Honor Above All Else

by Honored Service

To Meet the End

Honor Above All Else

Chapter 41

By Honored Service

Preread by TheDarkAngel

I held my unwavering glare, which Day Terror met with her own anger filled stare. For what felt like hours, we stared each other down, neither of us faltering as the battle between the Royal Guards and the attacking shadows continued to rage on. I gripped the Element of Protection so tightly that my knuckles turned white.

"So, human," Day Terror called out across the stretch of barren land littered with the bodies of shadows, "this is where it ends. Funny isn't it?"

"How so?" I spat back, trying to make my voice drip malice and hatred at the creature before me. I felt the presence of the other Elements behind me, I could feel their strength radiating from their magical source and fueling all of us together.

"Think Honored. A year ago we were in this exact same situation. Nightmare against the fabled human warrior. Canterlot and in that, all of Equestria on the line." Day Terror cackled madly into the sky as the green flickering flames leapt up all around her legs.

"It sure is. Only this time," I smiled my cocky smile; flashing my teeth at her, "I brought a few friends to help in kicking your ass."

Day Terror narrowed her eyes and pawed a hoof against the ground at me. I raised the sword above my head and tipped the lethal sharp blade down towards the earth. "Let's end this."

Day Terror charged directly at me. I jumped forward, sprinting towards the charging alicorn. Green flames exploded in front of me, attempting to halt my advance. I raised my left arm and fired a blast of my own magic from the black gauntlet and jumped through the brief gap created in the wall of burning magic. I tucked and rolled as I hit the ground and sprang to my feet, swishing my sword of Protection through the belly of a Shadow Champion that was raising both of its arm blades to strike me down. It toppled over in a pool of black gooey blood as Day Terror jumped over its corpse and swung her wicked long horn at my throat.

My sword swung up and caught her horn before she could land the deadly blow. Green, red, black, and blue electric sparks exploded from the clashing of the two weapons. One bone, the other forged magic metal. Day Terror pulled her head back to swing again, but she was suddenly overwhelmed by the fast moving and lightning strikes of Quick Flurry, who danced around the alicorn, striking out and smashing his dagger against her horn and armored legs. Each one of his blows was blocked expertly by Day Terror as she found herself pushed back farther and into her own ranks.

"Duck!" Sergeant Stand Bold hollered as a flying pink-tipped crossbow bolt flew through the air towards Day Terror's head. Quick Flurry slid under Day Terror, as the bolt was deflected by a quick blast of her magic. The bolt tumbled backwards and landed right in between my legs.

"Oh fuck me-"

The explosion rocketed me into the air where I dropped back to the ground, ten meters away. I sat up and rolled to the side just as a long horn stabbed into the ground where my stomach had just been.

I pushed myself to my feet as the horn blasted a magical burst right at me. I turned the sword up and caught the spell against its glowing red surface. Panting heavily, I angled the sword down and sprinted back towards Day Terror. This fight was just beginning.

---

Princess Luna watched from the side of the large carriage flying over Canterlot as the battle raged on. Twilight Sparkle stared in horrific awe next to the Princess. She found it hard to believe that the war torn land below her was once her home. It was so... different.

The town homes and shops were hollowed out shells of burnt lives. The parks and trees were on fire from Day Terror's evil spells. It was a scene straight from Tartarus.

"Ah can't believe this is happening." Applejack stammered out. She ducked behind the side of the carriage railing and covered her eyes with her brown Stetson.

Rainbow Dash just stared at the fighting below her. She could make out the faint sounds of the battle being fought far down on the ground. She was safe up here, but down there, down there was where ponies were dying to protect her home, and she wasn't able to do anything.

Pinkie Pie must have been able to read Rainbow's mind, because she placed a tentative hoof on her back and whispered softly to the pegasus, "Don't worry Dash. Well get down there and help. I pinkie promise."

Luna looked at the weapon lying next to her. The human's M240B was waiting to roll. He had given it to her for purpose. And that purpose was fighting alongside that crazy and rambunctious warrior. Luna briefly entertained the idea of grabbing the weapon and gliding down from the carriage and joining the fight from above, just as she had done before. But the six other ponies behind her made sure she didn't do that.

"Girls once we get to the camp, we are to wait until the Elements of Sanctuary have gathered to provide us with safe passage to the castle. There you can blast Day Terror, save Celestia, and bring out the Nightmare. And this time he'll stay dead. Honored will make sure of that."

The carriage dropped lower towards the camp, but that meant it was within range of the shadow's newest terror. Nightmare Leapers.

These lanky looking shadow humans possessed the ability to jump extremely far distances that seemed to break the laws of gravity. Its long claws attached to the end of each limb could easily shred flesh and slash through bone. The leaper noticed the approaching carriage and labeled it its prey.

It soared through the air, unleashing a hellish scream as it neared the carriage. Rarity happened to be looking over the side and caught sight of the glowing red eyes as the neared their ride.

"Oh my, ahhhhh!"

Four arrows as bright as the sun itself lodged themselves into the creature, and as if it was suddenly made of lead, it dropped to the earth far below.

The carriage dipped quickly and landed in the center of the heavily guarded market square where a unicorn wielding a gorgeous silver bow stepped forward and bowed to the princess. His silver mane was burnt, covered in dirt, and uncombed, but he wore a grime smile on his face as the Princess approached the guard.

"Ah, Battle Plan I see that your Element has found you." Luna smiled a knowing smile to the archer as he placed his bow across his back.

"Or I it, Princess. Did you know?"

Luna gave a sly look to the pony before responding. "I had a slight idea once Honored was placed in your squad." Princess Luna looked around with a confused look on her face. "Speaking of Honored, where is the human at? You usually keep him on a short leash."

Battle Plan turned his head back towards the battlefield that was now covered in the darkness of the Equestrian night, save for the random burning patches of magical flames. "Funny you should mention that, but I always thought you and Princess Celestia controlled his leash."

Luna wasn't amused as she continued to stare at the unicorn. The Elements of Harmony had gathered around and stood behind Princess Luna.

"Where is he? We need him to discuss the attack on the castle and get the Elements to Day Terror."

"Well we sort of... umm..."

Hammer Strike appeared next to Battle Plan to save him from the Princess' hard glare. With his dirty, gnarly blue coat, Hammer Strike also had seen his fair share of fighting. The Elements of Harmony all gasped slightly at the mammoth size of the lumbering earth pony.

"Princess," Hammer's deep voice rolled out as everypony listened, "he dashed ahead of us to fight Day Terror. We tried to catch up, but there were so many shadows, so we were forced to fight them."

Luna sighed and rubbed a hoof to her temple. She then levitated the machine gun the human had given her. She opened the feed tray and dragged a belt of 7.62mm rounds into the weapon. With a slight burst of energy, she racked the charging handle back and loaded the first round into the chamber. "I'll go get the annoying warrior. Battle Plan, get the other Elements of Sanctuary and guard these girls with your lives."

"Consider it done your highness." Battle Plan bowed as a one-winged yellow pegasus strutted up to the group.

"Guard some fine young mares?" Quick Flurry winked at the girls. Rarity blushed heavily, Fluttershy ducked behind her mane with a squeak, Applejack cocked her head to side, Pinkie Pie blew a kiss back, Twilight blushed along with Rarity, and Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. But her mood changed when an armor-clad pegasus swooped in from the sky and landed next to Battle Plan and Hammer Strike.

"Stand Bold!" Rainbow jumped forward and locked herself into a fierce hug with the tan pegasus. "I'm so glad you’re safe! I was worried sick."

"Worried about little ol' me?" Sergeant Stand Bold laughed and returned the hug. "I'm here Dash. Nothing happened."
"Ugh, gag me with all this cute stuff." Gilda drifted down to the ground and found Rainbow Dash hanging onto her new coltfriend.

"Gilda, you're okay too!" The griffon also received a large hug from the prism-maned mare.
From the shadows behind the group, Covert simply appeared and strolled up to Hammer Strike. "Ah, Luna, very nice to see you again."

"Likewise, Shadow Covert." Luna smiled politely to the shadow as his shadow M249 vanished into his hands. The long curved blade stayed strapped along his back. The shadow still made her slightly uncomfortably, but if Honored Service trusted him, then she certainly could.

"Then ponies," Luna nodded to the ponies, "and others," she nodded to Gilda and Covert, "I'm off to collect our human before he can hurt himself before the morning sun."

---

I smashed into the ground hard and skidded through the dirt to a stop, creating a ditch into the ground. I sat up and spat a mouthful of the offending soil out while wiping my armored sleeve across my forehead. Blood was stained across its surface. I gripped the sword tighter as I squared off with Day Terror.

The alicorn's evil smile seemed to brighten the darkness around us. The sun had long since set and plunged the battle into an eerie burning landscape of combat.

"What's wrong, human? Running out of energy? Maybe this next blow will be the final one." She laughed as another bolt of magic shot forth from her curved horn right towards me. I leapt to the side while flipping the sword from my left hand to the right, freeing my gauntlet as I launched my own burst of magic. The green ball of fire smashed into the ground in front of Day Terror and blinded her momentary. She shrieked and flew backwards giving me a chance to re-center myself and ready my weapon. The Sword of Protection continued to cast its red glow around me.

Fuck. In my anger towards Nightmare I had ran away from my allies and now found myself alone with Day Terror. I couldn't kill her, so I was simply just dodging her attacks and trying to stay out of her deadly range. I was failing. My scorched armor and burnt clothing showed that much.

"What are you trying to prove, Nightmare?!" I screamed into the darkness. I swung around, keeping the sword in a guard position.

From all around me, the deep rough feminine voice of Day Terror echoed all around. "What's to prove? I'm simply taking over. Equestria will be mine. Power really. All I want is power. You should know this. We were the same thing for a year."

"And you were my friend!" I screamed back at the surrounding pitch black landscape.

I rolled to the ground just a Day Terror swooped low to the ground and tried to gore me with her horn. I came up to my feet and swung the sword like a bat, contacting her horn, knocking her to the ground. She plowed into the earth head first, her attack failing. I then jumped the gap between us and slammed a fist into the side of Day Terror's unarmored helmet side. Over and over again I slammed my fist with the Kevlar combat glove into her head. I held the fist up for another blow and looked down.
For a brief second, the burning red eye of Day Terror and Nightmare was replaced by the soft pink eye of Celestia. I hesitated.

"Save...my...ponies." The words came out as barely a whisper.

"Celestia!" I gasped and dropped my sword and picked up her head. As soon as I did, I felt the change in my hands. Intense heat and then I was kicked in the gut, and sent flying through the air. I quickly reached out and jerked the sword back into my grasp Luke Skywalker style. I tumbled across the ground before sliding to a halt on one knee. I smiled.

Celestia was still okay. And Nightmare was slipping because Celestia had been able to break free briefly. "It's almost over Celestia! Hang in there!" I screamed in a victorious roar.

Day Terror lunged at me, I braced for the hit, but it never came. I looked to see Luna smash into Day Terror's side and knock her to the ground. The floating M240B stayed behind her as she took up a wide legged stance opposite her evil turned sister.

"Honored, run."

"Excuse me?" I said, standing up and positioning my sword above my head.

"You can't do this alone. You need to wait for the other Elements." Luna huffed at me, the machine gun trained on Day Terror as she lined up with the two of us.

"Well then, where are they?" I said through gritted teeth.

"Back at camp, and that's where we are going. There has been enough fighting for today. The other Elements of Sanctuary need to rest, and so do you." In a hushed whisper she added, "We need a plan. We need you, Honored."

I looked to Day Terror and then back to Princess Luna. I sighed and slowly began backing away. I felt defeated. I felt like a quitter. But something appeared in Luna's eyes as I carefully backed away from the evil alicorn. Relief? Happiness? I couldn't tell. But she was definitely elated about something.

Day Terror laughed hysterically before leaping into the sky and disappearing towards the castle. I watched her leave, and felt a stone form in the bottom of my stomach.

"Honored," Luna placed a wing on my back. She gently rubbed it up and down, "I know you want to save my sister, but we need you too." I looked up to Luna who quickly looked away from me.

We walked back towards the camp. Luna was explaining the attack tomorrow morning, first thing at dawn. Her sister's favorite part of the day. That's when we would get her back.

Comments

[ShadowHunter241]

*SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*

*Ahem* ... New Chapter!

[no longer on]

I woke up in the morning and saw this. Then everyone in my house woke up because of me. I'm screwed.

[FenrisianBrony]

Ahhhhhhh.
It. Is . Alive!

[Trihors]

He's gonna ship Luna with Honored, at least almost.
I call it now right here because I'm too tired to read the next chapter... for now...

[BCCgb]

Pinkie Pie must have been able to read Rainbow's mind, because she placed a tentative hoof on her back and whispered softly to the pegasus, "Don't worry Dash. Well get down there and help. I pinkie promise."

*We'll
YES YES YES YES YES YES! finally, after long wait!

[MetalGearPony]

so i was sitting on the couch at 9 AM when i saw this and screamed "F**K YEAH!!!!" and woke my roommates up they wanted to see what i was exited about and i said "what i didnt say anything" LOL

[Delta Asada]

i was wondering when you were going to update the story I have been waiting for who know how long and finally I am now able to be able to get more of the story. Personally I want to know why you took so long to update?

[damnaion]

lol dam this is good and loving it

[Shadow Faith]

3323035 wow...you acually wrote something a bit diffrent this time?!

[Razor Blaze]

3323035 bb

[thetanarmy]

3323035 le gasp something different