A man named Arrin is transported into the new world with major memory loss. Will he be able to remind himself of the past and become the person that he once was, or will he come out as someone completely new?
A man named Arrin is transported into the new world with major memory loss. The place seems to be filled with unknown creatures - ponies. He's destined to learn about his past and find a place to call home. As the story unfolds, he encounters different inhabitants, places, and many more. Will he be able to find himself, or will he descend into madness?
Darkness, darkness, was all he could make out. The feeling of loneliness and isolation. He didn't know how long he had been in that state, nor did he know how much longer it was possible for him to bear this feeling. Then the pain starts to rise in his senses with every second that passes, as it gets more and more unbearable.
After what felt like an eternity, everything stopped. The distress started to slowly fade and the darkness became more luminous. Slowly, his eyes began to open and all of his senses came back to him. Slowly, he began to raise his head. He lifted his right hand to rub his hurting temples. He began to look around, "What happened? ... Where am I?" and these were his first words as he slowly began to stand up. Looking at his surroundings, the first thing that he noticed were the trees, A lot of them, and that's how he came to the conclusion that he was in the forest, a really dark and dense forest. He came closer to one of the trees and began to inspect it. As he looked at them, he could immediately tell that they were nothing like the trees he knew. They were too colorful, cartoonish even, but this wasn't what bothered him the most, what bothered him the most was silence. He decides to keep his guard up and begins to look at himself for wounds or anything unusual.
Upon looking down at himself, he realized that he was clad in black armor. Looking closely at it, he realized how badly damaged it was. The next thing that he managed to catch were two big blades, one with a blue gemstone on its hilt, and the second one with a red gem. Wanting to further inspect them, he pulled the sword on his left out of its sheath, the sword was made out of really good quality iron and was around 3.8 feet long (115 centimeters). Regardless of its size, the blade was light enough to use it as a one-handed or two-handed sword, but its lightness wasn't the only surprise. The middle of the blade was adorned with runes of unknown origins. The runes were engraved with mirror-like precision on both sides of the blade. Upon deciding to test the blade, he swung it to test its sharpness. In the middle of a swing, runes on both sides of a blade ignited, emitting a blue glow.
" Well, that's something new," he murmured under his nose.
Hiding the blade in its sheath, he decided to look at the second blade. This one was almost the same in construction, except the runes on it were crimson red, and the feeling beaming from it was almost like it was alive on its own. He reattached it to his belt and continued to examine himself, discovering a rather large backpack in a deep dark blue color, with a bedroll on its side. Taking it from his back and placing it in front of him, he proceeded to check its contents.
Upon opening it, the first thing that he saw was a container with a few potions in it. Taking it out of the backpack and opening it, he decided to take the first one that caught his attention. After removing a vial containing some kind of red liquid, he managed to notice a sticker with an inscription saying "Greater potion of healing" At the same moment, everything darkened, and right in front of his eyes, a figure appeared. It was a tall man wearing a blue scarf with a moon on it. Half of the moon was red and the other half white. He was also wearing...
'BLACK ARMOR', he shouted in his mind. It was precisely the same as his but in much better condition.
" Is that me?" he wondered out loud.
Meanwhile, the person in front of him began to place a small cauldron on top of the campfire. He started to pour water into the kettle and prepared some kind of ingredients. Then, while adding components to the cauldron, he began to mix them together. The liquid in the kettle changed its color to red, and the man began to pour it into the vials. At the same moment, everything began to blur, and he found himself in front of his backpack again, while still holding the potion. Quickly checking his neck, he found a scarf exactly the same as in the vision
" Sooo...I made those potions? That means I'm pretty good at this... I think. Currently, I have no idea what I was doing. Alright, I am going to worry about this later, I still need to figure out where the hell I am. Besides, I still have the rest of the backpack to look into. "
Following these words, he put the potion back into its holder and began investigating every nook and cranny of his backpack for more hints of his past.
After about 15 minutes of exploring his backpack later, he was able to examine the rest of its content, which consisted of eight potions of healing, eight potions of stamina, eight potions of mana, and six potions of strength. Which, in total, gave thirty potions. Except there were not only potions, it also contained things like a few tins with food and five bottles of water, a rather big blanket, a long black cloak, a pair of binoculars, a pouch of money, and few rolls of bandages, four packs of cards, and two bottles of whisky.
" Whisky and cards... May be useful if I find company later on. That is if there is even any civilization in this place. "
Without giving it much thought, his gaze was drawn on two books that were in his possession. "Armorsmithing and blacksmithing" and "Potions brewing from 501 worlds and more" are the titles of two secret books.
" That would explain where I got my potion brewing knowledge," he exclaimed, with a slightly visible smile.
After these words, he put on his cloak and began packing everything back.
" Alright, so what do I do now? I am in the middle of nowhere, without even knowing where the hell this nowhere is. So, how do they do it? Ahh yes, close your eyes and spin three times, then open them and walk straight ahead. "
And so he proceeded to go straight in a random direction. He was trying to think about what he was doing before he found himself in this place. Without much success, he continued to go through the forest. After about fifty minutes of steady peace, the bushes behind him began to rustle, and he heard a loud roar. As the beast began to emerge from the bushes.
" ...Is that an overgrown lion? Wait, it's not a lion. The lions don't have scorpion tails, wings, or large lower fangs and fucking bat ears!"
He didn't get any more time to ponder about the beast, as it raised its front paw and sent him flying backwards. "FFFFUUUUCCCCKKKK" He flew into a rock at full speed. Fighting the pain, he slowly rose on his feet. He unsheathed his red sword, and pulled himself together for the upcoming fight. The beast charged at him once more, but this time he was prepared and avoided it with a quick motion to his left. Slashing it in the process, the beast roared in pain.
'That's gotta hurt ' he thought. Taking a fight stance once again, he stood right in front of the terrible abomination of nature. Instead of charging blingily, the beast threw its terrible scorpion tail at him. Jumping away from it, he tried to chop it off, but he missed. Meanwhile, the beast used its paw to land a hit on him but quickly rolled out of the way. Standing face-to-face with the beast that he now identified as a really odd-looking Manticore, the monster mowed once again and tried to pierce him with its tail. He rolled to his left, doing a 180-degree spin and slashing at the beast's tail. The manticore roared in pain as half of its tail fell to the ground. Without giving it a second to rest, he dashed to its side and slashed at its front paw, making a big gash in it. The beast struggled to keep its balance, and finally gave in and collapsed onto the ground.
" Time to finish the job," he murmured grimly under his nose.
With one last attempt to fight for its life, the beast swung its healthy paw at its opponent. He ducked beneath it and landed the final blow on the manticore chest. For a fraction of a second after piercing the monster, the runes on the sword started to glow brighter.
" It seems that you can forget how to fight, but your muscles still keep the memory and reflex. I felt a bit rusty fighting that monster, so I better start training again." He thought to himself while sheathing his swords. "Alright, let's keep moving. The faster I get out of this forest, the better.
After a one-and-a-half-hour journey through a seemingly never-ending forest, his eyes finally caught a glimpse of clearing. Reaching it and looking up, he saw a beautiful sea of stars. Everything began to blur, and then, with lightning-like speed, right in front of his eyes, thousands of images appeared, showing planets, stars, and even galaxies. He knew them, their names, and how they looked on the surface.
" Now I am fucking lost. First I see myself making potions and then the universe in one go!? Seriously, what the hell are these visions?" Without giving it much thought, he decided to set up a camp for the night.
Unconsciously for him, his previous actions attracted a certain being that likes to call herself "Nightmare".
" Alright, now I can make something ..." The world didn't let him finish because soon after he started speaking, a dark blue mist blew off his campfire. His smile faded as fast as the campfire. The mist began to change its form, and after a few seconds, right in front of him stood a figure that looked exactly like ... " A horse? Am I seeing right?" he exclaimed.
" HOW DARE YOU CALL US A HORSE! WE ARE NIGHTMARE MOON!" Nightmare exclaimed in anger.
" And it talks. Seriously, where am I?! First the damn lion with a scorpion tail and wings, and now a talking magic horse. Did I go insane? " He questioned himself worryingly.
" SILENCE! WE WON'T TOLERATE CALLING US BY SUCH NAMES." she shouted in anger.
" Someone has a serious anger problem," he murmured silently.
Having the opportunity to properly look at her, he discovers that her coat is completely black, her tail and mane are just like the sky above them - dark and full of stars. She also seemed to be wearing some kind of armor, which included armored horseshoes, some kind of armored regalia with a half moon on it, and a blue helmet made out of the same kind of material that horseshoes and regalia were made of.
" Ahh. Alright, what do you want?" He said, sighing.
" As your ruler, I dema- " She didn't get a chance to end the sentence when he interrupted her.
" First of all, you aren't my ruler, and second, I am not doing anything. I only awoke a couple of hours ago in this forest, and until now I didn't even know of your existence. "
" YOU SHALL SERVE ME OR ELSE, I SHALL MAKE YOU SERVE ME! "
" Ain't gonna happen," he said emphatically.
" So be it, '' she said and began to charge her horn with all her anger, and sent a bolt of bright blue magic at him. He jumped out of its way at the last second, grabbing his blue sword and taking a stance. Hearing an explosion, he turned around only to see a large crater with fire surrounding it. ' This is going to be tough ' he thought to himself, and prepared for the inevitable.
Second Lieutenant Strong Spear was going through the worst day of his life. First the princess disappeared, then some kind of dark queen wanting to enshroud the whole world in the eternal night. And all of this on his shift, ' I am soooo bucking tired ' he thought to himself, only for his thoughts to be interrupted by a giant explosion, turning his head towards the Everfree Forest. Seeing a large cloud of black smoke.
" Corporal, prepare everypony, we're leaving to investigate that place."
" Sir, Yes Sir!" he shouted.
After about twenty minutes, they arrived at the destroyed area. Looking at the crater, Strong Spear saw how big it was. It would be simple to fit all of his guards inside with some room left. His thoughts were, however, interrupted by one of his soldiers. " Sir, there are two figures on the left." Looking to his left, his eyes caught two shapes, one of them being the dark alicorn from before, when the second was... "What the hay is this thing?" he asked no one in particular.
" Corporal, go back to the town and alarm the rest of the guards. Everypony else is going with me. We're going to make sure that this criminal is going to be punished.
Back to the encounter.
The fight was tough. Whenever he wanted to strike his enemy, she used her magic to teleport away or turn into blue mist, which made this fight a whole lot harder for him. At this point, his plan was to just wear her down or destroy her horn so she couldn't use magic any more. This would make her vulnerable to his attacks and allow him a fast victory afterwards, but first he needed to distract her. 'But how?' he thought. As if something high in the sky heard him, a group of guards entered the battleground.
" Halt!" one of the guards shouted.
" In the name of the princess, you are under arrest."
The guards were overconfident because of their numbers, but this confidence didn't last long, as Nightmare Moon shot one beam of magic at them. When the beam collided with one of the guards, it killed him on touch, and made a small explosion, scattering most of them around.
Seeing it, he immediately began to run towards her with the intention of breaking her horn and speeding this up. Jumping from behind her, he aimed his sword and swung it at the horn. It shattered into thousands of pieces, creating small bolts of magic emitting from each piece. Nightmare Moon roared in pain as the blood began to pour out from her shattered horn.
He swiftly landed on the ground and concentrated only on her. While preparing to make his final strike, one of the remaining guards used his hind hooves to kick him on his back. Crushing onto the ground a few feets further, and silently thanking his now-completely shattered armor for the sliver of protection it provided. He slowly lifted himself off the ground, only to see a pink bolt of magic flying in his direction at extremely high speeds. Barely succeeding in dogging the projectile, he looked at the direction that it came from. Only now did he realize that a group of three guards were approaching him. After realizing what was happening, he sprung up and quickly prepared for another fight of the night.
The guards reached his position in only a few seconds, but those mere seconds were enough for him to see that one of them had a horn. The two other guards were just regular ponies, small but still regular. All three of them were wearing gold armor that covered their backs and golden helmets over their heads and backs of their necks. Their hooves were protected by golden armored horseshoes, leaving their bellies and half of their sides unprotected, and exposed to the attacks.
Looking further, all of them were carrying long spears on them. Their weapons seemed like they were not made for small pony bodies. That meant, they couldn't use them to their advantage. The fact that the spears were made almost entirely out of wood didn't help them either. One good strike with a sword, and they would break like nothing.
He shook out of his thoughts, only to be greeted with another bolt of magic flying towards him. He tried to dodge the bolt, only to fail and get hit in his shoulder. Luckily for him, this one wasn't as powerful as the one before, but it still made him wince in pain. After only a few seconds, the guards managed to catch up, and began to surround him.
" Why does this kind of shit keep happening to me?" he asked himself aloud
" What do you even want from me? Can't you see that we are on the same side since we are both fighting Nightmare Moon?" He pointed it out to the guards surrounding him.
" That doesn't matter. Our princess wants her alive and you nearly killed her! "
" It's not my fault that she attacked me first, plus, to me she still looks strong enough to still be kicking your asses. " He said, pointing at Nightmare fighting off at least six of the guards. Ignoring his arguments, the trio of the guards pointed their spears at him.
" As you wish, let's get this party started!" He shouted as the fight began.
The guards began to tighten the circle around him, but he still managed to find an opening. His eyes were filled with anger, as he made eye contact with a newbie guard. Her eyes caught an expression filled with fear, symbolizing that it was most likely her first real battle against a true enemy.
A small, devilish smirk appeared on his face as he quickly began to close the gap between them. Sliding under the spear, he punched her in one of her front hooves. Hearing the sound of a broken bone and a roar of pain, he immediately rolled away from her and stood on his legs.
Now, glancing at two standing guards and one whining in pain on the ground, gave him a bit of confidence to keep on fighting. He cut the distance between him and the duo of guards. The short expression of terror in their eyes didn't last long, and quickly traded places with a look of determination. One of the guards threw his spear toward the human but missed terribly. Not bothered, he began to charge his horn once again. only to be greeted with the sight of his enemy only a few feet away. His eyes went wide as the sword pierced right through his throat.
After taking out the second guard, his line of sight was drawn towards the last one remaining in his way, only to be surprised by a shout from behind him.
" RETREAT!" One of the guards fighting with Nightmare shouted.
'Either Nightmare is one hell of a warrior, or these guards are really sucking at what they are doing. ' He reflected to himself.
Hearing the command to retreat, the guard in front of him glanced behind himself, and looked at the one with a broken leg.
" Forgive me. " he said, and ran away, leaving a wounded guard to her fate.
" Don't leave me here!!" She shouted after her running companion, but to no avail.
" Please, I don't want to die." she whispered as tears began to flow from her eyes.
A strange feeling started to build up inside the warrior at that sight. At first he wasn't sure what it was, but after just a few seconds, he remembered. It was a pity. He genuinely felt sorry for her. He decided to spare her and help since he was partly responsible for this situation.
' I am going to regret that later on, won't I? ' He thought to himself.
" I am not going to hurt you, even if you wanted to kill me first. Instead, I am going to help you with that broken leg. "
" R...really?" She said this while visibly calming down.
" Yeah, but don't make me regret that later." He smiled a little to make her feel better.
" I am going to try my best." she returned with a weak shaky smile.
" Alright now, we need to... " He didn't have time to finish the sentence when he heard his new companion yell.
" Behind you!" she shouted, pointing her healthy hoof behind his back.
He didn't have time to turn around when something—or rather, somepony—hit him in the back, causing him to fall face first to the ground.He felt an immense pain in his back. Slowly rising from the ground, only to be struck and flown a few feet away. The traveler tried to pick himself up from the ground once again. This time he managed to rise just in time, to dodge his attacker, which was none other than Nightmare Moon herself.
" Why the hell does everyone want to kill me when I turn my back to them? " He asked himself while holding his chest tight with his hand.
" Stupid critter, now you are going to pay for what you did to us!"
He struggled to keep his posture, but Nightmare wasn't in better condition than he was. She was completely covered in small cuts.
" If you want to take me down, you need to try a little bit harder than that." He exclaimed while pointing his sword at her.
Looking straight into her eyes, he saw only hate and anger. Without much of a thought, she began to cut the distance between them. Clearly tired but still fueled by rage and hatred. But this will pass soon. Now all he has to do is dodge and wait until she wears herself out. Her fighting abilities suffered because her broken horn was required to cast any spells. She had to mainly rely on physical strength and stamina, which both were alarmingly weak.
Being driven by hate, she lost all sense of tactic, and kept hitting him with her head. The hardest attack to dodge was her taking a flying course at him, but with how damaged her wings were, she only used it twice. Any of those attacks weren't very effective, since they were slow and inconsistent. After a few minutes of this blind fury, her reserves of energy and anger started to fade. Now was his time to attack. He quickly pulled out his second sword and started swinging alternately at her. Evidently surprised by that, Nightmare Moon began to back away while blocking his attacks with her armored horseshoes.
But it hasn't lasted long because after a few swings she missed one block, which resulted in a big cut alongside her front hoof. The crimson liquid began to pour out of the wound, making her wince, but she clearly tried not to think about it. Unfortunately for her, she failed to hide the pain. With only one hoof that is capable of doing anything, it was time to finish this fight. He swung his sword at her, which she blocked, but that was what he wanted. Keeping her occupied, he used his second sword to slash her chest, breaking her regalia into pieces.
She immediately collapsed onto the ground, and a small pool of blood started to form around her. He came closer, and crouched right in front of her. Eyes that were earlier full of color, are now losing saturation with astonishing speed. After just a few seconds, her body started to emit a black smoke. Taken aback by that, he took a few steps back. Only now did he realize that the fumes started to fly at him, or rather towards his sword. The cloud began to rim his blade, only to be absorbed by it. Dumbfounded, he looked at it with interest. ' I think I need to do a few experiments with it, but now I have to recover from the fight.' He thought to himself with great interest.
Looking back at Nightmare Moon, he could see that her body has changed. For example, she was no longer pitch black, instead her fur changed its color to grayish-blue. The next noticeable difference was her size, since she had gotten at least twice smaller, and was now around 5 feet (1.55m). Her mane had lost its eternal braze as well as all of its stars. Now it was light blue, as was her tail. But this wasn't the most amazing change, because all of her wounds healed with the exception of what his swords made. Which means she is still going to bleed out if not treated. He realized that she changed not only in appearance, but in character as well, because the aura of negativity around her, faded away.
" Since when am I so kind to people that try to kill me?" He said, annoyed at himself.
" AGH! Fine, she's going to owe me sooo much after that." saying that, he took his backpack and pulled one of his potions of healing. Using his teeth to open it, he began to pour the contents of the vail into her mouth. The effect was almost instantaneous. The only thing that didn't heal was her horn, which he assumed was magical, so it would need something related to magic to heal. He put the vail back in his backpack, and looked back at his new made 'friend'.
" Great, she didn't wake up, which means I have to carry her, but the same applies for the guard with her broken leg. UGH! What am I going to do now, I can't carry two of them at once." He asked himself while looking around.
He searched the area around him for something useful, and after a while, he caught a glimpse of vines hanging down from one of the trees. " I think I may have an idea."
He was right. The vines were perfect for making something to carry an unconscious pony. The construction resembled a backpack and allowed him to carry someone on his back. He put his new friend in a "vine-pack," as he called it. He was expecting a lot of weight but was pleasantly surprised by the pony's lightness, not that he complained. " Alright now, take the guard and get as far as possible." He said to himself and started to trot in the guard's direction.
" Hey, I'm back."
" What are you?" she asked, with fear in her voice.
" What?"
" I asked, What are you! There's nothing in all of Equestria that could have survived something like that, and walked away like nothing ever happened!"
" Oh that. It may be because I am not from here, I guess. " he answered, unsure of his answer.
" What do you mean, you guess!? You're not sure of where you're from?"
" Yeah, that's the problem, I lost my memory, but I'm starting to recall a few things, but still nothing important at the moment."
" Alright but..." she couldn't finish a sentence before being interrupted.
" If you want to go with me, then we need to move, or else we might get caught by reinforcements. Wait, can't you just stay here and wait for them? You're one of them after all. "
" I can't."
" Why?"
" Because if they find me here alive even after all of this, they're going to kill me, most likely thinking that I am some kind of impostor. In other words, I don't want to have anything in common with them after they left me here to die. "
" Understandable, OH and by the way, sorry for the leg. I haven't got any other choice."
" Apology accepted. Sooooo what's the plan, big guy?"
" I need to take you in my arms, and after we get to a reasonable distance, I am going to bandage your leg."
" Sounds good to me."
A FEW HOURS LATER.
Luna grunted as her senses began to come back to her, and slowly opened her eyes. She yawned and tried to stretch her limbs, only to feel something preventing her from doing so. She started to panic, only to be stopped by someone's voice.
" Hey you, you're finally awake."
" Who's there!? " She screamed in terror.
" Chill out, Nightmare. You're tied up because I'm not sure about my judgment. So convince me that you have changed not only in appearance but in character as well."
" What do you mean? What happened? And we aren't Nightmare Moon anymore; our name is Luna. "
" Guess my theory was correct. Hmm, so you have no recollection of what happened when you were Nightmare Moon?"
" We remember only some fragments of it."
" Still better than me." He murmured to himself.
" Alright, I'm going to free you from your bounds, but please don't freak out." He said this while drawing his sword and cutting the vines.
" Why would I ... freak out?"
Her eyes widened when she saw an almost 7-foot tall figure(around 2.03m) clad in black destroyed armor. His eyes were in two different colors. The left one was blue, with the aura of kindness and peace around it. The right one was crimson red, with an aura of rage and hate surrounding it. Both of them were glowing in the dark. He looked at her with his cat-like eyes straight into her soul, or so she thought. Her ears slapped flat on her head.
" W-Who are you?!"
" I am someone who helped you even though you tried to kill me before. By the way, It's not the best way to make friends. Oh and sorry for the horn. My potions didn't work on it."
" I am someone who helped you even though you tried to kill me before. By the way, sorry for the horn. My potions didn't work on it."
" What do you mean?! What became of our horn!?"
She began to scratch her head with her hoofs in search of her horn. The only thing she found was a shattered foundation of it. It didn't even stick out of her fur.
" What did you do to us!"
" I fought you, only because you attacked me first. Breaking it was my only hope of victory. Sorry it has to be this way."
" Please tell us how all of this happened." She said, with tears in her eyes.
" Alright. So everything started when..."
After about ten minutes, he reached the end of his tale, and looked at her face, which was now full of regrets.
" We're sorry for what we did when we were Nightmare Moon."
" So you really were possessed by something back then."
" In some ways, we were possessed by our own jealousy and anger towards our sister."
" Fortunately, it's all behind you now."
" Yes, we hope so."
" So you want to meet our third companion? In fact, I don't know her well myself, so I guess the three of us may talk a little bit to get to know each other. "
" We agree with you."
The Guard sat near the campfire that this so-called human had built before going to see Nightmare Moon. Even though he broke her leg, he didn't seem that bad, at least as long as you were on his good side. But that red eye, It terrified her so much. She had no idea why, but when she looked inside of it, it was almost as if she stared straight into death's own eyes. She was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't see him coming from her left.
" Hey, I'm back and I have a guest!"
She jumped in place, only to have her leg remind of itself. "OUH!" She yelped in excruciating pain, she felt.
" Hehe. Sorry about that. Anyway, I want you to meet Nightmare Moon herself. " He said happily while pointing his hand at the pony behind him.
" You're kidding, right?" She was shocked by the fact that he untied the pony that tried to kill them a few hours ago.
" NOPE," He said, and sat on the opposite side of the campfire and gestured for Luna to sit. She compiled and sat on the left side of the campfire.
" I guess introductions are in order. Please allow me to introduce myself first. My name is Arrin, and from what I can tell, I am just a simple adventurer that has traveled through quite a number of places."
" Yeah, simple adventurer... Anyway my name is Guarding Hart, and I used to be a member of Solar Guard. But currently everypony probably thinks I am dead."
"Our name is Luna, and we used to rule Equestria alongside our sister, but a thousand years ago we rebelled and became Nightmare Moon. Then we were banished to the moon for a thousand years. But it seems that thou menaged to free us from our own hate and jealousy. "
" Alright, since we all know each other now, I may have a question for you."
" What is it?" "Guarding Hart asked.
" Can any of you tell me where the hell I am? Because I have no idea since I saw talking horses for the first time in my life."
" First of all, we aren't horses, we are ponies. Second of all, you're in Equestria now, or more precisely, in the Everfree Forest. How can you not know that?"
" Well, I kind of woke up here only a few hours ago, and I have no idea how I ended up here." He was still deep in thought.
" Hmm. That's interesting, but what's more interesting is the question, what are we going to do now?"
" I'm probably going to do a few jobs here and there and, of course, move around
" Okay, so I know what I will be doing. How about you two? Are you going back to your old jobs?" He asked with curiosity in his voice. Both of the ponies looked at him, then at each other. After a brief moment, Luna finally spoke.
" We don't know."
" I don't know either."
" In that case... How about we form a team? It's going to be easier to survive together than alone." He asked enthusiastically. Both ponies looked at him in shock. And after a moment they finally spoke.
" We guess we might join forces with you, since you are strong enough to defeat us."
" I guess I don't have a choice, since I can't even walk by myself, let alone survive."
"Fantastic! Now we need a name for our team, but what may that be? "
"How about Daring Champions?" Luna asked.
"Or how about The Iron Fangs?" Guarding heart proposed.
"Both sound really good, but I have my own proposition. What would you say about Shadowbringers?"
"Sounds good to me. How about you, Luna?" Said Guarding Heart
"We like it too."
"Then from now on, our team shall be known as the Shadowbringers."
" Alright, but first we need to find a way out of this forest. And since we have no idea which direction to go in, we might have a problem." Guarding Hart said as she was evidently troubled by this revelation.
" We're going to use a secret method to exit the forest."
" Let's do it then." Luna answered with a smile.
" That would be unwise at this time of day. I would advise that we stay here for the night and set out in the morning."
" After all of this, a good night's sleep sounds really appealing to me." The ex-guard stated that with a yawn.
" Alright then, I may have something for you to make your rest a little bit more enjoyable." Saying that, he pulled a blanket and a bed roll out of his backpack.
" Here, take this."
" Thank you," both of them said simultaneously.
" What about you, though?" Luna expressed her concern.
" Don't worry about me. I will be fine."
" Maybe we're going to share a blanket together. It's big enough for both of us." said Guardian Hart with a smile.
He fluttered slightly, but he realized she said it without any sexual intencion.
" T-Thanks for the offer. I may consider it." He answered with a slight grin on his face, while still feeling a bit uneasy.
" Anyway, let's go to sleep. Tomorrow we're moving out. " He cleared his throatawkwardly.
" Good night," Luna said, and drifted off to her slumber.
" Sooo is that offer with the blanket still open?" He asked, to which she smiled and patted the ground next to her with her healthy hoof. He lied beside her and looked at the starry sky above.
' This is going to be a long journey ' he thought to himself and closed his eyes.
Luna's eyes began to open, and with a yawn she started to unzip the sleeping bag. She stood up. In front of her were glimpsing remnants of a campfire, a few steps further laid the blanket with only one pony under it. She started to look around for a lost person. Did he betray them after telling them to join him? No, that can't be true. Maybe he went to the forest for something.
She thought that Guarding Hart might know something. There was a slight hesitation, but that didn’t stop her from bolting towards the guard. After vigorously shaking a still-asleep Hart’s body, she sprung up.
" W-What's happening! "
" Do you know where Arrin is?" Luna exclaimed with distress.
" What do you mean? He's right ... there " She saw that there was no one next to her. She started to panic and nervously look around, when a voice from behind caught her attention.
" Seriously, I'm gone for less than an hour and you two panic?" Emerging from the forest behind with a small boar on his back.
" Where were you!? We were worried about you. "
He dropped the boar near the dead campfire. " Ehh don't worry, I'm not the type of person that would leave his people behind."
Saying that he began to re-create the campfire. " You know what, take care about the fire and I'm going to prepare this boar for lunch."
And with that, he disappeared into the forest once again.
After about thirty minutes, he returned with the boar without a skin which was impaled onto a stick. Arin was welcomed by a nicely burning campfire and two ponies beside it.
" I see that you did what I asked you to do." Saying that he picked up two sticks and dug them near the campfire. They were meant to hold the animal steady on top of the fire. He placed the stick with a freshly caught dinner, and began rotating it.
" Soo, how was the sleep?" He asked while making sure not to burn the food.
" We sleep well, but tell us what you were doing in the forest instead of sleeping. " Luna replied with a sense of concern.
" I couldn't sleep, so I thought that I may as well find something to eat, and as you can see, I succeeded." He said this while pointing at the boar.
" You mean meat? I don't think ponies can eat it." Guarding Hart pointed out.
" Let's find out," Arrin answered with a smile. Both ponies looked at each other and replied at the same time.
" We don't think it's a good idea."
" It's either this or grass. You choose." He answered, not even bothering to look at them.
" I think I may try," Guarding answered.
" That's more like it. Now you only need to wait till it's ready. "
It took almost thirty minutes for the boar to cook perfectly on both sides. Arrin cut it into pieces and put them on the bigger leaves that he found in the forest. He didn't even think twice before biting into the juicy meat. Ponies, on the other hand, still couldn't do it because of the fact that they were eating another creature, and about the consequences of doing so. The first to break and try was Luna, slowly and hesitatingly she took a small bite out of it, only to experience the explosion of taste in her mouth. She started to devour it like there was no tomorrow. Seeing that, Guarding decided to give it a try, and she wasn't disappointed. The meat tasted delicious - crunchy outside and juicy inside. It didn't take long before the whole boar disappeared, the only things left were two full ponies and a happy human.
" That was the best thing I ever ate." Guarding Hart exclaimed with an expression that looked too exaggerated, and unnecessary.
" See? I told you it's not that bad. Unfortunately, we can't sit here and do nothing. Since the sun has risen, we need to move out to find an exit from this forest."
" You're right, but weren't you telling me that you knew a way to exit this forest quickly?"
" Yes. Yes, I was saying something like that. Now watch and learn from someone who has experience with it. Since it was the main reason that I found myself in that clearing where everything started." Seeing that, he began to spin around with closed eyes, then he suddenly stopped and pointed right in front of himself. "Here we're going in this direction."
" You're joking, right?"
" You got any better ideas than this?" He asked while crossing arms.
She sighed and looked down at the ground. " No, I don't have any better ideas."
"Then let's get going. We will reach something interesting eventually. " He said this as he took Guarding Hart in his arms.
"Thou art right, we shall get going." Luna exclaimed while trying to not fall behind.
They were going straight for almost three hours without success. The forest at this point became so dense that going through it was either really hard or would be impossible if not for Arrin, who cut a path through, with his blades. Luna and Guarding began to lose hope of finding anything, but Arrin continued on without hesitation. There wasn’t any exhaustion present in his movements, nor did he feel it, which made both ponies look at him with surprise and concern. Finally, Guarding Hart couldn't stop herself from asking about this.
" Hey, aren't you tired after this whole walk?"
" Nope, it's not that tiring."
" You’ve been holding me in your arms this whole time. Maybe you should take a break from carrying me? I think I might be able to stand on my own. At least I hope..."
" Nah, you're more of a warm and soft pillow than a big and heavy rock."
" Y-you mean that I'm light, even though I wear full armor. It weighs around 60 kg by itself."
" Now that I think of it, it really is starting to look odd. But still, I don't feel tired. Moreover, I don't think you're heavy, so let's just leave it at that for now. "
" OK" was all she said while looking down.
They continued their walk through the forest for a few minutes in complete silence, and after a while, they arrived at another clearing. Arrin looked around in search of any signs of civilization. It was then, when an idea poked up in his head.
"Hey Luna, your wings are still working right?"
" They really hurt when we use them, but yes, we can still use them for flight. Why are thee asking thou?"
"So could you fly up and look around for anything resembling a town?"
" We think that we may try."
She began to slowly rise above the ground. The pain in her wings was really strong, but she refused to give up, especially in times of need like that. It took her several minutes to rise high enough to get a glimpse of the surrounding area. Looking around, she only saw trees as far as the eye could see, but as she was about to fly back to the ground, she spotted something that caught her attention. It was smoke far up in the horizon, to which she smiled to herself and began to fly towards her companions.
" You found anything out there? " asked curious Arrin
" Truly, we did. We’ve found smoke far away to our left." she pointed her hoof in the direction of the smoke
" How far do you think it is?" asked an interested Arrin.
" about half a day away from here, with our current speed."
" Seems pretty far away from here. " Said concerned by that Guarding Heart.
" Indeed it is pretty far away from us , but that only means that we need to increase our speed a little bit." Said positively, Arrin.
" I don't think we can do that." Said ex-guard
"We can. I just need to tie you to my back with vines, then I can use both of my hands to guide us through the forest." said Arrin while looking for suitable vines.
"Please say that you aren't serious about that." Said scared of the idea Guarding Heart
He wasn't joking, and after a few minutes, Guarding Heart found herself safely attached to Arrin's back. To her surprise, it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be, though sometimes she felt a pinching pain caused by the organic rope. They resumed their way through the forest, but this time it was much faster than before because of Arrin, who used both hands to quickly cut through flora. At their current speed, it took them only seven hours to reach the exit from the forest. After they left it, they found themselves on a large meadow with a few hills and a small amount of trees on them. The grass looked like a lime colored ocean, with lily-like flowers scattered in random places. It was divided by a long but thin river.
The sky had a light blue color with one cartoonish-looking bright yellow sun. To say that the view was astonishing would be an understatement. Further away, the smoke was visible, and when they got closer to it, they saw a village beaming with activity.
" Well, it looks like we've reached our destination. " Said Arrin, pleasantly surprised at the amount of ponies and structures in the village.
" It would seem so, but what now? "asked, still attached to Arrin's back, Guarding Heart.
" Now we need to gather as much information as we can, because without any knowledge about this place, things can go really bad for us. " said Arrin, caught in his thoughts.
" It sounds like a plan, but how do you intend on getting information without entering the city? " Asked Guarding Heart from behind his back.
" I have something that will help her with it, but first we need to find a good spot. Like… that mountain!" He pointed at the biggest hill in their surroundings and began to walk towards it.
The hill wasn't as far as they thought it was, but it took them twelve minutes to get there. When they arrived, Arrin pulled a strange device from his backpack, one that the ponies weren't familiar with, which made them pretty curious and scared at the same time.
" What is that strange device of thee?" Luna asked with a scared expression on her face.
" Oh, you mean binoculars? I thought it was pretty common everywhere."
" When we ruled, there was no such thing." Answered Luna to Arrin's surprise.
" Huh, interesting. But anyway, this is a strong pair of binoculars, strong enough to allow seeing things in space, but that's besides the point. We will use them to spy on the village.” He said this while setting up his binoculars.
" Pretty interesting device." she said while looking closely at it.
" Indeed, they are really useful and interesting tools." he said with a small smile on his face.
" Hey! Could you maybe put me back on the ground?! It's not really comfortable here." exclaimed angrily, guarding Heart.
" Oh yeah, sorry Guarding, I completely forgot about you." Arrin said it with shame in his voice. After that, he put her gently back on the ground. " Ok, since we're done setting it up, let's see what’s happening over there." Arrin looked through his binoculars.
While pointing at the outskirts of the village, Arrin saw that there were no walls around the city, which made him wonder whether the city is so insignificant that no one even bothers to build a wall around it, or whether it's so safe that there's no need for walls. He decided that overthinking it would not make anything better, so he looked deeper into the city. The architecture of the city was that of the medieval age: the walls of the houses were made out of either clay or wood, and the roofs were made out of thatch. The majority of the buildings looked pretty similar, with a few exceptions being shops and restaurants. Looking even deeper into the city, he saw what looked to be the main street, where ponies were grouped around the stands with various things. It was also home to the three largest buildings in the whole city. The biggest of them had big writing on it that said 'Hospital'. The other building was what he assumed - a town hall and the last one was a building that resembled a tavern. The next thing he tried to do was find out how many guards were present in the city, he spent almost six minutes, only to discover that there were none, which made him smile just a little. There was nothing more for him to find, so he picked himself up from the ground and hid the device back in his backpack.
" Alright, I think that I’ve learned all that I could about this place. At least for now" He said this while packing his spying equipment.
" So what exactly did you find out?" Asked curiously, Guarding Heart.
" The most important thing that I’ve found out was that this city must have really insignificant value for the country, since there are no guards or a wall around it." said Arrin while pointing at the city.
" It's pretty common for the cities and villages in Equestria to be left like that. The only places where guards station themselves are in Canterlot and the villages around it." Guarding Heart explained.
" Damn nobility and royalty, they only care for themselves. But that will ultimately make our goal easier." He exhaled with a hint of anger in his voice.
" We want to remind thee that we were royalty as well." said an irritated Luna.
" And I want to remind you that you are ex-royalty now, but that doesn't matter now because I see that you are different than most." said Arrin without a care in his voice.
" Do you really think that?" asked Luna.
" Yes, I really think so. I also really think that you need to wear that blanket when we get to the city." Said Arrin while giving her the blanket.
" Why would we need that?" Luna asked, caught off guard by that.
" So you won't be too easy to spot." Said Arrin while putting a blanket on Luna
" We don't think that it will work." Said still unsure of the idea.
" Ok, but to make you even less suspicious, I would recommend that you take off your regalia and stop using that "we" part, no one speaks like that."
" Thou art not right, it's the royal we. Every ruler uses it." She said proudly
" Not to sound rude, but no one uses it anymore, not even Princess Celestia." Guarding pointed this out.
" Why would our sister stop using it? When we ruled together, we used it all the time." She looked down in disbelief.
" And from what you were telling me, it was over one thousand years ago."
In that comment, Luna started to move her mouth as if she wanted to say something. Only to be left speechless, knowing that Arrin was correct, that it had been so long that everything she had known before was now gone. Equestria she once knew was no longer there, she just had to accept it. But will she be able to do that? No, she had to do that for herself and her new friends.
" Th... you're right," she said after a brief pause.
" Hmm, it surprises me that you've already accepted it, but it's a good surprise." He said it with a small smile on his face.
" Alright, they may not recognize Luna, but what about you? You're clearly going to stand out from everything in town." Said Guarding Heart while she gestured her hoof around him.
" Well, they'll be a little less afraid and considerate now that I'm about to carry you. Or I think so at last. And to make it more realistic, we're taking you to the hospital."
" Wait, so you're telling me that you're going to just go inside a building that’s filled with ponies?" she said with a hint of confusion.
"I am, but don’t worry. Your health is more important than a few crooked looks. Okay, we should get going." Arrin said, as he took Guarding Heart in his hands and began walking toward the city.
The road there wasn't as long as he thought it would be, they stood now right in front of the welcoming sign, ' Welcome to Lilywood.'
Who in the hell names a city 'Lilywood?' He thought to himself while going inside the city. It appeared more alive up close than it did from afar, which surprised him a lot. The buildings were more colorful, and the ponies around him were more interesting than he had imagined them to be. They were all staring at him with a look of terror and suspicion in their eyes. But for now, his plan has worked successfully. None of them were freaking out too much because they saw him carrying a guard to the hospital, which made them think that he had good intentions. They arrived at the hospital without being interrupted, then stopped right in front of the reception, where doctors took Guarding. Both Luna and Arrin had been waiting in the hall for a few minutes, so Arrin decided to start a conversation.
" You know, ever since we met, there's been one question that's been on my mind." He looked at Luna, completely covered in her robes.
"Yes, what is it?" She looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
" I wanted to ask why you trusted me enough to join me in the first place?" He inquired, raising his hands.
" Well, you see, I've joined you because I saw that you weren't as bad as you looked. You could’ve just killed me, but you chose to help. You even defeated Nightmare and set me free from her, is that not a good enough reason to trust you?" She asked
" It still amazes me how easily you can trust someone you've never met before. To be fair, I haven't let down my guard even for a second until now."
" So you don't trust us? " She inquired, her voice tinged with disappointment.
"Well, not really, I just call it half trust, which means I trust you but not completely. I'm still afraid that you will backstab me when the chance appears." He said it with a thoughtful expression on his face.
"I would never do that, it's not the way to success." She was shocked by his sentence.
" And that's where you are wrong." he said with a fake smile on his face "If something stands in your way, it's only natural to destroy it."
"No, it's not. You can always search for other solutions." She tried to convince Arrin with the best argument she could find.
" Perhaps you are right..." He said this sternly.
Luna managed to convince Arrin, or so she thought. It made her wonder what made him think that way. Was it something from the past? Or maybe that's just how he was? She couldn't say for sure since she hadn't known him for too long. The fact that he still doesn't remember anything from before he arrived here wasn't helpful at all. The only option that she was left with was to wait and see what was going to happen later.
" So what will we do when we exit the hospital?" She asked out of curiosity.
" We need to look around and gather some guidance. There may still be a lot of useful information and items we can find here."
" But we don't have any money to buy anything." Luna said, turning her head to him.
" That's why we need information, good information in the right hands can change the fate of the whole world." He said it with such confidence that it made Luna stop and think about it for a moment.
" Those are wise and accurate words." She finally spoke.
" So how long is healing Guarding's leg going to take?" He asked
" Well, to be honest, I don't know. But it's not going to be too long."
Guarding Heart entered the room with a fully healed leg at the exact moment she said this.
" There are no bandages? You just get it healed instantly?" Asked now, dumbfounded, Arrin
" Yup, that's what healing magic does. It's really rare but extremely useful." Guarding Heart responded cheerfully, now fully healed.
" Healing magic? Hmm, I think I've heard of it before, but it was known by another name." Arrin said to no one in particular.
" Anyway, what's the plan?" Asked Guarding.
" We need to get as much information as possible before we start to plan anything else." Said Arrin.
" So where do we start?" Asked Luna.
" There's no better place for that than the tavern. And I think I know where we can find one here." Arrin said with a slight smile on his face.
" But why do you want to go to the tavern?"
" You two really don't get it?" He sighed and began to explain his thoughts.
" We're going to the tavern because people are a little bit less afraid to talk among themselves, plus if someone is drunk, you can get everything you want from them." Arrin explained, to which both mares were surprised.
" Now that you speak about it like that, it really starts to make sense." Luna was still a little upset that she hadn't thought about it earlier.
" Let's go! I want to get over it as fast as possible."
They all did as said, and after a few minutes, they found themselves in front of the entrance to the tavern. Arrin hid himself even deeper into his robes. He now looked as if he were made out of pure shadows. His eyes still glowed from under his hood, which made him even more intimidating. He inhaled the air into his lungs and entered the tavern. He expected only a few ponies to be present at that hour, and he wasn't disappointed to see a few regular ponies enjoying themselves. What he didn't expect was to find nearly thirty guards scattered throughout the tavern. He could only say one thing "Fuck." But so as not to raise any suspicions from the guards, he moved casually to the only unoccupied table in the whole tavern, which, fortunately for them, was right in the corner. Now all they needed to do was wait and listen to the talking ponies, which they did. They listened for about thirty minutes, and learned much more than he was expecting.
Among the many things he discovered were numerous affairs from the capital, such as telling about how much the princess was disappointed in her student for failing her. But, among all of that data, the most intriguing was the one that he overheard from an older pony in fancier armor, which meant that he was higher in the ranks than the others. Arrin's smile grew with each word he overheard. Apparently, Equestria's military is in no shape for any organized operation or regular fighting, because it lacked discipline, proper training, and numbers to work effectively on such a vast territory as Equestria. He was happy with what he got and was about to leave, but at the same time the doors to the tavern opened and a pony in armor marched in.
" Attention!" The mysterious pony screamed.
Arrin knew it was most likely the sergeant of those troops, so he did the only thing that came to mind.
" Hide in my cloak, Guarding!" He said that to her, and she immediately complied.
All of the guards were now standing at attention, and the command pony had entered the room completely and was now inspecting it with his eyes. He moved his gaze to an older pony dressed in fancier armor.
" Corporal, have you hung the posters as I've asked?" He asked an older pony that turned out to be a corporal.
" Not yet, sir." He answered with a small amount of fear.
" Then I beg you to tell me. What are you doing here!"
" We will do it right away, sir!"
" You better do it!" He shouted to which all the guards runned outside leaving a few things behind them in a hurry.
Arrin sighed and allowed Guarding to come out from under his cloak. He then stood up and walked to one of the tables, where the guards had left two scrolls in a hurry. He unscrewed the first one, which turned out to be a map of the whole continent, which he was extremely grateful to have. The second one wasn't as pleasing as the first one, it was a picture that presented him and Nightmare Moon right beside each other, with "wanted" written below.
" Damn it... We need to go as far away from the city as possible."
" What?! We just got here." Guarding half-asked, half-yelled.
" Trust me, I will explain everything. but first we need to get as far away as possible before things become ugly for us." Arrin exclaimed and quickly moved out of the tavern, with two really confused ponies behind him.
Exiting the city wasn't as easy as entering it. Arrin led them through the back alleys and constantly looked around for any guards. Arrin thought that they would successfully exit the city without being noticed, but the moment they entered the meadow, they heard shouts from behind them. When he looked behind him, he saw three guards running in their direction. "Shit!" he said under his breath.
" They found us, we need to run back to the forest!" He told his companions behind him.
They didn't need to be told twice, and all three of them started to run back to the forest. He knows that if they manage to return to the forest, they will lose their tail, but if they don't, he will be forced to put an end to the lives of three guards. He would rather avoid them so as not to draw any more attention to them, since killing more ponies definitely wouldn’t go unnoticed, which won't do them any good in the long run. Unfortunately, Guarding wasn't as fast as the rest, so with every second, she got closer and closer to the guards that were chasing them.
Arrin knew that if he didn't do anything, they would capture her. And so he did the only thing that came to his mind at the moment. He ran up to her and held her in his arms, which may have caused her to panic at first because she wasn't expecting it. But after noticing that it was Arrin who grabbed her, she visibly calmed a bit. Now that Guarding was in his embrace, he sped up again to his normal speed. He knew that the way back to the forest would take a few more minutes, and he was mostly sure that he would endure that much effort. Luna, on the other hand, was having some difficulties. Will she withstand all this running? He wants to keep away from fighting at all cost, but if the need arises, nothing shall stand in his path. After a while, the guards had lost interest in them, but they hadn't stopped fleeing. The forest was right in front of them. He was already sure that they wouldn't be safe in here for long, especially with the wide variety of critters living here. But it will give them a moment to think about their actions.
They finally ran into the thick greenery of the forest, and immediately collapsed on the ground, panting heavily. He knew that they were tired, but he was also aware that they couldn't allow themselves to rest. The guards will be here shortly with the reinforcing troops, even if they’re too afraid to enter the forest, it’s still a threat. He sighed and began to walk in the direction of his theoretical friends.
" Hey, I know that you are tired and all but I'm afraid that we can’t afford to rest. We need a strategy, and we need it fast. These guards will be coming here any minute now " Said Arrin
" But how can we plan something? Even if we do, we don't even know where we are." Said visibly unsettled Guarding Heart
" That may be true but I allowed myself to borrow a map from one of the guards. " He said while pulling a map from his belt.
" Is this the reason why they were chasing us in the first place?" Asked Luna with a small hint of anger in her voice.
" No, they were chasing us because of that thing." He said while pulling out another scroll and tossing it to Luna. She looked at it and hesitantly unscrolled it. The thing that she saw there made her ears slap flatly on to her head.
" O-oh my..." She finally said
" What happened? What is It?" Asked curiously Guarding Heart.
He sighed. "Take a look for yourself." He pointed at the piece of parchment in front of him.
" You two are already wanted?! You really need to be a big deal that the princess sent the whole country to look for you. " Guarding half shouted.
" Yeah, she's wanted because she's a sister of your ruler that turned evil. And I'm wanted because I technically wanted to kill her in self defense." He spoke defensively.
" It doesn't matter why they are searching for us. What matters is that they are searching. And most importantly what are we going to do now? "
" That's where our map comes in. We just need to look around and maybe we'll find something of value." He unscrolled the map once again, and started searching for the town of Lilywood. After a moment he finally found it.
" Ok so we're somewhere in here. And in my personal opinion we have only two options which are: stay deeper in the forest or move north closer to the cold environment because I doubt that they will be searching for us there."
" May I add another option?" Asked Luna.
" Sure. As long as it's not surrendering it may be a good option. "
" Do you see that red dot in here?"
" Yeah but why do you want to go… what is It called? Ponyville? My god who named your cities "
" Yes I never liked it’s name as well. But it's not the town of Ponyville that I want to go to. It's something close to it, and that thing is my old castle that was abandoned after my banishment. I believe that we can still find something useful here. " Luna explained.
" Sounds good and all but wouldn't there be a lot of ponies around? It's still a historical thing after all."
" Nopony would be there. Mainly because from what I can see on the map, the forest took control of the surrounding area. " She pointed at the place that she thought the castle was.
" Now that sounds convincing, but are you sure that the risk is worth it? "
" Trust me, it is."
“ Ehh, I trust you on that one. But I say that we should go deeper into the forest and set up camp for the night. It's not a good idea to travel in the dark for the time being." he sighed.
"But wouldn't the night give us extra cover?" Asked Guarding Heart.
"It would" He pointed a finger at her. "But as you just proces they will expect it."
"But are you sure that they won't be looking for us in the forest?"
“Of that one I’m not certain, but I know that they will send a search party to find us, because they think of us as normal bandits. But we’re not bandits nor are we normal and we will show it to them.”
“ And how do you intend to do that”
“ I don’t know as of yet but I can think of a few things. But we will think about that later, for now we need to move and find somewhere to sleep.”
"Ok, we will be right behind you." Said Luna
The path through the forest wasn't one that could have been described as simple. But after thirty minutes of going deeper into the foliage, they finally found a place for the night. It was a small cave on the side of a small mountain. The entrance itself wasn't big enough for any predator to sneak in, which made it even better to hide from potential guards going that way. It didn't take them long to set up a comfortable sleeping area. The skin of the boar that Arrin had hunted earlier made for a perfect sheet for him and Guarding Heart. Because of Arrin's request, they did not start a fire at that time to reduce visibility at the expense of sleeping in the cold.
"Sleep well because we need to move the moment that the sun shows up on the horizon." Arrin said while wrapping himself in a blanket.
"Good night, Arrin." Both Luna and Guarding said it almost at the same time.
Sleep soon took both of his companions, leaving only him with a mind full of questions. questions that would be left without an answer for a long time, or so he thought. In the group of things that weighed him down the most, there was one question in particular. Why was he here? and who he was before he got there? If the books he discovered in his backpack are any indication, then that would mean he was a blacksmith with a passion for potions.
'Ugh, it doesn't make any sense! Why would I be a blacksmith when I have such a skill with the sword?' He thought to himself, but no matter how much time he spent thinking about it, nothing useful came to him. It was as if something was preventing him from remembering, or perhaps he didn't want to remember? And even if something sent him here, what was the purpose of it? The only thing he accomplished so far was becoming a criminal and teaming up with two ponies that stayed with him only because they were afraid of him. Perhaps only time will tell what will happen next. After a few hours of thinking, he decided that it would be wise to at least try to get some sleep before he would need to go into this alien world again. The last thought he had before falling asleep was that no matter what happened next, he would discover his past and endure any hardship that this world could throw at him, for his own sake.
It was just a few hours before sunup. The cold night air was gently blowing through the numerous leaves of the Everfree forest, creating a relaxing rustle that was accompanied by the small army of crickets. Both of those sounds, combined together, created a truly beautiful concert. The sky was clear of any clouds, which allowed the beautiful starry sky to be seen, and it was seen by the adventurer looking at it in deep thought. The sleep that came to him just a few hours earlier didn't last long and wasn't peaceful because of the nightmares that plagued him. He still couldn't understand what was happening in those dreams or who were the people that made themselves present, but they still caused him a lot of pain.
But amongst all his worries, there was one regarding something more pressing than worrying about imaginary scenarios. The thing being their incoming expedition to the castle that Luna mentioned yesterday. Though he wanted to trust Luna, he still wasn't fully convinced as to the safety of that idea. Even though she said that their journey would be worth it, she was talking about a place that she knew from a thousand years ago. There was no way that the place stayed exactly the same throughout all those years, or could it? He sighed and looked back at the entrance to the cave, where his two companions were sleeping. Slowly, he approached them while still thinking about the castle and getting some sleep.
With the fully visible sun in the sky, the party started their journey towards the old castle. And to everyone's surprise, the journey wasn't too eventful, but after a few hours on the way, Arrin started to have the feeling of being watched from afar. His first thought was to not give a sign that he noticed and to keep his guard up. His thoughts were cut short by Luna, who suddenly spoke.
"We're here"
"What do you mean we're here? The only thing I can see is a forest." Replied Arrin
"What I mean by that is we're just five minutes from it." Replied unbothered Luna
"Oh, and how can you be so sure about that? There's nothing except the forest." Said Arrin with a small bit of curiosity while still being on the lookout for a mysterious stalker.
"That giant tree that we were passing a few moments ago told me everything I needed to know. You see, there used to be a village here when I was young, and that tree was in the middle of it." Explained Luna with an experience full of nostalgia.
"Can't argue with that. So is there any particular reason why you wanted to come here?"
"Well, yes, there are two main reasons for that. Before I started that whole rebellion against my sister, I was collecting some interesting stuff, like maps made by my soldiers that no one had access to except for me. And the second reason is ... *sigh, The truth is that I wasn't the only one banished for my actions, I also had my subjects that were fighting for me, and they were also banished, so I hope that maybe some of them will be waiting here for my return."
"Can you tell me something more about your subjects, Luna?"
" They weren't really that different from normal ponies, the only things that differentiated them from others were their cat-like pupils and bat wings. In some cases, they could also be unicorns. Other ponies disliked them so much to the point where they could only come out at night. This created rumors that they were vampires. And so they were constantly attacked by other ponies."
"Sorry for asking."
"It's okay, you had no way of knowing, Arrin." Luna reassured him with a smile.
"Thanks..." Arrin said while returning the gesture.
"Ok, now that the two of you have finished flirting, I want to tell you that we are getting close." Said a little irritated Guarding Heart.
Now that he has started paying more attention to the surroundings, he could see that the greenery around them has become a lot thinner than it was only a few minutes before. But there was one more thing that piqued his curiosity. No more than a hundred meters from him was a canyon with a poorly looking wooden bridge hanging over it.
After a moment of walking, they approached said bridge.
"To be honest, it looks even worse from up close than it did from afar." Said Guarding Heart, evidently surprised that it was even possible.
"I... I remembered it being a little different, but looking at how it withered out, I'm afraid that we will need to find another way to get to the other side."
"Something like that tree?" Arrin said while pointing in the direction of a fallen tree that created an alternative route.
The trio moved closer to the fallen tree, it wasn't hard to see that it was old and had ended its life only a few days earlier, but the circumstances in which that happened were strange, to say the least. It looked just as if someone had ripped it out with a lot of strength and placed it to create a makeshift bridge. It seemed that Arrin was the only person who thought the mysterious stalker and the tree could be related in some way.
"We need to get to the other side, I'll go first and check if it’s safe. You two will move the moment I set foot on the other side." After saying that, he jumped onto a tree and started to make his way to the other side.
Luna and Guarding Heart looked at each other with confusion written on their expressions, but over all, they decided not to question Arrin and comply with his order. The first to pass was Luna, and not long after that, Guarding Heart. The moment that both of them were on the other side, Arrin turned around and started moving towards the now-visible castle ruins.
"Hey, why are you in such a hurry?" Asked Guarding Heart.
He didn't answer, but instead he started to look around. Only after he finished checking his surroundings did he speak in a quiet, barely hearable tone.
"Someone is following us."
It was enough to convince them to stay on guard for the rest of the way towards the castle. They spent the rest of their way in silence, not even five minutes later, they stood in front of the gates to the castle.
To Arrin's surprise, the ruins weren't as ruined as he thought they were, in fact, for their age, they looked really good. Without any more thought on that, Arrin pushed the double doors open. At first glance, the whole interior seemed to suffer more from time than the exterior did, and there were numerous proofs of that in the form of holes in the roof. The walls were decorated with many banners that once undoubtedly held a glory to them, but now they were mere shadows of the things they once were. The party made their way inside, closing the massive doors behind them.
"So where do we need to go now, Luna?" Asked Arrin while looking around the main hall.
"We need to go to my room, don't worry, I will lead the way." Luna declared and without waiting for anyone's response, she galloped to the closest staircase and to the second floor.
"Let's go, I don't want to search for her later." Guarding Heart told Arrin while she started moving towards the staircase.
Arrin sighed and slowly started to walk up the stairs. When he got to the second floor, he noticed that it was in much worse condition than the first one. Ceiling had a lot more holes than the main hall, the walls were full of cracks, and the floor was decorated by remnants of something that could have been called a carpet in the past.
A little further into the corridor were numerous doors, most of them looked the same without considering the signs of damage done by the time. Among all of the doors, there was one that distinguished itself from the others, and it did so by being open. It wasn't too hard for Arrin to guess why they were the only ones open, and when he came close enough to see the inside. His guess was confirmed. The first thing he saw were two ponies, the other thing was how well the room looked. It was as if someone had been there only a few hours ago, every nook and cranny looked perfectly clean, and there was no sign of time taking its toll. He decided to ignore that fact for now and concentrate on his companion.
"So is that your room, Luna?" He asked with a bit of curiosity.
"Yes, It is, and it hasn't changed at all since I left it." She said it with a tone full of longing.
"So what was so important in here that we risked being caught?" Asked Guarding Heart.
" I see you're not really as patient as I thought. Very well, I will show you."
She started to slowly approach the bed and start to move it to the side, only to find that there was nothing except the floor. When Arrin was about to ask if that was it, Luna started to seemingly poke at random places on the floor until a small staircase exposed itself. Without any hesitation, Luna started to descend the staircase, and soon the others followed. The staircase led to a small room full of shelves filled to the brim with numerous books and many different things. Shelves weren't the only things that could be found here, there were also a few weapons and armor sets, all of which were black with some ornaments.
"Now that's what I call a nice collection." Arrin said with a sense of admiration.
"Thank you, but wait till I show you the main reason that we came in here." Replied Luna
She approached one of the shelves and took a big piece of parchment, which she then started to unroll on the floor. It was a really old map.
"It's a map of the whole continent from a thousand years ago. It was made by my own soldiers, so it's the only copy. Now, Arrin, if you could please unroll the map that you got in the tavern."
Without any hesitation, Arrin did what he was asked, and at first, the only things that differentiated were the small details and quality, but not long after that, he noticed something interesting.
"Wait, why is there more Land near the frozen north?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
"That's a good question, Arrin. I mean It's completely frozen, and it's almost impossible to survive there for a long time." Guarding Heart pointed her hoof at the place on the older map.
"As I said earlier, my soldiers did that map, and since thestrals are much more resistant to the cold, they scouted that area. More importantly, they revealed that there was more than a frozen wasteland, and by that, I mean that area." She pointed to an area that didn't seem to stand out from the rest of the frozen north. But that line of thought died out as fast as everyone looked closer, just to see a terrain that was supposed to be full of vegetation.
"Now that looks interesting, and from what I see, that looks like an area that surely can support life, since there's a forest." He pointed at a large area filled with trees.
"It's because it can, and since no one else in Equestria knows about that place, I ordered to create a base there, not on a main continent, though. It's near that big island over there." Luna pointed towards a small archipelago of three bigger islands and around five smaller ones.
"Why did you decide to do it on those islands? They're pretty far from solid ground." Guarding Heart asked
"I did it so that even if someone somehow managed to find the forest on the land, It would be unlikely for them to find the islands." She explained
"It's cool and all, but what's the point of telling us that? Do you intend to hide from all of that or something?" Arrin asked with a hint of disappointment at Luna's actions.
"In some way, you are indeed right, but I don't want to hide, I want to create a place for my subject to live without any fear." Luna explained
"It... sounds interesting, but how do you intend to do that? I mean, it's not that easy to get there, and it's even harder to find your subjects, we don't even know where they could be." Guarding Heart said.
"It may seem that way, but if we start to make our way there, maybe we will find them or some clues as to where we can find them." She said it desperately.
Arrin looked at her with some sadness. He looked back at the map and the islands, they were at least two weeks away from their current position. If they decide to take that journey, they will be risking being coughed up by the Equestrians. But then again, it's not like he has anything to lose, and maybe he will even regain some of his memories and some of his abilities. Because of all of that, he decided to take that risk and start that journey, but before that, he needed to prepare and possibly take a few things from that castle.
"Ahh, ok, I think that we can try out your plan, but first I want to look through the things that you have here and possibly search the rest of the castle."
"Really?" She burst out with disbelief mixed with happiness.
"Yes, now show me what more you have in that basement." He said.
He didn't wait for the response and approached one of the shelves. Most of the items there were things that had no practical use for the time being, like hairpins, tiaras, jewelry, and some old books. Most of his interest has fallen into the books, there were a lot of titles among them, but unfortunately most of them were about the politics of old times. Among all of them, Arrin managed to find only two worth any interest; both of them had something to do with magic. Without thinking anymore, he packed them into his backpack and turned to his companions.
"Hey, have you found something useful?"
"We sure did, come and see for yourself." Said Guarding Heart, without even looking back.
He slowly approached and saw what caught the interest of both of his companions. It was a full set of big black horse armor, accompanied by two smaller armors in the same color. Two smaller ones had spears on their sides, while the big one had a sword.
"Now that's truly a beautiful work." Arrin said while looking at the beautiful work of blacksmithing.
"Yes, it is, and it may even be useful for us now. I and the Guarding Heart may wear it for protection." She said this, visibly happy at her idea.
"But I have armor already." Guarding said
"You have the old one, but didn't you say that you don't want to have anything to do with them anymore?" Luna almost quoted Guarding's earlier statement.
"I did say that, but it looks much heavier than my current one. Wouldn't it slow us down?" She deducted
"It may look heavy, but in reality, it's much lighter. Anyway, just try it out and find out for yourself." Luna said
With a sigh, Guarding Heart approaches the armor stance. She takes a helmet of the armor stance, weighting it over in her hoof, and to her own surprise, Luna's words
proved to be true. The headpiece is indeed light. Encouraged by that revelation, Guarding unequips her body armor and begins to put on the new set of armor, starting with something that can be called a shoe that fits perfectly on her hoofs. Next, she picked up the tunic. Putting it on, she feels much lighter than before. She moves around after putting the last piece of armor to test if it's comfortable.
"Ahh, it would seem that you were right. It really is light." She said, still moving around.
"I knew that you'd like it. Now allow me to put on my old armor."
Luna slowly approached the bigger set of armor and looked at it with a sense of longing, as if remembering better times. Gradually, she put all parts of the armor, she took the spear that Guarding left while equipping her armor and carefully tossed it to her. After that, she took the sword and unshed it, revealing a work of art rather than an actual sword. The hilt of the sword was truly a marvel to behold, made from luxurious materials. deep burgundy leather, meticulously embossed with delicate golden filigree that depicts scenes of epic battles, mythological creatures, and grandiose landscapes. The crossguard is fashioned from polished bronze and shaped into elegant, sweeping curves.
At the heart of the hilt, nestled between the guard and the pommel, lies the centerpiece, a rare gemstone of unparalleled beauty. A mesmerizing sapphire, as deep and vibrant as the ocean at twilight, is ensconced in a golden setting that mimics the gentle embrace of waves. The sapphire seems to come alive in the presence of light, casting dazzling reflections that dance upon the surrounding surfaces. A gemstone, black as night. The blade was no less beautiful than the hilt, but this time in the color of silver, but not normal silver. It was almost as if someone stole the shine of the moonlight and put it in the blade. decorated by a full moon right next to the hilt and accompanied by many stars on the lower parts of the blade. With a sigh, she put it back in its sheath and turned to address others.
"Is there anything else that you want to do, or are we moving out?" She asked while looking at Arrin.
"I want to look around the castle, but we will need to split up to have a bigger chance of finding something." He said
"But why should we split up?" Guarding asked
"Trust me, I have a good reason for that." Arrin explained to his companions that now seemed to agree with him.
And with that, they soon exited the secret room through the same stairs and restored the room to its original look. Soon all of them exited the room, and as previously agreed, they split up. Walking through the dark corridor, he only noticed many doors, most of them broken out of their frames. Some didn't even have furniture, and without paying attention to them, he continued his way down the corridor. His attention was soon caught by a large pair of doors. Slowly approaching them, he saw that one side looked almost as if something had blown it out, but unlike the tree, it must have happened a long time ago. When he looked inside, he realized that it was a library still full of books. Without much thought, Arrin entered the room in search of some useful books. There were fifteen rows of bookshelves, each with its own category, like building, gardening, and something that caught his attention: magic. Entering the section with books about magic, he found that most of them were turning around fields of magic that didn't have any use for him or any plans that he could think of at the time. but there were a few titles about the basics of it and how to use it in building stuff and enchanting it. Putting them in his bag, he moved towards other sections, taking a few interesting ones from them too. When he was about to move towards the doors, he tripped on parts of the old doors. Rising back to his feet, he noticed something that he would have missed if he hadn't tripped.
A small section of one of the walls was missing, revealing a dark hole that seemed to lead somewhere. Intrigued by that, he slowly approached the rift in the wall, only to find that it was a little too small for him. Making a great decision, he punched the wall near the hole to make it bigger. He found a dusty, old-looking room with a few dark books that regarded Dark Magic. As two of the first books that he found without much thought, he packed them too. Happy with his findings, he left the room. Wandering through the dark corridors of a forsaken castle once again, he was looking for more doors that led to something useful. After a few more minutes of wandering through the halls, he saw the familiar silhouette - It was Luna.
He was about to ignore her and continue his journey when he noticed a shadow that followed her just out of her sight. Suddenly, he remembered that they never found the mysterious stalker from outside. Now visibly worried, he decided to follow Luna and the mysterious stalker while being extremely careful not to show his presence. Walking around ten meters behind them for no less than a few minutes, which was enough for him to take a look at the stalker. It was a pony completely covered in black clothing that concealed every detail that could help find any useful information before engaging that pony. Following the duo for a few more minutes, Arrin decided to finally take action, sneaking closer to the pony as he prepared his hands. With a quick move, he shortened the distance between them, quickly catching the pony by its neck and pining it to the wall. Disturbed by the sound, Luna quickly looked behind her, only to notice Arrin holding somepony by their throat and pinning them to the wall.
"What are you doing!?" Luna screamed
Without paying her any attention, Arrin ripped the cloth from the pony, revealing grayish-blue fur. The first thing he noticed were his orange, cat-like eyes and a pair of sharp fangs. On its back, there were wings, but not normal wings as they looked like the ones bats have. Arrin quickly realized that the features fit Luna's earlier description of her subject. With evident fear in the pony's eyes, Arrin squished it's throat a little bit more.
"Who are you, and why were you following us?!" He shouted right into the pony's face.
"I... I wanted to see the princess." Mysterious equine stuttered
"Then why didn't you approach us normally and just ask?!" He pinned him even harder against the wall.
"I wasn't sure if it was truly Princess Luna, I couldn't see her horn, only her wings. So I thought that if I followed you, I could assure myself." He finally said.
"Hmm. What are we doing with him, Luna?" He looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"P-please release him." She said
"As you wish." With that, he released his grip on the pony and let him fall to the ground. Taking a few steps backward, he looked at Luna, who started to close the distance to the pony.
"What is your name, my subject?" She extended her hoof and helped her subject to stand up.
"My name is Crimson Vision, your highness." He said this while bowing to her. Finally realizing that it's really his princess.
"Crimson Vision, what a nice name! It's a pleasure to meet you, now could you tell me what you're doing here?" She asked somewhat hearfully.
"I was sent here to look for you." he answered with a subtle tone.
"Really, why here of all places and by whom?"
"I was sent here by Sergeant Night Rose, she sent me here because she believes that you may have come here to look for the rest of us."
"She was right. I did come here because I believed that you might be here. Can you say where she is and how many others are there?"
"There are at least two thousand of us, there were more than that, but many were caught by the guards and imprisoned. Sergeant decided that the best course of action would be to go to the north, which is much less populated."
"So the guards want to capture all of you?" Arrin asked
"Yes, from what we found out, they transformed the biggest prison in Equestria to hold only thestrals, and they also plan to expand it to hold all of us in Equestria."
"And how many of you are there in general?" Are asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Around two hundred thousand in all of Equestria." Crimson Vision said
"That's quite a lot. What kind of prison can accommodate this many prisoners?" He asked, truly surprised and still unsure of what kind of prison was so big.
"It's named Rowmarina, and it's made inside the mountain."
"What do you plan to do right now, Crimson Vision?" Luna asked
"Night Rose ordered that if I find you, I need to take you to her so you may take command." He looked at how Luna would react.
"It so happened that we were going towards the north anyway, so we may as well accept your offer." Luna said with a small smile.
"But before that, we need to find Guarding, then we can start our way to the north." Arrin said with a sigh.
Soon they started their way through the dark corridors in search of their party member. The search didn't last long, for after not even ten minutes, they found Guarding near the main hall, looking at the remnants of old paintings. She noticed everyone looking at her.
"Who is it?" She looked at the Crimson Vision.
"One of Luna's subjects and someone that came here to take us to their base near the north."
"So I see that our plans changed a bit."
"They did, but only by a little. By the way, Crimson, where will the rest of your people wait for your return?" He looked at the pony.
"They will be waiting near the village by the name of Red Forest." Crimson told.
"Really, who the hell names those villages?" Arrin shouted with a sense of anger and annoyance.
"When will we be going on our way?" Luna looked at Arrin with a questionable look.
"We can go right away, and to be honest, it would be the best option. This place isn't safe at all.” He looked around the main hall.
"Why do you think that?" Guarding asked him.
"Just a feeling. Anyway, prepare everything you want to take, and we will be moving out."
