Guardian of Equestria

by Armyidiot

A New Princess, A New Visitor

Author's Note:

This chapter is really shit, and I swear the next ones are so much better. I really need to redo this one, so please don't think bad when reading it. The quality just dips here for some reason and it bugs me too. Honestly, it does get better.

Heaross finally awoke in a forest, at nighttime, no sign of Warlic around, and with a massive amount of ambient magic floating around. This day was going swimmingly... And then there were the wolves he was now hearing. Yep, this day has just been peachy. Absolutely perfect. Dammit Warlic...

Remembering his Guardian training, Heaross took stock of everything. His body and armor were still entirely intact, nothing changed there besides the slight headache he was now feeling. That was possibly due to the unfiltered mana floating around, but a potion may help. The second thing he checked were his followers. Fortunately, the 2 he had following him were still intact, apparently unharmed, but currently unconscious. Fred and his Mau of Osiris. Fred, his loyal pack mule, always carrying his armor and equipment, was someone that was rarely remembered, unless the situation called for him. The Mau of Osiris was his, for lack of a better term, battle cat. She - yes the Mau was a she - was a Persian breed of cat, hairless yet fierce. The Mau also had a curse on her that she sometimes used for battles to scare his opponents. Heaross thought it looked kind of cool, when not being targeted by it. They were both fine, if maybe a little startled when they woke up. He should probably grab the treats for his cat.

After checking his equipment and items, making sure everything was still there, Heaross looked around where he was, trying to figure out if something wrong had happened with the spell. It was midday when he went to check out the flux, but by the looks of it, it was somewhere past dusk, maybe near midnight. The moon's position told him that yes, it was close to midnight. Looking around further, he started seeing very bright lights coming from somewhere off in the distance, away from the woods. It might be another temporal anomaly, or it could be a mage battle. Neither one of those sounded good right about now. But, if someone was in danger, then his code of Guardianship forced him to protect whoever was in danger. But he couldn't leave Fred and Mau, they could be in danger if left alone. He thought quickly about what he could do.

Wait, he thought, I have that pocket dimension for my pets! I can just put them both there, and get them when they wake up. Quickly opening the controlled portal, he carried both to a bed he had placed there, and laid them upon it. Satisfied they would be safe in there, he closed the portal and set upon the lights, which were a considerable distance closer than he originally thought. As it was, it took him less than a minute to reach it, where the light was also centered in the middle of a rural town, not altogether unlike his hometown of Battleon. Though, instead of humans or the other bipedal races there, he found lightly colored ponies. Some of them were what appeared to be unicorns, while others were pegasi, while some had neither wings nor horn. As the situation went, practically none of the small horses noticed Heaross, currently too busy watching the strange light manifesting. There was one pony who had noticed him though, colored an almost cyan color, who was doing the most adorable squee he had ever heard.

Ignoring whoever it was for the time being, Heaross could see some shapes inside of the ball of magic starting to form. There was a strange 6 pointed star, with some smaller stars being formed around it, and a shape most like the little ponies here, but almost blindingly white. It lowered to the ground and formed entirely into a lavender colored unicorn. The most striking thing about the pony were the sudden wings flared out to the sides of it. A winged unicorn? A horned pegasus? Heaross was unsure what to call the strange creature, but his question was shortly answered by another pony near the lavender one, colored a light orange, who called out to it, "Twilight? Is that you?"

So its name is Twilight? Strange, but he has seen weirder names. Just as he was about to approach, another 5 ponies rushed towards Twilight, one of them being the orange one from earlier. They crowded her, sharing hugs and apparent relief for something. Maybe she had disappeared before Heaross arrived, and was just now reappearing. Finally thinking it an appropriate time, Heaross made his presence known by simply walking towards the group of 6, and handing one of his health potions to Twilight. Needless to say, the following freak out by other 5 was somewhat expected. Giving a tired sigh, Heaross said, "Drink this. You should feel your strength return and your mind cleared. And don't think I'm here for conquest or to hurt anyone. My name is Heaross and I am a Guardian. My first and foremost priority is to make sure any and all beings are safe and in good condition. From the reaction of your dear friends, I'm going to guess the wings are new?"

Twilight seemed very taken aback, yet managed to keep her calm in the presence of this tall, armored guardian, as he called himself. After a moment, she replied, "Umm... yeah the wings are new. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends." After noticing the strange bottled liquid, she asked, "What's in this? You said it could heal, but I'm a little unsure. I don't mean any offense, but you did just show up."

"No offense taken, Twilight Sparkle. I'd be wary if some tall stranger just showed up and started talking about protecting people as well. This, Twilight, is a potion. More specifically, a healing potion. It can heal most injuries almost instantly, and give a boost to spent reserves of energy. Counting that one, I have 35 stored for use. Normally for use in a fight, I will give one to another if needs be. Drink it and you'll find yourself at your tip performance in seconds. Drink it slowly, the energy boost is quite substantial."

Taking his word for it, the lavender colored pony takes a small drink of the strange red potion, quickly drinking the small amount. After a moment of looking surprised, she drunk the rest of the potion slower than the first sip. After downing the entire potion, she says to Heaross, "By the Maker, that is hard to swallow! How can you drink 35 of those?"

Heaross gives a hearty chuckle and smiles, replying, "Yeah, the first time is always hard on the mouth. My first one I almost threw up. Drink a few more and you'll find it isn't that bad to drink. Almost like a strong wine." After giving a thoughtful look, he says, "I don't mean to alarm you, but I think your friends over there are terrified of me." A loud hiss was heard from a pink pony, further proving his point.

"Pinkie, I don't think its appropriate for right now to be scared. Heaross seems genuinely concerned for my safety. The same goes for the rest of you." Soon realizing that she hadn't introduced them to Heaross, she spoke, "Heaross, as you can tell, these are my friends."

Pointing to an orange pony with an orange stetson hat on her head, "This is Applejack," pointing to a blue pegasus with a vibrant rainbow mane, "that's Rainbow Dash," pointing to white unicorn with a lustrous purple mane, "there's Rarity," pointing to the pink pony that had hissed at Heaross, "she is Pinkie Pie," and pointing to the last pony, a very shy looking yellow pegasus, "and this is Fluttershy. Normally, they're all good natured and very nice, but I guess the same thing that happened with Zecora is happening again now."

"Xenophobia?"

"You know what that means? We are going to be the best of friends, if mine here can get over themselves and not be so rude."

"Just give them time Twilight. I would be willing to bet that my first impressions probably weren't that good." And just to prove his point further, suddenly a great white mass slammed into Heaross knocking him away from Twilight and the others. Quickly flipping himself right, he landed on his feet and prepared for what could be a very long and hard fight. While the blow he received didn't hurt, he couldn't tell what element his new foe was using, so he stuck with the Ultra Guardian Armor, preferring its strong earth, fire and darkness resistances.

"Get away from my ponies, human! I won't let you hurt them!" The new player in the game certainly didn't like him, so he prepared himself for a good fight, steeling his nerves and drawing his sword and shield.

"And just might who you be, ruler? I warn you, I don't want to fight you, but if you force my hand then I will be forced to subdue you," said Heaross, not one ounce of fear showing from his eyes, but rather a conviction of a fight, and the excitement it brings.

"I am Princess Celestia, and I know of what your kind bring. Death, disease, war, just to name a few. And don't start thinking for a moment that I will let you hurt my subjects, for you will have to go through me first!"

Well, this might not end well. I really don't want to kill a princess, and this entire thing seems to be a misunderstanding. If I have to, I'll fight, but I don't think killing the ruler would help me out, so nonlethal take down should suffice. I don't know what she would be using to fight, though I think its a safe bet to wager magic, considering that long horn she has. Let's try for a bit of peace first off though. His internal monologue done, Heaross starts by saying, "Princess Celestia, I think we may have a misunderstanding here. I don't come in the name of my people, or to start some war. My name is Heaross, and I am of the Guardian Order. Our mission to maintain peace and protect those who cannot protect themselves. I was transported here after a teleporting spell was blasted with a high concentration of pure mana, emanating from a temporal flux that I was sent to investigate. I am here at this town because I had noticed a strange light coming from some point here. As it turns out, the strange light coalesced into the form of Twilight Sparkle. I have given her a health potion for any fatigue and wounds she may have sustained while being in whatever realm that she was in. As you can see, she is in good health and bears no ill will towards me nor I her. She has introduced me to her friends and herself, and I see no threat here that requires my services, aside from yourself."

Not quite believing Heaross, but willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, questions Twilight about his words and and truthfulness regarding his actions. After supporting and confirming what she has seen and said, Celestia says to the Guardian, "While I may not trust you or your kind, I will reserve judgement until a later date so as to question whether you are truly trustworthy or not. Don't think though that I will not fight you. If you dare harm my ponies in any way, then I will blast you with the force of the sun itself."

"I thank you for your willingness to not attack me Celestia, though I must warn you as well that attacking me would not end well for you. You may have the power of the sun at your command, but I doubt even someone like you would be able to defeat me. I have faced foes of such strength, that they have destroyed mountains in single blows. You cannot best me."

"We will see about that. For now, I have matters to attend to, like helping dear Twilight Sparkle adjust to becoming an alicorn." Keeping true to her word, Celestia began to speak with Twilight about her wings, and helping her adjust. After a moment, Twilight began to run and jumped high, testing her new wings. Amazingly, she managed to take flight, despite being completely new to it. Sighing, Heaross opened the portal to his pets and called out his Sphinx.

Once she had come out, Heaross closed the portal and gave her instructions to tail Twilight and catch her when she starts to inevitably fall. After pointing out who was Twilight, the sphinx took flight and followed her, who was whooping and cheering for her new wings. After about 3 minutes of sustained flight, quite impressive considering how new she was, she started dipping, her energy drained from using her wings so much. Following Heaross' command, the sphinx caught twilight on her back and gently touched down, allowing the new alicorn to step off, seeming quite tired after flying so long. Coming back to her master, Heaross fed her a fresh rat he found while they were flying and fed it to the sphinx. "Thank you Heaross. I will rest for now, unless you have need of me again."

"Thank you, Sphinx, for catching Twilight. I don't have need of you now, so you may return." Opening the portal, the lion-eagle hybrid creature walked in, preparing for some well deserved rest. Closing the portal, Heaross walked over to Twilight, making sure she wasn't hurt from straining herself so much in the first time flying. Aside from being tired, Twilight was fine, her wings still in good condition, if a bit strained.

Rainbow Dash came to him then and said, "If you're so new here, why are you acting like we're such good friends and trying to protect us?"

"For 2 reasons, Rainbow Dash." the hardened warrior replied, "1 is because of my Guardian Code. I have sworn an oath to protect and care for any beings I see that may need any help, and maintain peace throughout all lands. The second reason is are we not friends? And things like this are what friends do for each other? I mean, I could be entirely wrong and your instead supposed to slap your friends every time you see them, but that doesn't seem like something very friendly to do."

Seeing the smirk and detecting sarcasm just dripping from his voice, Rainbow decided to let the matter drop. Finishing up with making sure Twilight was healthy, he noticed the shy little Fluttershy approaching him, if a bit nervously. With just the most cutest little voice, and almost cowering in fright, she simply asked the big man, "Can I please see your pet again?"

"I swear to god if I ever find a cuter thing than that I will eat my own sword. Yes, Fluttershy, you can. I have a better idea though. Would you like to see all of my pets?" With the most genuine smile, she nodded yes. "Okay then, follow me." Opening the portal to where he stored all of his pets when they weren't helping him fight or keeping him company, he led Fluttershy inside, showing her a world of animals and exotic beasts, tamed and trained. "You may want to stay back for a moment." Stepping back, though with some question, she simply watched as Heaross raised his arms wide, steadied himself, and shouted, "COME GIVE ME A HUG!" Suddenly, the massive wave of animals barreling over him entirely engulfed Heaross, blocking her sight for about 30 seconds. After he had finally come up for air, smiling, he introduced all of them to Fluttershy, and her to them.

Her squeals of enjoyment at seeing so many animals almost gave Heaross a heart attack from adorableness. "Oh my, there are so many! And they're all so cute! I can't hug enough of them!" Despite her attempts at it.

After about 10 minutes of nonstop hugging and praising each of the animals, Heaross decides that she's been here long enough, and that any more would legitimately give him a heart attack. As strong as his potions are, they don't stop heart attacks. "Come on, Fluttershy. Your friends might get worried if you're gone too long. Maybe when we have some time I'll let you come back here." Even after hearing the many groans and complaints about her leaving, Heaross was resolute in the fact that if they were gone any longer, someone might get worried and jump to conclusions.

Opening the portal and promising to his pets and to Fluttershy that she would be able to come back some time, they left the pocket dimension, Fluttershy intent on going immediately to her friends and relating her experiences with the many animals of Heaross' world. The warrior, meanwhile, set about the town, intent on exploring and becoming familiar with his surroundings. He saw many things there, the most notable of which were a large tree holding a Library, a pink candy covered building which he found to be a confectionery shop, and a clothing store with a carousel on the top. This is certainly a world Aria or Robina might enjoy, being the embodiment of every young girl's dream. Warlic would be too fascinated with the magic and all of its properties, while Artix... Heaross was genuinely unsure what Artix would think of this world. He hadn't found any malicious or otherwise evil people here, so he would probably just be bored, wanting something to fight. The wasabi loving paladin always treasured a good fight. That's what made him such a good sparring partner.

...damn, its only been a few hours and I'm already missing Battleon. I really hope Warlic remembers our interdimensional protocol, I don't want to be stuck here any longer than I have to. Maybe I should summon Dunamis and see what he says. I don't even know if I can summon him... The bad part is the same would apply for the Sisters of Mercy... Oh shit, if I can't summon them then I can't summon the Guardian Dragon! Maybe I could still summon Death... Death has said before that all domains are his to collect souls from... That would be the smartest move... Yeah, once I get a chance, I'll summon him and see what he has to say.

Exceedingly annoyed now, Heaross stops, turns around, and calls out to any listening, "I know you're following me. If you have a question, I'm more than happy to answer it, otherwise, leave me alone." After a moment, not entirely satisfied that whoever was tailing him left, Heaross continued on his exploration of the town and its surrounding areas.

...okay who is following me and why? I understand I'm a new site for everyone here, but that doesn't mean its okay to follow me around like some spy. Now very thoroughly perturbed, Heaross stops again, but decides to switch to his Fujin equipment to use the power of winds to ascend high into the air and see who it was that was spying on him. Easily locking onto them, he silently touches down behind them and walks right to their back. "So, who you spying on?"

The very high pitched scream tells him that this is either a girl, or a boy going through puberty. Due to the size of said pony, he goes with girl. "How did you get behind me, and how did you know I was following you?" Yep, that squeaky voice definitely belongs to a girl.

"I'm a Guardian, and I'm a Guardian. The better question here is why were you following me? And who are you?"

Taking a deep breath of air, the girl, despite now being at the mercy of Heaross, says very levelly, "My name is Lyra, and I've been studying humans for a long time. You are a human, right?" After a nod from the Guardian, she continues, "I want to learn more about humans, and how your people work. I thought the best way would be to follow you and learn from your movements and mannerisms."

Taking a deep breath, exhaling into a long, drawn out sigh, inhaling again, Heaross finally speaks, "And you really thought that would work? Little lesson for you, if you are curious about someone or where they're from, it's not considered rude to ask them about it. What is rude is following them around, thinking they won't mind. It's also less effective at learning about them. I'll teach you some things, but later. I have a lot on my mind right now, and it's been a really tiring day. If you'll excuse me now, good night. And if I find you following me again, I won't be as merciful the next time."

Taking his words to heart, Lyra rushed off to parts unknown, probably in fear of what would happen if she stuck around. Finally... God, today has been really exhausting. A potion may help restore my energy, but that doesn't mean that it's better than a good night of sleep... Question though, where the hell am I gonna sleep tonight?

Comments

[RuneStone]

Good start so far. Can't wait to read more.

[Armyidiot]

8324533
thanks, another chapter might go up tonight or tomorrow