//------------------------------// // World of Strangers // Story: Errant Knight // by Orkus //------------------------------// A warm smell fills my nose, and I shudder into consciousness, albeit slowly. I look up, and the first thing I spy is the trees overhead, swaying to and fro as a strong gust of lively summer wind flies by their treetops, before slowly descending into a calm zephyr. Whatever small shred of sanity I had in my mind that still held admiration for anything was probably being affected greatly, now that this land had befallen my sight. The world I was in previously was reduced to nothing more than rotten, staled scraps being fought over to the last morsel by greedy children and pernicious cretins. This world on the other hand was new, for lack of a better term. It was brimming with freshness only life could provide. Even the birds with their songs, infinite in chorus and rhyme, sounded happy and content in the trees they sat in. Remembering why I awoke, I examined my surroundings with a lazy, but caring eye, before spotting the only object that could have performed such a feat. Beside me lied a white bowl with red flower symbols painted on its glass, its inside filled with a yellow, soupy broth. A small vapor rises from it, indicating that it was placed recently. I shake my head a single time, and lower it once more. Ever since I was beset upon by this hollowed state, food became meaningless. What was once one of many much-loved pleasures in life became naught but ash in my mouth. Tasteless. Insipid. Pointless. If whoever had put this before me did so out of the kindness of their heart, they were foolish or fallacious. Shifting my arm's position only slightly into a more comfortable state, I slouched over and reentered darkness. "So, what do you think it is, Fluttershy?" Pinkie Pie asked her friend, as the two ponies walked through the forest. The yellow-furred pegasus to whom Pinkie was speaking to was wearing a small pouch over her body, containing something the pink mare suspected was nothing of too much interest. Fluttershy shrugged. "I don't know. It looked like it was dressed in what knights used to wear in the old days, but it's not a pony. It's so... strange." "Hmm... suspicious!" the pink mare agreed, placing a hoof to her chin. "How strange are talking here? Could it be that varghulf thing everypony in town is talking about?" "It can't be. Varghulfs look like giant bat monsters from what I've heard, and this thing's shape isn't like anything I've seen before," she replied in her soft voice. "It's not a dragon, it's not a diamond dog, and it's certainly not a chimera, but it is gigantic. Almost the size of Harry!" "Your bear? Whoa!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Are you sure it's okay that the others aren't with us?" "It didn't seem to notice me, even when I came back and placed a bowl of fresh soup in front of it. I think we'll be fine," Fluttershy said back in an atypically confident voice, as she pushed back the thin branch of an oncoming sapling. "But what about that bat monster? What if it sees us?" "I still think that Silver Spoon was fibbing about what she saw in the woods a few days ago, but we shouldn't worry about that thing either," the pegasus spoke back, pulling something with a strong, musty stench out of her pouch pocket. "I brought a clove of garlic with us, just in case. Twilight told me varghulfs can't stand garlic." Pinkie wafted the stench of the vegetable away from her nose with a hoof as the two continued on, passing by bushes, brush, and a great many trees, both big and small, before coming to a small clearing. Walking only a few feet into the flat glade, Pinkie spotted a large, alien figure residing near the only tree in the area. It sat by the tree, its helmeted head lowered, completely motionless, save for the white, ragged cape it wore over its plate armor and chain mail-covered body, which flowed freely in the wind. One arm rested on an upright knee, while the other drooped on top of its other, crossed leg which lied fully on the ground. Not one piece of flesh was exposed on it for either of them to see. As Pinkie Pie got a better look at it, Fluttershy trotted forward, and looked at the now-cold bowl she previously left for it. "Huh. It hasn't touched the soup," she said in a tone of unexpectance. "No creature can resist the smell of my soup. If it's not eating, then... I hope the poor thing's alright..." "Are you sure it's even alive, Flutters?" Pinkie inquired, walking closer and noticing the multiple arrows sticking out of its body. She was answered by a strained, ghostly sigh that came from the knight, startling Pinkie enough to cause her to jump back with a yelp. "Yep... it's alive..." she chuckled, nervously. Fluttershy rolled her eyes with an amused expression as she set about to work. As she did so, Pinkie's expression changed back to curiosity, and she began to examine the knight once more, stepping fairly close to it in the process. "Hello? Can you hear me, Mister Knight-thing?" the earth pony suddenly asked again, but this time to the armored figure, garnering only silence for a response. "Hello? Helloooo? HELLOOO-" "Pinkamena Diane Pie!" Fluttershy shouted in a small whisper, tugging Pinkie back by her mane with a hoof. "Don't try to wake him! He could be very ill. If you wake him, he might start to move, and that's the last thing I want from such a poor creature." "Oops. Sorry, Fluttershy..." she apologized. For the next several minutes, Pinkie Pie continued to silently observe the being as Fluttershy went on preparing another meal for the creature, taking each ingredient out of her satchel. After noticing something, with a surprised gleam in her eyes, Pinkie spoke up. "Hey... it has a sword," she pointed out. "Hmm... he could hurt himself with that thing! I'd better take it..." I feel myself awakening as I sense a disturbance. I quickly lift my head and spy a pink shape, one of its finger-less forelimbs stretched out and attempting to grasp at the hilt of my sword over my shoulder. Responding in kind, I raised my left hand off of my thigh and grabbed the being by its arm in a quick but solid, powerful grip. The creature lets out a cry of fear as my fingers clenched tighter around its foreleg. Seeing now it was just a harmless being, not unlike a deer or some other creature unworthy of my attention, I decide to let go, and my hand slowly opens back up before falling limp by my side once more. The creature, bearing a very human, feminine expression, clearly looks shocked as she retracts her hoof, while another, yellow figure enters my field of view, running up to the pink one with a look of concern on its face. Getting a better look now, I see that both appear very... what's the word... ah yes, equine in shape, though their sizes are small. I see them now, apparently speaking to one another in a language I find rather familiar, though I cannot properly discern. Their voices are indeed female, and as far as I can remember what the sound was like, very human. They continue with their claptrap, stopping only to sneak the occasional glance in my direction. Seeing how both were of no threat, but neither of any true importance, I began to slacken my demeanor, though I stayed awake and on guard, in the event the two decided to pull something on me. The knight went back into its relaxed position, appearing to nod off once more as its head lowered. Pinkie Pie looked to Fluttershy and chuckled, nervously. "I... guess I shouldn't have tried to touch its sword," she spoke. "Are you okay, Pinkie?" Fluttershy inquired again. The pink mare flashed her friend a shaken smile. "Yeah, I'm fine, but that thing's hand felt so... cold. Brrr!" she replied, hugging herself and shivering for emphasis. "That metal's super frigid. Like ice!" "At least he didn't hurt you," the pegasus said in relief. "You shouldn't go touching other people's stuff, you know." "I know, I know... I just though he was too weak to use it. Boy, was I wrong, hehe..." Pinkie laughed slightly, feeling her hoof again and remembering the amount of strength the creature used when it held it. "Hey, do you think we should go tell the others about him?" "Sure," she agreed. "Maybe Twilight will know what he is, and where he's from." After speaking, Fluttershy picked up a small blue bowl filled with minced cucumbers, chopped-up carrots, fresh lettuce, and other leafy greens with her mouth, and placed it in front of the creature. Looking at him directly, she kneeled down slightly, and gave a warm smile. "I'll be back tomorrow with something else, okay?" she said in a friendly voice, unknowing if the knight heard her or not, as she pushed the bowl closer to him over the grass. "If you don't like salad... well, I guess I can bring something else over." With a nod, Fluttershy stood back up, and walked over to Pinkie Pie. They both gave a sure look to one another before walking off, back in the direction from whence they came. The lack of voices speaking in front of me told me they were gone. Once more I lifted my head and looked around, but saw nothing, save for my surroundings. Looking down, I saw that one of the two creatures had left behind another bowl, only instead of a brothy substance, it was now filled with leaves and vegetables, I presume. Another needless and futile attempt to appease to me. Had I cared at all about the situation, I may have even shaken my head in disgruntled dissatisfaction, but instead I let it fall, ready to resume my slumber... until something caught my eye. A small, brown shape, not even a fourth the size of the the two equines previously, came bounding up to where the bowl of food, tree, and I laid. It looked like a small, furred creature with long ears on the back of its head. It wasn't a prowling, half-starved kobold, no... it was smaller, and a great deal less pathetic and wretched in appearance. Wait, I know what this creature is... it's a... rabbit. Yes. An ordinary coney. The rabbit hopped up to the bowl and sniffed its contents as I watched. It looked around, cautiously making sure that no predatory creatures were there to interrupt this feast. When it saw me, its roving, black eyes stopped for a brief moment and its ear twitched in apparent bemusement of my form, then went back to scanning around before coming to a conclusion that there was nothing to worry about. It looked back to the bowl, and hastily began to eat, each foodstuff messily crunching between the coney's incisors. While the harmless thing ate, I could feel myself as I slowly fell unconscious once more, until all my senses could feel was uncolored nothingness...