//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 - The Missionary 
// Story: A defender's quest for... 
// by Archibad 
//------------------------------//

David was back in his dark, temporary room, lying on the bed with a lit candle on a nearby nightstand and the Holy Chronicles in his hands. Everything was silent besides the shoutings of Lilly and Sturdy. 
"You've lost your mind, Sturdy!"
"What was I supposed to do, leave him here all alone?"
"No, but you also weren't supposed to parade him through the middle of the town!"
David shook his head to himself and turned a page. Everything was going so well until everybody finished eating. He physically saw the tension rise between his hosts, so he did the best thing in these situations and quickly excused himself for the night. He borrowed the Holy Chronicles back from Sturdy, asked for a candle from Lilly, and retreated into his room. They hadn't stopped yelling ever since.
Now that he thought more about it, they do act like a couple.
"I will watch over David from now on!"
"Absolutely not! You have to work!"
"And? You have to as well!"
"Yes, but my work is with David!"
David turned another page. He had read nearly half of the book so far, which either meant he was a fast reader, or they had been at each other's throats for a long time now. He noticed that the book was split into three main parts, the first contained short stories with simple morals, he found the tale of Jayden here too. The second one was all about becoming a defender and what it actually meant to be one, what was expected of them and what was their duty. He just started reading the last story of this part, it was about a queen named Atarah, who was the first one to convert her whole kingdom to the teachings of the Great Lord Zoh.
"What are you doing?!"
"I'm putting your research papers away!"
"Don't you dare!"
As David finished Atarah's tale another vision hit him. This time he was able to recall a lesson, where he learned how to be a successful missionary. Every story brought out a memory from the depths of his mind. They weren't important, yet he was glad for every bit of information. He remembered his daily training routine, the first time he had beaten his master at sword dueling, and when he was first tasked with spreading the teachings of the Great Lord Zoh. They were pleasant memories, but not very helpful in his situation. He still couldn't remember his home or his family or how he even got here.
"Give them back!"
"What, can't you live without your precious papers?"
"No, they're just important!"
David placed down the book into his lap and rolled his eyes. He seriously considered going down and putting an end to this madness. He could join the argument, but it wouldn't help much. He could also try reasoning with them to at least calm down and discuss everything in a civilized manner, which would work, if not for the fact that both Lilly and Sturdy were somewhat stubborn.
"I swear I'm gonna kill you one day!"
"Oh, please, you can't even kill a fly!"
David finally decided against going down, knowing his luck they would just turn against him anyway. He picked the book up and flipped through the third part. It was the longest of the three and it mainly contained stories about famous defenders and how they contributed to the Great Lord Zoh's teachings. The voice told him that one of his biggest dreams was to be included in this section of the book, as it was still being expanded to this day.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"To the basement so that I could spend my time more meaningfully than shouting with you."
"Fine, flee then!"
David raised both of his hands towards the ceiling as a thank you to the Great Lord Zoh for stopping their fight. He closed the book and placed it on the nightstand next to the candle, which he blew out afterward. He laid back into his bed and covered himself with the blanket. It was still cold, yet it still felt better than the chilling air in the room. He made himself comfortable and closed his eyes, waiting for the dreams to come. The voice kept talking to him, it made falling asleep somewhat harder, but he managed to tune it out long enough for him to eventually catch some sleep. 



I, Zoh , ******* you to **** ******** *** *** the ponies *** ********** **, to save **** ****** **** *** ****** that I **** ********* **** them *** ***** ***********.



David's eyes burst open and he sat upright in his bed, one of the maidens of the castle had woken him up, "Quickly sir David! The Madam is not well!" She gestured towards David to follow her. He didn't have to be told twice. He jumped out of the bed. He grabbed the closest piece of clothing and draped it over his shoulders. He pushed her gently yet firmly out of the doorway and rushed down the hallway. The maiden couldn't keep up with him.
Everything was silent except for David's thundering steps as he ran towards his parents' room. He turned a corner and immediately had to stop. A dozen servants were blocking the door. They were looking inside with remorseful expressions.
David coughed into his hands to warm the servants of his presence. All of them turned towards him and, the moment they saw him, they bowed down and backed away to let him into the room. It only took him a split second to enter, although it felt like days for him. His heart was beating like a drum and the world was slightly spinning around him as he stepped next to the bed.
David's father, a strong and resolute man, was now sitting next to the bed, broken and crying with his head on his wife's lap. The wife was stroking his hair and tried to calm him down to no avail. She looked up at David and gave him a weak smile. Her face was all red, she was heavily sweating and shaking. There was a bubo on her left cheek.
"Mother, what have I told you?" Asked David as he collapsed onto the floor, barely holding back his tears, "What have you sinned?" His father stood up and wiped off his face with the sleeve of his robe.
"Don't you dare speak of such things in these times," his voice was deep and coarse. He turned around and glared at his son.
"Please my dear, he is right," said David's mother, she tried to ease the tension between the two most important persons in her life.
"No, I won't tolerate him here," the father raised his voice to which David got up from the ground and instinctively took a defensive stance with his legs. 
"The Great Lord Zoh might have cursed her, but the Great Lord Zoh can lift it as well," David tried to reason with his father.
"Your god has given nothing to us, in fact, he just made everything worse!" Shouted David's father while looking up and pointing a finger at the ceiling, then he turned his attention back to his son, "We should have sent you to become a general instead," the father's voice was filled with disgust at the thought of the defenders.
"Father, I feel the same sadness as you now, but please, think clearly," pleaded David. His mother had already gotten the plague, he didn't want his father to suffer the same fate, "We can still earn back the Great Lord Zoh's-"
"Shut up!" The father cut David short, "We already did everything as you asked, three prayers a day, one meal for the lord, we gave money to the poor and helped on the helpless and sick. If this is not enough for your god then I want nothing from him!" The father's head was blood-red from anger, his hands were clenched into fists.
"Stop!" David's mother shouted, or rather wanted to. Instead, she could only whisper, her voice was so sickly, "Don't argue about this again, at least not at my deathbed."
"Mother, this is not your deathbed, the Great-"
"There is no place for Zoh in my castle," David looked desperately at his father, "You either quit from being a defender, or you can go somewhere else," and with that, the father turned away from his son. David thought it was to emphasize his point, while the father only wanted to hide his tears from him.
David's mother opened her mouth but David cut her off, "Don't worry about me, mother. I will save you, I will pray for you and I will suffer for you," he slowly walked to the door, he didn't look back, "Father, I am sorry for disappointing you," and he ran off. His father, realizing what he had done, wanted to run after him, to shout after him to come back, yet his legs didn't move and he remained silent.
David's head was filled with thoughts, he had to get back to the cathedral, he shouldn't have stayed at his father's castle for the night, he should have paid more attention to his mother, he should have prayed more for her.
At the gate, he jumped right onto his horse and waved for the guards to let him out. They did as he wanted without a question, they were too tired to care about anything at this point.
David saw the endless darkness that awaited him on the other side of the gate and it made him hesitate. He couldn't see the town, but he knew it was supposed to be somewhere close by. He took a moment to gather up his strength and then he kicked his horse and rode into the darkness.
At first, everything was alright, he couldn't see a thing but his horse kept galloping in the middle of the dark, "David, come back, please!" He heard a voice, he knew it must have been his father's, although it was too deep and coarse, it felt unnatural. He looked back without stopping or slowing down his horse. The light of the castle was gone and he only saw blackness in its place. Then everything lit up at once.
He felt like as if he had just fallen down his horse, he glanced underneath him and his horse was entirely gone, he was falling towards the abyss. He began to panic and turned towards the sky, or rather where it would have been, and hoped for some kind of divine intervention.
"You have forsaken us! You have done this to us!" He heard the voice again, but this time it was more distorted, more disturbing, yet it still felt like it was his father's. He faced the direction from where it came from. The castle reappeared, although he wished it wouldn't have. It was engulfed entirely in flames and screams began to echo around him as the servants and the guards called out to him for help while they burned alive. He tried to go towards them to help them but to he was still falling. He was forced to look at his birthplace as it burned to the ground, with everybody inside it and he was unable to do anything. 
"Why? Why? Why?" The voice kept asking him, it changed its pitch from syllable to syllable and he was no longer able to identify it as his father's, yet he still felt like it was his voice. He opened his mouth to beg for forgiveness and to ask for all of this to just finally end, but he met the ground before that.



David's eyes shot open and he sat upright in his bed. He was heavily sweating and his heart was beating fast. He wiped off his forehead with his blanket. He tried to distract himself with observing his surroundings again. His room was pitch black, although he could just barely see the light of the slowly rising sun through the windows. He dropped the blanket off of himself and went towards the door. He stopped before it for a moment and he did a short breathing-exercise as a last attempt to calm himself down. After he had succeeded he turned the doorknob and went downstairs to the dining-room to escape his nightmarish thoughts.
Sturdy was just about to start washing the dishes when David came down. His friend heard his footsteps and turned back with the plates still on his back, "Good morning David, Lilly had already left for work," he placed back a clean plate and some cutlery, "We ate the same breakfast as yesterday, I presume you would like the scrambled eggs again?" Inquired Sturdy as he headed for the kitchen again.
"Good morning and yes please," said David while he took a seat.
"They cooled down, unfortunately. I could make some new ones if you would like," offered Sturdy.
"Don't tire yourself with it, I like them cold as well."
Sturdy came back with a plate which had the scrambled eggs and a small basket with a few slices of bread and he placed them in front of David, "Here you go, feel free to take as much as you would like to," and with that, he went back to the kitchen. David began to think for a moment before he switched his clean plate to that of the scrambled eggs', he didn't want to create more dirty dishes for his host and he was hungry enough to eat the whole plate of eggs.
"Sturdy, don't take this as an insult, I could eat your scrambled eggs for eternity, but is this the only dish you know how to cook?" Inquired David jokingly and smiled to himself.
"No," came the answer from Sturdy after a short pause, "Is this the only decent dish I can cook? Definitively," he added and he too laughed at his own joke and the fact that it was true only made it funnier for him.
"How did you manage that, you cooked nothing but eggs for your entire life?" Asked David while trying not to choke on his food due to his chuckling.
"Yes, pretty much," David stopped with everything and stared blankly at the door to the kitchen, while Sturdy, finished with the dishes, turned off the water and began walking towards the dining-room, "Even this little meal took me forever to learn how to make it properly," he went up to the table and took out an apple from the fruit basket and sat down across David. He was about to have a bite when he finally noticed his friend's dumbfounded expression, "What? Is something wrong?"
"Yes, why on earth would you take so much effort to learn only one recipe?" Asked David, still having some difficulty with understanding his friend.
"Oh, it was for Lilly," came the casual answer from Sturdy and he took a bite from his apple, "She needs protein due to her physically intense job, and the best way of getting it is by eating eggs. The only problem is that she is a picky eater, so I had to go out of my way to make them at least edible for her, which actually means five-star quality for normal folks," he shivered, the thought of all those restless nights and failed attempts at making scrambled eggs sent a chill down his spine and gave him a headache. He leaned on to the table with his other hoof and rubbed his forehead to ease the pain.
"It was really nice of you," David felt a comfortable sense of warmth inside him, he was proud of Sturdy and glad for being able to call him a friend.
"Well, you already appreciated my work for her more than she had," Sturdy put the apple down, buried his face in between his hooves and let out a frustrated sigh.
"I presume she did not like that you were trying to help her?" David reached over the table and pat his friend on the shoulder to which Sturdy looked up at him with a rather desperate and saddened expression.
"No, she didn't even acknowledge my work, no 'thank you' or 'glad to have you'," Sturdy threw both of his front hooves into the air, "Nothing!" The moment he finished his face was back in between his hooves again, "She acted like it was how it should have happened, as if it was only natural for me to do such a thing for her," David opened his mouth to raise an objection, but his friend was faster as he lifted his head up and quickly corrected himself, "Of course, this does not mean that I wouldn't have done her this huge favor if I knew in advance that she wouldn't appreciate it, but still, I would have gladly accepted at least a 'thanks'," after he finished his monologue, he buried his face back into his hooves again.
"Come on, I'm sure she is grateful for your work, it's just that she doesn't show it," David tried to lift Sturdy's spirit up with a few reassuring words. He stood up and went over to his friend so that he could speak in a softer tone and still be heard by him.
"Yeah, I bet she doesn't even know I cook everything for her, even though she saw me do that countless times," Sturdy put his head down on the table, he stared at his nose in thought as he laid motionlessly there.
"So what are you going to do, stop making her breakfast so that she would finally take notice?" Asked David in an unserious manner, although he still feared that this would be his friend's plan.
"What? No!" Sturdy put his two front hooves down on the table and lifted up himself to eye level with David, "I wouldn't be able to do that to her, it would be so... cruel, wrong," he sat back down and continued rubbing both sides of his head simultaneously. David felt relieved, his friend had a good heart and he didn't disappoint him yet again.
"How's the job going for her? Is she happy with it if we don't count the... you know," David sat back down across his friend and took up a more generic tone, he tried to divert the topic away.
"She enjoys every moment of it," said Sturdy quietly as a smile began to form on his face, "I can't imagine how happy she will be when she earns her promotion at last," the smile faded as quickly as it came and he laid his head back on the table, "if she ever gets one." 
David saw that his plan wouldn't work, so he instead tried to find a solution to the problem. He began stroking his chin in thought. Those memories that came back from reading the Holy Chronicles might prove to be useful for him now, "Perhaps I can help her in achieving her goal?" Sturdy perked right up from his melancholy and focused both of his ears on David in interest. David noticed this and chuckled, "I only said perhaps. I was difficult to deal with when it came to training, I might be able to use the same teaching techniques with her as my master used on me."
"This means that reading the book did help?" Asked Sturdy with a smile, David simply nodded at that. Sturdy's smile vanished and as he mulled over what his guest said once more, "Considering the lack of alternatives, you might as well try, maybe she will listen to you," he devoured the remainder of the apple in seconds, then stood up from the desk and began walking towards the entrance, "but first things first, I have to go to the Ghastly Gorge-"
"I'm coming as well," David got up as well and ran down to the basement.
"Wrong way David," said Sturdy while he tried to keep a straight face.
"I know," shouted David from the basement, "I'm just getting my armor."
"Your armor?" Sturdy stopped laughing and raised an eyebrow to himself. He followed David downstairs, "Why would you need your armor?" He stopped right at the foot of the stairs and looked at him with his head slightly tilted in confusion.
"I'm not going down into the gorge without it again," answered David with his back to Sturdy. He was crouching and he was putting his armored boots on, "Won't Lilly get mad if I go outside?" He turned around in order to see Sturdy.
"She will," Sturdy just smirked and moved on with the topic, "Do you want me to help?" He asked. David glanced down at his feet. He was making slow progress with putting his armor on, not to mention that the voice told him of a servant whose sole purpose was to help him with it. 
"I would really appreciate that," David hesitated with his answer for a moment, he did not want to make it seem like his host was his servant as well, although he discarded this idea. After all, Sturdy helped Lilly with her armor as well and she was his house-mate.
Without any delay Sturdy sprung into action, picking up the individual pieces of the armor and, with David's guidance, he helped him put them on. There were a few pieces, the backplate for example, where Sturdy had to do all the work and David could only stand still, he felt a bit ashamed of it, but he did not show it. The last thing he wanted was to insult his friend with it.
"Are we done?" Sturdy glanced back at the empty table, then back at David, with the helmet in his hands, and smiled, "It fits you perfectly, must have been customized for you," he circled the human once to look over him from all angles.
"Every defender gets a custom armor," David looked over himself as well while he went over his mental checklist for his armor, "Otherwise, how could we fight and command at the battlefield without the proper equipment for it?" He could not recall any specific battles in which he fought, although the voice told him there were many.
Sturdy was taken aback by this, "Wait, what does a defender do exactly?" He went over to another table where his notebook was and he grabbed it. He flipped to an empty page and he waited for David's explanation with a quill already dipped into ink.
"Well, we have many tasks," David sat down on the ground, put his helmet next to himself and began counting on his fingers, "We must help the poor and the unfortunate, we must provide guidance to those who are not as learned at the teachings of the Great Lord Zoh as we are, we must do anything in our power to protect the innocent, the helpless, the weak and the lands of the believers, we must spread the teachings of the Great Lord Zoh and last, but not least, we..." he stopped in mid-sentence and scratched his head. He knew there was one more thing that a defender had to do that wasn't mentioned in the Holy Chronicles, but he just could not remember it. Even the voice fell silent regarding this issue, "Nevermind, this should cover most of our duties."
Sturdy stopped with his furious writing, "So this means you only fought and commanded in a battle when you had to protect your people and land?" He didn't even wait for David's answer and quickly resumed his note-taking.
"As far as I can recall it, yes," David felt weird, something was off about this. It was difficult but he managed to get used to the voice's ever-present whispering, so he found it strange that for the first time since he woke up in this strange place it said nothing. He needed to dig a bit deeper into his memories regarding his duties, although not right now, "Is there anything else you would like to know?" Asked David as he put his helmet on and a weird feeling washed over him right after it. It felt like he was now truly alone in his own mind.
Sturdy said something that David couldn't catch while he slowly stood up on his two hind legs and made himself seem bigger than normal. He smiled and his mouth moved again, then he dropped down to all fours and glanced at his notes. Not looking up he motioned for David to go upstairs and wait for him while he began making a few adjustments to his notes.
David was a bit confused, but he still followed Sturdy's instruction and went upstairs and waited for him in front of the doorway. Through the small window on the door, he saw that the sun had risen up fully since he woke up and a few early birds were already up and about on the streets. He didn't want to go out, he didn't want any more incidents with the locals, but his friend was right. He only had to get used to them just as how they had to get used to him as well. Now that he thought more about it, he had been in a similar situation in Domusdei.
Domusdei was a small trading town, it barely had ten-thousand people in it and all of them were discontent. The mayor had raised the already high taxes and they had enough, they demanded the replacement of the mayor and threatened the King with joining a possible revolt against him. As a new missionary, he was sent there with another, more experienced defender to defuse the situation by spreading the teachings of the Great Lord Zoh.
At first the locals there were rather upset by their presence. He and his partner were chased off on many occasion while they were preaching in the town's marketplace, but after some time the townsfolk became accustomed to them and some of them even started to pay attention to the stories they told. It only took around a month and the people of Domusdei converted to the Great Lord Zoh's teachings and all it took was calm manners and peaceful words. 
The mission was rather successful, although not completely. They still overthrew the mayor and elected one of the local guild leaders as a replacement but they did not join any revolts so, in the King's eyes, it was still a win.
Gears began turning in David's head, maybe he could try to do something similar here with the ponies of Ponyville. If he were to tell the stories of his people and show them how similar they were then maybe they would accept him faster into their community. Not to mention that it would be great fun for him, he enjoyed preaching his favorite tales to crowds of people.
David's train of thought was halted by Sturdy, who got upstairs and said something to David, but he couldn't understand it, again, "Pardon?" Answered back David to which both he and Sturdy physically reeled back. This single word felt different than the rest he used while talking to his hosts and other ponies, he had switched to another language.
Sturdy began bombarding David with questions which he heard clearly, even through the helmet, yet the words he said didn't have any meaning to the human. He became nervous as he grasped what this actually meant, he could no longer talk to anypony. He began gasping as his heart began to beat faster and he threw the helmet off of his head in panic and to get more air, but as soon as it was off of his head a tingling sensation washed over him and the voice came back.
"Oh my Celestia, are you alright, what is this, why are you speaking in another language? Can you understand me at least?" Sturdy ran up to his friend and supported him while he tried to escort him into the kitchen.
"I'm alright, I just got scared for a moment," said David as he forced his breathing to slow down.
"Are you sure?" Asked Sturdy still worried about what happened.
"Yes, I'm quite sure," answered back David instinctively as he eyed his helmet. He slowly went over to it and picked it up from the ground. He carefully inspected it and after the strange feeling didn't come this time he put it on his head again. He immediately felt the tingling sensation and the voice was gone. Sturdy held his breath as he waited for what would happen next.
"Can you understand me?" David spoke in the other language this time as well. It felt different, yet it was still familiar, native to him. Sturdy, after hearing his friend speaking the same gibberish, was perplexed and fascinated at the same time.
David took off the helmet after seeing his host's reaction, "I see, the helmet might be the culprit here," Sturdy gave off a sigh of relief and considered the idea.
"Maybe, but I cannot look into it right now, I have an order for a fossil by afternoon,"  he said as he put on his warm clothing, which consisted of only a scarf, "Are you sure you want to come? Maybe you can-"
"Yes, nothing will stop me from helping you out," David cut in before Sturdy could finish. His friend only smiled a little at the human's stubbornness to help.
"Will your armor be warm enough?" Asked Sturdy worriedly while he put his hoof on the door handle.
"Certainly, I'm already starting to sweat in it," answered David as he put his helmet down on the table.
"Are you ready?" David gave a firm nod and Sturdy opened the door. The cold air immediately rushed into the house and hit both of them, yet it did not affect them much. David couldn't even feel the breeze, although that might become a problem later, he thought.
They stepped outside and Sturdy closed the door and locked it as well, putting the key in his front pocket. David took a deep breath from the freezing air. He braced himself for the worst that could happen to him in the town center, "Don't worry, they listen to the mayor, there won't be any problems," as Sturdy walked past him he peeked back and gave him a few reassuring words, although he did not hide the fact that he was just as nervous as the human was.
David tried to give himself some confidence by reminding himself that he had been in worse situations, he was more than capable of handling this. With these thoughts, he fell behind Sturdy and together they walked on the same path towards the gorge as yesterday. The ponies were still observing them everywhere they went and they were still bad at hiding it. They passed by the place where the old stallion first shouted at them.
Time slowed down from David's perspective. His focus shifted from pony to pony, he was searching for any potential troublemakers, who might decide to attack him, but everywhere he looked he only saw fear in the eyes of the townsfolk. The foals ran inside the houses and the stallions stepped in front of their mares as if to protect them from even the mere sight of the human. The passersby avoided them in a few feet radius and some of them just abruptly changed their course after noticing David rather than staying on the same street as he was.
David couldn't take it anymore and he had to take action. He jumped on the same crate as Sturdy did yesterday and from there he began talking, just the way he had been taught, "Gather around me, brothers and sisters, for I have great stories to tell from my people," his words had mostly fallen on deaf ears and those, who visibly noticed him only picked up their pace to escape from the sight of the human.
There was only one pony reacting to David's words, Sturdy. He immediately turned back with a horrified expression on his face. He ran up to the human and wrapped one of his hooves around his leg in order to get him down from the crate while whispering to him, "What are you doing, get down from there," he tried with all of his might, but David's leg didn't move an inch.
David acted as if his friend wasn't even there and continued on with his speech, "I have traveled far and wide, I have met many people like you," he pointed to a random pony with green fur, to which he got scared and ran away. David mentally slapped himself, "There were people who avoided me, who simply ignored me and those who chased me and tried to take my life just because I dared to walk into their town," he continued on without a flinch, he knew if he reacted then the crowd would focus on what had happened rather than what he had said.
Sturdy was desperate by now, instead of his legs he tried to move the crate out from under David, but that didn't work either.
"Hadn't you already learned your lesson from them?" A mare stopped in front of the human, she had a dark-red fur and wore a frustrated expression on her face.
David reeled back by this sudden outburst but quickly recovered. His armor gave him some confidence in that even if everything went wrong, then at least there was something to protect him from the fury of the ponies, "Yes, I indeed learned a lot from my past experiences, and from yesterday's events," he couched into his hand to give himself some time to think through his next words, "I have made a bad impression in all of you, so I would like to start again by properly introducing myself," he switched to a louder tone in order to make himself heard by more ponies and began, "My name is David and I'm a defender. It is my job to protect the innocent, give to the poor and provide guidance in the teachings of the Great Lord Zoh for the people."
The more David spoke the more ponies gathered around him, although all of them were only interested in humiliating him, rather than actually paying attention to what he was saying, "Hey, why won't you help on us then and leave now?" Shouted another pony from the crowd, David didn't see who he was. Everypony began laughing and he had no other option but to wait for them to stop.
"I am helping," David began after the crowd had fallen silent, "Most importantly, I assist my friend Sturdy with his research and fossil excavations. Secondly, I am helping you, ponies of Ponyville," he motioned towards the whole crowd in front of him, which grew ever faster, "Instead of hiding I came to stand before all of you so that we have a chance to get to know each other better, and what can be a better way of that than you telling your people's stories and I'm telling the teachings of the Great Lord Zoh?"
"Looks like you didn't notice, but the school is towards there," pointed a stallion down the road and the townsfolk began to laugh again. David kept his composure knowing that only through patience can he earn his place in the town, although it was a bit difficult to hold back his anger. Sturdy gave up at this point, he sat down behind the crate, covered his eyes and waited for the crowd to start chasing them down.
"Thank you, my friend, for mentioning this," a great idea popped into David's head and this time he didn't wait for the ponies to quiet down, "How many of you have children?" The crowd fell silent immediately, they hesitated a while before some of them raised their hooves, "It's nice to see that a lot of you have already experienced the joy of parenthood," a few parents slightly nodded at that in agreement, although they tried to mask it from the others, "What do you teach them, what is the most valuable thing they can have?" The ponies forgot that they originally tried to ridicule the human and they began debating the answer to this question amongst themselves.
"Friendship!" Shouted a mare from far back.
"Good grades," said quietly a stallion at the front.
"A nice family," answered an old mare.
"Wealth," announced proudly a brown stallion. Everybody, including Sturdy and David, looked at him, waiting for him to say that he only meant it as a joke, he did not, "What? Money is important."
"Nevermind," said David loudly to gain back the attention of the crowd, "I think we can all agree that most of what has been said-" he took another short peek back at the brown stallion and rolled his eyes, "-is crucial to be thought to the younglings," again, many ponies from the crowd nodded and voiced their agreement, these were the socially acceptable norms after all.
David smiled to himself, his training proved to be extremely helpful in this situation, and at first he thought he wasn't good at persuading crowds, "Let me tell you, my brothers and sisters, that my people teach the same values to our children through the teachings of the Great Lord Zoh," the ponies doubted him, and they remembered why they gathered around him in the first place.
"Do you teach them how to eat us as well?" Yelled a stallion with a mint fur from a nearby house's window. The townsfolk began furiously talking, some even began to openly consider attacking David.
"Of course not! We are a peaceful people, we have no desire for violence," David tried to gain back the ponies for himself, but he also took a quick look around to scout any available escape routes. He might not be that good of a crowd persuader after all. Then another great idea hit him, "My people are always trusting of each other, they show kindness to everybody, from the most unfortunate of us to the complete strangers. We have been taught by our Great Lord Zoh that only thru patience, generosity, and hospitality can we truly spread the will for good and make the world a better place," the ponies fell silent, each and every one of them focused all of their attention to him, some of them even began to self-reflect on what he had said.
David took a deep breath and straightened his back, he repeated his little speech in his head again, making sure it was perfect and began, "I understand that none of you know me, and I can only marvel at your willingness to protect each other. I am familiar with this feeling, this fear that grasps at our mind and forces us to do something in order to protect our loved ones and others that we care about," all of the ponies began to flock around him, sitting down in the cold snow, looking out through the open windows and climbing up other crates and barrels to better see him as he passionately talked, "I don't ask for your immediate trust and that you should let me into your homes, that would just be ridiculous and insane. I only ask all of you, no, I beg for all of you to just give me a single chance, to prove that I am not a monster."
David glanced down at his friend who had put his hooves down and blankly stared in front of him, his mind racing with thoughts that had been awoken by David's speech. David was astonished, the whole crowd was immersed in their own thoughts, just as Sturdy. He was happy to see this at first, then he realized that they could be thinking of something entirely different than what he had hoped them to.
"None of us are perfect," he began and his voice dragged most of the townsfolk out of their deep thinking, "I have to admit, I had let down my father, my mother and countless other people many times," the voice brought back some memories of these times for him, as if it tried to help him out. He looked towards the ground in sorrow and wiped down a tear with the linen part of his glove. The ponies noticed this and they felt empathetic with the human, they had let others down before as well.
One of the memories that the voice brought back for him was about his grandfather, who he really liked and looked up to. Despite his sadness, he smiled,"I remember now, the words of my grandfather. He would always say that as long as we learned from our failures, we hadn't failed," he turned his head back to the crowd with a determined and hopeful expression, "With this in mind, I learned from yesterday's mistake that I have to try harder and be more patient with my words and actions if I ever want to be included in this wonderful community," the reactions were mixed. Some felt pride from these words, while other still doubted the stranger and wanted him to go away.
David continued on, he couldn't let the ponies have enough time to raise their voices or else they might whip themselves up into another frenzy, "I know what some of you might think, you already learned from your mistake with Esau Stronghorn, but there is a key difference between these two instances," he held up a finger to emphasize his point. A few ponies opened their mouth, possibly to object, but he cut them off, "I am not Esau. In fact, the only thing common between us is that both of us are strangers to this town, which I hope to change."
"Why are you so hell-bent on trying to earn our trust and acceptance?" Asked quickly a mare from the middle of the crowd. The ponies began to nod and grumble, David had to act fast.
"Because the sooner we stop fighting against each other and work together, the sooner we can help each other better ourselves and this community," he poured his soul into these words, his lessons of deception and manipulation completely forgotten in the heat of the moment.
"And why would that be good?" Questioned an elderly stallion and the townsfolk around him agreed with him. Soon, the whole crowd began shouting, they had worked themselves up into a frenzy.
David was disappointed, but not in himself, but in the ponies before him. He realized that he might be the only one, who genuinely wanted to help, not for a reward, but to just simply help someone. He let out a saddened sigh and quietly began, "None of you see what I am trying to do, what I want to accomplish. There is really nobody here except me, who has an unending desire to just help people," and with a broken expression he jumped down the crate and walked down the street. Sturdy, surprised at how abruptly his speech had ended, quickly followed him. The ponies fell silent again and they felt ashamed. Instead of blocking his way, they let them pass without trouble.
"The monster is right," said a young mare with black fur from a nearby window, "We should help on each other, pony or not," the crowd slowly erupted into a heated discussion, although David was unable to hear it as he rounded another corner.
"Hey, are you alright?" Asked Sturdy, worried for his friend.
"Yes," answered the human with a slight smile which faded away immediately after, "I just... hoped for a better outcome."
"I understand, but you were expecting things to go too fast," said Sturdy reassuringly. He began walking backward in front of his friend to be able to look him in the eye all the while he talked, "Ponies are more cautious by their nature. Of course, they won't give you your chance after just two days, especially after they already had a bad experience with a stranger," his words only worsened David's mood as he lowered his shoulders even further.
Sturdy, seeing that his attempt at brightening David's mood had failed miserably, took a look around instead. He noticed that they left the town behind them a long time ago now and were in the same snowy field as yesterday. A thought crossed his mind and he grinned, "You know," David turned his head towards his friend, not out of curiosity, he was too deep in his melancholy to be curious, but out of respect for him, "I hope you are ready for another meeting with the boys," said Sturdy with a wicked, forced smile.
At first, David didn't understand what his friend meant by this, then it hit him, "Oh, yeah, definitely," he looked down on himself, "I even got myself fitted for their honor this time," he gestured at his whole body comically, getting a few chuckles out of both of them.
"I think they will love your armor, especially when it passes through their intestines," both of them now laughed, seemingly forgetting what had happened just a few minutes before.
"I would much rather show them my armor from far away, thank you," David wiped a joyful tear from his cheek, he was truly glad that this pony had found him from all the others.
They neared the Ghastly Gorge and could see the border of the Everfree Forest in the distance, "Perhaps we can arrange-" began Sturdy, but he was cut off by the roar of a manticore. It stood just right at the edge of the dark forest, looking straight at them. Both of them froze down.
David watched as the mighty beast began running at breakneck speed towards them, occasionally leaping with its wings to give itself a boost of speed. Sturdy grabbed him by the hand and dragged him down the stairs. The manticore leaped a final time and pounced on the entrance to the stairs, but they were already descending. Due to its large size, the manticore was unable to follow them and, instead of gliding down to the bottom of the gorge and risking getting eaten by a quarray eel, it gave up on the easy meal and went back to the 'safety' of the dark forest.
"What was that?" Asked David still in shock, he had never seen anything like this before. Even Fred couldn't shake him out of this state, no matter how hard he hit the other side of the gorge.
"A manticore," answered back Sturdy briefly, "I know, it's scary and we almost got chewed up by that thing, but just don't think about it and it'll be alright," they arrived at the bottom of the gorge and Sturdy went up to the excavation tent across them. David remained still, he was trying to calm himself down, but his mind kept jumping back to the image of the manticore rushing at them with saliva dripping out of its mouth.
"I'll bring my sword next time," David murmured to himself and followed Sturdy under the tent while trying to shake the fear and horror out of his mind. His friend was right, he just shouldn't think about it and everything will be alright, or at least he hoped.