Paladin Anon

by The7thElement

Memories (In other words another lead up to wedding)

“Urgh.” Anon groaned as he awoke to find the pain he was feeling emanating from his stomach.

“And that is what you get for thinking you could beat me in a candy eating competition.” Luna said to Anon a grin on her face as she moved closer to Anon snuggling up to him as he lay still in her bed.

“You could’ve warned me y’know.” Anon replied getting Luna to give him a roll of her eyes.

“I did warn you.” Luna said. “I specifically remember telling you that an Alicorn’s metabolism surpasses any other creature’s. So much so that we aren’t going to be affected by a sore tummy, unlike you.”

“Yeah, yeah laugh it up.” Anon said before becoming silent at the sound of someone knocking on Luna’s door. “You expecting anyone?”

“No.” Luna said before another set of knocking came through the door.

“Luna. Is Anon in there with you?” The voice of Celestia called out. “I need to talk to him about what happened last night.”

“Give us a second sister!” Luna called out before shifting her gaze back to Anon. “So I’m guessing you’re going to finally tell me what that creature was you captured.”

“Yep.” Anon said before hopping out of bed and making his way towards the door.

“Good morning Anon.” Celestia said as Anon opened the door.

“Good morning Princess Celestia.” Anon said before noticing who was at her sides. “Good morning Captain Sucker, Captain Moonlight.”

“Now then Paladin if you wouldn’t mind getting my sister so that you may explain to us what that creature was you and Captain Moonlight brought back from your mission.” Celestia said getting a nod from Anon.

“There is no need for that sister.” The voice of Luna said as she passed Anon joining the small group that was standing in front of Anon.

“Alright then let’s go see our friend and I’ll tell you what I know.” Anon said before making his way towards the Lunar Barracks.

Anon’s memory (Set from Anon’s point of view) Set 100 years before present day

“You sure you don’t need any help?” Alpha said to me over our mental link as I found myself overlooking the entrance to the Diamond Dog’s den.

‘Nah I’ll be fine. From what the ponies of Appleloosa said the Dogs are unorganized.’ I thought back.

“Than why send you if they’re unorganized? Why not a regiment of guards?”

‘Because I’ve been meaning to get out and about. Stretch my legs a bit.’ I thought back before I jumped down from my position on a large boulder. “And by the looks of it I won’t be doing that much work.” I said as I noticed that the guards that should have been positioned outside of the entrance were instead inside unconscious.

“What do you mean?”

‘Guards are knocked out. Not my work.’ I thought whilst checking the Dogs to see how they were knocked out. ‘Seems like they were hit by stun spells.’

“Well then your jobs done right?”

‘Nope. Don’t know if whoever knocked the guards out cleaned up the whole den.’ I replied before making my way deeper into the tunnels.

“Fine. But if you do come across whoever got there before you remember to thank them for what they did to the guards.” Alpha said before shutting off our mental link.

“Now then do you understand what I am saying?” A female voice echoed from deeper within the Den.

As I got closer to the source of the voice I found myself standing at the entrance of a large cavern. As I peered into the cavern I saw what I guessed to be the remaining Diamond Dogs in cages. The cages surrounded by what seemed to be ponies whose legs were filled with holes and their bodies having an unnatural shine to them.

But what drew my eye about the pony lookalikes was the one that was standing twice the height of the others. My suspicions about that one being the leader only grew when I saw the crown resting atop it’s head.

“Now I shall ask you again.” The leader said the same voice from before echoing through the cavern. “Will you be leaving the ponies alone or shall I proceed to spill the blood of your pack mates?”

At this threat the Dogs’ leader spoke up his voice laced with fear. “Okay! Just please let us go!”

“I don’t think so.” The leader said causing a look of fear to cover the Diamond Dogs’ leader’s face. “And don’t worry I’m not going to harm you. Just going to knock you and your pack unconscious. And when you wake up you better leave or else we’ll come back and blood will be spilt.” She said before her horn gave off a green glow knocking the Diamond Dogs out.

It was then I decided to make myself known. Moving behind a large boulder near the cavern entrance I decided to use my magic to enhance my voice. “So who would you be?” My new enhanced voice said echoing around the cavern so that the creatures wouldn’t know where I was hiding.

Instead of looking around the cavern for the source of the voice like I expected the creatures to do they instead had their gazes shift to the boulder I was hiding behind. What came as a true surprise to me was the way their leader addressed me. “You do know we know that you are behind that boulder. Projecting your voice is a smart move but it won’t help you stay hidden from us. So why don’t you come out we promise not to attack unless you draw a weapon.”

Under any other circumstance I would’ve simply teleported behind them to catch them off guard. But something about their leader’s words seemed to compel me to listen to them. And so I did. Coming around the boulder I saw all of the creatures looking at me, their leader raising an eyebrow once she saw me. “So are you going to answer my question?” I asked.

“You will show respect the queen!” One of the creatures said after giving me what I could only describe as a hiss.

“Drone #145, as much as I love how you wish to uphold other creatures respect for me, I don’t need you to do it with this creature here.” The Queen said before she walked up to me.

“And would the Queen have a name?” I asked getting a few death glares from the creatures.

“Yes she would. My name is Queen Nirvana. Queen of the changelings.” She said gesturing to the changelings behind her.

“Small kingdom.” I said getting a chuckle from her.

“This is only a small force of drones. Believe me when I say that there are a lot more than what you see before you. Now that I’ve answered your question you wouldn’t mind answering mine.”

“Depends what the question is.”

“Don’t worry it’s nothing too bad. The question is, who are you?”

“Paladin Anon. Only human in Equestria, and servant of Princess Celestia.” I said giving a small bow.

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance Anon. Now if you wouldn’t mind me asking but why are you here?”

“Too deal with the Diamond Dogs that have been harassing the ponies of Appleloosa.” I said before looking behind Nirvana at the unconscious Diamond Dogs. “But by the looks of it you’ve already done my job. But I have to ask why you’ve done that though?”

“Well someone has to protect our food source.” It was once Nirvana had said this my mind decided to shut down.

“What?” I said stupefied by what she had said.

“Sorry if that came out wrong.” Nirvana said realizing what she had just said. “Changelings don’t eat ponies; we eat their emotions.”

At this I let out a sigh of relief. “Oh thank god for that.” I said chuckling slightly. “But wait a sec doesn’t that mean you’re draining ponies of their emotions?”

“No. We can do that but we only take the overflow of emotions that ponies don’t need.”

“Okay then.” I replied starting to understand why they had taken care of the Diamond Dogs. “So if I am to assume correctly you only eat positive emotions?”

“You’re correct. But if I may ask what made you come to that conclusion?”

“Well if you consumed negative emotions you wouldn’t have stopped the Diamond Dogs. Seeing as how having them harass the ponies would only make the ponies generate negative emotions. But I must ask how exactly do you harvest emotions?”

“Well it’s a part of our biology that allows us to see and consume emotions, that’s how we saw you hiding behind that boulder. But to consume emotions we have to get quite close to ponies and seeing as how any pony would run as soon as they saw our true selves,” Nirvana said before gesturing to her and her drones. “we have to disguise ourselves.”

Before I could ask how changelings disguised themselves Nirvana’s horn gave off a faint glow before she was consumed by a green flame. When the flame died down Nirvana was replaced by a clone of Celestia. “How?” Was all I could ask as ‘Celestia’ gave a small chuckle.

“Changeling magic dear. This is how we disguise ourselves.” Nirvana answered adopting the same voice as Celestia, before being consumed by the green flames again. It was then she turned her head to look at her drones. After a few seconds the drones slowly made their way out of the cavern after unlocking the cages the Diamond Dogs were in. “Now then we must be off.”

“So I’m to guess you have telepathy.”

“Yes and no. We changelings have a special telepathy called a hive mind.” She explained. “This hive mind connects us all together.”

“Sounds fun.” I said before noticing Nirvana begin to take her leave.

“It is. Paladin if I could make a request of you please?” Nirvana asked turning to face me.

“And what would that request be?”

“That you keep our kind’s existence a secret. Ponies gaining the knowledge of a species that feeds off their emotions to survive would bring great fear in ponies towards my race. And before you say I know that Celestia could say that we are friendly and we are peaceful but there would still be ponies out their that either fear us enough to never trust their own neighbors or fear us enough to try and hunt us down.”

After a few seconds of mulling over what she had said in my mind I came up with my answer. “Okay then Nirvana I’ll keep your secret.”

“Thank you Paladin.” She said giving me a warm smile. “Well then I best be off before my guards get worried.” She explained before giving me a final wave and making her way out of the cavern.

Present day (Back to 3rd person perspective)

“And since that day I’ve never seen another changeling. Until last night.” Anon explained as he and the small group of ponies arrived outside of the Lunar Barracks holding cells.

“So that’s why when you returned you were so jumpy around me for a couple of days.” Celestia said as the group was escorted by Moonlight to the interrogation cell that she had moved the changeling to when it had awoken.

“Yep.” Anon replied turning to face Celestia. “Princess I’m sorry for keeping that big a secret, but you have to understand why I did.” Anon explained taking in a deep breath afterwards.

“Sister from what Anon has told us, he not only kept that promise to Queen Nirvana for the reason she gave him but because of his own personal experience with a species being kept a secret seeing as how not many outside of Canterlot Castle knows of his existence.” Luna said getting a slow nod from Celestia.

“I know that Luna. And that is why I have no problem with Anon keeping that secret.” Celestia said giving Luna and Anon a warm smile.

“Good to hear Princess.” Anon said before moving towards the entrance to the interrogation room. “Now if you’ll excuse me.”

As Anon closed the door to the room behind him he found the changeling’s eyes boring into him.

“So you’re my interrogation partner?” The changeling said before he froze in place. A look of fear in his eyes.

“Something the matter?” Anon asked as he pulled up a chair across from the changeling. “Is it the fact that you can’t read my emotions?”

“How?” The changeling asked getting a small smile from Anon.

“Well ever since I encountered your kind a hundred years ago I’ve been figuring out how to make it so you can’t read my emotions.” Anon explained. “Now that I’ve answered your question I want you to answer some of my questions. That sound fair?”

“Fine. Can I get a water?”

“Of course.” Anon said before making a small jug filled with water and two glasses onto the table. “I’m guessing that changelings don’t solely rely on emotions to survive.”

“You guessed correctly.” The changeling said taking a sip from his glass of water.

“Good to hear. You wouldn’t happen to have a name would you?”

“Drone #2431. But if you want a pony name you can call me Stable Mind.”

“Stable Mind?” Anon asked getting a slow nod. “And why that if I may ask.”

“Notice the antenna?” Stable asked getting a nod from Anon. “Well I am what is called a stabilizer drone. I make sure that the Hive Mind stays in one piece.”

“Good reason.” Anon said before sipping from his own glass of water. “Now onto the serious question. Why did you decide to pony nap Princess Cadance and her guards?”

“You seem like a smart guy. Why do you think I did that?”

“I may be smart but I ain’t that smart.” Anon said getting a roll of the eyes from Stable.

“Well how much do you know about changelings Mr?”

“Anon. And to answer your question I don’t know that much. What I do know is that you feed off of positive emotions, you can shape shift and also read and eat emotions.”

“Good you know the basics. As for why I pony napped Princess Cadance, it’s because she is a beacon of a changeling’s favorite food. Love.”

“Love.” Anon repeated realizing that as far as he could tell was one of the most powerful positive emotions.

“Yep. Not only is it one of the most powerful positive emotions, but it is also the tastiest emotion.”

“So you pony napped Princess Cadance only too feed your own hunger?” Anon asked wondering if Stable was one hell of a greedy changeling.

“No. The plan was for me to hang onto her and her guards until a few friends arrived to take her back to the hive.”

“Really?”

“What don’t believe me?” Stable said before finishing off his water. “There’s no point in me lying seeing as how it won’t do me any good.”

“Good to hear.” Anon said before rising from his seat. “Now before I leave I have one more question to ask. Why pony nap Princess Cadance when changelings can feed from the shadows?”

At this a silence fell over the room. Seeing as Stable wasn’t going to answer him Anon made his way towards the exit. “Wait.” Stable said getting Anon to turn back to the changeling. “The reason why I did that is because the hive is starving.”

“Really?” Anon asked getting a slow nod.

“Yeah. If it wasn’t for Princess Cadance showing up, we probably would’ve decided to invade Appleloosa.”

“Good to hear you didn’t.” Anon said giving Stable a small smile. “Now then I’ll be off. Thank you for being truthful with me.” Anon said before taking his leave

“That was interesting.” Luna said as Anon joined the group of witnesses. “Do you think he was telling the truth?”

“I honestly don’t know Princess. But if you’ll excuse me I’m going to go check on Princess Cadance.” Anon said before making his way towards the barracks exit.

“Have fun with that I’m going back to bed.” Luna replied getting a chuckle from Anon.

“Wait up Paladin!” Celestia called out from behind Anon. “I’ll join you as I wish to see how Cadance is going as well.”

“So Celestia any thoughts on what our friend said?” Anon asked as he and Celestia found themselves outside the barracks.

“Well for one what he said about his hive starving.” Celestia said getting a slow nod from Anon.

“Yeah. But as much as I’d hate to say it he may be lying about that to make us feel pity towards him.” Anon replied getting a slow nod from Celestia. “But if he was telling the truth than we need to come up with a plan.”

“A plan for what?” Celestia asked as they made their way into the castle’s halls.

“A plan for an invasion. Stable did say if it wasn’t for Cadance they’d be invading Appleloosa.” Anon explained getting a grim look from Celestia.

“So are you saying it’s a good thing that Cadance was pony napped?”

“Yes.” Anon said getting a small look of shock from Celestia. “Not to say I’d just let her be pony napped without trying to save her. But you and I both know that the needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few.”

“I suppose I can’t help it if a small part of me agrees with you.” Celestia said her look of grim returning with a vengeance.

“Tia.” Anon said placing a hand on Celestia’s withers getting her gaze to focus on him. “Let us not dwell on that. Let us just be glad that Cadance is alright. Got it?”

“Got it.” Celestia said before realizing that they had arrived outside of Cadance’s room. “Thank you Anon.”

“No problem Princess.” Anon said before raising a hand to knock on the oak door.

“Yes?” Said Shining Armor as he stuck his head through the now slightly open door. “Princess Celestia! Paladin Anon!” He exclaimed before straightening himself out and giving a salute.

“Morning Shining.” Celestia said flashing the shocked stallion a warm smile calming his nerves. “Sorry for startling you but we wanted to come and see how Cadance was doing.”

“Shiny who is it?!” The voice of Cadance called out from within the room.

“Well then Shining aren’t you going to tell her?” Anon asked.

“It’s Princess Celestia and Paladin Anon.” Shining called back to her.

“Well then let them in!” Cadance responded. “Morning Auntie Celestia, Anon.” Cadance said as the duo entered.

“Good morning Cadance. I do hope Anon and I weren’t interrupting anything.” Celestia said as she made her way over to Cadance’s side.

“Of course not.” Cadance said as Celestia joined her on her bed Anon staying by Shining’s side. “Just me and Shiny making plans is all.”

“Plans? For what?” Anon asked not noticing Shining’s coat somehow turn a more pale white than it already was.

“Our wedding.” Cadance said with a smile before realizing what she had said. “Oh wait I wasn’t meant to tell you until later.”

What followed next was not only an awkward silence as Celestia and Anon’s gazes fell on Shining who looked to be on the verge of passing out, but there was also a deathly air of silence between Anon and Shining.

“And if I may ask when did Shining propose?” Celestia asked her gaze shifting back to Cadance. All the while Anon kept his gaze on Shining.

“Well it was on a clear night and Shining decided to treat me to a fancy diner before taking me outside to see the stars.” Cadance said letting out a sigh at the memory. “As I was minding my own business and admiring the stars he pulled out a ring and proposed to me.” With that said Cadance revealed a golden ring with a medium sized diamond set into it.

“Cadance you wouldn’t mind if I had a moment with Shining outside?” Anon asked getting a look of fear to appear in his eyes.

“Of course not. But please do be easy on him.” Cadance replied before turning back to Celestia as Anon and Shining left the room.

“So. The weather’s nice isn’t it?” Shining asked as Anon closed the door to Cadance’s room.

“Yes it is.” Anon replied nonchalantly before placing a hand on Shining head.

“Um sir?” Shining began to ask before finding his surroundings change. “Where?”

“My quarters.” Anon said gesturing to the small couch of his living room for Shining to sit on. “Now then. Onto business.” Anon continued, walking over to a nearby drawer. Shining’s mind began to race as he imagined what would happen next.

As Anon turned back around Shining saw what Anon had retrieved from the drawer. Two glasses and a bottle of scotch. “What?” Shining said his thoughts coming to a complete stop as it processed what was happening.

“Not a fan of scotch? Or were you expecting a dagger at your throat instead?” Anon asked before filling his and Shining’s glasses.

“I guess so.” Shining responded before downing his glass of scotch in a single gulp.

“Heh. Well you don’t have to worry about that Shining.” Anon said before refilling Shining’s glass. “But if I didn’t know what a good lad you were than you’d find the dagger at your throat.”

“That’s good to know sir.”

“Now then onto a more serious topic. The wedding. When is it?”

“A few days from now.” Shining answered getting a nod from Anon.

“Good to hear you have that in order.” Anon said before finishing his own glass. “Now then let’s get you back to Cadance.” Anon continued raising a hand to Shining’s head.

“So how was the chat?” Cadance asked as Anon and Shining appeared back in her room.

“Good and informative.” Anon responded before noticing Celestia was nowhere to be seen. “Guessing Celestia went to court?”

“Yes she did.” Cadance responded.

“Well I’ll leave you two alone then.” Anon said making his way to the door. “Hope you two have a good day.”

Comments

[RC-0117]

HUZZAH!!!!