Sworn to Protect

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.