//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Her Silent Guardian // by Not so New Brony //------------------------------// In the darkened skies over the jungle world of Zhakul, the Umojan Vatican’s Holy Navy clashed with the Khalai’s Golden Armada as missiles and energy bolts lit up night sky over the planet below. As the battle raged on in the void of space, dozens of dropships were secretly deployed down to the planet below as they penetrated its atmosphere. However, just as the pilots thought they were in the clear, the Khalai defenders on the surface spotted the incoming dropships. It wasn’t long before the skies were filled with bolts of energy, all of them aiming to shoot down the Umojan crafts. The dropship pilots quickly maneuvered their ships out of the line of fire, but the relentless barrage shot a large number of them down as their destruction added to the ongoing ‘fireworks’, leaving only a handful of surviving ships. Aboard one of the surviving dropships, a stallion in power armor was silently praying to Celestia that he would make it back to his home back on Umoja and be with his wife again. As he prayed, the stallion started to reminisce about his past. Like many families of the New Canterlot Vatican, when he had come of age, his parents had sent him to one of the Holy Orders so their young foal could become a productive member of the Vatican when they grew up. But instead of going to the Order of the Coin, an order of merchants and traders, like his parents belonged to, he was sent to the Order of the Dawn, a military organization that trained the Crusaders who served the Vatican in their ongoing war against the Khalai. One of the first things the Order taught him and his fellow squires was to hate the Khalai. One of the squires in his class, an earth pony from one of the outer colonies had once asked why they should hate the Khalai. The instructor had given the squire a severe beating as punishment for his ‘ignorance’ before he answered the beaten squire’s question. The Khalai were the heretics who had betrayed Celestia’s trust and had taken her light from them when they destroyed their only link back to Equestria, their motherland. And it was the Order’s sacred duty to punish every one of these heretics for their transgression against Celestia. He would never forget that lesson for the rest of his life, nor of the poor colt who had died from his injuries later that night. Over the years, the Order had trained him in the art of hoof-to-hoof combat before they taught him how to use precision gloves and how to fight with them. It was difficult for him at first, learning how to use the robotic hands needed to wield the weapons the Crusaders used in battle but he eventually mastered the skill, which he would need when the Vatican called upon him to serve in their crusade against the Khalai. He knew that the Vatican would call upon him to serve in their crusade against the Khalai one day and spend the rest of his life fighting in Celestia's name. He believe that he would most probably die on the battlefield long before he could retire. It was a bleak future to be sure but he had accepted his fate. That is, until he met the love of his life. Like the other citizens of the Vatican, the squires were devout worshipers of Celestia and as such, they would make the daily trek from their barracks to the local church to pray alongside other churchgoers. This also gave some of the squires the opportunity to see their families before they had to return to the compound for their training. One morning, after they were finished with their prayers, he had bumped into somepony on his way out. It was a lay sister from the Order of Celestia’s Light, the religious order dedicated to the worship of Celestia and he had caused her to drop her books on the ground. Feeling responsible, he knelt down so he could help gather them up, but froze when the lay sister’s hood fell back, allowing him to see her face. She was a unicorn with long blue and purple mane, complimenting her light blue coat, which grew a light shade of red when her violet eyes saw him staring at her so intensely. She muttered a quick apology to him before she picked up the fallen books with her magic and ran off. He stared at her retreating figure and smiled. He was smitten, completely and utterly smitten. He later learned that her name was Orchid Dew, and that she was studying at the church so she could become a full-fledged priestess of Celestia’s Light. He would often greet her with a smile or wave whenever he saw her after morning prayers and she would sometimes wave back, which made him happy that she notice him. But he never had courage to go and talk to her for which he received endless teasing from his fellow squires. He got his chance when he encountered her again after one of his morning prayers. The others were already done and had left ahead of him so he galloped out the door in order to catch up to them, but had bumped into somepony on his way out as both he and the pony he had knocked into, fell to the floor. As he rubbed his hoof over his head, he muttered angrily before he realized who he just ran into. It was Orchid Dew, and just like before he had caused her to drop her books on the floor. However, all he managed to say was a quick apology before he knelt down to help her gather up her things. They gathered the fallen books in awkward silence until there was only one book left and since neither were paying attention, both of them reached for the book and their muzzles met in an accidental kiss. It was his first kiss and judging by the many shades of red on Orchid's face, it was her first as well. When he realized what he was doing, he pulled away from her in embarrassment and muttered a quick apology before turning around to leave. However he stopped when he felt her hoof on his own. He looked back at her and into her violet eyes as she asked him not to leave her. And he didn’t. After that, he looked forward to the morning prayers at the church even more as he would get to see and meet with Orchid Dew afterwards. They would spend time talking before he had to return to the compound. It wasn't much, but they were happy with what they had. He even got to meet Orchid's parents one morning while enjoying her company. Just like their daughter, they were both unicorns and apparently were members of the Order of the Arcane, an order of mages and scholars. Orchid's mother was more than thrilled to finally meet the stallion that had swept her daughter off her hooves. Her father on the other hoof, wasn't as excited when he learned that his daughter's special somepony was from the Order of the Dawn but gave them his blessings when he saw how happy his daughter was with him. He eventually attained his knighthood, which was a proud moment for him as only a hoofull of others had accomplished this so he invited Orchid Dew and her family to join him and his family for the knighting ceremony, which took place in the main hall of the Order's Academy. The ceremony itself was a rather simple but somber affair as the Knight Commander made them swear their oaths to the Vatican before they were officially declared knights of the Vatican. During the celebration, he took Orchid aside, away from the rest of the partygoers and brought her to the Academy's courtyard where he presented a ring to her and asked her to marry him. To his joy, she said yes. A month later, they took their vows and were married in the very church where they had first met each other and moved into the modest homestead he had inherited with his knighthood. He thought that he would spend the rest of his life with his beloved Orchid, raise a family and grow old together. Sadly however, all good things must come to an end. He had been married for less than a year when the Grand Archmage and his Council declared that the Vatican Holy Navy was pushing into Khalai Space to retake the worlds they had lost in their ongoing war against the heretics and they were calling on all able-bodied ponies to join in their crusade. His beloved Orchid begged him to stay with her, but he was a Knight from the Order of the Dawn, and he had sworn an oath to answer the call to arms no matter what. Unable to dissuade him from leaving, she asked him to spend his last night on Umoja with her and he did as they consummated their love for each other for what could be the very last time. It was truly a night he would never forget. Despite her status as a priestess of Celestia's Light, he swore that his wife was secretly a succubus as she had left him completely and utterly drained at the end of their lovemaking. He had wondered if it was some convoluted ploy to make him unable to leave her side when the ships departed, which he didn't really object to. Unfortunately, by the time he had to leave, he had recovered enough to do so as he picked up his belongings and left for the starport where a ship was waiting for him and the other enlistees. His wife had insisted that she accompanied him there, for which he was grateful for. There, they saw dozens of ponies, mares and stallions alike saying their goodbyes to their family and loved ones who had come to see them off. He turned to his wife and said his own farewells before he turned around to leave, but he stopped when he felt her hoof on his own. He turned around and asked him what was wrong. She answered by pulling him into a tight embrace and asking him to promise her one last thing. To come back to her, no matter- He was interrupted from his trip down memory lane when he felt a sudden jolt on the ship. He thought that the ship had been hit until he opened his eyes and saw his fellow knights were readying their weapons as they prepared to disembark. They had made it to the surface. Following his comrades' example, he checked his weapons one last time before he and his fellow knights had to disembark. He had a fully loaded gauss rifle with four spare cartridges, and a single Rune Saber. While the other factions had their High Frequency Blades and the heretic Khalai their Psi-Blades, the Umojan Vatican favored the enchanted steel of their Rune Sabers which could cut through almost anything thanks to the magic runes inscribed onto the blade. He attached the sword to the harness on his side before he heard the Knight Captain ordering everypony out of the ship. He and the other knights disembarked and saw the surface of Zhakul for the first time. Unlike the tranquil forested plains of Umoja, Zhakul’s jungle environment was uncomfortably hot and humid, even with the cooling unit inside his power armor he could feel himself sweating under it. The Knight Captain ordered him to scout ahead while he and others secured the landing zone. He obeyed and walked cautiously into the jungle foliage, checking the area for any enemy scouts in the area before moving on. He eventually caught something glinting in the distance. He crouched down and slowly made his way towards the source of the glinting until he found himself just outside an open clearing. He gasped at what he saw in the clearing. Bodies, dozens upon dozens of dead bodies lay on the ground before him; many of them belonging to Khalai Templars while the rest were those of Vatican Crusaders. However when he knelt down to pay his respects to the fallen crusaders, he noticed that all of the crusader's bodies' were merely empty suits of power armor. He then realized that he was staring at the empty shells of a Shade Knight. He had learned about them during his days in the Academy. Shade Knights belonged to a special military branch known as the Eternal Legion. The Legion was typically the first to enter battle against the heretics and always fought to the last, but every time a Shade Knight fell in battle, they would always return from the dead to fight another battle. The reason the Legion was able to accomplish this is because they were already dead to begin with. When a pony enlists into the Vatican Army, they also sign a binding contract that obligated them to serve the Vatican for a set number of years. However, should they fall in battle before their contract is completed, their souls are taken and bound to empty suits of enchanted power armor to serve the in the Legion until their contract expires, only then, would their souls be released into the afterlife. He himself had signed such a contract when he attained his knighthood. While he was honor bound to serve the Vatican, he couldn't help but dread the thought of him dying and coming back as an undying soldier. He turned around when he heard the Knight Captain arriving with the rest of the squad. The Captain looked at the empty power armors with a sad look in his eyes as he muttered a prayer before he ordered everyone to keep moving through the jungle and towards where the Khalai had set up their Anti-Orbital Artillery Cannons. Their goal was to destroy the artillery emplacements and to eliminate any heretics nearby so that their fleet fighting in orbit over Zhakul could send down reinforcements to the surface without worrying about it being shot down. As they moved through the dense jungle growth, he could sense that they were being watched by something in the shadows and voiced his concern to the Knight Captain. The captain merely scoffed at him and told him that it was just his nerves playing tricks on him and told him to move on. This was proven wrong when a bolt of energy suddenly came from the shadows and struck one of the knights in his helmet, the glass dome shattered before the knight fell to the ground, dead. His death was immediately followed by the war cries of the Khalai Templars bursting from their hiding place as they fired their Psi-Casters on the group. It was an ambush! Panic set into his mind as he tried to figure out what to do. The Order had trained him to handle these kinds of situations, but no amount of training could have prepared him for all this chaos. Just as he was about to run, he heard the knight captain ordering everypony to fight back before he fired his gauss rifle at the heretics, killing two of them in quick succession, which boosted everypony’s morale. With their morale restored, he and the other knights let their training kick in and started fighting back. As the battle raged on, he noticed one of the templars had suddenly stopped firing as he shouted out another of their strange battle cries as blades of psionic energy extended from his Psi-Casters and ran towards him. He opened fire on the charging templar but the nimble stallion somehow evaded all of his shots as he quickly closed the distance between them within seconds. He stepped back when the Templar swung one of his Psi-Blades at him. He blocked the blow with his rifle but his opponent used his second Psi-Blade to cut his weapon in two, rendering it useless as one half of the gauss rifle fell to the ground while he held the other. He threw the ruined rifle away before he brought out his Rune Saber and swung it at the Templar, but the Templar dodged the attack and jumped back. Not wanting to be outdone by a heretic, he let out his own battle cry before he charged at the Templar with his sword held high. Once he got within range, he swung his sword in a downward arc, but the blow was deflected to the side by the Templar's first Psi-Blades, before he cut into his armor’s chestplate with the second one. The thickness of his chestplate protected him from the energy blade but the force of the blow caused him to stumble back. The Templar took the opportunity and charged at him, ready to deal the final blow and finish him off. However, he quickly regained his footing and swung his Rune Saber out in a horizontal slash just as the Templar was inches away from stabbing him in the head. As the Rune Saber hit the Templar, the magic inside the blade was activated as it was bathed in the golden glow of the Sun's Wrath, which cut clean through the Templar's armor and his torso, killing the stallion as the two halves of his body fell to the ground in a bloody heap. He then heard cheers coming from behind him and turned around. He saw his comrades cheering as they had managed to win their first ever battle. He turned back to the heretic he just killed and felt a sense of accomplishment wash over him as he raised his sword into the air and joined in the cheering. Unfortunately, their victory was cut short when he suddenly felt something burning him inside his chest before he fell to his knees, which he couldn't feel anymore. He looked down and saw a smoking hole in his chestplate as well as the scent of charred flesh wafting into his nostrils. He looked back up and saw another Khalai Templar, pointing a strange golden rifle at him. He tried to use his Rune Saber as a crutch and get back up on his feet so he could fight, but his body refused to obey as he grew weak with every passing second. He soon lost his hold on his sword as he swayed a little before he fell forward and hit the blood soaked earth with a wet splotch. He could hear the battle between his comrades and Khalai resuming as he saw a heretic running past him, firing his Psi-Casters at the Vatican Knights but the sounds of battle grew faint as he slowly felt his life ebbing away. As he laid there dying, all he could think about was his wife and how sorry he was that he couldn't keep his promise to her. With his dying breath, he called out for his wife’s name one last time before everything faded into oblivion.