The Tales of Oathbound, The Mountain Hermit

Twinkle Star was crawling outside her mother's cottage, the numerous animals also scuttling around to play with the pegasus filly and eachother. She giggled as a squirrel came to nuzzle her, the furry creature tickling her. The sun was high up in the sky and there were no clouds in sight.

"Aww, he likes you, Twinkle!" Her mother Fluttershy said, picking her up.

"How about we go inside and I tell you all a little story before your naptime?"

The squirrel climbed on Fluttershy's side to nod as an answer, his tail flicking Twinkle's nose slightly, causing the filly to sneeze. She shook her head a bit before she yawned.

Fluttershy smiled at the spent little filly.

"I'll take that as a yes. Okay, in we go!"

As they were about to go inside, Derpy flew over, slightly startling the older mare, though Twinkle laughed a bit and held her hooves in the gray pegasus' direction.

"Hi there, Twinkie! Been a good filly, now have we?" The cross-eyed mare said, hoofing a letter to the cream-yellow mare, who quickly opened it and eyed through it. The mailmare picked the filly from her mother's grasp and blew a raspberry on her tummy. Fluttershy's eyes opened in surprise.

"Derpy, did Pinkie give this to you?" She asked, holding the open letter to Derpy.

"Sure did! Made me promise not to tell Oathbound anything either! Also told me to tell you that you need to do the same, otherwise it wouldn't be a surprise." The mailmare said, before turning to see Oath coming up the road.

"Hey! I'm home!" The stallion waved to the three.

"Oh! Hi Oathie!" Derpy called out, putting Twinkle down, who began to roll around in the grass before munching on a daisy.

"So how have things been while daddy's been out? You make some friends, sweetie?" Oath said as his magic picked Twinkle from the ground, who curled up into a ball and started sucking her own hoof.

Derpy looked at Fluttershy with a meaningful look, who nodded almost imperceptively.

"Oh, just wonderful! One of the beavers made a doll for Twinkle! Look at all the details!" The married mare said, holding out a wooden doll that she kept in her mane. Twinkle tried to get it, but couldn't quite reach it.

"Wow! You're one lucky filly, honey!" It was like a sculpture, depicting Princess Luna in her ceremonial gown.

With no energy left and no way to reach the doll, Twinkle dozed off, making her father chuckle quietly.

"It's her naptime anyway, she's catching on quite quickly."

"I got some mail to deliver, good luck keeping up with her - you'll need it! I should know, Dinky was a hoof-full and she's wasn't much older than little Twinkie is now. Bye!" Derpy whispered before flying off, the couple waving as she flew in the direction of the town.

Oath laid Twinkle to bed and began to hum to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star until he could hear the filly's calm breathing.

"Sweet dreams, Twinkle." He said as he kissed the foal's forehead.

As Oath came down the stairs from the nursery room, he saw Fluttershy looking at the letter she got earlier.

"So. What's in the letter?" He asked, startling Fluttershy who threw the letter into the hearth in panic.

"Oh no! Sorry Oath! I'll.. I'll try to-" She didn't finish her sentence as the letter had quickly burned away.

Oath just shrugged.

"No problem, you did just read it didn't you? So what was it about?"

However, to his surprise, Oath saw the mare stumble on her own words as she tried to come up with an excuse.

He smiled at her antics.

"Hey, if you can't tell me, then you don't have to. I'll just find out another way." He said playfully, nuzzling his mare, who cooed involuntarily in response.

"You know... I could just ask around town. Maybe find out that way." He said, turning towards the door.

Fluttershy didn't stop him physically but her voice made him stop at the door.

"I don't think you'll find answers from them. Only thing I can tell you is that we have a surprise for you today..." This earned a grin from Oath.

"We'll see, honey." With that, Oath was out the door and on his way towards town.

He was going to be disappointed.

With all the recent secrecy that the townsfolk had sported, Oath tried to find out what was going on from his friends.

Applejack was not one to lie, so she plain-up refused to tell him why everypony was being so discreet. She said she needed to get the southern orchard bucked up and clean of apples before it got dark. Oath had no doubt that the farmpony was correct, but she had plenty of time. Why not just spill the beans?

Pinkie was no good either, she would just change the subject to how Gummy had found a strange chocolate rabbit hopping around, which infact proved to be an ordinary rabbit who was just covered in mud and how it would be silly that chocolate rabbits would be hopping around without Discord's approval.

Rainbow Dash was quick to blast off under the excuse of being late for a weather team meeting, but it was obvious she was hiding something as well - her nervous smile told Oath more than enough about it.

Twilight was too dug into her books to be of any help, she just mumbled in agreement to whatever Oath asked her.

Fluttershy, however, was the most cryptic of the lot. She left off some hints about the day being 'special' and that Oath will know what's going on eventually.

Even Discord refused to tell.

"All will be revealed in time, old chap. For now, just enjoy the sunshine. Oh, and just to keep you from being down, take this." He produced a small floating ball of cotton candy that Oath promptly ate and immediately noticed that there was something odd about the thing.

"Why does this taste so-" Oath didn't finish his sentence as his voice had gone up a dozen or so octaves.

Discord was laughing hysterically.

Oath thought about it for a bit before he got it. 'Keep you from being down.'

"Seriously, Discord? That's just about the most literal bad joke I've heard in a long while."

The draconequus was unfazed.

"Oh lighten up, Oath! I just gave you a gift and you just mock me like this? You never change. Now, off you go."

With that, the path to Fluttershy's cottage turned into an automated road, taking Oath with it until he was well beyond the small bridge that led to it.

With no answers from the Mane Six or the spirit of chaos, the amulet-toting stallion had ventured to the hill that caused him serious injury a few years ago which led to his eventual death and magical resurrection.

"What in the name of Princess Celestia is going on down there? What needs to be such a big secret that even the Protector of Ponyville can't know about it?"

A stranger appeared and climbed up the hill, swathed in a hooded cloak. When he spoke, Oath was startled and turned to stare at the newcomer, who seemed strangely familiar for some reason.

"Simple. They don't trust you. You're but a failure in their eyes." His voice was demonic and slightly condescending. He kept his stare fixed on the town in the distance.

"What? They're my friends. I don't know who you are, stranger, but don't think that you can make declarations like this on their behalf." He stomped a hoof on the ground to emphasize his point.

The stranger shook slightly, chuckling silently before he shook off his cloak. An ebony-black unicorn with a mane of purple. Strangely he looked almost exactly like Oath, with the only difference being the horn and his color scheme.

"And yet here you are, wondering if you did something wrong to make them keep something from you. And what have I done? I only told you the truth, because that's what it is to you. I know it to be so." He turned his head to look at the gray stallion, who was confused at his words. His eyes were completely red, with no iris'. It made Oath flinch - no pony has eyes like that, not naturally.

"How do you know? Who are you? Why are you here?" He voiced the questions almost automatically.

A red axe appeared on the stranger's right side, identical in almost every way to Oath's except the color. It's at this time that Oath took note of his cutie mark - a red axe over a broken bronze shield. His own axe also appeared as he began to think that this conversation would take a turn for the bloody.

"You're saying you don't remember!?" The ebony stallion fumed, shaking slightly with anger. Oath was confused why he was getting angry at such simple questions.

"You're saying that the life we shared meant nothing to you? That I am nothing more than dead weight that you threw away!? DID THE GUARDING OF YOUR PRECIOUS PRINCESS TEACH YOU NOTHING!?" Oath summoned a forcefield as the axe shook before flying towards him, hitting the shield. It absorbed the energy of the axe, which was filled to the brim with hate, which made Oath shiver as the absorbed power flowed into him as the shield was cast aside.

"What in the name of Celestia are you talking about? Why did you attack me? Who are you!?" Oath said, slightly angry with all the answers that he had failed to get during the whole day. It only lasted for a second before he could feel a strange force pulling at his emotions, the anger literally draining out of him as the stranger smiled evilly.

"Hmph. A tasty morsel, this outburst of yours. But you still claim to not know me. I need to teach you a lesson then, you ignorant waste of life!"

He stomped the ground with both hooves which caused the sky to darken and pillars to rise from the ground in a circle pattern.

Lava began to pour from the cracks in the earth, giving the impromptu arena a hellish glow.

The unicorn's eyes had a smoke-like quality to them as he stared at the amulet-wielding stallion, who had his own axes now up and in position to strike.

An axe appeared and flew towards one of Oath's own, making a lightning-like noise as magic weapon met magic weapon.

"I am the dark stain in your head! I am the memory loss that you now disregard as inexistent! I am the dark catalyst that drove you to a pitiful existence as a slave to the one who raises the cursed hollow sun! I am the one that freed you from that fool's burden!" Oath's eyes opened completely as he felt his head fill with memories of dark emotion.

One of the skirmishes that he endured back when he was just a wanderer, before his days as the Captain of the Guard. He helped the guards fight off an ambush of timberwolves, led by a feral changeling masquerading as their alpha. He'd kicked one of the timberwolves so hard he sprained his ankle, though the kick did it's job as the wolf's head shattered to pieces, leaving nothing more than a body with nothing to control it.

The day when he left Princess Celestia and became a hermit. The tears he shed to pave the way to the Badlands in the south.

The fight that determined ownership of the cave that he inhabited for years. The young dragon's bones must have turned to dust by now, if not broken down for marrow by carrion.

The dark cloud that clouded his mind back when he first arrived in Ponyville. The fight with Discord that led to purification by the Elements of Harmony.

Soon the memories began to twist. The timberwolves turned to guards, but the events never changed. Oath shattered the guard's head, sending bits of brain and bone everywhere. He then looked upon the surviving guards, who were horrified. A background of blackness and the shrieking of guards and splattered blood on the black canvas.

The night when Celestia was injured by the assassin. Oath's arrival. But this time he looked at the princess in anger before his axe appeared and in a flash, the sun-raising alicorn lied limp on the ground, her head severed at the base of her neck.

The tears that littered the road turned into droplets of blood.

The fight with Discord. His first strike not harming the draconequus, but the pony behind him was cleaved in two. His cry of anger leading to a fight of catastrophic scale, Ponyville decimated, mountains leveled. Equestria on fire.

The intruding sense of satisfaction in each scene.

Oathbound had seen enough. He charged at the unicorn, desperation fuelling his legs as he gave a buck to the ebony stallion. He didn't even flinch.

"And now you see what I have to live with. I am the true emotion that you had your friends cast away! You are but a shadow of the being that you truly were, a shell of the one you truly are! You call yourself Oathbound, the Protector of Ponyville and Servant of Celestia. Well then, Oathbound of Ponyville! Meet your death! Meet the monster you have helped create! Meet the pain you direct at yourself! Meet Oathbreaker, the one that gave you everything and you threw away!

I! AM! YOU!" Oathbreaker yelled out to the heavens as numerous axes began to appear and circle around him like a red tornado of death.

"Oathbreaker! Even if what you say is true, why not just live a life of your own?" Oathbound asked the unicorn, who used his magic to silence Oath.

"Don't even bring that up! Our past is full of fools that you now call friends! The lying pegasus who cries out in fear when she sees her own shadow! The princess who looks upon you with pity and contempt! The farmer who cares more about her precious farm than her friends! The rainbow-maned idiot who nurtures a foal's dream! The librarian who's obsessed with pleasing her precious teacher! The party pony who always sticks her muzzle in other people's business! And to make matters worse, you're becoming like them when they've kept my existence from you, your true nature! I WON'T LET A FAILURE LIKE YOU LIVE ANY LONGER! I HATE YOU!!!"

It was at that time Oath realized that he was staring at the stallion responsible for his amulet's theft and who tried to hurt his friends years ago.

The storm of axes suddenly started to converge and was about to hit Oath when he heard a voice calling his name.

"Oath! Come on, you awake, darling?" Rarity said to Oath, nudging him slightly with her hoof.

Oath shot up, his axes up and ready to tear into flesh as he looked around, surprised that he saw nopony besides Rarity. The white unicorn understandably jumped back as she saw him move at that speed. Her mane didn't survive unscathed though.

"Rarity? But... where's.." He left his sentence unfinished as he realized that he had been dreaming.

"Okay, I don't know what kind of nightmare you saw, but please leave me out of it. And do warn me next time you're going to sit up that fast, one of your weapons almost took a piece out of my mane!" She said, pointing to the damaged piece of her manecut which had a few frazzled hairs now.

"Wha- Oh darn, I'm so sorry Rarity, it's just that-"

"Yes yes, I know you're sorry. And I accept your apology. But we've got more important things to do than just stand around here, everypony's waiting for us! Finding you was hard enough as it is."

"What? What's going on, Rarity?" Oath said, hoping that now he might get the answers he's been looking for all day.

"Ah ah ah! Not quite yet, darling! Just a bit more of secrecy before we show you what we have in store for you!" With that, the fashionista began to drag the stallion down the road and towards the town.

Oath looked back towards the hilltop only to stare at a shadow that he thought he saw. He could hear a voice in his head.

"Nowhere to hide~"

"Oathbreaker..." He thought. He was certain that he hadn't heard the last of his evil half.

Rarity quickly brought Oath back to town, the latter being glad of being away from that hill, especially after what happened.

"Come on, in we go!" The fashionista said as she pushed Oath inside Sugarcube Corner.

"I seriously don't get why everypony has been so silent, it's as if they would have been preparing a-" Oath had no time to finish his sentence as he was knocked down by a wall of cheerful noise.

"SURPRIIIISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY OATHBOUND!" The crowd inside cheered.

As he slowly regained his hearing, he raised his eyebrows in confusion.

"Wait what? Birthday? Since when?"

Twilight stepped up from the crowd, smiling.

"Well, we had no actual idea of when you were born so we decided that we'd treat the anniversary of your arrival in Ponyville as your birthday. At first I was a bit skeptical but Pinkie was adamant about this and you know how she is at times."

Oath nodded in understanding. Pinkie was random like that, but when she made up her mind she was going to finish it right then and right now. Unless she got distracted, which she usually did. Oath could only wonder how the party pony had managed to build her flying contraption.

"Umm, Oath?"

Oath shook his head a bit as he realized he was being talked to.

"Huh-wha?"

"What's wrong? You kinda froze up there." Rainbow Dash said, holding an icecream cone in her hoof as she flapped her wings to keep herself afloat.

Pinkie didn't miss the unintended pun.

"Hahaha*snort*ahaha! Good one, Dashie! Froze up! You know, cuz of the icecream!"

Eager to put the awkwardness behind him, Oath chuckled a bit before he strode past the mares while keeping the conversation alive.

"Yea, I think we got it Pinkie. How about we just go and mingle with the guests? I kinda kept you all waiting for a while, didn't I?"

With that, the group began to party for a long while as cake was had, tails were pinned on paper ponies, apples were bobbed and laughter was heard all over.

At a point Oath had even taken his daughter to the giant birthday cake and fed her some, though the whipped cream was so well whipped it had plenty of air in it which resulted in her father having to burp her, earning a few dawws from his friends.

And next came to dancing.

"You know, I might get used to having birthdays like this!" Oath said as he danced with Pinkie.

"Good to know, cuz we got a lot more partying to do! You've been missing out on so many birthday parties! Oh! I know, we could have..."

Oath gulped. He did NOT like where this was going...

And in the back of his mind he could still hear the message the ebony pony relayed to him.

"Nowhere to hide~"