The Rogue's Diary, or The Tale of Travis Tav

“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.

___________

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.

________

“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.

________

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.”

________

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.

________

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.

________

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.

________

“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.”

________

“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.”

________

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.

________

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.”

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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.