The Knight

Chapters

Chapter One: Samuel
Chapter Two: Peculiar Happenings
Chapter Three: Escalation
Chapter Four: The Best Laid Plans Of Dogs And Men...
Chapter Five: Songs Of Praise And Damnation
Chapter Six: Officially Anointed

Chapter One: Samuel

Author's Note

The first time I tried putting this idea into words it was fairly well received even with all the issues it carried and grammatical errors it possessed. So I hope that you all still like this idea and that it’s worth all of your guys’ time to read.

Chapter One: Samuel

With a swish the sword gracefully sliced the air and through the watermelon on the picnic table, the long blade shone brightly and elegantly as it emerged from the now halved fruit in the early evening sunlight. Another slash came right down the middle, quickly and precisely the blade split the watermelon, effectively quartering the thing.

“See! I told you I could make one, and use it too!” A joyful voice came from beneath the steel armor that wielded the razor sharp weapon in both its hands.

“Haha, never doubted ya for one second.” Replied Applejack who stood leaned over the railing of her front porch,”Right Mac?”

“Eeyup.” He replied smiling from his spot on the bench behind his sister.

The steel figure clinked and clanked as it raised the longsword and slid it back down into the leather sheath at it’s side, the metallic arms then reached up and grabbed hold of its head and pushed upwards pulling off the intimidating helmet.

Underneath a lightly freckled pale human face with the beginnings of a beard emerged.

Sam gave a wide toothy smile,”Yeah I’ll bet you did, well what do you say then, have I earned the right to use the forge in the barn?”

“Course ya can colt, if y’all can make armor and a sword as complex as that then I don’t see why we can’t trust y’all to make some simple stuff around the farm.”

“Good,” The young man replied as he pulled the chainmail coif back to reveal his mass of long sweaty red hair, he shook his head like a wet dog flinging sweat in all directions,”God knows you guys need new hinges on that front door, my ears bleed every time one of you opens it.”

“Can’t say he’s wrong about that sis.” Mac chimed in.

Applejack laughed,”Celestia, that damn thing...” she shook her head,”I’m mighty appreciative of the help you’ve been giving us already Sam, ‘specially since this years harvest has been so good, it’s nice of ya to offer us help like this too.”

“Well it’s the least I could do after all you and your family has done for me.” He sat down at the table and began unlatching his gauntlets.

Mac grunted and asked,”Say would you be able to fix ma plow for me?”

“Sure, in fact I could even make you a new one if you wanted.” He replied pulling a gauntlet off.

“That’d be nice.” He looked to his sister,”Y’all got anything you want made AJ?”

Applejack opened her mouth to answer when a terrible high pitch creaking interrupted them, Mac sighed, Sam cringed and Applejack ground her teeth.

They looked over to see a smiling Applebloom beaming at them from the doorway,”It’s dinner time!”

Mac shot up like a rocket and quickly moved for the door,”Oh thank Celestia I thought I was gonna starve to death fore’ we ever got any dinner.”

Applejack laughed and shook her head, looking back at the young man fiddling with his breastplate she said,”Well Sam, are ya coming?”

“Yeah, just gonna get this stuff off and shower, then I’ll eat, don’t wanna stink up the dinner table.”

She gave a nod,“Mmmkay, Ah’ll make sure Mac and Bloom don’t eat everything before you finish up then.”

Kag watched the Rose pony as she made her way down the gravel strewn pathway, her hooves crunching loudly with each step. She reached the small wooden fence that marked the border of her house, opening the little creaking gate and stepping through she passed by the meticulously trimmed and well cared for garden along the edge of her yard.

She carefully made sure to not step on her perfectly cut lawn and followed the small stone path on her way towards the front door. Reaching the round wooden door, which was small even for a pony, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a key.

Unlocking the door she stepped through the entrance into the cool darkness of her house. She hadn’t even noticed him in the tree line.

Kag snickered to himself, the new chief had taught them all about sneaking and spying. That’s why they had been so successful lately, the chief had taught them that as long as they were careful, took their time and spaced out the slave raids then they wouldn’t be discovered.

The chief had him assigned to this pony, others in the tribe were assigned to different ponies. Each had orders only to watch and map out their assigned pony’s schedule, then at the chief’s discretion, they were to kidnap said pony.

It was a system the chief set up and expanded upon as soon as he took control and so far it was working out with spectacular efficiency. Tonight, was this Rose pony’s turn to be taken and Kag already had worked out how he would approach the affair.

The sun was starting to dip below the horizon now and Kag slowly moved out from his place in the trees, he moved towards the path on all fours, keeping low and in the shadows. When he reached the gravel he patiently waited, the shadows of the trees eventually lengthened far enough to encompass his way to her yard.

Like a spider he crept across the path, each fall of his forearms were slow and well placed, not a single crunch sounded. When he reached the gate Kag paused, with precise movements the raider slinked his way along the fence line, using the garden on the other side as cover.

Rounding the corner of the fence he fell into the deep shadow of the house, he continued along the fence till he reached the end of it and the west side of the house. A few steps more and he stopped, now under the kitchen window he took a few sniffs.

Right on queue the window above him opened and the pony leaned out, Kag lowered himself down further as she took a deep breath of fresh air. She did this every night, he’d been watching long enough to know it meant she had just finished eating, the next step in her routine was to take a shower.

That’s when he was to knab her.

Letting out a sigh of refreshment the off white equine leaned back into her house, he listened as she stepped away from the window and waited below the window for awhile longer. The stars were starting to peak out in the night sky when the sound of running water reached his ears.

Slowly lifting himself up with his hind legs Kag raised himself to his full height, he looked in through the window his predator eyes taking note of everything in sight. The kitchen led straight forwards into the living room and through the there was the hallway that led to the bedroom and bathroom.

Reaching out he grabbed hold of the window sill, lifting himself upwards and inwards he fell through the window and landed softly on his paws. With softness and care he stepped forward, moving through the kitchen swiftly he entered the living room, turning to his immediate right he began the march down the hallway toward his goal.

The sound of running water became louder with every foot advanced, at the end of the hallway there were two doors on either side, the left one was open and showed off her relatively small bedroom. The door on the right was closed and behind it the sound of soft singing came through the loud rush of water.

Reaching out with a clawed hand Kag grasped the door handle and gently twisted, it gave without resistance and the door pushed in slightly.

His mouth formed into a sinister, grotesque smile.

He ever so slowly pushed the door in further, when it was opened just enough Kag slipped a leg in and held his breath as he slid his body through the slim doorway. Once all the way in he pushed the door back and turned around, on his right was a toilet and on his left was a sink. Atop which sat a mirror decorated with her toiletries.

A few feet ahead was his target, behind the plastic shower curtain her silhouette swayed about as she washed her hair, her soft voice ringing with song.

“Can’t take my eyes off of you...” Kag had to acknowledge, she sang pretty well.

The soft pat of his step forward was drowned out by the cacophony of other sounds in this small room, slowly taking another step he stopped as she suddenly stopped singing.

The edge of the shower curtain slowly pulled back, his entire body froze, his breathing sped up and his eyes widened. He felt his heart attempting to burst as her arm reached out from the opening, only to grab at a bottle of shampoo on the sinks countertop.

Her arm retracted with the bottle and pulled the curtain back into place, the singing resumed and her silhouette went back to scrubbing her hair.

Kag let out a deep breath, his body visibly relaxing. Giving his head a light shake he resumed, finishing his step he began the next. Now he was nearly a foot away, everything was going smoothly, his left hand reached out towards the shower curtain while his other hand went down for his belt.

Without warning, the shower curtain was ripped aside,”Who are you?!” the Rose pony stood nude before him bottle raised threatening to attack.

Her eyes widened and she gasped when she saw his large terrifying form in front of her, before she could even properly react Kag acted fast and his right hand flew up. The club he had hold of slammed into the side of her head, she was thrown against the tiled wall of the shower and collapsed.

Kag looked down at his handiwork, blood trickled out of the side of her head she was hit on but she was still breathing and thus still useful. She wouldn’t need to be nursed back to health before being sold like the last two captured ponies.

Kag’s fangs glinted in his smile, the chief would be pleased with this.

He reached over and turned off the shower, then bending down wrapped his arms around her waist and hoisted her up on his shoulder with ease. He left the bathroom carrying her like a sack of potatoes, he reached the living room and threw her onto the couch.

The chief had given him permission to use the pony once he captured her and Kag intended to make good on that permission.

Climbing up over her still wet naked body he smiled, reaching down he unfastened the belt that held his loose pants to his body. Simply looking at her had aroused him, Kag knew he was going to take his time and enjoy this catch, redheads were his favorite after all.

“That pie, was better than sex Applejack.” Mac snorted at the comment and Applejack burst out laughing.

Sam got up from his spot at the end of the table while she laughed, plate in hand and walked over to the kitchen sink. He gave the plate a quick rinse as Applejack recovered her breath,”Gosh darnit, Ah’ve never heard pie compared to sex before till today and I don’t think I needed to either.”

Sam just smiled as he made his way back to the table, sitting himself back down he leaned back in his chair.

Applejack sighed and gave a last little chuckle,”Ya know that Armor and sword you made is really impressive, I ain’t ever seen anything like it before. Same with that huge sword you got too.”

He shrugged,”Just your standard late middle age full plate armor and a longsword to go with.”

“I ain’t even gonna pretend to know what that means.” Applejack gave him a deadpan look.

He sighed with a smile,”And I don’t expect you too, not many back home knew either.” He shifted in his seat and layed a hand on the table,”You know it is weird, I haven’t seen any real advanced armors here, even back when I was at Canterlot.”

“When I saw the visiting Minotaurs, who are supposed to be the best of the best when comes to smithing, they had some pretty primitive stuff on.”

“Really?” Mac away from his plate to Sam,”Our armors uh, primitive?”

“Well yeah, not a single soldier has a layer of chainmail... or padding... or any actually protective plates. Hell they may as well just bend a piece of metal and strap it on, you’d get the same effect.” He laughed.

Mac raised an eyebrow,”That bad?”

“Oh yeah, the royal guards wear this weird cheap version of a hellenistic style armor and it doesn’t even cover them up very well.” He scoffed,”Now I will admit the weapons they make aren’t bad, the swords are like the Roman Gladius and the spears the recruits carry are perfectly practical for combat. My sword is still better though.”

“So how good is that armor and sword then?” Applejack piped up.

Sam smiled,“The best.”

“How insightful.” She sarcastically replied.

“Well okay, but you’re the one who asked for a lecture on full plate armor and swords.” He looked to her and began,”My Armor is virtually untouchable with conventional methods. The plate mail that makes up the outer layer is made from folded steel, it can stop anything from maces to war hammers. You’ll probably still feel the impact afterwards but that’s it.”

“The second and mid layer, chainmail, will cover the few parts of my body that isn’t protected by plate. Inner elbows, back of my knees, armpits and such. And finally the innermost layer is a thick padding shirt, it helps to lessen impacts and it provides a line of defense from penetrating arrows.”

“My sword is made in such a way that it’s perfectly balanced, any man could swing it with ease if they have the training that I do. The metal is able to flex and give enough that it’s extraordinarily difficult to break, it needs to be maintained like anything else but it’s far more reliable than most swords. In battle it affords me a lot of reach, which is especially good for thrusting and it’s edges are razor sharp, which also gives me the option of cutting too.”

He drew in a breath,”And that is why my armor and sword are the best.”

Applejack stuck her tongue out at him at him,“Nerd.”

Sam sighed and Mac sat up slightly,”Hey, if y'all have all these skills, why didn’t you go do smithin’ work for the guards or sumthin’? From what you’ve been saying about their gear it probably wouldn't be hard to make a decent living giving them real armor.”

“If I’m being perfectly honest, I just didn’t want to. It would be like being a short order cook but for armor and I really don’t wanna do that.”

“That’s fair.” The large stallion grunted and stood up, stretching with a groan he looked at his sister and friend,”The suns going down and it was a long day, I'm gonna head up to bed.”

Applejack modded,”Alright Mac see ya in the morning.”

“Night.” Sam waved as Mac walked out of the kitchen.

The Apple mare relaxed in her chair, cracking her neck. Sam shifted his weight, eyes focusing on a knot in the table. She swallowed and looked over at him, they sat together in near complete silence as the sun sunk further and further out of the sky.

“Ya know Ah’m glad your doing so well Sam.”

Looking up he was brought out of his own thoughts,”Hmm?”

“Ah’m glad that you’re doing so well what with adjusting to our world and all.”

“Oh... it’s not really been that bad, I mean this worlds a lot like mine. Just with humanoid animals that can talk and magic...”

She sighed,“Ah’ve overheard you answering Twilight like that a couple times, Ah ain’t asking what she is though. Ah wanna know how you’re doing now that you ain’t going home for sure.”

He swallowed and looked down, he was quiet for a second as though thinking about what to say next,”I was close to my family, I, uh, still kind of have trouble trying to sleep.” He grimaced,”When I close my eyes to sleep my mind always reminds me that I’ll never laugh at my dads stories over thanksgiving dinner again.

“I’ll never go on trips to the coast with my brother to hike. The worst fact is the fact that I will never get to have have lunch on the weekends with my mother again. It’s hard to accept that’s for sure.”

Shaking his head and heaving a sigh he continued,”I’ll never see my friends again either, no more trips to the bowling alley at midnight, or nights where we binge movies and play video games.”

He looked up at her with wet eyes and smiled,”But it’s nice to have you and the others as my friends, you guys taking me in and helping me get on my feet means more than you could ever know Applejack.”

She gave a small genuine smile,”I’m happy to hear that Sam.”

He returned the smile,”Having you, Mac and Bloom here on the farm with work to do has been a blessing. Celestia still talks with me through letters and going to meet up with Twilight every couple of days to exchange knowledge about each of our worlds is helpful.”

“Good, Ah can’t imagine what going through what you have is like, but I’m glad that we all have been helpful to you. Celestia knows a good stal-er man like yourself didn’t deserve what happened to ya.”

He smiled and looked down, she did the same and the two of them fell into silence. Again minutes passed as the two sat in silence.

“I should probably get going now.”

Applejack raised her brow,”Huh?”

“We didn’t finish talking about the most influential world leaders from our worlds last time, so Twilight asked me to come by tonight and finish it off. She seemed really interested in one of my worlds old kings.”

Applejack scoffed,”Pulling hard working ponies away from sleep for some research, sounds about right for her.”

He laughed and gave a sigh,”Its not that bad, I don’t mind talking about history for hours on end.”

“Alright, well Ah won’t expect you to be up until a little later in the morning then Sam, good luck getting that crazy pony satisfied with yer answers.” She stood up and nodded, he nodded back and watched her leave the room.

Standing up he turned to his left and made for the door, reaching out he grasped the handle and pushed. Stepping out of the cool house the humid evening air hit him and he paused, the cicadas chirped merrily in the trees and mosquitoes buzzed about him with great enthusiasm.

In the low light the farm was as scenic as could be, Sam gave a good look at the fields of apple trees before starting on his way.

The street lights of Ponyville were like the streetlights of London in the industrial revolution, except powered with magic rather than gas. The empty streets carried the echo of Sam’s footsteps like a cave carries shouts. His eyes wandered as he made his way, the different shops and businesses that he passed took on a different tone at night.

Dark and foreboding, the buildings on either side of him gave a bad feeling in the night, he instinctively looked every time he passed by an alley into the impenetrable darkness that was held at bay by the light of the street lamps. Who knows what might be hiding in these wells of black...

He shook his head,”Damn, I’m only freaking myself out.”

Rounding a street corner he stopped abruptly, of course the street light ahead was flickering. Why wouldn’t it be. Sighing he looked down and steeled himself, after a moment he looked back up and resumed walking again.

The echo of his steps felt louder as he passed under the flickering lamp, he suddenly jumped.

Reflexively Looking to his right he was greeted with the sight of another dark alleyway, he’d heard a crash and a sound like footsteps. What sounded like muffled screams reached his ears and his fear dissipated, concern flooded him when they were suddenly cut off and he took a step towards the alleyway.

“Hello?!” His own voice replied to him as it bounced along the walls inside the inky dark.

He took another step forward,”Is something wrong?!”

Swallowing he marched up to the edge of the alley and stopped, he squinted as he tried to penetrate the night with his vision. The most he could see was the outline of a couple barrels and some trash in the dark, he stood there for a second listening.

He strained his eyes and ears to pick up on anything, it didn’t feel right, you don’t just hear random muffled screaming. Shaking his head he sucked in his teeth,”Weird.”

Deciding against investigating the sounds further he turned around and went back out into the street...

...Kag let out his breath, his heart was beating like a snare drum on speed. That was to fucking close.

He’d been making his way back to the cave with the Rose pony, using the dark alleyways of the town at night like he always did. Just as he’d ducked into this alley that weird looking pony came walking up, which just happened to be when the Rose pony decided to come to as well.

She, of course, began to scream.

He had to quickly cover her mouth and keep force it shut, it wasn’t until he placed his claws on her throat that she stopped trying to scream. Kag managed to duck behind a stack of barrels just in time to get out of sight, that damn guy walked all the way up.

If he’d taken another step Kag would have had to kill him if he was discovered, the chief would not have liked that. He hated anything that drew more attention than was necessary and two disappearances in one night was more attention than was necessary.

Grumbling he looked down at the terrified pony underneath him and sneered, these ponies make good slaves but they pissed him off when they acted like this. He reached down and smacked her head into the ground, she whimpered and tears began flowing from her eyes.

He only got angrier.

“Listen to me, you make a sound and I’ll paralyze you.”

The look in his eyes told her he wasn’t lying, she nodded and he grunted, throwing her back over his shoulder he stood up and again they were off, hopefully without any interruptions this time.

Dear Twilight,

I Hope this letter finds you well. I for one am glad you’ve come to me for consultation on this matter as you are right, it is a real phenomenon and a delicate situation. If word reaches the public there will be panic, riots and fear abound. Ponies being systematically kidnapped for an unknown reason is bad enough as is, but having it lead to all tartarus breaking loose in our faces is even worse.

I will admit that, the recent cases of missing ponies you listed seemed completely random at first but there is a pattern in the circumstances surrounding their disappearances. It is concerning to see, Luna and I agree with you that it needs to be stopped immediately. We are dispatching investigators from the royal and lunar guard as soon as possible, we need to gather as much info as we can before proceeding.

I have my doubts as to your suggestion of who is perpetrating this phenomenon. It seems unlikely the that the brutes you think to be the culprits are the ones doing it, it may fit their usual behavior but it’s too bold and intelligently done for them in my opinion. I think a rogue group of changelings attempting to feed on ponies is a much more likely explanation, though who knows, time may prove you right.

No matter what though remember that you have Luna and my support, we will assist you in any way we can and if the situation escalates we will interfere before anything truly disastrous can happen.

Sincerely,

Princess Celestia of Equestria.

Twilights face dropped, she let out a sigh and leaned back. Her shoulders sagged as she lowered the letter back onto the desk, pushing herself back she grunted and stretched her arms upwards. She let herself relax into her padded purple chair and looked out the window of her study.

The stars of night twinkled in the sky, Luna had done a good job.

Twilight knew Celestia wanted to do nothing but good for her ponies, but she couldn’t help feeling like they needed to do something more. Yes of course it was best to act with all the information you can gather, she knew that better than anyone, but everyday could mean another pony missing.

She just had a bad feeling about the whole thing and she was just so sure of who was doing it...

A knock came at the door startling her, looking to the entrance she raised her brow,“Yes?”

The door opened slightly and a head of messy red hair peeked through,”May I come in?”

She perked up a small smile forming on her face,”Of course Samuel.” She stood up as he entered,”You want me to have a servant start the fire?”

He nodded and rubbed his hands together,”Oh yeah, I love the huge fireplace you have. This castle is just cool.”

She chuckled,”I know it is, it used to be a carved out tree you know.”

“I’ve heard the story, must of been a hell of a surprise to see it turned into this.”

She rounded the desk,”You have no idea.” She smiled and gestured to the chairs at the far end of her room, he gave a nod in understanding and together they walked down to the fireplace. Sam set down in the biggest chair and let himself melt into it, Twilight rang the servants bell before herself sitting down.

“Thanks for coming back to finish off this part of your history, especially so late, it’s just fascinating to me, I’m sure you understand.”

He smiled,”I get it, really, history is my favorite thing to talk about. Took classes in it at every chance I got.”

Her smile widened,“Now, as I recall you left off in the middle of Charlemagne’s campaign against the... Saxons correct?”

“Mmmhmm, had I reached Widukinds capture yet or...”

Chapter Two: Peculiar Happenings

“So this Belisarius was nearly able to restore the former empire?”

“Very nearly, as I’ve said he took back the Balkans, Africa, Italy, most of Spain and more than once he subdued the Sassanid empire’s attempts to invade.”

“He sounds like he was an amazing person.”

“God, his skills as a tactician were amazing, he was outnumbered in almost every battle, had extremely limited resources and yet still pushed through no matter the challenge.” Sam exclaimed, passion pouring out of him like water in an overfilled cup,”The truly astounding part of his story though, isn’t just his genius in battle, it’s the fact that despite his abilities he lived only to serve his empire.”

“He really believed in what he was doing, to him the wars he fought weren’t just a chance to grab power like it was for Caesar. He saw it as a way to rebuild the empire he believed in and serve the leader who he knew was good for the people of that empire.”

She nodded,”I understand exactly what you mean, I see why you admire this man so much. He was given quite a bit of power and he never misused it. In fact from what you’ve told me it seems all that he did was to better his nation and contribute to his people.”

“Exactly, he’s one of my favorite figures in human history, as great as some of the other leaders I’ve studied are it’s hard for me to find someone to top him.”

It was nearly two in the morning, they had talked for the last six hours, from the life of Charlemagne to the Duke of Marlborough all the way to Flavius Belisarius. Samuel had detailed their wars, tactics, politics, way of life, there was no end to his knowledge on the subject of history.

He was a font of information and when he opened up that information flowed straight into Twilights eager ears. The two of them got along quite well because of it, they often talked for long periods of time like this, mostly about history but sometimes politics and the sciences too.

Twilight leaned back and yawned,”Ah... it’s late and you’ve very kindly stayed up to answer my questions, I think it’s about time I went to bed. If you’d like I can see about having some of my guards pulling you home in a cart? Of course you could always spend the night in one of the guest rooms.”

Sam smiled, the light of the fireplace that illuminated this end of the room outlined his young face softly. He turned his head and looked down into the charred burning wood, his blue eyes glimmering in its flicker, his eyes were sore with exhaustion and his speech was starting to slur. He did need sleep.

But he had a question of his own.

Sam shifted his weight to the other side of the seat, propping his elbow on the arm of the chair he leaned his chin into his hand,”I’ll walk back to the farm, don’t worry about that, I do however want to ask you something if you don’t mind.”

She nodded,”Of course, ask away.”

He was silent for a moment as his eyes wandered over her face,”You’ve been pretty tense all night, I can see it in your eyes, the way you’ve even holding your shoulders and even the way you move. I was wondering if you were alright.”

Twilight’s eyes widened and her shoulders tensed,”That’s... very observant of you Samuel.”

“I’m sorry if I’m prying to much, I’m just worried. You usually aren’t that anxious about anything.”

She relaxed again, her nostrils flaring as her shoulders unclenched,“I, understand completely, I would be that worried about my friends too. I didn’t, however, expect you to see through me though.”

She shook her head and looked down,”Well I suppose I could tell you about what’s bothering me, you have proved to be trustworthy over these past couple of months.”Twilight looked up, her eyes narrowing and boring into his,”But you must promise to keep it completely secret, if you don’t I will never be able to trust you with anything again.”

His brow dipped and he turned away from her burning gaze, her intensity was concerning. Whatever was upsetting her was either important or terrifying,“I... yes I can keep it a secret.”

“Promise me, if this gets out who knows what could happen.”

He looked back to her,“I promise Twilight.”

“Good.” She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees and began,”For the past five months ponies have been disappearing for no discernible reason, seemingly at random too.”

“I began looking into it about two weeks ago, I had noticed there had been a lot more missing ponies in the newspapers recently and thought to at least take a look at the cases too see if there was anything off about them. After going over the first thirty I began to see a pattern.”

“The days in between these disappearances were staggered over a period of a month and then then would repeat again the next month but a day off. To the normal pony who wasn’t paying much attention to all of the other instances of this happening, it would seem like another unfortunate if not weird occurrence.”

“Then there comes the circumstances of all the cases, some ponies disappeared after going for walks, others while on treks into the Everfree and some even disappeared from their own homes. There’s never any witnesses and not a trace is ever found, in most normal missing pony cases at least there’s some clothes or tracks found but not with these ones.”

“I believe this is deliberate and that these ponies aren’t just disappearing, but being kidnapped.” She looked back up at Sam who had listened to her story with interest,”What do you think?”

He lowered his hand from his chin and pursed his lips,”I have to say I agree, there’s a pattern to them, nothing random has a pattern in my experience.”

“Exactly!” She shot up in her seat,”And I think I know who’s doing it too.”

He cocked his head,”You have a suspect?”

“Well, suspects actually.” She stood up and walked to the edge of the fireplace, she brought a hand up to her chin and grabbed it,”I contacted Celestia about it already, she’s concerned and sees what we see so she’s going to send a group of investigators as quickly as she can.”

Twilight sighed,”But, she thinks it’s a rogue group of changelings...”

“And you don’t?”

She nodded,”The investigators she’s sending will look everywhere but where I want them too. The old diamond dog cave.”

“So you think it’s diamond dogs then?”

“Yes, I do.” She looked at the young mans face,”What do you know about them Sam?”

He shrugged,“Eh, not much, I’ve heard about them here and there and Applejacks mentioned that you guys had a problem with a few of them before but other than that I have no real knowledge.”

“Okay, well then I’ll give you a brief overview of them. They usually inhabit caves, though they are known to build communities deep into the Smokey mountains and sometimes even in dense jungles or forests. Most of them are arranged in a tribal manner, though the most successful of these groups call themselves clans as they see themselves better than their peers.”

“They all tend to display a level of greed like that of a dragon, which wouldn’t be a problem if they stuck to their caves and mined for gems but most of them do more than that. They will often times raid caravans for more wealth, tribes will fight each other for their gems and, most importantly for our case, some of the are in the business of taking slaves.”

Sam furrowed his brow,“I see what your getting at now.”

“Mmhmm, now they will make slaves of just about anything but, they prefer ponies. Stallions that are enslaved are used for manual labor like mining or building, mares are, well, raped into submission and then used as uh, sex slaves.” She shook her head.

Sam cringed at the thought,”And you think a group of these dogs has moved into the area?”

“Well no, you see the dogs Applejack talked about was a group that we managed to get under control awhile ago. From what I know though they have had a grudge against us for it ever since that day. However despite the hate they bear for this town they would never act on it and enslave or attack us by themselves, to much fear of being defeated and shamed again.”

He raised an eyebrow,“Then why would they start now...?”

“Here’s where my theory becomes a theory.” She crossed her arms over her chest,“Recently there was a large clan war, to the east in the mountains. I don’t know much about it, Equestria didn’t get involved. However we are sure of the fact that when it ended multiple clan leaders were exiled rather than executed. I believe one of those ambitious diamond dogs may have found his or her way here and taken command of our local tribe.”

She sighed and stepped away from the fireplace,”I could, of course, be totally wrong though. My research and conclusions could be off by miles and nothing that bad really is going on.”

Samuel stood up and walked forward, he reached out an arm and grabbed her shoulder,“No, you make nothing but good points Twilight, the conclusion and reasoning is logical. After hearing this whole thing out I can honestly say I believe you are right.”

She smiled and let out a breath as he let go of her shoulder,”Now.” he continued,”I know Celestia is going to send some investigators to check this out, but what are you going to do about these, peculiar happenings? I think we both know an investigation that doesn’t acknowledge a whole very plausible possibility won’t be much help.”

Twilight looked at him dejectedly,”I’m going to let Celestia handle it, she’ll know what to do.”

He twisted his head,“What?”

“Look, Sam, this is all still speculation in the end and even if it wasn’t, what would I do?” She shook her head,”I can’t just get a regiment of guards and march on them, the political repercussions could be disastrous.” She looked down and reassured herself,”No Celestia has the experience to maneuver all this if the diamond dogs are the ones behind it.”

He turned around and hummed to himself as he walked back to his chair,”What kind of repercussions are you talking about? Why is it so dangerous if the diamond dogs are at fault?”

She paused for a moment,”Well firstly I believe in peaceful solutions to most things, only fight if you have too. Secondly Celestia is already aware of what’s going on and isn’t getting involved, if I do anything now I’ll have her to answer too. But beyond both of those reasons I don’t want to make a decision that puts Equestria at war.”

“But... if it’s only one group that you could attack and destroy, how would that put you at war?”

“Sam, I know I told you that the tribes and clans hate each other but, that’s not always the case.” She began to walk down the long room and gestured for him to follow.

Together they walked along the shelf lined walls, hundreds if not thousands of books rested along the walls of Twilights study. The purple princess abruptly stopped, Samuel followed suit and watched as she ran her fingers along a row of books.

“Ah, here it is.” Pulling a rather thin book out she held it out to Sam.

He squinted as his eyes scanned the book cover,”An overview of the diamond dog - Griffon conflict of the fourth century.” He read out the title,”I’m gonna guess this will tell me why you can’t just attack them?”

She nodded,”Fourteen hundred years ago, the griffons mounted a military campaign to root out a particularly bad tribe of diamond dogs, they were successful at first. But then the rest of the tribes within the Griffon empire grew wary of the empires actions.”

“Even though the griffins had only sought to destroy that one tribe they inadvertently caused the rest of the tribes within their borders to rally together. The clans in the empire took advantage of this and grabbed command of the riled up dogs.”

“A fifteen year war began, in the end the griffins emerged victorious, the diamond dogs were driven from their lands and to this day there aren’t any in the Griffon empire. However the losses were horrendous, thousands of innocents on both sides had been slaughtered and who knows how many soldiers were dead.”

“The tragedy of it all is that the whole Tartarus damned thing could have been avoided.”

Sam raised his arms and crossed them, his eyes were narrow as he pondered what he’d been told. Twilight put the book back in it’s place and looked back to him,”Would you like that to happen here?”

He shook his head,“No, but, nobody ever wants war except ambitious people in charge.” He sighed,”Twilight I understand all this but in the end, I still think real action needs to be taken.”

She threw her hands up and shook her head in incredulity,”Really? None of that made sense to you?”

“Hear me out okay, over time they’ll only grow bolder, other tribes will notice and they’ll become just as bold and before long the amount of ponies being enslaved will be greater than the losses of any war.”

“A war which could not even happen if we move on this local tribe, you know as well as I just because something happened once doesn’t mean it will again. And in the end I guarantee you it’s better to stand and fight rather than roll over onto your belly.”

She looked down and sighed, shaking her head she looked back up at him,”Look Sam, it’s getting late and we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s face it, we don’t know what exactly is going on so let’s admit that and just get to bed.”

He swallowed and nodded,”Yeah, okay, that’s a pretty good idea.”

She paused for a moment before flashing him a small smile,”I’m sorry by the way, I didn’t mean to get into an argument tonight.”

“It’s fine.” He waved a hand,”Just two differences of opinion and you know what, at least we heard each other’s side of it rather than yelled at each other.”

“Very true and thank you, for believing me I mean.”

“Well like I said, you make sense.” Turning about he walked over to the door, opening it he looked back at Twilight,”Goodnight Princess, have a nice night!”

“I will and please Sam, be careful, whatever’s going on, I don’t want to read about your disappearance.” He nodded and stepped through the door into the grey and purple hallway.

The guards on either side of him stiffened and he gave them a curt nod. The sound of his footsteps reminded him of what he’d experienced earlier in the night on his way here, suddenly it occurred to him, the muffled screaming and crash. Could that have been...

”No, can’t be.”

For the rest of his walk back to the farm the earlier events of the evening kept resurfacing to the top of his mind.

The torchlight illuminated the ledger before Razor, the black ink elegantly listed the names of the most recent captures and their estimated prices on the market. Flipping a page the skinny diamond dog smirked at the price Roseluck would fetch them once she was completely broken and trained.

She’d only been brought in a week ago and already she was broken, the training process had quickly begun. That was one thing Razor had to admit, this tribe may have been full of fools when he first arrived but they could break a pony better than any other tribe or clan he’d come across.

Even now he could hear the screams of the recent arrivals echoing from the other side of the cave all the way into his little chamber.

Razor leaned back, his wooden chair creaking with the shift in weight, bringing the ledger up he closed it with a snap. Standing up the chief of the Ponyville diamond dog tribe made his way to the small shelf on the other side of the room, he slid the small book in with the rest of his ledgers and catalogues

Book keeping was something he prided himself in, keeping an account of every pony captured, sold and any other miscellaneous transactions with other tribes was necessary. It would show any discrepancies and keep accountability among the tribe.

He cracked his neck and quickly walked out of the round hole that connected his chamber to the tunnel that ran through rest of the cave. The guard assigned to his door sat on the ground back against the wall asleep, as per usual.

While his slave raiders had grown efficient and quick on their feet, something Razor could be proud of, the damn guards still couldn’t keep awake long enough to be of any practical use.

“Dipshit.” He muttered to himself.

Drawing his attention back to the task at hand he kept walking, at the end of the tunnel was another round doorway out of which light and sound funneled.

His senses were bombarded as he stepped into the main chamber, his dogs were all over the place dancing, singing, drinking and some even lay strewn about the hard ground asleep. Razor smiled at the happiness they displayed, when he had first arrived they were in such a sorry state.

One of the dogs finally noticed him and joyfully shouted,”The Chiefs here!”

A chorus of cheers responded and the dogs around him raised their drinks. Razor felt a sort of pride, his dogs loved him and all he had done for them. Their recent success in the field and increase in wealth was all attributed to him and rightly so.

Razor was not a big diamond dog, in fact he was somewhat short and so in order to be seen by every dog he stood up on an unoccupied chair.

He raised his hand up in a grand gesture,”Thank you! Thank you!” The dogs began to quiet down as his loud deep voice boomed, he slowly lowered his arm and the crowd was reduced to a murmur,”Now that I have your attention I wish to let you all know that I am planning a special raid in the future. One that will put us on the map as one of the boldest clans in Equestria!”

Another cheer erupted from the crowd, Razor’s fangs glinted through his smile. He raised his clawed hand again and again they quieted down,”For the time being though I want you all to keep on doing what you’re doing, stick with whatever raid you are currently assigned too. I want you all to know you’re all making me beyond proud and making big names for yourselves!”

“You have brought yourself up from the dirt, the other tribes who once scorned you now respect you! And with good reason! They themselves have never been able to achieve the things you have and now talk of our actions with amazement! You run through the night like a shadow! You capture ponies with ease! You break and make slaves like no other tribe or clan could dream of!”

A roar exploded as every dog in the room howled, their pride resonating off the rock walls of the chamber. Razor allowed them to continue this cheer far longer than the last, after a time their voices fell and the dogs became silent, once again their attention was focused on their chief.

His eyes narrowed as they looked over the mass of dogs before him,”Now, I have need of a few of you, Kag! Splint! Rock! All of you are to report to the map room as soon as possible!” He finished the speech off with another grand sweep of his arms and turned about.

The sound of singing, dancing and talking returned as the chief reentered the hall he had come from. Quickly he made his way down the tunnel. He passed his personal chamber and in minutes he reached the map room, quickly he ducked inside.

He actively ignored the snoring guard at the entrance.

A large rectangular stone block sat in the middle of the room, a map of Ponyville lay across its smooth top and many different instruments of measurement rested on its edges. At either side of the room along the rocky walls many smaller wooden tables were placed up against the cave walls, smaller more detailed maps of specific areas rested on these tables.

This was Razor’s command room, everything that was done was planned out in here and the dogs who were involved were briefed in here. This was the spot where many, many ponies fates were decided.

Walking to the stone table he leaned over the side of it and rested his weight on his claws, his eyes roamed along the roads and through the alleys that the map depicted in red ink. The idea he’d pondered over for so long kept running through his mind, the different scenarios, outcomes and ways to go about it flowed through his mind like river rapids.

He didn’t notice as the dogs he had asked for entered the room, they quietly walked over to the other side of the stone and waited. He looked up at the trio with and let out a breath,”Do you know why you’re all here?”

Splint’s crooked right arm came up, Razor nodded at him,“Is it something to do with the mission you talked about chief?”

“Correct, now, do you know why I chose you three for the mission?”

“Because were the best of your slave raiders.” Kag said.

“Exactly.” Razor straightened his back and beckoned them forward, together they walked up to the side of the stone.

“I have a plan that’s going to involve a lot of risk, heads will roll if one you fucks up, any dog here who’s not up to an operation this heavy leave now. I’ve got no room for cowards and weaklings here.”

They didn’t so much as twitch.

“Alright, you’re committed.”

“For the past couple of weeks I've been thinking of what we could do to cement us at the top of our hierarchy in these lands without drawing the attention of the ponies.” His fangs emerged.

“Our recent activity has drawn no attention at all, with the amount of slaves we’re producing not a single pony has taken notice. Yet among the other tribes we’re the talk of the land, our recent deeds have garnered us fame and respect, imagine if we could... amplify the fame and respect gained by doing the same job that we always do.”

The three dogs looked at him with interest, each one showing it in different ways.

He looked down,”My idea is, that we grab an important pony and break her. It’s simple and to the point right?”

They nodded and he smiled,”A pony important enough to send Equestria into a shitfest and make the tribes around call us a clan, who’s kidnapping could do that? Well none other than an element of harmony’s of course.”

The three of them simultaneously dropped their jaws, Kag began to sputter,”B-But you’ve always said attent-“

“Silence!” He slammed a fist into the stone and looked up at each of them, savagery pouring our of his narrowed eyes,”I am the godsdamn chief, you will be fucking silent while I explain myself!” Venom dripped off of every word.

They stood silent, terrified at his outburst.

He glared daggers at them, staying still the whole time, with a twitch of his ear he resumed his explanation,”When I first thought of this I too had the same reservations you three have, but I’ve run the it all through my head more times then I can count and I think if we do exactly as I have planned, we will be successful.”

He sighed,”I’ve put a lot of thought into which one would be best to target and I’ve decided on the Rainbow one.” Razor looked at the map,”Each of you will cover a different area of the town and watch for the next couple weeks I want her routine nailed.”

“That’s the first step, I’ll detail the rest of my plan once you’ve completed the first part of it.”

He stood up and gestured to the map,”I’ve divided the town into three equal sections, each of you can choose which section you’d like to cover.” He looked into each of their eyes his own softening as he looked over them,”If we pull this off it will be talked of for miles around and for years to come.”

“Now, choose your section, once you have you’re dismissed. We start tomorrow.” He gave them a nod and made his way out of the room, he rolled his eyes at the still sleeping guard.

Sam sighed as his eyes scanned the missing ponies list in the newspaper. Along with the still missing ponies listed, it contained the tale of another pony that disappeared last night. He couldn’t help but feel a twinge of anger deep within, a certain burn where his heart was.

They had no reason to keep going missing. But that wasn’t his decision to make, Celestia’s agents would figure it out soon and it would end.

It had been three weeks since his talk with Twilight and since then he’d kept his eyes open, he used to never look at the newspaper. Now he got hold of one everyday just to look over the missing ponies, apparently the night of his talk Roseluck had gone missing.

It was weird when he read about it, Sam didn’t know her very well but he saw her all the time at the market in town and now she was gone. Every time he thought about it the sounds he’d heard that night in the alley also came back, maybe if he’d just taken another step, even just to make sure, then he maybe wouldn’t wonder about it.

The possibility that it could have been Roseluck and if it had been then the possibility that he could have helped weighed heavily on his mind.

Shaking his head he set the paper down on the kitchen table, he looked over at Applejack as she cooked beside her little sister. The hunger inducing aroma of eggs and fried potatoes permeated the room, he looked across the table at Mac who sat still reading his newspaper.

Applejack shook the pan in front and said,“Say Sam, now that the harvest is slowing down would you be able to get those door hinges fixed?”

“Uh Yeah AJ, as long as you don’t have anything more urgent you need done I can get those started today.”

“Thanks honey.” She picked up the pan and moved it over,”Those damn things have terrorized us more than any changeling or god of chaos.”

“Oooo can I watch him work today sis?!” Applebloom asked as she stirred the frying potatoes she was working on.

Applejack paused and pursed her lips,”Ah suppose you could, I don’t need ya for nothin’, you just gotta ask him if he minds you bugging him the whole time.”

The young mare turned around to face him,”Can I Sam? Can I bug you all day?”

He chuckled and nodded,”Yes Applebloom, you can bug me all day.”

Mac looked up from his paper,”Celestia help ya fer ya know not what you’ve done.”

The mares and Sam shared a laugh at Mac’s singular comment. Breakfast proceeded as usual, Sam enjoyed the crunchy potatoes and reveled in the taste of his cheesy omelet.

From there they all went their separate ways on the farm, Mac headed out to begin his plowing, Applejack already had him getting started on that for the nest season. Applejack herself went out to the remaining Apple trees, there weren’t many left that still bore fruit so she was able to handle them with ease.

Sam and Applebloom made their way on over to the barn, once inside the wide double doors of the red structure he began his process of preparation. Applebloom sat up on a pile of hay while he worked and threw questions about what he was doing at him nonstop, like a batting machine on it’s maximum setting.

His first action was to get a thick apron on over his jeans and t shirt, next was to get his gloves and when he was fully garbed he walked over to the forge in the center of the barn. He started the fire and waited while it heated up, he took the time to retrieve the metal for the hinges and the tools he would need along with it.

From there his day started, heating the metal up till it was malleable enough to work, shaping it over a period of time and finally cooling it down. Applebloom now just watched as he cooled the first hinge in a bucket of water, her questions seemingly stopped.

As out the finishing touches on the dark black hinge the barn doors opened, midday light shone into the room to reveal Derpy the mailmare with a big smile on her face,”Hey there Sam!”

He smiled at her through his soot covered face as he shimmied off his gloves,”Hello, you got some mail for me?”

“Yep, sure do, straight from Celestia herself.”

Slapping his gloves down on the table next to the forge he began making his way towards Derpy,”Wait, you and Celestia send letters to each other?” The young mare on the other side of the barn piped up.

He smiled as he took the letter from Derpy’s outstretched hand,”Yeah, we do, haven’t you heard me talk about it before?”

She shook her head,”Hmm, well now you know.” He looked to the mailmare and smiled,”Thank you Derpy, I’ll make sure to send for you when I finish my reply.”

She smiled and nodded enthusiastically before turning about taking off into the air in an unstable sort of way. Sam closed the doors behind her,”She’s a nice mare but she’s kinda clumsy.”

“I know Applebloom, but aren’t we all?”

The day continued as it had before, though now he worked on the second hinge. By the time he was done the sun was low in the sky and dinner was cooking in the house, he cleaned up quickly with Applebloom helping him.

When they were done they went back to the house, Sam ate quickly and polished off his plate. Leaving it in the sink he then made his way to his room. It was the old guest bedroom that had been converted to a permanent place for him, the rustic room was on the first floor of the house.

The door creaked as he opened it and stepped in, closing it behind himself Sam was greeted with a window the overlooked the easternmost fields. He faced to his left where his desk sat up against the wall, walking over he pulled out the chair and sat down, reaching into his pocket he pulled out the letter from Celestia and flipped it onto the desk.

Leaning over he opened the top drawer and grabbed a letter opener, bringing it up he deftly sliced through its seal. Pulling out the paper within he discarded the rest of it to the side of the desk, he set it down and began to read it.

Dear Samuel,

I’m happy to hear about your success in proving your smithing skills to the Apples, I’m certain they’ll find it very useful. The work you have been doing is great, yes it’s simple manual labor to some but the more you do the more ponies will accept you. I know most already do but some still think as Luna does as I’m sure you already know.

I must thank you for your patience in that matter. I know your immunity, the reason for her mistrust and fear, is not something you have any control over. She’s begun to increasingly complain about your freedom every time you come up in conversation and I wonder if she’ll ever stop. You have nothing to fear of course I will keep her from taking any action against you as I have said before.

Onto other topics, I myself am doing okay, perhaps a bit more stressed than usual but that cannot be helped. Between the Zebras and their recent attempts to take land from the Griffon colonies, the griffin’s current leader growing ill and nobles continually pestering me over their squabbles I’ve not had much time to myself.

Perhaps though you’ll come back and visit soon? I always enjoy seeing you in the flesh, my worries melt away during our talks. Unlike most you listen well and add on to conversations. If you do decide to come soon let me know in advance and I’ll make sure to prepare some meat, that must be a rare commodity outside of the castle.

Before I end this letter I wish to tell you one more thing, Twilight has told me that you know about the missing ponies and the investigation, I appreciate that you haven’t said anything to anypony about it and I’d like it if you could keep it that way. I still think there’s a far more innocent explanation to it than what Twilight suggests and you believe but I digress.

I hope to hear from you again soon and I am even more excited to see you again,

Sincerely, Princess Celestia of Equestria

Samuel lowered the letter, letting a breath out through his nose he set the paper down slid his chair back.

Again those damn kidnapped ponies came up, his fury worked its way out of a little hole in his mind again and he had to suppress it. He looked over at the window and through it at the light of the dying sun in the evening sky, underneath said window sat a tall wooden chest that for no particular reason seemed to stand out to him.

Suddenly an idea popped into his mind, one that he’d never explored before.

He decided to open the door of this idea.

Standing up the young man walked over to the chest, it was beautifully carved with graceful little decorations all along its sides. Grasping the metal handle Sam pulled the top upwards, he was greeted with the face of his helmet, underneath it lay the rest of the armor he had made.

Reaching in he placed both hands on the helmet and lifted it up, holding it out in front of himself he stared into the blackness behind the eyeslit.

“No, no... I couldn’t... wouldn’t even work if I did.” He muttered to himself then shook his head and placed the intimidating piece of protection back in the trunk that he promptly closed with a slam.

He stood there with his hand on the handle for a while longer, lips pursed, eyes narrowed, mind in a different realm.

With a final grunt and shake of his head he walked back to his desk where he spent the rest of the early evening responding to Celestia’s letter.

Chapter Three: Escalation

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Chapter Four: The Best Laid Plans Of Dogs And Men...

Learning to blacksmith was originally his mom’s idea.

Sam needed to do something for his senior project in high school, he couldn’t decide so she threw that out there and he considered it. Alongside his interest in history the idea fit him very well, the school approved it and he began to learn at the beginning of his junior year.

He was talented, his teacher said as much, the boy had a knack for it and in the first six months he could make full on pieces of armor. He passed his senior project when the time came but he never stopped working with metal, eventually he didn’t need a teacher anymore and started working on his own.

It was when he made his first sword that a friend of his jokingly suggested they learn to use it and have a duel, well this offhand comment took hold of Sam. Between college and work he used whatever time found in between to attend classes that taught the method of historical European martial arts.

He trained whenever he could, he fought aggressively and with great speed. Early on the instructors had to pair him with more experienced sparring partners to compensate for his style of fighting. It was common to have a crowd gather to watch when the young man went up to spar, he didn’t always win but it was guaranteed to be exciting.

He very quickly grasped the basics, as he moved up the chain he became even better than before, learning to pair patience with his ferocity. He incorporated different sorts of moves and techniques, feints, half swording, ripostes, all served to make him one of the best in the class he attended.

His mother and father never once laughed at him for learning it, some of the people he talked to thought it was a waste of time and others thoughts it was a cool waste of time but never his parents. On the contrary they supported him in every way they could even showing up sometimes to watch, his father would cheer and his mother would yell,”Knock em’ on their ass sweetie!”

His parents, they were the ones who laid the foundation that solidified into his strong righteousness. From a young age they did all they could to try and teach him right from wrong, good from evil. Many of his views of the world came from it and he sometimes wondered if having that trait was actually a good thing...

Sam was startled out of his thoughts by a cool breeze that seeped in through his armor, he drew in a sharp breath. The pervasive air rustled the trees about him and a few loose leaves fell to the ground, they had a slight tinge of purple and brown around their edges.

Fall was coming and with it change.

Shaking his head he looked back down, with one last tug of leather his sabaton was fastened to his foot. He grunted as he stood from his kneeling position, the chainmail rattled slightly with his movements but the plates fit so well that there was no noise produced when they moved together.

Wearing armor always created an odd feeling in Sam, like he was in another century, ready to fight another war. This time though it was different, he had gotten geared up with a purpose and now it felt like he was in his own time, ready to fight his own war.

Reaching out over the large rock beside him he grabbed hold of his helmet, lifting it up he paused for a moment. The second this was on he would become a different person, someone who could kill without hesitation or mercy, he had to be able to, otherwise he would die.

With a last breath of air he pulled the helmet down over his head, for a split second he entered complete darkness only for his vision to return through the visor. His view was narrowed and odd, the first time he’d ever put a helmet on he felt clumsy and unable to function, but as with all things after enough practice he functioned just fine with it on.

He took a few breaths allowing his lungs to adjust to the altered air, satisfied his armor was on tight he mentally nodded to himself. Sam pulled his sword, which was in its scabbard, off the rock and clipped it to his left hip. The weight felt nice after not having worn it for so long.

He looked off in the direction he was to go, for a second doubt began to spring in his mind. Images of this different ways he could die, pain he’d endure, consequences of his failure... His gauntleted hand absentmindedly drifted up to his chest and over his breast plate, right where his cross was under the metal.

His fist clenched as he drove the doubt from his mind a final time, he was going to go through with it even if it killed him. Without another thought he began to walk, past the rock and into the trees beyond. His metal clad feet crunched on the rocks and leaves with each step taken.

As he walked the ground became more rocky, grass slowly turned to whatever weeds could get through the gravel. There was a noticeable change in the trees as well, those that grew were thin and fragile, they had very few leaves on their branches and they slowly became less numerous.

Before long that which he sought appeared in the distance, even with the little trees blocking his view he could make out the large hillock. It’s details presented themselves more clearly the closer he came, it’s sides were crumbled with sediment and creeping vines, the top was rounded with a circle of green grass. For about fifty yards around the forest had been clear cut, leaving the hill with a clear view of anything that came by.

Here, between the Everfree and Ghastly Gorge, was the Ponyville diamond dog hideout.

He crouched down behind a tree at the edge of the clearing and scanned the rocky hillside, eventually he began to pace along the perimeter in search of the entrance. It wasn’t long before he spotted it, on the north side of the desolate clearing was a tunnel that he assumed led into their cave.

On either side of the entrance stood two diamond dog guards, Sam paused and studied them the best he could from afar. They were tall and the claws they sported were no laughing matter, though the armor the two out front wore looked poorly made and he could tell their spears were anything but reliable.

On top of that they were both asleep, one had impressively balanced himself on his spear and the other lay on the ground against the hillside. Sam raised an eyebrow,”They must be cocky if these are the ones they assign to guard their front door.”

Raising up he braced himself and walked forward into the full light, the dogs didn’t even react as he drew his sword. He walked across the rocky ground without difficulty, as he approached his enemies he felt his pulse speed up and his heart began to thump in his chest.

He was steps away from the guard leaning on his spear.

Placing both hands on the handle of his sword he lifted it till the tip of the blade was angled upwards at the guards neck, his breathing started to quicken and he hesitated. Sam could feel perspiration forming on his brow, he swallowed thickly as he mentally prepared himself to actually kill.

Without any sort of warning the dogs eyes cracked open, Sam’s breath hitched. In a matter of micro seconds the dog gasped and his eyes opened in surprise, time seemed to slow as the guard reflexively tried to step back.

The young man stepped forward and thrust his weapon up, the blade moved swiftly through the air and the tip sliced with ease into its targets throat. The metal tore into his windpipe like a knife in hot butter, blood immediately began to seep from the wound and down the guards chest.

Sam looked into his enemies eyes, he could see multiple emotions flash all at once, fear, shock and confusion.

The two stood there in silence looking at each other, the dog slowly brought a hand up and weakly grasped the blade, strength visibly left him with every second. He opened his mouth but no sound came out and with that final futile attempt to make some kind of noise the guards grip on the sword failed and he collapsed backwards.

Sam’s stance slowly relaxed, his eyes were drawn to the red smear at the end of his sword and he swallowed.

He had done it, he had killed and he didn’t really know how to feel about it. He didn’t regret it, but neither did he feel good about what he’d done, it was... odd.

“Ah, uh, wha...” Sam whipped to his right, the other dog was beginning to wake up.

The guard looked up from his spot on the ground and his eyes widened with fear when he saw Sam standing over his dead companion. The dog drew in a breath and quickly went to pull himself up. With speed Sam shot across the tunnel’s opening and kicked, his foot connected with the guard’s side.

He was flung into the rocks with a yelp, in a swift movement Sam raised his leg up and brought it down stomping on the side of the dogs head. A sickening crunch sounded as the beast’s head was split on the stones, blood and pink matter seeped out of the thin opening in the dogs compressed head and onto the ground.

Sam stepped back to avoid the forming puddle of dog brain.

”It’s not as difficult as I thought it would be...” He slowly forced himself to turn away from the horrific scene, stepping back he sheathed his sword and brought his hands up. Lifting his helmet off he took a deep breath of fresh air and enjoyed the coolness that now caressed his face.

His eyes were drawn away from the bodies of his fallen foes and into the darkness that awaited him in the tunnel, as he looked into the deep blackness he was reminded of that night in the alley nearly two months ago. The blackness was just as thick as it was then, a sort of inkiness swirled about within it.

He narrowed his eyes and for a second he felt he could almost hear muffled screaming, his mouth twisted in anger and he growled to himself. He slid his helmet back down and walked forward into the black...

...His steps echoed as he slowly found his way through the dark stretch, he became very aware of how loud they were, it even started to feel like his breathing was loud. Before long every movement he made seemed like he was banging pots and pans wildly.

Amidst the cacophony of noise he perceived he was making the lack of any other real sound was disconcerting and filled him with a certain mind eating dread.

His outstretched arm slid along the wall to his right so as to feel the way, this was necessary as Sam couldn’t even see his own hand in front of his face in this intense and foreboding dark.

His mind subconsciously looked for patterns in the black attempting to distinguish his surroundings, all it achieved was to put him more on edge. Black figures that formed in his imagination went to and fro in the dark all around him, he gasped more than a few times when these figures looked like they could be real.

His progress was slow and before long the young man’s mind became active, expectedly his recent actions were at the forefront of his thoughts.

He’d killed two living, breathing, thinking creatures. He did it all out of his sense of justice, his ideas of right and wrong had dictated that they deserved to die. His mind was having trouble deciding, was he really worthy to have decided their fates and condemned them to death?

They were horrible, they kidnapped ponies, raped mares, enslaved any creature they could and most likely killed others as well. Yet they still, like everyone else, had families and friends, lived entire lives, had childhoods and he put an end to all of that.

He really wasn’t sure how to feel, yes he felt bad but he had no real regrets, though he felt like perhaps he should. Any normal person would feel sick over having killed and if he were to express his lack of real guilt to anybody they would probably think of him as a psychopath.

Sam worried, would they be correct?

Sam’s train of thought crashed when his foot landed on a patch of uneven gravel and he slipped, his hand grasped at the wall as he fell forwards. He just barely caught himself. With a frustrated grunt the young man hoisted himself back up, god this dark was terrible, it was the worst pitch black that he’d ever found himself in.

Now he knew how the fellowship felt going through Khazad-dûm.

He sighed and looked up, a hint of flickering light shone up ahead and his eyes fixated on it, he felt a rush at the sight. He started to walk again, his pace quickened and soon he was practically running blindly through the dark. As he got closer he could tell the light was some kind of fire.

The orange glow grew brighter with each step taken, his mind took its time catching up with him and when it did he ground to a halt.

“Hey, what was that?”

Where there was light there were going to be diamond dogs,”I heard somedog coming this way, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, sounded like it.”

Sam’s eyes widened, he watched the flickering fire for a second and in its glow the long faces of two dogs appeared. One of them squinted towards him and sniffed, it was obvious they couldn’t see him and he intended to keep it that way for the time being.

“Pack?! Sore?! You up ahead?!” The one closest to the torch yelled.

His companion stepped forward allowing Sam to see he had a makeshift helmet on,“You know you aren’t off duty yet right?!”

Their voices echoed by Sam and bounced along the tunnel walls,”Hmmm.” The helmeted dog stepped forward and sniffed again,”I’m smelling something weird, I think there’s something else in here.” He looked back at his friend,”I’m gonna check it out, you keep close behind okay?”

The other dog nodded, they both raised their spears and began to to walk towards Sam, the human drew his sword with care so as not to make a sound. He gripped it with both hands and pointed it towards the helmeted dog.

The diamond dogs marched forward with squinted eyes trying to see anything, when they got close Sam drew in a deep breath, the front dog stopped and raised his arm signaling to his partner,”You hear that? Sounded like-“

“Rahhh!” The steel clad young man let out a beast like cry and charged out of the dark at the helmeted dog.

Catching the dog totally off guard he had no time to defend himself, Sam rammed the sword halfway into his stomach. He wasn’t able to stop his momentum and lost his grip on the sword, he slammed into the shocked diamond dog and together they fell to the ground.

He lifted his head up off he dogs chest and looked down at the beast beneath him with disgust, the smell of its breath was like rancid meat.

Sam growled and grunted as he placed a hand on the heaving chest of the dog, he pushed down and rolled himself over onto the ground. The now sputtering dog watched with horror as Sam reached over to grip his embedded sword. The wounded dog let out a scream as Sam pulled on the sword, ripping even more of his belly open and using the leverage of the weapon’s hilt to lift himself up to a kneeling position.

He looked up and over his shoulder at the second dog, which was lowering his spear and pulling it back in preparation of a thrust.

Wasting no time Sam brought his other hand up to grip the swords pommel and wrenched the instrument upward with him as he stood. He spun around in time to have the tip of a spear hit his left shoulder, the blow made him grunt and he was forced a step back as his armor absorbed the blow, a dull ache immediately formed in his shoulder.

He grit his teeth underneath the helmet and gripped the handle of his sword, he brought it around his side with a step and a swing. The dog jumped back in response and landed with his legs splayed apart, he quickly brought his spear forward and back into an attack position.

“You fucker! You killed him!”

Sam stood with sword in hand, he gave a single nod in response and slid his left foot forward, his body shifted along with it and he assumed a defensive posture.

The dog panted, his eyes darted between his friend on the ground and the metal man standing above him. He swallowed and narrowed his eyes,”You’ll get what’s coming to you!”

He ran forward spear outstretched, he steadied the polearm as he came and aimed it right for Sam’s helmeted head. Sam shifted his sword over to his left as he easily sidestepped the spear point, his whole body turned to the left as he moved to the right.

He swung the sword upwards from its low position, the length of the blade bit into the charging dogs belly, Sam pulled himself further to the right sliding the blade along his foes red tunic. It sliced past the thick fabric and into the flesh beneath.

As Sam brought the sword away the dog dropped his spear mid charge, it clattered on the ground and rolled to the side. The dog took a few more steps before shakily coming to a stop, he slowly turned around and faced Sam with complete horror in his eyes.

Sam lowered his blade, the dogs belly skin had been sliced clean through and now hung open. He could see the intestines within pushing on the bottom lip of skin, the flesh of his lower stomach bloated outwards and threatened to spill his guts out over the ground.

The dog began to shake uncontrollably, the sight of his own intestines proving to be to much for him, he tried to move only for his belly flap to burst outwards. Sam cringed as he watched his enemy collapse into a pile of his own innards.

He turned to the other dog who still lay in the same spot, blood had pooled around his still form and Sam could see that he was dead.

He shook his head and looked away, he stared down the tunnel with narrow eyes.

Time to press on. He slid his sword back into its sheath before he began walking forward, reaching out he grabbed the torch as he passed it and pulled it up out of it’s sconce...

...There was a fork in the cave ahead, it split two ways and Sam had no way of knowing which went where.

He raised his torch up attempting to shine the light a bit farther, the only difference he could make out between the two was that the left one was slightly smaller. He pursed his lips and blew the air out of his nose, he gave a sigh of defeat and followed his gut instinct.

Samuel walked into the left tunnel, as he moved further into the deep he noticed that his path curved left sharply. The flickering torchlight revealed the path ahead as rounded the corner and he came upon a long stretch of unobstructed tunnel. At it’s end was a thick wooden door with thin metal bars across it.

He marched for the door with caution, as he came closer he could see light through the cracks in the wood and knew there was most likely going to be a fight on the other side. He unsheathed his sword and readied it for use in his right hand, throwing his torch to the side he reached out and grasped the door’s handle.

In one fluid motion he unlatched the door handle and pushed it inwards, he let go of the door as it swung open and brought his left hand back to the bottom of the sword’s hilt. He leaped in with the blade extended and pointing forward ready for combat.

The room before him was fairly large, the ceiling was the same height as before but the walls were pushed out at least ten feet further on both sides and the length of the chamber was about that of a football field. To his right and left the walls had rows of doors like the one he entered through each about seven feet apart.

There was a torch between each of these doors, that was where the light had come from. Lowering his sword Sam studied the doors further, they had little portcullises in the middle which one could look through from this side.

It dawned on him, these were holding cells and this was a prison.

“Good god...” This was where they kept ponies.

He went to turn when he was slammed from behind, he dropped his sword and it fell to the ground with a clang. He felt two immensely strong arms wrap around his sides as he was driven forward into the ground. He landed hard, all he could see through his helmet was rock and dirt, he felt what he assumed was a diamond dog sit up on his back.

This dog felt huge.

“Didn’t see me in the corner did you, you little shit.” He felt the weight shift along his back, a hand grasped the top of his helmet and clawed fingers reached down over his visor.

His head was lifted up on an awkward manner, Sam’s arms reflexively splayed out as his chest was lifted and back was strained. The claws made a terrible nails on chalkboard like sound as they attempted to tear into his face, they passed over the visor which just barely kept them from puncturing his eyes.

Sam slammed his arms into the ground in order to gain control again, he slid them underneath his chest and pushed up. The dog almost lost his balance and nearly fell backwards, Sam lifted a couple inches only to fall back down under the weight.

The dog gave a smug chuckle, the young man felt another hand grab the top of his head and lift him up again, without warning the hands thrust forward. Sam’s head crashed into the ground with a bang, his head vibrated with the impact and he heard a ringing in his ears.

The hands lifted his head back up and held him there,”You’re gonna die you know that right?” He was slammed back into the ground, a painful throbbing started up on the side of Sam’s head. He didn’t even have time to recover his senses when the dog lifted his head again.

He felt an immense panic as he was lifted back up, it was clear dog wasn’t going to stop. A rush of adrenaline mixed with his panic swarmed in his mind as he was again slammed into the ground, Sam summoned all his strength and rolled to the left. With as much force as he could muster he threw his left arm up.

The dog on his back let out a yell, Sam didn’t hit him but the movement was enough to topple the beast. Sam wasted no time in rolling away to the right, he erratically pushed himself up and looked over at the huge diamond dog. The creature was struggling to pull itself up.

Samuel saw his chance and hurled himself on top of the monster of a dog, he landed on its stomach making the dog grunt and the man quickly forced himself up. Sliding over the dog’s stomach he sat himself up on its chest, his left hand shot out and roughly wrapped around the neck of the monster.

He squeezed down eliciting a gasp from the dog, the beasts arms came up and grabbed at the hand choking him. Sam leaned over his enemies face as he drew back his right hand, he yelled as he threw a punch. The metal fist connected with the dogs snout and Sam felt the dogs nose push in with a crack.

The dog beneath him yelped, with a sudden strength the arms of the beast left Sam’s arm and latched to his sides. With ease he was thrown up and away from the dog, Sam grunted when he landed on his back. Wasting no time the man rolled and lifted himself up.

Sam spun around only to find himself face to face with his enemy, the dog must have gotten up at the same time Sam did. They stood there not three feet apart breathing heavily and staring each other down, the dog reached up and wiped the blood from his nose.

“Well you broke Rock’s nose, proud of yourself?” He huffed out through breaths.

Sam didn’t respond, his eyes darted to his sword and back to the dog. There was no way he could get to the sword quick enough, he was going to have to fight without it. Sam slowly brought his fists up in a defensive stance and slowed his breathing in an attempt to calm himself.

Rock narrowed his eyes and bared his teeth, suddenly he swung his hand out in a wide sweep, claws extended. The swing made a whoosh as it passed through the air, the claws passed through the area Sam’s head just was, he had ducked as soon as he’d seen the hand move.

Sam rushed forward under the massive arm, he took a full step and brought his right hand down. Clenching it into a fist he sent it catapulting back up, it smashed into the underside of Rocks jaw and threw the monsters head back.

Sam jumped out from under the dog and took a few steps back, bring his hands back up he watched the dog groan. Blood ran from his mouth and nose in small streams. Rock brought both his hands up and grabbed at his aching jaw,”Ahhh!” The monster dog yelled in anger and looked at Sam with wild eyes,”You’re fucking dead!”

Surprise filled Sam as the dog, quicker than he thought possible, charged forward and batted aside Sam’s arms. He reached out and wrapped his claws around Sam’s neck, the dog forced Sam back a few feet and slammed him against the wall.

The young man grabbed at the strong hands around his neck, he didn’t know what to do, the hands squeezed without mercy. They couldn’t get through the armor but being in such a position was not good. The dog slowly lifted him up along the wall putting all his strength into trying to strangle the human.

Sam looked at the dogs bloody face and into his crazy eyes, a light went off in Sam’s head. He let go of the hands on his neck and reached out, he grasped at either side of Rock’s head and squeezed.

The dog smiled,”Gonna have to be stronger to do that you pathetic mutt.” Sam narrowed his eyes and almost smiled.

“Not for this I don’t.” He slid his thumbs through the tuft of fur at the top of Rock’s head and down his forehead, the thumbs stopped and hovered right over Rock’s eyes.

Rock gasped as he realized what was happening, he didn’t react quick enough and Sam’s thumbs dug straight into the soft flesh of his eyes. Rock screamed louder than anyone Sam had ever heard, he let go of Sam but Sam didn’t let go of him as he slid down the wall, his fingers dug ever deeper.

Blood seeped out around the intruding thumbs and the screaming got louder, Rocks knees shook violently and he brought his hands up to hold Sam’s arms. Rock slowly lowered, collapsing against the man from the pain and terror of losing his eyesight.

Sam gave one last push into Rocks head before removing his fingers with a pop and stepping to the side, he watched his enemy fall to the ground. The once confident dog rolled back and forth on the floor groping at his face, choked sobbing came from the now pitiful monster.

Sam grunted as he walked away, crouching down he grabbed hold of his sword with both hands and picked it up from the dirt. He stood up and turned back to the still suffering dog, Sam paused for a moment, he felt a twinge of sympathy for the beast without it’s eyes.

This once powerful and dangerous dog who most likely stood at the top of the chain was now reduced to to this.

Sam sighed and huffed as he walked back over.

He placed a foot on either side of the dog, looked down and slowly raised his sword, he angled it at the dogs sternum. The stroke was swift and the sword dived straight through his chest and into Rocks heart. The diamond dog gasped, Sam twisted the sword and yanked it back up, blood erupted from the wound left behind and Rock gave one last sigh before growing still.

Sam sheathed his sword and cocked his head, his eyes scanned the dead dog with purpose, he hummed when he spotted what he was looking for and bent down. Reaching down he grabbed hold of the keys strapped to Rocks trousers, with a pull they came off. The keys jingled as he stood up and stepped away from the corpse.

He paused and twisted his mouth, which door to open first?

Sam decided to start from the front and work his way around in a counter clockwise manner. He made his way back towards the entrance and to the right hand wall, he slowly walked up to the first door. He stopped and stared at it with some trepidation, he didn’t know what he was going to see but he knew it wasn’t going to be pretty.

He looked down at the key ring and lifted it up with a clatter, the two keys on it were very different. The bigger one was wide and toothy and a smaller one was short and angled.

He guessed that the big one was a universal key for each cell door and grasping hold of it he slid it in to the slot, with a twist the mechanism clicked and Sam gave the door a shove. This door was particularly heavy and creaked loudly as it swung slowly inward. the light revealed a small room. If it could be called that.

The floor was rough and walls depressingly void, as the door let in more light Sam’s breath caught in his throat and his eyes widened.

Three naked mares lay up against the walls, they were streaked with dirt and tear marks were present on their cheeks. Each one had a collar around their neck that connected to a chain coming from the wall, miscellaneous plates and cups were scattered around the poor ponies.

The mares jumped with surprise as he stepped in, they had been asleep, he figured they couldn’t hear the fight through the thick door. All three of them looked up at him at the same time, fear and confusion filled their faces. He lifted his hands up and grasped his helmet, with a lift he revealed his sweaty face.

“I’m here to save you.” It was somewhat cliche, but the effect those words had were felt immediately. Each mares eyes widened the one to his right shakily tried to stand up, her chain making a racket as she moved.

Sam lowered his helmet to his side, he couldn’t help but notice how the claw marks Rock had made looked. He must have frightened the already traumatized ponies,”Here let me help you.”

He reached out to the mare and she did like wise, grasping his hand she pulled herself up with the leverage. She patted herself down trying to dislodge some of the dirt, with a thick swallow she straightened herself out and looked at Sam with a raised eyebrow.

Her coat looked like it could be a light blue underneath the dirt, her mane was almost completely unrecognizable,”I’m, uh, I’m Colgate...” He realized with some horror who the mare was, he’d seen her multiple times in the past.

He gave a small smile,”I’m Sam, uh here.” He awkwardly held up the keys,”The small one should unlock your collar, do you want me to get it for you?”

She gave a choked laugh and a weak smile formed on her lips,”If you don’t mind...”

He nodded and kept quiet, raising the key up he fitted it into the collar and unlatched the terrible device. The second he pulled away she reached up and ripped the collar away from her throat before promptly throwing it to the ground, Sam saw the red marks on her throat, having that thing bite into her neck must have been more than painful.

“T-Thank you Sam, I uh, am kinda confused though.” She rubbed at the red marks beneath her chin,”What’s going on?

He stepped back,”What do you mean?”

“Well, uh, are you with a company of soldiers, er, maybe a rescue team?”

He shook his head,”No, I’m alone.”

Her jaw dropped and her eyes narrowed,“Wha?! How’d you get through the guards?!”

He shrugged,”I killed em’.”

She closed her mouth and let out a breath,”Well that’s... impressive to say the least.”

He crouched down and began to unlock the other mare’s collar, she was quiet and simply watched as he messed with it,”There weren’t really that many guards actually, just one in here and a few in the tunnel leading here.”

“Yeah, makes sense.” Colgate shook her head,”I heard some of the dogs talking the other night, apparently they made a big kidnapping. Their leaders been keeping most of the diamond dogs in the main hall celebrating and...” Her voice got low,”Raping whoever the poor pony is.”

Sam paused as the collar of the mare before him fell down, he knew exactly who the pony was.

“They’ve been cycling the guards in and out pretty frequently, trying to give each dog a turn.” Colgate continued,”I don’t think there will be another change in shift for awhile, there should be enough time to get most of us out.”

Sam nodded,”Alright, would you be able to give me some help in unlocking the rest of the cells out there?”

The mare nodded and shakily walked to the door,”Of course, I’ll do what I can to help.”

Standing up Sam moved over to the third pony and crouched down, his eyes met hers and he instantly recognized her. Her red hair was faded and her yellowish fur was darkened, but he knew beyond a doubt that it was Roseluck. He carefully brought his hands up and began to undo the lock.

“Why aren’t any of the others saying anything?”

“They’ve been here a lot longer than me... I was only picked up a week ago, they were here when I arrived. The other new arrivals like me should be able to help us free the rest too.”

“I see.” He stood up again and looked back at Colgate,”So do you know anything about the layout of this place?”

She nodded,”This is where they keep the newer mares, the stallions are on the other side of the room.” She stepped up from out of the door and into the light of the main prison hall, she pointed to the left,”If you keep going down the prison you’ll find the ponies that they’ve quote unquote broken in their own cells.”

Sam stepped out beside her, the mares in the cell behind slowly began to stand up and move towards the door,”They’ll all be there, even the stallions that are supposed to be mining. All of the dogs that would normally keep things running are in the main hall so they put everypony in here.”

He nodded and turned to the mare,”Where is this main hall?”

“Well they’ve dragged me there a couple times to... it’s back the way you came, you just continue following the main tunnel for a couple hundred more feet.” She shrugged,”I think though you can also go throughthe back of the prison here, there’s a series of chambers and tunnels where the dogs sleep and such, it’s supposed to link up with the main hall as well.”

”Okay.”

He looked down and pursed his lips, he began to walk forward towards the next door,”This is how I want this to go, we go to each cell and unlock everyone, send them out here into the middle of the room. As we go we’ll grab everyone who’s able to help out and eventually when everyone is out you’ll have to lead the group out of the caves.”

He stopped and turned to her,”Can you do that?”

She nodded and furrowed her brow,”What about you?”

“I’m going to head to that main hall, I’ve got to try and save that pony.”

“Bu- there’s so many of them! You won’t stand a chance!”

He placed the key into the door before him,”Yeah.” The lock clicked,”I know.” Sam pushed the door inwards...

...Samuel tightened his grip on his sword, through his helmet he could see light through the door ahead. The sound of celebration echoed through the tunnel, joyous shouts, singing, cups clinking and plates cracking, even a few howls reverberated alongside it all.

He ever so slowly walked closer to the door, said entrance was much like the prison’s wooden one, missing only the metal bars that the prison used. Sam lowered the sword as he approached, when he reached the entrance the young man leaned forward and pressed his head to the door.

His narrowed eyes peered through a sizable knot hole in the door, he saw many different things at once and it took a few moments before his senses were able to make heads and tails of it all. On both sides of the chamber were tables that an uncountable number of dogs sat at eating, drinking and discussing whatever it was they discussed.

At the back of the hall was a raised chair, an imitation throne, a diamond dog smaller than most he’d encountered sat atop it. He was the first dog Sam had seen who wore a semblance of practical armor, even if it was incomplete. He was talking to another taller dog who stood beside him, the only difference between that dog and the rest was the club at his side.

In the center of the room was some kind of big table, it was close to him so he couldn’t really see it very well. He focused his vision on the blur and his heart fell as it became clearer.

There was a dog at the side of the table, he had no trousers on and his right arm was crooked, it looked like an old break that never healed right. Beneath him, lying facedown on the table was Rainbow Dash, she was completely nude, sweat soaked and tears continually fell down her face from angry magenta eyes.

Her arms were tied behind her back along with her wings, her legs had been strapped down and pulled apart to allow the dogs complete access, a gag lay across her mouth. She tried to fight back as hard as she could and with all her might she tugged at the restraints with what she could muster, outwardly all it looked like was uncomfortable squirming.

A fire started deep within the young man’s soul, he slammed his eyes shut and held them there. Shakily he backed away from the door his steps slightly off balance. His breathing became erratic, images of the prisoners he’d encountered flashed before him, Roseluck and Dash rose to the front of them all.

Roseluck’s blank stare, Dash’s struggling tears.

The fire grew, its flames licked at his senses, an illogical and completely foolish plan of attack formed in his mind. The appeal of it grew every second, he brought his left hand up and gripped the forehead of his helmet, all he wanted to do was kill. He had never felt like this before, his mind was seething with rage.

A voice clearer than the rest spoke through the noise,”Hey, she looks like she’s finally starting to break!” A symphony of laughs followed suit.

Something deep within Sam’s soul broke, in a second all that he’d done that day, the killing, smashing, stabbing, slashing, all came to him. He suddenly regretted none of it, he was completely justified, he and every other creature on this planet had the right to condemn this scum to death.

His hand lowered back to the shaft of his blade, he opened his eyes and red flashed before him, he drew a deep shaky breath and let it out.

Sam looked down, without a yell, shout or any other sound he charged the door. His shoulder slammed into it with a tremendous crash, the door swung open with a burst and created a magnificent sound as it impacted the wall beside him.

He didn’t stop charging, he shot straight through the chamber running directly at the dog thrusting into Dash, as he ran his sword came up over his right shoulder. The dog was barely able to turn towards the sound when Sam swung the weapon down at his head.

Before the diamond dog with the crooked arm could even comprehend what was happening the blade struck the top of his head at an angle. It cleaved straight through and out the other side, the flesh that had been sliced flew into the air, the dogs body was thrown back from the force of the blow and landed with boom.

The other dogs in the room began to shout and jump up from their seats, Sam wasted no time, his vicious anger drove him forward. He turned to the left, his eyes honed in on a dog lifting himself up from one of the drinking tables. He ran and lowered his sword at his new foe.

The dog wasn’t even out of his seat when the blade entered the back off his neck and tore its way out the front, as soon as the sword had entered it was drawn back out. Sam’s most recent victim grabbed at the hole in his throat, blood gushed out between his fingers and he fell forward onto the table making horrible gasping sounds.

The other dogs at the table jumped back in fear and drunkenly began trying to run.

Sam was about to give chase when he heard a cry from behind, he swung around with his sword held in a low position to the right.

The dog charging him had his fist cocked back, he was surprised at Sam’s sudden movement and threw the punch in a panic. Sam swung his angled sword upwards to meet the blow, the metal easily sliced right into the base of the dogs wrist.

The fist shot away from its owner as the blade passed through, the dog collapsed to his knees and screamed at his now missing hand, Sam flipped the sword mid swing and brought it back down from above. The tip of the blade cut deep across the dogs face, blood immediately seeped out of the thin line and the monster brought his remaining hand up to hold the wound.

Sam turned his attention away from the pathetic excuse for a sentient being dying before him, the diamond dogs were in full panic now, confusion was abound and most of them were either running or trying to. He looked over to see another dog coming at him from the far end of the room.

”No you fucking don’t, filth.” His adrenaline pounded in his ears as he again charged, he swung his sword over to his left side and angled it for a swing. The dog didn’t expect a counter charge and almost fell as he tried to stop, Sam kept coming and without any hesitation swung his weapon as soon as he was in range.

The blade ripped the dogs throat from one side to the other, a profuse amount of red ichor came out like a waterfall and splashed on the ground below. The dog was thrown back to the side as the blade dragged at his neck, he fell to the ground gurgling on his own blood.

Sam kept charging, he was headed for another disgusting animal.

The sword was on his right side again and Sam angled it for a thrust, the dog he was aiming at had his back to the man and he was trying to run away. Sam quickly caught up to the drunken stumbling dog and ran his sword into his back.

It severed its way between his ribs and forced the monster to stop and fall to his knees. Sam stopped and wrenched his weapon to the side, the blade cut its way out of the dogs side leaving a gaping blood soaked wound in its wake.

The dog fell screaming in complete and utter agony.

Sam slowly stepped back from the mutilated monster, his bloody sword suddenly felt heavy and its weight dragged his arms down. His breathing was hard and labored, he had gone berserk, wreaked havoc and now he was paying the physical price for it.

He slowly turned his head, his senses were returning and he started to take in the events unfolding around him.

Most of the dogs had cleared out of the room in fear, those that remained were dead. Tables lay overturned, mugs were strewn all over, food was splattered across the ground, the main hall had very suddenly become a goddamn mess.

Sam turned his head to the center of the room and found Dash’s wide eyes fixed on him, swallowing thickly he slowly marched his way over to the distraught mare. Reaching out he grabbed hold of the ropes on her legs, she panicked at the feeling of his tugging but slowly calmed when she realized he was undoing the knots.

As soon as her legs were free she stretched them out into the air, he stepped back and went around her side. Leaning over the table he went to work freeing her wings and hands from the rough ropes. As the last knot holding it all together came undone she threw out her hands and flared her wings, he almost fell over trying to avoid being hit.

She very quickly rolled over, she eased up on the speed as she sat up, she winced as her back straightened. Bringing up a hand she ripped off her gag and tossed it with disgust,”Good Celestia, I’m free, I’m fucking free...” She breathed heavily and placed her hands on her knees, looking up at Sam she raised an eyebrow,”Not to sound to ungrateful but, who the tartarus are you?”

He opened his mouth to answer, suddenly her eyes widened and she pointed over his shoulder,”Behind you!”

He spun around only to have something hard slam into the side of his face, he stumbled backwards from the swing and barely caught himself on the table. With ears ringing he looked up from his bent position, the dog with the club stood before him, eyes narrowed with anger.

“You killed Splint, destroyed our celebration!” He took a step towards Sam,”Who the fuck are you?!”

Sam swallowed while keeping silent, his adversary flared his nostrils and bared his sharp angled teeth,”You’ve killed enough of us, you’ll suffer before you die.” He growled out.

The dog howled a baritone cry, the club shot up in the air and Sam moved as quick as his tired limbs would allow. The club came down with a whoosh, bringing his sword up the cornered man twisted it in midair and deflected the incoming weapon away.

He hoisted himself up and jumped back as the dog stepped forward and took another swing at him. Sam almost fell over again, the club just barely clipping him. He continued to back up as his foe took swing after swing, the dogs madness was not unlike Sam’s had been.

Sam realized with fear that with his lack of energy he couldn’t fight back.

Sam wasn’t able to get his sword up or find any semblance of balance, the flurry of constant near misses kept him from doing so. His head shot back and forth, his body was like a swivel moving right and left with each swing of the dog’s swift arm.

Suddenly his tactics switched and he lowered his aim, the club slammed into Sam’s right arm, then his left. He couldn’t move quick enough to defend himself or dodge it, another blow hit his left shoulder and Sam cried out. The feeling of the spear blow from earlier flared up alongside the new pain.

Upon seeing the metal man’s pain the dog brought his hand up and back, he grunted as he swung with all he had. The club collided with great force against Sam’s chest, the exhaled as the air was forced from him. He couldn’t breath now, much less keep his balance and with a soundless yell fell backwards.

Sam landed on his ass, he kept himself from falling all the way over but was left completely exposed.

The dog above him glared down at the fallen warrior, a sickly smile formed on his face, the sound of stretching leather creeped into Sam’s ears as he squeezed the handle of his club. Sam watched as the weapon that would defeat him raised up, he knew he couldn’t get his sword up, nor did he have the strength to get into another brawl.

His heart raced, what would he do? The club started on its way down, Sam seeing no way to stop it, prepared to intercept the attack.

The club stopped in mid air, the dog started to shout as a pair of light blue arms wrapped around his throat from behind, Sam’s eyes widened as he watched Rainbow Dash attempt to strangle the dog. He dropped his club as he grabbed at the pony’s forearms with his hands, he pulled and ripped at her fur, his claws drawing blood.

“C’mon dude! Before he throws me off!”

With a great heave the Sam lifted his sword, he shouted as he shot up and thrust the blade at the dog. In the split second before the sword pierced him the dog looked at Sam over Dash’s arms, his eyes were filled with a despairing anger.

The flesh of his right thigh gave way to the invasive metal, it tore through the tendons, muscles and veins, right into the femoral artery. Sam’s thrust came to a stop, blood was starting to rush down his leg like an ocean current. He slowly pulled back dislodging the sword from the wound and dropping it to the ground.

Dash released her arms and backed away from the swaying dog, she looked down at the blood pooling around his feet.

“You...” He swayed to the right, his left leg finally gave out and he collapsed like a stack of bricks.

Sam watched the body slowly relax into the ground, with a wince he gasped and grabbed at his left shoulder pauldron. He shook his head and grunted, he groaned as he placed a hand on the floor. His legs shook as he tried to push himself up, seeing his trouble Dash stepped forward over the dead dog.

“Here, let me help.” She reached out to him, he gladly took the offer of help and grabbed hold of her palm. She hoisted back and helped provide the leverage he needed to stand up on his feet,”There you go, you okay?”

He nodded as he found his footing,”Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little thirsty.”

“Okay good, you know you sound pretty familiar.” She placed a hand on his shoulder, he winced but she’s couldn’t see it behind the visor,”Feather quill? No... that, human?” She cocked her head.

He nodded.

Her eyes widened,”Oh, I... didn’t expect... uh.”

“I understand, now come on, let’s get out of here before the rest of them realize what’s happened and come back.” She pressed her lips together and gave a thumbs up...

...They kept a steady but somewhat lacking pace as they pushed through the main tunnel for the entrance, Dash wasn’t able to move very fast with her injuries. Sam felt better but he was still tired, the man was leading Dash along as fast as could without hurting her.

He had a bad feeling, he was in the home stretch now, he’d saved Dash and the rest of the ponies, his goal was achieved. But he couldn’t shake the feeling.

“Hey, it’s Sam, right?” Dash spoke up as she stepped over a large rock.

He kept his vision forward as they walked,”Yeah.”

She guiltily sighed,”I know it’s not the best time but, I wanted to say sorry, for the shitty way I treated you before all this...”

Sam shook his head,“Don’t worry about it.” He paused for a second and looked over his shoulder, it sounded like something was coming, he wasted no time and continued moving the pace beginning to pick up,”You know if I were a pony like you and had something that defied my worlds natural order appear before me, I’d be hostile too.”

Her breathing grew heavy as she’s struggled to keep up, her legs and arms aching,“Y-Yeah but it still wasn’t cool of me, when we get out of here I wanna make it up to you.”

He let out a breath and paused again, the sounds were louder now but Dash still hadn’t noticed. He once again sped up,”No need, all you have to do for me is get out of here and survive. I’ll be happy with that.”

Dash nodded,“Alright... Hey, look! Up ahead!”

Without stopping Sam looked up, light poured in from the outside world and it’s glow filled him with hope. He began to run, Dash must have felt it too as she was keeping up behind him the whole time. Every step brought him closer to the light of the sun, he could hear birds chirping now, it was invigorating.

He winced as he exited the dark unpleasant diamond dog tunnels, he looked up at the blue sky through his adjusting eyes with reverence. Dash came up beside him, her breathing was labored but she visibly relaxed as the warmth of the Celestia’s sun washed over her fur,”Celestia the sun, I never thought I’d miss it this fucking much.”

“Neither did I.” He looked over at her,”How are you feeling? Are you going to be able to go much further without a rest?”

“I don’t know, my legs hurt and I can’t use my wings... but I really wanna get away from here.”

He nodded,”Okay we-“

A series of howls erupted from behind, the two spun around to look back and could see more figures then they’d could count charging at them from the darkness. Sam moved quickly he grabbed Dash’s shoulder and pushed her back, he reached down and drew his sword.

He looked over his shoulder at her as he readied to fight,”Run, try to find some help if you can, but just get away!”

She looked from the tunnel to him with shocked eyes,“Wha- What about you?”

“Look, we don’t have much time, if we try to run together they’ll catch up and get us both since you can’t move fast, so that’s not an option. Instead I’m going to hold them off here long enough for you to get away, now go!” On any other day she would have questioned, belittled and probably not followed any, never mind his, authoritative command, but not this time.

She nodded as she slowly backed away, he looked forward as she began to run,”I’ll find someponys, don’t worry, I’ll get help!”

He couldn’t hear her, he’d already focused himself on the dogs coming up the tunnel. He placed his left foot forward, right foot back and held his sword at stomach level.

As long as he could keep them from pushing him from the entrance he stood a chance, the dogs were only able to come down the tunnel two at a time. If they came at him with anymore than that then they would crowd up to much to be an effective fighting force.

The first two Dogs began to approach,”You killed them! Now we kill you!” With two ear splitting howls they charged forward on all fours.

Sam grit his teeth and narrowed his eyes, his foes wore no armor, carried no weapon, he had a chance at surviving this.

He then gave a shout of his own and charged forward with sword swinging...

...He couldn’t tell what time of day it was, the light suggested it was late, possibly even sundown. The air was growing chilly and he involuntarily shuddered.

His arms were stiff, his legs ached, he couldn’t even feel his feet. Breathing was a chore and his chest stung if he took to deep a breath.

Sam was in pain, a lot of it.

His gauntlets were slathered in a thick redness, the sabatons on his feet were glued with blood and specks of flesh. His sword looked like it was stained red, it now shone dully whenever light glanced off of its narrow blade.

Dead dogs were scattered across the floor of his surroundings, blood pooled in every crack and crevice of the tunnel. Arms, legs, fingers and all different manner of limbs lay alongside their original owners.

He stumbled over one of the many maimed bodies as he slowly walked out from the tunnel, each step took an amazing amount of effort on his part and the second his foot hit the ground the ache in his leg would pulse with pain.

Every moment was agony for him.

He couldn’t really remember the past half hour, images of his swinging sword, screaming dogs and splattering blood pervaded his mind. Other than those images it was a blur, he seemed to remember it being a hard fight at first but eventually led to the dogs simply trying to get by him as he cut them down.

He couldn’t be sure though, what was sure was that he was still alive and they weren’t.

He was in the middle of the clearing when his legs gave out. He fell to his knees with a heavy thud, raising his hands up he placed them on either side of his head and pulled his helmet up. He cast it took the side and bounced away with a few loud clanks.

His nose dripped sweat and his eyes struggled to stay open, it took what energy he had left to pull the chainmail coif back. His hair was soaked, it was matted onto his head and barely budged as he attempted a halfhearted shake.

“Sam!”

He looked up through squinting eyes, off in the tree line he could see an entourage of ponies approaching. As they came closer he recognized the bulk of the group as Twilight’s guards, this was the first time he’d seen them fully armed and ready. Mac and Applejack were among them too, in fact they ran faster then the rest of their companions.

A whoosh of air blasted him in the face as a streak of purple landed beside him. He looked over as Twilight knelt down and reached out to grab his face,”Sam, Luna’s moons, Sam!”

He weakly smiled as though in a trance,”I did it, I... I saved the missing ponies.”

He felt another pair of hands grip his other side,”Sam what in tha fucking hell did ya do!?”

He turned to Applejack and watched Mac come up behind her, concern plastered over his usually stoic face,”My Celestia...”

Sam tried to speak but failed, his smile drooped and his eyes fell shut. The world went black, all sound ceased and he slipped from consciousness.

Author's Note

Say, what happened to Razor in all this madness?

Let me know what you guys think of the action sequences, I’ve done my best to keep it detailed while not being to much and while trying to keep the flow going.

Chapter Five: Songs Of Praise And Damnation

The deep blackness began to pull apart, he flinched, his eyes fluttering rapidly as a bright light assaulted his senses. He struggled to focus as his consciousness returned, with his eyesight coming back Samuel was met with the off white ceiling often found in government and medical facilities.

The softness of a pillow propped his aching head up and the thin blanket on top of himself provided a comfortable warmth. He noticed a steady soft dripping sound to his right, grunting he struggled to shift his head towards the sound. An I.V. bag was set up on the bed, beneath it an empty aluminum table.

Feeling a semblance of strength again the young man shakily hoisted himself up on his elbows and began to survey his surroundings. At the end of the bed was another table with a clipboard and what he presumed was a report on it, beside it lay various tools for medical examination.

The left side of the room was bare except for a window that overlooked Ponyville and allowed the light of Celestia’s sun to shine in. The right side had a doorway with a small rectangular window and a counter up against the side wall where various medications along with supplies sat at attention.

He struggled to lift himself up further, eventually getting into an upright position, he brought his knees up and closed his eyes. His arms and legs felt beyond sore and there was a dull but consistent pounding at the front of his skull, he brought a hand up over his eyes to rub at the throbbing ache.

He grimaced at the creaking noise of the door opening unexpectedly,”Finally awake?”

He glanced through his fingers at the mare in the doorway, a little cap with a red cross atop her head told him she was a nurse,”I seem to be...”

She gave a small motherly smile and stepped into the room proper, she was an older mare middle aged it seemed and her creamy off white coat matched the room perfectly. She moved towards the end of his bed,”I thought I saw you moving through the door there.”

He gave a hard blink, his head was still catching up with him and her movement was hard to follow,”Yeah, I actually just woke up.”

She grabbed hold of the clipboard,”Alright then, so Samuel, how are you feeling? Do you remember much of what happened before any of... this?”

“I’m... feeling okay overall, I’m kind of sore but it’s manageable and my headache is starting to go away.” He lowered his hand back down to the bed,”As to what I remember I’m not too sure, I remember seeing Twilight and Applejack... I think Mac was there too.”

“I was on my knees in the dirt and it was hot, really hot. My eyes stung from the sweat and it was hard to move, I said something to them about surviving and then everything went black.” He gave a small shrug,”Can't recall anything else after that.”

“Hmmm.” She scribbled on the clipboard,”Well then that’s good, it sounds like you know most of what transpired before you blacked out. No memory loss there.” She chuckled to herself.

He sniffed and shook his head lightly, looking over and out of the window he squinted at the town that it overlooked,”What exactly happened after the...”

“You collapsed.” She looked up at him with a more serious expression,”You suffered from a combination of extreme exhaustion and severe dehydration, Princess Twilight and her friends brought you directly from the cave entrance to here, Ponyville General Hospital.”

She placed the board under her arm, her expression softened again,”Then we put you in here, I and the doctor have been keeping a close eye on you since then.”

He looked down,”Guess I owe them.”

She nodded in agreement,“They’ve all been worried about you, showing up and trying to see you. I admit it was hard to turn them down but we needed you to rest without disturbance.”

He swallowed,“H-How long ago has it been since I got here?”

She narrowed her eyes in recollection and looked up,”I think that was three days ago now, maybe four, I’ve been so busy that I’ve kinda lost track.” She gave another chuckle.

He nodded to himself,”Do I have any wounds I need to watch out for?”

“Eh, a few bruises on your left shoulder, some on your arms, but not really that bad considering what you went through. You’re especially lucky considering we wouldn’t have been able to treat you very well if you had any serious wounds, what with your immunity and all. Oh! That reminds me.” She brought the board back up and continued to scribble on the paper.

He couldn’t help but feel a little pride in his craftsmanship, a few bruises after such an intense confrontation? He’d made some nice armor.

Samuel sat quietly as she finalized whatever it was she was writing, he watched her manipulate the pen furiously across the paper for a minute or so. She took the report off the board and placed the wooden tool back on the table.

“So then, what happens now?” He looked up at her with a raised brow.

“First I’m gonna take this report to doctor Smoke, then we’ll run some basic tests on you. Once we’re sure you’re totally okay then we’ll inform Princess Celestia that you are in fact awake and well, she wanted to speak with you before anypony else.”

“That makes sense.” He said with a sigh, what he had done was foolhardy, she probably didn’t approve. He could only imagine what Luna, who already hated him, was going to think.

The mare smiled at him,”Yes, now I’m gonna run these on down to the doctor.” She came around the side of the bed and held out a hand,”My name is nurse Wellness, I’m going to be the one making sure your on the right track for the duration of your conscious stay.”

He reached up and gave her the best handshake his weakened arm could give,”I really appreciate all you’ve done for me ma’am.”

“Oh you don’t have to thank me, after all you did for our little town here, your a hero. I don’t mind taking care of wounded heroes one bit.”

“Hero?”

She gave a last small smile before turning around and making for the exit.

Sam’s eyes followed the back of her head as she left,”Hero...” He wasn’t really sure what to think about that title.

Was he a hero?

Maybe, but he didn’t particularly feel like it. He didn’t feel any sort of regret or guilt and definitely felt he’d done the right thing, but does simply doing the right thing make somebody a hero? Especially if the right thing was something so brutally violent.

His father had always told him to do what he knew was right, Sam often asked how was he to know what was right or wrong but the answer was always,”You’ll feel it, when the facts come together and your integrity is called up to bat, you’ll feel it.”

Sam blew a breath out of his nose and clasped his hands over his face.

Killing was something the young man had always been conflicted over, probably like most other people. The idea of taking somebody’s life, destroying all they had done or will do, was abhorrent. Yet he had killed creatures who were morally bankrupt, they enjoyed the act of kidnapping, raping and enslaving. They deserved it, how could they not?

He shook his head and sighed,”Damnit.” There was a lot to think about.

What the fuck had happened?

He went from being the most powerful chief in the area with the ambition and means to reach higher than he ever could have hoped for- to surviving in the wild and trying to avoid pony patrols. Gods, even worse than the rest of it all, he was being forced to scavenge the bodies of dead animals for food.

The former leader hadn’t slept the past couple nights and he had no idea if the water he had been drinking was clean or not. His paws stung with every step he took across the forest floor, the rustling of leaves and snap of twigs made him jump in fear and he felt like he was being watched constantly.

Razor was thoroughly and completely humiliated.

It was worse than when he had been exiled from his clan, at least that was an honorable exile and he was given the opportunity to take supplies with him before being driven off.

This was... insane. He still wasn’t sure who or what had led him to this.

He had been sitting down overlooking the tribe’s celebration, the prize mare on the table in front of him was being broken. His dogs were in high spirits, drinking and singing, not a single fight had broken out which at the time he considered a blessing.

He himself was even thinking of taking a turn on the new slave, something he almost never did what with how busy he always was. That’s when the door had burst and some kind of... metal warrior charged in.

It was pure chaos, a flurry of shouting and indistinguishable movement. Flashes of violence and panic permeated his memory, he hadn’t regained his senses until he was in the back halls again. How he got there he wasn’t sure, he must have just gone along with the rest of the panicking dogs.

When he finally had managed to reign in the stampeding tribe all of the best fighters were already dead, either having attempted to stop the metal monster in the main hall or being killed beforehand. Rainbow Dash had been freed too and to top it off the rest of the slaves were gone.

In a matter of minutes all of his accumulated power had been decimated.

He did all he could to coordinate a counter attack only to have this single fighter slaughter his soldiers at the entrance of their own home. It was disastrous, after the first five minutes his troops had lost all morale, they did all they could but the position the enemy had taken was well placed. He forced them into a choke point and they could only attack two at a time, there was no room for any more.

Before long the confusing fight grew to be too much and the dogs had fallen into another panic, they were simply trying to get past him to safety at that point. That shining steel creature was merciless though, soaked in blood he swung his large sword to and fro, cutting down the fleeing dogs like a scythe through wheat.

Eventually he grew tired and sluggish and the dogs started to get by. That’s when Razor made his attempt to run and managed to get through, though at the expense of the dog that went with him.

Now he was here, out in the open woods, deprived of his tribe and the luxurious life he had become accustomed to.

After all that work, the blood, sweat and tears that were put in, everything that had been achieved, was destroyed and thrown to the four winds. The slaves free, territory taken, mines gone, all of this was done by that metal son of a bitch.

It had taken Razor two years to get those damn dogs up to snuff. Countless hours of teaching and training, planning and scouting, building and mining.

He had worked for all he had, mostly from the ground up and this bastard, whoever he was, came in and took it all? It was infuriating, a fiery fury rose in his heart as his mind reformed the image of that metal warrior, his breath picked up and his fists clenched.

The rightful chieftain had no idea how he would do it, but he wanted that fucker dead.

His head would rest on a pike outside the main hall till it wilted away, his armor melted down to be made into a weapon that Razor could wield and his affiliations, whomever they be, enslaved for the rest of their lives. Then and only then would his dogs be revenged and his shame ended.

Razor was ripped from his inner monologue when his paw caught on a tree root.

An instinctual yelp leapt from his throat, he fell straight towards the hard ground. He was barely able to get his hands out in time to catch himself and all that did was lessen the impact. He grunted in pain as he hit the dark dirt, soil immediately found itself in his mouth and despite his spitting it’s taste refused to leave.

His arms flexed as he pushed himself upwards, as he raised up his arms began to shake and suddenly his strength gave out. He fell back to the earth with a thud, with a pathetic sigh the deposed canine lay there in the dirt and allowed tears to fall from his now watery eyes.

He laid there in the dirt shifting about and crying for an unmeasurable amount of time, allowing all the emotions of grief and shame to make their way out. His fist beat on his chest as his anger also showed itself on the surface.

He had finally broken down, the horrors of all he had he had witnessed and all he had lost was finally hitting him in a way his mind could comprehend. He should have felt even more shame at this display of “weakness”, but he didn’t, in fact he felt good getting all of it out.

His exhaustion eventually caught up with him, as the day grew dim his sobbing died down and his eyes became heavy. Despite the pain of hunger gnawing at his gut he slowly drifted off into a deep sleep, oblivious of the red eyes scanning his sprawled form.

Samuel jolted awake as the door to his room was slammed shut, he sat up with a gasp and his eyes widened as he was met with the imposing sight of an angry Princess Celestia in the dim light of the setting sun.

Her seven foot tall amazonian form stood over his like a tower. The monarch’s ethereal mane flowed wildly in several directions at once, her magenta eyes were narrowed and filled with anger. She folded her arms over her chest and clenched her fists,”What in the name of the goddess did you do?” She asked in an intense low tone.

He swallowed thickly and stuttered out,”I-I-“

“You attacked a whole tribe of diamond dogs, in their lair, by yourself, based off nothing but a hunch!” Her voice boomed making him cringe,”Have you any idea how reckless, no, how foolish that was!?”

He nodded realizing he was going to be unable to get very many words out,”Well I’m glad you can see that now you’ve already put yourself through such immense danger! Have you any idea how worried I have been? How upset all of your other friends are!?”

She threw her arms out,”Did you give a thought to the consequences of your actions at all?!”

“I-I’m sorry.”

“Oh? Well that’s great, he’s sorry, I’m certain the other tribes will forgive him for slaughtering, what was it? Thirty two of their fellows?” She gave a sarcastic laugh,”Of course they won’t mind at all, they won’t become more hostile then they already are, or form some kind of coalition against us.”

“I don’t regret it.”

She paused and looked down at him with teeth clenched, her forearms started to shake,”I figured you’d feel that way, I know you better than any of these other ponies, you and your damned moral integrity.” She let out a heated breath,”What if you hadn’t been successful Sam?”

“You would not only have been butchered, your insides hung on the cave walls and head placed on a pike, but Ponyville would have suffered the fate of a diamond dog attack. One that was, in their eyes, justified.”

She shook her head whipping her mane about,”Mares raped indiscriminately, your friends killed, the lucky ponies would be enslaved and on top of that it would embolden every other tribe in Equestria. That’s what would have happened.”

She sighed and growled under her breath,”Did you even think of any of these possibilities in your arrogance or am I just regurgitating all of what you envisioned but still went forward?”

He simply nodded, resolute to stick with his decisions.

Her arms fell down to her sides and she sighed,”You could have died in there.” Her eyes softened and her voice lowered,”Do you know how we all would have felt if you’d died?”

He drew in a breath and lowered his gaze down to the folds of the beds sheets,”I know, I really do, but... I couldn’t just do nothing Celestia.” He twisted his mouth,”Yes your right, I was goddamn stupid, I could have and still might cause hundreds of problems. But, I did what was right.”

He looked back up to her with determination,“Isn’t it better I put myself in danger rather than your troops? More ponies still alive and unharmed right? Aren’t you glad I freed your enslaved little ponies and rescued Rainbow Dash? Or does that matter?”

She opened her mouth to answer but he cut her off.

“I am no narcissist but I know that I was more than successful, I started the trek confident I could accomplish what I set out to do and I ended up doing exactly that.” He narrowed his eyes,”Yes I had my doubts, we all do, but deep down we all know our own capabilities. Please don’t mistake my confidence for arrogance Celestia, I thought of all of the possibilities my actions might have entailed and you laying them before me only solidifies the confidence I have in myself.”

He began to pick up energy as he defended himself,”You and your sister did the same thing yourselves when you united this country, don’t your remember? There was no way to guarantee the high and mighty unicorns would stick by you but you had the same confidence I do in my skills in your diplomatic skills and you used it perfectly. They listened and without a single battle submitted to you and Luna.”

“So criticize me all you want for making the decision in the first place, but don’t tell me I was wrong to do it when you would have done the same thing in my place.”

Her nostrils flared, she looked down for a moment before sighing,”You’re too righteous for your own good.”

She seemed to deflate and gave a grunt as she sat down on the edge of the bed,”I’m glad you’re still alive my little historian.”

“Me too.” He chuckled to himself.

“You know almost none of my little ponies would ever dare to stick by their actions if I was as mad at them as I am at you.” She gave a small laugh of her own and looked back at him over her shoulder,”You really are something else.”

He returned the smile she flashed at him,”I just do what I know is right.”

She huffed and looked forward again,”Even if it kills you?”

“You’d do the same.”

“Fair point Samuel, fair point.” She clasped her hands to her knees.

They sat together for some time in silence, the light of her sun dying on the horizon as the two of them mulled over each other’s words. Samuel relaxed back into the bed his previous energy dissipating, he wondered if there really would be a huge backlash caused by his actions and whether or not Celestia would end up being correct about the whole thing.

That would be... unfortunate.

His Alicorn counterpart found herself leaning forward in contemplation, her eyes were narrowed signaling that she was in deep thought. Samuel was no mind reader but he understood her well enough to know the Princess was developing something within her mind, like any good ruler she always laid her plans out far in advance.

He had a distinct feeling whatever she was thinking about included him to some degree.

Suddenly Celestia looked up and broke the silence with a light clap,”Well then now that’s out of the way and I’ve said all I wanted, how are you doing after all this excitement?”

He shrugged,”I’m okay, a little sore, some bruises here and there.”

“Yes the doctor said you were relatively unhurt all things considered.” She looked at him with a raised brow,”From all the information I can gather that armor and sword you made seems to have performed quite well.”

“I’ll take that compliment.”

“Well you should, despite my qualms with this whole thing I will admit it is an impressive feat to destroy an entire diamond dog tribe with nothing but the armor on your back and sword at your side.”

He hummed,”You wouldn’t happen to know where those two items are would you?”

She nodded,”They were taken back to the Apple’s farm, before you ask, I don’t know if they’ve been cleaned at all or what damage they have sustained.”

He scoffed,“Probably going to have to clean them when I’m out of here but that’s fine, I can always fix any damage.” He cocked his head,”So what’s happened to the ponies I freed?”

Celestia swallowed,”They are being treated for their injuries and abuses in a different more private facility, I am having them treated by doctors specialized in dealing with the trauma they’ve gone through.”

“And dash?”

“The element of loyalty is, well, doing far better than her others counterparts. She’s still suffering from nightmares and panic attacks as is to be expected, but physically she’s already showing signs of improvement. I wouldn’t worry too much if I were you Samuel, that mare has a strong spirit and it wasn’t close to breaking even at her lowest moment in captivity.”

His mouth curved upwards slightly,”Good, that’s good to hear...”

Celestia smiled at him before leaning in a bit,”I can’t say for sure but I think even Luna is awed by the whole story.”

He raised an eyebrow,”Hey now that’s an achievement, of course getting her to even exchange words with me is an achievement.”

The Princess laughed,”Yes, as much as I hate to say it my sister is far too paranoid over you, it’s like she has forgotten that far more... fantastical things that have transpired around us.”

He paused before cocking his head, “You know maybe it’s just that, I’m not fantastical, if she’s used to things being crazy and I’m not the same kind of crazy then I’m something she’s never really encountered before.”

She shrugged,”You may have something there, when you first arrived I believed she would be more understanding and realize that your immunity to magic was not in your control. We both know how that turned out.” Celestia crossed her legs along the edge of the bed and laid back on the mattress.

“My sister has been through a lot in her life Samuel, you’ve got to remember it wasn’t three years ago she was cleansed of Nightmare Moon. It’s no wonder she’s so cautious and quick to defense, she does not want to be enthralled by that spirit of malice a second time.”

“She’s described the experience of becoming that monster to me a few times, from what can tell it’s like unwillingly becoming a different person.”

He nodded,”Yeah, I get that.” He leaned back into his pillow and looked up at the ceiling,”I think about that kind of thing a lot myself, I’m still trying to figure out if I’m a different person now that I’ve killed...”

Celestia’s smile faded,”I know how you feel Samuel, I’ve been there too, many times actually. You’ll find that you are the same person as before, you just never realized what you were capable of.”

He became quiet again, he couldn’t help but notice that tonight was a night of reflection with many complex thoughts swarming his mind. Talking with Celestia often ended up being like... this and he enjoyed it, it was always far more stimulating than talking with most other ponies.

Not that he didn’t like his other friends or valued their conversations any less, he simply appreciated being forced to think and form his own ideas. That was something his mother used to do back home, she would converse with him on all sorts of different subjects and make sure to ask him his thoughts or opinions.

He and his mother were close back home, they spent a lot of time together and a good chunk of his personality was influenced by her. She was a kind, thoughtful woman who payed meticulous attention to everything around her, she seemed to know Sam better than he knew himself.

He made a point to spend as much time with her as he could when he was on Earth, they used to go to lunch and talk for hours on end about anything from everyday issues to worldwide politics.

Samuel hadn’t been blind to the fact that since coming to Equestria Celstia had in a sense filled the gap left behind by his now missing mom. They had very similar conversations every time they met up and they both made a point to stay in touch.

He opened his eyes as Celestia began speaking again,“I think it’s kind of tragic actually, you and Luna would probably get along if she would give you a chance. She loves history too, almost as much as you. I personally think she would enjoy talking to you about your people and their grand march through time.”

She laughed,”I know I enjoy listening, especially about the history of your little Britain and it’s turbulent development.”

He smiled,”You know I still haven’t finished telling you about the Hundred Years’ War.”

“No, I don’t suppose you have.”

The alabaster alicorn spoke with her friend about the history of a certain little island in the Atlantic deep into the dark ominous night.

“I am sorry to disturb you.” His canine ears perked up at the echo of a deep disembodied voice.

Razor’s eyes burst open and he let out a cry as he realized there was something talking to him in the darkness. Scrambling to stand he slipped and slid along the cold dirt, eventually getting his hands down he pushed himself up from the ground.

He stood up shakily, with panic in his eyes he spun around,”Who’s there!?” He erratically looked back and forth struggling to focus in the pitch black of the forest.

”I’m right here.”

His head shot towards the sound of the voice and he finally spotted what he was looking for. Beside a dead tree not fifteen feet away was some kind of a phantom, two slanted glowing red eyes sat atop a tall blob of floating gas, it’s billowing form was darker than even the night.

He gasped at the sight,”There’s no way...” He immediately felt a profound amount of fear, Razor had never experienced anything like this, he was at a total loss. There were stories of ghosts and specters wandering the Everfree at night but he’d never put much stock in them, especially since his tribe had so extensively traveled the land and never saw anything odd.

The eyes seemed to look upon his fear with amusement,”No way? Well then I suppose I should just disappear and abandon my efforts to help you.”

Razor’s heart beat rapidly against his chest, he stared at the sentient blob with trepidation,”You want to help me?”

“Of course, why else would I be here?” It let out a dark chuckle.

He narrowed his eyes and lowered his shoulders,”Who... why?”

The red eyes seemed to scan his body before locking onto his own eyes,”Because I believe your survival would be beneficial for the both of us.” It began to move towards Razor, the form looked as though it had two gaseous legs moving beneath it’s main bulk,”The two of us have very similar goals, goals which face the same obstacles, the same... enemies.”

“We do?” He blinked his fear turning to confusion,”What?! Y-you don’t know me, gods, I don’t even know who the fuck or what the fuck you are?!”

The jet black spirit began to slowly circle him, it’s eyes boring into Razor like an ever digging drill,”Who I am? I suppose that’s a fair question.”

”I appear before you now as a projection of my physical self, I apologize for scaring you awake earlier but I’m only able to project myself at night when the sun isn’t up. You see the sun dissipates this form, it’s rays break apart the darkness that must be accumulated in order for it to function so I was forced wake you before the night was over.”

“Alright, that makes some sense...” The dog was beginning to relax, his eyes focused on the projection and he listened attentively as it spoke again.

”I am or was, a great emperor. My lands once spanned from the Celestial Sea to the forgotten oceans in the north, I dominated my enemies on land and sea and my people prospered greatly from it. I gave an order and a legion of servants followed it, I commissioned a building and an army of slaves built it, I was the greatest ruler of my time.”

The description formed a glorious vision in Razors mind, it was like a dream that only a young pup would have before realizing how harsh the world actually was.

”Now, I am barely remembered, what’s left is only a fragment of what I was.” He heard a sudden and definite change in the tone of previously prideful voice, it became almost melancholic and elicited a feeling of deep sorrow. The bright eyes suddenly turned to stare off into the trees,”They deposed me long ago for completely unjust and outrageous reasons. My lands were taken and the nation I led was destroyed in front of me, the same way your tribe was unfairly destroyed in front of you.”

The voice paused, almost as though it was hit hard by the ancient harsh memories it now recalled,”Not only was it done in the same way, but by the same ponies.” An eyebrow raised on the dog’s face, he could see where this was starting to go.

”They destroyed every trace of me and my subjects. They butchered our culture, destroying statues, burning our writings, tearing down buildings. Then they spat on our religion, claiming it was evil and incited savagery, I remember watching as the wise stallions that had led us for centuries were executed.”

“I’m sorry about all that, I... I know what you feel but, shit what is it that you could possibly want with me? Why tell me all this?”

The red orbs turned to Razor, a deep almost primal anger emanated from within them and he almost gasped when their eyes met,”I lost everything I held dear, everything... exactly as you have Razor.” It stepped closer to him and a tendril of smoke shaped not unlike an arm grabbed hold of his shoulder.

It’s grasp was heavy and cold, like an iron clamp it bit down into Razors arm, yet it also felt oddly reassuring.

”I know what it is like to be in your place, believe me. I was kept in a dungeon for years after I was defeated, surviving off of nothing but the pig feed they threw at me and the flesh of the any rats I could catch. The situation you are in now is sadly no different, worse in fact, for you have no hope of a guaranteed meal.” The grasp tightened even more, Razor payed no mind to the pain,”We have both suffered great injustices inflicted by the same foe, I feel that if we were to join together then perhaps we could take back what is rightfully ours.”

It let go of Razor and stepped back again,”Already I have gathered a small band of likeminded individuals that found themselves in situations like us, if we join our skills and build up our forces then I believe we stand a greater chance of success.”

Razor nodded in agreement with the idea, he was becoming enthralled by the being’s logical words and charisma. He was beginning to feel a budding sense of strange comradeship with this thing in the night.

”I will understand if you don’t want to join me, I’ll still help you out of this forest of course I couldn’t let someone so similar to me die, but I beseech you. Please join us, your organizational, training and scouting skills would be essential to our efforts.”

Razor looked down, his mind unsure,“I... I’m not... I’ve only just met you and you’re already asking me to... fight for you.”

The flowing mass looked away again,”Yes it is a big commitment with great risk, we could fail and all be summarily executed, maybe exiled to tartarus or perhaps even tortured in the deepest dungeons of the planet. But if we do succeed, if we do restore my lands and the lands of all those that followed me, then you will become the most powerful diamond dog to ever live.”

”You will be granted a kingdom, I will help you to unite all the tribes of the East and west. You will become the first diamond dog king to ever live and your dynasty would span generations under my protection.”

The projection of a once great emperor, a true leader and warrior looked back at the insignificant little dog with real empathy in his eyes,”So what do you say? Will you join me?”

Razor looked into the eyes of the specter, in that moment he seemed to see a tall regal figure filled with pride and determination. He couldn’t explain it but the speech had filled him with a sort of sympathy and inspiration, his mind seemed to clear up and he decided rather quickly.

“I won’t survive this forest only to be forgotten, I will join you and your group. I will fight to take what is rightfully ours even if I die doing it.” He narrowed his eyes,”And I will have my revenge no matter what the cost.”

The figure seemed to smile at Razor,”I knew you would see reason, I’m glad you stand beside me. Now let’s get you out of this forest.”

Razor smiled back,”Yes please.”

Without wasting any time the projection started to move, with a quick command Razor began to follow close behind. They walked westwards for at least an hour, ducking under thorny branches, pushing past thick bushes and even slogging through a few muddy river banks.

The journey was fairly quiet, neither of them had much more of a conversation instead focusing on the task at hand and making their way. Razor stumbled quite a few times in the dark, though his new acquaintance caught him every time in his odd smoky tendrils.

Before long the dark sky began to light up, it was faint but noticeable and as they exited a particularly dense thicket of trees the emperor stopped.

”When the sun rises in the east I will disappear, when I do keep heading to the west in the same direction I’ve been leading you. In a few miles you’ll exit the forest and come upon a series of hills, keep your eyes open and you’ll find a small encampment.”

”Inside the camp are three of my servants, they will be the ones to guide you on the long journey north and to me. You will have to be cautious and avoid as much contact with civilization as you can, travel only by foot and kill anything that recognizes you. Do you believe you can do this?”

Razor nodded,”Yeah, I can do that much. Will they have food and water for me, I’m starving.”

”Of course, all is taken care of and all you’ll need is in the camp. A fresh set of clothes, rations for your journey and some money for any possible expenses that you may have. Everything you need is prepared.”

He smiled, his sharp fangs glimmering slightly,“Alright then, let’s get on with it.”

”Indeed.”

“Y’all hold still! I ain’t stopping till I make sure!”

“The doctor said I was fine, I appreciate that you care but please let go of my arm!”

With a final jerk Samuel managed to dislodge his shoulder from the iron grip Applejack possessed, she attempted to grab at him again only to have him jump back. She gave a final huff and glared daggers at the smarmy faced human on the other side of the bed,”Ya put us through this much worry and won’t even let me look at ya, it’s downright disrespectful!”

“Jack come on, he’s not even outta tha hospital yet and yer already pestering him?”

“Yes.” She turned back to where her brother stood leaning against the counter,”Yes Ah am.”

He just smiled and shook his head, remaining characteristically quiet he gave a knowing look at Sam who smiled back in kind.

“Now then.” She turned back to her target,”You will let me look ya over or so help me Celestia Ah will hold you down and do it myself.”

He sighed,”Is it really that important to you?”

“Yes.” She gave him another glare,

With a shake of his head he threw up his hands,”Fine, look me over all you need, you’ll see the doctor was right.”

“Thank you.” She slid over to his side of the bed and grabbed hold of his arm again, she looked over the appendage and felt at his bruises. She pushed along them and watched to see if he felt any pain, every time she did this he looked at her with an annoyed expression.

“Hmm well Ah guess the doc did his work right cause I’m seeing what he said.”

“My god, who would have thought.” He quipped in a blank tone.

“Ah don’t need any lip Samuel.” She let go of him and pulled herself back over the bed, standing up up she placed her hands on her hips,”Alright then well, long as your alright I’m satisfied.”

Sam laughed,”Well I’m glad your satisfied, now I can really rest easy.” His voice dripped with sarcasm. He ignored her dirty look and laid back down, pulling the blanket over himself he looked back at his friends,”Despite that little interaction I’m glad you guys came to visit, haven’t seen much of anybody else.”

Applejack lowered her arms and her face softened into a small smile,“Aww, it’s no problem surgarcube, you know we care about ya. Weren’t gonna leave you all alone in this damned depressing place.”

He shrugged and looked up at the ceiling,”Its not so bad, fairly boring and the food sucks compared to yours but, not altogether horrible.”

Applejack pursed her lips,”Yeah Ah know, still just have a bad feeling in these places.”

He nodded in understanding,”I get it, but hey I’m doing fine and everything’s working out pretty well.”

“I know, there’s plenty to be thankful for. So when are they gonna let you outta here?”

“Uh...” he looked to the side,”I think the nurse said it could be tonight but she thinks it’ll be tomorrow morning.”

“Alrighty, that’s not so bad. You looking forward to getting some fresh air?”

“Oh you have no idea.” He chuckled,”I’ve had nothing but the scent of sanitation for the past two days and I was tired of it in the first ten minutes.”

She smiled and opened her mouth to speak when Mac suddenly spoke up,“Ah forgot to mention earlier, Applebloom couldn’t make it today cause of school, she wants ya to know she thinks your the coolest guy ever. Least that’s what she said. She’ll be asking plenty of questions when your outta here so uh, be prepared.” Mac warned with a chuckle.

Applejack nodded,”Twilight also wants to see you too, she’s been real busy lately what with handling the aftermath of yer little war and won’t be able to visit before your out.”

“What’s she doing to handle it?”

“Well there’s been a lot more guards about and apparently there’ve been patrols going through the forest, you know catching any fleeing dogs to make em’ face justice.” Mac said,”I wish I could help honestly, specially’ after I saw them mares they kidnapped.” His eyes narrowed and mouth twisted.

“Oh yeah, they deserved all they got Sam, you did a good thing for this town.” The orange equine crossed her arms,”Everypony’s grateful for all ya done, heh, a might impressed too. That was a lot of animals ya put down.”

“Yeah, I’ve been told that...”

“How’d ya do it anyway? Ah know the armor and all is great but you killed so many it’s almost hard to believe and Ah saw what you did!”

Her brother blew a breath out his nose,”Can’t say Ah’m not a might curious myself.”

He scrunched up his mouth,”All I did was surprise them and then lead them to a choke point, pretty simple tactic, always works when the people attacking are confident they can win.” He looked up at the two,”It was also just a lot of luck too, can’t leave that factor out of it.”

“Not to complex then huh, Ah like that, yer gonna have to tell us the story in detail when ya get back and we got the time.”

“Why don’t I just tell you the whole damn thing right now? You guys have the time right?”

The Clydesdale smiled,”Sure do, you mind AJ?”

One agreement later and Samuel recounted his tale in the detail that Big Mac had requested. Though the story ended eventually the siblings and their warrior friend continued the conversation for awhile longer, before long Applejack looked over at the clock above the door, she almost shrieked when she saw what time it was.

She quickly explained that there was more work than he could imagine that needed to be done and she needed to leave now if she were to finish any of it. Despite his protests she pulled Mac along with her as she gave her friend a brief hug and running over to the door threw a quick wave goodbye his way.

Samuel slowly waved his hand back at her, as they left his sight he lowered his hand and sighed. Closing his eyes he let his head go limp and roll above his shoulders.

Despite their visit and the reassurances the two had given him about everything he still had many doubts about all that he had done and all that was going on around him at the moment.

Though he was sure of one thing. He had good friends and no matter what happened he knew that all of them would be there for him through anything.

Author's Note

Sorry for the long wait, a mixture of work, school and a good game of CK2 kept me a bit busy for a while.

Chapter Six: Officially Anointed

Samuel spun around instinctively as he felt something grabbed hold of his pant leg, deftly swiveling on his feet he was met with an old mare and a young filly standing behind him.

Both had orange fur though the older pony’s seemed a bit faded, the filly who only came up to his waist stood closest to him and must have been the one who touched him. She had a nervous look on her face and her hands fidgeted as his alarmed eyes landed on her.

The older mare placed a frail hand on the filly’s shoulder and gave her a reassuring squeeze,”It’s okay honey, go ahead.” Her voice was crackly and bogged with an uncomfortable raspiness.

He watched the little pony take a deep breath and step forward, she lifted up an arm,”I’m Frizzle Top.”

Reaching out he gently grabbed hold of her little hand and shook it,”I’m Sam, it’s nice to meet you.”

She gripped at his hand the best she could before letting go, with their arms lowered she stepped back again,”I, uh, just wanted to thank you. You saved my sister from those monster dogs.”

“Diamond dogs sweetie.” The mare corrected.

“Uh Yeah, diamond dogs, thank you mister Sam.” Her eyes looked down,”We didn’t know where she’d gone for awhile... but you brought her back.”

Sam nodded and forced a small smile onto his face,”I’m glad I could help you get her back.”

She suddenly looked back up with a scrunched up mouth, her nervousness from before fading away,”She’s not really the same though, she likes to look at things like there’s something there but there’s not. She doesn’t talk much anymore either. But that’s okay, at least she’s back and I know she’ll get better.”

Sam swallowed thickly at the young filly’s words, he drew a breath and opened his mouth to answer. Almost immediately he was cut off by the old pony’s voice,”Now I think that’s enough there Frizzle, I’m certain he’s a busy stallion and has a lot to do so why don’t we let him go?”

Frizzle looked down again, her already sad expression downturned even more,“Okay grandma. Thanks again mister.”

She silently turned around and started to walk off down the street, the mare sighed,”I’m sorry about that, she always says too much. I just wanted to thank you for bringing us back my granddaughter sir, you did a good thing for us.”

He let out a breath,“Of course ma’am, I know there’s still a long road ahead for you and everyone else who’s lives were pulled apart by this. I can’t help anymore, but at least I could get her back for you.” He held out a hand which she took,”Good luck to you and your family.”

She gave a small smile in response to his kindness, wordlessly she turned about and Sam watched as the grandmother tried her best to run trying to catch up with her granddaughter.

He let out a heavy breath and looked up at the bright blue early morning sky, little wispy clouds flowed slowly northwards in an unfelt wind.

Ever since he’d left the hospital Samuel had been inundated with ponies approaching him to say thank you, from victims families to ponies who had seen the story in the newspaper and as much as he appreciated the gesture half of them reminded the man of just how bad the state of those he saved was.

The majority of them had a bleak future, the stallions were beyond physically impaired after being beaten and forced to mine in such harsh conditions and almost all of the mares had psychological issues that would persist until the moment they died.

They used to have normal lives with jobs they had worked all their lifetimes for, they had huge families all across Equestria and hobbies that they enjoyed in their free time. Were it not for the monsters that took them and the unspeakable things they did these ponies would still be in their previous state of ignorant bliss.

Thinking about what had happened to them and what their future looked like only served to form a pit in his stomach, making him feel a sort of dizzying sickness. The dogs that had taken them were truly monsters, he’d finally been able to fully come to that conclusion.

The impact of their actions hadn’t totally hit him before but now that he had some direct contact with their victims it was a whole different story. Those savages had destroyed and manipulated the minds of their victims into an almost irreparable state.

They really did deserve nothing but the end of his sword and whatever god had in store for them after death.

Still a small voice at the back of his mind continuously asked if every diamond dog really was a soulless marauder and no amount of logic seemed to quiet it.

Swallowing he gave his head a shake and continued onwards, he would eventually get to Twilight, no matter how many ponies stopped him.

Celestia’s magenta eyes shone brightly in the flickering candle light, crossing her arms she turned her attention away from her younger sibling and to the entrance of the small dark room.

She focused on the rough wooden boards, a sheen of transparent purple flowed over the surface of the door. The product of a small spell designed to keep attentive ears and prying eyes away, it never failed to do its job.

The pony matriarch mashed her lips together and narrowed her focused pupils at a small knot in the wood, with a heavy breath she flared her nostrils,”The choice will be entirely up to him correct?”

Luna nodded,“Of course, he will make the decision for himself as the others before him did. Though I doubt there’s any chance he’ll turn it down.”

“No, he probably won’t...” Celestia conceded with a sigh,”I want him aware of everything being an Equestrian knight entails sister, before he decides on it he deserves to know all of his responsibilities and duties before taking them on.”

The lunar princess smiled,”You need fear nothing Celestia, the whole ordeal will be completely transparent to him. I will make sure of it.”

Nodding the princess gave in,“Alright, you have my blessing to go ahead with this. I know you want to do this all on your own but if there’s anything I can do, please ask.”

“Excellent!” Luna exclaimed and clapped her hands together,”I doubt I’ll need you for anything so that won’t be a problem.” She stated confidently,”I will begin preparing immediately, the quicker this is done the better.” Her chair squealed as she pushed herself back from the table.

Celestia leaned back and crossed her arms,”I understand your urgency Luna but remember, this all has to be done elegantly, it’s the first time we will have held a knighting in centuries and it’s purpose must be met.”

Luna scoffed,”Please sister do not worry, I want to see this action achieve it’s goal as well and if you’ll kindly remember I helped create the ceremony too.” She gave a grand sweeping gesture with her hands,”We need to wow the nobility, inspire the lower classes and create an effective agent who will carry out our will. As long as those objectives are completed it will be a success.”

Celestia rolled her eyes,“I know, I know, it’s just, the food, invitations, decorations, entertainment, etcetera, they all have to be done perfectly. It’s a lot to remember for something that’s not been done in so long, especially for you considering your... long absence.” Her eyes shot wide as the words left her mouth, she hadn’t intended to say that.

A glossy sheen passed over Luna’s eyes, she swallowed thickly as she stood up,”I understand your worries but trust me, I can handle this, it’s my idea after all and I want to see it through.” She let out a shallow breath,”I know you’re worried about me and you have every right to be but I need to do this, if you ever want me to truly get over what that evil did to me you need to allow me be independent sometimes.”

Celestia opened her mouth to answer then paused, letting out a breath she nodded and gave a small smile,”You’re right, I’m sorry, it’s just... I’m so used to being your big sister. I don’t want to see anything bad happen to you. You’ll do fine I’m sure.”

The monarch of the sun knew there was nothing else to be said on the matter.

Luna looked back to her sister with a blank face,“Of course I will, now, since this business is handled we should return to our duties don’t you think?”

She watched her sibling roughly push the chair back into place against the table, as Luna walked away in Celestia’s eyes flickered with a sudden thought,”You will be the one who asks him if he wants to be a knight in our service right?”

Luna stopped mid stride, slowly turning around she looked at her sister with confusion.

“It’s only proper after all that you address him with the position and it’s duties personally. Beyond simple manners it’s also tradition, a tradition that you helped create.”

Luna’s eyes narrowed in annoyance,”Surely you cannot expect me to talk to him personally, I may recognize his potential uses to us but... that does not mean I trust him in any sense. I still see him for what he is, an unnatural occurrence that should not be here.”

Celestia tilted her head and raised an eyebrow,”You want to knight and arm Samuel so that he may carry out our will yet you won’t even talk to him or abandon that foolish notion?”

Luna lowered her brow, her eyes narrowed and she clenched her fists,“Acknowledgement of the truth is not foolish, this action will put him under our control thus keeping a leash around his neck and stopping him from taking any sort of action against us while also allowing us to sic him on our foes!” She explained with fury.

“Besides I don’t need to communicate with him, you can relay everything he needs to know just fine on your own can’t you?” She retorted.

Celestia frowned as her sisters faults began grating on her,“I not only think that is illogical but impractical too. Look at what simply talking to him would do, it could smooth out your unfortunate relationship and maybe even show you who he really is. For him it would appear a good gesture and may make him even more inclined to follow us both.”

Luna bared her teeth for a second, yet as usual the logical framework of her sisters words emerged through the vale of anger. Tightening her lips and glaring daggers at her sister she gave way,”Your logic is impeccable as always.” Her voice came out laced with disdain.

“So should I take that response as a form of acceptance?” Celestia’s frown became a hopeful smile and her ears perked up.

“Yes.” Luna responded with anger in her voice before promptly turning about for the door, her hooves came down heavily, stomping on the stone as she went.

The solar princess allowed to herself a small pat on the back and relaxed in her chair, the door slammed as Luna exerted her strength on it yet it did nothing to Celestia’s composure.

The noise of Samuel’s knuckles resounded loudly across the hall as he rapped them upon the entrance of Twilight’s map room.

Seconds later the large double doors swung inwards revealing two guards in the distinctive purple armor of Twilight’s retinue. Sam gave a smile at the surprised equines,”The ponies at the front said Twilight was in here, can I see her?”

“Of course sir, she said to let you in if you came by. The princess is just over there.” The left hand guard stepped back and pointed at a group of his fellows around the map table. Twilight stood at the head of said table briefing her officers.

He gave the soldier a nod and stepped through.

The man watched from afar as the princess pointed to locations on the map and threw orders at her subordinates,”I want a contingent of guards to patrol this edge of the Everfree forest, dogs have been spotted here and we need them intercepted before they do any damage.”

“I also want an officer, with some chosen stallions to investigate here.” She moved her finger up to a small marshland in the forest’s interior.

“This is the second biggest water source in the forest, any remaining raiders that have chosen to hide till the pressure is off are likely to be surviving somewhere in or around here. We already searched and cleared the river so the procedure here should be the same.”

The purple princess looked up,“You all know we can’t let any of them escape to exact revenge so as always I expect thorough and efficient work.”

She continued on about the landscapes they would be traversing and how to prepare for them as Samuel came up alongside the table. He listened for awhile as she worked out the details of her orders to the various captains and lieutenants.

As the meeting came to a close he gave a polite yet noticeable clearing of his throat. Twilight turned her head, her eyes shone for a moment as she recognized his presence before clearing her own throat and going onwards.

Looking back to her guards she continued,”You have your orders now, you may go.” She narrowed her eyes and pointed a nagging finger at them,”But remember, I want exact reports of everything that happens, the past few have been... lacking in detail at best. You’re all dismissed now.”

A chorus of salutes and yes ma’am’s sounded around the table, with discipline the mares and stallions filed away from the table. Before long they had all vanished through the doors and with a boom the entrance swung shut behind them.

“You’re looking scruffy Samuel.” The Princess flashed a quick toothy smile at him from across the table,”It’s most unbecoming of you.”

Sam smiled slightly, leaning forward on the table he shrugged carelessly,”I haven’t shaved in a while.” Sam’s smile grew,”Guess I just haven’t found the time to.”

“Well, I suppose that makes sense all things considered, I think I might be just able to forgive you for it.” With a little laugh she made her way around the corner of the table and headed for him,”Now tell me seriously, are you okay?” Her tone came out compassionate and caring.

He ran a hand through his hair pushing it back as he nodded,“I’m completely fine, all I had was a few bruises and some dehydration. The worst part in all honesty was how tired I was afterwards.”

“That’s what you'll come to expect from debacles like that, trust me.” Twilight gave him a wink, looking down to the map she scanned the area of the forest once again, reaching out she pointed to a spot in the middle of it all,”You see that ruined castle there?”

Looking down he followed her finger until he spotted it,”Yeah, why?”

“That’s where my friends and I faced down Nightmare Moon, those eight years ago. That was our first real adventure and despite how dangerous it all was I don’t think any of us could ever forget it.”

Her eyes softened and she stared at the miniature structure like an old woman looking upon a photo of a long lost love one,”It wasn’t nearly as bloody as your first outing but it left me with the same feeling.” She shook her head with a smile,”I had a bit of dehydration and exhaustion myself, plus quite a collection of bruises to show off.”

She let out a small chuckle and returned her attention to her human visitor,“You know believe it or not I was really quite worried about you Samuel.”

His face became slightly strained,”I know, I’m... well I’m sorry for doing that to you.” He slipped his thumbs through his belt loops,”I have had a lot of time in the hospital to go over everything that’s happened and reflect on my actions.”

His eyes narrowed as his lips parted,”I admit I don’t regret killing the diamond dogs, for awhile now I’ve known that much about myself. But I do know that I regret how irrationally I acted, because of me you have been thrown into the spotlight and have had to handle the local fallout of this fight.”

“I mean if anything happens like a dog killing an innocent townspony you’re the one who will be blamed, that’s a responsibility you didn’t ask for and I more or less threw it on top of you.” His head began to droop downwards,”I also feel terrible for the terrible vulgar things I said to you.”

Looking back up he bore into her eyes throwing her off guard,”You are not a weak willed coward Twilight, you’re the farthest thing from it in fact and I’m beyond sorry for saying it in the first place. Being angry isn't an excuse and I hope you’ll forgive me for it all.”

Taken completely aback at his sudden heartfelt outburst the alicorn found herself almost speechless, staring into his blue eyes with her own wide magenta ones she swallowed,”I-I... I don’t really know what to say Sam, I forgive you of course.” With an effort she looked away from his gaze,”Look, you’re my friend and friends often don’t agree on things, this was just another one of those times.”

“And please don’t think you’re the one to blame for the diamond dog issue I’m dealing with, no matter what this would have happened anyway, whether it was you going in and rooting them out or a contingent of royal soldiers. There still would have been cleanup.”

Reaching out and looking back at Samuel she grabbed hold of his shoulder and smiled,”You’re a great friend Sam, one of the best a pony could ask for and you know what, I said some horrific things to you as well. Both of us did some foolish things and I think we learned from them.”

She pulled him in and wrapped her arms around his shoulders in a hug, he paused for a moment before returning the gesture. After a few seconds they parted.

Shaking his head his face lit up,”Thank you Twilight.”

She gave a small nod and so ended the topic.

“Anyway, I see your doing a pretty good job cleaning up the mess I created.” He looked back to the map and crossed his arms over his stomach,”Has there been a lot of trouble since the fight?”

She shook her head,”No, at this point it looks like we’ve managed to capture most of the dogs that fled and there’s been no real incidents outside of the forest. Just a few supposed sightings from paranoid ponies.” She gave a prideful nod,”Overall it seems like everything’s going to be okay.”

”That’s great to hear, you've got this figured out!” He shifted his weight as he continued studying the different detailed portions of her map,”So then what are you doing with the ones you catch?”

Twilight leaned against the side of the table,”Well for now they’re just being put into holding cells below the castle, I’ve still got to decide what to do when this excitement is over.”

From there the two talked for a while longer about the situation and what seemed to be its foreseeable conclusion before heading on to lunch together.

She ignored the chilly bite of the wind as it stung sharply through her thick armor. Flaring her nostrils she gave a growl and pushed onwards gaining speed with each flap of her wings. She would not allow her stealthy advantage to be compromised because of a little discomfort, she had suffered far worse than this before.

The beast’s hawk like eyes flitted back and forth as she scanned the ground below, looking through the thin vapors of the clouds she kept on trying to regain sight of the ants that she had lost track of. The thin line of the road appeared dark and bogged with mud so they couldn’t be far, especially with the cargo they were pulling.

It wasn’t long before they were in sight again, a few miles ahead a full twenty of them marched forward at a slow pace. Nearly half of this company busied themselves with pulling along three different baggage carts while the other kept themselves in a circle around the cargo.

They must have hired more guards to keep an eye out and protect their trade goods, it seemed the intruders were getting wise to her presence.

“But not wise enough..” she muttered to herself with a hiss.

The landscape below was flat, small clumps of sycamore trees dotted the tall grass plains and small streams of water ran across the land feeding mid sized pools scattered here and there. To the east a range of strong tall mountains stood imposingly with snow tipped tops and to west ran the remains of what was once a mighty range of its own, all that was left now was a series of foothills checkered with small lonely peaks.

This valley was beautiful, she truly appreciated that and was glad to now call it home. The area also provided plenty of water as well as food in the form of wild deer and horse herds. Perhaps the best part of it all was the dozens of caves in the mountains that she could use as dens in the winter.

There was only one part of this whole valley that she was having trouble with, the constant flow of pony trading parties. Caravans traveled too and fro with ease through the routes carved into the soft soil of the valley, it seemed this was a major shortcut from Vanhoover to the wealthy north western settlements.

Since she had arrived four months ago she had started nipping this problem in the butt and the frequency of trading parties had slowed significantly. Though some still attempted to push through, it seemed they thought hiring a few guards would be enough to keep her at bay like this one she was stalking right now.

Unfortunately for them, the presence of guards only served to make her angrier.

She followed the caravan for the remainder of the day, the cold wind and the rain it brought only served to exhilarate the powerful dark mistress. Like a cat hunting a rodent she patiently waited for a chance to pounce, which came as the sun began to set behind the clouds.

The ants slowed as darkness crept across the land, they went left off of the road and towards a patch of trees that rested on a small hill. She circled far above watching as a campsite was erected beneath the trees, two small fires popped up and around them the figures gathered.

A few stood around the perimeter to keep watch as the others ate, though she knew from experience that they must distracted by hunger and exhaustion at this point. They wouldn’t be able to focus well enough to pay attention.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the monster floated downwards while continuing to circle the camp, the lack of stars made her approach harder to spot and the constant rain kept any sound she made all but silent. Fortune seemed to be more in her favor than usual.

Before long she was skimming along the tops of the trees, the leaves bending softly under her strong belly. With a breath she plunged downwards underneath the canopy.

Beneath the trees she landed, her strong claws digging into the wet dirt with ease like a heavy plow. She lowered her whole body to the ground like a feline. Stepping forward she kept her head low in the grass, carefully passing through the tree trunks she went steadily up the gentle slope of the hill.

It wasn’t long before the sounds of the caravan members became intelligible, she was closer to the camp than she had realized.

Cups clanked loudly, forks hit plates, ponies talked and laughed over different stories. Her lips parted in a predator smile revealing a set of terrible yellow fangs, they had no idea she was there. Step by step she went forward and soon found herself at the camps perimeter.

Without a sound she settled down into the grass, her orange eyes glinting in the firelight. She watched her prey go about their nightly routine and in time the amount of them thinned as they went to their tents to sleep. One of the fires was even put out and with that the night seemed ever darker.

The ponies that remained around the fire had slowly become abnormally quiet, she observed from the side of the hill as they ate and drank in near silence. Not a single one looked up from their spot, instead focusing on their food or looking into the fire like they were anticipating something unpleasant.

She began to feel a heavy pit form in her stomach, a sudden anxiety gripped her mind and she felt a sense of panic rising upwards. It was at that moment that it occurred to her, she had not seen a single one of the caravan guards among the others of the camp.

A sudden series of cries erupted from all sides, out of the darkness the whole of the guard company charged. She panicked, shakily lifting herself up she flared her wings and let out a terrifying roar, a few of the charging soldiers faltered.

Despite her display though the warriors continued on, she felt several spear points bounce off of her sides in attempted stabs, they obviously hadn’t considered the strength of her armor. Letting out another roar she swept a clawed hand to the left, a few terrified screams sounded as she slapped a portion of her attackers away.

Their bodies landed down the hill, broken and mangled.

Suddenly leaping forward she brought her left forearm up in the air, extending her claws she brought them down on a pony that had been running away from her. She slashed through his armor like fire through paper and rended the flesh beneath, he wasn’t even able to scream as he was eviscerated in front of his companions.

She turned to the bulk of her opponents and slammed her front legs against the ground smashing the body to pulp, blood and viscera was thrown in all directions.

The reptilian beast growled as her enemies looked upon her in the soft glow of the fire.

A sudden cry erupted from her mighty jaws as one lucky spear from behind managed to find it’s mark between the plates of her scaly hide, it’s cold metal tip dug into the vulnerable flesh of her hind leg.

Spinning around she flung her tail wildly in the air toward the origin of the pain, it connected with a few spearmen who had managed to get behind her and sent them flying to presumably instantaneous deaths.

The gust created by her tail swiftly extinguished the fire plunging the camp into complete darkness.

Coming to a stop she grunted at the pain in her back, she felt an intense anger take control amen she charged at the first pony that appeared before her. Huge chunks of dirt were thrown at least a dozen feet up from the viciousness of her grasping claws.

He simply stood as she came at him, his senses seized in fear. He was barely able to scream as she opened her mouth and slammed it shut over his head.

Her fangs tore his entire torso from his body leaving his legs to fall backwards on their own. With a jerky motion she let the body in her mouth go flying off into the dark night.

Looking back to where the rest of the fighters had gathered she was met with a horrifying sight, all of the stallions had come together. They had attempted to form a rather sloppy spear wall and had begun advancing towards her in a mock phalanx.

Her tail flicked back and forth as she once again smiled in delight.

Lowering her rear end she raised her upper body, adopting a regal and noble pose, this bringer of death flashed her fangs at this glorious mistake. Clumping together was exactly what she wanted them to do, lowering her snout she drew in a huge breath.

Her chest puffed outwards and a few of the ponies realized what was going to happen,”Fucking run!”

It was already too late though, her jaws exploded open and a torrent of molten fire shot straight into the mob of bodies. She held her mouth open for a full five seconds before snapping it shut, lowering her head she happily studied her handiwork.

In those terrible seconds their armor, weapons and even jewelry had been completely melted. Their bodies if that’s what they could still be called were charred beyond recognition, blackened bones stuck out from a pile of ash and that was all that could be seen of what was once a group of brothers in arms.

She let out a deep gravely purr in delight.

The sudden noise of fear coming from the other side of the camp now drew her attention, she turned to watch a few of the unarmed ponies that had been pulling the carts run from their tents and out into the surrounding trees.

Narrowing her slitted eyes she barred her fangs,“You came into my land... now you will die.”

Applejack looked at Sam in a display of pure determination.

Her brow was lowered, hands laid firmly on her hips and she was leaning forward ever so slightly in an intimidating manner,”Yer not doing any work till Ah decide yer fit for it, ya hear me?”

“B-but Applejack that’s completely unreasonable, I can at least help out a little!” He sputtered in frustration.

She shook her head,“No, yer gonna rest for a few more days till Ah’m satisfied that you ain’t hurt.”

Looking to Mac who stood quietly by the kitchen sink Sam silently asked for support in his expression to which Mac just shook his head no and went back to cleaning his glass.

Sam turned back to the strong willed Apple mare who flared her nostrils as she stared him down, ”Come on AJ, I’m fine, the doctor said so and I’ve gotten around all day just fine too.” He reasoned,”I won’t do anything difficult, just help carry things and whatever else you say I can do.”

“Give it up Sam, she ain’t giving an inch.” Mac stated as he went about his business.

“Yeah I know, but that doesn’t mean I can’t try at least.” He sighed and lowered his head,”Fine I know when I’m defeated, I’ll take it easy around here and get some rest. Is that satisfactory Applejack?”

She nodded as a smirk formed across her face, bringing her arms up over her chest she responded,“Good, now get on to yer room, I don’t wanna see you out and about till dinner time ya hear?”

“Yes mom.” His tone breathed sarcasm, without another word he made his way out of the kitchen and into the living room.

In less than a minute he was opening the door to his bedroom, as he stepped inside he found his gear had been laid out on the newly made bed. Mac or Applejack must have cleaned it off as everything was devoid of the blood and dirt he knew it had gathered.

Upon closer inspection he realized none of it had actually been that badly damaged, he’d just have to sharpen the sword and polish where the dog had scratched his helmet. He was more than happy now that he had the the knowledge that repairs were going to be easy and simple.

Moving his gear over to the desk he sat down on the edge of the bed and took off his shoes, laying back he let himself smile as his body relaxed into the soft mattress below. Sunlight from the outside world poured through the window onto his face and the bed filling him with a pleasant warmth rather than the usual sweat inducing heat.

Reaching over to his bedside table he grabbed hold of a book he was in the middle of and resumed where he had left off, if he was going to relax he would do it the way he wanted...

...Shifting to the left Sam grunted as he stretched his right leg out beneath the blanket, sliding his hands back underneath the pillow he sighed contentedly.

The chilly air of the room felt good on his exposed face and his mind wandered back and forth as it ebbed ever closer to the reenergizing darkness of sleep.

A sudden knocking on the door interrupted his drifting mind, he sighed despondently.

His eyes cracked open and with a groan he forced himself up into a sitting position,”Just, give me a second to get a shirt on.” He let out a slew of grunt like noises as he forced his tired body to wake back up, sliding off the mattress and to the floor he shakily walked over to the dresser.

With a clumsy haste he pulled open the top drawer and took out a shirt, quickly sliding it on over his head he walked back over to the bed and sat down,”You can come in now.”

The door creaked inwards and Sam looked up only to have his eyes shoot open in shock, his previous dreariness dissipating in a fraction of a second. Before him stood the princess of the moon, none of her usual royal regalia was on and she appeared to be alone.

“I see you’re reading Bleaker’s Brief History of Battle Tactics.” Princess Luna nodded in approval from the entryway,”I don’t agree with some of his dissertations but he does cover most of what I consider the important points. Which volume are you reading?”

He sat motionless with his mouth slightly ajar, looking up at the co monarch of Equestria with a complete lack of understanding he sputtered,”Wha... what?”

She raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips before cocking her head,”What volume of the book are you reading?”

“I...” he paused, looking over to his bedside table where said writing laid he began,”Well the one on Zebra and Griffon warfare. I uh, already read the one on Equestrian tactics and liked it so I figured I’d continue.”

“Bleaker would have been glad to hear that, he really was one of the best lieutenants I have ever had under my command.” She looked down,”Are you particularly interested in military history?”

“Yes, history is my favorite thing to talk about or study. Has your sister told you nothing about me at all?”

She shook her head,”Not much, though I don’t ask much.” She leaned against the doorway,”Its good to see you at least have an interest in something that matters though. I can’t say I’m happy with my modern subjects lack of respect for the past.”

He just nodded.

Looking back up she sighed,”I'm going to venture out now and guess you want to know why I’m here yes?”

“Yeah, I would, especially considering we aren’t exactly on spontaneous visiting terms.” He scrunched his mouth and raised his brow,”Unless you just wanted to ask me about my books and hobbies.”

Luna looked past him into the room,”May I come in then? I’m here because I have something I wish to discuss with you, it’s an important matter I assure you.”

Narrowing his eyes he nodded slowly,”Sure, you can sit down at the desk.” Luna passed in wordlessly, when she reached the desk she pulled out the chair and took a seat,“So what is it you’re here to talk about?”

Luna cleared her throat,”I will be frank with you, we both know that we don’t like each other.”

“Yes.” He nodded with a scoff.

She narrowed her eyes in annoyance,“I don’t trust you and you don’t trust me.” Crossing her legs she leaned back,”I want nothing to do with you and I imagine you with me.” She blew out a heavy breath,”However, concerning recent events I am forced to admit that you are quite the talented fighter and for that reason we may not be able to get what we want.”

Luna frowned to herself,“At first the news of your diamond dog slaughter worried me, I thought if you could do that then what could you do to my subjects? Eventually I came to terms with the fact that I was wrong, obviously you hold no animosity towards the citizens of this land.”

He scoffed,”Well I’m glad that’s cleared up.”

Ignoring his comment she continued,”It then occurred to me, your skills being as impressive as they are, might be extremely useful. The good they have already been used for is great, I’m not of the opinion that Celestia holds, I think your storming of that cave was not only a good thing but is the greatest warrior feat I have seen since my return.”

She shook her head,”With this idea I consulted my sister, I decided that it would be beneficial to all the kingdom that you should be made a knight of Equestria with all of the duties and responsibilities that office holds.” She looked to his face, gauging his reaction,”Celestia agreed and has given her blessing as well as her support of the idea.”

“So, what say you Samuel?”

“You want me... to be a knight?” His face remained unreadable.

She nodded,”Yes, I do. I am confident that you can complete everything my sister and I ask of you.”

He went to ask another question before pausing, hesitating he looked down and closed his mouth,”Are you serious?”

“Perfectly.”

“What kind of duties am I accepting if I agree?”

The corner of Luna’s mouth turned upwards,”Duties? Well you will serve Celestia and I meaning you will be obligated to carry out any requests we may make. That includes anything from assisting in upholding the law to being called upon for military service in war time.”

Samuel looked back up,”Alright, I accept.”

Luna cocked her head, her smile getting wider,”Just like that?”

“Yes, just like that.” He placed his hands on his knees,”You’re right, if I can do more good with my abilities then I should. If the only challenge is getting over our dislike of one another then I can do that.”

Luna’s smile now showed pearly white teeth, she knew he would accept but this was even easier than she thought it would be. Now he was on a leash, a leash she had control of and he could be reliably used for a great many tasks,”Excellent, I’m glad to hear it Sam, it seems you are far smarter then I have previously given you credit for.”

She quickly stood up from the chair,”Becoming a knight means you have to go through a dubbing ceremony in Canterlot, I plan on having it all ready to go by the end of the month.” She walked by the young man and stopped at the door,”I will send you a letter detailing the appropriate attire and other instructions soon. Now I will bid you goodnight.”

“Princess wait.”

Stopping she turned back with a smile, which faltered as his serious face met hers,”Yes?”

He swallowed thickly,“I want you to know that am aware of your past, all of it.” He stood up and looked into her eyes,”No I don’t mean the Nightmare Moon thing either, I mean all the way back before that. I’ve read a lot about you since I appeared here and I want you to know that despite our personal feelings I respect you deeply.”

“You’re an amazing leader, one of the best I have ever learned about and I’m beyond flattered to have earned your respect.”

Her eyes widened as he finished, a slight guilty weight formed in her chest,”I... thank you, that’s very kind of you to say. I hope you manage to get some decent rest tonight Samuel, you deserve it.” And with that she shut the door leaving the man alone to mull over what exactly he had just agreed to.

Author's Note

So, I’m not dead but my classes and work are making me feel like it. I hope you guys can forgive me for the huge gap since the last chapter, I’m going to try and get another one out in a timely fashion but I can’t promise anything.