A Guarding Light

by LakieLegion

Chapter 1

Air burst into my lungs, it was such a rush especially after being trapped in stone for who knows how many years. I fell to my knees, not having the strength to stand up any longer. Memories burst forth as I remembered all my antics with my friends, especially Chocolate Swirl, and every foe we fought together.

Guardian... Ian... are you alright? Came an electronic voice from inside my head, it had been a long time, the long, dark, dreamless sleep had kept the two of us apart for the length of time we were trapped.

"Ghost... What happened? where are all the Vex?" I asked my long time companion. In response, the Artificial Intelligence that was my Ghost materialized in front of me. he looked around, not seeing anything that could be considered anything resembling the evil mechanical constructs we were fighting prior.

I... Have no idea... All I remember is detecting a surge of Chaos and Dark Magicks Ghost replied, looking around the small cavern that we were in. It was the entry to the Vex stronghold that we were going to assault, but we could not make it past the army in the front room before the surge of Magick sealed us in stone.

"Odd..." I said, looking around the room, before, there were heaps of Vex portals that we were taking down one by one. Now... they were all gone, as if the Vex had never been there at all. With a frown I looked behind me, to the tunnel that had been dug to allow us to reach the underground fortress.

The tunnel was still there, it had lead to a Dragon's cave near Everfree Castle. Setting my jaw, I looked back to what was once the Vex stronghold before I set off down the tunnel out.

---------------------

It was a beautiful morning in Ponyville, the sun was shining, the birds were chirping and Pinkie Pie was singing her morning song. In the castle of Friendship however, mornings were not good at all.

Twilight Sparkle had just woke up, and she was already getting bombarded by invitations to many things, such as parties from the Canterlot Elite and some even for her hoof in marriage from other Nobles.

Like usual, Twilight's adoptive younger brother (and number one assistant), Spike the Dragon, had sorted through it, looking for those that were from friends, family and foals. Before promptly incinerating the rest with no remorse.

However, something unusual happened this morning. There was a burst of magick from somewhere inside the Everfree, an unusual type of magick at that. It reeked of light, absolutely reeked of it. To many lesser unicorns, this was crippling, and most unicorns in Ponyville would be unable to move for another hour or two.

To Twilight however, it was familiar. She had felt two different Magickal signatures that rivaled it in the past.

The first, she felt on the day she got her cutie mark, the day that fate had tied her to five other ponies whom had gained their cutie marks that day. A power that she had felt every time she and her friends used the Elements of Harmony, and, more recently, when she and her friends had used Rainbow Power to defeat Tirek.

The second, was the Magickal signature of her mentor, Princess Celestia.

With a frown on her face, the young Alicorn spread her wings and flew off to gather her friends.

-----------------------------

I had finally reached the surface. The Dragon that had occupied the cave that the tunnel was built through remembered me, and gave me free passage through his home, as long as I did not touch his hoard.

As I exited the cave, I could almost instantly feel a noticeable difference in the Everfree Forest.

It was Chaotic. Much more than it had been in my own era. Ghost's fears had been true, we had been trapped in stone long enough for the world to change around us.

Focusing my Light, as Celestia had taught me a long time ago, I sent out a Magickal probe, looking for a Magickal signature even remotely close to that of any of my friends. Almost instantly, I sensed a group of signatures heading right for me, six ponies with a linked Magickal aura rivaling that of Celestia's own.

-----------------

Twilight felt a Magickal probe matching the signature of the pulse that she had felt earlier, it was looking for something, Twilight frowned before looking to her friends gathered behind her.

"careful girls, whatever that Magickal signature belongs to, it knows we're here" the lavender alicorn stated, almost instantly, her five friends started murmuring between themselves, wondering what it could be, maybe some other ancient evil that was just released?

--------------------

Through the treetops I quickly arrived at the signatures that I had felt with my probe. Quickly I noticed that these were not soldiers, not even old mages. But six mares, barely out of fillyhood.

Soundlessly, I touched down on the ground behind them, my Lift ability allowing me to slow my fall enough so that I made no sound once I touched the ground.

"My my my. What brings six young mares, such as yourselves, into the Everfree?" I quipped from behind them. Five of the six whipped around at the sound of my voice, each one was astonished so much that they made no sound (although, one looked overjoyed for some reason, odd). The sixth of the group, a young lavender alicorn, sighed in annoyance before turning around.

Her eyes looked fit to burst from her head, I snorted softly before opening my mouth once more.

"Heyooooo!" I said with a wave

------------------------

How? how was this possible!? this is not plausible in any way shape or form! how is he here?

That was what Twilight Sparkle's mind was currently repeating, over and over.

Here, stood right in front of her, was a character from stories that her mentor, Princess Celestia, had told her when she was but a filly.

Right out from stories ranging from the completely absurd, to the heroic, was the Guardian, the Defender, the Hero who stared directly into the Void and walked away completely unscathed.

This was too much for the young Alicorn to handle, so her brain did the only thing it could think of other than questioning the possibility of him being here of all places.

ERROR! Twilight.EXE has encountered a problem. Would you like to send a crash report?

--------------------------

THUD

Whelp... That was a thing...

Uhm... does she do that often? Ghost asked, revealing himself to the remaining five. one of the five, a shocking pink on pink mass of pony, put a hoof to her chin, thinking hard, before she spoke.

"Nnnnnnnope!" she stated, all too happily, all while bouncing up and down slightly, a large grin splitting her face almost in two. I coughed slightly, trying to regain the attention of the group once more. My endeavors were rewarded, however, as all five of the conscious mares looked back to me.

"Uh... Ill introduce myself soon, i think we should wait for your friend to wake up first. However, this place is dangerous, so I suggest we take this to my place..." I stopped for a moment, scratching my head. "Or at least... I hope my place is still there... Been trapped in stone for a while..." I sheepishly laughed as I bent down to pick up the unconscious mare, slinging her over my shoulder.

"W-where was your 'place', if I may be so bold as to ask?" Asked the marshmallow with purple hair... Sorry... Meant pony... Been WAAAAAY too long since I had marshmallows last... Aaaaaaanyway...

"Not too far from here actually, was out in a large field outside the forest, could see Everfree Castle from there, back before this blasted forest grew so large... Also in plain view of Mt Canter, one of the largest mountains in all of Equus" I explained as I started to walk in the direction of my house.

"Everfree Castle? Mt Canter? could you possibly mean the Castle of the Pony Sisters and Mt Canterlot?" Asked the marshmallowy pony once more, I looked down at her, confused.

"They changed the names? Ahwell, my place should still be there. Had an impressive orchard of Rainbow Apple trees, best apples in all of Equestria I dare say, but hard to miss" I explained, waving off the fact that the ponies changed the names of two of the largest landmarks in their land.

"Rainbow Apples? Do ya mean Zap Apples? They're Rainbow colored, and ya gotta treat em just right ta get 'em ta grow" Asked one of the others, she was an orange mare with a blond mane, upon which sat a Stetson. I stopped in my tracks, before turning to the orange pony.

"How do you know that? I never told anyone how to grow my apples, would be bad for business. The way to grow them wold have been lost with me" I asked, visibly bristling at the fact that one of my most closely guarded secrets was known by this earth pony.

"Mah granny discovered 'em 'bout seventy years ago, put the Apple Family back on the map, been growin' 'em fer that long too" She said, a scowl on her face. I turned away again before continuing my trek with the alicorn in my arms.

We've been gone for more than seventy years, at the least. However, I suspect it has been much longer. Back in our time, the Apple Family was still big, and trying to weasel the Rainbow Apple secret out of us... Ghost stated in our mental link, I nodded, before replying with my mind.

'Yeah, I remember... How long has it been then? I wonder...'

--------------------

It did not take too much longer to reach what remained of my abode.

Needless to say, the years had not been kind to my home, the Everfree had grown a lot in the years since my disappearance. However, it had left my house alone.

Instead, a large pack of Timberwolves had settled on the land that I once called home. At least, they were Timberwolves in appearance, but I knew that they were different, Another equine species, one known for camouflage of the highest quality.

"Oh good, looks like Chryssy was kind enough to guard my home for me, gotta love the buggy mare" I said, putting the alicorn mare down, before striding forwards, obtaining the attention of the creatures posing as wooden wolves.

"Hail, fair shape shifters, I thank thee for guarding my home during my long absence" I said grandly, bowing to the creatures. almost immediately, the clearing was filled with the sound of Magickal cloaks being dropped.

There, all over the clearing, were Changelings. And they were bowing to me

Author's Note:

Im... admittedly stuck on my other stories... and why this is here? well... I counter writer's block by writing... which I rarely get time to do especially seeing as I play alot of things...

Including Destiny, Dark Souls 2 and Borderlands: the Pre-Sequel

Comments

[Eclipsemlp666]

This story is looking good so far, I've always liked Chryssie as -at least- a neutral character, you can never find that many characters with the same type of personality that aren't evil. Good luck.

[LakieLegion]

5156126 thank you always felt that her circumstances were not good enough, heck, she was thrown off equestrian land because she had to go to an extreme in order to keep her species alive always felt that the Changelings should have been handled differently

[Eclipsemlp666]

5156392
Yep, I've always been partial to the love/power drunk idea, the original plan being to replace Cadance either temporarily or permanently to feed her people but got drunk off love and got a little power hungry.

[Pony With A Box]

"ERROR! Twilight.EXE has encountered a problem. Would you like to send a crash report?"
That's why she should get an ssd

[Pony With A Box]

Also, you're playing Dark Souls 2? Ok, so I won't expect a new story for a few decades

[LakieLegion]

5158810 been there, done that with DS2, if i wasn't strapped for money I would be well on with my 3rd run of the story after blitzing the DLC

the main problems you may have with waiting for a chapter are my low chances to write peacefully and playing Destiny/BL:tPS

also, just wait and see with good 'ol Choc Swirl, my stages of magic have yet to be explained but i'll give you a hint, who else has the trademark of cotton candy and chocolate milk

[Pony With A Box]

5158850
I could totally see her ancestors being skilled in chaos magic XD

[LakieLegion]

5162965 i dont think you got what i said properly... who uses cotton candy rainclouds?

[Pony With A Box]

5162975 I would've thought Pinkie...

[LakieLegion]

5163993 my 'four levels of magic mastery' will be explained in either the next chapter or the one after, and then things will become clear as Crystalmancy

[Pony With A Box]

5164231 Alrighty then

[LakieLegion]

5172803 admittedly, yeah, it was a bit rushed. i'm not all that good with lengthening things out always preferred to get right to the point when writing or talking, guess i need to get rid of that habit

[ibeachu]

5174565 Dude, learn how to spell "magic" the right way plz.
M-A-G-I-C dude...

[That One Hunter]

5572685 Actually it can be spelled both ways (it confuses me too)

[PlaguePaladin]

'ERROR! Twilight.EXE has encountered a problem. Would you like to send a crash report?'
FUCK NO!

[Psycho]

'Yeah, I remember... How long has it been then? I wonder...'

You might want to italicize this if this is a mental reply. I assumed this was spoken before rereading it.

[Raven-187]

epic.