//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: The First and Possibly Last Encounter // Story: The Royal Protector // by Blazing Inferno //------------------------------// The Royal Protector Chapter 3: The First and Possibly Last Encounter J and Isabel slowly made their way down the dirt path. Since Isabel was not used to her new body, she had to learn how to walk more than thirty steps without tripping over her legs. After solving that conflict, J and Isabel found themselves in a silence. Isabel decided to break it. “What do you think happened to us last night?” asked Isabel while looking at J. “I have no idea, those runes left by that lightning was unlike anything that I have seen. I wonder if they were casted by someone else.” Isabel shook her head, “You would have sensed someone using that kind of magic but maybe the one who casted it wasn't in the forest with us.” J let that statement sink in and allowed another long silence take place. 'I think Isabel is right, the caster might not have been in the forest but that still leaves many questions. I've been alive for a good 2000 years and I've never experienced that kind of magic, it seemed almost unearthly.' As J continued to think, his train of thought was interrupted by Isabel once again. “I wonder what happened to my equipment, I really liked that sword.” J chuckled, “I lost my sword as well but I still have my daggers.” “At least you got to keep your stuff, when I woke up; I thought I was naked but it turns out I was just morphed into a horse-pony thing.” J rolled his eyes, “Let me go ahead and tell you something Isabel, you're a pony, not a horse, not a horse-pony thing, you're a pony.” “How do you know that?” Asked Isabel as she looked back at J. “I've been around a long time Isabel; I know a horse from a pony when I see one. However, you look like no pony I've ever seen. I think you look like that because the magic that you contain in your body morphed the form somehow.” Isabel looked around and returned her gaze to J, “I wonder what the people of this land will think when they see a talking pony with a horn, wings, and an eternal mane that is ink black.” J snorted, “We probably don't need to interact with the locals of this land until we know who they are. It would be bad for us to wonder into a town full of cannibals.” Isabel giggled and continued to walk. As they walked, the landscape began to become a little rough. The dirt path started to shrink until there was no path at all. The tree started to look like they were burnt or dead and the grass turned a shade of light brown. All in all, the scenery was now a little depressing. As they walked farther into the dead forest, J noticed a large rock formation that cleared the canopy of the forest. He gently nudged Isabel and stopped walking. “Hey Isabel you see that huge rock formation over there?” He asked keeping his eyes on the rock. “Yeah, what about it?” Isabel said looking confused. “I'm going to see if I can get to the top, it looks like it clears the canopy of the forest. I will be able to see how big this forest is and hopefully I'll be able to spot some buildings or maybe people.” He then looked at Isabel. “I need you to stay close to this rock and wait for me, can you do that?” Isabel looked at J with a frown. “What do you think I am, a child?” J smiled, “Great, I'll take that as a yes.” J then took a step towards the rock and started his climb. After about ten minutes of climbing, Isabel watched J pull himself on to the top of the rock and disappear from sight. Twilight and Shining followed the two guards who were walking a couple paces ahead of them. Twilight had a concerned look on her face and kept looking out into the forest. After this went on for a couple minutes, Shining spoke up. “What's bugging you Twiley?” Asked Shining while watching her. Twilight looked at Shining and back to the forest. “I've been thinking, what if there is another Alicorn out here somewhere. Where is it from, how did it get here, and how is it as powerful as Princess Celestia herself? None of this makes any sense.” Shining looked at Twilight for a second and sighed. “Tell me the truth Twiley, that's not what's bugging you is it?” Shining was meet with a small but firm nod and Shining continued. “What's actually bothering you?” “It's the other crater we found.” Began Twilight. “The magic I sensed there was not normal pony magic, it was different in many ways, it felt destructive.” Twilight saw Shining's already white face lose even more color. She ignored her brother and continued. “I hope that this possible Alicorn and mysterious creature are not hostile, they could both very easily destroy everything with that kind of power.” Shining shook his head trying to clear his thoughts of two powerful beings that could easily destroy everything. He then turned his head and smiled. “Twilight, have you forgotten about the enemies you've taken on before. You and your friend took out Nightmare Moon and brought back Luna when Celestia herself could not. You stopped Discord even though he corrupted your friends, you pulled through and defeated him with the Elements of Harmony. Then you stopped Queen Chrysalis when she had trapped Celestia, Cadance and had me under her spell. You did that without the elements.” “We didn't stop her, you and Cadance did.” Said Twilight as she brought her eyes to Shining. “Without you Twilight, Cadance wouldn't have made it out of that mine.” “Twilight grumbled a bit, 'What are you getting at Shining?” “All those foes were more powerful than Celestia as well but you and your friends defeated them. You didn't have to use the elements of Harmony on Chrysalis and she herself trapped Celestia.” Twilight looked down for a moment and then returned her gaze to Shining. “You’re right Shining, as long as I have you and my friends we can always overcome any obstacle in our path.” Shining gave a light chuckle. “That's the spirit Twiley, now let's see if....” Shining was cut off when he hit the backs of the guard ponies in front of him. They were sitting down and had their mouths slightly agape. “Why did we stop?” Asked Shining. Instead of an answer, one of the guards brought up his hoof and pointed to a nearby rock formation. Shining followed where the hoof pointed to until it he saw something that both shocked him and excited him. He was staring at an Alicorn and it was staring back. Isabel found herself a nice spot under the rock and laid down. She started to think about all that has recently happened. It was almost too much to handle. She found it quite ridiculous that she was a pony. As the thoughts began to fly through her head, she started to close her eyes. 'Maybe I can get some rest before J comes back down.” Thought Isabel as she began to get comfortable. She had only had her eyes closed for a minute when she heard someone talking. “....we can always overcome any obstacle in our path.” Isabel's eyes shot open, that wasn't J's voice, it was someone else. She sprung up on her legs and looked for the people talking. Something came into view and it shocked Isabel, it was two ponies covered in gold armor. They looked at her and she looked at them. Isabel felt like they have stared at each other for hours. She considered running or yelling for J but her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the voice speak up again. “Why did we stop?” Said the voice as whatever said it came into view. It was another pony but in different armor. It probably meant that it was the leader or something. Behind it was a purple pony a little lower than the supposed leader. That purple one started to stare as well. However, it expression turned to what looked like fear then curiosity. The purple one stepped up and began to speak. “Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle.” She then pointed to the pony in the different colored armor beside her. “This is my brother Shining Armor.” She then looked at Isabel. “What's your name?” Isabel's mind was racing, should she stay and talk or should she call for J. The options were weighed until she decided on one. “My name is Isabel Hawk.” She said firmly. “Nice to meet you Isabel, my brother would like to talk to you.” Twilight motioned behind her and the pony who Isabel assumed was Shining Armor walked up. “Hello,” began the large white pony, “My name is Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard, and it is a pleasure to meet you. I would like to invite you to come with us so you may meet our ruler, Princess Celestia.” Isabel thought for a second and replied “No thank you.” This baffled the ponies across from her. They began to regain their composure. “Why not?” Asked Shining Armor. “Because I'm perfectly fine here, now please leave me alone. I will not go with you, that is final.” The ponies looked at one another, then they all looked at Shining Armor. “I'm afraid there is no other option, either you come with us or we take you by force.” The last part of that sentence rang in Isabel's head a little. 'Dear god, they better not try that. I still remember what happened to those guards that my father sent to take me back by force. If J were to look over the edge of that rock at the wrong time, there will be blood everywhere.' “I said no and you will regret it if you try to take me by force, your men and probably you will get hurt.” Shining Armor was clearly shaken, “You may be an Alicorn but we do not take threats lightly Isabel Hawk, you will come with us and that is final.” Suddenly the two ponies in gold armor started to advance on Isabel slowly. One was holding a little metal ring while the other was holding a set of hoof cuffs. Isabel was trying to process all of this. They wanted her to go with them so badly that they would resort to force to get her to come with them. Isabel looked over the slowly advancing ponies and saw Twilight looking at Shining Armor crossly. She was obviously angry at Shining Armor for doing this. It looked like he was ignoring her though, he was too focused on Isabel at the time being to notice Twilight. 'Damn, these ponies are incredibly hard-headed.' thought Isabel as the two ponies got closer and closer. She looked up the rock and saw J looking over with his hood up. Isabel let out a small sigh. 'Now these ponies are dead, extremely dead.' J finally made it to the top of the rock. At the top, J could well above the forest. The forest they were in was massive, it spanned all the way to the horizon in multiple directions. J let out a sigh, there was no clearing anywhere near. He could not spot a town or village. There was nothing taller than the trees. J had almost given up searching until he saw a dull gray stick out at the level of the trees. Closer inspection revealed that it was the top of a castle and it wasn't too far away. J was thrilled, nor did he find a building and hopefully a way out of this forest, but he found royalty. After finding the castle, J looked over the side of the rock to find Isabel; she had to know the good news. However, J found something else when he looked over. He saw other ponies, what, other ponies? They looked to be talking to Isabel about something. J watched carefully from the rock, his eyes were especially on the two ponies with gold armor on. They looked like they were guards or soldiers of some sort. Something was going to happen, J could feel it. This feeling caused him to slowly put his hood on his cloak up. This caused the shadow enchantment on his cloak to take effect as his face was replaced with darkness. The conversation between Isabel and the other ponies seemed to escalate and turn into an argument. J's then saw the two guards, on command, slowly made their way over to Isabel. About half way, one pulled out a set of iron shackles while the other pulled out an iron ring. They were going to take Isabel away; J was not going to let that happen. He had to quickly think of something or Isabel will be taken from him. J looked over to the trees just below the rock; they all had thick and sturdy branches. An idea then ran through his head, one that would hopefully strike terror in those ponies’ hearts. J jumped to one of the trees below him. It was only a five or six foot drop so it was pretty quiet. J had a better look at the ponies; he was above Isabel by about ten feet. He then reached for one of his daggers and pulled it out. It was one foot of killing power, he had these ponies lives in his hands right now but killing them was not his plan. Instead, J threw the dagger in between the two ponies and Isabel. He then jumped out of the tree and landed with an audible thud right next to his dagger. He reached out, grabbed his dagger, set it back in its holster and stood up. J now had a complete view of these ponies, two without horns and wings and two with just horns. There was only three in armor and the one with the horn had different armor so he must be the leader. The other pony was a small purple pony with a horn on its head as well. This pony looked at J with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. J had no time to look at the small purple pony because the big white one stepped in front of it. “Are you with the Alicorn over there?” Asked the large white pony. J only gave a slight nod and the white pony continued. “Then by royal decree, I ask that you step aside and stay out of our business.” J shook his head and moved his feet slightly so that he could get into his combat stance. If it's a fight these ponies want, then it's a fight these ponies will get. The white pony snorted loudly and looked at the guards. “Subdue this creature but don't kill it, we will take him in to question.” The two ponies in front of him nodded and broke into a dead sprint towards J. The one in front used its momentum and looked like it was trying to buck J in his chest. J easily dodged and grabbed the pony's hind leg. He was too focused on the first guard to notice the other rear its back legs up as well. J turned his head just in time to receive a buck to the head. J staggered a bit, his head was spinning. However, he stood up straight and looked at the guard. One of the rules of battle was to not let your enemy see any emotion of pain from you; they will use it against you. Even though there were several words floating through J's head that he would like to yell out right now, he contained himself. With the other guard still in hand, J ran over to the other guard who was still dazed due to the fact that J was still standing. J decided to return the favor to the guard and pulled his foot back. He then kicked forward and hit the guard straight in the head, sending him flying back towards the white pony. He then took the pony in his hand and gave it a hard hit to its stomach and tossed it next to the other pony on the ground. The white pony looked baffled; he didn't even take his eyes off J. He then looked down and saw the ponies on the ground; one was out cold while the other was in immense pain. This creature, whatever it was, just took out two guard ponies and managed to shrug off a buck to the head, what is this thing? The white pony looked at the purple one with the same expression the purple one had. Both of them looked at J, their looks of horror grew greater the longer they stared into his darkened face. J noticed the horrified expressions on the two ponies’ faces and decided to have a little fun. He quickly searched through his memory to find the appropriate spells. He was going to make these ponies remember never to mess with Isabel again. He then cast two spells; the first was a paralysis spell. The second was an illusion spell, a pretty strong one at that. He then walked up to the two ponies who were rooted in place. He squatted down and leaned in to whisper to them. “If you continue to pursue us, I'll have no choice but to gut you both and hang the carcasses from trees.” Both ponies were recoiling in fear, the illusion spell that J had casted caused whatever the victim hears to happen to them in their mind. It was a pretty dark spell but it still got the job done. The spell continued for minutes on end with J saying things like “I'll tear through your body with my bare hand” or “I'll rip all of your skin off and toss you into a lake.” It got to the point where the purple pony was crying heavily and shaking in total fear. 'I think they've learned a lesson.' Said J as he was about to break the illusion spell. However, something powerful was getting close; J could feel it in his very bones. He shot up and looked around, whatever it was; it was closing in on J. He looked at the ponies in front of him, broke the spell, and walked away. The purple pony collapsed while the white one stayed up but had a thousand yard stare. J quickly walked to Isabel. “We need to leave now Isabel, something powerful approaches.” J then turned to the forest. “There is a castle over in that direction, maybe the people of that castle will help us.” Isabel stood up from where she was sitting. “I doubt it.” she said coolly as she began to follow J into the forest again. Shining watched the creature walk away with Isabel in tow. Whatever it just did to him was incredibly terrifying. He heard, felt and saw himself being gored, skinned, burned, eaten alive, you name it Shining just experienced it. Twilight experienced it as well. She was one the ground shaking violently and crying loudly. Both ponies were so traumatized that they didn't even see both princesses walk up to them. “What is wrong?” Celestia tried to ask both the ponies. Her attempts to get closer were halted by her sister, Luna. “Don't go any closer my dearest sister, both Shining and Twilight has been affected by some very dark magic, it still lingers on them.” Celestia listened to her sisters warning and started to talk to Shining. “Shining, what did this to you and Twilight?” Shining blinked twice and spoke softly. “Two of them, an Alicorn and a creature.” Celestia's eyes widened in disbelief, another Alicorn was now in Equestria, what would this mean? She then quickly asked, “Shining, which way did they go?” Shining brought up a weak, shaking hoof and pointed out into the forest, towards the old castle ruins. Celestia looked at Luna nodded. As both princesses where about to set off when they saw one of the royal guard ponies running to them with a huge sword strapped to his back. He stopped in front of Celestia and got a salute. “Princess, this sword was found at one of the craters, we were able to detect some strong magic locked away in it so it might be of some use.” Celestia levitated the sword off of the guards back and strapped it to Luna's. “Thank you guard, now please go get help for Shining, Twilight, and these two guards. We are going to continue the purist.” The guard saluted one more time before running back to find help. Both sisters took to the sky towards the castle ruins. J and Isabel finally made it to the castle only to find out that it was nothing but ruins. “You've got to be kidding me!” Shouted J as they walked into the ruins. “This is pretty much our luck right now.” Replied Isabel as she looked around the destroyed halls of the castle. J was about to comment on their luck as well but was interrupted by Isabel calling for J. “J come over here.” She called J turned and walked over to Isabel. “What do you see?” Isabel pointed one of her hoofs to the wall in front of her. “Do those look familiar to you?” J stepped forward and examined the wall. Inscribed on the wall were the same runes that they both saw the night they were transported here. His head spun, he now knew who casted that spell. It had to be someone from this land that uses these runes. His train of thought was completely destroyed when J heard the sound of hoofs clip-clopping on stone and felt the same power when he had those ponies under his illusion spell. J turned to see two more ponies, something was different about these two though, they looked like Isabel. One of them had a sword strapped to its back. J then realized that it was his missing long sword and that they must have found where he and Isabel woke up at. Instinctively, J stepped in front of Isabel and put his hand close to his daggers. The bigger one of the two stepped up. “So you were the one who hurt Shining Armor, Twilight Sparkle, and two royal guards.” She stared at J angrily. “You have identified yourself as a threat and thus you will be treated as one.” J quickly got into his combat stance 'This is going to be one hell of a fight.'