The Dark Guardian

Chapter 4: Burning River ; Task at Hand

[Riverwood][50,000 Years Ago]

Jackson and Cloud were running as fast as they could towards Cloud-rush's burning home village, Riverwood. The air above the village was heavy with black smoke that arose from the burning homes and shops. They could see glints of silver in the smokey haze. As they got closer, Cloud recognized the armor style of the soldiers that were burning the small village.

"Griffons." She said quietly, fear weaved into her voice. "They actually attacked." Her voice was shaky and tears were forming at the corners of her eyes. He wasn't surprised by griffons.

But Jackson was having none of it. He quickly thought of a plan. He then found one and accepted its consequences. He went over to a large bush, away from the fire. He then placed the injured pegasus into the bush, but as he tried to leave towards the burning village, Cloud grabbed the edge of his trenchcoat.

"Please don't do what I think you going to do." She said, worry present in her voice. Jackson looked over his shoulder at her.

"Don't worry, just stay here and keep safe, ok?" He said, his voice soothing her nerves. "Everything is going to be fine."

She then let go of his trenchcoat and he bolted towards a burning house. As he neared it, he heard a yell from inside.

"Please, somepony!" The voice said. Jackson then felt another surge of strength and speed. His instinct started to whisper to him. As he reached the house, he used all his velocity to run and jump through a smoldering wall, smashing it down with ease in its weakened state.

He then looked around the flames, seeing a steel armored griffon with a sword nearing a mare with a white coat and a pink mane and tail with a purple highlight in them. The griffon heard Jackson's 'entrance' and looked at where the noise came from. Only to see a bipedal twice as tall as him in a black and red trenchcoat that looked like it had armor underneath.

"Hey!" Was all that the griffon had time to say before Jackson tackled him to the ground through the flames, making him drop his sword. The griffon, try as he may, could not get the biped off of him. Then Jackson started to land punches on the griffons steel chestplate, denting it each time he punched it. The sharp steel started to puncture the griffons chest and was causing his blood to spill onto the floor. The griffon soldier screeched in pain.

In a last ditch effort to defeat Jackson, the griffon put all of his remaining strength into punching the creatures eyes. When he punched, he shattered one of its glowing crimson eyes. The griffon though he had somehow crippled the creature, but no. He then saw its true eye. There was no white in the eye, only black with a glowing red iris. There was black smoke coming out of the corners of its eyes, but soon after leaving the eye it dissipated into the air.

This was the last thing he saw before he blacked out from blood loss. Jackson got up off the griffon soldier and looked over at the mare, who was still sitting there in shock.

"Go, get to safety. I will deal with the griffons here." Said Jackson.

She nodded and ran towards the front door way. Then I noticed a red mist coming up from the dead griffon soldier's body. He turned to face it, but as soon as he did that streaks of blood red smoke swirled around him and were soon absorbed by him. It felt pleasantly warm too.

'Did I do that?' He thought. He felt stronger, faster and overall more powerful. His instinct whispering to him again.

'You have absorbed a soul, Jackson. Every time you kill, you absorb the victims soul.' Said his instinct.

Jackson ran out the front door too, tossing off his helmet in the process, thinking it was no good anymore. There were griffon soldiers everywhere. There were some burning houses, killing innocents and pillaging the stores. As soon as he left the house, all of their eyes locked onto him. Some showed fear and surprise while others showed determination and bloodlust. They started to slowly advance towards him. Meanwhile, Jackson was looking at the sheer amount of bodies. There were stallions, mare and foals. All slaughtered, injured or were about to be slaughtered. But what really got him was the foals part. He couldn't believe the sheer heartlessness of these soldiers.

Something inside him snapped. He wasn't going to go easy on them anymore. He had finally had it. Nothing was holding him back, and NOTHING WAS GOING TO.

[Canterlot][Present Day]

"Now that you are all here, we can now tell you of the danger we are facing." Said Luna, getting an approving nod from Celestia.

"This is a unique dark entity. He does not try to purposely cause harm to innocents. But he will not hesitate to gruesomely eviscerate an evil entity in the most painful way possible. He was trapped in an unknown location many, many years ago, long before me. It is said he knew the first alicorn 50,000 years ago. He is known a The Dark Guardian. His true name was lost to time." Explained Celestia with her advanced knowledge.

"Iv'e heard of him! Isn't he the one who saved Equestria, like, a long time ago?" Asked Rainbow Dash.

"Yes, he is Rainbow Dash. But from what... well, that information was lost." Replied Celestia.

"But whats it got t'do with us princess?" Asked Applejack.

"We believe that is the dark entity inside the dark crystal caverns. It has come to our attention that there are some... beings guarding what ever is in those caverns. We need to go to the caverns and see what they are guarding. You will be coming with us along with a large group of guards. If our information is correct, we cannot use magic down in those caverns due to there being crystals that can nullify magic."

Said Celestia, getting a small gasp from Twilight.

"Then we have to study them! There could be so much to learn form these crystals!" Said Twilight in a half-shout.

"Please focus on the task at hand Twilight." Commented Celestia before Twilight could go on any further.

"oh, sorry." Replied Twilight with a sheepish grin.

"Are there any more questions?" Asked Luna.

Nobody answered so she assumed that meant a no.

"Shall we go to the caverns now, sister?" Asked Luna, the smallest hint of eagerness to her voice. Even she was excited about it, even though she hid it well.