The Royal Protector

Chapters

TRP Prologue
Chapter 1: The Yree Forest
Chapter 2: Awaking in a New World
Chapter 3: The First and Possibly Last Encounter
Chapter 4: The Fight Begins
Chapter 5: An Agreement to End the Fight

TRP Prologue

A/N: I, in no way, own the MLP:FIM series. It is property of Lauran Faust and Hasbro Inc.

The Royal Protector

Prologue

Little is known about the man known as J. His origin is unknown as well as his full name. He just turned up in a town one day and stayed there. He refused to answer any questions that concerned where he was before he came here or why he is here. He simply tells them that he was drawn to this town for an unknown reason and left it at that. Later it was found out that he about 2000 years old yet still had a healthy appearance. This only brought in a new tide of questions.

Some thought he had found the secret to eternal youth. They would try to get him to tell them by force, bad idea. Most who tried this ended up disappearing and was never seen again. People who were more religious thought that he was either an angel that was there to bring them to salvation or a demon trying to lure them into the fiery depths of Hell. However, being immortal is not was he is most known for. He was most known for his two jobs. Being a teacher and being a personal bodyguard to royalty.

Over his years he had served many kings and taught many people. The most he would reveal is back to the times of the Greeks. He served under Alexander the Great until his death. J began to roam the Earth serving kings and rulers from time to time. This did not stop him from serving under very corrupt leaders. The ones that were corrupt or just plain evil would die in the most bizarre ways. Ranging from death by a nosebleed caused by extreme partying, being cooked and eaten by guest at a dinner party, and possibly the most ridiculous of them all, being suffocated by coats and jackets.

While being known for his skills as a protector, he is also known for being an excellent teacher. Many that he taught went on to become great men and women in society. Most of his students would spend a good portion of their young adult life with J learning the most they could of their trade which could range anywhere from banking, politics, war, medicine, it even extended into magic. There has only been one student to come to him for the instruction on the use of magic, it is his current student, Isabel Hawk.

She was the daughter of a well-known Duke of a land not too far from where J had lived. Isabel had abandoned her life of royalty to learn what she always wanted to, magic. However, magic was looked down upon at this time, always being affiliated with witches and warlocks. When Isabel's father found out, he was not too happy. He sent the whole guard of the land to retrieve her, they didn't return.

Isabel has been J's student for 9 years now, learning everything she could about magic. They have been through thick and thin together. Everywhere J went, Isabel was always a couple steps behind him. Every king that J served under in those 9 years, Isabel was with him. Every battle he had been in, Isabel always had his back. They accomplished many feats, saving common men from bandits to stopping full on war. They had made powerful friends and powerful enemies.

One day, both J and Isabel disappeared completely. They were going to meet a friend they had made in their travels, an old king that was attacked by highwaymen while traveling the country road. He was saved when J seemed to come out of nowhere and fight them off with ease. He had recently invited them to a formal ball for protection and honestly, for them to relax a bit. The path J plotted to take seemed to put them into a strange and freighting place, The Yree Forest.

This forest was not normal, it was far from normal, it was completely supernatural. Most of the people who wondered into the Yree were never seen again. It's been said that 1000 years ago, before J found his way into that town, an entire army of 10,000 men went missing. There was no trace that they had even gone through the Yree but they were never seen again.

Search parties were established to find J and Isabel but they could found no evidence of them being there. They said that the Yree had gotten them and no one escapes the Yree. One has to wonder, did J and Isabel really disappear from this place or are they somewhere else?

As one of J's close friends, I find it hard to believe that he would abandon the ones he cares about. Honestly, I think that he is still somewhere, but he is no here. No matter how many times I've heard people tell me that he was dead, I would simply push them away. I know J is still alive; nothing could keep that man down. If he broke every bone in his body protecting someone he cared about or even a stranger, he would still get up. That man is to stubborn too let death take him. I just hope that where ever he is now, he's still living strong.

Even now in my old age I can still remember all that he said to me when we first meet. He told me to always have hope because it's the only thing that mankind has in the darkest of time. I have hope, hope that he will never be forgotten. I have personally seen to it that his name would not be forgotten. I've arranged ceremonies, statues, even memorials to commemorate his many accomplishments. His name will be remembered in my generation and hopefully the generation after that and so on and so forth. He was a good man, a good teacher and great friend. His name will live on. He will be forever known as J, The Royal Protector.

Signed

King Trenton

Author's Note

Fun Fact

Those weird death described in paragraph 3 all actually happened. Here is the rulers or warlords that it happened to as it was mentioned.

Attila the Hun, György Dózsa of Hungary, and Draco of Greece.

All these men were real rulers and those deaths earlier where theirs as ridiculous as it seems.

Chapter 1: The Yree Forest

The Royal Protector

Chapter 1

The sound of metal hitting metal was dominate in the night sky. It was coming from a cabin on the outskirts of the town of Vamoria. Anyone in the town could tell you who lived in this cabin. It was none other than J and Isabel Hawk. One would say that this would be one of their late night teaching sessions but tonight was different. Tonight, they were going to visit one of J's old friends, a man named King Trenton. They planned to leave that night for his castle.

Inside the cabin there was a big room with a forge in the middle. There stood Isabel Hawk in all of her beauty. She was quite tall for a woman; she was about six feet tall. Her features could be described as incredible. She had wavy black hair that seemed to gently blow in an imaginary breeze. While she forged she was in some sort of trance. Like everything she made in that forge was going to be the best thing she ever made, usually it is.

Across from were Isabel stood, a huge man sat, the one and only J. He was quite a sight to see. He had scars all on his face and neck and probably his chest as well. A man cannot live for eons and not be unscathed. He stared at the way Isabel worked the forge. In the nine years that they have been teacher and student, she had become the best forger he ever saw. She was just as equal in magic, almost nearing her teacher in skill. He recalled one time were Isabel had turned a man inside out and back just for insulting her. He laughed, the face he had was priceless, and J had never seen someone run away so quickly. J looked up and noticed that Isabel was done with her work. She dropped the piece of metal in a wooden box carefully and got a satisfying hissing sound in return.

After a minute, J reached his hand into the box and pulled out the piece of metal. It was a sword forged to perfection.

"Another perfect craft by the incredible Isabel Hawk." J said smiling.

"What can I say, I learned from the best." Isabel said quickly looking over her work while she set it into a handle.

"Your flattery is no use here Isabel." snorted J. "Anyways are you almost done, I would like to be at Trenton's castle by morning."

Isabel laughed mirthfully. "You seem so eager to get to him; people might get the wrong idea."

J groaned and rubbed the bridge of his nose then removed his hand smiling. "Do you need to be reminded of that duchess that wanted to marry you and you almost accepted."

Isabel reddened, "You know as well as I that she placed a spell on me!"

"Whatever you say my dear student, go get your stuff, we're leaving."

Isabel simply nodded and disappeared into another room to gather her equipment for the trip. J turned and walked into his room and shut the door. His room was covered in things he had collected over his life. A Spartan shield, scrolls from the Library of Alexandria, even swords of kings he had served under. However, he wasn't there to admire his extensive collection of memorabilia. J walked over to the wall near his bed and put his hand on the wall. Both his hand and the wall started to glow and it then disappeared. It was a handy little spell he had invented to hide his equipment.

Inside was a staircase that went down. J followed it and came upon a giant vault door. He had it installed when he first moved into the town. He put his hand against the vault door and it began glow like the wall. Immediately, it swung up to reveal row after row of swords, maces, whips, daggers, armor, you name it, it was probably there. He walked past the rows until he found a room attached to the armory. Inside were four items, four items that he treasured greatly. Inside was a cloak, two daggers and a long sword.

Each item had a story of its own and each unique in its own way. All items brought back memories, some of blood and great battle and some of great pain. They had been with him for many battles and wars. It was rare that he entered a fight without one of these items one his person. He put the daggers holsters at his waist and inserted the daggers in their appropriate holsters. He then slipped his cloak on which covered everything from his head to his legs only leaving his feet visible. To top it off, he had enchanted the cloak with a shadow spell so that every time his hood is up it would look like you were staring into complete darkness. He then grabbed his long sword, put it in its sheath and secured it upon his back. He then exited the armory, locking the vault and put the wall back.

Upon returning to the main room of the cabin, J found Isabel waiting for him. She was now wearing a leather cuirass with a suit of chain mail underneath. She had the sword she had just forged strapped to her back and a pair of heavyset gloves in case she lost her sword.

"Are you ready." said J as he picked up a lantern to help navigate the dark landscape.

Isabel gave a quick sigh, "As ready as I'll ever be."

J nodded and both walked out of the cabin. J locked the front door and they went on their way.

After about a couple hours of walking, the duo stopped for a break. J quickly checked his surroundings and didn't like what he found. They were in a forest which should be full of wild life but nothing stirred. Not even the wolves were howling tonight. J then turned his attention to the moon; he noticed it was being covered in dark clouds. He wanted to shrug these happenings off as mere coincidence but he has lived for far too long and seen way too many things to simply let this go.

He quickly made his way over to Isabel who was sitting on a rotting log.

"We must make haste Isabel; there is something unsettling about this forest."

Isabel quickly stood up, "I agree, the owls and crickets have yet to make noise and it's pretty late at night."

"We should leave this forest and maybe find a different route."

"I agree." said Isabel as they both turned to head back. Instead of the forest path, they were met with a thick patch of fog that seemed to engulf the whole forest.

J sighed lightly, "Through the forest it is then."

As they walked deeper into the forest, the sky grew restless. Thunder and lightning filled the nighttime sky with a symphony of booms and cracks. What was weird is that there was no rain. Through all of the loud booms and cracks, no rainfall was felt. J felt even more worried now.

"Isabel!" yelled J over the sounds of the coming storm. "I think something is wrong with this forest!"

"You think!" yelled Isabel with a hint of sarcasm.

"We need to leave before anything dangerous happen..."

Almost on cue, a bolt of lightning struck the ground next to J's feet. Instead of leaving a black char on the ground, the bolt left a yellow drawing in the shape of a rune. J moved closer to try to observe it and see what kind of rune it was. He was stopped when another bolt of lightning struck again, but this time it was a couple feet to his left. Suddenly, more bolts started to strike and leave more runes. It stopped when they were both surrounded by runes.

J and Isabel were now back to back with their weapons drawn. They both were ready for the enemy that was waiting to strike. That enemy never showed. After some time the storm calmed but the runes stayed. J sled his long sword back into its holster and quickly made his way over to one of the runes. He looked them over and didn't even recognize what they were. He knew all types of runes ranging for Viking Runes to Orlanthi Runes. He knew some Nordic and old Germanic Futhark. These however, were unlike anything that he has ever seen. His studies were interrupted by a terrified Isabel.

"What's the problem?" J asked without looking away from the rune.

"L..l..look." Isabel said weakly.

Isabel's reaction is what caught J's attention. She rarely got scared and when she did, it was always from something bad. J brought his head up slowly and looked at what Isabel was pointing at. What he saw brought him to his feet and he walked over to Isabel. The thing that was standing in front of them was a giant sphere the same color of the runes on the ground. J could feel the magic radiating off of it, whatever it was. J wanted to get closer but that interest was diminished when one of the runes shot a beam at the sphere. Slowly each rune started to do the same until they were all connected to the sphere. The sphere started to glow brighter and pulsate. J immediately began to panic; he knew it was going to cause some kind of damage if it kept doing that. He then turned to Isabel.

"Run, now!"

They both turned and dashed towards the direction they came from. It was too late; the sphere got brighter and pulsated faster and then let out a blinding yellow light that slowly engulfed the two. The last thing J remembers was a slight falling sensation and darkness.

Chapter 2: Awaking in a New World

The Royal Protector

Chapter 2: Awaking in a New World

Twilight Sparkle was sitting on her balcony late at night enjoying the bright glow of Luna's moon. Her week was incredibly hectic. On top of the day to day actives she did like furthering her studies or catching up on a good book, she still found time to be with her friends and write the occasional letter to her teacher, Princess Celestia, on the magics of friendship. This week was full of complicated problems that took complicated thinking to resolve. It ranged from Fluttershy's pet bunny, Angel, running off into the Everfree forest to a feral Manticore wondering into town. All of these problems took a lot out of the mare and now she could sit back and enjoy one of more favorite activities, stargazing.

Currently Twilight was viewing the Big Dipper in the Ursa Major constellation; it was especially bright tonight for some reason. As she continued to gaze upon the star formation, something in particular caught her eye. There were two bright stars that didn't seem to belong. As she stared at the out of place stars, the started to pulsate and grow brighter. They got so bright that Twilight could barely look at them. Suddenly they started to get bigger. What was happening, why were they getting bigger? That question was answered with a sudden outburst.

“They're falling from the sky!” yelled the young mare probably waking up half of Ponyville.

She had to do something; she couldn't stop a star from falling; only the princesses would have enough power to stop a star from falling. Twilight looked up in despair and wished for the best. As if her wish was granted, both stars made a sudden turn and landed with a loud thud in the Everfree forest. Twilight was stunned, she was not sure of what just happened. Instinctively she had to write to Princess Celestia and inform her of this tide of events. Twilight got up from her spot on the balcony and ran through her house.

“Spike, Spike where are you!” she yelled trying to find her assistant.

A certain purple and green dragon walked up to her.

“What is it Twilight, it pretty late.” said the small dragon while giving a small yawn and rubbing his eyes.

“This is important Spike, I just watched two stars fall from the sky and land in the Everfree. The princesses must be informed of this.”

“Twilight, I'm sure the princesses are already on top of........”

Spike was cut short by a loud gurgling noise. The noise then manifested into a burp. A letter magically appeared out of the mouth of the baby dragon.

“I guess you were right Spike.” muttered Twilight softly as she unraveled the scroll with her magic.

Dear my most faithful student Twilight Sparkle

I’m sure you have noticed the phenomenon that occurred recently and would like to express your concern. Honestly, I would like to say that this way just a couple stars falling from the sky but it seems to be much more. When the two “stars” neared our great land both Luna and myself felt two great powers, one that rivaled mine and one far greater. By the time you receive this letter, I will have already deployed the guard. However, I would like you to meet me on the edge of the Everfree forest along with Luna, your brother Shining Armor, and myself. We need to make sure that whatever landed in the Everfree is not a threat to Equestria.

Your loving teacher,
Princess Celestia

P.S. Tell no other pony about what has happened, I would like to keep the panic to a minimum.

Twilight closed the scroll and placed it down. She was both relived and horrified. She was relieved that nopony was hurt but she was horrified that whatever just fell into that accursed forest was equal to and more powerful then Celestia herself. Twilight rubbed her eyes and yawned silently. Spike had gone back to bed so she might go to bed as well, tomorrow was going to be a big day.

Twilight woke up and quickly got ready. She couldn't be late for her meeting with the princesses and her brother. She quickly wrote a note to Spike saying that she would be out for the day. She laid the note on the table in her kitchen and walked out the door.

After about twenty minutes of walking Twilight was finally caught sight of a certain white Alicorn.

“Princess Celestia!” yelled Twilight as she broke into a run to greet her teacher.

“You made it Twilight.” said Celestia calmly. “Are you ready?”

Twilight quickly nodded and looked over. She saw her brother and Princess Luna standing side by side. Celestia walked over to Shining Armor.

“Tell us the guards plan Shining.” spoke Celestia with authority.

Shining gave a nodded and began to recall the plan. “For now we have to stick to Earth pony infantry because the Pegasi won't be able to see through the canopy of the forest and the Unicorns were ordered to stay in Canterlot and protect the city from any dangers that lurk.”

Celestia gave an understanding smile. “That is a good plan Shining, have your Infantry sweep the forest carefully, no need for unnecessary causalities today.” Celestia then began to lay her plan down. “I want you, Twilight and a couple of your best guards to go and in the section of the Everfree that contains the old castle ruins. My sister and I will stay on this side of the forest to make sure nothing dangerous passes.”

Shining and Twilight, along with a couple of guard started to head into the Everfree. Celestia called out one more time.

“Be careful and good luck my little ponies!”

J woke with a jolt, his whole body was in pain. His joints ached while his head throbbed. It felt like a bad hangover but that wasn't what it was. He started to recall the events that happened a while ago.

'I wonder what caused that weird occurrence last night.' J thought to himself while sitting up.

He looked around and noticed it was day time. How long was he out? He quickly got to his feet but lost his balance and fell straight back.

“Dammit!” he yelled while holding the back of his head. If he didn't have a headache before, he would defiantly have one now.

After a few pain filled throbs, he calmed down and tried to get back on his feet. This time he found his balance and managed to stay upright. One of the first things he noticed was the absence of his student, Isabel. He walked forward a bit and looked back. In the ground where he woke up was a crater. He started to think about what happened last night and how he could of fallen. He then looked up.

“Did I fall from the sky?”

Instantly, J felt for his equipment. He still had his cloak on and it didn't seem to be torn anywhere. He felt at his waist and confirmed that both of his daggers were still in their holsters. He then tried to grab for his long sword but could not find it. It seemed that it was the only thing lost, well that and Isabel. J sighed lightly, he actually liked that sword but it didn't matter now, finding Isabel was number one on his list.

“Isabel!” called J. “Isabel are you here!?”
J continued to call for minutes but got frustrated when no one answered. He gave up and calling and started to walk into and random direction into the forest. After a few minutes of walking, J felt confident he would find Isabel. He started to see signs of something crashing through the forest. There were broken limbs and skid marks on the ground. He eventually came across a crater similar to the one he woke up in. It had to be Isabel, who else could it be? J bent down and spoke more calm but firm.

“Isabel, are you around here?”

After a second which seemed like an eternity, J got a reply.

“J is that you?” he heard from the crater.

“Yes it is me Isabel, we are safe for now, come on out so we can find out where we are.”

J turned his back for a minute as he heard Isabel climb out of the crater. He noticed something was different however. There was a slight clip-clop noise whenever Isabel took a step. Eventually J's curiosity got the better of him and he turned around to see Isabel.

“Oh dear God...” J's mouth was slightly open at the sight of Isabel. She had been turned into a horse creature, no, it's not a horse, she had a different body style, she looked more like a pony. He looked up and saw a horn on her head. She was very different from the ponies he remembers. Instead of a mane and a tail, she just had what looked to be a veil of black magical energy there. Yeah, she was completely different.

After a long silence, Isabel spoke up.

“OK, I know I'm a pony-horse thing but what do I look like from your view?”

J tried to compose himself to answer Isabel's question. Finally after a minute, he cleared his throat and began to speak.

“Well.” began J. “You are almost my height like you were when you were human. You have an aqua color coat and a black mane and tail. Both your mane and tail seem to be made out of some magic of some sort. Finally, you have a horn on your head.”

Isabel looked stunned, she had figured out that she was a horse-pony thing but she didn't know this much about her new body. It was almost too much to take in at once. She noticed a small stream nearby and trotted over to it. She could see her reflection in the water. J's description was incredibly accurate. Isabel then looked to the lower part of her body and was shocked at the things she found.

“I have wings!” Isabel said in a fan girlish shriek. She looked at her back for a few seconds and then looked at J. “How do they work?”

J merely shrugged and noticed one more thing. “You have a tattoo on your ass.” He said calmly.

“What?” Isabel looked back and saw it as clear as day. It was kinda hard to see from her angle.

“What does it look like?” She called to J.

J walked over to her and bent down. After a few moments he spoke.

“It is a well detailed picture of two swords crossing and a rune circle as the background. It is well detailed to the point that the runes in the circle are actually readable.” J then put his fingers to his chin. “I wonder.....” He didn't complete the thought but instead ran his finger across the picture. He heard a small gasp from Isabel followed by another noise.

* POMF *

J slowly brought his eyes up to Isabel. Her wings were fully extended.
Isabel looked over, her face getting redder by the second.

“It’s not what it looks like.” She exclaimed with a little shyness.

“Oh really now?” said J sarcastically.

After a few awkward moments and failed attempts by Isabel to get her wings down, J knew what had to be done.

“I think I have a solution to your predicament.” He said.

Isabel looked at him confusedly. “What would that be?” She said as she followed J's glare until it hit the stream. “Don't even think about it.”

“Too late.” said J loudly as he picked up the pony version of Isabel with her wings still fully extended and tossed her into the stream. The way her limbs flailed as she flew through the air and into the water was certainly a sight to see. She then made contact with the water and not even two seconds later she resurfaced. Her wings were back to normal and she started to swim over to the bank.

“T..t..t.t..this w.w.w.w.wat.water I.is f.f.f.f.f.f.f.fre.fre.fre.frezzeing.” Isabel said as she shook a little.

“Well, it looks like that solved your little problem, you many thank me now.” Said J jokingly.

Isabel returned the expression with a grim frown. “J.j.j.j.j.just he.he.he.help m.m.m.m.me ou.ou.ou.out of th.th.th.this d.d.d.d.damn stream.”

J laughed a little and bent down to help Isabel. He grabbed her by one of her hooves and helped her out of the stream. She stood close to J and shook like a dog to get the water out of her coat. It seemed to work because most of it seemed to leave her body and land on J's as he realized how cold the water actually was.

J gently rubbed the back of his head and laughed a chuckled. “Sorry, I didn't know that the water was that cold but it seemed to work.”

Isabel returned the comment with a low growl followed by a couple loud snorts. J put his hands in front of him trying to calm Isabel.

“Easy, it was just to help.” J looked over to his left and noticed a small dirt pathway going into the forest. He pointed to the path. “Look, we can head down that path and hopefully find the population of this land.”

Isabel simply nodded and walked past J with her head held up, her nose up and her posture straight. “I'll get you back tenfold J, you best not forget about this because I certainly won't anytime soon.”

J gulped, usually when Isabel got revenge on someone it was always ether extremely embarrassing or extremely painful for the one on the wrong side of Isabel's wrath. He shook his head to clear the thought out of his head and followed Isabel down the path.

Twilight, Shining Armor and the guard ponies that they brought with them had only been walking for several minutes when they found evidence of something falling through the forest. It wasn't long until they found the crater that was made by Isabel. All five of the ponies surrounded the crater and stood there until Twilight spoke up.

“I can literally feel the magic radiating off this spot and I have to say, it is indeed powerful, it’s either equal to or a little less powerful than Princess Celestia.” Twilight then started to turn pale with horror. “It’s also pony magic so that means it's not a unicorn, it's another Alicorn.”

The information Twilight had just shared with the other took a while to sink in. Shining Armor was the first to speak after the silence.

“We should keep going and see if we can find anything else.”

After a few nervous nods the five ponies being Twilight, Shining Armor and three earth pony guards kept walking until they found a second crater that was a little bigger than the last. As they approached, Twilight ran forward to examine the crater but was disappointed to find it empty.

What is it Twilight?” Asked Shining.

“The power coming from this spot is incredibly powerful; it is easily two time more powerful than Celestia. Another thing to add is that it's unlike any magic I've ever felt. Whatever it is, it's not a pony.”

That last sentence made everypony jump back in fear. However, the tension was broken when one of the guards pointed out a soft silver glint coming from the tree line. All the ponies started to carefully make their way over to the item in question. It was about 150 feet away from the crater. When they all got to the item, they all gasped. Before them stood a huge sword. It had to be at least as tall as Celestia herself.

Shining immediately turned to one of the guards with them. “Go find the Princesses and tell them that we have found evidence of a possible Alicorn and a mysterious creature that is probably armed.” The guard gave a salute and sped of the way they came.

Shining sighed and looked around and found a dirt path. He pointed to the path, “Let's follow that path till we hit the old castle ruins, if we don't find any more evidence then we will know that whatever these things are have gone towards either Ponyville or Canterlot.”

The two guard ponies nodded, Shining looked at Twilight who nodded slightly and got to her feet. Shining turned and started to follow the dirt path hoping that it would reveal more evidence of these creatures. Hopefully it won't come to violence.

Chapter 3: The First and Possibly Last Encounter

The Royal Protector

Chapter 3: The First and Possibly Last Encounter

J and Isabel slowly made their way down the dirt path. Since Isabel was not used to her new body, she had to learn how to walk more than thirty steps without tripping over her legs. After solving that conflict, J and Isabel found themselves in a silence. Isabel decided to break it.

“What do you think happened to us last night?” asked Isabel while looking at J.

“I have no idea, those runes left by that lightning was unlike anything that I have seen. I wonder if they were casted by someone else.”

Isabel shook her head, “You would have sensed someone using that kind of magic but maybe the one who casted it wasn't in the forest with us.”

J let that statement sink in and allowed another long silence take place.

'I think Isabel is right, the caster might not have been in the forest but that still leaves many questions. I've been alive for a good 2000 years and I've never experienced that kind of magic, it seemed almost unearthly.'

As J continued to think, his train of thought was interrupted by Isabel once again.

“I wonder what happened to my equipment, I really liked that sword.”

J chuckled, “I lost my sword as well but I still have my daggers.”

“At least you got to keep your stuff, when I woke up; I thought I was naked but it turns out I was just morphed into a horse-pony thing.”

J rolled his eyes, “Let me go ahead and tell you something Isabel, you're a pony, not a horse, not a horse-pony thing, you're a pony.”

“How do you know that?” Asked Isabel as she looked back at J.

“I've been around a long time Isabel; I know a horse from a pony when I see one. However, you look like no pony I've ever seen. I think you look like that because the magic that you contain in your body morphed the form somehow.”

Isabel looked around and returned her gaze to J, “I wonder what the people of this land will think when they see a talking pony with a horn, wings, and an eternal mane that is ink black.”

J snorted, “We probably don't need to interact with the locals of this land until we know who they are. It would be bad for us to wonder into a town full of cannibals.”

Isabel giggled and continued to walk. As they walked, the landscape began to become a little rough. The dirt path started to shrink until there was no path at all. The tree started to look like they were burnt or dead and the grass turned a shade of light brown. All in all, the scenery was now a little depressing. As they walked farther into the dead forest, J noticed a large rock formation that cleared the canopy of the forest. He gently nudged Isabel and stopped walking.

“Hey Isabel you see that huge rock formation over there?” He asked keeping his eyes on the rock.

“Yeah, what about it?” Isabel said looking confused.

“I'm going to see if I can get to the top, it looks like it clears the canopy of the forest. I will be able to see how big this forest is and hopefully I'll be able to spot some buildings or maybe people.” He then looked at Isabel. “I need you to stay close to this rock and wait for me, can you do that?”

Isabel looked at J with a frown. “What do you think I am, a child?”

J smiled, “Great, I'll take that as a yes.”

J then took a step towards the rock and started his climb. After about ten minutes of climbing, Isabel watched J pull himself on to the top of the rock and disappear from sight.

Twilight and Shining followed the two guards who were walking a couple paces ahead of them. Twilight had a concerned look on her face and kept looking out into the forest. After this went on for a couple minutes, Shining spoke up.

“What's bugging you Twiley?” Asked Shining while watching her.

Twilight looked at Shining and back to the forest. “I've been thinking, what if there is another Alicorn out here somewhere. Where is it from, how did it get here, and how is it as powerful as Princess Celestia herself? None of this makes any sense.”

Shining looked at Twilight for a second and sighed. “Tell me the truth Twiley, that's not what's bugging you is it?”

Shining was meet with a small but firm nod and Shining continued. “What's actually bothering you?”

“It's the other crater we found.” Began Twilight. “The magic I sensed there was not normal pony magic, it was different in many ways, it felt destructive.”

Twilight saw Shining's already white face lose even more color. She ignored her brother and continued.

“I hope that this possible Alicorn and mysterious creature are not hostile, they could both very easily destroy everything with that kind of power.”

Shining shook his head trying to clear his thoughts of two powerful beings that could easily destroy everything. He then turned his head and smiled.

“Twilight, have you forgotten about the enemies you've taken on before. You and your friend took out Nightmare Moon and brought back Luna when Celestia herself could not. You stopped Discord even though he corrupted your friends, you pulled through and defeated him with the Elements of Harmony. Then you stopped Queen Chrysalis when she had trapped Celestia, Cadance and had me under her spell. You did that without the elements.”

“We didn't stop her, you and Cadance did.” Said Twilight as she brought her eyes to Shining.

“Without you Twilight, Cadance wouldn't have made it out of that mine.”

“Twilight grumbled a bit, 'What are you getting at Shining?”

“All those foes were more powerful than Celestia as well but you and your friends defeated them. You didn't have to use the elements of Harmony on Chrysalis and she herself trapped Celestia.”

Twilight looked down for a moment and then returned her gaze to Shining. “You’re right Shining, as long as I have you and my friends we can always overcome any obstacle in our path.”

Shining gave a light chuckle. “That's the spirit Twiley, now let's see if....”

Shining was cut off when he hit the backs of the guard ponies in front of him. They were sitting down and had their mouths slightly agape.

“Why did we stop?” Asked Shining.

Instead of an answer, one of the guards brought up his hoof and pointed to a nearby rock formation. Shining followed where the hoof pointed to until it he saw something that both shocked him and excited him. He was staring at an Alicorn and it was staring back.

Isabel found herself a nice spot under the rock and laid down. She started to think about all that has recently happened. It was almost too much to handle. She found it quite ridiculous that she was a pony. As the thoughts began to fly through her head, she started to close her eyes.

'Maybe I can get some rest before J comes back down.” Thought Isabel as she began to get comfortable.

She had only had her eyes closed for a minute when she heard someone talking.

“....we can always overcome any obstacle in our path.”

Isabel's eyes shot open, that wasn't J's voice, it was someone else. She sprung up on her legs and looked for the people talking. Something came into view and it shocked Isabel, it was two ponies covered in gold armor. They looked at her and she looked at them. Isabel felt like they have stared at each other for hours. She considered running or yelling for J but her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the voice speak up again.

“Why did we stop?” Said the voice as whatever said it came into view.

It was another pony but in different armor. It probably meant that it was the leader or something. Behind it was a purple pony a little lower than the supposed leader. That purple one started to stare as well. However, it expression turned to what looked like fear then curiosity. The purple one stepped up and began to speak.

“Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle.” She then pointed to the pony in the different colored armor beside her. “This is my brother Shining Armor.” She then looked at Isabel. “What's your name?”

Isabel's mind was racing, should she stay and talk or should she call for J. The options were weighed until she decided on one.

“My name is Isabel Hawk.” She said firmly.

“Nice to meet you Isabel, my brother would like to talk to you.”

Twilight motioned behind her and the pony who Isabel assumed was Shining Armor walked up.

“Hello,” began the large white pony, “My name is Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard, and it is a pleasure to meet you. I would like to invite you to come with us so you may meet our ruler, Princess Celestia.”

Isabel thought for a second and replied “No thank you.”

This baffled the ponies across from her. They began to regain their composure. “Why not?” Asked Shining Armor.

“Because I'm perfectly fine here, now please leave me alone. I will not go with you, that is final.”

The ponies looked at one another, then they all looked at Shining Armor.

“I'm afraid there is no other option, either you come with us or we take you by force.”

The last part of that sentence rang in Isabel's head a little.

'Dear god, they better not try that. I still remember what happened to those guards that my father sent to take me back by force. If J were to look over the edge of that rock at the wrong time, there will be blood everywhere.'

“I said no and you will regret it if you try to take me by force, your men and probably you will get hurt.”

Shining Armor was clearly shaken, “You may be an Alicorn but we do not take threats lightly Isabel Hawk, you will come with us and that is final.”

Suddenly the two ponies in gold armor started to advance on Isabel slowly. One was holding a little metal ring while the other was holding a set of hoof cuffs.

Isabel was trying to process all of this. They wanted her to go with them so badly that they would resort to force to get her to come with them. Isabel looked over the slowly advancing ponies and saw Twilight looking at Shining Armor crossly. She was obviously angry at Shining Armor for doing this. It looked like he was ignoring her though, he was too focused on Isabel at the time being to notice Twilight.

'Damn, these ponies are incredibly hard-headed.' thought Isabel as the two ponies got closer and closer.

She looked up the rock and saw J looking over with his hood up.

Isabel let out a small sigh.

'Now these ponies are dead, extremely dead.'

J finally made it to the top of the rock. At the top, J could well above the forest. The forest they were in was massive, it spanned all the way to the horizon in multiple directions. J let out a sigh, there was no clearing anywhere near. He could not spot a town or village. There was nothing taller than the trees. J had almost given up searching until he saw a dull gray stick out at the level of the trees. Closer inspection revealed that it was the top of a castle and it wasn't too far away. J was thrilled, nor did he find a building and hopefully a way out of this forest, but he found royalty. After finding the castle, J looked over the side of the rock to find Isabel; she had to know the good news. However, J found something else when he looked over.

He saw other ponies, what, other ponies? They looked to be talking to Isabel about something. J watched carefully from the rock, his eyes were especially on the two ponies with gold armor on. They looked like they were guards or soldiers of some sort. Something was going to happen, J could feel it. This feeling caused him to slowly put his hood on his cloak up. This caused the shadow enchantment on his cloak to take effect as his face was replaced with darkness.

The conversation between Isabel and the other ponies seemed to escalate and turn into an argument. J's then saw the two guards, on command, slowly made their way over to Isabel. About half way, one pulled out a set of iron shackles while the other pulled out an iron ring. They were going to take Isabel away; J was not going to let that happen. He had to quickly think of something or Isabel will be taken from him.

J looked over to the trees just below the rock; they all had thick and sturdy branches. An idea then ran through his head, one that would hopefully strike terror in those ponies’ hearts. J jumped to one of the trees below him. It was only a five or six foot drop so it was pretty quiet. J had a better look at the ponies; he was above Isabel by about ten feet. He then reached for one of his daggers and pulled it out. It was one foot of killing power, he had these ponies lives in his hands right now but killing them was not his plan. Instead, J threw the dagger in between the two ponies and Isabel. He then jumped out of the tree and landed with an audible thud right next to his dagger. He reached out, grabbed his dagger, set it back in its holster and stood up.

J now had a complete view of these ponies, two without horns and wings and two with just horns. There was only three in armor and the one with the horn had different armor so he must be the leader. The other pony was a small purple pony with a horn on its head as well. This pony looked at J with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. J had no time to look at the small purple pony because the big white one stepped in front of it.

“Are you with the Alicorn over there?” Asked the large white pony.

J only gave a slight nod and the white pony continued.

“Then by royal decree, I ask that you step aside and stay out of our business.”

J shook his head and moved his feet slightly so that he could get into his combat stance. If it's a fight these ponies want, then it's a fight these ponies will get.

The white pony snorted loudly and looked at the guards.

“Subdue this creature but don't kill it, we will take him in to question.”

The two ponies in front of him nodded and broke into a dead sprint towards J. The one in front used its momentum and looked like it was trying to buck J in his chest. J easily dodged and grabbed the pony's hind leg. He was too focused on the first guard to notice the other rear its back legs up as well. J turned his head just in time to receive a buck to the head. J staggered a bit, his head was spinning. However, he stood up straight and looked at the guard. One of the rules of battle was to not let your enemy see any emotion of pain from you; they will use it against you. Even though there were several words floating through J's head that he would like to yell out right now, he contained himself.

With the other guard still in hand, J ran over to the other guard who was still dazed due to the fact that J was still standing. J decided to return the favor to the guard and pulled his foot back. He then kicked forward and hit the guard straight in the head, sending him flying back towards the white pony. He then took the pony in his hand and gave it a hard hit to its stomach and tossed it next to the other pony on the ground.

The white pony looked baffled; he didn't even take his eyes off J. He then looked down and saw the ponies on the ground; one was out cold while the other was in immense pain. This creature, whatever it was, just took out two guard ponies and managed to shrug off a buck to the head, what is this thing? The white pony looked at the purple one with the same expression the purple one had. Both of them looked at J, their looks of horror grew greater the longer they stared into his darkened face.

J noticed the horrified expressions on the two ponies’ faces and decided to have a little fun. He quickly searched through his memory to find the appropriate spells. He was going to make these ponies remember never to mess with Isabel again. He then cast two spells; the first was a paralysis spell. The second was an illusion spell, a pretty strong one at that. He then walked up to the two ponies who were rooted in place. He squatted down and leaned in to whisper to them.

“If you continue to pursue us, I'll have no choice but to gut you both and hang the carcasses from trees.”

Both ponies were recoiling in fear, the illusion spell that J had casted caused whatever the victim hears to happen to them in their mind. It was a pretty dark spell but it still got the job done. The spell continued for minutes on end with J saying things like “I'll tear through your body with my bare hand” or “I'll rip all of your skin off and toss you into a lake.” It got to the point where the purple pony was crying heavily and shaking in total fear.

'I think they've learned a lesson.' Said J as he was about to break the illusion spell. However, something powerful was getting close; J could feel it in his very bones. He shot up and looked around, whatever it was; it was closing in on J. He looked at the ponies in front of him, broke the spell, and walked away. The purple pony collapsed while the white one stayed up but had a thousand yard stare. J quickly walked to Isabel.

“We need to leave now Isabel, something powerful approaches.” J then turned to the forest. “There is a castle over in that direction, maybe the people of that castle will help us.”

Isabel stood up from where she was sitting. “I doubt it.” she said coolly as she began to follow J into the forest again.

Shining watched the creature walk away with Isabel in tow. Whatever it just did to him was incredibly terrifying. He heard, felt and saw himself being gored, skinned, burned, eaten alive, you name it Shining just experienced it. Twilight experienced it as well. She was one the ground shaking violently and crying loudly. Both ponies were so traumatized that they didn't even see both princesses walk up to them.

“What is wrong?” Celestia tried to ask both the ponies.

Her attempts to get closer were halted by her sister, Luna.

“Don't go any closer my dearest sister, both Shining and Twilight has been affected by some very dark magic, it still lingers on them.”

Celestia listened to her sisters warning and started to talk to Shining.

“Shining, what did this to you and Twilight?”

Shining blinked twice and spoke softly. “Two of them, an Alicorn and a creature.”

Celestia's eyes widened in disbelief, another Alicorn was now in Equestria, what would this mean?

She then quickly asked, “Shining, which way did they go?”

Shining brought up a weak, shaking hoof and pointed out into the forest, towards the old castle ruins. Celestia looked at Luna nodded. As both princesses where about to set off when they saw one of the royal guard ponies running to them with a huge sword strapped to his back. He stopped in front of Celestia and got a salute.

“Princess, this sword was found at one of the craters, we were able to detect some strong magic locked away in it so it might be of some use.”

Celestia levitated the sword off of the guards back and strapped it to Luna's.

“Thank you guard, now please go get help for Shining, Twilight, and these two guards. We are going to continue the purist.”

The guard saluted one more time before running back to find help. Both sisters took to the sky towards the castle ruins.

J and Isabel finally made it to the castle only to find out that it was nothing but ruins.

“You've got to be kidding me!” Shouted J as they walked into the ruins.

“This is pretty much our luck right now.” Replied Isabel as she looked around the destroyed halls of the castle.

J was about to comment on their luck as well but was interrupted by Isabel calling for J.

“J come over here.” She called

J turned and walked over to Isabel. “What do you see?”

Isabel pointed one of her hoofs to the wall in front of her. “Do those look familiar to you?”

J stepped forward and examined the wall. Inscribed on the wall were the same runes that they both saw the night they were transported here. His head spun, he now knew who casted that spell. It had to be someone from this land that uses these runes. His train of thought was completely destroyed when J heard the sound of hoofs clip-clopping on stone and felt the same power when he had those ponies under his illusion spell.

J turned to see two more ponies, something was different about these two though, they looked like Isabel. One of them had a sword strapped to its back. J then realized that it was his missing long sword and that they must have found where he and Isabel woke up at. Instinctively, J stepped in front of Isabel and put his hand close to his daggers. The bigger one of the two stepped up.

“So you were the one who hurt Shining Armor, Twilight Sparkle, and two royal guards.” She stared at J angrily.
“You have identified yourself as a threat and thus you will be treated as one.”

J quickly got into his combat stance

'This is going to be one hell of a fight.'

Chapter 4: The Fight Begins

The Royal Protector

Chapter 4: The Fight Begins

Both J and Celestia stood motionless for a couple of moments. They were both trying to read the others emotion. It was clear on Celestia's face that she was scared of this fight. While on J's face there was nothing but darkness, he still had his hood up. They stood silently a little while longer until Celestia's horn started to glow. She had taken a hold of the sword strapped to Luna's back and brought it towards herself. She examined it closely before lowering it.

“Before we fight, it would be polite to know who I'm fighting.” Said Celestia looking at J.

J looked at the white pony and said nothing, this caused Celestia to sigh.

“Fine I'll go first.” She cleared her throat and continued. “I am Princess Celestia, Ruler of Equestria and this is my sister Princess Luna.”

J was conflicted; he worked to protect royalty all his life and now he was pitted against in a fight, probably to the death. Killing royalty that wasn't evil really didn't sit well with him. He had to come up with a plan to win without death.

“My name is J.” He said in a deep voice, much deeper than what he expected.

Celestia looked at him weirdly. “That's it, you have no titles to your name. I mean you are accompanied by an Alicorn, you must have a title?”

“I have many titles.” Said J, “They're not important right now.”

J then pulled out both of his daggers and readied himself for the fight. Celestia replied by raising the sword she still had gripped in her magic. Celestia nodded and both Celestia and Luna launched forward at J. Celestia raised the sword and swung, it met J's dagger with a loud clang sound. J had parried the swing expertly with one of his daggers while he thrusted the second one towards Celestia. She managed to jump back in time for the dagger to barely miss her stomach. Celestia pulled the sword back up and swung again. J blocked it this time but held the blade there as he looked around. He was looking for the other sister, Luna. He quickly found her as she closed in on Isabel.

Luna started to charge her magic and aimed it at Isabel. She was interrupted when she saw a dagger fly towards her. She easily dodged it and looked at J. He was holding the sword Celestia had in place while he held his hand out at the other sister. Both of them looked confused on why his hand was out. They both found out pretty quickly, in the form of a spinning sound. Luna looked to her side to see the dagger floating in place but spinning incredibly fast. It then launched itself at Luna who dodge it again but was too close. She received a medium sized cut on her cheek.

The dagger then returned to J's hand who then released the sword from its holding place and knocked it away. Both princesses were in front of him now. He was standing in front of Isabel, who was sitting down wide-eyed. He reached over to Isabel and pulled her to her feet.

“You have to help me Isabel; I can't beat them on my own.” Said J without taking his eyes off Celestia and Luna.

“I don't know how to help, I was never good at hand-to-hand combat and I don't know how to use my magic.” said Isabel looking down in shame.

J looked at Celestia who still had the sword. He looked at her horn and realized that is was glowing with the same color the surrounded her horn. J then came to a realization.

“Isabel, try channeling magic through your horn, try thinking about those two over there being held into place by something.”

Isabel looked flustered. “I'll try.”

Isabel closed her eyes and focused. She tried to remember all the things that J had taught her over their years together. She focused on anything she thought would hold the two princesses in place for J. After searching, Isabel found one spell in particular that stuck out to her. She focused on the spell as her horn began to glow a blackish color. Suddenly, the stone floor under Celestia and Luna began to break up. Under the stone floor, several vines, glowing black, started to snake out. Celestia turned to her sister and yelled.

“We must get off the ground!”

Luna nodded and both princesses launched themselves into the air. J turned back to Isabel.

“Get those vines to follow them Isabel, I need to get my sword back, it's the only advantage they have over us. If they find out how to use it, we're screwed.”

Isabel nodded and focused her magic even more and the vines shot out of the hole in the ground even bigger than before. Isabel had the vines launching themselves at the princesses who were trying to evade them. As the princesses were evading the huge vines being launched at them, they failed to notice J jumping from the vines getting closer and closer to both ponies. J saw the two princesses dodging and weaving throughout the vines. J quickly spotted the Celestia and his sword on her back. J then took a running jump and launched himself in the air. He found his target, a certain white pony with a sword strapped to its back.

J had grabbed Celestia by both of her wings so that they would fall. However, J's honor and title would not allow him to bring himself to kill royalty that did not deserve it. Noticing that the floor was closing in, J turn in mid-air, still holding Celestia, he was now under her so that he would take most of the damage. They both hit the floor with a sickening boom.

J groaned and looked around. He had made a decent sized hole in the floor where he landed. He looked across from him to see Celestia struggling to get up. He also saw the sword on the ground next to him. He carefully got up and walked over to his sword. He then picked it up and examined it. It was in its best condition, no chips, no scratches. He then started to slowly walk over to Celestia who was still trying to get up. He pushed her down gently with his foot and put the tip of the sword next to her throat. Celestia looked as if she admitted her defeat except there was one thing, she had a smile on her face. J looked at her and then looked behind him and found the reason for Celestia's new found happiness, and boy did it piss J off. Behind him stood Luna but she had something levitating beside her, that something was Isabel.

He looked back down at Celestia who was smiling as if she won the battle. J was going to swing the sword but found himself paralyzed and floating a few feet in the air. The last thing he saw was that stupid grin Celestia had on her face before he was thrown into a nearby wall at incredible speeds.

J hit the wall hard, he felt his whole body shudder with pain. He laid there under a pile of rubble unable to move due to the pain. He heard the familiar sound of hooves walking along on the stone floor.

“It is greatly injured, I can feel it.” spoke Luna.

“I honestly don't care right now, it could have easily killed us both but it didn't, it was toying with us but it paid a price.” Said Celestia

“I wonder what it is, and why was that sword is so important to it?” Asked Luna as she looked at the sword Celestia was now holding.

“It doesn't matter Luna, let's just get back to Canterlot and I'll order the guards to come get this thing, whatever it is.”

Luna nodded and both princesses started to walk away.

J listened to this conversation between the two princesses and he became extremely enraged.

“NOT EVEN ROYALTY WILL TAKE ISABEL FROM ME.” yelled J from under the rubble. He didn't care if the princesses heard him. They would pay dearly.

J put his hands to the rubble on top of him and blasted it with his magic. Every bit of rubble that was on him blew away. J slowly stood up only to be greeted by the two princesses. The look of horror was great on their faces. J hadn't realized it but his hood had been pulled down and the shadow enchantment dispelled, his face was revealed. His battle scars, his brown hair, and his eyes. He had blood slowly dripping down the side of his face and in the corners of mouth. It was clear that he was in great pain. The anger he had towards the princesses was so great that he simply ignored the pain.

J held his hand out and shot a huge wave of magic. It was enough to throw the princesses off their hooves and back several feet. J looked around and found his sword. He picked up quickly and made his way towards the princesses who were standing in front of Isabel like J did. He saw Celestia horn light up again and felt the feeling of being lifted. Not this time.

J concentrated on the source of the magic in hopes to cut it off. He attempt was successful, he blocked Celestia's magic and the feeling of being lifted stopped. He walked up to Celestia and Luna. He held the sword out and spoke very clearly.

“It is against everything that I do for a living to harm or kill royalty, I even tried to cause the least amount of damage as possible. However, you want nothing other than to take Isabel away from me. You take her away from me and you will regret it. I know you saw the two ponies next to that rock. They tried to take Isabel as well and look how they turned out.”

J paused for a moment and waited before continuing.

“Do you still wish to take Isabel against her own will?”

Celestia snorted, “You have no say in royal business, we will take her with us and if you get I the way, I will personally kill you.”

J shook his head, “I didn't what to hurt you, both of you. However, you leave me no choice.”

J took his sword in hand and held it out. He closed his eyes and began to let his magic flow through the weapon. This was a rare occasion, he rarely meet someone on the battlefield that made him charge his weapon with magic. He reopened his eyes and liked what he saw. In front of him was his sword but it was covered in yellow energy. He then lowered his sword.

“You wondered why this sword was so special to me, now you know.”

Celestia looked at the sword and back to J. The sword was radiating such incredible magical energy that even she herself couldn't control. She stepped back out of fear.

“W...what is that?” Celestia said while looking at the sword.

“This?” J replied. “This is the embodiment of my will to protect Isabel. It contains only a quarter of my magical potential.”

“Now, I'll ask you one more time, will you cease your attempts to take Isabel?”

Celestia looked J sternly, “My decision on the matter is final.”

J looked at Celestia and Luna before raising his sword into a combat stance.

“Then I'm afraid that you and your sister will have to die.”

Chapter 5: An Agreement to End the Fight

The Royal Protector

Chapter 5: An agreement to end the battle

Once again, J found himself looking at Celestia and Luna. He had his sword in hand; it was continuously sparking with energy. Many things could be done with this sword. Since its power equaled that of J's, it was incredibly powerful. He moved it around in his hands and tilted it. It was utterly weightless. It was like holding something as small as a stick but with the power of a god itself.

J tilted the sword again and thought of his battle plan. He calculated every move of his plan and went over them. He did this for several of his ideas until he came up with one that seemed as it was a good one. J looked down at his sword and charged a little more magic into it causing it to glow a little brighter. He then put the sword behind him and slashed it forward. After the swing was complete, the sword left behind a crescent shape wave of magic that traveled forward very fast. It was headed straight for Celestia but she stepped out of the way just in time. It passed her and collided with the wall 20 feet behind her. Instead of dispatching, it went straight through the wall and brought it down.

Celestia looked behind her and then back at J. She had both fear and determination in her eyes. She looked as if see was trying her best not to lose her composure and freak out. J laughed lightly, these emotions gave him great hope that he could win this battle. He carefully went over his plan one more time and then smiled. He swung his sword four times in rapid succession. Four more crescent wave emerged from the sword and headed straight towards both Luna and Celestia. Again they expertly dodged the waves, they even deflected the first one. However, J was planning on this. He made that last wave bigger than the others. As soon as the fourth one left his sword, he made a dash at the princesses using that fourth wave as cover. As soon as Celestia dodged the fourth one, she saw J behind it as he thrusted his sword at her. Celestia jumped to the side quickly to dodge the blow, J was planning this. From where the sword remained from the thrust, J swung it to the side Celestia was on. He heard a satisfying slicing sound as he drug the sword across Celestia's chest. He didn't get to see it because he had done a spin after the slice. If he hit Celestia with this next swing, he would surely kill her.

J finished his spin and brought his sword down. As he returned to his original direction, he was surprised. Instead of Celestia standing there, he saw Luna standing in front of him. He then felt something block his blow. He looked up and saw an ethereal sword. It was a dark blue color and looked to be surrounded by a blue mist. J was a little surprised, this was literally the first time Luna had directly confronted him. She had actually ruined J's plan. However he ignored her for the time being and looked around. He saw Isabel safely tucked into the corner.

'Maybe if I can break this sword and get past Luna, I can grab Isabel and I could escape into the forest.'

His thought was stopped when he saw something else. He saw a blood trail leading away from the battle; it had to be Celestia's. He followed the trail and it lead behind him. He then heard the galloping of hooves.

'Shit, this is going to hurt.'

J then pushed Luna's sword away from him and turned to face Celestia. He had just enough time to get out a pained grunt as Celestia rammed into him. He was knocked backwards by about 10 feet. J had been punched in the chest and stomach before but this takes the cake. He took a good two minutes to regain his breath and footing. He wondered why Celestia and Luna hadn't attacked him while he was trying to recover from Celestia's attack. He looked up and found out. The cut on Celestia's chest was healed, not even the scar was there.

J groaned a bit, this was going to be a long fight if they kept this up. He had to somehow keep them from helping each other, but how? The answer to J's question came to him in the form of a trick. J took his sword and drove it into the stone floor. He then pulled out his two daggers and reared back to throw them. They flew through the air and straight at Luna. Instead of going straight, they curved and stuck into the stone floor on both sides of Luna.

“Ha!” Luna yelled. “Thou can't even hit me while is stand still. I thought a creature of great power, such as yourself, would have better aim.”

What Luna didn't know is that before J threw the daggers, he enchanted them with a simple yet powerful shield spell. Luna, being as unobservant as she is failed to notice the magic in the daggers. As she constantly made comments about J's aim, she didn't notice the yellow barrier form around her.

“You might want to quit your laughing and open your eyes sister.” Said Celestia.

Luna stopped and looked around her and finally noticed the barrier.

“H-how did you do this without me seeing you cast the spell?” Asked Luna

J smiled, “Let's just say that aim wasn't important when I threw those daggers.

J turned to Celestia who was watching her sister trying to break the barrier. She tried to help but was stopped by J who started to dash at her again. J thrusted his sword at her again only for her to dodge it. He kept swing his sword and Celestia kept dodging. Celestia even tried to use her magic to try and throw J into another wall. He wasn't letting that happen. Every time Celestia tried to use her magic, J would stop it by cutting off the source of the magic. After many more failed attempts from Celestia, J decided it was time to end this.

J thrusted his sword again but this time instead of pulling back and swinging the sword. He took his right hand off the handle and punched Celestia right on the side of her face. Celestia backed away stunned from J's attack. She shook her head and returned her attention to J. Blood began to trickle from the corner of her mouth. Celestia spat the blood out of her mouth and snorted. This time instead of using any kind of tactic, Celestia charged in head first. He fatal error, she was letting her anger and rage get the better of her.

As Celestia neared J, he quickly dodged and readied his sword. Celestia turned and charged again. This time, J stopped her charge with a well-placed palm strike. Celestia jumped to side and started to circle J, more blood trickling from her mouth. J made the first move as he moved closer.

'It's time to end this' thought J as he got closer and closer.

As he got up to Celestia, she turned to deliver a powerful buck to his chest. J duck below the buck and brought his feet forward. He kicked both of his feet forward and delivered a powerful kick to Celestia's stomach that sent her flying. Luna was watching in horror as J knocked Celestia half way across the room with a powerful kick. J looked over to Luna and laughed at her horror. He returned his attention to Celestia who was on the ground trying to recover from the blow she had received. This gave J his chance; he quickly ran over to her and stood over her. He had his sword to her throat and was ready to end her life. He pulled the sword back and started to plunge it.

“STOP!” Yelled a voice behind J.

J looked back and saw Isabel standing behind him.

“Isabel, why do you tell me to stop?” Asked J.

“This is all my fault.” began Isabel. “It's my fault that you attacked those ponies by the rock in the first place. I refused to go to meet princess Celestia with them.”

J was stunned a bit. All of this was started because of that? J didn't have time to think because Celestia had used her magic to sling J off of her. J hit the floor behind Isabel and slid on the floor for a couple feet before stopping. He had gotten up in time to see a bolt of magic flying right at him. However, it was stopped right in front of J. A blackish barrier appeared in front of him where the bolt had struck. J looked over to Isabel who had her horn glowing. Isabel gave Celestia a death stare.

“I've had enough of this fighting. You were going to kill each other over me.”

Isabel was furious, J knew better then to go against his honor and kill royalty. This had to end.

“If it will stop this needless fighting, I will accompany you to your castle.”

Celestia looked stunned; she looked down for a moment and finally answered. “Fine, I shall stop, please have J over there release my sister and we shall go to the castle.”

Isabel didn't miss a beat. “J will only release your sister and I will only go with you under two conditions.”

Celestia snorted slightly. “What are your conditions?”

“One, once we get to this castle of yours, you explain to me why I am so important to you ponies.”

Celestia nodded in agreement at her first term and Isabel continued.

“Two, J comes with us.”

“What?!” Yelled both princesses at the same time.

“I will not allow such a dangerous creature to roam freely in my land.”

Isabel stomped her hoof. “You listen here princess, J wouldn't have been hostile in the first place if Shining Armor hadn't tried to take me forcefully. I assure you that as long as you do not threaten me, J will be peaceful. Hell, you could probably employ him into your guard.”

“What do you mean by employing him?” Asked Celestia.

Isabel looked at J as he nodded. “Where we are from, J had two jobs. One was as a teacher and the other was as The Royal Protector for kings, queens, princes, princesses, dukes, duchesses. He has protected all kinds of royalty.

Celestia was surprised at what Isabel had told her. To think that something so powerful would spend it's time protecting royalty is very surprising. One other question then struck Celestia's mind.

“Why is he so protective over you then?”

“Well, I'm on both sides of J's jobs. I'm from royalty because my father is a king but I am also his student as well. That is why he went as far as fighting a princess for my safety.”

Celestia opened her mouth to speak but was silenced when J walked closer and held his hand up.

“Before you ask any more questions about us I have one I would like to ask you.”

J then pointed to the wall with the runes one it.

“Before we started our little fight, I noticed that wall was covered in runes. Do you by any chance know what those runes are?”

Celestia was hesitant at first but eventually gave into J's question. She trotted slowly over to the wall that J had pointed to and examined it.

“These runes are old equestrian runes, specificity used for high power teleportation rituals. Why do you ask?”

J looked at Isabel and back to Celestia.

“It is a long story but first I need to do something.”

J walked away from Isabel and up to Luna. He pulled each dagger out of the ground which caused the barrier containing Luna to crumble away.

“There, I have released your sister; let us make our way to your castle.”

Luna stood there dumbstruck.

“Why would thou trust us when we tried to kill you?”

J stopped and turned back to Luna before giving a small smile.

“Isabel has agreed to go with you so there is no need to take action against you anymore. However, if you do hurt her, I'll cut your head off, set it on a pike, and parade it through your towns.”

Luna shivered slightly, “Point taken.” She said quietly.

J turned back around and walked back to Isabel. Celestia the perked up in a regal form.

“You have released my sister, I accept your conditions but first I would like to know what land you came from and how you got here.”

Isabel then spoke up. “I would like to tell princess but I would really like for Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle to be present when we discuss the matter.”

J looked at Isabel confused. “Who?” he asked.

“The ponies we meet at that huge rock were two guards, Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle.”

J's mouth formed a small “o” as he remembered who Isabel was referring to.

Celestia spoke up again. “I was informed that both Shining and Twilight were taken to our castle to be treated; we shall go there at once.

On that note, Celestia and Luna got closer to J and Isabel. Celestia's horn lit up and a bright flash of white appeared around the group of four. Moments later, the group reappeared in a garden of some sort. There were beautiful plants and animals all around. J even spotted a couple statues. Something was off about them through; they seemed to radiate a little magical energy. J shrugged it off and reminded himself to ask about it later.

J saw Celestia turn and speak up

“Welcome to Canterlot, Isabel and J.”

Author's Note

This will be the last chapter until spring break is over.