• Published 11th Mar 2014
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Equestria: Beyond the Barrier - Korten



A world unknown to Humanity lies beyond the barrier, a group of pirates will set forth motions that will bring upon the end of the world. It all started the day of Edwards execution.

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Prologue: The Day It Began

Author's Note:

Hey, hope you enjoy this!

Just a reminder, the first chapter doesn't contain much on the MLP side, it's mainly on the Human side to set things up for Chapter 2 and on wards. Anyway I hope you enjoy reading, and leave a comment. Love to hear your thoughts, or criticism.

THE DAY IT BEGAN

“Edward, here you stand accused, of killing Countess Adriana,” spoke the official who stands next to Edward who just had a bag pulled off of his head exposing him to the audience of citizens who stand before him with roaring anger. However despite being close to death Edward couldn’t help but smirk.

He glanced at the official in black with a top hat, “Oh, blame me for the killing and not the hired assassin?”

The official didn’t reply and continue to read out the statement, “Under the jurisdiction of the Elder Court, you’re to be executed.”

Edward was dumbfounded at this revelation, “What? So no trial? Nothing? Just going to kill me without allowing me to make my case of innocence?”

The official eyed him and then motioned towards the executioner who slammed his fist into Edwards’s head, strong enough that Edward spat out some blood on the wooden floor. Then the official continued, “We all mourn the loss of the late Countess Adriana, so may Edward burn in the eight hells! Let us rid of this trash!” The crowd roared at this and raised arms, each of them screaming even louder than before for Edward to be killed, to have a slow and painful death.

The executioner pushed down on Edwards shoulder and he fell to the ground on both knees. He then saw the hulking blade the executioner now hung over him with a harsh shadow on Edward. However through the cheering and the yelling suddenly came a loud bang noise that silenced the area. Edward looked over and watched as the executioner dropped his blade to the floor and fell over with blood spurting out of their head. The crowd that was once yelling for his death was now fleeing for their lives as a battle just a head broke out.

“What’s going on!” the official yelled out. “What’s going on,” he tried to repeat but then was cut off when he too was pierced by a bullet and fell to the ground dead. Edward then saw just who was attacking, their clothing dirty and messy, but a distinct blue color over their clothing to symbolize some sense of camaraderie. It was pirates.

One of them, a slimmer figure ran up the steps to where Edward stood still bonded and got behind him. His hands were free as the pirate used a knife to cut the holds. “Thank you, but why save me?” he questioned the pirate.

“Nothing personal, think of you as a… secondary objective, optional,” the pirate professed. It was clear that his savior was in fact a female, not that it mattered much. Not that gender truly factored in when it came to pirates in Yandora. Compared to the other pirates she wore a more unique uniform with various tools hanging out and a large traveler bag hanging on her side.

“Thanks, that makes me feel much better,” he said with a hint of sarcasm but the pirate just ignored it and ran off leaving the escaped prisoner alone. Edward wasn’t exactly sure to do with his new found freedom, he couldn’t return home, that would be the last place he would be welcomed. With not much else to lose Edward ran after the female pirate who had ran into a nearby alley.

He was finding it hard to catch up with her as she quickly outpaced her and was using her environment to jump over obstacles. “Hey hold on!” he yelled out hoping that she could hear him over all of the commotion. Edward jumped onto a hill of crates and managed to jump at the top and over a wooden fence; he landed on the ground and rolled forward and back into a sprint.

Despite his calls the woman continued to run. He then realized exactly where they were heading, the local military fort that was near the execution ground. Edward tried to piece exactly why the pirates would attack the execution and then have one of them escapes to the fort. Unless… Then it hit him, they would bring their forces to the ground to square off against the pirates, only for a few individuals to sneak into the fort and take what they want.

The large fort was soon upon Edward as he noticed that the woman had slowed down. Finally, he thought to himself as he brought himself up and over a rock ledge that exited out to the foot of the fort. A small moat in-between the two of them and the fort. She put her hand to her lip and weighed her options until she noticed the panting of another behind her and finally realized that Edward had been following.

“You, why are you here?” she said as she turned and pointed at him.

“I thought…” he said drawing a blank and she just looked at him irritated and waved her arm for him to just speak. “I would help you.”

She looked up at the tall fort walls and then back at him, “Help me? You don’t even know what I am doing! I should gut you right here and make sure that you don’t blow this whole operation!”

He tilted his head, “Operation?”

She waved her hand, “There is no point in explaining anything to you.” With that she continued to just ignore him and looked and spotted a tree and from there traced a path over and up the wall through various small crevice that were in the wall. She nodded to herself and ran over to the tree and Edward followed behind.

As soon as she reached the tree and made a quick run up the side of it and grabbed onto a branch and hoisted up. From there she stood and leapt to another branch and moved up the tree. Edward just watched in amazement. Then he felt a lump in his throat as she leapt away from the tree, over the moat and towards the fort’s wall. He assumed she would fall into the moat but she grabbed onto a small crevice he spotted.

“No way in hells would I be able to do that,” he said as he watched as she climbed up the side of the fort. With not much else he could do Edward just stood near the tree and waited with bated breath as he waited for her to come back, at least he hoped she came back down this side. Suddenly he heard some voices and turned and spotted some guards heading his direction so he quickly positioned himself behind the tree and let them pass by as they headed towards the execution ground.

After they passed he saw a rope fall from the top of the fort and shortly after the female from before came down sliding and as she got close to the ground she swung and leapt into the air and onto the ground near Edward and he just smiled. “That was amazing!” he praised her as she stood up and slapped her gloved hands together as if to bask in the praise. However it shortly ended when he heard voices from afar.

“Get her! She has it!”

He didn’t exactly know what “it” was but it was clear the guards would be upon them soon. “Edward, right? You want to join up?” she said and he nodded in agreement. “Then keep up or I’ll just keep going.”

Edward just nodded and she ran ahead and he followed after, he could hear the footsteps of the guard’s heavy boots on the grassy floor. They dropped back into the town and continued at a brisk pace, going through alley ways to escape the trail of the guards. It was then that Edward noticed that the noise of battle from earlier was gone. “They finished already?” she spoke to herself.

It was then that he noticed that they were closing in on the docks. Suddenly however a group of guard rushed out in front of them and held up their swords and rushed at them. Edward with no weapon just turned and tried to run, however she did not. Pulling out her two daggers she began to dance with the guards. One rushed at her and she dodged with ease and knelt down as she pierced her blades into an exposed spot on the armor. Another guard moved up to aid his comrade however she brought up her daggers and caught the sword in the air.

She smirked as she used her strength to break away, leaving the opponent open for the kill. This fight wasn’t difficult for her; she had fought people before with far greater strength and skills then these bog standard guards. Getting up close she stabbed rapidly however stopped when she noticed another blade coming down from her flank and she jumped back to escape it. Edward stared, mesmerized by her fighting ability, could only help but wonder if he could ever learn to fight with such finesse. But then he noticed how a guard was moving to flank her as she fought with another guard who was having a hard time blocking her strikes.

Edward knowing he could do at least something rushed in and grabbed hold of the guard. “Let go!” the man demanded Edward to do but the now free-man would not let go. The pirate finished off her opponent and turned to see the guard still being held by Edward.

“Good job,” she said as she wasted no time putting one dagger into the face of her enemy. She didn’t need to say anything as they both left the scene and soon enough they reached the docks. It was there that she spotted her ship, their home base, away from the dock and firing cannons at the ships that aim to take her down. The dock is ablaze with activity with ships moving out to stop the pirates. The two are spotted and they begin to run away from their pursuers knowing this wasn’t the place to get into another fight.

A voice calls out, “Neva! Over here!” They turn and spot a female pirate next to a boat with some other pirates also on it.

Neva? So that’s your name. Edward thought to himself as he followed Neva towards the boat, the pirate on the boat fired at some guards who got close and covered Edward and Neva. The female pirate on the boat didn’t question when Edward got on the boat alongside Neva and as soon as they were ready, the boat began to move out.

“Edward,” the unknown female spoke to him over the noise of explosions and gun fires. “Did Neva persuade you into joining us?”

Neva put her hand on Edward’s shoulder, “Persuade him? No he did that all on his own Verna, in fact he followed me after being freed, actually managed to also aid me in a fight.”

“That I did,” he admitted.

Verna smiled, “Thanks for helping my sis.”

“Yeah, no problem, it’s the least I could do,” he said humbly.

The boat managed to dodge any attempts at being sunk, with aid from the pirate ship firing at any attackers. Edward marveled at the pirate ship as they got close, a large ship that could stand up to anything that attacks it. Main reason why the pirates still attack places, no one can stop them. As they got close to the ship, the boat began to get hoisted up on the side.

Neva noticed Edward seemed a bit startled, now there was a bunch of pirates. “Let’s get out of here!” Verna said. “Best not to outstay out welcome, eye lads?”

“That is good Verna,” a deep voice boomed from the crowd of pirates, an older pirate looking much like the typical pirate captain, large hat with a bandana on the top, an old but strong overcoat, white shirt, and a red sash. “Shan’t stay here and die or did the mission fail?”

“Dad,” Neva said but her father held up his hand and then she continued. “Right… Captain, I am happy to inform you that I have retrieved it.”

He smiled, “You did then? Then there is no reason to stay.” Their father, the Captain began to command his crew around, and before Edward knew it the ship was on its way leaving behind a town ablaze with fires and corpses. The breeze picked up and the pirate ship was gone before any guard ship could catch up, as quickly as the pirate ship arrived, it vanished.

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

WESTERN SIDE – WESTERN KEEP – COMMANDERS OFFICE – 1400 Hours

“Commander, the vault was raided… Object 12T was taken…” the guard professed.

A man in a black and golden trench coat shook the glass of wine in his hand and took a sip, “This is problematic… And how exactly did you let this happen.”

“A girl,” the guard explained.

The Commander turned, “You’re telling me a girl was able to get into our vault?”

“She… She knew exactly how to get past our defenses, she knew exactly what to go for, Commander, I don’t believe this was a coincidence.”

The Commander put his glass on his desk and turned towards the guard showing his very striking face and eye-patch which struck a sense of fear into his enemies, “Are you suggesting that this pirate attack was… planned?”

“If we take into account by this girl and her knowledge of Object 12T, then yes, there is no other way they could have known unless this was planned.”

Suddenly the doors shot opened and Count Levohan, wearing a lavish blue and gold coat with a white waistcoats, stepped in before the Commander could respond to the theory, “Commander I demand an explanation!”

“And I shall give one,” the Commander said as he sat down. “Today at 0900 hours just before Prisoner Edward was to be executed for killing your wife, pirates attacked the town…”

“I know that Commander, don’t bullshit around, I want an explanation for why your forces were utterly useless against the pirates,” Levohan said with such ferocity that even the Commander was taken back.

The Commander folded his arms, “Well Count, we have been doing a bit of an investigation and we have reason to believe that this attack was planned, not just a random attack.”

Levohan rolled his eyes, “Don’t dodge the question, regardless of it being planned, why were your forces useless!? You have quite the record… You’re making me second judge making you the Commander of our forces.”

The Commander stood back up and straightened his coat, “Count please calm down! Let’s not… Get hasty here. I understand your feelings, and I apologize on the behalf of our forces. But Count, you have to understand, these pirates are not so easy to put down. They’re part of Captain Anderson’s crew.”

Even Levohan recognized the name, “Captain Anderson… That bastard.”

“Yeah, just by his name alone you should realize why his forces were quite difficult to take care of.”

Levohan calmed down a bit, “Famous Captain Anderson… Former Commander of our forces, however… Richard, you need to train your forces better. I’ll increase your budget, but not again. Let this happen again and your head will be on a pike.”

The Count turned and walked towards the doors and said one last thing, “And one more thing Commander, the East may attack us any day now, we can’t let our forces be weak, not even against Captain Anderson. Now good day Commander…”

Richard let out a heavy sigh as he sat down and looked back at the guard who had stayed silent, “Count Levohan, quite the man, isn’t he?”

The guard nodded, “Yes Commander. What shall we do about Object 12T?”

“Object 12T… Unknown object found in an excavation site… It’s sad to say that we may not have anything we can do.”

“May I suggest we go after their ship?”

Richard let out a chuckle, “Go after Anderson’s ship? Send troops to their deaths? No, we shall not do that. The only thing we can do is wait and prepare, whatever he stole, if it’s used against us could be deadly, I should see it that our defenses are better prepared. Here….” The Commander began to write on a piece of parchment and then gestured for the guard to come.

“Give this to Ivoran, once he reads it he will know what to do, double time it,” he stressed.

The guard took the parchment and saluted, “Sir!” before turning and running out of the room, Richard turned and looked out his window once again towards the town below.

“This… has brought some unforeseen complications…”

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

The ship had been traveling far enough that no one could pursue. One thing Edward noticed was that the ship was getting closer and closer to the barrier. A large… magical field as most described it that prevented anyone from leaving. Since even before the East and West were formed the barrier existed to keep all of them from leaving. The barriers’ light purple color glow glittered across the sky and shined as the sun rays hit it. He had never been this close before so the site was almost frightening considering its scale as if it could come down at any moment and crush all beneath it.

He heard much about it, that no one could move through the barrier nor could anyone break it as it shrugged off anything slugged at it. Many attempts had been made, but despite that the ship was clearly going towards it despite no islands being in the vicinity.

Edward noticed the Captain of the ship approach him and asked with a gentle smile, “Edward, so I heard you wish to join my crew.”

Edward nodded, “That is correct Sir.”

The Captain looked to his daughter, Neva, who had stayed with Edward since they got on the ship, “So just to make it clear again, Neva, you vouch for this man?”

“He aided me in a fight he had no stake in, he could have attacked me and tried to take it for himself but he didn’t,” she explained again to her father.

Captain Anderson narrowed his eyes and looked at Edward suspiciously, “How do I know he isn’t some sort of spy?”

Edward was quick to deny this, “I was on death row, I was going to die, and if not for you guys I would be. This would be one hell of a ruse if I was a spy, a huge margin of chance of failure.”

Verna, who had followed Anderson, put her two cents in, “Isn’t… Well… Isn’t that what a spy would say?”

“Verna! Do you honestly think-,” Neva said before getting cut off by the Captain.

“She only be fooling you Neva, anyway it seems this mix blood will be joining us,” the Captain decided.

“Oh yeah I hadn’t really noticed,” Verna said. “You’re a mix blood Edward.”

Edward knew this topic was going to come up, “Yeah, I’m a mix blood, one parent from the East, the other from the West. Can’t say which is which because I have no clue… Will I being one cause tension between me and the others?”

The Captain folded his arms and leaned against the ships railing, “We got crew from the East on this very ship… But I won’t deny, a mix blood is a rare thing and the few that we encountered were met with hostility with some of the crew.”

Before Edward could say anything the Captain continued, “But ya got Neva backing you up, I don’t think anyone here will mess with ya.”

The Captain held out his hand and Edward took and shook it, “I welcome thee to my crew. Glad to have you.”

“Thank you Captain,” Edward spoke.

“Now, onto other business,” the Captain said as he turned towards Neva. “Take out that object, let me grasp it.”

Neva opened her bag and pulled out an object covered in a cloth, she pulled off the cloth revealing a strange looking device, similar to a gun but it looked like it was made out of stone and had glowing lines going across it among other things. Much bigger than any gun the Captain had on himself. “This is it! Neva you did great!” the Captain said as he was mesmerized by the object he noticed it was also quite heavy to hold needing both hands to keep it from falling.

Edward realized that this was it, which had been referenced. The Captain sensing Edwards curiosity decided to indulge it, “This Edward, is an object of unclear origins, predates all of us by thousands of years. We learnt about this during an excavation on an island where we found ruins in the very same style as this. However nothing like this was in there, just a scroll written in some language we had never seen before.”

“It took two years but eventually Verna deciphered it and we learned of its power, the power to disrupt barriers,” he said and saw Edwards’s eyes open wide. “That’s right… We plan to escape this prison.”

“Escape..?” Edward said. “Do we even know what’s out there?”

The Captain smiled greatly, “Nope. Doesn’t mean that we’re not going to go and see!”

“So we’ve become explorers?” Neva jokingly said.

Her father chuckled, “We maybe for the time being. We have lots of food and fresh water in reserves, you know that. Been planning this for… Well- since Verna managed to find out what this thing does, been trying to find it ever since.”

Edward decided to inquire further about the object, “So then why was it in the town’s Keep?”

“Simple, the Western Forces had discovered it before we had; it was in the small section of land between the East and West, No Man’s Land,” the Captain said as he stood up. “Now I can’t stay and chat, there is much to prepare and it won’t be long till we reach the Barrier. Good meeting you Edward, and once again, welcome to my crew.”

Edward couldn’t help but smiling at that, for much of his life living in the Count and Countess’ Manor he hadn’t gotten much respect or any good feelings towards him from either the Count or the Maids, although the Countess would from time to time grace him with her presence and actually talk to him as a person and not just a mix blood.

“Come on Edward,” Neva said. “I’ll show you around the ship.”

Edward nodded and followed Neva, and Verna followed Anderson to help him prepare.

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

They arrived at the barrier late into the night, by this point the moon shined down upon the sole ship and the barriers glow was intensified by the darkness. He had to admit, there was something surreal about the barrier that didn’t really kick in until he was almost close enough to touch it, not that he dared to in fear of what would happen if he did. Due to the glow and it being night, the entire ship was covered in the pinkish-purple glow. “Is everything set up?” he heard the Captain behind him.

Edward turned and saw that the gun-looking object was not situated on a sort of podium facing towards the barrier; it was on the front of the ship, just high enough to not hit the ship. Verna looked over the set up once more and rose a thumb up, “Everything is set Dad, and we’re ready.”

The Captain folded his arms and looked out towards the Barrier, “Good, now as we know, this disruption wont’ stay for very long, so as soon as shoots we need to move or risk the fear of it closing in on the ship. Everyone got that?”

“Yes Captain!” everyone said, Edward included.

The Captain always loved hearing that, he stood proud in front of his crew and knew that they had worked hard to get to this point and now it was time to get the pay off. “Damn right, now let’s get this party rolling, Verna, shall you do the honors?”

Verna bowed, “It shall be my honor.” She pulled out the scroll that had the instructions to work the machine, it looked simple but it was anything but. First she looked over her translations and then began to work. Pressing a red stone on the side of the gun, suddenly the lights turned red, and there was a slight hissing noise as the front of the gun began to expand outwards. Moving to the other side of the gun she then began to turn a blue stone which then resulted in a humming noise and the gun began to glow.

“Nearly done,” she said as she got to the back of the gun, and then she took a small orb from her pocket and placed it inside the gun, once more the lights changed this time from blue to white. “Captain, the Barrier Disruptor is set, ready to fire on your command.”

The Captain shot forth his hand, “Fire!”

Verna put her hands on both handles and aimed the gun, and began to hold down the triggers. The glow began to get brighter and brighter then when it was nearly blinding a large beam of energy shot forth from the gun, enough force that Verna had to hold her ground in fear of letting go. Like the sound of glass shattering, the area where the beam fired shattered and a large hole in the barrier was opened revealing the other side. Verna let go of the triggers and the beam stopped nearly instantly.

“Get a move on!” The Captain yelled out and shortly the ship was sailing through the barrier. Edward and Neva looked at awe as they pass through the barrier, however it didn’t take long to notice something strange after they passed through.

Edward was the first to speak it, “Neva… the barrier, on this side its invisible…”

The only part of the barrier that could be seen where the hole was opened, around the edges the color of the barrier could be seen, however as it extended outwards they saw nothing but open sea as if the barrier isn’t there. “So what, it can’t be seen on this side but it can be on our side?”

“Look, the barrier is reforming!” Edward stated the obvious as the barrier began to reform as if it was a wound. Just as it finally closed all together the glow went away and there were no more signs of the barrier. “This… So it is magic…”

Neva looked at him curiously, “What did you think it was?”

Edward looked embarrassed, “Well- It’s just… I mean… We don’t have magic…”

“Look at it like this, it glowed, was mystical, and nothing we could do could destroy it, outside something equally mystical. I guess it could have been advanced technology, but what kind of technology could do something like that?”

Edward had to admit nothing scientifically came to mind that could equal the scale of the barrier and the gun they used to destroy the barrier wasn’t exactly something the average pirate or guard would have on them.

Curiously the Captain ran to the back of the ship and pulled out a pistol and fired to where the barrier was. To everyone’s surprise the bullet hit nothing, it passed right through where the barrier should have been. “There must be more going on than we thought,” he muttered to himself as he holstered the pistol.

“Captain!” one of his crew yelled from above, a pirate with a spyglass was watching above. “I see land in the distance!”

“Land already?” he said to himself as he moved himself to the steering wheel and stood next to his loyal Helmsman. He smirked, he didn’t expect this to be so easy to find new land, but he wasn’t going to complain. Anderson could almost see the land without the need for a spy glass, it was hazy but he could make out a silhouette. “Towards the land Helmsman!”

“Aye Captain!” the Helmsman yelled out in pride.

This was it, they had gotten past the barrier and sooner than expected, they have already found land. The Captain was considering today a very good day. The entire crew was ablaze with activity, to many, this was the most important day in their lives, they were no longer just pirates, but also explorers and they were going to be the first to step on uncharted land.

Suddenly the ship shook horribly and everyone grabbed hold of something. “What was that?” he spoke agitated. The waves were suddenly rougher than before but in the distance they appeared to be fine.

Edward looked over the railing to the dark water beneath, and swore he saw something large slithering through the water, “Neva, I think something is down there.”

“A whale?” she asked as the ship stopped shaking. However it began to shake again seconds after it stopped, Neva stomach was starting to feel bad, she wasn’t the best when it came to shaking, she was always getting sick when they sailed out into rough waves.

“I don’t think a whale would get this close…” Just an away from the ship he noticed bubbling and water moving. Suddenly a screeching noise echoed in everyone’s ears as something pierced the surface of the water. Edward closed his eyes and put his hands over his ears and then looked up as someone yelled out.

“Monster!”

Edward opened his eyes and saw what now stood before the ship, a massive scaly snake like creature with large fins, many strange symbols over its body and glowing lights over its body like rope. It screeched once more and stared menacingly at the ship with its dark red cold eyes.

“Get us out of here!” The Captain ordered, but it was too late for the ship. For when the Leviathan determines its prey, all fall to it. The ship began to sail away, however as the Leviathan opened up his mouth a large glowing ball of energy formed in it and then like the gun earlier shot forth and slammed into the ship heavily damaging the center of it. Edward was sent flying into the railing and hit the back of his head and Neva was trying to help him up, fires broke out on the ship but the Captain was determined to get out alive.

Cannons began to fire at the beast but just as quickly as it came up to the surface the beast sunk under it. It swam under the water and appeared on the other side of the ship and shot another beam of energy at the ship.

“Kill the beast!” Anderson yelled out as he stood back up from the blast. The ship shook as it began to come apart. He could see crew dead across the deck. “No… This can’t be happening…” However the Captain wouldn’t let grief over take him, he had two things on his mind, two very important things. Neva and Verna.

Verna attempted to get the gun working again and was trying to aim it at the beast, however suddenly she felt very hot as she turned her head and saw the beam of the Leviathan coming towards her; there was no time to escape. Verna tried to move however she yelled out in pain as the beam hit her and incinerated her body and the gun along with her.

“Verna!” Neva yelled out as she watched the horror that unfolded around her. She looked at where her sister was once, the ground incarnated and the front of the ship in ruins. Edward was frozen, he didn’t know what to do, and everywhere he looked there was death. There was nowhere for them to move.

“Neva!” The Captain yelled out as he ran across the deck that was barely together, he had witnessed what happened to Verna and a deep rage erupted from him and he was determined to not like Neva meet the same fate. They had to live. However this was cut short as the ground beneath the Captain broke, he attempted to jump to reach safe ground however large debris of wood shot out and pierced through the Captain and he tumbled into the water, his dream of seeing new lands with him.

“No!” she screamed as she saw her father perish and suddenly Edward saw her faint and to the ground. Edward snapping out of his daze grabbed her and lifted her, there was only one option, the ship was exploding and sinking into the water and the Leviathan was still attack, the crew but they were alive. He was about to jump off the ship with Neva but then suddenly a piece of debris slammed into the back of his head and everything went dark.

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

Slowly he opened his eyes, only to see a bright light. Pains shot all over his body as he barely moved; however the first thing he felt was sand. Edward slowly moved his body and looked around, he began to cough and tons of water came out of his mouth and landed on the sand. “Where am I?” he managed to speak. However suddenly a shadow came over him but he couldn’t make it out as his eyes were still adjusting.

“Edward!” he heard the familiar voice speak. Edward closed and opened his eyes and tried to focus, it was then that the sight of Neva could be seen.

“N-Neva… You’re alive…”

Neva fell to her knees, “Thank Gods… Edward… The crew, Verna, my dad, their… Their dead…”

Edward could only say one thing hearing the terrible news, “Fuck.”

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

GRIFFON KINGDOM – DRAKNOR KEEP – GREAT HALL – 1000 Hours

“High Guardian!” a Griffon spoke as he caught up to the High Guardian who was in heavy armor. The High Guardian turned and the Griffon saluted. “Sir, we just got reports that there was a Leviathan attack last night, its beams could be seen from the port.”

The High Guardian put his claw to his beak and spoke in a gravelly voice, “What did it attack, Sebastian?”

“A ship, Sir, but there was no records of any ships coming to port.”

“So you’re saying an unidentified ship was attacked?”

“Yes.”

“Begin the investigation, we need to know what ship it belonged to, if it was those Ponies, then we’re in trouble.”

Sebastian shook his head, “It has already begun, however it came from the east, and any ships from Ponies would have come from the west, and landed in one of those ports.”

“There is nothing but water to the East…”

“Exactly Sir, which makes this a mystery as to where this ship came from, worst of all it was traveling in Sea Monster infested territory, which is off limits, even the Ponies know that.”

The High Guardian was interested in seeing what this was, it was rare for ships to be destroyed by a Leviathan, but when they did it could be seen from quite a distance. The Griffons stressed other nations to not sail in the waters, and for the most part the rule was followed; only law breakers were willing to tread the dangerous waters.

“I want you to keep me up to date with this, Sebastian; I want to know where that ship was from as soon as you know. Let’s pray that it was law breakers, I rather not have to explain to the King why a ship from a foreign nation entered the No Sail zone.”

“Yes Sir,” the Guardian spoke as he finished however he turned back towards the High Guardian when one more thing came to mind. “I nearly forgot, but sir… Lady Corinth was found in the streets. Again.”

The High Guardian sighed, “That girl will be the end of me I swear, increase the security around her room. Actually… Sebastian, do me a favor, you watch over her, send Juna in your stead.”

Sebastian bowed his head, “If that is your wish Sir, then I shall make it so, Kalzin.”

Kalzin placed his claw on the shoulder pad of Sebastian, “You’re a good soldier, keep up the good work.”

Sebastian smiled, or as well as he could for a Guardian, “Thank you Sir, its honor to hear you say that.”