> The Blade Chronicles: Book One
>  by boykingkilla
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1: Darkness Rising
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was eight in the morning as the foals sat at their desks, they had began to talk with one another about the days field trip. “Gee, Rumble, do you think that Discord will take us into outer space today?” one of the foals said in a excited tone. It was a colt and as he looked out the window, one of his classmates, a filly, spoke up. 

“No way! Discord took us to outer space last time, Snips! I wonder if he'll take us someplace quiet this time... you know, where we can actually explore without spinning and floating around!” As the foals talked, they didn't notice Discord pull up to the school in his bright yellow school bus. The Draconequus climbed out of the drivers seat, down the steps and out of the door. He made his way into the school house and to the classroom, his lions paw gripped the door handle and turned it. The door opened silently, and before the class knew it, Discord had slid into the classroom. 

“Hello class, I do hope that you all brought your lunches and your notebooks... because we are going to be leaving soon for our field trip to Everglow!” The class nodded as Discord lead the foals outside to the bus. The foals were excited as they spoke to one another, Discord waited for his students to climb up and into the bus before he climbed on. As the doors shut, the draconequus male sat down on the drivers seat and turned the engines on. It roared to life and lifted up from the ground for a moment. Discord gripped the steering wheel calmly with a joyful smile, his voice was filled with excitement as he pushed down on the gas and angled upwards where a glowing blue portal had formed. “Hold on to your lunches, everypony! We're going on a adventure!” the foals gripped their seats tightly as the school bus zoomed through the glowing ring and vanished. The school bus traveled through the portal for fifteen minutes before it re-emerged over Cerulean Tides in Everglow.  

The foals let out exclamations of excitement as they stared out the windows, Discord began to say something as the gas light came on. It showed that the tank was empty, which had caused Discord's eyes to go wide as the school bus began to go down. “Alright everypony, we're out of gas and also crashing... but, never fear, as I have this under control!” he said in a assuring tone as he veered the plummeting school bus towards a field that was a few miles away from the city. The foals gripped the seats even tighter as they screamed in fear. The draconequus grunted as he fought the steering as hard as he could, he knew that he had mere moments to safely land, and it wasn't going to stop him from keeping his class safe. Discord grunted as the school bus landed in the field with a loud and resonating crash which launched the foals off of their seats, only to fall back down onto them with heavy thuds! The school bus skidded and slid a fair distance before it came to a stop against a bale of hay as the draconequus smacked his forehead against the steering wheel. Discord grunted as he lifted his head up and took a look around, he spoke out in a worried tone. “Is everypony alright? Give me one groan for yes, two groans for no...”

The foals all let out a groan, which signaled to the draconequus that they were okay. Discord got up and opened up the bus's doors, his tail flicked softly as he looked to them. “Come on, everypony, let's go check the damage. Procedure requires that everypony must be off of the bus, in case any further problems were to occur.” with that, the foals gave a nod and grumbled as they all followed the draconequus off of the magical bus. They all walked to the front of the now beat up and battered vehicle, Discord dusted his paw and claw off before he pulled the hood up. Steam rushed out and into his face, causing him to cough and to blow away the steam with his paw. As the steam cleared, they all took note of the now destroyed engine. “Ugh...” grumbled Discord under his breath. “The engine is destroyed, we'll have to head over to Cerulean Tides and get a new one...”

Rumble snorted a bit. “How do we know that this place even has anything like a bus system? It looks pretty boring, to me...” Discord gave a soft chuckle as he conjured a spare engine out of thin air. 

“Well, believe it or not, Rumble... this place does have a bus system! We arrived in the middle of their space age era. But we will be here for a bit, since I need to replace this engine, and then we need to find out where exactly we are...” Discord said with a calm tone in his voice, he had begun to change out the engine, and he knew that it would take them a while to get it taken care of without any assistance. As all of this had been going on, a ship had neared the dock to the beautiful and warm island of Kailani...

A soft breeze passed through the harbor of Kailani as a group of Ponies disembarked from the steamboat. It had recently docked and moored for refueling and to get the ships supplies restocked. In the crowd of ponies that had disembarked from the steamboat was a stallion who had a short, black and red mane with brown fur on his body, His tail was long and well kept with a small bit of it missing, his blue eyes glanced around as they walked. He had on a suit of heavy armor, a long sword rested in its sheath and a rifle rested on his back. His armor was painted in the color red with gold trimmings on the edges, he looked to be the same height as any normal stallion worth his gold. Alongside of him walked a tall, burly looking Troll who had  blue skin with black markings on the sides of his face. From the corners of his mouth hung and rested two tendrils that swayed with each step. He stood at eight feet tall and had a storage container in his right hand, power armor adorned his body as he looked straight ahead, his red eyes followed his stallion companion.  

The two made their way into the town  as  they made their way to the stallions home. He had finally been able to return home along with his Troll friend. The stallion couldn't help but remember as the starship that he and his fellow chaos hunters  were on, went careening to the surface of the mining planet. He remembered waking up in the recreation room where he had met Ace Pilot, Duk and Clutterstep. He remembered getting attacked by and ending up friends Barnaby, his troll companion that was with him. He remembered the horrific intestinal monstrosity that had attacked himself and his companions. His memory seemed  to blur up until he and Barnaby had left the mining planet after retrieving the black box from the crashed starship he had arrived on. He had left it with Ace Pilot and the others for safety reasons.

As the stallion and troll arrived at a decently sized house on one of the main streets a few blocks from the shopping area, they both took a moment to examine the exterior. The house was painted white with a square oak front door, a brass doorknob attached to it. A few feet away from the front door on the right side was a boxed window that angled outwards. Inside of the house it was dark, almost as if nobody was home. The stallion looked to the troll with a nod, his voice was calm but a bit tired as he spoke to him. To all those that were passing by, it sounded like he was just talking in grunts and such. However, to those that were multi-linguistic, they could tell that he was speaking in Giant. “Alright Barnaby, feel free to set our gear down here and rest up or stand watch. We don't have to worry about intestine monsters or giant tiger dragons here. I need to go and set my stuff in the bedroom.” 

Barnaby gave him a soft nod in response, before speaking in return. “Alright, smart pony... do you want me to protect your house from whoever tries to enter? Might be good idea to do.” 

The stallions eyes went wide as he shook his head, his mane became a little bit messed up as he rubbed the back of his head with one of his front hooves. “Yes, but I have a family. A wife and two foals that live with me. My wife is named Serene Morning, and my two foals are Night Eye and Sun Spot. You will know them when you see them.”  

Barnaby blinked a bit as he tilted his head quizzically to him. “So, they look like you?” the stallion gave a nod. “Yeah, a mix of Serene and I's coloration and pattern, Night Eye is a bit different, though... much darker in the coat. Either way, I should be out in a bit.” he said as he grunted and searched underneath the doormat for the key, after a moment, he found it and put it into the lock. A moment passed as he heard the gentle click of the locks open up. He opened up the front door and entered, vanishing into the house. As the stallion shut the door, he took the key with him. he set it on the coffee table  and looked to a picture that rested on the nearby side table. It was of him and his family, he was back  home, finally, and was there to stay. He took a moment to smile, something that he hadn't done in a while. Smiling felt a little bit alien to him as he trotted to the hallway and to the bedroom where he and his wife slept. He took his time and set his rifle and sword against the wall carefully before he began to remove his armor. He felt hot inside of the armor as he took it off, the warm weather and breeze outside hadn't helped him much, but now that he was out of his armor, he could cool off. He exhaled, catching his breath as he took in the familiar surroundings of his family's home.

As the stallion was getting his armor and weapons taken care of in the house, three ponies began to approach the house. They had all been laughing up until they saw the troll sitting in their front yard. The oldest of them had sky blue fur on her body, her mane and tail were both a light pink and purple. She was a Pegasus with soft orange eyes and was a foot shorter then the stallion, she also looked to be a few years younger then the stallion. The other two looked to be much younger, one was a Pegasus with gold fur on his body with long fire red hair and dark red bangs for his mane and tail. His dark blue eyes glowed and he stood next to the much older mare, as did the other smaller pony. The remaining small Earth pony had Navy fur on her body, her mane and tail were mixed colors of dark and light purples, the brand on her flank was in the shape of a moon, much as the other foal's brand was the shape of the sun, she had dark green eyes and both of their brands had cross-hairs on them.  

The mare that was in-between the two foals stepped forward, looking up at the troll with a smile. She spoke sweetly to him out of curiosity. “Hello? Who might you be?” Barnaby blinked as he heard nothing from her, aside from fancy sounding words and speech. He couldn't make heads or tails of it, so he responded in kind. 

“Who you be, pretty ponies? Are you the family that friend told me about?” he said in his language of grunts and snarls. the three ponies blinked as they turned their heads and looked to one another confused. The gold furred Pegasus stretched a little as he extended his wings. 

“Don't worry, I've got this!” he said as he lifted up and flew into the air. He couldn't help but smirk as he pointed a front hoof at Barnaby before speaking. “You have five seconds to tell us who you are and why you are here... before I have to beat it out of you!”  

Barnaby rubbed the back of his head at the sounds at first, but when the small Pegasus pointed his hoof at him and took on a aggressive tone to his noise, the troll simply reached a massive hand out. The Pegasus went to fly out of the way, but didn't get too far before his tail got grabbed and very softly pulled back and into the trolls right hand. He barely had time to utter a simple, “Ack!” as he ended up squeezed very slightly. Barnaby wasn't going to seriously injure the foal as he looked down at him. The older mare took a deep breath, pushing the air to her chest as she let out a loud shout of anger that shook the house to its very core, catching the stallions attention that was inside.

The stallion recognized the voice and knew that Serene Morning was the one shouting. He took to his hooves like lightning and bolted through the house,  his fit body ripped through the air as he got to the front door and skidded to a stop. He grabbed the doorknob and flung the door open, hurrying outside. “Serene! What's wrong? Why did you shout like that?!” he skidded to a stop on the grass out front of the house, looking around for a moment, he had realized why she was shouting. He saw the Pegasus foal in Barnaby's grip and spoke to the troll quickly while he tried to keep a calm tone. “Woah! Easy there, Barnaby! That's my colt that you have in your grip...!” he looked down to the stallion, then to the Pegasus that was in his right hand. Then he looked back to the stallion with a hearty laugh. 

“Oh, sorry! Pretty pony has moxie, I like that!” the big troll let go of the Pegasus who then flew down and landed next to the mare. The three stood there, looking at the stallion speechless before the mare finally made a move.  

She surprised him as she galloped over to him and stood on her hind legs. The stallion quickly reared up onto his hind legs in return. The mares eyes were filled with tears of joy and happiness as she hugged the stallion tightly, her face buried into his chest as she sobbed. Through the crying and sobbing, the stallion was able to hear her speak. Her voice was soft, relieved and he could tell that she was happy to finally have him back in her embrace. “Seeking Blade... are you really back? This isn't my mind playing tricks on me...?” 

Seeking Blade gave a nod in return and gently ran a hoof down and through her mane. “Yeah, it's me, Serene Morning. Luminance knows how much I have missed all of  you to death.”

The two foals began to cry, as well, as they galloped to Seeking Blade. They wrapped their front legs  around his waist and hugged him tightly. “Daddy!” they both cried out in unison. Seeking Blade and Serene Morning ended their hug as she dried her eyes with a wing as the mare and stallion got back onto all fours. 

Seeking Blade held the two foals close as tears formed  in the corners of his eyes as he spoke to them in a happy tone. “Sun Spot, Night Eye. You both have grown a bit while I was away!” he stifled the tears as he held the two foals close, looking back to the troll with a chuckle. He spoke to the troll in Giant. “Barnaby, you know these three by name, but not by appearance. The mare is my wife,  Serene Morning. And the two foals are Sun Spot and Night Eye. I need to sit down with you later and teach you how to speak our language, for conveniences sake.” Barnaby gave a nod to Seeking Blade. He didn't say anything, only smiled.

Seeking Blade, Serene Morning, Sun Spot and Night Eye entered the house and left Barnaby outside to keep watch. As they all walked into the living room, Seeking Blade went to say something when Serene Morning planted a soft but tender kiss on his lips. He blushed a dark red as he shyly returned it, making Sun Spot and Night Eye gain a somewhat grossed out expression on their faces. Serene held the kiss for a few moments before she broke it, leaving Seeking Blade speechless. She couldn't help but laugh before speaking. “So, we are glad that you came back safe. What happened? Why didn't you get into contact with us or anything? We thought that you had gotten injured, or worse...” she softly brushed a few stray hairs of her mane out of her face, her husband was able to see that she had small bags underneath her eyes from a sleepless night or two. He had made them worried, and he felt awful about it. Seeking Blade was ready to tell them about everything that had happened.

“Serene, I wanted to get into contact with you and  to tell you that I was alright. Something happened, I really did. But... where the starship crashed at, the planet was going to the dogs. It was chaos, and I only managed to survive thanks to some strangers that ended up eventually becoming my friends. If it wasn't for their help and being able to work with them, I wouldn't have been able to make it back here at all. I encountered so many things on that planet... robots, giant tiger dragons... a intestinal monster that ripped the insides out of its victims and tried to strangle people with said innards!” Seeking Blade briefly imagined that he was back in that awful room with Clutterstep, Duk and Ace Pilot. The intestinal monster had just attacked Duk. And as he rushed in to assist Duk in prying the grotesque monster off of his friend, he felt Serene Mornings right front hoof gently press against his forehead. Bringing him back to sanity and his home.

Sun Spot and Night Eye trotted up to their father, the colt tapped his hooves excitedly as he spoke up. “Oh oh oh! You saw a tiger dragon?! What was it like?!” the filly nodded as she laughed, her forehead playfully bonked her father on the chest. 

“Yeah! Come on daddy... tell us the story about how you and your friends dealt with the tiger dragon!” Serene Morning gave a soft laugh as she trotted past Seeking Blade, she flicked her mane in a playful manner. He had missed his family, and he wasn't going to leave them behind.

The rest of the day went by as everyone had dinner and went to bed. As everyone fell asleep and covered up with their blankets. Back on the mainland, a few miles away from Viljatown. A meteor hit the ground and formed a crater from the impact. Two stallions who had guard uniforms on took note and made their way to the crater, they looked to one another before they slid down the slope of the crater to the meteor. As they reached it, the meteor began to crack and bubble with green fluids of some sort. The green bubbles hissed and popped loudly as the meteor slowly opened up and revealed a stallion standing in the center of the now open meteor. He had black fur on his body with cold red eyes, long black tendrils were able to be seen as they reached up from his backside. His mane was a ghastly violet and reached all of the way down to his front shoulders, his tail was short and ragged. The two guards glared at the alien-like stallion as they drew their swords. They got a good look at the strange stallions brand, it was of a sword that had been thrust through a heart. The strange stallion looked to the two guards, and with a malicious smile.

“Oh, so, you wish to fight me... do you? Well then, I suppose that I shall have to oblige and accept this duel.” the stallion said, he turned to them as his tendrils lashed out at the guards. They both managed to avoid the attacks, parrying with their swords as they grunted. The stallion kept his malicious smile as he spoke once more. This time, his tone was full of wickedness and cruelty. “So, it seems that you both have some skill. Well then, I am sorry to say this... ha, who am I kidding? I'm not sorry to say it, but, you will become members of  my army, anyways. once I turn the nearby city into my necropolis and build  up enough of my forces to go and capture more towns and cities to grow my empire.”

The two guards glared at the stranger before they rushed towards him, their swords rested inside of their snouts as they prepared for a strike. However, they failed to notice his hooves step ever so lightly into the dirt of the crater. He jumped to their side in one quick motion, catching them off guard as their eyes went wide. Then, he brought a tendril down and dug it deep into the lead guards spine. Blood filled the air as the stallion  found his eyesight dimming, his body soon had become a limp and lifeless corpse. His companion let out a shout of terror and horror as he dropped his sword and attempted to flee. The stallion that he was facing was clearly out of his league and challenging him would be suicide. As he started to flee, the tendril flung the guards corpse onto the fleeing one, sending him toppling over the ground and bashing his face against the dirt. The stallion that had been in the meteor stalked towards the remaining guard with a menacing stomp to his step, his eyes flashed a sickening green as he then brought his tendril down and into the back of his neck. His other tendrils pinned him to the ground.

“Yes, that's it... struggle, call out to the gods for help. They will not be able to protect you or anyone from me and the masses of her children... the Mother of thousands. Because, soon enough, this entire planet will fall under my control, and her dominion.” the stranger said with a laugh, and as he stood victorious over his two fresh kills. The mechanisms of hell and the many more diabolical ideas began to click and whir into gear. He removed his tendril from the other guard after a few moments as his body ceased to struggle and went lifeless, taking  a moment as he closed his eyes and began to glow a sickly and sinister green. There was a bright green flash of light from inside of the crater, and as it vanished, the two deceased guards got back to their feet. Their eyes were jet black and lifeless as they grabbed their swords and sheathed them. The stallion that killed them, simply laughed. He began to speak in a dominant, but still malicious tone.

“Come, my minions! For tonight, we begin our conquest of this pitiful planet... One city and town at a time! Onward, towards eternal prosperity and darkness!” the stallion and his two undead guards headed towards Viljatown at a gallop, the one in front and leading the pack, was the stranger... unknown to the rest of Everglow, Hell had arrived... and with it came Bleeding Heart, the Chaos Spawn and a brand new nightmare.
> Chapter 2: Flames Rising
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A week had passed since Seeking Blade and Barnaby had arrived at Kailani and met up with the stallion's family. Seeking Blade had spent the rest of the week after teaching Barnaby how to speak Sylvan, which was, of  course the very language that Ponykind had spoken. The lessons were hard to teach to the troll, of course, due to him not being the brightest bulb in the pack. There were many times during the lessons that the stallion would have to take breaks in order to compose himself and continue to try and teach Barnaby. By weeks end, however, Barnaby had given Seeking Blade quite the surprise... he had spoken a full sentence to where the stallion was able to understand him! The stallion and troll continued to teach and learn from one another until the weeks end. The week went by fast, despite having just returned from space and the Sylvan lessons.

Seeking Blade, Serene Morning, Night Eye and Sun Spot were working in the kitchen a week later.  They had been doing the dishes and making sure that the house was clean, there was a  knock at the front door. Barnaby's voice shook and rattled the house as he spoke. “Smart pony and pretty ponies, there is a weak pony here who wants to speak with you... I don't think he strong enough to speak as it is...” The troll was able to be seen through the nearby window, looking down at a stallion that was waiting was a unicorn who had red fur on his body. He had a white tie around his neck and a short grayish-purple mane with a somewhat long tail that flowed elegantly behind him. His Brand was that of a shield as he continued to knock on the door with an almost unrelenting fervor. The stallion was  frightened by someone or something. Seeking Blade rolled his eyes as he approached the door. He knew who it was, and as he opened up the front door, he gave a smile.

“Hello, Blood Shield, is something wrong?” Seeking Blade asked the stallion, who had inadvertently hit him on the chest. It didn't hurt one bit, but he was still annoyed by it. Blood Shield, the Unicorn stallion, tensed up and nervously rubbed his forehead with his right front hoof. His voice was filled with worry as he began to speak. His dark green eyes glanced from the ground.

“Seeking Blade, did you hear the news this morning?” the red and black maned stallion shook his head a bit, his ears were up as he listened to his friend. 

“Um, no... I have not had the opportunity to turn on our TV yet. What's the matter?” Blood Shield took a slow and somewhat quiet gulp as he looked around uneasily. His voice shook as he leaned to where his face and Seeking Blades were close enough and only he could hear. 

“It was on the news briefly this afternoon before it was pulled off and the newscaster had to change the topic... but Viljatown was destroyed! It ended up being made into a dark city of some sort by somepony and... everypony and everything that was in the city, was either killed or destroyed...” his legs shook a bit as he took a breath in a attempt to steady himself.

Seeking Blades eyes grew wide as he felt worry arise in his throat, it felt like he had swallowed a piece of charcoal. He took a moment to gather his thoughts before speaking in return. His voice was gruff, blunt and a bit worried. “When did they find Viljatown in the state that it's in? Where were the guards and watch when whatever it was that happened, occurred?” his mind was racing with thoughts, worries, fears. Seeking Blade took a look at Barnaby, speaking with the same gruffness in his voice as earlier. 

“Well, Barnaby... I guess we'd best go and check it out, but I don't want to leave my family alone if  some pony is out there destroying the towns and cities.” Barnaby gave a soft grunt in approval.

During the entire time that the two stallions had been talking, Serene Morning, Sun Spot and Night Eye had been listening in from the other side of the front door. Their ears were pressed to the door as the two foals and their mother heard the news, Serene Mornings eyes went wide as she gasped quietly, a wing covered her snout as she shivered. A couple moments later, her wing left her snout after she had taken a moment to calm down. She stepped away from the door and trotted towards her and Seeking Blades bedroom, only to return with a harness that had a pistol inside of a holder. The harness was wrapped around her neck and hung securely to her chest. She had on a light looking outfit on her body, it was a gold chain shirt that had her name embroidered on the outside of the collar. Against her front right shoulder was a sword that was resting in its sheath, which was tied securely so that it wouldn't fall off and inconvenience her. A serious tone came into her voice as she looked to the two foals. “Sun Spot, Night Eye... do you remember the armor, short sword and daggers that I bought you both for the self defense lessons a while back?” the two foals gave a nod as they backed away from the front door. They looked to their mother with curiosity in their eyes as she spoke once more. “Go get that stuff on and secured to your bodies, and meet me out in the front yard. Your father and Barnaby won't be going anywhere alone, because we're going with them...”

Sun Spot and Night Eye blinked a bit as they soon gave their mother a nod, and went to their bedrooms. Serene Morning took the moment as she opened up the front door and stepped outside and into the sunlight. Her head turned to Seeking Blade as she cleared her throat, her voice kept the serious tone from just moments before. “You aren't going to be going alone, honey. I won't let you, and neither will the foals. And don't even try to tell me, “Oh, it's alright. I'll be okay!” like you said the last time, and  ended up stranded on a freaking mining planet!” she took a moment to catch her breath, and once she  calmed down she was able to notice that she had caused him to stare at her. She watched as he composed himself.

Seeking Blade had been quite surprised by Serene Morning and her serious tone. However, he managed to shake the surprise off and managed to speak in response to her. “Serene, as much as I want you and the foals to join me and Barnaby on this outing, I really don't think it would be wise for you to join us. We don't know the exact nature of this threat, and what if we were to be separated by large groups of enemies?” he tilted his head a bit, and was surprised by a playful yet assuring smile. He laughed a bit as he was able to tell that she wasn't going to give up. “Well, I can tell that you won't be giving up. As well as that you have something up your sleeves, if we did end up separated were to happen. Alright, sure, you and the foals can come along and help out. “

As Serene Morning and Seeking Blade talked, Sun Spot and Night Eye walked out of the house and joined them. The two foals each had a different set of armor on and different weapons in sheaths wrapped and tied around their sides. Sun Spot wore a set of white plated armor that protected his entire body, His wings had been set through two wide openings on the sides so that he could fly properly without being grounded. A long sword rested in the sheath by his side and as he stood there, he felt like he could take on anything. His sister had on a set of studded leather armor that covered her body, in the several sheaths by her front legs rested daggers and throwing knives. She looked to their mother and nodded. “Yeah, no way are you going alone.” she said, her brother decided to chime in as well as he looked to his father. 

“The last time you went off planet, we swore to never part ways with you. So, we aren't going to let you do this on your own. Besides, what's that old saying? Ponies that stand together, stick together?”

As he stood there and looked his and Serene's two foals over and looked at their arms and armor, Seeking Blade thought that he saw himself... no, he knew that he saw himself inside of them! They both had the very same strong and proud looking stance that he did when he was their age. He felt happy that his family wasn't going to let him go through whatever fresh hell awaited him alone, and he wasn't going to keep them from following him this time. He gave a nod to the two foals and approached them, his front legs wrapped around their heads as he hugged them close. “You know what, you three are right. I should let you all join me and help others that need it. so, I will not turn any of you away from following me.” he looked from Barnaby to his wife and their foals after he let go of them. “I need to go in and get prepared, Barnaby. Go get the equipment that we brought with us, where we are going. We are going to need all of the help we can get for this journey.” the stallion turned and trotted into the house.

Blood Shield gave Serene Morning and the two foals a nervous nod with a smile as he trotted off and vanished down the street. Barnaby grunted as he got to his feet and walked over the fence of the back yard that rested around the sides. It was a white painted fence, but Barnaby didn't have the time to stop and admire the pretty fences color. He walked over to the shed that was pony sized and carefully tried to open the door, which promptly broke away from the doors frame at the slightest tug. He let out a growl of frustration as he reached his left hand inside and felt around for the locker he and Seeking Blade had brought back full of equipment. After a few sharp tools fell on his hand and cut it open, he managed to find the equipment locker and pulled it out. The front of the shed gave a weak and wooden snap as a hole the size of the trolls fist ended up remaining. Though the shed itself was still supported by its remaining three walls.

As he was changing into his armor and grabbing his rifle and long sword, he heard the loud snap that came from the shed and trotted to the sliding glass door. As he looked outside and saw the damaged shed, he went wide eyed as he watched Barnaby push a hole the size of his fist into it. He watched his large, blue and black friend pull out the equipment locker. He watched the troll return to the front yard. The stallion grunted as he turned back to his armor and finished changing into it. Seeking Blade then wrapped and tied his long sword in its sheath around his front right shoulder, trotting over to the rifle that rested against his bedroom wall. He picked it up and rested it on his back, slinging it into the harness on the side of his armor. He turned around and trotted out of the bedroom and to the front door. It was a matter of seconds that passed as he walked out the  front door and closed it behind him. He looked to Barnaby and narrowed his eyes briefly, before he laughed. He looked to Serene Morning, Sun Spot and Night Eye. Seeking Blade then looked to Barnaby after a few moments had passed, a smile came over his face as he began to walk towards the harbor. He turned his head and stopped as he stepped onto the sidewalk, a playful tone came into his voice as he spoke. “Well? Let's get going! These events can't go unchecked, can they?”

Barnaby, Serene Morning, Sun Spot and Night Eye grinned as they hurried over and all five of them began to gallop and run towards the harbor. As they walked, every pony stared at them. Their armor and weapons rested in their sheaths and against their bodies as they walked. The foals looked to the onlookers, gave a smile, and waved. The other ponies pulled their eyes away from the group and went back to what they were doing. As they headed towards the harbor, Serene Morning looked to Seeking Blade. Her voice was a somewhat nervous tone as she spoke to him. “Why were they looking at us like that? They didn't seem scared or afraid, but... even still, it's like they can't help it.”

Seeking Blade nodded as he looked back to his wife, his voice was calm and reassuring as he spoke back to her. “Yeah, I can tell that they are surprised. That's really all that it is, Serene... surprise. Specially since you and the foals are joining Barnaby and I. Hell, it's very rare to see a Chaos Hunter in this day and age where technology is so prevalent. But, to be fair, we need the Chaos Hunters now more then ever. And I don't see any wandering the streets here on Kailani. At least, not yet.” He stared ahead as they made their way closer and closer to the harbor. The smooth, paved road soon met with the cold stonework of the docks as the smell of salt water and the soft breeze blew gently against their bodies. The steamboat was docked and a stallion was hard at work taking the boarding passes of the other passengers.

Seeking Blade trotted calmly to a nearby stall which had a very bored looking mare behind the counter. She was a Unicorn who had a well kept blonde mane and a slim build, her tail was long, blonde like her mane and dragged along the ground. She stirred to reality as she saw the strong and dashing stallion, her blue eyes went wide as she sat upright on her chair. Her fur was a scarlet red that shined in the sunlight and her cheeks turned a dark red as she got a look at Seeking Blade. Armor and all swayed as she gave a soft smile and spoke to him. “Oh! Hello there, sir... is there anything that I can do to help you?” she couldn't help but stare at him. Serene Morning saw the mare oggling her husband, and felt agitated over it.

Seeking Blade blinked a bit as he nodded, looking back to Barnaby, Serene Morning, Sun Spot and Night Eye. He looked back to the mare with a soft chuckle as he took out a small pouch the jingled with gold. “Yeah, I would like five boarding passes for the steamboat right there. It's heading to Port Mareheart, right?” he asked, his eyes glanced around the harbor and stopped at a shadowy alleyway. He saw a vague, pony-like shape that was there briefly before it vanished into the shadows. He stared for a moment more before he turned his head back to the mare behind the counter. He was more alert then before, he wasn't wanting to draw attention to himself or the rest of his company. He was ready for action, though. If it came down to fighting.

The mare gave a nod as she blinked, lifting up a binder that as she opened it revealed a schedule and pages of boarding passes. The schedule was printed out and Port Mareheart was indeed on the schedule. She looked to him and batted her eyelashes at him in a flirtatious manner. Her voice was more professional this time as she spoke, with a sultry undertone. “Yes, we have boarding passes to Port Mareheart... so, you want five of them? That is normally two-hundred gold, but, since I like you. You can get a discount of fifty gold, taking the total to one-hundred fifty gold. Or, you could repay me with a favor when you return.” she gave a sweet smile, one that caused Seeking Blade's wife to feel the anger begin to really rise up inside of her.  

She saw the unicorn mare bat her eyes in the same manner that she did. The same way that she and her special somepony had ended up connecting and finding one another. The pegasus mare began to trot forward towards the stall, her eyes narrowed as she made her way up and stood beside Seeking Blade. She spoke in a annoyed tone as she opened up the bag of gold and pushed the two-hundred gold over to the mare. “Just give us the boarding passes and we will be on our way...” she spread her wings in an intimidating manner, causing the unicorn mare to gulp as she pulled out the boarding passes and handed them to her. Serene Morning pulled the gold pouch closed and turned to Seeking Blade. 

“We got the boarding passes, let's get going before the steamboat leaves.” she said, turning around as she took the passes in her hooves and flew off back to Barnaby and the others. She gave a motion to the steamboat and flew to the line, with the other three behind her.

Seeking Blade lifted the pouch back into his armor and turned, trotting off to join them. As he left, the unicorn mare nervously began to act busy. She watched their boarding passes get stamped by the stallion that was working there and they all trotted up the boarding ramp. Barnaby stomped up the boarding ramp with loud, heavy thuds of his feet. As the troll stepped onto the steamboat, he sent ponies of every sort flying up and five feet into the air. Thankfully, when they all landed, they were unharmed. The boarding ramp was pulled up and back into place as the steamboats horn let off a loud tooting sound as it detached from the dock of  the harbor and set sail for Port Mareheart.

The unicorn sighed as she watched the steamboat chuff away, the smoke billowing out of its smokestack. She began to daydream about the handsome stallion, clad in his armor and with his weapon at the ready. She was so busy daydreaming that she didn't hear the sound of hooves trot up behind her. The last thing that she remembered, was the wooden counter meeting her forehead before she fell unconscious. The figure that had knocked her out used magic as his horn glowed, lifting her up onto his back as he then vanished with a soft glow. No pony that was around saw him, despite all of  the active guards that had been patrolling the area.

The steamboat traveled for a day and a half before it arrived at the docks of Port Mareheart. The passengers disembarked from it and made their way towards the many rows of buildings that lined the streets. Seeking Blade, Sun Spot, Serene Morning, Night Eye and Barnaby headed to a hotel. The place was known as the Shattered Rose, it looked well maintained from the outside. As they walked inside of the Shattered Rose, they found themselves in a welcoming and inviting lobby where ponies, humans, dwarfs, elves and beast people were walking around with red uniforms on as there was a stallion behind the receptionist counter. He looked up as the group walked inside and gave a wide smile. His voice was joyful and happy as they approached the counter. “Good mid-day to you! I'm guessing that you need a room for five? Though the big guy will have to stay here in the lobby, he's too tall for our rooms... well, most of them. Five rooms all together comes up to-”

Seeking Blade stopped the stallion mid-sentence and set three-hundred gold on the counter. He looked to the stallion with a grunt. “Alright, then here. Take the gold and give us our room key. I have a bad feeling about tonight, so if I were you, I'd keep a watch and report anything that seems suspicious to the city watch.” he didn't hide his serious tone as the receptionist looked to the gold. He handed Seeking Blade the key to the hotel room and grinned. As the stallion trotted away with the key, he would hear the one behind the counter mumble something. But he couldn't tell what it was that was said. Seeking Blade looked to Barnaby and his family, his voice was calm as he spoke. “Okay,  Barnaby. You won't be able to fit in any room aside from the lobby, so keep a lookout once every two hours. Serene Morning, Sun Spot, Night Eye and I will take the hotel room and shift out every two hours for watch, ourselves. Something feels off, and I have a bad feeling about tonight.” he said as the rest of them nodded.

As they went to their hotel room, Barnaby settled in as the lot of them went to sleep. Besides Barnaby having a retroactive look every now and again, Seeking Blade had spent his first two hours on watch. The rest of the night was going by relatively smoothly, up until midnight. A fire started and Seeking Blade and the others were woken up by a scream of terror. And flames that had begun to engulf the entire port city. Seeking Blade, Sun Spot, Night Eye, Serene Morning and Barnaby grabbed their gear as they quickly rushed out into the streets. Their eyes went wide as they noticed a large crowd of some sort walking their way. Though, they didn't have to guess as to what it was. The crowd, as it approached them, dispersed into various buildings. The sounds of screams filled the air. As the leader of the crowd approached them, Seeking Blade got a very bad feeling about him. He drew his sword, and began to clash with the stallion as long black tendrils and tentacles moved from his back. He had no brand, and as he locked swords with the stallion. The rest of the crowd began to surge forth towards Serene Morning, the foals and Barnaby.
> Chapter 3: Legion of the Damned
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The battle had begun as the group steadied themselves, taking on more defensive stances as the undead crowd and Bleeding Heart advanced. Seeking Blade quickly drew his long sword as he brought it in for a quick slash at the alien-like equine, who had brought out a short sword and parried his blow. As he caught the Chaos Hunters blade with his own, he let out a wicked laugh as the crowd drew their weapons and began to attack Barnaby, Serene Morning, Sun Spot and Night Eye. Bleeding Heart smirked as he took a swipe at Seeking Blade, his body covered in chain mail as he spoke with a deep and spiteful voice. “Heh, finally, I get to meet you Seeking Blade. I am surprised that you managed to evade me for so long.” Seeking Blade grunted as he parried Bleeding Hearts blade with his own, his expression became one of confusion as he continued to fight off against his opponent. 

His response was filled with confusion in his voice as he spoke. “What? How do you know my name...? and what do you mean by “you finally get to meet me”? I haven't seen you before in my life, and I intend to make it to where I don't see you ever again!” The two stallions grunted as their motions and movements were quick and fluid, graceful against the flames that had spread along the houses and the screams of horror as the undead crowd had dispersed, four of the attackers had focused on Serene Morning and the others, while three others had moved to attack civilians and continue their attack on Port Mareheart.

Barnaby let out a loud roar of annoyance as he had grabbed his attacker in his right giant hand, tossing the corpse of a stallion into the ocean as he looked to Serene Morning, Sun Spot and Night Eye. His voice was filled with a rough tone as he spoke. Occasionally, he would glance to the undead that were attacking civilians and destroying homes and shops. “Will strong ponies be alright? Must assist the other pretty ponies that are being hurt...” He caught a roof that was crumbling in and falling down onto the occupants in the building below with a hand. The fire had burned his hand and actually harmed him, but he didn't let go. Barnaby took the burning roof and threw it into the ocean with a mighty thrust of his arm, bringing his hand  back  as he examined the burns on it.  

Serene Morning and the two foal's gave Barnaby a nod, however, Serene Morning spoke up with a smirk on her face. “Hey, Barnaby... not every pony is strong.” she then quickly turned around using her wings to lift her off of the ground, her hind hooves moved forward and thrusted back as hard as she could into her opponents face and snout. Causing him to stumble backwards for a moment. “Like me, I'm more graceful and can use my wings to give me a advan-” she was cut off as her opponent regained his composure and charged her with his sword raised. 

Sun Spot grunted as he grabbed the undead that he was facing off with using his hooves, tossing him into the stallion that was charging his and Night Eyes mother. Sending the two stallions sprawling to the ground as he lifted into the air. His voice was raised as he looked to his mother. “This is no time to be talking about your advantages and disadvantages! Seriously, mom!” he then looked to Barnaby and nodded. “Go help out the townsfolk and get them to a boat. We've got this!” he then turned his attention to the stallion that Night Eye was fighting and charged into his side. Knocking his sisters opponent to the street a few feet away.

Barnaby gave a nod as he ran down the street to help out anyone that he could find, the flames rose steadily from the buildings as they were torched and turned aflame one by one. The rooftops crackled and popped as the shingles burnt up more and more by the second. The tall, blue troll stopped as he had heard muffled cries for help from one of the nearby buildings. He grunted as he had fully healed between the time that he had went off to help the townsfolk and left Seeking Blade and his family to face off against the hoard that had attacked the port town. Barnaby approached the burning building, he grabbed the front side of the house and yanked as hard as he could. The front side of the building gave way easily due to the burning wood and loosened stone, inside of  the building was a Ponykind family of four. A unicorn stallion, a pegasus mare and two small fillies that were of unicorn descent. Barnaby gave a mighty thrust as the flaming wall to the ground, his hands were lit aflame which caused him to thrash his arms in the air for a moment. His low intelligence made him briefly forget about how he had put the fire out the first time. Before he decided to do anything about that, though, he had to worry about the ponies that were in the burning house. He put his right foot inside of the house and quickly brought them outside and into the fresh air, the family of ponies appreciatively bowed to Barnaby.

The unicorn stallion noticed that Barnaby's hands were on fire, and his horn began to glow a faint blue light. Water from the ocean was lifted up with the help of the stallion's magic, he bucked his head from one side to the other, splashing Barnaby's burning hands with the water. The flames had become extinguished, and the trolls hands had started to heal. The pony family looked up to Barnaby, the stallion's horn glowed once more as he lifted up more ocean water and tossed it onto the burning houses and doused the flames. He smiled to the tall and big fellow as he spoke to him. “Hey, thank you for the save, big guy! Let us worry about the buildings and the fire. Go on ahead and do what you gotta do, we'll handle the rest!” and sure enough, the pegasus mare and the two unicorn fillies began to assist the stallion in putting out the fires all throughout the port. The guards that were on the watch were assisting as well, though their first priorities were aiding anyone that were trapped inside of the buildings further down the line.

Barnaby gave a nod as he let out a hearty laugh. “Alright! Thank you, small ponies!” as he turned around and ran back towards the part of the Port where Seeking Blade and the others were still facing off against the undead and Bleeding Heart. His footsteps caused the ground to shake and tremble with each mighty stomp, his body rested underneath his armor as he ran as fast as he could. As he made his way back to the others, a object fell from the night sky and crashed into the ground in front of him. Preventing his way forward, Barnaby came face to face with a strange monster that stood at about half of his height. Its body was rough, gray and bulbous. Its head rested on its body with big black eyes, and a mouth made up of tentacles. It let out a loud roar as it raised its two massive claws and unfurled its wings which were leathery and as big as its body. Barnaby took a moment to process the monster that stood in front of him, speaking in a confused and rough tone. “Hmm... strange monster want hurt ponies...? Not on Barnaby watch!” he then threw a punch at the thing only to be blocked by a raised claw. The monster let out another loud roar as it slashed at the big troll, managing to cut him only to find that he was unphased. The troll let out a mighty laugh as he punched the monster in its bulbous body. “Ah! Fighting spirit! Barnaby not have fought anyone with that since he met tough pony and tough ponies friends! Gonna be fun~!”

As Barnaby and his opponent began to face off with one another, Bleeding Heart had not gained any ground against Seeking Blade and the others. Serene Morning and the two foal's had successfully taken out the undead that had accompanied him. The others had joined Seeking Blade in driving the stallion back, his body beginning to become battered and slashed as the fight wore on. Bleeding Heart gave a smirk as his tendrils arched up from his back and grabbed Serene Morning and the foals tightly. He then gave a swift throw and let go of them, he sent them through the air and away from them so that he could get some breathing room. Seeking Blade managed to lock his long sword with Bleeding Hearts short sword. The stallion pulled back with all of his strength, disarming the other as he pressed the tip of his long sword up against the alien-like stallions throat. “I'll ask you again, how do you know who I am...? and what do you mean that I have been evading you?” he asked in a serious and incredibly angry tone.

Bleeding Heart grunted as he backed away, however, Seeking Blade kept his pace with him. His voice filled with spite and fear at having been cornered by his opponent. “Oh, how silly of me! I know of you from the one that has trained me... she knows of your kind, your Chaos Hunters, your Holy Crusaders... In fact, I do believe that she was the one who you were chasing the grunts of... She is the one that caused you to crash on that planet, and sent me out to retrieve you shortly after. However, you managed to escape my grasp. Until now, that is.” Bleeding Heart dug his tendrils into the ground and in one fell motion, ripped the ground asunder. The street had separated as a barrier had surrounded them. Seeking Blades eyes widened as he gulped, long sword still at the alien-like stallion's throat. Bleeding Heart gave a wicked chuckle as he spoke once more. “And this shall send you right to her, right to Shub-Nigguroth's waiting bosom where she shall show you what fear really is!”

Serene Morning, Night Eye and Sun Spot had managed to catch themselves as they tumbled through the air and sped back towards the battle between Seeking Blade and Bleeding Heart, they saw that Barnaby was facing off against a strange monster. They also saw that he had it under control, so they didn't pay much mind to it. However, as they reached the area where Seeking Blade and Bleeding Heart were fighting at, they noticed that the ground was split open. And as Sun Spot tried to go and join up with his father, he felt his head bonk against a invisible wall of some sort. He, his sister and their mother watched on in horror as they shouted out to their father. Barnaby heard the shouting and quickly  finished off his opponent by ripping off its arms and then by punching its head clean off of its torso. The monsters torso quickly began to bubble and then exploded into a strange, acid green puddle. Only to end up absorbed inside of the ground and vanish. Barnaby then ran to where the shouting was coming from, and proceeded to slam his fists into the barrier. His voice was  frantic, along with the others.

As Seeking Blade saw his wife, foals and friend pound against the barrier, he noticed that it had refused to give way. He was so occupied with the shock of the ground being split apart and the barrier being brought up between his family and himself, that he didn't notice Bleeding Heart as he grabbed him by the throat with a tendril. The stallion let out a triumphant laugh as he trotted with the helpless Chaos Hunter in his tendrils clutches towards the edge. A torrent of cold, rushing ocean water was able to be seen by Serene Morning and the others as they watched in horror. Bleeding Heart held Seeking Blade over the edge, a wicked smile came across his snout as he spoke. “Well then, Enjoy your time with Shub-Nigguroth, foul Chaos Hunter... because after your time is up, you will be dead.” the stallion pulled Seeking Blade's long sword out of his snout and tossed it to the ground with a free tendril, and let go of his throat.

Everyone that was there, Barnaby, Serene Morning, Bleeding Heart and the two foal's watched as Seeking Blade fell into the torrent of water down below. He was helpless as the fast moving waters swept him off and out of sight from the onlookers. Barnaby, Serene Morning, Sun Spot and Night Eye let out yells and shouts of rage and moved back. The four shoved as one as the ground sealed back up and cut them off from chasing after Seeking Blade. Bleeding Heart backed up a bit as he became outnumbered. He looked from the tall, powerhouse of a troll to the two Pegasus and the Earth Pony. Bleeding Heart knew that he could not win this fight as he closed his eyes. He continued to back away as his eyes opened up and he turned, galloping away quickly as he slashed a tendril across the ground behind him. As Serene Morning and the others began to chase him, the spot that Bleeding Heart had struck with his tendril caused a wall of strange, glowing purple spikes to rise up and out of the ground. A strange liquid dripped from the spikes as Serene Morning managed to grab Sun Spot by the tail. She pulled him back and away from the spikes just in the nick of time.  

Serene Morning let out a enraged yell as Bleeding Heart ran, having been separated from Seeking Blade and unable to catch the stallion that was the cause of not just the separation, but also the cause of Port Mareheart's burning. The mare yelled out at the top of her lungs as she let go of Sun Spots tail. “I will find you! And when I do, you are dead! I'll rip your head off of your torso and feed it to the fishes... you no good piece of garbage! You absolutely, horrible, no good, good for nothing... Piece of scum!” Tears filled Serene Morning, Night Eye and Sun Spots eyes as they looked to one another, and then Barnaby. Bleeding Heart however had managed to gallop as far away as fast as he could, he wasn't going to be caught sticking around the port. And he had a few towns under his control that he was going to gather and take back to Viljatown. He was sure that he had killed Seeking Blade, however, he was wrong... As Bleeding Heart made his way to Viljatown, Seeking Blade had passed out in the raging torrent.

The stallion's unconscious body hit the walls as the torrent carried him farther and farther from the port. A soft white light was traveling right beside him as he was carried away, the light was on the watch for anyone or anything that was going to harm him. The light eventually faded to reveal that it was actually a Ghost Pony Mare. Her body was transparent, and if Seeking Blade was awake to see her, he would have noticed her Brand that had the design of two sharpened short swords across a shield. In her lifetime, she was a Earth Pony. As she flew alongside the stallion, the mare felt her mane stand on end. Her mane was a flank length ponytail that as it stood up, sent a signal down and into her body. She looked down the right of a upcoming forked tunnel in the torrent, and beheld a horrific sight. What she beheld was a mass of writhing tendrils that had arrived inside of a large cave, along with several other monsters that if they were seen by a normal pony who was completely sane, would cause their hairs, manes and tails to become ghost white... and they would go completely and utterly insane. The Ghost Pony mare focused on her left fore hoof and grabbed Seeking Blade by the waist. She had managed to, with some struggle, get Seeking Blade to the left path of the forked tunnel so that the torrent would take him away from the horrors that were waiting for him.

After what felt like hours to the mare, Seeking Blade had eventually come to rest in a underground grotto that had been around for who knows how many years. As soon as the unconscious stallion came to a rest, the mare floated onto dry land and focused once more. Both of her fore hooves became solid as she dragged Seeking Blade onto dry land and rested him on his side. She took a moment to look around as she let her focus and concentration drop and noticed two cave openings. One was on the west side of the wall, as the other was on the opposite east side. She then layed down next to him on all fours, her eyes closed as she pressed her snout gently against his forehead. She was relieved that she had finally found her colt after years of searching and facing down demons and all sorts of other beings in her journey. And this time, she wouldn't leave him without a parent. Like she and her husband had all those years ago.

Seeking Blade found himself falling through darkness, his eyes tried to adjust and he tried to keep calm. The darkness soon gave way as he felt his hooves land on solid ground, his eyes snapped shut as a beautiful and wide open field began to suck in the darkness, itself. Seeking Blade slowly opened his eyes as he adjusted to the sunlight, it was a soft blue color that felt warm to the touch despite its cold look. He looked to the flowers which all looked much different then any he had seen before. These flowers were transparent and able to be seen through, as well as taller then usual, as tall as about five feet tall. The place was unconventional, and as Seeking Blade searched for his long sword, found that he did not have it with him. “Uh-Oh... this isn't good for me. I have no clue as to where I am, or what happened to me. I just hope that Serene Morning, Barnaby and the foal's are alright...” he said out loud, as he looked around the field, he heard somebody walking towards him. The stallion quickly turned around, only to find himself face to face with a Earth-Pony mare who stood at his height. Her hair was the same tanned color as his own, with a mane in the form of a ponytail that was black. She had no tail and soft orange eyes as she approached him. Her body was toned and she had some muscle to her.

As the mare trotted up to Seeking Blade, her Brand was able to be seen by him. As she spoke to him, her voice was tough, however, there was a softness to it which sounded somewhat familiar to the stallion. “It has been a long time, Seeking Blade. I am sure that you do not remember me.” her eyes looked over his wounds as she sighed softly, speaking to him once more. “You got beat up pretty bad, but you'll live. On the other hoof, I did save you from meeting Shub-Nigguroth... You wouldn't have lasted a minute against her so called “children”.” She laughed softly as Seeking Blade tilted his head in confusion.

Seeking Blade blinked a bit as he looked at the mare, a confused expression came over his face as he rubbed the back of his head with a hoof. He had a lot of questions running through his mind currently, however, the only one that made its way out of his mouth as he spoke, was. “Um... who are you, exactly?” He watched as she giggled once more, and asked in response to the giggling, “I'm sorry, but, what's so funny?”

The mare couldn't help but laugh at his second question, she took a moment to calm herself before taking a deep breath and exhaled. Her voice became softer as her expression became one of happiness. “My name, is Shield Stabber. And Seeking Blade, to answer why I found your question funny is because...” Shield Stabber took a moment, looking to the ground and then back into Seeking Blade's eyes. “I am your mother, Seeking Blade.”
> Chapter 4: New friends, old enemies and the lost ones
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Seeking Blades eyes went wide as Shield Stabber revealed herself to be his mother. He shook his head as a disbelieving expression fell upon his snout, his tone confused as he spoke to her. “My... My mother? No, you can't be my mother... I was told by the owner and caretaker of the orphanage that I grew up in that my parents didn't want me. It was why I was dropped off on the orphanage's front porch...” he looked to her and sighed as he trotted around her in the strange dreamscape. “If you truly are my mother, tell me what happened to me a while back that caused me to make new friends.” his tail swished and flicked softly as he watched her. 

Shield Stabber rolled her eyes at Seeking Blades question, her tone was calming and relaxing to him as she responded. “Simple and easy, you ended up going with a group of chaos hunters to chase down some chaos being that was causing trouble. As your crew caught up to the chaos being, it caused your starship to crash down onto a mining planet during a bad dust storm... You then lost consciousness and woke up later on inside of the recreational room. Where you shortly met Duk, Ace Pilot, Clutter Step and Meadow Step.” She gave him a wide and pleased smile as she let out a hearty laugh. “Does that answer your question, Seeking Blade?” Shield Stabber asked as she turned along with her colt, who nodded to her. His eyes had begun to sting as they filled with tears that soon rolled down his cheeks, his lower lip trembled as he galloped up to his mother. He pressed his neck against her own as he shivered and began to sob like a child. His throat had began to dry as he sobbed and spoke to her. 

“H-How do you know about... Duk and the others? Tell me that, and I-” Shield Stabber wrapped her right fore leg around Seeking Blades neck gently, her body fully pressed up against his as she held him as close as she possibly could to comfort him. 

“I know because... I am the one that saved you from your crashed starship, I am the one that carried your unconscious body all of the way to the recreational room. Where I left you to find your own way and to make a few new friends... I couldn't just leave my own colt to die in that starship, I saved you because you are my child, and a parent must always watch out for their children.”

The tough stallion buried his eyes into his mothers neck, his sobbing grew louder in the strange dreamscape as he sniffed. He felt his eyes soon stop filling up with tears, but that didn't stop him from continuing to cry until he couldn't any longer. He opened up his mouth to speak as Shield Stabber took her right fore leg from around her colts neck, knowing full well that he was going to step back. She allowed him to move backwards, and he looked into her eyes through his red and dry blue eyes. His mouth opened as he spoke to her in a cracked and exhausted voice. “I... mom, is that really you? I'm not just being toyed with by that damned Bleeding Heart?” He looked to his mother who had a assuring smile come over her snout, she closed her eyes and said in response. 

“Do not worry, I can understand your hesitation about being messed with by that bastard... How about I show you something to prove that you are my colt?” The mare soon closed her eyes and focused as the dreamscape began to blur as it vanished. Seeking Blade and Shield Stabber felt like they had been in darkness for several minutes before there was a influx of soft light and a relaxing heat washed over their bodies. The two found themselves standing inside of a big living room where they could see snow falling in the darkness outside. A big decorated pine tree rested in the far corner of the room, underneath it were a couple of big, gift wrapped boxes along with a few smaller gift wrapped boxes. The stallion and the mare looked to one another as they had heard the sounds of voices coming from down the hallway towards the living room.

Seeking Blade looked to Shield Stabber as he spoke to her in a confused tone. “What is this place? I recognize your voice, but, who is with you?” 

She let out a soft sigh as she giggled, responding with a sweet tone to her voice. “That is your father, and this was once our home. We lived in a small hamlet near Shimmer Peak and Viljatown, a wonderful place that we helped settle and assisted in building. Sadly, it is gone now...” 

Seeking Blade blinked a bit as he scratched the back of his head. “It's gone? What happened to it?” he asked in a concerned tone that caused Shield Stabber to idly move her right fore hoof along the wooden floor, scraping it a bit. 

“It was destroyed shortly after your father and I died protecting you, about ten years after, to be precise...” Seeking Blades eyes went wide as he shook his head, he knew how it was destroyed. But the pieces didn't click until just now, his voice was filled with surprise as he spoke. 

“Wait, I know how it was destroyed. I just remembered the article from when I was ten. That dragon-” he was about to talk some more, when she put her right hoof on his snout. 

silencing him as she lowered her voice into a soft whisper as the other voices grew closer. “Seeking Blade, hush now... I do think that you should listen and see what happened all of those years ago.”

Seeking Blade gave a nod as she moved her hoof down from his snout, he turned his head and saw Shield Stabber trot into the living room along with a unicorn stallion beside her. He was six feet tall with red hair and blue eyes, much like Seeking Blades own. The stallion looked to be slender and dexterous, along with appearing to be quite adept at casting magic. On his back sat a foal that Seeking Blade recognized, it was himself. The unicorn and Shield Stabber soon had sat down on the couch that was in the room, using his magic to life the foal off of his back and set him in his wife's arms. He spoke to her with a kind tone in his voice as he smiled, his brand was that of a staff that was lit aflame. “So, Shield, how do you feel? It's Seeking Blades first Hearths warming with us, and he's only five months old...” 

Shield Stabber gave a playful laugh as she smiled at Searing Staff, her tone was playful and strong as she spoke to him. “Searing, I am fine, really! If I were needing assistance, you know that I would ask you for help. And yes, I know, right? Who would have thought that we would end up together, and that we would have such a wonderful colt like him?” she then playfully rubbed the foals chin with her left fore hoof and cooed to him, causing Seeking Blade to giggle and laugh. The three of them sat cuddled up on the couch for a fair while before there was a sudden flash of lightning from outside. Searing Staff let go of Shield Stabber and stood up, his hooves hit the wooden floor as he looked to her. His voice was on the rough side as he spoke to her, and Seeking Blade saw his fathers expression change from one of happiness and joy, pure bliss, into one of unhappiness and fear. From inside of the house, through the window that his father had been looking at for the past few moments. Ever since the lightning flashed, he had forever had the image burned inside of his mind. Searing Staff then spoke to Shield Stabber. 

“Shield, quickly. Go get a sweater and wrap it around Seeking Blade, we have to move. There is something outside and it's trying to get us...” Shield Stabber shook her head as she hopped the foal over her shoulder and onto her back as she got up, she wore a expression of fear now, and she wasn't sure what was going to happen. 

“What? How did it find us? I thought that we destroyed them and managed to keep this hamlet safe?” Searing Staff gave a nod in response. 

“I know... I thought that too when I saw it just now. But, it found a way to come back... C'thulhu has sent one of his Star Children after us.” Searing Staff said with a grave tone in his voice.

Seeking Blade looked to Shield Stabber, his eyes were wide with terror and fear. Something that he hadn't felt for a good while. His voice had a soft and nervous tone to it as he spoke to her. “And, this is when you and father?” She nodded to him, her eyes lowered to the wood flooring as tears began to stream down her face. She had a strong and preserved tone to her voice as she responded to him. “Yes, this is when we were attacked by a Star Child. This was the very night that I lost your father, and shortly after I dropped you off at the orphanage... You lost me.” as she said those very words, Seeking Blades attention snapped back to the wall as there was a bashing sound coming from the other side.

Searing Staff let out a loud and protective shout as he spoke to Shield Stabber. “Get Seeking Blade out of here... Hurry!” his horn had begun to glow a bright red as the wall was battered and broken down. Lumbering through, a large and bulbous shape appeared before the stallion. Shield Stabber had turned and with their foal close, galloped out the door. Searing Staff stared down the large creature, his eyes took in its grotesque and sickened green skin, its large head and imposing wings... from its head curled several long tendrils and tentacles that had dripped a greenish liquid that Seeking Blade could only guess was saliva. It let out a loud and unfathomable roar of some sort as it lunged at Searing Staff. The unicorn stallion used his magic to summon his staff, it glowed with a bright white light that caused the creature to miss, blinding it temporarily. Searing Staff had taken this chance to slam his staff onto the floor and bathing his staff in a bright red flame that had a purple tinge to it. “Alright... let's dance... You tall and ugly chaos spawn!”

As the unicorn stallion and the star child lunged at one another one last time, Shield Stabber took herself and Seeking Blade out of the house and transitioned to a empty and snow covered street. Shield Stabber watched herself as she galloped with Seeking Blade on her back. She had been galloping to a place that Seeking Blade had found was a chaos hunter hideout when he was growing up in the orphanage. And he had found out that it had been destroyed when he was ten. As Shield Stabber hurried towards the edge of the hamlet and the road that led out of it. Sadly, she was not able to make it. At that moment, another star child had landed in front of the two and she skidded to a stop. Shield Stabber began to back up, carefully she dodged the blows from the star child as it took swings at her, she was going to protect her foal at all costs.

Meanwhile, back at Port Mareheart, Serene Morning and the foals held one another tightly. They couldn't believe what had happened, they refused to believe that Seeking Blade had been taken away from them and possibly died in the waters current. As the three ponies sobbed, Barnaby gently approached them and rested a hand on top of their heads. He spoke to them in a reassuring, but slow tone in his voice. He was worried about his friend, as well, but he had to keep his friends family strong. “No cry, Seeking Blade be fine... He not weak pony or easy to defeat.” The mare pegasus and the colt pegasus blinked as they looked up to Barnaby, as did the earth pony filly they dried their faces with soft sniffles as the tall and blue troll spoke once more. “We get him back... but first, we help out innocent and defenseless ponies here..” Serene Morning nodded a bit as she took a look around, the fires had been put out and the homes and buildings were damaged and in need of repairs. The pegasus mare exhaled as she steadied her nerves, she pushed her worries to the back of her mind and looked to her foals. 

Her voice changed from the tone of sorrow and fear that she had about her husbands fate, and put on a reassuring and calm tone as she spoke. “Yes... Barnaby is right. Sun Spot, Night Eye, I want you to go down to the docks and assist the guard and the dock workers with bringing the wood for the building repairs up here. I'll assist Barnaby with handing out blankets and water to the ponies that need it.”  

Sun Spot and Night Eye both gave a nod, they turned and trotted off to the docks to assist the workers. Serene Morning and Barnaby had gone to a nearby cart that was manned by a Unicorn stallion who had several fresh blankets on his cart, along with three twenty-four packs of bottled water. The stallion looked up to Barnaby and Serene Morning, a worried expression came over his face as he spoke to them with a worried tone. “Oh, great, more volunteers! We really can use your help right now, everypony has damage to their homes and businesses, and there have been more then a few injuries and homes that were destroyed... Here, hand out the blankets and water bottles to everypony that you can. It was a bad day so far, though the good news is that the deaths were far and few between... even though it will be a long time before those who lost their loved ones will be able to rest easy and peacefully.” his horn glowed softly as he levitated a couple of blankets and bottles of water into Barnaby's hands and onto Serene Mornings back. The troll and the Pegasus mare both gave a nod as they walked off, they both had set out to do some good, if not a little bit of good, in Port Mareheart. The Port needed them now more then ever.

As the hours passed, the day had reached to its warmest point as the time soon became two in the afternoon. A metal, Grey ship of some sort flew through the air as its thrusters expelled bright blue flames. Inside of the cockpit sat a Pegasus stallion in the co-pilots seat. His brown hair and wings rested against his body, his wings were white from the tips down a few inches. His head was green and he had a yellow snout along with green eyes. His white mane was styled to the side of his head and rested against his ears, his white tail rested underneath his flank as he sat and looked out the cockpit window. His Brand was a loaf of bread. The stallion that was piloting the starship took the ship down and landed on a landing pad near the docks. As soon as the pilot landed the starship, the brown haired stallion in the co-pilots seat had began to jump and became jittery with joy as he got up from his seat and made his way to the cargo bay. The cargo bay door opened up with a loud hissing of parts and steam that had not been used for the entirety of the trip after he had been picked up, alongside his package that he had to deliver to Seeking Blade. The stallion turned to the side and gripped a big, black box that was made of some sort of metal in his snout and began to drag it out. It took the Pegasus stallion a couple of minutes of hard tugging, before he had finally managed to get the metal black box out of the starship. He took out a handkerchief with his front right hoof and wiped the sweat away from his forehead and gave a wave to the pilot. The cargo bay door shut with a loud hiss and the pilot trotted out of the side entryway and went off to do his own thing.

Sun Spot and Night Eye had been resting as they watched the starship as it landed and watched the Pegasus stallion disembark with the big black box. They looked at one another and got up from where they were sitting, trotting up to him as they looked at the box for a moment. And then they looked at him, Sun Spots voice was full of curiosity as he spoke. “Hey, mister, what's inside of that big black box that you have?” 

The Pegasus stallion blinked as he looked to one of the two foals that had spoken to him, his eyes went wide as he gasped and let out a loud quack as he hugged them both at once. His voice was full of excitement and joy as he spoke to them. “Oh my gosh, new FRIENDS! Oh I am SO excited!” The two foals blinked and looked to one another with confused expressions on their faces. 

Night Eye grunted as she squirmed a bit in the stallions hug, her voice took on a tone of awkwardness as she spoke. “Um... Who are you? The colt right there is Sun Spot, and I'm Night Eye... We are helping out around here as best we can, so that we can go find our-” as she soon became cut off by the Pegasus.

His tone changed to one of happiness as he let go of them and gave a playful smile. “Oh! Oh oh oh! You're Seeking Blades foals?! Where is Seeking Blade? I have this thing for him to pick up from me. And my name is Duk!” he then trotted around the area a bit, calling out loudly for Seeking Blade who hadn't shown up to where he was at. After a moment of calling out and finding no response from his friend, Duk stopped and looked to the two foals. It was only then that he noticed that tears had begun to well up in their eyes. He tilted his head a bit as he spoke once more. “Hey, where is Seeking Blade? He sent me a message to meet him here...” Sun Spot and Night Eye shivered a bit as they looked to Duk through their tearing eyes.

Night Eye was the one to speak up first, this time. Her voice trembled a bit. “O-Our daddy was swallowed up by the ground... there was a fight here in the Port, and a big and scary stallion threw him into a fissure that sealed up...” Sun Spot shivered as he sobbed a bit, he held his sister as tightly as he could in his front hooves. 

“It's okay, sis... remember what uncle Barnaby said... we'll go find him soon, and we will see that he is safe and okay.” Duk tilted his head as he listened, he trotted up to them and embraced them both in a reassuring hug. A radiant and calming smile came over his face as he laughed and spoke. The two foals could tell how naive and oblivious that he was. 

“Seeking Blade is alright! He's probably out and about being a robotist!” Duk gave a brief glare at the air, before he relaxed and continued to hug the two foals until they had stopped crying.

Sun Spot and Night Eye blinked as they calmed down after a bit, having been let go from the embrace as Duk blinked a bit, as well. The three of them were soon interrupted by Serene Morning and Barnaby as they stood at the top of the stairs that led to the streets. The Pegasus mare and the Troll blinked as they walked down and looked to Duk calmly. Barnaby, however, let out a laugh of happiness and excitement as he picked the stallion up in his right hand carefully. His voice was full of excitement as he spoke. “Son! Er... Daughter? Barnaby tend to not know which his adopted child is...” 

Duk let out another happy quack as he spoke back to his adopted father. “I'm a boy, Dad! Quack quack quack!” Barnaby let out a mighty laugh. 

Serene Morning blinked in confusion, her right eye ridge up in a confused expression as she spoke in a unsure tone. “Um... who are-” 

“Momma, this is Duk. He's one of daddy's friends from the last mission that he told us the story about!” Night Eye said, cutting off Serene Morning as she spoke. Duk was soon set back on the ground, the Pegasus mare found herself in a tight hug from the Pegasus stallion, the air escaped her lungs as she tried to breath. She was let out of the hug after a few moments, causing her to gasp and to breathe deeply. Duk just laughed a bit as he gave a kind smile. 

“You must be Serene Morning! Seeking Blade told me SO much about you! I'm making so many new friends today!” Duk said to the mare in a excited tone.

Serene Morning blinked as she nodded and looked to the foals, then to Barnaby and Duk. “Well, I suppose it is time for us to head out and find Seeking Blade.” Duk nodded as he looked to her, his head tilted as he spoke to her in response. 

“Where did Seeking Blade wander off to? I brought the thing that he asked me to, and he hasn't came to pick it up yet...” Barnaby rolled his eyes as he picked up the big, black box and began to carry it off towards the watch barracks. His right hand went up into the air as he spoke in a relaxed tone. 

“Go find Seeking Blade, Barnaby will take care of this.” He left the three Pegasi and the Earth Pony on their own. Serene Morning lead the way out of Port Mareheart as they began to gallop and fly on their way to find their family and friend.  

Their journey had taken them until the early evening, the group of ponies had been traveling across the plains when they came across a cave entrance. The caves mouth was glowing a soft blue light from someplace within the inside, while the cave should have been pitch black on the inside. The Pegasi had landed in front of the cave entrance as Night Eye stopped alongside them, she looked to the glowing cave and blinked a little bit. The filly could feel a familiar pull coming from it, she looked to her brother, her mother and Duk. She exhaled and spoke in a sure tone to them. “I can feel a familiar pull coming from this cave, I think that it might be daddy calling out for me.” Serene Morning looked to Night Eye and then to the cave, her wings rested against her back as she began to trot inside.

Her voice was calm as she spoke in response. “Yeah, I can feel it too... Let's go and find your father.” Duk, Sun Spot and Night Eye nodded in agreement as they entered the cave and trotted carefully through the insides. As they trotted through the cave, they traveled for what felt like hours and their legs began to ache from all of the trotting. While it felt to them that they were traveling for hours, they had really been traveling for about two hours. They had to traverse many turns, dips, inclines and twists only to find themselves squeezing through two walls of rock as they stumbled into a large chamber that had water near the back wall. As the four of them looked around the chamber, they noticed the Ghostpony mare who was laying next to Seeking Blades unconscious body.

Night Eye, Sun Spot, Serene Morning and Duk all let out a surprised shout as they galloped towards the two. They had made their way over to Seeking Blades body, Serene Morning looked to the Ghostpony mare and bared her teeth to her, scowling as she spoke to her in a protective tone as she knelt down and held Seeking Blade in her front hooves. “Who are you and what did you do to my husband?! I swear to Luminance, if you hurt him...” The Ghostpony shook her head as she looked to the Pegasus mare, a relaxed expression came over her face as she spoke to her in a assuring tone. 

“Ah, Serene Morning... It is a pleasure to finally meet you. No, I did not hurt Seeking Blade in any shape or form. I saved his life when he passed out in the current, If I hadn't, then he would not have been alive, at all.” 

Serene Morning blinked as her eyes went wide, her voice was filled with surprise as she stuttered out a bit. “H-How do you know my name? Who are you?” Shield Stabber gave a soft chuckle as she looked from Serene Morning, to the two foals and then to Duk. Her voice was relaxed as she spoke to them and gave a gentle tap with her right hoof to Serene Mornings nose, only her hoof went through as if nothing was there. 

“My name is Shield Stabber, and I am Seeking Blades mother. Your mother in law, and the foals grandmother. Thank you for showing him that there is more to life then fighting, for showing him kindness.” Shield Stabber then looked to Duk and grinned. “And Duk, I must thank you, Meadowstep, Clutterstep and Ace Pilot for opening his eyes to friendship that isn't family based... Where are the others, anyways?” 

Duk laughed a bit as he shook his head, his voice was just as oblivious and naive as ever as he spoke in a joyful tone. “Oh, it's not a problem, Shield Stabber! I just LOVE to make new friends!” he blinked a little and looked around somewhat. “The others had something to do on another planet and couldn't make it. Barnaby, my adopted father, is back at Port Mareheart and taking care of something. But yay! New friends! Hello friend! Quack quack quack quack!” he quacked a little bit, replicating the sounds of a duck as best that he could.

Sun Spot shivered a bit as he looked to Shield Stabber, his voice was worried as he spoke to her. “Is our daddy going to be okay? Why isn't he waking up?” 

Shield Stabber gently made a rubbing motion along Sun Spots back, her voice was reassuring as she spoke to the colt. “Your father is alright, Sun Spot. He will be awake soon, but first he has to save somepony... Somepony that is close to he, I, your sister and your mother. Somepony that you and your family have not met.” She closed her eyes as she focused hard, the air shivered and shook for a brief moment, when they could all see Seeking Blade inside of a strange looking field that had strange looking flowers inhabiting it. Shield Stabber closed her eyes as she kept the visuals on her and Seeking Blade inside of the field, soon she appeared in front of him and gave him a kind smile. Duk took this opportunity and tried to hug Shield Stabber, only to end up falling through her corporeal body as he hit the ground with a thud! He shivered as he got up and trotted back to where he jumped from, sitting down as he grumbled to himself.

Back in the dream world, Seeking Blade and his mother looked at one another for a few moments. It was comforting to be near her, and he wasn't going to let her be parted from him ever again. Shield Stabber pressed her right front hoof against Seeking Blades forehead, her voice was nurturing as she spoke to him. “Seeking Blade, my son... You have a great power inside of you, one that is just swelling up in your blood and genes. You are the son of a amazing chaos hunter, and I think that it is time that you saved your father.” 

Seeking Blade blinked as he shook his head, he looked to Shield Stabber in a state of confusion. “What? How am I supposed to save my father?” he asked in confusion, he rubbed the back of his head nervously as he spoke once more. “I... I don't really know how I can save him.”

Shield Stabber gave a soft giggle, then a playful laugh as she brought her hoof back down to the grass. Her head cocked to the side a bit as she stretched out, her mane rested against her neck as she began to speak in a reassuring tone. “Well, your fathers spirit is currently being controlled by Cthulhu... You can save him with the power that you have, your power is latent, sure. But there is one other thing that your power can do...” 

Seeking Blade tilted his head as he spoke in a nervous tone. “Oh? What might this other thing be? I mean, whatever it is, It is probably going to come out like the big bang.” 

Shield Stabber gave a nod as she laughed softly. “Exactly, your power is latent and once it is unleashed... it is going to cause such a explosive blast of magic that will bring your father and I back to life.” Seeking Blade stared at his mother, he was unsure if she was crazy or not, but a part of him had the feeling that this would work. He gave a nervous smile that Shield Stabber knew was from his unicorn magic that had begun to well up inside of him. She gave him a assuring hug as she pressed up against him. “It is okay, Seeking Blade. Just relax and take a deep breath and don't hold back. I can assure you that you will be safe and sound, but you have to get in close to your father and you have to unleash it all at once. Not a little bit, not a small bit, not even a tiny bit... you have to unleash it all and it should free him, but it should also bring your father and I back to life. Back to flesh and blood, where we can be with you again and your family.” She said to him in a assuring tone, she backed up a bit and kissed him on the forehead in a motherly way. Seeking Blade gave a nod as his expression took on a more confident look.  

Seeking Blade was about to say something, however, the dream world soon began to change. The sky had turned to a black, starless sky as the ground soon began to disintegrate. Shield Stabber spoke one last time to her colt before she was ejected from the dream world. “Seeking Blade, remember that you possess great power. Save your father and we will all be together again!” her form ended up vanishing into nothingness as she woke up in the cave. Shield Stabber looked from Serene Morning and Seeking Blade's two foals and then to Duk. “This is going to be interesting.” she said to them as they turned their attention to the viewing window that she had conjured up earlier.

Seeking Blade stood in the vast and dark emptiness of the void, his tail flicked as he fixed his mane nervously. A short distance away from him, there was a dark bolt of lightning that cracked loudly in the air. When the crack of lightning faded, there was the sudden sounds of hooves galloping that sounded like they were coming towards him. Seeking Blade knew who it was as he took a defensive stance and held his ground. As the galloping hooves reached him, they slowed to a halt a couple of feet from him. Seeking Blade stood face to face with Searing Staff, his father. They stared at one another and Seeking Blade saw that his fathers eyes swirled with a greenish mist that seemed to fill his vision. Searing Staff grunted as he spoke to his son in a indifferent manner and tone, though he had no control over his body, he was still conscious and was able to speak. “Seeking Blade... Please, help me. Free me from its control!” Two staves appeared in front of them as they took them in their snouts. 

Seeking Blade gave a nod as he stepped back a bit, the two raised the ends of their weapons to one another as he responded in a calm and protective manner and tone. “Don't worry, father... I will save you, I will bring you and mom back to life. And we'll stop this invasion together.”

Seeking Blade and Searing Staff then took to combat, the two stallions faced off against one another in a graceful flurry of staff strikes and bodily blows. The two slammed up against one another, their chests looked like they were melding into one as the others outside of the dream world watched. Seeking Blade grunted as he stepped back and stopped a blow from his father, he was feeling his power begin to well more and more by the moment. He couldn't stop fighting, though. Seeking Blade knew that if he stopped fighting that he would miss his opportunity to free his father, and to bring the two parents that he never had, back to life. He charged at his father, letting out a yell as he bashed his staff against Searing Staffs own, his eyes grew wide as the magic build up continued. Seeking Blade knew that the time was coming, and as he broke the end of his fathers staff, he said in a loud and proud voice. “Father! No matter what happens, no matter how much pain I have to endure... I will never allow those that oppose all that is right and justice to harm you, mother, my family or my friends! The one thing that I have learned throughout my travels... Is that no matter the distance, no matter how much life hurts and no matter how broken the bonds may be...” Seeking Blade attempted to disarm his father with one end of his staff, only to be bashed across the side of his face by the unbroken side of his fathers staff. The pain hurt, but it caused his magic to surge even more. He knew that the time had come as he tossed his staff to the ground, leaping into his fathers next attack as he brought the staff towards his face in a attempt to hit him once more. Only this time, Seeking Blade knew what to do. He grabbed the unbroken part of the staff and gave a firm pull, yanking it out from his fathers snout as he tossed it upwards in a arc behind him. His ears went up as he listened to the weapon fall to the ground with a satisfying thunk. Seeking Blade felt the magic reach its peak as he tackled Searing Staff to the ground, all four of his legs wrapped tightly around him as he felt tears well up in the corners of his eyes as he spoke once more. “Even though the bonds may be broken... family will always be with you, and never forgotten. Even if you did not know it.”

Seeking Blade let out a loud and painful yell as the ground inside of the chamber shook and rattled. The sounds of the water was able to be heard as it lapped up and splashed onto the smooth floor. The dream world had began to phase apart as it crumbled. He held the tears back as best he could as his fathers eyes became less cloudy and less misty. More and more by the moment, he had seen his fathers spirit and soul be yanked from the dreaded sleeper itself as he snapped out of it. Seeking Blade got up and helped Searing Staff up onto his hooves despite the pain that he was feeling at the moment. As the dream world phased apart, a bright and blinding light filled the strange floating window. Serene Morning, Sun Spot, Night Eye and Duk had to shield their eyes with their front hooves. In front of them where the window was, formed two ponies. One, a mare who had no tail and a muscular physique, and the other, a stallion who was slender and a decent height. The window had all but vanished, and as the light itself vanished, Serene Morning felt movement in her front leg that was holding Seeking Blade up against her chest.

There was a startle and a gasp as Seeking Blade snapped awake, he still felt the pain of the powerful unicorn magic that had surged through him. His chest was hurting immensely from the release as he breathed heavily. His eyes adjusted to the light inside of the chamber as he took a moment to take in his surroundings. By this time, Serene Morning and the others had brought their hooves from over their eyes as the two ponies looked around a bit. They too had to adjust their eyes to the interior of the chamber. Serene felt Seeking breathe and then, she heard him cough. Only to hear him grunt from the pain. Her eyes, the foals eyes and Duk's eyes went wide as they all called out in surprise. Duk hugged him tightly, along with Serene and their two foals. They all laughed, as did he as they held him close for a good while. He was able to get them to stop after a few moments, once his eyes fully adjusted to the lighting in the chamber. He saw that his armor and weapons were indeed gone, probably carried off by the current to what would have been his doom, if his mother hadn't saved him. He looked to his parents as they stood a few inches from him and his family and friend, he had them within his reach. At long last, he had his parents with him once again, and this time, he wasn't going to let them leave his side.

Seeking Blade stepped up to his parents as he finally allowed the tears to fall, he began to sob as he held Shield Stabber and Searing Staff fully against his body. He didn't speak, only sobbed. His sobbing was that of relief and joy, happiness and even exhaustion as he nearly collapsed. Shield Stabber, watched as her and Searing Staff's colt was about to collapse, and caught him with her back. After a little bit of help from her stallion, Shield Stabber and Searing Staff looked from Duk, to their two grandcolts, and then to Serene Morning, their daughter in-law. Seeking Blade had finished sobbing, and despite having been unconscious and in the dream world, he was exhausted. The Earth-Pony mare and the Unicorn Stallion regarded them with kind smiles, they were tired, too, much like Seeking Blade was. The tough looking mare gave a soft laugh as she spoke. “It is a pleasure to finally be here with all of you, there is much to discuss, but here is not the time or the place to discuss it. We should head someplace safe, so that we can rest up for the night. We will be able to answer all of your questions after we wake up.”

Serene Morning gave a nod as she, the foals and Duk got up and onto their hooves. She looked to the side of the chamber where they entered from. “Indeed, we might have to go the other way... I don't think that you can fit through there with Seeking Blade on your back... plus, we're a while away from Port Mareheart... I think that the closest town is out of the other exit.” she said to them and looked to the opposite exit from the chamber. With that, Shield Stabber and Searing Staff both gave a nod and turned to the opposite exit and began to trot alongside Serene Morning, the foals, and Duk. They made their way out of the cave and out into the darkness.

It had been a few hours since they had entered the chamber, and off in the distance the group of travelers saw lights. It was a chilly night, and they knew that they needed to reach the lights and get some rest. The group began to trot, only to begin galloping as fast as their tired hooves could carry them. It took them a hour to reach the place that they had seen the lights at, a sign out front of the city wall was able to be seen. Cerulean Tides was written on it. As they came to the gate, a Unicorn stallion was on watch in the guard booth, he used his magic to bring out a flashlight and examined them. They had explained that they were travelers and were delayed by something, though they didn't specify what. Which made them late to arrive. The guard gave a nod as he opened the gate for them and allowed them to pass. Once they entered, they found a inn quickly and Duk managed to talk the inn-keeper into letting them have the biggest and best room for a ridiculously low price. They reached the room and entered, the door closed behind them as they quickly made their way to the beds and helped the unconscious Seeking Blade onto one. Serene Morning gave a kind smile as she covered her stallion up and laid down next to him. They all were exhausted, and they all needed their rest.

The foals had decided to sleep in their own bed, as did Shield Stabber and Searing Staff and Duk. For this one night, they managed to wrench the darkness away and brought a glimmer of hope to the battle that would begin once they reached Viljatown.

Meanwhile, in Viljatown, Bleeding Heart had no idea that Seeking Blade had survived, or that he had been reunited with his family and friend. He sat there on his throne in the now necropolis. In his right hoof, he had a glass that was filled with what looked like wine as he looked to one of the commanders of his undead army. A rough tone was in his voice as he spoke. “Prepare the troops, we shall ride out in three days to begin our takeover of this planet... in the name of Shub-Nigguroth!” the commanders all nodded and turned, their tails and manes bounced as they trotted out of the castle and off to rally their troops. The final dawn was coming, and Bleeding Heart had no clue as to what sort of pain he and his troops were in for.
> Chapter 5: The Final Confrontation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Searing Staff and Shield Stabber climbed up and out of bed as they watched the sun begin to rise up from the horizon. Their eyes watered as their gazes were brought up along with the sun, they had lost track of time. An hour had passed before they remembered why they had gotten up early, the mare and the stallion trotted out of the room, closing the door behind them. The two quickly trotted down the hallway and into the lobby of the inn where a very bored looking receptionist mare sat behind the desk. The unicorn stallion blinked a bit as he and the earth pony mare approached, he cleared his throat and spoke to her. “Excuse me, ma'am, is there a blacksmith nearby?” the receptionist blinked quickly and jolted upright with a startle, she had been one of the only few staff members that had gotten onto their shifts during the night, and to be approached by a customer who wasn't checking into or out of a room was surprising to her.

She brushed a stray strand of her blonde mane away from the side of her face as she calmed herself down, the sound of surprise came into her voice as she responded. “A blacksmith? I don't think that we have one around here anymore... we have a shop just down the street where you two can buy weapons and armor, if that is what you are looking for?” 

Searing Staff and Shield Stabber looked to one another as confused expressions came over their faces. The stallion looked to the receptionist as he said in a confused tone. “Wait... there are no blacksmith's? How is that possible?” the receptionist put a hoof on her forehead with a small grunt of annoyance. 

she took a moment to clear her head and responded, “No, there aren't any blacksmith's here. As I have said, sir and ma'am, we have a store down the street that sells both arms and armor. The place buys from off planet from someplace within the galaxy. So, if you are looking for weapons and protective armor, that would be the place to go. I personally do not enjoy fighting, so I hardly go there...” Her voice was calm as she spoke to the two, she didn't want to let her anger get the better of her as she gave a smile to them. “Just go down the left side of the street as you leave the inn, and you should be able to find it.” the unicorn and the earth pony both nodded as they turned and trotted out the front door, turning to the left as they trotted out of sight.

As Searing Staff and Shield Stabber exited the inn and trotted towards the shop that they were informed about, they had passed by the street that Discord and his small class of ponies had been walking and trotting along. He stopped his students as they all pressed up against a nearby wall to hide their presence. Discord had met Shield Stabber before, only she didn't know it. He looked to his class as he changed his shape into an middle-aged unicorn stallion, his hair was a soft brown color as his mane and tail were both gray. “Alright everypony, I need you all to stay here and wait for me to come back. I just saw somepony from my past, and I need to assist her and her special somepony with something.” he said with a cool and collected tone in his voice. The class let out a collective sigh as they nodded. 

Apple Bloom blinked as she spoke up. “But, Discord, who all will be in charge while y'all are off dealing with y'alls friend?” she asked with a worried tone in her voice. 

Discord blinked at that, his right fore hoof came to rest against his chin as he looked to the foal's. “Well.” he said. “Honestly Apple Bloom, you know how to handle bad situations... you also do show signs of good leadership at times, but I'm going to leave you and Rumble in charge while I am off dealing with what I must. If something happens that causes you all to have to flee, then flee to the inn, and I shall be there in due time. I know that Seeking Blade and his family are there, so, they should be able to protect you. If worse comes to worse... I need to catch up to his parents and assist them.” He gave Apple Bloom and Rumble assuring rubs to their heads, messing up their manes in the process as he quickly galloped after the two down the street. Apple Bloom and Rumble fixed their manes as they trotted around and took in the scenery.

Searing Staff and Shield Stabber entered the shop and blinked as they noticed the various types of new weapons and armors. Shield Stabber had seen it all before, ever since she was following Seeking Blade around as a ghost pony. Searing Staff, however, was having trouble processing everything that he was seeing in front of him. He had been under Cthulhu's control for years and was unable to get used to the weapons and armors. His body became rigid and stiff as he mumbled and stuttered a bit, his special somepony rolled her eyes as she nudged him forward with her forehead. “Come on, stop gawking and let's go up to the counter and see the merchant...” she said with a laugh. After a few moments of nudging, she had managed to get him to move towards the counter where a sun pony was sitting at the cash register. She had been jotting down some notes on a small, square device that had a screen built into it. Her hoof moved fast as she typed in the numbers and letters onto the screen, only to turn her head up and away from it to notice the unicorn stallion and the earth pony mare. 

“Greetings! How may I help you on this fine morning?” she had a friendly smile and her voice was chipper as she spoke, pushing a strand of her black and curled mane away from the side of her face. 

Shield Stabber gave a nod as she blinked a bit, she looked to her calmly and was unsure as to if they'd find what they were looking for. But she had to try... “Yes, we are looking for a durable but strong dueling sword, and some heavy armor that can withstand a bomb blast. Do you have anything like that, by chance...?” she said in a relaxed manner. Searing Staff was still in shock at how far Everglow's technology had come during their absence. The mare that was behind the counter gave a nod as her eyes looked to the nearby rack that held swords. 

“Ah, ripper dueling swords and golemforged plating? Yes, we have those! Though together they will cost you a fair amount.” The receptionist said, her tone became that of a more professional one as she  began to punch the numbers into her pad.

Shield Stabber gave a nod as she looked to the sun pony, she flicked her mane back and onto her back as her left hind hoof tapped the floor softly. “Great, we'll take them!” she had taken a small bag out of a pocket, causing Searing Staff to look to her. 

“Did you sneak that from our son?” he asked in a worried tone, causing her to nod a bit. 

“Yeah, but it's to get him armed and protected again.” she said in just as worried a tone. 

“If we don't do this, then he could end up in serious trouble...” Searing Staff lowered his head a bit with a nod. 

“Yes, I agree, however... you could have asked him to borrow the gold.” As he had responded in a somewhat worried tone, the door to the shop had opened up once more.

Into the shop trotted Discord as he looked to Searing Staff and Shield Stabber, he felt his nervousness and anxiety rise a bit. He was in a pony form, but he knew that if he divulged who he really was, they would begin to attack him. Despite the nervousness and anxiety hitting him like a ton of bricks, he trotted over to them calmly. His gaze moved from the three ponies, and down to the bag of gold. “Shield Stabber, Searing Staff, What is with the bag of gold?” he asked them in a relaxed, but semi-nervous tone. The unicorn stallion and the earth pony mare blinked as they looked to one another for a moment, then turned their attention to the stranger that had somehow known their names. 

“Who are you, and just how do you know our names...?” Shield Stabber asked in a concerned tone as she slipped the bag of gold back into its pocket. Discord gulped a bit as he gave a reassuring smile, his voice was shaking as he exhaled and nervously began to explain. 

“My name is not important right now, but I am the owner of the orphanage that Seeking Blade grew up in. Is that his gold, by chance? And just HOW did you manage to return to life? The both of you!? This is quite a interesting turn of events.” he said with a nervous chuckle. 

She stared at him, her eyes squinted as she stepped towards him... her tone suddenly became one of aggressiveness as Searing Staff joined her. “How exactly did you know that we had come back to life? You aren't a minion of one of The Great Old Ones... Are you...?” 

the draconequus took a step back in his pony form, he felt a bead of cold sweat form on the side of his face as it rolled down his neck and dropped onto the wooden floor. “What? ME a MINION to The Great Old Ones?!” he said in a cocky tone as he brought his paw and his claw up in front of him defensively. “I wouldn't be caught working with THOSE jerks, even if I were married to them! Besides, I wouldn't let either of the material planes get THAT corrupt.” Shield Stabber grabbed Discord by the neck with both of her hooves as she then slammed him hard against a weapons rack. The sudden rush of strength caused Discord's earth pony facade to drop. His body had become taller, slender with his various animal parts able to be seen by Shield Stabber and Searing Staff. They both glared at him, now. And the unicorn stallion had begun to call upon his magical abilities...

As the foal's were wandering about, Rumble had gone off on his own like he so often would whenever he needed time to himself. As he passed by the weapons and armor shop, he heard the sounds of voices, and then, the sound of somepony being slammed up against a rack. The gray pegasus foal peeked his head in through the door and saw that Discord was up against the wall and weapons rack, being pinned by a earth pony as a unicorn charged up his magic. Rumble's eyes went wide as he rushed in and pushed the mares hooves off of his teachers chest. “Please! Don't hurt our teacher!” the foal yelled. “He didn't do anything to you two, we came here to Everglow for a field trip! Please, just listen!” he pleaded to the two ponies, Shield Stabber motioned to Searing Staff to stop, and as he had dropped his focus they looked to the small foal. 

“Your a teacher? But, aren't you The-” she was about to inquire as to if he were The Unspoken, when Discord interrupted her. 

“Oh please, I'm not The Unspoken... every single time that I come to Everglow, you ponies always mistake me for that joker!” he then gave the two chaos hunters a sincere smile, he had managed to calm down as his tail carefully lifted up a sword that had fallen to the floor as he placed it back on the weapons rack. His tone was one of assurance and confidence. “Yes, I am Discord... Teacher of Equestria's Alternate Realities class, and also the “pony” that took Seeking Blade into the orphanage on the night that you both were killed... you see, during our field trip, my bus had a issue with the engine, and I had to change it out with a new one. We made our way here to Cerulean Tides. That is when I saw the two of you, and I wanted to meet the both of you in person.” Discord extended his lions paw to Shield Stabber and Searing Staff. “Please, I want to help the two of you and your family.” the two chaos hunters looked to one another for a moment before Searing Staff spoke up, he sounded like he was worried and unsure about the whole situation. 

“If what you say is true, Discord, then we shall aid you and not allow harm to come to you or your students. But, you can understand why we were worried that you came to harm us... right?” he asked, his gaze soon moved to the gray pegasus. He had thought back to a time long ago about how he once knew a stallion with similar attributes and a similar type. 

Discord gave a nod as he held his paw in place. “Yes, I understand that. There are many terrible things out there in both this reality and my class and I's own. But please, let us help you? There is another way to assist Seeking Blade without having to use his gold, and I can be of assistance with it.” 

Shield Stabber and Searing Staff both looked at one another before they turned their heads back to Discord. Their hooves came to rest on his  paw as they nodded. “Alright then, Discord. We'll put our faith in you and will help you, if you need it.” the mare said with a gentle smile. She and her special somepony had taken their hooves from the draconequus's paw and rubbed the back of their heads. “Well, let's return our sons gold to him and we'll get to work with our new friends help.” Searing Staff said in a much more calm tone then when they first encountered the draconequus. Shield Stabber gave a nod as she trotted outside of the shop, Searing Staff and Rumble followed behind her. Discord tossed a small gold coin to the receptionist before he too exited.

The group made their way back towards the inn. As they walked down the street, they met up with the rest of Discords class and introduced themselves. The mare and stallion gave one another a smile as they watched the foal's and their teacher talk. After a few moments, the now bigger group arrived at the inn. Shield Stabber looked to Searing Staff as she spoke in a playful tone. “Well, why don't you stay here and I'll be back. I need to get back to the room and deal with this gold.”  Searing Staff gave a nod as he watched her trot out of sight. Searing Staff turned to Discord as he blinked. “So, this thing that you can make Seeking Blade. What is it, exactly?” he asked in a relaxed tone, his eyes locked with the draconequus own as he gave a cocky grin. 

“Why, it is only the best weapon that I have ever designed! It is a sword that is able to slice through steel in one swing, a sword of immeasurable power that when it hits will sometimes create the sound of a chicken clucking! But it mostly is of immeasurable power and made out of a material that even I don't know what it is.” Discord chuckled as he grinned, his tail flicked behind him as he thought out loud. “Hmm... a sword without armor is quite unfitting, so I shall even make him some armor that will benefit him. Should anything unforeseen happen.” Discord, the foals and Searing Staff all nodded as they talked among themselves.

As she made her way out of the bedroom, Shield Stabber blinked as she noticed that Serene Morning had been standing out in the hall, she lightly tapped a hoof to the floor as the door shut and the two mares stood face to face with one another. “Serene, I...” Shield Stabber began to speak, only to be given a warm shake of the head from her daughter-in-law. 

“No, it's okay... I know that you stole the gold, but I was wanting to see what you did with it. I am a bit annoyed about it, but you returned it to Seeking Blade, and that is good. It goes to show that you didn't lose your senses of right and wrong.” Serene Morning said in a compassionate tone, she stretched her wings out as she yawned. “I also saw you and Searing Staff return with quite a group of intrepid adventurer's... I can't say that I've seen anypony like them, a group of foal's and a... What is he, exactly?” She asked as she stopped yawning and her wings folded against her sides once more. 

Shield Stabber rubbed the back of her head with a hoof calmly and shook her head in response. “They are just travelers who want to help, and I was going to use the gold to buy him some new armor and weaponry, but the travelers that came with us can make it themselves. They said that they'd do it to help.” 

Serene Morning gave a nod, and then a playful smile. “Then, let's do it before Seeking and the foals wake up. Everypony will be up in a hour or two, so we had better hurry up. Lead the way!” She said in a excited tone, her hooves stomped the ground softly as she looked to Shield Stabber with extreme excitement. She had been ready to get a update on her special somepony's wardrobe... weapons, armor and all. The tailless mare rolled her eyes as she let out a hearty laugh, her voice was full of excitement, just like Serene Mornings own. 

“Alright, let's go, then. We'd better hurry!” The two trotted to the lobby, soon going into a full on gallop as they returned to Searing Staff, Discord and the foal's.

The next two hours seemed to have passed by quickly as Discord had withdrawn into a small inter-dimensional pocket space where he had worked on designing some new armor and weaponry for Seeking Blade. The suit of heavy armor he had conjured up was black with a silver and magenta trim along the sides, he waggled his lion's paw and created large, purple wings appearing on the back of the armor. The wings had a transparent quality to them and they matched the silver and magenta trim that was on the armor. “Hmm... this should allow him to be able to fly, if the need were to arise. the armor will be doing most of the protecting, it's up to him and the sword to do the majority of the work.” He said to himself as he set the armor in the air, it floated next to him as he then used both his paws to conjure a beautiful, curved blade into existence. It was jet black in color with a bright yellow hilt. The Draconequus put a paw on his chin as he then grinned in excitement. With a wave of his paw, he had infused magic into it, causing the blade to glow a unearthly blue. “Discord, you are SUCH a genius! Seeking Blade will love this sword and armor, but I fear that it only has the one spell within it...” As he worked his magic on it, he continued to talk to himself. “Besides, Disintegrate is a spell that should be able to destroy Bleeding Heart, once and for all... hopefully.” Discord gave a pleased smile as he had finished up the sword and armor, he clapped joyfully as he looked his work over. “Discord, you most have certainly done it again! You'll be saving everypony here in Everglow, as well as everypony in Equestria from a terrible foe.” The Draconequus carefully picked up both the armor and the sword, his tail opened up a hole in the side of the inter-dimensional pocket space that lead back to the outside world. He took leave of his temporary workspace, the hole closed behind him.

Five hours passed by as everypony had been prepared for battle and they headed off to Vilja town. The journey was somewhat quick as they made their way through shortcuts and hidden pathways that nopony else had known about, all due to Duk's guidance and Apple Bloom's knowledge of the roadways. It took them a hour to reach Viljatown, their eyes went wide from shock and surprise. The group had seen what lays ahead of them, what once was a sprawling and lively town, was now a dead necropolis. Seeking Blade looked to the others, then to Duk. “Duk, I want you and the foal's that came with our friend here to stay out of sight.” Seeking Blade said as he motioned to Discord. “I'm going to head into Viljatown to the heart, where Bleeding Heart is more than likely hiding... I plan to end this, once and for all.” Searing Staff, Shield Stabber and Serene Morning all gave a nod. 

“Yes.” said Searing Staff. “And we will go in with you... I think that Sun Spot and Night Eye should stay behind and assist Discord and Duk with protecting the others. Just in case worst comes to worst.” Searing Staff gave a nod as he fixed his white robe, a hickory staff rested on his back. Shield Stabber and Serene Morning both gave a nod at Searing Staff's suggestion. Seeking Blade took a moment and looked to his two foals. “Well, what do you say? You two up for watching our flanks while we deal with the source of all of this trouble?” He said with a calm tone in his voice, he watched Sun Spot and Night Eye as they exchanged glances. 

Their heads then turned back to their fathers own, cheerful smiles came over their faces as Sun Spot said in a cheerful tone. “Sure thing, daddy! We can handle things here!” 

Seeking Blade chuckled softly as he trotted up to them and embraced them in a tight hug. He let go of them and looked to Discord, a playful tone came into his voice as he spoke to the Draconequus. “Hey, make sure that you keep Duk out of trouble, ok? If things get too hairy out here, then fall back with everypony to Cerulean Tides and inform the other Chaos Hunters. You might want to be transformed into a Pony, so that they won't mistake you for The Unnameable One.” Discord gave a nod, he began to talk when Duk flew into the air and hugged him around his stomach tightly, causing him to get the wind knocked out of him as he tried to pry the mallard looking pegasus off of his stomach. Seeking Blade, his parents and his wife had all began to make their way into Viljatown. To the heart of the problem that had recently begun to plague Everglow...

The four made their way cautiously, slipping into the shadows and waiting out passing patrols as the need arose and fell. They had been making their way towards the center of the city when Searing Staff casted Scrying and grunted a bit. “He's in the castle, just a bit past the town hall a few minutes away... in his throne room, currently. If we keep going, we should be able to get to him in no time flat.” He said quietly to Seeking Blade and the others, who nodded in return as they continued to walk. Searing Staff had stopped casting his spell as they made their way calmly towards the location of Bleeding Hearts castle, they had been very lucky to have made it this far and not have been caught by any of the patrols. However, Seeking Blade ended up not noticing a wire as he stepped on it, causing a alarm to go off. There was a sudden howling of the damned as he looked to his parents and his wife. 

“Come on, cover's blown!” he shouted to them and began to gallop alongside them towards their destination. Their destination soon came into view and they could see that the doors were wide open. 

“It looks like a trap...!” Serene Morning said, her eyes narrowed as she grunted. “I like it when they play dirty, makes me feel less worried about our chances, because they think that they can beat us...” she laughed softly with a smirk. Seeking Blade, Searing Staff and Shield Stabber galloped alongside Serene Morning into the castle as a horde of undead soldiers began to charge at them as they came from around the street corners. The front doors of the castle slammed shut, barring the soldiers from entering.

As the front doors shut, the four ponies looked around the foyer. Where there would usually be staircases leading up to a door, there were not in this castle. Let alone a second floor or even a third. They looked straight ahead, where they could see the far off form of a lone stallion that was sitting on a single throne. He had a glass of what appeared to be red wine in his right hoof, tendrils and tentacles rested at his side as the four approached him. They readied their weapons as the transparent wings on Seeking Blade's armor extended and began to glow. They all were ready for this fight, and they knew that they were in for one wild ride as they had soon entered the throne room. Seeking Blade glared at Bleeding Heart as he stepped forward, a angry tone came into his voice as he spoke. “Monster, you don't belong here... you have taken many lives, injured countless innocents and nearly destroyed Port Mareheart.” 

Bleeding Heart gave a laugh as he drank more of the wine before he responded. “Yes yes, and you were supposed to have stopped me right then and there, before I had the chance to throw you into the currents... though, I am curious as to how you managed to survive. But, either way, I don't quite give two shits about it. I hope that you had fun with life, because I am going to end you, personally... and I will make sure that the job is done right, this time.” Bleeding Heart said as he threw the glass and its contents to the floor next to his throne, breaking it as he soiled the ground. The stallion stood up as his tendrils and tentacles extended, sharpening to where they were sword-like.

Bleeding Heart and the four ponies lunged at one another, their swords and staff connected with the wicked stallions own. Searing Staff and Serene Morning jumped back as Seeking Blade and Shield Stabber leaped to the sides, narrowly avoiding two of Bleeding Hearts tendril swords. The two looked to one another and gave a nod, their swords met the sides of the wicked stallions body. He let out a grunt of pain as he quickly turned and gave a hard kick from his hind legs onto Shield Stabbers face, knocking her backwards a few feet and to the ground. Seeking Blades movements were calm and collected as he slashed downwards at one of Bleeding Hearts tendrils, the smooth strike managed to hit and sent one of the strange stallions tendrils flying through the air and to the ground. Blood began to drip out of the wound as he yelled out. Shield Stabber managed to get up as she charged him. Bleeding Heart moved out of the way and laughed as the mare rammed into her foal, sending them both sprawling to the ground. “Hah! Don't you fools see? I am going to win, and you all will perish. Along with your planet falling under Shub-Nigguroth's control!” Searing Staff and Serene Morning both glowered at him, their weapons at the ready as the unicorn stallion began to cast a spell. The pegasus mare flew at Bleeding Heart, with her movements becoming fluid and fast, she managed to weave in-between two of the tendrils and brought her daggers through them. Severing them to where they fell to the ground. The unicorn stallion was given enough time to prepare his spell, his horn glowed a bright red as he unleashed the spell he had prepared... a fireball launched from out of his horn and hit the stallion hard in the face, exploding as he yelled out loudly from rage and anger. They had only just begun the fight, but outside there was yet another fight raging...

Discord and his class stood face to face with the undead guards who had their weapons drawn and leveled at Discord. As his class huddled close to their teacher, he gave a cocky and confident grin to his students. Discord's tone was playful as he smirked. “Ah, don't worry about them, everypony. These poor fools think that their weapons will actually harm us!” he laughed as he flicked his tail a bit. “Well, they won't be able use their weapons... If they are rubber chickens!” Discord then clapped his paws, the undead guards watched as their swords then vanished, only to be replaced by rubber chickens! The group laughed as the guards stared in confusion, they had then turned their attention from the rubber chickens to Discord and his class. They snorted and began to advance, though a loud crack like thunder resounded from the sky. The Draconequus looked to his class and backed away slowly, his voice had changed from cocky and confident, to semi-nervousness as he spoke. “Oh boy... Class, get behind me and wear these blindfolds.” he conjured blindfolds around their heads to where their eyes were covered, the foals had no idea as to why they had been blindfolded. They trusted their teacher and his judgment, though. As Discord looked to the undead ponies, he saw that they were backing up and leaving an opening. Then, that was when a bolt of black lightning slammed into the ground in front of the guards. In that spot, stood a ebony skinned Pony Satyr female, her upper half was covered by black armor that glowed in the light. Her lower half was covered by black leggings that hid her glowing green fur, her hoofed feet had sterling silver horseshoes. Her glowing green eyes locked onto the draconequus as she drew her hands up in front of her. 

Her hair on her head was long and flowed in the air, a wicked tone came from her as she spoke. “Ah, Discord... It is truly a pleasure to see you again! And you brought me some sacrifices too!” she motioned to the foals, however, he shook his head. 

“Mm, no...” said Discord in a protective tone. “They are not sacrifices, and you WILL refrain from calling my students that... Shub-Nigguroth!”

Shub-Nigguroth laughed as she placed her right hand underneath her chin, she kept her distance from him. She knew that she would end up having a tough time dealing with him, so she decided to play it safe... for now. “Oh, your students? why, the last time you were here, you told me that you weren't interested in becoming a teacher.” she giggled and waved her left hand in front of her face, looking away for a moment. 

Discord shook his head as he grunted. “Eh... that was back before my reformation! I'm happy that I was reformed, it helped me realize that there is more to life then causing chaos, destruction and unhappiness!” he laughed as he snapped his lions paw, causing a pamphlet to appear in it. He took a moment and folded the pamphlet into a paper airplane, flying it over to the eldritch horror. Shub-Nigguroth blinked as she took the folded pamphlet and unfolded it, she opened it only to be greeted by a miniature Discord that was doing the electric shuffle. She rolled her eyes and tore the pamphlet to shreds. 

“Oh, come come now Discord... you used to be so crazy, so awesome. So slick and attractive~!” he blinked a bit at her flirting and laughed, his tone took on a more playful but assured tone. 

“Oh, yes. Well, I'm sorry... But I have a girlfriend who WON'T leave me for dead, after I was turned into a statue for all of that time!” 

Shub-Nigguroth smirked as she looked to him. “Oh? And whom might that be?” she asked in a overconfident tone, she took a step towards him, only to find herself face to face with an alicorn mare who's body was pure white. The mares mane and tail were long and flowing, the colors of the mares mane and tail were that of a rainbow and her violet eyes were narrowed in agitation at the eldritch horrors advances. Discord couldn't help as he grinned, his voice was playful and his sing-song tone to his voice was one of warning. 

“This mare is my girlfriend, Shub-Nigguroth... if I were you, I'd start running or apologize~.” He said with a laugh, his tail swished back and fourth.

Shub-Nigguroth's eyes widened from fear as she was face to face with the mare, she had not realized that Discord had opened a small opening to where the mare could hear. She wondered when he had done it, she wondered if it was when he conjured the blindfolds over his classes eyes and around their heads. She took a few steps back, as did the undead guards. The mare looked to Discord and spoke to him in a curious tone. “Discord... Is this that monster that you had told me about a few nights ago when you planned this field trip?” 

Discord gave a soft nod as he spoke to the mare in a playful tone. “Why, yes, it is! Princess Celestia, if you would do me and Everglow the honor of sending her back to the edge of the galaxy to sleep for another couple thousand years, then feel free to do so!” Princess Celestia gave him a nod and glared at Shub-Nigguroth. The two stared at one another for a couple of seconds, she also noticed the the eldritch horror had begun to turn and high tail it out of there, along with the many undead guards. Princess Celestia's horn glowed a bright white light as the tip flowed with magic. 

“You aren't going anywhere, monsters! Now... feel the might of the sun!” she yelled out in a protective tone. She unleashed her magic, sending a wide beam of light from her horns tip and flooded the streets with it. The sounds of undead and eldritch screams filled the air as some of the buildings crumbled. As soon as Princess Celestia had stopped using her magic, she looked to Discord and the foals. A kind smile came over her face as she spoke gently to them. “Are all of you alright? Nopony was hurt?” Discord rubbed the back of his head as he sent the blindfolds back to whence they came. 

“Well, we're fine... but Seeking Blade and his family, except for him and Serene Mornings foals... are facing off against somepony of great strength.” He said with a worried expression on his face. Discord couldn't take his mind off of Seeking Blade and the others, as they faced off against Bleeding Heart.

She nodded and looked over the foals, her voice became one of curiosity. “Will the foals of these Seeking Blade and Serene Morning please step forward?”  

Sun Spot and Night Eye both nodded to one another as they stepped forward, they bowed their heads to the Princess and bowed down on their right front hooves as their father had taught them before their journey. Princess Celestia blinked a bit as she giggled at their motions and shook her head as she spoke. “Oh, please! You don't need to be bow down to me! My name is Princess Celestia, and I am from Equestria. Please, stand back up and tell me your names.” 

Sun Spot and Night Eye looked to one another, they stood back up and smiled to Princess Celestia. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Princess Celestia! I'm Sun Spot, and this is my sister, Night Eye!” the pegasus colt said with a sweet smile. The earth pony filly gave a nod. Princess Celestia gently rested her front right hoof on top of their heads one at a time, her wings stretched a bit as she looked them over a bit. She spoke to them calmly as she folded her wings against her sides. 

“Sun Spot, Night Eye... Where is your family at? Surely they are here?” Sun Spot nodded as he pointed to the castle with a wing. 

“Yeah, they're all there... fighting against the stallion that is trying to take over the world...!” A wave of powerful magic flowed across the now empty streets of the city and caused the foals to fall to the ground. This wave of powerful magic got the alicorns attention, her head turned to the castle as she suddenly dashed off towards it.

Seeking Blade watched as Searing Staff, Shield Stabber and Serene Morning were knocked down and against the wall. His magic had began to build up again as he could feel it surging through every fiber of his being. Having seen his parents and his wife get knocked out and thrown against the wall, it only caused his magic to rise quickly through his body. The stallion let out a loud scream of anger, causing a wave of powerful magic to race out from the area around the castle and towards the edge of the city. Seeking Blade launched himself at Bleeding Heart, his eyes snapped shut as he focused on taking the both of them up to the top of the castles exterior. The two stallions soon found themselves up on top of the castles roof, their bodies slammed against the ground as they quickly scrambled to their hooves. Bleeding Hearts tentacles and tendrils had been sheared down to where only one remained. Then there was Seeking Blade, his armor had cracked and the wings vanished, he knew that his armor was about to break... the chaos hunter took his armor off and listened as it hit the ground with a thud. Bleeding Heart laughed as he clopped towards Seeking Blade, a dark grin came across his face as he spoke with a malicious tone as his foes magic subsided. “So... what made you decide to teleport us up here, Seeking Blade? Are you scared that I'll kill your precious family and friends...? Oh, you are such a naive and very stupid pony!” 

Seeking Blade shook his head and grabbed his sword that Discord had crafted and given to him just the other day, the blade swirled with mist and dark matter inside of the blade. “No...” he said in a tone as calm and serene as he took a defensive stance. A sudden and soft wind began to blow across the city, the wind wrapped around the two stallions. He noticed a strange looking pony that was galloping towards the castle, his gaze returned back to Bleeding Hearts. He wasn't going to lose this fight, no matter the cost. “I teleported us up here for one final showdown. bring out your sword and let us finish this... Bleeding Heart!” With that, Bleeding Heart had torn out his last tendril and formed it into a short sword. The two swung their swords at one another, the blades connected and that is when Bleeding Heart realized just what sort of sword it was that Seeking Blade had. The stallions grunted as they backed away from one another, only to charge one another and swung their swords once again. The two brought blow after blow down upon one another, the resounding clashing of their battle echoed through the now empty city as they dodged one another in the midst of their flurry of blows.  Seeking Blade managed to find a opening in Bleeding Hearts defenses and took the chance, he bolted to the stallions side and brought his sword across the wicked and cruel stallions side, causing his flesh to rip and tear. Blood began to flow out of Bleeding Hearts wound, a shout of pain and rage filled the air as Seeking Blade kept on slicing away at his opponent. He wasn't going to let this villain get the better of him, and he noticed that his sword had began to glow brighter and brighter with each swing as the dark matter built up with each passing second.  

In a last ditch effort, Bleeding Heart swung his sword at Seeking Blades face, there was a sickening sound of flesh and bone being sliced through... and the soft slicing of an eyeball being yanked out of its socket as it went with the sword. Seeking Blade continued to slice away and had chosen to fight through the pain. This did not make Bleeding Heart happy as he brought his sword once more into the air and sliced at the one of the chaos hunters fore legs. There was a loud yell of pain as the chaos hunter felt his right fore leg was cut off and away from his body, he had began to fall. Seeking Blade let out a loud bray of victory as he stabbed Bleeding Heart one last time in the stomach. The blade of his sword suddenly exploded inside of his opponent. A few seconds after the blade exploded, a dark beam had appeared leading up and into the sky to a black hole. Seeking Blade laid there on the castle roofs exterior as he watched Bleeding Heart. The two of them had been fighting for what felt like hours, the villain had no more strength to fight as he dropped his sword. The two stared at one another as Bleeding Heart grunted from pain, he had begun to be pulled up towards the black hole. His body left the castle roofs exterior and he stared at the stallion that had bested him. He had felt anger at having been defeated, though he was unable to say anything due to the pain and the speed of his ascent becoming quicker and quicker. The villain had watched the world as it gradually became smaller and smaller... he looked up to the black hole, and knew that once he was gone, so would go it as well. He reached the black hole at a pace that was becoming faster and faster as he sighed, he had lost the fight... and he could do nothing to prevent his demise.

Seeking Blade watched Bleeding Heart as his vision dimmed and began to fade out of his remaining eye. He had managed to defeat the villain, managed to stop the eldritch horrors from taking over Everglow... Seeking Blade watched as Bleeding Hearts body was soon consumed by the black hole, and with the black hole, vanished. He ended up passing out soon after, and was unaware that the strange pony had reached him shortly after. His bleeding had been stopped and he had been carried down to the ground by somepony. His tail was limp, and as Princess Celestia carried Seeking Blade to the entrance of the castle, her wings were extended as she landed carefully so as not to harm him anymore then he already was. Serene Morning, Searing Staff and Shield Stabber rushed up to Seeking Blade and their eyes went wide as they saw the damage that Bleeding Heart had done. Discord and the other ponies had arrived, as well. Night Eye and Sun Spot noticed their fathers now missing eye and his missing fore hoof as tears welled up in their eyes. They rushed forward in worry and ended up caught in a tight hug by their mother as they broke down into tears.

Princess Celestia carried Seeking Blade on her back carefully as she galloped over to Discord, her voice was soft but calm and reassuring as she spoke to him and his class. “Discord, everypony, I need to take this stallion to the nearest hospital as quickly as I can. I need you all to make sure that Sun Spot and Night Eyes family get back to their home safely.” 

the draconequus gave a assuring nod as he responded to the alicorn mare. “Of course, your highness, We'll make sure that they get home safely and that they are looked after until you can inform them and us about Seeking Blades status.” Princess Celestia gave a nod as she lifted up off of the ground and took flight to look for a hospital. The rest of the journey back home for Serene Morning, Sun Spot, Night Eye, Shield Stabber and Searing Staff was quiet and they were worrying about Seeking Blade. They were worried that he wouldn't make it and that he would end up unable to be saved. However, little did they know that they were wrong. As they had all made their way back to Kailani, after assisting Discord and his class with their magic schoolbus and boarding, they had reached their home on Kailani in a matter of seven days. As they were traveling, Princess Celestia had gotten Seeking Blade the help that he needed and paid the doctors the gold that they had asked for, she had also asked the staff if they would allow her to stay with him, that way if he woke up he would have a friendly face and some assurance that he was alright. The medical staff, despite being hesitant, reluctantly agreed to allowing her to stay as she had asked.

Two weeks had passed as Seeking Blades family had watched him fall, or at least, they were worried that he had fallen. It was mid-afternoon and everypony was in the living room trying to take their minds off of their worries. Discord and his class had stayed with the Blade family along with Barnaby and Duk. As everypony was trying to take their minds off of things, Discord had been carrying a couple of trays that had freshly cooked baked goods on them that Duk had made a couple of hours before. The draconequus stopped halfway as he noticed two familiar figures trotting towards the house. He smiled happily and carried the trays to the coffee table and set them down with a happy whistle. Discord had walked into the kitchen and waited for the knock as he watched the two figures soon approach the front door of the house.

After a few moments of worry and hesitation, Seeking Blade looked at Princess Celestia with a somewhat nervous chuckle, he brought his right fore hoof up and knocked on the door. He had gotten a cybernetic leg that replaced the one he had lost in the battle, he also had a patch over the eye socket where he lost his eye. A long, deep scar going down that side of his face was able to be seen. He had a new suit of silver armor on his body, a gold crest in the form of a national emblem was able to be seen, as well. After a few moments, the front door was opened up by Night Eye. As she saw her father, she let out a surprised squeal of relief and excitement, leaping up as she hugged him tightly. Upon hearing the squeal of excitement and surprise, Sun Spot trotted to the door and shouted out in pure joy. “Mom! Grandma! Grandpa! Daddy's home!” he embraced his father's left side of his body tightly. Searing Staff, Shield Stabber and Serene Morning rushed out of the house one after another as they welcomed him back home.  

“They all had gone through a lot during this journey, and their journeys and adventures have not ended here... as the next few months passed, Seeking Blade had become the leader of a chapter house of Chaos Hunters in Everglow that was built on the island of Kailani. Seeking Blade and Serene Morning ended up with a house by the ocean due to the new chapter house of Chaos Hunters that Seeking Blade had become the leader of.” Discord said as he walked across the classroom to the other side, his eyes looked out the window and he gave a kind smile to his class. His voice was joyful as he let out a playful laugh. “Well, there is more to this story, but for now... it is probably for the best that we allow time and fate to tell that portion.” as the bell rang, the students got off of their chairs and pulled their saddle bags up onto their backs, trotting off and out of the door. However, Rumble stopped before he reached the exit. His pupils dilated as his eyes grew wide, he felt his legs shake a bit as he ended up mumbling something under his breath. 

“The Mother is always watching...” Discord's ears twitched as he heard Rumble say something, he couldn't quite tell what he said. He had walked over to his desk and set a small book on top of it, then he made his way to the pegasus colt and knelt down next to him. A expression of concern came over his face as he spoke to him in a concerned tone. 

“Rumble, what did you just say...?” Rumble repeated once more to the draconequus, fear filled his voice as he gulped loudly. 

“The Mother is always watching...” Discord gulped as he put his lions claw in front of Rumble and shook his head. 

“Come come now, Rumble... don't let that horrible thing get into your head, you're stronger then that!” he then snapped his fingers on his lions claw, the colts expression returned to normal as he felt his knees continue to shake. He looked at Discord and blinked a bit, shaking his head. 

“What happened?” he asked in a confused tone. The draconequus gave a assuring smile as he gently patted the colts head. 

“Oh, nothing at all! Now, why don't you hurry and run home before your parents begin to worry about you?” Rumble gave a nod as he quickly trotted out of the classroom and out into Ponyville.

Discord took a breath and exhaled as he stood up, he placed his lions claw on the side of his face. “Oh... this is just perfect...” the draconequus then snapped his fingers and vanished as he teleported to Princess Celestia's castle, to warn her about what the pegasus colt had said.