Chapter 4  The Guardian

//Note: due to some reasons I will be trying out a different sort of writhing I have written many fanfics in the previous form and this is the first time I have encountered problems with it also don’t be so harsh on me note that English is not my natal language, if you don’t like it please tell me and ill fix this chapter, if you do like it then also tell me to continue my story with this new form. The change is basically my form of describing actions and repeating some things many times, for this I am sorry and will try to fix it.//

It is a common fact between all ponies and many of the other races all over Equis that making Princess Celestia lose her calm and benevolent temper is indeed hard, and those who had managed it were only a select few, among them was Celestia’s prized student Twilight Sparkle, which in an attempt to force problems for her to solve and send her a report in friendship had in fact caused a large problem in Ponyville and now, for a second time, she had managed to make her lose her temper once more.

“mmmmm, hello?” was all jack could say before both princesses walked through the door of the library “Guard the entrance” Luna ordered to the guards “Yes your majesty” they answered in unison.

Once the library was secured both princesses focused their attention to the frightened purple unicorn in front of them “Twilight Sparkle!” everyone in the room cringed at the obvious anger and disappointment in the white alicorn’s face and authoritarian voice “Explain NOW!!” she demanded at the same time her left forehoof stomped the floor cracking it slightly.

***about 5 minutes in the past***

Princess Celestia and Luna were on their throne room, looking at some scrolls and reports of the recent attacks on the mayor cities of their kingdom, some of them were fine and nothing much to report, other were more grim “Manehatten, October 21,  12 civilian deaths by the attack of 2 giant scorponoks and 5 hydras,  Stalliongrad, October 21, 3 pegasi guards died defending the main entrance from a Berserker Manticore  *sigh* more and more deaths every day, how are your reports going little sister?”

“Not so good Tia, we are having a hard time reading the losses of thou subjects” her voice tracked sadness “Tia, what do you think is causing the monsters to be so wild? Shouldn’t our combined magical essence be enough to scare them?”

“I really don’t know Luna, maybe our essence has become weak or maybe the influence of discord was stronger than we thought”

“You know full well we think it was not discord big sister, his influence does not make monsters wild” an uncomfortable silence came over the two sisters.

“I know Luna, it’s just I don’t know what to do, for the first time in two thousand years I don’t know how to stop this conflict”

“What about the elements of harmony? Thou student and her friends did use them to-“

“And you know full well the elements or not meant to harm, only to protect and bring harmony”

“We…..we know”

“Your speaking is almost normal now, Im impressed you did so much progress in such a short time” she smiled at her sister lovingly.

“Yes, twilight sparkle mail guide has helped us…me very much”

“I hope they are doing well, I have faith in my student, and I know she will not disappoint me”

As if destiny and faith had planned it, a scroll appeared in front of the princess of the sun, she was really happy to see mail from her faithful student it always cheered her hearth knowing about her studies and her progress.

“oh, my beloved student even in this chaos she manages to find time to attend her duties, I do hope this new report will be happier then the last one she sent me” she began to unfold it with her telekinesis.

“Read it aloud big sister we wish to know what important lesson she has learned” Luna approached her sister right side in order to listen more carefully.

“Dear Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, this is strange, this doesn’t look like spike’s hand writing” she read the letter out loud, both sisters gasped in shock and couldn’t believe the information they were reading “Sincerely, Fullmetal “Jack”, The Human!?”  ………..How………how did she do it? How could she do it?“ Celestia was taking this hard to believe, to believe that Twilight, her student!, Would do something so reckless.

“F-forget that Tia! Where did she got the knowledge to know about humans existence!!??” reverting a little to the royal Canterlot voice was the price of her shock.

“I Do Not Know” logic was hitting her again and so was anger, she was losing control “Guards!” in less than 10 seconds 2 royal pegasi entered the room  “yes your highness?”

“Assemble a guard-strike force immediately!” the guard ponies just bowed the flew away to fulfill their order, less than 20 seconds later, 5 unicorn and 5 pegasi guards entered the room “all stay near me” they obeyed their ruler and a second later, they were gone.

***present time***

“I—I mmm uuhhh I j-just” twilight couldn’t say anything, she was to afraid and nervous to think straight.

“I am waiting Twilight! Answer me NOW! “again, she stomped her left forehoof again, making the cracks on the floor bigger.

“Hey, princess Celestia?, If you have to be angry at someone shouldn’t you be angry at me? Im the alien here”

“Thou shall not speak until we are done speaking with Twilight Sparkle human!” Luna glanced his way making him sit immediately.

“I---Im sorry princess! Im really am…..I…..I was desperate, I knew it was forbidden but I was so desperate I acted without thinking please princess understand ……..please!!”twilight hanged her head in shame, she couldn’t look at her mentor in the eyes, not now, she knew she was disappointed in her, seeing that would surely kill her, she just knew it.

“Twilight Sparkle” she called again, this time with her soft calm voice “I am truly disappointed in you, you did something very reckless and, forgive me for saying this, stupid”

“Im so sorry princess I—“

“But Im also very proud of you” Twilight and Luna stared at Celestia in disbelief “you thought of others before you, you thought of the protection and safety of everypony else even before your own, that is truly impressive and even more that you had managed to break a barrier I created a long time ago, tell me how did you do it? Tell me everything from the beginning” the princess kneeled until she was on the floor, in the same level as twilight was.

“Well princess, you see---“

***10 minutes later***

“Im very impressed in you Twilight, disappointed, but very impressed and proud too” she got back up “now, Jack was it?”

“Yes, your highness?”

“I thank you for protecting my little ponies today, but Im afraid that I and my sister can not trust you unless we see your soul”

“My soul?”

“Yes human, we must make sure thou isn’t a threat to us and that thou is saying the truth and thy actions are pure and noble”

“It won’t hurt I promise, I can tell you are a good human but we must make sure, are you alright with this?”

“Well I don’t have much of a choice either, but promise me one thing before you do it”

“And that would be?”

“If you find evil in my soul, even the tiniest amount of evil that may threaten you or Twilight or anypony in the future tell me right away, and I’ll take my own life”

“Wh-what!?, you can’t be serious Jack!!”

“I am Twilight, for the reaction of the princesses and for what I’ve heard so far, that is the best option, I will gladly take my own life before I may hurt anypony and taint this beautiful world” he said smiling a big sincere smile.

“Noble words young human, now let us see your soul” Jack nodded and then both sister’s horns shinned, a string of light connected with his head, if felt weird, it felt as if someone was inside of him searching and exploring, soon he got used to the feeling, closed his eyes and let them continue with ease.

A few minutes passed this way, neither Jack nor the princesses moved an inch since they had started this process, Twilight on the other hoof was really concerned she had read about this soul exploring spell, the longer it took increased the chances of discovering evil within the depths of a soul, she read that it normally takes from 3 to 5 minutes to explore the soul of anypony, they were hitting minute 11 now, “well, he is not a pony so maybe those rules don’t apply to him” she thought giving her hope, she really was hoping for him to have a pure clean soul, not for his protection or the time and strength she had put on the summon, it was for his life.

Another 5 minutes passed, owlicious and spike hadn’t even moved from their spots since the arrival of the princesses and were also waiting eagerly for the results, ever so slowly the strings began to fade away, and both sisters looked at each other equally happy and surprised. Jack opened his eyes just seconds later.

“Well, what did you found in there? Was it evil? It was evil right? If you’ll excuse me ill commit seppuku outside” ha gave a sigh and began to stand up.

“Wait! Don’t do anything harsh, don’t jump to conclusions like that, we didn’t saw evil in you, there was a black taint like in every soul but so much less than normal”

“Thou soul was, very complex to explore, we  saw the good in you and the pureness of your actions and ideals, we are most happy to say that thy soul is clean but we did found something more”

“What was it princess Luna?”

“We saw” both sisters at the same time “Magic”

“Magic? But how is that even possible I thought only unicorns and alicorns could do magic” spike said, speaking for the first time in a long while.

“Not at all spike, all creatures can do magic, but some are more adept to it, for example dragons are as magical as unicorns but their magic reside on their emotions and actions, remember you little incident?”

“Oh yeah, jeez Twi thanks for making me remember that”

“I can do magic? Me? A simple human?” the princesses only nodded to him “forgive me rainbow dash, but, THAT IS SO AWESOME!!! Magic is the DREAM of almost every human! And I get to do it!? “

“For what we saw in thy soul, we noticed that on ancient times humans could do magic but lost the connection in some point, it is still there but asleep and now it has woken up in you since our land is magical itself”

“But you will need to train your abilities; I can’t tell how strong you can get but I can say you will learn to control them fast for what we saw” Celestia turned to see Twilight “Twilight Sparkle, by order and decree of the royal pony sisters you will teach this human named Fullmetal “Jack” to control and use his new found ability in magic”

“I will do the best I can to teach him princess, oh and princess?”

“Yes Twilight?”

“Im really happy to see you again” Twilight smiled at her teacher happily and she returned the gesture.

“Now Jack, we must discuss other matter don’t we?”

“huh? oH! yeah sorry, princess Celestia, princess Luna, I Fullmetal “jack” the human ask permission to stay here in Ponyville and serve as the Guardian of the lives that reside in this village”

“Fullmetal “jack” the human, I princess Celestia of Equestria shall grant your request and name you “Guardian of Harmony” as for this moment onward you will protect Ponyville, its residents and the bearers of the elements of Harmony, for that I shall grant you the Solar court title, Knight of Friendship”

“Fullmetal “Jack” the human, I Princess Luna of Equestria shall grant you the Lunar court title, Grey Knight and also I shall grant to you the noble armor of the grey knight”

“t-that’s really an honor your highnesses, it’s a dream come true, but if I may, could I make another request?”

“Tell us your request Jack the human”

“Princess Luna, only Jack is fine”

“Then call us ehm, me, just Luna”

“Fair enough, for my request is that, if I get an armor can I please decide how it would look like?”

“Why of course Jack, tell me, what do you have in mind? And by the way you can just call me Celestia”

“Well I was thinking about something I once saw in a game” he opened his laptop and turns it on.

***some time later***

“and that’s my idea, is it possible?” he asked hopeful for a positive answer, after all if he was going to be a guardian he wanted to look cool at the very least.

“It seems a little complex but it is possible, we must ask thou to give us thy instrument to better design thy armor”

“Of course prin—I mean, Luna”  “is it just me or is Luna even more cute in person than in the show?” he thought looking at her with a little blush on his face.

“Good then we shall leave for the night, rest and sleep well, we will deliver your armor and proper assignment in a few days, farewell jack, I hope to see you soon for a more, private talk”

“You can count on that Celestia”

“Luna lets go”

“Right behind you big sister”

After exiting the library a bright flash of light was seen and with that the princesses and their guards were gone the same way they had arrived, inside the library everything was now quite and one could feel the relief of its residents, with no words at all everyone in the room fell on the ground exhausted from the day, the party and the visit of the princesses.

The sun rouse up as always, shinning and brilliant, waking every creature for another day to start, this same rule applied for the group that lay on the floor of the library of Ponyville, having passed out on it the night before their morning wasn’t all that pleasant.

After a good breakfast of toast, apples, apple juice and daisy sandwiches (for spike and twilight) each one started the new day with renewed strength, Jack had decided to help the apple family first since they always started work early. Arriving at the farm he noticed AJ already bucking some apple trees.

“Howdy there Jack how’s yer doin´ this mornin´?”

“Good morning AJ I’ve come to see if there is anything I can help with around here”

“Sure, come ya can help Big Mac on the fields” she gestured him to follow her.

“Big Brother! Ah got ya some help” AJ shouted at his brother who was plowing the fields with an old rusty plow.

“Howdy Jack” Big Mac greeted “Yer helpin’ us out today?”

“Of course, where do we begin?”

“Ah leave you two ‘lone then”

Throughout the morning both males worked the fields with ease, seeing it was really easy and fast to plow the land between two of them rather than alone, they finished in what Mac called “Record time” only taking 3 hours to finish all their work for the day, they decided to take a little break and talk a little before going to help AJ with the trees.

“Tell me Big Mac what do you do for fun around here?”

“We don’t have much time to have fun ‘round here, there’s always work to be done, but when Am free Ah try to socialize a bit”

“I can tell, you just talked your biggest phrase so far” Jack laugh a little.

“Eeyup”

“And I know it’s not my business but is there a filly you like? I’ve been curious to know if you do”

“Eeyup” Big Mac blushed a little but thanks to his coat Jack didn’t noticed it.

“Care to share who she is?”

“Nnope”

“Will you tell me later if we become good friends?”

“……..Eeyup”

“Alright!, lets finish our drinks and go help AJ”

“Eeyup”

After finishing their drinks they went to help AJ with the apple trees, surprisingly enough between the 3 of them they were done before 12 o’clock, AJ and Big Mac were grateful for Jack’s help and they even offered to pay him but he rejected it, saying he was only helping a new friend out. Zecora came into view a little after that alongside with Applebloom who had just finished attending school, she had somehow taken the role of granny smith in the farm, which she enjoyed greatly, for a family was something she had always desired, after greetings and goodbyes he was off.

Then he decided to pay Fluttershy a visit and see if she needed help with something, when he arrived at her cottage, which was in the south border of the wall, she was tending to some little ducklings and their mother, she didn’t need much help at all, just feeding and treating some sick or wounded animals that arrived at her home during the day, he really liked Fluttershy  after all she was his favorite character, after 2 hours he waved goodbye and went to see if anypony else needed help.

To his surprise many had asked for his help as he was walking through town, moving boxes and heavy stuff, helping Pinkie deliver some of her goods, playing along with little foals and fillies and even helping Doctor Hooves with some patients was all he did that day.

“Man, I sure am tired, but it was a lot of fun, I do wonder, what would be the reaction on the Doc if I ask him about the tardis? Mmmmm, meh, he’ll probably answer me something like ‘The what now?’, it sure is getting late its almost sundown I guess there won’t be a monster attack today, better get back to the library and rest who knows what is going to happen next”

***********

It had passed 4 days since Jack’s arrival and everyday he helped the town in every way he could, the day before some lupus minors and a small hydra had tried to attack Sweet Apple Acres only to find Jack and Macintosh working on the fields, planting seeds and watering new crops, while Mac took the lupus minors head on, Jack fought off the small hydra back to the forest, no monster or pony died that day, the only victim was the rusty old plow, destroyed thanks to the hydra.

Later that same day rarity had finished fixing him some new clothes (imagine clothes like the ponies from Canterlot use only in the design of a human) and even though he wanted to pay her she insisted it was a gift for his protection and as a friend, and he had to admit, the new clothes though fancy were really comfortable and flexible. Also twilight and spike had told to their friends the little incident in the library 4 days prior and were happy to know that Jack was the official guardian of Ponyville; this of course had summoned a “Ponyville new guardian” party that night.

Now it was almost noon and he had just finished patrolling the border of the walls along with some ponies of the civil guard, as he was strolling through the town hoping to find something to eat many ponies started to gasp in awe as they watched the skies. Curiosity won and he decided to look at the sky too.

“The princesses are coming?” was a question to no one in particular as two carriages landed in the middle on the town square, everypony vowed at the sight of Celestia and Luna, he approached them fast and bowed to them equally “Celestia, Luna, it is good to see you again”

“It is good to see you again too Jack, we have come to bring you a gift” Celestia’s smile told him everything.

“Really!!? Oh, forgive me for my excitement, c-can see it?”

“Why of course, come this way please you must try it on now”

As he followed Celestia to an improvised tent, Luna stayed behind talking with some of her subjects; it wasn’t long before the mane 6 arrived to the scene, surprised at seeing a tent in the middle of the square they asked Luna what was going on.

“Princess Luna if I may know, what is the purpose of that tent?”

“It is simple dear Rarity, since we have named Jack yours and Ponyville’s guardian we have come to –“

“Make him a party right? Right?!! Is it a private party? That’s no fun! parties are no fun if only a few ponies go! “

“No! It’s not a party dearest Pinkie Pie”

“Awwwwww……HEY! That means I get to throw another party!! I’ll need balloons oh oh oh and a piñata” Pinkie said as she bounced happily in her place.

“Now were ya sayin’ yer majesty?”

“ ehem, yes as we were saying, we have come to deliver his new armor and equipment”

“What kind of equipment princess, I mean if it is ok to know”

“Weapons he requested” was her simple answer “here he comes now”

Jack was wearing a grey/white armor that covered his entire body, (note: check this to have an idea

http://lutherniel.deviantart.com/art/Grey-Knight-94336203?q=boost%3Apopular%20Grey%20Knight&qo=6

its basically the same except the backpack) he had big gauntlets on his hand and the lower part of his arm; the armor on his upper arms were more thin about half the size of the lower part, then on his shoulders were big pieces of armor protecting his shoulders, upper arms and a bit of his head, back and chest from both sides, his body armor was very well protected, in fact the only part vulnerable was the thin belt that joined his  lower half with his upper half, his lower half  was almost as broad as his gauntlets except they didn’t dismissed mobility, protecting his head was a helmet it had 2 open slots were his eyes could be seen and it formed a smile like figure simulating an angry face, the most impressive parts were the other garnets on it, the joints of the armor were covered in small rubies, sapphires and diamonds, his gauntlets had rune marks, in the center of his body armor, right were his chest would be was the emblem of the elements of harmony (you know the original elements, the jewels)  on his right shoulder armor the images of Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie could be seen, on his left shoulder armor the images of Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Applejack could be seen, all in same poses as in the Canterlot  crystal windows, on his back the symbols of the sun and the moon could be seen in great detail, in the center of his helmet, just a little above his forehead the image of the flag of Ponyville was been displayed in glory and finally on his right hand a long spear ending in a sword-reaper like form.

“Girls tell me truth, do I look cool or do I look cool !!?”

“T-t-th-that is SO AWESOME, with that thing on you; you look like, 120% cooler!!”

“Spoooooookeeeey”

“Aside from the screams of being unfashionable, I say it suits you perfectly darling!”

“I-it looks heavy are you alright with so m-much on you?”

“Well I’ll be, if those monsters don’t ran away from yer with tha’ suit on ya’then I don’t know what will scare them off haha”

“Whoa, dude it’s cool but creepy, you’re screaming “Fear me!” out loud!”

“Im very impressed in the detail of your armor, you really are imaginative Jack”

“Thank girls and Spike that is the idea of this suit but you know I feel that something is missing”

“We think you are correct” Luna’s horn glowed a purple light lifting something in her carriage, it was a shield “We believe this is the last piece of thy armament, are we correct?”

“Yes Luna, you are correct” the shield floated until it was in front of him, he then took the shield with his left arm “this is the best part of my equipment, check it out” he then turned the shield towards the 7 friends.

It was a big rounded shield, about half the size of Jack and big enough to protect himself behind it, it was dark on the border then a much smaller grey circle in the center of the shield with 8 different images, in the very center of the shield was the symbol of Equestria, around it a pink butterfly, a purple diamond, a blue balloon, a red lightning bolt, an orange apple, a magenta six-pointed star and a small purple dragon could be seen clearly.

“Now I truly feel like a guardian, Im wearing the very reasons Im fighting for”

“We came just to deliver you this personally Jack, make us proud”

“I will make you proud your majesty” Jack kneeled before Celestia “thank you for this honor and opportunity I will fulfill my duty for myself, for you and my new friends”

“Very well said Jack, we must leave now, there are some problems we must attend to” Celestia said as she climbed aboard her carriage.

“We…..I hope to see you soon, Jack”

“I-I hope so too, Luna”

The princesses left Ponyville as fast as they have arrived, many asked questions about his “commoner” way to address the princesses, others asked about his armor, and so the they went on, is was almost time for the moon to rise up from its slumber, when a deep howl echoed throughout Ponyville, a howl 3 ponies knew very well.

“That howlin’ comes from the timber wolves, but it aint zap apple harvesting time yet”

“Somethin’ is tellin’ me this will be one wild night, don’t ya agree Big Mac?”

“Eeyup”

“Ya’ stay here with Zecora Applebloom” AJ ordered her sister as she and Big Mac galloped their way right into the west entrance. Leaving Applebloom with Zecora in the farm.

Once they arrived they noticed that Jack and many others were already on the gate waiting for a nocturnal battle to begin, just as the moon began to rise up into the starry sky the mighty howls of the timber wolfs were heard loud and clear, seconds later dozens of timber wolfs began a race into the walls and the entrance to Ponyville.

“And so, my duty begins” Jack said putting on his helmet, then he jumped out of the wall right in front of the entrance ready to take on the timber wolfs with all his force.

Chapter 4 End.

Next Chapter: Chapter 5: Allies and defense Estimated time remaining: 21 Minutes