Author's Note

So first off I'm going to be apologizing for whatever grammar and such I've messed up on as well as if the story it self seems to be a little off. This chapter has a lot more dialogue which is something I am really trying to work on and get right. So hopefully I didn't butcher things too badly here.

Secondly I am oh so sorry for what happens in this chapter but I promise that I am trying to move things in a certain direction and the happenings (even if I did a terrible job with them) are there for a reason. So forgive me for that one.

Anyhow thanks for reading I hope that I can be of some entertainment to you all!

Neighbors of the wood

Reaching down to make sure I had properly situated my gear I started on a slow but meaningful pace towards the forest. Now when one thinks of animals and in some cases monsters you tend to lean more towards the fact that the life in question is mainly running on instincts that have been honed over so many generations, but here in this strange world that was probably the farthest from the case as possible. In this world the animals were smart almost capable of understanding speech and defiantly emotion. For all those that were kind there were the fair share of monsters such as the timberwolves that had gotten me moving faster then normal.

Timberwolves were a species of magical creature that only showed up in the depths of the Everfree to the point that not much was known besides the fact they hunted for sport. This alone was far different then I had ever seen in this world or my home, as it was not something even the animistic monsters did. Its a fact of this world that I had and will continue having trouble with a good deal of the time just for the fact that it goes against any form of monster I’ve grown up learning about. Finding mauled and mutilated bodies of those forest dwellers who were unfortunate enough to fall prey to the unnatural creatures were the cause of most of my unease in dealing with the forest.

Coming to a stop in front of the forest I could tell the wolves had yet to make it to the edge, but that didn’t bring about any form of relief. As even if they were not at the edge, that could quickly change, doubly so since it was nearing the beginning of the fall harvest and closer to the end of the season was the zap apple bloom. Even if I had only been charged to protect the border just short of two years ago I knew zap apples brought the season of the wolves. During which the wolves grew more and more unpredictable and bold going so far as to try to make it to the Apple’s farm land.

Breaking from my thoughts I started my long patrol of the edge heading to the south, keeping a keen eye out for any signs that the border had been breached. While walking I passed the vast orchards and farm lands that lay on the edge of Ponyville. With a practiced efficiency born from walking the same patrol each and everyday I quickly reached the last area of the border that I guarded and was quite pleased to find that nothing had been amiss. The entire trip from my home in the most northerly reaches of the town to the farthest south, only taking half an hour or so.

Spinning on my heel to turn back I noticed the caretaker of the local fauna as well as being the towns veterinarian walking down the small dirt path towards town. If I recalled correctly her name was Fluttershy, which I found to be quite fitting as the few times I had met her she had only spoken a few words that were barely audible. Looking at her something unusual caught my eye, not to say the butter yellow woman with what could only be described as the perfect look wouldn’t be capable of catching any eyes, but something was different. It wasn’t the long, heavy skirt coupled with a light coat to help with the small chill that was rolling into the land thanks to the pegasi. The thing I noticed was the small ball of blue fluff that was hovering around her.

With a sigh I quickly broke into a light jog towards her I called out for her to wait. “Miss! Please wait a moment, I need to speak with you for a moment!” It probably wasn’t my smartest idea to call out to the shyest pony that lived in town but I had to stop her there. As predicted she gave a startled yelp and spun quickly to face me with a terrified look on her.

“Y-yes?”

I slowed my jog to a slow walk as I carefully approached her hoping not to scare her anymore then I already had. Holding my hands up in the most non threatening way I could manage I got close enough to her so I could have a decent chance of hearing her replies. “I apologize if I startled you ma’am, but I wanted to know if you had any idea what it is your carrying with you” I said pointing towards the ball of fluff fluttering its small wings to keep hovering.

She took a look at the small creature and smiled slightly giving a soft reply. “Oh, well um, this is my newest friend, I found him while I was feeding my animals this morning.” Glancing from the small fluff she turned towards me with a questioning look and asked the one question I had hopes that she wouldn’t have. “Um, do you happen to know what it is? I’m sorry, if you wouldn’t mind me asking?”

“Ah, I was afraid of that Miss, what you have there is a parasprite” replying while holding back a long sigh. “Its native to the forest and I’m sorry to say but should be left there at all cost.” I could feel my heart strain at the look she gave me, one of confusion and disbelief.

“But, its such a nice little thing how could I ever leave such a cute little animal there” she quietly spoke. “Its much to kind and it could get hurt in the forest” her tone and mood shifted quickly when she started to defend the sprite.

Letting go of the sigh I lowered my hands, I had a feeling things would take a turn for the worse on a subject like this. I mean how could one imagine that someone who willingly took in injured and sick animals would cast one out just as easily.

“I’m sorry but the truth of that animal is that it is only capable of doing two things, eating in mass quantity and multiplying. There are stories of entire towns being lost due to them as well as written notices about them Ma’am. All of which are all available in the town library if you do not believe me.” Hardening my gaze upon her I did the only thing I could think of to hopefully avoid the impending disaster that the small ball of fluff could bring. “I’m sorry but you’ll have to excuse me, as warden of the forest I’ll need you to release the parasprite in your possession to me so that it can be brought back to the forest. If you have any issues with that I suggest you take them to the Mayor’s office and tell them to assist in looking up the Everfree bestiary compendium from the library.”

The look in her eyes was heart wrenching, it was almost as if I had just killed one of her animals in front of her. Though to be fair I likely was killing this one sprite, but with their usual life span of a few days it wasn’t going to weigh on me all that much. Reaching out I carefully grabbed the sprite from the air next to Fluttershy and stuck it into the small burlap sack I carried.

Deciding that it was in the best interests of the both of us I turned away hoping to minimize the damage. Making my way back to the forest I started my patrol north again as the now crying mare all but sprinted to town likely to find a way to overturn my decision before something happened to the sprite. I could tell now that this was one of those things that were just going to up and bite me later.

“Today was supposed to be so much more fun” and with a shake of my head I made my way back north. Thinking that sometimes responsibilities to fulfill were more harmful then one would believe.

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Taking my time walking back home for some lunch was easy enough as I also had to find a good place to release the parasprite, which was a task of its self. I had to release the thing deep enough that it wouldn’t come back out looking for food yet again. Luckily the only dangers I came across when trekking into the forest was a rather large patch of poison joke. After finding a good spot to release the sprite it managed to surprise me, not only had it created two more sprites but they seemed content to just fly deeper into the forest. It was a strange but nice scene to watch them disappear into the underbrush lining the forest’s floor.

I lost track of the amount of time that I had sat watching and waiting to see if they would return. A quick glance to the skies showed it was just past midday though. As I stood the soft songs of the birds in the area were temporarily interrupted but soon continued as I made my way back to the edge. The small woodland creatures soon did not pay me any mind as I walked through their territory.

When my cabin came into view was when my luck seemingly ran out for the day as there standing out in front of my sanctuary was a group of five ponies. Three of which I was quite familiar with being that one handled my pay check, the other a good friend, and lastly the pony I had just been forced to disappoint. Mayor Mary Mare and Applejack gave a quick wave and Fluttershy attempted to hide behind the two I had yet to meet, both had their backs to me but turned after seeing the others react. The first being a lavender colored unicorn with a dark mane that had a light purple streak in it wearing a knee length skirt and a long sleeve collared shirt with a sweater vest. The second I had yet to recognize was a light cyan colored pegasus with a rather brash rainbow mane that looked as if it only ever got a light brushing. She was wearing a light wind breaker and a pair of athletic shorts.

When I had reached the front yard the cyan pegasus was immediately in my face. “Just who the HAY do you think you are making Fluttershy cry!” she yelled out pointing her fingers at my chest.

Sighing I looked past her to the others that were standing in my yard. “Mary its nice to see you, you as well Aj. Miss Fluttershy I do hope that you at the very least followed what I said and that this is not going to be an issue.” At this point I could have cared less about the angry looking pegasus currently in my face and just wanted to deal with the true issue at hand.

Thankfully the Mayor decided it would be a good place to speak up before the brash pegasus could say anything else. “You know I am always glad to see you Sir Valac, though I was quite surprised to hear the reason why I was called out here.” She gave me a sly smile before continuing “I always knew you were a heart breaker but I must say this takes it far beyond what I thought you capable of. Now then Miss Dash if you would please calm yourself we can speak about this in the proper way instead of throwing anger and confusion into the mix.”

The newly dubbed Miss Dash gave a quick snort and turned to walk back to the small gathering and I took a seat on my porch steps while giving a small motion for them to speak up. Which turned into a mess as all but Applejack decided it would be a great time to speak at once. Clapping my hands loudly was enough to get their attention and for them to stop speaking. “Now then, Mary would you mind starting us off here as it seems everyone wants to say something? Also what happened to no titles between us?”

“My apologies Sir Valac, but this is an officially requested meeting made by a citizen of the Diarchy of Equestria. As such in accordance with the laws of the land your title of knight must be made known to all present” ‘Mayor Mare’ replied with a certain smugness that she loved to flaunt sometimes. The look of surprise that she got from the group quickly turned my direction resulting in yet more confused questions.

“What the Hay! He’s a Knight!” shouted the increasingly annoying Miss Dash.

“Uh, Sugercube when were ya’ gonna tell me ‘bout that?” came rather softly from my orange friend.

“OH, um, I’m terribly sorry. I didn’t want to make any trouble” squeaked the now shaking pale yellow beauty.

The last response came from the so far rather quiet Miss Sparkle only following the others after they had fallen silent. “Now wait a moment, there have only ever been two knights for each princess at a time since the founding of Equestria” she said with a determined look. “So if Princess Celestia already has two active knights and Princess Luna has yet to even begin searching for hers how are you a knight?”

Before I could even open my mouth ‘Mayor’ Mare had begun. “He is not a knight of the Sun or Moon orders Twilight. He is of a new order that was created when Princess Celestia knighted him a few months after he came to Equestria.” Reaching into the small satchel she had brought with her she presented the written orders and documentation proving my status as a knight and as the warden of the forest. “Sir Valac is the first knight of the order of earth, which was created to allow for more knights then usual, to defend all on Equis from threats of a more natural variety.”

“Hence, why I have taken it upon my self to prevent the issues a parasprite outbreak could have created” I calmly replied. “Now then since you all have decided to go down this path may I request that we hurry down it. I would like to get some lunch and get my afternoon training routine done before it gets to late in the day.”

“Well we can’t have that, but the matter has been settled already” replied the Mayor letting loose a small giggle. “I have already gotten the needed information regarding the parasprite and I agree with your decision. Even if you could have been a little nicer in handling it.”

“Glad to hear that” I said with a chuckle and looked towards the still hiding pegasus. “That said I do apologize for how I went about removing it but for the safety of the town it needed to be done. Though if the issue is taken care of already, I’m interested in why all of you went out of your way to come see me.”

Twilight decided to take charge of the situation and replied with a courteous tone “while we came to agree that the parasprite would have been an issue, I felt that it would be best for me to introduce myself.” Clearing her throat she continued “I am Princess Celestia’s personal student, my name Twilight Sparkle bearer of the element of magic. These are my friends Rainbow Dash bearer of the element of loyalty, Fluttershy the bearer of kindness and Applejack the bearer of honesty. Our friends and the bearers of the rest of the elements were currently busy preparing for the Princesses arrival tomorrow”

“Very well then it is a pleasure to meet you Miss Sparkle, as well as your friends” I said standing and giving a sleight bow. “I am Valac of the Farfinder family, son of the adventurers known as Micheal the shield and Sarah the light bringer.” Looking to the ponies standing in front of me I could tell my introduction had created more questions for them. Quickly raising my hand to stop them I continued “If it is alright with you I would like to continue with my planned day and leave questions for later.”

“Very well Sir Valac” Twilight replied before continuing. “Perhaps we could take some time tomorrow when the princesses are here to speak some more of you and your job here.”

Giving a quick nod I turned into my home and set about making my self a small lunch not truly bothering to say goodbyes or watch them leave. Heading into the small kitchen that I had outfitted with equivalent runic devices to the pony’s oven, stove, and ice box. Setting a pan with a small amount of cooking oil on the stove I reached into the ice box to retrieve a cut of a fish I had caught the day prior.

However you can imagine my surprise when I turned back to see that Applejack and Mary had taken residence in my small living room. Both of them seemed a little put off by the sight of the fish but it was my food so I didn’t pay it much mind. Placing the fish in the pan I broke the silence “So what else might I help you with ladies?”

They shared a look between themselves before Applejack spoke first “Well sugercube, ah’ just wanted to make sure y’all knew what your getting into before ah’ went home.” Stopping for a moment at seeing my questioning look Mary picked up where she left off.

“Val, you just opened the biggest can of worms you could imagine. Twilight is going to likely have a very long list of questions for you and she will defiantly be expecting you to answer all of them.”

“That my friend, is something I shall worry about later” I said with no shortage of laughing. “She is welcome to the majority of those questions, I’m not that secretive Mary. It just seems that most of ponies, especially in this town, are not that welcoming of unfamiliar faces.”

"Sugercube, ah' do hope you know that ah'm more then a little cross ya' didn't tell us ya' were a knight" Applejack said with no shortage of annoyance in her voice. "But knowing ya' it must'a slipped your mind or something. So tomorrow you best be ready for our share'a questions." Both gave a quick farewell closing the door behind them and leaving me to enjoy my lunch and soon after my short training session and late afternoon patrol.

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Once my daily tasks were settled for the day I was looking forward to the possibility of what tomorrow would hold. Even after being on the outside of the town for so long not many of the residents could be bothered to give me the time of day. But maybe with tomorrow bringing the Princesses and a meeting yet again with the bearers of harmony things could change. Just maybe the town that I put so much effort and care into protecting would finally welcome me, though then again the opposite could be true as well.

“No point worrying over it” I said giving my final sigh for the night before rolling over onto my bed and closing my eyes. “Its a problem for the future not the present”