I Don't Want To Be A Tree
Jean doesn't like forests. Hates them, in fact.
There was nothing physically about woods that he disliked, nor were there any creatures that he feared within them. Rather, his hatred comes from the lack of mobility when travelling through thick trees and underbrush. On his large warhorse he made an easy target for potential ambushes, especially on a road that is quickly becoming little more than a dirt path.
Normally Jean wouldn't go through such a wood, rather he would find a way around. Time wasn't really an issue for him normally, being a skeleton gave him plenty of extra to find a safer route. Of course, when time was of the essence he couldn't afford such a luxury. This was the case now.
Jean was hunting a Necromancer. This was a common activity for him to embark on, as he had been hunting the same one for 238 years. This particular Necromancer garnered his special interest for being the one who killed him, destroyed all that he loved, and cursed him with eternal unlife in the form of a Skeleton.
Needless to say when Jean gets news of his possible location he is off with all due haste. Within a tavern he had heard of a golden robed man resurrecting the dead in the next town over, which fits the description for the one he hunts.
Of course, none of this makes him feel better about riding into a forest where his maneuverability grows worse with every passing hour. His not-so irrational fear of an ambush is only worsened by his exceptionally extravagant armor. Covered in gold and the markings of Gerana and the Order that he once- no, still served.
The years had been long without his Knight-Brothers to aid him. The endless hunt for vengeance weighed upon his mind as he upheld the tenants of his Order, the Knights of the Divine Record. It was a lonely, thankless task. It was only thanks to Jean's firm belief in Gerana, and the happiness and relief he left in his wake that allowed him to persevere and continue his holy mission.
It was around this time that Jean noticed that the forest seemed different. He had traveled the Fellmoor Wood before, and his mind did not recall flora such as this. In fact, he was quite sure he had never seen this place before.
Where was he?
Jean came to a stop, his helmeted head looking up for the familiar breaks in the canopy that would let him get is bearings with the stars.
He ran into one immediate problem, there were no gaps in the canopy.
A normal man would have noticed this much, much sooner. However, a skeleton can gaze into the night as if it is day.
Jean considers turning around only briefly, this may be a trick of the Necromancer. Even if it is not, he supposes that the Fellwood could have grown a bit more since he last saw it. Besides, Jean was closer than he had been to his goal than he had been in a century, his honor would not allow him to turn back now.
So Jean presses on, the path under his horses hooves almost completely disappearing. He quickly came to the realization that he did not recognize this place at all, an almost unknown feeling to Jean by now. The flora was strange, trees with faces, and he was sure he saw a flash of moving wood in the corner of his visors field of view.
It was when the path disappeared completely that Jean finally relented, deciding that he could not make his way through these woods with whatever strange magics had corrupted it.
He had wheeled his horse around, preparing to begin making his way back when his horse whinnied. Barely any warning before he feels something impacting his right side, sending him reeling. It is only thanks to his centuries of experience that he is not thrown off his horse.
In the next few moments, he almost wished he was.
Unknown to him, another one of the wooden creatures had lunged with lightning speed at the throat of his horse. Its armor was largely decorative and left an opening large enough for the beast to sink its jaws in, sending the horse reeling.
By now Jean is well aware that his horse is under attack, and the barking of what he believed to be wolves is apparent. Luckily for him, his feet lost their grip on the stirrups and he was launched from his mount. In the next few seconds it toppled, unable to withstand the assault of the strange beasts.
It took a few seconds for Jean to get to his feet, his plate armor making the process a difficult one. When he finally stood and managed to look toward his horse, it is only his experience that stopped him from being stunned by the sight of wooden wolves.
Jean was quick to grab the warhammer that hung off the right side of his waist, ignoring the longsword on the left side. He began the slug out of the underbrush and toward the now dead horse being ravaged by the wooden wolves. He vaguely noted his lance had landed off to the side on his approach.
When he got back into the small clear area where the attack had been launched, the wolf-creatures noticed him immediately and turn their attention to the metal thing that would interrupt their victory meal. They begin moving to encircle him, but Jean gave them no such chance.
Forgoing a battle-cry, he rushed forward to the largest looking one of them and brought his warhammer down on its head. The results are rather spectacular, and surprising. It appeared that the apparent Alpha was shocked that their prey was even fighting back and proved unable to respond in time to dodge the relatively slow strike. Its wooden skull fractured and caved in, sending green mush over the area below it.
The thing fell down, its only movement a small twitch in its back left leg.
Jean took no time to gloat, hearing one launch itself off the ground to his right, he quickly rotated and uses the momentum from his turn to swing backwards towards where he hoped the wolf was located.
The sharp spike on the back of the warhammer easily smashed into the side of the creature, where the ribs would normally be, and sunk in a good deal before the wolf-creature was launched away from the force of the blow.
Jean turned again, and noted the creatures seemed unsure. They gave each other a few looks, an odd thing from a simple animal, before they turned and fled into the woods.
He took a few moments to watch them leave before turning to the one he crippled with the side-hit, wheezing on the ground as its green life-blood slowly leaked from its pulverized innards.
Jean walked forward, placing a plated boot on its head and stomping downwards. Once, twice, three times. It stops moving.
In the aftermath of the battle, he did not require any time to rest. Undead to not feel exhaustion. He instead moved over to his dead horse.
He was not unused to his mounts dying, constantly going through one every few years to keep up the facade of a living man, but it was a touch rarer for him to lose one in combat. Especially so far from a place to purchase another.
Jean went about the process of removing his belongings from the beast. All of it, thankfully, undamaged. His kite shield and lance were unharmed, the shield having been on the top-facing side of the horse when it was brought down. The lance was launched away when he was.
He also kept a few supplies a regular man would have, a sleeping bag and blanket along with some other basic supplies. Also present were plentiful ingredients for broth and a custom-made funnel, made specifically to fit through his visor.
Jean briefly glanced at the horse feed, immediately dismissing the thought of taking it with him. He can purchase more with ease.
Jean quickly finds himself faced with his greatest problem. Getting the armor off the horse's corpse. With it being irreplaceable in the current era, he found himself unwilling to leave it behind. So Jean began the long process of carefully shifting the corpse and taking the armor off piece by piece. It took nearly three hours by his reckoning.
Eventually the armor was removed and strapped to the recovered pack with the rest of his belonging that wouldn't fit inside its minimal space.
With his shield in his left hand he held the lance in the middle at his side, ready to throw it aside should he need to fight.
Jean briefly considered turning back, only to come to the realization that the dirt path he had come to this location on simply wasn't there anymore. He was surrounded by what he suspected is no longer the Fellwood.
He soon decided that his best bet is to go the opposite direction that the wolf-beasts fled, as they likely fled back to their den, which would be deep within the woods.
With his path decided, Jean begins trudging through the trees.
He ignored the odd feeling that something is watching him.
Contrary to what Silver Spoon would say is popular belief, Applebloom is not stupid. Nor is she terribly reckless, at least in her own mind. All of her adventures are perfectly safe, after all she always has her friends with her. With friends you can never truly be un-safe or reckless.
Of course, this only applies when her friends are with her. Currently she is running from the rather horrific sight that she had the misfortune to witness.
Her mind races with thoughts of a giant metal creature, enslaving a large earth pony and sacrificing its life to save his own, then proceeding to ruthlessly kill several timberwolves with ease.
Hardly a shining first impression.
Jean persevered.
Through the countless times his belongings caught on underbrush, tripping over a hidden root, and that annoying birdsong he persevered. Normally he quite enjoyed nature, he really did. It reminded him of better times in his past, when he was alive and could experience the beauty of the natural world.
However, even his great love for the world around him comes to a sharp stop when he was forced to move through thick woods in plate armor.
He slogged through the woods for nearly an hour before he saw the edge a decent distance in front of his location. With renewed vigor Jean moved forward, he could swear he even saw a few buildings in the distance.
Strangely bright, but any town is better than none in this strange place.
Breaking free of the woods, Jean felt relieved to be over and done with the foul place. He also noted that the town seems strangely deserted before his vision slid to a mountain in the distance.
He was stunned for a moment before coming to the realization that he probably wasn't imagining it, and he doubted a skeleton can hallucinate.
The castle on the side of the mountain was probably real.
As ridiculous as it sounded to himself, he had to give it the credit that it looked impressive. Although he doubted it was very structurally sound, combined with the fact that it clearly wasn't meant to be a real fortress. A waste if he ever saw one, with its gold filigree and apparent opulence he had no doubt it was the home of some rather powerful nobles. Likely too stuck up in their castle to take the time to properly rule this place. Wherever it was.
Taking a moment to shake his head he started forward toward the town. As he crossed the grassy field on his way there it became more and more apparent that its streets were abandoned and devoid of life.
With the closed windows and shut curtains he drew the conclusion that they were simply hiding, he knew not from what though.
Jean doubted that it is himself, he is only one man to them.
On this train of thought he noticed the strange shortness of the doors, even the building stories themselves. They were just short enough to be uncomfortable to someone of his height, and indeed to anyone of average stature.
As Jean continues to walk deeper into the town he decided that there is no way this is a dwarf settlement, they are not so wasteful and extravagant in their rare over ground colonies. Nor was it halflings, he had not seen a single inn anywhere.
Eventually he reached the market, and his suspicions were confirmed. Produce left sitting, clearly abandoned in a rush. But what were they hiding from?
It had became clear that it is likely himself, but why?
Jean's thoughts were interrupted when a small group rounded the corner at a brisk speed, leaving him a bit surprised.
Two unicorns, two ponies, and two pegasi. All of various and wide coloration. Clearly whoever bred these creatures was obsessed with copious amounts of dye. He absently noted that the expense must be immense.
They seemed to be heading in his direction, he noted, but eventually decided that they are no threat to him and instead decided to move toward a large building down the street. Something that he guessed was probably the town hall.
He has just turned to walk away when a voice calls out from behind him,
"Stop right there!"
Jean quickly turned to face the source of the voice, the only living things visible are the six pastel ponies.
If Jean still had skin on his face he would have scowled,
"Cease thee hiding cowards! Art thee so afraid to speaketh to me directly?"
Normally a skeletons voice would have been hollow and sounded quite diabolical. Luckily for Jean, Gerana had given him several tools to help him on his journey to hunt the Necromancer. His voice being one of them.
In life Jean could have been a singer, with a voice smooth as silk and hard as stone.
This is what echoed around the marketplace, the ponies about 10 yards in front of him glancing at each other in . . . confusion. Except one.
Jean would have barely had time to blink, if he still had eyelids, before blue overtakes his vision and a voice filled his head,
"Who are you calling a coward, hu-"
Jean reacted as one would expect, he let the lance fall from his right hand and curled his gauntlet-clad hand into a fist before he launched it at whatever was in his face.
The results are as one would expect, the slap of metal on fur and skin followed immediately by a loud crack of bone breaking.
Whatever was in front of Jean is sent reeling back and onto the ground with a crash, rolling multiple times before coming to a stop. To his surprise it was the rainbow colored pegasus that was with the group . . . What?
In his surprisingly shocked state he almost doesn't see the others getting ready to attack him. The orange one rushes forward, the two unicorns horns light up. The yellow pegasus, strangely, cowered and the pink pony reached behind her and pulled out a . . . a cannon?
Jean didn't give it more thought than that, with little time to react he drew the simple conclusion that whatever spells the two were preparing would be detrimental to his continued existence, and whatever was in that cannon probably wasn't good.
He moved forward, moving at an angle to put the immediate position of the orange one between him and the cannon. This prevented the pink pony from firing, she seemed vaguely annoyed. The orange pony then proceeded to turn her flank to him.
He can see the tensing, she is preparing to kick him.
Jean dis not like the thought of this, stopping his move forward he angled his upper body and held his kite shield against his chest. A split second later it felt as if a boulder hit his angled shield, but a majority of the force is redirected away. This left the orange pony dangerously open, her legs still extended in the air with nothing to come to a stop against.
Still not having time to take his hammer out, he reached out and grabbed a hold of the pony's hair that leaked out of its hat and yanked her closer to him. The orange pony clearly wasn't expecting this and cried out, easily pulled due to her unbalanced state. This is just in time to take a brick meant for him, launched by what he suspected to be the white unicorn.
The orange pony grunted in pain as it hit her ribs, a similar crack to earlier sounding out.
With the pony propped against his shield he took in the situation.
The pink one was ready to fire the second he was revealed, the white one was recoiling from hitting its ally with a brick. The yellow one still cowered. The rainbow one is still on the ground, gripping its ribs. The purple unicorn had disappeared, Jean barely had time to realize this and note the sound from his back right before a force impacted him from behind.
He was sent to the ground a few feet away, his pack and other belongings dislodged. Coincidentally, the orange pony is also sent flying from the spell and impacted a apple filled stall.
He began to get up, but the sound of a cannon going off made him decide to fall to the ground once more. He heard something fly over him and impact the building behind him, sending the wall caving in. A cry came from inside, one of fear.
Jean surged to his feet as fast as he could, which was relatively slow. He saw the purple one with a scowl, charging another spell. The white one seemed to have recovered with an outraged look is on its face as it prepared to sling more bricks at him. The orange and teal ones were out of commission. Where was the yellow one?
Quite suddenly, about 3 feet in front, of him it appeared, having rushed from out of his field of vision.
Red faced, its yellow coat almost untarnished, it yelled out while gazing where his eyes would be,
"How could you come here and do this! These are innocent ponies and you should feel ashame-"
His shield arced out as he took a long step forward, impacting the feminine sounding pony's face. It began to fall to the ground.
Before the pony could complete the journey, Jean grabbed it around the neck and, while the white and purple ones are seemed shocked at his action, threw it at the obviously more dangerous purple one.
The light pony flew through the air, the purple one recovered too late to catch her with any kind of magic. They both went to the ground.
He noted the pink one is no longer here, perhaps it ran. The cannon remained.
The white unicorn recoverd, yelling out and proceeding to fling more rocks and bricks at him.
Jean easily deflected them with his shield as he ran closer, the pony backed up more and more fearfully as he closed in.
Eventually he was a few feet away and the pony tripped, falling to the ground. He didn't stop his approach, swiftly bringing a plate clad foot into its face. It stopped moving. He heard a noise behind him, he turned and saw the purple one was up and about once more.
Its face was one of rage, its horn charged up a large spell.
Jean waited until the last moment, when it lowered its head, he threw himself to the side. A lightning bolt arced past him with a tremendous roar, hitting the closest building behind him.
Bricks and ruined pieces of building exploded outward, covering the area in dust. Screams and yells of fear, and a few of pain, echoed out from the impact zone.
Jean used the look of shock and horror on the ponies' face, and his concealment from regular eyes in the large cloud of dust, to run forward and get within striking distance. The pony didn't even have time to fight back before his gauntlet-clad fist sent it to the ground.
The noise of more incoming became apparent, many more. The sound of clanking metal on metal.
Jean almost fled. Almost. But the yells of the wounded, the burning nearby house, and the cries of fear tug at him. He could not leave them.
The sound of metal on metal grew closer.
Casting aside his shield Jean ran toward the house hit by the lightning bolt. A two story abode, made of wood and straw. It had gone up like a torch.
He vaguely heard a male voice yelling from outside,
"Ditzy! Dinky!"
Then his hearing was smothered by the sound of crackling wood and burning straw.
Doctor Whooves is a simple pony who lives in a simple town. He runs a simple store where he sells odds and ends, various things he collects from his small adventures.
He has simple tastes, not being too eccentric or too normal. The only odd thing about him is an old pocket watch of unknown make in the back of his store.
However, normal ponies fall in love one day. Doctor Whooves was definitely in love with one Ditzy Doo, and her lovable daughter Dinky.
His store, its second floor doubling as his home, was also a simple affair. It was on the market square, right across the way from Dinky's house. It was how they met in fact, she had seen him having trouble with one of his odder experiments through his window and had come to help. It was the start of a beautiful relationship.
Naturally he had gone into his home and hunkered down when the local band of heroes/misfits had went around and said a monster was coming.
He had subsequently seen the armored monster fight the element bearers, winning decisively. Wincing in sympathy as Pinkie launched herself through someones wall.
It was in the final stages of the fight that his worry had turned to horror.
Twilight Sparkle had shot a lightning bolt at the metal monster. It had dodged.
Now Derpy's house was aflame, half of its side facing the market was gone and he was running out of his home and trying to cross the market in time. He exited his store front just in time to see the creature throwing aside its shield and charging into the burning building.
Doctor Whooves yelled out as the guards entered the square, sprinting forward,
"Ditzy! Dinky!"
As fast as he ran his store was across the entire market from Ditzy's house. A few guards intercept him before he can get close, holding him back despite his protests.
Doctor Whooves didn't know what to do.
Major Fleet Foot of Her Majesties Royal Garrison Corps is very, very angry.
That foalish mare, Twilight Sparkle, had done exactly what he had warned against when she proposed her plan to attack the creature in town.
When he had been alerted to the incoming creature by Applejack he had initially wanted to muster a force and confront the beast outside the towns borders, hopefully avoiding any collateral damage. Sadly Applejack had brought her friend with her to tell him, and she had quickly seized control.
Contrary to popular belief, Twilight Sparkle did hold two titles. She was heiress of the Sparkle Clan, a hefty title in of itself, and de-facto heiress of Princess Celestia, a far heftier one. When she gives orders, you listen. No matter how foalish they are.
She had wanted to confront the creature, perhaps talk it down, and surround it within the town itself. He had gone along with it.
Things went badly almost immediately. He had ordered his men in the second the fight started going poorly, but at his insistence the garrison troops had been positioned a good deal back from the planned engagement area.
By the time they arrived the fight was over, a buildings wall was collapsed, and a house was ablaze.
He had warned her against using heavy magic within the town, she had clearly not listened.
Fleet Foot did manage to catch sight of a large bipedal figure entering the flames.
A stallion is stopped by a few of his men, crying out two names he didn't recognize.
He sends out a soldier to alert the weather pegasi. He hoped there were no ponies inside, but a sharp scream from inside disabused him of that.
Then the upper windows of the house explode outwards.
Jean could hear them. Yelling from the second floor.
In his head he cursed the low ceiling, forcing him to hunch over a bit as he rushed forward.
It was lucky that he had no flesh to feel the flames he ran through or he may have been unable to complete this task.
The stairs were, luckily, easy to find. As he climbed them he could feel and hear them groaning under him, the fire had done its work on the supports. This house was coming down, soon.
Stepping off the stairs he was met with a loft, filled with smoke. The yells had turned to rough coughing and sobbing could be heard.
This close he could make out two voices. Jean starts making his way closer.
The house groaned, on its last legs.
On the ground in a corner, far from the windows that provides view into the market, were two ponies. Both gray to his vision, one regular foal and a pegasi.
The larger one looked at him as he came closer and attempted to cover the foal, but was clearly too weak from the smoke inhalation to do much else.
The house's supports creak, large cracking noises coming from below and around them.
Jean does not waste any time. He continues his half-run forward and grabs the two up, struggling slightly. The large one tries to struggle, the foal is unconscious. He absently notes the pegasus is much lighter than the orange one he fought.
His head shoots around, looking for an escape. The stairs were a no go, they were already collapsing.
The groaning reaches a crescendo. Jean begins to run toward the windows.
He knew he wouldn't be able to cross the entire distance in time, nor could he fit out the window. It was simply too small. The ponies could, however.
When he gets as close as he can, perhaps a few yards away, and the house begins to fall he throws the two as hard as he can out the broken windows.
Before the floor collapses under him he gets a good view of them sailing out of the window, and a feeling of satisfaction comes to him.
Then he hits the ground floor, his vision fading to black as the building collapses on top of him.
To say Jean's vision faded to black was perhaps an inaccurate statement. It, in fact, was immediately blocked by debris as he fell through the floor. Skeletons don't go unconscious, a blessing and a curse as it meant that they cannot sleep either. This was perhaps one of the greatest wears on Jean's mind, as human conscious isn't meant to be fully aware all day and night for hundreds of years.
This leads to Jean taking any time he can to sit and pretend to dream, detaching himself from reality as best that he can.
Sitting under rubble counts as one of these times.
Jean was completely unaware that he was being dug out until light assaulted his vision, and he surged to his feet.
Fleet Foot watched the two ponies sail from the top floor of the burning house, crashing through the air as if they were thrown.
He was momentarily stunned into inaction, but luckily one of his subordinates isn't.
A green glow envelopes the two pegasi, saving them from certain injury. If the two had impacted the ground at their speed, the lighter and less dense bones that are normally a boon for pegasi would, instead, hurt them. Frail bones break easily.
As the two are lowered to the ground, and a split second before the Major can praise the Unicorn Auxilia for his quick thinking, the house collapses.
No doubt the monster, or perhaps would-be rescuer, was inside.
The Major is not a heartless, nor stupid, stallion. He realized that the creature probably ran into the burning building and just saved the lives of two pegasi.
This means that either the information reported about the creature was wrong, or he was purposefully fed misinformation.
He dearly hoped it was the first, he would not survive a court case against any of the Elements. Even if he won, his career would be over. Ponies don't take well to heroes being questioned.
His soldiers, trained for emergency situations like this, were doing their duty. Several had moved to the buildings closes to those burning, evacuating them. Others moved to help the ones fleeing their burning homes, closer to the one that was blasted to pieces.
A select few began moving to assist the element bearers in their various states of injury, the worst being Pinkie Pie. He was sure he saw her front legs bent at an unnatural angle as she was carried, unconscious, toward Ponyville General Hospital.
Going through a wall does that to a mare.
The Major glaces back toward the two that had been thrown from the, now destroyed, house. He sees the stallion from before holding them both as the Unicorn Medic examined them.
Fleet Foot began making his way toward the small group, taking note of the weather pegasi as they moved in with heavy rain clouds.
Sparing a few seconds to look at the collapsed and burning building makes him doubt the creature survived, a shame. Its actions proved it honorable.
He reached the small family when rain began to pour down onto the burning houses.
Stopping before them, he shared a look with the Unicorn Medic, who gave a small nod to indicate that they should be fine for a chat.
The Major spoke, he tried to keep any edge out of his voice,
"I'm sorry to bother you at such stressful time, but could you tell me what happened?"
The brown earth pony was the first to respond, and it was swift and angry,
"That Celestia damned Sparkle launched a lightning bolt in the middle of town! Its only thanks to that creature that Ditzy and Dinky made it out."
The Major sighed internally, gearing himself up to calm down the, quite frankly justified, angry pony in front of him. Well, he would have if he wasn't interrupted by the last voice he wanted to hear coming from behind him.
Twilight Sparkle seemed to have recovered, and trotted up to him and ignored the unicorn medic that was tried to tend to the gash on her face,
"Major . . . was anypony hurt?"
Her voice cracked a bit, showing the fear she must have felt over the results of her spell. She was normally the most together mare he knew.
Fleet Foot made sure he was composed, there was no need to bring any undue anger from the protege of a Princess upon him, and spoke.
Twilight Sparkle felt like someone slammed a piece of metal with grooves into her face. To be fair to her, that is what happened. However, not even her slightly dazed state dulled her attention to Major Fleet Foot as he spoke,
"There were no serious injuries, it seems that after it . . . subdued you it went in and saved this family from the house that took the direct hit from your spell."
Twilight had deduced something like that, she had not been knocked unconscious like her friends and had seen it enter Derpy's home.
She took a moment to give what happened at the start of this fight a bit more thought, going over the events in her head. It is unlikely that the creature entered with hostile intentions, it had not made any hostile moves in town.
Twilight supposed that her rather grievous mismanagement of the situation spawned from what was told to her by Applejack. But that was second-hoof information, told to her friend by Apple Bloom.
She had taken the information presented at face value, too used to dealing with a disaster every week spawning from the Everfree.
Applejack seemed positive that Apple Bloom spoke the truth, and Twilight had never doubted her friend's intuition on matters relating to lying. Then again, Apple Bloom could simply believe what she relayed to be the truth. She makes a side note to look into that later.
Twilight shoves these thoughts into to the side, they had been bothering her since they moved to confront the creature in the market.
Looking at the situation, she can see what went wrong. Her analytical mind picking out the major mistakes.
First, Rainbow Dash. Rushing forward to an obviously armed and dangerous creature, it could have cost her friend her life.
Second, not launching non-lethal spells at the creature before Applejack reached it. It was clear that the creature did not have ranged weaponry on its person, and she could have taken care of any magical retaliation. Once her friend was in melee with it, it became dangerous to try and aim spells into the combat.
Third, not acting as a unit. If only the girls had listened to her carefully planned slideshow detailing the need for combat training . . .
Fourth and final, her use of such a volatile spell in a populated area. A foalish mistake.
Gathering her presence, as instructed over long hours with Princess Celestia and her own mother, she commanded,
"Major, I want two decanus on those ruins. Retrieve the creatures belongings and have a messenger take them, and a message, to the library. Tell my assistant, Spike, to send a message requesting a force of guards and include a brief report of the situation."
Her bearing was impeccable, as was expected from a future Matriarch of the Sparkle Clan.
The Major responds appropriately, anything resembling dissent pushed under the surface of obedience, slamming a hoof on his chest he moved to hand out the appropriate orders.
He really hoped he wasn't retired over this.
It turned out that digging through the ruins of a house was more difficult than it appeared, especially if you are searching for something.
It had taken nearly half an hour for the twenty soldiers to get through enough rubble to get a glimpse of the creature's remains. They were able to direct their attentions onto that location soon afterward.
After a bit of work they were surprised to find that the monster's armor was not blackened from the fires, this was discovered the more of him that they uncovered.
What shocked them even more was the thing nearly leaping to its feet, an achievement of its own in such armor, looking around frantically.
Its a good thing that Princess Luna had responded to Twilight Sparkle's letter almost immediately and was observing the situation.
Jean didn't quite know what to make of his current situation.
Before him were a little more than twenty armored ponies. This alone would be enough to make him hesitate to enter combat with them, even if he had his weapons they would likely overwhelm him with numbers alone.
No, what worried him was the pony almost as tall as he was charging its horn.
With it appearing like the dark blue pegasi-unicorn cross is about to unleash its spell, Jean made a split second decision that, unknown to him, probably saved him a few years in isolation deep beneath Canterlot.
Raising his gauntlet-clad hands, he called out.
Princess Luna Solaris was rather tired. Being interrupted in the middle of your normal sleeping schedule leaves one lacking a bit of energy.
Of course, Luna was used to working on less sleep than even an alicorn normally received. Running Equestria was difficult, perhaps more-so a thousand years ago. Trains and administrative staff do wonders for her workload.
Of course, her own staff was considerably smaller than her sisters. This wasn't due to any issues or problems hiring ponies, it was instead due to her own insistence that she manage most of her duties on her own.
This is not to say that she particularly enjoyed the ponies that she hired. They all feared her in one way or another, and all of them treated her with immense disrespect by her standards.
Before her banishment she did have a sect of devotees, even if they were the vast minority. Ponies eager and happy to serve the Night.
This was no longer the case.
This is also why she had no Lunar Guard to bring with her to respond to the Heiress Sparkle, and instead relied upon the sup-par garrison cohort already here.
Of course, Luna was very displeased to find that, according to the average pony, she held no real power within the Diarchy.
The opposite, of course, was true when considering her personal power. They viewed her as a immensely powerful witch of some sort, eating foals and selling souls.
Complete nonsense, of course. The practice of eating dead foals to gain their strength died out millenia before Equestria was founded.
Now she found herself gazing at an obvious armored, and intelligent, creature who had just lept to its feet. She charged her horn, preparing to cast a spell of paralysis upon it before it made any rash decisions.
Then it raised its hands and spoke,
"Cease, I has't no ill will against thee!"
Luna blinked, a tad stunned that not only did it speak equestrian, but also in the Shakesponian Dialect of a thousand years past.
She quickly recomposed herself though, and replied,
"If 't be true thee hadst no intent to attack, wherefore didst thee not attempt diplomacy?"
Luna was pleased to find that the old tongue came to her as easily as it once did, flowing much more naturally than modern equestrian.
The creature showed no outward reaction to her type of speech, although his tone as he spoke next had a shred of relief,
"At which hour I entered town, I wast confused ov'r the sentience of thy race. I wast setteth upon by a teal pony. I meanteth no hostile intent by coming hither. I hadst becometh lost in the nearby woods."
Luna could believe that, Ms. Dash had a reputation for being brazen and careless. The creature's words also matched the report she had received.
She absently noted the soldiers around her seem ill-at-ease and confused by the conversation, Twilight Sparkle could be seen as she watched from a good distance away. She looked ready to intervene if he became hostile.
Luna decided that introductions were overdue in this conversation,
"Very well, thy story matches what I has't hath heard. I am Princess Luna Solaris, and thee art?"
The creature gives a stiff bow, his plate armor restricting his movements somewhat, and responds,
"I am known as Sir Ritter, Knight of the Divine Record and Devout of Gerana."
Luna catches the 'known as' part of that sentence, but sets it aside for now. She returns the bow, although much less low, she is a princess after all.
"Cometh, I wilt ensure thee art housed properly. Thee must forgive mine ponies reaction, they art hath used to hostile creatures coming from the Everfree."
As Luna turns to begin leading Sir Ritter away from the rubble, she gets the distinct feeling this could have gone much worse.
In a large castle in the middle of the Everfree, a golden robed man cackles as the first of his experiments in this world comes to fruition. Soon he will dominate this new land with his legions of undead, without that damned servant of Gerana getting in his way.
He does wonder why there were so many foal corpses laying about in the dungeon, though.
Author's Note
Take my spooks, take my skellingtons, and take my myah
Jean gazed in no small amount of fascination at the walls of this literal tree-house. All of them seem to be bookshelves.
He wasn't sure if these ponies understood how amusing the image was. It was just so utterly preposterous, a tree-house-library.
Even with its apparent ridiculous nature, Jean had to admit it was spacious. Several lounge chairs and a couch were spread around the main floor, clearly meant for laying back and enjoying one of the library's many tomes.
He would have been tempted to do just that were it not for the suspicious gaze of six ponies upon him. Five of the ponies he had fought with were present, along with the introduced Princess.
The walk across town, after retrieving his belongings from the ground, had been surprisingly short. He had expected to be directed toward the local garrison or maybe even the prison. Not that he would have accepted the latter.
Instead Jean was led to this tree-house-library titled 'Golden Oaks.' As the rest of the party slowly trickled in, apparently they were being treated for their mild injuries, the silence became more and more awkward.
Jean didn't let himself be affected by it, instead he walked about and examined the room they were in. Going over the titles that filled the walls. His company seemed unappreciative of his blasé approach to the current situation.
The only exception to this was Princess Luna, she instead watched him with a neutral expression.
Jean eventually fully faced the gathered ponies, allowing himself to take in their appearances one more time before speaking,
"Is thither not one more of thee?"
He watched an expression of confusion sweep over the faces of all but two of the ponies. The Princess and the purple unicorn.
The orange pony speaks up, an unfamiliar drawl coloring her speech,
"A'hm sorry?"
The Purple Unicorn swiftly responded to her compatriot,
"He asked if there were six of us, Applejack."
This seems to allay the confusion of the group, all but the original two now have some kind of frown.
The purple unicorn spoke,
"Pinkie Pie was seriously injured in the fight. She, er, launched herself through a wall."
Jean looked over the battle in his head again. Eventually the image of the cannon firing, followed by the wall behind him collapsing, came to mind. He allowed himself to feel a bit of sympathy for the pink pony, it must not have been pleasant.
He did note that all ponies, barring the Princess and the Purple Unicorn, seemed confused at his speech patterns. Purple's response only reinforced that he would have to speak in the dialogue of the peasantry to be understood.
Jean decided that he had delayed pleasantries, no matter how out of place they seemed, for long enough. He must retain a certain bearing, after all,
"I am known as Sir Ritter, Knight of the Divine Record, and Servant of Gerana. I thank you for inviting me into your home, even after our unpleasant introduction."
He gave a small bow toward the main group, ensuring that it was clear it was not directed at the Princess. Such a meager bend bordered on impolite, even when speaking to the untitled. To a Royal? It would be a grave insult.
Jean noticed the Princess minutely raise a brow, she likely caught that small slight against the others in the room. No one else seemed to catch it, although the orange pony seemed a bit ill-at-ease, as if she could tell something was off with his bearing.
What ended up surprising him was the white unicorn. She smiled at him, eyes seeming to dance with excitement. She stood and returned the bow, a tad exaggerated for his low rank. She seemed to fancy herself a noblewoman. He supposed this wasn't too off, many people dream of attaining a higher status than what they begin life with,
"My name is Rarity, I am sure once we put all of this unpleasantness behind us we will get along just fine. Although, I admit I find your armor a tad garish."
She held out a hoof when she finished her introduction. What did she want?
It hit Jean when this 'Rarity' seemed to shift a bit, her hoof hanging out in front of her. She wanted him to kiss her hoof, or perhaps grasp it since his helmet was on. Neither was acceptable. To lower himself in such a way would stain his honor.
So instead Jean straightened and allowed some aloofness to enter his posture as he spoke,
"I am no servant of yours."
This caused the unicorn to lower her hoof suddenly, looking to be at some strange mix of offended and confused. She opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the purple unicorn. She spoke hastily, as if quickly covering her friends blunder could make it better,
"Rarity, he is a Knight. Kissing or grasping a hoof that is offered in such a way would be akin to swearing fealty. Although, it's an old practice. I believe it died out even before the banishment of the Nightmare . . ."
She suddenly seemed uncomfortable, glancing at the Princess nervously. She gathered herself and continued after a few moments,
"I am Twilight Sparkle, Heir of the Sparkle Clan, and Personal Student to Princess Celestia."
Jean allowed himself a moment to mull over those titles. Heir to a Clan? He was unfamiliar with the term, but linking together her last name and the Clan's name made him believe it was some kind of Noble House. The second, a personal student to a Princess? He noticed her shifting, waiting for a response,
"I am unfamiliar with both names, but it is a pleasure none-the-less Twilight Sparkle."
That statement caused most of the group to do a double take, only the Princess seemed unaffected. She simply watched the interactions. It unnerved Jean somewhat.
Twilight Sparkle shot a glance at the group when they began to mutter, causing them to return to silence. Clearly she is the ringleader. They began to introduce themselves one by one.
The orange pony introduced herself as "Applejack."
The teal pegasi reluctantly spat out "Rainbow Dash."
Finally the yellow pegasi. Jean was most unimpressed by her, she near-cowered behind her companions. She spoke so softly that Twilight Sparkle had to resort to introducing her as "Fluttershy." A fitting name.
When introductions were finished, and Twilight Sparkle looked ready to launch into another question, the Princess spoke. Her voice carried authority, it was almost refreshing to hear such a strong speaker after enduring the group in front of him,
"Now 'Sir Ritter,' why don't you introduce yourself properly? I do not believe that is your true name."
The ponies in front of him stared at him in some surprise, except for Applejack. She seemed to nod to herself, as one would when a hunch was correct.
Jean took a moment to compose his response,
"You are correct. Sir Ritter is a alias used by my order."
He hoped the meager amount of information would appease her, but he doubted it.
Jean's hunch was proven correct when the Princess narrowed here eyes a tad, speaking once again,
"Would you deny me the use of your true name, then?"
He knew he would have to explain this. He did give the Princess some credit however, it had been many years since someone had seen through his name. Much longer since he had explained it,
"I cannot give you my true name, Princess. I am under a oath of anonymity. My order used the name 'Sir Ritter' on all of our quests, so that no single member gains notoriety or fame. Only the whole benefits."
The ponies took several moments to let this sink is, eventually Twilight Sparkle spoke,
"Doesn't telling us this defeat the purpose, then?"
Jean shook his head, responding,
"No. It was well known when my order was still at large. In any event, I do not tell lies. To do so would besmirch both my Order, and I."
Rainbow Dash seemed to inflate with some kind of pride, pointing a hood accusingly at him she called out,
"But you did lie! You told us your name was Sir Ritter!"
The Princess responded before Jean had a chance to,
"Actually, he did not. He merely told us he was 'known as' Sir Ritter. It is a clever way to gaurentee humility. I assume revealing your face would also break this oath?"
Jean merely nodded, never before so glad for his Order's oath. He doubted these ponies would react well to a undead walking among them.
The Princess watched him for a few moments, allowing silence to hang over the room. Eventually she queried,
"Tell me where it is you come from, Sir Ritter. I have not seen one quite like you before."
It was almost impossible to not notice the sudden eager look on Twilight Sparkle's face. She seemed to resist doing something, he did not know what though.
Jean refocused on the Princess, speaking,
"I, personally, hail from Gussnir. The Order was based out of Alderweg Keep."
Upon seeing the confused looks of the surrounding ponies, Jean added,
"In the Kingdom of Berghof."
This did not seem to allay their confusion. The Princess spoke after a few moments, seeming to comb her memory,
"I admit I am unfamiliar with all three names, but it has been many years since I was completely familiar with the nations of the world. Do you recognize those names, Twilight Sparkle?"
Jean was surprised by that statement. Firstly, the Kingdom of Berghof was a well-known entity and a trade capital. It was basically impossible to not hear of it in some form. For a Princess to not know?
Twilight Sparkle spoke after seeming to search her own memory,
"I'm afraid I don't know any of those places, Princess."
A thought struck Jean, he was quick to voice it,
"Ah, perhaps you simply know them by different names? If you showed me a map, I could point it out for you."
Berghof was a trade center, and was normally mapped with its common name for simplicity, but it was quite possible their language was different enough for that to be inconvenient. Perhaps they had a different alphabet? He was glad that they had kept themselves to common for this conversation, though.
His statement seemed to make Twilight Sparkle perk up,
"Oh, of course! One moment, I have a map right over here . . ."
Then she began frantically tearing her library apart.
Jean was honestly confused, she had seemed so sure of its location, then began to panic when it wasn't there. He could see the poor girls scarlet face from across the room.
He did have to resist drawing his blade when her horn lit up, though.
Then she began calling out a name,
"Spike! Spiiiike!"
From upstairs came the sound of someone falling out of bed, then the pattering of small feet rushing around. Perhaps this 'Spike' was a servant of hers. If so, he would have to re-assess her status.
Then came the small lizard-boy. A lizard named Spike.
Jean allowed himself to stare at the obviously bleary Spike, he didn't seem to notice anyone except Twilight Sparkle.
Eventually Spike spoke, his voice had the qualities of a child,
"What is it, Twilight?"
He seemed completely at-ease with her quickly divulging several cabinets of their contents, as if it was a common occurrence.
Twilight Sparkle replied quickly, almost frantically,
"Where are the maps? They aren't where I left them!"
Spike blinked, staring at her in some confusion. When he spoke his tone held a cautious edge,
"Yes they are . . . You were using them at your desk to write that stor-"
He was interrupted when she bolted past him, rushing up the stairs and through a door.
There was nothing but the sound of frantic hoof-steps for a few seconds before Twilight Sparkle re-emerged. In the grasp of her magic were several rolled up maps.
When she got back to the ground floor she seemed to notice the groups amused stares, even the Princess was containing a grin. Jean simply felt a tad worried. This pony had the cosmic mysteries of magic at her command?
Against all logic, her cheeks seemed to glow with embarrassment. Actually glow.
All he could do is grow slightly more unnerved as she held the maps forward in her magical grip for him to take. Jean cautiously reached out and grasped them, feeling her magic release them.
Spike finally seemed to notice the group, his eyes going wide. The lizard's eyes focused on Rarity first, then the Princess, and finally Jean. He stammered out a few words before rushing through a side door.
The Princess spoke up, more than a little bit of humor in her voice,
"I see that you have not changed, Twilight Sparkle."
The purple unicorn responded by sitting on her cushion and trying to be as small as possible.
Jean eventually unrolled the largest map, setting the rest on a nearby table, and looking it over. He was momentarily stunned.
There was simply so much filled out, so much land. A brief glance showed him the scale of this. The title just reinforced this.
'Equis - World Map,' it said, almost mockingly. His eyes searched desperately over it, looking for any hint of a familiar landmass.
Nothing. The map showed none of the continents he knew.
He set that down, perhaps a bit too roughly if the grumble of dissent from behind him was a indicator, and opened the next. Then the next. Until all six of the maps were open. None of them offered any familiarity. Not a single piece of land or name.
All of it was in common, at least. Much like the books of the library.
Jean turned to the group, not quite sure what this was. When he did speak, some of his confusion must leaked into his tone,
"If this is a jest, it is a poor one."
That seemed to confuse the group, Twilight Sparkle looked particularly offended. She spoke with no small amount of annoyance in her voice,
"Those are the latest maps I have available, I would never joke about a situation like this."
Jean's gut told him she wasn't lying. He could feel it in his bones, something he had ignored until now. This place felt different. The colors too vibrant, the sounds too clear.
When he spoke next, he inclined his head briefly toward Twilight Sparkle,
"I apologize. But I recognize nowhere on that map, and I have traveled over much of the world in my long life."
This seemed to allay the purple unicorn's annoyance, allowing her to settle down.
The Princess spoke next, a touch of sympathy in her tone,
"Perhaps if you tell us how you got here we can figure this out. It is odd how you ended up so deep in Equestria, let alone the Everfree, without knowing it."
Jean nodded and began recounting his most recent travels,
"I traveled to the lumber town of Fellmoor on the rumor that a Necromancer-"
There were a few gasps at that, and the Princess' face grew grim,
" was nearby, one that I have been hunting for quite some time. When I arrived the townsfolk imparted that a golden robed man had indeed come through, and that there had been two attacks after he had passed. With their direction I followed his trail into Fellmoor Wood. I noticed something was off several hours into my journey, the area was unfamiliar to me. It was odd because I had traveled that road before. Shortly after I was ambushed by some sort of wooden wolves, and my mount was killed. After that I managed to make my way here."
The gathered ponies seemed to absorb this information, and when the Princess was about to speak the lizard returned. In his arms was a platter with cups and a teapot.
Spike seemed nervous when he spoke next,
"I- I made tea for everyone, I remembered the flavor you liked Princess."
The gathered ponies all said their thanks, although Rarity's thanks made the lizard blush.
When it came Jean's turn to be served, he accepted it and offered a compliment,
"Thank you, it smells wonderful."
He honestly hoped it did, small little half-truths like that helped allay suspicion. Truthfully, he couldn't smell anything. The ponies gathered all seemed confused at that, sniffing the air. They eventually seemed to decide it was nothing. All except for the Princess.
Her gaze lingered on him for several moments after the others had moved on, then she daintily sipped her cup.
Jean reached into his pack, noticing the group tense slightly, and withdrew his carefully crafted funnel. With practiced ease he popped the thin end through his visor and poured the cup of tea down the other end.
Truthfully, he forgot tea was supposed to be hot.
Spike spoke a few seconds too late,
"Careful, its . . . hot . . ."
Jean showed no outward reaction to the heat, of course. The tea simply poured into a bag on the inside of his skull. The steam rose out of his visor, however.
The group regarded him strangely. He decided silence was the best option.
Eventually the group finished their drinks, some awkward small talk came up between the ponies.
Then they began to trickle out, making their excuses.
First went Applejack, then Fluttershy, followed by Rarity, and finally a glaring Rainbow Dash.
This left Jean, Twilight Sparkle, and the Princess alone.
They say in silence for a few minutes, going over the days events in their minds. Then the Princess spoke,
"Forgive me for intruding Twilight Sparkle, but the moon will be rising soon. Would you mind if I used your guest room, perhaps you could also put up Sir Ritter?"
The librarian was sift to reply, nodding frantically,
"Of course! You're always welcome in my home, and you can stay as well Sir Ritter. Although, I don't have another bed for you . . ."
Jean shakes his head, raising a hand,
"It is fine. I am used to life on the road, I will use my bedroll."
This seemed to satisfy the Princess, but Twilight Sparkle looked a tad uncomfortable. After a few more minutes the Princess retired, followed by Twilight Sparkle.
While rather abrupt, she did leave a candle burning for him.
It was rather odd that as soon as the Princess went upstairs, the sun seemed to abruptly set. Jean passed it off as coincidence.
After laying his bedroll out he relaxed, and prepared to sit still all night in wait for the morning.
What he didn't expect was to, quite suddenly, be pulled into unconsciousness.
Princess Luna shut the door to Twilight's guest room behind her. She trotted toward the modest bed, knowing she wouldn't be doing too much actual sleeping tonight.
In her head echoed the voice of her sister,
"That gathering was certainly interesting. Do you want to go through with our plan? He seems sincere."
Luna considered that, some may consider invading a pony's dreams a breach of privacy, especially when done with the intent to interrogate. The Princess of the Night held no such qualms. Before her banishment she had kept Equestria safe with her methods, no matter how unscrupulous they seemed to the commoner.
In her mind she replies firmly,
"I am sure. You had best retire, Celly. I will begin my spell soon."
Luna received feelings of reluctant consent from her sister, then the familiar link shut.
She wasn't unused to dealing with her sister's hesitance in these matters. Celestia had always seen the best in everypony, and sometimes that could blind her.
Why, Luna has already shut down several secret noble cabals that had grown in power in her absence. It is fortunate that several hadn't gone through with their plans. Truly, some of their ideas were just preposterous. A Parliament? Utterly foalish.
She let her thoughts wander a few minutes, to days long passed that 'Sir Ritter' reminded her so much of. A familiar world that simply did not exist anymore. He was refreshing, in a way.
After about half an hour, Luna relaxed onto the bed and shut her eyes.
The room was briefly filled with a soft blue flash.
Luna came-to in a familiar wreathing, psychedelic azure ocean of dreams, thoughts, and emotions. To any other pony navigation, or even complex thought, would be near impossible. Luckily for her, the Guardian of Dreams was no normal pony.
It was a simple task to find her sister's mind, and should have been similar for the creature resting downstairs. However, no matter how she searched he could not be found.
After a few minutes, which were truly only seconds real-time, she decided he wasn't asleep. Truly it is fortunate that every mind is connected to this place, even when awake.
Casting her mind to the borders of this realm and the physical, she found his presence. It was odd, she noted, that his connection seemed faded and unused.
Grasping at his string, she flooded it with her magic. In a split second it widened and he entered a dream-state.
Wonderful.
It was foal's play to enter his dream with her sister.
Normally, when the disordered realm of the dream-world was forced into a semblance of order when Luna manifested herself, one would form as their own picture of themselves. This told much of the pony, but could be circumnavigated by being familiar with the flow of this realm.
Needless to say, both Celestia and Luna materialized as their physical forms.
Luna had a brief flash of memory, remembering when she first taught her sister how to manipulate the Dream Realm. It had seemed her cake obsession caused self-image issues.
As always, when one entered somepony's dream, the world began to slowly piece together around them. Almost as if a fog was lifting.
Slowly around them a keep was forming. Although clearly not designed for their large, equine forms there was little to worry about. At-Will incorporealism had many benefits.
As the details of the dream began to fill out, something became very clear.
This keep was under attack.
From the sky, dark bolts of magic and fire rained. Soldiers yelling echoed all around them. It was curious when a group of half-armored knights stormed through their forms.
The two princesses took a moment to absorb the destruction happening around them. It was another few moments before Luna spotted their target, clad in the same plate he wore when they spoke.
Standing on the other side of the rapidly materializing courtyard, he was barking out orders,
"Rembrandt! The gate is near collapse! Scrounge some men from the infirmary, rally the damn Initiates if you must, but do not let them breach our defenses!"
A man whose armor was less embellished than Sir Ritter's saluted with a fist against his chest, calling out as he jogged away,
"Yes, Grandmaster!"
Sir Ritter seemed to take a moment to glance around, the location they were at becoming more apparent to the pony sisters.
They were before a large cathedral of sorts. Cast from stone, it was obviously meant to be a fortified location. They stood outside the open gates, revealing pews filled with wounded. From their vantage point it was obvious that this keep was located on the side of a hill, it provided a view to the less elevated walls and small town that surrounded the church.
Outside the walls lay a heavy fog. Luna was familiar with this. His mind simply wasn't focused enough on the view to form it coherently.
Celestia glanced around. She appeared slightly uncomfortable when another stretcher bearing a soldier passed through them to enter the church.
A terrible explosion filled the air, arcs of green light spread out from the gatehouse as it seemed to crumble in on itself. Cries of pain and fear echoed out, overshadowed by the dark calls of unfamiliar monsters.
Sir Ritter gazed downward, his posture stiff and controlled. Eventually he pointed toward one of his lightly armored brethren rushing out of the church and called,
"You there, boy! Inform Rembrandt and Fusilier they are to retreat to the Cathedral!"
The boy seemed terrified out of his mind, far too young to be exposed to war, but the strong voice of Sir Ritter seemed to break through to him. He nodded and ran off.
The clash of steel and sword continued to sound from the city before.
A few knights began to trickle into the square, all their arms and armor were of similar make to Sir Ritter. They were all likely part of his Order.
When the wounded stopped coming up the path leading to this square, Sir Ritter turned and called out to inside the cathedral,
"Close the gates! We will hold them here. May Gerana be with you all!"
There were returned calls from inside, and a few other soldiers stumbled out to weakly stand with those gathered outside, then the cathedral gates slowly shut.
The faces of the Pony Sisters were grim. These people were clearly under attack from a large force, a force that could pierce their defenses at their strongest. This meager collection would not hold.
Every face seemed aware of it. No one opposed the wounded who stepped out with a sword in hand to die in battle, rather than in bed when this enemy broke through. There were hunched shoulders, straight backs, tears, grim faces, and bright eyes alike.
In the middle of it all, though, stood Sir Ritter. Similar to a beacon in a storm, he was resolute and seemed unfazed at the hopelessness of the situation. Those near him seemed to take from that, gathering themselves for a final defense.
No words were spoken between the soldiers, for what was there to say?
When the enemy came, they came swiftly. Luna could recognize the creations of necromancy, she was positive her sister did as well. Shambling corpses and skeletons made up the majority of the incoming attackers, intermixed were several resurrected knights.
The final fight started soon after, a hopeless battle.
The wounded were the first to fall under the vicious claws of the shambling corpses of former friends.
The young initiates fell to the makeshift blades of their ancestor's skeletons.
One by one the knight's fell to the prowess of their former brethren.
Finally, alone stood Sir Ritter. His shield had been lost some time ago, his helmet roughly knocked off to reveal an aging face. Far older than any of his now dead companions. His blade danced in the pale light of midday.
But no one can stand alone forever.
He was clearly aged, and the fight took its toll without a second thought. His swings slowly began to become less graceful, desperation and anger fueling his body in place of the energy it once had.
The first serious blow to strike him was the last, coming from the familiar armored form of a resurrected Rembrandt.
Sir Ritter was soon finished, falling to the ground and joining his brethren in death.
Celestia may have mistaken this for a nightmare, it was easy to, but Luna knew better. There were differences, most subtle. They were all easily seen by the Night Princess, however.
This was a memory, and Sir Ritter obviously stood before them today. She began to gain a sinking feeling in her chest.
As his body fell, so did the dream. It was dark for a few seconds, Luna held a hoof to her sister to hold any questions.
After a few moments the dream was filled with a crimson light, the world piecing together out of the darkness. It was different, though. Everything was muted, little better than grayscale. Sounds were muffled, there was no smell to anything.
Around them the cooling remains of the keep and town sat. The only corpse that remained was that of Sir Ritter. His body had been strung up inside the cathedral, over the altar to a unfamiliar god. His helmet had been caved in and sat before him, his sword and shield cast at his feet.
Something became immediately apparent, his body had no flesh left on it. Only clean bone remained.
After a few moments of nothing, Sir Ritter began to stir. He weakly struggled against his bonds, groaning almost pitifully. Soon enough he stopped, raising his head and looking around.
While he looked at the area, one could practically feel the fear from him. The confusion, shock at what has happened. How his senses had changed, remembering his death.
It took another minute of weak movements to get his right hand free, and the ropes that bound him immediately crumbled to dust.
With a harsh crumple, he hit the ground. For a few moments there was nothing except for the weak movement of metal and the clanking of bones.
Then he rose, using the altar to lever himself he struggled to his feet.
Even now that he lacked skin on his face, one could see the determination. The unwillingness to lay down and die.
Sir Ritter began the slow process of gathering his personal items, stumbling across the floor. Every movement brought a clank from his bones impacting his armor.
Eventually he reached his shield, the reflective back making him pause.
Luna could feel the emotions. The confusion, shock, and fear. To look into a mirror and see not yourself, but a monster, was a process she knew all too well.
Sir Ritter gazed at himself for several minutes before weakly stumbling to the altar and falling against it.
As he began to pray, his voice exactly as it had been in the library, the world around them began to crumble as the dream died.
Luna directed her magic to bend the dreamscape instead, forcing it into the shape of the Hall of Heroes in her and her sisters' old castle.
It was time to meet Sir Ritter.
Jean gasped as his vision came into focus, an unfamiliar stone ceiling looming above his prone form.
Immediately apparent was his lack of a helmet, where had it gone?
Then the memory of his dream hit, causing him to grimace. It had been many years since he thought of that day.
As he began to wonder how he had fallen asleep, an unfamiliar voice called out to him,
"Sir Ritter, perhaps you should get off of the floor."
This shocked him into action, rolling onto his belly he managed to climb to his feet.
When he turned around he was met with Princess Luna and another pony of a slightly larger build, about the same height.
Jean allowed himself to jump to a few conclusions. His weapons were missing, along with his helmet, and he was in an unfamiliar place. It was clear that they had figured out his secret and taken him in the night. He would have to fight his way out -
His thoughts were interrupted by Princess Luna speaking firmly,
"We are friends here, Sir Ritter. I do not blame you for your condition, not after I witnessed your dream. Dreams do not lie."
Jean saw the sympathy on her and her sister's face. There was a start contrast, though. The white one, probably the 'Princess Celestia' that had been mentioned, had a look of pity. To the contrary, Princess Luna's gaze was filled with understanding.
He decided to cling to a familiar question,
"Where am I then, why did you take me from the library?"
Princess Luna answered once again, a bit of amusement in her voice,
"You and I are still in the library, my sister is in Canterlot. We are in your dreams, Sir Ritter. This is how we witnessed your memory."
Jean considered that statement. In his mind? He had heard of stranger magic, he himself was an example of that. It wasn't out of the realm of belief for them to be inside his head.
Eventually he responded,
"This is Princess Celestia, then? Twilight Sparkle's mentor? Where is the King and Queen, shouldn't they be doing this?"
Princess Celestia chuckled a bit at that, responding with the most clear and bright voice he had ever heard,
"I am indeed Princess Celestia. There is no King and Queen in Equestria, my sister and I rule together as Diarchs."
Again, Jean supposed that wasn't the weirdest thing that could happen. He recalled encountering a cave run by children, who exiled people when they turned 20. A rather odd experience, that had been.
Celestia continued,
"As things are, Sir Ritter, I am afraid the places you spoke of are unfamiliar to me. As is the cathedral we saw. I will assign a scribe to go through several tomes and see if there are references to them, even my memory can fail sometimes."
Princess Luna shook her head at this, speaking with a hint of exasperation,
"We both know that is not true, Celestia."
She refocused on Jean,
"Neither of us have any inkling of the areas you spoke of, so I would not raise your hopes."
Jean's thoughts were racing. He had heard of planar travel, but it was whispered rumors or the ramblings of a wizard. He had always considered it to be some grandiose spell, could it be more simple? Then again, the town he awoke in didn't look like some elemental plane.
Princess Luna seemed aware that he was in deep thought, but interrupted anyway,
"I will admit, I am curious what your name is. Now that we know your secret, it should be of little consequence to tell us?"
A little bit of the internal princess seemed to shine through, he could see a sparkle of curiosity in her eyes that looked insatiable.
Jean did suppose that the rulers of this place deserved to know, he tried to tell himself he wasn't eager to just say his name,
"It is Jean. Sir Jean-Baptiste de Bittencourt."
The words rolled off his tongue, they felt good. He was sure some of his eagerness crept into his tone, but he could not help it. He was sure he would have forgotten it, were it not for the long, desperate nights of doing nothing but repeating it to himself.
Princess Luna went to speak, but the world around them began to fade and shift to gray.
Jean felt shocked as he looked around,
"What's going on?"
Princess Celestia spoke up before her sister got the chance,
"It seems that you are stirring, Jean."
He nodded, that made sense.
The last sight before his vision faded to black was looks of contemplation upon the Royal Sisters faces.
Far away, in a dark castle, a golden robed man cursed at the ragged lab he had managed to put together. How was a supposed to devise a way to conquer this place if he couldn't even make these pony corpses reanimate.
It was odd, they seemed naturally resistant to necromancy. Much more than human corpses. Reminded him a bit of dwarfs, if he was honest.
He thoughts wandered back to his old life, in Eastfen. A good place, beautiful until he had burnt it to the ground with his first ghoul. Still held that rustic ruins feel, though.
Then one of his cauldrons began to boil over, looking exceptionally volatile in its puke-green state.
Frantically he waved arms, calling out,
"Ilkorts! Ilkorts! The cauldron, get the cauldron!"
Of course, his inept minions were far too slow to stop it's inevitable explosion.
So hard to find good help these days.
Author's Note
600 words shorter than the last and almost late.
To be fair, I rewrote this several times and was still quite unsatisfied with the product.
Tell me your thoughts, fears, dreams, and ambitions (Or perhaps just a kind word or two) in the comments.
Until next time.
