//------------------------------//
// Enemy of my enemy... 
// Story: Walker of the Abyss 
// by lunarstallion 
//------------------------------//

After their little moment, Celestia had calmed down a lot, and has been apologizing profusely to Artorias for her behavior. When they called the others back down into the main room, they learned that early on in their little misunderstanding, Twilight needed to cast a sound barrier around the library, and around her room. Their entire fight was confidential, and only the two participants knew about what went down.

Celestia thanked her student for being so attentive, and promised to fix the large crack in the tree herself later on. Meanwhile, while Twilight explained things and Celestia fixed the wall of the tree, much to Twilights annoyance (She insisted that it wasn't her fault and as princess she shouldn't need to fix it), Spike had pulled Artorias aside for a discussion he'd been meaning to have with him.

"What can I help you with, little one?" Artorias said, sitting in the corner of the room with Spike next to him, "I assume that this isn't something the others would approve of you asking."

"No, they'd be fine with it. Twilight says it's good for me to have questions, and the others pretty much take whatever she says in stride, seeing how she's kind of the leader of their little group." Spike explained, "I just wanted to know a few things about your world, that's all."

A bit confused about his cautious approach, Artorias nodded. "I was hoping to give all of them the basics when this whole situation started, but I might as well answer a few questions for you now." Artorias stopped Spike before he could start, "But I must warn you ahead of time: my world is a cruel one, and people are killed very often, so my answers may not be for the weak of stomach." Spike nodded, and Artorias motioned for him to continue.

"Well, first of all, is this your skin?" Spike poked his breastplate, enticing a small chuckle out of the knight.

"No little one, this is my armor." Artorias said, "My actual skin is underneath it. Although the armor has become something like a second skin for me, as I wear it all the time."

Spike nodded a bit, "Alright, how about an easy one, why do you need to be armored all the time? Were you in a war or something?"

"Ah, now that question will be asked many times, so I'd prefer to keep that answer until the rest are ready to speak about it." Artorias looked towards the others, and saw that Celestia was not as good at fixing walls as she thought she was. The crack had somehow gotten bigger, prompting a small argument between her and Twilight. "Which may take a while..."

"Heh, yeah. I'm not sure about the princess, but I know that Twilight is probably gonna make things a bit worse herself before somepony else walks in and fixes it for her."

'Strange, she seemed rather capable to me...'

"Anyway, I had a couple more questions, if that's alright." Artorias nodded and twirled his hand at spike, as if saying 'Get on with it.' "Well, I wanted to know if there were dragons in your world."

Artorias thought about the question for a moment, not sure of how to answer Spike. "Well, sort of. There used to be ancient dragons inhabiting my entire world, but the strength of lords was granted to men, and they slew the ancient dragons." Not seeing Spikes face pale a bit, he continued, "Although, there were indeed still dragons, the ancient ones were simply the eldest. The dragons that lived were vicious creatures, burning anything and everything that challenged them."

Spike tilted his head, "But I thought you said there used to be dragons. What happened to those dragons?"

"Well little one," Artorias said, "My king, lord Gwyn, selected four of his greatest knights to go combat the dragons, one of the knights being me." Spike started shaking a little, but Artorias didn't notice, "I wasn't as good at killing multiple at a time, but I was the best at resisting their flames. No, the real dragon slayers of our group were Ornstein, and 'Hawkeye' Gough. Ornstein was a natural at killing the lizards, being the only one of us that could take down an entire family on his own. Father, mother, children, none of them could match his sheer speed and agility. Not to mention the lightning on his spear.

"And then we had Gough, the best damn shot with a bow anyone had ever seen. No matter how far away they were, and no matter how large, he would either make sure we could get it by taking out the wings, or he would just plain kill it. Even when a black dragon by the name of Kalameet took his sight, he was still able to kill dragons with that bow of his. I remember a time when me and him were breaking some eggs, when Ornstein showed up with the father bleeding out with no wings, and-"

"I-I think I've heard enough," Spike stuttered, backing away towards Twilight, "T-thanks for the info, h-hope we get to talk again sometime!" And with that, he ran off to Twilight, who had just finished the wall with help from Applejack and Celestia.

"Huh," Artorias said to himself, standing up, "Was it something I said?"


__~*(^^@+@^^)*~__


"Alright Artorias," Celestia said, after they had all finally gathered around the table. Spike had excused himself to make the rest of the rooms occupants some refreshments, so there were only eight beings in the room at the moment: Artorias himself, Celestia, and the Elements of Harmony. "As I'm sure that you're aware, the Abyss has been in this world before. Now, I'd like to grill you for information about it, but since everyone here has questions for you, I feel that I have time to wait before I get my information. So, I figured, we could have a little Q&A session, so to speak. Would that be alright?"

Artorias nodded, "That would be fine, Princess Celestia. I have some questions of my own anyhow, so this could be beneficial to both of us." The seven ponies smiled at him. "Now, how about we have an organized way of doing thi-"

Pinkie Pie raised her hoof high in the air, shouting "OOH, Me first! Please please please please PLEEEEEEAAAAASE!"

"Er, alright, Miss Pinkie first then." Artorias turned his attention to her, while she just smiled at him. "What is your question, young one?"

"I wanted to know what kind of food you eat! Like, what's your favorite kind of cake, or chocolate, or, um... something like that, yeah!"

Artorias blinked once, "Okay, can you put that into a simpler question? Are you asking about my eating habits?" Pinkie furiously nodded, making Artorias shrug. "Well, I'm an omnivore, so I eat a lot of meat. Though I can eat plants, meat has essential nutrients that my body needs, and I need to eat both meat and vegetables in order to survive."

Pinkie Pie stood on her seat and leaned in closer to Artorias, "Ooooh, so what kind of meat do you usually eat?"

"You seem strangely okay with me being part carnivore, even though this society is made of herbivores..."

"Well Artorias," Celestia started, taking it upon herself to explain some of the more confusing aspects of Equestria, "Not only do some of our neighboring countries eat meat, such as the Gryphon kingdom, and many of them come to Equestria. As a matter of fact, you're quite strange, being able to eat both plants and animals, usually sentient beings here only eat one or the other."

"Well, that explains that then." Artorias turned back to the pink ball of energy, "To answer your question, I usually eat basic meats, like pig, cow, or occasionally snake." He thought about it for a few seconds, "Although when I'm on the road or completing a task given to me, I usually have an over abundance of dragon meat available."

The ponies cringed a bit at this, but they all decided to keep their thoughts to themselves for the moment, allowing the next pony to ask something. Seeing an opening, Rarity decided to raise her hoof. "I have a question I'd like to ask, if you'll listen."

"I will indeed listen, lady Rarity," Artorias turned his attention towards her, "Please, ask away."

Rarity took a breath, "I happen to notice that the shiny parts of you are not your skin, but in fact are armor, correct?" Artorias nodded, "Then my question is this: What kind of clothing do you wear underneath the armor, and would I be able to see it at all?"

Artorias shook his head, making Rarity deflate a little, "My armor has essentially become a part of me during the time I've had it. I forged it myself, and it is very comfortable. However, more out of training than actual necessity, I wear a leather tunic and pants underneath the armor. And no, I will not take the armor off."

Rarity nodded, looking a bit sad, but sitting back down anyway. Rainbow Dash was the next one to raise her hoof. Artorias pointed to her, "Alright, so we all know that you've got that gigantic sword on your back, right?" Everyone in the room nodded, "So tell me this, you got any more weapons on you that we need to worry about?"

"Well, you don't really need to worry about them, but yes, I indeed have other weapons." With that said, Artorias reached into the bag he had on his hip, and pulled out an evil looking curved blade, which looked rather impractical for normal battle.

"What the hay is that?" Rainbow exclaimed, "It looks kinda like something I'd find in farming equipment."

"This, my prismatic compatriot, is known as a shotel." Artorias gave it a couple of practice swings, startling the ponies around the table, "it's a kind of sword that was made for the sole purpose of getting around an enemy's shield. It is not very good in normal combat, but if your enemy has a shield that you can't seem to get around, then this is perfect to use against them."

Artorias put the shotel back into the bag, and pulled out a large bow, promptly pulling the string back and releasing it, creating a loud *TWANG* sound. "This is just a simple long bow, rather simple to use. Pointless to use in close combat, but if you want a sneak attack from far away, then put some poisonous arrows in this and they won't even reach you."

"Why all the weapons?" Rainbow flew a bit closer to him as be put the bow away, "Are you scared that you'll be unprepared?"

"I'm afraid of very little, and that is not something that I am afraid of, Miss Dash."

Rainbow smirked, "Afraid of very little? Well, yours truly is afraid of nothing, and doesn't need weapons, or armor!" She did a flip mid air, and landed on the table. "What do you say to that, oh so great knight?"

Faster than the rest of them could even blink, Artorias had grabbed Rainbow by the neck, pinned her against the table, and had his shotel in his other hand, which was currently pointing straight at her neck. The other ponies tried to intervene, but Celestia made them sit down, her gut telling her she should let him teach Rainbow some humility.

"Tell me, miss dash," Artorias said calmly, bringing the shotel slightly closer to her neck, "What do you do when, little miss I-don't-need-weapons-or-armor gets into combat with someone with superior training, better weapons, and armor that's immune to your punches and kicks? Is there anything you can do to get out of this? Riddle me this, Dash," Artorias lifted the shotel up so she could see it, "How many slices to the gut could you take before falling in battle?"

Rainbow dash's eyes were pinpricks, her breathing erratic, and her heartbeat faster than she could fly. She was let go, however, and he stood up with the shotel still in hand. "Being a knight does not mean having no fear, it means having the courage to protect the weak from that which you fear. And with the weapon," He held out his own arm, and raised the shotel high in the air, "if you ever go to war, make sure you can protect your soft skin. Otherwise," He slashed at the armor on his arm, creating a piercing whine, "you will not be as fortunate as my arm."

Rainbow Dash lowered her head and hovered back to her chair, staying silent and sulking. Artorias shook his head lightly, but wanted to continue on with the questions. Applejack was the next pony to raise her hoof, prompting the knight to call on her. "Well, I was wonderin', uh, how do ya keep all o' them weapons and such in that tiny little bag?"

"Excellent question Miss Applejack," Artorias said, putting his inventory bag on the table. "This is what is known where I am from as an inventory bag. It's been heavily enchanted by... a good friend of my king. It has no real bottom, allowing anything and everything to be put in there. However, as that would be very confusing and heavy, there are a couple more enchantments, mostly light weight and cataloging enchantments."

Applejack sat there for a moment, processing the information he had just told her. "So, it's a bag that has no bottom basically?"

"Yes, basically."

"Well why didn't ya say that in the first place, then?" Applejack laughed, while Artorias tilted his head quizzically. "Well, that's all that I got, who's next?"

'I thought that WAS what I said...'

Fluttershy raised her hoof a bit, hiding behind her mane. "Um, I have a question, if it's alright for me to ask..."

Artorias looked towards her, smiling beneath his helmet. "Of course it's fine, young one. Please, feel free to ask." His gentle tone with her surprised a couple of the ponies in the room, not used to hearing him speak with such a gentle tone. He was always calm, but there was usually a gruffness in his voice that was currently absent.

"Okay, um, I was wondering what kind of animals you had on your world..." Fluttershy stopped hiding behind her mane, awaiting his answer eagerly.

"Well, that's a rather broad question, but I'll answer as good as I can." Artorias took a few seconds to think about it, "Well, most of the animals in my world consist of cattle, such as cows, pigs, and other animals. We had basically everything you have here, except for the cockatrice, that was rather new to me." He chuckled, remembering his laughter at the wild cockatrice that tried to attack him, "Anyway, there are magical constructs that run around, but those aren't technically animals. There are dragons of all shapes and sizes, dogs, bulls, demons, snakes, and shiny lizards that have rare ores attached to their back for some reason."

"Um, what kind of animals do you like?" Fluttershy asked, making Artorias freeze in place.

Artorias stood as still as he could, hoping his stance wouldn't show the memories that were flooding back to him. 'Sif... you were still just a pup, why did I foolishly bring you to the Abyss with me...' After a couple of minutes, Artorias sighed deeply, "Wolves. My favorite animals are wolves, Fluttershy."

"Wolves?" Fluttershy said, inching a bit closer to him, "But they're feral, it's not very easy to tame them, why are they your favorite?"

"*Sigh* I guess there's no backing out now, huh?" This startled the ponies a bit, making them skeptical of whether or not they should let him finish, but before they could tell him not to, he began:

"One day, while wandering the forest, I stumbled upon a small puppy in the woods. It was the pup of a great gray wolf, a massive wolf that towers above even me. So, seeing it so defenseless, I took it with me back to the castle, where it stayed with me. I became rather fond of it, and began training it to fight with me. I trained her to fight with a greatsword, and she became very good at it. I named her Sif. She was my mascot, howling for me in battle, and fighting alongside me with her sword. We became very close friends, and I don't think I could've lived this long without her help.

"During my traversing of the Abyss, she followed me. When things got too heated, and I feared for her safety, I used the power from my shield to cast a ward around her, shielding her from the everlasting darkness of the Abyss. After that was done, I don't know what happened to her. She may have gotten out, but I refuse to believe she perished in there. She was strong, and I believe she may still be alive, even today."


--[Darkroot Garden, Lordran]--


An undead warrior stood before a massive archway, waiting impatiently for the large doors to open. When they did, he found a large gravestone, riddled with swords and corpses, one giant sword sticking out in particular.

Upon approaching it, he heard growling coming from above him. Not fearing anything, he looked up, to see a canine face quizzically looking at him. The great grey wolf stood atop the gravestone, as if guarding it from intruders.

The wolf barked at him and grabbed the giant sword in its mouth, jumping off of the grave to land behind the undead. It switched what side the blade was on, and growled at him.

"Oh, fuck me." Was all the undead could say before getting cleaved by the massive sword-wielding wolf.


--[Equestria]--


"But, I may never know, and that fact makes me wish I could've said goodbye..." During his explanation, Artorias grew sad, remembering all the fun times he had with Sif, and how good she had been to him, only to realize that he left her alone in the Abyss, with only a sword to protect her. "Oh well, nothing I can do about it now. There's your explanation, Fluttershy. That's why I love wolves more than all other animals."

Fluttershy looked like she was about to cry, but nodded and went back to her seat anyway.

"I believe that the only ones who are left are Celestia and Twilight, correct?" The two mares nodded, earning a shrug from Artorias. "I care not who asks first, go ahead and find it out among yourselves."

Celestia smiled at Twilight, "Go ahead, my faithful student. I can wait a bit longer for my questions."

Twilight smiled back and nodded, turning her attention back to the armored giant, who had his head turned towards her. "Well, I actually have a series of questions I'd like to ask, if that's alright with you, of course."

"It is."

"Good!" Twilight beamed, pulling out a quill and paper, "Then let's get started! First of all, earlier you said that a friend of your king was able to put powerful enchantments onto your bag, correct?"

"Why yes, what about it?"

"Well, who was that friend?" Twilight got her quill ready to write, and waited for Artorias to answer her question. "And how long did it take him to add such powerful enchantments to the bag?"

Artorias thought for a moment, and finally answered, "Well, my kings friend was a dragon by the name of Seath the scaleless. He created magic in my world, and has ancient knowledge of the arcane that nobody but him could ever know. As for how long it took, I'd say, about, two minutes? Give or take a couple seconds of course."

Twilight dropped her quill, and Celestia's mouth hung open after hearing that. "Only two minutes? Are you serious?" When Artorias nodded, Twilight picked her quill back up and started writing very quickly, "Not even the Princess' could cast such powerful enchantments in under ten minutes! You're sure that he cast them that fast? And that he was a dragon?"

"I was present when he enchanted it, so yes, I am sure." Artorias paused, "About the dragon part, I'm still a bit skeptical about that myself. His build is certainly that of a dragons, but his wings are more fragile than normal dragons, and instead of legs, he has some kind of tentacles, which, according to my king, he got as a side effect of creating magic."

"Interesting, very interesting indeed," Twilight said, still writing things down. "Now, onto my next question. What is the extent of your magical powers?"

"The extent?" Artorias said, tilting his head thoughtfully, "Well, whatever I have the proper scrolls for, I suppose."

"Scrolls? Like, paper scrolls?"

Artorias nodded. "They have runes on them that, when read, are imprinted into your memory, and if you have the right catalyst, then you're able to cast the spell."

"And what would these catalysts look like?"

"Let me show you." Artorias once again reached into his bag to pull out three objects: A small orb with what looked like cloth coming from the bottom, a large, gnarled stick that was about half Artorias' height, and what looked like a tiny ball of fire. "These, my little ponies, are the three catalysts of my world." He first picked up the orb, showing it to the crowd of ponies. "This one is known as a talisman, and is used to cast miracles. Miracles are mainly defensive spells, such as magic barriers, or healing. However, there are also offensive miracles, such as Tranquil walk of peace, and my personal favorite, sunlight spear."

Celestia's eyes widened at 'Sunlight Spear' "So, you can use that to summon a spear made of sunlight?"

"Well, sort of." Artorias put the talisman down. "The spell itself is not actually made of sunlight, but is instead a beam of lightning that's shot from the talisman, usually with enough sheer force to knock a full grown dragon down, not including the heat and electricity it emits."

Celestia nodded in understanding, prompting him to continue his demonstration. Picking up the stick, he held it out to the ponies. "This is called a staff, even though this one is kind of mangled looking. It's used to cast sorceries, which are the more basic spells. Soul arrow is a popular one among most mages, as it can be cast the most amount of times before needing to be recharged. There are still defensive spells that can be cast, like fall control, but it's mainly offensive and enchanting."

"This last one is a bit more volatile, but still a catalyst nonetheless. This," He picked up the ball of fire, which promptly overcame his hand, making it seem like his hand was on fire, "is a pyromancy flame. It's used to cast pyromancies, such as fireball, or chaos storm. It has very few defensive spells, but the ones it does have are extremely effective, like flash sweat or iron flesh."

Twilight's quill managed to get snapped in half, and she summoned another one in, which promptly continued scribbling notes onto the parchment. "This is absolutely fascinating! Could you show us a demonstration of some of the spells?"

"I'm afraid not." Before Twilight could ask why, Artorias held his hand up, silencing her, "The spells produced by these catalysts are far too volatile and dangerous to use in here. I could damage the literature, or, heavens forbid, you seven. I won't risk it."

"Actually, Celestia said, grinning, "I may have a solution for that problem. Hold still everypony, and Artorias."

Her horn began to glow a soft yellow, which Artorias took as her preparing a spell. He stood still, like he was told to do, and awaited her spell. The other six ponies looked exactly like he did: pretty much statues that breathed and blinked. After a few seconds of standing still, Celestia's horn emitted a shockwave of white light and created a sphere around the group, which immediately popped out of existence, revealing that none of them were there.


__~*(^^@+@^^)*~__


When the group reappeared, they were in what looked like a field of stars. Gentle white lights floated around them and over the horizon, giving off the impression of being in space. The magic in the area was palpable, making it seem like they were swiming in an endless void of magic. While the other ponies stared around in awe of the new scenery, Artorias looked around silently, content to keep his true feelings to himself.

'These may be colorful ponies with horns and wings, but damn they're good with magic.'

"Knight Artorias?" Celestia said, interrupting his inner monologue, "I believe that you wanted to demonstrate some spells for us." When Artorias said nothing, Celestia corrected herself; "Or, at least Twilight wanted to see some of your magic."

"Guilty as charged!"

Artorias stared into the distance thoughtfully, and finally turned back towards the group of ponies. After a couple minutes of looking between the ponies of the group, he finally spoke: "Twilight, Celestia, Rarity, you three are adept at magic, correct?"

"Us two more so than Rarity, but we can use magic, yes." Twilight said, stepping forward a bit. "Why do you ask?"

"The three of you create as powerful of a barrier as you can, and hold it." Artorias said, getting out the three catalysts. "If you do not, then you will all be either seriously injured or killed in the process of my spells."

At that, the two unicorns and Alicorn looked at each other and nodded, igniting their horns as one. Slowly, a large magical barrier formed around the entire group of ponies, different parts of the barrier being light blue, magenta, or golden. When the barrier was finished, the seven ponies were surrounded with a magical shield that Shining Armor would be damn proud of. "Alright Artorias," Celestia said, nodding towards him. "Fire when ready."

Artorias nodded, and chose to take the pyromancy flame out first. Thinking of which spell to use, he quickly decided on a weaker spell first, to test the strength of the shield. Charging up his flame, he let out a short burst of flame, that went away as quickly as it came. It hit the shield and immediately bounced off, leaving no marks, and not at all straining the ones making the shield.

"..." Twilight stared blankly at the great knight, who just basically tickled the shield with a lighter. "Was that it? Was THAT why you had us put up this shield?"

Artorias said nothing, and simply prepared a new spell. "I was testing the shield. Now, prepare yourselves." Artorias' warning went a bit unheeded, as Twilight and Rarity both just rolled their eyes and weakened their spells a bit, not expecting much more from the tiny flame. Celestia, however, figured that he was serious, and kept her magic on high power levels, without realizing that Rarity and Twilight had weakened the shield by putting less magic into it.

Suddenly, from the pyromancy flame leaped an unholy fire, much larger than the last pitiful excuse of a flame. It hit the barrier with such force that it nearly shattered, causing Rarity and Twilight to pour their remaining magic into supporting it. What they did not account for, however, was the lava that was left behind after the massive fire blast.

It quickly melted through the top of the shield, singing Rainbow Dash a little and scaring the hell out of everypony else. Artorias was quick, however, and he dove straight through the shield, pushing all of the ponies out of the way immediately, and taking the brunt of the flames. Celestia tried to help him, but upon further inspection, realized that he wasn't harmed in the slightest. "The spells that I cast are unable to hit the user, therefore preventing me from taking damage." He explained.

"Okay, that's good." Celestia said, sitting down. "I'm just glad nopony got hurt."

"Nopony got hurt?!" Rainbow exclaimed, "Half of my tail burned off from that fire!"

"Speaking of which," Artorias said, slowly making his way towards the two unicorns, who were avoiding eye contact with him. "WHAT did I tell you two about how volatile these spells could be? One of you could've melted, or worse!"

"W-well, after your first demonstration, we assumed that was the best your little flame had, darling." Rarity said, looking Artorias in where she assumed his eyes were, "We didn't know that you would be casting such a powerful spell right after that weak little fire..."

"I'll let this one slide," Artorias said, getting closer to them. "But there are two things I need you both to know. One: Pull something like this again, and I'm demonstrating no more magic. And two: While I am using magic, ALWAYS assume that there is going to be much more powerful spells for me to cast. Understood?"

"Yeah..."

"Yes, darling."

"Good. Now, don't bother putting up the barrier for now. I need a strong volunteer." Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash all raised their hooves at once, each one knowing that they're strong. Or that they're having fun by raising their hoof, or something like that. "Applejack, Rainbow Dash, come here."

"Sure thing partner, what do you need?" Applejack said as she and Rainbow Dash approached. Rainbow still looked a bit bitter about her tail, but Applejack seemed cheery and happy to help. 'It's good that she's mad.' "Alright, I'm going to be demonstrating two different spells with both of your help. Who is strongest at kicking here?"

"That's AJ." Rainbow said, pointing to the mare in question.

"Good." Artorias said, taking off half of his leg armor, along with the armor on one of his arms. "Now, I'm going to be demonstrating a miracle and another pyromancy here. Applejack, I need you to hit me in the leg as hard as you can. Rainbow, you do the same for my arm."

Rainbow Dash looked more than happy to do it, but Applejack was a bit skeptical. "Are you sure y'all want me to do that, sugarcube?" she said, stepping towards Artorias, "I'm mighty stronger than I look, and I don't wanna hurt you..."

"Just trust me on this, I'll be fine. Go when ready, both of you." At that, Rainbow Dash promptly flew high into the air, and sped back down, her hooves outstretched to hit the knight's unarmored limb. At the same time, Applejack turned around, and bucked his leg as hard as she could, resulting in a sickening crunch noise that made them all cringe. When Rainbow hit him, his arm made the same noise, except blood was clearly visible, and his arm flattened very easily.

Artorias let out a yelp, and fell to one knee, but he still stopped the ponies from helping him. He got out the Talisman, and muttered something into it, resulting in a soothing light that began to circle the wounded areas of his body, resulting in their complete repair. After the spell was over, he seemed good as new, earning a gasp from the crowd of ponies.

Pulling out the pyromancy flame, Artorias turned back to Applejack and Rainbow Dash. "This may hurt you guys a little bit this time, but could you hit me again with the same force?" They each nodded, still seeming a bit squeamish about breaking his limbs again. They decided to take turns, so Applejack turned around and reared back for a kick, but just before she kicked, Artorias cast a spell on himself, resulting in some kind of metal skin going over him and his armor.

When Applejack kicked him, a large clang was heard by the ponies, right before Applejack yelped in pain and fled back to the rest of the ponies, cradling her back hooves and staring at Artorias, a little resentful at him for hurting her. "This particular spell turns my entire body into iron," said Artorias, slowly walking towards Celestia and Twilight, "It's unmatched in physical defense, but leaves me unable to move properly and still weak to magic."

"So, basically it's a temporary shield that only blocks against weapons?" Twilight said, getting Artorias to nod at her. "Fascinating..."

"Put the shield back up, you three." The three ponies nodded, and pout up their shield, which was stronger now that it was being maintained by three different spell casters. "I'm going to demonstrate sorceries now, which are exceptionally powerful. Keep the shield up, and make sure it's strong." At their nods, Artorias pulled out the large, gnarled stick from earlier.

Concentrating on it, he caused the tip to begin glowing blue. Before anyone could marvel at the glowing stick, a spear of blue energy hurled out from the stick, pounding into the powerful barrier with the force of a speeding train, causing Celestia to noticeably flinch, while Rarity and Twilight both recoiled heavily.

"I'm not sure I can keep this up much longer, Artorias," Rarity said, sweat dripping down her face, "Perhaps one more offensive spell, then maybe some less deadly ones?"

"Very well. Let me show you what is perhaps the most deadly spell the Abyss has to offer." Celestia's eyes went wide, and she began to grin with anticipation. "Prepare your shield again, and put everything you have into it. It will likely shatter." Twilight and Rarity nodded, their horns gaining brightness by the second, quickly making it difficult to look them in the face. The rest of the group simply stood idly behind the three horned ponies, watching with increased anticipation as Artorias charged up his staff.

Because of the blue spell that was launched before, Celestia and Twilight were surprised when they saw the staff glow a sickly black, corruption and darkness evident on the tip of the staff. Artorias rushed forward, standing at point blank range from the super charged shield, forcing the three ponies to prepare themselves to be barraged.

They weren't prepared enough.

Before they could blink, seven small orbs of pure darkness crashed into the shield at a terrifying speed and power, shattering the shield almost instantly. Twilight and Rarity were both blasted back from having their spells broken so violently, while Celestia was merely pushed back a couple of feet. The breaking of the spell caused a wave of energy that washed over all of the ponies, pushing them back and inflicting small amounts of pain.

After everypony had settled, and the unicorns were standing and recovering, Artorias explained the spell, "The type of spell I used was made purely from dark magic. In my world, I said there were only three kinds of magic; pyromancy, sorceries, and miracles. The fourth, being dark magic, is an extremely evil and immensely powerful version of sorcery." Artorias put away the staff, "It was also forbidden to use that magic, although some still studied and practiced it in secret."

"What makes it so powerful?" Celestia said, stepping towards the knight, "Surely there's a reason it was able to break my shield like it was made of leaves and twigs."

"That's a very good question, Celestia," Artorias said, leaning down ever so slightly to be eye level with her. "But tell me this, princess. What kind of attacks was that shield useful for blocking?"

Celestia gave him a 'What are you going on about' look before answering; "I made it especially resistant to magic, seeing as that was what you were using."

"And THAT'S the kicker." Artorias pulled a small scroll out of his inventory bag, and promptly unfurled it. "The runes that make up the spell have an added effect, one that most dark dark magic shares. Along with dealing devastating amounts of magical damage, the spell is also able to deal bone-crushing physical damage as well, making it especially effective at taking down shields, and making targets stagger."

Celestia was stunned. Never before had she heard of something that could deal magic and physical damage, except for enchanted weaponry, and certain talismans that allowed the user's hoof to be imbued. It was a foreign idea to her, and yet it made a lot of sense when she took into account her previous encounters with dark magic. Manus' own bolts of darkness were able to shatter even her father's shields, which could withstand the might of a thousand unicorn mages at their weakest.

"Artorias," Celestia said, in a more stern voice than usual. "I am going to return us to the real world now. When we get back, I would like to speak with you in private about the Abyss. Understood?" Surprised at her sudden change of mood, Artorias slowly nodded, walking towards her. As soon as everypony and the knight were all together, Celestia lit her horn with magic, and teleported the group out of her little pocket dimension.


__~*(^^@+@^^)*~__


The group of seven ponies and one undead appeared in the library with a pop, golden light remaining around them for a brief moment before fading into the natural light of the sun. The ponies that were not used to teleportation shook themselves out of a daze, while the unicorns and Artorias simply shrugged off the dizziness of teleportation. Celestia turned towards the rest of the library, when a peculiar sight greeted her eyes.

Sat upon an upside down couch, that was floating eye level with her, was a peculiar creature to behold. A patchwork being made from other animals, this particular creature had the head of a pony, the body and arm of a gryphon, the paw of a lion, the leg of a goat, the leg of a lizard, and the tail of a snake.

This being was known as a Draconequus. However, what made this particular one special was its peculiar powers over the fabric of reality. His name was Discord, and at the moment, he was eating a bag of what looked like chunks of stone.

"Why hello there, Celestia," Discord said, slithering off the couch to come face-to-face with her, "Did you miss me?"

"Discord, what are you doing here?" Celestia said, not noticing Artorias tensing up behind her, "I understand that you're free now, but that doesn't necessarily mean I trust you."

Before Celestia could reply, she was violently shoved to the side, much to the surprise of the other ponies. Now stood in front of Discord, who was the only one to stare eye level with the giant, was Artorias. "It was you who brought me here, was it not?"

"Well I don't know, why not read the first chapter again to find out!" Discord said, looking in a random direction for a strangely long amount of time. "Anyway, yes knight Artorias, I was the one who brought you here. As you can see by my current dish, and the couch I was on," Looking behind Discord, Artorias saw the floating couch had now grown fangs, and was attempting to bite the small dragon that was running away from it. "I have certain... powers over reality. Control over chaos, if you will."

"Well then, creature of chaos, allow me-"

"No no no no, my name is Discord." He said, opening his arms wide for the firework show that exploded at his name, "Please address me as such."

"Alright then, Discord." Artorias composed himself, tuning out the accusations from Rarity and Twilight about attempting to assassinate the princess. "What is the reason you have brought me here?"

Discords expression grew grave, and at that moment, the light in the room dimmed to an almost pitch darkness, where the only things that could be seen easily were Discord's eyes and the glow of magic coming from the unicorns and Alicorn. "I brought you here, because I felt a magical disturbance that I had not felt in thousands of years."

At this, Celestia got up and walked over to him, curious to hear why the knight was summoned to this realm. "This magical surge was the very same one that I felt before the fall of King Solaris. I felt the presence of an ungodly powerful enemy, the likes of which this realm hasn't seen in countless centuries." Celestia's face paled, and her expression turned to one of horror. Artorias twirled his fingers, as if saying 'get on with it.'

"I speak, of course, of the awakening of the Abyss."