Craig picked himself up and brushed the dirt off his shirt and shorts.
He observed his surroundings, it was definitely morning but the forest was dark. Craig definitely knew where he was though. He was smack dab in the middle of the Everfree forest and the air smelled of the flowers, the fresh morning dew, the sap of the trees, the smell of the fires........
"Why on God's green earth is there a fire?"
Craig noticed some tents not too far from him and they seemed to be cooking some sort of meat. Craig was quite hungry so the aroma was intoxicating to him at the time. He decided to take a closer a look and just to be safe, he pulled out his pocket knives and went in crawling on his stomach because he had remembered what Luna told him about the bandit camp. Upon closer inspection, their was a cage just outside the biggest tent. In the middle of the circle of tents, there was a circle of bandits. The bandits consisted of three griffons, two colts, and a single diamond dog . The largest griffon with the scars and eyepatch started speaking:
"Hey! Listen up you freaks! We need to keep those three fillies guarded at all costs! If you have them escape I will kick your asses so hard you won't be able to sit for a week. GOT IT!?!?!
They shouted in unison. "YES CHIEF!"
Craigulus immediately figured out that was the bandit leader the moment he commanded them like that. He knew he couldn't preemptively strike them, so he would have to crawl silently through the bushes to figure out how to take these filthy bandits down. Noticing the chief stomped into his tent carrying the keys to the cage, Craigulus decided to see who the three fillies were. If he hadn't known any better he would have realized that these three were known as-
"The Cutie Mark Crusaders need your help mister. You may look strange and your certainly no one we've ever met before, but please help us!" Applebloom whispered as quietly as she could to Craigulus as he had just crawled in next to the cage.
"I realize that, Applebloom. You just have to keep quiet while I do this, okay? Can you promise me that?
"How do you know her name?" questioned Scootaloo.
"........Just please be quiet i'll explain later."
"Okay!" They all whispered in unison.
Craig got his priorities straight. All he needed to do was go inside the chief tent, grab the keys, release the CMC, and then hustle out of there. Craig's heart was pounding loudly and he was almost having an anxiety attack. He never thought that doing hero work would be so stressful and tense. He was living the real thing though, and that made him feel pretty awesome! He began to sneak into the tent and once he got in he tip-toed his way around the place, keeping his pocket knives close to him just in case the bandit chief heard him. While he was checking under every mat and checking every drawer, he had began to hear snoring.
"Sweet mother of Celestia, that bandit falls asleep fast! Oh gee i'm starting to use the princess' name instead of God's name. I technically shouldn't be using his name in vain so I guess that's kind of a good thing. I'm already starting to catch on to the customs of this world as well. Wow, that was quick.
Craig snapped out of his thoughts and got back to the task at hand. He hadn't found the key though, so he would have to go a bit closer to where the giant griffon was sleeping. The heart of Equestria's only human was now beating as fast as it ever had and he was actually starting to sweat under the pressure of making as little noise as possible. That's when he found the key. It was to Craig's misfortune, right next to the griffon chieftains head! Craig knew what he had to do though.
"All right. Just have to reach in and grab it.......come on Craig you can do it......almost there.......GOT IT!"
He had gotten the key without any trouble and the further he got back to the cage, the better he felt about just completing his first mission assigned by princess Luna! Technically he wasn't done yet because he was supposed to fight these bandits and dispose of them, but that's not the point! Craig just came to the conclusion that he could get back to town with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, grab some food, then a drink, and then come back when he is mentally prepared to fight! Luna didn't mention anything about that part, did she? Craig got out of the tent and straight to the cage. He got the key out of his pocket and put it in the-
*SLAM*
Craig found himself pinned to the ground by the Chieftain of the bandits. Pain had overtaken him as being grabbed and slammed onto the ground may have almost broken one of his ribs. The giant looked at Craig in a menacing fashion with a look that Craig would describe as the "I'm going to tear your ugly face off" look. The giant began to speak.
"Well, well, well. Look who we have here. I've never seen a being like you around here before! What are you? some sort of cross-breed between a diamond dog and a griffon or something totally unique?
Craig struggled to spit out the answer.
"I'm.......*cough*...a human!"
The diamond dog grew impatient. "Just be done with it and kill him! Who cares who he is? For all we know he must be some sort of assassin sent to kill you!"
"SILENCE!!!!!!! I make the orders around here and I say he fights me around the campfire in a fight to the death!!!!
Craigulus heard the three fillies gasp as the Griffon threw him over to the other side of the campfire from him. He was now more scared than he had ever been in his life and he knew that he was about to meet his maker. He unsheathed his pocket knives and prepared to die. Only one thought crossed his mind that stood out among the millions of others.
"I don't think I like it in Equestria anymore.
"What's your wager human?"
"........What?"
"WHAT'S YOUR WAGER!?!?!? If I win, you die and I keep the prisoners. What do you want if you win!?!?!?
"Okay. If I win I want the three fillies to come back with me to Ponyville. I also want your bandits to leave Ponyville alone!" Craig began to feel more relaxed for some reason. He was still in a state of anxiety and nervousness but it was not as bad as before. Something marvelous happened while he was clutching his chest hoping to somehow ease the pain though. It had somehow gone away! Craig didn't know if he was just distracted from it or if it literally just healed but he had a job to do and this job was a fight to the freaking death. He had taken a deep breath and then asked the griffon leader the question.
"Can we fight now please?"
The giant gripped his massive, two-handed axe and violently knocked the fire out of the way with a terrifying screech. He then charged at Craig and swung the axe at him multiple times whilst he jumped and rolled to dodge the axe. Craig had both his pocket knives in hand but he couldn't seem to get close enough to cut the griffon. He knew he was in trouble when he had been grabbed in the talons of the beast once again. The griffon tossed him right into a nearby tree, thus giving Craig an even bigger pain in his kneecaps. He was in searing pain and he couldn't stand up. Craig began to hear the giant footsteps coming towards him and he knew that he was going to die if the chief got any closer to him. He put his hand over his pain-stricken knee and to his disbelief, the pain had gone away and he could walk again!
"This is impossible!" Craig thought, "Do I have some sort of healing magic? Do I have some sort of natural talent concerning magic here in Equestria?"
Craig's confidence got a much needed boost with that knowledge. He began to stand up, only to be grabbed by the familiar talons once again.
"Oh, that's BULLCRAP!"
The giant griffon tossed Craig back into the middle of the camp and the beast had flown himself right next to him. He raised the axe into the air and screeched. Craig, who knew this was the end of him, put his right palm in front of him in a sort of involuntary reaction while looking away from the griffon. He felt his palm warm up for a split second and he heard some sort of explosion in front of him. He instantly opened his eyes to see that somehow, someway, the tides had turned in his favor. The griffon had minor burn marks all over the front of his body and the spectating bandits jaws were dropped in disbelief. Craig had become a little more tired after he did whatever he just did but it seemed to have worked. He felt the magic energy coming back to him though.
"He can use magic!" exclaimed the red colt
"Thanks captain obvious." replied the blue colt in a mocking voice.
Craig had discovered his special talent that could very well win him the fight. He stood up and smirked at the griffon. The combatants engaged in hand to hand combat once again and as the battle went on, Craig found that he was getting the hang of this whole combat thing. The griffon was cursing as he just couldn't seem to catch his enemy in a bad spot. Craig just kept dodging the swings of the axe and every time he did, he found an opening and proceeded to run past the griffon and cut him up with his knives in the process. Fifteen minutes of fighting had passed and both fighters were still fighting. Craig had been hit with the side of the axe which sent him flying into the chieftain's tent which sent it tumbling down and Craig just stood back up again and smiled a cocky smile.
"So, are you ready to give up yet? I mean look at you. You have cut's all over you and I've never seen so much blood rushing down anyone's face before. You might as well surrender so you can escape with your life."
The griffon had a look of pure horror on his face. He had been coughing and wheezing out of pure exhaustion for the last four minutes of the fight and he didn't know what else to do. That's when he had began to resort to something only a madman would do. He grabbed a mushroom plant out of the ground and proceeded to eat it. His rage had once again come to him and he went into a full berserk mode. He began to charge at the human who was now stunned by the screeching griffon adversary. Craig just got out of the way in time as he began to throw three energy bursts at him. Craig found that in Equestria, the way he controlled magic was similar to how the princesses controlled their magic. Craig didn't know how much cooler this whole experience could get but all he knew about was that he was going to win this battle and it was going to be sweet! He began to get a sense of how to control the magical energy and found a healthy balance of how and when to strike his magic down upon his foe. After a while, the griffon had become tired once again and collapsed from exhaustion. He was coughing up blood as he spoke.
"Fine.......*cough*......I surrender. Take the fillies and leave. My bandit brothers and I will pack up and head north to the Griffon Kingdoms. It is then that we shall find another village to terrorize. Pack up your things brothers! We're heading north!
The warrior proceeded to jaunt down the path with the three young ponies in tow. He had so many questions, such as how was he going to meet the rulers of Equestria? How was he going to introduce himself to the mane 6? What could the princesses possibly have in store for him?
"Hello Mister human!" Sweetie Belle began. "Is human your name or is it your type of species or whatever they call it.?"
Craig responded with a smile. "Actually a human is someone who looks like me. They're all different and have their own unique physical and mental features and they all live in a world called Earth."
"Do you have a name?" Scootaloo asked.
Craig knew that the question he was just asked had an obvious answer to it. He wasn't going to pass this one up.
"My name is Craigulus." He responded.
"Craigulus Twinblade."