//------------------------------// // Waking the Sleeping Giant... // Story: The Paladin of the Lunar Goddess. // by The P Co //------------------------------// Luke didn't respond, as he was fucking unconscious. Luna's ears were still ringing from the huge crashing sound that rang out when the Paladin hit the floor, she didn't even notice the door opening until a pair of gasps were heard. "Your highness, stand back, this thing could be dangerous," the first of two Night guards said, pointing his spear at the fallen Paladin. "Lily Meadow, Waterfall, stand dow-" Luna was cut off by the second guard. "He's MOVING!" Waterfall, the second of the guards, shouted as Luke sat up, holding his helmeted head in one hand. "Ugh, I'm in a pony world now, I can't just stay unconscio-" he stopped when he felt something trying to poke him in the arm. He was dazed and knocked down, so his Auto-Riposte was disabled, but he simply stood up and focused to clear his head. *7, 15* Successfully standing up and clearing the fog from his head, the Saint looked down at his enemies in preparation to strike. Lily Meadow and Waterfall looked up at their enemy in fear, they hadn't realized just how huge this thing was. Luna stood back, she knew from the stories of Luke's unreal melee proficiency, she looked at him worriedly. "Both of you, stand down, that's an order!" he bellowed, and the guards complied, "Good, now then, tell me, is her holiness the leader of this castle?" "Um, no, uh, that would be Princess Celestia," "Celestia... that name... who is she?" "She's the Princess of the Sun." Luke's eyes shot wide open under his helmet. *2* He failed to contain a robust wave of rage that washed over his mind, he couldn't allow such blasphemy! *17* Summoning up a black aura around his strong hand, he cast a ball of energy that tore a hole in space, then jumped into it. Luna held out a hoof to stop him, but it was too late. -Somewhere in the Sacred Void- "So, I need to focus, assuming that the castle is built similar to that of the Castle Crownsburg, then I know exactly where to come out at," confident with his knowledge, he cast another ball of space-tearing energy. -Back in Castle Canterlot- Cadance sighed as she stepped out of the stall, this little bathroom trip was very needed, even alicorns had to pee and poop sometimes.. "Well, that was a relief," the pink alicorn said as she got close to the mirror and washed up. Backing away a little bit, she heard a *blorp* sound from behind her. 'Well, sounds like somepony eats a lot of fibe-' her thoughts were cut off by a banging *CLANG* sound. Luke looked around the area he appeared in, it was too small to be the throne room, and the presence of sinks, mirrors, and toilet stalls told him all he needed to know. "EEEEEEEK!" Cadance shrieked as she fired a bolt of energy at the huge beast that suddenly appeared in the Fillies Bathroom. Luke was struck with a bolt of energy, but it did nothing but push him slightly, his armor didn't protect much against magic, steel, silver, and cloth wasn't a good combination to block magic. "I'm surprised, honestly, on a scale of 1-100, with 1 being completely nonresistant and 100 being completely resistant, iron is a 15, and nobody ever realizes that, cold iron is 20% better, but that's only an 18, which is less that one fifth of total magic resistance, the only thing that is completely magic resistant is silicon glass, actually my obsidian chainmail would explain that, it's a type of silicon glass, anyways, I formally apologize for my intrusion, it was most definitely not my intention to appear in the ladies' room," he apologized, leaving out of the door. Cadance's eye twitched, she cast a Crystal Flash Teleport and disappeared. Things would be easier back in the Crystal Empire anyway. At least in the Crystal Empire, big dark scary things only attacked outside of the bathroom. -In the Castle Throne Room- Luke knew how castles worked, the biggest and second fanciest door led to the throne room, the second biggest and fanciest door led to royal bedchambers. "I am here in the name of the Moon!" he announced his presence with a thunderous shout, startling all of the guards and Celestia. "By my mother's red mane, who the hell are you?" Celestia demanded, she was not about to be challenged by some... thing. "I am Saint Luke Lustrous the Evanescent, Paladin of Luna Nightstone, I fight in the name of truth and fair leadership, you are a heathen of light, prepare to die," he introduced himself, bowing slightly and drawing his Lunar Juggernaut. Celestia froze in place, she knew who this was, this was that guy who had been corrupting Luna! "You dare stand in front of me and spout your lies about fair leadership? You have corrupted my sister into an aggressive insurgent! You should prepare to die, foolish knave," Celestia flared up her horn in magic. Luke simply raised his shield as her magic shot towards him. Solar energy bounced off the Barrier of Innocence, as it was completely indestructible, no amount of acid, fire, magic, or force could break, warp, or even bend it. "I will not stand for this, hellish light heathen," Luke brought his sword up and charged. Celestia merely fired another Solar Beam, hitting him dead-on but failing to hurt him enough to stop his charge. "GUARDS! SEIZE HIM!" the white alicorn commanded, summoning a huge drove of guards. Luke ceased his charging for a moment to turn back to them, "STAND DOWN, THAT'S AN ORDER!" he commanded, and the guards all stepped back and cowered. "NO! ATTACK!" Celestia couldn't believe this, how was this monster controlling her guards? "RETREAT!" the Paladin countered, the guards decided to listen to Celestia. It was a choice between sitting in the dungeon for some time, or death by sword-to-face, and most of them were not willing to die to fail at apprehending a single target. "See, light heathen, your meager excuse for an army cowers in the face of a Saint's glory, FOR LUNA!" he shouted, charging towards the solar diarch again. "Luke, STOP!" Luna commanded, appearing from the window. The heavy man skid to a halt, looking at his goddess, "My goddess, I must ask, why should I not end the life of this light heathen?" "Because she's my sister! Sure she's a big bitch and I want to slap the shit out of her, but that doesn't mean she should die!" the blue alicorn didn't know that her follower would take things this far. "Luna, how dare you say such blasphemous thi-" Celestia was cut off with a hard *SMACK* "You're not helping me, Celestia, just let me do the talking, he'll listen to me," the lunar diarch pushed her solar sister aside. "I do not question your wisdom, Luna, you have never led me astray before," Luke bowed before his goddess, awaiting her command. "Listen, Luke, you are not to harm my sister without reason, just because she controls the sun, doesn't mea-STOP!" Luna screamed as the Knight stood again and charged Celestia. "THE DAWN WILL NEVER RISE AGAIN!" the angry half-orc proclaimed, raising his sword. Celestia panicked and shot out three spells at him at random. Spell one was a magical force blast, it stopped his charge. Spell two was Wizardry Lock, he was locked into place. Spell three was a probing spell. Luna watched as Celestia writhed in agony as her mind was filled with a flood of information. Celestia suddenly knew everything about Luke Lustrous, and that was a lot. The Paladin didn't do anything, as he was fucking stunned.