//------------------------------// // 2. The Knight - Part 2 // Story: The Legend of Friendship - Outcasts // by Danieru //------------------------------// In the dungeon of Canterlot Castle... It was dark...and silent... The things that happened earlier today caused Fade to end up in the dungeons of Canterlot Castle. The reason: he attacked and hurt his own men. Though Fade didn't remember doing anything like that, he was not resisting when his own guards dragged him back to Canterlot. Everything, that happened after the Changeling attack, heavily confused Fade. First, there was this one pony that used its magic to drag him into some dark place. Then there were more ponies attacking him. And after that, he found himself surrounded by his own men, lying on the ground, attacked by something or somepony. Apparently, he was this somepony. Fade spent the time in his cell, looking down to the ground and thinking carefully about what happened. He tried to put every piece together. He tried to come up with an explanation what this pony that attacked him could have done with him. He must have been put under some kind of spell. This pony must have done something to him while nopony was aware. This slowly began to frustrate him. The way his men looked at him was burned into his mind. It was like as if they looked at some kind of monster. It was very unsettling to be looked at like that, to say the least. They didn't even remove his purple Royal Guard armor because they were too afraid. Fade's thoughts were interrupted by some hoof-step sounds that echoed through the hallway. “He is over here,” could be heard from in front of Fade's cell. This caused Fade to raise his head. He saw a member of the Royal Guard pointing directly at him to show the pony next to him Fade's location. As soon as the guard noticed how he was looked at by Fade, he flinched and moved out of his sight. Fade remembered that this was one of the ponies that he brought on his mission. One of the ponies that looked at him with this scared expression on his face. This pony seemed to forget that Fade couldn't even hurt him if he wanted to right now since his magic was completely blocked by a device that was on his horn. It was a pretty handy device that was built by a local inventor in Canterlot. Obviously, it was used to prevent prisoners to use magic. Fade never expected to wear one himself though. Fade ignored the behavior of that pony as best as he could. His main attention was caught by the pony that walked in front of the cell anyway. As soon as he saw the pony walking up to his cell, he could not even bring himself to look up and turned his head away unworthily. “Your majesty...” Fade replied quietly, his tone, clearly ashamed. He felt unworthy to even look at the very princess that he swore to protect. “I heard that there was an accident,” Princess Celestia started with a strict tone in her voice. “The Royal Guard members that you took with you already told me their perspective...now I want to know what you have to say...” There was no point in keeping anything a secret. Fade was not completely sure of what happened himself but the least he could do was tell Princess Celestia what he remembered. He took a deep breath and began to explain. “I don't know what happened...” Fade replied in all honesty, being more confused than any other pony right now. “First, we fought off those Changelings and let them escape. Then we found one pony nearby...he was unconscious so I checked if he was a Changeling too but...” Fade hesitated for a moment, trying to sort his thoughts carefully. “Then he attacked me and brought me to this strange place. I was attacked by even more ponies there. I defeated every single one of them and escaped this dark place. After that, my men started to turn against me and said that I attacked some of them...” Princess Celestia didn't interrupt Fade. She carefully listened to what he had to say. Once she was sure that he was done explaining, her facial expression was a mix of confusion and disbelief. What she replied was more than surprising to the Captain of the Royal Guard. “Fade...the story that your guards are telling me is a lot more different from what you told me...” Princess Celestia replied in a very serious tone. Fade raised his head and looked into Princess Celestia's eyes confused. “What?” Was the only thing that he could get out of his mouth. Princess Celestia continued. “All of your guards told me the exact same story... First, you and your men dealt with the Changelings and let them escape. Then, you suddenly started to walk off without responding to your men. A few moments later you began to randomly attack them, all while being engulfed in a dark aura, seemingly unconscious about what you were doing. After hurting the majority of your guards, you suddenly stopped and began to wonder what happened...” Fade couldn't believe this story. It was completely different from what he really experienced after he approached that one pony. “What about that pony? It must have been because of that pony that did something to-” “There was no pony...” Princess Celestia interrupted, silencing Fade for good. “What!?” Fade replied once more, this time louder and even more shocked than before. Princess Celestia continued, completely unfazed by Fade's shocked expression. “After hearing everyponies explanation, I am certain that I know what happened,” she explained, causing Fade too raise his ears in attention. But just like before, he didn't like what he heard. “You were using Dark Magic...” Princess Celestia said. She clearly was not looking forward to saying those words, judging from the frown that she made while saying them. “Dark magic?” He mumbled quietly to himself. “But how? That's impossible! I don't know much about this magic but isn't it only supposed to affect ponies who are filled sadness, anger or other negative emotions?” Fade replied, recalling what he knew about Dark Magic. The problem was that only Princess Celestia so far has encountered Dark Magic over a long time that she lived and even then she claimed to only witness it very few times. She was the only pony in Equestria who should recognize Dark Magic. But then again, she was not there when it happened. Still, she came up with her own theory that Fade's loss of his wife and daughter could be the reason. Princess Celestia however, seemed pretty sure from the description of everypony else and explained further what that would mean for Fade. “Once a pony is corrupted by Dark Magic, there is no coming back. Additionally, ponies who got corrupted all became a serious threat to Equestria. We need to take action now to prevent the Dark Magic inside of you to be a harm to Equestria and pony-kind,” Fade, of course, was curious about how that would look like. “How are you gonna do that?” He asked. Princess Celestia replied boldly and painfully direct. “We will seal away all of your magic...” This was definitely rushed, is what Fade could only think in this situation. Princess Celestia didn't even see what happened to him and she instantly came to the conclusion that Fade was corrupted. Was she really that scared of Dark Magic? Fade didn't remember Princess Celestia being this merciless. She would often wait out things until they escalated. Granted, attacking his own men was not someone would call good but things could be settled else somehow. How was Fade supposed to protect Equestria without his magic? Was he even fit to be Captain at all once his magic is gone? However, before he could get an answer, Princess Celestia just turned around and slowly walked away without a word. Fade could have stopped her but somewhere in his mind, he actually thought that this might be the right thing to do. Maybe he was a danger. Maybe what happened back then really was Dark Magic. Maybe he had to be stopped. With acceptance in his mind, Fade stayed quiet. But that changed as soon as Princess Celestia said one more sentence. “We will also keep you away from your daughter...to prevent that she will be affected by Dark Magic as well...” Fade's eyes widened in shock and anger. “What? Why!? If my magic is sealed away, then there is no reason for that!” He exclaimed frustrated and angrily. Princess Celestia didn't turn around but answered Fade's question. “There is no telling if your daughter can be affected by Dark Magic if she comes in contact with you... ” “No!” Fade then exclaimed angrily grabbing the bars of his cell. “This doesn't even make sense! If my magic is sealed away then there is no reason why I can't see my daughter anymore! You can't take away my daughter from me!” But Princess Celestia walked away. “I'm sorry, Fade...” She said before she walked out of sight of Fade. “You can't do this, your majesty!” Fade shouted after her angrily. “I was not using Dark Magic! I will not be a danger to my own daughter! Your majesty!” Fade continued to scream through the dungeon until he got tired and realized that Princess Celestia must not have heard him for a while now. Soon, it returned to be silent in the dungeon again. Later... Fade sat in the corner of his cell. What princess Celestia told him cut deeply into his mind. He didn't like what she said to him, that much is obvious but he couldn't do anything to prevent it either. He was trapped in a cell. Even if he wanted to, the device on his horn still prevented him from using magic. Fade would have liked to think more about this but he hears some hoof steep coming closer to his cell. Usually, the guards that patrolled around his cell would almost sneak up to his cell, in hope that Fade would not notice them but this time, the steps were fast and loud. Somepony clearly walked casually up to his cell. The first pony he would have guessed was Princess Celestia who would hive him more bad news. However, the pony was a wearing a Royal Guard armor. It was pretty dark in the dungeon but Fade quickly identified the pony in front of him. “Shining Armor?” Fade said once he saw the white-coated unicorn stallion in front of his cell, looking at him a little worried. “Captain Fade...” Shining Armor replied accompanied by a very worried tone in his voice. “Is it true that you attacked your own men using Dark Magic?” Shining Armor bluntly asked. “I have no idea...” Fade replied in all honesty, not knowing what happened himself. “I see...” Shining Armor replied with a frown on his face. An awkward silence followed. Shining Armor seemed to wait for the right opportunity to tell Fade something else but right now it felt a little wrong. Seeing Fade, almost broken in his cell, heavily put the mood down for Shining Armor to say anything. He always thought of Fade as more than his captain. Since the day he entered the Royal Guard, Shining Armor was always treated with respect from Fade. This might have been because of how much work Shining Armor put into his duties but still, Fade and he always had respect for each other. Some would even call this friendship. “Is that all?” He finally replied coldly without even looking at Shining Armor. Shining Armor wasn't sure what he expected Fade to answer. This cold answer, however, caught him a little off guard. Still, there was actually something else he wanted to ask so he might as well get that out of the way too. “Are you gonna be okay? I mean you probably heard of what the Princess planned to do with you. There are probably many other things for you to do in Canterlot. Hey, I'll do my best to find you something! That's what friends are for!” Shining Armor explained in a more cheerful tone than before. But Fade got confused. “What do you mean?” He asked confused as he finally looked up to Shining Armor a little lost. “Other thing that I can do?” Shining Armor's cheerfulness vanished again and was replaced by confusion. This confusion then turned into sadness after realizing that Fade was not aware of something and that Shining Armor had to be the one, telling him this. “I thought you already knew...” Shining Armor said hesitantly. “Know what?” Fade replied, demanding an answer from the Unicorn in front of him. Shining Armor took a deep breath, preparing himself for Fade's response which would be anything but good. “The princess is planning to take away your title as Captain of the Royal Guard...” Fade held his breath for a moment. He didn't say anything at first due to the shock. “What did you say?” He only managed to get out after realizing the words that Shining Armor said to him. Shining Armor didn't look like as if he enjoyed telling him this news and tried to defend the Princess in this matter without angering Fade too much. “Most members of the Royal Guard heard about the incident. Some of them are now too afraid of you and don't think that you are any more suitable for leading them...” As Shining Armor continued to explain, Fade lowered his head again, not even bothering to accept what he just heard. “Please understand, Fade...” Shining Armor continued. “The princess is only thinking about the well being of everypony in Equestria. You as the Captain of the Royal Guard should understand that,” Shining Armor explained. Shining Armor waited patiently for a response. Fade, however, was looking at the ground, feeling completely betrayed by the Princess right now. He could not even put in words what was going on in his head. Eventually, Fade spoke up and replied with yet another cold response. “Please leave me alone, Shining Armor...” he said before he walked back into his corner. Shining Armor understood how Fade must have felt in this very moment and decided to walk away again. There was probably nothing that he could do to cheer him up again after telling him this message, anyway. Before Shining Armor left, he looked over one last time to his cell. He could feel how the air in this cell was filled with sadness and anger which was hidden inside of Fade. He felt really uncomfortable just being there after a while and left Fade in his cell. Later... Fade again sat in the corner of his cell. The only thing he could think about was his talk with Princes Celestia obviously. He could not believe that he was supposed to lose everything in such a short time without even feeling as if he did something wrong to deserve it. One moment, one encounter with this one pony made him lose his magic, his daughter and maybe even his job as a Royal Guard. What was left for him once all that was gone? His daughter was the most important thing in his life. It shocked him that Princess Celestia wasn't even bothered by that. Protecting the ponies of Equestria was also what he was living for. But how can he protect everypony if he was robbed of his job as a Royal Guard? All those things couldn't be true. It was like as if he was trapped in some kind of nightmare. As if this was all not real and just his imagination. But this cell was real. The bars in front of him, the gray walls, the occasional hoof steps that he could hear from far away from Royal Guards paroling in the dungeon. Everything was real. “Am I just gonna sit here and let everything taken away from me?” Fade mumbled quietly in his frustration. “Am I really a danger that has to be dealt with?” Slowly, Fade started to accept Princess Celestia's choice and dealt with it, like he is supposed to. Of course, that didn't mean that he would like it but he had to think about the ponies in Equestria that he swore to protect as a member of the Royal Guard. But does that really mean that he had to give up everything? “It's not fair...” he began to whisper quietly. “Why do I have to lose everything? Is that supposed to be my destiny? Am I not allowed to live my life in happiness? I already lost my wife and my daughter and now the little things I got left are taken away from me too?” Anger began to fill his mind, accompanied by hate towards Princess Celestia. “She knows how much I have lost and she still takes away things from me?” He said, clenching his teeth in the process. Without realizing it himself, a dark aura began to surround him, starting from his hooves and crawling up to his body. Fade had a very blurry vision but didn't care or even noticed it while still being in deep thoughts. Something strange happened. He could swear that he heard some kind of voice. It was quiet and very distant but after focusing on it for a while, he could even make out what it said. “Escape...” “Escape?” Fade wondered. “But where should I go?” He asked, in hope that some answer would come. Ironically, an answer actually came. “Escape...” the voice said one more time. The dark aura began to surround Fade even more. Now all of his body was surrounded by it. Fade was not able to control his body anymore and it began to move on its own. He began walking towards the bars of his cell, looking at them absent-minded. Despite the device on his horn, that was supposed to stop him from using any magic, the aura managed to remove it from Fade's horn, freeing him and allowing him to use magic again. Dark Magic was surrounding his horn. A black aura completely engulfed him, becoming bigger and bigger by the second. Shortly after, a big blast of magic shot out of his horn, completely destroying the bars in front of him and leaving a big hole in the cell for him to escape. Fade slowly walked out of his cell. He did as the voice told him and escaped from his cell but the question was what to do now. But he didn't have to know that since he didn't seem to be in full control of his body right now. Still, he began walking towards the exit of the dungeon. Of course, Fade's escape was not unnoticed. A pony from the Royal Guard heard the noises that came from Fade's escape. However, instead of trying to stop him, the pony did his best to hide around the corner. There was no way that he could deal with the Captain fo the Royal Guards on his own after all. Once Fade was out of sight, the pony decided to do the only smart thing in this situation. “I have to tell the princess!” The guard said quietly in a panic before he left the place, praying that Fade would not notice him on his way out of the dungeon. A Little later... The door to Solar Smile's room opened slowly. If she was awake, then she would probably really scared by the screeching of the door that could be heard in the silence of this room and seeing her father entering it while he was surrounded in a thick dark aura. Fade walked towards his daughter. His sight was a little blurry because his mind was a little clouded because of the Dark Magic that surrounded him. At this moment, he didn't really know what he was doing in this room. He slowly reached out his hoof towards his daughter. The Dark Magic around his body traveled to the hoof that he reached out to his daughter. He stared blankly at her without a thought in his mind at this very moment. However, as soon as he saw the Dark Magic trying to go after his daughter, his eyes widened in shock and he quickly pulled his hoof away again. There was no telling what would have happened to his daughter if he didn't pull his hoof away in time. Just now, he seemed to realize where he was and what he was doing. Realizing that he stepped away from his daughter. “No...” He said scared as he stared at his daughter. “I can't stay here with this darkness surrounding me. I will only end up hurting you...” Fade stared at his hoof, afraid of his own magic getting out of control anytime now. It pained him to not be able to get closer to his own daughter out of fear that he could hurt her by accident. Maybe Princess Celestia was right. Maybe his dark magic would only end up hurting everypony. Maybe it was the only right thing to do. But who would trust him now? He escaped from his prison and was now corrupted by Dark Magic. He attacked his own men and yelled at the princess for not trusting him. Was he even in a position to demand any trust? Was there any turning back now? What would happen if would be found by the Royal Guards? Fade stood silently in this room as if he hoped that the answer would come to him out of nowhere. But of course, it didn't come to him and the room was just silent. It was silent, dark, and the air inside of it was plainly uncomfortable. Hoof steps were drawing closer to Solar Smile's room. They were led by Princess Celestia herself. The news quickly spread. Once Princess Celestia was told that Fade escaped, she made sure that all of her Royal Guards were on the move. Fade managed to deal with multiple ponies at once so he was definitely not beatable with only a few guards but the princess had to make sure to find him first, forcing her to split her guards to search the whole castle. Still, Princess Celestia had a good idea where Fade might be. He still must have been in Canterlot and chances were high that Solar Smile was in great danger. Princess Celestia quickly used her magic to open the door to the room, signaling her guards that they should cover her. The door was smashed open and Princess Celestia stood in the entrance of the room, ready to use her magic to defend herself. But there was nopony... The room was empty. Fortunately, Solar Smile seemed to be still there. There was no way that somepony could hide in this room because of the lack of anything else except one bed and a few tables being the only thing in this room. Princess Celestia ordered her guards to keep a good look on everything and that they should guard the entrance. Maybe Fade hasn't reached this room yet and was still on his way here. However, the princess quickly scrapped that thought once she noticed something. A flower laid on Solar Smile's bed. It was just now that Princess Celestia realized how the window next to the bed was open. Somepony was here and that somepony was Fade. Princess Celestia ordered her Royal Guard to look all over Canterlot to find Fade and capture him to ensure the safety of everypony. But little did they know, that Fade was long gone. He was not running but rather slowly walking away from Canterlot. He didn't even try to think how he was probably followed right now. There were way too many things going on in his head. The only thing that was certain for him, is that he had to get away from Canterlot. Away from his daughter. “Daddy will be back soon...” He mumbled to himself as he continued to walk aimlessly away from Canterlot. “I don't know how long it will take. I don't know what exactly I have to do. But I have to make sure that I am freed from this darkness for good. Until then...I'm afraid you have to wait a while...” Fade didn't know where he should go. Canterlot was no option, obviously. He could not return without taking care of his Dark Magic. It had to be gone or else nopony would even begin to trust him. He didn't know how he supposed to do that, though. The answer would hopefully reveal itself soon...