Everfree Forest Outskirts, Early Lunar Dawn
"Come on you three fillies...go back to your home, the Everfree Forest is not a safe place for you to be in at this time of the night...you could have gotten yourselves killed out here...you do know that the manticores, basilisks, timber wolves and other predators lurk out here during the day and night. I will not be the ones to tell your parents that you died trying to...what was it again? Get your cutie marks in capturing a creature? That is the silliest thing I have ever heard of..that is a very dangerous carrer and you three are lacking the proper tools to even capture a beast of the forest!" I shouted at three small fillies, each of them look like they are about to cry from my yelling, sure I might be a cold heartless bastard now, but I am caring for their safety because I don't want the blood of the innocent on my hooves while I am out on patrol, that will just say that I am a terrible guard for the new Lunar Empire.
"But mister guard! We want our cutie marks! How else are we supposed to get them if we aren't in the forest... we cant get our marks if we are not able to capture at least one creature of the forest!" whinned one of the three...I don't get paid enough for this shit...I tell them no the first time and they ignore it...second time they complain and try to lose me in the brush...third time I had to yell at them...this is the fourth time...I am at my wits end....I swear if I ever get married...I am not going to have any kids...this is just unbucking believable.
"Little ones....this is the last time I am going to say this...if you do not want to return to your homes, I will personnelly levitate each and every single one of you to your home, and embaress you in front of your family...and I WILL do this...so do not anger me even more than you already have...so...tell me...where do you live so I can take you home." I lowered my shouting back to its monotone voice. I really don't want to see these three harmed, but they might if they keep persisting to go with their insane plan.
"Ma...Ma parents arn't arounds anymore...I live with me Granny and my older brother and sister..." said the first filly, a cream/ yellow coat with red mane and tail, wearing a red bow, redish eyes ,no cutie mark so I guess these three are hunting for one...still a stupid idea to hunt creatures at night...with no hunting equipment. Hmmm....seems familiar...
"My parents are away on vacation, I am currently staying at my sister's house...you probably know the place as Carrousel Boutique, the building that actually does look like a Carrousel...its the best clothing store in all of Ponyville...and also my home." said the small unicorn, turning my attention to her, I see that her coat is white, her mane and tail is two-toned, she seems awefully familiar....wait....white coat....Carrousel Boutique....oh crap, her sister is Rarity....I knew this one looked familiar...hard to forget that similiarity when I saw the two in a picture 3 years ago when I stole those books...this might not be so good...
The first two told me where they live, but the last one, an orange pegasis with what I think is lavender or purple mane and tail, small wings which most likely means no one has tried to teach her how to fly....no parents...now that brings a tear to my eye. As the tear slowly forms I quickly look away from the three in time to notice a manticore looking right at me, liking its lips, salivating as it was thinking me as an easy meal...big mistake.
"Little ones....run...go home now...this is my fight...I will distract the manticore while you three flee." I quietly said, getting into my fighting stance, using my magic to levitate out my sword and place it into my mouth, sure the taste of cold steel was bad but I got used to it. I turn my head to face them and all three are still standing their, shaking in fear looking at the manticore who is clearly the bigger threat, those fillies will know who to truely fear.
"I SAID GET YOUR SORRY FLANKS BACK HOME NOW!!! I shouted at the top of my lungs, a ghastly purple aura appears around me, my blessing as a Shadow Guard, gives me an aura of cold fear, to the little fillies they ran screaming back to town, but to the manticore it saw that as a challenge. As soon as my aura started to glow to its deathly grey color, the manticore charged, letting out its primal roar...okay this might not be such a good idea...from the distance it was it looked small...now that it is upclose it looks twice as large....damn you optical illusions!
Those few seconds I wasted talking to myself led to me getting smacked to the side, going head first into a tree, my helmet saving me from what would have been a very bad head ache, leaving me with just a mild one, but it was not going after me, it was going after the three fillies....oh crap.
"GET BACK HERE YOU STUPID CAT!" I bellowed, m horn glowing as a tendril of grey energy shoots outward, hitting a tree in front of the charging beast, causing the tree to snap in half like a twig making it fall in its path and forcing it to slow down long enough for me to let loose another bolt to make another tree fall ontop of the first, creating a temporary wooden wall. "This is between you and me furball...those fillies are not yours to harm....they are mine to protect, and I will not let you lay a claw or stinger on their little heads!" I yelled, I may be a new royal guard for Nightmare Moon, but being a guard means to protect the innocent, and sure those three fillies are dumber than a sack of hammers, they are still innocent, until they decided to go into the forest at night, now they are just stupid innocents.
Me and the Manticore just stared at each other, it leaned backwards into a pouncing position while I quickly coating my sword with a vial of nightshade, my trademark and my namesake, sure it seems like a cheap move but when a beast the size of large boulder is trying to eat three fillies in your presence, you sort of give up on playing fair to protect them.
"Come on you fuzzy bastard! Bring your ugly face to my sword so you can a close shave!" I yelled as I galloped to the manticore, while at the same time it started to charge at me, letting out a feral roar of its own. We both collide into each other, its stinger stabbing me in the spine but my armor block its entry and deflected it to the side, breaking the pointed end of it as it roars in both unrestrained fury and pain. The force of the impact knocked the wind from my lungs, sure armor helps to not get killed but it does absolutely nothing to stop the pain, to bad that stupid fur ball doesn't have any armor, just as its stinger tried to sting me my sword bites into its flesh, easily going in between its rib-cage, and feeling from the slight roughness and tightness onto the blade, it seems an organ has fallen ontop of it and is bending it. "Give me back my sword!" I shouted as it quickly pulls back, taking my sword with it. It desperately claws the sword out from its chest, sending it flying into a nearby tree, narrowly avoiding the three fillies that stayed behind to watch me fight it.
I swear if this manticore doesn't die from my poison than I am going to be a very...very...pissed off unicorn...wait a minute....oh crap no wonder why the poison isn't working. I just completely forgotten that they have a higher resistance to poison since they also produce it...well their goes a perfectly good vial for nothing, for all I know that only annoyed it to hell. I guess I have to go with plan B. Use magic to beat the shit out of it.
"Feeling tired you beastie...cause I know you will be feeling nothing soon enough...just come a little closer...just a little closer." as it slowly took a step forward underneath a large tree limb, I took that chance to shoot a weak arcane bolt at the branch, not enough to snap it off but enough to make it partially bend, to the manticore it thought that was my attempt to knock it out with a surprise attack, and it fell right into my little trap. As it was moving it was standing near the tree's that will be its own downfall.
"Yes thats it...hehe...hehehe....step backwards...just like that." I was using my insane tactics to make it think that I have lost it, and truth be told since I now know that those three fillies that I yelled at to go home are watching me, I might as well give them a show they shall never forget. "You know...I am just a pony...a pony that is chewy...so why are you waiting to eat me you big fur ball...afraid to eat your meal now?" my taunting seemed to have worked because it roared again, a mixture of rage and pain because my sword left a deep stab wound which blood started to seep out of, dampening the patch of fur around the wound.
During its roar I shot a small barrage of arcane bolts at the surrounding tree's trunks, causing them to cave in on themselves, falling ontop of the manticore and crushing it with its combined weight as I step ontop of the tree's in a triamphant pose with my sword in my mouth, to the three fillies I looked like a hero slaying a mighty beast, but to the manticore, I was just a very annoying meal that needed to be killed and devoured.
"Okay...I know you three are still here....so I will personnaly escort you three home, just do not tell your parents that you watched a scary guard kill a manticore while you three fled...you got that?" I said to them, knowing that they will tell them everything that just transpired. Two of them nodded their heads rapidly while the orange one just looked down slightly sad, appearently what I said about parents...wait....parents, she probably doesn't have any...an orhpan...now I know why she is looking like someone just took her favorite toy and destroyed it infront of her...I to know the pain of being parentless...damn Ponyville exiling me....
Just as I started to climb down from the tree's, I was launched into the air by the force of the tree's being thrown upwards by the manticore putting its combined strength into its back and standing up quickly to toss me away, to say the least I was not amused that it survived and that it was not looking at the three fillies that are quaking in pure terror. "Oh for the love of all that is chaotic and dark....why won't you stay down!" I shouted at the manticore, which it seemed slightly disorientated and its tail is broken by the way it is folded and is missing the poisonous stinger, one less threat to deal with.
"You know what...all bets are OFF! You want to play with the big stallions, now you gonna have to live up to it!" I yelled, my horn charging up again but this time I didn't concentrate on a spell, I just let it charge as I galloped head long at it my sword back in my muzzle partially slipping out since I forgot to get a tight grip on it. We both charged at each other but at a slower pace, the manticore from its injuries and myself from slight exhaustion and that charging up an experimental spell is never the best idea when your under attack.
We both collided at the same time, its head biting into my side armor, denting it with its fangs while I haphazardly slashed at its neck and body, trying to force it to let me go but to no avail it kept its vice like grip. After a few minutes of it shaking its head, throwing me around like a ragdoll and my sword being knocked loose from my loose grip and tossing my damaged form into a tree, it stood over me, fangs bared and claws holding me down, not allowing me to flee.
"Hehehehe...really kitty cat...you think I am going to let you win this...in a hoof fight with you? Who are you trying to fool! I HAVE MAGIC!!! YOU CANT SIMPLY BEAT ME!" I yelled as loud as I could, my breathing slowly going ragged since it was crushing my rib cage with its paws holding me down. Just as it lowered its head to close to mine, it licked its lips and openned its jaws, slowly readying its first meal of the night...was going to be its first meal if it payed any attention to my brightly glowing horn...
As its jaws slowly encased around my head, I let loose the built-up magic that was in my horn, shooting out an overly charged arcane bolt inside of the manticore, tearing its insides apart and exiting out near the base of its spinal chord, blowing out bloody chunks of meat, muscles, flesh and intestines. The manticore let out a half-throated roar of extreme anguish, before falling over dead, splashing the ground it was on with fresh blood and chunks of bodily matter that fell out due to gravity.
"Okay now that was purely bucking disgusting...at least its dead and won't be a threat later on in the future...." I said trying to wipe away the blood and other bodily fluids. "By all that is clean and decent...how does one simply remove these stains...damn it even smells like it went inside of a trash can and augh! This is possibly the worse things I have ever smelt in my life!" I said gagging like crazy and trying hard to not vomit, which was an impossible task after a few seconds of swearing and than puking inside of a bushel of snowberries, ruining them for later use. "Why must it smell so foul!" I yell again before once again losing whatever is left of my dinner that I had a few hours ago into the bushes, cursing myself for not shooting the bolt earlier before my head was in its mouth.
"Well...at least that little baster is dealt with....now to get you three home...." I said with a groan, getting my flank kicked by an overly large manticore was bad, having three fillies watching it was just unbearably humiliating, and having those three watch me kill it was just plan horrible, the nightmares they will have after watching something explode from this inside will most likely scar at least one of them. As I got back up on my hooves after my losing my dinner to the bushes, I slowly and painfully walked myself to the three, levitating all of them and planted them on my back so they wouldn't try to leave. "I am taking you home....and do not even think of complaining....or I will turn you into a rat or a toad...I am not in the mood right now for any shenanigans...and I swear if I hear any of you make a sound I will take you to my Queen immediately and leave your fate to her hooves, do you three understand?" I said slowly so they clearly understood what I was saying, my voice was rough and raspy since puking twice without any water and than talking to three scared fillies was even more of a daunting task.
"Yes mister guards pony..." said the three in union, as one of them made a sniffle sound I looked back and saw that it was the orange one that was on the verge of crying. "Sorry I had to be rough like that little one...its just that....the position I am in is...strange at best...and I do not want to see you three be put in harms way...just promise me to stay out of trouble, and also...stay out of the forest next time...this is also my home, and I don't like it when people get lost in my home." I flatly said, trying very hard not to sound like a jerk which is getting harder to do since I basically scared them nearly to death with what I just did.
As the four of us leave the forest interior we are met with the slightly brightness of the Everfree outskirts, the lamps out on the streets are on and the ponies that were outside were those that were readying themselves for the eternal night. "So...little unicorn, you said your older sister lives at Carrousel Boutique? Well...that will be the first stop." I stated, slowly galloping to the odd building, seemingly the same the last time it was when I stole the roll of black silk for myself 5 years ago. She nods yes and as we get to the door I notice that the lights were off and nopony was home, so I guess I have to go with plan B. "Hold on tight you three." just as I say that I do a quick teleportation spell, taking us inside of the boutique near the door, as I turn my head I can clearly see that they are not accustomed to teleporting as all three fall off dizzy and their eyes looked like they were swirling about without any restraints. It looked adorable and funny.
"Alright...you get comfortable...I am taking the other two now...good lunar night...since we are in a civilized town....we might as well know each others names incase we ever need to talk to each other without calling each other guard or civilian..." I said slightly with a smile, knowing that I protected these three fillies while putting my life on the line.
"Well mister guard, my name is Sweetie Belle, and well you know that I live here...so yea.." she said shyly, well a full grown colt asking a filly for her name is very odd. I look at the other two and ask them for their names hoping for to know where they live. "Ma name is Apple Bloom an I live at Sweet Apple Acre's, it's near te edge of town." said the earth pony, well at least she lives at a farm and if I know anything about the night it will get cold soon and they might have to harvest whatever fruit they can. "My name is Scootaloo and...I live at the Ponyville hospital..." she said as she looked down, sad that she had no family or a real home to call her own. I know that feeling all to well, but I can find a way to help her. "Apple Bloom, I will take you home next than Scootaloo...I will take you to my old home, you can live their until I can find you a better place to stay in...I am sure my family will take care of you better than they have taken care of me...you deserve a better life than as an orphan, just promise me that you will be happy and that nopony will take your smile away." I said to her, trying to to make her happy knowing that I can give her a better life with a real family.
I quickly take the two to their homes, quickly dropping off Apple Bloom with Big Mac and Granny, Mac just looked at me with shock, seeing that I have returned in my Shadow Guard armor and that I was covered in dried blood and gore. "Don't ask Macintosh...just don't." was all I said before he nodded and brought her inside.
I approached my old home with guile and subterfuge, seeping into the shadows avoiding any stray eyes as I silently entered my old home, hearing the soft crying of my parents in their room, and by the sounds it appeares that they are sad because they have permanently lost their oldest son to the Mare in the Moon. I hang my head slighly in shame before resuming my current mission. I go to my old room, taking out a quickly written scrool and stab my combat knife into the door with the scroll on it.
"Alright Scootaloo...this is your new home...and don't let my little brother give you any lip...if he annoys you, just say that Nightshade will give him a bucking of his life...he will know what it means." I give a grin before laying her down in my old bed, and tucked her in and as soon as she was safely in the sheets she fell asleep quickly. "So adorable...good night little dove...you have a bright future ahead." I said before slowly closing the door behind, taking one last look before I close the door with a smile.
As I turn around, I see my little brother wide awake, looking right at me, his mouth agape in both fear and sadness, knowing that I opennly betrayed all of Equestria to serve Nightmare Moon. "I am sorry little bro....sorry it had to be like this....Storm Kicker...if you know what is best for you...you will join me....if you don't and you resist it will only make things worse...good lunar night brother...and learn to fly with pride not fear." I said before teleporting away, back to the castle.
Everfree Castle, Early Lunar Dawn
As soon as I teleported home I notice that my Queen is pacing back and forth, wondering what took me so long.
"Sorry my Queen, I had to take care of business...three fillies got lost and I killed the manticore that was a pain in my side for the few 10 years, and I feel better knowing that I changed the little orphans' life, for the better." I said with pride.
"So it seems...those three are to young to even be venturing into the my domain. Do they not know they entered it without knowing its dangers and the potentional threats that reside within its depths?" now wearing her full regalia and is sitting in the mostly restored throne room. I just shoke my head 'no' and kept staring into her eyes, trying to see what she is planning but to no avail I found nothing.
"My Queen, I will now resume your past order and keep any pony from entering the forest." I said with a bow and slowly rising only to be stopped mid-stride.
"No Nightshade...instead you must stop 6 ponies from trying to reach this castle, they believe that they can find the Elements of Harmony and use them against me, but it won't work. I want you to stop them from getting here at all costs, do not show them any signs of mercy or remorse! They threaten everything that I have just begun to do and I will not allow such transgressions to be passed, you shall stop them, and if they stop this act with words than they shall not be as severely punished as I plan to do to them if they succed in getting here." she said with pure hatred and anger in her voice, almost making me fall over in fear that it will be directed at me if I do fail.
"Yes your majesty, your will be done." I said with another quick bow before teleporting back to the edges of the forest only to get a quick glimpse of my targets slowly trotting into the outer edges of my forest.
"Twilight Sparkle...Fluttershy...Applejack...Pinkie Pie...Rarity...Rainbow Dash....you 6 will fail....and all will be eternally dark and beautiful, all of Equestria will flourish in its gentle cold embrace of the night sky, you shall bow before its rightful Queen!" I partially yelled after them, but knowing the forest it was blocked out.
"Ahh....damn it...I guess this means I have to force them out...mostly unharmed, rather not want to harm Fluttershy since she appears to be...erm....overly shy...I bet she is afraid of her own shadows..hehe...and Rarity...such a refined mare...and the way she has her mane and tail done...if I ruin that it would most likely spell my own demise...and I rather not ruin my already sunken reputation with her...so...maybe just convincing them to leave might work....oh the shit I do for my Queen....this better be worth it in the end." I mutter to myself after I picked up their trail and follow after them.
Following the enemy deep into my home and my kingdom.