//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2: Paladin's Story 
// Story: Paladin 
// by The_Pariah 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 2: Paladin's Story.

All three ponies had agreed that it would be best for Paladin if he stayed in Canterlot for several days before traveling to Ponyville. As well as relaxing, Paladin had been told that he was to write a full description of his travels through the realms Discord had created.


Paladin had agreed to this plan wholeheartedly. After a few days of lounging around his room, he began to write his story. As he wrote each word, the anvil that seemed to rest on his shoulders began to disappear. By the time he had completed it, the burden had completely vanished, carried off into oblivion with nothing more than the stroke of a quill.

•••••••••••••••••••

" The only time I had been anywhere outside Manehatten was when I went to the Grand Galloping Gala, which was also where I saw the the mare of my dreams for the first and only time. But that's another story for another time. 

Two years after my birth, my brother was born. His name was Concordia Amor, but everypony called him Concord. He was a pegasus and he was quite possibly the fastest pony I've ever known. Once he turned 16 he could reach speeds exceeding Mach 2 in less than a second. I was always in my brother’s shadow, but I didn't hate him. Fast as he was, one day he wasn't fast enough. But I’ll get into that later.  I got my cutie mark early on, defending a girl in the playground. My magic is shielding and some basic healing magic (which I am very proficient in, if I may boast).


I worked in a bakery, which is kind of strange considering my cutie mark and name. But it paid well and all of my friends hung out there, so I was happy. My parents lived down the street and I lived across the road from the bakery.

The only time I lived up to my mark was about two years ago. It was already past sundown, and the only lights for blocks were the dimly lit lanterns placed on every street corner. I had just left the bakery and began making my way towards the sweet shop only two blocks away.

As I was walking, the shrill scream of a mare sliced through the air like a freshly-sharpened knife. Being the gentlecolt that I was, I followed the wails into a very dark, very scary alley (Did I forget to mention how much I hate alleys?)

By the time I entered the alley, the mare in distress had already been thrown to the ground, a substantial cut etched into her foreleg. Standing over her menacingly was a fiery red stallion with a deranged look of hatred in his eyes.

As he moved to strike her again, I reacted out of instinct, throwing up a shield around her to protect her from whatever malice the stallion intended to inflict.

As his arm bounced harmlessly off the pale blue bubble, the attacker turned his rage-filled eyes towards me.  

As soon as he laid eyes on me, he commenced a verbal barrage that would have taken the toughest sailors aback. The words were hurtful, to say the least, but I did my best to ignore him and keep a cool head. I knew there was no way I would last long against him. He was a full grown stallion and I was just out of school. The verbal assault kept coming, reaching a crescendo that would've had just about anypony crying for their mother. 

But there was a wounded mare, and I would not stand for such a thing to go unpunished. The stallion finished his insults and his eyes went wide. His next choice words were worse than anything he had said before. He promised me a painful demise if I didn't leave, but I wasn't going anywhere.

He uttered a long growl. “I don't like being ignored kid. In fact, that's the reason I beat up Sarah here ." His voice was gruff, but at the same time had a high pitch. It was only then that I noticed that the mare was covered in bruises. 

The stallion took a step forward. In the dim light of the alleyway, I noticed that his coat was matted and covered in dirt patches. 'Listen boy. I'm gonna give you 3 seconds to leave. 1. 2. 3.” A look of relish passed through his face, as if he was going to enjoy beating up a poor, defenceless kid. “Well alright then, I guess we fight.'

He charged forward, but his movements were uncoordinated. My body took over, and I managed to sidestep him. As he passed me, I could smell the alcohol leaking from his body. His momentum carried him onward and he ran out onto the street. 

He turned and stepped back into the alleyway. He was panting already. My body was still in control, my mind having retreated. His eyes almost glowed with anger. He shook his head and snorted. He pawed at the ground and charged at me again.

Again I just managed to sidestep him. He ran past me and crashed into the wall behind me. I turned. He was still standing, though he was worse off than before. His head was bleeding and he could barely stand.

Despite all this his eyes were defiant. 'Kid, you are asking for a beating.' His words were slurred and his head hung low. He turned. 'Even if I can't beat you, I can beat her.' He raised his hoof up and brought it slamming down- 

On a shield that I had hastily created. He slammed his hoof down again and again, but the shield held. Slowly cracks appeared. I couldn't move whilst holding the shield. 

Suddenly the shield shattered and I ran forward. The blow carried through and with a sickening crack, snapped Sarah's back leg.

She screamed, the sound racing through the neighborhood. The stallion turned to face me, a weak smile on his lips. 'See, victory is mine.'

He slumped to the ground, unconscious. I knew the police would be here soon after that scream, and the scene didn't look too good for me. Sarah had lost a lot of blood from that cut and she was in significant pain, but I wasn't that great at healing magic back then, so the best I could do was stem the blood flow and ease her pain. As for the stallion, I couldn't do much for either, but I slowed the bleeding from his head. 

I was facing a serious problem. I had to carry two full grown ponies to the nearest hospital, five blocks away. I carefully lifted sarah onto my, ensuring she wasn't in too much pain. The stallion was quite heavy, so I levitated him so he hung above the ground.

I walked out of the alleyway and looked around. No sign of police yet. I walked out and began my journey. I stopped at each block, checking for police, but I was in luck. Nopony noticed me and I was able to reach the hospital without incident. 

I walked into the hospital and handed the two ponies over to the stunned doctors. And without a single word spoken, I turned and left.

You see, I've always been a shy pony, always a bit suspicious of other pony's motives. The only time that shyness evaporates is when my adrenaline starts pumping, or when I'm dealing with a particularly annoying pony. 

But all in all, my life was really good. Then Discord came and ruined everything. When he entered Manehatten, everypony else fled. On the day Discord attacked, we stood together. I took on Discord and he was a hero, protecting the fleeing ponies from Discords chaos. As I mentioned before, my brother was fast but not fast enough. A pony was going to be crushed by a building that had been weakened. Concord dove in and moved her out of the way. But he wasn't fast enough. He was crushed by the building. I haven't had time to mourn him, but once peace reigns, I will.  

While my brother was saving lives, I was fighting Discord. I threw everything I had at him, literally. I picked up chunks of rock, masonry, anything I could get my hooves on. Discord sent bolts of magic at me, but I either dodged or blocked them. I charged him and tried to kick him, but just dodged, or flew out of the way. Discord laughed at me. “You think, you can take me on? I'm the bringer of Chaos, you’re just a nopony. You don't even have the Elements of Harmony.”

Discord yawned. “Well, this was fun, but I have Chaos to wreak.” A huge and fierce wind picked up. It pushed against me and darted to push me back. I looked over my shoulder and saw the red ball of light floating there.

I knew it couldn't be good, so I struggled harder against the wind. I slowly gained ground, but Discord just floated over to me and flicked me in the head. The force behind that blow was astounding. 

I went flying back and as I entered the ball of light, I heard Discord laughing. Then everything went black.

When I came to, I was still in Manehatten. Only everything was on fire. However, it was like I was watching it on a movie. The flames burnt, but didn't touch me, nor did they produce heat. As well, they didn't appear to actually be destroying the buildings. The sky was black, no moon or sun. It was devoid of everything, including stars.

I walked to my house. It was burning, and there was nopony there. It was the same at my parents house, the bakery and my brothers house. I left the city and went to each of the bridges in turn. All of them were missing, as if someone had removed them from existence. 

For three whole days. (I'm assuming, there was no way to actually tell) I sat there, just watching the city burn.  The fire created a huge amount of light, which cast huge shadows around me. In a way, it was really quite beautiful. 

The red orb appeared next to me. I had a choice, I could sit there and watch the city burn or I could go through the portal. I decided to step through, I had decided I would see these weird realms to the end.

The next world was just plain unusual. I don't know how long I spent in there, seeing as time didn't seem to work. Everything in this particular world was upside down, including gravity. This meant that I was basically walking upside down. It was strange though, as the blood didn't rush to my head. The houses there were Spartan in design. Each house had almost nothing in it, simply a table and some chairs.

Except for one. One house contained something so horrific, that I spent what felt like a week purging it from my mind. Again I saw nopony, but several times I could have sworn I heard somepony behind me. That world played tricks with my mind, making noises that I couldn't explain, rearranging the furniture in the houses, and moving shadows of their own accord, even though the sun sat still beneath me. I don't know how long I spent in there, but eventually the red ball showed up and took me onwards.    

After that world there were several short and extremely horrific worlds I won't go into detail about. In those worlds I saw things nopony should ever see. 

The world after those was an exact replica of Manehatten. No fire or smoke, but it was infested with hundreds of creatures. I have no clue what they were , as the most of one I ever saw of one was its legs. It walked on two legs, but that was all I saw, apart the occasional glimpse of a claw. They hunted me for two whole months before the ball appeared again.

The next world was, mercifully, the second to last of these Celestia-forsaken realms. This world was the first world that I actually encountered somepony else. This was Discord's only attempt at making false ponies. Unfortunately, they didn't turn out too well. Their bodies were at least twice the size of my own. Their heads were huge, supported by thin and long necks. Their bodies were lumpy and thick. Their legs were thin and spindly and by all laws of physics, those ponies shouldn't have been able to live. I don't know whether Discord  intended this or not, but either way, it was still creepy. The city in Enoch they lived in was unremarkable. The only interesting thing about it was that it was surrounded by a huge wall which I never left. It took the ball a good three months to return.

The final world I visited was, as far as I could tell, nothing.  There was no light and so I could see nothing, other than myself in that world. From what I’ve been told, I'm going to assume that this was after Discord was defeated, and so there was no mind to create a world. The strangest thing was, just before I landed in the real world again, I closed my eyes for a moment and then when I opened them again, I was standing in front of a  cliff with sharp rocks at the bottom. Above hung a small ball of light, illuminating just the cliff. By this time I was sick of going through that horror show, so I jumped. I closed my eyes and waited for the end. But when I opened them again I was leaping towards Luna. 


I have no clue how I ended up here but I'm thankful that I did."

Paladin finished reading. He nodded "Yes, that will do." He placed it on his desk, walked over to his bed, lay down and extinguished the flame with his magic. Less than a minute later he was fast asleep.