Section 1 - The Discovery (Chapters 1, 2, 3)
“Ever hear of a world called ‘Azeroth’? I hadn’t...at least, not until I found that journal in the castle’s library all those years ago,” the sweet voice of the princess said as she pointed her horn towards the bloodstained book shielded by a glass case, whose cover was sewn from the leather of multiple creatures. “That book has seen more love and death than any pony I’ve ever met, Silver Lining.” The dark blue alicorn brushed her golden mane from her eyes as she moved towards a nearby bench, which her companion hurried to cover with red velvet cushions.
“Here you are, princess Dusk: Pillows for the comfort of you and your foal,” Silver Lining said with a smile, as Dusk laid herself on the bench, making sure to put as little pressure as possible on her enlarged belly. “Now, you were telling me how you knew so much about my grandfather, Travis?” The gray pegasus sat beside the princess, shooing away a young colt who was visiting the Museum of the Dawn.
Dusk looked into her companion’s eyes. “Well, you already know that prince Dawn was searching the castle for me because I beat him one time too many at poker...”
Chapter 1 - The Bloodstained Diary
As a loud clap of thunder filled the castle hallways, Dusk turned a corner and dashed through a doorway, barely stopping before she collided with a purple alicorn at least a head taller than her. The larger pony examined the princess’ expression for a moment. “Sweetie, what have I told you about running from your brother?” Twilight Sparkle questioned, looking down at her daughter.
The dark alicorn stepped back and sighed. “It’s alright as long as I tell any guards I pass that I’m alright, and that I should hide in the library because Dawn hates books,” she said, her tone telling that she’d repeated her answer many times before.
Twilight smiled as she walked by. “Good. And don’t worry, if I see him, I’ll tell him I haven’t seen you. Happy reading, sweetie, don’t stay up too late.” Dusk sighed with relief, silently thanking her mother for understanding why she always avoided her older brother.
“Well, no telling how long I’ll be here, so I might as well pick out a few more than usual,” the princess thought as she proceeded through the library, magically picking up books and tossing them onto a nearby table. The strangeness of the sixth book she pulled from the shelves, however, caught her interest. It was a relatively large book, with one corner stained red, as if it had been dipped in blood. There was a slightly rusted necklace tied around the book, which held two dog-tags: One showing a strange red symbol, the other a language Dusk had never seen before, and both were covered in blood, much like the corner of the book. The journal’s cover was made from multiple different pieces of leather stitched together, with a patch depicting a blood-tipped dagger sewn on, and though there seemed to only be a few hundred pages, the book was quite heavy.
Deciding that she wanted as few interruptions as possible, the dark princess tucked the book under one of her wings and headed off for her room, hoping she wouldn’t encounter her brother along the way.
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Princess Dusk tossed the journal onto her bed as she locked her door. “Alright book, reveal your secrets...” she said, opening the leather cover. Behind the cover laid a trio of folded notes. “Hello...What have we here?” A black and gold aura surrounded the three pieces of parchment as they floated into the air and arranged themselves. Dusk magically opened the first of the three notes. “Oh thank my mom, I can actually understand this. ‘We, the five, vow to remain by the sides of our allies. We, the five, vow to aid those who are in need. We, the five, vow to fight until we are unable to. We, the five, vow to help those who have fallen stand, and to offer proper farewell when they cannot. For the honor and glory of the Horde, we are the Five Riders.’ Interesting, I suppose...Ah, there’s a bit more, too,” Dusk said, reaching the bottom of the sheet. “‘Ronald Nylam - Grob Steamrocket - Linara Tav - Gerenah - Travis Tav’...Tav? I think there’s a wing in mom’s museum with a bunch of statues and information about him...I’ll have to check it out sometime.” Neatly refolding the parchment, the princess opened the second.
“It’s just a sketch of three...uh...what are these? They look like minotaurs without the horns, bull legs, tail and fur...and the heads are waaay off,” Dusk thought, turning the sketch over. “More names...’Linara Tav, Travis Tav, and Katherine Tav before the invasion.’ An invasion? I hope the book’s got info on that.” Instead of folding the picture, the princess magically placed it in a small frame which sat above her fireplace. “Next up...” Opening the third parchment, Dusk expected another image, but found a letter with nigh-unreadable writing. “If you’ve found this, then congratulations - You’re the first pony that gets to learn my life story...and I do mean LIFE story: From when my daughter Katherine revealed this journal to me on my birthday, to the day I left it in the Canterlot library, long after I should’ve died. Everypony says history is written by the victors...and I, for one, know history is a load of crap, written to make the victors look like the good guys. I’ve enchanted this book to show only the truth of what has happened, since I don’t want ponies to learn about me and claim my life was a lie. Place a hoof on any page that has this rune glowing at the bottom, and the book will do the rest. -Travis Tav.” The blue princess smiled. “This is Travis’ diary, then...Shouldn’t really be a surprise to me though, since it was either his or this Linara...thing’s.”
Dusk turned back to the book, and hoped she would be able to understand the text in it. The first thing the princess noticed on the first page was a bright blue image much like the one on Travis’ note. “Well, it’s worth a shot...I guess,” she mumbled, placing a hoof on the page and immediately finding herself in a strange building, skipping towards the male creature from the sketch sitting in a chair, with a stitched leather book in her hand. “What kind of world is this that I have hands?” she thought, attempting to look down at herself, but finding it impossible to move.
“Entry One: My daughter’s the sweetest thing I’ve seen on this world...For my thirty-fifth birthday, she got Linara to help her gather animal hides for this lovely book cover...and they even managed to get the book enchanted!” a deep voice spoke inside Dusk’s head.
“Daddy, daddy! I made you something for your birthday!” a high-pitched voice shouted as the creature in the chair turned around. Dusk held the journal out to the creature, who smiled.
“Thank you, sweetie. It’s a lovely gift. Did you make it yourself?” he asked, his voice much like the one the princess heard seconds before, though with more feeling.
“No...mommy helped me get the leather for it, and she said she enchanted it to never run out of pages!” the high-pitched voice said as the clanking of metal could be heard from behind, and a bell could be heard in the distance.
“Indeed I did, Katherine. Oh, Travis, my brother wanted me to give you this letter. He seemed worried about something or other,” a more feminine voice spoke behind Dusk, as an envelope flew past the princess and landed on the table Travis was sitting at.
“Thanks, sweetie.” The rogue opened the letter, and his voice rang in Dusk’s head again.
“‘Travis - First, I must ask that you do not speak of, nor show this letter to anybody else, save for the king.
The undead are marching upon us, and I fear that they may have necromancers hiding in our city. I will be preparing myself for a battle until they arrive, so please do not bother me, nor send Linara to me.
I fear the undead will arrive within two weeks. As of now, only the two of us and Elize know of the coming terror, and I have arranged for her to take Katherine with her when she again leaves the city following her return. If she doesn’t return in time, send Linara and Kathy through the tunnel to my house. We may be needed here to protect and evacuate the citizens, but family comes first.
Tell the king to ring the city bell thrice to signal an invading force when the undead come within a mile, and to request the guards keep an eye out for any suspicious persons or activities.
- Ronald,’ the letter said. Ron had his reasons for asking of me what he had...I just wish I knew what they were,” Travis’ voice said.
A brief silence filled the air before Travis stood up and approached the door. “I’ll be back later today. Thank you again for the journal, you two.” As soon as the door shut, Dusk felt her stomach turn, and she found herself staring at an almost blank page as a fleshy hand wrote on it.
“Entry Two: It’s been a dozen days since Ronald’s warning, and I’m sitting here, waiting for the warning. Elize still hasn’t shown up to take Katherine, and I’m getting worried.” A bell rang, the tone differeing greatly from the one the princess had previously heard. “One...Two...Three...They’re coming.” A distant scream could be heard shortly after.
“The undead are here! Protect the children!” a panicked voice yelled.
“Linara, grab your hammer and take Katherine through the basement tunnel to your brother’s. I’ll meet up with you soon, I promise,” Travis calmly said, grabbing a pair of knives off the table just out of Dusk’s field of vision, and dashing up the stairs.
Dusk could hear Linara through the floorboards. “Come on, Kathy! Hurry!” she shouted, as Travis dove through the window, shattering it and landing in a roll.
“I looked around and saw a few ghouls and skeletons scattered around, attacking citizens at random. They were working faster than one would expect from the walking dead.” “Everyone, follow me!” Travis shouted over the screaming, waving his hands in an attempt to draw attention towards himself. As the panicked noises died down, Dusk found herself again in a different environment: A mostly empty street surrounded by burning buildings, with the occasional corpse - walking or truly dead - sprinting towards a duo of armored creatures fending off hordes of undead: One wielding a large, shining warhammer, the other, a longsword and shield. “Linara, Ron, you guys need any help?” Travis shouted, gaining the fighters’ attentions. “The last thing I remember was a terrible pain in my spine as I flew back through the air, the Scourge piling up between me, my wife, and her brother.”
“Puny human, you not escape me!” a gravelly voice said as the scenery in front of Dusk flew away at a rapid speed. A quick shake of her head, and the princess again found herself in her room, laying on her bed in front of the journal.
“Woah...was he narrating all that?” she said, quickly reading over the first two journal entries, which matched what Travis had said exactly, though the second was written much more messily than the first. “Freaky...At least I have a name for those creatures now, I guess,” the princess reasoned, staring across the room at the unfolded sketch of Travis and his family. “Humans...”
Chapter 2 - PrEquestria: Part 1
The heavy weight dropped on Dusk’s bed woke her up, but nearly launched her into the ceiling in the process. “Rematch. Now,” the bright orange alicorn standing on her bed staring into her sleepy eyes said.
“Dawn, why now? Why can’t you come back later...or better yet, not at all?” Dusk responded with a yawn, pushing her older brother away. “I mean, really...You take those cards way too seriously.”
In an instant, Dawn was again snout-to-snout with his sister. “Play me and you can go back to sleep,” he bargained. With a sigh, princess Dusk agreed.
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“Best five out of nine!” Dawn threw down his set of cards, revealing a red two, four, seven and nine, and a black ace. Dusk let out a deep yawn - her five cards consisted of two aces, a jack, a king, and an eight.
“The score’s three nothing, Dawn. Go away.” In all the games they had played, both the prince and princess had started with chips equalling five-hundred bits, and had ended with only twenty-five in Dawn’s possession, the other nine-hundred and seventy five stacked around his sister, who had pulled her covers back over her head after each victory.
With a grumble, the orange alicorn magically replaced all of the cards into a deck, and all the chips into a briefcase, and approached the door. “It’s noon, by the way,” he said as he left.
“Like I give a buck!” the princess shouted, applying extra emphasis on the final word, slamming the door and locking it behind Dawn, still laying in bed.
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The queen had just risen the moon as Dusk reentered her room. With a pair of clicks, the door closed and locked behind her. The princess threw herself onto her bed as a black and gold glow surrounded the stitched-leather book, which flew towards her.
“Entry Three: I woke up in a moldy coffin, stuck in a cold, damp crypt...I felt naked and sick - I could see the bones in my fingers, my toes, my elbows and my knees; my hair was green and moldier than the coffin; my breaths were short and weak, and my daggers were nowhere to be found, not that it mattered, anyways...I had no idea who I was until I left the crypt and ventured into the town called Deathknell,” the princess read. “As I first left the crypt, I was afraid, because what greeted me outside the crypt was neither living nor dead, though he proved himself to not be an immediate threat by handing me a pair of worn daggers, and directing me to the nearby chapel, telling me I should speak with another of his kind for a ‘quick recap’ of what happened.”
“When I arrived at the chapel, a short, green man - perhaps three or four feet tall - with a large knapsack on his back greeted me in a strange language: ‘Gorlakk aruul?’ After numerous attempts in many other strange languages, he paused to look at the crypt I came from, and then inspect me. Following the inspection, he snapped his fingers, and spoke in a voice suitable only for a sleazy carriage salesman: ‘Freshly risen?’ I slowly nodded, still unsure of his intents. He grabbed my hand and shook it furiously as he introduced himself. ‘The name’s Steamrocket - Grob Steamrocket! I’m a travelling shaman-slash-merchant for the Bilgewater Cartel Goblins. Travelled with all sorts of heroes, heard all sorts of stories, and you sir, look like someone with a few stories!’ he’d said.” Dusk suppressed a snicker as she imagined a short green creature that spoke as if he was attempting to hawk junky products on unsuspecting citizens. Turning the page, the princess continued reading.
“Grob questioned me about this journal as it hung from my belt, and as I looked at it, the memories of my life before the Scourge came flooding back, though I had no idea how long it had been since the day I died. I felt the recap was no longer completely necessary, and I introduced myself to him in turn. He told me he’d met a ‘strange group’ of undead a few days before, and told me they recommended directing me to the queen of the Undercity - A woman named Sylvanas that I found to be a despicable witch fueled solely by revenge - should he encounter any fresh undead.”
“Sounds a little familiar to me, honestly,” the princess thought, remembering the tales of an evil alicorn named Nightmare Moon that were used to scare her as a filly. “Huh. Next entry’s dated a few months after the last...And it’s much neater, too!”
“Entry Four: I’ve grown tired of attempting to write without the flesh on my fingers to allow me to hold a quill easily, so I’ve added another set of enchantments to the diary. One allows me - and only me - to simply speak at a page, and what I speak will appear on it; The other will automatically record all of the high-importance events in my undeath, though if I were to become incapacitated during one of said events, the diary would only record up to the point of incapacitation, sadly.”
“In addition, Sylvanas has made me one of her highest ranking assassins, due to my time as a Spy Master, and the proof I supplied her with that showed I was still capable...the head of an Alliance spy that was hiding in her city.”
“Strangely short entry,” Dusk commented as she turned the page, before sitting up at a near breakneck speed. “Some of the pages are missing!” she said quietly, frantically searching the area between the journal’s prior resting place and her bed. After her search proved fruitless, Dusk sighed and dropped back into bed. “Guess I can hope those entries didn’t have anything interesting in them.”
“Entry Seven: Grob and I have parted ways. He received an urgent letter from the Bilgewater Cartel requesting his presence in the Goblin city of Gadgetzan. Following our farewell, I left for the Eastern Plaguelands...I’ve been informed the Argent Dawn has allowed the Forsaken to join their ranks, and is in need of assistance.”
As the princess turned the page, a familiar blue rune glowed from the bottom of an entry. With a smile, Dusk placed her hoof on the page, and found herself floating beside Travis, this time able to move. The earth and wildlife around the pair appeared sick...as if they had been victim to a terrifying disease.
“Entry Eight: The Eastern Plaguelands can rot for all I care. On my way to Light’s Hope Chapel, I met a Forsaken woman wearing heavy armor that appeared to be meditating,” the familiar voice narrated as Travis approached the thin, armored outline of an undead female.“When I tried speaking to her, she charged at me and started swinging her sword and trying to freeze me solid!” As the voice read the entry, Travis spoke, and the woman turned and charged, neither fear nor hatred present in the glowing blue spheres that filled her eye sockets. Every swing of her claymore was barely dodged.
"My daggers were completely useless against her, and when I tried to run, some strange magic pulled me back towards her.” The rogue leapt and latched himself onto his foe’s back, and began wildly stabbing her, to no avail. When he was finally thrown off, he began running, only for a shadowy hand to burst out of the armored beast and pull him back. As he landed, Travis grabbed a handful of dirt from the ground and threw it at his foe’s face before making another attempt at escape. “Thankfully, the diseased dirt of the Plaguelands makes for an excellent blinding powder.”
Blinking, Dusk laid on her bed, staring at the book. “Why are these so short?” she asked loudly, clearly agitated. Grumbling, she again turned the page.
“Entry Nine: After the incident in the Plaguelands, I headed towards the Dark Portal...I’ve heard there are great treasures to be found on the remnants of the world once known as Draenor.” The princess glared at the short entry angrily, as if she wanted to strike it.
“Entry Ten: If this world was a living creature I would stab it in the face. I was informed the Dark Portal on the Outlands was a safe haven, though upon my arrival, I was assaulted by a small band of demons. While a group of Horde guards indeed took care of the attacking creatures, I would hardly call the camp a ‘safe haven’.”
“Thankfully, my arrival in the town Thrallmar was met with friendly Orcs, Goblins, and the Horde’s new ally - Blood Elves - offering me work. During one such job, I discovered that the Fel-Orcs that plagued the area south of the town did not require blood - or much of it, at least - to survive.” Princess Dusk looked dumbfounded at the final sentence of the eighth entry for a short while.
“Oh....kay...What’s next in your grand adventure, Travis?” The princess quickly glanced over the next few pages. “Six entries in a row complaining about the things he’s encountered...Even one about a Goblin paying him to dig through a boar’s...EUGH!” she thought with a shudder, a disgusted expression plastering her face.
“Dusk, sweetie, your mother says it’s time to leave for Ponyville for the ceremony,” a male voice said through the princess’ door.
“Okay, dad. I’ll be ready in a few minutes.” Dusk tossed the journal into an open drawer and stood up. “I forgot tomorrow was the Day of the New Dawn...I just wish it wasn’t such a long trip there,” she thought. “And that I could bring the book...Travis was such an interesting being, despite the complaining.”
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Dusk had paid no attention to most of the queen’s story, as she found it difficult to not imagine what could go wrong with her mother’s decision to leave the responsibilities of the sun and moon with her and Dawn. The only times she had paid attention to the story was when Travis Tav was mentioned. The queen had finally cemented the loss of her daughter’s attention when he mentioned an alicorn that resembled her almost exactly.
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When the royal family finally arrived back in Canterlot, the purple glow from the sun had begun to fade. “I’ll teach the two of you how to move the sun and moon tomorrow, kids,” Twilight said with a yawn. “But telling a story all day and then moving both celestial bodies has left me exhausted...I’m going to head to bed. Wake me for supper.” The Dawn Mother left her family for her room, and Dusk did the same.
When the starry-maned princess arrived back in her room, she again reached for Travis’ journal, her thirst for his legacy unquenched.
Chapter 3 - PrEquestria: Part 2
“Entry Seventeen: After a number of years of service there, I deemed the Outlands to be a lost cause, due to the sheer lack of mental power the Horde forces there possessed. It seemed the only reason the Horde was even still present there was the aid supplied by the Mag’har and the Blood Elves. Without them, we would have stood little to no chance against the demons, OR the Alliance. Thankfully, my status as a mercenary allowed me to abandon the hellish place with no fear of consequences.”
"And not being allowed to record my experiences sealed the deal."
“To bring this journal up to speed: During the past ten days, I received a letter from the bitch Sylvanas’ highest ranking Dark Ranger, containing a mission that most would call ‘suicidal’...I call it a Sunday. I have spent the time since searching for Grob...A neutral companion to speak for me would turn this from what's viewed as a suicide mission, to a possibility. Thus far, I have been unsuccessful, though one of his acquaintances directed me towards Icecrown in Northrend, where he is supposedly competing in the Argent Tournament in hopes of being chosen to venture into the citadel of Arthas...the bastard who raised the citizens of Lordaeron into undeath to serve him two dozen years ago. Twenty-four years of undeath I have lived through...twenty of those years I have had free will.”
“He only got seventeen entries over twenty years?” the princess thought, flipping through the pages of the book swiftly. “There must be at least four hundred in here!”
“Entry Eighteen: I believe I made a terrible first impression towards the Argent Crusade. Upon my arrival at their tournament grounds, I leapt onto the back of a Death Knight and began stabbing him. When a guard pulled me off of him, I accused him of being one of the Lich King’s minions, only for him to inform me that a majority of the Death Knights seceded from Arthas’ army when he attempted to sacrifice them to bring out a specific Paladin in the Plaguelands.”
“The Paladin known as Tirion Fordring threatened to strip me of my weaponry and throw me into the arena against his strongest champions. I responded by spitting at the ground in front of him and telling him my daggers would be lodged deeply in his windpipe should he try to remove them from my person. He laughed my threat off and told me that I would be allowed to stay in the tournament grounds and compete if I chose, but ‘my anger must be directed solely towards my foes’.”
“I left the Argent tent and searched for Grob. I couldn’t find my friend, so I sat in the coliseum stands and watched the battles. After a short number of hours, I witnessed Grob and four other heroes battle the Black Knight - an agent of the Lich King sent to kill all who would compete in the Argent Tournament - and slay him...three times. Thrice the Scourge fighter was felled, and twice was he resurrected. Their victories in the coliseum granted them the right to join twenty other heroes in the Icecrown Citadel to battle the Lich King and his forces. I left a letter with an Argent Champion for Grob requesting he meet me in a bar in Orgrimmar should he survive the expedition into the citadel.”
“It has been a week since.” The princess was struggling to keep her eyes open as she finished the entry, and soon passed out, allowing the book to land on and cover her face.
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Prince Dawn let out a deep yawn. He had been sitting outside his sister’s room with his poker set for most of the night, waiting for her to wake up so he could challenge her to yet another rematch. The prince began counting the clouds that floated across his sky-blue mane, when strange noises started coming from Dusk’s room. A twinkle of curiosity in his eyes, the bright orange alicorn slowly approached the door and peeked through the keyhole, only to recoil in utter surprise at what he saw.
His sister was laying over the edge of the bed, blood dripping from her snout, with a bulky yellow pegasus mounted on her. The prince attempted to open the door - an act that ended in failure. “Holy sh...GUARDS!” he shouted. “Guards! The princess needs help! Now!” Dawn stepped back and attempted to tackle the door open. After the third attempt, the door gave way, and the prince saw the pegasus rear up and let out a neigh. His brotherly instincts taking over, the alicorn prince rushed his sister’s assaulter and slammed into him head-first, knocking him off of the princess and clean through the wall.
“Oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap...Sis, are you okay? Please please please let her be okay!” After lifting the princess onto his back, Dawn sped out of the room, barely missing a small group of armored ponies and his parents.
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“Well, I suppose that covers who the father is,” Silver Lining said, now attempting to ignore the gathering crowd.
“I guess it took about a week for me to start responding to ponies again. The doctor said I got over the trauma of being raped relatively quickly, though...And I suppose it was nice hearing what my brother did to that...” Dusk glanced at the large group of ponies surrounding her. “...Ruffian? Is this story really that interesting to you ponies?” Dozens of heads nodded in response. “Well, alright then. As you know, Silver, a few days after I was informed I was allowed to move around the castle again, dad made a suggestion that would make any mother-to-be angry.”
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“Dad, I can’t!” Dusk said loudly, a combination of fear and rage filling her voice.
King Honeydew turned to look at his daughter. “I’m sorry, honey, but as an alicorn, you’re still a child, and it’ll be too difficult for us all to have a newborn around so soon after your mother’s passing,” he responded sadly. “Let me ask you this: Why do you want to keep the baby so badly?”
What little anger was present had drained from the princess’ voice. “I want to keep it because I don’t want to dishonor the family. I mean, look at you and mom! She was the old ruler’s student, she defeated multiple great evils...And you: You rebelled against the greatest evil Equestria’s ever seen, and you lived! You were the sole survivor of a miniature army of rebels that fell!” Dusk spoke in as brave a voice as she could manage. “You two were handed some of the worst cards you could get, and you still came out with the jackpot...What would the citizens think if their princess gave up on a child after a week, when the king and queen both fought tooth and hoof for thousands of ponies they’d never even met, and never would meet?”
A long, awkward silence filled the air. “...I’ll make the arrangements, sweetie. Go gather whatever you left in your old room, and I’ll have another set up for you.” The king began walking away. “I’m so sorry, Dusk...I’ll never let another pony hurt you like that again.”
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A month had passed since the assault on her, and between worrying about her unborn foal, visiting her mother and getting lessons on how to move the moon from her brother, Dusk had barely found time to peruse the experiences of her favorite adventurer.
“Entry Nineteen: Two weeks and I haven’t heard from Grob - I fear it is time I accept that the expedition into the Citadel has failed. This assignment may very well be my last...No member of the Horde has yet to successfully infiltrate an Alliance city with anything short of an army. I’ve donned a set of robes and a hood that will hopefully allow me to finish my mission before I’m captured.”
“I’ll be with you again soon enough, friend.”
The princess, shocked that the first entry she read after her break was Travis abandoning the one thing that would keep him sane in his situation. “I’ve gotta know what happened now...I’ve gotta know what he did,” Dusk muttered, turning the page.
The page containing the twentieth entry was almost entirely blank - A paragraph and a half, and the glowing rune the princess had hoped to see on every page. With a hopeful smile, she placed her hoof on the page and found herself next to a small green creature covered in what looked to be tiny links of metal, chatting with a figure covered by robes. They were sitting in a shaking carriage being pulled by a duo of horses. “So they paid ponies to transport them in Travis’ home-world as well. Interesting,” she thought as the narrative voice spoke.
“Entry Twenty: Thank the titans, Grob is alive! He tells me the group of heroes had spent the first week simply fighting through the entrance hall of the citadel, that every group of Scourge they encountered had slain many of their group, and that they had thankfully had a big enough variety of adventurers to revive their fallen.”
Remembering the description, Dusk recognized the robed being’s companion to be Grob Steamrocket. “What of Arthas? Did you guys make it to him? Is he dead?” Travis’ raspy voice questioned. The small green creature smiled and nodded.
“Yep, he’s dead. Thing is, he exploded some kind of magic from his sword and we all kinda blacked out for a while. I guess Tirion busted Frostmourne and woke us all up though. I saw Arthas hanging in the air like something was choking him, and that damned sword was sittin’ on the ground in two pieces.” Grob’s voice couldn't be described as anything but sleazy - The kind of voice a criminal would have.
“During my journey to Stormwind City, I’d seen many faces...one of which I thought I’d never see again.”
As the carriage pulled to a stop, Travis and Grob stepped off, the former throwing a small jingling sack at the driver. Nearby, Dusk noticed a group of “humans” gathered around what looked to be a set of gallows. When Travis saw the creature standing on the platform, gagged, he rushed ahead and pushed his way through the crowd, the princess and Grob following.
“This woman - Madam Linara Tav - is accused of aiding a high-ranking Lordaeron official in deserting the citizens of a city besieged by the Scourge! She claims her husband was slain by an Abomination whilst aiding said citizens escaping, though she has been unable to supply proof over the years she was held, and as such, is to be executed!”
The human’s rants were mostly ignored by the thinking princess. She vaguely remembered Travis’ wife: A beautiful, blonde creature that seemed to give off an aura of hope. The gagged woman barely resembled her - Her hair was ragged and dirty; her face covered in dust; and if anything, she gave off a feeling of pain and despair.
“Travis Tav, being a Spy Master, was entrusted with many secrets that could lead to the downfall of the Alliance! With his disappearance, we must believe that somebody aided him in escaping, and as such, caused the deaths of hundreds, possibly thousands of citizens!” the armored man continued shouting, as Travis seemed to struggle with his rage.
“Is this guy serious? How can...Oh forget it, I’m getting stupider just LISTENING to him!” Dusk attempted to completely tune the angry guard out of her mind in an attempt to save her intelligence.
Grob grabbed his ally’s sleeve and pulled him down. “Travis, calm down. We’re here to do something important,” the green man whispered.
As the rogue turned to look at his companion, Dusk could see the anger flash in his eyes. “That’s my wife, Grob. I can’t let them execute her for something that wasn’t her fault! I know I can’t show myself, but still. I have to find a way to save her!” Travis pulled his sleeve from the goblin’s grasp and walked back through the crowd.
Despite the armored creature’s shouting, the scene seemed quiet. As Grob stared at the platform sadly, the guard ready to pull the lever and end the life of the woman Travis married, a number of knives flew through the air, slicing the rope hanging from the gallows and hitting the guard, who flipped the lever as he landed. Almost as if he knew what would happen, Grob snapped his fingers, sending a small wave of dirt forward and opening a hole in the earth under the woman.
A strange sense of dizziness struck the princess as the scene warped and changed around her.
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As Dusk’s eyes adjusted to the sudden darkness, she saw the silhouettes of Travis, Grob and Linara. “I have no idea what just happened and I don’t know if that’s a good thing,” she thought, trying to figure out where she was.
It seemed the princess was in a large, underground cavern. “What the hell were you thinking!?” the familiar voice of the goblin shouted. “If I wasn’t a Shaman, she’d be dead, and you would’ve been caught! Do you have any idea what would happen if it was discovered an undead was found in Goldshire under orders from Sylvanas!?”
“That guy sure can yell, considering his size...” Dusk chuckled to herself as Grob’s shouting was cut off by a thump.
“Oh thank you thank you thank you!” a feminine voice exclaimed. “Who are you? Why did you help me?” it asked.
If not for the woman’s cheerful sobbing, the cavern would have been dead-silent. “Linara, it’s Travis...I’m so glad you’re alive. It’s been too long since I’ve -” Travis’ voice was cut off.
“T-Travis? I’m sorry, I...I thought you knew - Linara died during the Scourge invasion...So did Ron.” The princess seemed unphased by the woman’s true identity.
“So you’re...What about Kathy? Did she...?” the rogue asked, grief creeping into his voice. The princess could barely make out Elize shaking her head.
“She’s alive, Travis. She was made a Stormwind Guard about five years ago...She was the only reason it took them as long as it did to try and execute me.”
The cave began spinning as Dusk found herself in her bed, journal laying open in front of her.
“...It’s like Travis was living in some cheesy, poorly written play or something...Like something written by M. Night Shyamarelan,” Dusk chuckled to herself. “‘Finds his long-lost wife who he thought was dead - She’s his sister-in-law and his wife’s really dead.’ What’s next? His daughter’s really a criminal that just lies to her aunt about what she is?”
________
“Entry Twenty-One: Perhaps undeath is not as terrible as I had thought these past years...”
The dark alicorn had been surprised to see two vision-entries, as she had deemed them, in a row - a feeling that was quickly overwhelmed by excitement.
The princess had found herself inside the body of the Rogue as he and Grob walked through the bustling streets of Stormwind. The further into enemy territory the duo travelled, the easier it was for Dusk to sense the anxiousness the two were feeling. “Alright Grob, go find some people to sucker...and remember: Trade District bank, eleven o’clock,” Travis whispered before climbing to the roof of a nearby building. The moon’s dim light made a perfect cloak for the assassin as he leapt onto a house with a large sign in front of it.
“SI:7. Time to get to work,” Dusk heard the rogue’s thoughts as they passed through his mind, sneaking closer and closer to a chimney. With a dull thud, Travis stood in the fireplace of a silent room. As he crept out, a small axe pierced his shoulder, before something twisted both of the unsuspecting assassin’s arms and slammed him to the ground, knocking him unconscious.
“I can’t remember what happened next, but when I woke up, I was chained to a wall, face to face with the man I was sent to kill...”
“And my daughter.”
__________________________
A.N
IT'S ABOUT FREAKIN' TIME I GOT THIS OUT. No real excuse for it taking so long except "laziness", and I apologize.
I don't know when I'm going to start Section 2, but it'll hopefully be soon. I have absolutely no idea how long it'll take me to write it, but I can say that this part took me at least two weeks. And it's the first of a few like this. Plus, it's almost as long as the finale to my other story, so that's nice...Right?
Ah well. Thanks for the feedback, canafron. You're my favorite kind of person, simply because you gave me your opinion and backed it up.
Section 2 - The Five Riders (Chapters 4, 5, 6)
Chapter 4 - PrEquestria: Part 3 (The Rescue)
Through the adventurer’s eyes, Dusk could barely see the two humans standing mere hoofs in front of her in the darkness of the dungeon: A bulky, dark-haired one with a thick beard, wearing armor much like Travis’; and a thinner, red-haired one, who had a pair of large bumps barely visible behind her heavy metal armor. The two seemed to have been having a conversation before noticing their prisoner had awoken. “Ah, look who’s awake,” a stout voice said as the bearded human reached up and patted Travis on the cheek. The rogue’s eyes were focused solely on the large-breasted guard. “Now, I’m not the kind of guy who’d normally do this, captain, but an assassin - and of the Horde, no less - infiltrating a building as important as SI:7 must have a good reason...Hand me your dagger.” The human pointed at a blade on the guard’s belt. "A reason that I plan to discover."
“You’ll get no information from me...Katherine, on the other hand, might.” Travis’ voice was weak, though loud enough for the guard to hear, as she grabbed a metal tube with a wooden grip on it and pointed it at the rogue. “Oh don’t point your gun at me.”
“How do you know my name?”she asked. Dusk could tell Travis was smiling as another guard cleared his throat behind the woman.
The guard captain spun around, gun still pointed at her prisoner. “Uh, y-you’re wanted outside. More Defias prisoners, I think,” the new guard said saluting, clearly scared witless. With a sigh, the woman leaned the weapon back against the wall and walked out, guard following her.
Now alone with Travis, the bulky man stepped over to a nearby table and removed a thin-bladed knife from it. “Not gonna give me any info, you say?” he asked, to which the rogue shook his head. Shame...You know, these are real nice daggers...” Walking back to the prisoner, he ran his fingers along the smooth metal blade, unnerving Dusk. “The size of the blade makes them perfect for -” the man’s voice was interrupted by the sound of a bone breaking.
Stretching his arms, Travis moved towards his staggered foe. “You really need to pay more attention. I had those shackles picked when the guard came for Kathy.” The rogue delivered another punch, knocking his enemy to the ground. After quickly stumbling to his feet again, the wounded human charged, dagger still in hand.
Following a short struggle between the two, the rogue headbutted his captor, who retaliated with a quick stab at Travis’ face. Crying out from the pain of having a dagger thrust into his eye, the rogue stumbled towards a nearby sword. As he grabbed the handle, Travis turned and swung, scoring a direct hit on the neck of his opponent. “When I woke up today, I didn’t expect to get stabbed in the fucking eye...” the princess heard him think as he slowly made his way towards the exit.
“My stupidest move of that day must have been leaving the actual prison...A bullet to my chest and a blackjack to the skull left me unconscious once more.”
As Travis stepped out of the dark jail holding his face, a loud bang startled Dusk. “Cuff him TIGHTLY this time...boys...” Katherine said as Travis looked towards her. The guard captain was pointing her smoking weapon at the rogue’s chest. “Make sure he doesn't...what is that...? One of you, cut that book off!” As one guard sliced the string holding the journal to Travis’ belt, another came and chained the adventurer’s hands behind his back before bludgeoning him. "How did I miss that...? More importantly, actually, how did you get it?"
________
Dusk felt the chill of the cold water as much as her undead hero had as he jolted up with a yelp. “Who are you?” the guard captain asked gravely. The princess could see she was holding Travis’ journal as well as a bucket - Likely what held the ice-cold water. “Answer me! Who are you?” she shouted.
Standing up, Travis let out a series of coughs. Clearing his throat, he spoke. “My name is Travis...And you, are my daughter.” Silence followed the rogue’s answer. With a thwack, the rotting adventurer was again on the floor of the prison cell.
“My parents died when I was a child!” Katherine said angrily. “Tell me the truth! Who are you? Why do you have my father’s journal?”
The princess could tell her hero was weak, and the repeated blows were doing nothing to help. ‘I am your father. If you don’t believe me, fine, kill me. I don’t give a damn anymore!” Travis shouted, matching his offspring’s anger. “I shouldn’t have even taken this damn assignment...My wife definitely didn’t survive the Scourge, my brother died with her, I lost my god-damned eye, and to top it all off, my own daughter doesn't believe me!” A deep silence followed the rogue’s outburst, before another thwack, and the sound of bone breaking against stone.
“I’m. Not. Your. Daughter.” The guard captain had punched Travis, knocking his rotting jaw off, and again knocking him to the ground. As she walked away, she threw the journal aside.
“My daughter left the cell and locked it behind her...I laid on the cold floor for hours, wondering how I could get her to believe me...If I could get her to believe me. When sleep finally took over, I dreamed only about my time as a father.”
“Then the alarms sounded...and they came.”
“You sure he’s in here?” a strange voice asked.
“Yeah, positive! I saw him bein’ dragged off by a couple soldiers a few days ago,” another replied.
“How do we know he’s even still in here then? For all we know, he could be long dead...or moved, you know?” a third pointed out.
“Wouldn’t he already technically be long dead?” a fourth asked. “What? It’s a serious question!”
The voices mixed together in Travis’ head, none of which the weakened hero could separate from the rest.
“Ah, here he is!” the fourth voice shouted prior to a few seconds of struggling. “Screw this...Hey, Ger! Need your help in here!” he shouted.
“Lemme guess: You’re too weak to open t door by yourself?” a raspy, echoing feminine voice asked and chuckled. The rogue attempted to look at his rescuers as the door was pulled from its hinges, though let his head fall back down as his vision was impaired by exhaustion and blood.
“Darnit! I wanna see these people!” Dusk thought, anticipation growing.
“One hand, dude. ONE HAND. You’re too damn weak, man...ho-lee-crap you look terrible,”the echoing voice said, a hint of surprise in her voice. “What the hell happened...oh damn...no jaw.”
“Nothing a bit of 'SCIENCE!' can’t fix...Hey, you still have that vial of cauterizing stuff and the healing potions? Ok, give them here for a minute,” a wheezing voice said as a bony hand grabbed Travis’ head and turned it, before placing a piece of cold metal where his jaw had been earlier. “Alright, sweet-cheeks, let’s get this on...” The princess could feel an assortment of pinches and penetrating points as the metal was attached. "Next up...we graft it.” the voice continued as a burning sensation covered the gap between the flesh remaining on the rogue’s face, and the material covering the piece of metal.
“Ok, stand him up, sis’.” Before the request had even finished, Dusk could feel the body she was trapped in getting higher. “Here...drink this, buddy...yep, just like that.” The princess could feel the energy rushing back into Travis’ body. “Think you could introduce yourself to us?” The rogue opened his good eye as much as he could, and saw the faces of his helpers: A familiar, four-foot tall green man; A woman in thick, white robes with a hood to match; A burly man in black platemail armor with a sword and shield; and a second woman, decorated by black and blue platemail and a large blade on her back. If not for the pair of glowing blue eyes, Dusk would not be able to recognize the face of the fourth.
“Why are you here, Death Knight? Hiding among the Horde until you could finish the job?” Travis spat at the woman who had attacked him in the Plaguelands years ago.
The armored zombie laughed. “No, and there's a pretty big difference between losing to me when I’m still in training, and losing to me now, you know.”
Giving his companion and Travis confused looks, the armored man spoke. “You two, uh, know each other, then?”
“We’ve met,” the two responded simultaneously. From the corner of her eye, Dusk noticed the robed woman lean over to pick up the journal Katherine had dropped before.
“Hey, hey, drop that!” the rogue said, approaching the woman, who surrounded herself with what appeared to be a shield of pure light. “That was a gift from my daughter!”
After opening the book and glancing over the first page, she turned to face the journal’s owner. “Travis Tav,” she said quietly. Surprised, Travis nodded, only to be tackled by her and her male ally.
Over the chuckling of the two standing rescuers, Stormwind’s invasion bell could be heard. “Oh crap, we gotta go!” Grob shouted, pulling the trio of undead apart.
“Now this is just getting silly,” Dusk thought with a snicker.
The man in heavy armor grabbed one of Travis’ arms and flung it around his neck. “Come on, Trav, we got a few flyers hidden...somewhere, I forget where, exactly. We were killin guards for hours, man.” The shield-bearing man laughed. “No worries, though, Kathy’s alright. We made sure not to kill her,” he said.
“She was actually about to go help you escape when we ran into her.” The robed woman handed Travis a sheathed sword and a leather belt with a single dagger hanging from it. “And we left the mounts around the northern area, by the farms.”
“Grob did something even more suicidal than I ever thought someone would - He fought through an entire city of Alliance guards and heroes, risking life and limb, with the help of only three others...”
“For me.”
________
Exiting the prison yet again, Travis could see the sky was dark, and the city was illuminated by flames. “For every fireball one of their mages threw, I threw three,” the Death Knight said with a shadowed grin.
“There they are! Fire at will, men!” a powerful voice shouted as a barrage of loud bangs filled the air.
Travis was ready for death, when he heard an even louder crash. Barely able to see what had happened, the rogue could tell that the shield-bearing warrior had blocked every shot fired at the group, and the platform the firing squad had been standing on seconds before had been destroyed. “Ok, as cool as that was, Grob, we still gotta hurry,” one of the rescuers said as a wall of stone erupted from the ground, sending a small group of guards into a nearby canal. “That, too.”
“My ass is grass if I ever show my face on Kezan again, but damn this is fun!” the shaman said, a massive smile plastering his face.
As a large platoon of soldiers turned a nearby corner, a bout of obscenities flew from the Death Knight’s mouth. “Screw it! Grob,” she said as a shadowy hand pulled the goblin towards her. “Go get our mounts!” the ex-Scourge warrior shouted as she whipped Grob over the surrounding humans.
"Damn you!" the goblin screamed as he flew through the air.
“You can put me down now...I can still fight, after all.” As the warrior removed Travis’ arm from his shoulder, the two drew their blades and stood ready to face the battle.
“With each slain soldier, a pair seemed to take their place. The battle seemed to have been going on for the entire night...It was as if we were fending off all of the Alliance while waiting for Grob.”
Dusk could see that the group of Forsaken was getting weak from the never ending onslaught of guards and heroes of the Alliance. “Ok, just...I need to get out of this!” the Death Knight’s voice echoed as she removed her helmet, revealing short, moldy, wheat-yellow hair. “That’s *wheeze* a bit better, I suppose.” A small group of glowing musical notes floated from the priestess’ hood as the sounds of whirling blades filled the air. “Looks like we’ve gotta make room for a landing, huh? Step back, you three,” the armored woman said as she sheathed her claymore and cleared her throat.
“She, er...she began to sing.”
“Cross every ocean, running through the battlefield, strong like the hammer of Thor, GODS OF ICE!” as the Death Knight’s hands began to glow, and her voice rang through the princess’ ears, Dusk could see frost slowly growing on the humans’ armor, and some stop dead in their tracks as ice gripped their feet. “Marching under grey sky, master of the thunderstorm, we'll win the war because GODS OF ICE!” With a final shout, the small army of humans were frozen solid in blocks of ice. “I love doing that so, so much,” she said as Grob landed with three windriders following, an unnaturally large smile on her face. “Oh, hey. Dead dude with an eyepatch. What're the chances?” The woman pulled the black leather band from the bald head of a slain soldier and tossed it towards the rogue. “That’s even in my books, so you bring up our fight again and you die.”
Travis, the warrior, and the priestess all stared at their grinning ally, confusion in their eyes. “...If it’s about the singing, I’ll explain later, if we can get going before they-” the Death Knight was interrupted by an immense heat in the air as the sky turned red. “Woah, it’s not dawn yet...is it?”
“ALL WILL BURN BENEATH THE SHADOW OF MY WINGS,” a massive dragon roared as it flew over the group’s heads.
“That can’t be good,” Dusk thought, noticing the creature land somewhere near the entrance Travis and Grob took to get into the city.
The five members of the Horde stood silently for a moment. “Run?” one asked.
“Run,” the rest responded.
________
“We touched down to make camp somewhere in the Duskwoods...not too many people travel there, due to the rumors of feral Worgen and zombies running around.”
Travis and his rescuers looked through the tree cover as their fire burned. “You two still haven’t told me who you are, or how you know me...Both are things I would like to know,” he said, attempting to be as serious as possible as he shuffled around on the log he made his chair.
“We’re hurt, Travis...How could you not recognize your own wife and brother?” the warrior responded, removing his helmet. His face was far from undamaged, but one could still see the sanity in it, and his hair was long and braided, with very few mold patches visible. The priestess pulled her hood back to reveal the almost flawless face that Dusk recognized as Linara Tav, though her lovely red locks had been replaced by green, leafy clumps.
“I suppose we can’t really blame him though, Ron,” Linara stated. “I mean, you had your head covered the entire time, and I’m pretty sure he hasn’t seen me in a dress for...what, thirty six years? Paladins aren’t really known for wearing them, you know.” Travis nodded as the armored woman stood and stretched. “Where ya goin', Gerenah?” the princess heard the Death Knight mumble something about being hungry. “We’ve got some food here, still.”
Gerenah stepped over her log and walked into the forest. “Not that kind of hungry, Lin. I’m ‘Death Knight’ hungry,” she said back. “Gonna hunt down some worgen and bottle me up some blood. One of you explain it to our new friend, and I’ll tell you about the singing when I get back.” Travis looked to his family as he grabbed a charred crocolisk tail.
Ron yawned. “First, since it’s probably on your mind: Yes, that was a helicopter. I made it,” he said flatly. “Now, on to her...Long story short...she’s, uh, a vampire,” a silence followed the comment. “Most Death Knights rely on simply the killing they do to sustain themselves, but she’s able to drain life essence or whatever it is from blood to heal her or stave off the Hunger, she calls it, so she can go long periods without murdering anything. ‘Harming’ is a different story, though.” The rogue nodded in understanding and turned to his wife.
“Why are you wearing a dress, anyways?” he asked. Dusk thought the woman looked strange in the outfit, compared to how she’d looked in her metal suit.
“Well, you know that the Light doesn’t take too kindly to undead.” Linara leaned forward. “Because of how I died though, it left some of its power with me. Skipping the long and boring explanation, I went from being a paladin to a priestess,” she said. “And I haven't found anybody willing to make or sell me a shirt and pants, so I'm stuck in a dress.”
The princess sat with the four heroes until their ally returned, with what appeared to be a Diamond Dog slung over her shoulder. “Miss me? Too bad, I’m here now,” she said with a weak chuckle. “Before you say anything about it, yes, I’m going to explain the singing.” The hero cleared her throat. “All Death Knights are to have basic training in Blood, Unholy and Frost magic, so they have runes seared onto their flesh that let them channel those magics. Sometimes said runes don’t work properly though, and if that happens, the Death Knight in specific would be killed, and their corpses burnt. When I was in training though, the Scourge took a suggestion - Weird, I know - ‘Power Phrases’, they called them,” Gerenah paused to allow her explanation to sink into her allies’ brains. “My Frost rune didn’t work too well. Best I could do normally was a chilly gust of wind. My Unholy and Blood magics were stronger than they should’ve been, though, so they gave me a chance to redeem myself - Twelve hours to find a phrase or word that would make my magic stronger. I honestly didn’t think that stuff would work, but I tried, and...well, my Frost phrase just happens to be a song.”
Grob laughed. “Did you try and find one for your other magics? Were they songs, too?” he asked. The Death Knight smacked the back of his head hard enough to knock him off his seat, to which Dusk giggled.
“I blew a peasant’s head up with an Unholy spell from eighty yards, and you already know I can survive on blood exclusively because of my magic, so I kinda didn’t even bother.”
“I never thought I’d see my family again...never thought I’d see Grob again.”
“Sylvanas be damned, I’m through with her duskbat-shit insane suicide missions.”
________
Dusk stretched as her mind returned from its voyage into Travis’ past. Opening her eyes, she was greeted by the friendly smile of Lilac Delight - a close friend and a personal guard of hers. “Morning, Princess. Almost time for you to examine the Equestrian Status Report,” her strained voice said. Lilac was quite a strange unicorn: She was born blind, though able to “see” using the sonar she sends out, and her voice always sounded as if she had spent hours beforehoof coughing.
“Thank you, Lilac,” the princess responded with a yawn. “I’ll head down to get breakfast and then do that. You want me to let your brother know his shift’s over on my way down?” she asked as stepped from her bed and walked towards her door. Her brother had volunteered to handle the sun and moon and just give her lessons on moving the latter until her foal was born.
“No, Silver’s got a great internal clock, he’ll know,” The blind unicorn said before leaving Dusk’s room and slowly trotting down the hall, following the sound waves she produced. As the princess made to leave her room, a flow of ponies halted her.
King Honeydew pushed his way through the crowd into his daughter’s room. “Oh! Sweetie, why aren’t you in bed?” he inquired. “You should be resting! Please, get comfortable and let these ponies take care of you. We’ve brought you a healthy breakfast and the weekly status report for you to look over.” A pair of ponies stepped towards Dusk and guided her back towards her bed. As she laid back down, a tray with an assortment of fruits and grains landed in front of her, followed by a few sheets of paper. “I wish I were as intellectual as you, sweetie...I hate having to have you work like this.”
The princess chuckled nervously and thanked the ponies for their services as they left her again alone. Leaning over to take a bite from an apple, she hovered the page up and read. After reaching the end of the final page, something caught Dusk’s eye: Residents of town found dead; Population decreased from 12,000 to 0 overnight; Third in a half-decade; Evidence points towards diseases and mass-murderers; No DNA found; Patterns point towards next target being Canterlot in approximately two years. “Oh no...I have to warn dad...though, two years...I think I’ve enough time to finish this food,” she said, the entirety of her attention now focused on her meal.
________
“W-when was this again, princess?” Silver Lining asked nervously.
Dusk blew her mane from her face. “About...ten months ago, I believe,” she responded calmly. “I told dad though, and he said he’d have the most powerful unicorns he could find put up defenses by the end of the year.”
Rather than subside, Silver’s look of fear intensified. “That’ll only make it worse...” he thought to himself.
The princess ignored her friend’s reaction. “Well...”
________
Dusk cracked her neck. She had been unsuccessful in her attempt to sleep since telling her father of the potential danger, and had decided to keep up on Tav’s adventures.
Immediately upon opening to her previous place in the book, a large smile spread across the dark alicorn’s face.
Chapter 5 - PrEquestria: Part 4 (The Heroes of Time)
“The day after Deathwing shattered Azeroth, Thrall resigned as the Warchief of the Horde, and Gerenah left to escort him to Hyjal for a ritual that would apparently heal the world. The Bilgewater Cartel has found reason to join the Horde, as well, so Grob shall be safe within our ranks. After almost a year, she returned with a message - The Dragon Aspect of the Bronze Dragonflight had summoned us to the Caverns of Time for an important mission...though one of his assistants held us back as he was instructed to tell us to form a guild. ‘Your experiences shall be shared, and your spirits shall be safe’, he claims.”
Venturing once more into the adventurer’s past, Dusk found herself near the five heroes, who were standing in a small circle in front of a creature in bronze-colored robes.
“You all know your roles. Travis, the charter,” the unknown man spoke in a regal tone as the rogue placed a sheet of parchment in the center of the group. Travis released the page, and instead of gravity pulling it to the ground, it floated and began to glow. “Now, cross your weapons above the charter, and speak your vows.”
The five nodded as they raised their weapons: The curved blade of the rogue; The knightly longsword of the warrior; The staff of the shaman; The dagger of the priestess; And the claymore of the death knight.
The instant the armaments came into contact with one another, the parchment’s glow intensified. As the group spoke, the words that came from their mouths appeared on the page between them. “Oh sweetness, are they saying what...mother of my mom that parchment I found in the book is their charter,” the princess said, a hint of glee in her voice. When the Five Riders finished speaking and the glow from the sheet had subsided, the robed creature stepped aside and gestured to a portal behind himself.
“You are first needed in the Dragonblights. Our Aspect will guide you from there,” he said politely.
As the group left earshot of the dragon, Dusk noticed Travis staring at his hand. Leaning over to view it, the princess found herself looking at a black symbol on the rogue’s palm - The skull of a horse with five seals surrounding it: Adorning one was a shield; Another, a golden cross; The third depicted a totem; The fourth, a single drop of what the dark alicorn assumed was blood, and the fifth; A pair of daggers.
“I think you guys should know, I’m a little scared,” Ron said nervously. “I mean, I’m known among this flight. I’ve killed more than my fair share of them, and now they’re asking us - Me included - for help...It’s like that ‘enemy of my enemy is my friend’ thing. If they need the help of someone who has no problem killing them, then this must be big.”
Grob jogged to catch up to the warrior. “Or you could just be reading into it too much,” he said. “Maybe they’ve forgiven you.”
The armored man looked down at the shaman. “I highly doubt that.”
As the guild stepped through the portal, the cool, gustless cavern gave way to a hot, windy wasteland. In the distance, Dusk could see a tower standing thousands of hooves tall, with a familiar dragon impaled on it. “The dragon that attacked that city,” she thought to herself.
“We were greeted by none other than the Timeless One - Nozdormu.”
“Greetings, Mortals,” a floating man said. “Ah, delightful to see you again, madam De -”
“Gerenah. My name is GERENAH,” the death knight interrupted. “I told you in Hyjal before Thrall was orc-napped that I like to be referred to as Gerenah.” She crossed her arms as she glared at the man.
With a sigh, the creature spoke again. “I apologize, madam. I am Nozdormu. This is Dragonblight, in the future we are to stop from ever taking place.”
Stepping forward, Ron looked the dragon dead in the eyes. “What could be so big that you had to ask someone who’s killed hundreds of your kin for help?” he asked, seemingly ready to spring and grab the aspect of time’s throat should the answer displease him.
"The enemy of our enemy is our friend, hero." As the creature snapped his fingers, four portals appeared behind him. “Enter a portal and defeat all who stand behind it. Do so twice, return, and I shall show you why I have summoned you here,” he said before disappearing.
“We did what Nozdormu wanted. We closed the portals. When we got back to him, he sent us through one last portal - This one led to his dragonshrine: A bowled-in miniature desert, in the center of which stood a massive black and bright blue dragon.”
“We need the Dragon Soul,” the aspect said in response to the four and a half pairs of eyes staring at him. “To simplify the situation - Deathwing is planning an assault on the Wyrmrest Temple. To stop him, we need to travel back to the Sundering and collect the Soul. This dragon is blocking our progress.” The six stood silently. “That would be your cue to kill it.”
“And so we did. Nozdormu explained that the dragon was truly the corrupted version of him, and that we had ‘freed him’ from the endless cycle he was trapped in...or some such nonsense. After another quick briefing from the dragon, we were sent through another portal.”
The world spun and twisted as Dusk found herself trapped in the body someone pushing themselves up from the ground.
“Where are we now?” Ron asked.
“So I’m seeing things through the warrior’s eyes now, huh?” the princess thought aloud.
As the Five Riders looked at each other, Dusk could sense an uncomfortable feeling coming from them. “I - What - We - You - How - YOU’RE AN ELF!” they screamed simultaneously.
“Yes, yes. I had to put Nightelven disguises on you to make this easier,” a feminine voice said as a baby dragon flew in. The small, scaled creature’s form shifted into that of a pale, green-eyed elf. “Look, just go down there, kill that demon...” She pointed to a large, orange-skinned creature with an even larger spear. “...Find Illidan, and -”
“Kill him?” Grob interrupted excitedly, only to be smacked upside the head by a duo of metal-plated hands.
“No. Find Illidan and help him. Right now, we are at the Well of Eternity, the day the Sundering took place. Illidan came here to try and stop the demons.”
“Being ordered to help somebody I’d killed, thousands of years before I would have even been born...I learned just how Ron felt. We did as we were ordered - We found Illidan shortly after killing the first demon.” Travis’ voice narrated the Five Riders’ experience, and Dusk watched through the eyes of Ronald as he sliced through demon and elf alike.
“I must’ve skipped over the part where he killed that guy...or he just didn’t write about it,” the princess thought. “I’ll have to check later.”
“We closed a number of demon portals, killed a demon that called himself the ‘First of the Fel-touched’, and fought our way to the queen of the Night Elves, whose guards threw themselves to their deaths, as if they believed they would be permitted to spend some time in Azshara’s bed with her had they succeeded. When the queen fled, we made our way to the side of the Well. After fighting our way through a small army of demons and a colossal Abyssal, we struck down the captain of Azshara’s royal guard, and the foul demon Mannoroth.”
A blast of cold air alerted the five heroes to Nozdormu’s presence. “I have one final mission for you...Escort Thrall safely to Wyrmrest. Deathwing’s assault has begun, and the World Shaman must reach the temple swiftly,” the aspect said as he waved a hand towards the frozen wasteland on the other side of a portal.
“We made swift work of the escort. Though the Twilight’s Hammer sent Elemental Ascendants and assassins alike, Thrall made it safely to the temple, where the final obstacle stood between us and success - The Archbishop of the Alliance known as Benedictus.”
“The bishop proved to be as powerful as a tower made of thin metal.”
The robed orc bowed before his five guardians. “Thank you, heroes. It was an honor fighting beside you, and I should be safe until one of Alexstrasza’s drakes finds its way here.”
In response, the Five Riders saluted “We would follow you to the ends of Azeroth, Thrall. You accepted the Forsaken and Goblins into the ranks of the Horde, and led us to victory countless times as Warchief.” With large smiles, the guild paused. “We would gladly surrender our lives to defend you from Deathwing and all others who may threaten you or your family.”
________
“What a thrilling tale of heroism and loyalty...A perfect way to...” Dusk yawned. “...Relax, before...” the princess fell back into bed and began snoring loudly as sleep overtook her.
________
“Oh, Travis, I love you! Have my foals!” Dusk cheerfully shouted.
“As you wish, milady. Please assume the position,” Travis replied.
“No, you cannot, for she is mine!” another mare called angrily, confusing the princess.
“As her father, I shall take the princess!” As a fourth voice spoke, Dusk woke up screaming. The king was standing by her bed laughing. The dark alicorn could never appreciate her father’s sense of humor. “I wish I knew you talked in your sleep earlier, sweetie...That was hilarious!” he said through his snickering. “And sorry, kiddo, but Travis wasn’t all that open.” Honeydew smiled. “Before his wife, he was always trying to get mares into bed, but he kept getting shot down. Oh, and when you’ve finished with his book, I think your mother’s museum would benefit from having it in their exhibit on the ponies that fought for the Rising Sun.” As Equestria’s ruler left his daughter’s room, the small figure of a pegasus turned the corner to meet him.
With a relaxed smile, Honeydew turned to the pony. “She’s a big fan of yours, you know,” he said.
“Well, I left it in the library hoping for someone to find and read it...Speaking of which, you know where she is in it?” the pegasus asked.
“Well, from what I saw before waking her up, about where you, er, killed a religious figure.”
“Religious figure?” the figure scoffed. “He gave that title up the moment he allied himself with those apocalypse-loving pricks. He even claimed himself that there was ‘no good, no evil," and "no Light’...The man was obsessed and insane - I...we...did him a favor.”
Walking away, the king continued. “Come on, Tav. We don’t want my daughter hearing us, do we?” he asked, leading the pegasus along. The silence the king was all too familiar with filled his head. “So...any chance you’d be willing to tell me what came after that scuffle with the bishop?”
Chapter 6 - PrEquestria: Part 5 (The Hour of Twilight)
“Well, since you asked so nicely...A number of drakes came for us - One for each of us Riders, and one for Thrall. We were to head to the other side of the temple to help twenty others break the siege there, and Thrall was to wait with the dragon aspects. We killed a couple of elementals, got to the temple with our group, took down the massive stone guy that was pummeling the side of the tower, and I found something awful strange on him...a small rock with a gem of solid shadow inside.”
As Travis entered the temple, staring at the crystal he revealed from a rock he’d picked up, a strangely dressed man approached him. “You would be mister Tav, I presume?” he asked.
“What's it to ya?” the rogue replied, not looking away from his plunder.
“You’ve done quite well on my missions, Tav...In fact, I came here specifically to reward you for just that.” Travis looked at the man addressing him and was filled with fear and regret instantly.
Dropping to one knee, he spoke. “I apologize, prince Wrathion. This is, erm, Deathwing’s son, guys. He was sending me jobs to perform, and he’s probably the only uncorrupted black dragon,” Travis explained, standing back up. “What did you have in mind, though?”
With a smile, the dragon pointed to the gem in his assassin’s hand. “Regarding those, and these...” he said, handing the rogue an oaken box. “Inside that box are a pair of daggers. Apply those shadows to the weapons whenever you can, and their power will grow...though I must warn you, the more powerful they get, the more they desire the taste of death - Something they will get wherever and whenever they can...and you would be the closest to them.”
“All of Deathwing’s most powerful lackeys had rocks like that one...and I relieved them all of them.”
“The second creature we fought used the magic blood of an Old God’s minion to fight us...unsuccessfully, of course. The third one, though...I still hear the whispers to this day...The maddening whispers brought on from its void sphere...telling me my friends will betray me, and that the deaths of all those I cared for were my fault...It gets hard to ignore, but it is possible.”
“Deathwing’s fourth lackey was a joke compared to his fifth...The only one to kill any of us. Of the twenty-five fighters we had, five lived.”
“I will drag you with me, into flame and darkness!” the large purple dragon roared as he began to glow.
“Oh hell no. Get behind me, guys,” Gerenah calmly said as a faded green wall appeared in front of her, and her armor began to frost over.
Cackling, the dragon’s glow intensified. “That won’t save you, pitiful creatures!”
As a large purple wave erupted from the dragon, Ron leapt between it and his allies. “Not today, you scaly bastard!” he shouted, shield raised. Upon impact with the warrior, the energy dissipated, and a large wave of pure force washed over the Five Riders. “Craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap!” the heroic undead could be heard as he flew away.
“Ron, no!” Linara screamed as she sprinted towards the edge of the tower and leapt off.
“Thankfully she had cast a levitation spell on herself...Though the aspects were not pleased with having to wait and risk losing Deathwing.”
“I assume only you four attended the funeral?” the king interrupted, his voice tinged with sadness.
“Funeral? Oh, oh no, he lived.”
Freshly pulled from the snow, Ron sat, rubbing his head. “Holy...Damn that hurt!”
Pulling him back onto his feet, Gerenah snickered. “Of course hurt, I mean, you were kinda blasted off a tower, after all. Can you move on your own? Good, ‘cause we can’t wait - Deathwing’s on the move and we need to catch him pronto.”
“If anything, your highness, he was angry as hell.”
“Can’t say I blame him.”
“Deathwing’s last line of defense felt his rage first-hand...First time I ever saw him put away his shield in favor of a second weapon, last time those fighters would ever be seen crying...or with limbs.”
As a massive puddle of blood pooled around Ron’s feet, sobbing could be heard nearby. “Oh quit crying, you little bitch! It’s only your arms and legs!” he said angrily as he picked up a torso with only a head attached before walking to the edge of the ship. “Oi! Pay attention to me you glorified hamburger!” the warrior yelled as he whipped the limbless fighter at a Tauren riding a dragon.
“Wait a second, you’re telling me that he cut someone’s arms and legs off, insulted them, and then threw them at a minotaur?” the king again interrupted.
“Yes. It went quite a bit better than one would expect, too - The guy on the dragon got knocked off and fell into the ocean. His ride tried to fly over us and spat up a few of them rocks when one of my friends pulled it down and beat on it.” Travis sighed. “Those crazy whispers were at their worst the second we set foot on Deathwing’s back, and they still haven't stopped.”
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“YOUR ARMOR MEANS NOTHING. YOUR FAITH, EVEN LESS,” Deathwing roared as a large metal spike shot from his body.
“Here it comes! Get ready to bust it as soon as you can!” As the rage of battle went on in front of Dusk, she noticed the Five Riders stumbling around as if confused.
From the corner of her eye, the princess saw a strange sight. “Mom?” she asked aloud, unable to believe she was seeing her mother before she became an alicorn. “What are you doing he-” a heavy pain to the side interrupted Dusk, and she found herself lying on the floor of her room. “Ouch...Guess I’ll have to find somewhere else to stand next time.” The bright-maned alicorn touched the page she had been on and waited - Nothing happened. “Come on, work!” she grumbled angrily.
After furiously poking the page for a few moments, the princess noticed something strange. “The symbol isn’t glowing anymore...Ponyfeathers. Might as well read from where I left off...”
The reading royalty had not noticed when the sun rose through the sky.
“The daggers the Black Prince bestowed upon me now glow with the might and rage of the dragon they were forged of...and I can feel them feasting upon my very soul. I fear that they may live, and that using them would be equivalent to me allowing an unwelcome visitor into my abode.”
“I shall keep a tight leash on them...They shall be fed when their service is required, and never before.”
Pondering the last entries she had read, Dusk stared at the crease between the pages of the book. “Did he stop numbering them...?” she thought, flipping a page. “Well, if he did, it was only five years, max.”
“Entry Twenty-Three: Mere...mere ramblings, my previous entries...Not worthy of being called entries, not worthy of being present in my journal...”
“No, I must keep my sanity...Years after the Destroyer’s demise - I’ve lost count of how many...so many numbers, so many voices - we received word that we had been drafted into the Frostwolf forces, and were to report to the Alterac Valley. We arrived at the Frostwolf Keep, and were assigned to the next shift defending a tower, but we were to report to the supply officer first.”
“The supply officer gave us each unique masks that an ‘unknown customer’ had requested made for us as a reward for halting the Twilight’s Hammer. Gerenah’s was of simple design - Black with irregular dark red areas to resemble blood; Ronald’s was carved to resemble a red dragon’s face; Linara’s was white with bright blue wings painted around the eyes. It would apparently change to different shades of purple when she harnessed the shadow energies she had begun to practice with.”
“Grob’s was quite well designed - A jagged stone face with eyes of Amethyst, and fangs of Emeralds; Mine was the simplest - Leather scraps stitched together with thick thread. The design would apparently help to hide my face in the darkness to further intimidate my foes...should they survive to look upon my face.”
Dusk sighed in relaxation. “I can just imagine how they looked in those masks...”
“We finally arrived at our post. The soldiers we relieved had set up a campfire, which we took advantage of. After an hour, we began asking about the experiences we had had before meeting each other, as well as how we actually met - Excluding how I met Gerenah on friendly terms and how I and Grob became friends. Only a fool tells a story when the audience was present, and they surely wouldn’t be interested in as boring a story as how I became acquainted with our Goblin friend.”
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A.N
First off, I'm hoping Section 3'll be the last with any PrEquestria parts, because I'm really getting tired of them, and I'm almost done with the storyline for those parts anyways (2.25 left).
Thanks for reading, keep watching, add to favorites, or even "Read Later", as long as it gets (preferably positive, but negative is acceptable as well) attention and feedback.
Right now, we're getting to the point where I stray from the lore more and more.
Link to the song Gerenah sang: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqOi-ZSavnM
Yes, Travis survived 100 years in Equestria. How? Wait and see, friends...wait and see.
