• Published 4th Aug 2012
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Honor Above All Else - Honored Service



Honored Service returns to tell the tale of his year long disappearance.

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The Daybreak

Honored Above All Else

Chapter 43

By Honored Service

Preread by TheDarkAngel and Tbone5363


"Honored, this is it." Luna approached me. "We only have one chance, so just remember, the Nightmare you knew, the one you were with for a year; he was a lie."

I turned, a fire burning in my eye. This fight wasn't to protect ponies, this one; this one was for pure revenge. I wanted nothing more than to destroy Nightmare and inflect as much pain as possible on his being. And I planned on doing just that.


Day Terror sat inside the castle throne room. This was it. The Shadows had failed. There were a few left in the front rooms of the castle, but they were as good as dead. They all had failed and had fallen at the hands of that human. Even the shadow humans failed to live up to real thing.

Nightmare summoned up the required amount of magic and brought one of the most powerful and rare magical books from the royal library secured wing and studied the spell. It was a duplication spell created by the famous Starswirl the Bearded. But the spell was meant to work on inanimate objects only. But at this point, Nightmare was willing to try anything. It would have to work. This was Nightmare's final ace in the hole.

"Well, human, I've realized what the most powerful creature is."

Nightmare launched one of the most powerful spells he had ever cast, even more powerful than the spell that had changed the pony into the Nightmare to begin with. A flash filled the room that was as intense as the sun, as a sole scream echoed through the castle.


From outside the castle doors, I closed my eyes from the bright light that leaked through the cracks in the door. I dropped my rifle and pistol to the ground and cupped my hands over my ears as a horrible piercing shriek drowned out every other noise around me. Everypony behind me shielded their eyes and ears from the offending light and noise.

"What the hell?" I turned around to the ponies, but every unicorn with me was lying on the ground in great agony. Even Princess Luna was swaying side to side.

"Luna, what was that?" I asked concerned for her. I placed a hand on her side while reaching down and picking up my rifle.

"A magic burst. It was. Oh my, so strong. Nightmare just did something. Something bad. Evil." Princess Luna laid down softy as Applejack and Pinkie Pie ran to her side. I readied my weapons in front of me, after securing the pistol.

"Elements of Sanctuary, let's go. Be ready." I raised a foot back and planted a kick on the door above the handle. The great oak doors flew open as I stormed into the foyer.

I swept my rifle and pistol across the room, single shots ringing out through the room as a few stranded shadows dropped to the ground, staining the white marble floors and columns with black blood and fragments of brain and bone.

"Clear!" I called out. The Elements of Harmony slowly moved in behind the Elements of Sanctuary in the foyer. "Stay here. I'll move to the throne room. Once I clear it, we can move out."

"What if she's in there?" Battle Plan asked.

"Then I'll scream really freaking loud." I smiled and nodded to the ponies. I moved forward, rolling on my feet to avoid creating lots of noise as I moved down the hallway towards the doors leading to the throne room. I holstered the pistol, but kept the rifle trained dead ahead.

I placed a hand on the door handle and pushed the tall door leading into the large throne room. I stepped into the room and the door shut behind me. I looked around, nothing seemed strange. It was empty save for a large black scorch mark covering a part of the floor.

Wait.

"Princess Celestia!" I yelled and sprinted forward across the throne room. Celestia was lying on her side in front of her throne. Around her laid scattered pieces of the armor Day Terror had worn into battle. I was almost to her when the hit came from the side.

I flew through the air and crashed into one of the throne room walls. I fell limp to ground and slowly pushed myself up against the wall. I held the rifle up and dropped it. I stared in disbelief.

Standing in front of me was a human.

Not a shadow human, but a real fucking human.

A human duplicate of myself. I was staring up at a crooked smiling human. Its skin was a darker red color with jet black hair cut short like my hair was. Dark green and purple reptilian slit eyes stared at me. The opposite me was wearing a long black trench cloak that draped to the marble floor. Wicked fangs protruded from his mouth. In one hand the human gripped a sword that was as black as a starless night sky. Shadow wisps slowly trickled off the blade and into the air. In his other hand, he held a green and black ball of magical fire, just like mine.

"Nightmare?" I choked out in disbelief at him.

"Oh, yes, human. You see this," he spun in a quick circle showing of his human body, "this is what you could have been. And you haven't even seen the power yet." Nightmare locked eyes with me and launched a ball of magic at me. I dove to the side as the energy crashed into the wall and shook the entire room. Pieces of marble rained down all around me as I skidded around, trying to avoid the falling chunks of death. As I dodged right, a kick smashed into my chest and sent me flying again into the wall.

I coughed and stared at the approaching figure through hazed and unfocused eyes. Nightmare approached with a swift walk, one that was filled with confidence and arrogance. "Oh, Honored, this has been one heck of a run, but this is the end. Only room in Equestria for one human, and that's me now. Why I didn't think of this sooner. Duplicate you. So simple. It just required the right touch."

Cackling laughter filled the massive throne room as Nightmare lifted his sword above his head, the razor sharp point aimed down at my throat.

"I think I'll call myself Dishonorable. That way at least a part of your name lives on." He threw his head back and laughed again. I smiled at this opening and reached into my thigh pocket. I pulled out the baseball sized hand grenade and silently flicked off the safety and pulled the pin on it. The click of the metal striking marble brought Nightmare's attention to the circular object rolling at his feet as I tucked and rolled behind a nearby marble pillar.

"You bast-"

BOOOM

Nightmare was launched backwards, tattered bits of clothing littering the floor. Streaks of black blood followed Nightmare as he rag dolled flipped across the room. He skidded to a halt, wiping his black blood from his nose and cuts across his face.

"That was tricky, Honored. You're learning." Black smoke slowly swirled around the evil human, as Nightmare was lifted off the ground and began to hover towards me.

"Or maybe you're slipping." I spat back, my sword, the Element of Protection humming in my hands, as I stepped around the pillar. I walked through the smoke from the grenade and stood opposite the evil me.

Nightmare growled a primal roar and lunged at me, sword whistling through the air. I brought my sword up and blocked the attack easily. Black and red sparks showered down from the clashing two blades. I grunted and pushed back against the other blade. Nightmare scooted back as I quickly flipped the blade left and drew it across his chest, slicing through his clothes and trench coat, drawing a thick trickle of blood along with it. He hissed at me and slipped back, more black smoke pooling around him.

I smiled and changed grip on the sword, so it was facing down before lunging into a backwards upper cut. Nightmare jumped backwards in a back flip, launching twin balls of fire at me. I spun around, flinging the diamond sword from its sheath and blocking one of incoming balls of dark energy on the shiny diamond blade as it flew up into the air and the other collided with the red blade. Nightmare threw another ball as I came around from my spin and I felt the heat of the blast inches from my feet. I tumbled backwards, trying to avoid the balls of energy exploding all around me.

Nightmare certainly had more magic as his disposal now. I jumped again as the magic chewed into the marble. I held the diamond sword in front of me, the Element of Protection held easily over my head even though it was five feet long. Nightmare stood opposite of me, fire burning in one hand, the shadow sword in the other. The smoke followed him as we stared each other down. We were both panting heavily. I charged forward, both swords dipping towards the ground. I jumped into the air and brought both weapons across my body in a sweeping scissor motion. Nightmare raised his sword, but it was too late.

He brought the blade up in between both of my blades, the two blade clashed against his. In a bright flash, the room filled with the sound of a massive explosion and shattering metal. I stood in front of Nightmare who was holding the broken remains of his shadow blade. The diamond blade and magical Element had been too much for it. I smirked and raised the red blade of Protection to Nightmare's throat.

SHINK

I quickly jumped backwards as one of Nightmare's arms turned into a shadow blade. The smoke that had been swirling around him rose and formed into the new sword that was attached to his arm. Nightmare grinned as he leveled the new weapon at me; I held both swords at my side and prepared myself for the attack. Nightmare launched forward, his blade whistling through the air aimed at my throat. I deflected the hit with my diamond sword, and brought the Element of Protection around to deliver a fatal blow to his exposed side. Nightmare nimbly dodged left, the blade missing him by inches.

I spun around, thrown off balance by my attack and dropped my diamond blade as a sharp pain ripped through my arm. I watched as red blood dripped from my fingertips and landed on the white marble. A long gash ran from my elbow to the base of my gauntlet on my left hand, I looked up in time to drop to the ground as the shadow blade whipped across my face. I rolled across the ground as hit after hit smashed into the floor beside me, sending pieces of marble in every direction.

I felt sharp pain rip into my right arm as I finished a roll. I looked over to see Nightmare planting his boot on my wrist, pinning my arm down, the Element of Protection slipping from my grasp. I quickly reached down and drew Bad Bertha from her sheath on my hip, but Nightmare lashed out with a boot and stepped on the blade, pinning it to the ground. I looked up at Nightmare who was smiling down at me. He lifted his arm blade and pointed it down at my throat. I smiled back at him. He gave a momentarily confused look at me. I let my hand slip from the grip on Bade Bertha and quickly twist the end of the handle, pulling the three inch spike out from the knife. I lunged up, planting the sharp spike deep into Nightmare's thigh.
Nightmare threw his head back and screamed in pain. I shot my leg up and delivered a full forced kick straight to his balls, which sent him falling backwards onto the ground. I scrambled up to my feet and ignored the blood still flowing from my arm and scooped the Element of Protection off the ground and held it at Nightmare's throat as he lied on the ground.

"There's only room for one human in Equestria. And that's me." I panted at him, sweat dripping off my brow.

Nightmare sighed and looked at me. His human face showed great sadness that I hadn't seen in over a year. You forget what human emotions look like when you never see one.

"Sure, Honored. Kill me. You win, I accept my fate." Nightmare lifted his head so that his neck was wide open.

"I don't think so, Nightmare." I smiled and dipped the sword down. "I kill you now, and you just leave that body you somehow created and jump into mine."

Nightmare's sad eyes exploded into anger as he tried to lunge forward. I sidestepped him and slammed the hilt of my sword into his skull. He crashed back to the ground at my feet. I planted one boot on the back of his neck and held him down.

"All clear. Come in everypony." I sighed and took in a deep breath. A few moments later the sound of hooves beating against the marble floor echoed through the room. I watched as the door was flung open and Luna charged into the room the Elements of Harmony and Sanctuary close behind her. She stopped cold when she saw me standing atop a prone human and Celestia lying on her side.

"Sister!" Luna cried out and dashed forward, keeling at her fallen sister's side. Slowly Celestia's eyes fluttered open and she peered around.

"Lulu. You're okay. What happened?" Celestia was struggling to speak but somehow she sat up and rose to her hooves with her younger sisters help.

"It's alright, sister," Luna soothed Princess Celestia's worries, "it's over. We won."

I coughed politely, with my boot still planted on Nightmare's neck. "Not quite."

Celestia stood taller and slowly moved in front of the pinned down struggling creature. "Nightmare, for the sins of your past, and the current war you started I am turning over your fate the human that is currently holding you as his prisoner." The stern look on the normally motherly alicorn was startling. A fire burned in her eyes that could cut right through you. She was angry, truly angry.

I smiled at the Elements of Harmony. My eyes danced across each one of their faces. The ponies were waiting. "Girls, please free Nightmare from his current form."

Twilight Sparkle nodded with determination and stood in front of her friends. One by one, the necklaces around their necks began to glow and fire a pinpoint beam of colored light into Twilight's crown. Her eyes opened into blinding white orbs of energy and a massive rainbow of pure magic, just like the one that saved me from death months ago, slammed forth and rammed Nightmare into the wall behind me. He screamed an ear shattering shout of agony as the magic worked him over.
Smoke poured out over the room from the blast center of the Element's impact. The flood of magic stopped and the smoke cleared. I stood posed, ready to strike with the other Elements of Sanctuary standing behind me. Each of us had our weapons at the ready as the last bits of smoke cleared.

I found myself staring at the original Nightmare. An average sized unicorn stallion was standing, panting, against the wall. He had a dark midnight blue coat and a long black mane. His eyes remained the reptilian slots that had belonged to the Nightmare for the last untold centuries. He looked up at me, his eyes tracing each weapon that was trained against him.

"It's over, Nightmare. Once and for all." I stared at him, nothing but pure hate and revenge leaking forth from my words. Hundreds of ponies dead, land burned, and I had Fast Sky ripped away from me. Too much death had fallen on this land.
This was it.

"This is good-bye, Nightmare." Quick Flurry's dagger shot into the air and slammed into the hilt of my sword. Its handle was sticking out, making a long handle for me to grab. Battle Plan's bow glowed brightly as a handful of the magical arrows hovered into the air and floated next to me. They stayed locked next to my head, their shining tips following where ever I looked. Ten or so of Stand Bold's crossbow bolts copied the arrows and floated on the other side of my head, tracking where my eyes moved just as the arrows were doing. Covert's katana flew through the air and locked onto the edge of my sword, curving the entire blade just as his sword was. Finally Hammer Strike's hammer flipped into the air and molded to the bottom of Quick Flurry's dagger handle, creating a mammoth hilt out of the head of the hammer. I looked at Nightmare as he quacked in front of me. The arrows and bolts following every movement he made.

"Look away girls." I said over my shoulder to the main six. They all took heed to my warning, save for Celestia and Luna who both had their own reasons for watching his death. I cocked my arms back, coiling all my strength into my arms, ready to deliver a terrific blow. I let go of everything and swung the blade.

The blade sliced with easy through Nightmare's front legs. He screamed as he toppled forward, blood spraying onto the white shiny marble floor. He looked up, pain, anguish, misery, and sorrow all twisted into his face. He found no remorse, no mercy, and no regret in my face. I felt a small smile tug on my lips. I lifted the sword up, hilt facing down and brought the enchanted hammer down on his skull. As I did so, the arrows and bolts leapt forward and lodged themselves all over his body. The sound of Nightmare's skull splitting open and the arrows and bolts ripping into his body filled the room. A pool of red blood slowly surrounded his body.

I dropped the combined Elements of Sanctuary, the weapon breaking apart into its different weapons at me feet as it clattered to the ground. I felt a weight lifted from my shoulders as I closed my eyes. I dropped to my knees in front of the destroyed body.

"Rise, human," Celestia whispered behind me, "you deserve some rest. It really is over."


The burning green and black flames vanished from the city of Canterlot. The sun seemed to become brighter as ponies seeking refuge in cities all around Equestria exited their homes. The residents of the royal city slowly began to make their way back to their homes, or what was left of them. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna promised to help everypony in rebuilding their homes and shops.

The story of the second battle for Canterlot spread like the flames that had once consumed the city. Ponies wanted to see the human warrior that had saved the day, but the Princesses refused him visitors as he was recovering from the battle.
Days turned to weeks as the city slowly recovered from the war with the shadows. The Elements of Sanctuary continued to serve with the Royal Guard but they became the new instructors for the Equestrian Honor Guard branch of the Royal Guard.

The EHG was not only open to ponies of Equestria, but to any other creature with citizenship to Equestria. And yet the human still remained hidden from the world.


Three Weeks Later


"Honored? You have to come out sometime." Twilight knocked on the door of one of the guest rooms in the castle.

"No I don't!"

"Please. You're friends are worried about you." Twilight tried to open the door, but the lock held fast. "Duh." she charged up a simple teleportation spell, and popped into the human's room. The first thing the unicorn noticed was the tiny pieces of metal everywhere. Every one of the human's guns were broken down into every single piece and laid scattered around the room. His swords and knives were strewn across a desk in the corner of the room. The Element of Protection was in its sheath propped up against the bed post alongside the human's rifle.

"Honored?"

"WHAT?" The human in question shot out of nest of pillows and blankets he had created in a corner of the room opposite of the desk.

"Ahh!" Twilight jumped into the air, startled from the sudden shout.

Honored's hair was a mess; it hadn't been combed in days. He had large bags under his eyes, which were bloodshot, and his clothing was as messy as he was. He wore lose fitting jeans and a short sleeve shirt that were stretched from continuous wear.

"Yes, Twilight? Can I help you?" Honored ask while stepping out of his nest of bed sheets and stretched into the air.

"You haven't come out of this room for weeks. And we, your friends, are worried about you.”

"Wait, hold on," The human held up a hand to stop her. He looked at the purple unicorn carefully, something wasn't right,

"Twilight did you get a mane cut? No have you lost weight? New horseshoes?"

"No. And you thought I looked fat?" Twilight asked tilting her head to the side, giving me a questioning stare.

"Okay that's beside the point." Honored walked over to his desk and picked up one of the knives lying strewn about. He tapped the flat side of the blade lightly against his palm, "THAT'S IT!" He yelled out loud, throwing the knife across the room into a portrait of Prince Blueblood that had lots of stab marks and a poorly drawn mustache on it. "When the fuck did you get wings?" Honored asked taking aim at the portrait and letting another knife fly.

"Oh boy." Twilight sighed and sat down on the bed as she levitated one of the knives from the wall and gave it a toss of her own. "Well it all started with one of the town songs we take part in..."


"And so then I became a princess."

I sat there for a moment soaking in the information, "and this all happened in the few days I was in my room?"

"Days?" Twilight looked as if I had slapped her, "Honored, you've been in here for almost three weeks straight. We, your friends, have been worried sick about you! How have you been eating, nopony has seen you leave."

I grunted and jerked my thumb over to the closet. Twilight cracked it open and an avalanche of brown plastic MRE bags toppled out and landed in front of the new alicorn. "Oh yeah, thanks for teleporting those. Remind me to get that spell from you sometime." I stopped and held up a hand for Twilight to be quiet. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Twilight asked.

I got up and grabbed my rifle and walked around the room, "that scream. I keep hearing this screaming. Long drawn out screaming."

I finished my random walking around the room and turned to the window overlooking the slowly recovering city. "Twilight, you know why I stayed in here all this time?"

"No. Why Honored?" Twilight asked as she sat down next to me. She looked up with those large eyes and stared at me.
I looked back to the window and sighed. "I'm scared." I paused and looked back to Twilight, "I'm actually terrified of what will happen to me now. I mean there's no more fighting. No more violence. No more bloodshed. But where does that put me? The only thing that makes me special in Equestria is my ability to fight. What good am I know that there is peace?"

"Honored," Twilight reached a hoof up and placed it on my side, "you always have a place here in Equestria. Sure it might not always be killing, destroying, or protecting us ponies, but we still need you. You're a hero."
Twilight's words hit home. I understand what she meant. I knew I was always going to be welcomed by the ponies, but I wasn't worried about them, but myself. How was I going to cope with not being able to live up to my special talent now that everything was at peace? I was a broken human. It didn't take a professional shrink to tell that i was messed up.

"Come Honored. The Princesses want to speak with you." Twilight got up and walked towards the door. I reached down and picked up my rifle and began to sling it across my back. I stopped halfway and looked at the black weapon. I sighed and gently laid it back down on the bed. I gave it one last look and left the room, shutting the door to the weapons behind it.


"FORCED TIME OF LEAVE?!" I yelled at the three alicorns seated on their thrones across from me in the massive throne room. The damage from the battle between the human Nightmare and myself were well repaired. "What the hell is that anyway?"

"We all feel that after the constant strain that the last year and half has had on you," Luna spoke first, using her words to try and calm me, "that you be given some paid vacation time."

"Oh. Well that's okay." I said calming down immediately.

"Really?" Celestia said her eyes widening in surprise.

"Sure." I waved a hand at them. "After saving the day for the umpteenth time I guess I could use a vacation."

"We have all decided to post you in Ponyville to begin your recovery and new assignment." Twilight smiled as she floated a scroll over to herself and cleared her throat. "Let it be known that on this day, Lieutenant Honored Service of the Equestrian Honor Guard is to be stationed in Ponyville as a reserve action force. He is also to learn lessons on friendship and how to solve problems without resorting to violence."

I coughed politely.

"Ugh." Twilight floated a quill up and scribbled something into the margin of the scroll, "solving problems without violence right from the start."

"Thank you." I smiled kindly to the alicorn and waited for the trio to continue.

"Honored I figured the salary you were paid and then back paid for the year you were gone should be a significant amount to live your life in Ponyville."

"And that would be...?"

"Around 78,613 bits." Twilight said matter of factly.

"Sure, I guess that's okay. Still have no idea what the monetary value system is here." I shrugged. "Well let me collect my things and I guess I can get moving."

"To Ponyville."

"To a boring life of nothingness." I hung my head.

"No more creature slaying." Princess Celestia said.

"No more running around and slashing things willy-nilly." Luna added with a smile.

"No more being a homicidal manic that acts first and asks questions later." Twilight stated.

I looked at the three Princess and then towards a window across the room. Back to the Princesses. Back to the window.
Princesses. Window.

"Honored..." Twilight warned.

Window. Princesses. Window. Princesses. "Alright fine." I sighed.

At least I would get to live a completely boring and normal life.

Shit.

Author's Note:

Okay. There. Its over. I hope you're happy.

Thats all for the long stories...for now.

Which brings me to the next story. I'm thinking about starting a new series with Honored (Yes i know you're like, "Wow a third story, this guy's an asshole) but this story is written with one chapter at a time. Its going to focus on Honored as if it was like a TV show. Each chapter would be its own episode so to speak, with a few two parters thrown in the mix.

This story is being done just as a side project, as my main focus will be on writing completely new stories.

So for all of that have put up with my grammar and have read about this stupid human for the last year, thank you. I've truly enjoyed writing for you. Thanks for all your support and i hope to write something again for you soon!

Your faithful amateur writer,
Tanner Johnson.

p.s. There it is, that's the name that was never said.