Never Forgiven

by DragonassasslnGR

Power Of The Prodigy

Princess Luna was in the Ponyville hospital. More specifically by the reception desk, waiting for the receptionist to find the room Constance was in. The elderly brown mare looked through the computer carefully for her name. Luna had been waiting for an hour and was so bored she had entered the dream realm just to waste time in the great hall as her body lay in a chair by the desk.

"I found her princess!" the receptionist said with a lisp.

Luna heard her from the great hall and quickly reentered her body. Her eyes opened to see a computer screen with an itinerary of all of the guests in the hospital. Constance's name was highlighted in yellow with her room number. Her number was 273. Luna's eyes went wide as she leaned a little to the left past the desk and read the number on the room across from her.
The sign read 273. The princess of the night face hoofed on the spot.

"Princess Luna, is something wrong?" asked the receptionist.

"No, nothing is wrong. Thank you for your... help." she said walking to the room.

The old earth pony saluted and said, "All in a days work."

"Literally." Luna mumbled.

"What was that princess? My hearing isn't the best." she asked holding a hoof behind one of her ears.

"Nothing!" Luna quickly said with a sheepish grin as she hurried into the room.

******************************************

Constance was asleep in her bed with an I.V. in her left foreleg as the right was completely covered in wrappings. Luna didn't have to see the burns to know she would never be able to walk properly again. She was lucky the burns were only second degree from what she was told. Attacked and nearly killed over Cassius's journal. Luna had entered Constance's dreams and forced her to relive the memory so she could give her a proper punishment for stealing before heading to the hospital, But after she saw Sereen reading it and Constance actually forgot about it. It wouldn't be right to punish the innocent for something they didn't do. Luna walked over to her and sat in a chair next to the bed. So many things about this attack seemed...off. Why would somepony want to steal a journal that know one but Celestia, Cassius, Sereen, Twilight, Shining Armor, herself, and a select few members of the castle staff know even existed; let alone had the ability to read.

Luna looked to the little table that reached over the bed and found a book. It was an outdated copy of Equestrian Laws and Punishments. Luna let out a little giggle at the thoughts that must have plagued her mind. She pushed the table to the side with her magic. Luna could see dyed blood on the bandages when the table was out of the way. The pain she must have been in, Luna thought. Another more disturbing thought hit Luna. Pinkie Pie was using the same weapon she had back when Cassius controlled her. She even looked the same and still had her powers of the Nocturnal Guardian, Cassius's power. Just as Luna got up to go and find out what was going on, Constance moved her head to look at her. The young maids yellow eyes grow in shock as her pupils narrowed in fear. Luna gave her a look of annoyance, because she knew exactly how she was about too...

"Princess Luna! I can explain everything! Please don't send me to the moon or even the sun! It was an accident I swear!" She bellowed as she sobbed in her bed.

And there it was, the princess of the night face hoofed for the second time that day.

"Constance, you are fine. You will not be punished for anything." Luna said agitated voice.

Constance sniffled then replied, "But I lost the book."

"No, you were nearly killed for it. I won't allow you forgetting about a journal in your bag to being a reason to punish you. Besides your life is more important the that old thing will ever be. So, how is your leg?" Luna said softly.

Constance whipped a few tears from her eyes with her left hoof, "I can't feel it. They have me on so many painkillers, its a miracle I'm even in the right mind. Hey, how did you know I forgot about the book?"

Luna chucked before speaking in a very serious tome, "Constance, I saw your memory of the attack. The red unicorn, the magic of his sword, and...Pinkamina."

"Pinkamina?" Constance parroted.

Luna looked down to the floor, "She is the...other Pinkie Pie. She was one the ponies Cassius called six years ago to help him in his attempt to kill Celestia and eventually my mother."

Constance fell dead silent, she heard of Cassius's ruthless killers. The bearers of the Elements of Chaos, his soul. Pinkamina was best known for her killings at the southern camps in the badlands. They found out about it thanks to Rainbow Dash's reports. The only thing that kept Pinkie Pie from being executed on the spot was the fact that she was being manipulated. They blew it off to a mind control spell.

"Princess Luna please don't have her killed!" Constance exclaimed.

"She saved you. Why would I have her executed?" Luna asked.

"I...I don't know." she replied as she pulled the blanket to her muzzle.

"Clearly she is behaving. I have no reason to detain her so she is free as long as nothing happens to anypony. I will have her under watch though. As for this unicorn, he has stolen a very valuable item from me. Did you get his name?" Luna asked.

"No. he never told me it." Constance said softly.

Luna sighed, she leaned in and gave Constance a hug, "Get some sleep. You need to rest if you are to come back next week. I will see you in your dreams. Good night, Constance."

"Good night, princess." she replied closing her eyes.

Luna walked out and gently closed her door.

*************************************************

In the outskirts of the Appaloosa the fire red unicorn was walking to an abandoned fort.
It was originally used as a tree hatchery and the original storage of supplies when the buffalo were destroying the orchards. Now it served as his home and base. He approached the main entrance when two unicorns materialized in front of him saluting. He had his guards use invisibility spells whenever they were on duty. If they were to remain undisturbed, ponies had to think this place was still abandoned.

"Lord Flamearch, you are back so soon? Did you get the fragment from the statue?" asked an orange-yellow unicorn.

Flamearch looked to him with a smile of pure bliss, "No, didn't find it Harlot Storm."

Both the guards shared a puzzled look before the other asked, "Then, why are you so happy? Normally if something like this happened you would gut the one responsible for the waste of time on sight."

"Well Jara, I'm glad you asked. For you see, I have found this instead!" Flamearch exclaimed with joy.

He pulled out the journal and showed them the cover. Once again, they shared a puzzling look. Why was this book keeping them from being killed out of Flamearch's frustration. They instantly recognized the cutie mark on the cover and felt the presence of very strong magic emanating from it.

"Is that?" Harlot Storm began.

Flamearch nodded as he walked past the two with the journal floating close behind him. Harlot Storm and Jara vanished again, taking their watchmen positions once more. Flamearch stepped inside the fort and proceeded to the central building made of old stone and wood pillars.
He opened a large wooden door and approached a purple pegasus pony in a lab coat and glasses. Her cutie mark was a book and a magnifying glass resting on it. She was sitting on a chair looking over a desk with book and fragments of stone, wood, cloth, and other miscellaneous items. Even a few bone fragments sat around her.

"Oh Liz, I have a gift for you." Flamearch said in a sing song tone.

"Oh boy Flamearch, your gifts are just the best. I might die from excitement." she said in a sarcastic tone as she looked over a book that was slightly burned.

"Just take the damn book." Flamearch said as his happiness collapsed into minor annoyance.

He placed in journal in front of her and took a seat next to her.
Her blue eyes widened in astonishment.

"Where did you find this?" She asked.

"I was at a party in Ponyville. The singer had it on her when she took a break." Flamearch replied as he recalled her beautiful singing voice.

Liz hit him on the shoulder and said, "Ok Casanova, stop daydreaming. You want me to find what?"

"Anything we can use to recreate the power of Cassius and use for myself."
Flamearch said pushing away from the desk and rolling away on the chair.

Liz went right to work on deciphering the ancient text that sat inside the book. Despite the fact of being a pegasus, Liz could easily out think almost any unicorn scholar. Her intellect was only matched by her love for ancient cultures. This was one of the reasons she had joined Flamearch's Faithless. His addition for ancient power was good way to fill her thirst for knowledge, even if she found something actually useful and dangerous that Flamearch wanted.

***********************************************

Two days passed as Liz read the entries inside the journal every chance she got.
At this point she knew it wasn't a book of ancient Equestrian society but the journal of Princess Luna's guardian. The journal never mentioned them by name and for obvious reasons,
she found stories that were written about the events in the long life of the guardian.
This was a better find than any she had ever read or even seen before. It was a first hoof account of the last five thousand years of Equestria's history. It was only missing the last thousand years and a few events prior to the Nightmare Moon events. Liz noted there was a two year gap between the last entry written in ancient Equestrian and the most recent ones in new Equestrian. They seemed to have been from the pony that Flamearch was obsessing over and had written the last entries. She had also made notes of several spells and tricks tricks the journal had mentioned by name. This was most likely what Flamearch wanted. It was also likely he would let her keep the book when she was done with it.

"So Liz, have you found anything interesting or even useful?" Flamearch asked as he walked over to her.

She noticed his sword was missing and asked, "Where is Ragnarok Flamearch? You never leave without it."

"I left it on the table in my room. I was cleaning it when I realized you must have been done with the book by now." Flamearch said.

She pushed away from the desk and turned to face him. " Well, I'm actually half way through it."

Flamearch looked shocked, "Only half way! It's been two days Lizzy! I've seen you read book that big in an hour. What the hell is" - Liz rolled her chair to the left to reveal the book had grown ten times it's original size.- "Well... you don't see that..."

"Don't even start with that." Liz interrupted him. "Here I have a list for you. There was a small amount of spells that you would want to use in here."

"Small amount?" Flamearch asked.

"Yes, only five were fire based. The rest are shadow base. Oh and there was one spell that isn't fire based that you can use."

"Why give it to me if its not fire?" the flame unicorn asked.

She gave him a devilish smile, "It's a summoning spell for the Nocturnal Guardian himself."

Flamearch eyes brightened and he joined her in sharing the smile.

"It can be used to bring him back and help the pony who calls him. Or at least that is what I understand from the text." Liz said as she flew over to him. "Lets get every pony here and call him."

Flamearch levitated the paper with the notes to him and began to create the platform for the spell.

"I'll take that as yes then?" the purple pegasus said as she flew out to gather The Faithless.

***********************************************

In a matter of minutes the main courtyard of the of the fort was occupied by the hundreds of members of The Faithless. Flamearch had finished the platform and had begun the incantation. In the center of the giant circle was the bone fragments that originally sat on Lizzy's desk.
They were the bones of Luna's protector. The pieces had been blown off thanks to Princess Twilight Sparkles attacks, the night he was defeated by Mother Mare. Flamearch was using all of his concentration to get the spell to work. He was determined to become the student of the Nocturnal Guardian. This was better than having some of his their power, Flamearch thought under the strain. The summoning spell was working, he felt a presence struggling to avoid being pulled to him. In his mind, Flamearch could hear voices as the spell grew more and more unstable. Arcs of black lightning shot from the circle. He heard some pony cry out a name that filled him with fear. It was like the name itself was going to kill him where he stood.

"CASSIUS!" the voice yelled.

There was an explosion that sent Flamearch and everypony else flying into the walls of the fort.
If they weren't so far away from the town, Flamearch would have been worried they would have blown their cover. Smoke filled the air around the courtyard. Liz had flown up to avoid the blast and was now surveying the area of any sight of the Alicorn they had tried to summon.
All she could see was smoke and decided fly down to Flamearch and helped him onto his hooves.

"Did it work?" she asked.

"Ya, I felt something come through. Did you see anything?" Flamearch asked as he brushed off his coat.

"There was too much smoke. I couldn't even see you." she replied.

Flamearch began walking to the center of the circle to see what he had summoned.
To his horror it was a young gray unicorn colt with a red and blue mane and tail.
Flamearch roared in anger and called Ragnarok to his hoof. The sword burst into existence around his hoof in a brilliant display of fire as he held it up ready to kill the unicorn.

"FLAMEARCH STOP!" Liz yelled as she placed herself in between the two.

"What!?" Flamearch hissed.

"Look at his cutie mark. It's the same one on the book." She explained.

Flamearch took a moment to collect himself and lowered Ragnarok.
He looked at the shaking colt's cutie mark and instantly recognized it.

"Liz, please explain why there is a colt sitting inform of me!"
Flamearch raised his voice through gritted teeth.

"I don't have an answer for once, but he has the mark. He must be a messenger or something." Liz said.

Flamearch glared to the foal in front of him and snapped, "Listen here you pathetic waste of life.
I want you to tell your master I seek an audience with him."

The young unicorn hid his face in his hooves and began to cry.

Liz took a step closer to him as she glared at Flamearch.

She bent down and spoke softly as she tried to wipe the tears from his muzzle, "Hey now, don't cry little one. I will keep you safe from the mean old prig of a unicorn."

"Prig?" Flamearch said as he shook his head.

"What is your name?" Liz asked.

The unicorn looked her in the eyes.
She was taken back by the colorful rings in that rested in his eyes.

"My...my name is... is Cassius Nightshade." he sniffled.

Liz stepped back and fell on her flank. Flamearch raised an eyebrow and chuckled at her.

"Something wrong Lizzy?" he asked in a smug tone.

"N-no everything is right Flamearch. He is the Nocturnal Guardian."
She said with a wicked smile forming across her muzzle.

Flamearch stood in shock, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, Cassius Nightshade is the name of the pony that caused the Dark Libra incident.
The same pony you have been trying to get fragments of power from. He is right here Flamearch, do you know the possibilities of what we can learn from the past.
He has been alive since Equestria's existence."

Flamearch stepped closer to Cassius with an evil grin, "I know exactly what I can learn from him."

**************************************************

Luna was in the throne room pacing back and forth. Cassius was taken from her by a portal spell when they were getting ready to meet Twilight in Ponyville. She had thought Cassius had learned it and was playing a prank but after seeing his look of fear, she had gathered the royal guard and sent search parties all over Canterlot to try and find him. Celestia was working with a team of Canterlot’s best minds on tracing the original location of the portal.
They had turned up with nothing, the spell had so much interference that the the caster couldn't conjure the portal correctly.
When Cassius was sucked in, a piece of bone and a purple feather was spat out in his place. Celestia was able to get a match for the feather and found the bone to belong to Cassius.
They quickly figured out it was from the battle six years ago based on Twilights magical presence on it and the fact it was from a larger rib than he had now.

Luna walked into Celestia’s study and found her talking with a few unicorn scientists.
The princess of the sun turned her attention to her worried sister.

"Luna, don't worry too much about it. We will find him." Celestia said.

"Tia, how can you say that. Cassius isn't the unstoppable force he was six years ago. He is a foal now, he needs my help." Luna said as she began to pace the room.

"Luna, he is still the Nocturnal Guardian. He is more than capable of defending himself."
Celestia said trying to calm her younger sister down.

"Celestia, he doesn't know how to tap into his power yet! He just recently relearned how to become a nightmare spawn in the dream realm!" Luna exclaimed as the stress visibly showed on her face.

"He still likes that form?" Celestia mumbled to herself. "Luna, you need to calm down. We will find him. Twilight is gathering her friends and I am sending for one of the best trackers in all of Equestria."

"Who?" Luna asked with a gleam of hope.
Celestia looked to her sister with a straight face and said, "His name is Shadowheart."

Author's Note:

Flamearch and Ragnarok belong to psychochicken on fanfiction.net. The character and sword are his ideas not my own. Anything the OC dose in this book is of my diction alone and I have been given complete creative control over mood, actions, responses, and relations of the OC in question. I will be using the personality traits that Psycho gave me as I deem appropriate of any of the above actions. I will try to keep the OC as close to his design as possible. This includes any future plot devices or backstories based on or including OC.