The Guardian Shadow

by KnightBrony

Chapter 6: The Journey Begins

Chapter 6

The Journey Begins

I spent the next few days learning as much as I could about Equestria, and believe me, there was a lot to learn. Whatever I couldn't find in Scarlet's books, Scarlet explained to me. First off, Equestria was vastly different from how it's depicted in the show, particularly in the size of the region and the various other countries surrounding it. Scarlet explained that I was currently in Hoofton, a small village halfway between Appaloosa and Trottingham that bordered the EverFree Forest. To the north were the Dragon Badlands, the Griffin Dominion, which Scarlet explained had been struggling for the past 900 years ever since Princess Celestia dissolved their government, Gem Fido which was Diamond Dog territory, and the Changeling Wasteland. To the South was the Great Southern Rainforest, which was also called the Feline Jungle apparently, the Volcanic Wastes, and Black Marsh, everything beyond was uncharted. The East and West had the Zebraconian Isles, which as you might have guessed is where the majority of zebras reside.

There was one subject I was more than eager to learn about, and that was magic. Scarlet had given me a basic explanation, that all creatures had magic in their bodies, but that only a few species were able to access it at will, such as unicorns, alicorns, zebras, and dragons, and others like pegasi, earth ponies, griffins, and diamond dogs used it unconsciously, like with pegasi and being able to move clouds.

“That's all that I know really, never really needed to know much more apart from levitation and a few medicinal spells, sorry Shadow”.

“Don't be sorry, you've been a great help, but are you sure you don't have anything else you can tell me?”

Scarlet thought for a moment “Well, I might have a few books on it, but I don't really know, check for yourself”. She said, going to her workbench to finish making some medicine.

I went to the bookcase and searched for any books I could find on magic, only finding a few guides for basic unicorn magic, which didn't help considering I'm a zebra. I was about to give up when I looked down to see that I had missed a book on the very bottom shelf. I picked it up, which baffled me since I had hooves and all, and looked at it. It was an old leather bound book, easily a century old judging by the wear on the weather and the yellowing along the edge of the pages. The thing that struck me as weird was the big circle that was embossed on the front. I blew the dust of the book to get a better look, and after looking at it one more time, my blood chilled, because I recognized the circle on the front, it was a transmutation circle.

I turned to Scarlet and said “Scarlet, where did you get this book?” confusion evident in my tone.

Scarlet looked up from her workbench at me and said “Oh that, don't know, it came with the house, the previous owner must've left it here, why do you ask?”

I just stared at the book and said “No reason, just curious”.

Scarlet shrugged “Well, if it can help you, by all means use it” she said, turning back to the medicine she was making.

With that, I began studying the contents of the mysterious book. The beginning of the book explained the basic laws and sequences of Alchemy, like the transmutation sequence and equivalent exchange, which I already had a working knowledge of given that I watch Fullmetal Alchemist almost as much as I watch MLP. After that, it gave an explanation of the best way to construct a transmutation circle, like which symbols to place and how to place them. I decided to try out the basic circle used by the Elric brothers as children. I went outside Scarlet's house, since this could go very wrong if I did it incorrectly, and drew the circle in the dirt with my sword. The book said that there were three steps to a successful transmutation
1. Comprehension – Understanding the molecular and atomic makeup of the material to be transmuted.
2. Deconstruction – Use energy to break down the material to it's base elements to make it malleable enough to reshape.
3. Reconstruction – Reshape the elements into the desired form.

I thought very carefully so as not to have the transmutation rebound, which from what I've seen is not pretty. Step 1: Comprehension, I had soil, made up of sand, clay, and humus. Step 2: Deconstruction, I placed my hooves on the circle, and focused, tapping into the energy of the earth as well as my inner magic, after a few seconds, the circle began to glow green and sparks flew from the circle, and the soil began to break down into it's base elements, becoming malleable enough for me to initiate Step 3: Reconstruction. The book said to just envision what you want to shape the substance into and use the energy to shape the elements into that form. I envisioned something very simple, a ball, a simple, regular ball. I kept the image and willed the materials to become the image in my mind. After a few seconds, the light grew so bright that I had to close my eyes. When the light had finally died down, I opened my eyes to see that in the middle of the circle was a ball, a simple ball. I tentatively picked it up, it was brown, like soil, but hard and sturdy like stone, and it was also lightweight. Needless to say, I WAS FUCKING STOKED, I HAD JUST PERFORMED ALCHEMY! I jumped for joy, giddily happy that I had successfully performed a transmutation. I would've continued jumping up and down like Pinkie Pie on a sugar high, but I sensed a presence behind me. I turned to see Scarlet with a look of utter shock on her face, her mouth hanging open in disbelief.

I picked up the ball and said “Pretty cool eh, not bad for my first time”. Scarlet just stood there, a shocked look still on her face “You know you should close your mouth, bugs could nest if your not careful”.

This seemed to jolt her from her shock. She shook her head, looked at me and said “Shadow, what the buck did you just do, I've never seen that type of magic before”.

“Neither have I, at least not in actual practice before”.

“Where'd you learn to do that, from that old book?”

I thought about that for a moment before saying “Yes and no”.

“What do you mean?”

“What I mean is, yes I learned how to do it from the book, but no in that I already knew about it, just never done it before”.

“What was that?”

“Alchemy”.

Scarlet looked confused “Alchewhat now?”

I set the ball on the ground “Not important, I....” That was all I could say before I passed out.

I woke up to Scarlet screaming for me to wake up, even shaking me. My eyes fluttered open, seeing Scarlet with her hoof raised, obviously about to slap me awake.

“Woahowoahwoahwoah, I'm awake Scarlet, I'm awake!” I said quickly, not wanting to get slapped. Scarlet lowered her hoof, only to raise it again and slap me clear across the face, leaving my head spinning.

After the spinning stopped, I practically yelled “What was that for?”

Scarlet looked at me, tears forming in her eyes, then did something completely unexpected, she wrapped me in the tightest hug ever and cried into my chest.

“I thought you were dead you bastard, don't scare me like that!” She said still crying. I just sat there, in utter shock at what was playing out before me. Scarlet never seemed like the type to cry over anything, or anyone for that matter. I did the only thing I could think of, I let her cry and stroked her mane, trying to calm her down.

“Shh, It's alright Scarlet, the transmutation just took more out of me than I expected, I'm fine, really”.

Scarlet lifted her head from my chest, her eyes tear stained. She suddenly realized what she was doing and jumped from the embrace, her face as red as her mane “That was....I didn't mean..”

I held up a hoof to stop her “It's cool, you don't have to explain” I grabbed Scarlet and hugged her again “I'm sorry I scared you, I didn't realize that using alchemy would take so much out of me”.

Scarlet pulled herself out of the hug and said “It's...it's fine, I guess I just overreacted a little”.

“It's all good, now what do you say we go back inside for some much deserved rest, we both could use it” I suggested. Scarlet nodded and with that we both went back inside for some much deserved rest.

After Scarlet had gone to bed, I was wide awake, thinking about the past few days, and also about my future. The goddess said that I would face many battles in my future, and from her tone about my future, it looked like they were gonna be some very tough battles. I looked at Scarlet sleeping peacefully in her bed, her mane slightly ruffled from tossing and turning in her sleep. I thought about all she had done for me, healing my wounds, wanting to defend the town from Silver Thorn, and letting me stay at her house. I thought about her reaction to me passing out after my alchemy attempt earlier, crying, screaming, shaking for me to wake up, the desperation in her voice was something I'll never forget. Scarlet had done so much for me, and I knew I'd never be able to repay her. To be honest, I was hoping she would join me on my journey, but after today, and the earlier warning of my future battles, one thought wouldn't escape my mind “If Scarlet comes with you, she will get hurt”.

With this thought in mind, I gathered my belongings, which consisted of my sword, the bag of Silver Thorn's fur, and the tail stump, and prepared to leave. Before I left though, I wrote Scarlet a note saying:

Dear Scarlet, as you read this note I will be long gone, please do not look for me. I cannot give you an explanation that won't sound crazy, so I'll say only this: my future will not be a peaceful one, it will be riddled with danger and despair, and I just can't bear to put you through all that, especially since you have shown me such kindness and generosity. I'm deeply sorry that I won't be able to repay the kindness you have shown me, but this is for the best. Please accept my apology, and know that I am thankful for all you have done for me.
Your friend, Shadow

After walking for a considerable amount of time, I stopped to rest and pulled out the map I had taken from Scarlet's house, since that was the only map there and I was lost to the geography of this place, I had no choice but to take it with me. Since the goddess had told me to go to Canterlot, I had mapped a route from Hoofton to Trottingham, then to Ponyville (Yeah, like I'm gonna pass up a chance to go there) and finally on to Canterlot. I had no idea how long the trip was going to be, so I gathered some provisions from Scarlet's house before I left (What, where else was I gonna get supplies this time of night), some food, a canteen of water, a small cooking pan, and a piece of flint to start a fire. I also took along the Alchemy book, since leaving it at Scarlet's could be dangerous. I was about to set out again when, suddenly I heard rustling coming from the forest. I immediately went for my sword, only to have it knocked out of my hooves by a net that came out of nowhere. My battle sense kicked in, and I was able to dodge a vial of some kind of chemical that missed my face by only a few inches, shattering on the ground behind me.

My attackers came out from the darkness and stood in the light of Luna's moon. I couldn't get a very good look at them, but I knew what they were, diamond dog slavers. Scarlet had explained that diamond dogs sent out groups like this to capture unsuspecting people to use for slave labor. The one I assumed was the leader, judging by the fact that he carried a belt with vials of blue liquid attached to it and carried a massive spear, stepped forward and said

“Hmm, zebra, not often we see zebra's in pony territory” he said in a gravely voice that sounded like metal scarping on stone.

After getting a better look at them, I saw that there were at least four of them that I could see, the leader with his spear and vials, and the other three carrying crude spears and clubs made from what looked like stone, all of them carrying swords at theirs sides.

“He look strong, he will make good slave” one of the other dogs said in a broken sort of speech.

“Yes, Alpha will reward us with lots of gems” said another dog, this one carrying a net launcher.

The leader barked at them “Shut up and capture the slave you fools” the other dogs complied, two drawing their swords and the one with the net launcher preparing another net. I was never good at fighting multiple enemies, even with my battle sense in full gear. The best plan I could think of was to fight off the three lackeys and try and fight the leader, which would be especially hard considering I didn't have my sword. I put my plan into action, going for the one I dubbed the weakest, the smaller one wielding a sword and spear. He was caught off guard, which helped me greatly, I rushed him and bucked him square in the head, sending him flying headfirst into a tree. The one with the net launcher fired the net at me, but I had anticipated this and pivoted so that the other sword wielding dog was caught in the net instead of me. I grabbed his fallen sword in my mouth and slashed the dog with the launcher across the face, sending blood flying as the dog fell. As I watched the dog fall, the leader threw his spear at me, which I was able to dodge, but not without getting a nasty slash along my side. I fell to my knees, the blood flowing rapidly from the wound, my vision getting blurry. The leader stood over me, drawing one of the vials of the strange liquid.

“You will make good slave zebra, alpha will be pleased” he said, raising the vial.

I closed my eyes and prepared myself for capture, when I heard a sound I didn't expect, the sound of an arrow making contact with flesh. I opened my eyes to see that that the leader had been struck right in the eye by an arrow, and lay dead in the grass, the vial still clutched in his paw. The other dogs all had similar injuries, an arrow sticking out of each of their skulls. I shakily stood up to see who had shot the arrow, only to have a hoof make contact with my face and knock me back down.

After the pain subsided, I looked to see that the one who saved me was Scarlet, her bow and quiver slung across her back. Her eyes had that look that said 'You're in deep shit'. I carefully stood back up, wincing from the pain in my side but also from the new slap mark on my face.

I looked at Scarlet and said “Scarlet, I...” but I was stopped by Scarlet giving me a matching slap on the other side of my face.

I shook my head and held my hoof to my face “Ok, I may have deserved that one, but was the first slap really necessary”.

Scarlet looked at me with anger in her ayes and said “I should think so, considering that you not only left without telling me, but also stole some of my stuff, and nearly got yourself killed, again”.

“You think I plan for this stuff to happen, you think I like getting hurt?”

“Well considering you've been injured more times in one week than most ponies do in a year, I'd say yes” she said with a smug look on her face.

I let that one slide and said what was really on my mind “I told you not to come after me, didn't you read my note?”

“Yes, so what?”

“So what, so why did you come after me?”

“Well for one, slap you for leaving without telling me”.

“Yeah, got that”.

“And secondly, to say that your stuck with me, so you better get used to it”.

“Look Scarlet, I appreciate this, I really do, but it's just too dangerous, I can't...” Scarlet got right up in my face and said,

“Listen Stripes, you can try and get rid of me all you like, but the cold fact is your stuck with me, so you better get used to it” she said.

“Did you just call me Stripes?” I asked confused and just a little bit insulted.

Scarlet smiled and said “So where we heading Stripes, from the direction I'd say Trottingham, right?”

“You sure there's nothing I can say to make you go back?”

“Not a damn thing Stripes” she said with a mischievous grin.

I sighed and said “Ugh, fine, but could I ask just one favor?”

“And what would that be?”

I motioned to the big slash across my side “Would you mind patching me up, I've been bleeding for the past while and I'm starting to get dizzy” I said.

Scarlet smiled and said “What am I gonna do with you Stripes, fine, get over here so I can patch you up”.

I walked over, sat down and said “Oh and one more thing”.

Scarlet looked confused “What?”

I looked at her, and only half seriously said “Don't call me Stripes”.

Scarlet just laughed at my comment as she bandaged up my wounds. I looked up at Luna's beautiful moon, thinking that maybe having someone else one this journey wouldn't be so bad after all.

Comments

[Liqwidice]

Good luck with the story.... It's turning out pretty good so far.

[KnightBrony]

1063805
Thank you

[AppleTank]

1065773
1) You bring book of Alchemy?
2) So, are you going to a) sacrifice a limb to see Truth or
b) get gloves, inscribe runes on them, and go all Roy Mustang on people?

[Cade117]

I AM A MUFFIN!!!
I MEAN BAGEL!!!