> Warhammer 40K: The Path to Ruin
>  by Berzerker_Mohawk
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue: Planet Fall
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


I understand that there will be some confusion in some of the terminology used in this story. This is my first fanfiction EVER, so I apologize beforehand for any mistakes or confusion. Feel Free to Ask any question, and please comment. *some of the tags in the story is subject to change*



+Year: 41st Millennium+
+Location: Aboard the Chaos Murder-class cruiser: Dawnbreak of Eras,+
+Sector: Unknown+

The space around them rumbled with the explosions of different sub-levels being hit by the on-coming barrage. Alpha and his squad were thrown to the walls of the narrow corridor, but kept walking without undeterred . The Ultramarines' ship was in retreat and the Legionnaires are ordered to get to their boarding pods.

“Get me that battle cruiser, they can not be allowed to escape!” The captain’s voice shouted through the vox-speakers, even over the din of explosions and quakes. Hearing the captain’s proved only to motivate the squads further, quickening their pace to execute their orders.

“Hurry up, I don’t plan on letting those loyalist scum get away!” sergeant Grundar ordered. 

The squad hit the wall once more as another explosion erupted within the starship. The vox-bead in his ear was filled with vox-chatter, but he managed to pick an important one.

'The battle cruiser “Vanguard of Ultramar” preparing for warp jump. All boarding squads to their pods at once!'

“Sir!” Alpha yelled.

“I heard, keep moving!” Sgt. Grundar ordered, quickening the pace. “We will spill their lesser blood in the name of Chaos and the Alpha Legion!”

“Khorne, give me strength…” Alpha growled to himself, eager to battle.

They reach the boarding pods, theirs was the only one left to launch. “Everyone inside.” he ordered, punching the keys in to open the pod.

Alpha was the first to enter the pod and set to secure himself in the throne, when another explosion hit. This one was much closer and it sent the whole squad off their feet. Alpha slammed to the back of his seat, the harness locked down, and the pod door slammed shut. 

The explosion must have damaged the machine and causing the pod to malfunction. Which in turn caused the pod to explosively fire off with only Alpha in the pod staring at the monitor hanging above in vain at his squad as he traveled roughly through the void towards the battle cruiser.

Alpha stared at the monitor a moment before switching to another one. The Vanguard  was already commencing warp jump, its bow already plunging into the chaotic energies of the broken space of reality. All around is a scene of battle, most of the loyalist attack craft are retreating back into the hangers of the Vanguard, while others were still engaged in the firefight or trying to shoot down the remaining boarding pods before they penetrate the ship’s hull and attack from within.

However, in his observation he realized that his situation is worse than he thought. The explosion had caused the ship to shift slightly out of place, so that when the boarding pod fired off, instead of heading towards the Vanguard, Alpha is blasting through the void straight into the entropy of the warp portal.

Alpha felt a long forgotten feeling, something that not even facing a Warhound Titan made him feel: Dread. The Warp is that of pure chaos itself. Ships, housing thousands, have been known to go through these portals and come out as millions-of-years old ghost ships, possibly housing whatever entities from the Warp that has consumed the crew, those were the lucky ones. Most of those ship were protected by layers of heavy armor plating, psychic-barriers, and a psychic navigator whom guides the ship through the storms of chaos.

With only the Dreadclaw and its meager hull in comparison, Alpha will be at the mercy of the Warp and the daemons that lie within.

As the massive warp portal looms in the monitors, Alpha could only silently curse his fate. This is not how he imagine he would go out. Cruel fate seems has decided that he will be torn apart by the Warp and its inhabitants. No glory, no favors from the Dark Gods, only fed to the daemons like a bone to hungry strays.

Even as he plunged into the portal, he steeled himself and kept his eyes on the monitors. However, when he was inside the Warp he did something he never thought he would ever do. He screamed. 

Pain exploded throughout his body, he grit his teeth as best he could but it doesn’t help that his focus continued falters. The monitors sparked out and come back to life constantly. Multicolored souls shift past and around him and his armor and vital readings were going haywire but all he could feel was the Warp’s influence taking a toll on his body, and the screaming in his mind. Bones shifted, limbs changed, and the sound of metal of his armor creak as it too morphed under the effects of the Warp.





The Machine Spirit within the Dreadclaw continued to press on relentlessly, driving forward through the ethereal storms of the Warp. It didn't care for the daemons that clawed at its metallic skin or of the failing systems. The engines roared with increasing furiosity as did its raging spirit, tearing through the unreal space as though to wage war. It crash through daemons and impossible cities of the Warp alike. One unlucky daemonette had its head tore off, as one of the claws punch into the daemonette's throat before severing the head completely. The body went through a flow of exotic spasms before falling lifelessly and devoured by the energies of the Warp . 

The Dreadclaw soon found itself facing another force. At first it was only a small amount of resistance, but it soon grew to a force that threaten to halt the pod. The Machine Spirit roared at the opposing force. It was meant to pierce the skies, and no force will prevent its purpose. The resistance refused to give up. They battled with one another unrelenting. The Dreadclaw pushed its engines, unheeding the warning alarms. Slowly but surely, the resistance begun to break, ripping the space within the Warp. Seizing the opportunity, it pushed the engines into overdrive. It soon found itself back in real space, and sailing towards an unknown planet.





Alpha opened his eyes, unaware that he blacked out at some point. He didn’t understand how he made it through, but after an eternity he did. The gravity shifted within the pod and shake violently. The systems no longer worked, and he almost forgot that he was making planet fall when the pod landed with a thunderous crash.

The smoking pod opened like a burning flower, the sea-green paint burnt black from the reentry, and the harness finally released its hold on him. Alpha fell to the floor, the pain draining everything from him. His power armor was damaged, and his visor readouts were faint, the suit struggling to regain proper function. Thankfully his armor wasn't out of power, or else he wouldn't be able to move at all. With what little fortune he had, he proceed to pick himself up only to notice the changes that the Warp has done to him. 

His hands and feet were replaced with hoofs and his armor was morphed to suit the new body. With a hoof, He reached up to his helmet, and by the shape of the morphed helm it seems that he also gained a muzzle.

At his backside, Alpha saw that his paludron became his rear armor and from which an opening from the center of it sprouted a hairy black tail with a single large unkempt green stripe running the length of it. 

Enough time was wasted taking in this new form, so he look at the area around him.

It was dark out, the full moon shining brightly in the night sky. A mass of trees surrounded him, and the sounds of chirping insects invaded his ears. The pod had left a large smoking ditch nearby, which had knocked down a few trees. He decided that it was time to scout the area to get his bearings. 

However, as soon as he tried to move, he doubled over in pain, screaming. The screams of the Warp still lingered in his mind, threatening to kill him. The pain only continued to spread out to the rest of his body.  

With nothing left to do, he proceed to crawl, not knowing where he was going. He just felt like he needed to get moving. He continued to crawl for a good amount of time before he reached a dirt road and finally collapsed in exhaustion, screaming stopped.

As his vision blurred out, the last thing he saw was something running towards him calling out. 

“Sweet Celestia, are you alright?!”

What’s a Celestia? he thought to himself, before blacking out.
> Chapter 1: Pursuit
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


*Author Note*
First I would like to thank the people that read the prologue and gave me their thoughts on the story, which helped me fix a few things and motive me. Thanks to those that fave the story and/or gave it a thumbs up.
For those that gave it a thumbs down, I'm aware that I can't please everyone and 
This took awhile to work on. I've been quite busy working, taking care of my little sister, and with my Chorus rehearsals coming up recently and a concert coming up next week, it was was a little tough to get some work in to this story.
Also I should point out that I'm not an Active story writer, so working on this is a somewhat slow process as I type the story when I find the time.
now you won't see another chapter for awhile as I will be working the next TWO chapters to gave a juicy bone to give to my readers to chew on. 
BTW I always believe reading from FIMFiction is best read with the "Dark Setting"
*Now on with the story*



The chain-sword whirred with a sickening wetness as it penetrated the heavily armored royal-blue chest piece and hardened bone, letting loose a gushing stream of blood that covered Alpha and its host. Alpha faced his victim with a black screaming death mask, the eyes a set a vibrant red. His victim sang a bloody death rattle as the chain weapon ripped at his organs within. 

Alpha withdrew the active weapon from body, and tore the blue helmet off his victim by cutting its head off. Holding the bleeding thing in his hand, he looked at it briefly - the white Ʊ  symbol of the Ultramarines painted on the forehead - before discarding the head into the pool of blood.

A rune symbol appeared from Sgt. Grundar on his visor display, signaling him that they are moving forward. The battle is still goes on, and there are still many enemies to fight. Alpha rushed towards to join his squad, his weapons mag-locked to his armor except for his bolter pistol.

They have been spotting more patrols lately, they must be drawing close the communication bunker that somewhere in this dense jungle. Alpha blend in with jungle like his brothers, their sea blue-green armor gave them more cover as they slinked in the shadows, the undergrowth crushed softly under their footsteps.

He turned to the brother next to him, slightly staring at the sea green helm that many of his brothers wore, and setted the vox to a private channel and signaling his brother to do the same.

“Sigma, I wish to speak about the Primarch.”

“You mean our Father, Alpharius Omegon, what of it?”

“I can’t get over this feeling that something’s wrong. He should have gone off planet when he had the chance.” 

“You have voiced your worries to our Father -as did many more during the gathering- and they are misplaced brother, our Father knows what he is doing, he always did. The Ultramarines are too regulated by their Codex Astartes. They lack flexibility with their strategies and tactics. They are too leashed to their pitiful book and it has made them weak.” Sigma chuckled softy, though the vox made it sound more like a tank shifting gears.

“I worry all the same, the Ultramarines are nothing to trifle with. They outnumber us greatly, and even though we have fought through harsher odds, I can’t get over this feeling that something’s amiss.” Alpha spoke drearily. 

A rune from Sgt. Grundar appeared on their red visor display, signaling them that more enemies have been spotted.

Sigma only grunted with disapproval, “The day will be ours. Never forget brother: We are the Alpha Legion. We are all Alpharius. We are all one.”





Alpha awoken slowly, the after-pains of the Warp still lingering, but he felt numbed for a different reason. He found himself in a bright white room lit by the morning sun. The first thing he notice that he was laying on top of a soft bed with railing on the sides. The bed was uncomfortable; he preferred his slab of his cell. A quick body assessment confirmed that there were no intrusive surgery done and that he was still a pony, which -unsurprisingly- he didn’t like.

He saw that he was hooked up to a few machines, one was a heart monitor, which beeped erratically to the beats of his twin hearts, and several others that he didn’t recognized. He had a tube connected to his arm that lead to a clear bag of dripping fluid that hung from a pole, his senses telling him that it’s the source of his numbness. 

Alpha gripped the tube with his mouth and ripped it out from his fore hoof with rising anger, his systems quickly process the liquid to nullify the numbness. He didn’t need any medical treatment from whatever lesser being was trying to administer, for his biology was far greater than any mortal man or being. However, he looked with silent anger as he stared at his bare body. They’ve stripped him of his armor. 

Right on cue, a white pony with a pink mare walked in. She had a red cross mark with hearts on her flanks and the only piece of clothing she wore was a simple nurse cap with the same symbol as that on her flank. 

She walked up to him and spoke with a gentle voice, “It’s good to see you up, We were worried about your irregular heartbeat. I’m Nurse Redheart, I hope you are feeling better” 

“Where’s my armor?...” Alpha asked, putting up a calm demeanor. however, his true emotions must have shown in his eyes, for the mare looked at him unsure how to answer without setting off the large pony.	

“I’m sorry.” she responded, a nervous cough escaping her throat. “The doctors couldn’t check on your condition with all that metal encasing your body and it was almost impossible to move you in that state, so we had a team to remove it.” 

“You will pay dearly for desecrating Legionnaire armor.” Alpha growled, rising from the bed and jumping at the defenseless nurse with hooves ready to strike her down.

The nurse shrieked and rolled over, dodging the punch by an inch before galloping away screaming for security. Alpha moved away from the small hoof-shaped crater he made on the floor and tried to chase the fleeing nurse, but when he tried to run he slipped and fell to the floor. 

“Damn these appendages.” Alpha growled, slowly getting up on all four. He knew that he didn’t have to much time before the security or something else comes by and stop him. Slowly he moved on all fours in a slow and shaky motion, like how the nurse moved when she ran out. 

After a minute, he managed to walk around effectively, if not comfortably, and he made his way towards the large window where the sunlight beamed in, surveying this new world.

The buildings in this town were a lot shorter than anything he’s use to, even the tallest building in town is hardly the size of the smallest hab-block. The buildings themselves are so brightly colored, and look so vulnerable with the woodwork, a stark contrast to the dark, steel and concrete buildings he have seen. Past the town, he spotted a barn and an orchard of trees. Beyond that a dense forest, the area where he most likely crash landed. On another side lied several pathes that into whatever is past the horizon. 

The inhabitants were also ponies. He can see a market from his vantage point. Ponies everywhere, of every shape and color imaginable, and there were some that even flying, but Alpha quickly lost interest after taking in the facts. He was on an unknown planet, surrounded by equine xenos and he’s stuck in the form of one until farther notice.

“Quickly, we have to restrain him!”

That was his cue to leave. Alpha grabbed at the bed sheet with his mouth, and ran out towards the window. The guards came through the doorway, in time to hear him crash through the window and the bed sheet ripping on the broken window. When they looked down they saw the sheet leading down, and their mysterious charge running towards Ponyville.

Nurse Redheart poked her head into the room a minute later, “Is he secured?”

“No, he escaped” said one of the guard ponies, turning to the nurse.

“And he’s heading towards town” said the other, still looking out the window.

“Oh no, we need to get him back before he hurts anypony.” 

“Don’t worry ma’am, the guards and I will get him back.” said the guard.





Alpha made his way into town, no caring to hide his tracks since whomever will be sent chasing after him will no doubt think to check the closest town regardless. Finally reaching the market center, he allowed himself to relax a bit as he walked around and learn more of this place. He spotted stores selling particular merchandise, restaurants ranging from fine dining to simple snacks. He even spotted at building that looked like it was made out of food itself, he had seen some strange things in his time but even that has left him a little baffled. 

As he made his way to “Town Hall”, at least that what the sign said on the primitive light post, he took glances at the inhabitants for closer inspection. He noticed that while the regular equines were many, there were a few number of them flying, and even fewer that had a horn and produced magic. He was also a lot larger than any of them, surprisingly only a few looked at him, while most that noticed him simply greeted him, all of them quickly got back to whatever they were doing.

The most noticeable thing of all of them is that almost all of them, save for the younger ones, had a mark on their flanks, each unique to their own. He quickly glanced at both his flanks. No mark whatsoever. This will make it more difficult for him to blend in if he is the only one without a mark, something he’ll have to deal with later.

Around Town Hall, there were thankfully lesser number of ponies around. He was nearing the bridge when he decided to get a good look at himself from the water that ran under the bridge.

He had a sharp muzzle and his teeth were largely unchanged. He had a long black mane that partly draped his face with a strong sky-blue tint on the side of his bangs, and his eyes a twisting color of sea-green. Along his neck bore the scar from the claws of a Genestealer, the creature managed to slash him when his squad was exploring a space hulk. Regardless of the old scar, by pony standards, he wasn’t that bad looking but his thoughts are filled with questions that needed to be answered.

His thoughts returned to his awakening, finding a enough time to do so. “Sigma would never let me hear the end of it, if he knew about this.” he thought out loud.

Suddenly, he felt something hit his hind leg. He turned to see a bright multicolored ball at his fee- ‘hooves’. 

“cuse me mister, can ah git my ball back?” said an accented voice.

He turned to see a little yellow filly standing before him, her red mane topped off with a large pink bow. Her friends standing behind her: a white unicorn with purple and pink curls, and a orange pegasus with an unkempt purple mane. The unicorn was looking at him with smiling interest, tilting her head now and then as though studying him. The pegasus on the other hand was already bored, resorting to kicking a rock back and forth with a hoof.

“Hurry up Applebloom...” the pegasus cried out annoyed.

“Hush you, ah got it.” Applebloom retorted, “Say...I’ve never seen yu 'round here before. You new here?”

“Yes, I’ve recently arrived here.” Alpha said, kicking back the ball to the fillies,  “Do you where I can find a source of information? The written type would be preferable.”

“Ah know just the place. You wan'ta head over to the library over there.” Applebloom pointed past a couple houses, where a tree stood within the town.

“You have my thanks little one.” He said, making his way towards the library. Behind him, he can hear little Applebloom’s voice, 'Darn, still no cutie mark…'

After bobbing his way through several buildings, Alpha was just coming out an alleyway, only quickly retreated back into its shadow. He spotted a guard from the hospital, still wearing his white uniform, talking to a female bystander. From where he was hiding, he can hear the guard asking her if she have seen a pony fitting Alpha’s description, to which she pointed towards town hall and sent him on his way.

Alpha kept a look out and noticed seven more guards among the crowds, and even three pegasus patrolling the air. He stealthily made his way through the crowd, keeping his head low to avoid attention. However, the crowd worked in his favor, allowing him to bypass many of the guards. For his amusement, He even tapped one on the shoulder, causing the guard to look around and even causing him to head off in the other direction, as Alpha made his way to the library.

He reached the library without any trouble, the guard still patrolling most of the town though, scanning the grounds for the Chaos warrior. He lifted a hoof and knocked on the wooden door, shortly wondering how do they operate certain things without hands.

“One moment!” cried a female voice. A purple aura covered the door handle and opened the door. In front of him stood a purple unicorn, her well-kept mane a variety of purple, pink, and a very dark blue. However, the mare’s eyes went wide with recognition.

“It’s yo--!” Alpha knocked the mare out with a hoof to the face, which sent her crashing to a nearby wall. He went up to inspect her body, he didn’t hit her that hard, so there wasn’t anything too damaging, only a large bruise.

He locked the door and made his way to the shelves, picking five books to go through. By the time, he placed the last book on the table, he heard something coming down the stairs nearby.

“Hey Twilight, what’s with the noise?” said a small dragon, yawning. Spike glanced at Twilight lying unconscious with a large bruise on her face. He turned to the unknown stallion suddenly standing before him, by Celestia he was large maybe even larger than Big Mac. He swore that the stallion was by the table a second ago, before the mysterious pony knocked him out.

“Enough of that.” Alpha said, looking down at the dragon. He took several minutes to check if there was anyone else around. He found a door that led to the basement, and he spent even more time dragging the unconscious bodies down. The dragon’s body took little time to put away, the mare’s took a little bit longer. Finally he was able to set himself by the table and tasked himself to learning what he can with from the books in front of him.





It didn’t take him too long to finish two of the books, they were pretty basic reading material meant for kids but at least now he knew that he was in a place called “Equestria”, and the (recorded) creatures that lived there. In addition, he learned a little bit about Equestria’s ruler, Celestia. Apparently she is strong enough to move the sun in addition to having a score of soldiers at her disposal. Before he could pick up the next book, there were heavy knocks on the door.

“Twilight Sparkle, we need to speak to you.” a stallion spoke from the door.

Alpha finished putting the books back in their place and check outside from the windows upstairs. Sure enough, it was the guards. There were only three of them, two earth stallions and a female pegasus. They knocked on the door some more, impatient growing on the lead’s face. Alpha made his way down and used window in the back. He quickly made his get away.

“HEY, Stop right there!” a mare shouted. He ran and glanced behind him. The pegasus was making a beeline towards him, as the two stallions ran after him. The pegasus was the fastest one out of the three and tried to tackle Alpha, but he dodged it, causing her to crash into the dirt which took her some time to compose herself and give chase.

His best bet was to lose them was to get into the Everfree forest, but he needs to get out of town first. So he ran through the town, weaving his way between buildings and past large crowds in order to at least confuse and slow them down. However, the few pegasi that still patrolled the town were now hot on his tail, while four more stallions chased him. One stallion ambushed him when he came out of an alley. Alpha knocked him out the way, causing the stallion to hit the wall and knocking him out. He didn’t have the time to simply kill them outright

He managed to reach the outskirt, galloping his way down into the orchard, which was filled with apple trees. Innocent baskets were knocked out the way as Alpha plowed his way through, spilling the contents, which were crushed by his pursuers. Alpha saw that they were close behind, while the pegasi flew overhead, unable to into the accurately tackle him with the trees in their way. Up ahead, Alpha saw a orange pony wearing a stetson.

“WhAT the Hay is going on here?!” She exclaimed. 

Alpha ran pass her, simply ignoring the accented mare. However, after seeing the damaged that Alpha and his pursuers have done, the cowpony had other ideas. Applejack whipped out her lasso and managed to bind Alpha’s legs together.

“Now where do you think you’re going?” she said roping the stallion in. 

He had to work quickly, so Alpha wrapped more of the rope on one of his leg and pulled hard, sending a surprised mare sailing towards him. When she was close enough, he head-butted her with a bone-rattling impact. The cowpony groaned dizzily, before collapsing unconscious. Using his teeth, he cut the rope and rushed himself towards the Everfree once more. 

However the damn pony took up most of his time and two pegasi engaged him, one of them tackling him while the other hovered in the air hoping to swooping in. he knocked out the one on top of him and launched him into the other with his hind-hooves. One of the Earth stallions tried to tackle Alpha by himself, only to get a nasty buck-shot to the face.

Alpha managed to reach the Everfree forest, but not before passing a yellow pegasus and her cottage. Her only response was a quick ‘eep!’ when Alpha passed her on the road and entered the forest. He managed to get deep within the forest, his pursuers chasing from behind, while the pegasi were forced to stop their chase. Alpha looked behind him and spotted only two ponies - one blue, the other white - still giving chase, but seeing how they are constantly looking around only means that they can’t see well in the darkness and that they are only following him by the sounds of his hoof steps. It was time to end this. 





“Morning Whistle, he went that way.” said the blue pony, his partner close behind.

“Night Dart, remember that we have to take him in without hurting him.” Morning Whistle explained.

“Have you SEEN what he did to the other ponies!?” Night Dart exclaimed, “I won’t kill him but there’s no way he’s coming out unharmed.”

It wasn’t long before the forest to become dark and menacing, having long steered off the proper path a while back to chase the escapee. No longer hearing the escapee’s hoofsteps, the two of them slowed down to a walking pace to conserve energy.

“I think we should go back. Organize a search party” Morning Whistle said, worry growing on his voice as he eyed warily at the trees.

“Fine, go back you newbie,” Night Dart said, “I’ll actually DO my job and make sure to bring him back!”

Morning Whistle just looked at his co-worker and headed back the way they came. It didn’t take long for Night Dart to lose sight of Whistle in the darkness and trees. Just as Night Dart mentally insult Whistle fro leaving, he heard movement nearby and quickly resume his hunt. This time he was crawling low now, being careful not to make his presence known. He looked pass a bush to see a small opening where a silhouette sat, it was hard to tell from the distance and lack of light.

“You should know that no one should ever travel the Everfree by themselves.” a dreadful voice said behind him.

Night Dart looked up behind him to see the large pony. Next thing he knew, he was sailing through the air into the opening with a black eye. He saw that the silhouette he saw was no more than a moved rock, by Celestia he felt stupid for falling for that.

“You should’ve listened to your little friend, Morning Whistle, he was smart enough to go back.” said the Escapee, casually walking up to Dart. “Now you will tell me what I need to know and you’ll get out of this alive.”

“Buck you.” Night Dart said weakly. The Escapee just placed a hoof on a leg and pushed down until something ‘snapped’, Night Dart screamed in pain.

“This easily can be less painful, just tell me what I want to know.” the pony smoothly, his voice rumbled with a underlayer of a growl.

“Like I’ll tell you anything.” Night Dart said, confident in his defiant despite the broken leg. For a second, Dart thought he saw a corner of the stallion’s mouth curved into a smile. 

“Very well then, you made your chose.”  the stallion said drawing close to Night Dart’s face, the smile no longer there. 

“Blood for the Blood God…”

“Wha--?” was all Night Dart was able to say, before he felt sharp teeth tore at his throat and choked in a pool of his own blood.
> Chapter 2: To the Library!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Twilight Sparkle dear, please wake up!” a voice called out. 

Twilight opened her weary eyes to see a worried Rarity looking down at her while Rainbow Dash hovered above. When she tried to speak, Twilight could only groan in response, she felt like an apple cart crashed into her and backed up again. 

“She’s Awake!” said the cyan pegasus, hovering in the air. The sounds of movement helped her focus her thoughts. She sat up and saw Pinkie hopping down the stairs with Spike coming along slowly from behind. Pinkie was as happy as ever, but Twilight could tell that Pinkie was quite worried as the rest of them. Spike on the other hand looked like he was worse for wear, a nasty bruise on his shoulder and neck.

Pinkie zoomed to her in a flash and spoke in a flurry of words. “Ooh! Ooh! Twilight, Twilight, it’s SO good to see you up! When I heard you needed help I came ASAP, which means ‘As Soon As Possible’. Well not exactly 'as soon as possible'. I had to feed Gummy, deliver an order for the Cakes, make myself an afternoon snack, fix my "Pinkie's Super Duper Spinning Whirling Air Machine" after I crashed it. But after I finished adding more balloons, THen I came as quickly as I could and when I got here TheRe were so Many ponies at your place and I got worried that you were having a Party and I forgot about it and then, and then--”

“That’s quite enough dear.” Rarity said, placing a hoof on Pinkie’s mouth, though Pinkie was content to continue speaking despite the physical barrier. She turned to Twilight. “Apparently a horrid ruffian from the hospital escaped and caused all kinds of trouble, and when I heard that you and Applejack got hurt…I nearly fainted.”

“Applejack got hurt?!” Twilight asked.

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash answered. “She tried to stop that jerk, but he managed to knock her out. The Apple family is talking care of her now. If it was me, that colt wouldn't see me coming." She threw a one-two hoof combo in the air for emphasis. “He was lucky that I was at Cloudsdale, and I didn’t hear about it until I got back, which reminds me. Pinkie, Why didn’t you hear anything? From what I heard, this guy caused quite the stir in Ponyville, and I figured that you and your Pinkie Senses would’ve caught wind of it.”

“That’s an easy one. I was taking a nap!” Pinkie exclaimed happily. Rarity and Rainbow Dash just looked at her with disbelief before deciding to drop the matter. Spiked moved up to Twilight, both still quite sore from their injuries. "I also heard that Fluttershy was busy trying to calm her animals, but she is currently hiding in her cottage” Pinkie perked.

“I didn’t wake up too long before you and the ponies from the hospital were kind enough to send a medic to check up on the both of us. We were just about to move you to the bed, when you woke up.”

“I need to report this is to the Princess right away.” Twilight rose with trembling legs, only to get caught by her friends.

The room was suddenly filled with brilliant light, and from the door stood a celestial presence with wings flared and a spectral mane flowing in ghostly winds. Princess Celestia folded her wings as she walked down the stairs with grace.

“It’s quite alright Twilight,” the Princess said when she joined their little group. “I’ve received your letter about your discovery of the strange pony, but I couldn’t come by early due to royal business. From what I’ve heard, it was this same pony that caused all the commotion in town.” A look of pitiful sorrow rose in Twilight's eyes.

“I’m so sorry Princess, if I knew he would be this dangerous I would’ve--”

“Twilight Sparkle, you acted with the best of intensions towards a stranger, and I commend you for your kindness. You couldn’t have known that he would’ve been so hostile. You have done well to inform me of your discovery. I blame myself for not being here when you needed me.” Princess Celestia spoke with regret. She moved closer to Twilight and cast a healing spell on her. “Now Twilight can you recount the events that have led to you find this strange pony?”

Gaining her strength back, Twilight stood before the goddess and told her story. How she was star-gazing when she saw a strange ripple in the night sky. the ripple soon became a literal tear in space, in which multi-colored lights danced within. It was quite difficult to focus on it but she could feel the energy pulsing around it. Shortly after the rift appeared, an unidentified object came through a blazing down into the Everfree where it crashed. She even pointed out how surprised that no one else woke to this. Wanting to investigate the site, she immediately headed to the Everfree in the dark of night. 

“Really Twi…you tried to go into the Everfree in the middle of the night?…” Rainbow Dash interrupted.

“Yeah, not one of my best ideas,” Twilight admitted, sheepishly. She continued her story. By the time she arrived to the entrance of the Everfree, she was having second thoughts. It wasn’t long after entering the forest, she heard something coming out of the woodwork. She was prepared to repel, but upon seeing that something crawling out and collapse, she went up to it and discovered that it was a pony in the strangest of armor, the most notable feature was the green hydra emblem on the pauldron. Discovering that she couldn’t even move the pony, even with magic, she went to the hospital for help, and for two days things were normal until the pony broke out, and the rest is history.

“I’m sorry, Princess, that I wasn’t too clear on the first letter I was kind of a rush.” Twilight said. 

“It’s quite alright Twilight, I understand.”

“What should we do?” Twilight asked.

After moment of comedic thinking, Pinkie's ears perked up. “We should throw him a PARTY!” she said lifting her arms in the air as party balloons, confetti, and streamers burst out from behind her. somehow… 

Everyone turned to her with disbelief, Rainbow Dash stared displeased. 

“Really Pinkie…” Dash sighed. “That crazy pony hurt Twilight, Applejack and who knows who else, and you want to throw him a ParTY?!” she shouted close to Pinkie's face.

Pinkie only giggled and squished RD's face. “Come on Dashie, if we throw him a party maybe he’ll stop being a mean-meanie-grumpy-pants and apologize. After all, no pony can resist a Pinkie Pie Party!”” Pinkie happily hopped in place as she said the last part.

“Pinkie, dear, I highly doubt one like himself would take part in your parties...” Rarity said, trying to reason with Pinkie.

“Well it can’t hurt to ask.” Pinkie said smiling. Rarity decided that it was best not to engage the argument.

“So what should we do now Princess?” Twilight asked.

Princess Celestia looked upon her student. “We won’t force him out of hiding, but I can not risk having him hurt any of my little ponies. I will station a group of guards to watch over Ponyville. You may speak with Gallant Aura if you need anything.”

On cue, Gallant Aura came down the basement steps and bowed before the  Princess. Gallant Aura sported a dark tan coat of fur and a fine horn on his head. He stood with a pose that demanded respect from those under him. In contrast to the Canterlot Guards’ gold armor set, he wore a heavy armor set of iron with chain-linked armor covering the joints and neck. He also had a angular visor propped against his horn, allowing everyone to see the scar on his blind left eye, curtsy of a griffon claw from the war. 

“Princess, we have set up our camp at the end of the park you ordered, and I have the guards patrolling the town.” Gallant said, his voice sharp and precise.

“Excellent work Gallant Aura. This is my student Twilight Sparkle along with her friends, you will assist them when needed.” said the Princess. “I must go now Twilight, I still have to set the sun for the coming night. All of you rest well.”

“As you wish Princess.” Gallant bowed towards the Princess, and turned to Twilight and her friends. “Unfortunately I can not stay any longer, I must get back the camp and oversee my camp, but feel free to speak to me for assistance.”  Gallant said taking his leave.

“So what now?” Dash asked, “We gonna get this jerk and knock some sense in him?” she said bonking her hooves together.

“Rainbow DASH.” Rarity said sternly. “Now is not the time to think going after that no good pony, while our friends in their condition.”

“She’s right.” Twilight said. “It’s going to be night soon and it will be hard to track him, and I have no intention of going in there in the dark with a dangerous pony running in there. A good night’s sleep sounds really good right now after the whole ordeal.”

“Whatever, fine…” Dash flew out the of basement “I’ll see you later.”

“I must be going to.” Rarity said “I have to care of Sweetie Belle and make dinner.”

“See you girls.” Twilight said, waving a hoof. “You going to go too Pinkie?”

“Yeah, somepony needs to throw a Welcome party for her new friends. See you later Twilight.” she said. Pinkie threw down colorful smoke bombs. When the smoke cleared, Pinkie flew her strange flying machine out of the basement. 

“See you Twilight” she said over the noise of the machine, waving a hoof.

“Come on Spike, I need to do a little studying before I can go to sleep.” Twilight said.

Spike sighed. “I’ll make some tea…” 





Alpha stared out of his cave, watching the silhouette of Ponyville as the moon rose up to the sky, small dots of the pegasi. Even after devouring Night Dart for his memories, the Hunger took over him, much too quickly over something so little. It didn't care though. It demanded to be sated. In his bloodlust, he tore at the corpse and devour its flesh with innate fervour, but it wasn’t enough. The Craving called out louder. After moving through the forest killing any little creature that crossed his path, he soon found a cave up on the mountain side and annihilated a large black bear that dwell there, its blood spattered the walls and its mangled carcass still laying in the corner of the cave where he killed it. He stood at the mouth of the cave, the bear's blood clung to his fur and dried on his lips, his mind felt clearer after the bout.

He can the gentle breeze on his matted fur, the warm rays of the rising moon reach him with unfiltered eyes. Yet he cared little of it, if anything he was annoyed by it all. It constantly remind him that he was without his armor, and without it he felt…incomplete. He must acquire his armor as soon as possible. Once he possess his armor, he can figure out what to do after. He stood and made his way into town once more, walking with purpose.





“Here Twilight” Spike said, pouring another cup of tea for her next to a stack of books. For the last two hours, she have been reading and skimming through each book in search of the answers she sought. However, each one did little to quell her inquiries and if anything only raised more questions for its elusiveness.

“I thought you said that you wanted to get some sleep?”  he asked

“I still can’t get my mind over what I saw in the sky that night.” she said, closing yet another book and adding it to a growing pile. "There is a possibly that the stranger and the anomaly are connected."

“I know that it has a mystical properties to it -I felt the surge myself- but none of these books even speak about such strange portals with strange multiple changing lights within them.” she exclaimed, ready to give up.

“Maybe the Canterlot Royal Library will have the answer?” Spike stated. He regret it the moment he said it. Twilight sparked up with zest.

“Spike, you’re a genius! I’ll go to the Canerlot Library, look over their books about mystical portals and find the answer I am looking for!” she said excitedly, rushing over a few things to pack. “Come on Spike, let’s go!” 

“But Twilight, Canterlot Library isn’t open this time of the night, and you said that you were going to get some rest.” Spike pled. Twilight, however, was already standing beside an open door.

“I’ll get some rest after I get some answers. To the Royal Library!” Twilight said, taking in a heroic pose before dashing out the door.

“You were better off out-cold…” Spike muttered as he hurried along after her.





“Can you get these papers to Filing, Stacy?” 

“No problem, Mr. Whistle” Stacy whispered.

Morning Whistle finally finished writing his report about the incident. When he finally got out of the forest, it took a bit of time to get a team to go with him. When they did find Night Dart, he was horrified at what he saw, a few others lost their lunch. 

Night Dart’s remains, which is to best fit the description, was torn to shreds. A large chunk of his neck was ripped, where most of the blood -which was difficult to tell with the giant red mess until on-site autopsy crew came by- flowed out. There were so many lacerations on the face that mostly bone was left on half his face. He could still see the look of horror in Night Dart’s good eye, his other eye was found on a nearby tree. Even one of his limbs was ripped, they didn’t need to look far for that one with the distant sounds of more upchucking.

He regretted leaving him alone to his death. He knew that the Everfree was dangerous, yet he left him there because he was a coward, alone with a terrible killer. He not getting any restful sleep tonight, or any other night for a while. Maybe he’ll stay in his office for a little bit and get some paperwork done…

A few minutes later, he collapsed to sleep.





“He’s really depressed over what happened to Night Dart.” said Stacy Gentlehoof, an intern at the hospital.

“That’s really unfortunate.” said Swirly Pop, a new guard filling in for Night Dart. “What did they ever do with the escapee’s items?”

“I don’t know, but I heard that they’re shipped it to another team in the Canterlot Archives for study yesterday.”

“Is Canterlot that castle in the mountain side?” Swirly asked.

“Yeah that’s Canterlot Castle, home to the Princesses. Canterlot itself is home to a lot of noble and/or rich ponies. A lot of ponies around here know that.” Stacy said, looking at Swirly Pop questionly.

“I was a transfer from Manehattan.” Swirly Pop said. “I never saw Canterlot before ‘til I arrived here.”

“Oh right, sorry if I came off rude.” She said apologetically. "I've never been to Canterlot myself too."

“It’s quite alright. Now if you don’t mind, I must get back to my rounds.” Swirly Pop smiled, leaving Stacy to her own devices.

Swirly Pop made his way outside some distance away from the hospital.Once he was good distance away from the hospital, He took of the uniform and stashed it in a hole, he may have use for it later. It was a risk to question the mare like that, he almost blew his cover asking about Canterlot. The real Swirl Pop was dead, his body well hidden. At least now Alpha knew where his armor is located. 

The local mode of long range transportation was the train station, so he got the late night ticket with the bits that Swirl Pop had on him, and made his way to Canterlot. Unknown to Alpha, Twilight Sparkle was two cars in front of him.

It didn’t take long for him to make his way to Canterlot Castle, however, something concerned him. the castle is the location of his armor and possibly his weapons, but it was also home of their ruler Princess Celestia. However, the mare said that it was home of the “Princesses” meaning that there was more than one powerful being living here. He must find the location of the archives and his armor and take it back, but he must first get inside without alerting the guards that patrolled the area.

His ears picked up the sound of hooves. He slid into the shadows and waited...





“Come on Spike, we’re burning moonlight.” Twilight said quietly, dressed in her black outfit that she wore the last time she snuck in. The Canterlot Gardens is the least guarded so Twilight and Spike were able to sneak through without much trouble.

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” he says close behind, dressed in a similar outfit.

“So why did we need to bring some rope? why can't we just teleport in, or come in the same way the first time?” Spike asked.

“I would teleport us in but it seems that they placed a magic barrier to prevent anypony from doing that, and they have increased their security since the last time” She explained.

“Spike, can you use the hook and rope to get to that window?” she asked pointing up.

“I’ll see what I can do.” He said, swinging the hook around before tossing it to the windowsill. The hook flew and landed with a satisfying ‘thunk’.

“Good job Spike, climb the rope and I’ll get myself up with magic.” Twilight instructed.

Spike nodded, “See you up there.”

It took some time to climb the rope but when he reached the top, Twilight had already used her magic on her horn to cut one of the window panes out.

“Spike, I need you to unlock the window for me”

Spike crawled into the small window space unhooked the latch and opened the window. When Twilight jumped inside, He gathered up the rope and closed the window to prevent alerting the guards. Twilight found a table for them to use and collected a few books, while Spike check the halls outside for guards. Spike soon later grabbed a few books himself and sat on the floor near Twilight, leaning his back on a bookshelf as they both read in the moonlight.

Half an hour have pass and they still haven’t found anything. Twilight was getting unnerved as she skimmed scores of books on magic and the supernatural. Spike on the other hand was nodding off to sleep, so use to the comforts of slumber. Twilight hit her hooves on the wooden table causing Spike to jolt up from his sleepy state.
“Twilight, we’re suppose to be quiet” Spike’s eyes gazed around to make sure no pony hear them.

“Argh! None of these books even mention anything close to phenomenon that I saw last night, not even Starswirl the Bearded have any records of it.” Twilight said. “the thing I saw was…dark, powerful. It was like seeing Nightmare Moon for the first time, only a hundred times scarier.”

*De-Thum*

“What was that?” Spike asked.

“I don’t know, go check.” Twilight whispered.

Much to his discomfort, Spike ventured out into the rows of slightly dusty shelves. He trended carefully into the moonlit shadows. As he neared one of the corners of the library, he swore that he saw a moving shadow. He rushed over only to see a fallen book. He picked up the book up for examination. Its skin was made of smooth glistening black scales, on the cover itself was written in golden letters: Liber Chaotica

Strangely it had no author, instead there was a grim steel six point star with a blue eye in the center of it. He shudder at the creepy eye because of how lifelike it seemed. Without opening the book, Spike see that the pages itself was heavily weathered, despite the near-perfect condition of the cover. Seeing as there is no one around, he figured it was best not to go back empty-handed.

“Find anypony?” Twilight asked when Spike returned. 

“No, I did find this weird book.” Spike said handing the book over to Twilight.

“The Liber Chaotica.” Twilight read the title. “Weird, there’s no author.”

“That’s what I thought too.” Spike chirped. 

“And there seems to be a bit of magic flowing from the book itself, something I never thought was possible, given of how old this book seem to be.” Twilight said. She spent a few moments to examine the book further, taking note of every corner of it. 

Finally she proceeded to open the book and read the first page, written in bloody ink on top the original cover page print.

“To those that found this book, may your Gods have mercy on your souls.”

“I don’t like the sound of that…” Spike worried. “We should put it back.”

“Spike, We came here to learn something, anything, about what I saw three nights ago, and that’s what I plan on doing.” she said.

Twilight skimmed through the book, reading aloud of the dark working of Kaos or best known as Chaos. The chaos that Twilight read was different from Discord’s. Where as Discord mainly causes disorder and confusion, These gods of chaos are horrendous and have hate against one another. Entire pages are dedicated to the unimaginable acts of their followers, each more terrible than the next. Twilight never heard of any of the daemons before and their names alone sent chills. 

Every time she read another page, she felt herself become more cold and a growing sense of dread. Spike was not faring any better, he just sat there listening to Twilight as he chewed at his claws. She envy Spike for not having to read the book. The  

She flips to one of the pages and --

“Oh DeAR CeLeStia!!” she screamed, falling off her chair.

“What happened?!” Spike asked.

Twilight just pointed at the book in fright. Spike carefully looked at the book from an edge. The picture was a page and a half long, the pigment was old but the color was still there. The image was that of what Twilight saw that night, in greater detail. She can see the daemons stare at her from the book, hundreds upon thousands maws melded within the image seeking to devour the souls of the departed. The image was so detailed that Twilight swore that the daemon maws were trying to get to her. She turned to Spike and saw that he shuddered.

“Man…that’s creepy.” he stated, quickly looking away.

“I think I had enough with this crazy book” Twilight said, quickly closing the dark book. “I should report to Celestia about my findings as soon as possible.”

“But wouldn’t the Princess wonder what you were doing in Canterlot?” Spike asked.

Twilight stopped in her tracks. How will she explain herself to the princess? Will she be disappointed in her intrusion, will Twilight be sent to jail? Will she banished from Equestria or to the Moon?! Oh, the thought of punishment from the princess has Twilight flustered. She paced back and forth, stuck between telling the princess of her finding or avoiding punishment.

Her thoughts were interrupted when bells rang through out the castle. Outside the double door, Twilight and Spike can hear guards running around.

“Intruder in the castle! Get the guards!” Twilight backed away from the doors, fearing that the guards have found her. Instead, the rumbling of hooves upon carpet continued to goes past until the noise died down. Twilight let out a breath that she wasn’t aware of holding. She turned to Spike.

“You know what Spike? I believe this is a good time to leave” Twilight said. Spike just had a look that says ‘You don’t say?…’

Unfortunately the garden is swarming with guards rushing the Canterlot Archives, so they were forced to disrobe the suits and snuck out into the halls, weary of being found.

“Hey You!” Twilight and Spike froze and turned to see a lone female unicorn guard. “What are you doing here?!” she questioned.

“umm…I’m here to talk to the Princess. I have vital information that must reach the Princess.” Twilight said nervously.

“Well I can’t let you go alone. There’s an intruder in the castle and the Guard is on high alert. I can’t take you to the Princess but I can get you someplace safe. Stay close to me” the guard said. Twilight and Spike followed close behind as the female guard led them down corridors 

“So what’s your name? I‘m Twilight.” Twilight asked, after several minutes. 

“Just call me Katy.” she said, smiling. “Come on we’re almost there.” She trotted ahead of them.

Suddenly a wall and Katy was consumed in a explosion. A shadow emerged from the dust and debris, shouting can be heard from the back of the hole. Spike was knocked out from the blast, and Twilight was still a bit dazed from the shock wave. The figure was dressed in immense sea green armor and a screaming black-faced helmet hung on his side. The figure also held the limp Katy by the throat, clenched between a red maw 

When the dust settled moments later, Twilight saw who it was.

“YOU!”

The red pony was covered in blood, most likely not his own. His armor was in a similar state but also held scorch marks and scratches. His eyes was filled with malice and recognition. Within seconds, the red pony was upon Twilight. She didn’t even have time to fear for her life.
> Chapter 3: More Blood, Less Story
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	As an Astartes, Alpha have learned that things never goes as smoothly as you plan, but the reaction to the situation is what makes an Astartes who they are. His chain sword lay a several meters away from him. The blood-stained hydras glared at him, calling to him, but the guards stood in the way, aware of its capability if he were to hold it once more. The guards let loose a wave of magical shots and sent their vanguards at him, Alpha tore through their ranks with devastating effect, wielding a bleeding broken spear taken from a fallen guard, like the many others that littered the hall behind him. He used the bodies of the recently slain as shields, picking them up in his hooves and charging them. He is still not use to standing on his hooves but as long as he can do it he couldn’t care less. Magical blasts blew away chunks of his flesh cover and a vanguard’s spear tore through it, making his shield null. He threw the meat shield at the vanguard, pinning him long enough for Alpha to quickly jam the spear into his skull. 

With his speed, their magical shots and primitive spears didn’t come close to hitting their target, those that did find their mark were ineffective against the heavy power-armor. He lodge the broken shaft at a guard’s throat, who in his dying breaths attempted to dislodge it. A panicking unicorn fired at his face as Alpha charged, successfully knocking his head aside, but his victory was short-lived as a creamite hoof smashed the private’s skull against the white stonework. 

“Stop him already, you are the Canterlot Royal Guard!” their sergeant urged them on. However, a few of his troops lack the discipline to carry on the will to fight causing those that did to meet an early grave. Their sergeant cursed at their shortcoming and drew his short sword to met with the Astartes. The sergeant was skilled to say the least with the short sword and offered a more interesting fight than his subordinates, Alpha would be lying if he said he wasn’t taking a little pleasure in it. 

Their blade flew in the air with roars and silent deadliness. Many times the sergeant drew his blade close to vital points of the armor -the joints, the exposed neck- but Alpha was able to parry the blade against each strike. In addition, with each parry the iron blade chipped against the force of the roaring creamite chain-sword. In a last ditch effect the Royal Guard grabbed one of the fallen flower pot nearby and threw it at Alpha, whom blocked it, shattering the pot and spraying water over him. The Guard lunged at Alpha in his blindness, his blade aimed once more at the exposed neck. Suddenly the Guard felt a burst of pain followed by numbness and fell to the floor with a hard thump. The guard couldn’t move as his blood seeped into the floor, a deep gash at his abdomen exposing his innards to the open air. Alpha paied no more mind to the sergeant as he drew his final breath. He shook the water out of his fur. 

“He’s over here!” Another patrol had found him, deploying a mix of earth ponies, unicorns, and even pegesi armed with various melee weapons. He turned to them, he will no longer run, he can no longer play it quietly. He has what he came for and now these xenos will learn the strength of an Astartes. The time to strike is now.

He charged once more into the fray.





[2 HOURS PRIOR] [Within the Library]

The small lizard creature looked left and right, seeing no one, it took the fallen book with him. Alpha hung above on, using the bookshelves as ledges. With his purser gone, he dropped down and left through the double doors, after making sure that no more ponies were around.

The corridors had little means of nighttime lights, save for a few candle lights that lit a few halls. The moon provide the means of lighting up the building in an evening glow. There were few guards save for the distant hoof-steps that he hear echoing from the different parts of the castle. He was cautious regardless, he still doesn’t know the full extent of their security. He crept through the halls, attempting to find any signs of the archives.

He soon passed by a set of stairs that led to the lower levels of the castle, conveniently labeled Canterlot Archives. he made his way down to the steps with silence until he reached an iron door with a restriction sign. He tried to push the door only to find it locked, so he hid under the stairwell until a guard made his rounds. When the guard opened the door, he rushed at the guard and snapped his neck. He donned the guard’s armor and took the keys off his corpse. After hiding the body, he went inside disguised as the guard.

The door led to a single hallway filled with more rooms. Hundreds of shelves lined the hall, filled with scrolls, books, and other small oddities. A few had paintings and large carvings between the shelves. There were rooms with containers that held items locked within magical force field. From fossils of ancient beast, to dusty books not meant for the public to see. Alpha took inventory of all the items, seeing every conceivable use that he may need of them in the future.

Finally he reached a room that lead to a balcony. Below, guards and other ponies  moved about. There were only a few guards and the other ponies were all unicorns. Some were elder and up-coming researchers, their apprentices and assistants milled about taking notes and doing what the researchers asked of them. At the center laid a large,  round, marble platform, lay his prize: his Legionnaire power armor in separate pieces. The researchers took notes as they ran varies tests on 

He needs to get the room cleared.


===============


A crash echoed through the room. The guards quickly dispatched to the main hall, a few of the researchers and their assistants follow them to assess the damage. At the scene, some of the researchers broke down in tears, one fell to his knees and cried out “Why Celestia?! Why?!” at the now broken remains of a once perfect skeleton of an ancient dragon, a project that they’ve spent weeks cataloging and collecting data. 

The few that remained in the room were careful as they continued their study, one of the apprentices would’ve saw a shadow moved if he was paying attention. Ebony Mane was busy using his magic to take notes and data as his mentor spoke to him, whom was looking over the cooled armor after the spell resistance test.

“Amazing…” Searin Gemlock, Ebony’s aged mentor, said, rubbing his aged hoof around the scorch mark of their recent experiment, beneath the scorch mark was a perfectly undamaged pauldron. “This armor is able to resist the effects of some of the most powerful magical inflictions. Look at the inscriptions Ebony,” he said, pointing to the minuscule markings on the armor, “We don’t know the origins of these words nor what they mean, but we do know that they play a role in the armor’s protection, least in the magical portion of it. It’s simply amazing, this technology is far more advanced than our own, and we can make so much innovation with enough data.”

His expression suddenly changed to a frown, “The one thing I can’t get over is size of the armor as well as the weight. The design is made for an earth pony yet there is no record of ponies growing naturally to this size. Not only that, it took five unicorns to lift the whole armor up with their magic to transport. Even if we used an enlargement spell on a willing subject, it would only be temporary let alone for extended use lest we risk magical overdose. Even then, there lies the matter if the pony is strong enough to wear such things…”

“None of you are fit to don the armor regardless,” A dark voice sounded behind his mentor. The old unicorn screamed in protest.

“By Celestia, don’t sneak up on me like that. I nearly had a heart attack,” he scolded

Both unicorns got a good look at the their sudden guest. He was wearing Canterlot armor, yet it was somewhat of a tight fit. There was something about his chaotic green eyes made Ebony Mane uncomfortable. While the his mentor bashed the oversize guard about proper social conduct, the apprentice shifted his eyes from the guard to the armor. 

‘None of you are fit to don the armor.’ An idea formed in his head. He called to his mentor and whispered to him.

“I think one of his size should be able to fit in the armor, and if we have to, we can use a strengthening spell.” he whispered. The old unicorn thought about it for a minute, looking over the guard and the alien armor set. Finally, he nodded and turned to the guard.

“We would like ask you a favor,” the old unicorn said, “This artifact has been generous given to us by her majesty Princess Celestia for our study, and we would like your to test this artifact, seeing you’re the only one large enough for it.”

“It would be an honor,” he said passively, guess guards have an image to keep. 

“Alright everyone, we have a subject to test the armor.” the unicorn ordered. The crew immediately mobilized to their stations. Three ponies disassembled the armor, one unbolt it, another unscrewed them, and the last used his magic to lift the heavy pieces with much strain to the proper placement on the large red guard.

The old unicorn watched with excitement as the pieces came together without flaw. A lot of time have been spent on studying the pieces of armor and trying to understand the armor with no avail, few could not understand a thing about it while others would get a sense of foreboding and claimed that they’ve been getting nightmares, both parties quit the research, but that can all change now that they have a subject to test the armor itself and its capability.

After a painstaking hour of fitting, everyone in the room was in awe at what they saw. A metal beast that towered over all of them, the ornate armor was bold yet dull. The face was that of a angry black god, its red eyes glowing with infinite malice and its maw a set of razor plate teeth. A faint hum of power thrummed from the armor, as the red eyes awoken.

“SYSTEMS ONLINE.” the guard’s voice emanated from the suit, which had a cold metallic edge to it. A round of cheers erupted from the crew and researchers, eager to start testing and collecting data. It was a crowning moment, both the mentor and apprentice were in joy. It was only when the jubilance died down did the wearer speak.

“Where are the weapons?” The voice maliciously.	

They looked at one another in confusion. The armored pony had not moved since donning the armor, so they thought they might have misheard him, their reluctance was also due to the last pony that handled the weapons end up blowing himself up and his lab. Not to mention that only the Princesses and the researchers knew about the weapons

“Well we have to do a few physical tests before we can move to any other testing.” one of researchers said, cautious of the unmoving giant. The others researchers they wanted to flee, but didn’t dare in growing fear of catching the attention of the metal giant.

The suit turned to towards the one talking to him with suddenness that the pony was forced to stare at the deep glowing eyes.

“I’m only saying this once. Give me my weapons at once.”

The guards immediately surrounded the imposter, weapons and spells at the ready. The Gemlock spoke out seriously.

“Stop this, the weapon tests are not yet ready for any study. They are too dangerous and volatile for any pony to handle right now.” 


((a little music to set the tone.))


The guards continue to be weary of the armored giant. It easily towers over them, but it will not stop them from doing their duty. However, they were so focused on keeping him in their sight that they were caught off guard when he moved to one of the guards and snapped his neck. They were paralyzed with shock but that didn’t stop the imposter from launching himself and killing two more guards. He quickly picked up a spear in his mouth from one of the fallen without skipping a beat, and charged once more. Finally the remaining guards snapped out of their fearful daze and attacked. The unicorns charged their spells and fired. Many of the shots just grazed the armor, a few leaving small scratches and hitting other things or leaving scorch marks on the walls. The few shot that did hit the mark, did little to stop the metal behemoth. The spearhead pierce the unicorn guard’s skull and caked his coat crimson. He yanked the spear out and sliced the throat of the last guard before he set his weapon at the ready. 

Save for those forty seconds of death, silence loomed in the room, the lives of the guards slowly spill out onto the tilted floor. The researchers were in shocked as the instant death that the creature dealt to the guards, they have not seen such a display of death with the exception of one of the researchers setting off one of the explosives from the suit on the first day. Suddenly the quiet was broken by a single shout of fear.


“RUN!!”


Ebony Mane ran screaming, as did many others. They were being chased by the destructive juggernaut, his metal hoof steps smashed onto the floor with each thunderous step. At one point, the hoof-steps seems to have stopped and moved towards a different direction. More guards rush pasted him, and loud bells can be heard across the grounds, but no sooner the guards went past, Ebony Mane heard a mechanical roar and a slick sound of tearing flesh that accompanied the screams of agony.

More guards attempted to stop the mad pony but were met with the same fate as those before them. He can hear the screams of his fellow workers and their cries of help as the monster reach to them first and dealt the killing blow. A few times, he could hear them pled for their lives just before it swiftly ended. His lungs burned as he galloped. He wasn’t the most active of ponies much like his childhood, and oh how he regretted cutting gym as a foal, as weak sluggish muscles threaten to slow him to his doom. He can only hoped that by some sheer luck that Princess Celestia will stop him and end the massacre. 

As he and a few of surviving researchers turned the corner, Ebony Mane found that they are not the only ones evacuating. What seems like an impossible amount of ponies from the night shift and day shift staff were heading in the same direction, herded by the Royal guards. However the congested halls made it difficult to move quickly and the other ponies weren’t aware of the amount of danger they are in. Ebony was still not confident in his safety even with the large group of guards protecting them, even when the resounding thuds of the metal hoof steps and sounds of battle were far behind him. He ran up to one of guards.	

“You need to stop that monster!” Ebony shout in the guard’s face, “You need to get every guard you have and stop him!”

“Get back with the group citizen, the Royal Guard are doing everything in their power to quell the intruder and evacuate everypony from the castle as soon as possible.” the guard said impassively, surely he doesn’t understand the danger that pony poses.

“You don’t understand, that thing is a monster! It can not be stopped by the Guard alone, only the Princesses can stop him. Where are they?!” The conversation has drawn the attention of the crowd, a few starting asking the same thing with hushed voices. The guard noticed this.

“Princess Celestia is making preparations with the Captain to stop the intruder, and Princess Luna is overseeing the evacuation.” the guard responded. The guard’s tone only angered Ebony further. He wanted to say more, but he stopped suddenly when he heard the sounds of thumping hooves. It wasn’t the sound of clinking guard armor, it was a set of hooves that rumbled with the force of a buffalo herd. Everyone turned towards the noise.

It was the intruder covered in blood and his helmet hung on his side. Ebony can see his face was contorted into a battle harden war face. His red coat matted with crimson and he noticed the twin slanted scars along his neck, making Ebony shortly wonder about what kind of large beast managed to wound him. The intruder managed to get the alien sword that they had in the same room that day. Ebony remember examining the weapon, it was like nothing they seen before. It was shaped like a sword but further examination revealed that the engine was meant to rotate the teeth-like blades along the sword’s edge. Even from the distance, Ebony can see the burr along the length of the blade, the roar of the weapon was that of a mad beast.

“MOVE! EVCAUTAE IMMEDIATELY!” the guard pushed Ebony aside and meets the intruder with three more guards. Ebony and the rest of the evacuees ran, the crowd screamed as they did so. They ran, escorted by two pegasi guards, until they ran out the palace gates. Ebony pause, as everyone else ran into the night, and looked back, the windows were glowing red and he can still has the faint growl of the mad beast…





[PRESENT]

The chain blade tore through the guard’s neck with a sickening smoothness. The guard futilely attempted to stop the grave wound as his life spilled on Alpha’s metal hooves. Alpha looked up from his recent kill. Several guards lay still, a few of them still twitched a hoof in death spasms. Alpha briefly viewed his handiwork. The guards managed to corner him in one of the many rooms in the castle, but they were no match for his skills. Blood stains the once immaculate windows, remaining candles in their holdings dimly lit the room, cracked stonework bleeds from the smashed skulls of the guards, a pristine painting of a bloody hero standing victorious against a now dead dragon brought to life with actual blood, and a fallen daisy soaks in the crimson liquid. Battle stimulus and blood-lust burned within, urging him to seek out more prey, he didn't have to wait long. More guards pour out from the hall and into the room, a combination of pegasai, normals, and large squads of unicorns,

“Magic Division, Aim!” shouted the commander. Unicorns readied their magic blast. Alpha was already at charging speed, with the chain sword’s microengine roaring for battle. 

“Fire!” A stream of magic shots flew down the corridors, showering him with hits like small punches, ignorable. 

“Beam Fire!” the commander ordered, and a score of unicorns moved to the front with horns charged and released a large beam of magic at Alpha, exploding on impact. The guards briefly felt their pride swell for bringing down the monster. with orders to capture the intruder alive, the earth ponies drew close the small column of smoke to bring him in. Suddenly, Alpha jumped out of the cloud of smoke and cut a guard’s head clean off.

“Vanguards Charge!” the commander ordered. The heavily armored earth ponies charge with spears and halberds at the fore, pushing Alpha back with the blunt force at the cost of their pole-arms and to some their lives. Alpha veered to the side when a grey pegasus launched a javelin at him. He gripped the weapon with both hooves and tossed it straight back at her with such strength that the pegasus didn’t react until it pierced her half way and embedded her to the wall. Alpha’s systems were signaling red flashes within his helm, the beam attack had drained most of the power pack and several other subsystems are in danger of shuting down, he can not afford to battle for too lest he risks a glancing blow that would stop him indefinitely. 

After he gutted one of the guards, he mag-locked his chain sword and charged into the wall behind him. He can hear the commander shout the “Beam Fire” and just as his shoulder guard crash through the wall. The unicorns’ magic exploded around him, sending him through the wall right into a female guard and the purple unicorn whom Alpha remembered was named Twilight by the small lizard. Twilight was knocked back from the blast and Alpha crashed into the female guard pony. She was quicker to react than he thought, and managed to avoid being completely crushed beneath the armor, but her hind hoof was caught and her blunt hoof strikes were meaningless against the Astartes’ ceremite armor. He bit into her neck, drawing a flow of blood. she strikes quickly became weaker and soon lost consciousness, but she pulse still beat. He toss her body out of the way and march towards the now wide-eyed Twilight. 

“YOU!” she shouted. He quickly responded by knocking her out and draping her over his back, that should ward off the unicorns from firing for a while. 

“After him!” tens of hooves chased after him, unicorns firing pot shots and pegasi throw javelins or loosing arrows. The commander isn’t going to let the murderer of his charges escape. He suddenly realize that the intruder had a civilian. “Watch you fire, he has a civilian!” he warned.

Alpha continued to run down the corridors, turning several times when a massive groups of guards stood in his way. He’s no fool. He can clearly see that they are herding him to somewhere. He will let them lead him into whatever trap they have ready and he will destroy all of them. 

Soon enough, Alpha busted through the ornate doors right into the throne room, stain-glass windows and soft red carpeting leads up to the throne. In the middle of the throne room is a white unicorn wearing purple armor and a large white one with both wings and a horn, who he can guess is Princess Celestia. This is somwhat unexpected. He can see surprise flash in her eyes for a second. She took a step forward.

“So we finally meet my little mysterious pony. You have stirred up a bit of trouble in my kingdom.” The purple armored unicorn stood between the two of them, guarding the Princess.

“Stay behind me Princess,” he said. He eyes flashed with recognition and worry towards the purple unicorn. “Twiliy!” he rushes towards her rescue but quickly corrects himself, glaring at Alpha.

"She better be ok or I'll-"

“Do not worry Shining Armor. I will get her back and I am quite capable of defending myself.” Celestia interrupts, a hint of doubt rose in Shining’s mind.

“I will not put you in danger too Princess.” he said, facing Alpha, horn glowing.

The rest of the guards have finally have caught up to Alpha, and they surround the throne room, spears at the ready and spells charged. Alpha only chuckled softly and dropped the unconscious Twilight not so gently to the floor, making her grunt in pain and the captain of the guard to bare his teeth at him, and he pulled out his chain sword.

“You are surrounded, drop your weapon!” Shining ordered roughly. Alpha stoically let his chain-sword roar in response, causing Shining Armor and several of the guards to flinch at the noise while Celestia narrowed her eyes.

She spoke to Alpha. “You’ve hurt many of my citizens, caused chaos in Ponyville and killed many of my finest guards and researchers," Her eyes were filled with regret and disappointment, "It didn’t have to be this way. Lay down your weapon now and I will lighten your punishment.”

Even with a chain sword in his mouth, a dark laughter echoed within the spacious room.

“You truly believe that I will lay down my weapon which you have stolen from me? You xenos have ripped me of my armor and attempted to use it for your soldiers. It is foolishness if you believe that I would ever yield .”

Shining Armor step forward. “Then it is my duty as captain of the guard to stop you personally.”

“Challenge Accepted.” Alpha gunned the chain sword and lunge at the Princess.


“BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!!”


Alpha was just about to lop the Princess’ head when he was countered by a broadsword. Shining had produced a broadsword from thin air, readying for himself for Alpha’s next strike. The blade was half as tall as the wielder with runes running the length of the blade with a dense blue glow. However, unlike Alpha, he was holding it in his hooves. So holding things with his hooves is possible Alpha observed, but he needs to learn to do so quickly, holding a shaking chain sword with his mouth isn’t the best way to use a chain sword.

Shining Armor came charging at him swinging his blade in an horizontal arc, determination and rage flared in his eyes. Alpha parried the blow and he aimed to strike his neck. Shining managed to parry with the flat of the blade, struggling to prevent the hungry teeth of the chain sword from eating at his flesh. Alpha was a little surprised that the broadsword didn’t break under the teeth of his chain sword, but he saw a faint layer of aura. The psyker was using magic to protect the blade, and Alpha plans to find out how long his magic will protect him. 

When the guard captain pushed Alpha away from him, Alpha charged the captain. He slammed the active chain blade against the enchanted broadsword. The sounds of screeching metal and constant braking magic filled the air, cause several of the guards to drop their weapons and clutch their ears against the violent noise, Celestia herself twitched an eye. Shining shifted his weight and moved out of the way, only to have Alpha come straight at him without a moment’s rest. Alpha went low and managed to clip Shining’s leg, drawing first blood. Shining grunted in pain, but remained standing, because if he didn't Twilight and the Princess will be in grave danger.

Shining Armor threw his rune blade at Alpha, sending it at great speeds despite its size and weight. Alpha knocked away the sword easily enough but Shining shot a burst of magic that knocked his sword out of his grip and sent him flying a good meter. Alpha firmly landed on his hooves, but he was struggling with more than just his battle with the captain of the guard. Bloodlust clawed at the back of his mind, calling to him to go in a frenzy and rip Shining apart with tooth, hoof, and anything else. Pushing the bloodlust aside, he picked up his sword and charge at Shining Armor once more. Shining was using his magic, but Alpha couldn’t see the object he was using it on. Suddenly he faintly heard the whizzing coming behind him. He turned to defend himself as the blade came back at him but the blade came flying back to strike him as he charged the captain. Shining took this time to charge another spell, the light of his horn growing with power.

Just as Alpha closed the distance, his vision was blocked by the blade, and when he parried the blade, he was caught in the full blast of Shining’s magic at point-blank. If it was not for the armor, he would be dead, but it didn’t prevent him from sailing across the room and crashing into the thick stonework. His eyes refuse to focus themselves and he can hear the guards moving in on him. Bloodlust raged in his mind, and he was forced to lay there trying to focus his mind into working conditions with great difficultly.

The guards closed around the fallen warrior. The spell blast took a lot of the already exhausted Shining Armor, and parrying and blocking Alpha’s attacks were of no easy matter. Using his magic on his sword and the charged blast took more energy than he would like but he was glad that the fight was finally over. He doubt that he would have last much longer against such a warrior of an intruder.

“Secure him.” Shining ordered, sitting on his hunches. The guards surround the pony weary of any sudden movement. Shining Armor turned to get Twilight, whom was now waking into consciousness. 

“Twilight!”  Shining called, weakly walking towards her. Twilight shook her head and looked at her brother and smiled.


"RWAAAAGH!!"



Shining turned, shaken by the vocal force like everyone in the room, as Alpha exploded through the guards, leaving them in a whirlwind of blood. Chainsword in hoof and madness in his eyes, Alpha reached Shining with ever surprising speeds. Shining just managed to called his blade to him with his magic and block the crazed Astartes. Twilight gasped as he was forced to the ground by the Astartes’ overwhelming strength. Thankfully, he managed to get a two handed grip on the blade to keep himself from being devoured by the roaring teeth of the chainsword.

Shining was close enough to see the pin-pricks of his pupils. However within his eyes was the swirling colors of his magic. They continued to shift around until it dissipate into Alpha’s chaotic green eyes. Shining Armor kick the Astartes off him. Alpha grabbed a grip on the carpet and used the momentum to slash his chainsword at Shining’s torso, causing Shining cry out and fall on his side with blood spilling from the deep wound.

“Shining Armor!” Twilight cried. 

Alpha held his blade high and strike at Shining to deal the death blow, before he was shot by a beam of light and exploded.

“Enough of that,” said the solar princess, the burning magic aura around her beginning to simmer down. Princess Celestia moved towards Shining Armor, Twilight herself is already at his side casting a healing spell, constantly barraging him with questions of his well-being as she focused on the spell. 

“It’s alright Twilight, it’s only a flesh wound.” he said weakly, only to cough up a bit of blood, which only resulted in more worry from Twilight. Soon, Twilight cancelled her magic.

“I managed to stop the bleeding. It’s not much but I did what I could.” Twilight said, a bit disappointed that she couldn't do more.

“Do not worry Twilight, a medic is on the way and his life is no longer in danger.” the Princess stated smiling.

A mechanical growl interrupted their conversation. They all turned to the source of the pile of smoke with growing dread. Alpha stood there, battered and bleeding but still standing, with chain sword underneath his hoof. The inscriptions on his armor were glowing white with heated energy. Despite the damage that he took, he looked like he was unfazed by it. 

“I’m going to destroy you all for that.” he growled, he charged at them with sword raised. Madness and rage can be heard an his battle cry.

A pillar the size of Celestia crashed into Alpha and crushed him against the stonework. Everyone was looking at Twilight, whose horn and eyes were glowing with powerful energy, her face of anger slowly became more relaxed with her breathing though her eyes were still furrowed.

“No pony messes with my brother.” she growled. The whole party cautiously moved to the Chaos soldier. He was still breathing but he was knocked out. Every single one of them visibly released the tension, with the exception of Celestia whom was mostly impassive but glad that it’s finally over. Celestia turned to the remaining guards.

“Get the wounded to the hospital wing, get a roster of the fallen, we must prepare a large precession for them” she said sullenly, but she turned to the intruder with a stern face. “and have him sent to the dungeon, strip him of his armor and use the strongest shackles we have on him. Send word to my sister that she is to meet me in the dungeon as soon as possible and that she can have the staff escorted back to the castle.” the guards saluted her and carried out their assignments.

Suddenly Spike came rushing in the throne room, with a score of medics, several carrying stretchers. “Twilight!” he shout with joy, but pause when he noticed the room. “Whoa…what happened here?” 

“Long story” she said. Celestia moved next to Twilight. 

“You should stay here for the night and head off in the morning. I’ll have Silver Wing escort you to one of the guest rooms.”

“Thank you Princess,” Twilight bowed and followed the guard to her room, with Spike tailing behind her.

“And we will talk later about what you are doing here so late at night,” the Princess said behind her. Twilight visibly cringed before responding, “Yes Princess...” 

Spike whispered to Twilight, “You are going to tell me what happened right?”

“Yeah in the morning; right now I want to some sleep.”

“I guess I could use a little sleep too.” Spike yawned.

Princess Celestia stood watching her throne room in disarray, guards and incoming staff worked hard to clean the space. She watched out the window, her horn glowing with magic as the sun rose over the horizon, heralding the new day. She sighed and made her way to the dungeon.


===============
			

When Alpha opened his eyes, Celestia and a smaller dark blue princess with the mark of a crescent moon and an ethereal black mane filled with stars stood before him in a dungeon cell. Alpha quickly assessed his holdings. The darken cell was small and windowless but big enough that the princesses are able to stand side by side within. The room was made with stone bricks and the single iron door had only a small bar window to which to view outside the cell; he can see the royal guard from the open door. He quickly find out that his fore-hooves were heavily shackled to the wall, forcing him to stand or hang there.

“He’s awake sister.” said the dark princess

“That he is, Luna.” Celestia responded, neither of them taking their eyes off him. Celestia and Luna’s stern eyes look upon him with clear disdain.

“Sister we implore you, we should have destroy this creature while we have a chance.” Luna pleaded with her sister. After hearing the reports on Alpha’s actions, Luna was quick to decide that he should be immediately executed, which did not go unsupported by a few members of the council.

“What is your name creature?” Celestia demanded.

“I am Alpharius” He answered. 

“Well Alpharius, know that we will be forced to probe your mind unless you answer our questions forthright.” Celestia warned. Alpha remained unfazed.

“Where are you from?” She asked. Alpha was silent.

“Who are you working for?” Luna demanded. Silence. Luna turned to Celestia in order to convince her of execution.

“I am Alpharius. I work for no xenos.” Alpha spoke, his stern eyes gazed upon them. “Return my possessions and I may spare your lives.”

“Know your place, you are speaking with the Princesses of Equestria” Luna fumed, tempted to do the deed right there. Celestia calmly held a hoof to stop her and turned back towards Alpha when Luna calmed down.

“I see…” Celestia answered. “However, we must probe your mind. I will not lie, this will be not be pleasant.” 

Alpha growled at them but before he can truly test the strength of his chains, the princesses horns lit up and his vision was filled with light.





The world around him shook with the sounds of incoming fire. Alpha rose from his resting slab of his sleeping quarters. His hands immediately gripped his sword, bolter, and pistol, mag-locking his sword and pistol to his armor. The ship was a flurry of activity, as he emerged from his quarters, maintenance staff moved to fix machines and douse fires in a burr of action.

He found himself moving towards the bridge, wanting some answers from the captain, like where are rest of the warband. He came into the bridge, rifle at the ready. His trip to the bridge was isolated, as was the bridge itself. The consoles and cogitators were on and blinking with activity but there was no one around, the command throne was desolate. The shaking had stop but he can still hear the sounds of void battle in the distance. He switched out his bolter for the sword and pistol, the mechanical blade growing softly like a hunter ready to strike. But this wasn’t real, none of this was…

Alpha open fire on the shadow that has been following him. The shadow moved swiftly, moving around the room completely avoiding the shots as they left scoring marks in the consoles. It was toying with him. He shot a nearby console; it sparked and exploded, frightening the intruder, long enough to shoot it in the leg. As the creature fell bawling, Alpha charged at the entity and slashed at him with his roaring chain blade. However he was engulfed in a field of energy unable to move. Magic…

The entity moved out of the shadows and reveal himself to be a ragged pale-blue unicorn. His once well kept white mane has fallen into disarray beneath his cloak and hood. His glowing yellow eyes cringed in pain of the bolter wound on his hind leg. He hobble his way towards him, his horn bursting with energy. 

“Please stop moving, this vessel isn’t well equipped to deal with the strain your resistance is giving off,” said an ethereal voice that obviously didn't belonged to the unicorn. The unicorn suddenly had a fit of spasms before fog of darkest black was brought forth from his mouth and spilled mistily on the metal floor, his eyes became wide and blank. The mist rose and condensed, a body forming. It didn’t take long for the entity to materialize itself into his dream. 

Its slim body was that of a shade with dull midnight flesh, its lower body nothing more than mist and fog. It wore a broken, ragged gray cloak that covered its head and partly exposed its slim muscular chest, a piece of the symbol of Chaos burning brightly upon it. From the hood, two sets of horns curved upward, outer set being shorter, and beneath the unnatural darkness of the hood, a pair of red left eyes, one on top of the other, peered at the Astartes. 

Two pairs of powerful arms held on his side, the lower pair crossed across its chest. Each hand was branded with the icon of a different Chaos God; the upper right that was marked with Khorne’s icon was slim but held firm with bundles of bright red muscles, the hand a powerful fist . Covered in boils and warts, the upper left of Nurgle was in a state of decay, exposed bone beneath decaying green flesh, its three-fingered hand ended in cracked yellow claws . Beneath the arm of Khorne was a bony blue arm of Tzeeneth, strange multicolored feathers and spider-like fingers its most notable features. its last arm was held the mark of the Prince of Pleasure upon its smooth pink skin, dressed in a long black silk glove that exposed the effeminate yet sharp fingers, and an ornate wrist brace with an oval-shaped emerald. Along the back of where the shoulder blades would be, a pair of big bony bat-like wings rest folded. The membranes open and close at the slight muscle movement.

“And currently the only one preventing the Princesses from probing your mind right now, with some assistance from me of course.” the Daemon spoke with a hint of ego in its haunting voice, the distant rumbling of void battle still echoing within the chamber. 

‘You are foolish if you think I would believe that, Daemon.’ Alpha thought, still struggling to break his bindings, only achieving to shake within the aura.

“It matters little if you believe me or not, the fact of the matter is that you are in a predicament, and I am assisting you against some rather warp-sensitive creatures, though they are quite resistant to the influence and ignorant to their touch; and yes, I am aware of your thought for the most obvious of reasons.” the Daemon spoke. “The Gods of Chaos has given you favor of a chance to get back your previous form and even more if they are pleased with your work.”

“………”

“The Gods call to you to retrieve a five tomes of power. They are ripe with chaotic power and will aid you in recovering your form.”  The daemon’s red eyes twisted into a wicked smile. “I know it must be difficult to believe me, but as prove of the Gods' investment, I have blocked the memories of this conversation and a few others just enough that the Princesses will not kill you outright or anything hinder you, but you will remember this. When you get out my liaison with contact you. It’s about time for you to wake up,” The damned creature said with a snap of its fingers.
> Chapter 4: And the Verdict is...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


+5 hours prior to the Canterlot Castle Massacre+


"Big Sis, Big Sis!" Applebloom ran across the field and towards her home, her youth pushing her little hooves forward. She passed the grazing cows, the playful pigs, and only when she passed the red barn, did she made her way inside. However, when she entered she noticed two things: no one was in the kitchen/dining room when she came in, and there was a strange silence in the house.

"In 'ere Applebloom..." She heard Granny Smith call from the living room, but there was something in her voice that made her worry. Did she stay out longer than she should again? Did she forget to do her chores before she left again? Did she forget to feed Winona....again.

When she came into the living room, she saw that Granny Smith was up and not sitting on her usual rocking chair and Big Mac was with her, covering the view of the couch with his large frame. They turned their heads turned to her, both of them had grim expression on them. Even, Applebloom knew that something was seriously wrong.

"W-what's wrong?.." Big Mac and Granny Smith moved out of the way, for full view of the weathered couch or more precisely what's on it. Splayed out on the couch was Applejack, her head bandaged up and her breathing was shallow, she otherwise looked peacefully asleep.

*Gasp!* "Applejack!" Applebloom cried going up to her with tears welling up in her eyes and a quivering lip. "What happened?!" Granny Smith embrace the lip-quivering Apple Bloom to soothe her.

Big Mac was the one to answer. "She was trying to stop some pony that was being chased. He bonked her head good and knocked her out. The doctor says that it ain't nothin' too serious but she needs some time to rest."

"Applejack is tough as nails. Let's head to the kitchen and make something for your sister. I do believe that mah apple stew will liven her spirits right up!" Said Granny Smith with enthusiasm. Applebloom followed after, still eying her sister's weaken form. she can't believe somepony could do this to her, she was as tough if not tougher than Big Mac. Applebloom hoped that she would never had to met this pony.

And she really wanted to tell Applejack about the new pony she and the girls met today...






+Present+


"This is unacceptable!" Council member, Forge Stablehoof exclaimed, his hoof sounded loudly as he smashed it against the table.

Forge's outburst was joined by other similar cries among the Council. Forge was original a law enforcer from Manehattan until Celestia offered him a place in the Council, which he gladly accepted in hopes to better Manehattan as a whole.

"This pony has killed over twenty of the castles guards, heavily wounded the Captain of the Royal guards and who knows what else, and you wish to offer him his freedom?! A pony like this is too dangerous to walk among normal society!"

Several members shouted their support to Forge's claims and and others who are of the higher class of Canterlot simply nodded or gave a hearty "hear hear". 

"Everpony ha the right to redeem themselves and we should give them the chance to to do so!" Countered Vorlod Diamond.

Vorlod's support was few in number but great in conviction. Vorlod was a pegasus from Canterlot, who often wrote letteres and came to Celestia's tri-monthly hearing with citizens of Canterlot in order to promote public services in anywhere in Equestria. He has done much good for the common welfare, and jumped at the opportunity to join the council. 

Both of them and the rest of the Council continued to bicker. They have been at it for about two hours since Celestia told them what the meeting was about. She didn't even begun to explain the situation when Forge motioned for the swift execution of "the Accused" (Alpharius). Word of the situation spread fast apparently. Luna stood in the back of the room, being only a spectator in today's meeting in order to teach Luna how a Council meeting works, so far all she's done was silently agree with Forge and his supporters, judging how closely her expression resembles Forge's supporters.

Celestia pounded the gavel against the table with her magic, the resulting noise quickly quieted the bickering politicians.

"Enough, it's time to hear the full extent of my proposal. I do plan on offering the convicted the chance to redeem himself, but I intent on having eyes on his activities. Soldiers are already stationed at Ponyville, lead by a veteran from the Griffon War. If anything happens within Ponyville, the soldiers will be there to deal with it."

"By the time they find out what happened, it will be too late!" Shouted Flamveil.

"And what is the use of soldiers when he can easily dispatch them like the guards?" Retorted Lilypop, puffing the stuffy collar of his shirt.

"Worry not, it is not just the stationed garrison that will be keeping a vigil of the convicted. He will also be under the care and supervision of my student, Twilight Sparkle, and her friends, The Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, and they will be tasked with reforming the convicted. Of course he will be revoked of all his possessions until I say otherwise in sound mind."

After much delegation and convincing, the Council passed the motion and finally left, all of them swore and oath of secrecy. The two princesses soon made their way to the dining room for lunch. location 

"You have made Twilight aware of the situation and not send a letter at the last possible moment like last time, correct?" Questioned Luna.

"Don't worry Lulu. I will send a letter soon enough, after lunch. Today' s dessert is strawberry and banana shortcake, my favorite." She moved with a purpose.

"And of the recently passed?"

Celestia slowed to a halted, she sighed. "I have not forgotten about them. They are still having trouble counting and identifying bodies since many were...severely damaged, and letters have yet to sent loved ones. Remember what Forge said about it being over twenty? The count is closer to...sixty... It hard to believe that a single pony can beget so much death."

"Which is why we should execute or even banish him off-world," Luna pleaded. “He’s not even a pony, you’ve seen what he is like in his world. Monstrosities and death are normal there and mercilessness is second nature to him. Given the chance, he will throw all of Equestria into turmoil." 

"Even a pony like him can be reformed, just like you were. You've seen his mind, he was just mad that someone took his possessions. He just need to be taught that there are better reactions to the situation," Celestia said hopefully.

"I was nothing like what we have seen!" Luna argued, unnerved. Suddenly, she was hit with a wave of pain from her skull and was forced to stop in her tracks. Something was pounding within her mind, something familiar yet unknown. As quickly as it came, it disappeared, and she found herself looking at a concern sister.

"Are you alright?" 

"Yes I'm quite fine," Luna proceed to walk with Celestia, but she felt something within herself that doubted Celestia, though the thought passed, "must have a little too much on my mind. I still say that something should've been done to him."

"Regardless, He is in our world now not his, he no longer needs to be the creature he once was. Also, both parties have agreed to it: the Council will allow Alpharius to go on parole, and Alpharius himself has agreed to it in exchange for a spell that will return him him to his previous form and his armor when he has shown progress."

"And is said spell readily available?" 

"Unfortunately no, there are temporary morphing spells but nothing permanent to give him what he wants. I do have scholars looking into a permanent morphing spell." 

Celestia's answer had Luna baffled. 

"What if he finds out about this, that you don't have an actual spell to change him back?" 

"Then it is best that he doesn't know this, and be content on the temporary spell until the conditions are met."

Luna could only sigh, "Well dropping the matter for now, how have you been fairing sister?".

"Well since you asked, my day could be a little brighter," Celestia answered as they continued to trot, "delegates from the Gryphon Empire has asked for an increase in metal ore trade."

"Yes, I have heard of the incident in their kingdom. A chain of explosions from a single metal forge cost them five of their biggest," Luna stated, "How did you respond to the delegation's need?"

Celestia frowned, "Unfortunately, I can not meet their demands no matter of their offer. If I had agreed to the trade, the Gryphon Kingdom will have a massive supply of metal within a few years, and depleting our own in the process."

Both of them enter the dining room. Taking their seats, they continue to talk as servants brought forth their meal.

"And I take it that that they were not pleased with the news." Luna said matter-of-factly.

"No they did not. The Gryphons are good creatures but they are very prideful to a fault, so when they did seek help from me only to deny their initial demand, they were not pleased one bit. Thankfully we managed to come to an agreement: They will get their increase metal shipping, but at much lower than they original wanted, and our own metal reserves will not be in danger."

Celestia proceeded to take a bite of of her cake. It was bittersweet.





A knocked sounded from Twilight's door. Twilight sighed as she put down the her latest book, "Daring Doo and the Cursed Scroll of Ahriman", she was just getting to the best part.

"Coming!" She called. She opened the door to reveal a pony she didn't think she would so soon.

"Derpy, what are you doing this late at night?" Twilight asked much to her confusion.

"I came deliver a package new books I forgot to give you during my morning run," she said a little embarrassed. She reached into her mailbag and presented it between her hooves.

"Thanks Derpy." Twilight use her magic to set the box on her table. Derpy just smiled and waved goodbye before flying off. When Twilight closed the door, another set of knocks echoed from her door

"Derpy, you didn't forget something again did you, or is it about letting you muffins in the library?" Twilight quipped.	

It wasn't Derpy. A large red stallion stood covering doorway menacingly. Twilight gasped in surprise and fear. She charged her horn ready to defend herself. Suddenly, Spike burped in the background.

"Hey Twilight, you got a letter from Princess Celestia." he called out from the library.

"You should get that," Alpha told her. Twilight didn't know what to think but she slowly moved towards Spike, still watching Alpha for any movement. She levitated the letter in front of her. Her jaws dropped as she read the letter.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,
A guest be arriving soon from Canterlot and will be staying in Ponyville for quite some time. He is not the most social of ponies and I want to fix that. He will be lodging with you for the time being until he acquires his own lodgings or when other arrangements can be made. During his stay, you are to teach your new student about friendship and I would like to get reports on the following months to monitor his progress, be sure to write down anything of interest. There is a possibility that he may get a little rowdy, if such situation occurs, use your best judgment. I expect that he is treated well but kept in line, such measures have been put up to ensure that. I have faith that he can be converted to become a steady member of Equestria. However, he is not like anypony you have met, so keep an eye on him and him out of trouble. Lastly, in cases of emergencies in regards of your new guest, contact Gallant Aura or me immediately. 
-With Faith, Princess Celestia.

Twilight stood there, her mind drawing up blanks.
> Chapter 5: Welcome to Ponyville
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight read it over making sure that she read it correctly, surely she must have misread something. After reading it for the fifth time, she put the letter away and composed herself, though the situation can be highly considered to be a twist of fate. She spoke with a leveled voice.

"I want don't want you here," Twilight's face contorted into anger, "You hurt so many ponies, tried to kill my brother and even Princess Celestia, and now I'm expected to house the very murderous pony!?" her eyes were welling up with tears as her face heated in remembrance of the carnage.

"I couldn't care less of what might happen to you, as long as you stay away from my friends and family, and me!" Twilight shut the door at Alpharius's face, panting at the energy she exerted in her anger. She actually felt better for it, rarely did she voice her emotional thoughts. however her thoughts were angrily focused on the pony whose name she still doesn't know.

"Uh...Twilight," Spike spoke out from under the table, "I think you should go get him." 

"And why should I do such a thing?" Twilight asked.

"Well, if what you said about the letter is true then you are responsible for him now, and if any of the things you've said about what you have told me about Canterlot was true, then the last thing you want to do is let him go free without supervision because he will no doubt cause trouble with the guards in Ponyville, and it will be either you or Celestia who gets in trouble" 

Twilight seemed unsatisfied with the answer. However, her expression slowly changed, she shook her head as her mind struggled to resist rational logic. She bitterly stamp her hoof to the floor.

"Fine!" She bolted out the door. Spike sighed and thought about what he should do to secure the more precious items, starting with his.

===============

Twilight was moving about in the dark streets of Ponyville. Everyone else had either gone to the pub, a night club, or to sleep, so there were only a few stragglers wondering on the streets, yet that did not make her search any easier. She searched town hall, the market square, and even the park. She called out his name, hoping to get an answer: she never got one. 

Having searched the majority of Ponyville, she soon found herself within the outskirts of Ponyville. The slums is a sizable area though smaller than 'Upper' Ponyville. Ponyville isn't know for its crime rate, but most ponies knew that this place is best avoided, even the guard ponies seem to avoid the area, save for a few fliers that patrolled the skies above. However, her options were limited, so she steeled herself and braved the possible dangers. She moved about cautiously, calling out for Alpharius in hush toned. It was increasing difficult to search for him in the darkness and she was unfamiliar with this part of town. There were few buildings that showed good upkeep, many have fallen to disarray as previous inhabitants have left, and . She must have made a wrong turn at one point because after several minutes she was lost and found herself at a at a dead end of an alley.

"Looks like somepony isn't where she belongs..."

She turned see a group of three stallions and a tough looking mare. They didn't look like a group that had a tough time getting what they wanted. They were dirty, their fur smudged with grease and clinging dirt, the bronze mare, however, showed some signs of care, but her mane was a lazy mess of a green ponytail. A pale yellow pegasus moved in the front, apparently their leader, his mix-match mane of purple and green sway in a mess. behind him was a large green pony with frizzy blond hair that covered his eyes a bit, and on his other side was a stout blue earth pony. Twilight steadily moved back from the group as they stalked towards her. Twilight's memory recalled back to a book about predatory packs from a different land that hunted their prey like this.

"Look, I'm just looking for a friend, I don't want to cause any trouble," She said with wavering conviction.

"That's good. How about you come with us, we know these streets quite well, and somepony like you shouldn't be traveling them by yourself," said the pegasus with a grin.

The mare on his right spoke up, "She's quite the pretty one isn't she?" her voice filled with ill intent.

"I wonder how long she can last before she breaks," said the large one, licking his lips.

This can't be happening. of all days she had to come to the slums, she become a target to some degenerates that seemed to have followed her. Twilight lit her horn, she wasn't going down without a fight. She encase a trash can with her aura and threw it at them. it was blasted back by a wave of yellow aura.

"Ooh and she's a feisty one too," reported the green one with glee, moving his mane to reveal a horn glowing with yellow aura. 

Twilight continued to throw things at them with a hint of panic but they proved to be more capable than she thought and everything she threw was either blasted by the unicorn or knocked away by the others as they moved closer. Soon, she ran out of things to throw and the gang closed in. Twilight let out a short scream as the pegasus pinned her to the dirt, as she throwing her hooves at him. He simply ignored the hits for the most part, only moving to dodge those aimed at his head, he soon pinned her hooves also.

"Come on stop being so uptight, you need to learn to 'loosen' up." The pegasus was grinning the whole time in his victory, and he was ready to claim a prize.

"No no NO, stay away from me!" Twilight cried, tears in her eyes, she was struggling against a losing battle. She fervently attempted to draw power into herself, but the chaos of the moment and in her mind, was breaking her concentration. Unlike the Discord incident, the possible results of this event she feared isn't something that can be fixed.

"WHOA!!!" The stout stallion sailed across the air, hitting the backwall and landing beside Twilight and the pegasus.

They all turned to see a crimson stallion standing at the opening of the alley, his black and green tail swaying in a timed momentum. Larger than they've ever seen, his long black and blue mane hung from his head but it didn't hinder him in the slightest, and he watched them with a pair of snake-like eyes with the color and depth of an ocean. The gang's first reaction was one of hesitance, as they felt the malice and power coming off him.

"Who's this chump? Take care of him," ordered the pegasus.

The mare and the unicorn charged. The mare took out a pin from her mane, which turned out to be a hidden blade, and lunged at him, her mane flowing freely. Alpharius dodged the attack with little effort. The mare struggled to land her knife at his vitals, yet he continued to move just out of range or simply shifting her attack aside, to her increasing frustration. He continued to move forwards, unimpeded by the relentless swipes of the furious mare. The unicorn attacked, raising his hooves to smash him in a single blow, but Alpharius jumped to the side without the slightest trouble. The unicorn would have crushed the mare if she didn't jumped back in time.

"Watch where you're throwing your hooves, you stupid mule!" She shouted.

"Lay off you damn mare, at least I almost hit him!"	

"You idiots, get him!" said the pegasus leader.

Alpharius was closing the distance quickly, and he lunged at the flier. With a swift curse, he took flight, leaving behind a rather shocked Twilight. The pegasus laughed at his swift maneuver, and turned to laugh at the interloper. The next thing he remembered was a flying trash can hitting him in the face. Thankfully, the unicorn caught him in his magic before he hit the ground. The mare looked between themselves and Alpharius, who stood over Twilight like a sentry.

"Damn it! Fritz , we're getting out of here," she ordered.

"Hey don't tell me what to do, Zera," he argued, but he still grabbed the others with his magic and they ran away.

Twilight was in shock. She came into this part of town only to prevent herself from getting in trouble with Celestia, yet trouble found her and she was saved by the last pony she expect. All her training with Celestia, all her time spent studying different spells couldn't help her when it mattered most. Instead, she owes her life to one that ends them and she hated it. 

Though her tears, she spoke with a weak yet clear voice.

"Why are you here?" He turned to her with the same gaze, one that was cold but a blaze raged within. His eyes were were back to normal, the irises round once more, yet they held no comfort, only a predatory gaze upon all things.

He simply said, "come, you're returning home," and he proceed to walk away. Twilight couldn't believe that just after saving her, he was just going to leave her, so she picked herself up and chased after him. 

"Hey, you didn't answer my question," she stated.

"Not right now, places like this have ears where you least expect," he responded with a clear voice, yet she noticed that he was loud enough that only she could hear. Twilight tried to press more but he refused to speak until he was willing, so she had no chose but to silently follow him until they were out of the slums and well within the sleeping Ponyville, only then did he speak.

"In addition to undergoing rehabilitation, under your supervision, I was also to ensure that physical harm does not befall the citizens of Ponyville, you and your associates in particular," he explained.

"Why didn't she write that in the letter?" Twilight asked, more to herself than towards Alpharius.

"You were told all that needed to be told, what ever has transpired between Celestia and I is our own business. If she didn't want to indulge you more information than she has given you, that is her own doing," he explained.

With everything that has been happening lately, too even hear that her mentor didn't tell her everything, it made her spirit more weary. She couldn't believe that after all those years of being Princess Celestia's tutelage, she would withhold information that directly relates to her, her friends, and their home. However, a different question arose in her mind.

"How was it that you found me?"

"To tell you the truth, I was following you since you left the library. I lost track of you when you ventured into the slums." Twilight looked back to her scearch in retrospect and at no point did she ever saw any signs of Alpharius tailing her. She was at a lost trying to figure out how he did it. Just how skilled is he that even in an desolate street, he was right behind you?

"Then why didn't you respond to me when I was calling you?"

"You have fervently express your disdain for my stay. Celestia was the one that suggested that I should make my stay at your living quarters. Even without your hospitality, I would have found  adequate shelter. I couldn't venture far regardless, because the spell that Celestia placed on me." Alpharius moved a bit of fur from his neck to reveal a spell collar that floated just above his skin, the transparent runes glowed without giving off any light. She was shocked to see that something like that was implemented on a pony. From his expression, Twilight could see that Alpharius really didn't care if he was left out in the night, even if that meant that the shelter he would really find would be within the slums or the Everfree. Twilight didn't want to but she felt guilty for throwing him before he was even inside.

"I guess...I should thank you for saving me then." Twilight said with a bit of hesitance. Alpharius just grunted with disinterest. Strange that even though he saved her life, he barely acknowledged it. Most ponies would have said something, anything to get some credit but with him it was like it was just something that shouldn't be recognized. 

They soon arrived to Twilight's doorstep, but neither made any move towards the door.

"I know that we didn't have a good first impression, but I would like to change that. My name is Twilight Sparkle and this is my assistant Spike," Twilight introduced herself, gesturing towards the baby dragon, who was watching from a distance wearily. Alpharius kept an emotionless face of disinterest. 

"I am Alpharius. How is it that you knew me when I first met you?" He asked.

"Because it wasn't the first time we met," she answered, "I first saw you coming out of the Everfree forest before you collapsed and I managed to teleport us to the hospital before taking my leave." She left out the part of how she tried to carry him, spending half an hour trying to just lift him off the ground in failure, comically in other perspectives. Even when she decided to teleport themselves there, it was a bit of a struggle as she felt something resist her channeling.

"I see, your assistance was most...assertive." Alpharius said, though displeased that he lost his armor as a result and he would have recovered on his own without the unicorn’s help. Twilight cleared her throat.

"Well we have books if you want to learn a bit on Equestria and Ponyville in the morning. However, it's getting late. I'll show you to the guestroom upstairs." Twilight led Alpharius up with Spike tailing behind. Spike was still a little weary about living for with the same pony that knocked out Twilight and Applejack.

Twilight opened the door to the guestroom. "This is where you are going to be sleeping for now."

Alpharius went inside to inspect his new living quarters. The guestroom was a simple default single pony room, despite its colorful decor that matched the rest of the library: a simple large bed that could hold two, a wide wooden table with an oval mirror above it, and an oval window with curtains. Alpharius turned towards Twilight, who stood at the doorway. 

"This will suffice," and he closed the door. Twilight sighed with relief and she and Spike when to bed. Twilight can not help but think about what a crazy week she's had. her thoughts drifted towards the Liber Chaotica, and her curiosity bubbled up. She yawned widely, perhaps another day.





The room was rather dusty with cobwebs in nearly every corner of the room. The living room had a set of dirty, slightly cracked windows, the light that passed though was meager, if it manages to get pass the ripped curtains. The two couches and the chair had less dust but was rather worn down, having lost their lively color untold ages ago. Floor ceiling above was in disrepair, the wood shown the dark age of rot and water damage. Within the broken down home, four ponies gather together for a meeting. Zera entered with a chilled bag in her teeth.

"Here, the fridge had enough ice to it," She said, tossing it to Fritz, whose large frame lay across the couch. Each one was sore from the fight and sported a few bruises, except for Zera who was untouched from the fight, though her memory is a painful reminder that it was not close to a fight but a beating.

"I can't believe that guy had the jump on us. I thought you said this was a easy job, Hex," complained Fritz towards the pegasus sitting on the chair. 

"It was suppose to be, but that damned stallion came out of nowhere. I was told that she was by herself!" Hex said rubbing his jaw.

"Well you royally screwed this up this one simple job," said the stout earth pony

"Shut up Nibble Pick."

Suddenly a cloaked pony walked into the room as though he was in the building in the first place, but Zera had check the building was sure the abandon building was empty and not one of them heard him enter. Everyone looked at the newcomer with surprise and hostility. Hex was the first to speak up. 

"You have a lot of nerve coming here! You said that she would be alone, you didn't say anything about her having a bodyguard!" 

"I wasn't aware that her friend was so close. She was indeed alone when she entered the slums, such things are unforeseeable, but you have done your job regardless," The cloaked pony toss a small bag onto the table, which made a chinking noise, "Just as promised, three hundred bits, it should be enough to ease your pain." 

They watched the bag with disbelief and hunger. Zera opened the bag a little eagerly, and just as the pony said, three hundred bits sat within. Hex looked up to him, with a bit of a smile in his voice.

"I don't believe this much is able to relieve the pain and humiliation we had to deal with tonight. We are hurt more than physically," Hex bartered.

The pony stood silent, while the others also voiced their agreement. Zera on the other hand was preoccupied with the small pile of bits she had cupped in her hooves.

"We were assaulted by some random pony and had our flanks handed to us!"

The stranger ignored the comment and simply continued, "You can either keep your money and have me leave, never to seen again, or continue your services and I will ensure that you will be well rewarded." 

"And how do we know that they won't go as bad as the last job you gave us?" Fritz asked lifting himself up a little to altercate, before throbbing pain forced him back down.

"You don't, such is reality, but I will inform you of what you need to know so you will be able to preform to the best of your abilities, and I will have a forward pay offered for your...consideration." 

Hex looked sternly at the pony.

"Give us a few minutes to consider your offer."

"Take as much time as you need, also bear in mind that continued service will yield 'extras' for your diligent services." He then walked off into the other room, leaving no disturbance on the dust. 

Hex turned to see Zera stare with determination.

"Come on Hex, I mean I know we got our flanks to that bastard, but that pony was good on his offer and for a simple job too, not to mention that he is going to give us extra stuff." Hex didn't look convinced, and Nob spoke up next.

"Come on, at least if we're going to work for him we don't have to scavenge among the muck, and we can get some stuff to put in the safe house." Fritz spoke up.

"Look I don't like it that we got flank kick, and much less about the job. Do what you want." Fritz then just rolled over and to get some rest. None too pleased, Hex gave his verdict.

"I don't like that pony and much less what troubles his job offers will bring. I'll be watching him." Hex called the pony in and told him that they will take the offer.

"Very well, I will take my leave now. I will contact you again when I have need of you." With that the pony simply walked out the door. He continued to wonder about the slums walking into buildings just to come out again, if someone had been watching his actions from afar, they won't have guess that the pony was prospecting safe houses for himself and his newly acquired servants, though it would take some more work before they were really at his beck and call.

Done with his little tasks he headed back towards Ponyville, often making multiple turns that would seem unnecessary to others, but he made it in record time regardless. Once he was in Ponyville and several meters away from the Slums, he took off the cloak and stashed it in a hole that he made hours ago, and proceed to walk with more straightforwardness. 

It quite late to the point that those still awake are those that have already dulled their minds with the drink. The Equestrian Guards stationed at Ponyville have very few up and patrolling, but it was quite easy to go unnoticed by a solitary pegasus guard or the sleepy sentry. It didn't take long for him to arrive at his destination: Ponyville Library.

He entered the building in silence.





Twilight woke to the smell of Spike cooking breakfast, the morning sun shining down on her fuzzy bed hair. She got out of bed and went to the bathroom for a bath, morning light and the sounds of chirping birds poured into the room as she cleaned herself up. After drying off from the bath, she stood in front of the mirror as she brush her teeth, making sure that she got every tooth. She came out of the bathroom brushing her mane. she laid the brush back in the bathroom and made her way down to the kitchen, only for her to freeze in place seeing Alpharius sitting at a reading table, the stool he sat on strained to support his weight. His tail swished back and forth as his eyes read over the book with care. 

"Good Morning." She said awkwardly. he simply nodded and returned to his reading. he had a stack of books next to him, everything from fairytales to the study of equestrian society. She yearned to question him but caution and breakfast were called to her. 

"When did he wake up?" Twilight asked Spike, who was wearing a frilly pink apron and in the process of making pancakes. She took a seat at the table.

"He was already there when I woke up," He responded, flipping a pancake into a growing pile upon a plate. He brought forth the stack of pancakes to the table. Twilight heard a book close and Alpharius came in and took a seat. They all proceeded to eat in silence, having nothing to say to another due to the atmosphere. When they finished their meals, Spike went off to do some chores, while Twilight went to grab her saddlebags and a bag of bits.

"Well, I'm going to pick up some supplies later in the market and I would like it if you came along, meet a few ponies, and you can ask me some questions this time around." Twilight offered.

"I will take you up on your offer," Alpharius 

"Alright, give me a minute to gather my bags." Twilight said. Truthfully, Twilight wasn't too keen on the idea but Celestia said to reform him, and he 'did' take up her offer, so one step at a time. When she went down with her bags she saw Alpharius waiting in the doorway for her. Realizing that he was waiting for her, Twilight quickly made her way out, saddlebags at her withers. she hoped the rest day goes smoothly. 





"Is it appropriate for you to leave your post while the Library is open?" Alpharius asked after they have reached the market. Twilight turned her gaze towards him, unsure if he really asked the question since it's didn't hold any air of attention.

"I've often leave the library open to the public and I have a system that doesn't require me to personally be there at all times, which is a given since it's been a little hectic since I came here." Alpharius gave her look of appraisal.

"I see...How does your system work?" He asked. Twilight was a little surprise to see Alpharius' subtle curiosity.

"Well, The ponies of Ponyville are allowed to walk in and check out at most five books to borrow. If Spike or I are not around, or too preoccupied to record the checkout, they will write their name, date, and the books they're checking out in the journal at the desk." To this he simply nodded.

"Is there a metal-crafter in Ponyville?" Twilight looked at him.

"Yeah, our local smith, Cas Iron. He usually fix tools for the Apple Family and make some iron works for Ponyville," She explained. Alpharius just nodded again and continued to walk with her as though he was her escort. 

The day continued with Alpharius asking about herself and what she liked to do as they browsed through the market, gathering groceries. Twilight was a little surprised at the questions but answered them nevertheless and soon find herself enjoying herself as she spoke while Alpharius inputted a question now and then, making the conversation going. Twilight has never spoken so much about herself to a Stallion before. 

Twilight mentally affirmed herself that she can reform Alpharius. For now Alpharius was with Twilight in the quill & ink shop to buy ink. Looking over him, Twilight surmised that despite his large stature, he can go off as a normal pony and interact well with others.

===============

"T-that will be six bits," Primrose said uncomfortably, eying between Twilight and the large mysterious red pony as she give Twilight a pack of flowers. Primrose first thought that Twilight and Big Mac got together until she realized that he wasn‘t Big Mac.

If anything this pony was larger than Big Mac, sporting a smooth black and blue mane and two large scars along his neck; it wasn't noticeable at first because of his fur but when the duo drew near she could see it when it caught her eyes. he was rather antisocial, only giving a slight nod when she greeted them, and throughout the whole exchange he was looking away rather bored. only once and awhile he turned his eye at her or her wares for a split second.

This stallion, introduced by Twilight as Alpharius, was quite pleasing to the eye. Even though he didn’t speak much, he had an aura about him that was powerful and regal. Primrose found herself looking over at this mysterious and handsome stallion, often forcing herself not to stare too long, though she had a strange feeling that he knew that she was looking which only made her a bit more curious. Unfortunately, Twilight and her companion quickly concluded their business. A new voice though broke her train of thought.

“Hey Lily! How are things?” 

“Oh hi Roseluck, You will not believe who I have just met.”

===============

"You could've at least said something to her," Twilight said after they put a bit of distance from Primrose, placing the pack of flowers in her saddlebags 

"There is little to be said." His response elicited a weary sigh from Twilight. How is she suppose to teach friendship to such a mule-headed pony? He had been like this for several stalls now. He mostly just introduces himself or asks a question. A few times, she was the one to introduce him, while he remains silent the whole, using only simple gestures to answer their questions. Thankfully, they have been just asking the same questions everyone ask when meeting a new face , “are you new in town?”, “what’s your name?”, and “where are you staying?” 

“How am I to teach you anything when you persist on not speaking to anypony? I need to write a report to Celestia about your improvement, and currently I do not have much to write about,” Twilight explained. 

“It is because I’m under the process of learning that I am not currently saying much. There would be a clear difference between  the way you speak, who is acquainted with the populous of Ponyville, and the way I speak.” He explained firmly. 

“Oh…Well you got to talking to somepony at some point,” Twilight went into her ‘lecture mode’, “a good way to start is with a greeting and introductions, and from there it is a simple matter of asking personal questions that doesn’t offend anypony, or questions that you may have. I’m sure that somepony will be happy to answer any questions you have.”

“I’ll keep that in mind…”

However, his attitude persisted as she went from stall to stall. However, a few times he had shown that he can be a real conversationalist. He went on a lengthy conversation with Bon Bon, asking about her day and all the ponies she'd met. Twilight allowed herself a small victorious smile when she saw that and conducted her business in relative silence. After pointing out the next stall they have to go to, Bon Bon called Twilight and beckoned to talk to her privately.

"So, it looks like you've finally got yourself a coltfriend."

Bon Bon winked knowingly. Twilight was sick to her stomach and blushed at the same time. She gaffed outraged.

"He's NOT my coltfriend!" Twilight said a little too loud, drawing a few eyes. bright red from embarrassment, Twilight leaned in towards Bon Bon and spoke in a hushed voice.

"He's not my coltfriend. He's only staying with me as an assignment from the Princess."

Bon Bon chuckled, "Right you keep saying that, but I’ve heard differently.”

“Wait, what have you heard?” Twilight asked, and her face as she reaized that she almost missed a point, "and what do you mean 'finally'?!"

“Well, you are reputable as a mare that doesn't seem to have her eyes on any stallions, and yet today a mysterious new hunk of a stallion have recently popped up in Ponyville and he is quite buddy-buddy with a certain librarian.” Bon Bon couldn’t suppress a sly grin. Twilight stared with surprised shock, and it didn’t help her cause that she was kind of blushing. 

Twilight just huffed and made her way away from the still chuckling Bon Bon to Alpharius.

“Come on, Alpharius, it’s time we’ve moved on.” Twilight said with a bit of a huff, after putting some distance from Bon Bon.

“I take it that you’ve heard the rumors then?” 

“W-what?! You’ve heard them too?” A blush of embarrassment rose slightly on Twilight’s face.

“They whispered quite loudly, and it doesn’t help their cause when they weren’t subtle about their questions.” Twilight wanted to speak her mind, but she and Alpharius soon heard a familiar filly’s voice fill the air

“Apples! Git your fresh apples from Ponyville’s own Sweet Apple Acres.” Applebloom was tending to Applejack’s stall today with Big Macintosh behind the counter. She’s currently standing on up of the stall in attempts to make sales with incoming ponies, with little success. Applebloom soon spotted Twilight and Alpharius, and waved at them happily. 

"Hey Applebloom, how's your sister coming along?" It was quite awkward to be talking about Applejack's condition when the pony that caused it was standing right beside her, though Alpharius showed no signs of emotions on the matter. Though Twilight is glad that Alpharius isn't giving any light on the conversation, his chilled demeanor unnerved her since it really seems that he doesn't really care of Applejack's condition. Twilight noted that Big Mac was observing Alpharius, and she could tell that he had some doubt and anger about Alpharius 

"Sis is doing alright, she's just needs her rest." She turned to towards Alpharius, "Hey mister, you're the nice pony I met yesterday. What you doing with Twilight? You two on a date? Wanna buy some apples?!" Off the side,Twilight was muttering about ponies and misconceptions.

"Greetings Applebloom. Since I'm new in town, she is giving me a tour of Ponyville, and until I acquire a place of my own I will be staying with Twilight for now."

"Well greetings to you stranger and welcome to Ponyville." Big Mac's mood visibly went back to his usual self, as he spoke.

"My name is Alpharius."

Twilight bought a few apples, while Alpharius spoke with Applebloom, it was more like Applebloom spoke about the apple farm, the CMC, and her adventure while Alpharius nodded a few times to show he was paying attention. they soon said their goodbyes and made their way. Twilight pointed out the next building that looks like that it was made out of candy.

"Over there is Sugarcube Corner. It's Ponyville's best place for pastries and sugary treats. My friend Pinkie Pie works and lives there with Mr. and Mrs. Cake, who owns the place." Twilight continued to guide Alpharius around town. "I need to pick up some snacks that I ordered for myself and Spike."

Both of them entered Sugarcube Corner, the hanging bell rang happily at their presences. The pastry shop was active today, as ponies sat at the tables, chatting with their company as they their snacks. there were a few foals that were playing among themselves at a table as they devoured their sugary delight. Mr. Cake was manning the register Mrs. Cake was setting out more pastries when Twilight and Alpharius came in. 

"Oh hello Twilight, how are you? This must be the new stallion in town, he's quite the big fellow isn't he?"

Noting Alpharius's silence, Twilight quickly covered it, "Greeting Mrs. Cake, how's the foals doing, and is Pinkie here?"

"Oh they're just fine, Pinkie put them to sleep recently, but left quickly after. She shouted about her 'Pinkie senses are tingling' before she bolted out." Mrs. Cake handed Twilight her order and begged her 'good day'. Twilight turned to see Alpharius playing with Gummy, the little gator was chewing on Alpharius's hanging hoof while he studied it.

"That's Pinkie's pet gator, Gummy," Twilight explained. Alpharius just grunted in acknowledgment, while the wall eyed reptile climbed on his back and blinked in curiosity. Twilight bought some gem cupcakes for Spike and a few cookies for herself and whomever she would share with. Both Twilight and Alpharius said their fair-wells and left, at least not before putting Gummy back in Sugarcube Corner when he tried to hitch a ride with them.

On the way back, Alpharius saw whom Twilight called Vinyl Scratch and Octavia sitting on a bench. Vinyl and Octaiva sent greetings, Vinyl was a bit more showy as her greeting was more of a set of flirtatious cat-calls 

===============

"Are you sure that was the right thing to do to a new pony in town, he didn't seem too happy," Octavia asked when the two walked away.

"Nah it's cool, he's just a little hard to get." Vinyl chuckled. She went on to explain what she would love to do with that "Hunk of a Stallion", which made Octavia blush slightly at her less restraint friend, though she'd be lying if she said that she wasn't thinking about it slightly. 

"We could always invite him to lunch sometime this week, Twilight was showing him around town earlier and he is apparently staying with Twilight, if the rumors are correct."

Vinyl threw a hoof around her and drew her close for a victory cheer. "Woot! Now that's what I'm talking about, Who knew my girl was such a go-getter. Actually, knowing Pinkie, you'll get your chance soon."

===============

+Log Entry 6+
+Midday+ 
+Celestia Bless this Day+
+I have located this mysterious new stallion in town, and the rumors seems to hold true as he is quite a looker and is under the company of the local librarian, Twilight Sparkle.+
+Twilight has been showing this new stallion, Alpharius (A strange name indeed), around Ponyville. He shows little to no emotions or interest in the landmarks or buildings, though he speaks quite a bit to ponies that he meets while still holding that disinterested look.+
+I don't know what compels me to watch him, but ever since I heard the rumors, I found myself hiding within bushes and alleys in various camouflage (courtesy of Pinkie). I have to end my vigil soon. Along with the case of camo, there was a festive letter from Pinkie that stated that I should meet her at the Ponyville Library. I must end this endeavor in order to meetup with Pinkie+
++Lyra Heartstrings++

===============

"Hey Twilight!" a voice echoed from above.

"Oh no, not now," Twilight exclaimed. Rainbow Dash flew her way down in front of them in a streak of colors.

"Hey Twilight, I guess this is the new guy everyone's talking about. I didn't know your had it in you, Twilight, to bag such a stallion, though I could've done better." Twilight groan angrily, but was ignored by Rainbow Dash. Rainbow turned towards Alpharius, "Hey new guy, the name's Rainbow Dash, best flyer in Equestria. I've flown with the Wonder Bolts and created a Sonic Rainboom," She boasted, before she realize something, "Oh yeah, what's your name new guy?"

"I am Alphrius." Alpharius was looking over the rainbow colored one, he made a note of her speed and how her streak of color gave her away. He was already doing a battle assessment on her, though he was just easily standing there in silence.

"Cool whatever, by the way, keep an eye out for anypony weird. A crazy pony escape from the hospital and is on the loose. That crazy pony hurt my friend, Applejack, and now she's can't even work. If I ever find that pony, I'll introduce him into a world of hurt," She smack her hooves together in emphasis, "Just don't tell Applejack, she has enough to worry about as it is."

"Rainbow Dash, that is not a thing to say to anypony," Twilight huffed, silently glancing back at Alpharius, who once more betray no emotions.

"Fine, I've got to meet Pinkie Pie anyways, laters." Rainbow flew off in a streak of color. Twilight sighed in relief that Rainbow couldn't put the two pieces together.

"That's a close call, but we should get to my house as soon as possible, before somepony actually recognizes you" Twilight said. She was also notice the increase of guardponies walking around and in the air, and she was starting to get a little nervous about being Alpharius. If it wasn't for her mentor, she would have gladly told the guards, but instead she have to worry about both herself and Alpharius.

"Ah, Twilight, I was looking for you." Gallant Aura stood before the two. He wasn't wearing his armor, which allowed Twilight and Alpharius to see the score of scars that he had received during his tour in the Griffon Wars. Twilight was ruffled that of all ponies that they had to see now was the commander in charge of the Equestrian Guard troops in Ponyville.

Alpharius looked over him and knew that despite Gallant's supposed relaxed stance, he was still very wary of Alpha and was ready to strike out, based on how he flexed his muscles on his legs every few moments. 

"Oh Gallant Aura, why were you looking for me?" Twilight asked, nervously twitching an eye back and forth from Alpharius.

"I've received a message, and I know that 'he' is living with you for the time being," He said, nodding his head towards Alpharius, whom did little to show his emotions, though Gallant can see the slightest hint of a squint in his eyes of hostility. There's no doubt that Alpharius could crush his skull easily, but Gallant wouldn't make it easy for him. He continued, "He is lucky that the Princess is giving a chance to redeem himself," he turned to Alpharius, "Watch your step stranger."

"Don't worry, I know you'll be right behind me." Gallant's eyes narrowed at Alpharius's quip, but resigned to simple walk away.

Twilight was just glad that it was all over with today, and that they didn't meet or stopped by any more ponies, it was putting stress on her brain, and the pressure of carrying around her things were starting to get to her, that and the fact that Alpharius refuse to do any to help her, instead he just continued to walk with her with an unchangeable face.

"Well, today was tiring was it not?" Twilight asked with a wiry smile, hoping to heard how he viewed the day, though Twilight could take a good guess.

"I have learned much today from you, Twilight Sparkle," Alpharius said plainly. 

This...was unexpected. Twilight figured that he would make a bored comment. He had done little except been impassive about almost everything, though there were times where he showed a great amount of vocal and communicating skills, but quickly reverted back to his usual quiet self and a few times Twilight swore that she saw that he was simmering underneath his skin, instead he pretty much complimented her, and that made her quite happy and relived. Finally they made it to the door to the library with no more hassle.

"Well I'm glad to hear that, maybe I can ask you a few questions about yourself after dinner." Twilight was personally winded but was pretty excited about learning more about Alpharius and his world. 

Twilight opened the door to her tree home. It was strangely dark when she started opened it, she figured Spike would be home about this time since it was close to dinner time. However out of the darkness the light came up.


"Surprise!!" 


A whole room filled with of ponies, and party favors, with Pinkie Pie right in the middle of it shouted with fevour  confetti and streamers flying everywhere. Everyone wore broad smiles, eager to start the party.

In the next 3 seconds a loud crash resounded within the room and a scream was heard.