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Chapter 1: My Arrival ; Log entries Part 1 (edited)
Darkness.
A binding of shadows.
The stuff we see everywhere each and everyday but never notice it because it's so common.
But the darkness can hide you, protect you, give you strength and serve you. But only if you are willing to let it into your heart are you capable of controlling it.
But oh, the horror you can become if you let it consume you. Examples can be found all around.
Sombra,
Tirek,
even Nightmare Moon.
But unlike them, I can harness the magnificent power of darkness.
I can bend it to my will. I can make it a weapon as well as a shield for myself and others.
Many misunderstand darkness. They think it evil, vile and disturbing.
But I can't blame them for it. The darkness holds great power.
Many have misused it for selfish purposes. They gave darkness a bad name.
But I wanted to show them the error of their ways, to give them one final chance to not test a power that they can't control like I can. But they never listened. Oh well. I tried to warn them.
I am the Lord of Shadows.
The Saint of Strength.
I AM
THE DARK GUARDIAN
Chapter 1: My Arrival ; Log Entries Part 1
[50,000 years ago][Everfree Forest]
I woke up to the feeling of a cool breeze on my hands. My vision was hazy and blurred and my body ached in just about every joint imaginable. As my vision started to clear I noticed everything was a tint of red. I reached up to rub my eyes to only be met with something hard and cold. I soon realized it was a metal helmet and I was merely looking out of the visor.
'What the hell?' I thought. 'I don't remember putting on a helmet.' I then reached for the bottom of the helmet. As soon as I found it, I yanked it off my head to be met with a blast of cold air and the smell of kicked up dirt.
"Ahhh. So much better." I said in relief. It felt like he had worn the helmet while walking through a desert. "Now, where the hell am I?" I looked around the scenery to notice that I was in a smoldering crater in the middle of some forest that had a bunch of trees that looked as if they had scary faces. I then looked up to see the moon at its highest point of the night.
'Wait, was't the sky cloudy?' I thought questioningly. I decided to lay off the question for now. I then looked at the helmet still in my hands. I turned it around so the front faced me. It looked like a mix between a gas mask and a traditional black military grade helmet with two red stripes going down the middle. The metal sides went around to cover the entire head. The eyes were crimson and glowing. Overall it looked really menacing and the glowing eyes only added to the effect.
'Whoa, that's pretty awesome.' I thought. And it was too. 'I should get out of this crater before anything else.' I then started to make my way out of the crater, my knee joints aching all the way. When I finally made it to the edge of the crater and climbed out and fell on my ass because my knees were killing me. I found out just how big the crater really was. It had about a 15 foot radius and was still smoldering.
Oh, how rude of me. Let me introduce myself. My name is Jackson Miller, but my friends just call me 'Jack'. I'm a caucasian male from Canada, but moved to America with my parents at the age of five and lived in Missouri. Nine years later i'm in middle school with good grades and one or two friends. I know, not a lot of friends. I'm independent by nature. My favorite color is black and my favorite time in the 24 hour cycle is midnight. I don't know why, but I always get a calming sensation from being surrounded in darkness. I was about a good 5' 10" in height. My hair is black and I have red eyes. I know, uncommon color. Hurray for little miracles.
Before I was in the strange forest I was in now, I was laying on a moonlit grassy hill outside my house admiring the starry skies. But I began to feel a strange sensation starting at my feet and was working its way up my body. It felt like the pricking feeling when you foot falls asleep. I looked to see what it was but my search held no answer.
'My feet must be asleep.' I thought, claiming that to be the reason for the feeling. But then it started to consume my body. I started to panic, but as soon as the feeling reached my head, I blacked out.
But now I feel different. I feel taller, stronger and more flexible. I then notice that the clothes I was wearing were not my own. My attire had changed. I looked myself over and I found I was now wearing a black trenchcoat with red lines outlining the edges and a red streak on each arm. It had a small pouch on the lower part of the trenchcoat on each side. I had armor on underneath the trenchcoat that I identified as a strangely comfortable cross between riot gear and light metal plated armor. I could feel the riot armor plates underneath the trenchcoat. I also had a black t-shirt and very dark grey cargo pants on underneath the armor along with steel-toed boots. I had a bandolier to top it all off.
As soon as I finished my inspection of my attire I heard a scream from somewhere nearby. Now, know something about me. No matter how hard I try, I can't just deny a cry for help. As quickly as I could, I dawned my helmet and without a second thought I ran towards the scream at a much faster rate than I normally could have ran before. This didn't bother though because someone was in trouble and I might be their only chance.
[Canterlot][Present day]
Twilight raced through the halls to get to the throne room to converse with Princess Celestia on the recent discovery of the dark crystal caverns. She had just made an important discovery about the caverns creation and how the extremely rare dark crystals and blood crystals formed there over 49,000 years ago. While running down the halls she summarized what she had just discovered about the crystals. As she reached the throne room doors she did a last summary on her information. She opened the door to the throne room to see Princess Celestia staring at some of the many large stained glass windows that depicted the main 6's achievements such as the defeat of discord, the main 6 discovering the elements, ect. Celestia noticed Twilight entering and smiled at her warmly.
"Ah, there you are Twilight. I trust you have the geographer's entries from the caverns?" said Celestia.
"Of course!" said Twilight enthusiastically. "I have it right here." She opened her saddlebag and used her magic to pull out some rolls of parchment. "I haven't had the time to read them though." twilight confessed. Celestia then used her magic to grasp the rolls of parchment, open them and bring it up to her face to read. The first read as such:
Rock-Crusher's Log entry #1
These caverns are incredible. In all my time as a geographical recorder, I have never seen such formations at this large a scale. What makes these special is that they are all dark crystals and blood crystals! The two rarest crystals in existence converged in one cave! This is probably the geographical discovery of the century! Not only are these the two rarest crystals in existence, these are also the largest variants! All dark crystals and blood crystals found before this were small and in minuscule clusters, but never the two types of crystals together. We have begun to set up a base camp near the cave's entrance and have begun to map it. Also the cave has an effect on magic. It nullifies magic to the point where your horn shocks you if you try to use it. That is all the info I have for today.
To Be Continued...
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Chapter 3: Savior Explanations ; Troubled Debriefing
Chapter 3: Savior Explanations ; Troubled Debriefing
[Everfree Forest][50,000 Years Ago]
As the duo, confused human and injured pegasus, walked away from the timberwolf pack and was out of their sight and hearing range, the exceedingly tall biped and the small technicolor mare were in complete silence as they walked. The mare couldn't help but wonder about her savior. What exactly was he? Who was he? Why did he save her? How was he able to stare down an alpha timberwolf? Well, that one was self explanatory. She could remember the fear she felt as she saw those glowing crimson eyes for the first time. But he calmed her with his voice before she panicked about it.
The more she thought about it, the more her savior became... enticing to her. She couldn't help but think that him saving her was slightly romantic. She thought of how he came from nowhere and stared down an alpha timberwolf for her protection.
'Damn you thought process!' Thought the mare. She subconsciously tightened her hold on her savior.
Little did she know, but he noticed this and couldn't help but let out a small smile from under his helmet.
"Um, excuse me mister?" She started nervously. She couldn't get her previous thoughts out of her head as she talked.
"Yes?" He said.
Her mind raced with questions. She finally settled on one.
"What are you?" He asked. She immediately noticed how rude she was being by not thanking him for saving her first.
"My name's Jackson. I'm a human." He answered, no hint of irritation what-so-ever present in his voice.
This caught her off guard. She had heard of humans in fairytales when she was just a little filly. The stories represented them as terrible and dangerous beings with power that rivaled an alicorn's power. There were very few, but each represented a different element of power. They were also highly intelligent, with brains just as complex as a ponies, if not more so.
The stories said the only thing that can harm a human is their opposite element. But she had never seen one before. They were always fictional creatures, thought to be fake and made up by some foal's imagination long ago. This scared her a small bit, but she didn't show it. The stories were right on the part about them being scary, but were wrong about the part on them being terrible. The human carrying her towards her hometown of Riverwood was kind and tolerant, like King Starburst and Queen Sunna, if anything others have said about him were correct.
"Can I ask a question I have?" Asked Jackson.
"Um, sure. Depends on the question, though." Replied Cloud-rush.
"Who and what are you?" Asked Jackson. He of course knew the 'what', he just wanted to confirm his accusation. But he truly didn't know the 'who' part. But its as almost if something was whispering a name into his ear. Her name.
"My name is Cloud-rush. I'm a pegasus. Have you never seen one before?" She replied, confirming the whisper.
They were nearing the edge of the forest and the road that lead to Riverwood. When they exited the forest they were in a field of grass and they could see the dirt road to Riverwood. She followed the road with her gaze to find Riverwood. Burning.
[Canterlot][Present Day]
Twilight, Rainbow, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie and Fluttershy were racing down the hallways on a course to the throne room where they will be briefed on the problem at hand.
"I wonder what the princesses needs us for this time." Said Rainbow Dash, who was flying slower than she normally would so her friends could keep up.
"Can't be worse than Tirek, right?" Asked a worried Applejack.
"With how the Princess Celestia reacted to the last entry, it might as well be just as bad." Confirmed Twilight, who was at the head of the group.
As they opened the large throne room doors, they were greeted by the sight of both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, both with worried expressions on their faces.
[50 Minutes ago]
As Twilight left the throne room to gather the elements, Celestia ordered her other guards to leave the throne room. They complied and left. Finally Celestia could panic in peace.
'This can't be happening' She thought. It's just a fairytale to tell a foal as a bedtime story' . She then decided to tell her sister. She teleported to Luna's chamber doors and started to knock rapidly. When she stopped, she could hear hoofsteps from the other side of the door. Then Luna opened the door.
"Sister? What is it?" Asked Luna slightly irritated because she normally slept during the day.
" Luna, this is a situation of dire attention. We may be meeting a myth. A dangerous one at that." Said Celestia, worry weaved in her voice.
"Oh yeah? Which one? Can't be worse than Tirek." Replied Luna.
"The Dark Guardian." Said Celestia.
As soon as Celestia finished that sentence, Luna's face drained of color.
Chapter 4: Burning River ; Task at hoof
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.
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Chapter 5: Unreal Fear (Full 45,000 B.C. [Before Celestia] Chapter)
Chapter 5: Unreal Fear
[Riverwood][45,000 BC (before Celestia)]
I couldn't feel anything. Not because I was injured, because I, WAS, PISSED. Black mist was creeping from out side my vision. The advancing griffons stopped dead dead in their tracks. Their looks switched from confident and sadistic smiles to looks of utter fear and terror.
'They think they can attack this little village, burn it down, kill the defenseless villagers and * get away with it!?** Oh hell no!'*
My vision had changed. I could now see through the smoke like it wasn't there and everything was black with white outlines except for the sentient creatures. The villagers and, as I saw very shortly, a rabbit were white with black outlining their features. The griffons were a different story. They were red with white out lining their features. I made up my mind quickly by labeling these colors with their apparent object. I labeled them as such:
Black = Environment/Obstacles
Red = Enemy
White = Innocent/Ally
The innocent villagers were to shocked about me to move from their spots as I advanced towards the shocked griffon soldiers. One actually snapped out of it's stupor, jumped over a smoldering fallen pillar and charged me with a steel mace. He had a look of confidence and a smug smile on his face. My instinct started whispering something in my mind. My 'targeting sight' (as I like to call it) faded back to my original vision to once again reveal the smoke and colors of the world around me.
I focused my rage into a collected part of my mind and shot my hand as if I was about to grab something. Then suddenly, as soon as my arm reached its full horizontal length, a long spire made of black crystal shot up from the ground in front of me and impaled the charging griffon through the heart.
The impaled griffon looked down at his missing heart. How he was still functioning was beyond my knowledge. He looked back at me and spewed blood out of his mouth. He was in complete agony. I finished him off with a different crystal spire that was made up of red crystal that pierced him through the head. That one was subconscious. I retracted the spires and looked at the remaining griffon soldiers. They were starting to flee.
'Oh no you don't' I thought. I wasn't about to let these pricks get away. As they took flight, I shot my hand out at them. All I could think about was catching them. My new power seemed to have read my mind, because a black chain came out of my sleeve and was shooting straight towards what appeared to be the commanding officer of the griffons. He was bigger than the others and wore ornate steel armor with gold trimming and had spots of blood on it, no doubt that the blood was pony in origin. His feathers were white and were tipped in black. What fur I could see beneath his armor was a dark brown.
The chain wrapped around one of his hind legs and caught on itself, creating a secure lock around the leg. As soon as it caught, the speed the griffon was going combined with its strength pulled me a few feet from my spot. I was able to get sturdy footing on a large rock that was it front of me. The griffon commander was stopped dead in his tracks, but he kept trying to fly away. Hopelessly, might I add. He turned around with fear in his eyes to see me with a pitch black chain coming out of my sleeve and around his leg. He was now a good 30 feet away from me suspended in the air with his wings. I slowly started to reel him back in.
(Commander Falco's P.O.V)
This is it. This is where I died. It was just supposed to be a simple village raid against those pathetic ponies. No one ever could have guessed that a fucking monster of an abomination with the power to wield dark magic would appear out of the blue and start attacking us. If these ponies had this monstrosity like this bipedal freak of nature, who knows what else they had. Just staring it it the face was unnerving, but once you look into its eyes, you never want to look it in the face again. It's eyes were completely black with glowing red irises and black mist coming out of the corners of its eyes.
We saw what it does to those who oppose him. Greg tried to take him head on. The ignorant fool. He was punctured through the heart by a black crystal spike that came out of the ground and was hit straight though the heart by it. Fortunately for Greg, the creature had the mercy to kill him swiftly after a few seconds via another spike to Greg's head. That set an example for us who the superior force was here. And that force had very little mercy towards those who attack the ponies. Damn, he was probably sent by the ponies royalty King Starburst and Queen Sunna to kill us all.
We tried to flee but the biped was persistent about getting us. Me to be exact. I thought that I was going to make it out alive, but the creature had other plans. I had felt a cold metal feeling of a chain wrapping around my right hind leg and then I felt it get caught on itself. I wasn't going anywhere.
Now I was being reeled in like a fish caught on a line. I kept trying to fly away but to no avail. The closer I got to the creature the more I panicked. All of a sudden, I felt the strong grip of hand around the back of my neck. I was then turned around to see that the creature was holding me by my neck. I saw its face and we were at eyes level. I looked into its eyes and my life flashed before my eyes.
I saw the memories of my childhood in the capital city of Griffonia. Me and my friends would always fight with fake wooden swords. We would always laugh and play. Then my memories flashed to my school days. My average was B+. My memories then showed me enlisting into the military, training and the great time me and my comrades had.
His vision then returned to the eyes of the... demon. That's the only thing it could be described as. I was still looking into those soul burning eyes of the demon. What surprised me the most was what happened next. It spoke.
"Never come back. This is your only warning." Spoke the demon. Its voice sounded as if 3 other of its kind were speaking at the same time it was.
It then threw me up into the air where I took advantage of the situation and flew like tartarus to get away from that thing. I had to tell the king about this new enemy, because it might just be our undoing.
Chapter 6: Dark Crystal Prison ; Informed
Chapter 6: Dark Crystal Prison ; Meeting Royalty ; Journey to The Cavern
[Dark Crystal Caverns][Present Day]
[??? P.O.V]
I kind of pity those geographers. They only wanted to explore this cavern and record their findings. Especially the one that goes by the name 'Rock-Crusher'. But all they got was a crystal golem's fist to the skull, with their friends watching as the golems did what they do. Rather gruesomely too. Whatever. Those ponies were weak. But we still had to clean up the mess anyways.
But when a small purple alicorn entered the cave, I was intrigued. They were rather rare and were extremely powerful. So I told my golems to dull their natural luminescent properties and to stand down out of sight to let the little alicorn do whatever she was going to do, just as long as she didn't go into the main chamber like those idiot geographers did. But she mostly stuck to the campsite of the 'missing' geographers.
I saw and laughed in my mind at her reaction to the magic nullifying crystals that Jackson created. A freak out. I found it hilarious to see a small creature in distress. It was so adorable. I was disappointed to see her go, but I knew if I was ever going to get out of my god damned prison I was going to need to attract attention. I just hope Jackson doesn't ruin this for me. He has ruined enough of my plans. No more.
[Castle of the Night and Day][45,000 B.C.]
The day court and the night court, that was currently being held, were excruciatingly boring. Most of the nobles were... well... noble (unlike the nobles from when Celestia rules) and always had legitimate claims. Nopony was in the throne room at the moment except the guards and the king. Little did Starburst, the king of Equestria, know that he was about to meet an ally who's name would live on for millennia. A pegasus royal messenger with a grey coat of fur, blue hair and the cutie mark of an envelope with a crown on it ran into the throne room looking like she had just run a marathon, even though he flew. He began to talk in a rushed manner.
"Your highness! The griffons have attacked Riverwood! They sent a squad to burn the town!" Said the exhausted messenger.
Riverwood, living up to its name, was a riverside town with a lumbering mill. It was a charming little town. It was also the source of a lot of the wood used in the kingdom. All three tribes of ponies lived there. But now the griffons were attacking it.
Starburst remembered the day the griffons declared war on them. It was unexpected and out of nowhere. The griffons had the largest supply of steel on Equis and they weren't afraid to show it either. They had attacked before when the war started, but it was always on the outskirts of the country. Never before have they attacked this far into Equestria. King starburst mulled over these facts. They were becoming increasingly aggressive. He needed to act now or Equestria would risk losing more land to the griffon empire.
"How many soldiers were in the griffon squadron?" King Starburst asked.
"It looked like to have about eight soldiers your highness." Replied the royal messenger.
"Nightlock, find the captains of the guard and tell them to sent out a detachment of troops to Riverwood and secure any and all griffons. He has permission to use lethal force against them." Said Starburst in a commanding voice.
The night guard in full purple armor to the left of Starburst nodded and rushed out of the throne room to find the captains of the day and night guard. This left only the right side guard, the king and the royal messenger.
Then King Starburst said to the messenger, "Send a message to King Amethyst of the Crystal Empire. Tell him that the griffons have attacked further into Equestria. Tell them I recommend doubling their patrols. We don't want to lose them to the griffons."
The messenger did a small bow and left the throne room to fulfill his duty as royal messenger. Starburst was left to ponder on this. How did the griffons get so far in? But there was something else bothering him even more. There is a massive surge of magic coming from the Everfree Forest, near Riverwood. He was no stranger to magic, but this magic was new. It was similar to dark magic, but it was different none the less. From his magical scans, he discovered it would take MASSIVE amounts of mana to control. Even he could only be able to control it for a short time.
If this magic was being emitted by a creature, that would make the creature very, VERY dangerous because no creature should be emitting that amount of magical energy. Not even an alicorn. All he could do now is wait and hope for the best.
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Chapter 7: Death is the Gift I Bring (Full 45,000 B.C.)
Chapter 7: Death is the Gift I Bring
[Riverwood][45,000 B.C.]
[Jackson's P.O.V]
I tossed the griffon into the air like a pigeon after it's been healed by doctors. Except this pigeon is half of my height, more than likely scared out of it's fucking mind and it's part lion. May the griffon's psyche rest in piece. I thought that the griffon's mind would be stronger then that. Huh.
I had just finished telling the griffon's commanding officer to screw off and never return. I fell great. Powerful, feared and... wait, why do I feel like half of me is just... gone? I shouldn't feel like that, not at all. I looked by my feet and noticed that there was thick black and red smoke. But the more I looked at it, the more it reseeded.
'Wait, is it absorbing itself into my legs? My abilities are super weird.' I thought. Then I noticed something that was in front of me the whole time and I don't know why I didn't notice it.
'Why aren't I panicking? I just got teleported to another world, got some awesome powers and just killed a mythical creature.' I thought. Whatever was keeping me from panicking in this situation was doing a damn good job at it. I looked up from my feet to notice a lot of very colorful small horses around me. Well, they were way to small to be horses, so I guess they could be called ponies at their height. Some were unicorns, some were normal and some were pegasi.
Then out of nowhere, a familiar pegasus flew at him and hugged him exceedingly tight. It was Cloud Rush. He could do nothing but pat her back as she metaphorically crushed him with her hug.
"Thank you." She whispered. After a few seconds she finally let go of me and glided to the ground. I looked around me at the other ponies, their faces filled with wonder and fear and it was getting kind of weird. But before anyone could say anything, a whole fucking contingent of guards came running out of nowhere, aiming their spears at me. Well, maybe not that many, but it was a lot.
"Halt, Beast!" one of them shouted at me. Apparently the villagers didn't like this at all.
"Hey! He did nothing wrong!"
"Yeah! He just saved us!"
"Your the one who should halt!"
I found that last comment kind of funny. The guards looked at each other, probably thinking about what to do next. I just stood there wondering what to do too. My instinct began giving suggestions. It was like a separate entity or something.
'Might as well introduce myself and help them out.' I thought.
"They're just doing their jobs. It's not like they're psychic." I said in my new voice. It was still pretty weird having it, but I was getting used to it. This seemed to calm the villagers down and the guards seemed overly confused on what to do.
"Well, what do we do now?" one of the guards asked. I had an idea that my instinct gave me, but that was cut short by an arrow being lodged in my left side, in a spot where there was a break in my armor so it wouldn't hinder my mobility. This surprised me and I waited for the pain, but nothing came. I looked down at the arrow, saw the point where the arrow hit and saw that the arrow had a small ring of black smoke close to my body around the shaft of the arrow that hit me.
I reached to the arrow and gave it a yank. It came out of me but there was no blood, just black smoke. The black smoke soon started to cover the hole that the arrow made. Even the trench coat repaired itself with the black smoke. I looked up from my self repairing clothes and looked at the arrow I just pulled out of me. The tip was intricate steel with a purple crystal in the middle and the bow's shaft was make of normal oak wood.
I quickly evaluated the vague trajectory of the arrow to trace it back to its source. I looked in the direction of a large spruce tree on the other side of the river that was next to the village. But when I looked at it I got hit with another arrow, this time in my right eye.
My right eye was blinded, but I unconsciously remained silent for some reason beyond my comprehension. After a second of thinking, I reached up and yanked the arrow out of my eye. It was just like the arrow I pulled out of my side. A second later the right side of my vision returned and I saw a white blur duck behind the large spruce tree.
'I saw you motherfucker.' I said in my head as I sprinted through a burning house, towards the river bank. I didn't even stop to think about how to cross because I didn't get a chance.
As soon I was about to step foot in the water, everything became nothing but a blur. All I could properly see was the black smoke that surrounded me as I was flying across the river at lighting speed. Before I knew it, I was at the other side of the river. Right next to the spruce tree I was going to.
My slight confusion subsided fairly quickly as I saw the arm of a misty white entity.
'I don't think it knows i'm here.' I thought. I could see it grab another arrow with the arm and place it into what I could only assume to be a bow because I couldn't see past the edge of the tree. I could see that it was preparing to turn around the opposite side of the tree to fire off another shot at, but it couldn't see me there.
My instinct was telling me I needed to scare it to make it more vulnerable to my techniques of attack and/or speech. It was like my instinct was sentient. If I was going to scare it, I need to appear as knowledgeable and creepy as possible; and what better way to do that than seemingly come out of nowhere?
With high amounts speed, it turned the corner and I took that chance to step behind it, so when it turned around it would see me just standing there. Unmoving and completely silent in my approach. The strange being that was composed completely of white mist was humanoid, but it was bone thin. It looked like a mummy without the wrappings.
As it looked around the side of the tree, I could clearly see it's confusion at my sudden disappearing act because of it's sudden head jolts and it's panicked behavior. It quickly turned around to take cover behind it's tree. But when it did, it saw me.
It's face were two glowing blue eyes and they were wide from both panic and surprise, but mostly surprise. The misty entity was almost high enough for the top of it's head to reach my chin. It dropped it's bow and slowly took two steps back. My instinct was telling me to kill it, but that was a suggestion I wasn't following. I just kept standing there menacingly. I decided that I was going to try and communicate with it.
"Hello there." I said while smiling. That was not my new voice. It was a distorted, deep and layered voice that shook the air around me and my teeth felt much sharper than normal. I decided to call the white misty being an 'arescet' because 'arescet' was latin for 'wither', and it was pretty withered judging by it's bony structure.
I could tell this greatly disturbed the arescet because it turned bolted away after I said those words. I didn't want it to get away, so I ran after it. It ducked and weaved between the trees, so I did too. I was slowly gaining ground on it.
After a minute of running around trees and over rocks the arescet was almost within my grasp. When I was close enough to it, I reached out my hand to grab it by the right shoulder. But when I grabbed the arescet, I felt pain.
Excruciating pain.
It was like my hand was on fire. I immediately let go of the arescet, grabbed my hand in pain and almost cried out in pain. The pain subsided quickly and I looked at my smoking hand to see charred flesh rebuilding itself. I looked up at the arescet and saw it on the ground, writhing in agony. It was holding the shoulder I grabbed while wispy screeches escaped it's... mouth?
Under the spot it was grabbing, I could see that the white mist was turning black. The black mist was spreading quickly and was no long confined to it's shoulder. It has consumed it's whole right arm and was moving across it's head and body. I stood there watching in fascination as the arescet was completely turned into black smoke and it's blue eyes were converted from blue to red.
As the last part of the arescet was turned into black smoke, it stopped just... stopped. No more screeches of pain and no more movement. I just stood there and looked at it's body. I knew it was dead. I don't know how I knew this, I just did. It wasn't my instinct, but almost like a sixth sense. I somehow also knew that it was in great agony. Not from pain, but from existing; and I just put it out of it's misery.
I approached the unmoving body slowly. The black mist slowly started to break away and dissipate into nothingness. The converted arescet continued to dissipate until there were only two floating glowing red eyes left. It was like it was begging me to get closer to it, so I did. I stood in front of the glowing red circles that were its eyes. The eyes slowly floated up to my eyes level while I just stood still. Then they spoke.
"Thank you. I am now free." The eyes said in a wispy voice that was barely audible. They then dissipated like the rest of the body had. I felt... satisfied with myself. Happy, even. I had just helped a trapped soul move on to the next life.
Even though I didn't know it, instinct was smiling.
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Chapter 2: Helping Hand ; Log entries Part 2 (edited {mostly just word fixes})
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."
