Chapter 6: Armoured Paladin
Black Paladin watched the moon rise into the night sky. It was a beautiful sight as always to watch even though he couldn't begin to grasp the amount of magic it took for Luna to do something so amazing. The stars began to shine like individual gems, each one twinkling along with its brothers and sisters. It was a relaxing yet amazing experience that Black Paladin had missed while he slept. Every night, he would come and watch this event and reflect.
The night air was cold, biting at his exposed areas. His armour protected him from most of it and kept him warm but it didn't truly bother him. He was used to the cold that the night brought. It was comforting to him. He looked to his right, down the rampart to where Shining Armour was standing watch. They had both taken there turn on guard together so they could talk. Something Black Paladin had tried to avoid for a long time coming.
"So..." Shining Armour murmured, his voice shaking slightly. It made Paladin smile that he wasn't the only one nervous. "You do know that Cadence has some hoof in what happened in the cafeteria, don't you?"
"It does not matter," Black Paladin turned to face his counterpart. They were both in full regalia, but they had different armour patterns. While Shining Armour wore the purple and gold of a captain of the Solar Guard, Black Paladin wore the ancient armour of a Lunar General. "I feel my heart soar when I am around Trixie. I do not understand it, but it is comforting to know that there may be somepony out there for me."
"Something to protect," Armour smiled back at him. "I know the feeling. I would do everything to protect Cadence."
"Even disobey Celestia?" Black Paladin queried. It had never crossed his mind that he had yet to ask Luna of this boon. Or how she would react. He shivered not from the cold, but from the thought of eventually bringing this up before the Princess of the Night.
"If it meant disobeying her, yes." Shining Armour sighed, staring off into the distance of the city below. "This city, Canterlot. It is my home, but Cadence is where I belong. Even if we somehow lost everything, if I still had her, I would have a home to protect."
"Family is an important thing," Black Paladin sighed, a mist cloud forming. "I wish I had known my family, even for a little while."
"You ran away from them," Shining Armour seemed angry at this. "You gave up your chance to know them and the love they would have given you."
"They never loved me," Black Paladin turned away and stared up at the mountain, fighting back the emotions. "They despised me for being a unicorn. An odd-ball in a family of Earth ponies. They had a reputation of being royal guards and generals. If anypony else knew I was born from them, they would have been laughingstocks. The day I ran from my home was the day I first saw the moon and the sun. The first time I was truly free to think and act for myself."
Shining Armour opened his mouth, but no words came out. Black Paladin stalked down the wall, to a statue at the very end of a phoenix. Even though it was stone, Black Paladin could remember that this had been here the night he had been put to sleep. It hadn't aged a day. Out of everything else, this one tiny insignificant statue hadn't changed once. Black Paladin felt the same way, that his life would never change, no matter where he went.
"You found a new family though," Shining Armour whispered. "Luna found you and took care of you. Everyone here treats you as one of their own. Don't live in your past Paladin. I know it must be hard for you, but don't let your past ruin what you have right now. There is a mare downstairs that likes you a lot and has shown that she likes you."
"What if I screw up!?" Black Paladin shouted. "I will not live with the idea that I messed up. That I messed up another ponies life. I have done it to many times before. I do not want to hurt her."
"Oh, I see now," Shining Armour smiled.
"What are you going on about?" Black Paladin huffed, boiling on the inside.
"You are afraid of failure," Shining Armour turned around. "You want to be perfect. You are afraid that someone will get hurt if you screw up. You know what? Grow up. Nopony is perfect. Don't live your life on the fence. Get off and enjoy yourself. If you fail, so what! You have to live with it and just move on. I thought you were a great stallion Paladin, but it seems I was wrong."
"Where do you think you're going?" Black Paladin yelled. He galloped after Shining Armour, stopping in front of him. He placed a hoof on his chest plate and stopped him. "Who do you think you are to speak to me like that!?"
"Do you want to fight now?!" Shining Armour snorted. "Or are you afraid of failing."
"I'll fight you, but not here," Black Paladin shoved him away. "We are doing this on Equestria Earth. Where anypony can see me trump you."
"You are on," Shining Armour laughed, shoving him away. "Follow me. And bring your visor. I want this to be as even as possible before we fight."
"Fine then," Black Paladin followed him. He spotted two guards nearby lolling about. "You two! One of you go watch the balcony. I do not want to hear any complaints. Somepony will relieve you in an hour."
The two guards looked at each other before one ran off onto the balcony. Paladin laughed, galloping after Shining Armour. It was a good thing he had thought ahead and brought his visor with him on duty, because he didn't trust it in his room, especially around Trixie and Luna. One of them would definitely mess with his account, especially since Luna knew all his codes, which he meant to switch at the next possible convenience.
Black Paladin walked into the garrison, following Shining Armour as they dearmoured themselves and put their equipment back into their lockers. Paladin kept his blade strapped to his mid, in case of any emergency. It was his normal thing to do except when he was around Luna who disliked having something like that near her. It was a peculiar thing that she disliked the idea of harming others yet she played violent games. He did not argue the issue though.
"Where are we going?" Black Paladin sighed when they were back in the castle and seemed to be going nowhere. "At this point, we are merely wandering in circles."
"Paladin, Armour, what are you two doing?" Princess Luna asked, walking down the hall. Black Paladin looked to make sure he wasn't seeing things, but it seemed as though the Princess of the night certainly had returned from her trip. "What are you doing on this glorious of nights?"
"Um... Princess Luna... we were not expecting you back so soon..." Black Paladin got out. Luna gave a small smile at her loyal guard. "What brings you back so early?"
"The matters at Hoofington where not as serious as I first thought," Luna yawned. "Merely a dream spirit having a bit of mischief. Such hilarious creatures even though they can be a bit mean. Now that I have answered your question, would you mind answering mine?"
"Delighted to Princess," Shining Armour stepped forward. "We are going to settle our differences in a battle of Equestrian Earth. If you would like to come monitor us, we are heading toward the guard lounge, which I don't think Black Paladin has figured exists."
"We have a lounge?" Black Paladin nearly shouted. "Wait, what is a lounge?"
"It seems you still have much to learn Paladin," Shining Armour smirked. Luna gave a small chuckle.
"Sure boys, I will watch your match," She giggled. "Just keep it fair."
"That was the plan," Shining Armour chuckled, galloping off. Black Paladin and Luna followed behind, all of them laughing like school-yard fillies. Shining Armour lead the small party to a remote area of the castle that Black Paladin had yet to explore. Pushing open a door, Black Paladin was amazed at the amount of technology in the lounge that was offered. It amazed him, looking at all the tvs and computers and gaming stations. Shining Armour walked over to a nearby computer and turned it on. "Come on then Paladin, logon."
Black Paladin turned on another computer and plugged in with his visor, quickly accessing the game. He logged on to the game and accessed his character, logging on. He was greeted by the tingling of the game connecting with his nervous system and the familiar voice. He took a deep breath, feeling the chilly air of the game. He opened his eyes, finding himself where he had logged off by the southern gate. The moon was out, in full beauty.
"You coming?" A character whispered to him. Paladin looked at the name, and laughed when he saw it. Shining Armour must have let Cadence give his character the name or something of a similar effect. "You weren't that hard to find actually, though Luna did help with that. Add me to your friend list."
After doing so, Black Paladin received a message from Shining Armour asking to join a party. He accepted, finding Luna in the part as well. He switched the party chat, feeling as though it would be a more private accommodation. "Hi. How is it going? Where are we meeting?"
"I'm setting a waypoint," Luna responded. "Why don't you begin explaining what is going on between you and Luna." It was not a question, but a demand. Black Paladin cursed. He had been hoping for more time to come up with an excuse of sorts before approaching Princess Luna on the matter.
"Well, I... uh... There is an explanation... uh... well..." Black Paladin stuttered. "I... this is harder than I thought."
"Do not worry Paladin," Luna chuckled. "It is more than all right. You two would make a cute couple. If you truly wish to date her as your special somepony, I would be happy for you."
Black Paladin stopped in front of a arena, the size of which he had never seen before, even in the real world. He looked down at his map, finding that his destination was set to inside the great coliseum. He pushed open a gate slowly, spotting both Luna and Shining Armour standing in the center, talking. Amazingly, Trixie was also there, sitting a bit further back. Paladin looked up at Shining Armour's level, finding that he was far outclasses by 5 levels. Paladin was still only a level 10, while Shining had achieved level 15.
Shining Armour class also differed from Paladin's. Armour was a guardian, which was actually one of the harder classes to master in the game and was a feat if anypony actually did. Black Paladin couldn't actually find any info on his class, mainly because he was the first to actually use it he had noticed.
"This does seem a bit unfair," Luna tutted. "You need to level up a bit before you two can duel Black Paladin. It is a good thing we can spawn monsters here that you can train on. When you feel ready, you and Shining Armour can have you battle."
"That sounds fair," Shining Armour smiled, climbing up into the stands along with Luna and Trixie. One of them hit a button as monsters jumped up, many different species all congregating on Black Paladin. They weren't as strong as he was, but there numbers would cause a problem. There were multiple abilities on Paladin's hotbar, but it would take all of his abilities to end this battle.
After about 3 hours of hard grinding and a few painful deaths on Black Paladin's account, he was finally at the level of Shining Armour, who was walking down the stairs, stretching. "You ready to lose?"
"I'm going to win and make you regret thinking I will back down," Black Paladin sneered. He was already warmed up and ready, while Shining Armour was cold and green. The only problem was that Paladin was exhausted from his previous grinding. Yet, he now had a serious clutch that the others didn't know about yet. A spell that allowed him to meld with the dark and disappear for a short amount of time.
"Come on Shining Armour," Paladin jested. "If I am going to win, might as well let you start the battle." Shining Armour jumped forward, his massive claymore swinging down at Black Paladin, who dodged to the left, absorbing the blow with his shield. He gets a swing in, aiming for the legs landing the blow. The claymore catches him in the side, sending him flying into a nearby pillar. Black Paladin rises, coughing up a bit of blood. He rushes forward, up and over Shining armour shooting off magical stars as he sailed over.
Shining Armour was protected by a magical barrier, which absorbed most of the damage of the magical blasts. Black Paladin landed and rolled, feeling the air breeze by as Armour's claymore sailed over. Black Paladin turned, activating his night armour and rushed forward, bashing Shining Armour in the muzzle with his shield. "I'm so not done yet."
"Neither am I," Shining recovered. Black Paladin struck out, landing a strong blow on one of Shining Armour's arms. He sidestepped, missing another sweep but getting hit by the second strike that he hadn't seen coming. Shining Armour was swinging the sword at the fastest speed that he had seen yet. Black Paladin dove away, firing off a magical blast of lunar magic, striking Shining Armour and bringing down his defenses.
"How?" Shining looked up. Deciding it was time to end the duel, Black Paladin activated his new spell, becoming one with the shadows. Shining looked up, confused as Black Paladin smashed him from the back with multiple barrages from both his sword and magical blasts, all that took Shining Armour down.
"Give up?" Black Paladin said as the duel ended. Shining Armour sat on the ground, breathing deeply, looking at his opponent. He merely nodded, unsure of what just happened.
"Shining, give up," Trixie called down. "He has you pinned."
"It is also late. You both need to get some rest," Luna walked out onto the field. "Come on you two, off the game. You can settle anything else when you both get a good night sleep."
"Yes Princess," Black Paladin bowed, logging off. He opened his eyes back to the room, where many of the guards were now playing games. There was an open bar where a few sat and drank away there day, while other guards had gotten a game of pool started. Shining Armour pulled off his own visor and looked at Black Paladin.
"I owe you an apology," Shining Armour began.
"Don't say anything," Black Paladin cut him off. "Maybe I was a bit to prideful and a perfectionist. I should not let that destroy our friendship. I admit my mistake."
"Glad you did," Shining Armour chuckled. "Let me buy you a drink."
The rest of the night was a bit of a blur for Black Paladin, who later awoke in the lounge in the middle of the pool table.
"Oh well," Black Paladin sighed, going back to sleep.