• Published 5th Mar 2012
  • 4,550 Views, 81 Comments

Praise the Sun! - Distrance



Solaire of Astora finds himself in Equestria (Dark Souls crossover)

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Arrival

ARRIVAL

Solaire breathed heavily, he had regained consciousness from his heavenly mirage. His armor was still firmly fashioned onto his body and dirt and grim caked his face from under his helmet. There was the faint sounds of the rustling wind and the chirping of birds. Puzzled, he sat up from his previous position of which he lay to observe his surroundings. He was no longer in the darkness of the Kiln, fighting alongside his brethren in the final battle. Now, he was sitting comfortably in an open field, surrounded by a lush landscape of grass that stretched into an oncoming forest.

Lordran was no stranger to the forest, it's integrity being home to the Darkroot Gardens that surrounded it. Yet the trees around Solaire were not the least bit threatening, and the wildlife did not attempt to wrap their deathly arms around his weakened body. Solaire then focused his eyes entirely on the magnificent sight beyond the trees; the sun. It seems that even in this unknown land, the sun shines upon himself even brighter and livelier than he had once remembered. A sudden thought crept into Solaire's mind:

"Do I still stand foot upon Lordran? Have I reached the sanctity of Heaven?"

The voice that accompanied him on the journey to this magnificent land has vanished, leaving himself with only his own hypothesis. Solaire attempted to work his appendages, hoping they were all still intact. Pleased, he carefully propped himself on a nearby tree branch and pushed himself to stand. His legs were sore and tired, but thankfully not broken or severed.

After several moments, Solaire relinquished his grip on the tree and stood unsupported, gliding himself to the center of the field.

"I'd be a fool to lower my guard even in such a serene land." Solaire told himself, objecting to his state of perpetual comfort as he stood, gazing at the sun's magnificence.

He reached for the sheath of his commonly placed sword, he only grasped air. Solaire whipped his view towards his lonely sheath, it's sword missing from it's normal rest.

"Damn" Solaire cursed, remembering his abandonment of the weapon during the battle. He slapped his helm in frustration.

A knight without his weapon is but a heavy rock to be thrown about. He would find himself useless if under siege by a stray demon or hollowed soul should he ever encounter one. However, anxious as he was to the truth, he ignored his survivalist consciousnesses as he ventured into the vast unknown forest.


Solaire instinctively guided himself through the dense forest, unaware of his present location. His only hope was to reach something or anything that pointed to more than just the grass and trees. He noted that the farther he traced himself into the forest, the darker it had become as the trees formed a barrier of shadows that blocked the magnificent sun above.

Pushing the light vegetation that blocked his view, he stopped to observe the object ahead of him. It was a large and mangled tree, but what was so odd about it's presence was that it was adorned with various tribal masks, and a door and window were built into it's base. Someone had garnered residence within this tree, much to his curiosity.

Solaire stepped cautiously towards the hut, careful of the rustling of his metal armor and the cracking of the twigs below his feet. He arched his head forward to glance through the misshapen circular window ahead. Inside, numerous tribal masks of various shapes and colors populated the walls of the hut. Vials and glasses of noticeable differences hung from various ropes and dangled all around the room. In the middle of the room sat a large iron cauldron sat unattended as a mysteriously green brew bubbled quietly inside. Solaire made careful observations to the hut, to be certain there was no one (or thing) inside.

An idea struck Solaire's thoughts: perhaps he could salvage some information for this lonely home that sat so distant within the forest. Cautiously, he stepped towards the entrance. He grasped the basic wooden handle of the door and gave it a light push, opening it's view to the inside. He turned momentarily and looked around, hoping no one had caught sight of him breaking into the lair, and advanced inside.

The inside reeked with the stench of the boiling brew; he coughed from it's strong scent, it reminded him of his travel to the Vinheim alchemists that he took to before the demons rose to overtake the land. He broke his concentration of the pungent smell and searched the room, catching his eye upon a small bookcase. He approached it and skimmed his eyes across the titles of the books that adorned their edges. He read one of them that was coated bright green.

"Supernaturals: Natural Remedies and Cure-Alls that are Simply Super."

Solaire rolled his eyes, what a strange title this is.

He continued to trace his eyes along the bookcase until he reached the one in particular he was searching for:

"Equestrian History"

"Equestria?" Solaire puzzled himself. "As in equine? Horses?"

He shook his head of the thought, perhaps this 'Equestria' is the land that he resides in currently. However, it poked at his hopes that this perpetual heaven he was sent to would be garnered by an unholy name. Solaire nodded his head as he brought the book out from its rest and held it under his arm.

Suddenly, the sounds of faint clopping could be heard outside the door. Solaire snapped his attention to the doorway, the sounds of clanging pots and the rustling of cloth signaled the creatures attempts at opening the entrance to the home. Solaire began to panic as he attempted to strum up a plan.

Perhaps I could charm my way free. No, 'tis a fools plan. Maybe.... maybe the enticement of threats will allow me passage? No Solaire, there is no mention to what creature could arise!

His thoughts continued as the door slowly creaked open. In the doorway the creature stood on all fours, humming an unfamiliar tune, unaware of Solaire's appearance at the back of the room as it placed a paper bag. full of produce, upon the floor. Blissfully, it looked up, continuing to hum until it's gaze met Solaire's iron-clad body.

It's carefree humming stopped immediately as it revealed a look of confused terror as it continued to stare intently at Solaire.

"To hell with it!" shouted Solaire, his position exposed. With no less hesitation, Solaire charged towards the nearby window of the hut, using his body to smash cleanly through. Luckily, the window was large enough to fit his cumbersome body past as he hit the ground with a large thud as he scrambled to recover. The copy of Equestrian History remained firmly locked in his arms as he attempted to clammer himself back up.

Inside, he could hear the creature approaching the scene, attempting to uphold it's view upon the man whom had abruptly crashed through it's own window to freedom. He pulled himself up from off the ground and made a mad dash deeper into the forest in an unknown direction.


Solaire leaned up against a nearby tree, gasping for air; Sprinting in chain and plated armor was no easy feat. He looked back towards his path he had previously rampaged through, there was no one following. It also struck him that he placed himself deep within the forest, his previous tracking of his position lost after the mad scramble away. Solaire sighed, the situation grew dimmer with each mistake.

Leaning up against the tree, he suddenly felt it's bark began to move ever so slightly. Solaire gasped in surprise as two flimsy pairs of bark appendages wrapped around his stomach. He cursed and pushed himself free of it's grasp. The tree had an face that was seemingly carved into it, bearing an demonic expression.

"This is no heaven..." Solaire objected, backing slightly out of reach of the demonic tree's grasp.

"JUST WHERE AM I FOR SOLSTICE SAKE?!" he yelled out into the sky, which echoed momentarily around the forest.

Solaire froze; behind him he heard a unwelcoming growl that grew louder as it approached. Slowly he turned to meet the source of it's emanation.

A behemoth of a creature stood before him upright. It's body composed of the appearance of numerous animal's body parts that Solaire could recognize:

The monstrosity had the body of a lion, that growled confidently. the tail of a scorpion, that arched forward behind it's back. And a pair of wings, that of which I could only doubt it could achieve flight with.

It's eyes were dead-set upon Solaire's figure; it licked it's chops in anticipation. Solaire gulped, fearing the monsters intentions weren't to make a friend.

At this moment in time Solaire regretted himself highly for dropping his one and only sword in an eager dash for victory. He now had placed himself in a position of weakness, exposed to the large monstrosity that stood up, eager to pounce. Solaire shook free his frozen state and searched frantically for a weapon of choice. The only solid object that sat in sight was a slightly large rock, to which Solaire slowly reached down to pick up as the monster paid notice to his movements.

Successful, he held the rock up to his chest, and assumed his own battle position. He was not about to become some odd monstrosities dinner. The creature growled in contempt, eager for the challenge Solaire has placed. With Solaire's single step forward, the creature charged.

Solaire dodged the creatures initial lunge forward, striking it's back with the rock in hand. It shrugged off his blunt attacked and sweeped it's tail towards Solaire's direction. In anticipation, Solaire blocked the blow with his arms, and jabbed once more with the rock, circling the beast as it attempted to lock Solaire's location with his eyes.

It roared in annoyance and unsheathed it's wings, smacking Solaire's helmet with enough force to leave him staggering momentarily. It turned in his direction, eyes locked for the kill. Solaire maintained his original position, the slightly bloodied rock remained firmly in his grasp.

The beast arched it's arm back to swipe with it's mighty claws; Solaire attempted to dodge but to no avail. The arm of the beast struck Solaire's right shoulder, to which his adorned cloth tabard ripped at the seams. Solaire grunted in pain, the beast has managed to make an incision straight through his chain-mail.

Before Solaire could recover from the blow, the monster swept once more towards Solaire's head. The full impact of the blow sent Solaire spiraling to the ground; his vision becoming blurry. The monster's powerful swipe had crafted a significant dent upon Solaire's helmet which in turn kinetically collided with Solaire's head.

Solaire struggled with himself, attempting to regain control of his failing eyesight.

It was unavoidable, Solaire could not fight the oncoming concussion that succeeded himself into a momentary slumber. In that moment the monster would deal its death blow upon his unconscious self. Solaire, devoid of any more energy, laid back upon the ground.

Before his eyes came to a close the shadow of another stood above his view, a quadruped figure that halted it's movement beyond.