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[s]Equestrian Legends the Original is back![/s] Rumours of my rebirth have been greatly exaggerated.

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Guardian Annoying [Complete]; Feb 4 5151 [Rough Cut] [Closed]
Topic Started: Sep 11 2012, 09:31 PM (159 Views)
JIntegrity
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He'd heard of the young Dragon Slayer, reckless, but fearless. Ever since... well, ever since he'd heard of her exploits, he believed that she had great potential. He'd been trained in an academy dedicated to pursuit of training Equestria's greatest knights all his life, yet he'd never heard of any of them accomplishing even a portion of the feats she was known to have achieved at her age.

No, she had potential to do something truly great, truly legendary, but she had to get there, and she had a dangerous reputation for overconfidence.

She was on her way out to adventure, or on her way back from, hard to say from this far outside of Canterlot where he had made camp, but, regardless, there she was, and now was the time.

"Lady Rough Cut!"
Edited by JIntegrity, Sep 11 2012, 09:43 PM.
Cherished Sanctum || Unicorn || Male
Cosmo Spade || Pegasus || Male
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Lorventus
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There was a sound and her ear twitched. As she continued forging ahead, pushing through the thinner crowds near the periphery of the city, where the cold bit harder and the wind stole your breath away faster she kept hearing a voice. It was distant, but every time she heard it, something about it caught her ear, pulled it backward a little as she strained to hear what was said. It happened a few times, then finally she stopped and looked around as the words made sense their pull became logical; somepony was yelling her name and putting Lady before it. What. The. Heck?

She craned her neck, searching the ponies for somepony that looked like they were trying to find her, trying to get her attention, eventually they fell upon another armored pony, a unicorn at that. He was headed right for her, like a bullet. Of all things a pony might expect her mind to go to first, Oh horseapples, they sent a guard to collect my tab?! would not be the one most would think of. As the young buck came up she smiled nervously, "Look, I didn't walk out on that tab, honest, I thought I left enough bits!"
Marauder || D-Dog || Male
Rough Cut || Earth Pony || Female
Iron Hoof/Sibylla || Unicorn/Gryphon || Male/Female
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JIntegrity
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Cherished Sanctum blinked profusely for a moment while he tried to process what was happening, then proceed to laugh,

“No, my lady, I'm afraid you've mistaken me for a guard.”

He proceeded to kneel, his short, sky-blue mane spilling out from slit provided in his segmented armor, spanning from a metal plate forehead, complete with an opening for the carbuncle, down his crest, and then across his back all the way mid-loin. His white blond hair almost seemed like silver, while the white tower, kite shield, outlined in the same sky-blue hue as his mane and tail, accompanied with a smaller black shield standing out amongst the otherwise bright colors that defined this unicorn, compromised his cutie mark. His gray eyes, meanwhile, looked to the ground before him, distant as if he were busier searching for the words in his mind than observing the world around him,

“I am Sir Cherished Sanctum, Knight of Equestria. Though you are not, technically, a 'Lady', your deeds are worthy of note already, and it is only a matter of time before your deeds are worthy of greatness, mayhap legend. However, to do that you need to survive, and with your... reputation for recklessness... that is not guaranteed. I intend to ensure you survive. I will protect you. By my sacred honor as a knight, I am yours.”

He proceeded to stand. Even at full height he was shorter, and considerably smaller than the earth pony he now suggested to protect,

“I'm afraid that I was not eager to startle you, while I am sure I could probably defeat you in single combat, it is my intent to protect you, not challenge you. As such, my camp and belongings lie back in the wilds between this valley and the mountains beyond, in the lightly wooded hills near the, at this time of day, frozen river. I'm afraid I'm ill equipped to weather the cold of night in my current attire, and am loathe to leave my equipment unattended. However, seeing as how you're now my charge, it is impossible to leave you without an escort. I will leave all my worldly possessions behind, may they be of use to another, if you deem them unworthy of your attention.”

His words seemed sincere as his voice held no trace of mockery, and his face no indication deceit. Despite the fact he was already beginning to shiver, causing even his voice to shake, and his teeth to chatter, he stood, every muscle tense, eager and at the ready, as if ready to respond at a seconds notice.
Edited by JIntegrity, Sep 12 2012, 12:16 AM.
Cherished Sanctum || Unicorn || Male
Cosmo Spade || Pegasus || Male
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Lorventus
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There were no words. On the one hoof, this was her fondest dream, an honest to goodness fancolt! A few more and she'd have an entourage like one of those fancy ponies who went to fancy parties. That feeling however was tempered rather quickly at first by the Challenge laid before her, this buck thought he could best her. Geared up, no pony could! At least that was her personal claim to fame and it also happened to be mostly true, it took skilled mages and warriors to best her, some pushover tiny colt was not going to be able to beat her, not now not ever.

That thought caused her to frown and rather deeply, but still the buck rambled on and on and as he did her expression softened to concern. She finally decided to stop him, "You did what now? You. Left your gear, where." Metal met face as Rough Cut found herself utterly flabbergasted, "Look, this is nice and all, really. I've kinda always wanted a fan club that wasn't related to me, but all this 'protect you from harm' stuff is silly. Lookit you, you forgot rule one of adventuring in cold weather: Layers." She sighed and started walking toward a house with a nice stoop on it, shielded from the wind, its placement fortuitous for the pair.

As she arrived she looked back to see if the self proclaimed Knight of Equestria, had followed her, "Alright, we've got a problem. Though it's more 'You have a problem, I have a headache.' You left your pack in the middle of nowhere, you're only warm because you were running around trying to find me, Sisters knows the best way to find me is to check the bars after four PM and you're fawning over me like I'm the coming of Celestia Herself! It's Flattering really, but I don't need that kinda help and you really need to go back for your gear. I'll even lend you my overcoat, but you can't leave perfectly good gear out there, nopony's gonna find it before the sun turns back on." Implicit was that nopony was stupid enough to go camping again before the Sun turned back on. She removed her overcoat, clearly the stitched together and fluffed up pelt of some winter adapted beast or three.
Marauder || D-Dog || Male
Rough Cut || Earth Pony || Female
Iron Hoof/Sibylla || Unicorn/Gryphon || Male/Female
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JIntegrity
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Cherished Sanctum smiled, shaking his head as you began to remove the overcoat. He lifted a hoof, signaling for you to stop,

“I appreciate the offer, Rough Cut, but I do not need the overcoat.”

Suddenly his carbuncle sparkled, and his body seemed to glow a pale blue as he made a makeshift shield around himself to keep out the wind and the cold.

“I should be able to maintain this long enough to get to my camp, acquire my belongings, and return. I am truly honored that you felt enough concern for my well-being to offer me your overcoat, it serves only to assure me that I have made the right decision in choosing to serve you, but I am here to protect you, not the other way around. Though I feel I am being neglectful in abandoning you now to retrieve my belongings, it is more important that I make the necessary arrangements to be able to protect you now, than to have to abandon you in the unforeseen future where your life may hang in the balance.”

He turned and began to trot, doing his best to find the best balance between moving swiftly to reduce the amount of time he must maintain his personal shield at the risk of burning out and preventing physical exhaustion. Fortunately, he was not trying to deflect anything more than the wind and the elements, allowing him to make the shield a great deal weaker and easier to maintain than one created to withstand the rigors of combat would require. Before he made more than a couple steps he stopped, turned, and said,

“It might be best for me to tell you, now that you are my charge, I will find you, no matter where you go, or however you might try to hide. I am sworn to protect you, and until you can prove to me that you no longer need my protection, my life is yours.”

With that, he turned continued his trot towards the edge of Canterlot, towards the hills beyond. He seemed so confident his shield would hold, confident he'd be able to find his possessions safely, confident he would return safely; confident he would find you again.
Edited by JIntegrity, Sep 13 2012, 10:05 AM.
Cherished Sanctum || Unicorn || Male
Cosmo Spade || Pegasus || Male
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Lorventus
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There was a bit there of stunned resignation, that she had a fan club now and that the only member of said club was acting like a lost puppy, eager to please and protect its master. In her mind she had imagined it differently; a few dozen random ponies, cheering her, wanting likenesses of her signed, stupid things like that. Maybe an adult among them that would want to have some 'fun' on the side. Not this though. This was not how it should have been.

She watched him vanish into the gloom of the early wake-cycle, then she stood, turned toward the city and made haste for the other side of the city. There was no way she was going to intentionally let the naive little pony follow her. Regardless of how she saw herself as it came to combat or heroics, she felt she was a loner when it came down to actual fighting. Her style left little room for a unicorn throwing spells around, particularly one that looked so green. As she wound through the city streets she found herself feeling just a little bit bad, but then it changed over to mild paranoia. The buck had said he would find her, that he would protect her until she didn't need protecting anymore. There were only two ways something like that would happen, first would be her retirement forced or otherwise the second was her untimely demise. Neither was a good prospect, perhaps if he became persistent she could trick him, convince the fellow that she was done with the game, but what then? Even if she convinced him he'd hear of her once she started back up and return. The problem raced around her head as she pushed through the mid levels of Canterlot toward the north face.

On the northern face, she wormed her way down, passing the scum of Equestria as well as refugees from all over. The greatest city in Equesttria was being slowly invaded by ponies who couldn't take the cold out alone anymore. This side of the mountain was her least favorite side as it sucked the bits out of her. A few bits here to some beggar, a few to a refugee without a proper coat, some to the preacher gathering donations for soup kitchens. It was the worst for her. Eventually she ran down to where she couldn't afford to give anymore, which was a blessing in that now she could walk on without further problems, it also meant she would need to take a job on her way out. As luck would have it, there was a caravan moving out, coal fired trains were a luxury none could afford when the coal was needed to heat the city's hundreds of cold drafty homes.

With a short negotiation she catches a Caravan out of the city. She really did feel bad about Ditching her first true fan, but she couldn't let the colt end up dead because of his desire to 'protect' her.
Marauder || D-Dog || Male
Rough Cut || Earth Pony || Female
Iron Hoof/Sibylla || Unicorn/Gryphon || Male/Female
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JIntegrity
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Endurance training, he called it. It had been a while since he'd had time for a good, solid, training session. The shield blocked out the winds, and the motion kept his body warm, but he knew very well if he grew fatigued, or if he stopped, that he would surely freeze.

However, what was a trot compared to the rigors of combat? Days of travel with only a tent and fire warm enough to keep him alive at night, shivering all night, and waking more physically drained than when he had gone to sleep?

No, he'd found his charge, and wills filled with vigor. His muscles were no longer sore, and the effort to keep searching was no longer reliant on stuff made and refined from a life discipline. His earliest memories were as a page serving the master-of-arms, an old noble who, when not ruthlessly striving to ensure his squires won every tournament so that his college would become the most renowned in Equestria, fulfilled his duties as regional lord. He had thought his time as a page was hard, and then he was named squire...

Now that he thought about it, he wasn't sure which was the happiest day of his life: the day he won his first tourney, and was knighted thereafter, or now knowing he'd found his new charge.

As he neared the camp, everything was buried under a small coat of snow. He would no longer be able to trot to keep his muscles warm, so he had to move with a sense of urgency as he unburied his possessions, some by physical means, others telekinetically, and packed them. His possessions were wet from the snow, nearly inevitable being this close to the mountains, mountains too tall to allow the rainclouds passage. It used to keep this region green and fertile, but now it only sought bury it deeper in snow.

After a moment's consideration, he took his pack, and placed it upon his back. He felt the bitter cold water run through the segments of his armor, from back to flank to barrel, and wondered for a moment if it might not have been better to allow his magic take effort of lifting his instead.

As he began trotting back, he marveled at the sensation of the cold without wind. The air was crisp with a hint of a bite to it, but it was surprisingly pleasant. Were it not for the wind, the snow, and the fact he'd not seen the light of day in so long or felt its warmth, he'd not mind the cold. More amusing, however, was the sound of crunching snow without the sensation of it melting around his hooves and soaking him from the bottom of his cannons down. Before he'd learn to use this trick, he'd risked loosing his legs to frostbite several, painful times.

Perhaps it was his mood, the prospect of returning to his charge's side, that made the return so pleasant. Even the cold water of his pack became soothing to his warm muscles after a while as the cold went from near freezing to lukewarm within the heat of his shield.

Then, there it was, on the edge of his sights: Equestria.

He couldn't help himself. His heart leaped with excitement, and his trot became a full-on gallop. He neighed instinctively, he always made the sound before a charge, a glorious shout of resolve to fill his opponent's heart with doubt. Even if he was not charging in to battle, sword drawn, or running a couched lance in to somepony on the training ground, he galloped so rarely that any gallop registered as a charge as far as that habit was concerned.

In mere moments he was down the final hill, and quickly approaching Equestria. As he neared the city limits, he contained himself to a brisk trot, partially due to concerns of fatigue, but mostly because tales of knights galloping shamelessly through the city of Equestria might soil the honorable title of Knight.

Nopony stopped him as he entered town. He made is way back to where he had last seen his charge. She was not there. No surprise. He didn't expect her to wait in that exact spot. He made his way to the nearest pub, and though the barkeep knew of her, and said she frequented the place, told him she had not returned since they had parted ways. He proceeded to ask what tavern she normally stayed at, but the barkeep said he wouldn't know that. Whether it was the truth or a lie, he was grateful that the barkeep would not sell her to her enemies so easily. He made his way to most of the nearby taverns, some said they knew of her and she stayed there frequently, some had only heard of her as he had, but all agreed that she did not sleep there this night.

A page to a lord learns a lot. Lords make demands, and it is not a page's place to tell his lord that their demands are unreasonable. A shopkeeper has only what he has in stock. Traveling merchants, caravans, and all other practitioners of commerce all suffered from the same fundamental limitation. These men lived in land of projected supply and demand, and lords like his had no patience to wait on a demand made in spontaneous rage...

“Please, sir, a coin for an old beggar?”

The pony wore a miserable pile of rags that probably made him look much larger than he was, and even in them he appeared frail. His mane and tail were in disarray, his coat soiled to the point he could not begin to guess its natural color, and he smelt of garbage, which suggested both the quality of life and clothing the man had, and what he ate.

Cherished Sanctum knew his purse held little enough coin for his own rations, but a well kept secret was that most beggars paid protection to, or were members of, a greater beggars guild. In regions farther from the influence of the royalty of Equestria, they might proclaim themselves a “thieves guild” and have men practice the eponymic craft, but he highly doubted such a level of corruption existed here.

He telekinetically lifted his coin purse, and said to the beggar, “I have need of the services of the honorable Beggar's Guild of Canterlot. In exchange for its services, all the coin I possess, will be yours.”

The beggar harrumphed noisily and spat to the side, a beggar was meek, a member of the Beggar's Guild was shrewd.

“How do I know the coin in your purse is worth our services.”

Cherished Sanctum proceeded to telekinetically open the purse and allow all the coins to float visibly. Enough bits to feed a rationing pony for a few weeks. Cherished Sanctum smiled apologetically,

“I realize this is a meager tribute, but I'm simply trying to find our where my charge lie.”

The beggar's eye left eye narrowed.

“Sir, you talk like somethin' outta pony's tale. You fancy yerself a knight or somethin'?”

Cherished Sanctum bowed as he might to nobility.

“I am Sir Cherished Sanctum, Knight of Equestria.”

The beggar's demeanor lightened.

“Well, as fellow servants of Equestria, I suppose such a tribute would suffice,” the coins would proceed their purse, and purse proceed towards its new owner, “but if we somehow don't know where 'yer charge lies', or simply don't know the pony, yer outta luck. Understand?”

Cherished Sanctum nodded. He knew the game.

“I understand, fortunately, everypony knows of, Dragon Slayer Rough Cut.”

The beggar smiled warmly.

“Ah, yes, miss Rough Cut, she gives charity often to my brothers and sisters of the guild. If your charge is a mare like that, then your tribute is more than sufficient,” though he made no effort to return the coin, or even the purse, “I saw her heading up the north face of the city. Here, the guild leaves no job unfinished, especially one for a Knight and his charitable charge.”

The beggar escorted him, spoke with any brothers and sisters they passed, until they found the end of the trail.

“It appears she left this-a-way, escorting a caravan by the looks of it. You sure she's yer charge?”

Cherished' eyes were looking on the path beyond, like steel.

“Aye. I told her I would find her no matter where she went. I assume she had faith in my words, and began without me, knowing I would catch up.” He turned and bowed once more, “Thank you, Brother of the Beggar's Guild of Canterlot, I will be sure to remember your service this day, and provide charity in the future if I am able.”

Cherished had already began to take his first step when the beggar said, “Ya know, yer queer for a Knight. Most do not know of the guild, or treat it with disdain.”

Cherished would turn his head to face the beggar to say one last thing before he departed to pursue his charge.

“I wasn't always a Knight.”



((Note: The k in knight is lowercase unless referring to the title “Knight of Equestria”, in which case the K is capitalized.))
Edited by JIntegrity, Sep 13 2012, 04:45 PM.
Cherished Sanctum || Unicorn || Male
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