The Guild of Light

The summer’s day may have been lovely and warm but the night was cold and unforgiving, almost dropping to the same temperature as the place I woke up in. I had been sat there for several hours waiting for the sun to go down so I could meet up with this lovely young woman I’d been talking to. I was pretty sure that it was the same chick that had ninja poofed away from me in Canterlot earlier that day and I was expecting to see her. She seemed to already know everything about me and I wasn’t going to let her get away this time until she answered some of my questions. The cold eventually began to get to me and I lay down with myself propped up against a wall, crossing my arms against my body to try and seal in some warmth.

“Are we getting cold?” a female voice asked from my right side. I turned my head to look at her as she walked over to me, my guess about it being the same woman on target but she appeared slightly different. Her hairstyle mirrored Cadance’s almost exactly except the fringe came lower over her face and stopped just over her muzzle. She wore a dark red choker studded with that looked like polished and cut sapphires, something that looked extremely expensive.

“I’m sorry I left you here so long” she said, walking over to me and standing next to me “Do you need some help warming up?”

“No, I’ll be fine thanks” I refused, smiling politely. Despite my turning down of her offer she climbed on top of me and lay down, resting her head under my neck and wrapping her arms around me.

“Are you sure about that?” she asked, giving me bedroom eyes.

“I’m… not really sure about many things right now” I said dumbly “Wow” She giggled and pushed herself up, trailing her right hoof up and down my chest slowly.

“I need to ask you a few questions” I said, hating to break up the fun mood.

“About?” she asked me, our red eyes locking as a smile spread across her face.

“I heard a name today that reminded me of something” I said “The Guild Master” Her eyes seemed to light up briefly and a grin spread across her face as if she knew something about the name.

“Ah yes, that was a name you held highly in your life” she nodded, tracing my jawline with the tip of her hoof with a glint in her eye.

“Who was the Guild Master?” I asked, staring into her burning red eyes “And what was it that made me admire them so much?”

“Well that’s an easy one, but it’s a long story so we might want to go somewhere more comfortable” she said, a quick wink followed by her getting up off me “Follow me please”

She unlocked the door to her large house in one of Canterlot’s best looking areas and allowed me to step inside first before entering herself. The entrance hall was grand and expensive looking. I knew the ponies around here must’ve had something for tapestries but something about these caught my eye. Instead of tapestries that glorified the royal princesses and their many accomplishments these tapestries were adorned with strange runes I didn’t recognize… I didn’t know if I remembered how to read at this point so it wasn’t anything too bad if I didn’t recognize them but on with the story! The tapestries depicted battles against dark, mutilated foes with two centre figures battling them with what looked like powerful white magic. The largest of the two of them was covered in shining white armour but was obviously an alicorn judging by the, this will be a no-shit moment right here, wings that were extended with armour coating them and the large pointed horn on their head. They wore a long, flowing white and gold cape with a crown resting on their head with a large red gem set into the head of it. The crown was less flamboyant and gem-filled as it went for a more plain appearance that led me to believe the wearer was a male and another no-shit moment was the definition and armour he wore, another gesture that he was indeed male. The second figure was less armoured than the male and it was a female garbed in dark red armour, wearing a headdress that seemed to be made of finely crafted gold wires, giving it an ivy-looking pattern with a similar crest in the centre to the ones on the tapestries. The bottom was made up of a golden wreath with a blank ivory medal in the middle that reached around two lions standing with their front paws pressed against a triangular shaped piece of ivory with a dragon’s head carved into it. The symbol seemed familiar to me and the sight of it made me feel like I was safe, that as long as the crest was near me nothing would dare to try and attack me.

“I see you’ve noticed the tapestries” she said, standing alongside me, lightly pressing her flank against mine “What do you think of them?”

“They’re amazing, what are they depicting?” I asked, turning my head to find hers a little closer to mine than I’d realized.

“The battle that founded modern-day Equestria when Commander Hurricane passed into the void after she was brutally murdered by denizens of the dark that wanted control over Equestria to bring on an eternal night” she said “These creatures are what was believed to have inspired Nightmare Moon to take on the form she did, very reminiscent over the Daemon Lord Dracvulskar, a master vampire that controlled the forces of the Daemons”

“Nightmare Moon?” I asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

“A lesson for another time” she said, waving off the question quickly “But this shows the Guild Master and his most trusted ally fending off hundreds of thousands of the Daemons on their own to protect their homestead of Canterlot Castle while their reinforcements arrived, they were hard pressed to defend themselves from the onslaught”

“And did they?” I asked, looking back up at the figure in armour.

“Of course, they eventually managed to push the Daemon forces back far enough that by the time their reinforcements arrived the Daemons were weakened to the point they fled the battle and refused to step near Canterlot as long as the Guild Master took refuge in its walls” she said, a look of nostalgia settling over her face as she explained.

“They were scared of him?” I asked.

“Terrified” she nodded “The Guild Master was ranked among the top ten most powerful ponies to have ever existed in Equestria”

“What ranking is he now?” I asked. She allowed herself a little chuckle before looking at me in the eyes.

“Number one” she said “He was so powerful that he could overpower both of the royal sisters in combat if he wanted to”

“Wow” I said, the stories of this guy already showed me why I looked up to him so much.

“And between me and you there is a battle between the three of them that was stricken from the history books in which Celestia and her sister lashed out in anger at the Guild Master and challenged him in secret” she said.

“What happened?” I asked, this had peaked my interest.

“He met with them and they unleashed every skill and power they had on them for a full minute, tearing holes in the ground around him and the universe itself” she recounted “The two sisters were so exhausted from their flurry off attacks that they almost fainted when they found their attacks had done nothing to even slow the Guild Master down”

“What did he do to them?” I asked.

“He didn’t do anything to them” she chuckled “He merely walked past them and refused to speak to them, withdrawing all the help and support his order was giving the sisters and leaving Equestria altogether”

“Wow” I nodded “I bet they weren’t happy”

“They were stricken with guilt for years afterwards as the young Equestria didn’t have the strength to defend itself at that point and the two girls lacked the power to fight off anything larger than a small army for more than a few months” she said “I guess it was luck that nothing challenged them after the Guild Master left them, they were able to build up their army and country little by little until we reach the present day” she said, stretching with a yawn before walking towards the stairs.

“I’m tired” she announced “Are you ready for sleep yet?”

“I guess I am” I nodded.

“Care to join me?” she offered, locking eyes with me once more “Don’t worry, I don’t bite” The thought process going through my head at this point was something similar to this: huminah, huminah, huminah, huminah! I knew I was going to make a fool of myself before I mentally slapped myself across the face and allowed my cool side to kick in.

“Well” I said, my voice sounding deeper than usual “If you’re offering I’m not really in a position to refuse” I gave her a suave smile before following her up the large stairs and through the hallways and into the master bedroom. Everything in the room appeared expertly made from the window panes to the large wardrobes she had in the room. Her eyes fell on me as she lay down on her side on the bed, patting it lazily with her hoof.

“C’mon” she winked “Don’t keep me waiting any longer than you already have” I believed I had hit the jackpot on this one!

We both lay panting underneath the covers, our eyes glowing visibly as we looked at each other. I gave her a kiss on the neck before collapsing next to her with a sigh, sweat coating both of us.

“I’ve missed you” she said, her chest expanding and collapsing rapidly as she tried to steady her breath.

“You still haven’t told me who you are you know?” I asked, rubbing her side with my hoof.

“And I’m not going to” she giggled “But I’ll tell you my name for now”

“And?” I asked.

“Cheryl” she said “What have you taken to calling yourself now?”

“Drake” I answered with a nod.

“Mmm, I quite like that name” she said, snuggling closer to my body. I wrapped my arm over her body and held her close, resting my head above hers.

“Goodnight” she said with a loud yawn.

“Night Cheryl” I nodded, rubbing her back with my hoof slowly as I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

I woke up the next morning to the sun in my face, shining in from a gap in the large drapes. My eyes cracked open slowly, a horrible taste in my mouth, and I looked around to remember where I was. I remembered last night’s antics and a smile spread onto my face as I looked down at Cheryl who hadn’t seemed to have moved at all during the night. I knew I needed to brush my teeth really badly as the taste in my mouth was disgusting and made me want to spit all over the place.

“Good morning” Cheryl said, pushing herself up and stretching with a yawn.

“Morning” I nodded “How did you sleep?”

“Like I was supposed to” she said “Right next to you” She pressed a hoof to her mane and tutted loudly, noticing that it was frazzled and out of place.

“I hate mornings” she growled.

“Me too” I said, turning onto my back and resting my hooves on the back of my head “I’m finding it difficult to motivate myself to get up right now”

“Typical” she tutted, rolling her eyes “You always were lazy during the mornings” She kicked the bed covers off herself and climbed out, trotting over to the bathroom and locking the door behind her. I had been beaten in a race to the bathroom I didn’t know I was in and I still needed to brush my teeth. I got out of the bed and looked at myself in the mirror, my eyes still glowing faintly as they did last night, and my mane was a complete mess though not as bad as Cheryl’s. As I was looking I realized I wasn’t wearing my hat anymore and after a quick survey of the room I discovered that it was nowhere to be seen. I really liked that hat and didn’t want to stop wearing it; it suited me in my opinion, so I walked around to look for it.

“Well I figured I might as well give myself a tour of the house anyway” I shrugged, putting on a grin as I got ready for a little adventure.