Author's Note

I'm fairly new to writing any kind of fan fiction. Sorry.

All constructive criticism, suggestions, feedback, and even requests helps! I look forward to writing more and hope you guys want more as well!

Chapter 1: Úbi Sum?

“TO ARMS BROTHERS! SARACENS APPROACING FROM THE EAST!” You hear the marshal bellow from his location upon the keep’s wall.

You quickly throw on your greathelm and grab your longsword and fasten it to your waist, followed by taking your shield in your left hand. You quickly charge out of the tent followed by other knights, you can see them now. Saracens. Honorless dogs of the desert that have been your order’s mortal enemy. You unscheathe your longsword and point it skyward, letting it glimmer in the desert sun.

“DEUS VULT FILTHY SARACENS!” You let bellow as you lead the charge, many of your brothers following with the same if not similar calls of battle. You’re nearing them now, you can almost smell the unholiness upon them.

The first clash of steel is made when you cross your fine European longsword with the Saracen’s filthy scimitar. You quickly move your blade upwards throwing the Saracen’s arm backward as you follow through with a shield bash, slamming the holy red cross of the Knight’s Templar order into his drab leather armor. You finish the thing off with a downward thrust of your sword, impaling him and striking the sand he lied upon.

You withdraw your blade, it still dripping with the fresh crimson of Saracen blood, and ready yourself for the next combatants. You are instead taken off guard by a galloping sound coming from your left as you quickly swivel your head, allowing you to see through the small eye slits that a riderless etherial horse is barreling straight towards you. Its hollow eyes burrowing into your very soul. You have no time to dodge as its ghastly figure passess though you, dissipating like mist as you feel extremely cold and hit the ground falling into an endless void of darkness.

You hear the sounds of battle, of clashing swords and screaming men, begin to fade. As if they’re moving further and further away and all you can do is listen to the now murmur of battle that is far too distant to distinguish any kind of information as to whom is winning. You fade into a deeper darkness as your senses go numb and you no longer hear or feel anything but the void.

You begin to regain slight consciousness after you have no idea how long and slowly, very slowly begin to move. Your entire body aches as you attempt to lift yourself up, except you don’t feel the coarse ground that you had grown accustomed to whilst stationed in the desert surrounding the holy city. In fact, you felt grass between your rough fingers and felt wet dirt underneath your palms.

You push yourself onto your knees and sit there as you are absolutely blinded by the light of the sun, after your eyes adjust you can now see that you are definitely not in the desert anymore. If anything this was as far from a desert as you could be. Before you lay a deep and lush forest that for some reason gave you a sense of foreboding as you remembered storied your grandmother would tell you about naughty boys that would get taken into the woods by monsters. You look to your left and found a long stretch of short grass that lead up a hill to what appeared to be an apple orchard with some strange red building sinning amongst the trees. Maybe some things had changed back home?

Wait, how could I be home? It was several month’s travel from Jerusalem, you thought to yoursel. But this forest and field were familiar, but you could just feel something wasn’t right. Then you looked to your right and saw a small village with buildings that looked just like the one you had grown up in with your 9 brothers and 6 sisters (very few of which survived very long).

So, there was only two possibilities: one, you had died and gone to the afterlife that awaited all followers of the holy faith and are now in paradise. Or two, you had been knocked into such a deep slumber that the war was already over and you were sent back home after a job well done, to be praised as a hero for all ages.

You slowly got to your feet, and after having to pick yourself up a few times, were able to take a few shakey steps forward. You stopped in place and quickly checked yourself, if this was your home or the afterlife you wanted to at least look decent. You straightened your tunic covering the linked chain armor underneath and straightened your greathelm, brushing bits of dirt and grass from the breathing holes. You then realise that you don’t have your sword or shield.

Where could they have gone, did they come with me or were they left behind by his holiness or my comrades? You quickly spin in place and find them behind where you had originally awoken about 30 feet back. You stagger towards them and slowly bed over to pick them up, your back aching in protest as you do. With the sword back in its sheath and having fastened the shield to you back you begin the slow, painful walk towards the village.

As you approach the village you begin to notice strange structures, like a flat topped building with some kind of metal rods lying upon the ground in front, stretching further than you could see in either direction. And another building that looked like a tent, but with small horse statuettes circling the top, around the conical roof. These were strange to say the least, but not the strangest thing you saw. As you approach the village to be around 10 feet away you see a small horse trot into view, flanked on either side by two more. While seeing roaming animals was strange, but not uncommon the appearance of these equines baffled you beyond all disbelief.

The one in the middle had a single spiraling horn protruding from it’s forehead and the one to it’s left had wings about its midsection. The one on the right while not bearing any strange features like the others was completely an obnoxious pink color, the other two also had strange coloring as well. The winged one was the color of the sky with a rainbow hued mane, and the horned one was the purest white that put your own tunic’s color to shame, while her mane was the deepest most rich shade of purple you had ever seen. Deeper than that of the silks of the few lords you had met during your beginning of servitude to the order.

You stopped, dumbfounded this must be the afterlife and these must be some kind of cherub angels. You stood perfectly still but as one of them crossed in front of you it caught a gleam of sunlight reflected off of your helmet and into her eyes, making her stop and shield her eyes in a strangely human way with her arm? (You didn’t know much about the anatomy of horses, being a footsoldier and all).

“Excuse me darling, but could you shine that somewhere else please. It’s dreadfully bright” it spoke in a rather refined and feminine voice, it reminded you of the ladies of lords back home.

You had no real response and spoke loudly to her, giving her a basic apology.

"My apologies m'lady, I meant no harm" you say moving aside, she smiled as she began to uncover her eyes.

“Thank you darling, that’s much bet-” but she stopped suddenly when she had to look upwards to meet the emotionless gaze of your greathelm the sun shining behind you.

Now you had heard warcrys, babes screaming, screeches from angry wenches, and cries from desert vultures. But never in your life had you ever heard such an ear-shattering shreik before. It resonated within your helm making your head feel like the great church bells of the holy city as you tried to stop you vision from blurring. Just as you regained singular sight you saw a speeding streak of cyan shooting at you as fast as an arrow.

You were just able to unceremoniously launch yourself to the left and dodge the projectile equine. Landing on your stomach you heard a frustrated grunt from somewhere behind you and saw that the rainbow haired equine was now flying and taking aim at you again. You quickly spun yourself around and unclasped your shield from your back and held it with both hands bracing against the impact of the pegasus (you think is what they’re called) and watch it fall to the ground a comically large bump now sprouting from its head and parting the now disheveled rainbow mane. You saw the unicorn (again a bit foggy on the names for these creatures) begin to create a glow around her horn, prompting you to fling your shield at her like a discus.

Unfortunately, the pink equine intercepted it, catching it in its mouth and letting out a muffled “got it!” before laughing to herself.

You quickly sprung to your feet your pain fading as the heat of combat began to boil in your blood, drawing your sword you unleashed a booming war cry as you charged toward the two remaing equines.

"AVE MARIA!" You bellowed out, startling the preoccupied unicorn.

The white unicorn lost her balance and fell backward, screaming, eyes filled with terror as you sprinted toward her, sword raised high while the pink one continued to bounce around happily oblivious to her and her compatriots peril. But, just as you were to close the distance and deliver holy justice you are suddenly floating in the air, surrounded by a purple sparkling bubble of light. You begin to hack frantically at the light, trying to free yourself, but to no avail. You drop your sword, but it remains within the light with you and you mutter a last prayer to save your soul before you perish.

[Moments earlier in a different part of Ponyville]

“Thank you very much for the quills Scribble Scratch!” Twilight said happily, taking the new plumes and placing them into her saddlebags gently.

“No problem princess” Scribble said as he took a deep bow behind his counter, bumping his head when he came back up. This elicited a giggle from Twilight.

“Please, just call me Twilight. I’m still the same pony who would always buy quills from your stall” Scribble just rubbed the back of his head as he nodded.

“I guess you’re right, I’m just not used to servicing royalty prin- I mean Twilight” he said quickly correcting himself.

“Well, if it helps just image want a it’s like to be royalty” Twilight moaned “Everything is ‘policies this’ and ‘proper actions’ that. I don’t even have much time to read anymore” she said a small tear welling up in her eye.

“I suppose you’re right Twilight, I never thought about how hard it would be to suddenly become royalty” he said, smiling sheepishly.

“I guess I was just being sel- hey, do you hear something?” Scribble said, interrupting Twilights current conversation with her favorite quill vendor and causing her to perk her ears up.

“Ave Maria!” Twilight could hear as she listened. Strange, she’d never heard anypony yell anything like that before and it was close too.

Then she heard it, the piercing scream of Rarity

“Oh no!” Twilight said quickly throwing bits onto the counter and sprinting off toward the sound of her friends screams.

As she galloped closer she saw a horrific sight. Rainbow Dash lay unconscious in the grass and pinkie bounced around with a shield in her mouth (ok, that’s not that horrible) but what really scared her was the hulking metal creature charging toward the collapsed, screaming form of Rarity. Twilight quickly sprung into action and channeled her magic, capturing the creature in a protection bubble before he could reach Rarity. She saw him swing a sword at the bubble a few times and then he suddenly dropped the sword and clasped his hands together and bowed his head.

“What in the name of Celestia is going on here?!” Twilight yelled confused at the display before her.

[Where you were, right now]

“What in the name of Celestia is going on here?!” Another feminine voice yelled, stopping yourself from your prayer to His Holiness.

You open your eyes to see that there stands another equine, this one however had both the wings of a pegasus and the horn of a unicorn. She was a lilac color with a three-tone purple mane and tail. Her horn appeared to be glimmering with the same colored light of your current prison, so you speak out to her.

“Excuse me fair lady, but could I bequeath thou to release me from these confines?” You ask, trying not to let your annoyance with this strange dark magic bleed through your words.

She seems shocked as she looks around to see if anyone else is around, as if she didn’t realise that you had spoken to her. So you try again, this time MUCH more directly.

“RELEASE ME NOW DARK HORSE SORCERESS OR FACE THE MIGHT OF THE KNIGHT’S TEMPLAR’S SWIFT AND HOLY JUSTICE!” You yell straight at her, accentuating your call by thrashing inside the magic bubble.

She seemed to be absolutely shocked and moved a few steps closer, until she was almost snout to greathelm with you.

“Y-you can speak? I thought that golems weren’t intelligent enough to speak?” She said looking straight into the eye slits of your greathelm.

“I am no construct of unholy magic, sorceress, I am a crusader of the holy order of the Knight’s Templar and I demand that you release me!” You say, rage beginning to boil within you once again. For a moment the magic bubble flickered and you began to float back towards the ground, to only inches away, be surrounded by the same aura and levitated back to where you were before.

“Wait! Why should I let you go?! You were trying to hurt my friends!” She looked over at the unconscious form of the cyan pegasus on the grass. “And you’ve already hurt Rainbow Dash!”

You could feel the magic bubble around you begin to grow warm and shrink, making it increasingly painful to be inside. You try pleading with her instead of threatening or demanding, praying it will free you before you are crushed like a beetle on a desert rock.

“P-please!” You cry out the pain almost unbearable.

“I was just trying to defend myself when the pegasus and unicorn attacked m-me!” You are now stuck with your head between your legs as you feel the magic continue to crush you, until suddenly it stops and cools.

“So you weren’t just some golem gone magic crazy and trying to attack my friends?” She asked looking a bit embarrassed.

“N-no” you say, cracking your back. "I had thought them angels of the afterlife, though strange ones. I never meant to do any harm” you say sitting crossed legged in the bubble.

“Now,” you say, snapping her attention back to you “wouldist thou release us, I plead of you” you look at her, trying to convey some emotion through the piece of steel on your head.

“I suppose that I can set you free” she started saying as she released you “but I’m just going to keep these away from you, just in case.” And she created a smaller bubble around the sword and pulled the shield from the pink one’s mouth, much to her discontent.

“Now, let’s start again” she cleared her throat and smiled at you. “My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle, and what may I ask is your name?” She said, waiting patiently for and answer.

You stood up straight and straightened your tunic, showing the bright red cross on your chest more clearly. Trying to convey some sort of greater image to your newfound conversationalist.

“I am Sir Rowan of the Knight’s Templar holy order of crusaders, sworn warrior to the Holy King and the Holy Lord!” You say loudly, but not angrily. Just pridefully boasting.

“But thoust can call me Rowan if it pleases thineself” you say looking away embarrassed under your greathelm.

You’ve never really gone by your title, it was either just Rowan or other mocking names that your brothers-in-arms would call you.

“Well, you can call me just Twilight if you wish to. I’d honestly prefer it” she smiled warmly at me, clearly she didn’t like her royal position. You could understand that, you was never much into politics. Too confusing.

“Well, now that we’ve gotten the introductions out of the way, may I ask you a question?” Twilight says not stopping her eyes from scanning your armored form.

“I suppose so?” you say, rather confused.

“What are you Rowan? I know you’re not a golem, but you’re not a minotaur or ape either and I’ve never seen anything like you before in Equestria, I don’t think anypony has! " she seems to be truly confused as to what you are.

You have to mentally recollect, did she just say that she’s never seen a human before? You take a big gulp to wet the uncomfortable dryness that is beginning to form in your mouth and decide to ask her a few questions after you answer hers.

“I-I am man, his Holiness’s greatest creation, following his Son the Saviour, of course” you quickly add, not wanting to be smited for blasphemy.

“A human, strange I don’t think I’ve ever heard of your kind before” Twilight says as she rubs a hoof under her chin, probably thinking.

“W-well, wouldist thou mind i-if I asked thou some questions?” You spoke worridly.

“Sure, ask away!” Twilight said happily, hoping to trade more information with you.

“What beith you exactly, Twilight?” You say, generally curious since she was both unicorn and pegasus.

“Oh, I’m a pony, we all are” she stated matter-of-factly.

“More specifically, I’m an alicorn. There aren’t a lot of alicorns around. Only four including myself that I know of” Twilight finishes her answer and you are confused to find that not only is everyone here a ‘pony’, but they’ve never seen a human before, which means...

“Twilight” you say seriously “Where beith myself, in this moment?” She looks a bit confused as to your question, tilting her head once you finish.

“Well, you’re in ponyville a small village in Equestria” she answers, tilting her head a bit and looking at you.

“So this isn’t the promised afterlife, and thou aren’t the holiest of angles that inhabit the final plane of eternal paradise?” You ask, fearing, but knowing the answer.

“N-no, just Equestria. Sorry Rowan” Twilight says softly, clearly not wanting to hurt you with the truth. But it was too late, the damage was done.

You fall to you knees and let out a sorrowfilled wail that would darken even the happiest of souls, tears coursing down your face, thankfully covered by your greathelm. Twilight seems worried about you and steps close, placing a hoof onto your shoulder as you see the pink pony stop bouncing and visibly deflate and darken a bit.

“There there Rowan, everything will be ok” Twilight says in an almost motherly tone.

“I-I d-didnt even g-get to c-claim the h-holy land” you say through choked back sobs and tears.

Twilight just moves closer and embraces you with her front hooves as well as her wings, giving you a sense of security and warmth as she begins to hum a sweet tune. Soon you feel yourself falling into a deep sleep, exhausted from today and hoping this is all just a dream that you will awaken from.

You drift off to sleep, still being held by Twilight, listening to her song as you hear a groan from behind you. And as you fade to sleep you can hear the muffled voice of a boyish female begin to speak and then yell, only to be stopped by the soothing voice of Twilight, whilst she still holds you in her embrace.