> Belegrim Dipstick
>  by Praeco Nigrum
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Darn shootouts, never end right!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



“Belegrim Dipstick” please read and review for it help me make better chapters.



It was around 1:00 in the afternoon when Honey Badger and Harbinger had arrived at their Clans designated training grounds outside the city. They brought many of their weapons with them, each one being handmade and brought up to the safety standards of their realm heralds.


POV Harbinger


The carried their weapons and shields over to a nicely shaded spot that was on the other side of the field, the field was out on one of the clan members land and surrounded by trees. “Hey, I’m going to go use the restroom, OK?” Badger called over to me as he walked off towards one of the out houses, “Sure!” was my reply.
“Hmm, I’ll get to checking the weapons for defects and soft spots…” ‘weapon checking… just great, I always get to check these things for defects and what not, last time the damn blade for Badgers sword had disbanded from the sword and I had to get some duct tape to fix the fucker…’ i thought to myself as he walked over to the pile of weapons they had gathered.


Third Person POV


“Well no time like the present I guess…” and he went about checking every one of the weapons to see if they were harmful or not, since this was just a practice day and not an actual battle. “Well nothing seems to be out of place….” He then looked behind him to see some cars pulling up to the house, and they weren’t any of his clans colors.
Harbinger jogged up to the front of the house to see what was going on, he then noticed Honey badger on his knees with one of the men from the car pointing a gun at his head.
“What the fuck is going on!” Harbinger yelled as he ran up onto the porch, there was a side ramp he used to get behind the concrete walls.

“We are here for our money, bitch, now where is Harbinger! That fuck owes us big time, NOW WHERE IS HE!” the man next with the gun yelled to Harbinger, his left eye was twitching, indicating he was on something.

“He’s right here bitch, now what the fuck do you want?” Harbinger said as he pulled an AK47u out from a hidden panel in the concrete wall.

“You owe us some fuckin' bills man! Now hand’em over bitch, before I put a hole in this guy’s head.” At the last bit, he shoved the gun against Badgers head for emphasis, but Harbinger didn’t take well to having his family threatened, so he instantly raised his gun and shot the gun touting loud mouth right in the throat, silencing him forever.
The other men jumped for cover when Harbinger stated taking pop shots at them from his spot on the wall, he motioned for Badger to go inside and call the rest of their ‘Family’ before grabbing a gun himself.

“Fuckin’ really! I mean damn, this could not get any fucking worse!” then the gun shots halted, and Harbinger heard something he really didn’t ever want to hear, a pin being pulled. He jumped over the wall and over to a tree that was in the front yard when he heard it, his training taking affect and saving his sorry ass again.

*BOOM*

The spot he had just occupied had turned into a small sun for about a half second, then it was a crater, the blast had taken a good portion of the porch and the room behind it. ‘Fuck, that could have been me and Badger…. BADGER!’
Harbinger looked and found that his brother was fine, he was taking cover in the room that now had an open view, and he was holding a SAW light machine gun.

Honey badger motioned to Harbinger that he was going to fire in a few seconds and for him to do the same.
*Five* *Four* Three* *Two* *FIRE* Gunshots and explosions erupted from the silence the grenade had caused.
‘Three down six to go!’ Harbinger thought as another explosion was heard; he looked over to see the unconscious form of his brother lying face down on the floor the remnants of concussion grenade could be seen lying next to him.
“FUCKING BULLSHIT!” Harbinger roared as he flew from cover towards the remaining gang members that had assaulted his clan home.
“I AM THE FUCKING HARBINGER OF FUCKING DEATH BITCHAS AND I WILL FUCKING END YOU!” Harbinger was pissed beyond compare at this, he flew over the top of an SUV and landed on top of one of the gunmen, he quickly broke his neck and put a bullet in his head for extra measure.
“Come here you bitches, I will kill every last one of you before this day is over!” he then rounded another SUV and was slightly shocked by the three gunmen in front of him. The instant he rounded that corner he was a dead man.
The three men saw him and instantly opened fire, fifteen bullet entered Harbingers chest, four left through his back. He kept coming, not even hesitating. 

Harbinger raised his rifle and mowed down the three gunmen, he then kept going, not feeling the pain of the bullets in his chest cavity. He was already dead, but his body couldn't register it, his spine was severed and it was just following the last set of commands sent to it.

After rounding the rest of the way around the SUV he ran into the last three gunmen, one was clutching his side while the other two aimed at the approaching threat. They ALL opened fire, ever single shot from the two gunmen missed while every single shot from Harbinger found their mark, ending both gunmen in a flash.

“Do you regret coming here, Bitch, or have you finally come to regret your choice in messing with my family?” Harbinger spat at the slowly dying man, he was looking up at Harbinger with a certain hatred that could only be born in the heat of battle and with the loss of friends.

“Fuck you!” were the man’s last words as Harbinger put a round through his head, ending his suffering and silencing him.
As Harbinger made his way over to the steps he noticed that his brother was now standing there watching him as he stumbled over to him.

“Brother…” Harbinger murmured as he fell to the ground, his body finally realizing that it was dead and leaving. He twisted mid fall, landing on his back as his brother rushed to his side, screaming his name over and over as the blood began to flow from his wounds.

Out of the corner of his eye Harbinger noticed that their friends and family had showed up, but it was too late for now all they could do was witness his death and passing.
“It is OK my friends, I will be at peace soon…. I’m just sorry I couldn’t fight with any of you one last time” Harbinger chucked at the last bit, suddenly he coughed and a slight gizer of blood came rushing out of his mouth. 

As he lay there looking up at his friends and family, he remembered all the great times he had spent, fighting with them, training, and battling other realms and clans with them... it was a pleasant farewell, considering he was about to pass.

“Harbinger!” they all yelled, most either getting on their knees to get a better look at him or standing of to the side holding each other as they saw their friend slowly pass on.

Their cries and pleas made him proud, to have left such a great mark on their lives that they would not want him to leave was truly something he could cherish as his time quickly came to and end.

“I will see you all on the other side… it has been an honor to have fought and bled with all of you…. Goodbye” the last word was but a whisper as the life finally left Harbingers body. Then they wept.
> voids... happy times, NOT!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



FPV Harbinger


I was falling… falling very fast, I could feel the air rushing past me, so I opened my eyes… that’s when I saw the floor.
“Ouch…. Ok that hurt… but, why aren't I dead?” I look myself over and find that my wounds have left faint scars all over my body; I can even see the fifteen gunshot wounds on my chest as little white spots.

“Well… this is different, but different can be good, I just need to figure out where I am…” I dust myself off as I head in a random direction.

(Here is song one “/watch?v=ruP672bL8eA”, it should only be played for the duration of his wandering.)

“Hmm, this place seems to go on for quite a ways… well no mater I’ll just keep going, it’s not like there’s anything else to do…” I mumble to myself as I walk off towards the horizon. Or what I think is the horizon that is, you really can’t tell in this place.


POV third


Time passed slowly, or seemed to anyway since there is no sun or moon to give a shadow or to gage the time with, what he thought was days was only a few hours.
“Well this is boring…. Well fuck it… I’m doing random shit now!” and he started doing everything possible for a man to do when he is bored out of his mind, sword fighting with his ‘ghost’ being chief among them.

After another hour of that he began walking again, when all of a sudden he found, off in the distance, a tombstone, when he got to it he saw that it was unblemished except for a year.

“33-1352AD… hmm well, that tells me that whoever this was lived a fuckin’ long time… well I have a check point now… so let’s see…” Harbinger marked a spots on the ground next to the tombstone, making a compass rose. North, South, East, West.

“Well, I guess if I go by my little marker here, I’ll go west and see what happens.” Therefore, he kept walking.

“Walking, I love walking, walking, I love walking… you know what fuck it! I’m tired of this shite; I’m staying right here till something happens.” Harbinger shouted to the air, hoping something or someone would hear him.

A portal then opens in the middle of the area Harbinger is occupying, incinerating a good section of the ground he walks on, and out stepped a wondrous figure.
His name was Shade, the man, cloaked in deep blue colors, wore a cloak of midnight blue with its cowl up, he also wore a lighter blue tunic and under shirt, the tunic had the symbol of a crescent moon, but set to where it looked like a closing eye. His stature was of one who had been through much, and cared little, his face was half covered thanks to a scarf like cloth that covered his mouth and nose.

“Hail!” Harbinger cried, he was now walking towards the man in dark blue, curious as to how they had gotten there and hoping that the man could shed some light on the situation.

“Hail, stranger… How did you get here?” The man in blue asked.

“Well I was on earth when my brother and I were attacked by some gang members saying that I owed them money, and things spiraled downhill and I ended up taking fifteen shots in the chest… not the most pleasant experience mind you.” Harbinger was now standing before the man in blue, not intimidated by him in the least, which intrigued the man somewhat, seeing as most would cower from him in fear.

“Well then, it seems you are now stuck here… with me.” Shade gave Harbinger an appraising eye before walking away, with Harbinger in toe.

“What do you mean ‘stuck here with you”? How in the world does that happen?” Harbinger asked the man in blue, they were now walking at a leisurely pace, just shot of standing still.

“Well, I figure that since you are here, in this realm of oblivion, you had done something of importance with your life right before dying, but that it was not an honorable thing you did to accomplish it… So, since that must be the case seeing as you ARE here, then you are stuck in this limbo with me, until something or someone comes to have a use for us.” They had stopped once the man in blue had started talking, not wanting to have a moving conversation.

“Well, if that’s the case then let me introduce myself, I am Harbinger of Death, Ranked fifth in my clan and leader of the ‘shield wall’. I am also the head of a small detachment of men named the ‘unforgiven’, they a-were like my children when I was still alive…” Harbinger sighed as he remembered his lost family and close friends that he had left behind.

“I see… My name is Shade, master of the shadows and ruler of this and many other realms, I have entire religions named after me in some way, shape, or form, and I am a fighter without equal, and I have over a billion children to call my own.” Shade said the last part with a slight smile, as if thinking of his demented sons and daughters filled him with a certain joy.
“Now come we must keep walking, if one stays still here to long they will die and be forever lost to the void.” Shade then began walking off in a different direction from before.

Shade came to a sudden stop, he flung his arm out to stop Harbinger but he had already felt the disturbance and had stopped on his own.
“What is that?” Harbinger asked as another portal appeared less than two hundred feet away from them.

“We have more visitors, well this has turned out to be an eventful day… wouldn’t you say Harbinger?” Shade asked, he had a sardonic smile on his face as he approached the portal, nothing had come through yet but he could hear some voices echoing from the inside.
Then the portal closed, leaving behind its cargo, two figures, one dressed n white and blue the other dressed in green and black.

The man in white and blue was very skinny, not anorexic but thin nonetheless, he was dressed in a white pair of jean pants and a white hoodie with blue stripes going down the arms and down the back. the man in green and black also wore some jeans, the jeans were black while the shirt he had on was an emerald color with black strikes in the same design as the first mans.

“Well, I guess we should say ‘Hi’ then…” Harbinger mumbled to himself as he made to catch up with shade.

“Hail, what brings you to our humble dimension?” Shade, being kind of a dick, shouts when he is less than ten feet from them. We were walking up from behind the two men. 

“O stercore!” the in white yells as he falls over from the shock. Harbinger goes over to help pick him up off the ground.

“You are all safe here, there is nothing here that can hurt you, and you cannot age…” shade was say before he was interrupted.

“A Domino factum est tibi, quia non pro superbia tua! Fuisti nunc indica quo te hic!” the one in green and black bellowed to us.

“Hey, we are just stuck here, so don’t get your panties in a bunch!” Harbinger yelled to the emerald dressed man.

“Quam audet te contumeliam me! ego percutiam te facile, vermis!” the Emerald man shouted back.

“BE QUIET YOU INCOLENT FOOLS, INSOLENS QUIESCATIS VOBIS INPRUDENTIUM!” shade yelled in their language and ours.

“We are all friends here! “ Harbinger yelled, mostly at shade and the emerald guy, since the one in white was standing next to him being quiet and actually trying not to be a threat.
“Gagh, he drives me crazy,” Harbinger turns to the man standing next to him while shade and the emerald guy duke it out, “so what’s your name friend?”

“Mihi nomen est Banskton Goff, et spero cessat pugna.” Harbinger looked at the man and slightly tilted his head.

“SO your name is what… Goff Banskton?” he asked the white clothed man, the man then nodded in confirmation.

“SO, you speak English… instead of Latin…. Very interesting.” The man known as Goff, looked Harbinger over with critical eyes, not seeing any weapons on him he deemed him as a nonpartisan and looked over at the blue man.
As Goff turned to look at what the other two were doing, a little put off by what was going on. The two men were shaking hands as if they had come to an agreement.
“So sire, what shall we do with them?” Goff asked his commander.

“Well, we shall be joining them, for I have seen what they will be doing in the near future and they will need as much help as they can get.” Said the emerald and black man.

“Oh, where are my manners. My name is Emerald Knight, and this is my shield brother Banskton Goff, though most just call him Goff.” Emerald Knight said as he reached over to shake Harbingers hand.

Harbinger replied in kind, took the proffered hand, and gave it a firm shake.
“Well, where are we off to then?” Harbinger asked of their new allies.

“Well, we are going to a world where magic is an element and power is being subverted by a strange being of other worldly proportions. So, we are going somewhere fun!” Goff exclaimed, as a portal appeared right below them, sucking them in in the process.

> crash landing jitters
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

All right ya bunch of cretins… I know I have left ya hanging for about three weeks now, and I apologize, well kind of, college is a headache and a half 95% of the time the other 5% I’m asleep so yeah XD So yes here is chapter three, and yes there will be a little action in this chapter… but I don’t know yet… I’m still writing XD.
HAVE FUN READING! Oh R&R please… it feeds the beast hiding in my soul… if it doesn’t get any well… let’s just say creepy things happen… OK BY NOW!

You Spin Me Right Round Baby!

“Hey shade… how long do you think we have been falling in this thing?” Harbinger floats, on his back, over to shade, 
“From my guess…TO FUKING LONG!” He snaps suddenly causing Harbinger to flail away from him frantically, causing him to spin about madly in the free-fall.
“Fuck you Shade!” Harbinger yells as he tries to regain his equilibrium.
“Harb, it isn’t even my fault we are still in here! It’s that Goff bastard that brought us here! So yell at him!” Shade exclaimed, though he was the one that started the whole argument.
“Ya’ know Shade, you’re right, but I’m still going to kick your ass for sending me flying!” Harb glared at his friend, though he only knew him for about ten hours… so he was more of an acquaintance then a friend.
“HEY GOFF YA SICK BASTSARD!” Harbinger glared at Goff as he performed a swan dive.
“Yes Harbinger?” He looked at Harb innocently, not realizing that the other man was giving him a death glare.
“…How much longer… WILL WE BE IN THIS FUCKING FREE FALL!” He yells to his erstwhile companion, still swan diving.
“Oh shit!” Goff tumbles away, fear for his life suddenly envelops him as he tries to hide behind Emerald Night.
“Get off of ME!” Emerald takes out a bat and smacks Goff clear across the portal and into a wall, (yeah, that’s when we realized we were in a tube going really fricken fast and not slowing down yet), And bounces off, ricocheting several times around the tube, before coming to a stop in Shades fist.
“OK, how about this… ALL OF YOU SIT THE FUCK DOWN AND SHUT UP!” He then looked at Goff, who went a little wide eyed and started to sweat as the black eyes bored into his SOUL!
“Fine… but I won’t stay quiet for long!” Harbinger shouts as he floats over to a ‘corner’, (yeah in a tube that was hard to do… the dumb ass).
Shade growled and launched Goff at the back of Harbingers head at the speed of a bullet, upon impact a, and no this didn’t faze him since Goff’s body just kind of ricochet off, small stream of smoke began to waft off of his head.
“…Shade…” Harbinger turned around, an evil grin plastered to his face.
‘Oh shit’ was the was the last thing that came to Shades mind as a blur of red and blue tackled him into the side of the tube.
“You’re going to pay for that ya little twerp!” Harbinger yelled, he was also laughing at the same time, which was confusing for everyone else there, since none of them really knew each other all too well.
“Fuck you harb!” Shade punches him in the ribs earning an ‘oof’ from Harbinger, who repaid the curtsey with a swift jab to Shades midsection.
“Fuck you too buddy!” Harbinger then made a quick trust for shades head, using his own of course, and missing… only to be hit in the nose with shades hand. “That hurt you bastard!” He laughed more and kneed Shade in the side, causing him to smirk and wince with the pain.
“So did that, ya bitch!” Shade then cuffed one of Harbingers ears, making the man wince, and spun him around in his disoriented state before trying to choke him.
“ Heh!...Fluckin… Blec!” (What he really said was, ‘You Fucking Bitch!’) Harbinger then rammed his elbow into the same spot he had jabbed earlier, making Shade wheeze from the force, but not breaking his hold. Harbinger then took his thumb and jabbed it into a pressure point right under shades armpit, finally causing him to lose his grip, which he used to smack his head into shades face.
As the fight went about Goff and Emerald just looked on in amusement, not caring if either of them really got hurt or not, since they looked like they were having fun they just didn’t interfere. 
“So, who do you think will win?” Goff looked at Emerald questioningly, not caring for his answer.
“I would have to say neither…” Emerald looked on, a blank look plastered to his face.
“Why would you say that?” Goff was now curious as to what his sensei meant.
“The portal is…” and his voice was lost to the wind.

Skies of Equestria

A large black hole opened up in the sky, it had a faint bluish black aura around the edges of it and clouds started to form around it, creating a vortex. Then four bright lights began to glow from within the vortex, and then they shot out. Each one was a different color, one was blue and red, another black and midnight blue, the next was green and black, and the last was blue and white and they were all heading straight down towards the ground at terminal velocity, creating many sonic booms as they sped up and slowed down within the sound barrier. 
The creatures of the surrounding countryside looked on in awe from the spectacle that was the falling colored objects. As the four objects got closer to the surface, all the creatures began to look for a safe place to hide.
Upon their landing a loud resounding boom was heard, it shook the earth with the force of a 7.0 earthquake, nothing was destroyed, but it left everyone dazed.
The creatures, after getting their fear of the earthquake, decided to look at what it was that could cause such a phenomenon. All the creatures that had been in the vicinity had gone over to the four large craters that had formed from the objects abrupt collision with the ground, the creatures in the hole were like nothing the being of this planet had ever seen, they were bipedal, and dressed in outlandish things, that they could only guess to be clothing.
All of a sudden, one of the creatures tried to get up, but he fell over and they heard it talk.

Third person POV with Harbinger and the others.

“ Did anyone catch the license plate of that semi?” Harbinger uttered from his prone position. 
“Shut up ya pussy!” Shade yelled from the crater next to him.
“I’m going to barf on you Shade!” Harbinger retorted, before actually tossing his cookies on the ground.
“HUHA! You suck Harb!” shade yelled after hearing Harbingers retching, he then started laughing hard before falling over and back into the crater.
“Oh, come off it you two!” Emerald growled from the crater across from him.
“Whatever… let’s just get up and see what’s going on here.” Upon hearing this, the creatures that had gathered around the craters ran for the underbrush in the nearby forest, just out of view of the new creatures that were just crawling out of the craters. Goff slowly crawled out of his crater, being the only one not actually doing anything to impede his accent out of the crater.
“Guys… you might want to check this out… it’s pretty different up here…” Goff was standing there just gaping at the lush forests, the snowcapped mountains, the deep blue skies, and the creatures looking at them from the surrounding forest. ‘Creatures!’ Goff went to grab his weapons, but found that they were gone, along with most of his armor. “Guys, we might have some company!” He yelled back to the others as they finally made it to the top.
“What… Oh…” Harbinger asked, but then noticed the creatures. “that… awesome, so what are we going to do, I don’t have any of my weapons…” he pointed out to Goff, he just let his head drop.
“Well, I can also say we are screwed, cause I don’t got mine either… and I don’t think Emerald does either.” Shade just sat down on an upturned rock and stared at the creatures, that were also staring at us.
“he’s right, but I would suggest we either wait and see what will happen or that we go off and try to be a none imposing force.” After giving his incite everyone turn to each other, shrugged, and began to walk off in the opposite direction of the creatures.
“Well…” Harbinger began, “this is going to be an interesting adventure isn’t it?” He looked over to shade, not really caring for the others impute.
“I would say so, fuck head… ahaha!” He laughed as Harb tried to chase him down for the insult.
“Come back here ya fag! I’ll stick a pole in ya!”
“Ah don’t want your Pole!” Shade laughed harder and sped off, Harbinger not too far behind.
Goff and Emerald looked to each other as they saw their companions run about, both trying to hit each other with inanimate objects.
“Children…” Emerald muttered and then hung his head as he began to fallow them.
“Yep, that they be…” Goff said before fallowing his master.

> Man vs Manticor...round 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hey guys… Ya know that mountain behind us?” Harbinger got them to stop and look at the mountain, “It looks exactly like Mt. Whitney back home…” He let that info sink in. I think we are on earth! More specifically the east coast of the North Americas!” Harbinger whooped for joy at the fact that they might be back on earth.
“But I don’t remember there being so many trees and the sky being so clear!”
Goff looked around and chuckled lightly to himself, “Maybe we got sent to your future?”
“It’s possible… though that chance is slim…” Emerald said, weighing in on the conversation.
I hate to be a snob and what not, but I hate both of your ideas… we’re obviously in a shity hole of a country that cares more about the  forests than its own people… and that’s just my first impression!” He laughed at their expressions, though Harbingers mirrored his own at the little joke he just puled n them.
“…Ok, I’m going to ignore the rest of that and keep walkin’…” The rest of them shrugged and ran on after him, their ‘path’ went on into the forest until they actually hit the main path, it hooked a right and they decided to fallow it.

After they had fallowed the new path for over an hour they decided to take a break in the next Clearing they found. Several minutes later they stumbled onto a small clearing, it was roughly 200 feet in diameter and it had a few logs and smaller rocks strewn through it, its most prominent feature was a giant boulder in the very center of the clearing, it was about seven feet tall and ten feet around.

‘pant’ “I didn’t think fighting in the woods would be so much fun! But damn I’m tired!” Harbinger collapsed against the boulder and tried to slow his breathing.

“put a sock in it ya git! It isn’t even noon yet and you’re complaining!” Shade strolled into the clearing, slightly tired, but not showing it.

Goff came in after him, holding a leaf to his left eye. “At least you don’t have a black eye!” He growled at shade and Harb.

“Shut it Goff, or I’ll give ya another one!” Shade whirled around and pointed in Goff’s face. 

“All of you just shut up, Sit down, and rest… I will stand watch.” Emerald scolded his fellow travelers and went to walk around the clearing to make sure it was safe, seeing as he was the least tired of the rest of them, and injured.

After ten minutes of waiting and resting up, shade and harbinger nodded to each other and went to gather some long straight piece of wood from around their ‘campsite’.

“So, we going to turn these into spears?” Harbinger asked as he bent down to grab another good size branch.

“Yep”
“How many do you think we will need?”

“I would say ten each would be good… but let’s not give any to the others.. I don’t wanting them to break them before they are ready.” Shade looked to harb to make sure that was reasonable, harb just nodded and laughed at the idea of having to beat their new friends for jacking with their shit.

As they walked into view of the rest spot Goff saw them.

“Hey can I help?”

“Go find your own!” Harb and Shade said at the same time, causing them to laugh.
Goff then harrumphed and went to go find Emerald and have him help look for sticks.

“So, we still mad at him for not warning us about the portal and crap?” Harb asked him with a devious smirk on his face.

“Yep, that shit was jacked up man… but I think we should be cool soon, we don’t need him stabbing us in our sleep any time soon, right?”

“Right.”

Another ten minutes had gone by and they had both gotten half of their spears done. When they heard a twig snap they looked over to see Emerald and Goff returning with roughly thirty sticks between them.
Though most of the sticks didn’t even look strong enough for being spears.

“OK, mine are done… now for the next set…” Harbinger sighed and looked at Shade to see that he was already working on his next set.

It was a half hour later when they had all finished their spears, harbinger and shade had taken some of the ones from emerald and Goff and helped them complete them once they were done with theirs.

“So, where should we- What the fuckin’ hell is that!” He shouted as he jabbed a finger in the direction of the forest. There 
were a set of cat like eyes that glowed orange in the darkness of the thick shadows.

Both Emerald and Goff got up and grabbed a few of their spears, getting in defensive stances they waited for the other two to get ready to face this possible threat.

“What do you think it is man?” Harbinger leaned over and whispered in shades ear.

“Fuck if I know dude, but I don’t like it one bit!” He whispered back.

Suddenly the creature sprang from cover, going extremely high in the air, it then landed on the Boulder before them, making them back up tremendously. The creature had cleared a hundred foot area in a span of seconds.

“IT’S A MANITCOR!” Goff screeched.

“Spears to the ready!” Harbinger bellowed, he had fought similar four on one battles before, but this was life or death and he didn’t want his friends caught off guard.

“Ragh!” Emerald, Shade and Goff roared as they brought their spears up, pointing them at he beast, the sound of their combined voice had made the Manticor flinch, but instead of running it only became enraged at the fact that something so small was trying to scare it off.

“Info, NOW!” Harbinger yelled at Goff, he had identified it so he should know something about it.

“Manticor, Part lion, bat, and Scorpion. Uses the head and body of a lion, wings of a bat, and the stinger of a scorpion. The claws and stinger use a highly potent nerve toxin, it is used to paralyze the victim, but if left in the victim for too long cardiac arrest ensues. They can fly for short distances and are highly dangerous… threat level… Kill if ya can’t run the fucker…” Goff relayed his info in roughly thirsty seconds.

“… Thank you…” Harbinger quickly looks over to shade, shade looks back and they nod.

“NOW!” They both launch themselves at the beast, it made to strike at shades head with its right paw, but harb impaled it 
and smacked it with the other end of his spear.

“Eat shit and die Mother Fucker!” Shade yelled as he bashed it in the face.

“As if the beast could understand you!” Emerald yelled to shade as he used his spear to knock its hind knees, making it slam into the boulder and knock the air out of its lungs. At the same time Shade used his spear to impale the Manticor’s front left paw. After it registered the pain it gave a blood curdling screech and flopped onto the ground.

“Yeah!” Goff yelled as the monster went down, but soon his elation turned to fright as its head came down facing him. The entire time they had been fighting it he had been behind it keeping its tail tied up so that it couldn’t attack his friends.
“OH SHIT!” He yelled, jumping away from his immediate threat.

“Run, damn it run!” Harb yelled as shade stabbed it in the ass, making it flinch back from his obvious prey.

“NOTHING BUT US GET TO HARM THAT FOOL!” Shade yelled as he began to beat on the back end of the creature, he then grabbed its tail, pinned it to the ground and used his spear to impale it, right there on the ground. 

“STOP STANDING THERE AND GO KILL IT!” He yelled to the other two with him, Harbinger and Emerald then charged in, only to get a face full of Manticor. It flipped around and smacked emerald into the boulder, knocking him unconscious.
Harb looked over to his friend and then back to the Manticor, doing so within the span of a second, he then jumped onto its neck and began stabbing it in the through, trying to hit its jugular or at least its windpipe. 

Shade saw his opening, Harbingers stabbings were distracting it from fighting him so he went and grabbed anther spear and struck. The spear tore through flesh, broke bone and then pierced the heart of the beast, gallons of blood poured from the wound on the beast, all of it adding to the other stab wounds and puddles of blood already forming at their feet.
The beast then fell over, harbinger falling with it, panting as he fell. The area on its neck that he had been stabbing looked like a meat beater had taken residence and then had a major fucking party.

“Fuck this forest man… ‘Pant’ lets ‘Pant’ get the ‘Pant’ Out of here…” Harbinger made his way over to Emerald and fell down next to him, he checked him over for injuries and found that he only had a contusion from the impact with the rock.
“Well at least everyone is alright…” Goff said as he came from behind the rock.

“Yeah…” Shade said as he then fell on his ass and laughed at the whole situation. “Damn it! Not even a full day here and we fight mythological creatures and shit! I hope this fucking place has at least ONE sentient species that won’t eat us!” He laughed again, gaining a throaty chuckle from Goff and a hearty laugh from Harbinger and a slight grunt from emerald as he awoke from his slumber.

“Fuck you guys… I hate all of you right now…” was his only response before he fell back asleep. It only made them stare at him for a second before they all broke out in laughter and fell over.

Not even five minutes later a sound was heard from the side of the forest.
“Fuck me sideways! What now!” Shade muttered from around the campfire they had started to build.

“Get ready guys… just in case!” Harb muttered as he grabbed his spear, he peered over the rock and was shocked to see several horses, or would they be ponies? They were small and all of them were white with golden armor that had blue plumes sticking out of the top of them.

“Guys look at this shit!” He said as he started to walk out from behind the rock.

The Ponies then saw him, they took up a defensive stance and that’s when he noticed that three of them were different, one had a horn and two of them had wings, the two with wings were floating above the rest of them and the one with a horn had a glowing orb at the end of it.

“Halt strange creature, in the name of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, you are to state your business in this land!” One of the, Earth ponies?, Said.

“HOLY SHIT! THEY CAN TALK!” Harb said as he fell on his ass, eyes wide.

“Yes, we can talk! Now state your business in this territory!” the same pony said.

“Um… we fell from the sky… we don’t know where here is and we have no clue who the princesses are…” Harbinger said as he shakily got back to his feet, he was now being flanked by both Shade and Goff, and a very drowsy looking Emerald.

“That does not Answer my question creature! What are your intentions here, and also… what are you?!” The pony was now getting angry.

“We are looking for a sign of civilization so that we might find out where and on what we are…. As for what  we ourselves are, we are humans… Homo-sapiens… and one of our number needs some medical attention…” Harbinger said as he motioned Emerald to walk forward.

“Harb, are we sure we can trust them…?” Goff asked, he was very nervous about the whole thing.

“Yes, I think we can… besides I don’t think we have a chose…” He said.

“Very well, We will take you to our outpost… we can send a message to the princesses from there and they will be able to come and judge you for themselves… but until then you will be treated as guests, so long as you act as such… now fallow me.” The guard motioned them to fallow, he did not wait and began walking. The four humans walked instep behind him with the rest of the ponies taking up the rear.
After twenty minutes of walking and little conversation they arrived at the outpost.

“Welcome, To Outpost Whitneigh!” The lead Pony motioned to the fort in front of them, it was large, it could be considered a small town by olden time standards, it could have held around a hundred humans or so.

“Thank you for your hospitality…” Harbinger and shade said in unison, bowing as they said it.

“Now please, come in!” the pony said as the giant wood gates pulled aside.

> Round two, Fight!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everyone was moved into the tower like building at the center of the fortress, they all guessed that this was the keep. It was a stone structure with wood floors and vaulted ceilings. The design of the keep and its surrounding buildings would be of the 15th or 16th century castle designs. In side everyone was seated around a large Rectangular table, it was small enough for our companions to sit on some throw pillows and be at the appropriate height.

“Now, Would you mind telling us what you have in store for us, since we are to be your ‘guest’s’ for the time being,” Emerald took the initiative to get straight to the point, he did not like to beat around the bush per-say.

“Well, Mr. Emerald, we will be treating you as our guests, you will be helping around the outpost until you have earned our trust, but that trust will only last until the princesses have either proven us right or have declared you all too dangerous to live. If you do well by us we will try and put as much leverage into your living as possible… and the reverse is true.” The White pony explained to them, not caring in the slightest what actually happened to them.

“Very well then, what would you have us do first?” Harbinger quipped from his spot next to Shade.

“Well, we need some repairs done to one of the barracks here on station. The rest of you will be taking up a position on the wall, you will be watching out for any suspicious movement. That Manticor you all killed was a part of a coven not too far from here… and that damned roar of its it has most likely drawn some of the other creatures of the forest, besides its coven members…” The pony glared at shade for some reason or another, though none of our human companions cared as to what jerked his chain or not.

“Very well then, Shade and I will be off then… Good luck to you both,” Harbinger got up with Shade and gave a slight bow to the pony and a smirk to his friends, they chuckled in return and emerald flipped them off, gaining a round of laughter from all four of them.


oooOO==OOooo

As emerald and Goff got closer to the barracks they noticed that the building in question was just four posts sticking out of the ground with all of the building material laying around.

“Are they shitting us Em?” Goff just glared at the piles of wood, cement mix, and other building materials.

“They had better be… I will torch this place if I have to…” Emerald, not one for foul play, was tensing and un-tensing his fists, each time making a slight spark with his fingers.

“Well, if we want to get this done, I guess we had better get started…” Emerald sighed and walked over to the supplies, he grabbed a hammer, a box of nails, and several planks of wood. “Get you but moving Goff, neither of us wants to be here any longer then we have to…”

“Fine, but I still loath this… we were just supposed to put a damned roof on! Not build the whole damned thing!” Goff complained as he went about grabbing his own set of supplies.

“Just shut up and work ya lazy ass!” Emerald yelled as he chucked a small rock at Goff’s head.

“I love you too Em!” Goff chucked the rock back at him, it had hit him in the head, and then landed on hit toes, preceding to his comeback at Emerald.

oooOO==OOooo

“Shade, how long do you think you were trapped in that damned void?” Harbinger inquired, they were both standing on the wall, just staring out into the vast forests making sure they kept a look out.

“Personally… it’s personal! But, if I were to venture I would say… roughly… two hundred years… give or take a decade or two!” He laughed at the insane amount of time he had been alone in the damnable void, but now he had a companion, one that might be willing to go with him to the ends… but he did not know yet.

“Wow… That’s a lot of lonely years… well you got us now and we, or at least I, am never going to leave a hanging!” Harbinger chuckled and patted Shade on the back, He did not, however, see the look of disbelief on Shades face.

“Well… thank you…” Shade was astonished, this man had not even known him for a full day and he was already willing to stick by his side… There might be a chance for this young warrior yet! But we shall see.

As the two kindred spirits talked up a storm, mostly about what they would do to Emerald and Goff the next time they did something stupid, a loud crash came from the forest. It was far off, but it was close enough that it caught their attention.

“Oh crap, what do you think that was?” Harb was straining his eyes to figure out which direction the noise had come from.

“I don’t know man, but I don’t like the look of that!” Shade grabbed Harb’s shoulder, he forced him around and pointed in the direction of some falling trees.

“Yeah… me neither…. Fuck…OK, you want to get the captain or should I?” Harb was looking at the falling trees, whatever it was, was big and it was heading straight for the outpost.

“I will go, You gather as many guards as you can and get them armed and ready, and make sure you get some for us!” Shade yelled as he jumped off the wall and landing on the ground with an audible thud, before running off to the keep.

“OK, this should be a piece of cake… I hope…” he turned around and noticed a few guards sitting underneath a tent, playing some kind of card game. “Hey you three! Get over here!” the three guards looked up and saw him motioning them over, and being quite urgent about it.

“What do you need sir?” the mare of the group asked, she was light brown and didn’t have any of her armor on, which counted for her different color scheme.

“I need you three to go round up as many of your comrads as you can, something big is coming this way and it will be here soon!” HE turned back to the forest, checking on the creatures progress, “GUARD I SAID GO!” he yelled frantically.

“My NAME isn’t guard! It’s Slick Foot!... bucking idiot….” She said, with the last part under her breath, hoping that he didn’t hear her.
“I Heard that!” He yelled from over his shoulder as they galloped away, his quip making the mare trip up for a moment.

oooOO==OOooo

Emerald and Goff were done with all but one of the walls, they had spent most of the time redoing several of the boards thanks to crappie materials, the nails were soft and had to be replaced and the wood would splinter if looked at funny, and that actually happened.
“Men, we got incoming! There appears to be something coming our way from the north wall! Get your weapons together and prepare to repel whatever it may be!” A light brown earth mare started yelling to the guards around them.

“Hey, do you need us too? We could go for a break right about now…” Goff asked of the light brown mare.

“Sure, do you know how to use a sword or spear!?” She turned to them and asked, not caring that they were not of her species. If they could help then they were good in her book.

“Yes to both of those ma’am… just tell us where!” Goff saluted, he was a sucker for getting back into the swing of the regimented life he once had.

“Same here Miss, But I think a sword and shield would be best for me at this time… if you have any to spare,” Emerald stood up and also saluted the mare, but he noticed that she was just happy that at least someone was listening. Noticing this he turned to the other guards. “HEY YA BUNCH OF MAGGOT SACKS, GET TO THE ARMORY AND GRAB YOUR GEAR, WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!”

“Thank you…” The mare blushed slightly at his form of getting the guards rallied, not at the vulgarity but at the volume and control.

“You’re welcome miss.” He said with a bow before joining in on the armory raid.

“Come on Em! We need to get some too!” Goff called back to his friend, he was already half way across the compound.

“I’ll be right there! You coming miss…?” emerald asked with a comical brow raise.

“Um… Slick Foot… and yeah lets go…” She blushed even more and raced after his friend, granting a chuckle from the usually stoic man.

oooOO==OOooo

“Captain, we have a situation…” Shade yelled as he barged through the captains doors, only to be confronted with a not so child friendly sight, “I’ll… come back another time…” He made an immediate ‘U’ turn and left the building, gaining a new hate for his captor. ‘That piss pour excuse for a captain should be hung! Matter ah fact I might just do that once this is over… depending on whether or not the bastard actually gets out of there fast enough to stop me…’ He chuckled at the thought of killing the pig, but he had better things to do right then.

Shade raced back to his companion and took notice of the large amount of guards that had showed up, they were all putting on their armor and those that already had theirs on were handing out swords and spears. He looked around and noticed that his companions, and one ‘friend’, were putting on some pieces of armor, since most of it wouldn’t fit they were beating the bracers and grieves into shape.

“How goes the preparations Harb?”

“Going well I guess… but we don’t have much time… it will be here soon,” with every pause he would look to the wall, there was a guard up there motioning to him on how close it was getting.

“Alright then… Well the captain is… well indisposed and will not be helping us anytime soon, fucking bastard that he is…” Shade had an angry glare plastered to his face, just thinking of that pig was getting him extremely pissed off.

“I don’t want to kn-‘CRASH', WHAT THE HELL!” Harbinger, along with everyone else, rocked sideways as large amounts of debris went flying into the mass of bodies that were around them. The wall to their north east had blown apart, several manticors had charged it and blown it apart with the force of their impact.

“BUCK!” One of the guards yelled as one of the log pillars came flying past them, crushing a couple of guards on its way through.

“Everyone, CHARGE!” Shade picked up a sword and fallowed Harbinger into the fray. His friend had taken the lead without provocation. His taking of command had saved several ponies lives, most of them had been rooted to the spot thanks to the unexpected appearance of nine Manticors busting down their wall.

As they charged the manticors balked at the sight of so many creatures yelling at them, but it only took them a moment to realize this was their prey and leap into the mass of armored bodies. The first casualty was a Pegasus male; he was stupid enough to jump in front of one of their strikes and got himself disemboweled, his insides splashing onto the ground around him and his comrades.
None were spared as the manticors tore through their ranks, their armor not standing up to their claws and stinkers. One earth pony was bitten right in half when he pushed one of his friends out of the way, his screams were shot lived thankfully, but his lifeless and bloody body was a sick reminder.
The first Manticor death came by the combined hands and hoofs of Emerald Night and Slick Foot. Slick Foot jumped right and Emerald jumped left and they were able to split its concentration enough for them to take its head clean off. Emerald with a down stroke and Slick with an up stroke, severing the head cleanly.

“Work as a team damn it! It’s the only way you can beat them!” Emerald yelled as another one jumped at him and Slick.

Harbinger and shade were doing just that as they took out their third one of the day, they had started out with nine ponies and were down to three. Their first kill was won by taking off the monsters tail and shoving the stinger down its throat as it tried to munch on one of their charges. Their second was the hardest, it was huge compared to the rest of them, towering at around eleven feet at the top of its head when sitting straight. Within seconds of it spotting them it had taken out three of the pegasi that had come with them and turned one of them into a bloody pile of Swiss-cheese. The only way they killed it was because it was busy swallowing one of their comrades, he had been ripped in half and still alive when it had eaten him. Shade and Harbinger looked to each other, reversed the grip on their swords, ran and jumped onto the creatures back. They were using their swords to stab into its flesh and hold on for dear life while their comrades took spears and stabbed into the beast’s underbelly. Shade was then throne free and tossed into a large pile of flour, knocking the wind out of him. Harbinger, seeing his friend was OK, took the other sword and started to clime the monster, with each thrust he was closer to its head and his prize. 
As he finally reached it, he took out the sword in his right hand and thrust the fucker right into the base of the monsters skull, killing it almost instantly.

“FUCK YOU BITCH!” Harbinger shouted from atop his kill, everyone around him shouted with glee at the demise of the monsters death, but screams of joy turned to shouts of anger as they turned back to the last four Manticors left in the compound.

Emerald and slick foot were surrounded, there were two of the beasts right in front of them and one behind, cutting off their roots of escape. Emerald had lost his sword and spears during a collision with a cart and sick had lost her weapons when one of the manticors body slammed her.

“Well this Bucking sucks…” Slick muttered as she looked their death in the face, and she smiled, not one of victory, but one of resignation.

Seeing this emerald smacked her in the back of the head, “Don’t you dare even try that with me Sick, I will kick your ass from here to kingdom come if you get killed,” He stared her in the eyes and she knew it was true, and she smiled, a warm thank filled smile. “I will not let us die this day… NOT NOW… NOT EVER!” At the last part his hands ignited into flames and he sent gouts of it at their attackers, lighting them up like the 4th of July!

“OH BUCK ME…” Slick just stared wide eyed at what her friend was doing to the creatures around them; they were burning… and then crumpling to the ground from the intensity of the flames. She noticed that even being this close the source of the flame, it was not hot, but cool and welcoming.

“YOU WILL NOT HARM MY FRIENDS AND COMRADES ANY LONGER FOUL BEASTS! NOW BURN!” Emeralds eyes were glowing a bright orange color, almost the color of the sun, but dimmer like the core of an inferno.
Even as the bodies of the three manticors crashed to the ground and stopped moving he did not let up, it was not until Goff walked over and put a hand on his shoulder that he calmed down and let the flames go out.

“Thank you my friend… I don’t want to think of what I could have done had that lasted any longer…” Emerald looked down to the female pony next to him and shed a tear at the thought of harming such a noble friend.

“Um… what was that just now?” She asked as she fell to her haunches and stared at the burnt remains of the manticors, each being a black burnt bit of charcoal.

“That was my will… made manifest, I am able to perform some basic forms of magic… life flames and some levitation… but it takes all of my concentration to do so… and bad things can happen…” He looked over at the charred remains before them and winced at what he might have done.

"If you hadn't of done that... who knows how many more of us would have died..." She looked at each of the bodies in turn and then at Emerald. She got up off her haunches and wrapped him in a bone cracking hug and started to weep for joy.

"SHhhh its OK, none of them will be coming back anytime soon..." He knelt down and embraced the crying pony, he even went as far to rub her back and cup her head in a close embrace.

oooOO==OOooo

Harbinger and Shade were off to the side, they had gotten up on the palisades and were now over looking the damage done to the base... it was extensive.

"Well shit... this lace is toast... I mean look at it, the barracks are on fire, the walls are breached and irreparable and almost half the guards are dead! We need to relocate, this place is not up for another fight like this." Harbinger looked like he was about to have a heart attack, he was worried for their new allies, these ponies had looked to all of them for guidance once the fighting had started and they had pulled them through with fewer casualties then what they had expected.

"Harb, I know how you feel... but i don't know what we could do. their leader is a piece of shit and he won't even give us the time of day!" Shade was livid, he had gone to speak to the captain and was told he was 'Not to be disturbed...' what a load of bullshit. HE would show HIM what not to be disturbed felt like with his foot shoved through his intestinal track!

"Sirs! there's a problem in the keep!" One of the pegasi had flown up and was now talking to them.

"What seems to be the problem guard?" Harb gave a half salute, motioning for him to continue.

"The Captain and his guards have been ripped to sheds sirs! Come quick!" the pegasi then took off towards the keep, leaving two very perplexed and anxious humans in his wake.
> Fading lights
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shade and Harbinger ran after the Pegasus as it flew towards the keep, they were both curious as to what would have spooked a soldier after the battle they just had. Many of the guards that saw them paid them no mind, but a few decided it was a good idea to follow them and see what the commotion was about.

"What’s going on?" One of the earth stallions had asked. After the battle all the humans were given a crash course on the names and what not of all the species and what their gender names were.

"Apparently the captain has been killed, or at least that's what the Pegasus had told us." Harbinger sighed as all of the ponies around him stopped and gasped, while Shade and he kept walking.

"But sir! How is that possible! We have secured the compound and there haven't been any sightings of any creatures roaming the place..." the earth guard came up short when he realized what that implied.

"The reason for that is that they have also been killed," Harb looked over at Shade and they nodded to each other and picked up the pace, just about mowing over anyone, or pony, in their way.

oooOO==OOooo

As the group of two humans and six ponies made it to the front door they beheld a gruesome sight, the Pegasus from earlier was on the ground... torn limb from limb and still alive, but barely.

"Oh Buck..." Copper Sheen, muttered under his breath. They had found out his name after another round of questions.

"All of you keep a good distance from each other, but don't stray too far from the group; we don't need any more casualties." Shade said as he and Harbinger took out their swords and slowly made their way into the keep, the smell of death was getting stronger the farther in they went.

"This doesn't smell right..." Harbinger muttered to Shade as they rounded a corner, the room in front of them was one of the few hallways that littered the building.

"I know, and it feels like something is watching us... but from where?" He muttered back, both of them keeping their swords at a ready position.
As they walked down the hall, they would notice large splatters of blood with absences where a body or something should have been.

"OK, this looks really bad... I mean really fuckin bad man..."Harbinger knelt down next to one of the blood spatters, it had a large voids in the pool and it was roughly pony shaped. “...wonder what happened to the bodies..." he quietly mussed as he got up and went farther down the hall, Shade following a few steps behind.

"That feeling is getting stronger Harb... be ready for anything..." Shade murmured to his friend, harbinger nodded and stopped at the only other door in the hall.

"And what is behind door number two..." He said, looking to Shade. They stacked up on either side of it. Harbinger motioned to shade that they would go on three.

'One' 'two' 'three' Harbinger counted down with his fingers, on three he kicked the door in, Shade and Harbinger rushed in with their swords at the ready.

Shade looked left while Harb looked right, there were pools of blood everywhere, but no bodies to be seen.

"Where did they all go to... This is just too weird..." Harbinger murmured to shade as he walked over to check on another of the blood pools, there were bits of armor laying about the room, and a few pieces were next to the blood pool.

"Are those what I think those are?" Shade said as he slowly made his way over to Harb, he was keeping his eyes on every corner of the room, there was something in there, and it was watching them.  He could tell, just by harbingers tenseness, that he felt it also... A malicious intent to harm all those in its path.

"Yes, there're bits of guard armor... Some of which are from our men outside... Which. Explains why we never heard of anything getting in...." Harbinger picked up a piece and flipped it over in his hand, it had obviously belonged to a Pegasus guards-pony, it had the Pegasus air force insignia on it, pointing out what division it belonged to.

"There I-" Shade began to say until harbinger cut him off.

"Something in here... I know...I felt it..." He whispered as he got up off his knees, sword kept at an un-guard position.

Both Harbinger and Shade were wary of the far corner of the dinning hall, it was darker then what it should have been, even in total darkness. They slowly made their way around the left side of the table, keeping it between them and the dark corner, they both felt that there was something over there. And neither of them wanted anything of do with it yet.

The sound of breathing made both of them freeze in anticipation, they 'knew' what was coming and they were going to put it down Harb, permanently if need be.

"Get ready... It's here." Shade whispered as he brought his sword up in a chest guard, crossing his sword slightly over his chest diagonally.

"Yeah..." Harb brought his sword up to a low guard, making it to where his sword was slightly pointed towards the floor.

A loud hissing noise came from behind them, surprising them at its closeness, as a creature with a snakes head and human upper body and snake lower body came flying out of nowhere, tackling Harbinger to the ground with the force of a semi going 50 mph.

"Gah!" Was his only response as he started to fight for his life, the snake man creature was pinning him to the ground, choking to life out of him. He took his sword and used it to bash the creature over the back of the head as she got his arm out from underneath it.

A loud 'crack' was heard as the hilt of his weapon came down on the backside of its skull, quickly ending the struggle.

"That ended about as fast as it began..." Shade commented as he got up off the floor, he had been knocked over when the creature had tackled Harb. The whole confrontation had taken less then thirty seconds.

"That wasn't our foe... I still feel it... And it's smiling..." Harbinger said this as he got up off the floor, he was staring at the far corner of the room where the feeling was still coming from. Shades eyes widened at the prospect of still have something malevolent to fight in this wretched darkness.

"Oh crap.... Not good..." Shade was getting really irritated by the fact that so much was going wrong in such a short amount of time, they had lost about the element of surprise with the appearance of the snake thing and the fact that it wasn't the creature that was now stocking them. "It's moved... Shit!"shade exclaimed as a silver platter went flying towards his head from a different spot in the room.

"Hit the deck!" Harbinger yelled as he grappled Shade to the ground. After the first platter soared by hundreds of them started to fly about the room, each one coming from different spots.

"This is ridiculous, how many of these things are there!" Shade growled as even more of them started to change direction mid flight and fly right for them.

In response Harbinger sighed in annoyance and grabbed a platter lid and began to bash the platter away as he made his way to the shadow to try to end the assault on their lives. Shade, seeing what his friend was doing, also picked up a platter and used it as a shield and made his way towards Harbinger! he was really pissed off that this thing has the gall to try and even harm him and his companion.

They were bashing the platter left and right, standing and moving back to back, they were able to make a 360' defensive barrier, effectively making them untouchable.

"Ok, this is getting annoying... How in the world do we get our selves in these things so damn often!" Shade was getting close to the end of his patience, the damn flying platters were getting old, and fast.

"Ok, on my mark we break and go for the fucking shadows... Mark!" Harbinger broke left and Shade broke right, their sudden movement made the attention of their attacker split, which really pissed it off, causing it to howl and scream in rage. 

Shade was less then ten feet away form the line of deep shadows when a creature from the darkest of nightmares came rushing out, it was a blur of speed and agility,  it was a midnight blue color, making easy for it to hide in the shadows and stalk its prey, it was covered in scales and patches of fur. It had finger like claws that were sharp as razors, and dragon like eyes that were a sickly yellow.

It used its agile body to slip around shades first strike, going over the chest high swing like it was nothing. As. It spun one of its claws whipped out and drug across shades chest, creating deep furrows as the cut.

Shades cry of pain made harbinger look to him, what he saw enraged him beyond reason, he charged over and right as the creature landed he bashed it in the face with his 'shield', it stunned the creature long enough for shade to get away before it struck again. Harbinger then swung his sword in a downward strike, but when it hit its intended target the blade bounced off, in that instance all time stood still.

The creature looked up and right into Harb's eyes, it smiled as it shot its hand out and barrier it wrist deep into his chest, it slid through the armor he had on like it was a hot knife through warm butter. The sound of bones shattering and flesh rending froze shade on the spot.

He looked behind him self and saw his friend standing there right in front of the monster, statue still and just as quiet. Then he saw the hand jut out of his back, it was holding onto something, it was tubular and it was long... It took him a second to realize what it was. It was his friends spinal cord in the monsters grip. The next scene would be stuck in his head for many nights to come, the hand gripped hard onto the section of spin... And twisted it, snapping the cord in hand and ripping out several vertebrae.

The fountain of blood that followed could only come from a humans body, Harbingers now limp body fell to its knees, right at the feet of the hellish creature before them. Shade looked on in disbelief, the one being that had unconditionally tried to befriend him was now good as dead at the feet of this hell-spawn of a creature.

It was then and there that he lost control, Shade dropped to his knees as he looked on at his fallen comrade, it had been close to a millennium that anyone had chosen to befriend him, without running in fear. The creature made its way over to him, Sade not paying attention to his imminent doom, just continued to stare at the body of Harbinger, a clawed hand then made its appearance atop Shades shoulder as it braced his body for its imminent demise. It cocked its arm back, its hand primed for the impact, and struck.

But the blow never landed... the creature was shaking, not from fear, but from exertion... Shade's own hand had shot up and grabbed it, right as it was less than a tenth of an inch from his chest. There was now a black aura surrounding Shade's hand, it was lined with white, as if it had an outline. He then raised his head and stared right into the hell-spawns eyes, and it wept, it wept tears of complete dread at what it saw before it, it wept... tears of black ichor-ish like blood... and it screamed.

Shade smiled at the creature, he slowly got up off his knees and he smiled at the fucked up monster thing from the twilight zone, and he laughed, oh how he laughed at its feeble attempts to get away from him. And oh it screamed at him, it screamed like a willed banshee on its period after it got fucking crotch shotted with a damned mace!

"You dare whine in the presence of your Better? For shame creature, you have no confidence when facing your demise... how typical....." Shade looked at it with a manic plastered to his face. The black aura then started to glow on Shades hand, his grin growing as time passed, ten the creatures screams turned to howls. 

It howled in unbelievable pain, causing even Shade to wince at its high pitched shirekes. The cause of all of this was the arm that shade had grabbed onto, it was melting away, being eaten alive by the magic that Shade was pouring into it, the 'flames' then started to spread to the rest of its body. The howls and shrieks gained in volume until shade had enough. He reached up, legs spread shoulder width, his right arm now straight up in the air, his left down by his side. A black ethereal sword formed in his right hand, and he brought it down, bisecting the monster before him... silencing it forever.  
> The Journeys Making
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Harbinger looked at the creature in front of him… it was smiling with its grotesque teeth jutting out at disturbing angles, making a shiver shoot down his spine… what was left of it anyway. He could feel that he was going to die, the air in his lungs was long gone, both of them being obliterated when it plunged its arm through his chest and out his back.

He could hear the death rattle of his last ‘breath’ escaping his lips… it was not an unpleasant feeling, but it left a sour taste in his mouth. As the creature pulled its arm out he could feel his weight shift back to his now crippled legs. They both buckled and he landed on the floor, knees hitting hard against the stone. He was stationary for a few second before he fell over and sprawled out on the floor.

His soul told him to get up, to get up and fight the nightmare that was now threatening his brother, but his body was like a heavy weight against his mind, clouding his thoughts and making it impossible to regain any kind of control of his body.

Then he heard the screams, they were gut wrenching, or well they would have been if he could still feel his gut and lower extremities. The screams emanated from behind him, and they were of a very animalistic nature… he enjoyed the sound because he knew whom they belonged to. The creature was going to die by his brothers hands… and he would still be alive to look upon its corpse and laugh!

Then all sound cut out… he was in thrust into a white room, there was a table with two chairs set before it. One was occupied by a large serpentine creature, it was white with draconic wings and scales covering its whole body.

“Fear not human… I am here to help you… if you would let me.” The strange dragon told him. Harbinger walked over to the table and took the seat opposite the white dragon. Upon closer inspection, the dragon had white scales on most of its body, but had a light gold under belly and deep blue eyes and sky blue spines on its back.

“Might I ask your name, Dragon?” He said as he leaned back in his chair, making himself comfortable.

“My name is Coelestis Gladius… and I am the last of my kind… the dragons of now have lost a great many millennium of stored knowledge… but that is a different story…” The Dragon, now known as Coelestis, replied.

“Very well then, Coelestis… What do you want with a dying man such as me?” Harbinger crossed his arms, he wasn’t happy that he had died only a day after getting to this new world… frankly he was quite pissed.

“I have the power to heal your dying body… but you must do something for me…” Coelestis waved his claw and made a chessboard appear on the table in front of them. “I require that you end the evil of this world… it has held the balance for too long…” Coelestis moved his knight to H3, and Harbinger moved a pawn to B6.

“Well… I can’t promise anything… you know this… but I will see what I can do…” Harbinger watched as Coelestis moved his pawn to G4.

“The game is now in motion… and it is now beyond me to see who you will play against… good luck Cornelius… you will need it.” The world then fell away… leaving a very confused Man floating in the abyss.

oooOO=OOooo

Shade dragged harbinger out of the keep, his body was cold and lifeless, but he was not going to let his only friend rot in such a dank and god-forsaken place, even he had forsaken it. After his fight with the demon spawn thing, which he found torn to shreds when he came to, he had gone unconscious the second Harbinger hit the floor… but he remembered the screams of the monster dying… and he loved them!

Once they had crossed the thresh hold they were beset by all of the guards that had come with them to check on the captain… It was tehn that they saw him… Harbinger, his lifeless body being dragged by Shade as he exited the large doors, the guards went over and helped pick him up and carry him to a large cleared area.

They laid his body down on the cleared dirt area and looked on in dismay at the sight of his grizzly wound. Many of the mares and some stallions turned their heads, some of them even went to bushes and vomited at the sight of their dead commander. They were dumb struck. None of them could understand what kind of creature the two humans had to have one of them turn out like this…

“Shade… are you ok?” Slick foot had trotted up to the group and saw Shade kneeling down on the ground. Goff and Emerald were not too far behind her.

“Shade… what happened in there man?” Goff said as he walked up to the group, but upon seeing his erstwhile friends corpse did he go pale and fall to his knees as well. The contents of his stomach decided to make a guest appearance right then and they spewed all over the earthen road.

“Goff, Slick…” Shade looked at them, he had the (in)famous thousand yard stare, “We faced hell… and paid the price… WE PAID THE FUCKING PRICE! HARBINGER FUCKING DIED IN THERE! HOW THE HELL DOES THIS HAPPEN!” Shade fell forward and started to beat the ground, putting all of his frustrations into each and every hit, scarring every guradspony around him.

Emerald stood next to the group of three and looked on at the dead body of their companion, he heard the whimpers of his guard friend, and he bent down and took her in his arms. She had started to cry after hearing what had transpired in the keep… about all of the dead guardsponies and the Tartarus spawned creatures inside.

Everyone began to turn away and comfort their friends and comrades, none seeing the faint golden glow that overtook Harbingers lifeless corpse. The cells began to stir, each one multiplying and reconnecting the dead tissues and pumping life back into them. Bone began to regrow and form, replacing the broken and missing bones that were caused by the demon spawn that had thrust its arm into him. Then his spinal column began to restore itself, first making the discs and then the vertebra began to regrow. Finally, the lungs and heart finished regrowing and started to beat, forcing air and blood into the body.   Then there was a spark of electricity in his brain, jump starting his consciousness, and bringing him back from the land of the never-more…

An audible intake of air could be heard over the low whimpering’s of the gathered guardsponies and humans alike. Shade, being the paranoid bastard he is, jumped up and looked for the new noise. What he saw brought him back to his knees. His friend was sitting up and trying to clear his throat of built up mucus.

“Harbinger…” Shade whispered just loud enough to draw his companions, and their friend’s, attention.

“Hey guys… long time no see…” Harbinger said as he got up off the ground, he was standing there, looking at everyone , and they in turn stared at him. “Well, is anyone going to great the dead guy that just came back?” Harbinger was laughing at them, figuratively, he was smiling like a damned idiot as he walked over and helped shade to his feet.

Shade punched the man right in the gut and then drop kicked him onto a few bales of hay.
“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING ALIVE YOU DAMN SON OF A BITCH!” Shade was damn pissed right then, not just at losing his one and only friend, but at said friend getting back up off the ground and playing it off as if nothing happened.

“I thought you would be happy to see me… guess not…” Harbinger rolled off the hay bales and landed on his hands and knees, he was laughing and coughing from the swift kick he received.

“Fuck you man…” Shade ran up and bare hugged the damned idiot, “Fuck you, you damned idiot…” they held each other for a few second until shade released him and harbinger grabbed on to shade by his shoulders.

“We need to get everyone the fuck out of this damnable forest man… it’s going to be the end of us all…” Harbinger stared right into his friends eyes, giving him a look that said ‘I mean fucking business bi-otch so don’t fuck with me’ and Shade nodded, knowing he was right.

“Everyone, we are going to abandon this outpost… we are compromised… I need all of the high ranking officers to meet up at the new barracks in ten minutes.” Harbinger and Shade walked over to Emerald, Goff and Slick and motioned them to follow.

“What is the plan ‘Sir’?” Goff said sarcastically, earning him a slap upside the head by shade and emerald.

“ we are leaving this god-forsaken place and finding a new place to set up shop…” Harbinger replied as they walked into the barracks Emerald and Goff had built earlier that day.

There was a large table set up in the middle of the room; there was a large map of Equestria on the table top. There was a red mark showing them where they were, and Harbinger’s original guess as to where they were.  Mt. Whitney was about twenty miles west of the outpost and they would be heading east to get away from the dangers it represented. As everyone talked about where they would take their forces Harbinger, or as we now know him as Cornelius, learned that the area beyond the mountain ranges held many evils, from rouge dragons to pesky bandits.

“IF we aren’t going to the north or south… why not head to the salt lake… it’s a good place to get supplies and contact the princesses… they will need to know that Outpost Whitneigh has fallen… and soon.” Cartographer said to the humans and ponies gathered around the table. Cartographer was a golden brown pony with black hair red eyes and a cutie mark of a map with soldiers on it.

“How long do you think it will take us to get to Salt Lake City?”  Goff asked, he was off to the side, sitting in a chair twirling the hair of a guardspony mare that happened to be next to him, she didn’t seem to mind.

“Roughly three days, if the weather is permitting… six if we hit anything… any longer if we get attacked….” Carter was looking over the ma pointing out several ways we could go… one was through a desert area and would only take us three days, ne was through the forest, it would take five, but it went next to a water source. The last one went close to the mountains and would take us around a week, but there was a town close to the path, we could stay for a night and resupply.
“We will take the desert rout… it may take us through the heat and some enemies, but we need to inform the ruling parties that this pace has been lost…” Cornelius said as he rubbed the stubble on his face.

“Harbinger… do you think we will be able to make it?” Slick foot was over by Emerald, he was gently rubbing behind her ears and giving her a slight massage as she sat there. Emerald was watching the proceedings with a half interested stare, his mind mostly on the fact that Harbinger was now alive… even though they had all seen the giant gaping hole in his chest… it begged the question… what in the hell happened in there?

“I think so… but I wouldn’t put it past those damned creatures to try and attack us the instance we leave… so we will need to arm ourselves to the teeth and make sure all those that can’t fight are well protected.” Cornelius was very sure of himself, somehow he knew they would make it out of there… but he didn’t know how many they would loose…

“Goff, you and Emerald, along with Slick foot and your friend there, are going to be in charge of the injured and ill. You will have twenty guards under your command; use them wisely. Shade, you and I will be in charge of the defenses, you will be in front and I will be in back. You will take around fifty of the guards with you and I’ll take twenty.”  Cornelius was used to playing out things like this, his time playing scenarios like protect the king and kill the king made planning something like this easier then it normally would for most commanders. 

“Do you think that is such a wise decision Sir?” The pony next to Goff, Starling Light, said as she blew a bit of her mane out of her face.

“Yes, I have been a part of around fifty or so protection groups, I have only failed a tenth of that… but with all of our men being at least more than above average when it comes to defense, we should be alright if we come under attack.” He was putting a lot of trust in the ponies, and seeing that some of his friends had taken a liking to one or two of them, he knew he should at least give them a better than average chance at impressing him.

“If you think we will succeed, than I have no quarrels sir!” she saluted, Goff, Emerald, and Slick Foot, following suit. Emerald and Goff looking at their pony companions with slight worry, they were hoping against hope that nothing would attack; they were all tired after the Manticor incident.

Cornelius walked over to the door and stopped Emerald and Goff, “I will personally make sure they are kept safe, you can count on me… and if I fail…. My life is yours…” Cornelius bowed his head and walked back to the table. The other two were quite taken aback by his show of compassion for them and their ‘friends’ and they wouldn’t hold it against him if he failed… they hoped.

> Let the Journey Begin
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Harbinger and Shade were preparing for the journey to Salt Lake; it was going to take them a good two days to get there, so they were going to pack everything they could, since they were going through a desert they didn’t want to be stranded without enough supplies.

“Harby… what exactly happened in there… You died, epically I might add, and then your ass came back… So what the fuck man!?” They were under a make shift awning that housed several barrels of water and a few barrels of wine.

“Well, I remember laying there, listening to you kill that monster,” at that he grinned evilly, “And then I kind of blacked out and ended up in a white room…  There was this white dragon serpent thing that decided to start a game of chess with me, saying that we are the pieces of a much bigger game… and then he asked me a question.” At that, he scrunched up his face in concentration, “I can’t, for the life of me, remember what exactly he asked me to do… but whatever it was he said that if I agreed he would bring me back that was after I had cursed at him and damned the world for killing me again.” Harbinger laughed, he then sighed at the thought of what the dragon called him. “Shade, since I trust you impeccably… I have a secret to tell you, My name, or at least what I used to be called…”

Shade looked at him in interest, he had quietly listened, held his tongue, and waited to hear more, but he did not expect to hear this. “Why would you trust me so, I do not trust you as much to have given you anything… yet you show me this kindness and trust as if I have earned it… but I have not. You put too much faith in others my friend.” Shade was blunt and to the point, but he still felt some form of thankfulness for this show of trust, even if it was unwarranted.

“That is where you are wrong my friend, you have saved my life on more than one occasion, and have been by my side since we ended up in this freak show of a place…  And the fact that we are the only ones to have not fallen for the lands temptations I say we are still the only ‘sane’ ones left…” Harbinger paused and got up from his barrel. He walked over to Shade and extended his right hand, smiling softly as he did so.

“Greetings, My name is Cornelius, Crown Prince of Caliban, and it is a pleasure to have finally met you Shade of the ‘Void worlds.’” Shade took his hand, not even phased by his friend’s old title.

“I can understand why you would conceal something like that, but why would you want me to know such a thing?” Shade was truly curious about his friends reasoning behind it, it might later allow him better control over the man in front of him. 

“I am telling this to you for a few reasons, it holds no weight on my soul for the fact it has no purpose here, I do not wish to lie to my only friend, even if it is not a lie in the first place. Lastly, someone needs to know who I used to be, what I once was, but also who I am now.” Harbinger, or Cornelius, sighed and sat back down on his Barrel.

“Well, it seems you have made up your mind, But when we meet the princesses, shouldn’t you use your old name, just for the sake of it?” Shade asked a hint of mischief in his tone.

“I might, it would definitely give us an advantage when talking to them, but we will just have to wait and see…” Shade nodded in agreement, the caravan was almost ready, and their journey would be one for the ages. In ages past, there have been many marches across the lands of Equestria, but none were as pure of tact and reason than this, the need to survive and flourish… the want to see another day, it fueled the ponies of Outpost Whitneigh. They were going to live, and nothing was going to stand in their way.





“Shade Sir, Anubis Calif, Third Regiment, Sargent fourth squad, reporting for duty, Sir.” Anubis Calif stood before the towering form of Shade, Anubis was a black and white Unicorn, His mane was two tone and his coat was black. His eyes were a red-ish brown color and he had a set of crossed samurai swords as a cutie mark. He wore basic body armor and no helmet to speak of.

“… If you insist, pony, then take up position next to the lead wagon, you will be walking with me.” Shade looked down at the white and black unicorn for a few moments longer and then walked off. Anubis, saluting him all the while, just stared ahead until Shade had walked out of view.

“That was… interesting… Maybe he just doesn’t trust us yet… well, I’ll go find the rest of my squad and bring them… we don’t need a recap of what happened to that other creature…” Anubis shivered at the thought of seeing the torn chest of Harbinger, all of the blood and fluids leaking from his shattered form… it was devastating to moral to see one of their leaders like that… ‘Well, I wouldn’t say leaders… more like Heroes, they sure as Tartarus saved all our lives when the Manticors showed up… Buck…” Anubis shook his head to be rid his dark thought and went about finding his ponies.





“My brother, the time has come… The men are ready and the supplies are secure… we should go.” Goff and Emerald were standing side by side, in an ‘at-ease’ posture, they had come to inform Harbinger of their imminent departure.

“Very well then… let us be gone from this place… it holds darkness and death in its grasps and shall take us with it if not left soon, so as said… let us be off.” Harbinger turned around, walked in between his two allies, and off towards the caravan staging area.





“Harbinger… we are ready… The men and women are ready as well… let us be gone. We need to leave this place.” A dark figure moved out from under an overhang, revealing him to be Shade, He was wearing his usual garb of midnight blue and black garments, except that his mouth wand head were uncovered, revealing a youthful face and a long semi-braided head of black hair.

“Good… we will move out then…” Harbinger reached out and offered his hand to Shade, in way of parting.

“Good luck, we’ll need it.” Shade said as they clasped arms, after their friendly shake they parted ways and took to their pre-ordained positions.






Five Hours Later


The caravan was at the edge of the great forests of the west, gaining little peace for what laid before them, they saw the great expanses of sand and dirt… it stretched for miles and miles in almost every direction. The winds were warmer, though they knew that was going to be one of their great hindrances by the second day.  The sky was a lighter shade of blue than that of the skies over the forest, the air, even though they were less than twenty feet from the forest, was dryer and somehow heavier than it should have been.

“This bodes negatively for the rest of us doesn’t it…” Goff asked. All four of the humans had found a large rock to take vantage of. They were upon it to gain a better view of the lands before them. Among them Goff was the most nervous about their new location, for reasons he could not place he found it a foreboding scene to be a part of.

“No… I feel it as well, like a darkness that has yet to find its place in the cracks and crevices of the earth…” Emerald was no stranger to the darkness of the earth, he had seen many wars and many bloody conflicts… and this land reminded him of the after math of such conflicts… just with less blood. “We must be careful my friends… this place is dark… not even the evils of this world dare step here… tread lightly and keep your sword close… if not drawn.” He then made an about face and went to re-join his men in the caravan.





The stallions and mares of Outpost Whitneigh had waited for almost an hour before their leaders gave them the go ahead to march on the desert…  It was an order they had been looking forward to… and dreading, the desert held many dangers, like giant scorpions, large rattlers, Lion bugs the size of an adolescent dragon, and roaming bands of raiders. Most others would be loath to step in this place… but for them it was the only viable option.

“MARCH!” Four voices rang out over the din of clattering armor and light chatter. A resounding “HO”  answered the call, and everyone went sword foist into the desert proper.