Chivalry Reborn

Author’s note: Hello, and welcome to my first attempt at an actual story, let alone a ponyfic. I would like to come out and say that I don’t think this will get a lot of attention, considering how many fanfics there are about humans walking into Equestria somehow, so thank you to those who actually decided to amuse me for even deciding to read this.

Secondly, I would like to ask all of you who read this to be perfectly honest when commenting. Let me know what I can do to make this better.

So without further ado, here goes…

Prologue:

Is This World Really Worth Saving?

For the past few months of my life, I’ve been having the same dream. In this dream, I see a boy sitting in a void of darkness.

Just….sitting there. Not moving, not blinking, and not even really looking like he really gave a damn about anything.

Sitting there, as I watch the one thing I can’t stand to watch sitting there and let happen. Watching his friends, family, and all the people who helped him, when they could have just left him to fend for himself die. He watched them be burned, ripped, and shot by the hands of other people.  He watched his own home be burned down to the ground. The very home where his parents raised and where he learned to live life. And he looked at all the faces of the people actually celebrating such madness.

He did all of this, and didn’t even really care about it.

As much as I hated those sights, and just wanted to shout and scream at him to do something, anything but watch it all, I coldn't move. I am simply a bystander in all of it. I can only watch and reflect on just why this could be so.

The memories of the dreams don’t come to mind when I’m awake. I don’t even recall if I even had dreamt that night, it’s so foggy. But when I drift back to my mind, the memories flood back. As time passed in these dreams, I began to realize things. The madness that I’m witnessing could in fact be the people wanting freedom. Not just basic rights, but ultimately equality. The thing that most children try to delve in for as long as possible before having to face this cruel world of ours.

Innocence.

Happiness.

Love.

These are the things they wanted, but would never get from this insanity. But what bugged me most was the boy. The boy who watched all this happen with a blank face. The one I hated the most in this world.

This boy….was me.

As soon as I pieced all of this together, the boy finally showed a sign of emotion. A single drop of which flowed down from his eye, going down his cheek ever so slowly. When the drop fell from his face and hit the cold glimmering pavement, the world seemed to brighten.

The flames, people and the destruction were suddenly no more. It was just me, the boy, standing there crying. I didn’t want this. I don’t want my loved ones to disappear, to leave me alone forever and to die on me. Not again, not like my parents. It……..didn’t seem fair to be left in this cruel world.

“Do you really believe this world is truly cold?” A voice rang from the darkness. It was sounded like it was ordering me for answer, but it wasn’t yelling.  No, it was actually a hushed tone, like it was a mother tending to a child being beaten up for the first time. It sounded like it understood my pain.

I wipe my tears from my face, only to have more block my sight. I glare through the haze to the direction from which the voice came. There, stood only a mirror. It didn’t have a reflection though it had something else. It was on four legs, had a very messy mane,  as though it had just got out of a fight. It seemed to have a muzzle, a muzzle, and a very messed up coat. Was that…a horse?  It was too darkened to tell what expression it had. All I could tell was that it seemed to have been crying like I have.

And it was looking directly at me.

I slowly step towards it, as it did the exact same thing. It was though we were connected somehow, thinking the same thoughts.

“Do you think you can’t do anything for your world?” the voice continued questioning me.

I was listening, but never stopped my slow advance toward the horse. I had to. Even though I just wanted to curl up and keep crying, I just had to see this creature for myself. It felt like I….we….had to meet.

“You have unlimited capacities, you just need to tap into your heart.”

“You say that like it’s easy,” I growled. All this destruction. The murders, the rape accounts, the shameless scams. ALL of it seemed unstoppable. I closed my heart to keep myself SANE all this time. I would be a madman to open it now.

“What is worth fighting for is not easy.”  I stopped in my tracks.

That was what my mother always told me. It was what she always told me when I messed up something. I was almost at the mirror. The stallion had stopped as well. I had to keep going. I started to move once more. It felt…a littler easier to move forward. The stallion was moving as well now.

I stop in front of the mirror. The stallion was staring right into my eyes, as I did the same. Its eyes were completely way, the only way I can tell it was look right at me, is the fact that his eyes were bloodshot and gathered at the point where his iris should be.

“…”

“…”

Neither of us spoke. It seemed to have been waiting for my next movement. The silence seemed to last an eternity. Finally, I decided to put my hand against the mirror. It seemed to pause and look at where I placed my hand, puzzled. After hesitating for a second, he place his hoof where my hand was.

Light flowed its way around us, as the voice spoke once more, seemingly satisfied with our actions.

“I know, the world can be almost unbearable at times, but you can beat anything as long as you keep true to your pure intention.”

I chuckled. I just realized how corny this all was. I looked at the stallion that was still had its hoof against my palm.

“My name’s….Winston”

It seemed surprised I even spoke to it directly. I looked at my eyes again, pausing before responding.

“……….Shadow Flare.”

Its eyes suddenly stopped being bloodshot and had  gained color. Its bright red eyes were focused directly on me.

“I’m glad you can come to acceptance with yourself, young one. We will need a hero for the near the future of many.”

Before I could even try to respond, the world got too bright to see. Pull my hand away from the stallion to cover my eyes.

And then I woke up.