Honour Bound: Duty and Love

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.

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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.