Rebirth of the Damned

by Borsuq

157. Beings of Power

“So,” Arthas chatted up to Raogrior as he dispatched another echo, “what do you think of my paladins?”

He leaned against his hammer as he waited for the val’kyr’s answer, surveying the area. A while ago Storm had asked him to cover a group of unicorns’ echoes as they used their magic to repel an assault from the top of the closest hill. It was a plan that Arthas had approved of, as having mages deployed at this position gave them an advantage over the griffons, and also being there allowed him to keep an eye on each of his paladins and the rest of the battlefield. Now that the surge of enemy echoes had subsided for a moment, Arthas turned his attention to the others.

Storm was in the air above the other edge of the east wall, slashing through a griffon’s echo with Spring Binder, then blasting the next one with the Light. During the battle two thousand years ago, almost all of the pegasi warriors had been fighting across and above the entire island, and so only a few squads of them had been stationed in the fortress, which was reflected by the numbers of their echoes. As such, Storm Clash had his hooves full with aerial combat, helping the few pegasi’ echoes he had under his command. Aside from the two he had sent to help Arthas with the unicorns’ defense, every one of them was helping him fight griffons across the wall’s length, forcing them closer to the ground so their non-pegasi forces could engage them.

Serenity and Guard were on the ramparts, fighting together with earth pony and unicorn echoes. Every now and then, griffons, either struck by the pegasi or simply preferring to fight near the ground, would swoop down. Most of them would be immediately met by Guard’s shield, the older paladin jumping before every enemy he was close to, placing himself on the front line and protecting their allies. As he deflected their blades, he’d strike with his hammer, which shone with a golden glow everytime Guard Shield would raise it and bring it down on the enemy echoes. Of course, he hadn’t been able to defend against every blow; his armor bore several scratches and small dents that Arthas could see even from where he was, along with several blood marks dotting it. He wasn’t worried, however, because Serenity was near him. Whenever any of the griffon’s echoes would strike true she was ready with a prayer, healing Guard as well as echoes that fought on their side. Arthas found himself impressed at how easy healing of incorporeal beings came to her, especially since each of them would groan in pain as the Holy Light mended their forms. She’d also create Light barriers whenever any of their allies was about to be overwhelmed, and fight too, blasting the few that Guard hadn’t managed to stop with the Light or smashing them with Heart’s Mercy.

Tucker was further away, leading a small group of ponies’ echoes to the small camp from where the griffons coordinated their attacks against the entire stronghold. As Arthas strained his eyes, he spot the unicorn paladin swiftly dispatching griffon after griffon. With most of the soldiers off attacking the ponies’ base, it wouldn’t take long for Tucker to either claim it or force them to retreat.

All of them were doing fine when it came to fighting, which didn’t come as a surprise to Arthas; after all, he had trained them. He had been more worried how they would cope with seeing so much death, even if those weren’t really ponies and griffons and they’d disappear soon after suffering mortal wounds. Arthas knew how such an experience could break a person; the real reason why he had brought them here was for them to harden as fighters. He hoped that experiencing this with echoes instead of real people would be easier, but what if the thousands of years of peace would make even this too traumatic for them?

“They are all very well trained,” Raogrior voice filled Arthas’ mind as she replied to his question, pulling him out of his worried musings. “And they fight with brave and noble hearts. If they’d continue to gain experiences like here and hone their skills, they could perhaps stand on equal footing with the Valarjar some day.”

“Considering they are supposed to be an army of the mightiest warriors who ever lived, that’s quite the compliment,” Arthas calmly stated with respect.

“You seem to doubt that statement,” Raogrior noticed.

“Well, I hadn’t seen the Valarjar in action, hadn’t I?” Arthas countered, amused. “It would be unwise to judge the skills of somebody I haven’t seen with my own eyes.”

He would have liked to continue this discussion, but at that moment another group of echoes attacked his position. Raising on his hind legs and grabbing the hammer - which began to glow with the Light again - with both forehooves, Arthas readied himself for battle.

He swung his weapon as two griffons dived at him, but at the last moment they spread their wings and drew back, avoiding his strike. As the head of the hammer passed before them, they immediately charged at him. Arthas could see satisfied smirks appear on their faces as they thought he would be unable to break his weapon out of the arc his swing had sent it into.

They were wrong.

With his powerful forelegs he stopped his hammer mid-swing, then swiftly brought it back before him, blocking both griffons’ attacks with the long handle. Taking the echoes by surprise, Arthas leaned his weapon to the side, causing their swords to slide slightly and unbalance them as a result. Not giving them time to recover, he drew the hammer back, then slammed the head against one of the griffons, inflicting not a mortal strike but strong enough to cause the echo to stagger back. As his wings beat frantically to regain his balance, Arthas turned to his companion. The griffon slashed with his swords, but Arthas countered with the hammer, the stronger strike causing the echo to lose his weapons, leaving him defenseless. As the enemy tried to back away, reaching to his belt for a dagger, Arthas quickly adjusted his grip on the hammer, and swung it against the griffon’s head. With the echo falling to the ground, he turned around in time to deflect the other one’s attack and strike him in the chest.

As three more griffons’ echoes descended upon him, Raogrior, who had remained silent for a while, spoke again: “You do not hold the Valarjar or Odyn in high regard, do you?”

“I don’t hold anybody who forces others into an eternal servitude in high regard, by principle,” Arthas replied brittly, smashing an echo’s windpipe before blasting another with the Holy Light.

As he dealt with the next one, he noticed four others flying close to the ground as they approached the unicorns. Grabbing the hammer with his left forehoof only and breaking the griffon’s wing, he raised his right foreleg, the Light glowing from his hoof. Four blades made out of pure Light erupted from the ground beneath the four unexpecting echoes, piercing each of them through the chest.

“It is a great honor to be accepted into the Halls of Valor,” Raogrior said; Arthas was relieved to hear that she sounded more baffled than offended. “And an even greater honor to be transformed into a val’kyr.”

Finishing off the echo with the broken wing, Arthas raised a hoof into the sky, channeling a barrier of Light above the hill, forcing the griffons to strike at it in attempt to break through it while the unicorns’ echoes blasted them with magic beams. “I have no doubt that’s true,” he told the val’kyr. “However, the vrykul who had joined the Scourge thought the same of the ‘ascensions’ I would grant them. So did the Cult of the Damned and many others. Didn’t make me any less of a monster.”

“... I don’t know whether I should find this comparison to be amusing, a sign of your arrogance, or outright insulting to Odyn,” Raogrior finally confessed after a brief silence, during which the unicorns took care of the remaining attackers.

Uttering a short chuckle, Arthas dispelled the barrier. “It’s not my fault that, when one looks at it this way, there are little differences between me as the Lich King and Keeper Odyn. Except for me being outright evil, not discriminating towards every race but one, and, well, actually helping during the last Burning Legion invasion,” he added, smirking in the val’kyr’s direction.

“And which side would you be referring to when you say you’ve helped?”

Arthas laughed, detecting an amused note in Raogrior’s question. “I was wondering if you’d let me off the hook on this. I’m glad to hear you have some sense of humor. Unfortunately, I’m afraid this discussion will have to continue at some other time,” he added, noticing Storm waving at him to come back to the ramparts. Everywhere Arthas looked, the griffons were either retreating or were lying curled on the ground, the echoes who had been more gravely injured eventually fading away. “It would appear the battle is over.”

“Your second in command had shown good judgement during this battle,” Raogrior commented as Arthas began to make his way back to the others after picking up a few Ancient Steel Shards the echoes he defeated had dropped.

“I think so, too,” Arthas replied, pleased that the val’kyr thought so. He hoped that if Storm would continue to do so well during this trial, that last few confidence issues he had would be gone completely, and he could trust him with more duties in the future.

Regrouping with his paladins, Arthas reached out with his senses around the stronghold, wanting to make sure that they had successfully repelled the attack on it. Concentrating to distinguish the ponies’ echoes from griffon echoes, he soon sighed with relief as he couldn’t pick up on any enemies nearby, aside from some wounded ones the ponies had captured.

As he reached the stairs leading to the ramparts, Storm swooped down and landed next to him. At the same time, Guard and Serenity appeared on the top of the stairs, and, as they began to descend, the sudden flash of a teleportation spell announced Tucker’s arrival.

“Is everypony okay?” Storm asked, directing the question to all of them, but looking at Arthas and Tucker, who had been too far away from him to keep eyes on. As he nodded, Arthas glanced around at the others, and while he did spot a few marks on their armor, he was relieved to see that they were all alright; they had learned healing prayers well. “Great,” Storm continued when everypony nodded, “now, we should continue to go inland, but I think it would be good if we’d check with Smart Cookie; she is in charge of this place after all. Or, well, was,” he added in an afterthought. Scratching his head, he added sheepishly. “It’s a bit confusing.”

Arthas found himself agreeing with both Storm’s decision and his statement. They were about to set off to look for the echo of one of the Founders of Equestria, but it turned out to be unnecessary; said echo was already approaching them.

“I heard we have all of you to thank for holding this side of the stronghold,” she began as she reached them, sounding a lot friendlier than when they arrived. Her lavender eyes moved from them to the echoes still on top of the wall, then to the ones coming down. “And with such low losses…” Smart Cookie added, her voice trailing off for a bit. She quickly shook it off and turned back to them. “Thank you for the bravery you had showed here today, Equestria will remember this once this awful war is over.”

“It was an honor to fight alongside you,” Storm replied, bowing his head respectfully. The others, Arthas included, followed suit. “We have to leave now, though. We… our orders tell us to advance further inland and regroup with the rest of our forces.”

“With warriors like you on the front line, I’m sure we’ll soon take this island,” Smart Cookie said, giving them a half smile before sighing. “Maybe that will be enough… I hope Hurricane reconsiders invading Griffonia afterwards. They can’t attack Equestria if we hold this place… wasn’t there enough fighting already? Is vengeance all that matters to him?”

The all too familiar phrase, uttered here by an echo of a pony from before two thousand years ago, cause cold shivers to go up Arthas’ spine.

“Vengeance?” he asked before he could help himself.

Smart Cookie nodded. “For the war Friedrich started. For all the ponies that had died. For putting in danger all that we had build. But mostly… for what he had done to Pansy,” she said, her eyes dropping down to the ground. “If Hurricane kills that bastard, I will be the first to spit on his grave, but I don’t want this war to continue just because of him. Pansy wouldn’t want that, either. Not just for us ponies, but griffons too; heck, the prisoners we interrogated had been appalled by what Friedrich had done, too. None of them are as bad as he…” she trailed off again and sighed. She then shook her head and looked up, her eyes determined again. “But they’ll still try to kill us, so you better go out there and do what you have to help us secure this island. Sorry for holding you up. If you run into Hurricane or Clover, tell them everything’s fine over here,” she said, saluting.

After Arthas and the others saluted her back she turned around and began to walk away, clearly dismissing them. Arthas couldn’t help but watch her trot away, his mind lost in the many thoughts and memories her short tale awakened. He had known, of course, about what had happened during that war and in years that followed, having been told by Twilight and Daring Do, as well as having read some old books himself. He still remembered what Daring Do had told him, too, about the possibility that it could have been Commander Hurricane that was responsible for the Sundering of Griffonia. However… it never occurred to Arthas that maybe the two of them were very much alike until he had heard Smart Cookie’s echo say the same thing Muradin had asked him that cursed morning.

“If there was something I’d have in common with one of the ponies who had founded their kingdom, it had to be this,” he thought, watching as Smart Cookie barked orders at some soldiers around the fortress. “Unlike Commander Hurricane, though, I was offered another chance, a life which I can lead having learned from my mistakes. But… if I’d gone through the same thing as he, would I have acted differently, even knowing just how this could end?”

Shaking his head, he followed Storm’s lead as they headed off out of the stronghold into the dry, rocky countryside of the Dread Isle.

Even though she was tired after her late night studies and worried about how Arthas and the others were doing at the Dread Isle, Twilight immediately brightened as she saw Princess Celestia and Princess Luna’s chariots landing beside the entrance to White Tail Wood. She hurried over to greet them, leaving Spike, Rarity and Pinkie Pie behind.

“Hello Twilight,” Celestia said with a smile as she reached them. She rose from her seat and left the chariot; the pegasi Royal Guards began to pull it away to give them more room and privacy, quickly joined by the bat ponies who had pulled Luna’s chariot. “How have you been?”

“Good morning, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna,” Twilight quickly said, bowing before each royal sister. “I’m fine, just a little worried about Arthas.”

“It’s understandable, but hopefully you remember, Twilight, that Arthas can take care of himself,” Luna told her. With a smirk, she added: “I would worry more about those echoes.”

“Oh, I know,” Twilight replied, uttering a chuckle and rolling her eyes. “But I’m less worried about something actually hurting him, and more about how being on the Dread Isle would affect him. And the others,” she added as her friends, trotting at more relaxed - or elegant as Rarity would probably say - pace, caught up to them.

“Oh, I’m sure all of them will be fine,” Rarity stated. “Good morning, Your Majesties. Not that I mind being in Your presence,” she added after everypony greeted each other, “but does anypony here know what it is that Fluttershy wanted to tell us about, and why all the way here?”

“That’s actually a good question,” Twilight thought, turning her full attention to the Princesses. On the same day they had said their goodbyes to Arthas and his paladins - with Rarity giving Storm Clash a special goodbye, one Twilight found herself wishing she could give Arthas again; only her reluctance to reveal to her friends their relationship stopped her from kissing him on the train station - Fluttershy had told them that there’s something she wanted to tell them, as well as the Princesses. She refused to reveal what it was, though, and just asked everypony to meet her by the entrance to the White Tail Woods, and asked Twilight and Spike to pass the information to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. They did as she asked, of course, despite their surprise… but what truly surprised them was the Princesses’ almost immediate reply, confirming that they would join them. “They agreed to a meeting without any explanation… Did they know something about it?”

“I believe we have a good idea why Fluttershy wanted to meet here,” Princess Celestia began, “but I think it would be better for Fluttershy to tell us herself.”

“But Princess, how could you possibly know-” Twilight began, only to stop as she realized the answer to her question. Deadpanning, she asked: “Arthas had something to do with that, didn’t he?”

“Partially, yes,” Princess Luna replied, sounding almost neutral; Twilight could tell that she was amused.

Groaning, the unicorn facehoofed. “Of course that stallion had to be involved somehow,” she said, annoyed that he hadn’t told her anything. Ignoring the amused giggles her reaction had caused, she turned back to the Princesses. “So does Arthas know what Fluttershy wants to tell us?”

“Yes, Twilight,” Celestia said. Twilight ears flickered as she heard both amusement and some weariness in the Princess’ voice; was her annoyance in Arthas really starting to annoy others? “I believe he withheld the exact information from us because he wanted Fluttershy to tell us herself.”

“Well, that makes sense,” Rarity spoke up before Twilight could reply. “I just hope the others will get here quickly; I’d hate to make Fluttershy wait. She looked very excited when she asked us to meet here here. And nervous, but she’s always nervous,” she amended, waving her hoof nonchalantly.

“Looks like you got your wish,” Spike suddenly said, pointing behind them, but in a slightly different direction than the one they came from. “Applejack and Nymph are already here.”

Indeed, as Twilight turned to look where he was pointing, she noticed the earth pony and changeling trotting towards them. She couldn’t help but smile as she watched them chat friendly, sharing a laugh over something. “It’s amazing how Applejack’s view of Nymph has changed and how good friends they have become,” Twilight thought. “Although they are going to become a family soon, so maybe that shouldn’t be surprising.”

“Morning y’all,” Applejack greeted them as they reached the entrance to the White Tail Woods, then bowed her head before the Princesses. “Yar Majesties.”

“Hello, Applejack, Nymph,” Princess Celestia replied, smiling at her and at the changeling as she gave a courteous, more suitable for - practically - a princess of a foreign land bow. “We have heard the news about you and Big Macintosh. Congratulations, I hope the two of you will have a very happy life together.”

“Thank you, Princess Celestia, I’m sure we will,” Nymph said, her smile radiating happiness and her wings making a brief buzz.

Twilight had to suppress a giggle after seeing the adorable motion.

“Have you and Big Macintosh picked the date yet?” Princess Luna asked politely.

“Well, after talking this over with Granny Smith yesterday, Big Mac and I decided to have our wedding on the last day of the Apple Family Reunion. Everypony from the Apple family would want to take part in our special day, and it’s unlikely they’d all be able to make the journey to Ponyville anytime soon afterwards.” Nymph sighed, her happy mood dispersing and her eyes gazed down at the ground as she continued: “Of course, that means that we have only a month to prepare everything for the first wedding of a pony and a changeling in history.”

“Oh, darling, don’t worry about it,” Rarity said, trotting closer to the changeling and lifting her head by her chin gently. Offering her a smile, the unicorn added: “We’ll all help the two of you.”

“So will we,” Princess Celestia said after everypony nodded in confirmation of Rarity’s words. “You will have everything you need for your special day, you have my word on that.”

“Thank you, Your Highness, it means a lot to me,” Nymph replied, smiling as her happiness returned, “even though I know how important this day will be not only to Big Mac and I, but also to the Swarm and Equestria. I will contact you when we’ll decide what exactly we will need.”

“We will wait for a message from you, then,” Princess Luna said. “Also, there was a certain suggestion Arthas had made when he informed us about the wedding. We’d like to discuss this with you and your fiance, and maybe offer some other suggestions and advices as well. Would you mind if I’d accompany you back to Sweet Apple Acres afterwards?” she added, nodding at the forest behind them.

“Oh, of course,” Nymph quickly replied, sounding pleased and a bit relieved.

“I think she’s happy she will have some help planning the wedding,” Twilight thought, amused. “I wonder if I could help organize it too…”

“It will be an honor and a pleasure to have ya at our farm, Yar Majesty,” Applejack added. “Granny Smith had been baking pies when we left, so Ah’m sure ya’ll enjoy yar time with us.”

“I think I’m regretting letting you be the one who’ll go there,” Princess Celestia told her sister humorously, causing everypony to snicker. “Speaking of Granny Smith, how did she take the news?”

Applejack and Nymph, their laughter stopped, exchanged a glance.

Yesterday…

“We’re glad ya had a safe journey Granny,” Applejack said back in their living room as Granny Smith had finished telling them about how her travel went. The earth pony mare quickly swept her gaze around; all of her close family - and soon-to-be close family - had been sitting around Granny’s favorite chair. “But, um, when ya’ve been away a few things had happened, and some of us have some news for ya,” she said, slightly nodding her head at Big Mac and Nymph.

The changeling smiled at Applejack nervously before turning to Granny Smith. She and Big Mac had discussed how best to tell her, but in the end, all they could think of was to tell her the same way they had told their friends. “Granny Smith, we wanted to tell you that… we’re engaged.”

Big Mac’s hoof found her own and grasped it gently. “Eeyup!” he said, a broad smile on his muzzle.

On the other side of the room, Applejack put her foreleg around the giggling Apple Bloom, hugging her as they waited for Granny Smith’s reply.

The elderly mare blinked, stunned, then frowned. “What in tarnation-” she cut off abruptly and, with a speed belittling her age, she jumped at Big Mac, smacking him upside the head before anypony could blink. “What the heck did ya do, knockin’ up the poor lass?!”

“Um…” Nymph mumbled, stunned, then shook her head, snapping herself out of her daze. “Granny Smith, I’m not pregnant.”

“Wha- ya’re not?” Granny Smith asked, confused, letting go of Big Mac. “Then why in tarnation are ya two gettin’ married so soon?”

Present…

“She took them well,” both Applejack and Nymph said in unison, turning back to others.

Twilight frowned hearing them answer in this strange manner, and was fairly certain that the Princesses and the others were also confused, but before any of them could question Applejack and Nymph further, a rainbow-colored streak passed between them, followed immediately by a very strong gust of wind that almost toppled some of them over.

“First!” Twilight heard Rainbow exclaim triumphantly from a few feet away. “Told’ya I’m faster than you.”

Waving her hoof to disperse the dust that Rainbow’s flight had raised, Twilight turned to look in the direction from which she came. She saw Wing Reaver just as he stopped before them in mid-flight, sparing them from another blow of wind. The changeling crossed his forelegs on his chest and was frowning at Rainbow Dash with annoyance.

“Congrats,” he told her, clearly reluctantly. “But I can still beat you in fight.”

“Ha! You wish,” Rainbow replied, snickered, then finally turned to the rest of them. “Hi everypony, sorry we’re late, I wanted to do some practice before going to the Wonderbolts Academy tomorrow. Plus we needed to… establish something once and for all,” she added with a smirk at Wind.

Wind, who had landed next to Nymph, gave Rainbow a bemused glance. “Keep gleeing; I was totally checking you under your tail during the race,” he said, shrugging.

“Yeah, I- wait, what?” Rainbow asked, shaking her head as she realized just what he said.

Before Wind could reply - but just in time for everypony to grow annoyed and uncomfortable with this exchange, with Nymph even uttering a tired sigh because of her bodyguard’s attitude - Fluttershy appeared, flying out of the forest.

“Hello everypony,” she said cheerfully, but her mood slightly deflated as she glanced between Rainbow and Wind. “Um, is something the matter?”

“It’s nothing important Fluttershy,” Twilight quickly told her, not wanting for the two to continue their argument. Rolling her eyes, she added: “Trust me.”

“Oh, I see,” Fluttershy said, sounding unconvinced, but quickly shrugged it off and smiled again. “Thank you all for coming, I have something important to tell you, and, well, show you, too. If you could just follow me a little further into the forest I will explain everything soon.”

With those words Fluttershy flew back the way she came, not waiting for them to reply. Though Celestia and Luna followed her immediately, Twilight found herself hesitating. It was rare for Fluttershy to act so… resolute and mysterious. “Come to think about it, she was acting a bit odd for some time now,” she thought, thinking back to how often she was late or would sometimes make weird comments, like that day when Nymph had told them all about changelings’ society and biology. “Could whatever this is about be related to why Fluttershy had been acting this way? Must be… but why do the Princesses seem to know something about this?”

Knowing there was only one way to learn the answers to those questions and, more importantly, trusting Fluttershy, Twilight gave herself a shake and followed after her, quickly joined by the rest of her friends.

Fluttershy led them in silence to a small clearing, not far from the edge of the forest. Twilight looked around, curious what she wanted to show them, but all she could spot aside from the trees around the clearing were a few rocks here and there. Confused, she turned to her friend.

“So what exactly did you want to show us here, Fluttershy?” she asked.

The pegasus opened her mouth to reply, but before she could say anything, a deep voice came from somewhere behind her, among the trees: “I believe she wanted to introduce you to me.”

Twilight looked at the direction where the voice came from… and gasped. What she had previously thought to be a part of one of the trees was actually a timberwolf; except this wasn’t either of the two kinds of timberwolves that prowled around the Everfree Forest. This one was much bigger than a usual timberwolf, its bark that made his pelt was smooth, almost like a normal wolf’s, had a mane made up of leaves and small flowers covering part of its head, neck, shoulder and chest, and its glowing, amber gaze spoke of intelligence behind those eyes. Twilight could also sense a great power radiating from it.

However, what set it apart from the timberwolves whose depictions and pictures she had seen and read about in her books, was the kind expression its muzzle bore.

“Greetings, ponies, changelings,” he - Twilight felt certain that such a deep voice could only belong to a male - said, nodding his head in greeting. “My name is Provato, and I’m the last demigod who calls the Everfree Forest his home; or called, at least,” he added, shaking his head. Provato then turned to Applejack. “It’s nice to see you again, Applejack.”

Twilight and everypony else, even Fluttershy, turned in surprise to look at the earth pony mare. “Howdy,” she told Provato, smiling, then, noticing the stares she was getting, she rubbed the back of her head. “He, um, he came by mah farm a few nights ago t’ apologize for, ya know, almost killin’ me,” she added, pointing her her throat.

“Ow…” Twilight exclaimed, wincing as she recalled the awful wound that was there and that Arthas had healed. “Wait, that was you?” she asked, turning back to Provato. “But… you looked different. And you were smaller,” she pointed out.

“The Darkness that corrupted me, turning me into a feral animal, had caused this effect on my body,” Provato replied. “I became more… primitive. After your friend, Sir Lightbringer - or Arthas, as Fluttershy had told me his real name is - had used the Light to heal my wounds all those months ago, it caused the Darkness in me to disperse, although it still took me some time to recover to who I once was.”

“Sounds legit,” Pinkie Pie spoke up suddenly. “I mean, it does sound like something a writer would make up in a middle of a story and decided to add that, but it still makes sense to me.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow at her pink friend, a little confused by her reasoning, but quickly forgot about it as she heard Celestia speak up. “Greetings, Provato,” she said, nodding her head to the timberwolf demigod along with her sister. “Me and my sister have heard about you from Knight-lieutenant Storm Clash, and we have been hoping to meet you soon.”

“And I have heard much about you from Fluttershy,” Provato replied. “Likewise, I have hoped to-”

“Wait, hold on a moment,” Rainbow interrupted the timberwolf demigod; fortunately, when after a brief moment his bewilderment had passed Provato seemed amused rather than offended. “Why was Fluttershy hanging around with you? And was that why you’ve been acting so oddly and being late all the time?” the rainbow-maned pegasus asked, turning to Fluttershy.

“Well, um, you could say that was the reason,” Fluttershy replied, smiling sheepishly and prodding the ground with her hoof shily. “I’ve run into Provato the day after Rarity’s birthday party, and, w-well… he’s been teaching me nature’s magic!” she finally exclaimed, gazing at them with excitement that was so rare for her.

“Nature’s magic?” Twilight repeated, stunned. Remembering what Arthas had told her about various kinds of magic users on Azeroth, she added: “You mean druidism? Wow, Fluttershy, that’s amazing!” she exclaimed as Fluttershy nodded, now as excited as her if not more. Running up to stand close to her, Twilight asked: “How does it work? What does it feel like to use it? What kind of things can you do?”

“Um…” Fluttershy stammered, slightly backing away. Realizing that in her excitement she had made her uncomfortable, Twilight quickly took a step back, but before she could apologize as well the shy pegasus had glanced at Provato, who nodded to her.

Puzzled a little at the sudden confidence Fluttershy gained after that small gesture, Twilight watched as the pegasus closed her eyes. “Is she casting a druidic spell?” she wondered, excited again. The very next second her question was answered. Fluttershy had raised her forelegs up, concentrating, and before Twilight’s eyes her forehooves were enveloped by swirling, green, almost emerald light. Thought it didn’t appear much different from the glow surrounding a unicorn’s horn as they’d use magic, the sensation it gave off felt slightly different.

“I wonder what-” Twilight began to think, only to have another question asked right away. Suddenly, from the ground around her vines erupted, wrapping around her body and squeezing gently. Surprised and a little hurt - some of the vines had thorns - Twilight uttered a short yelp, instinctively trying to break away. However, despite the vines not holding her too tightly, they held her in place.

Her yelp alarmed Fluttershy. “Oh, sorry, did I hurt you?” she asked, worried, and with a flick of her hooves she caused the vines to release Twilight.

“No, don’t worry Fluttershy, you just surprised me a little,” Twilight quickly replied, giving herself a shake. “Although those thorns prickled a little…”

“Oh, let me,” Fluttershy immediately said, once again closing her eyes as she placed her hoof on Twilight’s chest.

Green energy once again began to swirl around her hoof and the emerald light briefly enveloped the unicorn. Twilight eyes widened as she felt the nature magic wash over her, healing the little cuts the thorns had caused her. It didn’t feel like when Arthas would use the Light to heal her; rather, it felt more like… rubbing aloe vera against her muzzle, at least, that’s the best comparison that Twilight could think of. For a moment she even could swear she smelled the scent of leaves.

The sensation faded as Fluttershy pulled away, the glow fading from her forehoof. “There, all better now,” she said, smiling.

“Wow, Fluttershy, that was-” Twilight began, utterly amazed by what she could do now, only to be cut off.

“Totally awesome!” Rainbow exclaimed, flying closer to Fluttershy and smiling at her with excitement.

“Um, thanks,” the other pegasus replied sheepishly.

“Fluttershy has proven to be a talented and quick-learning student,” Provato said in his deep voice as the rest of their friends gathered around Fluttershy to voice their amazement; Twilight noted the warm gaze he gave the pegasus in question as he continued: “I’m sure she’ll continue to amaze you as her training continues.”

His words caused Fluttershy to become even more embarrassed. Her face became red and she prodded the ground with her hoof again.

“But how come you hadn’t told us about any of this?” Rainbow asked, tilting her head in confusion.

“That’s because I’ve asked her not to,” Provato replied for her; as all heads turned to him, the timberwolf demigod continued: “As well as Applejack when I apologized to her. I hadn’t felt confident enough to confront ponykind after so long, not after many ponies I and my offspring had harmed during the past thousand years when Darkness clouded our minds. Not then, at least.”

“We’re glad you have changed your mind, Provato,” Princess Celestia said. “If you don’t mind, my sister and I have a few questions we wanted to ask you, especially regarding this Darkness that you have told Storm Clash had befallen you and all of Everfree Forest.”

Twilight perked her ears, instantly focused. Would they finally learn what made Everfree Forest so… dark? Maybe even how to heal it?

But to her disappointment, Provato was shaking his head. “All I know about it I had already told the paladin. The Darkness was something not of this world. It came into the Forest when the Floating Island had fallen from the sky, and seeped into it as it hid from something. It twisted and corrupted everything in the Everfree Forest before it left, including all the demigods - the Wild Gods, primal manifestation of the very life and nature - who call it home, starting with my mother, Everfree, the very Spirit of Nature.”

“... Okaaaay…” Twilight thought, trying to process the amount of information Provato revealed… that was apparently known to the Princesses already. “And Arthas, since Provato had told Storm about it,” she remarked, crossed.

Princess Celestia, who had no trouble accepting the flood of information, frowned thoughtfully. “According to what you’ve told Storm Clash, the ‘Floating Island’ is the mountain near the old abandoned castle, right? We had found remains of some kind of base or research station there,” she continued as Provato nodded; in the meantime, Twilight stared at her with eyes wide as plates, “related to something called ‘Project Eclipse’. We are still conducting investigation about it, though for now we had little success. However, it’s seems safe to assume that this Darkness you speak of was connected to it.”

“A fair assessment,” Provato agreed. “This name, Project Eclipse, is unfamiliar to me, though.”

“We thought as much,” Luna spoke up, “but perhaps you do know two other names, or at least have heard of them; Discord and King Sombra?”

Twilight, already feeling confused due to trying to figure out how exactly could this Project Eclipse fit into all of this, found herself even more confused. Why would the Princesses bring up those two?

“I have heard about them from Fluttershy,” the timberwolf demigod replied thoughtfully. “To be honest… after my student had told me what had happened when this King Sombra died, I began to wonder… could the Darkness be what possessed that pony’s body? I would have to have been there to know for sure,” he decided, shaking his head. “But if it was, then Sir Lightbringer, and all of you who had helped the Crystal Empire that day had saved the world from an even greater evil than you had thought,” Provato said, gazing at Twilight and her friends with gratitude and respect.

As Twilight’s heart swelled with pride, her mentor asked another question. “And what of Discord, Provato? Surely, one as wise as you must have heard about as powerful being as him before he became known to Equestria.”

But Provato was already shaking his head. “I have never heard of Discord back before the Darkness came; not even my mother had ever spoke of him, and she knew of every living being on Equestria.”

“Wait, really?” Twilight asked in surprise, no longer able to contain the confusion that was boiling inside of her. “But in that case… where did Discord come from?”

“I do not know that, little unicorn,” Provato said. “Both him and his powers seem… unique. Perhaps he’s not even of this world? I have also not heard about changelings, either,” he added, glancing at Nymph and Wind Reaver with gentle curiosity, “and it would seem you have connections to this world of Azeroth, correct?”

As Nymph nodded in agreement, Twilight considered the theory Provato presented for a moment. It certainly seemed possible that it was the case; after all, there wasn’t any other draconequus on Equestria. And nopony could do the things he could, not even - according to Arthas - anybody on Azeroth could. However, before Twilight could voice her thoughts, Princess Celestia began to speak again.

“Nevermind then about the matters we cannot affect or learn about. Let’s discuss something we can do; namely, the state of the Everfree Forest and other Wild Gods dwelling there. Provato, do you-”

The timberwolf demigod silenced her by raising a paw. “Before we go into that, there is something I wanted to ask the two of you,” he said, looking from Celestia to Luna and back.

“Oh, of course,” Celestia replied, a little surprised.

“What exactly are you?”

Everypony stared at Provato in bewilderment.

“I know you are alicorns,” he added, as if sensing this would be an answer he would receive once they’d recover. Tilting his head, he continued: “What puzzles me is… how your powers came to be. How you can move the sun and moon, how those are your cutie marks. Because according to what I heard from my mother, there was once a Wild God who had the duty you undertook.”

Eyes of everypony switched briefly to the Princesses before going back to Provato. “That’s the first time we heard of this,” Princess Celestia said after a moment, clearly as surprised as everypony. “Before the time we were born and we discovered our special talents and destinies, the sun and moon were moved by a group of unicorns known as Arcane Council.”

“Yes, I have heard about them. Met some of them, even,” Provato added, rolling his eyes. “My mother had told me that the Wild God I mentioned had vanished without a trace long before that; unicorns must have then took it upon themselves to guide the celestial bodies, for which the entire world was grateful for them.”

“He vanished without a trace?” Twilight exclaimed before she could stop herself. “How could that have happened?”

“Not even my mother knew the answer to that question,” he replied, shaking his head. “But more importantly, I am curious how come you two possess the powers he had once been bestowed with,” he added, glancing curiously at the two Princesses.

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, Provato, but we do not know why we had been born alicorns with such destinies,” Princess Celestia said. “However, ever since we discovered our special talents, we’ve done all we could to uphold our duty to this world as much as our duties to our subjects.”

The timberwolf demigod chuckled warmly. “It is true,” he said, nodding in respect to both alicorns. “From what I heard, you are both more than worthy of those powers and destinies. Even though my elders from the Everfree Forest would be more than a little surprised to see ponies wield such powers…” he trailed off, shaking his head dismissively. “Speaking of, I assume that when you began to talk about them, you wanted to suggest using those Elements of Harmony Fluttershy has told me about to restore them to who they once were?”

“Exactly,” Princess Celestia replied. “I believe we could maybe even use them to heal all of the Everfree Forest with them.”

Twilight was not surprised when she couldn’t detect certainty in her mentor’s voice. While she would be glad to use the Elements to help the other Wild Gods - and knew her friends would be too - and a little excited at the prospect of meeting them, she never heard of any spell cast on such a large area as Everfree Forest.

“This would require some planning and preparation, not just have us bear the Elements and shoot with magic straight before us,” Twilight thought.

“It’s a good idea,” Provato agreed, “however, I have some… reservation against it. I’ve been told by Fluttershy about how those Elements cleansed you of the Nightmare Moon, Princess Luna,” he said, turning to the younger alicorn, “and about how you appeared initially afterwards. I don’t think my elders would appreciate if they were turned into a powerless form before ponies, no matter how long. Even though Arachnia could use a little humility…” he muttered under his breath, so quietly that Twilight barely heard him.

Ignoring that for the moment, she decided to speak up: “But surely, healing them is more important than their pride.”

“You are right, young one,” Provato replied. “Which is why, if everything should fail, we could try those Elements of yours. I’ll admit, I am a little curious to see them. However, I have my own plan to heal my elders. I believe I can do it with the help of Fluttershy.”

A little eep came from the shy pegasus. “M-mine?” she stuttered, her eyes wide as she stared at Provato with more than just a little fright. “Are you sure, Provato? I mean, I would be glad to help, but I don’t know if-”

“You are a strong pony, Fluttershy,” the Wild God told her, his voice calming and reassuring. “And you’re on your way to becoming a powerful druid. When you learn a bit more from me, I am sure we’ll manage to heal the other Wild Gods together. I doubt we’d be able to heal my mother, though,” he added, turning back to the Princesses and everypony. “She is far more powerful than any demigod who dwells here, even in this corrupted, primitive state. Healing her would require those Elements of Harmony and the Wild Gods who we’ll manage to heal by then… and maybe the Light your friends wield.”

“Then when the time comes to heal Everfree, you will have our help,” Princess Celestia replied with a brief glance around at Twilight and her friends, all who nodded in agreement. “If what you have told Storm Clash is true, it will be some time before your mother could take on a form that we could contain long enough to cleanse her, right?”

“That is correct, because of that damned centaur, her spirit is currently spread throughout the Everfree Forest; it may take months before enough of her essence could gather in one form.”

“That’s unfortunate,” Princess Celestia said while Twilight pondered what a centaur was doing in the Everfree Forest of all places and what exactly it had done.

“Regardless of how long it takes, though, healing my mother should heal the entirety of the Forest as well,” Provato added. “Her essence is present in every plant and animal living here.”

“All the more reason for us to help. Let us know when the time is right,” Princesses Luna said. “We will all come to help you.”

Twilight and the others quickly voiced their readiness to help as well. The prospect of the entire Everfree Forest being free of this “darkness” and making it safe for everypony was exciting; she wished they could do something about it right away now that they knew how. She was also sure that if Arthas was here he would offer his help, too.

“I hope things are going smoothly for him and the others at the Dread Isle,” Twilight thought. “I can’t wait for him to come back and tell him about all of this!”

“More coming from behind,” Sir Lightbringer warned them as he glanced briefly behind as they fought.

Storm cursed and disengaged from the echoes for a moment to look at incoming enemies and think. “They’re earth ponies and unicorns. Guard, help me with the rear!” he ordered the older pony.

Guard nodded and - ignoring Tucker uttering a comment regarding him handling Serenity’s rear - left his brothers and sisters to deal with the squad that attempted to stop them. They had been traveling for a few hours now, during which they often had to fight more echoes - giving them chances to gather more Ancient Steel Shards - as they headed towards remains of one of the guard towers the griffons had built on the island. They were making good time, but to reach that place before nightfall they had to take a rocky mountain pass. Thankfully, it wasn’t narrow, as they soon found themselves blocked by enemy echoes.

Enemy echoes that were ponies.

They’d already had to fight against several groups of ponies’ echoes this day already. The first they’d encountered shortly after leaving the stronghold. Despite knowing that echoes of ponies could see them as enemies, Guard still had found himself surprised and unnerved when the squad had attacked them; he was sure that they all had. Fortunately, their training had quickly kicked in and they fought them off. Still, Guard had found that fight to be tougher than when they fought the griffons, and had hoped - fruitlessly as he would soon find out - there would be less encounters like those.

However, despite his reluctance, as more ponies’ echoes approached them, he obeyed Storm’s order without hesitation and hurried back to intercept them. There was a narrowed segment of the pass a few feet behind them that would make the fight easier for them.

Storm got there before him, and he quickly stabbed the first echo with his Spring Binder. As he parried an attack from a sword wielding unicorn, though, another one attempted to blast him with magic. Guard quickly jumped next to the pegasus paladin and raised his shield, blocking the blast, then aided him by the Light threw it at the attacker. His shield struck the echo in the head, not killing it, but disorienting it and probably giving it a concussion, and then bounced off it and hit two more echoes the same way before returning to Guard’s hoof.

Armed with his shield again, Guard concentrated on the remaining echoes. Rising on his hind legs, he struck with his hammer. However, a unicorn created a magical shield around itself and slashed with its magic-held sword. Grunting, Guard raised his shield to block the attack, and tried again.

He was aware of Storm fighting off two earth ponies as he dealt with the unicorn. In the corner of the eye he saw Storm slashing them with his sword, a storm of Light erupting around him adding to the damage they already received, killing them. Not wanting to fall behind, Guard swung with his hammer again, forcing the unicorn echo’s blade down before he attempted to smash him with his shield. However, before he could get hit, the echo’s horn glowed and he disappeared. Guard cursed, annoyed that it managed to teleport in the middle of the fight (which was often referred to during royal guards sparring sessions to be “unicorn cheating”), just before he noticed a flash of light far behind them.

Turning around, he spotted the unicorn several paces behind them, the echo’s horn glowing as it readied a spell to blast them with. Noticing that Storm was too busy with his next opponent, and that Sir Lightbringer and other two were too far ahead to intercept it in time, Guard asked the Light for help. He focused as the Light began to shine around his hammer and took a swing, throwing a hammer-shaped Light blast, and then quickly lunged at the echo. His quick reaction apparently surprised the echo, as it lost concentration on the spell as it was forced to dodge the attack. Its horn’s glow dimmed, but then it swiftly reappeared again as the unicorn focused on holding its blade’s handle again to meet Guard.

The echo’s sword once again clashed with his hammer, blocking it from reaching the echo’s “body”. Guard grunted with irritation as he blocked its counter-strike with his shield, then when he attacked again the unicorn parried his strikes. This unicorn, whoever it had been, was quite a skilled fighter.

The paladin tried to open himself to the Light, intending to consecrate the ground around him to tip the odds in his favor, but before he could concentrate, the unicorn’s horn began to glow again. Guard managed to raise his shield before him just in time to block the blast of arcane energy, but just barely. Even so, the force of the magical attack was so great that it pushed him back a little. The echo immediately took advantage of that, lunging at him with his sword hovering before him, and, to Guard’s surprise, conjuring another blade, this one made from pure magic.

Parrying the first blade with his hammer and blocking the other with his shield, the paladin took another step back. Suddenly, he felt his back collide with something. Glancing briefly behind, he realized that this something was Storm. He was about to turn his attention back to his opponent, but just then Guard had also noticed that there was a big, spear-wielding earth pony attacking the pegasus paladin; and to make matters worse, just as he had glanced behind himself, Storm had also done that, and was probably unaware of the blade that was about to pierce his body.

Without thinking, Guard Shield jumped in to block the spear. He was dimly aware of Storm lunging behind him at the same time, too. Then, as he pushed the earth pony’s echo’s spear away with his shield, Guard turned around Storm, just as he turned around him, to face his original opponent. Opponent who’s both blades had been cast away from the echo, barely being held by its magic. Realizing that Storm must have parried a strike from them with his Spring Binder, Guard quickly took the advantage of the situation. First, he threw his shield, aided by the Light, to hit the unicorn square in the face. Then, as the shield bounced off the now disoriented echo and shot where the earth pony facing Storm was, Guard raised his glowing with the Light hammer, and brought it down on it.

As the unicorn echo fell to the ground, Guard turned around and caught his shield swiftly. He did it just in time to see the earth pony’s echo get beheaded by Storm. Seeing the pegasus paladin wince a little, Guard quickly stepped beside him and grunted briskly. Storm shook his head, recovering his composure, and as the earth pony’s echo disappeared they both turned towards the remaining-

“The unicorn didn’t disappear yet,” Guard realized with cold dread.

He wasn’t sure why he had thought about it, as he had been sure that the last strike he delivered upon the echo had been lethal. Guard had hit him straight in the head with a hammer; the force of his already strong swing further empowered by the Light. The helmet that the unicorn wore should have offered him little protection against such a blow. Surely, the echo must had disappeared sometime after he turned away from it. Still, whether Guard was being precocious or whether he was being warned by the Holy Light, he turned back.

The echo was still there, an incorporeal blood oozing from underneath its helmet as it tried to raise on shaky forelegs, horn glowing as it readied a spell.

Cursing himself for his negligence, Guard lunged at it, but it was already too late. Even before his hooves left the ground the light of the unicorn’s horn shot out, the magic it had gathered blasting the area around him. The paladin had barely enough time to ask the Light for protection, casting a barrier around himself that protected him from harm, and shout a warning to Storm. Fortunately, his brother had been already alerted by his movement earlier, and had similarity shielded himself from the blast.

Though the Light protected him from harm the echo’s spell would have caused, it did not stop him from being carried off by the blast’s force. To his horror, it was strong enough to cause him to fall over the edge of the mountain pass. Fortunately, he managed to retain his concentration on sustaining the the divine shield around himself, and thanks to that he wasn’t hurt at all, despite having rolled down the side of a steep slope.

As his descent finally came to a halt, Guard rose on shaky legs and shook himself to recover. Dispelling the Light’s protection as he looked around, the paladin realized that he had dropped down into a some sort of a gulch. “Damn unicorn echo… I don’t think I’ll be able to climb back up this way,” he thought as he surveyed the slope he had just fallen down. “And there’s no way Storm could carry me all the way up. Hopefully Tucker can teleport-”

The rest of his thoughts came to an abrupt halt as he jumped forward, his reaction time and battle instincts, that he had honed for a long time, saving his life as he dodged a massive mace. Grasping his weapons tighter (which he luckily managed to hold onto during his way down) and praying quickly to the Light for strength, Guard turned around to see what just tried to kill him.

His eyes widened a little. The echo before him was a huge earth pony stallion; he was fairly certain that it was even bigger than Big Macintosh, though it might have only seemed so because of the armor it wore. Guard took in the plate armor, helmet with horns somewhat resembling a minotaur’s horns, the huge mace it held in one forehoof and equally big shield with a dragon-like shield boss and runic symbols along its edge, and the paladin knew that he was up for a tough fight.

The echo glared at him and snorted angrily; Guard could swear a little smoke escaped its nostrils as he exhaled. “Another griffon filth? One more won’t make a difference.”

“So he sees me as a griffon, huh?” Guard thought, finding the convoluted magic that cursed this entire island annoying.

As he readied himself for a fight, Guard realized that the echo’s words implied that there were “other” griffons nearby who were fighting him. Glancing behind the warrior, he saw that indeed there were. However, closer to the truth would be to say that they had been fighting him. On the ground behind the earth pony echo lay four griffon echoes, all bearing clear marks of battle. With the echoes disappearing when they “die”, Guard suddenly began to suspect that there had been more the earth pony had been fighting against; also, he figured that those four were “alive” only because he had dropped in next to them and interrupted them. Which didn’t really bode well for him.

Just as he finished his observation, the echo charged at him. For a pony its size, it was surprisingly fast. Guard barely had the time to raise his shield to block its mace. Cursing in pain from the force of the blow that travelled through his shield to his foreleg, Guard raised his other hoof and threw a hammer-shaped Light at its head. The echo backpedaled as it was hit, but it merely grunted and was ready to fight again. Guard lunged to the side and tried to break one of its legs, but the echo showed once again how fast it was. It quickly whirled around after him and blocked his hammer with his shield, almost effortlessly. He was impressed; he knew from their training back at the Abbey that, despite his age, he was physically the strongest out of all of Sir Lightbringer’s paladins, and his strike had been further empowered by the Light.

As if to further demonstrate its strength, the echo hit him with the shield, pushing Guard backwards, and then brought down its mace on him. He managed to raise his own shield above him, but the blunt force almost knocked his breath out of him. As the echo moved in for another strike, it became clear to Guard that he couldn’t win the fight this way.

On the battlefield, everything is chaos, Sir Lightbringer’s words came to him. He had told them this during their days as Initiates and repeated it during their journey here. All you will have is the Light inside you, your weapons, your strategy, your skills, and your brothers and sisters beside you. However, everything can change in the heat of battle; you can be separated, your skills and strategy can fail, you can lose your weapons, you can let doubt and fear into your hearts as you bear witness to the atrocities of war. If you want to survive, you must be able to steel your hearts and to adapt to whatever happens. I know all of you are capable of that.

Guard had heard similar things way back during the drills at Royal Guard when he had joined them, but when Sir Lightbringer said them, he realized they were different. They weren’t words repeated from books describing the long forgotten time of war. Something in his voice and expression had told him that those were words spoken by somepony who lived through war.

They had already learned just how accurate they were as they made their way through the island. Though they weren’t really people and they’d disappear soon after being killed, it was still difficult to see them die. To see them suffer wounds countless times, to cause those wounds. But they had to fight on. To waiver on the battlefield would mean death. There may come a day when they would find themselves on a real one, with the fate of Equestria and ponies’ lives depending on them. They had to learn that they could do it if they would ever need to.

Now, though, it was the time for Guard to learn whether or not he could adapt to the chaos of battle. This echo was stronger than him and faster than him. It had the advantage of fighting in Light knows how many battles before the one it was stuck in. The only advantage Guard had over it was the Light, but it didn’t look like it would be enough.

Guard’s eyes fell on the wounded griffons. “Maybe they will see me as a griffon too?” he wondered; it was worth to try. “Assuming I can heal them… and that I would have the time to do that!” he added as he turned his attention back to the echo.

As the mace descended upon him again, Guard decided to abandon the idea of trying to match this pony’s echo with strength alone. Opening himself to the Light, he cast a barrier around himself again. The mace smashed against it and then bounced off. Earning a grunt of surprise out of the echo (as well as small surge of a migraine as he held the barrier against its attack), Guard dispelled his protection, and pointed his forehoof at the echo’s face. The Light shone brightly from his hoof, temporarily blinding his opponent.

The earth pony echo roared in fury as it covered its eyes, then smashed his mace at where Guard had been. The paladin had already left the spot by then, hurrying towards the closest griffon while his opponent continued to swing around blindly.

“Cheap poultry griffon tricks!” it roared. “It won’t help you any more than enslaving earth elementals had!”

“I feel like I made the right choice by not attacking him while he’s blinded,” Guard noted as he glanced at the echo smashing everything around him with his mace. “I just hope those griffons won’t turn on me too…”

Halting by the griffon, Guard placed his forehooves by its chest and intoned a healing prayer. The Light filled him and flew through his hooves to the echo, who clenched its beak in pain as the holy energy washed over its necromantic form. Guard winced a little, but having both been warned by Sir Lightbringer and by seeing the similar thing happen whenever Serenity had healed echoes today, he continued to heal it.

Soon the echo rose from the ground, its injuries gone. He looked at the paladin, his eyes a little dazed after the ordeal. Normally, Guard would have spared it the time it would need to recover from it, but his earlier grunts had alerted the earth pony echo. Already it was charging towards them, his rapidly blinking eyes suggesting that its eyesight was also returning.

“Distract him while I heal the others!” Guard told the griffon in his language, then headed towards the next echo without waiting for the answer.

Fortunately, the griffon echo obeyed. “Yes sir!” he replied and flapped his wings, raising into the air and flying at the earth pony.

As Guard began healing another griffon echo, he kept an eye on the first one. Apparently having its earlier defeat at the hooves of the earth pony clear in mind, it stayed well out of its reach, swooping down to slash with its sword only when it would turn its attention to Guard. Not that it managed to inflict any significant wounds on the pony; wherever the blade would hit, it would meet with the warrior’s dragon shield rather than its body.

Guard began to wonder whether having the advantage of numbers would actually matter.

Soon all the remaining griffon echoes were ready to return into the fight. The paladin paused for a moment; healing all of them taxed him a bit. He watched the earth pony fight against now three griffons at the same time with ease; Guard found himself again being impressed by the other pony’s skills, and found himself regretting having to dispatch its echo.

“I hope this pony had survived this battle at least,” he thought before steeling himself for the fight, resolved to survive it himself.

“Regroup!” he barked in Griffen, and the three who were distracting the earth pony broke off and flew back to where he stood with the last of the group. “I will try to keep his attention on myself,” he began quickly, hoping that his shield could handle the incoming abuse, “you two fly around him and swoop in with your swords whenever you can, and you two grab those crossbows,” Guard told the two griffons who had said weapons hanging on their backs.

All four nodded, accepting his command without any protest. Taking advantage of the fact that the earth pony echo was still some distance away (the griffons had led him a bit further into the gorge as he healed their comrades), Guard reached for the Light and asked It to bless his allies. All four grunted in displeasure as the Light washed over them, but Guard could tell that the blessings he placed on them had the same effect as if they were living beings. As they shook off the pain they must have felt, the griffons’ echoes lunged themselves back into the battle along with the paladin, now stronger than before.

As Guard ran to meet the huge echo head on, he knew he had to make sure its attention would be fixated upon him; already its head was turning to follow the griffons. “Are you so afraid to fight that you’d rather watch the sky above you?” he shouted, the Light magnifying his words.

The echo immediately glared at him with anger, while at the same time an amused chuckle escaped from it. Guard didn’t give it a chance for a witty retort; he cast another Light-made hammer at it, hitting it square in the chest.

Grunting as the Light dispersed upon its chestplate, the echo swung its mace at Guard. The paladin had been more than ready for it, and so he dodged to the left, while at the same time striking at the echo’s forehoof. However, it had quickly brought it back and whirled around, raising its shield. Guard frowned in irritation as his hammer collided with the dragon-shaped shield’s base, but the next second his frown turned into a smirk as he heard the echo grunt in pain; above the shield Guard could see one of the griffons slashing it across the back. Unfortunately, the armor it wore offered it more than apt protection from such attacks, just as it did against the crossbow bolts that would bounce off it every few moments. Smashing his shield against Guard - who managed to avoid suffering a concussion by covering behind his own shield in time - the echo turned around as the other griffon was swooping down. Guard could see the griffon echo’s eyes widen in surprise and his wings beating frantically as it tried to change his course, but the earth pony was faster. The mace swung and hit its mark true, crushing the griffon’s armor - and probably most of its ribs - and causing the other echo to drop to the ground. It gave a weak moan as the earth pony echo prepared the final blow.

“No!”

The shout escaped Guard's muzzle before he realized it; forgetting that it was an echo - or that this griffon was part of the army that invaded Equestria - the paladin lunged to the fallen griffon and stood protectively above it. For that moment, for this fight, what mattered to the paladin was that his comrade had fallen and needed his protection. He raised his shield and aided by the Light he deflected the blow, then immediately jumped into the offensive. The echo, though having lost its balance due to Guard’s action, brought his shield back, but not fast enough this time. Guard’s hammer hit it at the side, the force of the strike causing it to slip out of the the echo’s grip and one of the straps it was attached to. Seizing his chance, the paladin - after pressing himself to the ground so that the echo’s mace would pass over him, then using the echo’s foreleg for support - hit it in the armored head, first with the shield, then with the hammer.

The massive earth pony shook, and managed to stay on his hooves for several seconds, but eventually it toppled and fell down. As Guard pondered whether he should deliver the final blow (mostly because he was fairly certain that it have received a mortal wound already), the griffon echo spared him the need to make the decision. Whether it wanted to make sure the earth pony echo was dead or just wanted to vent some of its frustration on it, he brought its sword down below its helmet, piercing its neck. The earth pony twitched and gave a short pained groan, and then he was no more.

Satisfied to see the enemy echo disappear - and a little sickened at the merciless display - Guard turned back to the griffon that laid behind him, intending to heal his injuries… only to find it gone.

“No!” Guard thought, his eyes wide, but then he closed them. “It was just an echo, there’s no need to get so worked up about it,” he told himself, trying to calm down. Guard knew that he was right, but at the same time, he couldn’t help but grind his teeth and stomp the ground in impotent fury. An unwanted thought appeared in his head: “It was an echo, but I still couldn’t protect it in battle.”

He somehow managed to dispel the frustration he felt as the remaining griffons approached him; he gave himself a shake and turned to address them: “You fought well.”

What else was he supposed to say to soldiers he had almost literally dropped in on the middle of a fight?

“You too, sir,” one of them - the markings on its armor suggesting he had the highest rank among them - said, bowing his head in respect. “If it wasn’t for you, we would have all been dead.”

Although the echo was praising him, hearing him say that had immediately brought the memory of the griffon who had perished in this fight, following his plan. Clenching his teeth again, Guard managed to nod in acceptance of the praise; the last thing he needed right now is to be reminiscent before a bunch of echoes.

“We’ll have to report that the passage is clear,” the griffon continued.

“Yeah, now we can send earth elemental reinforcements to turn the strongholds the ponies captured into a pile of rubble!” another griffon, seemingly younger than the others, exclaimed with a grin.

“I feel like I really shouldn’t feel bad about one of them dying,” Guard commented, deadpanning at the young griffon’s echo.

Apparently, the echoes could recognize facial expressions about as well as recognize a living pony from a living griffon, as none of them seemed concerned about his deadpan. “We’ll fly ahead; it has been an honor to fight alongside you, sir,” the echo said, saluting.

Guard repeated the gesture, despite feeling a little conflicted regarding their objective, even if they were just echoes. He ignored it though, as they did fight with honor and deserved his respect for that; after all, they could have escaped the earth pony echo anytime they’d want during this fight.

With the final nod to him, the griffons spread their wings and flew off towards east, probably to where the closest Griffonia-controlled base had been two thousand years ago. Guard spared only a moment to ponder where exactly that could be; seconds after the echo have left, another flying shape appeared in the air, coming from above where the pass he had been just a few minutes ago was.

As he waited for Storm and Tucker to arrive, Guard glanced at the spot where the earth pony echo had been, wondering if it had left an Ancient Steel Shard by any chance. He had already collected several of those today, but being curious as to what this blacksmith that made the request have intended with them, the paladin wanted to gather as many as possible.

However, the earth pony didn’t leave behind a shard, but it did leave something. Guard frowned as he trotted over to the triangular-like shape that was bigger than his hoof. He wondered what it was. It was made of some metal unknown to him; even the Ancient Steel Shards were different from this thing. Guard grabbed it, wanting to take a closer look at it, and turned it over… and he knew at once what it was.

It was the dragon head shaped shield boss from the shield echo had wielded.

“I guess this means that earth pony had perished on this island,” Guard mused, looking over the shield base. “Pity… So the echoes can also form around bigger chunks of weapons and armor than those shards?”

Not really having the time to muse that over properly, Guard carefully placed the shield base in his saddlebag - making a mental note to show it to the blacksmith - and turned toward his paladin brothers as they reached him.

“Sorry it took so long,” Storm said as he lowered Tucker to the ground and landed beside him to rest his wings a moment; carrying down a pony in full plate armor while himself wearing full plate armor couldn’t have been easy. “There were two more waves after that last one. Tucker will teleport back with you,” he told him and with those words he rose back into the air, flying back to where they left Sir Lightbringer and Serenity.

“I hope you didn’t grow bored while you waited?” Tucker asked as he trotted over to stand beside him.

Guard found himself chuckling. “Let’s just say that I found something to entertain myself,” he told the unicorn as his horn began to glow.

Sanngrior found her new duty to be extremely annoying.

In the days that followed Raogriors’ departure together with the paladins, the val’kyr found herself envying her sister. As unbearable as Sanngrior found Arthas’ presence to be, having gone on this trial he prepared for his paladins would have at least been interesting. Certainly a lot more than being stuck watching over the Abbey. Most of the time nothing of interest was happening, occasionally a few ponies would come in to visit the chapel, and a few times the two guards would spar for a few minutes, but that was it.

“And he wanted me to help guard it,” Sanngrior thought to herself, snorting in contempt in the Shadowlands. In the mortal plane, four young ponies (whom due to her long observation of Arthas at Odyn’s command she knew to be Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and squire Liturgy) trotted past her into the chapel. “Guard it from what, exactly?!”

If she could still draw breath, she would have sighed as she continued to hover around the Abbey.

As she reached the entrance, she noticed absentmindedly a pony talking with one of the royal guard; from what she overheard it appeared that the guard had stopped him more out of curiosity that concern, as apparently he didn’t recognize him.

With literally nothing better to do, Sanngrior flew closer, reaching with her senses into the mortal realm to listen in.

“You’re right, my good pony, I am not from Ponyville,” an ebony-colored unicorn in some fancy-looking barding was replying to guard’s question. “However, a certain business, so to speak, had brought me nearby, and I figured that since I’m already in the area I should visit this Abbey I’ve been hearing so much about at Canterlot.”

“Ah, I see; I’m sure Sir Lightbringer will be happy to hear that even ponies from Canterlot began visiting his Abbey,” the royal guard - Cherry Bomb - said, smiling at the unicorn friendly.

Sanngrior looked closer at the unicorn. She thought that, for a moment, he scowled hearing Cherry Bomb’s words, but as she drew closer she found only a smile on his face. Convinced that she must have imagined it, she pulled back.

“The entrance to Lightbringer’s Chapel is free for everypony,” the guard was continuing. “Feel free to stay as long as you want, mister,”

The unicorn’s orange eyes gleamed as he nodded. “Thank you, but I don’t think I will be long.”

“I see. Well, anyway, enjoy your visit.”

Sanngrior’s gaze followed the unicorn as he trotted towards the chapel. Already her interest in him was waning. “Just another pony, curious about the Light,” she mused, disinterested. Something in the way he looked and walked told her that, if he were to join the Order of the Celestial Light, he could become a powerful warrior, but she doubted that would happen. She have noticed that most ponies liked having comfortable lives.

She was about to resume her “patrolling”, but at that moment the unicorn had caught her attention again. He smirked. And not just “smirked”; when Sanngrior peered closer, she realized that he was smirking with amusement and almost malicious contempt, all while looking at the statue of Uther the Lightbringer.

The val’kyr gazed at him with contempt in return. Having heard that the unicorn was from Canterlot and seeing the clothes he wore, she easily figured that he must be a part of the pony capital’s aristocratic elite, which was the same in almost every culture of every race. Realizing that the pony was probably a snobbish bigot, Sanngrior withdrew her attention from him and flew away.

However, when several seconds later she felt a brief but strong surge of magic, she found herself heading immediately towards its source.

She landed besides the chapel’s entrance, confused. The sensation she had felt had already disappeared. Seeing the scene before her made Sanngrior doubt if she had even actually really sensed that; all that she found were the four fillies and this ebony unicorn, standing by the holy water font.

“Sorry mister,” Scootaloo was saying, “I didn’t see you there; I didn’t mean to sprinkle your suit.”

“Oh, it’s alright, little one, you just startled me,” the unicorn replied, holding one hoof close to his side.

Convinced that the boredom was beginning to turn her insane, the val’kyr spread her wings and flew away again, returning to patrolling the Abbey’s borders.

If she had stayed a bit longer and paid a little more attention, she might have seen that, after the fillies had left, the unicorn had brought his hoof before his face to examine the lightly fuming decay mark on the spot where the filly had accidentally sprinkled holy water on him.

“Alright,” Storm said after consulting the map, “that abandoned tower should be right on the other side of that ridge.”

“Ugh, finally,” Tucker exclaimed. “My hooves are killing me.”

Although he knew that as the “leader” he shouldn’t show weakness before others, Storm privately agreed with Tucker. They must have been traversing through this island for eight or nine hours at least, most of which they had spent fighting. They’ve only made one short break a few hours ago to eat something and drink before resuming their journey. Despite all five of them drawing their strength from the Light they were all tired; even Sir Lightbringer appeared so.

“We still have about an hour before Princess Celestia lowers the Sun,” Storm continued, “so I think we should easily reach it before it grows dark. Still, we better get a move on; we could always run into more of those echoes.”

Everypony nodded in agreement. Storm glanced at Sir Lightbringer, but the head paladin appeared as calm as ever, not showing any signs of what he thought.

“Would it kill him to say ‘good thinking’ from time to time?” Storm thought with slight annoyance as they set out. “True, he nods now and then, but still…”

Shaking his head he banished those thoughts. He had to stay focused; not only was he leading them, but as a pegasus he had a better view on the area that others, even if he couldn’t fly too high due to risk of the echoes battling high above the island deciding to swoop down for an easy kill. He flapped his wings and flew a few feet above the ground, looking around; this part of the island had a bit more vegetation than the ones before, but it was nothing but grass and some bushes as far as an eye could see, nothing that would help any echoes to blend in.

“The area looks clear,” he mused as he landed back on the ground and resumed trotting up the ridge with the others. The ridge wasn’t steep, in fact the road they had taken would lead them through almost flat terrain, allowing them for almost a pleasant stroll. “Maybe we can get through the rest of the day without anymore fighting?”

Some capricious higher power - Storm’s bet was on Discord - must have heard his thoughts, because the very next second a very loud explosion shook the ridge. They all fell to the ground for safety, but fortunately nothing followed the explosion. Storm exchanged a glance with Sir Lightbringer, unsure what to do. They had heard similar noises as well as different ones through this whole day; after all, this was a battlefield. But this time it appeared that the source of whatever had caused this one was waiting atop the ridge.

“Is it too late to change our route?” Storm wandered; he was about to ask Sir Lightbringer that, but a sudden gasp Serenity had uttered stopped him.

Glancing at her, he saw that she was staring at the top of the ridge. Following her gaze, Storm realized that there was an echo standing on top of it now. It was a unicorn, a female one if Storm’s eyes were right; she was wearing a brown, ragged cloak, underneath which Storm could see light gray coat, and her dark spring green mane. He was about to ask Serenity why she gasped at the sight of her, but something… struck him. For some reason, the mare seemed familiar from somewhere, but he couldn’t put his hoof on-

Serenity's stammering voice put a stop to his musing. “C-Clover the Clever?”

Storm’s eyes grew wide. Of course, one of the Founders of Equestria! Of course she seemed familiar; he had seen likenesses of her in history books and in some paintings at the Canterlot Castle.

Her echo had obviously noticed them as well, as she had began trotting towards them. “Reinforcements, huh?” Storm heard her say despite the distance that laid before them. “How unfortunate.”

Storm frowned. “What does she-”

“I’ll make this quick for thee,” he heard right behind him.

His eyes bulged. The spot where Clover the Clever had stood was now empty; as he began to turn his head back, he realized that she must have teleported to stand in the middle of their group. “I didn’t even notice her horn glowing!” Storm thought, awed by her mastery of magic… and more than a little scared as he noticed her empty expression as she stood between them, her horn glowing with magic.

“It’s not personal,” she said before spears of ice erupted around her.