Hail to the king, Hail to his Horde

by Emo Rainbow

Calmness For the most part.

It had been several days since the locust had attacked canterlot. Viken walked silently while slowly plotting his murder of the so called savior of sera. He is no more fit to be king than that spirit is to be commanding the locust. “After I am done with Verus I will move on to him.” He said under his breath. His vision had been filled with nothing but red for several days now. He couldn’t stop it.

This entity didn’t even have the decency to try to make himself worthy. Yet his troops stayed faithful in the Idea that they would be praised as heroes once they returned. Something felt off to Viken ever since this started, he felt something tugging at his mind. he looked around at his fellow locust and saw the fatigued looks on their faces. He realised he was tired too and that Now might be a good time for a rest.

“Alright everyone it will be dark soon we must rest here for the night.” all the locust happily obliged to his orders. The spirit returned.
“What do you mean we are stopping here we’re so close to our destination we can’t stop now." He said frantically. Clearly letting his voice show that he did not want to stop there.
“Last I checked I was in charge of MY locust. I will not risk their health for your personal gain. unless you want tired soldiers unfit for a firefight?” Viken finished with a smirk. the spirit closed his non-existent mouth.

"Now go make yourself useful and tell the underground troops to stop."
The creature seemingly growled and receded into the ground. Viken took so much satisfaction in that conversation that he actually had the best sleep in a long time. Little did he Know that the spirit continued the journey with the vast underground soldiers in tow.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Verus and Krogg had been flying for days now the reaver didn’t need rest and Verus had been awake staving off sleep. It was late and Verus felt drowsy and Krogg yawning didn’t help. “We should stop and get some rest my king.” Krogg said seeing the sleep deprived king.

“You can rest Krogg I will stay awake guiding the reaver.” Verus replied not wanting to rest. Krogg was not deterred and pushed for him to get sleep but Verus kept replying "No." Eventually Krogg gave up and went to sleep. Verus kept flying determined to find the locust with the cold air hitting his face at these speeds.

Despite the cold air the fatigue was wearing him down. As his eyes started dropping he fought hard to stay awake. Eventually he resorted to punching himself.
After a heated battle with his body over sleep he resorted to drastic tactics to stay awake. But With the jagged piece of the reavers armor that would cut clean through his eye in his hand, He fell asleep.

He awoke sometime later in a daze he looked to his left and saw the large reaver severely injured. He looked to his right and saw Krogg cutting a tree branch with his knife.
"What happened?" Verus got no reply from his general. "Krogg what are you doing." Verus still got no reply. He took notice that Krogg had his Kantus robes on because he almost never took off his armor. He tried standing but with a hiss and a sharp pain in his leg he sat down once more.

He looked down at his left leg to see a splint and rope holding it. He inspected it further but was interrupted by Kroggs footsteps approaching him. He looked up and met a branch to his face. If the glare he produced for Krogg was turned into energy that Kantus would be a red stain on a tree.

Before he could say anything Krogg shouted at the top of his lungs at him he felt pain in his leg followed by relief. "Don't say a word YOUR HIGHNESS I told you to get rest but NOOOO you had to persist. Now you are going to stay here and heal, right now your crippled in the left leg it needs time even my shout has restrictions. It can bring it back just stay there."

Sensing that he was done Verus felt he should say something. "Krogg I am so sorry for not heeding your advice. But you have to understand that if we found them I wanted to be awake to kill them." Verus looked up at his friend. He was met with another branch to the face. With a slight chuckle he said "Take it easy that almost hurt."
Yet another swing came it was so hard that it snapped in half. Keep in mind it is a thick branch so it hurt a lot. "Alright alright I'll stop. How long will we have to stay here?" Krogg pondered at what he brought up.

"Well thanks to you if we take into account yours and the reavers condition and the fact that I am the only one capable of standing up. Three-four days at the least." With that startling revelation Verus realized just how stupid he'd been. Now they had to waste time getting their strength back because of him.

"Well. I can at least help you set up shelter. It looks like it will rain soon." He said about to stand on his right leg.
"Yes it does look like rain is coming in but I can't let you help. As the medic when it comes to the well being of you I am the highest rank. So I order you to rest While I make shelter." He said as he was forcing Verus to sit down. With a few grumbled complaints Verus reluctantly sat down next to the reaver.

Two Days Later 8:09 AM.

The past two days were uneventful especially for Verus. Most of the last few days had been spent under the shelter with the reaver and waiting for Krogg to return. He had a lot of time to himself and except the one-sided conversations with the reaver thinking was the only way to keep himself occupied.

He thought about things like how he would get home or if Sera was being controlled by the lambent and the humans were running scared.
He imagined lambent everywhere and the humans trying to stay alive. But a much more grim thought entered his mind. What if there was no Sera to return to. He immediately shoved that thought out of his mind. Someone will save Sera someone has to.

A rustle of bushes off to the side caught his attention. It might just be Krogg coming back with breakfast he thought. But you can't be too sure. He made a hiss noise Theron are most common for. Something he needed to know in order to be considered one. Krogg was supposed to in turn make a grunt noise Kantus can pull off but all he got in return was the motion in the bushes stop completely. He saw a little brown nub coming out of the bushes. Thinking it was another Wooden wolf he grabbed one of his Gorgons and focused the sights.

What he saw made his eyes widen. A little unicorn foal was staring at him with a confused expression. If he had to guess he looked eight or nine though he hadn't seen too many young ponies. The foal had a Chestnut brown coat and a light brown mane. He had Blue eyes and a white sadlebag. Suddenly the ponies' face turned from confusion to joy.

"Yes I knew I'd find one eat your heart out Kick I found an alien!" The Colt exclaimed. Verus for one was just wondering where he came from. The unicorn started walking towards him intent on asking some questions. Verus was going to do the exact same thing. Feeling he had enough strength he stood up with the makeshift crutches Krogg made him.

He immediately regretted it as the unicorns face was then plastered with fear. He backed up and Verus tried to calm him down as he could see his rising fear. "It's okay I won't hurt you." He said. Regardless the pony didn't listen.
The brush to the right moved and Krogg stepped out holding two large pieces of meat. "Verus I've returned....with the...food?" He trailed off as he caught a glimpse of the foal. But not a few seconds later the pony lost it. He screamed a the top of his lungs and ran off. Krogg set the meat on the table and got ready to chase him but Verus cursed and fell down so Krogg went to help him.

"Don't let him say anything about us we don't have time for this." Verus said Krogg nodded and bolted after the pony. They must not have realized just how close they were to a town because within minutes he saw a town filled with ponies. He hid down in the foliage only one pony caught his attention the youngling from before was bawling his eyes out to another pony a Pegasus that had a skeptical look.

Once the pony pointed at the forest the Pegasus looked up put on some weird goggles and fell down from being startled. He took them off and seemingly stared right at Krogg then grabbed the Unicorn and ran. The locust came to one solution "He saw me." After saying that he bolted right back to Verus they needed to move now.

Three Days Earlier 11:13 PM

Kindled Fire Kindle for short was a unicorn colt who lived in the quaint little town of Harvest. The town is usually dominated by the local scientist Kick Start. He's always up in some crazy high jinks be it five foot tall spiders ravaging the town to some radical growth syrum that made the crops turn into Killer waffles that shot out bubbles. Long story short this town was anything but peaceful.

Kick Start was an average height Pegasus with a white coat black mane and he's always in a lab coat he'd done good things, And Kindle was good friends with him. But they were both considered dummies, him mostly. He was now on his last day of grounding and he couldn't wait for more adventures.

He was grounded for flunking the math test at the school. He didn't care he sucked at math it wouldn't hurt him in the long run. He looked to the sky and saw something falling, he could barely see it. As it was at night and it was black.

He squinted and he saw a brief flash like a quiet explosion. With the small amount of light he could make out key features like tentacles and something riding it.

"A weird tentacle creature falling from the sky with some thing riding it?" The gears started turning in his head with the thought of his outer space adventure comics and once they came to a stop his mind was set on one thing. "ALIENS!"

"Kindle be quiet and go to bed!" Yelled a disgruntled mare in the other room.

"Okay sorry mom!" For the rest of the night he laid in his bed babbling how his name will go down in history for this.

The next day he got up and wanted to tell Kick right away. "Well you're in a hurry aren't you." Said his mom

"Sure am I saw Aliens last night! I'm heading off to tell Kick Start." He said in a cheery voice.

"Really? Aliens? That's a little bit far fetched don't you think?" She said to him.

"Yeah I know but he'll believe me you'll see." He grabbed his breakfast thanked his mom and left. On his way to the observatory he saw some of the towns local guards.

"As stoic as ever." He said under his breath. As he neared the entrance he heard a loud bang and coughing. He looked inside of the main laboratory room to see a gust of black smoke leave and Kick wheezing.

"Gah ugh. Kindle get me the sweeper." He said while waving away the still prominent smoke. Kindle gave him a strange object with two propellers and a squirter of some kind. He flicked it on and it squirted blue magic in the air then the propellers started waving away the smoke.

"Thanks my dear assistant. Ahem so you're here early. Any particular reason? Or are you actually thrilled to learn for a change?" Kick said as he set the "sweeper" down.

"You will never guess what I saw last night." He said wanting Kick to respond.

"And that isssss." Kick said wanting the colt to spit it out.

"Aliens Kick I swear to you I saw them." He said smiling. He looked up at Kick seeing him slowly turn around and give him a look.

"Aliens? No no no don't say anything else just let me say it out loud. Aliens. No it sounds even more ridiculous than before." He said to the colt.

"Kick!" Kindle shouted.

"What?" He said defensively. "Come on we have to continue field testing of the extendo boxing glove." He said as he pulled out a mechanism connected to a boxing glove. He pushed it and it went out with a satisfying boing sound. He gave a chuckle and headed for the door.

"Come on you get first hit!" He said nearing the door.

"Kick wait I can prove I saw them." He said. "Off in the woods they crashed I can show you to them."

"Well maybe tomorrow you can show me, But right now we have work to do. I don't pay you for nothing!" He said as he continued on.

"Fine Kick tomorrow you promise?" He asked.

"Yeah tomorrow. So lets go I have an awesome thing for testing to show you. And remember to bring the vector cannon we'll need it." They headed out to the back of the observatory and Kindle got a sense of déjà vu when he saw a metal staff standing upright in the ground.

"What's that doing here!? Weren't you supposed to give that to the canterlot magic research association?" Kindle said with panic in his voice. Shouting pretty loud but not loud enough for others to hear.

"Well yeah I was obligated to under threat of imprisonment for life but I kept it in the name of science! It's fine you shouldn't be freaking out." He said cheerfully as he set the "Vector cannon" In position with the staff.

"How can I NOT be freaking out right now YOU should be freaking out right now we're so dead it's not even funny!" He said then continued to bite his hooves. Kick did not respond though as he shot a big black vector at the tip of the staff.

A huge black hole emerged and a realm filled with floating objects appeared. "What's this now?" Kindle asked.

"Well you see the properties of the vectors and the properties of the staff are able to combine an opening for me to access hammerspace." He said as he reached in and pulled out an ice sculpture of a griffon. He pushed a button on the gun and the portal closed. He then set the sculpture down on the grass.

"You stole this powerful artifact and put a whole bunch of lives at risk just to access hammerspace!? That's not worth it...is it?" He asked not sure if he should be mad anymore.

"Will you put it back now?" He said hoping he'd get the right answer. After a pause from speaking Kick spoke up.

"No I won't. First off I can't let it fall into the wrong hooves. Second there's no need to worry I gave them a fake staff with the same wavelength and properties but it's a lot weaker. Now come on we have tests to run." He finished while he pulled out the boxing glove.

"Okay okay deep breaths deep breaths Kindle." While Kindle tried calming himself Kick declared first punch and hit the ice sculpture.

It blew up into a million pieces. "I think I put in too much power." He started tinkering with it while Kindle freaked out.

LATER....

Kindle had gone home after a long day. And now it was just Kick and his creations. He didn't want to tell Kindle what he really kept the staff for, he wasn't ready. Maybe in a month or two.

He took the staff in his hoof and lifted it up trying to activate it but it was a massive failure. He tried setting it down and making a bunch of hoof gestures while saying oohs and ahhs.

"Come to life! Open sesame! For Luna's sake activate you rotten sack of hay!" After that he gave up until it shed a white light that engulfed him. He emerged feeling different also everything hurt he ran to a mirror and looked at himself.

He looked taller than before, he had a much more manly physique, his mane and tail looked healthier, and his wings were more large and brilliant almost as big as Celestia's. "I'm looking good. But how will I explain this. I guess I do have to tell Kindle."

THE NEXT DAY...

He'd gotten Kindle to go get some roots without seeing him now was the time to tell him. He waited by the woods entrance at the backyard. He heard Kindle screaming down the path. Kindle fell in front of him shouting loudly.

"The aliens are gonna kill me there's one in the bushes!" He shouted while pointing at the rustling bushes. Kick looked and a little bunny popped out.

"Kindle that's not an alien it's a bunny." He said as he gave him his skeptical look.

"No not that you idiot use your goggles." He said shivering. With a sigh Kick used his specs to see the bushes more closely.

"I'm sure I won't find anythi- What in the name of Equestria is that!" He said falling on his back. He saw something horrible. A tall creature with robes and wall to wall teeth. Kick didn't hesitate in taking Kindle and running. He needed to get the guards now!

"Kick?" Kindle said.

"Yeah?" He replied. "Since when could you fly?"