Western Equestria, Smokey Mountains; 8:45pm

After leaving behind the forest, Nightmare followed or rather used Night’s aerial view to traverse his way out and into some mountains further north; climbing the mountains was at first a problem but with the help from the hawk he took more faster and easier routes to keep climbing up. However as Nightmare began to climb, he talked to Soul Edge and the various things he can do with his new body.

“So not only can I turn anyone into a malfested and into my minion or companion, but if they die as long they have a shard of you inside them, I can revive them into an undead malfested,” said Nightmare.

“Indeed, your hawk companion is half Watcher and Guardian, which is how I was able to revive him from the dead, but I wouldn’t willy-nilly give anyone shards of me as only a specific few can bare the raw power of a single shard. The reason that hawk could handle my shard was because I gave him a small one, but that alone has enough power, so it was a bit of a gamble if it were to work or not. Other than my shards, you can do various things; with the Evil Seed, you can cause various effects but the basic one is to induce a violent persona upon anyone, making them go insane in seconds. You can also enshroud me in fire and lightning, the fire is extra useful as you can create a wave of flames that’ll consume a large area or teleport to a location sending an explosive blast of flame behind where you were originally.”

Stopping after hearing the recent piece of information, Nightmare gazed down at Soul Edge, looking at the eye with incredulity. “Wait… your telling me I can teleport, then explain why we’re still walking?!”

“Well for starters I need to see where we want to teleport, or has to be somewhere familiar that we been to before long enough that I have a clear memory of the location. We’re climbing this mountain so we can gain a perfect view for me to teleport to.”

I guess that makes sense… I suppose. Continuing to climb even further, Nightmare pauses as Nightwing flies back down to perch onto one of his shoulders; the hawk rested, ruffling the feathers on itself before looking toward where Nightmare’s gaze is at.

“Tired huh, welp I guess we’re going in blind… this is going to be a long climb,” said Nightmare, gripping a piece of the mountain. With that said, he began to climb upward, putting his focus and attention into reaching the top and finding a source of civilization.

Western Equestria, Tall Tale, Eastern Wall; 9:00pm

Tonight was silent as ever, nothing out of the ordinary happening right now as a lonely Lunar Guard watched vigilantly above the walls that surrounded Tall Tale. The lonely guard would either pace on the eastern wall or stand above the main gate, he’d occasionally climb one of the towers at the corners of the wall to get a good view of the town below or the everlasting darkness outside the walls. This lonesome stallion was Private Sparks, a unicorn from a common family with a common income; he was like any normal pony and never knew the nobility life. He was told stories once that his family were once nobles, but his grandfather married a peasant mare and renounced his noble title, and while life was harsh at first, there were benefits living the simple life.

For starters, he didn’t get dragged into problems from the nobility, unless said problems somehow involved the common folk, but other than that, Sparks liked his life. He joined the guard to get some excitement and to pay the taxes, but sadly the Royal Guard was stock full so he ended being a Lunar Guard. The pay was no different, but the first few months he had to get used to being awake at an hour he wasn’t familiar with. He got used to it, but nowadays he fall asleep in the middle of the afternoon, luckily he wasn’t bothered at that hour unless an emergency or a sudden drill by the drill sergeant occurred.

Sparks was doing a routine guard patrol with another pony by the name of Private Sugarcane, an earth pony stallion who worked as a baker on the side. He worked with his fiancee at their local bakery here in Tall Tale; funny story how he joined the guard, one day a thief tried to steal from a vendor when he went out shopping for more sugar. He slammed the poor colt into the ground, and got an opportunity to join the guard, and at first he wasn’t interested but joined when he and his fiancee were having money problems.

The two aren’t friends, but are close enough to be considered brothers-in-arms, as they shared the same room during their days of training. Sparks turn was closing to an end, so he was heading to the bonfire above the front gate where Sugarcane was resting; approaching the bonfire, he spotted the stallion not asleep but gazing at the utter darkness with a narrowed gaze.

“Hey, Sugar, what you looking at?” asked Sparks.

Sugarcane turned around, recognizing the voice before going back to face the darkness ahead. “I thought I saw something… but must have been my eyes playing with me, is it time to switch?”

“Yep, as usual, I’ll take a three hour rest, and you’ll wake me at midnight.” Sugarcane nodded, getting ready to switch places when the two heard a voice.

“How’s the guard doing privates?” Both stallions stood rigid and saluted immediately toward their superior officer; the one who came up the stone steps was Staff Sergeant Winged Grace, a thestral who was in charge of those in Sparks and Sugarcane’s company. The thestral mare gazed at the two stallions, before smirking at the two. “At ease privates, just wanna see how was guard duty, I know it can be boring but at least you aren’t doing it in the morning when it’s hot.”

Both stallions lowered their hooves but still gave their rigid forms; back at the boot camp, they learned to never cross somepony who has a higher rank than you no matter how much of a dick they may sound like. Luckily Grace was the nicer ones in the guard stationed in Tall Tale… not unlike the Staff Sergeant of the Royal Guard, who harassed the Lunar Guard and even some of the populace, he was some noble’s kid who got the rank instead of earning it like anypony else.

Another hidden secret about Grace was this… Sparks saw her nude… or rather he saw her bathing; instead of taking the guard resting stations which had a bathing section and a restroom, Grace took a shower at a nearby waterfall. This was back when Sparks was still in the boot camp and during break, he wandered off that was still considered in the camp’s perimeter when he came upon her standing under the waterfall. He was hidden perfectly in some bushes, but it took him a few seconds to realize he was peeking, it didn’t help when she lifted her tail to show him… well… “the full moon”.

While the two did respect Grace, he did it out of embarrassment for that memory, it was also lucky that she didn’t spot him… well… that’s what he believes. “Indeed Staff Sergeant Winged Grace, the night patrol is much better than the day, mam,” said Sparks.

Grace nodded but before she could speak, Sugarcane stepped forward and raised his hoof, the one that didn’t hold his spear. “Permission to speak Staff Sergeant, mam?”

“Now now, no need for that formal talk, I’m not going to punish you if you got something in your mind, so go ahead and speak.”

“Well… I saw something just moments ago before you or Sparks arrived, I can’t confirm what I saw but I wanted to tell you that… mam.”

Grace took some interest at this, and stepped forward to take a look, for awhile nothing happened and as Grace scanned the surrounding darkness with her natural night-vision, she stepped back and scratched her chin. “Hmmmm… I’ll send some ponies to check the outer perimeter for any movement or tracks of any kind, you two just continue doing what you’re doing… Oh, and good work for telling me this Private Sugarcane, I’ll tell command for keeping a vigilant look tonight.”

“Thank you, mam.”

Grace smiled and began to leave, but as the two privates went back to looking at the darkness, Grace took a sneak peek at Sparks while he wasn’t looking. Darn… I was hoping to talk to Sparks alone… another time Grace… another time…

At the same time, at the edge of the darkness within the protection of trees and shrubs, two minotaur scouts stood from their hiding spots, both looking at one another. “That was close, quick, we need to head to the Lieutenant General and tell him that we found the town where the griffons are located.” Both scouts ran back to the main minotaur army that was slowly making their way to Tall Tale, bringing with them untold destruction and chaos to the unsuspecting pony settlement.

Western Equestria, Tall Tale; 9:30pm

Princess Soft Beak sat, relaxing calmly on the sofa chair she sat on; both the First Lieutenant and Sergeant Major were resting, leaving her to sit alone in the living room. Deciding to get some fresh air, she stepped out into the balcony, gazing at the sleeping town as many of the nearby building lights were now off, leaving a few lamp stands with lit flames inside them and a few other night-time establishments still active at this hour.

How could this all happen, I wanted to prove to father that I can handle any situation, so I asked to accompany into a simple diplomatic meeting with the minotaur king… but instead we got in between in a coup, one of the guards that accompanied me died, and we been on the run for two weeks. I just want to go home, and never leave my room, I don’t care if the nobles call me cowardly… they have no idea what the General of the minotaur armies is willing to do… he’s… a monster.

Sighing to herself, Soft reminisced of home and the peaceful times she had back then… however things in the Griffon Lands has been… a tad shifty as word of a civil war may occur in the future, and that these traitorous griffons, plan to invade Equestria and do who knows what.

For the last couple of centuries, Equestria has gone through a lot but has stood to the test of time… many countries are becoming afraid of what Equestria plans to do in the future… it wouldn’t be surprising for other forces to strike the country while it is at its most vulnerable.

Soft gazed at the distance… but then saw something… something that made her eyes widen in fear; quickly, she ran back inside, opened the door which the First Lieutenant was inside, only to find him stepping out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his neck. Blushing, Soft began to mutter about the fact that even though he was a decade older than her, he had some well-built abs; shaking away that thought, she quickly rushed him to what she saw. “First Lieutenant, quickly to the balcony!” shouted Soft.

“What is it, is something wrong!?”

Deciding to just show him than explain, she grabbed him by one of his claws and brought him to the balcony; in the distance, both Sharphook and Soft could see a sea of lights and ominous towers approaching from the east. Already realizing who that is, Sharphook swiftly turned to the princess with a serious and commanding gaze.

“Princess Soft Beak, wake up the Sergeant Major and tell her that the minotaurs are here, we need to leave this town before they surround us! We’ll take the southern gate and go by claw to Canterlot, we cannot let them reach this town before then!”

Nodding, Soft ran to the door which Light Feather and her shared the same room; Sharphook took one last look before running to his room to suit up and grab his supplies. This is truly happening, war is coming to Equestria.

Just outside of the walls of Tall Tale – Western Equestria; 9:40pm

After receiving the report from the two scouts he sent to find the town that the griffons were hiding at and a path for the siege towers to take that will get them there quickly, Lieutenant General Black Hoof ordered the minotaur forces toward their first Equestrian city to fall; they had several siege towers coming from the west, while the north and southern walls had several minotaur squads sent ahead to take down any runaways or stragglers that attempt to exit the town, and since the west wallhad no entrance since it only led to the woods, there was no possible way for anyone to exit the city except by flight or mass teleportation.

Black has thought of such contingencies as any who try to fly away would immediately be shot down with a wave of crossbow bolts, and a mass teleportation would be impossible as the number of unicorns required to teleport everyone out of the city would be an immense number, and to teleport them to a nearby settlement would take a miracle. They’re trapped like mice, even if they don’t attempt to escape, we’ll slowly move in and search from every nook until we find those griffons… and that princess.

“Move forward, for tonight we shall take over this settlement and soon take over these pathetic ponies!” shouted Black. A roar of minotaurs was heard as they began to march forward toward the town, ready to raze it to the ground.

Back at the wall, both Sparks and Sugarcane watched the two guards sent by Grace to check the outer perimeter come back after seeing the siege towers that were slowly approaching Tall Tale. The scouts reported seeing several minotaur squads surrounding the town from the north and south walls, making them trapped from within. After being told this, both the Lunar and Royal Guard that were stationed here were brought to the walls to defend the town to the very last pony; militia and reserve forces were brought forward as trained civilians grabbed armor and weapons.

Non-trained civilians were told to retreat back to the west wall as ponies nearby to the commotion happening at the east wall, quickly ran by and told their neighbors of what was happening. Amongst the chaos, Sharphook, Light Feather and Soft Beak try their best to retreat further away from the horde of ponies and other creatures like zebras, thestrals and griffons. “We can’t make it through this, they already surrounded the settlement and flying from the west wall will take forever, we’ll be spotted by the time we take flight and shot down, we’re trapped First Lieutenant,” said Feather.

“Dammit… then we have to help with the local guard and hold back their forces until we find a moment to slip through,” said Sharphook. “This way!”

The trio headed through some empty alleyways and side-streets until they came upon a swarm of military ponies who were in rows, being ordered by an officer. One of the armored ponies noticed the trio and approached them, a thestral mare who held a sense of authority as she trotted toward them.

“HALT! Who are you three and stat your business!?” shouted Grace.

“I am First Lieutenant Sharphook of the Griffonian Army, I know the reason behind this invasion and I came here to help in any way I can!” Before Grace could answer a yell was heard before a flaming rock flew by and crashed into one of the buildings, sending shrapnel everywhere.

“We need all the help we can get, you can explain to me what these invaders want later! You, get this chick some armor, she’s not standing on this wall without some protection!” With that order, a random guard approached Soft with some basic light armor, at first the princess looked at said armor before Light Feather helped with putting it on, saying it was for her safety.

Soon the trio were led by Grace up the north wall, where several ponies ran back and forth, giving ammunition for the enemy forces that would come into firing range. Hoofing them some bows and arrows, they were told to stand by the part of the wall near the front gate and prepare to fire any arrows on their part of the wall with the guards.

Even though Soft was a princess, she had some basic military training like any-griffon in their homeland, so she knew how to use a spear, sword and bow. Standing beside a random guard and Light Feather while Sharphook was somewhere else, she prepared to fight back the first wave of minotaurs.

Father… give me strength.

Western Equestria, Near the summit of Smokey Mountains; 10:00pm

Mother of all that’s holy, this is the worse mountain-climbing journey ever! Nightmare was still climbing the side of the mountain, and while he realized he never gotten tired in this new body, he felt bored and irritated at how long it was taking to climb up.

As he was beginning to climb up, he reached a spacious cliff-side when he came upon a cave; the cave seemed empty and a strong gust of wind blew from the cave, meaning there was a tunnel that led to the other side of the mountain. “Finally a break from climbing, maybe we can check the other side of this mountain and find a better view than here.”

“I suggest we send Nightwing to fly up above and ahead of us, he can scout ahead if he finds anything of interest on the other side,” said Soul.

“I see you gotten used to the name.”

“Meh, heard more odd ones than that, let’s get going.”

Wielding Soul Edge, Nightmare wandered into the cave while Nightwing flew away; inside the cave it was – obviously – damp, dark, and cold… though neither of these senses could be properly felt by him, as the darkness was clearly seen without any issues, while the dampness and cold air in the cave didn’t bother him either.

The cave was empty and had stalagmites and stalactites, the sides of the cave covered by mushrooms, but as he went further in… it began to get warmer suddenly which was abnormal as Nightmare wasn’t going deeper into the mountain and nor was it daylight, so the heat had to been coming from somewhere. Going further in, Nightmare came upon something interesting, there were piles of gold coins littered all over the ground with some gems and various treasures.

Gold coins? Wait a second, if there’s gold here then-

“Who dares come into my lair?” Nightmare stood still for a moment but more out of surprise than fear, before gazing up at a scaly snout; the dragon wasn’t that large but was slightly bigger than Nightmare, as it’s snout was bigger than his head. Blowing a puff of smoke, the dragon gazed menacingly down at Nightmare before speaking again.

“Hmmmm, I have never seen something of your kind before, what are you and why have you come to my lair?”

“I am Nightmare, there is no other like me nor will there ever be, I assumed this cave was empty and planned to use it to travel toward the other side of the mountain, I mean no harm to you or your hoard sir...”

“I am Everflame, son of Infernal Fire!”

“Well, sir Everflame, I only wish to cross toward the other side of this cave and reach the other side of the mountain.”

Everflame went into a deep thought, before his attention was caught by the sword that Nightmare wielded, grinning to himself Everflame pointed a claw toward Nightmare. “I will grant your request… however, you must leave behind that sword with my hoard if you wish to cross.”

Is this guy for real, I ain’t going to leave my weapon to him… that and I’m pretty certain I need it in order to access all my powers. “I am sorry, but this weapon and I hold a close connection… I cannot accept these terms of yours.”

This however only angered Everflame as he was ready to torch this strange being where he stood. “You dare, nobody dares to deny me of what I want!” With a roar, Everflame unhinged his jaw and fired a blast of scorching flames that melted the nearby gold coins and anything of interest nearby.

For awhile, Everflame watched as the flames in the cave filled the cave with smoke, expecting to see a melted scorched corpse before him… until something came slamming to the side of his head, sending him against the cave wall, sliding down onto the ground. Looking up in a daze, he came upon the angered visage of Nightmare, wielding Soul Edge with one hand that was raised high above him.

“You made your move… now for mine.” Like that, Nightmare brought down Soul Edge onto the dragon, crushing his skull as brain matter splattered everywhere, leaving the motionless dead drake. Ripping his weapon from the corpse, something interesting happened, a strange glow came from the dragon’s body and into Soul Edge, before the glow vanished. “What was that?”

“That would be me consuming his soul, those two other minotaurs souls were also mighty fine; while I’m uncertain, but do you plan to take any of this dragon’s loot?”

Looking around and onto his own person, Nightmare shrugged lugging Soul over his shoulder. “Nah, don’t got the pockets to bring this stuff, but I might come back for it, might as well leave it here for now, doubt anybody will come here to find it. Come on, I had enough fights as it is, bout time we cross this mountain and get this journey over with.”

Making his way through the piles on piles of loot, they reached a large pile of gold but after climbing over it, they reached the end of the tunnel and made their way to the other side of the mountain… but the first thing Nightmare spotted wasn’t what he expected.

In the far distance, beyond another forest was a town… that was currently on fire and under siege; from the west, Nightmare could see tower-like structures that were slowly inching their way to the town while some already made it to the walls that surrounded the settlement. From the distance he was at, he could hear the echoing sounds of battle as catapults unleashed their ammunition toward the town.

“I think I found out where those minotaurs were doing here,” said Nightmare.

“It appears that way… though this might be a good advantage for us.”

“Uhm, how so?”

“If there’s war, then there’s death, and when there’s death… there’s souls; I can use that teleportation power I mentioned, but Nightwing can’t come along, best you send that bird ahead while we take the quicker option.”

Huh… for once I agree with this idea. Nodding, Nightmare called down Nightwing, the hawk perching on Nightmare’s mutated claw, before flying off toward the town. With the bird gone, Nightmare focused his power to Soul Edge, soon being enveloped by fiery chaotic flames, and with a flash and boom he vanished, leaving behind a crater-sized hole and stones flying from where he was.

Those who fought at Tall Tale would soon understand that there much worse things to be afraid of… and tonight, that very thing was about to come appearing on their front door; tonight, the Azure Knight fights.

Author's Note

Introducing some side-characters that play their own roles in the story (and their own chapters from their perspective), this also might my first official OC couple I've made with possible romanticism in it.

War is coming to Equestria... but it appears a 3rd party may arrive late.