The Dark Soul

Twilight tore herself away from the church and looked back at Aston just in time for him to catch her chin in his hand, a thumb moving across her fur as he moved her head around.

“You’ve got a new scar, right across your nose.” Aston said, drawing his hand back.

She crossed her eyes and looked at her nose, and true to the knight’s words a line of scarred pink skin ran from right to left from where her snout met her face to its tip. She lifted her cloak and saw a pink circle where the bolt had been. She looked at him, running her eyes over him from top to bottom, catching a twitch of pain and a soft gasp as something forced itself back into place.

“I’d say the same to you, but I can’t see much of you under all that armor.” She retorted, getting a chuckle from the knight in response.

“The healing power of the flask does not leave one with scars, at least it should not. It may not work as well for you if you sustain grievous wounds… something to keep in mind. How do you feel?” Aston said, taking a look around.

“A bit sore, nothing too bad. I guess I’ll have a lot of explaining to do when I see Celestia again.” She replied.

“Celestia?” The knight asked.

“Oh… I’ve never told you about her?”

“Can’t say you have lass.”

“She’s the ruler of Equestria, along with her sister Luna. I am one of her many… students.”

“A diarchy? How long has this line been ruling?”

“Line? Oh… you misunderstand, they have been ruling for as long as there has been an Equestria. It’s been well over two thousand years since we’ve had a different ruler.”

“Truly? Their rule must be just for such a feat. For that matter, how long lived are your people?”

Twilight laughed lightly at the knight’s expense, “Most of us live to be around sixty years old, Celestia and Luna are not normal ponies.”

“Just what are they then?” Aston asked.

“Gods, if you’re feeling dramatic. In reality, they’re little more then… embodiments of the sun and moon respectively and have attributes reflecting their charges. That said they are both extremely powerful, but don’t let that fool you, they have made mistakes and are not infallible.” Twilight explained.

Aston nodded at the information and began to trudge up the steps leading to the church, stepping over a long dead body. Twilight followed close behind with a slight scowl, she was getting sick of climbing all these steps, but she held her tongue. They reached the thick iron double door that served as the churches entrance, a kick from the knight failing to open the way.

“Someone has barred the doors.” Aston said with another kick.

Twilight told him to stand aside; Aston nodded and stepped over to the left clear out of the way. He turned his back and began rummaging through a stack of crates and boxes after hoisting a decrepit body off of the pile that, to Twilight, looked to have once been one of the clergy of the church due to the garb it wore. The body did not look that old, naught but a few days.

“What killed him?” Twilight asked.

“’She’ actually. I’ve not seen wounds like these before, these cuts are nice and clean. That means the blade is sharp, sharper than something like my longsword or the arms of these hollows. Keep your eyes open lass; we may have a new foe in our midst.” Aston said as he picked what looked like a key off of the body and put it in a pouch with a light shrug.

With a nod she looked away from the body and focused on a spell to try and blast the doors open. She closed her eyes and let her power flow into her horn, she could see a flash of purple from behind her eyelids. She heard a gong like sound from the door along with a start from the knight. She opened her eyes only to be greeted by the door still mockingly in the way.

She looked at the knight, wondering what had caused the outburst from the normally reserved knight.

Aston had his back to her, his hands buried elbow deep in a box about seven feet long that had once been at the base of the pile that was now strung about. With a grunt he ripped something from the box with the sound of crackling wood, a particularly large splinter flying past her head as she involuntarily raised a brought a hoof up to cover her face.

When she lowered her hoof she was greeted with Aston holding a weapon the likes of which she had never seen.

The best way she could describe it was a cross between a spear and a hammer. It had a red painted wooden handle that was about as long as Aston was tall, about six feet, and the metal tip made up another foot. Its head was a dual sided affair with one side having a heavy, hammer-like end with the other being a beak like protrusion. The metal head then tapered down to a triangular spear point, she looked down at the other end to find a simple square counterweight.

Aston flipped the weapon experimentally in a single handed grip, switching between the two lethal points.

“What is that?” Twilight asked.

“It’s called a ‘Lucerne Hammer’ I believe. It makes fast work of armor, the blunt hammer is made to crush and crack thick armor and the beak is made to pierce armor plates, as is the spearhead. It will make a fine replacement for the time being.” Aston said.

He fiddled with his belt for a moment, pulling a length of leather with buckles on each end from it. He then looped and clasped it through the handle on his shield, doing the same with his belt. He let the shield drop from his grasp and it dangled from his side, he took a moment to move around to see if the new arrangement hampered his movement. He swung the lucerne around in arches and swings, and then he grabbed the shield and sung it around. He turned to her and shrugged, seemingly pleased.

“There’s also a mace, if you’d like it.” He said, taking a glance back at the box.

“I’ll stick with my spells, thank you. You’re more suited to the hacking and smashing.” Twilight said, pulling her hood back over her head, eyeing another set of stairs to the right.

“That reminds me of a question, how does your race wage war?” Aston asked.

“We don’t really, it’s not like we’re peaceful by nature, it’s just direct combat does not suit us quadrupeds all that well. We don’t all have magic; I do because I’m a unicorn, but there are also pegasi and earth ponies that don’t. It’s kind of hard to hold a sword without hands. There are hoof and wing blades, but those are hard to learn to use effectively. Most ‘wars’ are mainly assassinations and clever politics.” Twilight said.

“You seem well versed.” Aston said.

“I had to learn how to defend myself; I was on my own most of the time. A lone mare looks an easy target, you see.” Twilight said.

“I’d imagine they’d be in for a surprise.” The knight chuckled and motioned her to follow as he made his way over to the stairs.

Twilight moved to join him only to be tossed to the ground as Aston barreled over her with a curse as a form cloaked in a blood red mist tackled him just as he reach the top. She spared a glance back to him just in time to see him kick it off him, sending it tumbling down the steps. The jingling of armor brought her attention back to the stairway to see an armored hollow shamble down at her.

The hollow was much bettered armed and armored than any other she had yet seen. It wore a helm that was similar to Aston’s; only it was almost flat, left a larger slit for the eyes and protected its mouth with perforated iron. It’s chest plate armor wholly covered it’s chest and most of it’s midsection unlike the sparsely armored hollows from before and she saw what had once been chain mail that would have protected it’s the lower parts of its midsection but now was little more than a couple of dangling rings. Its thighs were covered in scaled plate armor, though one side was falling off and its calves were covered in plate iron.

In its left hand was a massive kite shield that had to be at least as tall as she was and in its right it held a long, but thin, sword that looked to be made for piecing armor.

She looked back at Aston to see the knight and a wraith circling each other. The wraith was garbed in cloth with armored plates and hood that covered most of his face. The wraith held a large, slightly curved, blade with wavy stains on the edge and had a shield that was only a bit larger than its hand. The wraith suddenly dashed forward and thrusted its odd sword at Aston, but luckily the knight was able to dodge to the left with a jump, then with a spin, slammed the hammer end into the wraith’s back, sending it to the floor with a crack of broken bone.

“Handle that hollow.” Aston said, pointing the lucerne at her before pivoting back to his target.

=-=

Aston pivoted back to his target, trusting the mare to handle herself.

The lightly garbed wraith quickly picked himself up, making a glance towards Twilight, only for the knight to place himself in between the two. The wraith jumped forward with a horizontal slash of his sword, the blow sparking off of Aston’s shield. Aston jabbed at the wraith with the tip of his shield, only for the blow to miss as the wraith jumped backwards. The wraith took this opening to cut a deep gash into Aston’s shield arm, the blow cutting a line into his armor; the blade slipping in-between the armor plates and gashing into his arm.

With a grunt of pain Aston kicked the wraith in the chest then brought the lucerne down upon him. The wraith raised his small shield in an attempt to block the blow. The pollhammer crashed against the shield and glanced off onto the wraith’s arm, the bones failed under the unforgiving force and snapped. The hammer continued and crashed into the wraith’s face, sending him to the ground.

Aston whipped back to Twilight just in time to see her blast the head clean off the hollow, its shield pot marked in blackened holes and divots from her spells. Twilight herself looked no worse for wear aside from the fact that she was huffing and puffing from exertion and looked like she was about to fall over.

“You ok?” Aston asked.

“I’m fine, just,” The mare suddenly stopped talking and her eyes widened, “Aston look out!”

Aston turned on his heel just in time to see the wraith take a stab at him, no doubt with the intent of running him through his back. Aston contorted himself in a way that the blade missed his gut, though it did graze him producing a nasty gash. The blow however was sloppy, leaving the wraith extended. Aston used that to loop his arm around the wraith’s as he took a step closer. Aston pulled up sharply and the wraith’s arm caught in his armpit only for the arm to snap and bend at the elbow in the opposite direction to that which it was meant to. Then Aston delivered a mighty kick to one of the knees of the wraith, snapping it in the wrong direction to the point that Aston’s foot nearly touched the ground. He untangled himself from the wraith and slammed the lucerne into his face with a spin, nearly decapitating him as it tore most of his face away. The wraith dissipated in a reddish fog, signaling his death.

Twilight rushed up to Aston, “I thought I’d lost you for a moment.” She said, lightly brushing up against him.

“Humph. It will take more than some sneak to kill me, I assure you that lass. I thank you for the concern though.” He said, placing a hand on her back momentarily before fishing the flask from his pack. He offered it to her, but she waved it away and took a seat while Aston tended to his wounds, thankful for the reprieve.

Aston took the time to examine the hollow that Twilight had dispatched. It wore the armor of the Knights of Balder, normally praised for its protection and quality, only this armor was in such disrepair that it barely served its purpose anymore. He picked up its side-sword, only to toss it away due to its sorry state. It was rust covered and the edges were chipped in many places, it was not beyond repair, but he’d be a fool to carry a blade he could not use to its full effect. The side-sword was made to cut in between gaps in armor and slip under plates to stab at vital organs, not cut through armor like his old sword. He’d like to have another weapon in the event that the lucerne was unwieldy such as in tight corridors, he’d just have to be careful as the dagger at his side would be all but useless against armored opponents.

‘Twilight will make up the difference until I find something.’ Aston thought.

“Are you ready to continue?” Aston asked.

“Yes.” Twilight said simply.

Aston could see the fatigue in her eyes, dark bags had appeared under them and her head hung low. He felt no worse for wear, most likely due to his state as an undead, but he could tell she needed rest. He fished a clump of green leaves from his belt and handed them to her.

“Eat. They’ll help make the fatigue go away.” He said.

She popped one into her mouth and chewed, “Tastes bitter.”

“Why don’t you take some time to yourself, I’ll watch over you.” Aston said, rolling his shoulders.

“We can’t-” Twilight started, only for Aston to cut her off.

“You can barely keep your eyes open lass, you're in no shape to fight. Sit here a spell and rest, I’ll be sure to dispatch anything that comes this way.” The knight said.

Twilight sighed and got into a more comforting position.

“Thanks Aston.” She said.

“Think nothing of it.” He responded as he sat next to the mare, leaning against iron door.

Aston watched the mare slowly fall asleep out of the corner of his eyes, a memory coming to the forefront of his mind.

It was of a little girl with had red hair, green eyes, and a splash of freckles on her cheeks. She was about half as tall as himself, laughing and reaching up to him with a smile, showing a small gap in-between her two front teeth. She was garbed in a simple green/brown dress that reached down to her ankles, and her hair was done up in a bow. She was saying something, but what it was escaped his memory.

The memory faded away, leaving the knight to wonder just who the child was. With a shake of his head to clear his mind, and a curse to his fleeting memory, he returned to his vigil over the sleeping mare.