//------------------------------// // Dale // Story: Brotherhood is Magic // by GauntletsofRai //------------------------------// Dale stumbled through the overgrown thickets, scraping himself as he went. He clutched a box to his chest and tried not to think about what was inside it. He failed, as the image of what he was about to do kept playing through his mind, over and over again. He had just wanted the pain to stop... * * * Dale stood at the side of a fresh grave, watching as the stonemason's two burly sons fitted the headstone into the soft hole in the ground. He tried his best to hold back the tears that were welling up in his eyes as he clutched the stump of his right arm. He started to breath more quickly as the pallbearers approached the grave with a wooden box on their shoulders. As far back as Dale could remember, he wanted to be a knight. He would hear tales of brave warriors who rode into battle with suits of gleaming armor, and long, beautiful swords that could swipe through an enemy like soft butter. He would beg his neighbor, Mr. Donnel, to let him ride one of his horses, even though he was far too young. Dale felt a rueful smile twitch at the corners of his mouth as he remembered the time that Mr Donnel had let him ride one of his newest ponies around the fence, and had even promised not to tell when he fell off the same horse and bruised his side. The happy thought quickly dissipated as he remembered the fire that had killed Mr. Donnel along with his uncle Bowie just two years ago. It was that same fire that had caused a burning timber to crush his arm, which required immediate amputation. Sometimes, he could still feel the fingers move... When Dale was a child, his father had left his mother and him for dead, and drank away most of their possessions. He had grown up a soft child with no father, so when he was six years old, his mother's brother Bowie had promised to take care of him and teach him to be a man. Those were the best seven years of his life. He had learned to fight with wooden swords, and how to chop wood, and wrangle sheep and goats. He had learned to ride, and how to shoot an arrow, and for the most part, he learned how to live. He had never remembered his father, but he often remembered his mother crying late at night while she called out his name softly. Although he had not known the man, he had vowed to make him pay for whatever he could have done to make his mother cry. Those seven years of happiness had literally gone up in flames as his Uncle Bowie, Mr. Donnel, and two others had died in the fire that consumed his Uncle's barn. Two months later, he had recieved word that his real father had been found dead in a ditch near the town, but even the sight of that man that had caused his mother so much discomfort dead and gone, still he felt no better. Along with his father figure had gone all of his possessions; his bow, his hatchet, and a drawing of his mother he had created to remember her face. But most importantly, he lost his arm. He had gotten over his initial shock of the fire after about two years, but his dreams of being a knight were crushed in one fell swoop. He had tried to fight with his left arm, but failed miserably. He could no longer shoot a bow, or rope livestock, or even split wood without sending chunks flying every which way, and ruining any hatchet that he held. He had tried to draw faces like the one he lost in the fire, but every last one looked worse and worse until he was so frustrated that he tore up all of his paper and threw away every one of his quills. Dale had thought that his life could not possibly get any worse, and so he went to a tree deep in the woods with a rope. He had tied the rope around his neck and was about to jump, when he imagined the look on his mother's face when she saw him, her only son, dangling from a tree. He pushed the rope off of his neck, and ran back to the village to meet his mother, to tell her that he loved her and would never ever leave her. But when he entered his home, he approached his mother's bedroom and looked inside. His mother lay dead and cold on her bed, a bloody handkerchief grasped in her cold, dead fingers. He had laid down in his own bed and didn't get back up for four days. When they came to take his mother's body away, they had thought he was dead as well, but seeing that he was still alive, yet unresponsive, they left him there with a plate of food each day. He had gone back to the tree after the four days, but when he jumped off the branch, it broke and all he got was a scar around his neck and a broken ankle. There was no way at all now that his life could get any worse than it had now. You would expect that now, something even worse would happen because I just dropped a "nothing worse could possibly happen," but this is not a segue to another unfortunate event. There is literally nothing worse that can happen to this poor, dejected boy. Well, almost nothing... * * * Dale approached the mouth of a deep cave that sloped down into the earth. He had been walking for weeks through Equestria, and had finally reached his destination in the Everfree Forrest. He stared at the cave, which he now noticed, was set in the side of an old stone castle that had been torn down years and years ago. Though it was a relatively small castle, it was still larger than any man-made structure he had seen. An almost invisible cloud of deep blue crept along the ground, and seeped into the mouth of the cave. Dale noticed the haze, which he had been following since his journey's beginning, and followed it warily into the cave. The object within the wooden box glowed hotter as he came closer to the haze, and he shuddered with wonder at what could be inside. The haze had come to him just hours after his mother's funeral, wrapping itself around him and whispering into his mind. So sad... why do you cry my boy? Dale had jumped at the unfamiliar voice. 'Who are you?' he called aloud in panic. I am your friend Dale, let me help you dry those tears upon your face... 'How, I can't even see you!' Poor boy...you've lost so much... but I can give it back to you... He cried out in defiance. 'You don't have anything I want!' How do you know such things? I can give you many things, my dear boy... gold and jewels... possessions beyond any man who ever lived, all for you... all you must do is one thing for me, and all that you desire shall be yours... Dale hesitated for a moment, and then quickened his resolve. 'I want to have a new arm.' Oh yes, of course, that is but a mere trifle compared to the riches you shall receive... I shall give you an arm that has power tenfold of that which you lost... Dale thought again as he looked back at the fresh grave that had been dug just that morning. 'I want my mother back. If you can't give me that, I don't want anything else.' The presence paused and made an awkward silence. After the pause, it spoke again. Do this thing... and you will once again look upon your mother's face... All doubt faded away as the presence spoke. "Yes, I'll do it! Whatever you want!' Dale couldn't be sure, but he had heard a low hissing that sounded somewhat like laughter. The task is simple, yet very important indeed... The presence explained that he need only to retrieve the wooden box buried somewhere deep in the Everfree, and to bring it to the cave that held its 'true body.' Finding the box was easy enough, even though he had to dig with only one hand, but the forest crept in around him and haunted his every waking thought, moaning and screeching with the sounds of a hundred sneaking predators. * * * Dale looked at the ceiling of the steadily sloping cave, and saw hundreds of bats nesting above on countless stalagmites. He looked for so long that his attention drifted away from the ground, and he tripped and rolled down the cave's sloped floor. He reached the end of the incline rather unceremoniously as he hit a stalactite with his back. He groaned in pain and shakily got to his feet. But he quickly forgot his pain as he observed the tunnel ahead of him. At the end of the tunnel was a faint blue light that radiated with wonder and awe. Dale felt drawn to the light, like a moth to a flame. He stumbled the rest of the way down the tunnel on his damaged ankle, peering at the beautiful light, and clutching the box which gave off a comforting warmth. He reached the end of the tunnel and stepped into a cave that extended upwards as far as he could see, punctured at the top with a single hole. He focused his attention back down to the ground and gasped in awe as he found the source of the blue light. A smooth stone that looked almost exactly like the full moon in the night sky shone with an unearthly blue light. The haze that held the presence's conscious enveloped the stone and formed the rough shape of a face with two eyes as black as night. Though the lips moved, he heard only a whisper within his mind. Well done, my faithful servant... I cannot thank you enough for what you have done for me... These gifts that I give you are but paltry recompense for the kindness that you have done for me... The box that he held opened of its own accord and floated before Dale's face. Inside was a key that looked to be carved of pure obsidian. The key shot out towards the stone and vanished inside of it. For a while, nothing happened, but suddenly, the stone split perfectly in two halves, and a rush of air pulled inwards towards the stone. The stone shattered and revealed a figure crouching on the pedestal where it once stood. It was as black as the night, and absorbed all of the light that entered the cave as it rose to it's full height. The shape revealed a curvaceous feminine body with hair and clothing made solely of a billowing black haze speckled with glowing points of lights like stars in the night sky. It turned to face Dale, and he gasped when he saw the most beautiful face he had ever seen. Her face was smooth and white as the surface of the moon, with sharp, angled cheek bones and full black lips. She was so beautiful that Dale started to cry. Not an ugly red-faced crying like he was used to, but merely an awestruck flow of tears that ran down his face. She held both beauty and quiet power behind her face as she smiled at him and spoke in a gentle and almost sensual tone. "I am most pleased to see you with mine own eyes, my child. I cannot thank you enough for releasing me from that awful prison." She alighted from the pedestal with a lithe motion that bespoke both power and elegance, and approached him. She placed her long white hands tipped with nails as smooth and black as obsidian around his face as he trembled at her touch. "Now for your first reward." She lifted her head back and exposed her perfect white throat as a power Dale could only begin to imagine welled up inside of him. Instead of staring blindly into the cave, he now saw each stone and stalagmite in fullest clarity as though it was full day. He felt a moment of ecstasy as he floated inches above the ground, his hurts and pains all retreating from his limbs. He felt with a sense of joy that his fingers on his right hands closed themselves into a fist, and he looked down at his hands in wonder. He felt a limitless joy at seeing both of his hands together, now fuller and stronger, and tipped with black nails like those of the beautiful lady's. He then realized that he was clothed in a sleek black and silver suit of armor, fitted with crescent moons of pure ivory at the very tip of his pointed and segmented vambraces. His chest was armored in the same lustrous black metal that his vambraces were made of, segmented at intervals like a rib cage that ended at his sternum, which was covered by another ivory crescent moon bordered by wicked bats wings. He felt a helmet on top of his head, which left his face open but for a slender nose-guard, and felt a magnificent crest at the very top, along with a set of what felt like more bat's wings encompassing his head. He had never felt more powerful in his life. The dark princess smiled pridefully at him as she produced a sword from a black cloud in her hands. "You look splendid, my faithful servant. But what is a knight without a sword?" She pulled the sword from it's scabbard as it gleamed in the moonlight. It was long and powerful, it's cross guard another set of bat wings that curved slightly at the tips. At the pommel was a gemstone of pure onyx, which drew in all light around it instead of gleaming. The dark and powerful princess motioned for Dale to kneel, and he eagerly dropped to his knees, recognizing the gesture that she was about to bestow from his numerous knight's stories. The dark princess tapped the tip of the sword on both of his shoulders and spoke with a powerful voice. "I dub thee, sir Dale of the Nightguard, commander of the army of shadow that shall bestow unto me my rightful place on the throne of Equestria!" She finished her last sentence with a flourish of the sword as the lowered it into Dale's hands. He grabbed the hilt thankfully and held it before him. "Go ahead, see how it feels in your hands." He grasped it with both hands ans swung a wicked arc through the air. He slashed to the side, and then spun around and slashed again, finishing by holding it above his head in a defensive stance. "Wonderful my general! You will make a fine warrior indeed." Dale grinned like an idiot as he admired the sword in his hands. He suddenly remembered why he had agreed to do this in the first place. "Wait, where is my mother? I want to see her. I want her to see me whole again!" The dark princess sighed as she looked to the ground. "I am sorry Dale, but to bring back your mother takes a spell of considerable energy to complete. I must wait until my power is full once again to fulfill your ultimate reward." Dale looked down, momentarily saddened. "Oh, okay. Take as long as you need I guess." The princess looked back to him with a faint smile. "However, there is one thing that you may do in the meantime..." "What is it my princess? Name it and It'll be done!" The dark princess smirked for a moment and then looked serious as she held Dale's gaze. "I need you to find the Elements." Dale faltered in his gaze, looking confused. "What are the Elements?" "You will know them when you find them. Once you have them, return to me with them, and I shall return your mother to you. How happy she will be to see her son as the general of the mightiest army of Equestria!" Dale bowed to one knee and placed his sword point-down in front of him. "Your wish is my command, my Princess." The dark princess showed a row of perfect white teeth as she smiled. "Excellent... go forth my knight! I send you with my servants of the knight to aid you in this quest!" As she spoke, ten or so dark figures appeared from the black haze that floated above the ground, garbed in armor similar to Dale's. The all simultaneously drew their swords and placed them before Dale as he had done earlier. Dale smiled with a wicked glee that he had felt for the first time. He had no idea what this feeling was, but it had freed him from his inescapable melancholy, which was all that mattered. Dale looked back at the princess, who had turned away and summoned a scroll that she laid on the pedestal she had once stood on. "Wait, my princess, what is your name?" The smirk on the dark princess' face was palpable in the air as she slowly turned her head to look at him. "You may call me Nightmare Moon." * * *