Age of the Pony

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 1: "From the Ashes"
Chapter 2: "The White City Of Chains"
Chapter 3: "Hope and Tranquility"
Chapter 4 "The Rainbow Rogue"
Chapter 5 "Birthright"

Prologue

Age of the Pony

Prologue

"Many will talk of the day Ebonyblade saved us, and then they will talk about how he almost destroyed us"
Princess Celestia

___________________________________

Spike hated being dragged around. The two guards dragging him were not friendly looking ponies at all. Spike would try to escape but the young dragon knew it was useless to try and run from two fully armed and trained members of the Royal Guard. Even if Spike wanted to escape he knew it wasn't a good idea. His dragon scales were hard but he wasn't invincible. The last few months have proved that more than anything.

"I suppose bail is out of the question at this point?" Spike said to one of the guards dragging him with magic. The guy didn't even make a face as he dragged the violet baby dragon along. Spike looked around for some clue as to where he was going. So far the dungeon hallways were bare and had only torches adorning them.

One of the guards stopped and opened a nearby door. Spike was tossed in with magic and set down in a chair. A single beam of light shone from the ceiling. It was dark, he had no idea where he was and Spike grabbed his tail for some comfort. He didn't do well in interrogations and he wasn't looking forward to this one.

That's when a midnight blue Alicorn stepped out of the shadows. Princess Luna was looking at a book with an unreadable expression. Then she turned to look at the baby dragon. Her expression was still unreadable as she closed the book and sat down in front of a bewildered Spike.

"Princess Luna? Look I already told Celestia, I don't know anything about what happened!" Spike said trying to sound brave.

"Thouest know quite a bit more than thou let on Dragon" Luna said setting the book down on the floor.

Spike crossed his arms "About what? Unless it's about getting ambushed by Royal Guards in my own home I don't think I can help you"

"I do not seek to banter with thou dragon" Luna said clearly not pleased. Spike was taken aback by this sudden change in tone.

"But what do you want from me? I don't know anything" Spike said trying to mask his guilt.

"Do not lie Dragon!" Luna marched forward and got right in Spike's face. Her teal eyes two orbs of growing anger in his face. "I seek the champion"

"Which one?" Spike said innocently "Equestria has about a gazillion of them in her proud history"

"Thouest are very well aware of that which I seek!" Luna shouted her blue eyes flaring. "Tell me, lest I use other methods to make you talk"

Spike held up his hands in surrender and Luna backed off "What do you want to know?"

Luna paced in front of Spike "Everything, start from the beginning"
______________________________________________________

Ebonyblade lifted up his blade and plunged it into the Darkling's head. He tasted the black blood of the beast and prayed it didn't enter any of the many wounds he's suffered in this long and grueling battle.

He looked up and saw more Darklings coming at him. They resembled ponies but were far nastier and almost reptilian in appearance. Many held weapons in their teeth but their teeth would've made deadly weapons in and of themselves.

Ebonyblade held out one hoof before them. A blade extended from a hidden leather harness on his leg. The blade was held before the Darklings and they quivered in true fear at the sight of the dark warrior.

"You will meet death either by my blade or by the blades of your masters! Make your choice today!" Ebonyblade shouted at them.

One grimlock charged at Ebonyblade either in blind fear or sheer stupidity. Ebonyblade leaped over the Darkling's head and thrust his blade into the spine of the dark beast. It wailed in pain as it drew its last breath and fell to the ground in its own blood. Ebonyblade then drew a blade from his other hoof and leapt into the rest of the Darklings.

He spun around on one hind hoof and beheaded two of the Darklings followed by a stabbing to the third's neck. Just as a forth was about to hit him from behind a bolt of violet lightning hit the beast in the back. It fell into a pile of ash as a violet unicorn walked to Ebonyblade. She was wearing the robes of a Mage of the Circle, a staff floating next to her as she channeled her magic through it like a second horn.

The unicorn looked at one of the fallen grimlocks and frowned. "Scouts, there are more of them coming Ebonyblade"

The black earth pony smiled at her. "Then we make our stand here Twilight" He brushed his white blood stained mane out of his eyes.

"Here they come!" Twilight said as she drew her staff. Ebonyblade looked to see a lot more Darklings than before all looking to feast on pony tonight. "Shall I deal with them?" Twilight said cheekily.

Ebonyblade smiled and stepped back "All yours Twi"

Twilight twirled her staff and a rain of fire broke from the sky and landed in the center of the group. The Darklings became a mass of screeching, flaming, pieces of flesh. Ebonyblade leaped into the crowd to pick off the stragglers. His blade sang as it cut through Darklings left and right.

Twilight was busy fending off darkling archers that tried to take pot shots at Ebonyblade. A lightning spell made short work of the archers. She turned as a grimlock tried to ambush her. She swung her staff like a bat and knocked the beast senseless. Her horn glowed brightly and the Darkling soon froze solid in its tracks. She turned and bucked the frozen monster, shattering it into a thousand pieces.

Twilight shouted to Ebonyblade whom had just finished off a darkling and was soon facing two more. "There's no end to them!"

Ebonyblade looked around and then heard this roar coming from the hills. He turned to see this colossal purple dragon. This dragon was Spike and he swooped in to save the day in a torrent of fire and then they….
________________________________________________

"Taurus Stercore! That's not what really happened!" Luna growled indignantly

Spike shook his head and shrugged "Isn't that what all the tales say about him?"

"We are not interested in fairy tales. We came to hear the truth" Luna said circling the sitting dragon.

Spike looked at her "And what Celestia given idea makes you think I know the truth?"

"DO NOT LIE TO ME DRAGON!! THOU HAST KNOWN HIM LONG BEFORE HE EVEN WAS THE CHAMPION!!" Luna shouted in the Royal Canterlot Voice.

Spike shook his head trying to get the ringing out of his ears. Then he shrugged and said, "Look, even if I knew him I can't tell you where he is now" He spoke with complete honesty.

At that Luna turned away from Spike and looked down. Her voice seemed to be quivering. "Dost thou have any idea what is at stake here?"

Spike nodded "The whole kingdom is falling apart at the seams and you want to find the pony responsible. Who coincidentally is also the pony who can put all this back together?"

Luna turned back to Spike her blue eyes looking at him earnestly. "We need the champion to help us stop this madness. If thou cannot point us to him then tell us everything thou knowest about him"

Spike crossed his arms "Ya know, I could just be making it up as I go along"

Luna frowned "I will know if thou are lying” She then smirked evilly “Thou will pay dearly for it"

Spike gulped a little then leaned back in the seat he was in and folded his claws in thought. His green slited eyes closed for a moment. He had to tell her now, if he didn't tell her then one the others would be found and would be forced to tell. He couldn't imagine what the Princesses had in mind for his friend but he knew he was going to find out. He opened his eyes and looked at Luna.

"I'll start at the beginning; Ebonyblade was a soldier in Prince Blueblood’s army…”

Chapter 1: "From the Ashes"

Age of the Pony

Chapter 1

“From the Ashes”

Ebonyblade was a soldier in Prince Blueblood’s army. He was among those who were supposed to help King Excalibur drive back the Darklings with a flanking attack. We all know what happened when the tower was lit though. Prince Blueblood betrayed his father and set himself up as king.

Ebonyblade refused to leave the people of Ponyville behind however. The small town was among the first to be assaulted by the unchecked Darkling horde. Every Stallion, mare and filly was caught in the crossfire of the battle. But what’s most important here is that this is where we met Ebonyblade…I remember it like it was yesterday…He helped us get out of the chantry and he was willing to get us to safety. Our story begins with our flight from Ponyville.
_____________________________________________________

Ebony tried to ignore the fatigue he was feeling in his legs. He and his companions had been running for hours since they left Ponyville behind. He had no intention of stopping and letting the Darklings take his newfound friends for a mid morning snack.

He turned around and saw the baby dragon Spike trip on a stone. Twilight turned around and her staff glowed a violet color. A Darkling leaped to try and get at the little dragon but was greeted by a fireball to the face. Spike looked up as Twilight created a wall of fire to seal the path behind them.

Ebony noticed a Darkling trying to ambush Twilight from behind. He wouldn’t have it. He ran to the Darkling and plunged his blade into its neck. The Darkling gave a pained scream before breathing his last. Ebony shook his head and sheathed the blade on his leg. He turned to his companions.

Twilight, a young unicorn clad in robes of the circle was looking at Ebony with grateful violet eyes. “Thank you Serah Blade” She bent down to inspect her dragon companion. “We wouldn’t have been able to escape without you”

“All in a day’s work” Ebony said trying to sound braver then he really was feeling. He looked at Spike with his green eyes. “You alright Spike?”

The little purple dragon nodded and dusted himself off “Yeah I’m okay; I’d rather not have any more of those things attacking me anytime soon though”

Ebony turned to look at the charred corpses of the Darklings “We can’t stay here, there are bound to be other Darklings nearby”

Twilight nodded and looked at Spike “Spike stay close”

The dragon looked at Twilight indignantly “I can fight!”

Twilight’s voice took on a scolding tone “No Spike, I can’t risk you getting hurt”

“I’m a Dragon Twilight! I can handle any Darklings that come my way”

Ebony walked to the little dragon and looked him right in the eye. “I admire your courage Spike. But I don’t want to have to worry about you doing anything crazy”

The young dragon looked crestfallen. Ebony then reached into his considerably deep saddlebags and pulled out a dagger. He gave the dagger to Spike “In case any of the Darklings get too close”

Spike looked at the dagger excitedly and picked it up in his claws. “Awesome! Thanks Ebony!” He gave the dagger a few practice swings.

Ebony’s ears perked as he heard screeching coming from nearby. “Let’s keep moving…”
_________________________________________

The trio ventured along the roads leading out of Ponyville. Ebony had the group stop for a break before the inevitable question came out of Twilight’s mouth “Where are we going exactly?”

Spike looked over at Twilight an eyebrow raised “Away from the crazy monsters that want to eat us where else?”

Twilight shook her head “I’m aware but where do we go after that? We can’t keep running forever”

Spike nodded slowly “You have a point Twilight, so where are we going Ebony?” Spike looked at the dark coated pony expectantly.

Ebony didn’t like this, he really didn’t have a plan beyond escaping the Darklings. He closed his eyes in thought. He could try that, but he hadn’t seen his family in years and would they take him in? Let alone a dragon and a foreign mage? In all honesty it was either this or be eaten by whatever hellspawn showed up first. He didn’t have a choice…this was the only option he could think of.

“I have an idea…” Ebony said after opening his eyes.

Twilight looked at Ebony expectantly “Well we’d like to hear it Serah”

Ebony nodded and answered slowly “I have family in Kanterwall…”

“Kanterwall! Are you nuts!?” Spike said looking at Ebony as if he said he was an Alicorn in disguise.

Twilight frowned at Ebony “With all due respect Serah there are a lot of templars in Kanterwall. And they aren’t exactly kissing cousins with unicorns”

Ebony looked at Twilight seriously “I have family there, I’m sure I can find you guys some kind of shelter when we get there. Also what choice do we have?”

The mage relented from giving a protest “Alright, we’ll need to get to Baltimare to take ship” She started walking past them, leading the way.

Ebony followed and noticed the young dragon eyeing Ebony’s choice of weapon. The dragon looked up at him “I never got a chance to ask Ebony but, what are those things on your legs?”

Ebony smiled and held up one of the harnesses on his leg. He twisted his hoof and out came a long rather thick blade. He gave the blade a few swings “My father invented these, they are blades that allow an earth pony to fight”

Spike looked at the blades with gleaming eyes “That’s so cool! You think your dad would be willing to make me something like that?”

Ebony suddenly got quiet and sheathed the blade. “I’d rather not talk about my father if you don’t mind Spike…”

Spike saw the look in his eye then nodded “Alright, I won’t pry if you don’t want me to”

“Thanks Spike” Ebony replied smiling.

“Guys we got trouble!” Twilight shouted from up ahead.

Ebony caught up to witness what Twilight was seeing. There were three ponies in the clearing, one a large scarlet stallion with a large sword in his mouth. Another was an orange mare with a Stetson cap and a shield on her arm and a short sword in her mouth. Both were trying to protect a small yellow filly from the Darklings surrounding them.

The red stallion swung his blade at an approaching grimlock and cleaved the beast in two. Ebony admired the stallion’s strength to wield such a deadly weapon. The orange one blocked a sword from a nearby grimlock and sliced its side with her blade. Both we’re trying to protect the cowering filly from harm.

Ebony looked at Twilight “You cover me”

She looked back at him “You’re going to help them?”

Ebony nodded “You give us cover fire and try to keep reinforcements off them. Spike you try and get to that filly and keep her safe”

Spike nodded and withdrew his dagger. “It’s time to make some darkling stew…”

Ebony leaped into the grimlocks and swung his blades into the jugular of the first Darkling he saw. Spike ran to the young filly and stood in front of her dagger out in case any darkling got too close.

Ebony danced around the battlefield and blood stained his snow white mane as he cut into Darklings left and right. Here on the battlefield was where he earned his sword cutie mark. He cut into a Darkling about to attack the orange mare. She looked at him with grateful green eyes. Ebony heard a yell though and turned to see that one of the grimlock’s stabbed the larger red stallion with a nasty looking dagger.

The orange mare tackled the grimlock using her shield like a battering ram. She was on top of the grimlock as she shouted. “Yer not gonna get this family ya monster!” She swung her blade and beheaded the darkling letting the blood fall on her.

The last grimlock was hit by Twilight’s fireball and she walked down to Ebonyblade. The earth pony family stood standing opposite the strange trio.

The big red stallion that was leaning against his orange sister was glaring at Twilight. “Stay back ya unicorn! Ah don’t want ya usin your freaky magics on mah family”

Twilight glared back “A simple ‘thank you’ would’ve been nice. We just saved your family from Darklings”

“How do Ah know you aren’t the one who was sendin these monsters tah weaken us?”

The orange one glared at him. “Big Mac, does it really matter if she’s a unicorn? They saved our lives, we owe them our ears at least”

The scarlet stallion looked thoughtful then slowly nodded “Ah apologize, it’s been a rough day on all of us…”

Twilight slowly nodded “Alright, just keep your views on your magic to yourself next time…”

Ebony got in front of Twilight “I’m Ebony, you already met Twilight and this fella here” He gestured to the young dragon trying to look brave in front of a stallion that could squash him with one stomp of his hooves. “Is Spike”

The orange mare nodded and smiled “Ah’m Applejack, this ere is Big Macintosh” She gestured to the now calmed stallion “You’ll have to excuse the attitude, he was just worried about protectin us” She then gestured to the young filly hiding behind both of them “This ere is mah little sis Applebloom”

“Ya ‘all runnin from the Darklings to?” Big Mac asked looking at Ebony.

The black earth pony nodded “Yes, we’re on our way to Kanterwall”

Big Mac nodded “Ya all are headin in the wrong direction then, Darklings comin from east as well as west”

Applebloom looked at Ebony “Are ya gonna help us…?”

The warrior smiled at the young filly “Yeah, if east and west are blocked off, we could try the Wilds to the south…”

Applejack looked at him wide eyed “Ya ain’t serious! Who knows what could be in there!”

Ebony frowned “If the options are south or die I’d like to take my chances with south”

Twilight looked at Big Mac “How’s that wound?” she said gesturing to his bleeding wound.

Big Mac shook his head “Ah’m fine it's just a scratch. Ah don’t think Ah can fight as well as Ah did back there though”

“So we can’t count on you in a fight?” Ebony said looking at the large stallion.

“Nope”

“Alright, you stay in the back with Spike and Applebloom, think you can manage that?”

“Eeyup” was his response.

Applejack looked at Ebony “Ah can fight with ya guys on the front if ya need”

Ebony nodded “Your shield will be much needed on the front lines now let’s get moving”
___________________________________________

Ebony was leading the group when they came to a small clearing. The group had been fighting Darklings for a long time and fatigue was starting to settle in. Ebony tried to appear strong before the group.

“What now sugercube?” Applejack said looking at Ebony expectantly.

“We keep moving…” Ebony didn’t understand how Applejack could trust him. He was no leader; he was only doing what seemed logical right now. What if he did something stupid? He couldn’t forgive himself if somepony got hurt because he couldn’t stop it.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

Ebony felt the ground shake as a large beast came upon them. He shouted “Ogre! Everypony scatter!”

The beast was the size of two ponies standing on top of each other’s backs. It had two large hands and sharp teeth that it showed off as it roared at them. It punched the ground and charged at Ebony who swiftly dodged it.

The beast saw Applebloom and Spike in a corner. It began to make its way to the smaller prey before it was tackled by Big Mac. “Yuh ain’t gettin my family ya bastard!”

The beast wrestled with the large stallion and Big Mac managed to get his large blade into the beast’s left eye. Blood poured out of the wound but soon the beast grabbed Big Mac in its massive hands. It got back on its feet and threw Big Mac into a nearby cliff.

The red stallion fell unconscious as Applebloom ran towards him. Ebony looked on the Ogre with a newfound fury in his eyes. This beast wasn’t going to live, not while he was still breathing.

“Applejack! Taunt it!” He shouted as he unsheathed his blades.

“Taunt it?!” Applejack shouted back as she drew her sword and looked on the massive beast.

“Get its attention!”

“Uh…” Applejack looked at the beast and shouted “Ya momma is so fat they have an entire section of the deep roads dedicated to her!”

The beast roared and was prepared to charge at Applejack. She dodged the beast’s charge and stabbed her blade into its leg causing it to fall over. It fell over with an earth shattering Thud.

“Twilight!” Ebony shouted at the violet unicorn. “Freeze it to the ground!”

“On it!” Twilight twirled her staff and stabbed it into the ground. The beast’s hands and feet were now frozen to the earth.

“Now it’s my turn…” Ebony said as he leaped onto the beast and unsheathed both blades. He stabbed them into the chest of the beast and it let out a roar of pain. Ebony kept up the stabbing, blood staining his dark coat and white mane as he kept stabbing into the beast. Ebony was only seeing red as he finally went up to the beast’s neck.

He looked at the beast straight in the eye “This is for Ostrenar…” He then brought both blades to the sides of the beast’s neck and cut off the beast’s head. He breathed heavily as the beast’s body finally stopped moving. He looked over at Applejack who was running for Big Macintosh.

Ebony sheathed both blades and went to join her. Applejack looked over at Ebony worried “Somethin’s wrong, he ain’t waken up…”

Ebony looked over as more Darklings came over the hill. “We got bigger problems now…” He then unsheathed his blades and charged into the crowd.
________________________________________

Twilight was already firing fireballs at the horde of Darklings “There’s no end to them!”

Ebony looked over and sliced another grimlock’s head off “I can’t keep this up…” He breathed heavily with fatigue.

ROOOOARRRR!!!

The entire group looked up as a massive black and white dragon descended from the sky. It opened its massive jaws and launched a torrent of fire at the Darklings. They yelled screeches of agony as they burned to death around the massive dragon as it landed. It swung its huge tail like a whip at a nearby grimlock and sent it sailing away. It grabbed another in its jaws and chomped on it devouring the beast bones and all.

Ebony stared up at the massive creature as the Darklings ran in fright. The beast looked at him with large…green eyes? They looked almost pony like. Suddenly a massive flash of light came from the dragon. Ebony shielded his eyes from the light and when he removed them he saw a strange sight.

Standing before him was a zebra, obviously female. She was clad in a simple brown cloak and she wiped some blood from her teeth and looked at Ebony with curious eyes.

“What have we here? Ponies hoping to run to Everfree?” The zebra said in an almost sing song like voice.

Ebony closed his gaping jaw and looked at the strange zebra. “Uh, thanks for the save there I don’t want to think about what could’ve happened”

The Zebra looked a little smug “Darkling food you would’ve been, had I not showed up in the end”

Twilight stepped forward and looked at the Zebra with admiration. “I haven’t seen magic like that before”

The Zebra smiled “Many magics are lost to the ages, would take me as long to teach even the brightest mages”

Ebony raised an eyebrow “Which begs the question, who or what are you?”

Applejack looked up at the Zebra her green eyes rife with suspicion “Ah know what she is. She’s the Witch of the Wilds!”

The Zebra looked smug “Some call me that, mostly Zecora or old hag that talks like a twat” She chuckled at her own joke.

Ebony looked at Zecora with new eyes “Why rescue us though? Surely a witch has better things to do”

Zecora then looked at the warrior with strange eyes “You remind me of him, the one who also made an ogre’s lights dim”

Ebony raised an eyebrow “You saved me because I killed an ogre?”

Zecora shrugged “Curiosity is sated now, so no need to stay and bow” She turned to begin leaving.

“Wait” Ebony said as Zecora was about to walk away “Could you help us?”

Applejack looked at Ebony incredulously “Ya can’t seriously be thinking of askin her to help us get tah Kanterwall!?”

The witch turned back with new interest. “Kanterwall? A long journey for ones so small”

Ebony nodded “Can you help us?”

Zecora looked off in the distance, towards the trees of the wilds. “Fate or chance? Not always discernible at a glance…”

The dark warrior looked at her “Is that a yes?”

Zecora turned back to him and nodded “Indeed, I will help you fulfill your need”

Ebony smiled “Great”

Zecora suddenly looked passed him “But before our deal reaches its end…another matter you must attend”

Ebony heard a groan behind him. Big Mac had woken up and he didn’t look good at all. Ebony’s eyes grew wide as he saw that Big Mac’s eyes were now cloudy and almost grey.

Applejack looked over at Ebony frantically “What’s happenin to him?!”

Ebony looked down at his hooves, his long blood stained mane covering his eyes. He spoke not wanting to say the words but knew they needed to be said. “He’s, becoming one of them”

Applejack looked over at Big Mac in shock “He’s becoming a Darkling!? Can we cure him!?”

Ebony slowly shook his head “The only known cure is to become a Grey Warden, and they all died at Ostrenar”

Zecora shook her head “Not all have perished…though to hope they would get here in time is foolish”

The country mare got in the Zebra’s face “Yer lyin! You know some kinda magic that can help him!”

Twilight put a hand on the mare’s shoulder “I’m sorry Applejack, but there are some things magic can’t do…”

Tears welled up in Applejack’s eyes and she turned to her brother. “Big Mac…Ah’m sorry…”

Big Mac shook his head “Don’t go apologizin. Ya gotta be strong sister…fer Applebloom…”

Ebony walked up to Big Mac “I hope you find peace Big Mac…”

Big Mac then reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a red scarf. “This belonged to mah pa...I want ya to have it. Keep it as a promise to…look after mah family when I’m gone…”

Ebony looked at Big Macintosh then took the red scarf in his hooves. Applejack looked at the dark warrior searchingly.

Ebony spoke firmly after putting the scarf around his neck. “He’s your brother Applejack…it’s up to you…”

Applejack nodded, slowly she drew a dagger out of her barding and thrust it into Big Mac’s chest. Big Mac closed his eyes peacefully as death came to take him.

Applebloom went to hug her big sister adding her own tears to Applejack’s. Ebony turned to Zecora who showed the smallest hint of sorrow.

“Without an end” Zecora said firmly “Peace cannot be found around the bend”

She then turned “Your journey has only just begun, who knows? At the end of this tale maybe it’ll be a song sung”
____________________________________________________

“Zecora?” Luna said shaking her blue head in disbelief.

Spike smiled “I thought that part might interest you a little”

“Thou means to tell me, that a myth flew out of the sky and saved the champion from the Darkling horde?” The princess said suspiciously

“Yeah pretty much” The baby dragon said shrugging

“Are thou certain you did not add to this tale just to add Zecora into it? To please some ponies that have heard of her and would’ve loved her inclusion?” Luna said raising her eyebrow.

Spike shook his head “I was surprised when I saw it too”

Luna got closer to the small dragon. Her blue eyes searching him “What ist thou not telling us? Did Zecora send somepony with the champion?”

“I guess you could say she did” Spike said honestly

Luna backed up and nodded “Very well, continue then. But if thou are about to say that all of thee flew to Kanterwall on a dragon”

Spike held up his claws to calm the princess down “Nothing so crazy I can assure you…

Chapter 2: "The White City Of Chains"

Age of the Pony

Chapter 2

“The White City of Chains”

Zecora kept her word. She got us to Baltimare where we took ship. We sailed across the sea lashed by storms almost day and night. We spent two weeks out at sea packed in with the scared and the desperate.

That was when we saw it, Kanterwall, the city of chains. Years ago it belonged to the Imperium and it was mostly populated by slaves coming to work in the quarries.

Now it’s a “Free City” I use the term in the absolute loosest way possible. Once you sail through the black cliffs you saw what all the slaves saw; The Gallows, welcoming you and threatening you at the same time. That’s where our ship was bound for, with the rest of the ponies fleeing the evil of the blight. Sometimes, I think that risking the blight would’ve been the better choice.

______________________________________

Ebony wished he could sleep, but the rocking of the boat and thoughts of what happened back in Equestria kept him awake. His eyes wandered to the red scarf that Big Mac gave him. Ever since they’ve left Baltimare he’s found himself looking at the scarlet cloth as if it was some kind of ancient tome. He tried and failed to convince himself that Big Mac’s death wasn’t his fault. But the scarf served to remind him of the contrary.

Twilight who was sitting nearby came and sat beside him “Serah, you’ve been staring at that scarf since we’ve left Baltimare”

Ebony set down the scarf and looked up at the young mage. She was wearing a hooded cloak to hide her horn from any of the passengers. Luckily the captain hadn’t caught her using any magic so there were no problems with having a unicorn on board. The dark warrior simply shrugged “I just keep thinking about Big Mac is all”

Her amethyst eyes were laced with sympathy “Serah, his death wasn’t your fault. He chose to tackle that ogre to protect Spike and Applebloom”

Ebony’s own green eyes were laced with guilt however “He died on my watch, I couldn’t protect him so how can I hope to protect his sisters?”

Twilight gently put a hoof on his shoulder “Serah, you can’t start thinking like that. We’re all counting on you to be strong as we get through this”

The dark warrior shook his head “I never signed up to be a leader”

The mage smiled a little “I never signed up to be born with a horn on my head and gain the ability to wield one of the strongest forces in the world”

Ebony nodded “You’re right. It’s just I never expected you guys to take to me like this”

Twilight shrugged “You have this air around you Serah; it compelled me and Spike to follow you out of the Chantry when you rescued us”

“I couldn’t leave you guys behind; I would’ve done the same for anypony”

Twilight smiled and turned to walk away “Not everypony would”

Ebony looked over at Applejack who was sitting next to a sleeping Applebloom. The country mare looked up as Ebony approached. The dark warrior looked at her and reached to untie the scarf around his neck. He held it before Applejack “You should have this, it belonged to Big Mac”

Applejack shook her orange head “Nah, you keep it sugercube. Big Mac would’ve wanted you to have it”

Ebony raised a white eyebrow “But it belongs to you, you’re his sister. I’m just a stranger you met along the road”

Applejack stood up and pushed the scarf back to the warrior. “Ya made a promise to mah brother, that you would protect us when we got to Kanterwall. It’s yers as far as Ah’m concerned”

Ebony looked at the scarlet scarf then at the orange mare looking at him “If you’re sure”

She nodded “Ah’m sure, so what do you plan to do once ya get to Kanterwall?”

Ebony slid the scarf around his neck and thought for a moment “I’m going to contact my brother Rusty, he should be able to get you and everypony else into the city without trouble”

Applejack smiled “That’s mighty kind of you sugercube, under that there rough exterior ya really are a softy” She chuckled a little at her joke.

The warrior snorted “Tell that to the Darklings I’ve taken out”

She chuckled again at that “Yeah, Ah reckon they’d have a thang or two to say about yer rough exterior”

LAND HO!!

All ponies in the hull ran to the top of the ship. All gazed in wonder as they passed the black cliffs into the city of Kanterwall. Ebony felt a feeling of dread as he saw a sight nopony wanted to see. The Gallows, practically a prison for mages, Ebony knew that somewhere in there was Willow. Ebony shook his head as the ship came to dock. Now wasn’t the time for nostalgia, the only thing he needed to worry about was getting all five of the party into the city.

_____________________________________________

“It’s no good” Ebony said as he came back to the group “They aren’t letting anypony in”

Twilight looked away suddenly as a group of heavily armored ponies passed by. Ebony recognized them as Templars, warriors tasked with keeping mages in line. If they even caught so much as a glimpse of Twilight’s horn they would assume the worse. Templars assuming anything is never a good thing for a mage. It didn’t matter if Twilight was in the circle before she arrived in Kanterwall. They would come up with some excuse to haul her away to the Gallows.

When they passed Twilight looked at Ebony. “We could try talking to one of the guards in charge. Get them to look for your brother”

The dark warrior nodded to the entire group “Alright, Let’s see if we can’t convince them to look for Rusty”

Applebloom who was at her sister’s hooves looked up at Applejack “Ah don’t like this place Applejack, this place gives me the creeps”

Applejack spoke reassuringly to her little sister “It’s alright sugercube; once we get inside the city we’ll all be fine”

Ebony hoped that he wouldn’t let them down. They all looked to him as leader for whatever reason. Ebony had men under his command before but they either died or transferred over before the warrior could invest in them. Now he held the future of three other ponies and a dragon in his hooves. He couldn’t fail at this.

One of the guards held up a hoof as they approached “Back in line you lot! We don’t have any more room for refugees”

Ebony walked to the guard and stood firm “Sir, me and my companions need to get into the city”

The guard shook his head stubbornly “Under Knight-Commander Maredith’s orders we can’t let just anypony in”

Ebony raised an eyebrow at this “Knight-Commander? That’s a templar title, what is the city guard doing listening to her?”

The guard frowned “We don’t answer to her, but while the viscount is sitting on his throne dealing with the lords she’s the real power in Kanterwall” He grinned a little “Everypony knows not to cross her if they know what’s good for them”

Merethorn that was the name of the templar that took Willow all those years ago. Guess she’s moved up quite a bit in the world; Ebony ignored this and moved on. “It’s obvious I’m going to get nowhere talking to you. Can you point me to someone who could help?”

The guard spoke smugly “You could try talking to Guardsmen Ironsides, though I don’t know if you’ll get better results by doing so” He grinned “If I had my way I’d bar you all from coming like the lice you are”

Ebony frowned and simply walked by the guard. He wasn’t in the mood to let some scumbag of a guard egg him on. The group of five began to walk up the stairs towards the main square. Applejack fell into line beside Twilight.

“So how did ya’ll escape from the attack at Ponyville?” the country mare asked curiously.

Twilight smiled and looked on at Ebony who was leading the way. “It’s thanks to Serah Blade that we managed to escape. Had he not arrived when he did me and Spike would probably be dead”

Applejack looked on the dark warrior almost admiringly “Mighty noble of him to risk his neck fer ya. Ya ever ask why he rescued you though?”

Twilight shook her head “I’ve tried to bring it up on the ship but he always answered it with the same answer” She imitated Ebony’s voice “It’s because I couldn’t leave you guys behind to become Darkling food” Both mares laughed at this.

Ebony and Spike rolled their eyes at the same time and said together “Mares…”

______________________________________________

“Let us through you damn blighter! We need to get into this pit!” A rather large and dumb looking earth pony said to the guard posted in front of the city gates.

The guard, a strong and formidable looking earth pony with a shield and mace frowned. “All the gold in Equestria can’t make the city any larger” He shook his head “I’m sorry but you’d be better off taking your ship and going back”

The thug wouldn’t take that for an answer “You can’t do this! Me and my men paid good bits to get here!” His men behind him nodded and murmured agreements.

The guard again shook his head “You and half of Equestria have used that same excuse, despite popular opinion it doesn’t give you a free pass into the city”

“You must be letting some ponies in though” Everypony there turned to see Ebony walk up with his group behind him. The dark warrior spoke reasonably “It’s an awfully big city so some ponies have to be able to get in otherwise how could you get supplies?”

The thug pointed an accusing hoof at the guard “That’s right! We saw you let ponies in here before!”

The guard sighed clearly exacerbated by the whole business “Legitimate business stallions and citizens to the city that make it worth our while” He glared at the men before him. “Since you are neither I can’t let you in”

The thug growled. Ebony looked at the guard with a look of desperation “Listen I have a brother that lives here, goes by the name of Rusty Blade”

The guard tapped his chin in thought “Rusty Blade eh?" He then nodded "Yeah that name does ring a bell”

The warrior nodded and went on “He’s about my age with a reddish orange coat and he’s a noblestallion for House Blade”

The guard raised an eyebrow “Noblestallion?” The guard smiled almost cheekily “We can’t be talking about the same Rusty Blade who can’t keep two bits in his pockets at the exact same time” He then nodded in agreement “If he comes around I’ll tell him you’re here and-“

“What?!” The thug snapped glaring at Ebony and his group “You’re just going to let them in!? They’ve been here only five minutes while we’ve been here for three days!” He turned to his men who all drew their weapons in anger “Men! Cut your way through!”

The leader was about to swing a short sword at the guardsmen before Ebony blocked the sword with his own blade. “Now that was just plain rude of you” The thug lifted his blade and prepared to strike the dark warrior again. Ebony blocked it with ease and continued fighting.

Applejack meanwhile was fighting off two of the thugs with shield and sword. She blocked one thug's blade and delivered a swift buck to the chest of a thug that tried to attack her from behind. The thug’s bones made an audible crack when they were hit. She then turned and delivered a deadly bash to the face of the first thug with her shield. Ebony looked on as Applejack walked away from the two now unconscious thugs. She smiled and winked “Years of Applebuckin’ never thought I’d need to use it this way”

Ebony turned his attention back to the leader. The earth pony thug had no formal training whatsoever. It was like fighting a one legged dog the way the leader kept lumbering about. Ebony didn’t want to kill the guy, just hurt him enough to get the dog to back off. He leaped over the leader’s head and slammed the blunt end of his blade to the back of the leader’s head. The thug dropped like a ton of bricks.

Twilight twirled her staff and beat the last thug upside the head. All the thugs lay on the ground clutching their bodies trying to deal with the pain. Ebony estimated they would need at least three months to recover physically, maybe five yers psychologically. Either way, they weren’t going to bother them anytime soon.

The guard smiled impressed by what he’s seen “You three are quite a capable lot, I haven’t seen anypony fight like that before”

The guard that was blocking the entrance before came running up flanked by two other guards. “Captain Ironsides! Are you alright sir!?”

Ironsides frowned “I am, no thanks to somepony who believes that arriving late is fashionable. These three warriors already dealt with the thugs while you were out twitting your hoofs at the docks”

The guard hung his head in shame “I’m terribly sorry sir…”

“As you should be, gather your men and clean up this rabble” He gestured to the unconscious and groaning thug pile that the group had created. The guard ran off to gather his men and turned to Ebony “You have my gratitude young warrior. I’ll go and see if I can find your brother for you”

Ebony smiled and nodded “Thank you sir, that would be much appreciated”

_________________________________________

Applejack paced in the center of the courtyard. She shook her head and sighed in frustration “It’s been three days since Ironsides left, Ah hope he finds yer brother before we all starve to death Ebony”

Twilight looked on at her orange companion “Don’t worry, I’m sure Serah Rustyblade won’t be long”

Applebloom groaned “Ya said that two days ago Twilight”

Ebony looked up “Don’t look now, but I think we have our stallion”

Rusty was a rather skinny earth pony. He had a long black mane and a reddish orange coat for which he got his name for. He looked on at Ebony as he approached them. “Ebony? I almost didn’t recognize you brother, it’s been so long”

Ebony walked up to Rusty and smiled “It’s good to see you again brother”

Rusty tried to smile then that smile faded “I really wasn’t expecting this. What with the blight and everything, I would’ve figured you’d be Equestrian for life”

Ebony shook his head “I had, other priorities caused me to come back”

Rusty looked on at the group and shook his head “Don’t dump this on me now Ebony, I’m not running a charity here”

Ebony frowned “I just need you to get them into the city”

Rusty looked away from his brother “I don’t even know if I can do that”

Applejack got into the noble stallion’s face “Ya mean yer just gonna leave us here! Mah sister can’t stay on the streets like this!”

“Applejack that’s enough, let me handle this” Ebony said firmly.

Applejack slowly nodded and stepped back from Rusty. Rusty sweated a little as he continued “Well, I was hoping to grease some hooves but we’re going to need more grease what with all the new regulations”

Spike looked up at Rusty “But Ebony said you guys had an estate, I would think your family would’ve left something behind”

The rust colored pony sighed “About the estate, Ebony I’m sorry but I couldn’t hang onto it”

Ebony furrowed his eyebrows and resisted the urge to tackle his brother “You lost our home!?”

Rusty nodded slowly “To settle a dept…I’m sorry but I had no choice. I’ve been meaning to write you”

“Before or after you gambled away our home like it was a bargaining chip!?”

Twilight put a hoof on Ebony’s shoulder before he could tackle his brother. Ebony looked at Twilight and sighed. He turned to his brother and spoke earnestly. “Is there something we can do to at least get in?”

Rusty smiled at this “Actually yes, I’ve made contact with some groups willing to give you all jobs to pay your way into the city. But the thing is you and your friends would have to work for a year to settle the dept”

“A year?!” Spike spoke out astonished

Rusty held up his hooves “It’s the best I can do, Trust me when I say that you won’t find a better offer anywhere else”

Ebony looked to the group and gestured for them to gather. They all huddled in a circle just out of Rusty’s hearing range. Ebony looked at each companion in turn and then asked: “Opinions?”

Twilight spoke up first “Whatever we need to do to get us inside the city. I can’t stay here what with all the templars everywhere. I'm also worried about somepony taking Spike”

The baby dragon spoke up "They wouldn't really take me would they?"

Twilight spoke frankly to the young dragon "A dragon can be a valuable resource to the right ponies"

Applejack spoke next “Ah’m willin to whatever Ah can to get Applebloom into the city. We ‘ave no choice but to go along with this”

The group broke up and Ebony turned back to Rusty. “Alright, we’ll go along with your plan Rusty”

Rusty smiled “Great! I’ll go make the arrangements now then” He started walking off into the town. The group looked up at the white city towering before them.

Twilight spoke knowingly “Guess this’ll be our home for a while”

Ebony nodded and spoke firmly “The blight may spread at home, but here we’re safe at least for a while”

Applebloom’s small voice spoke somberly “If only Big Mac were here to see it”

Spike also spoke “And all the other ponies we left behind at Ponyville”

Ebony stepped forward and looked up at the city. He never expected to come home like this. He looked back at the group he had gathered. They looked at him expectantly, hanging on his every word. Ebony could never explain what made ponies want to follow him. He simply smiled at them and spoke simply.

“We have a long year ahead of us. Let’s make the most of it”

______________________________________________

Chapter 3: "Hope and Tranquility"

Chapter 3

“Hope and Tranquility”

Thus began our first year in Kanterwall. Word had arrived from across the sea that The Hero of Equestria defeated the blight. The land was in peace now with its new king and queen on the throne. But the warden was nowhere to be found when the fighting ceased.

Ponyville however never rose again from the ashes of its fallen. Kanterwall was our home now. So we remained, paying off our dept and making names for ourselves in the underworld.

It was a busy year in the city of chains…that’s when the griffons landed. A storm had caught their ship and left hundreds of warriors stranded. Far away from flying distance of their home they waited for a ship to take them home.

That’s also when the trouble with the unicorns started. The templar order had become very powerful under the command of Knight Commander Maredith.

But most importantly…that’s when we met Pinkie Pie.

______________________________________________

“No!” Cranky said glaring at Ebony and Twilight as they stood in front of him. “Celestia’s teats pony! You know how many ponies have asked to be on this expedition already?”

The donkey was small, not happy about having refused the pair for the twelfth time. His coat was a dark brown and his head was covered by a black wig. He wore a robe of fine material which showed his status as a donkey of the merchant guild.

Twilight spoke as politely as she could muster “Look Cranky, we know you’re heading to the deep roads. You’ll need ponies with combat experience”

Cranky kept his frown “You’re too late pony, I’ve already done all the hiring I need”

Ebony shook his black head at the donkey “We’ve fought darklings before, just because the blight is over doesn’t mean you won’t find some down there”

The donkey snorted “Yeah? Well apparently you and half of Kanterwall have slain the Archdemon single hoofingly” The donkey shook his head and started to walk off “I’m funding an expedition not a damn charity! Find another meal ticket”

Twilight and her friend walked a ways. She shook her head “No wonder why they call him Cranky”

Ebony snorted “His mother either hated him or she had incredible powers of foresight into his personality”

“We need the money from this expedition, coin, status, anything to keep the templars from knocking down on our door and taking Spike”

“You’re more worried about Spike?” Ebony observed “I would think you should worry about them taking you”

Twilight shook her head “Spike is all the family I have; I don’t remember my family at all. I was taken from them when I was just a filly”

“I’m sorry”

Twilight smiled at her friend “Don’t apologize serah, I shouldn’t bore you with my problems”

Ebony frowned “Twilight you don’t have to call me serah every time you refer to me”

She kept her smile “It’s a title of respect, you pulled me and Spike out of the Chantry when we’ve given up hope. You’ve earned the title I call you even if you don’t have an estate to match it”

Ebony smiled at the violet unicorn but then felt somepony brush past him. A small earth pony was running away from him. Ebony felt his belt and realized his coin purse was gone. “Hey! Stop thief!”

The earthpony ran with the coin purse in his mouth. He looked back to see Ebony and Twilight in hot pursuit. The earth pony broke into a run at the sight of them. He rounded a corner when suddenly an arrow was shot at him. It pierced his leg and pinned the thief to the wall.

Ebony stopped to see a pink colored earth pony with a wild mess of a pink mane step out from a nearby alley. She was holding a large crossbow that folded up when she pulled on a lever. She hopped over to the thief and glared at him with bright blue eyes. “You know it’s really not nice to steal other pony’s things! You were lucky that Blinky here got your leg and not somewhere where you could get hurt a lot more! You aren’t a very good thief mister, I once knew somepony who could steal anything just by smiling at you” She smiled wide to drive home her point.

She then reached up and took back Ebony’s purse and she frowned at the thief. “Find a less Meany pants line of work!” She punched the thief in the face and pulled out the arrow and caused the thief to fall to the ground clutching his bleeding leg. The pink earth pony hopped over to Ebony and tossed him his coin purse. “Hi there! I’m Pinkie Pie!”

Ebony, getting his bearings after what he just witnessed, smiled and said “I’m Ebony Blade” He gestured to Twilight “This is my friend Twilight Sparkle”

“A pleasure” Twilight said smiling at the pink pony.

Pinkie looked past the pair and noticed they came from Cranky’s place. “You two tried to get on Cranky’s fun trip right?”

“Tried is the key word” Ebony said flatly “He won’t hire us on”

Pinkie sighed “Cranky’s not going to go on this fun trip if he keeps turning away ponies willing to help”

Ebony raised a white eyebrow “But I thought he said he was done hiring anypony”

Pinkie shook his head “Cranky doesn’t need a hireling he needs friends. Truth is Cranky has been ripping his wig out trying to get this trip funded and he can’t do it by himself” She hopped a little “50 gold bits and I’m sure he won’t refuse”

Ebony frowned “If I had that kind of coin we wouldn’t be on this expedition in the first place”

“Well I’m pretty sure ponies will be willing to pay you for work” Pinkie said matter of factly “In fact some ponies are so desperate for work they practically have exclamation points over their heads!”

Ebony was smart to ignore that comment. I think it would’ve destroyed his brain if he really thought about it. He simply nodded “Could you hook us up with some work?”

Pinkie nodded her head enthusiastically “Well yeah, also we kind of need to find a map leading to the deep roads. That way we can find an easy route without any nasty creatures trying to nom on our legs”

Twilight tilted her head “Do you have the map?”

“Nope” Pinkie said simply “But I have heard of a pony that has one”

“Where?” Ebony asked

“Dun know” Pinkie said

Both Ebony and Twilight face hoofed at the same time. Then the Pink Pony got really close and whispered to the pair. “But I know who can lead us to her; she’s a nurse who runs a clinic over in Lowtown”

Ebony nodded “Lead the way”
_________________________________________________________

The clinic was crowded with ponies. Most of them came from Equestria with some kind of ailment or problem. As the party entered the small building three mares were at the front desk arguing with a white pony with a pink mane and a Red Cross cutie mark.

A cream colored pony with a red mane spoke “My sister has a cough!”

A pink colored pony with a blond mane and a flower in her hair spoke even more frantic “My brother broke his leg!”

A third mare with a pink coat and a curly green mane spoke even more frantically “My cat won't let me pet him!”

The nurse pony sighed and shook her head. She gestured to each mare in turn. “You three are always panicking over the smallest things. Your sister’s coughing isn’t bad, your brother’s leg isn’t broken just sprained and your cat just doesn’t like you. So get to the back of the line for more important patients!”

All three mares went to the back of the very long line. Ebony wasn’t willing to wait for the line and moved his way to the nurse. She frowned at him “I’m going to have to ask you to head to the back. You don’t look sick to me”

Ebony shook his dark head and leaned across the desk “I was told that you could lead me to a pony that has a map of the deep roads”

The nurse looked past Ebony at Pinkie who was trying way too hard to look innocent. The nurse returned to her gaze to Ebony “Look she’s doing a lot of good things for these ponies. She’s delivered children, cured sicknesses, done so much without asking much in return. She’s a mare of true generosity”

Ebony nodded “She sounds like a great mare”

“She is and that’s why I’m cautious to tell anypony where to find her…” The nurse gazed at Ebony warily

“Who is she exactly?” Ebony asked “You wouldn’t go to such lengths to hide her if she was a simple nurse”

“Do you work for the templars?” the nurse asked even more warily “I’m not telling anypony where she is if you do…”

Twilight walked forward and lifted her hood. The nurse’s eyes went wide when she saw Twilight’s horn. Twilight fixed her hood so that nopony else could see that she was a mage. “I’m a mage to; would a templar really have an apostate mage running around?” Twilight said quietly so nopony could hear.

Slowly the nurse nodded “Very well…her name is Rarity, she used to be a Grey Warden”

Twilight raised an eyebrow “I didn’t know you could quit being a Grey Warden”

Ebony decided to move on “She’s a mage isn’t she? That would explain her healing prowess”

The nurse nodded “Yes, which is why I’m hesitant to tell anypony where she is”

Ebony got close to the nurse “She’s in no danger from me. I too lost somepony to the templars and I’m not going to just toss her to them”

Twilight looked over curiously at Ebony. Ebony never mentioned any of this to her and they’ve been together since arriving at Kanterwall.

The nurse sighed in relent “She’s in Darktown…look for the lantern”

_______________________________________________________

“You know for a place called Darktown it’s awfully bright” Pinkie observed as she hopped along with her friends “They should name it semi-dark town because look at how the light comes out over there”

Twilight rolled her eyes “I hope we find this mare soon before I suddenly cause an avalanche to fall on a certain pink pony”

Ebony stopped and held a hoof up. He looked to see a lantern lit by itself on a wall. Ebony felt along the wall and found the stone the nurse talked about. He pressed on the stone and a click was heard. Slowly the rocks moved by themselves and revealed a passageway leading into a cave.

“Wow” Pinkie said looking into the cave “Neat, I thought we’d just have to walk down to the end of a pathway and her clinic would be right there”

“Why would a mage who’s obviously in hiding have a clinic just out there?” Twilight retorted “It makes more sense for it to be hidden”

Pinkie shrugged “Just a thought”

Ebony led the way into the darkness of the cave. Suddenly the cave was lit by glowing diamonds allowing light for the path ahead. Pinkie eyed the shiny gems “Amazing, how do they glow like that?”

“Magic” Twilight said looking at the gems “Somepony enhanced these…”

“I think I found out whom” Ebony said pointing ahead. Flashes of light came from around the corner as the group got closer. Ebony peaked around the corner and gazed at what he saw.

She was the same age as he was with a coat of pure white. Her robes were violet and studded with gems on the lining. Her equally violet mane shined in the diamond light as she bent over a small Pegasus child. Her blue eyes closed and her horn glowed a bright blue.

The Pegasus gasped for a second but then sighed as pain subsided. The Pegasus got up and ran to his mother hugging her tightly. The unicorn smiled and walked to rest after exerting herself in the healing process.

Ebony approached the unicorn from behind but as he stepped into the room he saw her tense up. Suddenly a staff appeared at her side and she held it in front of her as she turned to face Ebony. “I have made this place a sanctuary for healing! Do you threaten it!?”

Twilight was about to reach for her own staff when Ebony held up a hoof to stop her. Ebony’s green eyes told the violet unicorn to back down. The warrior advanced slowly on the white unicorn and spoke gently “I mean you no harm; I’m just here to talk”

Pinkie hopped so that she stood beside Ebony. The Pink Pony smiled wide “Hi there I’m Pinkie Pie and these are my friends Ebonyblade and Twilight! We are going on a fun trip in the deep roads and we’d reeeally like your help!”

The unicorn arched eyebrow in interest “And you expect me to help how?”

“The nurse told us you were a grey warden” Ebony explained “We were hoping you could help us find a route to the deep roads”

The unicorn frowned “Did the warden send you to bring me back?” Before Ebony could answer she spoke dramatically “Well tell him I’m not interested! That horrible brute made me get rid my cat! Poor Opal, she hated the deep roads and she was so terrified of the ordeal!”

“You had a cat named Opal?” Ebony said with a raised eyebrow “And you let her run around with you in the deep roads?”

“She was a brave little thing” she said with a smile “Swatted a nasty grimlock on the nose one time” She frowned again “But that brute of a warden had me get rid of her! Said she made me too soft! The absolute nerve of some men!”

Ebony rolled his eyes “Look can you help us Miss…?”

“Rarity darling” She said with a curt bow. She smiled at Ebony a little “I must apologize if I come across as complaining”

“Funny it sounded like you were whining” Twilight said with a raised eyebrow

Rarity frowned “There is a difference between whining and complaining darling trust me” She turned her attention back to Ebony and eyed him with glistening blue eyes “I might be willing to give you the map…but a favor for a favor right?”

“What can we do for you?” Ebony asked almost like clockwork.

Rarity’s blue eyes turned serious “I came to Kanterwall in aide of friend. She said she would be able to help me find a sister of mine here if I helped her. This friend of mine is a mage…a prisoner in the horrible Gallows…”

“You have a sister?” I asked curious

Rarity nodded “Her name is Sweetie Belle and I’ve been looking for her for years. Sadly my efforts have been fruitless until now. My friend Fleur agreed to help me find her if I freed her from the gallows” She sighed “The Templars found out about my plans, I don’t know how but my friend is in great danger”

Pinkie sprung up between the two and smiled “We’ll help you right Bladey?”

“Bladey?” Ebony said with a raised eyebrow

“Yep, that’s my awesome nickname for you” Pinkie ignored Ebony’s attempt at protest and turned back to Rarity “We’ll help you get your friend out of there!”

Rarity smiled wide “Oh splendid! Meet me at the Chantry tonight at midnight! Fleur should be there if the letters went through!”

As the group turned to leave Twilight whispered in Ebony’s ear “I got a bad feeling about this…”

“You said it” Ebony said nodding “But if we don’t spring the trap then we can’t get the cheese and break out…”

____________________________________________________________

The four ponies entered the magnificent and empty halls of the Chantry. A large pair of statues of the Princess’ of Equestria stood with prominence on either side of the entrance. Ebony had always admired the amount of care that went into the statues. But right now wasn’t the time to admire architecture.

Rarity looked to her three companions “Alright, you three keep an eye out for templars, I’ll see about finding Fleur”

“I know you too well Rarity…” an almost dead voice spoke from behind Rarity. The mage quickly turned to see a beautiful and lanky unicorn walk to the party. Twilight’s eyes grew wide as the unicorn advanced on them…her horn was sawed off.

Rarity’s eyes found tears “No! No! Not you Fleur!”

Pinkie looked at Ebony frantic “What’s wrong with her?”

Ebony bowed his head “She’s been made Tranquil…her dreams are gone and now she’s mindless slave to the will of the templars…”

“The Templars are not evil Rarity…” Fleur continued her eyes only facing forward. Ebony turned around to see heavily armored earth ponies surrounding them. “They will teach you to control your power Rarity…”

The templars drew swords and shields as they advanced on the party. “This is the apostate…” Fleur said slowly

“NO!!” Rarity said drawing her staff in the space of a second. She stabbed it into the ground and boulders levitated out of the ground and hurled themselves at random templars. Rarity glared at the remaining templars her eyes taking on almost other worldly appearance “You will not harm another mage!”

Ebony ducked to avoid the first swipe of the templar blade. He blocked it with his own blade and yelled at Pinkie “Get to high ground and take out the commander!”

Pinkie nodded and climbed like a monkey on the statues. She sat on top of Celestia’s wing and loaded her crossbow. She put the crosshair to her eye and found the pony barking orders at the templars. “Blinky says hello!” She fired her crossbow and it hit the templar in the head.

Ebony smiled and stabbed the templar he was fighting in the side. Meanwhile Twilight was hurling fireballs at Templar archers that tried to shoot down Pinkie. Pinkie dived behind Celestia’s neck to avoid getting hit by the arrows that did fire.

Ebony found himself back to back with Rarity “Got any spells to even the odds?”

“Yes darling, give me one of your blades!” Ebony held out one of his blades and Rarity ran her staff over them.

The blade glowed with strange arcane symbols and it felt lighter than ever. Ebony looked to a pair of templars as they charged blades raised. Ebony charged at the pair and his blades moved like lightning and hit both of them on the legs.

The templars fell like rocks and Ebony flipped and thrusted his blades into their backs. Ebony looked at his blades; they were so light, so much sharper than they normally were. Rarity must’ve enhanced them with some form of magic.

All that was left was a couple of stragglers which Pinkie managed to snipe. Rarity came to the last templar. Her blue eyes showed nothing but contempt as she raised her staff. A large shard of a diamond appeared and she hurled it like a spear at the Templar. The templar let out a last grunt as the makeshift spear went into him. He fell dead with Rarity standing over him.

Ebony looked over at Fleur and saw that the unicorn blinked. She shook her head and looked at Rarity “Rarity?! What did you do!?”

Twilight looked on in amazement “She’s not tranquil anymore!? How is that possible!?”

"Does it matter?!" Rarity went to Fleur and spoke frantically “Fleur! My sister! Where is she?!”

Fleur’s eyes closed apologetically “I’m sorry Rarity…I couldn’t find her…”

“No…” Rarity collapsed on the floor and started sobbing “I was so close…”

Fleur looked at Rarity with equal franticness “Rarity! I feel the tranquility calling me back! Kill me before I go back! I don’t want to become lifeless again!”

Pinkie slid down the statue and looked over at Twilight worried “Can’t we cure her?”

Twilight shook her head “You don’t cure a beheading by sticking it back on and hoping it works…she’ll be like this the rest of her life…”

Ebony looked at the tranquil mage. This was a fate worse than death…Ebony drew his blade and walked to the mage. Before the tranquility could take Fleur back he thrusted his blade into her heart. She coughed blood and her violet eyes looked at Ebony. She smiled “Thank you...”

Rarity looked at Ebony as he laid the unicorn down and closed her eyes. Fleur gave up her last moments of life truly free…

Ebony looked over at Rarity whose eyes were filled with tears. She wiped them “Let’s just leave…”

Ebony nodded and walked out with his friends. Rarity was shaken by the loss of her friend but knew she would be at peace now. Fleur died smiling…

____________________________________________________

“I’m sorry you had to witness that…” Rarity said when they got back to the clinic “Had I known it would be an ambush…”

Ebony shook his head “No Rarity, you have nothing to be sorry for. The templars made Fleur tranquil not you”

Rarity smiled a little “Thank you for giving her peace…I would not want her to live the rest of her life not being able to dream”

Twilight smiled at Rarity “Will you help us now?”

Rarity smiled and nodded “I do owe you for putting Fleur to rest” She bowed politely before Ebony “My magic is at your disposal Sir Blade”

Ebony rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. He wasn’t used to a mare as lovely as Rarity addressing him like a hero. He simply smiled “We’d really appreciate having another staff working with us”

Rarity went to her feet and ran her tail along Ebony’s side. “My maps are yours as well as my staff…and other things should you wish…” She walked out leaving behind a blushing Ebony and a glaring Twilight. Pinkie was simply hopping along beside Rarity chatting about just how cool her magic was.

Rarity smiled…it’s been a while since she had friends…

Chapter 4 "The Rainbow Rogue"

Chapter 4

“The Rainbow Rogue”

Kanterwall’s city guard was a vast and organized machine. Taking residence in the garrison attached to the Viscount’s keep they protect and serve the ponies of the city. Today Ebony was going to meet with one of those guards. The very same country mare he brought from Equestria.

Applejack’s back was to the dark warrior as he walked up and smiled “Applejack”

The orange earth pony didn’t look back at him for a moment. She was clad almost head to hoof in plate armor. Her blond mane was tied back and out of the way. Her head was only adorned by her Stetson hat and not by any helm. Her shield was strung to her back which bore Kanterwall’s symbol and a short sword was sheathed on her left foreleg for easy access.

She looked back at Ebony for a minute before returning to look at the postings on the board “Howdy Ebony”

Ebony raised a white eyebrow “Been busy?”

“What?” She looked back and shook her head “Sorry sugercube, just been ‘avin a lot on mah mind. Feels like Ah’ve only been talkin tah ya yesterday”

“We did talk yesterday” Ebony pointed out “We live in the same house”

Ever since the group arrived at Kanterwall they all stayed at one house together. Mostly Spike and Applebloom stayed at the house while Ebony, Twilight and Applejack all did their jobs. Rusty was not happy about opening up his home to so many ponies but Ebony was able to get him to let the group in anyway.

“Ah can’t thank ya enough fer takin us in” Applejack said smiling at her fellow earth pony “But Ah’ve been hearin about ya thinkin of dealin with Cranky”

“Spying on me again are we?” Ebony said a little annoyed

“Ah only do it because Ah care” Applejack said with a smile “That and I gotta make sure ya don’t lose Big Mac’s scarf”

Ebony smiled and looked down at himself. Ebony wore a little bit of chain mail armor to allow for free movement during combat. He wore no helm but Big Mac’s scarlet scarf was a constant companion to his neck. He hadn’t gone anywhere without it “Anyways I was hoping you could help me. You see Cranky’s asking for a lot of gold for this expedition and I was hoping you could find work”

Applejack thought for a moment “Well, Ah can think of one way to help. There was this donkey that’s been askin around for somepony to help him with a job. Ah believe his name was Anso…rather odd feller but he did say he’s willin to pay”

“Great” Ebony said with a smile “I’ll get right on it” He began to walk away before Applejack stepped in his path

Her expression was firm “Ah’m goin with ya sugercube, ya could use somepony who can fight”

Ebony shook his head “Applejack I can’t risk you”

Applejack punched him in the foreleg “Ah’m not some wall flower Ebony! Ah fought darklings longside ya! Ah’m goin”

Ebony sighed, there was no stopping Applejack once her mind was set on something. The dark warrior finally relented “Alright, just don’t do anything rash”

The country mare smiled “Great, Ah’ll see ya tonight at Lowtown”

_______________________________________________________

Ebony walked alongside Twilight as night fell in Lowtown. All manner of nasty ponies appeared at night…strangely in the same spots. Ebony didn’t have time to question the habits of bandits and thieves as the pair walked on.

Twilight looked at Ebony “Serah, are you sure it’s a good idea to be walking around at night like this?”

The dark warrior looked at Twilight with a comforting eye “Don’t worry Twilight, worst comes to worst I’ll be there to cover for you”

Twilight smiled a little “Serah you are too kind…”

Ebony simply returned the smile. Twilight reminded him a lot of Willow, not just because both were unicorns. But also because Twilight seemed to have such a gentle personality despite the power she has inside her.

Twilight however grew more and more curious as to why Ebony acts like this around her. He was always like a protective brother to her. He went out of his way to make sure no templars came knocking on their door and he bought a wide variety of things for her magical studies.

Both ponies looked on to see Applejack leaning against a wall “Bout time ya two showed up. Ah was wonderin if ya alls went off without me”

“You would probably kill me if I did” Ebony said with a laugh “We just need to wait up on the other two”

Applejack raised an eyebrow “Other two? Ya mean tah tell me we got company?”

“Here comes one of them now!” Twilight said pointing with a hoof. The group turned to see Pinkie Pie hopping happily towards them. Blinky was latched onto her back with a leather strap. Aside from that Pinkie was the only pony largely naked except for a simple leather jacket she wore.

She smiled wide upon seeing everypony “Hi Ebony! Hi Twilight! I’m so happy about our adventures together last night! Although it was kind of sad what happened to Fleur. But then we got Rarity in our party and it’s always good to have friends!”

Pinkie went on her endless tangent. Applejack looked over at Ebony “What in Celestia’s name did you find?”

“I don’t even know” Ebony said honestly “I think she’s some kind of magical experiment gone horribly wrong. Or a demon trying cause everypony to go deaf”

Pinkie Pie ran to Applejack and hugged her tight “Hi there I’m Pinkie Pie! You must be Applejack! It’s so awesome to meet you! I’m always happy to make friends! I can’t express enough how glad I am!”

“You might want to express it less then you normally do” Twilight said bemused “Applejack’s ribs can’t handle more gladness”

Pinkie blushed a little and released Applejack, whom gasped for air at being released. The country mare simply smiled after getting her air back. “Thanks fer the welcome Pinkie, Ah’m glad tah be here”

Ebony then felt something run against his side. He looked over to see Rarity brushing her coat against him. The white unicorn smiled upon seeing him “So wonderful to see you again darling. I heard you were getting a group together and I was willing to offer my staff for help”

Ebony flushed at being addressed by the beautiful white unicorn. Ebony had little experience with mares and none have ever approached him this…aggressively. He simply took a step away from the mare and bowed his head politely “It’s good to see you again Rarity, are you sure you can handle another job after…”

Rarity’s blue eyes betrayed her sorrow of yesterday. But she simply nodded “I appreciate your concern darling. But I’m a grown mare I can handle it”

“That’s good to hear” Ebony said smiling

Rarity looked on at the rest of the group and Twilight was noticeably frowning. Who was this mare to think she could just flirt with Ebony like that? He was their leader not some drunken fool you meet at the Hanging Pony.

Applejack looked at the mare and noticed her horn “Another mage? Judgin by yer robes ya ain’t from the circle”

Rarity frowned and spoke as polite fully as she can muster “Correct I am an apostate. But Sir Ebony has sought fit to use my services”

Applejack didn’t know what to make of this mare. She seemed alright but there was just something that the country mare couldn’t put her hoof on.

Pinkie Pie simply got the entire group into a big group hug “Great! Now that we’re all together let’s do this!”

Rarity and Applejack simply looked at Ebony who shrugged “You get used to it”

____________________________________________________

Ebony led the way as the group walked down the alleyway. At the end they found a donkey looking extremely nervous.

Ebony walked up to the donkey and spoke firmly “Are you Anso?”

The donkey let out a yelp and looked over at the dark warrior and his group “Sweet mother of Faust! You can’t just go sneaking up on somepony like that!”

Applejack simply rolled her eyes “Yah said ya needed somepony to do the job and we’re willin to do it Anso”

Anso spoke still nervously “Yes I’d be willing to…I mean if…sorry pony. I’ve only been on the surface for a short time and I keep thinking I’m going to fall up in that sky any second!” He finished that sentence looking up at the night sky like it was a pit of doom.

Pinkie chuckled “Cranky used to be like that, got jumpy every time I tried to get him to come outside”

Rarity simply laughed “Donkeys are quite humorous…”

“But I digress” Anso went on “I’ve been looking for somepony to recover an item that has been…misplaced”

The Donkey spoke more confidently as he talked business “The ponies I had delivering it decided not to…if you were to retrieve it I would reward you greatly”

Ebony raised an eyebrow and crossed his hooves “What kind of property are we talking about here?”

Anso laughed nervously “Well it’s a very very valuable…the ponies I sent it with seemed like perfectly reasonable men. They smiled and everything, the goods are very…illegal and incurably important for me to have. You know how Templars can be…”

Twilight looked at the donkey “You’re smuggling Lyrium!”

Lyrium was a highly useful and incredibly dangerous substance that fuels magic. It was toxic to normal ponies and only the Donkeys had access to the stuff. Templars had almost exclusive access to the substance and they use it for all kinds of purposes. The stuff was incredibly valuable to the right ponies…though being caught with it meant almost certain…well you get the idea.

Anso shushed Twilight “Not so loud Pony! Do you want everybody in Kanterwall to hear?” He began talking “I knew I should’ve taken that job sweeping stables like mother insisted…”

Ebony simply shrugged “Well so long as we get paid it shouldn’t be too hard”

Anso smiled wide “Great! They have a little hideout in the Pegasus Alienage; I’ll give you directions…”

___________________________________________________________

Pegasi were a proud race of flying ponies that once held a vast empire. Nowadays the Pegasi are little more than a second class race. Constantly fighting to either blend in with the ponies that would take them in or fighting to keep their traditions alive among the Dalish.

None were there tonight so Ebony and the group entered the hovel silently. Ebony saw a large group of smugglers moving crates of something across a large room.

Ebony looked on and gave a signal. Suddenly from the ceiling came arrows from Pinkie Pie. One hit a pony in the shoulder and knocked him aside.

Twilight teleported in the center of the group and swung her staff to one side. Two ponies became frozen solid thanks to her spell work. Applejack then raised her shield and tackled the frozen ponies, shattering them to pieces.

Ebony swung his blades expertly at the last smuggler. His chest got two blade sized holes when Ebony was done with him. One smuggler tried to get an arrow at Ebony before he died but a barrier provided by Rarity protected the dark warrior.

Pinkie descended from the ceiling and opened one of the crates “Ebony! Empty!” She zoomed to all of the crates and found the same contents “They’re all empty!”

Rarity snorted “That no good ass! He had us fighting these men for nothing!”

Twilight frowned “I guess we’d better go back and tell him”

The dark warrior nodded and led the way out.

___________________________________________________________

The outside courtyard was filled with well armed ponies. They all wore armor of the Trotvinter Imperium, silver with red markings on the armor. The Trotvinter Imperium used to cover the entire known world. But it was thanks to the efforts of Saint Faust that the empire was held back although at the cost of the hero’s life.

One of them wearing a commander’s uniform looked at the group “They aren’t with the chicken! Who are they?”

“It doesn’t matter!” Another said drawing a blade “We were told to kill whoever came out of the house!”

Ebony looked over at Twilight “Twilight! Distraction now!”

Twilight stabbed her staff into the ground and fireballs rained on the group of soldiers. Those that survived the initial assault met Applejack’s shield and Ebony’s blades. Pinkie used this opportunity to shimmy up a nearby building and snipe the leader of the soldiers.

The commander got a crossbow bolt to the head and fell like a ton of bricks. Rarity walked up to Ebony and Applejack and her staff glowed brightly. Symbols appeared on Applejack’s shield and one of the swords that tried to hit the country mare snapped in two on contact. Applejack looked back at Rarity “And here ah thought you were just a pretty face”

Rarity smiled rather smugly “Just because one is gorgeous does not mean one is a wall flower” She then turned her attention to one of the soldiers that broke through. She twirled her staff and spikes shot out of the earth and into the soldier. The soldier let out a scream of pain before Rarity smacked him upside the head with her staff “It’s rude to sneak up on a lady like that!”

Ebony leaped over another commander and swung his blades at his neck. The commander went down headless as Ebony wiped blood and sweat from his dark coat. He looked up and saw another high ranking officer descending from steps.

He glared at Ebony “I don’t know who you are friend but you made a serious mistake coming here!”

Ebony held his green gaze and unsheathed one of his blades “Nopony goes around attacks me and my friends on my watch…”

The Commander laughed and yelled “Lieutenant! I want everypony in the clearing now!”

Ebony’s eyes looked on as a pony limped from around the corner. He was clad in imperial armor and his throat was bleeding considerably. He choked out one last “Captain…” before collapsing on the ground.

A cyan colored Pegasus walked past the corpse and spoke simply “Sorry to rain on your parade but I took care of your men…” She walked past the commander smugly “Your trap failed miserably; I suggest you go running back to your bosses before somepony thinks you can’t handle a job…”

The commander growled and withdrew a blade “You are going nowhere slave!” He swung at the Pegasus with the blade.

In a blur that Ebony could barely see the Pegasus unfurled her wings. On the feathers were blades sharp as steel. She swung with them and cut the commander’s throat wide open. The commander gagged before falling to the ground dead. “I’m not a slave…” was the last thing the Pegasus said to the commander

The Pegasus standing before Ebony was younger then he was by a year. Her mane was the most striking feature; it was the colors of the rainbow. Her magenta eyes looked at the dark warrior with a mix of respect and gratitude “I’m sorry to get you guys involved. When I asked Anso to provide a distraction I didn’t think the hunters would want me that badly”

Ebony simply gaped “You were the one responsible for this?”

“Yeah” she said flattening her ears “Again, I’m sorry about this. My name’s Rainbow Dash, those guys you just mopped the floor with?” She gestured to the corpses lying on the ground “Yeah, they were after me”

“Why were they after you?” Twilight asked “That man called you a…”

“Slave?” Rainbow said rather bluntly “Yeah, that’s what I was before I made that awesome escape! Anyways those guys were trying to take me back to my former master. Yeah, not gonna happen pal”

“You know” Ebony said as the group gathered behind him “You could’ve just told us you were in trouble. We would’ve helped out anyway”

Rainbow smiled a little “Yeah, trust is kind of hard to come by in my line of work. Runways don’t exactly get used to trusting ponies” She walked over to Ebony “Anyways thanks for helping me out”

Rarity frowned “We didn’t exactly ask…”

Applejack nudged the mare and smiled at the Pegasus “Don’t listen tah Rarity here. Slavers deserve tah get smashed up fer trying to take away somepony’s freedom”

Rainbow smiled again and looked at Ebony “So what was in the crates anyway?”

Pinkie answered that question “As empty as my stomach on a diet day!”

Ebony rolled his eyes and went on “So that crate was simply bait?”

The cyan Pegasus nodded “Yeah, I was hoping to snag some stuff but I guess beggars can’t be choosers” She then walked to the commander and started searching his pockets “Just as I thought”

She looked over at the group “I know you got a lot of questions, but can they wait until after we stop my master from fleeing?”

Ebony nodded “If it means fighting more slavers you have some extra hooves to help”

Rainbow smiled “Not too often you see ponies willing to help out a Pegasus slave” She walked to Ebony “I’ll meet you guys in hightown as soon as you can. I promise I’ll come up with some way to repay you”

Ebony shook his head “You don’t need to pay me for simply keeping you safe…”

Rainbow shook her own head “I never leave anypony hanging”

___________________________________________________________

The mansion was large and empty. Ebony and the group entered the main foyer and Rainbow unfurled her wings and shouted “Alright Juthar! You’ve had your fun! Now come on out and face me!”

Silence greeted the party, and then Twilight looked over at Rarity “You feel it too?”

Rarity nodded “I sense magic in the air…shades!”

Everypony turned to see massive blobs form arms and heads as they came out of the walls. These were shades, lesser beings that mages could control through the forbidden power of Blood Magic. They were dangerous guardians hell bent on one thing…death.

Rainbow growled low and flew at the nearest shade. She swung her wings like a pair of knives at the creature, cutting fast and furious.

Ebony swung his blades at the larger shade causing the creature to scream in agony. Ebony felt magic flow into his blades and saw that Rarity had enhanced them again. The dark warrior let out a battle cry and swung his blades to decapitate the beast.

Applejack and Twilight were standing back to back as the shades drew closer. Applejack blocked the beast with her shield “Twilight now!”

Twilight ducked under the beast and fired a blast of magical energy with her horn. The beast literality exploded from being hit by so much magic. Applejack high hoofed Twilight for a job well done.

Pinkie was hanging from a nearby chandelier aiming down at the shades. She then felt something grab her shoulder. She turned and saw a shade growling low “What the heck is that!!” The shade turned to see what the strange pony saw. When he looked back all he could see was a small ticking present…Shades don’t talk but if this one could he would say “Damn it…”

The present exploded and the chandelier fell onto another shade. Rainbow and Ebony stood back to back “What are those wings made of?”

“Pure Lyrium” Rainbow said proudly “Capable of cutting through anything I swing it at!” She demonstrated this by slicing the throat of a shade. “You’re not too bad in a fight yourself sword guy”

“It’s Ebony! Why does everypony refuse to call me by that?!” The Dark warrior exacerbated before slicing the last shade open with his blades.

When it was over Rainbow flew around the house in search of her master. She came back to the group with her wings drooped “Gone…he’s not here…”

Twilight walked over to the Pegasus with a hoof raised “Sorry Rainbow we did-“suddenly Rainbow smacked Twilight’s hoof away.

“Don’t touch me! I know what you are! You’re a unicorn! I saw you perform magic!” She glared at Rarity “You too! I saw you guys shooting off magic in the fight!”

Twilight looked taken aback “That same magic saved your life Rainbow! I would think you would be grateful!”

“Grateful!? You think I’m grateful to be hanging around with the same kind of ponies who carved Lyrium into my wings?!” Her magenta eyes betrayed her fury “How do I know you won’t just become an abomination within the next two-“

“Rainbow that’s enough” Ebony said getting in between Twilight and the cyan Pegasus “I’m sorry but you can’t blame Twilight and Rarity for what happened to you…”

Rainbow was about ready to retort then she hung her head apologetically “Sorry…I just freaked out there…I didn’t mean to snap at you guys like that…”

Rarity looked about ready to snap as well but one look from Applejack calmed the mage down.

Ebony looked at Rainbow “Listen, I know it’s hard but you have to understand. Not all mages are like the ones in the Imperium. Some are good and kind ponies who just want to help the only way they know how”

Rainbow nodded “I’m sorry really I am. It’s just there’s always that risk of somepony falling prey to one demon or another. I just didn’t want to take that risk…” She walked past the dark warrior and held a hoof before Twilight “Will you accept my apology?”

Twilight looked at the hoof then smiled. “Alright Rainbow, I’m Twilight Sparkle by the way” She shook the Pegasus’ hoof.

Pinkie brought the two in a group hug “Now that we’re all friends let’s leave this creepy mansion!”

______________________________________________________________

“You want to what?” Ebony asked when the group finally left the mansion behind.

Rainbow repeated what she said “I wanna help you guys out; you could use a rogue to help out”

Rarity snorted “After your comments about mages? We outta cast you out in the streets!”

Applejack looked at Ebony “We could use her, she’s a great fighter and a flier is always a plus in my book”

Pinkie simply smiled “The more the merrier I say!”

Ebony looked around, the group was hinging on his decision again. Ebony walked to Rainbow and held out his hoof “You have to promise to not let your hatred get the best of you”

Rainbow smiled and shook the dark warrior’s hoof “I never leave anypony hanging”

Chapter 5 "Birthright"

Chapter 5

“Birthright”

“So then I flew right out of his window!” Rainbow boasted to the group “You should’ve seen the look on his face! He honestly didn’t expect me to get away with these wings!”

The group was at their favorite spot in Kanterwall. The Hanging pony was considered by many to be a wretched hide of scum and villainy. But the drinks were good, the service friendly enough, and nopony asked questions. Thus it was the perfect hideout for Ebony’s growing circle of friends.

“Ah can’t honestly believe he chased after ya in his jammies like that!” Applejack laughed after downing her cider.

“So this Juthar brute was the one who enslaved you?” Rarity asked sipping her cider lightly.

Rainbow Dash nodded solemnly “Yeah, he kept me around because of these” She pointed to her lyrium enhanced wings “They’re as sharp as any sword, you have no idea how often they’ve saved my tail”

“Has anypony noticed we’re one friend short?” Pinkie said looking around “In fact we’re two heads short, I don’t see Bladey or Twilight anywhere”

The four mares looked around at the table. Indeed, the dark warrior and his companion were nowhere to be found. They were going to meet today, but it was not like Ebony to be tardy, much less Twilight.

“Perhaps something horrible happened to them!” Rarity panicked

“Don’t ya worry so much princess” Applejack said dismissively, Rarity frowned at Applejack’s nickname for her “Ebony’s capable, he wouldn’t get into trouble without asking us to come along and save his flank”

“Speaking of which” Rarity said narrowing her blue eyes “What exactly is your relationship with Ebony? You two seem to know each other well”

“He saved me and mah sis from Darklings” Applejack said with a smile “Took down an ogre together, turns out that can be a great icebreaker”

“So gallant” Rarity said wistfully “Do you know if he’s married or no-“

“Now hold on there princess!” Applejack glared at Rarity “Are ya trying to get in Ebony’s armor?”

“I can’t believe you would think me so uncouth Applejack!” Rarity fired back “I simply am grateful for what he’s done for me. That and a gallant and brave stallion such as himself deserves a proper mare to-“

“Look princess” Applejack said threating “Ebony’s not exactly the brightest bulb when it comes to mares. If ya ever think bout breaking his heart”

“What are you his mother?” Rarity said getting out of her chair

“Nuh, but Ah ain’t gonna have ya pursuin him when it ain’t serious” Applejack said getting out of her chair and meeting Rarity’s glare.

“You would slander me you uncouth ruffian?” Rarity fired back “I have the utmost respect for Ebonyblade and my intentions for him are pure”

“Just what do you want with the guy anyway?” Rainbow asked secretly hoping this breaks into a catfight.

Rarity’s eyes shone brightly “Oh Ebony and I are simply meant for one another! Sure I may be a mage, but he was willing to look past that to help me. What mare wouldn’t fall for such a brave, strong, and kind stallion?”

Pinkie Pie smiled wide “You have to promise me that you’ll let me do the wedding party!”

“Indeed Pinkie” She smiled at the pink mare “But first I must win his heart”

“Ah don’t know if Ebony’s seein anypony now” Applejack said with a shake of his head “But Ah just want tah make sure ya really are doin this for love”

Rarity looked at Applejack and bowed her head “I am Applejack, I’m sorry for shouting”

“And Ah’m sorry for thinkin ya were some snooty mare hoping to- how do they say? Grey his warden?”

“Speaking of which” Rainbow said looking at the sun from the window “You’d think they’d be here by now”

“Yer right” Applejack said worriedly “Somethin’s gone wrong, Ah’m gonna head back tah the house and see what’s keepin them”

“You know where Ebony lives!?” Rarity said her jaw dropping

“Corse Ah do” Applejack said as if telling what the weather was “Ah live in the same house as him”

______________________________________________________

“I can’t honestly believe father left us nothing!” Ebony fired at his brother Rusty “Twilight and I had to sell ourselves for a year when I should have a decent home for her to stay in!”

Ebony gestured to their house. I guess you could call it that but that was stretching it a little. Really it was a small two bedroom house with a large living area. It had no windows, no kitchen beyond a small fireplace, and Ebony had to make his bed on the floor in order for Applejack, Twilight, Applebloom, and Spike to have a place to sleep. “You can’t seriously believe this is all we can do!”

“Look Ebony if wishes were poppy we’d all be dreaming!” The rust colored earth pony fired back at his brother

Twilight got up from where she was reading her book and walked to Ebony. She put a hoof on the dark warrior’s shoulder to get him to calm down “This is the way things are Serah, Rusty can’t change that”

Ebony’s green eyes looked at Twilight, he smiled a little upon seeing her “You’re right Twilight, I’m sorry”

“If you didn’t run off like the coward you were we wouldn’t be in this mess!” Rusty accused

“How dare you!” Twilight said glaring back “Serah Blade is the strongest stallion I know! He’d never run from anything!”

Rusty smirked “You really don’t know anything about him do you? This boy ran off because our dear sister was put in her proper place!” He glared at Ebony “You don’t become the family favorite for running off like that”

Ebony kept his gaze steady on Rusty “Where’s father’s will? I demand to see it!”

“It was read upon father’s death” Rusty said matter of factly “It was then put into the vault where it belongs”

“I don’t see the problem with letting him read it” Spike said walking into the room “It shouldn’t be too difficult right?”

“One problem lizard” Rusty said venomously “It’s in the cellar of the estate, somepony else lives there now so I can’t get it”

“Seems odd that you wouldn’t take your parent’s will” Spike said narrowing his eyes.

“It’s old news” Rusty said, sticking his nose in the air “It’s been read, you can’t get it, so that’s it”

“Who bought the estate Rusty?” Ebony pleaded “Maybe I can talk with them”

“Nopony you know brother,” Rusty answered “Get used to Lowtown, that’s your home now and that’s final”

Ebony snorted and stomped off to his room. Twilight followed him and she came to see Ebony sitting down on the straw he counted as his bed. Twilight felt guilty for letting the warrior sleep on it but he insisted. Twilight sat down beside him and looked at the dark warrior “Serah, I’m sorry about the will”

“It’s not your fault” Ebony said turning his green gaze to the unicorn “I’m just mad I can’t provide you and the rest with a decent home”

“You do so much for me,” Twilight observed “I want to know why”

Ebony chuckled “I knew you’d eventually wear me down to the point where I had to tell you”

“So, why did you really pull me out of the Chantry?” Twilight’s violet eyes gazed at Ebony with yearning.

The dark warrior sighed “It’s because, you remind me of Willow”

“A friend of yours?” Twilight guessed

“My sister” Ebony explained “She was the youngest of my siblings. She had just such a spark for knowledge and learning. She could’ve become a scholar, or a politician…but she was born as a unicorn so her fate was decided”

“The Templars…” Twilight said slowly

“Mother and Father tried to hide Willow for as long as they could” Ebony said “But eventually the Templars found her. You know Maredith, the current Knight Commander? She was the one who took Willow like she was a criminal!” He slammed his hoof into the ground “She didn’t do anything wrong! They dragged her away crying and yelling for me! I was her big brother and I couldn’t do anything to stop them!”

He felt a nuzzle on his shoulder and turned to see Twilight performing the action. Ebony returned the nuzzle on her head. Twilight looked up at him and smiled gently “Serah, I’m sure Willow would be proud of the stallion you’ve become”

“Yeah,” Ebony said with a slow nod “I just wish I could do something about the estate”

“We’ll get it back” Twilight said earnestly “We’ll get a home for all of us! With this expedition set we’ll be able to live like nobility. Then we won’t have to worry about Templars anymore”

Ebony smiled and hugged Twilight tightly “You really are like Willow”

Twilight returned the hug; Ebony always treated her like a little sister. Now she understood why and well, it wasn’t an unpleasant feeling. She liked having a big brother with her.

For some reason, the feeling was almost familiar.

__________________________________________________________

“Ya mean tah say they can’t even look at his will!?” Applejack said, the four mares were outside Ebony’s house. Spike had just finished explaining what happened inside the house.

“That no good dirty rotten piece of shit!” Rainbow snorted, bucking over a random barrel in frustration.

“I simply cannot believe that Rusty is so powerless” Rarity said “How dare he say all those wretched things to Ebony!”

“What can we do Spike?” Applejack said looking at the small dragon, but Spike’s attention was occupied by Rarity. She was so beautiful, so delicate, and so absolutely perfect in every possible way!

And she would eventually fall for the sexy dragon Spike! He would be her knight in shining armor! They would travel the world! They would fall madly in love with each other and-

________________________________________________________

“Tell the real story!” Luna retorted to Spike in present day

“Fine!” Spike exacerbated

__________________________________________________________

Rarity waved a hoof in front of Spike’s face “Are you alright darling?”

Spike shook his head and blushed furiously “Sorry, I was just distracted by your beauty”

Rarity smiled at the young dragon and patted him on the head “I will thank you for the compliment darling. But please tell us if there’s anything we can do for Ebony”

“Actually there is” Spike explained “I did a little digging earlier, as it turns out Rusty lost the estate when he used it to pay off some ponies he lost at dice with”

“Doesn’t he know that the dice are always loaded?” Pinkie said rather randomly “Especially the nasty ponies, I always lose at monopoly with them”

“What’s monopoly?” Applejack said slowly

“Some new game that I found out about” Pinkie said with a smile

______________________________________________________-

“Don’t look at me she really did say that!” Spike said at a suspicious Luna

“Just making sure thou aren’t lying horribly” Luna said with a raised eyebrow

______________________________________________________

“Anyways” Spike said looking at the four mares around him “We can’t get in because the place is run by slavers now”

“Slavers?” Rainbow said her fury slowly rising “Oh that does it! We’re going in now!”

“We can’t just march through the front door Sugercube” Applejack explained “They probably have traps or something”

“Wait,” Rarity said slowly “We don’t need to go through the front door, we can just go under it”

“Oh yeah!” Pinkie said in realization “We can just use the sewer system by your house!”

“Pinkie what are ya doin in the sewers?” Applejack asked slowly

“Gummy likes to play down there with all of his friends” Pinkie said matter of factly

“Okaay…” Applejack said warily “Let’s go before Ah lose the rest of mah brain trying to figure you out sugercube”

_____________________________________________________

The group walked the sewers until they came across a large door. Applejack tried the door but it was locked. “Stand back, Ah’m buckin down this ere-“

“Wait!” Rainbow said holding Applejack back “If we go bucking down doors we can’t get the jump on the slavers”

“What do ya suggest?” Applejack asked

“Watch and learn my friend” Rainbow said with a smile, she then walked to the door and extended her wings. She pressed one of her lyrium enhanced feathers around the door handle. Slowly the blades cut into the wood and around the handle. When the door handle was cut off Dash pushed it through to the other side.

“Good thinkin Rainbow” Applejack said with a smile “Ah see it was a good idea tah bring ya along after all”

Dash flushed a little and rubbed the back of her head “Yeah, I guess I’m awesome like that huh?”

Applejack tilted her head; it seemed odd for Rainbow to get flustered over a compliment like that. Usually the Pegasus would shout to the heavens about how awesome she was.

The four walked inside quietly and saw four slavers, all armed inside the main room. Applejack looked at the other three, “Ah’ll draw their attention, everypony else cover me”

They nodded and Applejack walked into the rooms smugly. The leader slaver, an earth pony with a large ax on his back looked at her in shock. “How’d you get in ere?!”

“Sorry boys” Applejack drew her shield off her back “But mah friend needs tah see a will ya all have”

“Kill er!” The slaver shouted to his comrades before one got hit by a crossbow bolt to the face. Applejack tackled the one with the large ax and drew her sword. The ax hit the shield and Applejack was about to be hit from behind, at least until Rarity fired a rock at the sneak attacker.

Rainbow dived down from the ceiling onto the last slaver and slit his throat with her blade like wings. Applejack thrusted her blade into the stomach of the ax wielding pony and blood poured on her orange coat. Rainbow looked on the orange warrior and she was giving Applejack odd eyes…

“Sugercube are ya droolin?” Applejack said after sheathing her blade

“No!” Rainbow said way too fast “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

Applejack just shrugged, sometimes Rainbow just didn’t make sense.

“Hey everypony!” Pinkie shouted from down the hall “I found Ebony’s vault!”

Rarity smiled wide, “Let’s see what’s in that vault!”

“Here’s the key!” Rainbow said picking the key off one of the corpses “Let’s open that bad boy!”

__________________________________________________________

Rusty looked at his brother nervously “I’m only saying, blood’s blood and all” He stood in the house and his eyes gazed at Ebony “But you and your friends are taking advantage of my hospitality”

Ebony’s gaze was neutral, although he was imagining sticking his blades where the sun doesn’t shine.

“All I’m saying” Rusty said holding up his hooves “I’m thinking you and your friends could make something of a…monthly contribution”

“My friends and I have been in servitude for a year!” Ebony said advancing on the rust colored earth pony “Because you couldn’t hang on to your damn money my friends live in this drafty old house! Now you’re asking them to charge rent!?”

“Well, maybe just put a little towards food” Rusty said smiling nervously

“Don’t give him nothin Ebony!” Applejack said as the four mares stepped into the room. Applejack tossed Ebony a small scroll “We found the will”

Rarity smiled upon seeing Ebony slowly open it “Your father forgave you! He left you everything!”

Ebony’s green eyes slowly scanned the scroll he was holding in his hooves. Rusty started to walk out “I should probably be leaving”

Rainbow stood in his way and unfurled her feathered blades “I highly suggest you don’t, or else I’ll make your coat 20% redder”

“To my son Ebonyblade, and all of his children born of him” Ebony read the passage aloud “The estate in Hightown and all of the associated revenues!”

“We have a home Ebony!” Twilight said excitedly upon entering the room “A real home!”

Ebony looked up from the scroll and looked at Rusty. His face showed his pain “Why Rusty? Why hide all of this? We could’ve had a home and”

“Don’t give me that horse shit Ebony!” Rusty growled “You’re the one who ran away! Whatever happened to love is so much greater than wealth!?”

“It is Rusty!” Ebony said pleadingly “I didn’t leave for that and you know it!”

“You didn’t even come home for the funeral!” Rusty accused

“I was in training half way across Equestria!” Ebony fired back “I couldn’t have made it in time if I wanted to! That and had I known…had I known they didn’t die angry…”

“We all have our burdens brother!” Rusty fired at him “Mine was looking after an angry father, and a guilt stricken mother! Every damn day it was all about you! Where’s Ebony now? Is he warm enough? Did he get himself killed?”

“Rusty, why didn’t you tell me all of this?” Ebony asked looking at him with soft green eyes “We were brothers, you should’ve told me they felt like this”

“What was I going to do?” Rusty fired at his brother “Have you come home as the prodigal son or something? No! I wanted you to come crawling back and begging me to take you in! Granted I didn’t expect you to bring guests!”

“That’s it!” Rainbow was about to tackle him before Applejack and Pinkie held him back “Let me at this bastard! I’ll clobber him!”

“Easy sugercube” Applejack said slowly “Let’s not start a brawl in here”

Ebony shook his head “Now that the estate is mine, I plan on getting it back with the money from the expedition”

“You’ll need an audience with the Viscount in order for something like that to happen!” Rusty growled

“Then I’ll petition for one” Spike said entering the room, “I’ve read enough about legal matters to know what to say to get it back”

“Celestia willing” Ebony said in a low voice “You’ll have your house back soon…”

“You don’t have the coin or status to even get an audience!” Rusty fired back “You have to be somepony in this city for that to happen”

“Then I’d better get started” Spike said walking to his books.

_______________________________________________________

Everypony left after that, including Spike and Rusty who both went to the market for different reasons. Ebony sat on a small chair staring at a fire. Twilight came and sat beside him and smiled warmly at him.

Upon seeing Ebony’s solemn expression Twilight frowned “Still shaken up about Rusty?”

“I can’t believe he would hide this from me” Ebony said with a shake of his head “I didn’t realize just how much hatred he’s developed for me”

“It’s no excuse to turn against you like that!” Twilight said firmly “You’re his family! You should look out for each other!”

“At least it’s nice to know my parents didn’t hate me when they died” Ebony said with a small smile

“What were they like?” Twilight said looking at him

“You would’ve loved them” Ebony said wistfully “Dad was a proud man, he always came up with this invention or that. He always believed that earth ponies could do so much without magic” He looked at one of his blades that he unsheathed “These were presents for my sixteenth birthday”

“And your mom?” Twilight asked slowly

“She was about the most doting mom you’d ever meet” Ebony said smiling “She was beautiful, so kind and caring towards all three of us. She and I were the best of friends really. She was the one who was most against me leaving. After I told them I was going to Equestria she tried to stop me” He shook his head “Dad shouted and said ‘it’s his life let him ruin it’. I wrote him whenever I got a promotion in the army. He never wrote back”

“Ebony, your father didn’t want you to leave” Twilight said slowly “He just held on the only way he knew how”

“I just wish I could’ve been there when he died” Ebony said bowing his head “But I thought they wouldn’t let me back. I was half way across Equestria and would’ve missed their funeral by a month. I still regret not trying to this day”

Twilight walked to Ebony and pulled him into a tight hug. Ebony was taken aback by this but slowly wrapped his forelegs around her. Twilight held him and looked up at him with a smile “Serah, you remind me of a brother I think I had”

“I do?” Ebony asked slowly

Twilight looked down for a bit “I don’t know much about him, only that he was apparently a guard or something. The circle never told me who he was. It’s nice, having somepony who’s a brother to me here and now. Had I stayed in Equestria, I would never have known what it’s like”

Ebony gently ran a hoof through her mane and smiled at her “Twilight, I’m happy you consider me your brother. Although I could never truly replace a blood brother, I’ll give you all the love a brother should give”

Twilight hugged Ebony even more tightly. Ebony just smiled as he held the unicorn. In a lot of ways, Twilight was like Willow…

He was happy to have a sister again…

_____________________________________________________