> A defender's quest for...
>  by Archibad
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> Chapter 1 - A New World
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	*, *** , ******* *** ** **** ******** *** *** *** ****** *** ********** **, ** **** **** ****** **** *** ****** **** * **** ********* **** **** *** ***** ***********.




He suddenly opened his eyes and sat upright on the bed. He was covered in sweat and his head felt like it was being stabbed by a spear. His heart was racing, and with every beat of it, his headache got even worse. He lifted one of his arms to his forehead to see if he could ease the pain by rubbing it a little bit, but instead of his bare skin, he felt something soft. It was wrapped around his head, covering the spot where he felt the sharp pain coming from.
All of a sudden, his focus shifted from the pain to why his head was injured in the first place. He tried to recall what had happened to him, that might have caused his injury, but he just couldn't.
He took a deep breath, held it in for a few moments, and then breathed it out. His heart's beating slowed down a little, enabling him to think more clearly. He concentrated on trying to recollect what had happened to him.
"What the hell?" he froze down. He grabbed his head with both of his hands, desperately attempting to force himself to remember anything. His home, his family, and friends, or even just his own name. He knew that he should have a name, or that he must have parents, because who had brought him to life, if not his mother? But he could not remember anything.
He winced in pain. His panicking made his headache much worse. The pain started to wander around in his head, agonizing him from multiple directions. His own foolishness made him even angrier, "Focus, you retard!" He slapped himself. Now his cheeks were aching too, "Great, I'm an idiot," he said with despair in his voice.
He shifted his attention to his surroundings to distract himself before his misery consumed him. His bed was situated in a corner. There were two windows in the room, one in the center of the wall to the right of him, and one on the opposite wall, in the same position. Through the windows, he saw that it was a pitch-black night outside. There was a door right across the bed in the corner.
Unable to observe more, due to the dark, he closed his eyes and listened to the silence, hoping that it would calm him down. However, he then heard voices coming from the door. They were so faint, he could not make out what they were talking about. He wanted to move closer to the door, but there was one small problem with that plan.
He had to get out of the bed first.
It seemed absurd to him. Why getting out of the bed would be so complicated? And still, despite his reasoning, something told him to be at least cautious about it.
He lifted the blanket off of his body, then adjusted his linen shirt and pants to protect him better against the cold of the room. He placed both of his legs down on the wooden floor and slowly stood up. Slightly proud of himself, he confidently took the first step towards the door and fell down face first.
He mumbled a few curse words, then got on all fours. He went to the door, and with his left hand, he started to search for the handle. When he found it, he heard the voices again.
"But why? Why did you have to bring that thing in here in the first place?" she sounded angry.
"It would have died if I left it there in the snow!" he answered in a louder tone.
"Who knows, maybe it likes cold weather?"
"It doesn't have that much fur, it wore armor and clothing too. I don't know about you, but to me, that means it does not like the cold."
"What are they talking about?" he scratched his chin in thought, "Wait, what am I doing?" he said to himself, "I shouldn't eavesdrop on people," he opened the door. It creaked on its hinges and the couple stopped talking to each other. Wooden stairs awaited him on the other side. It was flanked by walls on both sides, and a few frames were hanged on them, although he couldn't see the paintings inside them. Downstairs, he saw the light of a candle and strangely shaped shadows on the floor. The couple started to whisper to one another, while he started to descend, still on all fours.
A dining room was at the bottom, with a table, which had a basket full of fruits and a candle in the middle of it and four chairs around it. There were two strange, horse-like creatures sitting in a weird position on the chairs. One of them had teal colored fur, a short, yellow mane, and blue eyes. He also wore glasses and a light brown professor suit. The other one had a purple fur, a short, tattered, dark purple mane with streaks of red-violet and green eyes. It also had a pair of wings on its back. Both of them were looking at him. He opened his mouth to call out for the couple when one of the horses spoke up.
"I knew it was four-legged," said the winged one with a hoof pointed at the human.
"But it has hands..." saddened, the male got off of his chair and tried to go to the next room, but he was interrupted.
"What? You are the couple that I heard arguing?" A bit shocked at what he just realized, he frantically switched his attention between the two horses.
"We are not a couple!" Shouted the female one.
"You can talk?" said the male, surprised.
"I could ask the same questi-"
"That is splendid!" He quickly ran over to him and started to circle him. "Tell me, why don't you have fur, or why are your eyes so small, or what you eat, or where you come from, or the family and social structure of your kind, or at least tell me why you walk on four legs if you have two hands!" The male horse was shaking with excitement.
The human was caught off guard by the storm of questions, "Calm down, I will try to give you answers," he put his hand on the shoulder of the male, then looked towards the table, "but first, can I have a seat?"
"Of course!" The male one gestured towards the table with his hoof, "Please, suit yourself."
"You brought this thing in here, and now you offer him a seat at the table?!" She said while staring down her housemate. Meanwhile, the human placed both of his hands on the table and lifted himself onto the chair.
"You know, despite her saying that you two are just housemates, she really acts like your wife," he said to the male while glancing at the winged one with a huge grin on his face. The winged one just sat silently and tried to kill the human with her stare.
"Don't make fun of her, she can be easily angered," he mentioned, while still smiling on the joke. Her response was to look at both of them with her death stare. "Anyway," he turned back to the human, "We didn't even introduce ourselves. My name is Sturdy Fossil, and she is Hardened Lilly," when he finished he looked towards the human.
"Nice to meet you Sturdy and Hardened, but I-"
"It's Lilly," interrupted Lilly.
"Pardon me," said the human to Lilly genuinely "but unfortunately I can't introduce myself properly."
"What, you forgot your name?" asked Lilly mockingly.
"That is correct," responded the human, "in fact, I'm unable to recall anything prior to me waking up in here," the human watched them intently, waiting for their response. Lilly immediately regretted what she just said to the human and wanted to apologize, but then she remembered the human's joke and instead remained silent.
Sturdy scratched his head with one hoof, wondering, "Are there any more symptoms?" he approached him slowly.
"Yes, I can't stand on two legs or else I fall down," he tried to show them what he meant, but Sturdy motioned him to stay.
"Do you have a headache?" Sturdy put his two front hooves on the chair and stood up to look the human in the eye.
"Yes, I have that too, and it's painful," Sturdy got off the chair after briefly examining the human's pupils.
"Well, the good news is that you only have a mild concussion. The bad news is that you have a concussion," said Sturdy to the human, then turned to Lilly with a smirk on his face, "and I believe you owe me some bits."
Lilly changed her remorseful look to a furious one. She got off her chair and walked to the door right behind her. She went into the other room and searched for something. A bit later she came back with a small bag. She threw it at Sturdy, then sat down on the same chair she stood up from. Sturdy casually caught the bag in mid-air with one hoof, before it could hit him in the face, then opened it. Satisfied with the content of the pouch, he closed it, grabbed it with his mouth and placed it on his back.
"What was that all about?" the human looked at them, confused.
"Just a bet," Sturdy turned around to look the human in the eye, "however, we have to give you a name, since you have amnesia."
"Amnesia?" Sturdy puzzled him with the word. Not because he didn't know the meaning of it, but because he knew. It felt strange to him, like the time he got out of the bed. Something told him what the word meant, rather than just knowing what it meant.
"Yes, amnesia, when you can't-"
"I know what it means," the human interrupted Sturdy before he could start the explanation. For a moment he thought about how to explain this feeling to them. Then instead decided to change the subject back, "Anyway, I have to come up with a name for myself..."
"Well, you don't have to," said Sturdy, "we can call you by something else, like 'Two-legged' or-"
"Idiot, Baldy, Monster, Freak," Lilly listed the names with a bored expression on her face while leaning on the table with one hoof. She suddenly perked up with fake excitement, "OH, Dumbface would be very fitting!"
"Thank you Lilly, but I think I'll pass," replied the human while imitating Lilly's fake excitement. He then switched to a more serious expression and started thinking about a name for himself. Again, he heard a soft voice in his mind, telling him, or rather calling him David, "David would be a great temporary name."
"Are you sure, David?" asked Sturdy happily.
"Yes, I'm quite sure," answered David with a smile.
"Wait, what's the time?" Lilly looked at the clock on the wall. The gears slowly turned in her head. She jumped out of the chair and rushed into the other room, "I'm late!"
"Is it half-past five already?" Sturdy peeked at the clock to confirm his fear, "horse apples, I'm sorry!" he shouted to Lilly.
"No, it's alright, at least you are not the one being late from her work because of somepony else, again," she sounded mad at Sturdy.
"From where is she late?" inquired David.
"From my workplace," she came back to the kitchen, now wearing a suit of light armor on herself, "Sturdy, help me strap these on!"
"Okay, just don't shout," he placed the pouch on the table, then went over to Lilly to assist her in strapping the armor on. Both of them worked fast and they seemed to be proficient in it too.
"Why do you need the armor?"
"I work as a Royal Guard. My shift starts at five o'clock, but I am required to show up half an hour before that for inspection," she said, not looking up from her armor. Sturdy opened his mouth to say something, but he closed it instead.
"Here, you're done," said Sturdy and realized something, "we didn't prepare you anything to eat!"
"I know," she walked over to the table and grabbed the pouch, "that's why I'm taking this," she put the pouch under her wing and looked at David with her death stare, "and you. If you try anything while I'm gone, I'll bury you alive," and with that, she stormed out of the house.
"Good luck!" Sturdy shouted after Lilly, although she did not hear it. His mood changed from happy and cheerful to gloomy. "That was well deserved on my part," Sturdy stared at the spot where the pouch had been on the table. He wanted to buy a carrot cake, his favorite, with the money.
David just sat in silence for the whole time, watching the two of them with slight amusement, and with a bit of shock, as Lilly had threatened him for reasons he did not understand. Although, his mind swiftly moved on and started pondering about the marks that he had seen on their flanks while they were busy. Sturdy had a fossil and Lilly had, what else, a lily made out of stone as her mark. He wanted to ask about these marks, and Lilly when Sturdy spoke up.
"Never mind, are you hungry David?" he asked while heading for another door to the left of David.
David was surprised at how easily Sturdy got himself over the whole ordeal, "Just a little bit," they must have been housemates for a very long time.
"We have some scrambled eggs and a daisy sandwich left from the breakfast, which one would you like?"
"The scrambled eggs, please," he said without delay. He doubted that he would be able to eat something as absurd as a flower sandwich.
Sturdy came back with a plate full of scrambled eggs from, what David assumed to be the kitchen, "Here you go, I hope you like it," he put the plate in front of him, with the fork already on it. David thanked him, then started to eat.
"My god, this is fantastic," he said with his mouth full, forgetting any decency that he knew and only paying his attention to the deliciousness of his breakfast.
"I'm happy that you think that," Sturdy took an apple from the basket, and sat down on the chair to the left of David, "I wish Lilly would like it at least half as much as you," David gave him a questioning look, "Long story, I don't want to bore you with it."
"We don't really have anything else to talk about anyway," he said, this time remembering to swallow before it, then saw Sturdy's saddened expression and changed the subject to something else, "Or, if you really don't want to talk about it, then could you tell me why do you have a symbol on yourself?"
"A symbol?" he took a bite from the apple and pondered on what David said, "Oh, you mean my cutie mark?" he said while pointing at his flank.
"Yes, that mark. I saw one on Lilly as well. Do they have a meaning or importance?"
"Of course they do," Sturdy went into full explanation mode. He sat right up, placed down the apple on the table, looked David in his eyes with a serious expression and waved around his hoofs in a futile attempt to illustrate what he was saying, "The cutie mark serves a huge role in a pony's life. Usually at a young age, when somepony finds out what his or her talent is, a mark will appear magically on their flanks. It means that they found the profession that they excel at, and if they follow that one profession their life is almost guaranteed to be a happy one, and they have a high chance to make it far in their career," he said the last part with a bit of bitterness in his voice, although his expression did not change with it.
"And the marks differ from pony to pony?" he asked, not hiding his interest in the topic.
"Yes, as Ponilson 'cutie mark' Beetle once said, 'Every cutie mark was a masterpiece of design, and no one design was ever repeated.' you can believe him, too, he studied cutie marks for nearly forty years."
"If he was interested in studying cutie marks, then why was he called Beetle?" Lilly and Sturdy had names corresponding to their cutie marks, so he thought that ponies were named according to them, or in other words, their talents.
"He was originally an entomologist, but quickly found some parallels between the uniqueness of the patterns on the beetles' elytrons and ponies' cutie marks, so he started researching cutie marks and their designs instead," David only looked at Sturdy with a stunned expression. It was difficult to understand what he said, even with that voice softly speaking to him all the while.
Seeing David's reaction, Sturdy swiftly moved on with their conversation, "It's not important right now," he waved his hoof dismissively, "Now, we must deal with your concussion before it gets worse," he stood up from his chair and went to the kitchen again, "How much do you weigh, if you don't mind me asking?" he inquired loudly from the other room.
David shook his head, as if he was trying to break free from a hypnosis, "I don't know," he looked over himself. He didn't seem to be too muscular, although it might be because he had some fat on his body as well. He flexed his belly and poked it to confirm this idea, "but if I had to guess I might be twelve or thirteen stones heavy."
"...In kilograms, if possible?"
Again, he felt that strange feeling, "Around eighty."
"That's better," Sturdy spent a few more moments in the kitchen, then returned with two pills balanced on his snout and a cup of water in his right hoof, "I hope you won't get an allergic reaction to this," he placed down the cup and the pills in front of David, next to his now empty plate.
David looked at the pills for a moment, then back to Sturdy, "What are these?"
"They are painkillers, for your headache."
This seemed ridiculous to him, why would these stop his headache? "And what do I do with them?"
"Just put them in your mouth, drink some water and swallow them," Sturdy felt uncomfortable for having to explain something so obvious to David but tried to smile at him nonetheless.
"If you say so," he grabbed the pills, put them in his mouth and then drank all the water from the cup. He didn't even feel the pills going down his throat.
"Your headache should be gone in about an hour," Sturdy grabbed the plate with his mouth and the cup with one hoof and brought them back into the kitchen. After he placed both of them down and came back to the dining room, he continued, "Mild concussion is easy to treat, you only have to rest a lot and your body takes care of it. However, amnesia is much harder to cure," he grabbed the candle from the middle of the table, turned towards the other door, where Lilly had left not too long ago, and walked towards it.
David sat confused in the chair. At first, he was uncertain if Sturdy wanted him to follow or not, but the disappearance of the light from the dining room instantly persuaded him into going after his host. He tried to walk on two legs, but he still needed to place a hand on the wall to help him balance himself out. When he neared him, he heard him speaking to himself quietly, "...is it safe to... maybe if I..." Sturdy abruptly stopped in the middle of the room, as if he just realized something, and turned around with his full body, "David-" the sight of the human quickly cut him off, "oh, never mind then."
David inspected the room a bit. Right across him, there was a door with a small window on it. Through it, he could only see darkness. To the left of the door stood a hanger, with a brown hat still hanged on it. To the right of the door, there was an empty armor stand shaped like a small horse.
Sturdy went to another door directly to the left. As he opened it with one hoof he looked at David, who was facing away from him, inspecting the armor stand from closer, "Are you coming?" he asked with the candle holder still in his mouth. David whipped his head around. He saw Sturdy as he started to descend into the basement and quickly followed him.
Both of them were silent while descending on the stairs. Sturdy had second thoughts about bringing the human down here but realized that there was no turning back now. Meanwhile, David was trying his hardest not to fall down the stairs by putting both of his hands on the cold stone wall of the room. He started to wonder about why was Sturdy leading him down into the house's basement.
A dark room awaited them at the bottom. Sturdy went around the room and started to lit up candles on the walls. With more light, David could finally see what the room contained. There were a few old looking wooden tables in the middle, with all kinds of items on top of them. These included a set of armor, a longsword, a bludgeon mace, a shield, two bags of supplies, some linen clothes and a thick blue book with 'Holy Chronicles' written on it in golden color.
"These are your things, presumably. We found them on you or next to you in the snow," said Sturdy, looking at the longsword cautiously.
"Thank you that you showed me this, but I'm unsure if they really belong to me."
"Of course, this was to be expected, but I hope they will help you remember at least."
David let go of the wall and tried to stand on his own two legs. After some practice, and only touching the wall six times to prevent himself from planting his face into the ground, he figured it out how to stand upright again. He cautiously took his first step next to the wall, hovering his hand near it in case he lost his balance. He took a glance at Sturdy, who was only observing him, close enough to move in to help if needed, yet still far enough to give David some space. He turned his attention back to his walking practice. He figured out, that with his legs straddled, he could walk and stand with much more ease. He then went to the tables at a slow pace.
Sturdy patiently waited for him. He did not have any important task to attend to this day anyway, not to mention that David's slow movements were actually calming for him, giving him more time to react if... Sturdy facehoofed, realizing how idiotic he was. From under his hoof, he peeked at David, who had arrived next to one of the tables.
Meanwhile, David grabbed the table with one hand and began to look at everything in detail. With his other hand, he touched the weapons and knocked on the armor. He lifted the chest plate up to his eyes to inspect it a bit more thoroughly. It was a simple, metal chest plate, with a small dent in the middle of it. He placed it back after no memories came back to him by it and diverted his attention to the book.
He placed his hand on it, reading the title once again, then opened it to the first page. It read 'The Holy Chronicles, contains stories about the great lord, Zoh. Through these stories, one can learn about the great lord's wisdom, power, and teachings.'
The old man in the fine, red silk robe finished reading from the book and closed it, turned it around in his hands so that the cover would face David. He reached over the chapel with a slight glimmer in his eyes, "Here, young boy. Take it and read it many times. Let Zoh's wisdom form you into the perfect defender," said the old man, as he offered the book to David.
He excitedly grabbed the book, thanked the old man many times, and ran out of the church, while cheerfully shouting, "I got it! I finally got it! I can be a defender!" After he stepped outside a tall, muscular man dressed in light brown linen clothing called out for him by his name. His voice was deep, coarse and yet calming for him. He did not see his face, but happily answered his call, "Dad, I got it!"
"Dad, I got it!" His right hand gripped the book, the left one just formed into a fist as he raised them into the air and shook them in excitement, while he watched his dad, or rather the place where he saw his dad. In his place, there was only the dark cobblestone wall of the basement. Realizing that all of this was just an illusion, he placed the book back on the table and turned to Sturdy.
Sturdy was observing David intently while he acted out his memory, making notes in his mind about the things that he shouted seemingly to the wall. When he turned around, he saw the mixture of embarrassment and excitement on his face as he spoke, "Don't tell anybody that I freaked out, please," Sturdy pretended to think about it for a few moments, before answering.
"I won't if you tell me what got you so excited," said Sturdy, this time he remembered that he left a notepad and a quill on one of the tables from when he was inspecting David's belongings, so he opened it and started vigorously writing what David was telling him.
The human smiled then nodded, "Okay, firstly," he tried to recreate what he remembered, "I saw an old man, I couldn't make out his face. He was behind this chapel, on it there were golden plates, a chalice, and golden candle holders, with lit candles inside them. He was reading the first page of the book to me. After he finished, he advised me to study a lot from it, then gave it to me," He went to the other side of the table, picked up the book from it, then turned around and started jogging in place," after that I thanked him and ran out of the Church to show what I got to my dad."
"Fascinating. Do you know what being a 'defender' means?"
"No, I don't, but I am sure I wanted to become one."
"And do you understand the language the book is written in?" Sturdy asked again, not even looking up from the notepad this time.
"Yes," David was bewildered by his question, "my memory came back from reading the book."
"I know," he hastily wrote down the last word that was in his mind and looked up, "and I'm sorry if I ask stupid questions," he pointed with one hoof to his head, "but I'm a scientist, I have to be thorough," he said in a bitter tone.
"Oh, I did not mean to insult you, " he was concerned that he had said something that was considered disrespectful by Sturdy.
"No, it's not you. It's about the academics," he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. Just thinking about the amount of paperwork he would have to do in order for them to even consider reading his research paper gave him a headache," but I digress," he placed his glasses back on his snout, grabbed the quill in his mouth and went back to writing, "So, are you sure these are yours?" he gestured towards the tables with one hoof.
"Yes, quite sure," David let go of the subject, he did not want to pressure Sturdy into talking. He instead placed back the book, went to another table and lifted up the mace by its handle. Sturdy physically tensed up for a moment by his action, then relaxed, seeing that David did not want to charge him with it and carried on with the note-taking. David admired the shiny black color of the bludgeon, then instinctively threw it in the air, spun it and caught it in midair. Sturdy wrote a page full of his notes and flipped it over to continue writing, "Although I am still surprised that your plan actually worked."
Sturdy spat out the quill, "What do you mean?" he asked, confused.
"I am not saying that it was stupid, only that I would have never thought it could work. Bringing back my memories by showing me familiar objects sounded..." he waved his hand a circular pattern as if trying to bring up the word he was searching for from his stomach, "absurd to me?"
"In other words, you found it stupid," Sturdy corrected David jokingly.
"Yes, I did not want to say it out loud, but you caught me," David intentionally played the role of an adult caught lying poorly. Sturdy just smiled slightly at his answer and moved on with the topic.
"And why didn't you think it would work?"
"I have no idea," he scratched his head with the tip of the mace. It was not the strange voice telling him this either, it came from his gut, "Although it didn't work the way you said it would," Sturdy perked up from the notebook and hardly noticeably raised an eyebrow, "If seeing something familiar should restore my memories that include that something, and we also assume that these items on the table are all mine, then I should have gained back more of my memories, not just one," he placed the mace back to its place on the table and lifted up the helmet instead.
"I never said that it would definitely bring back them, only that I hoped it would," he put the notepad on his back with the quill and moved closer to David, "You just need more time, or maybe you should just rest some more to let your brain heal itself from the injury," he wasn't a doctor and even he knew that modern physicians have a hard time curing amnesia, even the unicorns too.
David put the mace down and lifted up the helmet and inspected it, hoping that something would come back to him about it, even if it was the smallest, most insignificant memory that he could ever think of, it would have still made him much happier about his situation. He awed at the shiny, reflective gray surface of it, then intensively concentrated on it. He even closed his eyes and imagined it, not just a more simplistic version of it, but a detailed one. He saw every flaw, dent, and scratch on it as he rotated it around in his mind, but alas, nothing. He put it back on the table, feeling somewhat heartbroken, knowing that he had a life, either a good one or a bad one, but he still had one, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not remember any of it.
"Do not worry, David," said Sturdy in a cheerful manner, " give it some more time, there has never been a reported case of a permanent amnesia from a concussion before," his words did lift David's mood up and his posture showed it too, "Although I have no idea if it is true to your kind too," and hope left David, again. Sturdy saw the effect of his words on David and regretted that he even said anything, "but don't worry, everything will work out in the end. The book will certainly help a great deal in bringing back your lost memories," Sturdy tried to cheer him up, but he was not in a great mood either, "and after you're cured and I am done with my research about you, I might get some recognition for my work at last," While saying this last part he had to force himself to smile.
"Sounds like somebody is on your bad side," curiosity could be seen in David's eyes, although he didn't let it show in his body language.
"If by somebody you mean the whole academia, then you are correct," Sturdy stomped the ground with his hind left hoof, bitterness seeping into his voice, "those snob unicorns."
David contemplated what Sturdy said for a moment. He looked back at the items on the table, then back to Sturdy. The pony murmured to himself so quietly David could not hear it, even though he was standing right beside him.
David finally connected the dots in his mind, "Wait, so you want to get recognition by researching me?" he looked at Sturdy.
"Yes, researching you and your kind and publishing it to the world might be enough for those unicorns to acknowledge my work too," he was vigorous. He had been waiting for a moment where he could show those snobs that he was just as intelligent and adroit as any other unicorn in the fields of science, "but there is a problem, I am a paleontologist," his body collapsed a little bit as he said that, then turned his head up towards David's, "and this is why I must ask you to help me do my research. I am only good at analyzing fossils, not living creatures," he sat down and put his two front hooves together. He looked at David with the best puppy eyes that he could muster, begging for David to agree.
David just laughed lightly at Sturdy's act, "So you only need a bit of help from me?"
"Yes, and you will get some credit for it too, not to mention that as of right now, you are the only one of your species that we know of, so you will be in the middle of the scientific community's attention," he stood up and ran in one place like a filly with a huge smile on his face.
"I still need to repay you and Lilly for your kindness, and I don't have anything else to do anyway. However, I still can't remember a thing, so I won't be much of a help," he debated the issue with himself loudly, while stroking his chin.
"That doesn't matter," cut in Sturdy quickly, "you will remember your past eventually. We have no reason to rush with the research and teaching the academics a lesson can wait," he finished while rubbing his hooves together and smiling wickedly. Just the thought of the academics finally admitting that they were wrong lifted Sturdy's mood.
David just rolled his eyes and lightheartedly laughed at Sturdy's antics, "The sooner the better, right?" He petted Sturdy on his head to get him out of this state.
"Absolutely," he turned his head around to search for his notepad and saw it on the ground next to himself. He stood up to pick it and the quill up, but he noticed that David's hand still rested on top of his head. David was staring at the wall, his mind wandering elsewhere, "Do you mind?" Sturdy asked in a polite manner and shook his head, but the hand remained. After realizing that he zoned out, David blinked a few times and removed his hand from Sturdy's head.
"Sorry, did not mean to."
"No problem, no harm was done," he picked up the notepad and the quill with his mouth, placed both of them into his hoof and went through his notes, making sure he did not leave anything out, or that he can even read his own hoofwriting.
David continued to stare at the wall, deeply wondering about his future again. If what Sturdy said about him being the only one of his kind that they know of was true, then he must be far away from his home. Of course, he had no idea what or where his home was. Not to mention his family and friends. He hoped that they didn't worry too much about him. He promised to himself that he would look for ways to inform them about his situation as soon as possible.
"Okay, I still have loads of questions, but let's not focus on that," Sturdy dropped his notepad and quill on the table. The noise made by them woke David up from his absent-mindedness, "So the next best thing I could think of is sleeping before your condition gets even worse," he announced proudly, turned to David and waited for him to head towards the stairs. After a few moments of silently staring at each other, and seeing that David only raised an eyebrow in confusion, he started explaining, "Your brain needs sleep in order to heal," he expected David to nod or to just go upstairs without saying anything more, but he still hadn't moved. When Sturdy opened his mouth to give the explanation of his explanation, hoping that it would finally get his message across, David cut him off.
"We already had breakfast," he said in a neutral voice.
"And why would that matter?" Sturdy was puzzled by his simple and seemingly random answer.
"Only lazy people go to bed after they had their breakfast."
Sturdy was utterly confused by this, having no idea where and how he got this idea, then it hit him, "Oh right, this might be forbidden from where you came from," he picked up a candle holder with a lit candle inside it, strode to the stairs and quickly looked back to David, "but don't worry, you need as much extra sleep as you can get, if you want your memories back sooner rather than later," he put his front hoofs on the first steps of the stairs, gesturing with his head upward to David, "So come on, let's not waste any more time."
David wondered about what he should do. On one hand, he did not want to seem like a good-for-nothing man. On the other hand, he did not want to seem like a stubborn, rude man either by refusing to do what his host was telling him, "You sure this is a good idea?" he asked cautiously.
"Completely," said Sturdy in a cheerful manner, putting stress on every syllable of the word.
"Then I shall rest some more," he finally gave in and started walking back up to the hall with Sturdy in front, leading him back to his room. He still needed to support himself with one hand, although his dizziness was not as awful as when he woke up, not to mention his headache had fully gone away thanks to those painkillers.
When they arrived, David was ashamed of himself. He did not even make his bed after getting out of it. Granted, it was not his top priority at the time, but still, "Okay, I will leave this here on the nightstand, in case you will need it," Sturdy put the candle holder on an old, dark brown desk near the door. The room was filled with similar looking furniture. A few bookshelves in the right corner filled with books of all kinds of color, next to them some sofas and a torn, light red carpet between all of this. The wooden floor had many scratch marks, especially in the other right corner, where the tables might have been placed before they were moved down to the basement. The windows had curtains with the similar color to that of the carpet. Except for these things, the room was empty, indicating that it was never used a lot.
"I can't thank you enough for all of this," mentioned David with gratitude, "if it weren't for you and Lilly, I would have frozen to death."
"Don't even mention it, this was the right thing to do," Sturdy waved towards David dismissively, "Everypony in their right mind would have done the same thing. Not to mention that you will have plenty of opportunities to show us how grateful you are," he winked at David, who rolled his eyes in amusement, "Anyway, I'll let you sleep now. Goodnight and/or good morning," he walked out of the room and closed the door behind him with one sweep of his tail.
And David found himself in the dark again, alone. Only this time he had a candle, providing enough light for him to see the outlines of the room. He lifted up the blanket, the smile still on his face, and laid down on the bed. He tucked himself in and fell asleep in an instant. The candles were still burning, their light fighting against the darkness to keep the human illuminated, the same way the voice fought in his dreams to retrieve his lost memories.




I, *** , ******* *** to **** ******** *** *** *** ponies *** ********** **, to **** **** ****** **** *** ****** **** I **** ********* **** **** *** ***** ***********.


> Chapter 2 - Jayden
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

David woke up again in the guest room. This bit of extra sleep did help him quite a lot. He not only felt well rested, but his headache was barely noticeable as well. He groaned as he stretched his body on the bed, loosening his joints before getting up and about.
Sunshine was pouring in from the windows, while the candle that Sturdy left on the nightstand was still burning, although the light it provided was insignificant compared to the Sun's. He put his index finger and thumb together, licked them and extinguished the light between them, there was no need to waste a candle for this.
He proceeded to one of the windows to take his first glance of the outside. He saw a dirt road, with wooden houses on both sides. All of them had the same type of architecture. Snow covered almost everything, except the road, which was bustling with the same kind of creatures his hosts were. They came in all colors and shapes, some of them had wings on their backs or horns on their foreheads. All of them were happily walking along the road, going about their days.
David relaxed for a moment as he watched these creatures moving to and from. It felt as if he had done this many times before, but elsewhere. After he had unwound himself a bit, he turned right around towards his messy bed. He decided that this time he won't leave it in this shape again and actually made the bed for himself. After he was done, he looked over his work and smoothed out any remaining bumps and wrinkles in the sheet. He would not settle for anything less than perfection. When the bed's flatness finally reached his expectations, he started searching for Sturdy.
David descended the stairs and arrived at the dining room. He didn't see Sturdy, but he saw the apple on the table, which was left there by his friend earlier. He went into the kitchen to check if Sturdy was there by any chance, but he found nobody there as well. He concluded that his friend must be in the basement, looking over his stuff again and taking even more notes of them. 
He went towards the door leading down to the lower level of the house, grabbing the apple from the table while walking.
David didn't even make it halfway downstairs, he was already hearing Sturdy mumbling to himself. He was sitting on a ragged looking pillow on the floor, his back turned towards the stairs and hunching over David's book. 
"I hope you are not trying to read it," said David jokingly. He waited for Sturdy to turn around and tossed him the apple, "Thought you might want to finish this."
Sturdy caught the apple with ease while smiling and rolling his eyes at David, "Even my own hoofwriting is more comprehensible than the language this book has been written in," shot back Sturdy, then looked at the fruit, "Oh, I already forgot about this," he took a bite as soon as he finished the sentence, then excitedly motioned for David to come closer to him, "This book is full of hoof-drawn pictures and they are amazing!" he said the last word in a higher tone.
David did what Sturdy wanted him to do and took a look at the book himself. The picture, which Sturdy talked about, was completely colorless and covered a whole page. It depicted a dirty-looking boy with expensive silk clothing carelessly hopping along a busy cobblestone road, pushing people out of his way. There was a tall, muscular man behind him in armor, presumably some kind of guard, who was following him and desperately trying to stop him.
"This drawing is the most perplexing for me. I can't even fathom what is going on on it."
"Well, the boy in the middle seems to be a trouble-maker and this guard," David pointed at the tall man, "is attempting to stop him."
"Fascinating," Sturdy pulled out his quill and notepad from his suit and wrote down what David said.
"But I can just read the story out loud for you, I might regain some memories from it, and you get to better understand the illustration," suggested David and without waiting for a response from his host he picked up the book from the floor.
"I was just about to ask you," Sturdy rotated himself on the pillow to face David, while he took his linen coat from the table and placed it on the floor, then sat on it. He put the book into his lap and opened it at the beginning of the story. He glimpsed at Sturdy, seeing if he was ready for him to start. Sturdy eagerly nodded, "You can start now."
David turned his attention back to the book and started to read out loud, "The tale of Jayden..."


There once lived a boy, his name was Jayden. He was the son of the wealthiest merchant in Crektam, a large city by the sea. He was quite a misbehaving child, his daily routine was this. He always woke up late, at around noon in his room, where a dozen servants waited for his awakening. When he sat upright in his bed, he was immediately fed and clothed in the finest clothes of the town. All the while, Jayden scolded and swore at his personal servants for everything. He was not grateful for their work, in fact, he despised them very much.
After he finally got out of his bed, he took a walk in the mansion in which he lived in and complained. He complained about the marble floor, the red carpets, the silk curtains and the colored glass windows. It was difficult to mention something that the boy did not dislike. And his poor servants were the ones who had to go around and change the carpets and curtains in a futile attempt to please Jayden, which was impossible.
After Jayden had grown tired of scolding his servants, he stepped outside his mansion and went for a nice and relaxing walk. Inside the town, he would wreak havoc, he criticised everybody and everything.  And when something caught his eyes, he would just simply grab it and walk out of the store with it. Nobody dared to stand up to him in fear of invoking his father's wrath, only the town priest. He threatened him that the Great Lord Zoh will grow tired of his behavior and one day the Great Lord Zoh would punish him. Of course, the boy did not listen to the priest and continued on with his evil acts.
The boy's father was displeased with his son's wrongdoings, as expected. So he hired a guard to put a stop to his son's mischievous behavior and went back to managing his businesses. Unfortunately, the guard wasn't successful at putting a stop to Jayden's wicked tricks, and sometimes his tries would even amplify the effects of Jayden's actions. After a while, the townspeople started paying the guard to just leave the boy alone and don't cause any more trouble.
With nobody to stop him, Jayden played as many tricks on the townspeople as he wanted. He went out into the woods and started shouting for help, or he pushed people into the mud after a rainy day, or he simply jumped at them from unexpected places and scared them. The people of Crektam could only hope, that one day someone or something will eventually free them from the boy.
The days turned into weeks, the weeks into months and the months into years. The little boy has grown up, but his behavior did not improve. Until one fateful day.
Jayden did his morning routine with all the scolding and complaining. However, when he stepped outside his mansion an apple smashed into his head from above. It took Jayden by surprise and he quickly ducked and covered his head with both of his hands. When no second apple came, he looked around to possibly shout at the person, who dared to throw a fruit at him. He looked to the left, then to the right and up to the sky. There was no single soul near him, nor was there anything above him, only the clear blue sky.
Now confused, Jayden wiped the apple pieces off of his head and dried his hair with the sleeve of his expensive coat. He tried to forget the incident, and instead went on to torture the townspeople with his endless complaining.
At the market, he saw the fear in the people's eyes. Everybody watched him intently and silently praying in themselves to the Great Lord Zoh. Jayden stopped in front of a food stand. He looked at the salesman with the evilest grim in the world and opened his mouth...
And another apple hit his head. This time Jayden remained standing. The busy market turned silent for a few moments, then everybody burst into laughter. Jayden furiously ordered silence in the market, which he got. He then proceeded to search through the crowd, looking for the culprit. He, of course, accused the nearest person to him, but every time he did that another apple fell on his head and the crowd started laughing, again.
As the tenth apple hit him and his head began to ache, he grew tired and instead opted for a usual trick of his. He went straight into the woods and searched for the bush, in which he would hide and call out for the townspeople to help him against a bear or wolves. However, on his way, he slipped on the wet grass on top of a small hill and rolled down. He tensed his muscles and tried to stop himself from rolling, but he only broke his ankle. He let out a loud scream as the pain suddenly hit him.
Meanwhile, a pack of hungry wolves on the hunt heard his screaming and started heading straight for him.
Jayden finally stopped at the foot of the hill. He was disoriented and he couldn't walk, only jump on one leg. He heard the howls of the wolves and in his panic he shouted at the top of his lungs, hoping that someone would come and save him. 
Back in the town, the people heard his shoutings but they thought it to be another trick, so they paid no attention to it.
Jayden got himself in a bad position. As a last attempt, he tried to climb up to the nearest tree, but to no avail. He was already getting surrounded by the hungry beasts. He covered his eyes in fear and, for the first time in his life, he prayed to the Great Lord Zoh. He heard one of the wolves growling and jumping on him and then a loud thunder.
The wolves began to whimper and dispersed in fear. Jayden did not believe in his fortune, so he cautiously opened his eyes. The beasts were nowhere to be seen and the grass turned into ash in a patch right in front of him. He turned his head to the sky, which was clear of any clouds. Then he heard another thunder, and before he could even react, a lightning bolt struck down on him and everything turned black.
Jayden took a peek through his hands and noticed that he still lived. He felt so grateful and happy, he stood up on both legs, and after he felt no sharp pain in his ankle, he jumped in the air with joy. He turned to the sky and showed his utmost gratitude for the Great Lord Zoh by bowing and loudly shouting thank yous. He knew he had just been forgiven and now he must prove his worth, so he immediately ran home to tell his story to the people of Crektam.
The day after, Jayden had changed significantly. He no longer woke up late in the day and always helped his servants from making his bed to cooking. His complaints turned into compliments and the whole mansion of his felt happier and more alive.
In the town, the people were wary of the sudden change in Jayden's attitude. Instead of torturing and making fun of them he gave his money to the poorest, he paid for everything that he stole and he spread his joy to the other people. As expected, the people of Crektam feared this was only a part of his next trick, but as the days turned into weeks, the weeks into months and the months into years, even the most doubtful of the townspeople saw, that Jayden genuinely changed. The town of Crektam became the most famous and prosperous town of them all, and all it took was one boy to change.


The young David looked around in his room after he was finished with the reading. It was dirty and dusty and his bed messy. He was so eager for finally being able to read The Holy Chronicles that he forgot about everything else. He did not waste any more time. He made his bed, paying great attention to make it wrinkle free and he dusted off his bookshelves with an old rag he once tossed in the corner long ago.
The young David stopped tidying his room when he was unable to find more spots with dirt or dust on them. He proudly straightened his back and took another look at his bedroom. This time it seemed more fitting for the newest defender of the realm, although soon he would have to find a place for his armor and weapons. He began thinking about the issue and he reorganized the furniture in his head, trying to fit them in next to his bed. Then the door behind him opened...


Sturdy waved his hoof in front of David to get him out of his daydreaming. He was worried about his friend, he did not know if this was just another vision of his past, or he had a silent mental breakdown.
David blinked for the first time since he finished reading and Sturdy let out a sigh of relief, "Was it another vision?" He inquired.
"Yes," David firmly nodded, "I was in my childhood bedroom and I was cleaning it after I read the story. I thought what happened to Jayden might happen to me as well," David chuckled lightheartedly at his younger self. The strange feeling already told him that you had to work really hard in order to invoke such wrath from the Great Lord Zoh without taking innocent lives.
Sturdy was about to open his mouth when he heard the doorbell. He excused himself and went upstairs. David turned a page in the book to read at least the title of the next story when he was interrupted by his friend rushing down the flock of stairs. His face turned white and shamefully walked up again. This was enough for David to be interested, so he placed the book on the table and made his way up as well.
From the top of the stairs, David saw a grey male unicorn standing in the doorway. He looked at Sturdy with a furious expression on his face, which immediately turned into a fearful one when he noticed him. The pony quickly said goodbye and promptly ran away.
"Who was that?" David went to the door and peeked outside. He barely saw the pony's tail disappearing behind a corner.
"I have to go, you can come as well if you want to," Sturdy got a suitcase from the drawer next to the armor stand and placed the brown hat on his head from the hanger, "It will only ta-" the absence of David cut him short. He hurried back down to the basement to get his warm clothes from the tables. He put on his linen trouser over his short and his linen coat over his shirt, then went back up again.
"We can go now," said David from halfway up the stairs. He didn't even pant from running up and down so fast.
"Alright then," said Sturdy with a fake smile and stepped outside with David right behind him.
> Chapter 3 - Troubles
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

David stepped outside of Sturdy's home and into the open air. He immediately felt the cold of the outside through his clothes, yet it was not the temperature that chilled him to the bone, but the ponies. All of them turned towards him as soon as he stepped outside, "Try to look friendly," said Sturdy as he closed the door behind himself and locked it. David forced a warm smile on his face to make himself look as neighborly as possible. Sturdy walked in front of him and looked him in the eye, "Don't make any sudden movement and we'll be alright," and with that, he started trotting down the busy street in a cheerful manner. David followed his friend even though he felt uncomfortable with all the passer-byes watching him.
"Can't we just take another route to wherever we have to go?" David asked in a hushed tone while he gave a friendly smile and a nod to every pony they passed by. He either got ignored or they looked back at him with a rather unpleasant glare. He started scanning his surroundings, just in case he needed to escape quickly.
"I would prefer that too," whispered back Sturdy, "but they need to get used to you, so just keep on smiling."
"Hey, you! You freak!" Shouted one of the ponies from far away behind them. Both Sturdy and David turned back to see what was going on, "You tall, bald monster! You better not cause any trouble or else!" The pony was an old earth pony stallion with gray mane and huge, round glasses. He was shaking his hoof and loudly cursing at them, to which the crowd started talking amongst themselves, silently debating whether they should join the old pony in facing the monster, or if they would be better off hiding somewhere until it leaves.
Sturdy ran over to the nearest crate and jumped on top of it. From there he addressed everypony, "Ponies! Stop this madness! I thought Ponyville had the nicest residents in all of Equestria!" David was glad his friend did not hesitate in helping him out, although his words didn't have any noticeable effect on the crowd.
"We are nice with normal folk, not with monsters!" Shouted a mare.
"And what made you think that David is not a normal folk?" Asked Sturdy in turn. He did not wait for any response from the crowd, but instead continued immediately, "I admit it, he does look menacing, even to me as well, but it does not mean he would actually do such things!" He reasoned. David was taken aback by his statement, he had no idea his host thought of him the same way as these bystanders.
"You said something similar about Esau Stronghorn as well," stated the previous old stallion.
"Yes, but..." Sturdy didn't have any idea what to say to that. Fortunately, David spoke up before somepony else could from the crowd.
"It fills my heart with pain to see how ill all of you think of me," David was no expert when it came to persuading crowds, so he just said his honest thoughts, hoping it would be enough to defuse the situation, "I know I am a stranger to all of you. I know that none of you had seen anything like me before and I can completely understand why you fear me. I can only hope for you to give me a chance to prove that I am, in fact, not a monster, as you claim me to be," David let his sorrow seep into his voice and body language. It seemed to affect the crowd, except for the old stallion.
"Stop acting and admit it. You only want to rob us, just like that minotaur!" Shouted the stallion back, thus making the crowd even more furious at David. Luckily for him, Sturdy had enough time to come up with a plan and just in time as the ponies of Ponyville began to encircle them.
"Wait!" Sturdy yelled at the top of his lungs. Everypony, including David, turned towards him, "Under the first Griffin law, any self-aware being is granted basic pony rights, which include the punishment for inflicting physical harm on that being, and David shows all the signs of a self-aware being," the ponies just watched Sturdy with a blank expression, to which he facehoofed "In other words, if you hit him you go to prison," Sturdy was always disappointed at the average pony's inability to understand more complex sentences.
However, the ponies of Ponyville trusted Sturdy as much as one would trust a goat not to eat a cabbage, not to mention that everypony knew he wasn't a lawyer, so they surrounded them completely, "Stop! Sturdy is right!" Screamed an earth pony mare with light brown fur and pink mane. Ponies began to move out of her way as she walked up to David, "This being is under the protection of Equestrian law and he will remain so until he abides by them," she stomped the ground with one of her hooves to emphasize her point, "I am sorry ponies, but you can't force him out of the village. Now disperse!" Most of the ponies growled at the mare's interruption. Nevertheless, even the most daring of them went back to their daily routines. However, the mare remained next to David, watching the ponies leave, just in case one of them actually worked up the courage to charge at the human.
"Thank you, Mayor Mare," Sturdy sounded grateful towards the mare and even bowed his head slightly for her.
"Keep an eye on your friend, Sturdy Fossil," she gave Sturdy a long and vicious glare, then left like nothing had happened. Saying that David was surprised at the mare's reaction would have been an understatement.
"Let's go, David. They should leave us alone. For now," Sturdy continued on without saying anything else. David stayed in one place for a while, only staring at the back of Sturdy. As his mind processed what just happened, he immediately followed his friend down the now not so busy street.
"What just happened? Who is Esau Stronghorn? Why was that mare so malicious? No, why was everybody so malicious? And where are we going anyway?" David asked in confusion and in a slight anger. He expected Sturdy to at least warn him about the possibility of being attacked on the street by other ponies.
"Look, I'm sorry about what just happened," Sturdy peeked back at David for just enough time for him to see the regret and sadness in his eyes. He turned back forward, sighed and continued on, "Esau was a minotaur. I brought him here and technically I tried the same thing with him as with you now. Turns out he was not the righteous type, so after a few days he went on a looting spree in the town and left. Nopony heard from him since," Sturdy lowered his head towards the ground in shame, "Of course, everypony blamed me for the incident, they have all the right to, but I still had no idea he would do such a thing," Sturdy peeked at David again, "They think you will do the same thing. That is the reason why they wanted to 'chase' you out of the town."
David tried to hold onto his anger towards Sturdy, but he just couldn't. He saw his friend was truly troubled by all of this and he just didn't have the heart to remain mad at him, albeit his curiosity was not yet satisfied, "If this is true, then why did the mayor interfere?"
"Cause she would have gotten into more trouble," Sturdy spat out carelessly. David scratched his chin in thought. He pondered on the whole ordeal and began thinking about what he would say to Sturdy next, but his friend spoke first, "Anyway, I want to leave this behind me as soon as possible," his voice was quiet and neutral.
"I understand," David's head was filled with words and sentences he wanted to say to his friend to cheer him up or to reassure him, yet he remained silent. He respected his friend's wish, so he instead began to think about the Ponyville incident. He played it back in his head numerous times, looking for the exact time and moment when it all had gone wrong. His mind began to fill up and his headache returned. He was so deep in his reflections that the absence of the houses around him didn't occur to him at all.
After he had enough of the mess he had created in his head, David took a look around in order to clear it out and only then did he notice that the beautiful homes and shops of the town were replaced by snowy fields. Aside from the crunching of the snow underneath their feet and hooves, everything was completely silent.
David stopped in his tracks and closed his eyes. There was no wind, not even a gentle breeze. He took a deep breath, held it in as long as he could and slowly breathed it out. When he opened his eyes he saw the terrain, which was evenly coated by the fresh, untouched snow, and the giant light gray cloud above him. It looked like a huge blanket that had been draped all over the sky by the Great Lord Zoh. He also spotted two kids as well in the snow, both of them were humans. He had never seen them before, or at least he did not remember seeing them, he only knew them because of the strange voice speaking to him in a low tone told him. One of the kids was him, the other one was a friend of his.
David watched them as they played in the snow, he heard them talking and laughing amongst themselves. His head had been cleared of all of his previous worries, although now he felt pained and saddened, "David, why are you crying?"
The kids vanished in front of David's eyes, he only saw the white snow again. He looked at Sturdy who seemed concerned for him. He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and gave it to David. At first, he had no idea why Sturdy would hand this to him, then he felt the tears slowly freezing on his cheeks. He wiped them off and gave the handkerchief back to his friend.
"I did not realize this whole situation made you so upset. I know I said I want to leave it behind me already and-"
"It's not about that," David cut Sturdy off, "It was just another vision," he kept looking at the spot where he saw the kids. Sturdy stood next to him and started observing the landscape as well, "I saw my childhood self and one of my friends play in the snow. I don't know why bu-" he heard the voice speaking to him and it's words echoed through his mind, a thousand feelings hit him at once, "He died."
"Pardon?" Sturdy recoiled at David's sudden statement.
"My friend, he passed away," repeated David with the same tone and turned towards his friend with his full body, "We were very close friends, we didn't have any secrets from each other. It was one of the worst days of my life when the plague took him," Sturdy hadn't lost any of his friends or family members. He was clueless as to what he should say in such a situation, so he remained silent, fearing he would just make things worse, "I'm alright now, hopefully. It just caught me off-guard," he smiled warmly at Sturdy, which he returned with a smile of his own, "Anyways, you still hadn't told me where we are going," David started walking and motioned for Sturdy to follow him. He was surprised by how fast David got over this, although he respected his decision to not to talk about it any further, just as how David did when he asked him to not talk about the Ponyville incident.
"Well, we are going to the Ghastly Gorge," announced Sturdy proudly, hiding his fears and worries for his friend.
"Ghastly Gorge?" David raised an eyebrow.
"Yes," David could have sworn that he heard a click as Sturdy turned on his lecturer mode, "The Ghastly Gorge is a deep valley which is rich in minerals. It was originally a huge underground cave, but over time it collapsed in on itself and, most importantly, the valley has an endless supply of unique fossils near the surface which can be easily extracted without the need of any advanced tools."
"So we are going there to dig up some fossils? Don't we need at least a shovel for that?"
"There are loads of shovels in the valley, I have set up an excavation site with the leftover money I got from the Academy," Sturdy grinned. Spending those snob ponies' money was the best passive-aggressive action on his part. It's a pity he was unable to do it any further as they had stopped funding him with anything after they kicked him out.
David rolled his eyes in amusement, "So we got the equipment for it, but how are we going to find them? Are we going to just dig a bunch of holes and hope for a lucky find?"
"Oh please David, I can find a fossil within seconds," Sturdy pointed at his cutie mark, "this guides me to them."
"I fail to see the reason why it would be capable of doing that," David shrugged his shoulders slightly, "but if you say so, the Great Lord Zoh has his own unfathomable powers as well."
While they were talking they arrived at the Ghastly Gorge. David leaned over the cliff and peeked down, he couldn't help himself and whistled one, "That's a really deep canyon," the echo of his whistle only died down once he finished talking, then a distant roar drew both of their attention, "What was that?" Asked David without delay.
"Well, there are two reasons why I am the only one excavating here," Sturdy pointed at the forest in the distance, "That is the Everfree Forest, one of the most dangerous places in Equestria," he then picked up a pebble and tossed it down the valley, "And then there are these fellows as well."
David followed the small stone with his eyes. The moment it passed by a gigantic hole in the side of the canyon a huge red eel-like creature shot out of it at such a speed that it smashed its own head on the other side of the gorge in an instant. The eel didn't even flinch or whine at this, it just slowly withdrew itself into its hole. David could only look at this beast with horror, "You sure about this?" He turned his head towards Sturdy, or rather where Sturdy once was.
"Don't make such a fuss about it, it'll be fine," said Sturdy already descending on a flock of stairs that were carved into the side of the gorge, "Just don't step in front of their caves."
David found the entrance to the stairs and followed his friend downwards, "I hope you're right," David caught up to Sturdy on the stairway, "but know this, if I die here by one of these eels then I will come back to haunt you for the rest of your life," he threatened Sturdy, although it intentionally came across as more ridiculous than menacing.
"Don't worry David, we just dig around a bit, find one fossil and we are already out of here," Sturdy's voice sounded calming and soothing and it did help David calm down just a tiny bit, "And don't forget to say hi to Fred," David's fear was replaced by confusion. As soon as Sturdy placed one hoof at the next step a quarray eel shot out next to them and hit the other side of the gorge as well.
"For the love of Zoh!" David jumped in the air and then clung to the side of the stairwell in fear while Sturdy just smirked, "I would have appreciated a little warning!" He shouted after his friend who didn't even stop in his tracks.
"I did warn you," answered back Sturdy with fake anger.
David's fury towards Sturdy had returned. He started running down the stairs and when Fred shot out from the wall again he just yelled at it, "Frick off Fred!" Both of them arrived at the bottom at the same time and David immediately jumped in front of Sturdy, "Do you even realize how risky and dangerous this place is, or is this just a game for you?"
The smile vanished from Sturdy's face and his sadness had broken free from its cage where he tried to hide it and forget about it, "Don't get me wrong David, these things are terrifying," he went over to his little digging station, which was a small tent with a table under it. There were three shovels and a pickaxe placed on top of the table. He placed the empty trunk on the ground under the tent, "I had many close calls with them, so I don't want to be here just as much as you do," the memories came back to him and they made his fur stand on end for a moment, "But this is the reason why I gave them names and why I act so naturally with them, it helps me forget about the fear. And you have to get used to them in order to forget about your own fear of them, too," he opened his suitcase and then grabbed a shovel from the table, "Just as how the ponies need to get used to you," he looked David straight in the eye with his saddened expression. David's anger melted away, "You don't have to help, I can handle this alone," he started walking along the valley with the shovel in one hoof.
David instinctively picked up the remaining equipment from the tent and rushed after his friend, "I will help and no amount of Freds can stop me from that," said David, putting more stress on his words. He matched Sturdy's pace and followed him along with the two shovels and the pickaxe placed on his shoulder. Sturdy's mood improved, although he still felt bad for bringing David down here, "And now that you have put it this way, this seems more ironic than scary," they both let out a light chuckle at this.
"You should lower your head or else Veronica might have a bite from it," David dropped down to his knees and jerked his head to both sides looking for the hole. He indeed found it to his left with steam coming out of it, indicating that something big was inside it. He continued on all fours until he left the cave behind himself.
"Speaking from experience?" Inquired David after standing up and dusting off his clothes.
"Yes, she did get really close to chomping one of my hind legs off once," David was bewildered as to how Sturdy almost managed to achieve that, "Oh, I feel a tingle," he put up his right hoof to stop David in his tracks. He began trotting in a zigzag and paid great attention to his guide, the tingling inside him. David tried to follow his friend, but after a while, he had enough of running after him, so he stopped in one place and waited for him to finish the search.
While Sturdy tirelessly hunted for a fossil, David took his time and inspected the bottom of the valley. There was just as many holes in the ground as many caves in the side of the gorge and all of them had a dirt pile next to them, presumably from when Sturdy dug them out. He couldn't help but wonder about how many trips he had made so far down here in search for new fossils. And where did he keep those fossils after researching them?
David's train of thought was disturbed by Sturdy's victorious holler which was followed by the sounds of digging. He rushed over to his friend, "Where shall I dig?" Without any delay, he placed town the equipment from his shoulder and picked out a shovel from them.
"Don't, it's really close to the surface and it would only damage it," said Sturdy with excitement. He dropped his shovel aside and lied down on his stomach next to the hole. With his front hooves, he began carefully sweeping the dirt out of the small pit.
David only watched his friend's movements intently. They were slow and careful, it gave David the impression that the fossils were just as fragile as glass. Sturdy asked for the pickaxe which he gave it to him. He then started to lightly tap the rock at the bottom of the hole and small cracks developed on its surface in a circle. He continued on with this until the flat stone he had been carving popped out of its place. He gave the pickaxe back to David and cautiously picked the fossil out of the rock and placed it next to himself. He gently blew the remaining dirt off of it and grabbed it with one hoof, "There it is, it seems to be an ancient sea creature's transitional fossil," David moved closer to him to better observe it. It was indeed a strange creature's skeletal structure that seemed like it was etched into the stone by the Great Lord Zoh.
"Fascinating," both of them got up from the ground and slowly made their way back to the tent, David paid great attention to Veronica's cave on the way back, "How long does it take to research one of these?" he inquired, not sure if he used the correct term.
"I won't be researching it," Sturdy placed the fossil into the suitcase, closed it and carefully placed it back on his back.
"What do you mean?" David raised an eyebrow at that. 
"Do you remember that gray pony?" David only nodded at that, "He is going to buy it from me and then he will research it for himself, or he sells it off to somepony else," David's jaws dropped. His friend just turned around and made his way towards the stairs leading upwards.
"Will he give you credit for the discovery at least?" David followed Sturdy from far away, hoping that he would turn back to the small camp and started analyzing the fossil for himself.
"No," came the cold answer. Sturdy didn't even turn back, he didn't have the strength to tell this face to face. David stood silent for a few seconds, wishing his friend was just joking. He wasn't.
David had no other option but to go up the stairs after Sturdy. He tried to imagine himself in his situation and then he thought carefully about his next words, he had no desire to accidentally worsen Sturdy's mood, "Is there no other way? Was this the first or last option for you?" he asked desperately while Fred shot out of his cave again. This time neither of them even seemed to notice him.
"The last," they arrived at the top of the stairs and Sturdy turned towards David. He carefully put the suitcase down from his back and sat down in the snow. He was debating with himself whether he should tell David about the issue or just move on without talking about it, just like how he did with the previous problems. David patiently waited for his friend to come to a conclusion, he used the time to mull things over in himself as well, making sure he understood everything correctly. 
Sturdy spoke up first after he had reached a decision with himself, "I tried everything. I researched the most impressive fossils I could find only for it to be rejected without a thought and the day after I would find my study accepted and published by somepony else. I tried working outside of my field, each time it went horribly wrong," he glanced up at David with a beaten down expression and tears began to form in his eyes, "I ran out of money, I had to think of something fast or else I would have become homeless," he buried his face in his hooves, "I said 'screw it, If they already steal my work then at least I could get a few bits out of them,'" he almost cursed at the last bit but he wanted to keep what little he still got from his composure.
David felt heartbroken at Sturdy's tale, it was unthinkable for him to even imagine such cruelty. The Great Lord Zoh greatly punished those, who brought suffering onto another being, so where was the Great Lord Zoh? By now the Great Lord Zoh would have smitten these so-called 'academics' for the evil they had done. Yet David was dumbfounded by this realization. It was only Sturdy's voice which brought him back from his thoughts.
"And I won't even mention Esau," stated firmly Sturdy, looking up to the sky, "He is gone now, thankfully," he cheered himself up a little bit and turned to David, "But you, I am sure you will be the one who will save me from this madness and together we can show those snobs that they messed with the wrong pony this time," David smiled at his friend, then a thought occurred to him. What if the Great Lord Zoh sent him to help on Sturdy? Yes, that had to be it, he already knew that there was a reason for him to be here, and now he felt like he had found it.
"Don't you worry," said David confidently and crouched down in front of his friend. He looked him in the eye and pat his shoulder, "I guarantee that you will never regret bringing me into your home and trusting me."
"Yeah, right," answered back Sturdy with some sarcasm in his voice while he wiped the remaining tears from his eyes, "At least give me a warning before you take off with all of our valuables," he chuckled at his own joke and picked the suitcase up with a hoof and put it on his back again.
"Do you even have anything worth stealing?" Replied David with the same sarcastic tone.
"Now that you mention it," Sturdy acted like he was struggling to come up with something expensive inside their home. They both laughed at this and started heading back to Ponyville, "I'm glad we talked about this, I feel a bit better now," he said while stretching his neck.
"If so, then we should do the same with the previous problems as well," recommended David.
"I don't think it would work with them," Sturdy adjusted his glasses and took up a serious tone, "Many of the issues can't be fixed by us or by me. Let's take the Academy for example," he saw the houses of the town and slowed his pace down. He wanted to discuss this outside of Ponyville, far away from prying eyes, "I am unable to do anything to get back into it, I need your help and even then it takes time. It's pretty much the same thing with the residents of Ponyville. We are both incapable of changing their minds about you drastically in a short period of time. Sure, after talking about it I feel better for awhile, but in the long run, it won't change anything," he stopped in his tracks and looked at David with a slight sadness on his face and waited for David's reaction.
"Yes, I agree with you that talking rarely solves any problems, yet I still think it's worthwhile," David understood what Sturdy felt, the crushing feeling of not being able to solve or do something about a particular issue, he went through the same when his friend got the plague and eventually died because of it, "Discussing these things with somebody does lift a part of the burden for a while, and knowing you are not alone in dealing with situations like this can make it much easier to solve the problem itself, not to mention being able to ask for advice," he finished his little speech and encouragingly smiled at his friend.
Sturdy pondered on what David said, "I like your optimism, but it doesn't work like that," he finally answered, "This has been suggested to me many times before and believe me, I tried it many times with different ponies and it never improved on anything, it only made me less stressed for one or two days at most," he had already gone through this conversation, but with different ponies, so he began walking towards the town again.
David was desperately searching for a reason why this didn't work for his friend, "Maybe everybody you have talked to so far has been the wrong person," he brightened up, thinking that this must be the solution, "Have you tried talking with Lilly?" He recommended.
"Yes and it was a total waste of time," Sturdy stopped right at the edge of Ponyville and glanced back at David, "She said I was only too weak and that I had to toughen up," he stomped the ground in frustration, "She thinks she has it more difficult than me, or anypony else for that matter and my problems can be easily solved by not whining about them," with that he turned right around and began strolling down the street. As soon as they were inside the town the ponies began staring at them, but this time they only did it when they thought they weren't looking at them and wouldn't notice it.
David felt uncomfortable to be back in Ponyville, yet he still straightened his back and smiled while he followed Sturdy. After a few minutes, the staring of the residents started to annoy him a little bit, so he tried to pay no more attention to them. Instead, he began thinking about what to do, he could have pressed the issue and try to prove his point, or he could just satisfy his curiosity and ask about Lilly. He picked up his pace and walked in front of his friend, who wore a rather frustrated expression on his face. This in turn swiftly persuaded David into leaving the issue behind and instead he went with the flow of the conversation, "What made you think of her this way?"
"She made me," stated Sturdy angrily, "The one time I approach her with a problem of mine she gets mad at me for intentionally disturbing her, not to mention that after she calms down she lectures me on how to be tough and all. She doesn't help with my problems, she just gives me a headache."
"Why does she think she has it the most difficult out of everyone else?" inquired David, being genuinely interested in the topic and also he hoped he could still prove it to his friend that talking does help, sometimes.
"She is right in that regard, to some extent. Her life is just as much in ruins as mine," answered Sturdy with a sigh after he gave it some thought, "It's just that she is deeply immersed in her own issues, she is unable to see that there are many other ponies who have met with just as big, if not bigger obstacles as she had."
"Why, what was this obstacle?"
"You remember what she said about her job before she left?" Sturdy stopped in his tracks and looked up at David.
"Yes, she said she works as a Royal Guard or something similar?" David stopped as well and stood in front of his friend.
"Well, she technically doesn't," said Sturdy, feeling a bit awkward and somewhat ashamed for telling this to David behind Lilly's back.
"Wait, she lied?" Asked David with a slight shock.
"No! I wouldn't call it a lie," Sturdy moved his head sideways to emphasize his point, "It's more of a... half-truth," David only stared at him in confusion, so he switched on his lecturer mode and explained the situation, "She works as a delivery mare for the Royal Guard, she usually delivers reports and other not-so-important messages between Ponyville and Canterlot. Her biggest dream is to become an actual Royal Guard, so she applied for the promotion as soon as possible. Of course, the captains found her too hot-headed and stubborn to be an effective member of the guard, so she has been trying to get the promotion for years now."
"And due to her stubbornness, she doesn't want to change herself in order to be fitting for the job?"
"Exactly," said Sturdy in the same tone he used when one of his students gave a right answer, "I swear I sometimes think she does this on purpose for some reason," David found his friend's last sentence interesting, although he did not want to ask about it, yet, "And that is all, Lilly and I are just going through some tough times."
"Do you feel better now?" David hoped Sturdy would now see just how big of a positive effect talking about one's problems can be, not because he wanted to rub it in, but because he wanted to help him, after all, that is the reason why he was sent here in the first place.
"I knew you were going somewhere with that," Sturdy pointed a hoof at David with a smirk, "but no," his expression turned cold and neutral in an instant, "I did try it, but it didn't work for me, not with Lilly, not with anypony else," he lowered his head in defeat, "I wish it would work, really. Most days I can't even find a reason to get out of bed, my life is just not worth living right now, this was the last thing that would have been able to help on my situation," David felt as if somebody had dumped a bucket of freezing water on him. He quickly reached out to his friend to comfort him and tell him that there is always a reason to live. However, his friend was faster and spoke up before that, "but then," he looked up at David with a slight glimmer in his eyes and gestured towards him with a hoof, "we found you! I got another chance for my revenge! And a reason to live, a goal to fight for. Lilly tried to talk me down, to leave you right then and there but I did not let her, I knew it was now or never," he was ecstatic, forgetting about all the misery he had been through so far.
David was relieved to see his friend truly happy again, "I'm glad I can help, but can you keep your voice down?" He asked his friend after noticing all the ponies staring at them, he did not want to divert everyone's attention to themselves or to disturb their everyday lives, but only after he asked did he realize that they would watch them just as much even if they hadn't spoken a single word to each other inside the town.
"I'm sorry, you're just such a huge gamechanger that I can't keep myself at bay," said Sturdy to David with the widest smile on his face and then shivered as the wind picked up. The sun had already set and the temperature began to drop fast, "Celestia is never late with raising the moon, let's continue on before we freeze outside," and with that, he started walking at a quickened pace towards his home.
David followed Sturdy without a word, he was thinking about what he could give his friend to stay warm. The voice told him that he had a fur coat, he got it from his grandfather back in his childhood as a gift for becoming the first defender in his family. He grabbed it from his shoulder and lifted it off of himself. The feeling of warmth disappeared and the cruel, cold wind replaced it, yet he didn't mind it. He put it on the shoulders of the girl in front of him, her parents were taken by the plague, a fate unfortunately not too rare these days. She said no words, although her eyes told him everything, from how grateful she was for this show of kindness to the pain and suffering she has been through.
David smiled at her and now he was the one who was freezing. He remembered he still got an old linen coat from Zoh knows where in his castle, so he began running towards it in order to escape from the bitter cold of the outside as fast as possible.
He ran along the line in which the girl was standing as well. It began at the cathedral, where the monks and other defenders handed out free food for the starving in this unusually harsh winter and it ended just at the edge of the town. The people standing in it wore ragged clothes, barely enough to keep them from freezing to death. The majority of them had buboes all around their bodies, a sign that they had been touched by the plague. He felt bad for these people. They told him that they sinned and for this, the Great Lord Zoh had punished them, yet he thought this was too much. His heart sank lower with each suffering face he saw, knowing he could only comfort them in their death.
David shook his head, he needed to stay sane in these desperate times. He still had some of his family members that he needed to protect from the wrath of the Great Lord Zoh. He prayed not only for himself but for them as well and he kept a close eye on them, making sure they always stayed out of trouble and obeyed the Great Lord Zoh's teachings.
"David, where are you going?" Shouted Sturdy after him. He gradually slowed down and turned around. His friend was standing in front of his home, grabbing the door handle and gesturing for him to come. He shook his head and hurried back to his friend, "At first you just stood there and stared, then you started running at breakneck speed towards our home, then you ran past it," Sturdy opened the door and let him in first, "Another vision?" David nodded at the question while taking off his linen coat and he hung it on the hanger.
As Sturdy closed the door behind himself he opened his mouth to speak, but instead of his own voice it was Lilly's which was heard, "Just about time they got home," she said angrily and went to the entrance, "Where have you been?" she asked in a hushed, bitter tone from Sturdy, "This dude has been here for an hour now, you know how awkward it was to wait for you?"
Sturdy and David glanced at each other. The human reassuringly nodded at him, to which he calmly placed his hat down and grabbed the suitcase from his back, "Don't worry, I got this from here," he said to Lilly and with a determined expression, he walked into the dining-room. David did not follow him, he didn't want to disturb their conversation with his presence.
"Ah, Sturdy, I thought I wouldn't be able to meet with you again," the same grey stallion from before was sitting right across the table from Sturdy. He wore a smug expression on his face, as usual, "Now, I believe you owe me something," he put his hooves together and waited for Sturdy to present the fossil. Sturdy casually walked up to the table, placed the suitcase on top of it and opened it towards the grey stallion so that he could see what was inside, "Perfect, as always we pay twenty bits for it," the grey stallion reached out to take the fossil, but Sturdy slammed the suitcase shut, "Hey!" The stallion yelled at him.
"I only accept upfront payment from now on," said Sturdy with a stern voice.
"How dare you?!" The stallion shouted furiously, "Our money saves you from starvation!"
"Perhaps, but I have something much more promising to work on right now, so if you still want the regular shipments you better pay more for them," while Sturdy talked Lilly stepped into the room, she wore the face of a warrior, ready to defend her home from this intruder. David came in not long after her, he was only concerned for his friend's well being.
The grey stallion froze down the moment he saw David. He sank into his chair and fearfully watched as the human went up to Sturdy, "Everything alright?" He asked his friend.
"Of course not, that jerk dared to-" Lilly was about to tell the stallion off, but her housemate stopped her before she could get out of hand.
"I have everything under control," stated Sturdy with a calm expression, "If you could just leave us alone now," he motioned for both Lilly and David to exit the room. He only continued on when they disappeared behind the door, "As I was saying, I will only continue on with the excavation fossils if you pa-"
"Here's the payment," the stallion didn't want to stay in one house with the human, so he quickly threw a pouch at the suitcase for Sturdy, who only slid it back to the stallion.
"I did not finish," Sturdy shot a vicious glare at the stallion, then continued on like nothing had happened in the first place, "I also want more money per fossil, fifty at least."
"What?!" The stallion was completely taken aback by this. He stared at the door, waiting for the human to show up again after his loud outcry. When no one turned up from behind it he turned back to Sturdy, who looked at him with the same smug grin the stallion would usually wear, "Fine!" With his shaking hooves, he put another pouch on the table, a much bigger one and he hastily counted out thirty more bits from it. He slid back the smaller purse and the pile of bits to Sturdy.
"It was a pleasure," he put the fossil down on the side of the table for the stallion and began recounting the money. The stallion carelessly grabbed the fossil and ran out of the house in an instant, he didn't even say goodbye.
"What in the name of Equestria was that?" Asked Lilly while she reentered the dining-room with David in tow, she was surprised at how confident Sturdy was the whole time.
"I have no idea!" Sturdy jumped out of the chair with excitement, "I just tried to appear persuasive, but then David came into the room and the stallion got scared and I just kept going with the flow and," he looked down at his hooves for a moment, "I'm still shaking, this was awesome!"
"It was about time you stood up for yourself once all alone, I am proud of you," Lilly gave Sturdy a pat on the back for his bravery, while David clapped for him.
"We must celebrate our hero!" Announced David with one of his fingers pointed towards the ceiling. 
"Is the Sugarcube Corner still open?" Asked Sturdy and eyed the money up, "I have enough bits to buy all the carrot cakes in the world," the thought of the delicious cake made him drool a little bit as he continued to blankly stare at the pile of money.
"Is it open? Are you kidding, it's only five o'clock, most of the ponies go there around this time," answered back Lilly, baffled at how Sturdy did not know this simple fact. She knew he rarely went left the house in the afternoon and at night, but still.
"Then who wants some carrot cake?" Came the rhetorical question from Sturdy and grabbed the pouch from the table. As he was about to exit the room Lilly had unexpectedly blocked his path in the doorway.
"No," Lilly took the pouch away from Sturdy and pointed back towards the table, "Wait here while I get the cake," Sturdy and David immediately sat down, the last thing they wanted was to go against her will, "You two already caused enough trouble in Ponyville with your morning walk, we could do without another incident," Sturdy smiled sheepishly at her to which she glared at him, "Don't think we won't have a little chat about it," her expression drastically changed from angry to delighted, "but first we must celebrate," and she flew out of the house.
Sturdy and David just looked at each other, both of them were terrified at what could happen after they finished with the cake. David shrugged his shoulder, thinking that he might as well enjoy this small party while it lasts and worry about his death by Lilly later. This mentality seemed to stick to his friend as well, as he joined him in savoring his own small triumph.
> Chapter 4 - The Missionary
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

David was back in his dark, temporary room, lying on the bed with a lit candle on a nearby nightstand and the Holy Chronicles in his hands. Everything was silent besides the shoutings of Lilly and Sturdy. 
"You've lost your mind, Sturdy!"
"What was I supposed to do, leave him here all alone?"
"No, but you also weren't supposed to parade him through the middle of the town!"
David shook his head to himself and turned a page. Everything was going so well until everybody finished eating. He physically saw the tension rise between his hosts, so he did the best thing in these situations and quickly excused himself for the night. He borrowed the Holy Chronicles back from Sturdy, asked for a candle from Lilly, and retreated into his room. They hadn't stopped yelling ever since.
Now that he thought more about it, they do act like a couple.
"I will watch over David from now on!"
"Absolutely not! You have to work!"
"And? You have to as well!"
"Yes, but my work is with David!"
David turned another page. He had read nearly half of the book so far, which either meant he was a fast reader, or they had been at each other's throats for a long time now. He noticed that the book was split into three main parts, the first contained short stories with simple morals, he found the tale of Jayden here too. The second one was all about becoming a defender and what it actually meant to be one, what was expected of them and what was their duty. He just started reading the last story of this part, it was about a queen named Atarah, who was the first one to convert her whole kingdom to the teachings of the Great Lord Zoh.
"What are you doing?!"
"I'm putting your research papers away!"
"Don't you dare!"
As David finished Atarah's tale another vision hit him. This time he was able to recall a lesson, where he learned how to be a successful missionary. Every story brought out a memory from the depths of his mind. They weren't important, yet he was glad for every bit of information. He remembered his daily training routine, the first time he had beaten his master at sword dueling, and when he was first tasked with spreading the teachings of the Great Lord Zoh. They were pleasant memories, but not very helpful in his situation. He still couldn't remember his home or his family or how he even got here.
"Give them back!"
"What, can't you live without your precious papers?"
"No, they're just important!"
David placed down the book into his lap and rolled his eyes. He seriously considered going down and putting an end to this madness. He could join the argument, but it wouldn't help much. He could also try reasoning with them to at least calm down and discuss everything in a civilized manner, which would work, if not for the fact that both Lilly and Sturdy were somewhat stubborn.
"I swear I'm gonna kill you one day!"
"Oh, please, you can't even kill a fly!"
David finally decided against going down, knowing his luck they would just turn against him anyway. He picked the book up and flipped through the third part. It was the longest of the three and it mainly contained stories about famous defenders and how they contributed to the Great Lord Zoh's teachings. The voice told him that one of his biggest dreams was to be included in this section of the book, as it was still being expanded to this day.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"To the basement so that I could spend my time more meaningfully than shouting with you."
"Fine, flee then!"
David raised both of his hands towards the ceiling as a thank you to the Great Lord Zoh for stopping their fight. He closed the book and placed it on the nightstand next to the candle, which he blew out afterward. He laid back into his bed and covered himself with the blanket. It was still cold, yet it still felt better than the chilling air in the room. He made himself comfortable and closed his eyes, waiting for the dreams to come. The voice kept talking to him, it made falling asleep somewhat harder, but he managed to tune it out long enough for him to eventually catch some sleep. 



I, Zoh , ******* you to **** ******** *** *** the ponies *** ********** **, to save **** ****** **** *** ****** that I **** ********* **** them *** ***** ***********.



David's eyes burst open and he sat upright in his bed, one of the maidens of the castle had woken him up, "Quickly sir David! The Madam is not well!" She gestured towards David to follow her. He didn't have to be told twice. He jumped out of the bed. He grabbed the closest piece of clothing and draped it over his shoulders. He pushed her gently yet firmly out of the doorway and rushed down the hallway. The maiden couldn't keep up with him.
Everything was silent except for David's thundering steps as he ran towards his parents' room. He turned a corner and immediately had to stop. A dozen servants were blocking the door. They were looking inside with remorseful expressions.
David coughed into his hands to warm the servants of his presence. All of them turned towards him and, the moment they saw him, they bowed down and backed away to let him into the room. It only took him a split second to enter, although it felt like days for him. His heart was beating like a drum and the world was slightly spinning around him as he stepped next to the bed.
David's father, a strong and resolute man, was now sitting next to the bed, broken and crying with his head on his wife's lap. The wife was stroking his hair and tried to calm him down to no avail. She looked up at David and gave him a weak smile. Her face was all red, she was heavily sweating and shaking. There was a bubo on her left cheek.
"Mother, what have I told you?" Asked David as he collapsed onto the floor, barely holding back his tears, "What have you sinned?" His father stood up and wiped off his face with the sleeve of his robe.
"Don't you dare speak of such things in these times," his voice was deep and coarse. He turned around and glared at his son.
"Please my dear, he is right," said David's mother, she tried to ease the tension between the two most important persons in her life.
"No, I won't tolerate him here," the father raised his voice to which David got up from the ground and instinctively took a defensive stance with his legs. 
"The Great Lord Zoh might have cursed her, but the Great Lord Zoh can lift it as well," David tried to reason with his father.
"Your god has given nothing to us, in fact, he just made everything worse!" Shouted David's father while looking up and pointing a finger at the ceiling, then he turned his attention back to his son, "We should have sent you to become a general instead," the father's voice was filled with disgust at the thought of the defenders.
"Father, I feel the same sadness as you now, but please, think clearly," pleaded David. His mother had already gotten the plague, he didn't want his father to suffer the same fate, "We can still earn back the Great Lord Zoh's-"
"Shut up!" The father cut David short, "We already did everything as you asked, three prayers a day, one meal for the lord, we gave money to the poor and helped on the helpless and sick. If this is not enough for your god then I want nothing from him!" The father's head was blood-red from anger, his hands were clenched into fists.
"Stop!" David's mother shouted, or rather wanted to. Instead, she could only whisper, her voice was so sickly, "Don't argue about this again, at least not at my deathbed."
"Mother, this is not your deathbed, the Great-"
"There is no place for Zoh in my castle," David looked desperately at his father, "You either quit from being a defender, or you can go somewhere else," and with that, the father turned away from his son. David thought it was to emphasize his point, while the father only wanted to hide his tears from him.
David's mother opened her mouth but David cut her off, "Don't worry about me, mother. I will save you, I will pray for you and I will suffer for you," he slowly walked to the door, he didn't look back, "Father, I am sorry for disappointing you," and he ran off. His father, realizing what he had done, wanted to run after him, to shout after him to come back, yet his legs didn't move and he remained silent.
David's head was filled with thoughts, he had to get back to the cathedral, he shouldn't have stayed at his father's castle for the night, he should have paid more attention to his mother, he should have prayed more for her.
At the gate, he jumped right onto his horse and waved for the guards to let him out. They did as he wanted without a question, they were too tired to care about anything at this point.
David saw the endless darkness that awaited him on the other side of the gate and it made him hesitate. He couldn't see the town, but he knew it was supposed to be somewhere close by. He took a moment to gather up his strength and then he kicked his horse and rode into the darkness.
At first, everything was alright, he couldn't see a thing but his horse kept galloping in the middle of the dark, "David, come back, please!" He heard a voice, he knew it must have been his father's, although it was too deep and coarse, it felt unnatural. He looked back without stopping or slowing down his horse. The light of the castle was gone and he only saw blackness in its place. Then everything lit up at once.
He felt like as if he had just fallen down his horse, he glanced underneath him and his horse was entirely gone, he was falling towards the abyss. He began to panic and turned towards the sky, or rather where it would have been, and hoped for some kind of divine intervention.
"You have forsaken us! You have done this to us!" He heard the voice again, but this time it was more distorted, more disturbing, yet it still felt like it was his father's. He faced the direction from where it came from. The castle reappeared, although he wished it wouldn't have. It was engulfed entirely in flames and screams began to echo around him as the servants and the guards called out to him for help while they burned alive. He tried to go towards them to help them but to he was still falling. He was forced to look at his birthplace as it burned to the ground, with everybody inside it and he was unable to do anything. 
"Why? Why? Why?" The voice kept asking him, it changed its pitch from syllable to syllable and he was no longer able to identify it as his father's, yet he still felt like it was his voice. He opened his mouth to beg for forgiveness and to ask for all of this to just finally end, but he met the ground before that.



David's eyes shot open and he sat upright in his bed. He was heavily sweating and his heart was beating fast. He wiped off his forehead with his blanket. He tried to distract himself with observing his surroundings again. His room was pitch black, although he could just barely see the light of the slowly rising sun through the windows. He dropped the blanket off of himself and went towards the door. He stopped before it for a moment and he did a short breathing-exercise as a last attempt to calm himself down. After he had succeeded he turned the doorknob and went downstairs to the dining-room to escape his nightmarish thoughts.
Sturdy was just about to start washing the dishes when David came down. His friend heard his footsteps and turned back with the plates still on his back, "Good morning David, Lilly had already left for work," he placed back a clean plate and some cutlery, "We ate the same breakfast as yesterday, I presume you would like the scrambled eggs again?" Inquired Sturdy as he headed for the kitchen again.
"Good morning and yes please," said David while he took a seat.
"They cooled down, unfortunately. I could make some new ones if you would like," offered Sturdy.
"Don't tire yourself with it, I like them cold as well."
Sturdy came back with a plate which had the scrambled eggs and a small basket with a few slices of bread and he placed them in front of David, "Here you go, feel free to take as much as you would like to," and with that, he went back to the kitchen. David began to think for a moment before he switched his clean plate to that of the scrambled eggs', he didn't want to create more dirty dishes for his host and he was hungry enough to eat the whole plate of eggs.
"Sturdy, don't take this as an insult, I could eat your scrambled eggs for eternity, but is this the only dish you know how to cook?" Inquired David jokingly and smiled to himself.
"No," came the answer from Sturdy after a short pause, "Is this the only decent dish I can cook? Definitively," he added and he too laughed at his own joke and the fact that it was true only made it funnier for him.
"How did you manage that, you cooked nothing but eggs for your entire life?" Asked David while trying not to choke on his food due to his chuckling.
"Yes, pretty much," David stopped with everything and stared blankly at the door to the kitchen, while Sturdy, finished with the dishes, turned off the water and began walking towards the dining-room, "Even this little meal took me forever to learn how to make it properly," he went up to the table and took out an apple from the fruit basket and sat down across David. He was about to have a bite when he finally noticed his friend's dumbfounded expression, "What? Is something wrong?"
"Yes, why on earth would you take so much effort to learn only one recipe?" Asked David, still having some difficulty with understanding his friend.
"Oh, it was for Lilly," came the casual answer from Sturdy and he took a bite from his apple, "She needs protein due to her physically intense job, and the best way of getting it is by eating eggs. The only problem is that she is a picky eater, so I had to go out of my way to make them at least edible for her, which actually means five-star quality for normal folks," he shivered, the thought of all those restless nights and failed attempts at making scrambled eggs sent a chill down his spine and gave him a headache. He leaned on to the table with his other hoof and rubbed his forehead to ease the pain.
"It was really nice of you," David felt a comfortable sense of warmth inside him, he was proud of Sturdy and glad for being able to call him a friend.
"Well, you already appreciated my work for her more than she had," Sturdy put the apple down, buried his face in between his hooves and let out a frustrated sigh.
"I presume she did not like that you were trying to help her?" David reached over the table and pat his friend on the shoulder to which Sturdy looked up at him with a rather desperate and saddened expression.
"No, she didn't even acknowledge my work, no 'thank you' or 'glad to have you'," Sturdy threw both of his front hooves into the air, "Nothing!" The moment he finished his face was back in between his hooves again, "She acted like it was how it should have happened, as if it was only natural for me to do such a thing for her," David opened his mouth to raise an objection, but his friend was faster as he lifted his head up and quickly corrected himself, "Of course, this does not mean that I wouldn't have done her this huge favor if I knew in advance that she wouldn't appreciate it, but still, I would have gladly accepted at least a 'thanks'," after he finished his monologue, he buried his face back into his hooves again.
"Come on, I'm sure she is grateful for your work, it's just that she doesn't show it," David tried to lift Sturdy's spirit up with a few reassuring words. He stood up and went over to his friend so that he could speak in a softer tone and still be heard by him.
"Yeah, I bet she doesn't even know I cook everything for her, even though she saw me do that countless times," Sturdy put his head down on the table, he stared at his nose in thought as he laid motionlessly there.
"So what are you going to do, stop making her breakfast so that she would finally take notice?" Asked David in an unserious manner, although he still feared that this would be his friend's plan.
"What? No!" Sturdy put his two front hooves down on the table and lifted up himself to eye level with David, "I wouldn't be able to do that to her, it would be so... cruel, wrong," he sat back down and continued rubbing both sides of his head simultaneously. David felt relieved, his friend had a good heart and he didn't disappoint him yet again.
"How's the job going for her? Is she happy with it if we don't count the... you know," David sat back down across his friend and took up a more generic tone, he tried to divert the topic away.
"She enjoys every moment of it," said Sturdy quietly as a smile began to form on his face, "I can't imagine how happy she will be when she earns her promotion at last," the smile faded as quickly as it came and he laid his head back on the table, "if she ever gets one." 
David saw that his plan wouldn't work, so he instead tried to find a solution to the problem. He began stroking his chin in thought. Those memories that came back from reading the Holy Chronicles might prove to be useful for him now, "Perhaps I can help her in achieving her goal?" Sturdy perked right up from his melancholy and focused both of his ears on David in interest. David noticed this and chuckled, "I only said perhaps. I was difficult to deal with when it came to training, I might be able to use the same teaching techniques with her as my master used on me."
"This means that reading the book did help?" Asked Sturdy with a smile, David simply nodded at that. Sturdy's smile vanished and as he mulled over what his guest said once more, "Considering the lack of alternatives, you might as well try, maybe she will listen to you," he devoured the remainder of the apple in seconds, then stood up from the desk and began walking towards the entrance, "but first things first, I have to go to the Ghastly Gorge-"
"I'm coming as well," David got up as well and ran down to the basement.
"Wrong way David," said Sturdy while he tried to keep a straight face.
"I know," shouted David from the basement, "I'm just getting my armor."
"Your armor?" Sturdy stopped laughing and raised an eyebrow to himself. He followed David downstairs, "Why would you need your armor?" He stopped right at the foot of the stairs and looked at him with his head slightly tilted in confusion.
"I'm not going down into the gorge without it again," answered David with his back to Sturdy. He was crouching and he was putting his armored boots on, "Won't Lilly get mad if I go outside?" He turned around in order to see Sturdy.
"She will," Sturdy just smirked and moved on with the topic, "Do you want me to help?" He asked. David glanced down at his feet. He was making slow progress with putting his armor on, not to mention that the voice told him of a servant whose sole purpose was to help him with it. 
"I would really appreciate that," David hesitated with his answer for a moment, he did not want to make it seem like his host was his servant as well, although he discarded this idea. After all, Sturdy helped Lilly with her armor as well and she was his house-mate.
Without any delay Sturdy sprung into action, picking up the individual pieces of the armor and, with David's guidance, he helped him put them on. There were a few pieces, the backplate for example, where Sturdy had to do all the work and David could only stand still, he felt a bit ashamed of it, but he did not show it. The last thing he wanted was to insult his friend with it.
"Are we done?" Sturdy glanced back at the empty table, then back at David, with the helmet in his hands, and smiled, "It fits you perfectly, must have been customized for you," he circled the human once to look over him from all angles.
"Every defender gets a custom armor," David looked over himself as well while he went over his mental checklist for his armor, "Otherwise, how could we fight and command at the battlefield without the proper equipment for it?" He could not recall any specific battles in which he fought, although the voice told him there were many.
Sturdy was taken aback by this, "Wait, what does a defender do exactly?" He went over to another table where his notebook was and he grabbed it. He flipped to an empty page and he waited for David's explanation with a quill already dipped into ink.
"Well, we have many tasks," David sat down on the ground, put his helmet next to himself and began counting on his fingers, "We must help the poor and the unfortunate, we must provide guidance to those who are not as learned at the teachings of the Great Lord Zoh as we are, we must do anything in our power to protect the innocent, the helpless, the weak and the lands of the believers, we must spread the teachings of the Great Lord Zoh and last, but not least, we..." he stopped in mid-sentence and scratched his head. He knew there was one more thing that a defender had to do that wasn't mentioned in the Holy Chronicles, but he just could not remember it. Even the voice fell silent regarding this issue, "Nevermind, this should cover most of our duties."
Sturdy stopped with his furious writing, "So this means you only fought and commanded in a battle when you had to protect your people and land?" He didn't even wait for David's answer and quickly resumed his note-taking.
"As far as I can recall it, yes," David felt weird, something was off about this. It was difficult but he managed to get used to the voice's ever-present whispering, so he found it strange that for the first time since he woke up in this strange place it said nothing. He needed to dig a bit deeper into his memories regarding his duties, although not right now, "Is there anything else you would like to know?" Asked David as he put his helmet on and a weird feeling washed over him right after it. It felt like he was now truly alone in his own mind.
Sturdy said something that David couldn't catch while he slowly stood up on his two hind legs and made himself seem bigger than normal. He smiled and his mouth moved again, then he dropped down to all fours and glanced at his notes. Not looking up he motioned for David to go upstairs and wait for him while he began making a few adjustments to his notes.
David was a bit confused, but he still followed Sturdy's instruction and went upstairs and waited for him in front of the doorway. Through the small window on the door, he saw that the sun had risen up fully since he woke up and a few early birds were already up and about on the streets. He didn't want to go out, he didn't want any more incidents with the locals, but his friend was right. He only had to get used to them just as how they had to get used to him as well. Now that he thought more about it, he had been in a similar situation in Domusdei.
Domusdei was a small trading town, it barely had ten-thousand people in it and all of them were discontent. The mayor had raised the already high taxes and they had enough, they demanded the replacement of the mayor and threatened the King with joining a possible revolt against him. As a new missionary, he was sent there with another, more experienced defender to defuse the situation by spreading the teachings of the Great Lord Zoh.
At first the locals there were rather upset by their presence. He and his partner were chased off on many occasion while they were preaching in the town's marketplace, but after some time the townsfolk became accustomed to them and some of them even started to pay attention to the stories they told. It only took around a month and the people of Domusdei converted to the Great Lord Zoh's teachings and all it took was calm manners and peaceful words. 
The mission was rather successful, although not completely. They still overthrew the mayor and elected one of the local guild leaders as a replacement but they did not join any revolts so, in the King's eyes, it was still a win.
Gears began turning in David's head, maybe he could try to do something similar here with the ponies of Ponyville. If he were to tell the stories of his people and show them how similar they were then maybe they would accept him faster into their community. Not to mention that it would be great fun for him, he enjoyed preaching his favorite tales to crowds of people.
David's train of thought was halted by Sturdy, who got upstairs and said something to David, but he couldn't understand it, again, "Pardon?" Answered back David to which both he and Sturdy physically reeled back. This single word felt different than the rest he used while talking to his hosts and other ponies, he had switched to another language.
Sturdy began bombarding David with questions which he heard clearly, even through the helmet, yet the words he said didn't have any meaning to the human. He became nervous as he grasped what this actually meant, he could no longer talk to anypony. He began gasping as his heart began to beat faster and he threw the helmet off of his head in panic and to get more air, but as soon as it was off of his head a tingling sensation washed over him and the voice came back.
"Oh my Celestia, are you alright, what is this, why are you speaking in another language? Can you understand me at least?" Sturdy ran up to his friend and supported him while he tried to escort him into the kitchen.
"I'm alright, I just got scared for a moment," said David as he forced his breathing to slow down.
"Are you sure?" Asked Sturdy still worried about what happened.
"Yes, I'm quite sure," answered back David instinctively as he eyed his helmet. He slowly went over to it and picked it up from the ground. He carefully inspected it and after the strange feeling didn't come this time he put it on his head again. He immediately felt the tingling sensation and the voice was gone. Sturdy held his breath as he waited for what would happen next.
"Can you understand me?" David spoke in the other language this time as well. It felt different, yet it was still familiar, native to him. Sturdy, after hearing his friend speaking the same gibberish, was perplexed and fascinated at the same time.
David took off the helmet after seeing his host's reaction, "I see, the helmet might be the culprit here," Sturdy gave off a sigh of relief and considered the idea.
"Maybe, but I cannot look into it right now, I have an order for a fossil by afternoon,"  he said as he put on his warm clothing, which consisted of only a scarf, "Are you sure you want to come? Maybe you can-"
"Yes, nothing will stop me from helping you out," David cut in before Sturdy could finish. His friend only smiled a little at the human's stubbornness to help.
"Will your armor be warm enough?" Asked Sturdy worriedly while he put his hoof on the door handle.
"Certainly, I'm already starting to sweat in it," answered David as he put his helmet down on the table.
"Are you ready?" David gave a firm nod and Sturdy opened the door. The cold air immediately rushed into the house and hit both of them, yet it did not affect them much. David couldn't even feel the breeze, although that might become a problem later, he thought.
They stepped outside and Sturdy closed the door and locked it as well, putting the key in his front pocket. David took a deep breath from the freezing air. He braced himself for the worst that could happen to him in the town center, "Don't worry, they listen to the mayor, there won't be any problems," as Sturdy walked past him he peeked back and gave him a few reassuring words, although he did not hide the fact that he was just as nervous as the human was.
David tried to give himself some confidence by reminding himself that he had been in worse situations, he was more than capable of handling this. With these thoughts, he fell behind Sturdy and together they walked on the same path towards the gorge as yesterday. The ponies were still observing them everywhere they went and they were still bad at hiding it. They passed by the place where the old stallion first shouted at them.
Time slowed down from David's perspective. His focus shifted from pony to pony, he was searching for any potential troublemakers, who might decide to attack him, but everywhere he looked he only saw fear in the eyes of the townsfolk. The foals ran inside the houses and the stallions stepped in front of their mares as if to protect them from even the mere sight of the human. The passersby avoided them in a few feet radius and some of them just abruptly changed their course after noticing David rather than staying on the same street as he was.
David couldn't take it anymore and he had to take action. He jumped on the same crate as Sturdy did yesterday and from there he began talking, just the way he had been taught, "Gather around me, brothers and sisters, for I have great stories to tell from my people," his words had mostly fallen on deaf ears and those, who visibly noticed him only picked up their pace to escape from the sight of the human.
There was only one pony reacting to David's words, Sturdy. He immediately turned back with a horrified expression on his face. He ran up to the human and wrapped one of his hooves around his leg in order to get him down from the crate while whispering to him, "What are you doing, get down from there," he tried with all of his might, but David's leg didn't move an inch.
David acted as if his friend wasn't even there and continued on with his speech, "I have traveled far and wide, I have met many people like you," he pointed to a random pony with green fur, to which he got scared and ran away. David mentally slapped himself, "There were people who avoided me, who simply ignored me and those who chased me and tried to take my life just because I dared to walk into their town," he continued on without a flinch, he knew if he reacted then the crowd would focus on what had happened rather than what he had said.
Sturdy was desperate by now, instead of his legs he tried to move the crate out from under David, but that didn't work either.
"Hadn't you already learned your lesson from them?" A mare stopped in front of the human, she had a dark-red fur and wore a frustrated expression on her face.
David reeled back by this sudden outburst but quickly recovered. His armor gave him some confidence in that even if everything went wrong, then at least there was something to protect him from the fury of the ponies, "Yes, I indeed learned a lot from my past experiences, and from yesterday's events," he couched into his hand to give himself some time to think through his next words, "I have made a bad impression in all of you, so I would like to start again by properly introducing myself," he switched to a louder tone in order to make himself heard by more ponies and began, "My name is David and I'm a defender. It is my job to protect the innocent, give to the poor and provide guidance in the teachings of the Great Lord Zoh for the people."
The more David spoke the more ponies gathered around him, although all of them were only interested in humiliating him, rather than actually paying attention to what he was saying, "Hey, why won't you help on us then and leave now?" Shouted another pony from the crowd, David didn't see who he was. Everypony began laughing and he had no other option but to wait for them to stop.
"I am helping," David began after the crowd had fallen silent, "Most importantly, I assist my friend Sturdy with his research and fossil excavations. Secondly, I am helping you, ponies of Ponyville," he motioned towards the whole crowd in front of him, which grew ever faster, "Instead of hiding I came to stand before all of you so that we have a chance to get to know each other better, and what can be a better way of that than you telling your people's stories and I'm telling the teachings of the Great Lord Zoh?"
"Looks like you didn't notice, but the school is towards there," pointed a stallion down the road and the townsfolk began to laugh again. David kept his composure knowing that only through patience can he earn his place in the town, although it was a bit difficult to hold back his anger. Sturdy gave up at this point, he sat down behind the crate, covered his eyes and waited for the crowd to start chasing them down.
"Thank you, my friend, for mentioning this," a great idea popped into David's head and this time he didn't wait for the ponies to quiet down, "How many of you have children?" The crowd fell silent immediately, they hesitated a while before some of them raised their hooves, "It's nice to see that a lot of you have already experienced the joy of parenthood," a few parents slightly nodded at that in agreement, although they tried to mask it from the others, "What do you teach them, what is the most valuable thing they can have?" The ponies forgot that they originally tried to ridicule the human and they began debating the answer to this question amongst themselves.
"Friendship!" Shouted a mare from far back.
"Good grades," said quietly a stallion at the front.
"A nice family," answered an old mare.
"Wealth," announced proudly a brown stallion. Everybody, including Sturdy and David, looked at him, waiting for him to say that he only meant it as a joke, he did not, "What? Money is important."
"Nevermind," said David loudly to gain back the attention of the crowd, "I think we can all agree that most of what has been said-" he took another short peek back at the brown stallion and rolled his eyes, "-is crucial to be thought to the younglings," again, many ponies from the crowd nodded and voiced their agreement, these were the socially acceptable norms after all.
David smiled to himself, his training proved to be extremely helpful in this situation, and at first he thought he wasn't good at persuading crowds, "Let me tell you, my brothers and sisters, that my people teach the same values to our children through the teachings of the Great Lord Zoh," the ponies doubted him, and they remembered why they gathered around him in the first place.
"Do you teach them how to eat us as well?" Yelled a stallion with a mint fur from a nearby house's window. The townsfolk began furiously talking, some even began to openly consider attacking David.
"Of course not! We are a peaceful people, we have no desire for violence," David tried to gain back the ponies for himself, but he also took a quick look around to scout any available escape routes. He might not be that good of a crowd persuader after all. Then another great idea hit him, "My people are always trusting of each other, they show kindness to everybody, from the most unfortunate of us to the complete strangers. We have been taught by our Great Lord Zoh that only thru patience, generosity, and hospitality can we truly spread the will for good and make the world a better place," the ponies fell silent, each and every one of them focused all of their attention to him, some of them even began to self-reflect on what he had said.
David took a deep breath and straightened his back, he repeated his little speech in his head again, making sure it was perfect and began, "I understand that none of you know me, and I can only marvel at your willingness to protect each other. I am familiar with this feeling, this fear that grasps at our mind and forces us to do something in order to protect our loved ones and others that we care about," all of the ponies began to flock around him, sitting down in the cold snow, looking out through the open windows and climbing up other crates and barrels to better see him as he passionately talked, "I don't ask for your immediate trust and that you should let me into your homes, that would just be ridiculous and insane. I only ask all of you, no, I beg for all of you to just give me a single chance, to prove that I am not a monster."
David glanced down at his friend who had put his hooves down and blankly stared in front of him, his mind racing with thoughts that had been awoken by David's speech. David was astonished, the whole crowd was immersed in their own thoughts, just as Sturdy. He was happy to see this at first, then he realized that they could be thinking of something entirely different than what he had hoped them to.
"None of us are perfect," he began and his voice dragged most of the townsfolk out of their deep thinking, "I have to admit, I had let down my father, my mother and countless other people many times," the voice brought back some memories of these times for him, as if it tried to help him out. He looked towards the ground in sorrow and wiped down a tear with the linen part of his glove. The ponies noticed this and they felt empathetic with the human, they had let others down before as well.
One of the memories that the voice brought back for him was about his grandfather, who he really liked and looked up to. Despite his sadness, he smiled,"I remember now, the words of my grandfather. He would always say that as long as we learned from our failures, we hadn't failed," he turned his head back to the crowd with a determined and hopeful expression, "With this in mind, I learned from yesterday's mistake that I have to try harder and be more patient with my words and actions if I ever want to be included in this wonderful community," the reactions were mixed. Some felt pride from these words, while other still doubted the stranger and wanted him to go away.
David continued on, he couldn't let the ponies have enough time to raise their voices or else they might whip themselves up into another frenzy, "I know what some of you might think, you already learned from your mistake with Esau Stronghorn, but there is a key difference between these two instances," he held up a finger to emphasize his point. A few ponies opened their mouth, possibly to object, but he cut them off, "I am not Esau. In fact, the only thing common between us is that both of us are strangers to this town, which I hope to change."
"Why are you so hell-bent on trying to earn our trust and acceptance?" Asked quickly a mare from the middle of the crowd. The ponies began to nod and grumble, David had to act fast.
"Because the sooner we stop fighting against each other and work together, the sooner we can help each other better ourselves and this community," he poured his soul into these words, his lessons of deception and manipulation completely forgotten in the heat of the moment.
"And why would that be good?" Questioned an elderly stallion and the townsfolk around him agreed with him. Soon, the whole crowd began shouting, they had worked themselves up into a frenzy.
David was disappointed, but not in himself, but in the ponies before him. He realized that he might be the only one, who genuinely wanted to help, not for a reward, but to just simply help someone. He let out a saddened sigh and quietly began, "None of you see what I am trying to do, what I want to accomplish. There is really nobody here except me, who has an unending desire to just help people," and with a broken expression he jumped down the crate and walked down the street. Sturdy, surprised at how abruptly his speech had ended, quickly followed him. The ponies fell silent again and they felt ashamed. Instead of blocking his way, they let them pass without trouble.
"The monster is right," said a young mare with black fur from a nearby window, "We should help on each other, pony or not," the crowd slowly erupted into a heated discussion, although David was unable to hear it as he rounded another corner.
"Hey, are you alright?" Asked Sturdy, worried for his friend.
"Yes," answered the human with a slight smile which faded away immediately after, "I just... hoped for a better outcome."
"I understand, but you were expecting things to go too fast," said Sturdy reassuringly. He began walking backward in front of his friend to be able to look him in the eye all the while he talked, "Ponies are more cautious by their nature. Of course, they won't give you your chance after just two days, especially after they already had a bad experience with a stranger," his words only worsened David's mood as he lowered his shoulders even further.
Sturdy, seeing that his attempt at brightening David's mood had failed miserably, took a look around instead. He noticed that they left the town behind them a long time ago now and were in the same snowy field as yesterday. A thought crossed his mind and he grinned, "You know," David turned his head towards his friend, not out of curiosity, he was too deep in his melancholy to be curious, but out of respect for him, "I hope you are ready for another meeting with the boys," said Sturdy with a wicked, forced smile.
At first, David didn't understand what his friend meant by this, then it hit him, "Oh, yeah, definitely," he looked down on himself, "I even got myself fitted for their honor this time," he gestured at his whole body comically, getting a few chuckles out of both of them.
"I think they will love your armor, especially when it passes through their intestines," both of them now laughed, seemingly forgetting what had happened just a few minutes before.
"I would much rather show them my armor from far away, thank you," David wiped a joyful tear from his cheek, he was truly glad that this pony had found him from all the others.
They neared the Ghastly Gorge and could see the border of the Everfree Forest in the distance, "Perhaps we can arrange-" began Sturdy, but he was cut off by the roar of a manticore. It stood just right at the edge of the dark forest, looking straight at them. Both of them froze down.
David watched as the mighty beast began running at breakneck speed towards them, occasionally leaping with its wings to give itself a boost of speed. Sturdy grabbed him by the hand and dragged him down the stairs. The manticore leaped a final time and pounced on the entrance to the stairs, but they were already descending. Due to its large size, the manticore was unable to follow them and, instead of gliding down to the bottom of the gorge and risking getting eaten by a quarray eel, it gave up on the easy meal and went back to the 'safety' of the dark forest.
"What was that?" Asked David still in shock, he had never seen anything like this before. Even Fred couldn't shake him out of this state, no matter how hard he hit the other side of the gorge.
"A manticore," answered back Sturdy briefly, "I know, it's scary and we almost got chewed up by that thing, but just don't think about it and it'll be alright," they arrived at the bottom of the gorge and Sturdy went up to the excavation tent across them. David remained still, he was trying to calm himself down, but his mind kept jumping back to the image of the manticore rushing at them with saliva dripping out of its mouth.
"I'll bring my sword next time," David murmured to himself and followed Sturdy under the tent while trying to shake the fear and horror out of his mind. His friend was right, he just shouldn't think about it and everything will be alright, or at least he hoped.
> Chapter 5 - Home Sweet Home
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

David's head popped up from the exit of the staircase. He carefully observed the surroundings all the way around, especially towards the Everfree Forest. After making sure that no manticore or any other beasts were waiting for them he whispered down to his friend, "Okay, looks clear."
"You are getting a bit paranoid, don't you think?" Sturdy asked with a serious expression. He slowly began climbing up the remaining stairs towards the surface with a sizable fossil balanced on his back.
"You aren't paranoid enough, don't you think?" Answered back David mimicking his friend's voice while he remained behind him and kept his hands close to the fossil in case Sturdy dropped it by accident.
"David, this was the third time a manticore tried to eat me, and I've been visiting this place for years now," Sturdy facehoofed at his friend's antics. Meanwhile, the fossil began falling towards his right. He instinctively tried to balance it out by twisting his back, but it only made it worse. Luckily, David was quick to react and caught it before it could fall to the ground and possibly break. Both of them gave off a sigh of relief simultaneously and they put the fossil back on Sturdy's back.
"That was too close," David wiped off his forehead with the linen part of his glove and kept his other hand above the fossil.
"That we agree on," Sturdy was tempted to do the same thing as David, but he did not dare to risk dropping his precious cargo by lifting one of his hooves to his face. 
"Why did you leave the trunk at your house anyway?" Inquired David with his voice slightly raised in annoyance.
"I don't know, it might be because someone had the bright idea to put their armor on," shot back Sturdy, thus aggravating David even more.
"Why is that my fault?" David threw both of his arms up in the air in anger, but he put them back on the fossil right after it.
"Do I really need to explain?!" Shouted back Sturdy and without waiting for a response he began educating the human in a scornful manner, "You put your armor on. Turns out it makes you speak gibberish. Both of us got scared and confused. My attention got fully drawn towards this shocking revelation, so I forgot the trunk," Sturdy's steps made the fossil on his back move from side to side and David desperately tried to keep it in balance with his hands. He tried to warn his friend, but he kept on speaking as if he didn't even hear him, "Then you went and stood before the hole town babbling nonsense left and right like a true lunatic and-"
"Sturdy, shut up and stop! The fossil is wobbling!" Yelled finally David after countless failed attempts at getting Sturdy's attention. Both of them were now furious with each other, although Sturdy obeyed and halted in his tracks immediately, "Isn't there somewhere a tendril or something with which I can tie this thing to your back?" Asked David while he scanned the nearby trees.
"It's the middle of winter, where do you think that would grow now?!" Sturdy wanted to stomp the ground in his anger but he reminded himself that he had something valuable on his back.
"A rope, then?" David turned towards Sturdy and yelled. He was suppressing his urge to just straight up kick his friend and curse at him by now.
"Why would I carry a rope?! I was perfectly fine with my trunk, that was specifically designed to be carried around on a pony's back, but guess where it is now!" Sturdy turned his full body around, not caring if the fossil would fall off, which surprisingly didn't, and screamed back at David.
David snapped. Everything that held him back was gone in an instant and his hand moved on its own. He clenched it into a fist and punched towards Sturdy's face. Sturdy closed his eyes and held up one of his hooves in front of his eyes and braced himself for the blow.
Sturdy felt nothing. He waited for another second and opened his eyes. He saw David's fist an inch away from his face. The human was just barely too far away to actually reach Sturdy with his arm.
Sturdy froze down. He could only stare at the human. David was heavily sweating and panting. He collapsed onto his knees and then on all fours. Sturdy kept blankly staring at his friend while he sat down. The fossil fell off from his back, although neither of them noticed it.
They were shocked and tired. They remained like that for a few minutes until they could get themselves back together.
"I'm sorry," whispered David more to himself than to Sturdy.
"It's alright," said Sturdy and went over to his friend to pat him on the back.
"No!" David hit the ground out of frustration, "I didn't follow my lessons again, I ruined everything."
"You ruined nothing Da-"
"Yes I did, you said it yourself," David looked up to Sturdy with a pained expression on his face, "Back in the town I didn't listen to my masters and I spoke out of my heart, I always do that. I am an idiot," he sat upright in front of his friend.
"I didn't mean that. I said it out of anger."
"Then what did you say after we left the town?"
"I said that you were expecting things to go too fast, but-"
"Exactly, even if you are not angry you still think that I failed."
"No, I..." Sturdy was dumbfounded. He didn't think his friend was unsuccessful with his persuasion attempt, only that he was a bit too early with it. He was desperately searching for a way to soothe David, but his mind was still stuck on processing what had happened moments before, "David, you hadn't failed, and even if that was true, then it happens, even to the best of us. There is no shame in that."
David remained silent for a few moments, "You are right, but I am a defender."
"And?" Sturdy forced a slight smile on his face and pointed at David, "You are still a living being."
"Yes, but I'm supposed to be better," David paused for a second, "I was supposed to listen to my masters. I failed at that, I couldn't follow their lessons on persuasion, again. I was supposed to live by the Great Lord Zoh's teaching, but I broke most of them with..." he lifted up his hand in front of his face and clenched it into a fist. He looked at it, then back to Sturdy. He shook his head and put his hand back down on the ground.
"You didn't hit me," Sturdy dropped his fake smile and sat a bit closer to his friend.
"I would have if I were just a bit closer to you."
"We were angry at each other. I failed too, I could have kept silent or at least I could have resisted the urge to yell at you and thus worsening the situation," Sturdy put one of his hooves on David's shoulder and looked him straight in the eye, "We are living beings, it's natural for us to make mistakes, so don't be so hard on yourself."
"I know, but I am a defender," repeated David, "I should be setting an example, and what is that example? Spitting at the teachings of the Great Lord Zoh and my masters."
"David, stop this," Sturdy shook his friend gently by the shoulder to hopefully jank him out of whatever madness took over him, "You are under a lot of pressure, even if you are not aware of it. You woke up in a completely foreign place, where most of the townsfolk don't even like you and you have to find a way to get back home to your family and friends. I admit it, I have never been in a situation like this, surprisingly," he added the last bit with some sarcasm. He laughed slightly at that and waited for David' reaction, to which he just continued to stare at the ground in melancholy, "Anyway, I have no idea what it must be to be in this situation, but I imagine it is rough, not to mention that I have worsened it as well."
"I know where you want to go with this," said David and put Sturdy's hooves down from his shoulders, "I can only repeat myself, I am supposed to be better. I should have kept a cool, level-head instead of trying to..." both of them fell silent once again. Sturdy was close to giving up on attempting to lift his friend's mood. His mind began to wander back to what happened at the town earlier. He was able to recall every word of David just as if they had been uttered moments before. Then an idea struck him.
"What did you say to the ponies back in town?" David looked up from the ground to his friend in interest, "As long as we learn from our failures we haven't failed?" David chuckled to himself and nodded.
"Yeah, that's what I said."
"Then how come you said this great wisdom yourself, but you are not following it?" Both of them smiled at that.
"Firstly, I wasn't the one who came up with this saying, it was my grandfather," began David as he stood up from the cold, snowy ground, "Secondly, being wise is much easier than living by your own wisdom, or at least that's what my masters told me when I asked them the same question."
Sturdy gave off a sigh of relief and stood up as well, "Are you better now?" He asked with hope while he looked up to David.
"Yes," came the instinctive answer from the human, "I mean, no, not really," Sturdy visibly deflated at his words and David laughed at that, "Don't worry, I'm slightly better now," he swiftly clarified and pat Sturdy on the head, "I still feel bad for what I tried to do, but I will learn from this mistake and hopefully I will never repeat it."
"You sure?" Inquired Sturdy as he grabbed David's hand and lifted it off of his head, "The last thing I want is to be punched in the face by you."
David grinned, "Oh, I am completely sure," he laughed maliciously.
"Cut it off already," Sturdy hit David's leg gently to which he stopped. They looked at each other for a few moments, then they smiled and got going towards the town at the same time.
"I feel like we forgot something," said David, not stopping in his tracks.
"It's funny because I feel the-" answered back Sturdy, but he remembered something in mid-sentence, "The fossil!" He shouted after his sudden realization and ran back from where they came.
"The fossil?" Asked David from himself, "The fossil!" He shouted as well after recognizing what his friend meant by this and he ran after him. They found it not far behind at the side of the small path, it lay flat in the fresh snow in one piece, luckily.
"Thank you, Celestia!" Yelled Sturdy at the top of his lungs towards the sky and bowed down. David was a bit confused by this, but he was just as happy as his friend.
"I will carry it this time," said David and grabbed the fossil with both of his hands and he began to lift it.
"No, it's too heavy, place it back on my back," protested Sturdy.
"It's fine, I can carry it on my shoulder," David tried to calm his friend down to no effect.
"David, it's too high, if you drop it by accident it has a higher chance to break," objected Sturdy further as he watched David place the fossil on his left shoulder and only holding it with one hand.
"I'll be careful, let's go," motioned the human to Sturdy to start walking towards the town.
"No! Place the fossil on my back," stomped the ground Sturdy and picked up his volume to further emphasize his point.
"But...!" David wanted to raise his voice as well in response, although he was able to stop himself now. He turned his head towards his load to gain some time to ponder over his answer. The fossil was bigger than his head and his shoulder already began to ache under its weight. He had to agree with his friend, it's too heavy for him to carry it like this all the way back to town, "Okay, you win," he announced in a calm voice and carefully lifted the fossil off of his shoulder and onto his friend's back.
"Thank you, my friend," Sturdy was delighted with David's decision and he didn't hide it, "Now we can go, and slowly," he began to walk towards Ponyville in a moderate pace, his hooves sank deeper into the snow due to the added burden, yet his spine remained even, holding up the entire fossil. David followed him from behind and he kept a close eye on the huge chunk of stone. Whenever it would swing out too much David would put one hand down in the middle of it to keep it in one place and stabilizing it with his other hand from one of its sides.
"So..." after spending the first minute of the journey silently Sturdy began to feel awkward, "About what I said earlier-"
"It's alright, I understand, and it was somewhat deserved as well," David cut his friend off before he could finish.
"No, it was not deserved at all, why would you think that?" Asked Sturdy in return without looking back, he didn't want to risk it.
"I ruined my speech back in the town, the heat of the moment got me carried away. I didn't stick to my lessons," David's posture slumped as his voice became quieter.
Sturdy didn't answer immediately. Instead, he gave himself some time to think through his words, "What are those lessons precisely?" He finally inquired in order to clarify some things.
"Well..." David pondered nervously on the question for a bit, "It'll sound bad, but the gist of what I have been taught by the missionaries is crowd persuasion through whatever means necessary. This includes lying as well."
"So you were taught at how to deceive people?" Asked Sturdy in a slight shock and continued on before David could raise an objection, "Then, of course, you didn't follow your lessons! Deceiving people is immoral."
"It's not deceiving," said David after his friend finished and he wouldn't interrupt him, "I admit it, lying doesn't sit well with me either-"
"I hoped it wouldn't," cut in rudely Sturdy, "Sorry, had to get it out of myself, please continue."
"So as I was saying, I don't like it as well, but I still wouldn't call it deceiving."
"Why?" Sturdy failed to understand his friend, he thought of him differently.
"Okay, before I begin I will give some definitions," David waited for a few seconds for Sturdy's reaction. He remained silent, so he took it as an agreement, "Firstly, lying: the act of telling someone something that is not true, do you accept this explanation?"
"I would add 'with a malicious intent', but go on," Sturdy's interest had been awoken by this and 
by now he was more curious than startled.
"No, that is deceiving, lying to someone with a malicious intent."
"Hmm..." Sturdy had to mull this over in himself and David gave him the time for it, "I suppose you are correct, but lying is still immoral, with a malicious intent or not," the human began to nod, then he realized his friend couldn't see him.
"I agree, one of the first stories a young defender will hear is the tale of Mendax. It is about an old king's spymaster, who is plotting to kill the heir to the throne. I won't tell you the whole story as it's fairly long, so the moral of it is that deceivers are condemned by the Great Lord Zoh and that lying is wrong."
"See?" Sturdy thought he had cornered David and he was waiting for him to admit it.
"Hold on for a second," David held up a finger, but he quickly realized that his friend can't see it, again, so he put it down just as fast, "Lying can be forgiven, if and only if it's done for the greater good."
"For the greater good?" Repeated Sturdy, "This doesn't sound good. What do you mean by that?"
"One common example of a greater good is the spreading of the teachings of the Great Lord Zoh," answered proudly David without hesitation.
"That was a mouthful," chuckled Sturdy, "So you are really a missionary?"
David scratched his head, "It's complicated," he had no idea how he could explain it simply, "I did get the training of a missionary, and I am required to work as one whenever possible or needed, but I am not a missionary."
Sturdy just shook his head carefully, "I don't get it."
"Okay, let's try a different approach," David figured that his friend was more intelligent than the average, so he wanted to explain the reason for this complication, maybe that would work better with him, "A missionary's job is to spread the teachings of the Great Lord Zoh and as fast as possible. In order for that, the missionary has to use a wild assortment of techniques to persuade people into following these teachings, one of which is lying."
"Sorry to interrupt, but if these teachings are so good, then why do you need to lie to spread them?" Asked Sturdy as his confusion only grew.
"Because if you go to a foreign land, to a foreign town you can't say that you would much rather be anywhere else than that place, you have to appeal to the people," said David and laughed at it a bit. It sounded less ridiculous in his head.
"Oh, we are talking about those kinds of small lies," exclaimed Sturdy as this small revelation hit him.
"Yes, I am not talking about selling people water that was blessed by the Great Lord Zoh that gives you good luck and health. That's just a rip-off, you can get the same thing with praying and respecting the Great Lord Zoh," Sturdy rolled his eyes in disbelief.
"Okay, I understand it now, we can get back on track," suggested Sturdy in a polite manner.
"So, as I said," David gave himself some time to remember what he was about to say before Sturdy's small interruption, "Missionaries use lying as well to do their job, but we defenders are technically not allowed to lie in any situation, no matter the reason. Or at least that's how half of the people interpreted the tale of Mendax. Problem is, the other half thinks that being a missionary should be included in a defender's list of jobs to do, so this issue has been on debate for a century now. Until it is resolved, we are trained and required to work as a missionary, but it isn't part of our duties, technically," David exhaled the remaining air from his lungs in a loud sight. He was not satisfied with his explanation, but before going on about this for another minute he first waited for his friend's reaction.
"Wow," Sturdy was unable to find any words that would best describe his thoughts without insulting David, "This all sounds too complicated over something so... trivial?" He mentally slapped himself. He could only hope now that David won't take it to heart.
"Trivial?" Repeated David in surprise, "This is perhaps one of the most important questions regarding the interpretation of the Great Lord Zoh's teachings," he said hurriedly, not out of anger, he just wanted to convince his friend, "The defenders got their name from their true purpose. We are holy guards, and if the Great Lord Zoh's original intention was for us not to be missionaries, then we will lose our holy status which was granted by the Great Lord Zoh himself."
"Well, if it's so important to you then I guess it must be a bigger issue than I give credit to it," answered Sturdy after a few seconds of thinking. David opened his mouth, but Sturdy didn't see it and cut him off, "Now that I think about it, will you be trying to convert the townsfolk to your religion?" He asked curiously, although he feared what his friend would answer to that.
"That is not my main goal with my preachings, but who knows, they deserve to believe in the truth," said David and leaned forward next to his friend, "Just like how you deserve to believe in the truth as well," he comically poked Sturdy's shoulder with his elbow and winked at him, then he straightened up. Sturdy just rolled his eyes again.
"This might disappoint you, but many ponies, including myself, are not religious," stated Sturdy in a serious tone to which David just slightly laughed.
"You ponies are already living by most of the Great Lord Zoh's teachings, you just don't know them by that name," answered back David after he stopped chuckling.
"You mean our social morals?"
"Exactly, or at least from what I've seen so far from it, it is nearly exactly the same. The only difference in converting to my religion is pretty much just seeing the truth and starting to worship the one and true Great Lord Zoh," David finished his little speech proudly, saying the one true god's full name with the utmost respect.
"How do you know he is the only one?" A window broke and its glass shattered into a thousand pieces in David's mind as he registered what his friend just said. His expression changed immediately into a sullen one, "No, how do you even know he exists? And why are you trying so hard to convince me?" Sturdy was fully aware of all the possible reactions of his friend and none of them were pleasant. However, his scientific mind had to ask these questions, just out of curiosity, and maybe to slightly enlighten David in return.
David took a moment to recollect himself before his emotions took hold of him again, "Firstly, I only want to convince you of the truth. Secondly, I know he exists because he told Aedifex, the original writer of the Holy Chronicles, what stories and tales to write down into the sacred book," he calmly listed his answers to Sturdy, hoping he could persuade him into seeing the truth.
"How do you know for certain that he wrote it with the help of your god?" Sturdy knew if he told the human his opinion it would end in disaster for both of them. Instead, he tried to show him his thought process and let him figure it all out by himself.
"From the Unforgettable Legends..." David's mind was filling up with newly recovered memories. He remained silent while he processed them, but Sturdy thought that this was all he could say.
"...The Unforgettable Legends?" Sturdy tried to nudge his friend into giving a better explanation, he expected more from him.
"Yes, these legends are a collection of stories written on ancient scrolls from the time when Aedifex was alive," said David while staring blankly in front of himself, "They tell the tale of how the Holy Chronicles came to be and they were written by Aedifex's eldest son," David only paid attention to the real world with half of his mind as it was still full of new memories about the Great Lord Zoh, his teachings, and the Church. He remembered many things about them, including the Unforgettable Legends.
"And how do you know those legends are true?" David blinked a few times as he regained full control over his mind. He shook his head in order to get rid of the remaining images in his head.
"Because who would write a story down on half a thousand scrolls if it was not true?" Asked David, thinking that his friend would finally stop doubting him and the truth due to his answer.
"David, writing stories down that are not true is called writing fiction, and apparently many ponies do it for a living," David felt attacked at this point. It saddened him that his friend was so distrustful of him that he refused to accept the existence of the Great Lord Zoh. However, he didn't want the previous accident to repeat itself, so he instead remained silent.
Sturdy took notice of the quiet between him and David, it was getting a bit uncomfortable for him, "Look, David," he quickly began to explain his viewpoint before his friend misunderstood him, "I don't think that what you are saying is one hundred percent false," the human perked up slightly from his melancholy and looked at Sturdy, or at least at the back of his head, "All I'm trying to say is that you can never be sure enough about the truth. You might be right and the Great Lord Zoh is up there somewhere looking down on us and guiding us, but from all we know it might be a rainbow farting magical dragon, who gives salted crackers to all of his believers," they both began laughing.
"Now that would just be straight-up insane," said David between two chuckles.
"Yes, it would be, but we have no way of knowing for sure. A random pony might decide to write epic stories about the magic dragon and two thousand years later people could think that this creature did really exist just because somepony wrote about it a long time ago," David's laughter slowly died down.
"So you... don't believe me?" Asked David quietly.
"What? No!" Sturdy got scared about how much his friend misunderstood him, "I believe you in general, it's only that I..." His mind was racing with thoughts, he wanted to comfort his friend and reassure him, but he just couldn't find the right words for it, "David, I know you must be feeling threatened, the concept of the Great Lord Zoh must have been taught to you from a very young age to be true, and to face the possibility of it not being that for what might be the first time is, and should be, frightening."
"Yes, it scares me, because if the Great Lord Zoh is not real, then... I have wasted my life," David stopped in his tracks and looked at the ground. He lifted both of his hands in front of his face. All those years of training, helping and most importantly, disappointing his father would be for nothing. He clenched his hands into fists as strong as he could to let out some of his frustration.
Sturdy stopped walking as well when he couldn't hear the human's distinctive steps in the snow, but he didn't dare to turn around in case the fossil might fall off, "David, this will sound weird, but could you stand in front of me please?" David smiled to himself and did as his friend asked him to. Sturdy looked straight into his eyes with the most serious expression he could muster from himself, considering the absurd situation, "What were you doing before you woke up here?"
"Everything that a defender should be doing, mostly helping people," David pondered for a moment "Or at least as far as I can remember," he added uncertainly.
"Doesn't matter. What matters is that you helped people. Now I don't care nor does it have any importance as to why you did and for whom you did it. It could be for the Great Lord Zoh, or for the magical rainbow farting dragon, or for plain selfishness, but in any of the cases, you helped people and that's all that matters," Sturdy gave David a reassuring nod to which the human's weak smile returned, "You did not waste your life, you spent it helping people, the justification for that act of kindness doesn't matter in the slightest. You can believe in the Great Lord Zoh, or in the magical farting dragon, as long as you do good for the world and for the people in it, it doesn't matter."
A grin appeared on David's face and it only grew, slowly but steadily. He said every prayer in his mind for the Great Lord Zoh that this pony found him from all the others. He did convince him, that Zoh might not exist and this turned his fundamental ideology on its head completely, yet he still couldn't stay mad at him for too long, no matter what he did. He was still his friend, not to mention that what if the Great Lord Zoh really exists. There is a chance for that as well.
David and Sturdy looked at each other for a moment. Without saying anything they nodded their heads in unity and both of them continued on at the same time. They remained silent again, although this time neither of them felt like it was embarrassing or unwanted. They instead cherished it as a sign of a strong friendship.
David took this silence and revisited his friend's arguments. An idea struck him midway through and he spoke up, "So you're saying, that we don't know it for sure, that the Great Lord Zoh exists, despite the numerous records of him made by humans," David stopped and waited for a response from Sturdy, who agreed with him, "So if two people were to argue about which one's god is real, then both of them are wrong, but one of them might be right?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Well, let's put it this way instead," said Sturdy and thus began another clarification, "You firmly believe in the Great Lord Zoh's existence and I believe that no gods exist," he waited for David's reaction, who agreed with him and so he continued on, "I don't want you to stop believing in the Great Lord Zoh because I don't believe in him. I want you to accept the fact that when we discussed this matter, both of us were right and true, not only you."
David looked towards his friend with a confused expression and with one of his hands raised, "How can that be?"
"The answer is simple, faith," David was even more perplexed now, "When you put your faith into a god, he will become true for you and only for you. When I put my faith into no gods, then I am true as well from my perspective. I only think that no gods might exist, but if you believe in one of them, then that god will become existent for you. If a group of humans believes in a god, then for that group that god does exist."
David was speechless, "Wow... This all sounds so complicated and... It's difficult to accept," he scratched his head with his right hand, "Everybody said that there is only one god, and that is the Great Lord Zoh and that I had to spread this truth. It's so hard to believe that it might not be that true after all."
"I understand, that is why I only ask you to just keep an open mind and accept different beliefs. And the Great Lord Zoh is the only god that exists, but only for his followers, since nopony can actually prove any of the gods' existence."
David was desperately trying to force this idea into his head. He understood the reasoning behind it and all of its arguments, yet his mind still wouldn't accept it. It was as if you were told that one day you would die, and your mind is able to understand every word of it and believe in it, but it doesn't truly accept it. Your mind refuses to fully comprehend it and really think about it. David gently and slowly shook his head, "I'll need some time to wrap my head around this, it's too much at the same time."
"Of course, no one is rushing you," said Sturdy in a soft, gentle voice, "Oh, would you look at that," he took a cautious look around and saw that they were back in the town already, "We were so caught up in the discussion that we... Where is everypony?" He asked after a short pause.
The shops stood empty, their doors wide open and the lights left on. Bits were forgotten on top of counters as their owners rushed to somewhere. Crates, wagons, old furniture stood out in the cold with nopony to haul them. The snow on the ground was full of hoofprints, all going in the same direction.
Sturdy and David said nothing to each other. They feared that whatever was that made the townsfolk leave in such a hurry were still lurking around here. They followed the direction where the hoofprints went, towards the center of the town. As they neared it the hoofprints grew in number. In the distance, they could hear shoutings and heated discussions between many ponies. Then, they finally rounded a corner and saw the town square.
Thousands of residents stood in the cold snow around the mayor's office with bare hooves, all of them talking over each other. The mayor and a few other ponies were standing near the platform at the foot of the building. They were in a debate as well with one another, although they were able to conduct it in a more civilized and organized manner. 
Sturdy and David just stood at the edge of the town square, both of them were dumbfounded. They completely forgot about themselves and looked at the mass of ponies in shock and in a slight amusement. They tried to catch what was the topic of debate, although one of the outer ponies recognized them sooner, "They're here!" He shouted from the top of his lungs and just as a well-trained dog would stop barking at a gesture of his owner the crowd fell silent in an instant.
Suddenly, all eyes were fixated on the two friends, and they could feel it in their bones as well. They slowly turned around to escape the staring, but the mayor called out for them, "You there, the tall creature! Would you mind coming here?" She asked in her official tone, yet David knew this was more like an order wrapped in a kind question. Without giving any answer he obliged and went over to the podium himself. Sturdy remained in one place, staring at the back of his friend and praying for him to whatever god that could hear him.
The ponies let him pass through without a trouble. David noticed that not all of them were looking at him with either a horrified or a threatening expression, some of them were curious or just straight up gave him a warm, welcoming smile. He would have felt relieved by that, but these only made him more cautious, the whole thing seemed suspicious to him.
David arrived on the platform, the ponies on it welcomed him in a similar fashion to that of the onlookers. Some of them smiled, some of them growled. The mayor cleared her throat and she addressed the crowd, "Residents of Ponyville," her voice was clear and loud, it echoed all around the town square, yet it was still soft and caring, "After hours of debate, we are getting closer to a conclusion about our new guest," she turned towards David, "How about we let him introduce himself properly in front of all of us before our final decision?" The mayor looked back at the human. David did not dare to speak, he instead just nodded. Mayor Mare, satisfied with the answer, turned back to the crowd. At first, only a few of them started to trample the ground beneath them in one place, but it spread amongst them like wildfire and not long after all of the ponies were doing it, trying to encourage David.
The human stood there confused until the mayor gestured for him to go right up to the podium and start. His anxiety melted away as his mind had no time to process it and he only focused on what he should say. As soon as he took his place in front of the podium the ponies stopped, "Hello everyone, my name is David and I am what my people call a human. I woke up here not long before with amnesia. Sturdy Fossil and Hardened Lilly found me in the snow and saved me from freezing to death. Since then, I have been helping Sturdy with his work and I am planning on helping Lilly as well," he took a short peek at Sturdy, who noticed it and cheered him on, "I know that I can never be thankful enough for what they have done and I can never repay this act of kindness, but that doesn't mean I can't try," he finished with a smile on his face and returned to his previous spot. The ponies began to trample the ground again.
"Alright everypony, I'm sure David and Sturdy have their own tasks to do as well, so let the voting begin," David was a bit confused and looked at his friend, or at least where he had seen him before, he only saw empty space there. He began to worry and he scanned the whole crowd with his eyes for his friend.
Meanwhile, Sturdy hid behind some of the ponies in the back row with the giant fossil placed next to him on the ground. He knew exactly what was going to happen, the town voted on whether they should allow Esau to stay in Ponyville or not as well. He curled up into a giant fur ball and tried to calm himself down.
"Okay, ponies who are against David staying in the town, to my left! Ponies who support David saying in town, to my right! Ponies who can't decide, form a column in the middle!" The mayor announced slowly and well articulately and the townsfolk tried to sort themselves out and stand with one of the three groups. David didn't watch the moving crowd, instead, he was trying to find his friend, while Sturdy remained in place on the snowy ground. The ponies in front of him didn't have to move, they were already standing at the back of the middle column, just right where they wanted to.
After some time, and with a little bit of help from the mayor, the ponies all stood in three, well-organized columns. With little to no luck, David gave up on finding his friend and instead diverted his attention to the three columns of ponies. The left one seemed to be quite big, although compared to the right column he couldn't tell right away which one was the larger. The middle column was the smallest of them all, with only a handful of ponies standing in it. It served more as a dividing line between the two other groups than anything else. 
The ponies that were standing on the platform with David were squinting their eyes as they were counting the ponies amongst themselves, not even the mayor was allowed to listen to it. Each and every one of them counted each of the columns. When they finished, they told each other their results. It seemed like none of them counted the same number of ponies in any of the columns, so after some arguing over who's counting technique was the better for this situation, they began recounting. This went on for some time, and all the while David only became more and more nervous.
David was still unable to locate his friend in the huge crowd and his imagination ran rampant at this point. He thought that his friend ran home, possibly to place the fossil down from his back, but even more likely he might have just abandoned him before the ponies threw him out as well. He tried to shake these thoughts out of his mind, yet the voice kept putting them back in.
"Okay, we are finished," announced one of the ponies on the platform. The mayor immediately went right over to him. David remained at his place for a while, not knowing what he should do. He began to look over the whole crowd once more, just to make sure that Sturdy wasn't really there, but the mayor motioned for him to come. 
"David, we have great news," said the mayor with a warm smile, "The ponies voted and you can stay in Ponyville, I will announce the result shortly," David couldn't believe his ears. He forgot everything that he worried about up to that point and he wanted to shout out of joy, although he stopped himself after realizing he is still on the platform, in front of the whole town, "Oh, if I were you, I would use the time to think of a few words to say as a thanks to the townsfolk," she glimpsed back right before stepping up to the podium with a wink. David nodded to her and she turned right back to the crowd and began in her official tone, "Ponies of Ponyville, the outcome of the voting is this: David the human can stay in the town as long as he would like to," the mayor wasn't able to finish the rest of her speech as the ponies erupted into a mix of angry shoutings and hoorays, "Alright everypony, please remain calm, David would like to say a few words," the ponies on the right side of the square fell silent almost immediately, while the ones to the left either left or continued to ramble on furiously under their breaths.
The mayor gave David her place at the podium and he stepped right up to it. He was worried about what he was going to say, he didn't have much time to prepare. Then, he saw Sturdy at the far back jumping high with joy and cheering him on. He didn't see the fossil on his back, so he must have gone home to drop it off then, he didn't need to worry so much after all.
With David's new found confidence the words started coming to him faster than he would ever be able to speak, "Ponies of Ponyville, I feel-"
"STURDY!!!" David was cut off by a vicious roar, it tore through the sky and made the clouds vibrate with the sound. It was so loud the ponies cowered their ears in pain and the human ducked behind the podium instinctively. Only one person, or rather, pony remained on his hooves, Sturdy.
"Dear Celestia," uttered Sturdy with his final words as the beast landed right in front of him with a loud thud. Her wings remained extended in a threatening posture, her hooves sunk into the ground due to the powerful landing. Her face was all blood-red from anger, she gritted her teeth and her pupils shrunk to the size of a button. Her glare was so strong it could have cut through steel with ease, yet the small pony managed to withstand it, albeit not very heroically, "Lilly, I can explain it!" It was all he could say in his own defense.
"What in the name of Celestia are you doing?!" Lilly did as if she didn't hear Sturdy and swiftly grabbed him by his ear. He winced up in pain while she forced him to the ground in front of her, "I remember we agreeing that David would remain inside the house, no matter what!" She began scolding her victim in the loudest voice she could muster.
"Huh, I don't remember such an agreement," answered back Sturdy mockingly, thus aggravating Lilly even further. She began to pull stronger on her housemate's ear, who in turn cried out in agony and laid flat on the ground, silently asking for mercy.
Meanwhile, David was the first one to gain back his courage from all the other people in the town square and he immediately ran over to Lilly and Sturdy in order to save the latter one, "Lilly," he stopped right next to them and called out for the mare to get her attention, "Nothing bad happened, the ponies voted for me to stay in town," as soon as David finished Lilly let go of her housemate's ear and stared blankly in front of her. Sturdy used these few seconds to crawl a few feet away from her and he began rubbing his ear.
"That's incredible!" Shouted Lilly finally from happiness an gave Sturdy a quick hug, who just got confused in turn. David watched both of them with a smile and as Lilly let go of her housemate she punched him in the shoulder. A sharp pain engulfed Sturdy's hind leg and he collapsed onto the ground as it was incapable of holding his weight.
"Why..? You hit a nerve..." questioned Sturdy as he waited on the ground until he regained control over his limb.
"I know, you idiot," she answered with the same angry tone as before, "And you got it because you still did not listen to me," as he slowly stood up her furry faded just as fast as it came, "But I am still glad nothing bad happened, this time," she added the last bit with a chuckle.
"I hope everything is alright?" Asked the mayor as she approached them and all of them gave her a nod, "Great! David," she turned towards the human, "Would you like to continue on?" Both of them took a look around. Most of the ponies had left the town square either because of their fear of Lilly or their disappointment in the voting's outcome, "I understand if you don't want to," she peeked back at him.
David pondered on the idea, he wanted to thank all of the ponies who vote in favor of him and to sooth the worries of the others. Then he turned around to his friends, who were casually talking and laughing amongst themselves, "I think I'll pass on the opportunity," he finally answered to the mayor with a warm smile which she kindly returned, "Don't get me wrong, I am grateful for all the ponies of Ponyville, even the ones who didn't want me to stay-" David began to babble to make sure the mayor didn't misunderstand him, but she just held up a hoof to stop him.
"David, I know how you might be feeling, no need to put them into words," David just happily nodded to her and they said goodbyes. The mayor went back to the podium while David returned to his friends.
"What did Mayor Mare tell you?" Inquired Sturdy.
"It was nothing, really," shrugged it off David, "She was extremely polite and kind though," noted the human sincerely under his breath, although his friends still heard it.
"I know, just be careful not to get fooled by that," warned Sturdy David and he would have continued on if Lilly wouldn't have raised a hoof as a threat to punch him again.
"Wait," David grabbed Lilly's hoof, "What do you mean by that?" He raised an eyebrow at Sturdy.
"He just hates the mayor, for whatever reason," answered Lilly before Sturdy had the chance.
"She is a turncoat," spat out Sturdy. Lilly lifted up her other hoof to strike at him, but David caught it in time.
"Alright, let's just head home now, shall we?" David attempted to defuse the tension between them, which actually worked. Both Lilly and Sturdy looked at each other for a moment.
"Fine..." They said at the same time with a sigh and David let go of Lilly's hooves. They all turned around and began walking towards their house.
"So Lilly, how was your day?" Asked David in order to break the silence.
"It was good, only got one of my superiors pissed off at me today, which is nice," said Lilly with actual, genuine pride. Both Sturdy and David smirked, "And what were you two doing, aside from parading through the town and getting into trouble?" Asked Lilly in a monotonous voice and a bored expression.
"I'm glad you asked," answered David while acting cheerfully, "We have found a giant fossil in the gorge-"
"The fossil!" David was suddenly cut off by Sturdy's yelling.
"The Fossil?" Repeated David, albeit in a much softer tone. He and Lilly followed Sturdy with their eyes as he ran back to the town square and stopped in the middle of it. David was unable to make out what was next to him in the snow, but as soon as his friend tried to lift it he recognized it, "The Fossil!" He yelled the same way Sturdy did and ran after him to help him out. Lilly stayed in place and facehoofed at their idiocy.



I, Zoh , ******* you to **** ******** *** *** the ponies *** ********** **, to save your people **** the ****** that I **** ********* **** them for ***** ***********.



Sturdy and David had just left the last building of the town and were walking towards the gorge for hopefully the last round of fossils for a very long time. The snow that was covering the landscape for weeks now began to melt away, even though it was still the middle of winter.
"Really?" Asked David in surprise.
"Yes, I can't believe it as well," said Sturdy with great happiness, "One week, that's how long it took for your training to get her promotion," he began to hop around David, "And the snobs at Canterlot began to notice you and my work about you," he stopped in one place and looked at David with the most serious expression he could muster, "Finally," he added and resumed his joyful hopping, "And on top of all this, the Princess herself has summoned us up to Canterlot to talk to us in person," he bent his knees in and jumped once from excitement while shouting at the top of his lungs, "Best week ever!"
David only watched his friend and smiled, he was glad for them, "I only wish that I was sent here sooner," his shoulders slumped a little.
"Hey, don't worry about it," Sturdy tried to cheer him up, "Better late than never, am I right?" He asked and winked at David.
"Yeah, much better than never," added David as they arrived at the gorge. Sturdy's ears began to twitch and he halted in his tracks. David picked up on the sound as well and stopped shortly after his friend. Both of them heard a deep breathing and distant hoofsteps. They were thirty feet away from the stairs leading down.
For a moment, everything fell silent. David and Sturdy stood there in the open, not daring to breathe. The hoofsteps stopped and the deep breathing has quieted down. Then a painful roar could be heard as a manticore flew up from the gorge and landed between them and the stairs.
At first, it seemed like the manticore did not notice them, as it turned its head towards its side and began to lick it. Sturdy took the chance and began to slowly walk backward, "Run," he whispered to David, urging him to do the same. Both of them took a few steps until the manticore, finished with the licking, turned back. For a moment all three of them froze down, but then Sturdy began to scream as he turned around and began to run. David stayed in place and drew his longsword out of its scabbard that rested on his shoulder. He got used to carrying it around whenever they went to the gorge for just an occasion like this. 
The manticore evaluated his prey for a moment. It extended its great batlike wings and with a few strokes, it landed right in front of Sturdy. David began to run after it. The manticore tried to sting Sturdy with its tail, but he jumped out of the way. David, using his momentum, swiped once with his sword and cut off the beast's stinger. The manticore, howling in agony, withdrew its tail behind itself and jumped at the human. He avoided its bite just by a few inches and the manticore ran past him. It stopped its charge a few feet away from them. Sturdy remained next to David this time.
They stared at each other again. David readied his sword and charged the beast with a vicious battle cry. It took to the skies and landed between David and Sturdy, facing towards the former. His friend was swept away by the beast's tail.
David charged again. The beast did not fly away this time. Instead, it ran towards him as well. He rolled out of its way. As he rolled, he managed to hold up his sword a bit and it cut into the manticore's right wing. The beast gave off another painful roar. It stopped for a moment to lick off the blood that was dripping from the wound. David took the time to change his grip on the sword to the crossguard and held it up like a javelin.
The manticore charged David. He waited patiently. He held up his sword and took aim. The beast rapidly closed the distance. He looked it straight in the eye. He then threw his sword.
It struck the beast right in the left eye. It collapsed immediately as the sword pierced through its brain. David was unable to roll out of its way. He got swept away by the giant corpse sliding on the melting snow. They stopped after a few feet.
David was panting heavily, blood was dripping out of the beast's skull onto him. He freed his legs that got stuck under it and, with shaking feet, he stood up. He got most of the slush off of his armor and grabbed his sword with both hands, one on the grip and the other one on the crossguard and pulled. The sword came out swiftly.
The blood sprayed once out of the wound onto David again and then began to pour generously out of the eye socket. He felt a bit disgusted by this and tried to wash it off in the snow, "That was a close call, wasn't it Sturdy?" He asked his friend jokingly, although he was still filled with adrenaline from the fight.
No answer came. David stopped with everything and took a look around himself, "Sturdy?" No answer yet again. He frantically turned his head left to right until his eyes stopped on the gorge.
David's blood froze. His legs began to shake even more rapidly. He slowly went over to the side of the canyon. He laid down on his belly. He counted to three in himself and peeked over.
There, he saw his friend. His corpse lay flattened at the bottom of the gorge, in the middle of a puddle of blood, water, and slush, unmoving.
David's vision began to blur. He felt a cold sensation in his heart. His limbs went numb. He pulled himself back from the edge, "No... no no no no," he remained there for some time, all the while repeating this out loud. A sudden realization hit him, "What if he's still alive?" He sluggishly got up to his feet. He could barely stand upright, all of his body was still trembling, "I have to help him," he took a few uncertain steps towards the stairs but stopped, "No, I have to call for help," he turned around towards where they came from and began to run, or rather tried to. His limbs felt heavy for him, he could barely move them, he almost tripped over his own foot multiple times, "Help..." he wanted to yell at the top of his lungs, yet he could only whisper, "Help," This time he managed to be a bit louder, "Help!" He finally found the strength within himself to shout. He quickened his pace and slowly began to run like a sober person.
David couldn't think straight anymore, his mind was filled with denial disguised as hope, yet these lies kept him going until he reached Ponyville.
> Chapter 6 - Fleeing
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

David was running as fast as he could. His heart was racing and he was heavily sweating, "Help! Sturdy fell down the gorge, someone please help!" He shouted as loudly as possible, even though he wasn't even inside the town. He hoped that someone would hear him from one of the houses on the edge of Ponyville and together they would rush to his friend's aid, but no one came.
David saw a few pegasi walking out of the town and towards him, it seemed like they didn't notice him yet. Without stopping he waved his arms around and tried to yell louder, "Hey! Please, you have to help my friend! He-" David stopped in mid-sentence. The ponies, upon seeing him, turned right around and ran back into the town, "No! Wait!" He picked up his pace, pushing his body way past its limits. His legs felt like they were on fire, although this pain only made him run faster.
David was now in Ponyville. He resumed his yelling and took short peeks around himself to find the group of ponies that ran away, but they were nowhere to be seen. In fact, he couldn't see a single soul anywhere, even the houses were empty. He was perplexed by this, although he had no time to think about it. He instead turned his attention back towards ahead of himself.
David noticed something in the distance and squinted his eyes to see it better. It was a huge group of ponies, and they too were running away from him. He stopped his wheezing and took a deep breath to shout after them, but five earth ponies jumped out in front of him from a small alleyway to his right. He breathed out the air from his lungs in a surprised squeal.
The ponies turned their backs to him and prepared to kick towards him. There wasn't enough distance for David to stop before them, so he picked up his pace yet again and jumped. At such speed, he was practically flying above their heads and he managed to avoid their hind legs just by a few inches. Unfortunately, he had too much momentum and he came crashing down on the other side of the wall of ponies. The townsfolk were taken aback by the human's impressive stunt and backed away from him while he remained on the cold, muddy ground.
David's legs were screaming in agony and refused to obey him. He was unable to move them, even in the slightest way. He pushed himself onto his back with his arms and shouted, "Please! You have to help, Sturdy-"
"Stop with the lies, monster, you killed him!" The human fell silent. His mind halted and his heart skipped a beat. He was unable to believe his ears.  He regained control over his legs and, despite the excruciating pain, he sat up in the mud. His mouth felt numb, it stayed wide open while he stared blankly at the stallion in front of him, completely silent.
The stallion stared back at him with anticipation at first, but after realizing that the monster had no intention of jumping at him he took a threatening step towards him.
The loud splash that the stallion's hoof had made dragged David out of his daze. He quickly put his hands together, "Please, you-" he began begging, but he interrupted himself. Instead of the light-green color of the stallion's fur, he only saw a mixture of grey and red.
David focused his eyes on the object in front of his face. It was his sword, still covered in blood. He yelled in shock and threw it on the ground as if it had morphed into a snake in his hands. With shaking and burning legs he slowly stood up. He kept his hands in front of himself as he observed them. The blood on them was already cold, although it didn't coagulate yet. He looked down on his whole body. It was coated in the same way as his gauntlets were. For a moment he couldn't remember why he was soaking in blood, or why he had his sword with himself.
After the painful memory came back to David, he looked back at the ponies in front of him. A second stallion was reaching down for his sword with one hoof and quickly yanked it behind himself.
David's mind couldn't handle it, he was unable to understand anything. He could only think of finding help for his friend. He fell to his knees and opened his mouth to begin another one of his pleadings, but the voice spoke sooner in his mind. It explained the situation to David and he began to tear up as the ponies approached him slowly.
The first stallion raised his hoof. David couldn't put up his hands to defend himself from the blow, he was completely paralyzed by the shock of the sudden realization. He could only close his eyes and wait for them to knock him out.
Yet the blow never came. David felt a strong gust of wind to his right and heard the stallion's painful yelp. He opened one of his eyes and saw that the pony was rolling away from him on the ground while Lilly stood right in front of him with her back to him. She wore her shiny golden armor which was polished to perfection by herself. She slowed her breathing down as she took up one of the battle stances that David had taught her. The angry mob took a few uncertain steps backward by her unexpected appearance.
Lilly peeked back at David, who felt grateful for her. Then he saw the tears rolling down her cheeks. They said nothing to each other. Lilly turned her gaze back to the ponies and growled at them to no effect. They were steadily growing in number as more and more townsfolk stopped running away and gathered around the human instead. Behind David, another mob began to form as well. They hurled insults at the pony who tried to attack their saint and praised Lilly for her intervention. The stallion got up from the ground and wiped the mud off of his face while loudly cursing.
It seemed like the whole town had flocked to this street to either support David or to try to chase him out of Ponyville. With each second the shoutings became louder and more vulgar as the two groups aggravated each other. Mayor Mare had shown up at some point, but even she was powerless in defusing the situation.
Sensing the ever growing danger, Lilly signaled to David with her tail. He almost didn't catch it, he was so trapped in his thoughts, the image of his dea... wounded friend didn't let him be.
David wiped off the tears from his cheeks, gathered up his remaining strength and slowly stood up with a painful groan. He and Lilly began backing away from the no-mans-land at the same time towards the relative safety of the crowd. Neither of them dared to turn around, they kept an eye on the two mobs, hoping that they wouldn't charge at each other. The ponies behind them parted ways, giving them just enough space to squeeze through.
A sudden, quick flash of light caught David's attention. It came straight towards him. His mind barely had time to register it, let alone get out of its way. It struck him directly in the chest. It made a high pitched screech as it connected with him and the force of the impact threw him backward. The ponies behind him managed to dive out of his way while Lilly instinctively rushed to his side.
This was what the ponies at the front of the group had been waiting for, a spark, "For our saint!" They cried out in unison as they charged forward. The mob on the other side was waiting for them with their shoulders braced for impact. Bodies went flying as the two walls of flesh collided and a town-wide brawl broke out. There were ponies who were frightened by such a barbaric display and tried to escape the scene, but unfortunately, they were in the minority.
David's armor had warmed up at the point of impact and he felt the heat radiating off of it on his chest. He wanted to sit up to get a better look at it, although Lilly didn't let him do that, at least not before she finished inspecting him for any injuries. None of the ponies paid much attention to them, they were either blinded by rage or by fear. After she finished, they looked at each other through their tears. They said nothing again, neither of them had the mental capability for it.
David tried to stand up but his legs had no more strength in them and he kept falling back to the ground. Lilly began to hover over him and tried to grab him by the arms to help him get up. However, as soon as she touched his armor she fell back to the ground as her wings became unable to keep her in the air. David became desperate and he started crawling on the ground, he just wanted to get away from everything and flee to a corner of the world where he could give up on living in peace.
Lilly remained silent and followed David. As they moved away from the epicenter the crowd around them became smaller and smaller. The moment Lilly felt comfortable enough with the number of ponies around David she leaped to the skies and flew down the road at a breakneck speed, leaving him behind on the muddy ground.
David's body had finally given up and with a loud, coarse sigh he turned onto his back. He couldn't feel his legs, his lungs were aching horribly and his mind was still covered in fog. The only thing that he perceived with perfect clearness was the voice in his head. It talked to him as if it was just another being, not just his imagination. He listened to it intently, he had nothing better to do instead of thinking about his friend's pass... injury.
The voice was telling him all sorts of things. It talked like a madman, its sentences weren't coherent and it changed the subject constantly. On top of all of this, the way the voice spoke to him kept changing as well. Sometimes David could hear the voice in his head beside his thoughts, then it would fade away and it would speak through his thoughts, shaping them like clay to tell him something. 
At first, the voice talked about how he shouldn't give up hope, that his friend can still be saved, then it scolded him for letting Sturdy be hurt like that. After this, it told him that Lilly had left him for good and that it was much better this way and finally it desperately wanted him to not go to Canterlot.
David would have been deeply disturbed by the voice in normal circumstances, but now he enjoyed it. He welcomed every distraction from the emptiness in his heart.
Suddenly David's blurred vision filled up with purple and he felt a pair of armored backs lifting him up carefully from the cold ground and onto a cushioned surface. The blob of color sat down next to him and the ground began moving underneath him. It sped up at first, then it took off into the air with them. 
David heard Lilly's voice. He did not understand what she was saying. He wanted to shift his focus from his mind to the world around him, but he was unable to. He began to panic as he tried to push the voice out of his head, but it only grew louder. He felt none of his body parts and the light was slowly drifting away from him as the sweet dreams were forcing themselves upon him with only it speaking to him, keeping him company. 
Then something slapped David. The voice fell silent. He felt his limbs again. His legs were dangling off of an edge. He felt the stroke of the wind on his face and his vision became clear. He was lying on the carpet floor of a golden chariot while Lilly was sitting next to him.
David looked Lilly straight in the eye and slowly sat up. Her eyes were red, her cheeks were swollen and her fur was wet from all the tears. She was loudly sobbing and coughing, "Lilly-" he began as he teared up as well, but she held up a hoof.
"I know," she managed to say between two sobs.
"I didn't kill him," David was only able to repeat what he had told the ponies back in Ponyville, before all of this madness.
"I know!" Lilly screamed towards the floor and the flying chariot shuddered as the two pegasi in front got scared by her outburst. She leaned back into a pillow as her sobbing and coughing got replaced by hyperventilating.
David lifted one of his arms up to Lilly but he dropped it down before he could put it on her shoulder. He lied back across the floor. He couldn't hold it in any longer. He began crying while ripping his hair and kicking out towards the air as the voice's words fully settled in his mind.
He lied. He could have saved Sturdy, but he didn't. He did kill him.
> Chapter 7 - Breakdown
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sky. David never paid much attention to it in his life. It was completely covered with dark gray clouds. It might begin to rain soon.
Why did this happen? Why did this have to happen? My Great Lord Zoh, why did you do this to me?
He blinked once. His eyes had dried up a long time ago, not because he didn't need to cry anymore, but because the wind had dehydrated them. 
I have failed you, I am undeserving of your mercy.
His focus shifted from one spot to another on the neverending blanket of clouds, and with it, his thoughts did as well. He tried to distract himself, so as to not to think about... that, but he just couldn't. Everything reminded him of his friend, he was unable to think of anything else than him for more than a split second.
I should have listened to my father. I was never worthy of becoming a defender.
He was lying on the cushioned floor of a chariot, unmoving. He felt uncomfortable this way, his armor was pressing hard into his skin and his back was slightly aching due to it, but he remained still. At least the burning sensation in his lungs was slowly fading away, as was the agonizing pain coming from his legs. He took a deep breath and felt calmness washing over him for a brief moment. He had finally done it.
I am the worst that a person can get.
His eyes twitched as his thoughts violently turned dark again.
I hate myself. Everyone should hate me. I deserve it.
He suddenly became aware of the quiet sobbing of Lilly to his left. She tried with all of her might, but she was just unable to stop the tears ever since... that happened.
I did this, not The Great Lord Zoh and not the manticore. It was me.
David turned his head to the left. Lilly had her face buried in her hooves, her tears were completely soaking her fur. She still wore her beautiful golden armor, but it was no longer shining. Mud was smudged nearly all over it.
Did my mother die? She must have. If not from the plague, then from the shame of having such a horrible son.
He wanted to reach out to her, to tell her that this had been just a bad dream and everything is going to be alright, but even he found it hard to believe in these lies.
I have failed everybody. I have failed at everything.
David turned his head in the opposite direction. He saw the flanks of a pair of pegasi. Their wings were beating to the same rhythm and their legs were moving back and forth, just as if they were running across a field.
No, I didn't fail everybody... my father must be jumping with joy right now.
The two pegasi wore the same armor as Lilly, but these were perfectly fitted and polished, just like how Lilly's armor had been.
Although it does not matter now, at least he can die as a happy man.
David turned his gaze from the Royal Guards back towards the sky.
Wait... the voice.
David sat upright and closed his eyes in concentration. He blocked out any noise coming from the outside of his mind and focused on the mysterious voice in him.
What are you?
Ever since they got on the chariot, it grew quieter by the second and it almost got to the point of complete silence. Now that he thought about it, he wanted to stop that from happening. No, he had to stop that from happening.
Who are you?
The voice sounded so distant in his mind that it was too difficult to make out what it was saying exactly.
Please don't go away.
It fell silent. David's blood froze for the second time that day.
You are doomed.
He felt relieved. He opened his eyes and a weak smile crossed his face, but it was already gone in an instant.
No, please, don't start another rant.
It will only get worse.
David rolled his eyes. He felt like he saved the voice from completely vanishing from him, although now he was wishing he hadn't done it.
There can't be anything worse than this. There can't be anyone worse than me.
He went back to trying to distract himself, so he looked down towards the ground. They were around five-hundred feet up in the air. He did not know exactly where they were going, but he had a strong hunch that their destination was Canterlot, the capital city of Equestria.
You can still stop it.
Stop what? What are you talking about? What are you?
He watched the leafless trees below him go by. Among them, he noticed a lonely wooden tower, atop it there were a few Royal Guards, although they were too small for him to see how many of them there were exactly.
You have to stop it.
David couldn't tear his eyes from those ponies. They seemed so small, so insignificant from up here, but they were important, or at least much more important than him. They had a family and at least a couple of friends, not to mention that their task was to protect this land and so far they had done an excellent job of it, yet if one of them died, would he notice? And now that... that happened, did they notice it? Did anything change for them because of it?
Your quest needs to end, now.
And what if he died? Would anyone notice him gone? Would anyone shed a tear for him? His own family and friends were back at his kingdom and he had been gone for such a long time, they must have already thought him dead. Now that he was thinking about it, they might be happy for his death, too. After all, he was just an idiot who failed at everything he tried to do and now they finally got rid of him. If he were to return home now then all of them would be disappointed in him, again.
Jump.
He gripped the edge of the chariot with both hands while he peeked over at Lilly. Her head was still buried deep in her hooves, although her sobbing was slowly dying down. She must have figured out that Sturdy's death was his fault. She would be happy for his death as well.
It won't hurt.
He looked the other way, towards the two pegasi. They were too busy pulling the chariot. If he jumped down and didn't scream, then they wouldn't notice it until it's too late.
It would make everyone happy.
He turned his head up to the sky. Did The Great Lord Zoh exist? If he did, then he would want his death as well. It would be better for everybody if he died right now.
The Great Lord Zoh would want it as well.
His legs were already dangling of off the edge, he only needed to move a bit closer.
I have to die to save the others.
He moved closer to the edge. Just a few more inches and then all of his and the world's problems would be solved at the same time.
I have to jump.
"David," he froze down. The voice's control over his thoughts had vanished. He slowly and uncertainly turned his head to the left. Lilly was trying to dry her cheeks with her hooves with little to no success. She looked up to him with her bloodshot eyes and smiled weakly, "We are about to arrive, you might want to make yourself a bit more presentable," she pointed a hoof at him and went back to her own business, this time trying to scrub at least some of the mud off of her armor.
She isn't mad at me.
David looked down upon his chest plate, which was covered with the manticore's clotted blood. He lifted up his hands to his face to inspect his gauntlets as well. They were in the same condition as the rest of his armor, only a bit worse. There was no way he could get the blood out of the linen. He took off the gauntlets and tossed them aside, he would need to wash them later in clean water and with a lot of soap. After this, he began to scratch the dried blood off of his armor with his nails. It became rather painful after a while, not to mention that it proved not so effective, but at least it gave him something to occupy his mind.
Suddenly David felt the chariot descending and he turned his head to his right. Aside from the two Royal Guards, he saw a sight that made his jaw drop. There were great white marble walls and towers built on the mountainside stretching towards the sky. Their roofs were painted golden in different beautiful shapes and the flag of Equestria was planted on top of the tallest building of them all. They just so happened to be flying towards that same building.
David felt a hoof touch his chin and close his mouth, "Be careful, you might drool over yourself," said Lilly as the human turned around towards her. She tried to curl her mouth into a smile, but she quickly gave up on that. They kept looking at each other, silently debating whether this was just all a nightmare. They stayed like that, unmoving until the thud of the chariot drew them out of their staring. David retrieved his gauntlets and both of them got off at the same time.
They landed on a small patch of grass between a couple of giant lifeless oak trees, their dark branches pointing towards the sky like dug-in pikes. Under them, there were around a dozen Royal Guards standing stoically, waiting for David and Lilly to start moving. There was also a cobblestone road not too far away from them and one of the guards, a grey stallion with a white mane, motioned for them to follow him. David and Lilly took a short peek at each other and gave the other a small, reassuring nod before falling in line behind the stallion. One of the Royal Guards barked a quick order and all of them turned ninety degrees towards the road. Another bark and they started marching to the same dull rhythm, following David and Lilly from a few feet away. 
The stallion was leading them towards the tallest, most grandiose building of them all, the main castle. When they were only twenty feet away from the huge golden doors a yellow aura engulfed it and pried it open before them and they entered. The air inside the hall was comfortably warm on David's skin after the harsh cold of the outside. The walls had windows easily the size of houses and between each one of them stood a thick snow-white pillar, which was adorned with carvings of vines and flowers. Sculptures of ponies and other creatures were placed on either side of these pillars, seemingly filling up the hall with life.
David had so much to see that he felt like he didn't have enough time. He moved his head from side to side, taking in the beauty of the lifesize statues and the few colorful rose windows depicting a fight between a white and a dark pony. He didn't even notice the second golden door, only after it opened before them and he saw Her. 
The sole princess of Equestria was sitting on her own throne atop a flight of stairs. A white unicorn mare with glasses stood next to her levitating a stack of papers with her magic next to herself and showing them to the princess one-by-one for her to sign.
The stallion stopped at halfway through the throne hall, announced their arrival and bowed down before Her Highness. Every Royal Guard behind David, including Lilly, followed suit, while he remained standing. He was completely awestruck by Princess Celestia's sight. She hastily finished signing the last of the papers and sent her assistant on her way with a motherly smile and a thank you. She now turned her full attention towards the new arrivals. 
Princess Celestia's smile slowly faded away from her face as she observed David and Lilly. She stood up from her throne and, with graceful steps, she descended the stairs and began walking straight towards the human. Lilly dared to peek up from the ground and noticed the advancing Princess and her friend, who was still not bowing in front of Her Highness. She quickly nudged him in the leg, but he would not budge. She considered punching him in the gut to force him on the ground, although the thought vanished as fast as it came. She had lost her tendency for violence since... that.
Meanwhile, David was still trying to peer his eyes away from Princess Celestia, but he was unable to. He had never seen The Great Lord Zoh in person, or at least he couldn't remember an occasion, but Her Highness looked a lot like how he imagined him to be, just not in a pony form. Princess Celestia was now standing right in front of him, and even though he felt Lilly's hooves lightly hitting his legs they were still unresponsive. After this, Lilly had given up on trying to make David bow down and she accepted their death sentence with a sheepish smile towards the Princess.
All three of them stood still for a few moments before Princess Celestia gently yet quickly scooped them up with her wings into a long embrace. She held them close to her chest and let out a melancholic sigh.
At first, both of them were confused as to what just happened, but Lilly was the first of them to realize. She nestled herself in Celestia's embrace and began weeping into her white fur, she felt just like a foal crying on her mother's shoulder. David hugged Celestia back with one of his arms and with the other he began lightly stroking Lilly's mane, while he pressed his face into Celestia's fur as well to quieten the sound of his sobbing.
After a while, the Princess broke the embrace, "Let's go somewhere more quiet, my children," she said softly. Both Lilly and David only managed to nod in turn and she led them out of the throne room via a small door to the left. Before closing the door behind herself, the Princess motioned to the guards that they were dismissed.
They walked along a narrow pathway, which was presumably a shortcut meant for the servants, until they arrived at a simple wooden door. The Princess levitated it open for them and they entered. Behind the door was a dining room of some sorts, although it was much more modest than the other rooms of the castle, "This is my personal dining chamber, we won't be disturbed here," she said and pointed a hoof at the table in the middle, "Please, have a seat, my children," the table only had two chairs, one on both ends of it. Princess Celestia placed three more down beside her own chair with her magic for her guests.
"Who else dines here with Your Highness?" Asked David quietly, not knowing exactly how he should address the Princess.
"Please, call me Princess Celestia, or just Celestia if we are in private," she answered with her usual warm, motherly voice, although a bit of sadness was mixed into it this time, "I am the only one, who eats here. The chair is for the memory of my sister," Lilly nodded in understanding, while David was confused by her answer, "Would you like something to eat?" Asked the Princess, her sadness suddenly hidden in her tone.
"No, thank you," said Lilly and David in somber unison while all three of them took a seat.
Princess Celestia gave off another sorrowful sigh, "I can't begin to express how much I sympathize with you, my children. I did hope that I could see all of you sooner than planned, although I did not expect my wish to come true in such a horrible way," she extended her wings and began to gently rub the backs of her guests in an attempt to transfer the pain they felt into herself.
The moment was disturbed by three knocks on the same door that they entered from, "This must be our third and last guest," she withdrew her wings and stood up from her place, "Is it alright if I let him in?" Both Lilly and David were baffled by  Princess Celestia's question. She was an immortal being, why would she need permission from mere mortals to do anything? Nonetheless, both of them nodded in agreement and she levitated the door open. 
"Ah, Professor Endemism, please come in," the sadness from Lilly's face drained away in an instant. A dark green unicorn stallion with deep yellow eyes, a stained lab coat and a cutie mark of a book walked into the room. As soon as he noticed Lilly's expression he froze.
"You," this single word from Lilly was filled with venom towards the other pony.
"Lilly, please, just hear me out first," he said quickly as he began to slightly tremble.
"I've heard enough about you," Lilly jumped out of her chair and began running towards the professor, but her momentum quickly declined as her legs felt more and more sluggish the closer she got to him. When she finally arrived before him she was barely able to stand, "You did this, you caused his death!" She tried to scream into his face, but she could only whisper. Tears started to fall from her eyes and she collapsed onto the floor in front of the professor. David instinctively stood up from his place and was about to walk over to her in a hurry, but the professor reached down for her and lifted her off of the ground carefully while he started to cry as well.
"Don't say such awful things, he was my friend as well," he looked into her eyes, "I feel the same way about his..." he stopped in mid-sentence, unable to say the next word.
David was confused, he looked to Celestia who was still standing by the door, watching the two ponies with a slight sorrow visible on her face. With uneasy steps, he walked next to the two of them, crouched down and embraced both of them. They stayed like that for a while, all three of them trying to stop their tears unsuccessfully.
After they managed to calm down as best as they could, the trio let go of each other and Princess Celestia bent down to them and gently whispered into their ears in her motherly tone, "Let's carry on, my children, for we have much to discuss," the Princess gestured with one hoof towards the chairs and once everybody was seated she spoke again, "Professor Endemism, I think we should start with you."
The professor silently nodded, cleared his throat and he began in a gloomy tone, "I think Lilly knows very well why I am here," he took a peek towards her, then he turned to the human, "However, I wouldn't like to keep David in the dark," David was slightly surprised and grateful that the professor mentioned him by name, "I'm Professor Mythic Endemism, but just call me Endemism."



I was born into the Mythic family, which was only made up of unicorns and most of them were highly praised scientist of our era. I was raised from my birth, before I even got my cutie mark, to be a scientist like almost everypony else in my family, I even got my name after the biggest discovery of my grandfather. I was taught at the very best schools in all of Equestria and eventually I was sent to the University of Canterlot to be shaped into the pony my family wanted me to be. That is where I met Sturdy for the first time.
I was thought to be the greatest biologist in the university, but it was only because of my heritage. I was good at cramming and nothing else, but Sturdy was a true scientist. His intellect and passion for his work were greater than mine could have ever been and I adored him. He should have gotten every bit of praise instead of me. 
My family prohibited me from ever meeting him, due to him being a non-unicorn, but we still met many times over the years. Whenever I wanted to escape the life that was forced upon me he would grant me sanctuary in his own college dorm and we would talk on hours to no end. I would tell about my dream of finally leaving the university life behind and start my own library, as I always wanted to, and he would dream loudly about how he will open a museum of his own fossils. He was a true friend and those years were the best in my life only because of him.
However, he had one flaw despite his bright mind.
At the university, whenever somepony made a breakthrough or found something new he or she would present it to the students and professors himself or herself, but Sturdy was unable to do that. He only tried once and he had a complete mental breakdown in front of so many ponies, he was just unable to present his ideas and findings on a podium. That is when he asked me to do it for him. I couldn't say no to him, he was my best friend after all, so I was the one, who had the honor of presenting the findings of his upcoming researches.
Unfortunately, because nopony had ever done this before, that somepony else presented the findings and not the original finder, everypony started crediting me. I desperately tried to stop them before it would reach Sturdy's ears, but I was unsuccessful. I never saw him so furious before. He kept shouting and cursing at me until he just ran away without me being able to say anything. We never met again, whenever we would notice each other he would quickly leave before I had the chance to even wave.
From then on, he tried to find another pony, who would be his representative and many scientists volunteered for him, but each and every one of them only used him for his intellect. Research after research had been stolen from him until he finally had enough and he began releasing his findings in lesser known scientific papers.
Sadly, because of his non-unicorn race, not many ponies read his findings and even less of them supported him monetarily. So when the University of Canterlot stopped funding him in an act of revenge, he was forced to leave the city. I wanted to help him with everything I got, but my family kept a close eye on me after one of my 'friends' told them that I disobeyed their prohibition. I was unable to do anything for him. 
That was the last time I had heard of him, until now.



"You're a liar," said Lilly, while staring at the table, unmoving, "Sturdy told me this story differently," she finally looked up to Endemism with a visibly forced neutral expression.
"It is only natural," said the professor with a sigh and he dried up his wet cheeks with his hooves, "After all, we had vastly different personalities, not to mention that from his viewpoint I did act like a heartless monster," he admitted painfully. Lilly's expression softened a little and she went back to staring at an unremarkable point in the room.
David turned his attention to the Princess, "I don't know who to believe," he said bitterly, "If the point of this was to clarify things then it did not work," he let go of his slight anger towards the professor and leaned onto the table while he began rubbing his forehead in thought.
"I know how you must feel right now," Princess Celestia put one of her wings on David's shoulder, "The reason for this wasn't to clarify things, rather it was an ask for help from both of you," she extended her other wing and touched Lilly's face with it, gently lifting her out of whatever took hold of her mind into the real world, "I was blind to the horrors that are happening inside the city boundaries on a daily basis and now I want to make justice, starting with Sturdy's case."
"There is no point in it anymore, Your Highness," answered Lilly as she pushed Celestia's wing off of her face, "It won't bring him back," she turned her head towards the ground and returned to her staring. Celestia blinked a few times, shocked at the brutal honesty and hopelessness in Lilly's voice.
"Nobody can bring him back," said David not looking up from his hand. He gave off a pained sigh and forced himself upright in the chair.
"You are right, my children," admitted Celestia as she stood up from her place and went over to a small window. Through it, she watched the various ponies that were walking in the Royal Garden, "The news of your friend's unfortunate passing changed me in a way that I wouldn't have ever imagined anything could," she lowered her head as she mourned not just for her child, but for her naive past self, "Since I heard from the misfortunes that he had been put through by none other than my loyal subjects, I began to feel more suspicious and distrustful towards them. Ponies that I thought were the primary example of kindness and generosity have been shown to me that, in truth, they are the villains of this city," a single tear ran down her cheek and she quickly levitated a napkin to dry it up, but it had already been seen by everybody else in the room.
The human and the professor suddenly found new strength in themselves. Seeing an immortal being shedding a tear in such a depressive time filled them up with confidence and determination. It showed them that even the best of the best, the mightiest of the mightiest can be brought down by life and there was no shame in letting it be seen by others.
Professor Endemism was the first one who spoke up, "Princess Celestia, forgive me if my wording is inappropriate but as Sturdy once put it, just because of a few rotten apples we shouldn't throw out the whole basket," he said with a proud voice as he walked in front of the Princess.
"He is right," it was now David who got up from the table and stood next to the professor, "If a defender doesn't live by the teachings of The Great Lord Zoh, then he will be sent away to a secluded temple where he is going to be harshly reeducated in matters of morality and faith," a smile began to form on Celestia's lips and it became wider and wider the longer she listened to them. It worked, "I suggest we do the same thing with these villains, Princess Celestia," he finished his little speech with a slight bow to the Princess.
"Easier said than done," spat out Lilly while she still sat at the table in a depressive state and everybody looked over to her. While the sight of the sobbing Princess empowered the other two to show strength and support towards Celestia it only pushed Lilly deeper into her melancholy. After all, if even the best of the best, the mightiest of the mightiest lost all hope for the situation, then what was there to be done by a mere mortal like her? "How can you know for sure if somepony is rotten or not?" She asked in a demanding tone as she slowly stood up from her chair, but she immediately collapsed back into it. She gave up on trying to stand up and, yet again, resumed her silent staring into nothingness.
Princess Celestia's smile faded away as Lilly's words settled in her mind, "It pains me to say this, but Lilly is right," she kept her head low while she stood up from in front of the window and she made her way back over to the table. David's and Endemism's chests deflated at Princess Celestia's answer as a sense of hopelessness took hold of their hearts as well.
When the Princess arrived next to Lilly she extended her left wing and scooped up the pegasus into her usual gentle embrace. It was rare, even for her to see somepony in such a devastated state. She began rubbing her back in an effort to pull her out of this state just for a moment, but she either did not notice it or she didn't want to. She kept staring at an unremarkable spot on the table while occasionally a single tear would run down on her cheeks.
Princess Celestia gave off a sigh and withdrew her wing, "Professor Endemism," she called out to the professor with a warm, friendly tone.
"Yes, Your Highness?" He answered immediately to the calling and bowed slightly right after it.
"You are the first one of the academics to be informed about this. I decided to start a thorough investigation into the secret workings of the Academia," she looked into his eyes to which he turned his head towards the ground and bowed even deeper, "I have an unshakable feeling that this rabbit hole goes much deeper than I would have ever dared to imagine," Princess Celestia slowly walked over to Endemism who in turn shrunk down with each of her steps, "I think it goes without saying that every academic is prohibited from leaving the city until they have been questioned by my agents. Not abiding by this will result in the immediate exclusion from all of the universities across Equestria and a further ban from doing any kind of intellectual work regarding inventing or discovering new technologies or theories," when she finally arrived before the professor he was already lying on the floor. He tried to make himself seem as small as possible. She bent down to the professor and she whispered into his ears, "I wish you a safe journey, Endemism."
The professor looked up to Princess Celestia at first with fear, then with hope in his eyes. He jumped up to his hooves, said his goodbyes and left the room in a hurry while the Princess remained in one place with a slight smile on her face. After the professor had left she made her way back towards the table and sat down next to Lilly in one of the smaller chairs. She began stroking her back and whispering into her ears a few reassuring words in another attempt to jank her out of her melancholy.
Meanwhile, David was at a loss for words. He did not understand why the professor felt so terrified and why he had left so abruptly. He opened his mouth, then closed it right after he noticed Lilly's ears moving. For the last five minutes, Lilly had been perfectly motionless, she didn't even blink. Princess Celestia's words finally had an effect on her and he did not want to disturb her in fear of losing Lilly again. Instead, he opted to watch as the Princess lifted his friend back into the real world from the depths of her own mind.
Slowly and steadily life returned to Lilly. One by one her limbs began to move and not long after that she was already answering to the Princess with her own quiet words and nods of understanding. Then, she bowed before the Princess, gave a short nod to David and left the room as well.
For a moment the Princess remained still, silently debating her next move in herself. Then, she stood up from the tiny chair and levitated it out of the way with all the other chairs except hers, her sister's and David's. After this, she picked up all the decorations on the table with her magic and set them aside while sitting down on her own seat.
Meanwhile, the human watched all of this in awe. The ease at which the Princess moved objects with the glow of her horn impressed David. He had never seen anything like this before, and he doubted he would see ever again from somebody else.
I bet Sturdy would love to see...
The childish excitement was gone from him in a second. His posture deflated and his legs felt sluggish, he was barely able to make his way towards his chair and once he was sitting his muscles lost all of their strength and he remained there, unmoving. The voice returned with its dark messages of suicide and he began to slowly lose control over his senses.
"David," the Princess called out to him and the oblivion withdrew itself from around him as he forced himself back into the real world. He wanted to hear what Her Highness wanted to say, "I know you must have many questions about Endemism and I don't want to hold you back from asking them, so please, ask away."
The human fought with all of his willpower to stay conscious as the weight of his friend's... passing began to fully settle in his mind. He heard whispers, not just from the voice, but from his own thoughts as well. He didn't want to listen to them, so he quickly took a hold of the only thing that could save him, the only thing that wasn't about his friend's death, "Why did he leave so suddenly?"
The Princess was silent for a moment. She did not know if he meant Sturdy or Endemism, although David was just as unable to decide which one he wanted it to be, "Professor Endemism left because I gave him the perfect opportunity," she began, desperately trying to divert David's attention so that he wouldn't break down mentally just as Lilly did, "I doubt he would be the main culprit, more like a puppet in somepony else's game, so I used his desire to quit from the academia forever without his family being able to stop him. And who knows, maybe after he is far enough away in a library of his own he might feel safer and more inclined to start mentioning names."
"And what will happen to the other academics?" David didn't even care about the answer, he just wanted to think about something else.
"We will uncover even the smallest crimes and punish everypony accordingly," the Princess finished her answer with her usual motherly smile. David felt a bit of warmth return to him, but right after the grief washed over him again. He felt like a boy who had been taken underwater by a wave and he didn't know how to swim. He tried to open his mouth, to raise another question, to divert his attention just for another second from the pain, yet he couldn't. He felt the darkness closing in on him and his mind began to collapse into itself rendering him motionless. Just as how it happened to Lilly, it would happen to him as well.
"David," said the Princess in an unusually soft tone, even for herself. She stood up from her chair and walked next to David with careful steps. The human was only able to watch her with his eyes, he was unable to move his head or any other part of his body as his mind slowly shut itself down. She bent down next to his ears and began whispering, "I am terribly sorry for your loss..." she paused for a moment as she rethought her wording, "No, our loss. Sturdy had so much potential," David was barely able to say a weak and quiet thank you in response.
Princess Celestia sat down next to David, while she kept her head in eye level with him. She levitated a piece of snow-white cloth and dried up the tears on David's face, "I wish I wouldn't have to tell you this now, but I have no other choice," she hesitated for a moment. She tried to bring up at least one reason why she shouldn't inform David about this now, but she failed, "The incident has to go under investigation. You will have to stand before a trial and prove that you weren't the one who did it."
The fog from David's mind had been lifted. He regained his strength and he felt his body again. His vision cleared out and he turned his head towards Princess Celestia. Trust, hatred, anger, disgust, fear, the emotions inside him changed from moment to moment, constantly shifting towards a new, previously unknown feeling. A storm began to gather inside him like lava inside a volcano, yet he remained stoic. He nodded a single time as an answer.
The Princess hugged David briefly. The human had to physically force himself not to shove away the immortal being, "I will try my best to prove your innocence, but for that, I have to ask for your gauntlets," David did not understand her request and he didn't want to. He extended them towards Celestia, who tried to lift them up with her magic. After seeing that she was unable to she instead grabbed them in her hoof just as if nothing had happened, "Thank you, David," she embraced him one final time and then she levitated the door open. A single Royal Guard stood behind it, "Please escort David to his quarter and whatever you hear, don't go inside without his permission."
"Yes, Your Highness," the guard sharply saluted once and turned around. David looked at the Princess who gave him a small yet warm and encouraging smile, although he did not feel safer or calmer from it now.
The guard guided David across almost the whole castle through narrow passageways, but David paid no attention to it. His mind was filling up with dark thoughts and ideas, ranging from killing himself to killing the Princess, or at least try to. At first, he wanted to chase them away, the voice was even helping him with it for a nice change, but every time it worked his mind wandered back to Sturdy. He was unable to accept it that he was gone, he didn't want to believe it, he couldn't believe it. So after a while, he let those sinister thoughts fill up his head. It was better than accepting this nightmare.
David heard a polite cough from in front of him which pulled him out of his daydreaming. He looked up from the floor to see the source of it. The Royal Guard had stopped and turned around to face him. The pony opened a decorated wooden door next to him and motioned for him to enter. After he stepped inside the guard closed the door behind him softly.
The room where he found himself now was a complete mess. The two single beds situated at the opposing sides of the room were stripped from their pillows and blankets as those were laying on the floor in pieces. Feathers covered everything and a hyperventilating Lilly was sitting in one of the corners. They looked at each other, but neither of them said anything. 
They stayed like that for what seemed like hours, David standing and Lilly sitting until the human took a few uncertain steps towards the beautifully decorated wooden cabinet.
Just like rain from the clear sky, the rage broke out of David suddenly, not even he expected it to be so quick. He roared in anger and smashed his fists into the front of the expensive furniture. Both of his hands punctured through the thin wood. He placed one foot on the lower side of the cupboard. He pulled at the furniture with both of his arms. He tore the small doors off of it with little to no effort while letting out a primal cry. He then kicked out at the bottom side of the furniture. It crumpled under his armored boots. He picked up the wreckage and threw it at the wall. It did not shatter to pieces. He became more furious. He yelled at it and picked it up again and smashed it against the floor. It exploded into splinters and chunks of wood this time. He let out a final roar as his fury disappeared and a growing sense of emptiness overcame him.
With the red clouds gone from his mind, David took a deep breath to gather his bearings. Firstly, he glanced over to the wreckage that he had made in less than a few seconds. Nothing intact remained from the furniture aside from a few metal hinges and handles, the rest resembled a makeshift campfire in the middle of the room. He then brought up his hands in front of his face. Blood was oozing out from many wounds across his fingers and knuckles and at least a dozen bits of wood were sticking out of his hands, not to mention that his skin was already turning purple and swelling all over his hands.
After all of the adrenaline was gone from his body the pain kicked in. It began as an aching feeling, then it morphed into a sharp, stabbing pain. He knew full well that his hands needed immediate treatment, but he had no desire to leave the room, not to mention that this physical agony at least occupied his mind.
David turned around towards Lilly and looked up from his hands. The pegasus was still sitting in the corner, but now with horror across her face. David felt a bit of shame in that he scared her. He began to move towards her at a slow pace while he tried to force a smile onto his own face, which only made him look even more menacing.
When David was just a few steps away from Lilly she shot up from her corner and ran off towards the other end of the room. David didn't dare to turn around to see where she went exactly. He instead closed his eyes in pain as he leaned on the wall with one hand and sat down with his back against it. He kept his eyes closed and began to hit the back of his head against the cold and rigid marble wall intentionally as a way of punishing himself.
David kept doing that, all the way thinking about how stupid and worthless he was until something soft wedged itself in between his head and the wall. He opened his eyes and saw Lilly stuffing a torn off piece of a silk pillow behind his head. She weakly smiled at him for a moment and lifted up one of his hands. The blood was nearly dripping off of it, although the rate at which it poured out of his wounds were slowing down. She used another piece of the same pillow soaked in water to wash down all the blood while she picked the splinters out of his hand with her bare teeth. After she finished she wrapped it into a lengthy piece of silk and tied it firmly, then she repeated it with his other hand.
David only watched Lilly with wonder and slight amusement. He thought that she wanted him dead and she hated and feared him, yet here she was, cleaning and patching up his hands, "Thank you," he said after Lilly finished and threw the bloody piece of silk on top of the wooden wreckage. She did not answer, she only took a seat on the floor next to him and remained silent.
David felt that he shouldn't talk now, but he also didn't want his mind to wander, so he chose to inspect his now bandaged hands. The piece of silk, that presumably was part of a blanket once, was tied around his hand in a way that didn't restrict the movement of his fingers, yet it still pressed down on his wounds enough to stop their bleeding. He turned his hand around to inspect Lilly's work from all sides and to take in the perfection of it fully. It was rare, even for a seasoned soldier or a defender to know the correct way to bandage up a wound on a hand, but Lilly managed it at her first and second try.
David put his hand down and thanked the soldier again. He curtly nodded to him and left him alone in the tent, on the cold ground. David turned his body around to where his gauntlets were, both of them were almost completely destroyed from the blow of the mace, he was lucky he still had hands. The dirty infidel rushed at him from out of his sight. It was now crystal clear that they were in desperate need of conquering and to be taught the teachings of The Great Lord Zoh.
He let out a frustrated sigh. His hatred towards these savages rose from moment to moment and the only thing that calmed him was the memory of how the life had drained out of the infidel's eyes as the same soldier, who patched him up, killed it right before it had the chance to smash his head in.
David rolled back onto his back. The battle was still raging on in the valley, not too far away from their camp, although it now resembled more of a slaughter of the infidels than a real battle. The savages thought it to be a good idea to try to ambush them, the defenders of The Great Lord Zoh, the enlighteners, and the conquerors in their own camp.
The conquerors. David called the defenders by this name many times now. All the defenders called themselves by this name many times, it almost became their second title. Whenever he heard the name he knew they would soon fight against brutes and savages to bring them the teachings of The Great Lord Zoh. The excitement for an upcoming battle filled him up with sensations that he never felt before and just like with Pavlov's dog the adrenalin began pumping in his veins just by the mere mention of their second title, but this time was different. Instead of pride and enthusiasm, he felt shame.
Well, we have many tasks. David suddenly remembered what he had told Sturdy about a week ago. We must help the poor and the unfortunate, we must provide guidance to those who are not as learned at the teachings of the Great Lord Zoh as we are, we must do anything in our power to protect the innocent, the helpless, the weak and the lands of the believers, we must spread the teachings of the Great Lord Zoh and last, but not least, we... have to kill those who refuse to abide by The Great Lord Zoh's teachings.
The tent was gone and he was yet again sitting next to Lilly on the ground in the Royal Palace of Princess Celestia. Everything stayed exactly how it had been before his memory engulfed him completely, except him. His mind raced with this one short but significant piece of information.
Sturdy was an infidel. He refused the teachings of The Great Lord Zoh and so The Great Lord Zoh made him kill him. These thoughts brought him joy and a sense of purpose before he came here and he met Sturdy, but now it filled him up with dread and a sense of sickness, it made him want to puke.
David turned his head towards Lilly, she was staring into oblivion. He considered telling her what he had found out and even the voice urged him to do it as well, yet he still chose to remain silent. It screamed and thrashed around in his mind, but he turned his head back towards the floor and forced his mouth shut so that he wouldn't murmur anything unwillingly.
It was Zoh who killed him using me and that creature, but he didn't deserve this. He was a nonbeliever, but he wasn't a savage infidel, he was intelligent and kind and understanding and he did not deserve this. My father was right, I should have left the defenders and their blind worshipping of Zoh.
Tears began to roll down his cheeks as he remembered the times he and Sturdy spent together. They seemed so happy, even the parts where they would argue and yell at each other, and so distant, even though they only happened not more than a week ago. He wished his friend was still alive and well and he would be able to hug him and forget this nightmare, but he finally realized it. His friend died and he will never come back.
Out of nowhere, a hoof gently tapped on David's face, drying up most of his tears. He turned his head towards Lilly, who was looking at him with a weak smile, "You look awful," she said quietly and chuckled once on her own joke.
David forced a happy expression on his face and replied with the same tone Lilly used, "I still look better than you," both of them laughed lightly at this for a split second before falling silent again.
"He isn't coming back, is he?" asked Lilly suddenly, cutting the silence between them once more. David wanted to answer her, but all he managed was to shake his head. She nodded.
"I've been thinking," said Lilly with a casual tone.
"What have you done," answered David slightly dramatically, although he didn't have the strength to smile with it.
"Princess Celestia, despite her power, can't bring back ponies from the dead," she stopped for a second and looked David in the eye, "What about your god, Zoh was his name?"
"No," David knew what she was proposing and he wanted to say yes, but he just couldn't lie to Lilly, "I'm not sure if he even exists at this point, but even if he did, then he wouldn't be able to do it anyway," Lilly nodded in understanding and leaned back against the wall.
"How come you're not sure about his existence?" She asked again with surprise clear in her voice.
The voice began screaming again, "It's because of Sturdy. We had a discussion about it once."
"He persuaded you?"
"No, he only gave his opinion, but..." David put his hand on his forehead to ease his growing headache, "I was sent here by Zoh for a purpose and that was to help on you and Sturdy, but I failed at it miserably. In the stories about Zoh, he always punished those who failed him and yet here I am without my punishment."
"Well, I think you did get your punishment," remarked Lilly under her breath, although David was able to hear it.
"No, Sturdy's death was my failure, not my punishment. I wasn't able to protect him from that..."
"Manticore," cut in Lilly when she saw his struggle to come up with an appropriate name for the beast.
"Yes," he paused for a moment to gather his thoughts while trying to push the screaming voice into the back of his mind, "It's just that ever since we talked there were many things where Zoh should have intervened in some form, but he did not, but then other times he would. It's just such a mess and I just can't see anything clearly anymore," he put his hand down in defeat and let the voice take over his mind with it's yelling.
"I understand," for a moment the voice fell silent as he turned his head towards Lilly, "Everything became dull as if nothing has color, but I can still see the colors, they just don't affect me anymore. I feel nothingness. Not emptiness, I don't feel like I have no feelings, I feel like there is no longer anything in me that is capable of feeling any emotions."
The voice became mute in his head. It was still there, he could feel its presence, but it was no longer screaming. He put his hand on Lilly's shoulder and began gently stroking it, "This will get much worse before it can get any better," he said sincerely and with a bit of sorry for themselves.
"Thanks," she said in a neutral voice and both of them withdrew into their own thoughts. They remained there, on the ground, thinking back to the times they spent with Sturdy and wishing that they had spent more time with him before the painful end until they fell asleep on the floor.



I, Zoh , ******* you to **** ******** and *** the ponies *** ********** me, to save your people **** the ****** that I have ********* **** them for their ***********.



> Chapter 8 - Shattered Faith
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It has already been days. David was unable to notice the changing of time. Everything seemed to pass him by. He felt like he was hours behind everybody else.
Yet he couldn't bring himself to move, not even an inch.
Only servants came into their room to tell them that breakfast, or lunch, or dinner is ready, and they should come down to eat. Of course, they never did, so after a while, they would just bring in the food on silver plates and place it down on the small table right beside the door. 
They would barely touch it. Sometimes, when the hunger got so bad that they felt like they were digesting their own stomachs, they would force themselves up from the ground to have a few bites, but then they would feel so full that they would have to fight the urge to puke.
They didn't talk much as well. Lilly had her invisible spot to stare at, and so did David. That's what they did for the majority of their stay, sitting and staring without uttering a single word. Even the voice inside David's head turned down the amount of talking it did. It would sometimes suggest a few suicidal actions to him in his weaker, more unstable moments, but he wouldn't be able to summon the strength to take his own life, not even if he wanted to.
"Are you nervous about your trial?" Hearing a voice without the opening of the door was strange to David. He tore his eyes off the floor to look at Lilly.
"Why would I be?" He asked weakly.
"They might find you guilty of murdering Sturdy and you could go to jail for that," she said in a neutral voice while staring into nothingness.
"Would that change anything?"
Lilly remained silent for a few minutes, "You will sit and do nothing in a different room than me," she turned her head towards David and looked him in the eye.
He nodded once, "Can't wait," he added with a bit of sarcasm.
She slowly and uncertainly stood up from the ground and walked in front of him, "I am serious, you should probably prepare in some way."
"How could I? Under normal circumstances, I would pray to Zoh, but that would be pointless, as it had always been."
Lilly shook her head, "Just because there is no invisible person in the sky helping you out, that doesn't mean you can't help yourself out," she said and sat back down on the floor in front of the human.
David thought her words over in his head and now he was the one who stood up. His legs were numb from all that sitting on the hard ground, but at least they were still functional, "You're right," he admitted with a sigh and began slowly pacing around Lilly in a giant circle while deep in thought.
They stayed silent again for a few minutes until they heard a knock on the door. A servant, without saying anything to them, came in with a silver plate full of fresh, steaming hot food. She placed it down on the table and courtly left the room with a slight bow, carefully closing the door behind herself.
David and Lilly looked at each other for a moment, "Do you remember anypony coming in and saying that dinner is ready?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I think this is lunch, but no," answered David while still circling her.
"Did you come up with anything?" David stopped in the middle of the room and shook his head in shame, "Don't worry, I've seen a few tricks that could prove effective," she waved for him to come closer and he sat down in front of her.
"You saw them where, exactly?" He asked in fake suspicion, although it came off more than awkward than funny.
"Just because I was only a postmare for the Royal Guard it doesn't mean I never saw an actual trial," she shot back jokingly, but it sounded more like a scolding due to her neutral tone.
"Oh, alright," he answered while peering at the ground for a moment, "And what would those tricks be?"
"Give them a heartbreaking backstory, preferably from your foalhood," David turned his head towards her and just stared at her dumbfoundedly, not sure if she was being serious, "What, don't you know how much we ponies love a moving story?" She asked with a slight smile as her will to live came back in a blink of an eye.
"Well, I wouldn't want to tell such stories in front of a giant audience."
"Why not?"
"I don't know," he scratched his head while his cheeks went slightly red, "It doesn't feel right, sharing that big part of my life just like that," he snapped his fingers once.
"You're not sharing it just like that," she stood up and tried to imitate the snapping motion with her hoof, "You're sharing it because you are on a trial, and if you don't do that then your life is ruined just like that," she went on with a bit of faked sass in her voice and repeated the snapping motion.
A smile crept up itself onto David's face at Lilly's antics, "It's already ruined," and, just as fast as it came, his and her own few moments of joy vanished.
She let out a sorrowful sigh, "I know," she leaned back against the wall with her left side and slowly slid down to the floor, "But let's try not ruining it any further, alright?" She lifted herself back up from the ground after she remembered the purpose of their talk.
David nodded to her word of advice while he wiped off a tear from his face, "What kind of stories did you have in mind exactly?"
"Something bittersweet," David was still just staring at her, "You know, a sad story with a happy ending," she tried to explain it to him.
"I know what bittersweet means, I just don't remember anything like that from my life," he shook his head after a few seconds of thought.
"You're just pulling my leg now," she lightly tapped David's cheek in a slapping motion.
"I wish I was. So far everything I remember from my life is horrible."
"I know, you still have amnesia and all of that, but you have to try at least, nothing makes a pony more gullible than a good tale."
"I could tell them a nice bedtime story from my book," suggested David half-seriously and half-jokingly.
"Not in a lifetime, they'll end up thinking you're part of a cult," she waved his idea down right away.
"Well, I was part of a cult for the majority of my-"
"They don't need to know that," she put a hoof on David's mouth and moved on without another word, "Look, I can give you an example, that might bring something alike to your mind."
David lay down on the ground in a comfortable position right after hearing that, "I'm listening."
Lilly was a bit taken back by his willingness to hear her out as she told one of her boring stories, although she quickly got over it. She sat upright and cleared her throat, "You should try to put on a somber expression," she curled her mouth downwards and let a few tears roll down her cheeks, "Then you can begin in a voice like this," she waited a few moments, obviously trying to figure out which tone she should pick, but she just stuck with the good old 'poor crying child' voice.
"When I was just a foal, my father never spent much time with me, he always had to work," she dried some of the tears with one of her hooves, although intentionally not all of them, "My mother had to bring up me and my three siblings alone. However, since I was the smallest and the least talented out of the four of us, I never received any form of attention from her. She would always say that I'm not worth her time and energy. She would actively try to get rid of me on every possible occasion. Of course, my father would always bring me back, and then an argument would unfold between the two of them that would last about an entire night, then the next day everything would go back to 'normal'," at the beginning of her story she was very clearly faking her tone and tears, but the more she went on the more real they became.
"I was naive enough to think that things couldn't get any worse, up until everypony else in my class got their cutie marks, except me. From then on, I was ridiculed daily and when I tried to get help from my siblings, they started bullying me too. I felt so alone and powerless," she began to heavily sob, and her breathing became uneven.
"I was so scared, I didn't know what to do," her sorrowful expression slowly changed into a maddened one, "But in time this fear turned into hate, then into anger. I wanted to show them I was no longer weak. I wanted to beat them up, all of them," she stomped the ground with her hoof, "And I did. One by one all of them got their faces smashed by my hooves. It was so satisfying to watch them cry with their broken noses," she looked at the ground and let out a slightly maniacal chuckle, "I was so caught up in my revenge-seeking that I only noticed my cutie mark when nopony dared to look at me ever again," she smiled wickedly for a moment, then the red fog that was enveloping her mind vanished.
"Sorry, got a bit carried away," she admitted sheepishly and turned towards David. His face bore a mix of concern, fear, and worry, "Oh come on, this was just an example, none of it was real," she said jokingly, although her weak laugh somehow creeped David out even more.
"Are you sure?" The forced smile was gone from her face and she lowered her head towards the ground in shame.
"Alright, maybe it wasn't."
David was unable to think of an appropriate response to her. He knew what she did was wrong in so many ways, although he couldn't just deny the fact that it worked. Not to mention that he did some even more horrible things than this and it would be hypocritical if he were to lecture her on the morality of her violence.
"Look," he sat up from the ground and put a hand on her shoulder and she peered at him, "I think you know what you did was bad, but at the same time I'm kind of proud that you were able to stand up for yourself," she was a bit surprised by his response, "You can't even imagine the things I did back home. Compared to that, what you did was just a great afternoon in the meadow with some friends," he admitted regretfully.
"I know," it was now she who put a reassuring hoof on his shoulder, "You did a fine job with that manticore and I doubt you were given such good training to be a gardener," both of them chuckled once in unison.
"Wait," David realized something, "You saw the..." He trailed off, not wanting to finish his sentence.
"Yes," she nodded once and her expression turned neutral, just as usual, "I saw the claw marks on..." She stopped herself in mid-sentence to carefully prepare her next words, "He was hit by the manticore and fell off," She rushed the words out of her mouth as if she wanted to move on from them desperately. David couldn't open his mouth to form a coherent response, so he just silently nodded.
"I could have saved him," he managed to utter under his breath, "It's my fault he is dead."
"Don't say such things," she said softly and began rubbing his back while tears started to roll down their cheeks.
"You don't blame me?" He asked shakily, afraid of the answer he might receive.
"Of course not," she said without hesitation, "I don't even know why you would even think that," he tried to thank her for the reassurance, but the words got stuck in his throat, he couldn't even swallow.
They stayed like that for a while, silently comforting each other until Lilly spoke up, "The only thing I want to know is how the manticore got there in the first place," both of them peeked at each other.
"We went there a lot of times in the previous week," he managed to utter finally, "Maybe he followed the scent and prepared an ambush?"
"Doubt it," she shook her head, "They are not that intelligent."
"I would say otherwise," he added while his hands began to shake just from the thought of the encounter, "I saw more in those eyes than hunger and bloodlust, I just can't put my finger on it."
"Yeah, maybe because it's not something you can grab," she mentioned under her breath.
David stared at her in stunned silence, "That was bad."
"But you're still smirking at it," she pointed a hoof towards David's face.
The human let out a single chuckle, "True..."
Both of them started to wipe off the tears from their cheeks in silence, although it was not the same silence that had enveloped the room for the past few days. Neither of them knew why, or how, it just felt different.
A knock disturbed them. A servant peeked into the room through a slightly opened door and turned towards the table. Seeing that the silver plate hadn't been touched he bowed his head to them, retreated behind the door, and closed it.
"Why aren't they talking?" Now that the pleasant quietness of the room had been broken Lilly felt comfortable speaking.
"Out of sympathy, I think."
"No, I think it's out of fear," David raised an eyebrow at that, "Look, I'm a bloodthirsty berserker, always ready and searching for a fight, and you are..."
"A monster," he finished her sentence after he realized she didn't want to.
"Just for the record, I don't think you are a monster in any-" David motioned for her to just get on with it, to which she let out a long sigh, "The point is, they are afraid of both of us."
"I don't know, and honestly I don't care," he said as he began to stretch his arms and legs on the floor. "At least they leave us alone, imagine if they tried to start a conversation with us and ask us how we are doing."
"You're right," she admitted and leaned back against the wall, "That would be awkward for both sides."
"And by the way," he turned towards Lilly with a serious expression, "The kind of monster they think I am is not nearly as bad as what I truly am."
"Oh please," she rolled her eyes, "Real talk now, what was the worst thing that you did?"
"Do you really want to know?" She nodded firmly, "When I was just a beginner defender my army came across a village that refused to convert to the 'true faith' from their ancient religion," he stopped speaking for a second to roll his eyes, "Not to mention that they managed to kill some of our priests. Our commander finally had enough and, to the suggestion of the remaining priests, he ordered us to kill everybody in the village. I thought he meant all the able-bodied men, but he literally meant everybody."
Lilly's expression turned horrified, "And did you comply?"
"Yes," he admitted after a long pause, "We all did."
The blood drained from Lilly's face, "Why?"
"Because of Zoh," he tried to justify his crime, "We thought the priests were the messengers of Zoh and that all of it would be for the greater good," he desperately tried to reason, but not even he believed in these anymore.
"The greater good?!" Exclaimed Lilly, "David, you committed a terrible act of senseless violence, and you try to justify it with this? Murder is murder, no matter the reason."
"Do you think I don't know that?" He shot back, "Do you know how much I hate myself now that my eyes have been opened? How frustrating it is that the person that I hated the most in my life, my father, was right all along? Being wise is easy after the fact while doing what is right in the present might be the hardest thing in the world!"
Both of them looked upon the other in disgust and anger for a few more seconds, but then it vanished in a blink of an eye. Their expressions softened and their chests deflated.
"I'm sorry," said David and Lilly at the same time. They looked at each other, now with regret, and chuckled weakly, "I should have remained silent," she admitted.
"No, you are right. I now know that I was wrong, that all of us were wrong. My whole life has been built upon lies. The world would have been a better place without me."
Lilly mulled David's words over in her head, trying to figure out a way to cheer him up, "You're correct, everything would be better without you," David lowered his head and tried to fight the urge to cry, her words felt like a dagger through his heart, "So far," she added finally to which David glanced up from his sorrow.
"I know it sounds cliche, but it's true, it's never too late to change. Just look at me," she pointed at herself while she was bent over like a question mark and she forced a bored expression on her face, "I almost got kicked out of the Royal Guards because of my big mouth," she said in an overdramatic tone to which David laughed.
"And now look at me," she pointed to herself, but this time she fixed her posture and took up her stern expression. She looked like a real Royal Guard now, the only thing that was missing was her shining golden armor, "With your help, I was able to get the promotion, which I was hoping for since I enlisted, in a week."
David's face turned sour, "I get what you are trying to say, but your case and mine are different. My whole life has been a giant mistake, not just a few years of it, and I only realized that in the past few days."
"Yes, I am aware of that, and I still think you can make up for all the bad you've caused," explained Lilly desperately.
"It's not that simple," said David with a depressed sigh.
"Hey, snap out of it," she moved one of her hooves in front of his face to get his attention back, "Look, I won't even try to sugar coat it, what you have done will take a long time and a lot of good deeds to make it up to the universe, or whatever else watches over us," she grabbed David's cheeks and forced him to look in her eyes, "But the longer you wait to start this process the later you can finish it and the longer you hate yourself for not doing it, so you might as well begin it now. And what would be the best start?" She intentionally let the question hang in the air to let David answer it.
"The trial?" Asked David uncertainly.
"Exactly," she nodded and patted David on the shoulder, "Just think about it, you will have more opportunities to repay the universe if you're not in prison."
"Well, I have to admit it, that does make sense."
"Now you finally get it," she declared with a sense of accomplishment.
Right after she finished, they heard another knock on the door and a third servant came in. He bowed before them slightly, then went up to the table and placed the silver plate on his back using his front hoof and mouth.
"Hey," called out Lilly to the servant, not sure as to how to properly address him, "Why are you always silent in front of us?" She asked gently, half expecting him to run out of the room screaming in terror.
"Because silence is expected from us, Miss," he gave his answer in a polite, yet neutral way, "It is one of many basic courtesies that we show towards the guests and inhabitants in Her Royal Majesty's palace."
David and Lilly were speechless while the servant, seeing that they had nothing more to ask, left the room with another slight bow, "I feel completely stupid now," admitted David quietly after the soft clank of the closing door.
"Me too, it never occurred to me that the reason for their silence can be just that," she agreed with him and she got up from the ground.
"Where are you going?"
"We should head out, this staying in one place has gotten into our heads," she said while heading towards the bathroom, "However, I don't want to look like this in front of other ponies," she said and pointed at her tangled main and unkempt fur. David took a look over his body as well, his clothes were dusty and dirty from sleeping on the ground (he did not think himself worthy of the comfort of a bed). He sniffed his armpit and quickly drew his head away in disgust. He never got this stinky before, not even in the army.
"I'll go as well when you finish," he called after Lilly as she was closing the door behind herself. 
"Alright, I'll try to be quick."
David lay down on the ground while waiting patiently. He was already dirty, might as well abuse it while it lasts. He stared up at the ceiling of their room, and for the first time, noticed the decorations on it.
He was strangely at peace. Or rather, he was the least depressed and sad since his friend passed away. He still felt the guilt, the remorse, the sorrow, and that deep abyss inside his chest, but in just the span of a few hours, it all became just a little bit more bearable. The laughing, even if more than half of them were fake, still worked wonders and they desperately needed those moments of forgetfulness.
David still felt like a complete wreck, and his heart was still aching terribly, yet his positive attitude seemed to return from its long vacation to give him hope that one day, everything will be okay.
You're worthless.
He physically winced in pain.
You already told me this once.
It's still not too late.
Yes, I know, I'm going to change, I'm going to make everything better, don't worry.
No, it will only get worse.
...What do you mean?
You can still stop it.
No, I'm not going to do it.
You have to stop it.
David grabbed his head with both of his hands as he desperately tried to shut the voice out of it, but it only became louder.
You must stop it.
What? Stop what?
His despair slowly lost ground to anger as his hands clenched into fists.
Only you can stop it.
I'm not going to do that.
Go to the window.
"I said I won't do it!" Shouted David at the top of his lungs while standing up and angrily looking left and right in search of the source of the voice. He knew it wasn't in his head before he woke up here, so it must have gotten into him somehow, and once he finds the one who cursed him with this he will stab him through the chest with his longsword.
"What are you doing?" Asked a concerned voice from behind him. He turned around at the speed of light and readied himself for a fight, but it was only Lilly. She was slightly taken aback at first by his furious expression, "Are you alright?" David's stance dropped in an instant and he let out a long sigh, breathing out all that frustration that built up inside him.
"Yes, I think I am," he said and ran his fingers through his hair after seeing the well-combed state of Lilly's mane and fur, "Are you done?" He asked quickly before she had a chance to follow up on her concerns. She hesitantly nodded and watched as he stormed into the bathroom and closed the door behind himself.
He went up to the mirror and began inspecting his head, searching for any clues as to how the voice got into it. He meticulously looked all over himself, expecting to find a scratch or a tick deep in his skin, or even just a previously unnoticed birthmark or something like that, but he found none of these things. He felt the sweet embrace of insanity as he began his second round of searching, this time more furiously, "I think I'll head out now," called out to him Lilly's voice and he snapped out of his breakdown.
"No, it's only going to take another minute," he answered her as he began to search again, this time for the bathtub in which Lilly must have washed. The only thing that resembled what he had in mind was a giant carved marble trough. He noticed that it was wet and that it also had a few scented bars of soap on its rim. He now looked for a way to release water into the trough, but he only saw two knobs, one blue and one red, and an iron rod pointing towards the inside of the bathtub, "As soon as I figure this thing out," he said to himself.



The footsteps of David and Lilly were echoing in the wide corridor. They were only walking for a few minutes now, but both of them were already awestruck. They hadn't really had the time to appropriately take in the beauty of the Royal Palace. They walked at a slow pace, carefully inspecting every statue and rose-window along their path. They mostly remained silent, although David did ask a few questions from time to time about a particular statue, or a rose-window and about what it depicted, and Lilly would happily answer.
However, their tour abruptly ended when they came across two mares giggling and talking to each other in one of the hallways. They were walking in the opposite direction as they did and despite their plan to pass them by in silence, one of them spoke up, "Hey, aren't you David?" She stopped in front of him, forcing him to halt in a passive-aggressive way. He tore his eyes off from the marvelous sight of the rose windows to look at the mare.
He opened his mouth to form a response, which he still didn't know what would be, but Lilly beat him to it, "Hey, leave him alone," she warned the mare with a growl, although her intimidation skills have dampened in light of the recent events. The mare, realizing her rudeness, quickly ducked out of his way with a bow.
"Oh, I apologize for my manners Miss. I only wanted to say how big of an honor it is to meet the hero in-person," Lilly's mildly annoyed face turned into a surprised one and she was about to ask something when David finally found his voice.
"Wait, the hero?" He raised an eyebrow in confusion, he thought to himself that there was perhaps another human named David in the palace alongside him.
"Yes, the hero who slew a manticore with one swing and who will banish all the corrupted from Canterlot," cut in the other mare with barely contained excitement.
Lilly and David froze down for a few seconds until they processed what they have heard. After the initial surprise wore off Lilly was the first one to say anything, "You don't find him scary, or disgusting?" She pointed a hoof at David.
"Thanks," murmured David under his breath, but no one heard him.
The two maids peeked at each other, "Well, he looks a bit strange, like a hairless chimpanzee," admitted the first maid sheepishly.
"But he will still get rid of all the stuck-ups and idiots," exclaimed the second one, this time failing to bottle up her energy and she began to hop in one place.
"What makes you think that I'm going to do that?" David questioned the second mare in bewilderment.
"The Princess said it..." she admitted while stopping with her hopping and she began to look at the ground shyly. The other maid seemed to deflate a bit as well.
"Well then the Princess was-" began David, but Lilly stepped in front of him to cut him off.
"Right! He is going to chase away all the jerks from Canterlot. In fact, we are on our way to search for such foul ponies," she said with honeyed words and the other two mares' smiles returned.
"Oh, maybe we can help? Please!" The second maid fell to the ground and put his hooves together to beg them.
"We still got a few minutes from our break, we could show you the really bad apples around here," the first one whispered to them, she was understandably more cautious than her friend.
"There is no need, I can assure you, we've been more than successful at this task on our own as well," she said and then urged David to keep going while flashing a warm smile to each of the maids.
"Goodbye, we hope you'll succeed in your noble goal as soon as possible," said the two mares at the same time, and they resumed their walk in the other direction whilst more or less quietly discussing how lucky they were today.
As soon as Lilly and David rounded a corner the human dug his heels in and turned around towards Lilly with a rather questioning look, "Why did you lie to them?"
She tried to act as if she didn't know what he was talking about, "Me lying? I would never," she waved once dismissively and she continued on her way, not looking back if David was coming or not.
"At least tell me why," demanded David, feeling as though his honor had been torn apart by his friend.
"Well, it isn't a lie yet, and if you work hard enough then it won't be," she answered mischievously with a grin.
The realization hit him harder than a bull, "Wait a minute, you did this to force me to stand up against the elites of Canterlot?" He asked and with a few long steps he caught up with her.
"Exactly," she said in an overly satisfied tone, "But think about it, Princess Celestia already spread the word around, I only reinforced it in two maids."
David let out a long sigh, "I guess I was already in it, I just didn't want to accept it," he said in a rather melancholic tone.
"Why are you so against this?" She inquired from his friend.
"I have no idea," he admitted finally after a long pause, "Maybe because I'm afraid that I would make everything worse instead of better, just like how I did with everything this week?" He asked rhetorically more from himself than from Lilly.
"What are you talking about? You made my life a lot better, and Sturdy's as well. You don't have to be so cautious and afraid," she tried to reason with David, but he had none of it today.
"Yeah, I used to be less cautious and look where it got us," he said darkly and his expression hardened for a moment before his mouth curled downwards, "Yes, I admit that I was a very positive force on both of your life, but then I ruined that as well. This time won't be different. At first, I'm going to think that I'm doing great, then I'll get overconfident and right after that, in a single moment, ruin everything."
"I know what you feel," said Lilly with great sorrow. She felt the power leaving from her legs, so she sat down in the middle of the hallway to rest a bit. As soon as David noticed her missing from beside him he turned around, walked back to her, and sat down next to her on the red carpet.
For a while, they remained there. A few servants passed them by, but they had urgent matters to attend to, not to mention there was plenty of space to go around them, so nopony questioned them.
"Do you remember how you got your amnesia?" Lilly asked suddenly in an awfully neutral tone, which made David more concerned than he already was.
"No, I have no idea what might have happened," he said and instinctively pat the back of his head. For some reason, he was still expecting to feel the rough surface of the bandage and was pleasantly surprised to feel his hair instead, "Why do you ask?"
"Oh, I was just pondering how I could give myself some sort of permanent amnesia," she said heartlessly and David was downright frightened at this point by Lilly.
"And why would you do that?" He questioned her worriedly and for a moment an image of his father popped into his head. He used the same tone as David did now whenever he shared what he had learned in his training that day.
"Don't you get it?" She raised an eyebrow at David, "It would be so much easier if we could forget everything that happened."
"But that would never work," he cut in swiftly before Lilly took this thought too far, "There would be so many reminders of what happened to Sturdy. We would never be able to just forget all of it."
"That's why I was thinking of some kind of permanent amnesia," she said and turned towards him, "It would be physically impossible to remember then."
"And you would abandon Sturdy's memory? Every single last one of them? Not to mention your childhood, your parents, your friends, you would leave all of it behind this easily?" David ignored the obvious ridiculosity of her idea and tried to reason with her.
Lilly's expression turned dark at David's words, "I have nothing worth remembering."
"Let's think this over for a second, is there really nothing worthy of it?" Lilly opened her mouth for an answer, but she remained silent. She turned back towards the ground in thought, "Look, I understand why you want this, my past life hasn't been great either in hindsight, and despite this, I would still choose to remember it. If not for anything else, then at least for Sturdy."
Lilly tried to fight the reasonable part of herself, but she failed. She understood his point and her shame of thinking this would be a good idea grew by the second. She let out a deep sigh of sorrow and looked David in the eye, "Thank you, I needed this."
"Desperation is a great driving force, just not in the right direction," he suddenly remembered one of his teacher's cheesy quotes, although now he didn't find it as stupid as he did when he first told him.
A smile crept up itself onto Lilly's face until it morphed into disgust as she facehoofed, "For the love of Celestia, I cannot believe how ridiculous I can be," she yelled in frustration, not caring if anypony else heard her.
"Well yes, that is what the mix of grief, pain, and hopelessness brings out in most people," he explained as he stood up, "You say and do stupid things that, when you look back upon, seem idiotic, rash, or..." he began to scratch his head as he was unsuccessfully searching for a better word for what he wanted to say.
"Edgy?" Suggested Lilly to try and rescue him.
"I have never heard of this word, but I was looking for exactly that," he announced and laughed a bit. He extended a hand towards her, which she gladly took. Both of them were now smiling at each other as if they were in blissful ignorance again, although now they were fully aware of what happened to their friend.
"How about we continue the walk, maybe we can find some jerks along the way?" She poetically asked David as she was already walking down the hall.
"And actually do something remotely productive today? Count me in," he announced jokingly as he fell in line behind Lilly while both of them were giggling.



It was dark in the guestroom, the sun had set long ago, yet the two inhabitants hadn't arrived back yet. The maids took notice of their absence and quickly cleaned the room and replaced the destroyed furniture. It now looked brand new, and not like a pair of beasts' lair.
All was quiet and peaceful until a particular human kicked the door open.
David threw himself onto the floor while still clutching his stomach and laughing loudly. Lilly came in right behind him, and even though she wasn't rolling on the ground like the human she was stumbling and crying while giggling.
"I never dared to imagine that somepony can get that pissed in my life," she managed to utter between a sob and a chuckle.
"I can't believe we've done this," David crawled into the middle of the room and kicked the door shut with his leg, "Will the Princess be mad if she finds out about this?" He asked as his laughter died down a little, but it was due to his stomach and lungs aching unbearably at this point.
"Don't worry, I bet she will even be proud of us," she dismissed his slight concern, "After all, the bravery that is required to pour a full teapot on that representative's head must be rewarded somehow." She began to laugh out of control for a moment as she recalled, "Hey, what did you say to that snob?" 
"Right after he called me a monster under his breath?" Lilly was unable to form a coherent response so she just nodded her head to the rhythm of her chuckling, "How about some warm beverage to soften your ego," he said with barely contained laughter as he mimicked the pouring motion with both of his hands.
"Oh, for dear Celestia, the look of horror on his face as he ran away," she said while she was drying her tears of joy.
"And the servant was so thankful for it, I can't believe it," mentioned David after remembering the whole encounter, "She shook my hand so eagerly that I thought my arm would fall off," he stood up from the ground and dusted himself off.
"That was nothing," Lilly was able to get a hold on herself and she was now trying to untangle her mane with her hooves, "The servants would have this look of misery on their faces every time those idiots weren't looking, but only before they saw you." She pointed one hoof at him proudly, "Whenever they noticed you, they... I don't know, it was like a lever had been switched over in them and they went from worried and wavering to unfaltering and confident."
David sat down on his bed in thought, "I did notice that as well," he quickly flipped through the events of this evening in his head, focusing more on the moments when they were approaching a fresh, unsuspecting victim, "I think our presence encourages them."
"Took you long enough to realize this," she said mockingly and went into the bathroom.
"That wasn't the part that took long," his tone became a bit louder, but it was only because he wanted Lilly to hear him from the other room, "It was accepting it that took this much time," Lilly's head popped out from behind the door with still wet hooves.
"What do you mean by accepting it?"
"I'm still a bit wary of this idea of me leading the charge against the corrupted of Canterlot. I'm afraid that I'll mess this up somehow, not to mention that I'll be on trial as well," he looked at both of his hands in despair, and even though he could clearly see that they were clean he still felt blood dripping down from them.
"Agh, come on," she lifted up her hooves in frustration, not caring about how much water she spilled all over the floor, "Even Princess Celestia has more hope for the return of her sister than you have for these trials. Not to mention that you are already committed to this, there is no use in worrying now," and with that, she returned to the bathroom, thus ending the discussion abruptly. 
"Fine..." Said David in defeat, but he still couldn't shake the feeling of dread that crept upon him. So instead of being concerned, he set his mind to find out where this came from. It didn't take too long to realize that they were not his own.
You can still stop it.
"Not this again," his anxiety was swiftly replaced by annoyance at the sound of the voice as he facepalmed. He got so used to its presence that he only noticed its whispers if he closely paid attention.
"What's the matter?" Asked Lilly as she reemerged from behind the door, this time with a towel in one hoof.
"Nothing, I just feel a headache coming," he lied, and it was very noticeable from the outside, yet Lilly didn't question it further and just nodded her head.
"Yeah, it's been a long day, we should go to sleep now," she turned around and walked back to the bathroom with the towel on her back. Once she was out of sight David hit his head a few times in a futile attempt to silence the voice, which was getting louder and louder now that it sensed that it had his attention.
I get it that I can still stop it, but what exactly? The only thing you can do is talk, and yet you are terrible at it.
He heard the approach of hooves and quickly stopped his self-harm, he did not want to make her even more worried for him than she already was, "I think-" She was about to say, but she slipped on the wet floor, hitting her head in the wardrobe and crashing onto the floor with a loud thud. David, instantly forgetting about the voice, rushed next to her to help her up and to look at her bruises, although Lilly pushed his helping hand away and got up on her own.
"Are you alright? Should I call for a doctor?" He asked frantically.
"Do I look like an elderly pony? I'm fine," she brushed herself off and walked up to her bed slightly limping, "We should really go to sleep now," she announced and got under her covers to leave no room for David to protest, not that he wanted to.
He turned off the lights in the room and got to his bed. He remained sitting on the mattress for a bit as he watched the back of Lilly as she was curled up in her bed. He shook his head, laid down, and covered himself with his blanket. He tossed and turned around a few times until he found the perfect position and he fell asleep.



He was practically shaking. He had no idea what he would say or what he should do. He paced back and forth in the room, nervously biting his lips, and waiting anxiously.
He had no idea what to expect from the coming hours. His stomach was aching terribly, and he felt like puking, but he didn't have the time for that now, he needed to wait for somepony to come in for him and take him to the courtroom. He felt ill-prepared, no, even worse, and all of his usual methods to calm himself down were not working this time. He felt something coming up his throat, he needed to get some fresh air.
He rushed over to the window and pushed it open. He took a few big gulps of the warm summer air and he felt his nausea disappearing. He would have remained in the window, just to be safe, but he heard a familiar voice from behind him.
"Son, are you alright?" His father asked as he walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah, just a bit nervous," he said as he turned around and looked at his father who was smiling at him. He only saw him like that once before, when he was a kid and he got accepted into the ranks of the defenders.
"Don't worry, these folks only need your encouraging presence, leave the talking to the Princess," he hit him in the back once and turned around to lean on the wall.
"I know Dad, that's not why I am worried," he did the same as his father and crossed his arms in front of himself, "I think they might plan on holding my trial now as well since I'm already here."
"And? Did you kill him?" He asked David as his expression turned dead-serious.
"What, no!" Exclaimed David and he rushed to the middle of the room to stand before his father, "What kind of man do you think I am?"
"Relax, I'm just pulling your leg," he said after chuckling and his smile returned, "These ponies don't have the same courts as we do back home, these are actually fair and just. You're only worrying too much as usual," he said with a laugh and all of David's concerns melted away.
Somepony knocked sharply on the door leading to the courtroom and opened it without a moment's hesitation. A stern and though looking earth-pony guard came in and nodded once to David. He took a deep breath and looked at his father, who waved at him, "I'll be in the guest-room, be sure to let me and your mother know how it went."
"Definitely," was all he managed to say before the guard pony closed the door behind him. He felt his worries overcoming him yet again as the calming effect of his father vanished.
David now faced a long flight of stairs. He did not feel strong enough to climb it, but he had to, ponies were counting on him now. His legs were sluggish, and the world was spinning a bit around him, yet he pushed on and he found that the higher up he got the less worried and ill he became. By the time he got to the top, he felt like a new man. He was confident that whatever the world would throw at him he would be able to deal with it.
David was now in front of a giant oak double-door flanked by Two Royal Guards in golden armor. As he stepped closer to them, they opened the doors for him and motioned for him to enter. With a straight posture and a slight smile, he walked into the courtroom at a slow pace, for dramatic effect. On the right side of the room sat the ponies who were testifying against one or multiple corrupted officials. To the left side were said corrupted ponies, encircled by Royal Guards keeping watch over them. He couldn't help himself and he snickered at the sight. Everypony was watching him, some with disgust, some with hatred, but most of them with appreciation.
In the middle of the room stood Celestia with a chair, which was decorated with carvings of vines and flowers. As he stepped in front of Princess Celestia he bowed to her respectfully, to which she rolled her eyes and embraced him in a long hug. He did not expect it, but he did not complain about it either. After the Princess let him go, David turned towards the chair and took a seat while waiting eagerly for things to go down. 
"I welcome all of you, my little ponies," began Princess Celestia, mostly towards the testifiers and not towards the officials, "Half a year ago it came to my attention, unfortunately for the first time, that something has gone very wrong in our little kingdom," she slowly walked over to the rows of officials and they visibly shrank back into their benches with every graceful step of the Princess, "It is now clear that quite a few ponies decided to abuse my immense trust in them for their own personal gains."
The officials erupted, each and every one of them shouting pleas, excuses, and empty promises. They would have done anything just to get themselves out of this mess that they have created. David wasn't even trying to hold his laughter back, there was so much noise that nopony heard his roaring.
Princess Celestia gave off a long sigh and extended one of her wings. Everypony instantly fell silent, not wanting to anger the Princess even more. She turned towards the servants and other ponies who were willing to risk their anonymity by being here today, "What do you think, my little ponies, what shall be their fates?" The ponies began murmuring between each other, silently discussing their answer in a civilized fashion. Tears of joy began to swell up in David's eyes at the sight, and he had a sneaking suspicion that Celestia was holding back her own tears as well.
After a while, the ponies came to a conclusion and chose somepony in the front row as an announcer, "We unanimously think that we shouldn't be the ones deciding in this matter," the pony looked at David, to his wonder, and continued, "We think that David, our hero, should be the one bearing this honor."
The Princess looked at the human for his answer as the ponies, who were found guilty began shouting again in a protest against this idea. Celestia wasn't even going to try to stop them. The more they went on the less everypony thought of them. David stood up from his chair, adjusted his clothes on himself, and nodded once.
Princess Celestia smiled at him and turned around to address the crowd, "Now, my little ponies, you will hear what David has to say about the situation," David mentally flipped over his teachings regarding rhetoric and public speaking, "He only needs to answer this first," Celestia slowly turned her head around to look at David like an owl and the human was slightly taken aback by this, "Why did you kill him?" She asked in a deep voice.
"What?" That was all he managed to utter before noticing that the cries for forgiveness turned into cries of pain. 
"Why did you kill us?" The Princess asked again as her face began to melt as if she was made out of wax. David took a few steps backward in horror. He frantically turned his head from left to right in search of a way out, but all the doors were gone. He was trapped.
"Why didn't you kill yourself?" Celestia fell over and splashed against the ground and nothing else remained of her, except some strange white goo. David jumped over it in disgust and tried to run for a window.
He was just about to reach one when the ponies on the benches jumped in front of him. They twitched as they moved, and blood was oozing out from their eyes, noses, and ears. They all asked him the same things in unison, "Why did you kill him? Why did you kill us? Why didn't you kill yourself? Why have you forsaken us?"
"No, I didn't do it! I'm innocent!" He tried to desperately reason with them as they moved closer to him. The flesh began to fall off their bones and one by one they fell over, their bodies disintegrated so much that they were no longer capable of holding up their own weight, but even now they were still screaming. David was frozen in one place, he had never seen such gore, not even on the battlefield.
For a moment he regained control over his body. He quickly jumped over the pool of blood and flesh in front of him and he pushed the window open. Cold air rushed in and it almost knocked him off his legs, he only remained in one place by grabbing onto the decorative pillars. As soon as the wind was gone, he climbed through the window and took a last peek behind him. The bodies of the ponies were completely liquefied into bright red goo. He felt the urge to puke coming so he turned his attention back towards the ground, or rather where it was supposed to be. The beautiful sight of the mountains turned black as he was now staring into a black void. He began to panic, and he was about to climb back in if the room behind him didn't turn into the abyss as well.
He was now floating in the middle of an unimaginable sea of blackness. He felt cold, alone, and desperate.
It's still not too late.
A shiver went down his spine. He heard the voice like it was coming from behind him and in front of him at the same time. It echoed all around him and it filled him with dread. He tried to run, but his legs didn't touch anything resembling a solid surface. He was constantly looking behind his back in paranoia, trying to figure out what was speaking to him.
You can still stop it.
Suddenly a red-figure appeared next to him and he screamed. The figure was tall and humanoid, although its body was made out of some kind of red crystal, ruby most likely. The thing was constantly twitching and hitting itself in the head, while the head remained calm and even.
You have to flee.
The hands of the thing tried to shut its mouth up, but it kept on speaking to David.
"What are you?" His terror turned to confusion at the sight of the strange figure.
You have to wake up.
"I will after you explain everything to me."
There is no time. You have to hurry.
"I won't be pushed around by you!" He yelled at its face as his anger began to rise and he threatened it with his fists, "You better start giving me some answers!" 
The thing opened its mouth, but no sound came from it. It suddenly stopped twitching and began to shrink on itself, the crystal structure of its body crumbling away and leaving fine dust behind. David realized what was going on and he grabbed the thing, or at least what remained of it in a futile attempt to stop its disappearance. As he was trying to save it, he heard its voice for the last time.
It's too late.



David woke up from his nightmare and he immediately sat upright in his bed. He was hastily breathing and sweating despite the coldness of the room. He took a short peek towards the other bed, hoping that the sight of Lilly peacefully sleeping would calm him down and pull him back to reality, but it was empty.
His breathing fastened. He threw the blanket off of himself before an unknown deep voice called out for him, "David the Defender, we finally meet face-to-face," he turned his head around and saw a tall and muscular minotaur with a light grey fur and with long, wicked-looking horns standing in the corner opposite of him. Lilly was tied up next to him and she was filled with rage, tugging and tearing at the ropes as best as she could, "It's time to fulfill your end of the bargain."
> 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-