> Perseverance of the Ancients
>  by The Bourgeoisie Bear
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Dawn of a New Era
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The griffin pounded his fist upon the now cracking marble floor in Celestia’s throne room. “Coward!” he roared to the princess. “Have I not respected your claims upon your vast territories? Have I not respected the lives of your puny ponies? Have I not ceased all raiding upon your land since the day I took charge? Is there no understanding between you and me?” He snorted, hot fumes escaped his lungs as he did so.

The subtle signs that Celestia was growing tired of somepony, or in this case somegriffin were beginning to reveal itself to those who knew her best. She was still holding herself with grace and humility, yet her eyes betrayed her by drifting ever so slightly away, in an intense desire to be anywhere but here. It had taken a long fruitless day of deteriorating diplomacy to get her to this stage. Celesita's attention was regained, once again, by another fit the warlord was throwing.

Despite all of this Celestia could not yield, she held firm in her apparent resolution as she looked down at the desperate griffin. As Twilight witnessed all of this, she found herself in awe of her mentor's composure, for this wasn’t a regular day in royal court, as she would later find out. Twilight's mind was silent as she absorbed the experience of the co-rulers.

Twilight gulped, not quite accustomed to the circus ride of royal court duty. The situation seemed to be spiraling out of control making her even more nervous, even though she had yet to speak even a single word in court, ever. If the meetings had been more structured she was sure she could've made a speech to wow them, but this seemed too chaotic, with a touch of violence.

The only thing keeping her together was being by Celestia's side.

Standing on either side of the throne were other two princesses, Luna and Twilight. Twilight could see Luna glaring at the uncompromising griffin, she held no interest in hiding her dissatisfaction. A cold feeling was emanating from the Princess of the Night.

When Celestia opened her mouth to speak she was cut off.

“After all of this, after everything, all you can tell me is ‘we cannot join your war at this time?’ ” he quoted as he stared at Celestia, eyes narrowed in disgust, “right when I need you the most, you do this to me?”

Without blinking Celestia stared right back at him. “We simply cannot afford to be dragged into another one of your wars, we cannot afford to waste any military or economic power to arm, train and field an Equestrian army over something that is not vital. We...” - She shook her head. - “... no longer posses the coin for such a long, drawn out war with the current economy.”

The response seemed to only make the warlord angrier. “Not Vital!?” he spat back. “The humans are on the brink of wiping my entire species off the face of the earth! And you worry about coin?!” The chest of the griffin broadened at his involuntary muscular reflex causing his leather armor to expand to its maximum capacity. This was not mere peasant armor, but a thick prison to hold the steel plates in place that were sandwiched between the two layers of tanned hide. The warlord's skyward pointed feathers added to the unpredictable, untrustworthy, and inexperienced look in his eyes.

Without hesitation Luna responded, “But you attacked them first, obviously for land and to get your talons on the human slave trade. The humans are the one’s fighting a defensive war not you.” Twilight recognized the look she was giving him, she had spent a long time with Luna during her last couple of weeks of 'diplomatic training' as Celestia had called it. The look the dark princess gave was: Try me.

He snorted. Apparently the griffin was too stupid to realize the situation he was in, or simply he didn't see why Luna's opinions would matter. “Who cares? They’re mindless animals, no more intelligent than a mere fox.”

Twilight licked her lips, readying herself to speak in royal court for the first time in her life since she became a princess. 'But should I speak now?' Twilight asked herself. She feared she would interrupt one of the far more knowledgeable alicorns; after all, Twilight never saw herself on the same level as one of the co-rulers. But her mind flashed forward, where she would slump towards the Royal Quarters to her bed, where she'll once again set herself up on top of and tell herself next time I'm serving in royal court duty I'll speak up, yet knowing deep down inside that tomorrow she'll be just as silent as the day before. Celestia would cheer her up and then the endless cycle of procrastination and self doubt would begin anew. 'No.' she determined this time will be different.

She shifted uncomfortably, her crown almost began to tilt as she moved. “Umm, actually...” All the others turned to her as she spoke, even the griffin’s anger faded at the surprise of the broken silence that the new princess was unleashing. She choked up, but quickly recovered. “... the intelligence of human beings is up for debate in the scientific community, however, there seems to be a large disparity in intelligence between their adult population.” She paused, expected a response. None came. 'Okay, I guess I’ll continue this lecture,' she mused to herself. “Now let’s consider the slaves in the marketplace of Canterlot, I suppose anypony could see that they are one step above being feral, their teeth are rotted, their skin is patchy, they are usually blind or deaf and they get sick and die in droves even with advanced medical and magical treatment.”

She paused again; their looks were going to drive her insane, to have so many important members listening to her every word was sobering. “Now remember, almost every male sold into slavery is castrated by their fellow humans before being sold to the frontier ponies, whom have managed to form some sort of primitive communication with the tribes I might add, but I digress. My point is this, being sold into slavery is never the highlight in one’s life. Whenever you see a human slave remember there was either a stronger or more intelligent human who put him there. I would imagine that there are much smarter and stronger humans who managed to survive, breed, and not have their testacels chopped off and sold to ponies, griffins, or minotaurs,” She smiled meekly.

The griffin warlord looked away from the stained glass window he had been looking at while Twilight was speaking, he then shifted them to Celestia. “That reminds me,” he said brushing Twilight off, something that Twilight wouldn't realize until much later, “I once again must voice my protest in you banning the sale of all humans captured by the civilized races.” He scratched his beak. “I believe it was Slave Code: Four C line twenty-two.”

Twilight was looking down helplessly, she felt struck, but at least she had some self-pride now. She felt Celestia looking at her for a moment before addressing the warlord.

“Only humans should be allowed to sell other humans into slavery, any other system would encourage war,” repeated Celestia. “Though I don't agree with such cut throat behavior, I won't stop them. It’s just their way.”

The warlord chuckled. “Oh please. This soft spot you have for such a primitive species is ill-deserved. Why not join the war and take your fair share of human slaves, surely that would fix your, uhhh, what, recession? Yes your recession would be fixed by the influx of slaves and your ponies would have a source of cheap labor.” He gave her a devilish grin, Twilight figured it was from his insatiable desire to take from the weak and grow rich at the expense of others.

“No.” Celestia paused for emphases. The griffin grew mad once again. “We shall focus on a more honest way of making money. I have plans already in action to turn things around for Equestria. And I just might add that the Griffin Kingdom should stop attacking nations it cannot defeat on its own. Dragging the diamond dog tribes into a losing war is bad enough.”

The warlord’s right eye drooped, he then went into a mad frenzy. “WHAT IN TARTAUS DO YOU MEAN LOSING WAR!? GRIFFIN LOSING TO MERE HUMANS? IT'S NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN WHILE I’M IN CHARGE! IT’S HARDLY EVEN A FAIR FIGHT!”

Luna was in a - having none of it - kind of mood today, she was growing impatient with the near powerless ruler before her. His entire army was on the run, and his supplies were dwindling. The griffin, as a species, had once owned the world, but it seems that legacy was coming to a complete and deadly stop. “Pray tell, if you are winning the war then why must you petition Equestria to join?”

The griffin began to scream so loudly and so quickly that they couldn’t completely understand what he was saying. But amongst the rambling they could make out curse words and some sort of threat upon all pony kind if he were to win the war without them. Celestia looked over to Shining Armor who had been standing by the entire time on the edge of his hooves, ready to give the warlord what he had coming if the co-rulers so desired it. Catching the meaning of the look Shining walked up behind the griffin with a strong unicorn on each side of him. The Warlord's shoulders shrunk. “W-what is this?” he stuttered out in a less confident manner than before. “The Griffin Kingdom will not stand for this!”

“Did you forget,” said Celestia reasserting her authority in her palace, “or must I remind you, that a mere six years ago you were a nobody.” Her next words came out clearly and slowly. “It was I that put you into power. I made you. I am your potter, and you are my clay.” Celestia regained some of her gentle nature in the quite seconds that followed the sobering metaphor she laid out. “Tell me, have I wronged you? Are you justified in threatening me? If I am, I wish to know so that I may ask forgiveness from you.” Twilight was caught off guard by the skillful verbal blow, causing her to lean away from Celestia. She wasn't scared of her mentor, but rather surprised.

After the griffin's stupefied expression left his face, he hung his head low, defeated. “I... no. You have not wronged me.” he curled his talon into a fist. “But... I... need your help.” He looked away, grimacing. “I've received... strange battle reports... some humans are using odd weapons that kill at a distance, and they target generals.”

Celestia nodded. “Fear not their might, I will not abandon you. I will attempt to work out a peace deal between your kind and the huma-.”

The Warlord's fist came crashing down on the marble floor again, cutting Celestia off mid-sentence. “I DON'T WANT PEACE! I WANT THEIR HEADS ON A PIKE! THEY MADE A FOOL OUT OF ME! MY OWN ARMY IS BEGINNING TO...” His eyes grew even more angry. “You're with me or against me Celestia, I'm not leaving until I get a blatant answer.”

“Like I keep telling you,” began Celestia, “I will be there with you when the peace-”

“No!” All progress deteriorated once again. Twilight's heart went out to Celestia for enduring this ignoramus. “And I tire of going around in circles and I REFUSE to go on a third round!” He stared at Celestia, who did not respond.

“Then allow me,” began Luna, “and I swear to thee that I shall not repeat myself. For you are correct in that this has gone for far too long.” The warlord readjusted himself, the 'shall not' part wasn't said in a particularly friendly manner.  “You will stand down your army. And peace tal-”

“Unacceptable!” he roared, except this time he froze before his talon hit the marble again. When Twilight turned to Luna she realized why, her barely contained fury was leaking out. Her piercing eyes dug into the griffin.

“Shining,” spoke Luna with a fake reservedness in her voice, the captain moved closer to the griffin, “throw him out of Canterlot.” Twilight noticed the Princess of the Night literally bit down on her tongue behind her closed mouth.

Shining nodded as three auras surrounded the humiliated creature and lifted him and escorted him out the door. The griffin couldn't even conjure up the mental fortitude to look up at Luna.

Wide-eyed Twilight watched her brother leave the throne room.

“Sister dear?”

Luna exhaled. “I’m fine.” The bitterness in her voice was gone but the heat remained. “We'll have to reason with him at some other time. After a few weeks he'll come around I'm sure. Once the war gets even worse for him.” Twilight noted that Luna seemed to be justifying her actions to the rest of them, explaining why she did what she did. Although Celestia showed no sign of annoyance or disagreement at any time during the forced removal.

The Princess of the Night looked around before she continued speaking. It was then that Twilight realized that the princesses, herself included, were alone. “What are we going to do when the humans win the war? The griffin warlords were bad enemies, and even worse allies, but these humans could prove to be even worse. At this rate I don’t even think that the coalition could last five years against such a bold, relentless force.”

Celestia reclined in her throne. Twilight was beginning to see the gravity of the situation, a united griffin and diamond dog army was losing to a new, yet ancient race. “Hmm, I must admit, I don’t know as much about humans as I would like,” admitted Twilight. “No pony really does. They’re a mystery. Although, I do know that recent test confirmed that they predate ponies, and I know that that their DNA shows signs of heavy genetic mutations.”

Luna walked around the throne to get a better look at Twilight. “I’m not sure I understand, what could even cause such a mutation?”

“I have absolutely no idea. Well actually...” Twilight paused. Bringing her hoof up to her lip. Thinking. “... it would have to be something worldwide, because every human has it, some sort of natural magical disaster that happened long ago, some sort of meteor?” She spoke her last sentence as though it was a question. “I’m not sure honestly, there are only theories.”

Celestia had been staring upward at the elegant paneled ceiling, running an idea through her head for some time. “Twilight.” The mare quickly grew attentive at hearing her past mentor call her name. “I want you to study these humans as much as you possibly can. I wish to avoid war at all cost with these creatures. We’re going to have to attempt to learn their ways if we wish to be diplomatic.”

Her brow furrowed in a serious expression as Twilight nodded. “I’ll do my best Princess Celestia.” A smile stretched across Celestia’s face from the formal address.  “I’ll find every scholarly book I can find on them and learn as much as I can about them. My friend Applejack even has four humans that have lived over nine years on her farm, which is rare for such a sickly species.”

“It's only Celestia to you Twilight.” 

The inexperienced princess lowered herself and gave a blush. 'Old habits die hard,' Twilight told herself.

“And I’m glad to hear of your enthusiasm,” complemented Celestia, “but allow me to help you further in your research. Let’s see, you’ll need an assistant to help you, one with experience and knowledge of humans and you’ll need the highest quality human slave of your own to study, only the smartest human will give any useful results. Assuming that human slaves are actuality sub-par free tribal humans like you implied.”

“Hmmm,” mumbled Luna. “Well, what about Octavo? He’s here in the castle, I spoke with him last night when he arrived from the frontier. He’s picking up some books on human devolution from our library and then he was planning to go to his homeland of Broncovy for a couple of weeks.”

Celestia repeated the name over and over again as she looked up. Searching, yet her eyes were not fixed on anything of importance, her eyes not looking for something physical. “Ah yes. I remember him, he went to my College here in Canterlot, majored in Anthropology, in the study abroad program, if I remember correctly. He should more than qualify.” She turned to Twilight. “Would you mind him as an assistant?”

She chuckled, considering what Spike would think of this new revelation. “Octavo?” asked Twilight. “The stallion who got the highest score in my political science courses?” Immediately a memory popped in her head of the always studious stallion who always looked out for others. “I would love to work with him, everypony always got along with-” She stopped herself. “Oh never mind, I'm thinking of Actovo...” A silent moment filled the room. “Umm... I think I may have met Octavo in the hallway once or twice... I don't really know anything about him though... huh... yeah he was the transfer student... I wouldn't... mind him.” Twilight didn't know how to save her failed assessment, and it showed.

“You there, guard,” called Luna, who had ignored the ending part of Twilight's comments on the stallion.

The guard stepped forward. “Yes your highness.”

“Bring Octavo here at once, he’s staying here in the suite.”

He bowed and then trotted out the door.

“As for the human,” began Luna, “I know that the best humans are always taken to Canterlot to be sold off.” She looked away for a moment. “I hope that you two can find a good human test subject, if you can’t I could always lend you my human Twilight.”

Both Twilight and Celestia gave her a surprised look. “I didn’t even know you had a human. Where do you even keep him?” asked Celestia.

“When I know that a dignitary from court plans to wake me up during the day-time I have him guard my bed chambers. They don’t seem to understand my sleeping schedule for some reason, despite me being the Princess of the Night.” A scowl flashed through her facial expression. “And my Lunar Guards can’t restrict access from high court members to me --it’s against the feudal contract,” She sighed. “But, my human doesn’t know that. When they see a two headed human guarding the door wielding a giant club I gave him to play with --they generally make a hasty retreat.”

Twilight and Celestia both giggled at this, Luna looked away in slight embarrassment as she let the two have their fun. “You’ll have to introduce me to him one day Luna, but I’m sure Twilight and I can find a more genetically stable specimen to examine, the addition of an extra head seems to be another mutation.” She turned to her past student. “Wouldn’t you say Twilight?”

The scholar brought her hoof to her mouth once again. “I would have to agree, it seems unlikely that that is normal, this is the first time I’ve ever heard of a two-headed human.”

Luna shrugged. “Works for me, I would miss him greatly if I had to part from Double. He really is adorable... in a two-headed, broad shoulder, muscular, primitive sort of way.” She had a blush on her cheek as she looked away.

Several questions entered the scholar’s mind, but they would all be left unasked.

Shining along with several other ponies entered the throne room. “Princesses, I was told that you wished to see Octavo.”

“That is correct Shining.”

The Captain stepped aside allowing Octavo to walk forward from the two parallel lines of guards on both sides of him. Twilight couldn’t help but realized how relaxed he was, as if he was taking a stroll through a garden. Even she felt uncomfortable having the same stallions just guard her, much worse escort her to the throne room. He stood erect, his demeanor seemed to have a calming effect on all present.

Celestia smiled. “How are you Octavo? I hope the frontier is treating you well.” Her protege couldn’t help but note that the monarch was speaking so familiarly to the stallion despite having a difficult time remembering his name several minute ago.

He let out a laugh. “As well as the frontier can treat a pony your highness.” He stood there not sure what to do before he continued speaking with a slight rough accent. “Your highness, what might I owe this lovely visit to?” The stallion’s coat was a stainless steel color. His mane was a sapphire blue, it was curly and somewhat ruffled, not to the point of being gruffy, but it was not well-kept. His light-blue eyes dancing from detail to detail, watching every twitch, every sign of body language, yet he kept a calm demeanor. Twilight noticed that he actually forgot to bow. The co-rulers didn't seem to acknowledged it though, he did seem a bit confused after all. Although Shining was looking at him a bit distastefully, he didn't appear to know what to think of him.

“I understand that you have a train ride in the morning to get to your homeland,” said Celestia attempting to show that she understood that she was interrupting his plans, “however, Equestria and I have need of your help.”

“I see,” he responded, his smile gone. He pushed up his glasses. “I would imagine that this has something to do with the humans and my expertise with them.”

Celestia nodded. “That is correct, we wish to know more about them: What are they capable of; how dangerous they are; what sort of weapons do they have access to; and how many of them exist. The more we know about them the better.” The monarch waited for a response, but he was looking away. Deep in thought. So Celestia moved the conversation along. “We can speak of pay and perks now if you wish.”

The gray-white pony took this time to shake a hoof. “I don’t care about money, just send me whatever bits you think is fair for my work.” Twilight could have sworn she saw regret cross his features as he began a round of excessive reflection. “I was generous with my knowledge before and that led to the griffins attempting to take advantage of the humans. I vowed to myself to never make that same mistake twice, but because I know that you are a just ruler, and because I trust in your judgment I will readily join you without question. I am sure that it is for the good of us all. I am confident in that.”

Twilight had watched in surprise as a genuinely flattered expression took over her mentor’s prepared smiling mask. The ruler had always taught her the meaning of right and wrong and instilled such values in her early on. She had always noticed a sort of kinship that the good shared with each other and she believed this to be the case now. As he had seemed more concerned with others than his own benefit. “Why thank you kind stallion,” replied Celestia with a warm smile. “It is always good to hear that my subjects, and even those beyond the Empire of Equestria think well of our rule. I believe you will be an excellent addition to the research team.” Octavo nodded, and seemed to prepare to speak, but Celestia spoke first. “I have put Princess Twilight in charge of the research team, ask her for any specific question you may have.” She turned to Twilight. “I will give you full authority on this project, feel free to hire anypony that seems qualified to help you, simply send me the bill if you need absolutely anything.”

Twilight nodded, although a bit less firmly this time, due to the nervousness of having her brother watch her perform her new duties as princess, but she did not let this uneasiness destroy her. “I won’t let you down Celestia.”

She smiled back at her protege. “I know you won’t. I trust you.”
> The Law
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

   “Alright Octavo...” trailed off Twilight as she finished her checklist. The two ponies were entering the busier parts of Canterlot. With the help of the stallion nudging her, Twilight managed not to hit anypony as she wrote some extra notes down with her floating quill and ink. “I would prefer not to waste any time. So let’s see, we already have several useful books on human anatomy and behavior.” With the quill she made a check-mark. Both she and Octavo were carrying saddlebags filled with books and scrolls. “We already have two late-evening train tickets for the Crystal Empire.” She made another check as she took the tickets out and confirmed that she still had them. She stored them away and verbally confirmed her readiness, “Check.”

   Twilight felt Octavo gently pushing her off course with his chest, stopping her from crashing into some oblivious shoppers.

   “So Princess Twilight Sparkle,” Octavo began in what Twilight would describe as a deep and overly polite manner, “I understand that you and I never really spoke to each other much at the college, but I just wanted to say that it’ll be an honor working with one such as yourself. And I think it would be appropriate for me to congratulate you on becoming a princess and elevating your status and all that.” Now Twilight was realizing what had been bothering her about the way he had been speaking, it was too harsh. He drew out some syllables longer than he should have and he rolled some letters around in his mouth slightly. It had taken her a while to notice it.

   Not sure if he was being real or fake with his praise, she just chuckled weakly, yet his demeanor suggested that he was serious. Although in truth, becoming a princess caused many ponies and especially bachelor stallions, to begin treating her with extra affection. Twilight was beginning to have trouble detecting who was sucking up to her and who was generally being nice.

   “Well thank you, but you don’t have to address me as a princess, just Twilight is enough. And you can relax around me, there’s no reason you should be so uptight.”

   “Sure thing, Miss Princess Twilight Sparkle,” he said in the same manner in the same way, his accent seemed to even thicken.

   They were passing by the unequaled Saddle Avenue for a silent moment, the most praised fashion designer stores in all of Equestria. Twilight realized that if she was with Rarity they would never be able to simply walk by the display windows without being derailed from their current journey. Luckily for her, Twilight mused, Octavo like her just gave them a passing glance admiring the work put into them but not being apart of the vain herd of fashionable upper class trendy ponies. Twilight liked spending time with Rarity of course but it was nice to stroll by such a place without having to bargain with an ecstatic mare to move on with their mission from the co-rulers.

   The ponies here seemed to throw money around with no apparent restraint which added a certain charm to the place, albeit one she didn't much care for. The three, four, and sometimes five story mansion-like buildings added a certain artistic, capitalist feel to the city.

   Twilight watched Octavo grow more interested, he was looking around at the top windows of the more decorative buildings with large windows specifically designed to attract the eye. When he turned his head to her unexpectedly she was caught staring at him and quickly looked away.

   “Hey Twilight,” he called out causing her to look at him again, “you were born and raised in Canterlot right?”

   “Yep.” She wanted to continue off of that conversationally, but didn't know what else to say about the subject, she never really felt apart of the city, she preferred her books and her favorite nook.

   “Tell me,” he said as he looked around, “what has been some of Celestia's fiscal policies during the nine years that I've been gone?”

   Twilight had been expecting something more... mundane... and it showed on her face. “U-umm well, economics was never something I put a great deal of study into. I'm a bit worried I'll ended up telling you something that isn't true… or isn’t backed up by factual evidence.”

   He snorted with a playful smirk on his face. “I'm not asking you for a thesis Princess Twilight, just something to sate my intellectual apatite. Like taxes for instance, would you say that their high or low or...”

   “Oh,” chirped Twilight in realization, “well they are pretty low yes. The whole Empire is basically still structured like its old feudalistic self except with nobility we have lord mayors instead, who are elected, and some lord mayors have city mayors under them, as opposed to lords and dukes. So I suppose we have some Noble Republic aspects in our society.”

   “Ah,” he mumbled, “that's very, very interesting.” He continued to examine the foreign land.

   Twilight arched a curious eyebrow. “Just out of curiosity, how is Broncovy in terms of economics.”

   “Well-” he stopped speaking sharply, seemingly holding his breath before he continued speaking, “-we have high taxes in order to keep a standing army and to fund our agriculture society. We don't really have the best land up north and its not that easy to grow anything up there.” Twilight continued nodding her head, not sure what to say at their less than optimal situation. “Thing is we would love to dismiss our army but with the griffins as our neighbors, and foreign bandits always prowling the isolated countryside --we can't. Not without horrible consequences. So we all try to help each other out, more or less.”

   Instead of glancing back and forth between her and the road ahead he was now looking straight at her. “The co-rulers are always willing to help us out if we get a bad harvest as well, and they are always willing to provide us with a subsidized loan. So we do have an ally to look to when things get really bad. While in return we make sure Equestria's northern border is well protected and we keep the frontier as safe as we can from the humans, although that usually means diplomacy as opposed to war.”

   “Huh...” Twilight grunted to herself, glad that she could turn the subject into something more relevant to what was going on. “You’ve been to the frontier, correct?”

   “Yes ma’am.”

   ‘I’m... younger than you...’ she complained to herself. “What exactly did you do out there?”

   He inhaled deeply. “I did many things there, but mostly I bartered with the humans for the West Wing Trading Company. That and I learned about their culture and traditions.” As he pushed up his glasses a sigh that implied frustration escaped his lips. Twilight guessed it was directed at the situation and not his slipping glasses. “Do you have any idea how long this mission of ours may take?” he asked gently, his normal rough accent near gone. “I’ll need to inform my employer of this eventually. They’re expecting me to return after my three week break.”

   Not wanting to be restricted or obligated to finish this assignment in a certain amount of time, or to metaphorically burn down a bridge that she may have wanted to cross later, she answered vaguely. “I don’t know, several weeks, several months, we will be done when we get done. It depends on us.”

   “They're a lot more humans bordering the land of Broncovy then there are bordering Equestria,” he replied, “would this assignment entail any field study?”

   She nodded. “At least part of it will be. We can study in Broncovy instead of the frontier if you like, but we need to go to the Crystal Empire first to learn what ponies already know of humans.”

   “Good, thanks,” he replied, “I was looking forward to seeing my homeland again. But, it looks like I’ll have to ask for additional time off with the West Wing Trading Company. Celestia’s request and all. Not that I’m complaining or anything.” He cleared his throat.

   She didn’t really know how to respond to that. It was almost a gripe against Celestia after all, so she just let it go.

   In just a few short minutes they entered the slave master quarters of the marketplace, marked by the steady stream of shackled humans walking by carrying heavy backpacks. This manual labor went on all day every day by the mindless drones of humans.
   
   Octavo had abruptly stopped. When she turned to him she saw he was eying a run down oddly designed building. It looked like some kind of store with a tall roof.

   “Hey Twilight,” he uttered. Then paused as he pointed at the building. The hoof dropped, what he was going to say dissipated.

   “What is it?” An eyebrow arched itself. “Is everything alright?”

   He then faced her. Several chained humans walked by them, with a slaver leading the group. They had nothing on but a loin cloth, and looked busy with their task as they carried their backpacks filled with supplies down the street. The chains on their ankles rattled with each step they took.

   “We’re going to buy several things here, including a human, right?”

   She was confused by the manner of the question, her unsure response revealed her confusion. “...ye-eeees?”

   He gave the building a solemn look. Then gave her a mischievous grin. “Follow me.”

   She did so skeptically. He walked up to the great doors of the abandoned building and began trying to pry them open.

   With the concept of a broken law in the air, her eyes shot open wide in realization. “Are you breaking and entering?!” A few ponies began to turn towards them.

   “Not at all,” he grunted as he became more forceful. “I only wish to commune with the divine,” his tone and accent became harsh again. She watched as his surprisingly well toned muscles rippled underneath his fur. He pushed harder and harder. ‘Divine?’ she repeated mentally, not understanding what he meant. ’This place just looks like some rundown shop to me...’

   When Twilight began to reexamine the architecture, she realized how grand the building looked, it was run down, it was old, but it had an imposing scale that must have looked marvelous back when it was still running. She noticed at this closeness, the worn decorative pillars running up the walls of the building, showing mercantile related designs, such as a scale, gold, spices and such, all gold or silver, each engraved into the rustic structure.

   ‘Surprising no one thought to melt these valuable metals.’ Twilight continued to look the place up and down, noticing some of the windows high above her were broken.

   With his patience almost gone Octavo backed up and cast an unlock spell on the door. She frowned. He winked at her, then bucked the doors open. She twitched at the noise.

   The thick iron doors didn’t move much, but it was wide enough for one pony to enter at a time. He pushed up his glasses and went inside. “Come on,” he beckoned.

   She looked around herself and saw several ponies were looking in her direction. Whispering to themselves. After practically being ushered in by their looks, Twilight continued on in a tip-hoof fashion, careful not to make any noise. Inside she saw Octavo aligning the many benches that faced some sort of alter.

   At the hooves of Twilight, was at one time, a once royal-red carpet with gold trimmings, but now the whole thing was moldy, muddy, and was torn in several places. Completely worthless to all but a collector, or an interested museum perhaps. The one story building gave a sense of being an insignificant speak to the greater whole, the width, breath, and scope of the room did well to bring certain feelings to the forefront of one's mind. The chandelier that was leaning on the wall by some broken furniture would have once been hanging beautifully from the ceiling, the now torn banners would have once hung beautifully, and the desolate scene before her would have at one time been bustling with worshipers.

   Many of the aging drapes over the lower windows were still somewhat intact, giving the impression that this place had suffered neglect, yet it was not ancient by any means. The stone walls and floor gave the place a medieval feel, and Twilight entertained the idea that it was built an extremely long time ago.

   Her hoofsteps echoed through the dusty decaying room. Sunshine beamed in through the stained glass windows from the highest parts of the walls, catching falling dust in their light. She coughed as some of the debris got in her lungs. 

This wasn't her idea of wise time management. “Do you just really-really enjoy spring cleaning?” He stopped at her sarcastic remark, chuckling to himself. Continuing to the altar, he looked around; his smile faded and he sighed.

   He approached that altar. The stone scale on the pedestal was broken, the right part of it was missing. The icon was just some stone scale, like the one used to measure weight, Twilight realized, nearly disappointed at the bland centerpiece. Octavo tried to put the broken thing upright, but when he released the levitation spell it fell over again.

   “You're going to get us in trouble,” she warned, looking around for a guard, then looking again for a crazy homeless pony with a knife, not that Canterlot was a dangerous place --it wasn’t.

   He didn’t respond.

   Something significant was happening, Twilight could tell. This seemed to matter deeply to him, so she kept quiet.

   Before she knew it, he had found the broken off piece and magically fused it together with a fix-it spell. He followed up by fusing it on top of the altar like it once was. After another fix-it spell cast on the entire altar he was done, now the once desolate heap of decaying building material looked like a true haunted temple that fillies would try to sneak into to prove how brave they were, and then end up screaming as they ran for the exits as the place began to give them the creeps, a questionable improvement quipped Twilight.

   The benches were lined up and the altar looked better than it had in the last hundred years. The place still looked like a pathetic shell of its former glory, but at least it's previous function was beginning to look evident.

   Somewhat satisfied with his work, he sat his flank down, lowered his head and began to mumble something under his breath. But stopped when he remembered that he wasn’t alone and turned to Twilight. He motioned to his side. “Why don’t you come pray with me? To Merustang, the God of trade, justice and fairness.”

   Twilight looked up at the alter. “No thank you,” she replied as nicely as she knew how.

   “Truly? Huh.” He turned back to the altar and spoke softly. “I figured you for a mare that could enjoy a moment back in time, a time when Equestria honored the gods that gave it such prosperity to enjoy... peace and power. You didn't seem to shut your mind away from economics even though that wasn't your area of expertise, but apparently your willing to do that with theology. Interesting.” He turned back to her. “I won’t take too long.” She heard him begin to pray.

   “I-” Her response died in her throat. Twilight had studied about the gods and had known who Merustang was, but she never prayed to her. And she knew that to be an atheist was to be insane, the gods unquestionably walked the world and they had their crusades, their holy wars and directly spoke to their high priest and champions, but Twilight still wasn’t into all of that, nor was any Equestrian. Consorting with the gods was considered to be foolish and dangerous to all the ponies she knew. After all, meeting with the Lord of Chaos hadn't gone too well for her.

   The spot by Octavo’s side was empty and she wanted to join him, if just for historical purposes. To meet somepony who honored the gods in Equestria was rare, and their champions did not come from or come to Equestria.

   She sat by his side and Twilight saw a smile stretch across his face, he didn’t open his eyes. “I don’t know how to pray,” she whispered.

   “I’ll show you how.”

   It was an interesting experience that Twilight would eventually look back on with fondness, yet even now with her very young mind she found some peace and harmony in the ruins. The short sermon Octavo gave her about justice and fairness would stay with her for the rest of her life, because it had reminded her of what Celestia had taught her so long ago. She had almost forgotten about those late night lessons by the fireplace in Celestia's bed-chambers, and she was grateful for having those memories restored.

   With a lesson in piety and history that cost her roughly ten minutes now over, she got up.

   The once proud temple's humble abode had only entertained the two visitors for the past fifty years. It let out an indifferent aura, and simply watched the Equestrians forget it existed.

   Twilight and Octavo took another turn praying for a fortuitous deal for a human. One that would ‘shed light on the original origin of the species.’

   Done, Twilight stood, and so did Octavo, he stretched and popped his shoulder. Twilight could scarcely believe that she had been persuaded to take part in this.

   “THIS IS THE ROYAL GUARD IN THE NAME OF THE CO-RULERS COME OUT NOW! YOU’RE IN A RESTRICTED AREA!”

   The innocent studious mare ducked down behind a bench. Octavo meanwhile stood erect and turned to the guard who was peering in. The unicorn guard was casting a light spell to look into the drab place.

   Twilight pulled him down to her. “GET DOWN!” she said behind gritted teeth. “We cannot get caught! Princess Celestia will be so furious at me for breaking and entering!”

   A bit confused he looked at her. “We did nothing wrong. This place should have been up and running.”

   “Okay, you don’t seem to understand, I have never been in trouble with the law --EVER! I’ve never even received a ticket before, I can’t let my reputation be ruined! No pony will respect me as a princess! They’ll think I’m just some hired thug! I’ll have to live by some other means, but all the employers will do background checks and they’ll see my criminal history and no pony will hire me and-”

   “I CAN HEAR YOU IN THERE SHOW YOURSELF!” came the same voice.

   All Twilight could do was hold her hooves over her mouth with her eyes closed shut. “I don’t want to disappoint Celestia. I Don’t want to disappoint my mom. My dad. Brother, I’m sorry.” She felt a single tear forming at the corner of her eye as she began to tremble.

   When she opened her eyes she saw Octavo giving her a stoic disbelieving look. “Just stay down here, I’ll get rid of him.” He stood up. Twilight couldn't believe he did that. She froze both physically and mentally. The guard's light spell shined on him. “Hello sir, here to worship Merustang are you? The God of trade, justice and fairness.”

   “Who? Never mind that, get over here.”

   Twilight still hiding behind the benches could only listen in on what she heard.

   “That’s close enough. Now turn around... I said TURN AROUND.”

   “Please sir what crime have I committed?” he asked as kindly as he knew how, his accent was near gone, but the nature of his question seemed so defiant, even to Twilight. Deep down she knew the guard was getting upset --quickly.

   “You broke the law, breaking and entering, and you’ve disturbed the peace.”

   “You are incorrect actually,” replied Octavo in a polite yet direct manner. “Pilgrims are always welcome to any and all shrines, they may not be kept from worshiping.”

   “That law doesn’t exist here.”

   “You misunderstand me sir, I quoted a divine law not a civil one.”

   Twilight silently slapped herself. “Is he seriously going to go this route, he wants to go down that road? Really? Seriously?!”

   “Then the two laws are in conflict apparently,” the guard replied sarcastically.

   “Correct, so the divine one over rules the civil one.”

   “NO-NO-NO, the law from the co-rulers is supreme. Obviously.”

   “That is correct,” mused Twilight. “Oh wait. Who’s side am I even on here?”

   “The law of the gods is supreme, it is divine and holy, the text are inextricably clear.”

   The guard sighed. “We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the really easy way, your move.”

   “Oh no-no-no Octavo don’t fight a Royal guard! He’ll beat you into a bloody pulp and it’ll show on your record! FOREVER! And that’s resisting arrest, another offense! Come on, your smart, you went to the Celestial College, put two and two together, you’re not a fighter.”

   “I am bound by holy decree to not abide by your conflicting secular laws. I cannot budge even for a moment.” A moment of silence.

   “Oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please.”

   Several spells went off, Twilight began to shake. Bug-eyed she listed to bodies hitting the furniture and benches grinding and sliding.

   Then the wheezing and choking began. Twilight peeked to see Octavo standing over the guard strangling him with his hooves, angling the stallion's horn away from him.

   “OH SWEET CELESTIA YOU’RE KILLING HIM!? ARE YOU INSANE?!”

   Twilight saw Octavo shoot the guard with a sleep spell, but she couldn’t stop herself from rambling. “I’m an accomplice, to a murder! I didn’t think today would end like this. I’m a cold-blooded killer!”

   Octavo sighed. “Again, we did nothing wrong, we broke a non-serious secular law, while this guard broke a divine law, I would worry for his future with fear and trembling were I him.” His voice was back to speaking in a deep tone. “And he’s not dead, just sleeping. And if you’re that scared of being found out then I can just erase his memory.” He cleared his throat.

   “That’s a serious offense!” she cried, in shock of his offer.

   “Pff, a mere pony-made law in the shadow of a holy law given to us by the righteous-”

   “Fine let’s do it!” Her hooves were quickly touching the ground and curling back to her side in rapid succession. “We’ve gone too far, we can’t turn back now!”

   He rolled his eyes, not a sign of worry apparent on him. It didn’t take him long to push up his glasses and cast the spell. “I’ll leave no trace.” After a short moment that felt long to Twilight it was over. “Its been done.” He looked up to her, then yawned. “So let’s go get that human.”

   They then turned to the door as they heard several royal guards in the distance. Twilight gasped. “Oh no!”

   “Follow me, they’ll be a back door exit to the chapel, there always is.” She followed him with shaky hooves and adrenaline filled legs. She was in a daze-like state, this didn’t feel real to the strait lace mare. He led her down a hallway, through a living quarters, through a bedroom and to an unimpressive wooden door. An unlock spell was cast and with a little shove the door was pried opened. It led outside to a busy street. When Twilight left the building she could hear the guards hoof armor echoing from the altar room. He closed the door then cast a lock spell on it.

   “See, that wasn’t so bad was it?” She continued following him as he led her into the crowded river of walking ponies in the street, they were incognito now. Safe.

   Twilight turned to the stallion next to her. She wanted to slap him, or tell him that she regretted bringing him along, but she couldn’t. Something innocent about his face stopped her. “You owe me so much for that.”

   He shrugged. “Uhh, sure, anything, anytime, anywhere.”
> The Human
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    These humans were hideous. Deformities were rampant, and those that were not physically crippled drooled animalistically onto the floor of their cages.

Twilight walked beside the now silent stallion as they pressed onward into the marketplace. “All your praying better pay off Octavo. You made me go through a lot over that.”

“Huh? O-oh... yeah, sure.” He was a walking zombie, completely consumed with some hidden thoughts Twilight couldn’t deduce.

She huffed, brushing it off. Various cages containing a single human each surrounded her and the other customers. These were the finest humans in all of Equestria, owned by the First Tier Company.

One human had shown promise, but he had a missing arm, from the look of it he had lost it in some accident or battle. “I’ll come back to him if we can’t find anything better.” To her disappointment Octavo was still daydreaming. She sighed. 'Why bother,' she asked herself.

Twilight couldn't help but noticed the trailing eyes that followed her, the humans apparently found interest in her presence. Some watched curiously, some glared at her in fury.

To the left of her, the human slammed into the iron bars and caused Twilight’s suddenly shaking legs to fail her. When she turned to look, she witnessed the savagery of the feral beast, reaching out at her with its long frightening arms and broken nails and teeth, flailing madly to get to her. Twilight laid on the ground still, after realizing that she was safe at this distance, yet several other ponies bolted and fled with terror, screaming while knocking over each other to get away.

A unicorn slaver yelled at the growling beast, “GET BACK CRETIN!” And shocked the feral human with a low-level spell. It backed off, growled some more, and glared back with milky white, near blind eyes. It was completely nude. Non-existent balls accompanied the deformed penis. He hunched over at the back of the cage, the lack of facial skin didn’t hide the rage in his expression.

A hoof was touching her side, it wasn’t just now there, she just now realized it. Coming out of a daze, she noticed Octavo standing over her, horn ready to fire, spell ready and charged. As she put her hooves under her, Octavo backed away.

Twilight took his outstretched hoof and offer of help. She was up on steady four hooves in no time, but she began to feel tears form in her eyes, her lips trembled.

“I’m so sorry Twilight,” Octavo said with meaning in his words, truly sorry. “I should have been paying more attention.” He was scratching the back of his neck, looking around.

She didn’t look up to see his expression. Twilight still heard the employee dealing with the human behind her. ’Inhale deeply, I can push back the tears,' she told herself. 'Everything is fine.’

The tears dried, as she knew they would, but even with Octavo between the mad-human and herself, she couldn’t stop shaking. The image of human rage, of pure anger, of watchful human eyes, of that hideous face passed through her mind again.

The slaver turned to them. “I erm... apologize for that... are you both okay?” He looked embarrassed by the whole scene with his wide eyes and twitching legs.

“Yeah, I think so.” Her legs shook from the adrenaline as she straightened herself up.

The slaver turned back to the feral animal in the cage. “I knew we should have passed this one up. He seemed too unstable, no wonder those humans were willing to sell him for so cheap.” Now that she had a better look at him, she could see several scratches and odd bite-marks on his bulky body.

’Implications unpleasant,’ mused Twilight. She began wondering if she took on more than she could chew, causing herself to wonder if she was really up to the task, if not, then she lied to her mentor when she said she wouldn't let her down. Twilight took a deep breath to calm herself down.

In an attempt to keep a potential buyer around he became very friendly. The slaver gave an affable smirk to Octavo. “Wow,” the slaver chuckled, “I thought you were going to kill the human when I saw the look in your eye.”

Twilight watched Octavo, if he was prepared to kill before, it wasn't showing now --unless his war face was a no-nonsense one. “I was considering it.”

The slaver made no effort to show that he cared. But he looked back at the human, he gave it an almost sympathizing look, if his tone was anything to go by. “Perhaps this thing would be better off dead.”

When no pony replied to him Twilight cleared her throat. “Excuse me sir,” she said, then cleared her mind of thought scrambling fear, “would you mind showing us your most prized humans here. We’re on a tight schedule.”

His eyes lit up like lights on a tree on Hearth’s Warming Eve’s day. “Oh-ho-ho, big spenders are we? Alrighty then. Those humans are located inside our office building. Please follow me. I’ll take you to my boss.”

They spent several minutes in a waiting room. She diverted her attention to subtract from the fact that she had almost been mauled. ‘Don't think about that now... Actually don't think about that EVER,’ Twilight told herself.

The classy furniture in the room was non-comparable to Canterlot Castle, but it was impressive nonetheless. The couch they sat on looked like it cost a small fortune. Twilight guessed that it had been imported from Saddle Arabia if the style and woven patterns were anything to go by.

The near sterile clean, elegant marble floors, and other expensive-looking decorations pointed out how well the slave trading business was doing, despite the recession. And it showed how flamboyant the company really was with its wealth. The building itself was huge only two stories tall, but it extended down the entire block, and if she knew Canterlot as well as she believed, then she knew that they would have an underground vault of gold and other valuables down below.

The mare in the reception desk quietly wrote away, dealing with various papers of vague importance. Just the three of them in the large spacious room gave her an eerie feeling. One that seemed to hide something malevolent, something obvious that she couldn't put her hoof on.

“You sure you're alright, Princess Twilight,” asked Octavo, to her surprise she twitched at the sound of his voice. Apparently she hadn't calmed down as much as she believed she had. Her nervousness was noticed by Octavo's half-lidded yet still quite piercing eyes.

“I'm fine, I've done much more dangerous and crazy things before. And I would prefer if you'd just call me Twilight,” she replied, trying not to sound too aggravated at the end.

“Hmm,” he grunted, pleased with the earlier response, but contorting his brow and breaking eye contact at the request of informality. Twilight was sitting off on the side in a little sofa for one, while Octavo was sitting in a longer couch that formed a right angle with her seat.

In front of them both was a coffee table that held a punch bowl and a few glass cups. A little sugary drink to improve the mood of the customers Twilight realized a while ago, it was something that she had learned in the Celestial College during an Introduction into Business course she took. It was the only business course she took, she aced it, but she quickly realized she was not meant for the bourgeoisie lifestyle, she would not follow in her father's hoof steps.

Octavo's horn lit up as he began filling a cup, she watched it for an idle moment, considering getting one for herself when he was done. When it was lifted to her hooves she took it, appreciating the friendly gesture.

“You should relax for a moment, Princess, calm your mind. Let your adrenaline wear off.” He realigned in his seat more. “Who knows how long they will keep us here.”

The princess sipped some punch from her crystal clear cup. And almost dropped it as a stallion threw the door open entering abruptly. “I am so sorry for the wait!” he cried out emotionally. “A princess must have better things to do than waste time waiting on others,” he said, directing his words to Twilight. The thin-but-tall stallion fixed himself up by aligning his tuxedo correctly and readjusting his monocle. His top-hat seemed sown onto his head --never moving.

“Oh it’s no trouble at all sir.” Uncomfortable, Twilight meekly shook her head, not sure what to do with the special treatment from an apparently royal or very wealthy pony.

“Oh well it matters to me,” he said ever-so suavely, “Princess Twilight.” He said her name in what Twilight would describe as --almost seductively? No question was left in her mind on what he was trying to pull when he brought her hoof up to his lips and kissed it before she had time to react.

‘Eww,’ she whined internally. Every muscle in her body stiffened.

“I am ever so pleased you saw fit to grace my establishment with your presence.”

“Uhh...” mumbled her assistant. He took a glance in Octavo’s direction, then took a double take. The stallion’s eyes lit up. “O-octavo? I wasn’t expecting you here.” A bit of caution crossed into the slave manager’s eyes. “Why are you here?” he asked more out of curiosity than anything else.

‘Oh please don’t cause me any more trouble,’ she pleaded to him in her head. ‘Actually, feel free to cause as much trouble for this guy as you want,’ she thought as she wiped her hoof on the couch.

“Am I not wanted here?” the scholar asked as politely as he could.

“That depends.” He turned to Twilight. “I was led to believe that you were interested in buying one of my most valuable humans correct?”

She nodded her head, not really understanding why there was tension between the two stallions. ‘I really need to get to know him better, she thought. The idea being directed at Octavo not the slave boss. ‘I didn’t even know he had a history with this company.’ Flustered about not receiving a heads up, she stood by awkwardly, but she couldn’t bring herself to be angry with her new assistant, even if he did leave her in the dark, and almost got her arrested.

The posh stallion shrugged. “As long as you’re not here to tell me how to run my business, I have no problem.”

Octavo groaned with frustration, but didn’t say anything.

Remembering she still had a train to catch before nightfall she stepped in. “Excuse me, but we need to see what you have in stock, we’re on a tight schedule.”

“But of course,” he said with a bow, he began walking towards a large set of double doors. “Now I know you’re going to absolutely love this, I have, in my possession, the most, absolutely spectacular, aesthetically pleasing to look at, well toned and well behaved human that I have ever seen in my entire life.” He opened the double doors which revealed a pathway that turned right sharply. On both sides were cells, some empty, some not, they had modest accommodations. ‘These holdings look a lot like prison cells,’ Twilight assessed. ‘Not that I would know from experience --thankfully. She spent a moment remembering several novels she read where the villain, or an occasional unfortunate hero would end up in a place that was described similarly to what she was seeing.

They continued following him down the hall. The humans here looked infinitely better than the ones outside, most having a small superficial defect or bad injury. But their less than glorious naked form revealed every mistake nature gave them.

Some humans even watched them with interest, displaying some fragment of friendliness. Despite their appearance of non-aggression Twilight began to feel anxiety begin to pool up inside her, which sometimes led to her mental breakdowns. ’Oh I shouldn't have left Spike at the Crystal Empire. It's okay. Just keep it together... STOP STARING AT ME!!!’ The humans ignored her silent plea.

“Now I’m not sure if the humans made a mistake when they sold him to us or not, but you better believe it when I tell you that he is not castrated. You’ll be able to enter the very small ring of ponies involved in human breeding, if you so choose.” He shrugged. “It’ll be up to you really.”

His showy tuxedo caught her eye, she remembered Rarity telling her something about it to her. That it was a new design made with silk from Saddle Arabia. All designs were custom made. ‘This stallion must be filthy rich to afford such a thing.’

Twilight silenced the rambling Rarity in her head, none of that mattered now.

Slowing down he gave himself a chance to explain something before they reached said human. “Oh, I almost forgot, when we bought him, he was in pretty bad shape. He had a sizable stab wound on his back and had several blunt wounds on the back of his head. No brain damage though, in fact our test show that he is the smartest human we’ve ever had. Regardless, he’s fine now. We were going to keep him for a week or two more so he could completely recover, but I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

They stopped; the slave boss stretched out a hoof to a particular cage.

The creature’s skin was a dark tan color, his legs seemed hairy, everything else was indiscernible by his hunched pose. He was facepalming it seemed, with both hands, sitting on his prison bed.

The boss cleared his throat, attempting to gain the human's attention. The boss giggled nervously then banged hard on the bars of the prison door. He didn’t even look up.

The two unicorns from the Celestial College grew more and more curious, examining everything they could see. His bare feet seemed to be in perfect form, what skin they could see seemed healthy, and strangest of all, a full head of short hair was on top of his head.

“Hmm,” mumbled Twilight just loud enough for Octavo to hear him, “do you think that those hair patterns on him are natural for a non-heavily-mutated genotype of humans or do you think it’s just another abnormality of the species.” She glanced over at him, now questioning if he even knew that humans were the way that they were because of mutations. If he studied the species like he claimed to have, he would know, Twilight figured. She only lightly held back her vocabulary and jargon seeing that he was educated from the same prestigious school she was.

The stallion nodded. “It’s normal, I’ve seen several humans with that hair pattern. Seems to be too coincidental for it just to be a random mutation.”

A spark from the slave boss’ horn hit the human’s hand causing him to twitch, but other than that he kept still and sat in a defeated posture.

Twilight glared at him. “Could you please not do that again?” Her mind went back to the vicious human. ‘I don't want to re-live that event anytime soon.’

The stallion chuckled. “Oh I was just trying to get him to stand up so you could get a better look at him. He’s fine, I wouldn’t actually damage my stock mindlessly.” He fixed his suit up, re-aligning the tie. “And if you’re worried about a violent outburst, don’t be. All these top quality humans have taken extensive aggressiveness training, obedience training and subservience training. This special stock here is one-hundred percent safe. All fully guaranteed to never hit back and they are insured up to five thousand bits by the company.”

The boss eyed the human up, his grin never left his face. “In fact, this one is our star product.” He unconsciously licked his lips. “A textbook example really, one has never passed so quickly and with such flying colors before.” Another spark shot out of his horn hitting the human’s hand. His grin grew a bit, it was a sickening smile, it was something Twilight tried not to notice --she tried so hard. This time the human’s hand lowered, revealing two glaring bloodshot eyes.

“Hmm,” mumbled Octavo, “what’s wrong with his eyes? Is he sick?”

“No-no-no,” replied the boss, “he just cries a lot.”

They both turned to him; he could only give a guilty smile in response, that and a fake chuckle.

Forgetting him, she mentally began dissecting the features of the human’s face in her head. A full nose that stopped before it reached the lips, a bridge that led to the tip of his nose from his brow, a square jaw. Yes, Twilight thought, he will do wonderfully. He was without doubt to all observers the most pleasing to look at human they had ever seen, albeit their wasn’t much competition for that title. Nevertheless, that position belonged to him.

“He’s much taller than he looks when he isn’t sitting down. Hold on. I can get him to stand.” The posh pony began tugging on the human’s hand to get him off the bed.

“You’re making him mad,” Octavo warned. “Be careful.”

Twilight noted what he was talking about. In the same manner that ponies facially animated themselves, the human had the same exact mannerisms. He was scowling, much like how a pony would when angry, and not only that, but he was scowling at the slave boss, showing that he understood who was manipulating his hand.

And then to the surprise of all, he spoke in a foreign tongue. None recognized it, but it seemed to flow with some rhythm. Twilight was too in shock to remember anything but the ending two words.

“-lex talionis.” He then pulled his hand free from the magic.

She snapped her head to the fellow scholar. Her fast pace mind already forming multiple questions and answers. “Were those real words? Some form of tribal speech for humans?”

Octavo scratched his chin sagely. “Hard to say. I've learned over a hundred different words in tribal speech, I've never heard anything that sounded like that. Almost seemed like a proper civilized language. Although I'll need to hear more of it to reach a respectable conclusion.”

The posh pony chuckled. “Oh I hardly imagine such a thing to be possible. They are one step above dogs in terms of intelligence. Now As you can plainly see, from his face and body, that he is of very high quality, and as such he would require a very large sum to buy. It is simply supply and demand. I can think of several others that will want him.”

The two scholars watched the human for a few more seconds. He was attentive now; looking back at them. “As I said,” began Twilight, “money is not a concern.”

The stallion grinned widely. “Excellent. But please, before we start throwing specific numbers around I insist that you see him stand, so that you may see his full form and his full worth.” He began pulling his hand again.

“That’s not necessary,” commented Twilight.

“You’re making him mad again,” added Octavo.

Twilight watched his posture change. The human sat up tall, his upper body turning to the stallion. His shoulders broadened. His chest puffed up. She also realized his elbows were raising up, making him appear larger and more threatening.

She gasped as the human bolted to the prison-bars of his cell, slid his long arms through the bars and grabbed the slave boss by the throat. The boss was slowly lifted up to the human’s great height, which to the unbelief of Twilight was even taller than Celestia, even counting her alicorn horn.

She froze up.

Kicking madly to escape his suffocating predicament, the boss’ suit began to ruffle, his mane quickly became a mess. His face contorted with fear, his mouth couldn’t voice words, he couldn’t breathe.

The human smiled at the struggling pony in his grasp. Twilight heard his whisper, “Invictus maneo caballus.” Right before he would have passed out, he was released and he fell to the floor.

After hitting the floor with a thud, he gasped for air. His monocle hit the ground beside him and broke.

Twilight and Octavo were still in a state of shock. They all backed away from the cage.

“SWEET CELESTIA!” The slave boss was literally shaking before the human.

Before the opportunity was lost Twilight took in his physical attributes better shown off by the light, now that he stood in front of the bars. ‘Huh, the slaver was right, he does look much taller standing up,’ quipped Twilight, with fear growing inside her.

What looked like a large slab of muscle accompanied his upper thigh, they were positioned on the outside side of him, this looked quite natural as far as she could tell.

But what didn’t seem normal to her were the abdominal muscle bumps showing through his skin. She could see his abs. Being visible, she counted six of them. Surely it couldn’t be natural for such a thing to happen to a species, though, he was quite muscular and had little fat. Possibly underfed, she guessed.

His feet seemed far superior to the other humans. Long and somewhat flat, he angled them partially outwards to keep him standing. Twilight began analyzing his genitalia, something was off about it, she noticed it the second he stood up, but then it dawned on her. His sheath was gone, it looked as though it had been removed. ‘What sort of crazy human ritual would involve that!? Why cut off the human’s foreskin?’ She then quickly looked away, to not be noticed staring at the human’s penis by two stallions.

She blushed red. The thought crept on her. ‘Why am I even paying attention to something like that? I wouldn’t even know what to compare that to. And I know next to nothing about things like that.’ Willing the thoughts of her sexual inexperience away she brought herself to the here and now.

“I tried to warn you,” added Octavo.

“WELL WHY DIDN’T YOU WARN ME WITH URGENTLY!?”

They both jumped at the outburst.

He stood on shaky hooves. “I am so sorry. I’m sorry but, this human... is obviously not ready to be sold to anypony. I have some ethics. He is... simply not safe. He must... we need to retrain... no, that simply won’t be enough for this fiend. The company will... uhhh...”

“Sir look,” interrupted Twilight, more harshly than she intended, “I’m not your average customer. I’m not looking for a pet or human companion or a protector, nor am I looking for a source of cheap labor. I am a scientist; hired by Celestia. I’ll buy him from you. I’ll keep him locked up at all times, I swear. I don’t care if he’s dangerous. I just need a test subject. A reference for my studies.”

He dusted himself off. “I’ll give him to you for a thousand bits, but if he does anything barbaric you’ll have to take the entire blame. I’m revoking all of his training certificates. You’ll have an uninsured, untrained, violent human on your hooves. And I don’t even care if you get sued!”

The question to take advantage of him didn’t even cross her mind. “A-are you sure? A thousand bits is...”

“Very little. Don’t you think I would know that?” the stallion interrupted. Humility didn’t come off naturally for this flamboyantly wealthy pony, being taken down a notch by his merchandise sat horribly with him.

Sufficiently satisfied the human went back to his bed, while the rich pony with half lidded eyes watched.

Not wanting to anger the stallion in an attempt at being fair, and wanting to move the slaver's attention away from the human so he wouldn't end up killing her desired specimen, she stole his attention. “O~okay,” Twilight nearly sang out-loud, “I guess it’s a deal then.”

Still in a slump he snorted in response as he dusted his custom designed clothing. He led the two into his office and they made the deal, quickly.

> Providence
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The purchase of the human went as smoothly as it could given the circumstances. And the company arranged for the human to be shipped to the Crystal Empire along the late evening train later that day. Now the group of two set about getting the last of the supplies they would need.

    “We’ll also need nail cutters, a toothbrush and toothpaste, lice medicine, skin lotion, antibiotics, and vitamins. Hopefully all that will keep him from getting sick and dying like a lot of humans do,” chattered Twilight as she continued to fill her grocery basket at the Human Goods Store. She took out her train tickets again and re-examined the time. “Six thirty; wonderful time management,” she told herself.

    Octavo put several items in her basket. “That should be all we need. I doubt he’ll need any more medicine, he looked healthy to me Princess Twilight.” She took a moment to reflect that by, 'he', Octavo was referring to the possibly full-blown untamable menace that was being shipped to her guest room in the Crystal Empire.

    “Mhhmm,” Twilight agreed. 'That human did look healthy when he was strangling his handler,' she quipped to herself.

    They took the items to the clerk and they purchased their merchandise at a discount, brought about by the recession to bring in more customers no doubt, Twilight figured. Though by Octavo’s smirk she realized he was seeing a different cause-and-effect play out.

    Later on they were heading down a sparsely crowded road towards the train station that could be seen in the distance. “Do you see what happens when you take the time to respect and pay homage to the gods?”

     Twilight turned to him a bit sympathetically. “You know there’s a recession in Equestria right? Everything's cheap in Equestria now because of it.” She turned her head to the side, considering how everything in Canterlot was still expensive. “Well, cheaper than it would normally be.”

    He didn’t seem phased one bit by her response, if the shrug was to be considered a hint. “Regardless, Murustang was looking out for us.”

    A little of annoyance was rising in her. Twilight was never one to get in trouble before, always following the rules Celestia laid forth, never straying. “You know I’m still a little bit mad at you for what you did back there.”

    To Twilight's dismay, he was looking at her in shock. “Because of what happened back at the Temple of Merustang?” he asked.

    “No,” she retorted, her tone dripping with as much sarcasm as she could force on it, “for calling me princess when I asked you to stop.” Twilight added extra emphasis on 'princess' to make it simple for Octavo to understand the facetious nature of the comment.

    “Really?” He dropped his head a bit to get closer to her eye level, to study her incredulous expression better.

    'This is impossible, no pony is this gullible. How can he actually think that after all this time I'm just now starting to get mad at him for his weird formality. How can anypony treat a fight with a guard as a normal everyday occurrence!'

    His scrutinizing expression faltered. “You know when I saw you back at the castle I couldn't help but noticed how nervous you looked. Is being a princess really that difficult, or do you just hate your new lot in life, or is it something else?”

    'Great. Now he actually thinks I'm mad at him not for beating up a Royal Guard, but for referring to me as Princess Twilight.'

    Twilight gave him a pouting look with a scrunched face and her bottom lip out, her eyes were squinted, it was an angry look that Octavo didn't understand the meaning of. She wondered if everyone, warlord included, could have seen how nervous and uncomfortable she was in Royal Court. Twilight relaxed her glare after seeing his genuine, sympathetic look he was giving her. Her irritated qualms had sailed right over his head.

    She sighed. “It's a bit too early for me to claim that it's hard... being a princess that is.” A few silent seconds went by before she filled it. “But you can call me whatever you want, Princess Twilight is fine.”

    He was looking down at her as they walked side by side to the train station. “I'm sure things will get easier for you, eventually. Being brought up to the level of royalty isn't something that seems easy. Not to make it sound like you were a peasant before your ascension though, you are a Canterlot pony after all. And you may not realize it now, but you have this refined, proper personality. It's just going to take time for that to mature because you're so young, but when it does you'll be ready for anything.”
    
    Twilight could feel a blush beginning to burn on her cheeks, she hadn’t learned how to trust her own abilities yet, but this pep-talk was helping. “Umm, thank you... I-” She paused on an inhale not sure what to say. “- I needed that.” Twilight eyed him suspiciously, not sure if he was just trying to suck up to royalty. “What makes you say that though?”

    “I spent many years traveling the world fixing wrongs and trying to make it a better place, I suppose it's a natural progression to begin to see the potential in those that will one day become great. Also I am your knowledgeable senior, so I gain the right to lecture you, even if you are a princess.”

    She instantly snorted. “Knowledgeable... senior?” A mischievous smirk took form on her lips. “Ohhh, I hadn't realize I was in the company of a wise seer, a keeper of truth.”

    “HA!” Octavo's guffaw made her realize something.

    'So he can understand sarcasm? I guess he's okay at detecting quips, but not feelings maybe? I don't know.'

    “Knowledge isn't all about age, you can be old and useless and not have a drop of it, you can be young and just have a knack for it,” Octavo continued with a big smirk as he pushed up his glasses, “but I can assure you I have not wasted my time upon this world. If you truly want to understand humans, than you must grasp a few difficult concepts, but I have faith in you. The great truths of this world are not objective scientific truths, but absolute truths, and they take faith to believe in and understand.”

    “Uhh, thanks...” she said in response to the 'I have faith in you' part. It was then that Twilight began to fear the zealot.

    Twilight arched an eyebrow, she hadn't noticed a large disparity in their age, at most he looked like he was in his late-twenties, but she knew better than to ask.

    They continued on with their packs full of human goods.

    “Thanks for looking out for me... with the human...” she wanted to say. A stallion had never stuck up for her before, she realized. Not counting her big brother of course. It turned out that the human back at the Market Place posed no serious threat to her, but she liked how quick he was to react, it was so instantaneous. And grateful for his help she was willing to overlook the previous criminal incident.

    Those words of gratitude would be said out loud when the stallion could show her a sane side of himself, she decided. And then we can have a proper employer, employee relationship. Twilight thought on that for a moment, “Ponies are starting to work under me now... can't say I'm used to that idea yet.”

    Royal Guards were some of the few ponies in Equestria that actually specialized in fighting, as there was no need for it. Octavo however was no Equestrian. Still though, Twilight, being the sister of the Captain of the Guard knew of the discipline that the stallions possessed and knew that they couldn't be beaten easily by some random crazy pony, no matter how zealous or how much favor the gods gave him, what happened earlier shouldn't have been possible.

    Octavo's physique Twilight realized was very good for a unicorn, strangely so. Only the Royal Guard unicorns could compare. Even then, he was a bit bulkier. It all seemed vain to Twilight, unicorns didn't need muscular strength to be honest, at least that's how she saw it, after all why waste time building up muscle when you can cast magic.

    The only thing that she could hear was her sigh and their hoof-steps, that’s when she realized they were alone now. The sun was beginning to set. ‘Still plenty of time,’ she thought, and as she thought that, the sound of his hoof-steps stopped.

    When Twilight turned around, she saw him eying another run-down temple. She instinctively spoke when she saw the look in his eyes. “Oh no. NO. No-no-no-no.”

    Again, another devilish smirk. “Follow me.”

    “NO!” she cried out in protest.

    “Fine,” he groaned, “but you’re missing out on history.” He cast an unlock spell on another temple door and pushed it open with his shoulder, his muscles rippling as he did so. Twilight watched in the middle of the road. After looking both ways he turned to her. “No one has to know but us.” Octavo then went inside the dark enclosure.

    The temple’s outside depicted carriages, pegasi-led coaches and other traveling corresponding decorations, maps of distant land barely visible through the abuse of time and neglect. Something about the place almost seemed inviting to her. Perhaps it was how the angles of the architecture pointed to the door she mused. Twilight sighed, and then went in.

    To her surprise this temple had a completely different layout. Instead of benches lining up towards an altar, there were several stone platforms that were raised from the ground, large enough for her to lay on comfortably, or not, considering that it wasn’t as soft as her innerspring mattress.

    Twilight’s jaw dropped as she began to imagine how magnificent this place must have looked in its prime. Paintings of horses from Saddle Arabia displaying their wealth formed much of the right side of the wall, while depictions of Minotaur master craftsmen decorated the left side. Elegant pillars held up what was a partially destroyed second story inside balcony.

    Twilight noticed he was watching her surprised reaction, and as she expected, he added onto what she already knew from religious history. “The right wall is a tribute to the sultans of the east, while the left is dedicated to the kings of the west, all together separate, yet all can come together through travel and divine protection.” Looking at the golden chariot painting on the north wall he continued. “Hence the God Travafe, god of travel, refuge, and good health. He is said to trot all over the world, ever vigilant of bandits and thieves who threaten those on the road.” After a thoughtful pause, he then pointed to the stone platforms. “Travelers long ago would come here either sick or weary and would rest and be healed here for free.” He merely bowed this time before the north wall, uttering only a few words and then he regained his secular pose. “He also saved pony-kind from a grand dragon, and founded the Empire of Equestria, so I guess that's something,” wise cracked Octavo, “but you probably already knew that.”

    “Wow,” replied Twilight ignoring the sarcastic nature of his words, “you really know your stuff. How do you know all of this?”

    “Broncovy,” he answered, “is very different from Equestria.” A part of Twilight didn’t want to admit it, but her inner historian enjoyed this criminal spree she appeared to be on. She took a moment to look around.

    “Huh,” he muttered finding something amusing on the floor. Twilight was recognizing the amount of indistinguishable trash in the place as she heard Octavo pull out a sword from its leathery confines. He had his back turned to her as he confidently began a flourish. He moved his body in well-thought-out beautiful dance-like moves. The blade sometimes coming a mere inch or two from cutting himself.

    “Put that back!” she cried, taking a step back. “Swords are illegal in Canterlot! Y-you can be jailed just for holding that!”

    “Heh,” he muttered, “says the unicorn who can flail ponies with her mind using advanced magic.” He began to swing in the air with the blade. Ignoring her.

    She was turning red, at her wits end. “Unicorn magic is different than a tool that has no other use but to kill or maim! Besides your going to end up cutting someponies limb off by accident!” Twilight couldn’t discern the origin of the blade, it looked like something only a minotaur could have made in the fiery tundra forages, yet it was short, too short for a minotaur to use effectively and the shape of it suggested it was a great stabbing weapon --an offensive weapon.

    Personally, Twilight liked headstrong ponies, ones determined to see their goals and ambitions through, but her patience was wearing very thin. “I’ve used a blade before, I’m familiar with them. I’m not going to hack any pony's limb off.” Another twirl of the sword and he commented, “And this is a fine blade I must say. It looks sharp.”

    Twilight gave a sigh of relief when he sheathed the sword, but he then began to tie it onto his back, pulling on the belt-like strap of the sheathe.

    “The guards will arrest you on the spot for carrying an illegal weapon,” she warned.

    As he turned towards her he began to defend his actions. “I believe that Travafe put this sword here for me to take on our journey for some reason that I am unable to discern as of yet. However...” He turned around and walked up to the northern wall. “...I’ll have to leave something here to replace it with. Hmm...” The sound of the stallion talking to himself reached Twilight’s ears, and she began to worry. “Ahh that’ll do.” A magical flashlight was brought out of his pack and she watched him do a recharge spell on it, he then placed it in front of the northern wall. “May it provide light in the darkness of hopelessness to a user more in need then I,” he muttered.

    While she kept her eyes on the tribute to Travafe, he turned around and began to walk past her. “Take a bit leave a bit,” he added as he passed her. From her peripheral vision she noticed him give her a sly wink. “Come on, we’re going to the Crystal Empire aren't we?” It wasn't really a question.

    'Is this nut-job being a smart-flank with me?' she questioned herself. This time she figured it was her turn to roll her eyes, and possibly rethink her entire life.

    When they exited the temple, eight guards came galloping down the street in their direction. At her breaking point Twilight let out a whiny half-cry, half-whimper. Meanwhile Octavo acknowledged their presence nonchalantly, not even hiding his illegal weapon out in plain view, only caring enough to close the temple door behind him and lock it with a spell, right in plain view of the guards.

    Punishment was coming, breaking the law could only end in one way, the guards were coming to haul them away to the dungeon. Perhaps Shining and her friends could visit sometime. Maybe being imprisoned inside the moon wasn’t as bad as it was made out to be. Maybe she would like being banished and imprisoned at the place she was banished to. Unlikely though.

    So sure that they would take them away, it took her a long moment to realize that the guards kept up their gallop and passed the two unicorns. “What a strange land,” mumbled Octavo. “And truly does Travafe protect his ponies.” He readjusted his sword. “Let’s go Twilight.”

    “No.”

    He wore his confusion on his sleeve. “No?” he repeated.

    “No. I can’t do this. I’m sorry.” She sighed as a resolute temperament filled her. “Us. It won’t work. I can’t keep doing this Octavo, you have no respect for the law, real law, secular law or whatever you call it by, and you're going to get us locked up if you keep this up. I can’t work with you. I’m going to have to fire you. I’m sorry.” Depression filled her, she knew she had to do this, for Celestia, for Equestria.

    No surprise or anger showed itself in his response, instead he gently nodded. “I understand. You respect the law, secular law. I can understand that, actually I respect that. We all have our way, and you have yours. I wish good things upon you Twilight, may hardship never present itself on your journey.”

    “And I wish good things upon you too Octavo, I think you’ll need a lot of good luck and prayers to stay out of the dungeon today.” She nodded and began to trot towards the Train Station. The sun was beginning to set, she was running out of time. Only enough time to leisurely stroll toward her ride was left.

    “Uhh, Twilight,” called out the unicorn, she didn’t stop for him, but he caught up and continued speaking anyway. “I understand that things are a little different than in Broncovy, but I don’t feel comfortable letting you walk alone at this late hour.” She gave him a look. “I promise if we get stopped by a guard, I’ll tell them I don’t know you. You don’t have to talk to me and I’ll walk several steps behind you.”

    “If you really want to,” she deadpanned. And to her amazement, he actually did just that.

    ‘Will I never be free of him?’, Twilight silently asked Merustang, praying for fairness, if only for the irony of getting rid of a zealot.

    At this point Twilight just wanted to be left alone, but she decided that she would be as nice as she could be to the well-meaning yet extraordinarily bothersome stallion. They kept up the slow pace, entering a slightly more populated area, they didn’t even seem to notice her sword bearing stalker. She was getting closer to the train station.

    “Hmm,” she heard him mutter, “there are a lot of pegasi guards flying over Canterlot all of a sudden.” She gave him no reply. “A bad omen perhaps?”

    She didn't respond to what sounded like a question.

    A disappointed sigh left Twilight's lips. The highly educated stallion seemed like such a lucky asset to the assignment back at the castle. “How could this end up happening to me,” she thought out-loud in a whisper. “If this was my own project then I could handle his... uniqueness, but this is too important for any liability. All of Equestria could be at stake. We don't know what the humans are capable of, I don't even want to think of what they would do if they managed to defeat the Equestrian military, not that a war seemed likely. Maybe I could call Octavo to the Crystal Empire for some questions, but I can’t keep him around for-”

    “Miss Princess Twilight,” Octavo called out interrupting her train of thought.

    The Miss Princess part caused her to tense up with minor agitation. “Yes?” she acknowledged bitterly.

    Caution-filled eyes examined every shadow the falling sun created. “I can sense danger up ahead.” He pointed a hoof down a suspicious looking, dark alleyway. “I would highly advise us to take the long way to the train station, there’s still time to spend on caution your highness.”

    Surprised by the ridiculous request she chuckled, but then she stated flatly, “No.” She continued walking. ‘I’m not walking down a dark alleyway with this guy. All of Canterlot is safe, but, bright main roads are always safer. Even a foal knows that.’

    Ocatvo almost tripped over himself catching up to her again. “B-but Princess Twilight! T-that’s a very dangerous path!” Despite not making eye-contact with the worried guy she could see his worried expression in her mind’s eye.

    “Perhaps it’ll be dangerous for you when a Royal Guard patrol takes you away, and didn’t you promise that you wouldn't follow me this closely?” When she glanced in his direction it felt like a knife stabbed her in the heart when she saw his hurt expression and lip quiver. He stopped, allowing her to continue alone.

    A feeling of shame followed her in place of him. “But what else could I do?” she defended herself out-loud in a mumble-like volume. “He had broken the law! Not once. Not Twice. But three times! He doesn’t care about the law.” All she could do was huff at the bad situation. “And what sort of crazy sociopath can just pick up a blade like that? If he wants to play with swords like that then join the-”

    “TWILIGHT!” A strong body knocked her off her hooves.

    When Octavo tackled her to the ground it forced all the air out of her lungs. She could hear a spell going off and as she turned her head she saw Octavo attempting to magically grab a spear that had been thrown in her direction. The weapon slipped through his grasp like a wet soap-bar in a bath. Twilight’s face cringed in horror as she watched it jab into Octavo's side. It was as though the whole scene had unfolded in slow motion.

    “O-octavo!”

    A scream from some mare not far away got her attention, when she followed the screamer’s eyes, she saw him once more.

    The human from earlier, the one who tried to get to her in the marketplace, the one who’s piercing white milky eyes remembered her through the fog of his own rage. He was there, with a second Equestrian Royal Guard spear in his hand and a Royal Guard helmet adorning his head. The large stallion head-armor fit loosely on him --as it was designed for a pony.

    Despite the headgear, the skinless face and those milky-white eyes kept him distinguishable. He was looking right at her. His crotch area was covered by the custom-designed, flashy coat of the boss from the First Tier company, it was torn up a bit and a little bloody, obviously that pony from earlier had met a violent fate.

    Without much vocalization Octavo had taken his time in removing the spear, and the blood started flowing out like a raging river. He cast a healing spell on himself and slowed the bleeding. Then he took his sword out and started using it like a walking stick to get up. “Sorry Twilight,” he muttered, “wasn’t vigilant again...” He grunted in frustration. “I’m ah little hurt, but I can still fight.” Another sigh of annoyance was his only acknowledgment of pain. “I don’t know how this human got out, but we’re going to have to work together to survive this...” She heard him speaking but it sounded like he was a million miles away, like she was sinking underwater, unable to move, on the brink of falling asleep. She felt her thoughts being smothered by the monster's fury. “Twilight!”

    Twilight was frozen in the terror of the human’s gaze. He was looking right at her, with those evil eyes. 'Why did it have to be him?' Twilight's mind froze up. 

    Not sure if she was imagining things in her stupor, Twilight could have sworn the stallion chuckled. “Oh Travafe guide me. What can your champion do? Run? Doesn’t seem like much of an option, heck you’d probably smite me for cowardice if I did.” His voice grew deeper. “And I wouldn't blame you for it.”

    Twilight was brought closer to reality when Octavo stepped in front of her. She was looking at the back of his head, then he turned around. “Just stay behind me alright.” Her sense of logic told her that she was frozen, that she needed to move or Octavo would be killed, yet it wasn’t enough to release her from fear’s ensnare.

    With incredible speed, the thin lanky monster hurled itself at him, the long legs of it carrying it far with each step. It's spear was brought back in an underhanded grip intent on finishing the stallion off at close quarters.

    “COME ON THEN!” Octavo parried the spear lunge. The monster's experience told itself not to worry that the parry was a fluke. With the human's stance still broad it turned its whole body back, with its blob of flesh that was supposed to feet still planted heavily on the ground it lunged its spear at the stallion, instinctively aiming at the neck.

    Octavo's blade made a twirling motion that came less than an inch from slicing off his own snout and parried the spear again, the human reeled its head back in surprise. They were almost in each others faces. The creature jumped back to avoid an attack that never came. The stallion in front of Twilight did not physically move during the attack, he merely stood his ground. Octavo gave it a look that Twilight couldn't see from her position, but the human seemed to recognize it, and its hatred grew even more.

    For nearly an entire minute the human tried to kill Octavo by staying on what should have been its toes and utilizing every inch of the spear to attack at a distance. These attacks happened several times as the human attempted to walk around the stallion trying to get to Twilight. The monster's eyes were wide scanning for an opening, its mouth was foaming and its retracted lips were showing its broken teeth.

    The human took several steps back, snarling as it examined the fruitless work of its attacks. Octavo lowered his sword and spoke calmly. “Nadi ight, peao ease.” With a hoof held up indicating for the creature to stop, Octavo allowed his sword to drop onto the marble streets, he waited for the monster to do the same.

    The human shook his head. “Nadi peao, mus ight.” The creatures guttering sounds that escaped his mouth sent a shiver down Twilight's spine. The human lowered himself into a battle stance and began to circle the two Unicorns.

    “Oct-Octavo,” stuttered Twilight, “what did it say?”

    A sympathetic glance backwards was the only reply she got before he turned back to the threat. “Euy mes et-” Octavo was cut off mid-sentence as the human made a lunge for him.

    To the surprise of all Octavo's jumped forward to meet the creature and scored a graceful attack across the human's arm with his quickly reacquired sword. The contorting face of the wound-inflicted monster accompanied by his roar made Twilight think back to when she first went into the Everfree Forest, and she knew that experience had nothing on this.

    The human let out another roar, this one not of pain but of even more anger.

    Twilight was still paralyzed by what seemed like fear, if it had been any other creature, Twilight could have done something against it. But these monsters seemed to have a special hold on her mind.

    Smelling a moment of weakness Octavo charged the human, sword in mouth he slashed across his thigh. As the stallion came up behind the human after the sword attack he cast a fire spell onto the monster’s back, engulfing him entirely in bright azure flames.

    The shrieks of pain brought Twilight back to reality, and she watched the human flail about and burn. Octavo sheathed his sword and dragged his hooves towards Twilight. “You alright?” She nodded as he sat down and cast another healing spell on his still bleeding wound.

    “I-I can help.” Feeling the weight of responsibility and guilt, she rushed to him and together they closed the wound. Though in her head the human continued to dive at her, and this would continue for some time afterworld.
    
    Several guards began assembling in the air, the human was still alive, still screaming, still attracting attention. “Stand clear! Everypony stand clear, let him burn!” There were multiple ponies speaking she realized. “Don’t get caught in the flames! Stand back!” “Everypony stand back!” another guard said.

    The two unicorns paid them no attention as they came to terms with what had just happened. She watched him and Octavo looked at her hooves.

    Panting. Sweating. He struggled to stand. It was obvious from his face and his wound that he was attempting to hide the pain, any other pony would be crying out for help and rolling on the street. No other pony could endure that, surely, thought Twilight.

    The flames died out after a time. A few guards were gathering around the two.

    “Are you hurt?” one of them asked the princess.

    “He is,” she replied with her hooves on her protector.

    He was lifted up by a unicorn guard. “I’ll take him to a hospital immediately.”

    “No,” he said weakly. “No-no-no-no-no-no,” the floating stallion muttered in an almost inaudible tone.

    “We’ll need to take him immediately to the hospital.”

    “Civilians stand back!” a different guard accidentally yelled into her ear. “Secure the perimeter,” called out yet another guard.

    Twilight was lost in the scene. A crowd that seemingly came out of nowhere was gathering. The concept of time was dying in her mind.

    “NO!” yelled Octavo causing the unicorn guard to drop him. The injured stallion landed on his chin.

    As he grasped his chin the guard turned to anger in his fear. “Why did you yell!? Y-you made me drop you!”

    Twilight helped him up. “I refuse to step one hoof into a hospital. I-”

    Another cry rang out. They all saw the human stand.

    Skin burnt, they saw him stare right at Twilight, they saw him snarl and show his broken teeth to her. Those Milky white eyes cursed her, surrounded by black burnt eyelids.

    “Impossible,” somepony whispered, it might have been herself.

    He turned and ran down an alleyway with frightening speed. Twilight could hear glass break and guards running after him. She fainted.

> The Train
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In the pitch-black abyss, Twilight galloped as fast as her legs could take her. Reaching out to her from every shadow were hands lusting for violence, ready to tear her asunder. Ragged and sharp nails would have tore her to shreds by now were she just a tiny bit slower. There was no hope, the accursed limbs stretched out far in impossible ways, and she was growing tired.

No more could she go on; she reached her limit. Hundreds of arms came for her. Certain doom approached, she would have preferred it come in any other way than death by human. This way just seemed too cruel, to have one's death satisfy such a sick creature's perverse fantasies. Before she could die, an azure flame ignited and surrounded her, yet this alone could not stop the human hidden in the abyss. The human could not be denied his prize so easily.

The flames chard whatever flesh dared to strike out at the responsive fire. Neither side gave into fatigue and neither side was overpowering the other; they were equally matched. The battle continued for some time.

Against reason, the fight seemed less relevant to Twilight as she became more and more aware of a rocking sensation. The familiar feeling of being on a train slowly seemed more real than the surrounding battle of fire and horrors.

Opening her eyes, she began to make out the real world. The empty red seats in her train compartment revealed themselves to her groggy eyes in the dim morning sunlight. She was leaning onto the pony next to her. His familiar touch quieted her earlier fears.

The still Captain of the Guard wasn't in uniform or armored, just the sibling she adored and loved her entire life looking straight at her. “Twily!” Shining cried out happily. “Don't worry about anything. Everypony is alright.” He pulled his sister into a reassuring hug.

'Is this a dream?' she questioned herself. 'Where was I last night?' Having alone time with her brother would be what she would dream about and it seemed too good to be true.

“Shining? What happened?”

A sympathetic smile accompanied his sad eyes. “You were attacked, a human at the marketplace broke free of his cage, but you're safe now.” The rhythmic sound of railway wheels running on the railroad continued during the entire trip. “The human... badly injured several ponies, and killed a guard, and the owner of the First Tier company.” He pulled his sister closer in with his foreleg.

Twilight could sense that this was real. That posh stallion from earlier was dead, ripped to pieces by his own merchandise. Twilight struggled in her mind to recall his overly proud face, now dead and cold, and in pieces. “When we realized what happened to you, Celestia and I arrived to make sure you were alright, and after some talking with Octavo, Celestia ordered me to go with you. The feral human is being taken care of and has likely already been caught, that or it died of its injuries.”

An image of the bleeding stallion passed through her mind. She looked around. “I-Is he here?” Twilight asked appearing nervous.

Shining's lips drew down to a slight frown. “Ovtavo? No. He said you fired him. He didn't tell us any more than that, even though we asked him to. He seemed strangely upbeat about it.” Her brother kept up a curious stare at her. “Did something happen between you two?”

'Wait, he was upbeat about getting rid of me?! That little...' Her mind was put back on track as she caught her brother eyeing her, attempting to discern why she looked so irritated. 'He beat up one of your guards and erased his memory,” she tried to tell him telepathically. “And... I sort of encouraged his behavior, but only the erasing memory part, but it was still all his fault.”

She rubbed her eyes. “I-I don't know what to say...” Twilight couldn't tell on him. Not after what he did for her, even though she was the type to always side with those in charge. That and he didn't do it out of cruelty, he believed he was doing something noble, standing up for a divine law. Sighing seemed all she could force herself to do. Her brother wasn't somepony she enjoyed lying to, but it seemed like the best option given the circumstances.

“You don't have to tell me,” he replied, much to Twilight's shock. “I've had to make many difficult decisions in my life Twily. I won't make you justify yourself. I've fired many a pony in my time, and I've given many promotions when others felt they deserved the title more than the one I was giving it to --it's a difficult thing to justify.” There was a pause as his lips prepared to speak again, she loved these moments beyond all reason with her brother, but they were far too seldom for her to enjoy properly. “Whatever mess up Octavo could have done... seems uhh... let's say negligible...” He looked over to Twilight almost expecting some chastisement for his word choice, for reasons beyond her understanding. She never overlooked any advice Shining had given her since she became a princess, Twilight let the thought go. “...considering the good that he has done, so perhaps he deserves another chance, hmm?” Before Twilight could respond, he continued. “But I believe he already left for Broncovy. But it's not like that’s some sort of alien far out land. It's one train ride away after all.”

“Yeah,” she murmured as she drew closer to her brother and rested on him, “I think I may have made a mistake.”

“Your brother makes a lot of mistakes Twily, you're doing better than me. Give him time though. He'll need to heal up before he leaves his homeland, being a scientist is hard work I assume, lifting quills and test tubes all day.”

“Ha, funny,” Twilight mumbled lost in the bliss of family reunion.

“In all truth,” Shining began, “I'm surprised that the human was even able to wound Octavo.”

Memories of Octavo's swordplay and magical power strolled through Twilight’s mind causing her curious self to straighten up. “What makes you say that? He's just some graduate from Celestia's college, right?” she asked, the question being directed more to herself than to her brother.

“That's what I thought until recently.” Shining cast a studying gaze on her for a moment. “I suppose since you're a princess now you have clearance for these sorts of things.” He inhaled deeply before speaking. “Broncovy is a deeply religious nation run by several high-ranking priest known as cardinals. Together they are know as the 'College of Cardinals.' ” Already knowing this, Twilight nodded. “They like Equestria, but they don't want to become a part of the Equestrian Empire because they prefer to be led by the gods.” He shrugged. “Or at least I think that's how they would describe it. Meh.” He took a moment to get his thoughts together, apparently rolling his eyes at his own uncharacteristic political correctness, he was a military pony, not some diplomat after all. “Anyway,” he continued, “I knew when I meet with Octavo outside Celestia's throne room that I heard his name somewhere, and as soon as you two left I began my research. It didn't take me long to find his file.” He gestured behind himself in what she assumed was pointing at Canterlot. “Broncovy as our ally gives us extensive records of their activities, which are stored in the Grand Archives in Canterlot.” As he had been speaking the last sentence, he began digging through his saddle-bag until he found a file and gave it to his sister.

When Twilight opened it, she was greeted by a black-and-white photo of Octavo several years younger than the one she knew. She read it to herself: Name: (Octavo Atlas), it had printed in large letters at the top next to his picture. She skimmed down.

Address: (Sacred Divinity; 1253 Blessed Ave.), Height: (fifty-two inches), Parent Information: (Father: Deceased -Cause: K.I.A; Mother: Deceased -Cause: Typhoid Fever). She continued on with a hint of guilt for seeing something so private. The file read: Criminal Record: (None) Twilight reeled her head in surprise inadvertently. She continued: Religious Duties: (Ex-Crusader of the Griffin Dethrone War; Awarded the Medal of Sanctification; Champion of Travafe). Twilight recalled what Octavo had told her, Travafe was the God of travel and... something... she couldn't remember exactly. One last part at the bottom: Education: (Lesser Education: School of Reverence; Higher Education: Celestial College)

If she understood it correctly, then that meant that Octavo was highly regarded and seen as an idol of virtue in his country, just being a champion of a god alone would get a pony recognized, even in Equestria. Twilight rested her head on her hoof as she spoke. “I don't even know where to begin. He didn't tell me any of this.”

Shining nodded. “It's interesting, I talked with Luna about the stallion. Apparently she didn't even know about his past, not counting his education history.” He double tapped the 'education' part of the file Twilight was carrying, as though she hadn't even read it yet.

“Luna just gave him a room because she found him 'well mannered and interesting company',” Shining continued. “Octavo arrived late last night and they met in the Royal Library, according to Luna they talked for an hour or two about history and became quick friends. When he was about to go to an inn, Luna offered him the suit, and the rest is history.” He turned to his sister blank faced. “Forgive the bad pun.”

'What pun?' she asked herself. 'Oh no... they were talking about history and you... no...'   

“I'll let that go this time.” He gave her a silly grin in response. “But” - She turned back to Octavo's file. - “can you tell me what an ex-crusader or crusader even is?” she said putting a breathy emphasis on 'crusader', not even sure how to pronounce the word.

He arched an eyebrow. “It's what Broncovy calls their veterans. Because they call holy wars as opposed to our regular wars,” he said with a bit too much sarcasm. “When Equestria sided with the current griffin war-lord to overthrow the previous one, we called our ally Broncovy to help us. They responded immediately to our call for aid. Their clergy declared it was a righteous war, a holy war, one that all young stallions should join. Their monarchy-”

“Theocracy,” Twilight corrected. She was listening intently now.

“Uhh...” He froze up. “What's a theocracy?”

“Rule by a religious order, or from a god directly.” Twilight was getting the impression that a crusader was just a holy veteran who fought in a holy war, if she followed the pattern correctly.

“Oh right... anyway they had an excellent turn out. Their stallions were lining up to join their army, while we had to force a draft to get our stallions to form our Equestrian army.” Shining shrugged again, looking up at the ceiling. He had spoken of his nation's army with distaste in his mouth that Twilight easily recognized.

She figured that the frustration he felt for his less than patriotic comrades was still festering inside him. “It was the right thing to do though,” he continued, “the rulers knew if we wanted to fight back against the griffin we had to do it while they were having another civil war, when they were weak and divided. And the war-lord we backed up was in our dept after we helped him gain power. Though considering what happened yesterday I don't think he feels much the same way.”

Twilight re-examined the file. “And what's a Medal of Sanctification?”

“It's like our Medal of Valor,” he responded. “It's one of the highest recognitions you can get. It implies war-hero. And frankly, I don't understand how he got hurt by a human, a scrawny human at that. Octavo could probably beat me in a fight, yet I feel pretty confident that I could have taken on that human without getting more than a scratch from it,” The Captain of the Guard repeated the topic he wanted to discuss again, desiring a few more pieces of the puzzle he had been putting together. Twilight knew all this; she knew Shining smelled a secret, not the law breaking secret, but the one that Octavo had hidden by modesty. “Especially so since Octavo’s ‘ceremonial’ sword looked a lot like a battle sword.” Her brother’s eyebrow lifted up in a disbelieving fashion as he spoke in his mocking tone.

‘So that’s the lie he used to get out of trouble?’ considered Twilight. ‘Well, perhaps it really was a ceremonial sword, it doesn’t matter in the end.’

“He...” She choked up. Gulped. “...he saved my life... and that led to him getting hurt. He tried to grab a spear that was thrown at me, if he hadn't intervened I would be dead. But the human threw it too hard and he was only able to slow it down a bit with his spell. Which is why... when he pushed me out-of-the-way, it didn't kill him. That human... was much... much... much stronger than he looked. That human haunts my dreams.” Twilight wanted to say the last sentence but chose not to, she instead settled with rubbing her still tired eyes and tried thinking of more positive thoughts. Like Octavo still being alive.

Twilight heard her brother's exhale. “I know it's hard now Twilight, but things will get better I promise you. That human will never get the opportunity to hurt you again, I give you my word.”

“Thank you, Captain.” Her answer surprised herself, she couldn't recall the last time she called her big brother Captain. 'I need a long nap,' she told herself. 'And after that nap I'm getting right back into my studies like never before. Maybe I'll find peace in learning more about humans. Once I read how they're just like any other living creature it'll calm me down.'

Twilight's eyebrows curled in, giving her a sad look, but she smiled at her brother. “Thank you for answering all my questions, you sure know a lot about Broncovy's army structure.”

He was smiling broadly. “No problem Twily,” he said as he rubbed the back of her neck, giving her some relief. “The ponies from Broncovy are a strange lot. Nice, but strange. They take time to get used to. They're oddly zealous, but I have little to complain about. I've led some of them into battle even, they're fierce fighters. Which may be one of the reasons why I got such recognition for my efforts during the war.” Twilight watched him understandingly, he had only served in one war; it was the only war Equestria engaged in since he turned eighteen. (The required age to join the Equestrian army)

He realigned fully in his seat, letting his legs dangle a bit as he recollected his memories. “I went from a Royal Guard from before the war, to a general during the war, to the Captain of the Guard after the war. Getting the Medal of Valor sure as heck didn't hurt my chances of rising in rank. Even got a recommendation from the last old-and-withered Captain of the Guard.” He was readjusting himself in his seat to straighten up and appear bigger. “I know it didn't hurt my chances with the mares either.” He pursed his lips together in a childish expression.

“Shining!” cried Twilight in shock at the quick change in seriousness, she smacked her brother's side with a quick backhoof, with a dim twinkle in her eye telling him she found humor in the jest.

He threw his hooves up in a mock gesture. “I'm kidding! I'm kidding!”

They shared a laugh and much to Twilight's joy the conversation turned to a less serious one. She enjoyed the wonderful few hours of just simple talking with her brother.

During the train ride Shining revealed Octavo's saddlebag which was filled with the books and supplies he was carrying for the human project. Her brother had taken it upon himself to make sure Twilight would have everything she needed to continue on near solo until she could hire an assistant –not counting Spike.

The Crystal Empire was in view now. Twilight, the pony closest to the window spoke up, “We're almost there.” Twilight turned to her brother. “Is Cadence expecting you back?”

He shook his head. “No. I was scheduled to come back in five days, when I could finally pass the torch down and step down from my position as the Captain of the Guard.”

Twilight cast another glance at her destination. “And then when you come back, Cadence will give you the title of Master and Commander?” she asked, not entirely sure of where her brother's career was going, but knowing it was not going anywhere bad.

Shining sucked his lips. “That's the plan Twily. It's not really appropriate for me to guard the co-rulers when I am the prince of a completely different sovereign nation. I have to look over The Crystal Empire now.”

With that now clarified Twilight leaned onto her brother's side for the rest of the journey, in silence. All the while, Twilight’s human sat in his dark cell, plotting of a more free future. The sound and feeling of the train’s movements brought a smile to his face. He didn’t truly know what strange land he was in, or how he got there. Things were fuzzy ever since those horned ponies had played God with his mind, but despite all uncertainties, change, he realized, was coming.

> The False Beginning
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

  The bright morning sun greeted the passengers as they exited the train into foreign lands. The awed crowd lurked around the same area for some time wandering into all the gift shops and buying various trinkets to remind them of their marvelous trip to the Crystal Empire.

  Meanwhile, Twilight and Shining were off on the caboose side of the train, waiting patiently for the boxcar to open up. The crew was leisurely going about their work and began unlocking the big bright green door. They continued waiting patiently like they were told, both sitting next to each other. The other passengers were still on the train station, looking through the gift shops, buying snow globes Twilight noticed.

  The door opened up from the inside revealing a well-built brown stallion in overalls with a conductor hat. His eyes spotted them and he nodded in recognition, then pushed out a metal ramp that led up to the train. “Alright you two, your human's in the back.” The stallion turned around and walked out of view.

  Unsure if they were supposed to follow, the two hesitantly walked up the ramp into the unlighted cart. Inside they saw a cage at the far end, in the direction the brown stallion was walking towards. They began walking down the walkway, still unable to see the human with all the boxes cluttering the area.

  At a choke point of storage clutter, Shining stopped to let Twilight go ahead of him, as the walkway wasn't wide enough for two. Ahead they saw the unloader looking dead-eyed into the cage at the human that was still out of view for Twilight.

  The place was dusty, and the only light was the natural one beaming in through the slits of openings in the rail car. Twice Twilight's hoof accidentally hit something hard. 'Oww,' she internally whined.

  “You alright Twily?”

  “Yeah, I just hit my hoof on something.”

  “Be careful,” Shining instructed her in monotone, slightly rehearsed words, they were beginning to lose meaning to the accomplished princess. Words that had been spoken many times by her protective brother, back when she was a filly.

  Twilight reached the worker's side and saw her human. That concept of owning a near sapient life brought a strange feeling to her, one that she couldn't identity.

  The human, was sitting in the back of the cage looking back at them with piercing, attentive eyes. Though these deep brown eyes were healthy looking, as opposed to the more glossy ones she'd seen earlier, she was surprised to see that this didn't unnerve her. Their was still that same malice behind them, that same look that the sickly human gave her back at the marketplace, but they didn't look savage-like.

  Twilight was snapped out of her day dreaming as Shining joined her side.

  She looked back at the beast that was clothed in shadow.

  “You should be very wary of this human,” said the worker as he continued staring at the beast. “He tried to escape twice.”

  Shining peered over Twilight's head to look at the stallion. “And how exactly could he have made an escape attempt from inside a locked cage?” The Captain of the Guard asked a bit condescendingly, used to giving orders to his stallions and discipling incompetency.

  The conductor cast a look of disdain in Shining's direction, whom did not flinch with his patronizing look that awaited an explanation. The unloader produced a fork from his pocket. “These little fancy forks are pretty common among you unicorns in Canterlot I imagine, with your fancy magic and full-course meals.” There was a tension filled pause. The unloader continued with much less hostility in his voice. “Which is where this little bugger probably acquired one.” He looked over to the human, whom Twilight guessed knew exactly what the stallion was talking about. “We found him jamming it into the lock. We had to hit him with electric batons for a full minute to get em' ta stop an release the fourk.” If Twilight's guess was right, the worker's Manhattan accent thickened as he reached the end of his story, revealing some stress or fear he had pent up on the situation, but she hadn't been to Manhattan in ages, so perhaps she misplaced the accent. Shining was eying the lock on the chain that was holding the cage closed, levitating it to look inside the key-hole for anything that still might be jammed inside of it.

  “What was the second time?” Twilight asked.

  He swallowed. “Second time we realized we left a crowbar and a rag too close to the cage, and without us realizing it he took them, and he tied the rag around two bars, then he put the crowbar in the loop he made, and began twisting the crowbar forcing the two bars closer together while bending them. Luckily, we sent somepony back out here to check up on him, and he was able to beat the human into giving up the crowbar with the electric baton.” The unloader had been gesturing how the human was twisting the crowbar, then made a final movement towards a bent iron bar on the cage, showing where the damage was done.

  The worker sighed. “I never liked humans. I find slavery wrong on so many levels... but perhaps that's just because I can't afford one.” He was looking at Twilight intensely now while keeping some distance. “But if you want my advice, cut your losses and just send it back to wherever you got him from. He's too much trouble for you Princess. Too many things could go wrong.” Before Twilight could respond the worker continued. “This thing's smart, it'll escape sooner or later mark my words.”

  Twilight cleared her throat. “I need him as a subject on a human study, his intelligence will just make him a better test subject. And I'm not some slave driver. I'm not going to work him to death. He's just going to sit around in a cell all day and eat as I record his activity.”

  The worker averted his eyes. “It's your funeral lady. I warned you.” The stallion pulled out the key to the cage. The human stood up in anticipation, even in the darkness all three could see his half curled fist. The half bouncing movements the creature made looked like he was preparing to pounce. The stallion turned to Twilight and spoke in a tone brave enough to hope, “I hope you have a magic leash for him.”

  Twilight snapped herself out of her fear induced stupor. “O-oh right!” She began patting her saddlebags, trying to remember which one contained it. 'It was in Octavo's bag,' she remembered.

  Still holding on to finding the leash, Twilight turned to her brother and saw Octavo's saddle bag strapped onto him.

  'Ah, good thing Shining thought it would be a good idea to carry Octavo's supplies for me.'

  “A-HA!” Twilight triumphantly cried as she found the leash in her brother's saddlebag. She then began levitating the leash into the cage. “Alright, in you go.” With her tongue out on the side, she took on an air of focus as she levitated the leash towards him.

  The human backed away from the glowing-green collar that was surrounded by Twilight's purple magic. Eying it curiously, he swayed from side to side, but by magical force it found his neck. It wasn't a matter of speed or agility, they was no opportunity to evade it, one moment it wasn't on his neck and the next it was.

  The glowing-green light faded and it took a much more natural, physical look as it's powers took hold on the man. He poked at it realizing where it was, he then dug a finger underneath it in between his neck and the collar, and began pulling at it. He grimaced as he went about his work to remove the magical liability. The sound of electricity crackling could be heard for a moment before the human let go of the now bright glowing collar. The human flinched. It's magic working to stop the human from attempting to free himself of it.

  “Well,” began the worker, “it's time to give it a go.” He turned to Twilight as he put the key in the padlock. “I hope you've got really good insurance for your human princess.” The padlock was unlocked and put aside. After the chain was untangled that too was put aside. And then the door was opened.

  The human stood there in the dark, fist clenched, right arm raised, left hand dangling low. The collar was barely glowing, revealing his defensive, defiant nature. That's when Twilight realized that he wasn't preparing to bolt out and attack anypony, he was just holding his ground.

  Shining eyed the human up and down. “Is the collar working?”

  Twilight nodded. “It's working fine, he just doesn't want to fight us. I think he thinks we're going to attack him.”

  The worker squeezed by them and spoke to them as he walked towards the train station. “I would appreciate it if you could lead your property out of here in a timely manner, I've got work I've gotta do.”

  Shining grumbled at the stallion as he beamed his bitter eyes at the rude worker. “Well if you didn't give us a long winded explanation of your opinions we wouldn't have wasted so much time to begin with.” The only ones who heard him were Twilight and her human.

  “Quid vis?” Both ponies turned to the human. Twilight was surprised by how proper the language sounded compared to the guttural sounds the monster from the marketplace made.

  Shining was the first to speak. “I-I don't know too much about humans Twily, but I heard rumors that wild humans supposedly have an extremely primitive language.”

  “So have I...” Twilight backed up a bit trying to get the human to follow her. “I need to begin documenting him soon.”

  Hesitantly, the human walked out of the cell. His legs were crouched low, similar to the fighting stance the monster used on Octavo. His loincloth was now visible in the sparse sunlight.

  It was much easier than Twilight thought it would be. She was succeeding in leading him outside, he seemed eager for something new, anything but a cage. Twilight and Shining walked down the ramp to the train station, to her delight, most of the crowd had left and moved on to the city. Meaning that there were fewer things that could aggravate him.

  When the human came to the exit of the train he held his hand up to shield his eyes from the sun that he hadn't seen in some time. Even Twilight who didn't like humans herself, still found some remorse in the pitiful gesture. But she didn't like humans out of hate, but of fear she realized gladly, not looking forward to becoming some cruel, stereotype slaver.

  Even Shining was swaying a bit, nervously waiting for the human's sun starved eyes to adjust to the light.

  He lowered his hands to let them hang by his side; half-cocked and ready for anything. The two unicorns gave him another moment to look at the ground with his squinting eyes and knitted brow. Old wounds and scars were all over his body, most looked like scratch marks a fierce beast would make.

  Out of his cage and away from dank, dark cells, Twilight was now able to see her human under far better circumstances. His skin, like she first observed, was more of an olive, darker, and what she would later learn to be a more tanned complexion than what she was familiar with. His lanky, wiry build seemed alien to her. When he turned to look another way, and Twilight was given a sideways view of him, it caused her to do a double-take. It looked like he was in danger of breaking in half, especially his lower, less wider, part of his torso. It didn't look too wrong however, while also looking creepily thin, he also looked strong and healthy, sporting protruding abdominal muscles, and strong legs. Brown hair, brown eyes, everything seemed to be in perfect harmony with him physically, despite his alien physique.

  “I hope he doesn't make a run for it,” commented Shining.

  Twilight shook herself out of her early observations to notice that the human was looking in the direction that lead away from the city. His piercing eyes were fixed on something far away in the horizon.

  He walked down the ramp to the train station never averting his eyes to the seemingly never ending, green, hill country. Twilight fumbled for words for a moment. “Ummm...” It caught the human's attention. “Hi.” Twilight grinned awkwardly.

  The human began clawing at the back of his head, scratching it rigorously as he gave the pony a deadpanned look. Twilight didn't need Octavo's expertise to interpret the meaning of the expression. After relieving his itch the human took a look at his hand to see dry blood on it. The creature froze in surprise, his eyes darted off, rolling around looking at things that weren't there.

  Shining surveyed the human's twitching movements with a suspicious glance. “Is there something wrong with him? He looks... confused.”

  “I don't know. The slave owner said he was injured when they purchased him.”

  Twilight saw from the corner of her eye Shining's contemplating expression as he looked over her. 'He's probably wondering if I spoke with that stallion that was killed during the human break out,' she thought.

  The human shook his head and was back to reality before Shining could put two-and-two together, and was watching them with little interest. The creature mumbled something to himself, while staring straight at Twilight, speaking again in his foreign tongue again. Though this time he was looking at her like she was covered in filth, for reasons beyond her understanding. 'I took a bath last morning,' she silently defended herself, actually getting offended by the look.

  “Okay then, it's now or never.” Twilight backed up and began beckoning him as she walked backwards towards the city. Shining followed her, but faced ahead, while casting a glance backwards every now and then.

  The human, though a bit hesitant at first, followed her lead. With eyes knitted and raised, he continued following her outside of the station. Barefoot and nearly naked, he decided to give the equine creatures a chance and be led towards the city.

  After reaching the halfway mark, Twilight was comfortable enough to turn around and continue ahead, confident that the now calm person would follower her without trouble.

  A shiver went through the human's body as he folded his arms and began rubbing them. “Huh,” spoke Shining, interrupting the uncertain silence, “guess he can't handle the northern weather as well as us.”

  “Makes sense, he has very little fur on his body, not counting the top of his head.”

  She looked behind her and was confirmed that he was still following her. They passed the first house and several other ponies. Twilight slowed down a little to try to get the uneasy human to walk closer to her and not get lost in the crowd. With slightly raised shoulders he moved nearer to her as they walked. They continued onward for a couple of minutes with the human close behind them. Twilight looked behind herself to check on the slave again.

  'Hunched shoulders!' she realized. 'Is this some defensive posturing? Some defense mechanism?' The thought of already learning this much was making her giddy with excitement.

  “Hey Shining, didn't you tell me that the most important thing in fighting was protecting yourself?”

  Seeing his sister smile made him smile. He chuckled. “Yeah, I did.”

  “Well, look what the human's doing.”

  He looked behind himself as they neared the castle doors.

  With her eyes shut she raised her head in a smug expression. “If you haven't already noticed, then take note of the rigid raised shoulders perfect for” - “Uhh Twilight,” Shining tried interrupting her to no avail. - “blocking attacks from the side, leaving its predators restricted to it's most vital” - “Twilight.” - “area. Of course there's always the front to worry about although lowering one's head could always-”

  A blinding white light flashed behind her, causing two pony's shadows to form on the door in front of them. When the light died down, Twilight turned around to see her human knocked out cold and steam coming from his neck where the collar had been.

    “Yeah,” said shining nonchalantly, “he was tugging on that magic collar for a while, I didn't think he could rip it off though.”

    Unable to comprehend the physical absurdity of what just happened, Twilight fumbled for words. “T-that's impossible! How did he r-rip that off!? It's supposed to be strong enough to pacify a bear! How can something his size be that strong!?”

    This reminded Twilight that she needed to weigh him, and get to work documenting him. The sooner the better she realized.

    The smoke was beginning to clear, revealing a nasty scar on his neck. He had passed out with his eyes open, and stared intently at their hooves.

    “Soooo,” - Shining paused after giving the human an unsure look. - “was that magical discharge, or...”

    “Yeah,” answered Twilight, with a huff, disappointment apparent in her tone, “It was magical discharge from shattering a containment spell designed to never fail.”

    'Nothing ever works out for me,' her inner pessimist told her.

    Shining lifted the limp body up with his magic. “I'll take him to your study, we already got his cage set up.”

    Twilight nodded, thankful that Celestia had sent a letter to Cadence to prepare everything before hoof.

Following her brother to the study, Twilight found herself grateful that the discharge hadn't done serious damage to the human. The creature looked directly into her eyes in his unconscious state as he hung in the air.

    'At least I can get to work,' she told herself, as the door to her study was opened.

     Spike who was inside, dropped the books he had been carrying and rushed over to his life long friend.

    “Twilight!” he cried as he tackled the unprepared mare as she yelped. Spike, who was now as tall as his nearly pummeled friend, had grown in the last couple of months. Though as gentle natured and kind as he was, he still didn't fully grasp that he weighed a bit more than he used to. Even the hardened veteran Shining had winced at the reunion.

    “I thought I'd never seen you again!”

    “S-Spike,” whimpered Twilight, as she laid on her back in his embrace, “your h-heav-”

    “It had been so long that I thought you'd forgot about me.” His arms tightened her hold on her neck.

    “It's- ard- to brea-!” she wheezed out in struggling breaths.

    “Uhh Spike,” Shining Interjected. When the still baby dragon looked up to see Shining grimacing at the unintentional violent assault upon his sister, he let her go. And she gasped for her ever loving air.

    “Oh,” Spike chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head, “sorry Twilight, still not used to this growth spurt yet.” He turned to the still unconscious human. “Uhh Twilight, what's with the human?”

    “It's work Spike,” Twilight responded as she stood up on her hooves.

    Shining threw the human in the steel cage, he locked up the cage with a large key that was beside it. Then he chained the door and locked it with a giant padlock that used another large key.

    “Spike,” - The dragon saluted upon hearing his friend's commanding tone. - “I need you to get me The Anthropology Guide, The Beast of Northern Front, Human Tribal Warfare, and Bartering With the Beast, we have some long weeks of study ahead of us.” In a flash he was gone. “Actually,” Twilight called out, Spike stopped halfway up the steps to the second floor, “also bring me Arcane Self-Defense.”

    After Spike was gone, she walked up to her eyeful brother. He was watching the human stir and twitch.

    “Everything okay Shining?”

    “Not yet,” he murmured, then cast a spell on the cage. “There... now he'll have no hope of breaking out. That spell is nearly ten times stronger than the one on his collar.”

    Twilight smiled. “Thanks Shining.” She turned around and began walking towards her desk. Long weeks of studying awaited her.



> A Still Mind
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Deep in her studies, Twilight was on a journey, a journey into the past. Two hundred years ago, much like today, a griffin warlord thought he could make his fortune in conquering human land for his kingdom. The technology at the time was similar to todays, and warfare tactics haven’t change much at all.

‘...A griffin heavy armor unit of the 27th battalion marched forward on the dirt path. The soon to be battlefield was growing silent, the eerie quietness of the forest around them gave voice to the gut wrenching battle that was to come.

The heavy armored unit marched loudly, they held their great-swords and war-hammers close by, ever vigilant of another ambush. Crash, the warlord, led the battalion at the head of the formation. A long streak of warriors, perhaps only four or five units wide continued on in their marching formation. They knew the most powerful tribe in the area lived near here. They thought they could take them by force.

Crash ordered his men to stop marching, sensing another ambush. “Halt,” called his commanding officers. The company stopped. All was silent for a moment, only the clanking of his soldier's armor could be heard.

Then the most horrifying scream of demonic proportions echoed out, in every direction, in numbers beyond counting by the sound of it. Mad men leapt out of the clearing as flying spears hit his closely packed griffin, most of which bounced off their armor, but a few lucky ones managed to find their mark.

Humans charged into their ranks from both sides, with unmatched ferocity. They wailed on the griffin with steel and iron weapons, with man-made weapons of bones and teeth, and sometimes with their own monstrous fangs and claws. Much of their tools were bartered with from the frontier ponies for slaves, the metal tools catching the civilized griffin off guard. They still fought hard, like any species would when backed into a corner.

The barbaric humans were wearing the thick pelts of the prey they had slain, but the stronger more powerful ones wore the skins of dangerous predators. Bears seemed to be a popular choice at the time, but even endangered mystical monsters sometimes found themselves dead and clothing these humans. Even worse yet, some wore the hides of other griffin that were slain in other battles, the psychological effects this had was evident.

At first, things were going their way, thanks to no small part to their military warlord, who had gotten them this far alive. However, survival was not their fate, not counting a few deserters.

The ground began to shake in a rhythmic pace, one after the another the ground shook. Stomping out of the clearing came a behemoth monster, weighing at least a ton by some accounts. It was clad in a thick layer of mismatched iron armor, and bore a great-sword that was nearly as tall as him.

Just upon seeing him the Gryphon army panicked, the only thing keeping them together were the humans currently slaughtering them.

The lighter infantry began to abandon the battlefield by flight. Crash, the every prideful warrior, charged the beast. They had their duel.

All hope was lost when the warlord fell, with his skull broken in pieces. The battle of the Shattered Skull was over. Those that could, took off by air as the humans feasted on the survivors and began making pelts and hides, ripping the skin off of their still living and screaming victims…’

Twilight closed the book, Beast of the North, an interesting read, if perhaps a bit disturbing.

'Yes, diplomacy,' thought Twilight, 'Celestia made a wise choice there. Don't want to fight those things.'

The princess turned around in her seat to get a good look at her slave that still sat in his cage, looking straight at her, silently. It wasn't a late night study session, Twilight had been too tired from the day before, with all the drama of getting her new human. The falling sun was still giving adequate light.

Twilight stretched, she had studied all day long, just like yesterday, but it was all worth it, she learned so much.

Not sure what to do with her free time Twilight checked her check list. When the scroll was lifted to her face, she remembered why she forgot what she had to do, in plain equis was, 'Examine human communication skills in the late afternoon,' Twilight whined internally.

'Ah, my selective memory's got the best of me,' She sighed, and began walking over to the caged slave.

He was sitting straighter, leaning against the bars of the cage, and grew more attentive with her every step.

“Umm, hi.” To her surprise the human nodded. The books said that one must spend at least two hours a day with their human in order for them to bond and grow attached. It was the first step in training them.

Twilight stood there for a while, admiring his features in an objective way, and not sure what route to take with this sort of thing. His loincloth was still clean, and wouldn’t need to be washed today. ’That’s good.’ 

Upon examination she realized that his feeding tray was empty, she hoped that the castle staff didn't forget to feed him again. Twilight was explicit, the books said three meals a day two thousand to twenty-five hundred calories for male humans, dependent on size. It was easy to find out that her slave needed the higher amount, he was a big guy, even for a human, tall and strong.

The staff however seemed scared of him. It was the drama that occupied a lot of time the previous day.

Her brow was furrowed, not sure if the human ate at all that day or if he just ate all his food quickly. That's what bothered her the most, not knowing if he ate. She had no idea if her slave was full or starving, they had no way to communicate. Twilight suspected that the staff was covering for each other.

Looking around she found a basket filled with big fat red apples, courtesy of the Sweet Apple Acres. 'Thanks for the gift Applejack.' A smile made it's way to her features. Taking three apples she bit one, and made her way with the other two pieces towards her human. She was surprised how passive the creature had been, honestly she anticipated more trouble out of the human, especially considering the escape attempts on the train and the strangling thing.

While chewing on her food she managed a smile, the human snorted in response. Twilight levitated the other two apples into his cage between the bars, his face softened, Twilight noticed. Perhaps surprised that she was sharing her food with him.

The slave lazily took one in his hand. Looked at it, then looked back at her. Twilight was still chewing on her apple, eating slowly, more interested in him than anything else. Bringing it to his mouth he took a bite larger than Twilight thought possible without a muzzle. They both ate there for a silent moment.

'This isn't so bad, I can manage fine with these humans... given that they're behind a cage... and can't get to me.' Twilight knew she was still scared of humans. Like she always had been. The events of the last couple of days brought back memories of a studious filly ducking behind stalls and grown-ups at the sight of even a slightly agitated human.

'My slave isn't violent at all,' Twilight thought with pride in her heart. 'The First Tier Company was obviously doing something to aggravate him, but he's happy now.' The human gave her a dirty look. 'Well relatively happy.'

Her slave began using his left hand, the one without apple-juice in it, as a makeshift comb. 'Ah, self grooming, interesting. I'll have to remember to record this.'

Finished with his second apple the human sat with his legs tucked underneath him and put his hands on his lap. With his eyes closed and his mind focused, intently and purposefully on nothing.

Twilight watched in curiosity which slowly turned to admiration. He looked utterly relaxed, unmoving, almost looked like he wasn't breathing. Twilight walked closer to the cage, closer than she had ever been before to the human. Still he didn't move.

His short hair on his head was parted, most of it went one way, the other part on his left went straight down his head. Twilight walked around the cage as silently as she could, not out of fear of stirring him, but strangely, out of respect of his meditative state.

The newer scars on his body were healing nicely, but the older ones obviously still remained. Scars from predators, scares from battle, and some unmistakably from whips. Twilight cringed. She knew that many slaver companies could be... overzealous in pacifying the wild species. It was a shame really, but that's what the humans wanted. They were the ones that sold their own into slavery. But Twilight and many other ponies still found it revolting.

Twilight tip hoofed behind him, he was still silent and unmoving. Her face was mere inches away from his back. One of the big problems of caging humans was their arms, they were lanky enough to slip through and hurt anypony unfortunate enough to be on the other side.

She was so close, yet no harm came to her, she put her hoof against the bars, it was no more than two inches away from his back. Slowly he stirred. Looked over his shoulder to see her. It was so slow she saw no reason to move, he looked so passive. In fact he looked half asleep from leaving his meditation.

Again, he moved very slowly, he turned around and stretched out his hand, with one finger pointed out. Her whole body became twitchy, her mind was readying her to bolt, to get away. To flee the dangerous situation she was in. Flooding her with endorphins, adrenaline, and preparing itself. Thoughts of the monstrous human back at Canterlot flashed through her mind until... He touched her.

He poked her hoof gently with his index finger. Twilight's heart hurt from the stress. She looked up a term since she arrived In the Crystal Empire, Anthrophobia, and she was reasonably sure she had it. Humans after all could be terrifying, especially when they are foaming and trying to kill somepony. But this experience, though terrifying, was manageable.

Her chest heaved madly, despite her attempts to calm down.

In return, the human tilted his head, his expressive eyes showing a mixture of confusion and concern. Two fingers pointed outward, moved towards her, slowly.

They inched out between the bars and came for her. Twilight didn't know what to do. The books didn't mention this! Is this a human greeting? Am I supposed to touch it with my hoof? Is he going for my head? My ears? Does he want to poke my eyes? Oh no! What is he aiming for!? My neck?'

The fingers touched the side of her neck. Her heart rate increased even further in her surprise to see that it was in the perfect spot to feel her pulse. They both felt the quick heart beats pushing his finger away slightly, the blood traveling through faster thanks to the quick pumping of her heart.

He looked a bit sad, or dejected even, no, he looked downright disheartened as he looked down at the ground, and he gave a long winded sigh. The human looked back up, and whispered something too quiet for her to hear.

The hand slowly traveled up to her cheek, it's fingers were spread wide and did something close to a pet. In reaction to the dexterous hand Twilight folded her right ear, allowing it to glide over her, to let it rub right behind the sensitive area right behind her ear.

'Ahh,' Twilight accidentally moaned, causing her to blush. Part of her was condemning her embarrassing actions, while another part of her tried to justify itself.

'Okay look,' she told herself. 'Ponies don't have hands, the only time we feel this sort of touch behind our ears is in maybe foreplay with some kissing and nipping. They feel sooooooo good!'

'No stop this. You've never even been on a date before, don't be that creepy lonely mare. If I'm not careful I'll end up with thirty cats and some sick fetish. If I go down this road I'll end up doing something much, much worse with this primitive species. I have some pride!'

One of Twilight's eyes opened to get a look at the human, he looked so calm, and for the first time ever he had a smile on his face. 'He doesn't look that primitive,' she rebutted lamely.

With his nimble little fingers he was holding one of her ears and was massaging the inwards part of it, it felt better than anything else so far. Her cheeks were burning red now. “Oooohhhhh,” she cooed much louder. The hand stopped immediately.

Twilight looked up. 'Even he looks disappointed in me.' The hand backed away, slowly. He had a strange expression on that she couldn't fully read and he scooted away.

“I-” Twilight stopped herself when she realized she was about to justify her actions to a human.

The slave stared at her for a moment with one eyebrow raised. He looked over her shoulders for a moment. Snorted, then pointed behind her.

She stared at the end of his finger, still entranced with it. He pointed more fervently, but before she could catch on her brother spoke.

“Hey Twiliy, what are you doing?”

Finally catching the meaning of the pointing finger Twilight whirled around to see her brother and Spike standing by the doorway. “How long were you two been standing there?” Her eyes were the size of saucers.

They continued walking into the room, both looking confused. Spike spoke up first, he was walking shoulder to shoulder with her brother, they were almost at the same height. “When we walked in you both were looking at eachother a bit too intently,” -Twilight was fighting and losing a battle with her spreading blush.- “and I can't really speak for Shining here, but I for one was feeling mad uncomfortable.”

“Oh Spike,” Shining mumbled as he massaged his temples. Unable to look at his sister at the moment, so he looked up at the human. “But in all seriousness, it's good to see that you're training your human.” He paused, watching the quiet and behaved slave. “I was worried that you wouldn't be able to handle all difficulties that come with these things, but you've done well. He looks so calm and well behaved.”

Twilight gave a nod. “Thank you.” And then gave her assistant a look that said, 'later you're going to get it.' The little reptilian baby put his hands behind his back and tried to whistle nonchalantly.

“Anyway,” said Shining, “me, Spike and Cadence are going to have biscuits and tea, and we were hoping you could join us.”

Twilight sat her backside down, and rubbed her neck. “Well I scheduled this time for me to bond and train with my human… the bonding process requires two hours a day, and that’s a minimum...”

Both guys looked heartbroken. Spike was looking at the human while rubbing his hands nervously. “Maybe you can bring him along. He looks really calm.”

Outside his field of view Shining gave the baby dragon a chastising look to the back of Spike's head.

“Mmmmm,” Twilight grumbled, with her hoof on her lips, unsure of the suggestion. All three of them were looking at the human. One of the creature's eyebrows slowly raised as his eyes darted to each one.

The human wondered if his mentors were really right when they told him that a still, calm mind could get one far in life. If they were right about that, he thought, what else could the elders have been right about?

The ponies spoke in their strange equis language a bit longer.

Now all in agreement Twilight pushed the key into the lock and turned it. The lock's shackle pushed open, and Twilight untangled the chain.

“I initially planned to never let him out of his cage until the entire project could be completed and I could have given Celestia a very thorough analysis of the species: Homo Sapien. But He's been so good that I thought after two weeks of training he would be ready to leave his cage for short heavily supervised periods, but he seems ready now...” The chain in her magical grasp faltered a bit, in her nervousness.

'What am I doing? Why am I this nervous?' she asked herself.  I wasn't even that nervous when I let him out of his cage on the train... Well... there was the leash that time. The one he broke...'

Twilight then lifted the large key for the cage and inserted it into the keyhole.

The human stood. He was calm, he was still, he knew better than to continue being the embodiment of defiance. There was no need of that in the foreseeable future as far as he could tell.

The cage door swung open, the human didn't move, even when Twilight backed away. He kept his eyes fixed on her.

“You can come out now,” Twilight said with a beckoning gesture.

The human stood, like a good slave, and walked out of the cage.

“Woooooo~w,” came the chorus of amazement from Shining and Spike. They both stood there for a moment admiring the obedience of the slave. “Whoa Twilight!” said Spike as he moved toward his studious friend. “When did you even have time to train him like this?”

Not one to brag Twilight corrected him. “Actually, I only trained him a little bit, he's just really tame, and a lot of his training from the First Tier Company must of actually stuck.” A white lie she realized, she had never truly trained him.

Shining was back to looking at the human with disdain. “Remember to always be careful with him Twilight, some humans snap. I've seen some things at Canterlot Twily... Unshackled humans are always a risk.” Shining nearly shivered as a thought passed through his mind. “Things always get worse when the humans manage to get a hold of weapons, and much, much, much worse when they can free other humans.” He turned to them both. “I'm just glad we haven't had a full human rebellion in over three hundred years.”

Spike suddenly had a change of heart after listening to Shining's story. “So are we really gunna take him w-with us?” he asked, his voice faltering near the end.

Twilight sighed. “Yes. In all truth if I actually tried I could easily subdue a human.” The thought of what happened in Canterlot slipped into her mind for the fifth time that day, making her feel guilty for being too confident in her abilities now. But she knew she could do it, and she had grown more accustomed to the creatures with having to study him for the past three days, counting her arrival. 'It's not over confidence if it's true,' she told herself, causing her to smile.

“Ready when you are Twily,” said Shining as he began walking towards the door. “I'll escort you all there.”

The human followed Twilight, the gestures she gave him being more helpful than her actual words. They were rounding a corner, almost to their destination, when a maid happened to be walking past them, this happened without incident until the human rounded the corner following Twilight.

The maid gasped and tripped over her hooves in an attempt to get away. The sound of her falling caused Twilight and her escorts to turn around. The maid, a petite crystal mare, was cowering on the floor, trembling forelegs covering her face. The human loomed over her, reaching out to her. Remembering what happened in Canterlot and vowing to never sit by again, Twilight jumped over to the maid’s side and charged her horn, readying herself to cast any spell that proved necessary to cast. But the outstretched hand never touched her, it just hung their open, waiting on her.

The maid looked up at him, confused by the human's mannerisms. When the slave gave her a gentle smile, it finally dawned on her the meaning of the gesture. With fear and trepidation, she lifted her hoof to his hand and he took it, and lifted her up on all fours. The maid still backed away though. “S-sory,” stammered the maid to Twilight, “I-I have to go.” The mare trotted off in a hurry.

The remaining audience was watching the slave straiten up on his two long legs. “Uhh... good job human...” said Twilight awkwardly, letting the energy in her horn fizzle down, not knowing how else to praise him.

“Really well trained,” said Shining, thinking, “maybe I was being a bit prejudice against him. I guess you can train a human right.” He shrugged. “You can let him out of his cage whenever you want Twilight, as long as he's always under your supervision.”

“Alright,” Twilight mumbled with a nod. She beckoned her human and they continued to the study room.

They continued onward without another incident. Shining pushed the door aside, entering the study first. His wife was in a neat, little, dull red sofa by a low coffee table. Though technically a 'study' it had slowly turned into a cozy place for small gatherings. The crackling fireplace added a certain intimate atmosphere, a homey, quaint place to spend time alone, away from the troubles of bureaucracy.

“Shining my love! Finally you've come!” Twilight walked in just in time to see Cadence kiss her brother.

'W-was their tongue involved?' Twilight shook the idea out of her mind.

“But it was worth it.” Shining looked back to his sister. “I managed to drag her away from her work.”


Cadance chuckled, walking over to Twilight, embracing her in a hug. “It's good to see you Twilight. I feel like you're living far away when you live on the other side of the castle. I don't see you at dinner... or breakfast... or court... your...” Cadence backed away a bit looking behind Twilight. “Oh my, is that your human?”

They all looked at the quite slave, the only one who was interested in the books in the study room.

“It's fine honey,” said Shining as he stood by his wife's side, “he's as safe as they come.”

“Most chill human I've ever seen,” butted in Spike.

Once again the human just stood in place, subject to being the center of attention once again.

Cadence shifting her weight about, trying to get a better, more complete look of the strange creature. “I haven't even seen a human in some time, the last being Luna's human, Double.” Her head ducked. “That human had it out for me... But I trust your judgment Shining.”

Twilight would have offered to let her sister in law touch her human, to help her with her nerves, bit in all truth Twilight didn't trust her human nearly enough for that, at least not yet.

They sat at some couches in the center of the room, tea and biscuits were brought in for them, most of the staff giving the slave a watchful eye and wide birth.

Much to Twilight's dismay the conversation topic continuously changed to her, 'what was diplomatic training like', 'what happened in day court,' 'what happened in royal court,' 'was she nervous', 'how was she feeling about being a princess now', 'when was the last time she saw her friends'.

That last question got Twilight thinking. “Well they did come to visit me halfway through my diplomatic training. Being a princess has been very difficult for me. So I haven't had any free time in a while...”

Cadence put down her cup. “You're doing better than most royal ponies who were born into this lifestyle, Twilight. Don't be too hard on yourself.”

Twilight smiled. “Thanks.”

Spike and Shining had been listening to, what they perceived to be, very long winded girl talk, while occasionally saying a few words themselves, they still enjoyed it though. It was starting to get late, they knew this in the windowless room by the large grandfather clock.

The human meanwhile was sitting in a faraway couch, eating a biscuit very slowly, just one small piece at a time. “Your right Spike,” said Cadence, “he is the most chill human.” The mare continued before Spike could reply. “Oh Shining, look dear! He's eating more neatly than you!”

“Hey...” Shining wined as he looked down at the little bits of food in his coat. Cadence stuck her tongue out to her prince, it looked somehow, unintentionally seductive, while he gave her a goofy look in exchange. Twilight looked away, awkwardly, not wanting to see her brother get too frisky with the one he loves.

Without even looking at the clock, Twilight spoke, “Oh wow, look at the time.” She got up, Spike and her slave followed. “I guess I'll see you two tomorrow. Bye!”

Twilight left them quickly, but not too quickly, which would have made things even more awkward. The hushed giggling that could be heard as she left the room made her blush.

“I'm glad you took a break, Twilight.”

The little get together had proven to be fun. “Me too Spike.”

On their way back, a guard walked by, the guard nor her human acknowledged one another.

Back at the library, the slightly delirious human slumped back into his cage. The sun had already set, and the moonlight was the only thing helping them see. Twilight gave him his night time things: A fluffy blanket and pillow. Although usually those two things were forced through the bars as opposed to simply handing it to him through the open door like it was now.

The human said something, quite like always, but this had a certain relatable tone to it. Twilight imagined that he told her thank you in his strange language.

Twilight went to her room and slept well, and had a good dream that she didn't remember when she woke up. She had already thought of what to put in her letter to her friends the next day.


> Sorry, Twilight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Beside Twilight was the very book which consumed her daylight hours for the past three days of her studies. It was titled 'How to Train Your Human.' Now Twilight was putting it into practice. “Hi,” Twilight said with a wave of her hoof.

The human cleared his throat. “Hie.” His brow was furrowed, his posture was leaning forward, sitting down one hand on his knee supporting himself, the other arm was laid across his thigh as he sat with his legs crisscrossed. Pronouncing the Equis language with its equine phonetics was proving to be a bit of a challenge for him. Then again, even griffin had trouble learning it.

“Very good!” Twilight beamed as she clopped her hooves.

The human shivered for a moment as he rubbed his hands together, clothed in only a loincloth. It was something that didn't go unnoticed by his owner. Twilight made sure his clothing stayed clean, and him well fed. She tried to look out for him. “Are you cold?” Twilight asked.

The human looked away mumbling to himself, trying to remember what those words meant. Then recollection hit him. “Yes, I am cold.”

A wide smile stretched across Twilight's face. “Good job!” One of his eyebrows rose as his eyes squinted. Looking at her, scrutinizing her response. “Oh wait.” She lifted a hoof to her lips. “Technically that's bad that your cold, but it's good that you...” She never got over how pony-like his expressions could get.

Twilight got up and walked over to her closet in her spacious bedroom. The human waited, appearing to admire the beauty of the room. It was a lovely place, fit for a princess. She never got over how soft her bed was.

Twilight came back with a red silk blanket with gold trimmings, and with her magical levitation she wrapped it around her slave. He watched her with an expression she couldn't read as she went back to her spot on the warm rug they were both sitting on. With her magic a few pages flipped. “Uh huh,” She mumbled.

Twilight looked back up at the human, he wrapped the blanket around himself tighter. 'It's so strange how he can't handle this cold, I wonder how the humans in the far north manage?' Her mind drifted to another book she read. 'With clothes,' she answered herself, 'or hides taken from the local population of their environment.'

“Theiu-” The human cleared his throat and tried again. “Thank you.”

Twilight's jaw dropped, she never taught him those words. Two of his fingers came out of the blanket and tugged on it, to emphasize what he was thanking her for.

“W-what!? How- Uhhh... G-g-good job?” Beyond surprised she took a moment to think.     

'When did he learn that?! No other pony is training him! I-is he listening to Spike and I talk from his cage? Did he pick up the meaning of that all by himself?'

Ignoring the slave, Twilight quickly began scanning her book. Even the advanced sections explained nothing about this. Humans should not be able to pick up words on their own like that. A relevant fact from the book popped into her head: Tentacles, the apt name of a human that existed forty years ago held the record for most known words. The creature could speak twenty seven Equis words counting four phrases, the human lived a long life for his species and died at the age of forty two. While the human before her knew ten words already, and today was the first day she was teaching him. Eight words, being: Yes, no, hungry, thirsty, cold, hot, I, am, and a new little phrase of his, thank you.

'Impressive, to say the least. I'm glad I purchased this guy.' When Twilight finished that line of thought, somepony knocked on the door and walked inside.

Twilight looked up, the human meanwhile didn't move, he seemed content in relishing the warmth of the blanket, uninterested in the pony behind his back.

“Hey Twily, studying huh?” He said with her brother's usual upbeat pitch.

“As always, Shining,” Twilight giggled at her predictable self.

He smiled at her in return. Shining stopped right next to the human. “Well I just figured out that we have a Royal Garden... So I'm making my wife and Spike come along as we wonder around it, and I was hoping you would join us. Please?” Shining gave her a wide, pleading grin.

“Oh hmm...” Twilight furrowed her brow. “Actually I'm really busy Shining, I need to study and train my human, sorry.” Her ears were folded, she wanted to go, but she would never get done with her brother always stealing her away from her work.

He tilted his head. “What do you mean-” Just then Shining turned around to look at the big propped up blanket to see the human's face turn to him at the same time. “OH GEEZ!” After taking a discontorted leap back Shining held his chest as he leaned onto the wall. “Oh geez. I didn't see him there. That's like something out of some horrible horror story where the suit of armor actually has somepony in it... or the statue is actually a living pony.” After his heart rate dropped back down he turned to his sister. “You know what I'm talking about, Twilight, right? It was in that book you recommended to me.”

Twilight snickered. “I recommend lots of books to you Shining.”

“Ahh... forget it.” The stallion let out a big sigh.

“Sahw-” The human cleared his throat. “Sorry, Shining.”

The stallion's eye twitched. “Honestly, I'd take the ghost of a sadistic axe murderer over this guy and his blanket any day.... How did you teach him that anyway?”

“I didn't tea-” Twilight cut herself off, not wanting to worry Shining. “I mean yeah, he's easy to teach.”

Now having a better understanding of what Twilight was doing in her room Shining nodded his head. “Alright, I see, I was only born blind to the world but now I can see the truth. You're obviously more interested in your human than your own flesh and blood brother.” He stuck his bottom lip out and gave his sister his best puppy dog eyes.

“Shining...”

“Just kidding Twi.” He turned around and began walking towards the door, but then stopped. “Oh yeah,” -He tossed her a scroll- “I told Spike I'd give you that, I think it's from your friends.” He smiled. “Take care Twily.”

The sunlight gave her eyes plenty of help with the neat little words.

Dearest Princess Twilight Sparkle,

'Rarity,' Twilight realized, both from the diction and the neat writing.

We received the letter you sent regarding when we might arrange a get together for a reunion.

Twilight scrunched up her brow upon reading the phrasing of the letter. It's only been like two months since I've last seen them,' Twilight mused. 'if that. But that is a long time... just doesn't require a 'reunion'. Makes it sound like we haven't seen each other in ages. Twilight read on.

It feels like forever since we've been able to enjoy the company of one another and after talking with all of us we've agreed that we will be visiting you this coming Wednesday. We'll all be there. Looking forward to you telling us all about your time in Canterlot.

—Regards, Your friends.

'Wait, Wednesday?! As in this coming wednesday?' Twilight trotted over to her calendar. It was a Celestia tribute calendar, for this month it was a picture of Celestia raising the sun, next month was Celestia wearing her royal regalia, next month was... It really didn't matter.

Today was Monday and... two days... hmm... She could work with that. Move some things around in her schedule. She'll have to find Spike later to make a new schedule though, but it was easily manageable.

Twilight turned back to her human. 'Yeah, two days. My slave will be presentable and ready for socialization with other ponies in two days. I still have time... maybe.' Twilight watched the guy for a moment, even when he began watching her back. 'Make him presentable,' a voice in her mind told her. It was an appropriate measure, she realized as she trotted into her wardrobe, knowing that something in the place would fit him.

At the Crystal Garden Spike was already growing bored, most ponies would be in awe, but Spike had grown up in Canterlot. It took a truly marvelous architectural feat to get a reaction out of him..

The three were enjoying the weather, the Crystal Garden proved a great place to kill time. Spike stretched, trying to determine if he was taller than Shining, he wasn't. “It's too bad Twilight didn't come.”

Shining sighed. “She spends all day with that mongrel thing.”

Cadence pressed onto her husband, leaning her head onto his neck. A few birds came and landed onto a statue's head. “Shining, don't be mad. Your sister has work to do, and besides, you're just being antsy because you suddenly have too much free time on your hooves now that you're no longer Celestia's Captain of the Guard. When we start forming a standing army you'll have something to take your mind off of. Your sister can't spend every minute of her every day with you honey.”

He reeled his head back from her. “That's not what I want!” His wife gave him a look, showing Shining that she knew better. He huffed, looking away. The birds fluttered away and left the two to bicker to their heart's content. Spike wished he could do the same. “She didn't even laugh at my joke honey,” Shining told Cadence with his bottom lip puffed out. “My sister didn't even laugh when I told her that I didn't know our castle had a garden.”

Cadence kissed her husband's cheek. “That's because it wasn't funny dear.”

“...That's not true,” Shining mumbled to himself.

“Oh thank Celestia,” they heard Spike mumble. “Hey Twilight! Over here!”

They both turned. Shining's eyes brightened upon seeing his favorite sibling, it wasn't a highly contended position but he knew she earned it all the same, then his eyes narrowed upon seeming her pet project and his new outfit. “Oh... she would bring that thing along.” He was nudged, roughly, by his wife in the ribs.

Twilight picked up her pace upon hearing her assistant. “Hey guys, I changed my mind about the garden thing. I thought it might be a good idea to socialize my human.”

They all turned to the human, who, unlike usual, was paying more attention to them than last time. Finally he waved at the Princess of the Crystal Empire. “Hie Cadence,” he greeted her in broken Equis.

The mare's eyes lit up. “Oh Twilight! You taught him my name! What else did you teach him?”

Twilight was about to tell her the truth, that the human was learning all this all on his own when the human greeted Spike.

“Hi Spike,” the creature said with better pronunciation.

The dragon chuckled. “Awesome!” The dragon lifted up a fist, waiting for the human to hit it back. The human had no idea what the reptile wanted from him. “Awww.”

Finally the human turned to the prince, opened his mouth, then froze. He ran through the memories in his mind. All that time he spent around them. The luncheon thing, or whatever the pony equivalent of it was, all the visits he made to Twilight. He knew the purple pony, that he suspected owned him, called this stallion by name less than an hour ago. They were all looking at him. His mind blanked.

Reverting back to the standard human language, Modern Latin, he began talking to himself. One hand pressed against his face. “God's Teeth! What the hell was his name?” He sighed. The stallion was getting a bit mad now, talking in his pony language to the others. “By the Emperor! What the hell was his name!?”

Then before any of the ponies could remind him, it popped into the legionnaire's head. 'Ah. Right. That was it.' It sounded a bit plain to the human, but never the less, he said it. The word of greeting and then the stallion's name. The mares clopped their hooves together absolutely enthralled by the parrot-like performance. The stallion just seemed annoyed.

'Understandable,' thought the legionnaire. 'I'd be annoyed too if I had to keep a stick up my ass the whole time... flank... whatever. Arsehole.' Unknown to the ponies, when the legionnaire made the mistake to force a magical collar off of himself, he didn't pass out. He was just momentarily paralyzed. And clearly remembered that stallion roughly throwing him in a cage. He still had a bruise from that.

The others like always continued talking, casting a look at him every minute or so. At least the little dragon guy tries to hid his stares. They were talking about him, it was beyond obvious.

Feeling a cold breeze wash over the place he brought his cloak tighter around himself. The temperature change went unnoticed by the naked ponies. 'Fur,' he realized.

They went on a little walk, and he followed them. The place was interesting with its unique abundance of CRYSTALS LITERALLY EVERYWHERE! But in all truth, in a completely objective way, Constantinople was more impressive, that place trumped this one without a doubt. It even had strange working devices from the before time, something called 'teevees', one of the citizens told him. Allowed him to see what the Emperor looked like for himself for the first time in his life, all in color, like a moving canvas.

When the horses were done speaking about him(when they stopped looking his way every time they took a breath) he decided to take a little detour. 'No harm no foul.'

Five minutes later the legionnaire realized the place was much larger than he had thought. Covered in various tributes to old rulers and great warriors. Statues for the great, and plaques for the slightly less great.

He finally came to a clearing, it looked like a wall and doorway all made out of cut bushes. Guarding the way was a single crystal pony guard. They were all stoic, all the time, moving only when ordered to, or on schedule, yet always vigilant. It reminded the soldier of home.

The guard turned his head upon seeing the unchained human and took a more battle ready stance. The human approached, attempting to seem nonthreatening as possible. Now was not a good time to try an escape attempt. It would come one day, just not today, not that it was a good idea. He had no idea where he was. Somewhere northwest from where he was captured perhaps?

The guard pointed his spear towards the human and backed up, not wanting to kill Twilight's favorite pet.

The human, not knowing this, thought he might have to earn the guard's trust a bit. It was just too much for him. Heck, even the armor looked a bit similar. All his training had drilled so much to him. The legionnaire saluted. “HAIL CAESAR!”

The guard slowly cracked a smile and chuckled a bit, wondering who would have the sense of humor required in teaching a human how to salute. He went back to his post.

Now that the pony was at ease he slipped to the other side of the courtyard.

It was much easier to find on this side. A full view of the city below. It was larger than he remembered from walking through it, but still not that huge. Probably less than twenty thousand lived here, while Constantinople had well over two million, maybe even three million, a proper capital if there ever was one.

Out over the horizon was nothing. Even from up here there were no helpful landmarks, just an endless sea of green.

No way home. No more glory, being a slave wasn't the most glamorous life to live. No greater purpose. Nothing left to do but rot and die. But their was one thing he could do, one way to take the power back.

The legionnaire stepped onto the crystal rails of the balcony and looked down. Yeah, that was a long way down alright. The soldier in him remembered one rule they always drilled into the Perfectus humans.

NEVER SURRENDER TO THE ENEMY

Even after the unicorns back at that place messed with his mind, he could never completely forget his training. He didn't truly surrender to the little horses, but that didn't seem to matter at this point. His other foot found the railing.

This wasn't why he left the group, this was spontaneous, this was him taking the power back. Defiant to the end, that's how his friends always described him. Well that and 'stupidly headstrong'. Good times...

He heard the purple unicorn call out behind him, and after some thought he looked behind himself. She seemed mad, like a mother who found their child in the act of taking a cookie from the cookie jar. The others were behind her, including the guard he met earlier. They all looked concerned.

He felt his face change into something ugly, he inched toward the edge. The unicorn's face turned to worry then to... something like betrayal. He could see the question on her face, they didn't need an interpreter then. 'Why do you want to die? Weren't you happy with me?'

The legionnaire closed his eyes and remembered his Emperor's face. That glorious city with its charming fake lights. Those strange coal powered things of iron that moved with such speed. The legion, his life, his right into manhood, into citizenry.

He took the power back.

The wind wrapped around him. Not even the machines could make him move this fast, he thought stupidly.

Oh well, to hell with pity. I served the Emperor for a long time. Almost survived my entire time in service. Just a couple of more months and... Damn. What a shame. Just had to get caught. Oh well, I survived to the age of twenty-three, some don't even make it that far. Thanks Emperor, humanity will triumph in the end. I believe in you. The legionnaire knew the ground was approaching quickly.

“Ave Imperator,” the slave whispered.

> Pancakes & Waffles
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

   I was running, running for my life, dodging the trees as they came to me as I ran. The dark forest slowing me down unforgivably. I could hear the battle cries of many other men behind me as we committed ourselves to another charge. I could barely see ten feet in front of me. They were screaming obscenities in modern Latin.

   I jumped down from a small hill. The gentle snow was already beginning to form down here. I continued onward. My steel suit of armor should have slowed me down more, but thanks to the Empire's revolutionary designs the weight was distributed evenly. It looked much like the old roman era armor from the times of antiquity. We hoped adopting their ways may give humanity a new breathe of light. To a degree we were right. That and our Italian heritage from the old times pushed the idea through into nationalistic futility.

   Steel boots, body plate, gauntlets, and a helmet with a face plate. The design from the outside mimicked the human form, etched into the armor were the appropriate muscle patterns that laid underneath. On my body plate were abs and pecks, on my boots were sculpted calve muscles.

   Sometimes the inferior races of this world would think that a creature of metal was coming after them. It instilled fear sometimes. My faceplate was designed to look like Caesar's face.

   I burst out of the clearing and began running up the hill above me. The tiny eye holes of my faceplate didn't restrict any of my vision, more due to enchantment than perfect design. Now visible in the sunlight the black powder from the earlier battle still clung onto my suit.

   I was the first to climb to the top of the hill.

   Below was a quaint valley, and a whole lot of armed griffin. Strangely, they were all in camp, huddled around fires, trying not to let the gentle snowfall kill off their source of heat.

   The closest griffin was getting water from the stream between us. The creature looked up and was taken aback by the strange human on top, wearing the most intricate armor he'd ever seen in his life. He watched the human point the strangest spear he'd even seen at him. The spear was hollow, the end was pointing at him. More legionnaires began to reach the top of the hill.

   I fired, and everything froze.

   “Subject: IY54-FT4-U027 wake up.”

   I jerked up from my bed roll in my tent. 'Oh... it was a dream. Thank the gods.' I could hear the other legionaries outside talking and preparing for the morning march. I let myself sigh, and my head fell into my hands. 'I thought that I had-'

   “Subject: IY54-FT4-U027 wake up.”

   Everything flashed away again. The next place I was thrust into was a place of horrors. Bandages were wrapped around my hands and legs, restraining me into the chair. While the unicorns battered deeper and deeper into my psyche, trying to erase what it meant to be human. Attempting to make me docile. Like the vast majority they did this on.

   The slave master was there, smiling his perverted smile, but their were others. Another one, a female of their species was mainly responsible for my current mental state. Their magic illuminated the dark room.

   “Subject: IY54-FT4-U027 wake up!”

   I jerked up, but instead of my tent with the morning light seeping in I found my master's quarters. The purple mare's bedroom. As soon as I regained some consciousness the ministry entered my mind in a more thorough manner. Asking me hundreds of questions that could not be heard.

   'They found me already,' I realized.

   The ministry of loyalty found my mind amongst the million of other minds filling the network of the psychic net of this world. First and foremost they checked for treacherous thoughts and memories, attempting to find out why I hadn't reported for duty in so long. Why I was in the middle of Equine land, and what information I had uncovered about the species.

   I relaxed my mind and went into a meditative trance, allowing them to take what they needed. It wasn't hard, I was still half asleep, the room was still dark, and Twilight's faint breathing was hardly a distraction. Although the reptile's snoring was a little annoying.

   I was surprised to find that they let me sleep with them tonight. Considering the stunt I pulled two days ago. A jolt of pain echoed in my head, I released all thoughts and emptied my mind. The ministry had it's way with me. If I was lucky, they would not kill me for being captured. Perhaps I was of more valuable alive than dead. They were already extracting my memories to Constantinople. Not deleting mine, simply making a copy.

   This is the reality of human existence. It was complete control to Caesar, or death. The resistance movement made some headway this year, but they are fighting a hopeless war. You followed Caesar's will, or you died. The ministry of loyalty made sure of that.
  
   The back of my neck burned terribly as my mark began to shine. My mark: IY54-FT4-U027, the identification code given to me on my sixteenth birthday, the day I joined the legion.

   The pain subsided as they finished up taking what they wanted. 'They must have realized I'm here against my will.' I snickered as the pain faded to nothing.

   “Subject IY54-FT4-U027 as a prisoner of war and a slave no less, you have forfeited your right to become a citizen. You may not marry, you may not hold land, you are hereby banished from the Empire. Is this understood?”

   I felt as though I had been shot, I knelt over, slowly, careful not to wake my sleeping master. “Yes,” I muttered out loud. ‘I should have seen this coming. How could I have been so blind!?’ The ministry did not respond to this, despite being able to read my mind.

   Now that they had their information on the Equines from me, now after they already received seven years going on eight of dutiful service from me, they cut me off. I felt my psychic connection to the empire flicker out.

   I sat down. The Empire gave up on me. 'They rejected me. Cast me aside. All but told me I was too weak to procreate. After all how else could the equine have caught me unless I was weak! It's not like they could leave magical traps that a non-magic user couldn’t see!'

   I laid back down on my covers. Wanting to put it all away for later. I tried to sleep. I was tired. But I don't think I completely fell asleep that night. I couldn't, I had too much on my mind. My cheeks burned red with shame for the rest of the night.

   Hours ticked by.

---

   As the sunlight began to illuminate the bedroom, Twilight stretched. 'What a wonderful night's sleep,' she told herself. She decided she would allow herself to lay in bed for one minute, no longer, there was too much to do today.

   'Allowing the human to sleep with me was a good idea, he seemed to have gotten over his depression. Still can't believe he tried to kill himself though. I can still remember his shocked face as I teleported to him and lifted him to safety.'

   Twilight turned to the human. He was laying in his bed, well, his layers of covers. Something seemed off about him. Twilight lifted her head up to look at him. The new slave owner had taken to her human as though he was a scared puppy ever since the incident two days ago. She cared for him, looked after him even more diligently, and now even allowed him to sleep in her room. Unrestrained. But what she saw next freaked her out.

   He laid, eyes wide awake, bloodshot red, staring straight ahead at the ceiling.

   Her thoughts scrambled. 'D-Did he fall asleep with his eyes awake? Do h-humans do that?'

   “Uhh...” She mumbled to gain his attention. His eyes didn't shift, his whole head creaked over to look at her.

   'Nope. Wide awake.' With that theory dead Twilight decided now was a good time to get ready.

   After a moment Twilight was at her dresser brushing her bedmane away. The mirror was luckily placed in a perfect place to keep an eye on the human. “Spike wake up...” The human's eyes were still transfixed on the spot Twilight had occupied when she was on her bed looking down at him.

   Spike grumbled, rolled over and went back to sleep. Spike's bed was at the foot of Twilight's, it was a real bed, his basket was proven to be too small for him several months ago. “Spike get up.” The little guy gave the same response. Her mane was done. She went on to go brush her teeth in the bathroom. She called out to him again. “Come on. Get up Spike, we're all going to have breakfast this morning remember? Pancakes and waffles.”

   Finally she heard Spike get up from his bed. “Waffles?”

   Twilight would have laughed if she didn't have a toothbrush in her mouth.

   “Whoa,” Twilight heard Spike say, she had a good idea of what caught his attention in the bedroom. “That's just creepy.” After a few seconds her assistant came to the basin next to her and began applying toothpaste to his toothbrush. “You know the human is just staring at where you've been sleeping. Was he doing that all night?”

   “No,” she gurgled out from her toothpaste filled mouth, “he fell asleep last night faster than me. When I woke up he was staring at the ceiling like that. Don't know what's bothering him.”'

   Spike grunted. “Doesn't really matter I guess. You're going to lock him up now right?”

   Levitating the cup of water to her mouth Twilight wished it about a little then spat it out. She exhaled, feeling the freshness in her mouth. “Nope, he's going to be joining us.”

   Spike flinched at this realization.

   “Come on, let's not keep my brother and Cadence waiting.”

   After finishing their morning hygiene ritual, the three of them began their way to the castle's breakfast room. Yesterday Twilight had woken up at the correct time but was late to breakfast because she went to the wrong room, the dining room. A servant had to be sent and fetch Twilight and Spike to inform them that they were being served in the breakfast room not the dining room, Celestia forbid.

   Today, Twilight was bringing another annoyance to her brother, although this time she was heading towards the correct part of the castle, she was bringing her human this time. His stunt two days ago did not improve his opinion of the human at all. Especially when Twilight risked her life to save him. That and her human was in a... strange mood today. With vacant far off eyes.

   A maid pushed herself against the wall of the hallway in order to stay as far away from the unchained human as possible. Twilight paid her no mind. The guards usually were good enough with him, although they always kept a watchful eye on him when he was around them.

   They entered the breakfast room. It was a smaller, relaxed room with only a dozen seats.

   Spike and the human stumbled forward. The human was only dressed in his loincloth, Twilight was worried the human would make a mess of the cloak. Perhaps even use it as a napkin in his human ignorance.

   They sat down on one end of the table. They were the first there this time. A minute went by waiting. Spike was cradling his head, almost falling back asleep. “Should we just order now? I want my waffles.”

   Twilight rolled her eyes. “They waited for us when we were late Spike. We can do the same. I'm sure they'll be here any-”

   The sight of the human's devastated expression and a tear streaming down his face stopped her mid sentence. She always felt that her human had very pony-like expressions, but this time it was different. This time, she knew he was feeling emotional distraught.

   “Any what?” Spike asked lifting his head, then taking a look at the human.

   The slave sniffled. Then with a single finger, he wiped up his shame and looked at it. As if to make sure that he cried that very tear. He sighed and let his forehead rest on the table.

   Twilight got up and walked over to him. He didn't move. She had no idea what to do, the books didn't say anything about this, but her human needed her. Her hoof felt compelled to lift itself up and be placed upon his shoulder. To let him know he wasn’t alone. He didn't move but seemed to come down from his little episode a bit.

   Slowly, he turned his head toward her. Eyes that had seen their world utterly ripped apart looked back at her, unknown to Twilight, he literally had been cut off from his world, the psychic web that connected all humans, that gave them the hope of a new birth of human dominance was taken from him. He had been captured. Abused. And once they realized that he was no threat to them, or use to them, the empire cut him off. The human never felt so alone before.

   When the human turned to face her she got on her hind legs and hugged him. He recoiled from the pony wrapping her forelegs around him, unaccustomed to physical contact outside the battlefield.

   “Be careful, Twilight,” Spike warned, seeing any reaction as aggressive from the human. More from warinesses than anything else.

   Twilight broke herself away from her slave and took a few steps back. He was watching her, and thinking, she could tell. It was the eyes, she couldn't shake the feeling that those eyes held no small amount of intelligence.

   The echo of hoofsteps came from the hallway, and following that was Shining and Cadence. Twilight gave them a smile. “Hey you two! We're here on time this morning.”

   “Wonderful,” Cadence replied. “You're getting better at making your way around the castle.”

   Shining was stumbling beside his wife, never a morning pony. He tried to give the human a cruel glare as soon as he saw him, but it ended up looking more like a drunk's stupid snarl. “And why is that thing in my breakfast room!?” His voice never rose above a conversational tone, and while he pointed at the human his hoof was aimed more at Twilight then the slave, but all present knew what he was getting at.

   “Shining,” Twilight remarked, “I was the one that put myself in harms way after he jumped. That's not his fault. And I need to get him out of his cage more and more if I want to socialize my human correctly. The books were clear on that issue.”

   Shining snorted. Then got in his seat across from his sister. “I still don't like it.”

   Cadence put her hoof on Shining's shoulder. “Honey, we talked about this. Remember?”

   Shining, half delirious, went blank faced for several long seconds. “No, but I'll take your word on it.” The stallion leaned over and rested his head on the table, remarkably he fell asleep in an instant.

   Cadence rolled her eyes. The waiters came with their little fancy suits and took their orders, when they left Twilight began talking to her sister in law.

   “Did Shining get any sleep last night?”

   Cadence jerked involuntarily. “Ummmm,” the recalled as a small blush formed on her cheeks and a barely hidden smile crossed her features. “Not really, no.”

   'I don't get it. What's with her-' A grossly inappropriate scene crossed into her mind involving Cadence and her... 'Nope! That's something that a sister shouldn't... NOPE!'

   Spike chuckled, having a decent idea of what happened the previous night between Cadence and her husband.

   Twilight was trying to think of a reply to that, her mind kept thinking of things to say or do to salvage her sanity and this conversation, but the simulations always failed in her mind. Her mind would blank, restart, and attempt to form a new response, and ultimately failed. The cycle continued.

   Then finally their order was ready in record time. Cadence woke her husband by gently rocking him. 'I need a castle of my own. I don't feel comfortable here...' Twilight wined internally.

   When the waiters came they put her slave’s meal by her instead, giving the human a wide birth. They wanted to be as far away from him as possible. When Twilight pushed her slave’s plate of pancakes to her human he spoke to her. She wasn't surprised but the waiters were. “Thank you, Twilight.”

   “He's was getting better at speaking Equestrian,” beamed Cadence. The waiters gave each other worried looks as they hurried out of the room.

   “Thanks Cadence.” Twilight was giving her a crooked smile. “If my human keeps this up he can break the world record for most known words for a human.”

   Shining, awake again, was giving the human another angry look. He dropped it for now in favor of eating his breakfast with his family without having a fight.

   The human shivered noticeably. “Why didn't you let him bring his cloak,” asked Spike.

   Twilight began getting out her silverware. “Because he would get syrup on it and ruin it, besides I'm sure-”

   They all stopped when they heard the clatter of the human's silverware as he took them out of his folded napkin. As he put his fork in his left hand and knife in his right they grew silent. Even Spike stopped helping himself to his food, as he was reasonably sure Twilight didn't teach him this.

   The human began to make a cut into his food, making a perfect one-fourth slice. After making his cut he separated the piece, taking a long wary look at the fluffy piece. Then with his strange human hands he poked the pancake with perfect precision. Then slowly lifted it up, watching as the a tear of syrup formed and dropped back onto the plate. Then the human took a tiny bite.

   “OH!” Cried Cadence. “You taught your human to eat with a fork and knife?! Twilight that's amazing!”

   Meanwhile Twilight was staring slack jawed at the creature. Knowing she didn't teach him that. She had hoped that she could teach him the basic concept of silverware so that he wouldn't make his hands messy. That was the whole reason of only letting him take a loincloth to breakfast. But the way he held his fork and knife, he had an obvious advantage to ponies on that regard. She knew that Humans loved tools, but to this extent? Perhaps they weren't even that far behind ponies.

   The human chewed. Any reaction was delayed, he continued chewing, then swallowed. A smile formed as he looked back at the piece he had bitten from, then put the rest in his mouth.

   “You've managed to teach him so much Twilight, and in such a short amount of time too.” Cadence was still praising the work that Twilight never did. The others meanwhile were looking at the slave with mixed feelings, knowing that something wasn't right.

   “I, uhh, yeah. Big improvements alright.” Twilight gave her sister in law a fake smile.

   The rest went back to their own food. They continued eating in silence for a short while as they took glances at the human's oddly proper table manners.

   “Oh I almost forgot,” said Cadence as she brought her napkin up to hide the food in her mouth as she talked. “Will you be joining us for the jousting tournament later this evening?”

   “What?” She looked back and forth between her and her suddenly stiffening brother. “What... jousting tournament?”

   “Shining!” Cadence chided.

   Shining straightened out. “Okay look... I can explain this honey,” he informed his wife with his hooves up. “...I forgot.” Shining winced when he saw his wife's glare. “I hardly even saw Twilight yesterday! She's in her room all day with that thing! That or at the library and I hate interrupting her when she's reading...”

   Cadence rolled her eyes then looked at Twilight. “There's been a jousting tournament planned weeks in advance here. We'd love it if you would accompany us to the royal stand. There will be lovely food, music, a mock battle, a romantic play, some sword duels, and of course jousting.” Twilight couldn't resist the big, interested smile that she was making. “We've been meaning to tell you about it, but we're trying to keep it low key sense Celestia was here during the last tournament and in the last match the last reigning champion lost an eye to the new one.”

   They all grimaced –except for the slave. “Oh,” Twilight let out, “I'll- hmmm.”

   “We were just happy that Celestia managed to make sure that the incident stayed out of the Equestria daily.” Cadence gave a sheepish smile. “It’s an archaic culture so we try to turn a blind eye when we can.”

Twilight brought her hoof to her chin. “My friends are supposed to visit today.”
  
   Cadence understood immediately. “Oh that was today! Right. Well they’re welcome to come. We can even bring them in with us to the royal stand as special guest.”

   “Just one thing,” Shining interrupted, “we’re expecting that the griffin kingdom will send someone along to try to get cozy with us. Just wanted to give you a heads up.”

   Cadence gave her husband an unsure glance. “I’m expecting your best behavior, Shining. Even if the griffin are causing trouble we don’t want bad blood between us.”

   “I know, I know.”

   Cadence gave Twilight a wink. “I know I don’t have to worry about you, Twilight. Or your friends, as long as Shining can hold his tongue everything will turn out fine.”

   Completely happy Twilight's smile grew even more. “Awesome! I can't wait for my friends to experience it.” They all went back to their only slightly less hot food. After their meal Twilight went back to her library and with Spike's help she managed to train the human on how to greet others in under an hour, with even a bow. They were both impressed, though Spike began to grow wary around the slave, he just accepted the human's strange quickly growing vocabulary as something that was to be expected when working with one of the smartest unicorn in the world.

   After that Twilight got an extra hour worth of studying done when she completed her human training early. She then looked up at the time. “Alright Spike, they should be here soon. Let's go greet them at the station.”

   “YES!” Spike cheered, putting down his quill and parchment.

   Twilight then began getting ready to go down to the train station. Her friends would be coming in just a couple more minutes.
  
> The Colosseum
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    There are so many things floating around in my head right now, it’s unreal. I’ve been abandoned into the institution of slavery by people that I considered family, and my chances of gaining freedom are slim to none.

By the Emperor, what would you have me do?

When I followed my master's eyes I caught sight of a far off train making its way to the station. The equine and reptile thing were giddy with excitement for some reason. They probably wanted me to greet the visitors the way they taught me an hour ago. Perhaps I should play dumb just to spit them? Meh, doesn't matter in the end.

My master and the reptile began talking, if their tone was anything to go by they were getting really excited. The train stopped with an iconic sound, something that I wasn't entirely familiar with even though I had ridden on trains going to and fro Constantinople before.

Passengers started exiting the train. No one looked like royalty, or anything of real importance. I reclined in my seat as my master and the reptile took off to some unimportant looking Equines. I sighed. 'What do I do with my life? Do I embrace the rebellion I’ve carried with me my whole life? Or should I submit to this purple unicorn? She has treated me well, strange enough. Or do I find a balance between submission and rebellion?'

Twilight came galloping up to her friends, and upon seeing her, her friends did the same. “Twilight! Spike!”

They all came together like a mighty wave crashing against a rocky shore. Emotional Rarity and Fluttershy were holding back tears. An incoherent torrent of 'We missed you so much!' came out from all of them.

Rainbow Dash wisped around the two. “Whoa Spike, you grew so much since we’ve last seen you!”

He grew a shade redder and waved the pegasus off. Spike was still a baby dragon, but now he was at least as tall as them. He chanced a glance at Rarity, mistaking her brotherly love for romantic interest —again.

Rarity was more interested in catching up with Twilight though, but Spike would always hold a special place in her heart. “Oh darling you must tell us all about what you did in Canterlot.”

Pinkie Pie was hopping all around them. “I need to throw you a 'tell us all about your princessie training' and” –Pinkie got right up to Spike's face– “you got a dragon growth spurt party!”

Twilight rolled her eyes, with a growing smile.

Fluttershy was enjoying being part of the reunion even if she wasn't saying too much, until she looked behind Twilight and spotted something that made her go rigid. “Uh- th- hu-” The only logical response to seeing an unrestrained human looking straight at her was to hide behind Applejack.

Fluttershy was already shaking, the idea of humans being around her was bad, the idea of being around a human she didn't know was tamed, or chained, or didn't even have its owner nearby was far beyond nightmarish to the timid mare.

Applejack now aware of something shaking next to her back hooves, turned around. “Ugh, you okay sugarcube? What's got your nerves in a bind?”

Fluttershy summoned all her willpower just to point at the thing sitting in the bench.

Even brave Applejack jerked when she locked eyes with the creature. “Gals... we got ah problem.”

Rarity was the only one that happened to hear Applejack over their conversation with Twilight. And once the fashionista followed Applejack's eyes and saw the brute, she gasped. But managed to stop herself from screaming. Not wanting to startle the beast into doing something horribly violent.

“Oh my goodness,” whispered Rarity, “don't look, but there is an unchained human sitting on a bench unattended behind you Twilight.” Rainbow looked. “I said don't look!”

Twilight cleared her throat, not sure how to explain this point. “Well actually-”

Rainbow interrupted Twilight before she could Finish speaking. “Pft! I could take that guy in ten seconds flat! And even if I couldn't we have Applejack here, she has slaves of her own.”

“Rainbow that's-”

This time Applejack interrupted Twilight. “Sugar, working with humans rule number one: Never walk up to ah human you don't know, could be violent. Plus, I think you're underestimatin' humans by ah large margin.” Applejack's eyebrow arched up as she finished her sentence, scrutinizing Rainbow's bravado.

Fluttershy managed to force herself to speak. “S-should we call a guard?”

Applejack shrugged. “Should be fine as long as no one bothers him. Just don't ah... get too close, they can be territorial.” The mares were all gathered in a semi-circle discussing the human.

“Girls, He's my-”

“OH! OH!” Pinkie Pie gasped. “He's coming this way!” she cried in an attempted whisper. “Everypony think non-territorial, nonthreatening, unbothersome thoughts!”

For reasons Twilight would never understand she found herself joining in with the 'herd think'. Fluttershy surpassed her friends by leaps and bounds —by goat fainting.

Twilight cleared her throat. “Girls, this is my human. He's safe.”

As they all turned to him, he gave them a bow. “Hello girls.” Twilight grinned despite herself, he was learning the language so quickly, just a week ago he probably knew next to nothing about Equis.

Her friends looked back and forth between the human and her uneasily. “It's a long story. One that I was hoping we could talk about a little later?” Twilight's plea came out like a question by accident.

“Ugh...” They shifted uneasily. Fluttershy began to shake harder, bordering hysteria.

'Poor Fluttershy.' Twilight wanted her friends to feel comfortable around the human, because the human needed to be around her as often as possible. She had a report for Celestia due ASAP after all.

“Look,” Twilight began, “he's perfectly safe.” She motioned to the ground. “Sit,” she said in an authoritative tone.

The slave went down to one knee, with his forearm swinging over his one propped leg and hand dangling in the air. Twilight's friends, including Fluttershy, got an extremely well-trained, yet friendly impression from the action.

His face, his eyes, they hinted at something 'more, something intelligent, more intelligent than a human should be.'

Twilight smiled as her friends took a step closer to the creature. “All the way down.”

At that the human put one hand on the ground to lift himself a bit and got his legs in a crisscrossed position under him. On instinct his hands curled upward near his crotch in a meditative hand sign. The mares just thought it looked cool. “Ooohhhh,” they all mumbled in interest.

“Good human,” Twilight praised. “Now on your belly.”

The human gave her a look she wouldn't soon forget. He then shook his head. “Non,” he told her, in his strange foreign language.

The girls laughed. Taking the whole thing as a set up for a joke. While Twilight, who was not acting, dropped her jaw. 'He- He said no! That's what 'non' must mean, no. But he shook his head! That's a similarity in the body languages between ponies and humans! I didn't teach him that! Humans must have developed that all on their own! This is a breakthrough! This is-'

“A'right, a'right,” drawed Applejack, “we get the picture. The gen-u-ine genius Twilight figured out how ta teach an expensive first tier human to jump through hoops and such. Mighty impressive.”

Twilight looked up to see that even Fluttershy was wearing a smile, even though she still looked nervous, but then again Fluttershy always looks nervous...

'Well... If every ponies happy, I guess the tricks did its job then.' She looked at the human. The human was still looking at her with attentive eyes. It was unsurprising that her human didn't follow through with all the tricks, the books explained that a human could become very aloof when told to perform the same trick over and over again.

Twilight rubbed the back of her head. “Well now that that's taken care of, I wanted to tell you girls something.” They gave her their undivided attention. “There's a jousting tournament that's going to begin soon, would you guys like to come? We have exclusive Royal seats.”

Rainbow was the first to get up. “AH YEAH! I always wanted to watch a Crystal Empire tournament!” She turned to the rest of her friends. “It's the coolest thing you could possibly imagine! They have everything from sword dueling to mock battles! IT’S AWSOME!”

They all shared their agreements and went off to the festival. Unknown to Twilight the qualifying rounds started an hour ago and the tournament was already well underway. But they figured this out when trumpets echoed throughout the city.

As they neared the stands they could hear iron horseshoes hitting dirt and crowds cheering.

Since they were arriving a little late, the only ones outside were a few ponies moving around crates filled with supplies that other contestants would need. But the human slaves seemed to be doing the majority of the work. They continued towards the royal section of the tournament square.

The sheer size of the arena was inspiring. The milky white crystal walls extended up and out in a magnificent display of epic architectural achievement.

They were all startled by the sound of a whip striking the back of one of the slaves. The creature stumbled over taking his box of supplies with him for the fall. The stallion, who wasn't a crystal pony, wiped the slave again for falling. “Get up you lazy mongrel!”

After one quick glance at the human, it was easy to tell that the human wasn't lazy, or even overworked, or underfed, but past his prime. Another whip ringed out into the empty street. Twilight winced and looked to her friends.

They all looked unsure of what to do. Another whip came, it drew blood. The human, ugly beyond all reason due to the cruelty of nature moaned pathetically.

Twilight looked over to her slave, who was watching the whole scene unfold. His eyes were pained, wrinkles that should not have been on his young face sagged and expressed some hidden old, dark wisdom. But he showed no sign of intervening.

The princess stopped, and watched the scene unfold. The whip came again, the human struggled to get back up. Her morals called out to her, and her mind flashed back to the temple of Murustang with Octavo. This was far from just, and this was far from fair.

Her friends stopped and turned back to her.

“Are ya gunna get involved, sugar cube?”

Twilight wasn't sure how to respond. She took a few steps toward the scene, stopped then looked back at her own slave. His pained eyes looked back at her. His features were grim as he calculated the situation before him with intelligent eyes. He closed his eyes with a pained look. In one deliberate motion he shook his head and jerked it down the road they were heading.

It unnerved Twilight, she wanted to intervene, to 'fix' the wrong before her, but for some strange reason she trusted her slave's logic. “No, let's go.”

And as they did, the beaten slave got up and picked his things up. With one last crackle of the slave's whip he went back to work.

They reached the royal admission area inside the Colosseum. It was empty and only had two guards standing watch over the grand doors into the inner Colosseum. There were a few large paintings depicting the ancient glory of the Crystal Empire in their long past golden age.

“Oh how marvelous, Twilight!” Rarity was swinging her head side to side attempting to see all the subtle artistic attributes of the interior building, and attempting to memorize a few for inspirational purposes. “I always knew that the Crystal Empire was a truly magnificent, artistic, beautiful city, but it still never fails to disappointed.”

“Looks like just another dull building to me,” remarked Rainbow Dash as she sped past the others, hoping to hide her smirk at getting under Rarity's skin again.

Never one to be fooled twice, Rarity did her best to hide her cringe of animosity. “Very funny, Rainbow Dash —but I'm not falling to anymore of your pranks again,” she deadpanned.

Rainbow snickered. “What do you mean?” she asked innocently.

Twilight was only aware of the guard she was heading towards, she should have been more happy to see her friends, but the slaver and the brutalized slave were distracting her thoughts. And that's when Pinkie Pie jumped out of nowhere and covered her vision. “What's it been like being a princess, Twilight!? Have you done anything exciting!? I mean of course you have, but what exactly have you been up to since we've last seen you?”

Now completely surrounded by her friends Twilight stopped. Fluttershy was the next to speak up, taking her spot next to Pinkie. “I would love to hear what Celestia has been teaching you.”

Applejack nodded. “Same here.”

Seeing that this may take a while the human went over to a sofa and took a seat. The guards gave him a disgruntled look, those seats were not meant for slaves. “At first,” Twilight began her story with a small smirk, “all I was doing was meeting a few nobles who had a lot of power in royal court.”

Twilight paused. “It was nice, Celestia was with me, the nobles were friendly, they offered me advice on how to work with the other nobles, gave me tips and such.” Twilight waited for a response.

“Oh!” Rarity chimed in, already giddy with excitement. Already thinking how being friends with Twilight might change things for herself when attempting to fraternize with the upper nobility. Not that she needed any help with that. “Do go on, darling!”

While the mares were talking the two guards looked over at each other. Wondering if the mares were just going to stand there and chat away. The guards wanted to ask them if they were going to come inside or not. Or just stand in the royal admission center. The guards realized that would probably cost them their jobs though, so they didn't.

Twilight nodded. Just then a muffled roar of excitement came from all around them as a clash of metal could be heard outside. Wanting to join up with her brother and Cadence, Twilight gave the short version of what she had been up to since she went to Canterlot. Her friends asked her a few questions and she answered them thoroughly. They had a little laugh, remembering the fun times.

“Cadence would love to meet you all,” said Twilight, urging them onward.

“Alright!” Rainbow cheered, “I've been wanting to check out the tournament for a while now.”

Looking around for her human, Twilight spotted him, laying down in a sofa, using his cloak as a blanket, and snoring softly. She walked up to him, and rocked him back and forth till he jerked up awake. His eyes darted everywhere until he caught sight of Twilight then relaxed, and sighed.

“I have to say,” said Rarity, as she took a cautious step closer to Twilight and her human, “that is a gorgeous cloak he's wearing.” Twilight noticed that her friend was attempting to hide the fact that she was bothered that a mere human was wearing something so beautiful.

Twilight smiled. “Thanks, Rarity.” When the human got up, her friends took a few steps back away from him. They had seemed to have forgotten how tall he was and how deep and defined his thick muscles were. They were not lustful of him, but scared. The human lazily picked up his cloak and wrapped it around himself, even tying the knot near his neck.

Without wasting more time they moved on, the guards moved apart and opened the door for the mares, and closed it after they went in. Beyond the doors was a lounge, a bar off on the side caught their view, mostly because of the stallion with a slick combed back, black mane was cleaning glasses.

“Princess Twilight,” -The bartender bowed- “Princess Cadence and Prince Shining are in the room up ahead.”

“Thank you.” Twilight led her friends to the door the stallion pointed at and opened it. Immediately they heard the crowd roar with cheer and another loud clash of steel.

“Not a bad show I must admit,” said a familiar male voice Twilight couldn't place.

Twilight entered the stands, which were situated high above the performance below.

Cadence was the first to see them. “Oh Twilight, I'm glad you're here, I was worried you'd miss more of the show.” Before Twilight could respond Cadence noticed her friends. “And you all! It's been too long really.”

Shining walked over to his wife. Twilight noticed her brother looked a bit worn down for some reason. “Shining, are you-”

“It's good to see your friends came by,” he interrupted her.

“Hiya Cadence!” Pinkie Pie practically yelled. “Remember me don't ya huh huh?!”

Cadence giggled, “Of course I remember you silly.”

Twilight drowned out the noise of her friends introducing themselves as she looked over to the other member of the room. Standing there in his thick leather armor, was him again.

The warlord nodded at her, it was a relatively friendly gesture. “Oh Twilight, we meet again.”

She cringed upon seeing him, not a dignitary from the griffin kingdom, but the king himself. Or perhaps a better title for him, a legal thug.

“Your uhh, assessment of the humans was... interesting... back at Canterlot that is...” -He took a sip of some dark drink- “it was one of the few purposeful things that was said in Celestia's day court... two weeks back, or was it a week and a half maybe?” His talon scratched his beak as he asked himself the question.

'Charming,' Twilight quipped. His attempts at being diplomatic were nothing to write home about. At least not at first glance.

“Well...” Twilight felt a need to at least play the scene as far as diplomacy goes, she had no real power in the Crystal Empire, but she was related to the rulers here and that counts for something. “I hope things aren't too bad for you. I heard that the humans are not letting up... At any rate I hope you enjoy your stay in the Crystal Empire.”

He smiled. Twilight didn’t trust that smile, it was a real smile, but she just knew he was smiling for some other hidden reason. Yet he didn’t seem like an outright evil guy. “I am. Thanks for asking, Princess Twilight.” The smile lingered for a bit.

Twilight examined this creature for a moment.

The warlord shrugged and took another sip of some drink that Twilight couldn't place. As he did so, he looked over her shoulder to see the human in the room, unchained, looking straight at him, with a not so mellow look on his face. As the trumpets blazed to signal the entrance of the new contestants down below, the warlord spat his beverage out.


> King Viggo
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Things were turning out well, at least for the warlord. Shining and Cadence took his advice and warnings seriously, his proposal came across as reasonable to them, even the tournament was going as he had planned it.

The warlord watched his warrior charge at the smaller stallion, both running towards one another at full speed, lances at the ready. The crowd cheered. The warlord's smile grew.

Cadence asked him a question that interrupted his self-praising daydreaming. “So you have no objections?” The warlord turned to Cadence, who didn't seem to be paying that much attention to the game. Shining, however, didn't let the loss get to him, it was only the pre-qualifying round after all. Only thirty-two could be allowed to contend.

The warlord raised an eyebrow. “To Twilight joining us? Of course not. I have no quarrel with her.”

'She was the only one speaking sensibly at Celestia's day court,' he silently fumed. “I also have nothing against her bringing a few friends with her.”

Cadence seemed to smile genuinely, as opposed to the fake nervous ones she had been giving him up till now. “Thank you for being reasonable, Viggo. We weren't exactly expecting you.”

The warlord shrugged. “I wasn't exactly planning on coming by either. This is all kind of spur of the moment stuff.” When Cadence saw Viggo's smile she giggled, though a bit nervously. 'A fake laugh,' he thought. Fair enough. This smile I’m wearing isn’t genuine either.

Shining’s focus was on the next matchup down below, another one of his grunts was up. The tournament was doing a good job revealing the stallions that showed promise. The whole time Shining was memorizing the names of his guards, trying to decide who would make a good lieutenant.

There was another clash of steel and crystal armor. The warlord admired his glorious forces for a silent moment, until he couldn’t hold it in anymore. “My warriors are strong, are they not?” The warlord and Shining both looked down at the victorious griffin warrior.

“They are,” he agreed. There was no emotion in Shining’s voice.

“Still thinking about my proposal?”

No response. Cadence walked to the other side of her husband.

The warlord sighed. “You don't want those creatures running around your land. You can have both peace of mind and a huge amount of slave labor to help your empire prosper, if you would only side with me.”

Shining seemed to be struggling, trying to analyze the proposal the warlord brought to them earlier. His wife answered for him. “We still need time to think about it.”

He nodded, understanding. There was another clash. Both stallions; both of them Shining's guards.

Viggo stretched. “I'm going to go see what's available in the bar.”

Cadence smiled. “Pretty much anything you've ever heard of. We have a grand collection. Help yourself.”

“I'll take you up on that.” When the warlord let the door behind him close he could already hear Cadence and Shining talking. He smiled, but it was a different kind of smile from the ones he showed them.

He walked over to the bar and set his griffin rump down on one of the stools. The bartender bowed. “King Viggo, what may I serve you?”

He chuckled. No one called the ruler of the Griffin Kingdom king anymore. The Griffin Kingdom was just a shell of its former glory, much like this place.

“Got any mead?”

Several minutes later the warlord could still be found in the bar. Twilight was just outside the room he was in, talking with her friends about what Celestia's nobles taught her, but Viggo didn't know that. He just wanted to give Shining and Cadence time to talk in privacy about his proposal a bit.
He slammed the crystal glass down. “Damn that shit's good!” The bartender's eyebrow twitched, not sure how to handle this. “Moon Crystal brewery you say?”

He nodded. “It is so, King Viggo.”

The warlord turned to his triple meat burger and took another big bite. “It's a lot better than the watered down piss that's being sold in Equestria. I'll tell you that much! And Equestrian meat taste like ass.”

The bartender tried to suppress a gag.

'HA! Namby pamby ponies!'

The warlord ate the last of his burger, chugged down the last of his mead and let out a loud burp. The bartender paled.

Viggo wiped his beak with the back of his claw. “Complements to the chief, that wasn't half bad.”

“O-of course, your Highness.” 

Viggo went back to the royal stand. As he opened the door he heard the two stop speaking mid-sentence.

Good, got them talking. Shining and Cadence must realize they need me. Celestia can't save them from the human threat.

“Qualifying rounds almost over?” asked the warlord, knowing the answer full well. He couldn't hide the smile he always got when he was having his way.

“Almost, this is the third to last match,” replied Cadence.

Viggo took a swig of his new favorite mead brand. Glad I took another glass of this, stuff is amazing. Maybe I should work out a trade agreement with these crystal ponies while I stay here.

The two contenders clashed together, a satisfying ring echoed out as their lances hit dead center, but both stallions stood strong. “Good show,” said the griffin, and he meant it, it was a great place: this Crystal Empire.

“Oh Twilight, I'm glad you're here, I was worried you'd miss more of the show.” The warlord turned around to see Cadence enter the royal stands, her friends followed right after her. Shining went to his wife. “And you all! It's been too long really.”

While they continued greeting one another, a butter yellow pegasus was looking at him. 'Being rude won't help me here. Better try to improve my image with Twilight, would also be wise to be nice to her friends. Can’t be too hard. I think she likes me. Everypony likes me.' He nodded to one of Twilight’s friends, a timid looking pegasus.

She seemed to shrink into herself and moved to where other ponies would be blocking the view between themselves. 'Shy?' he wondered.

“Shining, are you-”

“It's good to see your friends came by,” Shining interrupted Twilight.

They exchanged a few more pleasantries. Viggo took another drink.

That's when Twilight took note of him, she seemed troubled by his armor for some reason. What? Never seen a griffin is his battle gear? Hmmm. Guess I'll break the silence if she won't.

“Oh Twilight, we meet again.” The only thing that went through the warlord's mind was, ‘should have worded that better.’ ‘She's more dangerous in the political arena than she looks. Even if she doesn't know anything but what's in a few textbooks.’

“Your uhh, assessment of the humans was... interesting... back at Canterlot that is...” -Viggo took a sip of some dark alcoholic drink- 'Be nice, Viggo. Be nice. Keep that eye contact.' “it was one of the few purposeful things that was said in Celestia's day court... two weeks back, or was it a week and a half maybe?” Time was getting funny these days, with the war and all. ’A week,’ he remembered, ‘It’s been a week.’
“Well... I hope things aren't too bad for you. I heard that the humans are not letting up... At any rate I hope you enjoy your stay in the Crystal Empire.”

Apparently Twilight isn't keeping up to date with the war news. Things aren't going that bad. Some wins some loses. Humans were always good at putting up a fight. The weakling slaves were always poor representations of wild humans. I'll inform her later, maybe. Just be nice. Don't verbally beat her down for not knowing anything of the real world.

“I am. Thanks for asking, Princess Twilight.” Viggo smiled, thinking of all he would accomplish here.

Twilight gave him a scrutinizing look. Not sure how to respond to that, Viggo shrugged and took a drink as he looked at the others, that's when he noticed him. He must have been at the back of the group and the last to come in because Viggo never saw him before. At any rate, the human was glaring at the warlord. He spat his drink out as the trumpets blazed and the next set of contenders entered below.

He pointed at the human. Yep, it was a human, unchained looking right at him. Every other pony seemed to not care. Equines were crazy. “Y-you let humans walk about freely!?”

Twilight was meekly raising her hoof, as if she was in a classroom asking permission to speak. She trembled a bit, not expecting this reaction. Shining helped her. “Don't panic. My sister Twilight managed to train the human completely. He's not violent in any way.” Shining looked at Twilight for her to continue. She understood entirely.

Twilight flew up next to her slave's head. The human, not used to the sight of Twilight actually using her wings, watched them with growing interest. She cleared her throat, having high hopes for this next trick and wanting to get it just right. “Bow to King Viggo.”

The human's eyes turned to whom she was pointing at, then did the practiced gesture. His hand came out of his cloak and swung gracefully across his midsection, one leg went back as he tilted forward. His eyes were even looking at the griffin's claws as his head bowed. “Nace to meech you, Keing Veageo.”

Everyone but Spike and Twilight took a step back and gawked at him. Twilight, not sure how to explain his quickly growing vocabulary, shrugged and giggled, embarrassed by the attention. “His pronunciation needs a little work, but it's pretty substantial I think, considering that he's a human and all.”

The human ended his bow and was watching Twilight again. Wondering if he was going to be told to do another trick.

The warlord was shaking his head at Twilight in disbelief. “They can't be trained to such a degree!” The warlord turned to the human, he didn't show any sign that he would attack. If anything he only looked ready to defend himself against the griffin. The human looked like he was anticipating an attack even. “Surely they can't. Such a barbaric animal just can't,” He paused, “Surely...” He found his talon naturally rose and began stroking his neck. “If this is true... It changes, not everything, but a lot of things. Hmmm.”

There was a clash between warriors down below. The warlord looked, easily distracted. They all looked down below as well. “Ahh, pity,” complained Viggo, “I wanted to show you all my best fighter.”

Shining and the others looked down at the struggling stallion on the ground, beaten by the griffin. He struggled to get up, and that was when his foreleg bent the wrong way. They all grimaced save for the warlord. Some crystal ponies were dispatched to help him to the infirmary.

The griffin warrior down below saluted his warlord. Viggo waved back at him.

The warlord noticed that Twilight's friends were giving each other worried looks. Didn't know what you signed up for did you? Crazy ponies. He turned to the human. Actually, crazy ponies indeed.

Trumpets blared as the true festival began. It looked like fire eaters were taking center stage by the looks of it. I need another drink. These Equines are going to be the death of me. Viggo smiled at the ponies. “I'll be back.” Both the human and warlord kept a wary eye on each other as he left them for a few more minutes to go drink again.

Twilight and her friends were able to relax more after Viggo left, they chatted away the whole time as each performer did their thing. The show was marvelous, ponies doing almost unnatural feats, each outdoing the other in a spectacular performance. Twilight especially liked the poetic songs that were sung, not because of how amazing they were, but because it was the foundation of modern music.

Then came the wondrous play at the end. Though Twilight preferred to read classical literature rather than watch classical theater, she still enjoyed it, and gave a wholehearted hoof stomping applaud at the end.

“Oh my,” Rarity said in complete adoration, “what a positively marvelous performance. And when Lady Jade revealed that she had known of Lord Nocturnal's betrayal for two years! What a marvelous, ingenious ending.”
 They all engaged in adorable hoof stomps and began giggling.

When the human turned towards them to see what the heck they were doing, Spike shied away. Still seeing every action as aggressive.

Applejack tipped her hat to Twilight. “Really appreciate the show Twi, it's turning out better than anticipated.”

Twilight nodded, happy that her friends were happy.

The shouter down below made the announcements clear. “The tournament is about to commence! Round one is about to commence!”

 	Rainbow went to the balcony rails and took an early seat. “And it's just getting started.”

 	The warlord made his way back into the stands, he looked a bit tipsy. He walked near her, but stopped when he got close to the human. They looked at each other for a moment, both not trusting the other.

Then the human glanced over to his master. He seemed to be studying her expression, but she couldn't discern why. The human shrugged, then walked to the back of the balcony and took a seat and did his meditating thing.

The warlord took a cautious step closer to Twilight while watching the human. “Strange.”

Twilight wasn't even sure why the warlord walked over next to her. It was a little awkward for her, she didn't know how to act with important members of society like him. The training helped but...

“So Twilight,” -She turned to him- “about the human.” Viggo turned to give a scrutinizing glare at the human, sitting cross legged, eyes closed, and almost not breathing at all. His hood was pulled up all the way, it almost looked like a pile of fabrics. Never moving.

“What about him?” She asked in a respectful tone.

“Did you learn anything that we could use against them? Some weakness. Because we really need to be working together on this. I think.” The warlord seemed a lot more interested in her than before. It was something that she thought she might like, being noticed that is. But when dealing with this young unpredictable ruler. It was hard to speak in absolutes.

Twilight scratched the back of her neck. She tried to keep her nervousness out of her voice. “W-why do you want to fight them so bad? Don't you have enough?” He made a face she couldn't read. “What I'm studying is a way to reason with them. To form a peace deal. For your war.”

His eyes widened. “Wait, what? Start from the beginning. When did this research begin?”

Twilight's nervousness grew, she was growing worried she was saying something she shouldn't have. “Well umm... right after you... left... we tried to devise a way as to... save your kind from... a counter attack... by the humans.”

His left eye twitched. That crazy look back at Canterlot castle appeared again in his expression, but in only lasted for a second. “I see. Well, there are other nations than Equestria that can help me.” He stormed out of the stand as quietly as he could. Back to the bartender, she quipped to herself. Then released a breathe she didn’t know she was holding..

“Twilight?” She turned to her other side to see her human had walked up to her when she hadn't noticed. The human appeared to scan her face for her emotions, then looked at the way that the griffin just stormed out of.

He leaned in to rub the back of her neck. She giggled at his affectionate nature. How these creatures could be perceived as cruel was beyond her. Yet she knew deep down, that her human was very special. The books, and even her own personal experience back at Canterlot testified to that.

Twilight gave him a quick hug, he bent his knees and hugged her sideways with one arm. “I'm fine. Don't worry.” Twilight knew it was silly to think that her human understood her, but it just felt natural to talk to him sometimes.

The trumpets blazed again, and the first two contenders walked out. They were both stallions. A moment later the warlord walked back into the stands and took a spot next to Shining. They were announcing the names of the contenders, this would be a lot more formal than the previous matches.

Rainbow trotted up to her. “Hey Twilight, me and Applejack are making a run to the bar, do you want me to get you something?”

She thought on that. “No, I'm good for now. Thanks though.”

“No prob.” Rainbow zipped out of the room, wanting to return as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, the warlord was beginning to sweat.

Oh this was bad. This was really bad. Celestia already gave up on the war. CRAP! And Twilight was right! A counter attack was coming! All for just a few hundred wild human slaves! It would cover the cost of the war, but just barely. There had also been the measly five hundred acres of land we conquered, that could be rationed out to my army to keep them happy. But it wasn't ideal. Even worse some back at the Griffin Kingdom are questioning my ability to rule.

Viggo's talon rubbed his stressed eyes. It's okay, it's still salvageable. At any cost, I need support for the war. I need it. I can't leave without it. The agreement was that I would stay a week at the castle as a guest. I'll have to make the most of it. But even if I do fail, there's always Broncovy. They're probably willing to push back against the humans. Hopefully...

The warriors clashed. He paid it no mind. He looked at Shining to his side, then back at the match.

These ponies just don't understand how cruel and vile these humans really are! I'll have to educate them. He looked over to Twilight. Of course! Twilight!

The same warriors galloped toward each other again. Having both managed to say on their hooves after the first clash.

’Twilight is studying humans for Celestia, if I can convince her of what humans are really like then I might still take Equestria as a war asset for my war. May even take the Crystal Empire as well, with her being Shining's sister and all. Hmmm. Perhaps I can invite her to the Griffin Kingdom with me. Show her some wild tribes in their natural habitat. Once she sees a human that isn't tame, that isn't perfect, that doesn't have only two arms and two legs. She'll change her tune.’ Assurance hit him. Viggo was sure this would work. A week to convince Twilight to visit his kingdom and see how bad humans really were. ’I have a week to convince Twilight to come back with me to-’

“I hope that you see that my troops are not anything to laugh at, Viggo? Have you been watching the match even?”

Viggo was slapped back into reality by Shining's question. “Of course I was. A fine show indeed.” He looked at the board ahead, showing who would contend against who. “So my eight warriors made it, sixteen of your guards made it, and eight equestrian ponies managed to make it into the game as well. This should be interesting.”

Shining's warrior went up on the board, defeating the Equestrian stallion. The next set came through. This was one was a griffin against one of Shining's guards.

“How many humans did you say your scouts reported near our border?” The warlord didn't expect this question from the prince.

He's using his head, good. Wonderful. I may just win this war yet.

“Two thousand, Shining.”

The prince grimaced, mouthing the words 'two thousand' to himself, almost in disbelief. He was having trouble coming to terms with what Viggo told him. The warlord shrugged. “If you don't believe me you can always send your own scouts up north to see for yourself.”

The contenders below clashed, the griffin won. The stallion couldn't get back up.

“I believe you,” stated Shining. “ I've known the humans have been getting restless for some time. But I've always hoped that they would never cross our borders.”

Viggo raised an eyebrow. “Have you ever fought humans before?”

“No.” There was a hint of bitterness in his tone. The warlord decided not to press it.

“Hmmm,” the warlord struggled to explain it, “they are tough, beatable, but freakishly tuff. You know they have steadily been growing in numbers and have been taking territory for the past five hundred years?” Shining didn't respond. “They are capable of unimaginable horror. They hoard treasure that would make the two of us look like peasants, and they are extremely dangerous.”

The next set of contenders clashed.

“Ignoring them will not save you. You need to accept my proposal, an alliance between your kind and mine is the only way you can survive this winter. Equestria is too far from the threat, they won't take it seriously until it's too late.”

Shining gazed at the arena still thinking, and not speaking.

Viggo sighed, then looked over to the human. It was standing next to it's master. It's cloak was wrapped tight around himself, apparently he was having trouble dealing with the cold. Yet he wasn't shivering, he had a far off expression, like he was looking past the dueling contenders.

The two of them watched in silence for several minutes.

Twilight was enjoying herself. She was with her friends, they weren't put off too badly by her human. Plus her human was in a quiet, but affectionate mood today. All was well. It was turning out to be a good day. Applejack took the spot next to her.

“Howdy Twilight, that really is a mighty fine first tier human you got there.”

“Thanks, Applejack.” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “That's the second time you called him a 'first tier human', how did you know where I got him?”

The farm mare chuckled. “Ah may not be no human expert, but I know the cream of the crop when I see 'em.” Applejack looked the human up and down. “Ah'll admit I'm a bit jealous, how much can he lift? Does he got good endurance?”

The question took her by surprise, she had never actually given him a single choir to do. “Well, uhhh, there was that one time that he ripped a magical collar off of himself.”

Applejack's eyes grew. “The magical containment ones?” Twilight nodded.

When Applejack didn't respond, Twilight continued. “And sometimes when I left him in his cage for too long he would get antsy and lift himself up with the bars over his head.” The farm mare was left speechless.

“L-like a monkey?” They both turned to Fluttershy.

Twilight gave the timid mare a friendly smile, even though she seemed to have popped out of nowhere. “Yeah. Though he doesn't look like he's actually enjoying it.” She looked up at her slave. “More like it's a workout routine or something, perhaps a behavioral adaptation to keep a large amount of muscle mass.” Twilight shrugged, not aware of any better explanation. It's a good theory as far as she was concerned.

Applejack watched him for a moment. “But what does he do?” She drawled out the last word to emphasize her question.

Umm, nothing? Before Twilight could answer, there was a loud crash down below.

“HA!” bellowed the warlord. “Well done!”

Twilight and her friends looked down below to see the warlord's best warrior over a defeated stallion.

Twilight paused for a minute, wondering if she should just use this opportunity to not answer the question. ’I'd love to tell them that it's an assignment from Celestia herself, just not now.’ It felt like the best course of action at the time. “Maybe I could tell you guys more after the first set of matches is over. There will be an intermission afterwards.”

Applejack nodded. “Sounds ok to me. I'm only askin' because I'm interested. Don't mean to be nosy.”

Twilight waved the idea off. “Oh no! Not at all.”

“But... umm...” Twilight turned to Fluttershy, the mare took a timid step back when the human turned back to look at her, “what's his name?”

Twilight looked at her with a blank look, processing the question. Human's have names? Another chastising voice came from inside her head. OF COURSE THEY DO! A HUMAN NAMED TENTACLES WAS EVEN MENTIONED IN THE BOOKS YOU READ!

A bit of embarrassment was creeping in on her as she turned to Spike, who was nearby and was half listening to their conversation. “Don't look at me,” Spike defended, even before Twilight could ask him anything. “He's your human, you name him if you want. I've done more than my share of feeding him and such when the maids get too scared of him.”

Realizing that the entire blame fell on her, she turned to Fluttershy with a sheepish smile on her face. “A name you say?” She looked around. “Uhhh, ummm.” She looked at random things nearby, then to her human.

The slave looked back at her, broke eye contact, looked around, then looked back at her. He shrugged, as if asking. 'What? What do you want from me?'

Twilight looked back at Fluttershy to see her knowing smile. She leaned in closer. “Haven't named him yet have you?”

Twilight leaned in closer as well. “Uhh, not yet. No.”

Another clash from the contenders down below. The human whistled, in recognition of Equine valor, one of Shining's warriors beat a griffin. A few, including the warlord, looked over to see the human make his strangely familiar noise.

'Huh, he knows how to whistle also? Weird.' Twilight let that thought linger. 'Whistles?! Do I call him Whistles?'

Twilight looked over to Fluttershy. “Give it time, don't rush it, I'm sure an appropriate name will come to you.”

“Thanks, Fluttershy.” Twilight went back to the stand to watch the rest of the matches. The intermission would start soon enough. She looked up at her human. 'No, Whistles is a stupid name.'

> A Standing Ovation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The diplomatic quarters of the Colosseum was a fun place to be at with good friends. There were comfortable couches, good food, and lots of laughs. They had enjoyed the company of one another, trading stories, and talking about anything that came up. Admittedly things were less tense without King Viggo around.

    The moment seemed right for Twilight. Now in the privacy of the diplomatic quarters, she was able to tell her friends about her mission from Celestia. To learn everything there was to know about the humans, to find a way to reason with them; beyond the 'I'll give you five spears, eight hunting knives, and a machete, for three human slaves.'

    Twilight found herself leaning onto her human. He didn't seem to mind. He even leaned against her a bit as well. They had grown close, oddly enough. He didn't mind Twilight's occasional hug, pat on the head, or even when Twilight lifted his lips to show his teeth to her friends and explain, or try to explain their evolutionary significance. She would also sometimes turn to him and flash him a smile, he would smile back.

    Twilight also told her plans of going to the frontier, learning the human's primitive language, studying them and negotiating with tribal leaders. All with an optimistic, yet determined point of view.

    The others sat in silence once Twilight finished her telling. The human sitting by Twilight's side looked at each of them, wondering why they would always stare at him when they thought he wasn't looking.

    “Thats...” Rainbow struggled to describe what she had just been told. “...actually terrifying.”

    That wasn't the message Twilight was trying to convey. “Humans,” Twilight began, “have been growing in number. They are becoming stronger and more organized. Everything points to a higher level of cognitive development.” When her friends gave her confused stares she coughed. “I mean a higher level of brain power, they're getting smarter. Changing. Whatever is wrong with them, whatever causes them to mutate, is being weeded out by the process of evolution. Meaning the strongest breed while the weak don't, making stronger less mutated offspring. That is unless the specific mutation doesn't increase their chances of survival. At least that's what my research is pointing at, I won't know until I go to the frontier.”

    Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. “I... understand where you're coming from but... humans are...” The timid mare looked in the human's direction, as if she was scared that the human would snap at her and get offended by something she would say. The human pretended not to notice her looking at her, he didn't want to spook this timid thing. “...unpredictable,” she let herself finish. “The frontier is dangerous Twilight. Are you sure you want to go?”

    Without even thinking about it, Twilight nodded. “I am. Celestia and Equestria need me.” All of her friends gave her worried looks. “I'll be fine. I still need to study for a week or two, then... I don't know... I didn't really plan that far ahead.”

    “Pfft!” Rainbow scoffed. “Twilight not planning that far ahead. That's a new one!” She let herself to fall into a fit of laughter.

    Twilight just rolled her eyes, used to her friends antics. “I've narrowed it down to the northern humans, not the Equestrian ones. They're just sickly weak things.”

    Pinkie was near tears, clopping her hooves together nervously. “Be careful when you go Twilight. I wouldn't know what to do if something happened to you.”

    This sight actually made Twilight feel a little bad, for putting her friends in this position. “Oh Pinkie.”

    “And, I, ummm,” Pinkie looked at Twilight then back at the human she was sitting next to. “Don't forget that you're not alone in this. We can help you. And...” - She pointed at Twilight and her slave. - “you two look so close, I would feel a lot better if the two of you went together.”

    That gave Twilight something to think about, and it showed. She looked back at her human. “I, huh...” Twilight thought back at her time spent with Octavo, how a friend had saved her life, when she was realizing her fear of humans, he was looking out for her. She wouldn't make the same mistake twice. “I... was actually going to ask Applejack to look after him while I was gone. But you may be right. I probably should bring him with me when I go.”

    “Consarnit Pinkie! Could have used him on the farm!” Applejack let out a laugh, feeling no ill-will towards her friend, they all joined in.

    While the laughter was dieing down, Twilight looked up at her human, considering Pinkie's advice. The human returned a smile she didn't know she had on. He then lifted his hand slowly, showing no aggression and placed it on her head.

    It felt oddly good, like a message almost, except on top of the head, but he was getting dangerously close to the high-nerve ending area around her horn. She was already blushing, even if her friends weren't really paying attention. And that's when it hit her. Oh no! I never told him not to touch a unicorn's horn! Please! Not in front of my friends!' It felt too good to stop, but that hand was getting awfully close.

    A sudden knock on the door caught the attention of the human, causing him to put his hand away. Awww...

    Spike strode in looking around, wondering what they were laughing about. “Hey everypony. The matchup is about to begin,” He said with clenched claws and a pumped up demeanor. “Come on! Round two, and Shining still has eleven of his recruits in this. While King Viggo only has his five.”

    Twilight rolled her eyes. Well the warlord did only bring nine of his warriors to participate, while my brother submitted thirty of his best recruits. Even fifteen Equestrian stallion competed to get in. She kept her little quips to herself though. It was still turning out to be an awesome day.

    They went out through the bar into the royal stands, and as soon as Twilight opened the door, there was the sound of loud galloping followed by the clash.

    Shining spotted them right away and waved them over to his side. “Hey, Twiliy! Finally coming back up, huh?” All the gloom was gone from his face and tone. He seemed back to his regular self.

    “Mmhhmm.” When Twilight looked down below she saw another griffin victory.

    Off to the side, Twilight also noticed that the the king of the griffin tribes, the leader of the northern horde, King Viggo, was drunk. “Yeah!” The warlord took his victory with a big gulp of mead. “Hiet 'em with tha- with uer spear! I mean tha lance. The poikey end!” His head was bobbing, using the railing to keep himself up, but soon even that wasn't enough as he tilted over and fell with a loud thud. Hitting his head on the crystal marble floor.

    “Finally,” Shining sighed. “I thought he'd never pass out.”

    The human took the other spot next to Twilight, towering over them all even while he leaned forward to put both hands on the rails to look down below. The next match was beginning.

    Twilight was still looking at the passed out griffin. “Has he been drinking during the entire intermission?”

    Shining snorted. “Yeah. That and he's been telling us about his fights against the human tribes.” Shining turned to his wife. “He also told us stories of the humans using highly mobile advanced cannons against his armies.” He gave his sister a silly smile with his lips pursed together.

    Cadence had her hoof on her face trying to suppress a giggle. “That story. Was hard to ignore. I still can't get the idea of humans trying to figure out how to use a cannon out of my head.” Her resistance faded and she began to laugh. “Without them exploding themselves by accident!”

    Shining was still giving Twilight his stupid look, she laughed and looked away.

    The griffin's thane, a noble griffin, charged at Shining's recruit and hit him dead on in the middle of his double barrel chest, knocking him down as if he were contending against a child. Another griffin victory.

    “Damn,” Twilight heard Shining curse under his breath. “That guy, he's been beating the best of my best with ease.”

    After winning another victory for his warlord, the griffin saluted to the arena. He then began to scan the royal stands, after not being able to spot his warlord up there.

    Seeing her human's stance change, Twilight watched him, he brought his fist up and hit his own chest, then in a wide arc movement saluted off to the area. The griffin down below could be seen by all squinting up, trying to figure out what the heck just saluted back at him. It wasn't his warlord, that much was obvious.

    Twilight facehooved as the thane was all but shooed off the arena as the next contenders entered, the griffin was still trying to get a glimpse of the strange creature he saw.

    Shining looked up at her human, aware that the slave had been watching him for some time. He took a tentative step back. Wondering what the human wanted, or was going to do. The slave tilted his head as he looked right at the stallion, a curious expression. “Damn.”

    Twilight facehooved again. “Oh no. He's learning curse words. He's been listening to our conversations... Shining!” When she looked up she saw her brother stifling a laugh. “I'm going to get you back for that.” He just put his forelegs up and gave her an innocent look.

    “He couldn't have learned it from me,” he lied. Twilight rolled her eyes and sighed.

    They went back to watching the game. The next two matches both pitted Shining's recruits against each other. They all gave their shouts and cheers to the victors. But the one after that, was extremely interesting.

    A plain looking stallion, one of Shining's finest, took his assigned side of the tournament. The shouter called out, “Entering, Sir Accordance, knight of the Crystal Empire.” The crowd cheered.

    Mulling over this, Rarity turned to Shining. “Excuse me, Shining dear.” The stallion looked over to her. “Why is it that Accordance is a knight when no other of your guards are. I thought that the Crystal Empire didn't use them anymore.”

    Curious as well Rainbow Dash trotted up beside them. “Yeah, I was wondering that as well.”

    Shining laughed a bit as he put his hoof behind his head. “The Crystal Empire is from a different time and these things show it. A knight is a minor noble, it's hereditary. It's something you have to earn, but being from a noble family is a prerequisite. A few minor houses managed to survive Sombra's rule. Like Accordance here.”

    The shouter announced the other contender. “Entering, Alf, officer of the Griffin Kingdom.” Then came in the biggest and bulkiest griffin that was competing. It wasn't who Viggo claimed to be his, 'best warrior' but he was the largest. He carried his heavy armor and large lance on his side with ease to his assigned spot.

    Without hesitation upon seeing his opponent the stallion saluted to Shining. Who waved back.

    “Interesting,” Shining whispered. “So he thinks he can still win?” Leaning forward, he watched the flag bearer signal for them to charge.

    The two gave it all they had, the griffin barreling forward threatening to steamroll the stallion under his weight, while the unwavering knight steeled his resolve. It was a picturesque collision, with the knight's lance launching the griffin off his talons and paws off the ground, while the knight shrugged off the blow done to himself. The crowd roared.

    The human whistled again.

    To get a better view Shining stood straight up with his forelegs on the balcony rails. “Yeah! Perfect!”

    Twilight and her friends cheered as well. Even her human apparently knew what side to cheer for, something that hadn't escaped Twilight's notice.

    The knight down below nodded in their direction and was led away.

    Rainbow Dash flew up into the air. “Oh that was just too awesome for words!”

    All the while Shining kept a smirk on, knowing that King Viggo's seasoned veterans were strong but so were his new recruits. It was an important thing for a guard to be a quick learner, because Equines rarely went to war.

    The rest of the match ups had expected results, mostly griffin wins with a few for the Crystal Empire now and then. It didn't take long for the round to be over. The sixteen contenders only had a total of eight match-ups after all.

    Fortunately for King Viggo's pride he was able to recover after the round was over, in no little thanks to his quick griffin metabolism. 

    Prince Shining, Cadence, the warlord, Twilight and her friends were huddled around the bar.

    Viggo rubbed his tired eyes. “So, you say that three of my warriors made it to the third round?”

    Shining nodded, he himself, Viggo, and Cadence were off on the side while Twilight and her friend's were having a different conversation of their own.

    The griffin stretched his beak, it was a wonder that he hadn't broken it when it hit the ground. “I expected at least four of them to make it. I suppose it doesn't matter, my three against your five. In round three.” He lowered his claw off his face. “And you're saying Alf lost?” The warlord shook his head. “Honestly I half expected him to win the entire competition. That griffin can be fearsome when he's in the right mood... or the wrong one.”

    Off on her side, Twilight looked around. Noticing that they, under normal circumstances would be plotting and fighting against each other. The griffin with their northern hordes. The humans with their fearsome, tireless tribes. Even the equine, with their meddlesome tendencies, and desire for a stable realm.

    Here they were, just eating and casually talking to one another. It wasn't a sign of improvement but rather an almost ironic event. Not a one to engage in pessimism, Twilight still found reason to smile.

    “Hey Applejack,” Twilight looked over to Rainbow Dash getting Applejack's attention. The farm mare looked up from her apple pie that she ordered. “Which one of us do you think is stronger.” She pointed to herself then to the human, she kept a way too proud smile on the entire time.

    Applejack looked at her friend with half-lidded, unbelieving eyes. “Rainbow, Twilight's human has to weigh at least three times more than ya'.”

    The weight difference argument fell flat on her. “Doesn't matter to me, and if you're so confident of that then why don't you put your bits where your mouth is. Ten bits!”

    “Come again?”

    Instead of answering Applejack, Rainbow Dash turned to Twilight. “Hey Twi! How about you let me challenge your human to a hoof wrestle.”

    Before she answered, Twilight thought about a section of the Training Humans book she read just yesterday. “I don't know Rainbow. The books all say that you shouldn't play rough or violent games with your human. It could make them 'snap'.” She added emphasis to that last word, having being mentioned in all the human books with ominous, foreboding diction.

    Rainbow sighed dramatically, slumping down onto the bar counter. “Ahhh geeez Twilight! Don't be such an egghead. Come on! I won't hurt him too badly... I already made a deal with Applejack.”

    For a moment it looked like Applejack was going to say something, but changed her mind.

    Sitting in a corner seat Rainbow Dash propped her foreleg up to the human sitting next to her. The human meanwhile looked at the limb in confusion not sure what to do with the limp positioned in front of him. Slowly, unsure of himself, the human brought his arm out from under his cloak. Revealing a large and well-defined arm. He put his elbow on the counter and stretched his hand out to the mare.

    Rainbow's mind was already wondering if it was possible for her to be able to talk her way out of this. She had seen him without his cloak on only once, when he fell asleep on the sofa in the Royal admission area. His arm had shrunk in her memory, she didn't remember it being so big. “Heh heh, okay... umm.” To her disdain, even Twilight was giving her a ridiculing look, having seen Rainbow's surprise at his physique. All fear vanished from her as her drive to win took over. She grabbed the humans hand roughly. By now all her friend's eyes were on her.

    Her brow furrowed as her smile grew. She banged her other hoof on the counter. “One Two Three GO!” She used all of her body to try and bring his hand to the outside of the bar counter, almost pushing the interlocked hand and hoof with her body.

    The human meanwhile watched the mare in front of him grunt with clenched eyes. Completely unsure of what was going on. He looked to Twilight. His master just looked back at him, unsure of what he was thinking. Then the human looked behind Rainbow to Applejack, who was getting tired of Rainbow's antics already. The farm mare mimed what she wanted him to do, using her own foreleg to show him how to slam it mercilessly into the bar counter, keeping a devilish smirk on her face while she did it.

    Admittedly, Twilight saw what she thought of as a rather cute 'Ooooooooooooohhhh,' mouth movement after receiving Applejack's instructions. He looked down to Rainbow who was still grunting and clenching her teeth together.

    There's no way this can end well, Twilight thought to herself as the human's hand twisted and slammed Rainbow's hoof into the counter. That would have been bad enough for the overly proud mare, but even worse the human lost his grip on the hoof, and Rainbow was sent flying over the counter into the bartender's drinks.

    Everypony watched Rainbow Dash's collision with wide eyes, even the human was watching it in horror. For some reason the bartender was the one with the quickest reflexes as he was already in the kitchen area before the poor mare had even hit the ground, thinking that the human had snapped and was fixing to start eating the closest ponies in the room.

    Everything was still for a moment. For several long seconds. The human truly frightened now, looked around nervously. Breaking the silence a soft moan came from behind the counter. “...Owwwww. Ooooowwwwwwwww.”

    Twilight stood up to look over the counter to see Rainbow in the center of broken bottles. Luckily though there was no blood. The griffin fell off his stool try to get away from the human. “G-gu~ards!” Did his voice break like a little filly? the change in his tone was so noticeably different for a half a second that despite everything around her she managed to catch that strangeness. “Guards!” It was back to normal.

    The others didn't see that it was an accident, Twilight realized. They probably thought he just hurled Rainbow Dash over for no reason. He didn't. His hand just slipped. I have to regain control of the situation... ummm....

    Before Twilight could think of what to say, the human jumped over the counter to Rainbow Dash, one foot briefly touching the counter as he launched himself into the air. 'OH SWEET CELESTIA! GOD OF MERCY MURUSTANG! HE REALLY DID SNAP! HE'S GOING AFTER HER LIKE A RAGING BULL!'

    A face came that she realized would haunt her for a long time came to her. Twilight was back at Canterlot, the human was foaming, mad with rage, completely insane. She was useless, utterly useless as her friends had to fend for herself against the onslaught. But that didn't happen. Before Twilight was completely overcome by fear, she found a part of her that she didn't know existed inside her. Twilight shook off the fear that had enveloped her, she didn't care if she was afraid of rabid humans. Allowing a human to rip her friends apart limb by limb wasn't an option. Twilight drew on her reserves of courage and charged a spell.

    The human strode forward, taking calculated steps to Rainbow Dash to avoid the bits and pieces of glass. Upon seeing him she put her hooves out in front of her. “Oh please no! You win! You win! I give up!” His shadow long and ominous completely covered her, she put her wing over herself to shield her body from the blows that would come.

    Deep down Twilight was proud of the spell she had charged, it was far more powerful than the spells that Octavo had used, and it was more powerful than any spell he could use. Instead of giving him a nasty burn this would completely vaporize the human. Such was the extent of one of the most powerful unicorn alive, now turned alicorn. Twilight had it aimed right at her slaves head. A pang in her gut hit her, remember his training, the time spent with him. Twilight had never gotten around to naming him, such minute things often slipped by her, but she did care for him, and here she was.

    The human knelt over to Rainbow Dash, who was already trembling. When he attacks her, I'll fire, but then and only then. Please don't make me do this...

    For the second time everypony froze when the human spoke. “Sorry... Rainbow Dash.”

    Twilight let the spell she had charged up fade to about half strength, and that's when she noticed that both Shining and Cadence had their own spells charged. They glanced over to Twilight, and mimicked her reaction, reducing the intensity of their charged spell.

    Moving a wing aside Rainbow was able to see the human's outstretched hand. She looked up to see his sorry face, his brow hung low at the sides, his mild smile. Setting herself up right she took a hesitant hoof up to his appendage. The hand slowly moved to her, wrapped itself delicately around her hoof and lifted her up.

    Still unsure about her safety, Rainbow held her head low even after she was on her own hooves.

    Twilight sighed, letting her spell completely fade away. “I knew this was a bad idea.” She collapsed onto the counter. The idea of executing her slave at point blank range did a number on her. He was very much a friend to her, she knew that now.

    Taking a step caused Rainbow Dash to grimace. She moved her front left hoof. “Ahhhh... I think...” She put pressure on it. “No, it's not fractured, but it's bruised from my fetlock to my elbow, and it hurts rrrreeeeeeaaaaaalllly bad.”

    Seeing her trouble the human keeled down to her and took a look at it, then gently ran a finger along the length of her foreleg's bones. With hurt pride Rainbow glared at him. “Yeah, that's where you hurt me tough guy.” He looked her over for a moment, then began to brush away pieces of glass off of her. Rainbow stood there uneasily letting him basically pet her.

    Shining looked around. “What happened?”

    Applejack shook her head. “The most one sided hoof wrestle that ever existed. Believe it or not.”
    
    Shining's eyes went wide. “That happened from a hoof wrestle?! She went flying over arose the room from that!?”

    Rainbow couldn't hide her blush. “Oh... come on... I almost had him for a minute there.” The human continued to find tiny pieces on her, somehow never cutting his own hand.

    Two guards came bursting into the room, finding the human they pointed their spears at him. Shining was on top of things today however, he held out a hoof. “It's nothing. False alarm.”

    They lowered their spears. “We were told a human went wild here, Prince Shining.” They gave the human a confused look.

    “We mistook his behavior. Return to your post.”

    “Hey!” Rainbow gasped as the human raised her wing to get a piece of glass out from under there.

    The guards jolted at the noise but stopped themselves, then they took their leave. The warlord watched them leave, glaring at them as they went. “Took them long enough to get here. He could have snapped. Then we would have all been screwed.” The fact that no one was paying attention to him just made him more angry.

    A clock went off, rattling and making noise like crazy. Shining looked at the others. “Round three is beginning. Do you want me to tell them to hold it for a while?”

    “I'm fine,” Rainbow answered. “Don't hold it for me.” She took a step forward grimacing. The human then walked in front of her and scooped her up. “What the?! HEY!” They all regarded him with apprehension again. Rainbow wiggled a bit not sure what was going on, then he jumped back on the other side. Rainbow began blushing even harder now, being carried around like this, but she didn't dislike it. Looking up at him, she seemed accepting of his help, he was gentle enough.

    Noticing that the human was waiting on them, they moved on. Twilight watched them go ahead of her. He never picks me up like that. Suddenly Twilight had a brilliant idea of the next trick she was going to teach him. It involved a lot less walking for herself.

    The sun was beginning to fall, it was a long eventful day. “Entering,” the shouter called, “Garth, junior officer of the Griffin Kingdom.” A skillful fighter immersed, one of the few to have made it this far.

    Twilight took her spot next to her human, he was still holding Rainbow.

    “Entering Granite, guard of the Crystal Empire.” The crowd cheered.

    The two competitors went to their respective spots, both watching the other intently, until the standard bearer waved his flag. The two galloped toward each other at impressive speed, they crashed into each other with great force. The smaller contestant, the stallion, was thrown to the ground by the griffin's lance.

    The next set began to assemble. The warlords best warrior emerged. “Entering Sir Olaf, Thane of the Griffin Kingdom.” The crowd roared, respectful of the griffin's skill.

    “Entering Topaz, guard of the Crystal Empire.”

    When they collided no one was surprised by the outcome. The stallion struggled just to make it out of the arena, he held his head low in shame.

    The next match was a set of two of Shining's guards against each other, since there were only three griffin still competing so far.

    The next match began.

    “Entering Felix, officer of the Griffin Empire.”

    Rainbow Dash was getting very uncomfortable with being held for so long and began to squirm. “Uhhh, can ya' get me down?” Before Twilight could even tell the human what to do, he set her down.    

    “Entering Sir Accordance, knight of the Crystal Empire.” They all leaned in closer upon seeing the knight.

    Again the knight saluted to his lord. Shining waved back.

    The standard bearer waved his sign. The two were off. Both steps making a loud thunder before the clash. Accordance made a perfect connection, while his competitor didn't. The knight capitalized on this and drove the griffin to the ground. The crowd went crazy.

    'That's the entire round,' Twilight realized. 'It's even now. Two griffin against two of Shining's guards.'

    They didn't go back to the bar. They just stayed in the balcony and talked to each other. The mock battle that Cadence spoke of finally played out. It was intense and well scripted. It was an ancient king leading the mighty Crystal Empire into battle against a massive human horde. From what little history Twilight knew of the Crystal Empire she could tell that the city they stood in was one of many that used to inhabit Equestria's northern border. That and the humans have become much more stronger since the setting of the play, both in numbers and physical strength. They were evolving, that was for sure.

    Twilight wanted to talk to her brother some more but he kept making small talk with King Viggo and she didn't feel comfortable interrupting them. On the other hoof, Cadence broke away from them several minutes ago and had been talking with Twilight's friends. Wanting some answers she made her way to her, her human followed her.

    It seemed like a good time to talk to her sister-in-law, she wasn't talking to anypony right now. “Hey, Cadence.”

    Already smiling from hearing Twilight's voice, Cadence turned. “Hey yourself. I hope you've been enjoying the tournament.” Cadence was one of the few ones to feel comfortable around the human, even after his incident in the bar.

    “Yeah.” Twilight looked over to her brother and Viggo. “Is everything alright. Shining seems a bit tense.”

    Cadence looked worried, but not surprised as she looked over to her husband. “He's fine. Just stressed. A lot of what's going on right now, came very sudden to us.” Twilight gave her an unsure look, not sure what to say. “We're glad that the tournament is going well though.” Cadence took a step closer to Twilight with a bit of slyness in her eyes and tone. “Truth be told I was a little worried that not a single one of Shining's guards could have made it to this round.” Cadence winked at her. “Everything's fine though. Really.”
    
    After the historic victory of the mock battle was over, round four began.

    “Entering Sir Olaf, thane of the Griffin Kingdom.” The grizzly veteran entered and took his spot.

    “Entering, Bronze Hammer, guard of the Crystal Empire.”

    The standard bearer flew his flag. In the aftermath Hammer ended up taking a nasty hit. He fell, but he put in a good fight. No pony was really surprised.

    Then it was Sir Accordance, the knight, against Garth the officer.

    Twilight saw worry of Cadence's face. She's just hoping that a stallion can at least make it to the last round.

    They set off. Both giving an intimidating charge that would cause lesser warriors to turn and run. Then they connected. The knight was hit hard, but dealt with the blow in a way only a knight could. He drove forward despite the pain causing the griffin to actually fall on his back.

    The crowd gave their guard a standing ovation. Trumpets blared, it was picturesque, again. All the Equines cheered even Shining and Cadence. Twilight even heard her human shouting and cheering in his strange human language that was almost competently drowned out in all the other noise.

    There was only a brief break for the two last contenders until round five began. This surprised Twilight, thinking that the two would get some time to rest before their final confrontation.

    “Entering, Sir Olaf, thane of the Griffin Kingdom.” They had their prepared ceremony ready when he entered the arena. Deep battle drums echoed out in a very griffin-like song. The crowd kept their clapping and cheers to a minimum.

    Then when the knight emerged they went crazy again. “Entering, Sir Accordance, knight of the Crystal Empire.” Same with him, the Crystal Empire had a little ceremony ready should one of their own make it this far.

    Before they set off, they both turned and saluted their leaders. They waved back.

    There was a longer pause than normal, to bring out tension Twilight realized, yet it was unavoidable. This was a tense moment. They both swayed side to side, ready to dash out as soon as the standard bearer gave his signal. Every pony was on edge. Should the knight win, despite the Crystal Empire's small size, none would be able to deny their military might. Should the griffin win, it would let others know that the griffin's glory days weren't all behind them.

    The falling sun bathed the crystal Colosseum in its orange fading light.

    The signal was given. The flag was waved. They both dived for one another. Each giving it their all. Holding nothing back. The lances connected, both gave their best effort so far, their best 'connect' with their lances they could give. Neither went down, their heavy armor saved them. The crowd cheered as the contenders each trotted up and down the path. They set up for a second charge.

    The flag was waved again and both charged. Each fighting for it a bit harder than last time. Knowing of their opponents strength now. Except this time one of them was thrown down. Sir Accordance, at his body's limit fell upon the sand. The trumpets still roared, the crowd still cheered, though much of it was held back.

    The sun still continued to set, the day would move on. Twilight, her friends, Cadence and Shining, and the warlord especially applauded the performance.

    It was still a wonderful day with her friends, and in the end that's all she wanted. There was still the diplomatic talks to be had, greeting the contenders, congratulating them on their trophies and medals, but the day was mostly done.

> Memories
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    I was running, running for my life, dodging the trees that came at me as I ran. The dark forest slowing me down unforgivably. I could hear the battle cries of many other men behind me as we committed ourselves to another charge. I could barely see ten feet in front of me. They were screaming obscenities in modern Latin.

    I burst out of the clearing and began running up the hill above me. The tiny eye holes of my faceplate didn't restrict any of my vision, more due to enchantment than perfect design. Now visible in the sunlight the black powder from the earlier battle still clung onto my suit.

    I was the first to climb to the top of the hill.

    Below was a quaint valley, and a whole lot of armed griffin. Strangely, they were all in camp, huddled around fires, trying not to let the gentle snowfall kill off their source of heat.

    The closest griffin was getting water from the stream between us. The creature looked up and was taken aback by the strange human on top, wearing the most intricate armor he'd ever seen in his life. He watched the human point the oddest spear he'd even seen at him. The spear was hollow, the end was pointing at him. More legionnaires began to reach the top of the hill.

    I fired, chaos ensued.

 The other legionaries pointed their rifles at the targets out in the open and took them down. I already had my ramrod out and was pummeling the mini-ball into the back of the barrel. I took my percussion cap out and put it on the needle and cocked my hammer.

 The griffin were in complete disarray. Some running into their own tents, trying to find their weapons. I found my mark, a junior officer by the look of it, if pointing and ordering others around was anything to go by.

 I fired. The ingeniousness of the Empire's ingenuity took over, the hammer hit the percussion cap (a small piece of copper put at the back of the rifle) igniting the shock-sensitive primer, igniting the gunpowder, which expands the hollow lead mini-ball ammunition, the expanding projectile hugs the walls of the barrel and begins to spin because of the grooves on the inside of the rifle, making the projectile extremely accurate.

 We were very proud of ourselves when we got the mechanics working. Surely the world would fall over to our dominion quickly, or at least that was the theory behind it.

 The junior officer held a talon on the spot where he had been shot, the mini-ball pierced his armor. He slumped over and died.

 In under fifteen seconds I had already reloaded. I took another griffin down.

 “Centurion! Centurion!” I spared a second to look over to see our commander running up the hill with the majority of our regiment.

 “What is the situation?” I heard our Centurion ask a Legionnaire nearby.

 I fired, another hit. They were falling like flies before us, but it just felt like we stirred up a hornet's nest.

 “As ordered we charged at the fleeing griffin regiment, but I think we stumbled into a completely different company!”

 And that was when some strange dog-like creatures started pouring out the ground like a bunch of royally pissed off ants. “OH SHIT!” was all I could say.

 “HOLD YOUR GROUND MEN! HOLD THE HIGH GROUND! FOR THE EMPEROR! FOR CEASAR!” The centurion pulled out his sword. “VICTORY AND GLORY, OR DEATH!”

 I shot one of the ugly things in the head, my comrades were freaking out. Which was understandable from my perspective. “We're all going to die! There's way too many of them!”

 The Centurion was still trying to rally his men, we weren't prepared to go up against a fresh force. Some griffin began flying up in the air. Light shock troops, I realized as I shot one out of the air.

 The legionnaire next to me was hit by a bolt from a crossbow by one of the dog things. It would have been a fatal wound if not for the legionnaire's superior armor. We kept firing through the haze of smoke our guns were making.

 A war-band of at least a hundred imperfect humans came out of the clearing fifty yards away from our position. The legion had taken it upon itself that the imperfect humans were all well equipped to repel the griffin invasion. They had an older model of our own armor, plated, light, but effective and easy to produce.

 A band of heavy griffin infantry charged at them. Several griffins fell before the barrage of spears and throwing axes the imperfect threw at them, their commander was shot down by our marksmen, and then they clashed. The griffin fought bravely against the mismatched genetic abominations. Both sides scratching, biting, and swung heavy weapons, decapitating and severing limbs. Blood mixing with the thin layer of snow on the grass.

 “They must outnumber us ten to one! We must pull back!” People were beginning to lose hope.

 A flying griffin shot an arrow aimed directly at my head, I saw it soar through the air coming straight at me. 'Nope,' I thought, as I dropped to one knee and shot down the griffin. I had no idea if the arrow that went over my head hit the guy behind me. Still more humans were climbing up the hill. We weren't prepared for this, this wasn’t a well-coordinated assault, both sides were taken by surprise.

 Another imperfect war-band, this one to our right, organized itself and began a charge at the superior force. Screaming freakishly in the way only abominations can.

 Well, guess this is it, damn. Only had six more months left on my service. Can't believe it's all going to end here. Fighting these things. I let my mind wonder, not worrying about the ministry of loyalty sensing treachery or weakness. After all, you can't punish a dead man. I hope we can still win this war. My birth parents don't live far from here.

 Just then a horn blared, it was a deep bellow that echoed throughout the battlefield. The enemy began retreating, even though they were stronger, had many times more men, they were retreating.

 The commissar took a few steps forward, we still kept up our fire. “They must think we're part of a much larger force!” He informed his legionnaires. “Keep at them! Give them no rest.” He turned to our left flank and waved his sword to draw attention. “Fall back! Do not pursue them! Hold your ground!”

 My smile couldn't be bigger as I begun a series of back shots. Thinking how I narrowly escaped death. I was sweating, my hands worked methodically, just like they were trained to do, but I couldn't stop them from shaking. I was so close to dying! “HA HA HA! I'm alive! The God of War favors us, idiots!” A few of my, not friends but acquaintance glanced in my direction making sure that it was I who was screaming like a maniac. Yep, it looked like good ol' reliable, quiet, always friendly, subject IY54-FT4-U027 finally snapped under the pressure. The gunshots were so loud that only those closest to me could even make out my words. The commissar was yelling some more orders, but I was so wrapped up in my euphoric episode I couldn't hear him. “Our father Caesar provides! The Mother Legion protects! For the EMPIRE!” My well aimed shot hit some commander in the back of the head.

 “AHAHHhahaHah!” The sight of fleeing diamond dogs cramming back inside the holes to get back down underground was too much for me. The griffin were actually tripping over each other. I inhaled deeply and let out an even louder maniacal laughter. A few more glanced in my direction for a second, then went back to reloading their own guns. A few even began to join me, feeling a bit elated themselves from watching certain defeat turn into a victory for no good reason whatsoever.

   Everything went black and hazy, like that part of my life was obscured, hard to recall. I heard an agonizing scream in the blackness, it took me a moment to realize who’s voice it was that was begging for mercy. My blood chilled as I realized it was mine.

  The human jerked up, his hands were trembling underneath his covers. His cloak was folded into a nice rectangular shape next to his 'blanket bed.' When he looked to the bed next to him he saw that his master was gone, the sunlight that was coming in through the window suggested that it was late morning. Then remembering that there was a clock on the wall that used the Arabic numbering system, he read the time. It was ten thirty.

  Wow, I really overslept. My master and the reptile thing must have gotten ready without me and left. The slave wondered for a minute if he had been dreaming, he felt like he had woken up from some nightmare, something felt off.

  The human rubbed his groggy eyes. There was some shuffling of papers on the far side of the room. When he looked up he saw a griffin's ass, it was a sight he didn't want to see this early in the day. It was King Viggo. The human hadn't seen him since the bloodless tournament his master took him to two days ago. 'It was a lot more tame than the one's I'm used to,' he remembered in recollection.

  'What is he doing in my master's room,' subject IY54-FT4-U027 asked himself.

  The griffin was opening drawers and shifting through paper, only giving each a brief look. The griffin was in a hurry. The human took the covers off of himself as quietly as he could. Unsure if the griffin knew he was in the room, or if the warlord thought that the human wouldn't wake up while he was searching through his master's things.

  Walking silently, like how the empire taught him to, toes touching the ground first then rolling the rest of the foot onto the ground, he got closer and closer. The beast was using the noises of the griffin flipping through various parchments to conceal the noise of his footsteps, but he stopped abruptly. That's when the human heard what the griffin heard. Armored hooves cantering by the door, they came and went.

  As soon as the sound was gone King Viggo began searching through papers again. The human was getting very close now. The griffin stopped on something he deemed important, he was enraptured by what he was reading, stopped then put a few papers underneath his wing. Shifted through some more, found something very important that made him oblivious to the human almost right behind him. The griffin was muttering some Equine words that the human didn't recognize.

  “...my own research has led me to believe in an evolutionary pull away from harmful genetic mutations...” The griffin read out loud. He skimmed over a few lines. 'Nothing too strange yet,' he thought.

  “...though humans are known to be an aggressive species, reactionary exchanges would be encouraged. When humans attack nations in mass, and are driven back to their forest they always stay there for extended periods of time, long after they have replenished their numbers. This phenomenon would imply intelligence, and even suggest that humans will teach their offspring to 'stay away' from the 'powerful griffin and equine'. Further research into human tribes, and human parental techniques would be ideal. Perhaps even walking among them would help. I met a stallion named Octavo who might be able to help me with that. For now I will simply study them with the books I-”

  It was suddenly very hard to read, like somepony turned off the lights. Which didn't make any sense, the door would have made noise, and he was alone in Twilight's room. The warlord looked up at the wall ahead of him. It took him a few seconds to make it out, the silhouette of the shadow that covered him. Even with a human head on top looking down at him.

  Get. The. Pluck. Out!

  Instead of moving, his body began to tremble. Letting a human sneak up on him once had nearly cost him his life the first time. Now, it was a gamble. Here he was, with Twilight's possibly violent human that had thrown Rainbow Dash across the room in a game of hoof wrestle. The papers in his talons began to fall out as he turned, shaking madly the whole while.

  The human behind him was giving him a menacing look as he towered over the smaller griffin. A-at l-least he isn't f-foaming at the mouth, the warlord thought, wondering how he managed to stutter in his head.

  What Viggo did next surprised both of them. He baked like a chicken, threw Twilight's papers at him and began wailing on him with his powerful wings. The human meanwhile took it all with just an amused, lone eyebrow raising slowly. He looked like he was receiving a beating from a fluffy pillow, instead of a limb that could easily knock Pegasi out of the sky. The warlord even swiped his claws at the human, however the human's skin proved to be extremely resistant, almost unnaturally so.

  The altercation left the two of them standing in the hallway outside Twilight's room. The warlord was half turned toward the human, prepared to run down the hallway if necessary. The griffin's chest was heaving madly. The warlord was staring at the unchained, dangerous beast that Twilight kept as a pet, the slave spat a feather out of his mouth. King Viggo watched his feather fall. The beast gagged as he put his strange, long fingers in his mouth and pulled out another feather, then flicked it off his hand.

  Annoyed beyond all reason the warlord glared at him.

  When the human lifted his hand to scratch the stubble that was beginning to grow on his face the griffin jerked and took a few steps away from him. 'ARRGGHHH!' King Viggo silently fumed. 'I need to see Twilight's letters to Princess Celestia! Get out of my way fleabag!'

  The human leaned forward, like he was preparing to charge. Oh no! Oh no, oh no, oh no!

  The human charged him while yelling in his strange language.

  Not freezing up this time the warlord took off with his wings in a panic and baked once more.

  Chasing the griffin around the castle wasn't what the human wanted, and he gave it up after a minute, however the griffin continued to flee, not knowing the human had stopped his pursuit. Thinking that the human was right behind him and that turning around to check would doom him.

  As the human began walking back, a memory came to him of interacting with petrified griffin prisoners of war. It was a shame, he helped them when he could, but the Empire was war incarnate, and was not known for its great mercy.

  During his daydreaming a maid ended up going down the same hallway as him. She froze upon seeing him.

  The human waved lazily. “Hey,” he told her in the Equine language. She didn't wave back, all she did was tremble as she tried and failed to not make eye contact with the wondering beast. She was pressing herself against the opposite wall, trying not to get too close to the monster. 'Rude... she could have at least waved back.'

  After wandering into some bathhouse ten minutes later, he admitted he was lost. All the mares took off actually screaming while covered in soap. Some felt a need to throw a towel on themselves before they fled from the savage monster, even though they usually didn't wear clothes most of the day anyway. He sighed. “Why have you forsaken me my beloved emperor?”

  Meanwhile, Twilight was back at her room with her mouth nearly on the floor, looking at her once immaculate room with her researched papers thrown into every nook and crevice. She even had a twitching eye to go with it.

  Her monument of cleanliness and organization had remained perfect, despite having what the books called 'mess making fiends,' which were humans. Her slave was usually careful not to mess with her things. This train of thought was interrupted by a flying griffin feather landing on her muzzle.

  She looked at the feather still on her face. “Why is it wet and smells like spit?” Twilight didn't have the answers she needed.

  Walking inside revealed that the human was gone, fear began to flood her senses. When was the last time I fed him!? Oh please let nothing bad happen! Color drained from her face as she took off out of her room and down the hall. Passing up a terrified mare with half her body covered in soap suds, and another mare dripping wet. There's no way that this can end well.

  The human began pushing two large doors. ’I'm not the best with directions, but I'm pretty sure that Twilight's room is just beyond this door.’

  The door was pushed open, the courtyard outside stretched out into the city. ’But... how? I don't even remember going down stairs...’

  “Damn,” the human said, his new favorite equine word from... Who the heck was that stallion Twilight is always with? Shi- Shin- Awww who cares. Forget that boob. That arsehole who threw me roughly into a cage. Never forget. He thought briefly of what those slavers put him through. I'll get even, of that I'm sure.

  It involved going down paths not designed to be traversed, falling down walls that were not meant to be fallen from, but the human had made his way well within the city. Finally he found it, a beautiful place within the city, a park, a wondrous fake waterfall. Perfect. A few ponies caught sight of him but he didn't care, at best they might even bring Twilight to him, saving himself the trouble of searching for her. At least he was at the perfect spot. He sat down, crossed his legs, found his center and began his meditations. All the sound drifted away. Fresh air filled his lungs, the sun above hit his features, all was well.

  It felt like his mind was reorganizing itself, refreshing, reshelving them in his mind, his library of memories. He commanded his subconscious to repair itself, and it did. Memories destroyed by the unicorn resurfaced.

  'The snow is picking up,' was the first thing he noticed. 'Fields of red snow lay out before me once more.'

  The scene before him was a mess. Griffin and diamond dogs lay dead. Subject IY54-FT4-U027 walked around the battle field, looking at the commanders he had shot, and the light shock troops shot out of the sky by him.

  One of the griffin moved a few inches as he passed him by, Subject IY54-FT4-U027 took notice. It was a heavy infantry griffin, who had taken a mortal hit in the chest. He was sprawled out, surrounded by red snow.

  The voice in my head became clear. 'All legionaries take care of what remains. Capture or kill at your leisure.' We all sent back our agreements to our Centurion through the psychic network. I looked down taking in the sight of his wound, he wasn't even shaking, he was dying, slowly. The griffin looked up to see the strange human, with his weird faceplate armor, his odd weapon that had killed so many of his friends so quickly at such range, raise his weapon. The bayonet gleamed in the rays of sunlight coming through the clouds above. The blade rammed through his armor into his heart, he died instantly.

  Four minutes of searching and he found two more griffin worthy of the same fate, and one diamond dog as well, whimpering and crying, unable to survive his wound, but incapable of dying quickly without help.

  Then an odd noise echoed out, a griffin hen crying out in pain. Subject IY54-FT4-U027 looked around to see that one of his fellow legionnaires found a female griffin. Apparently they allowed such things in their military, at least on a small scale.

  The legionnaires watched the thing squirm in pain on the floor. They were laughing at it, the hen was trying to crawl away from them, grunting in pain from every movement. Walking a few steps closer subject IY54-FT4-U027 began to see the hen's injury: An injured wing, and that was all. She had probably fell from a short height and hurt herself, but she seemed okay. Maybe a broken rib or two at worse, but even that was questionable. “Hey,” called one of them, “let's have some fun with her. Why not, huh? I hear these griffin and Equine like to have sex with the imperfect humans sometimes. This should be a treat for her.”

  One of them kicked her over, she cried out as she rolled over her injured wing, the musket ball hole in the feathery appendage was easily recognizable now that it began to bleed profusely. Subject IY54-FT4-U027, the commissar called out.

  I stopped. This is subject IY54-FT4-U027. I am ready to serve.

  The legionnaires were surrounding the hen now. Holding her down.

  You have been selected for fire duty, I was informed. You have thirty minutes to comply. Don't take your time either, it's cold out here, and it's getting late.

  I acknowledged the order then went back to watching the hen resist. I could see at this distance that the one holding her back legs was trying to get his crotch armor off. His other two friends were each holding one of her front legs, she was putting up a valiant effort, kicking, screaming even biting a little. But she would lose, and be raped. The perfect humans such as subject IY54-FT4-U027 were creations of the old ones. The original humans had through the use of technology, perfected their physical form through genetic manipulation, one of the many, many advantages they gave themselves was bigger male genitalia. This hen was in for a nasty surprise. A very painful one.

  'Hmmm, I could intervene. If I wanted to. I could stop this and still have time to-'

  I was thrown out of the forest through time itself, I was captured by equines, brutalized, physically, emotionally, spiritually, then I was bought and sold into slavery. I was in a strange crystal land, my master who called herself Twilight was in front of me in a park. She looks disheveled, and disappointed, but mostly let down.

  The slave didn't know it but he had been meditating for over three hours.

  “S-s-s-s-so-sor-sos- sorry Tw-Twilight.” The human's voice came out distraught, from having been so deep into his own mind, then thrust forward so quickly.

  Thinking that she caused some sort of traumatic event in her human Twilight drew her head back. 'Am I really that scary?' she asked herself. 'I... thought I was one of the good slave owners.'

  It brought Twilight near to tears. She sat down, less than a meter distance between them. His hands were shaking and sweaty. She didn't mean to scare him like that, she really needed to watch her tone. The tears were getting ready to fall. 'And I must look like a mess to him... I'm a bad-'

  Right when she was about to cry his hand caught her chin, forcing her to look up. His thumb slowly came into view, and wiped away the tears in her eyes. In surprise she watched her human. It felt nice to have somepony have your back in that way. Before she realized it, he was petting her head, those hands felt reeeeaaaally nice especially when they played with the ears.

  Her human was smiling at her. “You okay, Twilight?” It was utterly ridiculous how quickly he was learning the language. A very sharp human, Twilight realized. Before she could respond he drew her in for a hug. Now, she really didn't mind him not wearing his cloak. Perhaps she would have to find a way to get rid of it. She never resisted the embrace. “Everything is okay, Twilight.” She breathed in his scent and blushed. His rock hard muscles were pressing against her. “Not your fault,” he finished.

  What was he talking about? Twilight wondered, having forgotten the subject he was 'talking' to her about, she cared more about those hands at this point. A small moan escaped her as his hands went back behind her ears. Twilight began freaking out when she heard Rarity's cough behind her. Oh that's right! My friends were following me when I was told that my human was here!

  She forced herself out of his grasp and spun around.

  Rarity had her eyes averted. Rainbow Dash was failing at whistling as she looked around. Fluttershy was looking down, blushing and trying to hide behind her mane. Applejack had her hat over her eyes. Spike was covering his eyes with his claws. Pinkie Pie meanwhile was staring straight at her, with wide eyes. 'Oh buck.'

  “Oh right!” Twilight accidentally yelled, too startled to use the correct volume of voice. “I found my human.” She put her hoof on the human's bare shoulder to emphasize her point. They didn't respond. “We can go get lunch now. If that's okay with you guys!”

  Applejack was the first to respond. “After all that runnin' around, ah meal sounds mighty fine right about now. Ain't that right fellas?”

“Oh yeah.”
“Yep.”
“Of course.”
“Yes-sir-eei!”
“You betcha.”

    Now with Twilight’s runaway human problem solved, they headed towards what they hoped would be a wonderful restaurant(Cadence recommended it). Twilight thought it would be best to take her human with her, since he didn't even eat breakfast today and she didn't want to go back to the castle to lock him up.

  Walking down the path to the restaurant, Twilight realized that the human earned himself a few glances from some mares who looked him up and down. She wondered if they did the same thing to him the first time she took him through the city, and she was just now realizing it.

  The human didn't appear to be shaking anymore either, he adapted to the cold quickly, almost unnaturally.

  When they arrived at the restaurant, they were greeted by a waiter that sneered at the human as soon as he came into view. He told them that they would have to get an outside table if they wanted to take that thing with him. Rainbow informed him that they were going to get an outside table anyway, in her blunt, defensive manner. Picking on her friends was not okay with her. Rarity also questioned his gentle stallion ways as he led them begrudgingly to their seats.

  The waiter sighed. “Will that be all madam?”

  Rarity looked over her menu, giving him a snobbish, chastising look. “Indeed.”

  The waiter almost rolled his eyes but stopped himself. “And you Princess Twilight, what might I get you and your... and your... human...” he said with distaste.

  Doing her best to ignore it, Twilight ordered. “I'll have a rose salad.” While the waiter wrote her order down Twilight looked over to her human who was looking through the menu. It looked kind of cute, Twilight thought, a human acting like a pony. Sitting proper, well groomed, eyes moving left to right. That realization sent a jolt through her. 'His eyes. They're moving left to right, then down a bit, and left to right again. Could he be trying to read?'

  “And for the human, madam?”

  The waiter distracted her for a moment. Twilight had planned on getting him the toasted egg sandwich, she fumbled through the menu trying to find it. Off on the side the human got her attention by tapping his menu. He had it pointed to her, and his index finger tapped the picture of biscuits and gravy.

  “Uhh...” Twilight cleared her throat. “Biscuits and gravy please.”

  The stallion began writing the order down. He looked annoyed, like they were bothering him. “That comes with a side of eggs or breakfast potatoes.”

  “Eggs,” the human interjected, watching the stallion intently. Curious if what he said made any grammatical sense.

  The stallion gave the human a wary look, even taking a step away from him. “Will that be all?”
  
  The human answered him again. “Indeed.” The stallion backed away slowly, before turning away.

  He turned to Twilight and her friends. 'Don't remember teaching him what eggs are. Maybe he overheard me call his breakfast yesterday eggs.'

  Twilight was sitting next to her human, and Spike felt like he had to be the one to sit on the other side of the creature on the round table, even though he felt creeped out by the thing.

  Ignoring the strange talking human Rainbow began a conversation. “Wow, does that guy have a stick up his flank or what?”

  “Rainbow!” Applejack chastised her. “None of that, watch that mouth or I'll wash it out with soap. Ya' hear?”

  Rainbow snickered. “Tightwad.”

  That got a rise out of Applejack. “Hey! Wait a minute now.”

  The rest of their conversation went unnoticed by Twilight, she was looking at her human. Again that sense of true intelligence hit her, like he understood more than he let on. Like there was some level of intellectual potential hidden in there, like some abandoned mine just waiting for somepony to dig a little bit deeper to discover its treasure.

  “Stick up his flank,” the human parroted. Twilight facehooved.

  Fluttershy looked down. “Oh my, Rainbow. Look what you did.”

  Rainbow Dash was already laughing. “He actually picked that up! He remembered that!?”

  Not wanting her human to pick up bad habits, Twilight gave him a scowl. “Don't say that. You're not allowed to say that from now on.”

  The human's head tilted in a puppy dog like expression. “Tightwad.”

  Twilight's eyes went wide as her friends began to snicker. The slave watched her reaction with interest as it changed from a surprised one to an angry one. “Sorry, Twilight.”

  She sighed. “It's fine...” After seeing the human's expression Twilight chuckled. “What is it now?”

  The human was staring back at his master with a smile of his own. “Ah meal sounds mighty fine right about now,” he even spoke with Applejack's country accent.

  Twilight's smile dropped, the human mimed her reaction.

  Applejack looked over. “Did he get that from me?”

  'This shouldn't be possible. The books never said anything of this. He may not understand every word he's saying. But still. He's learning too quick. Or is he only just repeating the words he's hearing? No, he knew what eggs were. Somethings wrong here, I'm not noticing something that should be obvious. What could all of this mean?' Twilight snapped herself out of her own thoughts. “Uhh, yeah... he's a smart one. Yeah...”

  The meal they had was good, Twilight's human wolfed down his meal, but was careful not to make a mess with his gravy. Wonderful table educate, for a human, Rarity was impressed.

  The human became very quiet after that last comment. He seemed preoccupied with something. Perhaps he felt he could get in trouble for speaking too much, Twilight wondered. For now he only listened to their talks. When Twilight got back to the castle he helped her put back all her research papers that were scattered on the floor, but when she began scolding him for the mess he made, he broke his silence and said only two words: “King Viggo”

  Twilight wasn't sure if she believed that, but she decided it would be better to protect her work with magic from now on.

> Charmer
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Twilight sat by herself in the library, finishing up a letter to Celestia before turning in for the night. A lone candle sat on her desk giving her just enough light to make the last paragraph of her paper. Spike was already asleep in her room, having spent all day with their friends had tired him out. The rest of the room was encased in darkness. The large paned windows showed a lovely, star filled sky over the Crystal Empire.

    It was going to be another insightful report to Princess Celestia. Twilight absentmindedly nodded to herself on the last point she made. 'Celestia's going to love this one,' Twilight assured herself. Before she could finish her letter, there was a knock on the door.

    It echoed out through the empty room, as Twilight turned to the source of the sound, the door began to open, it creaked as it did so. A bug eyed Twilight stared at it, watching the door swing open and a single claw make its way out of the shadow. A familiar sounding voice, though a bit tired, came out. “Twilight, finally I get to speak to you... alone.”

    The figure was walking closer and closer, Twilight was squinting at it trying to figure out who it was. Eventually, her candle light illuminated his features. “Oh, King Viggo, I didn't recognize your voice.” She looked around. “What are you doing still up?”

    It took him longer than it should have to respond, he stood there looking around. “I've wanted to speak to you privately for some time, but your friends have made that a bit difficult I'm afraid. I'm sorry if I'm intruding.” Behind the warlord, Twilight saw her human taking cautious steps forward. She held up her hoof to show him that she wasn't in danger. The human nodded and returned to the shadows. It had been two days since her slave ran away and in that time the human had acted very strangely toward the warlord. Viggo continued speaking, not even noticing Twilight gesturing to the human slave behind him. “I'm aware that you've been studying humans for sometime, and I was hoping that perhaps... maybe... we could fulfill each others goals.” Twilight was only half listening, she wanted to finish up her report and go to bed. “You see I could provide you safe passage to the Griffin Kingdom where you would be provided many, fully wild humans to study.”

    Now listening, Twilight's eyebrows rose. “Wow, you'd do that for me?”

    With a lopsided grin the griffin nodded. “Yeah, why not. Like I said, we should be working together on this... human problem. My army would gladly help you with your research, it's for the betterment of us all.”

    Twilight began rubbing her chin, deep in thought. “Ummm... this would be when you leave right? That's in... three days?” The griffin nodded, wavered a bit. Twilight began noticing a certain smell coming from him. “Are you- are you drunk?”

    “Maybe,” was the curt reply. He wavered a bit more. Viggo's drunk mind was trying to think of exactly what to say. 'Answer her back idiot,' the sober part of his mind instructed him. ’Convince her to go with you.’ the warlord shook his head, trying to awaken his drunk, sleep deprived mind. “Yeah, three days, like you said. You really should go...” It looked like Twilight was still thinking about it. 'Perhaps being flexible will save me here.' Viggo cleared his throat. “Does that fit into your schedule?”

    That question echoed in her mind for a while. 'Does it?' she asked herself.' If it doesn't I can always reschedule a few things.' Twilight sat there for a moment scratching her chin as the griffin swayed around a bit. “Well, give me a minute to check.” The mare got off her chair and began going through her bag. Knowing that she had gone over it just a couple of hours ago, she shifted through the various papers to find the desired gem hidden within the folds of papers.

    Behind Twilight, King Viggo, tilting his head some more, managed to get a good view around her tail and look in between her flanks. It was a wonder he hadn't fallen over, being as drunk as he was. As Twilight found herself frustrated at not being able to find her schedule, the griffin took his time blatantly watching her flank sway in the candle light.

    Not being ignorant of his kind's history, Viggo knew that long ago, griffins took what they wanted by force. Few could stop them. He was mesmerized by her backside illuminated by the candle light. Remembering back at Canterlot, Viggo could practically hear Twilight's stupid little speech, her know it all attitude, but much worse than that he remembered her brother literally throwing him down the castle steps. He felt an insatiable need to get even, but he couldn't, Shining was the prince of the Crystal Empire, and he needed him, but then there was his sister. His sweet innocent sister.

    Breathing harder now, his lust was getting difficult to repress. Just to ravish her violently, in every hole as she begged for mercy. Shining never had to know. He wanted to act this out, but even in his drunk mind, he was too scared. Though he decided to settle for a sick minded juvenile compromise, as quietly as he could he lifted himself up on his back two legs holding the table with one talon and began to hump the air right behind Twilight. 'Shining, aren't so tough now are you? I'm just here in your castle railing your sister. Like that?' He continued on in his fantasy for several seconds, twice the griffin's flaccid penis came less than an inch from touching Twilight's flank, then things would have turn very badly for him.

    “Ugh!” Twilight fumed, “Just give me a second. I know it's here.”

    The griffin smiled. “Take your time. There's no rush at all Princess Twilight.” She was so preoccupied and surprised that she had lost her schedule that she didn't even notice that the griffin's voice came from much a higher position.

    The griffin's eyes went wide when he felt one hand grab his throat and the other wrap itself around his beak. They began dragging him away from Twilight, his talons reached out for the mare to help him, but he couldn't speak. Whatever grabbed him was too strong to resist.

    Twilight meanwhile continued to apologize. “Sorry again, I'm usually well organized. It's just that two days ago my human made a mess in my room and scattered my papers everywhere and I haven't had time to organize everything again. Ummm... let's see... maybe it's with the research notes...”

    Trying to get an idea of what was dragging him away the griffin used his talons to feel behind himself, he felt a face, hair on top of the head, rough prickly hair on the chin. 'Oh pluck! The human's really going to kill me now! Did it think I was attacking Twilight!? Oh CRAP! I'm done for! No! I wasn't even hurting her! Please spare me! I'm sorry!' The griffin began to relax, not because he was calming down, but because his blood was having a hard time getting to his brain, with him being strangled and all.

    Somehow his paws kicking at the ground made almost no noise whatsoever. The human changed his grip on the warlords beak and turned the griffin around to look at him, face to face. It was like looking into the eyes of someone in the middle of a fever dream, that only saw a blood mist.
    
    Lifted up in the air, the griffin wasn't able to even touch the ground, the human held him up by the throat. A numb feeling began to spread for the warlord, he was nearing passing out. The warlord trembled as the human began to let up on his neck, now able to finally think. As he looked pleadingly into the eyes of the human, the monster's eyes softened up, so did his grip. When the griffin coughed, the human released him.

    On the ground now, the griffin curled up to a ball as he gasped for air. He put his talon up to his throat, still shaking. “Are you alright?” The warlord looked over to see Twilight looking at him. “Why are you in the dark?”

    Now fully understanding what just happened, the griffin looked around. “That human! He...” He stopped himself mid sentence, noticing that the human disappeared. Feeling that this might hurt his chances with convincing Twilight to come to the griffin kingdom, he shut his mouth. “Nothing...” He got up. “Never mind.”

    Worrying that her human got in trouble Twilight seemed a bit shy, not quite sure what happened between the two of them, but she just blew it off to the griffin spotting the human in the dark and freaking out in a drunk paranoid episode. “I uhhh... found my schedule... I think that maybe taking that trip with you would work actually. Like you said... we should ummm... work together.” She actually scratched the ground in her nervousness looking up to him. As she finished speaking, the human walked out of the shadows behind Twilight. She smiled upon seeing him, but then getting a bit nervous again she turned to the warlord. “I'm sorry that I forgot to tell you that he was here, he stays up with me some nights.”

    Before the griffin could respond the human patted the back of her head, the mare giggled at that. “Right, no problem of course... whatever makes you comfortable...” Even Twilight could see that the warlord's smile looked fake. “So I leave in three more days, would you be interested in going then?”

    Nodding, Twilight smiled. “Yes definitely. Thanks again.”

    Now genuinely happy, but for reasons that Twilight wouldn't like if she knew, his smile changed. “Excellent,” he said, righting himself up, “I look forward to seeing you both in my kingdom.” Before he turned and walked away, Twilight caught a glimpse of contempt in his eyes aimed at her human.

    After the griffin closed the door behind him, Twilight was just left alone with her human again, she looked up at him. “I'm almost done. We'll go to bed soon, okay?”

    The human nodded, just like how Twilight trained him to do. “Indeed.”

    True to her word, Twilight finished quickly and they left the library, surprisingly the human choose to carry her saddlebag for her. They walked together down the dark hall. They both nodded to guard they passed by, they were becoming a thing now. No one was scared of the human anymore given that he was with his master. Things were finally settling down now that their time here was drawing to a close.

    They both kept quiet as they entered Twilight's room, careful not to wake up Spike. The human without being told got his blankets out of his master's closet and began setting up his bed, he had already put her saddlebag next to her desk. She would organize those documents there in the morning.

    Finishing up with his make-shift bed, he could hear Twilight shifting through her own sheets and settling in. A sleepy pair of eyes watched him lay down. “Good night...” Twilight found that her mouth wanted to call him by name, yet she had still not decided on one for him yet. She sighed. I'll come up with one for him tomorrow...

    Before Twilight could fall asleep, she could have sworn she heard her human answer back with a 'good night' of his own. Smiling contently, she drifted off to sleep.

    The human would fall to sleep soon after, however his dreams would not allow him a moment of peace, as they settled for relieving the carnage of years past. Before he could even manage to fully fall asleep he could hear explosions.

    A constant thunder of artillery fire could be heard behind the legionnaire as he crawled under the thick sheets of spider web overhead. Exploding with the Empire's ingeniously designed timed explosives, throwing deadly shrapnel everywhere. Every which way he looked there were parts and pieces of shredded arachnid parts.

    The only thing subject IY54-FT4-U027 could think was: 'By all the gods, why oh why would the old ones have made such abominations?' He continued to crawl ahead, screams of agony could be heard further on, yet he continued onward. It was impossible to see this deep in the jungle but all around him were hundreds of his legionnaire comrades. All crawling and fighting through the vegetation and trying not to get caught up in the web.

    As subject IY54-FT4-U027 moved onward, he felt a hand brush up against his head, jolting a bit at first, thinking that an arachnid snuck up on him. He snapped his head up to see what it was, his eyes managed to make out a human arm dangling lifelessly while the majority of the humans body lay enveloped by a neon green cocoon. It appeared that the scouting party had been found. 'At least they're not 'Missing In Action' anymore...' This realization didn't help the human's nerves.

    Finally moving beyond the area layered with web, the legionnaire got to his feet and began making way toward the battlefield. Hearing something above that didn't sound like explosions, and more like footsteps on trees, he looked up. Searching through a veil of darkness he found what he was looking for. Some vile, Equine looking thing that looked more like some insect abomination, was crawling down to ambush the humans down below.

    With target now found, subject IY54-FT4-U027, a raw recruit of only eighteen took aim with his rifle and fired. The mini-ball fired true and blew a hole in the monster. It fell, green fire erupting out of its monstrous body and getting tangled in the webs before it could hit the floor.

    Watching the 'changeling' twitch for a few moments as the explosions flew over head, subject IY54-FT4-U027 stared at it for a moment, entranced by it. Snapping himself out of his stupor he reloaded. Suddenly something hit his shoulder hard in the darkness, sending him spinning, the legionnaire looked around, before he found that it was just another soldier. The stranger looked back at him. “Come on boy, keep up the pace and keep moving.” Not needing to be told again, he made double time onward. Many years of brutal battle lay ahead of him.

    Again, the human woke up sweating. Springing up from his makeshift bed. It was a recurring incident. Raising his hands the slave wiped the sweat off his brow. It was still dark out, perhaps the middle of the night.

    Still in battle mode, the human turned when he heard shifting to his left. Twilight flinched at his quick reaction. She said something in her equine language, perhaps asking him if he was alright, she looked concerned, and some of the words sounded familiar. 'I must have woke her up,' the slave realized. He apologized in her language. It sounded like she accepted it, though she still looked worried. The mare looked over her bed to see that the reptile thing was still asleep.

    It was taking some effort but the slave managed to stop shaking, forcing his body to flush out the adrenaline in his system. He sighed. It was getting harder to ignore the mare's sympathetic eyes staring down at him from on top of her bed. She began scooting away from him and opened up her sheets, then patted the empty spot on the bed for him.

    'No,' he thought. 'She couldn't actually want me to...' She patted the area again. Watching her, the slave began to question the right course of action. 'I guess it would be rude to deny her... she is my master after all... it's not like I have to do anything with her. I doubt this will be a repeat of what happened in that cell back at that slavers place.' Even he was surprised when his body shuddered at the thought. That reflex just added on to Twilight's resolve as she beckoned him into her bed.

    Slowly, and quietly he got up and slipped under the covers. He was both rigid and uncomfortable already. Twilight flipped the covers back on and put her head on his shoulder. 'Well... it could be worse.' The slave couldn't help that his body stiffened up like a plank of wood, he wasn't used to human contact that didn't involve pain. The Empire wanted living weapons of war, desensitizing their soldiers was considered standard procedure, the slave could at least remember that much. The human's eye twitched when he felt Twilight's gentle exhale on his chest. Her forelegs curled around his strong arm, bringing it close to her body. It only got worse when she moaned contently. ’I. Need. An. Adult.’ A voice in his head reminded him that he was twenty-three, but he ignored it.

    Though uncomfortable, the human managed to fall back asleep, and this time he didn't have a nightmare. Their rhythmic breaths continued on uninterrupted. For the first time in a long time, subject IY54-FT4-U027 was comfortable with someone's touch.

    Night came and went, and Twilight, the early morning riser woke up first. Opening her eyes she saw her human sleep more soundly than she had ever seen him sleep before. Seeing no other reason on why she wouldn't be the cause of that, made her blush. Looking over her bed she saw Spike sleeping soundly in the weak morning light. For a moment Twilight just let her head fall and rest on her human slave and closed her eyes for a while. Letting her mind wake up slowly, bit by bit. At one point Twilight would have thought that sleeping with a human slave would have been a filthy experience, but she made sure to clean him regularly. 'I'll have to clean him before the trip to the Griffin Kingdom. I hope the maids can still do it, they're still wary of him for walking in their bathhouse accidentally.' Twilight didn't let that thought bother her. 'I suppose I can just clean him myself.' For some reason that made her a bit giddy. 'How hard can it be, its probably just like washing a pony, only different... Applejack has slaves of her own, perhaps she can give me a few pointers. I'm sure she'll help me if I ask. Maybe even some of my other friends can help me with it.'

    Opening her eyes again, she knew it was time to actually get up. Putting a hoof on his body she began rocking him back and forth, Twilight arched an eyebrow when he didn't wake up. ’How can he sleep through that?’ Using both hooves now she shook him awake. This time the slave didn't wake up in a panic, or with sweat on his brow, he just woke up and looked over to Twilight. She giggled, “Good morning-” Again she realized she hadn't named him. I really need to take care of that.

    The bed creaked as the human got up. “Good morning, Twilight.”

    Smiling some more, she watched her human put on his cloak, then she got out of bed herself. “Spike, it's time to get up.”

    Grumbling to himself, he tossed and turned. “Morning already?”

    As she giggled as she answered back, “Celesita raises the sun at the same time every day, Spike. Come on, get up.” She heard him move his covers off of himself as she made her way into the washroom. Spike already walked in as she was putting toothpaste on her toothbrush.
    
    “So, What's on the agenda today?” he asked as he went to his own basin and began brushing his sharp dragon teeth.

    Twilight brought a cup of water to her mouth and gargled with it and spat it out. “Well I'm done with the human research reports this week, however there is this one thing I need to tell you. I'm going to have to go to the Griffin Kingdom when King Viggo leaves. It's so I can study his-”

    Two unseen claws quickly wrapped around Twilight. “You're leaving me?!”

    The question caught Twilight off guard. “N-no. Not if you want to come with.” With eyes already watery, Spike nodded. “That's no problem, Spike. I'm glad you're coming, but you do know that it will be a dangerous, right?”

    Little Spike did a complete emotional one-eighty. “Pffft! Please Twilight, don't make me laugh! I'm a dragon, if anything I'll be the one protecting you.”

    “Oh.” Twilight rolled her eyes. “Riiiiiiiiiight, how could I doubt your power, oh great and mighty one.”

    “Hey!”

    Twilight laughed at that. “I'm sorry, Spike. I was only playing.” When she rubbed the top of his head he cracked a smile. “Why don't you go ahead and wake up our friends, I'll stay here and brush my human's teeth.”

    Never throwing away a chance to see Rarity, Spike did a mock salute and took off. “I'm on it!” The door closed behind him as he took off. Twilight went back to one more round of brushing her teeth, then spat it out with a mouthful of water. She pat dried her mouth, then went back into her bedroom, spotting the human immediately. He was on the far side of the room, with his back to the wall in an early morning meditation, his mouth moved as he whispered a chant to himself.

    Curious on what this morning ritual was, Twilight took silent steps toward him. Ears perked up, she began to hear some noises and moved even closer. They weren't of any language she’d heard of, but she had to admit there was a certain elegance to it, one that even Equis lacked. Now directly in front of him, he continued away. “Sanguis, bellum, mortem, nam in legionem. Sanguis, bellum, morem, nam in legionem.”

    Twilight couldn't describe it, she couldn't describe why she felt this way, but something felt very wrong with those words. It made her feel dirty, like she was partaking in some dark ritual that she didn't want to be apart of. Her body was telling her that she had to get away, that she was in danger, that she needed to make a run for it. As he went on and on, that feeling doubled, and then he opened his eyes. Feeling scared, she looked down with her ears flattened. Something told her that violence was sure to follow. 

Slowly his hands rose to her face. Just at the thought of his touch she was already beginning to turn red. A lone finger lifted up her chin, and they locked eyes. As soon as it happened, Twilight knew she had no reason to fear them.

    With an infectious smile on his, he began scratching Twilight under the chin, she moaned in bliss. Even lifting her chin some more and moving closer. His hand stayed in the same spot as Twilight moved her head, making sure that his odd appendage went over all the right spots. Laughing a bit to herself, she pulled back and put her hoof on his hand. “Well aren't you in an affectionate mood today, hmmm?” Without even thinking about it Twilight moved in closer and kissed him on the cheek, partially touching his lips. It was indented to be a brotherly kiss, like how she would sometimes kiss her brother, but thats not how it played out, she realized that immediately. Turning bright red she looked away, and opened her mouth to explain herself, but then realizing how silly that would be she changed her mind. She watched his curious eyes examine her, watched him tilt his head. 

For some reason she found herself caring immensely on how those intelligent looking eyes would watch her. His smile grew, then gently began petting Twilight behind her ears again. 'Oh, if he knew how good that felt,' she thought. Suddenly his hand brushed up against her horn, igniting the sensitive nerve ending there. Then it brushed up against her horn again, and again, and again. 'Oh geeze! I'm getting horn job from a human! I have to stop this right now! Right now! Okay right now! NOW!'

    Putting a hoof firmly on her slaves hand she held it down, panting madly. “Okay! Ummm...” The human watched her in confusion, wondering what got her so riled up. “Alright. Alright. That's enough, you charmer you.” She laughed to herself as she backed away. “It's time for you to brush your teeth.” The human, already knowing that phrase got up and started making his way into the washroom. Twilight sighed as she gave him his toothbrush, still recovering from the earlier incident.

    Going in little circles the human continued to brush his teeth, oblivious to the needy mare watching his hand work. Just like how Twilight showed him, he gargled with water and spat. For a moment, Twilight's mind went somewhere that wasn't in the gutter. ’You charmer you,’ she echoed in her mind. 'Charmer, that's not a bad name for him. He can be really affectionate and kind when he wants to be.' She watched him clean himself up. 'To delight or please greatly by beauty, attractiveness; to enchant', Twilight recited her inner dictionary.

    “Hey come over here.” The slave followed Twilight to her room. As she walked, Twilight considered telling him to rub her horn out. It was rumored that some slavers did that. That the reason attractive looking humans were valued so highly was just for that reason. For a moment Twilight entertained the thought that the reason her human was in his cage naked was just to show off his well-developed penis to the customers. Shaking that thought out of her head she sat down in front of her slave. “Sit,” following the command the human sat cross legged on the floor.

    Pointing a hoof to herself, Twilight spoke, “I am, Twilight.”

    For a moment the human looked at her as though she had said the most obvious thing in the world. “Yes, Twilight Sparkle.”

    “Ah.” Twilight was surprised to see that he understood that she had a last name as well. “Very good, now” -Twilight moved her hoof to him- “You are... Charmer. Charmer. Your name is... Charmer. Understand?”

    It looked like he was already starting to understand the concept. He pointed at his master. “Twilight.” She nodded. He pointed to himself. “Cherm?” Before Twilight could correct him, he held out a hand. “Chirm. Kharmer. Charmer... Charmer.”

    Twilight nodded, in glee that giving him a name went so smoothly, but her smile quickly disappeared when she saw him look away, seemingly at odds with himself. The slave shook his head. “No, Charmer. I, civis, ahy, wahy, quinque, quator, ef, tee, quator, yoo, nulla, duobus, septem.”

    Listening to the whole thing with growing confusion, Twilight could only stare blank faced at him. “Uhh... what?” The strangeness of the situation would only get much, much worse, when the human laughed and turned around and pulled the back of his hair up. He began leaning backwards and showed Twilight some black markings right below where his hair began.

    Twilight didn't think much of it until she began making out the neat markings. It Read:


Civis:
IY54-FT4-U027


    At first Twilight was furious that the slavers had done something so barbaric as this to her human, but after a moment her head began to clear. 'This isn't a branding.' she told herself. 'I've never even heard of slavers tattooing their slaves, and even if they did, it's impossible to get the marking so clear. Tattooing was invented just a few years ago and they always come out as an ugly indistinguishable blob. This isn't from a spell either. And what the heck does 'Civis' even mean? What the-'

    For not being able to see back there the human pointed at the strange word with near perfect accuracy. “Civis,” he began and then lowered his finger and pointed at the I. “Ahy.” Did he just say I.? “Wahy” Twilight's mind reeled. “Quinque, quator.” That's what he calls five and four, she realized. He went on. “Ef, tee.” F. And T. “quator, yoo, nulla, duobus, septem.”

    Twilight's mind blanked. This went against everything she learned, this was impossible. Twilight found herself backed up into her bed post. She had no idea how much time has passed, but she saw her human in front of her, snapping his fingers in front of her face. He looked very worried. “Uhhh... Twilight? You good?”

    “Why yes I'm fine! Absolutely fine Mr. Civis, ahy, wahy, quinque, quator, ef, tee, quator, yoo, nulla, duobus, septem. Why wouldn't I be!? Yep everything is going so perfectly great! Wouldn't you say it's great!?”

    The human meanwhile was leaning back with his hands out in front of him. He pointed at himself. “I, Charmer. Okay?”

    Twilight nodded. “Okay, I could call you Charmer. I think thats a good name don't you?”

    The human, took a risk. “Y-yes?”

    That calmed Twilight down a bit. “Good,” She sighed. “Come on, Charmer. We have so much work to do.” She was already getting her traveling bags out of her closet. “I have to get all my things ready, tell my family and friends about my plans, have fun with my friends, reschedule the rest of my week, give you a bath, reorganize my-” Twilight was cut off by the humans firm, yet relaxing massage on her back. “Oh.” She let him continue for a moment, then looked back. “Thanks, Charmer. I needed that today. I have just so much to do.”

    He tilted his head. “No bad, Twilight.”

    “...You know a lot of words, for a human. Don't you?” The human's only reply was to play with her ears. “Oh wow, that feels...” And as quickly as it started it stopped. Twilight looked around, now back to her usual self. “C-come on, Charmer. L-lets go see our friends. They're probably waiting for us, a lot to do today.” Nodding, the human followed her out the door and down the hallway. After a while the human took the lead, and Twilight kept taking glances at the back of his head. Knowing full well what was there, but having no idea what to do about it. For now, she would keep it to herself.



> Letters
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    A stallion laid on his mat. The steady smoke from the incense danced and swirled in the air before being dispersed. His chest rose and fell beneath the covers. The underground room beneath the temple was illuminated by only a few candles.

    Opening his eyes, he knew something was amiss. He looked around.

    Adorning the walls were the ancient, yet well-preserved artistic paintings around him. Showing the glory of foreign places, inviting the viewer into another world. The shelves were filled with odd treasure, much of which had unknown uses.

    The stallion looked to his left to find a strange hollow spear with a metal spike connected to it on the table next to him. It had a trigger that seemed to do nothing. Another odd piece was an extremely rusted helmet that could only fit a human.

    It was oddly appropriate for a place dedicated to travel, the pursuit of righteousness and traveling to far off places to apply these tried and tested moral principles.

    He sniffed the air. Silk Road Spice, he realized, his favorite incense blend from the sultans of the East.

    “Octavo,” the voice came from everywhere and nowhere.

    He knew his master's voice. “Travafe, I am here. Ready to serve.”

    “Good. You've rested long enough.” There was a pause as Octavo stared ahead, watching the red candle light make shapes on the stone ceiling. “Take the road Karma until you reach the town of Geneva.”

    Octavo's eyebrow arched. “That would take me near the griffin border. There is a bloody war going on there.” The Champion's voice was free on any emotion, it never rose above a casual level.

    “Yes it will. Does that frighten you?” Travafe, with his psychic connection to his champion asked him an honest question.

    “...No. I was merely curious.” It was an honest answer in return.

    “Rise.”

    With a soft grunt he rolled over to his hooves and out of his mat that was laid across the stone slab.

    The god continued with his orders, “Grab the rifle and the A.S.D, the Atomic State Drive.”

    The stallion froze. “I don't know what those things are, my master.”

    There was a pause. “My mistake. Grab the hollow spear thing to your right and the pouch next to it. Then grab the thing at the back of this room that looks like a steel orb with a hole in it.”

    Octavo first grabbed the hollow spear thing, then went to the back and began moving a few things around. It was easy to find. Surprisingly it held it's age well, and looked like what Travafe said it would. Though odd enough, the hole looked intentional, even machined manufactured. But no machine he knew of could make such a thing.

    “You have them. Good.” Ocatavo heard Travafe sigh. “I don't know if you will survive this task. You may very well die.”

    Octavo found a brown bag and put the two items in it. “I will serve you until then, my master.”

    Another moment of silence. “I've gazed into the cosmos and saw a future, my champion. I don't know if it is ours, but I know if we don't act it will be. Even I, an immortal god, will die if swift actions are not taken.”

    A bit null to such grave warnings, Octavo kept preparing his saddle bag. “How bad was it?”

    “It began with all sapient species being wiped out on this planet, by the humans, it continued as the humans formed a vile empire that reached out into the stars, and ended with millions of civilizations brought to ashes by their onslaught.”

    Octavo froze. “That's hard to accept as true... the humans you say? Hmmmm... Also I think you just admitted that aliens exist to me.”

    The champion could have sworn he heard the god scoff. “I may have, but don't forget you are sworn to secrecy.”

    “Of course.” He put on his saddle bag. “Now what do I do when I get to Geneva?”

    “You will meet Twilight.” Octavo's eyebrows rose, but he choose to stay quiet for now. “She's going to send you a letter to meet her in the Griffin Kingdom tomorrow, but it won't reach you. I have foreseen it. Though I know not who would be foolish and shortsighted enough to work against the survival of this world.”

    Double tapping his chin, Octavo began thinking of what would draw her out here. “Guess she decided it's time for her field study, but what do I do when I find her?”

    The answer was immediate. “You keep her from dying. At any cost. Princess Twilight's death will signal the beginning of the end for this world. King Viggo's death will signal the end for griffin kind, and the beginning of much suffering for the equine race. I know not the specifics, visions are an obscure thing.”

    Octavo stood, determined. “I understand then.”

    “You are my last champion, do not disappoint me. Now go.”

    Doing as his master commanded him, he left. First heading upstairs and thanking the priests for their help in seeing to his recovery. Then, after outfitting himself, he left.

    The following day, the god's vision was already turning true. As King Viggo lay leaning back in his chair, with his back legs propped up on a table in front of him, he snored next to his three empty bottles of mead. He was in the bed chambers that the rulers of the Crystal Empire had provided him, passing time by doing nothing but waiting.

    Then came the knock on the door. The warlord slept through it, gibberish complains escaping his beak. Then a louder knock, again the warlord slept through it. After not receiving a reply, the griffin outside just opened the unlocked door. Olaf, a thane of the Griffin Kingdom, took in the scene. “I don't believe this,” he said to himself. “In the middle of the day? Truly? No joke?” He walked over to his sleeping master. For a moment the urge to drive a knife into this fool was almost unbearable, he didn't think he had it in him to resist. Just to feel it in his claw, the thane grabbed the dagger hidden in a pocket in his armor. Slowly he pulled his dagger out just an inch.

    King Viggo mumbled something in his sleep, then rolled over. Causing him to fall out of his chair and hit the floor. “W-who? F-fall back!” Without any coordination the warlord's limbs flailed around until he was able to take in his surroundings. He took note of his thane looking down at him with an irritated look. “Oh Olaf, it's only you. My most trusted friend, how goes your mission?”

    Letting go of the dagger, Olaf retracted his claw from his pocket. “A complete success your grace. The ward worked exactly as intended, I don't even think Twilight noticed that her letter would never meet it's intended target.” Olaf kept a smile as he handed his warlord the document.

    Viggo took it as if it were a present, with eager claws snatching it up and opening it, but slowly his wide grin became neutral, then it turned into a frown. “Olaf.”

    Giving him a questioning look, he responded, “Yes, your Grace.”

    The warlord stopped reading it, and looked up at his thane. “This isn't what I wanted. I'm not happy. This is a letter to some stallion named Octavo, not Celestia. It doesn't have any information we can use.”

    “I-” the thane froze. “I apologize, I did it exactly as you instructed me.”

    Rolling his eyes the warlord began ripping the letter to shreds. “Well try harder. Now get back out there and do it again.”

    In his mind, Olaf was on top of him, gouging his eyes out and ripping him to pieces. “Your grace, that ward you sent me to cast. Took me three hours to set up.”

    This was nothing that concerned the King Viggo, at least that was how he saw it. “Then I guess you should get started right away then. Hmmm?”

    It took all his willpower, but the thane turned and left. 'Oh soon Viggo, so very soon.'

    On the other side of the castle one floor down, Twilight was getting Charmer ready for the big day tomorrow. She hopped her slave would be good on the road. That he wouldn't slow them down much, and would be a good human and stay by his master's side.

    For the first time ever, Twilight thought she heard her human growl at her as she scrubbed away. He was rolled up in a ball, making giving him a bath very difficult. Rainbow Dash was having the easiest time by using her wings to stay balanced in the air while scrubbing with her hooves. “Twilight,” Rainbow complained, “he won't let me wash his chest. Why is he in the fetal position anyway?” She put the brush aside to try and get his arms out at least.

    Noticing this, Applejack spat out her brush. “Now Rainbow, you jus' now recovered from this guy throwin' you into bottles of beer and you're already provokin' him?”

    Before Rainbow could respond, Pinkie Pie emerged from out of the bathtub with goggles and a snorkel. “All squeaky clean down here Twily!”

    Off on the side, Rarity was filing his nails. She blew on them, getting the residue off. “Just one more finger to go, darling.”
    
    The suds on his head were growing to a silly height, he had a bubble beard and mustache courtesy of Pinkie. He broke his blank stare forward to shut his eyes as Fluttershy poured water from a bucket over his head. “Ummm... I'm done with his hair on his head, Twilight.”

    Unable to get under the humans arms Twilight settled on brushing his shoulders. “Thanks for all the help everypony. It took me longer than I thought it would to get everything ready for tomorrow.”

    Rainbow gave up on trying to force the arm to let go of its death grip on its leg. “No problem, Twilight. We're still up for one last night out, right?”

    “Hmmhmm,” Twilight grunted. “It looks like we're more than half way done here already. It's quick work with all of you guys helping.”

    Applejack gave up the brush for a wash cloth she was wiping along the top of his chest. “No problem Twily, ma' humans can be a bit of a handful on washday as well. Can ya' coax him out of this little roly-polly thing he got goin' on?”

    “Yeah,” Twilight replied as she walked next to him on the edge of the bathtub, “I think so.” Without even trying she had his attention, though she wished he didn't look so troubled by all of this. “Come on now Charmer, open up.”

    His reaction was delayed. Charmer only watched Twilight's overly animated gestures, wondering why she was treating him like a baby. After what Twilight was certain was an eye-roll, the human released his grip and let his legs spread. The girls immediately made him raise his arms and began scrubbing away, he couldn't look more uncomfortable. Then Pinkie shot out of the water spitting out her snorkel. “Holly molly! That's a giant pokey!”

    The reaction was immediate, all eyes fell on what lay beneath the soapy water. Rarity was the first to react. “Pinkie!”

    “But it's true!” The jolly mare protested as she climbed out of the tub.

    None of them getting a good look at it with all the soap in the water blocking the way, he had been hiding his genitals with his hands during the entire time, not giving them even a peek at him. Rainbow turned from trying to catch a glimpse of him to Twilight. “You know we are going to have to make him stand if we are going to wash every bit of him.”

    “Eeep!” Fluttershy growing even more red, dropped her brush down into the water with the human, right in front of his crotch.

    “Yeah, I know,” Twilight replied, she was going to mention how she'd seen it before but didn't really have a lot to compare it to, but in the end she saved herself by staying quiet. Walking up to his side again, she motioned him to get up. He looked at her, giving her one of his stubborn looks telling her he wouldn't.

    Fluttershy was trying to get back her brush again by prattling the bubbles away. Then she stuck her hoof down to try and feel for it, expecting it to be right on his lap. “I just need my brush back,” she mumbled.

    “Come on Charmer, get up now please,” Twilight begged. “ We have to clean you.”

    He sighed, by this time all of the girls had already positioned themselves in front of him, readying themselves for Pinkie's promised show, and that's when Fluttershy felt something. “Got it,” Fluttershy told her friends behind her even though they weren't even interested in what she was doing.

    The human flinched a bit, cringed a bit, and let Fluttershy pull him up, using his legs to carry the vast majority of his weight up. Rarity gasped, then shoved her hoof in her mouth to quite herself. They all dropped their jaws as they saw what Fluttershy was stretching out. “What?” Fluttershy asked as she gave what she thought was her lost item one final tug.

    “Oww...” the human complained.

    When Fluttershy looked behind herself to see what her hoof was holding she actually screamed, released her grip and flew behind her friends and hid behind her mane. It was all wrong, or maybe all right, they thought. It looked completely different to that of a stallion's. Fluttershy stretched it out to more than twice its size and it was already snaking inside of himself. There was no sheathe at all, and what normal imperfect humans had, the foreskin, seemed to have been cut off. For some reason. Even the shape of the head was different.

    Applejack sat down, instinctively protecting her hindquarters, taken aback by the size of it, and how much of it was hidden inside of himself. “Ah thought ya' said this one ain't got no weird mutation!”

    “I thought he didn't!” Twilight defended.

    Rainbow rolled over laughing. “Oh sure Twilight, we believe you.” She emphasized her point by giving her a wink, then proceeded to laugh even harder.

    “See! Told you,” Pinkie claimed, “That's a giant pokey.” She nodded with a self satisfied grin.

    Rarity shook her head. “How did I end up here? This is so uncouth.” Although she was complaining, she couldn't stop looking at it.

    “I really didn't know! I swear!” Twilight was a vibrant red by this point.

    “H-holly molly?” the human asked Twilight. “Th-that's a g-giant pokey?”

    Twilight finally broke eye contact with his thing and looked back at his face. “Please never say that again, Charmer.”

    “Okay, Twilight,” the human replied, waiting awkwardly for something to happen.

    'I don't even know if I should mail this information to Celestia, but I did promise to send everything I learned about humans, and I guess that includes reproductive organs and their reproductive cycles.' Twilight let that thought aside for a moment. “Girls... can we please, please, please, PLEASE just-”

    The door swung open to the bathhouse and Spike smiling and holding a laundry basket came in. “Got his loincloth and his cloa-” he stopped mid sentence when he noticed every pony looking at something on the human, his eyes followed theirs. He dropped his basket. “My eyes! They burn!” He flung an arm over his eyes and shut them tight. “Why is it so freakishly big!?”

    “Spike you have to go!” Twilight yelled at him, “Just go! It's for your own good!”

    He turned and ran without looking, hitting his shoulder on the door frame, but kept on going closing the door behind him.

    Twilight facehooved. “Can we just get this over with? We're almost done with him.” No one was listening to her, they just kept on staring. Twilight noticed that even Fluttershy had stopped hiding and was watching the human's thing intently. It had stopped retracting inside of itself, but it was still pretty big, and just like the rest of him even his genitals looked muscular. Probably mutated, she guessed. 'I suppose there are no exceptions to the mutation rule.'

    Twilight wondered why she didn't notice that to begin with. 'Because you’ve spent your entire life in books and you can only compare it to what you’ve seen in those books,' her mind answered her. 'Gee... thanks brain.' She cleared her throat. “Girls!” That got their attention. “May we please finish up?”

    “Y-yeah,” replied Applejack as they all went back to their previous spots.

    Fluttershy found her brush, and her and Rainbow were brushing the human's backside. “I have to admit,” said Rainbow, “he doesn't have that bad of a flank.”

    Applejack sighed. “Please Rainbow, don't make this worse than what it ought to be.”

    Twilight and Rarity were working on his armpits, using their magic to reach up high, while Pinkie and Applejack worked on his belly. All four taking frequent glances at his swaying length. Looking at it closely, Twilight could see where the rest could recede inside of his body. 'This may require studying... tonight.'

    Attempting to try to take their mind off of what they were all thinking about, Applejack tried to start up a conversation. She spat out her brush out and used her hoof to brush the slave instead. “This here is mighty fine muscle definition I must say, Twi. Could probably work the fields from dusk till dawn and not even break a sweat. You must take good care of him.”

    Twilight laughed, attempting to regain some lost composure. “Why thank you, Applejack. I-”

    Rainbow laughed. “Yeah I bet you do take REALLY good care of him, am I right?”

    “H-hey!” Twilight was growing red again, it was made worse by the fact that Pinkie and Applejack were working on a region that was a bit south of the stomach now.

    “Rainbow!” Applejack called out in a chastising manner. “Stop teasing Twilight like that!”
    
    “Pfft! She's knows I'm only playing with her, and even if you did, Twilight I-”

    Before Rainbow could go on Twilight interrupted her. “I did not!”

    Rainbow groaned. “It was just a joke Twilight. Sheesh.” She sighed, “Fine, I'll be good.”

    Rarity stopped cleaning his arm pit and began to clean by his upper thigh, right next to it. “T-that would be best darling.”

    “Going to have to be gentle,” Twilight mumbled as she brought a washcloth to her slaves genitals. Twilight just now realized that Rainbow and Fluttershy were behind her now, both starting to have trouble flapping their wings. “We're both umm...” Fluttershy struggled to speak, “d-done with his back side.”

    All the mares were watching intently what Twilight was doing, up until the point where the human snatched the cloth out of her magic aura. “This is so uncouth,” the human complained in Rarity's refined accent. Cleaning that region at ten times the speed Twilight was going at. After a few quick motions of cleaning the length of his penis, and a few brushing motions on his balls he was finished. “Done,” the human affirmed.

    The human got out of the bath tub and walked past them, the girls watched Charmer intently as they did so, all huddled together, looking at the same thing. He went to a shower head and turned it on himself to get rid of the last pieces of soap. Finishing up , he ran his fingers through his hair, letting the water do its work. After he turned that off, all by himself, they marveled. He looked around for a few seconds then went to his pre-placed towels and began drying himself.

    As the towel went up and began drying his hair and leaving other parts bare, Twilight became especially drawn to the strange reproductive qualities of the human. 'For science of course,' she assured herself. 'I may also have to take a more scientific observation of all his sexual characteristics later, when I'm alone with him, for science.'

    “Huh.” Pinkie watched his thing with growing wonder. “How the hay does it all fit in there?”

    They all waited for Twilight to give her some egghead explanation of it all, but her mind was elsewhere. Seeing that no one else was going to put in their thoughts, Fluttershy decided to throw in her guess. “Umm... Well most of it is inside of him until well... it’s pulled out.” She pawed the ground for a moment.

    “Clothes!” Twilight said coming out of her stupor. It made her friends jump a bit. She trotted to the tumble over basket that Spike brought and began pulling apart the different pieces of fabric. The human followed after her. He began dressing himself when Twilight handed him his loincloth, then his cloak, and then his trousers.

    “Thanks for making something comfortable for Charmer last minute, Rarity. I really appreciate it. The Griffin Kingdom is going to be even colder than this.”

    The human pulled up the loose fitting leg ware. “Thanks, Rarity,” he parroted, no pony thought much of it till he waved at Rarity herself.

    Taken surprise on how quickly the human managed to learn their names, Rarity kept a surprised look on her face. Then giggled a bit. “Oh I can see why you named him, Charmer. Isn't he just the sweetest thing?” The human grinned dumbly at them all, but it quickly fell when the generous mare took a step forward and fluttered her eyelashes. “Don't you keep him too long with the griffin now. Come back to ponyville when you get the chance.”

    Rainbow took a step forward as well. “Yeah bring him by next time, Twilight.”

    “Don't be a stranger, Twi.”

    Twilight just finished putting up the basket and wet towel. “Hmm? Oh right right, I'll bring him by Ponyville eventually. Just that there is so much to do. I think I should send a letter to Celestia today... about humans...”

    Pinkie Pie hopped over to Twilight. “Do you still have time for our last night out before you go?”

    Nodding with a big smile on she said, “Yes, you girls helped me out so much today. Thank you all. I still have an hour or two to spare.”

    A roar of applause echoed throughout the room. The human tilted his head to the side, like an adorable puppy, an adorable, sexy puppy. “A meal sounds mighty fine right about now.” How much of their conversation he understood was debatable to them, but they all just thought how it was neat how he would parrot them sometimes with their accent, and repeat it at strangely appropriate times.

    On the other side of the castle, a certain drunk griffin slept for hours on end.

    Time ticked by, and Viggo still sat at his chair, sleeping. The only difference being that there was more than a dozen empty bottles surrounding him now. An especially loud snore bellowed out of his agape beak. The sun was beginning to set.

    Then a knock on the door came, then a louder one. After no response the door opened. Olaf looked around. “You slept all day?” went the hateful question. He wiped his face with his claw. Only gripping his dagger seemed to calm him down as the warlord snored away. “Your Grace!”

    Jerking awake, Viggo fell out of his seat. “D-don't scare me like that Olaf!”

    The thane cleared his throat, and pulled out a rolled piece of parchment. “Just a minute ago Twilight attempted to send a letter to Celestia, as ordered I intercepted it.” He gave his document to his liege. “I did some spying on her and I can assure you, she has no idea the letter didn’t go through.”

    Smiling to himself, Viggo broke the seal, swaying a bit from the drinks. “Excellent, excellent. Good work, my friend. Now let me see here. HA!” He looked over to his subordinate. “Perfect! This one is a letter to Celestia.” He began reading, only slightly slurring his speech. “It appears to be about the anatomy of humans. Now let me see.” He was quiet for a several seconds. Then he began to look a bit troubled, his eyes squinted, he began rereading lines, skipping a little as he did so. “What the-? But... A retractable... what? To ensure many offspring? For competitive purposes... Eww... ” He shook his head in a spastic movement, clearing his head. “Evolutionary... m-mating? Can be... subject shows a remarkable ability to...” He gagged a bit but continued reading. His expression became more and more troubled, till the point where he actually began to look frightened. “BY THE GODS AND EVERYTHING THAT IS HOLY WHAT THE PLUCK AM I READING!?”


> Departure
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    It was a difficult, but Viggo managed to get up at the crack of dawn to get ready for the trip back to his kingdom. All the drinking from the night before did little to impede him now. He tied one last strap on his armor extra tight. “That ought to do it,” he told himself as one of his subordinates entered his room.

    “Officer Felix reporting in sir, everyone's ready your highness. Twilight is already waiting for us in the main hall.” Viggo glanced over to his soldier, then gestured to a few bags to carry. The warrior got the hint and began strapping them on to himself. “Also,” the soldier said in a strained voice as he picked up his masters luggage, “Prince Shining wants a word with you before we go. He's in the diplomatic lounge, that's down the hall, take a right and it's the first door on y-”

    “I know where it is,” Viggo said as he raised an eyebrow, the king gave his officer a snarl. “What does he want with me?”

    “He didn't say...”

    Rolling his eyes and sighing the king hung his head. “I thought I was done entertaining these fools. A week amongst equine without anything to show for it has been brutal enough.”

    Not being trained on how to respond to this, Felix swayed. “Uhhh... sir?”

    “Go!” Viggo snapped. The officer bowed his head and took off.

    The warlord took his time and washed his face, arranged his feathers the way he liked them, and made way to the diplomatic lounge. Coming to what he thought was the correct door, he knocked.

    “Come in,” came the muffled sound from the other side, Shining's voice.

    Swinging the door open, Viggo walked into the room. Looking around the warlord thought the place looked more like a mini-library than a diplomatic lounge. With high end tables and chairs arranged for small personal meetings. Shining was sitting in one of the chairs, slumped back, with his hooves he pointed to the chair next to him. As Viggo took uncomfortable steps to his seat he wondered what the stallion was doing before he got here. He was just sitting idly, looking at something far away that wasn't there. Viggo took his seat, in an awkward upright position.

    The fire crackled as they sat there in silence. Its normally cozy atmosphere growing thick with tension. Shining cleared his throat. “As I understand it, you'll be looking after my sister.”

    Viggo looked around, wondering what Shining was looking at. “Uhhh... y-yeah.”

    The stallion nodded. “She's beyond important to me, she's my only sister.” There was only silence for a moment. “Twilight seems to think that going to the frontier, that is the land that is being contested between the civilized races and the human tribes, will serve a greater purpose. I told her that I didn't necessarily approve. She just chalked it up to me being her... over protective brother...” He turned his head to look directly at the warlord, who squirmed in his seat like a misbehaving foal who knew punishment was coming. “But I didn't tell her everything. I didn't tell her about all my worries.” Shining clopped his hooves together idly again. “Viggo, if this is some sort of foolish power grab... you're going to be sorry.”

    Viggo's claws were shaking in his lap. “I... Uhhh... I-I'm not...”

    “I want to be your friend,” Shining said. “I can be a powerful friend to have, but I can be an even greater enemy. I don't want you to promise me anything... because I don't see what use that'll do. Instead I want you to understand that if something happens to Twilight...” The stallions eyes grew fierce. “If she has an accident. If she shows up missing,” Shining spat out. “Then there will be consequences. No excuses, Viggo. There will be consequences. Make sure nothing happens to her. ”

    Afraid that if he spoke his voice would crack, Viggo nodded his head. “I'm glad we understand each other.” Shining got to his hooves. “That's all I wanted to say, have a safe trip, and I hope you enjoyed your time in the Crystal Empire, King Viggo.” The change in demeanor was quick, and caught Viggo off guard, that smile looked real after all.

    “Also, almost forgot to tell you, I'm sending Twilight with one of my bodyguards. I'm sure you won't mind.”

    It was one of Viggo's stranger experiences in life. He walked down the hall, wondering what the pluck just happened. This continued as he came upon his little retinue. Twilight and strange enough the human waved at him. The warlord took note that the human looked worried, perhaps now beginning to understand what is transpiring.

    Alf, the biggest of the griffin, banged his claw against his chest. “Your Grace, all is ready. Twilight and her human are all outfitted and ready to go on your order.”

    Their conversation lasted a while longer, going over the little details such as what roads to take and seating arrangements. Meanwhile Twilight turned to her bodyguard. “Well it's a pleasure to meet you again, Knight Accordance.”
    
    The stallion smiled warmly, she could see that even through his helmet that only revealed a small portion of his face. “It's just Accordance to you, your highness. I'm here to serve Shining, by serving you, to the best of my abilities.” He cast a worried look up to the human by Twilight's side, the slave seemed to be getting even more antsy.

    'Oh geez!' Twilight internally fumed. 'I should have studied more royalty terminology while Celestia was training me for royal court duty! It's Sir Accordance, not Knight Accordance. Oh well, he didn't seem to mind.' Twilight followed Accordance's eyes up to her slave. “It's going to be alright,” she told Charmer as she put her hoof on his leg. “No pony is going to hurt you.”

    Still seeing that Accordance's worried look didn’t change, she turned to him. “He has this thing against Viggo, I think,” she told her bodyguard in a whisper.

    His face changed to a blank one quickly. “That could be a problem actually.”

    “I'm sure it won't be,” she assured him, “he wouldn't hurt a fly.” Twilight flashed her human a smile.

    Spike spoke up, coming out of nowhere, “If it makes you feel any better Accordance, the slave freaks me out too.”

    While the guard looked like he was mulling over that comment, Twilight decided to tease him a little. “Finally awake, Spike? I thought you fell asleep back there and we were going to have to leave you.” Spike froze, terror was stricken on his face, the comment shocking his mind awake. Twilight giggled. “Just kidding Spike, you know I wouldn't do that.”

    Accordance laughed with Twilight, they locked eyes for a moment. He cleared his throat. “If I haven't said so before Princess Twilight, it'll be an honor working with you. I'm well versed on your exploits across Equestria, and I'm very much impressed. I'm glad that there were helpful ponies like you to aid Equestria in our absence. The Crystal Empire and Equestria have always been close allies, and I'm eager to rekindle that bond with them. I'll help in any way I can.” The stallion gave a deep respectful bow.

    Caught off guard, Twilight blushed. “Oh... thank you. But please just Twilight. I'm still not used to this whole princess thing.” She waved her hoof vaguely.

    He rose up, a smile still visible. “Per your request, I shall, Twilight.” He looked over and gave the human another cautious look.

    The slave, didn't even seem to notice they were there, instead he was looking from griffin to griffin, getting anxious. He finally figured it out. He was a bit slow to the party, but he figured it out just the same, they were going into the heart of griffin territory.

    Behind Twilight, all the griffin began moving, having just now been given orders. They all turned to the huge griffin walking toward them, he stopped when the human looked at him. While keeping a wary eye on the slave the griffin addressed them, “Alright, well my name is Alf and I will be helping you load your luggage onto your carriage.” Twilight and her bodyguard nodded. “You'll have your own separate carriage for you, your slave, and bodyguard.” The griffin looked at Spike for a few seconds, wondering why there was a baby dragon coming with, then proceeded to ignore him. “Are you ready to go? If you need anything or have any complaints, now would be the time to voice them.”

    Twilight smiled. “Nope, that all sounds good to me. We're all ready.”
    
    After moving luggage around they set up and began their trip. Twilight sat next to her human, while her guard and Spike sat across from her.

    There were two large carriages designed for griffin, both being pulled by a pair of griffin guards. Viggo and his thane shared one, while she got the other.

    Across from Twilight, Accordance took off his helmet and set it aside, while shaking his radiant golden locks free. His fur was showy, vibrant, fire-like orange. Crystal ponies... Twilight realized.

    He didn't notice Twilight's stares, or her blush, as he readjusted himself in his seat. The guard continued to look out the window, they were still in the city at this point. The stallion grunted to himself. “I've never left the Crystal Empire since Sombra took us out of our time. I wonder how the world's changed.”

    Spike looked over to Accordance. “Are you homesick already?”

    Accordance frowned. “No... maybe...” He only managed to hold himself for a short moment. “Yes,” he admitted with a sigh. “I'm going to miss my friends and family while I'm gone. I'm not used to trips away from home.”

    “Oh?” Twilight asked as she leaned forward smiling. “So do you have any brothers or sisters? Or...” By Celestia, she had to admit, the guard looked really cute.

    He began digging through one of his pockets. “Are you aware of the Equestrian invention of... err what are they called...” The task of digging through tight pockets with hooves didn't come easy to him. “P-phetergaphs? Something-graphs?”
    
    “Photographs?” Twilight asked.

    “Yeah!” He pulled out the piece of paper and handed it to Twilight.

    If it was possible, the stallion looked even more handsome in the photo, but then again crystal ponies almost always looked beautiful and photogenic. Accordance was leaning next to his mom and baby brother, the picture warmed Twilight's heart. They looked so happy together. He and his mother looked like they were so close. When Twilight saw where their hooves were, she thought they were extremely close. Very, very close. Creepily close. Molestaly close. Upon further inspection of the mare next to Accordance, she appeared to be the same age as him, perhaps even a few years younger. 'Oh sweet Celestia I almost began flirting with a married stallion!'

    “U-Uhh... y-you have a beautiful family sir. Your wife is very beautiful.” Twilight gave the photo back to him. “How old is your foal?”

    “Should turn two next week,” he informed her as he put the picture away.

    Twilight's ears flattened against her head. “You're going to miss her birthday?”
    
    He shrugged. “I'd rather work to make the world a safer place, that way I can make sure she has a third birthday, and a fourth, and a fifth, and so on.”

    The carriage trudged along into the outer outskirts of the city. The slave looked around mumbling something to himself.

    Spike held out his fist to the stallion. “Great work in the tournament by the way, you did amazing out there.” The stallion hoof bumped the fist. “Shame you lost on that final round though.”

    Not sure if she should correct Spike on that abrasive comment, Twilight wondered how the stallion would take that.

    The feeling was mutual however, he didn't seem offended one bit. “I know right?” Accordance laughed. “My body just gave out. I felt like I had Sir Olaf there for a second. Personally I think that Alf did a number on me, he's the biggest griffin I've ever seen, and I think he wore me out more than I realized that day.”

    They began leaving the Crystal Empire. There were three griffin walking at a canter speed, next to the carriage itself. They were the ones who were high enough rank to not have to pull the carriages, but they were too lowly to have been given a seat. Ten griffin in total counting Viggo.

    The landscape began to change quickly as they left the Crystal Empire and its magical terraforming crystal heart landscape. It began to feel colder, even inside the carriage.

    Twilight looked ahead and began to make out the snow up the trail they were heading down. “I guess it's a good thing that we brought warm clothes.” She looked over to her human, who was just beginning to mellow down. “Are you alright, Charmer?” Out of the corner of her eye Twilight could see Accordance look over to them.

    The slave nodded. “Yes, Twilight.”

    Accordance jerked at this. “Y-you taught your human how to speak?”

    Smiling in pride, Twilight nodded. “Mmhhmm, yep. Some humans have the mental capacity to learn several words. ” She cleared her throat. “You see, humans are the most diverse species on the planet, and their mental capacity has a great range of discrepancy,” Twilight continued as the knight looked at her blankly, “Though I've only had my human here with me for just three weeks now, I've managed to have him utterly shatter the world record for a human knowing the most words. I don't really have the time to categorize everything he understands about Equis, but I know that he did break the record previously held by Tentacles.”

    Accordance raised an eyebrow. “T-Tentacles? Do I even want to know why he was named that?”

    “It's because he had several tentacles instead of arms,” Twilight said matter-of-factly.

    He looked disgusted. “Oh.” Accordance looked the human up and down for a moment.

    The whole time, Spike was rubbing his eyes with a claw as he leaned on his side of the wall. “If it makes you feel any better I think it's creepy as well.”

    Accordance was about to respond to that, but the slave beat him to it. “If it makes you feel any better.” And the worst part of it was, for Accordance at least, was the fact that he copied Spike's laid back way of speaking. It was almost like a recording. The knight, who was genuinely freaked out now, was frowning deeply at the human. The human looked right back at him. “It's creepy as well,” the human almost seemed to explain to the stallion.

    “Uh... I...”

    “Did a number on me,” the human said, in the knight's upbeat voice, while watching his reaction.

    The stallion's eyes went wide. “He was listening to me back then?!”

    Twilight laughed, nervously looking back between him and her human. “Yeah, he's a talker sometimes, but also a good listener.” She was quiet for a second, like she was trying to walk on metaphorical eggshells for a while, not wanting to offend somepony. She watched the stallion and human look at each other in silence. “Hey, ummm, do you think that maybe you couldn't look at my human in the eyes? J-Just to be safe.”

    They were well out of the Crystal Empire by now, the knight had grown a bit silent as he stared at Twilight. 'Well at least he's not looking at Charmer, might just be me being over cautious, but my human doesn't really know him. It can't hurt to be too safe. Right?'

    Finally the knight broke his silence. “Twilight... has this human attacked somepony before?”

    Feeling that he was onto her, Twilight began to panic . “What? No. No. Well their was this one... Noooooooo, of course not.” Twilight gave him a guilty smile.

    He gave her a stern look. “Twilight, it's my job to make sure you're safe. I've been ordered to by my lord, Prince Shining. If this... thing is dangerous, then I need to know. And I need to know of its violent habits and what exactly sets him off.”

    Twilight laid her ears against her head as she turned to her human, the slave was just looking out the window, seemingly oblivious to their conversation. “Well...” she rubbed her hooves together nervously. “I didn't even tell Spike this. My brother knows, Celestia knows, and several others, but I thought that I shouldn't worry my friends about it.” She took in a deep breath and began the story of when they first met, back at the First Tier Company. Even Octavo's part was told, excluding the temple trespassing part. The crazed human part put Accordance even more on edge, as he kept taking glances over to Charmer. Everything from the mistreated humans, to Charmer choking his former slave master, from his pitiful state in his cell. She even mentioned that he was crying at the time.

    Accordance looked over at the human. “Yeah, I understand where you're coming from Twilight. I can easily see a slave boss mistreating one of his humans, and I guess it's only natural that one of them would snap under the mistreatment.”

    “He did a number on me,” the human affirmed as he stared out the window.

    For now, the knight would acknowledge the talking human, though he would keep an eye on it at all times. The ride continued on for several more hours, they sparsely spoke to one another beyond just mentioning the scenery.

    The landscape grew more rocky, more rural, more harsh. It was getting rare to find a tree and it began to look like a barren wasteland. 'So this is where Octavo's from?' Twilight wondered. 'I hope he got my letter.'

    The ride went on for hours, hunger was beginning to set in. Up ahead on the road, Twilight saw a small village. A hope that they would stop their to get something to eat stirred in her gut. There was a decaying wooden palisades built around the place, with still sharp spikes almost decorating the outside. They were nearing a wooden tower that housed one stallion in full plate armor. In the cold gale wind, the Broncovy flag blew. A midnight blue backdrop with an ice blue outline of a temple. 'Sounds about right,' Twilight quipped to herself. 'Perhaps Octavo is the norm around here... actually that seems unlikely.'

    As they passed the guard by, he nodded to them down below. Twilight looked up to see the stallion's watchful gaze and the horn atop his head, ready to blow any trouble makers ten meters high, should he need to.

    They went on by their defenses, and through their still functioning gatehouse. A few more guards nodded to them down below. Letting them know that they were being watched. The carriages stopped in a clearing. “Guess we're getting off,” Twilight whispered to herself.

    The doors were opened for them on both sides. Twilight recognized Alf again. “Hello Twilight,” -Alf helped her get out- “We're going to make a stop here, but we won't be spending the night. We'll try and get to Sainthood before nightfall.”

    Twilight nodded. “Alright, sounds like a plan to me.”

    The griffin shrugged. “They only have one restaurant here... would you like me to escort you there?”

    “Sure.” Twilight looked around and noted, that yes indeed, there were temples around. Though she was far from an expert on such subjects, Twilight could have sworn she spotted a temple to Merustang, the God of Travel.

    As they walked down the road, a strong breeze went through the street. It even made Twilight shiver. The human just pulled his cloak closer to himself and made no other indications of being cold.

    All around them were simple homes and businesses all designed to hold in heat, with thick logs and tightly woven straw mats for roofs. A few religious nick-knacks of vague meanings hung from various posts.

    The griffin gestured up ahead, toward some long building that looked like a great hall. “There's the restaurant. I'm sure King Viggo will be joining us in a couple of minutes.”
    
    As they went onward, Twilight began to notice something peculiar. A pattern, that her mind has already begun to notice. 'Why do all the mares have cloaks on?' Twilight was aware in some equine nations, clothing was much more conservative than it was in Equestria. She watched a few more mares trot past her, noticing every single mare was wearing one, even the fillies were wearing them. They used their hoods to hide their manes as well.
    
    Confirmation, after confirmation began to fuel a panic attack for Twilight. Her compulsiveness was troubled by the sociological puzzle in front of her, because something just wasn't right, and the problem needed to fix itself and become correct. Like if it was some blemish on a test, it needed to be addressed and confirmed.

    Twilight stopped. “H-Hey guys...” the others stopped. “D-Did you notice that all the other mares here are c-clothed?” Instinctively, Twilight hid her back-side with her tail.

    They began to look around. Knight Accordance was the first to respond. “I did think that was a little odd.” That's confirmation, Twilight told herself.

    Spike spoke next. “No, is that a thing here?”

    Last was Officer Alf. “Yeah, the equine in Broncovy are a little weird like that.”

    That was it, Twilight went into panic mode and gasped. “D-does that mean I'm naked!?” She looked around and spotted her slave. “Charmer, hide me!” With that she went inside his cloak, with only her head peaking out. “I can't be seen like this! They might think I”m a whorse!”

    They all looked at each other in confusion, not sure how to go about this.

    “Uhh, Princess Twilight,” Accordance said as he took a few apprehensive steps closer to her. “The equine of Broncovy are an open-minded bunch. I really don't think they will mind you not being clothed. They generally like Equestrians.”

    “So...” Alf was retreating away from them. “You guys know where to meet us when you're ready... So I think I'm just gunna... go.” Before anyone could respond to him he took off in the direction of the restaurant.
    
    By the time they looked back to Twilight, the human had already taken off his robe and was wrapping Twilight around with it before  lifting her up into his arms. “Well,” Accordance commented as he looked the human up and down, “good to see the human with a record for violence is strong enough to rip my head off whenever he feels like it.”

    Ignoring her bodyguard and pointing to a homely clothing store, Twilight ordered her guard, “Charmer, take me over there.”

    “Okay, Twilight.” As ordered to he walked her over to it. Even though she was scared, Twilight for some reason had a flashback of when she was in Canterlot with Octavo, traveling down the fashion clothing street. The items there looked so much different from what was available here. Instead of, individuality, and creativity, these clothes said, conformity, and modesty.

    The store owner, an aging mare, did a double take upon seeing her customers. She set her knitting work down, expecting this group to be a hoof full. “Umm... may I help you?”

    “Yes,” said the strange lavender unicorn, that was wrapped in a Crystal Empire-like cloak that was much too big for her, as her hulking, muscle bound human carried her around in his arms. “I... just got here... and I didn't know to... bring something to wear.”

    The smile on the aging mare vanished. “Did somepony harass you for it?”

    “Oh no, nothing like that. But I...” Twilight looked around. “don't really feel comfortable with being the only one not wearing anything.”

    The old mare looked at her wears. “Well if you don't feel comfortable with it,” she reasoned with herself as she walked behind her desktop cabinets. She began bringing out several sizes and different designs. “Though you should know that we don't judge those from the outside...”

    Seeing that everything looked safe, she got out of Charmer's cloak, with the human helping her down. Spike and Accordance walked in at this point, both remaining quiet.

    Looking through what was available, Twilight spotted something familiar. “This, this is the symbol of Travafe isn't it?” She held out the cloak for the old lady.

    The elder's eyebrows rose. “Didn't expect you to know that. Have you been to Broncovy before?”

    Twilight smiled, already calming down. “No, I just know somepony from here is all.” The cloak was a calming blue with a golden merchant's scale design on the side. “How much for this one?”

    “Ten bits sounds about right, wouldn't you agree?”

    “Mmmhmm.” Twilight gave her the bits.

    “Looks good, Twilight,” Charmer commented.

    Yet again surprised by his growing vocabulary, Twilight giggled. “Thanks, Charmer.”

    With eyes wide the older mare pointed at the slave. “Did that human just talk!?”

    “Yeah,” Accordance interrupted, “he does that, and I have a feeling we're going to get that everywhere.”

    “Thanks for the cloak.” With that, their little group left the old mare alone. Off to make some other pony's life interesting.

    The cold wind blew in a bitter, untamable breeze. Even Rainbow Dash herself would have struggled to keep this kind of weather in line, which the equine of Broncovy seldom tried to do. As Twilight and her little party, went on to the log cabin to eat, something else became interested in a meal.

    For out in the distance several humans looked onward from the hills, having watching the two slow carriages enter the city. Knowing full well, that all who came to this village, never stayed the night. One human in particular, sniffed the air, hatred fueled his veins. Though with his milky white eyes, he couldn't see her, yet he knew she was there. He smiled, his fire scarred skin cracking under the strain of his lips.

    An abomination, a monument of ingenuity, a morphing of various humans walked up to the ex-slave. With six arms, three faces and smokey, dark magic fallout coming out of his maw, he moaned a blood curdling cry. The half dead guard under the foot of the ex-slave stirred. The fire scarred human put on his burnt equine helmet, and readied his Canterlot royal guard spear, then plunged it through the plated armor. The guard gasped, then died.

    The abomination watched the scene unfold, all the while laughing with three separate voices. He wasn't a natural mistake, a genetic freak. He was intentionally made this way. Not wanting to get caught, the nine humans walked back into their hiding spot, prepared to wait out the next batch of victims that would leave this village.

    Far away from here, the empire was ready for a dedicated war on this front. It would soon test the strength of both Broncovy and the Crystal Empire, and soon after that, annihilate the entire griffin race.


> The Canyon of Horror
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    With nothing better to do, Twilight leaned against Charmer as the carriage rocked back and forth, letting sleep tempt her. The human showed similar signs of drowsiness. Spike was already asleep while the bodyguard lazily looked out the window.

    Up ahead was a mountain-pass, a canyon that stretched a mile long, maybe even two. Even from here, the frozen landscape looked intimidating. With caves like an open mouth, and icicles like jagged teeth, the path looked intimidating, but the griffin seemed to know what they were doing.

    With some effort, Twilight opened her eyes and looked outside. She couldn't shake that feeling of isolation, despite having Spike and Charmer with her; even Accordance seemed reliable.

    Twilight yawned, leaned her head against Charmer, and fell asleep. Meanwhile, the canyon swallowed the convoy up like an open grave.

    As the carriage continued to rock on the uneven ground, Accordance grew weary. His eyes were now heavy. There were caves, cliffs, giant boulders; so many places to hide. After a while it just became futile to look for danger. Threats could hide anywhere.

    Though they were tired, for the day was nearing its end, the guard's eyes noticed a few peculiar things. A few bones, a few splashes of frozen blood. He looked around. It could have been just a few animals. This place looked like the perfect hunting ground for wolves. The entrances were few, plenty of hiding spots for concealment. There were some paths that led up to the higher ground of the canyon. So it wasn't necessary to jump down to get to the migrating prey.

    It was highly unlikely that wolves or any predators would try anything with them, too many griffin out in the open. Too many unfamiliar sights, but there were much more dangerous things inhabiting these hunting ground.

    For a second, Accordance caught a glimpse of a figure way up high. A cloak blowing in the wind. A silhouette looking down below, just watching them from a difference. Scanning through the snowfall, Accordance attempted to see it again, but failed.

    Leaning back on his seat, Accordance began to question what he saw. Was it just his imagination, or a sign of something much worse?

    The carriage continued onward, taking a left, going down the path of the canyon, while the figure up high watched. His alert eyes never losing sight of his mission. He spoke through his thick platted helmet, making his voice sound more gruff. “Finally here? I was beginning to worry, Twilight.” The stallion did an instinctive shake, getting the snow off of him. The cold gale that blew through the canyon didn’t affect him. “I wonder how this story would have played out?” The stallion chuckled as he hopped down, and began trotting down the canyon, staying on a much higher elevation than the carriage. “If the prophecy is reliable, then this wouldn't of been Twilight's time. Hmmm... This would be a lot easier if I knew who she was traveling with.”

    Down below, Accordance decided that what he saw earlier was just a rock shaped like a well-built stallion with broad shoulders, and that there was nothing to worry about. Though the size and shape made him feel like it wasn't a stallion, but maybe a dangerous animal. A part of the figure had wavered in the breeze, like a ridiculously long mane, or perhaps a piece of tapestry.

    Mulling over that for a while didn't help things.

    The carriage hit a small rock, bumping the carriage up and down, causing the guards adrenaline to spike, already on edge. Accordance sighed, attempting to calm himself down. “AETTUAK!” The voice made the guard's heart skip a beat, for it was said in the most vile of tongues, it spoke three times in unison, by the same creature, each one more horrible than the last.
    
    A griffin up ahead cried out in agony. Scrambling for his weapon, Accordance managed to put his helmet on in time, for a spear penetrated their carriage and scraped his head armor. The guard cried out in pain when the Equestrian designed spear banged on his head, but he was otherwise unharmed. The others woke up in a haze of terror, before Twilight even had time to register what was going on, her human had taken hold of her, and with a quick motion, busted open the door and jumped out, landing on his side with his master in his arms.

    Instinctively, Twilight held on tight to her human's forearm. As she laid on her back, looking back at her carriage, another spear broke through the vehicle, right where Twilight was sitting a moment ago. Charmer saved my life... Before Twilight could fully contemplate this, the human held onto her tight and rolled in the snow, another spear landed where they were just one second ago.

    Getting to his feet, Charmer took the spear in one hand as he carried Twilight in the other. The scene was worse than bad, it would end in a complete annihilation in just a few minutes. Above them, imperfect humans rained spears and throwing axes, and the griffin were getting torn up before they could even draw their weapons. Suddenly there was an explosion, turning a human into a fiery, screaming mass of horror.

    “Atch he ide!” cried the monstrous voice again.

    At their level, King Viggo was just getting out of his carriage in a panic. “R-Regroup on me!” he stuttered before whipping out his claymore.

    “Take cover!” cried Alf. “They're strong on our left flank!”

    By now Accordance had forced his way out of the carriage, despite the spear that nearly boxed him inside. Landing on his belly, he took sight of Twilight. When the slave ran for a bolder, the guard took out his sword in mouth, and ran after the armed human holding his Lord's sister.

    Charmer slid into cover while dodging another spear

    Up above, three balls of magical blue flame exploded, cooking to death two unlucky humans.

    Down inside the canyon, the griffin were fighting for all their worth, taking cover from the ambush and firing some well placed arrows at the monsters.

    Accordance stopped in front of the slave. “Twilight, are you alright?” He gave the human an untrustworthy, truly hateful look.

    Twilight, put her hoof on Charmer's hand and looked at him pleadingly, and a bit reluctantly, the human released his grip on her. She looked back at her guard. “I'm fine, but we have to-”

    Before Twilight could finish that sentence, the carriage she was traveling in, exploded in a hideous mass of black smog, the very fabric of the world seemed to shake around the black sandy mist. In a second Twilight realized the signs of black magic, it was a horrifying development, but it paled in comparison to Twilight's next realization. “Spike!”

    Bolting too quickly for her slave to catch her, Twilight attempted to try to save her friend, but Accordance caught her. “Twilight, NO!” He held onto her, not letting her run through the battlefield that had dark magic raining down on it.

    Above the canyon, a lone figure could be seen exchanging fire between the humans and himself.

    The slave stood to his full height, and spoke, in near perfect Equis, “INCOMING! FROM OUR REAR!”

    All the griffin turned to Twilight's human, who was screaming in Equis. None of them actually thought of following his instructions, but when they turned around to see what he was doing, they saw anyway. Three muscle bound humans were running down the trail towards them.

    The human turned to his master for a split second - “Twilight, stay!” - and then took off.

    Meanwhile, Garth, a junior officer, who had been pulling Twilight's carriage, was tangled in his harness. Despite the dark magic explosion, Garth was very much alive, as was Spike who was right next to him. Still conscious from having been blown out of the vehicle, dragon scales had its uses after all.
    
    The griffin was struggling to free himself from his harness and the debris on top of him. He managed to push a blood soaked wheel off of himself. Looking at where the fight was worse, he cursed to himself, “Shit! I have to get up!” As he forced himself up on all fours, a human's shadow fell on him, a vicious snarl rang in his ears, and he felt claws dig into his back. Garth let out a yell as he felt his last moments dawn, but before the human could rip him to shreds, the monster grunted as he was knocked off.

    Turning to the hideous creature, he saw that it had been killed by a spear that was jammed right below it's third arm. Beyond the sound of screaming, and exploding dark magic, was the crunching sound of snow being stepped on by a large biped, right behind Garth. Turning slowly, he caught sight of Twilight's slave, looking the hurt griffin over for a moment. Not seeming to take much interest in him, the human knelt down over Spike.

    The dragon mumbled in pain, barely even awake. After checking up on him, the human went over to the other griffin that had been driving their vehicle, this griffin was very much dead, with half his lower body missing. Without showing much remorse, the human took the claymore from the corpse, took Spike in one arm, and ran back the way he came. Beyond confused, Garth watched him run away, then seeing three savage humans about to hit them from behind, went down the same path Charmer ran down. “Ah shit!”

    At this point, Accordance lost Twilight, due to her teleportation spell and was running toward the black magic engulfed carriage. “Spike!” She charged up a spell, not acting blindly, though desperate not to lose a friend, and panicking she still had a better idea of what was billowing out of the earth than anyone else here.

    “Twilight, don't!” Her guard continued chasing her.

    Casting the spell, Twilight had limited success, much of the dark magic was dissipating, but still much remained. “Spike, where are you?”

    “Twilight,” called the human slowing down to a halt, with a claymore in one hand, and her friend in the other.

    “Spike.” Twilight pulled her assistant out of her slave's grasp, after doing a quick magical scan of his body, she sighed. Twilight, with appreciation for Charmer's heroism, looked up to him with teary eyes. “Thank-”

    “Incoming!” cried an injured griffin that came from the same direction as Twilight's slave.

    Three heavily armored humans running on all fours came down the path, closing in on them. The slave took his wide stance, sword in arms, with his cloak still covering most of his body and his trousers stretching tight. The griffin went to his two back legs, with his wings balancing him. Accordance got in front of Twilight and took his sword in mouth.

    Despite looking like it would be a one on one fight for them all, they all took a few small steps back, as the monsters came charging at them. These things were huge, easily topping five hundred pounds, only Charmer recognized the legion's plated armor on them. As they neared the beast took to two feet taking out huge two handed weapons out, one massive medieval mace, the other a giant axe, the last a huge two headed flail.

    Before they met, a magical shot went over Accordance's shoulder and hit the axe wielding beast head on, shattering his helmet into many pieces. Twilight had fired a powerful blast that could have killed any normal human ten times over, and she managed a head shot with it. However, the crazed human, with fragments of steel in his face, just gave Twilight a look of pure malice, an intelligent look that said 'I'll get you back for that.'

    And with that, they closed the distance. A flurry of attacks ensued as they tried to hold their ground, but when the axe wielder swung in a wide arc, the slave held with all his strength, which was considerable, and though he blocked correctly, he didn't have enough weight to hold it, and was thrown to the side, also knocking over Accordance as he did so. “Stick up his FLANK!” Charmer screamed as he got back up to his feet, helping Accordance back up as well, feeling bad for knocking him down accidentally.

    Luckily for Twilight and her friends, the other griffin came to their rescue. Several arrows hit the axe wielder, who staggered but shrugged them off.

    Twilight fired, hitting the monster in the face again, it was a solid hit, blood ran down his face, and fell to one knee. Seeing a chance for a break, Twilight ran for cover, placing Spike down in a safe crevice in a large boulder that ran the length of the canyon.

    The battle at the front died down, the humans were retreating, but the three heavily armored monsters who flanked the rear apparently never got the message, and were still putting up a fight. Out of nowhere Viggo took flight and managed to ram his sword through the back of the blinded axe wielder, forcing and holding his victim down to the ground.

    Alf, the largest of the griffin, the one that had been helping Twilight with her luggage, came down roaring from the sky, breaking through the armor of the mace wielder. The human cried out in pain, and then again in rage, knocking Alf away with a strong backhand, while the human wielding the two headed flail got lucky, and bashed a griffin's skull through, sending fragments of his head raining down on his comrades.

    Twilight fired three shots in quick succession at the flail wielder, all three making their marks, solid body shots.

    Thane Olaf, exploiting the opening Twilight made, took off the human's head, sending it rolling down the canyon, while at the same time, the mace wielder managed to get King Viggo down to the ground, holding him there with a heavy foot, while he wound up a killing blow, raising the spiked club up above his head.

    Then in a concentrated blast of magic, his head was taken off, with nothing but dancing blue flame left on the human's shoulders. With the battle now over, everyone looked up seeing the figure above the canyon that had taken the shot. He stood there, smoke trailing off his horn, in his crusader armor, a gift from the cardinals of Broncovy.

    They all stood there, not sure who should make the introduction with the stallion that appeared out of nowhere and fired at the humans. Alf got up to his paws, still impaired from the muscle bound human's back hand, the monster had been wearing grieves after all. The crusader's cloak was billowing in the wind as he looked down upon them. As the griffin helped up their king, the stallion chuckled, then spoke, “Good to see that you are well, Twilight Sparkle.”

    Confused, she swayed a bit. Who is this guy? I don't think I've ever met him, she thought.

    “I never would never have imagined that, that human would have become so loyal to you. He seemed so dangerous and mad in his cage...”

    All the griffin turned to Twilight, checking to see if he spoke the truth. “Octavo!”

    The stallion jumped down from the steep ledge, landing in a soft pile of snow. “Yes, it is I. Glad to see that you're-”

    Twilight caught him off, nearly knocking him on his back with her hug. “I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to treat you so badly.” Her eyes began to water. Octavo's hooves were wide, far apart, completely speechless; his mind was scrambled. “I just thought that you were some mindless zealot that didn't care about anyone else.” A tear ran down Twilight's cheek. “I'm so sorry.”

    With Twilight pressed against him, his helmet became cumbersome, not sure what else to do, he undid a strap and tossed it aside in the snow. Revealing his confused, light blue eyes, and sapphire blue mane that had become unkempt in the headgear. “T-Twilight...”

    The griffin were checking their wounded, the human had walked off somewhere, and her bodyguard took a few steps closer, but kept his eyes averted.

    “You saved us,” she spoke in a whisper now. “They may not admit it but you did.”

    Octavo blinked. “No, Twilight. I didn't save you this time,” he spoke with such confidence, it made her look up at him, her tears now visible. “You're selling yourself short, you would have found a way to live. I promise you that. Don't ask me how I know that, but just know that I do.” Though very uncomfortably, he moved his hooves closer and held her, a nice looking smile gracing his almost middle age features.

    Twilight looked away. “B-Back at Canterlot I just stood there, like a coward.”

    “Everypony is afraid of something, during sometime when I was away, you conquered your fear of humans, and you fought very bravely today.”

    Now returning, the human walked up behind them, with a weary friend in his arms. “Spike, okay?” the human asked.

    “Yeah,” Twilight told him, backing away from Octavo, ending the hug. “Spike's going to be just fine. His dragon scales are growing harder with age.”

    The champion looked at the human, raising an eyebrow. “So... you taught him how to speak.”

    “Yes-yes-yes,” Accordance complained, with a roll of his eyes, “there's a talking, muscle bound, sword wielding human walking around, get used to it world.”

    “...I was merely-”

    Before Octavo could finish that sentence, Thane Olaf was already on him, trotting up to him. Keeping a pissed off demeanor as he did so. “All right, now that we got all the hugs and feelings out-of-the-way. You and I need to talk.” Twilight shied away, not understanding where this hostility was coming from. “Tell me before I lose my temper, what business does a stallion have here in the middle of nowhere. Don't you think it's a little convenient that you were here to kill off all the humans?”

    With a raised eyebrow, Octavo watched this angry griffin, completely unfazed. “Firstly,” he began, “I didn't kill off all the humans, most of them ran away. I saw the unholy abomination that was casting dark magic down here make a run for it, with my own eyes.” They all looked around. “Secondly, it is not a coincidence that I am here. I was ordered by my master, the God Travafe, to be here at this time. I was ordered to intervene.”

    Olaf gave the stallion a snarl. “Don't get smart with me god worshiper, or I'll send you to hell. I know that there is more to this than you are letting on.”

    Octavo let out a laugh. “Do I seem so bad to you? That I am worthy of hell? But... even if I was sent to hell, it would just spit me out, the God of Death owes me one for sending him so many fresh souls.”

    His beak dropped, his eyes narrowed, he reeled. Olaf didn't believe what he heard, he took a step back.

    Limping to them, Viggo spoke, “Olaf stop harassing the champion, he did good for us.”

    Octavo nodded. “Thank you sir.”

    “You'll be rewarded” -King Viggo took another pained step, a limp, closer to them- “if you can take me to my kingdom. I'd ask for your assistance.”

    Olaf spun around. “You can't be serious sir, this stallion comes out of nowhere and conveniently saves us from those humans, and now he's being accepted by us?! Don't you think that-”

    “Oh shove it with your damn anti-equine notions,” Viggo barked, “I am NOT in the mood right now, Olaf.”

    The thane was visibly embarrassed, having being called out for his secret advice to Viggo in front of everyone, in front of equine even worse.

    Alf dropped by his warlord's right side. “Sir, I have my report ready.”

    Viggo sighed. “Let's hear it.”

    “Well, we lost Olle, Isak, Albin, Simon, Malte, and Felix.”
    
    “Shit,” Viggo cursed.

    As Alf finished his report, a griffin, wounded, dragged himself closer to them. “Damn you, Alf. I'm still alive dammit!”
    
    “Oh shit! Sorry Felix, I didn't see you there.” Officer Alf made his way to his injured comrade, and began tending to his wounds.

    “Riiiiiiiiight...” Viggo went on, turning to the champion. “So will you be able to help us?”

    “That was my intention all along.” Octavo looked around. “The tribal humans will surely regroup and attack again if we remain here, most likely at night fall.”

    Viggo looked back at the stallion, catching his drift. “Then we better not stay here for long.”

    “That would be wise.” He looked onward. “Even by hoof, Geneva is less than an hour trot from here.” Right as he finished speaking, Travafe sent him a vision, not of the future, but of a present that could have been. On the corpses of friends and foes alike in the canyon of horror, the two strongest stood as the sole survivors of the human attack, a triumphant thane, who would soon become the elected inheritor of the Griffin Kingdom, and a weeping Twilight, completely distraught over the death of her friends. Octavo felt relief when the vision ended, knowing that fate was changing for the better, hopefully it would make a difference in the end.

    “Alright.” Viggo sat down, affirming a point the champion forgot he made due to the vision, as Garth brought his king medical equipment. “We'll leave as soon as we're able.”

    Octavo looked over to Olaf who was silently fuming, the griffin sat far apart from the others, tending to his minor wounds, then turning back to Twilight, who was casting some spell on Spike, he smiled to himself. Surely things were better now.



> Water of Tranquility
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Timidly, the humans began to recheck the area of their last engagement, not sure of what they would find. The corpses had frozen where they had fallen, both griffin and human alike. The ground gave up the last of the dark magic that it had retained from the battle, bubbling forth like molten lava from the snow blanketed terrain. A few heads popped up over some boulders, the humans didn't want to get burned alive, or even shot by griffin arrows. They made sure to be careful not to end up like the butchered masses of flesh down in the canyon.

    Though the rest were still fearful, a lone abomination made his way through the former battle field. Looking at the charred remains of his own underlings next to the mutilated griffin corpses, left to rot as the survivors made their get-a-way. The snow had already begun to bury the blue faced bodies. The cold would preserve them for some time.

    Several other humans walked behind their chieftain, hunched over, fearful, submissive. Dusk had set. The ex-slave that Twilight would have recognized if she had caught sight of him, trailed in his leader's footsteps, at a safe distance away. Knowing how this product of human scientist could get when angered.

    Like Octavo had said, most of the humans ran off, and as nightfall came, they returned. The survivors numbered twenty-eight, their losses were sixteen when they fled, feeling that the tide of battle was turning in favor of the natives. Nevertheless they regrouped, and were ready for another ambush when they found out that their prey had already escaped for the safe confines of the large and well defended city of Geneva.

    Wearing a light version of the legionnaire armor, the three-faced abomination quickened his pace down the canyon, stopping when he came upon a distasteful sight. What was left of his elite shock units made the abomination freeze.

    The other human's backed off, fearing what may happen, murmuring in their primitive way of speaking, trying to find comfort in their numbers. Not from the 'more civilized races' but from the legion made abomination himself.

    The six armed freak began speaking to himself in three different voices, working himself up into a frenzy. Dark magic began collecting near the mouths of the fearsome monster. The other humans ran for cover, now in fright.

    Full of pain, full of anguish, full of hatred, the monster screamed a deafening call. In response, the corpses began to tremble, then shake, then convulse. Dark magic erupted from everywhere, it flowed from the earth, it fell from the sky, it poured from his mouth. The corpses rose, dead, frozen, disgusting corpses, Olle, Malte, the humans that Octavo burned alive, Simon, the three hulking humans, even the headless Albin, the griffin that had his head shattered by a flail, rose up, answering the perverted call of the dark magic.

    The monster held a terrifying smile.

    The dead did the same, with dark magic pouring from their wounds.

    +++++

    Now out of the canyon, out of the way of danger, the survivors of the attack continued on to the city of Geneva that was less than a mile away. Spike's injuries appeared to be superficial, and once given time to gather his bearings, he made a complete recovery, opting to walk on his own the rest of the way.

    Despite Spike's request, Twilight couldn't stop herself from worrying, staying by him. Watching his every step. “Spike, are you sure you're alright? I can carry you with my magic if you want, or I can have Charmer carry you again.”

    Before Spike could say anything, the human interjected, “No more, please.”

    “I'm really fine, Twilight.” The baby dragon rubbed the back of his neck, his body was becoming more hardy, what happened in the canyon would have killed him if it wasn't for those growth spurts and hardening of his scales. “I think I just need to walk it off.”

    From a distance these survivors were easily visible in the blanket of whiteness from the snow. The trail that they left was impossible to miss. For the Equine, the snow was up to their knees, making traveling a chore, the griffins were having an easier time of it with their greater height. It hardly even seemed to bother the large biped, who simply raised his legs a little bit higher when he walked.

    Although, counting all of them, Octavo was the one who felt most comfortable in this climate, with this being his homeland. Looking over his shoulder he caught the human looking at the strange spear-like device he had strapped onto his back, and yet again, the human looked away when he noticed that Octavo was watching him. The stallion began to wonder how these creatures would go about creating an 'evil empire that would leave a swath of destruction in their wake' as told by the God Travafe. “Curious little human aren't you,” the stallion mumbled, just loud enough for the human to hear, although Charmer pretended he didn't.

    Meanwhile, unnoticed by either of them, Accordance had been giving the human some looks, still resentful for the human doing his job protecting Twilight. After all, it had been Charmer that saved her from the spear barrage back at the canyon.

    The survivors became more and more relieved the closer they came to the city of Geneva. But before they could reach the city, they would suffer one more incident. Three voices, pained, raging, and filled with malice, made its way out of the canyon and to Geneva.

    Up ahead, holy guards would be seen gathering near the gatehouse, wondering what kind of fiend could make a cry like that.

    Spike paled. “W-What was that! That wasn't even human!”

    A bit startled by that comment, Octavo looked to the baby dragon. “You may be right about that...” He looked onward. “We're almost to safety, let's go, we can get patched up at the temple.”

    “Octavo,” called the human, and before he could respond to it, the human grabbed the strange spear thing hung over the champions shoulder. With a quick hoof the champion grabbed it before the large biped could pry it off his back. He stood there glaring at the human, while the human gave him a passive aggressive smile. “You, give me.” The human tugged on the strange device, trying to pry it free, but Octavo stood firm.

    The stallion gave a nervous chuckle. “Just because I don't know what this thing is, doesn't mean it's yours, Charmer. Right?” The champion glanced over to Twilight wondering if he remembered the name correctly. Caught off guard by this knew possessive behavior of his, she watched, wondering why the human that saved her life was acting this way now.

    “Ot urs, es ine,” the champion spoke in the primitive human language.

    The human's eyes went wide, Twilight took a step closer. “Charmer, that's not yours,” she tried to call him over to her with a hoof. The other griffin who weren't too badly injured grabbed the handle of their swords, thinking the slave was finally going to snap.

    Ignoring her, the human replied, “Us eak he rimat?”

    Octavo raised an eyebrow. “Es?”

    “Us eak he novem latin?”

    Octavo relaxed his grip on the spear thing, hanging his mouth open for a moment, then shook his head and replied, “Ut es novem latin?”

    Now disinterested the human let go and backed away.

    Twilight took a few steps closer. “What did he say?”

    Octavo shrugged. “He was surprised I could speak in their tribal language, asked me if I knew it well. I said I did, then he asked me if I knew some language called... 'Latin.' Ever heard of it, Twilight?”

    Twilight shook her head. “Never.”

    Up until this point, Viggo had been taking glances at Twilight's flank, wondering what uses he could find for it once they could get to his little kingdom up north. Where his power would be unchecked, not that he planned to force her to the ground and start pounding away the second they returned to his castle, but he had a malevolent plan up his sleeve. One that would take care of the human problem by securing some allies, and take care of a few more base needs along the way.

    Now the warlord walked forward, leading the group, “We can worry about Twilight's slave later, we need to get out of here. Hurry it up, I want to get out of this unchecked weather. We can reach the city in under ten minutes.”

    This time, Viggo spoke the truth.

    Ten minutes later they were in the temple of Travafe, the priest were tending to their wounds, nearly bombarding the travelers with questions about the humans that attacked them. Octavo and Accordance had left to inform the guards of what happened, the whole town was in an instant uproar, having formerly believed that they were safe from such monsters. That their holy warriors were capable of keeping them out of the heartland of Broncovy.
    
    Across from Twilight, sitting in a mat, Charmer watched his master, having only suffered minor cuts and bruises that already scabbed over - he didn't receive treatment, nor did he desire it. Shying away from the priest when they would come around with their bandages.
    
    Seeing the decayed shell of a temple in Canterlot was one thing, seeing one that was still functioning was another for Twilight. It was truly beautiful, artistic even. The silver chandeliers up high were still hanging, incense could be seen burning near the northern wall. Paintings of far off lands that wasn't chipping from neglect. Colored glass that sent beams of gentle light upon them, it probably would have looked much better if it wasn't so late. It was like taking a step back into what Canterlot used to be thousands of years ago.

    A mare with a kind smile came over to Twilight, she pulled her hood back revealing her glowing horn and gave Twilight a chalice. “Please drink this, it'll take the edge off.” Twilight took it in her hooves and looked in it, it just looked like water. “You'll probably need it to calm your nerves after what you endured.”

    “Thank you.” Twilight did as told, and downed the water, except it wasn't water, it had no flavor, yet felt... powerful. She felt instantly light headed. “Wow.” She wavered a bit. “C-Can I have one more of this... water stuff.”

    The mare giggled as she took the chalice. “Right away, Princess Twilight.”

    Half an hour later, Octavo returned.

    Twilight, now outright tipsy, bobbed her head as she sat on her mat, elevated by the carved stone platform under it. She had used the extra room to her right as a table, and reached for another drink. In a slow deliberate motion, the human moved it out of her reach, and her diminished reflexes failed her, her hoof grabbed at the stone instead. The human chuckled, Spike laughed.

    “Hey- G-Gib me dat.” Again she moved her hoof to the chalice, and Charmer moved it. This time she fell on her mat.

    Octavo had made his way to the three, and took notice of Twilight's condition. “Umm... Princess Twilight?”

    She turned to him. “Heya, Octave!”

    The champion frowned. “Twilight, did you drink the water of tranquility? Because you know... a pony only needs so much of it...”

    “Ish das whats its called? Lady grave it to me just to calm may nervsh.” Twilight ended it with a hiccup. She tried one more time to get the chalice, but the slave moved it again, but this time Twilight extended too far out for it, and face planted into stone. “Owww...”

    “Ummm...” The champion looked around, noticing the griffin walking toward him. “Octavo,” called the warlord, his limp was nearly non-existent now, “we're going to go ahead and get rooms. We'll talk to you all in the morning about our plans.” Viggo gave the stallion a look, waiting for a response.

    “I'll be ready then.”

    “Good.” He turned to his retinue. “Come on, let's go.” As they made their leave, Accordance came back inside, giving them a nod as he did so.

    Octavo turned back to the princess, who was just now getting back up. “So how many drinks did she have?”

    “Just three,” said Spike.

    “Four,” the human corrected.

    “Tattle-tail,” Twilight mumbled.

    Cocking his head to the side, the human parroted, “Tattle-tail...” The human continued watching the mare.

    Twilight struggled to not fall over again.

    Accordance walked up to them. “Oh! Twilight are you drunk!? I've only been talking to the guards for about twenty minutes, and I come back and you're like this?” Twilight was looking down dejected. “What would your brother say?”

    Twilight hung her head. “I... didn't even know...”

    The human pointed at her guard. “Tightwad, with stick up his flank.”

    “Y-Yeah!” Twilight agreed.

    Spike busted out laughing. Octavo was backing up, not wanting any part of this. “You shut up,” Accordance shot back.

    “You shut up,” the human repeated. Spike laughed harder.

    “ANYWAY,” Octavo said in a raised voice that got their attention, “the rooms are ready whenever you're ready... I think it's about time for me to hit the hay soo...”

    Accordance took a step forward. “Where are we staying?”

    “There's only one inn,” Octavo informed them, “want me to lead you to it? Or would you...”

    Looking around the guard sighed. “I think we'll call it a night.”

    The slave chugged down the drink, put the cup down and picked Twilight up with a single arm, slung under her belly.

    Accordance raised his eyebrows at that.

    They walked out of the temple together, with Twilight nearly hidden by the human's cloak. The snow was beginning to pick up, it was sure to pass before tomorrow morning though, according to the locals.

    Heading down the two hundred or so steps was a little ordeal of its own, in truth. One, for them looking like they didn't belong in Broncovy, and two, for the unchained human following them around. They reached the halfway mark down into the rest of town. Accordance cast a look over to the human, when he heard a mare begin snoring; Twilight had passed out in his arms. “Hmm,” the bodyguard grunted. “Can't really say I feel comfortable with this guy walking around unchained.” He turned to Spike. “Haven't you two thought of tying him up.”

    “Tying him up,” the human parroted. They ignored him.

    “Yeah, Twilight said she tried.” The little dragon was having an easy time with the steep steps, with him being almost as tall as a stallion now.

    “What happened? Why isn't he tied up now?” The guard's voice grew cold.

    “He broke out of a magical containment collar,” both stallions froze, then looked up to the human. He paused. Giving each a confused look, not sure on what exactly they were talking about. “The ones that are designed to be fail proof?”
    
Spike sighed, then nodded. “Yep, supposedly Twilight and Shining were bringing him back to the castle from the train, and that's when he did it. Just ripped it clean off.” Both stallions gave him a disbelieving gesture. “There was a big magical backlash that knocked him out for a couple of hours. Enough time to secure him in a cell. An enchanted one.”

    Accordance gave the human a contempt look, the slave cocked his head to his side, wondering where this change in attitude was coming from. This stallion didn't seem to mind him during the carriage ride, heck, he even appeared to pity the human back then.

    With a shrug Octavo turned back to the steps and continued on. “Doesn't really matter, he's on our side for now.”
    
    “Kind of an unsafe assumption,” Accordance shot back. The champion ignored it all though. Spike followed after him. All alone now, save for the human and a snoring princess. Accordance turned to the slave, a deep scow marking his features. The human took two more steps down, getting on the stallions level. “Look,” the guard began, “I know that you know more than you let on.” One of the slave's eyebrows raised. “Like Twilight explained to me, wide range of intelligence and all that, and I want you to know something.” He eyed the huge human, who easily weighed twice what he did. “Protecting Twilight is my job, not yours.” The stallion emphasized his point by sharply pointing at the mare the human was holding.

    “You made me look like a useless idiot back at the canyon when your little human friends attacked, and tripping over me like a buffoon and knocking me down didn't exactly score you any points with me – pal,” he nearly spat out.

    The slave took on this, 'are you serious' look about him, spreading out his footing with his head tilting to one side. “Oh?”

    “Yeah.” Accordance took a step closer. “So you need to know that I'm keeping an eye on you. At all times!” The human rolled his eyes. “I have nothing against you personally, and I don't know how much of what I said made any sense to you, but know that you're crossing me, and that's not a smart thing to do.”

    The human scratched his head, now holding Twilight with one arm. “Okay, Accordance.” The human's almost perfect Equis was chilling for the knight. The slave leaned over, and reached out a hand to the stallion. “We good?”

    For the first time in his life, Accordance engaged in outright snobbery, smacking the human's hand aside. “Don't touch me you filthy slave!”

    Charmer's eyes went wide at this, not sure how to process this. He chuckled. “Okay Accordance.”

    The knight scoffed, was about to take a step down the stairs, when the human called out to him. “Accordance.”

    “What?” his tone couldn't have been more strained.

    “Bye.” The human waved at him.

    Guess the human doesn't understand Equis as much as I thought he did, the knight thought. Could have sworn he was just pretending to be dumber than he was. Guess all my years of guarding didn't give me such a great intuition after all. Accordance thought.

    “Dumb filth.” When the knight took a step forward, he felt the foot of the long legged human block his step, all the pieces fell into place. “Oh. Buck!” With that, the stallion fell flank over head, tumbling the rest of the way down, all the way to the ground level.

    The others didn't see the human trip him, but they saw his pained tumble. Both Spike and Octavo wincing at each impact. Then it was finally over, the knight knocked his head on the ground, his armor doing little to soften the blow, somehow it made things even worse, as it limited his flexibility. “Uhh...” Octavo mumbled, “Watch your step?”

    The knight whined, feeling so much pain. He took a sharp intake of air when he heard the human plant his feet behind him. Then came a slow dramatic walk around the stallion. The slave knelt over him, reaching out to the defenseless equine. When the knight dared to open his eyes he saw it, he saw what was to become of him, for the human was, offering him his hand again. He wore a shit-eating grin. “Accordance, we good?”

    This time the knight took it. “Yeah, we're good.” He was lifted up on all fours.

    “Good to see you're all bonding so well,” Octavo said half- no wait- that tone- he was completely serious, Accordance realized. How could somepony be so blind? “But we really must be going.” With that, they went ahead to their inn. With Accordance suffering only a minor limp.

    
    With only a few confused looks the group made their way down the winding unplanned roads of the city until they came to a building that was smaller than what they were hoping it would be. Though with its thick log house architecture, they knew it would at least be warm. They all began thinking the same thing as they came closer to the inn. 'Was there still enough room inside for all of them?'

    Before they could reach the front door, a familiar griffin walked out the front door, the largest of the griffin, he didn't see them coming and was stretching his wings. Accordance, remembering the guy that almost beat him in the tournament, recognized him easily. “Hey Alf,” the knight called out before the griffin could take off to the air.

    Upon seeing the knight, the griffin smiled. “Hey Accordance, everything alright?”

    The knight nodded. “Yeah, just wondering what you were going? Aren't you griffin staying the night?”

    Alf shrugged. “Since I'm the least injured, Warlord Viggo decided that I should be the one to bring a message to the Griffin Kingdom.” The griffin pointed to a window in the second story behind him. “Our ruler isn't really in a good mood right now, you should probably steer clear of him for now.”

    The others looked up to the window, curious if they could catch a glimpse of an angry, 'king' trying to form a coherent plan. “Don't worry though,” said Alf holding his claw out, “I'm a pretty strong flier and can make it the rest of the way up north. Once I can message our forces we can get a hundred griffin to bring back flying carriages to take us the rest of the way there.”

    Feeling that he needed to add something Octavo spoke. “The Griffin Kingdom is not far from here, I could probably make it trotting there before sunrise.”

    Alf shrugged again. “Probably, sounds about right.” He turned to the night. “Good work with the tournament Accordance, you crystal equine gave a good show.”

    The griffin held out his claw and the knight shook it, raising an eyebrow as he did so. “Most contenders are bitter about losing...”

    Ending the shake, Alf took a few steps away getting ready to fly off. “Though Olaf is a better fighter than me, I'm usually better with straight up tournaments, I usually win things like that. Since everyones is forced to running straight at me and get beaten.” Now the griffin was stretching his neck. “But it gets boring to win every time, an occasional defeat is good for you. It makes you strong, makes you see your weaknesses. Anyway I got to go.” Before Alf took off he looked back at them one last time. “Be careful when Viggo wakes up in the morning though, he's not a morning griffin.”

    Accordance said, “Got it” then headed inside. They could hear the griffin take off right before the door shut behind them.



> Sleep Tight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    A lazy fire gave the interior an orange glow, it gave the inn a cozy feeling. The group felt immediate relief from the cold outside. Snaking their way to the front desk, by navigating around the oddly placed round tables, they reached an older stallion that didn't bother to raise his head over his newspaper.

Octavo was the first to reach the counter. “Room for four?” the champion asked.

“Yeah, yeah.” The inn keeper didn't bother to move.

While Octavo stood there, Spike, Accordance, and Charmer came up behind him.

Octavo waited patiently.

“The griffin before you,” the innkeeper began, drearily, “said something about you guys. Paid for your rooms in advance.” The inn keeper tossed two keys on the counter, never taking his eyes off his paper.

Octavo looked the two items over. “But we need four beds.”

“Well we only got two left. Sleep tight. Both rooms are on the second floor.”

They all looked over the keys, one had the number '8' on it, the other '12.'

Accordance sighed. “It'll have to do.” He fitted both into his sack. As they began going up the stairs, the knight spoke up. “So I'll share a room with Twilight.” Octavo and Spike both gave him a look. “It's my responsibility to look after her. I'm her bodyguard after all. Spike, how about you and Octavo take the other room, the human can sleep on the floor.”

They turned out of the stairway and began walking down a hall. “Wait, hold up,” Spike called out. “I want to sleep with Twilight.”

They all halted. “Wait what?” Octavo turned around. “I dozed off for a moment, what the hay did I miss?”

Spike turned beat red. “That's not what I meant.”

“Nice,” said Charmer in a tone that made Spike only blush harder. Twilight, in the Charmer's arms, snored, and began paddling for some reason.

Octavo turned to Accordance. “I was just silently communicating to Travafe, and I just heard Spike say he wants to sleep with Twilight. Seriously, what in those twenty seconds led to this?”

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” Spike began waving his claws trying to dismiss what he just said. They all ignored the human walking behind them.

“I was just talking about seating arrangements,” Accordance said, while struggling to suppress his smirk. He knew Spike had just misspoken, but it was too funny to let go.

They all turned to the sound of a whistle, seeing Charmer, holding Twilight, with room twelve opened at the end of the hall, while the slave let the room twelve key dangle from his finger.

The knight checked his sack. “Hey! When did you-?” He looked up, seeing the grin the human was giving him. “I've had just about enough of you!” He charged down the hall, like he had done back at the tournament. Getting ready to take down the human, to retake his key, and his rightful spot by Twilight's side. He was getting closer, the human was whistling this outright creepy tune. Then as Accordance drew near, in a lightning quick move, the slave slammed the door and locked it. The whole inn seemed to rattle when the knight made contact, and he slid down the door.

Octavo and Spike looked on, knowing what this new development meant for their new bedding arrangement. “That's quite unfortunate.” Octavo looked on, hoping that none of them was apt to squirmed in their sleep.

+++++

On the other end of the door, Charmer pocketed the key. He carried the sleeping mare over to the bed. Reverting back to Modern Latin, he began talking to Twilight. “Lightweight, hmm?” Twilight groaned as her slave placed her on the bed, it was big enough for two equine, easily, but the human was no pony. “What they were serving in that temple wasn't even that strong.” The human laughed to himself as he looked over his master's condition.

He brought back the thick linen covers, and placed them over the mare. Before he could retreat away, she grabbed his hand and brought it close and tight into her chest and sighed contently. I'm stuck, Charmer thought, trying to wiggle his hand free.

As he continued his endeavor, Twilight curled up against his appendage, not letting go. Charmer tried to deny himself that it was an adorable sight, that he wasn't moved by the gesture. From what little he could remember, endearing friendships or even love were looked down upon in the empire. The legionnaire was made into a blank slate, anything human was squeezed out of them, only the primordial instincts to fight were designed to remain. “Twilight...”

Growing more uncomfortable hunched over, the human uneasily shuffled his way into bed, to Twilight's side. As he laid there, with the covers over him, he looked out the window and watched the last of the daylight die. 'Deja Vu; I've been here before.' Before he had time to think deeper on that, he was wisped away.

No longer Charmer, he was subject IY54-FT4-U027. 'Fields of red snow lay out before me once more.' The scene before subject IY54-FT4-U027 was a mess. 'All legionaries capture or kill at your leisure,' came the voice from the psychic network of the empire. We all sent back our agreements to our Centurion.

I looked down taking in the sight of the griffin's wound, he wasn't even shaking, he was dying, slowly. The griffin looked up to see the strange human, with his weird faceplate armor and odd weapon that had killed so many of his friends. The griffin watched as the human raised his weapon. The bayonet gleamed in the rays of sunlight coming through the clouds above. The blade rammed through his armor into his heart, he died instantly.

After a couple minutes of walking around and helping the dying natives die, an odd noise echoed out, a griffin hen crying out in pain. Subject IY54-FT4-U027 looked around to see that one of his fellow legionnaires found a female griffin. Apparently they allowed such things in their military, at least on a small scale.

The legionnaires watched the thing squirm in pain on the floor. They were laughing at it, the hen was trying to crawl away from them, grunting in pain from every movement. Walking a few steps closer, subject IY54-FT4-U027 began to see the hen's injury: an injured wing. She had probably fallen from a short height and hurt herself, but she seemed okay. Maybe a broken rib or two at worse, but even that was questionable. “Hey,” called one of them, “let's have some fun with her. Why not, huh? I hear these griffins and Equines like to have sex with the imperfect humans sometimes. This should be a treat for her.”

One of them kicked her over, she cried out as she rolled over her injured wing, the musket ball hole in the feathery appendage was easily recognizable now that it began to bleed profusely. Subject IY54-FT4-U027, the commissar called out.

Like the obedient soldier Charmer once was, he replied, 'This is subject IY54-FT4-U027. I am ready to serve.'

The legionnaires were surrounding the hen now. Holding her down.

You have been selected for fire duty, I was informed. You have thirty minutes to comply. Don't take your time either, it's cold out here, and it's getting late

I acknowledged the order then went back to watching the hen resist. I could see at this distance that the one holding her back legs was trying to get his crotch armor off. His other two friends were each holding one of her front legs, she was putting up a valiant effort, kicking, screaming even biting a little. But she would lose, and be raped.

'Hmmm, I could intervene. If I wanted to. I could stop this and still have time to set up our fire for our campfire.'

Before subject IY54-FT4-U027 realized it, he could hear the crunching of his own boots on the snow below as he made his way toward the scene. It was in his nature to stop this travesty, this wasn't right, and he knew that somehow, despite all the indoctrination the legion gave him. Though letting go of the vast majority of the propaganda he had been fed would take a long time, but first steps must start somewhere.

“My brothers,” I called out. They all turned to me, except the hen, who was still trying to free herself. When it dawned on me that I didn't plan this out, I scratched the back of my neck. There was a faceplate on me, changing my voice to a generic human, emotionless tone. All the humans had their face plates on, no identification markers, everybody knew nobody. I stopped about twenty feet away from them. “I need to talk you comrades.” When they waited on me to continue, I waved my hand at the hen. “This isn't right, you should let her go.”

The three of them looked at each other. “We're not letting her go. She's our prize of war.”

After a pause, another said, “You shouldn't care, these things aren't human like us.”    

I hated myself for this, but for some reason I couldn't look away, I wouldn't get into much trouble for something like this, but my comrades may begin to look down on me. Shaking my head, I confessed, “I can't let you do that.”

Sensing where this was going, they got up. We all stood there for a moment, neither did anything, then the hen rolled over to her belly and tried to crawl away. When the one in the back saw that their prize was making a move, he reacted. “No you don't you little-” He rose his thick boot high, aiming to crush her wing, when he brought it down, it all began.

Diving past the other two in a powerful bolt, subject IY54-FT4-U027 took down the assailant. The things that were fighting over the hen, were not completely human, they were a modified species that had humanity as it's genetic base, they're fighting reflected this, they were stronger, faster, and reacted to danger quicker. The human that would go by the name Charmer later, landed three blows on the assailant, his armored gloves meeting legionnaire armor.

When the two charged him from behind, he rolled out of the way, and assumed the open handed fighting stance. Realizing that he couldn't get locked into a one on one fight here, not without getting beat up. The one on the ground struggled to get back up, but he managed, ripping off his dented face armor. Showing a face that somewhat resembled Charmer himself. Must have been a similar model, perhaps a FT4 model human.

They all charged him head on, a huge mistake. Charmer was a U027 model, a line of humans with the added genetic material of the imperfect humans, one of the massive imperfect humans had given their seed over to the scientist of the empire, experimenting with the perfect genetic code of man and the more primal imperfect humans was taboo, but overlooked to create killing machines like Charmer.

The flurry of first ensued, though they were a bit more agile, Charmer was much stronger, denting their armor and just overpowering them with simple brute strength. The last one to fall didn't expect the round house kick that knocked him out, the U027 model was perceived as too simple minded to use martial arts effectively. 

Hatred overwhelmed him, but he stopped himself, he wouldn't do something dishonorable. He had won, it was time to stop. They were still his comrades after all. Reverting to his training, he inhaled deeply, assuming the meditation hand sighs, and emptied his anger with an exhale.

The hen was looking over at him, mouth agape, not understanding how a creatures so big could move so quickly. Fear overtook her as the one who had bested her attempted rapist approached. She was shaking, tears ran down her face. Afraid of what was to come.

Charmer took several more steps closer, almost upon her. Taking his helmet off, he cooed, “Shhh, everything's going to be okay.”

When her face lightened up, he realized his tone had gotten through to her. I'll do what I can, but I hope that the POW camps won't be too hard on you. If I can just heal your wounds, you'll have a good chance of surviving us.

It was an extremely weird sensation, but Charmer opened his eyes, and saw the room he and Twilight were in. The sun poked over the horizon, shone through the curtain, and hit Charmer right in the eye with a beam of magic.

'It felt so real,' he thought, with Twilight still curled around his hand. 'Because it was,' his mind told him. 'Charmer,' his brain told him. 'I can feel drool on our hand,' Very groggy, Charmer looked out the window at the sun. 'Me too brain, me too.'

Wondering if Twilight would be hung over, Charmer gently nudged Twilight. “Twilight, it's morning,” the slave said in Modern Latin. The mare felt so warm by his side, in the best way possible.

The slave had fallen asleep with his cloak on, and he was beginning to feel the first traces of sweat linger on his well defined formed. He pulled Twilight a bit closer, not having felt pleasant physical contact in years, to the empire, subject IY54-FT4-U027 was just a tool to use and abuse, something to toss aside the moment it became inconvenient to wield.

He laid there a moment longer, shaking, those flashbacks always had an effect on him. His mind would never, no matter what it went through, forget what those unicorn put him through. After a sigh, Charmer gave Twilight another shake, a harder one, her eyes flickered open.

It was an unfavorable experience for Twilight, waking up in a bed that she didn't remember laying in. Her brain began examining her surrounding, while trying to think of how she got here. ’Okay, last thing I remember was coming to the city of Geneva. We went to the temple to get patched up, then... that drink... IT WAS ALCOHOLIC! I didn't- they didn't- SOMETHING TO TAKE THE EDGE OFF THEY SAID! WELL IT'S NOT OFF ANYMORE!’ Looking around at the cozy surroundings didn't help much. Twilight blinked, then realized a human hand was in her vice grip.

Immediately thinking of her horrible experiences with humans, she kicked it away and drew to the edge of the bed. She didn't scream, but she did gasp. By the time they locked eyes, Twilight almost had a heart attack. They both looked at each other in surprise, Twilight from finding she was holding some human's hand in her sleep, and Charmer from her reaction. She Sighed.

“Oh my. Oh... I thought for a second...”

“Uhhh...” The human appeared worried, with his hands out in front of him. “Sorry, Twilight.”

Twilight waved it off with her hoof. “No, no, you didn't do anything wrong Charmer.” A sense of pride took her when she realized that her human must have been looking after her when she was incapacitated. She leaned in closer and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “You've been a good human, Charmer.” The mare hopped off the bed. “Time to get ready, Charmer. Rise and shine. We need to find out what's on the agenda today.”

After Twilight had fixed up her bed mane to the best of her ability without a comb, something which had been left behind when the carriage was destroyed. She walked down the hall with her slave by her side and went down the steps.

On the far side, in a corner surrounding a table, three griffins huddled around a set of empty glasses. 'Drinking already? Seriously?' Twilight approached them with caution, they didn't seem to be doing much talking, just staring at their own cups. Viggo was either sleeping or passed out, or both. Olaf wasn't present.

Felix and Garth looked up as Twilight approached. “Hey... guys. What happens to on the agenda for the day?”

The two conscious griffins looked at each other, then one answered, “Just lounging around is all, Princess Sparkle, waiting for the cavalry.” Garth chuckled at his own pun, being a little drunk.

Twilight tilted her head. “Say again?”

Garth cleared his throat, Felix seemed too disinterested to speak to the Equine and wouldn't even look at her. “Alf went last evening to the Griffin Kingdom, it's close by, so he’ll likely of reached it quickly. When he tells them what happened, they'll send a small hoard to retrieve our surviving forces.” Garth gave Twilight a level stare. “Meaning us.” Twilight nodded. “The reinforcements are taking a bit long, we'd thought they would be here by now, so we've just been killing time.”

“I see.” Twilight looked around. “So where is everybody else?”

Garth scratched his beak. “Let me see uh... Octavo was the first up, he set out to do some ritual or something, saw him doing something like that in the street. I think Accordance and Spike are still asleep. Olaf went off... somewhere.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow.

Garth chuckled. “Yeah, big fight.” The griffin pointed to his warlord and the door. “Olaf stormed off somewhere.”

“O-Oh... Okay. Well thank you.” Twilight turned to the door.

“Miss Sparkle, I just wanted to say,” when he paused he looked up to the human behind her, “that human of yours saved my ass out there. If there is ever a way I can repay him, I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know.”

Twilight beamed her crooked smile. “I didn't realize he did that... thanks.” She began walking to the door. “I'll let you know if I think of something, sir.”

Garth took a big gulp of his drink, and Twilight went out the door.

It was cold, very cold. Just when Twilight began to wonder what happened to her cloak, her slave brought it out and covered her with it. “Oh! Thank you so much Charmer. I can always count on you.” They both smiled at one another in understanding.

The snow level was kept relatively low due to the city workers, Twilight looked around in the quiet town. Most had their heads down, it felt quite but not eerie, like a library almost. It was something that Twilight could relate to, though she still preferred the atmosphere in Equestria.

It wasn't desolate, but just being here made Twilight feel, almost lonely, yet it didn't feel bad. More like she felt like she was waiting for something, like in a waiting room in a hospital. Everypony kept to themselves.

Trotting down the street, something caught her eye, on a platform that was raised from the street level was a wide building. It was a spacious piece of architecture that had highly decorative entrances with no doors. 'Didn't think I'd see something like that with this cold being the norm,' Twilight thought, though she did note the iron pits with burning flame arranged around the temple.

Walking up the steps she looked around, and sure enough he was there, on his haunches, eyes closed, his hooves together, and lips moving silently. Taking her time,Twilight took slow and small steps on her way over to him.

Before Twilight got to the distance where she decided she would stop and respect his traditions by giving him some time to finish his morning ritual, he smiled and opened one eye. “Princess Twilight, good to see that one among you can get up at a reasonable hour.”

Though a bit unsure of how to interact with him in these circumstances, she took a few steps forward. “Yeah, Spike has always loved to sleep in.”

Smiling again, Octavo motioned to the spot in front of himself.

Twilight walked over across from him. “So,” he began, “was there something you wanted to speak to me about?”

“Uhhh, no. Just wanted to have a little chat with you is all.” Charmer sat next to his master, cross legged again. “Is that a problem? If you're busy, I can-”

Octavo held out a hoof. “No, it's always a pleasure to talk to you Princess Twilight. Just reaffirming my commitment to Travafe is all.”

Twilight tilted her head. “Meaning?”

Octavo chuckled a bit. “I made a few vows to become accepted as Travafe's champion. Such as a vow of poverty, a vow of peace resolution, a vow of worship, a vow of commitment, a vow of secrecy of certain knowledge, a vow to always travel, just to name a few.” Octavo shrugged.

“Wow.” Twilight was watching him intensely. “I'm really surprised about that Octavo, especially the peace one.”

Although Twilight was just being sarcastic and didn't mean for it to be a real joke, he busted out laughing. “You really won't let that one go will you? Oh, strangle one guard and they label you, that's not fair. I've done some really amazing things for others in my travels.” Octavo was smirking at this point. “I barely even hurt him.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “If you say so.” Looking over at her human, she saw that he was clearly meditating.

Octavo had been keeping an eye on him ever since they came into view. “There's more to him than meets the eye isn't there?” Twilight and Octavo's eyes met. “Even I can see that much.”

“Yeah,” Twilight agreed. “At any rate, I was hoping you could help me with something.”

“Tell me.”

Twilight struggled to start. “Ever since Canterlot, and what happened there, I've been reading up on self defense books, I've been in several bad scrapes in my life, but only a few of them actually ended up in an actual fight. I'm a great duelist, but fighting for your life is so different.” Octavo nodded. “And, back there you were so amazing, and I thought... that may be...”

Octavo looked down and sighed. “I'm not interested in teaching just anypony how to fight.”

“Oh.” Twilight looked away. “I understand, no problem really.” Being shot down like this was hard, especially for Twilight, who looked forward to being a student again and learning.

Before she could get up though, Octavo smiled and looked up to Twilight. “However, you have a good moral character Princess Twilight, and you seem like you could make an excellent student. I'd be more than happy to teach you what I know.”

Twilight was smiling almost ear to ear at the prospect of learning all the knowledge this traveling stallion possessed. “Oh thank you, thank you, thank you! I'll be your best student ever.”

“Well you are my first,” the champion mumbled in a thick accent. Twilight was too excited to notice. He cleared his throat, and got Twilight attention. “A few things though, I need to teach you some things relating to Travafe. I won't make you pledge your life or loyalty to him or anything like that. I won't try to make you abandon all your worldly possessions either, but there are a few ideological things I need you to accept, and understand. Just small things though.” He was waving a hoof, trying to physically dispel any idea he would make Twilight do weird priest-like things. “It'll make you better with dealing with fear, and more violent arcane arts...”

Twilight was nodding hard. “Alright, awesome, you got it.”

Thu human was looking over them, up at the sky.

“What can you teach me first?” Twilight asked. “I'm a fast learner! Could you show me how to do those fire spells?”

Octavo held his hoof up. “First lesson is...”

During the pause, the human got up, Twilight leaned forward trying to anticipate what the first spell Octavo would teach her would be.

“...breathing lessons,” Octavo finished. He leaned back, taking a deep breathe. “Now find your center.”

Twilight only looked crestfallen for a second, being the good student she was, she leaned back and did her best.

“Now find your center, that's above the belly, where your center weight is. Now envision it in your head.”

The human was walking around now, looking straight up. “I think I've found it,” Twilight answered. If Octavo opened his eyes he could have seen she was trying too hard, straining herself in what was supposed to be a relaxing meditation.

“Imagine there is an orb right where your center is, and-”

“Griffin here,” Charmer announced.

Both the equine looked at him, wondering why he said that. He pointed up, they continued looking at him. He pointed more violently, they wondered why he was doing that. The human sighed and walked away. “Never mind.”

'Where is he going?' Twilight asked herself. He was going down the steps now. “Hey Charmer don't go off on your o-” Now something in the sky caught her eye. “Hey the griffin are here.”

“Right on time,” said Octavo, getting up. “We'll start our lessons some other time, Princess Twilight.”