*~|PROLOGUE|~*
SWORN
TO
PROTECT
By: Justin Daniels
*~|PROLOGUE|~*
-THE BLOOD PACT-
| Through the eyes of Twilight Sparkle |
I couldn't stop running. I constantly heard the sounds of growling, claws brushing through the grass and dirt, and the ferocious barks of one of my greatest fears of the Everfree Forest... timberwolves.
There was something different about these ones, though... they had a black smoke coming from the cracks on their bodies. As familiar at magic as I was, I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out just what kind of magic it must've been that caused them to change like that. Already, they managed to cut my legs, and even bite my shoulders a few times, but ignoring the pain, I continued to run.
Finally, when I was beginning to think that I was going the right way, the feint sounds of the growling only intensified. I wished I could go back to Ponyville, but sadly, I was defeated in a duel against a tyrant known as Trixie. Why would she even do something like this, though?! It doesn't add up!
Once I made it to a clear opening, I was breathing heavily, but determined to escape with my life. Before I could make it there, however, I ended up getting the wind knocked out of me by another one of those possessed timberwolves. Luckily for me it missed its attempted bite, but the force of the impact caused me to fall to the ground, and collapse by the exhaustion and blood loss.
My vision started to blur, as I watched the three timberwolves slowly approach me, with black drool dripping from their fang-filled mouths. This was the end of me, I just knew it. At that moment, my entire life flashed before my eyes...
How I passed my first Magic Exam...
How I impressed Princess Celestia enough to be her own personal student...
How my mother and father helped me move into my own place...
How Spike learned to send the scrolls to Princess Celestia for faster messaging...
How I moved to Ponyville...
How I met my friends...
How my friends and I defeated Nightmare Moon, and saved Princess Luna...
How much I've learned through both, my own lessons, and the lessons taught to my friends...
How I was defeated by Trixie...
How I ended up lost in the Everfree Forest...
How much I wished for a way to survive this ordeal...
Then, as my vision continued to blur with the tears that filled my eyes, the last thing I could see was a pair of iron boots that were oddly shaped standing over me, but facing the timberwolves, while carrying a lit torch. The figure must've towered over me by at least three times my height, or more. The scariest thing was that it didn't look like a Minotaur, yet it walked on two legs.
Then, everything faded to darkness...
| Through the eyes of The Solar Knight |
Throughout the seemingly endless forest that grew over my hometown, Everfree Village, I followed the path that was set for me. Before I died, I was given a special power... I was able to sense the locations of my targets. This target was one I am spiritually bound to protect, as orders of the oldest daughter of my former queen and king, Celestia. By her orders, I am to protect the one she calls "Twilight Sparkle".
With a basic human spell that could sense the life force of the targets, I was able to tell right away that she was in danger... and not just ordinary danger, either. She was being hunted by creatures infected with the curse known as the Shadowblight.
The Shadowblight is a ruthless curse that, over time, turns those infected with it into heartless monsters... shadows of their former selves. There is only one known cure to this curse... one way to lift it. The blood of a Solar Knight... or in this case, my blood. Not that it matters much anymore... I'm a knight, so I'm used to cuts and bruises already. In fact, my left arm is always bandaged beneath this iron armor that I wear.
I wasn't always a knight, though. I'm aware of that. Unfortunately, though, I have lost the memories of my former life... even my own name is a mystery to me... so I've merely adopted my title as my name, since I'm the last of them. I am 'The Solar Knight', and my mission right now is to save my target from these beasts, and lift the curse from her bloodstream before it's too late. With that in mind, I ran as fast as my feet could take me.
When I was getting closer to her, I saw a timberwolf about to pounce on her. Quickly, I drew my sword with my right hand, and prepared a nature spell with my left. Then I managed to raise a root in front of the timberwolf's paws, which tripped it. Unfortunately, though, the tripping only caused it to ram directly into Twilight Sparkle, while the other two sped to their friend, and slowed their paces, while approaching her. I had to take immediate action right there.
Quickly, I picked up a branch and lit it with a basic fireball spell at the tip. Then I ran up to the timberwolves, and swung the branch their way, to keep them out of the light. That's one of the things about the Shadowblight... its weakness is light.
Then, with the torch still lit, I levitated it over us with a spell, removed my gauntlets, and drew a dagger from it's sheath on my right leg. Thankfully, Twilight wasn't awake at the time, because I could tell for certain that this kind of treatment would be... disgusting to her, to say the least.
With the dagger over my left hand, I slowly cut a small gash in it, and moved it over her forehead, allowing the blood to stain on her forehead, while staying just below her horn.
When my blood was on her forehead, her entire body started to glow yellow, meaning that the effects of the curse was lifting.
With that job done, I had to do another one for her... I had to bring her somewhere safe. I was already informed by Celestia of the events that transpired in Ponyville, so I had to take her somewhere else. Thankfully, I was given a house by Celestia herself in the ruins of her old castle... but it was hidden for a reason... I had to keep myself from being spotted, for the safety of those who would see me. After all, the blood of a Solar Knight is beyond valuable these days... for both parties, in fact. The Badlands wants my blood, but Equestria needs it for their safety.
Anyways, I hadn't a moment to lose, for the makeshift torch was already starting to dim down. With that in mind, I left a floating fireball over Twilight, causing her to remain in the light, while I picked the torch up, and doused it with water magic. Then I looked at the timberwolves, and drew my shield from the sheath on the back of my armor. I was carrying a kiteshield, so my legs were still slightly exposed, but not entirely. Thankfully, though, a bite or scratch from them would only hurt me, but not infect me, due to my blood being blessed. With that as my advantage, I wasn't afraid to get up close and personal with them.
Apparently, they weren't either...
When the first one leaped towards me, I quickly bashed it back with my kiteshield, and sliced at it with my longsword, which only caused it to back away. Then I used a fire spell to engulf my longsword in flames, which caused the timberwolves to growl, and crouch for another pounce.
When the one on my left did, it soon found the blade of my sword in its skull, and right at the contact, its entire body turned to ash, and blew into the wind, while the other two charged forward. Then, in one horizontal swing, I managed to slice the other two into ash, leaving a black trail behind me, where they would've landed.
With no other threats around, I quickly sheathed my sword and shield, and ran back to Twilight. Then, when I made it to her, I placed a highly modified saddlebag that was compatible for humans to wear around their belts on the ground, and opened it. When I went through it, I pulled out a large roll of bandages, and wrapped it around her, while being careful not to look in certain areas of her body that she would, otherwise, want to keep hidden from the eyes of others.
After patching her up and packing my things back, I carefully lifted her off the ground, and carried her through the Everfree Forest, all while keeping a wary eye on her vital signs. Thankfully, she still had a pulse, and was breathing normally.
Then, I felt her starting to stir around in my arms. Sure enough, she was waking up now.
| Through the eyes of Twilight Sparkle |
I started to slowly wake up, feeling unusually tired, fatigued, and still frightened by what happened before I blacked out. At first, I thought it was just a nightmare, and that I was back home in Ponyville, sleeping in my bed... until I realized that the so-called "Bed" that I was sleeping on wasn't a bed at all, but two bony legs... or something like legs. Then, once I opened my eyes, they shot open at the sight of what those "legs" belonged to... or should I say... "arms", as a Minotaur once pointed out.
I was about to scream and panic, when I heard the creature speak in a masculine tone that, for some reason, made me feel more peaceful.
"Don't worry, Misses Sparkle... they shall not harm you, while under my protection. For now, you should get some rest... you'll probably wake up in my home, where I will take care of your wounds."
I couldn't believe my ears! Was this... creature... really protecting me?! Well, since I'm in his arms, and not in the bellies of three different timberwolves, I chose not to deny his words, and weakly smile.
"W-who... are... you?" I weakly managed to ask, as my eyelids grew heavy.
He looked down at me, and replied, "I do not have a name, Misses Sparkle... but you may call me the Solar Knight. I was personally hoof-picked by Princess Celestia to protect you with my life... so there's no need to worry. Your safety is my primary goal."
I nodded at him, as my eyes finally started to close. "W-well, then... thank you... Mr. Solar Knight..." With that, the exhaustion finally kicked in, and in a split second, I was fast asleep.
0==((::::| CHAPTER 1 |::::>
SWORN
TO
PROTECT
By: Justin Daniels
0==((::::| CHAPTER 1 |::::>
*| A NEW FRIEND |/*
| Through the eyes of Twilight Sparkle |
Nightmares... that's all that I could think of the first time I lost consciousness. Nightmares of those diseased timberwolves... the way how they looked at me... how they nearly killed me.
Then, after waking up, I met him... the one that saved me... the Solar Knight.
After he spoke with me, telling me that I was safe, the nightmares somehow fled at the sound of his voice. He said I was safe, and then... even my dreams were peaceful again! I don't know how he did it, but... he did. I just know it!
Slowly, I started to wake up, and the first scent that caught my attention was the smell of, what I would assume would be, herbal tea. When my eyes were fully opened, the first thing I noticed was that I was in a bed. It wasn't my bed, though... it was too tall. The next thing I noticed was that I was inside a tall wooden hut. It slightly resembled my friend Zecora's, but I've already gotten used to the way how it looks, and could tell that this one wasn't the same.
Around the walls of the large hut, I was able to see a few paintings... and in these paintings, I could see feint images of ponies, walking around different towns that I wasn't familiar with. The ponies also looked different... almost like the ones from the first era of written history... but there was just no way that this... "Solar Knight" person... could've been around for that long, and not be noticed by now... right?
Then, after my eyes were roaming around even more, they were fixed on one that caught my attention the most... a painting of my friends and I, as we were traveling through the Everfree Forest the first time! How did he know?!
...Was he there, as well?!
Looking closer at the picture, my eyes widened at the sight that was in the shadows of the trees. Sure enough, there was a picture of him in his armor... watching over us... making sure we made it safely through!
I slowly started to rise from the bed, only for my eyes to meet the one thing I didn't notice when waking up... the knight was standing at the doorway, facing me. His arms were holding onto his sword, which was placed in the ground. He was standing unusually still. Even so, I couldn't help but make an audible, "Eep!"
Then I hid under the covers for a while, until I found that nothing was going on. Removing the covers from over my face, I realized that he hasn't moved, yet. Slowly, I slid the rest of my body from underneath the covers of the bed, only to find that I was completely covered in bandages. I didn't let that stop me from examining this creature from up close. So I carefully and quietly tip-hoofed to the creature, and examined it. For some reason, his head didn't follow me... almost like he was sleeping while standing up... but he didn't even make a sound! Out of curiosity, I asked, "S-sir? Are you okay?"
He didn't respond. My expression turned into a worried one, as I started lightly tapping on his left leg. Then the light tapping turned to hardened ones. "Sir, please respond! I don't want to be alone, anymore! Please!" As soon as I finished saying that, I noticed his upper body start to move, which made me smile... only for his upper body to fall to the ground, and scatter around the floor, which caused me to jump back, and land on my, now pain-filled hooves.
I was about to panic, until I heard the familiar voice starting to weakly laugh behind me. Turning around, I saw him again... but he wasn't in his armor. He looked at me with a friendly, understanding smile. He had a tanned white coat of mostly hairless skin, with a pair of eyes that seemed as blue as the night sky from a distance, but when I got a closer look, it looked more like the water of a river, with a feint color of green in it. He had a long, dark brown mane, parted in the center, with a short stubbly beard that covered part of his face.
He stared at the mess I accidentally made, and asked, "Admiring the decorations, are we?" Then he chuckled again, and added, "Don't worry, it isn't the first time my armor has been dropped. That specific armor has already handled being stepped on by a full-grown dragon, in fact! It's quite a miracle how little protective magic is required to make iron as solid as that set."
I just stared at him nervously, while he walked in, carrying what I must've smelled when I woke up... herbal tea. As he walked in, I noticed what he was wearing beneath that armor... a faded green tunic with dark brown tights beneath it, a long strand of bandages around his arms, and a pair of dark brown boots on his feet.
After another moment of awkward silence, he cleared his throat, and held the tray that he was carrying out. "Oh, my apologies!" Then he lowered the tray that he was carrying to my height, so I could get a good glimpse of what he was carrying. "Tea?"
Before I could respond, my stomach started to grumble, which caused me to look at it, and blush. "Um... yes, please."
Then he smiled, carried it over to the table that rested beside the bed I recently left, and poured the tea from the kettle into the two glasses that he had rested on the tray. "I do apologize if it isn't the same quality that you prefer, but it's hard enough finding wild Lavenders in the Everfree Forest nowadays."
My eyes widened at that. He knew my favorite flavor of tea?! But how was that even possible? Only my parents knew that!
"It's fine, thank you..." I replied, before resting my back on the bed again, and accepting the glass of tea from him. Then, once I took a sip of it, my eyes widened. This tea was exactly how my parents made it!
He looked at me with a confused expression, and asked, "Is something the matter?"
Finally, my curiosity took the better end of me. "Okay, you win... HOW do you know that Lavender is my favorite flavor of tea? Better yet, how in all of Asgalon did you know my name when you saved me?!" I couldn't tell how I was feeling at that point... I was feeling overburdened with emotions that I couldn't understand. Fear? Anger? Confusion? Embarrassment? Joy? Happiness? Anxiety? Fatigue? I couldn't even tell which one I was feeling! Was it a mixture of all of it?
He continued looking at me confusedly, before smiling warmly, and stretching his right arm out, while gently shushing me from my rant. I don't know why, but his voice just seemed to calm me down at that point, regardless of how I felt. And for some odd reason, his voice also had a slightly... familiar tone to it, as well. I couldn't describe why, or how, but it just did.
"You have every right to be confused about why I knew that... but you must also remember who it was that protected you during those times you felt like you were being watched." Then he pointed at the paintings on the walls, and added, "I have even painted those events... and held onto them like I've held onto the others that I've painted. Many of these paintings have been around for many... many years, in fact! Dating back to the days your ancestors roamed these lands, in fact!"
Suddenly, the paintings of the oddly-shaped ponies caught my eye again. Then, after pointing my head at them, I asked, "Wait... so are the paintings you painted over there from events that you lived through?"
His eyes followed mine, and with a smile, he nodded his head. "The greatest beauty of a painting is not the way how it is made, but the stories that they tell... and in most cases, memories are shared through those paintings." He took one particular painting off the wall, and carried it to me, revealing it in full detail.
The painting had a large castle with boundless walls around it. The stones around the castle were pure white, and the castle itself was a mixture of blue stones and white ones, and the trimmings between them were of pure gold... and at once, I could tell just what the place in the picture was. Further in the background, however, I saw a large village that had a mixture of creatures that resembled the Solar Knight, only they looked different in many ways. Some of them had black manes, some had white, and some even had no manes at all! Many of them had beards, but the ones that had thicker... torsos? The ones that had thicker torsos didn't have a beard at all, and many of their manes were covered by hoods.
"What is that place? What are those creatures inside it?" I asked, before looking back at the Solar Knight.
His smile started to fade, and with a deep breath, he replied, "That... was my home. The Everfree Village."
"Was?" I asked, before reality kicked in. At once, I gasped loudly, and my eyes widened. Everfree Forest... Everfree Village... random castle in the middle of the forest... it all clicked together, now! "Wait... the Everfree Forest used to be a village?!" I asked in bewilderment.
He closed his eyes, and nodded his head. "Indeed... before it was burnt down by..." He cleared his throat, and shook his head. "It's not important, right now." He smiled again, and pointed at the creatures. "These were my people back then... humans."
I nodded my head and looked at the picture again, until another detail caught my eyes. In front of the gates of the castle, I saw the painting of a smaller human, standing in-between two Alicorns that slightly resembled Celestia and Luna, only the blue one was a stallion with a pure white mane, and the other one had a flowing orange mane. In front of them, there were two fillies; both of which highly resembled Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. I pointed at the two grown up Alicorns and asked, "Are those... Are those Princesses Celestia's and Luna's parents?"
I looked back up at him, and saw that he smiled at the two in the picture, and nodded his head. "Indeed they are... King Solaris, and Queen Azura." Then he pointed at the small human in the center of the Alicorns. "That is me when I was a little child... or a foal, in Pony terms."
I nodded my head, and looked back up at him. "I'm... I'm sorry for bringing this up, but... what happened to the rest of the humans?"
He looked back up at me, and weakly smiled. I couldn't understand why, until he replied, "Don't feel ashamed for asking me questions... I am under your command anyways, so I have no trouble in answering them to my best of abilities." Then he closed his eyes, and looked down. "To answer your question, though... they died after me."
I raised an eyebrow, before looking at the tea that he made. "Wait... if you died... then how are you here, now?!"
"I was brought back to life by Princess Celestia herself, and ordered by her to protect you, and those that you order me to protect, with my life. If you order me not to protect you, however, then I am still bound to do so, as Princess Celestia's orders rule over all." He stood back up, and smiled at me again. "And to answer your question on how I know about your favorite tea... I've been watching you from the distance, ever since you were but a little filly. From your birth, I watched, and guarded you from all evils. When you and your friends were sent into the Everfree Forest, I guarded you from the things you saw before."
I nodded my head, and smiled, as he placed a painting of me as a filly sleeping in a crib, and many more paintings that marked significant events in my life. "But wait... if you were ordered by Celestia to guard me before I was born, there must've been something else you had to do, right?"
He smiled at me again, and nodded his head. "Indeed, I did! Upon my awakening, I was ordered to guard these lands from invaders, whether they be from the Badlands or the Shadowlands. The Shadowlands, of course, are where the Shadowblight has originated from." Then he looked at the front door of the shack, and hummed to himself. "And since the Shadowblight made it to the Everfree Forest, it would seem that the time has come for me to increase the security... perhaps plant a few torches around the borders, to keep any outside creatures from leaving."
I looked towards the door, and asked, "What's wrong? Why are you looking at the door?"
Quietly, he moved towards the door, and motioned for me to follow him. When I reached the door, I placed my left ear on the it, and listened closely. Then, I gasped at what I heard next... the familiar sound of two of my friends calling my name.
"Is that... Zecora and Fluttershy?!" I asked, before slowly opening the door. As I did, however, I noticed something completely unexpected. The second the door opened, the entire area around me changed. The next thing I knew, the Solar Knight and I were standing at the entrance of the Castle of the Two Sisters. "What's going on?!" I asked, now looking at the Solar Knight, who was wearing his armor again.
He looked at me, and smiled. "We were in a Phase-Shifter Spell... a security spell that Celestia blessed me with that takes us into another phase of reality... it's a little complicated to explain, but it pretty much makes it so that we turn invisible to the world, until we open the front door."
I tilted my head in confusion, before asking, "Wait... then what about the things inside the room?!"
He chuckled lightly, before replying, "Don't worry, they remain in that phase. It's pretty much a house that's untouchable, except through a spell that only I can use."
"Oh... well, I guess that makes sense!" I replied, until I heard Zecora and Fluttershy calling my name again. Then I turned back to the Solar Knight, and asked, "So... what should I do now?"
He lowered to my level, and removed his helmet, before smiling again. "Go to your friends, Twilight... the path is safe for now."
Then I nodded my head and started following their voices, until I stopped, and turned back towards the Solar Knight. At that point, I felt worried that this would be the only time I see him again. Without even thinking much about my actions, I ran back to him, and gave him a hug, which caught him by surprise. "Thank you, Solar Knight... for everything!"
He nodded his head and returned the hug, before replying, "It was an honor, Misses Sparkle... and don't worry. You'll see me again... I promise."
I nodded my head, and broke the hug, while galloping towards my two friends, smiling at the fact that I've managed to make a new friend in my absence in Ponyville... and while I didn't know what to expect from Zecora and Fluttershy, I had a feeling that whatever it would be, it would be something good.
