Project Induction

Ascendancy

When i woke up i felt light breath hitting my face so i decided to cuddle it with my nose i figured best case scenario it's another pony and things get awkward... worst case its a wolf or a bear and i start missing a bit of my face but if it was staring at me i'm dead anyways... So i cuddled it i heard a surprised breath of air and heard something jump back. When i opened my eyes it was Ragna
“Morning Shade.” she said
“Don't try to play that off...” i said rubbing my eyes
“Play what off?” she asked
...
...
...
...
“Fine... you were talking in your sleep i was curious” she said looking aside
“Did i keep you up?” i asked
“No you were talking very softly so i could barely hear you up close.”
“What was i talking about?”
“Things” she said turning away
“What things?” i asked again
“Do you dream?” she asked
“No i haven't since i killed Lilith.”
“You were traumatized by that it seems.“ she said
“Stop shying away from my question what was i talking about...”
“You were telling her about what has happened to you and your opinion about something... and you slipped once.”
“I slipped once? What did i say?”
“Nothing now come on the others are waiting!” she said trotting off.
“Don't think that i'll forget about this!” i called out to her. Wonderfull my first morning here and i'm already wondering something... *sigh* well the towns waiting for me.

As i got out of the tent and went towards where the other ponies were gathering i noticed that Templar standing at our town's border.
“Hello, how is our border?” i asked
“Fine a couple of animals came to check us out but no problems... Your Shade the towns waiting for you.” he replied
“They can wait i want to talk to you... My names Shade. I heard you templars are excellent fighters would you like to spar sometime?” i said extending my hoof
“My name is Toraven. And you heard right we are trained and modified to fight. I would enjoy a worthy sparring partner to keep my skills up.” he said shaking my hoof
“Look... i know you have despise necromancers like Ragna...” Toraven cut me off
“I shall hold back my resentment for now my job is not to exterminate necromancers... although i will be watching her and if she does anything to harm this village i shall kill her...”
“I don't want you at her throat.” i said
“I will tolerate her. But that doesn't mean that i will become friends with her.”
“Thats all i am asking of you.” i said walking away. “If you suspect her bring it up with me first. Otherwise if i see you accusing her in public or attacking her i will intervene.”
“Understandable. I could use aid with the wall.” he replied.
“I'll help after the introductions are finished.” I called back to him.

When i made it to the group they were shouting and all i could see where the Guards, Oliva and two other ponies pushing other ponies back. I shouted
“ENOUGH!! STOP THIS AT ONCE!!” they all backed off...
“NOW THAN WHAT IS GOING ON!” I demanded
“This CUR was telling us that she is a necromancer!” some pony called out.
“How pitiful...” i said
“We know now help us get rid of her filth!” somepony called out.
“No... i was talking about all of you.” slightly shocked they backed off from me and the guards made a path from me to Ragna... she was cowering and covering her face with her hooves... as i walked over to her i said
“Judging somepony based off of a single trait is pathetic without knowing who that pony is your simply filling the rest in with your bias... all of you should be ashamed. Do you know what she does with her magic?” i asked. The ponies hesitated and looked at each other and mumbled amongst themselves i used the opportunity to comfort Ragna i kneeled down to her and asked.
“Did they harm you”
“no” she said shyly
“Don't show weakness mobs feed off that.” Ragna revealed her face tears were streaming down her face...
“tell me what was i talking about in my sleep?” i asked lying down next to her
“*while sniffling* you were talking about the ponies you have met during the last couple of weeks”
“And what did i say about you?” i asked
“That you would protect me from anything that came that wanted to harm me and...”
“And what? i asked
“and that you... asked Lilith for forgiveness”
“For what?” i asked
“wanting to love me...” she said blushing
“I don't care about her response all i care about is being with you now. But i can't do that if this mob kills you so stand up proud and demand their respect show them that you deserve their loyalty...” as i said this she cleared her eyes and rose.
“LISTEN ALL OF YOU! SINCE YOU'RE ALL TOO COWARDLY TO ANSWER HIS QUESTION I'LL DO IT MYSELF!” Instant silence overtook the crowd as Ragna shouted “I have gone from town to town my whole life helping them and then being shunned and chased away i just can't do it anymore i have lived my whole life in the darkness being hated and hunted. I thought that all i could do was accept their hatred and run off that was until i met Shade... I WON'T RUN ANYMORE!!” she shouted and stomped a hoof “If any of you want to fight me do it now i won't tolerate any of your disrespect any longer all i do is help i don’t hurt anyone but if you wish to fight me i will defend myself!” she said as she drew her weapon. I spoke up
“You'll have to get through me first!” i said
“And me” said Oliva
“And us as well” said the commander and his soldiers
“You'll taste my blade before you can even touch her” said a mare pegasus covered in some light armor while flying upwards
“And you'll have to get past my magic” said a stallion while casting a shield around Ragna’s defenders. The majority of the the mob backed off. a few of the ponies stayed in a aggressive position i noticed Toraven rushing over.
“I COMMEND ALL OF YOU TO STOP” Toraven shouted as he did i noticed that a majority of the ponies that stayed were wearing the same gear as Toraven
“THIS IS NOT OUR MISSION DON'T ATTACK HER!” he shouted
“We can't let her filth live! if you are willing to disrespect our order by letting her live fine by me but you are not condemning our souls along with your own!” He shouted and motioned for the others to attack. Two Templar pegasi and one civilian one flew upwards and started diving at the shield while three Templar unicorns charged the shield via the ground along with two earth ponies and a unicorn.
“Don't worry they won't be able to get near us” The unicorn said to me
“everypony ready yourselves... Lower the shield i said”
“You sure?” The unicorn asked
“yes i am” i replied drawing my weapon
“allright if you say so” as he said this he lowered his shield the ponies that were desperately trying to break the shield charged at us as they we charged back the one mare wearing Light armor lunged at the ground forces with me and Oliva quickly throwing two small blades at the unarmored ponies landed two kills as the blades pierced the ponies throat’s giving no chance of survival. Oliva ran towards the unicorn which was casting some spell at the guards around Ragna and bucked the unicorn in the horn effectively making his horn shrink a decent 2 inches into its owner's brain. pleased with her results she hopped back and went to comfort Ragna. I dealt with the two of the Templars with a swift decapitation which normally wouldn't of worked but since they were in town they weren't wearing their helms. The other noticed me he dodged and continued his charge towards Ragna to no avail tho as the light armored mare lunged at the Templar with incredible speed and placed a fine dagger straight into the Templars neck continuing with her motion the moved the blade though the Templars neck and reveling in the blood that came out. As i looked upwards i had to dodge a falling corpse the civilian pegasus that joined the Templars foolish charge he was impaled with the mages magic a spear made of fire it appeared he was casting a barrage at the pegasi keeping them on a constant defence and simply refusing movement on their end. Ragna ruining the mages fun threw her scythe at at one of the Templars focused on dodging the spears hurdling at him had no chance as flew straight into the well baited trap that Ragna unleashed upon him. I glanced at Toraven he was in the middle of casting a spell on his grunt. A excessively large blade made of pure holy light pierced the clouds and landed directly onto the last Pegasus splitting him in two instantly. Removing the sword from existence Toraven went over to the last of his grunts and said
“I told you to stop now die like the moron you are...” and walked towards me letting the Templar bleed out.
“They won't bother you anymore. They ignored the mission for their own beliefs therefore becoming traitors to our order. I Don't Tolerate Traitors!.” he said as he walked away. I walked over to Ragna... She was being complemented and was thanking everyone
“Ata girl you showed them what you're made of” Oliva said with a smile
“Thank you Oliva and thank all of you for standing up for me. And for the three of you who i have never even met before and yet you still protected me in my time of need.” she said as a tear rolled down her cheek
“You seemed like a nice girl and what they were doing just wasn't right i had to step in!” Oliva said
“I know what they were putting you threw i have been there myself a few times. My names Rika and its a pleasure to meet you Ragna.” the light armored mare said
“I protect those who need it and you needed it. The names Raymond.” the unicorn said with a smirk
“Thank You Oliva, Rika, Raymond, and all of the guards you don't know how much this means to me!” she said now crying in tears
“And let me extend my thanks as well my names...” i was cut off from all of them at once
“Shade we know” they said in unison... (Why does everyone know me by face alone... oh yhe... the dossier... where did i leave that?*story cuts to princess staring at the dossier labeled CLASSIFIED lying on a table right besides the door that exits the castle* ehh doesn't matter now)
“Well then lets go make our actions clear so we don't get looked at like we killed them for no reason.” As i said this i turned to the crowd and attempted to gain their trust the others followed my lead
“NOW all of you listen to me!” i stated
“Any of you who still want to see Ranga’s head on a pike step forward now...” i watched and waited as none of them stepped forward
“Good now you might think that what we did was “harsh”... but what you need to understand is that we are not simply slaughtering all of you we were only defending an ally in our cause much like we all are now... when those ponies took up arms against Ragna they turned their backs on all of us we are all allies now and any of you who chose not to act as such will be treated with the same amount of restraint as those corpses.” I said pointing over towards the recently deceased ponies lying on the ground turning it red with blood
“All those who are willing to join us build a strong and flourishing town in the name of Equestria join us in unity!” i said with a raising voice... as i did the ponies slowly started to walk forward and say
“I will” eventually all of the ponies that were once planing to kill Ragna were walking forward and joining us in our new town. After a large number of introductions and discussions with the ponies i went off to go help Toraven with the wall i brought some other ponies with me that used their time to repent for their actions by aiding in the construction of the wall. We used some of the surrounding forest to harvest wood and expand our border we then handed the wood over to some unicorns who shaped and sharpened the wood allowing us to work at top speed. After a single day we had a fifth of our borders covered i decided to head back because it was late and Toraven said that he could handle another bit alone. I nodded and headed off to help some of the ponies that were not asleep yet with their houses but as i walked back i couldn't help but notice that the guards, Oliva, Rika, Raymond, and some other ponies took up some land next to mine and Ragna’s(Good i actually made a mark back their) i was surprised to see that my house already had the foundation finished. As i walked over to it i noticed Ragna, Oliva, Rika, Raymond, the commander, and some other ponies joking around underneath it and staring at the stars. “All of you didn't have to do this but thank you anyways!” i said walking over a grabbing an apple to eat.
“Na you devoted all of your time to help us so we decided to help you out also since your sharing this house with Ragna some other ponies decided to stop by and help with it to make amends with Ragna.” Oliva said. We sat and talked for a bit turns out Oliva was expelled from Cloudsdale after birth she was an earth pony a pegasus mother and father... she was taken up by a group of farmers shortly after and they became her family. She has a rather luxurious brown mane dark, brown eyes if not for her harsh background she could have become an elite with her looks...
Rika who now relaxed took off her head gear and showed her face She has a dark yellow mane dark red eyes and the rest of her body was red. She had a darker past. turns out she was a child of a mayor of a town and a so called witch after the townsfolk found out they hunted down the parents down and killed them both disemboweling them and leaving their child to wade in their blood and organs as punishment for her birth she sat in a hut for a month with nothing to eat but her parents and a few vegetables that were lying around... fortunately a assassin coming back from a job ran across Rika’s mother's hut and found Rika crying in a corner... the assassin took pity on the filly gave her a new name and took her back to his camp where she trained to become an assassin.
“And i thought my story was bad!” Oliva said after Rika finished explaining her past “what about you Raymond.” Oliva asked.
“Well it will be hard to follow a tale such as that but i'll try” he dropped his cape revealing his body it was completely covered in sacred symbols all imbued into his flesh by different means some looked burnt some looked like they were cut in and some looked plain odd...
He was the son of two unicorns obsessed with power they did everything they could to get every ounce of power into themselves and after they had twins they devoted their lives into making them as powerful as they could be they then forced the twins to do rigorous training and during their time of “rest” they forced their bodies to take the most rigorous amounts of pain in an attempt to train their minds. Their “rest” included being hung up from hooks and chains that were plunged into them and their parents carving/burning magical symbols into their flesh... after two years the older of the two stopped gaining power and started loosing power. Frantic the parents than looked through every spell that they could to find a way to stop the decay or at least transfer the remaining power into the other. they found a spell but it involved sacrificing three lives to imbue all their power and knowledge into another as they sent a letter to one of the most revered training academies that a unicorn could go to and proceeded to do the ritual. The family gather one last time as the mother slit the neck of their child and her own as the father casted one last spell.He then proceeded to slit his own neck with their blood funneling into to the center of their trio and into the young colt after their blood was drained their bodies followed putting enormous stress onto the colt which proceeded to black out the moment that the ritual was over. A group sent to retrieve this colt walked in on the colt passed out in the middle of a circle with blood stains in the floor leading towards him... after a couple of weeks the colt surpassed all of the teachers easily and was recommended to a special organization that dealt with such talented youth he refused to talk about his time there tho... Ragna stepped in and asked
“I could remove those scars of yours if you want?”
“Really you can?!” Raymond replied
“Easy just hold still” after about a minute of Ragna Focusing her magic Raymonds scars disappeared revealing a light blue body with a blue mane that was tinted gray his eyes whereas gray as a portal into the abyss.
“WOW! SIMPLY WOW! I NEVER EVEN THOUGHT THAT MAGIC LIKE THIS EXISTED!” he was prancing around all of us now looking at himself now scar free.
“I am forever in your debt Ragna if you ever need help don't be afraid to ask!” Raymond said bowing to Ragna.
“Thank you but that is not necessary i simply enjoy helping others.” she said with a smile as she said this Raymond got up and continued to prance around the foundation
“So Shade what about you?” Rika asked
“Yhe i'm curious to learn about our new leader as well we know a bit of your past but that's not nearly enough” Oliva added
“No i simply can't tell you” i said
“Why not me, Oliva, and Rika told you ours?” he finally stopped prancing around got serious
“Well truth is i can't remember it... i don't remember anything of my past ever since i can remember i have been working for the princess and have been on the frontlines ever since i had the proper talent.” I said.
“Did ya ever ask anyone about your past?” Oliva asked
“Yhe i asked all around for a couple of years no one knew anything and the princess always looked like she knew something but denied it instantly whenever i asked her so i just kinda gave up after a while no use staying in the past.”
“Odd...” Rika said
“hmm?”i added
“Normally people with these kinds of pasts never meet” Rika said”
“Ehh this kinda stuff is rare but it still happens” Raymond said
“Guys hate to break the mood but... look up” Oliva Said. As we did we noticed that the sun was going to come up in about two hours.
“Crap...” Rika said “Im on one of our early scouting parties i'm out i'll see all of you later!” Rika said as she ran off towards the tents
“Yhe i better be hitting the hay as well lots of work to do.” Oliva said walking off to one of the camps
“I'll just be on my way as well than.” Raymond said as he walked off.
“Well we should get going as well Ragna” i looked over to her and caught her mid yawn
“Yhe we should” she said and followed me as we walked out
“Wait...” i said looking directly to the left of our house.
“What now?” Ranga asked
“There's a pile of corpses lying in the middle of the street” i said with a sigh
“Not anymore...”she said after she casted a spell the corpses walked off into the woods
“What did you get them to do?” i asked
“I told them to go bury themselves. Now come on lets go and get some sleep i'm tired”
“After you” i said and followed her to our tent and laid down next to her.

When i woke up i was surrounded by the noise of construction. Everywhere i looked ponies were doing an outstanding amount of work to the town when i looked to my right i see Toraven working on the wall and to my left i see ponies gathering supplies and hurrying off to work on their homes... I decided to check out how my house was coming along before i get to work on the wall i might even bring Oliva with me if she isn't busy... As i walked over to my house i ran into Ragna she started off the conversation
“Hey Shade so how are you feeling?”
“Fine why do you ask?” i replied
“Nothing much i just patched up some of your bones while you were asleep.”
“Wait... there was an issue with my bones?”
“You could say that... minute fractures, some bones reformed wrong, there was also one other problem... did you know that you were missing a rib?” she asked
“I think i heard a doctor say that he needed to take a rib to reconstruct a bone... your an outstanding medic you know that?”
“No i didn't. You think i would be?”
“Yes i do if i had someone like you on my side in my old battles a lot of my old soldiers would still be alive.”
“Well i could... bring them back.” she said looking around
“No... at least not yet... we barely got even the slightest bit of trust out of them and i wouldn't want to ruin it all on something like that” i said
“Suit yourself i'm going to go get some wood for our house would you like to come with?”
“I would rather work on the wall so we can sleep easy...”
“Do you have trouble sleeping, nightmares?” she asked
“I haven't had a dream since i can remember so no. Its just i don't like sleeping exposed.”
“Odd... well i'm off to go fetch the wood good luck with Toraven!” she said and started walking away
“See ya around!” i replied. I continued heading towards my house i saw some rather... interesting designs on my way all bringing their own bit of “culture” with them. When i arrived at my house i saw Oliva and some of the guard working on it the progress they made was impressive they got to the second floor already on a 3 floor and 1 basement house but it could be put to a better use than my house so i called out to Oliva.
“Hey Oliva can i talk to you for a second!”
“Yhe shure Shade give me a sec!” she replied. when she walked out of the door frame she was covered in dirt she must have been working in the basement.
“You got a little dirt on you” i said
“Yhe i finished the walling in the basement it's as sturdy as it can be!” she said with pride in her voice
“So you're good with walls?” i asked
“You bet i am i can build the strongest walls around!”
“Thats good to hear i came to ask if you would help me and Toraven with the Defence.”
“I'd like to but... i promised these guys that i would help them finish the houses.” she said
“You sure? The town can use a good wall more than a couple houses at the moment and think about it once we get the wall up we can get more help around the town and the some of our guards can get more sleep.” i said
“Well... when you put it like that i guess i can go check it out.” Oliva responded
“Great follow me.” i said walking off towards the outskirts of the town when we arrived Toraven was resting and grabbing an apple to eat i called out to him
“Hey Toraven how far did you get?”
“About 3/5ths of the way done.” he responded while taking a bite of his apple
“Impressive a wall that big...” i glanced at him he looked dead tired “Have you been getting any sleep?” i asked
“No i haven't i would rather impale myself with my own sword than sleep unprotected” he replied
“I understand how you feel. I guess its one of the prices we pay for being soldiers.” i replied
“Its worth it.” Toraven said looking at Oliva “What are you doing here? I thought you were working on the houses.”
“Well you see i was but Shade twisted my arm into helping with the wall. I have to admit what i'm seeing here is impressive not many ponies can get this much done this fast.” Oliva said
“Glad to hear Shade got someone useful for this wall some of these ponies are useless.” Toraven replied
“Hey Toraven i was talking to Ragna and she could help you with your sleep issue.” Oliva said
“The day i let a necromancer put me to sleep is the day i turn my back on my order...” he said shooting a cold glance at Oliva
“Ya need to ease off the girl she is really helpful and she only means to do good and besides it's not a sleep spell it rejuvenates your body i got her to cast it on me this morning and i feel like i slept for a day at the moment.” She said looking at Toraven. He simply continued his cold glance at Oliva as he finished his apple and then looked at me
“Lets go get to work on that wall now.” Toraven said as he got up and started heading towards the wall i looked at Oliva she looked frustrated at Toraven but nothing else
“He doesn't have to be so cruel to the poor girl” she said looking at me
“Hes a Templar there taken from birth and told non stop what's right and what's wrong and since he's a veteran he has been through some of the most grueling missions and seen some horrific things he simply has to get used to her now come on before he gets out of sight.” i said Oliva simply shrugged and ran after him. When we caught up with Toraven he was walking around the edge of the wall inspecting it.
“Tell me if you see anything weak about the wall.” he said”
“Will do!” oliva replied and went off to kick the wall the noise that it made caused Toraven to turn around
“What in celestias name are you doing!” he shouted
“Testing the wall. If it can't take a hit it's not worth putting up is it? In fact i think theres a weak spot here.” she bucked the wall with all her might and moments after the segment of the wall collapsed. Toraven walked off calling towards some of his workers when he returned he simply said
“I want you to do that to the rest of the wall.”
“I think you're missing something in there...” Oliva replied although Toraven simply stared
“Look where a town now so ask nicely” Oliva said
“You did a good job now go and repeat that job” Toraven said
“Close nuff alright y'all follow me and when the wall breaks down hall the wood away to be used as firewood later! A team will follow us repairing the wall!” Oliva said. she and the other ponies walked away it was only me and Toraven now.
“It took awhile for me to get used to it as well...” i said to Toraven
“Not being in command is simply annoying people... Think there equal to you no matter what you have done...” he replied
“It takes time... that's all let's get to work on the wall.” We headed off to the unfinished portion of the wall

When we arrived there was only two workers working on the wall so it went slower than normal but we kept a good pace. A couple of hours past and the wall was 4/5ths of the way done we decided to take a break and wait for Oliva and her group to show up. While waiting i decided to ask Toraven about his order...
“So Toraven how is it in the order?”
“Depends what do you want to know about...” he responded
“Hmmm how about your training sessions?”
“Rigorous, thorough, and long we take the opposition that we capture on missions torture them to extract any information from them and then we toss them into the arena.”
“Bit unfair don't you think?” i asked
“Not in the slightest we feed them and treat the wounds that they acquire during the torture they are also given all their equipment back that they had on them.”
“Ah good so you still make the fight fair... what happens if they win?”
“They are released... but we always end up getting them back in the ring.”
“How many make it out of the arena?”
“In my lifetime none... but the records that i have seen show 2 that made it out. There was probably more i simply haven't looked back enough.”
“This is rather boring... would you like to have a match against me?” i asked
“Fine go get your armor... how should we do this first blood or killing hit wins the set?”
“Not first blood i tend to go... a bit too far so killing hit.” i told him and walked off to go get my armor. When i arrived at the tent ragna was there with Raymond she came up to me and asked.
“Shade have you seen Oliva around?”
“Yhe she should be out checking the wall.”
“When did she leave?” Raymond asked
“A few hours ago.” i said
“We should go look for her she should be back by now even if she did run into a snag.” Ragna said
“Allright just help me get my gear on i'm going to spar with Toraven soon.” i said
“We don't have time... here” Raymond said as he casted a spell and my armor appeared on me.
“Tell me next time before you do something like that” i said
“Fine lets get going.” Raymond replied

When we got to Toraven he was working on a part of the wall it was almost finished all we that was left was the gate.
“Toraven were going to look for Oliva we think something is wrong.” Raymond said
“Allright i was getting bored of building anyways.” Toraven replied
We started to search along the wall and we would spread out if needed. when we got to the opposite side of the wall we found a sign of a struggle
“Something happened it seems they ran off into the woods” Toraven stated
“Let's follow. Split up me and Ragna will get the right flank you two can get the left flank.” i said
“All Right stay low” Toraven said
We followed the trail slowly making sure to not make noise Ragna was able to keep up with me quite well. The trail lead rather far but it ended up at a cave since we couldn't keep the flanks we met up with Toraven and Raymond.
“A cave great...” Raymond said
“Shade and I should go in you two wait out here and make sure nothing follows us.” Toraven said
“Be careful.” Ragna said.
We went in cautiously Toraven casted a spell that allowed us to move silently we walked through the cave for quite some time it was a straight shot eventually we got to some stone doors we stopped.
“There's no way we're getting through that without making any noise.” i said to Toraven
“Well... i'll lead you stay back and listen when you see a flash of light wait two seconds then come in.” he said
“Got it.” i replied and he went in the door shut behind him
“Well well looks like somepony did come to help you out after all” a unknown voice said
“Release them and i won't kill all of you.”Toraven said
“HA! Look at this he's a Templar! Do you know how many of us you have killed Templar...” the voice said again
“I dont waist my time with parasites like yourselves although i wouldn't mind upping my kill count...” Toraven said. The room erupted with laughter there must be a large number in there
“You have five seconds to repent your sins...” Toraven said
“Oh is that so Templar well than if you insist.” the voice said
“Four...”
“Oh good the templar can count.” the voice said
“Three”
“Alright enough of this capture him and lets get this over with!” the voice said again
“Two...” a large amount of commotion was going on in the room all i could here was weapons being drawn.
“You have had your chance to repent now DIE LIKE THE PARASITES YOU ARE!” Toraven said. Through the cracks of the door blinding light slipped through it was so intense that i had to turn away. I was counting in my head “one...” *Blade piercing flesh* *Blood splatter*
“Two...” I opened the door Toraven killed the guard standing by it and was working on the left side of the room eliminating one of them at a time. They were blinded and dazed there was no hope for them i charged in and started decapitating heads as fast as i could. My weapon longed for the taste of blood and it was finally getting its desire sated. With every slash that i made a thump followed with every Stab the i did the sound of blood hitting the ground came shortly after it was glorious but sadly... short we quickly cleared the room of everypony but the leader... His eyes cleared and all he saw was me and Toraven drenched in blood standing above him. He screamed and started to run away calling out to his now deceased guards he cornered himself after a bit of frantic running... Toraven and i simply followed him it was rather humorous watching him as he kicked at the wall to try and get out.
“Toraven he's all yours i'm going to go find the survivors” i said turning around and walking away
“Don't worry i'll make it slow” He responded

When i found the survivors they were in cages rusted iron locks barring them easily broken one swing and they were out.
“Your all free. Now get outside of this cave and meet up with Ragna she will help any of you with your wounds.” i said they all thanked me and ran towards the exit. I started to hear screaming from where i left Toraven and the groups leader. Oliva walked up to me
“What happened?” i asked
“They rushed us when we were on the far side of the wall we didn't have many fighters so we were easy pickings... I was wondering when you were going to show up!” Oliva said
“I can't do everything at once. We have to do something about that to make sure no one ever takes advantage of us again...” i said. The screaming was getting louder and louder
“What in Celestias name is that!?” Oliva asked
“Toraven and their leader...” i said
“Remind me not to tick him off will ya?” she said. there was crying coming from the back of a cage when we looked it was a small mare her leg was injured and she couldn't move Oliva rushed to her.
“Now calm down you're safe now you'll be fine.” Oliva said
“She needs to get that patched up hurry and take her to Ragna” i said Oliva tried to move her but she wouldn't budge
“Come on now we need to get that leg patched up what's your name?” Oliva said the small mare started to laugh
“Revenge” she said as her body started to break apart. I grabbed Oliva and threw her back the mare self destructed all i could feel was shards of bone stabbing into my back and than the impact of a wall. I came to shortly later somepony was pulling the shards of bone out of my back. When i started to get up they pushed me down.
“Now Shade i'm doing a good job don't make me mess you up by moving.” Oliva said
“Are you allright?” Toraven asked
“I'll live” i said “So what happened to the leader and what was this group?” i asked
“The leaders enjoying one of his own Torture devices at the moment. In fact it should be nearing the end right about now... His group captures ponies in the woods and drains them of all of their energy to expand their own lives mere parasites. If you ask me they were treated properly.” Toraven said. Screams started echoing towards us followed by the sound of crushing bone
“There it is...” Toraven said chuckling
“Alright that should do ya now get up and tell me how it feels” Oliva said i got up i felt the chunks of flesh missing from my back but i could always get Ragna to fix me up later.
“Fine i just feel a little... light.” i said
“The explosion tore straight through your armor and the shrapnel tore into your flesh. You can recover but your armor is well...” Oliva said looking over at chunks of Steel that i could only assume used to be my armor.
“I can reforge a new pair once the town gets set up its not a big deal... Are you fine?” i asked Oliva
“Only a couple Bruises thanks to you... you saved my life that blast would've killed me... thanks Shade.” she said
“No problem its what i do...” i said as i started to walk out of the cave.
“How many did we lose...” i asked
“One...” Oliva said
“Good” Toraven replied
“What's that supposed to mean that his life was meaningless!” Oliva shot back
“No he means that it could have been much worse one casualty is better than two or three.” i said
“Look Oliva where soldiers were used to this kind of stuff you should get some rest.” Toraven said
“Oh so the Templar Toraven does care about others. And besides my rest is my work i should get back to it.” She said running off towards the exit. I looked at Toraven he was looking at the ground.
“This shouldn't of happened... we were foolish sending them out without an escort... from now on we should hold combat training sessions.” he said looking at me
“Yhe i could do that i'll train them at close quarters combat and you can train them in combat with magic and weapons. Maybe we can get Rika and Raymond as well.” i said pondering our options
“Sounds good you should get that wound looked at... take a break for the day i'll finish off the wall with Oliva.” we finished talking and where outside the cave Ragna finished helping the other ponies so i walked up to her.
“Hey got enough energy for one more?”
“Of course i do Shade how bad is...” She stopped mid sentence and was staring at me
“How are you still walking?” Ragna asked
“Is it really that bad?” i asked
“You're missing half of your back...” She said looking around and spotting Toraven
“Toraven come here i am going to need you to carry Shade back to our house” Ragna said and Toraven started coming back to us
“Wait i'm fine i can walk back myself i don't need help.” i said
“You don't want to be awake for this.” she said
“I have a bad feeling about this...” i said as i saw her horn start to glow
“Shade don't run make this easy on me... “Toraven said as he walked up behind me... All i saw was a flash of light than utter darkness. And i was left to assume that i have been put under... AGAIN!!!!