Paradise

Prance Border

Emerald lets out a tired yawn as she looked over the horizon. The earth pony was a newly appointed border guardsmare, and she wasn't happy about it. "Stupid, Reaper making trouble and stuff!" The mare grumbled angrily. She missed her cushy job back at the castle. But thanks to that overgrown monkey, the entire guard regiment had to be re-evaluated and reformed. "This is bucking stupid; when the Changelings invaded, nothing was done, but when a hairless monkey comes in swinging a sword, suddenly Celestia and Luna want to change things!" The mare had an emerald-colored coat with a pink mane. She wore the standard day guard armor.

"Because that monkey defeated an Alicorn, took out ten guards, and kidnapped seven foals. It won and got away." Emerald's partner, Thrasher, spoke up. A stocky unicorn stallion with a yellow coat and black mane. He wore the same armor as his partner. "No matter how much you or the media wants to spin it, this creature is powerful and threatens Equestira's peace."

"So were Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis, and King Sombra, but guess what?" She paused for added dramatic effect. "They all got their flanks hoofed to them by the Elements of Harmony! Why aren't the princesses sending them in?!" The earth Pony fumed as she stumped her gold-clad hooves.

The stallion shook his head. "Please stop acting foalish , And the princesses can't do that now. Twilight Sparkle, the Element of Magic is currently..." He couldn't find the words to put it gently. " Indisposed." He was one of the few guards that knew what happened to Princess Celestia's student, and it wasn't pretty. Agent Bon Bon has been keeping a close eye on the Horrorcorn, and it is said that she has somewhat recovered mentally but is still unwilling to leave her home.

"Pfft, it sounds like she's getting lazy" Emerald dismissed the stallion's reasoning for Twilight Sparkle's absence.

This caused the stallion to scowl. "Takes one to know one."

"Hey! I'm not lazy; I prefer to be back at the castle! I mean, look around you!" She gestured pointedly in front of them. It was nothing but grass, with the occasional tree. In the distance, they saw the rocky mountains that made up Stone Valley. "We're in the middle of bucking nowhere with an ugly view! Actually, why the buck are we guarding Prance's border? It's not even part of Equestria."

"Because Prance is Equestria's ally, and we protect our allies. Now be quiet; we're supposed to be guarding, not gossiping." Thrasher straightened his stance and kept watch out; Emerald did the same but not before mumbling something under her breath.

The worst part about being positioned here: It was boring! Nothing ever happened, they would occasionally see a train go by, but that's it. Guarding the castle was boring too, but it was indoors, and she could slack off once in a while. The Mare wanted something to happen, anything! Then something granted her wish.

"What the!" A giant rainbow came flying out of Stone Valley, clearing the grey clouds that hung over the valley. They watched the rainbow come back down. "Sweet Celestia." In a matter of seconds, they watched the rock-filled valley become teeming with life. Emerald slapped herself, making sure it was all real. "Hey, Thrasher, you seeing what I'm seeing?"

Thrasher dumbly nodded as he looked on. "Uh, yeah, I'm seeing it too." It looked familiar, too; the stallion swore he had seen something like this from a book.

"Let's report it to the sergeant!" Emerald turned around and galloped towards Prance.

"HEY! GET BACK HERE! OUR ORDERS WERE TO STAY HERE!" Thrasher chased after his partner, but he was secretly relieved. Finally, something to do.

Dream Valley

From the sun comes light
From the sun comes power
It's the sun up high in the sky
That makes the flowers flower
From the sun comes warmth
From the sun comes daytime
It's the sun and its light gleaming bright
That brings the fruit in May time
Winter, summer, spring, and fall
The sun shines through it all
From the sun comes warmth
From the sun comes daytime
Here's to the sun up above From the sun, from the sun, from the sun comes love.

The foals and nymphs kept singing as they pranced and played throughout Dream Valley. Who could blame them? It was a paradise. Some of the Changelings were keeping watch, while others flew out further to dissuade any passing Griffon or Pony. It's only been an hour, but Raven and Ambrosia wanted to claim the Valley. Oleander had also told the Human that the Valley could of been the origins of Ponykind.

Raven currently sat on a rock with his shirt off, Cold Touch and a few other undead Ponies were tending to the Cyborg's injuries. He watched on as the young members of the Black Crow were enjoying themselves and playing. He was disappointed to see that Cozy Glow and Oleander didn't join them. Raven understood why the unicorn didn't want to enjoy she was the oldest of the group and didn't want to be seen as childish. But he wanted Cozy to join them and play, but she looked content laying on the grass.

As much as the Cyborg enjoyed watching them and listening to them sing, he needed to assess the situation. Raven took a pained deep breath and asked. "How many did we lose?" It wasn't the first time, and it won't be the last time he will be saying this and it never got easier.

"I lost seventy-eight of my children, while another hundred of them have been injured. It will take me six heat cycles and a few months before I replenish those numbers. Maybe a little less if my children help out."It didn't sound too bad, but Raven felt guilty either way, the death of one is too many. "If only I had a big strong human, who would fu-" Raven placed a finger over Ambroisa's lips, stopping her from finishing that sentence.

"It is a time of mourning, none of this foolishness." Ambrosia pouted but kept her peace. Removing his finger, he brought his attention to Vinyl Scratch. "How many did your group lose?"

The Unicorn in question sat nearby, performing maintenance on her Bass Cannon. " Seven, there were thirty-two of us when we came, and now we're down to twenty-five," She says all this while still working on her Cannon.

Raven nods and was a little put off by how calm she was about this. Then again this group of Ponies was different, to say the least. "I see, we will hold a memorial service for them." Seeing how there weren't any bodies to bury, this was the most appropriate. "None of you have any objections?" He looked around and waited for someone to speak up.

That's when Moondancer spoke up, she was laying on her side trying to rest. "Even that thing?" She pointed at Antithese's endoskeleton.

"Yes, even her." The man wasn't going to leave her standing there, even if he hated her.

Adagio snorted angrily, she was still in her Siren form, along with her sisters. "Why? Throw her in a dump, it's the least she deserves." She couldn't believe how soft this Human was being. Was he trash as well?

"It's tradition, everyone deserves a final resting place, even our enemies." The Siren gestured toward Adam's massive corpse. "We're scraping that bastard's body, it would be foolish not," Raven said with venom in his voice, causing Adagio to raise an eyebrow. He had some choice words for that tyrant but kept them to himself. "Regardless, Antithese and I use to be teammates, it's the least I can do."

This revelation caused everypony around him to gasp in shock. Except for Cozy, Oleander, and Ambrosia. The questions came flooding in.

"WHEN?!"

"YOU WERE FRIENDS WITH A ROBOT?!"

"THE PROPHECY SAID NOTHING ABOUT THIS!"

"WHO WAS SHE?"

"WHO ARE YOU?"

"DO ROBOTS POOP?!"

Raven was sure that the last question came from the cerulean Siren, and he watched as one of her sisters smacked her. The questions kept coming, and the cyborg grew tired of it. Raven brought his right leg up and brought it back down with great speed and force. The ground underneath him cracked, and the pressure created a mini shockwave. This got everyone to shut their mouths. "Let's start from the beginning. My name is Raven Maxwell, former Knight of Velder." Raven held up the El Crystal in his Claw and showed it to everyone. "And this is the El, the start of everything."

In the beginning, there lived the god of Darkness, Henir, and the goddess of light, Elria. Elria created the material realm; the demon realm was created as a result. Elria tasked the goddess Ishmael to become a steward of the material world. But there was little to no life to be found in the material world; darkness ruled over it. In an effort to protect the material world, Ishmael sent a massive gem to the heart of the continent. The once dead planet started teaming with life, and soon after, intelligent life began to spring up.

The land where the gem landed became blessed. A breath of life seemed to emanate from the gem, which attracted people from many different places. They admired the gem and would call it El. The land it revived would be named Elrios.

You Humans really like putting 'El' in every word you use.

Says the species that puts 'pony' in nearly every word they use. Now be quiet, Oleander.

The Elrios continent became a prosperous land, but it still had traces of its influences from the Demon realm. Dark energy seeped through a gap in the dimension and turned the forest creatures into monsters. These monsters came out of the forest and attacked Humans. When everyone thought all hope was lost, a general with an emblem of the Sun rallied his army against the monsters. The general was not only a skilled warrior but was able to harness the El's power to fight.

After that day, more people who could harness the power of the El appeared. Ishmael granted the power to control El to the children of those who settled near it-

Wait! If we did the nasty, wouldn't that make my next clutch super-strong?!

POWER ASSULT!!!

GUAAHH!

Stop interrupting me!

The common people started following them and turned them into leaders. The people have come to be known as Elrians. The Elrians prospered and established the Elrian Kingdom.

Under the guidance of the Elrians, civilization flourished. The Elrians started teaching people how to harness the amazing power of El. And this prosperous period was known as the brilliant Elrian Kingdom. From this civilization, some excelled in theory and the application of El energy. They were called Debrians. These were great minds who were able to overcome their lack of ability to manipulate El through mechanical means. The greatest of them all was Adrian Nasod. He used Code to create El energy-powered Machines. These machines and devices were named after their creator and were called Nasods.

With further research and development, central A.I.s named Adam and Eve and 2nd generation Nasods were created. Adam is the giant machine behind us and would experiment on me and enslave me. Eve would later become Antithese and destroy Elrios. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The Nasods and Debrians would accomplish great things. The capital of Elrios, the city of Elrianode, was defended by the city in the sky, Aero City.

Golly, Humans even had sky cities.

Yes, and we made them better, and not out of clouds.

Unfortunately, such times would not last. We grew arrogant and defied the gods and built a city in the sky in another dimension. The city was called Elysion, although the history books were a little unclear on this one. It might be called Atlas, but I'm not sure. Anyways, moving on.

Performing such a task drained the El of its energy, and the continued creation of more Nasods exasperated the problem. Due to the greed of the Humans, El's power was gravely misused. The power of El deteriorated, and the continent became dark again. In order to protect the Nasods, Adam started a war with the Humans. He got his mechanical ass handed to him. The Humans drained the Nasods of their El energy which caused Adam to cease functioning.

Due to this, one of the sky cities fell, causing the city to spill over to the land, dividing the earth up. The El was at its breaking point due to the constant harnessing of its power. But with the help of a lady possessed by Ishmael's power, she was able to restore the El. Life slowly returned, and the people started to worship the El Lady.

Everyone rejoiced in the blessed life again, and people started to preserve the power of El that the El lady left behind. The masters were chosen to govern the El, and they, in turn, found a new El Lady to watch over it. There were six in total; they represented and controlled the six aspects of El. Fire is the power of passion. Earth is the warmth and richness of the land, which protected the continent of Elrios. Water is a combination of coolness and intelligence, which controls the sea, so it doesn't overflow onto the ground. Wind energy keeps the universe in motion. Sun is one of the powers that brought life to Elrios. Moon is a power that is used to give the people of Elrios comfort and security. Also, at some point, the Nasods would reactivate

But such times would not last. The Harmony Festival takes place once every three years. When the Sun and Moon become one, all living creatures spend this time unwinding and enjoy each other's company. Thus it was called the Harmony Festival. The day was the most peaceful and tranquil in Elrios.

Then the El exploded, breaking into millions of pieces, and the shards had been dispersed throughout the continent.
The Nasod and Human civilization had ceased to exist after that day. Survivors could only breathe in places where El Shards existed, and so it has caused many people to reside in areas where there were large El Shards. Soon, a massive earthquake split up the lands. Tremors continued for several months, which eventually led to the continent splitting in two. Ultimately, the remaining masters would settle near large El Shards and would give their up lives to restore the power of El. Normal people would follow the masters example and sacrifice themselves to restore the continent.

Four hundred and seventy-six years later, I was born.

"I was born and raised in the Velder Kingdom. I became Captain of the Mercenary Knights called the Black Crows. I was betrayed by the nobles I served. I had my arm cut off." He gestures towards his claw. "left for dead, until Adam's Nasods found me and experimented on me, making me part Nasod." Raven continued on and gave them a summary of what happened afterward. Of course, he left a lot of things out, like his killing the nobles. He doesn't need rumors of that spreading just yet.

"After the demon invasion, I was recaptured and put into stasis. Then I woke up to a world filled with mythical creatures and rainbows. That's about it."

"V-very, interesting," Ambrosia said with some strain as her Changelings were patching her up again. Raven ran over her while he told the story.

Aria Blaze brought her head closer and narrowed her eyes at the Cyborg. "You left out a lot of details from your story. Hiding something?"

Raven looked at her from the corner of his eye and kept a blank expression. "Most of what I skipped over was traumatic, and I rather not talk about them in detail. Maybe another time." Aria backed off for now, but she would find out what he was hiding.

Moondancer spoke up next. "So what happened to all the El Shards? They couldn't have just disappeared, right?" The mare had an inkwell and paper and wrote down notes with her mouth. Where she got it, Raven would never know.

"I'm not sure; as crazy as it sounds, Eve and I had one final talk before she died." As he expected, the Ponies around him were skeptical, which was understandable. "Elsword, a former comrade of mine, poured all of his power into the El and made it whole again, bringing all the pieces back together."

Although he did his best not to show it, Ambrosia could sense the pain Raven was feeling. "Unfortunately, Elsword was absorbed as a result, and Antithese used this opportunity to use the El for herself. After that, she wouldn't tell me anything else, but I can assume she might have caused another El explosion or worse. I'll have my answer soon enough." Raven looked back in the direction where the Archive was.

Raven flinched when one of the undead Ponies touched the area where his flesh and Nasod Arm met. "Careful; you might poison yourself, and being undead won't stop the Valasia from turning you into dust." The undead pony quickly apologizes and moves onto the next area, away from Raven's Claw. "Enough about me; since I'm in your debt, what would you like from me?" Raven looked around and waited for someone to start, but it seemed like no one did. He points at the robed pony, she hasn't talked much, and he wants to hear from her. "You."

The first sister trotted up to the sitting Human. She got on her hind legs and whispered something into Raven's ear. Raven's eye went wide, and he looked at the second sister. The second was still rolling all over the grass, enjoying herself. "I-I see, so such a thing is possible. Are there others like her?"

"Hah, just like me"

The first sister backed away and got back on all fours; she nodded. "Yes. But they're a lot more independent and like to keep themselves hidden." She catches the ground with a hoof, feeling slightly nervous.

"Either way, I'll treat uh, Surprise as one of my own." Hopefully, the others wouldn't recognize her, but he might have to tell Oleander at some point.. "You can stay here as well; you're sisters, after all."

The mare shook her head and refused. "I can't; I need to return to the farm in a couple of days. But thank you for the offer, Mr.Maxwell." She gave the Human a slight bow, which he wasn't too bothered with.

"You're welcomed here anytime, and if you find the others, send them my way; I'm sure I can give them something to do." The other Ponies were confused because they were out of the loop when it came to this conversation. Raven pointed at the jewel wearing snake pony. "You're next; what can I do for you? Also, your name, please."

Othrenia smiled and slithered closer to the Human. "My name is Othrenia, and I'm a Lamia, but most like to call us Ssssnake ponies." The Remaining snake ponies behind her nod in agreement. "And we're not asking for much, Most Ponies would run me or my kind out of any town we visit, and the Ssssun wolf isn't any help." Raven raised an eyebrow at that. What an odd title; maybe there was a deeper meaning? "What we're asking for is a place where we can live and be tolerated. Also a possibly a source of meat. I'm sure you can understand; you're a carnivore as well."

Raven opened his mouth and showed off his teeth. "Omnivore, actually, but I do prefer meat." This, for some reason, made him crave cockatrice, what he would give to have some more right now. Putting aside his cravings, Othrenia's request was reasonable. Hopefully, she and the other Lamias didn't try eating the others. "Consider it done." He brought his attention to the Doctor. "Doctor Cold Touch, what about you and your lot? Also, I would like to know the nature of your undead status."

The Doctor was currently wrapping bandages around Raven's torso. "We want a purpose," He didn't bother looking up and continued with his task. "And no, we're not necromancers, and nor do we have a necromancer master. We passed away and came back to the land of the living. We aren't sure why this happened, but we roam the world looking for a purpose. If Princess Celestia or Princess Luna ever caught wind of our existence, they would hunt us down till the ends of Equis."

Raven would have to look into this later; people don't come back to life for no reason. Until then, he would offer these Ponies sanctuary and a purpose. "We could use medical professionals, and seeing how you're treating my wounds, I say you and your group got the job. As for your appearances, I have something in mind." What he had in mind was medical clothing Humans used to wear back in ancient times, and he found them aesthetically pleasing.

The doctor finished and looked at the Human and gave his best smile. "Thank you, Mr.Maxwell, and we have finished treating your wounds. I must say you're healing remarkably fast." Cold Touch and the other undead ponies got off of Raven and backed away.

"King Nasod was a bastard, but he knew what he was doing when he had his Nasods experimented on me," Raven said all this as he put his chest piece. The chest was fully repaired, which confused some of the Ponies. "Moving on, what about you lot? And your names, please" He pointed at the Sirens, which caused Adagio and Aria to look at each other nervously.

"Horse Apples, we forgot about that!" Adagio whispered

"What do we tell him?!" Aria whispered back.

In a flash of light, Sonata reverts back to her Pony form. She had the same color scheme, and her cutie mark was a blue and purple jagged eighth note on a pink heart. The Pony galloped to the Human, got on her hind legs, and started tapping on his chest with her hooves in excitement. "My name is Sonata, and those are my two sisters, Adagio and Aria! And We want Tacos! We want Tacos! We want Tacos! We want Tacos! We want Tacos! We want Tacos!"

"OW! OW! OW! OW! OW! OW! OW! OW! OW! OW! OW! Make her stop!" A single pained tear ran down the side of Raven's eye. Raven pulled her up by the scruff of her neck and placed her to the side. "Please never do that again," Although it was somewhat cute that Pony was an adult and should act her age. " and what is a 'Taco'.?"

"The most scrumptious thing in the world! Made from grounded meat, corn tortilla, onions, chili peppers, tomato, and cheese!" Raven had to admit, that sounded delicious, and he wanted some of these tacos.

Raven looked to the other two sirens and gave them questioning looks. "Is this what you really want?" The two gave each other awkward looks before nodding. The Human shrugged. "Consider it done, I'm not the best cook in the world, but I'll see what I can do." However, he was slightly suspicious of the Sirens. Except Sonata; she was genuine with her request, "Next, you." He pointed at the changeling covered in honey-colored goo.

Unlike Ambrosia's drones, which had yellow carapaces and eyes, this one had blue eyes and dark blue carapace. Her wings were unusual, they weren't torn up, and they resembled butterfly wings. "My name is Monarch, and I want your help overthrowing Chrysalis! So can you please get this off of me?! My horn is starting to itch!"

Ambrosia answered this time, and her carefree attitude was replaced with a serious one. "No, and in you're in no position to make any request. So be quiet and be happy I'm letting you live for now." She hissed at Monarch, causing the drone to shrink back.

"That's enough, Ambrosia." Raven butted in before the Queen ripped the drone apart. "I'm assuming you're one of Chrysials's children." Monarch nodded. " So why do you want to overthrow your mother?" He didn't find it hard to believe; the bug pony was one of the thousands of offspring. This would cause a disconnect between parent and child.

Monarch frowned at that. "Besides being a tyrant? She's going to get us all killed; she's planning to capture the princess, the elements of harmony, and rule the world!" This is when Raven lost all interest and gave the restrained Changeling a bored look.

"So your average tyrant with an ego?" Raven asked

"Uh, yes?" Monarch answered.

"Like all history's greatest tyrants who planned on world domination, she will fail." This was a fact, and nothing will change his mind on this. "But, I will help you on this, as long as you're willing to share all of her secrets." He wasn't going to tell her about his plan with Ambrosia just yet. He wanted to see where her loyalties lay.

"So can you tell Queen Ambrosia to get her goo off me?" Monarch pleaded with the Human.

"No." The Changeling drone whined. Raven moved onto the next pony and pointed at Moondancer. "What about you, Moondancer?"

Moondancer smiled nervously at being put on the spot. "I still want to see all the Human knowledge and secrets your species has hoarded. And maybe a way to make my horn heal faster?" After listening to Raven's history lesson, Moondancer wanted to learn as much as she could about this ancient race.

"With the help of Alchemy, it should be an easy task." Raven pointed at the vamponies, but most of them shrank away as soon as he did.

Vinyl Scratch spoke up. "Can we talk about that later? Our request is really complicated, and it's a long story too." Photo Finish nodded along in agreement. Raven shrugged; if they wanted to keep it private, that was up to them.

"If that's everything, then let's get going?" Raven made the motion of standing up but stopped himself. "Ah, before we go... Why are the majority of you females?" That may have sounded sexist to an extent, but he was curious.

Thankfully none of them were offended, and some just tilted their heads in confusion. Oleander was the first to answer. " It's a ratio of one to three for males and females. So it's not uncommon to find a stallion coupled with two mares or more" Raven shivered in disgust. "How is it with Humans?"

"Degenerates" Raven squashed that voice; he wanted to keep an open mind about this, even though it disgusted him. "It's a fifty and fifty split between Humans when it came to males and females. And Humans are strictly monogamous, with a few exceptions, but we only have one partner at a time." The only exception he could only think of was the people of Sander. The former captain swore he heard some of the mares let out sad sighs.

"Let's get a move on." With nothing left to say, Raven got up and stretched. "As soon as we find the archives, I need to establish some form of government here."

Ambrosia started to groan in frustration. "That sounds boring. Can't we kick back and relax?"

Raven deadpanned at the Queen. " We're on the edge of Equestrian territory, and after what Oleander told me, this place is a historical sight to many Ponies. So no, we can't relax; we have to claim this land as quickly as possible before someone else tries claiming it for their own."

"Fine! But I'm staying out here and keeping watch, going into a dusty library sounds boring! And I want to keep watch of her." She points a hoof at Monarch, whos struggling against the goo she's stuck in.

"This isn't fair; I want to see the library too!" Monarch whined as she struggled.

"Next time, but I have to trust Ambrosia's Judgement for now. Alright, everyone let’s get a move on. Xuez, Moon Charam, Night, Dew, Amber, Jade! Let's go. We're going to the archives!" It didn't take long before they all of them stood in front of him; Amber was the most excited out of all of them.

"Do I finally get to learn magic!?" Raven prayed to the goddess hoping this would be possible, so he simply nodded. Amber started jumping around in joy. "Yes, yes, yes!"

From the sun comes power
When the sun starts to rise in the sky
The flowers start to flower
From the sun comes hope
From the sun comes laughter
With the sun in it's place we'll embrace
A happy ever after
Summer, winter, fall, and spring
It makes the whole world sing
From the sun comes hope
From the sun comes laughter
Here's to the sun up above
From the sun, from the sun, from the sun comes love.

The foals kept singing as the group walked, and Raven didn't mind it; it was a lovely song. They were heading north towards a large cavern, and he didn't need the smartphone telling him where he needed to go. The dead Nasods were clue enough to where the archive was.

As they continued to travel, Raven noticed something unusual on the ground. He stopped, causing every other pony to stop. He bent over and picked up a black and blue rifle. It had the scope and a suppressor on the end of the barrel. Raven felt the demonic energy coming from it. "This is a demon's weapon. How did it get out here?" He asked himself. Either way, this weapon could prove helpful if it still worked. Then noticed another weapon on the ground and picked it up.

Once he picked up the weapon, he recognized it. It was a gunblade, and he knew one person who would wield such a weapon. Raven sprinted towards the cavern at high speed. "Raven, where are you going!?" Oleander called out to the Human, but he didn't listen. Left with no choice, the others chased after him.

The cavern was dark and damp, and the only source of light was the massive white door with circuit lines that ran all over the door. But Raven ignored the door in favor of the two bodies sitting near it. The two bodies were nothing but skeletons. The first skeleton looked like it belonged to a child, and it had two horns sticking out of its head. The other skeleton was much taller, and it had one horn sticking out of its head—the two wear in a tight embrace.

Raven knew he would find such things if he came here, but nothing could prepare him for this.
"Lu...Ciel."

footnote:
Raven

NEW ACTIVE SKILL:

Desperado - - Raven binds the enemies and snipes them down. Sniping damage increases with more bound enemies. (Class restriction: Skill must be modified before it can be used)

NEW ITEM ACQUIRED:

Demonio Rifle - - A demonic weapon that can hold up to five .308 bullets. The receiver can be modified, allowing ammo types as high as a .50 Caliber. Those proficient in magic can form magic bullets themselves, allowing for elemental bullets with varying effects.

[Demonio Rifle]

Author's Note

ALRIGHT GOT ANOTHER CHAPTER OUT!!! Sorry for the history dump but it needed to happen at some point and yes Raven is finally packing some heat now!