Lord Protector
The carriage pulled by two Pegasi Guards of the Empire made its way across the sky with myself in the carriage traveling to the Royal Castle of the Empress Selene, Keeper of Night and Day and appointed ruler of all races from Earth ponies, Unicorns and Pegasi.
The Empress was an Alicorn, the first of her kind and the nicest pony ever. I couldn't believe I was finally returning home to meet her after almost two years of my absence.
The Everfree forest came into sight just as one of the Pegasi spoke up "how was the Crystal Empire and the Griffon Kingdoms?" he asked. "Don't question the lord protector boy" said the older Pegasus next to him "he's had a long journey and he doesn't need anyone to bother him with tales of distant lands".
"You forgot about Zebricia" I said to which the young Pegasus widened his eyes as his imagination worked away at him. The older guard simply rolled his eyes and announced "we have arrived at the Royal Castle".
Finally we touched down at the top of the castle's tower balcony and I stepped off and bode the guards farewell. I walked into the doors of the tower where two guards saluted and entered into the Royal chambers.
No one was there and then suddenly a voice from all around me said "mane a dark black with a grey tanned body, green eyes and a confident stance with a scar across your shoulder indicating battles fought and won, a horn upon your head and I'm sure the skills to use it now I wonder who that could be?" the obviously female voice asked.
Suddenly a bright white pony with a flowing blue mane which was the colour of the sky teleported before me. She was much taller than me but her looks told everypony that she was kind, honest, funny, generous and extremely loyal to Equestria. It was Empress Selene of Equestria.
She looked incredibly happy to see me and the feelings were mutual to say the least. I began to bow respectfully to her as protocol saw fit but before I could do so I was swept up into her hooves in a tight hug. "Oh Cyrus it has been too long my loyal friend I simply have so much to tell you of the Empire" she said joyfully.
I smiled and returned the hug also immensely happy and told her "I too have much to tell of the peace talks throughout the land" I told her. "Oh Cyrus your back for two minutes and already you're talking about work and such, it's unacceptable I tell you now let me show you something" she said excitedly.
She led me down through the tower past many on-duty guards and important ponies to the throne room which she practically burst through. "Come see come see" she said excitedly and I strode up behind her looking for what she was trying to show me until my eyes rested upon two small wooden crates one on each side of her throne.
I frowned at them not understanding what they were until I got in closer and took a proper look at them. They were in fact two wooden cots with two little foals. One looked a lot older than the other whilst the other one looked to be just born .
The old one was white like her mother but had a flowing rainbow mane whilst the younger one was a deep dark blue with a slightly lighter mane than her base colour but still flowing mane.
I looked up at the Empress who was atop her throne and kneeled. "They look like you my lady I am overjoyed for you" I told her in truth. She smiled warmly and said "yes I can say for sure that the future of my throne is looking promising indeed, the biggest one is Celestia whilst the little blue one over there is Luna they shall be fine rulers when there time comes".
"But you don't intend to be leaving us too soon do you my lady?" I asked her jokingly but with some form of seriousness. "Oh Cyrus, not if I can help it" she told reassuringly and I sat on my haunches and said "well then as much as I hate to say it but there is important business to discuss".
She nodded and a scribe appeared before her and began taking notes as I gave a general summary of my travels. "I have written some journals which should be on their way to the castle within the week fully detailing my travels but I must tell you now that the Empire is within great danger" I said solemnly.
She leaned forward slightly and her funny side left slightly and was replaced by a deadly serious look, "continue" she told me to which I responded with the news I had been waiting months to give.
"Well as planned I travelled to the Griffon Kingdoms first and brokered a trade agreement between them but unfortunately no alliance not that it was of direct importance but it cost me three months of wasted diplomacy, so then I travelled far to the Crystal Empire where I met with the King and Queen who too had just so happened to have had a baby, a boy whom I'm told holds extreme power so I passed on my best wishes and together we forged both a trade agreement and alliance in less than a month" I said pausing for breath.
I heard some shuffling and one of the foals gurgled but ignored it as simple background noise. The Empress seemed to be analysing every word I laid out so I continued "Zebricia was tricky as the land was barren and I struggled to find their leader and ran into many bandits in the perilous stretch of desert". "However after months I finally found one of the clan's leaders and he told me that Zebricia was in no state for any kind of diplomacy and that if another pony came upon their lands they would be severely punished".
The Empress relaxed slightly and asked "is this the danger you spoke of" but tensed up again when I responded "no". "No the danger was when I came upon Saddle Arabia, the furthest of all known lands and one of the most sophisticated lands besides ours as you know" I told her.
"I travelled to their Capital and found it to be in the middle of a siege and the Capital looked on the brink of falling, the army was in the hundreds of thousands and it was full of strange technology unseen to my or anyponys eyes" I said remembering back to that day and grimacing.
"What of this technology?" the Empress asked. "It was barbaric and killed without honour your majesty, although it was over a mile away I saw though the spyglass a type of stick from which fire through and struck the ponies above with such force they were thrown from the battlements" I said with a look of disgust.
"What is there banner?" asked the Empress. "There banner is that of green and black shapes melded into one, I don't know what they are but they are all black and green as within the banner and have the look of a mix of insect and pony in some kind of horrid brand.
The Empress got up and strode down from her Pedestal and looked at me. "This is troubling for as I have had good news to tell you I also have bad news to tell you" she said sadly looking very sad now.
I put a hoof on her and assured her "whatever it may be I can take it".
She looked at the floor and with a trembling voice told me "after you left I had to assign a temporarily new bodyguard to take your position for the amount of time you were gone". "His name was Eclipse and he was just like you kind, loyal yet so very serious". "I don't exactly remember when but we began to develop feelings for each other and well she gestured to the babies and said "marriage and children soon followed".
I didn't fully understand why this was a bad thing and I asked "why is this bad news"? She now looked at me with tears in her eyes and began to sob "he's dead"!
I was actually slightly taken aback despite never actually meeting this pony, but the Empress's tears made me angry and I asked "who was it?" "Are there any leads"?
She looked down on me and said "no" "one night he went to investigate something at the walls without giving any explanation and the next day the guards find him dead with three pieces of strange metallic balls of metal lodged in his chest" she cried.
Suddenly we looked at each other as one and one met and became two. "Just like the ones you described in your report with the insect ponies" she gasped in realization. Suddenly the doors closed shut rather audibly and we both swivelled our heads around.
The Unicorn in the Council of Three which was a council of three different pony species that really just quarrelled amongst each other stood before us alone and clapped his hooves slowly together saying "bravo, bravo I didn't actually think you'd figure it out before you died Empress".
The Councilman was not a small pony but he was old with a grey body and a grey mane and the look of a noble pony snob who dislike commoners.
I rose myself to my full height and drew my sword saying "what are you talking about Councilmen, what's your name"? He looked slightly angered by this but coolly said "Councilman Shine and I must say Cyrus that your timing is absolutely incredible given the circumstances, wouldn't you say boys" he said loudly to the whole room which I only now noticed to be devoid of any guards.
"What did you do to the Guards?" I asked. Shine smiled and suddenly six guards emerged from behind the Pillars of the Throne Room and advanced until they surrounded me and the Princess swords drawn. "I looked at Shine and could only ask "why"?
"What, that's all you pathetic, useless and brain dead Unicorn"! "You are a disgrace to your race, to your class and to the Empire which has been forged because pony kind has grown weak and tired and under the leadership of me and the Unicorns with the technology provided to us by the Changeling Empire we shall rise from this technological backward land into new and impossible frontiers where everyone will know their place!" he yelled as the six guards all seemed to shift before my eyes, becoming the Empress then me and then the insect form I had described not so long ago.
Even though I had only perceived them previously from afar there was not much more to them than what previously described and then they shifted again, back to the guards which I
Three hung back as the other three advanced, backing us to the throne. The Empress I could see was fearful yet she kept her fear hidden and shared a look with me which I knew well. "Now!" she yelled and we simultaneously charged into battle.
I swung my sword in an arc and caught the guard to the left off guard, (which was kind of funny considering the words guard and guard are both spelled the same but anyway) my short sword sliced across his chest leaving a huge and deep wound which made the changeling/guard gasp in both surprise and pain as his life met its end.
The Empress charged at the changeling on the right, swiping his front legs out from under him and then sending him flying across the room where he slammed through a stained glass window depicting the foundation of the Empire.
The final changeling in the centre swung his blade at the Princess and simultaneously dodged my strike for his heart. The Empress then sent a wave of magical force against him which unbalanced him enabling me to go in for the kill and swing my sword with all my might towards his head.
He seemed surprised that he wasn't dead and thought by the look on his face that my sword had simply gone through him, which was before of course his head slid from his neck and rolled across the floor to the feet of Councilman Shine.
I and the Empress both took ready combat stances and waited for the other three guards too attack. Shine looked quite displeased with how we'd dealt with his assassination attack so far and I personally felt glad that we were getting back at the man who'd killed the Empress's husband and the Father of those two foals behind us.
"So you think that you can beat us well then you're in for a surprise, show him your real teeth boy's" said Councilman Shine with a cocky and way too overconfident smirk towards us which showed malice and hatred all in one.
The impersonated guards seemed somewhat relieved and they pulled from their belts the kind of weapon I'd seen in Saddle Arabia. It was small but had a long cylindrical look to it and it seemed to be part wood part metal with a small crystal lodged in it.
I didn't know really what was about to happen next but had I known I might have chosen a different course of action to the one I had chosen at that precise moment. I charged and so the Empress too charged and the next thing I knew was a huge bang and a blinding flash of light and I'm thrown back across the room along with the Empress where I crash against one of their cots whilst she crashed against the other.
The surprise and the shock quickly wear off and are overtaken by an incredible pain the likes I have hardly felt before and I look at my shoulder to see that it has been devastated by the fire stick. I ignore my wound and quickly look over to the Empress where she is lying on the floor, gasping in pain as she struggles to breathe.
It would appear that I had been lucky only taking the one shot whilst the she had taken the other two, one in the chest and the other in the left shoulder like me.
The little foals are crying from the explosively large sound and I try to stand up and make my way to the Empress if only to protect her from any more shots that might erupt from those death dealers but they all seem content to leave us like this.
"Fascinating isn't it" begins the Councilman "the Changelings call it a gun and it works by using a charged energy crystal and a small iron ball in a small chamber, the magic is released in the chamber and the ball is propelled at tremendous speed into the heart of let's say the common pony who would dare to marry an Empress" spat Shine with his last words directed towards the Empress.
I swore to myself I would kill Shine later but for now I'd made my way over to the Empress and looked into her large and tearful eyes. "I propped her head against me and silently pleaded with a look in my eyes that she would do something amazing like summon some kind of amazing magical fighters. But alas nothing happened and she simply gasped as her body failed and her mind raced to process last minute things.
"Cyrus i-it's all coming apart, y-you have to promise to protect them my children you-you'll know what to do…" she said as her eyes closed for the last time and her breathing died along with the rest of her.
I couldn't quite comprehend what was happening and so I tried to see if this was just a horrible nightmare by counting to three and opening my eyes. However her dead and dull face greeted me just as before and I was overcome by a single purpose now…kill Shine.
I pulled my dirk from its sheathe and with my good hand I raised it and half ran half limped at Shine. His guards were surprised but quickly stepped in front of me to try and bar the way forward.
I however just kept on going and stabbed the neck of the Changeling closest to me before being knocked down by the other two.
I snarled and kicked, trying to get up despite my weakened state but failing to do so even with the rage flowing through my veins. I couldn't see much but the hooves of the Councilman soon materialised in front of me and he ordered to his lackeys "get him on his feet"
I was dragged to my feet, struggling and kicking all the way where I met his ugly face looking at me eye to eye. "You know you are an able fighter and quite the diplomat Cyrus, people would really appreciate you calming them when the news of the Empress's death reaches their ears".
I looked into his eyes at the black pits which infested his pupils and spat into his eye. Childish maybe but right now a small victory for what that bastard had done was better than absolutely nothing at all.
He was taken aback slightly and cringed as he got out a handkerchief and wiped the spit from his eye. Furiously he slapped me with his hoof and declared "very well then so it would seem that the guards came upon you attacking the Empress and so detained you, but not before you killed her and your accomplices made off with the foals yes delicious… you will become a traitor and your name shall be struck form the books, no one will ever find out the truth and in time this weak Empire shall thank me for the strength I give it" he declared as he brought his hoof down extra hard on my head and the world went black and my final thoughts were on how something fantastic could change with the actions of one greedy and self-obsessed pony who was fighting for a cause which had caused untold millions of deaths.