“He’s going to fall.”

“He isn’t going to fall.”

“He is going to fall.”

“He is not going to fall.”

In the normally quiet halls of the Canterlot library, two individuals bickered among themselves.

One was a young earth pony, broad-shouldered and hardy but not so much that made him seem stocky. He was light green-coated, with a scruffy mane dyed red, blue and orange, the kind one got in celebration after a sporting event. As it happened, the Grand Stirrope Hoofball Championships were this month.

His accent was foreign, crisp and firm whilst sounding quite melodious. It pointed to Farman, long held as an Equestrian ally, once one of the greatest bulwarks of free Stirrope during the onslaught of the Dark Hordes of Tirek and Grogar. His cutie mark was a heavily-armoured beige tank.

Two colourful felt bands around his foreleg added credence to his origin as they signified the role of unofficial diplomat rather than a simple tourist, travelling under a college project most likely.

Upon one was the jet-black alicorn with wings spread and a flowing golden mane on a golden background, bordered red. The flag of Farmany.

The other was a blue sash with a grey stone wall design across it, a white mare and a bay stallion running toward each other atop the walls. The flag of the Excavator’s College of Bitzingen.

The one he was arguing with was a very different individual. A female deer, draped in a swarthy cloak and cowl with various baubles and trinkets sown into it, her coat silver-white and shaggy with a long grey mane that drooped around her head like damp seaweed. Twitter-Patterns across her face were dark green but vibrant, shining through the shadow of her hood. She carried a great wooden staff inscribed with mithril runes that she rested over her forelegs as she brooded, her face dour and her voice monotone as she retorted.

“I know he’s going to fall.”

“Look, I’ve seen him do this plenty of times, he’s not going to fall.”

“It doesn’t matter how many times he’s done it. This time, he’s going to fall. I’m a seer. I can see it happening before it happens and I’ve seen him fall.”

“Okay chaps, would you mind not debating on whether or not I die today?” A voice from above called down “You’re making me feel very uncomfortable.”

The doe shrugged.

“We never said you’d die. Though that is very possible.”

High above on the largest story ladder, the librarian perched precariously, putting back a heavy book in its correct place on the shelf. He was an earth pony with a peculiar patchy coat, purple and white and a long, scruffy mane with much the same colours. Pale freckles around his muzzle denoted a country upbringing but his accent was distinctly that of a Trottingham gent. A pair of spectacles adorned his muzzle and his cloak of office was dark blue with a rising sun.

Placing the book fully between its neighbours, he smiled and called back down.

“There, I’ve done it, problem solved, no...Oh no...OH NO!”

In his haste to replace the books, he hadn’t taken to noticing just how close the ladder had been to the door. As it opened, the ladder toppled and the librarian found himself careening down to earth along with the books he’d been putting back.

The green pony shot to his hooves in shock while the doe remained seated as the librarian, instead of screaming, rapidly yelled out on his way down.

“CATCHMECATCHMECATCHMECATCHMECATCHME-” He was cut off suddenly as a field of shimmering magenta magic caught him a bare few inches from the ground and slowly placed him safely on the floor. Checking himself, he smiled.

“Ah...thank you.”

WHUMP!

No sooner than he’d said that then he was flattened by an enormous tome landing squarely on his cranium, causing him to faceplant the floor and nearly pinning him down.

“Oh, oh you poor thing, I’m so sorry, let me help you up.”

A soothing feminine voice commanded the tone of the room as an alicorn of pink and purple hues picked him up.

The librarian swayed groggily and mumbled, wearing a silly grin.

“Uh...huzzah...Smoke me a kipper, skipper, I’ll be back for breakfast!”

Shaking his head, he groaned and picked up the book that had floored him, scowling at it.

“Oh, it would have to you, wouldn’t it!” he snapped at the tome “It would have to be The Biographical Dictionary of the Second Age of Magic to the Civil War by Dean Heliotrope! It couldn’t be The School-Filly’s Pocket Guide to Quilting that plummets into my skull, oh no, it had to be this big basta-Princess!”

He dropped the book and bowed as he finally noticed Princess Mi Amore Cadenza standing in the room.

“I’m terribly sorry, Patch. I didn’t realise you were all the way up there. I should have knocked.”

“No, no, my own fault. And if you hadn’t opened the door, some other moron would have...That’s not to say you’re a moron, of course you’re not but whoever would have opened the door would have been...apart from you, I mean...I’m just going to shut up now.”

“Good call.” The green earth pony and the doe said at once before turning to each other.

“See, he didn’t fall.”

“Yes, he did. I just didn’t say he’d land.” the doe retorted knowingly.

The green earth pony scowled.

“You’re annoying.”

“So I’m told.”

“Stop bickering, you two.” The librarian sighed as he addressed the Princess.

“Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, these are two of my colleagues who’ve been helping me with my studies. Wagensroll, an accomplished scholar from the Excavator’s College of Bitzingen and the closest living descendent of the House of Armbrust. And Dawnwind, shamaness of the Wolfsong Deer and mentor of White Wolf the Stormrunner. I’ve been charting up information on the Eternal Knights and their roles before and during the Civil War and they’ve proved very helpful. Sir and madam, the Princess of the Crystal Empire and its reaches.”

Wagensroll bowed as his friend had done whilst Dawnwind gave a semi-polite nod.

“And not alone.” The Princess made way for a collection of ponies as her retinue entered “This is Doctor Whooves, Hero of Time and Space; Starlight Glimmer, Twilight Sparkle’s budding apprentice; Daring Doo, renowned explorer and archaeologist; and Maud Pie, Rock Farmer and Geologist Graduate.”

The forenamed ponies entered, all gazing round the vast Canterlot Library in wonder, or at least the closest Maud Pie could register as wonder. As the librarian and his fellows set about clearing desks and setting up equipment, the Princess introduced them.

“Purple Patch is an expert in what is known as Pre-Alicorn Studies. It is his job at the Royal Academy to gather and catalogue information that concerns history before the time of Celestia and Laurelore as well as any information that remains hidden from Equestria.”

“That sounds fascinating.” Starlight said brightly “How can he do that?”

“Because nopony else has nothing better to do with their lives than look through and write up all the balls-aching curd that he enjoys so much!” Dawnwind snapped.

“That’s not fair. The things I find would change how you view the world!” Purple Patch declared “Just the other day, I found near-certain evidence that Fleabite the Faithless, pretender to the Throne of Princess Platinum, was indirectly responsible for the Haught Invasions twenty years later. Fleabite met with Prince Dastard Haughtenville at Pittany and pleaded with him to help him retake the throne in exchange for all of the Southern Shore and any pegasus and earth pony lands they conquered. Before Dastard sent his reply, Fleabite had died of the plague and so his son, Fermentine, led the first Peton invasion but his fleet was destroyed by pirates before they landed at Central Equestria. After his death, his two sons fought each other for control over...”

“Patch...” Wagensroll cut off his friend’s blathering “You’re doing that thing again.”

“What thing?”

“Talking.” Wagensroll answered.

“And talking.” Dawnwind added.

“And talking!” Both of them barked.

Purple Patch shuffled awkwardly and mumbled.

“...sorry...”

Cadence cleared her throat and begun.

“Faced with the recent threats, we...that is to say I have been conducting investigations into the background of the mercenary leader known as Cascadius.” she sighed “After an...incident seven years ago that pointed to his involvement, I did some research.” she turned to the Doctor.

“He always seems to spring up when you do. I’d like to find out how exactly you’re connected and where this began, exactly.”

“I told you before we got here. Laurelore’s assassination.” the Doctor said, uncomfortable with the memory.

“I know, but if given the chance, I’d like to know who hired him to assassinate Equestria’s reigning monarch. If we can find out what he’s after, we may have leverage over him.”

“Doesn’t sound like an easy task.” Daring Doo said grimly.

“No but if we can manage it, it’ll be worth it.” Cadence said.

Her mind flashed back to the night of Fancy Pant’s attempted assassination. The battle with the mercenaries, the race against time...and the mask hanging on her door.

‘No Interference’

More than anything, she wished to send Cascadius the same message. If she could find the thing he treasured and have it at her mercy, then everypony she knew would be safe.

She just hoped it wouldn’t be another innocent caught in the madness.

“So...how much does anypony know?” Starlight asked “About...alicorns or what came before them. I mean, my history lessons never went back that far.”

“Well, I mean, you’re going back literally dozens of centuries before you reach a time when alicorns weren’t in power or even around.” the Doctor summarised “History never goes back that far or, if it does, is rarely very accurate.”

“Exactly. And there are cultural factors to consider.” Patch added “The first Royal Academy actually vetoed the alicorn monarchy taking direct influence in its works for fear of bias and propaganda. In the early stages of their rule, a lot of the populace were still very apprehensive of the idea of all-powerful rulers.”

“So it was Cascadius’s intention to show they weren’t all powerful.” Starlight realised aloud.

“That does seem to be the case. The question is why?” Cadence asked “What reason did anypony have to stir up that amount of trouble? To disrupt what could have been a nationwide peace and order restored to a war-torn land? Who would want that?”

“An enemy.” Eyes turned to Maud Pie who had spoken, as she often did, moderately and monotonously but her words carrying subtle wisdom “I’m aware of why I was brought here, Princess. The old traditions point to the darker times they evolved from.”

“Traditions?” Starlight glanced at Cadence who waved a hoof at Maud, inviting her to explain.

“I’m not sure if anypony was aware but my family are rather...old-fashioned.” she began “The Pie family descends from a line of high priests that heralded the arrival of the Imaginator, Rememberly the Bonnycorn, and after her the Firsticorn, Laurelore the Rejuvenator. Surprise, the first high priestess of the Hycarion Imaginatorium, was our oldest known ancestor. And during Laurelore’s reign came Jumping Jack, the founder of the Rejuvenatorium, whose nephew, Zipadee, became the Bearer of Laughter. While the practice of worshipping the alicorns as deities was never particularly...widespread, our family has always taken part in it, to this day, thanking and praising the alicorns for bringing harmony, colour, light and friendship into our world.”

She paused, looking round her listeners.

“So...okay...but what’s that got to do with Cascadius?” Starlight asked.

Maud paused again.

“I was just about to say.” she said at last as if she had simply been talking all along.

The lilac unicorn glanced awkwardly.

“Oh...sorry”

“It’s alright. Anyway, our creeds and tenants not only detail the things to love but the things to fear. Embodiments of evil, enemies of the alicorns. There is the Corruption, the living nightmares that corrupted Princess Luna and all those whose hearts become constricted by fear, despair and rage. There is Discord, who bends reality to his will but will, one day, use such powers for good. There is Tirek the Invader and Grogar the Treacherous. There are the Gloom Enchantresses and the Fate-Weaver, Queen of the Sphinxes. But there is one that has always remained...obscure.”

It was uncertain whether she’d paused for effect or if it was simply in her nature. Retrieving a rather large and heavy bag, she retrieved a rather large and heavy book, found a page and placed it upon the desk.

Upon it was the engraving of a strange, dark stallion standing on his hind legs, held by chains upon his forehooves. Staring straight at the viewer, his furious white eyes bore through a pony’s chest, sending icy daggers into the heart.

Something about him was simply unsettling.

“The Warmonger.” Maud said darkly “The first pony ever to be sent to Tartarus and which the scriptures state, will one day break free of his chains and plunge the world into eternal bloodshed.”

The Doctor piped up.

“Technically speaking, he wasn’t exactly sent to Tartarus, he just sort of...fell.”

“Well, whichever the case, according to the scriptures his crime was unspeakable, it would have to be.”

“Attempted regicide, mass murder, terrorism, most things that can get you sent to Tartarus.” Cadence pointed out “Murder in general is fiercely punished. Even in the case of open regret...”

At this, Starlight privately winced.

There were often times when she was astounded how light her punishment had seemed. Certainly, it had taken a great deal to earn the trust and friendship of those she’d previously wronged but had she really been that close to Tartarus?

If a single life had been lost in her vengeful spree, would she now be rotting in the bowels of the underworld?

“Thus the reason he remains obscure. Because, frankly, we don’t care to acknowledge him. It is considered unlucky to do so” Maud continued “Evil embodiments taking the form of monsters and magical entities are fine evidently...but never has a pony fallen so far into darkness. Not even Sombra was capable of such atrocity, at least while he was alive.”

“According to what we know, he predates Sombra by centuries. He may even be the first real threat the alicorns ever faced, at least in their own kingdom.” Daring Doo began “Recently, I and a team of friends began an excavation into what we believe to be the oldest standing non-Alicorn landmark in pony history. These ponies seemed to reject the alicorn and worship some form of alternate pantheon, twelve gods, none of them possessing any form of benign motive or role.” She slammed a heavy bag on the floor, filled with great stone tablets with obscure inscriptions “I didn’t think it was all that relevant to this particular investigation...until I found this on my desk.”

She then reached in her jacket pocket and retrieved a scrap of paper.

A picture of her with Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo, engaged in a great hug last Darincon.

There was a slice through it and bold red writing on the other side.

No Interference

“Somehow...in some way...this involves Cascadius. I looked about. Ardentine Casterly and all the stallions who went with him into Deeprisen have been found dead. Not a one of them had gone out peacefully. Some of my friends suffered near-fatal experiences as well. Professor Meinnight is in hospital after someone tried to poison him and Dr Eton Mess was nearly pushed off the academy balconies. I got to him just in time.” she shuddered “And now it looks like I’m next. If I’m going out, I’m making sure they go with me.”

The photo crumpled in her angrily shaking hoof.

“Nopony threatens my biggest fans!”

The notion made Cadence wince but she resolved to keep her composure. This whole matter was starting to make her paranoid.

She wanted this done as soon as possible.

“Anyway, this is why I’ve bought you all here.” Cadence began “Using the information collected from the traditional fables,”

She pointed to Maud.

“New-found discoveries at archaeological sites that are the oldest in the known world,”

She pointed to Daring Doo.

“And enough magical energy and focus to look into time and space,”

She pointed to Starlight and the Doctor.

“Then we can find out just where he began and why he felt the need to plunge Equestria into ruin.”

Patch motioned to the desk on which he’d placed several pieces of bizarre crystal and alchemical apparatus, magical devices used before the Age of Magic. Wagensroll flipped and twisted a number of nodes and pedals while the runes on Dawnwind’s staff glowed a dazzling silver. Upon the desk, Daring Doo placed the slabs she’d collected from the fateful Deeprisen expedition while Maud placed down the tome open on the Warmonger’s page.

Then finally Starlight, Cadence and the Doctor looked hooves, bowed heads and closed their eyes.

The room filled with a thick, dark mist as the past unravelled before them.

***

The prisoner walked on, staring at the floor, heavy chains linking all four hooves together in lockstep and one great manacle wrapped around his neck.

His eye was still half-closed where it had been struck furiously by a guard’s baton and his muscles ached from the interrogation earlier.

But he was well enough to walk.

Well enough to survive.

The guards wouldn’t stop prodding him in the shoulders with their spears. Spears they held a significant length away from them.

They weren’t the same guards who’d caught him on the street.

Those ones wouldn’t be guarding again for quite some time.

At last, he reached the heavy wooden doors that were opened for him.

“Hear ye all! Hear ye all here!” A preening herald beckoned in the doorway of the ‘throne room’, if it could be called that.

How a lit-up cave constituted as a throne room was a mystery. The walls of the cave were carved with runes and engravings which, admittedly, weren’t all that bad.

But the way the court sauntered in so primly, one would think it were a sumptuous palace in the capital.

It didn’t suit the scene or those within. After nearly half-a-century of living underground, the Hycarionites had become somewhat stunted. Their shoulders had hunched and their eyes had dimmed. Their colours had dulled and their coats had grown course, a strain of mange widespread among their number, leaving many bare in patches across their bodies. Those with horns were gnarled and crumpled, barely capable of most forms of magic. Those with wings kept them hidden under heavy cloaks.

“The court will stand and pay reverence unto our ruler, the Potentate Magnificence, Trueborn Child of the First Heavenly Ruler Of All Living Things, the Exalted King of the Thoroughbred Race, Unquestionable Sovereign of the Known World and All Worlds Beyond, He Who Shall Lead The Pure of Blood and Pure of Mind into the Fabled Land, Master and Commander of the Brave and Perfected Cosmos Legion, Our Noble Emperor Dvinius The Forty-Ninth, Long May He Reign.”

“Long May He Reign.” the court echoed robotically as they all knelt in unison.

The prisoner found himself dragged to his hooves, the chains on his neck and hooves tugged below him as the court abased themselves for their ruler.

The prisoner glanced up to have a look at him.

He was a pale, pasty, queasy-looking young stallion lounging in the throne carved out of the wall. To tell what sort of pony he was would be difficult as he wore two pairs of gigantic prosthetic wings, stretching out to the side of his shoulders nearly a mile wide, and no less than five fake horns across his forehead, each a foot-long and painted gold with pyrite gel.

He wasn’t alone on the throne. Beside him was a young mare, also wearing a long prosthetic horn and fake wings, along with a great crimson wig and a coat painted pearl-white. She had a blank, dead-eyed expression as the stallion on the throne stroked her neck obscenely with a smug smirk.

The prisoner didn’t think he’d ever seen anything so ridiculous, so pathetic, in his entire life.

The Potentate Magnificence Dvinius raised his head and eyes the scene.

“Who disturbs our royal repose?” he asked, his voice possessed of a whiny, self-important tone.

The guards stepped forward, pausing at every step to bow.

The prisoner rolled his eyes.

“O Potentate Magnificence, King Of All That Does And Does Not Exist.” one of them declared “We have apprehended a dangerous criminal, like no other before. We brought him here to receive your righteous judgement, O Monarch of Unending Might.”

“Like no other before?” Dvinius rose one eyebrow “Explain.”

The guards looked to each other and answered, her voices possessed of a frightened stammer.

“He...he killed our Commanding Officer...my liege.”

“What?!” Dvinius staggered back in his throne “Bring him forward! As Potentate Magnificence, I command it!”

The court stared as the prisoner was brought forth, his heavy chains clinking with each step.

He wore no armour.

He bore no mark of evil.

He looked so...calm.

He looked into Dvinius’s eyes, his own eyes shrewd and measuring.

“Hello.” he said.

“This...creature has the look of a commoner!” Dvinius snapped, turning furiously to the guards “You suggest a mere common-born could take the noble life of a Thoroughbred High Hoof?! You dare lie to the face of your Potentate Magnificence?!”

“Sire...y-your Unparalleled Nobleness, I swear on my life! I saw it with my own eyes!” the guard pleaded, eyes wide with horror “We were on patrol in the Mongrel Sector. Commander Rubric stepped forward to prevent him approaching the Thoroughbred District and he...” He pointed with a shaking hoof “He broke his neck! With one hoof!”

The court gasped in unison as the prisoner gave a smirk.

Dvinius drew himself up.

“For your crimes you will die in pain” he declared “But first, you will tell me who sent you?! Was it those filthy, inferior Equestrian mongrels?! They dare take the lives of our noble warriors?!”

The prisoner chuckled.

“The Equestrians...Heh...Not likely” He gave the monarch a smile, his eyes glinting “Rubric, was that his name? It was nothing personal. I just needed your attention...I’m one of a kind...and I bring you salvation”

There was silence in the Royal Court of what was laughably called New Hycarion.

“...what?” Dvinius asked at last “Salvation? From whom?”

The prisoner tilted his head.

“Your greatest threat. Your sworn enemy. Laurelore the Firsticorn”

The court laughed at this.

“Laurelore? Ha!” Dvinius gave a derisive snort, giving the dressed-up mare at his side a shove forwards “Laurelore, as you see, is my royal concubine, by right of conquest!”

The prisoner gave a bored look as his front hoof shot out, somehow free of the chain that held it in place.

The red wing was thrown from the mare’s head and a wing was broken loose, revealing the concubine to be quite unlike the reigning princess of Equestria.

“No, she isn’t” the prisoner said flatly.

“Wha...you...how” the monarch blathered as the guard made to replace the chain but found themselves less than willing the closer they approached this mysterious assassin.

“Disgusting” he sneered.

The nearest guard fumbled with his spear and made to prod the prisoner into submission. He was met by nothing more than his cold, biting glare, freezing him in his shaking hooves.

“Put that down, boy, before you hurt yourself.”

The guard he glanced at obligingly dropped the spear and was followed by his fellows.

“Wh-what are you doing, you useless scum?!” Dvinius screeched “Apprehend him, I say! I order you to hold him back! I am your...”

“Shut up and listen...” the prisoner snapped, barely louder than a stern word yet it quieted Dvinius almost immediately as the king sat in stunned silence as he spoke.

“Your war with Equestria grows ever bleaker for you. I’m here to even the scales, if you’ll take me on”

“Ha! The Equestrians! How could we possibly falter against those...mongrel dregs of the equine race?!” Dvinius blustered, joined by the fervent nodding of his courtiers “Snivelling, cowardly creatures! With soft hearts and soft heads! I hate them!” His eyes began twitching “I hate them and their pathetic ideals of friendship and harmony! They seek to mock me! They all deserve to die for their blasphemy!”

“It occurs to me, your magnificence, how weak and worthless these Equestrians are and how they would never be able to match our glorious warrior’s strength” one courtier simpered.

“And even if they could, they lack the leadership to pose us a threat” another snivelled.

“My court speaks truly!” Dvinius preened “They are inferior beings! Nothing like our majestic thoroughbred race of Hycarionites!”

“Inferior, you say?” the prisoner said slowly “Then explain, if you will, how these...inferior beings...have outsmarted you at every turn”

The court gasped again in unison as Dvinius opened and closed his mouth in alarm. The prisoner continued.

“Their kind are able to band together with sheer teamwork, sheer friendship...to thwart foes far greater than they. They have crushed cosmic monstrosities and masterminds, the like of which one cannot comprehend. You? You are nothing to them” He took a step closer, staring the Potentate Magnificence in the eyes “Inferior? They are far too dangerous to be called inferior...that is why I am offering you a chance to tip the sides in your favour. Let me join your legion, let me and my warriors take to the field...and I will kill the Firsticorn”

“You...you imagine yourself equal to my esteemed warriors?!” Dvinius spluttered.

“I do. And I'll gladly prove it.” The prisoner’s eyes gleamed as he addressed the court “I challenge your best. Send him here and I’ll prove my worth and how badly you require it”

“And so I shall! You shall find my mighty Cosmos Legion far stronger and wiser than you!” the Potentate Magnificence stamped a hoof on the arm of his throne and beckoned “Prince Luximus Fulman! You are my champion! Show him the might of New Hycarion and its Cosmos Legion!”

A milk-white stallion with a black mane cropped short, a similar prosthetic horn and wings and a distinctly haughty look to him strode forward, dressed in gaudy ivory-white armour that made him appear a whole lot buffer than he really was. Swinging his hooves high in the air, he put on a show.

“O Potentate Magnificence, I stand, your champion, Luximus Fulman, at your command! Wherever your enemies stand, I shall destroy them utterly and any who stand beside them!”

The prisoner gave an unimpressed smirk.

“This is your best?” he asked “This explains a lot.”

Luximus sniffed loudly, puffing out his chest.

“Any equine who dares hate and mock the Hycarionite Perfected is surely a weakling!” he bellowed.

At this, the prisoner reached at one of his manacles and retrieved a small knife, little more than a sharpened slice of metal one might find in a chain gang of sorts.

The guards looked at each other, puzzled as to where and how he’d hidden such a weapon.

Its wielder raised it before him, pointing it straight at his foe and spoke in his calm, quiet tone.

“This weakling is going to bleed you dry. That, my good sir, is a promise.”

Luximus snorted loudly as a serf shuffled forward and presented his weapon.

It was a short staff, more like a wand than anything else. Studded with coloured glass and topped with a great sphere encased in a thick coat of pyrite gel. One could have expected it was a mace but it seemed far too garish and ungainly to be anything more than another tool for grabbing attention.

“Behold the Magnifex!” Luximus announced, raising it high in the air “O Mighty Sceptre Of New Hycarionite Power Unchallenged! Through the worship of our Potentate Magnificence, he who-”

He stopped suddenly.

For a moment there was silence.

Luximus swayed silently as the Magnifex clattered to the ground. The hoof that had held it shakily crept up to his right eye within which the small, sharp blade was protruding, waggling about in the eyeball it had impaled.

The prisoner still had one hoof in the air where he’d thrown his shard of metal like a dart, his eyebrow raised.

“You done?” he asked nonchalantly.

As if to answer, Luximus screamed, long and loud, staggering back as he desperately pawed at the husk of iron embedded in his eye, lost of all balance and focus.

The court stared, the Potentate Magnificence pale with horror at the sight, as the prisoner paced forward.

“My eye!” Luximus wailed “My eye! You...You...My eye!”

“What are you whining about?” his foe asked dismissively “You’ve still got one. Use it. Aren’t you going to fight me, O Unchallenged Champion of New Hycarion?” He held out one hoof “Am I not the weakling that you will destroy utterly? Or is your power and perfection just as much a thing of fantasy as your golden horns and extra wings?!”

Grabbing the New Hycarionite by the chin, the prisoner’s hoof closed around the knife.

“Please...” Luximus managed to squeak before another scream, his eye completely removed.

“Please what?” The prisoner asked as he removed the eyeball from his blade with a whisking movement, sending it bouncing and rolling across the hall, the court edging away to avoid its path.

Luximus babbled and spluttered unintelligibly before finding his tongue at last, his face a mess as his missing eye socket wept blood all down his neck.

“Please...No more...Spare me...I yield...I beg you...Have mercy!”

“Well, I would, really, but you see...” The victorious stallion smiled, wider and more dementedly, leaning forward until their muzzles were nearly touching.

“I promised to bleed you dry...”

The blade raised in the air as the crowd gasped in terrified unison, Luximus Fullman shaking and wailing like a squalling infant as he heard the last words he would ever hear spoken to him.

“And I never make promises that I don't intend to keep.”

For the next half-hour, the prisoner set about keeping his promise.

By the end, when Luximus Fullman’s screams finally subsided, he was a deep crimson from head to hoof, a vast quantity of his blood pooling around the centre of the court like an indoor pond.

With the body of the court champion still quivering in its death throes, the prisoner made one last deep slash across the throat and pulled the head back, further and further until it at last came off the neck, a morbid trophy in his soaking, red hooves.

Letting the silence and shock wash over him like a cleansing shower, he paced over to the steps of the throne, bloody hoofprints leaving his mark, as he placed the head of the blank-eyed, open mouthed Luximus Fullman before his master.

Dvinius had shrunk in his throne, his milky eyes wide with abject fear, his teeth chattering audibly, his shivering hooves rattling against the arms of his throne.

At the sight of his captor’s terror, the blood-soaked stallion grinned and asked almost innocently.

“Do I win?”

There was the sound of several ponies vomiting behind him and a mare breaking down crying as the ruler of New Hycarion trembled feebly.

Giving a sniff, the prisoner wrinkled his nose and stepped back, a rank odour about Dvinius who shuffled shamefully.

“It would seem the position of your chosen champion is now open.”

“Wh-wh-who...” Dvinius whimpered “Who are you?”

The prisoner gave his neck and shoulders a stretch, an act which made him appear giant in the wake of such a victory.

“I go by...more than several names.” he answered “My unofficial title however, gifted to me by both friend and foe...is The Warmonger.”

And with that, he turned to the stunned court. The Cosmos Legion, once standing proud and haughty at their ruler’s side, now cowered in the corner, staring up at their new leader. A silver-coated mare with a purple wig and heavy makeup wept over the headless body of Luximus and a yellow stallion retched on his knees, his goggle-eyes watering.

“Mares and stallions of New Hycarion!” the Warmonger announced, his voice commanding absolute authority “For too long, you have slunk in the shadows or suffered the mocking laughter and jeers of your enemies. Now, under my command, you shall have the opportunity to rise, stronger, harder and wiser. True warriors. True killers. Under the banner of the Warmonger, Hycarion shall rise again! We shall raise our heads to the skies and herald the welcome age of old with our battle-cries, our faces painted with alicorn blood!”

“Yes!”

A screech came from the corner of the room as a mare rushed forward, a pale, gangly creature with a dull puce mane and sunken eyes. She was the serf who had bared Luximus’s weapon, her head now raised high where once it had always bowed in the presence of the champion. Gazing up at the Warmonger, she stood before the court, her hooves splashing excitedly in the blood of her old master.

“I am with you, Lord Warmonger! To death or glory!” she yelled “Luximus was weak! And the weak deserve their fate! I wish to become strong, under your command! Let me charge beside you into glorious battle! Let me bathe beside you in Equestrian blood! I am your sword, till my end, master!”

She raised a forehoof out of the red pool and marked her face with a thick stripe of blood across both cheeks.

The court stared at her, looks of horror, disgust and hatred rife upon their faces.

Then the Warmonger smiled and chuckled, seemingly impressed.

“What is your name, girl?” he asked.

The mare answered.

“Servilia, my lord.”

“Well, Servilia...I would happy for you to fight beside me if you’re able. And the rest of you. All able hooves are welcome. Prepare yourselves to fight. Prepare yourselves to kill. Serve us well...and your legend will live forever!”

Serf and slave raised their hooves high, roaring like mad beasts, the courtiers and Cosmos Legion shrinking ever further into the shadows of the hall, Dvinius sitting stock-still and silent, struggling to even comprehend what had just taken place.

In a single stroke, this nopony had taken everything he had.

And now seemed intent on using it to take everything else.

Hidden in the wild throng, a dark grey stallion with a piercing gaze slipped into the shadows, unseen.

*

“C’mon, Lulu, let’s race!”

A small but striking young filly with a shimmering coat, a flowing primrose mane, a pair of excitedly flapping wings and a twinkling horn beneath a tiny gilded tiara bounced excitedly down the palace halls, calling out to her sister who trailed behind.

An even smaller filly, little bigger than a foal, toddled over, her coat a deep blue and her mane a gleaming navy. Her expression was one of gloom and slight peevishness.

“C’mon, Tia, you know you always win.” she mumbled.

“Pleeeeaaaase?! I’ll go easy on you this time! Promise!” the elder sister, Tia, flew around the dark filly’s head with puppy-dog eyes.

“But you always fly.” Lulu moaned, giving her wings a rapid flutter with no response “You know I can’t do that yet.”

“Maybe this’ll be the time you learn how!” Tia jumped around, giggling “Remember when you flapped your wings so hard you tooted!”

Lulu pouted.

“It wasn’t that funny.”

“Please, Lulu, racing Gusty just isn’t the same.”

She motioned to their guardian, making her way breathlessly up the stairs. A tall and handsome ivory-white unicorn mare with bright emerald eyes and a long, wild pine-green mane streaked with a lock of scarlet. She wore the immaculate plate-mail armour of a Guard Captain coloured white with rose accents. The uniform of Crown Princess Celestia’s personal bodyguard.

“My lady...” she said, pausing for breath “Please don’t run off like that, you know how inconvenient it can be for me.”

“Sorry, Gusty.” Tia interjected before continuing to beg her little sister “And we don’t know how long it’s gonna’ be before...”

“I’m back.”

There came a holler from behind them as a rugged, dark-grey earth pony stallion with a short coal-black mane and piercing deep blue eyes strode out the shadows, dressed in similar armour to Gusty but ebony-black with navy accents.

“Tell me I’m not too late for a race.” he chuckled as Lulu’s face lit up with wonder.

“Midnight!” she exclaimed before bouncing over and hugging him by the muzzle tenderly.

“Hello, little Lulu.” he cooed “Was big, mean, old Tia gonna’ cheat in the race again?”

“No!” It was Tia’s turn to pout as Lulu clambered onto the back of her royal bodyguard.

“Okay, Tia, we’re ready to race.” Lulu giggled as the grey stallion arched back in a ready stance. Gusty sighed as her princess jumped up atop her back and prepped her.

“Ready! Set! Go!” Tia yelled as they took off, speeding down the halls of the Royal Palace, both bodyguards rushing neck-and-neck. Gusty bore a look of tired resignation while Midnight seemed to be having about as much fun as his rider.

“I’m gonna beat you this time, Tia!”

“No, you’re not, Lulu, just you wait!”

“Keep going, Midnight! We can beat ‘em!”

“Can not!”

“Can too!”

“Can not!”

Thud!

The sound brought both mounts to their senses as an old stallion, walking down the corridors and glancing sight of the folly, raised his staff in the air and slammed the butt of it loudly upon the floor.

Gusty and Midnight skidded and slipped frantically, finally crashing to the ground inches in front of the newcomer, winding up in a tangled heap with their respective royal wards giggling and cheering before looking up and recognising the pony before them.

He was a grey unicorn stallion in a flowing cape and pointed hat, both a hue of blues and decorated with bells, stars and crescent moons. His grim, calculating citrine-yellow eyes bore into the two bodyguards, both students of his.

Gusty found her voice, she and Midnight both shrinking under the old stallion’s gaze.

“H-h-hello...Archmage...”

“Gusty...Midnight Blade...” Star-Swirl the Bearded sighed humourlessly “What, I shudder to ask, do you two fools think you’re doing?”

“Just carrying out our humble duties, sir.” Midnight answered bashfully before gulping as his old master raised a bushy, disparaging eyebrow over him.

“Clearly far more important than the duty I gave you a week ago, young steed. A duty which, I remind, was indeed very important. Or do you presume foolish games and caterwauling in the corridors of the royal palace a more crucial endeavour than the safety of the realm?”

“No, sir, absolutely not, sir.” Midnight got to his hooves, dusted himself off and bowed “I have just returned from said duty, sir, and I was on my way to bring the news when...”

“You felt the need to play...whatever this was?” Star-Swirl butted in sarcastically.

“Please, Mr Star-Swirl...” Little Princess Luna tottered in front of her bodyguard and stared up at her teacher with wide, pleading eyes “He’s been gone a week. We really missed him...”

The Archmage looked into those eyes a moment, rolled his own and sighed.

“Alright. Let him make his report before the Princess...And then you may continue with these games of yours.”

The Princesses cheered in unison as Midnight followed his old teacher to the throne room.

“What news from the court of Dvinius? Is there another fresh new military folly in motion?”

“I...believe not, sir.”

Star-Swirl glanced at Midnight who wore an expression of bleakness, his eyes taking him back to something that could not have been pleasant to watch.

“I’ve seen so much blood today, I might as well go back to hunting vamponies.”

“Explain yourself, Midnight, you’re making less and less sense.”

Midnight Blade thought a moment and answered.

“If you’ll pardon my Elkish, sir, I believe curd is about to go down.”

Star-Swirl blinked before massaging his temples with one hoof.

“Midnight, you and Gusty have an unusual skill for collectively trying my patience. Do you intend to say those exact words to her majesty, Princess Laurelore, or are you going to tell me in words what the blazes is going on?”

The dark-grey stallion sighed and remade his point.

“It’s...complicated.”

Author's Note

Well guys, I promised you some enlightenment.
And some attention for Midnight Blade.
My thanks to my faithful troper, 6samuelb. I hope I did you proud.
And don't worry. His story will be unveiled along with that of Cascadius.
Wagenroll is a more modern-Equestrian OC for Bronycommander while Dawnwind comes from the headcanon of Whitewolf Stormrunner.
Thank you both for your series-long patronage. I hope you enjoy the results.
And don't worry, I intend to place Ballistix Armbrust and Runningwind Wolfsong somewhere in this fic.
There's this huge thing about whether the alicorns are worshipped as the deities they pretty much are.
My question is...What did they worship before the alicorns came along?

If you know what New Hycarion, Dvinius and Cosmos Legion are based off, I hope this gave you some amount of catharsis.
Thank you all for reading and please leave a comment if you can.