The Dark Guardian

Chapter 2: Helping Hand ; Log entries Part 2

[Everfree Forest][50,000 Years ago]

[Objective: Find source of screams]

As I ran towards the screams I took note of how dense the forest was. About every 6 feet there was a dark colored tree just standing there with its coincidental scary face somewhere on it. But I had no time to just stand around and observe because with every foot of ground crossed the screams were getting louder. But as soon as the trees faltered in their density, I had to stop myself from nearly falling off the edge of a 50 foot high rocky cliff. But then I heard the screams again from below me. I looked down the cliff to see a small neon green pegasus mare with a light blue mane and tail with a red highlight through each. She had a picture on her flank that depicted a grayish blue cloud with rain and lightning coming out the bottom of it. She was backed up against the cliff face and was surrounded by what looked like wolves that we entirely made out of wood with glowing eyes. 'I get it, timberwolves, very funny'.

'What the actual fuck. I thought. 'How the hell-' I was broken out of my thoughts by another scream from the mare.

"Please! Somepony help!" She screamed as the wolves closed in. They were only about 10 meters away from her now. I had to do something, and fast. But at that very moment I got a feeling of confidence and strength, I knew what it was.

My Instinct

"Here goes nothing." I said as I steeled my nerves... and then I jumped. 'I might as well make it look badass' I thought. I decided to do the superhero landing (you know, the one where you land in a kneel). Mid-air, I got into position for my badass landing. I could feel the air flowing rapidly around my exposed hands as I fell the 50 foot fall.

[Cloud-rush's POV]

'How did it come to this? Me getting cornered against a cliff-face with a broken wing by a pack of hungry timberwolves!' Thought Cloud-rush as the timberwolves closed in on her. She was panicking. 'This was supposed to be a routine cloud clearing! Oh, Why did I try to clear an Everfree cloud?'

"Please! Somepony help!" She bellowed, praying to the maker that somepony heard her cries for help. The didn't want to believe it, but nopony was coming to save her. The pack of timberwolves were only a few meters away from her now. She was just going to give up and accept her fate, so she closed her eyes and waited for the timberwolves to pounce. But then she felt the ground shake, and the soure was VERY close.

"Huh?" she said quietly, slowly opening her eyes, only to see a massive figure roughly 3 times the size of her at full height. It was bipedal and stood like a diamond dog, except it stood straighter, making it look bigger. It also looked like something from the pits of Tartarus. It had a long black trenchcoat that was lined with red stripes on edges. You could see his feet from under the trenchcoat. But I wasn't able to see its face. But if the reaction of the timberwolves is anything to go by, it was terrifying. The timberwolves began slowly backing up from the mysterious figure. But what really surprised her is what happened next. It talked.

[Jackson's POV]

"That's it, keep backing up." I said. The wolves complied and kept backing,whimpering all the way. But then they stopped and parted for an even bigger timberwolf to emerge from behind the regular ones. It was 2 times bigger than the others and had darker skin, or wood, or whatever. This one was less afraid of me, but somehow I could sense an immense amount of fear in him.

[Alpha timberwolf POV]

The rest of the pack parted way to let my through to see what has my pack in such distress. The last time I checked, we were chasing an injured pegasus. They had alerted me with a sound to signal that the prey was cornered, then it was my turn to kill it. But as I neared the location where the prey was cornered, the pack sent out an alert. But this wasn't a 'prey cornered' alert, this was a 'danger' alert. As I neared the cliff-face where the prey was cornered the rest of the pack split to let me through. Then I saw it. And damn, it was scary.

It was roughly 3 times the size of our prey and was bipedal with eyes that glowed crimson. It was looking at me and I was looking at it. Maybe it was our prey's caretaker. But whatever it was it excelled at inducing fear into the hearts of the pack. My normally fearless pack was crumbling under the gaze of this unknown creature. I growled at it, but it didn't return the growl. It just kept staring at me with those penetrating crimson eyes, probably trying to instill more fear. And it was working.

It was way too quiet to be mad, but I could tell it was furious. My confidence was now faltering. But I nearly jump in surprise as it started to slowly turned its head to the injured pegasus. Then it communicated with it, surprising our prey more than us. I dare not make a move on it because I didn't know what it could do. I wonder what they are communicating about.

[Cloud-rush's POV]

"Wait, what?" I said in surprise. The creature told me to get on its back so it can get me out of here safely. I was stunned at how it spoke perfect equestrian. What surprised me more were its eyes. They were glowing crimson and look frightening. But his voice was different than you would expect. It was masculine and smooth, bringing a calming sensation with it.

"I said get on my back." explained my bipedal savior. I was hesitant, due to not knowing who or what this thing was. But then she thought about it. She would rather be more likely saved by a stranger than eaten by a pack of timberwolves. So, I got on my hind legs and put my hooves on his back. He knelt down so I could get on his back with ease. After I was on, I wrapped my front hooves around, what I assumed to be, his collarbone and my hind hooves around his hip. Then he slowly stood up, me clinging to his back. But that's when one of the timberwolves thought he had a chance to catch us by surprise.

[Alpha timberwolf POV]

I could only look and watch as the strange creature allowed the injured pegasus to climb onto his back and latch onto him using its hooves. I cursed our luck at finally getting a pegasus. But one of my pack, the 2nd youngest hunter, gave me a quiet bark that translated to 'I'm going in for the kill'. I was about to shun him being so ignorant by taking this thing on by itself, but I was too late. The young hunter was running towards them as fast as he could, but was stopped dead by the creatures hand reaching at lightning speed and grabbed the young hunter by the muzzle and picked him up, holding nothing but his muzzle.

[Jackson's POV]

"Bad choice little guy." Was all I said as I picked up the timberwolf by the muzzle. The timberwolf tried desperately to get out of my vice like grip, but to no avail. I felt another surge of strength as I flung the ignorant timberwolf back into its pack, uninjured. I then slowly started to walk towards the pack. Luckily, no wolf in the pack was as ignorant at the first one to charge me.

So, as soon as I get within 5 feet of the alpha, he starts to back up a little out of what i'm guessing is fear, respect, or maybe both. But mostly fear, I could still sense it festering among the pack. Then the pack followed the alpha's example and started to backup and part for us, gaining us passage to the rest of the forest. The alpha actually backed up against a tree. I had to stifle a laugh. Then I walked up to the alpha and got right in his face.

[Alpha timberwolf POV]

There was only one way to describe an unknown bipedal creature that's taller and stronger than you and has just saved your prey thats staring you down with glowing crimson eyes that make him look like he's from Tartarus.

Absolutely terrifying.

It's as if its eyes were burning an imprint in my soul that says 'never confront me or my pack again'. My legs actually gave out to the fear, something that hasn't happened since I was a just a pup. It was traumatizing to have those eyes so close to mine. I actually started to whimper, which has only happened once when I was a pup. I had hurt myself on a dark oak branch, which hurts way more than normal oak. But after a few seconds of my whimpering, he finally backed up and returned to his full height with what i'm guessing to be a member of his herd on his back. They soon left our sight and I was still fairly traumatized from our little stare down.

[Canterlot][Present Day]

Celestia was now reading the 5th entry about the expedition in the dark crystal caverns. She was intrigued about the discovers that were made there that were stated in the other entries, such as magic nullification and that some of the blood crystals in the cave have luminescent properties about them. But the one that Celestia was most worried about is that sometimes the shadows move unnaturally. This was of great concern because it could mean a number of things.

But this was all strange because it all seemed to close to a myth her father, King Solaris, told her about when she was young. It talked about a dark entity that wasn't evil, or at least didn't try to be. It was called 'The Legend of The Dark Guardian'. It was one of her favorite bedtime stories as a foal and it is still an interesting myth to read about. As a foal she would wonder what it would be like to meet The Dark Guardian. The myth said that he was so terrifying that even an alpha timberwolf would crumble beneath his gaze, which is an incredible feat.

The myth also says that he could create crystals in only 2 colors but for them to have any properties about them he wishes, which still hasn't been done by anypony, not even an alicorn such as herself. He may have been terrifying but they say his soul was so kind and warm like his voice, but his power was terrifying like his gaze. If the myths were true, that means he could destroy Canterlot Castle in a few minutes, provided nothing disturbs him. He could also make crystal constructs of immense power.

Celestia shook her head to get rid of the thoughts. 'No, that can't be it. The Dark Guardian is a myth and nothing more. Right?' She asked herself. She then opened the 6th entry and read it as such:

Rock-Crushers Log entry #6

I have some good news, and some bad news. Good news is that the cavern is a lot bigger than we thought it was, along with the discovery of a large new room. Bad news is that, well, some of the other spelunkers are going a bit... kookoo if you get what i'm saying. They wont stop talking about the shadows being where they shouldn't be. As Cave-Diver has explained to me, and I quote this, "The shadows are watching us. They're just waiting for the right time to get us! We can't stay here sir, the shadows will consume us!" As much as i pained me to do it, I had to discharge him with a case of paranoia. He was actually really happy to go, seeing how the 'shadows are moving on their own' thing has played out for him. On another note, we are currently trying to manually break open a way into the new room we found. From what we can tell, the room has its own light source, but unlike the blood crystals, which are red, the light coming from the new room is white light. There are no holes in the mountain the cavern is in so it can't be natural light from outside. I will make another entry when we finally get into the newly discovered room.

Celestia finished the entry when twilight spoke up.

"um, Celestia? What does it say?" Asked Twilight, who had put her curiosity to the side for long enough.

This almost made Celestia jump in surprise. She had completely forgotten Twilight was there. She looked over at Twilight with a small smile before talking.

"Just the things you would expect from a cave exploration log, Twilight." Celestia said, hiding her concern. "Things such as cave mapping, discoveries, even a set-back or two."

"oh. I guess that makes sense." Twilight commented, doing her best to hide her embarrassment.

Celestia chucked a little and used her magic to pick up the 7th and last entry. She opened it to be met with a horrid sight: blood splatters. Her eyes turned into pin-pricks as she looked at the rushed writing on the parchment. Twilight seemed to notice this happen.

"Um, Princess Celestia? What's wrong? Please tell me." Said Twilight nervously. This normally never happens unless its something horrifying.

Celestia ignored Twilight's question and went on to read the page.

Got into room..................................................awoken something............................................................................................................blood golems.....................................................red eyes...........always watching.............................................................never sleeping.................................................................................................................everyone dead................blood everywhere....................................last one here.................................................................................FOUND ME......................

HELP ME

Celestia turned to Twilight with a scowl.

"Twilight, round up the elements. There isn't much time."