze with his own fiery red eyes. As she shrank back from the growing ferocity of the blaze behind his helmet's eye slots, he took in her own eyes. The large violet pools twinkled in the light as tears of fear began to form. Spike was frozen in the kitchen as he looked over and saw the man leaning threateningly over Twilight.

Gath backed off slowly, the wooden floorboards creaking under his weight as he shifted it back slowly to his heels as he stood upright.

"Do not write that letter." He warned in a stern voice. The red glow dimming as he gained a control on his rage.

Twilight looked over the the axe that was embedded in her wall with the parchment pinned under it. She then looked back to Gath with a questioning look as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Why would I be writing a letter?" Twilight sniffed out.

Gath impatiently grabbed the parchment from under his axe and read the now torn paper in his hands. It appeared to be a list of notes Twilight had taken of his mannerisms. He gave her a questioning look and re read the notes on how he acted. Why would she need this?

"I will let you take your notes if that is all you want, but you will not tell Celestia of me." Gath finally said, feeling a little guilty of his false accusation. He handed the torn parchment back to Twilight retrieved the chair and sat back down, the chair groaned as he set his weight back down on it.

Twilight then caught on to why he was so weary, Celestia did not want him loose. Could she trust him though? He had just proven to be quick to act with violence. but he did seem sorry for his actions. Twilight was torn between what decision to make. She needed to see more of how he acted first. Perhaps she would wait until she made a final decision on whether to tell the princess or not.

The chair suddenly splintered under the large man's weight, having been damaged from when he knocked it over it could no longer hold him. Gath collided heavily with the floor, Twilight winced but he seemed to not register any pain. He picked himself up off the floor, and gathered the wooden pieces in his arms. He then looked at her as if asking where to put it, she couldn't help but giggle at the sight.

"You can just give those to Spike, he will put them in the garbage." Twilight managed out between laughs.

Gath nodded at this and handed it to the small dragonborn child. He then looked around for another chair but the rest of them looked to be made of even flimsier wood than the previous one he crushed. Twilight then moved herself to one end of the sofa and gestured for Gath to sit at the other end, a little close but still a reasonable distance form her after she had scooted over. Gath accepted the seat and sank into the cushioned chair.

"Never sat on something this soft before..." Mumbled Gath as he sank deep into the cushions. Twilight perked up at this information and retrieved a new piece of parchment and went back to jotting down notes as she controlled it all with a flick of her index finger.

"So, where shall we start?" Twilight smiled. Gath had already began to feel weary from a long day. He had not had true rest in so long, the cell he was kept in never allowed him to attain a lasting level of slumber. But he still did not see rest in his near future as he shook his head trying to think of where to start his story with the young lady sitting expectantly across from him.

Gath just thought to himself to keep a tight lip on most of the things he had done to gain his reputation back in the day. He must always remember, no matter how silver you might think your tongue, silence is golden.

04 - Power of the Helmet

Power of the Helmet

Dawn began to break over the horizon casting slivers of light into the library. Twilight was reviewing the notes she had taken all night as Gath consumed his promised wine skins. Twilight still could not believe how much he managed to down in one sitting. Any normal person would have died from alcohol poisoning, but Gath simply powered on through all of the spirits Twilight had, and had even wanted more. Twilight was more than willing to supply his demand until she had run out however, because the drink seemed to loosen his tongue a bit.

Twilight had gotten pages of notes from him, most of it history that no book would hold being as old as it was, some she suspected predated Celestia's rule. Twilight looked over to the slumbering form of Gath, He had gone into a fitful slumber just an hour ago. He had simply slumped back into the couch in the middle of mumbling an answer, and his head lolled to the side. Twilight briefly wondered if he had even slept the night before or if he had actually kept watch over her all night. That notion sent a shiver down her spine, she did not like being helpless and around him she felt as if she was just along for the ride.

Twilight stood up slowly and rubbed her eyes to try and fend off the sleep that tried to claim her, bags now hung heavily under her eyes and her hair was a mess from a long night without sleep. Twilight walked over to the guestroom door, and procured a pillow and a blanket. As she came back into the main area of the library, she noticed that Gath had fallen over and lay down on the couch, his legs hanging off the side in what looked like a somewhat uncomfortable position.

Twilight sent out tendrils of her magic to grab his feet and put them on the couch, but when they touched him they were unable to budge him. Twilight cocked her head to the side at this, and tried again with more magical energy, but to no avail.

"What the..." Twilight mumbled as she walked over to where Gath lay on the couch. Struggling with his weight, Twilight finally moved his legs onto the couch. She then looked at the helmet, he had not taken it off since she met him, and he refused to say anything about it. Twilight let a hand fall on the helmet as she studied the strange material. It did not look like steel, and had no marks upon it unlike the rest of his armor. Twilight lifted the helmet off Gath's head with ease and set it upon his chest. His hand subconsciously moved to grab the helmet, and held it tight to him.

"That is very important to you isn't it..." Twilight whispered as she gazed at the handsome face of Gath only slightly obscured by the locks of long black hair that now fell over his body. Why the man hid his face she did not know, but he must have his reasons.

"Funny, he looks so peaceful without that thing on..." Twilight said as she headed off to her own bedroom. Reaching her bed, she did not even bother to remove her clothes or bury herself in the covers, instead opting to flop on top of it and fall immediately asleep.

Trixie was not the kind of sorceress to give up from just one defeat. Her goal was simple, outmatch Twilight Sparkle. This goal led her to train fiercely in the arcane arts, a year had she spent honing her skills with a new master. Sure some of the spells may have bordered slightly on the dark arts, but the pale blue haired girl was determined. She would show the world her might now, starting with Ponyville.

Trixie's purple cloak waved in the breeze and the stars emblazoned upon it caught the sun as she strode back into the familiar town. Her heeled boots and her staff clicked as she walked upon the cobblestone road, and more than a few young men turned their gaze towards her tight fitting blue leather pants and black laced halter top. Trixie strove to capture attention, and she did just that with her flashy clothing.

Behind the sorceress strode the tall and muscular Gilda, whose height and build rivaled even Big Macintosh. Gilda was from the northern Griffon Tribe, whose people were hardier, and had larger wings than the other tribes of wing bearing humans. The Griffon Tribe often bragged that their wings were the closest in power to the princess gods who were of a tribe known as Alicorn, possessing both the largest wings and most potent magics.

Gilda was all that kept the young men gawking at Trixie from rushing to the light blue haired sorceress with proposals of marriage. Gilda intimidated where Trixie enticed. She had short white hair in back, and her bangs spiked forward the white turning gradually purple as it reached the tips. Gilda wore a leather fliers jacket with the sleeves ripped off over top of a white tank top that showed her well toned belly.Gilda had thick brown leather gloves that went all the way up her forearms and were fingerless. Her khaki paints bagged low on her waist, were ripped ,and were tucked under her knee high brown leather combat boots. She gave off an equal air of attractive and predator, with an attitude that turned away all but the most sturdy of men.

Gilda was following Trixie because when they had first met on the road, they had found out they had an equal disliking for Ponyville, mainly a few of its inhabitants. While Trixie wanted revenge on Sparkle, Gilda wanted it on Pinkie. Both of the traveling ladies figured why not help each other with revenge since they were both foiled in the past. Gilda also had plans to try and visit a certain rainbow haired girl who was once her close friend, in hopes of mending the bond after the one who broke it was gone.

"First we hit Sparkle since she is the one that can actually fight back, eliminating the largest threat." Trixie said, smiling over her shoulder to her traveling companion. Gilda merely nodded and turned her attention to glaring at a young man who was approaching Trixie. The man noticing the glare promptly turned on his heels and walked the other way.

"The men around here are wimps... And everyone is so lame." Growled Gilda.

"Why don't you try basking in their admiration for once instead of always scaring them away?" Trixie laughed at the mood Gilda was giving off.

"If they don't have the balls to approach me like this, they probably don't even have a pecker worth my time." Gilda said jokingly with a grin. Trixie pitched in her own laugh at the antics of Gilda, the winged girl sure did like her jokes and pranks.

"Besides, I've been here before too you know. Only man worth my time in this damn town is a big blonde farmer. Too bad he was such good friends with that bitch Pinkie, I could have lived with a man like him. Strong, silent, hard working, but alas I guess I will have to keep looking for my worthy man." Gilda said with a look of pride on her face.

"Gilda dear, you are as big as most men of your own tribe. Heck, you are almost as big as Mac if I remember him right. You might need to stop looking for a man that can sweep you off your feet. You probably wont find many men fitting that description, even less that are single..." Trixie said with a look of exasperation on her face, Gilda could be so picky when it came to certain things.

The pair stopped as they came upon the great hollowed out tree that served as a library. The two shared glances, and Gilda began to pound on the door.

Gath was awoken by the sound of banging on the door. The first thing he noticed as he woke, was the absence of the death gods weight form his shoulders. His brown eyes bolted open as he looked to his chest and stared into the empty sockets of the horned helmet. Someone had removed it in his slumber, and that required something he did not expect to find so soon. A pure and innocent heart.

Gath stood up as the blanket fell from him, where had that come from? No matter, Gath needed to find who had taken the helmet off him so that if he needed to don it again he knew where to have it removed. Gath tied the helmet to the side of his belt with a strip of leather, opposite of his axe holster. The helmet securely fastened to his side, Gath wrenched his axe out of the wall, put it in its holster, and went to inspect who had come to the library before its keeper opened it.

Gath opened the door and slipped outside, closing it behind him. As he turned from the door he noticed two young ladies before him. One definitely had the smell of a sorceress about her, the other was only a little shorter than he, though not near his build. Gath held a dark look on his face, unhappy about being woken up from his first restful sleep in over a millennia, and looked between the two girls, meeting both their surprised gazes.

"Oh my..." Said Trixie as she took in the massive man before her.

Gilda held her tongue, not trusting it as she felt the blush creep up on her face as she took in the tall muscular man, trying her hardest to close her dropped jaw.

Trixie looked at her stunned companion then back to Gath, "Perhaps you would not mind telling us if Sparkle is home, or are you watching the library for her?"

Trixie highly doubted he would be watching over the library, she just needed to get a conversation going to snap Gilda out of her state of being smitten by the pale man.

"You do not talk like you are a friend of hers." Grunted Gath with his deep voice as his hand rested on the head of his bearded axe. This gesture was not wasted on Trixie, but only seemed to woo Gilda even more. Trixie suspected if he did anything more manly Gilda would start drooling over him.

One thing Trixie had learned in her training however, was that the big ones were usually very susceptible to magic. Without warning Trixie launched a fireball at Gath, the roaring black flame licking his arm as he blocked with his left, and reached with his right. Trixie though surprised at his lack of pain and the minimal damage her spell seemed to do, managed to leap back and ready another spell. Trixie would need to use more power on this one, he barely had minor second degree burns where the fireball impacted his arm, only causing a few blisters.

Gath's frown turned into a scowl, he did not want to mess with magic. Magic had proven his downfall in the past, and only the helmet saved him from it when he faced his most powerful adversaries. The helmet would sustain him through otherwise mortal injuries, grant him eternal youth, fend off poison, and made him immune to magic. But the cost was that he could not remove it, and if it were not for his power of will would be the death god's puppet. Gath looked at his burned arm, and the glowing hands of the sorceress before him charging her spell.

Gath took the helmet from his side and slid it back onto his head. As he opened them his eyes glowed red, and he watched the magical missile streak towards his chest, and fizzle on contact with his skin. Gath then strode over to a horrified Trixie and grabbed her by the throat, not tight enough to break her neck but to choke and make his point.

"If you so much as tap into your mana pool around me again I will not show mercy a second time. And leave Twilight alone, she is under my protection." Gath said in a commanding tone.

Trixie hastily nodded at this, thankful for the mercy she was shone, her knees trembled and she sunk to the ground as Gath released his grip on her. Gilda on the other hand, began to drool over Gath.

Rainbow Dash was stretching herself out on a fluffy cloud, thanking the heavens that the Pegasus Tribe was blessed with the ability to walk on clouds, they made the greatest beds. As she rolled over and looked down to see where the cloud had lazily drifted to in the wind, she was above the park, and she noticed some familiar faces she did not expect to see. Rainbow's sharp eyes immediately noticed the visage of her once friend Gilda, and the ever so annoying Trixie. She then noticed that Gath was with them

Rainbow flew down leaving her signature multicolored trail behind her as she zipped through the air. She landed lightly next to Gath and glared at the two nearby girls. Gath looked down on her a surprised look in his glowing eyes. Whatever Gath was saying to them he stopped when Rainbow had landed to his left.

Gilda shot the intruder a menacing look, that softened into surprise as she recognized her rainbow haired friend. She then gave a meek smile that was most unlike her and rubbed the back of her head as if she was wanting to say something.

"I don't wanna hear it Gild, you were a real jerk to my friends last time and I don't care if they act dweeby to you." Rainbow said as she scowled. At this Gilda glanced over at Gath who simply nodded at her.

"I want to say sorry..." Gilda mumbled. Rainbow did a double take on this, glancing over to Gath, then back to Gilda. Her eyes finally settled on Trixie, who had a bruise starting to form around her neck. The bruise was in the shape of a massive hand.

Rainbow then understood, the two trouble makers must have attacked Gath for some reason or another, and he had disciplined them. If rather harshly, the two seemed to have had an attitude change for the better, Trixie was shutting up and Gilda was acting sincere.

"You will have to earn my trust back, and it wont be easy!" Rainbow said, trying to keep some of her pride as she accepted her old friend's apology, wishing with all her might Gilda would change for the better.

At this Gilda's face brightened and she looked at Gath with joy in her eyes. She stopped fiddling with her gloves and lept at the large man.

"It really worked, thank you!" Gilda had tried to force a bear hug upon Gath, but he held her back with a strong hand on her forehead. The look was almost comical as he struggled with one arm against the full force of the mighty woman and her wings that flapped to give her extra charging force.

Gath tired of the display of affection moved his arm to his left to redirect Gilda towards an unsuspecting Rainbow who was too busy laughing at the comical sight to notice what he had done. Gilda crashed into Rainbow and the two tumbled over each other, leaving a trail of feathers in their wake as they rolled.

Gath and Trixie then locked eyes, though Gath seemed to have won Gilda over this one still meant to cause trouble. Trixie dropped her gaze under his iron hard stare however, and looked at her own feet.

"Must I continue my story of how people treated each other back in my day? Do you need to hear more of that one man would do to another that gave him a disrespecting look? Or are you willing to go with what this strange time calls peace and make up with your nemesis?" Gath said in a firm but not threatening voice. Trixie only looked up with tears in her eyes, the story he told was horrible, the things he had done were monstrous. Trixie did not want to be near this man, least of all make him angry, so she did the only sensible thing. Trixie nodded, and turned towards the direction of the library, her shoulders slumped.

Rainbow and Gilda had untangled themselves and were floating in the air next to Gath as they watched Trixie trudge off. Rainbow whistled, she never thought anyone would make Trixie swallow her own pride. Rainbow looked once again to Gath, and as she looked him up and down sizing him up something startled her enough to make her wings stop beating and she fell to the ground with a hand covering her mouth.

"Gath, your arm!" Rainbow yelled as she beheld the blistered flesh of his left arm. How did she not notice this before she thought to herself. She was standing right next to it. Rainbow began to feel nauseous and she grabbed Gath's right hand as she took back to the air, and pulled him along with her.

"I'm fine, where are you taking me?" Gath said with a bothered look as he dug his heels in, refusing to be lead somewhere like a dog. Gilda floated behind him looking curiously at Dash.

"Your arm needs medical attention!" Dash yelled as she tried to pull harder, but to no avail as she could not budge the man who pulled against her. Gath tried to shake his arm free of her grasp, and only succeeded when he reached with his left burned arm and Dash recoiled from the sight of it.

"I'm fine, I have had much worse." Gath tried to assure her. Dash merely shook her head at the stubbornness he was showing. And people called her stubborn Dash thought to herself.

"I think it makes him look cool." Gilda smiled as she floated slightly closer to examine some of the faded scars on Gath's body. Some of them looked like they should have been fatal, this only made Gilda gawk like a fan girl.

"I'll heal up as soon as I get some food in me, I'm starving." Gath said as he patted his rumbling stomach. Gilda laughed at what she took as a joke.

"Ooh, I think I have something for you." Gilda said as she procured from her satchel a dried hunk of travel ration jerky. Gath accepted the offering and tore into it.

"Thank you." Mumbled Gath in between bites. As he ate, Rainbow and Gilda noticed the burn fading from his arm. Jaws dropped and eyes bulged out at the sight of the regeneration. Gath noticed this and just tapped the side of his helmet, indicating it was its doing.

"Now that..." Gilda started.

"Was awesome..." Rainbow Dash finished.

The day had gone bye quickly, but Gath had work to do. Sharpening his axe with a river stone he found, Gath looked over his new home. He had managed to conceal the entrance to the den with the dirt and roots he had dug out from beneath the tree, now it looked like roots sticking out of the ground and only if you knew what root to pull would the hatch he created with a large hunk of tough bark reveal the entrance.

Tomorrow Gath would need to hunt some animals to create bedding, and he would have to buy some more tools so he could make some chests and shelves. Perhaps in time he could even make himself a nice fire pit and have a ventilation system so he would not be smoked out. The ever present fog of the forest would mask the smoke he was careful what wood to burn.

Gath was running low on coins however, he had used four already. One for Applejack, one for his axe, one for making what Twilight explained was a tab at the cafe, and one he gave for several large jugs from a fine lady named Berry Punch, he suspected he would be running her out of stock if every batch was as good as the one she had him sample. Regardless, this left him with only sixteen more gold pieces.

Problems piled up, and he did not have enough time in the day to fix all of them. He would be busy, and he liked that. A thousand years to think his past was a waste, the past was done, his allies and maybe even the few friends he once knew were dead and gone. He lived for the now, and he would not have it any other way. The sound of horses crashing through the forest drew Gath's attention.

The riders came into view, and circled the crouching man who continued to sharpen his axe. The five men all looked at each other and smiled, this wild man looked like he had a few coins in the sack that hung from his belt, they would eb able to afford drink at an inn tonight.

"Lookie what we got 'ere." Said one of them men as he made his horse canter around Gath. Gath just sharpened his axe, the sound of the metal grinding against stone set a few of the men on edge.

"Hand over yer coin purse, weapon, and clothes and just maybe, we won't gut ya like a fish." Smiled their leader.

Gath set down the river rock, and looked at his axe blade. He ran a thumb over the blade, and was rewarded with a thin red line appearing on it. Gath smiled at the now razor sharp blade, and he finally looked at the men. They shifted uneasily as they noticed the glowing red gaze he held them with.

Standing up to his full height, Gath pulled the axe up to rest on his shoulder. The riders slowly pulled their swords from their scabbards, the leader got his sword halfway out before his steed was cut from beneath him. One solid blow to the horse's front legs dropped the creature, and caused the rider to go flying. Gath whirled in place and lept, knocking another horse down by ramming it with his shoulder, sending another rider sprawling to the ground. Spinning and bringing the axe in an upwards arc he caught the third man under the jaw. The axe cleanly cut through bone and flesh, opening the man's face and skull cavity to the world. The fourth rider had pulled a bow and had nocked an arrow, He was met with the bearded axe landing in his chest with a loud crunch as it crushed and collapsed his ribs.

The fifth rider turned his horse to run away, but Gath leapt up and grabbed him from behind pulling him from the saddle. The man drew a dagger and plunged it into Gath's forearm. With a grunt of anger more than pain Gath grabbed the man by the head, and pivoted his body as he swung the man with all his force. A loud pop was heard as the head was pulled loose from the body that continued its path and rolled a ways. The second man Gath had knocked off his horse then jumped up on his back and tried to strangle him from behind. Gath grabbed his arm with his mighty grip and crushed his elbow, causing the stranglehold to loosen. Gath then took the man by his good arm and swung him around, causing his arm to dislocate, and finally tear from the force of the spin. The body of the man flew into a tree, and was impaled on a branch.

Gath panted heavily, he had not had a workout like this in a long time. He looked over to the leader who trembled not far away. The man was holding an axe he had drawn from his back. The sight gave pure joy to Gath, he had finally found one. In the leader's hands was Gath's favored weapon, an axe meant for two handed use with a large blade on it's head similar to the bearded axe but the haft was much longer, and allowed for more powerful swings.

Gath smiled triumphantly as he advanced on the man who was in the process of pissing himself. He now had whatever rations and tools they had, he had furs from their clothes and packs, and he had their small collection of coins. Things were looking up for Gath at long last.

As he advanced on the sniveling bandit, Gath's eyes burned the same crimson red as the blood that covered the forest floor. 'Just like old times' Gath thought with a wicked grin on his face.

05 - Acts of Evil

Acts of Evil

Celestia sat on her throne as she smiled politely to the nobleman that droned on and on about wanting a tax break for his business. Of course Celestia would not grant this for him, but it gave her a good reputation if she acted as if she would consider it. Celestia stood form her throne and addressed the noble, her white angelic wings stretching as she stood. In her shapely white robe with it's gold trimming she commanded an air of authority, but still kept a rather motherly figure.

"I will consider this Fancy Pants, but I will still have to consult with Luna. I am not the sole ruler anymore you know." Celestia said with a warm smile. Fancy Pants smiled back and nodded as he strode out of the throne room.

Celestia watched him go until he was out the door and out of sight, then she stretched the rest of her limbs. She yawned and adjusted the crown on her head, soon she could go get some lunch. If she remembered correctly not only was she having a rather delectable main course, but she had special ordered a masterwork cake from Ponyville. If she were not so composed, Celestia might have actually drooled at the thought.

The sound of footsteps brought her attention back to the present, turning to the door Celestia put on her warm smile again. What she saw however made the smile instantly turn to a look of distress.

Discord strode into the throne room, his Technicolor robes fluttering about as he carried Celestia's niece Cadence bound over his shoulder, the Witch Chrysalis following shortly behind. Discord looked around the throne room, seemingly taking in the renovations Celestia had made since the last time he as in here.

The guards at the door were the first to break of the stupor and act at the sight of two of Equestria's biggest threats casually strolling into the throne room. They only made a few steps before Chrysalis shot them down with a couple of green fireballs. The guards screamed as their armor melted into their flesh, acrid smoke billowing from them until they were silent.

"They really do go down quite easily... You should up security Celly, the handful of guards in every hallway is just not enough." Discord smiled happily as he finally met Celestia's eyes.

Celestia tensed at the mockery of her guards, and the underlying message that many of them had been killed. The royal guards were not the indomitable force they once were in times of old, but they were still not pushovers. Discord had to be near full power to so blatantly waltz in here, not even mentioning incapacitating Cadence without so much as a mark on him. This meant trouble.

"What do you want Discord." Celestia said in an even tone, not wanting to provoke the mad man's anger with Cadence at his mercy.

"I am looking for a certain artifact I had been looking for most of my life before I met you. Something that grants power and stops aging, though I may not look over a thousand that is thanks to your hospitable stone encasement, a certain helmet i hear you know where is..." Discord said, a dangerous playfulness in his voice.

Celestia winced at hearing the mention of a helmet of power, it was the one thing she made sure to hide from the world that she knew about. And Discord had been one of the main reasons for that, the man was too dangerous to let live his full life and die of old age so she had him imprisoned in the magical stone slumber. But if he gained the eternal life the helmet offered, or even worse, if the god of death took over his mind and walked the earth, not only Equestria would be destroyed. All would perish under eternal chaos and destruction.

"I... I cannot tell you where it is..." Celestia solemnly said.

Not even waiting for Celestia to have second thoughts Discord reached up to his shoulder and snapped a pink wing to an odd angle. He was rewarded by the sudden awakening of princess cadence, and her blood curdling scream. Chrysalis seemed to glow with happiness at seeing Cadence's misery, but Discord remained impassive.

"You Alicorns live to be multiple thousands of years old if you are not killed, it would be a long life to suffer a permanent maiming..." Discord said casually.

Celestia had tears streaming down her face, she had a duty to protect the land, but she could not watch as her own niece was broken and screaming in pain before her. The choice would no doubt weigh heavily on her, but perhaps an opportunity would appear and she could stop them.

"I will take her place as your prisoner, leave her be and I will show you where the horned helmet lies. You must give me your word however that you will not simply slay me when I show you it." Celestia said, wiping the tears with the back of her hand and trying to retain what dignity she had left.

Dropping cadence onto the ground, Discord beamed happily and said, "I knew we could get along. Oh Celestia, I have never been so happy as to hear I will finally achieve my life's work of uncovering the helmet..."

Celestia noticed the cold stare Chrysalis had focused to the back of Discord's head. She planned on double crossing Discord, Celestia realized. Perhaps that would give her the chance.

Discord strode up and regally offered a hand for Celestia to take, which she hesitantly did. With a snap of his finger a top hat appeared on his head and he carried a silver cane. Discord smiled madly at the two women who looked oddly at him.

"Shall we go for a stroll then?" Discord asked giving Celestia a look that said lead the way.

Celestia had lead the duo away from Canterlot via air, While Celestia and Chrysalis used their wings for flight Discord had thought up a more entertaining way to travel. The mad mage stood upon a pink cloud that rocketed after the princess of the sun, showering the lands below with chocolate rain. As they neared the Everfree Forest, Celestia landed and her two captors followed.

Celestia looked into the forest, then back to Discord and Chrysalis. She needed an opportunity to escape. One of them she could face off and escape, but with both of them she needed her sister and perhaps even the elements to win. She would hopefully find a chance to escape and rally her sister and the elements to prepare for battle, but Chrysalis and Discord were not making it easy. It was obvious Chrysalis did not trust Discord, but she was not letting Celestia get away because of it.

"I trust I need not mention why we are going to walk there?" Celestia said, glaring at Chrysalis and Discord.

"Wouldn't want any of the little nasties in here noticing us, lest we have to actually focus on killing it and you escape eh?" Chrysalis smiled back.

Celestia nodded and led them through the forest, avoiding the semi safe roads that lead through the forest so as to avoid involving more innocents. Sticking to the deeper forest areas would usually be considered just short of suicide, but in the daylight and with the strength the travelers possessed, no trouble was expected. At least, none that Discord and Chrysalis foresaw, but Celestia was taking a path that would intersect a lesser known bandit route. With luck she might just get her distraction.

As they came upon the general area that her guards had informed her of, Celestia noticed something off about the air. Something reeked, and all noise from the animals had stopped. The entire forest seemed wary of this area, but what could bring fear to such untamed lands? The answer came a minute later as they happened upon the source of the smell.

Bodies of man and horse alike were butchered and left in a pile, they had been stripped of all their belongings, and the animals had been skinned for their hide and a few sections of their meat were missing. Blood had pooled out from the pile of discarded carnage, and had painted the surrounding vegetation red. It looked like the work of some nightmarish monster, Celestia could only do her best to hold down her breakfast and avert her eyes as she led them around the scene.

"Well would you look at that, this looks more like the workings of a demon than an animal. Did not know the forest was getting so out of hand lately..." Chrysalis said, whistling in respect to the bloodshed.

"Must have been one strong fellow, looks like that one man there had his head cleaved in half in one clean go. That takes a lot of strength to get it that clean, I should know. Huh, looks like it even dragged them here to butcher them, must be smart." Smiled Discord.

Celestia did the best she could do to avert her eyes and block out the bantering of the two psychopaths she was currently leading to an artifact of near limitless power. As they continued on, the forest grew less dense and the old castle finally came into view. The sight of her old castle in such a state of disrepair brought a pang of sadness to Celestia, it was where she had ruled by her sister for so many years after all.

"It was hidden in there, in the dungeon." Celestia pointed to the rusted iron door.

"I didn't know you had a dungeon. Wait... Why was I imprisoned in stone and not simply left to rot in a cell if you had dungeons back then?" Discord asked suspiciously.

"Because, the helmet was kept there." Celestia said simply.

"You kept an item of vast magical power next to your most heinous criminals?" Chrysalis said skeptically.

"No, I kept its guardian locked up where the world would forget about him and it." Celestia lamented.

Discord walked brusquely up to the door and grabbed the iron handle. With one yank the door flew off and skidded along the floor, leaving a confused mage.

"I did not think I had regained that much strength yet..." Discord mumbled poking a bicep.

Celestia continued down into the dungeon, grabbing one of the unlit torches off the wall and lighting it, Chrysalis doing the same. As they came to the bottom of the stairwell, they beheld row upon row of cells. Celestia led them to the very end one and stared dumbfounded by what she saw.

"Well, where is it?" Discord asked impatiently.

"He was in this cell. He did not even want to leave, and he had not as far as I knew. These bars send me a magical message every week telling me if they are still inhabited..." Celestia said, touching the bent bars and looking at the snapped ones.

"And when was this message received last?" Chrysalis growled.

"Six days ago he was here, but where could he have gone?" Celestia was confused. Discord shared a look with her.

"I know the helmet grants youth, but it does not sustain you does it? He was down here for a thousand years without food or water if I am to believe you abandoned him with the castle." Discord said as he glared at Celestia.

"I... I don't know..." Celestia stammered as she noticed the looks of murder the two had in their eyes. She had to act fast and now. The bars were quickly sucking away at all of their magical powers, and Celestia had to make sure she got the first and last spell off.

"Wait, that mess out in the forest..." Chrysalis began, "You don't suppose-"

Celestia had heard enough, the gory scene was definitely Gath's work and she had to get him hidden again before he caused another war to break out. Celestia reached out with one hand to snuff out Chrysalis's torch, while dropping her own and blasting the witch and mage into the cell where the magical drain was stronger. Celestia then stomped out the torch and bolted to where she knew the stairwell was.

She had given them the slip, but she needed to act fast. If Gath was loose in the forest, the elements had to be warned first.

06 - Chance Encounter

Chance Encounter

Twilight was having tea with her old magical rival Trixie who had once appeared in Ponyville and declared herself the most powerful sorceress in all of Equestria. After the incident following Trixie's arrival with an ursa minor that Twilight had to clean up, Trixie had then declared herself a rival with 'Sparkle' as she called Twilight not wanting the formality of calling her by first name.

The previous day Trixie had appeared at Twilight's door with a rather troubling looking bruise on her neck, and she would not say where she had gotten it. More troubling to Twilight was what Trixie came to do, apologize. Twilight could not wrap her head around the sudden disappearence of the banter and flare from Trixie's mood. The bruise had to have something to do with it, and Twilight only knew one man with hands that big other than the gentle Big Macintosh.

"Trixie thanks you again... Twilight... For letting Trixie stay with you after all she has done." The light blue haired sorceress said to Twilight.

"Oh, it is nothing. Actually, it's nice to have a fellow practitioner to exchange spells and study with." Twilight said with a smile to the nervous woman who gave a small smile in return. Trixie looked as if she were afraid Twilight would reject her apology, and had made numerous attempts at offering work for forgiveness that Twilight turned down and merely stated that she was already forgiven.

"By the way Trixie, I have been meaning to ask you... What are you doing back in Ponyville, not that I mind that is." Twilight questioned cautiously. Trixie fiddled with the tea cup and looked up, eyes brimming with tears.

"Trixie... May have come to cause harm to you. But... Someone gave Trixie a, talking to. He told Trixie of a time when people treated each other like I was treating you. He taught Trixie a lesson."

"So, was it him that left that nasty bruise on you too?" Twilight asked with a worried look directed towards Trixie who merely nodded in response.

"If you will excuse me Trixie, I need to have a talk with someone. Feel at home, and if you wish you can take a look at some of my rarer books on the arcane in the trunk over there." Twilight said as she stood up and pointed at an ornate looking chest in the back of the library.

"you would trust Trixie with your own personal stash of tricks?!" Trixie exclaimed, as a performer she viewed secret tricks as the most valued possession a sorceress could have. Trixie finally realized that Twilight had forgiven and trusted her with the offering she had given.

"Of course, what is the reason for gathering rare books in a library if you do not show them to those who can put them to use?" Twilight said with a smile as she put on her shoes and headed out the door.

As she left, Twilight immediately spotted the other returner to Ponyville catching up with her best friend. Gilda and Dash were lounging on a cloud and chatting from what Twilight could discern. But she could not be distracted with Dash's friendship report she was definitely going to have to make Rainbow send. Twilight was on the hunt.

Look high and low as she might however, Gath eluded her. Perhaps he is not in town, she did have her suspicions that he had set up a camp somewhere deep in the Everfree, but she had no proof and no one had seen his camp to confirm her suspicions. He was definitely not staying in town, and this bothered her. Twilight had felt she somewhat betrayed Celestia's trust by not telling her about Gath's escape, and because of her guilt she wanted to assure that he did not cause any harm. The bruise on Trixie's throat was definitely harm, and she intended to reprimand Gath for it.

However, Twilight was not eager to venture into the forest, even in the daylight, the forest had a darkness to it. The mist that clung to the trees at all times deeper in blocked a lot of light, and any light that did get in ended up reflected off the eyes of the predators that watched from the bushes. Only the road that lead through the forest and that was constantly patrolled by guards was remotely safe, and even then wolves, manticores, and cockatrice still feasted on unwary travelers who took the road.

With a gulp, and straightening her blouse out, Twilight set down the road to see if she could spot any clues to Gath's whereabouts. Not even three steps into the gradually increasing darkness of the forest that challenged even the brightness of the sun on such a fine day, Twilight was stopped by a massive hand falling on her shoulder.

"Where are you going?" Gath said impassively

"Gath! Oh, sweet Celestia you scared me... Where have you been?! I was looking all over for you." Twilight yelled with a scowl as she held her frightened heart with one hand.

"I know, I was watching." Gath said, still with no emotion on his face.

"If you knew I was looking for you then why didn't you come to me?" Twilight said, anger growing on her face.

"Because it looked like you want to yell at someone, and I would rather not have a headache." Gath's red gaze did not even falter as he conversed with the young sorceress.

"Well that is because you cannot just go around choking people just to teach them a lesson. What if you had accidentally killed her? What would you do then? I would have to tell Princess Celestia about you if something like that happened.

Gath finally let some emotion show on his face as he scowled at Twilight and narrowed his eyes. As his eyes burned slightly brighter, Twilight took a step back from him, sensing the anger he was trying to hold back.

"You do not even question my reasons for teaching her such a lesson. I truly thought you smarter than that little scholar." Gath said taunting Twilight who took on a hurt expression in exchange for the previous one of anger she held.

"What do you mean? What could merit almost killing someone?" Twilight asked confused at the anger Gath showed her.

"Her death would be merited by her intent to kill you. She attacked me unprovoked with intent to kill, and she was looking for you." Gath said, victory on his face as he saw the look of horror on Twilight's face. Trixie felt so bad because she had intended to kill her, that was why she sulked so much and did not believe the acceptance of her apologies.

Twilight adopted a sullen look as she thought over the implications of what Gath had said. But she still felt the need to protect Trixie in this matter, the poor girl looked as if she was afraid of her own shadow every time a shadow passed by the library window. Twilight realized she was afraid that Gath was watching her.

"Did your axe get bigger? Or is that a new one?" Twilight said out of the blue as she finally took note of Gath's appearance.

"No..." Gath lied, not wanting to be questioned where he acquired his new weapon. The piercing red eyes darted around looking for a distraction, and Twilight looked triumphant at finding something to derail the previous conversation topic.

However, Twilight knew he was lying. She had quite a good look at his previous weapon, and this axe was bigger. Where he found it was lost on her however, no smith she knew would make a weapon like that. Weapons of war were banned, and the only reason Gath had gotten his old one was because axes could be passed off as lumber tools.

"You can't go into town with that..." Twilight stated, a skeptical smile on her face showing she knew he was lying.

"Why not?" Gath grunted, taking Twilight's bait. She must know something he didn't Gath thought.

"The guards will arrest you on sight for that, weapons of war are banned inside towns. Only your 'lumber axe' was allowed before." Twilight explained, emphasizing the lumber axe with air quotes via her fingers.

"....."

"What?" Twilight said, unable to her his mumble.

With a heavy sigh, and slumping his shoulders Gath repeated what he previously mumbled, "Will you teach me of the laws of this land?"

"What..." Twilight said, surprised at Gath's interest in knowledge. Gath did not seem the type to study anything, but it was obvious he was out of touch after his inmprionment.

Gath gave a blood chilling glare that signified he would not repeat himself again. His glare was only met however with a smile of glee as Twilight giggled in excitement, she loved teaching others and studying.

"You have come to the right girl if you want a teacher on common day laws. I will teach you both practical laws and obscure ones! Just to be safe of course."

At this Gath grimaced under his helmet and grabbed a cloak from behind a bush. Putting it on he made sure it covered the large axe slung on his back.

"Where did you get that?" Twilight said as she stared at the cloak. Gath had apparently acquired some new items, but she had not seen anyone trading in the marketplace.

Gath just ignored the question as he headed into town towards the library.

Celestia ran as fast as she could down the old abandoned road. She dared not fly lest she get spotted by the wild animals or even worse, her pursuers. If she could make it back to a town however, she knew the two would dare not enter where her guards would be. Though powerful it only took one stray arrow unblocked to fell a poweful mage. This was one of the reasons Celestia had lethal weapons banned outside of her guard, they were simply too lethal.

Still low on magical reserves Celestia could not teleport far after being near her old dungeon. The magic draining cells were a double edged sword, it stopped the prisoner's and the guard's magical forces. In those dark days when she lived in the castle they were needed however. Celestia was still baffled at how Gath had survived so long. He had said the curse bound him eternally to walk the land, but she did not think he had meant that literally. To still have the strength to bend and break iron after so many years of starving was humbling.

Celestia could only hope he was staying out of trouble. With any luck he had merely finally grown bored of his cell and ventured out for some fresh air. Though unlikely Gath had shown a wanting for being away from society and it was not impossible. If she was going to bet money on it, he would have probably made a den in the forest and rarely ventured out of it. A forest was where he had lived all those years ago she heard, though back then things were far more dangerous, back when Gath was hailed as king for a brief time.

"Almost there..." Celestia huffed out as she sprinted for Ponyville, her wings giving her extra speed as she ran. Though she was a little out of practice, she never truly let herself grow soft lest her hard earned peace ever find itself broken again. One of the great perks of being of a near immortal race was not having to age after a point, Celestia's muscles were still spry and carried her well over the obstacle the forest threw at her, leaping and bounding over fallen trees and stumps.

As Ponyville came into sight Celestia finally allowed herself to stop and have a small break as she caught her breath. Best not to appear too fazed in front of her citizens, lest they become alarmed by her own fear. Sweat running down her brow, Celestia walked into town towards her student's house. The only comfort Celestia felt was that Gath was not here, she would know for Twilight would have sent her a message if someone strange came to town, she always did, with a report on what she learned from them.

Celestia drew many a stare, her visits to local towns were rare, and she always had a regiment of guards escorting her. But now with a torn dress and sweating, without guards to add, People looked shocked. The only logical explanation people could draw to the tall ruler was she was here to see her pupil after a failed spell of sorts, much like the incident with a doll of Twilight's.

Celestia tried to compose herself again, with the aid of her slowly regenerating magical powers she cleaned herself up into her previous pristine state. Celestia thanked her abnormal regeneration of magic, normally it would take a day for someone to regain the ability to use magic after being near those cells.

Celestia knocked on the door, praying that Twilight was in and not just Spike the assistant she had given her. As aforementioned green haired child opened the door Celestia's heart lept to her throat, fearing the worst.

"Is Twilight home Spike?" Celestia asked with a warm smile, hiding her apprehension.

"Yeah, and come on in princess!" Spike said as he bowed to Celestia.

As Celestia walked into the library, the first thing she noticed was a strange young sorceress reading a book. Celestia found this odd because she had not heard from Twilight that a new practitioner of magic had moved into Ponyville. This sorceress looked nervous about something too, she hid her face in the book and tried to pretend she could not see anything around her.

Celestia began to grow suspicious, perhaps Twilight had been taken hostage by Chrysalis and Discord's forces and they had forced Spike to answer the door and act ignorant. Celestia lowered herself into a ready stance, she may not be able to cast high level spells yet but she could still use physical combat.

Twilight walked into the room looking like she had been caught doing something she should not have. 'Oh no, they must have hostages if they have forced Twilight against me as well, this is worse than I could have imagined' Celestia thought to herself as a look of distraught entered her face.

Seeing her look Twilight looked even more troubled, guilt riddled her face as she failed to keep eye contact with Celestia. That was the last straw, Celestia would not watch as her beloved student be forced against her. Whoever Chrysalis and Discord had left to keep watch here was going to pay.

"I promise I was going to write the report sooner or later, but he saved my life and then asked me not to write about him..." Twilight mumbled, tears appearing in her eyes as she saw the look of rage on Celestia's face.

Celestia's heart skipped a beat at hearing this. She was overjoyed at the fact that Twilight was safe, but then she moved onto exactly what her pupil had said. Who would ask not to be written of, leastwise know Twilight sent frequent letters to Celestia. Celestia then noticed the feeling of a presence she had not noticed before, it set her on edge. Looking to the side she saw a pair of red eyes staring at her as he was sitting on a couch, eating an apple as he sliced it into pieces with a dagger. She noticed the large axe leaning against the wall next to him, and she saw what looked like a spot on the wall that looked like an axe had been buried there.

Gath just silently watched as Celestia became aware of him, he knew Celestia well enough that he did not want to startle her. While her magic could not touch him she had proven herself a capable enough fighter in the past, and he was not in the mood to fight someone as strong as her right now. Finishing the apple, Gath wiped the dagger clean on his tunic and sheathed it on his belt.

The silence dragged on for minutes, no one moving and Trixie still trying to hid behind a book and pretend she did not exist at the moment. The tension in the air was thick enough to chop with an axe, something that Gath actually considered trying. Twilight was becoming a nervous wreck, she had never seen Celestia so stunned before. Celestia finally recovered from the shock however.

"Twilight..." Celestia said quietly as she closed her eyes and an impassive look came over her face.

"Yes, princess?" Twilight barely managed out, her nerves a wreck.

"We need to talk..." Celestia said, looking away from Gath and to her student.

08 - History Lesson

History Lesson

Gath readied his axe as he kept his gaze upon the mage. Thankfully for the helmet he was the least threat to Gath right now. Gath did not even turn his gaze away from the mage however as he swung his axe to his right side, burying it into the sternum of one of the bandits. The mage seemed to size him up as Gath pulled the axe free and let the body crumple to the forest floor.

"Who are you?" Gath snarled, not liking the way the mage was watching him.

Without giving any form of answer Discord snapped his fingers and the remaining bandits clutched their sides and cried out in pain as they began to grow, muscles swelling and popping leather straps and ripping the cloth that they wore. Armor fell from their bodies as muscles bulged obscenely in the remaining three men. The grayish hue to their skin and eyes morphed into a reddish hue.

"Holy shit..." Gilda mumbled as she watched the bandits grow to a size that dwarfed even Gath. She then flew up high, then alighted onto a branch to watch in what she hoped was a safe distance.

Gath grunted and popped hes back as he got back into a ready stance, holding his axe in both hands, waiting for the now berserk men to make their charge. Seconds stretched on and felt like minutes as adrenaline pumped through Gath. He was going to need to reevaluate the mage's level of threat if he could do this.

"Raaaagh!" Screamed one of the enraged bandits as he charged, swinging wildly with his sword. Gath ducked under the sword as it bit into the tree behind him, becoming lodged deep into the wood. Gath then swung the axe in an upward arc, catching the man in the groin and cutting up to the middle of his belly. The bandit screamed in pain as he fell to the ground, gath letting the force of the man's falling mass pull the axe free.

As Gath turned his attention away from the downed man, he looked up and only saw one of the berserk men charging him. 'Where did the other go' he thought briefly before he was rammed into the air from his blind side by the missing man. Gath hit a tree and was brought to an abrupt stop to his flight, and fell to the ground. It took only a second for him to stand up but both remaining bandits were upon him already, raining blows upon him. Their crude and dull swords bounced harmlessly off his helmet, but they left nicks in his chainmail and bit into his skin where he could not dodge in time. The cuts on his arms and legs were shallow, but they still bled nonetheless. Gath needed to get back on the offensive if he wanted to beat them.

Grabbing a hold of one of the berserker's arms Gath pulled the man in closer and got a hold of his head. Gath then lunged his head forwards and smiled as he heard the sound of cracking bone as the bandits head was knocked back. Gath then followed up with a snap kick to the man's shin, splintering it and causing the bone to snap to the side and protrude from the skin. Gath then swing his axe into the man's neck as he was trying to stand despite the cracked skull and broken leg.

"Persistent scum!" Gath yelled as he spun and ducked under the other ones sword. Gath did not have time to pull his axe out, so he was left with only his bare hands and the dagger at his belt.

Wasting no time to consider his options, Gath charged the man in the short distance between them and grabbed him around the midsection as he kept running, forcing the bandit back and off his feet. The berserk man slammed the pommel of his sword down on the helmet to no avail, not even denting it with the inhuman force he was magically given. Gath slammed him into a tree and jumped back as the bandit fell to the ground. As he attempted to stand up Gath grabbed his head and kicked him in the stomach.

The bandit only grunted at the devastating kick, but his eyes widened as Gath turned his head around and he saw the sword sticking out of the tree. He screamed in horror as Gath propelled his face forward and the sword hilt was buried deep into his skull. The scream stopped as abruptly as the man's struggling as Gath ended his life.

Gath then turned to where the mage was and noted he was no longer in sight. Gath let his gaze wander along the forest as he searched for any sign of him, but he could only see the Griffin tribe girl sitting on a tree branch wiping blood off her dagger.

"He took off, and I wasn't chasing him." Gilda said as she hopped from the tree branch and walked up to Gath.

"Who was that, you looked like you recognized him." Gath said in his deep voice as he retrieved his axe.

Gilda whistled as she looked at the massive man with his head impaled on the sword that was lodged in the tree, "You did a number on this one..."

"Who was the mage." Gath repeated.

"You're serious? You don't know him?" Gilda did a double take, she thought he was joking when he inquired about Discord.

"No, I have never seen or heard of such a strange mage." Gath grumbled, losing patience.

"That was Discord, he is supposed to be encased in stone in Celestia's garden for his crimes. How do you not know that?" Gilda said with a confused look on her face.

"Lets leave it at I'm not up to date on recent news." Gath said as he turned to leave the sight of the carnage.

"He has been there for over one thousand years!" Gilda exclaimed as she followed Gath.

"Like I said, recent news..."

Celestia was stressed, tired, and things were going from bad to worse. The only things giving her comfort was the fact that Gath could fend for himself if Chrysalis and Discord went after him, and Twilight was willing to allow her to rest in the library. It had only been an hour since Gath had bolted, and only half an hour since she sent a message to Shining armor to round up a guard detachment and lead them to Ponyville.

"Twilight, do you think you could get me something to eat as well? It has been a while since I had a chance to eat anything..." The princess of the sun said wearily as she sat on the sofa sipping tea.

"Of course princess!" Twilight said excitedly as she rushed off to the kitchen.

"Spike, could you gather the rest of the elements here? I fear there is something important they must all be told." Celestia said to the young boy.

"Right away your majesty!" Spike said with a bow before running out the door to fetch the other five element bearers.

Celestia sighed as she stared into the cup of tea in her hands. This was truly a stressful day for her, her niece was tortured, she was kidnapped, and then she found out her darkest secret escaped his captivity. She had a hunch the Elements of Harmony were probably not in the vault if she knew anything about Discord.

Celestia looked up to the young sorceress sitting awkwardly in a chair close to her. Something was off with Trixie, something did not feel right in the air while she was around. Celestia had a hunch, but she needed to check before making an ass of herself.

"Trixie was it... You seem tense." Celestia started, and the light blue haired girl seemed to jump at this.

"Just... Not used to being in the presence of royalty is all..." Trixie returned with a nervous smile as she rubbed the back of her head.

"There is something... Dark around you..." Celestia pressed on. Trixie's eyes widened at this but she held the nervous smile.

"Whatever do you mean princess?" Trixie said, a hand trembling in her lap.

"You have practiced the dark arts... haven't you Trixie?" Celestia said, narrowing her eyes.

Trixie froze, she knew she was caught. The dark arts were outlawed, and for good reason as they generally dealt with murder and the sorts. Trixie then hung her head in defeat as she balled up her fists in her lap.

"You seem to be a friend of Twilight's however, so I am going to let you off with a warning. Don't you dare harm any of my little subjects. I will allow you to use them to protect your friends, but never kill without reason. You have a heavy burden to bear knowing spells of those affiliation, you will be tempted but know, you have been warned..." Celestia said with a fierce expression on her face.

Twilight entered the room carrying a plate full of sandwiches and a few treats. At the sight of her pupil Celestia dropped the death glare and gave a warm smile to Twilight.

"Thank you Twilight, I have had a rough day and this means a lot." Celestia said as she picked a sandwich and began eating.

"If you don't mind me pressing princess, what is happening? You came here before you knew Gath was here. Something else is going on isn't it?" Twilight said with a solemn expression.

"Chrysalis is back... And she released Discord."Celestia said softly.

"W-what?! But... Why? Why would Chrysalis team up with Discord?" Twilight nearly shouted, the urgency written all over her face.

"Revenge, power, greed... It is hard to tell why Chrysalis would go to such lengths. When Spike finishes gathering your friends we will fill them in too, but we are not going to act until your brother arrives with the guard unit I sent for." Celestia said wearily.

"Um..." Twilight mumbled softly as she fiddled nervously with the front of her shirt.

"What is it Twilight?" Celestia asked with a concerned voice.

"What about... Gath? Do you think he will help us?" Twilight answered. At this Celestia sighed and looked into her own reflection from her cup of tea.

"We can only hope. As much as I want him to stay uninvolved, he may be our best hope against Discord. The helmet he wears protects him against the trials of time and magic. He is immune to both so long as he has it on, but the price he pays is great too." Celestia stated, taking another bite of her sandwich.

"What price?" Twilight said, voice now full of wonder. She had held that helmet in her hands, how could she not have known it held that kind of power.

"While he wears it, he will be able to find no peace, his slumber will be tormented with nightmares of the demon god that lies within the helmet. His will is constantly pitted against the dark god for control, and if he fails he will become a mindless slave. Finally, the helmet can not be removed by him. Only one that is pure of heart and holds love for him may remove it." Celestia explained finishing her sandwich and moving onto a tart.

Twilight had frozen at the last bit of the explanation. She found the entire explanation troubling, but the last bit about love had left her red in the face. She had not realized she harbored such feelings for the man, sure he had saved her a few times, and he was not too bad looking handsome actually under the helmet. But love?

Celestia noticed her students blush and cocked her head slightly questioning the flushed appearance of her star pupil, "Everything alright Twilight?"

"No! I mean yes! Everything is fine, just fine!" Twilight yelled nervously, drawing out a suspicious look from Celestia.

"Twilight if I didn't know better I would think-" Was all Celestia got out before the door of the library banged open and Rainbow Dash came flying in, a wild look on her face.

"Twilight is everything alright? Spike said it was important and-- Princess Celestia!?" Rainbow bowed as she noticed the solar princess was in the room.

"Yes Rainbow, as soon as the rest of your friends have gathered I will explain what is so urgent." Celestia said to calm the rainbow haired girl down before turning her gaze back to twilight and giving her a 'we will talk later' look.

"Wait wait wait... Let me get this straight. You are older than either of the princesses, and you have been in a dungeon for over a thousand and a half years?" Gilda said with an incredulous expression.

"Yes, that is correct." Gath said as he raised a jug of wine to his lips and drank.

"Figures, I like a guy and he would be an old geezer..." Gilda huffed.

"So you will leave me alone then?" Gath said as he set the wine jug down on the packed earth floor of his den.

"Naw, you are still the only man I have met that I consider worthy. So you aren't mister perfect, at least you aren't a pussy like most men around these parts." Gilda said with a sultry smile as she picked up the jug off the ground and took a swig.

"Hmph, you may have a point in your words, the people of this time seem weak. Though, I guess that is the price to pay for peace." Gath mumbled more to himself than to keep conversation.

"So tell me old man... How were things when you were still young? What was the world like?" Gilda said, voice full of wonder.

"You do not seem the type to enjoy history lessons..." Gath stated dryly.

"Normally no, but that's just because history nowadays are about narrowly avoided conflict and short lived rebellions. You say things were different back then... How?" Gilda said with a pleading look in her eyes as she scooted closer to Gath.

Gath shook his head and grabbed for the wine jug again, he was going to need a drink with the long tale he was about to tell.

"Steel had not even been discovered yet, it was still the age of iron, and savagery. The different clans of men kept to their own lands unless they were vying to take over another's. All the land was forest here in what you now know as Equestria. No one had cleared or tamed much more of the forest than for a few stray towns or cities here and there. But to the south there was an empire, the Kitzaks, who were run by an evil man in the deserts. They were the first to discover steel, and with their discovery they invaded the forests.

The invasion started small, only raids for slaves to run the mines and to fuel their sorcerers dark rituals for power. But as time went on their kings greed got the better of him and he started to burn and invade the forest. So i rose to oppose him, that was when i donned this cursed helmet. With it I gained the power to lead the forest tribes against the Kitzaks and I slew the man who caused me so much trouble.

But from there things only escalated, the horned helmet drew the attention of many who craved its power, and I could not rest until they were all slain. The world changed, and burned as I killed mad king after mad king. Even a few cult leaders hunted me, but in the end they all met the same fate. It was not until I had already watched the world change for a thousand years, and everything I had once known change, that I decided I had enough. Celestia was one of the few who wanted the helmet not for its power, but to hide it. So i let her, I allowed myself to be captured and thrown into her dungeon on the promise that if no one know where I had gone, I would remain there." As Gath finished his tale, he let the empty jug fall to the floor. He had not talked so in depth with anyone in so long. It felt strange, and it left him feeling worn out. He needed to scrape out what little rest the helmet would allow him.

Gath stood up from the earth floor and walked over to some shelves he had carved out of the roots of the tree his den was under, and grabbed one of the sleeping rolls from the bandits he had killed. He tossed the roll to Gilda who caught it with a questioning look on her face.

"I am going to turn in for now, you can stay here if you like, but you must swear to me you will tell no one of where my den is." Gath said with a stern face.

Gilda smiled at this before responding, "Your secret is safe with me."

Gath then made his way to a pile of animal furs that now served as his bed and took off his armor and clothes. He then lay down naked except for the helmet and burrowed beneath the warmth of the furs. Gilda meanwhile grew flushed and her wings stuck straight out as she watched him do this.

"Oh sweet Celestia..." Gilda mumbled as she tried to calm herself.

Sorry for so long between updates, college is eating a lot of my time. Between classes, studying, guild wars 2, and getting trashed with friends I have been really slow on the updates. Hopefully now that I have my schedule figured I will be quicker on the updates.

09 - Berserk

Berserk

Gath rose slowly from his makeshift bed. His eyes darted around his den wildly, taking in everything. The winged girl still was curled up in a few furs where he left her, his gear was where he had left it. But he could feel something was off. Picking up the large axe he favored, Gath made his way to the hatch that was his door and opened it slowly. Peering out through the crack he could see a woman with greenish blue hair wearing a tattered robe that clung to her shapely body. Despite the darkness of night in the forest Gath could even make out the chitinous creatures that surrounded her, sniffing about seemingly at her order. Gath curled his top lip in a silent snarl at the witch.

Chrysalis looked around, her changelings had brought her here, sniffing out the scent of the Horned Helmet's bearer. Though she knew her magic would not be of much use, she could not trust the mindless minions to turn every stone in search of her prey. The witch turned around about to give up on this section of the forest when something made her jump slightly. A pair of glowing red eyes were peering at her from a hidden hatch on the forest floor. It took Chrysalis only a second to hiss the order for her changelings to attack. As the chitinous minions charged where she pointed the hatch flung open and the large warrior jumped out, his axe arcing through the first two changelings, but embedding in the third's chest.

Gath tried to wrench his axe free, but the creature's plates were holding his axe tightly. A few more circled around behind him and in a final attempt to free his weapon, he kicked the creature in its chest while wrenching back on his axe. The blade flew free, the blunt end meeting with and cracking an armored face as it flew back. Gath regained his balance and continued to cleave through the monsters, making sure to only go for one to two in a swing, so as to not get his blade stuck again.

Gath swung and swung, until he was finally parried by a black blade from a creature that had some gilding on his chitin armor. Gath then took in its stance and apparent skill, concluding this was a captain of the creatures. The creature hissed its challenge at Gath, who roared in response and charged with reckless fervor, axe sailing in a wide arc, shattering the black blade and burying itself in the thick skull of his enemy.

Panting and now feeling the beginning of exhaustion setting in, Gath watched the last of the creatures closely. He was going to need to fight for a lot longer, and he needed to conserve strength. Especially if more of the 'captains' were present among the horde of creatures.

A changeling was felled by a dagger that sailed through the air, whistling as it whizzed past Gath. Gath followed the direction the dagger came from and saw Gilda fly over next to him and stand back to back with him, daggers at the ready in a low stance with her wings flared.

"Thank you for the backup, and watch out for the ones with gilded plates, they are a lot tougher." Gath said over his shoulder as he readied his axe in both hands to cleave a changeling that was approaching him from the front like a fool.

Gath was readying himself to swing when he felt an icy pain slide into his back, barely missing his heart. The large man grunted in pain and surprise as he looked over his shoulder to see the form of Gilda holding the dagger in his back smiling viciously. Gath spun, landing an elbow in her face breaking her neck like a twig. As her lifeless form hit the ground it morphed into the black form of a changeling.

Gath's eyes widened in realization of his mistake. Grinding his teeth in anger and pain Gath yanked the dagger out of his back, blood running freely from the wound. Gath's eyes seemed to glow with new vigor as he felt the adrenaline begin to pump. This fight had to end soon.

With one newly empowered cleave, Gath decimated five changelings in one wide horizontal arc. Only seven remained now, and Gath was not giving them time to regroup. Fear was now sewn on the once leering chitinous faces. Gath felled another changeling with a gauntleted fist that carried enough force to punch through its chest and rip out its heart. The last six dove in, in a last ditch effort to stop the bleeding berserker. Gath took three out on the right with a diagonal arc, pulling his arm back up and felling two on the left with another diagonal arc, leaving one in the middle that was thrusting a spear at him.

Gath grabbed the spear behind its head, and snapped the wood like a twig in his empowered grasp. The changeling lunged at him with claws outstretched, but its razor sharp hands did not make it past Gath's blade as he sidestepped and cleaved both of the changelings forearms off at the elbow. Gath then grabbed the changelings skull and increased the pressure of his grip. The changelings head exploded in a spray of green blood with a sickening crack.

Gath heaved in and out heavy breaths, blood beginning to drip out of the corner of his mouth. Gath spat, his saliva filled with blood. He looked around and noticed no other changelings, just a sea of green blood and gore that stained the forest floor and hung in pieces in the trees.

Chrysalis peeked from around a tree, her form invisible to the naked eye. Chrysalis focused intently on the man who bore the horned helmet. She reached out a tendril of magic to attempt to touch him, testing the helmets powers. The moment her magic touched the helmet it dissipated. Chrysalis furrowed her brow and tried something different. She clutched in her hand the dagger that had pierced his back. Licking the blade and tasting the blood she viewed into the man's heart that once beat the blood through his body. Chrysalis saw a few faces from his past, but one stuck out from the others. A red headed girl wearing simple clothes. The girl had a kind smile, and embraced Gath.

Chrysalis smiled as she morphed her form to match the girl. Chrysalis did a quick check to make sure the illusion held, and then she strode out with a dagger behind her back. Once she was given the opening, she would not miss his heart.

Gath tensed as he saw something striding out of the shadows, he readied his axe, But it fell to the ground as his fingers went limp. Gath could not believe his eyes, His lover from ages past stood before him, she looked the same as she was the last time he saw her.

"Robin..." Gath said, his voice barely a whisper as a hand lifted towards her.

The girl smiled brightly at him, the same smile she always had for him, only for him.

Gath felt a single tear run along his face under the helmet, because he knew it was a trick, and he wished he could fall for it. Gath's shoulders slumped and he hit the ground with both of his knees.

Chrysalis approached the kneeling barbarian, dagger at the ready behind her back as she reached out a hand and tilted his face up gently to look at her as she killed him.

As Gath looked up, he knew he should be seeing the face of his long deceased lover. But all the man saw was red. The world was nothing but shades of red, and he saw only the outline of the woman before him. Gath launched himself forward and back onto his feet, the helmet headbutting the woman, the spike on the top piercing her stomach and sending her into a tree.

"You Dare?!" Gath roared as he charged wand wound back a fist to split the skull of the one impersonating Robin Lakehair. The form slid down at the last moment, and Gath's fist connected only with the thick tree that shattered from the impact as if a bolt of lightning had torn through it. Gath in his mindless fury raised both fists above his head, clasping them together as he prepared to obliterate the whimpering form beneath him. Before the blow struck another form winked under him, and winked out once again with the woman he was aiming at.

The blow met the solid ground at his feet, and split the earth with its force. Gath panted heavily, knowing his prey had gotten away from him. The red in his vision slowly receded to only being in the edges of his vision. Gath began to see the destruction he had caused in the last few moments. The tree was destroyed, and the ground was demolished. He had not felt fury like that in a long time.

Gath began to stumble off aimlessly. He was losing a lot of blood from his back. A wound that serious would not be healed by the helmets minor healing. Gath hated to admit it but he needed someone to patch him up. Painful memories of Robin tending to his wounds were brought back to him from ages past. Only the fury made his body move as the wound continued to weep his life onto the forest floor.

Gath managed to clear the forests edge, and he was quickly approached by the forms of several of the girls as he entered the town.

"Gath, there you are we looked all over for you... Yesterday..." Twilight said, noticing now the blood Gath was trailing behind him. She then noticed the green stains on his arms and armor, that looked like crusted on blood had it not been for the color.

Gath did not respond, he merely collapsed onto the ground in front of the librarian. With his back facing up, Twilight and her friends could see the wound on his back as it bled upon the ground.

"Oh no! We have to get him to the princess. Hopefully she can heal him!" Twilight said urgently to her friends.

The last thing Gath remembered before blacking out was the sensation of being lifted off the ground by several sets of small hands.

10 - Blood is Thicker Than Wine

Blood is Thicker Than Wine

Gath nodded in and out of consciousness, in the moments he was lucid he was able to take in the fact that his wound was being treated. Gath still couldn't believe he fell for the shapeshifter's trick the first time. Luckily though he saw the trick once before the other one took on the form of Robin, else he might not have found the will to act.

"Fluttershy, why is it bleeding so profusely?" Gath could hear Twilight's voice filled with concern as he lay on his stomach.

"It looks like something is still in there, whatever stabbed him broke off inside and is holding the wounds open." Fluttershy said in a firm voice as she inspected the wound. Gath found it odd that in such a situation the shy girl found her bravery.

Gath lost consciousness as Fluttershy dug into the wound with a large pair of tweezers. Gath awoke next lying on his side, his head pounding and his teeth gritted. Gath noticed he was drenched in sweat. Opening his eyes he saw a slender, fragile arm wiping the table he lay on in front of his face. Gath noticed the remnants of bile before looking up into the concerned face of Twilight Sparkle.

Gath did not speak, he only observed as the girl cleaned up the mess. He could see how red and swollen her eyes were, she had been crying. Gath could not understand why though, he could understand treating his wounds since he had saved her, but why cry over him?

Twilight in the meantime had finished cleaning up the table and she dropped the rag into a bucket. Twilight sighed a ragged breath and sniffed back more tears. Fluttershy told her Gath should be dead with how deep the wound was and how much blood he lost, and that if anything he may have been treated too late. Twilight ran her eyes over the large man, her eyes lingered over his broad bare chest, taking in the lines of how his muscles moved as he breathed in his slumber.

Twilight gasped as she moved her eyes up to Gath's face and saw the two burning embers that gazed back at her, "Gath!"

Twilight lunged at the man, throwing her arms around him, wary not to touch his wound. The young sorceress then began to cry against the old barbarian's chest. Gath tensed as he was touched, but slowly calmed himself, fighting his instincts to not let anyone this close to him.

"G-Gath... You shouldn't be awake..." Twilight managed between sobs.

"I am not allowed rest." Grunted the man, "Not since I stole this helmet all those years ago."

Gath slowly rose into a sitting position, Twilight still clinging to his chest giving a slight protest to him moving in the condition he was in. Gath merely put a large hand on Twilight's head and made her look straight at his face as he spoke.

"I must leave, else you and your friends will only suffer. My curse is beyond what happens to me. All who draw close to me for too long eventually become the target of men who lust for my power. I have most likely spent too much time as it is in this town. The two mages that have attacked me so far will probably turn their sights on this town if I stay." Gath said as he gently pushed Twilight away and stood.

Gath strode over to where his gear had been laid, he still wore his boots and loincloth, but his chain mail and gauntlets had been taken off. Gath picked up the chain mail first, but noted that the entire thing was not cut in half. Gath shot a confused look towards Twilight.

"We had to cut it off to operate..." Twilight said as she cast her eyes to the floor.

Gath grunted and shook his head as he put on the gauntlets and slung his axe over his back with its harness, leaving the useless chain mail on the ground. Gath made his way to the door and opened it but was stopped by the small voice of the crying Twilight Sparkle.

"Gath... Please be careful..." Twilight managed loud enough to be heard.

Gath looked over his shoulder, clenching his teeth at the pain of the movement, and strode out of the library, closing the door behind him. Twilight stared at the door her mind whirling with what had happened. Not twenty minutes ago.

"I trust you believe you made the right decision..." Celestia's voice called from the other room.

The princess of the sun then strode out to embrace her student and attempt to comfort her.

"Princess... Will he be alright? Fluttershy said he should be dead with that wound... It clipped an artery..." Twilight said between sniffs.

"As long as no one removes that helmet it will be able to heal. That is why I stopped you from taking it off." Celestia explained.

"What will he do?" Twilight asked, looking away from the door and to her mentor.

"He will most likely do what he has done in the past when an enemy arrived that gave him trouble. He is going to look for better armor, and he is going to sharpen his weapons. Armies have been crushed under his boots, and he has not always come away unscathed. He always has come back stronger though..." Celestia said smiling as a small portion of the concern left Twilight's face.

Gilda sat on a tree stump, peeling an apple with her dagger. Applejack had tried to give chase, but flight was a useful thing when outrunning an angry farmer. Gilda laughed to herself as she popped a slice into her mouth and looked around once more at the stained ground. Gath had done a number on these weird bugmen creatures. Gilda saw a lot of blood that looked human though, heading towards Ponyville.

Gilda heard a twig snap and looked up as the form of Gath shuffled from the darkness.

"Did you get your wounds treated?" Gilda asked as she wiped the blade on her pants leg and sheathed it at her belt.

"Yeah, I need to take it easy for a little bit now however... You didn't drink the last jug of wine have you?" Gath asked.

"Nah, it's all yours." Gilda said as she lifted the trapdoor to the den and let Gath inside.

Gath handed the white haired girl a bag of coins that he had looted off some bandits before saying, "Take these to Berry Punch in town. Get as much as you can carry and bring it back here. I'm going to be down for a while..."

"Any preferences?" Gilda asked as she tied the coin pouch to her belt.

"Strongest she has." Gath mumbled as he grabbed the last jug of wine and pulled the cork off with his teeth.

Gilda smiled at the display of the large man tipping the jug and draining half of the contents.

"Take it easy there, if you lost too much blood that is going to hit you faster than it normally does." Gilda laughed.

"That is the idea..." Gath said as he set the now half empty jug down and fell onto his pile of furs in the corner of the den.

Gilda smiled as she left and departed for the town to run her errand.

Gath's eyes longed to shut and sleep, but he knew it would not come to him. Not even the satisfying feeling of the alcohol could could bring him to the point of rest. Worst of all this meant Gath was left to brew over his thoughts. Memories long since buried of Robin Lakehair sprung up.

Gath's reached for the jug of wine and emptied it as his thoughts kicked up into the more recent events. Gath thought over the black creatures he fought, and their ability to take on the form of anyone. Gath closed his eyes as he thought of seeing one of them take on the form of his dead lover.

The empty jug shattered against the packed earth wall of the den. The adrenaline from his rage made Gath forget all about his wound, and Gath would have set off to find whatever witch or wizard dare to play a trick on him. But he was still in the dilemma of being unarmored for the time being. His old steel chain mail did not do the job against whatever material those creatures were using, and while the helmet was nigh indestructible and granted him protection from some things, A blade through the heart would still kill him.

Gath could repair his armor usually, but he had no forge of his own set up. Ponyville's blacksmith was too incompetent to make anything of use to Gath as well. Gath thought long and hard over his options, and as much as he hated to admit it, he may be in need of digging up some relics of the past.

Before his imprisonment in Celestia's dungeon, Gath had hidden some of his treasures and trophies with the help of a sorceress he had captured. The thought of having to dig her up to open his stash made his blood boil though. Though she was not directly to blame, Cobra had been the cause of Robin's death in a way. Gath would need to be careful after freeing the ancient evil being he had imprisoned, but he needed his old armor from when he defeated the Kitzaks.

All this would need to wait though, Gath reminded himself. If he was to venture out that far without quality armor, he was going to need to be at full health, not with a hole in his back. Gath sighed as he allowed himself to lay down completely, his back stung once again as he lay on it, eyes staring at the ceiling of the den. Slowly Gath found himself able to drift into a fitful slumber.

"Well you at least managed to wound him... Shame about the uh, hole..." Discord said as he poked his finger inside of the wound the helmet's spike punched into Chrysalis's stomach.

Chrysalis hissed at the mad mage but moaned in relief as he pulled his finger out and the wound was healed. Chrysalis swept a hand over where the wound once was and shook her head at the memory of the man who slaughtered an entire unit of her changelings.

"He is stronger than we gave him credit for... And when he went berserk, he was like death incarnate..." Chrysalis said, casting her piercing green eyes at Discord.

"Yes, well... I had read somewhere before about the bearer of the helmet, but I did not think he was still alive with how a few of the tales ended..." Discord began, "They had a name for him, one other than his birth name. A title the people of that time found fitting for him."

Chrysalis raised an eyebrow at this before commenting, "Oh? Pray tell what they called him."

"He was called the Death Dealer, a man who reveled in the glory of battle and defeated the old god of destruction. Legends tells that he even brought an entire nation to its knees by himself..." Discord said, his pupils turning to slits as he got serious.

"Anything in those legend books about any weaknesses?" Chrysalis asked as she wove her magic into fixing her torn dress.

"Not a weakness per say..." Discord said as his eyes once again dilated into their multiple hues of color.

"Cut to the chase madman!" Chrysalis spat at Discord.

"Ah ah ah, I saved your hide, and you owe me a game if you want to learn this tasty morsel of information..." Discord said waving a finger in front of Chrysalis's face and then tapping her on the nose.

Chrysalis roared in anger as she attempted to leap after the mage who simply winked out of existence momentarily, only to appear once again behind the witch.

"Now, the rules are simple..." Discord said, a wide grin on his face with his one fang protruding among his other teeth.

11 - Cobra

Cobra

Gilda yawned as she stretched her back and wiped the sweat off her face with a rag. She had taken a part time job to earn a little bit of money to be able to afford a new set of clothes. Normally the small brawls she got into did not cause her clothing to come to harm. The bandit attacks in the forest however? Those had proven to cause her and her clothing harm. Gath could patch up her wounds with herbs and the occasional need of minor medical attention. But the large man had said fixing clothes was women's work.

She was currently fixing some damage that was done to the library when a spell Trixie and Twilight had attempted went wrong. The result of the spell had shattered the bookcases, so Gilda was put to work making new ones. The work was at least simple, the proper tools were provided, and it was work she had done in the past.

"So what spell did you two dweebs try again?" Gilda asked Trixie.

"Twilight was practicing a spell to turn apples into oranges, the spell misfired and hit a bird though. That bird ended up as a living orange with wings and bird legs... She was unable to reverse the spell herself so she asked for my help..." Trixie explained with a hand over her face.

"Hah! Remind me not to allow either of you near any of my stuff..." Gilda taunted.

"Oh wow, they look great!" Twilight gasped as she entered the library from the front door.

"Told ya' I could do it, worked as a carpenter's apprentice a while back when I was down on my luck." Gilda said proudly.

Twilight walked over and inspected the bookcases, they even had a little bit of decorative carving on the sides, and while she had not asked for it, the librarian was not going to complain. Twilight turned to the large woman with a big smile and levitated a sack of coins to her.

"Ooh yeah, Gilda is gonna get a new pair of boots tonight." Gilda said weighing the sack in her hand and grinning.

"Speaking of which, what have you been up to that your clothes have been getting so torn up?" Trixie asked with a confused look.

"Eh, you know how bandits like to think they can take you just because they have the numbers advantage. Gath and I at least get a fair amount of supplies off them, not much money though." Gilda said as she put away her tools.

"I had heard there have been a lot less reports of bandits attacking in the area..." Trixie commented.

"Wait, you have been killing people and stealing their stuff?" Twilight asked incredulously.

"It's not really stealing when they are dead, and they attacked first. Besides Gath puts good use to the stuff we loot." Gilda said, defending herself.

Twilight frowned as she thought of Gath killing people out in the forest. Even if they were bandits, it was not alright to just go about slaying people. Something clicked in the back of Twilight's mind as she thought of the large man.

"Gilda, where have you been staying? I know you haven't rented a house in Ponyville, are you staying in the forest?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah, what of it?" Gilda asked suspiciously.

"You wouldn't happen to be staying with Gath would you?" Twilight asked, voice neutral but eyes betraying her feelings.

Gilda's sharp eyes caught the look in those eyes, Twilight wanted to know something, and it was not what she had asked. The sorceress was trying to find something out from how Gilda answered, but Gilda was not about to give up information that easily.

"Yes, why?" Gilda said, keeping her answer short, and shooting in her own question to delay Twilight and throw her off her tracks.

Twilight squinted at the large woman, knowing that she had been caught in trying to learn something from context. The sorceress looked the large woman in the eyes, the two sharing piercing stares, until Twilight finally sighed.

"Fine, I don't want to start something with this so I will be straight forward. Will you tell me where Gath stays, and how he is doing?" Twilight asked in a neutral tone.

"He is doing a lot better, almost at top shape. But you will not find out from me where he lives. And I'll give you a warning now, do not try to follow me." Gilda said firmly.

Twilight smiled at hearing that Gath was doing well, but her joy was doused at the news she would not get to visit him. The librarian was about to try inquiring as to why Gilda insisted on keeping his home a secret but the winged woman beat her to it.

"Gath made me promise not to tell anyone where his home was, you can at least respect that can't you?" Gilda asked with a small but triumphant smile.

"Yes..." Twilight said in defeat.

Gilda then put on her jacket and tied the coin sack to her belt before departing from the library, taking one last glance back at the two sorceresses and shaking her head.

"Gonna have to keep my eye on her..." Gilda muttered under her breath. She was not about to allow any competition for Gath.

Gilda then made her way to the large clothing store that another one of Dash's friends owned.

After placing an order and having measurements taken, she paid in advance and left. The sun was beginning to set, and she figured it was about time to return to the den.Gilda spread her wings and flew into the forest, checking multiple times as she flew in large circles that she was not being followed, before making a beeline to where the den was. Upon reaching it she gave the knock code to signal that it was her and not a trespasser.

Once inside the den, Gilda was greeted by darkness. The fire was not going, and not even any candles were lit. Gilda set to starting the fire before lighting a few candles, suspecting Gath had gone out for a hunt and had not returned yet. As Gilda warmed her hands over the fire she noticed something catching the flickering light and glinting on the wall. Gilda looked over to it and noticed it was a dagger stuck into the wall, pinning a note there. Gilda pulled the dagger out and grabbed the note. She took it over to a candle where she could read it.

"Well there goes my plans for trying to make a move in him tonight..." Gilda huffed.

Gath roared as he strained his muscles, a normal man would have buckled under the weight but he held firm. He was holding his axe above his head with both hands, as a giant snake attempted to bite his head off. The reptiles mouth was only halted by the hilt of the axe, but the sound of splintering wood was beginning to make the large barbarian worry.

Gath grabbed the side of the snakes lower jaws with both hands, abandoning the axe, and pulled the reptile over the top of his head, diverting its force. As the snake flew past, Gath jumped, causing the spike on top of the helmet to tear through the scales and bite into the flesh of his attacker's neck.

The great beast hissed as it writhed around, Gath lunged for his axe and spin with it as the snake lunged once more, this time however Gath struck his mark, tearing off the snake's jaw. The rest of the beast continued and Gath narrowly dodged the two fangs from the upper part of the beast's maw. Pulling a dagger from his belt, the large barbarian began driving the blade into the back of the snake's throat.

The snake stiffened over Gath, and ceased moving. The large man heaved the repitle off of him, and sheathed his dagger after cleaning it on a rag. Gath then retrieved his axe before continuing toward what he was attempting to open before he was attacked.

Looking the ancient stone door up and down Gath attempted to remember how it was opened. The large man remembered it was constructed by the last of his faithful followers, and it had been magically sealed, only able to be opened with a certain phrase.

"Sharn" Gath shouted out the name of his old pack brother, the large timber wolf that he grew up with.

The stone doors split, and pulled apart with a deep rumbling sound as the stone was magically pulled. Gath then entered the darkness, his red eyes piercing the pitch black and revealing to him the stairwell that led to the chamber he hid his old weapons and armor in.

As Gath entered the dusty chamber he was greeted with many old memories of battles long past. Gath grabbed the top of a chest and opened it before slowly reaching inside and pulling out a burlap bag. The contents of the bag writhed angrily. Gath untied the knot at the end of the bag and the snake that slithered out hissed at him before making a break for the door. Gath lunged and caught the snake behind the head so it could not bite him.

"I have returned Cobra, and as I promised I will free you once you undo the spell..." Gath said firmly to the snake, his deep voice resounding off the stone walls.

Gath dropped the snake as it began to change it's form. Limbs sprouted as the snake grew, and then the scales receded into a tight fitting, and slightly revealing dress. The woman that took form from the snake had black hair, and ivory skin. Her supple curves had tempted many men to their deaths, and Gath had almost fallen for them in the past as well.

"It has been a long time Death Dealer... Did you forget about me?" Cobra said in a pouty voice as she stuck out her lower lip and batted her eyes.

"On with it witch!" Gath roared, having no patience for the imprisoned sorceress.

Cobra flicked a black tongue out of her lips as a snake would, and her eyes took on a reptilian shape briefly before once again turning back into a more human shape. The sorceress then strode past the barbarian, gently caressing his shoulders as she passed. The sorceress then stood in the middle of the room and spread her arms wide, chanting in an ancient and forgotten language as she undid the spell. Soon, all of the treasures stored within the chamber were illuminated.

"There, the seal on your armor and weapons is lifted. The treasure is safe to take too." Cobra said offhandedly as she investigated a nail.

Gath strode over to where his shield, a steel kite-shield that had the emblem of a falcon on it, and put it over his arm. Satisfied that the seal was no longer there by evidence that his arm was not in agony at the touch of the item, Gath looked to Cobra.

"Very well, you are free to go. But I warn you, stay away from me, else I will simply get rid of you for good." Gath said with a growl before setting to work on gathering what he needed.

Cobra stretched her limbs before making for the exit of the chamber, taking one last look back at the barbarian, her eyes once again turning reptilian. Through her slitted pupils the sorceress stared and took in the sight of Gath, her black tongue flicking out from between her lips and tasting the air. Cobra then turned to the light that came from the top of the stairwell.

Cobra silently strode out into the sunlight, her scaled dress reflecting the sun in multiple colors as she saw how the world had changed. It seemed more colorful, more innocent. She pondered briefly how easy it would be to start anew. How simple it would be to rekindle the cult that followed the god of death and destruction. Cobra smiled as she turned back towards the dark doorway.

"You will beg my god to take control of you through that helmet when I am done Gath..." Cobra said with a wicked grin while clapping her hands together and turning into a large snake before slithering off into the jungle.

12 - Hive

Hive

A week had come and past, with no sign of Gath returning. Gilda sat alone in the den, the animal furs that served as her bed wrapped around her as she attempted to fully awaken. She was used to waking up alone by now, Gath was always an early riser, but the nights were what was difficult. Gilda hated being lonely, that being part of the reason she decided to accompany Trixie in the first place.

Gilda cast her eyes around the dimly lit room, the candles that burned in the corners were nearing the end of their life, and would soon have to be replaced. Gilda rose to replace them, and after doing so clicked her tongue in annoyance.

"Damn, there goes the last of our candles. Gonna' have to make a run into town for that." Gilda sighed.

Though she ventured out of the forest to visit Rainbow Dash, and to do work here and there when she was needed, she stayed away from the town. Though she hated the loneliness, she hated even more the looks people cast her, whether it was fear or disgust.

Gilda's stomach then emitted a churning growl, and the woman looked down at herself and laughed. She began rummaging through her pack for dried meats and the such, and pulled out a strip of smoked venison. As she munched on the snack she pulled up the coin pouch she had been collecting her earnings into. She had in the past week accumulated quite a stash.

"Hmm, maybe I'll treat myself to dinner tonight..." Gilda mumbled as she scooped up a handful of bits and let them slide through her fingers and back into the bulging pouch.

Gilda rose to her feet and dressed herself, before heading out of the den, a smaller leather bit pouch attached to her belt, a precaution against thieves, though she doubted Ponyville had any. As she cleared the edge of the forest she made her way to the road, descending from her flight and deciding to enjoy a walk for the rest of the way.

She passed a few townsfolk who averted their eyes as they passed her. Gilda sneered each time she saw them cringe, and this only caused them to lower their heads even more and hurry past her. Gilda missed Gath even more now, he was the only one who looked at her with neither fear nor hatred other than Rainbow.

As she made her way into town and towards the candle shop, Gilda noticed a familiar face in the marketplace. It was the pink haired girl with the yellow wings who went to flight camp with Dash and her. Fluttershy was her name Gilda remembered, a close friend of Dash's now. But she seemed to be having some trouble with the merchant she was talking to.

Gilda approached the smaller winged girl and listened from a short distance as to what was going on.

"I don't care what you heard I was selling it for, the price now is eight bits!" The merchant exclaimed in an angry tone.

"B-but that isn't very nice... You just rose the price because you saw me coming." Fluttershy said in a quiet but firm voice. Gilda was impressed by the fact she was deciding to stand up for herself.

"Like I said, if you want it so bad just pay the price for it." The merchant said as he turned his nose into the air.

"Now you listen here mister, just because you think you can push someone over and charge what you want doesn't mean you should. I will not just accept this kind of treatment from you, even if you did get away with it before." Fluttershy said in a frustrated, but still gentle voice.

"Oh yeah, and what are you going to do about it? I'm the only one who sells the exotic bird seed you use in this town." The merchant said with a smug smile.

Gilda had had enough of this guy's attitude toward one of Dash's friends. She walked up behind the timid girl, towering over her, and stared down at the merchant. She caught his eye, and she grinned wickedly as she saw his pupils shrink as she cracked her knuckled. Fluttershy turned around slowly and squeaked at the sight of Gilda.

"This creep causing you any trouble?" Gilda asked as she reached over the market stall and grasped the front of the man's tunic.

"W-wait, Gilda! Don't hurt him." Fluttershy said in a distressed tone.

"Why not?" Gilda said, looking away from the merchant and down at the pink haired girl.

Fluttershy fidgeted there under Gilda's gaze for a moment before meeting her eyes and giving an answer, "Because its not nice."

Gilda's jaw hung open slightly as she held a shocked expression at Fluttershy's words. Tension hung in the air as Gilda still held the merchant slightly off of the ground, and people were beginning to stare. Gilda suddenly burst into laughter and dropped the merchant who's knees buckled when his weight was put on them.

"Fine, do things your way." Gilda said with a chuckle as she turned to walk away and resume her errand. She looked back over her shoulder at the merchant who was picking himself up off the ground and dusting himself off, "You heard her, play nice."

The merchant nodded eagerly at Gilda, and the muscular woman made her way to the store with a smile on her face.

As Gilda left the store, a satchel full of candles in her possession, she made her way towards the direction of the Everfree Forest. She was given a fairly good price on these as well, she still had a fair amount of coin left in her small leather pouch.

"Um, Gilda..." Fluttershy's quiet voice called form behind Gilda.

Gilda turned around and gave the smaller girl an inquisitive look.

"Thank you for standing up for me. I have been working on being more assertive, but he has always been a stubborn one." Fluttershy said fidgeting with her hands on the front of her dress.

Gilda hummed to herself as she inspected the timid girl who Dash called a friend. This only seemed to make Fluttershy fidget even more however. Gilda let out a sigh and softened her features as she looked down at the smaller girl.

"No problem, I didn't like the way he was treating one of Dash's friends is all." Gilda said waving a hand dismissively.

"I really want to thank you though, you look so lonely when you come into town and all... So I was wondering if you would join me for dinner as a way of me saying thanks tonight." Fluttershy said, covering one eye with her hair.

"Geeze, Fluttershy I don't want you to go out of your way or anything-" Gilda started but was cut off at the end.

"Nonsense, I would be happy to have you over. You can even tell Gath to visit if he wants to, I haven't seen him since he was hurt." Fluttershy said with a smile.

Gilda clenched her jaw shut, she almost opened her mouth to tell the smaller girl that Gath had left to do something and still had not returned. Though she was not asked to keep it a secret, she suspected that she was not meant to go spreading word across the town.

"Ehh, sure I'll show up. But I can't promise Gath will make it, I'll ask him though." Gilda assured Fluttershy.

The pink haired girl smiled at this, "See you at six tonight then Gilda."

Gilda waved as she and the pink haired girl parted ways and she left the road and took flight into the forest, "At least that takes care of dinner plans for the night..."

Captain Shining Armor of the Royal Canterlot Guard marched with a detachment of his men towards where he had received reports of a disturbance in the local countryside. Normally the stalwart captain would not have had to accompany his men, but the mad mage and the witch that had the country in a state of emergency were suspected to be involved.

"What did the report say again?" Shining Armor asked his lieutenant.

"We received a magically sent message from the guards in a local town that Discord was spotted luring away men and women from the town with his magic sir." The soldier replied.

Shining Armor frowned at the notion of having to face off against Discord, but he could not just let this report go unchecked. In the event that his detachment engaged in combat with Discord or Chrysalis, he was to send a magical message to Celestia and do his best to hold them off until backup arrived.

"Is that the town there?" Shining Armor asked as he made it to the top of a hill and gazed down at a quiet little village.

"Yes sir." A soldier confirmed.

"And then they disappeared into the woodlands over there to the south of the village?" Shining Armor asked.

"If the reports are correct then yes." Shining's lieutenant answered.

"Shall we inspect the town then sir?" A soldier inquired to his captain.

"No, if it is true that Discord was in the area then he would have placed a spell over the populace by now. Anything they say can't be trusted. If he is here we were lucky that the guards sent the report the moment anything happened." The young captain of the guard said as he lead his men towards the forest.

As they breached the treeline they could feel that something was wrong. The air hung heavy with dark magics, and there was no sound from the local wildlife. As they ventured further in, weapons drawn, they noticed that the few animals they saw stared at them in unmoving silence, as if waiting for something to happen.

"Sir, I don't like this..." The lieutenant mumbled.

"Something is definitely wrong here. But we haven't seen any evid-" Shining halted mid sentence and raised a fist to halt his men.

The soldiers all tensed and readied their weapons, the sound of their metal armor shifting was the only noise they could hear, but Shining had definitely heard something from the distance. The young captain could almost feel something approaching him, a feeling of danger approaching.

The detachment slowly moved onward, Shining Armor leading them in a more southern direction, following where the feeling in his gut was coming from. As they advanced they began to notice parts of the forest changing. The trees as they went seemed to become less and less lively, until all of the trees were dead and twisted. The forest floor as well was different, the normally lush green undergrowth was gone, and blackened dirt was all they tread upon.

"Oh no..." Shining mumbled.

"Sir?" The lieutenant asked.

"Chrysalis has started another hive of changelings..." Shining said, his face growing pale.

"Then we need to send for backup!" A soldier whispered urgently.

The other men began nodding in agreement with this.

"No, we need to stop this before she can raise another army." Shining said in a resolute voice.

Before any complaints could be voiced Shining Armor pressed on, approaching ever closer to where he knew the underground tunnel would no doubt be. It was not long before they spotted it either, but something was off.

"Why isn't it guarded?" Shining mumbled to himself.

"Maybe their defenses were drawn away?" The lieutenant offered.

"What could lure away an entire defensive force and cause them to not even leave a single man?" Shining said with incredulity at the notion.

A high pitched screech filled the air, causing the men to jump and look around frantically. Shining Armor was the only one not to jump, and he stared off into the forest at the direction the scream came from. Shining readied his sword and shield and took off, his men following him after only a moments delay.

They came upon the scene of two dozen of the black chitinous creatures known as changelings dragging men and women through the forest. Shining ducked behind a large tree as did his men so as to not be seen.

"They didn't leave do defend, they left to get more food!" Shining hissed in anger.

"Sir were outnumbered here..." A soldier said in a shaky voice.

"Doesn't matter, we need to stop them now before it gets even more out of hand." Shining said with a frown.

The captain of the guard opened a locket that hung around his neck, inside was two pictures, one of his wife, and one of his little sister, the two beings he loved most in the world. It was for their safety that he had to do this, to make sure that Equestria was a safer place for them.

"Get ready men..." Shining said in a low voice as the changelings made their way ever closer to where the soldiers hid.

"Charge!" Shining yelled as he and his men jumped out from the cover of the trees.

The element of surprise however seemed lost, as the black creatures hissed in glee at the sight of the soldiers, they knew they were coming and were ready. Silver blades clashed with ebony ones, as the fight started. The soldiers were slowly pushed back from the ferocity with which the changelings harnessed. One by one Shining Armor's men fell around him, and he was being forced against a tree as the heavy blows knocked him back. These changelings were stronger than normal ones somehow, as if they were being enhanced by something.

Shining found himself surrounded, black blades poised at him as he stood with his back against the tree.

"We caught quite the prize here..." A changeling said in a raspy voice.

"We will be rewarded well by the queen..." Another said.

Shinning gritted his teeth at the thought of being under Chrysalis's spell once again. He would rather die here than be subject to that again. Shining readied himself for one last clash of blades.

An inhuman scream split the air causing Shining and the changelings that surrounded him to freeze. The changelings turned their heads and began to hiss at something that Shining could not see from behind them. Shining then heard the sound of something splitting open, and saw a spray of green blood burst into the air. He briefly wondered if one of his men had feigned death and had surprised one of these enhanced changelings. That was, until he saw a glimpse of what was killing the black creatures.

The man was a giant, clad in black chain mail that hung low to the ground in the front and back as a loincloth would. Around his waist and over his chain mail was a large thick belt with metal plates holding emblems of skulls. Around his shoulders and draping down his back was a tattered black cloak made of what appeared to be a giant wolf pelt. His hands and feet were armored in black plate graves and gauntlets that were decorated with skulls and spikes. He was wielding an ancient looking bearded axe in one hand that was covered in green blood, and on his other arm was strapped a kite shield that held the emblem of a falcon. The most memorable feature of the man however was the dark metal horned helmet that obscured his face, only revealing his chin and glowing red eyes.

"Gath..." Shining armor mumbled the name he had heard the princesses speak of. He was only briefly told of the giant of a man who wore the magical artifact Discord and Chrysalis were after, but he recognized the description in the mere glance he was given as the giant man pressed on, deflecting strikes with his shield as he decapitated changelings left and right.

Shining looked between the commotion Gath was causing, to the changelings that were now distracted, and magically charged his sword with a fire spell before cutting into one of the changelings and removing himself from being surrounded. Shining Armor then deflected a blade as the creatures that had him surrounded turned their attention once more onto him.

Gath smashed his shield into the head of one of the changelings that was slashing at Shining, causing the black creatures head to cave in. Gath then spun around to face the changeling behind him, and lopped off its head with a horizontal blow. A black blade bounced off his helmet, and Gath brought his knee up and delivered a crushing kick to the chest of the changeling.

Shining Armor thrust his sword into the chest of a changeling, but lost his grip as another kicked him in the chest. The captain of the guard tumbled to the ground and attempted to rise, but was forced down as a black boot stomped on his chest. Shining grunted in pain and stared at the sword that was poised over him in the air. Shining cringed as he awaited the blades descent, but a large metal fist collided into the back of the changeling's head.

Gath then strode over the prone body of the changeling he just knocked off the guard captain and raised a foot into the air. The changeling looked up with groggy eyes at the boot above its head, and gave a scream as the boot came down and caused its skull to explode. Shining Armor cringed as he was splattered with green blood.

The captain of the guard stared at the giant of a man who walked over to the villagers who were being dragged were at and began untying them. Though the villagers showed fear at his appearance, they gave him thankful looks as he freed them.

After freeing the last of the villagers he strode back over the captain of the guard who was just standing up from the shock.

"Take them home, I will deal with the remnants here." Gath said looking down at the smaller man.

Shining Armor merely nodded as he watched Gath walk off in the direction of the changeling nest.

14 - Sweet Apple Massacre

Sweet Apple Massacre

"You think this will work?" Chrysalis asked as she stared into the bubbling cauldron that the mad mage had been brewing in.

"I know making magical brews is generally a witch's thing, but you have to give me some credit. I did manage to make myself as powerful as this with my experiments!" Discord said as he added a vial of blood into the mixture.

Chrysalis frowned as she watched the bubbling brew change form a sickly yellow color to a vile green one. Discord then plunged a small crystal vial into the cauldron and quickly popped a cork in to seal it. He scrutinized the mixture for a moment before smiling to himself and tucking it away into a pocket in his multi-colored robe. He then motioned for one of Chrysalis's Changelings to step forward. The black chitinous humanoid glanced at Chrysalis who nodded her consent, and with the approval of its queen, the Changeling stepped forward.

"Now, this is going to burn on the way down... And you are going to feel a bit of a pinch... Oh, and you may or may not start seeing colors you did not know existed before." Discord said with a mad grin as he put a hand reassuringly on the Changeling's shoulder.

The Changeling merely blinked, and leaned over to glance inside of the cauldron at the substance that looked strangely close to its own blood in color. The creature then turned its attention to its Queen as if asking for its orders before Discord grabbed it by the back of the head and forced its face into the boiling contents.

"Drink up, and you will grow big and strong like me!" Discord cackled maniacally.

"This had better work, I don't like you treating my children like this." Chrysalis said with a hard glare fixed on the mad mage.

"Worry not, worry not. See? He already is showing signs that it is working..." Discord said, one eye shrinking into a pinprick as he stared at the Changeling while the other drifted off lazily.

The Changeling meanwhile was screaming in agony into the boiling mixture as its body was wracked with pain. It had magically altered itself before, it was a Changeling's nature to do so. But this was different. The change it was undergoing now was real, not just some illusion. It experienced thing's it had never felt before as the green mixture made its way down its throat as it choked for air. Thoughts and emotions filled its mind, something that was completely alien to the once hive-minded creature. It felt fear of death should it drown in this cauldron, it felt betrayal that his queen was allowing this. But most of all, it felt free. As the magical concoction sent surges of power through its body, the Changeling felt as if the world was beginning to grow around it, like walls that were once there to keep it in place were now gone.

"This will be a little different than my last modification however I must warn." Discord said a small look of concern forming on his face,

"You bring this up now?" Chrysalis asked in disbelief.

"Well, there may be a teensy little issue with him having an existential crisis when he is ready. But hey, most parents have to deal with their children going through puberty anyways so its about time you did as well." Discord said with a smug grin as he pulled the Changeling's face out of the cauldron and took a look at him.

Discord smiled at what he saw, "Yes, that is it. Just a few more goes at it and we will be done with this one."

The Changeling screamed in horror at this, but was quickly silenced as Discord shoved its head back into the cauldron.

"Who was it?" Gath asked again, more firmly this time.

"T-Twilight was the only one with you at the time." Fluttershy stuttered under the intensity of Gath's voice.

"Is something wrong?" Gilda asked, a look of concern etched on her face.

Gath turned his gaze to Gilda, "Where did she go?"

"Hey hold on a moment. You can tell me whats going on." Gilda replied.

Gath grunted and moved to step past her, only to be cut off by the winged girl. Gath frowned at her but she stood her ground, and even matched his glare with her own.

"I will not be ignored." She firmly stated.

Gath kept up on their staring contest for a moment longer before letting out a deep and rumbling sigh, "I will at least show respect to your courage. But we talk as we travel. This is important."

Gilda grinned at this and followed closely behind the giant of a man, casting her eyes back at Fluttershy who had hidden her face behind her hair when the two began glaring at one another, "Sorry Fluttershy, I am going to have to cancel on you for now. Maybe another time!"

The pink haired girl merely nodded, glancing out from behind her long hair as she waved them off.

"So what is so important about her taking off your helmet?" Gilda asked as she turned her attention back to Gath.

"No one should be able to, only one person was ever capable of taking the helmet off." Gath said with a resolute look as he scanned his eyes over the townsfolk, looking for the familiar young sorceress.

"What, you think she knows a spell or something? Didn't think you liked magic." Gilda said with a thoughtful hum.

"She doesn't and I don't." He merely responded as he made for the library.

As the two of them approached the large hollowed out tree that served as the town's library, Gath did not even bother knocking on the door before he stormed in through the unlocked door. He looked around the darkened interior, frowning as he could not see any signs that anyone was home. He sniffed the air and raised an eyebrow, something smelled familiar. He moved to make his way deeper into the library but was stopped by a hand laying on his shoulder.

"It doesn't look like she is home. My bet would be she headed over to one of her friend's places. She looked a little flustered when I saw her leaving." Gilda explained, "If it's as important as you say we shouldn't waste time intruding on her vacant house."

"The door was unlocked." Gath pointed out.

"Who knows, maybe her little assistant is home and is taking a nap somewhere. He is still kind of young." Gilda pointed out.

Gath merely grunted in consent to her explanation and followed her out of the library.

As the door closed, a woman's head peered out of the kitchen. She stared at the door for a moment before letting out the breath she had been holding. She then turned her reptilian gaze to the fearful eyes of Spike. She knelt down to be at eye level with him, and gazed into his emerald eyes that shook with terror as she held one hand over his mouth, and the other pressing him firmly against the wall.

"Now where were we cutie? Ah yes, you were going to tell me everything about this, Twilight." Cobra said the young sorceress' name venomously.

Gath and Gilda made their way towards Sweet Apple Acres, the closest place to where Twilight would have been when she ran off. As they picked their way through the rows of apple trees towards the barn, choosing to avoid the more populated streets to avoid garnering any more attention, they neared the farmhouse where Applejack lived.

Gath stopped and gazed down the rows of trees, and spotted the form of Big Macintosh picking apples not far off. The two made their way towards the farmer, who in turn upon noticing them wiped his brow with a rag he kept in his back pocket and came to greet them.

"Howdy." Big Macintosh said with a nod.

"Hey big guy, seen Twilight come running this way? She looked flustered and stormed off a bit ago." Gilda asked the farmer.

"Eenope." The red haired man replied, giving Gath a lingering look before meeting Gilda's eyes, "Reckon she woulda' went off to Rarities were that the case."

"Damnit, we were just by there." Gilda swore.

"I am unfamiliar with where she lives." Gath said with a frown.

"Big building, fanciest in town. Dresses and suits in the windows." Gilda explained, motioning with her hands as she went on, "Hard to miss, you know the one I'm talking about?"

"Oh... That one." Gath said curling his upper lip.

Big Macintosh laughed at the exchange, "I find it tacky myself, but to each their own."

Big Macintosh then noticed something move behind the two of them, and frowned as he leaned to look past them. If his eyes weren't playing tricks on him something had just moved between the rows, but it was hard to make out. Big Mac was about to open his mouth to ask if they had anyone with them when he saw the air distort near Gath's side. The giant of a man saw the look on the farmer's face and his head whipped down to look at the Horned Helmet he had strapped to his side with a strip of leather.

Gath saw a distortion in the air next to him, reaching out for the helmet. He grabbed for the distortion and wrapped his hand around something hard and cold. He squeezed as hard as he could, and was rewarded with a cracking sound, and small spray of green ooze. The Changeling next to him then cried out in pain as it's camouflage dropped and it was rendered visible, clutching at its crushed arm after Gath released it from his grip.

"Attack!" A raspy voice that seemed to be filled with many others roared.

Gath snarled as he drew his axe, but found no time to retrieve his shield from his back. He struck at the shimmering air, cleaving a Changeling's head in two, from one ear to the next. He grabbed another by the neck the moment it appeared before him, and crushed its windpipe before moving on to the next. As he landed a kick to the armored gut of one sending it sprawling from the impact, he turned to face another one that was advancing when he noticed a massive Changeling that stood around a head taller than he slowly and calmly advancing towards him.

Gath grunted as a black sword struck him in the back, but the blade was not strong enough to slash through the black metal his armor was made of. Spinning on his heel, Gath sundered the creature in twain. As he turned once more to the massive Changeling, he found himself staring into the thick chitin of the creature chest. He looked up and met its eyes that glowed every color of the rainbow, shifting from one to the next. He raised his eyebrow at this, and was caught off guard as a black fist connected with his jaw.

As Gath was sent flying into a tree, Gilda had her hands full as she circled with two Changelings. She twirled a dagger in her left hand as she flourished a sword she had pilfered not long ago in her right. She flared her wings threateningly, but the Changelings did not back off. She parried the blow of one with her sword, and as she sidestepped the thrust of the other she buried the dagger hilt deep into its skull. Now with only one opponent and one weapon she focused more on attacking than defending. Letting loose a flurry of glancing blows, she slowly forced the creature back.

The farmer in the meantime had turned to run so as to check on his kin, only to be blocked by a Changeling. He kicked with all of his might into the chest of the creature, which was sent up against the trunk of a tree. Big Mac then pulled his right arm back and thrust his fist right into the chitinous face of the Changeling. The creature's head caved in, but not before it broke a few of the farmer's fingers. Big Mac hissed in pain as he nursed his hand and continued to run off to check on his sisters and grandmother.

"Your eyes have a bad look to them..." Gath muttered as he moved to get up, only to be pulled back to the ground as the Changeling he had kicked earlier wrapped its arms around his throat from behind.

"You will die here Death Dealer. And My queen shall have the helmet." The massive Changeling said as it stared down at him.

Gath struggled to take a breath, but found the grip of the Changeling to be too strong to loosen. He instead reached back behind himself with a hand and pressed his thumb into the eye socket of the insect-like Changeling. His thumb sank in easily, and the Creature immediately released him as it howled in pain and reached for its eyes. Gath then threw and elbow into its chest, cracking several ribs as he used the momentum to stand up.

Gath reached for his shield off of his back and got it in front of him in time to block the great sword the giant Changeling swung at him. Held between his two hands, it easily stopped the blow, the force of which caused the blade to snap in half. The mighty creature growled as it drew two smaller blades from its hip and pressed on in its attack.

The ancient man glanced down at his axe that lay on the ground not far away, but he knew he was not going to get to it before the Changeling could attack him in the back if he made for it. He instead grabbed the top of the shield with both hands and swung it, twisting his body to put all of his might into the shield. The shield struck the Changeling on the back of a hand as it swung its sword, crushing the appendage with a sickening crack.

"Grah! I will have that helmet!" It roared as it swung with its other blade.

Gath swooped down and grabbed the dropped sword and abruptly arced it up to block the descent of its twin. He then pressed forward, pitting his strength against the monstrous creatures. The Changeling moved back slightly, before catching itself and bearing its full weight down on Gath, gaining ground with its effort.

The ancient barbarian grunted as he reached for the helmet on his hip, "You want the helmet so bad..."

Gath tore the helmet from his hip, snapping the leather strap that kept it there. He then jammed one of the helmet's horns into the eye of the Changeling, "Have it!"

As the creature reeled back in shock and pain, it raised its good hand towards Gath, and fired a magical beam at him. Gath quickly brought up his shield and the magical attack was deflected back at the creature, tearing a hole straight through its own chest. The Changeling stared down in horror with its now only eye, and coughed up some of the green ichor that was its blood before collapsing.

Gath retrieved his helmet from the corpse of the Changeling, and glanced over to where Gilda was wiping her sword clean of the green blood of the Changeling she had just finished with. Looking up and catching Gath's gaze she smiled brightly.

"Wasn't that fun?" She asked as she returned the blade to its sheath.

"Twilight dear calm down." Rarity said as she pured a cup of tea for her friend.

"I just... Can't help myself around him!" Twilight yelled in frustration.

"That is the way love is darling." Rarity said dreamily as she thought of the many romance novels she had read.

"Who said I was in love?!" Twilight yelled back.

"Why you did, just now with that outburst." Rarity teased.

The two girls were interrupted as a knock sounded on the front door.

"Sorry, were closed right now!" Rarity called at the door.

"No Rarity, its alright. Don't let me get in the way of your business." Twilight said shaking her head.

The knocking sounded again at the door, causing Rarity's words to dry up before she could respond to Twilight who motioned for her to go ahead and get the door.

"Oh alright, but you will fill me in on the rest when I'm done taking this order." Rarity said pointing an accusing finger at the young sorceress.

Rarity strode over to the door and opened it with a large and elegant smile, "Welcome to Carousal Boutique, where everything is chic, unique, and magnifique!"

The woman who stood before Rarity was gorgeous, long raven hair down below her shoulder, and a mysterious air to her. The dress she wore seemed to be made of scales and shifted color as the light caught them. Rarity gasped at the design, and thought of the many ways she could implement it in her own works.

"Is there anything I can do to help one as fashionable as yourself?" Rarity asked with a dazzling smile.

"I need to have a word with Twilight." The woman returned in a suave voice, giving her own charming smile.

Author's Note

Finally got around to updating this one. Been a long time since the last one, but I'm finally gonna take this story off hiatus since I find myself with a little more time recently to work on writing. With luck my schedule remains free and I can keep working on new chapters as well.

01 - Unexpected Alliance

Unexpected Alliance

Night crept over Canterlot as Celestia retired her sun, and made way for her sister's beautiful night. As the lunar princess stood atop a balcony with her hands on the railing, she gazed over the land. Luna then stretched her midnight blue wings and ran a hand through her flowing blue hair that twinkled with celestial patterns. Though the breeze felt nice, she had night court to attend to now. As she turned back into her chambers and headed for the throne room, a shadow moved in the gardens below.

The shadow crept it's way past patrolling guards who held torches, keeping just out of the light's flickering reach. As the shadow came upon a statue, it let go of the magical weaves that had obscured its form. The tall figure of the lovely witch Chrysalis came into view. She was slender and wore a tattered black dress, her eyes glowed a malevolent shade of green in the night, and her insectile wings fluttered briefly in anticipation as she licked her fangs. Before her was the petrified form of the mad mage Discord. The mage was frozen with a look of utter disbelief on his face, his arms held before as he stared at his hands while they had turned to stone.

"hmmhmmhmm" Chrysalis chuckled at the mage's expression. As much as she loved seeing someone in such torment, she needed him. Lifting a hand to the statue's face, she procured a needle with the other. Uttering a few dark syllables she enchanted the needle with spell breaking qualities.

With one glance over her shoulder to make sure the guards were not yet onto her, Chrysalis plunged the enchanted needle into the chest of the statue. The needle slid in effortlessly, and the stone began to fracture. Cracks spread out from the needle, and chunks began to fall off, revealing a multi colored robe. As the cracks spread to the face of the statue, a deep laugh echoed through the garden.

The laugh turned into a cackle of pure insanity as the mage wrenched his arms free of the stone surrounding them. Chrysalis abruptly flung a hand over Discord's mouth to silence him. Discord only then seemed to take in the slender female before him, he quirked an eyebrow at her, wondering who in their right mind would have freed him.

"Shh! we need to get out of here, lest the guards find us and alert Celestia before you are back to full strength." Chrysalis hissed at Discord.

Taking the witch's hand from his mouth Discord smiled warmly and said, "Ooh, a fellow practitioner of the dark arts? We will have so much fun together!"

As Discord spoke his eyes darted about, changing colors at random as he took in the scenery around him.

"The gardens again? I swear, Celly never learns her lesson..." Discord chuckled brightly.

Chrysalis did not like how the mad mage was acting, but she needed his strength if she was going to oppose Celestia again without her army. Grasping Discord's shoulder to regain his attention Chrysalis met his aloof eyes with her own fierce green ones.

"We need to get out of here, can you manage that without alerting the entirety of Canterlot?" Chrysalis said, keeping her glare firm.

"Though I do not see any fun in that, I guess i can humor you as thanks for letting me out." Discord raised a hand and smiled. Snapping his fingers, the two figures disappeared in a puff of smoke, only leaving behind the shattered remnants of stone that was Discord's prison.

Twilight Sparkle was observing the ruins of her mentor's old castle. The young sorceress had read a story of her mentor Celestia's earlier pursuits. But she could not find anything that went very far in depth that dated before Nightmare Moon conflict. Twilight hoped to find some older tomes or artwork that would tell of some of the stories that the history books had forgotten. If she could find what to ask, Celestia would no doubt fill her in on the rest.

As she made her way inside, Twilight looked at the broken stained glass windows. These held depictions of Celestia and Luna both, but they were to damaged to make out much else. Twilight recognized one of the figures the sisters faced as Discord. She shuddered at the memory of when her friends wielded the elements against the mage.

Twilight looked around, and noticed a rusted iron door. Approaching it, she lifted a hand to the latch, and pulled with all of her strength. The latch would not budge. Grunting in frustration, Twilight raised a hand and channeled a telekinetic spell to grab hold of the door. Wrenching with her magical weaves, Twilight pulled the door off it's rusted hinges. She smiled, then yelped as she jumped back as the heavy door fell towards her.

"Phew, that was a close one." Twilight giggled at how close she had come to having the door dropped on her by her own carelessness.

Stepping inside the dark corridor that lay behind the doorway, Twilight lifted a hand and channeled her purple magefire into it, illuminating the hall. Towards the end of the stone hallway was a staircase that led underground. If anything had survived the millennia the castle had rotted unattended in the forest, it was down there. Mustering her courage, Twilight stepped down the stairs that seemed to spiral down for an eternity.

Though it only took her a minute of walking, Twilight felt like it had been an hour as she held her breath. She had been warned of dangers that lay in the forest, and there was no guarantee that nothing had made its way down here. Twilight looked around her as she reached the bottom of the stairwell, and beheld row upon row of thick iron barred cells. She had found the old dungeon. Something caught her attention however. At then end of the long rows of cells, was a book that sat upon a pedestal.

Twilight made her way over to the book, glancing to the sides through the bars as she went. She saw many bones of various things that had been chained inside their cells. Not all of them were humanoid, some looked like they might have belonged to demons.

"Strange, I didn't hear anything about a dungeon before. There are so many cells too..." Twilight said aloud in wonder.

As she came to the book, the magefire in her hand seemed to dwindle. Twilight looked again at the bars of the cell to her right and gasped, they were covered in runes that were slowly sapping the magic around them. Anything that was held in here would be kept without magic as the bars drained them over time. These were no ordinary cells, whatever they held had been truly dangerous. Turning back to the book Twilight smiled in triumph, this must be a list of the prisoners, and if she brought this to Celestia she was sure to get some history out of her. Twilight grabbed a torch off the wall and ignited it, lest her magic become drained and she find herself trapped without light down here.

As Twilight took the book and stuffed it in her pack, she noticed something else in the corner of her eye. The light from the torch gave more illumination than her magefire had, and she noticed something shining the the cell she had looked in previously. It looked like a helmet, perhaps whoever was in this cell was still in his armor when he was imprisoned. Twilight studied the cell, and noticed the cell was numbered, this one's number was ninety-nine. Looking back in the cell, she returned to studying the shining helmet.

A low growl broke Twilight out of her study of what was behind the bars. She turned her attention down the dark rows of cells, and beheld the forms of multiple timber wolves making their way down the stairwell. Twilight gasped in horror, with the magic draining cells this close, she would not be able to fend them off.

"Oh no, please... Not like this..." Twilight whimpered, and began to cry as the hungry looking wolves made their advance on her.

The sound of metal tearing dominated the room, causing the wolves to halt their advance, and Twilight to freeze where she stood. Twilight turned her head, and saw two muscular hands gripping the bars, behind the hands was the helmet that had gleamed in the torchlight it was dark gray color and covered the face completely, two horns of a stark white color stood out as they curled down from his temples and ended in front of his face. Twilight began to stutter in terror, this dungeon had been abandoned for a thousand years, nothing should be alive down here, least of all still have the strength to move after a millennia of starvation in the dank dungeon.

Two glowing red eyes sprang open within the helmet causing Twilight to jump back and scream. The man's muscles bunched as his powerful shoulders pulled on the bars, the timber wolves raised their hackles and growled at the being in the cell. The sound of iron groaning could be heard as the bars began to give way, and finally snapped off. The muscular hands then grabbed bent the next row of bars, widening then gap.

As the man stepped out of the cell, he turned towards the wolves. Twilight watched his chain mail clad back as he strode towards the wolves. One wolf lunged at him, but it's head was caught in his mighty grip, and he crushed it's skull with little effort. The crunching sound of wood and bone echoed, and caused the other wolves to stick their tails between their legs having seen their alpha fall.

As sap seeped into the ground, Twilight fainted at the sight of the carnage. The last image she saw as her eyes fluttered while she lay on the ground, was the wolves running, and the horned man turning to her, red eyes locking with hers as he approached.

Twilight awoke suddenly, sitting up abruptly and coming face to face with a familiar pink haired face. Twilight took on the face of her friend Fluttershy, then looked around herself and noticed she was at the edge of the Everfree Forest. She looked down at herself and took in the dirt covered lavender blouse, and the purple plaid skirt that was also dirty as if she had been lying on the ground.

"Fluttershy, I just had the weirdest dream that I was in the forest, looking for some old books in Celestia's old castle." Twilight said, rubbing her eyes.

"Oh, umm... Twilight, you did go into the forest, a while ago, I found you passed out at the treeline just a moment ago though." Fluttershy explained.

Twilight's eyes shot open at this as she grabbed her pack off her back and dug inside until she found the book. Her hands trembled as she vividly remembered the glowing red eyes that had advanced on her. Where was he now? Why had he not escaped before if he could do so at any time? Twilight needed to warn the princess as soon as possible, if she had locked someone in a dungeon, they must be very dangerous.

"Are you okay Twilight?" Fluttershy asked, a concerned look on her face.

Twilight ignored Fluttershy as she flipped open the book, sure enough it was full of names that were numbered off.

"What was that number..." Twilight mumbled to herself.

"What number?" Fluttershy asked, concern only growing for her friend.

'Ninety-nine! that was it' thought Twilight as she scanned the pages for the number. A few pages in was the number, and next to it held the name of the man that had broken free of his cell.

Gath of Baal

07 - Blood in the Forest

'Oh no, Princess Celestia knows I held back information from her. I have betrayed her trust and perhaps even committed acts of high treason! She is going to lock me up just like she did Gath, or maybe she will banish me to the moon, or worse yet, she may just order me to be publicly executed...' Twilight's thoughts were filled with a frozen grip of fear as Princess Celestia led her off into the kitchen away from the prying eyes of the young spike, and the burning gaze of the ancient man.

As they entered the kitchen Celestia closed the door and looked her pupil over. Her hair flowed slightly as it always did, the only movement in the kitchen as neither princess nor pupil even breathed. The two looked into each other's eyes, one gaze held a mix of shame and fear, the other was calculating as if sizing up the other. Finally the silence was broken.

"Did he hurt you?" Celestia said.

"W-wha..." Twilight fumbled out weakly, not understanding where Celestia was going.

"Did he hurt or threaten you not to send word?" Celestia repeated, concern apparent now on her face, along with the slight presence of building tears.

"What! No! He saved me... I figured... I mean... I owed him and he asked me not to tell you..." Twilight weakly finished as her outburst died down as she went, until the last few words were but a mere mumble. But in the silent kitchen Celestia heard her perfectly well.

"Please don't be mad at me, I was going to send word eventually... I'm sorry I betrayed you..." Twilight said, tears starting to roll down her paler than normal cheeks.

Celestia did not say anything in response, instead reaching forward and pulling Twilight into an embrace. The stunned sorceress just stood there with tears flowing at a constant pace as her mentor and princess hugged her. Twilight was thoroughly confused as to what was going on, why would Celestia be hugging her when she had betrayed her trust as she did? Was it a trick to get her guard down before she punished her?

"P-Princess... I swear I can explain-" Twilight began before being cut off.

"No Twilight, there is no need. You did no wrong, I was merely afraid of what he could have done to you. Gath is from a time where murder was a daily occurrence. He is a relic of a darker time and I hoped him sealed away forever in the old dungeon. The things he has done to people in the past, I could never imagine what to do if he did them to you..."

"But Princess Celestia, he has not done anything too violent since coming to Ponyville... Sure he killed a few timber wolves, and he attacked Trixie, but how bad can he be exactly?"

"Twilight... He once single handedly routed an entire invasion on a city. He killed hundreds of men in one day, over a woman he desired. Gath may be calm now after over a thousand years of meditation in solitude, but if he gets the feel of blood again, I fear nothing can stop his blood lust." Celestia explained.

Twilight openly gaped at this revelation. Gath had come off as tough, but strong enough to kill that many men, least of all in a single day? He had to be a monster, no wonder he was kept ion such a cell. Celestia opened her mouth to further explain the atrocities Gath had inflicted upon the world when the pale blue haired sorceress burst into the room with a look of panic on her face.

"He's running!" Trixie yelled. Celestia took note of the bruise around Trixie's neck, then remembered what Twilight said about attacking the young woman.

"Oh no... We have to find him before they do!" Celestia exclaimed.

"Before who finds him?" Twilight asked.

"No time to explain, find him!" Celestia said, her voice steadily rising in panic.

The wind sent caused Gilda's skin to goose bump slightly, the breeze was not complimenting her current situation of being soaking wet. She had definitely learned her lesson about trying to make a meal of the wildlife close to Ponyville. Some pink haired girl from the Pegasus tribe shoved her into the lake and began yelling at her when she tried catching one of the tame rabbits to make some stew for herself. Normally Gilda would have given her a piece of her mind, but she distinctly remembered her being one of Dash's friends, and Gilda was not going to blow her second chance.

Gilda wrung her shirt out and draped it on a tree branch. She had gone off a ways from Ponyville to dry herself off, seeing as she did not have a place to stay as of now and did not wish to be seen in the nude around town as her clothes dried. While brash, Gilda was not that devoid of common decency.

Gilda grasped her shoulders with her arms wrapped in front of her as she sat in the grass, drying in the sun. She had at least laid down her supplies and camping gear before being shoved into the lake, so she should be fine for the night without freezing to death. The clearing she found in the woods was perfect, especially because it was on the less dense part of the forest that the dangerous animals did not venture into.

Gilda's muscles tensed as she heard a twig snap off in the woods, and she reached quickly for her dagger as she stood in a lowered defensive stance, covering her breasts with one arm and holding the dagger in a backwards grip with the other. The sounds of metal boots could be heard now and Gilda swore at herself for being stupid enough to forget about the bandits that frequented these parts. But she wasn't going to let some lowlife get away with sneaking up on her while she was nude. Whoever it was, was up for a fight if they thought they could take her.

"You should know better." called a voice from the forest.

Gilda squinted at the darkness, and tensed her muscles as she waited for an attack. The voice belonged to a male, perhaps her fighting in the nude could be an advantage if they got distracted.

A corpse was then thrown from the trees at her causing her to jump slightly, and she even nearly let out a yell, almost. The corpse landed face down revealing the cause of death, a massive wound that had severed the spine between the shoulder blades. Gilda looked up from the corpse as the sound of metal boots drew closer. Anxiety grew in the pit of Gilda's stomach until the owner of the boots came into view, and she sighed in relief.

"Thank Celestia it's you..." Gilda said under her breath as Gath walked up and stopped short of the corpse.

"You were being watched, I had suspected you to be more capable..." Gath grunted out in his deep voice.

Gilda's face turned from a show of relief to one of rage as she raised a fist and shook it at him, "I was a little preoccupied with not freezing to death! Besides I could easily take that dead little dweeb there!"

Gath gave her a flat stare, and Gilda's rage turned to confusion until she realized what she had just done and jumped back recovering her breasts with the hand she was just shaking angrily at Gath. Deep shades of crimson slowly bled into the color of Gilda's face as the embarrassment set in.

"Don't just stare! Look away damn it, don't you have any common decency?" Gilda yelled as she attempted to retain any sense of pride she had left in a show of anger that seemed too forced.

"What?" Gath said, cocking his head slightly to the side.

"I'm naked! Stop looking!" Gilda shot back.

Gath merely grunted in response and turned back into the shade of the forest as he stored the information that customs on nudity have changed since he last walked freely in the back of his mind. But he could not stay around and chat with the young warrior girl for too long, if he stayed put in one place for too long he might be found and then he would have to talk to Celestia. Gath hated talking...

Gilda watched Gath leave with a moderately surprised look on her face. She had not expected a man to actually stop watching a girl when they were naked, least of all actually leave. Gilda looked over to her clothes and noted that they were for the most part dry now. Throwing on her shirt, pants, boots, jacket and gloves she then threw on her pack and raced into the forest in the direction Gath had gone.

It had not taken Discord very long to find a few sets of highwaymen and bandits roaming the dangerous forest. And after he located these ragtag groups, he would place his pointer finger to their mind and pit his will against their own. Of course no sane mind could combat the sheer lunacy of Discord's own and they all fell into the mad mage's spell. In only a few hours Discord had a patchwork raiding force of twenty men. Hopefully they could either deal with the horned helmets bearer, or distract him long enough for Discord to make his move and extract the helmet.

Chrysalis in the meantime was busy casting her own spells, creating her own army. However, instead of capturing and twisting the minds of helpless fools, she raised demonic spirits who fed off positive emotions and drained them from their prey. She had once amassed a truly overwhelming number of these demons, but after her defeat at Canterlot she only had the power to maintain so many of them.

"Don't you worry, I will definitely show him how truly chaotic the world can be..." Discord said playfully at the start, morphing into malice in his voice.

"Just try not to play too much, every time you have someone in the palm of your hands you let victory slip between your fingers." Chrysalis said with a taunting smirk adorning her face.

"You would know wouldn't you?" Discord smirked back, earning him a murderous glare from the witch.

Discord merely waved to Chrysalis and then snapped his fingers, sending the order for his brainwashed men to head out, "Try not to over exert yourself, I will have the helmet in no time at all."

With that, Discord followed his men out of the cave and into the Everfree Forest.

Gath strode the through the forest unopposed, the bests had learned of his presence and found not long ago that he was not meant to be trifled with. The only sounds to be heard other than Gath's boots crushing the undergrowth was the flapping of a large set of wings. Gath had chosen to ignore the flying girl known as Gilda, not appreciating the attention in the least. He had dealt with village girls before he became a prisoner to the horned helmet, but once he had donned it, he had successfully scared away all advances on him. Until now apparently.

Gilda on the other hand was taking in the view of the forest, not understanding why they were not being attacked this far into the forest. She could have sworn she even saw the shadow of a manticore off in the distance. But nothing seemed to be eager to get near Gath, aside from her.

"No wait, there's something..." Gilda mumbled, talking to herself.

"Hmm?" Gath finally looked back to address the flying girl behind him as she unsheathed her dagger. This caused Gath to unsling his axe and stand ready for whatever she had seen, "What is it?"

The Griffon tribe had far superior sight to any other, years of hunting lifestyle had evolved them to be predatory, increasing strength sight and hearing. Gilda pointed into the deep forest where she saw several shadows moving towards them, their pace not hurried nor slow more of a march if she had to guess. Marching in the middle of the forest? That was a bad sign.

"There are a lot of people coming straight at us..." Gilda said in a hushed tone.

Gath looked at her and let out a deep rumbling laugh, "Good, I needed this..."

Gilda was about to ask what he was referring to when Gath tore off in the direction Gilda had pointed. He was fast, it took him only a few seconds to meet up with the strangers in the forest. Gilda was at a loss for words until she snapped back to reality and flew swiftly to where the fighting was. There looked to be about twenty armed men, all of them had a grayish hue to their clothes and skin. This mattered not to Gath however, limbs were severed left and right by the arcing blade of his axe.

Gilda was only able to watch the berserk axe wielder for a moment before a sword flew into the periphery of her vision, Gilda was barely able to pull her dagger up to block it. Gilda grabbed the wrist of the bandit's sword arm and flipped her dagger into a backwards grip as she plunged it into the side of his neck. The man fell immediately liefeless to the forest floor and the color returned to his skin and clothes.

"What the..." Gilda muttered, before she whipped around to plant a heel into the crotch of a charging bandit.

Gath in the meantime was letting go of held in rage. Holding himself back from violence had built up stress in the man, and it felt good to let his anger manifest in the wholesale slaughter of deserving men. Even in his state of venting he kept his head in the battle however, fighting around trees and using obstacles to prevent him from being flanked or surrounded. These men were ametuers, they charged blindly, and were too weak to block. Gath was surprised when one of the bandits jumped from a tree he was fighting under and landed on his back. The man drove a knife blade aimed for under his armpit, but the blade was intercepted by Gath's shoulder as he struggled to throw the man off. Gath was unable to get a hold of the man however as he also fought off another two that had attempted to grapple with him. One man he simply jabbed with the flat head of the axe to his diaphram, winding him and causing the bandit to stumble back and trip over a root. The second man in front of him he kicked in the stomach. As the man bent over Gath grabbed his head in between his hands and thrust his thumbs into his eye sockets with a wet popping sound as his reward.

As the now blind man fell back clutching at his eyes, Gath ran at a rather sturdy looking tree and spun around as he jumped. Momentum carried him into the tree, the man on his back cushioning the blow with the sickening crack as a spine broke. As the man fell limp off Gath's back the warrior now slick with blood, most of which was not his dripped. The remaining handful of men approached cautiously. Gath was too focused on searching for openings in their advance to see the magical bolt sail straight at his chest, and were in not for the helmet he would be sporting a smoldering new hole in his chest. The helmet however did its job and the magic dissipated upon touching his skin.

Gath glared off from where the bolt had come from and beheld an astonished looking mage. The man had a crazy look in his eye, and he was wearing a robe of multiple colors stitched together across different segments of his body. Gath growled as he saw the cowardly tactic that was just used against him.

Discord was unable to remove the look of shock on his face. Sure he had heard the helmet would protect the wearer in more than one way, but it was only supposed to fend off the years and stop aging along with stopping any blow that reached it. But complete protection from magic? That was no pushover blast he had used too, even Celestia would not get up from one of those.

"Fuck me..." Discord said as his fear brought him a moment of sanity.

13 - A Moment's Rest

A Moment's Rest

Celestia's eyes scanned over the contents of the letter that had mere moments before materialized by her throne. The seal on the letter was that of her captain of the guard Shining Armor. The contents held a report on the investigation that had taken place where Discord was reported to have been spotted.

"This is grave news indeed. And if I know Chrysalis's methods, she will already have many more hives up and running." Celestia said to her younger sister.

"So the detachment Shining Armor lead succeeded in destroying the hive they found then?" Luna inquired her sister.

"No, Shining Armor is the only survivor of his unit. Most of the villagers that were kidnapped are still alive, but it appears Gath appeared and intervened during the fight." Celestia responded, her voice matching the sorrowful look on her face.

"That is quite the distance from where we suspected he holed himself up at." Luna said with a surprised look on her face.

"Yes, we will have to question Shining Armor further when he returns. The letter does not have anything further than after he returned the villagers home..." Celestia sighed out.

"It's all happening again isn't it?" Luna asked somberly.

"Yes, he once again brings war in his wake." Celestia said with her brow furrowed.

Twilight held a smile on her face as she made her way towards where her friend's cottage sat on the edge of Ponyville. Fluttershy had sent a letter via one of her birds for Twilight to visit her and have some tea. While the invitation seemed out of the blue, the young librarian was more than happy however to spend time with her friend.

As she made it over the small bridge not far from Fluttershy's cottage the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. She could feel someone very powerful nearby, and though it did not seem like a threatening presence, she could not help but notice the massive amount of magic that was in its aura. Casting her eyes to the treeline of the Everfree Forest Twilight spotted a tall and slender woman among the trees. The woman was too far for Twilight to distinguish any noticeable features aside from the robe she wore that seemed to shimmer as if made from hundreds of scales.

Twilight readied herself and began to channel her magic in case she needed to use it for her own defense. The figure did not move however, it just stood as still as the trees around it. As time stretched on for what felt like hours, though Twilight suspected they were mere seconds, Twilight grew more and more on edge at the sight of the woman.

"Oh, Twilight there you are." The soft and gentle voice of Fluttershy called from not far off.

Twilight jumped at the sound and let loose a magical blast that arced harmlessly into the sky. The young sorceress clutched her chest and stared wide eyed at her friend as she attempted to calm her racing heart.

"A-are you alright Twilight?" Fluttershy asked in a concerned tone.

"Y-yeah, you just scared me there..." Twilight said with a nervous giggle.

"Sorry... You were spacing out there though, just staring at the forest. What were you looking at?" Fluttershy asked with a small but reassuring smile.

Twilight whipped her head back to where the woman previously stood in the distance, but the figure was no longer there. There was also no trace of the massive magical presence she previously felt as well.

"Nothing... I must have been seeing things..." Twilight said as she began to walk with Fluttershy to the cottage.

As they made it up to the cottage Twilight noticed that all of the animals seemed on edge, as if they were on guard because of something. This only caused Twilight's thoughts to go back to the strange woman she saw in the trees.

"Fluttershy, is there something wrong with your animals? Is this why you asked me to visit with you over tea?" Twilight asked with a hint of suspicion in her voice.

"What? No, my friends are all fine. My other visitor has merely spooked them a little bit." Fluttershy said with a knowing smile.

Twilight gulped at the look her friend was giving her. Something was off about all of this, first the appearance and sudden disappearance of such a powerful woman, and now Fluttershy was clearly keeping something from her. Who was the other visitor, could it possibly be the woman Twilight saw?

Twilight frowned but decided to meet the situation head on and opened the door and strode into the dark cottage.

Something inside the dark cottage stirred and made a noise from the back of the room. Twilight slowly and cautiously advanced on where she had heard the noise coming from. Once she made it almost to the back of the room she could barely make a figure out in the dim room that lay on Fluttershy's couch. Twilight then decided to illuminate the room with a magical flame, and she immediately gasped.

Gath lay on his back, clad in ancient looking black armor. There was a large metal shield along with an axe laying on the floor next to where the man slumbered. Twilight's breath caught in her throat as she noticed Gath spasm in his sleep, as if wrestling something in a nightmare.

"He showed up early this morning and asked about any news around Ponyville. He fell asleep while I was telling him about it though..." Fluttershy said, the shy girl rustling her wings nervously after surprising her friend like this.

"But... Why did you ask me over here then?" Twilight asked, slightly flustered.

Fluttershy smiled knowingly at her friend in answer, causing Twilight to go red in the face at the implications Fluttershy was making. The young sorceress raised her hands and began babbling, trying feebly to make a coherent response to what she had been silently accused of in this gesture.

Fluttershy however pressed a finger to her lips and made a stern face causing Twilight to cease her gibbering and fall silent, "He is very tired and needs his rest, I merely thought you would enjoy being in his company while he slept."

Twilight's face was now a deep shade of crimson as she looked down at her own feet. Fluttershy simply giggled to herself as she quietly strode back to the door and shut it as she exited to take care of her animals. Twilight in the meantime now gazed at the form of the large man on the couch. All of his muscles seemed tensed as he slept, as if struggling against an invisible snake that had wrapped around his body.

Twilight approached Gath and clutched a hand to her heart as she gazed down at the man who had previously saved her life when she was in peril. She shakily reached a hand toward the chest of the man, but flinched away as he spasmed against something in his nightmares.

Twilight glanced around the dark cottage to make sure no one was watching her through a window or anything, before she reached a hand towards the helmet. She had removed the helmet once before, not knowing the implications of what that meant. Now that Celestia had told her however that a pure heart and love was needed to remove the helmet, she felt nervous about it.

Slowly and gently Twilight slid the cursed helmet from the head of Gath. She gazed not at the helmet after removing it, but at the face of the man. As soon as the helmet was removed, Gath's breathing slowed down to a more restful state, and his muscles relaxed. A sigh even escaped the man's lips as he fell into a truly restful sleep.

Twilight set the helmet on Gath's chest, moving one of his hands to rest on top of the Horned Helmet to ensure it did not fall off him in his slumber. Twilight then pulled a chair next to the sofa Gath slept on and sat herself down next to him. Her eyes drifted away from his face and down to the strange armor he had shown up in.

Every piece looked ancient in design, but not a single spot of rust could be seen. The metal itself was strange as well, holding an ebony color with a brilliant sheen. The black armor contrasted with the nearly white skin of the large man, and in the middle of his great belt a large white horned skull. The entire display made Twilight feel slightly uneasy, despite her trust in the man.

The shield and axe then caught her eye though, there was definitely something special about them. Twilight lifted the shield into her hands and examined the kite shield, scrutinizing it under her gaze. There was definitely a magical enchantment on it, but it was unlike anything she had ever seen before. Normally enchantments were woven over an item after it was forged. But this shield held the spell as if it was forged alongside the spell.

Twilight set the shield down, her brow furrowed at the fact she could not discern what kind of enchantment was on the item. She then lifted the axe into her hands, and immediately let out a sharp gasp. The axe, while holding a magical aura of its own that could be felt when wielded, was not enchanted. Twilight had read about and studied the kind of item she now held in her hands. The axe was cursed. The only way an item could become cursed without being enchanted, was for it to take thousands of lives, the hatred and rage of its victims manifesting in the item, and causing it to become more powerful with every life it took. The blade was notched in placed, but Twilight could tell it was still razor sharp. She also assumed the blade would never dull unless it struck something of a higher magical power than itself.

Twilight set the axe down where she had picked it up, and eyed Gath warily. Perhaps there was a reason to Celestia's distress at Gath being free once more. He had definitely committed horrors upon others judging by the axe, but at the same time he seemed so kind at times. Twilight felt a headache coming on as her thoughts conflicted.

Rising from her seat Twilight hurried out of the door, making her way hurriedly back to her home where she could attempt to get a cool head and think things over more carefully. As she hurried home however, her mind was too occupied to notice the tall white haired girl who gave her a questioning look as she hurried past. The girl then looked up at the cottage Twilight had burst from and slowly made her way towards it.

Gilda approached Fluttershy's cottage, and spotted the pink haired girl that tended to the animals watching Twilight race home with a concerned look on her face.

"What was up with her? She tore out of your house with her face as red as a tomato." Gilda asked.

Fluttershy looked up at the larger girl, concern still the dominating emotion on her face, "I don't know. I left her in there with Gath and the next thing I kne-"

"Gath is in there?!" Gilda cut off the timid girl.

Fluttershy made a small squeak as she covered her mouth with both of her hands and slowly nodded.

Gilda hurriedly made her way around Fluttershy and opened the cottage door, only to take a quick step back as Gath ducked under the door frame and made his way outside. Gilda first noticed the new armor he was wearing, an impressive display in her book. But she then noticed the helmet he had in one of his hands.

Gilda looked up into the no longer red eyes of Gath, and gazed at the face she had only seen once before from under the helmet. Though the last time she saw his face she did not really look at it before he put the Horned Helmet on and fought Trixie and herself. He was handsome, and his long black hair hung around his face as he stared back at Gilda.

"Who removed the helmet?" Gath commanded in a stern voice.