M o n s t e r

There were four guards standing watch in front of the gates of the border wall surrounding Canterlot Territory, one of them being a stallion and the other three being mares. The mares stood roughly around seven feet in height, while the stallion just stood about three inches or so below them all. The mares were dressed in metallic armor accented with the luminescence of the moonlight. Their armor was a dark obsidian hue, with a crescent moon insignia embedded upon the breast plate of the rather bulky looking armor fit for the female frame. The stallion wore the masculine equivalent to the armor the three mares were suited with. The stallion had a visible burgundy hued fur coat underneath his dark fitted armor, two leathery bat wings protruded from his back, his two eyes sharp with an eerie golden glow. His mane was blocked from view thanks to his helmet, allowing no hair strands to burden his peripheral vision for future possible combat, the same applies to the three mares he worked with.

"Say, Rider?" spoke one of the mare guards, her violet hues adorned by the shadow of her helmet casting over at the burgundy stallion standing still as a stone statue who nodded stiffly in acknowledgement of her voice.

"You smell lovely tonight" the mare stated, causing the eerie golden orbs slowly cutting through the air and directing their direction at her.

"Indeed you do, Rider. Say, how about we have a bit of fun after our shift is through?" spoke another mare, the only recognizable things about the three mares was their eyes, since their heavy armor covered up most of their body.

"..." the stallion remained silent, giving the mares a dry and emotionless glare before cutting through the atmosphere once more and returning to their straight forward gaze.

"Oh come on Rider~" the third mare begged teasingly, since she was the closest to him she slowly reached over and rubbed his exposed abdomen (since stallions are more durable than mares they require less armor), purring audibly as her metallic digits crossed his steel-dense abs.

"Off" Rider spoke sternly, his voice surprisingly deep and gruff, as well as authoritative. With a wince and a soft pout, the offending mare retracted her hand immediately before returning to her stiff posture.

"I'm not into mares, you three know this" Rider stated coldly, avoiding eye contact with all three of them as the three mares gave a pout.

"We're just trying to break the awkward silence here Rider. You're stiff as a board sometimes, we know you're not into mares and we love ya all the same for it. It's just boring out here, nothing interesting ever happens!" the second mare spoke with an (Irish) accent, shifting her violet hues up at the night sky nonchalantly.

"Direct your enthusiasm into the silent muse of winning a potential battle that may come your way..." Rider retorted stiffly, causing the mare to sigh in defeat as a deafening silence once more enveloped the atmosphere.

"Well at least--"

"Silence!" Rider instructed coldly, cutting off the mare beside him, hissing as his eyes sharpened on the path before them leading into a wilderness blanketed by the dormant foliage shambling idly in the borderline-still wind.

"But Rider--"

"SILENCE!!" Rider snarled, waving his hand to gesture that the mare beside him should politely shut her trap.

"Who goes there!?" Rider called out, pulling his sword from its sheath, the other mares tensing up immediately and following in the stallion's lead.

The four equines stood cautious, on guard, ready to pry the life form the form of any adversary that foolishly dared to oppose them. Dawning from the distant horizon, approached an unknown figure cloaked by the light of the moon, turning this mysterious anomaly into a silhouette in front of the full moon. The figure was rather intimidating, the outline of its silhouette shaping that of imposing suit of armor, unknown armor to be exact. The unfamiliar shape of the silhouette's armor drew a weariness between the four equines as their posture screamed hostile, but their eyes spoke curious. A gasp emitted from the mares as a familiar detail processed in their vision: around twenty arrows were lodged within various regions of the stranger's armor, this became apparent when its form engulfed their view of the moonlight, allowing a more clearer view of the being of question.

"Dear Luna!!" the mare beside Rider spoke out, taking a step forward out of concern for the figure before being halted by Rider's powerful left arm.

"No.." Rider spoke coldly, his eyes sharpening at the mortally wounded figure as it approached closer.

"Rider! He's hurt!" the mare closest to the stallion voiced loudly, glaring at Rider before returning her gaze back at the mysterious silhouette.

"Look closer Spirit!" Rider spoke just above a whisper.

"What do you mean..." the mare squinted her hazel eyes before they widened at what they saw "Dear Luna!"

More aspects of the figure became clearer as it neared the equines peripheral vision: the figure was mostly male number one, considering the bulkiness of it and the fact that there was no feminine features to it. The armor had a very intimidating design, with demonic skulls framed in the knee-caps with a strange casting of form within the armor. The helmet was a very sinister design, a vent like visor with an ominous red light glowing behind it, the source of this light coming from two orbs which were assumed the eyes glaring back at the gawking equines in front of this shambling giant of metal.

The knight stood around seven foot eight, towering completely over the three mares and stallion by many inches. Resting in the knight's arms, were around three foals tucked in the corner of his right arm, while there were around four guards in the same armor as the equines before this knight, only they were bloodied, battered, and unconscious. The three foals were well awake, hugging one another for comfort as they leaned into the secure embrace of the giant's massive column of a right arm. The three foals seemed to perk up once they heard the calls of the guards standing at the gate.

"Dear Luna! Hurry call for assistance!" Spirit, the mare standing beside Rider barked out, causing one of the two mares standing on the other side of the gate to bolt through an entrance to a guards post on the other side of the gate, shouting out instructions and demands while the sound of raging footsteps echoed throughout the air, aimed in the direction of the gate.

Soon, the gate bursted open at high speed, and in the blink of an eye the knight that was now mere feet away from Rider and Spirit was surrounded by countless guards wearing the same armor as the original four equines guarding the door, and the four equines laying unconscious within the knight's grasp. They all glared daggers of caution towards this iron giant, silence deafened the atmosphere until eventually a sharp metallic inhale came from the knight causing everyone to clasp their weapons all the more tighter, sending a series of metal clanks to faintly echo through the air from the grip of the surrounding guardsmen's swords.

"Aid..." the knight spoke in a deep and almost mechanical voice.

"...what?" Rider spoke barely above a whisper, then flinched when the knight eerily shifted his gaze towards Rider.

"Aid..medical aid requested..." the towering knight replied, never leaving eye contact with Rider as an awkward silence between the two ensued.

"Why would we aid a possible enemy like yourself!?" Spirit called out, gritting her teeth as she approached slowly, concerned mainly over the foals in the mysterious knight's grasp.

"...Not for me..." The knight began, slowly approaching Spirit, causing her to pause in her tracks while the surrounding guards readied their weapons for any hostile movements the knight may take. "For them" the knight finished, presenting the foals as well as the other guardsmen in display, mainly gesturing that Spirit or some other guard assist the equines held safely within the giant knight's grasp.

Spirit and a few other guards quickly grasped the unconscious guardsmen from the mysterious knight's grasp, they were heavy with wounds but surprisingly still alive. The surrounding guardsmen watched this strange knight with confusion, curiosity, and caution. This knight presumed to have friendly intentions, but there was something off about this knight.

He was far different from any normal soldier of the Equestrian military, no; his armor spoke of rogue nature, he was in a league completely of his own, this armor was ancient and unrecognizable by any of the guardsmen around. This knight's voice was emotionless, mechanical, metallic, as if a machine was the wielder of this abnormal mail. It was not uncommon to stumble across abandoned machinery, since most of the humans used a very alternate method of alchemy to birth war machines that now lay in ruin across the former battlefields of ancient times.

The guardsmen surrounding the knight remained tensed as the knight slowly lowered the three foals to the ground, his crimson eyes staring at them with inspection. The three foals gazed up at the knight that towered over them , gawking faintly before they all three gently hugged the knight's crouched form, whispering multiple thank-yous as tears streamed down their cheeks. Rider approached slowly, staring at the knight with the foals. This knight was certainly gentle enough to earn the trust of these three foals, but he still couldn't allow himself to lower his guard just yet.

"Who are you?" Rider demanded, pointing his blade at the forehead of the knight who was know exchanging blank stares between him and Rider.

"...." Silence was all that the knight returned, staring distantly at Rider almost as if he were confused at Rider's demand.

"I demand your name stranger!" Rider barked, inching closer towards the knight.

The knight remained silent, releasing the foals from his gentle embrace momentarily as he stood up fully on his two legs, towering over Rider by sold foot, the knight's ominous form casting a shadow over Rider's frame.

"I don't...know" The knight replied, sounding unsure while he exchanged glaces with Rider.

"Where do you hail from?" Rider demanded, sheathing his sword, the intimidation of the knight's towering form giving his instincts plenty of reason to display as small amounts of hostility as possible without appearing too docile.

"...I don't know" the knight replied, staring down at Rider rather blankly.

"What do you mean you don't know, how can you--" Rider cut himself off when he saw an arrow planted in the back of the metallic giant's head, sticking out through the helmet. Rider let out an audible gasp as he backed away, readying his sword as a few other guards followed Rider's example. The three foals grasped onto the legs of the knight almost defensively, staring at the surrounding guards with caution.

"What...are you!?" Rider demanded, staring at the towering iron giant before him.

"...Pain..." the knight rasped out, causing a look of confusion to draw over the surrounding guardsmen's faces as well as Rider's.

"Pain..." the knight groaned out again, stumbling a bit as he started treading forward. A few guards were able to secure the three foals despite their protests. "Don't hurt Mr. Knight!" one of them cried out with a southern drawl.

"What are y--!?" Rider let out an audible yelp of surprise as the knight collapsed onto his knees, his upper body falling on Rider's torso as he drifted off into a pain-induced dormancy. Rider's eyes widened faintly as he saw the knight's red hued orbs glowing from underneath the darkness of his vent-like visor fade into that of a pale blue.

"Sleep...I must....sleep..." the knight spoke hazily, though his voice sounded more computerized, like something of human technology, though it couldn't be determined since so many races have adopted modern human technologies.The voice didn't have a specific rhythm to it, it was just robotic, emotionless, without any sort of life to it at all. This only added tension to the stares that Rider exchanged between the other mares he was with and the guardsmen that surrounded them.

"Help me get him to sick bay!" Rider barked out, as three guards approached and attempted to heave the knight from the ground, but failed. Seven guards later, they were able to lift him from the ground and maneuver him onto a large cart they use to haul heavy artillery.

After a variety of minutes passed, they were able to haul the large metal subterranean leviathan from the outside of the gates to sick bay in a matter of fifty seconds. They rushed, knowing the injuries this knight had sustained would've killed any normal living being, so how did this knight...this thing survive? From the looks of it, this "knight" prefers his equipment in the old-school department, considering that there were runes of ancient design embedded on the knight's black cape hued with a pearlescent shade of burgundy, as well as the antique molds of the armor, shaping it into that of an hulking stature. But from the feel of the knight's weight, it was mostly metal, since there was no feel of anything shifting around inside...as if this knight was but a machine himself.

A half hour passed, the knight had been secluded in a high security tent within sick bay, a spell of silence casted on the outside of the tent so that way no one could hear what was being conversed on the inside of the canvas. Nurse Red Heart was inside, along with two trusted personal guard from Princess Luna herself. Luna's guardsmen were attempting to pry the armor off of the knight, only resulting in failure without even scratching the surface. There were still vital signs, and from what the guards could sense from their horns; this knight was not equine...but something more dark and twisted.

The mere aura this knight gave off from its core was ominous and overwhelming, driving one of the guards outside of the tent for fresh air, considering the atmosphere within the tent felt heavy and intimidating. Nurse Red Heart let out a soft gasp, her pupils shrinking to the size of pinpricks as she glanced over at the two guards. She had just analyzed a small blood sample she was able to gather from removing the arrows lodged in the back of the knight's head, and the results startled her, all color leaving her face.

"Get me the Princess!" Nurse Red Heart exclaimed to the two guardsmen, both of them exchanging glances of confusion.

"Which one?" the guard on the left asked, "Both of them!!" Nurse Red Heart exclaimed once more, her eyes trailing nervously over the unconscious body of the mysterious knight before them...or better yet: the mysterious human knight laying unconscious before them.