The PAWN Chronicles

Leaves shaded the area of the forest. Roots and herbs of many kinds littered the verdant floor. Most of the light in the area came from the nearest visible exit from said forest, revealing the town of ponies, blissfully unaware of the danger that has been traversing in the green mass of trees and foliage. A deep blue alicorn with bat like wings, sharp fangs, silver eyes that shined red with slits for pupils, knife like ears, and a blade like horn ran towards the exit to the town with hatred in his expression.
Once at the exit, he took flight and the first thing he did when he got high enough was to spit fire from his maw, setting the nearest house ablaze. This caused some panic for the innocent bystanders in the area. The alicorn fired streams lightning from his horn and continued to lay waste to whatever he saw.
Confusion and fear ran through the town by this surprise attack. No one knew the reason for this villain's wrath, however, they still had the main six to aid them.

The party of harmonizers then gathered to the area to assess the situation with a purple alicorn standing at the forefront. The bat like fiend then landed atop one of the burning houses and awaited their response to his attack.

“Who are you?” the purple mare asked, “Why are you doing this? What have we done to anger you?”

The the blade horned villain then slowly shook his head. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn't.” He replied.

A sky blue pegasus then tried to rush at him with an orange earth pony holding her back. “That's it! Let me at em!” the pegasus said, to which the earth pony replied, “Dash wait! Don't go rushin in like that! We don't know what this here pony is capable of yet!”

“You'd do well to listen to your friend.” The fiend said. “I could kill you all in a blink of an eye. But no... I think ill prolong your deaths for a bit before I finish you off.”

The pegasus then got worked up again. “Why you!” She said, trying to get at him.

“But what have we done?” The purple alicorn asked. “Why are you attacking us? This must be a misunderstanding!”

“Yeah!” Added a pink earth pony in the group, her tone quite cheery and energetic. “So why don't you come down from there, and we can all play a game together? Oh! Or throw a party! I love throwing parties! Especially for new ponies like you!”

The fiend then sneered. “Your overly optimistic views and naive nature is a blight upon this, and all other worlds!” He answered. “It sickens me to know beings like you exist! So after I slaughter you like the mindless sheep you are, Ill reap your souls and that will be the end of that!”

The other pegasus in the group seemed to be quite frightened of the villain as she backed away a bit when he mentioned killing them. He decided to take advantage of that and fire a stream of lightning at her front hooves. The timid mare leaped and yelped in fear and the others jumped, also startled by the feign attack.

“I don't think we can reason with this one Twi.” The orange earth pony said. “Looks like were just gonna have ta settle this the ol fashion way!”

The purple alicorn then looked around at the burning houses and her ears seemed to droop at the sight as she nodded, not seeming to want to resort to conflict.

The blue pegasus then rushed at the fiend, hoping to attack him with the full force of her tackle, when the fiend then took a flask from his saddlebags and uncorked it, splashing it onto the mare and causeing her to crash into the roof of the house the fiend was standing on. The mare then found that she couldn't move and was stuck inside a burning building.

“If you do have a plan, then you may want to get on with it before your friend burns alive.” The fiend said. “Not that it will help.”

“Rainbow Dash! no!” The purple alicorn gasped.

“What are we going to do?” The yellow pegasus said in a soft tone. “That alicorn has Rainbow Dash!”

“We need help!” The purple mare replied. “Without Dash, we can't use the elements of harmony!” She then turned to the yellow pegasus. “Fluttershy, can you get Discord?”

“Oh... Discord's busy. He said he'd be gone for a few days.” The Fluttershy replied.

“Then we'll have to get princess Celestia or Luna!” The purple alicorn said. “Do you think you can get to the castle and have Spike deliver a message to her?”

“Ok.” Fluttershy said as she then headed in the direction of the castle. The others stayed put to keep the fiend occupied.

“Your efforts will only prolong your suffering.” The fiend said as he then took to the sky and circled around the four ponies remaining.

“Oh my...” The white Unicorn said. “Twilight, I think we'd better think of a way to defend ourselves against him until Celestia gets here.”

“What if we asked him if he'll wait?” The pink pony suggested. “Hey! Scary bat pony! Could you wait till Princess Celestia get's here?”

The fiend then thought it over for a bit while he circled the group. “Ill give you ten minutes.” He answered. He decided to continue circling them until then.

“Well, atleast that buys us some time.” The orange earth pony said. “But what about Dash? She's still in the house!”

“Take her then! It matters not to me!” The fiend replied.

The orange mare then knocked down the door the the building and rescued their friend just in time as the house collapsed.

Once it was finished, the fiend then shouted. “You have two minutes left!”

“Oh I hope Celestia get's here soon.” The white unicorn said.

“Me too...” Twilight replied.

Once two minutes had passed, the fiend then started to fire beams of red light on the ground, creating rune like markings on it.

“What was that?” The others thought as they seemed a bit confused and at the same time cautious about the whole thing. They backed away from the markings as he drew them.

Just then, a white alicorn mare soared through the skies at blinding speed. An aura of light surrounding her body. The fiend sneered at this as he seemed to hate the idea of such a celestial looking being.

“Princess Celestia I presume?” He said, now wearing a confidant smile.

The princess then looked at the fiend for a bit before turning back to Twilight and the others. “Take the others and get to the castle. I'll handle him.” She said. She then turned back to the fiend. “Yes, I am Celestia. And I won't let you harm these innocent ponies!”

“I see.” The fiend replied. “My name is Noctis. Noctis Phantasma. I thought you might like to know the name of the one who's about to end your life.”

Celestia's expression intensified as she then readied herself to fight Noctis.

Noctis then looked at Twilight and the others as they ran to the direction of the castle. “Those must be the guardians of your kingdom.” He said. “It'd be a shame if they didn't make it to the castle.”

“No!” Celestia said. “This is between you and-”

But before she could finish, Noctis activated the runes on the ground he had written beforehand. The runes released a blood red light and lashed out with hooked chains, holding Celestia's wings down. She yelped in pain as the hooks dug into the skin in her wings. The runes also drained much of her magic, releasing her only when it was finished taking most of her magic.

“Right then. You where saying?” Noctis said. “Actually, I think were done talking now, don't you?” He then fired a red beam of energy at Celestia who blocked it with a barrier of magic energy. Celestia used her magic to heal her wings and flew up to Noctis, firing a beam of white light at him which he promptly dodged. Noctis then sliced the air with his horn, creating a magic wave at Celestia. While she dodged it, Noctis flew under her and shot her with a beam of energy. Celestia's flying was hindered for a bit before she regained control.

Soon after, another alicorn mare flew over, this one was a midnight blue color with a horn as black as a starless night sky. Celestia saw her and tried to warn her of the Runes on the ground.

“Luna! Watch out!” She cried. But unfortunately the runes where again activated and ripped Luna out of the sky, draining her magic as well until she had little left. Atleast little left for an alicorn at any rate.

“You monster!” Celestia exclaimed. She then flew down to help her sister. “Why are you doing this?!”

“The time for talk has passed!” Noctis said as he threw another shock wave at the two.
They both blocked it with a magic barrier, now twice as strong with two users, but to no avail as the shockwave shattered the barrier and sent the two flying. Once then hit the ground, Noctis gave them time to get back up. They picked themselves up on their hooves as they then found that they where in a chapel within the town chapel.

Noctis followed them in, but he then growled as he started to weaken within it's walls. He then attacked them with another shockwave, but this time it was blocked by their magic barrier.

“He's getting weaker?” Celestia asked herself. She then took advantage of the opportunity and fired a beam of magic at Noctis. He was still able to block it but a beam fired from both sisters broke through his defenses. The twin beam shot just past Noctis's head grazing his cheek. He then growled in frustration as he then took flight to try and escape the chapel, but before he could he was then trapped in a spherical magic barrier.

“Damn you both to the nine hells!” He shouted as he attempted to break free. But the two Princesses where able to keep him encased so long as they where in the chapel.

When the others arrived they helped to make a permanent barrier within the chapel in which to keep Noctis trapped. He stood within his prison, a weary yet hateful expression. He refused to talk to anyone who tried most of the time, and when he did talk to them he only had such horrible things to say to or about them. The two princesses however where experienced enough to know that someone this evil and mean spirited may be in great pain as there must have been a reason for his aggression. Because of this, they tried talking to him and visiting as often as their schedule would allow to try and find a way to ease said pain in hopes that he could be reformed.

One day the main six came with Celestia when she visited Noctis. “He looks so tired...” Fluttershy said in a soft and gentle tone.

“He does look like he's ill doesn't he?” Rarity added.

“He's within hallowed ground here.” Celestia said. “While he's here, he's weakened. It was the only reason me and Luna where able to beat him. I've been trying to see if I could reach him, but so far it only seems to aggravate him.” She had a bit of a worried expression on her face. “Judging by his condition, he may not last much longer... If we cannot find a way to reform him soon, he may not survive.”

“Oh I hope he'll be alright.” Fluttershy said.

Noctis then looked at Fluttershy and bared his fangs at her. He despised it when others showed pity for him. Fluttershy backed away a bit when she saw this.

“Don't worry though.” Celestia whispered. “I think I may have found a way. If we can get him to agree to a contract, we may be able to reform him while he's in service.”

“I don't know...” Applejack said. “It sound's kinda like we'd be forcin him into it...”

“Maybe...” Twilight said. “But consider the alternative.”

“I guess.” Applejack said. Still not sure if it was a good idea.

“Woah woah woah! Wait!” Rainbow Dash said. “Were not actually going to trust this guy with a contract are we? I mean, he burned down most of ponyvile!”

Twilight thought for a bit. “And he did try to burn Rainbow Dash alive... How do we know we could trust him even if he agreed to the contract?”

Celestia then looked at Noctis with a small smile.

Noctis Growled in response. “Don't you dare look at me that way!” He said.

“If you where to agree to a written contract, would you keep to it?” Celestia asked.

“Don't insult me! What do you take me for? A coward?!” Noctis replied. “Only an unlawful being with the utmost of worthlessness would do such a thing! Not that it would matter. I don't see myself agreeing to any contract that guarantees your survival with me around any time soon.”

“Well I suppose you don't have to.” Celestia said. “But you'll stay imprisoned until you do.”

Noctis growled in frustration. Celestia then took out a rolled up paper with details of a contract agreement and handed it to Noctis through the barrier. He took it and read it's contents. After he was done reading he crumpled it up and threw it at Celestia. “I'm not agreeing to that!” He said.

“Well, im afraid it's the only offer on the table.” Celestia replied. “I suppose we'll have to wait until tomorrow and see if you change your mind.”

After mulling it over a bit, Noctis decided it was better than dying in the chapel. Especially since the hallowed ground wasn't just weakening him, it was reaping his soul. “Fine then! Ill agree to your infernal contract!”

“Oh that's good to hear!” Celestia said as she handed the contract back to him along with a quill and inkwell. He then signed it with his blood, refusing to use the ink. The barrier then dissipated setting him free. Or atleast as free as he could be at the moment.

“I sure hope Princess Celestia knows what she's doin.” Applejack said.

“So what where the terms of the contract?” Twilight asked Celestia.

“Noctis is to protect and serve the six of you from now on.” Celestia answered. “Also, many of his powers are forbidden to use except with your permission Twilight.”

“Just yours. No one elses.” Noctis added.

“Well I've got my eye on you!” Rainbow Dash said as she still didn't trust Noctis. “I won't get caught off guard again like last time!”

“Oh I wouldn't say that.” Noctis said. “Though the next time it happens, atleast Ill be on your side. To my great misfortune.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

“I guess we should find a place for you to live huh?” Fluttershy then added.

“Oh that's right! Noctis doesn't have a house here does he?” Twilight said. “I guess you can stay in the castle until then.”

“Fine then.” Noctis said as he then left the building. He didn't want to stay in the place any longer.

Celestia then spoke to the main six. “I'd like you all to try and bring out the best in him.” She said. “He'll likely be quite difficult, but try your best to bring out the good in him.”

Twilight nodded. “We will princess Celestia.” She said.

“Oh! I can throw him a party now!” Pinkie Pie said as she dashed out the building.