Death Dealer

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.