Permafrost couldn't believe his luck. He hadn't taken more than three minutes locating Princess Twilight, whom had heard of the "guests" from rumors, but was still shocked by the sight of Rel'Shalor. The elf seemed to have a bit of comedic value, despite being socially oblivious. He had also caught the fastest flight to Ponyville, which wasn't too special, with him being the only current Guard Captain in Canterlot. Celestia had yet to choose a replacement, and Shining Armor seemed to be in a permanent occupation up in the Crystal Kingdom. This still wasn't close to the highlight of his day. Officers had already marked the landing zone, and cleared the area. No annoying press or civilians to get in the way. And still his luck was getting even better.
He was directed to one Miss Fluttershy's cabin, with Rel'Shalor in tow with a strangely compliant manner. When he got there, what he found was the crowning achievement of the day. There, with a yellow coated pegasus, was a cow with hands and a shaggy purple cat, all sipping tea in a civilized manner. This made Permafrost not even bother to hide his happiness. The only way it could have been better was if the two stranger of the trio had ribbons tied to their heads. Rel'Shalor had rushed down to meet them, greeting Miss Fluttershy with a curt bow and greeting the captain was too far away to hear, and began to converse with the tauren. What Permafrost duly noted was a the elf completely ignoring the tiger, and as Rel had greeted them that its had flopped down beside its neck.
Wow. Tough crowd. Permafrost thought. Good thing she's going to be with friends soon enough. Miss Fluttershy then noticed the armored unicorn trotting over, and began to put up the tea party. The Captain couldn't help but feel a small pang of guilt, but that soon passed. "Apologies for party crashing, miss, but it looks like you have a few guests that don't exactly belong." He opened the conversation with.
"Oh, don't worry. I knew they wouldn't be able to stay, but I just couldn't say no when they asked to stay. They were extremely kind, and even helped me with some of the forest animals." The pegasus said, with an unusually accepting voice.
"Well then, thank you for that, you've made my job and that of others quite a bit easier. Pardon my informality, but you are one of Princess Twilight's friends, are you not?" He questioned, remembering a little task given by the newest member of the royal "family".
"Well, yes. How is she?" The pegasus answered with her own question, he head cocking the slightest bit.
"She is doing quite well, as I have seen. She asked me to give you this, however." Permafrost responded, removing a small scroll from his saddlebags that was closed with a stamp depicting a simple "T" in a light purple wax seal.
"Oh, thank you. Please tell her I said hello, if you would." The shy mare replied, a smile returning to her face.
"That shouldn't be a problem, miss. Now, I believe it's time we take out leave. Thank you again." The Captain nodded, looking at Rel'Shalor, who gave a nod of his own, relying the message to the tauren. The lavender tiger seemed to perk up at the news, however, and stood up, becoming eye level with Permafrost. She stared into his eyes for a moment before moving on to a team of guards who were a few meters away. The tauren did the same, taking a position beside Rel before the two moved on. Permafrost gave one last curt nod to Miss Fluttershy before departing himself. It was at that moment that he began to think over his strange encounter with the strange thing some called luck. It was at this time things took an unimaginably bad turn.
"NOW!" a gruff, more than alien voice boomed. The tiger's skin seemed to crawl at this voice, and it instantly began to change. In an instant it was a tall woman, still with lavender skin, though in a full bodice of leather armor, a wicked scythe whipping around her back. The two other foreigners going into similar stances, Rel'Shalor pulling out his sword and shield, the tauren pulling out her own shield and axe, the latter of which glowing with a fiery aura, while also summoning a quartet of totems seemingly straight from the ground. Just as they did this, a menagerie of creatures burst from the surrounding forest, and Permafrost felt dread deep within his stomach.
Withing the group of attackers were half a dozen short, green creatures, with green fire dancing around their hands. After them came five larger, dark purple skinned beings with pointed tails, all carrying twin blades. Not a second passed when two more demons joined the fray, these being massive creatures made of stone and green fire, shambling across the clearing towards the group.
Finally, the leader seemed to appear from the thicket. He was unlike his underlings, yet eerily similar. He had purple skin, like the blade wielding reptile men. He had wings that even the Night Guards under Permafrost's command would have envied. He was impossibly muscular for his stature, and green markings marked his entire left side. He had a black band wrapped around his eyes, making Permafrost wonder how exactly he could see at all. Finally he pulled two double sided curved blades from out of thin air, green fire wrapping around the blades in a slow, fear inducing manner. The, thing grinned, barring a mouthful of perfect white canines.
"I must thank you for gathering here. Your destruction is made all the easier by it. This world belongs to Lord Sargeras, and I will see his will done!"
...
At the same moment, Arvenell was hit with a realization. "Quickly, alert the guards and muster the troops. We're in trouble."
Everyone in the room, which now counted Melkiv the mage, Spolge the warlock, Princesses Luna and Twilight, and four of the Princesses' guards, gave him a look like he was crazy.
"And why would we do that?" Asked Luna.
"Because soon we're going to be attacked by some things alot like me, only not nearly as fun to be around." Arvenell answered, donning his helmet and strapping his sword to his back. Luna and Twilight looked at each other. Melkiv stared at the death knight with an inquisitive look, and Spolge's eyes widened.
"Canterlot is the greatest bastion ever created in all of Equestria, Arvenell. Why should we worry?" Luna questioned, raising an eyebrow. At the exact moment Arvenell opened his mouth to answer, an impossibly loud war horn sounded, as well as a massive collective shout that made Arvenell cringe.
"Because we've got an angry army of undead creatures around. And I'm being slowly driven insane by them." Arvenell answered grimly. "And I'm not sure I'll be able to keep my mind straight to help you fight them off."