Honour Bound: Duty and Love

Chapters

Chapter 1 - Prologue
Chapter 2 - The Foreign Pegasus
Chapter 3 - First Impressions

Chapter 1 - Prologue

Honour Bound: Duty and Love

Prologue

Amidst the ruined city, swords clashed, echoing through the air. Structures fell, brought down by the catapults inside and outside of the city. Griffins and Pegasi soared through the air, clashing against one another. On the ground, Ponies and Unicorns faced off against the ferocity of wolves and the cunning of zebras.

As screams and roars filled the air, a lone Alicorn stood atop the balcony of the tallest tower in the centre of the city. He smirked evilly as he watched his forces, Ponies, Griffins, Wolves and Zebras alike, cutting down the rebels that continued to try and storm their way through the city. Looking up into the sky, he noticed that the Pegasi on the rebels side had gotten into a spearhead formation and where bolting their way right towards his position.

Many of his Griffons and Pegasi attempted to stop the rebels, but they quickly darted out of the way, unable to stop the combined speed of so many Pegasi.

As they reached him, the Pegasi all split, save for one, who was still shooting towards him.

The Alicorn grinned and swiftly jumped to the side, easily avoiding the silver spear that was aimed for his head. As his attacker skidded to a halt on top of the balcony, he unfurled his wings and grinned deviously as he drew his long golden sword.

The attacker twirled his spear and got into a fighting stance. He motioned for his Pegasi to pull back and hold off the Alicorn's aerial forces.

When the Pegasi flew off to do battle with their enemies, the Pegasus turned back to the Alicorn. His coat was a dark blue colour, and his entire mane was obscured by the jagged silver helmet he wore, instead, part of his yellow mane stuck out the back of the helmet like a plume. The rest of his body was mostly concealed by his gleaming silver armour. A silver breastplate covered his chest and the lower part of his neck. The breastplate itself was expanded back across his body to cover his sides and his flanks, concealing his Cutie Mark in the process. He had large silver bracers halfway around his hoofs, the bracers extended midway up to each of his knees. He also had a long yellow blade-looking tail with a small blue ribbon around it, and his eyes were a piercing red colour.

As the Pegasus unfurled his large blue wings and prepared to strike again, the Alicorn merely continued to smirk evilly. His coat was a pure black colour and, unlike his opponent, his armour didn't conceal much of his body. He wore golden bracers that covered the lower part of his hoofs and only extended up his legs slightly. Around his chest, was a golden breastplate that had a sort of royal, yet menacing look to it. The breastplate extended up his neck a little, and attached to the lower neck of the breastplate was a large red cape. The design on the cape was a large golden crown surrounded by a ring of fire, much like the banners his troops were carrying.

His Cutie Mark was a mystery. It was simply a ring of blue flames, but one could only assume that it may be more, and it was merely blending in with his dark coat.

His mane and tail were a fiery colour. They both floated gently in the air, but they danced fiercely, almost as if they were fire itself.

The Pegasus narrowed his eyes as the Alicorn calmly walked to the side, giving him an evil grin. "I must say, Cloud Hunter, you have rallied quite the army, but you didn't actually think you would stand a chance against me did you?"

"Know this, even if we were outnumbered, even if we were at the ultimate disadvantage, we would not falter. Your ruthless leadership over this land, your lack of care for your kingdom and your subjects, is what pushes us to continue fighting! You may have struck down our leader a long time ago, but that only inspired us to unite and keep fighting! King Grande, even if it costs me my life, I swear, I will stop you!" Cloud Hunter stated, his tone full of confidence and anger.

Grande laughed. "Bahaha! YOU think you can stop me? Twelve years ago, your leader Metal Wing couldn't even come close to stopping me. What chance do you think you have, YOU, his lowly Commander? All who have risen up against me have been vanquished, you and your pitiful forces will be no different."

Cloud Hunter lunged forward and attempted to impale the Alicorn, but Grande teleported behind the Pegasus and struck his breastplate with his golden sword. Cloud Hunter managed to pull back just in time. He gasped in shock as he looked and saw a clean open mark across his breastplate. "Darn it..."

Smirking, Grande said, "You seem to forget that the armour and weapons I have at my disposal have been forged by the greatest materials in the land. I could cut your head clean off, and it wouldn't even cause a bloody mess."

Growing frustrated at his arrogance, Cloud Hunter let a loud battle cry as he rushed forth once more. He thrust his spear forward, hoping that its length would be enough to allow it to get close and hit its mark. Unfortunately, Grande swiftly waved his sword in front of him, cutting the spear in half.

Acting fast, Cloud Hunter jumped back, twirled his spear around until the pointy edge on the other side was aimed at his opponent, and tossed it.

The Alicorn King was still too quick though, as his horn had already been charged up, creating a barrier that easily reflected the broken spear.

Chuckling at the Pegasus' attempts, Grande slowly walked forward.

The sound of cheers filled the air, catching their attention. Both looked over the balcony and saw the rebel troops retreating and scattering, even then, most of them were still being pursued, some were even captured.

Eyes widening in horror, Cloud Hunter glared back at Grande, who continued to smirk. "It looks like you have failed once again Cloud Hunter, what will you do now hm?"

The Alicorn was right, he did fail again. He attacked the capital city on numerous occasions in hopes that his continuous attempts would be enough to finally bring down the King's army, but that was not to be. He had gathered Ponies, Unicorns and Pegasi from other parts of the land, uniting them under his banner and swearing to fight until the land of Dalkia was finally free from Grande's rule. There were others, others who could have joined the Allied Forces, but they refused, fearing that they would fail to defeat the Alicorn King and only end up putting their own lands at risk.

There were also those Grande convinced to join his side. The Wolves of Endrum, and the Zebra forces of another foreign land. Heck, he even traded some of Dalkia's most valuable treasures to the Griffin King, in exchange for troops. Though the Griffin King was reluctant at first, the treasures were too good to pass up and he obliged, providing the Alicorn King with a large number of Griffins for his army.

It was even rumoured, that Grande had a pet dragon at his command. But none had ever seen it, because nopony had been able put him into a tight spot where he would need to bring it out. Suffice to say, defeating him was near impossible.

Cloud Hunter deemed it near impossible because he knew that nothing was impossible. However, as the Pegasus flapped his wings and remained in the air, watching his allies flee the city, he started losing hope. He had done everything he could at this point to try and bring the King down, but all of his attempts were futile. He had tried so hard, he got so far, but in the end, it didn't matter.

His forces were defeated and now here they were, fleeing, surrender, scattering and being captured. There was no doubt in his mind that they would be returning to their own respective homes around the land. They had clearly lost hope too, and didn't want to anything more to do with this war. They had given up, and Cloud Hunter honestly could not blame them.

"But I won't..." The Pegasus muttered.

"Hm?" Grande narrowed his dark red eyes at him.

Cloud Hunter faced the Alicorn again and said, "I won't give up! I swear, no matter what it takes, I will carry out my duty as a Knight! I swear, on my honour, I will stop you Grande!"

With that, the silver armoured Pegasus bolted off at a very impressive speed. Tempted as he was to pursue the Commander of the Allied Forces, he merely brushed the thought aside and called out to his aerial troops. "AFTER HIM!"

The Griffins and Pegasi that were near the balcony nodded at his order and flew off to pursue the rebel Pegasus.

As Grande put his sword away, he walked towards the edge of the balcony and looked down at the city below. Only the outer part of the city was slightly in ruins, the inner part and the castle itself were completely untouched. He smirked again. "I was hoping they would make it further than this. How sad, I was really hoping for a challenge..."

A sound caught his attention. He could hear metal and chains rattling behind him. He slowly looked over his shoulder, a large grey wolf in silver jagged armour was approaching. "General Kaar."

The wolf gave a slight bow before speaking in a very growly toned voice. "Your highness, the Allied Forces have been fully defeated, the number of casualties is nothing to be concerned about. We lost nothing more than mere Ponies, and even then, it was only a small number."

Grande chuckled. "I care not, they are all my pawns, and if they die, they die."

Kaar growled. "The Allied Commander, I saw him fly away."

"Worry not, I already sent a few Griffins and Pegasi after him. Whether they bring him back dead or alive doesn't matter. I've given that foolish Pegasus enough chances to defeat me. Now, his attempts bore me." Grande said confidently.

Approaching the King's side, Kaar looked down at the city below and snarled. "They did cause some slight damage to the city. Repairing this damage however should only take a few weeks."

Grande turned around and chuckled again. "Like I said, I care not, you're only wasting your time." He began making his way towards the large iron door, Kaar followed. "Now that the Allied Forces have been annihilated, I believe it's time we turn our attention towards those annoying pirates in the southwest. You know, the same ones being led by that brother of yours?"

Kaar let out a vicious growl as he followed the King through the doors. "Sotiris is no brother of mine!"

Grande narrowed his eyes at the wolf. "You better tell yourself that when you're about to finish him, General." He replied before leaving the wolf alone.

Standing in silence for a long moment, the wolf General eventually let out a loud roar and slashed his clawed metal gauntlet against the wall, creating a large, clean scratch mark that would be impossible to miss.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Cloud Hunter flew as fast he could, not stopping, never stopping, not until he was sure that he was far away enough. He had no idea how long it had been, but he did know that a lot of time went by since his retreat. He thought back to the events that took place. The battle was lost, just like all the battles before. This time however, the war itself was lost. He had thrown everything he had, and more, but even after all of their efforts, it just wasn't enough. Grande had won another battle, but now he had won the war.

The Pegasus still hadn't given up however. He was still confident that defeating the Alicorn King was possible. It WAS possible. The only problem was his lack of allies and resources, and considering what took place just recently, he had lost what was left of that. He was alone now. But that wasn't going to stop him from carrying out his duty. He pondered those he could turn to for help.

There was the Zebra Tribes in the foreign lands, but considering there were already Zebra troops fighting on Grande's side, Cloud Hunter refused to take the risk.

Then there was the Endrum Pirates. Wolves who refused to go with General Kaar in joining Grande's forces. Cloud Hunter considered it but immediately retracted the thought, as he remembered that the brother of General Kaar was leading the Pirates, as such, he couldn't be trusted.

One of the most powerful allies to have would be the Griffin King himself. While it was a possibility, Cloud Hunter knew that trying to get the Griffin King as his ally would be very difficult. He would need to give it some thought.

It was probably best if the Dragon King was left out of it. If he learned of the rumour that another dragon was being kept as a pet, he would throw all to the winds and destroy the capital city and the land itself. That was definitely not Cloud Hunter's intention.

Lastly, there was the Unicorn King of the city of Bale, East of the capital. While he would indeed prove to be a powerful ally, Cloud Hunter didn't doubt for a second that King Nazor would immediately decline his request for help. He was cold, ruthless and cruel. Heck, the Pegasus had heard that the King had one of his servants executed simply because they served him the wrong tea.

"Yeah, I better just leave him out of this too..." He muttered.

As he continued to fly on, he noticed he was flying over the ocean now, no land anywhere in sight. He was flying at a much slower pace than before, he was so deep in thought that he didn't notice how slow he was flying. And that was a mistake...

"There he is!"

Cloud Hunter looked behind him. A large group of Griffins and Pegasi were pursuing him.

His pace was so slow that a few of the Griffins had caught up to him. Before he could attempt to fly faster, one of the Griffins swung his clawed gauntlet at him, successfully striking the Pegasus across the side.

Cloud Hunter growled in pain and twisted around, quickly hammering his hoof into the Griffins face. But this move left him open to another attack, and the other Griffin scratched him across his left foreleg.

The Pegasus had trained himself to resist most pain, and this was no different. While he could feel it, he didn't allow it to distract him. He kept himself and the air and moved towards the other Griffin. He grabbed the Griffin and threw him into the group behind.

Thankfully, most of them were knocked right out of the air and landed in the ocean, but a few Pegasi remained. They started lunging forward with their spears, and Cloud Hunter could only growl as they pierced his body in several areas. Fortunately his armour protected most of his body.

Acting quickly, the moment the next spear came at him, Cloud Hunter twirled around and kicked it out of the Pegasus' hoof. He then lunged back and delivered a swift kick to the Pegasus' head and grabbed before he fell into the ocean. Repeating his last tactic, he threw the Pegasus into the others, knocking all but one out of the air.

The last Pegasus starting swinging his spear away at him, and Cloud Hunter, started to grow exhausted from the flying and the blood loss. Knowing he needed to end it quick, Cloud Hunter grabbed the spear with his two hoofs and pushed it back, stabbing the hilt into the Pegasus' chest, forcing him to lose his grip.

Cloud Hunter then quickly twirled the spear around and threw it. He watched as it impaled his pursuer, and the Pegasus, who coughed out blood upon being struck, fell right into the ocean.

Sighing with relief, Cloud Hunter turned his attention back to his flying and noticed he was approaching land.

He let himself fly on and on, allowing himself to fly over this land that he had reached. As he flew by, he noticed a massive Crystal Castle standing out, surrounded by a large number of buildings. Something about it seemed familiar, but he couldn't place his hoof on it.

As he flew, he noticed there were various other towns and villages, and he was able to make out the inhabitants. Ponies. They were all Ponies. Some were even Unicorns, and he had sight of some Pegasi. He had heard of a land in the archives, a land that was inhabited mostly by Ponies. Dragons, Griffins and other species were mentioned, but he had yet to see any of them. He couldn't recall its name, but he knew he had read about the land before.

His attention was then caught by a large white castle that sat on the side of a tall mountain. It was beautiful. No doubt the castle belonged to somepony of royalty, the overall look of the entire structure gave it away.

However, Cloud Hunter was so caught up in staring at the castle, he didn't notice that he had descended to near ground level. Too late to act, he found himself crashing hard into a tree, then another tree, then another. He ended up spiralling out of control and landed hard on the ground.

As he growled in pain from the impact, and from the cuts all over his body, he made a mental note to pay more attention to his surroundings next time.

Exhausted, battered, injured and tired, Cloud Hunter struggled to crawl along the ground. The thoughts of his home being ruled by Grande continued to enter his mind, and it pushed him to keep moving. He swore he wouldn't give up. He swore he would carry out his duty, and if it meant his death, then atleast he would die knowing he gave everything he had. He crawled and crawled until he made it out of dark forest he landed in. He breathed heavily, his wounds were taking their toll on him. He let out a weak sigh and let his head fall, he had no more energy left, he was done.

As his eyes began to grow heavy, the last thing he saw before he blacked out, was a cottage.

Chapter 2 - The Foreign Pegasus

Chapter 2:

'The Foreign Pegasus'

Fluttershy didn't know what to do. She was just back from another day of shopping, buying food for herself and her animal friends just like every day. She was going about her usual daily routine, making sure all of the animals were fine, feeding them and the like. When she was making herself a cup of tea, Angel rushed into the cottage, freaking out over something.

The shy Pegasus had followed the rabbit out towards the Everfree Forest, the last place she wanted to go near. However, she had to make sure Angel wasn't going to go in, and she was certainly curious as to what he was freaking out about. It didn't stop her from being worried though, because if it was near the Everfree Forest, or in it, then it definitely wasn't good.

As she got closer, she was eventually able to make out something just at the entrance of the forest. She could immediately tell that it was a Pegasus, just by looking at the large wings. The Pegasus himself was covered in various pieces of armour. Fluttershy first assumed that he was a royal guard, but she retracted the thought immediately when she took a closer look at the armour.

She had never seen armour like this before. It was a gleaming silver colour, and helmet itself was slightly jagged. Fluttershy couldn't recall a single time where she had seen a royal guard in armour such as this. Celestial guards always wore golden armour, whereas Lunar guards wore dark lavender coloured armour, but this Pegasus, was way different.

At first, she figured he could have been a captain of some sort, but then she remembered, Shining Armor already had that position in the royal guard. Angel was hopping around the unconscious Pegasus. The rabbit gently nudged him a few times out of curiosity.

The Pegasus must have felt the rabbit nudging him, as he let out a painful groan and rolled over onto his side.

Fluttershy nearly screamed out in terror but quickly covered her mouth. He had cuts and gashes over all his body, and blood was still slowly dripping from them, she wondered how she never noticed them earlier. But then, the shadows of the trees were cast over him so they clearly would have made it difficult for her to see at first.

Knowing he definitely needed help, Fluttershy told Angel to go back to the cottage to find a first aid kit, while she herself carried him back to the cottage. It was easier said than done however, this Pegasus weighed a tone.

It took Fluttershy a good few minutes before she figured out a way to make her job easier. She began removing all of the Pegasus' armour, helmet, breastplate and bracers. She made sure she was extra careful in doing so as she didn't want to risk worsening his wounds. When she removed all of the armour, she placed it all under one of the nearby trees and returned to the Pegasus' side.

She attempted to pick him up again. He was still too heavy, and Fluttershy was now starting to panic.

Fortunately, she got a lucky break when she saw a rainbow streak zooming around in the sky.

"RAINBOW DASH! HELP!" She called out to her friend.

Thankfully, the cyan Pegasus heard her and bolted down to see what was wrong. Of course, as soon as she saw the wounded Pegasus on the ground, she immediately got her answer. "Whoa...what happened here Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy shrugged and said, "I don't know, I was just about to feed my animal friends until Angel dragged me over here and showed this Pegasus. Please, help me take him inside, he's really hurt."

Rainbow Dash looked at the unconscious blue Pegasus and nodded. "I see what you mean, look at those cuts!"

Fluttershy stood on one side of the Pegasus, while Rainbow Dash stood on the other. Together, they were able to lift him up. They placed one foreleg around Rainbow Dash, while they placed his other foreleg around Fluttershy. Their combined efforts were enough to carry him with ease. "Be gentle now, we don't to make his injuries worse." Fluttershy said softly as she and her friend slowly made their way towards the cottage, with the blue Pegasus on both of their backs.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Yeah yeah whatever..." She turned to get a good look at the Pegasus, and raised a brow when she noticed his large wings. "His wings are pretty big, I wonder how fast he can fly."

"Please Rainbow, we don't have time for that. We need to get him inside so we can patch him up." Fluttershy replied.

"Alright, alright, sheesh." Rainbow replied. "Who is he anyway?"

Fluttershy sighed. "I don't know."

__________________________________________________________________________________

Fluttershy watched as the blue Pegasus lay motionlessly in the bed she set up for him. She and Rainbow Dash had gotten him inside and, with her friends help, patched up all of his wounds. She made sure there was an extra pillow for his head, she wanted him to be as comfortable as possible so he could make a quick recovery.

The shy Pegasus had already taken care of bringing his armour in, while she asked Rainbow Dash to go and get the rest of their friends, as Twilight Sparkle and the others would no doubt want to see this Pegasus for themselves. In fact, considering Twilight Sparkle was a Princess of Canterlot, there was a possible chance that she may know who he was. Though, it was just a slim chance though, despite the armour he wore, it still wasn't enough to conclude that he was a royal guard, the armour itself just didn't match the others.

His breathing became normal, which she was thankful for. She was glad she patched him up, as he would have died from too much blood loss. She took a good look at him and noticed he was quite well-built, possibly more well-built than the royal guards in Canterlot themselves. He had a dark yellow blade-looking mane, the same could be said for his tail in a way. His coat was good dark shade of blue and his hoofs were a clean white colour.

She looked at his Cutie Mark, it was a Storm Cloud. She wondered how he could have gotten a Cutie Mark like that, though she grew nervous a little as she believed it may have been something destructive. She didn't want to think that though, she didn't want to think that this Pegasus would be the destructive type, and she knew a few other Ponies out there who were quite destructive to an extent.

What made her more nervous however, was how he would react upon waking up. The worst that could possibly happen was him getting all aggressive and demanding to know what happened while he was unconscious. Though to be fair, even if that were to happen, Fluttershy wouldn't be able to give him an answer, as she too was confused.

The thought then entered her head. What exactly happened to him? Considering she found him just outside the Everfree Forest, Fluttershy could only assume that he must have been attacked by something while he was in it and barely made it out. It could have been a Manticore, but then, the wounds on his body didn't exactly look like they were caused by one, otherwise the wounds themselves would have been much more worse, as Manticores where quite ferocious.

Finally, after waiting for what seemed like a good long while, her door opened and Rainbow Dash came rushing in, followed by Twilight Sparkle, then Rarity, Applejack, and finally, Pinkie Pie.

"We're here Fluttershy, what happened?" Twilight Sparkle asked as she approached her friend.

Fluttershy slowly backed away from the bed and faced the young Alicorn. "I found this Pegasus just outside the Everfree Forest. He was injured real badly so me and Rainbow Dash brought him in."

Twilight made her way to the bed where the blue Pegasus lay. She looked at him curiously for a moment before turning back to her friend. "It looks like he had a good few injuries. What happened?"

"I...I don't know...I just found him laying outside the forest and I couldn't just leave him out there." Fluttershy replied softly as she looked back at the unconscious Pegasus.

The young Alicorn Princess looked at him curiously again. She turned to Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie Pie, do you know who he is? You know everypony in Ponyville."

Pinkie Pie rushed to the side of the bed and gave a quick look at the Pegasus before replying. "Nope! Absolutely not! Never seen him in Ponyville once! I guess that means I'll have to prepare a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party when he wakes up! He's going to love it!"

Applejack slowly pulled the cheery Pony away from the bed. "Now just hold on a second there sugarcube. We can do that some other time, right now though, we need ta let him rest and wait till he wakes up." She turned to Fluttershy. "Hey Shy, did he have anythin' with him?"

Fluttershy looked nervously at the other side of the room. "Well, he did have that armour on when I found him." She said quietly as she pointed at the set of armour that sat in the corner.

Twilight, still curious, made her way over to the armour and studied it. "So, he is a royal guard then I'm assuming?" Rarity said.

"That's what I thought but..." Fluttershy stopped for a moment and waited until Twilight looked back at her before continuing. "The armour is different than the armour that the royals guards wear. I've never seen that kind of armour being worn by a guard, ever."

Curiosity piqued, Twilight used her magic to levitate all pieces of armour into the middle of the room where all of them could see it. True enough, the armour was indeed different than a royal guards armour. Twilight had never seen this type of armour ever. It was thick and looked like it was made from a different material than the armour worn by the royal guards back in Canterlot. The bracers were longer too, so long that they must have atleast expanded midway up the leg, that and they looked like they only covered half of the wearers hoofs, no doubt for more protection while keeping mobility. The silver helmet had slightly curved plates at the side, almost giving it a crown look, but at the same time she could tell this wasn't a crown.

Then, their attention went towards the large breastplate. What caught their eyes, was the large open hole at the chest part. They were able to immediately conclude that this was no doubt caused by a bladed weapon like a sword or a spear.

This made them nervous a little. Was he attacked by royal guards? Was he a wanted fugitive?

Twilight didn't see how that could be possible though. If there was a wanted fugitive running around then the Princesses would have atleast informed her. That, and Fluttershy did say he was lying just outside the Everfree Forest, but even then, she knew that despite how dangerous it was, nothing in there could have possibly cut through armour as thick as this.

"So...any ideas?" Applejack asked.

Pinkie Pie was about to open her mouth, until Rainbow Dash cut her off. "No parties Pinkie!"

The pink mare stopped and remained silent, a slight look of disappointment on her face.

Twilight then noticed something she failed to notice earlier. There was a small design of some sort on the front of breastplate. It was a grey crown. "A grey crown?"

"Well I'll be..." Applejack added as she also noticed the grey crown design on the armour. "Well if there's one thing ah do know, he's definitely not a royal guard from Canterlot."

Rarity looked at the unconscious Pegasus in confusion. "If that's the case, then who is he?"

Twilight walked over to the side of the bed again and looked closely at the Pegasus. He was well-built just like a royal guard, in fact, he looked even more well-built than the common guard themselves. His wings were unusually large for a Pegasus aswell. They were just as big as Princess Celestia's wings.

Suffice to say, Twilight had a possible theory but she didn't want to jump to conclusions too soon. She turned to her friends and said, "I think I should inform the Princesses of this. Clearly he isn't a royal guard, but he's definitely not a normal Pegasus either."

"I do believe you're right darling." Rarity replied.

Twilight made her way over to the door. "I'm going to go and get Spike and have him send the Princesses a letter. Hopefully they'll know who he is, or atleast where he's from."

"Well if they don't, then we can just ask him when he wakes up." Rainbow Dash replied as she followed her friend outside. "Besides, from the looks of those wings of his, I bet he's fast, but I bet he isn't as fast as me though."

Applejack just rolled her eyes and turned to Pinkie Pie. "Come on you..." She then turned to Fluttershy. "Hey Fluttershy, ya gonna need a hoof with him?"

Fluttershy shook her head. "No. I should be fine by myself, thanks for offering though."

Nodding, Applejack dragged Pinkie Pie outside of the cottage where the others were waiting.

"I must say, he is a rather..." Rarity stopped as she continued to look at the Pegasus' unconscious features. "He is a rather, dashing Stallion. Don't you think?"

Fluttershy just blushed and hid behind her mane. "If...if you say so..."

Rarity giggled before trotting outside.

"Don't worry Fluttershy, we'll be back soon. If he wakes up before we get back, make sure he stays here, ok?" Twilight said.

Fluttershy merely replied with a nod. Her friends then trotted off, leaving the shy Pegasus alone with the unconscious stranger.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Princess Luna slowly descended down to the balcony below and calmly trotted into the throne room where her sister was waiting for her. Just like every other day, she had just finished raising the moon, beginning the night.

Celestia was currently sitting at the bottom of the podium, reading various reports brought in by scouts. Luna approached her sister with a curious look and said, "What news sister?"

The white Alicorn merely shook her head before using her magic to set the letters down. "Nothing new. All is well in the other towns and villages."

"That's good to know. Hopefully things will continue to remain that way." The dark Alicorn replied.

With a sigh, Celestia said, "I'm sure they will. As long as we remain on good terms with the Griffin King and the Dragon King, our subjects are safe."

"Do not forget sister, there's still the Changelings. As long as they're out there, our Ponies aren't fully safe." Luna replied.

Celestia nodded. "I know. But after her last defeat, I'm sure Queen Chrysalis won't make another move for a good while. She will not risk defeat a second time."

Luna narrowed her eyes at her sister. "What about...the Mad Unicorn?"

No reply came from the white Alicorn.

"How do we know if he's really dead? Remember, we never found his body." Luna added.

Celestia faced her sister and said, "If he's still alive, he'll reveal himself eventually. For now, we have nothing to worry about."

The two Alicorn sisters sat in silence for a good long moment, pondering on what to do next. Celestia was considering taking a little trip to Ponyville, merely to pay a visit to Twilight Sparkle and her friends and see how they were doing.

Just as she was about to speak her mind, a scroll materialized before the two sisters. "A letter from Twilight Sparkle I'm assuming?" Luna said.

"Yes...let's see here..." Celestia said as she used her magic to open the scroll before reading it.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Something recently just came up that has gotten me and my friends very curious. Earlier during the day, Fluttershy had found a wounded Pegasus just outside the Everfree Forest and took him in to nurse him back to health. He had the appearance of a royal guard, he even had his own set of armour. What has us confused however is that his armour doesn't match any that yours or Princess Luna's guards wear, and his wounds looked like they were done by swords or spears. I wanted to ask you if there has been anything going on regarding a wanted fugitive. I know by his armour that he is not a royal guard, but I also know that he is not a normal Pegasus either. His armour does however have a grey crown designed on it and I was wondering if that also sounded familiar to you. Me and my friends are currently waiting at Fluttershy's cottage, the Pegasus is still here too, I hope you can reply as soon as possible or make some time to see the Pegasus for yourself. Please reply as soon as possible Princess, I don't want my friends to worry.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

Celestia read through the letter a second time and pondered her thoughts for a moment. "Hm, that is interesting..." She said quietly.

"What is it sister?" Luna asked as she approached the white Alicorn.

Instead of replying, Celestia levitated the scroll towards her sister and watched as she too began reading through it. Luna, just like her sister, read through it a second time before speaking. "A Pegasus who looks like a royal guard but does not wear matching armour? Hmm..." She looked at her sister again. "Twilight Sparkle also stated that there was a grey crown design on the armour, though I am not familiar with it. What about you?"

Celestia shook her head. "No, I am unfamiliar with it aswell. I do know however that there are no fugitives running around that we're aware of, so that's most definitely out of the question. She also stated that he was found outside the Everfree Forest. Though he could have been attacked in there, her letter mentioned that he had wounds that looked like they were done by spears or swords, and I don't recall ordering my guards to attack anypony, nor would they for that matter."

"If that's the case, I'm quite curious now. Perhaps we should go down and see this Pegasus for ourselves." Luna said.

Celestia nodded. "I agree. But perhaps it's best that we wait until morning. If the Pegasus is unconscious then it would be pointless to go right now."

Luna thought for a moment. "True. I suppose the Ponies themselves will also be needing their rest so I guess we can attend to this matter in the morning." She turned to leave but stopped and faced her sister again. "I recommend sending Twilight Sparkle a letter back and let her know of our visit tomorrow."

"Of course sister." Celestia replied as she watched her sister leave the throne room.

The white Alicorn Princess slowly walked outside onto the throne room balcony and looked up at the night sky. "A grey crown...I don't recall such an emblem. Could he be from one of the foreign lands?"

__________________________________________________________________________________

Several royal Pegasus guards descended down to the large beach below and began approaching a team of Lunar guards that were grouped around a dead body.

"We got your message and came as quickly as we could. What happened?" A Celestial guard asked.

One of the Lunar guards backed away from the dead body and said, "We found this dead Pegasus here as we were scouting the area. Clearly he was washed up here, but the question is, what killed him? He was impaled by this spear here..." He said as he pointed to the spear that lay next to the dead Pegasus.

The Celestial guard approached the dead Pegasus and examined him. His coat was a dark shade of white, and most of his body was covered up by dark grey armour. All of the armour itself, bracers, helmet and breastplate, were all slightly jagged, but what caught his eye was the design on the armour. There was a gold crown surrounded by a ring of fire designed on the front of the breastplate.

"Well?" One of the Lunar guards said.

The Celestial guard faced him. "Have you ever seen that design before?"

"Never..." The Lunar guard replied as he looked at the design on the breastplate. "I've never seen a design like that before. The design itself definitely doesn't belong to the Griffin Kingdom or the Dragon Kingdom. And I doubt that the Zebra Tribes in the foreign lands would use armour like this..."

Looking down at the dead Pegasus again, the Celestial guard said, "So if he isn't part of any of them, who is he with? I know for a fact that he's definitely not one of ours. Celestial and Lunar guards don't wear armour like this, and the Crystal Guards at the Crystal Empire certainly don't either."

"Well, either way, we better report this to the Princesses right away. They need to be informed of-" Before the Lunar guard could finish, he was cut off by another guard.

"Sir! Look!"

The two guards turned to the large open ocean beside them and saw something in the distance, slowly approaching.

"What's that?"

It looked like a group of Pegasi, which they were able to tell just by the wings that were flapping up and down. As far as they could tell, there were nine in total, but as they got closer, they noticed a few seemed a little different than the others.

It was only after they reached the six guards, that they were able to make out the difference with the others. A few of them were Griffins, and just like the dead Pegasus at their side, the Griffin and the Pegasi that arrived were wearing the same jagged-looking armour, with the same gold crown and ring of fire design on the breastplates.

One of the Celestial guards readied his spear and pointed it at the group. "Who are you?!"

A Pegasus stepped forward and set his sights on his dead ally. "I'll assume that you six were responsible for that?"

The lead Celestial guard who examined the body earlier spoke up. "No. We just found him like this, we had nothing to do with it."

Chuckling at the reply, the Pegasus said, "Really? Well that's fine..." He lowered his head and looked at the spear in his hoof. "It doesn't really matter anyway."

Before the lead Celestial guard could question what he meant, he found himself getting impaled right in the chest, by the Pegasus' spear.

The other guards all just watched in horror as their fellow guard immediately fell to the ground, his body lay motionless.

"KILL THEM ALL!"

With barely any time to react, the guards braced themselves as the Griffins and Pegasi unsheathed their weapons and lunged at them.

Chapter 3 - First Impressions

Chapter 3:

'First Impressions'

Birds chirping. That was the first sound Cloud Hunter could hear as he slowly regained consciousness. That, and he felt, surprisingly comfortable. The soft feeling under him could only have been a bed, the position he was in made it quite obvious. That, and the soft sheets that seemed to cover his entire body also backed up that fact. All he could see was darkness however. His eyes were still closed. He attempted to open them, but found that he didn't have the energy to do so right now. He then attempted to move one of his legs, only to regret it when an aching pain made itself known, running all the way from his leg up to his head. He let out a quiet growl and stayed completely still.

He had no idea where he was right now. And he certainly had no idea how he was still alive. If anything, he was surprised he wasn't dead yet, considering the wounds he received as he tried to get away from Grande's troops.

Thoughts coursed through his mind right now as to where he was. He couldn't have been captured Grande's troops, otherwise he would be dead. Taking prisoners was something they didn't do, that, and they would definitely not give him a nice, soft and warm bed to rest in. And they certainly wouldn't patch up his wounds either.

At the thought of his wounds, Cloud Hunter mustered all the strength he could and forced his eyes open, he immediately shut them again as they had yet to adjust to the slightly lit up room he was in. After opening and closing them a few more times, he was finally able to keep them open and carefully used one of his hoofs to lift the sheets up. He could see that his wounds were indeed patched up. A majority of his body, covered in bandages. He then looked up at his surroundings. The room he was in was lit up a little, the corner he was in was just dimly lit and the window blinds were closed completely. He was able to make out the faint light that was trying to shine through the blinds.

Chancing it, Cloud Hunter raised the blinds and growled when the bright sunlight blinded him. He took his hoof away and lay back down, as he started to feel the aching pain in his body returning. He looked around the bedroom again and started wondering where he really was. Most of the structure around him looked wooden, which led him to assume that he was in a cottage of some sort. It was then he remembered when he first crashed, the last thing he saw before falling unconscious, was a cottage.

He started assuming that the owner of the cottage must have found him, took him in and patched him up. Considering how quiet it was, minus the chirping of the birds outside, Cloud Hunter could only assume that the owner was away at the moment. He made a mental note to thank them whenever they got back.

Letting himself drift off, he dwelled on his last encounter with King Grande.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Acting fast, Cloud Hunter jumped back, twirled his spear around until the pointy edge on the other side was aimed at his opponent, and tossed it.

The Alicorn King was still too quick though, as his horn had already been charged up, creating a barrier that easily reflected the broken spear.

Chuckling at the Pegasus' attempts, Grande slowly walked forward.

Eyes widening in horror, Cloud Hunter glared back at Grande, who continue to smirk. "It looks like you have failed once again Cloud Hunter, what will you do now hm?"

"But I won't..." The Pegasus muttered.

"Hm?" Grande narrowed his dark red eyes at him.

Cloud Hunter faced the Alicorn again and said, "I won't give up! I swear, no matter what it takes, I will carry out my duty as a Knight! I swear, on my honour, I will stop you Grande!"

With that, the silver armoured Pegasus bolted off at a very impressive speed.

__________________________________________________________________________________

The last thing Cloud Hunter could remember from that encounter was Grande yelling for his troops to go after him. He just hoped the troops that pursued him never made it back to shore after knocking them into the ocean, because if they did, they would inform Grande of his escape and the Alicorn would merely send more after him, and he had plenty of troops to spare.

Then again, there was still the possibility that Grande would just ignore him altogether. There were still other factions in Dalkia that had risen up against him, and Grande was no doubt more focused on getting rid of them than going after one Pegasus, even if that Pegasus was the Commander of the Allied Forces. Cloud Hunter thought for a moment about who was left. The Pirates of Endrum and the Griffins of Vulhaven were most likely Grande's main concerns, the Unicorns of Bale were far in the East, so there was a possibility that Grande would most likely just forget about them. But then, King Grande was known for never leaving survivors, so there was still a high chance that he would eventually send his army to destroy Bale.

Cloud Hunter's thoughts were interrupted as he heard a melodic voice singing outside. It was a mare, that much was obvious just by her singing. Her voice sounded so soft, it almost seemed impossible to imitate.

The mares singing lasted for a good few long minutes. Cloud Hunter lay back down in the bed and got comfortable again. The soft feeling of this bed, accompanied by the sound of this mares beautiful singing, made him feel, VERY relaxed.

Everything was so, peaceful, it almost seemed like a dream. Then again, maybe he was dreaming and he just had yet to wake up.

His thoughts of whether he was dreaming or not however were about to be put to the test when he heard a door opening. It came from downstairs. He heard the same mares voice talking, but he couldn't make out what she was saying.

Then, he heard her making her way upstairs.

Cloud Hunter slowly closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep, he wasn't entirely sure if he was ready to start conversation with a stranger yet. The bedroom door opened and he heard hoofsteps approaching him.

He remained motionless as he heard something being placed down on the table next to the bed. Then, that same soft voice he heard spoke. "Oh dear, still asleep. I really hope he wakes up soon. He needs to eat."

Her voice was much clearer since she was right there next to him. Her tone was so soft, it just seemed so impossible that it was real.

Finally, Cloud Hunter decided to take the risk and slowly opened his eyes.

The mare, who was watching him, let out a soft gasp. "You're awake!"

Cloud Hunter slowly moved his sights to the mare who was sitting at the side of the bed. Her coat was a cream yellow colour, and she had a nice, long, tidy pink mane and tail. And her eyes were...Cloud Hunter couldn't believe what he was seeing...her eyes...her crystal blue eyes...they were so beautiful. Never in his entire life had he seen such beauty. He was so captivated by this mares eyes that he hadn't noticed he was holding his breath.

The mare gave him a confused look and backed away slightly, growing a little nervous as he continued to stare in awe at her. "Umm, excuse me?"

Cloud Hunter shook his head slightly and took in a few deep breaths before asking, "Am...am I dreaming?"

"Umm, no, you're...you're wide awake, if that's what you're wondering..." The mare said softly.

Remembering the bandages that were wrapped around most of his body, he looked down at them for a moment before turning to the mare and asking, "Were you the one who...patched me up?"

The mare smiled slightly and nodded. "Why, yes I am. Angel bunny found you just outside the Everfree Forest, so me and Rainbow Dash helped you inside and started taking care of your wounds. You probably would have died if you had been out there any longer."

Cloud Hunter winced a little at the thought of dying from blood loss. He turned to the mare again and returned her smile. "Well, in that case, I guess I owe you my life miss...?"

The mare's eyes widened. "Oh! How could I forget! My name's Fluttershy."

Cloud Hunter continued to smile. "Thank you for helping me Miss Fluttershy."

Fluttershy blushed at his reply. "Umm, y-you're welcome, but please, there's...there's no need to call me miss. Just Fluttershy will do."

"If that is your wish. My name is Cloud Hunter." Cloud Hunter replied, not taking his eyes off of her.

At first, Fluttershy was just nervous when he stared at her, but after looking into his piercing blood red eyes, she started to get a little scared and slowly looked away.

Cloud Hunter noticed her frightened expression and said, "Do I frighten you Fluttershy? If so, I'll leave here at once, I don't wish to make you uncomfortable." The blue Pegasus then attempted to climb out of the bed, only to feel his body aching again, forcing him to fall back down with a growl.

Fluttershy quickly turned back and rushed over to him. "Oh please don't move, you're still too hurt!" She grabbed the sheets and placed them back over him. "Just, stay in bed and rest for now..." She turned to the table next to the bed and pulled it closer so it was within Cloud Hunter's reach. On the table was a small bowl of soup. "I assumed you may have been hungry so I...I made you some soup."

Cloud Hunter looked at the bowl of soup for a moment before turning back to the shy Pegasus. "You didn't have to...I mean-"

"Oh but you must eat. I mean, if you...if you want to that is..." She said before hiding slightly behind her mane.

Again, all Cloud Hunter could do was stare at her. 'Why is she so nervous? Then again, if I were housing a complete stranger, I guess I'd be nervous too, not as much as she is though. I have to admit, I haven't exactly made a good first impression on this mare.'

Fluttershy noticed he was staring at her and slowly turned away. "Umm...I...I'm going to...I'm going to go now, if you need anything..."

"Wait." Cloud Hunter said, stopping her in her tracks. "I...I'm sorry if I'm frightening you Fluttershy, I'm...I'm just not used to others being so kind to me. Nopony has ever been so kind to me before."

Those words caught her attention. "R-Really?" She replied as she turned to him.

"Really." The blue Pegasus replied. Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. "Umm, Fluttershy, if you don't mind me asking, where exactly am I?"

Fluttershy gave him a confused look. "Umm, you're in my cottage."

Chuckling a little, Cloud Hunter said, "My apologies, I should be more specific. I mean, where am I? What land am I currently in?"

Eyes widening a little at his words, Fluttershy said, "You...you're not from here? You don't live here I mean?"

"...Where exactly is here Fluttershy?" Cloud Hunter asked, his tone was a mix of confusion and curiosity.

Fluttershy slowly opened the window blinds and then the window itself. The bright sunlight lit up the entire room, forcing Cloud Hunter to shield his eyes for a few seconds. A nice warm air blew in through the open window, which Cloud Hunter gladly welcomed. After recovering from the flash of the sunlight, Cloud Hunter took his foreleg away from his eyes and stared at Fluttershy, who was once again by the side of the bed, standing on her hind legs with her forelegs resting on the side of the bed mattress.

"You're...you're in Equestria." Fluttershy said.

"Equestria...Equestria..." Cloud Hunter repeated the name to himself a few times. He knew he had heard that name before, he just couldn't remember where.

Fluttershy decided to ask the question that had been in her mind ever since she found him. "You don't live here in Equestria right? So...where exactly are you from? If...if you don't mind telling me that is..."

"Equestria! I remember now!" His sudden outburst caused her to jump back a little. "Sorry. But I knew I heard that name somewhere before. Equestria was the land mentioned in the capitals archives. Supposedly a land ruled by a tyrant Princess who banished her sister to the moon and in doing so, stole all of the power of ruling the land for herself."

Fluttershy's eyes widened. "W-What? N-No...that's not..."

Cloud Hunter looked down at the sheets and sighed, cutting her off. "That's just great...I escape the land of one tyrant, only to end up in the land of another."

Suddenly, just as Fluttershy was about to speak again, she heard knocking coming from downstairs. "Fluttershy! Are you there?" She heard a voice call from outside.

"That's Twilight!" She turned to Cloud Hunter. "Please wait here and take your soup Cloud Hunter, my friends are here, I'll introduce you to them."

Cloud Hunter raised a brow slightly but nodded, pushing the sheets off and carefully sat up so he could start drinking the soup. Fluttershy smiled and trotted out of the room.

After taking a few sips of the soup, Cloud Hunter smiled slightly. "Wow...this soup is to die for..." He stopped after realising what he just said. Shaking his head, he went back to drinking it, paying little attention to the several muffled voices he heard downstairs.

It only took him a few minutes to drink the whole bowl. He placed it back down on the table and leaned back until he was resting against the pillow. He let out a frustrated sigh when he remembered he hadn't answered Fluttershy's question. "Darn it..." He muttered.

He remembered something else and he mentally kicked himself for not realising it earlier. His armour was gone. He could only hope that Fluttershy didn't throw it away, he'd need it for when returned back to Dalkia. "I wonder what happened to the others..."

The Pegasus started thinking about all of his allies back home. There were others, others who had led the Allied Forces with him, and he couldn't help but worry about them. He had no idea what became of them. There was a chance, a very slim chance that they were still alive, but there was an even higher possibility that they may have been killed during their retreat. Either way, Cloud Hunter feared the worst, and he hoped that atleast some of his allies managed to make it to safety.

He was dragged away from his thoughts by the sound of hoofsteps making their way upstairs. No doubt it was Fluttershy's friends that she mentioned earlier. Normally he would keep to himself and not tell anypony anything, but Fluttershy seemed completely harmless, that much was obvious, so surely her friends couldn't be too different could they?

"Cloud Hunter?"

That soft voice caught his attention. He looked up to see the shy Pegasus peeking in slightly.

Chuckling a little, he gestured for her to come in.

The shy Pegasus slowly opened the door and walked in, followed by another mare. Cloud Hunter's eyes widened a little when he noticed this lavender mare was an Alicorn, there were only two other Alicorns that he had ever seen before besides this one. The Alicorn was then followed by an orange Earth Pony who was wearing a Stetson hat, and her blonde mane and tail were both neatly tied up.

Following those two was another mare, and Cloud Hunter was convinced this one was possibly of royalty due to her beautiful and elegant appearance. Her coat was a clean white colour and her curled up indigo mane and tail only added to her elegant look.

The next mare that came in surprised him. She was all pink, save for her candy looking mane and tail which was a darker shade of pink. The big grin on her face already told him everything he needed to know about her, she was definitely the cheery type.

A sixth mare came trotting in. A cyan Pegasus with a rainbow coloured mane and tail, much to Cloud Hunter's confusion, as he had never seen a Pony with so many colours before.

He slowly sat up more so he was in a more comfortable position and stared at the sixth mares, who all stared back with mixed expressions. Some curious, some confused, one still shy.

The lavender Alicorn stepped forward and spoke up. "Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle." She said.

Cloud Hunter didn't reply.

Twilight tilted her head a little in confusion and turned to Fluttershy. "Umm, you already know Fluttershy I'm sure..." She then turned to the other mares. "This is Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash." She said pointing towards each mare as she spoke their name, the mares in return gave him a smile, save for the one called one Rainbow Dash, who just continued to give him a curious look.

"Howdy partner, it's nice to meet ya!" Applejack said tipping her hat to him.

"Indeed it is!" Rarity added. "We are so glad to see you making a fine recovery."

Pinkie Pie rushed over to the side of the bed until she was mere inches away from Cloud Hunter's face. "So who are you? Are you are you from around these parts? Is this your first time coming to Ponyville? Because if it is then that's good because then I can throw a party for you and I love to throw parties for everypony who is new to Ponyville and then we can be friends and started hanging out together and-" The Pink mare was dragged away by Applejack.

"Give the fella some space sugarcube, he jus' woke up." Applejack said.

"Oh of course! Silly me!" Pinkie replied, her smile never leaving her face.

Twilight Sparkle rolled her eyes and turned back to Cloud Hunter. "So, what's your name?"

'Clearly Fluttershy hasn't told them my name yet. I suppose she wasn't exactly sure if I was comfortable with her telling them my name for me. I have no problems with that, of course, I guess it is only appropriate that I personally introduce myself.' Cloud Hunter thought to himself before facing the lavender Alicorn. "My name is Cloud Hunter."

Twilight smiled. "It's nice to meet you Cloud Hunter." She said holding her hoof out.

Cloud Hunter looked at her hoof for a moment before facing her again.

Growing a little nervous at his stare, Twilight slowly lowered her hoof, her smile also faded as she set her hoof back on the wooden floor. "Umm..."

Knowing she may have seemed a little hurt by his refusal to bump hoofs, he figured now would be a good time to speak. He figured it would be best to keep important information from them atleast until he could confirm whether or not their intentions were good. Yes, they seemed quite friendly enough, but there was still no telling what these Ponies were capable of, which meant that Cloud Hunter had to be aware at all times. He and one of his allies, a Unicorn named Vanisher, was attacked once by assassins during the war, those assassins, just happened to be mares, that didn't stop him and his ally from killing them however.

Snapping out of his thoughts, he realised they were all still standing there, watching him curiously, waiting for him to say something.

'Ugh, why do I have to be the one to start conversation? Well, I suppose that's a good thing, I can ask my questions first, hopefully I'll get the answers I need.' Cloud Hunter thought to himself.

He slowly shifted over until he was sitting at the edge of the bed and took in a deep breath. He looked at them again. They seemed so friendly, so friendly that it just didn't seem possible that they meant any harm. Cloud Hunter was having second thoughts. He started mentally kicking himself for even thinking that such innocent looking mares would have any evil intent.

Fluttershy had said that she and the one called Rainbow Dash had brought him into the cottage after they found him and patched up his wounds. That alone was enough to persuade him that they meant no harm.

They were very friendly judging by how they were acting towards him so far. And everything seemed so peaceful. They seemed so kind, that much was obvious to him now. But that fact also made him realise just one thing...

'How do I tell these overly friendly Ponies that I'm a Knight from a foreign land?'