***Talion Ragnarok.***

The next few days were hard on everyone, We had to bring one of the ships inland and turn it into a place to live. Two of the ships headed back to tell everyone on the Island of Endless storms the good news. Even though we found a source of drinking water, we still needed food and a place to live. We could not stay on the coast forever.

When we got back a few days ago, everyone was telling stories about me facing down the mother crocodile. Some of the stories were really out there, one was of me firing lightning at it until it gave up and ran away. Another one was how I let the beast live and spared it hatchlings, under the promise that it'd leave us alone.

“Why do they like to make up stories?” I asked myself, as I lay in bed with Hel. We’ve gotten used to sleeping together in the same room now. It was kind of nice.

“You are there leader, even if you didn’t ask for it.” Hel said as she was brushing her fur, sitting on one side of the flat bed made of furs. It was nice to see her without the hood on all the time, but I understand it has to do with her belief. I just wished whoever made her beliefs didn’t make her believe she was a cursed to others.

“You shouldn't hide behind that hood. Just because you have red eyes.” I replied, feeling a little bit of spite for her dad. He was an asshole and didn’t even see her, let alone treat her like she was his daughter.

“Talion, I know you don’t agree with the teachings I was truat. But at the same time, you do not ask me to stop believing.” Hel added, as she get up and walks over to me. Before stroking my head, then hugging me. “You’re kind, you worry about others, I’m glad I ended up with you.”

That made me feel better, at least she was happy. Even though we have to worry about not having enough food to feed everyone. “Want me to cook breakfast?” I asked, making Hel blush before she giggled. “What? Is my cooking that bad?”

“No, no it just. I should be the one cooking for you.” She said smiling as she kissed my nose. “But I know what you’re like, you enjoy cooking to much.”

“Hey, I let you help.” I replied, it true one time we tried cooking for everyone. We ended up dancing around each other as we worked. It was kind of cute, and we both got embarrassed when everyone saw us dancing. “Besides, you make a really tasty soup.”

“Oh stop it, I’m not that great a cook.” Hel replied as she blushed again. I hugged her and smiled as she squeaked. Before smiling back and hugs me. “You should get ready.”

I sighed at this and nodded yes, she was right. We had a lot of work ahead of us and I needed to find everybody food. “You’re right, I got to help find something we can all eat in this land.” I added as I get out to bed and get dressed. Once I was dressed and geared up, kissed her goodbye and walk out of our little house. Well, it had two rooms so it was more like really small house? I don’t know.

I made my way outside and was offered a carrot, I took it and thanked the mus-elf as she walked by. Everyone here seemed to know we had to be careful with how much we eat. It made some complain but they got over it. That when I heard the sounds of hooves, oh no.

“Sir Talion, Sir Talion! Keep Lord sir? I have the list for what everypony needs.” Said a green unicorn with a brown mane as he trotted up to me. I don’t know how or why, but Mag picked this little guy as my assistant. His name was, Pickl Dilly. How he ended up with a name like that I don’t know.

“For the last time Pickles, it just Talion. No need for formalities.” I replied as we walked but on the other hand he was good at what he did. I could see more houses being built and some larger living spaces for when more people show up. “So what have the scouts found today or have they just gone out?”

“They just left an hour ago sir. We have one group going east along the coast. Another group has headed west, and we’re getting the last two groups ready to start heading inland, to look for food.” There a thought, I think to myself as I looked around. Maybe I could tag along with one of those groups?

“What about the fishermen?” I asked, Dilly looked sick after I asked him that. Guess he didn’t like fish, he looked through his list of notes as we walked past a makeshift blacksmiths.

“For the most part they’re doing well, but after being on the sea for a mouth and a half everypony sick of it.” He replied, I rolled my eyes at him as I saw my chance to slip away. I just needed him to talk about something long enough to not notice.

“Do we have a list of names of everyone staying here?” I asked, as Pickles start to ramble off another list of names. I slowly took a step to the side letting someone else go in front of me. As I slowed to a stop as he went on and on walking off behind someone else. “Sorry dude.” I said to myself as I headed off to find one of the scouting parties, as I ate the carrot.

“You’re sure they know you’ve left with us?” Asked the griffon who was walking with us. I just nod my head and smiled to myself. Well they will know I’ve left once they find out I wasn’t with Dilly.

“After that fight with the monster, I’d think you’d want to stay behind?” Asked Buggy. I laughed at that, there was no way I’d pass this up.

“No way, I want to find out as much about these lands as I can. Besides if we see another crocodile like before, all we have to do is leave them alone and be careful around the water.” I replied as I walked with them, the small lake was just half an hour away from our camp to the east. We’re now traveling south now, trying to map out what we know. There was this one Muself who had a bow and arrows, she reminded me a little of Buggey.

“So what do you think of Lily?” I asked as we walked, it took Buggy a moment to reply to my question. Buggey head snapped to me as he looked surprised, it made me laugh at the way his jaw dropped.

“What?! I mean, what are you talking about?” Buggy asked, this was too good. He looked like a schoolboy who was just found out they had a crush on someone.

“I’m just making conversation, I was thinking you two would make a cute couple.” I replied, oh my god. The look on his face was priceless, don’t tell me he really did have a crush on her? Oh I am so telling Hel when we get back.

“Please don’t tell anyone.” He asked, yeah that confirmed it. I laughed as we kept on walking, on our way we found a small stream of water and a field of trees. These trees were not the same as the palm trees on the coast. The more inland we go, the less it started to look like a desert. We eventually walked into grassland and the occasional small mountains, with some plateaus more inland. The dirt was a interesting red color.

We standed to see sparse eucalyptus and acacia trees. I could only think of one thing to say seeing all this. “This is amazing.” I said out loud, It looked like the palm trees didn’t grow inland and seemed to only grow on the coast. Well as far as I could tell, we still have no idea how big this place was.

“Talion, come here quick.” Said Buggy, as I saw him and the others hiding behind some tall grass. I carefully made my way over to them, once I was close enough Buggey parted the grass. What I saw put a smile on my face, there was kangaroos living here. But they looked different, for some reason they had zebralike stripes and they were big, as in tall as houses big.

There was a lot of wildlife living here, we also saw some kind of large armadillo like bugs as big as house cats. Or were they armadillos with six legs? I wasn’t sure, but I was happy just watching this. “So, any idea what ones we can eat?” Asked a one of the nightwalkers who was with us.

“Well, if I was a betting man. I say we take one of those kangaroos and take it back with us.” I replied, from some of the wildlifes show I can barely remember. Kangaroos were like the pests of the outback and seeing some similarities between the two. It could mean the same thing here Buggy was about to take out a rifle that he was carrying all this time, but the Muself with the bow bet him to it and shot one of her arrows at the odd looking kangaroo.

“What are kangaroos?” Asked Buggey, I just point at the kangaroos who were now busy jumping away from the one the muself just killed...

“Let's hurry and bring this back.” She said as the gray mouse walked out of cover and heard for the dying animal. I smiled as I look back at Buggy face I pat him on the arm before I follow after her. This is going to take all of us to carry back.

Once we got back with our new meal, I had some help with everyone who knew how to cook. I had no idea how to cook this, so I just stuck it in a frying pan over a open fire. Throw in some vegetables just to add to it, also added some herbs that some of the other scouts found.

“I think it ready.” I said out loud poking at the meat with a fouk. “But I’d rever leave it on a bit longer.” I heard Buggy complaint at this, as everyone else was waiting patiently.

“Oh just bring it over already, everyone else has tried some.” Maggabl complained, I sighed as I put the meat on a wooden plate. The meat was already cut up into smaller pieces so it could cook faster. We all took a fork and looked at it.

“I’ll try it first.” Said Lily as she stuck her fouk in a pice of meat. She been taking her job as Hel bodyguard a bit too seriously if you ask me. I took a piece to, so did Mag, Buggey, Hel and our new bowman. I stuck the meat in my mouth and, holy hell this was good!

“Oh my god.” I moaned as I chewed the meat in my mouth. I had no idea how much flavour was in this. I’m not sure if it had to do with the herbs, or the vegetables I added but ever why this was really good!

“Lady Hel!” Yelled Lily as I saw Hel try it next. I smiled at the way Hel was enjoying it, everyone else seemed to be of like mind. But Maggabl on the other hand.

“Goat is better, but this isn’t that bad.” He said taking another piece to eat, I deadpan at him I worked really hard on this. I looked back at Lily as she stared at the meat on her fouk. I think Lily was having some kind of internal battle with herself as she stared at it. Meanwhile everyone else was going for a second helping.

Lily took a bite out of it, I watched as she slowly chewed her food. “It was... Acceptable.” She said before walking out of the room. I blinked at this before looking at Hel.

“She really liked it.” Hel said before giggling to herself. “She hate to admit when something really good.” She added, I looked back and saw Buggy was stuffing his face!

“Hey, Save some for the rest of us!” I yelled at him, I then notice the look in his eyes. “Don’t even.” I began only for him to take the plate and run off. “You little thief!” I yelled and ran after him. But I couldn't help but laugh, this was fun.

“So it agreed? We’re calling this land Shadow Haven?” I asked, turns out after a week living here, we held a vote on what the land should be called. There were a lot of names to pick from, so me and the gang picked the top ten. Then we held a vote for everyone on what they want the land to be called.

I was really surprised everyone picked my name for the land. We also started to make some farmland more inland. We turned one of the ships into a multi purpose building. It was a work shop, storage room, a doctor's camicie? I was wasn’t sure, oh and a armory.

We also turned another ship into a warehouse for storing food and other supplies. We even made a school for all the kids, Hel was helping out to keep an eye on them. We have a week of our old supplies left, but we were restocking new supplies from what we found in Shadow Haven.

“Looks like it.” Said the Muself, her name was Mandy. She was the one with the bow, we had a surprise a few days ago as a ship full of muself showed up, and half the ship was full of albino muself just like Hel. When I asked the captain of the ship what this was about, he told me it was an order from King Vaunlin. Saying something about, giving the followers of the light a new home. Asshole, I thought we was having a hard enough time setting up and supplying ourselves then he just duse this from out of nowhere?

The only good news from this was we did get some new supplies. Hel was happy to see them and welcomed them, but I asked them if they feel they don’t need to wear their hoods they were free to do so. I think most were surprised by this, I explained it has nothing to do with their beliefs. We’re in a new land and are making a new start, the only thing they had to worry about was getting lost in the wilds.

“We converted the crow nests that where part of the ships into look out towers. Incase something come to our little community by sea.” Said Maggabl, as he was working on some magic crystals he got from the towers. He was trying to work out how they were made and how they worked. Me I was happy not knowing, those things were a time bomb waiting to go off.

“Anything else we need to know? Any new animals causing us trouble?” I asked as I looked down on the table, at the partly made maps, We’ve only mapped out the northern coast line and a little of the inland. It wasn’t much but it was better than nothing, I was reading over reports of what the scouts found.

“We did find some kind of large worms that lived by the mountains, but from what the scouts say. As long as we leave them alone they don’t seem interested in us.” Said Dilly, who was floating around a large number of papers. I sighed as I took a drink of water from my cup. “And please don’t sneak off to join the scouting parties sir.”

I looked back at the pony, as he gave me a annoyed look. I sighed at this and nod my head, I sometimes wished for the days I was not in charge. I then had a thought. “Did the scouts run into any other predators other than the giant Crocs?” I asked.

“Well, we did find some poisonous lizards. But you won’t want to know how we found out about that.” Said Pickl Dilly. Who was now looking around nervously.

“Oh by Luna back side, please don't tell me someone died?” I asked, hoping I was wrong in my thoughts. I really didn’t want to go through something like that.

“Well, no. They're alive they just can’t walk right now. The one who was bitten had their foot swell up like a balloon. But the doctors say they won’t be back on their feet any time soon.” Replied Dilly. I sighed in relief, thank god for that or would that be Thor? Or Luna? Or Celestia? This was confusing.

“Anything else?” I asked as I desperately wanted to leave and explore the land, but after my last attempt there were now guards keeping an eye on me. Maybe I can find some why around that?

“Well there are these strange mounds of dirt that are really tall.” Replied Dilly, just before he started reading his notes. “Somepony tired breaking one open and found it was full of bugs.”

“Termites, they sound like termite mounds.” I explained as Dilly and Mandy looked at me. Oh crap I just let on more than I know, again! “I mean, that what I heard from this zebra I met once? Besides we can use them for food once the Termites began their life cycle.”

“Okay? Well we did find some odd wall paintings, along with some ruins. Somepony copied them and have sent them to your friend there to look into it.” Dilly Said, as I looked at Mag as he was reading something, I was wondering what he was working on.

“Anything interesting on that front?” I asked as Maggabl was going through his books. I noticed the way he was staring at the text, it actually made me a little worried. “Mag?”

“This is fascinating, if I am reading this right. At least I hope I am, there was a tribe of, Some kind of dogs it not clear, but by the sounds of it. They made pacts with some of the wild beasts of these lands and in return, they could use the power of the wilds against their enemies. This bond made one bound to the other, I think it means magic but I need to look into this more.” Maggabl explained, as I just stared at him. Huh a new kind of magic, sound interesting.

“Okay just keep us informed on what you find then.” I asked hoping this don’t turn into something out of a horror movie. Someone then bust in from outside, it was one of the fishermen.

“Ship, there a ship coming!” He said before catching his breath. Well that not a big deal, I just hope it more supplies this time and not more Nightwalkers or Muself. “It not one of ours!” He yelled and that got all of our attraction. We all put down what we were doing and rushed out side. I ran for one of the look outs, as I hear Maggabl give out instructions to the others. I reached the end of our little village and start climbing the rope ladder to reach the reworked crows nest.

Once I made it to the top I looked to the look out. “What do we have?” I asked, as the Nightwalker looked at me and held out a spy glass and points. I follow his finger and look through the spyglass. And what I see is a ship, not the mass of a wrecks that we were using. This ship looked new, this ship looked like it had all the bells and whistles. The most important part was it didn’t have a lot of cannons, only around four by the looks of things. The other was the flag, I didn’t recognize the flag but I did recognize the horses on the ship. They were from Saddle Arabia, if I remember the show right. This could be really good or really bad.

I quickly climb down and started handing out my orders, I told everyone to get the women and children inside their homes. I then ordered anyone with a rifle, gun or knew how to use a bow to get to high ground and cover the settlement. After that I said anyone who can use a weapon follow me. My orders spread like wildfire as everyone was rushing to carry out my orders.

I waited at our makeshift dock that only small boats could use, as we had two ships on ever side of it. I felt worried as I waited, Buggey and the others meet up with me. I was surprised Hel was here to, wait what!?

“Hel what are you doing here!? You should be with the others where it safe.” After saying that Hel gave me a look. I shut up after that and didn’t protest any farver.

“So, expecting trouble?” Asked a Nightwalker I came to know as Rufus. I meet him back on the island when he helped me out one time.

“I’m hoping for the best and expecting the worst.” I replied as we waited, I hated waiting like this I then saw something on the water. I held out my hand like in those movies expecting a spyglass to be put in my hand. Only for nothing to happen, I looked at Buggy as he stared at me.

“What?” He asked and I sighed, I then saw the griffon captain had his own spyglass out. I point at the captain and look back at Buggey. Buggey just flipped me off, this made me laugh. Next thing I know we’re all laughing, I guess that helped relieve the tension.

“One boat, four crew and two passengers.” The captain noted off as we waited, before he put the spyglass away. I then saw Pickl Dilly make his way up to me, with more papers then I think should be carried by anyone. I held my arms behind my back as the boat took I guess, less then half an hour to reach us. The ones rowing the boat get out a push it onto the sand, I watched as the two passengers get out.

One was well dressed horse and had all kind of trinkets hanging around his neck. The other horse was dressed in robes and had what looked like a carved sword on his back. I waited as they and two of the other ponies who were rowing walked up with them. Once they reached us the one with all the blin, hated using that word, he laughed.

“My oh my, it is always pleasure to meet someone new, why I had no idea anypony was living here. May I ask who you are?” He sounded polight, and a little to cheerful for my tests. He doesn't even look bothered by the fact there are hundreds of rats and mice living here now, or they were armed to the teeth.

“We’re a new clan who seeked to make a home by the oscan. For us this is a new start, we were not aware there were other clans. We’re the people of Shadow Haven, the name of this land.” I replied, I didn’t feel like telling this horse everything right off the bat, besides we were still new. It’d be better to make them think we came from this place then just started settling on it.

“So your country is called Shadow Haven? This land seem to dangerous to be called something like that.” Asked the, I guess he was a noble. Maybe he didn’t explain that part.

“It a play on words, seeing as it so hot and for us this is our haven. We’re used to living here, the captain here has been helpful on telling us about the outside world. But he hasn’t been out to sea for a long time.” I jestering to the captain. The griffon took off his hat and bowed, he later tell me he was born on the island we came from.

“I see, I see. Tell me have you heard of the stories of heros on the mainland?” He asked and I raised a brow. Odd could there be others like myself, but it did peeked my curiosity.

“I would like to hear more, but it rude to welcome someone into our home. Without first giving your name?” I asked giving him a bow. “I am Talion Ragnarok, Keep Lord of Shadow Haven. And this is my wife Hel Vaunlin.” Hel bowed as well.

“My apologies.” He said before giving a bow of his own. “My name is Certus, I am a business pony. I offer trade and wears of all kinds throughout my journeys.”

“If we could come to some kind of trade, we would like maps of the rest of the world.” Asked Hel. I was a little surprised that she asked that. But on the other hand we were trying to keep everyone safe. So the less information we give out the better.

“I’m sure we can come to agreement that will benefit both sides.” Certus replied smiling. I wasn’t sure if we could trust him, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t milk him for all the information we could. I then had an idea what to name our little town, hell it was the griffon’s idea actually. “What is the name of this lovely town?”

I grinned as I looked to Browns. “Yeah, it's call Port Royal.” I replied as the griffon was now choking on his drink and I laughed.

Author's Note

think I should keep the intros or leave them out of the story?