E Q U E S T R I A N . Q U E S T S

E P I S O D E . II

THE CYCLE ENDS HERE, ONCE AND FOR ALL

PART ONE

• Equestria -
  
• The Cliff -

Narrated by Mimir

There we were, standing on a very high cliff, overlookin' one of the most absurd looking places we'd ever seen, its name was Equestria if you don't mind me explainin', to make it short, it is the land of small magical sentient horses called ponies, and here came the question, where did this realm came from? And how did it came to be? Aye, lads, we are going to find out soon enough:

"This place is so weird, don't you think, Father?" Young Atreus said.

"Do not distract yourself, Boy." Brother Kratos spoke up, "Head, do you know were we are?" He asked me.

"I don't know a tad bit, brother, but I felt somethin' quite familiar about this strange land, I can feel it, lads, it's all startin' to get back to me." I said,

"Then we would have to scowl the rest of this land to rejuvenate your mind." Brother suggested, deciding on what to do with this rather, odd, realm.

"But Father, wouldn't that take too long? I mean, it's a very, very, wide place." Young lad said.

"Do not question, boy." Brother replied with sternness in his very heart,

"Okay."

With that said and done, we started our long and quite perilous journey, with new and unpredictable places out there in the horizon waiting for us, strange and unknown creatures we're about to encounter, and there we were, trudging down a very high cliff, intent on scowling this entire world in hopes of making me remember all about this place, since I said I felt something familiar with this world if I do say so myself, there we was, Brother, little Atreus walking down to, whatever place they were going, and I, well, per usual, hanging on the back hip, of Brother's arse, as on our current location, we were now gaining closer and closer to the tall waterfall that stands that temple, or should I say, castle, for that matter, beside. Now, let's see how this goes lads, shall we...

"Atreus, your bow, is it alright?" He started to ask.

"It's fine, but, the sky, why is it dark, I mean, this place is weird and all but-

"Aye, lad, it's probably starting to rain, perhaps a storm maybe?" I interrupted the lad,

"If it is raining, then we are going to find shelter." Brother said.

"Agreed, Brother." I agreed to what he said

"Yes sir, I'm gonna look for shelter now." Brother nodded, and so we decided to stop right on our tracks to find any sort of shelter we can find in this place for the upcoming rainstorm, or is it, a rainstorm?

"Weird, look at the sky, it's darker than what we saw back in Neiflheim, I wonder if this place is connected to it, or if Seiðr magic had something to do with it."

"Focus, boy." He reminded the young lad,

"Aye, we will get to the bottom of it once we know more of this strange place." I told him

"And to get out of it." Brother said with nonchalance.

"Bollocks, Brother, if we leave right away, we will never get to find out what's really going on here." I said.

"Let them be, this world or whatever is inhabiting here is not of our concern." Brother said, not a hint of concern for the well being of this very realm.

"But Brother, your son could never learn new and exciting things, all about this realm, creatures, the indigenous peoples living here and, of course, he'd never develop his skills as a warrior, well, not that I mention strange and unseen creatures we've never encountered before, that would be of great opportunity for the young lad, what do ya say? Can we stay here for longer?" I told and asked Brother, whose son was eager to learn a bit more about this strange new world.

"Fine, but only if the boy's development in his skills is the concern here, and restoring that gap in your memory, Head." He answered, thankfully for me and the lad, he agreed that we stay in this whole new world, for a bit longer that is.

"That's the spirit, Brother." I said joyfully. Here we are, wondering what do do now that we're bloody stuck here, while little Brother was finding our shelters in our surroundings until...

"Father! Father! Take a look! Look at the sky!" Little Atreus called out to his father.

"What is it, boy?" Brother did as he was told to and turned his head towards the night sky that reminded us of stinkin' Neiflheim, and what we saw above was very shocking on our part, absolutely shocking! We never seen something as moreover absurd and as ridiculous as what we just saw before us! Was it the work of the Æsir? Was it the work of Odin? Or was it the work of Seiðr magic? Ooh, we'll see lads, we'll see.

"The sky, i-it's flashing day and night, what's happening here?!" The boy wondered, Aye, it was a very strange sight indeed.

"What treachery is this?" Brother asked, but not as loud as his son could ask.

"Brother, what's going on there? why's it suddenly dark, and bright and so on? Could ya please bring me to what you're looking so I could see." Brother then picked me out of his belt and then held me out forwards so that I could see whatever is going on out there.

"Oh, no, by Tyr's beard. Now this is more unusual than what we've seen before brothers, day and night are flashin' back and forth bloody rapidly!" I said with utter surprise on my face.

"Okay, now this is even more wierder than before, Mimir, do you know who or what's behind this?" He asked me about what is happening to the weather above.

"I don't know for sure, m'boy, but what I know is that this, all of this, must be the work of a sort of Dark Magic, and someone, or..something must have been using and manipulating it to control the day and the night." I said, at the time I was still processing about me being familiar about this bloody realm.

"We will get to the bottom of this, come, Boy, we must go."

"Aye, Brother." I agreed to what he said, preparing for what we're about to do next.

"Yes sir." He said as he placed me back in his belt, and as we began ourselves on a very long race for the mysterious castle overhead, so we could get some answers, and find out who, or what is responsible for the bloody horrid jeopardy that's now happening in the sky.

As we are trekking towards our destination, walking our way across the cliff facing that village we just saw, nearing close to what appeared to be the castle standing beside the waterfall, as we got ourselves closer and closer, then all of a sudden, Brother held out his palm to his right, stopping little Atreus in his tracks, he stood still, seemingly alert, of what? What made him stop us? Did he saw, or sense someone, or, something, behind or afar?, hmm. I wonder...

"Stop." Brother suddenly ordered, stopping in his tracks.

"But Father, why-"

"Stay down and low." He interrupted the lad,

"Brother, why did we-" I was cut off as well.

"Shh, be quiet, Head." I did stay quiet, but why? Anyways, Brother spotted something, and it was a rather an odd sight, a sight he had never seen before, it was a someone, or a something, a creature he's familiar with but had never seen such an appearance. Then, Brother heard this creature talk with what appeared to be some other creature...

"Uh, yeah, I got a delivery here for a Mister "The Storm King". I was given explicit instructions to bring this here cake to this here castle's throne room." it spoke, with a rather faint but echoing voice, aye, Brother heard it talk to some creature miles away from him, and by the looks of it, it, or should we call a he, judging by the voice and the hairstyle, appeared to be a creature very familiar with our Spartan brother.

It was an animal, common within some other realm, it was a cat, that's right, lads and lassies, a cat, a common animal back in some other world. But what's strange about this cat is that he is legitimately bipedal, you know, standing on just two hind, or back, legs, and letting the front limbs free to grasp things as hands, or in this case, paws for that matter, and what's even stranger about this cat here is that he wears a jacket of sorts, that's right, based on what he wore, he must be the captain of a ship, well as a matter of fact, where is this ship, and where is his bloody crew? We'll figure it out, lads:

"What is it?" Young Atreus asked on whatever his father saw out there, a creature or someone, maybe, we'll see.

"Stay down, boy." Brother ordered his son, as he kept his sights at the cat-like creature conversing with a duo of, whatever they are, well to me, they looked like a couple of, masked Ogres with spears, they appear to be guarding the gate entrance to the castle, aye, things are aboit to get interesting as this is starting to go on:

"What is that big thing? And why does it smell, sweet?" Young Atreus curiously asked the big thing behind the cat creature he just saw beside his father, it looked tasty, was it food? Aye, I've seen that kind of food in some other world years before, lads, it was of a rather, unusual design with elaborate craftsmanship, they call it, cake, and man it was bloody sweet and tasty, anyways:

"Do not distract yourself with it, focus on what we are doing here, and stay low, maintain silence." Brother told his son, telling him to remain focused, avoid any sorts o' distractions, and avoid being spotted.

"Yes, Sir." He replied.

"Hmm, those four-legged creatures, they looked like a group of horses, must be the inhabitants of this world." Brother said.

"Really, horses? Lemme look." Little lad said quietly, then, upon slowly peeking from his father behind, what he saw, beside the cake of course, was an oddity of a sight before him, they were, seven creatures standing side-by-side, each wearing collars by their necks, they seem to be the ones pulling the cake, well, judging by the looks of despair on their faces, they appear to be sapient, with intelligence, smart, and what's even strange about them is that they come in different colors, and their manes, well, not exactly the ones you always see in yer' average horse, aye, their manes were of various designs, the colors, of course, there was the white, with what appeared to be some sort of swirling horn, judging by it, the white one appears to be Unicorn, well at least from what I've heard in stories, and there's pink, blue, with a strangely designed mane with colours arranging a rainbow, who also had wings, and of course by the looks, appeared to be a sort of a Pegasus from the pantheonic stories, the yellow one, also a Pegasus, orange, who is wearing a hat of an, unfamiliar design, and of course, finally, the purple one, which judging by the unusual combination of wings and that same swirling horn from the white one, appeared to be their leader, it was a rather unusual sight the lad had seen, but let's just go back shall we:

"Wow, I've never seen things such as these before, I thought they were myths, Father, did you ride horses before?" Little Atreus asked his father whether he did ride on one of the four-legged creatures.

"Yes.", Brother confirmed, aye, yes, lads, during his glory days, he used to ride one of these babies, during his time when he was a General in the bloody Great Spartan Army.

"Oh. I see." Young Atreus agreed.

"Let us not worry them, that will be a distraction, if that cat and those horses get inside that entrance, we follow them, but first we those take those two guards guarding the entrance down, then we get in." He planned, well for a bastard of pure brawn like the Ghost of Sparta, he certainly is quite clever planning out strategies, anyways, let's continue.

"Wait, did you say cat-"

"Boy." Brother cut off his questioning son, silencing him.

"Oh, sorry. No more distractions." Brother chuffed agreeably.

The lad then began to write all what he saw in his book, about the new creatures he saw, then kept the book within him.

"That certainly is a great plan, Brother, now, let's see how this goes out." I said, then, at that moment, the cat and the horses pulling the big cake were now beginning to go inside the gate, apparently, the guards allowed them entrance, but the gate, which I initially thought was a second temple, or castle, so yes, they went in, and it was our turn to spring this little strategy of ours into action, as we snuck slowly to the entrance of the huge castle, which by the way, is not a castle at all, my friends, it is actually a city! By the name of Canterlot, where, is inhabited by those spoiled-rich pompous bastards, oh, believe me, you might not want to like its populace, because they're not all that good-mannered in front of anybody socially inferior to them, except for a select few.

Back to us, we snuck slowly into the gate, hiding from rock to bushel to avoid getting seen by the two not-so-smart guards, reaching another rock, now we're already at the perfect distance, the precise range for little Atreus to accurately shoot his arrow, just the perfect spot in initiating our plan:

"Atreus, get ready to fire on my mark, aim for the eyes, the only vulnerable part of its mask." Brother commanded,

"Yes Sir." Preparing his bow and arrow to shoot the unsuspecting masked guard's eye, the young lad began to aim his shot for his small and narrow target, on this guard's mask were two holes so that he can see, and that's where the arrow hits, as he pulled the string of his bow, holding it steadily, pointing with careful accuracy for the eye.

"Keep it steady, hold it until you shoot on my command." Brother told him.

"Okay.", keeping the aim as sharp as possible. As he was about to bloody do it.

"Now." Our Spartan brother ordered as his son lets go of the bowstring, launching forth an arrow bolt, empowered by electrified dragon magic.

(shwing)

"Þruma!" He cried out, as the arrow soaring towards its target hit the guard square in his eyes with pinpoint accuracy, as was intended, electrocuting the bloody life out of the poor unsuspecting bastard, well his mask and his armor made from metal to worsen the damage already done in the eye, the other guard, alerted, tried to come to his aid, but this was a grave mistake for him, as he let his sorry little guard down, being not as smart as we was always, then came all of a sudden:

"RUAAARGH!!"

SHHRRIIKK!! KKKKKKTTTT!!

That is the mistake I was referring to for the poor guard's part, as he was suddenly met with a slice to the abdomen, as well as being shouded with some ice shards, by a bladed weapon, and you lads can guess what this bladed weapon is and whom did it belong, aye, it belonged to our guy, the Ghost of Sparta, he was reponsible for finishing that dumbass of a guard's life by a stealthy attack while he turned his back on him, he collapsed to the ground, as well as the one electrocuted by the arrow shot, the latter dropped a cold as ice, lifeless body, dead, the other, well I don't know what to say about that.

"That was quite a nice aim, m'boy." I complimented young Atreus' shot by his arrow.

"Thanks, I never knew that arrow'd done that damage, besides, his mask and armor didn't protect him, it's made of metal, so that oughta made worse for him."

"I would not say that." Brother alarmed us, as the guard struck by the arrow earlier, bad news lads, he was still but barely alive, he started to weakly raise his arm, but it was too late for him as the moment he tries to get himself up:

TSHHHHLK!!

It was finished, the guard was put into a gruesome silence when his face was quickly slammed by the foot of the mighty Ghost of Sparta, blood bursted on a small area, smudging his foot, he scraped it off on the dust, "It is finished, now, come, let us go inside.", Brother announced.

"I'm right behind you, Father."

"Now, we'll see what really is going on here and find out who's responsible for all this bloody mess.", I said as Brother only replied with a chuff, then we began to our way inside the gate, leaving the cold, lifeless bodies of the two guards we made short bloody work of.

There we finally made it to the outskirts of the elegantly crafted city, although at this time, is not as elegant as we thought it always was, aye, it was the complete opposite of what we perceive the city, beautiful, rich, and peaceful, instead, what we walked before us, well, lads, it's a total mess of civilization, a shadow of what I've seen as its former glory, everything, from buildings, to streets laden with debris, no sign of life, much like a ghost town, all a total mess, and as we walked through the ruined streets of the once prosperous city of Canterlot, our Spartan brother, Kratos, the Ghost of Sparta, began to question regardin' this matter:

• Equestria -
  
• Canterlot Ruins -

"What, happened here?" Lookin' around as we walk through the streets of this once rich civilization, we looked around at the surroundings, all devoid of any color, life, not even a scream of a single person, or pony for that matter, aye lads, the only sounds we hear are nothing more but creakin' wheels from wrecked-up carts, and buzzards screeching as they circle around the ruins, tch, tch, tch, aye, now that's one heap of big mess we got in our hands, and we're going to find out who's the bastard responsible for all this heartless treachery.

"Someone is coming." Brother suddenly alerted us, who is coming?

"Who?", asked his son, as we are alerted, within some buildings, a guard, similar to the previous two we just took down, came out marching, along with a group of his own kin, "What do we d-"

"Over there, quick." Brother cut off his son, and pointed where to go, as we were heading towards the alleyway to hide from the masked dobbers, while Brother peeked his head out to see what's bloody happenin' there, "More of them." He said.

"What? Those masked guys, the same ones we killed earlier?".

"Yes." Our Spartan brother confirmed his son's question.

"What do we do, Father?", the lad said in a very low voice, hiding in the alleyway, not knowing what to do now that we're surrounded by these hulkin' bloaters.

"We wait here until they are-" Brother was cut off his words when he heard someone speaking in the streets behind him and the alleyway.

"Mmm! Pie! Oh, hello, cake! Ooh! Don't mind if I do!", a voice behind Brother attacted his attention, a bit curious, "Mmm! That's some, like, gourmetithing! Who putth eyeballth in filling?" he decided to turn the other way, to peek on what's goin' on there, and upon setting his sights on the street on the other side of the alley, what Brother saw was something he saw before, it was the little ponies, their cart of that big cake, and of course, the bipedal cat leading them. Among what he saw were The inhabitants of the city, also wearing the same despaired looks and wearing collars, being treated around like slaves by those bulking podders, some locked in small cages, but they mattered little to our Spartan brother, as his main focus was with the ones pulling the big cake to, whoever it is they want to give it.

"It is the horses and that cat again." Brother called out, his son laggin' behind him.

"Really?" Taking a look, it was them, "It is those horses, but, whom they will give that thing, and who's that little guy?", he asked.

"It does not concern us, Boy, do not make distractions."

"Yes, Sir.", the boy replied quietly.

"Do not take your eyes off them.", Brother ordered.

"Right." As we were watching the ponies, the cat, and the little one, I think the lad's name was Grubber, right? Aye, Grubber, anyways, we were keepin' watch over them, hidin' from plain sight, until:

"GUARDS!!" The little lad called Grubber hyperventilated, alerting all of the guards patrolling the streets, only to be pulled into the cake by a sort of a, parrot, creature, thing? Well, anyways, the guards were on full alert upon that, poor little horses, unable to find a way to escape, let alone a plan of course.

"Uh-oh, Plan B?" Brother heard the cat speak, but that mattered little to him.

"The jig is up!" The blue Pegasus with the rainbow mane started to speak, but that also mattered little to him.

"Father, they talked. So they are smart.", young Atreus said, who was behind his father all this time.

"Aye, of course, little brother, who else would build this surprisingly magnificent city, although it's a mess now, but, judging by those horses tied like bloody slaves, they must be the ones who built it."

Then suddenly, out of the bloody blue, three creatures suddenly burst out of the tasty dessert, all three of them look like parrots, but judging by their clothing, they were pirates or Reavers, and oh, guess what, the one in the middle, aye, she must BE the captain if I'm not mistaken, by Tyr's beard, it only took us by surprise a little, well except for Brother, who was simply watching on the events transpiring right know, considering he's not a rather, surpriseable, type, anyways, the three bird creatures screech as they were preparing themselves for a bloody full-throttle battle against the guards surrounding them, holding swords, wait, so they have swords? Eh, anyways, the three bird creatures started to battle it out against the guards, or should we say Storm Guards for that matter, for us, we were simply watching the not-so-bloody spectacle right in front of us.

"Come on!" The female parrot creature commanded as they prepare to assault the Storm Guards, the green parrot sliced off three of their spears, with his hook, being a pirate that's for sure, then this horse-bird like creature swooped down on another one and took him to the skies in its, or judging by her looks, her talons, but we didn't pay any attention to it, focusing more on the main battle before us, then, this other green one, with a seemingly crazy attitude, shoved a what they call a life preserver into another guard, squeezing him silly into it, aye, now that's a rather childish way to fight these bloaters, anyways, then this other pink one delivered another guard a swift kick right in his sweet sensitive groin, eye, not gory, but still excruciating for the guard's part of course, and then, on the other half, the orange colored horse that wore a hat used some sort of a rope to dangle another guard's legs, pulling it, thus bringing him down to the ground, biting the dust, I must say that was quite an impressive feat if I do say so myself. Next, three guards, not lookin' down like the dumbasses they were usual, tripped over what appeared to be a string of sorts, or ribbon, should I call it, then it was, a-hem excuse me, magically wrapped over by the white Unicorn, probably using that spirally horn on her head, judging by it glowin', of course, helped out by that cat creature.

"Lovely" we heard her spoke.

The next one, as taken on by the pink horse, who "generously" gave him, "Surprise!" a gift box of sorts, a dumb bastard he is, he was surprised by a-hem, the same one, she was supposed to zoom away at this moment but suddenly appeared in the box for whatever reason, "DOUBLE SURPRISE!!!", she yelled, slamming what we call a cupcake, into the baffled Storm Guard's masked face, blinded, the pink one started to spin her forehooves and "Weeeee!!" flung an unlimited barrage of cupcakes, while the guard smacked himself silly into a wall, the pink one laughing bloody maniacally as she continued her assault. As for the yellow Pegasus, well, let's not talk about that one shall we.

It was one of the most absurd fighting we've ever witnessed back at the sidelines, although they're still fighting for the safety of this here city, meanwhile, amidst the battle, Brother, who was watching the battle unfold, had finally spoke up regarding the events transpiring in front of him, not by amazement, but rather, disappointment:

"Pathetic." He said all rather, coldly, lamenting the ponies' rather pathetic and unviolent way of fighting their enemies.

"Why? They're fighting the bad guys, shouldn't they-"

"They do not fight like warriors, they fight, like a group of inexperienced children, who does not know any idea of what true fighting is." He cut the Boy off.

"So..shouldn't we help 'em?" He asked Brother.

"No, we are going to see this to the end, to see how they will keep up with those guards.", Brother said.

"Okay."

As the fighting raged on, the white parrot creature and her crew, along with the blue Pegasus, were holding the Storm Guards off, while the rest escape the battle, the white parrot ordered, "Head to the castle! We'll hold them off." As the group of horses were heading straight to their destination, the Castle itself, they were, unfortunately, stopped in their tracks, you know why? Because there is someone, something, very big, that just got in their way, blockin' their path ahead of the castle.

"Ah, c'mon!" Yelled the orange horse. It was another bloody Storm Guard, but no worries, sure, as a pushover he can be, they can take him down in mere seconds but wait, is it? there's somethin' different, no, strange about this guard, and he was standin' just right there, right in the way of the ponies, somethin' looks wrong about him, and why is he glowin' brightly yellow-

Wait...

Lads, Oh-oh no...

This can't be, this is not very good...

Real ugly...

"You will have to face me first if you want to pass!" The Storm Guard spoke in a very intelligiable voice, surprising the livin' shit outta the four little ponies, and the cat.

"Make me!" Said the blue Pegasus, as bold as she can be, she assaulted the guard head-on, confident that she can take the so-called stupid guard, but she made a grave mistake, her confidence about to fail her, her arrogance blinding her on the way, as the guard simply put his palm forward, and in a rapid succesion, swatted the flying blue Pegasus away, sending her slamming into a house, then into some debris, knocking the unfortunate Pegasus fully unconsious.

This definitely surprised the bloody crap outta the ponies, who made a mistake in judging the Storm Guard, who seemingly obtained vast intelligence, as the next one's about to make the move and attack, "Come, you fools, any of you who wish to attack me, try it."

The orange mare attacked. "Ya cornsarn varmint! Nopony hurts my friend!" She threw another rope from her jaw in an attempt to ensnare his legs, but that ultimately led to failure as her rope was rapidly snatched by the guard's hand.

"Is that the best you can do, you equine bitch!" I've never seen him mutter such foul language in this world before, aye, lads, with the rope in his hand, he then, without mercy,

SLAM!!
SLAM!!
CRUNCH!!
CRUNCH!!

slammed the life outta the orange mare, side to side, to the complete shock and utter horror of the others, she was slammed, grunting in pain, and slammed uncontrollably by the berserk Storm Guard, and to end his furious assault, he tossed the orange pony away, sending her crashing and sliding on the ground and finally resting next to her friends, unconsious. A very gruesome near-death experience indeed, lads, tch, tch, tch, what a poor creature.

As the other ponies gasped in utter horror of what they've seen, "APPLEJACK!!" They all yelled, the orange mare apparantly with a name, what was it, Applejack? Yes, Applejack, what an odd-soundin' name, anywho:

Looking at the empowered Storm Guard at complete terror, he said, "Puny mare. She doesn't realize how overwhelmed she is, now, you foolish, insignificant, equids, witness, MY FULL POWERRR!!!! HA, HA, HA, HA, HA!!!!", He laughed with all pure evil in his heart, a laugh as evil and malicious as Odin's himself, as he started to unleash a huge torrent of a yellow-colored wave of energy spiraling with a bluish one that's- wait, Oh, I know what he's plannin'. Aye, As the yellow and blue wave glew more brightly, blinding everyone but us in its wake, it split, yes, split, into smaller yellow and blue waves, and you know what they're going, they were heading straight into the other Storm Guards, perhaps maybe empowering them as the one himself did, not good.

They started to groan, then screamed in excruciating pain, they began to feel overwhelming power flowing through their veins, they became much more stronger, more intelligent, more brutal than ever, the other one ensnared by the rope ripped off the knot tying his foot with all the rage he's got, roaring angrily as he did so, the three guards tied by the ribbon string easily ripped their way out, roaring as well, meanwhile amidst that, let's see how our little yellow Pegasus was doing with the other batch of Storm Guards:

"You seem tense. Do you wanna talk about it?", she said, the Storm Guard looked at her in confusion.

"Uuh?-Eergh!", but it was too late to show him her power of kindness, when suddenly, his body strangely began to stiffen, like he was havin' a seizure, the yellow Pegasus lookin' on in confusion, then, after a few minutes, he screamed in extreme pain, "RRRRAAAARRRRGH-RRGH-RRGH-RRGH!!!"

"Oh my! Mister, are you alright?" The little lassie asked, concerned about what's happenin' to the poor, poor, bastard, he screamed, and screamed, clutchin' his head and banging his head into a wall, then...he stopped, his body began to twitch, what's goin' on here? Oh, I'll tell ya my friends, his body, began to glow in a bright blue aura, his eyes burning bright blue with all pure fury, shockin' the livin' hair out of the sweet little Pegasus. Then, more shockingly for her, he began, to laugh, coldly, and more, evily, with maliciousness plaguing his very heart, his laughing echoed, scaring more of the terrified little lassie.

"No, I don't need your petty little kindness, pony, because I already have it all, RIGHT HERE!!" After saying those bloody, horrifying words, the yellow Pegasus began to back away, struck in pure terror, as the empowered Storm Guard began approaching her, nearing her, slowly, intent on seeking her body as only lifeless...then..he stopped, the yellow lass still purely terrified, and then at this very moment:

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWR!!!!''

He roared, straight at her face, now struck with pure terror as the empowered Storm Guard unleashed a terrifying ear-piercing roar, right at her sweet little face, who was now as still as a statue, a single teardrop slidin' from her eye as what she was seein' right now, ooh, he was not the same Storm Guard she was tryin' to tame, but rather somethin', different, more cruel, more vicious, more untamed than ever, and as for the blue aura surrounding him, aye, we'll find out lads, as I'm going to tell you first what happened to us back in the alleyway, watchin' the bloody scene unfold before our very eyes:

"Father, what's going on, that light! I-it hit the guards, what happened to 'em?"

"They were empowered by the big one there on the left, the horses fought well, but was not enough, seemingly the big one was possesed by some sort of magic." Brother said to his son's question, then, I finally found the provocation to speak, and I told them:

"Oh, no, oh, no this can't be good, brothers, do you feel that? I can feel this strange power going around here".

"What is it, Mimir?"

"It's a, very powerful magic I feel so familiar with, aye, two forms of powerful magic, that I can feel them no doubt, and it's-..Oh, bloody damn.".

Brother brought me to his front, "What do you mean, Head?", he demanded.

"What are you trying to say?" The young lad asked.

"It's very bad, Brother, what I just sensed, not good, it's, Seiðr magic, if I'm not mistaken. Oh no, not that, I'm not mistaken, I can really feel it, brothers, it's the Seiðr magic."

"That is not possible." Brother said in disbelief.

"That can't be, if that's Seiðr magic you're sensing, h-how did it get into this world?".

"I don't know, little brother, but somethin' tells me that those horses and their friends won't stand a chance, Seiðr magic is too much tor them, and once it possesses and empowers you, you become, well, pretty much not, yourself." I said.

"So you mean those guys we killed earlier were now infected by Seiðr magic? oh, no. That's not good. Those guys are now stronger than ever."

"Wait, lad, I sense another one and it's," I used my senses in the air to snuff out this emanating source of magic and what I unfortunately found, is: "Ooh, man, how could it be that of all bloody things.", I lamented, sensing yet another powerful source of magic emanating from the battlefield.

"What is it, Head?" Brother asked me what magic or a source of power that i just snuffed out from the air.

"Oh, aye, it's it alright, it's the frozen mystical energy from Helheim, and I'm not mistaken, Brother, it is the energy from the frozen pits of Hel itself. Even more worse for the horses."

"No way, you mean those other groups of guards are now infested by Hel energy?".

"Not a wee doubt, little brother, if those guards are infected with this amount of that nasty Hel energy, their souls and life force get consumed slowly, under the weight of its raw untamed power, killing them from the inside, once their souls are gone and leaving nothing but a shell of a body, the energies take them over and they became a new batch of-"

"Hel-Walkers." The lad finished what I was explainin', so it was confirmed, and it's really really bad, no, from bad to more worse, bad news for our little ponies and their friends, not only we have those Storm Guards empowered by Seiðr magic, but we now have those other guards that are now slowly becoming Hel-Walkers thanks to that nasty bloody energy from Helheim.

"Hel-Walkers! Those guards are starting to become Hel-Walkers. Father, what do we do? please, Sir, we should help 'em, those horses don't know what they're up against, they won't stand a chance, c'mon, please!", young Atreus pleaded his father to help the unfortunate ponies, he simply looked on silent, the boy's words seemingly fell on deaf ears, then suddenly, Brother came up with his decision and then:

"Very well, if that meant fighting those creatures, and the horses leading us to whoever is responsible for this treachery, then it is our turn to fight, let us finish this."

"Yes!" The lad exclaimed excitedly, preparing his bow and arrow for the big fight that's about to come for him.

"Atreus, ready yourself, this fight is going to be serious, keep your expectations low, and anticipate your enemies' attacks, remember that.".

"Yes, Sir." He answered to his father, getting ready to jump into action to stop the infected Storm Guards from finishing off the ponies and their companions.

Meanwhile, the yellow Pegasus, completely terrified to her very bone and flesh, backed away anxiously as the Storm Guard powered by Seiðr magic slowly neared the poor mare as she backed away in utter fear, crying, intent on choking the life outta her, oh the poor lassie, as her fate is about to be sealed, "Foolish little pony, now is the time for you to say your farewell!" he laughed evilly, as he did so, he held out and opened his palm, intent on blasting the sweet lassie with a bolt of Seiðr magic, she closed her eyes, she seemingly about to be finished off for sure, until, at this very moment, she heard a sound, a sound of something spinning, but that mattered little to her, as she's about to die, anyway, "SAY GOODBYE, ALONG WITH YOUR DAMN FRIENDS AND THIS WORLD!!" The Storm Guard yelled as his hand was fully charged with magic.

"I failed you, my friends, I, I couldn't fight them, I, I, I...wasn't strong enough, Twilight's right, Friendship failed us, and it failed me.", she said tearfully. Aw, what a poor little lassie she is as she's about to be reduced to magical dust by the empowered Storm Guard, "Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Everypony, Angel Bunny, I don't know what I am gonna say but, this is it, I'm now...done for." She sobbed as she spoke her mind, "Goodbye my friends, and even though I'm not gonna be around, I will always love you, friends forever...Friendship...lives...on." the yellow mare said as she was about to accept her ultimate fate, the poor mare, is now about to be reduced to oblivion, the end of her very precious little life, that is, until:

(shwing)

WHOK, WHOK, WHOK, WHOK

TSHHHHHLK!! (Blood splattering)

The Pegasus shot her eyes open, as the Storm Guard about to blast her, suddenly dropped his hand, when she looked at his face...she was completely shocked to see the guard's face. His left side of his head, what she saw, was a blade, aye, lads, a bladed weapon, a blade on the side of a wooden stick, dug deeper, punctured and stuck on his left side, blood spurting out of it, yes, it was an axe, a very mysterious axe, where did it came from? it belonged to somebody, whom the young pegasus doesn't know who.

"W-What? What just happened?" The guard then fell down to the ground with a hard thud, his aura slowly fading out, he was dead, all of his life force leaving him, dead on the spot, but who did it? Then, suddenly, what she heard, the sounds of feet, stepping on the floor, the noise growing louder and louder as who or whatever it is is slowly approaching the already fear-stricken yellow Pegasus.

"Hello? W-Who's there? Somepony?", as what she saw in the dust, a figure, slowly growing bigger as it approached her, she ducked down, ears lowering, scared as always was, the the dust began to clear its way to reveal the figure's identity, whatever it has business on the mare, it better be good.

"Wh-What is-?" Then, after the dust cleared, what the mare saw was completely something she didn't see everyday...

It, was a creature, nothing had ever seen in her humble little life, an existence, unlike any other, a being, of an unknown origin, nothing she found familiar about this strange being, but the question is, what was its purpose? Why did it came here? What was its business with her? Was killing anyone or its sole only purpose? Or was it willing and saving her life was its only goal? No lads, what she saw doesn't look like any savior that best suits her kindly demeanor, what she saw in the creature, was completely different. It was tall, big, and mysterious, this, what she saw, what she thinks as a bald, hairless minotaur who wore clothing.

What made the Pegasus more curious, is that what she saw in its features, first off, the skin. This creature had the color of the skin that is as white as any archetypal ghost, it also had red markings running down its right arm, to the left side its face, sliding downward and ending in a point, to her opinion, was it its natural skin? Part of its body? I wouldn't think so if I were her laddies.

Aye, it then sported a full grown bushy beard, obscuring a part of what appeared to be its lips and a very, frown expression with narrowed chestnut-colored eyes, as if it was looking at her in a very angry expression...this definitely intimidated the shit outta the young lassie, as well as being more nervous than before, as this creature continues to stare at her, herself not knowing what this figure is going to do with her, then, she asked with a small hint of fear in her heart.

"Wh-Wh-Who, are you?", the figure simply stared her on, eyes still narrowed, as if he was staring at her with a seemingly agitated expression, startling the young Pegasus a bit. Yes, lads, ya guessed it...he was the one.

Our man...

Her savior...

The one responible in bringing the Seiðr empowered Storm Guard to a gruesome silence...

A fierce warrior...

A legend...

Our Brother...

And his name, a forbidden name born from legends...is Kratos...the Ghost of Sparta.

T O . B E. Ω . C O N T I N U E D . . .

A T R E U S' . B E S T I A R Y

? ? ?

What is he? Father saw him, he called him a cat, if he's a cat, then why is he standing on two legs? He can also speak perfectly, we heard it. How's that possible? Hmm.

Author's Note

Here we go, second chapter done, and done, part 2 will be comin', and like before, I expect mixed reviews from you guys, so feel free to comment whether it's good or bad or whatnot, remember, this is one of my first attempts in making a story, so till the next chapter folks. And May the 4th be with you.