After a mishap with new Summoner's Rift, 10 champions find themselves in a strange world. Tension builds among friends and rivals, but what will happen when they reach the boiling point?
Since his return things have only gotten more frustrating for Artemis. Unable to move forward, the ghosts of his past begin to haunt him, but before he can sort with his own problems he has to deal with the arrival of ten strange new creatures to Equestria. He can only hope that dealing with them will bring him closer to resolving his own problems.
Using old lore because, the new lore hasn't been explained enough I don't own the characters, lore, names etc, Riot pls dont sue me
Equestria 12:00am, 2nd of Maruk, 6 Months after the return of Artemis – Secluded Hill, Lupinia
“WHAT DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DO?” shouted Artemis as he appeared at the top of a grassy hill with a flash of light.
As he stood on the hill he could only look to the stars and listen, but the only sound he heard was the rustling of the grass in the breeze. This was the most recent in a series of heated arguments with Luna, and it was always over the same issue: the Griffon Kingdom. Since his return mentioning the Griffon Kingdom had become the quickest way to bring his blood to a boil, they took advantage of his absence to wipe out his subjects, family, and their culture. A large part of him desperately wanted to raze the country and everything in it to the ground, but Luna always protested otherwise saying she would be no better than Celestia if she allowed genocide to occur regardless of the country it was in. The frustrating thing was he couldn’t be angry with her, it was her same value of life that drew him to her initially.
“What else can I do? Do you really want me to just ignore that they decimated my country without provocation?”
“Another argument?” asked Vinyl suddenly.
“Yeah”.
“Uh you want to talk about it?”
“Still not ready to talk about it, probably won’t be ready to talk about it for a while.”
It would’ve been awkward discussing his revenge driven desire to commit genocide with anyone other than Luna or Celestia. Vinyl was a good friend, but she didn't have the perspective to understand what he was going through.
“Oh, well we are here if you ever need somepony to vent to,”
“Thanks Vinyl, it means a lot to know you and Octavia are there for me,”
“Look at you, how the mighty have fallen,” laughed familiar voice. “Our all-powerful King reduced to a sniveling mutt,” spat the strange voice.
Artemis recognized the voice immediately, but he couldn’t believe who it belonged to was still alive. As he looked over his head, he saw the voice came from a blurry shadow. As he focused he saw a large black wolf and covered in old scars, the most notable ones were across his face leaving him blind in one eye. The wolf was sitting on his hind legs, and contempt and bitterness in his voice were unmistakable, but he looked like he hadn’t aged a day since he last saw him.
“Lucian? Lucian Blackfang? But how?” stammered Artemis as he rolled to his feet.
“I never liked you, but I never doubted your love of the tribe. Then you go and prove me wrong by betraying us all, when the tribe needed its leader most you abandoned us,” spat Lucian as he glared at Artemis.
“It’s not like that Lucian, I would never abandon the tribe. The tribe was the only family I had, and only one thing has ever been just as important to me, you know that.”
“Not only did you abandon us, but after the fact you won’t even avenge us. I may have been bitter about your rule, but even I respected the how much fear the threat of your retaliation created. Now look at the sniveling cowardly dog you have become, you have been de-fanged, collared, and kept on a short leash. Always begging for freedom, but never allowed away from your master.”
“Really? You would level such insults at another wolf let alone your leader? Well come closer, I can show you what happened to my fangs. Better yet I can show you how short my leash is while I’m at it,” snarled Artemis as he pounced.
Artemis flew over the top of the hill trying to grab ahold of arrogant wolf before him but, when he landed he was surprised to find nothing in his claws. He swore he was right on target, but still he didn’t feel anything as he flew. Could Blackfang gotten that fast in absence? He turned to see Lucian standing atop the hill looking down on him.
“I see no other wolf here, only a pathetic traitorous mutt. Come on doggie, show me how long your leash is,” mocked Lucian as he disappeared over the top of hill.
Without another word, Artemis sprinted after him.
Valoran 12:00pm, 2nd of December – Institute of War Summoner's Quarters
“Don’t worry officer, I brought the fuzzy cuffs this time,” moaned a groggy voice aloud.
“He better wake up from this so we can kick his ass,” laughed another voice.
“If Nocturne can’t wake him nothing can,” responded a 3rd feminine voice.
“Darkness? Wait, I’m under arrest? But officer what do you mean by your partner? Oh no, I didn’t mean it like that. PLEASE NOT THE FACE!” shouted the sleeping victim as he suddenly bolted upright.
He looked around his room and was conflicted. On one hand the sexy sheriff of his dreams was absent, but her wild punch happy partner wasn’t about to introduce his face to her fists. However he did notice the two other summoners in his room.
“Hey Jevitz, sounds like you had a pretty bad dream bro. I know that’s a really shitty way to start your morning, but if you don’t get your ass in gear I will plant my foot there,” smiled the mildly irritated male.
“Henry? Gem? Why are you guys in my room? How did you get into my room?” asked Jevitz groggily. He wasn't particularly close to either of them, and they were both towards the top of his short list of peers not to piss off.
Henry grew up as an orphan in Noxus, and the Noxian ideas of strength did him no favors growing up. Weakness was not tolerated, and to survive he developed a strangely disarming positive attitude with a much crueler undertone. As soon as he discover his magical abilities he began extorting money from everyone he could, with a smile on his face the entire time. However his natural talent with magic got him quickly noticed within Noxus and later he was recruited to be a summoner, and now he is largely considered a prodigy amongst his peers despite his dark nature.
Gem is a sweet girl born in Zaun, but she was unable to handle the pollution resulting from the city’s unchecked scientific experiments and manufacturing. Her parents sent her up north to the southern Freljord to live with her distant relatives in the much cleaner and friendlier Avarosan Tribes. During a raid by the Winter’s Claw, she inadvertently tapped into her dormant magical energy wiping out the raid but also her village. She was eventually brought before Queen Ashe, and contrary to what she expected the Queen personally ensured that she was accepted as a summoner for the League of Legends so she could learn to control her dormant power.
“My god you are dense, why they let you become a summoner is beyond me.”
“What he means is that you overslept … again, and Zac was passing by and he just stuck his hand in the lock for us,” answered Gem sweetly.
“Overslept? For what? ... OH CRAP THE BETA TEST! Did you do it without me?”
“No genius, we wouldn’t be here if we had. Oh that wasn’t a bluff earlier, I recommend you start getting ready quickly you have 10 minutes.”
“The test is supposed to start now, why did you wait so long to wake me?”
“You think we haven’t been trying? You were out cold, we had to get Nocturne to scare you awake. On that note you now owe Nocturne a favor, whatever he wants barring freedom because we needed his help.”
“Nocturne? Of course, that was going great until the darkness happened," shouted Jevitz from the bathroom. “Wait was I drugged? Was I the only one in here this morning?”
“When we came in you were alone like you always are,” answered Henry happily. “You should hurry up otherwise I might let those officers know about your dream.”
“You wouldn’t dare Henry. Gem please check the far right sock in my top drawer.”
“That depends entirely on you bro, the High Summoners aren’t going to be happy if this test goes wrong or is delayed too much. If you ruin this for us, who knows what I might say or do out of anger?”
“It’s empty.”
“FUCK ME.”
“Apparently not even in your dreams.”
“Just my luck, she robbed me. Fantastic but I don’t have time to deal with this,” groaned Jevitz as he lost his balance feeling groggy suddenly.
“Drugged? Are you ok? What happened last night?”
“I went to Graggy’s Bar, for some innocent observation not to get drunk.”
“Going to a bar to spy on/stalk the champions isn’t better than going to get drunk just so you know.”
“I met an amazing woman, I ordered us both a drink. We came back here, then nothing. I’m not minimizing it either, I ordered one drink for us both. I know how strong Gragas’s brews are, but strangely I can’t remember her face either. She was definitely gorgeous, but I don’t remember anything else about her.”
“Was she a champion? What drink?”
“I don’t think so, I’m pretty sure I would’ve been more nervous if she had been,” responded Jevitz sheepishly as they started to leave for the testing grounds. “Ummm I ordered uhhh the *cough* Grag and Drag”
“You are probably just making this up, but getting drugged the night before isn’t a good enough excuse to save you if you fuck this up for us.”
“That’s the weird thing though, I’m not making this up. I went there to observe a few champions, and opportunity rang and I answered the call. I should’ve known though, a woman that beautiful wasn’t interested in me and was only going to rob me.”
“Yeah you really should’ve seen that one coming,” laughed Henry.
“Think of it as karma for ordering Gragas’s strongest drink to try to pick up a woman for the night.”
“If you would’ve seen her you wouldn’t blame me for trying,she was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
“I love to watch idiots dig their own graves.”
“Literally or metaphorically?”
“First one then other preferably,” laughed Henry. “I was going to give you a shovel and a push in the right direction, but you seem content to do it by hand. I wonder how deep you are going to put yourself before you realize it.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Don't think too much about it. Anyway yesterday was the first of the month, so you went to Gragas's to watch Vi, Jayce, and most importantly Caitlyn,” smirked Henry as he looked at Gem who had been silent for a while. “What’s up with your strange Caitlyn obsession?”
“She single-handedly transformed my home from a crime ridden cesspool that rivaled Bilgewater to a safe technological marvel the whole world respects,” started Jevitz rehearsed ease. “She is not only the world’s greatest detective, but also sheriff of the police force, a master of eight different martial arts styles, and a master marksman. Not to mention she is easy on the eyes, has legs for days, and wears a mini skirt.”
Henry was absolutely dumbfounded; his normal happy demeanor had been replaced by incredulousness.
“Wow, I knew you could be dense at times, but this is impressively stupid. You are playing dumb right? You can't be this stupid and still be ranked higher than me. "
“Oh just shut up and keep moving, we are almost there.”
“And now she is pissed, 6ft under just wasn’t good enough for you huh?” laughed Henry as he matched her speed. “Just how deep will you dig yourself before you can’t get out?”
“Seriously what are you talking about?”
“Forget I said anything, start prepping yourself mentally. They are probably going to want you to start as soon as we arrive.”
“Yeah, I know I’ve been prepping for this for almost a year,” thought Jevitz.
As they barged into the room they were greeted by 18 other faces, ten champions and eight other summoners.
“Only 20 minutes late, could’ve been worse honestly,” thought Jevitz to himself as he walked up to the front podium.
“My apologies Summoners and Champions, I know everyone is very busy around this time, and I did not intend to waste the slightest bit of your time but there are formalities that must be addressed,” started Jevitz. “Thank you all once again for assisting us in our tests of the new Summoner’s Rift location. You will be taking part of our final tests of the location, and as a result you will be having a practice match in addition to the normal summoning tests. You will be summoned by one of the ten summoners in the circle which you have probably been paired with before. I am the anchor just in case, should anything go wrong you will be returned here safely. If there are any questions, blagh blagh blagh,” finished Jevitz as he threw away an imaginary notecard. “Most of you have been a part of the testing before, and all of you have been summoned before. If you have any questions let me hear them, otherwise let us get this over with before the High Summoners come and verbally kick my teeth in for being late.”
With no questions the summoners began their usual connections, each champion was connected to a summoner, and each summoner was connected to their other four teammates plus the anchor.
“Alright, then with everyone linked up I will begin the summoning process,” finished Jevitz as he closed his eyes suddenly feeling another wave of sickness coming.
As the other ten summoners mirrored his actions the room filled with a familiar blue light as the ten champions felt themselves be absorbed into the Aether. Most new champions get horribly nauseated from it, but for the most part they were all seasoned veterans of the league. They noticed immediately that something wasn’t right as the normally quick and smooth journey became a maelstrom of chaos. The blue light filling the room started to flicker and the air crackled with energy. A woman screamed, and before anyone could react they felt the champions disappear.
When everyone opened their eyes, the champions were gone, Jevitz was clutching his head, and Gem was unconscious. While all the scrutinizing eyes of his peers were on him, Jevitz tried to process what exactly had happened, but even trying to think sent searing pain through his skull.
“I don’t, what happened?” groaned Jevitz as he looked at his fellow summoners.
“YOU DON’T KNOW?” roared another summoner that was checking on Gem.
“8ft, can he go 10?” chirped Henry from the corner.
In a sudden flash of green a tall hooded figure appeared, and before they had said anything they had commanded everyone’s attention. Their power radiated in waves, and body language said this wasn’t a pleasant visit.
“High Summoner Kolminye? What brings you here?” cowered Jevitz as the pain in his head started to subside.
“12ft eh? How low can you go?"
Equestria 2:30am, 2nd of Maruk, 6 Months after the return of Artemis – Scarred Plains, Griffon Kingdom
Artemis followed through jungles, plains, and rivers for hours, and much to his dismay Artemis could not close the gap. It seemed no matter how fast he ran, Lucian was always that much faster even at his top speed Lucian stayed ahead of him. It didn’t make sense to him, could Lucian have gotten someone to enhance him with magic? It might’ve explained how he was still alive, but who would’ve done it? Artemis wanted answers and could’ve teleported to him easily but that would’ve been admitting defeat.
Both wolves continued until they burst from the trees into a foggy plain. The fog was thick, and the familiar smell quickly invaded Artemis’s nose: blood, metal, bone, and decay. It was the smell of war. Artemis looked down to realize the rock under his foot was actually the fragment of a skull. He realized he was standing in what used to be a battlefield. Shortly after Artemis noted there was something off about the area, the fog was think almost suffocatingly so and there was tangible malice emanating from everything. It was as if he was surrounded by an ocean of hatred, and the most unnerving thing was Lucian was nowhere to be seen.
“BETRAYER,” shouted a voice. “MURDERER, LIAR, DECEIVER, TYRANT, COWARD,” shouted voices from all directions.
“How could you abandon us?”
“You left us to die!”
“What did we do?
“We needed you!”
“Where were you?”
“Why?”
Thousands of voices all asking the same questions over and over echoed throughout the clearing.
Panic surged within Artemis as he realized he recognized most of the voices despite their distortion, he was hearing his pack. At that realization icy fear gripped his heart; he didn’t know how to begin answering them. He never intended to leave them, but still they were left alone. His entire tribe felt like he had betrayed them, and he wasn’t sure he could blame them. As the voices enclosed him, his will deserted him. Pride succumbed to panic as he turned tail and ran. Though he ran the voices never sounded any further away.
“I always knew you were weak,” laughed Blackfang. “That’s right run, run from your failures like the cowardly dog you are.”
Artemis did just that, he ran desperately trying to escape the voices that would not be silenced.
Equestria 3:00am, 2nd of Maruk, 6 Months after the return of Artemis – Cereus Valley, Lupinia
No matter how far or fast he ran the voices refused to stop. Their questions and accusations plagued him like a swarm of wasps, but they cut him more deeply than any other physical wound he suffered.
“TRAITOR!”
“Artemis?”
“OATHBREAKER!”
“LIAR!”
“Artemis!?”
“COWARD”
“MUTT”
“ARTEMIS!”
Artemis was so focused on voices that he didn’t notice the rapidly approaching edge of the valley, and he ran straight over the edge of the cliff. Too distraught to reach for his magic he tumbled down cliff hitting every tree branch and pointed rock along the way. When he finally came to a stop, he wasted no time venting his frustration.
“IT WASN’T MY FAULT, LEAVE ME ALONE!” roared Artemis verbally and mentally. His voice echoed off the walls of the valley into the darkness of the night.
“ARTEMIS!” shouted back different voices from before. “What’s going on? Are you ok?”
It took Artemis several seconds for his senses to return enough for him to recognize the voices as the Elements, Vinyl, and Luna. He let out a small sigh of relief as the voices of his tribe had stopped drilling him, and he took an extra moment to calm down before he answered.
“I will be fine,” responded Artemis shakily as he linked all eight of them together.
“BULLCRAP, if you are fine then I must be a dragon princess,” shot back Vinyl immediately.
“Good enough for me,” responded Rainbow Dash groggily as she distanced herself from the mental conversation.
“Same for me as well, goodnight girls,” agreed Rarity following Rainbow Dash’s example.
“Come now, don’t be that way. I know you ain’t cl-,” started Applejack before she was cut off by Artemis.
“I said I will be fine. I’m sorry for waking you all, but I will be fine. Don’t worry about me.”
“Artemis, our emotions have been linked for a very long time, and never have I felt panic and fear like that from you. Remember you are linked to nature in the same way we are linked, you have the predators in the Everfree Forest cowering right now. What happened?” pleaded Luna.
Artemis considered explaining what had happened, but he wasn’t sure he was ready to face exactly what he had encountered. He wasn’t sure he knew what had happened, but his burden wasn’t going to became theirs. He would figure out exactly what happened on his own, at some other time, when he was ready.
While he was trying to figure out how to get out of talking about it, he felt a sudden disturbance. It felt like something had broken through the membrane separating them from the other dimensions, but only thing he knew was powerful and foolish enough to do that was Discord. While he didn’t sense any more chaos than normal, he knew something had just entered their world.
“Luna did you feel that?”
“Don’t try to change the subject.”
“Luna, I’m serious. Did you feel that? Something just forced its way into this world.”
“He is right, something is coming,” whispered Twilight. “It’s not one thing though, it is a lot of smaller things.”
“Yeah I can feel 10 living creatures coming, but I don’t know what they are or if they are friendly. There are few things capable of reaching into other universes; whatever it is consider it dangerous.”
“I will alert Celestia, though she probably is aware of the situation already. They don’t seem to be moving together or in any form of obvious organization, but I will also put the guards on high alert. Don’t think you have gotten out of this Artemis, we will talk about what happened later.”
“Oh great another potentially world-threatening crisis, and this time it’s aliens,” chimed Vinyl sarcastically as she began to distance herself. “Artemis we are your friends, which means we will always there when need us. If you need to talk about what happened I’m all ears, but I’m gonna leave the saving the world or whatever to you guys.”
“Thanks Vinyl. One of them seems to have landed in Cereus Valley, I’m going to investigate.”
“Wait, what?. Artemis this is serious, we can’t just approach this recklessly.”
“Relax Luna. Honestly what do you think I’m going to do?” said Artemis mischievously.
“I don’t know, but it can’t be good. If we allowed you to run unchecked who knows what kind of damage you would cause."
“Allowed?” whispered Artemis to himself as recalled the words of Lucian.
“I guess I’m just a wild dog needing to be tamed then huh? I’m going to scout, I will let you know what I find. Don’t make further contact, with me or them, until I contact you.”
“Wait wh-,”
Artemis severed the conversation abruptly, those last words left hanging in the air, irritating him. He knew he couldn’t risk any sudden distractions while he was searching, and the silence was welcome. He had tolerated more than enough voices in his head for the day, and the search was a welcome distraction from his other problems. He instead focused on the new life that had arrived in the valley, as far as he could tell it wasn't really moving around .
“First rule of the hunt: always make sure what you hunt is prey,” thought Artemis to himself as he reveled in the tingling of his spine. “Unfortunately no time for that, the hunt is on.”
Valoran 1:00pm, 2nd of December, Valoran– Institute of War, High Summoner Kolminye’s Office
Jevitz sat in the rather large office of High Summoner Kolminye nursing what he would generously describe as “The Hangover from Hell”. Every footstep from the pacing woman drove searing rods of iron through his skull, and it was only made worse whenever she split from her various mental conversations to address him directly. Though during those few moments when she stopped pacing and wasn’t addressing him, he had time to marvel at everything in her office. The walls were lined with book cases stuffed with old texts and mystical artifacts from all over the world. The room was largely color neutral in the sense that she didn’t show any obvious allegiance or affiliation to any of the major city-states. It always seemed strange that no one ever knew anything about the high summoners outside of what they did publicly, but before he could continue his train of thought he caught a glimpse of Henry floating outside of the window smiling.
“Great just what I needed, when I get finished here I have to worry about that psycho. Fan-fucking-tastic.”
“You cannot fathom the gravity of what your wanton carelessness has caused,” grumbled Kolminye. “Your monumental incompetence has lost the league 10 champions and possibly a summoner, and that’s without mentioning that those people will more than likely lose their life where ever they end up, if of course they survive the journey.”
“Don’t you think I know that, you pompous bitch? Do you really feel the need to rub it in? Contrary to popular belief I realize that I am responsible for likely killing 10 people and putting the other in what could be a permanent coma. As soon as my head stops feeling like Gnar’s chew toy I plan on figuring out how to get them back,” thought Jevitz irritably though he said nothing.
“I heard that,” said Kolminye with one of the most evil smirks he had ever seen.
“12! TOLD YOU HE WAS THAT STUPID, PAY UP!” shouted Henry to someone below.
“Impudent, nosey, lip reader,” groaned Kolminye as she magically slammed the drapes closed before returning her attention to Jevitz.
“Well I’m glad you think you understand the problems you have caused, hopefully you will understand the severe nature of your punishment in the same capacity.”
Her cruel smile made his heart plummet. Severe punishment wasn’t something he had seriously thought about, a brutal chewing out was assured, but he expected to get long term probation or demotion. Accidents were fairly common and not taken too seriously amongst newer summoners. However he was not a newer summoner, and most accidents don’t end up nearly as bad as this one.
“I hope you were serious about figuring out how to get them back because tomorrow morning, we are sending you out to search for them. You will go from world to world searching for the champions you lost, and you will keep searching until you find them or die trying.”
Jevitz paled at her words, his punishment was clear.
“So you are sending me to die? You know as well as I do that there are infinite numbers of alternate worlds out there and that they could’ve landed in any of them, hell they might not have even been fortunate enough to hit another world. They could just be drifting through the aether endlessly for all we know; this is just your politically correct version of an execution.”
“See I knew you would understand. You really aren’t as foolish and stupid as everyone believes, close mind you but not quite there.”
“Anyone ever let you know that you are a bitch?”
“Five times by four people, two of them are still alive, but one of them won’t be for much longer. Unfortunately you can't goad me into letting you out of your punishment by killing you early. You will be spending the evening in the dungeons next to the other hazards to everything around them, and in the morning you will be sent out to begin your search.”
As she finished two guards appeared seemingly out of nowhere and immediately put silencing cuffs on him. While he did his best to struggle, the young mage was no match for the muscular trained soldiers that had gotten a hold of him. Even knowing that no one would be able to hear him, he decided to vent his frustration.
“MARK MY WORDS KOLMINYE! I WILL FIND THEM, AND I WILL MAKE IT BACK. EVEN IF IT IS ONLY TO WIPE THAT SMUG GRIN OFF YOUR FACE."
Kolminye could only grin as she read his lips.
“Do it then, find the champions and come back here. Defy everyone’s expectations and prove us all wrong. Until then I will mark your words, I will mark them down as the empty and hollow words of a dead man.”
Those were the last words Jevitz heard from High Summoner Kolminye as he was dragged to his cell beneath the institute. The dark prison was normally reserved for the worst creatures that couldn’t be released without terrorizing most of Valoran. Jevitz feared it would be the last place he recognized for a very long time. With the guards and Kolminye gone his bravado had deserted him, his frustration and fear finally caught up to him. He wept, not only for himself but for the eleven other lives he had most likely ended. In the darkness of prison he couldn’t see a glimmer of hope, they were lost and soon he would be too.
Equestria 3:15am, 2nd of Maruk, 6 Months after the return of Artemis – Cereus Valley, Lupinia
Diana had never particularly liked the summoning process, it gave her the same sense of vertigo she got from flying. This summoning in particular had left her very sick and very angry, and she was going to make sure someone was going to answer for it.
As she began to rub her throbbing head, she immediately noticed something was wrong. She had a horn, and she didn’t have hands. She had hooves, she had been transformed into a unicorn. Oddly her armor seemed to fit her perfectly fine, and luckily nothing had happened to her blade. To her own surprise she was strangely calm about the sudden change, but that didn’t last long as her fear and anger overwhelmed her.
“WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS HENRY?” shouted Diana mentally as she fought to not succumb to her nausea. “JEVITZ THIS HAD BETTER NOT BE A JOKE!”
“Henry?"
"Jevitz?"
"Anyone?"
"Hello?"
Though to her surprise she didn’t get a response, in fact she couldn’t feel any connection to any summoner. The next thing she noticed was that she hadn’t heard the announcer welcome them to the Summoner’s Rift. She gingerly opened her eyes to see she wasn’t near a “base” of sorts, she appeared to be in a jungle but not one she was used to. She didn’t see any of her “teammates” either and she had none of the normal senses that came with participating in a match.
“Where am I?”
As she looked around, the area seemed less and less suitable for combat between champions. She was quickly becoming unsettled by the lack of familiarity, for even the plants were similar to ones she had seen before but not quite the same. It was then that the realization struck her.
“Those fools transformed and sent me to the wrong place. This isn't the first time we were split up during the trial runs, but normally we stay connected to the summoner. This body transformation is new though, I wonder what happened to everyone else.”
While it was irritating that she had been the one not to make it, Diana wasn’t really worried. She would just use her connection with the moon to figure out where she was and then travel to the nearest city.
As she reached out to the moon for strength, she was surprised to be walled off. The moon had turned away her call for strength, more than that it seemed to be actively distancing itself from her.
“What?” What’s going on? Have I done something wrong? Or is it the new body?”
Diana couldn’t help but begin to panic, she couldn’t understand why the moon would reject and abandon her now of all times. She had been dutifully gathering followers whenever she could, and not a night went by without the moon receiving a prayer from her.
She concluded that it had to be a test of some sort, and of course all she had to do was prove her devotion to be accepted again. She resolved to find her way back to the Lunari Temple on her own, but as she was deciding what direction to head towards first, a bright silver glint in the distance caught her eye.
She took up her blade and cut through the brush, hoping the glint was coming from someone or something that could help her. When she finally cut her way through the vine, she discovered the source of the light. She found herself in a clearing before a massive statue of a winged unicorn in front of the moon, and in front of the statue seemed to be an altar of some sort. The statue seemed to have been built so that the moonlight reflected off of it towards a spot directly on top of the altar which further refract the light all around the grove.
Diana was awed and confused at the sight before her. Everything about the area was beautifully illuminated by the moon, and she noticed there were even Cereus plants surrounding the area even if they weren’t in bloom. She appreciated the effort that went into making a proper shrine to the moon, but she knew of every moon worshipping group in Valoran. None of them depicted the moon as a winged unicorn, and even fewer of them had access to the rare Cereus plants growing around the grove.
“Maybe this is part of my test.”
On the altar she found numerous dried long dead Cereus flowers and an open book she presumed to be their sacred scripture until she saw many of the pages from the beginning and end were torn or scratched out.
“The Tale of Two Sisters and the Tragedy of the Mare in the Moon?"
She was certain this was no coincidence. The moon had led her here, and it wanted her to read this. She wasn’t sure why, but she knew it to be true.
Desperate and determined to regain her lost favor, Diana easily and eagerly lost herself in the story. It was far from the first time she had read by moon light, and she couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful night.
Valoran 5:45am, 3rd of December, Valoran– Institute of War, Dungeon Basement
Jevitz awoke to the sound of the heavy dungeon door closing, a deafening clap of thunder signaling the approach of his grim future. He had spent the night trying to figure out a solution or an escape, but the only possible one was for him to fight when/if they took the cuffs off of him. Fighting the three high summoners and whatever champions or guards they had was suicide, and they weren’t foolish enough to not have a dimensional lock to prevent anything from teleporting in or out.
He patiently waited expecting to hear footsteps from the heavily armored guards, but strangely he heard nothing. He looked up expecting to see a heavily armored guard, but to his surprise there was a stunning and familiar woman walking towards his cell.
She glided through the darkness with the grace of a queen and the silence of a skilled assassin, her piercing eyes never left him for a second. Her dark hair flowed like rivers of ink, and she wore an equally dark sleek dress with a split leaving just enough for the imagination. She had the body of a well-trained soldier and the curves of a famous courtesan, and her caramel colored skin and amber eyes told him she was of Noxian descent.
Her appearance unnerved him, and it wasn’t just her presence it was something about her that seemed wrong. He recognized her as the woman he met at the bar, but it was more than that. There was a faint but constant sense of familiarity eating at him, she even had a bubbly smile that he swore he had seen before, just not on her.
“How are you doing Jevitz?” smiled the young woman her voice echoing throughout the dungeon.
Jevitz had been prepared to explode and spew forth words so vitriolic that Singed could've used them in his poisons, but her completely genuine greeting had left him dumbstruck.
“Does she realize that she is the entire reason I’m in here? That the blood of 11, soon to be 12, people was on her hands? She has the nerve to come here and act friendly?” thought Jevitz as he inhaled preparing to go off.
“Don’t waste your breath,” she cooed as her smile became sympathetic. “I wouldn’t hear a thing anyway, I’m here because I thought it would be cruel to leave you to die knowing nothing.”
Those words completely took the air out of him. Jevitz really wanted to lay into her, but he didn’t want to ruin his chance to learn what was going on or even get set free.
“Don’t get your hopes up either. I’m not here to set you free nor give you any important information; I just thought you would feel better if you knew you were dying for the good of Valoran.”
“What?” roared Jevitz silently as he heard the dungeon door creak open.
“That’s my cue,” smiled the woman as she turned to leave. “Hope you feel better knowing it was nothing personal, you just got put in charge of the wrong thing at the wrong time.”
“That’s bullcrap! Don’t you dare leave!"
“Good bye,” whispered the woman before she just vanished leaving Jevitz confused.
“What the hell? I was set up for this? Of course I couldn’t tell anyone if I tried and either way no one would believe me,” thought Jevitz dejectedly as two guards approached his cell.
They were the type of guards he feared they would send, the type that were way too athletic for him to try to escape from. The more he thought about it, they would be pretty terrible guards if they were as out of shape as he was.
“Though there are only two of them,” he thought as they pulled him out the small room. "I might be able get the jump on them and run once we get out."
Before he could further contemplate running they had already connected another chain to his cuffs, and they had begun pulling him towards the stairs.
“So much for that plan."
It was early morning, but the halls of the Institute of War were never completely empty. There were always champions and summoners busily going about their business, and this morning was no different. Right as they went around the corner of the door he spotted Lux giving him a confused look, though it quickly passed and she gave him her usual friendly smile and wave. Though he tried to wave back, the guards immediately pulled on his cuffs.
“Keep your arms and hands down prisoner,” growled the guard leading him.
“No sudden movements either,” added the one behind him.
Jevitz nodded in acceptance of their rules, there was no reason to start anything yet. So he gave Lux the best smile he could, but give his current situation he was certain it looked pitiful. She spared him sad smile in understanding before she went to continue the rest of her morning.
It was a strange experience, to be paraded around like a criminal before whatever champions were awake and out that morning. Jevitz wasn’t sure how he expected to be viewed by the people around him, he got looks ranging from apathy to sympathy from most champions and summoners he came across.
As they passed by the meditation garden, he saw a strange sight. Just ahead was Irelia, Captain of the Ionian Guard, and she seemed to be shaking in the arms of Lee Sin. As he approached he noticed her blades were moving erratically, pointing at everything that moved even the slightest bit. It wasn’t until the blades pointed at him, that he looked at Irelia enough to realize she was crying.
The realization had struck him as odd, for Irelia was usually very disciplined when it came to controlling her emotions. As he questioned what could possibly make her cry, she caught a glimpse of him staring. Her eyes went some distress to surprise to rage immediately, and it was then that he figured out why she would be crying. A few moments too late as she was suddenly gone in a blur and before anyone knew it there was a blade at the throat of each guard, and she was holding Jevitz by the collar.
“YOU!” growled Irelia through her tears. “IT WAS YOUR FAULT! IT’S YOUR FAULT THEY ARE GONE!”
Jevitz wanted to hit himself for not remembering that at least two of the champions lost were close friends of hers, and his heart plummeted at the thought. Kolminye had been right as much as he hated to admit it. While he recognized that the champions were lost, he hadn't considered how their loved ones would react.
As she raised him higher she was enveloped in a purple light, and luckily for him it seemed to be preventing her from moving. As he looked around he saw the Fallen Angel, Morgana striding over casually with the same judging eyes as Irelia.
“Control yourself Captain Lito. You aren’t the only one to have lost companions in the accident, and injuring him will only hinder his search. Why don’t you try focusing on what you can to help bring them back, Jayce has locked himself in his lab working nonstop on a way to pull them from the Aether since he heard the news.”
“Do not presume to lecture me on my actions Fallen Angel, you could never understand what we’ve lost,” spat Irelia as the purple glow faded away and she considered laying into the man in her grip. Before she could come to a decision she felt the strong hand of Lee Sin on her shoulder. She sighed as she let Jevitz drop and her blades retreated to their normal floating position behind her.
“I imagined an Ionian friend of the Exile wouldn’t be quite as judgmental of someone they didn’t know anything about. You shouldn’t believe everything you hear, I have known more loss than you ever could in your lifetime.”
While Irelia was too stunned trying to figure out the correct response, the guards recovered from the shock of having their lives flash before their eyes. As they moved to leave, Morgana halted them to examine Jevitz.
Jevitz felt incredibly uncomfortable under the scrutinizing gaze of Morgana. She wasn’t saying anything, she just stood there staring into his soul with her piercing gaze. Which was probably what scared him most, it was no secret that Morgana could rip the souls out of creatures on and off the rift. It wouldn't have surprised him if his truly was staring into this soul, but after what felt like an eternity her eyes suddenly widened in surprise and understanding.
“You feel awful about what happened, but you feel like you were set up?” This time it was Jevitz’s eyes that lit up and widened in surprise as he nodded furiously.
“How?” mouthed Jevitz hoping she would understand.
“One of the many things few outsiders know about my people is that Seraphim are empathic,” explained Morgana making sure to be loud enough for Irelia to hear. “My sister and I feel the emotions of everyone around us as our own, and if we didn’t distance ourselves from you humans physically and emotionally we wouldn’t be able to distinguish ourselves from the personalities and feelings of everyone around us. So right now I feel the anguish of Jayce as he toils away in his lab, the guilt of Lux as she sneaks into the library, the frustration and worry of Captain Lito as she listens to me, and even your feelings of grief and betrayal.”
She stopped for a moment to shoot Irelia a withering glare before turning back to Jevitz.
“Your feelings are genuine, not necessarily correct, so take this advice from someone who has been pulled through the Aether, avoid the darkness. The void is a dangerous place with things not meant for the minds of mortals, and be careful of what world you touch. You could accidentally cause profound changes or be pulled in against your will.”
As much as Jevitz appreciated the advice, he was still confused. Morgana never openly associated with any champions or summoners; hell as far as he knew it was a stretch to say she liked anyone. She always seemed to distance herself from everyone, though he understood why now. It just didn’t make sense to him why she would help him.
“Why?” mouthed Jevitz.
“As I said before, Captain Lito wasn’t the only one to lose more than one friend in that accident,” explained Morgana as she shot another glare towards Irelia. “I know it’s hard to believe, but there are people who don’t immediately judge others based purely off of appearances and gossip. They too were betrayed by their people, labeled, and scorned for fighting for what they believed in. I just want them to return safely."
The only one in the area not shocked by her revelation was Lee Sin who said nothing during the silence. Jevitz watched as the shocked expression on Irelia’s face quickly turned to one of shame as she considered the Fallen Angel’s words. As a summoner he knew there was more to the conflict between Kayle and Morgana that most knew, but even he had to admit to believing some of the nasty rumors spread about her.
“I-I,” started Irelia.
“Feel guilty and ashamed for making preemptive judgment calls about someone based off of their appearance and rumors likely spread by their bitter rival?” finished Morgana with a frown. “Believe me, I know what you feel.”
“As for you Jevitz. You will do your best to fix this, and I will check if there is any merit to your claims of innocence. Just know that if they are harmed whoever caused this will learn true suffering, there will be no world safe for them.”
Jevitz heard the threat in her words, if he was responsible and they get hurt he wouldn't be able to put enough distance between them to escape her. He was ok with that, even if she didn’t completely believe him, it was progress. He felt surprisingly better knowing that he had an “ally” or at least someone who hadn’t completely assumed it was his fault, despite the fact that this "ally" was threatening him with eternal torture. Now he just had to somehow inform a High Summoners and hope they believed him or cared enough to do anything about it, no big deal.
That faint glimmer of hope revitalized Jevitz, he couldn’t help but wonder how determined they were to kill him. If they wanted him to actually have a shot at finding anything they would have to remove his cuffs before they threw him into Aether, and if that was the case he might be able to get his voice heard after all.
Equestria 3:30am, 2nd of Maruk, 6 Months after the return of Artemis – Cereus Valley, Lupinia
The cold night air rushing through his coat, the moist earth between his claws, and the adrenaline pumping through his veins; they were all feelings Artemis sorely missed. There was nothing quite like the thrill of hunting and being hunted, and it was only made better by the fact that he didn’t know exactly what he was tracking. He didn’t dare explore the creature’s energy too much as a precaution against being discovered, but he imagined it wasn’t like anything from this world.
Artemis slowed down has approached the first spot he felt it land, and much to his surprise the only sign that something had landed were a few hoofprints.
“At the speeds they were hurtling down, there should be more of a crater here,” thought Artemis as he looked around the clearing. “Why are there hoofprints here? Could somepony else encountered it first?”
A slight pang of panic struck Artemis as he briefly considered the different explanations and how they were likely to turn out, and very few of them were good. He decided to follow the hoofprints and hopefully stumble upon the pony who had entered the area unknowingly, for the creature seemed to be in the same direction though he felt no other major sources of life. Oddly enough he was hearing a voice from the same direction.
He followed the trail as quickly as he could while remaining silent. The two things he noticed was that whatever had gone through previously had cut their way through with something sharp, and there was only one set of hoofprints.
“One of them is armed, and our visitor might be able to fly."
Artemis followed the path until he was able to see into the clearing, and he was surprised by what he saw. He saw a pale white unicorn wearing an undoubtedly ancient armor standing in front of what looked like a shrine to Princess Luna. He also noted that she carried strange curved blade that seemed unsuited for combat, but what was even stranger was that she closed her eyes and began to sing.
Ask not the sun why she sets Why she shrouds her light away Or why she hides her glowing gaze When night turns crimson gold to grey
For Silent Falls the guilty sun As dark does turn One simple truth she dare not speak: Her light can only blind and burn
No mercy for the guilty Bring down their lying sun Blood so silver black by night Upon their faces pale white
Cruel moon, bring the end The dawn will never rise again
“Interesting,” thought Artemis mildly disappointed as he realized the intruder he was looking for was likely the mare in front of him. “I assumed the intruder would be some grotesque monster, not a pony. I guess I should introduce myself,” sighed Artemis as he quietly approached the mare.
Valoran 6:30am, 3rd of December, Valoran– Institute of War, Outside the Hall of Reflection
Jevitz had seen the large ivory doors leading to the Hall of Reflection many times before, but this time he wasn’t here for anyone’s elses judgment but his own. The Hall of Reflection was where every summoner’s and potential champion’s future was decided, but unfortunately for him, his future had already been decided. He could’ve stood outside the doors for hours, but he still wouldn't have been any more prepared to pass through them. Unfortunately he didn't have the luxury of time or choice in the matter, as his escorts/guards pulled him into the chamber anyway.
The inside of the large circular chamber was mostly black with spots of bright light a beaming in from above around the edges, and directly in front of him was a large stone circle engraved with ancient writing embedded into the wall. As his eyes started to adjust to the darkness, he saw figures move into the light. Most of them were high ranking officials from the city-states of the champions and summoner involved, but there was no shortage of champions that also represented their home. He saw the Grand General of Noxus, the Queen and King of the Freljord, a Solari elder accompanied by Pantheon, and a well-dressed but bored looking official from Piltover.
The presence of the world leaders was surprised Jevitz, but it was more the matter of which ones showed up and which didn’t. The fact that Swain bothered to show was unsettling, but there was the off chance he was there to represent Zaun instead of Noxus since the two city-states were closely allied. There didn’t seem to be a representative from Ionia, but most of the elders of the council rarely left the Placidium. To his eternal gratitude it seems that no one from the Shadow Isles had deigned to show up.
As he finished that thought, he noticed Irelia step into one of the lights, her eyes still puffy and red from before. She fixed him with a look that was less accusatory than before, but she was still visibly upset. She was on the Ionian Council of Elders, and she was a champion so it made sense for her to be the Ionian representative.
Directly in front of Jevitz were the three High Summoners and Kassadin, who was without a doubt there to make sure nothing from the void slipped in during the process. It seemed like as soon as one of the High Summoners motioned to speak, the doors flew open and a noticeably irritated woman stepped in.
“This is such a waste of my time, there are so many other things I could be doing,” grumbled the woman loudly as she motioned to the High Summoners. “Hey let’s get this over with.”
“Patience, Battle Mistress,” responded one of High Summoners his voice much deeper than the others. “While it may have been more appropriate to have another ascended represent Shurima, we figured your unique situation might be just as fitting. Before we begin we are waiting for one more,” finished the High Summoner as the room suddenly grew bone chillingly cold.
“You humans are always surrounded by death, it is omnipresent and inescapable,” whispered a voice from the darkness. “I have been here the entire time, I never left your side.”
Jevitz watched in horror as the Deathsinger casually floated into vision, though he stayed from from directly beneath the bright light. He fixed Jevitz with a cold gaze and grinned, it was an action that shook Jevitz to his core. If Karthus was grinning it meant that the lich was certain he would be getting a new recruit to the Shadow Isles’s army of the undead.
“Ahhh yes, let us not keep our newest convert waiting.”
“Alright then now that we are all here,” started the 3rd High Summoner that seemed more casual than the other. “You all know Jevitz here, he is responsible for causing each of your respective City-States a grave loss. While we are unsure of the exact nature as to what happened, we know that the champions were thrown into the Aether without direction or guidance. There is a very real possibility that he did this malicious act in an attempt to undermine the League and raise the tension between City-States as there was a notable slant when comes to those champion’s allegiances.”
Jevitz eyes went wide as he heard the accusation; they thought he did it intentionally. His heart sank, and he thought of the strange woman that visited his cell. Despite the cuffs still silencing him, he tried to plead and scream to get their attention. They needed to know the truth, even if they still decided to send him into the Aether. There was someone behind this, and the summoners were likely playing into their hands. He wasn’t sure if it was lucky or not, but Kolminye noticed his increased struggling.
“Speak carefully, for this may be the last time you talk to anyone for a long time,” said Kolminye with a snap of her fingers.
“Please,” rasped Jevitz hoarsely. He was surprised by the sound and the pain, but he figured he must’ve screamed himself raw over the course of the night. “The woman, she came back to my cell. Right before the guards came. She said that I was going to die. That all this, was for the good of Valoran.”
Kolminye’s face lacked the frustration and irritation she displayed before, but it had been replaced by a sad pity. She looked directly into his eyes for a few moments before she sighed and began to respond.
“Jevitz enough, we have eye witness testimony. Jarvan, Garen, and Xin Zhao were in the bar for their regular guy’s night and they all told us the same thing, you entered the bar to do your usual spying on the Sheriff of Piltover. You sat down then after a short while you ordered two drinks and started having a conversation with yourself. We didn’t take their word at face value, we checked and their memories support their story. In accordance to what I told you the other day, you will be sent out to correct your wrong by finding the champions or dying while trying,” finished Kolminye as she kept her gaze locked on Jevitz.
“Is this agreeable to the representatives?” asked the deeper voiced summoner.
The vote was unanimous though they each had differing reasons. Irelia, Ashe, and the Piltover representative hoped Jevitz would return with the champions, while the Solari Elder and Karthus hoped that he would die out in the Aether. Swain, Sivir, and Trynd largely didn’t care one way or the other, but they voted to send him for the sake of time.
As the vote finished, two other High Summoners opened a portal within the large stone ring, it was a swirl of every color imaginable and a few beyond the spectrum. It crackled with power as the runes around the circle lit up, occasionally a bolt of energy or appendage would poke though only to be immediately stopped by the Riftwalker. The two guards that had brought Jevitz into the chamber had also began moving to grab him, and they were surprised by his lack of resistance.
For Jevitz time slowed to a crawl, he was having trouble accepting what he had heard even as he was being dragged to his uncertain future. They said the woman was never there? But he had just saw her, he knew she existed. Why didn’t they remember her? He knew he had heard her voice, but why didn’t anyone else?
“WAIT SHE IS REAL!” screamed Jevitz as he neared the portal. “CHECK MY MEMORIES! PLEASE CHECK MINE!”
“That is unnecessary Jevitz, memories can easily be forged by someone skilled in the art. You tell me what do you think is easier? Taking down three powerful champions of the league and forcefully altering their memories, or ambushing a far weaker summoner and making it so that he never remembered the event occurred?” responded Kolminye slowly. “No, there is no need to expose ourselves by checking your mind. Whether or not you maliciously acted on your own or you were manipulated matters not at this moment, now you need to retrieve the champions you lost."”
Jevitz was stunned, her logic made sense, but he knew that he wasn't lying. If they wouldn’t check him for what he knew to be true, he had to think of something. Who would benefit from the loss of champions? It seemed like the type of plan Noxus would use, but even they took a loss in the accident. Ionia and Piltover arguably had taken the greatest hit, and he doubted they would come up with a plan that involved crippling themselves. The Freljord was in the middle of a civil war, and it wasn’t likely that any side would divert enough attention to pull this scheme. Bilgewater and the Jungles weren’t the types of places this scheme would come from. The Shadow Isles? None of the other Shadow Isles champions seemed particularly bothered by their loss, and he doubted they would use a tactic like this, they thought themselves unstoppable. The yordles? No most of them are far to impulsive, but WHO?
The guards had dragged Jevitz before the portal, and he looked out at all the representatives. He was frantically searching for a viable answer, and each second only brought him close to despair. As they uncuffed and lifted him up, the answer sucker punched him in the gut. They were the ones who damned him, they were the only major city-state completely unaffected with the motive to do so.
He tried to grab something, anything, to prevent him give him being sucked in, but there was nothing to give him a hold. With his last breath on Valoran, Jevitz screamed out of sadness, out of anger, out of frustration. He watched as the world he knew slipped out of his reach, and he found himself in a maelstrom of chaos.
Equestria 3:45am, 2nd of Maruk, 6 Months after the return of Artemis – Cereus Valley, Lupinia
“Daylight’s End,” thought Diana wistfully as she gazed at the moon.
Those words originally steeled her resolve, but as time went on the effect diminished each time. Images of Leona flashed into her mind, and she wasn’t sure what she truly wanted. Revenge? Recoginition? Happiness? Validation? Acceptance? Maybe it was her uncertainty that had lost her the favor of the moon.
“Shame that such a beautiful voice sang such a sad song,” rumbled a deep voice from directly behind her.
Diana panicked, years of training and constant vigilance had made her jumpier than she would’ve liked to admit. She reflexively lashed out behind her with her blade, but she was surprised when the blade came to a complete halt.
“Hmmm well that certainly settles it. Your first reaction to fear was to swing to kill, you definitely aren’t from Equestria.”
Diana’s went wide as she laid eyes on the massive werewolf like creature with her blade in his claw. For the briefest moment she thought it might be Warwick, but she quickly dismissed that notion noting that their body structure, voice, and demeanor were completely different. She tried to pull the blade back, but with her current limited strength it wouldn't budge. Instead she just opted to let it go and address the monster instead.
“Equestria? Where is that, I’ve never heard of it."
“Equestria is the current world power southeast of the Griffon Kingdom, north of the Feline Nation Eswyn, and East of the Lupinia Wolf Tribes,” answered the wolf casually as he examined both the blade and the slight cut in his hand. “Impressive strength for a unicorn, you managed to break my skin even if only slightly.”
“What joke is this? I’ve heard of none of those countries, where is Valoran? I’m not a unicorn either, I’m human.”
“Hu-man? You look like a unicorn to me. What is a human?”
“This isn’t my normal body, a group of idiots transformed me into this. What do you mean what is a human? Where is Valoran? ANSWER ME!”
“I will excuse your disposition one time, but only because you have no idea the situation you are in,” started the wolf as his attitude turned grim. “My name is Artemis, and you are trespassing in my country, our world. I came here personally to assess the situation and to exterminate anything I deem a threat to this world. This means if you don’t correct that attitude and convince me you aren’t here to cause trouble, I’m going to turn you into a crater.”
Diana wanted to give in to the incredible urge to talk and strike back, but she thought better of it. She was in a foreign land, in a strange body without her full powers, before a self-proclaimed leader/ruler that didn’t recognize her as a champion of the League of Legends. Judging from the wolf’s shift in demeanor, she knew if she wasn’t careful the situation could turn for the worst very quickly. So instead she opted to stay silent for now.
“That’s better,” smiled Artemis intentionally trying to irritate the strange mare. “It’s not that hard to be respectful is it? Now what’s your name, and why are you here?”
Diana scowled, but she bit her tongue. She hated having anyone talk down to her, even if she was obviously being baited into attacking. The elders had talked down to and degraded her the entire time she was with the Solari, and she had promised never to let it happen again. She thought of how she had handled the elders, and she decided that once everything was back to normal the wolf would suffer the same fate.
“I am known as Diana, the Scorn of the Moon, and a group of fools transformed me sent me here by mistake I think.
Artemis saw her reluctance to answer, and the scowl she gave him earlier. She had her pride, but she wasn’t so foolish as to attack someone in their own territory. However he remembered earlier when he had startled her, her first response was to swing in such a way that would have decapitated most creatures. In fact now that he thought about it, her weapon and armor reeked of blood both ancient and recent. Not that unusual for weaponry or armor honestly, but it was troubling none the less.
“Scorn of the Moon?” questioned Artemis warily.
“I am the last of the Lunari, a group that were betrayed and wiped out by their Solari sisters and I take vengeance for them,” explained Diana matter of factly. She had long ago decided against hiding the truth the way the Solari did, and she was willing to face the consequences of that decision.
“Betrayed by the sun after finding solace in the moon? Believe me I know how that feels. Alright then Diana, let’s just say I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. What is your goal here?”
Diana was surprised by his sudden change in demeanor, she saw genuine understanding in his eyes. It wasn’t uncommon for her to see pity from the few who that knew fragments of her past, but genuine understanding was something very rare. Regardless she knew exactly what her goal was, to get back home and go off on the summoners that sent her wherever she is now.
“I’m just looking for a way back to the Institute."
Artemis knew the problem with that goal, but he decided to keep that to himself for now. There was no reason to give out that information, and it might make her less inclined to go along with him. His primary assessment was that this mare was incredibly dangerous, but he wasn’t sure she was a necessarily a threat. She seemed to have no qualms about killing, but she also had enough restraint to control herself. He would need more information before he could decide whether or not to destroy her or have her meet with the other world leaders.
“Since you have been cooperative I guess I should give you more information about your current situation. Rulers here don’t just greet every creature that crosses into their territory personally; I came to survey you because you are an anomaly. I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but your “fools” sent you to an entirely different world. The Valoran place and the humans you speak of don’t exist here.”
His words hit her like hammer, knocking the air from her lungs. She wasn’t quite sure what to think, it would explain why neither of them had heard of the countries the other mentioned and it might explain why the moon here wasn’t answering her calls. There was always the possibility that this was someone of sick joke played by the summoners, a joke that would be their last if that was the case, and finally there was the chance that this wolf had just been lying to her the entire time.
“What do you mean by other world?”
“There are an infinite number of worlds, each fundamentally different in some way. For example there is another world somewhere out there in which your people weren’t betrayed, and there is a world for every other possible variation. I’m guessing the shift in our worlds occurred much earlier in history, and that is probably why there is such a big difference."
“How do you know this?”
“I have been alive a long long time. In that time I have conversed with the greatest scholars and magicians this world has seen, and the greatest of them all, Starswirl the Bearded, did a lot of traveling between worlds against our recommendations.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“I don’t lie. I can be deceptive no doubt, but I don’t lie. I have no reason to lie to you anyway. I don’t care for material goods, so I’m not out to rob you, I can’t imagine you have anything exceptionally valuable on you from your journey anyway. If wanted to kill or capture you I would’ve done so before you had noticed my presence while you were singing. Lastly what other choice do you have? The Griffon King will destroy you when he finds you, and trusting me is your best shot at survival.”
Artemis considered asking her about that song, but he decided against it. There would be time for that later, and right now she just learned how far away from home she really was. He could continue the analysis while they travelled.
“How can I get home then?”
“I’m not sure, but I have some friends that might be able to help. There is something I need to do before you meet them, but we should get there within a day’s journey. Do your best to keep up.”
“Fine,” scowled Diana as she started to walk towards him. “Do you know how to turn me back to my original form at least?”
“Uhhh I’m not sure what your original form looks like, and I’m not the greatest at polymorphing things. I know someone who is, and they probably could turn you back to whatever you were before. I will make sure to ask for him once we arrive."
“I’m not lying,” chuckled Artemis to himself mentally. He could’ve easily searched her mind for memories of what to return her to, and while he wasn’t the greatest at polymorphing that didn’t mean he wasn’t better than most at it. There were things he could measure while she was still in that body, and even if they weren’t completely accurate for her true form at least he would have a ballpark estimate while she was diminished.
“Alright then where and who are you taking me to?”
“We will be going to Equestria after a short detour along the way, and I’m taking you to meet the leaders of the country.”
"They won't try to kill me?"
"No promises, the last war was 800 years ago started by the griffons. This is a mostly peaceful land, and so long as you don't do anything that indicates you need to be destroyed, you won't be."
Without much of a choice, Diana reluctantly followed him through the forest. As they started she questioned what would happen to her and what would happen very few friends she had. She couldn't shake the feeling that she might never return home again.
Valoran 6:45am, 3rd of December, Valoran– Institute of War, the Hall of Reflection
The silence was deafening in the hall of reflections, but Jevitz’s last word were still echoing in the minds of everyone present. Everyone in the room was stunned, even those who were largely apathetic were now ambivalent towards the situation. Though the first to speak was Kolminye, but she only repeated the word they had heard last. “Demacia?”
Equestria 4:30am, 2nd of Maruk, 6 Months after the return of Artemis – Somewhere, Griffon Kingdom
Artemis didn’t really have any real destination in mind, but wherever he was going he was making good time. He was honestly surprised at the mare following him, she kept pace without complaining or outwardly showing many signs of fatigue. Granted he wasn’t travelling as fast as he would alone, but he was travelling at a pace that would’ve challenged the best wolves. Even in her unicorn body she managed to scale the valley walls with him, and she didn’t seem to be having any trouble with the cold. As they headed further north into the Griffon Kingdom it began snowing first lightly then much harder, and he knew it would only get worse the further they went. Artemis’s ears twitched as the picked up familiar sounds of splashing, a small river or creek was nearby. He stopped his brisk run, and waited for his guest to catch up.
“Are we there yet?” asked Diana trying to minimize her heavy breathing.
“Don’t worry about that, but there is a small river nearby, we can stop and rest for a bit,” answered Artemis as he felt out the other creatures in the area. He noted that the largest one in the area was a familiar territorial hybrid of plant composition and animalistic instinct. “Perfect.”
“Hmm? What’s perfect?”
“Our timing, I’m surprised we made it here so quickly. My pace would’ve challenged my finest wolves, but your stamina and strength of will are impressive even in your altered form.”
Though she knew it was well intended, the compliment wasn’t as well received as well as she tried to portray. It only reminded Diana that her fortitude and strength of will were beaten into during her days with the Solari elders, but even so those traits were some of the few things she appreciated from her time back then.
“Did I offend you?” asked Artemis noticing the slight shift in body language.
“No, I was just remembering something,” responded Diana quickly as she did her best reign in her body language. It was something normally very easy and necessary for her to do amongst some of her fellow champions, but unfortunately she wasn’t fully accustomed to her new form enough to know what to control.
Artemis noticed her struggles and chuckled a little, but even still he couldn’t imagine being in a different world with a different body at the mercy of the locals. He was surprised that she seemed to be handling it well, and it made him curious as to what could’ve happened to make her so disconnected from her world. It wasn’t until they both had taken a long drink from the icy water that he figured their rest was a good time to learn about their intruder turned guest.
“Earlier you mentioned something about the Solari betraying the Lunari, and you being the last Lunari left. What happened?”
Diana stared at the water for a long time in silence. As much as she knew she needed to tell others and spread the information on Valoran, she didn’t like the idea of telling something so personal to a strange creature on a slightly less strange world. As she thought about it, she decided her silence was the best answer.
Artemis thought about threatening her again to get answers, but he figured that might build more resentment that he would have to deal with later. Instead he thought he might be able to get her to open up with a little coaxing.
“I ask because I know what it is like to be betrayed by the ones you trust, I also know what it is like to be the last one left as a result.”
Artemis watched as her eyes widened before quickly returning to their previously uninterested look, but Artemis knew he had a bit of her attention now. He wasn’t sure how much information to give her, but he figured the bare basics weren’t too much.
“My best friend betrayed and imprisoned me for 1000 years to save her sister, and as a result I wasn’t able to protect for my subjects when they needed me most. Admittedly she had done it with good intentions and the wolves were collateral damage, but that is little comfort now that I’m all that is left of the old wolf tribes,” sighed Artemis as he picked a smooth stone out of the running water.
Diana wanted to know how the Sun and Moon were involved, but she didn’t want to be the one to ask. Though now that they had stopped moving the cold was starting to bite at her, and it didn’t help that the only water she had to drink was close to freezing. It wasn’t long before the cold temperatures hit her full force, and her relatively thin coat wasn’t doing enough to keep her warm.
“Betrayal is a terrible crime, and unfortunately revenge can be even worse. It poisons and twists your soul preventing you from moving on, and it is never as satisfying in reality. Unfortunately often times that knowledge is not enough quench the burning desire within to wrong those who wronged you.”
Artemis let his words hang in the air as he thought back to his previous arguments with Luna. He knew in many ways she was right, but that still didn’t change how he felt. He felt like he should wipe the insolent little vultures off the planet, but he couldn’t do that without earning the ire of the world. While he couldn’t possibly care less about most of their opinions on the matter, he did care about what Luna and his few friends thought.
Lost in his own thoughts it wasn’t until a particularly cold gust of wind hit him, that he remembered his company. Without a word Artemis raised a wall of snow around them, not quite an igloo but it just enough to block the wind. Diana merely nodded her thanks at the barrier, and they both sat in quiet contemplation.
“So what do you do?” asked Diana quietly breaking their silence after a time.
“If I knew that, I would be much happier,” chuckled Artemis humorlessly. “I have an anchor though, a special somepony I love that keeps me from doing anything too unreasonable. Unfortunately neither of us can quash my desire for vengeance, and I’m at a standstill. I’m unable to move forward, but we can’t change the past. Well we shouldn’t is more accurate, we could but the risk is far too great.”
Diana thought about his words, an anchor? When was the last time she had been happy? When did she smile? The only times she was truly happy was spending time with Riven and Morgana at Sinful Succulence. They all had a similar experience, and they accepted her without judgment. When they were together she could almost forget about the past even though it was what brought them together. The more she thought about it, she never gained satisfaction from killing anyone. She did it out of a sense of duty, but it didn’t make her happy.
“Should I just forgive them and forget it happened? Forget that they wiped out an entire culture because they worshipped the moon instead of the sun? Forget that I was shunned, rejected, and nearly killed because I didn’t fit their beliefs? I was curious and naïve, but all I wanted to know was the truth. They labelled me a heretic, and they tried to execute me. No, I will not forgive them, and I will not complete the Lunari genocide by forgetting them. The Solari will pay for their crimes, and I will be the one to collect the debt.”
“Forgiveness is rarely for the one who wronged you, it is for yourself so you can move on. Also I never said anything about forgetting what happened, no you must NEVER forget what happened to the Lunari. You should honor them with your memories, but never forget that the Solari betrayed them. Forgetting only opens you up to it happening again or, just as bad, it could provide them the opportunity to do it to someone else without them seeing it coming.”
“Well if you know all the answers why haven’t you moved on then?”
“I am old beyond words, but even still it is far easier to be wise to help others than it is to be wise to help yourself. I don’t have all the answers; I know what the morally right thing to do is. Even knowing I should forgive them, I just can’t. I can’t exact my revenge on them either, not the way I want to. Even if I did, think about the revenge you have gotten so far. Did it make you happy? Exterminating the Griffons wouldn’t make anyone happy, and it would have long lasting consequences on the balance of this world.
Diana didn’t need to think long, she had already thought about it before. It didn’t make her happy, the only times she was happy was when she wasn’t alone. However she wasn’t going to tell him that he was right, she didn’t want to give him any satisfaction or indication that he had been able to read her.
As she formulated her response, she barely managed to make out an unusual rustling in the wind. Her natural instincts took over as she dived to the side only for the entire wall of ice to explode into powder. She turned her head to look for Artemis, and she saw that where he had been seated had been completely destroyed and he was nowhere to be seen. However in his place stood a very large wolf-like creature, and it didn’t seem to like their presence.
This wolf was nearly 15 feet tall, and it eyed her like a predator viewed an unwanted competitor in its territory. Its body was made from branches and logs from the frozen trees, and it what what looked like pine needles for fur. Its eyes glowed a bright green-yellow, the same color that leaked from the gaps in its wooden body. The wolf didn’t seem to want to draw out the confrontation, for it let out deep snarl to challenge its competitor before it pounced again.
Diana didn’t have time to worry about Artemis as she narrowly rolled underneath wooden wolf that threatened to crush her. She hesitantly grabbed her moonsilver blade after rolling to her hooves, she wasn’t sure she could fight properly without her normal body. Her blade felt heavier in her jaw than it did in her hands before, and it didn’t feel quite like the fluid extension of her that it normally it did. Right now it was a clunky piece of metal that potentially could get her out of or into more trouble.
Unfortunately the wolf spared no time in batting the unsteady mare aside with his massive paw. Before she could finish rolling to a stop, the wolf was on her again, but this time Diana tried to use her momentum to let her counter attack. Her blade sunk deeply into the wooden leg, much to both of their surprises. However the wolf hardly flinched and quickly sent her flying into a tree, the vibrations causing the load of fresh snow to bury her.
“Is that all she has?” thought Artemis from the tree. “Maybe I overestimated her, I had hoped that this would be a warm-up not an actual dangerous encounter. Maybe that blade and armor is more for show than anything.”
The cold snow numbed the throbbing pain, and the desire to sleep was growing harder for her to ignore. She knew more than a couple of ribs were broken and she probably had more than a few fractures. One of her broken ribs had punctured a lung, and she wasn’t sure she had the strength to dig herself out of the snow. Her vision was growing dark and her breath was ragged. On the corners of her vision she saw the wolf trying to remove the blade from its leg as it lumbered toward her slowly.
“Is this it? Is this how I die? Lost in some foreign world, killed by an overgrown tree?”
As the wolf limped toward her, deciding to finish off its kill before tending to it wounds, Diana managed to turn her gaze to the sky. She saw the beautiful night sky she loved and the moon she worshipped. It had always been there for her, when she needed guidance or strength, and it was there even now with her dying breaths.
Diana lay in the snow drifting out of consciousness as her life flashed before her eyes. She remembered the beatings, the fights, and the long nights alone in the library, but two memories stood out in her mind. The day she saw Leona’s ascension, when she was chosen by the sun the elders demanded her exoneration of all crimes. Her defying everything for what she believed in was one of the most beautiful sights she had ever seen, especially related to the sun. It was what had driven her to never give up, and it had caused her most prominent memory, the night of her own ascension. She had finally found the lost Lunari Temple; it had been the most validating moment in her life. She briefly experienced pure elation at finally being able to say she hadn’t been alone in her feelings, but it quickly soured when the Solari Elders found out. Instead of accepting her and apologizing they declared her a heretic and sentenced her to death, she remembered looking up at the full moon then too. When she had given up hope, the moon gave her strength and survived. When she was alone after the Solari disowned her, the moon was there. When she had nothing, she always had the moon. She couldn’t let the moon’s legacy be forgotten and lost; not here, not now, not ever.
Desperate to survive Diana reached out to the moon for power, but just like before it seemed to react and withdraw from her. However Diana wasn’t ready to give up, and she surged forward with everything she had trying to get something. She wasn’t ready to die yet.
Artemis felt the atmosphere shift, the winds stilled, but the air grew even colder than before. The air started to crackle with energy, familiar energy. Something was coming, and he wasn’t the only one feeling it as he looked the nervous looking timber wolf. He felt a sudden surge of panic from Luna, and snow beneath the branch he was on erupted.
Diana stood on a patch of frozen grass, her eyes glowed white as she looked upon the trembling wolf. With the new influx of energy her wounds were healing quickly, but the power was already starting to be pulled away from her. She knew she had to end this quickly. Before the wolf could react, Diana had already removed her crescent blade and the leg from the beast.
“I am the Chosen of the Moon, and I will not be silenced.”
Artemis watched with anticipation and awe as Diana became a blur of motion, a whirlwind of moonlight and silver. Within seconds the poor timber wolf had been reduced to fine splinters and scattered upon the light breeze that replaced the previously harsh winds.
This strength was more along the lines of what he had been hoping for, but what seemed strange was that she was very clearly drawing upon the moon’s power and using lunar energy. Judging from Luna’s pang of panic Diana had done so without her consent, disconcerting but definitely interesting.
“Well done.”
“Where were you during that!?”
“Up in that tree.”
“You didn’t think to help me, or was this just a trick and that was a wolf lackey of yours?”
“It would seem that you are more than capable of handling yourself, and no that wasn’t a subject or lackey of mine. That was a Beta Timberwolf, and it was the top predator in this territory. Timberwolves are creatures that popped up after the annihilation of the wolves, and many griffons think they are the vengeful angry spirits of the wolves refusing to leave this world and taking new bodies to exact their revenge on everything. I think that they have a similar tribal hierarchy to the wolves of old, but they do not recognize me as their leader.”
“Is that the case? Are they the spirits of fallen wolves?” asked Diana warily as she had dealt with enough spirits from the Shadow Isles to know how difficult such things were to put down for good.
“I don’t know, I’ve only been free and heard of them recently, and I haven’t had the opportunity to approach death and ask her about it. The Timberwolves were what I called the elite members of the tribe, only the truly impressive earned such a title, and now this is what it is used for.”
Diana started to shiver as the winds began to pick back up, and snow began falling in full force again. She hadn’t completely healed from her short duration with lunar energy, but it was enough for her shivers to be incredibly painful as her ribs tried to set themselves.
“Sun will be rising soon. Let’s head towards Equestria.”
While Artemis started heading towards Equestria he figured he should get the message out to Luna and Celestia.
“The intruders are dangerous, but not necessarily hostile. Approach with extreme caution, contact with them is advised. You might want to let Celestia know,” announced Artemis mentally.
“Advised?” laughed Luna in response. “We are ancient mares, Artemis. I think we know how to handle intruders in Equestria, we have already talked with two of them. You should bring the one you encountered back so we can all talk about it.”
“Of course they did, no one ever respects safety protocol. Change in plans, we aren't hiking to Equestria anymore.”
“Wait what do you me-,” started Diana as they vanished in a flash of green light.
Equestria 3:15am, 2nd of Maruk, 6 Months after the return of Artemis – Luna’s Bedroom, Canterlot
“Wait what? That’s not what I said, Artemis?” started Luna before she realized the conversation had been cut off.
“I thought mares were supposed to be the moody ones. What is going on with him?”
Luna knew that there were always two things constantly his mind these days, her and the Griffons. She was also knew that she wasn’t really being all that helpful when it came to resolving the situation with the Griffons, mostly because she was torn on the subject as well. Part of her wanted the Griffons to pay for their crimes, but the merciful, reasonable, part told her that genocide wasn’t the way to go. She knew two wrongs don’t make a right, but in this case it was even truer. The only result would be that the world would be left with two crippled and perpetually hostile species, and her benevolent side wouldn’t let the innocent Griffons be punished for the crimes of their ancestors.
“Why does this have to be so frustrating?” groaned Luna as she walked onto her balcony. “This would be so much easier if I let him have his way, but I just can’t.”
The worst part was the strain it was putting on their relationship, before they rarely seriously argued over anything and now anything could start one. The arguments had been increasing in frequency and intensity all because they couldn’t come to a reasonable solution they both felt satisfied with. Unfortunately Artemis’s rationality went out the window when it came to the Griffons, but she couldn’t even really fault him for that. She couldn’t imagine how she would react if their situations had been reversed.
“I probably would’ve succumbed to my emotions again, unleashing something worse than Nightmare Moon.”
Then there was the other issue of how the public was taking their relationship, it wasn’t being taken as well as she had expected. While few dared say anything to her directly, she knew Artemis wasn’t being treated well everywhere in the city. On more than one occasion she had found shards of glass or trash entangled in his fur, but he refused to even acknowledge that anything happened. She knew he had incredible restraint, but even she worried what would happen if somepony caught him on the wrong day.
She had always admired and been a little jealous of the self-discipline both Artemis and Celestia shared, but she was also keenly aware that both of them had their limits. She knew that the only reason Artemis hadn’t already acted in either case was because of how strongly she objected, but she feared for the time when/if he decided to act anyway. She wasn’t really sure what she would do, she loved Artemis but would she still see him the same way if he hurt somepony or decimated the griffons?
Luna’s thoughts were cut off by a sudden flash of brilliant blue light coming from the garden maze, and she had no doubt that it was one of invaders they had just been talking about. Artemis had mentioned not contacting them until he had reported back, but she had no intention of letting a potential threat wander around unchecked. She was more than capable of handling herself if something went wrong, besides if they appeared hostile she didn’t have to make contact to keep an eye on their guest.
After sparing a moment to cast the health bubble spell Cadance had taught her, Luna took off into the night sky. Using the night sky for camouflage she flew towards the garden maze, her resolve strong and her doubts about Artemis put in the background. Their relationship problems could wait, Equestria needed her. She wasn’t in the best of moods, and the potential for danger Equestria was in wasn’t helping. Though normally she found combat to be a more efficient and effective way of handling political affairs, she sincerely hoped that their intruders had come in peace. If the hadn’t, they would be leaving in pieces.
Equestria 3:20am, 2nd of Maruk, 6 Months after the return of Artemis –Canterlot Castle Garden Maze
Perhaps it was a result of the vicious chemical exposure or her past as a Noxian soldier, but Riven didn’t get nauseous or sick all that easily. Despite her strong constitution even she was still hit by powerful vertigo after, landing but that was just another problem compounded onto the many problems and questions she had.
“Augh my head is on fire.”
“Where is everyone?”
“Where am I?”
“Diana?”
“Jevitz?”
“What the hell happened to my body?”
The sudden panic instantly threw her mind back into soldier mode as she tried to assess the situation. She was surrounded by what looks like bushes that were carefully cut, and there was only one path out that didn’t involve going through the plants. She was in the body of a camel brown pegasus with a white mane, but her wings appeared to be bandaged up. She winced slightly as she tested their maneuverability, but she seemed to have a full range of movement despite the bandages. The pain was eerily similar to the pain she felt when the wounds on her arms acted up, but that thought was interrupted by another more pressing concern.
She quickly and thoroughly inspected her runic blade, years of traveling with one of the few remnants of her past had led her to memorize every facet of it. She quickly let out a sigh of relief, it didn’t appear to have been affected by the journey. Yet again she found herself wondering what exactly they had done to the blade, for it had endured far beyond what any other weapon would have. The originally massive blade had been a gift from Noxus as a reward for her military service, but she knew very little of the numerous enchantments that went into the forging process. Despite the numerous battles it had been in, it hadn’t so much as been scratched. In fact the only time it had ever been damaged was when she had broken the blade herself. As comforting as it was to know her blade was unchanged since then, she doubted that she could properly wield the 3 ½ft fragment with her current body.
After a deep breath she picked up her sword, and she decided she needed to see where the only path took her. Many years wandering the world alone had actually made her quite comfortable with travelling at night and trying not to be seen, but as she turned the corner only her soldier’s discipline could repress groan that nearly erupted from her mouth.
“Of course it’s a maze. Just my luck with how today is turning out. Alright if I cut my way out, it increases my chances of being discovered, but should I be trying to hide?”
She opted not to sneak around, it would only make things harder to explain if she was found, and she doubted she could really sneak around well with her new body. Luckily her Noxian military training had prepared her for many unusual highly and unlikely situations, including getting trapped in a labyrinth style maze. She sighed as she placed her left hoof on the wall of shrubbery, she knew she would find her way out eventually but she had no idea how big the maze was or how long it would take. Despite her lack of information she went forward, the alternative was to stay and wait in the same place. She had spent more than enough time in despair to know the dangers of stagnation, when you can’t change the past the only progress is to go forward.
As she progressed she tried to find some sort of familiarity of the land she was in, but she was having trouble finding anything similar to work with. The stars which had always been a stable guide for her night, seemed completely jumbled. She didn’t recognize any of the usual constellations, nor could she even find the Northern Star. Though admittedly she wasn’t a scholar on the subject she was far from ignorant, and she should’ve been able to find something she could use for navigation or as a reference point.
“STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM!”
Riven jumped slightly at the sudden command, and she turned to see an armored pure white unicorn pointing a spear at her. She did as ordered and stood completely still as he approached, though she watched him approach with caution. Fighting wasn’t really much of an option, but she had no intention of getting killed by her own negligence.
“You are under arrest for trespassing into restricted area, plotting to assassinate royalty, treason, and attempting to undermine the Equestrian government. Don’t bother running, the entire guard will be here shortly.”
“What?! I’m not plotting or undermining anything wh-“
“Save it, we just caught an armed pegasus in a restricted area of the castle across from the Princess’s rooms in the middle of the night. Last time we found out someone was in the maze, the entire guard was nearly dismissed for that breach in security. Surely you didn’t expect us to make the same mistake twice.”
“No, I’m not even sure how I got here. Where am I?”
“Yeah yeah, the old fake amnesia trick won’t work. Nice try though, you are still going to spend the rest of your life in the dungeons.”
As the stallion approached, Riven briefly considered her options. Comply and spend who knows how long locked away in a dungeon, or fight and likely make herself a fugitive alone in a foreign land. While she didn’t like either option, she was used to being a fugitive. She doubted she could take the stallion in a straight-forward fight, not without practice in her current body, she knew from experience that when you are at a disadvantage chaos becomes your best ally.
“That’s a smart mare, you don’t want to mess with the roya-“
His words were cut off as Riven suddenly dragged her forehoof through the maze leaves sending a brief shower of debris into the guards face. As he flinched Riven used the second to body check him to the ground, using her momentum to pull her runic blade from her back with a calm spin. She didn’t really want to kill him, but a solid blow from the broadside of her sword was enough to knock most creatures unconscious. She raised her blade as high as she could, but as she brought it down she suddenly found herself paralyzed.
“Alright, I’ve seen enough.”
Riven sat paralyzed as a dark colored mare descend from the sky. The mare took a brief moment to examine Riven, but it was clear that she wasn’t the priority. The mare’s face grew stern as she looked upon the grounded guard.
“I know Captain Custos is an intimidating figure, but I sincerely hope he does not inspire so much fear as to make the royal guard forget that in Equestria, all are innocent until proven guilty. We do not lock ponies in the dungeon without fair trial.”
“Uhhh no not at all Princess, I was just worried for your safety. Please forgive my hasty jump to conclusions.”
“Just make sure it doesn’t happen again soldier, now clean yourself up and let the rest of the guard know that I will be dealing with our guest. Also inform the guard that neither I nor my sister will be as lenient on the next guard that decides to take justice into their own hooves.”
“At once, your highness!”
As the guard ran off to carry out his orders, Riven noticed the blue aura that enveloped her fade, and she had her full range of movement again. Though she questioned whether or not she was better off with the guard or the apparent royalty.
“I apologize for the royal guard, unfortunately we have them believing they are far more integral to our, my sister and I’s, defense than they really are. It is unfortunate that your first encounter was one of hostility, but I assure you most Equestrians are peaceful.”
Riven sized up the navy blue mare in front of her, and the first thing she noticed was the combination of wings and a horn, the second was the moon on her flank. Despite her being a princess, she didn’t seem unduly worried or even angry about the scuffle with guard either.
“I’m fine, I’ve been through worse.”
“Well, allow me to introduce myself. I am Princess Luna, the Mistress of the Night and one of the rulers of Equestria. Whom do I have the pleasure of speaking to?”
“Riven, the Exile, and I am a champion of Valoran’s League of Legends. Where are we?”
“Equestria, I suspect it is very far from your home world though. Tell me soldier, what is your purpose? Why have you come to Equestria?”
“Soldier? What makes you think I’m in the military?”
“It isn’t difficult to see, you have the posture of a trained soldier and the eyes of a commander. The eyes of somepony that has given everything for their home, ordered the deaths of others, seen the atrocities of war, and regrets them with every breath.”
Riven was disturbed by how easily she was read, but she didn’t really have arguments against her. She was ashamed to admit it, but had done awful things as a member of the Noxian military. While had done everything she could to make up for it, nothing would change the past or scrub the blood from her hands.
“Don’t take that as a judgment, I only recognize it because my sister and I had the same eyes for a long time. Eventually they fade, but even so my question still stands.”
Riven only snapped away from her thoughts when she noticed the heavy tension in the air, it was clear that despite her relaxed demeanor the Princess was still measuring her. She took a moment to mentally curse her luck, she had been better off with the guard.
“I don’t have a purpose here, I’m not even sure why I appeared here.”
“Are you alone?”
“I-I’m not sure. I wasn’t the only one in the spell, but I don’t know if I was the only one separated.”
“I’m sure one of us will figure that out shortly, but in the meantime will you come with me to meet my sister?”
“I don’t really have a choice do I?”
“There are always choices, even if we don’t like the outcome, and you should never fool yourself into thinking there was no other options.”
“Lead the way then, your majesty?”
“Just call me Luna, no need for formality. Are you able to fly with your wings bandaged up like that?”
“I-I don’t know. I don’t know how, this isn’t my real body.” Riven wasn’t sure what to expect as she saw the Princess’s eyes light up.
“Really?! I assumed you were from a more similar world, but that changes everything. I wonder why you are in the body of a pegasus? What’s your normal body like? What is your species like? What are you called?”
“Uhhh hu-”
“Wait, wait, wait! Hold that thought, Tia is going to want to hear it too. This is so exciting, we should hurry back.”
Riven was more than confused by the Princess’s sudden change in attitude, she went from annoyed and serious to giddy and curious at the flip of a switch. Did all it take was for her to say she meant no harm and wasn’t a pegasus? Was she really so naïve as to believe her without any other questions?
As she was lead through the maze she couldn’t help but dwell on the many questions she had. Where was Equestria? Would she ever see Valoran again? What was this “Tia” like? The questions were a welcome distraction from the Princess’s giddy chatter, and she couldn’t help but wonder what was coming next?
Equestria 3:25am, 2nd of Maruk, 6 Months after the return of Artemis – Celestia’s Bedroom, Canterlot
Immortal creatures like Celestia, Luna, Artemis, Discord and some others didn’t really need sleep to function or survive, and for the most part it was a habit that developed so as not to further distance themselves from their subjects. That being said all of them had grown to enjoy it, and none of them were particularly happy to be woken up.
“Why couldn’t they come during the day?” groaned Celestia as she debated going back to sleep.
It wasn’t really much of a debate though; she could already see how it was going to play out, and it was a matter of time before she would get up and have to investigate. She was certain Artemis was going to check the first one, and he was likely to assume the worst insisting on being the first one to take the hit if necessary. Luna likely wasn’t going to listen to him since otherwise the others would just roam around where they land and potentially endanger other ponies. Then they would send the elements out to collect the others, and then it was a matter of sending them home.
As if on cue, Celestia felt Luna leave her bedroom and head towards the energy she felt in the garden maze. While those two were likely worked up about potential threats, Celestia remained largely calm. She wasn’t sure if it was a hunch, her experience, or morning apathy but she felt confident that this wasn’t an attack even as there was another surge of energy coming from the throne room.
“Fiddlesticks,” yawned Celestia as she sat up rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Censoring herself to maintain public appearance for so long had largely removed most actual swears from her vocabulary.
“I can get this one Lulu, keep watch on the one in the garden,” thought Celestia groggily.
Without waiting for a response, she dragged herself out of her bed. She made her way over to the bathroom, careful not to wake Philomena. She looked in the mirror and decided she shouldn’t meet their guests with bedmane. Luckily she had a cleaning spell for those times when she didn’t have time to enjoy a proper shower and brushing, and after taking a moment to make sure everything was in place she headed towards the door.
After a short nod to the guards she noticed that their visitor was already exploring the castle grounds, but she wasn’t unduly worried. She wasn’t far from their visitor, and the path that they had chosen was a dead end for anyone that wasn’t herself, Luna, Twilight, or Cadence. On the off chance that visitor was able to somehow replicate their signature magic, the chamber had remained empty since she had given Twilight the elements.
As she neared where their guest had stopped, Celestia couldn’t help but wonder if there was ever going to be a time of normality. The past decade had been problem after problem nonstop, and while she was glad Luna returned in the chaos she would’ve liked things to be a bit calmer. The return of Discord, changeling invasions, the return of Sombra, Tirek’s rampage and the return of Artemis, had left her wondering what piece of the past was going to be a problem for Equestria next. Artemis had a knack for seeing the next big problem coming, but whenever she asked him about it he just said “you can see the shitstorm brewing from miles away when you aren’t in the middle of it” much to her irritation.
Celestia pulled herself away from her thoughts as she turned the corner, just a few meters ahead was the guest she had been looking for. Before her was a shapely tan mare thoroughly studying the stained glass murals in the hallway, Celestia was taken aback for a brief moment. She hadn’t been expecting regular pony, she wasn’t sure what she had expected but it wasn’t a normal earth pony. If that wasn’t surprising enough the silly purple hat was almost enough to make her lower her guard, but the rifle strapped across her back was warning enough.
“Good evening, I hope you are enjoying the murals. Let me be the first to welcome you to Equestria.”
Celestia noted that the mare didn’t seem defensive in any way, but she was examining her closely enough to feel mildly uncomfortable even with the slight distance between them. There was a gleam in her eyes before she responded.
“Ah yes, good evening to you as well. I am honored to be welcomed by what I presume to be a venerated hero, if the glass is telling the truth anyway.”
“Ah yes that is my likeness in the window, what gave me away?”
“It was the white coat, horn, wings, and the tattoo of the sun. Call it a “detective’s hunch”, but I figure you aren’t just here by coincidence, you are here in case I am dangerous.”
“Smart, mare. So are you?”
“Elementary honestly, but am I dangerous?” the mare paused for a brief moment considering how to answer. “Yes I am dangerous, but I’m not someone to worry about. I mean no harm.”
“Excellent, then allow me to introduce myself. I am Princess Celestia of Equestria, and you are?”
“Caitlyn, Sheriff of Piltover, and it’s an honor to speak with you, your highness. However might I speak to the King or Queen?”
“We have no King or Queen,” chuckled Celestia. “My sister and I share power and rule Equestria together. If you were looking for the pony in charge, you found one of them.”
“My apologies, I hope I didn’t offend. If I may be so bold, why do neither of you go by Queen?”
“Not at all, we have a non-standard way of rule. I can’t fault you for not knowing a foreign political structure. As for not labelling ourselves Queens, I wouldn’t want anyone getting the wrong idea about my sister and I’s relationship. Faust knows there are enough of those rumors going around already.”
“Plus the minor difference in terminology lessens the amount of ponies that will speak out against the two immortal Princesses, rule by immortal Queens doesn’t sound nearly as benevolent.”
“Interesting, I’m guessing your sister is the other in the mural? The one helping you defeat that monster?”
“You would be correct, though it is a little dated now, that was when we defeated the last Lord of Chaos, Discord.”
“These murals tell an interesting tale, if I’m interpreting them correctly. Cooperation, conflict, new heroes and betrayal, it’s quite the story. I can’t help, but wonder when this began. You appear to be quite young, did this all happen back to back?”
“Don’t trust your eyes for everything, this has happened over the course of 5000 years or so. The one of us fighting Discord is the oldest, fighting the wolves was about 2000 years later, fighting Nightmare Night about 1000 years ago, and the rest have been in the past 2 years.”
At this the tan mare seemed genuinely surprised, she clearly hadn’t been expecting such a large amount of time to have gone by. Celestia noted the immediate shift in body language, she seemed much more defensive. Now that she knew she was dealing with an ancient ruler, and not a young princess she seem much more respectful of her experience.
“What about you? What’s some of the history of your world? You seem to recognize you aren’t from here, so I’m guessing you were sent here?”
“I can’t decide if it was foolish or wise, but I fought against my instincts to shut my eyes. I saw the journey, that’s the only reason why I know I’m far from home. Valoran is a land plagued with internal conflict, the wars got so bad that the magic threatened to tear the world apart. To prevent future wars from triggering the dormant magic, three of the most powerful magicians started the League of Legends. The League is a place where each city-state can choose champions to represent them and fight on their behalf over various political and social issues. Unfortunately that is the only way we have managed to not kill each other.”
“Really? That’s interesting, how successful has the League been in stopping wars?”
“That is up to debate, I myself say not effective enough. There have been two major wars since the League’s formation, a civil war in the Northern Freljord and the Noxus-Ionian War. However if you ask the League, they will say their only responsibility is to stop city-states from fighting amongst themselves, and that they have no business in internal power-struggles such as the civil war. Which is utter bullocks, considering the three leaders and many of the figure heads for each faction are champions.”
“I figured as much, using violence to end violence never works, but you don’t seem to have a positive attitude towards this League.”
“No, even though I fight for the interests of Piltover, I don’t like the league. Many people haven’t considered that we are at the mercy of the High Summoner’s, while they try to prevent large scale conflict there is no guarantee that will always be their objective. Having the most powerful combatants in the land under their thumbs gives them the potential to be problematic enemies. While I agree with your sentiment, I don’t think it is practical. However I don’t believe you are as peaceful as you let on. Your murals show you, among others, using violence to solve your problems.”
“This land hasn’t known war in 800 years, and while some of those mural’s depict the more violent looking scenes it wasn’t violence that stopped each of those situations. My sister and I didn’t destroy discord we trapped him in stone, but when he broke free he was back to his same game of spreading mischief. He was trapped in stone again by the Elements of Harmony, but eventually I realized that we couldn’t keep imprisoning him. So we set him free, and we befriended him. Now the Lord of Chaos is free, but the world isn’t completely disheveled by chaos.”
“800 years of peace? Impressive. While befriending your enemy might work here, I doubt it would work on Valoran.”
“It may not, I wasn’t suggesting that you befriend all your enemies. I was merely stating that violence does not end violence, at some point you have to reach an understanding. While you may not like your rivals you can’t just wipe them out.”
“If only it were easy to make everyone else see that.”
“Don’t worry, it just takes time. They will learn eventually, but tell me have we learned enough about the other to admit what game we are playing?”
“Of course ,” laughed Caitlyn. “From what I can tell you weren’t lying, and I don’t have any reason to distrust you. And myself?”
“I can say the same about you, so why did you come to Equestria?”
Though she didn’t say anything, Celestia saw the slightest twitch during her last statement. Caitlyn didn’t trust her. While it was a smart sentiment, she wasn’t sure what/if she did anything to cause it.
“From what I can tell, we are here by complete accident. I hypothesize that the teleportation spell was disrupted by a sudden surge of magic causing us to vastly overshoot, but I’m not a mage so I can’t say for sure. I can’t even be sure that all of us landed here, but I think Jem managed to hold us together though.”
“At least she appears to be telling the truth.”
“Well before I send ponies out to retrieve your friends, is there anything I should know about them?”
“Well we are all champions of the League of Legends, so we are all technically dangerous, but there are only two that I would worry about being particularly malicious. One is a master chemist named Singed, he is an amoral scientist from Zaun and most of his “work” gets sold as chemical weaponry. I would be worried about leaving him alone for any period of time.”
“She must have some history with Zaun, but at least this is good to know so I can warn the girls.”
“The other is called Kalista, and she is a collaboration of souls and living embodiment of vengeance. I can’t say for certain if she will harm innocent civilians, but she won’t hesitate to pierce anyone that she senses treachery or deception from. Between her and Singed, she is MUCH more dangerous and more likely to kill someone if allowed to roam.“
“Hmmm, that is most certainly troubling. I will make sure all of your remaining companions are retrieved as quickly as possible.”
“I feel the need to point out, we aren’t all companions, Most of them are more like coworkers honestly, just because we have the same job doesn’t mean we are all friends. In fact many of us hate each other.”
“No need to worry about me lumping you all together, is there anything else I should know?”
“No, I don’t thi-”
Celestia was surprised when a very visible cringe interrupted her sentence. Suddenly the mare’s entire demeanor changed, and now she seemed, embarassed?
“There is one more you should know about,” sighed Caitlyn. “My deputy/enforcer is probably here too, and while she isn’t malicious she is probably going to cause some damage. By some damage, I mean a LOT of property damage. Her catchphrase is ‘punch first, ask questions while punching’. As her commanding officer, I apologize in advance for any damage she causes. On my word as sheriff, I will make sure she fixes anything she breaks.”
“That’s quite alright,” laughed Celestia. “I know what it is like to work with someone who is much more reckless. Shortly after her return my sister caught wind of a hostage situation, and while it could’ve easily been resolves by the guards. She ended up brute forcing her way in and throwing off their entire plan, but the hostages were saved at least and no pony was permanently wounded. She has the best intentions, they just could be handled with a bit more precision and finesse.”
“Exactly! Then when you try to explain the amount of paperwork and hassle they just caused, they just laugh it off as not their problem. It’s just so infuriating.”
“Then while you are still angry with them, they do something that reminds you why you are glad to have them. While it may be difficult to deal with them, it’s better than going without them.”
“…”
“What? Don’t you agree?”
“Unfortunately I do,” sighed Caitlyn.
“Unfortunately? What do y-“
“TIIAAA! WE HAVE GUESTS!!
Celestia cursed mentally, as her sister’s pet nickname for her boomed throughout the castle. She wondered why she choose to announce this with Royal Canterlot Voice instead of mentally, but they would have to talk about that later.
“BE RIGHT THERE LULU!”
Celestia withheld a groan when she saw the smug smile playing at the edges of Caitlyn’s mouth, and while she wasn’t really embarrassed by the name, it certainly made her harder to take seriously.
“It would seem that my sister has returned with one of your associates, would you come with me to meet them?”
“Of course, lead the way.”
As they walked away Caitlyn couldn’t help by steal a final glance at the stained glass murals and be on guard. While the Princess claimed they were peaceful, she couldn’t shake the feeling that not everything was exactly as it seemed.
