The Royal Protector
Chapter 2: Awaking in a New World
Twilight Sparkle was sitting on her balcony late at night enjoying the bright glow of Luna's moon. Her week was incredibly hectic. On top of the day to day actives she did like furthering her studies or catching up on a good book, she still found time to be with her friends and write the occasional letter to her teacher, Princess Celestia, on the magics of friendship. This week was full of complicated problems that took complicated thinking to resolve. It ranged from Fluttershy's pet bunny, Angel, running off into the Everfree forest to a feral Manticore wondering into town. All of these problems took a lot out of the mare and now she could sit back and enjoy one of more favorite activities, stargazing.
Currently Twilight was viewing the Big Dipper in the Ursa Major constellation; it was especially bright tonight for some reason. As she continued to gaze upon the star formation, something in particular caught her eye. There were two bright stars that didn't seem to belong. As she stared at the out of place stars, the started to pulsate and grow brighter. They got so bright that Twilight could barely look at them. Suddenly they started to get bigger. What was happening, why were they getting bigger? That question was answered with a sudden outburst.
“They're falling from the sky!” yelled the young mare probably waking up half of Ponyville.
She had to do something; she couldn't stop a star from falling; only the princesses would have enough power to stop a star from falling. Twilight looked up in despair and wished for the best. As if her wish was granted, both stars made a sudden turn and landed with a loud thud in the Everfree forest. Twilight was stunned, she was not sure of what just happened. Instinctively she had to write to Princess Celestia and inform her of this tide of events. Twilight got up from her spot on the balcony and ran through her house.
“Spike, Spike where are you!” she yelled trying to find her assistant.
A certain purple and green dragon walked up to her.
“What is it Twilight, it pretty late.” said the small dragon while giving a small yawn and rubbing his eyes.
“This is important Spike, I just watched two stars fall from the sky and land in the Everfree. The princesses must be informed of this.”
“Twilight, I'm sure the princesses are already on top of........”
Spike was cut short by a loud gurgling noise. The noise then manifested into a burp. A letter magically appeared out of the mouth of the baby dragon.
“I guess you were right Spike.” muttered Twilight softly as she unraveled the scroll with her magic.
Dear my most faithful student Twilight Sparkle
I’m sure you have noticed the phenomenon that occurred recently and would like to express your concern. Honestly, I would like to say that this way just a couple stars falling from the sky but it seems to be much more. When the two “stars” neared our great land both Luna and myself felt two great powers, one that rivaled mine and one far greater. By the time you receive this letter, I will have already deployed the guard. However, I would like you to meet me on the edge of the Everfree forest along with Luna, your brother Shining Armor, and myself. We need to make sure that whatever landed in the Everfree is not a threat to Equestria.
Your loving teacher,
Princess Celestia
P.S. Tell no other pony about what has happened, I would like to keep the panic to a minimum.
Twilight closed the scroll and placed it down. She was both relived and horrified. She was relieved that nopony was hurt but she was horrified that whatever just fell into that accursed forest was equal to and more powerful then Celestia herself. Twilight rubbed her eyes and yawned silently. Spike had gone back to bed so she might go to bed as well, tomorrow was going to be a big day.
Twilight woke up and quickly got ready. She couldn't be late for her meeting with the princesses and her brother. She quickly wrote a note to Spike saying that she would be out for the day. She laid the note on the table in her kitchen and walked out the door.
After about twenty minutes of walking Twilight was finally caught sight of a certain white Alicorn.
“Princess Celestia!” yelled Twilight as she broke into a run to greet her teacher.
“You made it Twilight.” said Celestia calmly. “Are you ready?”
Twilight quickly nodded and looked over. She saw her brother and Princess Luna standing side by side. Celestia walked over to Shining Armor.
“Tell us the guards plan Shining.” spoke Celestia with authority.
Shining gave a nodded and began to recall the plan. “For now we have to stick to Earth pony infantry because the Pegasi won't be able to see through the canopy of the forest and the Unicorns were ordered to stay in Canterlot and protect the city from any dangers that lurk.”
Celestia gave an understanding smile. “That is a good plan Shining, have your Infantry sweep the forest carefully, no need for unnecessary causalities today.” Celestia then began to lay her plan down. “I want you, Twilight and a couple of your best guards to go and in the section of the Everfree that contains the old castle ruins. My sister and I will stay on this side of the forest to make sure nothing dangerous passes.”
Shining and Twilight, along with a couple of guard started to head into the Everfree. Celestia called out one more time.
“Be careful and good luck my little ponies!”
J woke with a jolt, his whole body was in pain. His joints ached while his head throbbed. It felt like a bad hangover but that wasn't what it was. He started to recall the events that happened a while ago.
'I wonder what caused that weird occurrence last night.' J thought to himself while sitting up.
He looked around and noticed it was day time. How long was he out? He quickly got to his feet but lost his balance and fell straight back.
“Dammit!” he yelled while holding the back of his head. If he didn't have a headache before, he would defiantly have one now.
After a few pain filled throbs, he calmed down and tried to get back on his feet. This time he found his balance and managed to stay upright. One of the first things he noticed was the absence of his student, Isabel. He walked forward a bit and looked back. In the ground where he woke up was a crater. He started to think about what happened last night and how he could of fallen. He then looked up.
“Did I fall from the sky?”
Instantly, J felt for his equipment. He still had his cloak on and it didn't seem to be torn anywhere. He felt at his waist and confirmed that both of his daggers were still in their holsters. He then tried to grab for his long sword but could not find it. It seemed that it was the only thing lost, well that and Isabel. J sighed lightly, he actually liked that sword but it didn't matter now, finding Isabel was number one on his list.
“Isabel!” called J. “Isabel are you here!?”
J continued to call for minutes but got frustrated when no one answered. He gave up and calling and started to walk into and random direction into the forest. After a few minutes of walking, J felt confident he would find Isabel. He started to see signs of something crashing through the forest. There were broken limbs and skid marks on the ground. He eventually came across a crater similar to the one he woke up in. It had to be Isabel, who else could it be? J bent down and spoke more calm but firm.
“Isabel, are you around here?”
After a second which seemed like an eternity, J got a reply.
“J is that you?” he heard from the crater.
“Yes it is me Isabel, we are safe for now, come on out so we can find out where we are.”
J turned his back for a minute as he heard Isabel climb out of the crater. He noticed something was different however. There was a slight clip-clop noise whenever Isabel took a step. Eventually J's curiosity got the better of him and he turned around to see Isabel.
“Oh dear God...” J's mouth was slightly open at the sight of Isabel. She had been turned into a horse creature, no, it's not a horse, she had a different body style, she looked more like a pony. He looked up and saw a horn on her head. She was very different from the ponies he remembers. Instead of a mane and a tail, she just had what looked to be a veil of black magical energy there. Yeah, she was completely different.
After a long silence, Isabel spoke up.
“OK, I know I'm a pony-horse thing but what do I look like from your view?”
J tried to compose himself to answer Isabel's question. Finally after a minute, he cleared his throat and began to speak.
“Well.” began J. “You are almost my height like you were when you were human. You have an aqua color coat and a black mane and tail. Both your mane and tail seem to be made out of some magic of some sort. Finally, you have a horn on your head.”
Isabel looked stunned, she had figured out that she was a horse-pony thing but she didn't know this much about her new body. It was almost too much to take in at once. She noticed a small stream nearby and trotted over to it. She could see her reflection in the water. J's description was incredibly accurate. Isabel then looked to the lower part of her body and was shocked at the things she found.
“I have wings!” Isabel said in a fan girlish shriek. She looked at her back for a few seconds and then looked at J. “How do they work?”
J merely shrugged and noticed one more thing. “You have a tattoo on your ass.” He said calmly.
“What?” Isabel looked back and saw it as clear as day. It was kinda hard to see from her angle.
“What does it look like?” She called to J.
J walked over to her and bent down. After a few moments he spoke.
“It is a well detailed picture of two swords crossing and a rune circle as the background. It is well detailed to the point that the runes in the circle are actually readable.” J then put his fingers to his chin. “I wonder.....” He didn't complete the thought but instead ran his finger across the picture. He heard a small gasp from Isabel followed by another noise.
* POMF *
J slowly brought his eyes up to Isabel. Her wings were fully extended.
Isabel looked over, her face getting redder by the second.
“It’s not what it looks like.” She exclaimed with a little shyness.
“Oh really now?” said J sarcastically.
After a few awkward moments and failed attempts by Isabel to get her wings down, J knew what had to be done.
“I think I have a solution to your predicament.” He said.
Isabel looked at him confusedly. “What would that be?” She said as she followed J's glare until it hit the stream. “Don't even think about it.”
“Too late.” said J loudly as he picked up the pony version of Isabel with her wings still fully extended and tossed her into the stream. The way her limbs flailed as she flew through the air and into the water was certainly a sight to see. She then made contact with the water and not even two seconds later she resurfaced. Her wings were back to normal and she started to swim over to the bank.
“T..t..t.t..this w.w.w.w.wat.water I.is f.f.f.f.f.f.f.fre.fre.fre.frezzeing.” Isabel said as she shook a little.
“Well, it looks like that solved your little problem, you many thank me now.” Said J jokingly.
Isabel returned the expression with a grim frown. “J.j.j.j.j.just he.he.he.help m.m.m.m.me ou.ou.ou.out of th.th.th.this d.d.d.d.damn stream.”
J laughed a little and bent down to help Isabel. He grabbed her by one of her hooves and helped her out of the stream. She stood close to J and shook like a dog to get the water out of her coat. It seemed to work because most of it seemed to leave her body and land on J's as he realized how cold the water actually was.
J gently rubbed the back of his head and laughed a chuckled. “Sorry, I didn't know that the water was that cold but it seemed to work.”
Isabel returned the comment with a low growl followed by a couple loud snorts. J put his hands in front of him trying to calm Isabel.
“Easy, it was just to help.” J looked over to his left and noticed a small dirt pathway going into the forest. He pointed to the path. “Look, we can head down that path and hopefully find the population of this land.”
Isabel simply nodded and walked past J with her head held up, her nose up and her posture straight. “I'll get you back tenfold J, you best not forget about this because I certainly won't anytime soon.”
J gulped, usually when Isabel got revenge on someone it was always ether extremely embarrassing or extremely painful for the one on the wrong side of Isabel's wrath. He shook his head to clear the thought out of his head and followed Isabel down the path.
Twilight, Shining Armor and the guard ponies that they brought with them had only been walking for several minutes when they found evidence of something falling through the forest. It wasn't long until they found the crater that was made by Isabel. All five of the ponies surrounded the crater and stood there until Twilight spoke up.
“I can literally feel the magic radiating off this spot and I have to say, it is indeed powerful, it’s either equal to or a little less powerful than Princess Celestia.” Twilight then started to turn pale with horror. “It’s also pony magic so that means it's not a unicorn, it's another Alicorn.”
The information Twilight had just shared with the other took a while to sink in. Shining Armor was the first to speak after the silence.
“We should keep going and see if we can find anything else.”
After a few nervous nods the five ponies being Twilight, Shining Armor and three earth pony guards kept walking until they found a second crater that was a little bigger than the last. As they approached, Twilight ran forward to examine the crater but was disappointed to find it empty.
What is it Twilight?” Asked Shining.
“The power coming from this spot is incredibly powerful; it is easily two time more powerful than Celestia. Another thing to add is that it's unlike any magic I've ever felt. Whatever it is, it's not a pony.”
That last sentence made everypony jump back in fear. However, the tension was broken when one of the guards pointed out a soft silver glint coming from the tree line. All the ponies started to carefully make their way over to the item in question. It was about 150 feet away from the crater. When they all got to the item, they all gasped. Before them stood a huge sword. It had to be at least as tall as Celestia herself.
Shining immediately turned to one of the guards with them. “Go find the Princesses and tell them that we have found evidence of a possible Alicorn and a mysterious creature that is probably armed.” The guard gave a salute and sped of the way they came.
Shining sighed and looked around and found a dirt path. He pointed to the path, “Let's follow that path till we hit the old castle ruins, if we don't find any more evidence then we will know that whatever these things are have gone towards either Ponyville or Canterlot.”
The two guard ponies nodded, Shining looked at Twilight who nodded slightly and got to her feet. Shining turned and started to follow the dirt path hoping that it would reveal more evidence of these creatures. Hopefully it won't come to violence.