Ash Grove Brannigan - an immortal shrouded in mystery - is a guardian against The Dark, a source of ancient, evil powers and things which violate the natural order.

An investigation into the sudden appearance of a practitioner of The Dark has led him to the discovery of a child vanishing at the hands of the practitioner he was tracking.

Blinded by his emotions, he confronts him. Now he finds himself living in an entirely different world from the one he had once protected. But his role as a protector is not over just yet.

Now he is an alien in a world that strikes a strange dichotomy of familiarity, yet alien at the same time. But one thing has changed for him: Magic in this world is real.

This world had a source of The Dark that wasn’t either tainted nor evil - unlike the nature of the powers which Ash Brannigan brandished and fought against at one time in the world he came from.

Ash Brannigan is not only alien in his appearance, but his very culture and background. Much time has passed and he finds acceptance within the community he calls home. However, all is not well - as the ignorance and fear of others around him sets in motion events that will affect him and everyone he encounters.

Unfortunately, they aren't wrong. After all, he is The Warden of The Dark, whose duty is to fight and contain any appearance of The Dark ... whatever the cost.

Thus begins a new chapter in the life of Ash Brannigan.

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The Following is for the readers who really want to spoil themselves, and wish to know what this story is about.

First of all, there will be spoilers within the comments, so if you want to be surprised, try not reading them so the surprise factor can be preserved.

As the writer, I humbly request that you allow yourselves to be surprised by my narrative, since there are enough hints inside to tell who is the main character.
Also, it is quite fun to speculate in my opinion.

Crossover between Vagrant Story, from Square-Enix, and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

Vagrant Story and all its contents are the property of Square-Enix and the writers of this forgotten gem from the PS1 era.
MLP:FIM is the property of Hasbro, as all the contents related to the franchise.

The only thing I can claim as my own is the effort placed into making this story a good read for those that wish to read a different take on the "Displaced Genre."

I wish to thank AuthorGenesis, for his insights for the improvement of the work done so far, as well as many fellows here that gave it a read and motivated me to go ahead and publish it.

I also thank Wlam and his critique concerning the previous introduction - Which I rewrote - giving it a much better read while at it. I credit him for his effort, and I am grateful for his insight.

I wish to thank Princess Amore Dudette for the pointers to improve this introduction further, as it clarifies it for the benefit of the audience.

May you, dear reader, enjoy this work.

Edit: Intro and First Chapter Edited, ready for reading.
Edit: Intro improved in quality, and improved further thanks to my editor.
Edit: Intro improved further in clarity, thanks to the advice of Princess Amore Dudette

Edit: Does it count as a feature if it appears on the lower end of the list of Featured fanfics at the front page? If so, this story is there--June 6, 2024, at nine pm.