Zelgius stared at both Celestia and Luna with a raised eyebrow from beneath his helmet, while the two had neutral expressions on their faces. “You  want me to do what?”

“We want you to protect Twilight and her friends.”

“I heard, but why not have a Royal Guard do this?” Zelgius asked staring at the the two. ‘I know they are up to something.’

“Zelgius. We understand your concern about wanting to protect us,” Celestia paused, before continuing “we fear that enemies will come for the element bearers.”

“You fear that your guards aren't up to the task.” The two didn’t speak, but it still answered the question. “Your guards are pathetic.” Zelgius said bluntly, causing the guards in the room to glare at him.

The two princesses frowned slightly. “They are the best ponies that have gone through the training regimen.”

“Training yes, but they have never seen battle until yesterday. The only one that seems cable of fighting is your Captain, Shining Armor.” Zelgius spoke.

“Why do you say things like this?”

“I only speak the truth. Your guard wouldn’t last long in a war.” Zelgius stated.

Zelgius gave the two one look before turning and walking towards the doors.

“You never gave us your answer.” Celestia pushed as Zelgius walked out the door.

They smiled has the heard his whispered “Yes.”

Zelgius walked through the hallways, staring at the guard with a look of disappointment underneath his helmet. “Have the guards really lost most of their fighting abilities?”

“Hey!” A deep voice spoke from behind Zelgius causing him to stop. “I heard what you said about the Royal Guard  being weak, want to prove that!” Zelgius turned to see a guard, though this one was different.He was a earth pony whose fur was brown with a red mane. He wore armor like the guard but that was where the similarities ended, his armor was covered in scratches. He had a scratch that went down the right side of his face, where a scar was going through his eye.

“You are?” Zelgius queried.

“The names Axehoof! Lieutenant of the Royal Guard,also your better!” Zelgius stared at him. “I heard what you said about us, but you don’t look so tough!”

“What do you want?” Zelgius asked as he stared.

“A duel, Me….against you.”

Zelgius raised an eyebrow, “You want to duel?”

Axehoof smirked. “Are you scared, or maybe deaf?” Zelgius stared at him while there was a crowd forming. “The famous Black Knight is nothing but a coward!” He taunted at Zelgius who stood there. “He doesn’t even show his face! If he’s so brave then why doesn’t he remove his helmet, and show us his real face?”

Before he could go on he heard heavy steps, turning around he saw Zelgius staring down at him. “I accept your challenge.”

<<<<<>>>>>

Celestia and Luna sat at a table with the element’s who were asking about Zelgius. “Where did he come from?”

“Sir Zelgius was found by our parent’s. We don’t know the full story as we were just born at the time.”

“Then how did he end up being your guardian?” Twilight asked while scribbling down on paper, causing her friends, except for Pinkie and Fluttershy, to roll their eyes.

“Well,have you heard of the Massacre of the King Metalbeak Horde?” Celestia asked.

The elements all looked to each other in confusion until Rainbow spoke up in recognition, “Hey! I heard that before!”

“Dash, behave yerself!” Applejack growled at the pegasus who was hovering in the air, flapping her wings.

“It’s ok Applejack. Continue my little pony.”

“Well,I didn’t really pay a lot of attention but my old friend Gilda told me of a tale that was used to scare young fledglings. She was said that a monster in dark armor would come and…” Rainbow trailed off as hers widen in realization. “Oh...MY GOSH!”

Luna took a sip of tea. “Indeed, Zelgius was the one who helped our parent’s. He did it to repay a debt owed.”

“Debt? What debt?! All I see is cookies!” PInkie exclaimed as she munched on cookies that were not on the table before.

Luna raised an eyebrow in confusion, “How did she…”

“Don’t ask Luna. Anyway, back to your question,” Celestia sat there thinking “we were told by our father that Zelgius was found by the Royal Guards. At first they wanted to either kill him or leave him dead out of fear of him working with the Griffions.” The ponies eyes widened in shock

“Our father then told us that he took him under his care. For weeks he was carried, unconscious. It was when Metalbeak finally caught up to us that it happened.” Luna spoke as she appeared to have a far away look in her eyes. “He was planning on killing everypony, civilian and foal. It was our luck that that was when Zelgius awoke.”

“Wait hold up! When you were fillies?! How old is he!” Applejack shouted.

“If you wouldn’t interrupt us, we shall continue the story.” Luna spoke up with a small glare. The ponies just nodded their heads, while Pinkie started munching on popcorn. Luna raised an eyebrow but didn’t say a word about it.

“Anyway, the Griffons attacked. While most of them tried a frontal assault, there were a few griffons that had managed to sneak into the camp. One griffon almost killed a young colt but Zelgius killed him. He then proceeded to slay the rest of the saboteurs. He then joined our father in battle, though he was asked why he decided to help.”

The ponies were silent, taking in Luna words in. Celestia spoke up next, “It was his debt. He decided to help us to repay his debt, but he stuck around after the battle and protected us.”

“Princess, if he was there when you were fillies, then why did he disappear?” Twilight asked.

“We don’t know. All our parents told us was that he left. On that day we were given an amulet. Our father said Zelgius wanted us to have it. Though we didn’t know he was sealed in it at the time.”

“That must of sucked for him. I mean, he went from fighting battles everyday, to where there are no battles.” Applejack spoke.

“Thats why we also called you all here for this meeting. We assigned him to protect you six but…” Luna trailed off, allowing Celestia to finish. “He has never accepted any reward, nor does anypony know what he has done. He only follows his duty. We want you six to show him the Power of Friendship.”

Twilight turned looking at her friends who had smiles on their faces. She beamed, turning back to Celestia. “Princess we would be honored.”

“Where is the big guy anyway?” Rainbow asked.

A nearby guard spoke up,“He’s in the courtyard dueling with Axehoof after Axeoof issued a challange to him.”

“Shall we go watch?” Luna asked, with everypony quickly nodding their heads. The ponies followed the princesses outside the doors. The group found themselves at the courtyard with guards standing around in a large circle. In the center stood Axehoof and Zelgius, each staring at each other, At least Axehoof thought Zelgius was staring at him.

“You know, I been waiting for this. I’ll show you that the Royal Guard is all we need for protection!” Axehoof yelled as he pulled out a large axe.

“Thats a big axe.” Applejack commented.

“Size doesn’t mean anything.” Twilight said.

Rainbow smiled mischievously, “That’s what she said.”

Twilight blushed as she glared at her, “That was completely unladylike!”

Zelgius pulled his sword, then pointed it at Axehoof. “Let me show you why you are weak.” Axehoof growled and rushed at Zelgius held his ground. Axehoof leaped into the air, then grabbed his axe with both hooves before bringing it down with all his might . Zelgius raised his sword blocking it with one hand.

Axehoof jumped back to stare at Zelgius. “I’m impressed, Not a lot of things can stand up to my strength.” He growled though when he didn’t hear anything from Zelgius. “Stop thinking you better than us!”

The group watched as Axehoof rushed at Zelgius and started swinging madly, while Zelgius simply parried them.

“Why does he seem so upset?” Applejack asked.

Celestia sighed, “Zelgius made a comment about how every guard was useless besides your brother, Twilight.”

“Why would he say something so mean?” Fluttershy asked softly.

“You girls have to remember, Zelgius fought in battles with guards who knew how to fight in battle properly, and he probably sees it as a insult to their memory.”

The girls nodded their heads though they became a little worried when Rarity started shaking. “Sugarcube, yah alright?”

“Axehoof.”

The group gave each other looks. “Yeah?”

“How could he die his mane red, when it doesn’t go with brown! It’s horrible!” Rarity shouted as she busted into tears.

“Why won’t you lose?!” Axehoof swung his axe once more, only for Zelgius to knock it out of his hoof. Axehoof jumped back, as his axe embedded into the ground beside him.

Zelgius stared at Axehoof. “Ike stay back!” Zelgius blinked only to see he was staring at a man with a axe in his hands. Zelgius saw he was holding a different sword, but he saw he still had Alondite in its sheathe.

Zelgius blinked then saw Axehoof rushing at him again. He simply took a step to the side and swung down catching Axehoof off balance and causing him to fall to the ground.. Zelgius lowered his blade to his neck.

Axehoof glared up at Zelgius, who sheathed his sword. “I see the guard’s spirit is still there.” Axehoof became confused as did everypony who was there. “I wanted to test the guard. I’ll admit you all are weak,but I can see yourselves becoming the strong proud guard you used to be. The question,” Zelgius offered a hand down to Axehoof. “Is how hard will you train for it?” Axehoof stared at him, then took the hand offered.

“He was testing them?”

“It seems sir Zelgius still sees hope in the guard.”

Twilight stared over at at Zelgius who had walking away. “Who are you Zelgius?”

“Who am I?” Zelgius thought.

Next Chapter: Chapter 5 Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 37 Minutes