The Equestrian Omni-Knight

by Azure5555

The Flame is Gone the Fire Remains

I fell for what felt like an eternity through an expanse of endless black. My eyes opening only after feeling what felt like hard stone floor and soft patches of grass. I rose and saw a courtyard, empty and surrounded by nothing. No pillars, no walls, no hedge trimmings-

“Dodge!!” I heard a voice say as I dodged a hand ax as it narrowly missed my nose.

"Who threw that!? Who said that?" The axe curved back and I managed to catch it mid flight. "Oh...oh ho ho. Not this time."

“Don’t get distracted! More are coming!” On cue, three more axes headed straight for my chest.

"Nope! As ah sweerrrrve~ into another dimension." Six axes fly along with the three initial axes dodged. ‘Horizontal, horizontal, vertical!’ I add the downed blades to my inventory.

“Whoever keeps throwing these friggin’ axes doesn’t know I am a MASTER of hand to hand armaments!”

A rapier found it’s way through my chest…right through the exposed flesh.

"Fuck you, fuck your friends, fuck everyone who looks like you. Whoever YOU are."

“I couldn’t warn you...I’m so sorry” Said the disembodied voice.

"No no it’s cool...I deserved that one. Who are you any-"

The world changed and my eyes opened to the sight of my bed, surrounded by golden axes. 'No don’t tell me…' Blood had covered my bed, a sword had painlessly found it’s way through my chest.

"Oh dear Lord, Doc’s gonna kill me…"

I roll around for a bit and find that my centuries old bed was replaced by a new and much softer queen sized mattress...which now had a hole in it.

"Huuuu fuckmylife..."

I rolled off the bed and onto the repaired flooring. "Veraaal. I need coffee!" 'And more of that amazing drink...'

Walking out the door I find Veral in a fit-to-scale pink apron dusting at a cupboard.

"Coffee's on the stove. Help yourself I'll be down soon!" Said the moglord ghost cheerily.

Walking down the steps I look back for a bit. "I made a mess, I'll clean it up but do order a new mattress...or get me the old one."

"You knocked out pretty bad yesterday, what you do to the bed?"

"Please don't-"

"There's blood everywhere!! Wait right there mister!"

She rushed right for me as she phased through the walls.

"What happened to your chest!? What happened to your arm!? Downstairs now!!"

---

She served me coffee in a solid black mug as she tied a bandage round my chest.

"What happened?"

"Silver, bamboo." I point to my arm and chest respectively. Veral winces at the mention of silver.

"Reckless as always, Honey wouldn't be surprised."

I sip at my coffee and pull out a piece of bear meat.

"Want me to cook that? Fluttershy brought veggies."

"Got any onion?"

"Mojó de ajo or a la mexicana?"

"Mexicana, should probably try not to ingest too much garlic."

Veral began chopping away at tomatoes, onions and jalapeños. "So how'd you survive the poisoning?"

My thoughts began to shift, first to a very nice place and suddenly to a nightmarish vision. "A friend." I pulled out Gregar's Navi emblem and looked at it for a bit. 'I didn't used to dream and my nightmares are getting worse and worse. Maybe...no. I can do this on my own.'

"A friend...who? You said that kinda longinlgy. You aren't thinking of cheating on Honey now are you?" Said Veral.

"Don't joke V. You know damn well the last thing she told me."

"Sorry, yeah I know...she said to find happiness in the future even if you'd be able to see her in Elysium. When you going back any-"

The door slamming open cut Veral out of her train of thought.

"Azure, you in here?" Asked Cadence as she set her blade by the door.

"Kitchen!" I yell back.

"Good morning Veral!"

"Saaaaluuuutations!" Replied Veral cutely.

*giggle* "I love when she does that. Onto business, we're expecting Griffonstone's emissary in a few hours so be prepared."

"Anything else?" I ask as Veral served me my food and the drink from yesterday.

"Hey V, where'd Pinkie get this stuff?" I ask.

"Berry Punch, Berry said it was chalk full of sedative like herbs. You should also check the living room table for gifts the town left you. Would you like some Cadence?"

"No thank you, I need to be alert. These came in yesterday." Cadence placed two stone tablets on the table shaped N and O.

"Moon rocks?"

"Moon rocks."

"Great! We just lost out on an army of moon snakes! What else?"

"The royal guard won't be returning anytime soon."

I take a forkful of grilled tomates, savoring the salty sweet taste.

"Great job Veral, I don't remember you being this good."

"Wasn't done yet you know. Shiny'll be bringing in his battalion instead. Commander Gold isn't allowed anywhere near this mission so you'll be free to walk around in your normal form."

"Thank fuck-" A piece of bear is jettisoned from my mouth as I get struck by both ladies in the room.

"Don't be rude to company!" Said Veral.

"There are ladies present!" Said Cadence.

"Grumble grumble, ponies always slapping me, grumble grumble...I s'pose all is well. Any word from Dragon country?"

"Akriloth is enslaving as many dragons as he can come across and he's already half way here. We have a week at most. If we aren't prepared we may need a miracle."

"More bad news...ugh I need a bath..."

"I'll go draw your bath!" Said Veral.

"I'll get out of your hair then, hopefully things don't go so bad with the griffons." Cadence began to walk out, levitating a magenta cupcake covered in fruit and bit into it.

"Yo hey wait! Those are mine!"

"You have nine more left, oh and...the funeral is starting soon. Hope you can make it." 'Wait the funeral...ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuu........'

"Veral! Forget the bath! I'm goin' out!" The moglord rushed through the walls again, this time in a hair cap and loofa in her paw.

"Aw...but I even took out the rubber duckies!"

"Gaw...you look adorable! Maybe tomorrow, I won't have much time today it seems."

---

The sound of a great brass bell echoed, a trail of ponies in black following a long cart, Oakwood laid upon a bed of hay. I begin to approach only for Rarity to stop me dead in my tracks. "You'll want these darling." Black garments began to fit around me. A black vest, with white accents, black arm guards, and a black robe bottom.

"Thank you. Shall we?" Rarity shook her head solemnly. "They're waiting for you, I have work that needs to be done."

I fall back into the line, walking straight for a half an hour into White Tail woods. The procession stopped at an open clearing facing a crystal lake. "May our champion do the honors." Said Lilyput, as she helped set the cart to a stop.

'Oh, I know what they want me to do.' "Give me a sec, let me...drop my robes." With great care, the vest was folded and stored in the inventory, the robe bottom rolled up, and the arm guards stored along with the vest.

"Armor."

The crowd parted before me, the solemn group began to throw various branches of dried wood and flowers upon the cart as they began to sing:

"Believe you me the price is clear, A child born a mother near, To Death and Life as hand in hand..."

Lifting the limp body as I stood atop the cart, I steeled myself for what I would do next.

"Shield!" A weight upon my back

"Amulet!" A weight upon my waist.

With a deep breath and a great release, I bathe the area in a torrent of flame. The wood and plants shrivel and turn to ash as the body in my arms becomes bone in our ball of fire. I hear the ponies sing:

"The flame is gone, the fire remains. The flame is gone, the fire remains."

What happened next put everyone (that includes me) on incredibly high alert. The sound of slow clapping echoed through the clearing, a voice soft and kind spoke through the ash.

"I'm quite sure if any other dragon saw what you just did they would declare an act of war."

"I'M quite sure that they'd never make it out alive to give that order." I say in response. This triggered something in the group as they all pulled out several knives, daggers, and hatchets.

"Easy easy, I'm not here for a fight." The voice stopped and from the foliage was a sight for sore eyes. The being before us was none other than Lord Cyrus of the Dracomancer Order.

"Lord Cyrus!!"

"LORD!?" Shouted the gathered ponies.

Cyrus simply began to laugh lightheartedly. "Please please, no "lord". I'm just Cyrus...well I suppose Prince Cyrus, but not to you though!"

'Wait, prince?' "Could you tell me the last thing you remember before waking up." 'Well isn't this quite the gamble...'

"Ah, you know then?" 'Gamble payed off...' "It was a rather sunny day, good for a picnic. I was on a double date with a dragoness, my sister and her date Galonoth. Well, one minute a hole begins to tear in the fabric of reality and the next minute I'm a five year old hatchling with a new sister and a father by the name of Dragonlord Torch."

One of the ponies tapped my leg and signaled to a fresh grave. Once the skeleton in my arms was deposited, I moved in closer to Cyrus.

"Something tells me Torch isn't native to Lore." I say.

"No, but something tells me you are. Can we maybe discuss this privately? A crowd this large may end up attracting some unwanted attention."

"Everypony, I'll be back in Ponyville later. There are things to discuss. Hey Cy, can you fly?" And with that, we were off. Wings unfurled and beating against the wind.

Author's Note:

Because linking to the items constantly used can be troublesome I'll do a quick over view of any new piece of gear being introduced.

Moglin Sword: melee type earth weapon with a passive buff to healing spells.

Knight of the Fire orb armor: No real explanation, really good fire resistance and a built in fireball ability.

Overlord's Legend shield: Damage inflicted upon the holder is inflicted upon the attacker as well via Harm damage.

Drakkonan's Amulet: Good Fire defence, better magic offense. Need I say more?