Darkness Rising

by Zabrath

Rating: mature
Tags: Dark, Alternate Universe, Adventure
Length: 5690

With a shadow of the war of sun and moon returning, will celestial be able to hide the truth?

After the great war was won by celestia and Luna banished, the last 3 of Luna's creations are imprisoned in coffins and are buried in the last temple of the moon. Cursed to a enchanted sleep, these three were forgotten by time and the temple buried under natures embrace. 1000 years pass and Luna returned from her imprisonment and when elements returned her to normal, celestia came to her asking for…forgiveness?! What is going on here?! And with the magic sleep wearing away, how will the world react to the return of these three monsters?

Terrible summary and what not, first fic I have written yaddayaddayadda. Hope you enjoy!

Rated m for now but I'm not sure if that will change or not.
Characters will be added as they are seen.

Pic kind of related, probably will change after a while.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-08-16 16:44:01 UTC

The Beginning of the End

Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End.

Equestria.

The name alone once brought thoughts of pride and freedom to the citizens of this land.  Everypony had the right of free speech and the right to do what made them feel happy, regardless of cutie mark. The ground  was as fertile as the soil of the royal gardens themselves and  the population never had to worry about any sort of weather hazards for the pegasi of the land kept the storms to an extreme low. And the thing that made the land perfect, the thing that kept the heavens themselves moving was the monarchy of Equestria: Princess Luna and Princess Celestia . The two matrons of the cosmos ruled the land equally and held harmony throughout the land. To do this, the eldest of the two, Celestia , used her power to raise the sun at dawn and the younger of the two, Luna, used her powers to raise the moon at dusk. Through this system, the two sisters held peace for their subjects and all was well.

Then discord showed up...and everything went to hades.

The dark lord shattered through all the defenses that the land had, though with the centuries of peace that was not much. Town by town, discord destroyed and killed the ponies of the land without mercy moving himself closer and closer to the great castle Twilight where the sisters resided. divine intervention was required, but the sisters were wary to use their powers offensively. Only when discord was upon Castle Twilight itself did the sisters come out to fight. And, with their combined powers, were able to to defeat and imprison the dark lord.

With his defeat and Castle Twilight destroyed from the battle, the remaining ponies of the land were able to give a great sigh of relief  for the time of strife was over and equestria could finally go back to its time of peace.

How wrong the citizens were.

With the relocation of the capital of Equestria well underway, Celestia fell into a great wave of paranoia. She thought, After such an effective attack on the land, that equestria was prone to attack from other countries or other entities such as discord. So, to secure her land, she started the draft for the royal army. countless colts were forced to serve under the kingdoms banner. Many of the citizens accepted this, their unwavering support for their princesses couldn't have made Luna and Celestia any prouder. But, as all ponies know, power corrupts.

Luna had accepted her sisters wishes for an army, only wishing for a small detachment to be her personal gaurd, but soon Celestia started making more and more laws causing Luna to start to doubt her sister. Cutie mark specialization laws, Complete military occupation, curfews, random inspections, the list went on. The more laws that Celestia passed the more Luna's imput was neglected and when Celestia moved to have the government changed to a dictatorship, Luna put her hoof down. Luna ordered her sister to stand down and release her power until such a time that she could regain her senses.

Celestia saw this as nothing but treason.

Celestia, with no hesitation, attacked her sister. During the legendary battle between the two in the throne room Luna was forced to retreat, vowing that she would return to bring Celestia down and restore peace to the land. This, of course, was not what was told to the public. Celestia had told the citizens what is known now, that Luna became jealous of her ruling of the sun and wanted to cover the land with eternal darkness. Most of the population believed her, some didn't and those ponies seeked out Luna to learn of what happened. They got their wish and joined her army, under Luna's banner they formed the only resistance to ever stand up against Celestia: The New Lunar Republic. With their declaration of war clearly stated, Celestia forced the dictatorship and, without question, deployed her armies to fight her sister as the Solar Empire.

So began the war of Sun and Moon.

The war enveloped the land with bloodshed and death, sons fighting fathers, brothers fighting brothers, neighbors forced to kill the very ones they called friend. The land was also being torn apart, entire forests being cut down to bring in natural resources for either side and the over use of magic causing uninhabitable ground. This was the darkest time of equestrian history and to make matters worse, Luna was losing. Seeing this, Luna delved into the only magics she knew that could save this land, black magic. Black magic had been banned under the rule of Celestia, it was evil and unpredictable to most but Luna had always been adept in these magics and never felt the sting of corruption that the magic was said to cause. Luna needed strong soldiers, ones that could turn the tides of battle even when our numbered or out matched, so using her dark gift she created what is known today to be the most evil and vile monsters that could ever inhabit equestria.

The first of her creations were the werewolves, these were created by the most simplistic of transformation spells. The ponies given this gift were turned into fierce pony/wolf hybrids that had extreme speed and strength, the downside to the gift was the  complete loss of sentience and became feral creatures. Luna saw this and refined the spell, making the lycans. These ponies were just as strong as their werewolf bretherenm but were able to change from pony to wolf at any time they wanted, but these ponies could still fall to their strong animalistic urges that could make some of the weaker willed ponies into savage beasts of death that would kill any pony in sight. These ponies were unpredictable and dangerous, but Luna had no choice but to use them to turn the tides of war.

  The second of the creations were the undead, ponies who have died but who's souls were kept in their dead bodies. These ponies had lost their feeling of pain, had much more durability, a mouth full of razeor sharp teeth, and could even lose limbs and still stay in the fight. Though with this gift came its curses as well: these ponies not only lost their sense of pain, but their sense of feel all together. They couldnt feel the wind in their mane, the water on their bodies, nor the the heat of the sun. They even lost some emotional feeling to them aswell, it was harder for them to feel any emotions in their husk of a body. Many ponies turned into cold, merciless killing machines through this transformation, but many more kept their emotions intact. But the worst part of their gift was their fuel source; the magic needed a way of replenishing itself to keep the body going, so the magic chose a simple food sorce for them: flesh. The ponies who underwent this transformation had to consume any type of flesh to keep them going, turning them into carnivores. The undead who refused to eat slowly became driven by the magic that kept them alive, forcing them to try to consume any meat that was nearby even if it meant fellow brothers and sisters in arms. The undead caused a scare through the populace, though the ones loyal to Luna did not question her judgment.

Though these Ponies made great soldiers on the field, she needed one more Creature of the night, one more that held a balance between the Lycans and the undead. Through and pain staking and dangerous process Luna achieved her goal, making the children of the night: vampires. These ponies had unmatched speed and agility, could see as clear as day in the night, held the strength of the Lycans and the durability of the undead. Though dead like the undead forces, they still had life and needed their blood to survive but could channel the dark magics that flowed through their bodies to heal and even grow back limbs that had been lost. But, like to all of the gifts, the vampires had their drawbacks. They couldn't go out into the sun in any way, any exposure to their body would cause them to burn away and eventually reduce them them to ash, they were easily recognizable by their extended canines, their eyes turning blood red, and their pupils becoming slits like a reptile or cat. Another 'curse' was that they needed the blood of other ponies to survive, they needed a pint of blood a day to keep them going, though this was never a problem for the vampire forces because of the number of soldiers that volenteered to give blood for the cause. Nevertheless, vampires who deprived themselves of blood would eventually fall to animalistic instincts hellbent on getting blood from any source possible.

To ease the spread of these gifts, Luna made all of them transferable from one pony to the next by bites from the blessed. Each of the blessed were able to coarse venom through their teeth that would eventually turn the 'infected' into the creature that bit them. It was not a easy nor painless process, but the result was always absolute. To make sure that Celestia could not reverse the changes made to these ponies, Luna made the curse attach to the very soul of the pony blessed with these enchantments making them permanent. Though the forces of the lunar republic were weary of these new blessings, not one of the ponies blessed were forced to do it. The ponies of the lunar republic trusted their goddess with upmost certainty.

With these 3 unholy creatures, Luna was back in the fight and pushing back Celestias forces and turning the tide. But, once again, Luna underestimated her power. Using the 'holy' powers that Celestia had been gifted with, she taught other ponies how to ward off the evil creatures of the night. These ponies became known as priests and used their powers to help fight the lunar republic. But Celestia didn't stop there, she taught this light magic to some of the most gifted ponies in the art of combat. These ponies were the elite of the elite, the most powerful worriers known to equestrian history, the Paladins of the Sun. These worriers tore through every force the lunar rupublic could muster, never stopping and never showing remorse. To them Celestias word was law and any who opposed her word will suffer the consequences. With the forces of the lunar republic crumbling under the Solar Empire, Luna made one final move to fight her sister. She augmented herself with the dark magics, making herself a true entity of the night, as her sister was the entity of day. With her new powers, she led the remaining forces of the lunar republic to their final battle

Whether it win or loss, it ended here.

"I dont like it," Said a well armored male pony. "We have met the enemy completely on their terms, why arent we just going in and killing them?"

"Peace Athanazi, the Empress knows what she is doing." said a femal pony equally armored,

Athanazi sighed, "I know, but did she have to go to talk to that traitor by herself? And at night of all times! She could easily be ambushed by those monsters. As little of them as there are, I still dont like it."

He went back to staring at the tent that was a good 2 miles from their position. The Princess Luna, now known by many as Nightmare Moon, has sent to her a invitation of negotiation to discuss the possibility of a peaceful negotiation. it was by the request of celestia that she go alone, the gaurd agreed but wished to at least be close incase things got bad. the small squad consited of three well amored ponies (Athanazi, the female, and another stallion) and 5 regular grunts. The female patted Athanazi on the back.

"Dont worry about Empress Celestia, she is the embodyment of the sun right? none of the blood suckers can toucher her without smoldering, She can handle a few dogs and dead weight. Everything will be fine, you'll see"

Athanazi turned and smiled at her, "Thanks Mira, you always know what to say."

Mira gliggled, "Thats why they call me the mother of the group right?"

Athanazi visibly eased at the sound of her laughter, it has been so long since memebers of the Paladins of the Sun were able to relax since their recruitment. The three ponies have been in their chapter since the discovery of the unholy monsters, fighting for their lives and forging a bond greater than the bond they had to this land. Their leader, Mira, was a pegasus that had a dark blue coat with purple, short mane and tail. Her cutie mark was a lone sword with the sun behind it, a true mark of one of the Paladins. The second was Athanazi, a unicorn of less than noble heritage, had a brown coat with a slightly grown out yellow mane and tail. His cutie mark was a single fleur de lis, showing his bravery and determination in battle. The last was the most suprising of all, Ode. An earth pony guttersnipe, his coat being completely red with a extremely short tail, having his mane completely buzzed off. his cutie mark was one of 3 playing cards, all aces of the same suit. His mark held no complements towards his skill as a swordsman but he is the best one out of the three. despite his past, ode is the most militaristic out of the three.

"Ahem, my holiest?" One of the grunts asked, lightly tapping on Athanazi's shoulder. Athanazi immediately went from relaxed to Paladin in a matter of seconds, turning around and slapping the soldier across the muzzle. The grunt was pushed back and fell to the ground looking at the paladin with shock,

"Where is your head trooper!? You should know never to touch a Paladin and you will be wise to remember that next time you wish to have my attention!" Athanazi yelled, forcibly grabbing the troop by his armor and bringing him back up to his hooves. "Do I make myself clear?"

The soldier was visibly trembling, "Y-yes my holiest, my apologies."

Athanazi never stopped glaring, "Now what is so important that you had to do that?"

The soldier tightened up, "The scout has not returned from his reconnaissance of the perimeter, my Holiest. It has been ten minutes since he was due."

"...Is anyone else missing?" Athanazi asked, looking into the night.

"No, my Holiest. But the troops are getting worried"

"Tell everyone that the break is over, secure the area and keep your eyes open." Athanazi turned around to go back to his fellow paladins.

"But- But my holiest! what of the scout?" Athanazi stopped abrubtly and looked back.

"He's already dead."

And with that he went to his fellow paladins, leaving the grunt wide eyed with a tinge of fear.

"You dont have to be that hard on them you know," said Mira " a simple reminder would have been sufficient."

Athanazi laughed, " The code is clear, Mira. We have to show them to respect it even if it was a little harsh."

Ode walked up, ignoring the small talk. "What did the troop have to report?"

Athanazi turned to him, frowning. "The scout is dead, the enemy knows we are here, just not our exact location. If we are discovered than the peace negotiation probably wont go much farther."

Ode nodded, "What is the plan Mira?"

Mira closed her eyes, thinking. Mira was the most tactical of the three, often taking her time to come think of what to do. The two paladins waited patiently. After a moment, she opened them again. "We remain here, if we are moving when we are found than it will be easier for them to ambush us. If and when they come here and find us, we kill tham as quickly as possible."

Athanazi nodded, "Agreed, now all we have to do is wai-"

"LYCAN!"

The three paladins turned towards the gaurd looking past them to see the monstrosity. A Pony covered in long grey fur, yellow eyes, and razor sharp claws looking at them with anger and fury.

Ode smirked, "Show time."

Ode quickly unsheathed his sword from his scabard, holding it in his mouth while running towards the terrible beast. The lycan looked to him and snarled, charging towards the paladin. This was strange behavior to the paladins, spies gave us intel that told us that all of the 'blessed' were supposed to run frome a one on one battle with a paladin.

Maybe the beast cant tell? thought Ode.

Nevertheless, ode kept charging, as did the lycan. when they were close enough the lycan jumped into the air and went for Odes head, having its claws at the ready. Ode simply similed. He suddenly went onto his side, sliding across the ground with the lycan flying just above him. Using the lycans suprise to this manuver, he tilted his sword up and angled it to where it would cut open the beasts under belly. The blow came and the sword cut straight through all the flesh and bone it encountered in the beast, being a silver blade. The lycan hit the ground with a dull thud, its blood flowing freely throught the deep and long cut. it weezed out a few breaths, but then fell silent as the body started to go back to its original pony form.

The grunts cam running up to the body to initiate the standard burning procedure they had been trained to do. The other paladins were lagging behind, walking casually up to Ode.

Athanazi was the first to speak, "Well that was...different."

Ode scoffed, "Ya think? That had to be the stupidest move I have ever seen since that vampire tried to bite through your armor, Mira. The beast had no tactic. I tell ya, these things are getting more and more stupid as time goes on."

Athanazi look over to the body, its transformation nearly complete. One of the grunts was about to strike the flint when Athanazi stopped him.

"Step away from that body!" Athanazi commanded. The soldiers looked at him with confusion, but followed him order.

"What is wrong, Athanazi?" asked Mira. Athanazi had a grim look on his face.

"Look who it is."

The other paladins and soldiers looked to the now stallion on the ground in front of them, the soldiers gasped and the other paladins shared Athanazi's grim look.

"By the Empress. It-its the scout, he was turned!" yelled one of the soldiers.

"But i dont get it," said another. " why would they change him if they were just going to throw him at us!"

Athanazi spoke up, "I'll tell you why, it was a distraction. A little something to keep us entertained while they go back and report to-"

His sentence was cut short by an explosion in the distance. Everyone looked towards where they heard it and sure enough there was smoke rising from the tent that was holding the negotiations. They could see random lights being summoned and they would dissapear just as fast as they appear. Celestia had entered combat with the enemy forces..with no back up.

"No..." Athanazi whispered. He let the thought of failing Celestia get to him for a second, but quickly regained his composure.

"Alright." Mira said, turning to the soldiers, "The Empress is under attack and we need our forces to get here to assist her. You will go to the forward command and tell the  them what I have told you, make sure the the forces are sent. We will go ahead and assist the Empress as much as possible. Understood?"

The 5 grunts all saluted, "Yes, my holiest!"

And with that they all turned and ran towards the command. the 3 ponies all nodded to eachother and started running towards the negotiation tent. After a short delay, their eyes began to glow a golden color and began to speed up. As this happened their bodies were being covered by the golden glow, casing them to reach a speed no normal pony could possibly reach. They sped across the desert plane at break neck speeds, all trying to get to their Empress in time. A minute had passed and they were nearing the tent.

"Ok!" yelled Ode over the wind, "So are we going by the "kill first ask questions later" rule or are we going to go by the books this time?"

Mira smiled, "I'm with Ode on this one, how about you Athanazi?"

Athatanazi smirked, "It must be the end of the war, I never thought I would hear you two agree on something!"

Mira laughed abit and was about to say something when something caught her eye. she looked to the her right to see-

"ODE LOOK OUT!" She yelled, throwing herself infront of him.

As soon as she did, a dark ball of energy made impact on her, absorbing the blow that was intended for Ode. Time seemed to slow as the holy magics wore off. Ode and Athanazi watched in horror as Mira fell to the ground, a clear hole in her armor where the energy made impact. They could see her skin being charred away by the dark energies, but luckily the holy magic that was coursing through her kept her alive. The two, after seeing Mira was still alive (albeit unconcious) looked to where the blast had come from. There, from the darkness, came a white Unicorn mare, with a red tail and main that was straightened out and was long enough to cover one eye. Her cutie mark was that of a music note. The two almost went in to attack, but then saw her eyes: blood red and glowing with slits like a cats eyes. she was a vampire, not just any vampire..

"Selendris..." whispered Athanazi.

Selendris game a cold amused laugh, "Wow, i must be getting popular." She said, having multiple voices speak at once.

"I guess I would be famous hm? First Vampire alive...-ish." She giggled at her joke.

The two quickly shook out of the shock off and unshealthed their swords.

"Not just that..." Yelled Ode, "Slayer of the great Starswirl the bearded..." he shook with anger. "Slayer of families...slayer of kings....SLAYER OF MY FATHER!"

And with that, he ran at her with sword in mouth letting rage guide him. Athanazi Tried to stop him.

"Ode!" yelled Athanazi, " DONT GE-" he wasnt able to finish his sentence. He had been frozen in place by Selendris' magic, as well as Ode with his sword inches from her face.

Selendris laughed again, "Tisk, tisk Ode, don't you know how to treat a lady?." She said, moving out of the way of the blade and getting close to Odes face. "Why one wonders how such a ill-mannered stallion got into the ranks of 'The paladins' But I suppose tyrants such as your 'Empress'..." They could here the venom in her voice when she said Empress, "...can get anyone into anything that they want."

She turned away from Ode and went to Athanazi, both of them still frozen in the position they were in when she cast the spell.

"Ah, Athanazi. Such a proud and loyal stallion, always seeking justice where justice is due." She said, getting close to his ear. "To bad it is wasted upon the lying sun. Such potential you have for the republic, if only you knew the truth...but I am rambling." she said, backing away from Athanazi, "Straight down to business I suppose."

Her smile faded, "I am under direct orders to stop any sort of small waves of advancements towards the battle of the gods. Unlike you blind clueless barbarians, we have honor enough to sit on the sidlines and watch as our leader fights. But, unfortunately, my existence is to important for it to be wasted upon three paladins."

She leasurly trotted towards the mare on the ground, Athanazi tried to coarse the holy magics in him to break the spell, but her power was to great and the holy magics were doing to little to break the paralysis. so he was stuck watching whatever she wanted to do.

"You know, im not heartless contrary to popular beleif." She said, " you have killed many of my bretheren and that is what fueled me to kill the families, the kings, even starswirl who couldnt leave well enough alone." she rolled her eyes at the thought of the old stallion. "So you could say I have my reasons for killing your kind as you have your reasons for killing mine." she looked down at the injured mare, " But here I am ranting once again. I cannot stay and chit chat or fight or whatever you are going to do once I release you..."

She is going to release us, just like that?, thought Athanazi

I dont believe a word of it, she is up to something, thought Ode

"... but I simply cant allow you to interupt the battle that is being waged. So im going to have to leave someone here to fight you. hmmm....lets see." She said, turning them around to look at her and Mira. "I guess it will have to be her."

WHAT!? she is going to...no...no dont!, thought Athanazi.

Selendris used he magic to slowly pick up mira, bringing her to be right in front of her face.

"Wakie, Wakie..." Said Selendris, her eyes sudenly flashed a brighter red.

As soon as her eyes returned to normal, Mira began to stir, "wha....w-whats going on?" when she opened her eyes, she saw who she was staring at. Her eyes suddenly went wide as she tried to struggle against the magic holding her. However, she was still weakened by the blast that had hit her earlier. she was completely at the mercy of Selendris.

"Time for you to feel what it is like on the other side, my dear." Selendris said, opening her mouth revealing 4 elongated sharp teeth. Mira was still trying to struggle as her throat was brought to Selendris' mouth.

"NO! I have to do something...SOMETHING!, thought Ode. the hold on him was starting to weaken as his resolve became stronger. But it was to little to late.

Selendris sunk her teeth into Miras neck, moaning as she tasted the blood filling her mouth. Mira's face what frozen into a silent scream of terror as she felt the venom leaking into her body. The burning sensation coarsed through her at a quicker speed than she thought, the infection was transfered. About 10 seconds into the bite, Ode finally broke free of the spell, standing on his hind legs and letting out a raged filled cry.

"LET GO OF HER YOU BITCH!, yelled Ode as Gleaming light started to form around his front hooves.

After a second the light that gathered in his hooves fired off towards Selendris, launching a cascading beam of pure holy magic at her. She quickly looked over at the stream of blinding sunlight coming toward her and as soon as it made contact with her left hind leg, she vanished in a puff of dark smoke. She appeared abit farther away, her leg almost nothing but bone and smoking coming off her body.

She looked at both the freed Colts with anger in her eyes, "Your going to regret that...but I dont have any reason to get my hooves dirty, so for now i will be leaving you with your friend. ta-ta." She then vanished, her bone chilling laugh still echoing through the plane.

Both of the colts were about to give chase when a scream from behind them caught their attention. They turned around and say Mira on the ground, writhing in pain. They quickly went to her side to help her, knealing down and covering her wound. she had a look of fear in her eyes as her blood was trickling out of the 4 wholes she had on the side of her neck.

"Mira, calm down. its me, Athanazi." said Athanazi, starting to tear up. "Come on, you have shrugged off worse than this. you can make it!"

Mira, through all the pain, gave a little chuckle. "Y-You know damn well im n-not getting throught this...Her v-venom, i-its negating the holy magic.." She let of another scream as the venom was changing her body.

Ode simply stared in disbelief at what was happening. Athanazi, on the other hand, was close to a break down.

"No, no! Don't think like that. we...we could go to Celestia! She will think of somthing! She always does!"

Mira chuckled again, then curled up abit more as more pain was going through her body.

"Ath-Athanazi...i dont have much more time before...before it happens", she cringed and stiffled another scream. "Please...just promise me one thing." She opened her eyes to look at him, tears forming.

He looked into her eyes and chocked out a responce. "Anything..."

She smiled at him, "End it. End the war and make sure peace comes again."

Athanazi took her hoof in his own, "I promise, I promise upon the sun that i will bring peace to the land once more."

She smiled one last time before doubling over in pain, "ODE!" she yelled out. the two were suprised by her sudden out burst.

"End it...kill me...PLEASE!" she said, Ode hesitated. Then, seeing her pain, he drew his sword.

Athanazi looked at him with bewilderment. "What are you doing!"

Ode looked at him, his eyes full of sadness, "She is turning, Athanazi. I have to kill her to end her suffering!"

Athanazi, out of deperation, lifted Mira off the ground and looked into her eyes.

"Myra please talk to m-" He stopped and looked in horror as he saw her caring, pink eyes slowly becoming a blood red. he looked slightly down to her muzzle to see the fangs already growing in. Her body stopped twitching from the pain and her body visibly relaxed. She looked into his eyes and whipered something. Athanazi, to shocked to do anything, simply held her staring at her as her pupils became slits. she said it abit louder this time as she began to pull herself closer to him. she said the word one more time, inches from his neck.

"Blood."

When he finally made out what she said, he came to his sences and pushed her away, Throwing her to the ground. Ode took that as his cue and quickly lunged forward as she started to get up again. She looked at them and hissed in pure bloodlust, but it was to late. With a sickening sound, her head came off of her body, rolling a short distance. The body stood for a second and then fell, blood pouring from the neck. Athanazi was in absolute dismay, He threw out everything he knew about the desipline of a paladin and started crying next to her body. Ode couldnt beleive his eyes.

"What are you doing!?" Ode said.

Athanazi looked up to him, "Mourning..." his eyes filled with rage. "Ode, we just killed Mira! The very one who taught us everything we know, the leader of the chapter, and our closest friend and we just killed her. Why are you not doing the same!?"

Ode, absolutly furiated about Athanazi's behavior, grabbed him by the armor and slapped him across the face. "BECASUE WE STILL HAVE A JOB TO DO! I am saddened by her loss but I will not disgrace her memory by crying over her body!"

Athanazi stopped crying and looked into his eyes, slowly gathering rage. Not for Ode, but for the monsters that caused this grief.

Ode continued, "What I WILL do for her memory is fight for what she died for! I will push to the heart of these unholy bastards and I will fight to the death for my Empress, just like Mira would have done had that been you or me."

Ode dropped him, but Athanazi cought himself. His Determination and courage quickly coming back to him.

"Before we began training, we were asked a simple question." said Ode, "Everyone there answered the same way and many of then answered wrong. I saw many good ponies get turned down from the program and i will not see them replaced by someone who hasn't even got the discipline to control his own emotions! So i am going to ask you that question again, and this time i want you to answer truthfully. Are you fit to be a Paladin?"

Athanazi, who never thought he would be asked that question again, looked down with a frown on his face, thinking of his responce. Ode was still as furious as before.

"ARE YOU FIT TO BE A PALADIN!" He yelled.

Athanazi quickly looked up and hit Ode with his front hoof as hard as he could, throwing Ode onto the ground. Ode was dazed for a second and saw Athanazi standing over him.

"I was always fit to be a paladin, but I will never be fit to see the death of a close friend. I don't want to meet the pony who is, but you're right." Athanazi said, smiling while extending his hoof. "Come, we have a war to finish."

Ode smiled and grabbed his hoof, pulling himelf up, "Good to have you back"

And with that, the two paladins were off to the tent to end the 25 year war and restore peace to equestria.

Whew! wow, alot of information in this chapter. I hope the length of the chapter was enough! i will be working on the next chapter as soon as i can, but with school coming up i might be able to get out chapter two and then it will probably slow down abit. Dont forget to R&R!