“I still don’t understand why you’re using a torch?” Spike asked me for the sixth time.
“Because the dark crystals here emit an anti magic field.” I replied, a mental tally marking an unspoken seven.
He stopped and looked at me blankly for a moment, “But you’re levitating the torch.”
“Didn’t we go over this when we were preparing?” I pulled out the small list and looked near the top where ‘brief Spike’ was checked off.
He smiled and twiddled his thumbs, “I-hi wasn’t really paying attention. You were packing so many tasty looking gemstones…”
I sighed. This is fine, at least he’s distracting me from the spooky vibe emanating from the Black Chamber. I just wish he would pay a little more attention, “The black crystals produce a subtle magic negating field. It basically just send out a little energy on all frequencies save the lowest possible ones where basic spells like levitation and voice alteration resonate.”
“Y-yeah,” he said looking at the crystals with more trepidation now audibly gulping. He glanced at me and put on a cute brave face but quickly gave in, “T-Twilight… is dragon fire a advanced spell?”
I blinked like Owlicious did when I tried to explain why ponies kept getting mad at his call. “I don’t know. Dragons are notoriously unstudied and there’s actually a long standing debate on whether or not their fire is a spell at all.”
I cringed when I noticed that seemed to just make him more scared. Too scared to try and test I noted. “You did listen when Celestia gave us instructions to the area the map indicated right? I would hate to get lost down here.” I said trying to change the subject.
He outwardly brightened up instantly, “Oh yeah. Talk to me about useful stuff and I’m all ears.”
“So the functionality of the most deadly thing we could possibly find down here doesn’t count as useful?” I mock deadpanned.
“Hey we’re here!” Spike dodged, pointing at a random crystal. “Woops never mind my bad, guess we had better keep going.” He said quickly, dragging me by my saddlebags farther into the wandering caves.
Some time later we did actually arrive. The Dark Crystals smoothed out at the end of the main cave forming a evil looking door. The door itself was completely natural but I could tell that the enchantment on it was cast by a rather powerful mage. How they cast such a spell in an anti-magic zone failed me.
“Well we found it. But why here?” I spoke more to myself than Spike, “Of all the places in Equestria and beyond why would the Map lead me here specifically? There’s no way anything could be here that could even have a friendship problem!” I grunted at the craziness of it then sighed realizing that crazy was my life now. Long gone was logical deduction.
With gritted teeth, a pointlessly readied spell, a faithful yet terrified dragon clinging tightly to my side and a torch lighting the way I pulled on the handle and opened the door. Only to find another door.
This door wasn’t made of the enchanted crystal though and appeared to just be a normal wooden door. This theory was quickly dashed when I got close and it discharged an electric shock strong enough to hurt but not damage more than a little singe.
Shocking me to my senses I remembered what Celestia said about the dangerous enchantments down here.
"Spike, do you have that orb I gave you?"
He nodded quickly and started to scoop around in his backpack. The orb in question was an artifact Celestia herself crafted. It was, in my opinion, a needlessly complex for it's function but I didn't dare say so to my teacher. It was a crystal ball about the size of a tennis ball with cast iron fixtures on the bottom so it wouldn't roll off if you set it down. For as fragile and difficult to craft as it was all it did was temporarily dispel enchantments.
He handed me the orb and I focused the trigger spell onto the door. A stream of white light, identical to Celestia's magic aura reached out and covered the door. The spell had a similar nullification to the Crystals but instead of harmonizing it disrupted and because of that it only lasted for about thirty minuets
I did this to the remaining four doors and even had to get spike to melt a stubborn old chain. Turns out dragon fire didn’t count.
Then we got to the last door. It was barely a real door, only on this side could I tell it was and then that only because it had a chain with a loop firmly planted into the otherwise seamless crystal. It took both the strength of an Alicorn and a Dragon but we were able to pull the half meter thick door just enough to slip through.
The small circular room on the other side looked like a rather comfortable looking room. It needed more light, cushions and color but otherwise it was a nice room. There was a slot embedded into the wall with a mound of blankets, a writing/reading station embedded into the wall next to us and even some weirdly comfy looking crystal chairs set around.
If spike hadn’t been shaking so much I would have just thought it was a bust. Maybe the Map malfunctioned or something? But I looked down and followed spike’s trimbelling finger to the bed. They weren’t blankets, they were clothes. I felt the color drain out of my face. A dead pony. I had never seen death. Not even that of a fish or rodent, I never had one.
It was completely paralyzing, the mere prospect that I was so close to something long dead causing my brain's functions to stop. Yet, unnaturally, like something was puppeting my body, I found myself walking to the body. My brain kept making excuses: it was just a skeleton, maybe it could tell me what I needed to do here, that cloak did look nice, but the rest of my body was screaming for me to stop. I wanted to say something, I wanted spike to stop me, but some sickly curiosity overcame my mind. I got right up next to it and reached out a shaking hoof. Then I touched it. For a second nothing happened but only for a second.
When I touched it my hoof stopped shaking, only to start again. This time it was being shook. The thing was vibrating, the it stopped. It stopped and sat up. A chill took hold of my body when I realized that it wasn’t a skeleton. It had barely decayed at all.
It’s vacant eyes stared at the blank spot next to me as it chanted a strange series of mumbo-jumbo mentioning the time and date. Well, probably the time and date. It was using the old calendar. Then It’s eyes… opened. It’s coat was just white. It’s eyes were a blue so pale they almost matched.
It’s hoof was pressed against my throat. My back was on the floor.
“Who are you! Why are you here!” The pony screamed in my face with a bowel-loosening demonic voice.
“I-, er… um. Eep.” I could barely think much less for a coherent sentence. It looked into my eyes and internally debated something.
Then it let me go and I gasped for air, coughing at the same time. Spike stood nearby, rigid as a statue and equally as white as the pony's coat. Said pony was staring at it with a hard look.
“Now,” The pony returned it’s attention to me after letting me orientate myself, “Who are you? More importantly who sent you?” It spoke in a jarringly different sweet feminine voice.
“M-my name is Twilight Sparkle, this is Spike. I was sent here by the Map to fix a friendship problem.” I barely sputtered out, praying she didn’t do… anything really.
To my surprise she laughed. It was a hollow laugh, like ones found in Starlight’s village but a laugh nonetheless. “A map sent you? For a friendship problem? That is the boldest lie I’ve ever heard, I’ll give you that.” With that she looked around and got a since of her surroundings. Then her eyes leveled on Spike. “O-ho shit, a Dragon.”
My ears instantly went straight up and my face lit up red. So did Spike’s.
“A little Dragon thing… Traveling with a Unicorn pony… in a Dark Crystal Cave…” She turned her hard gaze to me and I felt my recently re-planted legs start to shake. “You aren’t lying are you?”
I shook my head. Really, what was I supposed to do? This… pony… was crazy!
She glanced around, picked up the torch, and headed for the crystal door. With one arm she opened it with barely any effort, like she was picking up a box of books. I thought she was just going to walk off with us both stunned but after the third door she turned around and said, “You really don’t want to stay in there for any longer than you have to. Trust me. If I was all you wanted then we should really leave.”
I shook my head back to reality and trotted up to the impossible pony, spike doing the same just a little slower.
While we walked I studied her. There was something... off about the way she walked. Like she was hunting for something, a type of trotting I had only seen Zecora walk with. Her mane and tail were both short with spirals of purple and grey. Her cutie mark was obscured.
The silence was broken by our new friend saying, “My name is Joy, Voluptuous Joy but that’s hard to say so just Joy please.” Making me pause with a well-timed wink. “You seem a little quiet Alicorn, something tells me you’re normally more talkative.”
Maybe my slack-jawed expression was a little too revealing.
“Y-yeah. Sorry I just don’t know what to say.”
“I get it, that’s the usual reaction. But normally they’re at the end of a blade.” She said with a thoughtful expression.
Spike lit up and beamed, “Blade, you mean like a sword!”
Joy jumped so high she hit her head on the top of the cave screaming, “Holy fucking shit you scared me!” Making my face light up again. Spike paid no mind however.
“Are you like a sword fighter or a knight or something! It would explain the armor.” I had noticed that too. Her armor. She wore a dark but though looking cloak mostly counseling a set of confusingly slim armor embedded with various symbols prominently featuring a crescent moon.
Still not quite over her scare Joy said, “I had no idea you could talk Drago- er, Spike. Sorry, I thought you were some kind of familiar or something.” I mouthed out the word "familiar". She turned away from him and started walking again. “Yeah, I guess you could call me a sword fighter. But I don’t normally use a sword. Just don’t go calling me a knight. That will get both of us into trouble even if was the case.”
“That is soo cool! If you don’t use a sword than what do you use! Do you actually fight! Can you teach me!”
“Hey, woah. Slow down kid. I use a scythe, yes, and definitely not. You could barely use a dagger much less a sword.”
“She’s right Spike, didn’t we talk about this. It’s not good to think about fighting so much.”
Spike, completely dissuaded by either of us, said, “Well than would you fight me? I could take you, I’m a Dragon!”
She groaned, Spike was clearly adgitateing her. I was about to say something to him when she said, “Kid, look, out of all the children I’ve met you’re actually pretty cool but I’m not going to fight you. Mostly because if I were to I couldn’t bring myself to do anything but throw it. And because your Pony mom doesn’t seem to want you to.”
“I am definitely not his mother.” I said slightly offended for some reason.
“That’s why I said Pony mom. Completely different thing.” Her snarky expression said otherwise. I puffed out my cheeks in polite indifference but couldn't bring myself to say anything on account of the look in her eyes. This pony was so deceptively nice. Starlight Glimmer's village was one thing, but this was something else. She seemed to be genuinely happy but there was such a sadness that undercut her entire presence. And a danger, just looking at her made the hairs on my spine frost up.
Another few minutes of silence fell and again it was broken by Joy. “Do you want to ride on my back Spike?”
We both stopped in our tracks, Spike and I sharing a glance.
“Umm, sure.” He said.
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to but you’re practically running to keep up with us and while I don’t doubt Dragon endurance you must be a little tired. Besides you probably barely weigh a thing. Just don’t kick my flanks or I will kick you. Unintentionally then intentionally.”
Spike hesitantly obliged and got on her back. I couldn’t tell if he wanted to or if he was just afraid of what would happen if he said no. Honestly I felt the ladder and didn't say anything for the same reason. Still, I kept my eyes on her. If she tried anything...
Eventually we found our way to the edge of the Black Crystal without incident and got out of the magically repressing area of effect. I stretched out muscles then funneled some magic through my horn, effectively stretching my magic. Then I glanced over and noticed Spike whispering something into Joy’s ear.
A disturbingly Pinkie smile grew on her face and her horn started lighting up. And it kept growing in intensity like she was looping magic for some reason.
“Hey Alicorn, can you fly?” Where the only words I heard before my world distorted and phased out.
And phased back in thousands of feet above Canterlot City. She had teleported us over a mile straight up! The mad unicorn didn’t even have any way to fly, she was going to get us all killed! And she was laughing like a loonatic, free falling without a parachute!
After about five seconds she teleported us onto the ground, thousands of feet away.
Still laughing she said, “Spike told me you were working your magic out because you have a higher passive build than normal Unicorns and a anti-magic zone makes you all stiff. I thought it was a great idea and stretched out my magic myself.” Then her voice stopped being all plastic cheer and she said, “but while I was up there I noticed something. There’s a lot more cities and a lot more city in them… Tell me Alicorn Twilight, what year is it?” She finished with a dangerous tone.
I gulped and said, “1010 into the second season.”
“What? What does that even mean. Last time I checked it was 713 A.B.”
“T-that comes from the old calendar.”
“How long? How long has passed while I was in that hole?”
I did a bit of mental math. Luna came back on the thousandth year so… “297 years…” Oh that was not a good face. That was a very angry face. That was the face of somepony about do do something stupid.
Her horn lit up again, progressively getting so bright it hurt to look at. Then all at once it was released in a telekinetic force spell that knocked us back against trees. I heard a scream then the tell tale *thunk* of a buck against a tree. Over and over again she bucked until I heard splintering wood. Then another scream, “FUUUUUUUUUUUUCKKKKKKKK ME! And fuck my righteous indignation.” She sighed and deflated. “I’m sorry guys. Thanks for getting me out of there. If you hadn’t found me there’s no telling how long It would be until I got free, if I ever would. I have a request, if you ever see Celestia tell her she's a piece of shit who needs to learn how to deal with her problems.” And in a flash the mysterious pony vanished into the Aether. I tried to do a tracking spell but I only thought about it after the magic had distorted beyond recognition.
Author's Note
Well I hope it's not bad. If you see something stupid that I messed up please tell me and if you feel like giving me some constructive criticism than I'm all ears. Worry not yee weary few who actually liked this; I'm going to keep going. I've had this idea rattling around in my head for quite a while now and recently it was just trying to find a way to start.
Finished while listening to this song.
“Applejack I’m so sorry I’m late!” I said, rushing into the Veggie Burger.
“Oh I don’t mind. It’s rare I get to just sit on down for a while”
“Still I feel like such an idiot, I just got caught up reading Robert Feathers Compendium and completely lost track of time.”
“His what now? Are you still on about that old pony?” She asked with a unamused expression and a raised eyebrow.
“Well yes. She could still be out there and we know absolutely nothing about her. She has ridiculous magic prowess and an amazing amount of strength. I don’t know if she’s hostile, friendly, indifferen-” Applejack’s stare cut me off. I politely coughed, “Ermm, yeah. Lunch…”
“Twilight I understand that she could be dangerous but you’ve been holed up in your castle for a *week*. Your research is going from understandable to unhealthy”
“But what if something happens! I can’t just sit around and not try and figure it out.” I pleaded for Applejack to understand my point of view.
“I’m not saying that you have to stop researching, not that I could make you, I’m just saying that too much of it’s bad. You didn’t go to Fluttershy’s picnic, you didn’t go to Pinkie’s party, and you’ve already missed two of our lunches.”
I gave a defeated sigh. “I guess you’re right. I’m stressing over a possibility. If I got this worked up about everything that might happen I would probably go mad. Heh, mad Queen Twilight. Isn’t that a headline.”
Applejack laughed wholeheartedly. That was nice, the last laugh I remember was the hollow one of Joy…
“So what are you getting?”
The rest of the afternoon carried on smoothly save for the waitress pony spilling spaghetti on the floor. Apparently it was her first day on the job, poor thing was nearly as shy as Fluttershy and twice as embarrassed. After an hour or so of casual reading with Spike I did decide it was best to continue researching. Maybe I could try some biographies? Maybe a pony will mention Joy if I get the right time period.
I sat down with a biography on one of the early great metal craftsponies Iron Greeve. I felt off though. There was a chill on the back of my spine and I had the uncomfortable feeling that I was being watched. The feeling vanished though as soon as I got into the book. Iron Greeve was an interesting pony anyways and the combination of expert writing of by Ready Made made it a breeze to read.
Out of the blue a sweet, raspy voice said behind me, “So, Princess Twilight then? Had you said something I would have bowed down to my newest monarch.” To my credit I didn’t jump too high into the air.
“You! What are you doing here!” I shouted instantly recognizing the sickly sweet voice. She had shed the armor somewhere and was now just wearing a long cape, again bearing the crescent moon insignia.
“Making a courtesy call. You saved me from what I realise now was going to be an eternity of dreaming. While I wouldn’t normally mind that my mindscape is rather… finicky.”
“But… what took you so long? It’s been a week!” I said slowly, readying a sleep spell. I didn’t want to use it but I had no idea what to expect.
“Really? A week? Huh, I guess my sense of time is still off.” She said, bashing her head with hoof like she was trying to kickstart a generator. “Really I was just trying to figure out what happened to my town. Waste of more time than I thought apparently. That’s not really that important, what is important is this: a wish.” She teleported onto the table behind, lying in an uncomfortable pose. “Basically you can have me do whatever you want from me. I am a mare of many services which normally cost quite a lot but for you I’ll make an acception.”
I did not like the sound of this. “What kind of ‘services’?”
“Pretty much anything. I can’t exactly grant you immortality, you’ve already got that done, but something within a feasible capacity for a lowly Unicorn. Need a pony offed, want more wealth than you would ever need, want a maid service I’m your gal.” She said, summoning up a… piece of soggy paper. She looked at it with an angry expression. “I guess my barrel broke.”
What? Wait, “A pony offed! You mean like killed!”
She looked at me with a terrifyingly blank expression. Then she answered with an equally terrifying response. “Yes. Assassinations, executions, your ‘dirty work’, whatever you want to call it. Why, you need somepony gone?” The casual way she said it staggered me. I was nearly at a loss for words.
“A wish is anything right?”
Not even letting me finish she said, “Anything but that. Treat me to dinner first at least sheesh.”
“What? Whatever, you said a wish.” This was a terrible idea. Oh this was such a bad idea. I barely thought about it and blurted out, “I want you to stay here with me.” I spoke all at once. This stupid Princess of Friendship title is really going to get me in trouble one day.
She stared at me for a few seconds then finally said, “Fuck, I really need to be more specific. Alright, fine. Do you want me to call you master or something.” She also mumbled something under her breath but I couldn’t hear it.
“No just Twilight is fine.” Or should I flex my princess title. This might be my only chance of figuring her out, I don’t want her to just leave.
“So how exactly do you want this done? Am I like your servant or gardener? Royal Crystal Polisher?” She looked around for a second before saying, “Entire Royal Guard? Seriously, you have nopony guarding this place.”
“I want you to be my… Student. I’m going to teach you the magic of friendship.” I said with my most dramatic voice, and the biggest smile I could muster.
This was such a bad idea.
She just laughed. I deflated a little. “Pfft, lady, listen. I’m definitely way older than you are even without my extended nap. I don’t need a teacher and I definitely don’t need to be taught the “Magic of Friendship.””She finished in a mock tone.
“Well maybe you do? That wasn’t the friendliest thing and something tells me you’ve been a long time without a friend.” I tried to reason. She had to be lonely, three hundred years is a long time for ponies to stick around and I could reasonably figure that she didn’t have anypony.
I watched for the longest moment as the gears in her head span, twisting and turning until finally she responded, “Fine. Twas I who was stupid enough to grant you a wish…” She trailed off.
“Right. Well first things first if I’m going to help you I need to know a little about you.”
She snorted, clearly not liking this idea. “I’m actually a changeling spy sent from the past to devour your gods. I’m Celestia wearing a wig. I’m a troubled teen going way too far to cover up the fact I was getting smashed in a cave. Listen, Princess, I’m just a pony of woes and troubles that are now hundreds of years old. Get on with your life, don’t let me drag it down. Just ask me for a back massage and be done with it.”
She was giving me an out, letting me reconsider. I wanted to instantly say ‘no we're going through with this’ but I was starting to psych myself out. Do I really want this dangerous pony around Spike? She’s not worth the trouble. She’s obviously not a villain so don’t worry about her. But some Applejack sounding part of my brain took notice of the pleading look hidden deep in her eyes. Then beyond that a endless pit of blue sorrow.
She was so very sad. “No. I can tell you need a friend, what kind of princess would I be if I didn’t even live up to my title.” Or maybe this was going to go fine. Oh Celestia I hoped nothing was going to go wrong.
She slumped over defeated. “Fine. What exactly does being a friendship student entail exactly?”
I started to answer but as I opened my mouth the double doors to the library burst open and two of the three flower ponies ran in.
“Princess we need your help!” Rose shouted.
“Woah woah, just calm down. What’s wrong?” I said, trying to sooth Rose.
“It’s Daisy. She’s really sick and none of the Doctors know what to do. We thought you could do something. Maybe magic up a cure?” Lily said in place of Rose who was currently having a panic attack.
“I don’t think I can just ‘magic up’ something. What are the symptoms, maybe I have a book on it.” I said, already starting towards my disease section. This was very bad. If the Ponyville doctors didn’t have a cure than it was something rare. Rare was not good when it came to diseases.
“Well she has these big rings around her eyes and they’re all bloodshot. She’s running a really high temperature and keeps coughing. Oh, and she keeps complaining about her muscles. And it came on really suddenly. She was just pruning some flowers she found in the Everfree and then she was really sick. Please help Twilight, she’s doing really badly.”
“Were the flowers blue?” She shook her head. I quickly skimmed through every disease book that might might match the description but none of them did.
“Okay, don’t worry. I’m going to go get Zecora, she’ll know what to do about this.”
“Oh thank you so much Princess. Thank you thank you thank you thank you.” She said, grappling onto me. I took a second to glance over to Joy and noticed that she was just staring.
Then she shook her head and said, “Alright, you ponies need to leave. Twilight needs to get to her business.”
They quickly said the last of their thanks and left, probably to go comfort their friend.
“Twilight,” Joy said from right behind me. I jumped again, geez she was a quiet pony. “Zecora is a very Zebra name. Aren’t ponies super racist?”
“Racist?” I asked, hurrying towards the door.
“Well, back when I was around everybody hated Zebras. I never really figured out why but as far as I can tell it’s because they had some kind of alternative solar system theory that completely discredited Celestia’s abilities. I also recall the phrase ‘zigger’ making me laugh.”
Her extremely casual slurring made me turn red again but I powered through it and said, “I don’t really know. When Zecora was first around everypony was scared of her but that was because they thought she was a spooky hooded shaman who would turn you into soup.”
“Right. Well, one more thing, why don’t you just teleport us to her house?”
“She lives in the Everfree. The primal magic around there would make it more likely for us to teleport into a tree than not. Besides, I’ve only been there a few times so that could end disastrously.”
She stopped trotting and turned to face me. “Woah woah, Princess. I understand your decision, if you know this Zebra can help than I’m all for it but the Everfree Forest? Even back in the day there’s no way somebody could live there, we could barely get into the damned place.”
Once again with the swearing.“I don’t know the specifics but Zecora mentioned some kind of plant that keeps the beasts away.”
“Princess, I’m just going to say that this is a bad idea. The Everfree Forest is not a place to take a stroll through. Even the edges will eat you alive. We should get a chariot and have a pegasus fly us there.”
“We don’t have time. And besides Zecora made sure that the path there was monster free. We’ll be fine.” I said and immediately wanted to take back my words. Even if Zecora had made sure that the path was safe the sight of the Everfree this close was terrifying.
I glanced over just in time to notice Joy flash. My first thought was that she had left me to do this myself. For some reason the lack of the scary unknown pony made me even more scared of the scary *relatively* unknown forest. But before I could think more on it I noticed that she hadn’t left at all, she just changed.
She was now wearing the armor, shining with a sheen I could see myself in. The crescent moon insignia was adorned across either flank, on both front shoulders, and very prominently on the center her chest piece. She was also levitating a scythe. It’s blade was sharper than anything I had ever seen and looked to be the same crescent shape of the moon. Or maybe I was looking too close.
She turned her head to me and cocked it slightly to the side. “Don’t you have some armor or something?” I shook my head. “At least some enchanted Regalia right?” Again I shook my head. “Okay fine but you have a weapon.” Another shake. She groaned loudly and said, “I’m going to get myself killed. Okay, here are the rules: any creature smaller than three of me you let me take care of. Anything bigger you run and let me distract it. If it’s larger than your castle then… well. Run faster.” That was comforting.
And with that she started boldly into the forest with that predatory walking style that put me on edge. More than I already was walking into the Everfree.
A good five minutes passed with no incident. I tried making some conversation but was immediately shushed. That was another thing, she was walking with all of that heavy, metal armor and still not making a sound. It was a question for another time. As it was we were going “Slow and low. Quiet, quiet, quiet. No time for talk, whatever’s out there might find us.”
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, we made it to Zecora’s hut. I knocked on the door and let Zecora invite us in.
“I see I have visitors so I will be a good listener. Why are you here pony folk, do you require some magic yolk?”
“Magic what?” Joy asked. “No, there’s a sick pony in town and we don’t know what’s the matter. We were wondering if you could help out.”
“Then why are we just standing here, let’s go help the poor dear.” Zecora rhymed, putting a noticeably confused look on Joy’s face.
“Don’t you need some magic herbs or something?” I asked Zecora making sure she didn’t forget anything.
“I have all the potion I need, we must go with speed. Let us make haste, I fear we have no time to waste.”
Once again Joy took point, making us slowly and quietly trodd through the path. I was starting to think that her precautions might be unwarranted. Zecora had made sure that the path was safe. And besides, Zecora should be plenty of deterrent from the beasts within the Everfree. According to her she had been living in the forest for years and spent a better part of that time making a “Connection with the forest creatures.”
Not five minutes out from Zecora’s hut Joy stopped abruptly, making my face smash into her rump. I flushed a bit and looked up to say something but she was completely unfazed and was focused on the surrounding brush, ears going wild. She made a hoof signal to get down so I flattened myself.
And not a moment too soon! Just as I felt the ground connect with my chest a purple monster flew across right where my head was. Joy caught the thing with her hooves and smashed it against the ground with a sicking crack.
I looked around and saw that there had to be fifteen more starting to come out of trees and bushes.
Zecora and Joy both simultaneously shouted, “Run!”
And so I did. I shot off down the path as fast as I could gallop. I sent a couple glances backwards, terrorfied with the things in hot pursuit. Joy was doing something with her horn. I wanted to say that it was pointless but I was terrified to silence buy the thought of one of the purple monsters leaping out of a tree onto me.
There was a great flash and what sounded like the striking of lightning, temporarily blinding and defining me. When I blinked away the white I noticed that I wasn’t in the Everfree anymore. I looked over for Zecora and saw that she was sitting on the floor trying to blink away the haze in her eyes. But I couldn’t find Joy.
“Joy! Where are you?” No response. Oh this is bad bad bad. Then there was another flash and Joy appeared at my side, covered with claw scrapes all across her armor.
“I’m okay! I’m fine, don’t worry. I am perfectly fine.” She said in a shaken tone while she was trying to get her balance.
“What was that? What where those? What!” I shouted.
“Those were called Vuls, nasty pack hunters. They like to go for ambush attacks then overwhelm prey. That was the Heaven’s Low Rider spell. I turned you into energy, sent you a couple miles towards town, then you popped back in. I didn’t have enough juice for myself so it took me a little longer.” She grimaced looking down at a nasty gash in her shoulder that cut through the armor. I started to suggest that we double time it to the hospital but she cast a spell that stopped me short.
Out of thin air she formed a small fluctuating circle of void and reached in with her magic. She pulled a red potion and chugged it. Instantly the wound cleared up. I had so many questions.
But they would have to wait. “We need to get to the hospital.” Joy looked at me, nodded, then suddenly we were there.
I glanced and saw Joy collapsed over. She gave a faint, “I’m alright” and I pratucally dragged a confused Zecora to the hospital. The doctors saw her and immediately started escorting her down into the hallways farther. The look on her face was amusing but I didn’t laugh.
“Thank you so much Princess,” One of the doctors stayed behind to say. “It’s hard to say what might have happened without Zecora here. As it stands I’m positive Lily will be just fine.” He finished with a relieved smile.
I gave my own more casual smile, “It’s fine, it wasn’t any trouble really. Besides I had help.”
“Magic of friendship and all I suppose. Have a nice day Princess, and again thank you.”
I nodded my head then went out to check on Joy. She was just sitting in the grass next to the path doing something with her magic while her eyes were closed. I didn’t really want to bother her but I still needed to let her know it was fine.
“Joy? Are you alright?”
“Yes.” She spoke simpilly without opening her eyes.
“Lily is going to be fine. Thank you, I don’t know if I would have gotten Zecora on time. Or at all.” I finished, remembering the ambush.
There was a second of uncomfortable silence that was suddenly broken by Joy opening her eyes and ecstatically saying, “Alright, I’ve made up my mind. I’m going to be your knight. I think I mentioned before that I was once a knight and I think that I’ll take up that mantle again. I don’t need a teacher but I know that you need somepony keeping you safe.”
I blanked, then stammered out “B-but I have Spike. And my friends.”
“Where they there with the Vuls?”
“That was different, they couldn’t have been. Spike was awa-” I sighed deeply. “Fine. You make a good point.
“Exactly, I always make good points. Even if they don’t make sense. So it’s decided then, I am going to serve you faithfully. To a point at least.” She spoke, looking proud.
zIt really made me feel uncomfortable. “What do you mean to a point.”
“Just another oath I made decades ago. I seriously doubt it will come up though.” She said, gazing off into the distance while we made our way towards my castle.
“I sure hope not. The last thing I need is a indecisive protector.”
“You seem to be taking this well.” She mused.
“To be honest I’m not. But you’ve made up your mind and who am I to stop you?”
“You’re the Princess. All I am is a pony from a bygone era. You could call for my summary execution, though I seriously advise against doing that.”
That made my head swim. I haven’t really thought about the real extremities that came with princess-dom. “I guess.” Was all I could muddle out.
“And then there’s that,” She started, still staring at nothing. “You’re a princess. Act like one. Not all the time, that’s a good way to lose anybody not contractually bound to you, but when you need to. To your servants, to your subjects. You are above them, literally and figuratively.”
“I don’t think It’s that much. I’m really just a unicorn with wings.”
“...wings, a castle, an infinite natural lifespan, the power of a god. Yeah. Nothing spectacular, just your run-of-the-mill alicorn.”
I couldn’t help but blush. Being held in such high regard just because of a title and some benefits gave me a sick kind of joy behind my cheeks.
We remained silent for the remainder of the trip, slowly walking to my castle. Eventually we went into the higher floors and I let her pick out a room.
“You don’t have quarters for servants? Or soldiers?” She asked.
“I think you said it yourself, I don’t have any.”
“That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have any room for some. Until proper accommodations are found I think I’ll just take up the observatory.”
I couldn’t help giggle a bit. “I used to live in an observatory. Back when Celestia was still privately teaching me she gave me full reign of an unused observatory. It was actually the one my parents used to work in but when they retired so was the place.”
“That was an unnecessarily large chunk of your life explained to a stranger.”
“You’re my friend aren’t you?” I liked to think that the person who just swore to protect me would be my friend. They’re pretty much one in the same anyway.
“If you want me to be Princess. I just think that it might be unwise to tell so much about yourself. The fact you didn’t seem sad when talking about your parents implies that they’re still alive. Your connection to Celestia is obvious. You probably like watching stars. Just with that information somebody could hurt you deeply then when you go do something you like to get your mind off of things.” She stomped on the floor hard enough for a small cracking sound to be heard.
“How do you even think like that?” I said, slightly distressed. That anypony thought like that didn’t sit well with me.
“Years of experience,” Was her short but bitter answer. “The bottom line is, Princess, that I have just sworn to protect you. That includes all levels of protection, not just physical. I’m not flawless, there have been times where I survived just because of dumb luck.” She said harshly. Like she was remembering something painful. “But,” She emphasized. “You are now, for all intents and purposes, my master. I will do practically anything you ask but if you want me to stop trying to help you in that way then I will.” She was taking this very dramatically. I remember Rainbow Dash swearing to protect me but it was nowhere near this serious.
And again she had me blushing madly. Thank Celestia she didn’t seem to pay it any mind. “I-. Er. Thank you Joy.” I really didn’t know what to say.
“No problem Princess. It’s starting to get late and I would like to set myself up. Sweet dreams Princess.”
I watched absently as she walked past me and into her room. There was a light thump and the sound of the door clicking. Then I was alone.
‘What is going on?’ I asked myself. I didn’t know. I didn’t even know how to appropriately respond to my situation. This strange pony from a different time has just forced herself as my protector. Like some kind of knight out of a fantasy novel.
It didn’t help that she was morally ambiguous. All of her talk about using what I said made me think: what if she’s just trying to get close to me. Or my friends? Spike?
Even if I had my suspicions I wouldn't act on them. I was the princess of friendship, and besides, I didn’t have any proof.
Still. Maybe Spike and I should have lunch with the girls.
Author's Note
Second chapter. I hope you like it.
Was listening to this when I finished.
If you actually did like it then there is more to come. If you didn't then tell me what I did wrong. Hell even if you liked it tell me what I did wrong. I'm sure you know way more about this than I do.
Have a good day.