Author's Note

This prologue chapter was written much later after the first few handfuls of chapters, and takes place one year beforehand.
I just felt I needed to make it to clarify something later on in the story, and because I thought it'd be cool.
The official beginning of the story is Chapter 1.

Prologue, Soulless Reaper: The Hawk Among Us.

Oblivion is inescapable to those who do not hold the willpower of the gods

A faint, indescribable ruckus brushed past the perked ears of a peculiar striped pony as he turned his attention towards the sound. Within his place of origin, Tartarus, Soulless Reaper stood as still as an acute hare, waiting for another clue to fuel the attention he had given to the quieter sounds of an already loud area. To his surprise, Soul again heard the reoccurring noise of what now sounded like an actual physical dispute between several different beings. He turned towards the source to quickly find it was coming from the direction of the Banished Cells, where those banished to Tartarus are held for eternity unless they are set free by Hades himself.

The quick and sweeping thought of a riot within the cells both worried and excited Soul. Beings who are strong enough to break out are a force to be reckoned with, but Soul welcomed any scent of action within the Underworld whenever he could. With swift movements, Soul made his way towards and throughout the Banished Cells, his accelerated breathing being the only sound clashing against the clopping of his hooves and the slight clanking of the blades on his triple-pronged scythe. The Banished cells seemed like a maze to Soul as he hazardously navigated them, but before he felt truly lost, Soul's direction was quickly assured by a loud crash which sounded like a large piece of metal being thrown at some defenseless pottery. After a few hasty corner-turns, Soul found the commotion he sought.

The sight Soul was presented with widened his eyes and ruffled his feathers. One of the Oblivion guards of the prison lay motionless under a slew of shattered urns. It surprised Soul to see something he thought was quite tough helplessly strewn on the floor in an unconscious mess. (Cardio time! Chase music!)

'Is this the warden?....what happened here?' Just as he turned his attention toward the end of the hall, Soul's pondering was cut short as he barely caught eye of a being quickly turning the corner from which he had come. Haste overthrew Soul's confusion as he swiftly took tail of his lead and bent around the same corner, chasing closely after the supposed culprit. Upon gaining sight of his target, Soul could faintly deduce the being as humanoid in shape.

'I never knew humans could be this fast. There's something different about this one' Soul thought over the sound of his own harsh heaving. After nearly a minute of chasing his anonymous target back through the cell halls, the figure finally reached the bridge that connected the Banished Cells to the mainland of the Underworld with Soul in hot pursuit. In the slightly more revealing light outside, Soul could confirm that he was in fact chasing a plain-looking human male. From what Soul's perspective showed, the man was shirtless with navy-blue jeans and black sneakers that held surprisingly well considering his speed. Jet-black hair flowed behind him like dark blades of grass swaying in the wind. However, Soul's mid-chase inspection was cut short as the man suddenly landed on his right foot to sharply turn left down a nearby hallway. As he mimicked the escapee's direction, Soul looked up to notice that the man was headed in the direction of Hades' tower.

As he pondered the mysterious inmate's intentions, Souls spoke up out of impulse "I hope you're not headed for Hades himself! He really hates it when beings try to escape!". To his dismay, the man didn't seem phased by Soul's words, as he kept moving on the same route without so much as looking back. Soul decided to slow down to catch his breath as the two reached the dreaded tower, sure that the man would, at least, have trouble making it through the gate and guards behind it.

Then, like a thrown brick slamming him in the face, the sound of boom followed by a large wooden crash hit Soul and shook him for a moment before he gave attention to the gate. One of the doors just in front of him lay flat against ground, and the regular human Soul had been chasing was on the other side, charging head-long against a crowd of guards who had been alerted to the man's entrance. Soul watched in disbelief as the clearly inhuman male tackled shoulder-first into the first guard, shoving him aside like a branch hanging on a tree. The three following him quickly met the same fate as they were tossed aside by the train of mere skin, meat and bone that opposed them.

"Dammit!" Soul shouted to himself as his mind came back to him "I don't know who this guy is, but I can't let him get to Hades!" With frustration now pushing him, Soul double-timed his speed into the spiral-staircase of the towering structure. Over his own, Soul could hear the pounding footsteps of the man above him on the stairway. As he tried to catch up, an idea presented itself to Soul; he gave his wings a sharp look before spreading them and leaping into the middle of the staircase. Within the somewhat confined hole in stairs that led to the top of the tower, Soul's wings had just enough space to allow him to increase his speed at climbing the tower, quickly passing the man with a swoop of turbulence. For nearly half a breath's moment, Soul caught the glance on the human who sped up the stairs of the tower. A feeling of unease struck Soul as the man's piercing, green-eyed gaze tore into his own with a look of determination and strife.

'This guy's got a nasty vibe. I have to stop him now!' Soul concluded to himself as he swooped up out of the staircase and landed in front of the door to Hades' throne room. The resounding clatter of hastened footsteps filled the air as the man continued to climb stair after stair, the sound growing ever louder and closer as he ascended. Within just a few moments, the man stepped off the last stair and, to Soul's surprise, stopped before the striped Underworld pony. From the front, Soul saw that the man looked somewhat young for his build and stature, and his face bore a scar that angled from the bridge of his nose down to his left cheek.

"Stop, prisoner!" Soul demanded, quick to speak against the human "You can't run amok like this! Return to your cell at once, and stay there until you are released!" In his haste, Soul hadn't noticed how alarmed he had become whilst shouting.

As Soul's words reached him, the stern expression on the man's face quickly faded, replaced by slight confusion. He scoffed lightly and looked behind him before tilting forward "You're kidding, right?" The man spoke in a low, young adult-like tone. Through his now clear appearance and voice, Soul guessed he was no older than his late twenties. "After beating up my warden, storming into Hades' tower, and charging through a crowd of guards, I honestly didn't think I'd be given the option to just quietly return to my cell like a good little boy"

"We're used to your kind of riotous type here" Soul retorted in a lower voice "As well, we can't torture the lives of the still-living. Your condemnation to rot in jail is punishment enough"

"That doesn't seem like a very effective punishment" The male quickly rebutted, motioning towards himself

"If you'd like, the alternate punishment is death" Shot back Soul with a mocking tone

"That's the answer I was looking for!" Said the man as he swiftly slammed his right fist into the opposing palm. As quick as his words, The man dashed forward towards Soul, who matched the speed of his opponent in drawing his scythe to strike. Just as the three blades swept towards Soul's target, the man ducked down and slid on his knees against the smooth tiled floor, slipping under Soul's weapon and bouncing back to his feet on the opposite side of Soul. With his enemy off-balance, the man quickly took to the doors behind Soul, immediately bursting them open with a side kick that cracked the very handles it landed on. To Soul's dismay, Hades was there in the room, quietly sitting on a black and dark-blue regal chair behind a similarly-colored desk. He was focusing on something just as the doors to his chambers flew open, only catching his attention as he took off and placed down a pair of glasses that Soul had never seen him wear before.

After a silence of a few moments, Hades clasped his hands and re-adjusted his stare as he spoke "Can I help you?"

Before Soul could interject, the human spoke up in a demanding manner "Hades, I have been imprisoned here without accusation by underhanded works of magic. I demand repossession of my sword and exit of this place, or I'll do both those things myself!"

Without changing his somewhat pleased and light expression, Hades turned to look at Soul, who stood as still as stone just a few feet behind the human "Heya, Soul! You got any idea who this guy is?" Hades asked as he pointed a pale blue finger towards the human, who crossed his arms in response.

"...no idea, sir" Soul hesitantly admitted

"Well, he looks human. Are you human?" Hades quickly quizzed the man

"...sort of?" The man replied with a shrug

"Right! So, tell me, Soul..." Hades cut himself as he crawled along the floor as a tiny blue flame before reappearing before the doorway and speaking in a raising tone "...why....he escaped....FROM HIS CELL?!" The blue flames atop Hades' head burst into a furiously burning orange, painting his head a burning flushed red.

As embarrassment and fear overtook Soul's thoughts, his attempt to reply was stopped when the man spoke up "Hey listen, hothead, the pony had nothing to do with this-"

"I'M NOT TALKING...TO YOU!" Hades swiftly retorted with an incriminating point aimed at the man as he cut off his sentence. The flames on Hades' head burned bright for a few moments before they sizzled back down to his calmer blue state "Okay...fine, fine...it's cool. I'm fine" Following a couple deep breaths, Hades' continued towards the nameless man "Listen, kid, not breakin' out is one of my rules, and ya can't go around breaking other people's stuff, ya know?"

"Yeah, I know" The man replied blankly.

Hades was silent for a couple seconds before he spoke up "...yeah...so then why'd you break out?" Hades asked in an annoyed tone

"Well...I didn't know that was a rule until now" Said the man, in the same blank tone.

"YOU...." Hades quickly shouted back, the flames on his head flashing orange and back to blue as he held back his anger "Soul, would you mind handling this? Kinda busy"

"Of course" Soul firmly replied, shooting a look towards the man "Let's go, prisoner. There's nowhere left for you to run"

The man's expression suddenly grew stern as he returned Soul's gaze "I'm not leaving this tower until I get what I came here for" He spoke in a harder tone. Soul could feel the tension between the two of them rising as the man made his statement. Sharpening his stare, Soul took a readied stance where he stood across the room.

Scarcely breaking the tension, Hades spoke up "Ah! Alright...how about...we make things a little interesting, huh?" He clasped his hands together as his eyes jumped from Soul to the man across from him "If you can beat little old Soulless Reaper here, I'll let you have your stuff back. Eh? Sound like a fair deal?"

As if he gleamed at the proposition of a fight, the man's expression lit up upon Hades' words. He darted his gaze back to Soul as he spoke "You've got yourself a deal, Fireman" The man said towards Hades whilst keeping his attention on Soul "I'd be lying if I said I didn't expect it to come to this". Just as he finished speaking, The human immediately took his own fighting stance, standing sideways and sliding his foot forward. His arms came up sideways to chest-height as he clenched his fists hard and tensed his muscles. From a glance Soul could tell he was a man who clearly revered battle, considering his quick agreement to a duel and his seeming contentedness to fight Soul despite the fact that he was unarmed. A faint sense of smugness flushed through Soul as he began guessing that the man wouldn't stand a chance against any form of skilled aggression. Pulling his triple-pronged scythe off his back, Soul stood on his hind legs in preparation of an impending need to swiftly move.

"...well, anytime you're ready, fellas" Hades blurted, breaking the small silence that had gathered over the last few moments. He sat at attention at his desk, awaiting the battle to begin. (And so it shall: Time to Rawk with the Hawk! Battle music!)

Just as Hades finished speaking, the man immediately stomped his foot down hard into the floor. Soul had barely turned his attention from Hades to his opponent in time to see the human dash off the spot he was standing on, causing the tile underneath his foot to shatter under his force. As the man's fist came crashing down upon him, Soul narrowly dodged by jumping back and keeping himself afloat on his wings, causing the man's powerful attack to crack the floor where it landed. Within the brief moment before Soul's counterattack, the man looked up to meet his gaze to show that his previously light-green irises had somehow become a flourishing red. With a quick swoop, Soul dashed down at the man as he crouched still on the ground, intent to take advantage of the opening. To his sudden dismay, however, Soul's downward slash was nimbly avoided by the man with a slight movement of his body as he leaned his chest away from the blades. The moment the man threw a fist toward his enemy's incoming body, Soul reacted by shifting his weight and spinning in mid-air, then swinging on his scythe to boot the man away with both his hind legs. Using the momentum of this counter, Soul then tore his weapon from the ground as he leaped through the air, slashing downward once again on the man just as he had recovered.

Yet, like an arrow through the gut, a moment of shock hit Soul just as his attack connected. Everything seemed to move slowly as Soul watched the man duck forward at an incredible speed, coming close enough to Soul that the staff of his scythe was instead the part that landed roughly against the man's right shoulder. With naught more than a flinch, the man took the pain in-stride as he swiftly grasped his opposing hand to Soul's throat, using his other to toss the weapon away. With a tightening of the grip he had on his enemy's gullet, the man leaped through the air before spinning once and whipping Soul's entire being to the hard ground, shooting strikes of pain to his back and pulling the air from his lungs. On the momentum of his throw, the man half-spun once more before falling onto Soul's stomach with his elbow, producing the same amount of force and pain on the opposite side of his torso. As if punishing opponents was to his delight, the man continued his onslaught by quickly rolling backwards and lifting Soul off the ground with a hard swing kick to the head, before dashing forward at his raised form, slamming a shoulder into Soul's back hard enough to send him flying towards a bookshelf. Nerves throughout Soul's spine and shoulders protested violently against him, pulsing with torrents of pain and keeping the downed pony flat on his back beside the furniture he had just smashed into. Soul flinched hard as a single book tipped off it's edges and fell sideways onto his snout.

"Wahahahow, wow!...WOW! Now THAT was one heck of a show, I'll tell you. One HECK...of a show" Hades spoke up in an impressed manner, clapping his hands slowly "I don't think I've ever seen someone beat on ol' Reaper like that before, to tell ya the truth"

Soul, still grasping onto his consciousness, managed to open his eyes to assess Hades and the human. Upside-down in Soul's sight, the man lay one hand on his slightly-reddened shoulder, and was moving it about in a circle, as if exercising it's joint. He was looking down at Soul with a blank, yet stern, expression, and the light-green coloring had returned to his eyes. Hades walked in from the man's right side and patted him on the back before speaking "You fight pretty good, kid. What's your name?"

The man had turned his gaze from Hades to Soul before responding "Jayhawk. Call me Jayhawk". On his words, the man stopped his shoulder's motion and clenched his fist hard in front of him before throwing his arm down by his side.

"Well, 'Jayhawk', I suppose I owe ya your stuff back" Hades confessed, walking back over to his desk. He bent down and began writing something on a small piece of paper before speaking again in a lower tone "Goodness knows I'm not even sure if ya need it..."

"What about him?" Jayhawk asked, breaking Hades concentration to gain his attention. As Hades looked up, he saw Jayhawk pointing at a collapsed Soulless Reaper, who groaned lightly in response "I don't suppose you want to leave a beaten pony in your study?"

"Oh, yeah, right. I'll get someone up here to fix him up" Hades replied, holding up the piece of paper "Take this to the directory, and tell 'em you want your stuff back. They'll tell ya where to get it, and all that"

As Hades walked over to Jayhawk and handed him the note, Soul's vision suddenly began to fade. Jayhawk looked down at him with the same blank expression before Soul's consciousness gave up entirely, leaving his mind to a black void.

A small chill was in the air as Soul stood still at the shore of the River Styx, idly watching it's unnatural flow. Sore bruisers and battered bones still hung heavy on his wings and back, constantly reminding him of his failure. His mood mopey and grim, Soul closed his eyes and hung his head down, shameful of what his overconfidence had brung him.

"Hey. Soulless Reaper, was it?" A familiar voice from behind Soul approached, startling him as he looked backwards. Soul turned to see the very human he had chased, fought, and lost to standing behind him. The man now wore a black shirt on his upper body which had it's sleeves rolled up to his elbows, with a belt and sling strapped over his right shoulder which housed a large, two-handed sword with a golden handle. The man's seemingly upbeat expression faltered as he noticed the few bandages on Soul's head and torso. He raised one of his hands, which both now bore a pair of fingerless gloves, up to the back of his head and scratched it sheepishly before speaking again "You feeling any better?"

Soul stayed silent, still somewhat bitter for his loss and embarrassment in front of Hades. Any cheeriness remaining in Jayhawk's face had now faded in-turn for regret. "Listen, I know I went about things a bit drastically, and I suppose I really should've held back a bit in that fight..." Jayhawk diverted his gaze, seemingly embarrassed to continue "Sorry for acting like a hard-ass. I was just trying to make sure I could get out of here, man"

As the sound of an apology, Soul's expression lightened up a bit. He looked down at the floor for a few moments before finally speaking "It's fine. I underestimated you, anyways. It was my fault I lost"

"Well, yeah, you lost..." Jayhawk piped up in a matter-of-fact tone "...but that doesn't mean I had to boot you into the air and tackle you into a bookshelf. Can you say 'overkill'?"

Jay's joking manner somewhat continued to lighten Soul's mood, causing him to smile a little as he replied "You were simply punishing an opening. It may have hurt, but at least it was cool. Even I can admit to that". Soul closed his eyes and chuckled lightly, causing Jay to chuckle with him.

"I guess we can at least agree on that! I do often go for the more finesse-type moves" Jay confessed in a spieling-manner, as if advertising his fighting style "In fact, I can think of a few times that trying something cool nearly got me killed! It's all about the glory, and never about the practicality". The two chuckled a bit more before Soul quickly came to the realization that he was enjoying the conversation with the man he had just battled against. The thought of how someone who was just his enemy now felt like a friend bewildered and surprised Soul.

'That was a huge tone shift...' Soul spoke in his mind '...I guess this guy isn't so nasty after all'

"Anyways..." Jayhawk spoke up, re-catching Soul's attention "I've got to head back to where I came from now. Quite a few people are probably waiting on me. You mind showing me where in this place I could do that?"

"Sure, just follow me" Soul said, accepting the request regardless of his sore bones "I'll take you to the World Portal. From there, you can choose where you want to go"

"Sounds good to me" Jayhawk responded, taking foot as Soul lead the way.

After a handful of minutes of walking, Soul and Jayhawk soon stood before the large, green World Portal. Soul raised his view to the top of the portal, toward the gargoyles who controlled it. "Alright, this is it. Just shout the name of the world you want to go to, and this portal will take you there"

"Uh, okay, if it's that simple..." Jayhawk shrugged before stepping forward and shouting his command "Chicago, Illinois, Earth!". Jay seemed somewhat surprised to see the gargoyles atop the portal move as they slammed their fists upon it's rim, causing the green visage of the portal to spin for a few moments before showing an image of a large city bordering a sea "Awesome! So, I just walk through?"

"Yes. It really is that simple" Soul stated, nodding in response

"Cool" Jay said, staring at the portal with his arms on his waist. He seemed to be thinking about something before he turned to Soul "Listen, if you ever need my help, don't be afraid to ask for it if you can. I am a Guardian, after all"

The word "Guardian" rang through Soul's mind as he thought long and hard about how Jayhawk could help, or why he would even offer. Then, an idea quickly hit Soul "Actually, there's another world I know of called 'Equestria'. It's inhabited by ponies like me"

As if he knew Soul's next words, Jayhawk extended a hand and interrupted "Say no more, Soul. I promise I'll lend my aid to Equestria if it should ever be needed"

"Thanks. I appreciate your offer" Soul admitted as he shined Jayhawk a smile, which was quickly returned.

"Hold me to it" Jay joked, pointing a finger towards Soul "See you later" Jayhawk waved as he began walking towards this destination.

"Bye, Jayhawk. Do come back if you ever have the time" Soul impulsively spoke, unsure whether he would sound imposing.

"I will if I can!" Jay replied as he stepped into the portal "Adios, Soul!" The last words Jay spoke seemed to echo past Soul as the man disappeared in the city's image, which was swiftly replaced by the World Portal's regular green swirl.

'"Guardian"...' Soul thought, the word still stuck to him like glue '"Guardian Jayhawk"...I suppose I'll remember the name'