The Haven Incident

by Soren Mercer

First published 27th of March, 2017

The Haven Disaster came without warning, and with it came the realisation that Equestria was unequipped to fight back. When all hope is lost, who is left to turn too and can a saviour be trusted if they too are a source of destruction?

Records in history cite the Haven Disaster as the worst possible case of wanton destruction and loss of life, even worse than the reigns of Sombra, Discord or Nightmare Moon. For as contained as the destruction was, the ruins remained a constant reminder that Equestria, with all its magic and friendship and preparedness, cannot possibly hope to be prepared for everything.

The Haven Incident - Chaos

Author's Notes:

Just a one-off thing I came up with when I saw a cover image for a random anime I've already lost interest in. (Don't remember the name...) Got a single idea in my mind and from that image, I wrote this in a few hours...

Comments, Questions and Concerns are always appreciated. Edits are always appreciated.

Addendum: No longer a one shot for simple reason that I wanted to write more of it. Also, I'm not good at once-shots, I realize this...

For the longest time, the defence of Equestria has come down to the princesses using their almighty power to fight off evil, and either purify them with the Elements of Harmony, or more often than not banish their opponent to Tartarus. There have been some exceptions, true, but most of the time, all combat the princesses have seen have followed this practice.

But what happens when a new enemy breaks that mould?

December thirty-first, the very last day of the third year of the two sister’s reign, that mould was broken. For on that fateful day, in the middle of the town of Haven, the reality which the Equestrians faced was irreparably destroyed. In the middle of town, amidst hundreds of ponies going about their daily lives, a rift between worlds was torn open. The rip consumed no less that thirty unfortunate souls, now forever lost to time. What came out of that tear, would consume the lives of the entire town.

Demons, creatures of the underworld hell bent on consuming the souls of every living creature in this new hunting ground, poured from this hole in the fabric of reality and dispersed across the world before the Guard could be dispatched to react. The town of Haven was lost in a gruesome slaughter, foals ripped to shreds before their parents, then would be soon joined by the broken bodies of their friends and families. By the time the princesses themselves had responded, there was nothing but red snow and ruins. The following are the early hours of what became known as the Haven Massacre, and how the appearance of one soul from the rift forever changed the lives of the ponies.

~~~

The day was bright and sunny, even despite the weather reports of a snowstorm being prepared to blow in from the north; carried on the wings of pegasi for one last white out before Winter Wrap-up.

Hybrid Theory, a unicorn and scholar, had come home for a few days to visit with his family for the first time in almost eight months. Continuous experiments and lessons at the University of Canterlot had kept him busy and away from home much more than he’d liked and he’d intended to remedy the situation with a couple days of relaxation.

Lieutenant Blue Steel, a pegasus Royal Guard on protection assignment from Canterlot for the next six months. Already well into his years, Steel had suffered a wing injury a few years back and was permanently grounded. He’d been declared unfit for active duty in the Castle, so instead opted to take up town protection jobs as the need arose.

Green Apple, an Earth Pony mare who’d helped to set up a local farm for the town in order to try and alleviate some of the welfare payments the town could no longer afford to the Crown. She’d come into town in order to sell the last of the year’s harvest, not really expecting to make very much given that most ponies were already stuck at home with their families and with full tables. Her appearance and setting up had been a great boon to the towns ponies and many thought that she’d been the savior of their settlement.

Finally, Georgia Nine-tail. A visiting Griffon merchant hawking her much more exotic wares from her home land. She was already in the process of closing up shop, having made not much money in the first place as nopony ever wanted to associate with her kind after a set of rumors had been leaked regarding her diet and what she liked to gorge herself on. A social outcast amongst the ponies, Georgia always believed that no one would ever really miss her in Equestria if she just never came back; her sales supported such a claim in her mind.

These four individuals, completely unaware of each other’s presences or even their importance in coming hours, went about their way completely oblivious to what fate was about to befall them. It was just after afternoon work breaks, about three in the afternoon or so, when the tear had formed.

Hybrid Theory was the first to recognize the feeling of reality shifting around on itself as an unidentifiable source of magic suddenly appearing. His head swivelled in confusion as his horn lit up with a detection spell, making attempts to try and find the source of the strange feelings in his soul. Temporarily detoured from his original goal, his horn lead Hybrid back towards the center of town where he noticed a strangeness in the air before him.

“What in the heavens?” he muttered to himself, otherwise unheard by anyone who’d happened to pass him by. His looks seemed to draw the curious gazes of a few other ponies, who all noticed the strange effects in the skies as well.

The sky seemed to gyrate, flow in patterns unaccustomed to by the locals and warping their perceptions of space as it existed and increased in strength and frequency. Hybrid was soon joined by a much larger group of ponies, one or two guards as well who’d armed themselves with their spears in preparation for anything. Or so they thought.

The unbearable heat came just as quickly as the tear did; a rip in the fabric of space and time appearing in the strange space before everyone gathered, pony and griffon alike. And with the heat came the abominations. The aberrations of unimaginable torture spilling out from the wound in reality with nasty, snarling grins and whoops and hollers of victory as they were let free into an all new hunting ground, ripe for the taking.

The guards acted as quickly as they could, throwing up shield spells to try and contain the hellish creatures to lighting their horns and weapons up in spellfire and enchanted ammunition to try and beat back the invaders before they could escape into the world.

It was all for nought, however, as the hellspawn ignored the blasts, the arrows, the shields and tore ravenously into the bodies of the guard ponies, sinking their teeth deep into their flesh and tearing out massive chunks to begin their feasting. The crowd had quickly been set upon by these foul beasts, women and children unspared in the invasion as entire families were set alight by imp fire and then set upon by hellhounds hungry for dinner.

Then the large ones came. Massive creatures of darkness, of hell flames and death stepped through, one foot at a time with a hand on the edge of reality to help pull themselves through. Other, gargantuan hell beasts with horns bigger around than most stallion’s bodies piled together (of which there were soon many) shoved themselves through the rip, trying to be the first of their kind in order to establish as much hunting territory belonging to them as they could in the early seconds of arriving.

As the creatures continued to pile out through the hole, the hole grew larger and larger, flames of hell, black and blue and red and white, began to leak out and instantly evaporated the snow, before setting the very ground alight. With the arrival of a lake of fire, came the “Aquatic” creatures. Sirens cross-bred with succubi emerged from the rift, giggling and laughing away as they chattered, their words an incomprehensible song that lured the surviving male creatures of the new world to their doom.

Then a break in the line and those who somehow survived wondered if it was done, if this was the end. But it wasn’t. Not yet. For with the break followed a procession of demons, all chained together at the neck, at the arms, and the legs, at the hips. The chains went on further back, entire legions of hellish beings appearing chained together and wailing their eternal pains as a massive stage coach was dragged from the tear. The coach had been very clearly build from the bones and bodies of the dead, even still being build with new bodies of ponies collected and strapped to the vehicle kicking and screaming.

It wasn’t clear what rode in this dastardly vehicle, but it was clear that it was something to be feared, revered and loathed. Even without knowing what was in it, there was an aire of superiority, of confidence and power.

Across the small, desecrated plaza, a bubble of energy burst, leaving six mares looking worse for wear from the trip, with a single purple alicorn at the center looking absolutely livid. All six mares, each a variant of the three main pony races, found themselves in what could only be called hell on Equus.

Holding in their lunch, the alicorn fired up her horn with the combined power of her friends and began the task of defending her country, her world, her soul and the souls of everyone still alive.

With the combined energy of their Friendship the alicorn fired off a massive burst of rainbow magic and cast it over a wide area of effect, with the carriage the primary target. The charge went on for seconds before the energy died off completely. The six ponies, looking quite drained, dared to look up at their handiwork, expecting everything to be right again, however lost their lunch when they found that absolutely nothing had changed.

Their energy collectively spent, an order came from the carriage and six demons were set upon the ponies. The alicorn, fearful for her and her friends’ souls, fired up the most powerful shield spell she knew to try and save themselves, and prepared herself for the worst.

Her shield was useless. A creature of Tartarus shot out it’s claw, aiming it for the purple one’s throat and simply pierced through the shield and raked it’s razor sharp fingers across the side of her head, causing the fires of hell to erupt throughout the pony’s head and into her horn. The disruption nullified her magic and her shield quickly broke apart like glass.

The other girls were about to suffer under the hands of their own approaching demons, when a flash of the purest light intervened and shredded the demons about to lay their hands, claws or teeth on their bodies.

The purple alicorn was temporarily freed of her pain, however she had been rendered unconscious in the attack and fell limp to the ground, caught by an unknown bright yellow magical field.

“I’m so sorry, my faithful student.” the owner whispered to the youngest alicorn and teleported her away from immediate harm. A second flash, this one blue, and the other five mares disappeared to safer spaces. Both newcomers turned to the fight at hoof full on, both glaring razor sharp daggers the likes of which most demons associated with their lords.

The larger one, white furred and sunfire in her mane and tail, erupting like a volcano from the gaps in her Sun-enchanted armour let her eyes burn white with the fires of her celestial object. Her mere gaze roamed over most of the lesser demons assembled and burned them away in holy fire, freeing their corrupted souls and returning them to the void for punishment.

The smaller one, black in fur and armoured in a set that sent shivers of fear down the spines of ponies who recognized it, let her swirling mass of mane and tail roam around her, casting shadows the likes of which no beast of Tartarus had ever encountered before. Blue eyes and slitted, they roamed over the new field of carnage with a vengeance and swore eternal damnation to all creatures who’d been caught in her watch.

With a roar, both alicorns reared up and channelled the power equal of the gods into their horns and hooves, before bringing them down. A crashing wave of pure magic erupted from their hooves and washed over the assembled hellspawn all at once. Most of the nearby lesser demons were instantly vaporised, but many of the upper class demons remained hearty and prepared themselves for a good hunt. These two sisters would prove to be plentiful for their needs.

A word was shouted, the origin unclear to all not from the tear. It’s language in-comprehensive to the ponies, but even just hearing it made those still alive feel the pain of damnation run through their bodies as the single word reverberated throughout their soul.

Silence fell, and the demons all lowered themselves to their knees, bowing their heads through either fear, or respect towards the carriage. The curtains stained red with blood shifted and as they did so, the very sun itself dimmed from a bright white to a crimson red. The eldest Alicorn looked confused at her sun for a moment, trying to figure out what had just happened but put the thought aside when the curtain flaps were pushed aside and a single, solitary figure appearing in heavy plate armour and carrying it’s helmet.

Both Alicorns gave pause, letting gasps of air escape from their muzzles as they noticed how the figure managed to operate perfectly, seemingly without a head. Their eyes went back down to the helmet in the figure’s grasp, and a single word silently echoed through their minds.

Accepting the enemy as it was, the pair of alicorn sisters prepared for the fight of their lives. A fight that if need be, they’d give their lives for the sakes of their little ponies. In the younger one’s heart, she felt nothing but joy at the taste of entering into a potentially fierce skirmish with a powerful foe for the first time in over a millennia. The older one silently prayed that if she died, that her little ponies wouldn't suffer because of her failure.

The younger one lit up her horn in a dark blue magical aura and a set of swords, twelve in all, appeared in a crescent arc behind her head. It had been a very long time since she’d used this set of celestial weapons and yet, she didn’t let it show as she held the weapons expertly in her magic, her mind equally split controlling all twelve as though they were merely shadows of each other; move one and the rest followed suit.

The older one did the same with her own magic and summoned forth a trio of extraordinarily large weaponry. Two of which rested stowed on her back, the third held firmly by the hilt in her magic to the left of her head; the massive greatsword reflected the light of the corrupted sun from it’s surface and purifying the reflected light back into it’s true, white light.

On her back rested a massive great hammer forged from chunks of metal retrieved from the very ore of the planet and refined into the purest metal to ever exist. Crossing it at the haft was a similar axe of the same make and metal, the both of them enchanted to channel pure holy sunfire into every single strike.

The Dullahan responded in kind, merely placing his free hand on the pommel of his own great sword while a pair of glowing red eyes blinked into existence from the darkness in the helmet.

The Warrior Princesses acted first, charging with yells of rage and power and swept their weapons through every demon between them and the enemy commander. The enemy responded by tossing his helmet up into the air above everything. His now free hand let him properly draw his weapon and armed himself appropriately for the coming challengers.

Almost as though in slow motion, the dullahan took three steps forwards and yet, seemed to have moved across the entire field of battle. This took the princesses by surprise, yet they did not falter and instead met their foe with the business ends of their weapons.

Time resumed, and the opponents no longer faced each other. Instead, the three weapons held by the older one each crumbled to dust at the owner’s hooves. Yet she received the long end of the stick, as her sister let out an ear shattering howl. Turning towards her sister the eldest sister’s eyes went wide as she found her younger on the ground, half of her horn missing from her forehead and all twelve blades buried blade down in the dirt around her sister; they’d only narrowly missed causing harm to her hide.

The princess of the sun turned back to the enemy and watched wide eyed as he put his sword away and caught his head in a single motion. She turned back to her sister’s health and watched with mourning eyes as the blue princess, now returned to her normal form and with mane and tail lying flat against her head, cradled the end of her horn and wept to herself.

She would finish this, she had to be sure of it. Already there was too much lost and she would not risk the fate of the world if she did not finish this fight and get the moon under control herself. No longer with her own great-weapons, she instead took possession of the Zodiac Blades and gave all twelve a firm flick to clean off whatever stained their glossy surfaces.

She pawed at the ground, digging up a divot in which to set her hoof for a sudden start and lowered her head, her horn to be leading the next charge. The enemy saw this and prepared as well, resting a hand on the pommel as before and lightly tossing his helmet into the air before catching it. It was taunting her, promising to do the same thing to her as it did to her sister.

Then the light tossing stopped and the eyes of the dullahan went wide, if the size of the glowing orbs in the blackness were any indication. The Dullahan even seemed to look hesitant, afraid, of the older princess. As it should, there was a reason why she’d lived so long after all. Baring her teeth menacingly, the white alicorn began to circle around the dullahan, expecting him to follow suit however stopped only an eighth of the circuit when she noticed how the dullahan was no longer watching her, instead seemed to be watching whatever was where the princess had been standing.

The eldest princess of the sun stood up straight, keeping her weapons at the ready for any dastardly trick it may have had up its sleeves, and divided her attention long enough to look towards the direction of the dullahans fear. A quick look showed that even the demons, lesser or greater, it didn’t matter, all seemed to be inching away from the rip in space with pure terror on their various faces.

Her eyes shot to the tear and let her gaze settle on a single, solitary bipedal figure approaching the tear with one arm blazing to the shoulder in blue hell-fire and the other clenched in a fist with the strangest arcane symbols glowing on his bare, tanned and hairy skin. It was covered in a set of clothing, from chest to hoof, be it a pair of black pants, the grey T-shirt over which hung a pendant of some kind, over all that was an open blue jacket, the sleeves rolled up to the elbows on one arm and completely shredded to the shoulder for the arm which burned. On it’s feet were a set of fully enclosing shoes, looking to be made of a rather sturdy material even if each shoe looked to be stained in what the alicorn supposed was blood.

A look at its face as it stepped through the ripple showed that even its eyes seemed to be glowing with whatever magic it possessed; it’s right eye looking to be burning from the socket while the left remained completely shut even though small slivers of holy light seeped from between cracks in the lids defences. Everywhere this pure light touched, the ground was restored to it’s former, harmonic state and the hellish environment banished. If the light in that being's eye could do that to the ground, surely it could easily banish the hell spawn just the same.

Then a thought struck the alicorn. It’s eye was closed for a reason, the light kept away from the world for a reason. Perhaps that light wasn’t as safe as the princess had thought?

A sudden word from the dullahan, and every demon capable of some kind of ranged offensive attack raised their arms and fired everything they had at the newcomer. The newcomer remained indifferent to the onslaught of fireballs, corrupted arrows or other fiendish spell as he raised his left arm defensively. The symbols glowed momentarily before leaping off his skin and forming a simple, full body shield.

The older alicorn wanted to shout out, tell the creature that shield magic wouldn’t save him, but held her tongue when the barrage of attacks rained down on the creature, striking the shield and disappearing without so much of a fizzle of smoke.

The alicorn carefully crept back towards her sister who’d still remained curled up on the ground, still mourning the loss of her horn and her magic in order to try and nudge her out of the line of fire. She received protests, but eventually managed to drag the blue princess back towards a rough sense of safety with her magic; making extra careful not to accidentally jostle her sister and lose the end of the magical instrument.

Back in safety, the princess of the sun looked back up to the strange warrior who’d instilled fear into the entire legion of demons, wondering what magic he commanded that allowed him to seemingly consume the power of the demons; power which her ponies and her had proved to be ineffective against in defending. Power in which even the Elements of Harmony had failed to purify.

The elder’s mouth hung open as the creature raised its burning arm and summoned up a massive fireball, churning magma in the exact same appearance of the demons who’d only just fired upon him, and held it aloft over his head, the ball easily casting a blinding light over the demon army assembled, as though a miniature sun had been reigned under the creature's power and harnessed for his purposes.

The Dullahan chose now to attack, throwing his helmet into the air and pulling his weapon from his side to charge at the new challenger.

As before, time seemed to slow down for the white one. The dullahan looked to only take two steps this time before he suddenly stopped suddenly, mid-charge halfway through his run. A quick, curious look between the competitors showed that the male wasn’t even paying attention to the charging suit of armour, but instead had his shield arm holding the orb of unholy magic while his flaming arm was pointed to the sky, a finger stretched outwards mimicking a crossbow and pointed at the helmet.

What was the point of that? Shouldn’t the fighter worry about the advancing enemy, instead of focussing on the clear distraction of the head toss? Perhaps this opponent was still somewhat new to combat, still undisciplined and prone to distractions?

Then a single bead of orange light appeared at the end of the finger of the outstretched hand. A digit raised upwards, as though giving a sign of approval, suddenly fell and the bead of light was shot forward, streaking through the corrupted skies and pierced through the helmet; through and through it went before the bead dissolved into emptiness.

The dullahan didn’t move. The army didn’t move. The creature didn’t move save for turning back to address the assembled and returned the ball of hell itself to the burning hand.

Then the dullahan did move. In fact, it moved to incredibly that the princess wasn’t entirely sure if what she saw was correct or a trick of the heat. The dullahan fell to its knees, dropping its weapon where it laid and keeled over and then remained prone. Prone and unmoving. The helmet fell from above, and with nothing to catch it, clattered to the ground without an indication of life ever once inhabiting it.

Already the legion was moving. In all directions, away from the slayer of their lord and towards all corners of the globe. Towards her ponies, her loyal subjects and beyond, Equestria’s allies.

The warrior turned audience went to beg for help, to prevent the fleeing of the demons but it seemed that the creature had the exact same thing in mind. Bringing the full size of the sphere down from above, the ball was pushed deep into the ground and with it, cracks of red light snaked outwards towards the fleeing demons. Every demon that a crack caught and touched, exploded into oily black ash which simply fell into a small pile on the ground.

Whatever magic this was, the princess felt a tinge of jealousy mixed in with her gratefulness at the creatures willingness to help. If only she’d had the power to save her little ponies. If only she’d had that power to save her ponies, save her student.

The cracks continued to travel outwards in all directions for another couple dozen meters, then eventually stopped and simply ceased their glowing. The demons fleeing had been destroyed, even if a small handful of them had managed to safely flee to safety. They could be taken care of, as long as she could procure the services of their apparent savior to assist in the hunt. If not, then who knew what havok, what chaos would ensue.

With the fight over, the figure turned back to the rip between realities and the white one’s heart sank. If it’d planned to leave now, then what hope would her country have to survive the ones that got away? What hope would her planet? The ruler of the Sun began to approach the creature, her voice cast out over the field of senseless slaughter towards the savior. Her words a jumbled mess of pleadings, beggings and promises of whatever it wanted, just as long as it stayed to help defend her reality.

The creature stopped at the threshold to the divide and looked back over his shoulder. He smirked, a corner of his mouth raised enough that one could see the pearly whites of his teeth and the ruler had to shutter when she noticed the incisor in his mouth. What if he was worse? What if he was the ultimate hunter? What if by destroying his competition so easily, he’d claimed the world for his own hunting grounds? With power displayed, how could anything hope to ever survive?

Then it raised it’s bare arm, and reached out to the tear between world. A small glyph appeared on the back of his hand and arm, glowing a bright blue, almost white. With a swipe downwards, much like a timberwolf sharpening its claws on the trunk of a tree, the wound in space was healed and reality restored. Or at least as restored as it could be with the remains of such a massacre left behind. As the wound was healed, so too was the corruption of the sun and the redness in the skies was washed away, replaced with the planned blue skies and white burning sun.

The being turned to the worried princess as doubt riddled her mind and she wondered how she was to defend against such a predator like the creature before her. What plans did he have? What was his motivations?

Then he smiled. It wasn’t a sinister, “I’m going to enjoy hunting you all” kind of smile but instead it was a calm, caring smile as the hell fire on his arm and in his eye reduced to embers before fading away to nothing altogether. Even the glowing glyphs on his arm, and the light in his closed eye, disappeared.

With a warm voice, the being spoke for the first time. And his words, the princess found her worries washed away. With his words, she knew that everything would be alright.

The Haven Incident - Saviour

“I would greatly appreciate an explanation regarding everything that’s happened today.” the great white Alicorn, who goes by the name of Celestia, walked down the halls of the castle shared with her sister (Luna had been incarcerated in the royal infirmary for the time being) with head held high and wings stretched straight up in her usual display of authority.

Beside her, keeping pace, was the friendly visitor from the tear back at what was quickly being called the Haven Disaster. His hands were both stuffed into the pockets of his jeans and he was much more interested in looking at everything around him with his one open eye.

“Hey, do you ponies have a dungeon here?” he asked with an eager smirk, turning to the Princess escorting him through the halls to the throne room for an official meeting.

“We do, yes.” Celestia nodded back once, a little put off at the ignorance this creature was showing, even if he had single-hoofedly saved her and her sister from certain death. Or worse.

“Cool, cool.” the creature mumbled back and returned to looking around at the large white walls, the ornate stone pillars between the massive panes of glass letting in the afternoon light.

“Left turn here, and we’ve arrived.” Celestia urged with an outstretched wing, leading the savior to stop before a pair of massive golden doors that she was all too familiar with. Both doors began to be pushed open with the magic of a pair of bedazzled Royal Guards decked out in heavily enchanted armour and weapons.

The room had been retrofitted for the sudden meeting that Celestia had called for, and already the room was filled with all manner of ponies. Most of them had positions in the Royal Court, whether it be the Guard, the Nobility, or even just from Accounting. All seats were full, save for two near to the head of the table with one being the throne at which Celestia would sit and a simple cushion on the floor for the princess’ entourage.

All ponies in the room stood at the approach of Celestia, standing dutifully and those programmed to do so saluted all with a sharp snap of their hooves or wings. Then, as the human entered, all eyes shifted in his direction and all manners of silent questions began getting thrown around.

Who is that? Why is he with the Princess? What is it? Is it dangerous? Did it have something to do with the massacre in Haven? All thoughts roamed around what this strange creature had been involved in, and what it would be further involved in.

“My little ponies, thank you for coming.” Celestia began, turning in place before her throne with a look of finality on her muzzle. This single face silenced all questions instantly when they all heard the sincerity in her voice. “Please be seated.” she requested, doing as requested herself and dropping her behind on the throne that even had a perfectly formed indentation of her backside.

Everyone gathered obeyed, though the human went so far as to plop himself down and lounge backwards on his arms, posting them behind his back while he stretched his legs out and got comfortable. Clearly, the Guard next to him was displeased with such a lack of manners and the Nobility had even more words to say, though they remained silent.

“May I be the first to say that you look simply radiant, your grace?” one unicorn, sitting across the table from the human, stood and turned to the princess, bowing deeply. “I dare say that-”

“Now is not the time for empty praises, Sun Stroke.” Celestia warned, shooting the stallion a deadly glare. “This is about what happened in Haven, regarding the slaughter that happened as well as what happened to the Element of Magic and my sister.” Well that certainly shut him up. “Today we are given the presence of a legend in the making,” Celestia continued, turning her glare into a stare at the human’s direction.

“Oh please, I’m no legend.” the human grinned and waved a hand passively, waving off the praise. “I was just doing my job.”

“Which is what, exactly?” Sun Stroke turned and even went so far as to glare threateningly at the creature.

“Hunt Angels and Demons.” the man grinned right back in the face of the unicorn, shooting his own death glare at the same time. The four words had a rippling effect over the other assembled, creating murmurs and further inquiries about what the creature was talking about.

“Oh please, I am completely confident that whatever it is you supposedly hunt, my Solar Guard is more than capable of handling without you.” Sun Stroke challenged, looking quite sure of himself. The man staring across the table merely smirked even as he evaluated the heavy plate armour the pony was wearing. As flashy as it may be, as enchanted as it may be, for whatever metal it could be made of, it looked like paper compared to the kinds of metals most demons and angels commonly used. “I’m sure that even Night Glade’s Lunar Guard would have no trouble-”

“The Core Weapons are destroyed.” Celestia’s voice had an immediate silencing effect over the entire room. Sun Stroke’s eyes, and presumably Night Glade’s who sat next to Sun Stroke, narrowed into pinpricks.

“That- that’s not possible.” Sun Stroke announced absolutely. “The Core Weapons were forged in the fires of the core of our very planet, enchanted with all the power of the sun and moon in three of the most powerful weapons Equestria has.”

“And the enemy I faced rendered them to black ash.” Celestia went on to explain, narrowing her gaze at the ponies sat at the table before them. “The same enemy who took my sister’s horn from her, the same enemy who would have slaughtered my sister and I if it wasn’t for the sudden appearance of that creature,” Celestia turned to stare directly at the man, pointing a golden shoed hoof at him specifically.

“B- but, then our magic-” Night Glade began to studder, her voice betraying the otherwise unidentifiable facade of her armour which cloaked her entire body, masking all features capable of identification.

“Completely useless. Twilight Sparkle’s most powerful shield spell, in combination with the combined might of the Elements of Harmony failed to protect her from a slash across the face. She’d be dead now if it wasn’t for-” Celestia was promptly cut off when the human rose from his seat.

“Hold on, someone’s still alive after being attacked by a demon?” he asked, his voice eerily calm and his words chosen specifically. “They’re confirmed still alive?”

“‘That is correct. My student, Twilight Sparkle, was attacked by a demon who grazed the side of her head with it’s claw and injured her greatly. She is still in the infirmary undergoing treatment.” Celestia began to look worried, a look that most of the room’s occupants hadn’t ever seen before. This worried them even more.

“You want her alive?” the man asked, already backing towards the doors even as his gaze remained on the princess. Celestia nodded and was about to say something more when the man continued. “You need to take me to her or she will die.”

“Is it that bad?” the princess bolted to her hooves and descended the dais in a light trot to catch up to the biped.

“Worse. If I don’t see her, there’s a very good chance she’ll either succumb to her injuries and will have her soul forever lost from this world, or she’ll be corrupted from the inside out and turned into a demon all of her own.” the man explained, twisting on his heels to walk faster now that the princess of the sun was alongside him once more.

“Please hold a moment, Princess! I cannot in good faith let you go unprotected with that… that thing!” Sun Stroke declared, now standing with the other ponies in the room who were already discussing the possibilities of loss of life if things escalated too quickly.

“Then come along!” The man shouted back as he took the corner into the hallway almost sideways. “Just stay out of my way when I’m working!”

Taking that as permission, Sun Stroke and Night Glade both shot out of the door, a small squad of either Guard hot on their hooves after joining up from outside the room.

~~~

A quick sprint with Celestia narrowly leading, she was quite surprised that her company could keep up with her at a full gallop, and she soon slid to a stop at the doors to the medical wing. The man was able to stop much sooner, his shoes finding traction a whole lot easier than the ponies could and while the guards all pulled themselves from a pile at the end of the hall, Celestia and the human pushed into the wing where they could immediately hear the sound of Twilight screaming out in agony.

“Everyone out of this room, right now!” the man ordered while his right arm and eye exploded into hellfire and his left began to glow with the same white markings as when he first appeared. “All your lives are at risk just by standing near her!” he added as he pulled the curtains to Twilight’s bed wide.

“Do as he says, everypony out!” Celestia roared in behind the man, keeping her guards out of the room though she stood just at the threshold. Turning her words to the man specifically while everypony who could sprinted out of the room, “Can you help her?”

The man stood before Twilight, fighting to keep her flailing hooves down with one hand and turning her head every which way to see where the injury was. Rounding to the right side of the bed, the man pushed Twilight’s muzzle to the mattress and held her down; he was forced to quickly mount her over her barrel, using his legs to keep her pinned while his flaming hand held the unicorn’s head to the bed.

“I asked you, can you-” Celestia began to ask again, a little more forcefully as she’d figured to have been ignored.

“Shut up so I can work.” the man growled, getting his face up close to the side of the pony’s head to work.

“How dare you speak to Her Grace like that! I will have your head for such blasphemy against her!” Sun Stroke declared, daring to step into the room with a good portion of his supreme guard alongside him. “Take him away!”

“You touch me and this pony dies a slow and excruciating death.” the man growled back, turning a flaming eye back to the group as they began to enter. Apparently not put off by this threat, the group continued into the room with arms leveled until an Alicorn-Class shield came up between the group and their target.

“You will leave this room, Commander,” Celestia’s glare was powerful enough to shrivel scrotums and make the hardest of soldiers quiver as she rounded between the shield and her guards, horn glowing with the spell she’d cast. “And you will not return until I’ve given explicit permission to do so. Do I make myself clear?”

Sun Stroke, a mixture of desire to slay the one who’d spoken to his goddess so rudely, and his loyalty to said goddess, merely stared back between the target of his ire and the target of his adoration before silently turning from the room with a low bow.

“Of course, your Highness.” he muttered back and retreated, leaving the man to work.

Celestia, coming down from her authority high, turned back to the man with worry. “Is there anything I or my ponies can do to help?”

“No.” the man didn’t even drop stride as he checked the body of his patient under him for any further injuries. “I need the room to myself. Ignore everything you hear coming from this room.”

“Certainly. But, you can save her, right?” Celestia nodded and turned to leave, but paused to give her question.

The man merely dropped his head in reply, dropping all semblance of hope in the eldest’s heart. “I don’t know. All I can do now is try to either exorcise the demonic energy in her, end her life quickly, or turn her into one of my kind.” he explained, putting his whole weight down on the pony to hold her still and turning his head to look back at the princess. “I’ve truthfully never come across one so badly injured who survived something like this.”

“Do whatever you can, but prioritize saving her life. I beg of you.” Celestia’s voice began to crack a bit as she turned and left the room in silence, closing the doors with her magic behind her.

The room remained in otherwise silence, if one ignored the screaming from Twilight as the foreign energy in her burned her from the inside out. The room seemed to have been reserved for her use only, all other lights in the room off save for the ones above her and on the wall of her stall casting cool blue light upon the two figures.

“This is going to hurt infinitely more than what you’re experiencing now, I’m sorry.” the man whispered into the pony’s ear before sitting himself up a bit and opened his left eye a crack. Pure celestial energy poured from the eye, bathing the pony in blinding, heavenly light which only served to make her and the energy in her scream out in further agony.

With his hands on her forelegs to measure how the energy reacted, he quickly shut his eye again when he felt the energy begin to try and take it’s host down with it and returned the pony to only feeling like her very soul was on fire, rather than having every last molecule in her body ripped apart.

“Option A, no-go.” the man whispered and sighed. The next option was almost as bad as the third option. Conversion to his kind. “Okay, this isn’t going to be fun for you, Twilight Sparkle.” he murmured again before tucking her forelegs under his pelvis to free up his hands.

While Twilight continued to shriek, contort and writhe under his control, the man raised both hands into the air above her head and placed his demon hand over his celestial hand and began pouring power into both.

“Cum haec manus mundabo te. Cum haec manus adiuro te. Cum potestate mea peto tua vita, anima tua, tuum esse, et ligare eos ad mea. Tua daemon dimidium, silenced cum meus caelestis spiritus, et remedia flammis intra quod tuum corpus remaneat, unburdened per damnationem. Per nomen meum, William contracte Caster, ego liberum te.” As he spoke, his voice seemed to echo from all around him, filling in space in higher or lower octaves, as though an entire choir of just him was in the room.

At the same time, a thin red beam of light dropped from his demon hand and into his white hand where it mixed and intertwined with a white beam. This thread of energy began to snake down towards the unicorn under him and the energy within her began to recognize this new feeling. It tried to defend itself by thrashing around more and more wildly, making every attempt to free itself and remain uncleansed.

Soon the end of the thread touched the tip of the unicorn's horn and she suddenly stopped all movement, her eyes shooting open as pure light poured from both sockets, bathing the man above her in holy light. She screamed, he screamed, but neither of them let up in their attacks.

“Et oblinito daemonium interius!” the man shouted, and poured as much of his energy into the small body as he felt it could handle, gritting his teeth against the onslaught of pure heavenly power. The beam became wider, fatter, and began to form hellish red rings pulsing around the core of the light originating from his hands and rippling over the body beneath him like waves.

With a final push of force, the energy beam dropped from his hands and was soaked up into the horn of the creature between his legs as she let out the loudest, wildest scream. This wasn’t a scream of agony, however, it was a scream of utter bliss and pleasure as the energy within her finally let go and allowed itself to be sealed away somewhere in the body.

The unicorn- no, the Nephalem under the man grew still, breathing calmly for the first time in hours which meant that the man could crawl off the bed and let the pony turn onto her side to rest. The man was about to leave when he noticed another body having been in the room watching with wide, blue eyes.

“Why are you here?” the man inquired calmly, stuffing his hands into his pockets once his powers had been sealed away and his hands were no longer on fire or glowing.

“We are a patient in this hospice.” the female replied, her voice sounding shaky through the combination of both fear and the after effects of lengthy crying. “We lost our horn during the fight in which you apparently appeared.”

“Ahh, you must be Princess Luna, then?” the man took on a lighter air of friendliness than the face of uncaring he had before. He approached slowly, keeping his hands still in his pockets and stood before the end of the bed. In the lack of light, the man had to work a little harder at examining the larger pony but soon his gaze fell upon the nub of what used to be a magnificent horn.

“We are, indeed. Though I don’t know how much longer I may be a princess without my magic. I have been rendered incapable of performing my Royal duties, what use could I be to my country?” Luna sniffled and shuffled around on her belly, switching which hoof was over the other under her head. “Aside from becoming nothing more than a figurehead? The ponies already fear me as Nightmare Moon, now I’ve become the useless princess.” Luna went on, her lament starting up a whole other round of crying. The man merely stood in front of her in silence, simply looking her over as he tried to come up with some kind of idea to help.

Magic wasn’t uncommon on his world, there were certainly many impartial and noble creatures that inhabited his planet which commanded some kind of magical abilities, but his abilities were not among those.

“Can a horn not grow back?” the man raised an eyebrow as he gave his thought.

“It shall, indeed,” the princess mumbled back, sniffling a bit and taking a breath.

“Then what is there to-”

“But it shall take another millennia to do so! To be a useless princess for another thousand years, my ponies will surely forget about me again!” she went back to her wailings with this thought.

One thousand years huh? Just how old are these ponies? The man thought to himself in a mild stroke of incredulity. At the same time, someone from outside seemed to have figured that he was no longer working on Twilight and assumed it safe to enter. The door cracked open and a sliver of light from outside only helped to illuminate the room a small bit, though the shadow of a head breaking across the light suggested someone was looking on things.

“May I enter now?” Celestia called in cautiously. The man stepped back from where he was with the Princess of the Night and nodded back before stepping forward.

“She’s asleep now, but assuming what I’ve done to her hasn’t killed her, she’ll be moderately fine.” the man called out and gave farewell to the dark body before him to reproach Twilight’s bed with Celestia.

“May I ask what you did to help her?” Celestia inquired as he stepped up next to her student. “She seems so peaceful now.”

“She may be peaceful now, but it’s up to her whether or not that remains to be the case. As for what I’ve done, I’ve been forced to turn her into one of my kind.” the man explained, crossing his arms over his chest while he stood across the bed from the day princess.

“Your kind? Is she to become a biped like you?” Celestia raised a curious eyebrow while within her mind, she fought with how this turn of events would fold into her plans later down the line.

“No no, she won’t become a human like me.” A raised hand dismissed the idea easily enough. “She’ll stay a pony, she’ll still have some access to her current magic, but whatever magical potential she had has been halved.”

“Then, what has she become, and does it have anything to do with this artwork on her fur?” Celestia asked as she caught noticed of a series of intricate, flower-like scrollwork etched into her body which coloured her fur a slightly darker purple much like a scar may have done. These patterns started at the base of Twilight’s horn, revolving around the protrusion for a short while before cascading down over the entire right half of the purple pony’s body, where it gradually stopped at the halfway mark of the girl’s barrel.

“Those are her seals. They contain the demonic energy within her and, with practice, will allow her to use that energy to fight celestial or demonic presences.” An arm was shown over the pony, with similar, digital circuitry-like lines cascading down the left arm while the right appeared to have more of an evil face imprinted into his skin. “She is, like I am, a Nephalem. The combination of Celestial and Demonic energy in a single body.”

“I’ve never heard of such a creature. You are both human and this...this Nephalem?” Princess Luna asked once she’d approached close enough to include herself in the conversation, eyes still watery. Only now could the Nephalem see the black bandage wrapped around what used to be the alicorn’s horn, containing the injury as well as preventing the magic from flowing out freely.

“I am, yes. My species is human, my kind is Nephalem.” the man nodded back and crossed his arms again. “And I deeply regret turning your student into one of mine.”

A look of shock and slight terror flashed momentarily across Celestia’s face. “Why do you regret this decision? Was there no other option?”

“There was no other option, aside from giving her a quick and painless death.” the man shook his head. “Though I might as well have signed her execution order myself…” This only served to deepen the worry in both princesses present. “You want answers, this isn’t the place for them. Not while she sleeps. As far as I’m concerned, this will be the last time she ever sleeps peacefully.”

“Then we shall return to the courtroom to continue our conversation.” Princess Celestia decided firmly, having reigned in her emotions once more. “Luna, shall you join us?”

“What bother is there? I don’t belong in the Royal Courtroom anymore, I’m no princess.” Luna grumbled and turned her head away with depression. Celestia’s horn lit up and turned the head of her sister back to face her once more.

“You may have lost your horn, but you are still every bit a princess, every bit my sister. Your ability to cast magic has nothing to do with your position.” Celestia announced, settling the heart of her sister all at once before arguments flared up again.

“But what about my duties as princess of the night? I can no longer access the Dreamscape, I can no longer interact with the moon, I can-”

The man spoke, cutting the dark Princess off, “Actually, Dreamwalking is a skill that we Nephalem have. It’s not a common skill, so not very many of my kind can actually do it, but it is possible. As for the whole interaction with the moon, that sounds like something you could just leave to Astrophysics.” The upright Nephalem reported, making Celestia raise an eyebrow at this new information. She’d never once thought about astrophysics or it’s involvement in the sun or moon, nor did she really want to. It was a bit of pride within her that she was able to move the sun across the sky every day, something that only she could do. But, considering what happened to Luna and how her sister was now incapable of moving the moon herself, Celestia wondered if this “astrophysics” thing could maybe help alleviate some of her concerns with the moon situation.

“So, then you could give me some of your power then? Let me return to some of my duties as Princess of the Night?” Luna stared up at the man hopefully, her eyes gleaming from either tears or hope.

Then it all came crashing down around her, “I can’t give you anything. If you want powers like mine and Twilight’s, then you have to face and suffer at the hands of either an angel or a demon.” the man explained sternly, turning his entire body to face the blue alicorn. “Even then, I don’t know anything about Dreamwalking, so you’d have to learn how to do that yourself, providing you even survive the ordeal with a demon or angel.”

“Is there nothing you can do then?” Luna’s heart dropped back down into depression where it felt at home. Even that small inkling of hope had made it feel somewhat uncomfortable and so here, in this darkness, it felt better. Or worse, depending on how you looked at it.

“There is nothing I can do, I’m sorry.” the man shook his head with a small sigh.

“I see…” Luna’s voice was small and unassuming. She turned away and aimed back for her bed. “Thank you anyways, Mister…”

“Warden. Just call me Warden.” Warden requested but gave a small bow of the head regardless as the Princess returned the nod before disappearing into the darkness of the room and hopped back up onto her hospital bed.

“May I ask you a question, Mr. Warden?” Princess Celestia requested calmly, turning the man back towards her.

“Just, Warden.” Warden retorted simply but gave a half nod to give the princess the go-ahead. “But what is your question?”

“Warden, why do you regret turning Twilight into a- what did you call them? Neph-something?” Celestia began warily.

“Nephalem.” Warden corrected. Celestia nodded before continuing.

“Why do you regret turning my student into a Nephalem like you?” the princess began her question anew and turned to leave the room as previously decided upon. The man followed after her, walking abreast the Princess with a rather grim look on her face.

The man walked in silence, intent on keeping the promise to only speak of what needed to be spoken of in the Courtroom.

The pair never got to the courtroom as they were cut off by a guard at full run, aimed straight for the princess and her company.

“Your highness!” The guard called from ahead, even if he already had everyone’s attention just by the sprint alone. “Your highness, I bring urgent news! Ponyville is under attack!”

“What?” Celestia was no longer the worried mother figure that she had been in the infirmary, rather she’d quite quickly slipped back into the mind of an all-powerful princess and the princess that everypony expected to see. “By who?”

“We don’t know, your highness,” the pony slid to a halt, his shoes providing next to no traction and so came sliding into the human who helped to stall the pony with his body. The human’s face next got friendly with the floor, bashing his nose against the stonework in the process.

The guard collected himself and helped the human up with his magic, a slight look of disgust on his face though that look went unseen by all.

Collecting himself, the guard continued, “The reports suggest that they’re more of those creatures that came from Haven!”

“And that’s where I come in, I guess.” Warden sighed as he dusted off his jeans. “Which way is this Pony-whatever?” he asked, stepping to a nearby balcony and pulling open the doors to step outside and get a view of the surrounding area.

His appearance on the balcony seemed to have automatically drawn the attentions of wandering groundskeepers and nobles alike below, many of them looking up at the sudden movement to see what was happening. Upon realising that nobody important to them had appeared, they went about their day like nothing had happened.

Celestia stepped out onto the balcony as well and pointed her hoof towards the direction of Ponyville.

“Go straight west, you should see Ponyville appear on the horizon. I can have a train ticket bought for you and a train reserved for your use.” Celestia pointed out, already in the process of ordering a ticket and train to be commissioned for the task.

“No need, I’ll just jump there.” Warden waved off the offer and set his sights in on where he thought he was going. Backing out off the balcony, then backing himself against the opposing wall, Warden shook his head, hands and hopped around on the spot a little, limbering up.

“You... plan to jump there?” Celestia remarked but vacated the balcony even if her gut instinct told her to continue with making plans for the train. “Would you not prefer the safety of the train?”

“Too slow for my tastes, but thanks anyways.” The Nephalem grinned and bent down in a sprinter's start while he began collecting his power into his legs for the initial jump. “I’ll be back when the demons are gone.”

“I wish you all the best.” Princess Celestia announced, head held high and wings stretched out as though she was welcoming a ranking official to her court.

“Thanks.” the Warden nodded back and took off at a run towards the open doors. He leapt once and placed a foot on the railing where white and red rings formed around his shin before driving down in a single pulse all at once. Suddenly, with an explosion of air, not only was the Warden gone, but so was what remained of the railing he’d used as a springboard.

Celestia and the accompanying guards’ mouths all dropped slack at the display of power, even after Celestia used her magic to repair the railing.

~~~

Hands clasped before him, his Celestial arm casting a narrow cone shield to help the Warden spearhead through the skies with his Demon arm fueling the shield to wrap around his entire body.

The human watched through bleary eyes as a small town quickly appeared in his vision and gave a small smirk as he wondered how he’d managed to jump so accurately without a specific destination. His smirk disappeared as he flipped himself head over heels and applied a small portion of his power into his legs in order to not only strengthen them for the landing, but to also cushion the blow to the landscape.

He came down hard, still creating a small crater about as deep as he was tall when he landed. The explosion hit everypony around the landing hard, and most of them stood stock still in fear before their instincts kicked in and everypony fled the scene; the reports of the Haven disaster still fresh in their minds.

Once the dust cleared and the rubble had settled, the man climbed out of his hole with a sigh, already feeling the hole in his wallet that would certainly grow wider as more landscaping fees would surely arise from the locals.

Putting that thought aside, he fired up his arms and eyes with power, preparing for a fight to the death as per usual. The quietly hiding town around him made the man narrow his open eye as he searched for the attacking demon or demons, or even for a tear where they could be trying to summon more of their kind through.

The town was completely quiet. Aside from the sight of the ponies all cautiously peering through their shutters and doors held ajar, there was nothing out of the ordinary save for the Nephalem.

This threw Warden for a loop as he allowed his guard to be lowered and the raging inferno of hellfire on his right calmed down to a casual campfire yet he kept the shield on his left ready for anything.

Surveying the scene, there was definitely a distinct lack of demonic presences, or even angelic presences for that matter. He couldn’t even feel any traces of energy, hellish or heavenly, having ever been around the area in the first place. This didn’t mean there wasn’t anything nefarious in the area as Class three Demons and Host were known to be capable of hiding their presences in among the populace fairly well; only difference is that they usually had been operating in the location long enough that they begin to leave traces of themselves detectable by hunters such as the Nephalem or other of their own kinds.

This one had to have only just arrived to have hidden itself so perfectly.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing, leaving a crater like that in the middle of the road!” a girlish, yet still kind of masculine in undertone, voice demanded from behind Warden. There was no demon he’d ever encountered who had a voice like this, so Warden calmly turned to greet his guest and only raised an eyebrow at the heterochromatic head of hair over a bright blue body hovering in the air with a glare on her face. “You could’ve hurt somepony!”

“I was told there was a demon attacking the town. This is Ponyville, yes? I didn’t miss a turn somewhere?” Warden asked calmly, still surveying the area of anything to fight.

“Yeah, this is Ponyville, but there are no demons or anything here. Trust me, I’d know.” the head of colours replied, now placing her hooves on her body as though placing fists on hips to look quite displeased. “I was there, I was at Haven and I saw what those demons did to everypony. I saw how they killed…” her voice grew soft as fresh tears began to appear on her eyelids. “I saw how they killed my friend, Twilight.”

“Twilight?” the man’s eyebrow shot up at the name. “Purple fur, horn, demon claws raked across the right side of her face?” he asked, naming off a few details he could remember. The pony in the air sucked back a sniffle but nodded in return. “She’s alive, actually. Don’t know for how much longer, though.”

“Wait, she is?” The pony’s mouth dropped a moment though her eyes lit up like diamonds. “Twilight Sparkle’s alive?”

“Yes, but I’m not here about that. A guard told me that a demon was attacking this town. If there’s no demon attacking the town…” Warden’s eyes slowly grew in realisation. “Then it’s attacking the Castle!” he concluded and turned back towards the mountain he’d just shot off of. How did he not detect the Shifter when it touched him?

Because it touched him with local magic, not it’s own energy.

“Shit!” the Nephalem cursed to himself and prepared to take off at a run towards the castle. It’d take longer to get back, as he couldn’t jump back up the mountain given his lower starting point.

“Something’s attacking the Castle?” the blue pegasus behind him asked quickly, already sounding more calm, even a bit excited. “Then we have to save the Princesses!”

“If you were at Haven, then you know that your magic is useless against the Demons. You’ll just be in the way.” Warden remarked, taking off at a full-bore sprint though the mare kept pace on her wings. “I just don’t know if I’ll get back there in time to save anyone.”

“Can I help with that, then? I am Equestria’s fastest flier, you know.” the little ponygirl boasted with pride. “Here, hang on tight!” she announced before latching onto the man’s back, wrapping her legs around him to try and lift him off the ground. Instead, all she managed was a groan of protest from the man, a short hop with her wings and a heavy oomph from her mouth.

“I’m too heavy but if you do exactly what I tell you, I can use you as a glider.” the man replied, keeping his run going even after the sudden body on his back. The rainbow head appeared over his shoulder and nodded. “Keep your wings shut until we’re in the air, got it?”

“Got it!” the mare shouted back and snapped her wings shut to wait for further instruction.

The man began to apply his magic into his legs, fueling them up and creating the rings that had appeared before while his steps grew longer and longer. All of a sudden, he gave a short hop, landed with both feet and crouched as low as he could, then pushed off like a gunshot.

All five rings around each leg suddenly pulsed downwards into the ground, firing him off again and creating another, smaller crater where he’d left the ground. Rainbow Dash, her face feeling like it was about to be torn free, snapped her wings wide open and let the momentum carry her and her package higher than one Nephalem could accomplish on his own.

With Rainbow’s wings providing lift, both bodies screamed through the air like a bat out of hell and the pegasus screamed entertainment the entire way. The mountain was coming up fast and already, Warden knew that he was too low to just fly in.

“When I tell you, let me go!” Warden commanded, earning another nod from the pegasus on his back. “Thanks for the ride, miss…”

“Rainbow Dash. When you get the chance, tell Twilight her friends in Ponyville miss her!” Dash issued her name with the accompanying message and received an agreeing nod back from the man in her clutches.

“Will do!” Warden shouted back and prepared his legs for a quick landing. “On my mark, release!”

Three.

Two.

One.

“Release!” Warden shouted and suddenly felt the weight of the pony on his back disappear as Rainbow Dash pulled up hard and flipped back over towards Ponyville. Warden flipped head over heels as per his usual landing strategy and applied as much power into his legs as he could safely get away with as the mountain side rushed up to greet him with a vengeance.

Landing hard, the shockwaves of his power rippling outwards to disperse kinetic force, Warden found his feet only partially buried into the mountain; it was just enough that he could safely get a foothold but not so deep as to cause injury to his feet. Not stopping there, the Nephalem pushed off with his left foot and began the hulk-style of climbing, leaping up and punching or kicking hand and footholds into the mountain side.

Ascending faster than any hellspawn fresh from the spawning fields climbing their way to freedom, the man vaulted himself up past the walls to the castle itself and came to a rest overlooking not only the castle courtyard, but also most of the surrounding city.

The Courtyard, typically perfectly groomed and blossoming with lovely flora, was a disaster. Entire lengths of the lawn having been ripped up and left brown from dirt while flowerbeds found themselves uprooted and cast aside in what looked to be a heated battle for survival.

If the dead bodies of more than a handful of Royal Guards and groundskeepers were any indication, that battle for survival was surely a losing fight. What only served to irk the human even greater was how there was absolutely no blood to be found, even around the dead bodies who, upon closer inspection, looked to have been bled bone dry.

“Well, that’s just fucking great.” Warden whispered to himself. The signs were all there, the carnage mostly focussing around the gardens and plant life and the lack of body fluids in or around the bodies themselves.

Pushing off from the face of the mountain, the Nephalem landed with a heavy thud (not enough to create yet another crater, but certainly enough to cause trembling in the ground beneath him) and surveyed the area in greater detail.

Having not found much of anything he didn’t already know, the hunter took off at a light jog into the castle proper, intent on following the trail of dirt leading him towards his goal. The trail ended just as he found guards on the ground, alive and showing no signs of demonic injuries and fortunately alive.

“Hey, are you guys alright?” Warden demanded, stooping down to check on a nearby pegasus nursing a broken wing. Sure enough, no demonic claw marks to be found on his body.

“Y- yeah, aside from injuries that’ll probably put us out of commission for a good while, I think we’re fine.” the guard replied, a female by the sounds of it. “Something just tore through here like…”

“Like a bat out of hell?” the Nephalem smirked as the guard merely nodded with a wince and cradled her wing.

“It... I don’t know what it was. It had long, plantlike vines coming out of it’s body and… It had no face… Only a mouth with… with horrible teeth!” the guard shuddered in horrific recollection of what she’d seen. Sure enough, just as Warden had thought, it was very likely a Chloropod and judging by the looks of things, a fairly young one at that.

“Which way did it go? Did it have anything with it?” Warden asked, trying to be the voice of calm and reasoning even if he himself wasn’t looking forward to the coming skirmish with the plant demon.

“It… I think it went that way.” the guard pointed with a hoof, leading off further down the hall where the rest of the guard laid in pain. “And I think it had the Princess!”

The man gave a single word in response, a language unknown to any on this particular world and even mostly unknown to those of his species.

“If there’s any one who’s been injured by the demon, bring them to the infirmary where Princess Luna and Twilight Sparkle are. I’ll treat them there when I can.” the man ordered and stood before anypony could give him shit for ordering them around. He was the only one with experience fighting these things and even if they didn’t know for sure, they sure felt like he knew what he was doing.

“Best of luck, sir.” the guard nodded back before beginning the task of organizing those capable of moving in order to get the injured to the infirmary. Warden took off down the hallway, keeping eyes and ears out for hints towards the location of the Chloropod and the Princess.

Unsurprisingly, the trail lead the Nephalem towards the throne room with even more battered or dead guards along the way. Those who survived were urged to the infirmary and those who couldn’t survive the move… Well, they were given peace.

The human slid to a halt before the door, keeping on his feet and with his arms and eyes burning with power as his vision was cast over the scene before him. As suspected, an infantile Chloropod stood over the remains of Celestia’s throne with thick green vines wrapped securely around… well, something. Only a single, long white horn suggested the contents within and Warden wasn’t entirely sure if she was still alive. Another, smaller but similar bundle of vines floated on the opposite side from the horn, completely unidentifiable.

The main body of the Chloropod, a bulbous, leafy, green seed pod with over a dozen thorned vines protruding from the main body. A single, smaller bulb sat on a stalk acting as a head, with the typical gaping maw filled with razor teeth dripping with acidic fluids.

“Dave? Is that you?” Warden stood upright as he strolled into the room, looking to be ignoring the multitudes of dead bodies already acting as seed beds and many of them already with small plants growing from their desecrated corpses.

“Oh shit.” the Chloropod cursed to himself in a whisper, only now noticing the approach of the Nephalem. “Uhm, Warden… Its… It’s not what it looks like…”

“Are you sure? Because it looks like the beginnings of a demonic greenhouse in here.” Warden shrugged back, only now turning to give casual glances at the bodies strewn about the room, with the larger piles of planted bodies near to the windows for ample sunlight. “Dave, you know we talked about this when I killed your family.” the human warned, turning his glare towards the plant. “You know the terms of your survival.”

“Yeah… I know… Stay on Earth and I don’t get mowed.” Dave grumbled, already looking to be disappointed in himself even if the rest of his body didn’t show it. “Fine, I’ll just… go home.” Dave announced and turned towards the destroyed throne. He raised a clawed vine and swiped down hard, creating a tear between worlds and was about to pull himself through with his prize when the Nephalem appeared in the way.

Jumping back out of surprise, Dave instinctively protected himself with the two packages he was carrying before remembering that he had them and tried to hide them behind his back.

“You can go when you give up the hostages you’ve got.” Warden commanded, stepping down from the tear slowly, purposefully so as to further instill fear into the plant.

“But… But Warden… I.. I can’t go back empty handed, Vejix would uproot me!” Dave complained, now pulling his prizes out from behind himself and removed just enough vines to reveal a static Celestia frozen in fear, and one of the Solar Guards that had accompanied Sun Stroke at the table.

“Hate to break this to you, Dave, but if you leave with the Princess, I’ll uproot you.” Warden warned, clenching his fist blazing in hellfire while he subtly prepared a Heavenly shield in his left. “And you know that I can track you.”

“You… you’re bluffing! You always keep your word and if you hunt me down, you’ll break your promise!” Dave retorted with a tinge of fear in his voice. Warden only glared at the plant.

“Let. Them. Go.” Warden commanded as threateningly as he could. Dave looked around the room for options for a moment, weighing his options against current threats.

Then he did something that Warden certainly didn’t expect, he held both the Princess and the Guard up by the necks, their bodies otherwise hanging free and strangling them both. A pair of heavily spiked vines appeared and hovered poised to kill both hostages.

“I… I can’t go back…” Dave whimpered, watching for any subtle movement from Warden and stood ready to attack. “Not alone. I have to bring something back…”

“Then you’re not going back, Dave.” Warden sighed and loaded up an imp’s fireball in his demon hand.

“Yes.” Dave grew emboldened by this, having made his peace long ago. “I am. You come close, or you throw that fireball, and I kill both of them. Or, you let me go home.”

Warden stopped his slow approach and merely stared at the plant. His mind began rolling through the options available to him. He knew that he could protect himself and one other, but he wasn’t entirely sure which to save.

Save the Princess, save the world.

Save the Guard, gain favour with Sun Stroke while Luna takes Celestia’s place. Granted, this option would also leave the country with a depressed princess, and that depression would only get worse when she found out about her sister’s fate.

Having made up his mind quite easily, Warden reclaimed the power in his demon hand and instead loaded it into his legs for the sudden gunshot sprint. His shield sat ready to deploy on the very likely chance that Dave actually kept his word and struck out.

“Well? What’s it going to be, Warden Caster?” Dave demanded, holding his hostages still with the weapons poised to strike.

With a sudden explosion of noise and the floor cracking under where he’d just been, Warden fired from his spot like a bullet and activated his shield at the same time. Dave, taken by surprise, struck out at all three targets, Warden among them, with a short devilish cry.

As though time seemed to slow to everyone involved, Warden stretched out as far as his arms would go so that he would be assured that his shield would get between Dave and Princess Celestia. He knew that he wasn’t the type to keep entire kingdoms from falling, but that was on Earth. Eight whole Empires had fallen over the course of Warden’s young life and he hadn’t even so much as lifted a finger. This one, however, was pure. This empire, the Nephalem felt, wasn’t supposed to fall to demons or political corruption for another couple millennia. He couldn’t tell what inside him told him these things (*It was probably the guy writing out his story, telling his mind*) but whatever it was (*wink*) steeled his resolve to save the Princess of the Day.

Dave, his confidence shattered with the sudden movement from the Nephalem who had saved his life, watched as all the memories he had of growing up with Warden Caster and it brought a bit of sadness to his chest as he settled on the fact that he would be cut down by his own father. All those nights he’d shared with Warden, the keeper of Hell himself, the days when Dave’s demon heart would try to lash out only to be beaten into submission by the Warden up until he’d learned how to better control it himself. He was a demon, through and through, but he’d grown up under the care of a human and had retained many attributes of humanity; right up until that night.

He couldn’t do it. Dave couldn’t kill his father, or his hostages. It just wasn’t in him to go through with it, even if it meant that his Demon Lord would uproot him and throw his body into the fires that drive the Demon Army. The problem no longer laid in the fact that his father would try to kill him, but in the fact that his body was no longer under his command in this fraction of time. His deadly vines were already sprung, the kill imminent and there was nothing Dave could do but watch as one vine tore through the air at the neck of his care taker.

Time seemed to resume normal rate and the Chloropod put everything into his limbs to try and at least redirect the vines away from a fatal blow. His venom wouldn’t kill Warden, past experiences had made sure of that, but it would very likely kill the guard or the Princess in his grasp even if a single thorn nicked their skins. They didn’t have the resistances.

Warden’s outstretched shield made contact with the vine aiming for Celestia, the Celestial energy reacting favourably for Warden and solidifying under the touch of the vine at the moment that it did make contact. The shield edge acted like a razor blade and continued onwards, unhindered by the plant matter until it began to cut into many of the vines keeping Celestia held up by her throat.

His right hand made contact with those vines around the Princesses neck, taking firm hold of them so that his momentum would carry him past Celestia and thereby tear the vines away by force. His shield arm began to fold back to further protect himself and Celestia from the vines aiming for the Warden, however was too slow and soon the razor-like thorns tore deep into Warden’s back and left side.

Celestia dropped to the ground, no longer frozen and left gasping for air even as she landed with a heavy thud on her rump; her balance was nowhere to be found and she was sent sprawling with hooves flying around in the air as she fought to flip over onto her stomach. Her body failed her and she ended up in a rather… revealing position. Fortunately for her, the only male in the room who could ever get a chance to look at the Royal Lady Bits was still flying through the air with a very manly yell as he hit the ground and bounced as few times.

Coming to a halt on the ground in a pile, the man only stayed down for a couple seconds before getting to his feet with a groan and clutching at his side with his demonic hand. Celestia had also managed to recover and she spread her wings outwards to send herself sliding across the floor in any direction to get away from the thing that had captured her. A mighty flap of the wings sent her skidding away to safety, even as she ended up running into a small pile of seedbeds who used to be some of her less-popular nobility.

The guard left in Dave’s grasp was dropped, the moment that the stasis element left his body he gasped for air before deciding that the plant venom coursing through his neck was much more important and let out the absolutely most masculine screaming that could rival even a certain little white Crusader throwing a fit.

~~~

Sweetie Belle looked up from her drawing, a red crayon still held in her magic as a body wracking shiver went down her spine from her horn to her tail. Scootaloo, with blue crayon held in her mouth, looked up from her page and latest drawing of her hero towards her friend with curiosity.
“What’s up Sweetie? You getting cold?” she asked around the crayon.

“No, I dunno. I just feel like I’ve been used to describe a guard’s screaming voice…” Sweetie Belle replied in confusion. She looked around the small room of the Crusader clubhouse, past Applebloom who napped nearby and out a window that looked over Sweet Apple Acres. “Weird.”

“No kidding… I think you’ve been spending too much time with Pinkie Pie.” Scootaloo grinned and turned back to her page. Sweetie Belle joined her and unbeknownst to both fillies, a pair of bright blue eyes peered over them from under the couch Applebloom napped on.

“You can never have too much Pinkie Pie!” a faint whisper warned, unheard by anypony.”

~~~

Hitting the ground, the guard flailed about, trying to take off as much armour as he could so that he could try and address the wound on his neck and back with strips of cloth from the lining as he’d been taught. His body fought and fought, often locking up entirely to leave the poor guard simply screaming and spasming where he laid, breathing heavily.

Warden glared at Dave with a vengeance, wincing at the injury on his back and side as he took slow steps towards the plant he had so carefully raised and nurtured.

“I.. I didn’t kill them!” Dave begged, backing towards the tear between this world and the world that he and his father had come from. “Let me go and save them! There’s still time! I swear I didn’t want to do it!”

“But you still did, young man.” Warden growled back, keeping his left eye shut even if his experience wanted to open it and bath the Chloropod in holy light. “Go, before I change my mind. When I’m done here, you and I are going to have a very long talk.”

“Yes! I will!” Dave’s words nearly escaped his mouth before his mouth could form them and the plant scrambled back towards the rip in the fabric of reality. Without even looking back over his leafy shoulder, the demon pulled himself back through the hole and closed it behind him. Maybe he could find someplace to hide…

Warden watched the plant go, ensuring that the tear mended itself entirely and then waited a couple more painful minutes to ensure that Dave didn’t try to come back through. Breathing heavily with hand clutching at his side, Warden turned towards Celestia first to check on her.

“Are you okay, Princess?” Warden groaned out, limping his way to where Celestia laid and watched with wide eyes.

“Am I okay? What about you! You’re very clearly injured!” Celestia retorted frantically, rising to her hooves to approach the man and examine him. “Let me see the wound, I shall try to mend it.”

“Won’t work. It’s demonic energy, you’d just be sealing it into me,” Warden sucked in a heavy breath when he moved into a position that only irritated the injury further. “I’ll be fine, I just need to heal.”

“But I-” Celestia was about to protest when the guard nearby let out a howl of pain, his voice already beginning to show signs of possession as it was let out gravely and with a second, undertone of the demon faintly accompanying his scream. “Fine, but please help the guard!”

“I’ll do what I can.” Warden nodded back and turned to limp towards the stricken pony. Celestia, noticing how much pain Warden appeared to be in, stepped forward to his uninjured side and helped him along with a wing.

Once arrived, the man dropped unsteadily to his knees over the pony, using his body to hold the pony on his side so that he could examine the wound left by the thorns. How this guard wasn’t dead yet was beyond Warden, but that was something to ponder over once they were both healthy. Or at least no longer in pain.

“Please stand apart from me while I work. I don’t want to risk killing you in the process.” Warden requested, turning his head to glance back over his shoulder. Celestia gulped, but nodded and backed a ways away; a nod from Warden told her she was far enough, though now she was standing on the farthest end of the room from the Nephalem.

Turning to look back at the body under him, Warden Caster took in a deep breath for his benefit and winced at the sharp shooting pain in his side as his ribs expanded. Letting it go, the man opened his left eye and bathed the pony below in holy light.

The guard screamed, the energy within him screaming in unison but it seemed that everything was going fine: he could be exorcised with plenty a safety margin for error. Placing a hand against the pony’s neck, the Nephalem mentally watched the responses and continued to stare down at the wound, cleansing it and purifying the toxins coursing through his bloodstream.

The wound began to close up, the flesh seeming to stitch itself together and the fur patching itself back into form hough the blood remained. A simple shower would fix that.

Then everything went wrong. The changes began to revert and grow worse under the Light of God. The new fur fell off and the flesh seared itself open again, only to get worse and start showing signs of demonic transformation.

“Shit! Recoil!” Warden hissed to himself and shut his eye all while placing his demon’s hand over his celestial to begin the conversion to Nephalem. Celestia watched on with fear as the light shining over the body ceased and the man began the ritual which saved her student.

““Cum haec manus mundabo te. Cum haec manus adiuro te. Cum potestate mea peto tua vita, anima tua, tuum esse, et ligare eos ad mea. Tua daemon dimidium, silenced cum meus caelestis spiritus, et remedia flammis intra quod tuum corpus remaneat, unburdened per damnationem. Per nomen meum, William contracte Caster, ego liberum te.” As before, his voice was joined by a chorus of his own. The multiple voices of the Nephalem echoing around the room in a grandiose choir of sound and prayer for the life of the pony between his legs.

The same beam which converted Twilight Sparkle shot down from Warden’s hands and plunged deep into the wound of the guard and began it’s work. Heavenly light erupted from the stallion’s eyes, mouth, nostrils, and wound. That light flared out, striking at random parts of the room and Celestia had to work hard at avoiding the light while it dissolved the desecrated bodies or turned the stone of the floor, walls and ceiling to Hallowed Stone, tinging everything a slightly luminescent light blue colour. ]

“Et oblinito daemonium interius!” Caster shouted, pouring all his energy into the conversion at hand even though his injuries were burning as the light hit it. The body beneath him began to be consumed with the light, and it was only through Celestia ducking into the shadow cast by Warden’s body was she left alive through everything; her tail did get a little singed however, leaving the single purest white streak through the three primary colours in the process.

The body, now completely consumed with Holy Energy, began to break apart and dissolve into the atmosphere, dropping the Warden to the ground once the body had faded away.

Everything went silent and the light faded quickly, leaving the room either scorched or converted the Hallowed Ground and slightly glowing in hues of blue, green and yellow depending on the type of stone converted.

“Was…” Celestia whispered from behind the man, her attention divided between the room, her tail and the man who sat slumped over on the ground. “Was that supposed to…”

“No, he’s dead now.” Warden announced, his words bouncing off the ground to reflect back around the room. “And I’ve unwittingly set up the single largest Heavenly beacon that the Nephalem Order has ever seen.”

“Which means…” Celestia cautiously approached the man with a frown on her face, now more interested in how the floor pulsed with rippling light every time she set hoof down on the floor.

“Which means it’s only a matter of time until a Host of Angels gets wind of this world and starts trying to harvest everything here for their engines of war.” Warden explained, still slumped over with forehead touching the stone beneath him. “But,” the man awkwardly thrust a finger into the air pointedly. “That shouldn’t happen so long as we keep all tears between our worlds closed.”

“Are…” Celestia stood over the slumped over form of her savior, wondering what he was doing now. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, my injury is gone now,” Celestia only now noticed how his back and side was now completely mended and the skin looking fresh with a single massive scar running where the injury had been. Peeking out from under his clothing looked to be any number of other scars, criss-crossing over the fresh one to look like some kind of strange pattern. “I’m just… unable to move now as my demon half has been nearly purified completely.”

“And that makes you unable to move?” Celestia ignored the worrying scars and sat down on the Nephalem’s left side. “And, what happened to the guard?”

“The guard’s body wasn’t able to handle the conversion, so the energy I was trying to put into him made him explode.” the man was rolled over onto his back when Celestia nudged his side with her muzzle. The most he couple accomplish was to get his hands up onto his chest and folded over his stomach.

“As for why I can’t move, think of it as Magical Burn-out. Assuming that’s actually a thing for your type of magic. Your body retains so much latent magical energy that when it’s suddenly and almost completely drained, your body is unable to cope properly and so puts you into a waking coma until the magic replenishes.” the man explained, barely turning his head to look at Celestia square on.

“So, you’ll be back at full power soon?”

The man snickered to himself. “Yeah, I’ll be good soon. Give me a week and I’ll be right as rain.” this comment shot both of the Alicorn’s eyebrows skyward, nearly dislodging them so they could join this world’s Heavenly Host as the wings of some tiny little munchkin angel.

“A week, really?” the voice of the alicorn was higher as the owner was in disbelief. “Even I, if I ever burn out all my magic, would only be out of action for a couple days…”

“Well, that should go to show just how much power I regularly have at my command.” Warden sighed and closed his eyes, settling down for the week long nap right there on the floor, surrounded by debris and in the middle of the throne room. “That, or there’s that big a difference in how our respective powers work.”

“I see…” the alicorns laid herself down, placing her muzzle on her hooves yet remained watching the man as he rested. “Can I take you somewhere more comfortable?”

“Hmm?” the man hummed, turning his head though his eyes remained closed towards the voice of the Princess. “Oh, yes please. All this Hallowed Ground is preventing me from recovering anything.”

“Very well.” Celestia’s voice rose as she stood up and the man opened his eyes to watch how the princess would work. “I shall find a couple guards who’re still…” she stopped and sighed a moment, looking over the few bodies that still remained. “Still alive and well to help you.”

“That’d be great, thanks.” the man gave a small smile and shut his eyes again to get comfortable. “Here’s hoping no more demons come out to play…”

“Agreed, we’d be doomed if that ever happened.” Celestia nodded as she left the room to find someone who’d survived. There would be time for mourning, though it’d have to take place after the cleanup of the castle. There were still things to do and Celestia’s mind put the dead towards the end of the list, if for now anyways.

The room grew quiet once Celestia turned the corner into the hallway, beginning her search. Warden merely waited in silence, listening to the world around him and to the sound of his body working to itself.

Something somewhere in the room shifted, a piece of rubble falling to the ground with a heavy thud before crumbling to dust. A small squeak in response told Warden that he wasn’t alone in the room after all, and that the visitor was female.

“Come out from there, I know you’re here.” Warden calmly requested with the release of a breath. The form gave a short, barely audible whine in having been discovered, but the form soon appeared to the sound of hoofsteps on the stone floor. “Are you okay?”

After a minute in silence, contemplating whether she wanted to give up her identity, “Aside from prior injury, I am… well…”

“Princess Luna, what are you doing here?” Warden inquired, opening his eyes and turning his head to the right to look in the general direction of the pony princess.

“My intentions… may not have been all that… sane…” Luna admitted and rolled onto her back next to the prone man on the ground. A large ripple of light pulsed outwards from where her body hit the stone, dispersing over the area as it expanded outwards and faded away.

The man merely watched on in silence as Luna got comfortable on her back, her hooves hanging limply in the air. For the moment, she was looking upwards to the ceiling also silent.

“I… may have intended to have taken my sister’s place… To be captured and... Become injured…” Luna frowned and turned her gaze down her barrel towards the destroyed throne. “To end up converted to your kind so that I may once again… be a princess…”

The man’s mouth shifted around in thought as he turned to look back upwards to the ceiling as well, noticing how tiny ripples appeared wherever something landed on the roof outside.

“You could have died.” the man commented lightly, as though this was just another casual topic for him. “Four times you could have died, actually.”

“Pray, tell?” Luna requested, twitching a forehoof absently.

“Once if Dave caught you. Second time when he struck out at Celestia and I. Third time if I couldn’t reach you in time to save you. Fourth time if he injured you and your body rejected the conversion.” Warden explained softly, letting his mind wind down for the sleep he so badly needed. No body moved from where they laid, Warden merely resting while Luna thought over the words she’d been told and considered how close to death she actually had come. In a lapse of judgement, she hadn’t truly ever considered that her life was ever in any danger until now.

“I am sorry that I was so careless.” Luna announced in a low, somber voice. She turned onto her side and pulled her legs into her, resting her head on her legs next to the man, just placing him in the path of her gaze while she pondered. “I am not accustomed to feeling so… powerless…”

“I can understand. I once spent a week as a normal human. Had my powers temporarily stripped away from me and it took everything I had, as well as the help from a friend of mine back home, not to go insane.” Warden only slightly bobbed his head as he was only capable of doing that where he laid in fatigue. “I hope that when you get your magic back, you’ll learn to appreciate them more.”

“I will, I promise.” Luna sat up at the sound of somepony approaching and stood completely when Celestia reappeared with a couple of the medical staff, one pushing a large wheel chair. “Sister, I hope you are well after that debacle?”

“Aside from an unexplained white streak in my tail, I am fine.” Celestia remarked, bringing her flowing tail around to show her sister. “Assuming, of course, that the streak is benign in nature?” she turned the question to the human on the ground as the medical staff worked at physically picking him up and setting him into the chair.

“Should be fine. When I’m back at full strength I’ll see what I can do to fix it, if you wish.” Warden replied as he settled into his new mode of transportation. A nurse appeared behind him, up on her hind legs so that she could push the chair with her forehooves and started the walk out of the room. “Oh, don’t try to fix the room. There’s a good chance it’ll explode if you try to interact with it with your magic.” he warned, letting his head dropped backwards in an awkward method of looking over his shoulder.

“I shall remember that, then.” Celestia stood up straight as a Princess should, wings folded on her sides and ceasing the sunny yellow glow around her horn. A piece of rubble nearby fell back to where it laid, creating massive visual shockwaves in the stone where it landed. “Do get some sleep, please.”

“I plan on-” Warden’s voice cut off with that and his head dropped back as he pretended to fall asleep. Of course, that game only lasted for a minute or two before he did actually fall asleep.

“A strange fellow, is he not?” Luna noted to her sister once the human and accompanying staff were out of earshot. “Certainly one to keep an eye on. I doubt we’ve yet to encounter his fullest potential.”

“Indeed, sister.” Celestia shrugged her eyebrows a moment before giving her mane a toss. Turning in place, the princesses evaluated the state of the room and sighed in unison. “Looks like we’ll be making good use of your Night Court room…”

“Certainly seems like it.” Luna agreed and turned to make her way to the specified room. “Not like I’ll be needing it much now…”

“Oh cheer up, Lulu, we’ll get you fixed right up soon. I promise.” Celestia strolled alongside her younger, diverting her course a fraction to playfully bump against the dark princess. “Come now, we’ve got work to do.”

The Haven Incident - Static

“Twilight!” “Twilight, Twilight, Twilight!” “Twilight Sparkle!” “Hey Egghead!” “Uhm, if you could let us know where you are, we’re really appreciate it.” The voices of five mares echoing down the halls roused a pair of bodies from sleep where they laid. Neither of them were all that fond of being awoken just yet, they both still needed a lot more sleep in order to recover from their various injuries.

The doors to the dark room were very nearly blown off their hinges as all five bodies piled into the room. An aura of blue briefly illuminated the white horn until the lights were flicked on and both patients hissed out in retaliation.

“Twilight!” All five voices yelled in hysterics, pulling open the first curtain nearest to them. Instead of a purple unicorn, they found a rather pissed off Nephalem glaring at them through tired eyes.

“Two curtains over.” Warden grumbled before shutting his eyes against the light so that he could try and get back to sleep. “Turn off the lights, we were sleeping.”

“Oh, of course. I am so sorry, sir.” The marshmallow pony bowed apologetically and with the glow of her horn, the lights in the entire room went off. Her horn continued to glow, just for the sake of glowing, and all five bodies backed out of the cordon to track down their friend. The blue pegasus lingered just long enough to thank the man for the news before backing out as well, pulling the curtain shut before taking off towards her friend.

“Twilight, I can’t believe you’re alright!” a voice with a southern drawl exclaimed once they’d found their friend. “How did you survive that thing?”

“Obviously it was by the power of the Princesses, there is no greater magic which could save her.” a much more prim and proper feminine voice remarked casually, passing off the question. “Twilight is her personal student, you know?”

“Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna, were both powerless to help me, actually.” Twilight replied, curling further into herself as she hugged her chest and did her best to sink deeper into her pillow and blanket. “They were both powerless against the demons, even.” she was quite forlorn with this news. The Princess, the Princesses, were both completely powerless against this new foe. Their magic was useless, the Elements were useless. Their hope for survival rested on the shoulders of one creature that possessed the hearts of three in his chest.

“What, Twilight, you’re not making sense. How could the Princesses, a pair of all-powerful alicorns fail to save you with their magic?” Rainbow Dash asked from the air at the foot of Twilight’s bed, hooves on her hips though she looked more confused than concerned.

Twilight simply glared at her friends from where she laid on her right side, concealing the patterns etched into her fur and skin with the medical bed beneath her.

“Hey, cheer up, miss frowny-pants! I know how to make you feel better! A Get-Well-Soon-Twilight-And-Please-Come-Home-Because-We-All-Miss-You party! There’ll be cake and balloons and streamers and punch, and icing and-” the pink muzzle was clamped shut by an orange hoof and a pair of eyes set into an equally orange face glared at Pinkie.

“Calm down, I think Twilight was going to say something.” Applejack requested before turning back to their friend. “Go ahead, Twi.”

Instead of speak, Twilight merely rolled over onto the left side, bearing the intricate patterns now on her body for everypony to see. Starting at the horn, as before, the spiral-floral patterns worked their way from around the magical instrument and down the entire right side of Twilight’s face, circling around her eye and down her muzzle then further on.

As though using her mane as the divider, the patterns continued down her neck and to her chest where the largest quantity of the pattern was located as it branched off down her forehoof. The rest of the pattern travelled down her side, eventually ending mid-barrel for the time being.

“Why, those are beautiful darling, where did they come from?” Rarity gasped at the designs. She pulled herself up close to her friend’s body to examine them. “What are they? Fur paint?”

“They’re scars, as far as I know.” Twilight mumbled back under her breath and shifted onto her back so that she could properly address her friends. Spike, the purple and green dragonling that she’d grown up with, crawled up onto her bed from Applejack’s back and cuddled in close to his best friend and sister.

“That’s not actually correct, but it is pretty close.” the male voice from two beds down announced. “They’re the physical manifestation of the Demonic and Celestial energies intertwined within your body. The design is just whatever your body wants to show.”

Rarity’s magic took hold of the curtains and pulled them back, then pulled the curtains separating the strange male creature from the females to reveal him resting under a blanket, unmoving.

“And just what do you know about this, huh?” Pinkie demanded, acting the bad-cop role complete with funny hat and baton. She was retrieved and pulled away by Rainbow Dash who dropped her pink bundle of chaos next to Twilight’s bed again.

“You’re very loud, you know that?” Warden commented and would have made a gesture or indication that he wanted to return to sleep, however his current state of immobility let the girls all assume he was still part of the conversation. “And holy crap you are so pink!” he added after actually looking at the pony playing interrogator.

“Well duh, I am Pinkie Pie! I gotta be pink or I wouldn’t be Pinkie! Imagine if I was red, or.. Or white and yellow! That’d be a real surprise…” Pinkie giggled at the thought while her apparel had apparently disappeared completely and without notice.

“So, what are you talking about, Demonic and Celestial energies? What’s going to happen to Twilight now?” Rainbow Dash inquired, glancing between the two creatures on beds. The man gave a weak grunt of discomfort and somehow managed to wiggle his way into a slightly less uncomfortable position before giving a sigh.

“I would love to chat with you all about this, but I have no energy nor the drive to explain anything right now.” He announced and shut his eyes again. The curtains were pulled closed with the soft-spoken one wishing him a good sleep and was left mostly alone again. The ponies all gathered around Twilight again, with Rarity memorizing the details of her new markings for later use in a new design in mind.

Twilight simply laid on her side, curled up with her blankets once she’d pulled them up with her horn; though her horn no longer glowed with it’s usual bright purple and instead took on a more maroon colour with a couple streaks of white through and through.

“So, how do you feel?” Fluttershy asked calmly, worried for her friend’s health. “Can I get you anything, do you need another pillow, maybe a warmer blanket?”

“I feel tired. Sorry girls, but could you let me sleep for a while longer?” Twilight muttered glumly, tightening her hold on one of her pillows and seemed to sink deeper into her blankets. The girls all glanced to each other, sharing in a telepathic conversation before acknowledging the request and giving their well-wishes. “Thanks… I’ll talk to you all later, okay?”

“Sure, Twilight. You get better, okay?” Pinkie’s voice was soft and respectful for once, no longer as bouncy and as full of life as she usually was. She may be the liveliest pony in the country, but even she knew when to tone it down a bit. “We’ll have a great party ready for you when you get released. I promise.”

Twilight gave a half-hearted smirk, nothing more than a facial tick if anything, but Pinkie took it as a hint of a smile anyways and pulled the curtains shut behind her as she left.

~~~

One Week Later

~~~

“‘An so Big Mac had to replant the entire field, all on his own! Boy, was he mad!” Applejack exclaimed through wide grins as Twilight politely chuckled to herself while she laid on her back with covers just under her forehooves. “Gosh darn it, Twi, Ponyville’s just not been the same since you’ve been gone.” she sighed, coming down from her entertaining stories to return to the task at hoof. “We all miss you.”

“I know, but my doctor’s don’t know when i’ll be released. They’ve never seen anything like my condition and the only guy who can help me is paralysed for another day or two.” Twilight complained, turning to lay her head on her pillow and glare through the curtains separating her from her company. Even if he couldn’t see her, the Warden could still feel the glare but remained silent as he tried to sleep.

Failing that, he spoke up. “I’ve probably only got a couple days left to go before I’m good, I can already begin to feel my legs and arms again. When i’m able to, I’ll check you over and see how you’ve taken to the transition. After that, it’s straight to training.”

“Training, what fer?” Applejack joined in on the conversation all on her own, standing to pull the curtains aside with her teeth so that the Warden could properly look turn his head and eye the ponies over.

“Training to use her new Nephalem abilities. Not only will it give me the edge I’ll need to eventually hunt down all the rest of the demons hiding on this world, but it’ll also help keep Twilight alive.” Warden replied, his face mostly unmoving and no emotions on his features given that parts of him was still numb. This wasn’t exactly news to Twilight, as they had spent a couple hours each day when they were awake talking about what would happen soon enough, so she didn’t feel the need to ask about the bit about saving her life. Turns out there was quite the price to pay for becoming a Nephalem.

“So, what does that mean for ye comin’ back to Ponyville?” the farmer mare turned back to the unicorn looking worried. “Ya are comin’ back, right?”

“Probably not for a while…” Twilight admitted to her friend, sounding quite disappointed in all honesty. She was growing more and more excited to the prospect of returning home to her library and to Spike, however the news she’d gotten had unexpectedly put those plans on hold for the foreseeable future.

Applejack’s face grew dark with disappointment. “Ahh see. Well, if that’s how things must be…” she mumbled in defeat. She knew better than to question anything that involved somepony’s life, and if Twilight’s new teacher said that she’d have to stay to train and protect herself, then there was nothing she could do.

“By all means, at no point did I say that the training had to be here at the Castle,” Warden began, offering hope for both mares. “We can start your training in Ponyville and spend a couple days there. I do prefer to remain close to the castle, however, since the throne room has become a Celestial Beacon now and I need to be around to fight off angels as they appear.”

“Really? I can go back home?” Twilight sat up in bed, the blankets being thrown off her to sit over her rear legs and she stared at the human with wide eyes. He nodded as best he could, giving Twilight and Applejack reason to rejoice. “I can’t wait!”

“Remember, at most for only a couple days. It won’t be for long.” Warden lifted his hand with a finger thrust upwards to make his point. The hand quickly dropped back down as all strength left it once more and he sighed, turning back to stare up at the ceiling.

Before much else could be said, the doors to the infirmary were pushed open with a calm yellow aura and a pair of figures stepped into the room. Celestia stepped in on the right, the side that Twilight, Warden and Applejack were on, and at her left stood Luna with a small black cap on what was left of her horn.

The cap had been fixed to her horn, her horn threaded and the cap screwed into place so that as the horn gradually grew over a millennium, the cap would eventually form the new rounded tip of the spire. It wasn’t a pleasant experience for Luna and as such, her horn was still exceptionally sensitive to even the lightest touch.

While Celestia had her ever present aetherial mane and tail blowing in the unfelt breezes, Luna’s remained physical and her bangs fell over one eye while the rest was pulled back and done up with an elastic. Her tail had been wrapped a couple inches, strictly for the purposes of hygiene and constantly irritated the princess whenever she sat down.

“Princesses, I wasn’t aware you’d be coming to visit!” Twilight beamed at the appearance of the two, Applejack standing to bow and Twilight gave the best bow from her laying position as she could. While Celestia continued on to her student, Luna detoured and stepped up next to Warden, dropping her derriere in a cushion next to him and gave a soft hello while her sister and friends conversed. The Warden gave a warm smile and turned to face the blue pony and revived a topic that they’d been chatting about previously.

“I thought we’d surprise you, though it seems that my sister was more interested in visiting with her new friend.” Celestia replied, turning over her shoulder to look back at her sister as she spoke, noting how friendly and close the two had appeared to have gotten so quickly. She turned back to her student and extended a wing to hug Twilight before turning to Applejack. “And a pleasure to see you again as well, miss Applejack.”

“Aww shucks, Princess. It’s just Applejack, I’m not for any of that ‘miss’ business.” Applejack chuckled but tipped her hat at the princess in respect anyways. “Anyhow, how are you and your sister dealing with what happened at Haven?”

“It’s been a challenge.” Celestia’s facade dropped for a moment as a look of exhaustion dawned over her features. “The unprecedented loss of life has taken it’s toll on ponies all over Equestria and rumors have leaked that not all the demons were caught and defeated. Many are calling for retribution, for the use of the Elements to defeat those who survived and to turn the power of our magic back onto the world from which they came.” Celestia rubbed her forehead with her hoof, eyes pinched shut as she spoke.

“But our magic doesn’t do anything against the demons…” Twilight frowned, only adding to Celestia’s problem.

“Exactly. The power we have on our planet is insignificant compared to what Warden has described in our conversations.” Celestia nodded the point back to Twilight before continuing. “I can’t say that I’ll do anything, because I’ll be sending good ponies to their deaths, and I can’t say I can’t do anything, lest I cause a panic.” she sighed, taking the opportunity of being among close friends to drop her head to the bed in defeat. “For the firsttime in a very long time, I don’t know what to do anymore.”

No one said anything for a few minutes, even Warden and Luna’s conversation seemed to have taken a coffee break and the room was filled with silence.

“When Warden and I are done my training, then you can tell your subjects that you’ve formed a special team of powerful demon hunters who’re going to out and fix things.” Twilight decided right then and there, breaking the tension in the air brought on by Celestia’s moping. Celestia lifted her head and smiled at her student, appreciative of the suggestion. The appreciation was for the suggestion only, not for an offer since the oldest princess had been told about how long the training would take Twilight and by no means would it be a short tryst completed with note-taking and exams like she was used to.

“Thank you, Twilight. I shall be sure to make appropriate accommodations for when I get to announce you and Warden.” Celestia took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, her mind having taken a break for a while and allowed her to breath easy. She was so very fond of how Twilight always knew how best to calm her mentor and even just simple suggestions would often bring an air of freshness about her mind like nothing else could. “Now, I know you’ve been stuck in bed, but have you been keeping up with your studies?”

“As best as I can, anyways. Spike and Rarity have been bringing me books every time they come around to visit, but with my magical power cut in half, I’ve been having issues with actually practicing even the most mediocre of spells. I have to rest for an hour after even levitating a single stack of books now! It’s so frustrating!” Twilight complained, indicating with an example as she magically fished out a bunch of books hiding under her bed and groaning with the effort as she did so.

Celestia watched her horn as the spell was cast, watching to make sure that Twilight was actually casting the spell as required but remained silently surprised when her horn was no longer lit up in it’s bright purple, but instead took on a more maroon colour with flecks of white mixed in every so often. Celestia’s eyes flicked over towards Warden who was still chatting and laughing it up with her sister. Turning back to Twilight, she applied a smile to her muzzle and placed a comforting hoof on the unicorn’s shoulder.

“I’m sure it will be fine. I remember you used to have similar issues when you were a young filly learning to first control that spell. I believe the issue was proper magic control and application of correct levels.” Celestia commented thoughtfully, maybe giving Twilight and idea with which to improve herself again.

“I know. I thought the same thing, but no matter how hard I try to concentrate, no matter how much magic I try to move through my horn, I always feel like something is blocking the flow. Like trying to fit a waterfall through a four inch pipe.” Twilight sighed and set the books down at the foot of her bed where Applejack could pull at once and read the spines.

“What in tarnation- Twilight, you say these are mediocre spells for you?” Applejack gawked at the unicorn, setting the book about advanced weight manipulation down next to the book about advanced alchemical reactions. Twilight turned to her friend and nodded.

“Used to be, yes.” She sighed and leaned back against the headboard of the bed and stared at the books, mentally cursing them for suddenly becoming so much more difficult. “I used to do morning magic stretches with weight training and then would calm my mind for sleep with mathematical equations. Thankfully my intelligence hasn’t taken a hit so I can still calculate the exact dimensions of the entire castle we’re in.” Twilight’s voice continued to support the thought that she was complaining, but soon she calmed herself with a breath and shut her eyes.

The breath was disturbed with a bit of giggling from Luna as Warden regaled her with some of his exploits back on his world.

“And have you been eating properly?” Celestia inquired, mostly for a lack of conversational options in her mind. She surely enjoyed her time spent with her favourite student, by no means will that ever change, but sometimes she’d want to visit and have nothing to actually talk about.

“Yes, I have. Medical staff have been seeing to that, I assure you.” Twilight groaned back, as though she was now talking to her mother instead of her Princess and teacher. And with that topic over, silence fell between teacher and student, though the conversation a couple beds over seemed interesting.

Through raised a raised voice of disappointment, “You’re leaving? But you’ve only been here for just over a week, and most of it you’ve been spending paralysed in bed!” Luna frowned, not looking forward to potentially losing a friend so soon.

“I’m only going to be gone for a couple days at most. I have to report in to the Nephalem High Counsel on my world regarding the events that have happened here; I also have to report that Twilight has become a Nephalem under my tutelage, though she won’t have to come with me and can take the time to go home and visit her friends, and give a quote for the work I’m going to have to do here to make sure your world is safe.” Warden replied, nudging a hand off his lap and let it fall so that it ended up somehow resting on Luna’s hoof; a gesture of goodwill only. Luna remained silent as she processed but eventually agreed and retracted her hoof from the bedside and set it down on the floor. The hoof only stayed there for a short time before it rose up out of sight and gently rubbed against her other foreleg.

“Very well. When do you leave?” Luna looked back up, speaking softly even though her mind demanded that she enforce her will and have the human stay to visit.

“Probably as soon as I am able to walk on my own two legs again. I’ll spend a couple days there, then I’ll come back” -Warden turned his head towards Celestia and Twilight- “and we’ll get started on your training in Ponyville where we’ll stay for a couple days, then back to the castle.”

Twilight and Celestia both nodded agreement and turned back to begin a new conversation of their own. Luna shifted her mouth around in silent contemplation, trying to draw up a schedule in her mind.

“So, a week then?” she decided, turning back to the vulnerable man. He laid in thought for a moment before giving the princess of the night an unagreeable half-nod.

“If all goes well, probably. Worst case, I may be delayed by a couple days…” Warden sighed, though in his mind he knew he could be held up for weeks if not months in the red tape. If it wasn’t for the fact that he relied on the work that the Order paid him, he’d have vacated Earth and gone to work in one of the many other realms connected to his so long ago. His voice seemed to betray his intentions of concealing the truth and the mares in the room picked up on this.

“Warden, please be honest with me. How long do you expect to be gone; worst case scenario?” Luna requested, sticking her neck over the bed to look the man directly in the eyes.

Silently judging his chances to successfully mislead the Princess, Warden found his chances slim and gave a heavy sigh. “I may end up being gone for months before coming back.” Luna felt her heart sink a little, the thought of losing a friend so soon weighing on her shoulders. “If that is the case, I’ll at least try to send something or someone else in my stead to start teaching Twilight. I can’t leave your reality undefended against Demonic or Celestial entities after everything.”

“We would appreciate that. I’m already having troubles with our subjects over what to do or tell them concerning the Haven Incident. If you were to leave us completely undefended, I am loath to consider the repercussions.” Celestia announced, her eyes shifted to the side as she mentally watched ponies rioting in the streets, or worse, her country becoming a free-range hunting ground for Demon-kind.

Warden sat up in his bed with assistance from Luna and worked at throwing his legs over the edge of the mattress so that Luna could help him into a wheelchair sitting nearby. Wheeling over to Twilight’s bed, coming to a stop on her right and across from Celestia, Warden openly and silently stared at Twilight unmoving.

“What’re you looking at me like that for?” Twilight fidgeted in her own bed, unconsciously clutching at her blankets. She mentally checked herself over and aside from… those parts missing, she felt completely fine. If she put aside the feeling of having molten magma coursing through her veins, that is.

“Are you missing them yet?” Warden asked, causing Twilight’s eyes to go wide as her mind immediately went south. There’s no way he could know about that, could he? Was her ordeal with her missing parts a sacrifice of gaining Nephalem powers? “Your silence tells me you are. Show me.”

“Warden, I want you to be very specific about what you’re talking about. What is she missing and what do you want her to show you?” Celestia warned, narrowing her eyes at the man. “I will have you know that I do not let sexual abuse slip by so easily.”

“It isn’t seual abuse if she’s missing her reproductive organs. Nothing to abuse, right?” Warden explained and in doing so, stunned the mares in the room save for the reddening face of the youngest Nephalem in the room. “So,” he turned his attention back to Twilight. “Are they still there or are they gone?”

“They’re missing…” Twilight whispered only loud enough to be heard by those immediately gathered and hesitantly and shamefully pulled the blankets aside to reveal a completely normal looking crotch, save for the fact that where a vagina used to be, it was just smoothed over fur which lead towards her tail. “I didn’t want to say anything about it, in case it was just me.”

“It’s not. All Nephalem lose their genitalia early on.” Warden sat back and lightly shook his head. Luna couldn’t help but do her very best to look casual as she tried to sneak a peek down south on the male, just wondering if the same was said for him.

“So, then you don’t have any bits either?” Applejack openly asked, the only one brave enough to actually ask. Warden shook his head as an answer, raising the eyebrows of the mares in the room. “Why?”

“Whole thing about the Angel side, they’re all monogendered so that gets passed on down to us.” Warden replied with a casual shrug and got himself a little more comfortable in his seat. “Fun fact, when I was turned, I was a woman.”

That certainly shut everypony up and Luna even took a step backwards in shock and a little embarrassment.

“You… were a mare when you were turned into a Nephalem?” Celestia asked, though she already had her answer.

“I was, yes. But, I wasn’t exactly your normal woman for my era.” Warden smirked and worked at lifting his arm to place his numb hand against his growing facial hair. With looks from everyone, all looks of incredulity and surprise, edging him on, “I was a lesbian and acted more like the boys I grew up around more than as a girl. When I was turned and my organs disappeared, I gradually turned into a male simply because of my mindframe.”

“Am… Am I going to turn into… into a stallion?” Twilight squeaked in fear for her femininity. Warden shrugged, giving no real answer for Twilight’s mental fortitude.

“Are you a lesbian? Do you like mares over stallions?” he asked casually, earning a few strange looks before Twilight spoke up.

“We call those ‘Filly-foolers’ and no, I am not.” Twilight explained in supplement for an answer.

“Do you act like a boy over a girl? Do you like the more masculine activities?” Twilight shook her head to both inquiries. “Then you’ll be fine. As long as you behave and act like a female, you’ll stay with female features. Besides, it takes centuries to change so drastically as I did.”

“Hold on, how old are you? You look no younger than… I guess maybe twenty-seven?” Luna stepped forward again, forgetting about how close she’d gotten to getting involved with a filly-fooler, even if he was no longer technically oriented to be homosexual.

“Well, I was already a Nephalem when The War To End All Wars began, I was a young girl when the United States were still The British Colonies… So… over three hundred years old now, plus change…” Warden shrugged and shifted in his chair again, all while Celestia and Luna tipped their horns to the human.

“How long do humans usually live?” Applejack inquired from the foot of Twilight’s bed.

“Depending on the era I was in, used to be only forty years or so, then as medical sciences advanced most humans now live to about ninety-five to one-hundred, give or take.” Caster announced, earning raised eyebrows from the immortals of the group, as well as Twilight. “We Nephalem live for as long as we can stay alive. The High Council consists of members who’re already reaching their early millennia.” this certainly got attention of those in the room.

“You mean, you’ll live as long as we have, if you survive?” Celestia gawked at Warden, then turned to Twilight mumbling to herself about advancing plans sooner than expected.

“Keywords here are ‘if we survive.’” Warden interjected, making sure that those gathered understood just how important those words actually were. “There is a reason why the Council is made up of the oldest Nephalem, they're the strongest, the wisest, the bravest. They've earned their positions on the council through merely surviving for so long.”

“Sounds kind of like the Zebric Cabal.” Luna whispered to her sister who nodded in reply. Warden groaned and wheeled himself backwards, away from the side of the bed and past Applejack while everyone stared at him.

“Where are you going?” Twilight asked, almost demanding the information. The Warden merely looked back over his shoulder while continuing to roll away.

“Going for a metaphorical walk, you wanna join me?” Warden replied, stopping only for as long as it took for Twilight to consider the offer then take it as permission to get up and out of bed for the first time in a week. Dropping down onto all four, Warden made a mental note on what to begin Twilight’s training with when her right forehoof hit the ground and caused a miniature explosion which only served to blacken the stone.

“Oh, geez, I’m sorry princess. I don’t know how to stop this…” Twilight looked up to her mentor as she was surrounded by her friends and mentor. Celestia merely shook the small display of power away.

“It’s alright. I’m sure it's just the infancy of your powers.” The elder princess continued on her calm stride, while the Warden in the chair seemed not to be going on an aimless “walk” as he’d suggested and instead looked to be aiming in the general direction of the throneroom.

“May I ask where we’re going?” Luna inquired, vocalizing the wonderings of the other ponies around her. Both Luna and her sister ignored the bows or salutes from castle staff and guards respectively, Celestia and Luna even going so far as to order their Solar and Lunar Guards to operate in silence and remain in the shadows as they passed by such a guard member.

“Throne room, if my memory is as good as I think it is.” Warden answered simply, turning a corner but apparently turned the wrong way as Luna hopped up to walk the man herself, pushing with her forehooves and walking herself on her rear legs. “Which, apparently it isn't.”

“What business could you have in the throne room in your current state? Isn’t it just going to drain you and lengthen the amount of time you're unable to move?” Celestia mused to herself, trying to imagine the possible reasons. Granted, as this was all new to her, she couldn’t come up with many reasons.

“Under normal circumstances, you’d be right.” Warden worked at looking back over his shoulder at the princess following close behind him and on his right. “But i’m aiming for a different version of the Celestial Beacon.”

“A… different version?” Applejack scratched under her hat and in doing so, had to stop the posse so that she could do so. Warden was spun around to address the group properly. “So, what? Can ya just convert the.. Whatever-yeh-call-it-stone to a stone that doesn’t drain ya?”

“Hallowed Stone, and no. I can’t. Not even the most powerful Nephalem can just convert Hallowed Ground into something that doesn’t slowly kill us.” Warden explained, clasping hands together in his lap while Twilight took the opportunity to adjust his blanket to a more perfect level of draping. Each edge was exactly four centimeters over his foot.

“Then, you wish to begin your duties as guardsman for the room, even in your state?” Luna inquires, hopping down to join her sister on Warden’s left, next to Twilight and Celestia.

“Nah, I rather like life. Thanks though.” Warden replied, giving his head a roll on his shoulders to try and loosen up the stiff muscle groups located there. “But, even if we can’t convert the room, it doesn’t mean we can’t cheat.”

“Ah’m not too sure ah like where this is goin’.” Applejack muttered but remained respectful anyways. “Cheat how?”

“Well, if I have enough power to do so, I’ll show you.” Warden replied annoyingly, then looked back to Luna. “To the throne room please.”

“Very well, if you know what you’re doing.” Luna sighed and shrugged all at once, but agreed and continued to push her new friend down the hallway.

A short ride and light banter between associates later, and Warden held a hand up a hallway away from the entrance to the cordoned off Throne Room, stopping the group.

“What’s wrong, we’re almost to your destination.” Luna asked, looking over the human’s shoulder at her friend for signs of distress. He merely groaned and worked at pulling himself up and off the chair, his entire body fighting the whole ordeal through to the end but he eventually got to his feet with help from those who weren’t royalty.

“Here is far enough for my needs.” Warden groaned heavily and sucked in a deep breath. “Just hope I have enough power to do this.”

“What’re you doing? Is it a Nephalem thing?” Twilight asked, rounding in front of the man looking eager to begin learning already.

“It is yes, and you’ll have to learn how to do it eventually, but not right now.” Warden Caster replied, having to manually set his legs at shoulder width apart with his hands before setting him in a mostly stable stance. Taking in a few deep breaths, clenching and unclenching his demon hand repeatedly, Warden seemed to stare off into space in silence and while the mares of the group simply remained calm, the guards smirked at the strange display of the weary traveller.

The silence seemed to have done something as Twilight began to feel a strange magnetic pull begin to draw her in towards the man, though she resisted it and remained rooted where she stood. The man reached down to his right hip with both hands and something began to take form there. Pulling sharply, a pair of single-handed scythes emerged from hellfire, linked together with a long and nasty-looking chain welded to both ends of the hilts.

Letting one of the weapon’s ends hang freely, Warden gave the second half a strong yank across his body, bringing the second end across his chest until the chain shortened and the scythe connected into one evil looking double-ended scythe.

The guards nearby didn’t even have time to react as the new blade was spun in place, creating a perfect circle of obsidian in the air and the space where the hilts spun, the air began to crackle and shoot sparks of black lightning all around the area, forming a defensive perimeter directly around those in the Warden’s group.

To the guards, that group just completely ceased to exist all at once. The wheelchair the only evidence that anyone had ever been there in the first place. To those in the party, their world had merely grown dark and dreary, a stark contrast to the bright colours of the castle in the daylight. Luna identified the realm almost immediately.

“‘How did you get us into my Shadow Reality? Only I and those I trust implicitly may enter this reality.” she asked, rounding in front of the Warden while she noted how the candles set onto the stands where plants usually existed burned forever, just as she’d enchanted them to do. Outside, the world was completely dark, no stars, no sun nor moon.

Fact of the matter was, the world didn’t actually exist outside of the confines of the castle since Luna didn’t have need for encompassing her Shadow Reality over the rest of Equestria. This realm allowed her to convene with her own Guards in secret, as well as allowed her to move around the castle completely undetected. Of course, without her horn, she’d never be able to get into this version of reality ever again, but if her new friend could easily access it, then maybe she could finally go and get those… ahem… personal items of hers.

“Shadow Reality?” Warden looked at the Princess of the Night in mild confusion. “Nephalem use this realm, the Infinity Realm, to hide and live in peace. This is the only reality that only we can get into whenever we want. It shields us, protects us, and, hopefully…” Warden explained and started off down the hall. Already, as he drew nearer to the Throne Room, the Nephalems of the group could already begin to feel a much more potent presence in the air. Those who weren’t, couldn’t feel a thing.

“Twilight, as though having magnets strapped to her chest, began to quicken her pace, completely oblivious to the callings of Applejack, Celestia or Luna. Warden merely watched as the pony started off at a light trot, then a canter, then a full out gallop as she tore down the hallway to the Throne Room.

“Where is she going? It’s like she’s possessed!” Applejack commented, taking off at a run as the rest of the group took off after the youngest Nephalem.

“She is.” Warden remarked calmly and slid to a halt next to Twilight who raved at the Throne Room doors, clawing at the slabs with her forehooves like a madpony trying to dig their way out of their cell from an asylum with all the ferocity that a little unicorn/Nephalem could muster. When Warden pulled her off the ground and stored her under his arm like a football, or a small dog, Twilight began firing off bolts of her strange new magic from her horn. Shooting bolts randomly, Warden simply licked both thumb and forefinger and clamped them down on the end of Twilight’s horn, much like he would on a candle. Her magic stopped and Twilight resisted, trying to shake the human off her horn but failing miserably.

“Is she going to be okay?” Celestia had to almost yell over Twilight’s screaming and incomprehensive yelling to be freed. Warden sat down with a bit of work and planted the pony firmly in his lap, using his legs to hold her down while one hand held her horn inactive, he held her head still as best as he could with his free hand and stared into Twilight’s eyes.

“She’s…” Warden mumbled, gauging the discolourations in the pony’s eyes. While the left eye was still purple and the size of a pin, the right was purple but heavily laced with red in her iris. Not fully consumed, but it wouldn't take long. “She’ll be fine. I just have to subdue her, or let her ride out her possession until she’s fully drained.” Warden remarked, once again placing Twilight under his arm and standing with help from AJ. “And because we’re right here, safest best would be to let her run through her possession.” he stepped up to the doors to the throne room, to which Celestia tried to open but found that when she tried to touch the doors, her magic rebounded sharply and struck her back.

Placing his hand on the left door slab, his hand automatically turned to it’s Demonic form and allowed the Nephalem into the room. The doors swung open and a deep red light began to fill the room from everywhere all at once.

“This room while in the normal reality, is a Celestial Beacon. This room, while in the Infinity Realm, is a sanctuary for Nephalem only.” Warden announced as he stepped in and took a deep breath of the power he’d been missing for the last week. Instantly, his body began to loosen up and rejuvenate while Twilight seemed to go completely still while captive. He set the pony down, only for the mare to suddenly disappear from where he’d put her down. Instead, she appeared deeper into the room, literally running circles in spot as though trying to create her own vortex all on her own.

“Yer sure she’s gon’ be okay?” Applejack wondered hesitantly, watching her friend suffer the worst mental breakdown she’d yet seen so far. The Warden merely shrugged and set himself down on the floor in the middle of the room, then splayed himself out as far as his limbs would stretch. Luna and Celestia, eyes both on Twilight as she took to trying to see how high she could jump, approached the man and laid down next to him on either side. Applejack merely sat at the human’s head, watching intently over Twilight.

“I was wondering why this version of the throne room doesn’t have the bodies or the destruction from your fight earlier this week.” Celestia wondered, breaking eyesight off her pupil to take in the pristine version of the room she’d spent so much time in. Save for the darker atmosphere, the candles, and the lack of all light coming in through the stained glass windows.

“This room was apparently built to replicate the pristine version of reality when Princess Luna built it. If I had built it myself, based on what the castle looked like right now, then you’d probably have all the debris on the ground and bodies piled up if they haven’t been cleared away yet.” the man explained as his leg crossed over one arched on and began to bob gently to an unheard beat. “I was completely expecting to have to build the Infinity Realm all on my own, which is why I’ve been saving up all my power for the last week. Now, I’m completely good to go.”

“You’re back at full power? How?” Celestia asked in interest. As she recalled, she was told he’d be down for the week, though it’d only been five days so far.

“I’d love to tell you, but we’ve done way too much talking already. I’m also expected back on my world, have a chat with my bosses and whatnot.” Warden groaned as he sat himself up, ending up posted on his elbows which rested behind him. “So, for as welcome as you all are here, I must ask that we all vacate the Infinity Realm so you don't get locked in for an unforeseen amount of time. Unless Princess Luna can still freely enter and exit on her own.” the man turned to address the darker mare while Twilight suddenly skidded to a halt from sprinting around the room, looking to have suddenly been frozen in time, then just tilted forwards on her forelegs (her back half remained rigid) and landed on her face, staying perfectly still in that exact position.

“Ah think she’s done, Warden, sir.” Applejack reported, pointing towards her friend. The man turned curiously towards Twilight and nodded.

“Yup, she’s done. Just put her back in bed for a night and she’ll be fine. She’ll probably have nightmares of hell, though…” he added the last part as a second thought, but gave a sigh of resignation and stood. Celestia stood and retrieved her student, draping her rigid body over her back and holding her in place with her wings, before leaving with the company and exiting the room. Once the doors slammed shut the reality seemed to shatter like glass, returning everyone back to the bright version of the Castle and startling the nearby guards all at once.

“Right, well you all get Twilight to bed, I’ve got a meeting to get to.” Warden announced, stuffing his hands in his pockets and turned to take a moment to glance at each pony near him before holding up a light fist to Luna who bumped her own hoof against it in return. “If I don’t see you, it’s been a gas.”

Before anypony could ask about the strange phrase, the pair of scythes reappeared in the elder Nephalem’s hands and he slashed himself back into the Infinity Realm so that he could make his trip back to his place.

“I’m sure he’ll be back, sister.” Celestia whispered to her sister as she turned to return to the infirmary. “Would you be a dear and have the injured guards brought to the infirmary, please? We’ll have to reopen that up now.”

“Yes sister.” Luna groaned but set to work anyways. Heck, she’d practically already forgotten about the man. Well, almost...

Author's Notes:

All the exposition! I'm sorry, I really am. Next chapter should hopefully be a bit better...

The Writer's Block Incident

So, just kinda quick and dirty on this one. It's kind of like In the Eyes of Death, where I didn't really have an end goal in mind for this one. I still think it was going to be kinda cool though, set up a sort of heavenly/hellish world that existed between the human world and Equestria, outline Sparkle coming to terms with her new powers, Luna's desire for equality to her sister and whatnot. MC would've hunted down the demons, angels would've shown up and created new problems, cults for both sides springing around just to really make a pain in the butt. Think I was partially inspired by Harry Dresden, and a bit of my own stuff thrown in there for good measure.

Thank you for what attention I got for this, I appreciate it greatly and apologize that I couldn't deliver. Writer's blocks and a changing of interests kind of kill the mood, ya know?

Sincerely,

Soren Mercer