> The Sacred Sword > by The_Masked_Fox > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prologue - Him and Her > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I, my younger sister, and my older brother have been Pokémon fans since my brother found it, we went to a con after deciding that we should cosplay as one of the trios as gijinkas… but we couldn’t decide which one, the Three Titans; Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres (My sister’s choice), the Dog Trio; Entei, Suicune, and Raikou (My brother’s choice), or the Swords of Justice; Cobalion, Terrakion, and Virizion (not Keldeo due to him not being the three next to the others in bulbagarden (My choice)). So we decided that whoever won in the Champion league the fastest with only two Pokémon his/her idea would be used, I won right before my brother finished so we cosplayed as the Swords of Justice. When we were at the con I found these awesome swords that fit our character perfectly as well as eerily having the right color scheming as the characters we choose the cosplay, a rapier that has the color scheming of Virizion and a brown sheath, it would be perfect for my sister, a long sword- one of my favorite type of swords- which has the color scheming of Cobalion with a standard brown sheath, from just looking at it I could tell it is near my arm’s length- just the right length! Then a broadsword that has the color scheming of Terrakion with a custom belt for being on one’s shoulders and the sheath was much like the other two; basic sheathing. After my sister and brother saw them they agreed with me, we have to get those three swords, so we bought them from a man who looked like the merchant from Resident Evil, and that’s when something ticked and I realized what we just did and I began to yell but I fainted along with my brother and sister. ~~~ I began to wake and then started to get up and squinted and tried to block the sun from my eyes but after looking around for a while and confirming the direction the sun is moving, it is somewhere around noon, around 3.5 miles from the castle of the sisters and currently in the Everfree forest… A very strange Everfree forest… like the one before the war of night… When I realized what happened I jump up and look for my brother and sister but could not find them, then I realized that I am alone, my family was not brought to this universe with me… Then I began to ‘tsk’ myself for being selfish and think only about myself. Them my thoughts were cut short by a...centaur thingy... centaur minotaur ape holding a giant axe with two strange horns on top of his head walking to me... Then I saw how he was moving as if he was preparing to attack, so I unsheathed my sword. But then he asked me a question “Who and what are you? Your dressing does not exist on Middangeard, and neither does one have your level of magical power.” I only needed to think for a few seconds before saying what I was; “I am Cobalion, a Sword of Justice, legendary warrior of steel, and the cautious knight.” Then some memories that were not mine, no they were Cobalion’s and then I looked at my hand with a sudden realization ‘wait… how am I alive…?’ My answer seemed to hit the centaur-minotaur-ape right in the face, he looked at me in contemplation then he sighed and then said; “I never heard of you Cobalion, but I am Lord Tirek, the Devourer of Magic.” Then he started to advance “I see you as a threat so I shall remove you from existence Cobalion.” I then leaped back on instinct and then started to watch him carefully, and then I ran to the left and struck only for Tirek to parry the blow with his axe, but I thought he might do so. So I jumped back into the place I started from, and then he charged at me and swung his axe at me only for me to jump up and land on it and then leap at him and swing at one of his two horns but this time, he blocked it with magic, and with that I disengaged from combat and when I landed I quickly made sure to have at least a few feet between him and me empty. ---Tirek’s PoV--- ‘This Cobalion managed to avoid my attack and use my axe as a way to attack me! Who is this man? He… is more skilled than these Equestrians, he is more skilled than the Griffon knights… and he is making tactical moves that suit better for the Zebra warriors…’ I watch him for his next move, it looks as if he is waiting for mine, I learned from my last attack that my weapon may very well be useless against him. I then choose to ask him a question; “For whom do you work for Cobalion, and where did you learn to fight like that?” I could not help but grin at his reaction; he was startled I can use this to my advantage. Then he answered me in a way that made my mind spin; “I work for neither the sun nor moon, neither the sky or ground, my master is not but the wind that is eternally free, and I learned my skills of combat from no-one but myself.” What? He is… a warrior who fights for the wind? I begin to laugh at his stupidity “Y-you are a funny one Cobalion, that is the best thing I have ever heard!” I looked at his face to only see it be resolute, ‘by Tartarus! He’s serious!’ I begin to laugh even harder when I realized he was serious then I heard a swish of his sword then suddenly the right side of my head suddenly felt much lighter and I felt disoriented and very dizzy. At my lower left, I heard Cobalion say; “To laugh and lower your guard in the middle of battle will make you much easier to kill Tirek, I will simply take your right horn as a memo that I beat Tirek, the Devourer of Magic while he simply laughed at the truth.” I looked down to my right to see him pick up my horn and I felt a fury consume me that I only felt when my brother betrayed me, but much, much worse. I began to grin in a cold bloodlust and then I swung my axe in a downward arc at him. ---Cobalion’s PoV--- When he attacked me by swinging his axe down towards me I felt a calm conscience that was not my own and I said “Sacred Sword” those two made me feel much stronger and I swung upwards to the axe and a brilliant blue aura surrounds my sword and then it cleaved straight though the axe as if it were simply water and nothing more and then cutting into his chest leaving a shallow cut. Tirek upon seeing that I cut though his axe and into his chest his eyes widened as his bloodlust ended when he had no way of winning, he began to flee when I saw a gate one that was opening as if it were saying that he was to go in there so I kicked him into the gate by kicking him twice after muttering “Double Kick” and he goes flying into the gate which closes after him. I sighed and began to walk in a random direction when I heard the flapping of wings, which made me begin to look around to find out what was making that ungodly loud flapping, it sounded the same as Articuno, Moltres, and Zapdos when they flew around… and I started to blink in confusion, ‘wait how would I- oh, I see, I have the memories of Cobalion.’ When I heard four feet landing on the ground behind me so I turned around to see two women who have angelic wings on their backs, I blinked a few times before my eyes began to wander then I closed my eyes so as to not temp myself, then I looked at them and waited. Then the smaller and younger one asked me; “Whom are thou, and where is Tirek?” with that my eyebrows raised at the fact that she was speaking in old English. “I am Cobalion, a Sword of Justice, legendary warrior of steel, and the cautious knight,” I then sighed after saying that and then I replied; “But you just like Tirek will not know who I am, I am from a different place, of which you may not know of, and never shall,” I closed my eyes then reopened them to see them seem confused “Tirek has been sent to a place where he shall not harm those during these times.” They both looked at me confused about my first answer and then frowned at my second answer as well then I raised Tirek’s right horn so they could see it then their eyes widened upon realizing that I in fact engaged Tirek in combat and won, then the taller and older one then asked “You defeated Tirek on your own? But how?” I smiled then I began to shake my head then I looked at the two and said; "I won in combat and that is all to it, plus I do not know your names, hence you two and I are complete strangers." The two seemed surprised then the older one answered; "I am Princess Celestia Flare, the aspect of the day and the sun." The younger one then told me who she was as well; "I am Princess Lunacae Nocturne, the aspect of the night and the moon." > Ch.1 - A Legendary Hero and an Apprentice of Unique Power > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I opened my eyes drearily; ‘oh… that was a dream huh? I remember that day when my fate was sealed, for the last three thousand years I have been Cobalion, The Sword of Justice, the Defeater of Lord Tirek, the Knight of both the Sun and Moon, and Savior of Equestria. Man am I tired of that fate, well that was one thousand and five hundred years ago, I must say that Starswirl was a genius, both of us together invented a spell to make a person’s soul leave their body and then be reborn as a baby, we both agreed that if we were to use this we would need to die naturally, as for me in my first life as Cobalion I waited until all my mortal friends died then did that, but I sealed my real body in stone. I began to shake my head trying to shake my thoughts of the past out of my head, ‘I need to think about the present, if I am right Twilight Sparkle will be a legend who would stop a great portion of chaos in Equestria,’ I begin to snicker, ‘Who am I kidding? Of course she will…! Well, if she is the same Twilight from the My Little Pony series. I have grea-‘ My thought process was cut of by a barely audible scream, with that I quickly got out of my bed and got dress then quite literally jumped into my armor and ran down the corridor to Celestia’s room where three Royal guards, four Solar guards ‘well color me shocked’, and two Lunar guards were standing there not sure what to do. I took off my helmet and put my ear against her door when I heard sobbing, ‘A nightmare? The guard’s wont be needed, she’ll need a friend.’ I waved off the guards but they wouldn’t leave so I sighed, “Look, nothing is wrong, your dismissed.” The Royal and Solar guards didn’t budge, but the two Lunar guards listened to me and took up positions by Celestia’s door, ‘this is why I really dislike both the snotty Royal guards and the ever so brave Solar guards,’ “As High Commander of E.T.A I order you to go back to your previous jobs.” The Royal and Solar guards sighed then left. I sighed, “The Royal and Solar guards, incompetent fools…” I look at the Lunar guards and identified them as First Lieutenant Silver Fangs and Second Lieutenant Night Breeze, I smiled, these are my favorite soldiers of the Lunar Guards. Night Breeze snickered at what I said and replied, “I agree High Commander Ryusei, I bet the main reason large portion of them joined the Royal Guards and the Solar Guards was just for the money.” Silver Fang just smirked at that, then he looked at me and motioned for me to knock of the door then said, “Go on, we won’t stop you, we’d stop anyone else though.” I shook my head, this Bat pony seems to like me better than his own captain and he’d practically do anything for me without me using my rank. I shake my head then I raise my hand to knock on the door. ~~Celestia’s PoV~~ I woke up and practically launched myself out of my bed screaming, why? I dreamed of the day me and Lulu met Cobalion, then Cobalion’s unfortunate death, then the banishment of my sister, when I met Deradthie, the Last Star Caster and then his death. Deradthie, the Last Star Caster was the mortal who made my eyes open during his last moments in life with a single question; “I wonder if Cobalion became an immortal, not on his own free will but because he was required to be such a figure?” and then he smiled and then died after taking off his mask in front of me for the first time allowing me to see his face for the both the first and last time. But in the end of the dream all three came back and killed me, this never happened before, I can feel my tears running down my face and my heart racing in pure terror. Then I heard a knock on my door so I wiped the tears from my eyes and use my magic to put on my dress, then I answer the knock on my door “Come in.” Then the one person I didn’t expect, Ryusei. I started to feel dread when I saw him in his armor, but then he started to take it off and he told me, “I heard you scream along with your door guards, three Royal guards, and five Solar guards, I pressed my ear against you door so as to tell if you were under attack or simply had a horrible dream, when I heard you sobbing I decided the later, so I dismissed the Royal and Solar guards.” He then looked at me with a pained look, “Also, why do you always think something bad is going to happen when you see me? Aren’t I your friend?” My eyes widened as I realized he was able to read me like a book now and I looked away from him and smirked then replied, “And is this any way to treat your princess?” I saw him grin and then he stated, “There is the Princess I know, either way today is the day when Twilight will be going to Ponyville is it not?” he looks at me inquisitively. I blinked a few times then started to shake my head, “I forgot that you are Twilight’s friend, along with Captain Shining Armor.” I then smiled, “Your Twilight’s first friend as well as the person who she trusts as if you were her older brother.” Then he did something I never expected him to do, he went to the window of my room and looked out to the moon and then said, “But you have bigger plans for Twilight than simply giving her the task to get new friends, right?” My eyes widened as he yet again read me like a book, and I know he saw my reaction because he smirked a tiny bit, I only had one answer because of the corner he managed to verbally push me into, “Yes, but I don’t believe you’d be able to understand.” He then shook his head and looked at me, “You have experienced more than me, but I believe that it may have something to do with the woman on the moon, and a very old ‘folk tale’ about a second alicorn controlling a celestial object known as the moon, am I right?” I couldn’t help but to stare at him, not only did he deduct that I was sending Twilight to Ponyville due to having more than one reason, not only to have her get new friends. Not just that he actually was open minded enough to see that more than two alicorns was possible, “H-how? How did you figure there were more than one reason for me to send Twilight to Ponyville?” He grinned as if he finally managed to catch a dragonfly without a bugs net, then he stated, “She holds way too much mana to be a normal unicorn, I learned how to store mine and I’m a flare as well, higher ranking flare not to mention, but yet she has more mana than me, it’s safe to say that she is the aspect of magic, or maybe…” he looked at me as if he knew that there was supposed to be no way for him to know the thing he was about to say, “…or maybe the element of magic.” Suddenly a shiver went down my spine, he knows about the secrets I have tried so hard to keep hidden, invisible, and virtually non-existent so my sister could return to an environment where she would be accepted, yet he saw what my cloak of shadows was hiding. He grinned and started to rub the back of his head, and then said, “Well, you just answered my question about if the fabled elements of harmony.” When he said that I realized he thought it may be true, or it may not be true and I gave him the answer like a total fool. --Hours later-- ~~Cobalion’s PoV~~ I stood in front of Twilight smiling as she was saying good bye to me when I decided she needed a small lesson from me, one that I think would help her greatly, “Twilight.” She stopped and looked at me and gave me a sheepish smile then ran over to me saying; “I didn’t think I would be able to see you until Hearth Warming Eve!” I tilt my head a bit and smiled while shaking my head. “I want to tell you something,” she froze and looked at me curiously, “consider each different person a different project, like with the project where we tested which type of magical energy does what when combined with another, but instead of magic it’s personalities, and instead of a few there are many, work with each different person you meet, learn about them, befriend them, not even a god level hero can go without friends to hold them up, just like with Cobalion, he may have been near impossible to defeat, but he fell because he did not seek out new friends.” I rub her head messing with her hair a bit, but she and everyone but Celestia was looking at me with surprise I begin to laugh, “There will be those who you wont like and those that you will, but remember, a person’s history shapes their personality, you can’t just stay above the water of a person’s personality, everyone wears a mask, learn about them, help them, teach them to become better,” with what I said last I surprised Celestia and she looked as if she just heard something she never thought she would never hear again, “you kid, will become something amazing, you will become a legend in your own right, and maybe even better.” I lifted my hand off of Twilight’s head, she stood there dazed then I poked her forehead breaking her trance, “Go on, you will be late.” When she heard that she practically phased out and then back into existence on the chariot, then she turned back a yelled “bye” to me, I couldn’t help but laugh and do the same with her. > Ch.2 - The Great Army and an Arising Threat > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- After Twilight left I went over to Shining and patted his shoulder, “Congrats man, you’re a captain of the Royal Guard, do your best,” He looked at me then started to smile, “remember, you can do many things, even things you would think impossible.” I turned and went back to my room where I started to put on my armor when a voice spoke to me, one very much like my own, ‘Do you truly believe that you can run from your own past, Sir?’ I sigh, ‘Cobalt. I’m not running from it, I’m simply hiding among those whom I wish to protect if I were to be in my old body and if I still was in the form of Cobalion I’d be seen as a person who is to be feared or even revered. I have chosen a path that allows me to help people, plus, this way if I am truly needed I can simply return as Cobalion.’ Cobalt mentally sighed, ‘I see your point; we do share the same memories, well except I only know the memories that you made in this universe. Sir, I just simply don’t understand, what is the value of this path you have taken, I only see pain and betrayal.’ I begin to shake my head, ‘I don’t expect you to, your simply a MI, a Magical Intelligence made using my DNA, we are the same in many ways, but you lack one thing, the mentality of a living being. Due to lacking that you don’t see why when I quote on quote died, what the underlying meaning was.’ I finished putting on my armor and then the appearance of Cobalt appeared in the left corner of my vision, Cobalt’s appearance is fashioned after myself when I was known as Cobalion, except he is wearing armor very similar to the armor that I am wearing right now, from appearance it is obvious he is male, then I heard his voice in my helmet, “Then tell me, Sir, enlighten me so I can understand.” I begin to pick up what is left of the things I brought then after I picked it all up and my weapons were on my back I decided to answer, “Simple, to other nations it showed that the Legendary Hero, the Warrior who was near impossible to defeat, would fight to the end for Equestria, even when facing impossible odds. Then for the Equestrians, it simply means, ‘No matter the odds, we must defend Equestria with all our might, just like Cobalion.’ That is what sparked the creation of ETA.” Cobalt tilted his head then slumped his shoulders in defeat, “Very well Sir, you win, I see your point, even with memories of hundred of lives I still am an MI, I don’t hold the capacity to feel what you living beings feel.” I smirk as I leave my room and begin the long trek back to the headquarters of my army, ETA, Equestrian Tactical Army, or EIA, TCED, and ASF. EIA, the Equestrian Intelligence Agents, the stealth division of ETA, those who are talented it stealth are recruited in if they are the kind who wouldn’t betray Equestria. ASF, the Aerial Strike Force, from the name you’d think they’d drop bombs or something, no, they are Shock Troopers, they drop into or behind enemy lines and attack the enemy, or they are dropped right into an enemy fortress or city, their armor is made out of a light but endurant metal so as to make them have maximum efficiency when in battle, it also it designed to give them maximum flexibility as well as movability, they are equipped with light weapons. ASF is designed to be half humans with the ability of wings, and then those with other abilities, this way ASF is easily balanced so they can attack and survive. In almost all senses they are the true part that makes Equestria so feared and ETA the most elite army of Equestria. The ASF comes in three different platoons, Solar Osprey, Lunar Hawk, and Deep Shark. The Solar Osprey Platoon is named after their armor ‘Solar Osprey’, they are trained for fighting during daytime and their armor colorization is based on the sky during the daytime. The same is said about the other two, those of the Lunar Hawk Platoon are trained to fight during the nighttime, and their armor colorization is based on the night sky. While those in the Deep Shark Platoon are trained for underwater warfare, they are taught to have very little to no fear, their armor colorization is based on the sea. Solar Osprey and Lunar Hawk platoons wear virtually the same armor, the functions of the armor is to be able to be dropped into enemy territory from heights from about one thousand feet, the main portion of the weight goes into the feet of the armor, pistons, enchantments, etc… are in the feet so as to allow the soldier to be able to land on their feet and be able to fight instantly, how it works is that the armor has crystals in it that are filled with mana, when the soldier is falling and the speed and force downwards get stronger more of this mana will go to the feet so when they land the mana disperses the impact, but this actually creates a mini shockwave which will knock the nearest person over, to avoid knocking our own soldiers over right after the landing spikes will go out of their feet and into the ground, these spikes will go back into the armor once they start to move their feet, this allows them to move freely and to not knock each other over. The main difference in the two armors is that Lunar Hawk has a night vision visor so they can see. The Deep Shark armor is designed differently, the weight of the armor is more spread out, and they do not have the ‘Shock Trooper Feet’ as we’ve come to call them, we redesigned the armor to have less water resistance, that way they’d reach the sea floor more quickly. TCED, the Tactical Center and Equestrian Defense. These two different sections have different roles, those in TC (Tactical Center) are the ones who decide where ASF strikes and when from information given to them by EIA, they also decide where ED is to defend or siege. They have basic combat training and have lighter armor and weaponry. ED (Equestrian Defense) are those who don’t fit anywhere else in ETA but are very talented, they wear more heavy to light armor and carry heavy to light equipment, they are taught how to use siege equipment and how to use any type of weapon they can get their hands on. Then there are the two other regiments, CS and TRAS, the Command Squad and Tactical Research and Science. CS is the best equipped, their armor is a combination of ASF, EIA, and ED’s armors, not only that only those who are extremely talented, pretty much the best of the best of the best. Our armors are personally customized for each one of us, but our armor is much heavier than the other’s, it requires a unicorn with a very high discipline in controlling magic, but to make it easier we added pistons and other things which would be controlled by an MI who’s personality is made to work with the wearer’s personality, this way they work at maximum efficiency. Not only that our armor is designed for each of us personally but our weapons are as well, the weapons are also given the highest and newest tech made by TRAS. TRAS, or otherwise known as Tactical Research and Science, is the main supplier of technology for Equestria; they take the harmless technology and give it to people who can create a lot of that certain tech. Then with the more dangerous tech they test it to see if it can be put on the battlefield, then if it can be used on the battlefield they start to produce it in our base then put it to use, if it can’t be put on the battlefield then they simply make sure that it would never see the light of day again. I grin and shake my head, I started the course with this army’s creation without knowing it, oh the irony, in my place as the defender of Equestria they make an army that can defend and strike out at Equestria’s enemies. I open my eyes as begin to trek through a forest known as the Shadow Tail woods, one of the most deadly forests to exist in Equestria and in fact, in all of Middangeard. --A few days later-- I look at the new recruits, four dragons, two griffins, two unicorns, three zebras, four earth ponies, five pegasi, three diamond dogs and one changeling. Twenty-four recruits, impressive they have shown talent to be chosen, now to find out where they would be best placed. I walk up with my ranking on my right shoulder plate, the dragons, griffins, and the changeling see my ranking and salute to me in very militaristic manner, by doing this the others looked startled and scramble into positions, while the dragons, griffins, and the changeling where already there. Seven disciplined soldiers this time? Amazing reactions, they will fit in here quickly. I look over each of them, “Congratulations, you have shown talent that makes you stand out from the crowd,” I look at the changeling with a confused look, “I know of the changelings, but I heard that there are no changelings who live in Equestria, am I wrong?” The changeling replies instantly, “You are correct sir. I am an outcast from my hive; I originally came to live in Equestria because I heard it was a peaceful place where anyone can live. After living here for six years I wish to protect it from those who wish to hurt Equestria and its’ citizens.” I couldn’t help but grin, “A shape-shifting creature who relies of deceit and masks would put away his mask for a nation and its’ people,” the changeling looks startled and a tad bit scared that I know so much about the changelings, “you will do fine here, this shows exactly what we are fighting to protect, the peace and friendship that allows our nation to be unique in Middangeard.” The changeling begins to smile, I look at the others, “Now, what are your names and where do each of you hail from?” A griffon with honey gold eyes and black highlights in his hair steps forwards, “I am Blakin’ior Shadowstream, though you can call me Blakin, I hail from Aristol.” So he is from the Mediterranean? On one of those smaller islands, that part of Equestria that is commonly attacked by pirates, the Naval Army is protecting that area. Due to that, he is more than likely to know basic hand-to-hand combat and have basic weapon training. The other griffon comes forwards, she has magenta eyes and a hazel brown highlight in her hair, “I am Hestil Silverback, I hail from Kuruma.” She hails from Japony! Damn, she is going to know lots of different types of martial arts, she also will have quite a bit of knowledge in all kinds of melee and bow weapons. Those from Japony are more militaristic in nature. One of the dragons speaks, “I am Quartz,” he motions to the dragoness to his right, “This is my twin sister Diamond,” then he motions towards the dragons to his left “these are our little brothers, Granite and Dunite,” Quarts has a rosy-pink color to his eyes and hair, much like rose quartz, then his skin is a lightly tanned, Diamond shares Quartz’s skin but her hair and eyes have a pinky-red, that is akin to a rose diamond’s color… oh, I see where they got their names from, I bet their names start with ‘Rose’, he then sighs, “and before you ask, yes my and Diamond’s names start with Rose.” A diamond dog snorts but I throw him a glare that made him break into a cold sweat, I then decide to state, “It was not my business, remember, here we ask only for your best, it is your choice whether or not you tell us certain things.” His eyes widen but then a sincere smile spreads across his face. I look at Granite and Basalt, Granite’s skin is paler than his older sister and brother, but his hair mostly white with black highlights randomly in it, his eyes are black with blue highlights in them, from his appearance I’d guess he is in his 20s whereas his older sister and brother appear to be in their 30s. I then look at Dunite, his skin is a shade darker than Granite’s but is a few shades lighter than Quartz' and Diamond's, his hair is a light grey with black and white highlights, then his eyes are green with a darker green highlight, from his appearance I can guess he is either 19 or 18. Then Diamond took the head of the conversation, “We hail from Landon.” I can't help but to deadpan, they are from Britony. They are from the place in Equestria that the people from Britony are very organized and prefer to do things by the book, but if they were in the army at some point they almost always become extremely disciplined. These four will be very useful depending on which regiment they are best suited to. The changeling walks forward, “I am Echo, I originally hail from Queen Chrysalis’ Hive, but now I hail from Ponyville.” I couldn’t help but to raise an eyebrow, from what I’ve heard from our scouts, Queen Chrysalis is a highly warlike and a tyrant. Her hive is commonly attacked, making them hard to surprise and very difficult to scare. Ponyville… oh, the irony! That definitely makes sure that disasters and almost everything will not startle and will not shake him, so he’s going to be a calm one, he also will be very hard to scare. --Later that day-- I begin to sigh, their introductions melded into one another after Echo’s, we checked what they were best at, ends up Echo, Diamond, Quartz, a unicorn, and Hestil is best suited for the ASF. Blakin, Basalt, two of the diamond dogs, a zebra, and a pegasus are best suited for the EID. Granite, a diamond dog, a unicorn, two earth ponies, and three of the pegasi are best suited to ED. one of the pegasi and an earth pony are best suited for TC. The two unicorns and the last earth pony (of the newest recruits) are best suited for TRAS. A yawn escapes my lips as I lay back into my chair, then I felt something nagging the back of my mind, ‘has there been any changelings within ETA before now?’ That question burned in my mind so I grabbed a book and started to read though it, the species is the only thing I am reading and an hour or so later I flip to the last page which was updated today, and I couldn’t help but laugh. “Only one changeling has ever been in ETA even though it is over 900 years old!” My grin widens then shrinks as I remembered one fact about changelings; there are only a few ways to get banished from one of their hives, they’d have to either endanger the lives of their squad or they refused to do what the Queen wanted them to do, anything worse than that is resolved with death and anything lighter than that resolves in that changeling receiving a few stabs to the feet or have to walk on a path of embers. I stare at the book, ‘I hope Echo did the later and got banished, I’d rather not have to kill him.’ Suddenly someone knocks on the door which makes me jump, but I quickly recover, “Come in,” I watched as the door opened and through the now open doorway comes an EIA soldier, not only that it was Master Scout Acrid Winds, our best flier in deserts, and our best eyes in the arid environments, also the scout I hand picked for surveying Queen Chrysalis’ hive. My expression got rather grim, he usually relays the information to his partner who would bring it back and report, but if he came back to report then that means it is either information he had deemed is too important and classified for the ears of anyone but me or his partner was either killed, captured, or ended up being a turncoat. I hope the first one is the case, “Report Master Scout Acrid Winds.” He shuffles his feet then looks at me with an unusually grim face, “Queen Chrysalis’ hive has… advanced in technology, mainly our own tech… they even started to forge weapons and armors of ETA, we have a spy among us, and this has been going on since the beginning of this month.” I stared at him, “and you haven’t seen the one who gives them the tech?” I know the changelings wouldn’t have been able to do such a thing, so it’s one of our own. He then cringes and has a look of betrayal on his face, “the traitor has been eliminated, and the person… was my partner Solar Wisp…” My jaw practically fell to the floor, Solar Wisp betrayed us! Then Acrid spoke, “well, I thought it was Solar… until when I killed him he turned into a changeling, and then on my way back I found his body… he… had been dead for two months and a half when I found him…” “But that’s not just it, at the two months ago a changeling warned me not to trust my partner, he didn’t say why, but he was animated about it… now I know why.” I saw a few tears come out of his eyes, it makes sense him and Solar were very great friends. My head began to shake and my hands tremble in anger, they found a way past our defenses, we need to change locations of our base, we’ll move to our mountain stronghold. I look at Acrid, “tell everyone that code nine is now in effect.” His eyes begin to widen as he realized the true gravity of the situation, “Yes sir!” He turned to leave when I stopped him, “We recruited a changeling named Echo into our army, but he has been living in Equestria for six years, he is an ally, not a foe.” He nods towards me then begins quickly walk down the hallway, I shake my head and pull open a drawer with sunglasses in them, I put it on and then many different magic signatures appeared inside these glasses and I look around the base to see if there is more than one green magic signature. After slowly looking around every direction I sigh in relief, we only have to move bases and we’re in the green. I get off my desk and start to pack everything then I left my office to go into the grand hall to announce what we are about to do. > Ch.3 - The Original Base and The Book of the Void > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~~Twilight’s PoV~~ It has been weeks since I moved into Ponyville, I feel calm and happy in this library. I miss my brother, my mom, my dad, my mentor, and my friend Ryusei. I actually wonder what language Ryusei’s name is in… I have not seen anything like his anywhere else. I push myself away from the table and decide to take a walk, what is going t- no, this is Ponyville, there’s no chance of a week without a disaster of some kind. I laugh a bit because not only did I find a place where I feel free from the chains of life, but I found a place where no matter how long I’m here I have found my home. When I go downstairs and into the kitchen I find Spike, my assistant making breakfast and he then looks at me and smiles at me, “Twilight, I’m making blueberry pancakes.” I couldn’t help but to smile, we both know I love blueberry pancakes. “Spike, after breakfast do you want to join me on my walk?” He nods eagerly; it makes sense although dragons are like us Equestrians in form they actually are a more active race, they spend their adult and elder years in their caves but during the years before that they tend to have tons of energy. It took a while before he finished making breakfast and for us to eat it, around 20 minutes I believe then we left and started to walk around Ponyville, today is Thursday the day when RD and Rarity have a day off from work. I smile, at least, I know that on Thursdays RD is lazing about, the library won't be missing a window or have a hole in the wall. I start to look around taking in the beauty of the trees around us when I see a certain pegasus known as Rainbow Dash sitting in a tree apparently sleeping, when I get closer I begin to see blue lines going from the pocket in her pants to her ears. Wait she’s listening to music? When I get close enough I see she is bobbing her head while listening to her music. I say “Hi” to her a few times but she couldn’t hear me to instead of yelling at her I kick the tree and she practically jumps out of her skin then falls off of the tree and lands on her feet looking frantically around before she saw me, she then pulled out her one of her ear buds and rubs the back of her head, “Hey Twilight!” she then sees spike, “Yo Spike!” she offers him her hand to fist bump and Spike does so. I couldn’t help but ask her, “RD, what are you listening to?” She turns to me and smiles then laughs a bit, “I’m listening to my favorite band, Twenty Warrior Wall, a band who makes awesome music that ranges from dark and melancholy to light and happy, close to no-one knows anything about them other than it’s a band made up of twenty people and that it’s a combination of all the races. I couldn’t help but raise and eyebrow, “Mind if I listen to it with you?” she shakes her head and walks next to me on my right and tells me, “We’re friends, we can listen to the same music, I can tell you were walking so I’ll walk with you while we listen to Twenty Warrior Wall’s music.” After she finished saying that she gives me the other ear bud, which I put into my left ear. She then pulls out her E-song, a device we invented and it holds recorded music in its’ inner gem so you can carry music, voice recordings, anything sound wise anywhere with you and he presses a button and a song starts up. I hear a guitar and other interments then a man singing, who sound just like Ryusei. We try to face the fight within But it's over We are ready for the riot to begin And to stand strong We walked the path that led us to the end Remember We are caught beneath with nothing left to give Forever When warriors fall with broken swords We can't give up, we can't give in When all is lost and daylight ends We’ll carry you and we will live forever, forever Grey skies will chase the light away No longer We fought the fight now only dark remains Forever Divided we will stand And we will let this end When warriors fall with broken swords We can't give up, we can't give in When all is lost and daylight ends We’ll carry you and we will live forever, forever The sun begins to rise And wash away the sky The turning of the tide Don't leave it all behind And we will never say goodbye When warriors fall with broken swords We can't give up, we can't give in When all is lost and daylight ends We’ll carry you and we will live forever, forever When the song finished I couldn’t help but to stare at RD’s E-song then at RD when she asked, “So how did you like it?” “That was amazing! They captured the emotion and they sound like they are fighting for us, not for themselves, not for their music, but for Equestria…” I begin to shake my head the man who sung that song sounds just like Ryusei, but I don't know if he even can sing. I shake my head a bit and smile, “I’d like to listen to another.” RD just smiled and played the next song and we continued to walk aimlessly. ~~Cobalion’s PoV~~ I looked at the room we are in; the people who made this place knew what they were doing… but hells bells! This room by its’ self is larger than the throne room in Canterlot! It is, at least, ten of those stacked on top each other with the long side facing upwards. I can tell this was specialized for ASF’s training, but the fact they made this room so stable and yet underground amazes me, I’ve seen many things but… wow, this is… hell’s bells… talk about overkill. I shake my head, I want to train in landing on my feet after being dropped but with this cliff I’m standing on the edge of, there’s no need for that, I simply have to jump and then land. I walk away from the edge then turn around and run off toward the edge and jump of last second and I see the ground approaching but it is far away when suddenly a book appears in front of me, it is open and its’ pages are beginning to move upwards as it begins to fall, I expect to just go straight through it with the speed I’m going at but when I hit it, it doesn’t break in half but instead goes with me and it blocks my vision so I try to get it off but by doing to it messes with my gravity and I suddenly start to spin in circles as I begin to flail while trying to get the book off my face. When I finally manage to get the book off my face I see the ground and the first thoughts were, ‘well shit.’ Then I hit into the ground on my bottom, luckily for me Cobalt woke up when I started to flail and once we saw the ground he channeled the built up magic and added a lot more from my mana batteries into the armor on my bottom and releases it right before I hit the ground which made me land safely. I sigh in relief at the fact that Cobalt saved me, then I looked at the book, it’s purple with an appearance very similar to the dark tomes in a game I once played, (I can’t remember the name of it, though… oh well), which made me slightly confused. I begin to flip though the pages and I saw something that made me even more confused, each page is blank. I sighed then walked to my room for who knows how long and once I get there I decide to sense the magic around me when I ‘saw’ that this book was composed of magic, but not any magic, it is made of void magic. This gave me an idea where I choose to re-create my sword, which is a European longsword and its' sheath, but made out of void magic instead of wood and steel, it was tough and when I was done I managed to make a near perfect copy. Then after making it I started to put enchantments into it, so it is impossible to unsheathe by those who seek to hurt the innocent and to be impossible to unsheathe for a being without void magic in them to wield it, I then decided to add one more enchantment which would only work if the sword was stabbed into the ground, if it is stabbed into the ground I would hear what their goal is. I then picked it up and opened a portal into the void and threw my void magic sword into after saying this; “For those who’s goal is to protect the innocent I am your ally, for those who seek to destroy and hurt the innocent I am your nemesis. I am Cobalion, Aspect of Justice its’ self, the Steel Legendary and once the Leader of the Swords of Justice. To summon me stab my sword into the ground and say what you seek to protect and if I deem it worthy I shall help.” When I finish I throw the sword into the portal and close the portal after it. I couldn’t help but grin slightly, then I began to walk to the forge within the base and once I get there I take a crystal and some silver and I forge it into a necklace, once I did that I carved a transformation enchantment into the crystal and I add my own flare. I turned it on and it did nothing, so I turned it off then thought of myself as a Kirin then I turned on the enchantment and instead of doing nothing I turn into a Kirin, I grin in triumph, this is an enchantment that I made lifetimes ago but I never thought I’d use so many years later. I take the necklace and put it around my neck and I go and walk around the base hiding it under my shirt. I could not help but smile, at least, this way if I encounter another Twilight Sparkle I won't require her help for keeping me hidden. > Read this > --------------------------------------------------------------------------