Moving Foward

Five Years Before The End Of The World

"No, wait, please!" The human soldier begged, but his world fell upon deaf ears.

"Maximum Cannon!" A giant fireball engulfs the Human, killing him in seconds, leaving only a chard corpse. Raven looked at the now-dead Human and snorted in disgust. "Couldn't even die with dignity, Hmph." Raven Maxwell, ex-soldier of Velder and now feared Captain of the Black Crow airship and brainwashed Humans. But, the mere sight of a Human enraged the Captain, so he made all of his men wear gas masks and had them cover up every inch of their bodies with leather armor.

King Nasod sent Raven and his men to the Richie Mines to find the El. The black crows stood in front of twenty soldiers, hailing from Elder. Raven executed five of them out of the twenty, and he was losing patience. "Now, tell me, where is the El? If you don't tell me, I'll have my men slowly skin you all alive." The tied-up soldiers shivered in fear; some even began to cry and beg for their lives.

"We don't know; it has to be in Ruben!" One of the soldiers screamed out, not wanting to die like this.

Raven had enough of these lies; he dashed forward and swung his blade without warning. The Human who gave his answer was decapitated, spraying everyone nearby with blood. This blood covered the Cyborg, but he didn't mind; if anything, he was delighted. "Lies, look around you!" He gestured to the whole mining cavern they were in. The place was filled with mining equipment, but what stood out was all the destroyed Nasods. All of these Nasod were generation one models, but these were made for mining, excavating, and healing. But they all looked poorly made and stiff, nothing like the ones found in Altera Core.

After the remaining humans looked around, they looked at Black Crow, confused. "This mine is filled with man-made Nasod, and some even have the Velder logo on them! And don't think I didn't hear about Elder's technological advancements." The Cyborg walked closer to the terrified group of Humans and told them. "I know Wally has the El, but where is he keeping it?" They didn't say anything, but Raven guessed right about the El's whereabouts from the look on their faces. Now he just needed to pinpoint the exact location. And he knew how to get them to talk; they just needed a little push. " If you tell me where Wally keeps the El, I will spare Elder and its people. But if you don't tell me or lie to me."

Raven bent down and used his brand new Nasod claw to grab a soldier by his throat. He looked the soldier dead in the eye and said. "I will burn your village to the ground and slaughter any Human I encounter. Young or old, no one will be spared." The Man he held by the throat sniffled and cried and nodded his head in agreement.

"W-'we'll tell you, j-just spare the village." The Man whimpered out. Raven grinned and released him; standing back at his full height, Raven looked at the remaining Humans. These filthy humans will be rewarded with slavery for their cooperation. As for the village, as much as he hated it, he would spare the people if these humans told him the truth. Although it didn't matter in the long run, mankind's end was coming. Once he obtains the El, Raven will turn his sights on Velder and have his revenge.

Raven turned around and used his curved blade to deflect four bullets that were aimed at him. When he finally heard the gunshots, he didn't have time to react as a fist connected with his stomach and sent him flying back and over his captives. "GAH!" Raven landed on his back but quickly recovered and returned to his feet. What the Cyborg saw enraged him and gave him a massive headache. Lu freed the captive soldiers by slashing at the ropes with her gauntlets that looked too big for her to wield. At the same time, Ciel fought off his brainwashed men with well-time slashes and shots with his gunblades.

"Power Assault!" Raven charged toward the escaped Humans; he couldn't let them get away!

"Stomp!" Lu leaps forward and smashes the ground in front of Raven, sending blue fire and chunks of rock flying. This forced the Cyborg to stop his attack and jump back. "You should be ashamed of yourself, Raven!" Raven gritted his teeth in anger."What is she talking about?" He thought to himself angrily, as the mind control did its best to keep his old memories suppressed.

Raven looked over and saw the dead bodies of his men; the ones still standing were useless to him. "Black Crows retreat! I'll handle these fools myself." They retreated upon hearing their orders, leaving behind the injured and dying without care. Ciel didn't chase after them because he and Lu were here to rescue the captured soldiers and stop the black crows' Captain.

Ciel walked up and stood beside Lu, looked over Raven's body, and noticed the new arm. "Long time no see, Raven. Nice arm." The half-demon said casually.

The Cyborg grinned savagely at that and flexed his nasod arm. "The Nasods gave me this; with it, I'll take my revenge on humanity!"

Lu was shocked; this wasn't the kind-hearted Human she once knew but a monster reviled in innocence's slaughter. " What happened to you, Raven?!" Last they heard, Raven was charged with treason and was to be executed. Of course, Lu and Ciel didn't believe this. The two of them even heard that Raven's men and fiancé planned a daring escape, but they were all slaughtered, and no one could find Raven's body, just his left arm.

Raven laughed at the little Queen's question. " The greedy humans did this to me! And I will have my revenge." The mind control did suppress his memories, but it couldn't hide the hate and misery, even if it were vague and aimless.

Ciel felt something was off with him and decided to test this out. " What about your promise to Seris? Do you think she wanted this?"

Raven was bewildered; how did these two know that name and a promise? "Kugh!" The headache was back, and it was far worse! "What are you talking about? I-i don't even know you people!" The mind control was working overtime to suppress the memories of that day. "Promise with Seris? Nonsense!" Raven held up his claw and blade and took a fighting stance. "But if there was something like that, it's most likely about getting revenge on those filthy traitorous Humans! The same ones who wouldn't hesitate to send their comrades to their deaths for one's profit!" Raven was done talking and had nothing else to say.

Lu and Ciel now grasped Raven's situation, his being controlled by a third party, but who? It didn't matter; they would capture and free the Cyborg's mind. " Don't worry, Raven; we'll save you," Ciel grunted in approval. Both of them got into a fighting stance and waited. It was a standoff; they were waiting on someone to make the first move, but who?

"RAH!" Raven used his claw to propel himself forward by releasing a stream of fire from the exhaust on the palm. While this all happened, Raven's sword is engulfed by flames; it was a weaker version of 'Sword Fire' used by magic knights, but it gets the job done. He was charging right for Ciel, ready to end him.

"Flick shot." A blue rune with a pointed star appeared in front of Ciel, and he shoots it, turning the bullet into a magic bullet. This bullet headed straight for Raven. The Cyborg wasn't worried; even at the speed he was going, he could deflect it. But as he got ready to deflect it, the bullet took a sharp turn and got out of the way. The magic bullet took another quick turn, got behind the Cyborg, and hit from the back. "GAH!" Thankfully, super armor slowed it down, but it still got through his armor.

Lu took the chance and leaped forward and slammed her giant fist into Raven, sending him flying back. "Now, Ciel!" Ciel nodded and aimed both gunblades at Raven. Some unknown force kept Lu in the air, and she created a rune in front of herself. "Nether Shredder!" They said in sync with one another. Lu summoned a giant demon hand from the nether realm while Ciel fired bullets.

The demon hand tried to restrain the thrown Cyborg, but Raven wouldn't let that happen. "Canon blade!" Raven shot out a giant fireball from his claw, which got him out of the way of the claw and consumed both the bullets and claw. It ended with a large explosion, leaving a crater where the demon claw first emerged.

Raven landed safely, and he clicked his tongue in annoyance. "At this rate, they will overwhelm me! Time to use it!" Raven used power assault again and charged forward.

Ciel shook his head in disappointment. "Using the same move, again, eh? See where that gets you." The half-demon used Flick Shot once more, and Lu got ready to beat the living daylight out of Raven. But to their surprise, the Cyborg just disappeared. Flick Shot completely missed, and the little demon was on the search for Raven. Then the two heard something from behind them and turned to see. To their horror, Raven had his claw held back with a massive grin on his face.

Raven used a skill called 'Shadow step.' which turned him invisible and allowed him to phase through objects. Of course, the skill only worked half the time and had downsides if it didn't go off properly. But it went off properly this time, and he was delighted to end this. "Seven Burst!" Raven threw out a massive fireball that would explode seven times, destroying anything that got in the way.

To the Cyborg's surprise, the duo was ready for this. Lu jumped into the air and stayed there while Ciel threw ten grenades. "Soul infest!" Again they both said it in sync. Lu held both claws together and fired off magic missiles, while Ciel struck a pose and created a barrier to protect the two from the explosion. Each missile made contact with the grenades, exploding, which created smaller explosions.

Once both attacks made contact, the explosion was massive, canceling each other. As a consequence, the cavern started collapsing. A gigantic boulder dropped from the ceiling and separated Raven from Lu and Ciel. Wasting no time, Raven made his escape; he would deal with them another day. "It's never too late, Raven! I still believe in you!" Lu called out to Raven.

It wouldn't be long before Raven obtained the El and crossed paths with a boy named Elsword, which led Raven on a path of penance. The last part was destined to happen, but fate was fickle, and Raven wanted justice.

The Present, Mushrump

"That was the last time I saw those two; if I could, I would tell them I'm sorry. Same with those soldiers." Raven stared at the bonfire with an air of melancholy surrounding him. He looked up and was surprised that more than half of Ambrosia's hive was gathered
around the group listening to the story. They all stared at the Human with their big yellow bug eyes; the story completely engrossed them.

Raven looked to his charges and Ambrosia, who all had the same look of awe and wonder. "The hell is with these guys? Those drones were terrified of me, and now they came over to listen to my story? My story wasn't all that interesting, was it?"The Cyborg saw the looks on their faces change; he braced himself for the onslaught of questions.

"You can turn yourself invisible?!"

"YOUR CLAW THING CAN MAKE EXPLOSIONS?!"

"You can put fire on your sword, like in that one book 'game of ponies'?!"

Meanwhile, many thoughts were running through Ambrosia's mind. "Raven is the last of his species! He came from a time that predates Equis itself. And he is smarter than he looks."She wanted to stuff this Man in a cocoon and have him to herself. Sure his love tasted like expired pickles, but it was filling. Now, how could she have him to herself? Sex didn't work. Maybe mind control? It was tempting, but she had no idea if that would work on a creature that couldn't be turned to stone. What could she win Raven over with?

"Yes, I can turn myself invisible for a few seconds, I created the skill myself after all, but it's impractical to use." Honestly, he just modified the teleportation spell and called it his own. Raven pulled out his sword and held it out so everyone could see. "And yes, I can do this." With a bit of concentration and mana, Raven's sword is ablaze. Resulting in some 'oh's' and 'aw's' from the changelings and his charges. Again, he didn't see what was so impressive about this one; it was a crappy version of 'sword fire.'

Raven extinguishes the flames and puts his sword away. "And no, my arm can't make explosions anymore, just venom and plants." "Also ghosts, and ice" The small voice said in the back of his head. Raven demonstrates this by creating a black vine that grows on the palm of his claw. It was stiff and rigged, but it was technically 'living.'

Ambrosia saw this and knew how she could get to him!"Combat! It's so simple; time to work your charm." The Queen clears her throat, grabbing Raven's attention. "You know, when I saw you fight, I couldn't help but notice how you lack creativity."

Raven had to hear this, especially from a quadrupedal; this might prove entertaining. "Really, how so?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Gotcha!" She thought evilly. "The way you wield your vines, it's so dull! You throw out a bunch of seeds, and vines grow? Booooooooooorrrrrrrrrriiiiiiinnnnnnnnnngggggggg! You need to have fun." Ambrosia's horn came to life, and a green vine sprouted from the ground near her. "Plants aren't just something you can throw out; you have to treat them as its part of you." Using her magic, she has the vine grab a rock and fling it at one of the mushroom houses, leaving a hole on the exterior. "I could teach you if you wouldn't mind~." She flutters her eyelashes at the Human.

The Human couldn't lie; Ambrosia's reasoning was sound. His use of Valasia vines has been more or less flinging things at another thing. It doesn't mean they weren't effective; it was just a little too predictable. Learning from a changeling Queen couldn't be too bad, as long as she kept her hooves to herself. "Fine, I could use the training."

The Changeling Queen clapped her hooves together in excitement. "Sweet, I promise you won't regret it." Although, she had another question. "You mentioned someling named Seris; who was she?" Ambrosia regretted asking that because Raven's expression darkened, and she could feel the hate radiate off him. Her children got ready to flee, not wanting to be anywhere him when he lashed out. Raven didn't do any of that; he let out a calming breath and answered the question.

"Seris was my fiancé, the first to join when I formed the Black Crows... She was a noble too; she could have joined the Red Knights. Now she's gone. That's it." For the ex-mercenary, it's only been three years since he lost Seris; of course, it's been more than that, but the wound was still fresh. Even worse, his claw started to ache again. "Let's just move on; we have much to discuss."Raven pulled out his smartphone and pulled up the map. "We're trying to head here." The Human scooted closer so Ambrosia could see.

Ambrosia looked at the strange black rectangle that the Human held; the scream was bright and colorful! The other changelings thought the same as they got closer. Raven saw all this and waved them off with his claw; they had no time for this nonsense. "Ambrosia, focus. The map tells us to go to this valley, but it doesn't have a name, and it's not detailed enough to be considered safe. Do you know anything about this place?"

The Queen gave the Human nervous giggle after being distracted so easily. "Hehe, sorry. Now, let's see." She narrowed her eyes as she looked at the map."Hhhmmm, That's the stone valley, it's like the badlands, little to no life, noling lives there, and possible hides a secret civilization that noling knows about." Raven gave her a questioning look. "Oh yeah, there's this rumor going around about how most of the thestrals are hiding underground." Raven found this to be wildly off-topic, but he saw the three thestrals in his group shuffling around nervously; this could be worth investigating later.

"Please stay on topic." Oleander said, sounding annoyed.

"Oh right, where was I? Oh right! Ponies have been saying that the valley is home to a monster! Sometimes you can hear the moans of dead ponies, slapping and popping of flesh." The foals in Raven's group start to shake in fear; even some of the nymphs begin to tremble in fear. "You can hear the mad ramblings of a mare who has lost her mind long ago. And those who venture too far in and hear the laughter will never be seen again!" At this point, the foals were scared stiff.

Oleander and Raven were the only ones who seemed to be skeptical. "That's it? Some moans, groans, and some laughter? It sounds like somepony is playing a prank." Raven had to agree with Oleander, but the missing ponies part couldn't be overlooked. They needed to proceed with caution.

"Regardless, we will proceed with caution. As we travel, is there anything we should worry about? Like who owns these lands over here?" Raven pointed at the stone valley and moved to Flutter Valley.

"Nnnnnope! Besides the griffons who fly by, the land isn't claimed by no creature."

Raven's one eye went wide at this! Unclaimed land!? This would be any country's wet dream, but there must be a catch. "What's wrong with Flutter Valley?" Stone Valley had apparent problems, so what about Flutter Valley?

"Oh, nothing~ Just the fact it's homed to one of the biggest roc in all of Equis!" Ambrosia threw her hooves up in the air while everypony and changeling flinched at the creature's name. The only one who seemed unfazed was Raven. The Queen noticed this and tried to clear things for him. "It's a giant bird that can go hoof to hoof with a dragon."

Raven rolled his eye and lets out a low snort. "We'll take care of it later. Honestly, you lot are worried about everything." Ambrosia shouldn't be too surprised; this is the same person who took on an alicorn and didn't bat an eye. "But I must ask, Dragons are no longer extinct? If so, excellent." Raven said with a smile to everyone's confusion.

"Dragons were very evil and greedy creatures back in my time, but they made excellent resources for alchemy, and their scales were great for making armor. If we have time, we should hunt for some an-" Everyone was horrified that Raven was talking about hunting dragons so casually. While Xuez had no love for dragons, they were still intelligent creatures; while they were greed, but they were capable of love. The winged Zebra was going to put a stop to this.

Xuez walked up to the Human and nudged his leg, which stopped his rambling. Raven saw that Xuez had a stern look on his face. "Mr.Raven, while dragons may be greedy, they're intelligent creatures, capable of love just like you and I. So no, you can't go around hunting them." The colt was firm on his stance.

"I see, then I see no reason to hunt them, but if they attack us unprovoked, I'm taking their resources. Agreed?" Xuez smiles and nods. Raven smiles back and pats the colt on the head. "Also, very well said, boy."

Cozy rolled her eyes at this, but she had a question. "Wait, what happened to the dragons during your time?" The filly asked.

"Humans happened."

Cozy wasn't surprised; if the Humans were anything like Raven, she felt bad for them even though she didn't give a hoot about the dragons.

"Moving on, Resources." Raven puts his phone away. " The Black crows has another week worth of food and medical supplies." Even though they used more than half of the supplies when Raven got hurt. "What about your Hive?"

Ambrosia thought about it for a moment before giving him an answer. "We're still good on medical stuff, as for food." The Queen couldn't lie; the love they were receiving wasn't enough. "We've been feeding off thirteen ponies and three griffons, and they've been producing less."

"May I see one of them?" Raven was rather curious about how these creatures feed, especially how they keep their captives.

The Queen tilted her head to the side, but it couldn't hurt showing him how they feed. She sent the signal through the hive, and in less than a minute, one of her drones came flying in holding a honey-colored cocoon. It was filled with a translucent liquid containing a pony mare. From the looks of things, she was sleeping. The foals were very uncomfortable while the changelings licked their lips. Raven poked it and found that the cocoon was very sticky and smelled of honey. "Interesting, but what stops anyone from breaking out of it?"

"Oh, let me show you." Ambrosia opened her mouth and spewed out changeling slime. The slime stuck to Raven's claw and made it unmovable. The Man's only reaction was a raised eyebrow. "Changeling slime is very good at trapping prey and nullifying magic, and once any creature is a cocoon, they're too weak to" The Queen watched as the slime turned to dust, allowing Raven to move his claw again.

"Looks like Valasia beats changeling slime." Raven flexed his claw with a grin on his face.

Ambrosia crossed her forelegs and stuck her tongue out at the Man. "That's cheating! Do you always have to break the rules?!"

"Built different!"

Raven shrugged. "To be fair, I felt the slime suppressing some of my mana, but not nearly enough to be a hindrance." It would take a lot more than that to slow down Raven. "By the way, if or when we find a way to produce love for your hive, I want you to release her and everyone you have captive." Raven points at the cocoon. If he was being honest, he had no love for these trapped creatures; they got caught, which was their fault. Ambrosia nodded her head in agreement, but she would miss her playthings. "Although, I have to ask, why not produce love and feed off each other?"

The Queen gagged at the mention, same with the changelings around her. "NO! That's an early grave; only a Queen could do such a thing and feed off of love made by changelings." Ambrosia made a snipping gesture with her hoof. "My mom told me it puts holes in your brain, making you go crazy!.. Actually, that might explain why Chrissy is such a massive bitch?"

"So even changelings can get Prion diseases. Interesting." With nothing more to say, Raven lies on his back and looks up at the night sky. "Alright, everyone, we're getting up nice and early in the morning, so get some rest; we have a long journey ahead of us."

"So you're going to sleep on the ground with nothing?" Ambrosia asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Those mushroom houses are too small for me to fit in, and the kids don't have any sleeping bags in my size," Raven said with his eyes closed.

"I could always put you in a cocoon~ it'd be nice an-"

"No, thank you, and goodnight."

"Eh, it was worth a shot, night night."

Henir's Time and Space

Glave stood there in the endless space that was Henir's dimension. "Things are about to take an interesting turn. Shame that Twilight couldn't be fully corrupted. Then again, we didn't want to have another ain on our hands. Let's see where the magic of friendship will lead?" These 'Mane six' reminded him of the El search party: annoying, optimistic, and downright happy all the time.

"As for the new Black Crows! HAHAHA! A third time is a charm, am I right? Honestly, they won't like wh-" Out of reflex, he jumps out of the way as a lighting bolt flies past him.

"Honestly, talking to yourself? Somepony might think you're crazy! Hahahaha!" Discord stood a few feet away from an amused Glave. "But enough with pleasantries. I don't know who you are, but you're going to undo what you did!" Discord snarled out.

"Oh my, is the clown angry that the performance isn't turning out how he likes?" Three keys appear from thin air and insert themselves into the Man's locks, unlocking three out of the six locks he had on him. " Alright, Discord, I'll play with you for a bit, but." Dark blue, dark energy appears on both of his hands. "I'll show you what real Chaos is!"

[Captain of the Black Crows]

Author's Note

Alright! Got another chapter out! Hope you're enjoying the story!