The Traveler

A gentle breeze swirled around the six gold-clad guards as they marched through the Everfree. The forest itself was silent except for the clacking of the guards metal hoofguards on the occasional piece of stone and the metallic rustling their armor made as they moved. One of them, a Pegasus known as Gale, spoke up.

"Sir, I know Princess Celestia told us to go here for a reason, and you are the only one she talked to. Just what the hay are we looking for in this place?" They had been walking for almost two whole hours now.

The leader of the group, an aging Unicorn, inhaled deeply before giving his subordinate an answer. "Well, her Majesty thinks that it was some kind of magical anomaly, and she wants us to go find out if it's dangerous or not."

Gale nodded slowly. He knew exactly what Flare was talking about. Just a couple days ago, some giant red beam came from space and landed in the Everfree, and everything from comets to Queen Chrysalis had been suggested so far. Whatever it really was, nearly every magic-user in Equestria was on edge because of it, and the same discomfort had started spreading to everypony else; when Princess Celestia actually comes out and admits that she and the other Princesses are lacking in the one-hundred-percent-sure department, you were basically told to start getting worried. Personally, he blamed it on Discord getting bored with having to be good, though he did that with everything.

Flare ordered them to halt. "It looks like the trees are starting to thin," he said. "we must be approaching a clearing of some sort, and hopefully that supposed anomaly as well. Keep your guard up." The patrol continued, weapons drawn and shields raised.

He was right. The trees were not only thinning, but a few bore several holes and what looked like sword slashes and burn marks; fewer even had an arrow sticking out. The ground was littered with stumps that had ax scars on the sides, explaining the thinning. The further the patrol proceeded, the less this was looking like some mere anomaly. Gale gripped his sword a little tighter.

The trees had thinned to the point that a large structure was visible through them. The patrol slowed down even further. This was most definitely not an anomaly. Flare nearly whispered his command. "Steel Wall and Mountain Breaker, split up and surround the area. Gale and Tornado, you two take to the skies and warn us of any danger. Delta and I will move around and look for whoever built this place, and contact Princess Celestia if need be." Everypony nodded, then did as they were ordered.

The outpost looked even bigger from the sky, having several platforms suggesting it wasn't quite finished. Some building supplies were scattered about, as well as some crates and a weapon or two. Gale signaled for Tornado to move around the structure and keep an eye on the few windows the thing had for signs of life. The Pegasus nodded.

The group continued looking around. They would have all assumed it was some hermit that decided he didn't like living in a city and tried building a house for himself, but it didn't quite explain the arrows and burn marks in the trees, unless he had to deal with a whole lot of Everfree wildlife; and it still failed to explain those small holes. Nothing seemed to be lining up with what was normal in the world. Gale lost sight of the others as he flew around the structure, daydreaming on the possibilities. A flash of movement from a window caught his attention, but whatever had caused it was gone before he could so much as utter a word to his fellow guards. A door slammed in the background, and Delta's gravely voice shouted inside his head. Gale! Get over to the front of the building now! You have got to see what just came out of this place!

The Pegasus raced back to the entrance of the outpost. Delta and Flare were side-by-side. Steel and Mountain were holding position in the tree line, waiting for an order. Celestia knew where Tornado was at. In front of the two Unicorns was a bipedal creature roughly six feet tall, covered in black armor. It clutched two shortswords with its forearms, and kept them leveled at the Unicorns, who had their own weapons in a defensive position. Flare spoke. "Biped! We mean you no harm! Sheathe your weapons!"

Then, to everypony's amazement, the thing responded, in perfect Equestrian no less. "I will hold when you sheathe your own, horse! I refuse to fall for the same trap twice!" Its voice was slightly muffled by its helmet. Around the same time, Tornado appeared just behind the creature. He looked at Flare, then the creature, drew a dagger and made a mistake; he attempted to sneak, while flying and in armor to subdue the creature. What happened next was unstoppable.

The thing turned, and Tornado was frozen as he realized his mistake. The hilt of the beast's sword caught him in the belly and threw him into a wall, where the second sword the creature had impaled him there. He let out a sickening gurgle right before the other sword pierced his throat, and Tornado went limp, blood spurting from the wound. The pony's body clattered to the ground when the creature drew its bloodstained weapon from the wall.

Everypony was frozen from shock. A guard hadn't died from combat in... Well, no pony really knew when the last time a guard died from combat was. It just didn't happen. "No harm, eh? Is that why that one tried sneaking up on me, dagger at the ready? Told you I wasn't falling for that trick again," the thing said.

Flare shouted for Steel and Mountain to charge. At the same time, the creature rushed the Unicorns, both swords raised. Right as it passed them, it swung both weapons. Flare managed to sidestep the blow, but Delta was grazed on the leg and stumbled. He awkwardly hopped on three legs in Gale's direction, face twisted in pain.

Mountain was the first to meet the creature, who promptly kicked his shield away and unbalanced the Earth Pony. Before it could send the killing blow, Flare lobbed a beam of magic at it, stunning the thing long enough for Mountain to scramble to his hooves and draw his own weapon. Gale drew his own sword and dived at the creature, letting out a war cry-

-that proved to be a mistake nearly as bad as Tornado's. The creature whirled and let loose a flurry of steel backed blows, knocking Gale to the ground, cuts covering his body better than his fur. Delta, having partially recovered, let a beam fly, but missed the creature by a matter of inches. In response, the creature replaced its sword with a throwing knife, and buried it in Delta's chest. The fatally wounded Unicorn collapsed sideways, trying to pull out the knife with his rapidly fleeing strength.

Steel had seen what almost happened to Mountain and drew a bow. Less than a second later, an arrow sprouted from their assailant's shoulder, causing it to stagger briefly before pulling the arrow out and tossing the shaft to the ground; Steel's face would have been funny if it wasn't such a dire situation. He notched another arrow.

Flare continued firing beams at the creature, landing hit after hit, but the thing refused to fall, slowly advancing towards the Unicorn, even as it took increasingly larger blows. All at once, Steel fired his arrow, Flare fired an especially powerful bolt and Mountain swung his sword, throwing the creature to the floor. Before it could get up, Flare used some old fashioned telekinesis to slam it into the ground multiple times. All three ponies advanced on its prone form, but before a surrender could be ordered, the thing turned red and vanished, a terrifying red bolt carrying it into the sky.

"Did we beat that thing?" Steel asked, eyes wide.

"Think so." Flare replied. "But I would have liked to beat it a bit harder after it killed Tornado and Delta. Buck!"

Mountain stepped over to Gale's incapacitated form. "We will lose one more unless we get Gale back to Canterlot for healing pronto, those swords did quite the number on him." Gale felt Flare magically pick him up and sling him over Steel's back. Good thing Pegasi were light and Earth Ponies were strong. The same thing happened for Tornado and Delta, who were respectively put on Flare and Mountain's backs as well.

"Alright, everypony. Let's get back to Celestia and report what happened. Hopefully she'll send out a team to dismantle this place before-"

A red beam struck the ground behind them. The creature they had just fought stood there, holding onto its swords again. The ponies were forced to drop their dead and wounded to the ground to defend themselves, but the Earth Ponies were too slow; both fell from gashes in their throats, blood pooling around them. Flare dodged and deflected, but was worn down fast. Each connected hit slowed and weakened him a little more until his sword was knocked from his magical grip. Gale winced as the brave pony fell, a dull look of surprise on his face. The creature sheathed its weapons.

Gale felt himself beginning to weaken as his life ebbed away. The creature had done more damage than he had thought. Even if it hadn't returned, he would have bled out on the way back. The pony's vision faded into black, then white, as his soul drifted into the great beyond, soon to join his slain friends.