Chapter 2

The knight and the dragon

BGM 1

A castle. A talking horse that was about 7 ft. tall. Nowhere near his home at all. And to top it off, he was being called a "paladin". Now...he knows that there was no way in hell that he was dreaming of an RPG game, like WoW or Dragon Nest. Yeah, some of the games have some pretty interesting, if not odd, things in them. But this took the cake.

"Uh...come again?" Toya asked. Celestia giggled and smiled at him.

"I can tell you are a bit confused, being summoned here and all." She started. "But I will say again. I am thankful that you answered my prayer. Equestria is in great need of your help."

Toya's eyes widened. Equestria?! Did she just seriously fucking say this was Equestria?!?! No no. That can't be. It's not possible. She may look like her, but there's no way this can be Celestia!, he thought. Back home, he had a secret that he could only confide in his friends with. He had a deep love for the show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Now some would probably think that this was stupid. In fact, Toya compiled a list of anything and everything his peers would say if he told them he liked it. And it goes as follows

Oh, it's a show for little girls.

Why would you watch something like that?

Really? My Little Pony? You can't be serious.

If you're watching that, you seriously need to get laid.

And the one line Toya knew he'd hear from just one, ONLY ONE, person in his school.

Nigga, you gay.

He groaned and stood up feeling a bit queasy from traveling, against his will, from one plain to another.

"Um...who are you?" he asked.

"How rude of me. I've forgotten my manners. How silly. My name...is Princess Celestia." She said, lowering her head. Toya blinked.

This can't be happening..., he thought.

"And you are?" Celestia asked, now directing the question to him. Toya scoffed, thinking it was just some joke and decided to play along.

"You're Princess Celestia? Well, I'm Prince Albert in a can." He joked. He had to have been drugged or something. There's no way it could be for real.

"Well Prince Albert," Celestia started. "Equestria is about to face a great peril. A prophecy had foretold that a dark warrior, a Knight of Dread, would wreak havoc on our land. Leading an undead army, he would spread fear and darkness across our pure land."

"And I have to stop him?" Toya questioned. Celestia nodded, though her expression became a shocked one when Toya started laughing. "Oh wow! That's a good one. 'An evil force is coming after us and it's you who needs to stop him.' I can't believe you're seriously doing this." He mocked. "Who put you up to this? Was it Scott? I bet he did it, didn't he? Come on out, Scott. You got me. You REALLY had me going there for a minute." He started to walk around, clapping his hands in hopes that his friend would come out and say "HA! You just got PUNKED!" But sadly, it didn't happen.

"I can see that you are a bit delirious from your arrival here. I can assure you, Prince Albert, that this land is indeed Equestria." Celestia proudly stated. Toya blinked, getting a better examining of his surroundings. Lastly, he set eyes on her. Her grace, her majestic mane, her beauty and her regal stature. And just staring at her was enough to nearly put him to his knees. Only one pony had a presence like that to do such a thing to her subjects.

"You're really.....Princess Celestia?" He asked, getting a nod of confirmation from her. It was all true. The very place he was standing in was indeed Canterlot Castle. And right in front of him was Equestria's ruler, Princess Celestia herself. Toya thought hard trying to find some way, ANY way, for this to be nothing but a dream. But his mind practically told him nope and with that, he fainted. His body fell limp, collapsing on the floor and he fell unconscious. Celestia sighed and stamped her hoof a couple times, summoning two of her guards.

"Please take our guest to one of the empty chambers. He must be quite weary and he deserves to have a moment of rest." She said. The guards nodded and helped Toya up, carrying him away. As soon as the guards were out of sight, the castle doors opened and revealed a purple dragon. "Ah. Barb. I'm so glad you came like I asked." The dragon in question smiled and ran to the princess, wrapping her arms around her.

"I missed you, mom." Barb said. Celestia smiled warmly and placed a gentle, loving hoof around her.

"I missed you, too." The two broke their embrace, still smiling at one another having not seen each other in so long.

"So you said you needed me for something?" The dragoness questioned. Celestia nodded and gestured down the hallway.

"Yes. It concerns a guest of mine." She said. "I was wondering if perhaps you could converse with him first before we get to the main matter." Barb looked at her oddly, wondering what 'guest' she had over when she summoned her there. Perhaps it was another pony of royal descent. Maybe it was a stallion. She did say it was a He. If she had a stallion over, why couldn't she talk to him herself? That's when it hit her. What if she invited the stallion over to spend time with HER?!

"S-sure, mom. Where is he?" Barb replied, feeling flustered.

"I had him placed in the guest room down the hall. He's a bit different than most stallions, dear. Please take caution and try not to frighten him." Celestia said. Barb nodded and ran down the hall and saw two guards standing by the guest room. She walked up to the door, greeting the guards as she normally would and they stood aside.

"Be careful, miss Barb. This...thing...is feeling rather uneasy. The princess advised the utmost care around him." One of the guards said.

"I know. I'm just gonna talk to him." She replied. She grabbed the doorknob and stopped for a minute. The guards had called the guest 'a thing'. Does that mean they didn't know what it was? But that's impossible. Every living being in Equestria was well-known, from Griffons to Changelings. If this guest wasn't any of these known creatures, it's possible it could be dangerous. With a heavy breath and determination, she opened the door and stepped inside.

What she found inside both shocked...and intrigued her. Toya sat on the edge of the bed, staring out the window of his room with a calm and solemn look. He wasn't sure what to think. He was away from his home. From his school. And away from all his troubles. He felt happy about it. He was in a world that was not his own where possibilities could be endless. And yet...he was sad. He vanished without a word. His mother didn't know. Neither did his teachers. What would they think? Would they miss him? Would they search for him?

"Heh. I doubt it." Toya said to himself. Sighing, he rubbed his head and stared at the ceiling. "What do I do? I ask to get pulled away from home, I get my wish granted by THE Princess Celestia, she needs your help with some big...plot hehehe...and now I'm conflicted. Come on, Toya. Get a grip. This is what you wanted, isn't it?"

Barb was confused. She had no idea what this creature was. It looked like it could walk like her, on two legs, it spoke like her...but it didn't look like a pony, dragon or anything Equestria has ever seen. In fact...she might've had an idea what he was. There were some old texts that Dusk had gotten from the princess. One of them in particular was labeled as "Forbidden." Dusk thought that he would have no need for it, so he threw it out.

It was later during one of her errands that Barb discovered that Ponyville's musician Lyra Heartstrings had found the book in Dusk's garbage can, Celestia knows why she went through his trash, and had taken it into her possession. Barb asked about the book and Lyra told her that she found it and it contained some old ancient history from back when Celestia and Luna had JUST taken the throne. Barb found this interesting. Wanting to know more about this old history, Barb asked Lyra to allow her to borrow the book, which she allowed, and she hid away in the Everfree to read to her heart's content.

Inside the book were some odd figures. They were bipedal, much like her, but they were different. These hairless apes, these...humans...were quite an interesting subject for her to study. They possessed no wings, horns or even tails. In fact, some of them didn't even know magic. It seemed like magic was unknown to them until the residents of a neighboring land, Equestria, came to them. She thought that it was just mythical hoo-ha. Old mare's tales. She didn't believe it was possible until now.

Maybe I should tell Lyra she isn't crazy after all, she thought. This human was a guest of her mother. And she had a priority: try to make him comfortable.

"Um...hello?" She called out. Her voice caught Toya's attention and he turned right around to see the dragoness standing in the doorway. His eyes widened, but not in fear. It was mostly in surprise. Before his eyes was the purple dragon from the show, standing right in front of him about his height (Her 5'9 to his 5'7), that he knew as Barb. Dusk's assistant, the dragon he hatched from the egg that Celestia kept and the only dragon living in Ponyville. She looked about in her teen years, at least 18 or 19 years old. Regardless, he always thought that she was adorable. But seeing her upclose...she was more than adorable. She was fucking hot!

"Oh wow..." Toya muttered. He could feel the blood rushing to his nethers, which he sensed and quickly turned away to hide his shame. Barb cocked her head, wondering why he looked away so suddenly. Then he finally spoke to her. "W-what is it?"

"Oh. Sorry. Am I disturbing you?" She asked nicely. God! Even her voice is wonderful, Toya thought.

"No. I'm fine. Did Celestia send you here or something?" He inquired. Barb nodded and walked behind him.

"Yeah. Mom wanted me to talk to you. She said you were feeling a little uncomfortable?"

Toya sighed, rubbing his head and looked at the gentle dragon. "Yeah. This place is so unfamiliar to me. And Celestia says she needs my help with something important. It feels like too much for me to handle." He explained. "I don't know what to do." Barb's expression saddened as he spoke to her. She knew where he was coming from. Being tasked with something super important she had never done and didn't know how to go about doing it properly. It threw her into a panic, but she knew she had to do it. That day in the Crystal Empire was etched in the back of her mind.

Getting the Crystal Heart to Prince Bolero and away from the evil King Sombra. It was the first time that she had done something so dangerous and heroic. The first time she was looked to as a last resort. And the first time she was looked to as the only one who could do something when Dusk and his friends could do nothing.

BGM 2

"I know how you feel. Being asked to do something that goes far beyond your limitations. But what I learned from doing such things is that you can't let yourself think negatively about it. Thinking you can't do it, thinking that you'll fail if you do. It clouds your thoughts. A clouded mind is a shattered mind. Think calmly and rationally in order to carry out the task you were charged with, no matter how hard it is. If you keep a level head, you can do what you need to do." She told him. "Does that make sense?"

"Yeah. Yeah, it does. Thanks...um..."

"Barb." The dragoness introduced herself, bowing to him. "Barb the dragon, at your service."

"Toya. Toya Lindholm. Nice to meet you." Toya replied, shaking her claw once Barb stood up straight. "Thanks for talking to me. I feel alot better now."

"My pleasure. Just doing what comes natural to me." She said, turning to leave the room. "I'm going to go to my room. If you ever want to talk, I'm willing to listen." Toya nodded his head and Barb walked out of the room. But before she went down the hall, she kept the door open and looked at him once more. "There are lots of tasks that get thrust onto us that we aren't prepared for. The best thing that we can do is calm down, think and adapt to the situation. I should know. I felt the same way you did. And by doing what I just said, I helped save an entire empire." She said. She giggled a bit and closed the door, leaving Toya to his thoughts.

"Calm down, think and adapt to the situation..."

Night fell, Luna's moon raising high into the sky. The two regal sisters were beginning to exchange their goodbyes when Celestia turned to see Toya coming out of his room.

"Ah. Prince Al--"

"My name is Toya, princess. I was only joking when I said that name." He corrected her. Celestia smiled warmly and looked at him.

"Is something the matter? You seem calmer now." Toya cracked a smile and looked up at the alicorn with beaming determination.

"Tell me what I need to do."

Chapter 2-End

Author's Note

Toya has made his decision and now plans to aid Celestia in her time of need. Barb seems to play a role as well, but what events will unfold for these two? Only time will tell...and the clock is already ticking.

Sorry this chapter took so long to get out. I've had alot on my plate lately. An accident, money issues and blah blah. but yeah. i hope you all enjoyed this chapter cuz more will be coming eventually. Stick around