Chapter One: The Awakening

Long ago, after the Alicorn Wars ended and the life of Empress Faust had been lost, both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna struggled to maintain ordered within their torn home, and to do what their mother once had. The young fillies could not replace their mother, unfortunately, both being too inexperienced for ruling over an entire Kingdom. What had made things even worse for them, there were more savage tribes of races preparing to invade, wanting to take what resources they had left, since their armies had been vastly weakened.

One day, the princesses decided to take some time to themselves, after spending days of trying to rule over a Kingdom they had not been prepared to rule just yet. Wishing to go back to more simple of times, playing within the lush forests of their home… Not telling a soul what they were up to, or where they had gone. This helped, for a time, but they did not expect what would happen next.

While they played, a boom overhead startled the fillies and forced them to look up. When they did, both watched a metal object, trailing smoke, soar through the sky at an uncontrolled speed… Then crashed nearby.

"Quickly, Luna! Somepony could be hurt!" Celestia called out, practically sprinting towards the crash site, with Luna right behind her. Though, when they arrived, the fillies were met by a wrecked ship of some kind… In the shape of a crescent moon, and made of a strange black metal. All around the wreckage, laid metal skeletons, their chest, head, shins, and trim of their shoulders; held a blue color, while their thighs, neck, biceps, and most of their shoulders were black. "H-Hello? Is anypony still alive here?"

No response came from the wreckage, no life seemed to be within it. A frown slowly appeared on the fillies, realizing that they were too late, and there had been no survivors of this crash… Until a piece of wreckage had been, slowly, pushed up and shoved to the side, revealing a tall, pure crimson, metal skeleton! His thighs, biceps, neck, and trim of his shoulders were a raven black, and the skeleton's body shined within the sun light… But he also held a damaged black crown piece over his head, glowing red eyes flickering in and out weakly.

"Luna, go and get help, hurry!" Celestia rushed over to the fallen stranger, noticing a piece of the ship had impaled his side, Luna leaving to get help. "Are you alright, Mister? Is there anything I can do to-!"

"Do not touch me!" The metal skeleton demanded, slapping Celestia's hands away. "I do not… Need any hel-AGH!" A red electrical discharged coursed from his injury, obviously causing him extreme pain.

Without hesitation, the young Celestia grabbed hold of the metal piece. "Yes you do, knuckle head! This thing is deep inside of you, so let me help!" She pulled at the metal piece, trying to remove it from his body. "Come… On… Get… Out!" The filly grunted, between each pull, but could not remove the metal piece. "It's stuck in there… Oh, mother, what am I going to do?"

While she studied the injury, trying to figure out what to do about it, the metal being just watched the filly, as Celestia tried to find a way to help him. Despite his emotionless skull, one could tell her actions had confused him greatly. "Why are you helping me, child?" The stranger asked, Celestia looking up at him, almost like the metal skeleton had suddenly grown two heads.

"Because mother told me I should always help those in need." She answered, like it had been obvious, raising an eyebrow.

"But, you do not know me, child…" He retorted, holding his left hand up. "For all you know, I could try and kill you any second now."

His comment made the princess falter, physically becoming worried about the stranger's actions, but Celestia quickly regained her confidence. "That does not matter, Mister. Right now, what does matter, is the fact that you need help and that is enough for me!" With that, she put both hands on to the metal piece again, this time channeling her magic into it.

The golden glow surprised the stranger, feeling Celestia's magic flow into his body. He continued to watch her attempts, at trying to pull the piece free from him, and still failed. None of it made any sense to the strange being, and he could not comprehend as to why the filly was trying so hard to help him. That is, until her magic reached the metal skeleton's core, and allowed him to suddenly feel her every emotion.

Fear.

Sorrow.

Insignificance.

Pain.

Each one of these, he could somehow feel them coming from deep within Celestia. The stranger could tell, she did not feel any of these towards him, but used him as a distraction from them. For a reason, that he did not know, this filly was in a deep emotional pain. Trying so hard to help those around her, yet did not ask for the help she needed. Something clicked, deep within his metal body. Something he had not felt in a long time.

"Stop, child." The metal skeleton's hand forced her's off, before gripping the metal piece instead. "You are not yet strong enough to pull this free… But, I still have my own strength." With that, he began to pull the metal piece out! Despite the discharges causing him obvious pain, the stranger continued to pull and pull, until the piece was completely free from his body! Once out, Celestia watched as his metal body began to self-repair, his gaze going to the awe-struck filly. "What is your name, child?"

"C-Celestia." She answered, watching him toss the piece aside. "P-Princess Celestia."

"Royalty? An honor." He leaned against the crashed ship, covering his repairing injury. "I thank you for trying to help me, Princess. Showing such kindness, to my kind, is a rare treasure."

Celestia beamed with happiness, nodding to the metal skeleton. "No thanks are needed! As I said before, mother told me to always help those in need!"

"Speaking of your mother, where is she?" He looked around, for a moment, then returned to Celestia. "I highly doubt she would want her children playing within a forest… Royalty, or not, such a place is still dangerous for you."

"G-Gone…" She replied, looking down to where the filly's pink mane covered her eyes.

"Gone? She could return some time soon, and if you are not there when she does? I believe she may become hys-?"

"She's gone!" Celestia screamed, drops of tears falling on to the stranger's metal hand. When the filly looked back up, he then saw those tear-filled eyes. "M-My mother is gone…. And never coming back, leaving me with only my younger sister."

Without warning, Celestia hugged the stranger's large chest plate, and began to cry into him. This, in turn, caused him to gain another confused expression, and looked around to make sure no other is watching them. "Uhm… It is alright." Once again, he glanced around, before wrapping his right arm around her. "It will be alright, Little Celestia."

"No, it won't, Mister!" Celestia's muffled words shouted, as she continued to cry. "Everypony expects me to rule, just like my mother did! But, truth is, I don't even know what to do or how to start! Plus, there are a lot of mean tribes wanting to attack us, and I don't know what to do!"

"You do know how to rule, Celestia." He started, the filly looking up and wiping her eyes. "You have proven that, by what you did here. Keep such compassion, and you shall rule like your mother."

"A-And what about the mean tribes?" She asked.

For a moment, the stranger hesitated, but answered her nonetheless. "I will speak to my Phaeron, see if he can lend you aid." The reply provoked another hug from Celestia, before a humming sound caught their attention.

Looking up, both spotted another moon crescent ship hovering overhead, but this one was primarily red, with only certain areas being black. Red energy appeared within the crescent circle and shot down a beam of light, landing a short distance away from the pair. At first, Celestia thought it was some sort of attack, and prepared to cast a barrier around them… But stopped, when the stranger placed his hand on to her shoulder, motioning for the filly to look again.

Seconds later, ten more metal skeletons appeared from the light, a lot like the one next to the filly, but with shields, khopesh swords, and strange scythe-like weapons. They walked over to the pair, revealing their towering height ot Celestia, and two of them lifted her new found friend off of the ground. The filly could only watch, as they took him towards the light. However, they stopped when their comrade lifted his hand up and looked back at Celestia. "All within the Ay'therain Dynasty will know what you did here, today, Princess." He gave a light nod to her. "And my people never forget the debts we owe."

With that, they stepped into the light, and vanished. Once they all did so, the light went back up and allowed their ship to soar away… Moments later, Luna returned with a platoon of guards, who only found an awestruck Celestia, near the wreckage of a strange ship.

Months passed, and Celestia never saw her strange friend again, leaving her to believe that she never will. But, such thoughts remained at the back of her mind or when she could spare the time to think about it. The reason for this, had been because of the other tribes starting to invade their lands, the filly princesses recalling their still recovering forces to the capital. Many nobles suggested surrender, fearing for their own lives, but the filly princesses refused to give in to this… Celestia still bearing hope that her friend would make good on his word, and return.

Their capital faced off with a massive army of savage tribes, with only a single purpose in mind… To destroy and enslave the Equestrians. All the defenders could do, was man the city walls and prepare for the worse, keeping Celestia and Luna within the highest tower. Fear gripped their hearts, never seeing such a massive army before, wondering where it had come from, many believing they would not survive this. Their blood freezing, when the tribes began to charge.

"And my people never forget the debts we owe…"

Celestia's eyes widened, after those words were whispered around her. IN that same moment, the biggest beam of red light, any had ever seen, crashed down from the sky! It vaporized anything it touched, and moved across the ground. The beam cut a gorge, its ghastly wail causing those at the walls to back away, and trapped the tribal army on both sides… But, Celestia did not notice, her eyes were on the titanic crescent ship hovering high in the sky above! There were several more warships around it, creating a massive fleet of crescent ships, followed by temple-like structures floating down and landing between the tribal army and their city… Releasing wave upon wave of crimson and black metal skeleton warriors! Beams of red light burning through the tribal forces trying to invade the Equestrian's lands.

Another beam of light landed behind Celestia and Luna, both turning around to see another of the metal skeletons. He bore a long, black cape and a black crested crown upon his metal skull. In his right hand, the metal skeleton held a scythe taller than he, its blade glowing with red energy and seemed to be made from a glass-like material. The left held a matching red orb, pulsing like a heart to some machine. However, to Celestia, this one skeleton was no stranger to her.

"Y-You kept your promise." Celestia smiled, hugging her younger sister tightly.

"That I did, Princess." He walked over, kneeling in front of the filly princesses. "Phaeron Ay'therian the Reaper, Ruler of the Ay'therian Dynasty, always keeps his promises."

"The metal skeletons, simply known as the 'Ancient Ones', defeated early Equestria's foes and went on to secure our Kingdom on Equis. During this time, which expanded over several years of unwavering watch over our people,, the Phaeron's bond grew with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna even more, until he decreed that they were the heirs of his Dynasty, to call upon his army whenever they have need… Before the Ancient Ones went north, to slumber until Equestria needed them once more.' Daring Do lowered the book down, tightening her extreme winter coat more, and kept the hood up, eyeing a massive black, metal, door in front of her.

The freezing winds and massive glacier covering up the temple she discovered, only its door being visible, became quite the find. Most would have missed it, or believed it to be ruins from the Dark King's Era… But, Daring Do noticed the strange symbols of complex lines and circles carved into the metal, which matched those within the book. Quickly, she scanned the door to find out how to open it. Unfortunately, there seemed no physical way to do this.

"Come on… There has to be a switch, or something, to open this door." The pegasus mare placed her hands on to the black metal. "All of Equestria is counting on me to find these Ancient Ones." Daring Do slammed her fist on to her find, the freezing temperature already numbing the mare's body of pain, falling to her knees. "We have lost so much, and this is our only hope left." Unknown to her, the mare's fingers traced over a symbol, and caused it to glow red.

Slowly, the symbol pushed into the door, feeling this caused Daring Do to look up and raise a brow. Her eyes scanned the door once more, noticing other matching symbols in certain areas, hidden by either hieroglyphs or by other symbols.

"Of course!" She shouted, reopening her book and noticed the same twin bladed scythe-like symbol each time the Phaeron appeared. "The book hinted what to look for! Clever…" Carefully, Daring Do pressed each symbol, causing it to glow and slide back into the door.

Daring Do continued this, until it formed a circle with one long line at the bottom, two on both lower sides, and one at the circle's very top, which connected with a curving line. The red lights connected, glowing brightly, and metallic clicking sounds echoed from behind the door. Seconds later, a seam formed at the door's center, and it began to slide apart. Dust fell from the door's frame, revealing how long it had been since those very doors were last opened. The pitch-black insides were soon glowing by symbols edged into the walls.

The mare hesitated, but stepped into the temple's dark halls, following what lights appeared. The eerie darkness caused her to become nervous with each passing second, even more so when the doors slammed shut, after she reached a certain distance. "G-Guess there is no going back now…" Daring Do muttered, noticing that the temple was much warmer inside, then outside. "Strange… Places like these are usually very cold, there must be an extremely powerful source keeping it so warm." Slowly, she removed her extreme winter clothing, until revealing the caribou slave outfit underneath. "If there is power… Then there should be something tending to it."

With that, Daring Do placed the winter clothing down, and continued down the corridor, eyeing each strange tomb-like structures ling its walls… A large tomb slightly moving, after she passed by, and a blocky head leaning back looking towards the mare. Once she moved far enough away, the strange machine opened its six lower legs, and two arms, slowly floating after her.

"For those who are said to be Equestria's guardians… They have a strange choice in décor-?" When she turned the corner, Daring Do had been met with the sight of red and black metal scarabs… Waking more of them, some noticing the mare. "Uh… I will just leave you all to your work, yeah. Sounds good." Daring Do turned around, coming muzzle to faceplate with the eight-armed tomb shaped one. "W-Well then, this isn't the way to Vanhoover! Whoops, silly me!" She innocently noted, before the machine grabbed her with its front arms, and pulled the mare close. "Eeep!"

"Scanning intruder. Scan complete: Equestrian, Pegasus Genome." The machine announced, its mechanical voice monotoned as a computer program. "Inquiry: Why are you here, Equestrian? Phaeron's Tomb City is off limits, except to princesses."

"I-I am here because Equestria n-needs the Ancient Ones again." Daring Do answered, becoming nervous about being in the machine's metal hold.

Its larger eye zoomed in on the mare, then returned to its normal position. "Invalid Response: Princesses strong enough to defeat world's foes." The machine held her closer to its eyes. "Inquiry: Where are Princess Celestia and Princess Luna."

Daring did not know why, or what possessed her, but the next answer came with tears. "Enslaved! All Equestria has been enslaved by King Dainn and his caribou army! The stallions are under some kind of mind control, and mares are being sold as sex slaves to them!" She screamed.

The machine held her in a surprised motion, while the scarab machines instantly came to a halt and stared at her. Their eyes began to blink, rapidly, the machine holding her close again. "Alpha Protocol Six-Six-Six now in effect!" It brought Daring Do down to its underbelly, holding them are tightly with its six lower legs. Once it had her secured, it began to fly down the corridor after corridor, making quick turns and swerves in a predetermined path. All around them, were the metal scarabs. "Alpha Prototcol Six-Six-Six now activated." It continuously repeated

Soon, they flew into a more open chamber, which revealed just how massive this "Phaeron's Tomb City" truly is, Daring Do unable to see the ground floor. Though, she saw hundreds of machines, just like the one carrying her, and thousands of the metal scarabs, all working on metal skeletons along the walls. What got her attention, had been the fact that they were flying straight to a temple-like structure, suspended at the Tomb City's center, like some Necropolis. "W-Where are we g-going?" She managed to ask, looking up at the machine's head.

"Answer: Phaeron's Tomb. Alpha Protocol Six-Six-Six states that he, his court, and guard; are to be wakened before any others." The machine replied, flying into the temple's main entrance. It did not slow down, nor falter, in its path… But Daring Do managed to see some of the other machines waking highly decorated metal skeletons. "Be honored, Equestrian. For you shall be the first mortal to witness our Phaeron's awakening."

They came to a sudden halt, before a large temple door, being guarded by ten war-scythe wielding, some wielding khopesh-like blades and shields, metal skeletons, their bodies adorned like Royal Guards. The machine carefully sat Daring Do down, as two of the guards approached. "Cryptek Spyder, why have you brought this Equestrian before our Phaeron's chamber?" The guard asked, his glowing red eyes going to Daring Do, then back to the 'Cryptek Spyder'. "Is she the cause of Alpha Protocol Six-Six-Six?"

The Cryptek Spyder bowed its front portion some. "Acknowledgement: That is correct, honorable Lychguard. Equestrian is cause of Alpha Protocol Six-Six-Six being in effect. Course of Action: Awaken Phaeron and bring her before him."

The Lychguard eyed Daring do for a few moments, his stare sending a cold chill up her spine, before they opened ranks and the chamber doors began to open. "Then best hurry… Such a thing being activated is no small matter."

Both the Cryptek Spyder and Daring Do were ushered into the chambers, followed by the ten Lychguard. Once inside, the mare saw a large sarcophagus attached to the wall across from them, bearing the same symbol that opened the Tomb City's doors. Around it, metal scarabs and Cryptek Spyders worked on the machinery, taking great care with each movement. The one next to Daring Do floated over to the sarcophagus' front, and used its front limbs to connect with certain points. Carefully, it seemed to conduct some sort of complex procedure, turning sections, removing lines, and pressing symbols.

Daring Do had become amazed by the Cryptek Spyder's precise actions, but startled when air rushed out of the sealed sarcophagus' lid… A Lychguard pushing her forward with the shaft of his war-scythe. Fearing the towering guard, Daring Do stepped towards the sarcophagus, as Cryptek Spyders lined both sides of it, Lychguard doing the same behind her.

Slowly, the sarcophagus lid raised towards the mare, creaking metal trying to recover its old functions, and lifted upwards… Revealing the slumbering "Phaeron" inside, both arms crossed over his metal chest. Daring Do's eyes widen, watching different red lights systematically appear across his metal body, symbols appearing on the Phaeron's shoulders and a twin headed scythe symbol on is forehead. When the eyes began to glow, the Cryptek Spyders bowed their front halves and the Lychguard knelt. Feeling the immense aura of power coming from the Phaeron's form, Daring Do soon also found herself kneeling before him.

"I… Have awakened?" The Phaeron questioned, confused by how few of his warriors were present. He uncrossed both arms, one grasping the sarcophagus' side, while the other pressed against his haze filled head, and slowly took a step out. "Where is my court? The rest of my Warriors?" It took him a moment to notice Daring Do, the mare yelping when his metal foot stepped right in front of her. "And why is there a half-naked pegasus mare within my chambers? I do not recall this being my birth time." Some of the Lychguard seemed to snickering at the awakening joke.

Daring Do, gave a slight nervous snicker of her own, and looked up at him, the emotionless metal skull faceplate intimidating her. "P-Phaeron Ay'therian?"' She, sheepishly, asked.

"Yes, child. You are within the presence of Phaeron Ay'therian the Reaper, Ruler of the Ay'tharian Dynasty." His metallic voice commanded respect, the Lychguard saluting him. "What brings you to this forbidden sanctum, and waking my Necrontyr so willfully?"

In a matter of seconds, Daring Do went to all fours, forehead pressed on to the metal ground, in a demeaning groveling position. "Please! Ruler of the Ancient Ones! The Caribou have returned, destroying Equestrian and enslaved its people! The princesses have been taken as their King's personal slave and toys! The stallions have been placed in some sort of mind control, while us mares are forced to be their sex slaves! I beg of you, please, save us! Like you did, all those years ago!"

Silence…

That is what followed Daring Do's plea, her eyes wide in shock. Her body trembled, fearing that she may have been out of turn, or possibly the Phaeron no longer cared. The fear of her traveling all this way, for nothing, crept up her spine. Thoughts of the friends she lost, just to get here, crossed the mare's mind.

But, when the air became electricfied, she looked up and saw an aura of pure rage around the Phaeron. "Awaken my Legions, bring my court here, prepare our monoliths and ships! Bring me my Warscythe and artifacts!" He threw his right arm out, in a commanding fashion, some of the Cryptek Spyders leaving to carry this out. "Prepare the Reclamation Legions for battle, they leave now! These 'Caribou' dare to commit such things, while we slumber? They forget the terror that protects these lands!? I shall force them to remember this fear!" Ay'therian's physical rage grew so much, machinery began to fall apart. "Necrontyr! We. March. To. War!"

With that, Ay'therian threw his hand up, the Lychguard standing up and held their weapons high.