Of hammers, magic and runes

P.O.V Change to Celestia

I was rather enjoying the light conversation that was bouncing around the room from my student, Spike, and my sister about Equestia of old. Though it seemed that young Fluttershy was rather intimidated by our presence, hopefully with the other bearers coming she will relax a little. Taking a small sip of the tea Twilight had prepared for us I noticed that there was a rather large pile of twenty or so full size notebooks with quills and ink sitting in the corner of the sitting room and let my curiosity take hold of me.

“Twilight, if you do not mind my asking why do you have so many writing supplies ready to be used?” I questioned despite knowing what the answer would likely be.

Twilight’s head quickly turned to me and her ears folded back. “OH, I’m sorry for the mess Princess, I didn’t think you would be here this early.” Glancing at the pile she continued “I thought that it would be best if I wrote down the conversation with Sir Valac for future reference.”

“It is no issue my student, I’m actually quite glad that you are doing so” I said with a smile. Before quickly laughing “However I doubt he will sit still long enough for you to even use one of your notebooks. I know that I had trouble keeping him in one place for a conversation.”

Reaching out I picked up one of the books and flipped it open while readying a quill. Writing a quick message on the page before turning it to ready the next page I placed it in front of my student. As the book touched down on the table the remaining bearers walked into the room their eyes widened in surprise, but each called out their own greetings and began bowing to my sister and I before finding a seat.

With all eyes on me I started our long conversation. “My sister and I are glad to see all of you, and I do hope you’ll forgive me for waking you all so early.” A chorus of ‘No problems’ and ‘It was no issue’ broke out from everyone siting in the room save from my sister. “Now before we begin Luna has told me that she would like to say something to all of you.”

Standing up Luna gave a deep bow before speaking with her head still lowered “I wish to thank each of you for helping me in my time of need. I am very honored to have had your assistance in freeing me from Nightmare Moon. I apologize that I was unable to do so earlier.” Everyone in the room could see Luna fighting back tears, and I’m not sure that my student and her friends could have made me more proud with their response. It brought a large smile to my face to see them collectively stand and give Luna a hug while ushering calm and welcoming words to her. Joining in on the hug we comforted my sister as she finally let go of the well of emotions she had been holding back.

Releasing each others hold I motioned for everyone to return to our seats. Clearing my throat “I thank you for that my little ponies. As much as Luna wishes me not to say she has been holding that back for some time” I said while wrapping my arm around my teary eyed sister to hold her close. “That said, I wished for you all to be here early for a reason. As all of you know the majority of your group have met Sir Valac-”

“Ugh, come on princess how can you like that guy?” said Rainbow in a disgusted tone. “I mean really he’s a jerk making Fluttershy cry like that.”

“Rainbow! Please show some manners you interrupted the Princess!” Rarity huffed. “And while I do agree that he acted like a jerk Rainbow, darling, you must be able to see his view of this. He recognized a danger to the town and dealt with it” asserted Rarity.

Raising my hand quickly to silence the impending argument I continued on not caring to ‘re-don’ my usual ‘Princess mask’ attitude with the hopes of bringing the conversation closer to heart. “Tell me Rainbow, if there was a time and a place that you were in his position to possibly save the town, but not taking action and following through regardless of feelings would run the risk of danger escalating, would you not follow the same actions?” Rainbow sat up quickly to attempt to argue before I continued “That is one of the reasons I chose him for this position as well as being knighted. He can and WILL make decisions that will likely anger some and maybe all, but will ultimately keep them from harm.

“You must understand that while he acts similar to us he is vastly different, as are his views of the world. Where he is from the very land itself would seem like it was trying to kill the inhabitants along side the creatures and monsters that roam. His tales of the times he adventured far and wide brought beauty all could behold, as well as horrors in ways that only some of the evils of old could enjoy” I voiced, my tone filling with disgust for a short moment. “Yet at the same time though his stories seemed to be full of hope and joy like even with the world itself trying to kill them nothing would stop their dreams.”

A brief lull in the conversation took hold while everypony shared confused looks at my tone shifts. “Princess, one moment you said THEIR dreams correct? Who else’s dreams are you talking about” questioned Twilight.

“Ah, I suppose I can speak a little about this. Valac spent many years traveling with five others while working as an adventurer. A job we do not have a good enough likeness for, though it could possibly be compared to being a cross between a guard, an archaeologist and likely several other things. Of course that is a simple likeness and I hope it is not taken to seriously as they were also skilled in many other things as well. His tales have ranged from his battles with monsters, learning lost languages, all the way to simply camping beneath the night’s sky.”

Spike eagerly raised his hand to ask a question and I gave a quick nod allowing it. “Princess he sounds like a hero from one of my comic books! So did he ever tell you what the biggest most dangerous thing he fought was?”

“Spike, I honestly do not think it would be good for me to answer that question” resulting in a room full of groans. Giving a sigh I weighed my options, “I do not wish to hurt the views and possible friendships that he could have by giving bad impressions. So if I answer that question promise me that you will take into account just how different his world is to ours, and that many things we know as facts are not true there such as manipulating weather, or that most creatures here posses some intellect even if it is minor.”

Getting a nod and a few ‘we promise’ from those in the room I steeled my self for this revelation. “The biggest and most dangerous thing he hunted with his party were dragons” I said with a sigh as gasps broke out in the room. “Now you must understand that the dragons they hunted are nothing like the ones here. They are instinct driven and had little to no actual intelligence. They were known to burn entire towns and villages down for food alone. As such the rulers of the lands being attacked called out for support in stopping them and adventures were the best option to do so. While the armies of the land protected cities and towns in addition to keeping order, the adventures would track the dragons and eventually slay them to prevent more destruction.”

Stopping that line of conversation I looked around at the ponies in the room and the lone drake. Each had a mix of bewilderment, fear, and disgust on their faces. The idea of killing a dragon, even young ones, was something incredible on its own. Even a maturing adolescent had the power to devastate small towns if they felt like it. So to hear that Valac had taken part in killing such things was a large shock.

“Wait a moment Princess” Twilight called out in question. “How many ponies did he go with in order to stand a chance against a dragon. More over was it fully grown? And just how many did he fight?”

“Six” I said staring into her eyes. “That is the answer to two of your questions and to the remaining one, yes they were all fully grown. However keep in mind that they were fought separately and that his group initiated the fights after confirming they were marked dragons.”

Being the only one who truly understood the implications thanks to her learning many things about the guard from her brother, Twilight was at a loss for words. The idea that a fully grown dragon could be killed by six individuals were surely setting off warnings for her. She quickly took to her notes to write down the massive amount of questions she would likely just came up with allowed others to speak.

“So, wait Princess your telling us that SIX ‘Huu-mans’ could stand against SIX fully grown dragons?” Rainbow Dash asked in disbelief.

“You are correct Rainbow Dash, though only in some ways. It was not six humans but six adventures.” Holding my hand up to stop her I continued “If I recall his tales of it correctly his party consisted of three humans, an elf, one of the dwarven folk, and himself.” That caught the attention of the fashionista of the group.

“One moment Princess, but it sounds like you didn’t count him correctly. Wouldn’t it be four humans including him?”

“Yes, you would be correct but he was not born a full blooded human, Rarity. His father was human but his mother was an elf. The Elvish are rather long lived human like beings that tend to be rather in tune with nature and the forests they live in. A normal human wouldn’t have the pointed ears that Valac possesses,” I said smiling softly while recalling those long conversations we had looking at the stars. “I will not speak further on either of those subjects as it would be impolite to not gain his permission.”

Twilight quickly dispelled the silence, “Princess, I would like to ask what exactly gives him the ability to be a Knight?”

“Ah, that is somewhat a difficult question to answer. To begin with he is incredibly well trained in combat thanks to his previous occupation and his parents tutelage. In addition he possess incredible magics that even I have difficulty re-creating, not to say it is impossible but that it is hard for me to use in an effective way.”

“Hang on one second! Are you saying that he could be stronger in ways then you!” Rainbow yelled.

“No my dear, as I said it is more of his effectiveness that makes him noteworthy. While I could replicate and cast his spells for longer then he could it takes me far longer to weave them to the potency that he possesses,” Celestia said with a smirk. “That said his magics are considered ‘Recovery’ and ‘Enhancement’ magics. ‘Recovery’ can be used to heal and restore ones body to normalcy depending on the damage or ailment, while ‘Enhancement’ does exactly as it sounds, allowing him to increase his strength, speed, agility, and so on. Though I must admit I do not know of the full limits of his studies with the branches he uses.”

“Princess, how much of an increase is he capable of and couldn’t that mean he could be a huge risk?” questioned Twilight.

Celestia gave a sideways smirk before speaking, “Twilight, my dear student, he has lived just outside of Ponyville for the majority of his time in Equestria. Yet he has never directly caused an issue for this town, nor do I believe that he will considering the amount of time he actually spends in it or rather lack there of.”

“That’s right!” Pinkie exclaimed. “He’s never tried to be mean and my big buddy Valli-walli wouldn’t start now!”

“Ha! Leave it to Pinkie to befriend everypony!” Applejack chimed in.

“Wait Pinkie, how long have you been friends with him?” questioned Twilight.

“Since he got here duh!” Pinkie exclaimed giving a silly face. “I mean really he’s got sooo many ideas on fun things to do and make. You girl’s know all the new treats that we keep coming up with in Sugercube Corner? Well Val gave me the ideas and recipes for them, and everypony seems to love them.”

“Pinkie, darling, are you insinuating that he is the one that made those delicious eclairs?” Rarity asked with wide eyes when Pinkie nodded. “Well I must say that even if the way to a stallion’s heart is his stomach Valac is defiantly making the inverse true.” Every head in the room turned much faster then should have been possible with that statement, accompanied by every eye as wide as they could be. “What? I happen to quite enjoy them even if they hurt my diet” Rarity said with a huff as we all began laughing only to be interrupted by Swift Wing, one of my personal guards, knocking on the front entrance.

“Your Highnesses, I apologize but a rushed report just came in from manehatten” said Swift Wing handing over an envelope.

Sliding over on the small couch Luna and I were sitting on so she could read it as well our eyes grew wider then before. “I am sorry my little ponies but it seems that there is an infestation in Manehatten that is causing trouble and must be dealt with. As such I will have to reschedule the rest of my visit for a later date,” Celestia paused standing up. “Pinkie please inform the Cakes that the crown shall reimburse them for their troubles and I hope the rest of you have a wonderful day.”

Quickly Luna and I walked outside and boarded our chariot only waiting for the pegasus guards to properly hook up so we could take off. “Tia, do you believe that this infestation could possibly be the same creatures that almost succeeded here?” Luna asked, her voice full of concern.

“I would not doubt the possibility of such a thing happening, and if it is the case then we will have to look into advancing our plans for the growth of the Knights of Earth. I hope that it does not come to that but if the knights stationed around the borders of the forest along with Sir Valac are unable to effectively contain the it and its denizens then we might not have the luxury of waiting” I said matching my sisters concern and adding to it. “To make matters worse Lulu, the knights have reported more activity in the surrounding areas, including everything from birds to manticores acting strangely. If there is the possibility that more issues and even worse more creatures would make it out of the forest and into populated areas it could be disastrous.”

Luna seemed to read my mind and voiced our biggest fear as we both looked towards the forest passing beside us, “Sister, after so many years of peace from the forest just what do you think could be driving these creatures out?”