• Published 7th Jan 2022
  • 4,319 Views, 228 Comments

A Sword In Equestria - Joe Toon



In his service to his world and duty, Keldeo, one of the Swords of Justice, performed the ultimate sacrifice to save all he loved dearly. Luckily, it was not to be the end of his tale.

  • ...
7
 228
 4,319

Chapter Three: A Sword without memory

"He's awake?!"

Nurse Redheart's ears flinched down from Yona and Smolder's outburst after hearing the news of the strange unicorn's return to consciousness. "Please, could you keep your voices down?" the nurse shushed, "This is a hospital, not an amphitheatre."

"Sorry," Smolder apologised, rubbing the spikes on her head sheepishly with Yona doing something similar with her fur.

"Can we see strange unicorn?" Yona asked with a much lowered voice.

"I suppose," Nurse Redheart considered, "For somepony to be that injured, he is recovering rather quickly, and visiting hours are still open."

"Can you extend that invitation for us as well?"

All eyes turned to the hospital's entrance to see Starlight Glimmer and Ocellus approached them, trotting with haste. The two looked like they had just run from a marathon, especially Ocellus who looked ready to drop dead.

"Headmare Starlight, Ocellus, you're back!" Smolder exclaimed. Her and Yona's excited expressions dropped after noticing a few missing faces. "Where's Sandbar, Gallus and Silverstream?"

"Oh, I sent them to secure the portal," Starlight replied dismissively before noticing the shared looks of concern from the two. "Don't worry," she spoke reassuringly, "I told them to take an escort of town guards with them. I know about the recent disappearances of creatures all over the surrounding towns and villages so they should be safe with the escorts."

That made the two more relieved. For the past two weeks, ponies had been disappearing from their homes or upon leaving the town’s borders for one reason or another. They left no notes, messages, or informed anyone of them leaving. In a small town like this, where everypony knew everypony, it was a concerning thing and Ponyville citizens tended to be a lot more jumpy than most. Because of this, Princess Twilight had sent some of her guards to form search parties and keep an eye out for any trouble. They mostly checked the Everfree Forest. The mysterious and dangerous forest had claimed ponies before, but even with the aid of Zecora and Fluttershy, nopony was found or any remains of them. Nopony was willing to write off the missing as “deceased” yet, but the longer they were gone the more troublesome things were.

"Yona hope so," sighed Yona with worry still clear on her face, "Would have been better if Yona, Smolder and Ocellus with them." She stomped a hoof with a "Harumph." "Better chance at looking out for each other together."

"Well, we can worry about it as soon as we meet our new friend," said Ocellus, "The sooner we know more about him, the sooner we can regroup with the rest of us."

"Meh, sounds good to me," Smolder shrugged. Although she was more interested in meeting this strange unicorn, she wouldn’t lie in that she was worried about her friends. When dragons went missing in the Dragon Lands for this long most didn’t care since dragons came and went all the time. Yet, even she was worried about the residents of this town due to having spent so much time in it.

As they made their way into the hallways, Redheart turned to the group with concern clear on her expression. "I don't mean to alarm anypony, but before you enter I need to know that our patient is very unusual," she said as they walked.

"More unusual than the stuff that usually happens in Ponyville?" commented Smolder with a raised eyebrow.

"In this case, I would actually say so," Redheart replied, slightly annoyed by the snide comment. "You three know the state of his injuries when you brought him in, correct?"

All three nodded knowingly.

"Well, ever since you brought him here, his rate of recovery is... Alarmingly fast." There was hesitation in Redheart's tone. "Most of his injuries are healed, albeit with a few superficial scars. Doctor Stables scanned his Thaumatic reserves and found out that he has the most unusual source of magic."

"Yeah, we kind of already know that thanks to Ocellus," Smolder pointed out.

"Perhaps, but I'm not sure if you realised the gravity of how world shattering this is." Redheart said as she stopped and looked at them seriously.

"What do you mean, Redheart?" asked Starlight.

"His magic is unlike anything we've seen before," explained Redheart, "For one, after comparing his magic with Princess Twilight's, his mana pool is vastly larger and heavier in density. And for another, his magic isn't Harmonious magic and yet it seems to draw power from it as though it's natural."

"Wait, really?" Ocellus exclaimed, sharing Starlight Glimmer's shocked expression.

"Could Ocellus explain for friends who don't know magic?" Yona asked, looking confused.

"Every creature in Equestria has some form of Harmonic magic, with the exceptions of Dark magic, Pre-reformed changeling magic and Discord's chaos magic; in which, those three forms of magic are incompatible with Harmonic magic. You could say that Harmonic magic is what makes the very essence of life for all creatures. The fact that this unicorn's magic is not only non-harmonic but also compatible with Harmony magic is like successfully mixing oil with water. Or for this case, Discord using the Elements of Harmony with Chaos magic."

Starlight gave a chuckle, "You know, that mental image is both terrifying and hilarious."

As they reached the door to the unicorn's room, Redheart once more stopped the group, "One more thing I should mention; the patient is currently suffering from amnesia due to massive trauma he suffered before you found him, so I'd like to ask if you could be gentle when you question him."

"You have our word, Redheart," Starlight nodded in agreement.

With that assurance, Redheart opened the door.

"Hello Keldeo."


Alright Keldeo, what happened to you?

Staring out into the window, Keldeo was trying to recall what had happened to him. All the Pokemon here ever told him was that they found him unconscious and badly injured and brought him here in the "Hospital". What happened to me? For that matter, where am I? he thought as he drank another full glass of water. He remembered...pain...and darkness...and voices...but that was it. No memories of his family, friends, or any location. He didn’t even recognize the Pokemon that were taking care of him. They somewhat resembled a few that came to his mind, like Ponyta, but they were far shorter, different colours, and some had wings or horns. Maybe they’re shinies? No, that doesn’t explain the physical difference. Or those weird marks on their flanks.

His thoughts were soon interrupted as the door to his room opened, revealing the nurse he met earlier that day.

"Hello Keldeo," Redheart smiled as she made her way to his bedside. “How are you doing so far?”

“A lot better, thank you Nurse… Redheart was it?” Keldeo asked as he tilted his head in an angle.

“Yes, that’s my name,” she replied reassuringly, “I’ve brought some visitors for you to see. Three of them were the ones who rescued you.”

“Oh, that would be great. Thank you,” Keldeo smiled expectantly, eager to see his rescuers. Maybe they were Pokemon more familiar to him.

Redheart turned behind the door, “You may come in.” With that invitation, the four of them entered the room. “Keldeo, this is Ocellus, Smolder, Yona and Starlight Glimmer,” the head nurse introduced his visitors as they entered. What Keldeo saw disappointed him as none of them looked familiar at all. The first was some kind of obvious Bug Type Pokemon, the other looked like a Dragon Type that looked like some kind of smaller version of a Charizard and yet was bigger than a Charmeleon, he thought the third one was a Piloswine at first, but the fact that he could see her face changed his opinion of that, and the other was another Pokemon similar to Nurse Redheart but looked different. “Starlight here is the Headmare of the School of Friendship and these three are students of her school and were part of the party that rescued you.”

“I thank you so much for saving me,” Keldeo gave a courteous bow from his bed as best as he could. “As you heard, my name is Keldeo and to be honest,” he gave a sheepish smile as he rubbed his mane with a hoof, “I can’t really remember anything else.”

“It’s wonderful to meet you, Keldeo,” Starlight held out a hoof in greeting “If it’s all the same, I would like to offer what help I could to regain your memory.”

“That would be great, thank you,” he smiled as he shook her hoof with his own.

“Sup? I’m Smolder.” the dragon gave a mock salute.

“Yona is Yak friend,” Yona grinned cheerfully.

“I’m Ocellus,” Ocellus waved in greeting.

“Nice to meet you, all of you. Although, I’m unfamiliar with the kind of Pokemon you guys are.”

Starlight blinked, “I’m sorry, Pokemon?”

“Um, yeah? What else could you be?”

“Ponies.”

“Dragon.”

“Yak!”

“Changeling.”

Keldeo’s eyes narrowed, unsure of his situation. “Um, I’ve never heard of those before. Are you sure you’re not talking about what type of Pokemon you are? I mean, one of you just said you were a Dragon Type.”

“Well, yeah, but there are a lot of dragons,” Smolder said, now equally confused. “You mean you have dragons where you are from?”

“Yup! They don’t have as many in numbers as the others but there are Dragonites, Dragonairs, Dratinis, Salamences, Flygons, Gibles, Garchomps, Gabites, Kingdras and so on.”

“Okay, I don’t even know or recognize any dragon with those names,” Smolder replied.

“W-What about the Legendary types? Rashiram, Zekrom, and Kyurem! All dragons pretty much worship them!” Keldeo asked in surprise.

“Um, dragons don’t really remember our gods' names that much,” Smolder muttered, rubbing the back of her head. “We lost a lot of our history in the downfall of the Dragon Empire so we just prefer to call them ‘the lost gods’.”

“They aren’t gods, well not in the traditional sense, they’re Legendary Pokemon,” Keldeo explained. “The only God is Lord Arceus. You...You do know him, right?”

The others just shook their heads while both Ocellus and Starlight seemed really interested in this. It was like learning some kind of new culture that was right before them. “So...you’re a Pokemon then?”

“Yup! Water and Fighting type! I’m also known as the Colt Pokemon,” Keldeo said with pride.

“Really? ‘Cause friend Keldeo look like unicorn,” Yona pointed out. “Different unicorn, but have horn nonetheless.”

“So... let me get this straight,” Keldeo muttered, looking at them with confusion. “You mean, you aren’t Pokemon?”

“No, we aren’t,” Starlight answered cautiously. “And again, what’s a Pokemon?”

Keldeo’s eyes widened at a sudden realisation of what was going on. Why don’t they know what Pokemon are? Why aren’t there more Pokemon? Better yet, where are the humans? Wait a minute. Where am I?

His heart palpitated as he turned to the lavender unicorn with a horror stricken expression, “Ms Glimmer, where am I? And I mean, where exactly am I?”

Starlight began to feel nervous, unsure as to where he was going with this, “You’re in Ponyville, Equestria to be exact.”

“What species are there in Equestria?”

“Um, if you include the subspecies of Ponies; there are Earth Ponies, Pegasi, Unicorns, Thestrals, Alicorns, Zebras, Donkeys, Cows, Buffalos, Minotaurs, Griffons, Dragons, Yaks, Changelings, Hippogriphs, Sea Ponies, Sea Serpents, Diamond Dogs, Kirins, and a Draconequus.”

Keldeo gulped. He didn’t recognize any of these. Some sounded like the nickname types of Pokemon but he had heard nothing of Alicorns, Hippogriphs, Diamond Dogs, Kirins, or others. “Any Humans?”

“Humans? No, why would there be…?” This time it was Starlight’s eyes that widened in realisation. Memories of her hanging out with Sunset Shimmer quickly came to her mind as the evidence pointed to one thing. No, it couldn’t be. “Keldeo, where are you from?”

Where am I from? How should I know? I can’t rememb… Wait. There was that place. What was it again? Uni… Una… Keldeo broke from his thoughts as a name came to mind. “Unova. Y-yes, I remember… I was from a place called Unova.” He groaned in pain as he clutched his head.

“Keldeo, don’t strain yourself,” Redheart rushed to his side with a glass of water, “Here, drink this.”

“Thank you,” he took the offered glass and guzzled down its content with alarming speed, “I’m sorry, but that’s all I could remember.”

“It’s alright. If anything, I should be the one apologising. I shouldn’t have strained you like that,” Starlight hung her head low apologetically. “Keldeo, I’m not sure how else to break it to you, but there is no place known as Unova here on our planet. Combined with the confusion of what you think we are and that you know what humans are...I think you may have been from another world entirely.”

“Yeah, I kind of figured,” he said as his heart sank. He knew that it would be the case after piecing together what was missing other than his lack of memories. It didn’t make it any easier however upon hearing it from someone else. He was in another world. Another world! One without Pokemon or humans. He was...he was the only one of his kind here.

No memories. No home. No family. No friends. I’m alone. He closed his eyes and wanted to scream. He wanted to cry. He wanted to jump out the window and just keep running as far as his legs could carry him.

His turmoil was doused when he felt smooth chitin over him. He looked over his shoulder only to see Ocellus giving him a nuzzling hug. Despite her chitin being cold to the touch, there was an odd consolation to it, especially against his coat of fur. A wave of comforting emotions flowed into him, slowing down his breathing.

Ocellus cooed a chirping noise as she nuzzled his mane. “There there,” she murmured with a motherly voice, “It’s alright, let it out. You don’t need to be afraid anymore. You are not alone.”

Tears flowed relentlessly as he began to sob. Keldeo returned the hug with a crushing embrace as his sobbing became cries of anguish. Fear, frustration, pain, confusion, loneliness; all were released in his wails of mourning.

Touched by his sorrow, Redheart joined the embrace, followed by Yona, then Starlight, and then finally Smolder (after finally being persuaded by Ocellus’ offer to join them).

Outside the room by the door, a certain pink mare watched the whole event unfold and cried waterfalls. “That is so SAD!!! And I was going to give you a ‘Welcome to Ponyville” Party too!”


“Where the hay is the portal?!”

Gallus, Sandbar and Silverstream (escorted by two unicorn guards), arrived at the site where they found Keldeo and the aforementioned portal and quickly noticed the lack of said portal.

“I don’t understand,” Sandbar stared blankly at the sky, “It should be up there! How could it just disappear?”

One of the guards ignited his horn and scanned for traces of magic towards where Sandbar pointed. “Strange, I’m picking up unusual traces of some sort of magic, but whatever this portal might be, it’s gone,” said the guard.

“That’s bad, right?” Silverstream looked towards her two classmates, “I mean, if this portal is now closed, our unconscious friend may not be able to go back where he came from.”

“We can always find out where he came from and send him back the old fashion way, can’t we?” suggested Gallus.

“Maybe, but what if he’s from another world like that Sunset Shimmer that Princess Twilight talked about?” Silverstream argued.

Gallus raised a finger from his claw to counter the argument before he reconsidered the possibility, “I… hadn’t thought about that.”

Sandbar turned to the two guards who were both now scanning the site, “Any chance you can reactivate the portal?”

“Eeynope,” one of the guards stopped scanning as he shook his head, “It’ll be too risky if not dangerous, to reconnect a portal without knowing the destination of the other side; especially if an injured pony came out of it. Celestia knows what else might come out.”

“And on top of that,” the other guard added, “the magical signature is unlike anything we’ve ever felt before. It’d be next to impossible to reestablish a connection with an unfamiliar means of conjuring a portal. Kind of like getting a wrong key to open a lock. Besides, the magic used to create the portal has already dispersed to a point that not even Starswirl could locate the other side.”

Silverstream gasped, “But… that would mean…”

The first guard sighed, “I’m afraid so. Faust willing, that colt is an Equestrian resident or he’s stuck here. For better or for worse.”


(Sniff) Thank you. I really needed that.”

Keldeo wiped the tears off his eyes as he regained a smile, “I guess I was just overwhelmed with everything that has happened.”

“No problem Keldeo,” Yona grinned, “A sad friend needs big hug to crush sadness away.”

“And any new friend in Ponyville deserves a “Welcome to Ponyville” Party!!”

Keldeo eyed the pink pony with confusion, “I’m sorry, who are you?”

“Oh, I’m Pinkie Pie!” the pink mare replied at full speed while she bounced on a single spot, “I am Ponyville’s Professional Party Planner! I am so glad to meet you! Do you like cupcakes? Everyone likes cupcakes! What kind of cupcakes do you like? Would you like one now? Do you have cupcakes back where you’re from? What’s a Pokemon? Is it a shortened term for Pocket Monster? Are you a monster? DO MONSTERS FIT IN POCKETS?!”

“PINKIE PIE!” All turned to an irritated Redheart, whom Keldeo almost swore he could hear snarling from, “What did I tell you about what not to do in the Hospital?!”

Pinkie stopped bouncing. Mid air. Her mane quickly deflated from a puffy curl to a pin straight style as she hung her head low with a visible dejected expression. “Do not scare, startle or unsettle a recovering patient,” she whimpered.

“That’s right," said Redheart as she crossed her forehooves, "I want you to wait outside the room, now.”

Pinkie groaned, “Aww! But I want to tell him all about Ponyville, Equestria, The Crystal Empire, Magic, The Elements of Harmony, Twilight’s school of Friendship and all sorts of other stuff!”

Keldeo’s ears perked up at that. That… actually sounds interesting. What is this world like?

“Out of the question, Pinkie!” Redheart stomped a hoof in protest, “Keldeo is still recovering from his injuries. I will not have you tire him out with your shenanigans!”

“Then what if we have him talk about his world?” suggested Pinkie, “Or tell us what a Pokemon is? Or what a Pokemon can do? (Gasp) Or maybe he can tell us if Pokemon have super cool powers!!!

The nurse gave a frustrated groan, “Pinkie Pie!! Keldeo has amnesia! How do you expect him to remember any of that?”

Wait a minute. Keldeo looked at one of his hooves as though he was trying to unlock its secrets. What if? Could I? Maybe… He stared out the window. No, I need to be sure.

While everyone was still distracted by Pinkie, Keldeo climbed out of bed and gave a few stretches. Looks like I no longer ache. This might be the perfect time to test it out. With a look of determination, the Pokemon made for one of the windows in the room and opened it.

“Um Keldeo, what are you doing?” asked Starlight, finally noticing him out of bed. This prompted everyone to stop and look in his direction.

Without looking back and without saying a word, he leapt out the window.

“KELDEO!!” Everyone screamed as they scrambled for the window. They watched with horror as he made his exit, fearing the worst. The mood changed from fear to shock as they saw Keldeo land on his hooves three stories down without breaking a sweat.

“Keldeo, what are you doing?” Breaking the amazed silence, Nurse Redheart yelled out from the window, “I don’t care how fast you are recovering; YOU ARE STILL INJURED!”

“Sorry Nurse, but I feel a lot better now,” Keldeo looked up the window and yelled back, “Besides, there is something I need to figure out.”

"Figure out what exactly?" Smolder called out, her curiosity piqued.

The Pokemon gave a wide smirk, “Figure if I could still remember my moves.”

Everyone in the room looked to each other in confusion, “Moves?”

Flying Type: Bounce. Without warning, Keldeo launched himself to the air, high above the room he was resting in. Every creature who saw him dropped their jaws when he leapt from the ground. It was soon followed by gasps as he started falling towards a large pile of rocks.

Fighting Type: Rock Smash. Positioning himself for a landing, he held out one of his front hooves and smashed into one of the rocks; shattering it to pieces. The onlookers’ eyes widened as they gawked in disbelief at the sight.

“Did… Did he just smash that boulder with his bare hooves?”

“It can’t be. Only Earth Ponies could manage that feat!”

“Friend Keldeo smashed rock like Yak smash ugly furniture!”

“Do my eyes deceive me, or did that unicorn just leap five stories high?!”

“Mommy look! Is that unicorn a superhero?”

“As impressive as that is, I would have asked if he could have waited for me to study the boulder before he smashed it.”

“I heard ponies can jump, but that was ridiculous!”

‘Well, I wasn’t expecting an audience,’ thought Keldeo, ‘but no matter. It seems I could still do physical attacks, now to see if I remember special attacks.’ Water Type: Bubblebeam. Standing on his hindlegs, he aimed his forehooves towards the sky and fired a stream of bubbles of water. The bubbles burst in the sky, creating a rainbow for all to see. Much to the delight of the onlookers.

“Momma look! That unicorn is amazing!”

“Huh, not bad for a blank flank.”

“Show off! The Great and Powerful Trixie refuses to be upstaged by an amateur!”

Water Type: Hydro Pump. Flipping from standing from his hindlegs to his front, Keldeo fired two massive pillars of water from his hindlegs; crashing into a tree and blasted two giant holes into its thick trunk before it collapsed from the damage. Turning to see his handiwork, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. I can do it. I can still remember my moves. But I feel like I’m missing something. His thoughts were interrupted when he began to notice the eerie silence that followed from his last stunt. He opened his eyes to see not only the wide-eyed horror of his once awed audience, but surrounded by pony guards who pointed spears and horns at him.

“YOU!!” one of the guards called out, “In the name of Princess Twilight, I order you to lower your horn and stand down!”


“We better make our way back,” Gallus spoke in a sombre mood, “I don’t want us to tell them the bad news, but they need to know the truth.”

“Yeah,” nodded Silverstream, “It stinks but better to tell them. I just hope that the unicorn won’t break down from the bad news.”

Sandbar nodded in agreement. Turning to the two guards, he called out, “Um guards, I think we can head back now.”

“Hmm. About time. We might have to write a report to the Princess about…” The guard who was speaking was interrupted by a large gem that slammed into his head, knocking him out cold.

Seeing what happened to his colleague, the other guard raised a magical shield around them. “Who goes there?!” he ordered.

“Ponies. More ponies, and other creatures,” came a voice.

“Heard something interesting, yes? See them surrounded and defenseless, no?” came another.

“Boss would have liked the other one that came from the portal, but he’s not with them,” followed by a third.

The guard raised a spear and snarled, “Who are you? Show yourselves!”

“Ooh, gladly!”

The group soon found themselves surrounded by several hunched figures that stood on two legs, glaring at them menacingly with amber eyes.

“Guys,” Silverstream pointed nervously at the perpetrators, “Are those who I think they are?”

“Eeyup,” Sandbar gulped, “They’re Diamond Dogs, and they look like they mean business.”

Author's Note:

DUN DUN DUUUUUNN!!! Did y'all see that coming? Because I didn't.

Jokes aside, G'day all!

Here it is, the next chapter. Sorry that I failed to deliver the promise on a new cover art. A few delays from the artist but it should coming soon.

Special thanks to Rated Ponystar for proof reading and editing as always.

As always, share your thoughts, critiques, suggestions and more and I'll hope to see you guys next time.