Part Nine: The Truth.

Princess Celestia walked down the hallway, Twilight Sparkle keeping up easily. “Princess Celestia,” she said, “Is there something wrong with Excolotis?”

“No, Twilight,” Celestia said, “There is nothing wrong. I expect that he has some... concerns and wants to voice them as quickly as he can.”

“Oh. So... Where are we going?” Twilight asked.

“You need to know the truth, Twilight,” said Celestia, “and the only one who can tell you that is currently in the cells.”

They walked in silence.

“Twilight?” asked Celestia.

“Yes?”

“Are you... Are you still angry with me?”

Twilight stopped. “Princess,” she said, “I can’t say that I fully understand what was happening back then. But after what happened at the barn, I think I get it. There are some who don’t want friendship. Some who only want to hurt you, and if you plead and beg and promise friendship, they’ll just kill you and laugh at your corpse.”

“I’m sorry that you had to find out about that.” said Celestia.

“So am I.”

Excolotis stepped into the training yard, blinking as the light shone in his eyes. It was already late at night and the sun was going down.  A number of guards stood around, lounged around or chatted with friends whilst cleaning equipment. Nearly all of them stopped to stare at the giant amongst them. Excolotis breathed in and stood tall and proud, whereas before he had moved uncertainly, looking all around in wonder. He wore the yard like a jungle cat wears the trees. His confidence and strength caused all who looked at him to stare, and then chuckle.

“Hey,” said one, nudging his friend, “Look at this; he thinks that he owns the place.”

“Heh,” laughed the other, “We’ll show him what it means to be a guard.”

The yard itself was about five hundred meters long, and three hundred meters wide. The ground was green grass, cut short. Bleachers were erected on one side, along with a viewing box for Celestia and Luna. A large white wall, about ten or twelve feet tall, stood along the borders.

Excolotis turned as a pony coughed next to him. The pony was a white unicorn stallion, neon blue hair hung long, but still out of his eyes. He wore the typical barding of the guard, but whereas the rest wore golden uniforms he wore a purple outfit. “You’re Excolotis, right?” said the unicorn, a frown stretching across his face, “My name’s Shining Armour and I’m the Captain of the Guard here.”

“Is that so?” said Excolotis.

“Yes...” said Shining, “Celestia already informed me of your arrival.”

“Alright then...” Excolotis looked at the guards, “I’ve been told to evaluate the guard’s abilities in battle, with a report ready in about four or so hours.”

“Ah, so shall we get started?” asked Shining Armour.

“No.” said Excolotis, “You will get started, and I will be watching. I’ll tell you what you need to do, don’t worry.”

“Then... what are you doing here?” asked Shining, “You can’t just sit here and pass the time, not in my yard.”

“Well, now that you mention it...” said Excolotis, “You can help me figure out what this is.”

Excolotis reached into the folds of his robes and pulled out a white tablet.

“That’s a tablet.” said Shining.

Excolotis stared at Shining, “Let’s assume I don’t know what that is.”

“You know,” Shining armour said, waving a hoof, “Medicine? Uh... You know what a potion is? Well it’s kind of like that, except without any water and the magic powder is compressed into a rock.”

“Right...” said Excolotis, “Now where can I find an Apothecary?”

“...Alright, now let’s assume that I don’t know what that is.” said Shining.

“A healer,” said Excolotis, “One who makes medicines to help alleviate diseases and discomforts.”

“You mean like a Chemist or something?” said Shining, “What, do you need medicine or something?”

“Stupid language,” Excolotis groaned, “No, I need to find someone who can tell me what this medicine is!”

“Celestia told you to go give an evaluation,” said Shining, “I won’t help you disobey her orders.”

Excolotis stared at Shining. “You’re right...” he said, “I am supposed to be doing an evaluation, but like I said, that will be your job. Fine, if you can find someone who can tell me what this is we’ll get started.”

“Whatever,” said Shining, “I’ll be glad to be rid of you; I don’t need you telling me how to do my job.”

Excolotis smiled and leaned down to shining Armour. It was an expressive smile.

For comparison, when Celestia smiles it says; “You are just a darling! I’m going to do everything I can to make sure you’re happy, ‘cause you’re my child, and I love you! Give me a hug!”

This smile doesn’t. This smile said, “You are as an insignificant speck, an insufferable blight on my existence and you only exist because I allow it. Your life, like my patience, is about to come to an end. I will kill you, rape your wife, and enslave your children. Your works will be toppled, and I shall salt your lands. Your servants shall be impaled upon great spikes of iron; a sight for me to enjoy in my evening meal, and your guards will be my sustenance on those nights. I will commit evils that your aunts, uncles, and cousins will die in such pain and suffering that they will curse your very name through mouthfuls of their own blood. Then I will masturbate furiously over your corpses and burning lands, because I get off on that. The deluge of blood, gore and semen will be as such that if I played a recording of ‘Shoop Be Doo’ everyone will rush to the lake of red and white to see the sea ponies.”

It was a... very expressive smile.

“Would you like to rephrase that?” He said.

“What I meant to say was,” said Shining, taking a few steps back, “I’m sure you’re very busy and I’d hate to take up your time!”

“Better.” Excolotis straightened, “Now, your stallions and mares are going to do a six kilometre run in full gear, and then demonstrate their skills on dummies with fifteen blows from each weapon. After that they will do another six kilometre run. I will be watching and evaluating your ponies the entire time, though I am not going to interfere in any way.”

Twilight and Celestia stepped down into the castle dungeons. The dungeons were actually fairly clean, with bright globes set into the white marble ceiling and a clean swept floor. Set along the middle of the corridor was a long gutter, which was designed to flush waste out into a septic tank.

Funnily enough a Unicorn had managed to get his magic inhibitor off once, and then cast a shrinking spell so that he could fit into the drains. He was not happy when the guards fished him out with an oversized net, normally used for getting rid of rubbish.

The guards were even more miserable when they had to scrub him down. Some of them were earth ponies.

At the end of the hallway in his own cell sat Spider Script, sitting on his bed and staring at the ceiling.

“Twilight, this is Spider Script,” said Celestia motioning with her hoof with every name, “Spider Script, Twilight Sparkle. Now I’ve got a few things to do, so if you don’t mind...” And with that, she walked off.

“Sooo...” said Twilight, ‘Why are you in prison?”

“Well...” said Spider Script, “I’m in here for rape, arson, murder, and rape.”

Twilight blinked, “You said rape twice.”

“I like rape.” Said Spider, “Nah, actually I played a bit of a prank on Luna, and so I’m in here for the day so that I learn a bit of respect for the Lunar Princess. And secondly, these are the holding cells, not prison. Not as much anal, so there’s a bit of a difference; easier not to have to worry about the soap.”

Twilight stared at Spider, “Riiiiight... So Celestia said that you know the truth about Excolotis.”

“Oh, him?” Spider swung his legs off the bed and landed on his feet with a clop, “Yeah, I know of his involvement way back during the second Equestria. Basically, he’s the third co-founder of equestria; disgraced, obviously.”

‘Why?” said Twilight, “What did he do?”

“Well,” said Spider, “We’ll have to go back a bit. So let’s start at the beginning. To be blunt, records going back that far are rare; they simply didn’t survive the passage of time. But from what I know, it all started with Luna and Celestia finally beating Discord, and thank fuck for that.”

“To put it bluntly, the Royal Sisters meant well, but they were... well stupid. They didn’t quite grasp what it meant to defend an empire so they kinda sat around like dumbasses while the ponies under their care got picked off by all sorts of nasties left over from Discord’s reign. I mean, no offense, but they had no real idea what they were doing. They’d build huts, and towns, and villages where possible, but it was only a matter of time before some wandering shit fucks would show up and ruin everything.”

“Basically, you’d end up with some folks trying desperately to scrape together what was left of their miserable, fucked up existence before these ass monkeys would show up and fuck things over, and the Princesses were completely fucking helpless. But there was this one guy; this scary, balls out insane mother fucker who knew how to protect the innocent, fucked up train wrecks that were ponies.”

“This guy was Excolotis. And he was the hardest little fucker who ever showed up. He took no shit, he was brutal, and I mean brutal! According to the tales anything stupid enough to attack him got fucked six ways to Sunday! There are reports of him hacking things to death, stomping their heads in, ripping them apart with his hands, impaling them upon wooden spikes; you name it, he’s done it at one point or another.”

“His lists of victims include dragons for fuck’s sake! Dragons!”

“Small problem is, while he was good at the whole ‘brutally murder everything in sight’ part, he sucked at everything else. That’s where Celestia comes into the picture. She shows up one day, whilst Excolotis is walking around looking for something to fight, and somehow manages to convince him to help them out and turn the monsters and raiders into his own personal cock sleeve bitches.”

“What happens next is the bloodiest part of Second Equestrian history.”

“Under Excolotis, the ponies are turned into the most brutal, hard core mother fuckers in existence. The territory of Equestria doubles in about fifteen years as he leads Equestria to victory after victory, crushing, subjugating, or annihilating everything they came across in a bid to create a new empire built on the bloody corpses of anything retarded enough to stand in their way.”

“Meanwhile, on the other side of the central channel, the gryphons had concentrated into their own empire, under Marbod, king of the Marcomanni. They then sent a few friends over towards Equestria, back when the kingdom was near what is now Deutschland. They set themselves up; raiding parties, villages, and eyries cropping up like mushrooms all the way over there, and Equestria got into border disputes with Marcomann from time to time.”

“Everything’s going along more or less violently with the occasional dispute as gryphons pick off the occasional lone pony for dinner. Border disputes keep going on from time to time, small skirmishes and the usual stuff. Anyway, this goes on for about a hundred or so years until the dragon migration. Now the big problem was that right between the Badlands, also known as the Dragon Hatching Grounds, and the two largest dragon realms at the time, was Equestria.”

“Three guesses as to what happened next, first two don’t count.”

“Equestria ends up a smoking ruin, with nearly every major city a smoking ruin in and of itself, so Celestia and Luna say it’s time to pack up and move. Now there was a bit of a dispute as to who should go where. Add to that the fact that vast numbers of ponies were scattered, and you’ve got one massive cluster fuck. So somewhere in the group of about seven hundred ponies start to wander off in a random direction: directly towards Marbod.”

“The gryphons, for whatever reason, take exception to that, and... and brutally murdered them. They killed nearly all of them; ripped the corpses apart, and they nailed the heads to trees. The corpses were scattered over three square kilometres. The handful of survivors who crawled back to Equestria on a river of blood and intestines told bone-chilling stories of insane slaughter – brutally butchered ponies who were trying to surrender on the battlefield, ambushed by an endless sea of warriors armed with gigantic fucking axes. Those ponies unlucky enough to be taken alive were thrown down and hacked apart on stone altars as offerings to the gods or thrown in spike pits for shits and giggles.”

“Excolotis was the first to find the survivors.”

“He flipped the fuck out, I mean really lost it, and went into the uncharted wilderness of Germany on a four year vengeance campaign aimed at three things – First, to find the site of the massacred and bury the bodies of the fallen. Second, to bring those responsible back to Equestria, and Third, to kill as many of the Marcomanni as was possible, until all that remained of the tribes of Marcomann were a gigantic lake of blood stretching from one end of the world to the other.”

“Shortly after setting off, he came across the site of the massacre. The first thing Excolotis saw when he got there was the little present the Gryphons had left for him: the skulls nailed to the tree trunks throughout the forest.”

“Excolotis took down the skulls, collected the bones of the dead, performed the last rites on the bodies, and buried the ponies with full military honours”

“Then he got really pissed.”

“He went into the lands of the Marsi tribe. He routed them on the battlefield, chased them back to their cities, then burned down their cities and massacred every cock, hen, and chick he could find. Then he attacked the Chatti, and did pretty much the same thing, burning every settlement in the entire region and then laughing his ass off while overlooking the charred remains. After that he marched against the Cherusci, the masterminds behind the massacre. After a fierce battle, Excolotis drove the chieftain Arminius from the field, captured his homeland, and took Arminius as a prisoner. He then marched all the way back to Celestia and Luna with his prisoner in tow to wait for whatever passed for justice back then.”

Arminius stared as he watched his city burn. The ponies had sent volley after volley of boulders coated in burning pitch. It was obvious they were not taking his lands. This was extermination. The gryphon warlord sat down on a stool as his squire used a cloth and bucket of water to clean the blood from a long day of fighting. Armed gryphons ran past him, their voices raised in shouting as the ponies came at the inner gates of the keep time and time again. Already, the walls were breached, and it was only a matter of time before the city fell.  The squire held up a mirror for Arminius to look at himself in a mirror, as the keep shook with another great impact.

His breast plate shone, the golden engravings showing the sigils of his house, a golden lion against a field of flames. His gauntlets and spaulders were in place, held tight to his body with leather straps.

He hefted his great sword from its holder on his back, a black nightmare of a blade easily as long as he was and nearly a talon’s span wide forged from Dragon’s Glass, a tough materiel made from the remains of a field after a dragon was done burning it to the ground nearly one hundred years ago.

His bracers fitted over his fore arms, though his talons were uncovered. Rearing back onto his hind legs, Arminius checked the faulds that protected his hips and the half greaves on his legs that were keeping blades from touching his flesh.

Squaring his shoulders, Arminius stepped out onto the battlements on his paws as a great crash echoed up from the stairs, soon joined by the roar and crash of battle. A few seconds later a pair of ponies ran up the stairs in mail armour, their spears held up and ready.

The first lunged at him with the spear, and Arminius stepped aside and took the haft, snapping it out of the pony’s grip and sending it along the stone walls. The pony died in a single overhead blow, his guts slipping out from his shattered torso.

The second pony jabbed with his spear, keeping Arminius away with its reach. The gryphon warlord moved fast, though, and with a single lunge moved past the spear and almost sliced the pony in half with an upwards swing, sending a red spray onto his beaked face.

Arminius wiped off the blood and stared over the smoking ruins of his home as the sound of battle continued until he heard the clank of sabatons coming up the stairs.

He turned, and looked up into the face of a God.

Excolotis glared at Arminius through his twin visor helm, his eyes kept dark behind a thin sight. Without a word, he lifted up a black bronze kite shield up to cover his body and legs as his right arm came back into a stabbing pose with a blue tinted straight sword.

Arminius looked up at Excolotis, who was only a head taller than him. “Wieso?” he asked, tears forming in his eyes, “Wieso hast du das getan? Womit haben wir das verdient?”

“Womit hat Golden Seed es verdient zu sterben?” asked Excolotis, rage making his voice shake, “Womit hat sie es verdient, geköpft und aneinen Baum genagelt zu werden? Womit hat ihr Ehemann verdient zu sterben, aufgeschnitten auf einem Altar für unsere falschen Götter? Womit hat ihre Tochter, Black Iron, eine der besten Waffenschmiede die ich jeh gesehen oder trainiert habe, es verdient, von deinen Gryphons auseinandergerissen zu werden, nicht eine Woche nachdem sie ihren Schönheitsfleck bekommen hat? Wenn du mir das sagen kannst, dann werde ich die sagen warum ich hierhergekommen bin!”

Arminius stayed silent.

"Es kann keine Vergebung geben für das, was du getan hast." Excolotis continued, "Für all die, die du getötet und abgeschlachtet hast werde ich dich töten und deinen Kopf auf einen Speer stecken."

“Was ist mit Celestia?” asked Arminius, “Wird sie nicht von deinen Aktionen entäuscht sein?”

“Celestia ist nicht hier! Ich bin es!” Excolotis said. “Stirb und sei verdammt gryphon!”

Arminius roared, and swung his great sword with two talons over his right shoulder, only for Excolotis to tilt the kite shield and make the great blade slide off. Arminius hefted up his blade again, and swung over his left shoulder. This time though, Excolotis swept out the shield, catching the blade and sending it further on its path than was intended, Arminius dancing after the massive weapon.

Arminius cursed his fatal mistake.

Before Arminius could react and correct his balance, Excolotis stepped forwards and to the right, sending his sword arm curving towards Arminius’ unprotected armpit. The cloth did nothing to stop the blade, and the sword slid between the gryphon’s ribs and through both lungs, missing the heart by a hair’s breath.

Arminius opened his beak without a sound as the War God’s blade slid out again, falling onto his front as he felt his lungs fill. Picking himself up onto his talons, Arminius coughed and spluttered like a drowning man as he tried to empty his lungs of blood. Excolotis stood over him, and placed the tip of his sword between the gryphon warlord’s neck vertebrae, pushing down with all his weight to sever the spine and windpipe.

The blade was stained a dark red when it was drawn from Arminius’ neck.

As Excolotis flicked his sword towards the ground to get rid of the excess blood on his blade, a group of ponies clad in armour ran up to him, the clanking and rustling of their Hauberks, Capeline helms and brown oiled cloaks announcing their presence long before they arrived.

Excolotis walked through the burning remains of the city, ponies herding gryphons towards open ground, where they were given shovels and told to dig.

“Sir!”

Excolotis turned to look at his second in command, Vigilance. Vigilance’s fur was a brilliant white, as was normal for the guards. His mail Hauberk was hidden behind the oiled cloak worn by all the guard. For a time, Celestia had wanted Arminius to wear different coloured armour, but Excolotis had insisted on a simple crested helm to mark him as an officer in the confusion of battle. It was more practical than making entirely new suits of armour just for a few ponies.

“We have secured the town, and we have taken prisoners.” said Vigilance, “All that are left are the young, the old, and the weak. Everyone who resisted is dead.”

“Everything is alright then,” said Excolotis, “Continue to obey orders.”

“...What are we to do with the prisoners, My Lord?” asked Vigilance.

“Same as before,” said Excolotis, “Extermination. Monsters such as these do not deserve to live.”

Vigilance nodded and called to the ponies by the pits. They snatched the shovels away and dragged the Gryphons over to the lip of the pit. Some put up a fight, but most stumbled after, numb with fear. An elderly gryphon, feathers turning grey with age, tried to flee, taking to her wings.

“Gods forsaken...” cursed Excolotis, “Archers!  Bring down that monster!”

A few Pegasus turned their bows, tracking the old gryphon as she flew hard and fast, before turning her into a pincushion. The gryphon twisted as she fell, coming to a sudden stop as she hit the ground with a crunch; red and purple fluid thrown from her broken body from the force of her impact.

The other ponies held up their straight swords, driving the iron blades through the Gryphons and sending them tumbling into the pit. Not even the hatchlings were spared, snatched from screaming mothers for their throats to be slit and thrown onto the pit, the bodies of their parents following soon after.

Excolotis turned from the massacre, his eyes cold, and stalked into the camp. As he strode into his tent, he removed his helm, putting it on the table as he walked past. Vigilance ran into the tent soon after, red in the face and rage in his eyes.

“Sir, I’ve followed you willingly, but we have our vengeance!” said Vigilance, “I swore to protect the innocent, not slaughter hatchlings like this! This is not war!”

“You are correct, Vigilance,” snarled Excolotis, “This is not war, it is pest eradication! These... vermin... must die. If we leave them be they will build their rats nests all over again, and fifty years from now they will be breaking down our doors! We must destroy them, or they will destroy us!”

“This isn’t what we were meant to do!” shouted Vigilance.

Excolotis and Vigilance stared at each other, the tension in the tent growing thick.

“Vigilance,” said Excolotis, “You are right. This is not what we are meant to do. We were meant to do greater things than this. So what do we do? Nothing? Let the world move on? Let our people be slaughtered by monsters and murderers? Are we to do nothing, but wring our hooves and say, ‘we are not meant to do anything about it’?!”

“We are defenders of Equestria! The saviours of its people! And we must do these foul and terrible things, because if we do not, that atrocity in the forest will happen again, and again, until everything you know and love is gone! We kill and slaughter for our families, so far away; we do such things that will stain our souls, we do things that make the world denounce us as monsters, and we do these things gladly, so that our children and our children’s children never have to!”

“If the world is watching, then let it watch! For when they see what was done here, nothing, not Gryphons, not Dragons, not anything, will think it clever to fuck with us ever again! Now let’s finish up, and then go home. This is the last city we will burn, I promise you.”

“But...” Vigilance stammered, “But the Princesses...”

“We have been friends for how long now?” said Excolotis, bending down to look at vigilance in his blue eyes, “Trust me. When we are done here, whatever filth is left will be too frightened to come after us. And If the Princesses disagree, then they are not fit to rule.”

“You would rule through fear and terror then!” said Vigilance, “What happened to you? You are not the Lord that I swore to follow, you were once a man of honour; not some...”

Excolotis swung his fist, cracking vigilance across his face and sending a string of blood flying across the tent. Vigilance fell onto his side from the force of the blow and looked up with fear at the towering giant.

“Question me again, Vigilance,” said Excolotis, “And I will kill you where you stand.”

Vigilance trembled as he backed away from the War God. Though he prayed that it was a trick of the candle light, he could have sworn that the eyes of his Lord had flashed red...

“I can’t believe that Excolotis would do something like that,” said Twilight, “I can’t believe anypony would do something like that!”

“Well don’t worry about that,” said Spider script, “Turns out, it wasn’t really his fault. There was another monster there in his head. It was Excolotis, plus one. The same fuck knob would show up later, and take Luna. I think you know that bitch as the Nightmare.”

“This monster fed on anger, rage, jealously, and all the other negative emotions. When Excolotis was going through Marcomann he must of have been taken as a host by the Nightmare at some point, though nopony knows when it happened exactly. But that’s beside the point.”

“Excolotis returns with his prisoner in tow, and presents Arminius for sentencing. Arminius tells the princesses of Excolotis’ crimes, and they confronted him about it. Excolotis flew into a rage thinking that he had been betrayed, and gets into a fight with them.”

“What?” Twilight said.

“Excolotis,” Luna said, her royal Canterlot voice booming throughout the room, “You have committed atrocities beyond even what we would find abominable. Your cruel and evil ways have doomed you, and you have disappointed us; we believed you to be better than this!”

“I don’t understand,” said Excolotis, “My tactics were perfect, the results: undeniable. We completely annihilated the enemy with less than forty percent casualties against a force that outnumbered us by sixteen to one. This was old fashioned conquest; a complete and total victory. Don’t be weak! Be strong enough to enjoy the notoriety and the power and the wealth of being the most powerful force in the lands!”

Excolotis, wearing his full plate with double visor shut tight, stood in a large oval chamber; solid, fluted pillars of stone holding up the ceiling, with light shining in through detailed glass windows, each one showing the history of Second Equestria. In the exact centre was a large statue of stone, more of a pedestal, upon which rested six orbs set in a fan around a central plinth. Each orb had a coloured gem set in the middle; glowing softly with intense magical power. It was in front of this that Excolotis stood, and he was not happy. He stank of rotten eggs, he was covered in dust and mud, and his cloak was stained.

Around the room stood the Royal Guard, with their armour shining silver and their polished gold and steel halberds. Their gold thread cloaks hung around their fetlocks and underneath, the shifting of Bechter plates could be seen. Their Barbutes were over their heads, and what little of their faces could be seen behind the slits was resolute and stern.

Opposite him, on top of a raised platform, stood Celestia and Luna. To say that they were not happy is a lot like saying the sun is hot. It is accurate, but it doesn’t quite explain just how angry the royal sisters were.

“You have committed an atrocity beyond words,” said Celestia, “If you think that you were acting in our best interest, then I do not know whether to be disappointed or angry.”

“You are here on trail for the unwarranted slaughter of countless innocents!” said Luna, “Your Legate, Vigilance, has agreed to testify against you. His word will be heard.”

The doors opened, and two guards led in Vigilance. He did not wear his armour and his white coat was neatly groomed. When the guards led the Legate into the room, they bowed and turned, shutting the doors behind them.

“Legate Vigilance,” said Celestia, “What is the nature of Excolotis’ crimes?”

“I am not certain what you mean,” said Vigilance, “could you please specify, Your Grace?”

“Excolotis has been accused of marching a force of nearly twenty thousand of the Equestrian Guard into Marcomann.” said Luna, “He is accused of instigating genocide and the burning and razing of countless cities.”

“He did,” said Vigilance, “He dragged out the hens, and took the eggs, and smashed them upon the ground, and when he was done, he had them butchered like animals. He covered their corpses in pitch, and had them burned in trenches. He did not spare any of them. He ordered the slaughter of any gryphons he came across. Chicks and cocks too. He had the sick dragged out of their beds and hacked to pieces.”

“Some tried to run, but under his orders we hunted them down and killed them too. Many of them were begging for our mercy, but Excolotis, he didn’t listen. By his word, we killed them all. Some barred their doors and hid in their houses, and by his word we barricaded the entrances and set the thatch alight.”

“The testimony from your Legate is damning,” said Luna, “according to him, you ordered the execution of citizens, citizens who did not fight back! You butchered their young, you slaughter their old! There are no words for what you did, and it is unforgivable!”

“The punish... the punish...” Celestia gagged, and stepped away from Excolotis, fanning the air in front of her nose with a hoof. “What is that smell? It smells like week old eggs, which have rotted through their shells!”

Excolotis stepped forwards, driving Celestia back with his stench. “You would judge me?” he snarled, “I did it because it was needed! Those monsters did not deserve to live; I did you a favour by exterminating their misbegotten and foul kind!”

“Who are you to judge me!? I see you for what you really are! You are pathetic! Nothing but a useless snivelling lump of meat! Not even fit to rule!” Excolotis roared, materialising a black broadsword and kite shield.

“Excolotis!” Luna shouted, “What do you think you are doing? You seek to betray us?”

Excolotis roared, and lunged forwards with his blade. Celestia ducked and with her wing batted aside Excolotis’ arm, sending it wide. She then shifted to her right expecting Excolotis to sweep left with his shield and get some distance between them as usual, but what he did next surprised her.

Excolotis, instead of trying to bring up his defence, swept his sword to the far left, snarling like a beast. Celestia skirted backwards, trying to dodge the blow, but still got a red line across her chest which began to weep red.

“Sister!’ roared Luna, leaping forwards upon her wings and knocking Excolotis off balance as she crashed into him like a meteor. Excolotis roared like a berserker, and hacked back towards Luna with a backhanded strike, the blade whistling over her head and driving up sparks as it sliced along her horn.

The Royal Guards ran forwards, their silver and gold halberds at the ready.

Celestia, seeing an opening, struck forwards with all her might and sent Excolotis soaring through the air. The War God landed on his feet, yet still slid back across the floor, his sabatons raising sparks as they scraped across the grey stone.

With a roar, he discarded the shield, and ran forwards with both hands on his sword, hacking and slashing at the guards like a madman. The guard ducked and parried his arms with their weapons, trying desperately to stay ahead of the ferocious War God.  Excolotis cut them down in groups of one and two, his sword slashing and hacking, sending limbs and broken bodies crashing to the ground.

Vigilant, a stolen halberd held high as he sought to protect his princess, moved forwards. Excolotis did not even break stride as Vigilance stepped between him and the princesses, simply letting the blade slide off his armour and through his robes as he stepped forwards and cut off the Legate’s head with a single sweep.

Luna shouted, and ran forwards again.

Excolotis met the Night Queen’s charge.

And for Celestia, the world slowed as the black blade shot forwards, and lodged itself deep in Luna’s chest.

Celestia screamed in rage and pain, as she watched Excolotis draw his blade from Luna’s chest.

She froze in grief as Excolotis turned to look at her, his eyes glowing red from within his helm.

She cried as she saw Luna try to get up, her life flowing from her chest in red spurts.

She snarled in rage as Excolotis ran forwards and raised his sword over his head.

She charged her horn with magic...

...and blasted the War God into the far wall.

Burst after burst slammed into Excolotis, and the sound of crashing armour rang through the hall. Celestia couldn’t see any more for the tears, couldn’t think; all she knew was that she was going to crush the life out of Excolotis.

It was a few seconds before she realised that someone was shouting her name.

“...Celestia! Celestia!” Celestia turned, still pinning Excolotis to the wall, and almost lost control of her magic when she saw Luna walking unsteadily towards the podium in the middle of the room; Celestia’s heart tearing in her chest as she saw her sister bleeding.

“The Elements, sister,” said Luna, “They are our only chance to restore Excolotis to us!”

Celestia looked back at Excolotis, who was still snarling like a wild animal. Everything she had known about the God was nearly gone, and there was still that stench of... sulphur... Celestia blinked. She should of have seen it earlier. It wasn’t Excolotis, but something else riding his flesh... something that the Elements of Harmony could defeat!

“Yes... yes that is a perfect plan!’ said Celestia, “Bring them over to us! Quickly!”

“Kind of a shocker isn’t it?” said Spider, “But it wasn’t just him. The Nightmare was in his head, pushing him on towards conflict and violence. Under its influence, Excolotis decided that he could rule the country better than the princesses, and tries to take the throne. Luckily, back then they had the Elements in the throne room with them, so they struck at him with the Elements, banishing the Nightmare and sending it screaming into the shadows to resurface nearly three thousand years later.”

“Excolotis, now freed from his torment, came to realise what he had done. He broke down and wept like a new born, begging forgiveness and making apologies to the princesses. However, the damage had been done. The griffins knew what the War God had done, and so they came in force, looking for blood.”

“Excolotis knew that he had betrayed his friends, so he made a suggestion. To be turned into stone and declared a traitor so that the Princesses would be spared the griffin’s rage.”

Vigilance’s head had rolled into a far corner of the room, his mane tussled and sticking out in all directions; at least where it wasn’t matted down with blood. A pair of gauntlets reached down, and picked up the decapitated head, brushing the wet, red stained mane out of Vigilance’s eyes.

All around the room, guards and apothecaries ran about, trying to stabilise the wounded and tending to the dead. Excolotis had no guards, Celestia assuring them that he was no threat, and that the danger had passed.

“Sister,” said Luna, her torso covered in bandages and healing salves, “What do we do?”

“Just rest, Luna,” said Celestia, “I will take care of the kingdom whilst you are wounded.”

Luna nodded and lay down on her side, healers trying to keep her awake and tending to her. Celestia herself walked over to Excolotis, who was still kneeling, staring at the head in his hands.

“Excolotis,” said Celestia, “The Gryphons may return in force seeking vengeance, I need you to be ready for invasion.”

Excolotis did not move, still staring blankly at Vigilance’s head.

“Excolotis!” shouted Celestia, “Wake! You must help us again!”

Celestia moved under Excolotis to look at him in the face, not hard considering Excolotis’ height, “EXCOLOTIS!”

“I...” Excolotis stammered, “Celestia...”

“Excolotis,” said Celestia, “Talk to me!”

“I...” Excolotis stammered, looking over at Luna, “Oh gods...”

“Excolotis,” Celestia snapped, grabbing Excolotis with her magic, “You must focus! Look at me!  What you did was not your fault; you were possessed!”

Celestia pried open Excolotis’ double visor, and frowned at his face. His eyes were already reddening, and he was openly crying. Celestia curled her lip in disgust as a line of mucus ran down his face. “Oh gods...” he said, “What... oh Gods...”

“Excolotis,” said Celestia, “we need you to pull yourself together!”

“He was my best friend,” said Excolotis, “He was my sworn brother... and I killed him...”

“Damn you then,” said Celestia, trotting over to Luna, “Luna, are you still strong?”

Luna looked up from where she lay, “I am fine, sister,” she said, ‘The blade slid between my insides. Yet I feel that I am lucky to be here. A little more to the left, and I doubt I would be here. How is Excolotis?”

“He has... been struck down.” said Celestia, “I cannot get him to talk sense. He knows how to treat this injury, does he not?”

“I am not certain,” said Luna, “But do not fear, sister, I am not that weak. I will mend quickly.”

“What do we do about the Gryphons?” said Celestia, “They have been wronged and will look for vengeance.”

“Surely Excolotis can fight them,” said Luna, “He did, after all, succeed in that insane campaign, even with that... thing in his skull.”

“He will not speak to me,” said Celestia, “But I will try again. Rest, dear sister, I will see if I can break the melancholy on his mind.”

Again, Celestia trotted over to Excolotis, side stepping around a maid as she scrubbed at the bloody floor. It was amazing how well the cleaning staff were arranged. Celestia made a mental note to praise her sister for her bureaucracy work. But she was wounded, and needed to be kept safe.

“Excolotis,” said Celestia, “Awaken, the foe is at our doors and you must fend them off!”

“I... I...” Excolotis slurred as he slowly stood, “...how can I...”

“EXCOLOTIS,” shouted Celestia, “You are a God of War! You are perfect in your form! There are no warriors greater than you! You have protected our lands for over a hundred years! You can, and will, protect us again! What do we do about the gryphons! How will they react to your behaviour? Think!”

“They... They will come for vengeance...” said Excolotis, looking down at his feet.

“Exactly!” said Celestia, ‘So you must awaken, and send out our armies to defend our lands!”

“I... I cannot...” said Excolotis “I...”

“You are the God of War,” Celestia roared, “there is nothing you can do in the field of battle! You led an army against a force that outnumbered you ten to one and crushed them beneath your feet! You can do this!”

“I cannot!’ Excolotis sobbed, “No one can! I used Blitzkrieg tactics against them! They were disorganised and isolationist!”

“I don’t understand,” said Celestia, “how can you not defend the realms?”

“Which is the bigger number, Celestia?” asked Excolotis, “One or five?”

Celestia blinked, “Five, of course, but I do not understand...”

“Five,” said Excolotis holding up his hand, spread out into a star shape, “One.” Excolotis continued, holding up the other hand in a fist. “One army, one group, one dedicated force with one goal and one mind can crush five equal armies if the armies are separate and disheartened. That is how I bested the gryphons.”

“But we have mighty fortresses,” said Celestia, “We can best them.”

“So we crawl into our fortresses and hide whist the Gryphons fly around and destroy, pillage, and slaughter our kingdom?” asked Excolotis, “How long until we starve in our walls, with nopony to tend the crops? A war like what you fear will cripple us.”

“So what do we do?” asked Celestia, “I do not think that we can work out our differences so easily.”

“To win this war we must make the Gryphons either unable or unwilling to fight.” said Excolotis, “Do you have any ideas?”

Celestia fell silent, and looked at the floor.

“You have an idea, do you not?” Excolotis asked.

“I have one.” said Celestia, “A scapegoat, a victim to blame. You, Excolotis. We hand you over to the Gryphons and we are spared.”

“What?” said Excolotis, “That is not guaranteed!”

“Do you have any other ideas?” asked Celestia, “But you will be turned to stone so that they cannot harm you, it is better if we do that. Do not worry, if there is any danger, I will reverse the spell.”

Excolotis snarled, pacing around the room. “Very well,” he said, “But the moment you can negotiate my release, do so. I do not wish to be a statue for a thousand years!”

“I am certain that I can do it in no less than three hundred.” said Celestia.

“I will hold your word.” said Excolotis.

“So Excolotis sacrificed himself...” started Twilight.

“To protect his friends, yes.” finished Spider. “And it worked, the griffins were placated, and Celestia began to plead his release. But griffins are slow to forgive, and they didn’t forget.”

“Is it historical fact, though?” asked Twilight, “It does seems a bit... sparse on the details.”

“It’s what happened,” said Spider, “It’s the truth.”

Props to Silly Mare for help.