A defender's quest for...

by Archibad

Chapter 8 - Shattered Faith

It has already been days. David was unable to notice the changing of time. Everything seemed to pass him by. He felt like he was hours behind everybody else.

Yet he couldn't bring himself to move, not even an inch.

Only servants came into their room to tell them that breakfast, or lunch, or dinner is ready, and they should come down to eat. Of course, they never did, so after a while, they would just bring in the food on silver plates and place it down on the small table right beside the door.

They would barely touch it. Sometimes, when the hunger got so bad that they felt like they were digesting their own stomachs, they would force themselves up from the ground to have a few bites, but then they would feel so full that they would have to fight the urge to puke.

They didn't talk much as well. Lilly had her invisible spot to stare at, and so did David. That's what they did for the majority of their stay, sitting and staring without uttering a single word. Even the voice inside David's head turned down the amount of talking it did. It would sometimes suggest a few suicidal actions to him in his weaker, more unstable moments, but he wouldn't be able to summon the strength to take his own life, not even if he wanted to.

"Are you nervous about your trial?" Hearing a voice without the opening of the door was strange to David. He tore his eyes off the floor to look at Lilly.

"Why would I be?" He asked weakly.

"They might find you guilty of murdering Sturdy and you could go to jail for that," she said in a neutral voice while staring into nothingness.

"Would that change anything?"

Lilly remained silent for a few minutes, "You will sit and do nothing in a different room than me," she turned her head towards David and looked him in the eye.

He nodded once, "Can't wait," he added with a bit of sarcasm.

She slowly and uncertainly stood up from the ground and walked in front of him, "I am serious, you should probably prepare in some way."

"How could I? Under normal circumstances, I would pray to Zoh, but that would be pointless, as it had always been."

Lilly shook her head, "Just because there is no invisible person in the sky helping you out, that doesn't mean you can't help yourself out," she said and sat back down on the floor in front of the human.

David thought her words over in his head and now he was the one who stood up. His legs were numb from all that sitting on the hard ground, but at least they were still functional, "You're right," he admitted with a sigh and began slowly pacing around Lilly in a giant circle while deep in thought.

They stayed silent again for a few minutes until they heard a knock on the door. A servant, without saying anything to them, came in with a silver plate full of fresh, steaming hot food. She placed it down on the table and courtly left the room with a slight bow, carefully closing the door behind herself.

David and Lilly looked at each other for a moment, "Do you remember anypony coming in and saying that dinner is ready?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I think this is lunch, but no," answered David while still circling her.

"Did you come up with anything?" David stopped in the middle of the room and shook his head in shame, "Don't worry, I've seen a few tricks that could prove effective," she waved for him to come closer and he sat down in front of her.

"You saw them where, exactly?" He asked in fake suspicion, although it came off more than awkward than funny.

"Just because I was only a postmare for the Royal Guard it doesn't mean I never saw an actual trial," she shot back jokingly, but it sounded more like a scolding due to her neutral tone.

"Oh, alright," he answered while peering at the ground for a moment, "And what would those tricks be?"

"Give them a heartbreaking backstory, preferably from your foalhood," David turned his head towards her and just stared at her dumbfoundedly, not sure if she was being serious, "What, don't you know how much we ponies love a moving story?" She asked with a slight smile as her will to live came back in a blink of an eye.

"Well, I wouldn't want to tell such stories in front of a giant audience."

"Why not?"

"I don't know," he scratched his head while his cheeks went slightly red, "It doesn't feel right, sharing that big part of my life just like that," he snapped his fingers once.

"You're not sharing it just like that," she stood up and tried to imitate the snapping motion with her hoof, "You're sharing it because you are on a trial, and if you don't do that then your life is ruined just like that," she went on with a bit of faked sass in her voice and repeated the snapping motion.

A smile crept up itself onto David's face at Lilly's antics, "It's already ruined," and, just as fast as it came, his and her own few moments of joy vanished.

She let out a sorrowful sigh, "I know," she leaned back against the wall with her left side and slowly slid down to the floor, "But let's try not ruining it any further, alright?" She lifted herself back up from the ground after she remembered the purpose of their talk.

David nodded to her word of advice while he wiped off a tear from his face, "What kind of stories did you have in mind exactly?"

"Something bittersweet," David was still just staring at her, "You know, a sad story with a happy ending," she tried to explain it to him.

"I know what bittersweet means, I just don't remember anything like that from my life," he shook his head after a few seconds of thought.

"You're just pulling my leg now," she lightly tapped David's cheek in a slapping motion.

"I wish I was. So far everything I remember from my life is horrible."

"I know, you still have amnesia and all of that, but you have to try at least, nothing makes a pony more gullible than a good tale."

"I could tell them a nice bedtime story from my book," suggested David half-seriously and half-jokingly.

"Not in a lifetime, they'll end up thinking you're part of a cult," she waved his idea down right away.

"Well, I was part of a cult for the majority of my-"

"They don't need to know that," she put a hoof on David's mouth and moved on without another word, "Look, I can give you an example, that might bring something alike to your mind."

David lay down on the ground in a comfortable position right after hearing that, "I'm listening."

Lilly was a bit taken back by his willingness to hear her out as she told one of her boring stories, although she quickly got over it. She sat upright and cleared her throat, "You should try to put on a somber expression," she curled her mouth downwards and let a few tears roll down her cheeks, "Then you can begin in a voice like this," she waited a few moments, obviously trying to figure out which tone she should pick, but she just stuck with the good old 'poor crying child' voice.

"When I was just a foal, my father never spent much time with me, he always had to work," she dried some of the tears with one of her hooves, although intentionally not all of them, "My mother had to bring up me and my three siblings alone. However, since I was the smallest and the least talented out of the four of us, I never received any form of attention from her. She would always say that I'm not worth her time and energy. She would actively try to get rid of me on every possible occasion. Of course, my father would always bring me back, and then an argument would unfold between the two of them that would last about an entire night, then the next day everything would go back to 'normal'," at the beginning of her story she was very clearly faking her tone and tears, but the more she went on the more real they became.

"I was naive enough to think that things couldn't get any worse, up until everypony else in my class got their cutie marks, except me. From then on, I was ridiculed daily and when I tried to get help from my siblings, they started bullying me too. I felt so alone and powerless," she began to heavily sob, and her breathing became uneven.

"I was so scared, I didn't know what to do," her sorrowful expression slowly changed into a maddened one, "But in time this fear turned into hate, then into anger. I wanted to show them I was no longer weak. I wanted to beat them up, all of them," she stomped the ground with her hoof, "And I did. One by one all of them got their faces smashed by my hooves. It was so satisfying to watch them cry with their broken noses," she looked at the ground and let out a slightly maniacal chuckle, "I was so caught up in my revenge-seeking that I only noticed my cutie mark when nopony dared to look at me ever again," she smiled wickedly for a moment, then the red fog that was enveloping her mind vanished.

"Sorry, got a bit carried away," she admitted sheepishly and turned towards David. His face bore a mix of concern, fear, and worry, "Oh come on, this was just an example, none of it was real," she said jokingly, although her weak laugh somehow creeped David out even more.

"Are you sure?" The forced smile was gone from her face and she lowered her head towards the ground in shame.

"Alright, maybe it wasn't."

David was unable to think of an appropriate response to her. He knew what she did was wrong in so many ways, although he couldn't just deny the fact that it worked. Not to mention that he did some even more horrible things than this and it would be hypocritical if he were to lecture her on the morality of her violence.

"Look," he sat up from the ground and put a hand on her shoulder and she peered at him, "I think you know what you did was bad, but at the same time I'm kind of proud that you were able to stand up for yourself," she was a bit surprised by his response, "You can't even imagine the things I did back home. Compared to that, what you did was just a great afternoon in the meadow with some friends," he admitted regretfully.

"I know," it was now she who put a reassuring hoof on his shoulder, "You did a fine job with that manticore and I doubt you were given such good training to be a gardener," both of them chuckled once in unison.

"Wait," David realized something, "You saw the..." He trailed off, not wanting to finish his sentence.

"Yes," she nodded once and her expression turned neutral, just as usual, "I saw the claw marks on..." She stopped herself in mid-sentence to carefully prepare her next words, "He was hit by the manticore and fell off," She rushed the words out of her mouth as if she wanted to move on from them desperately. David couldn't open his mouth to form a coherent response, so he just silently nodded.

"I could have saved him," he managed to utter under his breath, "It's my fault he is dead."

"Don't say such things," she said softly and began rubbing his back while tears started to roll down their cheeks.

"You don't blame me?" He asked shakily, afraid of the answer he might receive.

"Of course not," she said without hesitation, "I don't even know why you would even think that," he tried to thank her for the reassurance, but the words got stuck in his throat, he couldn't even swallow.

They stayed like that for a while, silently comforting each other until Lilly spoke up, "The only thing I want to know is how the manticore got there in the first place," both of them peeked at each other.

"We went there a lot of times in the previous week," he managed to utter finally, "Maybe he followed the scent and prepared an ambush?"

"Doubt it," she shook her head, "They are not that intelligent."

"I would say otherwise," he added while his hands began to shake just from the thought of the encounter, "I saw more in those eyes than hunger and bloodlust, I just can't put my finger on it."

"Yeah, maybe because it's not something you can grab," she mentioned under her breath.

David stared at her in stunned silence, "That was bad."

"But you're still smirking at it," she pointed a hoof towards David's face.

The human let out a single chuckle, "True..."

Both of them started to wipe off the tears from their cheeks in silence, although it was not the same silence that had enveloped the room for the past few days. Neither of them knew why, or how, it just felt different.

A knock disturbed them. A servant peeked into the room through a slightly opened door and turned towards the table. Seeing that the silver plate hadn't been touched he bowed his head to them, retreated behind the door, and closed it.

"Why aren't they talking?" Now that the pleasant quietness of the room had been broken Lilly felt comfortable speaking.

"Out of sympathy, I think."

"No, I think it's out of fear," David raised an eyebrow at that, "Look, I'm a bloodthirsty berserker, always ready and searching for a fight, and you are..."

"A monster," he finished her sentence after he realized she didn't want to.

"Just for the record, I don't think you are a monster in any-" David motioned for her to just get on with it, to which she let out a long sigh, "The point is, they are afraid of both of us."

"I don't know, and honestly I don't care," he said as he began to stretch his arms and legs on the floor. "At least they leave us alone, imagine if they tried to start a conversation with us and ask us how we are doing."

"You're right," she admitted and leaned back against the wall, "That would be awkward for both sides."

"And by the way," he turned towards Lilly with a serious expression, "The kind of monster they think I am is not nearly as bad as what I truly am."

"Oh please," she rolled her eyes, "Real talk now, what was the worst thing that you did?"

"Do you really want to know?" She nodded firmly, "When I was just a beginner defender my army came across a village that refused to convert to the 'true faith' from their ancient religion," he stopped speaking for a second to roll his eyes, "Not to mention that they managed to kill some of our priests. Our commander finally had enough and, to the suggestion of the remaining priests, he ordered us to kill everybody in the village. I thought he meant all the able-bodied men, but he literally meant everybody."

Lilly's expression turned horrified, "And did you comply?"

"Yes," he admitted after a long pause, "We all did."

The blood drained from Lilly's face, "Why?"

"Because of Zoh," he tried to justify his crime, "We thought the priests were the messengers of Zoh and that all of it would be for the greater good," he desperately tried to reason, but not even he believed in these anymore.

"The greater good?!" Exclaimed Lilly, "David, you committed a terrible act of senseless violence, and you try to justify it with this? Murder is murder, no matter the reason."

"Do you think I don't know that?" He shot back, "Do you know how much I hate myself now that my eyes have been opened? How frustrating it is that the person that I hated the most in my life, my father, was right all along? Being wise is easy after the fact while doing what is right in the present might be the hardest thing in the world!"

Both of them looked upon the other in disgust and anger for a few more seconds, but then it vanished in a blink of an eye. Their expressions softened and their chests deflated.

"I'm sorry," said David and Lilly at the same time. They looked at each other, now with regret, and chuckled weakly, "I should have remained silent," she admitted.

"No, you are right. I now know that I was wrong, that all of us were wrong. My whole life has been built upon lies. The world would have been a better place without me."

Lilly mulled David's words over in her head, trying to figure out a way to cheer him up, "You're correct, everything would be better without you," David lowered his head and tried to fight the urge to cry, her words felt like a dagger through his heart, "So far," she added finally to which David glanced up from his sorrow.

"I know it sounds cliche, but it's true, it's never too late to change. Just look at me," she pointed at herself while she was bent over like a question mark and she forced a bored expression on her face, "I almost got kicked out of the Royal Guards because of my big mouth," she said in an overdramatic tone to which David laughed.

"And now look at me," she pointed to herself, but this time she fixed her posture and took up her stern expression. She looked like a real Royal Guard now, the only thing that was missing was her shining golden armor, "With your help, I was able to get the promotion, which I was hoping for since I enlisted, in a week."

David's face turned sour, "I get what you are trying to say, but your case and mine are different. My whole life has been a giant mistake, not just a few years of it, and I only realized that in the past few days."

"Yes, I am aware of that, and I still think you can make up for all the bad you've caused," explained Lilly desperately.

"It's not that simple," said David with a depressed sigh.

"Hey, snap out of it," she moved one of her hooves in front of his face to get his attention back, "Look, I won't even try to sugar coat it, what you have done will take a long time and a lot of good deeds to make it up to the universe, or whatever else watches over us," she grabbed David's cheeks and forced him to look in her eyes, "But the longer you wait to start this process the later you can finish it and the longer you hate yourself for not doing it, so you might as well begin it now. And what would be the best start?" She intentionally let the question hang in the air to let David answer it.

"The trial?" Asked David uncertainly.

"Exactly," she nodded and patted David on the shoulder, "Just think about it, you will have more opportunities to repay the universe if you're not in prison."

"Well, I have to admit it, that does make sense."

"Now you finally get it," she declared with a sense of accomplishment.

Right after she finished, they heard another knock on the door and a third servant came in. He bowed before them slightly, then went up to the table and placed the silver plate on his back using his front hoof and mouth.

"Hey," called out Lilly to the servant, not sure as to how to properly address him, "Why are you always silent in front of us?" She asked gently, half expecting him to run out of the room screaming in terror.

"Because silence is expected from us, Miss," he gave his answer in a polite, yet neutral way, "It is one of many basic courtesies that we show towards the guests and inhabitants in Her Royal Majesty's palace."

David and Lilly were speechless while the servant, seeing that they had nothing more to ask, left the room with another slight bow, "I feel completely stupid now," admitted David quietly after the soft clank of the closing door.

"Me too, it never occurred to me that the reason for their silence can be just that," she agreed with him and she got up from the ground.

"Where are you going?"

"We should head out, this staying in one place has gotten into our heads," she said while heading towards the bathroom, "However, I don't want to look like this in front of other ponies," she said and pointed at her tangled main and unkempt fur. David took a look over his body as well, his clothes were dusty and dirty from sleeping on the ground (he did not think himself worthy of the comfort of a bed). He sniffed his armpit and quickly drew his head away in disgust. He never got this stinky before, not even in the army.

"I'll go as well when you finish," he called after Lilly as she was closing the door behind herself.

"Alright, I'll try to be quick."

David lay down on the ground while waiting patiently. He was already dirty, might as well abuse it while it lasts. He stared up at the ceiling of their room, and for the first time, noticed the decorations on it.

He was strangely at peace. Or rather, he was the least depressed and sad since his friend passed away. He still felt the guilt, the remorse, the sorrow, and that deep abyss inside his chest, but in just the span of a few hours, it all became just a little bit more bearable. The laughing, even if more than half of them were fake, still worked wonders and they desperately needed those moments of forgetfulness.

David still felt like a complete wreck, and his heart was still aching terribly, yet his positive attitude seemed to return from its long vacation to give him hope that one day, everything will be okay.

You're worthless.

He physically winced in pain.

You already told me this once.

It's still not too late.

Yes, I know, I'm going to change, I'm going to make everything better, don't worry.

No, it will only get worse.

...What do you mean?

You can still stop it.

No, I'm not going to do it.

You have to stop it.

David grabbed his head with both of his hands as he desperately tried to shut the voice out of it, but it only became louder.

You must stop it.

What? Stop what?

His despair slowly lost ground to anger as his hands clenched into fists.

Only you can stop it.

I'm not going to do that.

Go to the window.

"I said I won't do it!" Shouted David at the top of his lungs while standing up and angrily looking left and right in search of the source of the voice. He knew it wasn't in his head before he woke up here, so it must have gotten into him somehow, and once he finds the one who cursed him with this he will stab him through the chest with his longsword.

"What are you doing?" Asked a concerned voice from behind him. He turned around at the speed of light and readied himself for a fight, but it was only Lilly. She was slightly taken aback at first by his furious expression, "Are you alright?" David's stance dropped in an instant and he let out a long sigh, breathing out all that frustration that built up inside him.

"Yes, I think I am," he said and ran his fingers through his hair after seeing the well-combed state of Lilly's mane and fur, "Are you done?" He asked quickly before she had a chance to follow up on her concerns. She hesitantly nodded and watched as he stormed into the bathroom and closed the door behind himself.

He went up to the mirror and began inspecting his head, searching for any clues as to how the voice got into it. He meticulously looked all over himself, expecting to find a scratch or a tick deep in his skin, or even just a previously unnoticed birthmark or something like that, but he found none of these things. He felt the sweet embrace of insanity as he began his second round of searching, this time more furiously, "I think I'll head out now," called out to him Lilly's voice and he snapped out of his breakdown.

"No, it's only going to take another minute," he answered her as he began to search again, this time for the bathtub in which Lilly must have washed. The only thing that resembled what he had in mind was a giant carved marble trough. He noticed that it was wet and that it also had a few scented bars of soap on its rim. He now looked for a way to release water into the trough, but he only saw two knobs, one blue and one red, and an iron rod pointing towards the inside of the bathtub, "As soon as I figure this thing out," he said to himself.

---

The footsteps of David and Lilly were echoing in the wide corridor. They were only walking for a few minutes now, but both of them were already awestruck. They hadn't really had the time to appropriately take in the beauty of the Royal Palace. They walked at a slow pace, carefully inspecting every statue and rose-window along their path. They mostly remained silent, although David did ask a few questions from time to time about a particular statue, or a rose-window and about what it depicted, and Lilly would happily answer.

However, their tour abruptly ended when they came across two mares giggling and talking to each other in one of the hallways. They were walking in the opposite direction as they did and despite their plan to pass them by in silence, one of them spoke up, "Hey, aren't you David?" She stopped in front of him, forcing him to halt in a passive-aggressive way. He tore his eyes off from the marvelous sight of the rose windows to look at the mare.

He opened his mouth to form a response, which he still didn't know what would be, but Lilly beat him to it, "Hey, leave him alone," she warned the mare with a growl, although her intimidation skills have dampened in light of the recent events. The mare, realizing her rudeness, quickly ducked out of his way with a bow.

"Oh, I apologize for my manners Miss. I only wanted to say how big of an honor it is to meet the hero in-person," Lilly's mildly annoyed face turned into a surprised one and she was about to ask something when David finally found his voice.

"Wait, the hero?" He raised an eyebrow in confusion, he thought to himself that there was perhaps another human named David in the palace alongside him.

"Yes, the hero who slew a manticore with one swing and who will banish all the corrupted from Canterlot," cut in the other mare with barely contained excitement.

Lilly and David froze down for a few seconds until they processed what they have heard. After the initial surprise wore off Lilly was the first one to say anything, "You don't find him scary, or disgusting?" She pointed a hoof at David.

"Thanks," murmured David under his breath, but no one heard him.

The two maids peeked at each other, "Well, he looks a bit strange, like a hairless chimpanzee," admitted the first maid sheepishly.

"But he will still get rid of all the stuck-ups and idiots," exclaimed the second one, this time failing to bottle up her energy and she began to hop in one place.

"What makes you think that I'm going to do that?" David questioned the second mare in bewilderment.

"The Princess said it..." she admitted while stopping with her hopping and she began to look at the ground shyly. The other maid seemed to deflate a bit as well.

"Well then the Princess was-" began David, but Lilly stepped in front of him to cut him off.

"Right! He is going to chase away all the jerks from Canterlot. In fact, we are on our way to search for such foul ponies," she said with honeyed words and the other two mares' smiles returned.

"Oh, maybe we can help? Please!" The second maid fell to the ground and put his hooves together to beg them.

"We still got a few minutes from our break, we could show you the really bad apples around here," the first one whispered to them, she was understandably more cautious than her friend.

"There is no need, I can assure you, we've been more than successful at this task on our own as well," she said and then urged David to keep going while flashing a warm smile to each of the maids.

"Goodbye, we hope you'll succeed in your noble goal as soon as possible," said the two mares at the same time, and they resumed their walk in the other direction whilst more or less quietly discussing how lucky they were today.

As soon as Lilly and David rounded a corner the human dug his heels in and turned around towards Lilly with a rather questioning look, "Why did you lie to them?"

She tried to act as if she didn't know what he was talking about, "Me lying? I would never," she waved once dismissively and she continued on her way, not looking back if David was coming or not.

"At least tell me why," demanded David, feeling as though his honor had been torn apart by his friend.

"Well, it isn't a lie yet, and if you work hard enough then it won't be," she answered mischievously with a grin.

The realization hit him harder than a bull, "Wait a minute, you did this to force me to stand up against the elites of Canterlot?" He asked and with a few long steps he caught up with her.

"Exactly," she said in an overly satisfied tone, "But think about it, Princess Celestia already spread the word around, I only reinforced it in two maids."

David let out a long sigh, "I guess I was already in it, I just didn't want to accept it," he said in a rather melancholic tone.

"Why are you so against this?" She inquired from his friend.

"I have no idea," he admitted finally after a long pause, "Maybe because I'm afraid that I would make everything worse instead of better, just like how I did with everything this week?" He asked rhetorically more from himself than from Lilly.

"What are you talking about? You made my life a lot better, and Sturdy's as well. You don't have to be so cautious and afraid," she tried to reason with David, but he had none of it today.

"Yeah, I used to be less cautious and look where it got us," he said darkly and his expression hardened for a moment before his mouth curled downwards, "Yes, I admit that I was a very positive force on both of your life, but then I ruined that as well. This time won't be different. At first, I'm going to think that I'm doing great, then I'll get overconfident and right after that, in a single moment, ruin everything."

"I know what you feel," said Lilly with great sorrow. She felt the power leaving from her legs, so she sat down in the middle of the hallway to rest a bit. As soon as David noticed her missing from beside him he turned around, walked back to her, and sat down next to her on the red carpet.

For a while, they remained there. A few servants passed them by, but they had urgent matters to attend to, not to mention there was plenty of space to go around them, so nopony questioned them.

"Do you remember how you got your amnesia?" Lilly asked suddenly in an awfully neutral tone, which made David more concerned than he already was.

"No, I have no idea what might have happened," he said and instinctively pat the back of his head. For some reason, he was still expecting to feel the rough surface of the bandage and was pleasantly surprised to feel his hair instead, "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, I was just pondering how I could give myself some sort of permanent amnesia," she said heartlessly and David was downright frightened at this point by Lilly.

"And why would you do that?" He questioned her worriedly and for a moment an image of his father popped into his head. He used the same tone as David did now whenever he shared what he had learned in his training that day.

"Don't you get it?" She raised an eyebrow at David, "It would be so much easier if we could forget everything that happened."

"But that would never work," he cut in swiftly before Lilly took this thought too far, "There would be so many reminders of what happened to Sturdy. We would never be able to just forget all of it."

"That's why I was thinking of some kind of permanent amnesia," she said and turned towards him, "It would be physically impossible to remember then."

"And you would abandon Sturdy's memory? Every single last one of them? Not to mention your childhood, your parents, your friends, you would leave all of it behind this easily?" David ignored the obvious ridiculosity of her idea and tried to reason with her.

Lilly's expression turned dark at David's words, "I have nothing worth remembering."

"Let's think this over for a second, is there really nothing worthy of it?" Lilly opened her mouth for an answer, but she remained silent. She turned back towards the ground in thought, "Look, I understand why you want this, my past life hasn't been great either in hindsight, and despite this, I would still choose to remember it. If not for anything else, then at least for Sturdy."

Lilly tried to fight the reasonable part of herself, but she failed. She understood his point and her shame of thinking this would be a good idea grew by the second. She let out a deep sigh of sorrow and looked David in the eye, "Thank you, I needed this."

"Desperation is a great driving force, just not in the right direction," he suddenly remembered one of his teacher's cheesy quotes, although now he didn't find it as stupid as he did when he first told him.

A smile crept up itself onto Lilly's face until it morphed into disgust as she facehoofed, "For the love of Celestia, I cannot believe how ridiculous I can be," she yelled in frustration, not caring if anypony else heard her.

"Well yes, that is what the mix of grief, pain, and hopelessness brings out in most people," he explained as he stood up, "You say and do stupid things that, when you look back upon, seem idiotic, rash, or..." he began to scratch his head as he was unsuccessfully searching for a better word for what he wanted to say.

"Edgy?" Suggested Lilly to try and rescue him.

"I have never heard of this word, but I was looking for exactly that," he announced and laughed a bit. He extended a hand towards her, which she gladly took. Both of them were now smiling at each other as if they were in blissful ignorance again, although now they were fully aware of what happened to their friend.

"How about we continue the walk, maybe we can find some jerks along the way?" She poetically asked David as she was already walking down the hall.

"And actually do something remotely productive today? Count me in," he announced jokingly as he fell in line behind Lilly while both of them were giggling.

---

It was dark in the guestroom, the sun had set long ago, yet the two inhabitants hadn't arrived back yet. The maids took notice of their absence and quickly cleaned the room and replaced the destroyed furniture. It now looked brand new, and not like a pair of beasts' lair.

All was quiet and peaceful until a particular human kicked the door open.

David threw himself onto the floor while still clutching his stomach and laughing loudly. Lilly came in right behind him, and even though she wasn't rolling on the ground like the human she was stumbling and crying while giggling.

"I never dared to imagine that somepony can get that pissed in my life," she managed to utter between a sob and a chuckle.

"I can't believe we've done this," David crawled into the middle of the room and kicked the door shut with his leg, "Will the Princess be mad if she finds out about this?" He asked as his laughter died down a little, but it was due to his stomach and lungs aching unbearably at this point.

"Don't worry, I bet she will even be proud of us," she dismissed his slight concern, "After all, the bravery that is required to pour a full teapot on that representative's head must be rewarded somehow." She began to laugh out of control for a moment as she recalled, "Hey, what did you say to that snob?"

"Right after he called me a monster under his breath?" Lilly was unable to form a coherent response so she just nodded her head to the rhythm of her chuckling, "How about some warm beverage to soften your ego," he said with barely contained laughter as he mimicked the pouring motion with both of his hands.

"Oh, for dear Celestia, the look of horror on his face as he ran away," she said while she was drying her tears of joy.

"And the servant was so thankful for it, I can't believe it," mentioned David after remembering the whole encounter, "She shook my hand so eagerly that I thought my arm would fall off," he stood up from the ground and dusted himself off.

"That was nothing," Lilly was able to get a hold on herself and she was now trying to untangle her mane with her hooves, "The servants would have this look of misery on their faces every time those idiots weren't looking, but only before they saw you." She pointed one hoof at him proudly, "Whenever they noticed you, they... I don't know, it was like a lever had been switched over in them and they went from worried and wavering to unfaltering and confident."

David sat down on his bed in thought, "I did notice that as well," he quickly flipped through the events of this evening in his head, focusing more on the moments when they were approaching a fresh, unsuspecting victim, "I think our presence encourages them."

"Took you long enough to realize this," she said mockingly and went into the bathroom.

"That wasn't the part that took long," his tone became a bit louder, but it was only because he wanted Lilly to hear him from the other room, "It was accepting it that took this much time," Lilly's head popped out from behind the door with still wet hooves.

"What do you mean by accepting it?"

"I'm still a bit wary of this idea of me leading the charge against the corrupted of Canterlot. I'm afraid that I'll mess this up somehow, not to mention that I'll be on trial as well," he looked at both of his hands in despair, and even though he could clearly see that they were clean he still felt blood dripping down from them.

"Agh, come on," she lifted up her hooves in frustration, not caring about how much water she spilled all over the floor, "Even Princess Celestia has more hope for the return of her sister than you have for these trials. Not to mention that you are already committed to this, there is no use in worrying now," and with that, she returned to the bathroom, thus ending the discussion abruptly.

"Fine..." Said David in defeat, but he still couldn't shake the feeling of dread that crept upon him. So instead of being concerned, he set his mind to find out where this came from. It didn't take too long to realize that they were not his own.

You can still stop it.

"Not this again," his anxiety was swiftly replaced by annoyance at the sound of the voice as he facepalmed. He got so used to its presence that he only noticed its whispers if he closely paid attention.

"What's the matter?" Asked Lilly as she reemerged from behind the door, this time with a towel in one hoof.

"Nothing, I just feel a headache coming," he lied, and it was very noticeable from the outside, yet Lilly didn't question it further and just nodded her head.

"Yeah, it's been a long day, we should go to sleep now," she turned around and walked back to the bathroom with the towel on her back. Once she was out of sight David hit his head a few times in a futile attempt to silence the voice, which was getting louder and louder now that it sensed that it had his attention.

I get it that I can still stop it, but what exactly? The only thing you can do is talk, and yet you are terrible at it.

He heard the approach of hooves and quickly stopped his self-harm, he did not want to make her even more worried for him than she already was, "I think-" She was about to say, but she slipped on the wet floor, hitting her head in the wardrobe and crashing onto the floor with a loud thud. David, instantly forgetting about the voice, rushed next to her to help her up and to look at her bruises, although Lilly pushed his helping hand away and got up on her own.

"Are you alright? Should I call for a doctor?" He asked frantically.

"Do I look like an elderly pony? I'm fine," she brushed herself off and walked up to her bed slightly limping, "We should really go to sleep now," she announced and got under her covers to leave no room for David to protest, not that he wanted to.

He turned off the lights in the room and got to his bed. He remained sitting on the mattress for a bit as he watched the back of Lilly as she was curled up in her bed. He shook his head, laid down, and covered himself with his blanket. He tossed and turned around a few times until he found the perfect position and he fell asleep.

---

He was practically shaking. He had no idea what he would say or what he should do. He paced back and forth in the room, nervously biting his lips, and waiting anxiously.

He had no idea what to expect from the coming hours. His stomach was aching terribly, and he felt like puking, but he didn't have the time for that now, he needed to wait for somepony to come in for him and take him to the courtroom. He felt ill-prepared, no, even worse, and all of his usual methods to calm himself down were not working this time. He felt something coming up his throat, he needed to get some fresh air.

He rushed over to the window and pushed it open. He took a few big gulps of the warm summer air and he felt his nausea disappearing. He would have remained in the window, just to be safe, but he heard a familiar voice from behind him.

"Son, are you alright?" His father asked as he walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, just a bit nervous," he said as he turned around and looked at his father who was smiling at him. He only saw him like that once before, when he was a kid and he got accepted into the ranks of the defenders.

"Don't worry, these folks only need your encouraging presence, leave the talking to the Princess," he hit him in the back once and turned around to lean on the wall.

"I know Dad, that's not why I am worried," he did the same as his father and crossed his arms in front of himself, "I think they might plan on holding my trial now as well since I'm already here."

"And? Did you kill him?" He asked David as his expression turned dead-serious.

"What, no!" Exclaimed David and he rushed to the middle of the room to stand before his father, "What kind of man do you think I am?"

"Relax, I'm just pulling your leg," he said after chuckling and his smile returned, "These ponies don't have the same courts as we do back home, these are actually fair and just. You're only worrying too much as usual," he said with a laugh and all of David's concerns melted away.

Somepony knocked sharply on the door leading to the courtroom and opened it without a moment's hesitation. A stern and though looking earth-pony guard came in and nodded once to David. He took a deep breath and looked at his father, who waved at him, "I'll be in the guest-room, be sure to let me and your mother know how it went."

"Definitely," was all he managed to say before the guard pony closed the door behind him. He felt his worries overcoming him yet again as the calming effect of his father vanished.

David now faced a long flight of stairs. He did not feel strong enough to climb it, but he had to, ponies were counting on him now. His legs were sluggish, and the world was spinning a bit around him, yet he pushed on and he found that the higher up he got the less worried and ill he became. By the time he got to the top, he felt like a new man. He was confident that whatever the world would throw at him he would be able to deal with it.

David was now in front of a giant oak double-door flanked by Two Royal Guards in golden armor. As he stepped closer to them, they opened the doors for him and motioned for him to enter. With a straight posture and a slight smile, he walked into the courtroom at a slow pace, for dramatic effect. On the right side of the room sat the ponies who were testifying against one or multiple corrupted officials. To the left side were said corrupted ponies, encircled by Royal Guards keeping watch over them. He couldn't help himself and he snickered at the sight. Everypony was watching him, some with disgust, some with hatred, but most of them with appreciation.

In the middle of the room stood Celestia with a chair, which was decorated with carvings of vines and flowers. As he stepped in front of Princess Celestia he bowed to her respectfully, to which she rolled her eyes and embraced him in a long hug. He did not expect it, but he did not complain about it either. After the Princess let him go, David turned towards the chair and took a seat while waiting eagerly for things to go down.

"I welcome all of you, my little ponies," began Princess Celestia, mostly towards the testifiers and not towards the officials, "Half a year ago it came to my attention, unfortunately for the first time, that something has gone very wrong in our little kingdom," she slowly walked over to the rows of officials and they visibly shrank back into their benches with every graceful step of the Princess, "It is now clear that quite a few ponies decided to abuse my immense trust in them for their own personal gains."

The officials erupted, each and every one of them shouting pleas, excuses, and empty promises. They would have done anything just to get themselves out of this mess that they have created. David wasn't even trying to hold his laughter back, there was so much noise that nopony heard his roaring.

Princess Celestia gave off a long sigh and extended one of her wings. Everypony instantly fell silent, not wanting to anger the Princess even more. She turned towards the servants and other ponies who were willing to risk their anonymity by being here today, "What do you think, my little ponies, what shall be their fates?" The ponies began murmuring between each other, silently discussing their answer in a civilized fashion. Tears of joy began to swell up in David's eyes at the sight, and he had a sneaking suspicion that Celestia was holding back her own tears as well.

After a while, the ponies came to a conclusion and chose somepony in the front row as an announcer, "We unanimously think that we shouldn't be the ones deciding in this matter," the pony looked at David, to his wonder, and continued, "We think that David, our hero, should be the one bearing this honor."

The Princess looked at the human for his answer as the ponies, who were found guilty began shouting again in a protest against this idea. Celestia wasn't even going to try to stop them. The more they went on the less everypony thought of them. David stood up from his chair, adjusted his clothes on himself, and nodded once.

Princess Celestia smiled at him and turned around to address the crowd, "Now, my little ponies, you will hear what David has to say about the situation," David mentally flipped over his teachings regarding rhetoric and public speaking, "He only needs to answer this first," Celestia slowly turned her head around to look at David like an owl and the human was slightly taken aback by this, "Why did you kill him?" She asked in a deep voice.

"What?" That was all he managed to utter before noticing that the cries for forgiveness turned into cries of pain.

"Why did you kill us?" The Princess asked again as her face began to melt as if she was made out of wax. David took a few steps backward in horror. He frantically turned his head from left to right in search of a way out, but all the doors were gone. He was trapped.

"Why didn't you kill yourself?" Celestia fell over and splashed against the ground and nothing else remained of her, except some strange white goo. David jumped over it in disgust and tried to run for a window.

He was just about to reach one when the ponies on the benches jumped in front of him. They twitched as they moved, and blood was oozing out from their eyes, noses, and ears. They all asked him the same things in unison, "Why did you kill him? Why did you kill us? Why didn't you kill yourself? Why have you forsaken us?"

"No, I didn't do it! I'm innocent!" He tried to desperately reason with them as they moved closer to him. The flesh began to fall off their bones and one by one they fell over, their bodies disintegrated so much that they were no longer capable of holding up their own weight, but even now they were still screaming. David was frozen in one place, he had never seen such gore, not even on the battlefield.

For a moment he regained control over his body. He quickly jumped over the pool of blood and flesh in front of him and he pushed the window open. Cold air rushed in and it almost knocked him off his legs, he only remained in one place by grabbing onto the decorative pillars. As soon as the wind was gone, he climbed through the window and took a last peek behind him. The bodies of the ponies were completely liquefied into bright red goo. He felt the urge to puke coming so he turned his attention back towards the ground, or rather where it was supposed to be. The beautiful sight of the mountains turned black as he was now staring into a black void. He began to panic, and he was about to climb back in if the room behind him didn't turn into the abyss as well.

He was now floating in the middle of an unimaginable sea of blackness. He felt cold, alone, and desperate.

It's still not too late.

A shiver went down his spine. He heard the voice like it was coming from behind him and in front of him at the same time. It echoed all around him and it filled him with dread. He tried to run, but his legs didn't touch anything resembling a solid surface. He was constantly looking behind his back in paranoia, trying to figure out what was speaking to him.

You can still stop it.

Suddenly a red-figure appeared next to him and he screamed. The figure was tall and humanoid, although its body was made out of some kind of red crystal, ruby most likely. The thing was constantly twitching and hitting itself in the head, while the head remained calm and even.

You have to flee.

The hands of the thing tried to shut its mouth up, but it kept on speaking to David.

"What are you?" His terror turned to confusion at the sight of the strange figure.

You have to wake up.

"I will after you explain everything to me."

There is no time. You have to hurry.

"I won't be pushed around by you!" He yelled at its face as his anger began to rise and he threatened it with his fists, "You better start giving me some answers!"

The thing opened its mouth, but no sound came from it. It suddenly stopped twitching and began to shrink on itself, the crystal structure of its body crumbling away and leaving fine dust behind. David realized what was going on and he grabbed the thing, or at least what remained of it in a futile attempt to stop its disappearance. As he was trying to save it, he heard its voice for the last time.

It's too late.

---

David woke up from his nightmare and he immediately sat upright in his bed. He was hastily breathing and sweating despite the coldness of the room. He took a short peek towards the other bed, hoping that the sight of Lilly peacefully sleeping would calm him down and pull him back to reality, but it was empty.

His breathing fastened. He threw the blanket off of himself before an unknown deep voice called out for him, "David the Defender, we finally meet face-to-face," he turned his head around and saw a tall and muscular minotaur with a light grey fur and with long, wicked-looking horns standing in the corner opposite of him. Lilly was tied up next to him and she was filled with rage, tugging and tearing at the ropes as best as she could, "It's time to fulfill your end of the bargain."

Author's Note:

Well, I don't even know what to say, or rather write here.

To start things off, I would like to apologize to those few who were able to read through this garbage I wrote. I know making you wait this long for the ending of this story isn't exactly a nice thing to do, but I wasn't idling during this year and a half either. I'll tell you more about that later, right now what matters is that this story is done, it is finished, and you guys can finally read it. The last chapter will be up in about thirty minutes if you can't already see it.

Once again I apologize for this long wait, and I hope that everybody is alright and well.