//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6: The First Battle 
// Story: To Avert a War 
// by Malozi 
//------------------------------//

	"I can tell you that I met your friend Korpwin." The princess known as Twilight Sparkle said.
"You did, did you? Can you tell us what happened to him exactly and how you both met?" Mkrin asked. He was eager to find out John's whereabouts. Though he was confused as to why they referred to John as Korpwin. His sister sat in her seat, listening to the conversation.
"I didn't know him very long, my friend Fluttershy knew him the most and took care of him from what she told me. She said she found him near her cottage and nursed him back to health but had some complications with understanding him."
"I see.... Is there anything else any of you can tell me?"
"I'm afraid that's all I know. Luna might be able to tell you more, however."
"Indeed I can. I spoke with Korpwin earlier this morning. Unfortunately it seemed as though he could not understand me but it appeared as though he only came to me to talk to me instead. What he had to say was interesting. He stated that he was cursed to speak our language perfectly every other day, while the next would allow him to understand us. I suppose this is the reason why he was able to suddenly speak to the guards perfectly in requesting his release." Luna stated.
"You imprisoned him?" Mkrin asked, but he did not allow the anger in his voice to show, and he was sure that the princess was about to explain herself very soon.
"Yes, but please understand that we knew absolutely nothing about him and we took his silence when we tried to talk to him as refusal to cooperate with us. So for the safety of ourselves and himself we made sure that he was comfortable but imprisoned since it seemed that he did not wish to harm us and came with us peacefully. But as I said before, it was confusing when we met him at first since he seemed perfectly able to understand us, but spoke in a different language entirely, thus adding some distrust."
"You mentioned a curse earlier?" Mkrin asked.
"Yes, he informed us that his current condition was the result of the machinations of a draconequus known as Discord. However, he was barely able to understand or speak anything in our language before he met Discord. But I find it odd that you can speak our language fluently."
"I see, I think I know why he was not able to speak your language. The reason for this is because we use a translation spell to speak the language of others fluently. My sister and I are using the spell at this very moment. It appears that Korpwin's, whose real name is John just so you know, translation spell has malfunctioned somehow. We'll need to take a look at him in order to help him. He's our friend so we want to help him and we've been looking for him for some time now."
"I understand," Celestia said. "The plight of your friend must have caused you some considerable distress. I will make the necessary arrangements as soon as possible so that our two races can have peace."
"That's odd." Kilara stated out loud.
"What is?" Asked Princess Cadance and Celestia at the same time.
Kilara hadn't meant to talk out loud, but she was so surprised at what had just happened she hadn't noticed. Cadance had managed to snap her back to reality and made her realize that she had indeed talked out loud without meaning too.
"Oh, nothing, it's just that I thought I sensed something." Kilara said. It was partially true, Kilara had indeed indeed sensed something but her connection was cut off with the men under Noah's command and she had no idea what was going on. She assumed that the squad was simply getting interference just like Conner's squad.
"Well, then I assume it's nothing to worry about?" Cadance asked.
"Yes, it was probably just my imagination playing tricks on-" Kilara stopped mid-sentence. This time she did indeed sense something but these had to be new creatures of some kind... and there were so many of them.... "Or perhaps not. I think I do feel something out there around this town. Do any of you sense it as well?"
Luna was the first to respond. "I believe that I do, but these are presences I have not felt before in all my years."
"Do you think they're dangerous?" Asked Celestia.
It was at that moment when a scream, a scream of pure terror, was heard that caused all to turn to it's source. Many ponies were scattering away from the beast that was attacking a resident. It was dark, had four legs, and was barely the size of a pony, but it was obviously very vicious, probably attacking everything in sight judging from the two corpses behind it.
Celestia was filled with rage. Rage at whatever this thing was that decided to attack her little ponies. She and her sister wasted no time in taking to the air and blasted away the beast and landed to defend one of the many ponies they were sworn to protect. The other two princesses and the two human diplomats rushed to aid them. Twilight landed behind the princesses and began a healing spell to mend the wounds of the assaulted pony.
The beast was back on its feet soon and growled at the challengers.
Celestia turned towards the humans. "Do you know what this thing is? I've never seen it before in my life."
"Neither have we." Kilara replied.
"You don't, but I know of this creature." Mkrin responded. "It was the denizen of a hostile land we explored once in our quest to find John, the scouts reported back their findings along with the news that John was indeed not on that world. We lost many good men and women to these things but they managed to come up with a name for them, calling them shadow hounds in their report. We haven't had any specimens to study but they don't seem to act like any canines that we've ever seen. They seemed to just attack everything in sight before. A squad leader told us they didn't even stop when there was only one of them left in a pack. That's about the only similarity we've seen from the hounds, they work in packs."
"That means there's probably more than just this one. But how did they get here then?" Asked Twilight.
"We've been meaning to explain to you that there are anomalies, which is the reason we lost John in the first place. Opening portals to new worlds that we weren't aware of." Mkrin stated. He didn't have any time to continue since the hound let out a bloodcurdling howl. The howl made the blood run chill and sent tremors of terror down the spines of those who heard it. The cry was answered by others, adding to the terrifying effect.
"Luna, together now!" Celestia said. Her sister knew what to do as they both rose into the air and made ready to shout in the royal Canterlot voice. "EVERYPONY," Everyone. Mkrin mentally corrected. "RUN TO SHELTER AND PLEASE REMAIN INSIDE, IT IS NOT SAFE TO BE OUTSIDE!" They both shouted in unison, adding power to their thundering voices so that all could hear. The shadow hound was crouched, like it was backed into a corner and was ready to strike at whatever was threatening it. Both princesses lowered themselves to the ground as shadow hounds seemed to start coming out from nowhere to menace the town. It was an intimidating sight to see this many shadow hounds, there had to be hundreds of them.
Twilight was soon done healing the wounded pony and the mare quickly ran to the closest house to find shelter just as the hounds charged. Celestia and Luna were the first to send beams of magic into the mass of dark fur and could hear satisfying yelps of pain but this didn't even seem to slow down, let alone deter, the horde in the slightest.
I hope Conner is doing alright. Thought Kilara.

"It's like the universe hates us!" Shouted Conner as he cut down a shadow hound. Thankfully, the wooden constructs did not seem to enjoy the shadow hounds in their territory and appeared to be particularly effective in fighting them. Sounds of hounds battling the wooden constructs could be heard almost throughout the forest. "That's it! We're not wasting our time here! We're heading to the castle!"

The pony guard of Canterlot could barely believe what he was seeing. Some kind of horde of dark beasts known as shadow hounds, (information of the names and some helpful instructions was courtesy of an anonymous sender shooting an arrow with a note attached to it) were heading towards Canterlot. The rest of the guards had closed the gate to the city quickly and were frantically scrambling to rush to their defensive posts, with more guards on the way to reinforce them.
Shining Armor, captain of the guard, would've been a welcome sight if he were there to cast the barrier to help protect the city, but alas he was at the Crystal Empire.
The guard didn't even notice the seven strangers resembling their guest sneak inside the castle. Then the hounds started jumping in or over the river to get across. They didn't seem to able to break the massive gate, but then a creature that didn't resemble the hounds at all crossed the distance the moat created easily and started to bash the gate. Crossbow bolts and magic blasts hit the dark mass of creatures but the large one ignored the pain of the magic and the crossbow bolts seemed to bounce off its thick hide half the time.

The guards rushing through the castle to help with the defense of the city stopped when they encountered six mysterious strangers that resembled their guest that some of the other guards had been tasked with defending. They were wearing dark armor and seemed to almost blend in with the night and if it weren't for the torches providing illumination, they might have been able to sneak past them. However, the guard known as Moon Gem didn't have time to give orders as he was knocked unconscious by a blast of magic behind him and the other guards.

It didn't take long for Conner's squad to finally find John, and after incapacitating another two more guards, entered what appeared to be a throne room, filled with more guards... who then proceeded to take up defensive positions around John. This confused Conner since their way of keeping John from being rescued was peculiar to him. And John seemed to have grabbed a weapon and appeared to be helping the guards.
"John, what the hell are you doing?!" Conner asked in his own language, fears of John being brainwashed starting to surface in his mind.
John nearly dropped his weapon. Not that he recognized his name, which he did not, but he was surprised and finally glad to understand something in his own language. John's reaction made Conner dash away his theory of brainwashing quickly and he gestured for his squad to lower their weapons.
"Okay, for one, I think you're talking to me, but my name isn't John, it's Korpwin. Secondly, how can you speak my language?" John asked.
Conner sighed in realization of what had happened John. But he had to be sure. He turned to Vjaren and indicated with his head to talk to John. Vjaren nodded and stepped forward alone, getting as close as possible to John but staying out of reach of the weapons of the guards. Vjaren faced John, with her hands in the air to indicate she was no threat. "Korpwin... do you... know who I am?" She asked slowly, almost fearing his response.
"No, I don't, who are you?" He responded.
"You... don't recognize me." She stated sorrowfully.
"No, of course not why would I? Now answer my question, why can you speak my language?"
"Your real name is John, please let me explain."
"Yeah, you better, you've got some nerve attacking these guards, a few of those guys were my friends... kind of. I think."
"John, we're old friends of yours. We've all known each other for years but the current situation is a grave misunderstanding on all our part. We thought you were being held prisoner. Your other name is Korpwin and we call you that when we're on a mission with you. We're on the same squad and we've served for years and you've saved my life quite a few times."
"And you expect me to believe that?"
"There's more. We're sent on dangerous missions all the time, but in the event that any of us are captured or suffer extreme trauma while away from the squad there is a spell that affects our minds so we forget everything related to the mission so we do not give away valuable information. Only our squad leader can remove the spell and its effects at this moment. From what I can sense, the spell has gone into a serious stage but appears to be malfunctioning to some extent. If I tried to deactivate it, it could kill you or destroy your mind. It's like someone already tried tampering with the spell."
"Maybe that's what Discord was referring to when he tried to restore all of my memories." John said under his breath. "So, are you saying you can help me?"
"Yes."
John thought for a long moment, a part of him said he should trust these people, these other humans who seemed so familiar to him. "Okay," He said. "Do what you have to do."
Vjaren nodded and let Conner step forward. John stepped forward, and since he could still talk in the pony language, he let the guards know that these people could help him and were not their foes. The guards nodded and backed away, but still kept their hooves on their weapons. Conner put his hands on John's head... what happened next relieved John of some mental pains he had been experiencing, while also introducing some new ones. The entire process took nearly two minutes to complete and when Conner finished and stepped back to see if he performed the removal spell correctly (which he was entirely sure that he did) John was standing still, his face calm and reserved.
Vjaren stepped forward again, wanting to confirm that John had really come back to them. "John... do you... remember me now?" She asked slowly.
John looked at her. "I do... I remember everything. I'm part of your squad. My real name is John," He said looking at the others, his head scanning them as he spoke until he finally looked back at Vjaren. Tears welled up in his eyes. "And I know who you are... your name is Vjaren, you and I have had two children together, and you are my wife."
Vjaren normally didn't cry often, but today was the second time she had done so, up to a grand total of three times this whole year. With tears in her eyes, she embraced John and kissed him, finally glad to be reunited with him after so long. She broke the kiss and settled for hugging him tightly.
The moment was ruined when Gerard cried out and was knocked down to the floor. The pony guards they had run into earlier had caught up to them and had fired a blast of magic at one of John's teammates.
Conner was quick to react. "Get Gerard to safety and take cover!" He shouted. Bruce picked up Gerard and rushed out of the line of fire as Gerard started to groggily recover.
"I can stop them!" Shouted John, running towards the guards as he did so. "Hey! Stop!" He shouted, waving his arms." The guards stopped with the other bodyguards assigned to John coming up behind him. John made sure his translation spell was fully active. "They're my friends, this was just a misunderstanding and they thought I was being held prisoner. And I kind of was but that's not the point."
Moon Gem didn't believe him at first. But another guard stepped forward. "I can vouch for that, I have seen it." He said. Moon Gem turned these thoughts over in his head slowly. He eventually stood down. "Alright, I'll believe you for now. But only because there are more important things I have concern with like helping defend the city." Moon Gem added before turning away.
"What's happening?"
Moon Gem turned abruptly, startled that the human could now understand him as well as speak his language. "I was informed that you can only speak our language fluently every other day."
"My friends helped me with that. What's happening though?"
"We have a horde of things called shadow hounds at the gate."
"Then allow me to help."
Moon Gem paused. Under normal circumstances he would have outright denied his request but tonight was not a normal night. "Why not, we'll need all the help we can get right now. But try to keep up." With that, Moon Gem was off.
John turned towards his bodyguards. "Guys, you go follow that guy, I'll follow in a bit."
"His name is Moon Gem."
"Go follow Moon Gem then."
The guards looked at each other. Their orders had been clear, guard Korpwin (or rather, John) until he didn't need guarding anymore. It looked like their mission was complete. A few moments later the guards were dashing off. John walked back to his squad, determined to convince them to aid him.
Conner was the first to speak when he reached them however. "Good work getting rid of them John, now let's get out of here."
"What? No, I was serious about helping them. And I want you to help me."
"John, we've been looking for you for a while now. Our orders are very clear, we were to recover you and bring you home. We're not here to help these ponies."
"They helped me."
"And I don't doubt that. But I'll reiterate. Our orders are very clear. And that shadow hound horde was simply a distraction for us to reach you."
"You did what?!"
"And it is very unfortunate that we have to leave them to fight the hounds alone and that they might die in the process. But you're coming with us. Right Bruce?"
"Right boss."
"Bruce agrees with everything you tell him to do, he doesn't count. Now I don't know about you but I owe these ponies a debt and I'll be damned if I can't pay it back. Whether you decide to help me or not is your choice." John didn't give time for Conner to retaliate because he already took off running.
"Korpwin, wait come back!" Conner called after him.
"And stop calling me that! I want to be called John from now on for the rest of my life!" John called back as he ran.
"Son of a bitch.... Fine. Be like that." Conner said and turned around to face the remainder of his squad. Minus John... again. "I know you guys won't disobey orders like that, you're going to stay right here with me while I decide what to do... and think of appropriate punishment when John gets back. Nope, you're not going to abandon me at a-" He was cut off when Vjaren took off running. She was determined not to lose John. Not again. "Oh, of course she's  the first one to go after him! Yeah, anyone else?" Gerard seemed to take this as a challenge, for he too took off running. "God damn it come back here Gerard!"
"Sorry, Conner! You'll have to punish me for this later!" Gerard called back.
"I've had to deal with more bullshit in the last four hours than I have in the past year. I can't believe I missed him." Growling with intense frustration, Conner decided he wasn't going to put up with it. "That's it! I'm not standing idly by and dealing with the bullshit that follows later if he gets himself killed! Come on we're helping him out!"

John was able to navigate the castle now that he had magic to help him find out where he was going. He could hear Vjaren and Gerard right behind him as they managed to catch up to him. He grinned at his best friend and his wife as they raced towards the gate.

Magic is very useful in making sure that one does not run out of breath while running. Because it took a while for John and his friends to reach the gate where he could hear howls of rage on the other side of the gate that made his blood run chill. It wasn't long until the rest of his squad also managed to reach him. John looked at Conner, who did not seem amused, and shrugged in apology.
"John, I'm not going to stand by and watch yourself get killed, if you die then we'll die with you. I haven't run this squad for years without a single casualty just to see one of my men die without me being there to die alongside him."
"Thanks, Conner. That's very motivational of you." Conner grunted in response and the entire squad, along with an army of ponies readied their weapons.
Nadri had her bow drawn and was charging an arrow with magic. Whatever was on the other side was huge, and it wasn't long until it burst through. Nadri loosed her arrow and it struck the beast between the eyes, bringing it down as it nearly crashed into the front line of ponies. Then the hounds poured through, and the real battle began.