Chapter 1
Darkness.
All around me.
No light, no warmth. Just an endless sea of darkness around me.
Me? Am I alive?
"You are" something answers.
Where am I?
"Don't you know?" the... whatever-it-is asks.
No.
"You are at the end of your time" the voice answers coldly.
What do you mean by that?
...
Tell me, what do you mean by that?
Silence.
Tell me!
Nothing.
TELL ME!!!
~~~~~~~~
The sound of thunder wakes me.
Following the thunder, I recognize the sound of rain falling to the ground.
'Better open your eyes' I think to myself groggily.
I open them, revealing something I couldn't understand.
First of all I was in, well I suppose a garden, lying in the middle of it. But bigger than any vegetable garden I've seen before. Taking a concerned and closer look around I notice that it seems this garden wasn't supposed to grow vegetables. It was a big flower garden.
Secondly, the rain didn't fall onto this glade.
'How strange' The thoughts were slow, like they were thought by a pony that was still half asleep, 'where am I?'
No answer.
"Of course there is no answer" I say quietly to myself, "who should answer anyway?" I try to get onto my hooves, but my body won't move. I look down.
Before my eyes are able to even see my legs I see something else.
A sword.
A long ash-grey sword, runes engraved on it. The hilt and guard are almost black. But there are two things that are out of the ordinary, besides the colour, with this sword.
First of all, with blade and hilt together it's over 37 inch long.
And the second thing is a giant crack running through the whole blade, from the tip, all the way down to the hilt. The blade was practically broken in 2 parts with the crack dividing it. The most runes on it were also cracked and unreadable.
But seeing this weapon makes me feel strange, it was a gnawing sensation, the feeling like you forgot something, something very important.
My eyes widen.
"No! Don't!" The mare cries, but I ignore the command. My desire to protect my oath, to protect her, my liege, is too strong. I jump forward, drawing the giant blade off my back, it's grip in my mouth. I swing it down with all the strenght I have.
"You whelp!" says the giant figure in front of me as it grabs the blade with it's bare paw, stopping my attack in midair. A drip of blood gushing out of it, down the blade and onto my face, as shards of grey steel fling of the blade, a giant crack dividing the blade now in two "You should have listened to her!" the clicking sound of a flip reaching my ear.
The cry of my liege in my ears is the last thing I hear as darkness pulls me into it's cold embrace.
I shake my head.
"That... that's the last thing I saw" I whisper to myself, "after that there is only darkness." My eyes wander down to the blade again.
'I know you' I think to myself.
The blade seems to answer my thoughts, a rune in the middle of the blade, the only rune that is completly undamaged emitting a faint light.
My eyes widen again.
The sound of a hammer, hitting steel on an anvil reaches my ears, flattening them. The high clinging keeps on.
"This blade will be engraved with 5 runes. Each rune stands for one of the .... and it shows you the lifeforce of your comrades. The chosen weapons of your comrades will also carry these runes. Each weapons has it's own primary rune, the primary rune stands for the owner of the weapon, and four secondary runes. If your comrades die, the fire that burns in the secondary runes will fade away, each rune that dies, strengthens your rune. As macabre as it may sound but you all are at the top of your power if the other four are dead."
Another thunderclap.
I jump, suddenly standing.
It was still storming.
I sigh.
'I'm still afraid of the thunder' I think to myself, 'what am I? A chil-'
"You sure?" suddenly someone, a female voice, says behind me.
"Yes, I'm sure" a male voice answers.
I hear rustling behind me and turn around. Two ponies, clad in full armor come out of the bush. Well to be more precise, one of them walks while the other stumbles out of the bush, faceplanting into the ground.
"Ow!" the mare, a pegasus, calls out getting back up and looking with a grim expression at the stallion "you did that on purpose!" she exclaims rubbing her snout.
The stallion, a unicorn, says nothing, just looking at me.
'Pick me up!' I hear something shouting.
The mare, following the stallions gaze, turns to look at me. The stallions eyes wander behind me, looking at the sword lying on the ground, his eyes widen.
"Intruder!" the stallion calls out, his horn surrounded by a reddish light, his voice louder than it should be.
'A simple voice empower-spell' I think, but with an alien mind. It feels like it's not me that is thinking anymore.
The pegasus jumping, with a backflip, away from the stallion, taking flight. But instead of attacking me from above she flies away, the direction they had come from.
The stallion was now in fighting stance, his head low, his horn pointing at me.
"You shouldn't do this" I say to him, my voice cold. Again, I did nothing, my body was moving on it's own.
The stallion charges towards me, channeling magic to attack me.
'Amateur' I think annoyed, jumping backwards landing with my left backleg on the tip of the blade, making it flip upwards this way, grabbing it's hilt in my teeth I jump, with a twirl, out of the stallions way. I noticed that the sword was almost as easy as a feather as it cut through the air on it's way down. But before the blade was hitting the stallion, my body twisted the blade to actually not cut through the head of the stallion.
The stallion crashes down as the flat side of the blade hits his head, sadly, his movements and my counter made it impossible for me to avoid any cuts at all, even if it's just a part of his left ear.
The stallion was still conscious, screaming in pain as the cut off part of his ear landed right next to him. Holding his bleeding head with both his hooves, he flails around.
'Damned, I wanted him unconscious and mostly unhurt' my thoughts still cold.
"Quiet" I say coldly, looking down at the stallion. He wasn't listening, his cries to loud for him to hear me.
"Quiet" I command him again, this time a little bit louder. He was still flailing and crying.
"Quiet!" I shout at him, ramming the blade into the ground right next to his head. He stops flailing, looking at the blade that missed his head. His eyes roll inside as he faints.
I walk around him, lifting his hooves and taking a look at the wound.
'A perfect cut, obvisouly painful, but it's only the outer part of his ear. He should still be able to hear perfectly after the wound has healed. The wound should stop bleeding in the next few minutes' I think a little bit relieved that he is fine, more or less. Walking around him again, I sit down next to him, leaning against the flat side of the sword I look up.
Thinking about the whole fight I'm more than a little bit confused.
'What happened just now?' I ask myself.
'Your body responded' a voice whispers. I look around and notice that besides the stallion there is no one else on the glade.
The stallion was still unconscious.
"Where are you? Show yourself!" I shout.
'So slow' the voice answers. A warm feeling rushing up my spine. I turn around to look for the source of the sudden warmth.
I find it.
The unscathed rune in the middle of the blade was now glimming in a bright orange, it was also pulsating.
'You forgot' the voice states, the rune was pulsating as the voice reaches my mind.
'What have I forgotten?' I ask, no one.
'Our purpose' the voice answers.
'Your purpose?'
'Not 'your', our'
All the time the rune on the blade was pulsating in rhythm of the voice, speaking to me.
And suddenly I knew who was talking to me. I finally remembered it. I remembered everything.
The sword was talking. Or to be more precise...
I stumble away from the sword. Looking at it with horror.
'So you remembered, finally' the sword states.
"Anvil?" I ask quietly and with a shaking voice, "is that you?"
The rune pulsates.
'You even remember my name' the voice was suddenly filled with sarcasm, 'I should feel honored if you of all remember my name.'
Ignoring the sarcasm, I get back up to my hooves looking at the blade.
"Why are you in there? You are-" I'm too scared to finish the sentence
'Yes. I am' Anvil answers.
"But why are you in Garnjiel?" I ask.
'You even remember the name of your weapon?' I swear, if his corporal form would still be here I could see him shaking his head and laughing at me, 'impressive.'
"Of course I remember the name of my weapon!" I say harshly.
A moment of silence.
'Do you remember all?' he asks, his voice was now sounding almost sad, regretful.
I look at the rune for a few moments before I sigh.
"The twin claws, Berjioth and Narlek. The wingblades, Amortheyf. The spear, Walhur. The mace Mairhem and the claymore Garnjiel" I count them. The rune was pulsating faster.
'Not our weapons' his voice was still filled with regret, 'us.'
I'm dumbstruck.
"Of course I do!" I quickly answer.
'Name them.'
Another sigh from me.
"Lieutenant Cracked Ice. Captain Dark Anvil. Marshal Shining Insignia. Lieutenant Lunar Eclipse" each name was sending shivers down my spine and made my heart feel like it was pierced by a sword.
There was silence for a few moments.
'You forgot one' Anvil answers with an especially long pulse.
"Who?" I ask curious.
'Yourself.'
I'm dumbstruck again.
'Did I really forget myself?' I ask myself, thinking about the names I just said, counting them.
'You seem to have forgotten that we share the same mind' Anvil interrupts my flow of thoughts.
"Could you stop sneaking through my thoughts?" I ask him furiously.
'I might. But only if you tell me your full name' he answers.
A new feeling hits me.
Dread.
"My full name?" I ask him.
'Do it' he commands.
"What if I don't want to?" I ask desperate.
'I will drive you insane' he states coldly.
I sigh.
I shiver.
"Sir-" I begin.
'I said your full name!' the runes pulse was getting physical now, a wave of energy rushing through my mind.
"Sire-"
'No!' another wave hits my mind.
"What do you want from me?" I almost cry.
'That you don't deny your name' he answers immediately.
Another sigh.
I hated my name. I hated my name with every fiber of my heart. My name was the reason why I only knew pain in my foalhood.
"Dark Siren..." I began, this time there was no wave hitting my mind. I hated this part of my name, my mother told me once that there are reasons for why I was named this way. I never fully understood them.
'Dark' was the name of my clan. In my clan all ponies are named Dark. It was always claimed that my clan was a bunch of assassins. Ponies that want to overthrow the unicorns. It was true, we always had a affinity for alchemy and blacksmithing. We all were good with weapons and we all loved the darkness.
The Dark-clan was feared and hated everywhere. My foalhood, or to be precise my missing foalhood was nothing else than pain, I had to train my body, day in day out to become a strong part of the clan. The Dark-clan was always a clan of guards. We were the only earth-pony clan that was not a bunch of farmer. We had massive backbones, we allowed no one to shove us around. And because of that our clan had many fights with the unicorns and the pegasi. Memories of my past welled up in my mind.
I was taught that the unicorns was a bunch of cowards that needed magic to do anything at all, they wanted me to hate them so I would have no problems in fighting them.
I was also taught that the pegasi are the only creatures that are above us, literally. They taught me that pegasi would use every chance to attack earth ponies. They tried to make me fear them, telling me it was the biggest honor if I could defeat a pegasi in a battle.
'Finish it' it was a cold order.
"...Neylitha" I finish my name.
Silence.
'You still missed a part' Anvil states, this time I swear I could hear him smirking.
"Dark Siren Neylitha the 'Broken Sword'" I answer, recalling my nickname.
A laugh, the rune pulsating faster and brighter.
'Good old times' he says.
"Yeah, 'good' old times" I answer my voice oozing with sarcasm, "brother."
The pulse of the rune stopped for a second, 'long time since you called me that.'
Anvil was not my biological brother, but a brother in arms and a clan-brother.
"Of course. You nev-" another rustling stopped me midsentence.
Seven ponies all clad in armor and armed with swords, spears and other weapons walked, besides one, out of the bush. The pegasus from before was with them. She faceplanted again. Growling she looked up, rubbing her snout again.
"There! There she is!" she points at me with her other hoof, her eyes widen as she sees her fallen comrade.
"Cloud!" she cried.
I walk up to my blade, grabing it's hilt I pull it out of the ground. Instead of pointing it at my enemies I just lay it on my back, the rune on it emitting more light as a scabbard of light surrounds the blade and a armour surrounds my back so the blade wouldn't fall off.
The six ponies, the pegasus was backing up, got in stance, ready to fight me.
I shake my head.
'Are they all so hot-headed?' I think annoyed.
'Apparently' Anvil answers.
'Didn't we agree you would stop with that?' my inner voice showed of my annoyance.
'This is not the time to have some private time, this is a battle and you need me' he simply answers.
I shake my head again.
"This is lieutenant Adamant" the big stallion in front of the group states loudly, "you are hereby prompt to drop your weapon."
"Sorry, not happening" I answer, "but it would be nice if you could tell me where I am."
"You're not allowed to talk!" He states, "drop your weapon or you force us to subdue you!"
I sigh.
'Have you remembered enough for everything?' Anvil asks.
'I should have' I answer. Lowering my head, channeling my strength.
'Ready?' I ask.
'If you are' Anvil answers, the runes colour changing to red.
"Don't say" I start, the lieutenant rising his brow, "I didn't try" I finish.
The most of them couldn't seem to follow me, I jump forward, pull the blade of my back ramming it's hilt into the jaw of the lieutenant, breaking his teeth, the blade sliding of my back burying it's blade into the ground, I twirl to the left and use my hooves to crack the next ponies cheekbone. The cries of those both startle the others. I jump above them with a somersault, using my left backleg, I crack the helmet of the pony to the right open, landing I rush around and buckle the next in the chest. The other two managed to get out of my range quick enough.
Taking a few deep breaths I try to calm my quickened heartbeat, and trying to ignore the stinging pain in my backleg.
'You got slow' Anvil states, 'the last time we fought together you managed to fight ten to one and fight back six at the same time without them reacting.'
"Shut up" I answer loudly still breathing heavy.
"I didn't say anything" the pegasus cowers, trying to shield herself with her hooves. I turn around and look down at the pegasus.
"You don't have to cower, as long as you don't attack me you don't have to be afraid of me" hobbling to my blade.
'You wounded?' Anvil asks, the colour of the rune changing back to orange.
"Just a bruised hoof" I grab the hilt and swinging the blade onto my back, again the light surrounds the blade sheathing it and making it possible for me to carry it.
I turn to look at the pegasus, still cowering.
"Hey!" the pegasus jumps, looking up to me, tears and fear reflecting in her eyes.
'Damn, she looks like a beginner' mentally I shake my head.
"Where are we?" I ask her.
"Training grounds to the south of canterlot" she answers.
"Training grounds?" I ask curious, looking around, no this still looks to me like a flower garden, "this is a flower garden."
"Yes-, well no, you see you are in Celestias garden right now, a small place where princess Celestia-"
"Celestia?" I look at her, "where is she?" I ask louder than I actually wanted, making the pegasus whince.
"I-I-I w-w-wo-won't t-t-t-tell y-you" she answer with a shaking voice. Hobbling closer to her I sit down in front of her.
"Tell me" I say in my most intimidating voice. Her eyes widen, she tries to answer but no word won't escape so she smiply shakes her head.
I lean closer to her, "Tell me" I command. Another shake.
'Don't use too much of your 'Aura', or you might break her' Anvil warns me.
I sigh.
"Look" I begin, leaning back, "I'm not the one who started this fight, and if you want to you can check each of them. Sure they are battered, but they are all alive."
Looking at her fallen comrades around her, a glimmer of hope in her eyes.
"I'm not here to hurt anypony" I say. She looks back at me. She wants to believe me, I can see it. But she's afraid to do because of my fights with her comrades.
"Look, none of you gave me a chance to actually explain anything. You just attacked me right?" I ask, trying a smile, it feels out of place.
The pegasi shruggs.
"So please, tell me. Where is Celestia?"
Her eyes are still wide, but she seems to understand.
"In Canterlot" she answers. I'm confused, I've never heard of a town called Canterlot.
"And where is this 'Canterlot'?" I ask curiously.