A defender's quest for...

by Archibad

Chapter 9 - The Quest

He was pacing back and forth in the room. His mind was racing with thoughts, each one worse than the previous. His body felt lighter and time seemed to pass by slowly. His heart was beating rapidly, and his chest was pulsating to its rhythm. A sudden feeling of nausea overcame him, and he sat down in a chair. He buried his head in his hands, and a few tears rolled down his cheek, but he dried them up immediately. He wanted to believe that he is strong enough to endure all of this.

He heard footsteps from behind the door and quickly got up to his feet, despite him feeling sicker by each second. He tried to slow his breathing down before the door opened. A tall figure dressed in a black, fabric coat walked in. He was also wearing a beak-shaped mask with two glass eye openings. The figure remained silent and what little hope remained in David vanished.

"Well?" It was all he managed to utter as the fear of what the figure would say grew stronger within him.

"She is beyond my help," said the man, and even through that thick mask, David was able to hear the remorse in his voice.

Again, tears began to gather in his eyes and he bravely fought them on, but it was a battle he could never win. He began to stumble around as his strength left him and his body seemingly filled up with lead. He would have fallen to the ground if the plague doctor wouldn't have caught him.

"I'm sorry," the figure managed to utter as a weak attempt at comforting David.

"I don't get it," he tried to divert his attention, or else he might lose his sanity, "Why her?"

"David, I know how this feels, and I don't want to upset you any further, but people aren't as good as they seem-"

"No!" Yelled David out in sudden anger, "I won't tolerate you talking this way about my mother, not in her castle, and especially not while she is at her deathbed!" He pushed the plague doctor away from himself and even though his body still felt sluggish he managed to storm out through a different door from which the figure came in.

He needed time to think and calm down before he did anything he would later regret. Thankfully he didn't have to pay much attention to where he was going. He grew up in this place, he knew every little corner of the castle by heart. He only needed to choose a destination and his legs would carry him there without him giving any more thought to it than that. In this case, he intentionally chose the furthest corner of the castle, the courtyard, as his goal.

He barely noticed when he stepped outside the castle. Only two things pulled him back into the real world: the sun upon his skin and the stench of death up in his nostrils. He wouldn't have thought that time would fly by this fast, it was barely enough for him to collect his composure. He covered his nose as he passed by the piles of bodies, intent on continuing to occupy his body while he was deep in thought.

"David, wait!" Called after him the plague doctor. He growled loudly and stopped in the middle of the courtyard. In normal circumstances, he would have moved to the side of the cobblestone road, as not to get in the way of the bustling peasantry, but right now there were only dead bodies beside them. The cloaked figure ran up to him while coughing and wheezing under the mask, "Just because I cannot help her it doesn't mean she is dead already," he managed to say after he got his breathing somewhat under control.

"What do you mean? Aren't you supposed to cure her? And if you can't then that means she is uncurable?" David had unleashed a barrage of questions upon his poor friend.

"I'll be honest with you, I doubt whatever we do to our patients is actually helping them," David had forgotten his rage and he was raising an eyebrow at his words out of confusion. The plague doctor only held up a finger as an answer before returning to his wheezing. David just rolled his eyes at the physically weak body of his friend, "She caught the disease because Zoh wanted her to. I don't know why, nor do I wish to make assumptions as to why. All I'm saying is that her fate is in your hands. Try to find out what she sinned and make it right before it's too late."

David was fighting back the urge to shout at his friend, but he knew he was right. He pondered upon this idea, although he was unable to come up with anything. She was always kind, generous, and never turned her back towards the teachings of The Great Lord Zoh. She was the last person The Great Lord Zoh could have justified to infect.

David was now looking around the courtyard, hoping that something might inspire him as to what to do. That was when his eyes got caught up on the castle's small chapel.

---

David blinked a few times as the memory faded away from his mind. The minotaur remained standing in place for the entire time the human was blankly staring at him, but his patience was running thin, "Well?" He asked with an irritated tone.

The human shook his head. He was confused for a few seconds until he remembered what was happening. He narrowed his eyes and looked at the minotaur directly. He began to search for its weak points in case he needed to fight him to get back...

"Lilly?" He thought aloud in surprise after he noticed the still tied up mare, "Release her, now," David's expression turned stone cold and threatening, although the minotaur only held up his arms in fake dread.

"Alright, champ. If she swears not to shout," both of them now looked at the mare, who just nodded once firmly. The minotaur bent down and first untied the rope around her legs, then he removed the cloth stuffed into her mouth. Lilly slowly stood up from the ground and took a few uncertain steps before opening her mouth, presumably to shout, but the minotaur's reflexes were sharp. He slapped her so hard she fell to the floor and the air rushed out of her lungs.

Adrenalin started pumping in David's veins. His hands clenched into fists as he moved closer to the minotaur, and he would have dealt a blow to the ugly creature's head if he didn't grab a battleaxe from behind himself and held it up in front of him. He grinned as David halted in his advance, "Hey now, let's keep this civil. The boss said not to bash your head in," he slowly turned to point the axe at Lilly, "But he said nothing about her."

"You keep away from her," hissed David through gritted teeth, "Who are you, why are you here, and who is this boss you're talking about?"

"My name is Essau Stronghorn, the boss's name is Zoh, or whatever it was, and it wants me to help you," he said uncaringly, and David's anger was quickly forgotten and replaced by confusion.

"Wait, on behalf of Zoh? The Great Lord Zoh?" It was now Essau's turn to look confused.

"Do you know anybody else with that stupid name?" David's mouth remained open in shock. The minotaur rolled his eyes, "Yes, I'm here on behalf of this god, or whatever. He promoted me from a watcher to a guide, lucky me," he let his axe down and began walking around the room, looking for ways to keep his boredom at bay.

"You're lying," accused David the minotaur while he was inspecting the table.

"Oh come on now David," said Essau with honeyed words as he moved on to inspect another furniture, "The voice in your head has failed, but that's why I'm here, to replace it and guide you myself towards your goal."

"What goal?" Asked David as his head began to ache. He felt unseen forces tugging at his unconscious and he lifted an arm to rub his forehead, "And how did you-"

"The boss told me everything. He put that thing in your head."

David dropped down to his knees as the headache became unbearable. He was squeezing his head in an attempt to force the voice out of it, although it did not work. A memory was coming back to him, he felt it rising to the surface of his thoughts, but the voice was keeping it down. Like a bag of bricks tied to the legs of a drowning person, that thing was keeping the memory from being remembered by him.

Lilly was finally able to drag herself to him and laid him down on the ground. He tried to look at her face, but his mind was unable to make anything of the shapes that he was seeing.

"David," she began gently massaging his head as he twitched uncontrollably in pain.

"Shall I put him out of his misery?" Asked the minotaur wickedly. He shoved Lilly aside and lifted David upon his feet, "Maybe I should," he said to himself while enjoying his pain for a little bit longer, then he began in a mocking tone, "I, Zoh-"

---

David closed the giant oak door behind himself softly. The small chapel was completely devoid of life, even the priests left it abandoned as they fled the castle in search of refuge from the plague. He carefully lit some of the candles on the altar, rearranged the golden goblets and candle holders on it, and kneeled in front of it. He put his hands together and closed his eyes. He focused on his voice and shut the world around him out of his mind.

"The Great Lord Zoh, please hear me now, thy loyal servant is in grave sorrow and asks for thy mercy. I have fought a thousand heathens and I will fight a thousand more, all I ask is one favor from thee. My mother is sick from thy blight and I ask to know the reason why," he was always bad with rhymes, no matter how many times he prayed, but today he tried harder than ever before.

He waited patiently in silence, and when he was sure he would not get an answer he repeated himself. And again. And then again. Each prayer became more desperate than the one before and the tears were now flowing from his eyes, but he kept on praying. He didn't even dare to lift his hand to wipe his cheeks off.

Somewhere deep down he knew. The Great Lord Zoh had never answered his calls personally before, why would The Great Lord Zoh answer it now. And yet he repeated his prayers. Desperation had overtaken him as he didn't even wait now before saying the badly rhyming lines again. He began to tremble as the cold realization climbed up his body and into his mind, but he did not give in to its embrace. He repeated himself once again, even though his words were incomprehensible now. He waited a few moments to see if the silence would break before he dropped to the floor.

He let his tears flow without a stop as he tried to make peace with reality. He slowly stood up with shaking legs and for a few moments, he eyed the altar. He thought about sweeping everything off of it to see if it would help with his frustration, but he knew it would have only worsened everything.

He wiped his face with his palms and turned around to leave the small chapel. He was loudly sobbing, and his breathing was uneven as his mind turned towards the future. He started thinking about how he could find out the reason her mother was sick with the plague, even though he fully knew it would be impossible to do before her death.

A crackling sound pulled David out of his melancholy and he turned back towards the altar. He saw a small ball of light above it that slowly grew in size and brightness. He took a few cautionary steps backward as he held up his arms in front of his face to shield his eyes. He would have tried to flee from the chapel and call for a priest, but then he heard a booming voice.

"I greet you, Defender David. I have heard your prayers, and I am here to answer them," the voice was deep in tone and it echoed all around him.

"Are you The Great Lord Zoh?" Asked David in surprise while still unable to look at the source of the voice.

"Indeed, I am," he instinctively got to his knees and put his hands together, not caring that the brightness was burning his eyes through his eyelids.

"Oh, My Great Lord Zoh, you bless me with your presence!"

"I know, David, but that is not why I am here."

"You are here to tell me what my dear mother had sinned?" He asked a bit shyly and full of hope.

"Even better, I am here to give you a special task. I want you to spread my teachings far beyond this world. I will send you on a quest to a foreign land, filled with people not like yours, in order for you to kill a false god, an impersonator, and all of her pagan followers. Do this and I will lift the disease plaguing this land."

"Will this save my mother?" The first thing his mind registered was not the amount of glory he could get, not the amount of good he could spread, but that he might have a chance to save his mother.

"Yes, this will save her, if you succeed."

"Then I shall not fail!" He jumped up to his feet and yelled confidently. Newfound hope was now flowing in his veins, giving him back his strength and willpower. The hole in his chest that the possible death of his mother created was now filled with determination.

"Good," he heard the voice say in a satisfied tone as it began chanting, "I, Zoh, command you to kill Celestia and all the ponies not worshiping me, to save your people from the plague that I have unleashed upon them for their wrongdoings," he heard a ripping sound to his left, but he still did not dare to open his eyes. A mysterious force was now pulling him from the left side towards the source of the tearing sound while a headache suddenly began torturing him.

Under normal circumstances, he would have panicked, but he didn't want to show any sign of weakness in front of The Great Lord Zoh. He desperately wanted to save his mother, he wanted to go on this quest, and he didn't want to lose this once in a lifetime chance just because he was unable to keep his emotions under control.

"Good luck, my champion," he heard the deep voice for the final time as the relative warmth of the chapel disappeared and was replaced by icy winds. The light that had been blinding him was gone as well and he no longer felt the chapel's stone floor beneath his feet. He took a cautious peek and he saw the ground rushing up to him to greet him in this new world.

---

The twitching stopped. The pain subsided. The voice let go of his memories and they were finally able to surface. In a moment he relived his whole life just as if he was seconds away from dying. He was now able to stand on his own so Essau let go of him. He felt clear-headed for the first time since he arrived here.

Essau was unable to control his excitement and grinned, "Ladies and gentlemen, Defender David has finally returned."

Lilly felt horrified, "What did you do to him?" The minotaur gave no attention to her.

"Do you know what you have to do?" David remained silent. He looked at Lilly with great sorrow, "Do you?" Essau moved in front of his face to get his attention back. David just slowly nodded in turn, "Fantastic, now you can have your toys back," announced the minotaur with joy and pulled a giant bag out of the bathroom and dropped it before David. It crashed to the ground with a loud clank. One of his gauntlets fell out of it and landed at his feet. It was still bloody.

"You should get right to it, you wasted enough time already," said the minotaur suddenly impatiently and began humming to himself. David picked up the gauntlet and held it up to his face. For a split second, he thought about abandoning his quest, but he quickly squashed this idea. The Great Lord Zoh's furry would quickly descend upon his people, they would have no chance.

"David, what is happening?" Lilly began limping towards David with concern visible on her face.

"Can you help me put this on?" He tossed the gauntlet at Lilly, who almost didn't catch it and he proceeded to retrieve the rest of his armor from the sack. Lilly remained in one place as confusion and fear grabbed ahold of her.

"No, tell me what is happening," she demanded from the human, but he paid no attention to her. He was laying out the armor pieces on the floor in the order he would have to put them on, "David," she briefly touched his arm gently. He put down the sack and looked at Lilly with tears gathering in his eyes.

"Please, just help me," he begged Lilly, and after a few more moments of hesitation, she nodded.

It took around an hour for David to get fully armored and all the while all three of them were silent. David was too busy fighting off his tears, Lilly was too frightened of the answer she might receive if she were to question David further and Essau was humming to himself while numerously tossing his axe up into the air and catching it.

After David was fully armored, except for his helmet, he took a last look over himself, to make sure that every piece was put on correctly, and to gain a few more precious minutes. After he finished, he sat down on the bed and sighed.

"You're done?" Asked the minotaur as he stepped closer to the human. David only nodded, "Excellent," he turned around to reach down into the sack, retrieved the longsword from it, and tossed it to David, "Now do it," he said darkly.

He wiped the tears off his cheeks, "Do what?" Lilly stepped in front of him and put one of her hooves on David's hand.

"I'm sorry," he said while being unable to look her in the eye.

"What do you mean?" It was now her turn to cry while watching David stand up slowly and uncertainly.

"Lilly, will you renounce your belief in Celestia and accept The Great Lord Zoh as the one true god?" He asked while his voice was shaking.

"What?" She took a few steps backward in shock. David turned towards Essau and he would have begun to beg him, but he held up a finger.

"If you got a problem with this, you have to take it to the boss," he said with a bit of joy.

"What is the matter, David?" Asked Lilly as she slowly backed up into a corner, "You don't believe in Zoh anymore."

"I know!" exclaimed David, "I know that I have already abandoned my faith in him, but I saw him. I talked to him in person, I just couldn't remember it. He exists and I am lucky he gave me a second chance," he explained and peeked back at Essau. He smiled at him deviously and waved. He turned back towards the mare and braced himself, "Lilly, if you don't answer yes then I'll have to..." he sniffed a few times and gulped, "I'll have to kill you."

Her eyes widened in horror, "David, don't do this."

"I have to," he said in a weak and quiet voice.

"Why?" she looked into his eyes and her tone became devoid of any emotion.

"I have to save my mother," it took him what felt like an eternity to work up the strength to say these words, "I made a deal with him. I kill everybody who doesn't believe in him and he saves my people from his plague. Just say yes, please."

"No," she said coldly while she was still crying.

"It's only a formality, you can still go on about your life, you'll just have to follow a few rules, but everything would stay the same and-" he didn't know how he could convince her, so he said everything that came to his mind right away.

"No," she cut him off and dried up her cheeks with her hooves, "And my decision is final, nothing you could say will change that."

David peeked back again at Essau, who just shrugged. "You can put on your helmet, that will keep you from understanding her screams," he suggested David and went back to picking his teeth with the axe. David considered it for a split second, but he then threw his helmet onto the bed.

He gripped his longsword in both hands and lifted it above his head, "Are you sure?" he asked in a desperate last attempt at persuading Lilly.

"I'd rather die now than live this life," she laid down on the ground and she held her head out, displaying her neck to David. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as his grip tightened, "I was right, Sturdy should have left you buried in the snow," she breathed out her last words and David opened his eyes as he brought the sword down.

It made it cleanly through her neck and hit the floor. Three times the blood sprayed out of her neck, covering the wall and David's feet, then it downgraded to just pouring out of her. He took big gulps of air. He watched her body. He couldn't get his eyes off her. He even forgot to blink. He withdrew his sword slowly and carefully. He did not want to separate her head from the rest of her body any further.

"Good job!" Exclaimed Essau and he hit David in the back, forcing the air out of his lungs, "It is difficult to finally get you to do your job, I thought I might need another manticore."

Like the light after lightning, the sorrow was gone from him, "What manticore?" He turned around maliciously.

"You know, the one that attacked you, the one that killed your other friend?" He said with an overly satisfied tone, "It was a real pain to catch that thing, but it was worth it to see that idiot finally die, he got on my nerves," he continued while paying no attention to David, who went over to the bed and retrieved his helmet.

"Essau, will you renounce your belief in Celestia and accept The Great Lord Zoh as the one true god?" He asked darkly.

"I wouldn't do it if I were you. I'm not allowed to kill you, but I can beat you up real good," said Essau with a wicked grin and changed his grip on his axe to a proper one. David put on his helmet and readied his sword.

They were now circling each other, both of them waiting for the other to make a move. Essau feigned an attack and David swung his sword prematurely, after which Essau slammed his shoulder into David. He fell to the floor and dropped his weapon. He tried to get up, but the minotaur already grabbed him and lifted him off of the floor. He threw him across the room and onto the table which shattered under him. He felt dizzy and he was disoriented.

Essau said something to him, although he did not understand it. The voice's influence on his mind was gone. He tried to get up again but Essau grabbed him by the neck, choking him slowly. His eyes burned with a lust for violence and he grinned the entire time David was suffocating.

David was fighting to stay conscious as he hit Essau in the elbow. He just laughed it off, yet his grasp weakened. David took advantage of it and took as deep of a breath as he could, summoned up his strength, and kneed into Essau's stomach. He let go of his neck and stumbled back a few feet.

David stood up from the floor and picked his longsword up. Essau laughed and feigned another attack, but this time David remained calm and did not fell for it. Essau, seeing that he would not get to play with him any longer, threw his axe at him. The human was only able to narrowly dodge it.

He thought he finally gained the upper hand when the minotaur closed the gap between them in a second and grabbed David's wrists and twisted them, forcing him to drop his weapon again. David threw himself to the ground and he dragged the minotaur with him. They were now wrestling on the floor. Essau was winning by a large margin as he was constantly hitting him in the head and chest while David was only able to punch him once in the face.

However, the more they fought the weaker Essau became. He noticed it as well and at the next opportunity he jumped off David and tried to put some distance between the two of them, but David did not let him. He held onto the minotaur and kicked him in the knees as many times as he could. Essau tried to throw David again, but he was now too weak for it. David held on and head-butted the minotaur. Both of them fell to the ground again, this time with David on top. He threw punch after punch at Essau's defenseless head and with each hit it became more and more smashed. The minotaur was powerless, he tried to hold up his hands to deflect the hits, even though it was entirely useless. The enchantment on David's armor, the same one that silenced the voice, also drained the minotaur of its magical strength.

David was blinded by furry and adrenalin by this point. He only stopped hitting his opponent when his face became a red pulp, barely recognizable. He was still breathing, but he was unmoving. He stood up from the ground and went to his sword. He picked it up and he held it like an oversized dagger. He walked back to Essau, who tried to lift one of his arms, but he kicked it away. The few muscles that were left on his face twitched as he tried to blink and move his mouth.

"Rot in hell," spat David and brought his sword down into the minotaur's stomach. Essau only flinched slightly as he was barely able to process what was happening to him. David twisted the sword a few times to guarantee that he would bleed out and he pulled his weapon out.

The rage was now gone from David just as fast as it came. He turned around and dropped his longsword. Lilly was still lying on the ground in the middle of her own blood. From the other side of the room, it looked like her head was still attached to her body. He began to weep as he removed the blankets from her bed and laid it on top of her. He was about to say a few words of prayer, but he stopped himself. He pondered what his last words to her should be.

"I hope you can forgive me," he knew she didn't hear her, or that his words would change nothing, but it still felt better for him to get this off of his chest, "I know you won't. I'm just hoping," he bent down and began to pet Lilly's head through the blanket, "Goodbye," he whispered to her, and with that, he stood up and turned around. He shifted his mind from his melancholy to his quest as he retrieved his shield and mace from the sack. As he was about to close the mouth of the bag, he noticed a book in it, The Holy Chronicles. He only hesitated for a moment before leaving it in there.

He went through the door of their room and carefully closed it behind himself and sighed deeply. He needed a few seconds to clear his head and ready himself for what was about to go down. Or rather, he would have done that if two Royal Guards hadn't noticed him. Both of them were staring at him and his blood-soaked armor with wide eyes.

David rolled his eyes. Of course, they had to be here. It would have been too easy if he didn't have to kill a dozen or so more ponies to get to Celestia. He put up his shield and banged his mace against it to try and get them out of their shocked state, which worked.

Both Royal Guards began furiously shouting at him and both of them pointed their spears towards him. He presumed they demanded that he surrender, and of course he had no intention of doing that. So, after a few more barks one of the ponies charged at him. He waited patiently until his spear came into his shield-bearing arm's reach and simply grabbed it. The pony realized his mistake and desperately tried to change his direction, but his mace already met with his snout. It smashed it flat and the pony fell to the floor in front of his feet.

The other pony just watched on in horror as David brought his mace down upon his friend's head again, thus granting him a swift death. Panic seemed to get a hold of him as he dropped his spear and fled down a corridor. David felt happy for the pony, or at least as happy as he could have given the circumstances. He continued down the opposite way and hoped for no more encounters.

For a while, it seemed like his hopes would come true. He made it to the throne room without any trouble and he pushed the golden doors open.

"Ce-" he shouted, but the air got stuck in his throat. Instead of the Princess, the room contained at least thirty Royal Guards. Earth ponies stood at the front with spears in hooves. They formed a defensive line before the unicorns who stood behind them in scattered formation on the stairs leading up to the throne and their horns were already glowing. The pegasi took to the air and hovered over the soon-to-be battlefield with blades attached to their hooves.

A pegasus in the middle shouted once and before David could even blink all the unicorns shot a magic bolt at the same time. He quickly held up his shield in front of him and embraced for impact. All the bolts, one by one, were absorbed by it.

The ponies were shocked when the human let down his shield and there were no dents or burnt areas on his armor, not even a single one. David used the momentary shock and charged at the line of earth ponies.

As he got close to the line, he blocked the speartips with his shield without losing his momentum. He bashed in the head of three ponies right in front of him in quick succession. He successfully broke the line of earth ponies, although he was now surrounded. The unicorns tried to shoot him again from the front, while to his left and right the earth ponies closed on him and a few pegasi landed behind him. He knew he had to get into a better position, so he ran at the unicorn line.

The fire at will order was given. All the unicorns desperately tried to stop his advance with their magic, but he was unstoppable. To give them the credit they deserved, they did bravely hold their position as David brutally crushed their heads one-by-one. The pegasi tried to dive in and slash at him with their blades, but he blocked all of them with his shield. He even managed to hit a few of them in the side, thus removing the magic from their bodies that allowed them to fly.

The earth ponies panicked, they desperately tried to form up a line again facing David. The unicorns were now ordered to retreat, but it was too late. Half of them were now laying on the stairs with an open head, painting the marble flooring of the throne-room crimson-red.

The unicorns evacuated, the pegasi didn't dare to attack him in fear of losing their ability to fly and the earth ponies, including the few flightless pegasi, slowly advanced towards him with a line of spears and blades. David ran all the way to the top of the stairs. He thought about holding position, but he would then be encircled again. He instead decided to break the earth pony line again.

With a bit of a run-up, he jumped off the stairs and into the enemy. They were not expecting such a suicidal move from him at all. They failed to raise their spears in time.

He landed on a pony and brought him to the ground. With one sweep he crushed the chest of the pony to his right and bashed in the head of the pony to his left. He then brought his shield down upon the pony under him, breaking his neck. Instead of retreating he charged at the right flank. He got too close and they were unable to hit him with their spears effectively. David was mindlessly swinging his mace. He broke the backs of at least three other ponies. The fourth one dropped his spear and tried to kick him, thus forcing him to halt in his murderous advance.

The idea quickly spread across the earth ponies and all of them abandoned their weapon in favor of their hind legs. The remaining pegasi also landed on the ground and gave up their airborne advantage. They encircled him, yet they kept their distance. Nopony dared to come close to him.

David took this time to rest for a bit and assess the situation. He watched the expression of the ponies around him. They were stern, but under the facade, he could see disgust and fear. To be honest, being surrounded by your comrades' dead bodies would do that to any soldier's morale. After this, his mind wondered about the dead, what would happen to the bodies. And what will their families do now that their children and parents had been brutally murdered?

David shook his head. He needed to focus; this was not the right moment to humanize his opponents. It would only make this more difficult.

He banged his mace against his shield and tried to intimidate the ponies, to see which one of them would give him an opening. All of them held their ground firmly. David started to think of alternatives. Perhaps he could throw one of the helmets of the dead ponies at them, thus making himself an opening? No, they wouldn't fall for such an old trick. Maybe he could feign an attack? Yes, that will be it.

He looked over each of the ponies to see which one is the least experienced, but then he noticed something. The ponies began to retreat. They slowly walked backward away from him while not getting their eyes off him.

David scratched his head with the mace. He had no idea what kind of military formation this would be. Then Celestia burst into the throne-room through the doors.

David's breath had been taken away by her grace. She glid through the air like a hawk, majestic and precise, and her sight was set on him. He realized it too late that she was heading toward him and she grabbed him and lifted him off the floor. He felt his armor absorbing her magic and he tried to hit her in the sides with his shield to speed the process up, but she threw him out a window before he could do that.

He saw shattered rose-glass fall around him as he painfully landed in a tree in the Royal Garden. He fought the bare branches to break free and he slowly made it to the ground in one piece. Meanwhile, Celestia descended from the skies in front of him and she tried to talk to him. He listened for a little bit as he cleared off the snow from his armor and adjusted his grip on his shield and mace. He then cut her off in mid-sentence.

"I don't understand you, so we might as well just fight," Celestia's eyes widened a bit when David didn't speak in their language, as he had been doing ever since he arrived here. She nodded once in understanding and closed her eyes.

When she opened them her usually pink irises burned with rage. She summoned a magic scythe out of thin air and charged at David with the fury of a thousand suns. David was only able to put his shield up between himself and the angry star-goddess before he was knocked to the ground. She was standing on top of him and her magic scythe was inches away from his face with only his shield saving his life. He was holding it with both arms and even that proved to be just enough to keep the magic blade away from killing him.

For a few more seconds David was able to hold. After that, the magic from Celestia's scythe began to deplete. She withdrew her weapon and flew backward a bit. David quickly got up to his feet and assumed a defensive position. This was a war of attrition, he only needed to survive long enough for his armor to drain her magic completely and he would win. However, Celestia seemed to have the same thought, so she began picking up rocks and boulders around the garden and throwing them at him.

David looked on horrified as the wave of rocks came towards him and took shelter behind his shield. He immediately began to search for a better cover as his arm began to ache and his legs were left undefended. He saw the tree on which he landed and with a somersault, he dove out of the way of the current wave of boulders and ran behind it.

Once his back was pressed firmly against the trunk, he peeked out of his cover to see Celestia's reaction to this. She began to circle the tree and she continued to throw boulder after boulder at him. David desperately tried to think of what to do while he made sure that he stayed in cover. He felt the trunk of the tree violently vibrate with each boulder that struck it. Although he noticed that some of the rocks missed, and when they did, they flew over the edge of the garden, which gave him an idea.

He broke his cover and ran next to the edge. He evaded and dodged as many boulders as he could, and the ones he couldn't he just blocked them with his shield. This way, most of the rocks that Celestia threw at him were now on their way to the feet of the mountain. Celestia saw what his plan was and, in turn, stopped her barrage of stones.

By this time the Royal Guards had arrived in large numbers and seemed to want to intervene in the duel. David recognized a few of the ponies, or at least he saw the blood on their fur and armor, and he had a strong hunch as to how it got there. Celestia landed before them and, while not taking her eyes off David, she grabbed one of their spears in one hoof while motioning with the other for them to leave. David wanted to remove his helmet to understand what they were talking about, but he decided that it would be too risky.

For a moment the Royal Guards protested against her order, but her loud and angry tone quickly changed their minds. They went back into the palace to make sure to keep everypony away from the gardens until the end of the duel. Now she turned her full attention back to David.

David thought about charging her while her servants were somewhat distracting her, but he feared it would only make the Royal Guards stay, so he instead spent the time resting and catching his breath. Once they left, he took up his defensive position yet again and waited for Celestia to make the first move.

The princess eyed him up for a moment, then pointed her spear right at him. She spread her wings far and wide and with a single flap of them, she leaped at him. David was taken aback by her speed and he was not able to dodge her attack. Her spear struck him in the leg. It did not penetrate his armor, but it did knock him off his feet. He didn't have enough time to stand back up before her next charge, so he barely rolled out of her way.

David jumped up to his feet and let go of his mace, thus freeing one of his hands. He intentionally didn't dodge her next charge and her spear struck his shield. He almost lost his balance and fell to the ground, but he managed to grab ahold of Celestia's mane as she was flying by him.

His shoulder almost came out of its socket. He was barely holding on as Celestia sped up even more and flew higher into the air. She thrashed around to try and kick David off her back, while he managed to bash her sides and her head a few times with his shield. They fought in the sky for a few more moments, after which Celestia changed direction and began to fly towards the ground.

The wind forced his eyes open and he couldn't exhale the air from his lungs. He began desperately shouting for her to stop, he didn't even care that she couldn't understand him.

However, right before they would crash, Celestia extended her wings. She suddenly slowed down significantly, while David flew off her back. The human smashed into the snowy ground face first and he felt some of his bones cracking. After his body stopped sliding, he painfully overturned himself onto his back to at least see his death coming. He was pleasantly surprised when instead of a speartip heading right towards his face he saw Celestia hopelessly flailing her wings in the air as she lost control over her trajectory. She crash-landed the same way David did across the garden.

David stood up on shaking legs and began limping towards the goddess. He thought about retrieving his mace, but he had to push his advantage while he had it. When he was a few feet away from her body Celestia shot up and tackled him down. She held David down with her hooves and tried to stab him with her now magicless horn.

David squirmed around under her and moved his head around in an erratic way to make it more difficult for her to aim. He also noticed that she wasn't directly standing on his left arm, but rather on his shield. He quickly freed his arm from it and punched Celestia in the face before she could bring her horn down on him again. This made one of Celestia's hind legs slip and with his now free leg, he kicked her in the stomach.

Celestia grunted once painfully and stumbled away from the human, who spent a few seconds on the ground to gather his strength. By the time he uncertainly got up, she was already charging towards him with her horn pointed at his belly. He couldn’t get out of her way.

She struck him in the stomach and punctured his armor. Her horn went through his body and the tip of it came out the other side. He coughed up blood. She tried to lift him, but her body was too weak for it, while the rush of adrenalin gave David's energy back temporarily. He grabbed her mane with both hands and pulled her head away from his body, thus pulling out her horn. He kneed her in the snout a few times before pushing her away from himself and kicking her once in the throat.

She stumbled back and fell to the ground. Her nose was bleeding profoundly, and she was wheezing heavily. David clutched his stomach tightly and limped next to her. They looked at each other for a moment. The hate and anger were now gone from them and were replaced by regret and sadness. David thought about continuing the fight, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He turned away from her, walked to a tree, and sat down next to it.

Celestia sat up as well and pinched her nose together while spitting up blood and adjusting her windpipe to stop her wheezing. David pulled his helmet off his head and threw it aside. He then went back to holding his stomach while trying to take control of his breathing.

Silence fell on them as they nursed themselves. Without the red fog of battle clouding his mind, David was able to really think about what he had done. The brutality of his murders, and especially Lilly's, made his eyes swell up with tears, "Forgive me," he looked at Celestia with tears rolling down his cheeks, "I know you won't, but I would hate myself even more if I didn't ask for it."

"They why do it?" She wanted to squash the sympathy that she felt growing inside her towards him, "I trusted you, all of us trusted you. There was so much potential in you and yet you threw it all away," she pointed an accusatory hoof at him.

"I had to," He pleaded, "Zoh ordered me to."

"You believe in him again?" Asked Celestia with a slight surprise.

"I don't want to, but I have to. I saw him, he appeared in front of me in person," he recalled Zoh's ethereal voice and how it echoed around him. It was somehow soothing and off-putting at the same time now that he looked back upon it, "We made a deal. I would kill you and convert the ponies to the one true faith and he would cure my people of his plague."

"And do you think he will uphold his end?" She asked with genuine interest.

"If I don't do what he asks me to do, then my mother will surely die. This way at least there is a chance," he said through gritted teeth as the adrenalin washed out of his bloodstream and began to feel his body aching. Celestia opened her mouth, but she closed it right afterward. She looked up to the sky in thought, wondering what the right words would be to stop David from continuing his bloodshed.

"What is this, a truce?" Asked an ethereal voice and David's whole body shook from it, "Why aren't you finishing your job? You are so close to it!" David looked behind the tree to see the ball of lightning from his memory slowly drifting down from the sky and touching the ground. Although it wasn't shining as powerful as he remembered the light still forced him to squint his eyes.

David stuttered as he was unable to form a coherent response to his deity from the shock of its appearance. He didn't know if he needed to beg for forgiveness, or rather he should come up with excuses, or if he should just lie to it. It seemed to get impatient of David and it materialized his still bloody longsword in its magical grasp.

"Get to it," it said, and it dropped the sword at his feet, "Kill her!"

David slowly lifted himself and his weapon off the ground. He tried to wield it, but every small movement of his muscles made him flinch in agonizing pain, "Ah, forget it," said Zoh and a hand extended out of the ball of lightning. To David's horror, it was not humanoid. It had talons instead of fingers and its skin was dry and cracked and a devilish red. He gripped the sword tighter to not let the hand take it, but it tore it out of his grasp and shoved him aside. A tall armored figure appeared from the ball of lightning. To David, it very much resembled the creature that Essau was, although more twisted.

The thing was walking on goat legs, it had a long and pointy tail and two crooked horns growing out of its forehead. It looked at the sword with its dark eyes and opened its mouth to reveal a hundred claw-like teeth inside. It sucked some kind of blue mist out of the sword and threw it aside. It looked at Celestia with a wicked smile, "Who would have thought that all it took to finally defeat you was a stupid, religious mortal. And now if you excuse me."

Like lightning, the thing grabbed ahold of David and lifted him up by his throat. It tore its eyes into his soul and a migraine suddenly began to torment him. His vision went blank for a moment as he felt something tearing out of his mind. A small, crystalline humanoid, the one he saw in his dream, popped out of his head and materialized in the palm of the armored figure. The small humanoid seemed to be afraid of it, yet it was unable to flee from it. It crushed the small creature and inhaled the fine dust that was left of its body.

In the meantime, David tried to wrangle himself free but to no avail. Now the attention of the devilish thing was fully on him, "Don't even try to escape, you are already a dead man," it opened its mouth and sucked the same kind of blue mist out of his armor as it did from his longsword.

"Who are you?" David managed to ask with the small air he was able to push through his windpipe.

"I am The Great Lord Zoh!" It yelled with sarcasm after it finished gathering the magic from his enchanted armor and it tightened its grasp around his neck, "And now, it's time to meet your parents," the last thing David heard was a snap.

---

The body of David fell to the ground with a loud thud and remained unmoving. Celestia watched on helplessly as she tried to breathe life into her still bloody horn, "How could you?" She asked out of anger, "You deceived him into believing that you are his god, then you made a monster out of him, and now you killed him!" She yelled out in rage and cast a magic bolt at the figure, but only sparks appeared out of her horn.

"Oh please, he was already a monster," it said with a bored voice, "You should have seen the things he had done back at his world. Compared to that today was a peaceful day to him," it slowly made its way towards Celestia. With every step of the figure, the ground shook beneath its hooves. Celestia got up and tried to run away from it, although she was only able to take a few steps before an excruciating pain shot through her chest and made her fall down.

"Why do this Celestia?" It asked as it turned her body over to her back and stepped on her belly, "Are you trying to avoid the inevitable?" It grabbed Celestia by the neck as well and lifted her up to eye-level. She tried to cast a magic bolt again, but this time her horn didn't even light up, "I guess you won't be needing this now," it broke off Celestia's magicless horn effortlessly and watched on in sadistic joy as she screamed out in agony. The Royal Guard heard her and was now on their way in mass to help her.

"Look, they want to save you!" It said out of faked shock as it grabbed her cheeks and forced her to look at the guards, "They deserve some kind of punishment, don't you think?" It asked rhetorically and snapped its talons once. A dozen bolts of lightning came down from the sky and struck each and every one of the Royal Guards, turning their bodies into a bloody mist as they exploded.

"No!" She cried out and began to thrash around in its grasp "Just kill me already!" She tried to punch the thing in the head, but it barely made it flinch.

"Oh, I don't want to just kill you, that would be barbaric!" It exclaimed and pretended to be offended at her words, "I want to make you suffer for defeating me so many times!" It punched her in the stomach while grinning. She puked blood on its face, but it only licked it off with a vicious smile, "And now, after a thousand years, I am the one defeating you!" It shouted in excitement and laughed a wicked laugh before extending its talons on its other hand, "Goodbye who-"

David's longsword pierced the figure between the gaps in its armor and stabbed it through the chest. It tried to grasp for air, but it couldn't. It let go of Celestia, who fell to the ground barely conscious. She lifted her head to look at the figure. She saw as a blue mist was coming out of the creature and into the longsword. It slowly twisted its talons around the blade and opened its mouth, but then the weapon was pulled out of it and it pierced the figure again, this time in the stomach.

The magic was quickly vanishing from its body and the figure began burning along with its armor like a piece of paper starting from its two gaping holes in its body. Soon all it remained from it were ashes that the wind blew away.

David was the only one who remained standing on the battlefield, and even he collapsed to the ground not long after. He was heavily wheezing, and he had trouble controlling his limbs, but he was still very much alive.

---

David's mind was blank. He defeated the great evil, the true fake god, yet it was no different to him than taking a step. It was insignificant. All the blood he spilled, all the lives he tried to save were now in vain. In a few hours, he managed to screw up his life more than he would have ever dared to imagine. He felt such sorrow, such sadness that it had overloaded him. He couldn't cry, he couldn't frown, he could only smile.

"David," the princess called out to him and said something that now sounded gibberish to him.

"I can't understand you," he answered to whatever she might have said while pointing a finger at his ear and laughing. Celestia looked confused at him and she began crawling towards him. She was speaking in a shooting motherly tone, but it did not affect him. He stood up on uncontrollably shaking legs while blood was still dripping out of his stomach, yet he paid no attention to it. He didn't plan on living long enough to worry about the blood loss. He just began to tear off his armor while chuckling to himself.

When Celestia arrived next to him she grabbed one of his hands in her hooves and began rubbing it gently. Without a second thought, he withdrew his hand and continued with his task after he took a few steps away from her. She still tried talking to him, not giving up hope that she might be able to get her message despite the language barrier.

"Don't you understand that I don't understand?" He asked as the remaining happiness faded away from him and depression slowly filled him. He kicked off his boots from his feet and he made his way towards the garden's edge. Celestia was now yelling at him desperately and he heard her hooves scratching away at the frozen ground as she dragged herself forward.

When he arrived at the stone fence he looked down. He was only able to see white and brown from that high up. He turned around to see Celestia putting her hooves together and presumably begging him. He felt some joy in knowing that after all this she still cared about him and he weakly smiled. He tried to come up with some final words, but his creativity long abandoned the sinking ship that was now him.

"Thank you," he said with his final breath and he threw himself over the edge.

He only heard her screaming his name for a split second as the sound of the rushing wind drowned out everything else. His body felt chilled as the cold air cooled him off. He closed his eyes. He thought he would feel regret, sorrow, or even the same depression that was weighing on him right before jumping, yet he felt glad. He knew what he had done now was the best thing he would have ever done to this world. His only regret now was that he didn't listen to the little helping voice sooner.

His parents came to his mind. He felt happy that he would reunite with them after all this time. He especially wondered if his father would finally be proud of him. He was still a monster, but at least he was now a de-

Author's Note:

As promised, here is the final chapter, and also a few words from me.

For the third time, I would like to apologize for the long wait. My mind and energy were drawn elsewhere and this little story got forgotten by me for a very long time, but I finally managed to get myself together and finish it.

I mentioned that during this one and a half year I wasn't only sitting around. I actually practiced my English writing skills a lot and I also read a lot of books in order to see examples of well-crafted stories. Unfortunately, this had the side effect of me realizing just how bad 'A defender's quest for...' is. I'm really not satisfied with it, but at the same time, I kinda don't want to fix it. I want to keep it as it is, to be a reminder for me as to where I started from.

Alright, I'm rambling now, so maybe I should go away from the keyboard and rest some. I might make a blog post, or whatever it is called, explaining everything in detail for those few people who are mildly interested in it. Although this is not a promise, and even if I convince myself to do it, it will be an awful blog post, as I am terrible at writing these things, as you can tell.

Okay, this is really the end now. I thank all of you for reading my garbage story, and I would like to hear your opinions and feedback, so if you are thinking about sharing it then please, do so.

Have a nice day/evening!