The Runic Protector

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 3 Chat with a Young Dragon and Book Horse
Chapter 2: Conflict with a Fashionista

Chapter 1

Pain... The soldier in black armor used his left hand to cover the wound on the right side of his stomach. He dropped to one knee and grimaced as the sudden action aggravated the wound. It would have been even more unbearable if he wasn’t wearing his padded knee guard. The mystery warrior whipped the barrel of his Scorpion Evo 3 around to his right. The 3 rounds slammed into the chest of the mercenary to the right that wounded him. He watched the opponent fall to the floor, not moving. He whipped his submachine gun to his front, allowing 9 rounds to fly, dropping 3 more enemies. However, they only grazed his armor with some bullets they fired at him.

The mysterious soldier bolted down the hallway that had the 3 dead mercenaries pressing his left shoulder against the corner, using it as cover in case he entered another firefight. He pulled out a Medi-gel spray from the pouch on the right side of his tactical belt. He sprayed just enough of it into the wound for it to work. He suppressed some grunts from the pain of the bullet being pushed out and felt the wound mended. “God damn! They can make a spray that can heal wounds in seconds, but they can’t stop the damn pain.” He grunted out. He had brushed his forearm against the bullet hole to deposit some nanobots, and they immediately worked on repairing the hole once they finished. They returned to the Nano forge housed in the vambrace of his right arm.

He peeked around the corner, seeing a group of enemies in front of his aim and immediately pulled his head back as he heard rounds whizz past his head; he pulled one corpse closer to him by hooking his right foot underneath the breastplate. He unhooked and freed the grenade bandolier from underneath the corpse, then he looked over it for a few seconds, activating one of the plasma grenades on the belt before he immediately chucked the entire belt with all the plasma grenades down the hall with the group of mercenaries. He felt the heat from the massive blast. He had to wait for a couple of minutes for the plasma and heat to dissipate, before he looked around the corner again.

He noted that the mercenaries and their equipment disappeared. Nothing left, not even ash. The walls, floors, and ceiling slightly melted from the plasma grenades. The mystery warrior didn’t waste any precious time, so he triple checked his surroundings to determine whether anyone was coming after him before bolting toward the room. He practically forced the door off its hinges on impact with his shoulder. It hurt like hell, but it didn’t stop him. He raised his Scorpion Evo 3 at his next target, flipping the select fire switch to the single-shot mode with his thumb. He squeezed the trigger twice, shooting his target in both shoulders, rendering her arms useless.

“Anima Shatter your crimes against all planes of existence are kidnapping, illegal experimentation on minors, the genocide of multiple races, numerous counts of corrupting peoples’ soul, abundant counts of creating weapons of mass destruction, among countless other crimes you have committed. However, the worst crime you have committed was the attempted resurrection of an Evil, Eldritch God that could have destroyed all planes of existence. You will not have a trial, you will not plead your case, you will only receive your punishment right here right now. Your punishment is immediate execution and destruction of your soul.” He was informing her of her crimes and her punishment. He unsheathed his sword activating a few runes on his Chokutō stabbing her in her heart and then stabbed her in where her mind’s eye would be effectively killing and eradicating her soul. He flicked the blood off of his blade and then placed his blade in the crook of his armor, wiping the rest of the blood off before sheathing his sword. He walked over to her holo-computer, then uploaded a virus into the network that destroyed all information and any device connected to it. He readied his submachine gun, noticing he only had 19 armor-piercing rounds left before he had to reload, and put a round in the forehead of each mercenary he saw running toward him.

“Goddess Feronia, Anima has received her punishment according to the laws you have set, please transport me to the next plane of existence because I only have two minutes left before the detonation!” Avarith shouted as he was being fired upon and began thinking about how to even the odds since he was down to his second fifty round magazine for his scorpion Evo.He placed the empty magazine into a pouch and reloaded the gun with his last full magazine of 9mm armor-piercing for the Scorpion Evo and shot a mercenary between the eyes. He continued to shoot until he was down to his last round. He put the last bullet between the eyes of a mercenary that was about to toss a grenade. Once he realized the grenade was a flash-bang he rushed from his cover, also known as Anima’s fucking plasma and laser-resistant glass desk, slamming his armored shoulder against the wall beside the broken doorway and letting his submachine gun slap against his chest. He gripped the newly constructed knife in his right hand and thanks to his closed helmet and closing his eyes; he was unaffected by the flashbang once his eyes were open; he saw a handgun poking into the room; he waited for the mercenary to come further into the room before grabbing the gun and stabbing them in the neck. He spun the dying mercenary around causing the knife to slice both carotid arteries in her neck and allowed him to use her corpse as a meat shield otherwise he would have been riddled with plasma burns, laser wounds, or bullet holes. He began returning fire with the handgun he took from his heat shield; he made sure each shot would hit a carotid artery in his neck so he wouldn’t have to waste bullets. It was fate or the cruel humor of the omniverse, but he was down to the last 10 seconds and the last 10 rounds each time he shot and killed an enemy as he watched the ammo counter on his heads up display… 9… 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2...

‘If I am to go out like this, at least I will take these fuckers with me and this will be mission completed, even if I won’t be able to continue to serve Lady Feronia.I’m sorry, my little girls. It looks like I cannot keep my promise, but at least you will have Lady Feronia to watch over you until we can meet each other on the branches of Yggdrasil.’With that last thought going through his mind he fired his last bullet and watched the counter hit zero, with an all mighty roar powerful enough to shake and rip the space station into trillions of pieces he dropped the handgun and closed his eyes waiting for the explosion to disintegrate him into nothing leaving only his sword behind for his little girl to take up once she was ready. He could have retired when she was born and let his second-in-command take over. However, he felt like it would betray his honor and savior if he did, but most of all he felt an indescribable urge and feeling. That if he didn’t push on, he would lose his little girls forever, not because of Feronia but because of THEM! His eyes snapped open with fury. Left eye blood red and ablaze with raw indomitable primordial wrath. His right eye simmered akin to liquid gold; glowed with an indomitable will to protect and watch over the innocent. The only thing this mysterious warrior saw was a void, light could not puncture it.

Meanwhile, in Equus

The third person’s Pov

On the planet Equus

in a certain room in the castle of the Two Sisters

“Hahaha… Even if you got the Elements of Harmony, it means nothing if you can’t hit me!” Nightmare moon cackled as she was dodging attacks from six mares with the elements of harmony before these mares got the elements, she was playing with them. She just occasionally blasted one or two mares out of the circle of their ‘Friendship’ and let them rejoin the group, ‘these foals think they could win with the so-called magic of friendship. I want to see them try, they probably still think I’m using my full power.’

“Stay still, you coward!” Rainbow Dash yelled out of frustration at what Nightmare Moon was doing. She rushed Nightmare moon out of anger, only to be sent flying into a wall with a whack from Nightmare’s tail after it solidified using magic. She got up and rushed Nightmare Moon again, only to receive a punch this time. This was only making her angrier, causing her to continue to rush Nightmare and get beaten back.

“Rainbow Dash!” All five of the mares screamed out their friend’s name. They charged at Nightmare only to get flung back into a wall after receiving an attack from her. How long has Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie been fighting Nightmare moon minutes, hours, or days? Even they didn’t know. The eternal darkness didn’t help either with trying to tell time. The only one to go unhurt out of the six of them was Fluttershy, which soon changed when a magic bolt from Nightmare Moon hit her.

"Fluttershy!” They called Fluttershy’s name in alarm and immediately stopped their assault on Nightmare moon to be at their fallen comrade’s side

“You just did a big no no Auth…” An unknown entity whacked across the back of her head before she could finish her sentence and then heard a voice.

“Pinkie Pie, you know I don’t like hurting Fluttershy either… Now can we continue with the story?”The mysterious voice informed Pinkie Pie.

“Fine.” Pinkie Pie retorted with some venom in her voice and let out a sigh while others stared at her, including Nightmare Moon. She pulled out her party cannon and began firing pound cakes at Nightmare moon, they don’t let those pound cakes fool you, Pinkie Pie is practically shooting concrete cannonballs at Nightmare with how stale they are. “They are not stale! They just haven’t ripened yet!”

‘Fine, you are correct Pinkie Pie, they are unripen pound cakes, even though cakes aren’t fruits. Also, you are fined four hundred bits and sent to Edge Blackstar for breaking the fourth wall twice. The fourth wall gets harder and harder to fix it each time you break it, you know. It’ll help him with his cuddling rehab.’

“Cuddling is addictive with cute fluffy creatures, I hope he breaks his addiction.” Pinkie pie pulled out a bit bag that held four hundred bits and tossed it into the void, helping pay Blackstar’s rehab payments. This reality-braking action of pulling a massive party cannon from her mane and tossing four hundred bits into the void had stunned Nightmare Moon only long enough for her to launch into the wall after receiving a pound cake to the abdomen. This gave the six mares enough time to regroup and try one last time to blast Nightmare moon with the elements of Harmony.

“Vanyali skölir eka!” The mares heard a stallion yell just before the beam could touch Nightmare, causing it to divert course to a figure in black that rushed past them. The harmonic beam converged on his left arm, condensing into a kite shield with a dragon head as the decoration on the face of the shield with its eyes constantly changing colors.

“Gath iet sverd un iet lam!” The mysterious soldier shouted but this time a sword flew from the scabbard on the left side of his hip into his empty right hand, a few runes lit up along the spine of the blade releasing a powerful surge of mana locking the group of mares in place watching the soldier with curiosity, fear, and concern.

“You! You should be Dead, I killed you a millennium ago!!!” Nightmare roared with surprise and fear as the creature rushed her, which caused the girls to gasp with shock and worry that this man had died and was resurrected.

“You seem to have forgotten that I have two little girls and a granddaughter to look after and I will not die under your naked blade no mater what, so you can just release Luna and FUCK OFF!!!” The girls could feel the warrior’s irritation and sadness flowing off of him, causing even Rainbow dash to cower behind a pillar and to cry but what shocked them was that he had a little girl. He launched himself at Nightmare so fast she barely evaded his attacks, causing a portion of the wall to collapse and blasting him in the back with a powerful beam only for it to be absorbed by his shield. When Nightmare saw this, she summoned her sword and swung for his neck to make sure he died this time. It was slender and the tip of the blade could easily touch the ground; it had six runes on both sides of the blade glowing with a sickly purple with shadows flowing off the blade. Their blades met with a clang, then Nightmare shot a blast of magic from her hand only to be deflected by the shield. The soldier angled his sword and caused Nightmare’s sword to slide up and away from him. The soldier got his opening and bashed Nightmare with his shield using his full force, causing her to crash through a thick wall. He readied himself for Nightmare moon to retaliate.

And retaliate she did, he got sent flying upon receiving a strike from Nightmare; he wasn’t expecting her sword to double as a whip with segmented portions of the sword. He seriously wasn’t expecting that at all, then again he should have expected it. He hit the wall hard until he actually felt the armor protecting him creak and pieces falling off. Damn, she can pack quite a punch with that whip sword?… No, let’s call it a snake sword that sounds better. He thought to himself.

“Damn woman, if I wasn’t able to repair my armor and weapons you would owe quite a few favors or a lot of money because this armor alone cost a lot.” He informed his attacker as he got back up causing more pieces of his armor to fall off, he wasn’t happy that his favorite and only armor was getting damaged and broken but he wasn’t as pissed since he could repair it because he doubted any blacksmith on this world could.

“Why don’t you die, you abomination, you murderer, you DEMON!!!” She screeched and whipped her snake sword once again aiming to remove his head only for it to be repelled with a bash of his shield, the six women watching could see that he was thinking about something only for him to flip the sword around so that he was using the spine of the sword. He wasn’t enraged or even happy; he was mostly sad that it led up to this at all. It hurt him that she called him that and that the words came from Luna’s body even if nightmare moon took it over. He didn’t let it affect him but the pain and sadness showed on his pupils, the six mares saw and could almost feel the torment behind his gaze. It felt as if an indescribable weight lay upon their shoulders threatening to bring them to their knees and rob them of their breath.

He charged Nightmare moon making sure that his shield was in between him and his opponent, he bashed the snake sword out of the way delivered a swift to her side causing her to take a few steps to not get thrown around by the force and before she could recover he followed the attack up with a sweep of his sword knocking her to the ground and slammed his shield into her chest with so much force that it cracked the Oskian stone floor. Oskian is the hardest known stone in all of Equis, sadly it couldn’t be mined anymore for the person who knew how to craft the tools to mine it had disappeared long ago and all the tools left behind had been too badly degraded over time all but one anyway waiting to be reclaimed from the royal treasury vault in Canterlot.

The six girls watched as the veteran soldier was using only his sword and that magic shield to fight, and even pushed Nightmare Moon back in an unfair fight. The two magic users of the group and the alicorn could tell that he had no magic, but him saying those words changed the harmonic magic from hitting nightmare and turned it into a shield that can be physically touched and deflect magic. The soldier was doing his best to not die in the fight; he was still occasionally getting hit by either the spells or the crazy whip sword thing. His opponent was getting sluggish and tired, flung his shield with his full force, causing Nightmare to fly back and hitting the cracked portion of the wall that she slammed him into. “We need to use the elements on her right now while she is weak enough for it to affect and hit her!”

“Yes, sir!” The group eked out and readied their elements once again, Twilight glimpsed at the man pulling out three crystals the other three she didn’t know one was gold-colored, the second one was silver-colored, and the final one was viridian, the crystals swirled around his left hand in a circle and pointed it at Nightmare. Once Nightmare burst through the hole in the wall, the group of mares fired at her. The soldier waited for the attack to connect before activating his elements with a simple word.

“Ethgri!” His beam connected with Nightmare and then merged with the other beam, increasing its power. He even sheathed his sword and then used his right hand to merge the shield into the attack to make it even more powerful. The beam was so powerful that there was no chance for the Mare of the Night to return or even be able to manipulate people. And a trap was set so nothing similar could happen again. Once the beams stopped the misty remains of Nightmare tried to fly out of the castle but with a bright light, the mist was replaced with a crystal sphere and fell into the right hand of the soldier. He walked over to the butter-yellow mare wearing a dress that was inspired by nature with the embroidered flowers and three butterflies on the hem of the dress.

He raised his left hand that still had the three elements of harmony circling it over her wound and simply spoke three words. “Gëuloth un heill.”

“Oh… Um, thank you, sir.” Fluttershy jumped in surprise and whispered her thanks nervously as it healed her and her dress repaired itself from his magic. He returned her thanks with a bow.

“You have done well my little ponies.” Celestia praised her student and friends as she approached them making clicks with her gold high heels and the hem of her white dress with gold embroidery artwork fluttering in the ethereal wind just like her rainbow hair, the solar rays shining on her alabaster skin making her even more pretty and her wings folded against her back.

“Thank you, Princess Celestia, but we couldn’t have done it without him, uh, whoever he is.” She gestured to the man with her left hand. Now that the sun was up, she got a better look at him. He was wearing black armor that was airtight but still-allowed limb movement somehow. His left eye was blood red while his right eye was gold. He was even wearing a black cloak, there was a silver spiderweb embroidered onto it, and the portion of the cloak that was still in the darkness looked like it was oozing shadows. He got down on one knee with both of his hands on the pommel of his sword that was stabbed into the ground.

“He was the statue holding the Elements of Harmony.” Twilight finally recognized him

“Yes, my dear Twilight, but sadly his deeds were lost to the annals of history. He gave up so much, lost so much, and he never asks for anything in return, even if he was he would turn it down saying. ‘I am unworthy of such lavish gifts, I only wish is to make the realms safer for my daughters and granddaughter as atonement for them.’” Celestia said that when she got a look at the soldier, she walked over to him and gave him a kiss on the top of his helmet.

“I thank you for returning me, my sister and the co-ruler of Equestria.” Celestia thanked the soldier, her Student and her friends.

“I am unworthy, and I can’t let go of my sins, for I have yet to atone for them and there are far too many for me to list in a single day.” He curtly responded. He wished she hadn’t released that information at all. He received a glare from the fashionista wearing an elegant white dress that had gems stitched into it, that in his eyes only made her look gaudy, and wearing stilettos that looked tacky. He just shrugged it off and returned his gaze to the floor. She harrumphed as if she could hear what he thought of her outfit.

“SISTER!” All six mares yelled in surprise once it registered what their solar princess had said.

Celestia approached her sister with tears running down her cheeks and wrapped her sister in a hug. “I’m sorry that I have neglected you, I’m sorry that I wasn’t there for you and I’m even more sorry that I had sent you away from your Eldritch Soldier and only friend. Can you ever forgive me, my little sister and rule with me once again?” Celestia cried out while sobbing into her sister’s shoulder.

Luna had beautifully tanned skin and wearing a navy blue dress with silver embroidery artwork and a crescent moon on it, she had on silver high heel stilettos with her navy blue wings wrapped around her sister. Her hair was like that of midnight, but it faded out to white and flowed in the ethereal wind just like her sister.

“I forgive you sister and I’m sorry I pushed you away, I at least wished that my little Eldritch Soldier left me a note before he left on his mission.” Luna retorted and looked at her eldritch soldier.

He released his grip on his sword and slammed his head into the ground with a loud crack, sending a spiderweb crack out from where his head hit the ground while also bowing to the princesses.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t inform you before I left and I shouldn’t have caused you unnecessary worry and angst, I do not deserve forgiveness for the mistakes and sins of delivering a fair, gorgeous, innocent, and divine being into the hands of evil. Since I have failed to protect my charge, I will gladly accept any punishment that you deem worthy of my sins, even if it is my execution.” His action and what he had said shocked everyone, even the princesses. Which caused Princess Luna to cry even more that her long-time friend and trusted soldier of the kingdom would even suggest that they execute him for failing to do his duty.

“But you had no way of knowing that your actions would cause this,” Twilight stated and tried talking the soldier out of wanting the execution as his punishment.

“You do not understand fair lady Twilight, I knew full well of the mental state that Lady Luna was in before I left to complete my mission and since I was her only emotional support, this was the result. So it was my fault that this happened in the first place and before you could say it was your fault Lady Celestia, I had already known of the trouble boiling on the Minotaur front and I was planning on dealing with it before Lady Luna had gotten word of it.” He kept his forehead pressed against the stone floor and continued to wait for his punishment with grim determination.

“Your rank and power has been revoked for failing your mission of protecting the princesses and removed from both the Solar and Lunar guards,” Celestia said with mock fury, and with a wave of her right hand, she used magic to rip off the solar and lunar guard symbols from his armor and teleported them to her dimensional storage.

He stood with a sorrowful sigh and walked to the rulers of Equestria; he used the hem of his shadow spider cloak to wipe away their tears. He rested his head on both their heads like a father comforting his daughters.

“I’m sorry that I have failed the two most divine beings in all Equus, I will travel the world and atone for my sins until I can be your eldritch soldier again. I shall collect my things and leave.” He tried to leave, but the princesses refused to let him go and Luna stood up with his sword appearing in her hands. He was confused about what was happening.

“By my power as the princess of the night and dreams. Co-ruler of Equestria and raiser of the moon. For your brave actions of fighting Nightmare moon off and dying while doing so and waiting a millennium after resurrecting to fight her once again and saving me.” She rested and tapped his sword against both his shoulders with his sword, then rested the sword on his armored head.

“I dub thee Exalted Protector of Realms, protector of the Children of the Stars and their Night Mother and the wielder of Determination, Faith, and Patience the three hidden elements of Harmony. I also reinstated your power and rank in the Lunar guards” Princess Luna placed the Umbral Guardian’s sword in the palms of his hands and watched as he gripped the sword with reverence.

“I humbly accept this position and protect you and your citizens with my life, and I WILL not fail you this time, my fair Quasi Goddess Luna.” He reluctantly accepted but took it seriously. He sheathed his sword as he stood up, his armor liquified, and retreated into his right vambrace revealing that he was six feet ten inches tall with Celestia two inches shorter than him and Luna four inches shorter than him. His silver hair fell to the small of his back in a ponytail, his left eye was blood red and his right eye was golden. He was wearing a skin-tight black shirt that showed off his athletic body and scars that littered his chest, back, and arms. He was wearing black pants that were comfortable but also not too loose, he also had on black leather boots that he could also wear with a tuxedo.

“Do we not have somewhere to be, Lady Celestia?” He asked the solar princess curiously.

“Ah yes, the summer sun celebration, Pinkie Pie, I think we need a party for our victory and the safe return of my sister.” As soon as Celestia finished that sentence, Pinkie pie was already floating in the air, taking in a big gasp. She was wearing a pink skirt with three balloons. A white shirt with a pink heart in the center, and a pair of light blue boots that came halfway up her shins.

“I get to throw a party for the defeat of Nightmare Moon and the return of princess and not just that, I get to throw a party for the legendary soldier that saved all Equus many times, even saved Ennulth and helped the princesses with Discord, Sombra, Grogar, and his recent release from his stone entombment. IGOTAPARTYTOPUTTOGETHERSEEYOUATSURGERCUBECORNERSEEEVERYPONYINTWENTYMINUTES!” The pink party pony took in a deep breath and then disappeared in a blink of an eye, leaving a pink mist of her form as she hurriedly started setting up the party and sending invites out to the entire town of Ponyville.

“Of course, her descendants would be just like her.” He just shook his head and escorted the seven women back to Ponyville for the party. The five younger mares stared at him like he just said something that broke the rules of everything, their minds were still trying to process with what he had just spoken.

Author's Note

Medi-gel is an all-purpose medicinal salve combining an anesthetic and clotting agent also promotes the natural healing process

Vanyali skölir eka (Magic shield me)

Gath iet sverd medh iet lam(Unite my sword with my hand)

Ethgri (invoke)

gëuloth un heill (dull and heal)

His cloak

His armor

His Sword

The closest thing I could find to how I described him

Nightmare Moon

Princess Celestia but pony ears and tails

Princess Luna but with her wings, ears and tail

The Main Six

Chapter 3 Chat with a Young Dragon and Book Horse

Chapter 3 A Chat with a Young Dragon and Book Horse.

Spike was looking out the window, thinking about what Avarith said. About his parents wanting him to live the life he wanted to live. While he was in deep thought, his claw was gently tapping against glass, leaving tiny little divots.

"Hvaët is the problem?" Avarith asked the wyrmling, aware of something bothering him. He could sit there speculating about the issue, but it was much quicker and simpler to just ask.(What is the problem?)

"Ach ono kenna iet Módir un Vidira?" (Did you know my mother and Father?) As Spike and Avarith were speaking, everyone who was listening stayed quiet for fear of what could happen. The words they spoke were filled with magic and radiating a truth that needed no confirmation from the Element of Honesty, Applejack..

"Ja, eka kenna onr Módir un Vidira. Onr Vidira ero celöbra un ai varden abr du skulblaka. Onr Módir ero ai nuanen evarina, älfrinn ero ai älfa dröttningu." (Yes, I knew you, Mother and Father. Your Father was honorable and a protector of the dragons. Your Mother was a beautiful star, she was an elf princess.) It was hard for him to explain as much as he could about Spike's parents within the ancient language, he leaned closer, touching his forehead to Spike’s.. "Eka otherúm eom ono thaët theirr dunei ono. Hvenaer ono are lost hórna eom onr eldunarí." (I swear to you that they love you. When you are lost, listen to your heart of hearts.)

"Elrun ono." Spike responded to the knight and gave him a hug. He pat Spike on the back a few times before Spike let go of the knight. He would've been surprised that his mother was an Elven Princess, but his adoptive mother was an alicorn princess, and his sister was a studious nerd about magic. So it wasn't surprising that he gained the ability to remain calm from Celestia while gaining his analytical thought process from Twilight.(Thank you.)

"Um. . . Sir, can you tell me more about the language that you and Spike just conversed in?" Twilight curiously asked the ball of mystery that is the soldier named Avarith.

"Well, my studious magic nerd, the language that we were speaking was so old that it lost its name and a few words. It is able to manipulate magic with a few spoken words while the speaker has no magic to use like me, but whatever you do never ever make a promise in the ancient language." He informed Twilight, but he said the last part in a way that scared not only Fluttershy but also Twilight.

"Wh. . . why is that?" Twilight managed to get out.

"Well, it is like a pinkie promise, but the repercussions are much, much more dire. No one knows what the repercussions are because they kept the promise. Always remember that promises in the ancient language are a double-edged sword that can not only kill them but you as well." His tone while providing Twilight the information that she wanted was cold, harsh, and serious, which showed that he wasn't joking in any way.

"O. . . kay, I'll keep that in mind then." Twilight responded while writing down what he said in black, but what he said about making promises in the ancient language in red ink with a note saying do not experiment with followed by at least ten red exclamation points. Even Pinkie Pie was freaked out by what the repercussions could be of breaking a promise made in the Ancient Language, she was muttering at a high speed that made it unintelligible but once she got to the idea that the repercussion is death her mane and tail deflated and darkened. She started rocking back and forth in her seat.

“But if you are bonded with a dragon through the perverted Gedwëy Ignasia or are a Dragon, then you can use it to cast spells and what not. All dragons restrict themselves to using the ancient ancient language because if they don't restrict themselves to the ancient language, they could unintentionally affect their surroundings by accident.” He calmly explained while making sure that Twilight could hear every word that he was saying clearly. He whispered something in another language, but all the ponies heard were hissing, and Ack sounded amidst normal sounds, making it very hard to understand what he said.

"Kos gluuskei hi saag tol ko vorey tinvok." (Be glad you said that in another language.) Spike immediately responded to what Avarith said. He drew out the s as if he was hissing.

"Oo nahlot goraan dovah, nust los gluuskei tol Zu'u dreh ni pentaar niin." (Silence young dragon, they are lucky that I do not punish them.) He snapped back at the youngling. He sighed and softly spoke once more. "Zu'u los krosis goraan gein, Zu'u fend ni lost snapped ahst hi nii los ni hin tozein. Nii wahl zey rahgron tol nust tolaak niist zinaal hahtaar." (I'm sorry, young one, I should not have snapped at you. It makes me angry that they twisted their honorable traditions.)

"Perverted Gedwëy Ignasia?" Rainbow Dash asked him curiously after a few minutes while the others were thinking

"Yes, originally the Gedwëy Ignasia was a way to mark a person as the dragon's significant other, it allowed them to share memories, emotions, thought, knowledge, the dragon's innate knowledge and ability to speak and use the Ancient Language, and if the dragon's significant other couldn't live as long as them their spirit would stay with them so they could pass to the other side together. But now the Gedwëy Ignasia bonds the dragon's very soul and their chosen one together so strongly that when one of them died, the other often went mad, and usually committed suicide, to join their bonded in death and not live on alone." When he informed them of the original intent of the dragon's scared ritual and the now bastardized version of it, all of them were shocked.

"That is horrible! Why would they twist such a tradition to such an extreme?" Rarity was practically shouting.

"Time, memory, and the Dragons themselves. Dragons have superb memories and can remember and recall anything, but it is only things that the dragon itself finds interesting or worthy to remember. Traditions are important, but after a while, tradition becomes boring, no longer important, and when something is no longer important, most of the important information is lost. And when the information is lost, you have to fill in the gaps with what you have." He gave Rarity an explanation.

He held his hand out with his pointer and middle finger extended like he was holding a playing card between them. "Water, Fire, Lightning, unite and flatten." It was weird for them besides the Princesses to watch as the fire, an orb of water, and lightning flickered into existence and then merged creating plasma, they watched as it flattened into the shape and size of a playing card. "This is way dragons limit themselves to the Ancient Language."

“Um. . . is that d. . . d. . . dangerous?” The butter yellow pegasus known as Fluttershy asked him while staring at the dangerous playing card in between his two fingers.

“Highly dangerous, Spike if you would please drop one of your scales onto the playing card, both of the Princesses are familiar with this element and since Celestia linked with the Sun this will not hurt her at all, while Princess Luna would be highly resistant to it because of her link to the Moon and stars. Now before you ask anymore questions, this playing card is made of plasma which makes up the sun which also means that it could be just as deadly as the sun itself where everything that gets close to it gets burned up to the point that not even ash is left behind. Although the power contained within this playing card is far, far weaker than the power that the sun holds.” As he was speaking Spike grabbed a loose scale that was hidden underneath his shirt and yanked it out with a wince from the pain, yeah the scale was loose but it was still somewhat connected to his nerves because how would dragons feel when someone touched their scales although surprisingly it doesn’t transmit pain very well. Mares watched as the young drake dropped the scale onto the plasma card and watched it morph into a teardrop shape as it fell through the card. It solidified by the time the tear drop shaped scale hit the floor, and it scorched the hardwood flooring.

"Avarith, dreh hi hiif zey both jormaar komiin?" Spike asked the man sitting across from him, the teardrop shaped scale gave him an idea as he picked it up. (Do you mind helping me with a design?)

"Sure, little one." Avarith responded to Spike’s question in the dragon language.

"Oh. . . . too bad there isn’t a way for me to be useful to my friends, I just know that my. . . shyness will be a hindrance to them." She asked him timidly. She wanted to be useful, but she wanted to avoid fighting as much as possible, considering she was the most peaceful one out of the group.

“I would do my best to help you become useful to your friends, but that will most likely have to wait for a while sadly because I will be busy retraining the royal guards. Also Twilight will not experiment with the Ancient Language, because not only are you manipulating magic but also the soul contained within it. I’ve seen people create monsters that laid waste to entire planets from experimenting with the Ancient Language. It was people like you just wanting to experiment and then slowly dissolve into madness while trying to find their limit. Some of those people were my friends, and I did not hesitate to put them down after the first two times it had happened. ” The first part of his speech was aimed at Fluttershy, and the rest was the warning that Twilight would receive, and if she did not heed it, it would be her fault. He just let Twilight be off in her own world because she was too busy thinking about all of the possibilities that had been opened up to her when she learned more about the Ancient Language.

"I wish there was a way for me to clear the sky so I can train more to become the best flyer and become a member of the Wonderbolts." Rainbow Dash was saddened, but at the same time, she was excited. She always wanted to be a part of the Wonderbolts, but her prideful personality made her a bit undesirable, but she was too prideful to believe that was true.

'Hell if the group Night Witches still exist, they would be able to give the Wonderbolts a run for their bits and probably even mop the floor with them. They are most likely still around waiting for their princess to return. They were the most patriotic soldiers of the Lunar Guard.' Avarith thought to himself. He actually liked that group mostly because they could get the job done.

"What are yah thinkin' about ther', Avary?" The farm pony by name of Apple Jack asked, she didn't really break his train of thought or pulled him out of a memory but merely gave him an opportunity to share what he was reminiscing about with the rest of them.

"I was just thinking about the Night Witches. They were an exceptional all female Cavalum and pegasus group that was the heart and spear of the Lunar Guards. Hell they were the best to the point that they could protect Luna when I wasn't there while also running missions and collecting information for the rest of the Lunar Guard to be honest the Night Witches were my favorite group. I miss hanging out with the captain of the group. She was fun, but the person I missed the most is my. . . . . wife.” Avarith turned the wooden wedding ring on his right hand and let out a despondent sigh, he remembered the one time she nursed his life threatening wounds while taking care of their son and two adopted daughters.

“You fool! Why can’t you give up on revenge? What they did happened a millennium ago.” He woke up and looked over to his wife. She looked as if she had been crying a river, but what scared her the most was the fact that she could lose her husband at any moment. She was covered in his blood from head to toe from the two weeks she was tending to his wounds while trying to stabilize him. “Please. . . please just. . . be there for your children more often and promise me, your wife, that you will give up on your revenge and that you will never succumb to your anger ever again. Promise me!” She was crying by the time she was done talking to him and it tore at his heart, he couldn’t help but feel immense guilt at how he had treated her ever since they got married.

“E. . .” He started coughing up blood and caused his wife even more worry, pain, and sadness, he didn’t mean for that to happen but he pushed on anyway taking in a painful breath of air. “Eka. . . malthinae on pömnuria Eldunarí eka weohnata keep thornessa ren until pömnuria last deyja breath,pömnuria nuanen wife.” (I. . . swear/promise on my heart of hearts that I will[ A force/effort of one's conscience] keep this oath until my last dying breath, my[formal] beautiful wife.) When he was speaking his voice sounded ancient, once his wife finished processing what he said she started crying again but this time it was out of happiness as she had a smile on her face.

“You fool, you didn’t have to do that.” She didn’t want to add another weight to his already immense burden that he had to carry on his back, she knew that he would try to take care of all of the problems by himself without any help.

“I kn. . .” He coughed up even more blood than last time and took in another ragged and deep breath.

“Save your strength, you dumbass.” She was worried beyond all reason and began rushing to treat his wounds and replace the bandages dressing his wounds.

“Let me finish, please, and then I will conserve my strength. If I didn’t promise you like that, then you would never know how serious I was about it, I. . . I love you deeply, and I don’t want to see you crying like that ever again.” He finished what he wanted to tell her and just focused on breathing and using his strength to heal faster.

“You idiot I’m your wife, I would have known how serious you were if you gave me a simple, ‘I promise you.’ But you are my sweet, caring, and handsome idiot. I couldn’t have asked for a better husband.” She placed a hand on his cheek stroking her thumb across his forehead and kissed him on the lips as sleep overtook him.

"Hey! Snap out of it, we don't have time for you to reminisce, Avary!! Plus, we are almost back at the castle." Pinkie Pie had him shaking by his shoulders snapping him out of his trip down memory lane. She let go of him and was reprimanded by Twilight and Fluttershy for what she did.

Avarith opened a window and stuck his head out to yell at Pegasi, pulling the chariot. He managed to get a good look at the Princesses' new home in person. "I want you to land this thing in front of the entrance to the castle and dismount!"

"Sir, Yes, Sir!" The Pegasi retorted to his command and began their descent to land within the inner castle walls.

Twilight was going to ask the knight another question when suddenly they heard an echoing horn call, then heard a deeper response to the first call.

Author's Note

Sorry it took me this long to post this chapter, I've been working a twelve hour night shift for the past three weeks and my body has been running off of water, soda, sweets, banana nut muffin, and the occasional beef jerky. Basically I've been commiting a very slow and painful suicide via over work and not being able to get a proper meal. Anyways as usual let me know if you spot any mistakes or make suggestions if you think certain parts of the story could be done better, I suck at writing and I'll probably be too tired to make edits to the story. Sorry about the delay, I already have an Idea but I don't think it should be chapter four.

Uh... Sorry for the rant and you guys probably don't care about my problems, hopefully I can improve my writing.

Chapter 2: Conflict with a Fashionista

He was standing outside the door of Sugarcube Corner and for some reason Twilight and her friends along with Celestia and Luna were hiding behind him, his right hand was on the handle of his sword and his left hand was on the door handle leading to the interior of Sugarcube Corner.

"Mares first." He opened the door, and the mares behind him went first. He walked in behind them and closed the door.

"You might want to hold out your hands." That was all he said to them before he swung his sword with such precision that there was only a nanometer between his sword and the top of the Mares’ head, cutting something that they were unable to react to. Each of the mares felt a plate fall onto their outstretched hands, Apple Jack’s plate had a cupcake and six apple slices with the seeds in a nice little separate pile on the plate, Fluttershy’s plate had two slices of carrot cake on it, Rainbow Dash’s plate had a rainbow cake on it, Rarity’s plate had Creme Brulee, Twilight’s plate had a slice of red velvet cake, Celestia’s plate had two slices of Red Velvet cake on it, and Luna’s plate had multiple mooncakes on it in case she wanted more than one. He caught a plate that had a slice of Lemon Velvet cake with his left hand and just started to slowly munch on it after he put his sword away, the mares looked surprised at what just happened besides the princesses.

“Surprise!!!” Pinkie and all of the town’s residents yelled as the lights flicked and a couple of party cannons went off, the mares that were still stunned at what Avarith did but they were even more surprised that he knew what Pinkie was trying to do.

“You’re an eon too early to surprise me, Giggles.” Avarith commented with a hint of amusement as he continued to eat his lemon velvet cake, Pinkie just giggled at the nickname that Avarith gave her.

“LET’S PARTY!!!” Pinkie pie yelled and then disappeared, leaving a pink cloud outline of herself, and party hats appeared on Celestia, Luna, Twilight, and her friends heads She tried to put on Avarith's head, but he just leaned out of the way each time she tried.

"Pinkie, please stop, I haven't celebrated anything except for my little girls' birthday in years." He only said that to try and get her to stop, which made her stop but also raised many questions for her. Her hair and tail deflated and straightened itself.

"N. . . n. . . not even your birthday? When did you stop celebrating your birthday and why? Also, how old are you?" She asked him despondently.“ How could somepony not celebrate anything? He still celebrates his little girls’ birthdays, but his life must be so grim and dark. No, I can’t be so depressed I need to make sure everyone is happy. But what made his life this depressing?”

“Not even my birthday, why I stopped celebrating them is because of what happened on my two hundred-twentieth birthday and because I’ve been extremely busy afterward. As for how old I am, I am older than Celestia and Luna combined. Celestia is 30,102 years old in human years, and Luna is 30,096 years old in human years.” He informed Giggles (That is his nickname for Pinkie Pie if none of you got that), Celestia and Luna started choking on their sweets when they heard what Avarith said about their age. Twilight’s brain was trying to reboot itself after hearing that information. Meanwhile, Rarity was giving him the death glare again this time for revealing Luna and Celestia’s age.

“It isn’t very nice to reveal a Lady’s age without their permission, sir.” Rarity spat venom at the uncouth man in front of her. She looked ready to smack him with the plate and her desert.

“What you don’t understand is that for long lived people age is just a number, I mean if you remained fixated on your age in imagine how you would feel when you are twenty-two octillion one hundred septillion nine hundred sextillion seven hundred quintillion five hundred quadrillion years old.” He finished off his lemon velvet cake and let out a sigh.

“Ah would say that’s impossible, but then I would be lying.” AppleJack managed to get out while not choking on her apple cupcakes she also pounded her ribcage to try to help the food go down, but I doubt it actually works.

“There’s no way you can be that old!” Rainbow shouted with her raspy voice.

‘If she didn’t shout so much, her voice wouldn’t be raspy, and it would possibly sound lovely.’ Avarith thought to himself, also maybe she should let her hair grow out a bit.

Fluttershy was already off interacting with other animal lovers and the local veterinarian learning anything new about animals and how to take care of them, she doesn’t always stay at home or only take care of the animals at her home.

Once Twilight’s brain managed to fully reboot, it instantly went to work on calculating the number and also trying to figure out how he could possibly live that long and how many years he didn’t celebrate his birthday. That last part was mostly for Pinkie. Then again, they never did bother to confirm if that was his actual age or not.

He spotted a small group of guards that were outside of their kit mingling with civilians, which happened to be ones that didn't evacuate the civilians when Nightmare Moon first showed up. Oh, the fun he was going to have running them into the ground.

"Excuse me, ladies, I have a group of soldiers to go run into the ground." He excused himself from the conversation and walked to the center so that everyone could hear without much problem.

He inhaled before he started yelling. "Alright maggots I want your asses out of this fucking building in full kit in the front leaning rest position by the time I walk out of that fucking door!" Most of the people at the party were not offended but the ones that tried to be proper ladies and gentlemen were offended of course that included the resident Seamstress. The guards instantly knew who he was yelling at, although they hesitated for multiple reasons and looked towards Princess Celestia for what they should do.

"He is an old friend of both Princess Luna and I, also he is our military advisor and has been Knighted by Princess Luna." Princess Celestia calmly informed them and continued to eat her cake, once the guards heard that they hauled ass faster than when they tried to intercept and distract Nightmare Moon which pissed him off even more.

"Scratch that your time limit just decreased to one fucking minute now. . . MOVE!!!" Once they heard that they only had one minute, they moved faster than when Rainbow tried to get a mug of the Apple family apple cider which somewhat impressed the tomboy.

"Goddess I can't wait until I can get my hands on my Dragon's Breath Whiskey, too bad there aren't any Locos Tacos in this realm I could go for some of them right now." Celestia froze up when he mentioned Dragon's Breath Whiskey and mumbled 'Oh dear Faust!' to herself, Luna noticed but decided to ask her dear sister later.

Some of the poofyness returned to Pinkie's hair, she quickly took care of everyone at the party and then disappeared. Avarith just let her do her own thing, he walked out of Sugarcube Corner and saw the guards in the push-up position.

"When I say down you will go down low enough that I can only fit my fist between you chest and the fucking ground and when I say up you will push up, you will give me fifty push ups on my count. If it isn't a proper push up you will start over from zero, if your chest touches the ground start over from zero, lose count and you will start over from zero, if you get out of the push up position start over from zero and I will add fifty more. By the way you can't use your wings to help you in any way, DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I HAVE SAID YOU FUCKING WASTES OF SPACE! DOWN!" He was feeling much better after shouting at them.

"Aye aye sir!" All the guards yelled at once and brought their chest closer to the ground, Avarith stuck his fist between the guard's chest and the ground. One of the guards was not dressed properly, her shirt was loose. He guessed that she was trying to fool him or she wasn't able to get properly dressed.

"WHAT IS YOUR FUCKING NAME?" When he started shouting in her face, she flinched away from him and tried to respond as fast as possible.

"Azure Barricade sir!" She managed to choke out, her mane, tail, wings, ears had azure blue, sky blue, and baby blue. Her voice was soft, gentle and smooth like honey, she sounds like she would be a good singer. Wait, he can't let his thoughts distract him right now.

"PRIVATE WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU NOT PROPERLY DRESSED, DON'T YOU KNOW HOW TO DRESS DO I NEED TO CALL YOUR MOMMY TO TEACH YOU HOW TO PROPERLY DRESS!? UP!" He wasn't asking her to tell him, he was commanding her to tell him why she wasn't properly dressed in her kit.

"Aye aye sir! 1!" They responded and pushed up including Azure.

"Sir no sir! Sir this private was not fast enough sir!" She didn't bother making up an excuse, because she knew she would get chewed out either way.

"Well guess what Private you just lost liberty! Fix your shit right now and give me twenty-five! You can thank Private Azure Barricade for the fifty extra push ups." Azure's squad groaned in response to what he said, he didn't know who they hated more, him or Azure. Azure got up and stood off to the side to fix her kit, she tucked in her shirt enough that it wasn't loose but it also wasn't tight enough to squish her breasts in any way painful. She was upset that she lost liberty, but she had to put up with it because of who the person is that is drilling them. She got into the push up position and gave him twenty-five push ups right there according to his specifications and once she was done with those push ups she rejoined her squad to do the other ninety nine that they needed to do.

"Down!" Avarith was smiling as if he was enjoying their torment which he wasn't, he was just happy to relieve his anger. He heard a door click closed behind him and turned to look to find out it was the Fashionista Rarity. He let out a grunt and simply said. "What do you want?"

"I want to talk with you." Rarity replied with an icy tone.

"Alright." That was his only response.

"You thought my outfit was gaudy earlier, why?" Rarity asked him.

"Up! Because the clothes are gaudy, the clothes are supposed to draw your eyes to the person wearing them, not to the clothes themselves. Like your current clothes they are flashy, you don't need the gems to draw attention. You want the clothes to be subtle but still draw attention to areas of the body that you want attention to be drawn too. Also clothes are made for only specific purposes. They are supposed to be worn everyday, the only time it is supposed to be flash but still draw attention to the wearer is on special occasions like wedding days, when you are going to go to special events like the Grand Galloping Gala. Because if every piece of clothing is flashy then it will make special events like weddings and the Grand Galloping Gala less spectacular because everyone there is wearing flashy eye-catching clothes" He finished explaining why and also gave her his thought process, he let her mind absorb what he just said. He realized more than ten seconds had passed by. "Down!"

"2!" The guards responded to his command and then went back down.

"A. . . a. . . Alright, I. . . I'll give you that, but you shouldn't reveal a lady's age; it is highly inappropriate!" Rarity tried to act intimidating but she was failing hilariously, she kind of looked like an adorable chipmunk. . . which he wanted to wipe that look off of her face.

"Look for ageless beings like the Princesses if they keep focusing on their age they will start driving themselves insane and not only that they will start becoming depressed and that will continue until they would likely drive themselves to commit suicide. The quicker they get over it the better." Avarith calmly explained to her, he saw many people commit suicide because they couldn't handle being ageless and watching their loved ones die around them. "Up!"

"3!" The guards immediately responded and pushed up.

"Alright that is depressing but I can see why you did that. But that doesn't give you the right to cuss to a lady." She chided him like he was a little kid.

"Look ma'am, the day these guardsmen joined the Royal Guards they signed away their rights, therefore their rights are determined by the military laws. The military does not see gender, it does not see race. The military will not stand for bigotry and racism, we all bleed the same color. We all feel the same pain and emotions, I am willing to accept anyone that wants to join. Now I ask you to leave before I have the guards forcefully escort you back to the party." Except he wasn't asking her to leave, he was commanding her to leave with a dangerous edge in his voice and a predatory gleam in his eyes as he just found an easy prey. "Down!"

The guards went down and held there waiting for him to say up.

"I . . . wha. . . ho. . . fine you barbarian!" Rarity was momentarily shocked and was stuttering a bit, she left with a huff as she went back inside her tail was slightly raised and swishing back and forth. Avarith just chuckled and started smiling to himself.

"Up!" He looked slightly happy at the event that had just happened. "Always fucking hated wannabe fancy nobles, even the nobles themselves and I just love pissing them off. Damn too bad Discord got stoned because then we could resume our game of pissing off the nobles and trying to get them to puke up blood."

"4!" The squad that he was drilling was looking extremely nervous.

"God I could really. . . ." He didn't get to finish that sentence before he was interrupted.

"Here you go, Avary three Locos Tacos and a Strawberry milkshake." Giggles was back with a paper bag from Taco Bell and a milkshake from Dairy Queen, his grin turned into a smile that made Pinkie beam happily.

"You dumbasses will continue to exercise until I am done eating this fine meal that Giggles has so generously brought to me and I am going to take my sweet ass time to eat this meal, don't even stop for a split second. Giggles why don't you go get popcorn and watch these people run themselves into the ground." He sat down at one of the tables outside of Sugarcube Corner and began to eat the first Locos Tacos slowly on purpose to torment them, Giggles sat at the other side of the table munching on her popcorn. He reached for the second taco but stopped, he thought for a few seconds before speaking. “Jumping Jacks.”

“So. . . is it true that the military doesn't care about gender or race?" Pinkie Pie finally figured out what to ask Avary.

"Yes, we don't care about what race a person is as long as they are willing to fight and defend their country with their very life if they have to. But they have to watch how they act and talk around civilians, which includes you and your friends although you are technically soldiers because you are the only ones who can wield the elements of Harmony besides the three I wield. All of the guards represent the Royal Guards, meanwhile you and your Friends represent Equestria so if you do something bad it will reflect badly on this country as a whole." Avarith informed Pinkie, while he waited for her reply he took a bite out of the Locos Tacos in his hand.

"So does that mean we will be drilled like these guards if we discriminate against a person?" Pinkie asked Avary, she wasn'tsure if she wanted to hear that answer.

"I will probably put you through worse than what I put my soldiers through. It will not be fun. You will hate me every step of the way, but you will be far stronger for it and you will thank me when it saves your life. And I can guarantee that Rarity will get the worst of it." He informed Pinkie Pie, his eyes and face were dead serious about his statement and that he would follow through with it. Pinkie's Pinkie Sense warned her in a new way that confused her, since this was new to her, she couldn't figure out what it meant so she just pushed the warning to the side.

"So where will you be staying?" She asked curiously, because he had been a statue for a thousand years that his old place of living has been lost, destroyed, or looted over time.

“In the castle with the Princesses, although my home is at my daughters and granddaughter’s side.” He calmly explained to Pinkie, he was already halfway through his second Taco. "Goddess in-between realms I missed these things over the past thousand years, thank you Giggles."

"You are welcome, Avary. Hmm why don't you sing a song to motivate the soldiers while they workout and to provide a little bit of entertainment?" Pinkie asked him, she continued to munch her popcorn while watching the soldiers.

Avarith finished off the taco in his hands and used a napkin to wipe his hands clean, he let out a sharp whistle that caught everyone's attention and a black acoustic guitar appeared in his hands. It had a blue dragon going along the side and a blue crescent moon surrounding the side of the hole.

"What song are you going to play?" Princess Celestia asked him as everyone filed out of Sugarcube Corner, Celestia and Luna sat down next to him.

"I got it, this song is called 'Still Worth Fighting For' by My Darkest Days." He began to play his guitar and stared at the sky while he played, he was thinking about the one he loved.

Once he stopped singing and he stopped strumming the audience started clapping and cheering some were crying about previous failed relationships.

"That was a beautiful song, Avarith." Luna spoke as she wiped away a few tears.

"Thank you Luna, why don't you sing this next song?" He thanked Luna and offered her to sing the next song.

"Why thank you I'll take you up on that offer." Luna fixed her dress and hair, she got herself ready to start singing.

"This song is called 'Legends Never Die.'" He started strumming before he stopped. "Do we have a cello player that wouldn't mind joining us?" He asked no one in general.

"I love to join you and the Princess in a song." Octavia Melody walked out of the crowd then sat down on the other side of princess Luna. "Uh, Vinyl my cello please." She commanded her lover.

"Here you go, Tavi." When Vinyl responded with her scratchy voice and teleported Octavi's cello in front of her, which surprised everyone except for Avarith to hear her speak.

"Thank you, Vinyl." Octavia prepared her cello and began putting Rosin on her new bow strings which strangely resembled Vinyl's tail. "Why are you not surprised that Vinyl can speak, sir Knight?"

"Well, I have seen a lot of stuff in my life but then again I have been a statue for the past one thousand years, plus this is my first time meeting her." He gave Octavia a detailed explanation to her question. "Ladies, are you ready?"

"Sir Knight, I don't know any notes to the song we are about to play." Octavia commented meekly while Vinyl chuckled to herself and Octavia's cheeks flushed red.

Avarith began playing a few random notes to give Octavia some time to calm herself and get herself composed again, after a while he started to slowly ease himself into playing the song 'Legends never die'. "Trust me, you don't need to worry the notes will come to you as you listen and play." Which turns out he was right because she started playing her cello twenty-five seconds into Avarith's playing.

(Sadly they don't have a video of this song being played on guitar and cello in the same video, so yeah. And I'm not going to lick two different videos)

Luna started singing with a soft and solemn voice as she stood and walked around to stand behind Avarith, she placed her hands on his chest. She ran her right hand across a fresh scar that marked the left side of his neck and her left hand traced the edge of an aged scar that ran from the left side of his waist to his right shoulder when she sang the line 'The Scars Collected all of their lives.'

Avarith continued to play while staring at the wooden ring on the ring finger of his right hand.

"Before it all starts, they suffer through harm just to touch a dream Oh, pick yourself up 'cause. . ." Her left hand rested on his right cheek and her right arm was wrapped around his waist. She was resting her head on his left shoulder and kissed his left cheek. She resumed her singing as she was holding out the last note and sat back down next to Avarith and Octavia. Everyone started clapping at the display while except for the guards they were still going through their punishment.

"Encore! Encore! Encore!" The crowd was cheering for another song, he was thinking of what to sing next when he spotted the local resident dragon named Spike.

"This will be the last song for the day before the Princesses and I have to return to Canterlot, this last song is called 'Born For This' by The Score." He told the audience and immediately launched himself into the song without a warmup, he kept his eyes on the wyrmling while he sang and played the song on his guitar.

Once the song ended he reached and grabbed the last taco finishing it off followed by a few sips from his strawberry milkshake, he slung the guitar across his back by the strap and walked over to the guards that were still exercising. "Alright, get the carriage ready for the Princesses return to the castle and I want it done in thirty seconds, now MOVE IT!!!" He shouted the last part at them.

"Aye, aye Sir!!!" They were sluggish but they were hauling ass to get hooked up to the carriage properly within the thirty second time limit, he just stood there and watched them while sipping his milkshake. "Giggles, you are the best for getting me this milkshake."

"Why thank you Avary. Oh!!! I know why don't the seven of us come along with you? Also you could bon. . ." Pinkie's mouth was clamped shut by an invisible force.

'Pinkie don't ruin the surprise because then it would no longer be a surprise. Also that is another 25 bits, you know where to send them.' The Author told Pinkie and let go.

"Alrighty." Pinkie Pie pulled out a small bag filled with 25 bits and tossed it into the void as payment, people were a bit shocked at what just happened.

"I want to come along so I can figure out how sir Avarith manipulated magic with mere words." Twilight informed her friends and the Princesses.

"Um. . . I would like to spend time getting to know the animals in the Royal Gardens. . . that is if you don't mind Princesses." Fluttershy commented meekly to Pinkie's idea to go with them.

"You are always welcome to the Royal Gardens my little pony." Princess Celestia gently replied to what Fluttershy said.

"Oh Darlings and Barbarian, I would love to go to Canterlot to look at fashion and gain inspiration for new clothes." Rarity's eyes gleamed with excitement, although she said barbarian with a bit of venom.

"Of course it's the gaudy fashion that draws you to the capital, I have outfits better than whatever those pompous criminals that have their head shoved so far up their own ass that they need countless surgeries to get their heads out of their ass." Avarith commented with extreme distaste for the pompous nobles, there were a few noble families that he actually didn't mind.

"How rude! What have the nobles done to make you dislike them?" Rarity responded to Avarith's comment with ire.

"Well besides the fact that they try to tear down orphanages, they try to sweet talk the Princesses to give them money for projects that never existed, don't forget black market dealings, assassinations, blackmailing, drug trafficking, trafficking people, slave trading, owning slaves, mind control, altering minds, and mind wiping. Oh I also forgot that they lie through their teeth just to get what they want." He listed off just some of the reasons that made him despise them, that wasn't just confined to nobles in Equus.

"Fancy Pants, Rich Cloth's descendent isn't like that. Also it has been a pain to gather evidence of their wrong doings." Princess Celestia informed the knight.

Rarity's mouth opened and closed multiple times trying to find the words to refute what he said.

"Oooookay. . . whatever, I'm not going to ditch my friends." Rainbow said nonchalantly after a few moments of awkward silence.

"Ah guess Big Mac can do without meh for a while." AppleJack knew that her brother and sister could hold down the farm without her for a while.

Avarith walked over to the carriage and held open the door to the carriage. "Ladies first." He watched the mares pile into the carriage, he was about to get into the carriage when he noticed that Spike hadn't moved from his spot. “What is wrong, young dragon?” He asked the young dragon that hasn’t moved. He let go of the door and walked over to Spike and placed a hand on his shoulder while kneeling down in front of him.

“I feel so useless, so frustrated while my friends ran toward danger to save the world. I was asleep. They were in trouble and got hurt because I did nothing to help them, and it made me angry with myself.” Spike’s fists were clenched so tightly that he started bleeding from where his claws were digging into his palm with tears streaking down his cheeks, his vision slowly gaining a tint of light crimson red as the anger radiate through his eyes and felt an endless source of heat swell up from deep within himself.

Avarith knew what Spike was going through, although on a much worse scale, but he still knew what he was going through. He removed his hand from Spike’s shoulder and gave Spike an understanding nod. “Go ahead, look towards the sky and let out your frustration and anger in a roar, but never forget how this made you feel useless and weak. Your parents would want you to live the life that you want to live.”

Spike leaned his head and let out a mighty roar of pain and anger with a jet of green flames. The flames weren’t dying down anytime soon. The flames rushed down towards Spike and engulfed him. Slowly, the flames started to change colors from green to blue and then from blue to violet. Spike started to change as well; he grew taller, gained more muscles, the spinal ridge scales grew longer and sharper, and the scales on his hands and a portion of his forearms changed into a single piece of metal.

“We need to help him!” Twilight and Rarity shouted together as they rushed to help him but were stopped by the knight.

“This needs to happen. You unicorns should know what happens when you don’t release the built-up magic.” When Avarith said that Twilight was scared that her little brother might die if she stopped what was happening but there was still the possibility that he might die anyways.

Avarith finished off his strawberry milkshake as he watched what was going on with Spike, he burped and the empty cup in his hand turned into a very fine powder that dispersed in the slight breeze that passed through the area.

As the flames started to die down, they got a look at their new Spike. He was more handsome, and he looked more like a Draconic Warrior than a little helpless kid.

“Spike is that you, little brother?” Twilight asked the changed Spike because she didn’t know if he changed mentally or not.

“What happened to my wittle Spikey Wikey?” Rarity asked with immense concern to the barbaric knight.

“Congratulations, you finally graduated from wyrmling to a fine young dragon, Spike. He finally got rid of the magic that was preventing him from growing like he was supposed to. Also, Rarity stopped calling him Spikey Wikey. It's insulting to him. He's not a wyrmling anymore.” He walked up to Spike and patted him on the back to congratulate him for promoting from being a wyrmling to a young dragon.

"Well, what should I call him then?" Rarity retorted to the knight telling her to stop calling the young dragon 'Spikey Wikey'.

"Well, dragons usually have titles by the time they hit the adult stage, which young Spike has another 83 years. But he is considered of age since he isn't in the wyrmling stage anymore, so for a nickname to give him, you will have to find out." Avarith informed Rarity while Twilight wrote down the first part of what the knight said.

"Uh, what do you mean by 83 years?" Twilight asked him curiously.

"Well, dragons enter the adult stage when they are 101 years old." He answered Twilight's question.

"Then wouldn't it be 88 years since Spike is 13 years old?" She asked the man.

"Nope, 83 years Spike is 18 years old." He corrected Twilight's mistake. Twilight's brain shut down, and her mouth fell open. She couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that she somehow missed five of his birthdays.

"He didn't expel the magic that was preventing him from growing properly; his body broke it down into raw magic, then used it to age himself by five years." He explained to Twilight to help her wrap her mind around it.

“You’ll come with us to the Castle so you can begin your training, Spike.” Avarith ushered the two unicorn mares into the carriage, and Spike followed behind him and sat down from across Avarith after closing the door.

“Alright take us to the castle, you maggots!” Avarith shouted out the window to the guards once they heard that they took off to the sky with the carriage trailing after them.

Author's Note

Spike's new look

Avarith's Guitar

Avarith's ring

Azure Barricade, but with blue hair and wings