Song and Dance of the Desert's Garden

by Renaissance Muffins

Chapter 1- Ruin and Salvation

Song and Dance of the Desert's Garden

A MLP:FiM Fan Fiction

All official characters are copyright to Hasbro and their rightful owners;

Copyright infringement not intended

Author: Angry Muffins

Chapter 1- Ruin and Salvation

Abner, a wolf whose life was saved by a few soldiers in Celestia’s legion. Abner was unconscious, thus unaware of the event until he awoke in a tent of the legion’s encampment. Abner rushed out from the tent, confused and lost, he began to run around trying to figure out what was going on. His mind was dizzy, he felt sick, every step he made he stumbled more and more. The new weight on his head was barely in his peripheral vision, he lowered his head and felt the object with his paws. It was a course spiral texture, there seemed to be some bandaging holding it to his head which he couldn't get it off no matter how much he tried. Holding strong against passing out from the dizziness until he reached the edge of the camp, he looked upon the razed ruins of a town that he held dear to his heart, his home.

His place of living, gone. In the distance he could see objects that looked like his family and friends. Abner rushed to the objects, scraping his feet against debris that were burned black from the fires that left him alone. For a moment he wondered, how did he survive, but any thoughts pondering his survival quickly escaped his head. He stopped, looking at the charred remains of his old home. Sifting through the burned planks, some still glowing in a dark orange hue, he found nothing. The last thing he could remember was fleeing for his life and losing track of his family among the confusion. The town itself only consisted of fifty or so wolves but as compact as the town was, crowding was only a problem when town meetings were called together.

Abner then found himself staring at a mirror, noticing the horn on his head. He realized that it was a unicorns and the bandaging was keeping it still. He felt no difference in his body, still he was only about a year old, barely a full grown wolf. Abner sat down, gazed into the mirror as the memories of his once happy life passed him by. He wanted to cry but the tears refused to show and his feet slowly leaked blood that mixed with ashes covering the ground. Hanging his head down in sorrow the young wolf slowly walked around the the rest of the village to see if there were any more survivors.

Collapsing debris startled him, ash from remaining fires slowly coated parts of his fur. The desolate wasteland , once a place full of lush greens and cheerful air, now a flattened mass of burned planks and remnants of things that made the place home. Slowly, Abner tried to make his way back to the campsite. His feet were tired, sore, and his head ached. Still he stumbled back until his vision began to blur and his ears ringing until finally, he collapsed.

Two Legion soldiers carried him back to the encampment. Armed as if they were expecting the young wolf to fight them. Instead they found the young wolf laying on the ground, breathing heavily. Both of the soldiers wondered how the wolf survived and who implanted the horn onto his head.

Abner soon awoke again, to find himself in the same tent as before, covered in a blanket and being watched over by a member of the Legion. His head was spinning still and the ringing in his ears hadn’t quite stopped. Abner tried to stand, but quickly realized that his weakened state refused to let him move as freely as he did earlier. Perhaps it was adrenaline that kept him going at the time. Abner quickly fell back asleep and the thoughts about what happened still ran like trains through his head, the biggest ones being who saved him and how is he still alive.

Awakening once more Abner saw his caretaker, a Legion soldier sporting the trademark gold plate armor and blue accents, preparing food, weather or not it was for himself, Abner wasn't sure. Slowly rising to a sitting position with his vision gradually getting sharper, the wolf himself unable to speak from aching pains and sores. Abner watched as the soldier took care into adding the final touches to the food before plating it and smiling in a contempt joy. The soldier looked at Abner and brought him the food that was carefully prepared, a small meal consisting of a quality meat and herbs mixed into it. The backwoods and strong flavor reminded Abner of what he would normally eat at home. Abner wagged his tail a bit, joyed that something from his home was still in existence.

The Legion soldier chuckled, “Name's Whisk, not sure if you're understanding this though, but I'm glad you're liking the meal little guy.” The words were muffled a little as the pounding in Abner's ears still hadn't subsided completely and not being able to understand the pony's language completely wasn't helping much either. His personality seemed modest, why the colt was a chef in the Legion was a muddled thought to Abner. “I researched what I could from the books I found about this particular village, food's quite a bit different than what I'm used to making, but I worked it out.” The pony trailed on a bit talking about his favorite meal that hes cooked up on his deployments, jokingly adding in little incidents from nearly maiming himself to little things like burns and scratches.

Whisk, a colorful character once he got to talking for a bit about his cooking talents, finally settled down once Abner finished his meal. Coincidentally, another pony walked in, this one dressed in a white smock and a stethoscope having a gray coat, short and straight dull light blue mane with eyes the same color. Whisk turned to the doctor, “Hey Doc, our little buddy here is finally awake.”

The doctor halted and blankly stared at Whisk, “I can tell.” The Doctor's reply was snarky and filled thick with sarcasm. “Anyways, I've come to check up on our unusual survivor but from the looks of things he seems to be stomaching your awful meal pretty well.” The Doctor said setting his tools out on the table at the other side of the tent.

“Doc, you know that wolves cant eat the same stuff that we can. It was a pain in the ass to get some of those meats without any previous hunting experience.” Whisk replied in a more serious tone than his delightful tone he had before. “Your sarcasm isn't always necessary you know.” He added.

Abner, barely comprehending the conversation was able to follow somewhat by the different accents and pitches in the different voices, muffled words were still filling his ears. The Doctor approached Abner with a flashlight and a small pair of scissors that had a distinct bend in them. “Well, let's get these bandages off your head. I'm Doctor Blue Cuff, one of the Legion's most trusted and well reputed doctors.” With the glowing of the doctors horn, he used the scissors snip away at part of the bandage and used the flashlight to see parts where natural lighting couldn't reach.

The squeeze on Abner's head loosened and the pounding gradually died down until it was a minor inconvenience. The dizziness subsided a bit as well and his vision became much clearer than before, everything had clearer outlines, the smell of grass and cool night air also became comprehensible. Abner took a deep breath once the doctor finished taking off the bandage and the muddled words became more coherent, but something was off. Their lips moved but the words didn't match, he seemed to be hearing their language in his native tongue. Perhaps this was some magic of the horn infusion, however their way of speaking was still the same.

With the bandages finally off, “Well, this certainly did heal pretty well, despite not having to perform the surgery to produce something like this. I don't even know any spells in the medical field that can do something like this, it's astounding really.” Cuffs remarked.

Whisk cut him off with sharp tone “Doc, save it for later. I know anatomy fascinates you and what not but honestly, could you keep it to the same species here?”

Cuff stared again at Whisk with a harsher furrow of his brows. “Whisk, could you keep your head out of the gutter. I was simply questioning the notions that occurred for something like this.”

Whisk rolled his eyes, “Doc, I was joking you know. I'm curious too, but I'm not going to ponder that all day. With both of the princesses showing up today I've got food to worry about if they even think about desiring a grand feast of any sort, unlikely in a place like this but hey, you never know.”

Cuff remarked harshly, “Ah yes, thats right. I doubt that they would have a feast of any sort, you know, next to a razed village in the middle of a forest. Great image there.”

The two continued chat and walk outside the tent, the Doctor taking his tools with him and Whisk taking a few of his cooking utensils, a pair of tongs, a spatula, and a mixing bowl which he placed in a brown cloth satchel that was draped over his back.

The tent, quiet now, perhaps quieter than when it was empty the first time around, Abner slowly made his own way out of the tent. Even with his legs as sore as they were and as young as he was, he always went by the motto his mother taught him, “It could be worse.”

Abner making his way out with bandages still wrapped around his feet from running over the debris, wandered through the encampment again. The place was more lively than it was the day before. The jeering and chit chat between colts and fillies filled the air as if there were some sort of festival, likely more because of the arrival of the princesses that is scheduled. Abner wondered what possible reason would bring them out here, still, he wanted answers.

Suddenly, a forced ripped him from his thoughts, Cuff had pulled him into a tent that he had been passing by. “You shouldn't be walking around you know, especially with your feet in that condition. I guess I shouldn't lecture you though, but you would do well to rest.” Abner sat down near the entry way of the tent as Cuff rummaged through medical books for anything that could relate to Abner's predicament. “Would you happen to be able to talk?” Cuff questioned. Abner simply shook his head no, his throat was too rough from the ash and smoke that he had inhaled the day before. Cuff seemed somewhat disappointed, “I've should've known better to ask such a silly question. If it's possible you could always write you name down on some paper I have on my desk there” He said sifting through another pile of books. “Good gravy I need to get one of them never ending bags” he mumbled to himself.

Abner walked over to the desk and found the only organized things in the tent, some parchment paper, quill, and ink vials. Abner looked at the items questionably for a moment and glanced over at Cuff, who was buried up to his eyes in books. Abner thought for a moment, as he had just recently learned how to write in his native language. Tilting his head he picked up the quill with his mouth and began to write his name onto the parchment. Unfortunately the doctor would need a translator now instead of his books. After writing down his name Abner left the tent and wandered around some more. Once he got a few steps away, he heard Cuff shout at the top of his lungs, “AH-HA! Found it!” A few curious ponies gave strange looks towards the tent, but continued their tasks.

As Abner progress through the campsite, he found the edge that lead to the field between his village and the encampment. He sat down again, also recalling the memories again while watching some Pegasuses fly around performing aerial maneuvers from Immelman Turns to rolling dives. A few plumes of smoke still rose from the burned down houses and shops. There were several ponies that were on the ground that seemed to be inspecting the damages.

Abner's ears perked at the sound of some crunching grass, a voice rang out “Thought you would've stayed in the tent.” It was Whisk, his armor was projecting a glare from the sun in Abner's direction. “I'm not gonna force ya though.” His voice now sounded more calmed and sincere than before. Perhaps Cuff talked some sense into him or maybe it's just his personality. Whisk sat down beside Abner, “It's a shame what happened here, just a normal trade routine and everything goes down the drain. Of course, thats what I've been told, there are a bunch of different rumors going around. I was just part of the first response group, we picked you up and boy were you a bloody mess with a majority of it from your head, right where that horn is now.” Whisk recalled, quickly pointing with his hoof to the young wolf's infused horn. “Even Cuff is having a hard time figuring out what the heck happened to not only you, but the rest of the villagers including the traders that we sent here as well.”

Abner looked at Whisk and let out a short growl, Whisk drew back a little, but understood that the wolf needed some time alone to get his thoughts together. Whisk got up, nodding his head in understanding and walked back into the camp. The young wolf continued to watch the two squads of pegasus roam the sky, engaging in mock battles with one another. Abner hoped that despite what has happened, that there wouldn't be a battle of any sort anytime soon.

Wandering around the camp some more, Abner was able to find small groups of ponies sparring against one another, honing their skills. It was interesting for him to watch, as he had never seen anybody hold swords with their mouths or fight against magic with shields crafted to withstand it. Although, it was likely the magic wasn't very strong as to avoid injury. Abner, like he had done before had watched in awe at the astounding abilities of these ponies and their different characteristics. Blurs of color streaked across the ground and through the air, all in practice, a beautiful practice.

Before long the commotion settled down, the ponies withdrew from their training exercise and began to head back to their tents. The sun sat in the sky, seemingly half past noon on a bright and cloudless day. Curiously none of the other ponies seemed to pay much mind to Abner, he did get the occasional glance, but it seemed as if they had no interest. Until one pony, approached Abner with a curious look on his face. “Well, up and about already are ya?” His voice was stern, rough, and sharp. His wings had been folding back up, presumably from flying. “My name is Charger, Captain in the 81st Battalion leading the advanced recon. You, my little friend, are one lucky son of a bitch.” Charger stared into the young wolf's eyes, “Those eyes of yours, that feeling you give off is one of determination, courage and that you will never be held back burns so bright. Come with me, I want to show you a few things on how we fight.” He took off his helmet, revealing an electric yellow mane that clashed with the dull white coat. Combed his mane back a little bit and put his helm back on. “Follow, I'll let you pick a weapon to fight with.”

Abner followed Charger to the weapons tent, filled with practice equipment and major weapons that Abner had never seen before, even at the smithy that he visited quite often after his classes. The most common weapon that they had was the standard short sword, a gladius. Another common one were the spears that were lined up against the makeshift walls inside the tent. There were a few exotic weapons: a few ornate katanas, couple of flamberges, a double-edged sword, and lastly a very ritualistic looking zweihander. An over exaggerated blade about the length of his forelegs outstretched, end to end with a full tang and its hilt about the length of his own head. A large diamond shaped pommel with two perpendicular bisecting circles encasing it. The blade itself had a golden tint to the patterns trancing down the center of the blade. The pattern itself like solar winds dancing among stars in a two-toned enchantment of wonder. The guard a simple rectangle with angled ends and a bolt through its center. Hard looking cloth, like leather, had been wrapped around the neck of the blade, creating a more forward hilt before breaching out into symmetric notches in the blade made to catch another; two on either side. Large sharpened edges were reflective, polished as if the sword had been reforged.

Charger voice broke the silence in the tent, “You're quite interested in that one aren't you?” Abner looked back at Charger who had been standing at the table behind him. Abner nodded his head yes, but at the same time he felt that he had seen this sword before, in a place of relic ancients. The feeling too vague to make out anything specific. “We found this among the ruins in one of the larger buildings, looked like it used to be a blacksmith. It seemed to be kept away and hidden away from the other dilapidated weapons caught up in the fires.”

Abner then noticed the sheath that had a harness that allowed the sword to be placed on the back. The sheath exposed a majority of the blade and had an open side to allow for a quicker draw. The end of the sheath covered a small portion of the blade at the bottom. A medium strength magnetic bar stiffened the spine of the sheath and held the weight of the zweihander fully and surely. The wolf couldn't help but think that this sword was important, there was something special about it. Wasting no time the wolf hefted the sword upon his back, surprisingly light, and snapped the few buckles of the harness into place. Abner walked out of the tent where Charger was waiting for him.

Charger led Abner to an unoccupied area of the training ground, coherently noting to Abner that quite a few of the ponies had tried to left the sword before, having no luck until Wrecker came along and hefted the sword back to the camp. Even resisted magic used to lift it. He then taught Abner a few basics: parrying, blocking, attacking, and proper stance.

Once Charger got into position and drew his short sword, Abner positioned himself a good distance away and drew the zweihander from the sheath, his jaw fitted comfortably around the hilt. Giving the sword a couple swings to get used to the weight and length, Abner readied in a stance he thought was quite good. Despite his bandaged feet, they did not increase in pain nor did the weight effect them. Abner advanced towards Charger and horizontally swung the large blade towards him. Charger parried the attack, thrown off balance by the weight of the blade and the substantial impact and got underneath the blade and maneuvered to Abner's left side, an obvious opening. Charger jabbed Abner in the side with the sphere pommel of his short sword. Abner yelped, hopped back and retook his fighting stance. Rushed again towards Charger only to fail again. The third time Abner charged, he managed to get around the parry by faking the swing and switching it to a vertical swipe to make contact with the helm. Charger immediately dodged and Abner unable to control the swing any further let the blade smash the ground, kicking up chunks of dirt and grass.

“You've had some training before haven't you?” Charger said sheathing his sword, Abner followed suit sheathing his own. “There's quite a few openings, but you learn quickly, thats good.” A surge of pain shot through Abner's legs from his feet, he could feel some blood begin to leak out from the wounds on his paws. Abner immediately sat down to take the pressure off his feet. “Ah, your feet have given out, thats no good. I'll walk you back to your tent, I'll have one of my subordinates call Cuff over to treat your feet.” Charger looked around and called one his troops over, the pony listened closely, only glancing over to Abner once or twice.

Once Abner and Charger arrived at the tent where Abner had began his day, waiting for Cuff to arrive. Once Cuff did arrive, he stopped the bleeding and re-bandaged Abner's feet. Suddenly, a fanfare of trumpets broke the silence in the air, it seems that the Princesses had finally arrived.

“Finally here are they?” Charger remarked.

“Well, what else would they call out the trumpets for, dinner?” Cuff witted. “Let's get going, everypony is required to show.”

“Even our little wolf buddy here?” Charger questioned.

“I would assume so, he seems to be able to be able to understand us, maybe he'll get some answers.” Cuff knelt in front of Abner, “Just don't go attacking her, she's quite a bit more powerful than the lot of us, no matter what the situation might be.”

Abner nodded his head, assuring Cuff and Charger. They walked to the area where Abner had before sat and watched the Pegasuses on their training routines. They had placed a large platform with a podium facing the gathering audience, whom so ever spoke would have their backs against the finally fading smoke and lowering sun. The jeers and whispers of the other ponies filled the air, they knew that the princesses would be arriving, Abner had however overheard a few of them that it is unusual for them to be in the same place and time. Adding that the two of them held the courses of the sun and moon, a tradition that was passed down in the royal family. Abner also overheard a pony's concern over whether or not there were other survivors from the village.

Charger had lifted Abner up onto his back so that who could see above the heads of the other ponies. Although they had to be in the back of the crowd, it wasn't all too difficult to see the platform. The sun begun to be pierced by the trees and mountains in the horizon as the noise finally began to settle down. The Brigadier General, Charger pointed out earlier among the audience, stood behind the podium and announced the arrival of the princesses. “Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, our very honored guests have arrived to address this situation personally. Everypony is to honor and respect their words, consequences will be handed out otherwise.” The Brigadier General strutted off the platform and everypony bowed before the Princesses who begun the ascend their way onto the platform.

Celestia spoke first after glancing back from the ruins, “What we have here, is another event of sadness. We have time for mourning these lost folk, whether wolf, pony, pegasus, or unicorn and thus we give them a moment of silence. Everyponies head lowered in succession, an air so quiet the not even the birds chirred and the wind remained still. Instinctively it seemed, everypony rose their heads back up at the same time. Celestia continued, “This incident, after heavy investigation from recon forces and research teams, has lead us to conclude the same about the previous and eerily similar incidents that this is the work of a dragon, Stribog from the Ring of Guardians.” Everypony gasped, Abner had heard of this once before, peaking his interest further. “Do not fright. We will do everything in our power to stop this senseless killing. First, we will locate his whereabouts and we will take him down. If we have to, we will end him.” Celestia's voice had hints of rage. Exhaling, she turned to Luna, “Luna, please explain the plan.”

Luna nodded and approached the podium as Celestia left it, “Troops, we've come here today to end the tomfoolery that the great dragon Stribog has unleashed upon us all. We present to thee, the means of ending this.” Luna continued to explain the means to draw out the dragon and how to bring it down then perhaps reason with it and if it comes down to it, kill the beast.

Luna's voice seemed to fade out in Abner's head as it filled with the thoughts of the dragon. He hadn't remembered anything flying over the town before hand, there were no bells tolled to alarm them nor did anyone run when the attack the began. The incident began with the ground shaking and suddenly there was fire everywhere. Abner had remembered walking out the door of the smithy to escape the fires and into the streets which were filled with even more fire and smoke. Panicking, he ran back towards his house but another force violently threw him into a trading wagon. He was surprised that he didn't have any broken bones anywhere that he knew of. Still what happened for him to get the horn on his forehead. He had faintly remembered someone leaning over him before he had blacked out.

Withdrawing from his thoughts, he had realized that the audience had began to split down the middle and the two princesses made their way through. Charger immediately set Abner back onto the ground and moved to the side, Abner followed and sat down next to Charger. The Princesses walked on by, their heads held high and the troops saluting their leave. Abner noticed that Charger was clearly nervous by the subtle shaking in his legs. Abner looked back towards the Princesses, Luna and Celestia both eyed him as they walked away single file. The sun began to set and the stars began to shine, starting with the brightest and earliest, the North Star. Everypony began to head back to their tents, Charger once again guided Abner back to his tent, where Whisk, Cuff, and two other ponies he had not met yet, were waiting.

“Welcome back to your tent, little fella” Charger said, “Well, what do you guys think about this plan the Princesses came up with?” He said turning his head towards the group after closing the flaps of the tent.

The female sea-foam green coated bright white maned blue-eyed unicorn pony with a cutie mark that resembled calm waters spoke up, “Well, sir, what is our responsibility over this wolf we found?”

“It appears that we'll be keeping him with us, our royal highnesses..” Charger snickered a bit, “did not approach me or our little buddy here. Marina, you'll still be in charge of field updates when were out. I know we've lost Prudence, but we can still keep going, I know we can.” Charger paused for a moment, Abner could tell that the loss was heavy to the group.

Whisk spoke up, “Well Charger, I'm sure whatever she did, she did it for the better of us all.”

Charger replied and lifted his head back up, “I suppose you're right, Whisk.” He walked along side the group, turned a faced the other pony that Abner had not seen before. An orange furred, unshorn fetlocks, short red mane and long silver tailed, brown-eyed and lastly a cutie mark displaying an exploded boulder. “Wrecker, I'm thinkin' you might get along pretty well with our new friend. You're in charge of demolitions and supplies as usual.” Wrecker silently nodded, accepting his position. “Whisk you're in charge of food as usual, and Cuff you're sticking to what you do best, first aid and all that.”

“Understood Captain.” Cuff replied surely.

“Alright, that just about sums up our rolls for now, go back to your bunks, sleep well, we've got a big day ahead of us tomorrow.” Charger trotted out of the tent first, the rest of his squad followed. Wrecker gave Abner a glance before leaving the tent. Abner felt as if the loss of this Prudence pony was somehow connected to him.

The sky finally dark and filled with stars and the full moon. Abner looked again at the zweihander, trying to remember where he had seen it before. Lost in thought he had not realized he had fallen asleep, drifting away in a quiet slumber on the bed made of hay and covered in a large green sheet. His dream, began with a dense fog, the sun shone through the clouds above creating pillars of light all around him. Barely able to see his feet, he felt as if he should walk forward, so he did. Until he came upon a ghostly figure taking the form of a pony he had not seen before. A rose pink mare, with red mane and tail, a grayed semitransparent horn on her head, a cutie mark of a clock. The mare spoke, “Abner,” her voice resonated, echoed as if she were a spirit. “I am Prudence, the unicorn that Charger spoke of. You must take the sword and return it to its proper place in The Guardian's lair. I will continue to watch over you. I have imbued the horn with light magic, a magic I know you will find very useful.”

Abner felt as if to speak, instead, he lowered his head wondering why would this pony know what to do, where to go even. He looked back at Prudence whose figure was certainly not solid, almost ghost like.

Prudence spoke again, “I see that you are confused, of course. Why I saved you, why couldn't I have just left you there, to die, to fade away into nothingness.” she paused for a moment, realizing that her words were a bit too harsh. “None of us could do it, even I who can predict futures, could. That sword was crafted by great ancestors of a multitude of species that were good of heart. Your race was chosen for being the bravest, to deliver the Sword of Light to The Guardians as a promise to never step foot in their lands.” As she spoke a wall appeared behind her and in it were visual inscriptions of the events that occurred. “The lands were in great strife for decades, plagues and floods casted by corrupted Guardians and the outcry of our species as a whole demanded an end to it all. So they requested the sword be forged, one to smite the evils that lie in their hearts. In exchange, they would give to us, the Elements of Harmony.” Prudence began to walk up to Abner and lowered her head. “As you may know, the Elements have been in our possession for a very long time.”

Abner's memory of the sword's location slowly came back again. A large circular room with six pedestals equally placed around the room, pillars of granite and marble reaching high into the sky, the ceiling never in sight. The floor a giant stained glass mural of the exact events that Prudence had described moments before, the characters involved, and lastly, the messenger of Abner's species. The messenger had similar traits to one of his great godfathers, a painting of whom hung in the living room of what used to be his old house. A scar over one eye, oak tree bark patterned coat, chipped ears and silver eyes.

Abner's mother would always tell him stories about that painting the hung above the mantle, the wolf who adventured out into the great beyond, leaving his wife and children behind. He never returned, but word slowly spread from those who traveled with him of his success, his sacrifice. The tale was only passed onto those who knew about it and what was written in the texts of Equestrian history were just the words of the outcome of events. No telling of those who were involved, no pictures, just the events that created the outcome. His mother always preferred the quieter life, never really cared much for the luxuries of the castle. She always told Abner that she was glad that her ancestors never stayed in a castle to spoil themselves.

Abner's father on the other hand, often visited Canterlot Castle and the towns outlying it. One town in particular he always loved to visit when he couldn't come back home after long days. Ponyville, as his father always recalled, often reminded him of home. The calm, and cheerful villagers running around. Yearlings playing simple games with one another to pass the time. His father often spoke of the kindness and pure of heart the village and its inhabitants often shared with him. Sometimes he would bring home things that were bartered for, a wind chime, a small toy windmill, and perhaps an apple pie offered by the Apple family. Abner, sadly, had recalled that his father was returning from Ponyville one day and when he went to greet him, was essentially when all heck broke loose.

“Abner!” A voice called out to him. “Abner! Abner!” Again and again the voice rang out. The memory of his mother calling to him from amidst the fires crowding the streets and filling the houses. Abner was confused, scared, terrified. Remembering that he had found her and pulled her up, his brother, and his two sisters up from the debris of his home. They searched frantically for their father. They found him running from the trade wagon he usually had with him alongside another and larger wagon being pulled by some ponies who broke from their harnesses and fled alongside Abner's father. “Abner!” The voice called again. The ground quaked, sparks flew all around them, and that deafening roar, that deafening terrifying roar. Abner had been shoved and pulled away from his family by various collapses of houses and other crowds of ponies or wolves that lived along side them.

When Abner had finally realized that he was trapped amongst the fires, he ran around trying to find somewhere to had. However, when the earth quaked again, he froze in fear. A quick and powerful impact to his side threw him through a fire and into one of the larger wagons.

Abner awoke, frightened and visibly shaken. One final call of his name not realizing that he had just woken up was shouted out by Whisk. Unknowingly, Abner quickly rose to his feet and rammed his into the bottom of Whisk's jaw tossing him back and knocking him out cold. When Abner's vision finally refocused and his mind somewhat clear he had realized what occurred. It appeared the Cuff was already tending to him and that they were the only two that had come into the tent.

Cuff approached Abner, “It's funny, I told him not to wake you, but it seems he went ahead and did it anyways. I'm taking Whisk to the infirmary, make sure he's okay.” Cuff quickly levitated Whisk and took him out of the tent but not before mentioning that there were some guests that wanted to see Abner.

Abner yawned, quickly repressing the disturbing memory and waited for his guests to come in. Who these guests were, Abner didn't seem to mind, he still seemed preoccupied with the thoughts of his dream and memory so vivid that repressing them just bothered him more. Sitting on the bed, Abner waited and waited. He wondered whereabouts his guests were, the thoughts of his dream slowly fading away.

Suddenly, the flaps of the tent were pushed open, two Pegasuses entered, both with horns, both earth browns and more natural colors and mares. “So, our eyes did not betray us after all. A horned wolf, forbidden magics, yes. Banished? Perhaps.” The only two horned pegasi he had seen at the camp were the Princesses. For what reason could they have to visit Abner? The same mare spoke up again whilst unveiling themselves that they were the Princesses, “Banishment, most questionable, considerable even. Coincidence that Stribog attacked your home town and to point this out, unlikely.” Abner found this a most odd and intriguing way of speaking, but yet it was still comprehensible. “The disappearance of a Legion soldier after the attack that was with the reconnaissance squad sent to scout out the area. A unicorn soldier mind you...” The darker of the two, Luna, whose coat was a dark indigo and mane and tail ethereal dark blue and indigo with dots of what could be stars in it. Her voice was somewhat distraught, as if she had grown tired from speaking and perhaps travel. “Although we see no harm in leaving you alone, to travel on with the reconnaissance squad that had found you.”

The other princess spoke up, her coat, bright white and also an ethereal mane and tail with teal and pink coloring. “You no doubt have an adventure of great proportions ahead of you even though you're still so young. The Elements of Harmony are in safe hooves, so don't fright about those.” Celestia for a bit circled around Abner, as if she were inspecting him, surveying his stature. “Luna, banishment is unnecessary.” Celestia paused, “Please do forgive my sister, she is still getting used to a few things but thanks to one of my students it hasn't been entirely difficult.” Abner had remembered reading about the whole Nightmare Moon fiasco, an incident that was emotionally troubling for the both of them.

Abner intrigued, tilted his head, curious what the whole point of this conversation even was. Abner was humble and was unwilling to interrupt, his throat still dried from the ashes and smoke. Abner heard something though, a great change in wind. Thrusts of wings like a bird forcing air out to create lift, but this object was far too large to be a bird. Then there was again, that deafening roar, the dragon, Stribog. The fire crackling through the air perked Abner's ears further and quickly, without much thought. Abner with movements light, equipped the zweihander and its harness all the while projecting a force field of light facing the outer walls of the tent. The Princesses confused by Abner's actions remained behind the shield and just when they themselves heard another roar they reinforced the shield with their own magic.

The tent quickly burst apart from every seem and was torn from the ground. A rush of cold air and wind blew past the shield as a frozen river of water poured down from above completely encasing the shield, making it pitch black inside. Another roar and the sound of sirens filled the air followed by the scrambled voices of soldiers panicking and others getting troops in line to fight back.

Abner lit up his horn as a light in the sudden blackness, Celestia and Luna followed. Celestia quickly teleported the three of them out from the icy hemisphere and to the front of what used to be the front of the tent. Walls of ice and soldiers trapped inside was disheartening, Celestia and Luna both went to work quickly thawing the ice to free the soldiers even if they couldn't be saved. Charger's squad and several pegasi managed to get the dragon isolated over the plains before Abner's old village. Abner, shaking was unsure of which way he should go, either stay with princesses or go and try to help out Charger and the other soldiers.

Once realizing that the princesses were fine on their own, Abner began to walk over to the ruined village to help Charger until Cuff stopped him. “Look, wolf, its better that you stay here instead of running off to battle where you could wind up dead.” Abner looked at Cuff, his fore leg in front of him, covered in cuts and scratches. “I need you here to help recover these soldiers, get the ones that we can back on their hooves.”

Abner, somewhat unwillingly, complied. He followed Cuff back into the torn up camp. Some of the sights that Abner saw, the remains and hearing the cries of those soldiers that were seriously injured yelling at the top of their lungs for medical help or wishing to see their family members again. A few quietly remarked that they wish they couldv'e seen their son or daughter when they were born. Cuff was leading what was left of the medical teams. Cuff had Abner help with lifting some of the less injured soldiers, soldiers who had maybe a broken bone or non-fatal injuries. The roars of the dragon could be heard from the encampment, distracting Abner from what he was doing. Oddly enough, when Abner walked into the medical tent he spotted a filly near the front, Abner wondered why a filly would be in such a place as this. Perhaps he can ask Cuff later about it after this engagement with the dragon.

After a good while of moving disabled soldiers, Cuff dismissed Abner and told him to rest in whatever tent was still standing. Abner instead joined a group of soldiers unable to fight, but able to stand, watching the fight with the dragon from afar. The dragon's size easily dwarfed Wrecker's heavy build and Marina's apparent special control over water kept the dragon from creating anymore ice from its massive jaws. Charger was running from place to place avoiding the stomps of the dragon and the numerous pegasi kept the dragons forearms busy.

Lines of rope draped around the dragon until it became almost impossible for the dragon to move. Every one them, pulled the ropes and brought the dragon down to the ground. The bystanders all cheered in their victory. Abner slowly began to walk towards the dragon, his heart nervous and feet heavy. He slowly transitioned to running, some of the other ponies began to follow, ones who were cleared of injuries. Whisk had began to trot alongside Abner, almost as if it were a race.

When they had all finally reached the dragon, Charger, Marina, Wrecker, and the rest of the ponies that fight with them were finishing the preparations to keep the dragon tied down. Massive chains and shackles kept his more major limbs from moving. They all appeared rather exhausted, but had proud auras surrounding them. The dragon had stopped its struggle, solemnly accepting the defeat. For a moment Abner saw a apparition of Prudence walking towards the the dragons head, Abner followed with a slow walk. None of the ponies seemed to notice him walking towards the magnificent creature. A skin of light blue scales and white underbelly, graceful golden horns that pointed the opposite direction, making a sort of mask from the front. His wings were of darker hues and his large eyes were white as snow and emitting some small strange smoke the same color.

The apparition of Prudence Abner had followed vanished once he was looking at the dragon's face head on. The beast blinked, exhaled a cold and heavy breath causing several hairs on Abner's fur to freeze. The dragon spoke, a roughened, deep and olden voice, ghostlike, “Abner.” His voice vibrated the ground and stunned the ponies that were parading today's heroes. “Thou hast been blessed with magics. Does thou understand the meaning of thy blade thee holds upon their back?” Abner thought back to the strange dream he had the night before, and nodded. “Then I shall not repeat the tale a second time. Thou must return the sword after bringing it to the Palace of The Guardian's. Place unto the pedestal thy sacred blade, thus returning thee corrupt ones back to thy normal selves. Dost thou understand?” Abner again nodded. Still, he did not know why the sword was taken away from its holy place.

One thing that Abner hadn't realized is that he was perfectly understanding the ancient language the dragon was speaking. Better yet, the journey ahead of him, something that is bound to be perilous.

Comments

[Cupcake Fury]

For the record... First.

And also, it may be beneficial to break the story up into sections of perhaps about 10k or so. When a story the equivalent length of a decent sized book appears all in one page, it can be a little hard to remember one's place.
Other than that it seems to be a great story. Keep up the great work!

[Renaissance Muffins]

1068462
Thanks for the comment. As for the chapters issue, I'll go through and edit it but it'll take a bit of time. In hindsight, I suppose it's something I should've done before submission.

[deathtap]

It takes a while to get used up your style of writing, but it does have wonderful imagery. After the pain of getting to know your writing subsides, then you can appreciate the effort at world-building. Shame how little rocognition this has gained. It's actually quite promising.