Gladius

By Star Saber

• June 19, 2015




Age: 71

Gender: Male

Species: Unicorn

Appearance: An elderly unicorn, although fit, his once vibrant brown fur and black mane has dulled and greyed with time. His mane and tail are long and unkempt, as he cares little for style. He wears a white blindfold to cover his scarred eyes. He typically is seen wearing a chain shirt; bracers on his forelegs and cloth wrapping on his hind. His magic aura is pale blue, dark purple when he unleashes the dark power within. When in public he sits in a regal looking wooden wheelchair, his six swords sheathed on it.

Cutie Mark: A spiral of six blades wreathed in a pale blue magic aura; symbolizing his expertise with swords and sorcery.

Personality: Gladius is a calm and collected individual; he speaks softly and clearly, rarely raising his voice in anger. While he will ally himself with others he will made a heavy point of not becoming associated with them. In fact he forgoes making any sort of connection with others. To the casual observer it would seem that Gladius is in fact a Nihilist; believing he believes that nothing matters and existence is futile. However the truth is; that the very concept of nothingness is of great importance to Gladius; and that his forgoing bonds with others is to keep himself “Empty” and therefore “Pure”. The only pony Gladius may hold some feelings towards is his caretaker, Marionette Soul, although she is aware of the dangers such attachment could bring to herself and Gladius.<br /><br />Alignment: Lawuful Neutral

Backstory: Gladius was once the leader of a special group of Monster Hunters under contract of Princess Celestia herself. This group became known as the “Hunters of Dark”. This group was often called to deal with threats requiring skill beyond that of the average soldier.<br /><br />Gladius’s story changed when the Hunters of Dark encountered a stallion named Scourge who claimed to be kin to the evil tyrant, King Sombra. The Umbral Pony was attempting to conjure a dark power to infect and claim the minds of the citizens of Vanhoover in order to create soldiers of the Umbral Pony army.<br /><br />During the Battle, Scourge wounded Gladius’s eyes with a magic blade spell and began to overpower the rest of his group. Ultimately Scourge succeeded in unleashing the dark power. Gladius, desperately used the last of his strength to redirect the power into himself instead of having it spread across the city of Vanhoover and so the darkness entered him and Gladius went berserk from it’s power and influence. With this new surge of uncontrolled dark power, Gladius easily vanquished Scourge and appeared to have defeated him.<br /><br />After the battle, Gladius vanished into the wilderness, having just enough control to point his rampaging self away from anyone innocent. Eventually his rage subsided, but the darkness remained within him. So living in solitude Gladius began to learn to keep the dark power in check. Eventually rumors began to spread of a unparalleled blindfolded swordsman, cloaked in darkness who saves ponies that encountered monsters in the wilderness. It was from these rumors that Gladius became to be known as Black Gladius.<br /><br />It was until almost 40 years later that somepony went looking for and successfully found Gladius; the daughter of one his old co-workers a unicorn mare by the name of Imperia Anima. Who found the elderly and solitary hunter living in a cave in the Everfree Forest by chasing the rumors of his activities. After a large amount of discussion and stubbornness of legendary status on the mare’s behalf Marionette finally managed to convince Gladius to join her in reviving the Hunters of Dark as the threat of monsters and dark beings increase. Even though he is an old stallion, he’s not to be taken lightly as he has kept his body in peak physical condition and time has only honed his skills even further.