Return to the Road of Friendship Part One, Zeppelin and Ship Meeting, Beach Standoff

Whiteness, whiteness as far as the eye can see, he had wandered through the whiteness only to end up in more whiteness. Our dear hero Fable looked around and saw nothing but white. As he walked into the whiteness the world around him started to fog and the ground turned to grass and he soon found himself in front of the same gate that had the guild seal on it and a Marble plinth beside it. He touched the Guild seal and it disappeared. The gate opened and on the plinth another version of him with the unleashed red wings and horns along with the red will lines appeared. The same ghostly Silhouettes reappeared but three more were added to their ranks. These three were Daring Do, Trixie Lulamoon, and the female Alpha Balverine. Fable walked on past the now opened gate to find himself in a circular stone room with pictures of events throughout his life happening. There was also four chests that were scattered about the room. As he walked to the nearest guild in-crested chest he began to feel an ominous presence.

"Surprise Hero." Fable turned around to see Jack of Blades standing before him wielding the Sword of Aeons ready to run him through. Reacting on second hand nature before Jack killed him he used Assassin's Rush to avoid the attack. Now before he could draw his weapon out Jack swung around trying to lop off his head. Our hero barrel rolled back and drew out Avo's Tear and was ready for battle. Jack stood where he was and then said an all to familiar quote that Fable remembers when he first fought him.

These words were as chilling as ice and had the malevolence of a raging storm. Jack casted a fireball and shot it as fast as a speeding bullet at our dear hero.

"Fire in the hole." Jack shouted over the firing of the fireball. It made contact with Fable knocking him back and sent him flying to the ground. His skin was blackened and bruised by the hit. "AWWW did the hero fall down? How pathetic!" Our hero rose up from the ground and brandished his sword ready to do battle.

"BRING IT!" Fable shouted, Jack gripped the handle to the Sword of Aeons tighter and complied with a charge. Fable charged as well but his was the will spell known as Battle Charge which propels the caster forward at great speed, smashing into any in their path, and blasting all nearby aside. Leaving a blazing trail behind him he hoped to run Jack through with Avo's Tear. However Jack sideswiped and left a wound with blood flowing down on his opponents arm. Gripping his arm to cover the wound he turned and swung his sword to ward off Jack's advance. Fable crouched down on one knee and almost used his Heal life spell however when he let go of his arm and observed his hand it was void of any blood. This caused him to look at his arm and see the wound that Jack dealt him was nonexistent.

"How is this possible?" our hero asked himself. Not believing that his wound healed so quickly.

"THINK FAST!!" Jack shouted, this caused Fable to look up and see his opponent use Assassin's Rush. It was too fast for our hero to do anything and before he knew it Jack was behind him with his Sword of Aeons raised to stab him. " PREPARE TO DIE HERO!!" Fable closed his eyes ready for what would be his death. He prepared for the attack but it never came. A few seconds later he opened his eyes to hear grunting. Turning his head he saw Jack of Blades trying his hardest to make the Blade to the Sword of Aeons make contact. But he was thwarted by the sword not making contact. "Why won't you die!" He grunted, try with all his might the Sword of Aeons would not move to slay it's wielder. "What magic is this that can halt my attack?"

"The magic of the mind." Both Jack and our hero looked around and laid there eyes upon Theresa, Fable's one and only family member. She walked on over to them both while shaking her head. "Surely you noticed Jack how my brother can heal without casting his Will power." Jack looked over to where he cut his foe and saw that it was healed. His eyes were in bewilderment then he pointed the Sword of Aeon at her and demanded.

"Where am I you blind Bitch?"

"You are in a place were you can do no harm to the outside world. A place that we will keep you in until we can find a way to destroy you permanently." He gripped the the handle to the Sword of Aeons tighter and made for a lunge to kill her. Fable reacted faster though as he sent a Fireball that hit him square on. Jack was blasted into the ground and he also lost grip to the Sword of Aeons. Theresa waltzed over to the sword and picked it up, she then went over to her brother and presented the sword to him. "Don't lose this now." Fable took it and kept it out in case Jack tried anything else. His sister turned back to Jack trying to get back up. "You see Jack you are in the inner mind of my brother here, and it is here you will be imprisoned." He just stared at her and our hero both with widened eyes. After a moment he regained his composure and started to laugh maniacally.

" HehehehahahaAHHAHAHAHA.. This is even better than I could hope for. You plan to imprison me here within his mind where I can get easy access to control him." He got up and dusted some soot off of himself. " I must say Theresa you really are stupid to think that I can't break his mind and take control of his body." He said while crossing his arms.

"I have faith in my brother that he can resist your temptations and threats. And he will not be alone in keeping you imprisoned."

"Oh? Are you going to play warden here as well?" Theresa nodded and he laughed even more. "Oh this will be even more fun. I can break your mind here as well." He gathered Will energy into both of his hands and fired an arc of lightning at them both. Our hero got in front of his sister and prepared for the hit. However the lightning only hit an invisible force field that bounced off of them. When Jack was done firing lightning at them Fable angled the Sword Of Aeons like a spear and threw it at Jack. Like a speeding bullet the sword sailed through the air and impaled Jack of Blades through and even forced him back against the wall where it then was lodged stuck. Jack looked at the blade and tried to dislodge it from his chest. But the sword was through him and all the way into the wall. He pulled and pulled but with all of his might he couldn't even budge it.

"I told you to not lose the sword again now it is serving as an anchor to keep Jack bound to that wall." Our hero's sister reprimanded. Fable didn't seem to care just as long as he could hurt Jack then it was alright losing a weapon or two. "I want you to open the chests in here and prepare to go back. You will no longer be able to use the sword of Aeons now that it is effectively keeping him imprisoned. I wish you luck brother on your journey, Do not worry I will make sure that Jack tries not to talk to you so much." Fable nodded and went over to the chests. The first one was another gauntlet attachment only this one was blue instead of red.

He grabbed it with his right hand that didn't have any gauntlet attachments and it began to fuse with his glove. In a bright flash of light and a tranquil peace surrounding him it fuzed with his gauntlet. Once it was done he examined it some more. He never really looked at the detail of it but it was different from the other one besides the obvious color He then examined the other one on his left arm. The blue one had a circle with angel wings and a halo were the red one had well the polar opposite.

Once he was done examining both he went to the second nearest chest. He opened it and his vision was suddenly filled with guns and how to further operate them, like reloading and aiming. once his vision of it cleared he shook his head and went to the third chest. He wasted no time and in opening it and was rewarded with a new spell. he reached out to it and the knowledge of the Blade spell was now his. He gave it a test run and like in the battle with the minion champion three blades appeared and then pointed outward and shot off like a bullet, but disappeared before they could hit anything. Content with his new spell he went for the final chest. Once he reached it and opened it he had a sense of direction thrust upon him self. When he looked at the ground he could see a glowing trail pointing the way for him. The trail went to his sister and stopped. Following the trail he was at his sister who was standing by Jack who was still trying to remove the Sword of Aeons from his chest.

"Now that you have these new items to help you it is time to go back to the world of Equestria. Oh and you might want to keep your Archon's armor on." And like magic Fable was wearing his Archon's armor.

" Don't think this is the end Hero I will break free and when I do you are the first to die by my hands." Before Jack of Blades could shout anymore our hero was teleported out of the room.

Celestia was in the hanger part of the ship with five Royal Elite Magi Guards. The zeppelin they were in was almost upon the unknown ship that was sailing away from the storm. Which was the Bermane Triangle, she contemplated whether or not the people on the ship were like our dear hero that was on the island with her sister. Her thoughts then went to her sister and the Element Bearers and whether or not they were alright. Time passed by fast and the zeppelin was now over the ship. A lift then started slowly descending with Celestia and her five guards on it. Wind started blowing against them but they stood their ground against it. The people on the ship below them were all scrambling going this way and that all getting to various stations while some were arming others with various weapons. Soon the lift descended far enough that the Princess and her five guards could just jump and survive the fall. And that's what the five guards did they went past their ruler and jumped off of the lift. Each landed with a thud and formed a defensive perimeter. The people on the ship all pointed there weapons at them ready to riddle them with holes from guns. Princess Celestia then proceeded to jump and fell with the wind flowing through her hair. She was promptly caught by one of the guards in a position where you would hold the bride. The guard gently set her down and resumed his position in the perimeter.

"I would like to speak to who is in charge if you please." Princess Celestia requested, there was a silence and restlessness permeated the vast majority of the crew on deck. Suddenly thumping was heard throughout the ship, it got closer to the group of guards and they tensed themselves ready to act and defend their ruler. Pete the newly announced First mate used one of his swords to push aside crew members so he could get through. Celestia looked to where Pete was and presented a neutral face hiding all expression. Pete eventually made his way through the crew and stopped to observe the six unwanted guests.

"Might I ask who ye be?" The old man asked.

"I am Princess Celestia co ruler of Equestria, now may I ask are you the Captain of this ship?" Pete leaned on his sword like a cane and used his other hand to stroke his beard in thought. Princess Celestia calmly waited for his response.

"I be the Captain of this ship." He lied, Pete had a plan forming in his old noggin and he aimed to let it be put to use. Princess Celestia tapped one of the shoulders of her guards and he stepped aside to let her through. She was now in front of the pretend Captain ready and hoping to get answers out of him.

"Well as of now you are trespassing in Equestrian waters and I would ask for you to go back where you came from but it seems you are barely trying to get away from the storm of the Bermane Triangle." Her words were emphasized by a sudden lightning strike in the distance.

"Yeah, I can see that being a matter of importance. You need to make sure no other kingdom be invadin." Celestia smiled for it seemed this Man before her was cooperating with her, at least a bit anyway. "We however have several problemating factors going on at the moment."

"Might I ask what these problems are?"The ruler asked.

"Well to begin with we have damage to our ship, lost an important member of our crew. Had almost a mutiny on our hands." He stroked his beard some more in thought. "Oh yeah now some of my crew is on that there island searching for supply's. So I guess a lot be goin on." Celestia raised an eyebrow after he was done talking, she thought how can so many problems present themselves at once.

"Would you perhaps need assistance?" She offered, hoping to get more info out of him.

"Well that presents another problem. As you can see my crew don't really like people jumping down from giant flying ships. Has made them all jumpy and itchy to pull their trigger fingers." This was emphasized by several of the crew cocking their weapons

"I can see that is a problem and since you have us surrounded an at your mercy do you think we can maybe not look so aggressive." The situation was a little erratic what with all of Alendia's crew itchin to pull the trigger. She had to admit if all of them fired at multiple times some of the bullets would probably make it past their magical barriers. And this would prove to put her in a desperate situation.

Smirking Pete ordered the men to lower their weapons. Some were hesitant at first but a firm glaring from Pete put them in their place. Once most of them lowered their weapons Pete asked if her Guard would be willing to lower theirs as well. Celestia Smirked and ordered her guards to do the same.

"Men bring us some chairs and a table, oh and maybe some drinks as well." Pete ordered, he was getting tired of standing and much preferred to be sitting, and he guessed Celestia might be tired as well. Some of the men went to fulfill the order and would be gone for probably a couple of minutes. "So how abut we get to know each other a bit more? As you know I be the Captain but I never told ye my name. It be Pete by thee way." He said while offering her a hand.

"Pleasure to meet you Captain Pete so might I ask were you are from?" She asked now trying to gather as much info.

He chuckled and said. "I be from the Land of Albion bet you've never heard of it before." In her mind something knew of the land of Albion but overall it was a complete blank.

"I'm afraid I don't know much of the land of Albion you'll have to tell me about it." Pete chuckled some more and said.

"Maybe over some drinks." He gestured to the returning crew members who had brought a table, two chairs, and a bottle of a drink called the Yellow Fairy, along with two golden glasses. They set up the furniture and Pete offered her to sit by pulling out her chair for her. She sat down and thanked him for the gentlemanly gesture. He sat in the other chair across from her.
"So would you like some Yellow Fairy?" He asked gesturing towards the bottle on the table. The princess shook her head and Pete merely shrugged and poured himself a glass. "So what is it you be wantin to know?" Princess Celestia crossed her hand together and asked.

"Tell me about Albion." The fake Captain simply chuckled and told her that it was a place of beauty with troubles around every corner. He would tell her of various things, and she happily listened. at some point during their discussion the crew went back to work. Some still stood watching them waiting so they can deal a swift death to them. The Princesses guard still ever watchful. And Pete having told about his land asked about Equestria. She would tell him that the land was peaceful and almost entirely different from Albion. Like how the weather was able to be controlled where in Albion it did what it wanted. Crew-members that listened in scoffed at the idea of controlling the weather but they remained quiet during the False Captain and the Co-Ruler of Equestria conversation. Soon Celestia turned the conversation to this important Crew-member. That's when he went quiet.

"Well all I can say is that he is special. Nothing more nothing less." They both remained quiet after those words were spoken, Celestia sensed that she probably wouldn't get anymore information out of him.

"Well since you probably don't know these waters so well I could grant your ship to dock at one of our ports."

"Much obliged we would be honored to see some of your land." He said with a cheerful smile.

"I only have two requests."

"Name it."

"That I am allowed to meet this Special Crew-member and that your crew does not harm my people. Can you accept these terms?" She asked. Pete thought about it for a moment then looked again at Celestia.

"I'll have to check with the Special mate when he returns but otherwise I accept your terms." Celestia smiled and said

"Well then lets not waste any time." And she poured herself a glass of Yellow Fairy wine.

A knife that was flying through the air towards Princess Luna was on fire. The only reason this knife was on fire was cause it was augmented with a Fire augmentation from Albion. However whoever augmented this knife was not known for it was one of six others. And all of them put together would be named Skorm's Teeth. However in the hand's of the Assassin Captain Alendia she would prefer to call them the Six Sirens. Now Alendia is a very reasonable person. She won't kill anyone unless there was a reason to and to fight her usually ends with several people dead. Now She really really wanted to give Princess Luna and her guards along with the main six a chance but the Princess declared her a villain and well what would you do? So she did the only sensible thing that she thought was right. And that was throw the first punch or flaming knife in this case.

Now Princess Luna is a woman that is very cautious. And she likes to be in control of any situation that happens. She hoped that the good Captain would surrender peacefully of course the Captain took the other road. Using her rapier she managed to just guard against the flaming projectile and avoid pain. However the wave of bullets was one thing she couldn't prepare for. Luckily for her Twilight Sparkle came to the rescue by casting a protective shield that engulfed all of the guards, her friends and the Princess. The purple protective sphere was the same one she used in Ponyville Confidential where she kept out The Cutie Mark Crusaders away from the library. Now that didn't stop Alendia's crew-members from firing. In fact they fired more cause of it. Alendia watched as her men just fired their weapons and the bullets just tinked off of the barrier. It was amusing but it quickly became old, raising her arm to signal to cease firing they all obliged. She was not very amused with what was going on right now. Taking a deep breath she called over Runt to have a word with him.

"Runt, I need your advice?"

"That's a first." He commented. She merely glared at him and continued.

"How do you think I should kill them? Quick and Easy or Slow and Painful."

"Both. If you can get past the barrier that is." She merely glowered at the barrier. And at the person inside who made it. When said person took a glance at her Alendia took out a Siren from her sleeve and made the motions of slitting a throat. Twilight took a huge gulp and quickly looked away. Alendia then turned back to Runt and they discussed ways to breakdown the barrier. While her crew all locked their weapons on them. Meanwhile Twilight her friends and the Princess were thinking of ways to possibly capture or subdue their foes. While the guards reformed a new defensive perimeter.

"So my subjects do mayhaps have any solution to this problem?" The Princess asked. Everyone began thinking up idea's.

"OoH OoH pick me pick me!" Pinkie Pie said while raising her hand and bouncing in place. Everyone had a vague idea of what Pinkie Pie might've suggested but some of them were stumped for the moment so they obliged to let her say her idea."I say we apologize then throw them a welcome to Equestria party." Everyone merely stared while Twilight thought up a real plan. Then she thought of a real good one that involved Pinkie Pie's plan as well.

"Lets do it." She exclaimed. Now everyone except Pinkie who bounced for joy stared at her.

"Sugacube have ya lost apart of your mind?" Applejack asked earnestly.

"No I haven't in fact we are gonna trick her by making them think we are apologizing and then we subdue them all." Pinkie then stopped bouncing for joy and frowned at Twilight.

"Twilight that's a horrible plan, and it's mean we should just have Princess Luna apologize and then we can all be friends." Now Rarity was butting her word in.

"Darling I don't think these are those types of people you want to be friends with. Especially that Captain such uncouth behavior should not befit a Captain." Most of the girls nodded with her in agreement. Then Princess Luna spoke up again.

"I am sorry Pinkie Pie but we must agree with fair Rarity they seem to be most not in the right mind." Pinkie merely pouted at how her friends didn't want to be friends with them. And so they began plotting how to put their plan into effect. Meanwhile with Alendia and Runt having finished up their conversation were now observing the environment around them.

"I don't like the looks of that forest. Makes me feel like something is there." Runt stared at the forest with her as well.

"There are creatures from Albion in there. Ones that we have all encountered before." Alendia gave a wary glance at Runt then back at the forest. Only she saw red eyes gazing at her. Gazing into those eyes she knew what the beast was the minute it looked at her.

"B-B-BALVERINES!" She shouted with great fear. Then a great and load howl was heard throughout the whole entire island. All eyes were looking to and through trying to find out where the howl came from. Alendia drew out both of her Bladed pistols and shouted. "KILL THEM ALL!!!" And she started firing into the forest where the beasts were. Runt drew out his Ebony Fire augmented axe and started charging to the forest. All the while shouting profanities that a Psycho would shout. The crew-members were wary on what to do some wanted to flee others braced themselves for the incoming Balverine attack. Princess Luna's forces and the main six were all safe in Twilight Sparkle's Sphere of Protection. Then they all saw it a Balverine that seemingly dropped from the sky at high speeds. Soon five more joined it and all of them either howled, growled, or left a snarl of some kind. Shots could be heard throughout the beach as Crew-members begun firing at them. Balverines would strafe from side to side dodging incoming bullets and advance forward to kill them. One thing was for sure about the Balverine's on the beach they were only the scouting force.

Author's Note

Behold the next chapter.