The cursed resident.

by Sylif Daring Doo

.raw nettogroF

______*Ponyville, Golden Oaks library, two days later, 1:00 PM*______

Things went back to normal around the town quickly, the ponies got used to seeing Nightmare Moon around, though they treated her with caution, it was an improvement over outright fear.

Today was very cloudy and mildly cold, apparently the dark clouds and gloomy weather today was to make up for too much nice weather lately, and so many of the townsponies stayed indoors today.

Inside the library things were quiet, Twilight sat ready by some chairs and cushions and with a few long scrolls and plenty of quills and ink, Nightmare Moon sat on a cushion and was waiting on Alecia to begin.

Rarity and Spike were here as well, with Sweetie Belle at school, they along with Nightmare Moon were waiting for the ghost to tell her story.

Alecia floated around the room lazily and spoke as she did so. "Alright, where do you want to begin?" She asked no one in particular.

Twilight raised a scroll absently with her magic. "I think a good place to start would be to continue from where we left off." She replied easily.

Aleica frowned a little, but spoke anyway. "Very well, but before you know one story, you must know another." She said before telling her story.

______*Many years ago.*_____

The past of our world is shrouded in mystery, but if any knew of our origins, it was the people of the Shattenreich, or Shadow Kingdom, originally a mighty kingdom of dwarves, this land was rich and prosperous, magnificent structures such as fortresses, monuments and statues were built and maintained by the people, forges large and small created objects of great beauty, as well as unmatched weapons that never dulled.

The dwarves use of shadow magic drew the ire of their neighbors however, and eventually a war broke out across Equis.

The Shadow Dwarves as they were known, fought alongside their allies, the mighty dragons, against the whole of the world In a war that spanned two centuries, in this war, many civilizations fell and rose, some fell again, others thrived, but out of all races of Equis, only one had the decency to stay out of the war, and eventually sided with the dwarves, the Elves.

The Elves of Equis were graceful beings, who were known to be beacons of hope and light, as well as wise, their immortality gave them insight beyond the normal scope of mortals, and their armies were highly trained and equipped with armor and weapons just as magnificent as the dwarves.

Nearing the end of the war however, the dragons cut ties to their long time friends and allies, they took any willing dwarves with them into hiding, and then vanished, it was at this time that the dwarves and Elves were nearly spent, for even as powerful as they were, the two races were hopelessly outnumbered by their enemies.

In the final days, both Dwarves and Elves stood side by side in the last stronghold they held, they faced down against the last three races in the war against them, the Naga, the Satyr, and the Centuar, but thanks to the near indestructible walls of the Dwarves, and the enchantments of the Elves, they managed to buy time for one final act.......a gamble to save their peoples from extinction.

Using the Core of Shadow, a magical artifact older than the Dwarves themselves, the two races merged to become something greater than either, a race strong enough to fight back and reclaim their homelands, they became known as the Shadow Elves, they had the appearance of an Elf, with dark gray skin and a natural affinity for Shadow magic which they inherited from the Dwarves.

With their newfound powers, the Shadow Elves overcame their foes, and with the Core of Shadow, they were able to retake their homelands, and merged them to become one kingdom, as the years passed, the Shadow Elves defeated the Naga and Satyr, the Centaur race had somehow become extinct before they could invade.

The Shattenreich kept to itself after the wars, they returned to their lands and rebuilt, they could never go back to how things were, but they were able to try and move on, generation after generation.

Thousands of years passed by, and the Shadow Elves met a new race, it was undeniably young, but they showed promise, they met the human's of the third kingdom, who became allies and learned from them, mostly language and medicinal properties of herbs and various plants or weeds.

And that, is where the Lost Legion comes in, two hundred years after the founding of the alliance, many humans did not speak their language, and tensions were high, our company was created to ease those tensions, and almost everyone in the Lost Legion spoke the native tongue of the Shadow Elves, and many of us had family amongst them.

______*The present.*______

Twilight cleared her throat, interrupting the ghost. "May I ask a question?" She wondered.

Alecia nodded, the which Twilight asked. "Does this mean you are half Shadow Elf?"

"No, I grew up estranged from my family, the only one I ever really spoke to was my brother, so I grew up around the Shadow Elves, and one of their traditions is something similar to an adoption, so In short, I have two sets of parents." Alecia explained.

Twilight had a look on her face that said that her curiosity was piqued, but Nightmare Moon interjected. "Perhaps we should continued with the story?" She suggested.

Aleica nodded and continued telling her tale, while Twilight made a quick note to ask more later on.

______*centuries ago.*_____

After the Lost Legion got called to the front, we made sure we did some research on our enemy, it was the Diamond dog tribes just outside our borders, the war itself was nearing its end, and Commander Cory believed that we were sent just so we would do something other than peacekeeping.

It didn't take any longer than a week to finish up the war, and we were soon on the road again, where we belonged, no rules, no public image, we could be ourselves and enjoy life, it never lasted but nothing good does last forever after all.

One night we were visited by an imperial messenger, he gave us news that we were to report to the capital immediately and to prepare for a war, many of us were confused as we had just ended a war, so we were curious as to who we were fighting.

By the end of the week, Commander Cory and myself were invited to a ball at the palace where we would get our instructions, and while I was reluctant to go, I still went that night for Cory.

It was there that we heard from General Gratham, an older man who was still fit for battle, he told us exactly who we were fighting, and both me and the Commander were shocked at the news.

The Empire had gone to war with the Shattenreich, and we were being sent to fight our friends and family.

It took all my strength to keep from rampaging over this news, and when we gathered the Lost Legion and told them, there was no laughter, no joy or music, only the grim and defeated march of soldiers who had to do the unthinkable.

There was of course a very long debate on whether or not we should betray the Empire, but we knew we could not, because our families were on both sides of the conflict, and there was no way out of it.

So we marched, our footsteps like a sad drumbeat, we were silent as the grave as we made our way to what would soon become the first frontline against our people, the human village of Renma.

_______*The village of Renma.*_______

Alecia looked around at the now empty village, once full of life and love, now cold and empty. "Where is everyone?" Asked a blonde haired woman from behind Alecia.

Commander Cory walked forward and looked around, she sighed and looked at the blonde woman. "Either killed, captured or released." He said.

Alecia looked at the blonde woman and said nothing as the woman bit her lip and clenched her fist. "We don't have a choice, let's go set up in the village, it's better than doing nothing." She said as she walked towards the village with supplies on her back.

"All right everyone, you heard the captain, let's get moving!" Commander Cory said, he and the rest of the Legion moved into the village with their supplies.

Alecia led a group to the large tavern in the village, while the Commander led the rest of the officers to the town hall, the rest of the Legion spread out throughout the village.

The tavern, along with the rest of the village was relatively intact but empty, aside from some intact tables and chairs, and a large pile of broken chairs and tables strewn about the room, the tavern was in good shape.

Alecia and the others got to work setting the building up as the mess hall for the company, it took an hour or two, but it was done eventually, they had the broken wood set outside for firewood, they had cooking equipment to replace the broken or missing things in the back and they had plenty of bedrolls for them to sleep on.

Alecia looked around the tavern to see if anything was missing or broken, and she sighed in relief when she saw there was nothing to worry about, the only trouble was an old hanging chandelier that some of the troops were taking down.

She walked to the nearby stairs so she could examine the upstairs when she heard a voice call out. "Captain Forge! Captain Forge!?" Called out a familiar male voice.

Alecia walked over to the owner of the voice, it was her student. "What is it rookie?" She asked.

Frederick gave a salute. "Commander Cory wants to see you." He answered.

Alecia nodded and headed for the door. "Don't salute me." She reminded him, he quickly dropped it and walked with her to the town hall.

Out in the village, the soldiers of the Lost Legion were hard at work preparing for the coming war, they put up tents, they moved rubble, they readied themselves for battle, and if it wasn't for the enemy they had to fight, Alecia would have been so proud to see this efficiency. "Captain? are you alright?" Frederick asked out of concern.

The village hall was hardly fortified when they reached it, in fact it was untouched on the outside, giving the impression it was abandoned, Alecia looked at Frederick. "I can make my way from here, go and help the others." She dismissed him and headed inside the village hall.

Alecia walked through the hall and noticed the officers working on setting the lobby up for briefings, she headed for the mayors office and as she neared the door, she heard voices on the other side, not bothering to listen in, Alecia walked inside, she saw Vigo, Cory, Karl and lieutenant Hailey, a five foot woman with dirty brown hair, one pale eye and one blue eye, she had the typical jacket of the Lost legion, but with a faded yellow colored rim on the jacket.

"We will be deployed throughout these lands, the Imperial military will use our knowledge of the Shattenreich against them, they will also spread us out so that we cannot do anything to help the Shadow Elves, as much as I hate to say it, we truly have no choice but to fight our friends, and they know it." Commander Cory said grimly.

"I don't believe that." Alecia said as she walked in, drawing the attention of the other officers and her commander. "We do have a chance to help our people, it may not be an easy one, but we have to do something." She said, no doubts were in her words, for she truly believed what she said.

"How? we will be watched every step of the way, and we have to do whatever they say or we will surely be killed." Vigo asked.

Alecia approached the table which had maps of the regions closest to the human borders. "We know this terrain, the Empire doesn't, we use that to our advantage, burn or hide these maps and then lead them onto the more dangerous paths, we may be forced to fight our friends and family here in the Shattenreich, but I will be damned if I don't do something to fight back." She stated.

"This is treason, you all know that right? if we are discovered, our families back in the Empire will die." Hailey stated.

Karl sighed. "My family is dead anyway, I have nothing to lose from this." He replied.

"Then it's decided, I'll inform the troops of Alecia's plan." Cory said, with agreement from the others, he left.

_____*The present.*_____

"I am surprised that a lieutenant, a commander, a sergeant and a colonel listened to you." Nightmare said with some surprise.

"Why? Captain is the highest rank after all." Twilight asked, pointing out a fact as well.

Alecia rolled her eyes as she floated around. "Not with humans, Captain was under those ranks, and to answer your question Nightmare, I had been offered promotion many times before, and I always declined, so it just got to the point where everyone would follow my orders and plans if Cory didn't object." She said before continuing.

_____*The past, The Village of Renma, that night.*_____

Everyone was in the town square right now, all taking places around a fire they had lit, Alecia was the only was seperate from it, she crossed her arms as she leaned against a wall on a house close by.

Alecia watched as everyone silently talked to one another, she took in the sight of all her comrades and tried to burn them all into her mind, she was silent as she did this, not wishing to speak.

Some shuffling near her caused Alecia to immediately ready herself for a fight, she slowly looked around the corner to see what or who was coming, expecting an Imperial soldier to show up uninvited and unwelcome.

What she saw caused her to relax as she sighed to herself, she crossed her arms and waited for a few seconds before speaking. "Long way from home aren't you?" She asked as the newcomer came around the corner.

The newcomer was a middle aged man with light brown hair, brown eyes and had a kind look on his face and in his eyes, he wore a light gray cloth tunic that held a black cross on its front, simple black pants along with simple brown robes, he was quite startled when Alecia spoke. "Ah!...... you startled me." He said as though it weren't obvious.

Alecia looked at the man. "Judging by your lack of weapons and your reaction, would I be correct to assume you are a priest from the order of the black cross from the first kingdom?" She asked.

The man nodded in confirmation. "I am, I came here at the request of your commander, he mentioned that he would need someone who had a calming presence." He explained.

Alecia nodded. "Well, you came to the right place father, but right now we have something important going on." She said, motioning to the rest of the company.

The priest bowed his head in understanding. "Of course, I will remain silent, and speak with your commander later." He replied.

"Thank you father......what was your name again?" Alecia asked.

"My name is Julius, and what is your name?" The man asked politely.

Alecia smiled. "I'm Alecia, and welcome to the Lost Legion." She said before heading over to the others.

When Alecia reached the others, she leaned against a wall belonging to what was once a home, and soon enough, the troops sung a deep melody, beginning with some vocals, then continuing with a song sung in the tongue of the Shadow Elves.

"Dark days ahead......the dawn has gone.....

War has come......to these lands....

Our people die.....we linger on.......

Greed rules all......the peace has died.......

The fires spread.......all for naught......

The sword will fall.....upon this land.....

This betrayal.......cannot be for.got.ten.......

Our hearts ache.....our souls suffer.....

They lost their way.......and we pay the price....

And from now on......we will await our end....."

______*next week, first day of the week*______

The Lost Legion had been active in the Village of Renma, they had finished turning it into a base of operations four days ago and were now being sent to the front.

And just as Commander Cory predicted, they were all being split across the war, many of the Lost Legion already recieved their orders and were sent out a few days ago, and now it was Alecia's turn.

"Captain, are you sure you don't need me to go with you?" Frederick asked out of concern.

Alecia smiled at her student and rested a hand on his shoulder. "The path I am leading troops on is dangerous, besides, you have your own orders." She looked around and saw lieutenant Hailey prepare to depart, she sighed. "Frederick listen, between you and me, just follow orders, don't go risking your life for something the rest of us are doing." She said.

Frederick seemed surprised at his teachers words, and spoke up about it. "But why? I want to help!" He asked, clearly offended.

Alecia shook her head and removed her hand. "Because you don't know these lands as well as the rest of us, look, just survive ok? that will be more than enough to help." She said before walking off.

"Be safe kid." Alecia muttered under her breath as he walked to the stable.

When she reached the stable a few minutes later, Alecia walked up to a pale brown warg that was laying on the ground and staring at her as she approached. "Hey Ripper, up for a run today?" She asked the warg.

The warg stood up and Alecia opened the gate to let him out, he slowly walked out and followed Alecia outside, where she climbed onto his back.

Alecia gave the warg a scratch on his neck and spoke. "Alright buddy, let's get moving." She said.

Ripper immediately started to charge in the direction Alecia gave him, moving swiftly and very soon they were out of the village and headed towards the front.

The trip was long and they had to stop to eat and rest a few times but they quickly arrived at the front eight hours later.

Alecia looked around the army camp that was set up and sighed as she rode in, she noticed there were some wary glances aimed at Ripper but she paid no mind to it. "Don't go eating anyone while we are here Ripper, we won't be here long." She whispered.

Alecia found herself set up in a tent made for two, she had Ripper sit outside while she dropped off her supplies, which were just some field rations, a few pouches of water and a first aid kit, she then headed outside the tent and saw a familiar face approaching her. "Hello father, I wondered where you went." She said.

Julius smiled at her, his calm demeanor was the direct opposite of the rest of the camps. "After I did what I could for the Lost Legion, I felt that this was the appropriate place for me to be." He answered. "It would seem we share a tent, that is fortunate." He noticed as he gestured to the tent.

"Yes it is, it's good to have a friendly face around isn't it?" She chuckled before walking over to Ripper. "Don't eat him." She said to the warg who stared directly at the priest.

_____*Four months later.*_____

As Alecia predicted, the Imperial army sent her on a stealth mission the next day, she had to lead a team into the nearby mountains, on the way to a Shadow Elf town, five team members died due to an 'accident' and the rest of the mission went off without a hitch, the town was taken quickly and Alecia watched as the Shadow Elves were killed before her eyes.

The next few missions didn't go so well for Alecia, she had no opportunity to help the Elves and she was even forced to kill some of them, and with each one killed, she felt her heart break a little more.

The war was brutal on both sides, but unfortunately for the Elves, the Imperial Army held no regard for the sacred traditions or locations, they burned through everything as they continued their march through the Shattenreich, some missions took weeks to finish, some took days, and they were all just as gruesome as the last.

Alecia was now heading to the city of Kintar, or more specifically a large shrine built nearby, a face from her past has been tearing apart the Imperial lines and Alecia knew exactly who it was.

So with grim determination, Alecia headed for the shrine with her trusty staff in hand, the sunlight shined bright on the land, in stark contrast with the horrific events unfolding in the war.

It didn't take long to reach the shrine, but Alecia could feel eyes watching her, as though she wasn't to be disturbed, she approached the shrine and saw a lone figure meditating in front of a statue.

Alecia approached slowly and when the figure raised its head and spoke, she did not react. "Alecia, my child." The voice of Kor'Fel said before standing and facing Alecia, his face was neutral as he spoke. "You have grown so much in these past few years, it fills me with pride, knowing that my student is more skilled than ever." He said, a satisfied smile crossed his lips before returning to their neutral state.

"Master......I have done horrible things, if you have any mercy left in your heart......fight to kill me, as you have with so many humans." Aleica replied gripping her staff tightly.

Kor'Fel's expression fell to a grim one, but he spoke as usual. "It has come to this Alecia, after many years we finally face each other in our final battle, unfortunate, that the circumstances allow no mercy." He said.

Alecia got into an offensive stance. "I won't hold back." She warned.

Kor'Fel drew his sword and shifted into a battle stance. "We shall see if you are ready." He replied calmly.

Neither moved for a while, but after what felt like minutes, Kor'Fel spoke. "Prepare yourself my child." He said before charging swiftly to engage Alecia in combat.

______*The present.*_____

"This seems familiar." Nightmare Moon remarked.

Alecia nodded. "The battle I had with my master went the exact same way in the past as it did recently, with some notable differences of course." She replied.

_____*The past.*_____

'After my battle with Kor'Fel, myself and the rest of my company were reunited after a month once the Imperial Army whittled down the Shadow Elves army to a few remaining strongholds.

We had relocated from the village of Renma and took up residence in an occupied Fortress, all Imperial Troops garrisoned there quickly left and we were left alone for the most part.

But the sieges were long and grueling on both sides, and for all their power, the Shadow Elves had no means with which to fight the Imperial Army, who had more numbers and tactics to boot, where the Elves relied on ambush and stealth tactics, as well as superior archers, but with the shields and siege weapons on the Empire's side? it was almost impossible for them to lose.

Two months later and we finally reached the last city of the Shattenreich, their capital city of Sardethar, home to the Core of Shadow, and since the Imperial army wasn't taking any chances, the Lost Legion was called into action, we were charged with seizing the Core for the Empire, so we prepared, in our own ways.

I made sure that Julius was nowhere near the battle, and then when the time came, we charged with the Imperial army,

We climbed the walls quickly, fighting and taking down the defenders and assisting each other, but not once did we stop moving towards the Core, which lie in the center of the city, held on a single pedestal amongst all others.

Just getting to that chamber was hard enough, but when the guardians attacked us we almost all died to them.'

______*The siege of Sardethar .*_____

Alecia cried out in pain, she landed on the ground hard and groaned as she slowly rose to her feet, the guardians of the Core of Shadow were stone golems created by powerful magic and were currently tearing the Lost Legion apart, Alecia growled and swung her staff at a golem as it approached, she struck it hard in the head which caused it to break, only for it to begin reforming again.

Alecia looked around her, she saw Karl and Vigo trapped by four golems, Lieutenant Hailey was protecting Frederick and three others with another soldier from four more, Cory was unconscious as several golems fought the Lost Legion.

Seeing all of this, Alecia dropped her staff to the ground. "It's hopeless, no backup, no help......no hope." She looked at her friends. "This is the end.....for all of us." She said to herself.

A golem approached Alecia with heavy steps and reared back its arm at her, and the woman simply looked towards the Imperial Army, seeing them overwhelm the defenders, knowing that they would have the core?

And just like that, something inside of Alecia snapped, she quickly dropped to the ground and rolled away from the golem, who gave chase to her.

Alecia quickly got up and started to run as fast as she could, she knew she couldn't flee the battle or last longer in a chase than a golem......but she did know one thing for certain, she was not going to let those bastards have something that sacred.

Alecia ran towards the core which shined in purple light above its pedestal, as she ran, more and more golems tried to stop her, but her training allowed her to avoid their attacks and she soon reached the core, she looked at the entrance and saw a few members of the Legion standing there with wounds. "For the Shattenreich." She said before grabbing the artifact firmly, it's powerful magic rippled and flowed madly in her touch, and soon Alecia began to feel very different, she screamed in absolute pain and so did the Lost Legion.

And just as the artifact stopped, it crumbled, and then Alecia dropped to the floor unconscious.

Unbeknownst to her or the Lost Legion, but all the remaining Elves, living or recently killed, vanished without a trace.

_____*The present.*______

"Wait, you absorbed an ancient artifacts magic? and then killed off an entire species?" Twilight asked out loud.

Alecia shook her head sadly. "Yes and no, you see I triggered something that the Elves and Dwarves did long ago.....I merged the two species, but it only affected the Lost Legion, because the Imperial Army I saw as an enemy.....the only thing I don't understand is how I did it, it should have been impossible." She replied.

Nightmare was the next to speak up as she stood up. "Either way, I think we covered enough for today, what do you think?" She asked.

Alecia nodded in agreement. "Yea, we can continue this another time." She replied before vanishing.

Nightmare sighed and walked out of the library after thanking Twilight for the tea.

Rarity looked at Twilight who seemed disappointed that they stopped so abruptly, so she decided to say something. "Maybe this is for the best? it can't be easy for Alecia to relive these memories." She said, trying to rationalize this.

Twilight waited a few before sighing. "You're right, but this is more than I expected, so I'm happy, we need to hang out again sometime Rarity, just us and maybe the girls?" She asked.

Rarity nodded in agreement. "Perfect, I think we could use a normal outing for once." She said with a smile, she then said her goodbyes and headed for the boutique to get to work.

Author's Note:

Not much I can think of to say here, so I just hope you enjoyed this little blast into the past.

Comments

[THERDSTORYWHISPERER]

Great chapter!

[Sylif Daring Doo]

9959317

Thanks!

[THERDSTORYWHISPERER]

9959373
You’re welcome.