A New Task

"Come on Sweetie Belle, we won't get our forest explorer cutie marks if you keep on lagging behind!" Scootaloo exclaimed while pushing through the dense vegetation of the Everfree Forest.

"Yeah! C'mon Sweetie Belle we ain't got all day!" Applebloom added while trotting happily beside her orange friend. Sweetie Belle lagged behind due to her intense nervousness of both scared of the Everfree and being grounded by Rarity.

"But we were not supposed to be here, it's dangerous!" She retorted "can't we do this another day? It's getting dark" she protested weakly.

"C'mon Sweetie Belle don't be such a downer! Didn't you see how Sir Artorias walked up to that Timberwolf like it was nothing?" Scootaloo said with an intense amount of confidence on her voice.

"Yeah I know, but he got his talents" she replied.

"And that's exactly what we are gonna do!" Applebloom said "Look, Ah'm sure after we do this we're gonna get our cutie marks and go home before our sisters even know that we were gone!"

"Oh We don't think so!" two very familiar angry voices bellowed behind them.

The trio gulped,turned around, and came face to face with an angry Applejack and Rarity followed suit by their friends and the hero everypony has been talking about; "Sir Artorias the Abysswalker" they said in unison with their mouths agape.

Artorias nodded but maintained his pokerface; and for some reason fished his satchel only to retrieve his Uchigatana. Strapping the katana to his hips, he walked next to Applejack and Rarity; still keeping his emotionless expression, the same face he used to confront misbehaving children or in this case; fillies.

"What in tarnation are y'all doin' here?!" Applejack asked sternly while staring at them with an unnerving gaze.

Yet, the Cutie Mark Crusaders could not give any form of responses; partly due to being caught red-handed but also due to the astonishment that their idolized hero was there with them.

"Well?!" Rarity questioned angrily equally glaring at them.

The three sighed in admission "We were exploring the forest so we can get our forest explorer cutie marks" Scootaloo said weakly while lowering her head.

"WHAT?!" the two sisters bellowed again, but before they could give the three little fillies a piece of their minds; they were stopped when they felt a hand on their respective shoulders. They looked up, only to see Artorias smiling gently at them.

"I understand how you two are feeling right now, but right now;screaming at them won't solve anything. Besides if you two keep on screaming, you'll probably attract unwanted attentions from every single predator in this forest" he paused, letting Applejack and Rarity to calm down.Moments after they have calmed down a bit, he continued "Let me talk to them" Rarity and Applejack nodded with smiles of approval on their faces and stepped backwards to give him and the fillies some space.

But before Artorias could talk to the fillies, Sif moved in front of them and growled at something behind thickets of dark trees; forming a barrier between them and whatever that may lurk in the darkness of the Everfree Forest. Seeing this, Artorias snatched the fillies away, putting them down by Applejack and Rarity's side, and with that he unsheathed his sword, grabbed his talisman, and readied himself up.

Seconds later, two large manticores sprung in front of them, their eyes fell immediately on the ponies; easy meals. But what they did not expect was a massive wolf rivaling it's size and a strange sword-wielding creature it had never seen before, obstructing it from earning their meal. To make matters worse, one of the manticores moved to the trail behind them; blocking their exit.

"Girls, I want all of you to leave at once and head back to Ponyville! Sif will come with you to ensure that nothing happens." he commanded; his eyes still focused on the threat before him. Even with his eyes focused elsewhere, he could feel hesitancy building within them; especially from Rainbow and Sif. The thought of leaving him face-to-face with the hulking manticore while they run to safety really bothered them, as much as a skilled knight he is; they know he could still be harmed and killed.

Without further delay, Sif leaped to the air and tackled the manticore blocking their exit route with a force so powerful that it didn't even stand a chance to fight and proceeded to tear it's throat out; causing blood to gush out from the large wound like a fountain, and killing the manticore instantly.

"Now's your chance! go, now!" he bellowed. With that, Sif move to lift them to her back one by one using her mighty jaws; they hesitate at first after seeing what the massive wolf have done, but complied nevertheless. But when it came to Rainbow, she moved away.

"I appreciate what are you doing but I can move just fine!" she yelled while flying up to Sif's side albeit with great hesitation and proceeded back towards Ponyville. With that, roars and grunts of pain could be heard emanating from the manticore ; presumably getting sliced open by Artorias' katana.

She saw him avoiding and countering the manticore's attacks swiftly, but also noticed that the manticore was very relentless and he was getting a bit slower. She was about to yell something at him until he was hit with one of the Manticore's paws, causing him to yell in pain as the large claws of the manticore made contact with his right shoulder,tunic, skin, and flesh; shredding them.

'Oh buck it! to hay what the plan was, I am gonna help him whether he like it or not!' She then flew to the manticore at a blistering speed with her hind legs extended forward; ready to break it's jaws with a flying kick. But stopped as she heard a familiar crackling sound of Artorias' sunlight spear. The world around her seemed to slow down as the lightning spear got closer and closer to the manticore at an equally blistering speed, she looked in awe as the lightning spear impacted the manticore's head. The force combined with the immense heat and electricity was so powerful that the manticore's head exploded with half of it's rib-cage, showering blood, bits of flesh, brain matter, and bits of other organs all over the area.

After the sunlight spear impacted with the creature, Artorias smiled triumphantly, sheathing his blood-stained sword and was about to treat his wound until he saw Rainbow in the corner of his eyes. Rainbow's eyes was widened and her jaw dropped to an utterly horrified point, covered in the manticore's blood.

'Oh no, she is probably traumatized' he thought while ripping some torn parts of his tunic and tied it tightly on the large wound on his shoulder in order to stop the bleeding; running towards her...Rainbow still hovered with her blank and shocked expression.

Artorias inspected her, glad she was not hurt; well, physically at least. Seeing this, Artorias shook her on the face to make her regain consciousness "Rainbow! wake up, it's over!" he shouted at her.

Rainbow just hovered there, until she turned around,vomited for a second time, and fell to the ground. Seeing this, Artorias swiftly caught her in his arms before she fell to her own vomit. He looked around for the nearest source of water so Rainbow could clean herself; a couple of seconds later, he found a small pond.

Artorias sighed and jogged towards the pond while putting her down next to the watery hole in the ground.

"Hey Rainbow, wake up; it's over" he said while kneeling on one knee; shaking her body to wake her up from her shock,to no avail. After about 20 seconds later, he scooped some water from the pond and splashed it on her face.

"PPPPBBBFFT" she sputtered "WHA-*cough* the HAY! *cough*"

Artorias sighed with relief and spoke "Why didn't you go with Sif and your friends? you could have been hurt for good's sake!"

Rainbow coughed and spat the rest of the water before looking at his eyes "Because I don't leave my friends behind...and you got hurt bad, so I wanted to help you..." She said guiltily.

Artorias patted her head "That's very admirable of you, and I greatly appreciate it. Really, I do, but a reckless action such as that won't do both of us any better and possibly doing worse. Besides, this is only a flesh wound." he said with a smile.

'only a flesh wound?' Rainbow shuddered at the thought. "But still...I can't let any of my friends got hurt; much less letting their attackers get away with it" she said weakly.

Artorias smiled at her determination and loyalty. Placing a hand on her shoulder he spoke softly "We are friends Rainbow, we have each other's backs now" he smiled "Now get yourself cleaned up, you smell awful" he smirked.

Rainbow glared playfully at him, and walked towards the pond. After cleaning herself from the blood and gore she walked back towards Artorias; "Now come, we should get back to Ponyville; your friends are probably worried sick about us" he paused "and Rainbow, stay close to me. I don't know much about this forest; but from my previous experiences, most predatory animals in forests like this one are nocturnal and since it's nightfall..." Artorias trailed off.

Rainbow smiled and flew up beside him whilst keeping her eyes on the surroundings. But just as they started to advance, Artorias held his hand up, signaling her to stop.

"What are you doing?" she whispered. Saying nothing, Artorias drew his longbow from his satchel and placed a feathered arrow on it. Then, he aimed at a nearby bush before pulling the string and releasing it; creating an audible *phwt* like sound as the arrow flew towards the bush with an incredible speed with an audible thud; the arrow has found it's target.

"Let's see what I hit" he glanced over to Rainbow who were flying beside him, who gulped but followed him nevertheless. As they walked towards the bush, they saw a strange creature with the head of a chicken and the body of a winged serpent lying on the ground with an arrow embedded on it's chest; dead.

Rainbow looked at the scene with utter shock and awe, but managed to keep herself from throwing up more of her lunch (or whatever's left in her belly).

"Rainbow, what is this creature?" Artorias asked.

"This, is a cockatrice" she replied while inching closer to him "I am not an expert about these creatures, but from what Twilight told me; cockatrices could turn things into stone just by staring at it" she paused "we are lucky you found it first".

"Oh I see" Artorias replied casually while pulling out his arrow from the cockatrice's chest; creating an audible cracking sound in the process, hinting that some bones are broken.

"Lets go, we have to keep moving"

After moments of strolling through the dense vegetation of the Everfree Forest, they made it back to the field near Fluttershy's cottage with Sif trying to keep the girls from entering the forest in order to search for them.

"Look Sif, I appreciate what you are trying to do; but we can't just sit here waiting for them!" Twilight yelled while teleporting behind the massive wolf. But Sif's battle hardened instincts predicted her spawning spot and snatched her backwards with her jaws; much to her dismay.

"At ease Twilight, we are okay" a familiar masculine voice echoed behind the trees, revealing a certain knight and a certain rainbow-maned pegasus flying by his side.

"Yeah, and then some" Rainbow added with a smirk.

Seeing them, the girls ran and embraced them in a tight group hug. "We were so worried about you guys, we were trying to search for you but Sif over there was not letting us through" Twilight said happily while glancing at the massive gray wolf.

Artorias smiled "It's okay Twilight, she was just doing what I taught her to--"

"Oh Artorias, your shoulder!" Fluttershy exclaimed while pointing her hoof at his hastily patched up shoulder, with blood soaking the torn up piece of his leather tunic. The girls instantaneously stared at his mangled shoulder, with Rainbow lowering her head as guilt returned to her. "Applejack, could you get my first aid kit please?"

"Of course sugarcube" she smiled, with that Applejack sprinted towards her cottage and come out moments later with a brown saddlebag strapped on her back and gave the bag to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy thanked her, and unloaded a bottle of alcohol, a large wad of cotton, and a roll of white bandage. Fluttershy applied some alcohol to the wad of cotton before turning to him.

"Hold still, it may sting a bit; but I promise it will only last a moment" Fluttershy smiled softly. Originally Artorias was about to refuse her help since he could easily heal himself with his talisman and healing miracle. But the look in her eyes and sensitive personality caused him to do otherwise; he thanked her, sit down on the grass, and let Fluttershy do her job.

"What caused this?" she asked "Is it the manticore?"

Artorias nodded "Yes, but I defeated it with Rainbow's help" he said with a smile. The girls stared at Rainbow who gave him a surprised look, which he replied with a wink.

"O-of course! we kicked the manticore's flank!" she replied proudly. With that, Fluttershy continued her work while series of 'wow's could be heard emanating from Rainbow's position.

After untying the makeshift bandage on his shoulder; the girls and Fluttershy flinched upon seeing the wound, seeing the terrible damage inflicted (to them at least).But nevertheless, she continued her work; cleaning his wound with the alcohol-soaked cotton wad;Fluttershy was surprised when Artorias didn't even flinch when the cotton made contact with his wound. Remembering the battles he had been through, this was nothing compared to the wounds he received.

After cleaning the wound, she swiftly wrapped the bandage on it.

"There, all better" she smiled softly.

"Thank you Fluttershy, I owe you one" Artorias said while giving her a pat to the head.

"Y-you are welcome" she stammered while blushing a slight shade of pink; seeing this, the girls chuckled.

"Actually darling, I think we should be thanking you and Sif for saving our lives again" Rarity added, the girls nodded in acknowledgement and thanked both him and Sif.

"Now, before we go home and hit the hay here; Ah'm sure these fillies have somethin' ta say" Applejack commented while motioning for the three fillies to step forward. With that, the CMCs stepped forward with their heads lowered.

"We are very sorry everypony, we shouldn't have wandered into the Everfree Forest abruptly" Scootaloo said weakly.

"We know it is wrong" Sweetie Belle added.

"But we were so inspired by Sir Artorias, and we thought by gettin' over our fears we would get our cutie marks" Applebloom spoke up as well.

Hearing this, Artorias got up on his feet, walked over to them, and knelt on one knee "Little ones, I am honored to meet with brave fillies such as yourselves. Now, may I know your names? Oh, and please call me Artorias."

The fillies' faces lit up with pride "I am Scootaloo"

"I am Sweetie Belle, Rarity's sister"

"Ah'm Applebloom, Applejack's sister"

"We are" they paused "THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!" they exclaimed in unison.

Artorias chuckled in response "Children, I understand and greatly admire what are your intentions are; trust me I have pulled this kind of act myself" he paused "But trying to enter a forest which will eventually hurt yourselves and trying to find your special talents are two very different things"

"But if we don't get our cutie marks we will be blank flanks forever!" Applebloom whined, receiving nods of agreement from the remaining two crusaders.

"I am not an expert on your so called cutie marks, but in my experience; discovering your special talents, much less discovering yourselves, takes time" he paused with a smile.

"But everypony's been telling us just that!" Sweetie Belle added.

"Some things just can't be rushed, children" he spoke softly "Hear me on this, no matter what everypony else may think about you; whether in a positive or negative way, keep in in your hearts and minds that all of you are special. And in time, I believe you will find more than just your cutie marks"

The fillies smiled gratefully and hugged him, which he returned.

"Alrighty *yawn* Ah think we should *yawn* hit the hay" Applejack said with a tired voice "As for you young missy, we ain't done talkin'!" she said while glaring at Applebloom. After thanking Artorias and Sif one more time; Applejack took off with Applebloom, Rarity took off with Sweetie Belle, Rainbow Dash took off with Scootaloo, and Fluttershy returned to her cottage. Leaving only Twilight, Sif, and Artorias in the field once again.

"So, shall we head home?" Artorias asked while stretching a bit, trying not to sprain his shoulder in the process.

"Yes, lets" Twilight replied with a smile.

With that, they strolled through Ponyville once again towards Twilight's library to call the day off.

After waking up early in the morning and doing his morning routines, Artorias was just relaxing and reading a book about Equestrian society with a mug of coffee and a plate of pancakes; courtesy of Twilight. That morning, Artorias had volunteered to run the library himself since Twilight and Spike went to the market place to get some supplies; much to their excitement.

'So very peaceful, no wars, no constant deaths, no hollows...I wonder what is happening to Lordran now'Artorias thought while taking a last sip of his coffee and eating the last pancake; then he brought the eating utensils to the sink in the kitchen and washed them clean. He was getting used to this new world and it's more advanced technology; he was still fascinated by the train he took from Canterlot to Ponyville due to the fact that in his world, steam-powered engines were merely theories. After doing the glass and dish, He leaned back into his chair, but despite the chair being a little off-sized for him, he found it comfortable. He placed both hands on the back of his head; sighing contentedly.

'Is this my redemption? my time of rest after those horrible images of war, death, and darkness?' he mused to himself, Artorias was abruptly taken back into reality when he heard giggles emanating from outside the library. He walked over to the window and looked outside; only to witness Sif playing with some colts and fillies with their parents watching in the distance. He smiled at the sight and decided to step outside to socialize more with the denizens of Ponyville, just as he stepped out of the library's door; the children and Sif stopped playing at once and rushed after him with their parents in tow. Sif lie down beside him and amazingly she does not mind being used as a makeshift cushion by the colts and fillies.

"Hello everypony!" Artorias greeted them with a smile, in return he received multiple 'hello's and smiles from the growing amount of ponies. "During our last encounter, I was only capable to answer two questions from you due to the short time, by that I apologize"he said while bowing respectfully "But,considering the time we have now; I would be delighted to answer more of your questions and get to know more of each other" he said with a smile.

As he said that, hoofs are shot to the air.

"Yes, you there please step forward" he said with a smile. With that, he started to answer more and more questions from the crowd such as where is he from, how he got to Equestria, his adventures (with toned-down fight scenes of course), what happened to his shoulder (again, with a toned-down fight scene), his weapons and gear, and other trivial questions. Needless to say, everypony in the area were astonished by his tale and answers. After conversing with Artorias a bit longer, the crowd thanked him, and excused themselves to continue with their days.
Artorias acknowledged this, and waved them off before entering the library.

'Today's going to be a good one...'he though while putting the recently returned books back to their shelves in alphabetical order. While he was sorting the books, a knock came from the door.

"Coming!" he said while walking towards the door in a few effortless steps. When he opened the door, Twilight and Spike were carrying mounds of grocery bags filled with supplies with them and Rarity who was carrying a large stylishly decorated gift-box with her magic grip . Taking the initiative, he took the bags and put them down in the kitchen.

"*Phew* Thank you Artorias" Twilight and Rarity said with a smile. Spike clenched his claw and offered it to Artorias which he stared at with confusion audible in his face.

"Just clench your, er-whatever and bump it to my claw!" Spike said with a cheery tone "Stallions do it when they meet or thank each other; I think it's called a bro-hoof or something like that"

Artorias smiled and bumped his fist with Spike's claw.

"Artorias, darling" Rarity spoke up "aren't you going to open the box?" she asked.

"Oh?" he asked.

"Just open it" she said with a smile.

Artorias untied the ribbons and proceeded to remove the box's cover. Upon seeing it's content, his eyes widened in amazement; inside the box was a white leather tunic, with an azure blue leather vest matching his cape with elaborate patterns woven into it's surface coupled with a black leather belt and brown leather pants along with some spare clothing.

'She really wasn't kidding about making me clothes' he thought.

"Do you like it?" she asked with a smile and hopeful eyes "I work all night long to create these; surely my personal record breaker"

"Rarity, this is perfect" he smiled gratefully "I can't thank you enough for this"

"Oh darling, compared to what you have done for us recently; this is truly just a small gift" she smiled back at him.

Before they could continue any further, Spike burped out a letter with a royal stamp; causing Twilight to frantically rush to him, picking the letter up on her magic. Her eyes widened in surprise when she read it.

"Well, what does it say Twilight?" Spike asked.

"Princess Celestia asked all of us to come to Canterlot" she smiled.

"For what? is there something important afoot?" Artorias asked.

"No, just for pleasure" she replied with a smirk.

Author's Note

And that was another chapter!

So, in the next chapter; we will know why they are called to Canterlot, by 'pleasure' (it's not sexual, I swear!)

I am also beginning to work on my Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare crossover fict with the slice of life following close and you should check them out when I have released them.

Thank you for all of your support and feedbacks, I greatly appreciate and look forward to your comments, likes, and feedbacks

That's all from me for now, I hope you guys have a great weekend (or a great new week for those of you who live in the eastern part of the globe) and I will see you in the next one!

-Lightning Spear