> The Shadow Kings
>  by Lon35hadow
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Arrival
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	So, I suppose I'll begin when my companions and I were still human. There were three of us, our names then unimportant, and we were at a gaming convention. I was dressed as the Didact from Halo 4, a villain I think is tragic, if you know his backstory like I do. My two friends were dressed as Oryx-he always thought that between Guardians and Oryx, Oryx was the "good guy"- and the last in our trio was dressed as Alad V, no, I do not mean roman numeral five. It confused me too at first when I saw his name with no audio. Anyway, in his game, Warframe, Alad V was a scientist of sorts, and our friend dressed as him dabbled in science.

Anyway, the three of us were on the convention floor, looking around the various booths for different games. "Hey, guys," my friend dressed as Oryx, complete with a model Willbreaker, said, getting our attention, and pointing to a table, with a guy dressed as Xur from Destiny, complete with the face tentacles, standing in front of it. "Look what the guy's selling." Indeed, he was selling some interesting stuff, but what caught my eye was the Didact's Signet weapon from Halo 5 Warzone, a scattershot, think shotgun, modified with better range and better tracking after ricochets, a scale model Zanuka from Warframe, and the one part missing from our friend's outfit, Oryx's wings.

"Odd," our friend dressed as Alad said. "The fact one person is selling things to go with our costumes perfectly? It remind you guys of anything?"

"You mean those displaced stories you keep going on about?" I asked. "You need a new hobby other than watching ponies, dude. Besides, it isn't possible for things that size to go to a different universe. . . .Actually, our tech hasn't even reached artificial wormholes, yet."

"In other words, no need to worry," Oryx said. "So, yuo guys want to complete the outfits?"

i shrugged. "Don't see why not," I replied, and the two of us went over to the table, with Alad waiting behind us.

"Ah, two who care for more than what is done," the guy said as the two of us walked up, and i imagine he meant why the in-game versions did what they did. "I assume you are here to add to your outfits?"

"Yep," I replied. "How much for the Signet?"

"Thirty dollars," he replied.

"And for the wings?" Oryx asked.

"Twenty. And both are with tax calculated."

I looked at my friend. "Cheaper than I had thought."

"Agreed," he replied, and we both pulled out our wallets, and handed the guy fifty collectively.

"My thanks," the guy said. "And have a nice day."

"Yeah, yeah," I muttered as I took the Signet in hand, and my friend put the wings on his back. "You too, and thanks."

He bowed his head. "My pleasure," he said as Alad walked up to us.

"See, dude?" Oryx asked. "Nothing to worry about."

"Yeah, save the 'I told you so' until we get back and start gaming again," he replied, crossing his arms. "Uh, guys, you're glowing."

"Why, thank you," I said.

"No, I mean actually glowing," Alad said. "So, since that usually indicates displacement," he then turned to face Xur, "how much for the Zanuka model?"

"Thirty dollars."

"Here, then," Alad said, taking his wallet, removing three tens, and handing them to the guy, taking the Zanuka model in hand. Indeed, he began to glow soon after. "I'll see you assholes later," he said before black holes, I do not mean astronomic ones, I mean holes colored black, opened under Oryx and me, causing us to fall, blacking out soon after.





I awoke who knows how many hours later, my entire body aching, my head especially. I sat up, my eyes closed, as I attempted to rub my head, only to be met with a cold feeling. "The hell?" I muttered to my self as I opened my eyes, revealing i had a HUD tinted orange. In the upper right was a small image of the Scattershot, while the opposite side had what I recognized as pulse and scatter grenade images. More accurately, the pulse had an orb next to it, while the scatter had dots in a diamond formation next to it. Below that in the lower left corner was a bar, two really, with vitals. Both had pulses that I imagine were heartbeats, and one was erratic, mine, if the rapid thumping was any indication, while the other was calm, with the latter having numbers that may have been distance. Who knows? In the upper center was a bar that said Armor Integrity. Last but not least was symbol in the lower right hand corner. It was a circle, with two lines from the sides, branching in to create a hexagon, with the upper line having one above it. The symbol of the Ur-Didact.(1)

In a panic, I looked at my arms and hands, seeing that I had on silver armor with black and orange highlights, while my hands had six fingers each.

I facepalmed. "Damn it, Alad," I muttered, hearing my voice better. It was definitely the Didact's. "You were right."

"Indeed he was," a regal voice said from behind me. I turned, and, to my surprise and some shock, there stood Oryx, the Taken King, wearing armor made of bone with blood red robes, his three fingered hands holding in them a large sword also made of bone, his three, emerald eyes looking at me. "Perhaps we should have listened to him," he said in the voice from the first cutscene with him, the one I think was translated, given how it sounded later on. "Then we wouldn't be here."

"And it seems we're displaced now," I said, standing up, not even hitting Oryx's chest in height. "Joy."

"Well, on the bright side, at least we have some idea of where we are," Oryx said. "Though from what he once spoke about, who knows when we are."

"Does it matter?" I asked. "We're stuck in a land of technicolor ponies who are morons, more often than not."

"Yes, it matters," he replied. "If we arrived at a fortunate time, we may be able to trick them into sending us back home."

"And if not?"

"Then we take the thrones," Oryx said. "Well, I do, anyway. You're probably more on the military side now."

"I was on the military side before this, dipshit," I said. . . Anyone else find it weird that the Didact just said dipshit? "But yeah."

Before he could reply, we heard an eerie WHHHHIIIIIIIIRRRRR, one I realized from when Alad forced us to marathon My Little Pony with him.

"Great," I said sarcastically as my suit gave a warning of Extreme Temperature. "Windigoes."

"Those ice horses?" Oryx asked. "Well, I suppose we can work with that. Think the Signetcan work on them?"

"May as well try," I said as I reached behind my back, where the Signet was, and grabbed it, bringing it to my chest. "I think it came from that direction," I said, hooking my thumb, still in the same place as a human one, behind me.

"Agreed," Oryx said as he moved his sword to his shoulder, the sharp edge pointing toward the sky. "Let's go."

He took the lead on our way there, with me following behind him. We had, or I had, at least, landed on a flat plane of snow, and, from the play episode, we knew to head to a cave. On the way there, I experimented with my new armor, stating small by removing my helmet telekinetically, which, amazingly, I got on the first try, exposing my face, pale as it was in-game, with sacs on the sides of my head that served some purpose I do not know. "Cold as shit," I commented as the cold air stung my face.

"Welcome to the obvious club," Oryx said. He then looked up, and saw the clouds of the Windigoes. "Does it have enough range?"

"It's a shotgun, in essence," I replied. "So no. Would your abilities be able to injure them?"

"Most likely," he replied before spreading his wings. "Free the leaders and their companions. I will handle the Windigoes."

"Good luck," I said before he flew up towards the clouds, Darkness radiating around him. I then activated my helmet, and made my way to the cave that the three leaders would be, along with their companions, and where the leaders were most likely frozen solid. Just as I hit the rocks, I looked up, and saw Oryx blasting the Windigoes with his Darkness bolts, which are essentially orbs of concentrated Darkness. Yeah, don't ask me on how Destiny attacks work.

Anyway, I reached the ice covered entrance to the cave, and set my left hand on it, which caused something to pop up on my HUD. Solidified H2O. Approximately ten inches thick. Okay, that's a cool feature.

Anyway, I raised my weapon, and fired the hardlight bolts into the ice, most ricocheting off and past me, but still damaging the ice. I fired another "buckshot", then another, the third finally breaking through the ice, allowing me an unobstructed view inside, showing that the "assistants", as well as the leaders, were anthropomorphic. The ice fully covered the leaders, and were up to the waists of the others.

With out a word, I walked into the cave, and made my way to where Platinum, who, oddly enough, looked like that fashionista pony. Rarity, I think. I hated her. I raised a fist, bringing protests from the three not frozen, and hit the ice, shattering it and freeing the princess. She fell down, unconscious due to the cold, according to my HUD, and I proceeded to free the other two, but not before saying ,"She is alive, simply unconscious."

I then freed the other two, freeing Puddinghead, who was a brown earth pony with vanilla white hair and tail, last. I then looked up, and saw Oryx finishing off the last Windego, the others either having fled, quietly, somehow, or they simply vanished upon death. "What-what are you?" I heard directed at me. I turned toward the advisers, the ice having somewhat receded to their ankles-is that the right term, considering- shaking with fear, and maybe a hint of cold. Clover was a white unicorn with green hair and tail, Cookie was beige with chocolate brown hair and tail, while the pegasus was white with yellow hair, and was shaking the most.

"Which of you spoke?" I asked in a neutral tone.

"I-I did," clover said, fear in her voice.

"If you wish to know my species, that is unimportant, as I am the only one of my kind here," I said. "If you meant what I am in occupation, I am on par with generals, with my name being Shadow-of-Sundered-Star, though you may only call me Didact."

"And him?" Clover asked, pointing up where Oryx had just sliced the Windigoes head off, and the thing evaporated. Not going to question it right now.

"He is known as Oryx," I replied. "Are any of you royalty?"

"J-just Princess Platinum," Clover replied.

"Then you have to call him either 'My lord' or any other royalty title, as he is a king."

"So you're his general?" one of the mares asked, I think, given the voice and conviction, Cookie me.

"No," I replied. "I'm his friend," I said as Oryx landed in the cave, entering through the hole in the roof. "They went down quickly," I commented.

"Indeed they did," he replied. He then looked at the three conscious mares. "I assume you three are of the three tribes?"

"Y-yes," Clover said before she remembered what I had said and added, "your majesty."

Oryx looked at me. "Next time, Didact, let me do my own introduction."

"You got it," I replied. "And the three leaders are out cold, no pun intended. Probably best to take them outside."

"Agreed," he replied before going to pick up Platinum and Puddinghead, with me picking up Hurricane, who was red with black hair and tail.

"You three coming, or are you going to stay here?" I asked as the two of us got to the cave entrance.

They looked at each other, and nodded. "Then come on."
> Negotiations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oryx

A few hours have passed since Didact and I had saved the six from the Windigoes, an they were currently asleep as I looked up at the stars.

"Trying to take everything in?" Didact asked as he walked up beside me.

"Yes," I replied. "Not even a day ago we were still human. Now, we are in an anthro version of a little girl's show." I shook my head. "To think  we have become that low."

"Maybe," Didact said. "But on the bright side, this version of it is practically putty in our hands, now, given how far back we landed. Shame Alad didn't land with us. He'd love it here."

I chuckled as I brought my vision back to the ground. "That he would. I wonder what happened to him."

"Who knows," Didact said. "Maybe he was sent to another version of this forsaken universe, and is having the time of his life right now. He did start glowing just be fore we were sent here, after all."

"Then we can only hope we come across his. . .what did he call those things displaced use to crossover? Tokens?"

"I think so, yeah."

"Then we can only hope we find his token in the future, assuming we do not find him here," I said. "Shame the only actual royalty here is an insult to that term, if what I remember from that forced marathon is any indication."

"Like we haven't done worse?" Didact asked.

"I think you mean the original versions of who we are now, but fair point," I replied. "So, what should we do when those six wake up?"

"I think that will epend on how they physically feel," Didact said. "But probably see if there are any heirs to the unicorn throne. If not, make Platinum think you'd be the best choice for next ruler. For me? Well, I'm a general, a higher rank than Commander, so I could probably use that for the pegasai. After that, we work on a treaty with the actual ponies."

I chuckled. "Any backup plans for that, my friend?"

"A few," Didact replied. "One being the cliche of killing them, returning to their home, and telling the others that we rescued the leaders from a tragic threat, but died from injuries, and appointed us as the next to lead. Honestly, that one has the lowest chances of working for I think obvious reasons."

"Any that do not involve killing them?"

"Does removing their wills count as killing?"

I looked at him in as much a deadpan as I could, to which he just held up his hands. "Joking," he said. "You know I have a very weird sense of humor."

"Yes," I replied. "But do not do that again. In al seriousness, though, backup plans that don't involve killing them?"

"I could try to brainwash them like the original Didact from the games did to the Covenant."

"What makes you think it was brainwashing?"

"The force mind trick handwave and the fact the Covenant just stopped fighting," he replied.

I was silent for a time. "I think it best if we improvise if the original plan fails."

"If you say so. You getting tired?"

"No," I replied. "The Darkness sustains me. You?"

"Armor systems handle basic body functions, meaning I don't need to or rarely have to sleep, and can even go without food for some time," he replied. "Gonna be a long night for us."

"Indeed it will be," I replied.  "Other than your Scattershot, do you have any weapons?"

"Simply my mind and armor."

And from there, the two of us continued to talk about our circumstances until the sun began to rise, which brought a question to my mind. "I'm curious as to when that sun pony will appear."

"You mean Celestia?" Didact asked. "Who knows. Hopefully, though, she won't give us trouble."

"And if she does, I am quite certain we can defeat her," I replied, and we were in silence for a few more minutes before we heard groans behind us.

"Sounds like they're waking up," Didact commented. "Time to meet the other royalty, Oryx."

"Joy," I said sarcastically, and the two of us made our way to where we had set up temporary camp that the ponies were currently in. Just as we reached it, we heard shouts and pony racial slurs flying, including 'dirt horse', 'cloud brain', and an admittedly unexpected one. 'Horn whore.' Not really sure what that says about the unicorns of this time, considering the tension between the three races.

Anyway, we arrived in the camp area just as the three leaders started to come to blows. "On it," Didact said before raising his hand in a grabbing manner, which caused the three leaders to stop moving.

"Unless you wish for another ice storm that could exterminate your entire race," I said, getting their attention, "I suggest you stop fighting, and talk civilized."

"And why should we listen to you freaks!?" the pegasus asked.

"Because two reasons," Didact said. "My friend here just so happens to be a king, making him higher rank than the unicorn, and, given what we know of your society, on par with the earth pony. And I am a general. Thus, I am your superior, so I order you to stand down."

"Why should I list-" Hurricane began before he began to feel pressure squeezing him on each side.

"Because unlike you, I do not need to touch you to harm you," Didact said. "Now, either all three of you act civilized with the negotiations we are going to start, or we'll usurp you here and now."

I looked at him from the edge of my vision, but knew the threat wasn't going to happen, as it was Hurricane who, surprisingly, conceded first. "If you say so," he said before begrudgingly adding, "sir."

"Good," Didact said. "And of you two?"

"I don't see why we can't be civilized about this," Platinum said. "Assuming you uncultured-"

"One more word along those lines, and I'll take your throne," I said, having the edge of Willbreaker to her throat. I never liked characters like this archetype. I then looked at the other two. "The same goes for any of you. If you so much as even say an insult out of habit, you will lose your heads. Understood?"(1) They nodded. "Good. Release them, Didact."

"Right," he said. With that, he released them from his telekinetic grip, making the three of them drop to the ground as I brought Willbreaker back under my hands, the very bottom of the hilt under my right hand, which was under my left, the top of the blade digging into the ground. "So, then I believe this would best be started by making clear border lines for this land."

"Are you sure of that, Didact?" I asked. "Maybe it'd be better if they had no boundaries between the ponies, and only between other races, such as the griffons."

"You want us to be one nation with these-" Platinum started before I glared at her "-farmers and soldiers? The unicorns won't stand for it."

"And how do you know that, Princess?" Puddinghead asked. "I've talked with some of my ponies, and they'd actually be willing to make one nation if it meant your people would stop messing with the temperature."

"Actually," I said, heading off another argument before it could start, "it was creatures called Windigoes- creatures born from the mistrust and hate your three races gave off towards each other. And before you wish to exterminate the other two, that will bring even more, and they care not who they kill with their ice and cold."

This caused the three to look at me with surprise. "What happened, then, seeing as how the place isn't frozen?" Platinum asked.

"I killed them," I replied. "Nothing more, nothing less."

"Then I suppose," the unicorn princess said, "you have my thanks."

"Mine, too," Hurricane begrudgingly said.

"Same," Puddinghead.

"And it seems you three can agree on something," Didact said. "That's an excellent step. But I believe there's something else that needs to be said."

A few seconds of silence passed. "And I thought Jake was stubborn," Didact muttered., talking about one of our old friends from before we came here.

"So, you three are not even going to try and bring peace, which in and of itself  would stop the Windigoes from attacking?" I asked.

"Yeah, my soldiers aren't really going to like me saying we have to make a treaty with these two," Hurricane said. "Only way they'd be fine with it is if one of these two beat me in hand to hand combat. And I think we can agree that princess isn't one for fighting.

"In that, he's correct," Platinum said, which made me and Didact look at each other.

"Thinking what I'm thinking?" I asked him.

"Depends," he replied. "You thinking of challenging Hurricane to a fight that he loses on purpose after giving one hell of a show, which would make me the leader?"

"Exactly," I replied. I then looked at the princess. "And how would the unicorns feel about it?"

"They wouldn't bother trying to be nice to those two or their ponies," she replied. "And, much as I hate to admit it, if i instituted a rule saying they had to be nice, they'd overthrow me."

"I may have an idea for that," Didact said. "But I'll need a parchment, a quill, and a spell to make a document look old and faded." Yeah, I wasn't the only one who looked at him, wondering what he was planning.

"What are you planning?" I asked.

"Simple," Didact said. "Make you a long-lost, long lived king who is still alive."
> The plan in motion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Didact

A week has passed since Oryx and I arrived in this world, with no sign of Alad having arrives thus far, and we were currently implementing the pegasus portion of our plan. For those wondering, it would involve me challenging Hurricane to a duel on the ground, with a limit on how far up he could fly-I had telekinetic abilities, but those didn't give me flight. We'd make it look real, so it wouldn't harm his pegasus honor, but, in the end, I would win, and take control over the military race.

At the same time, Oryx and Platinum would work on the unicorns on the whole "ancient, lost ruler come back" thing. The only reason we weren't doing any manipulation with the earth ponies is because they were, according to Smart Cookie and Chancellor Puddinghead, all right with living with the other two races, so long as they didn't get discrimination on a large basis, something Oryx and I would go to great lengths to ensure.

It took some improvising, but I was able to get the challenge to the pegasus ears, and was waiting just below the clouds where the pegasai lived, sitting crosslegged, awaiting for Hurricane and his guards to arrive. The day itself was cloudy, with some light snowfall. Needless to say, Oryx and i were on guard if more Windigoes appeared.

Anyway, it was a few hours past dawn when I heard the flapping of armored wings. I looked skyward, and saw Hurricane, Pansy, and three other pegasai flying my way. "I wondered if you'd show up," I said in a neutral tone.

"You're the thing that challenged me?" Hurricane asked. "What are you, some sort of deformed dirt eater?"

I scoffed. "No, I am not whatever that is," i said as I stood up to my full height, the heads of the pegasai equal with the middle of my torso at the tallest-Hurricane- and just above my waist at the lowest-Pansy. "So, do you accept my challenge?"

"I don't see how you think you can beat me," Hurricane said. "Why do you even want command of my army, anyway?"

"A general must have an army," I replied. "And from what I know, this is the only army in the area." Which means being the best and worst at the same time.

"Yeah, well," Hurricane said, taking his helmet off, "if you want it, you'll need to beat me."

"Which is why I challenged you," I said, retracting my own helmet, revealing my face, and noticing small looks of disgust from each of the pegasai but Hurricane. Can't really blame them, I suppose. "Winner has command over the pegasai army, and the loser becomes their second in command."

"Then prepare to take my orders," Hurricane said as he got into a fighting stance, hands in front of his body and hands open, while I just had my hands behind my back.

"Then make the first move," I said in an even, neutral tone.

"If you say so," the stallion said before spreading his wings, and flying towards me, attempting to punch my face, but I dodged the punch, and backhanded him into the ground.

"Is that all?" I asked. "I have went against rocks with more tactical thinking than you have."

The commander got up, spit some dirt that had gotten in his mouth out, and glared at me with hate. Given he's a pegasus, I'm not sure if he's acting, or this is real. Still, unless i ma sure, I will continue to act as if this is a real one. If he does intend to deviate from it, however, he will wish he hadn't.

"You insult me!?" he asked in an angry tone, near yelling. "I the great Commander Hurricane?!"

"More like Gentle Breeze, if that first attack in any indication," I said, still in the neutral tone. I chuckled inwardly at the expression of rage on his face.

"I'm gonna make sure you die painfully," he growled before taking off again, aiming for my chest.

I intentionally didn't dodge this one, and let my armor take the hit. He hit, and I heard the sound of bones breaking before I looked at where he had hit the armor, which hadn't even been dented. "You may wish to surrender, now."

"Not in your life," he said, punching with his other fist, which also broke.

I shook my head. "You are embarrassing yourself."

Hurricane brought both his broken hands down by his sides, and glared. "Before you think of headbutting me, you'd probably kill yourself, if not knock yourself out."

He held the glare at my emotionless face, and winked before mouthing, "Had to put on a believable show."

I gave a small smirk and a small nod before I backhanded him to my left. "If you won't surrender, then, I suppose I'll have to make you. And you do not want that."

"Please," Hurricane said, some blood coming out of his mouth. "If that was the worst you got, I can handle it."

Plainly, I replied, "No, you can't." I then walked over to him, grabbed him by the hair, and pulled him up. "If I wished, I could disintegrate you where you are now, both slowly and painfully, and quick and painless. Unless you want to surrender, and ensure your people live, by the way, which of them will you want?"

I winked to indicate I was just acting along and mouthed, "Now would be a good time to end. If this went further, I may actually kill you."

He nodded and, in a volume that was loud enough for the other pegasai to hear, "Fine, then. I surrender."

I nodded as I let him go. "Then you are to get medical attention as soon as possible, unless you wish to never use your fingers again."

He was about to reply before a pegasus behind us yelled, "You dishonorable-how can you call yourself a solider?"

I looked back, and, out of the pegasai that had come with Hurricane, one with black skin and gray hair and tail stepped towards us, anger in his eye and on his face. "Commander Hurricane is the greatest pegasus soldier."

"Therein lies why I was able to defeat him," I said. "I am not a pegasus. Hence, I am not bound by that scale."

He snarled at us. "You could not have beaten him, except by cheating with magic! I saw him hit you, and you didn't even flinch!"

I'm starting to get pissed off. "Did it ever occur to your tiny mind that my armor is simply more advanced than yours?"

"So, you admit you were cheating?"

I rolled my eyes as I put my helmet back on. "If you want to see me cheating, come and get me, then."

He smiled. "Then I can make sure the Commander keeps his honor." With that, he spread his wings, and charged at me.

I rolled my eyes again, and drew my Signet, and, once he was close enough, fired into his face, the entire shot hitting, making him disintegrate, him gone entirely just before his hooves touched me. I looked at the others form the entourage. "Anyone else his brand of stupid?" They shook their heads. "Okay, then. I'll let you take Hurricane to get medical attention, but in a week, I want every pegasus here on the ground." To their credit, the other pegasai took the order with some hostility-I did just initiate a hostile takeover and killed one of their comrades-but they didn't complain. Pansy came over, picked up Hurricane and, with a small trill of fear, looked at me before the two of them and the other pegasai took off towards their cloud city.

"Oryx," I said over a communication channel the two of us somehow had that we found out about last night, "the pegasai are good. You're up, my friend."
> The plan in motion-Oryx
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oryx

"Are you ready?" I asked Princess Platinum as we stood inside her throne room. It has been a few days since Didact had taken command of the pegasai, and we were in the second phase of my part of the plan.

Now, the plan was that I would arrive and stake a claim to the throne, saying it was my birth right. That had passed, and Clover was currently "looking" through the archives for ancient texts saying stuff about me being the ruler of the throne.

"As ready as I can be," the unicorn replied with a sigh. "But you do know nobles will try to stop you."

I scoffed as black and white flames licked off of me for a second. "Let them try," I said. "They will not be able to regret it afterwards."

"That doesn't make any sense, but okay," Platinum said. "Clover should be reporting back soon with the document. If she found one, that is." She had added that last part if any were listening in.

"Of course," I said. "Should any challenge it, who would be most likely to do so?"

"My headache of a younger brother," Platinum said. "Steel Shield. He always thought he should have had the throne, even though I was on the throne before he could remember a time before that."

"How young were you then?"

Ten years," Platinum said. "My parents were claimed by a sickness a year before, when he wasn't even a year old, and it took me a year to learn everything about ruling a nation."

"Why does he think he'd be a better ruler?" I asked.

"I don't know," Platinum replied as she rubber her forehead. "Though from what I hear about the mares he constantly beds, he isn't exactly the most open pony to gender equality, and sees mares, even me, to a degree, as nothing more than objects used for reproduction."

"I hate him already," I muttered as the doors to the throne room opened, and in walked Clover, wearing a simple gown colored grey that went to her ankles.

"I found it," she said, holding up a scroll that looked as if time had began eating away at it. "Was a little hard to find it, your highnesses, but I found it."

"Ah, thank you, Clover," Platinum said as she took the scroll in her magic, which was colored silver. I am surprised it isn't platinum colored. "Now, the difficult part: getting the council to agree with this change."

"You are a monarchy, yet there is a council?" I asked.

"To ensure the ruler does not become a tyrant," Clover explained. "Nobles who wanted more power."

"Yes, and they continually use loopholes to overrule my laws for themselves," Platinum said. "I swear, the only reason I keep them around is to avoid a riot."

"Noted," I said. "Clover, if this works, get me every single law book you have. They wish to use loopholes? I'll show them just how that can screw them over."

"Then we had best get moving," Clover said. "The council scheduled a meeting in ten minutes."

"Lead the way then," I said as I grabbed Willbreaker off the wall nearby, and the three of us walked out, but not before I muttered to myself, "And thus, hell doth begin."




Ten minutes later

I hate being right when I'm involved with politics. Anyway, to catch you all up, me, Platinum, and Clover were in the council chambers,  large, round room, the council members, all unicorns, go figure, wearing what would be called medieval outfits, including the ridiculous hats, sitting behind an elevated desk. You'd think they'd have humility-oh, wait. Nobles. I swear, the Hive didn't have this problem. To this degree, anyway.

"So, Clover the Clever," one of the members, a mare, said, "you say you have found records of this. . .thing's inheritance of the throne in the archives?"

"Yes, I did," Clover said, presenting the scroll. "It wasn't under the genealogy area, but, given how long ago he said he earned the throne, I looked in the legends area, and found it there."

"Then you do realize this thing could just be a fake, correct," another pony, this one being Steel, according to Platinum, who had, you guessed it, steel colored skin with dark yellow hair. Those colors do not go well. "And besides, a mare found it."

"Prince Steel," another stallion said, "we let you on this council simply because you are a royal, and it is the only reason you remain on it, but you are coming close to out limit of patience. Why not issue a challenge to him? Your sister is willing to step down if there is proof, which there is, which leads to you having the throne if it is false, seeing as how one can not regain the throne once they step down."

Steel scoffed. "Very well, then," he said. "You, Oryx, or whatever your name is, I challenge you for the unicorn throne. The challenge is this: you must make me bow to my sister in less than an hour starting now."

"Is that all?" I asked. "Child's play."

"Um, maybe not," Platinum whispered to me. "He always does this, just to get something he wants but doesn't have, and always challenges them to make him bow before me. They're allowed to use everything they naturally can, but they always fail."

"Well, they are not me," I said before reaching my right hand out to the prince, black and white flames licking off my hand. "They do not have my abilities," I said as Steel was enveloped in those flames. And seeing as how I don't remember the canon one, time for a new chant or whatever it is. "May your will burn away your fear and greed and hate, allowing you to become a perfect being, devoid of will, devoid of fear, willing to do anything, afraid of nothing." As I chanted, he looked around in fear as his skin and clothes turned black and white with dark blue accents, his eyes now pure white and glowing. When it was over, I returned my hand to its resting position on Willbreaker's hilt as the others looked at me in fear. "Now, Steel, bow before your sister."

Without a word, the now taken pony got up from his seat and, with small growls at the others, made his way to in front of Platinum, who backed away. "He will not harm you if I do not order it," I told her calmly. She looked at me, fear in her eyes, but slowly nodded, and stopped moving, allowing what had once been her brother to kneel before her. "It seems I win," I said. I then looked at the council. "Anyone else stupid enough to challenge me to a test of will?" None spoke up. "Good. Then my first order as king is to dissolve the council as it is, and create a court where any may come before me with problems." I then dropped to how my voice sounded when I faced the Guardian. "Spread the message that any who come with anything that feeds one's own ego or meant for their gain will end up like Steel. Any who say I am bluffing are to meet me in the court, and lay their request before me." I then turned around, putting the back of Willbreaker on my shoulder, and made my way to the exit of the room. "If you need me, I will be in the throne room," I said. "Clover, Platinum, come. I will need an aide, and someone to teach me the foriegn diplomacy you unicorns use."

As they looked at each other, worry in their faces, I am certain, I contacted Didact. "We are go for negotiations. Send your messengers, my friend."
> Second negotiations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Didact

A week has passed since Oryx took the throne of the unicorns, near two after I took control of the pegasai military, and the two of us, along with Puddinghead, were in the same building that the first negotiations had failed in, with only a small entourage, mostly advisers, with pegasai I knew loyal to me, there were a few considering the short time I'd been in charge, acting as guards. Who knew what could happen if they weren't here and an extremest got in.

"So it is agreed, then?" Oryx said. "The ponies, if they wish, can leave their towns or farms if they do not wish to follow in the hoofsteps of their forebeaers if they wish to do something else?"

"I know a few pegasai soldiers are not cut out for military life," I said. "This would give them a way out of that."

"And I know a few ponies want to learn alchemy," Pudidnghead said.

"I'll take that as a yes," the King said. "But that still leaves us with the issue of what we will do about food. Even with the Windigoes gone, the snow and ice made the ground infertile for farming."

"And a mass exodus to the land you and the other leaders found, Puddunghead, would quite possibly result in deaths brought on by starvation," I said.

"And we need something soon," Puddinghead said. "There's only enough food to last three months, and that's with rationing."

"Um," a pegasai said from behind me, and the three of us looked at him, "I think I may have a solution, sirs."

"Well, spit it out, then," I said. "What is it?"

"Well, you see," the pegasai, a simple white skin with blue hair, said, "a year ago, just before the blizzards begun, I was attacked by a group of young dragons, just barely getting away. My injuries forced me to land in a forest, where I would have died if something hadn't found me."

"What was it?" Puddinghead asked.

"In all honesty, I don't know," the soldier said. "But of what I saw, it looked like one of the form shifters."

"The what?" Oryx and I asked at the same time.

Our earth pony counterpart explained. "An old legend," he said. "They're supposed to be a race of pony bug hybrids that take foals and fillies from their parents, and feed on their souls. Nopony's ever seen one before."

"Obviously not," Oryx replied. "What is your name and rank, soldier?"

"Sergeant Cloud Cutter, sir," he said, saluting.

"Sergeant Cutter, if we asked you to, would you be able to lead us to that forest?" I asked.

"I-I think so, sir," he replied. "Why?"

"Because," I said, "they may very well have some kind of government. If so, we may be able to appeal for help."

"According to legends," one of Oryx's advisers said, "some, anyway, they are supposed to have a monarchy."

"That'll have to do, then," I said. "Which means we need to designate someone as a delegate. Question is who?"

"Perhaps one of our advisers?" Oryx said.

Puddinghead shrugged. "I don't see why not," he said. "But why not one from each race?"

"Fair point," Oryx said. "Clover, if you are willing, you'll be my delegate, if there is another kingdom to delegate with."

"Of course, your highness," Clover, who was one of Oryx's advisers, said with a bow.

"I'll need time to think on mine," I said. "I hope you two understand."

"Of course, my friend," Oryx said with a headbow.

"Yeah, I need time to think of one, too," Puddinghead said.

"Then we will reconvene tomorrow after lunch," Oryx said, and we agreed, and we went to what were our lodgings, which were the best they could offer now. It was quite uncomfortable, which is why I had decided to walk around the complex, looking for Oryx, as I had something else I wished to discuss with him.

It was a few hours after the day's rounds had ended and the sun had set that I found him on a balcony, overlooking the small area this building had been built in, standing in his usual pose, sword under both hands. "You sure do love standing like that, don't you?" I asked.

"I am not as young as I was," he replied. "Both before we came here, nor before Oryx was born of Auryx. The only time the sword is not under both my hands is when I sit upon my throne, when I'm flying, and when I am in combat." He chuckled. "Shame, then, that the only combat I've had was with those creatures."

"Maybe not for long," I said, getting to look at me with as much a curious face he could manage. "A pegasai scout that had been sent out by Hurricane to the west returned, and, after being informed of the leadership change, reported a griffon army massing near what were pegasai borders, but what is now ours. Which reminds me, we  need a name for our nation."

"Why not the Ecumene?" Oryx asked. "There are no words in the Hive language I can think of for a nation's title, while Ecumene works, well."

"I suppose," Didact said. "Back to the griffons, though, the army massing is near a thousand, a force that would easily overwhelm the pegasai, and if we institute a draft, the ponies will revolt, and we won't have enough soldiers."

"Then we'll need to improvise," Oryx said. "I'll need any and all pegasai that have been imprisoned for any reason brought here soon. I'll see what I can do with the unicorns, as well as the range of my abilities."

"You're planning on conscripting an army?" I asked.

"An army has a will," he replied. "This will not."

"You sure you want to do that?" I asked. "It may cause riots."

"I'll only be taking the wills of prisoners who have no hope of redemption and, if I am able to reach that far, enemy soldiers," he said. "And besides, I will do so only in times of war, and even the, only when there is no other option to grow the military to a good size. I won't be like my original incarnation, doing so simply because I can."

"Noted," I said, crossing my arms before looking at him. "But, just so you know, if you do go to far-"

"I will kill myself if I tear apart a family simply because I wanted a new Taken subject," he snapped calmly, if that makes sense to you guys. "As Oryx, I lost my sisters, my daughters, and my son. Before we came here, I lost my wife to cancer, and my brother to a drunk driver as he made his way to work. I know what it is like to lose family, and if I can help it, I will not do so to others."

I was silent for a time before I looked at the starry sky. "Fair enough, I suppose," I said. "So, what do you think happened to Alad, if he isn't here?"

"With his luck? Who knows," Oryx said with a light chuckle. "Probably a place where he can study to his heart's content."

"Probably," I said with a small chuckle. "I shall see you later, my friend," I said, turning to go back in. "Tonight is one of the rare ones where I hear the call of sleep, and I plan on answering each one if possible."

"Then I shall see you tomorrow," Oryx said as I walked back in, neither of us noticing the flash of light at the edge of the forest.
> Adoption and meetings
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oryx

So, a few days have passed since Didact told me of the Griffons, and I was still waiting on that prisoner list to use to take a select few, those whose crimes can never be forgiven by any, and the Didact and I, in an attempt to not want to kill every single politician we had met with over the last few days, Puddinghead and the others excluded from that count, were taking a walk through the nearby forest that bordered the village we were in, me using my sword as a sort of cane.

The sun was high in the sky, and we had been in the forest for some, simply walking and speaking of inconsequential things, when we began to hear one thing we didn't expect, and that was crying.

"Yes, I hear it too," Didact said, preempting my question. "And yes, I find it odd too. Think we should check it out?"

"I do not see why not," I replied. "Besides, what creature can defeat the two of us?"

"A good point," he said, and we made our way to where the crying was coming from. The forest was not thick enough to impede our process itself, and only a few animals, each smaller than one of us, tried to stop us, only to be either killed by Didact's Signet or become a part of my Taken forces. Still, it took us the better part of an hour, as I was unable to fly because of the thick canopy.

At the end of it, with ten Taken bears and wolves-not Fallen houses-around the two of us, we entered a small clearing in the trees, or at least of their trunks, leaves still overhead. In the center was, oddly, two of those rocker things you'd put babies in, I don't know what they're called, in the very middle. One was colored sun yellow with silver accents-can someone say eye sore- while the other was dark blue like the night sky with silver accents. That one actually looks good.

"That's odd," Didact said. "Why would someone leave infants here in a forest?"

"Perhaps there's a shield spell?" I asked, walking over to the eye sore one, only to be sent flying backwards. Looks like I was right. "Speak a word, and I'll remove your will," I growled.

Didact, however, chuckled. "Noted," he said before activating his helmet. "Armor's reading a force barrier. Anything that touches it is repelled back, while anything of a certain speed strengthens it. Reminds me of a DC superhero. Rocket, I think."

As I got back up, I said, "I prefer Marvel. More of them are just ordinary people, no powers. Iron Man, Hawkeye, Widow, War Machine, Iron Monger, hell even Doctor Doom. You could argue Ant Man, to a degree, and Thor, seeing as how he is from a different world that simply has advanced technology. And that's off the top of my head. DC relies too heavily on powers. Only non powered ones I can think of are Robin, Nightwing, Batman, Speedy, Green Arrow, and Luthor."

"Deathstroke?"

"Healing Factor," I replied, walking back next to him. "Didn't you see that Death battle?"

"Fair point," he replied. "So, anyway to break the field?"

"Break, no," I said before I focused on the Darkness, and created a shadow of myself, which had my mind in it next to where the two babies were, picking them both up with the shadow, and teleporting it and them next to us before putting them down, and returning to my body. "Get around, yes. Oh, and I forgot: Captain America is another non-superpowered point for Marvel, as he came from a cocktail of drugs that simply enhanced, not gave."

"Ah, go to hell, Oryx," he replied as we looked at the two infants, both of whom were sleeping, small horns coming from just above their foreheads and were wrapped in blankets slightly darker. "Aren't these two the infant form of those two worthless morons who ruled this world in the show?"

"It was a single country, but I believe so," I said. "You know, it is probably a good thing Alad forced us to marathon to season five, or I wouldn't have an idea as to what to do with them."

"And what would that be?" my friend asked.

"Adopt them as our own, and ensure they do not have the shitty morals that allow one to walk over them, and rather have one closer to ours: fight to protect what you love, and that, sometimes, it is better to have the moral low ground than the low ground."

"Then what will we call them?" Didact asked. "I refuse to call them by celestial bodies."

"Well, I do remember Alad saying something about a displaced where another name for the solar one was Sekana."(1)

"So, you're adopting the solar one?" he asked, to which I nodded. "Then I wonder what I'll call my new daughter," he said as he took the night one up in his arms, holding her like one would an infant. Helped he had a dog before we came here. I did the same with my new daughter. "I suppose I'll call her 'Balance of Eternal Night.' So, are we going to raise them as sisters, or cousins? Because even before we came here, the two of us and Alad were practically brothers."

"I believe cousins would be best," I replied as two of the Taken wolves stalked closer. Knowing they wouldn't harm her, I lowered the newly dubbed Sekana close to them, allowing them to nuzzle her, making the child giggle in her sleep before waking up, revealing maroon eyes. "Doggies," she said before hugging the muzzle of one of the wolves and giggling again. An admittedly cute scene, considering. Even made me do a lighthearted chuckle. "Well, there goes seeing that milestone," I said as I stood fully once more. "I think it best to return to the town, now. We need to announce that you have an heir."

"I suppose," I said. "Come on." With that, the two of us, the Taken animals following us and our new daughters held in our arms.





A few hours later, Didact and I were in the main room where the negotiations took place in. Sekana and Balance, short Balance of Eternal Night, obviously, were in rockers next to where we were sitting for negotiations. Why negotiations? Well, the party we had sent to that other forest, as it was mostly pegasai, was able to get there quickly, and make contact with what was there. They returned two days later, which was five days ago by the way, with the envoy of the race that was found, called changelings. The changeling group, or Hive, as their delegate called it, had heard of our feat, Didact an dme defeating the Windigoes, and their King had decided to come for negotiations. I don't know why he didn't send someone else, but he wants the risk, he'll get the risk.

Their king was named Zulu-an odd name, even by Hive standards-, while the group was called Shadow Hive. Of what he's told us so far, his Hive is not as adept at infiltration as others, which is also another reason why he wanted an alliance this soon. This one, if everything went to plan, was to be the final round of negotiations.

All parties were here, except Puddinghead, who was currently working on a whole power transfer thing to both Didact and I-simpler if there are two who have no potential bias against one race than three with one potentially having one-Puddinghead's idea- and there was a lot of paperwork there.

Zulu was what he described as a typical changeling in appearance, with black chitin protecting similarly colored skin, and he was wearing steel armor colored black, though lighter than his chitin, with green and black robes under the armor, something akin to what I was wearing, honestly. "So, King Zulu," I said, "given what we've covered over the past few days, I can only think of one thing we haven't gone over, and that would be integration of your military into ours."

"Yes, I can see that being an issue," Zulu said. "Especially given the rumors and legends centered around my kind. Still, I imagine, with time, the Hive and your people will be able to live in peace and work well in the military."

"I already have an idea for that," Didact said. "King Zulu, if you could contact your generals through your hive mind, there is something I wish to discuss with them."

"Of course, Didact," he said. "Green Mist, contact the generals, and take the Didact. I want you as the in between."

"Sir," Green Mist, one of Zulu's guards, and being an odd one with green chitin, said. "General Didact, if you'll come with me." Yeah, I had made Didact my general and current second in command. Hey, if you had to choose between someone who led a galaxy wide army or a single person who has never seen an actual fight, who would you go with?

Anyway, the two left, leaving me, Zulu, his guard, Sekana, and Balance. "There is something I have to request of you, Zulu."

"What?" he asked.

"Any and all prisoners of your Hive that have done crimes so heinous they can never be forgiven."

"Why?"

"A way to grow my army, and help put any taxes you have towards stuff other than prisons," I said, white and black flames licking off me as i spoke.
> To battle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Didact

It has been three days since Oryx and I adopted our new daughters. They were currently being looked after by Platinum and Pansy, while Oryx and I, along with Hurricane, were close to where the Griffon army was, as it was time for our preemptive strike. "I still don't see how we'd be able to stop an army of a thousand," Hurricane said as we looked down on the army from atop a hill.

"Yes, well, for one," I replied. "My armor can take the approximate force of about ten of the largest unicorn explosions I've seen, as well as self repair, I have telekinetic abilities, and this," I said, holding up the Signet, "which tears through anything organic with ease, and the speed allows it to pierce armor."

"And need I point out my abilities border on what you call dark magic?" Oryx said. "Very few, if any, would be able to stand against that."

"Yeah, I guess," he said. "But I'm not a unicorn mage, so I wouldn't know." A pause. "You two going down by yourselves?"

"No," Oryx replied as the sound of Taken appearing came to my ears, and, around us, the wolves Oryx had taken while we were in the forest in which we found Sekana and Balance were around us. "They will be accompanying us."

"And what should I tell the military if you fail?"

"Prepare for an attack from this direction," I replied. "Have any civilians with combat training be given whatever they are good with, while others are escorted to their town or city's keep. If these Griffons wish to take the Ecumene, they had best be ready to have their blood spilled."

Hurricane sighed. "Then don't get yourselves killed," he said. "With peace as fragile as it is for the tribes now, losing just one of you two would have it crashing down, and with that, the damned Windigoes returning."

"We won't be the ones to die today," I said. "You ready, Oryx?"

He nodded. "Indeed I am," he replied. "Hurricane, return and give Didact's order, just to be safe. We will return when we can."

If you say so, sir," he said before he spread his wings, and flew off.

Once he was gone, Oryx growled, and the wolves seemed to teleport rapidly down the hill towards the Griffons, resulting in screams of panic and pain soon after. "We should join them. They can't defeat an army," Oryx said.

"Then let's go." And with that, the two of us made our way down the hill, with Oryx hovering in the air. When we got level with the Griffon army, they were focusing too much attention on the wolves, who simply seemed to phase out of reality before striking at random, then repating. Only a few Griffons were alive at the edge of the apparent camp, and they tried to stop us, but I killed each quickly. Two with Signet, three with the force choke move. The next group we came across, Oryx slayed. And I mean slayed as in kill, not Take.

Really, between us and the wolves, the Griffons did not put up much of a fight. Well, they did try when we came across what we guessed were the guards for the leader of this group.

The screams had begun to taper off in frequency, and Willbreaker was stained with Griffon blood, as was my armor, when we encountered a group of five, with one, being between the other four and wearing more ornate armor, yelling upon seeing us, "Kill them!"

The four guards rushed us, only to be literally cut down by Oryx's sword, and me grasping the Griffon telekinetically. I brought him over to us. "And just what did you hope to accomplish by invading Equestria?" I asked, making the Griffon chuckle.

"We aren't an invasion force, you animals," he said before I put more pressure on his ribs. "We're a scouting force."
> War Council
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	A single day has passed since Oryx and I slayed the Griffons, and we were currently in the city in which we had taken the lead of the three tribes with Zulu and Hurricane. "What do you two know of the griffons?" Hurricane asked.

"Simply that they are a militaristic species, from what we heard," Oryx replied.

"That's true enough," Zulu said. "They're one of the most ruthless species on the planet, as well as having the largest military, along with advanced. My infiltrators, only a few of the few I have, say they've designed weapons able to use thunder as a weapon."

"They have guns, then," I said before scoffing. "The Spartan could only defeat me with a pulse grenade, and that didn't even kill me. It will take more than primitive bullets to end me."

"As it will for me," Oryx said. "Still, I think their numbers would allow them to pose a threat to us."

"Agreed," I replied. "Hurricane, what tactics do they usually use?"

"Envelopment and rush tactics, mostly," the pegasus replied. "They may be ruthless, but they're smartly ruthless, if that makes any sense."

I nodded. "It does. Anything else?"

"A whole lot of subterfuge," Zulu said. "Misinformation to any they know are spies, almost always speaking in code when talking. It's a pain to figure out if they were being literal or not before they attack. A fellow changeling Hive being led by a queen, was found last year in Griffon lands, and was utterly annihilated, the survivors either hunted down for sport, or escaping to other Hives. Mine included."

"So we have a challenge ahead of us, then," Oryx said. "What other species do we have ordering us?"

"Yaks and Saddle Arabians," Hurricane said. "Yaks smash just about everything, so I wouldn't try to get into a an alliance with them. The Saddle Arbians, though, are a lot lik eponies, only their forces are more for quick, hit and run style warfare.

"Guerrilla war, then," I muttered. "That might be useful."

"Maybe," Hurricane said. "Grifofns tend to keep their command posts small but well protected. Patrols literally cover every part of the perimeter, and it only gets more intense the closer to the command building you get, and with air cover. Makes it impossible to get through unless you can go invisible."

"Which I can't," I said. "Oryx?"

"Same," he replied, "and unicorns don't know how to cast an invisibility spell. Zulu, does your Hive know how to?"

He shook his head. "No, we don't," he replied. "We know only what unicorns know. We aren't very good with spells. Weapons, though. . ."

Oryx nodded. "Get me a demonstration for your unique weapons. They may be of use in the coming war."

Zulu nodded. "I'll have a few brought this way."

I nodded. "Those will probably be given to our best troops," I said. "I'll also make my way to the Saddle Arabians. We will need as many allies that we can muster."
> The war begins
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Oryx

"Have the reinforcements from Zulu arrived, along with the prisoners?" I asked Didact, who had his helmet on. It's been a month since we decimated that Griffon scouting group, and both of us were in the war room, with a table between both of us, a magical hologram of the Ecumene and surrounding countries shown on it. The prisoners i was referring to were Changeling prisoners Zulu sent, along with pegasai, unicorn, and earth pony prisoners with no hope of redemption.

"Yes, not an hour ago," Didact replied. "The prisoners are in the dungeons under the keep waiting for your hand."

I nodded. "Excellent. And that signature the mages picked up five minutes ago?"

"Still not identified," he said. "Entirely, anyways. They can tell, however, that the dimensional energies are not those of this world."

"Great," I sarcastically said. "Have a pegasai scout group go and check it out. If there's no indications of it being hostile, have them escort or bring whatever it is here if possible."

"Minute ago," Didact said. "One of the mages transferred to the military, and gave me the full run down, and he issued the order. Was able to jury rig a radio with his magic and a few non-critical pieces of my armor-I would know if it's critical or not considering- and they'll be there in five minutes."

I nodded. "Excellent. "What do our scouts in Griffonia say?"

"Armies massing at multiple points across the border, total size being something we can only take down with a miracle, a space fleet, or your army if it consists of fifty percent of their troops."

"None of which are possible now," I said. "I'm still trying to understand everything of Oryx's abilities, seeing as how I did not gain them the way the in-game version did."

"Yeah, I can imagine they're harder to learn than my abilities," Didact said in a cocky tone. "So, how's Sekana?"

"Well," I replied. "Clover and Platinum usually take care of her whenever I can't. Balance?"

"Hurricane and Pansy seem to enjoy looking after her," he replied. "Let's hope we can end this war quick, so that we can see them grow."

"Yes, that we agree on," I lamented before Didact spoke into his radio.

"Go, Lieutenant. . . . Well, what do they look like? . . . Seriously, that's the best you can come up with? I thought you were good at describing things. (sigh) Look, if they aren't hostile, contact them, and lead them here so we can meet them, got it? . . . Good. I'll see you when you get back or never."

"Your scouts?" I asked.

"Yeah, they made contact. Visual, at least," he said. "Said they looked like smaller versions of us in basic appearance, meaning no muzzle and such, and wore different armor styles, one having mostly robes."

"That sounds familiar," I mused.

"Yeah, same here," he replied. "They said they'll be here in two minutes."

"How?" I asked.

"No idea, they just said the contacts had some sort of vehicle that was extremely quick," he said. "Honestly, I hope whatever they are, they're willing to help us. We'll need it with this war."

"Yes, that is a given," I shot back. "I simply hope they have weapons that are useful."

"That too."

So, from there, two minutes passed before one of Didact's pegasai scouts came into the room "We've brought them here, sirs," he said.

Didact nodded. "Bring them in, but make sure they aren't armed."

"Sir," he said, saluting, before exiting the room as I edged my hand closer to Willbreaker, which was leaning on the table. After a few seconds, the doors opened again.

"Shit," I heard Didact mutter before the new arrivals spoke up.

"You know what, I'm not even surprised anymore, what given the mirror-verse and the last timeline we were in," one said.

"Yeah, can't argue there," a second, more robotic sounding voice said, making turn around, and thus confirming a guess of mine.

Standing there were three Guardians- a Hunter clad in blue with his right sleeve being yellow, with a white, red, and purple cloak on his back, with a blue glow from the helmet and other main armor parts, meaning he was wearing the Spektar FWC armor with their exotic cloak. On his right was a Warlock wearing the Warlock variation of the armor with the same shader. Same with the Titan.

"So, then, I assume you three are Displaced as well?" I asked.

"Okay, that's new," the Hunter said. "A Displaced Oryx and Displaced Didact. All we need now is Spartan Josh and a Displaced Crota, and we got a party."

"I'll take that as a yes," I muttered. "So, then, what are your names?"

"Cybis," the Warlock said as he bowed slightly.

"Rhino-13," the Titan said.

"Josh," the Hunter said as he raised his hand.

"Odd," I said. "I had a brother who had that name."

"Yeah, well, I'm not him," Josh said. "Didn't have one before this, and Rhino and Cybis are my brothers now."

"How so?" Didact asked.

"When we were Displaced," Cybis said, "we were one person, Josh being the main personality there. Upon arriving in our Equestria, we were split into the forms we see now. Though trust me, we aren't your ordinary Guardians, as we're willing and able to use the Darkness."

"Well, that's useful," I said. "You see, if the pegasai didn't inform you, we're in the sights of the Griffons, and they are massing a large army that would steamroll over the Ecumene-"

"What?" Josh asked.

"What we decided to call our nation," I answered. "Anyways, the size of the army would steamroll us, as I still am learning to use my abilities to their best, and we have but a small army."

"Yeah, sounds like you guys'll need help," Rhino said. "Harmony, care to get us our weapons?"

At first, I thought he was speaking to the air, but then, nine weapons-two swords, one having an arc core and the other solar, one rocket launcher that looked as if it was made of blackened bone and red muscle, three shotguns, two auto rifles and one pulse rifle, appeared on the guardians, the primary weapons in their hands. "So, when's the war start?" Josh asked as I smiled.

"Soon," I said, turning back to the table as I saw a portion of the border light up, indicating Griffons had passed it. "Very soon."
> A new ally arrives
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few months have passed since me and the other two Guardians arrived in this universe, and, currently, I was on a ridge overlooking a Griffon forward base, the Hereafter sniper rifle in hand. "What's it look like, Josh?" Rhino asked me over the radio.

"We got at least fifty griffons on the outside for patrol at a time, another fifty inside, thirty of which are guarding the objective, and from what I can tell, they're the elite ones." The three of us had been dispatched by Oryx to come here as a few hours ago, the unicorn mages picked up  a signature similar to the one we had made upon arrival, and he wanted us to check it out should it be a new displaced, and make sure they wouldn't be helping the Griffons. "You got the surprise ready for 'em?"

"In place," Cybis replied. "Just needs to be activated."

"Copy, we start on my mark. I'll provide sniper support."

"Roger that. Cybis, make sure to stay close to me in case they got something explosive."

"You know I was going to do that anyway, Rhino. But don't expect me to run off if I have a clear shot at the objective."

"I expected that," Rhino shot back.

"Okay people, enough chatter, let's get ready," I said as I aimed my sniper at the wall closest to me, where I saw a small package, and set my crosshairs on it. "On the signal."

"Understood," the Titan and Warlock said.

With that, I slowed my breathing, and looked at my target. "Boom," I whispered before pulling the trigger, firing the bullet, causing the gun to kick into my shoulder as the bullet hit it's mark, causing a large explosion to serve as the distraction. "Move in."

Rhino

"Move in."

"You heard him," I said to Cybis as I grabbed my Auto rifle, which was An answering chord, the Vanguard suros auto rifle, the abilities being the same as the one you get from the quests after defeating Oryx in game, while Cybis was using the Paleocontact auto rifle, the Dead orbit one. "Let's go."

I was also currently wearing the Vanguard armor set. The one that had the final stand of First Pillar titans, I forget the name currently, while Cybis was wearing the Bindcaster armor, the one with the quotes from Toland in the flavor text. "Right," Cybis said, nodding before we moved into the Griffon base using a hole I had made with my solar charged fist, the sound covered by the explosion. Cybis and I moved quickly, our weapons raised and at the shoulder, an eye on our tracker, one eye in front of us. I was up front, Cybis behind me and keeping an eye on our sides.

"Guys, I have three Griffons in front of you, twelve 'o clock, backs turned," Josh reported over the radio.

"Copy that, we'll avoid and reroute."

"Not possible, they've set up groups at major points. You'll encounter ones regardless, and those in front are the ones that seem to be those least prepared."

"Understood," I said, and we continued to move forward, the griffons now in tracker range. Once we were close, I aimed my rifle and pulled the trigger twice, delivering a two shot burst into two of the Griffons as Cybis followed up on the one that didn't fall with his own shots.

"Clear," Cybis said as we passed over the bodies, and continued on our way.

"Two intersections up, turn left," Josh said. "Two griffons at the first intersection past there, so drop 'em quick, then turn right there. From there, a straight shot to the objective. I'll work on clearing the way further up."

"Copy that," I said as the two of us followed his directions, quickly dropping those two Griffons he pointed out, and made our way to the objective, passing Griffons who had holes in their heads, most likely from Josh's sniper, which meant we only had to deal with those elite guards, who were still alive as we hid form their sight behind a tent.

"Super ready?" Cybis asked me.

"Yeah, you?"

"Ready to shatter," he replied.

"Then let's do this," I said as I stepped out of cover and took aim before firing at one of the guard's heads, only for the helmet to deflect the bullet, and allow them to open fire with old rifles, as in 1700 era rifles. Still, they packed a punch, and quickly depleted my shields. Fortunately, they had one shot while I had twenty seven before having to reload, which allowed me to empty an entire clip into one of them before I put the rifle on my back, and summoned my Hammer of Sol, coating my body in flames just as Cybis jumped above me, and unleashed his Shatter bomb, which killed two of the guards with impact, the final one jumping out of the way, but he was soon killed by my hammer.

"Hostiles inbound to your position, guys!" Josh yelled over the radio.

"Copy that. Cybis, get in there, and get them out. I'll hold off the morons."

He nodded. "On it," he said before entering the tent the four had been guarding just as five Griffons rounded the corner.

"Hello, idiots," I said before throwing a hammer in there direction and summoning another one. "Goodbye, idiots." Soon as I said that, more came in. "Well, let the fun commence," I muttered before I threw down a thermite grenade, creating a path of pulsing flames that killed those the flames hit as I used my hammer to clean up. Once my hammer vanished, I brought up my Super Good Advice machine gun, and opened fire from the hip, completely mowing through them.

"Coming out!" Cybis yelled over the radio.

"Copy, bringing the ships as well as the extraction team," Josh replied. "ETA, three minutes."

"We'll be good, then," I replied as the shooting reached a lull, and I looked back at Cybis and the target. He was being helped by Cybis. He wore a blue jacket that seemed to be made out of shiny blue rectangles with a large, silver-as well as metal- half circle thing around his neck, and had black markings on his face. "Hey, Josh, you remember that third guy Oryx and Didact were with before Displacement?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"I think we found him."

"Really? Well, that was unexpected. Still, we at least know who we're getting out of here. Also, I'm relocating as the fuckers got to my location, Last i saw, none are en route to your location."

"Got it," I said as i made my way to where Cybis held the Displaced. "You guys okay?"

"Yes, I am," the Displaced said with a robotic echo to his voice. "My name is Alad V. I assume this is your Equestria?"

"Nope, just helping some people out," I replied. "You got any weapons?"

"One, technically," he said before turning to look at Cybis and told him, "Please do stand back. I can carry myself."

"Sorry," he said as he let go of Alad and stepped back.

"Now, let's just hope this works," I heard Alad muttered before the collar thing snapped into a full circle, and some kind of visor went over his eyes, and a sort of robotic howl could be heard. "Seems it does. Excellent," he said as some kind of blue dog thing came out of the tent. It had two black shoulder pods and was close to the ground like a lizard-even had three fingers and toes as well as a somewhat elongated face.

"And that is what now?" Cybis asked.

"Zanuka, a robot using Warframe parts. . . . Do you two even know what Warframe is?"

"Nope," I replied.

"Basics are that you are a space ninja who has access to special, mentally controlled exosuits called Warframes, and Zanuka uses parts from one. I'm also a villain in that universe."

"Considering who we're working with, makes sense," Cybis said as the sound of jet engines could be heard closing in. We looked up and there I saw my new ship, Little Light and Cybis' Ketch me if you can. Riding on them were pegasai soldiers and unicorn mages. The pegasai as protection for the mages, and the mages to teleport Alad to the castle. Yeah, another thing is that Oryx and Didact began work on a castle just for them. They jumped off the ships with the leader of the group, a pegasai soldier walking up to me.

"Target secured," I told him. "Tell the mages to start charging the spell, and have your troops begin gathering the Griffon weapons for reverse engineering."

"Yes, General," he said, saluting, before he relayed orders to the others.

I then turned back to face Alad. "We'll see you back at the castle," I said before Cybis and I were transmatted into our ship. "Josh, where you at?"

"On my way, had to use vanish to escape," he replied. Now, when we got here, Harmony gave him the Road unraveled ship, the same one Twilight had, so that we all had ships, as well as places to store the weapons we weren't currently using. Anyways, we arrived at the castle ten minutes later and transmatted out on  a balcony on the second floor. You'd be amazed at how quick structures can be built when the Darkness and magic are involved together. Waiting for us were Oryx, Didact, and Alad.

"You three have my thanks," Alad said. "If you hadn't come, those animals would have most certainly made me make weapons for them."

"And from us as well," Oryx said. "Alad had been Displaced seconds after us, and we were uncertain as to where he was.

"No problem," Josh said. "Still, I'm surprised to see three beings form different games in the same world. Usually it's all from a single universe."

"You and me both, Guardian," Alad muttered.

"Regardless," Didact said, "this strike should unbalance them for a time, giving us time to prepare and for Oryx to Take more of them. As well as down time so that Oryx and I may spend time with our daughters. Who you still need to meet, Alad."

"They why wait?" he said.

"You guys do that," I said. "We'll make sure everyone here is ready should the griffons have infiltrators in the city."

Oryx nodded. "Then we will see you three tonight at the war council." And with that, we went our separate ways.
> Hail to the king
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oryx

A year has passed since the Guardians helped free Alad-or Salad as Sekana calls him, often eliciting chuckles from most of us at the memory of his reaction when she first called him that- and we were now in full out war. Our alliance-consisting of the Ecumene, Zulu's Hive, a few Saddle Arabian houses and some Minotaur houses as they were organized similar to the Eliksni- or the Fallen, if you do not know Destiny races and their history- which is to say various houses that fall under their own leadership as well as one for the race, and the Guardians- and the Griffons-who had subjugated other Saddle Arabian houses and hired Dragon mercenaries along with crystal ponies up north- were in a stalemate that has lasted for three months.

That would change today.

Myself; an elite strike force of equal parts pegasai, unicorns, earth ponies, and changelings; and the Hunter-who had changed his armor color to that of the arctic proxy shader and changed the chroma color from blue to white, making it ice white with the cloak for the fallen House of Wolves, were in the north. The Crystal Empire, as it turns out, is a research site where the Griffon Empire is working on a new weapon of some sort meant to destroy us in one fell swoop. We were here to destroy it and the notes for it, kill the minds that worked on it, and either free the crystal ponies, subjugate them, or raze their home to the snowy ground.

Before you ask, Didact, Alad, and the other two Guardians were leading the front lines in the Saddle Arabian deserts south of the Ecumene with Platinum, Hurricane, and Puddinghead handling the domestic issues while we were gone.

"So, what are the defenses?" I asked the Hunter, as it was us and one of the other races in this group that stood in the command tent for this operation, a rough map of the Empire on a table in front of us.

"Elite troops numbering near fifty just outside," he reported. "We also have to dela with giant crossbows and crystal guards."

"What do you want done with the last group, sir?" the pegasai officer- a mare with chocalate brown skin and black hair and til- asked.

"Capture if possible, kill if not," I replied. "What's the facility layout?" I asked the unicorn officer.

"Underground, for one," he replied. "Other than that, haven't been able to get much."

I nodded. "I will handle that much. Hvae you pinpointed someone high up from the facility?"

"I have, sir," the changeling officer said. "Name's Obsidian Strength, and he's the captain of their defenses. If the crystal ponies are being subjugated, he's a willing helper, so he'll need to die anyway."

"Planning on adding another to the army?" Josh asked, his arms crossed.

"At the very least, gathering intelligence," I replied. "But most likely, yes," I added.

"Then I'll get my weapons ready," he said before going to leave the tent. If there's one thing I have learned about him personally over the year, it is that he does not enjoy stuff like this, and tries to leave them whenever he can.

"It is best you all do the same as well," I told the officers. "Your troops as well. Once I have the intel, we will need to move as soon as possible. This will not be subtle."

"Sir," they said before saluting.

"Dismissed." With that, they left. "And so thus the fun begins," I said before a green portal opened in front of me, and i stepped through it and into my ascendant realm.

It had taken me time to master my abilities enough to be able to enter it, but now that I had access, I was able to change it however I liked it, and it now resembled the room from the end of King's Fall, though in place of the platforms were, from top left going clockwise to opposite, a play area for Sekana-who was often now looked after Platinum's Taken brother when here- a planning are for any attacks on enemy territory, a table on which any important individuals were to be Taken, and a Rupture base, which is what I call those things the rupture portals have to be connected to on one end.

Currently, Sekana was in the castle in the other realm. A good thing, as I did want to teach her any of my abilities until she was older. Nothing more terrifying than a toddler who can Take one's will. Anyways, I made my way to the area where unfortunate bastards would lose their will. Once there, I closed my eyes, and focused my power in the other plane to find Obsidian Strength. Now, for some reason, even when I didn't know what they looked like, my power always brought me the right target.

A few seconds later, there was a scream as a pony was deposited on the table. I opened my eyes, and saw a see through stallion colored gray with black hair wearing silver armor strapped to the table. "What the buck's going on!? he yelled before seeing me and his visage turned to one of anger and fear. "You," he growled. "I should have known the Demon King would come after me."

"Twenty two, and what did you expect? I need to know what you do," I said. "Mainly the defenses and layout of the research center."

"Please, you'll never get it," he said confidently.

"Fifty, and bitch, I was able to turn Princess platinum's stubborn ass brother into a soulless husk. You are nothing to that," I growled before raising my palm, Darkness travelling down my arm to the palm, and I recited, "You are filled with anger and malice. I name you Obsidian Strength, servant of the Griffons. I see unending loyalty and a willingness to die. But you are afraid of being betrayed.

You are Taken

There is a knife. It is shaped like Deception. Take the knife. Defend yourself by making your enemies think you are something else.

As I said this, his armor and skin began to change colors to resemble black speckled with white, and his eyes began to glow as he struggled and screamed in pain as his very being- his will- was stolen from him, along with the memories from him I needed, everything else being discarded.

You are a servant of Oryx, unafraid of death and willing to kill those you once called friend to follow his will, that which is the only one that matters. You are Taken, and you find glory in it. As I finished this version of the "Taken Speech" as I called it, Obsidian stopped screaming, and only moved vi the usual twitch that accompanied being Taken. Using the Darkness, I teleported him off the table and in front of me.

"Now, show me your ability," I commanded.

He did so, and changed instantly into his former guise. Though he did have specks of black and white on his skin, and his eyes still had a slight glow. He then changed into the Hunter. Intel reports, I assume. Regardless, he then went back to his Taken form. Curious, I used my abilities to give him some semblance of a will, just enough to speak. "Speak."

Roughly, he said, "I am a. . .servant of Oryx, the Taken, King." I added a little more, carefully monitoring how much will he had, and kept telling him to speak until he spoke effortlessly. Looks as if I have an infiltrator now. Perfect.

"Follow," I ordered him, and he did so as I went to the Rupture, and used my Hive Magic to pen the portal before stepping through, the new Taken in tow. I stepped out next to the the Guardian, which is what I wanted.

"Got the intel?" he asked as he examined his weapon, the Year two Suros Regime rifle.

"Along with an Infiltrator," I replied before turning my head to face him out of the corner of my eye. "Assume your previous form, and return to the Empire, and head towards the southern gate. As soon as I signal, open it."

"Yes, my king," he said before returning to his previous form and teleporting to I assume his house..

"That's a little weird," Josh said. "I'm used to Taken not talking." A second of silence. "Rhino and Cybis agree with me, by the way."

"And I'll never get used to you three having a mental link," I shot back, referencing the ability those three had to telepathically communicate, regardless of distance. I swear, if all three of them are machines, it'll be like Vex with personalities.

"Fair enough," he replied. "So, got a plan?"

"Indeed I do," I replied. "Get the group leaders, and finish your preparations, Guardian. The Empire falls by the week's end."

A day later-Josh

I ran through the snowy landscape, the scout for the attack group looking for patrolling guards and taking any out with an Arc Ironwreath side arm, the light type being because it would blend in with the enviornment. So far, I had encountered only two groups of four each, and took them out with ease, a mix of bullets and throwing knives to the skulls taking them out quickly and silently. Another advantage I had was the blizzard, as it reduced enemy sights. True, it reduced mine as well, but my Tracker made up for it with three-sixty detection.

Now, before you ask, Alad and the Didact had been working to make advanced combat suits for the Ecumene soldiers, something akin to a mix of Spartan MJOLNIR and Warframe's warframes-which I still don't know what they really are- that would allow their troops to operate in conditions like this as if it was a sunny day with no wind. So far, prototypes were in the field-which the assault group were using- but nothing in terms of mass production. Weapons? Some kind of mix between Hardlight-which is what Forerunner weapons used if not some kind of particle based weaponry- and a few of the weapons Cybis, Rhino, and I brought, mainly liquid ammo and energy based weapons, as well as Ammo transmat like what the Super Good Advice does with the rounds it fires. Yeah, that last one was currently only being used in prototype tanks-I am not kidding- and LMGs. Oh boy.

Anyway, back to now and here. My path had me heading toward the southern gate. After that was open and the group was in, my job was assassination of the research heads here, acquisition of any and all position intel on enemy forces, and maybe-as if not really, just do- plant a bomb of concentrated Darkness in the city that would either turn all in it into basic Taken or kill them, as well as escort any civilians I could out of the blast radius.

Ten minutes had passed of my killing the second patrol squad when I reached the gates. "Route clear," I whispered. "Move in."

"Understood," Oryx replied over the radio. Well, not really radio, more Darkness echos. Yeah, I don't know, it's whatever the Hive use to communicate in game. The contact then cut off before I initiated another channel.

"Noland, initiate music protocol designate badass royal."

"On it."



The perfect song to kick ass to if you're a king. Anyways, that was the signal-or Oryx has telepathy with the Taken- as the gate opened. I stepped through, and instantly had my rifle transmatted out for Dreadfang, and sliced two Griffons in half. "Gate's open," I reported. "Moving towards target."

I did not hear his reply, as I instantly had to kill three other guards-two Griffons and one crystal pony- by slicing their heads off before running towards my objective. I then had it swapped back out for Suros, and began moving.

"Josh, I'm picking up some odd frequencies," Noland reported. "Subsonic-but not fatal- mixed with some ultraviolet and infrared light. Don't worry, your armor's protecting you, but from what I can get from here and the Empire back home, the frequencies hit a resonance with Crystal ponies. They may be under mind control. Don;t worry, I told Oryx and the assault group."

"Then let's just hope Obsidian didn't have a family and was a prick without mind control," I muttered before speaking up. "You got the source?"

"Destination area, sub-level six. Ironically enough, what Oryx got from Obsidian shows that's where the main research project is, code named: Heart. . . . You thinking what I am?"

"This is fucking medieval Equis, I wouldn't be surprised!" I shouted as I fired my rifle at a large mob of ponies, aiming for their legs to cripple them before reloading and continuing. For the most part, hostile guards were Griffons-killed with headshots or shanked in the brain- but there were a few ponies, each of which got a crippling but non-lethal bullet somewhere in their bodies. Eventually, I reached the center of the Empire as screams of pain were heard in the distance. Turning, I saw an entire area of the Empire up in flames. Black and white flames, that is.

"Looks like he's having fun," Noland said as he appeared next to me. "Sure you can handle taking the entire facility by yourself?"

"Noland, let me ask you a question," I said. "What do badasses wear?" I asked as I pulled out a breaching charge which utilized very volatile light for the explosive.

"Uh. . .shades?"

"Yes, but they also wear cloaks. And what do all Hunters wear?"

"Cloaks."

"So, if we follow that logic," I said. "Hunters are badasses. And we Hunters are god race."

"And yet Warlocks can self rez," he countered.

"True, and that makes them master race," I retorted as I stuck the explosive to the door of the facility in front of me, a simple square building on the surface. "But I said Hunters are god race, and a master is below a god. And gods can not die," i said before jumping back and blowing the door. "Now, if you'll allow me, I must do the one tradition of gamers everywhere." I cleared my throat before yelling at the top of my lungs, "LEEERRROYYY JENKIIIINSSS!" and running into the building with bladedancer and the spear active.

"Oh boy," I vaguely heard Noland say as I began to kill the Griffons in the building left and right. I slashed with the blade and stabbed with the spear, spinning as if I was an electric tornado of death, making my way to the stairs and down towards sub-level six. Once there, my Arc weapons vanished, and i once again took hold of my Suros, which had been on my back the entire time. Thank you advanced magnetic locks.

"Don't ever do that again," Noland said as he caught up with me.

"Dude, Titans are the one to plan, not Hunters," I said as I entered the first room on this sub-level. "Why do you think most Hunters in the canon are Lone wolves?" I asked before blind shooting a griffon in the head to my front.

"They still plan, dumbass."

"Hey, I'll give you to Alad."

"You're the one who started this argument."

"You brought the subject up."

"No, that as you with the comment on planning. You do realize I'm the reason you can't die, right?"

"Eeyup," I said before ducking under a sword swung at me from the right of my body and then shooting him in the head. "Damned morons. Even if you got past my shield, my clothes are made of a material you're swords can't cut through, pretty much hard as steel!"

"You do realize the griffons don't give a shit, right?" Noland asked.

"Yep, but you know how I am when it comes to stupidity," I replied as we arrived at a door.

"Frequency seems to be coming from the other side of the door," Noland said as he turned to face it. "Please tell me you at least have a plan to handle this." In reply, I held up G-horn. "And if it doesn't work?"

"Then maybe Oryx can do something," I said. "Can you open it?"

"It's a door made of steel and wood," he replied. "Of course I can," he said before emitting a blue energy stream into the lock. "Just need to turn the lock this way and. . . . gotcha." There was a small click as the door became ajar. "What would you do without me?" he asked.

"Bust the thing down," I replied in a smartass tone before opening the door, revealing a large, circular room with metal walls-I can only imagine that was a pain in the ass to shape- with a large, glass cylinder in the center, and with a familiar, heart shaped crystal in the center. "Looks like we were right," I said. "That good or bad?"

"Bad," Noland replied. "The heart, if I'm right, is bound to have multiple protection spells on it, and is most likely to cause a large explosion if it's destroyed."

"So, Ascendant?"

"Ascendant. I'll get Oryx."

Oryx

As I cleaved a griffon soldier in two with Willbreaker, Josh's Ghost contacted me. "Oryx, we found the Heart, but my scans say it's got enough magic built up in it to nuke the Entire Empire and some of the Ecumene of it's destroyed. Can you move the thing to the Ascendant realm where it can be more easily controlled?"

"I'll have to be there, but yes," I replied before turning to face the unicorn leader of the assault group. "Lieutenant, you have command over the group. The Guardian requires my aid."

He nodded. "Understood, sir," he said. Now, as Josh said, the assault group was using prototype armor. The armor itself was shaped to resemble Forerunner armor according to how it was described in Halo novels, with small, floating parts above the shoulders and lights that changed to show emotions. It also was able to assemble and disassemble at the wearer's will, but this required a neural interface. Something tricky enough when dealing with one race, but four races is a challenge especially. As for weapons, they were using auto rifles using liquid ammo. Eat it, Omolon!(1)

With that out of the way , back to the story. I made my way to the research complex, killing Griffons whenever they charged and cutting the legs off of ponies when they charged. Eventually, I reached my destination, and saw that there were many a body that looked as if it had been electrified. The stairwell was too small for me, so I simply teleported down to Sub-level six.

"Why not?" I heard Josh ask his Ghost as I arrived.

"Because if you did, she'd kill you after castrating you," the Ghost replied. "She's the Goddess of the fucking moon, for Christ's sake!"

"So? Rhino's a robot, and he's got a marefriend. Even Cybis, and he's the blandest out of the three of us. Not to say he is bland, he simply acts like Spock."

"I'm certain I do not wish to know," I commented as they came into my view, as well as the room. "Is that the Crystal Heart?"

"Yep," Josh replied. "You ever heard of Fall of Equestria?"

"No, but I have a feeling you'll explain," I replied.

"Yeah. So, in that world, a race known as Caribou-who are sexist, misogynist, patriarchal-"

"To the degree feminists think all men back home are," the Ghost added.

"Yay," I sarcastically commented.

"Back to it, they're also Mary Sues who only have control of Equestria because the guy who made it is probably a closet sexist who thinks the only role for women is on their knees, but in universe it's because they mind raped who ever they came across to see their ideals, but leave females out of it, only using that control to target males, but this-what we're dealing with right now- is working because it actually hits all of them instead of a single gender, and it fully works. Only difference- the griffons aren't using this to literally and figuratively rape a country."

"Well, i know what I'm going to do to them should I encounter them," I replied. "So, what do you have in mind to eliminate this artifact?"

"Either send it to the Ascendant realm so it doesn't affect the ponies here, or counter it's ability," Ghost said.

"I'll send it to the Ascendant realm, then," I said before raising my hand towards the artifact as black and white flames began to lick at it. A few seconds later, it vanished. "I will handle the rest after this battle," I told them. "Come. Time to finish this battle."

A few hours later-Ascendant realm

I arrived in my throne room in a burst of concentrated Darkness. Still, none were present but me. Of course, there was something new in the very middle, and that was the Crystal Heart. I made my way to it, and examined. It looked much like how I remembered it from that forced marathon, only it was being contained in a stasis field.

Now, since I captured it, an idea had come to my mind on how to use it. I ran it by Alad thanks to our personal communication devices, and though he said it may backfire, it was also possible. Time to see if so.

With a wave of my hand, I released the stasis field before filling the Heart with pure Darkness, making it turn from the crystal blue to black and white in mere seconds. Step one complete. Now fro what I know I'll regret should it fail.

I sent a single message to Platinum's brother to come here with something. A second later, he appeared. "You called, my. . .king?" he asked. The little incident with Obsidian led me to experiment a little with this asshat, which led to me learning putting enough of one's will back into them allows them to speak, but little else. In his hands was a sleeping Sekana.

"Indeed I did," I replied. "Set Sekana down next to the Heart, then return."

"Yes. . .my king," he said with a bow before doing so. Once he was gone, I breathed in a troubled breath and released a troubled sigh.

"May this work," I whispered as I rose my hand again, taking direct control over a small portion of Darkness in the Heart before doing so with my mind on what little magic there was in my daughter. I then made the amounts equal in power-leading to less Darkness than magic if it could be quantitative- and began to transfer the two, the magic to the Heart to be corrupted, the Darkness to Sekana so that she can begin training in it as soon as possible while still being herself, and not a monster. Not a minute later, the transfer was done, and I went to pick up Sekana.

She awakened once I had finished and looked up at me. "Daddy," she cooed with a smile, making me release a breath I knew not I was holding. Here eyes now had specks of white and black flame in the iris, and, for a second, her horn flared, releasing black and white light. Other than that, no changes I could so far perceive.

Of course, I was not a doctor, so I'll have to have Alad analyze her upon my return. Still, I released a small smile at seeing Sekana was-currently, at least- safe. "Once you are able, daughter, we will begin your training," I told her. She was old enough to understand, trust me. She just enjoyed acting like this. "Simply ensure you do not put training ahead of your cousin, will you? We are the only immortals in this universe, after all."

And with that, I teleported to the main castle from which Alad, Didact, and I ruled. Alad hadn't left the castle for combat. Instead, he used Zanuka to fight as his Proxy. He was in his lab, which is where I teleported to, waiting for me.

"Ah, Oryx," the scientist said upon my arrival. "Judging from Sekana being in your arms, I trust she is well."

"As far as I can tell, Alad," I replied.

"But you need me to scan her organs to ensure her physiology hasn't changed?" he asked. "A fair an legitimate concern, given what happened. May I?"

"Of course," I said as he walked over and I handed Sekana over to him.

"Uncle Salad!" she exclaimed in joy, and instantly began to play with the ring on his neck.

"Sekana, stop, that isn't a toy," he said. "Now, I need to do a little check up on you. It won't be long, I promise."

"Okay, Uncle Salad," she said with a smile.

"Good, good," he said before putting her on one of the seats. "Before I start, Oryx, there is something you should know."

"What?" I asked.

"My Zanuka picked up dimensional reading just before you got here, one indicative of transport. I had it investigate," he told me.

"What did it find?" I asked.

"A very peculiar thing," Alad said. "It found a warframe. An Excalibur, to be precise.
> Blade brothers
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I came to slowly from the blackout Harmony had induced on me, rubbing my head as I did so and I opened my eyes, which showed the scenery to be some kind of sci-fi dungeon, as it had stone walls, but a lot of advanced instruments that looked straight out of a science fiction game, and trust me, I would know. That was my genre before being sent to Equestria.

Anyway, I sat up. "Oh, my head," I muttered before hearing a somewhat robotic voice.

"Ah, Tenno. Good, you're awake. And you aren't just a mind drone." Oh no, I recognize that voice, and it made me jump from the table I was on and summon my Exalted blade, and pointed it at Alad V- the mad scientist from the Warframe universe who would cut open Warframes for research purposes.

"Just where the fuck am I?!" I yelled at him. "And don't think of getting close to me, because I will skewer you."

"I suppose I should have seen that coming," Alad, dressed in the in-game outfit he usually has. "I can understand your reaction, Tenno, but I have no interest in dissecting you. And even if I did, I'm too busy using Griffon physiology against them. And not because I'm the villain, it's because I'm the scientist of the Displaced trio that rules here and is currently at war with the Griffons."

". . .Somehow, I'm not surprised by that," I said as I deactivated my power. "So, you're a Displaced too?"

"Indeed I am," he replied. "My Zanuka- which arrived with me here, by the way- found you and brought you to our castle, where you've been out for near month since we found you."

"A month!?" I yelled in surprise.

"Yes," Alad said before the collar. . .thing around his neck which also allowed him to control Zanuka beeped. "Ah, it seems as if Oryx is on his way here."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. Oryx? As in Oryx the Taken King? As in a boss who is incredibly fucking terrifying in the Rain given his health and the mechanics?"

"And in this universe, adoptive father to Celestia, believe it or not," he said. "Yeah, as a brony, I was surprised to and nearly freaked at that little fact."

I shrugged. "Dude, I just got done killing a mirror version of Luna, Celestia, and Cadence who were in Nightmare form dressed as warlocks from Destiny alongside the Shadow Stalker. When it comes to Displaced shit, I've learned to not question stuff like that."

"I suppose that make sense," Alad said. "So, what's your Equestria like?"

"Anthro with twenty plus ponies in Warframes, as these frames are special liquid metal mixed with magic," I replied. "Half of which are allied with Celestia trying to stone my ass, while the other half, including Twilight and Luna, are with me. And just call me by the frame designation. I've gotten used to it."

"Noted, Excalibur," he said as we heard heavy footsteps, making me turn around and see the Taken king approaching us.

"Ah, Oryx. I imagine you can tell our guest is awake?"

"And his name," Oryx replied as he stopped and eyes me. "Hm. Odd. Your colors resemble that my brother preferred on his online avatars."

"Really?" I asked before what Harmony told me hit me in the head. "Hey, uh, quick question."

"Yes?" Oryx asked.

"What do the Gamertags 'Brother Saber' and 'Brother Katana' mean to you?"(1)

"Those were my and my brother's gamertags," Oryx replied. "Why do you ask?"

"'By the light of our blades and the shadows of the cut, all our enemies shall fall'," I replied, making Oryx mouth open slightly.

"Josh? Is that you?"

"Yeah. I'm guessing that's you, Mark?"

"Indeed it is," he replied. "It is good to see you again, brother, but I'm curious as to how you're here given your death."

"A goddess gave me a second life," I replied. "You getting here?"

"Some ass at comicon that gave me wings, Alad his robotic dog, and Didact, the last of our trio, his scattershot."

"So the usual Displaced shit then, huh?"

"Apparently."

"And how's it feel being stuck here?" I asked, knowing he absolutely hated this show.

"Since I am in the leadership and currently changing it to more of my liking, quite well," he said. "If your curious as to where your weapons are, they're in the guest room. If you want, I can show it to you."

"Please," I said. "I've had weapons long enough to where I don't feel right without at least a sword. An actual sword, not my Exalted Blade."

"Then come one," he said. "Then you get to meet your new niece."

"Oh yay," I muttered. With that, Oryx led the way to my room-something which was an average room without anything fancy- where I put the weapons in their respective places. That is to say Silva and Aegis on my left wrist, the Soma across my back, and the Aksomati on the thighs. From there, he led me to the nursery room where Celestia-or Sekana as she's called here- was playing.

"Adopted her a little over a year ago when she was already three," Oryx said.

"Explains why she's already playing with toy swords," I muttered. "Guessing you put a little capital d Darkness in her too?"

"Just before Zanuka found you," he replied as Sekana came over to us.

"Daddy, who is this?" she asked, a wooden sword in her hand.

"This, Sekana is your uncle Excalibur. He only recently arrived."

"Hello, Sekana."

"Hi uncle Sword," she said with a smile. "Are you going to help Daddy beat the Griffons?"

I chuckled before replying. "Yes, Sekana, I am," I said before kneeling down and picking her up. "And if you want to, if I'm able to and when you're old enough, I can show you how to use a sword."

"I don't see why not," Oryx said.

"Yay!" Sekana cheered.

This was unfortunately cut off as a Taken pony-no, I'm not kidding- appeared and bowed.

"Hi, uncle betrayer," Sekana said and I looked at Oryx.

"A traitor to the Griffons who now serves as one of Sekana's caretakers and, eventually, one of her hands," he told me before addressing the Taken. "What is it?"

"My liege, the Guardians and Didact are under attack by a new war machine of the Griffons, and require assistance."

Before i could look at Oryx, he said, "A happy accident I've decided to roll out to all Taken," before addressing the Taken again.

"I and Excalibur-who will have the same authority over you and the others as Sekana and I- will handle it. Take care of my daughter until I return."

Before a reply was heard, I felt my world go upside down and my insides turned inside out before they were righted, and I saw that Oryx and I now stood on a grassy hill overlooking four figures running from a huge tank that was currently firing from a primitive machine gun towards them with a small force of Griffons around it.

"Muskets mixed with world war one era machine guns," I commented. "That's new, not to mention the huge ass tank."

"Indeed," Oryx said. "Alad will want that mostly intact to study." He then looked at me, and I at him. "So, want to show 'em why we were called the Blade Brothers back home on Live?"

Under my helmet, I grinned as I drew Silva. "I'll go in, clear out a path to the tank, then move in and kill it's crew."

"We'll need something fitting for the sword play," Oryx commented.

"Revengeance?" I asked.

"Please," he said, and I could hear the grin in his voice as I turned back to face the battle ground.

"Then let's do this shit."





Cybis' perspective

"Come on, we need to outrun these fuckers!" I heard Josh yell just before I jump back and throw a scatter grenade at the pursuing Griffons, though it did little, as these guys had special armor that was somehow resistant to my grenades.

"No fucking shit, Josh!" Rino yelled back before jumping into the air and using light before turning in the air to face them and fire off a G-horn shot against the new tank- a three story thing with high velocity shells and old machine guns, as in our world's world war one era machine guns for the secondary weapons-, though the armor plating on it was thick.

Now, I know what you're thinking-why not hijack the thing? Because, quite simply, those machine guns, though primitive, could melt through our shields, and Didact can't jump up high enough to reach it.

"Where's the nearest base?!" I yelled as we avoided shots from the foot soldiers. If there's one good thing abou thte tank, it's that is has one slow ass reload time.

"Three kilometers away!" Didact replied.

"Shiiiiiiiit!" Josh yelled at that just before we heard music.

"Okay, who the fuck's playing something from Revengeance!?" Rhino yelled before our radios came on.

"Guardians, Didact, this is Oryx. I am inbound with a new ally to capture the tank. We're already in the area."

"How close?" Didact asked.

"Close enough," was the reply before we heard the air behind us crackling and screams of pain, making us turn our heads and see orbs of Darkness coming into existence over the Griffon footsoldiers before coming down and infecting many of them with Darkness, enough to become Taken, apparently. Literally a second after that, a blue and green blur began to slice those that hadn't been converted on the tank's left side into pieces. It then jumped partway up the tank, and-I'm not kidding here- ran up the side of the tank to the top, flipping up and out of our view.

"The hell?" Josh asked before Oryx teleported next to us.

"I have told you all of my life before coming here, correct?" he asked.

"Yeah," Rhino replied. "Why?"

"Turns out, that blur is another Displaced who just so happens to be my brother," Oryx replied. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to prove I'm still worthy of my nick name from before coming here." With that, he flew to where the remaining Griffons were, and began to strike at them with his sword.

"Okay, seriously," Josh said, "how is it we have the Taken King;someone who wants to eliminate humanity; a mad scientist; and now a once thought dead man as our allies!?" None of us had a reply.
> Knights of shadow
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Josh

Two more years have passed since Oryx's pre-displacement brother, Excalibur, appeared, and, somehow, the griffons tech level has rocketed to where they now have weapons equal to world war two tech minus the nukes. Alad had created an intelligence network, and they were currently looking into that. As for territory the two sides controlled, it was now half of the known civilizations on our side, the other half with the griffons.

Funnily enough, those on our side that were more military minded-something close to a mix of the Cabal and Sangheili in culture- had met with Didact, and decided to make him a leader, meaning he now had his own country, which led to a renaming of the Ecumene to the Fundament. Cybis had commented that was more appropriate give Oryx was born on the Hive homeworld-long since destroyed in Destiny lore- which was called the Fundament. The reason being it was renamed is because the three thought it better for Didact's nation to be known as Ecumene.

Anyways, in the two years since Excalibur's arrival and entrance into this war, him, myself, Rhino, and Cybis had started to be called the knights of the shadows, as we are often the spec ops strike force. Right now, the four of us were in griffon allied Minotaur lands-south of the Fundament- on an assassination-espionage mission. The goal was to kill a Minotaur house leader to make way for his second in command to take control, as he was an ally of ours so we would gain this house as an ally, and we were also to see what we can get as to the sudden tech boom the Griffons went through.

Right now, I was on a cliff as the moon hung above me, a one k stare rifle in my hands and my eye looking down the scope. "Sword, where are you?"

"Approaching the main tent," Excalibur said. "What's it look like there?"

"Dead," Rhino said. "Quick and quiet. None know unless they can sense life forces. You got that dagger ready?" Excalibur was currently using a stolen griffon made dagger to make it look like the griffons had betrayed them. Hey, this is war, deception is a part of the game.

"Yep," Excalibur said.

"Be careful," Cybis said. He filled the role of nerd of the team. "Main squads just north of here report seeing small groups of ponies moving quickly in the night. May be griffon agents."

"Cyb, do you know who you're talking to?" Rhino asked. "Each of us are badassess with superhuman-or robot in my case- abilities that can destroy a small army by ourselves."

"Hubris, Rhino," Cybis said. "We're going to be able to come back from the dead a song as we have ghosts, and what happens if we-namely you or Josh- jump headfirst into a fight and lose them. I'm certain I need not remind you of what happened the two times we've died before."

"He's got you there, Rhino," Excalibur said. "Now, quiet while I slip in the knife."

I was about to shoot a smartass reply at him when I saw a flicker of movement next to the tent. "Make it quick, I just saw something move next to the thing. Too quick to see what it was."

"Saw it too," Rhino said. "Hope they're ready to take buckshot to the face."

"Just make sure that if it's something new, there's enough left of it to analyze and see if it resembles any of the legends in this world," Cybis said.

"If I can," Rhino replied. "Josh, keep an ey eout."

"No shit, what else would I do with a sniper at this range?" I said. "Noland, get the ships ready. May need a quick exit."

"They're already waiting," my Ghost replied. "Warning: unknown contact at six o'clock. Ten meters and closing."

"Copy that," I muttered as I adjusted my body to quickly jump up should I need to. "Get that weapon Ex gave me ready."

"Got it ready, Guardian," Nolandroid said. "And I've alerted the others already."

"Thanks for that," I whispered as I heard footsteps behind me. Glancing into a mirror I placed on the ground next to me while activating my helmet's night vision, and saw nothing, though I saw the grass be depressed. "Ghost, tell 'em it's looking like the Twilight protocol."

"On it."

"Also, new weapon on three."

"Copy that."

"One," I said as I moved my left hand to the corresponding leg and making it look as it I was taking care of an itch. "Two." I made closed my hand to where it looked as if I was holding a gun. "Three." With that, I released the grip on my sniper rifle and rolled onto my back as Noland transmatted the gift weapon into my hands.

The weapon is what Excalibur called a Viper, a fully automatic pistol that had been modified to increase damage against unarmored targets. As I finished rolling, I saw that the one approaching me was a pony wearing a black, hooded cloak that covered most of their body, a dagger in their hand and pointed back. "'Sup," I said before unloading the entire clip-increased from the default to twenty five- into the individual before drawing my Vanity Hand cannon and placing one shot in the heart, and another in the head. "Guys, we need to get out of here. Twilight protocolis confirmed."

"We figured," Rhino said with a grunt over the radio. Just finished caving in a vampony's skull with my rifle. Ex finished with the job, and is on the way to extraction. Same with me and Cyb."

"I'll be waiting," I replied as I went to the body, and began to inspect it.

"No blood," was my first observation. "Or or little enough to not be noticed." I moved one of my hands to open the eye lids. "Pupils are reptile like." I closed the eye lid, and moved the armored hand to the mouth and opened the lips. "Teeth are as expected with sharpened canine teeth." I pulled the hand back, and looked at the hands of the corpse. "Somewhat sharpened finger nails though not enough to be noticeable." I channeled some solar light into my left hand, and held it above an exposed patch of skin on the hand, resulting in some slight burns.

"I'm picking up carbon monoxide levels, Josh," Noland said. "Higher than normal, too. Want me to take a scan of what they're made of?"

"Do it," I said as the skin began to bubble, making me stop the experiment. "You recorded everything?"

"What do you take me for, a computer?" Noland asked as he materialized. "Of course I did. I and the other Ghosts are meant to be the field cameras after all."

"Fair enough," I said as I heard the roar of engines. "Can you contact Forge, see if he can digitize the body?" I asked, referring to the A.I. in Excalibur's ship.

"Yes I can, Guardian," Forge replied over the radio as Excalibur's ship-a horseshoe crab shaped ship called the Liset that was mainly blue with red, purple, and yellow accents with green colored engines, the colors matching Excaibur's Warframe and weapon coloration- came into view and stopped above me before an orange beam came out of the bottom of the ship and hit the dead body, causing it to breakdown into orange cubes which were then absorbed into the ship. "I can also run an analysis of recent memories, should it be needed."

"Right," I said with an unnecessary nod just as Excalibur came up over the cliff face-as a Tenno, he's able to wall jump infinitely and is a space ninja- with his weapons stowed.

"Saw a few on my way up here," he said. "Looked like they had taken some griffon bodies away for something."

"Guess we can have Oryx 'ask' one later, then," I said as my ship-along with Rhino and Cybis'- arrived, followed by Rhino and Cybis soon after.

Once we all got into our ships, we made our way back to the Fundament's capital with the new intel, as well as knowing the new threat.
> Revelation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Excalibur

I walked in the halls of Oryx's castle. Only a few hours had passed since apparently vamponies became real, and Alad was currently analyzing the results of what the Guardians brought back. I wasn't involved mainly because, well, even if it ha been two years for me since, what mirror Celestia said before I offed her still has me thinking. Harmony, far as I know, has existed for as long as Equis, maybe the fucking multiverse, who knows. That's definitely enough time to master manipulation, and, now that I look at some stuff, It's made me doubt.

First was the fact she kept the truth hidden from the average pony in my Equestria, and I just went with it. So what if it caused chaos, she's the fucking goddess of Hamrony. I.E.: Balance, she should know chaos is needed. Yeah, that whole threat thing may be true, but there's who knows how many OP displaced out there who'd be willing to help. Plus her own power.

Then there's the fact the mirror versions were renegade when my world's weren't. Either the exact same or opposite has to happen. There was a drastic change in the mirror-the three alicorns becoming renegade and being outcast by Harmony- but none in mine when Cadence, Luna, and Celestia would have either gotten a huge ass power boost or gone renegade too.

And, personally, who knows, I may have been able to survive that car crash that Harmony used to get me here, and may have just blacked out from the pain.

Finally, the whole controlling magic thing. I've trained for two years, have put my self in the middle of a blade for Oryx and the others, but still nothing. This made me think back to something I read in the library of the mirror world. Magical constructs, regardless of who ever made them, are very limited. If they are made for combat, they can do nothing else. I they are meant to be a swordsman, nothing else. Though true they can branch out an use other skills, they can never do so effectively, and even then, it has to be under their creator's orders.

Though, there have been two cases of a construct breaking free of it's creator's will and mastering something else, including the crystal army used by Sombra to defeat Celestia many centuries ago. Though they remained loyal to him, many left the army to become craftsponies and such.

This made me look down at my left hand as I opened it. I then clenched it and sighing. "Looks like I'll need to open that door," I said before making my way to the training grounds. Now, you're probably asking why I'm heading there. Well, it doubled as the army training grounds and the landing site for my Liset and the Guardians' ships. "Forge?"

"Yes, Operator?" the Cephalon asked.

"Can you open the rear door in the Liset?"

"Not entirely," he replied. "Release the magnetic locks, yes, but you would still need to pry them open, and you are not a Rhino or Atlas."

"Do it regardless, and ensure Harmony doesn't know about it. I need to see something."

"Of course, Operator."

As I made my way to the grounds, the various castle staff and soldiers I passed saluted me, though my mind was too focused on a single question. If I'm supposed to be a pre-Update eighteen- or which ever one brought in the change to the Orbiter- Tenno, why is that door there?

After reaching the grounds, I made my way under my ship, the deployment tube opening up before it enveloped me in a gravity field, and lifted me up and inserted me in the slot before it rotated, and I was now laying down on the floor. I got out of the tube, and made my way to the back hall of the Orbiter, where I saw the Somatic Link room.

"The Magnetic locks are offline, Operator," Forge said. "However, when they were, a magical field flared up, and, as far as I can tell, it is still there."

I smiled under my helmet. "Then it is something important, then, Harmony," I muttered. Then, out loud, I said, "Check the Codex databank, look for something called a 'Nullifier Crewman'. I have an idea. Then get me a plasma sword."

"Done," he said. He did have an immense operating power similar to Halo A.I.s, so it makes sense. "Entry found, and weapon waiting in the arsenal."

"Right," I said, making my way to the arsenal. When I got there, I just walked by as I put my right hand into it, and the plasma sword materialized in it, then made the way back to the door. "Project the bubble the Nullifier uses on the door. If I'm right, this will remove the field."

"Understood," he said, and a large, blue bubble popped into existence around the door, and a shimmer was seen inside. "Field down."

"Make sure it stays down," I said before rushing into the bubble, and stabbing the plasma sword into the door on the right side, and, once it was hilt deep, began to carve a circle out of it.

Excalibur, what are you doing!? Harmony said in my head in a near growl.

"Just seeing if my hypothesis is right," I said as I continued. "I'm not really me, am I? I'm just something in a warframe being controlled. Or am I me controlling the something?"

Harmony was silent for a time before replying. "You do realize I could easily have the others hound you."

"Yeah," I said, turning my head to look behind me and see Harmony standing there. "But they'll need to try their damnedest to make it work, and I won't make it easy on them," I said before pulling an Aksomati and shooting her in the head making the body vanish, and I chuckled. "Looks like you won, Celestia," I muttered. I then holstered the automatic pistol, and sighed before returning to my task. When I completed the circle, two semi circles and two crescents fell, making a hole large enough for me to enter.

What I saw surprised me. I saw, in Cryopods, Excalibur Prime and the Ashen Gray and gold Excalibur Umbra. These were to the left and right of the Somatic link, at the very back of the room. "Forge."

"Yes, Operator?"

"Can you open the link pod?"

"Yes."

"Do it."

"Understood, Operator," he said, and, as I walked to the pod, it opened a sit did in game, and, in there, I saw a figure wearing a jumpsuit of similar coloration to this warframe, but it was the face which got my attention. It had brown hair, glowing green eyes, was pale, and had a few freckles on it's face. Just like mine. Exactly like mine.

"Oh my," Forge said. "Operator, I didn't know."

"No need to apologize, Forge. Can you sever the link?"

"Yes, but I'm not-"

"Do it, then have the Hunter get here."

". . .As you wish, Operator," Forge said before I blacked out, and heard my body hit the floor.
> Waking from the dream
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Will he be okay?" I asked Alad as my brother, who looked as he did as a teenager, lay on a cot with a blue and red jumpsuit with an odd helmet that peeled away from his head, the lining colored yellow.

"He's alive, Oryx," Alad said. "He simply needs time to wake up. What concerns me, however, are the other three Tenno."

"So there were actually four people?" Cybis asked.

"Yes," The Corpus scientist replied. "However, Excalibur; who is the one we've come to physically know, Prime; the gold one, and Umbra; the one with the scarf are all clones of Josh, who, if we are using some variation of Warframe lore, is still a conduit for the Void, which grants a Tenno their power.  A warframe simply focuses it. That is why an Excalibur can not create flames like an Ember can or a Chroma with red or reddish orange colors for energy."

Rhino rubbed the equivalent of his forehead, just under the horn. "So Harmony created three clones of Josh in his adult form, then reverse aged him and put him to sleep after switching him with Excalibur?"

"Yes."

"Someone get me a damned anti-magical nuke."

"Not even sure that would work," Rhino," Josh-the Hunter- said. "Still, I think we should do what we can to destroy the Element of Sacrifice and remove the Darkness abilities in us. I don't know about you guys, but I con't use anything Harmony gave us knowing this."

"I'm more interested about the Excalibur Josh arrived," Didact said. "I'm thinking that was actually him, but when Harmony changed the color, she swapped 'em out, and put Josh into the Second Dream. That's what it's called, right?"

"Bingo," Alad said.

"Right. Given the flash he said occurred when that happened, along with when he first went Prime which led to the switch between Excalibur and Prime," Didact said, "it stands to reason that the same thing has happened with the other Tenno in his Equestria, but that are not aware of it."

"And they're all ponies who are annoyingly loyal to Harmony," The Hunter said. "Well, that and a single changeling, far as we know." He sighed. "Christ, this is going to be a shitstorm, I just know it."

"Fortunately, I've sent messages into the void using some magic and bit of tech," Alad said. "It's keyed to Harmony's magic from the sample you three gave, and will go to any who have been directly touched by it. It'll warn them to not trust her, and even a bit of an invitation to something Oryx and I have been planning."

"What's that?" Cybis asked.

"A Displaced Brotherhood," Alad said. "Not a faction for war. The Brotherhood's supposed to be an alliance of Displaced in positions of power such as all of us who are currently conscious and in this room that will allow them to send an army to support an ally or request our help. Of course, with this, most will probably need to be able to take on an actual goddess."

"Like I said: shitstorm."

"Anyway," I said, ignoring the Hunter, "what have you done with the other three Tenno?"

"In containment bubbles in my lab meant to cut off the flow of magic and, by extension, void energy, making them powerless. No telling what they'll do upon waking up," Alad said. "And they will wake up. My sensors picked up Rapid Eye Movement, an indicator of dreams. Unfortunately, Didact won't allow Balance to see what it is they're dreaming about."

"She may be this Equestia's Luna, but she still hasn't had much training in that magic, and it's a Tenno," Didact said. "True, one that has essentially been asleep for its whole life, but still. I will not risk my daughter's well being on something like that unless the odds are very much in her favor. By which I mean ninety nine point nine percent in her favor."

"Just saying," Alad said as he held his hands up before one of his assistants rushed into the room.

"Your majesties and sirs, it's the three Tenno," He said in a panicked voice. "They're awake and trying to break out!"

"Called it," Alad said. "Follow me everyone," He said as the collar he used to control Zanuka activated. "Zankua, keep them contained."

With that, the three Guardians, Didact, and Alad left the room. I, however, stayed behind to watch over my brother, hoping if he woke oon, he could help keep the three Tenno contained.




Alad-ten minutes later

"FUCK!" Rhino shouted as he was embedded in the wall by a punch from Excalibur. That is to say the one who Josh had been controlling for the most part of his time as a Displaced.

"Someone get him out of the wall!" Didact shouted before he ducked under the slice wave of an Exalted Blade. He then straightened and fired off a few shots from his Scattershot at Prime, who had his Exalted blade out.

"Kinda busy!" Cybis shouted back as he fired a Lance Nova bomb at Umbra, who sliced it in half with a Nikana Prime, and then used Slash Dash to avoid a Razor's edge slice by Josh.

"That's right, bitch! Run from your god!" he yelled before chasing Umbra through my lab. Zankua was now trying to get Rhino out of the wall as I was analyzing the data to see just how the three of them broke out.

"Damn it, those containers were able to hold Oryx's taken, how did they get out?" I muttered as I looked over the recordings using my visor from outside the room. I was looking at the footage for a tenth time when a frame caught my interest. "Hello," I said. "Pause, rewind five seconds, speed at twenty five percent, enhance and zoom next to left most occupied pod." The footage did so, and what I saw was a gray mare in a white dress with rainbow hair and tail with an orb of rainbow magic in her hand. "Play," I said. "Keep at current speed."

The recording played, and I saw Harmony look at the camera and wag a finger to it before releasing her magic, shattering the containers, and ten teleporting. "That bitch!"  I then activated my radio. "Guys, Harmony freed them!"

"Okay, we need to to start planning on how to kill the bitch," Rhino yelled. "Shit!" he yelled as he fell out of the wall.

"Kinda hard to since she's multi-dimensional being!" Cybis replied.

"Working on something right now," I said. "More of a side effect of that Displaced Brotherhood thing, but still, I'll put more focus on it."

"Do it," Oryx said beside me, making me jump as my visor went up. "No need to inform me of the situation, Alad, I know enough to know Harmony has declared war on us."

"Yes, well," I said, "we're still having an issue containing the three Tenno, to the point where they may destroy us more than the other two factions we're facing."

"Then let me try something," I heard another voice say from behind Oryx before Josh walked out from behind him. "Open the door. This is my fight, my problem to fix. Don't try to stop me."

"But how-"

"By being a motherfucking Tenno, that's how," Josh said as the hood of his suit, which looked like a mutated face with two lidless eyes combined over his head, showing he was wearing the full Zariman suit that in game Operators wore by default.

"I hope you know what you're doing," I said as I opened the door, through which he entered the micro war in the lab.




Operator Josh

I walked into the lab to see that it was pretty much in ruin, the three Excaliburs having utterly destroyed their containers and forcing the others into a literal corner. Once I walked into the room everything seemed to stop, and the three Excaliburs looked at me, causing the others to as well. I stood at the entrance with my arms crossed behind my back. "Well," I said. "You want revenge on me for controlling you, right. Here I am. I won't stop you."

"W-why?" Umbra growled out, him being the only one I hadn't controlled.

"Because I'm a Tenno, and a Tenno must pay for his mistakes," I told them. "If you must kill me, so be it, but the others are simply allies of mine, and had nothing to do with this." Here, Excalibur slash dashed over to me, and placed the blade of a Skana at the side of my neck.

"What about our brothers and sisters?"

"Still alive, far as I know," I said. "I can't guarantee, however, that you'll be welcomed back. Harmony, if this is any indication, will do anything to prevent the unfiltered truth from coming out." I then inhaled, then exhaled. "You may kill me if you wish, but if you do, ask yourself this: who made me control you, and what did I do upon finding out? I know you know it, Excalibur. You were the one I was controlling upon finding out."

This made him pull his blade back a little. "Because of her, I unknowingly controlled you for the better part of two years, Prime for not even a day, and Umbra is the only one who hasn't been controlled," I continued. "If you want my head, you can have it, but think about how many others are being controlled by her or will be. Now, what do you consider yourself?"

"Tenno. What else could we be?" Prime said as he pointed a Lato Prime at me.

"Then are you going to kill another Tenno for something he fixed as best he could as soon as possible, or the one manipulating him and you to prevent it from happening again?" I asked before another voice-one I knew well, spoke up from behind me.

"I knew I should have killed you before you opened the door," Harmony said before Oryx and Alad were teleported into the room, and Excalibur and I jumped further into the room, and I saw Harmony at the entrance. "Oh well. Better late than never." With that she unleashed a beam of magic focused on me, but I simply held up my hand, and it stopped as green void energy coursed along my arm.

"I thought you'd know," I said. "As a Tenno, I am a conduit of the void, and have access to every Warframe ability at reduced strength unless specifically focused on it. Right now, I'm using a localized snow globe to stop it." I then snapped my fingers, and a small explosion radiated from me as the world around me became dull and subdued in color, and the snow globe piece vanished, and the beam hit me, only to do nothing. "Rift walk." I then teleported in a cloud of smoke in front of her and left the rift plane, creating a set of green claws on my right hand as I did so before stabbing her in the stomach. "Teleport plus hysteria," I said to her shocked face as I saw blood course down my hand. "So you're just another one, then," I said. "Farce is up," I said before making a green Skana in my left hand. "Gods can't bleed, after all," I said before stabbing the Exalted blade into her head and sending a bolt of lightning into it, frying the brain.

As the body fell to the ground, Oryx walked next to me. "I assume given this you think Harmony is just a pony who found out how to access other dimensions at will, found some sort of longevity potion or the like, and took up the position of Goddess as a power trip when she is just as vulnerable to blade and gun as us?"

"Bingo," I said. "Also, it stands to reason that there is some sort of center point in the Multiverse where all the variations of a person exist, and that's how each Harmony is aware of the others plans in nearly an instant. Two are dead, but more live. Only way to kill 'em all is there."

"I'll get to work on finding a way there one I send the beacons out," Alad said.

I nodded. "Thanks. Also, once this is all over, think you can get a portal to the human variation of my Equestria."

He nodded back. "I'll see what I can do."

I then looked at the three Excaliburs who walked out next. "What about you three? If you don't want a part in this, you won't be forced to."

"She manipulated the four of us and many others," Prime said. "And besides, Excalibur and I do have your memories. Our actions were in a blind rage and perhaps her controlling us."

"If she wants a war," Excalibur said. "She'll get one from the new Tenno order."

"And I know bits and pieces," Umbra said. "Enough to know the four of us are genetic clones, making us brothers. I'd personally be ashamed if I didn't stand next to my brothers."

"I can work on getting you a warframe, Josh," Alad said, to which I shook my head.

"Nah. Right now, I'm good having access to the abilities." I then created an orb of green flame in my left hand, and an Exalted blade in the right. "So then, who's gonna be the first faction we decimate so we can start planning on how to kill the bitch?"
> The purge part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Tenno Josh

Ten years. That's how long it took us-with the support of three Guardians, the Shadow Kings and their army, and myself and the Excaliburs- to fight our way to the griffon capitol city-which was located in a desert, and protected by magic nullification wards and glyphs- destroying any city we came across that fought back even if we didn't pass through. As a result, the only griffon population left was in the capital city, and Fundament and Ecumene loyalists who had left their home nation between seven and five years ago.

Why did it take so long? The damned Vamponies harassed us at every step, every corner, and right now, Alad and the science division of the Shadow Kings' forces were going to their lair to kill their king or queen to ensure they didn't hinder any more of my brother's efforts. After learning why they decided to fight us, of course.

Sekana and Balance were now of the age to hold their own in combat with their defensive spells and a compliment of guards for each.

Currently, the three Excaliburs were the advanced party for our forces, with me being the link between them and Oryx, as my time controlling Excalibur had led to a sort of telepathy with him.

I had Alad make modifications to my transference suit to make it look more likethe Koppra suit opposed to the Zariman suit, simply because if I was going to be a part in combat without a warframe-which Alad and I were currently working on a solution for-then I wanted to look good while doing it.

"What's the status of our forces?" Oryx asked me as we stood on a hill, looking over the target city.

"Nearly ready," I replied. "Eager, too, considering the massacre a few weeks back."

"Ah, yes. That sealed the fate of the griffons and vampires," Oryx said with a growl. "They are fortunate Excalibur stopped them before Sekana or Balance were harmed."

"Amen to that one, bro," I muttered. "So, you got your agents in place?"

"Must you ask?" He replied. "Once I give the signal, they will burn the capitol building to the ground, and, at the request of some of the men I gave control over them, bring the females."

"Please-"

"You need not worry about them being enslaved," The Taken King told me. "And I gave explicit instruction any prisoners are to be treated with respect, or the offender will pay with their will."

"Brutal, but hey, if it works," I said. "So, where are the Excalibur's and I going?"

"South entrance, as that is the area with the hidden escape route for the king," Oryx said. "A detachment of Didact's troops will be with you four. . . .Are you sure you don't want to wear armor. You aren't well protected in just robes."

"Oryx, like i told you before: I have access to the Void, which is the basis for all warframe powers, including Inaros' health based abilities and Rhino's Iron skin. Combine with Valkyr's hysteria and what I like to call the universal fuck you move-" Radial Blind plus Exalted blade- "bitch's gonna die tonight."

Oryx chuckled. "Just don't go overboard. We need some parts of their culture not utterly and entirely fucked up."

"I make no promises!" I exclaimed. "I'll be too busy pressing the universal fuck you button!" And with that, I made my way to where the Excalibur's were, laughing like a maniac the entire way, only to have to cough as I reached them. "Fucking desert air," I muttered. "How the hell do desert based villain cackle in this weather?"

"Probably adapted to it," Excalibur said as he examined his Some rifle.

"Plus I can't think of any who do cackle," Umbra said, sharpening his Nikana prime's edge as he spoke. "Maybe just you, and you aren't technically a villain."

"Yeah, yeah, ruin the fun," I said. "You guys ready for this?"

"Yep, just waiting for the signal to leave the camp and move in," Prime said as he floated above the ground in a meditative pose. "What of you?"

"Same. We'll be hitting the south gate with some of Didact's forces to prevent the leaders escaping from the others."

"Well, then, this should be fun," Prime said. "Especially when the four of us unleash hell upon the Griffons."

"Ooh rah to that," I said.

"Brother, move in now," Oryx said over the radio in my ear. "Provide a distraction in the south so I can teleport my Taken in to lower the north gate."

I nodded. "Got it. We're going in, people," I replied and told the others.

"Let's have some fun, then," Umbra said
> The purge pt2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"All units, press the attack!" I shouted before summoning my Golden Gun and firing off three combustion shots at a small group of Griffons. "Don't let them regroup!"

"Heads up!" Cybis yelled from behind me before he jumped up above me, and unleashed a lance Nova bomb on the rest of the group I had attacked, killing the rest.

"Where're Oryx and the others!?"

"The Tenno are pushing in from the south," he replied," Oryx and Didact from the west, and Rhino from the east. Right now, they're still working to get here. Those lanes were much more heavily defended than ours." Cybis' head jerked to the side, and he pulled out a side arm and delivered a three round burst into a griffon that had been approaching from his left. "Best guess is they'll be at their positions in ten minutes at best, thirty at worst. No idea how Alad's doing with the vampires."

"Then we can just hope he's kicking their asses," I said before turning to the ponies that Didact had put under us, each one wearing ponified Forerunner armor. "Set up breaching positions, then get into defensive formation. We need to be ready as soon as the other groups are!"




Oryx

I sliced a Griffon knight in half as my Taken forces overwhelmed the knight's squad in front of me. "Damn these fools," I muttered as i summoned more Taken Griffons. "I should I expected some of their best remaining on these roads instead of hoping Josh got them all off of us." I looked at the highest ranked Taken in the group. "Take a detachment of troops and recon the palace. We must find where their leader is so that a path may be carved to his position." The Taken Changeling-formerly a convict in Zeta's Hive- bowed before it and a few Taken ponies vanished. "The rest of you: form up, and prepare for further engagement. There will be more enemies before we reach our objective, and they will fight to the last!"

The Taken released a large roar, and assumed a protective formation around me, not that I needed against such primitive weapons. "Forward! Leave none alive!"




Didact

"Contact! Three o'clock high!" one of my soldiers yelled before the sound of a Suppressor being fired was heard, followed closely by a body hitting the ground. "Bastards are relentless."

"What did you expect, Captain?" I asked. "For them to bend over for us? This is their last major city and it's under attack by an army that has not been seen before. They will fight to the last to even have a chance at stopping us."

"Not that it'll help," another soldier said, his armor stained with blood. "They're still using spears while our armor's able to take a few hits from the Titan, and considering he's a robot and being a Titan enhanced his strength?"

"They'll be dying with honor, at least. As much as possible, given the circumstances, that is," one of Zeta's changeling's said.

"Group Alpha, this is Cloud overwatch. I got three Griffon flights on their way to you. Permission to engage?"

"Granted," I replied. "Kill those you can."

"Understood, sir."

"All right, each of you!" I shouted at the rest of Alpha. "Stop talking, and march forward. The rest of the Ecumene forces are waiting for us to move up before they secure the area."

"Sir!" they replied before saluting. I rolled my eyes.

"Not in a combat zone, dumbasses. Now, move up!"



 
Rhino

"Come on, fuckers!" I yelled as I delivered another shotgun blast to the chest of a Griffon skirmisher, killing him, then taking the corpse and throwing it at a Griffon Knight, who was then stuck with a magnetic grenade. "I expected a challenge!"

"Oh Rah to that!" one of Oryx's non-Taken enforces shouted by my side before he grabbed a charging Griffon by the throat and threw it back at its comrades. I was surprised when Oryx had beserkers, but hey, at least I don't have to speed up like I do when Josh gets involved with combat. Still, at least he and Cybis brought variety to our fights other than the generic "rip out opponents throat/punch until dead mentality" these guys head. Oh well.

One Griffon was able to land a sword strike on my armor, but it glanced off, allowing me to grab the Griffon's arm. "Come here, bitch!" I yelled before throwing him through a wall. "All units, stop focusing and charge through them! We need to get to our breach point!"

"But sir-" a beserker as sge crushed a Griffon's skull.

"Move it! If you want to keep killing them, save it for the castle! That's where the royal guards will be!"

The beserkers grinned at that. "Sir!" they shouted, and charged headlong into the enemy.

"Suicidal morons," I muttered before summoning my hammer, and following them.




Tenno Josh

"Dumbasses," I said as I unleashed a Void beam at a small group of Griffons. "Prime, how far away are we?"

"Five minutes," the white and gold Excalibur said as he reloaded his Soma Prime rifle. "And that's if they send more after us. Considering the fact we can just universal fuck you each of them, we're blowing through them."(1)

I nodded. "Good. Umbra, what's Alad's status?"

"He is preparing to strike the vampires," the grey and gold Excalibur said as he cut a Griffon in half with his Nikana Prime. "His science group is with him to assist, and the plan has him breaching their home the same time we get to the Griffon castle."

"Then let's get moving!" Excalibur said as he blocked a sword strike with Aegis, and retaliated with Silva, turning the Griffon skirmisher that attacked him into chicken legs and a legless torso. He brought the flaming sword down on the Griffon's head, killing it.

"Agreed," I said before snapping my fingers and activating a less powerful Hall of Mirrors, creating four copies of myself. "Move out, Tenno. No theatrics."




Alad

I let out a sigh as my group-consisting of myself and five combat scientists in a variant of the armor Didact's forces wore with collars not unlike my own- looked over the the cave entrance that led to the vampony home. "Is everything ready?" I asked.

"Yes, sir," one of the scientists-a mare- said. "Simply waiting on your word and the signal from the other Shadow Kings."

I nodded. "Good. Get your units ready," I ordered before my collar jutted out to make a complete circle and a visor came down on my eyes. "Zanuka," I said, my robot activating and my mind taking control of it, "kill!"

The four legged robot unleashed a metallic howl, which was followed by five more, and it rushed into the cave, followed by five other Zanukas, which were manufactured with the Tenno's help. For the most part, the five additional Zanukas were the same as the original, the only deviation being color.

The first vamponies the six came across were armored but quickly mowed down by the rockets fired by one of the trailing Zanukas, and they continued running through the tunnel, killing any in armor while leaving those in civilian clothing alive, keeping on their objective as they did so.

The objective of the Zanukas were to find and kill the leader of the vampires while releasing a special chemical I developed into their air and water supply that was tested on two vampires, both of whom now were a part of my group.

"Sir, the others have breached the Griffon castle and proceeding," a pony said to my right. "Should we assist once we're done here?"

"We aren't close enough to get there quickly," I replied. "At most, we can ensure if they fail, there will be only a single retaliatory strike."

"Of course, sir," was the reply as my visor showed the Zanukas slowing in front of a large, ornate door housed in an alcove carved from the cave walls.

"That it?" I asked one of the vampires that was in my group.

"Yes sir," Dusk Stone-the female vampire- replied. "That is the entrance to the royal chambers, which would include the royal concubine room."

"So his wife?"

"And child, yes."

"Stun those two if they become an issue, kill the king." With that, I mentally ordered my Zanuka to blast the doors open. An energy orb was released from its back and fired at the doors, blowing them off the hinges and allowing the Zanukas to charge into the room. There were five vampires-three vamponies, one Griffon vampire, and one Minotaur vampire. "Kill all five of them."

Rockets released from the shoulder pods on each Zanuke and streaked toward the vampires. The Griffon one tried to dodge them by going airborne, but was tracked by a salvo and died in an explosion leaving little more than a bloody mist, while the Minotaur was hit in the chest by another salvo, leaving a blood colored stain on the floor.

The three ponies (each being a thestral), split to try to divide the attention of our robots and the missiles, but they failed, and became bloody mists. "Deploy chemical three eight six-A," I ordered, and pods attached to the legs of the Zanuka group opened up, and a pink mist began to flow out as the six began to return to our location, the speed allowing the chemical to hit all of the cave system between the throne room and the entrance.

In all, it took only ten minutes from the Zanukas activating. "All right, pack up and return to Oryx's castle!" I shouted as my collar retracted and the visor went up, putting Zanuka in a non-combat state. "We need to get power to the portal!"




Guardian Josh-Griffon throne room, thirty minutes later

"Damn it," I said as I brought up a ward of dawn, causing a beam of magic to spray uselessly against it. "How come we didn't have intel on this!?"

"He must have recently retrieved it!" Didact shouted from behind a pillar. "Lord knows the Griffon's are good at getting what they want!" He ducked as a golden beam hit the pillar.

Before I go further, we had found the Griffon king, but he had an old artifact that A: gave him a shield that was damned near impossible to get through, and B: had utterly devastating attack capabilities in the form of a golden beam of magic and a huge orb of explosive magic.

"Perhaps this will teach you to think your military has a chance against mine," the Griffon king said before another beam struck my Ward of Dawn, shattering it and going through me. I revived in a small explosion of fire as Excalibur charged in under the cover of his shield. I didn't see the result as I had to dive behind a pillar myself, but I heard something crack, so I assumed he had been backhanded into a wall.

"Where the hell is Oryx!?" Umbra asked from an adjacent pillar.

"Working on taking care of that thing from his personal space!" Didact shouted back before firing a few shots from his Scattershot. " just hope he hurries the hell up," he said as he ducked back behind the pillar.

"We may not need him," Tenno Josh said from beside me, nearly making me jump.

"Dude, don't do that," I told him.

"Well it's not like I have the agility of a Warframe clad Tenno to get here, so I kinda have to go invisible," he replied. "Not the point, though. I'm thinking if I use rift walk plus the Tenno void walk ability, I may be able to get that artifact from him so you can kill him."

"That worth the risk?" Prime asked before blind firing a Some Prime burst, and betting fully into cover as a golden beam struck where the arm had been. "Try again!"

"Either we do it, or we wait for this guy to get bored and just walk out to vaporize us," the Tenno said. "Guardian, whichever form of yours gives you the greatest fire power, go for it. Excalibros, get the blades ready. Didact, call in an air strike on my mark. We only have one chance here."

"Roger," each of us said as I shifted to my Darkness form and peered in front of the pillar.

The Griffon king, wearing steel plate armor over chain mail with an ornate helmet, stood in front of his throne, the artifact, a golden orb not unlike the Apple of Eden from Assassin's Creed, in his right paw. He looked at me, and I ducked behind the pillar and crouched as he fired a beam at my cover. "You're simply delaying the inevitable, you know," he said. "I could bring this whole castle down on top of us, and I would be unharmed thanks to the artifact creating that shield around me."

"And what about when the shield comes down?!" Umbra asked. "Either you leave it up for as long as you can, or you release it and get crushed. You'll die here, just not the way we hope!"

"Either way, you'll be dead, and the Griffons will return to our place as the country with the strongest military!"

I rolled my eyes. "Christ he's annoying. Josh, you in position?" I whispered over the radio.

"On three," was the reply. I grinned, and created an orb of Darkness in each hand with lightning crackling in each.

"Copy," Didact said as he made sure his gun had a full clip, or whatever the shotgun equivalent is as the Excaliburs not in the wall created their Exalted blades.

"One," Josh said, which had a beam of golden energy hit my cover, causing me to duck. "Two." Followed by a light whose origin were out of my sight. "Three!" Josh yelled, causing me to turn just in time to see the Tenno phase out of the Griffon King's chest, the artifact in hand. Once he landed, Josh vanished from sight, and the Excaliburs-Prime and Umbra with their ults, base using his Soma- Didact with his Scattershot, and I with my Darkness infused lightning attacked the Griffon King. After a second, a green beam of energy joined in the barrage, and I saw Josh in the edge of my vision attacking with a beam of Void energy from his right hand, the artifact in his off hand. After five seconds, we ceased, and didn't even see a pile of ashes.

"A touch excessive, don't ya think?" Umbra asked.

"Still fun," Prime countered. "But yeah, a second of that was probably overkill as it was."

"Hey, he's dead, and given how thoroughly we destroyed their military the Griffons aren't an issue anymore," Excalibur said. "And if Alad was successful, the vampires will be friendly in a few weeks."

"Not that the latter effects us right now," I said. "I mean, I'm going back to my Equestria, and you three plus Josh are going to the human world of your Equestria. I mean, we'll be ready to help, but unless it's needed, we aren't getting involved with this war again."

"Except perhaps the fallout of the incident with Harmony," Didact said. "Oryx  is the dimensional walker of the three of us, and. . .well, he's made his own pocket dimensions, and he's said that while he's doing it, he gets glimpses into other worlds, some of which involve Harmony riling up armies. She may be preparing an army not yet seen to take us out."

"Can we discuss this later?" Tenno Josh asked. "Preferably back at the castle?" 

"Agreed," Umbra said. "So, who are going to leave to take command of our forces?"

I'll remain," Didact said. "You all should return to your worlds. Or in the Tenno's case, the human version of their Equestria."

Josh nodded. "Thanks."

"Of course. If you see a version of Harmony, put a bullet in her knee caps for me," Didact replied. "I hope to see you all again under better circumstances."

"Agreed," Prime said. "So, do we contact our ships, or wait for Oryx?"

"Ships are already on their way," Nolandroid said as he appeared. "Should be here in an hour, and Alad's on his way back to the castle to get the teleporter online."

"Right," I said. "Guess this is it for now."

"And hopefully, the next time we meet won't be during a war," Didact said.

So, with that, the four Tenno and myself left the Didact to his own devices, and left to wait for our ships, which arrived five minutes ahead of schedule. We got in them, and made our way back to Oryx's castle. When we arrived, Alad had the portal device up and running for me. The portal was large enough for a jumpjet to get through, fortunately, and before I left, he gave me a communicator that would allow me to talk with him, the other shadow kings, and the Tenno. Installed in them were portal generators that would allow us to travel to dimensions we'd been in previously with them. With that, I left that Equestria, and returned to mine. Only it seemed to be in flames. In response, I said the only thing I could think of.

"The fuck happened while I was gone, and why the hell am I not a month later than when I left?"
> Rebuilding
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Oryx

A year has passed since the war with the griffons ended, and Didact, Alad, and myself now had control over well over half of the planet, the only ones not aligned with us in anyway being the minotaurs, dragons, diamond dogs, and most changeling hives. A few of the latter approached either myself or Didact asking for an alliance and were accepted, but other than that, most are either against us or wishing to be planetary neighbors.

With the vampires, Alad's compound used in the assault on their main city was a special chemical that, with a bit of Void energy from Josh and magic from the unicorn mages, changed the thinking to where they wold follow Alad. Yes, Alad is now the leader of the vampires. A ssuch, he entered into our alliance, and we were now collectively the Shadow Kings, given Alad's working from the shadows, my control of Darkness, and Didact's ruthlessness in combat some attributed-falsely, I may add- to dark magic.

Sekana was progressing rather quickly with her control over the Darkness, as well as sword skills. I can not speak as to Balance's training, as Didact had full control of that. 

I can, however, say that Didact leads from the former griffon capital and Alad from the main vampire city. Of course, those were mainly just so others know what territory we own. A few months ago, the three of us commissioned the start of a city at the center of Didact's and my territory. Having heard of this, many ponies had begun moving to that area and a small town had popped up within a few months, and it was currently the only city in our domain that was almost fully equally earth pony, unicorn, and pegasai, with a few changelings and griffons there, the griffons being ones that were noted politicians or other notable figures that spoke out against the war.

Currently, I was in my castle. More accurately, my study as I was reading over reports from unicorn mages testing out new spells when my aide- an earth pony whose name I've forgotten with time. "My lord, the unicorn nobles are pestering us for a meeting with you again," he said, his voice showing more boredom than irritation.

I sighed. "Tell them they have two choices, as before: send requests through official channels instead of thinking they're important enough to meet me without a summon, or fuck off, and lose their titles like the last group that annoyed me."

"Sir, I already told them that," he said. "One told me he would have me executed for talking to him like that if it weren't for the-false, I would like to point out-rumors that I am dating your adoptive daughter, Platinum." Ah, yes that. It turns out Platinum's family was killed so, after the war, I adopted her, with her brother now acting as a loyal protector whereas he would probably try to kill her if he wasn't Taken.

I closed my eyes, and took a deep breath. "If they wish to be this arrogant, then we will need to do something more drastic than removing their titles. Have a message sent to Alad's second-in-command, and tell her to send a shipment of chemical Alpha six five eight. Then tell the arrogant morons they are to leave the castle or be executed, and are not to return until I summon them."

"Very well, my lord. Is there anything else?"

"Yes," I replied. "You have permission to kill one of them if they refuse," I said, opening a drawer, taking a patch out of it, and tossing it to him. "Show them that, and they won't question you in front of you or me again."

I could hear the grin in his voice. "Of course, your majesty."

Didact

I was in what was my current throne room, which was the war room in the former Griffon capitol, as that is where I spent most of my time. Mainly, I was coordinating defenses with Oryx's forces and Alad's science teams in the field. 

Most Griffons were vocal about having a non-Griffon as their ruler, but I couldn't give two fucks. Instead, I gave a Scattershot round to the first moron to challenge me. It's a good thing he was the last of his family, or I'd have to explain the lack of a body. The few that weren't were the former Griffon generals who told their former ruler to not attack once they learned of what we were-at the time- capable of. Most had been hunted by insurrectionists  in the past year, and the last two were now in the castle protected by my forces and some of Oryx's Taken.

"I want our Infiltrators in position in the Minotaur capitol," I told one of my generals at the time. "They're testing our borders, and I want them to know that's something they shouldn't do."

"Yes, sir," the General said before my aide knocked before coming in.

"What is it?" I asked him.

"Sir, you're daughter is requesting to lead a small expedition force south. Again."

I sighed. "Same response as before," I replied.

Yes, sir," the aide replied before saluting and leaving.

"Sir, why don't you put her under Hurricane?" the General asked. "She'd learn tactics from the former pegasai leader, and still be safer than being in the field."

"I asked her," I replied. "Both of them, actually. Balance think's it'd be boring, and Hurricane isn't good with looking after recruits."

"Then why not with your allies? The Tenno, I think was their collective name?"

I opened my mouth to reply before thinking about it. "If I see them, I suppose I will ask if they can help. For now, though, we need to ensure ourselves and out allies don't get annihilated in another war."

Alad

"Another one?" I asked with a sigh.

"Yes sir," one of the department leads-biology, if I remember correctly- said. "Are you sure you wish to continue with this project? The clones-"

"For the last damned time," I said, "it's not cloning. That implies we are making exact duplicates. If that were the case, we wouldn't be changing the coat color genes, the mane color genes, hormone levels, and what not. No, we are trying to revers engineer a species."

"Sir, that doesn't make me feel any better," the department lead said. "We're playing God."

"Aye, and we have a god as our ally," I countered. "I'd say our asses are covered. Keep me updated on progress, and if there's a breakthrough of any note, I am to know immediately."

"Yes, sir," the department lead said, though he hesitated before speaking, then left.

I sighed, and rubbed my forehead. "Damned alicorn genetics," I muttered. "At least it'll mean Sekana and Balance won't be the only two of their race if we do this."
> A deadly song
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Oryx

One hundred years have passed since the griffon war ended. The vampires, Fundament, and Ecumene had been in an official alliance for fifty of those years, and combined into one nation for the last forty five, with the first five years after the war being strikes against the other races to cripple their economy so as to not attack us.

Sekana was now a master at using the Darkness, and had a division of ponies taught in controlling the Darkness at her command, while Balance was the leader of a strike force that answered to Didact, and the two often shared intelligence.

As such, Didact and I were aware of a travelling group of three individuals going from town to town, causing arguments to pop up rather quickly. Didact had dedicated intelligence squads find them, and the three were currently on their way to our city, which was on the side of a mountain, constructed using a mix of pony magic, Hive magic, Corpus tech, and Forerunner tech, disguised as medieval architecture so that terrorists wouldn't know what to target to make it fall to the ground.

From what the intelligence said, the three were a hybrid of ponies and fish, and that riots against a town's leader often followed their singing, and were on their way here now. As such, the cities security forces were on alert, and were to bring the three to Didact and myself. Alad was not included due to the simple fact he'd rather be behind the scenes.

"It just occurred to me," Didact said. "I think I know who these three are."

"And who would they be?" I asked. The two of us were in the throne room of the palace, with two thrones. One was made of obsidian, and had my personal touch of Taken energy, giving it a sort of glow. Didact's was, admittedly, more comfortable, having a slight curve in the back for him to lean back in with a gravitational field projected by the throne, two armrests, and a cup holder. He really likes using the "magic equals advanced technology" thing. Admittedly, it was hilarious seeing the looks of the first ponies to see his throne like that. His throne was colored dark steel with orange lights.

"If I'm right, this world's versions of Sirens," Didact said. "Basically a mix of Greek Sirens and the old fashioned Succubus. From what I remember of what Alad told me, a fight between them and a unicorn sorcerer in the comics led to the creation of every music style."

"Including pop music?"

"That's their specialty."

"Then we'll have to fix that now."

With that, the two of us waited for a few minutes. I spent that time thinking on what my brother was doing. Ten minutes later, the throne room doors opened, and Ecumene guards- pegasai wearing combat skins equipped with Suppressors- stepped in, with three fish pony walked in. The three were nude, and had no nipples or any visible reproductive organs. The one in front of the other two was colored yellow and was slightly taller than the other two, and larger in the chest as well. Not to self: if we kill them, have Alad find out why they have breasts. The second had an air of arrogance around her, and was colored lavender, the frills being purple and light blue. The third was. . .well, the most polite way I can say this is a female Caboose, her frills being dark blue and purple. In order of descriptions, they were smug, indifferent, and curious.

I gave a quick glance at Didact, and through a nod, I knew we were thinking along the same lines. "You three are the singers we've heard much about?" I asked, pretending that word had spread of them through official means. "I must admit, I expected them to be well dressed. Not nude as sluts looking for fun." By the way, not illegal in our Equestria. Even before I was Displaced, I never saw the point of clothes beyond keeping dry, warm, and protected during war. I mean seriously, we have something called sunscreen.

Anyways, the second part of that had some amount of anger flash from the leader before she held it in. The lavender one, though, didn't bother hiding her anger as she grit her teeth. "Indeed we are," the yellow siren said. "My name is Adagio, your majesty. It's an honor to meet you." Oh, you arrogant little bitch, thinking I can't hear sarcasm. I have had two teenage daughters and lived with my brother! Don't think I cant hear sarcasm. "The other two are Aria and Sonata."

"Do all your people have musically related names, or just you?" Didact asked.

"Our people," Adagio asked, "If I may ask, why did you ask for us?"

"Simple," Didact said.

"We wish to know why you decided to use magic to cause chaos among our subjects," I finished, a grin audible in my voice.

"Well, we must feed somehow," Adagio said.

"Ah, so, you are like changelings then?" I clarified. "But instead, it is negative emotions you feed on. Surely you understand one of the laws we made was that using magic to influence one's emotions is illegal, correct? The punishment being imprisonment, the duration depending on the effect. As you influenced the populations of multiple towns into hating one another, the sentence could very well be your life times. And with your bodies, I am certain quite a few prisoners will enjoy having fun with you. Perhaps even a few guards." As soon as I began explaining just how deep in shit they were, Adagio looked panicked, most likely not expecting something like this.  She opened her mouth to protest, possibly even to beg. "However," I said, cutting her off, "there is something in there not publicly known.""

"W-what's that?" Adagio asked.

"If we deem it useful towards our rule," Didact said, "the offenders will become members of a special group, each one reporting to one of the three of us. The last one was to me me, so, if you three accept, you will follow Oryx's orders."

"And as I am a fan of letting people know just what they're signing up for," I said. "Whatever crimes you committed to get into the group will be expunged from your records, or in your case, the record will remain non-existent. However, you will be a part of the group for the rest of your lives, and must follow my orders. Otherwise. . .well, I'm sure you've seen my special forces." That got each of them terrified, as the common myth about my forces is that they have no soul, which is incorrect. While it is corrupted by Darkness, the soul is still there. It is the will that removed, so they follow mine. Of course, modifications I made over the years give them enough to speak if they fell a plan f mine is not sound, but that is it. "If you choose not to accept this offer, you will be imprisoned. And please, don't try to use your magic on us."

"The minute we were aware of your abilities, we had special software installed in the armor of the guard escorting you," Didact said. The software was also known as a music player. "And Oryx's forces had spells placed around them by changeling mages to protect them from mental control."

"So, what will it be?" I asked.

"Oh, sounds fun!" Sonata shouted, clapping her webbed hands together.

"Sonata, you're an idiot," Aria said, crossing her arms. "How do we know they won't just send us on a suicide mission?"

"Well it's either that or rot and die in prison," I said. "Your choice. Just know the choice is individual. If one agrees but the others don't, the other two are getting locked up." I was playing on what I remembered of them, the memories of that damned force watched session coming to my mind. Good for something, I suppose. Adagio looked out only for herself, Sonata would most likely follow, and Aria would stubbornly refuse, and if she accepted, it would be begrudgingly.

As I expected, Adagio was the first to speak. "Well, if that is the only option," she said, her voice having a fake, defeated tone.

"Yay!" Sonata shouted, throwing her arms in the air excitedly.

Aria only said, "Fine," her arms still crossed. If I was physically capable of it, I would have given off a toothy grin as I held my left arm towards them, white and black flames licking my hand as the three sirens began to shake.

"In that accord, then, you three are to join my kind, and be subservient only to my allies, my daughter, and myself. Instead of Adagio, Sonata, and Aria, your names are to be Cezne, Sevnol, and Thesral," I said as the Darkness energies began to change their bodies, the webbing of their hand vanishing and their middle and index fingers combining, along with their ring and pinkie fingers, resulting three fingers per hand. Their faces became flatter, for lack of a better term, and their eyes took on a blue glow as a bony helm grew on their heads," giving them a horned appearance. "You are no longer sirens," I said as Adagio tried to sing, most likely as a last ditch effort to control me, but it came out as screeching. "You are deathsingers. Where your songs once brought anger to all, now they bring only death to those who hear them. Your greatest passion is now what is the most lethal. That is the punishment for your crimes. The only way to remove it is to die."

The flames on my hand died, and said hand went to an arm rest on my throne as the former sirens looked at themselves in horror. "Didact, what is the progress of your naval forces?" I asked.

"Depth charges are being put on warships now," he replied. "As well as torpedoes."

I nodded. "Good. I feel the siren people will not take this well."
> Not a story chapter, but it will influence the next one
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, out of the three Shadow Kings, who would guys say is the weakest? I ask this because the next chapter will be Tirek's, and I want to make a specially badass scene for it, but I need to know who you thing the weakest Shadow King is.
Just so you're fully informed, here are what they're capable of:
Oryx: Uses Hive arcana and the power of the Darkness to steal the will of individuals, making them Taken and granting them supernatural abilities.
Didact:Telekinetic and wields armor able to protect him from an unknown grade of explosion combined with his Warrior-servant physiology
Alad: Intelligent and created the Zanuka.
> Underestimation equals defeat
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alad

Three centuries. That’s how long it’s been without something of interest happening in our lands. The Fundament now included the eastern portion of our continent, The Ecumene the west along with the Griffon lands. As for the vampires-those I rule- we rule the south, which includes the badlands, as well as the Crystal Empire, somethin worked out with Oryx due to the crystals there being important to my research.

I was in the middle of an experiment of having the crystals being able to contain certain magics-an integral part in Project: Revival-when I heard knocking outside my lab-a well sized room with a tube of changeling chrysalis fluids at the far end and another part of the aforementioned project. “Yes, what is it?” I asked.

“Sir, I have news from the Fundament!” one of my aides shouted. “Something was able to depower King Oryx, and grew in size. It was sighted heading towards the Empire!”

“Why is the Ecumene not stopping it?” I asked.

“Sir they’re mobilizing, but the nearest force won’t get there until next week. At the size of the creature, it’ll be there by next week.”

I sighed, and set down a crystal empty of charge on the brass table in front of me. “Prepare the teleporter, and radio the Empire. Tell them to prepare everything in conjunction with Project:Anti-mage.” I paused for a second. “Oh, and prepare Project: Harmonics,” I added, a devious smile on my face.

“Yes, sir!” the aide replied, his voice enthusiastic.

“Zanuka, come,” I said to my robot that was in a sleeping pose next to the door. It raised its head and stretched like a cat as I walked past, and followed me out of the room as I made my way towards the teleporter here in the vampire city.

Fundament capital, three hours previous
Oryx

I was in my throne room, dealing with requests from the nobles as to allocations of excess money in our budget. Thanks to both threats from yours truely and simply saying no to stupid, selfish requests, most were involved wellfare and other public items. I had just finished with one when my aide walked into the room. “Sir, the ambassadors from Tartarus have arrived.”

Ah, yes. A year ago, I had met with the ruler of Tartarus, and we began talks of-at the very least- a non-aggression pact between Tartarus and the Shadow kings. He sen me a letter saying his sons would be the ambassadors, and that his eldest was looking forward to it.

“Send them in,” I said. “Cancel court for the rest of the week.”

“Yes, my lord,” the aide said with a bow before leaving.

“Sekana,” I said, and my adoptive daughter appeared out of the shadows.

“Yes, father?” she asked with a bow.

“Take the singers, and station them around the room. Ensure they are invisible and ready on my signal.”

“Already done, father,” she replied, a confident smile on her face. “I felt it best to prepare something if this was a ruse.”

I nodded. “Go to the Ecumene. I feel it best all of the royals not at risk if this is a facade.”

“At once,” she said before vanishing in green flames. A minute later, two creatures walked in. One was humanoid and colored grey with leathery wings folded behind his back. His chest was bare, and from the waist down he had only knee length armor, the legs ending in talons. His face was elongated like a muzzle, and he had a pair of horns atop his head.

The second was a red and black centaur with horns who seemed to wear only a black, sleeveless shirt over his chest, and a simple, short, white beard.

The gargoyle-as that is what the first reminded me of- was fidgeting slightly, and looked between his brother and myself, while the Centaur had a bored expression.

“Welcome, ambassadors and princes,” I said. “It is my honor to welcome the heirs of Tartarus’ king to my palace, and it is my hope that our nations will be able to remain peaceful.”

“It most certainly will,” the Centaur said. “When I rule.”

“You mean your father is simply doing this for a ruse?” I asked, something from the near forgotten time as a human came near the surface.

The Gargoyle was fidgeting even more, and I voiced the concern. “Is your brother alright?”

“Him? He’s always nervous. A weakling.”

“Funny, that is,” I said. “Where I come from, gargoyles-which he reminds me of with his appearance- are seen as protectors.” I then eyed him. “Centaurs could be known as wild and instinctive. I suppose neither are true.” Silence passed for a few seconds, during which I saw the shimmer in the air indicating an invisible entity moving around, the shimmer just in front of the doors. “Where are my manners, I don’t know either of your names.”

“M-my name is Scorpan,” the gargoyle said. “My brother is Tirek.”

As the last syllable exited Scorpan’s mouth, I felt myself lifted into the air, and saw the Deathsingers become visible as energy visible left our bodies, and I felt weaker with every past second. I saw the trails lead to Tirek, who was growing as our energy entered his mouth.

This lasted for a minute, after which, the roof was shattered, and Tirek was taller than the castle, according to what I heard. Not an easy feat, as the castle itself was three kilometers high. “Now then, where to next?” Tirek asked, his voice deeper. “Ah, the Empire. So much natural magic, and yet it is so weak.” With that, Tirek’s legs pretty much demolished my throne room as he began making his way towards the Empire. When he was gone, I began to chuckle, followed by a. . . rather stereotypical laugh for a villain. I’ll admit, it felt good considering the circumstances.

“H-how can you be laughing?” Scorpan asked, terrified.

“Because that dumbass thinks Alad left his most important facility undefended!” I yelled as I laughed, and the Deathsingers joined in. As they laughed, I stopped, an looked at Scorpan. “Now, give me a good reason I shouldn’t take you when my powers are back.”

“M-my brother’s powers,” he stammered out. “I can explain how they work.” I was silent for a second, with that telling him yes. Figured I may as well know if there are others like him. “He learned the ability to steal the natural abilities of others, and use them to increase his power. The size is just a side effect,” he said nervously. “I wanted to tell you, but he put a spell on me to ensure I didn’t.”

“We’ll discuss that later,” I said. “Now, we simply wait for news of Tirek’s defeat.”



Three days later-Crystal Empire
Alad

I stood on the wall surrounding the Empire, facing the direction the behemoth would be coming from. “Is everything ready?” I asked into my radio.

“Yes, sir,” one of the defenders replied. “Controls are mapped to your collar.”

“Excellent,” I said. With the radio off, I then said, “Initiate voice commands. Activate project: Feedback; Project: Anti-mage, and cue up  Heading three, subsection four, article ten of Project: Harmonics, activate on my command.”

I heard the collar beep as the commands were registered and followed. I smiled just as an alert came through on Zanuka. “Proximity alarms triggered: six kilometers out and closing at a hundred meters per second.”

“Activate Project: Harmonics, prepare three Anti-mage artillery salvos, and prepare mines for next projected contact point. Fire on my mark.”


“Mines armed,” the automated voice said. A second later, “Mines detonated. Minimal damage.”

“Fire the first salvo,” I said, and ten loud bangs were heard in rapid succession as ten artillery guns fired a single round each.

Three seconds later, a roar of agony was heard. “Target hit for effect. Warning, energy build up detected.”

“Focus Feedback in the path of the beam, and have any gained power routed to the cannon.”

“Understood. Beam fired, shield in place.”

I simply smirked as I saw a beam of orange energy coming my way, and only blinked my eyes when it stopped in front of me. “Fire salvos two and three, prep four missile salvos.”

“Firing. Missiles prepped.”

“Cannon charge?”

“Forty percent,” was the answer as another roar of agony was heard, and the beam stopped soon after.

“Hm,” I replied. “Need to improve the efficiency,” I said as another beam hit in front of me, and was stopped. “Oh well, that’s a job for later. Fire missile salvos one and two. Cannon charge?”

“Firing,” was the reply as thirty missiles soared overhead. “Fifty percent and climbing at one percent per second.”

“Excellent, considering,” I said. “Have the cannon set to discharge all energy when it fires. If the target is down, discharge the energy slowly. It will need to be returned to its owners.”

“Parameters set,” the system replied as the beam stopped again. “Seventy five percent.”

“Status of target?”

“Legs destroyed, as is a single horn. Adrenaline is most likely numbing pain. Wounds will be fatal by bleedout in a week given current size.”

“Make it less than a minute.”

“Firing salvos three and four, prepping and firing artillery salvos three through five.”

“Boom, mother-” I began before I could not even hear over myself as the artillery fired. Thirty missiles soared overhead, preceded by a total of thirty artillery shells, each designed to ignore magical defenses by having an inner shell made out of a special stone found in the badlands.

“Target eliminated. Numerous energy signatures releasing and trails lead to Fundament.”

“Good,” I said. “Schedule a meeting with the lord of Tartarus. He won’t be happy I just curbstomped his son.
> Notice
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

This story is being cancelled, but is planned for a rewrite. Will post a link chapter when that goes up.