Abigor POV:

After the Yaks joined our side in the war, one would think I'd be happy, or relieved. One would be wrong.

Because Luna sent a message to me about our new... guests in The Chamber. I'd left specific instructions for her to follow, and she followed them and more. Shining Armor wasn't what I'd expected, what with him being at least basically trained and all. He had some experience with dealing with swords, but he never went for a killing blow.

Whilst Luna said he'd trained the Canterlot guards, he still had a long way to go. He fought valiantly against The Chamber's influence, but even he had to sleep. Eventually, he came out of The Chamber a changed man, and his training began.

I watched as Shining Armor slammed his shield into his sparring partner, a Lawbringer. After guard-braking, he shoved the heavy Knight away from himself. I slammed my fist into a nearby weapon rack, gaining their attention.

"You're fighting like a Pony, Shining Armor, don't." I said, pulling out Craven Edge. "I have a question for you, Mr. Armor." I stated whilst walking towards the two armored figures, only stopping when I was in-between them.

"What's your question sir?" He asked, resting his sword on top of his shield.

"Have you ever been injured in your line of duty?" I inquired, gaining a confused look from the Pony.

"Um… no sir." He said.

"Have you ever injured someone else?" I asked, only to be met with the same answer. "Final question. Has your armor ever been dirtied or dented either on or off of the battlefield?"

"No sir." He said, actually looking proud of himself.

"Then you are in dire need of a reality check." I said.

And then I swung Craven Edge in a cruel downward strike. He managed to sidestep just in time to watch as my blade planted itself deep into the ground from where he once stood, but that was only the beginning. I pulled the blade out of the ground and slung it with one arm into his shield, following up with a headbutt.

He jerked his head back, bleeding profusely from his nose.

"What the Hay!" He shouted at me, giving me a death glare. I swung again, this time hitting his shield so hard, it slammed into his own chest-plate. He looked down at the massive dent in his armor.

"There is a saying, where I'm from. 'A knight in shining armor is a knight who's never had their mettle tested'. Do you realize what that means?" I said calmly, he seemed to falter for a moment or two, and swung his shield at me. I spun around it, delivering a punch to his side. Once his defenses were open, I grabbed his chest-plate, and yanked him close while ramming my head forward.

Our heads collided, my forehead with the bridge of his nose, and his muzzle was now much more broken then previously. But then he shoved me away and begun swinging his sword rapidly and violently.

"I have fought in wars before! The Changelings tried to conquer our home, but we repelled them!" He said. Then he did something I did not expect.

He hit my sword arm with a precision and strength that was akin to a human, and then hit my sword out of my hands. He tried to strike me with an overhead blow, but I did something he did not expect.

As the blade plummeted to what would be a nasty wound, I thought to what my mother once taught me to do if I were to ever lose my weapon.

Time seemed to slow as my hands started to come closer together, closing around the sword in a way that would look like I was praying. Shining Armor's sword was caught between my hands, and I was staring him right in the eye.

"Yet you do not see where you failed." I said.

Then I delivered a sharp but brutal kick to his nether regions and took his sword from him. I then kicked him square in the chest, knocking his pained body to the ground. I walked over to him, and pointed his own sword at his throat.

"You should have killed them all, yet you used the 'power of love' to banish them. Any smart enemy like the Changelings will reorganize and regroup for a much stronger and more united attack. OR, they might gain powerful allies like they already have in this war." I said to him, remembering the Daimyo Ayu, and how she rallied the Samurai to attack Blackstone keep alongside the Iron Legion.

"We live our lives by the sword. To let the wolves amongst you rise to the challenge, but you ponies were corrupted by magic and peace" I said, spitting out the last word like it was bile. "The ponies need to learn that in order to evolve, to rise above the rest, they need to live one way only. By the sword."

I then took the blade from his throat and hefted him up into a standing position. I twirled the blade and offered it to him handle first.

"If you're going to join our Legion, you'll need a better name than the one you have." I said to him.

"What name should I take on, Sir?" He asked, and I looked at him for a long while. At his dented and dirt-covered armor. Then I looked at the blood that came from his broken nose, it had covered a decent size of his chest-plate, and I got an idea.

"Kneel." I said to him, picking up a Warden's Longsword from a nearby weapon rack. Once he was kneeling, I hefted the sword ceremoniously.

"For passion in combat, For honor in duty, I dub thee Bloodied Armor. Stand, Captain of the Blackstone Legion." I said to him. He stood up and I handed him the large blade. "This is the blade of a Warden. Used as a versatile balance of defense and offence. I want you to use this weapon from now on. Use your magic to defend yourself from spells, but use this blade for any physical threats." I instructed, he nodded and went over to a nearby Warden, asking to be trained to use his new blade.

I walked away from the new Knight, and headed for the War Room.

Celestia POV:

I was sitting in my War Room, trying to figure out this 'Abigor's' strategy. He somehow managed to corrupt the Yaks and murder Iron Bull in one fell swoop. That, and the fact that despite being 'employed' by the Griffin empire to fight for them, he continuously utilizes methods that've been unthought of in our society. He uses his own forces in brutal head-on attacks, but they seem to have a form of surgical precision that rival pony intellect. Whomever taught this creature, I curse their name.

We had falling lines across the board, we'd had to evacuate the Minotaur tribes from their homes and place them in Canterlot for the time being. They told us about the 'Grond' ram and how Abigor 'gave' it to them. I looked over at the Wolves' Den on the world map, saying one thing in my head.

"It would be so easy... Just mount a full scale attack on the Blackstone Legion, they'd be unprepared for our full strength..." I wondered in my thoughts. But something else caught my attention.

"Lieutenant, what happened at this outpost?" I asked a nearby guard. Lieutenant Gleaming Shield was my temporary captain of the guard until Shining Armor came back from his reconnaissance mission. She looked at where I was pointing, an interested expression on her face.

"That outpost was raided by Diamond Dogs shortly before the Blackstones attacked." She said.

"And this one?" I asked, pointing to another outpost further inland.

"The same thing, your Highness." Shield said, catching on to what I was implying.

"They aren't taking territory like we do. they're drilling a hole clean through our northern border." I said, making an adjustment on the map.

"Then I'm afraid they're doing the same thing on our southern border ma'am Changeling activity indicates they're advancing in a beeline through our lands." Shield said to me, which made me wonder one thing.

"Why are they advancing towards each other?" I asked aloud.

Abigor POV:

"Excellent strategy my lord." Bloodied Armor said to me, looking over the possible moves Celestia would make and the counter-moves I'd make to compensate.

"With this plan, Celestia won't know our true motive until it's already too late." Luna said to me, wrapping her arms around me in a warm embrace.

"Yes! I hunger for Immortal blood!" Said the soul of Craven Edge.

"This will truly show the wolves of this world that the time to rise is now" I said before turning to a black furred, red haired pony with crimson reptilian eyes. "Make the arrangements. In order for our plan to go of without a hitch, we need them now more than ever." I said to her. She smiled, revealing pointed teeth.

"They'll be ready by sundown tomorrow my lord." She said.

Everything was falling into place.

Author's Note

Hurray! Not dead, AND I GOT WI-FI AGAIN! PRAISE BE!😅
Seriously, whenever I'm not at college, I can't write or post chapters. Sorry for the wait, and I hope you can forgive future interruptions.

Furthermore, I advise you all, to sit down before reading this chapter... Because the answer to both the riddles is in the next chapter, and it's gonna be shocking.

Also, just in case I f***ed up the description of what Abigor did with the sword, here's a pic.

The thought popped into my head when I was writing the fight scene so I went ahead and added it.

(Also, I've got yet another story In the works, if it gets the "okay", there'll be a third story of mine to read, although, I'm debating whether I should just focus on the two stories I have. Let me know what you think in the comments section.)