The Equestrian Warden

It took a little convincing, but the unicorn girl eventually went with Midnight to the Grey Warden tent, and started our search for the Grey Warden named Dash. We wondered around the camp for a little while, Azura badgering me with questions about meeting my old man and even teasing me about how defensive I got when Soarin started to flirt with her.

“Aww calm down. I thought it was cute.” She purred shaking her head in amusement.

“This is what I get for defending your honor?” I growled in annoyance.

“Aww, calm down Comet. Though I admit that the king is kind of cute.”

I looked at her in alarm, but she just smiled and rubbed her head against my shoulder affectionately.

“It’s ok. I already have one cute pegasi, I don’t need another.”

I sighed, slightly annoyed, but couldn’t help but smile at her words. We managed to find Dash, but he seemed to be a little…occupied.

“What is it now?! Haven’t you Grey Wardens asked enough of the Circle?”

A unicorn, wearing mage robes asked, looking rather annoyed and angry. In front of him stood another pegasi, but this one had armor similar to Midnight, and had the Grey Warden symbol for a cutie mark. What also made her stand out was her light blue coat, and rainbow colored mane and tail.

“I just came to deliver a message from the revered mother. She desires your presence.” She rolled her eyes, not even bothering to hide her annoyance.

“Does it look like I care about what her reverence desires? I am busy helping the Grey Wardens, under the king’s order!”

“Should I have asked her to write a note?” Dash asked clearly not taking this seriously.

“Tell her I shall not be harassed in this manner!”

“Right, I’m harassing you, by delivering a message. And here I thought we were all getting along. I was even going to name one of my children after you. The grumpy one!”

“Enough! Let us see what your reverence wants. Out of my way!”

And with that, the unicorn shoved past the Grey Warden and walked to somewhere else in the camp.

“Well, he was charmer.” Azura growled, rolling her eyes.

“Your telling me.” The Grey Warden said, turning towards us and quickly composed herself.

“Dash. Senior Grey Warden. You?”

“Orion Comet, and this is my friend Azura. We’re the new recruits Duncan brought in.”

Dash’s eyes lit up when she heard this and her composure quickly broke.

“Thank Celestia. I’m glad to have some new blood in the wardens.”

She gave us both a hoof bump.

“My name is Rainbow Dash. Glad to meet you.”

“Rainbow Dash? I understand the Rainbow part, but why Dash?” Azura asked.

Dash stuck out her chest and huffed.

“I'm the fastest pony in the Grey Wardens! No pegasi has every beaten me before.”

“Oh yeah?” I smirked unfolding my wings. Dash seemed a bit surprise, but a grin quickly found its way to her mouth and she unfolded her wings as well.

“Umm, hey. Didn’t Duncan send us here for a reason.”

I groaned. Why did Azura have to ruin my fun? Even in Pegatapolis me and the other pegasi use to race all the time. I admit that I missed the friendly competition. Dash flashed me a look that gave me a clear message.

We’ll finish this later.

I nodded as we both folded our wings, and Dash nodded her head.

“Alright, we need to go find the other two recruits. Daveth and Sir Jorey. They should be somewhere around here.” Dash opened her wings again and shot into the sky, but looked down at us when we didn’t join her.

“What’s wrong?”

“You mean you want to fly around the camp?”

“Of course. All three of us have wings. What’s the problem?”

I looked at Azura for a couple seconds before I replied.

“I guess we’ve gotten so use to walking with Duncan.”

Dash nodded and laughed.

“I know how that feels. But come on. You’ve got wings. Let’s use them.”

And so we took off and flew over the camp searching for our two fellow recruits. But I learned a little about Rainbow Dash.

“Why was that mage mad at you?”

Dash snorted and rolled her eyes.

“Before Midnight found me, I was training to be a Templar.”

“You were a Templar?” Azura asked while flying beside me. Was that fear in her voice?

“Let me make this as clear as I can. I was a Templar in training. I never took my vows. I never swore my oaths. And I’ve never hunted a mage before.” Dash shook her head sighing

“Unfortunately that doesn’t mean anything. Because in the end the mages still hate me, and the revered mother sends me to harass them, and they know it.”

Dash gritted her teeth in anger.

“Why doesn’t the chantry like the mages.” I asked quietly.

“Don’t you know your history?” Dash asked.

“I do actually, but I do my best to avoid any religious books. Those tend to send the wrong message to people.”

Dash smirked and nodded.

“Smart, but basically the Chantry hates mages because Celestia’s mortal sister, Luna, was killed by the mages from Unicornia, a kingdom ruled by magic wielders. Since then the Chantry has always kept a tight leash on the mages, and that leash unfortunately is the Templar Order.”

I nodded. I was starting to see why that mage wasn’t very kind towards Dash’s message.

“Regardless, I’m a Grey Warden now. And you will be too, once we head into Hollow Shades.”

There was a gasp behind me. I turned and saw Azura had stopped flying and was looking at Dash fearfully.

“We’re actually going into the the forest?”

Dash looked at Azura with confusion.

“Yes. It is part of the joining. Is that a problem?”

Azura looked away.

“I…I need to talk to Midnight.”

“Wait, Azura!”

Azura sped away without another word, towards the tent with the Grey Warden symbol on it.

“Let her be. I’m sure she’ll be back before you know it.”

Dash continued flying towards another part of the camp. I wanted to go after Azura, but I knew she wouldn’t have flown away if it wasn’t important. I flew after Dash, but my mind was racing. Why did Azura leave so suddenly?

…

It was interesting meeting Sir Joy and Dagger.

Dagger lived on a streets and apparently tried to pick Midnight’s pocket. The guards were ready string him up but Midnight stopped them. Apparently she saw something in Dagger, what it was I don’t know, but Dagger somehow got conscripted into joining the Grey Wardens.

Sir Joy however was a knight up in Ponyville. He married a girl named Helena and apparently she is pregnant with child. After the Blight he plans to go to her and start a family.

After meeting with them we all went to see Midnight for the next part of our joining. But when we got to him I was expecting to see Azura with him. However, the only one with him was the little unicorn girl.

“Good, I see you’ve met your fellow recruits and Rainbow Dash. I’m assuming you are ready to begin preparations. Assuming your finished arguing with the mages Dash.”

She fixed Dash with a hard look.

“What do you want me to say Midnight? The revered mother cornered me. If those mages have a problem, they should take it up with her!”

“They did. And they took it up with me too. Do not forget that while you were once a Templar in training, you are now a Warden. And being a Warden does not give you the right to sass the mages. We cannot antagonize people and expect their help in the future.”

Rainbow Dash sighed and bowed her head.

“You’re right. I’m sorry Midnight.”

“Now that you’re all here, we can begin. You will do two things. All of you will be heading into Hollow Shades, and collect three vials of darkspawn blood, one for each of you. Although you must work together to fight the darkspawn, the vial shall be your own.

There was once a Grey Warden outpost in Hollow Shades that has been abandoned since the second Blight. But it has come to our attention that there are scroll, treaties, in the outpost. It is magically sealed to protect them. Only a Grey Warden can retrieve these scrolls, which is why I’m sending Rainbow Dash to accompany you.”

“What are these treaties for?” Joy asked.

“These treaties were made long ago, but they still hold great value. They give the Grey Wardens permission to call upon allies to fight the darkling when we need them the most. Although it is possible that the scrolls were destroyed, but the magic should have held despite how long it’s been. Are you ready?”

Everyone but me nodded their heads.

“Is something bothering you Comet?”

“Yes, where’s Azura.”

“Your bat pony friend told me she wanted to go first, and scout out for any possible danger. Although I was unsure she assured me that she will meet you all at the outpost.”

I wanted to be relieved, but something in me just didn’t sit well. Why would Azura want to go into the forest alone?

“May Celestia watch over you all. Once you return, you will be Grey Wardens.”

…

I wish we could have flown to the ruin faster, but both Sir Joy and Dagger were unicorns so we had to take a relatively slower pace.

Before we left the camp the little unicorn girl asked me to come back with Azura. I told her I would, but something was different about the girl. On her flank, her cutie mark appeared to be one of a tower. I was confused when I saw this, but on our way to the warden outpost I asked Rainbow Dash if she knew anything about it.

“I thought her cutie mark looked like a tower. Tell me, did this girl happen to have some magical outburst before you found her?”

When I told her how me and Duncan found her, Dash sighed.

“Wow. That’s pretty sad. But back to the topic at hand. You know of the Circles of Magi right?”

“Yes, they are where ponies and others go when they cannot control their magic. Most Circles of Magi have a tower were they can train these mages.”

“Mostly correct, but you’re missing a couple of key points. You see, sometimes when a unicorn or any other creature shows a great display of magic beyond your average levitation and lock picking spells, and beyond their control, then their cutie marks become a tower, showing that they are meant for the Circle of Magi. The Templars are trained to hunt these ponies down and bring them to the Circle were they can learn to control their magic. Although some do try to hide, the Templars have a special ability that allows them to track down the ponies with these cutie marks no matter where they are.”

“How do the Templars get these abilities?”

Dash shrugged.

“I don’t know. I never became a Templar. But can I tell you something.”

I nodded, but the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

“The Templars will never stop hunting her.”

I didn’t say anything else as we continued on.

…

Darklings seemed to be around every tree as we fought through Hollow Shades. Luckily this made it a lot easier to get the vials of darkling blood. However, when we finally found the outpost, most of it was in ruins. But the real problem was what we found the chest.

“What in Luna’s name! The treaties aren’t here.”

“No, there not.”

Our eyes turned to a dark part of the trees. In the branches were to sapphire eyes staring down at us.

“Azura!”

She shot forward and sat on the chest in front of us.

“Hello Comet. I’m sad to say that Grey Warden treaties are not here.”

Dash flapped her wings lifting herself up so her eyes were staring straight into Azura’s.

“Where are they Azura? Only a Grey Warden can open the the chest.”

Azura didn’t flinch, instead she shrugged her shoulders.

“I didn’t take them, but I know who did.”

“Who!” Dash said, barely holding back her anger.

“My mother.”

“What!?” Both Dash and I said in unison, but Azura only sighed.

“Yes. When I heard of Midnight’s plan to send us into the forest, I knew my mother probably took the treaties. I wasn’t thrilled to return here since I ran away, but I knew that you could never find her hut. So while you were assembling your little party, I managed to find my mother’s hut. If you want your treaties, you’ll have to follow me.”

“How do we know this isn’t a trap?” Dash asked, not liking Azura’s explanation at all.

“Whether you believe me or not doesn’t matter. Unless you want to return to Midnight without the treaties then I suggest you follow me.”

Dash’s eyes flashed in anger as she started reaching for her sword, but I quickly got between them.

“Please Dash. Let’s see if what she says is true. What do we have to lose.”

“Our lives.” Dagger grumbled.

“Please Dash. I understand why you don’t trust her, but it sounds like the Wardens really need these treaties. Can you stay your hoof until we return to Duncan with the treaties?”

Rainbow Dash looked at us both for a couple seconds before groaning in frustration.

“Very well. I'll follow her. But if she tries anything, I might just put my Templar training to good use.”

“Are we really going deeper into this forest?”

“Are you scared sir knight?” Dagger asked smugly.

“No, I just don’t feel like putting my life in the hooves of a bat pony.”

I felt my anger grow, but Azura didn’t say anything and simply hopped of the chest and walked deeper into the forest leaving us to follow her.

I quickened my pace so I was walking beside her.

“Why didn’t you tell me any of this?” I asked, trying to keep the hurt out of my voice.

“Because I’ve been trying my best to avoid ever coming back to this forest. My mother is an…interesting pony. I mean come on Comet, look around you. There are a lot more dangers in this forest than darklings, can you really blame me for wanting to avoid this place.”

She had a point. On our way here we had to avoid manticores, timber wolves, and many other things.

“I don’t blame you for trying avoid this place, but the unicorn girl is really worried about you.”

Azura shook her head.

“I know. But I promised her I’d come back. I already have my vial of darkling blood. And once my mother hands over the treaties, I’m going back and I’m becoming a Grey Warden with you.”

I was happy to hear this, but one question still hung in my mind.

“Will your mother actually hand over the treaties?”

She looked at me hesitantly before looking at the ground.

“I don’t know.”