Author's Note

Hi, Chapter 1 is out. Enjoy.

Chapter 1

After reaching a small lake, she stopped her tracks and placed her bags on the grass, and headed towards the small lake.

"It's so hot. I can't stand this heat on my body. Do you mind that I take a little bath on this lake?" she asked while looking at him.

"Go ahead," he answered.

Grabbing a small swimsuit from her bag, she headed towards the bushes and dressed her swimsuit.

A few moments later she got out of the bushes and threw her clothes to him.

"Place it near my bag, pretty please," she said.

Placing her clothes in the desired place, he looked back and saw her already on the lake.

Noticing that he was looking at her, she blushed and raised her hand.

"Come on, the water is good enough to cool you down," she said.

Heading towards a small tree, he jammed his weapon on the grass and replied.

"Take your time, princess. I will be on guard until you decide to leave."

Sitting down beside the tree, he looked and heard around his surroundings.

"Don't you need to cool off for a bit? You might be tired from the long walk and your recent fight," she asked while looking back at him.

"I have already taken one. Thanks for the offering."

Grunting in frustration, she turned herself around and kept swimming.

A sudden noise coming from the woods made him grab his weapon and quickly walked towards her.

Noticing his sudden behavior, she squeaked and yelled in surprise.

"Don't scare me like that."

"There's something in the woods," he said while gripping his weapon near his chest. "Stay on the water, for now, I will go and check it out."

Heading towards the woods, he kept his defensive stance until he reaches one bush and a small wolf came out of it.

Growling at him, the wolf jumped towards him, tackled him down, and then ran back to the woods.

"It's just a wolf there's nothing to worry about," she said while trying to keep her giggles away.

"What I heard wasn't a wolf, princess. Was something bigger," he said while getting back up.

Then he heard the same sound again and then water started to pour down on him.

"A storm." he said, "Princess, you need to get out of the water, now."

Looking confused at him, she asked.

"Why?"

"You don't want to catch a cold, do you?"

Grabbing back her clothes, he headed towards her.

"Here dress them back," he said, "We need to go back,"

Grabbing her clothes, she put them on and headed towards him.

Using his cloak, he covered her from getting wetter than she already was and ran back to the castle.

A sudden lightning strike hit a tree near them that made it fall and block their way back to the castle.

"Damn it," he said.

Swinging his weapon, he cut the tree in a half and proceeded forward.

Due to the strong rain, he couldn't see where they were going.

"Hang in there, we are almost there," he said while keeping her covered by his cloak.

In despair to get away from the water, she tripped and fell into a mud pool.

Getting back up, she looked back at him and said.

"Let's wait for this to get past. I'm all wet and dirty. There's a small cave nearby."

"But the King will..." he tried to say something but was stopped by her hand.

"... he will understand," she said, "I can't walk, I'm all wet, dirty, scared. Please. I know where that cave is."

Looking back at the sky, he noticed that the storm won't get past so easily.

"Point the way then. I will follow," he said while grabbing her.

Blushing at his sudden reaction, she pointed it out to a small rock formation.

"That way," she said.

Holding her close to his chest, he ran towards the direction that she pointed.

Arriving at their destination, he settled her back on the stone floor and said.

"I will get something to keep us warm."

She nodded and headed further on the cave.

Laying down on the cold floor, she waited for him to return.

After a few moments, he came back with a small pile of sticks and a large tree trunk on his back.

Settling them down, he made a small campfire and light it up.

After a few tries, a small spark hit the pile of sticks, he gave it a few blows, and finally, the fire was alive.

Heading back towards her, he laid beside her and she placed her head on his arm.

After a few minutes, she started to shacking and embraced herself with her arms.

"I'm... c...c...cold," she said.

Noticing her struggle, he raised his cloak and placed it over her body, covering both of them.

"Better?" he asked.

She nodded and placed her head back on his arm.

Noticing that maybe his chest plate was disturbing her, he raised and took it off placing it beside him.

"There, much better, maybe my armor was too cold and too uncomfortable for you."

Noticing that he didn't wear anything under his chest plate, she immediately replied.

"You didn't have to do that. I was comfortable."

"No worries, princess. I'm ok like this."

Smiling, she placed her hand on his belly and noticed a small shape.

Raising her head, she saw a small scar crossing his belly and another one on his arm. She remembered how these scars appeared, it was because of her. Twice.

Noticing that she was brushing his belly, he replied.

"Those things are nothing, my princess. Scars are symbols of strength."

"But... it was because of me that you earned these," she said while brushing his scar, "And..."

"That's natural. I'm your personal bodyguard. My job is to keep you safe and sound at the end of each day."

"No, the problem is not that. The problem is the King always blames you from messing up when all of these were because of me. And he probably gonna be mad at you again because of what happened today."

"Don't need to worry, princess. The King won't do anything. I promise."

She sobbed and laid her head back on his chest.

"I can't stand to see the King treating you so badly after everything you've done for the kingdom and all of us," she said.

Noticing how her horn reacted, he placed his hand over her mane and started brushing it.

"The King cares for you, you know. I'm just a little piece that can be replaced, you, on the other hand, cannot be replaced, that's why he always blames me for everything that happens to you."

"But you're his son too why..."

"I might be but you're the heir to his throne," he said.

"It should've been you not me I can't even defend myself," she replied.

"But he saw more potential on you so he chose you as his heir," he said.

She sniffed and looked back at the cave entrance.

"Brother?" she called.

"Yes, princess," he answered.

"Was that noise you heard back then?" she asked.

"Yes it was," he answered.

"That's very strange, today was a clean day how in the world it started raining from out of nowhere?" she asked.

"I don't know." he answered, "But that's not the only time that the sky acted strangely, last week the sun came back up too late for its hour. I don't know what possibly happened to it."

"Black magic?" she asked.

"Probably," he answered.

She yawned and made herself comfortable beside his body.

Putting his hand over her body he smiled and said.

"Sweet dreams, princess."

Outside of the cave, it continued to rain.

'That wasn't the storm. That was something bigger coming towards us. A giant, an ogre, whatever it was, it was after us.'

Noticing that the fire was dying, he pushed his hand forward, grabbed a few sticks, and put them on the fire making it grow in seconds.

Feeling the embrace of her and the fire, he couldn't keep his eyes open for too long.

'Don't close them, I need to stay awake.'

Getting his back on the stone wall, he sighed and waited until the rain stopped.

Back at the castle...

The King was running to the sides in despair. Because of the news of an unpredictable storm, he desperately asked for his troops to look for the princess and his guard but because the rain was so intense, his advisor ordered them to stop and wait for it to stop or for the next morning to resume their searches.

The King was trotting while his hand shook in despair, his wife and his advisor told him.

"She's with Steel Shield, she will be fine. Don't you trust him enough to make him her personal bodyguard?"

The queen entered their room and noticed the King was in despair again. Walking towards him, she placed her hand on his shoulder and said.

"She will be fine. Sir Steel Shield is with her. Nothing bad will happen to her."

Looking back at the queen, he said.

"I know. I'm not afraid of that. I'm afraid of..." he sat on his chair, "Do you notice how she looks at him? Those eyes... those eyes that she always made when they are together. The way she looks at him it makes me think that..."

"They're siblings dear, that's natural."

"No.. Not those eyes. Those eyes" he said while mimicking her eyes, "These eyes... she is after he can't you see. All of these begging of heading towards the fishing spot. I saw it, I saw through her plot. That's why I asked her to pick another guard. But you had to change my mind... Oh god, this can't be happening, this can't be happening..."

"Dear, you are overreacting. They're siblings and besides he's a guard he won't be charmed so easily by her. He always follows the rules."

"But she is his superior, she can ask everything she wants and he always has to obey," he said.

A sudden slap came across his face.

"Control yourself, your daughter. Our sons won't be fucking each other in the woods. Your son won't do anything like that to her, even if she orders him to. Now calm down and go take a rest."

Looking back at her, he nodded and headed towards the bed.

"I hope you're right," he said while laying on his bed.

The queen headed towards the bed and laid beside him.

Back at the cave...

Noticing that the rain has stopped, he woke up the princess.

"Hey, the rain has stopped wake up," he said while giving her a little shake.

Yawning and opening her eyes slowly, she looked back at the cave entrance and noticed that it was almost a new day, the sun was rising slowly.

Looking back at him, she said.

"Then let's not waste more time and head back to the castle," she said while getting back up.

He nodded and equipped his armor again. Once equipped, they headed towards the cave entrance. But...

A sudden strong noise was heard by them, and a large foot was seen outside of the cave.

She squeaked in panic and then she felt impossible to scream because she had a hand blocking her mouth.

Signaling her to keep it down, he slowly removed his hand from her mouth.

"An ogre? Here?" she asked.

The large figure outside was nonetheless than an ogre, he was green at least twelve feet tall and was carrying a large club with some sharp things on its tip, he also was carrying a large cow on his back probably something that he had killed.

Dropping the cow, he started to sniff and growl at the moment when something caught his nose.

"PONY" he growled.

Kneeling, he perked towards the cave and noticed a pair of ponies standing in front of him.

"PONY.... FOOD... BETTER" he said.

Entering the cave, he stood on their only way to escape.

"Stay behind me, on my signal you ran for it. Deal?" he said while he unsheathed his weapon from his back.

"Are you crazy? It's an ogre you can't face it."

"PRINCESS. PRINCESS... I... GOT... PRINCESS." he said.

The ogre charged towards them. Readying his weapon he swung it and blocked his club.

"PONY... STRONG... PONY... CAN'T... DEFEAT... OGRE" he said.

"How did he knows I'm a princess?" she asked.

"The crown, you have the crown on your head," he answered while pointing towards her head. "Now ran for it, I will keep him busy,"

She nodded. They charged towards the ogre, swinging his weapon he hit the club and made a gap for the princess to get through.

The ogre swung his club and hit him on the side that sent him flying towards a stone wall. Seeing that his opponent was down, he made his way after the princess.

Hearing the strong steps coming from behind her, she hid inside of a fallen tree.

'Please. Please, don't let him find me.'

After a few seconds of hiding, she saw a large shadow in front of her. She squeaked in panic and blocked her mouth with her hands.

Sniffing again, he discovered where she was hiding.

Slowly walking towards the fallen tree, he grabbed it and started shaking it until the princess fell on the ground. Grabbing back his club he swung it towards her.

Closing her eyes, she prayed for someone to come to her aid.

She heard a clinking noise and a small cry, opening her eyes she saw some blood near her chest and a familiar figure standing in front of her.

He had blocked his club but with a little price, the club tip had hit his helmet and pierced through cutting his left eye.

Screaming in rage, he pushed his club back and jumped towards him.

"DIE!!!!" he screamed.

Swinging his weapon, he made his way towards his throat.

Landing back on the safe ground, the head of the ogre rolled over and fell in front of him, his monstrous body stumbled on itself and fell beside him.

Breathing heavily, he looked back at her and asked.

"Are you alright? Did he hurt you or something?"

She raised her hands and gasped, she quickly ran towards him.

"Your eye. Your eye is bleeding," she said while igniting her horn to take his helmet off.

Raising his hand he placed it on his eye and said.

"This. This is nothing," he said while looking back at her, "Oh shi..."

He felt his body giving up and fell over her.

Extending her arms, she held him in place.

"Brother?" she called while giving him a little shake, "Don't play around. There's no time play around now. Brother?", she kept shaking him.

Noticing that he was still breathing, she raised him back up and used her back to hold him in place.

Placing his arm around her neck, she made her way to the castle.

"Don't give up now. Please," she said while she kept walking towards the castle.

The castle was now taking shape on the horizon.

"We are almost there hold on," she said.