The Battlebrother - The Rejuvenationverse

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Purple Patch #1 · Aug 9th, 2017 · 5 · ·

What sort of spineless imbeciles are you? You hear that stallion's name and you're cowering behind cover when you should be setting up this damned cannon?! You think he's going to make a difference just because he can shoot a bulls-eye at some Princess's party?! Look around, he's trapped in pitched combat, there's raging wind, our barriers are solid iron, we're a full five miles above him on this cliff! There is no way in Equestria he could hit us at that dista-
~ Famous last words of Bandit Lord Branx at the Blue Gale Bluff Skirmish

Fletcher Fray, fourth member of the Eternal Knights and probably their most jovial, has a long history like the rest of them. One he recants with equal pride and gloom.

Like most of the Eternal Knights, Fletcher is not of native-Equestrian origin but unlike most, he is of very noble blood.
He's a direct descendent of the Armbrusts of Farmany, a household nearly royal in status.
Their founder, Ballistix, carved out his domain when he aided the White Whisperwood Elk of the Great Farman Forest in their war against the trolls, slaying their king with an enchanted whisperwood bow that was passed down his line ever since. The Armbrusts then founded the Archduchy of Trabia and its capital city of Stutegart. Ballistix went on to become the Commander-In-Chief of the first Oberfurst of Farmany, Fullemane Morgenstern. uniting the warring beasts of hill, forest, mountain and shore against Tirek's Horde.
The Armbrusts have known legend after legend ever since, Fletcher's own grandfather, Faulkner Fray, slaying eight-hundred boarserkers at Broken Tusk Pass with the Armbrust Bow.

Fabelhart, Fletcher's father, first proved his skill not in battle but in a tournament.
During the dismal reign of Lombard the Feeble, the noble counts and dukes quarrelled bitterly over power. The Armbrusts were among the few who still supported the rule of their Oberfurst, weak and unremarkable he may have been at the time.

The tyrannical Count Grollen Von Nahkampf of Hengstphalia had discovered his wife, Ulmora Von Messer, had committed infidelity some few years ago (It's worth mentioning the Count was openly unfaithful to his wife himself) and declared he would have her executed for the offence along with the product of the infidelity; Ulmora's daughter, Alemania.

While the Armbrust never associated themselves with Count Grollen, Alemania had been Fabelhart's foalhood sweetheart and so he petitioned the Oberfurst for mercy, pleading that Ulmora and Alemania would simply be exiled from the House of Nahkampf.

Count Grollen was not to be perturbed and the Oberfurst would not easily listen. So Fabelhart fell on the stakes of Farman honour and challenged Grollen for the lives of the two mares. Whoever won would decide what fate befell Ulmora and Alemania as well as a generous portion of the loser's estate which Fabelhart offered as extra incentive.
Grollen accepted but immediately cursed himself as Fabelhart declared the challenge would be an archery contest, held at the Rein River Tournament outside Grollen's home at Klopp Castle.

The Count therefore invited a champion, Qarnasan al'Balut, a charismatic Saddle Arabian prince. He was the finest archer in the land, nopony had ever bested him.
Grollen offered Qarnasan whichever of the two mares he preferred if he defeated Fabelhart in the tournament.
The contest was long and arduous, lasting for three full days until Fabelhart and Qarnasan were the last two contestants remaining.

It is said that the two met each other outside of the competition and discussed what each one was fighting for. Qarnasan confided that, while he relished the chance to compete against an archer near as gifted as he was, he hadn't known the life of two mares were on the line, one of them innocent of any crime and the other only guilty of falling once to a fault her own accuser had indulged in countlessly. He felt dishonoured by the notion.
Fabelhart explained his own motives and the two made ready for their final showdown.

Sources vary at such points. While Farman scholars declare Fabelhart at last fired stronger and surer than the foreigner, Saddle Arabian records insist that Qarnasan deliberately faltered to save his friend and those close to him. Whatever truly transpired, the end result was the same. Fabelhart had won, Ulmora and Alemania were spared, taken into the House of Armbrust, Count Grollen lost most of his wealth, land and power and Fabelhart and Alemania were married the next month, giving birth to a son, Fletcher.
[Note: These events were later adapted into the three-act opera 'Feuer Die Pfeile Der Liebe' by Strahl Mahrea Von Webber]

Fletcher Fray was born with an interest in exploration and invention, finding court life dull and immoral. Fletcher took up training to become a Talforester, rangers of the Great Farman Forests, monster-hunters and border-guards, building walls and artillery in contested areas, earning his Cutie Mark the first time he took his ancestral bow into battle against a wight attack on a nearby orphanage. He was eleven years old.

Unfortunately, young Fletcher returned to find Stutegard in chaos and his family home burning.
The nobles had grown tired of their Oberfurst delaying their opportunities to seize power and the contention of the Armbrusts was becoming a nuisance. The Gildenpakt had been formed, a conclave of the most powerful households in the land vying for an end to the undisputed rule of the Oberfurst. Lombard was assassinated, the Morgenstern's eradicated and the Armbrusts following in the same way, an army of mercenaries swarming the castle from land and sky.
Fletcher found Count Grollen there, wildly stabbing at the corpse of Alemannia.
It was the first time Fletcher had ever killed a pony.

Fletcher then shed his name and spent life in seclusion among the Talforesters who had suffered greatly as the Gildenpakt marginalised them, docking their funding and leaving with them with the worst jobs while the Hauberks, a glorified army of thugs, extortionists and boasters, became the most well-supported force in Farmany as countless wars and persecutions, all for the sake of profit, were planned in the now corruption-ridden court.
It was at this time that Fletcher met a fellow forester who went by the name of Dunkelhelm, a secluded but cheerful stallion whose skill with a longsword was unparalleled. A few years afterwards, the platoon of Talforesters both stallions belonged to were beset upon by Raptor Griffon mercenaries who slaughtered them within moments, Fletcher and Dunkelhelm the only survivors. After retreating into the forest, Dunkelhelm confided in Fletcher the secret of his origins and why the mercenaries were after him.

Dunkelhelm was the last remaining grandson of Oberfurst Lombard, Conrad Von Morgenstern.
After this, Fletcher swore his life in service to the heir to Farmany's throne, as his forefathers had always done, vowing to take back the realm for its rightful rulers as long as Conrad could be such a ruler that would deserve the throne.
Conrad and Fletcher then began a campaign of resistance against the Gildenpakt, gathering young stallions and mares to assemble the Talforesters once again, hiding in the forests and raiding caravans of tax money and the luxuries bought with it, weaponry and prisoners.
But against the court itself, with their castles, high walls and guards, it looked to be a long and costly war.
That was before they were met by Princess Luna.

Luna and her three Eternal Knights, Midnight Blade, White Wolf and Saracen, had declared their wish to aid Conrad and Fletcher in expelling the corrupt Gildenpakt from Farmany's seat of power as the Reinland Crisis had escalated, the two grasping courts of Farmany and Prance set to go to war. As Celestia aided Prance in the Dauphin Restoration, Luna aided Farmany in the Morgenstern Restoration.
Striking out with their full force, Conrad and Luna seized control of a large town on the River Esel. In honour of their new ally, the town was named Lunich.

The Gildenpakt were quick to respond and so began the famous Siege of Lunich, that lasted just over a year. From all accounts it was a gruelling event that not even Luna's magic could easily solve, the Hauberks having gathered their full strength and resources into putting down the resistance leader and his fellows. Conrad and Fletcher remember having to pull up every blade of grass and flower in the town to divide it into rations and were eventually forced to eat paper and parchment while the Gildenpakt leaders feasted lavishly in full sight of the starving defenders.
Eventually, however, a notorious Haustrian smuggler named Schnella Finisch, slipped through the siege via the canal, bringing a great shipment of fruit, vegetables, grain and milk, revitalising the defenders nicely. She'd also brought a secret weapon.
A full shipment of reflective glass.

At midnight, when the Gildenpakt concocted another volley, the defenders lined up on the walls, Fletcher commanding them, and produced an enormous row of mirrors that reflected Luna's moon at its peak, blinding and disorientating the archers below while raining arrows freely upon them.
Then as the Gildenpakt scrambled to attention, Conrad rode out with his finest knights, Luna, Midnight, Wolf and Saracen among them.
The siege had been lifted. Three key members of the Gildenpakt were executed and movements all over Farmany rose up against the corrupt court.
Conrad lost a foreleg in the attack which would severely lose his favour as Oberfurst upon the throne. Fletcher then spent the next few months, nearly a full year, designing a mechanical foreleg crafted from iron, bronze, tin and a few magic crystals. For his service, Fletcher had more than earned the right to rule his father's lands as Archduke but Fletcher politely refused. Still, he hungered for exploration and knowledge of the world outside. What Luna had showed him had awed him in ways he never thought possible.
And so he joined the Eternal Knights, Princess Luna's personal bodyguard.

In the Civil War, Fletcher was often placed in charge of artillery, masterfully engineering engines of battle beside the kirin inventor, Tsukiyomi no Matsuyama. It was beside him that he worked to find a cure for the deadly illness, Ceraporosis, that claimed the life of the Republic's leader, Prince Artemisias Dryft.
His prowess in the war was remarkable, slaying countless enemies of the Republic, his arrows rarely, if ever, failing to strike home. The Eternal Knights fought and suffered long in that war and, due to their oaths, they continue to do so.

In the Unspeakable Battle, when Marephistallion attempted to sack Ponyville and slay Princess Luna while her sister was presiding over the Royal Wedding of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Captain-General Shining Armour, Fletcher Fray gathered a small force of automaton bomber gliders from the hidden foundries of the ancient Princess Minerva, adapting the automatons to the necessary tactics and commands.
Automatons are a risky business even for Fletcher Fray.
Through this research, Fletcher also discovered how to effectively transport a pony between dimensions as Minerva once did.
It is through this that, as far as rumours can tell, he is able to occasionally travel to the world where its believed humans dominate the earth in place of ponies. But such secrets are not to be confided outside of such crucial endeavours.
Fletcher Fray now stands beside the Eternal Knights as he has for centuries, observing the threats to Equestria and working in the shadows to eliminate them by any means necessary.

Bronycommander

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Bronycommander #2 · Aug 9th, 2017 · 2 · ·

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