Prelude

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Standing atop a hill, overlooking a small town, stood two cloaked figures, their faces completely shrouded in shadow. The shorter of the two, in an obviously feminine voice, says ”Well, here we are.”

Raising an eyebrow “Are you sure this is where he is? Because that is wh-” questions the taller one.

“For the hundredth time, the file only reported that he was last seen in this area.” replies the shorter one with an eye roll and an exasperated tone.

“*sigh*Alright ... then let’s get this over with!” with a grin and a fist pump.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“SPIIIKE!!”

A young dragon pops his head around the corner of a bookcase, revealing part of his lime green underbelly surrounded by purple scales.

”Yeah Twilight?” ask the hatchling, while munching on an emerald.

“I’m heading out to see Fluttershy for a few hours – keep an eye on the everything while I’m gone. Also no snacking either or you’ll ruin your appetite for dinner” says Twilight, using a bit a magic to knock the gem from his grasp.

“Okay Twilight” he replies sullenly. “Have fun at Fluttershy’s.”

As he watches Twilight walk through the doorway, her lavender coat glows brightly as warm sunlight suffuses her whole body, highlighting the very tip of her wings and horn. Once she closes the door he walks over to the emerald and pops what’s left into his mouth eating it in a single crunch.

Walking briskly through the town, Twilight smiles and waves to everypony she passes, stopping to talk to some of them every once in awhile. Deciding to stop by Applejack’s apple stand to say hello and see how her one of her other friends is doing, she makes a quick detour.

Approaching the stand with a smile and a wave. “Hello Applejack, how are you doing today?” asks Twilight happily.

“Howdy Twi! Ah’m alright! What’re ya up to today?” responds Applejack wearing a warm, friendly smile.

“Not very much, I am heading off to visit Fluttershy for a little while. After that I am not too sure, but I do have a few books I have yet to start reading in my new library. How are sales today?”

“Oh they ain’t too bad, a bit slower than usual, but it happens. Well, say hi to Fluttershy fer me when ya see her. Also here’s an apple fer the two of ya, free o’ charge” Replied Applejack as she hands two apples to Twilight.

“Thank you Applejack, I’ll tell her you said hi. Hope business picks up eventually.” Twilight waves goodbye while storing the apples in her satchel. Then starts making her way back towards Fluttershy’s cottage.

A little while later, on the dirt road that leads to Fluttershy’s cottage, a sudden roar echoes off from her right. Twilight stops listening intently, and abruptly changes direction to investigate. Nearing the roaring cries, she sees a manticore attacking somepony. Twilight swiftly fires several magical blasts into the manticore’s side, stunning it momentarily and causing it to slide back several feet. She uses the opportunity to help the pony up, pushing them away, which unfortunately consequence of momentarily exposing her back to the manticore. Swiftly shaking off the blast the manticore turns towards her, snarling through its sharp teeth surges towards her. Hearing the manticore’s enraged snarl she turns back around, only to get struck on the side of the head by the manticore’s paw. The vicious strike knocks her to the ground rendering her unconscious. The manticore raises its’ tail and starts drooling as it anticipates its next meal. With a vicious grin it launches its tail towards her head, looking to end the fight and devour its next meal now.

“Why don’t you pick on somebody your own size?” Using the flat side of an unusual dagger, a cloaked figure stops the sharp tip of the tail in mid-air, and then knocks it out of the way.

Grinning beneath the hood, the cloaked in a sudden movement lightly kicks Twilights body backwards a few feet. The manticore growls threateningly, and prepares to attack again. It lunges towards the cloaked figure, swiping with its’ left paw. The cloaked figure instinctively jumps backwards avoiding the blow. After regaining its balance the manticore raises its giant right paw for a vicious downward strike. At the last second, the cloaked figure side-steps the giant paw as it comes crashing violently to the ground. The manticore realizing it missed, jumps back making space between the two of them angry that something has interfered with its meal again.

As the world slowly comes back into focus for Twilight, she begins running her mental checklist for when waking up unexpectedly. Where am I? What hap… That’s right I was attacked by a manticore! Why am I still alive? Did somepony save me? She slowly begins to take in her immediate surroundings and notices a cloaked figure standing between her and the manticore. Who is that standing in front of me? She wonders to herself. Who would be crazy enough to fight a manticore!? Oh wait… I just did. She looks up at the cloaked figure curiously. She realizes that the cloaked figure is trying to speak to her “You might wanna step back a little there Miss”. The cloaked figure informs her in a firm tone. Before she even realizes what she is doing she stands up and takes a several steps back, putting distance between her and the fight.

The manticore growls and paws at the dirt in preparation to charge again, letting the cloaked figure know it’s ready for round two. The cloaked figure chuckles as he flips the dagger into a reverse grip. “Well let’s go already Mr. Boo-Boo Kitty Fuck.”
They charge each other, but the manticore gets into striking distance first, driving its’ tail towards the cloaked figure. The cloaked figure leans to the inside of the strike stepping in towards the manticore, striking it violently on the side of the head with the metal guard that covers the handle, knocking the beast out cold.

The cloaked figure stands up straight chuckling “Well, that was exciting”, flipping the dagger upright and giving it two quick flicks towards the ground then flips it back to a reverse grip before sheathing it behind his back, under the cloak.
The sound of hoof steps from behind draw the attention of both the cloaked figure and Twilight. Turning around Twilight spots another cloaked figure, this one shorter than the first.

“Oh, hey Mira. How did it go?” ask Twilights unusual savior.

“Everything went fine. I stunned him, put a sleep spell on him, and dropped him off at Town Hall. How did your end go?” replies the now named Mira.

“What were you expect…” Grabbing his side suddenly his balance wavered, his eyes glazed over, and as his body started sinking to the ground, he muttered “Aww crap…not again”

Mira quickly walks over to the cloaked figure with a raised eyebrow “Walker..?” As she reaches his side he collapses to the ground and slips into unconsciousness.

Chapter 1

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Well, you’re probably wondering how all of this got started. So, why don’t you sit right there, and let me tell you how I became the Fresh Prince of Canterlot. No, just kidding, I actually don’t become a Prince – who would want that anyway?!? Rules? Regulations? Dealing with snotty nobles that think they’re better than everyone around them? Paperwork?… uggghhh(shiver)… don’t get me started on the paperwork … like any cheep, cheesy story, mine started with me waking up, not knowing where the fucking hell I was …..

~~~~~~~~{six years prior}~~~~~~~~~~

Waking up in a small clearing, to a warm sunny afternoon was not how I expected to start my day. That is under the assumption I at least had any say in how I started that day anyway.

As I looked around I noticed I was in a forest, since I was surrounded by trees. I gratefully realized I was also uninjured. I checked myself over, shoes, blue-jeans, some red shirt with a black and red mask on it. “Alright – so, where am I? Woods of some sort, it looks like…okay, nothing in my pockets… no weapons or survival supplies… no indication of where I was last or how I got here …*sigh* I need to see if there’s any signs of civilization around here somewhere.”

Taking a deep, steadying breath, I closed my eyes, and listened to my surroundings. Hearing the sound of water rushing over rocks coming from over my shoulder, I figured a river wasn’t too far off. I decide to head over to it since it’s close to where I awoke, also figured I should set up camp near the river, since staying put provides the best chance at being found, if anyone is searching for me. While taking a drink from the river, and splashing some of the cold water onto my face and around my neck, I spot a rocky outcropping off to my right. As I walk closer to it, I find a small cave like depression nestled into the rock wall. On the ground at my feet I notice a several pieces of shale, after finding myself one with a sharp edge I use it to cut down a few saplings. Using them and some of the reeds along the riverside I fashion myself a simple bed. This way I won’t be lying directly on the ground while I’m sleeping. Gathering up a bunch of small branches and more reeds, I weave together two traps for catching fish. After finishing the traps I use the rest of the branches to build a small pen to keep the fish in, so that way I don’t have to catch fish in the trap every time, when I need to eat. Gathering larger pieces of wood from the surrounding forest is tiring but needs to be done if I want to be able to cook the fish I catch, if I catch any that is.

As I sit down and begin to sort through what has happened to me thus far I come across a very disturbing notion.
“I don’t know who I am.” Shivering from the revelation I begin to pull my legs up to my chest. “Wait…” I say in a confused tone loosening my grip a little bit. “If I do not know my own god forsaken name…How in the flying fuck buckets did I do all that crap??” I look over at the bed, fish traps and pen, trying desperately to divine some type of answer. Knowing full well it won’t help.

The next morning I awaken to the same place where I fell asleep.

“God fucking damn it.” I utter with a sigh. “Of course I’m still stuck in this place it’s not like I’m in some magical forest full of unicorns and dragons. Oh yeah, they’re just waiting to whisk me back home, maybe they’ll even give me magical superpowers. Oh boy wouldn’t that be swell.” I mutter to myself with an added arm swing to accompany the sarcastic tone.

After my little pity party or whatever the hell it would be called. Don’t judge me. I decide that I had sat around long enough. Grabbing one of the saplings from yesterday that went unused I fashion myself a rather crappy spear. “Well I won’t be hunting mountain lions with it any time soon but should do well against house cats…..maybe…not.” Sighing, I trudge out into the surrounding forest and began to explore it a bit.

After around a half hour of exploration I stumbled upon a strawberry patch. Grinning like a mad man I began to pick and devour the delicious fruit at an uncontrolled pace. Having not eaten anything at all yesterday, I had nearly eaten 3\4 before I finally stopped myself. “Holy hell these things are amazing!!!” Deciding I should take some back with me I quickly strip my shirt off and place the rest that are ready on it.

Upon returning to my camp I check the fish traps I set up and find I have caught several fish already. “Hot damn.” I exclaim. “We got fresh fish here boys.” A grin spreads across my face. Knowing that I now have a stable source of food is a major boost to my morale and in these types of situations low morale can be as deadly as having no food. H…how the hell do I know that!? “God fucking damn it! Who the fucking hell am I!?” I scream to the world around me not really expecting any sort of answer in return.

I spend some time carving some wood skewers for a couple of fish to help distract me from that damn question. Also knowing I’m going to be cooking the fish is satisfying in a very sadistic sort of way. Don’t you fucking look at me like that; you know damn well that inflicting pain on others is a great way to cover over one’s own inadequacies and/or pain. Yes, its’ true doing it to small animals is also one of the signs of a psychopath, but god damn it, I’m mad and I have to cook them anyways. Also they’ll be dead before I cook them, so, shut up.

After a lunch of cooked fish and strawberries I stripped down and took a quick dip to cool off, and rinse off some of my sweat.”This feels amazing” I hummed happily to myself. “It’s absolutely gorgeous out here.” Peering through the tree tops, looking up at the blue sky above. “Makes me wonder if I should even bother trying to go home again. Not like I know if I even have anyone or even anything worth going back to. I know I’m not rich or anything like that.” The clothes were a dead giveaway on that front. No rich fuck would be caught wearing what looked like a Wal-Mart special. At least if I was rich I think I would be wearing silk suits and the like. Anyway trying to of think who I might be or whose waiting for me back “home” started to make me feel depressed again, so I got out of the water. “I seriously need to find a way to occupy myself or else I’m just gonna keep slipping back into some stupid useless depressive spiraling train of thought and that could end up getting me killed.” Just as I start to sigh I realized what I just said and slapped myself. “Fuck you random knowledge. Stop popping up and making me question myself. I am already in enough of a crisis as it is. I don’t need an existential one too.”

Wandering the forest over the next couple of days helped to give me a good working knowledge of the surrounding area. There were plenty of strawberry bushes that I had missed and several other minor plants that I could eat. None of it was all that exciting, like somehow I knew I could mix the cat tails that grew along the riverside with water and make a batter like substance. Not very tasty but added something new to the mix. Although it was just another piece of knowledge that caused me to wonder just who in the hell I was before all this.

After a quick breakfast of fish and strawberries, I wandered off into the forest again to try and scrounge up some more things to eat and maybe find a damn man-made path or something.

“Wish I could find at least some sign of civilization. I mean I love this beautiful forest but I seriously need to find a way out of here already.” Sighing in frustration I use my spear to push some branches out of the way. “If only I had someone else to talk to, maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.” After wandering around the forest for a while I decide to head back to the campsite for some lunch.

Upon entering I see a bear wandering about my camp, sniffing at my fish pen … I hope the bear is only looking to eat those fish and isn’t interested in eating me … slowly I creep over to my fish pen, and pick up one of the fish with my spear. Offering it to the bear, hoping it will accept the fish as a peace offering. Before eating the fish the bear takes a sniff then gently takes a bite, once it is satisfied that the fish is good it takes the whole thing off the spear before sitting down, and continuing to eat it. I walk over to the fire and begin cooking a couple of fish for myself to have for lunch.

Talking to the bear “So, I guess you’re just hungry, huh? You’re pretty chill for a bear, well you’re the only bear I’ve ever talked to, that I know of any way, you’re welcome to hang out here with me, as you figured out I keep fish over in the pen there” the bear looks back over at the pen, and then back at me questioningly, and I nod. The bear lumbers over to the pen and picks another fish eating it along side me.

The bear stays at my camp, sleeping next to me during the night. Since he has all that fur on him, he is now my own personal furnace to help keep me warm.

The next day at breakfast he leads me to a blueberry bush, so I decided to show my gratitude by scratching behind his ear. “Well aren’t you a helpful fella. Thanks… You know what, you need a name. I mean I can’t just keep calling you “bear”.” Thinking on it for a few seconds I come up with a name that I think he might like. “How about Ursa?” I ask. “It’s Latin, I think, for bear…. How the fu… no, no, I am not falling into that spiraling bullshit again.” I say with a quick shake of my head

“Anyway, how about Ursa as a name there big guy? What do you think of it?” I ask, finally looking over at him to get his opinion. Only to see, what I can assume to be, a look of horror on his face. As he shakes his head vigorously he grunts franticly.

“Okay you don’t want to be called Ursa, check. Hmm…how about…Jo-Jo.” He gives the most flattest look in the history of flat looks. I grin back evilly “Okay Jo-Jo it is then.”

The rest of the day passes for us pretty normally. Well as normal as can be when you are stuck in the middle of a forest, with no memory of who you are, or even how the fuck you got there. With only a bear as a companion. Who is actually a great conversationalist, surprisingly enough. Though it’s really only yes and no questions, but at least I have someone to talk to.

The next morning, he wakes me up with a shove.

Deciding to take a dip in the river to rinse off would be a good idea, when I said he is my personal furnace I meant it, I am covered in sweat.
After checking the fish traps, I toss a fish over to Jo-Jo. When he catches it I say with a grin “Nice catch Jo-Jo”. He growls and rolls his eyes, at the stupid name.

“I have such a good life. I’m hanging out with my friend Jo-Jo, who is a bear, which is so fucking cool. I can go where I want, do what I want, and never have to worry about whether or not some asshole is gonna bitch about what the fuck I’m doing. God damn life is great. Nothing could possibly ruin this day.” Jo-Jo facepaws hard, shaking his head at his new friend and his poor choice in words.

The rest of the morning is spent gathering firewood and berries, also preparing to add a door to my impromptu shelter. While in the midst of building, I hear crashing and branches snapping coming from the bushes. I look over to see Jo-Jo’s alarmed face as something emerges through the surrounding brush.

A bipedal creature stumbles into the camp, its black sharp-edged carapace body, horn, and hooves appear threatening but are in stark contrast to the look in its eyes. I see fear and desperation. The horn on its head flashes green for a few seconds, and I feel a strange itchy feeling on the back of my neck. Off to the right two more crash through the bushes, similar to the first, though definitely more male in appearance. Something about the other two just set off warning bells in my head. So I grab my spear and stand up with the tip of the spear facing downward.

The first one runs behind me, hiding.

I ask the two creatures “So, what do you want?”

“Just back off, grub. There’s no need for you to get involved in this. She is an escaped prisoner, and we are here to capture her.”

“They’re lying!” She says “They work for the militant branch of the new Queen! They have no intentions of taking me back; they’re just going to kill me!!”

The one on the left responds sharply “Don’t listen to her. She is a liar and a known traitor.”

Jo-Jo growls at the two creatures, indicating his instant dislike for them. “Jo-Jo says you are a couple of lying assholes. So, I’m gonna have to call bullshit on that shit. So why don’t you be good little lackey’s, run back to your Queen, and tell her that you did the job. Because as it stands, I’m not letting you come any closer to her.”

The one on the right replies “You don’t know her. Why are you doing this, she attempted to murder the Queen. Do you really think-”

“Stop” I say holding up my left hand. “I don’t care what you have to say. There’re two of you, and one of her. You are obviously chasing her, and she’s scared. Back the fuck off. Or… I will kill you.”

The two dark creatures laugh “What are you and that oversized rodent going to do?”

Angrily, Jo-Jo charges the one that called him an oversized rodent, the other one is shocked by the sudden movement, allowing me to run up and hit it in the face with the butt of my spear. It stumbles back, holding its jaw. I reposition my spear and thrust it towards the creature; I graze its cheek, causing green blood run down.

“Okay, what the fuck? Your blood is green? That is just fucking nasty.” I quip

I prepare to strike again, pulling my spear back, but the creature rushes forward to punch me. Being overweight and not really prepared to fight in any way, shape or form, I’m unable to back away fast enough and it hits me square in my jaw. It causes me to stumble and spin around. It then delivers a quick snap kick to the small of my back causing me to stumble off to the side and lose my balance. The dark creature grins, and fires an energy blast, of some sort, that hits the back of my right shoulder, causing me to drop the spear. I touch my wound, and draw my hand away. Thankfully there is no blood on my hand, because a bleeding wound is all I need right now. Seething with rage I close my eyes; clenching my fist around the spear as I pick it back up and stand gritting my teeth against the pain. As the dark creature lunges toward me intending to punch me again, something in the back of my mind warns me of the attack, so I duck quickly under the attack and turn around. Slamming my left fist into the inside of its right knee, I cause it to drop to a knee. Standing up, I take two steps back and switching to a two handed grip in the spear, with a quick thrust and a satisfying crunch, I skewer the fucktard right through the eye.

After pulling the spear from its skull, I spit on the asshole’s corpse. Looking over I see Jo-Jo tearing the throat out of the other one. “Good job Jo-Jo.” I say with an evil grin. “Don’t let any of that go to waste now.” As I walk away, I shake my head wondering where that bit of darkness just came from. Cause seriously that shit just ain’t me, but I decide to ignore it in favor of more important matters.

Sighing I look over at the female creature that has stumbled into my campsite. “What the hell is your name and what the fuck are you for that matter. No need to answer those in any particular order.”

Rising, what I guess would be an eyebrow, she responds with. “You don’t what I am? How can you not know what I am, every living thing on Equis knows what a Changeling is.”

Raising my own in response. “Equis? Changeling? What the fuck?” Taking a moment, I stop and consider this new and seriously concerning information. Okay, I need to think about this logically. I must be on… No, no that doesn’t work because there is no way a hallucination would go this far or be this detailed. I’m definitely not dreaming, I have gone to sleep too many times and woken up here still. Also the pain from that fight would have woken me up, or dispelled whatever hallucination I could be having even if only temporarily. The only real options left open to me are… No, those can’t be right. Time travel, a Parallel Universe or another Planet!? That… that’s impossible,*sigh* then again, Occam’s Razor does state that the simplest answer is often the right one, and those are the simplest ones. After thinking it over I decide that thinking about it is too complicated at the moment to deal with and is starting to lead into another spiral because of Mr. Occam and his damn Razor.
Looking at the changeling, I see she’s giving me a slightly worried look. “What?”

“Are you okay? You had a…concerning look on your face.” She asks, as she backs away slightly.

“Yeah. Sorry about that, just thinking about what you just told me and I felt it prudent to give it careful consideration, especially since the information is severely unexpected and perception shattering. I’m guessing I had some weird look on my face that was the cause of the concern.”

“Yeah you kind of did. It was kind of creepy. What were you giving extra thought any way?” she asks curiously

“My current predicament. In particular the information you have given me about yourself and this…planet, time line, alternate reality?” I wave off my own question. “Any way if what you said is true, which I have no reason to doubt given the evidence.” I say with a look over to the corpses of the other two changelings. “Which lead to me thinking of my current relation to all this.” I say with another wave of my hand. “To change topics, you still haven’t told me your name yet there Missy.”

“My name is Mira…*sigh* Shattered Mirage.” She finishes in a defeated tone.

I grin conspiratorially “Nice to meet you Mira.” I hold out my hand to her.

She stares at my hand for a moment. “I said my name is-“

“Mira. I heard you the first time” I interrupt quickly and with a friendly smile.

She smiles back. “Thank you.” She takes my hand and gives it a firm shake “So what’s the name of my savior?”

“Uhh…that’s a… umm…difficult question to answer. I …uh…don’t know my name.” I reply using my other hand to rub the back of my head.

“How in Tartarus do you not know your own name?” She asks now completely and utterly confused. “I mean how can you not know your own name, yet fight as well as you did? Or build this campsite so well. I mean that just sounds like some cheap gimmick a writer would use to try and make the main character more interesting.” she continues as she looks around my little campsite.
Sighing I decide to fill her in on all that’s happened thus far and what little I know of myself. After about an hour or so later, we sit back and just stare at each other silently waiting for the other to say something.

“Well you gonna say something or just stare at me some more?” I ask in a slightly annoyed tone.

“Let me see if I got all this first. You woke up here about a week ago, with no memories of who you are, where you’re from, or even how you got here. You’re skilled in wilderness survival techniques, shown by the fact that you are skilled in crafting simple traps, recognition of a variety of flora your body can consume and even capable build a shelter for yourself, all of this allowing you to spend extended periods of time in the wilderness. Also a… somewhat, decent fighter, not the best but good enough I suppose. Yet you can’t even remember your own damn name?” She states as she eyes me up. “I mean seriously, that just sounds too good to be true. It makes it seem like you were brought here at the cost of your identity.” Honestly the way she looks at me makes me feel like I’m her next meal or something; it’s kind of creepy. You know that just makes it sound dirty, the better way to it put I guess would be, it seems like I’m some mysterious puzzle she is just dying to solve.

“That’s it in a nut shell I guess. Sorry I don’t have more to tell you.” I rub the back of my head slightly embarrassed that I don’t know all that much about myself.

“Do you know anything else about yourself?” She asked.

“Nothing that I can think of, I just seem to be able to do all sorts of different things without even really thinking about it.” I reply. “I mean just look at the campsite and you’ll get the gist of what I seem to be able to do. Though since I decided to stay put and not move, I may have other skills I can’t use since I don’t have the necessary equipment to utilize them.”

“Well lets at least figure out your name, or even come up with one so I can thank you properly.” says Mira with a small smile on her…muzzle? The fuck if I know what the fuck a bug-human thing would call its mouth…area…thing.

“That sounds like a decent idea. Oh the bears name is Jo-Jo by the way” who growls at the use of the name.

Mira looks of at the bear and smiles “Thank you as well sir. I appreciate your assistance in saving my life.”

Jo-Jo grunts in response and starts eating the other changeling. What? He’s a fucking bear for crying out loud, they are omnivorous. Also the fat fuck ain’t gonna turn down a free meal especially one that tried to kill him and insulted his noble lineage.

Yeah kinda just bullshitted that last bit, but fuck it not like anyone is really gonna care about some shit like that.

Mira looks back over at me and sighs. “We still need to give you a name mister. Wait how about that. We’ll call you Mister.”

“Fuck and no. There is no way I am going to be called Mr. Mister. That is just redundantly stupid and makes me sound like a retard, or some crazy lady’s cat.” The thought of being called such causes me to shudder slightly.

“Well what the buck do you want to be called?” asks Mira in a slightly annoyed tone.

“I think… wait… did you just say buck?” I ask as my eyes widen while I struggle not to die laughing at how absolutely adorable that was.

“Yeah, so…?” she responds with a raised eye… brow? Ridge? The fuck should I know. I am just gonna call them what they are on a human and stop wasting time trying to understand this place.

“Nothing, nothing at all.”

“No no please enlighten me as to what is wrong with me saying buck.”

I struggle valiantly not to laugh but seriously it is a losing battle. Hearing her say it again makes me feel like I’m in some world designed by or for little ones. After a few deep breathes I finally manage to get myself under control.

“Trust me it’s nothing important, just I’ve never heard… well I might have I guess, but I don’t remember hearing anyone ever say buck instead of fuck before. So it just struck me as adorable and silly that an adult would say something so childish.” I inform her with a sheepish grin.

Her response is even better than her saying buck in the first place. She actually blushes and gives the most adorable little pout I have ever seen, well considering Jo-Jo never pouts around me I guess it’s the first one I have seen, but that is besides the point. Stop making me go off on tangents.

“Well it is common among pony kind and that is where I do…or rather did most of my work. So I adopted their manner of speech.” She replies then sticks her tongue out at me, which is forked by the way. God the things I bet…Oh hell fucking no. I have been here only a week there ain’t no way I am going native this fucking soon.

“So…uhhh… about that new name, I was thinking and I kinda like the name Walker. Don’t really know why, just sort of has a good feel to it.” I say trying to change the subject so I don’t think more about things I don’t want to think about.

“Walker.” She tests the name out. “I see what you mean. It certainly does seem to feel right somehow.” She smiles and holds out her hand.

“Well it’s nice to meet you Walker and also thank you for saving my life.”

I take her hand and give it a firm shake. “You are more than welcome Ms. Mirage. Also it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” I smile back.

Chapter 2

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Beep-Beep

Oww my fucking head is trying to kill me. What was the fucking dumb thing I did this time? Waking up like this is never, ever my favorite, usually because I have an angry changeling standing next to me ready to slap me in the back of my head for pulling a stupid.
Speaking of which there seems to be a severe lack of aforementioned hand meeting the back of my head at the moment. Sitting up and taking a look around the room I can clearly see I am in a hospital. Also it would seem the aforementioned bug is missing.

“Okay I’m here, but where the hell is my bug?” I wonder out loud.

When I go to scratch the back of my head my hand stops suddenly, looking down I see I am cuffed to the bed. “Okay this is getting weird and kind of kinky. Mira didn’t you tell them simple restraints won’t hold me?” I call out expecting her to be on the other side of my door.
With a quick yank and a loud snap, a link breaks, freeing me from the bed. Sighing to myself and wondering again where in the hell my bug is at, I climb out of bed and search the room for my personal effects.

A second later I hear the door open behind me, without turning around “Hey Mira, why didn’t you tell them that those restraints wouldn’t hold me? Especially without the Resistor attached. I mean seriously using those are about as effective as trying to detain a minotaur with a wet paper bag. I mean even if they have a null field built into them they still wouldn’t be able to hold me.”

“We will be sure to take that into account next time vermin. Now lie back on the bed or I will force you to do so” Says a rough voice that quite clearly does not belong to Mira. “Also we have already detained your companion, so make this easier on yourself and comply.”

I turn around to see one of those Royal Guards, earth pony style, all done up in that hideously fancy gold armor they all seem to wear. “Ha hahaha. That’s a good one Sparky now run along before you hurt yourself.” I start to turn back around but I thought occurs to me so I look back up at him, and boy does he look pissed as all hell. “You wouldn’t happen to know where they put my clothes would you?” I ask simply.

Only to have a response of his spear thrust at my face.

I quickly duck under the attack. “Come on all I did was ask a question. I mean the hospital gowns are all flowly and shit, so I’m worried I might pop out while walking around. I mean I don’t have a sheath for my junk like ya’ll stallions do. So I’m just flapping in the breeze under this thing.” Of course the whole time I attempt to explain this to the nice stallion, he is trying to impale me on the end of his spear. God that just sounds dirty. “Look I know I snapped at you back there and I am sorry for it but seriously don’t you think this is a bit of an overreaction. Do you want me to write you a letter of apology, because I could do that if you stop trying to impale me with your spear… you know even out loud that sounds dirty.”

Next thing I know I find myself pinned to the ceiling by a gold aura. Unable to move at the moment I decide taking a break from strenuous activity sounds like a great idea, I mean I did just wake up in a hospital.
“I would seriously consider listening to my Guard human, or I just might kill you here and now.” Comes’ a seriously amazing and very angry sounding voice from the hallway.

Into the room walks in probably the most sexiest being on the planet, second to me of course. Standing at around 7ft tall, with a tit to ass ratio that would make any male, straight or not, drool like an idiot, sporting a soft pastel colored mane and a white coat is Princess Celestia herself, dressed in an elegant yet simple white dress. Her horn glowing the same gold color that is holding me to the ceiling, her wings spreading out slowly to either side as she enters the room.

“The only reason you even still breathe is the eyewitness accounts of you saving Princess Twilight. So it would behoove you to cooperate and lie back down on that bed.” She commands in a very authoritative voice.

“Are you going to be joining me in bed beautiful?” I ask with a shit eating grin on my face. Looking back later I realized in that moment I had just fucked up. In an instant I find myself hurtling into the floor at speeds unachievable in the limited space between the ceiling and the floor.
“Oww, so should I take that as a no? Or is this your idea of foreplay? Because if it is, I think you need to work on it.” Seriously being slammed into the floor at high speed hurts like a bitch, then again it ain’t the first time I have had a personal interview with the floor of a hospital.

“You would dare to suggest that I would even consider committing such an act with the likes of you? How dare you, you filth.” Having my back meet the ceiling is definitely as uncomfortable as meeting the floor, though flying backwards is as interesting as you would think it to be.

“You know something, this game is starting to get a little old. I mean I know you don’t, but do you know how many times I have been slammed into things since I got here?” I ask turning my head slightly to look over at the Princess, and God damn bitch got major titties. From my spot on the ceiling I can see right down her dress and damn that is some glorious cleavage.

Before she can reintroduce my face to the floor, the sound of running hooves is heard from the hallway. “Please Princess Celestia, I beg you to stop. I know he’s an idiot but he means you no harm. He just does not think before he speaks.” Mira pleads, as she slides into the room before prostrating herself in front of the Princess.

Princess Celestia looks down at her with a sneer. “Why should I even listen to anything a changeling has to say?”

“I know that neither Walker nor I rate very highly in the lands of Equestria, but please I beg of you. We mean your ponies no harm. We are only here, in these lands chasing down the Puppeteer. I swear.” Mira pleads still keeping her eyes trained on the floor in front of her.

“She is telling the truth.” I state from my place on the ceiling, which is kind of comfy, now that I’m not being slammed against it. “She dropped him off at Town Hall since this place doesn’t have a prison cell or something similar. He should still be there or being processed as we speak.”
“Silence both of you! How dare you even think to speak to the Princess, considering all that you and your kind have done” yells the Guard. He kicks Mira in the side knocking her over.

Needless to say I take some serious offense and stare at the Guard. “Hey buddy you better hope the nice Lady holding me right now never lets go while you’re-“I get interrupted as a tray hits me in the side of the head.

“Walker shut the hell up and let me handle this.” Mira glares at me for a moment then kneels in front of the Princess again. “Please Princess, I completely understand your distrust of us and Walker’s behavior has been utterly horrendous towards you, but I beg of you to give us a chance to prove ourselves to be worthy of even a little trust.”

Looking back down at Mira, Princess Celestia notices a ring around the base of her horn. “Changeling lie to me now and I will have you both locked away till you wither away. What is the purpose of that ring?”

“It is a null-field ring your Majesty. I requested it the moment Walker came under the influence of the manticore venom in his system. I knew it would be the only way any of the citizens or even hospital staff would trust me enough to not kill me on sight.” Mira replied calmly.

“You requested it yourself? I doubt that highly.” Says the Princess with sneer “Why would one who specializes in hiding allow such an ability to be taken away?”

“Because Walker is my friend your Highness, while medical treatment is not necessary for him when it comes to something as simple as venom, but I know waking up somewhere he can recover in comfort is something he appreciates.”

“She isn’t lying Princess Celestia.” Comes’ another voice from the hallway. Seriously how many others are out there waiting to come in here and add to this conversation?

“Princess Twilight, are you telling me that you believe this… thing?” Princess Celestia asks, honestly confused and a little bit disgusted that anypony would ever trust the word of a changeling, especially Twilight.

“Unfortunately it’s not a matter of belief Princess. I had Rainbow Dash corroborate her story by checking with town hall. They said somepony her height, wearing a black cloak did in fact drop off the Puppeteer and collect the reward. Also when the human fell to the ground after saving my life she begged for us to bring him to a hospital. She also asked to be fitted for the null ring and placed under watch in the hospital so that she could await his awakening. Not once did she move or try to even bring her magic to bear in an attempt to subvert anypony. She has been waiting patiently in the waiting room. At least until she ran off when loud thumping noises started to occur.” explained Twilight in a slightly disbelieving tone.

Princess Celestia looks back and forth between the two of us for several minutes before sighing and letting me drop back to the ground. “You should count yourselves very lucky that Princess Twilight has decided to vouch for you. If she had not… well the consequences would have been very unpleasant for the both of you.”

I sit up and brush myself off quickly. “Well thank you then Lady Twilight. I appreciate you helping us out like that.” I smile happily to her.
“I only did it because you saved my life and brought a criminal to justice. Had that not been the case I would have not intervened at all.”

“But you did and now I know you are a good, honest pony, which is something I respect a lot.” I say still smiling.

Twilight raises an eyebrow wondering what kind of weirdo I am. *I mean what kind of crazy being not only steps in front of a manticore, befriends a changeling but also acts like such an idiot when their very life hangs in the balance? He seems like such a simpleton.*

After sighing in frustration Princess Celestia clears her throat gaining the attention of those present. “Since it seems that the only crime here is disrespecting myself and the Royal Guard and my fellow Princess has asked that I be lenient, I will not have either of you arrested.” I look at Mira and grin happily. “But since I have no real reason to trust either of you, you shall join me back at Canterlot, in the castle under constant supervision. Should either of you step even one hair out of line I will have you both imprisoned. Do I make myself absolutely clear?”

Before I can even answer one way or the other, Mira appears at my side and slams my head to the floor. “Perfectly your Eminence.” She says to Princess Celestia, then to me “Walker don’t you dare say a word or I will string you up and beat you till you are black and blue.”

Of course the simple fact that she choose to word it that way means I can’t leave it alone. “A word” I say with a grin only to get punched in the side of the head. “Oww Mira, little rough don’t you think.”

“I swear Walker if you get us into anymore trouble I am going to kill you.” She says giving me her no nonsense look.

Sighing I simply nod and stand up. Of course standing reminds me that I am still wearing the hospital gown, only now the gown has shifted just enough that my dick is now poking out. “Umm…any chance I could get my stuff back.”

All eyes in the room turn towards me and the new member looking to them all. The moment the guard and Twilight see it they turn and blush, though I think Twilight is more attempting to become a tomato with how red she is.

Sighing Princess Celestia ignites her horn again and adjusts my gown then calls for a nurse to bring in my things.

A little bit later a white earth pony nurse, with the typical hospital sign as a cutie mark brings me my clothes. When she hands them over I grin. “Thank you sweetheart that is mighty kind of you.”

She just rolls her eyes and walks away, though I do notice that her hips sway just a bit as she does.

I chuckle softly to myself then rip the gown off of my body. Hearing a gasp I look up and see that Princess Twilight is covering her mouth and looking at me in horror. Curious as to what the look is for I look at my body and notice nothing out of the ordinary. “What?”

Twilight sniffles slightly and walks up to me, placing a hand on some of the scars covering my body. “How are you even still standing after some many injuries?” She gently traces several of them seeming to try and divine their origin.

I chuckle while a soft smile spreads across my face. “Well I didn’t get them all at once, if that is what you are thinking happened. If I ever have the chance I would be more than happy to tell you how I obtained some of them. Some of them have quiet the tale attached to them.”

She looks up at me struggling not to cry. “Some of these look like torture scars though.”

I gently pat the top of her head. “True, some of them are, but here I am and they aren’t so, no need to worry about me Princess. Though I do appreciate your-“before I could finish the Guard knocks my hand off the top of her head.

“Do not touch her Majesty.” Growls the Guard threateningly.

Princess Twilight seemed to have a very different opinion on whether I could touch her or not, because the moment Guard threatens me she whips around and glares. “You do not decide who has the right to touch me. It is my body and I will decide for myself, thank you very much.”

The poor Guard just cowers a little while attempting to stutter out an apology. I-I…I’m sorry your Highness. Please forgive me.”

“Give the guy a break Princess he was just looking out for your well being is all.” I stick up for the Guard surprising both of them.

Twilight at least has the decency to look sheepish about her faux pas. “I’m sorry. I’m really not use to being a Princess.”

“It’s completely understandable Princess. I did not mean to upset you.” Looking over at me the Guard sighs. “Thank you as well I guess.”

“Don’t mention it. Now if ya’ll don’t mind I need to finish getting dressed.” I say smiling, still in my birthday suit.

After a couple seconds both the Guard and Princess Twilight realize I am standing there butt naked. Both blush and look off to the side
After rummaging through my stuff, I see that it’s all there. I pull on my dark grey pants, black vest and button up my boots. Putting on my cloak reveals all of my weapons underneath, which as you guessed causes another series of out bursts.

“Stop right there. Touch those weapons and I will be forced to kill you.” Growls the Guard, the tip of his spear pressed firmly against my back, though to be honest it sounds like he really doesn’t want to.

“Fine, take the throwing knives, but this one stays with me.” I say picking up my dagger and unsheathing it, to check for any damage.

The Guard pushes the spear tip into my back just enough to cause a slight amount of bleeding. “Drop that one as well, now.”

I turn slightly and stare him in the eyes. “This one stays-“

SMACK!!

“Walker! What did I tell you about causing more trouble? Now hand over the dagger as well or so help me, I will tan that hide of yours.” Exclaims Mira.

“Mira you-“

“I don’t want to hear it Walker. Now hand over the dagger, before you get us killed.”

Sighing I hand the dagger and sheath to the Guard, once he takes hold of them I let go with a grin.

The Guard looks at me confused for a second before his left hand plummets to the floor.” What in the name of the Sun?”

Laughing loudly, “Only I can lift it when it’s not in the sheath. The dragon who gave it to me said something about the amount of magic in it making it partially sentient or some such. Honestly I was to drunk at the time to listen at the time.”

Mira slaps me in the back of the head again. “Walker sheath the dagger and hand it over properly, now!” demands Mira getting very annoyed with my antics.

“Fine.” Bending over I pick up the dagger and sheath it so the Guard can hold it. “Sorry I just don’t get a chance to see that particularly effect often and it’s kind of funny to see people’s reactions.” I say sheepishly while rubbing the back of my head.

“You are severely trying my patience human.” Intones Celestia while she stares daggers my way.

I hold my hands up and grin. “I sorry I’s just an idiot that don’t knows no bettah.”

She sighs and rubs her face with one hand. “Let us just adjourn to the castle already. I have had enough of these shenanigans, never thought any but Discord would have me utter such.” She says with a roll of her eyes.

“Princess Celestia, would it be alright if I join you? I would like to question the human and see what information we might be able to gain on their current activities.” Asks Twilight, hoping to learn more than just current events.

“Sorry but I have no clue what the other humans are up to. Wish I could give you something but suffice it to say them and I don’t see eye to eye on anything.” I pipe up.

“We shall see what you know once we return to the castle. Also you may join us Twilight, I think you may be able to think of questions I might not and gain us knowledge that we did not have before on the humans” Replies Princess Celestia as she looks me up and down.

A little while later finds Mira and me in a carriage on our way to Canterlot. I have to say though, the carriage is amazing, and the seats are soft, rich, crushed red velvet lined with polished brass buttons separating it into seats. The frame is made from some dark colored wood that lends a sense of privacy and comfort. The windows have beautiful dark blue satin curtains covering them adding even more privacy to the ride.

Whistling “Wow never thought I would be brought anywhere in this much style. I must say I’m admiring the craftsmanship and care that has gone into building our current means of transportation then the actual fact that I am in something so beautifully crafted.”

“I’m surprised that a barbaric brute such as you can even appreciate such finery.” Spouts the Guard from earlier, who seems to refuse to stop staring at me.

“Hey just because I like fighting and causing a commotion where ever I go does not mean I don’t understand or appreciate the amount of time and effort that goes into to building a carriage. I mean look at the support beam here.” I say pointing over his shoulder. “The carpenter that made it took the time to specifically carve this by hand, with a simple wood planer. Not that fancy unicorn magic or growing the tree through earth pony magic. Whoever did this took the time to lovingly craft this entire thing. Every bend, curve and angle was hand crafted by somepony that wanted their work to truly be able to stand the test of time and do the job it was meant to.” I explain.

Raising an eyebrow “Wow, I would have never expected you to be so passionate about something like this. It kind of seems at odds with how you were earlier at the hospital.”

“That my dear friend is just how I am when I am forced to deal with unexpected situations upon awakening. Though there is one thing I would like to fix from earlier, well two things I guess, first is I am sorry with the way I acted it was really stupid and I tend to be a bit more reactive then proactive. Second, is I never got your name, mine is Walker and if it’s not too much of an issue I would really like to start fresh.” I say holding my hand out.

The Guard starts laughing. “You really are a strange one aren’t you? Alright then.” He reaches up and removes his helmet. The moment he does, there is a slight ripple across him like heat seen at a distance. Where once sat a grey earth pony with a white mane and tail, now sits a green earth pony with a sort of mud brown mane and tail. “Nice to meet you Walker, my name is Foe Hammer.” He says in a way more feminine voice.

“Wait are you a…?” I try to ask but can’t seem to get the word out.

“Hahahaha yes Walker I’m actually a mare.” She says with a smile on her face.

“Holy crap I would not have guessed that in a million years. I thought the armor only changed physical appearance so commanding officers wouldn’t be so easily spotted on the battlefield. I never considered that they would alter auditory perception as well. That seems kind of odd to me though. Why would the armor make you look and sound like a stallion? I mean that doesn’t seem to make any sense considering the gender equality here in the lands of Equestria. I know the gender ratio is skewed to some degree here.”

“Yeah there are more mares than stallions here and also neither is looked as inferior to the other, but a lot of visiting diplomats get a bit huffy when they realize a mare has been assigned to their guard detail. So the Princesses got together and tweaked the armor to be a bit more comprehensive.” She explained with a sigh.

“Guessing you have had to deal with your fair share?”

“Yeah, since I tested well as a body guard I tend to end up be working with the diplomats a lot but once some of them find out I am female suddenly I am incompetent and a liability.” She says sighing at the end of it.

“Well from what I have seen thus far you excel at the job. Also I think you are much easier on the eyes like this.” I say with a smirk.
Mira smacks me in the back of the head. “Walker stop flirting. She is trying to do a job and doesn’t need you getting her into more trouble.”

Laughing Hammer replies “He can try all he wants won’t do him any good. I’m a lesbian.”

Her saying that nearly causes me to lose my shit. “Well then maybe you should have a look at my dear friend Mira here. Cause come on she’s a changeling, she could literally be anyone you have ever wanted to sleep with.”

“No offense, but I am not interested. Already have a mare I’m after…Why the hell am I even telling you all of this.” Hammer asks confused.

“I don’t know I just seem to have a very relaxing personality, just kind of always been that way. Anyone I talk to just seems to open up. Never like life story, type opening up but, you know a more, friendly sort of style. I just seem to be very relaxing from what I have been told.” I answer her unintended question. “I have even had some fall asleep leaning against me when riding on the train. I mean like strangers on the train just leaning on me and passing out, only to wake up later and tell me it was the best sleep they had without being in a bed, kind of comfortable around me.”

“That is odd. Though why would you let them use you as a pillow or something?” Foe Hammer asks.

“I just don’t care. I mean so what if they’re using me as a pillow for some time. It’s not like they are hurting me or causing me any sort of suffering and also they are happy and comfortable around me. I mean I am human in a world that hates humans, when they show that level of comfortability around me it makes me feel like it might all work out in the end for me.”

You really are a strange one, you know that?” Foe says with a grin spreading across her face.”Question though, what is up with that Dagger? I mean beyond the obvious, also you mentioned something about getting it from a Dragon? I didn’t think they would have such a unique item nor would they willing part with it.”

“That my dearest Hammer is quite the tale.” I say with a smile making its way on to my face at the memory.

Chapter 3

View Online

{5yrs, 11months}

Walking down a dirt road, that Mira told me leads to a town where we can pick up a few provision and maybe see about getting me a better weapon than my stone tipped spear, I continue our conversation that has left me more than a little…confused? “So if a mare smacks me on the ass with her tail then that means she’s interested in me?” I asked. Honestly the more I learn about this world I now live in the stranger it gets.

“Correct, though it doesn’t necessarily have to be a mare.” Mira replies with a giggle

Groaning and facepalming, “So you mean to tell me if a stallion does it than it means the same thing?” Because of this all I can picture now is some stallion thinking I’m gay and using their tail to smack my ass while giving me a flirty smile. “If some stallion does such you are here by immediately ordered to stop me from slapping the flirty smile that I guarantee they will have off their face.”

“I accept on the condition that I get to stop you my way.” She replies with a grin that gives me pause.

“Fine, but at least make sure whatever you do its worth whatever the fallout may be.”

“Then you have yourself a deal.” She replies.

For the last few weeks Mira and I have been discussing the different cultures that exist on Equis. Mainly pony society since that’s where Mira worked most often, and by work, I mean she collected love, the actual emotion for the hive. Which is apparently an energy/food source for changelings, of course this was before she became an exile. On that note apparently becoming an exile means your name is changed to reflect this, so any attempt to join a new hive is meet with difficulty, and that’s the reason why she tried to tell me her name was Shattered Mirage at first.

Anyways she has been filling me in on all the different things of importance that have happened in this weird ass place. Like there were apparently humans here before I got here. Five of them to be exact, who sadly went crazy and tried to destroy Canterlot Castle about twenty years ago, from what she heard, it was because they were stuck here. She told me that because of this many of Equestrias allies have also adopted a very harsh polices against any humans. Apparently they are to detain them by any means necessary and send them to Equestria to face trial.

Though not a single one has been seen since then, this has caused many to become concerned as to what they’re up to. Mira believes, and so do I, that once I begin to make myself known they’re going to try to reach out to me. If they do though I’m gonna jaw the fuck out of those assholes, I mean seriously, boo-fuckity-who they can’t go fucking home again. What the fuck is the big fucking deal? Like that shit hole of a planet is even worth going back to.

But I digress; Mira has explained many things about this world. Like all of the different denizens that live on this planet, which consist of ponies, minotuars, griffins, zebras and many other races, even fucking Dragons motherfucker.

I couldn’t fucking believe it when she said that. Dragons, I actually get to meet real, live dragons up in this bitch. That literally made my fucking day. I asked as many questions as I could think about them. Come to find out when they are still hatchling they eat gems to strengthen their scales, that’s only for the first couple decades though after that they switch to a more meat based diet so that they can begin to gain the muscle-mass needed for flight, fighting and, many other things. They do still consume gems and certain minerals on occasion but, gems are more of a snack or dessert. The minerals they eat serve a variety different purposes, like a small amount of sulfur added to their diet can drastically increase the output of flame in their breathe attacks.

With every question I learned more and more about the world and, to be honest I was hungry for knowledge. The more I knew the less I could fuck up, blowing our cover in whatever town we ended up in, and given our current predicament, anonymity was our best chance at survival.

“WALKER!” Mira shouts loudly in my ear.

“Ahh. What the hell Mira? Why the holiest of fucks are you screaming in my ear?” I rub my left ear trying to get the tinnitus to subside, seriously for being so short she has a set of lungs on her.

“You were doing that glazed over, spacing out thing again.”

“Well yeah I was just thinking about all the stuff you’ve told me so far. It’s a lot to take in… heh that’s what she said.” I chuckle at my dirty little joke.

Mira rolls her eyes too use to my dirty jokes after hearing for the last three weeks or so, to even be bothered and trust me there was quite a few of them. “Anyway, as I was saying the next closest town is a pony one so you really need to pay close attention or else they’re gonna catch on to us.” That’s another thing I’ve really come to like about her
in the short time I have known her, no matter what’s going on she always has my best interest at heart.

I mean she could just turn herself into a pony and leave my sorry ass on the roadside or turn me in and get some reward money but instead she has taken it upon herself to educate me on all the shit I would have no clue about if I was by myself. For being part of a race that is supposed to be all about deception and manipulation she’s certainly upfront and honest about everything.

Like she told me when she first saw me in the clearing she tried to use a simple mind control spell on me, to have me hold off the other two so she could get away. She had quickly realized it wasn’t working and switched tactics. After some discussion and testing we discovered that while I am immune to any sort of mental subversion magic in and of itself, a wide range of other spells work just like normal. I have to say being tossed around by telekinesis was the highlight of my fucking day.

SMACK!!

“Oww. God damn it Mira. Why are you being so abusive?” I ask with faux hurt tinting my voice.

“Because you were doing it again, I mean seriously how often are you gonna space out like that?” She asks with a raised eyebrow.

“I told you I am thinking about everything that has been happening up until now. Making sure I remember everything. I mean hell I forgot my own name, forgive me for being worried about the fact I might forget something else.” I reply with a well executed eyeroll.

“Whatever.” She replies with a sigh.

“Hey look,” I place a hand on her shoulder getting her to look up at me. “I really appreciate all the help you’ve been giving me, and I know I’m not always the easiest to deal with but I’m scared of losing more of who I am.” I say, casting my gaze to the ground, the weight of what has happened thus far weighing down on me again. “I’m just really worried is all; especially after what you told me happened to the other humans that showed up here: I keep wondering if I am gonna lose it just like they did.”
Mira sighs and pulls me into a tight embrace. “Listen Walker if something like that ever happens I’ll be there to help pull you back from the edge. You saved my life when we first met, you did it without knowing anything about me or even what was going on so at least let me return the favor. If you ever forget I’ll be there to remind you of who you really are, okay?” She gives me a smile and tightens the hug just a little.

I smile hugging her back just as tightly. After a few moments we break the hug. “You know Mira you are the best thing to ever happen to me.”

“That’s because besides that bear living with you at the campsite, I am the only other thing to happen to you that you can even remember.” She quips with a grin.

“Well I guess that is true” I grin back as we continue down the…road? “Hey Mira I got a question for you.”

With a sigh of regret, knowing it’s going to be another one of my odd questions “What is it this time?”

“Well considering everything you have told me about this world, all of the different places and ‘people’ that live here, don’t you find it kind of strange that a number of the predominate races that live here not only share certain physical traits but also a number of unique abilities that are similar to certain mythological beings reported to have existed on my planet?”

“Huh.” She pauses for a moment to think then begins walking again. “I never really stopped to think of that. I mean I remember what you have told me about all the different species on your planet even the ones from mythology so I do agree that many do certainly share a variety of similarities with a number of the races that live here. Though what I find most strange is the fact that not only is you history littered with sightings of these supposed mythological beings but also from what you have told me some of them are actual living breathing beings on your planet. Like zebras, cows, even earth ponies to some degree seem to have an actual analog in your world.” She responds with a hand to her chin. “This does seem to indicate some level of interaction between our worlds, though as to what extent is anyone guess really. On a side note, do you ever stay on one topic for more than five minutes at a time?” She asks.

“Well since I have such an excellent source of knowledge why stay on one topic. Also why in the world would I want to stay on such a depressing topic any way? I mean seriously, it leads back to the whole ‘who am I’ spiral. If I get caught up in that crap I end up shutting down for who knows how long and lose track of my sense of self. So what’s the point in bothering thinking about it? I have few memories of my old ‘home’ world but nothing of who I am or was. To me this is literally the best chance I could ever ask for to reinvent myself.”

I mean seriously I am like 5’ 9”, weighing around probably 260ish. I have what amounts to shit brown hair, hazel eyes and my eyesight is crap, well in the sense I can see clearly up to about fifty feet in front of me after that it’s all downhill. So as one could imagine I am… or rather was a lazy fat bastard in my old life. Maybe now I can make some changes to that. I mean since I’m in an entirely new world, with no memories to hold me back, I can fix what I fucked up to begin with.

“On top of all that I am in a world full of magic, actual honest to god magic, not that cheap parlor trick crap ‘magicians’ try to play off as magic. Now don’t get me wrong, from what I do remember there were some that were able to pull off some incredible feats, but there was no actual proof that what they were doing was real magic. All of it at best was clever misdirection followed up with smoke and mirrors, not that it wasn’t entertaining mind you, it just that it wasn’t actual magic.” I explained.

“I’m glad that you’re enjoying your time here so much.” She replied with a hint of sarcasm.

“Sarcasm is not a foreign language my dear bug.” I quip back, which in turn earns me a smack to the back of the head for calling her a bug again. She doesn’t like it when I call her ‘bug’ but she knows I’m just being affectionate in my own way.

“Seriously Walker, you’re going to say the wrong thing to somebody one day and it’s gonna hurt, a lot.” She says with a sigh.

“I know, but I just can’t help myself when an opportunity pops up like that. I know I shouldn’t be such a dick, but I feel like I kept a lot of shit inside before all this, and like I said this is a chance to reinvent myself, and I intend to take full advantage of that. Not to say I am going to be rude to everyone I meet but if they can’t handle a goddamn joke then fuck them. I don’t want to be a doormat cause some prissy ass little bitch can’t take it. I mean if the situation requires a certain amount of decorum then I definitely understand the need to be respectful. Up until a certain point though, I’m not going to kiss ass just be treated like shit. If a motherfucker refuses to respect me I’m gonna return the god damn favor.” I tell her with a hard look in my eyes.

“Fine, I can understand that but will you promise me something?”

“Depends on what that is.”

“If we do meet up with some sort of nobility or whatever and some ass kissing, as you so eloquently put it, is required will you at least let me do the talking?” It almost sounds like she is begging me for this.

“Fine, I’ll let you do the talking but if they keep being a bag’o douche then they’re going to have to deal with me.” Giving her an ultimatum felt wrong, but there is no way I am going to let them disrespect me or her, especially her.

“That’s fine.” She sighs, glad that I at least gave her that much. “Now the next town is still a few hours away but we should still be alert for any travelers on the road.”

Considering we are both wanted criminals, literally due to our species, being seen by anybody right now would be a very bad idea. So as a precaution Mira turns herself into a male unicorn with a white coat and a pink mane and tail. She then grabs my upper arm as if she was escorting me down the road.

“You know Mira if you wanted to hold my arm you could have just asked” I say with a lecherous grin. To which she just sighs and shakes her head, like I said I make a lot of … risqué jokes. Damn I love being so fucking verbose, though no fucking clue where it comes from. Wonder if I was a writer before I got here?

Traveling down the road for a while is pretty damn boring, mostly because my traveling companion refuses to speak since we’re nearing the town. During this silence though we both hear the sounds of a scuffle further up the road, with a quick look and nod we dive into the bushes along the roadside, in hopes of avoiding any unnecessary fights.

Skirting the road and keeping as hidden as we can, we come upon a very nasty looking scene. Two griffins wearing what looks like gambesons, the one on the left is green the other blue, seem to be pretty well armed. Throwing knives behind their backs, a short sword on one, a one handed battle axe at the others hip, the left one has what appears to be a heavy crossbow strapped to his back. These two are geared up for a fight and it seems like they had one too, a badly beaten dragon, lay bloodied at their taloned feet.

“I can’t believe this bitch thought she could beat us.” Laughs the one on the right.

“I thought dragons are supposed to be tough” Says the other with a swift kick to the dragons ribs causing her to grunt in pain. “I mean I barely even broke a sweat on that.” He kicks the dragon in the ribs again with a malicious laugh. Man these fuckers are really beginning to push my buttons.

I can understand beating an opponent to the ground and making sure they don’t get back up but this is a bit much, then again I don’t know the circumstance so I really can’t do too much about it. I mean what if that dragon had killed their family or something? Because if that’s the case then fuck the cunt, but if not…

“So what do you think we should do with her? Kill her? Break her legs?” Ask Mr. Blue, wearing a dark sadistic grin.

“No I think we should have our ‘fill’ of her before that.”

“Oh? What are you thinking Brother?”

“That fight left me ‘unsatisfied’ so I think she could satisfy us in another way.” Say Green as he reaches down to the dragon. Grabbing one of her legs he pulls it to one side spreading her legs open.

“Oh I like where you are going with that idea.” Says the other with a grin, as he walks over to her shoulders and holds her down just in case.

A feral growl begins to build in my throat. There are many things I am willing to tolerate when it comes to a fight, but raping your opponent is NOT one of them.
Mira feels my rising anger, quickly placing a hand on my shoulder trying to stop me from doing something stupid while whispering heatedly. “Walker, I understand you’re angry, yes what they are doing is wrong but we cannot interfere. Can you even see how well armed they are right now? They’re obviously prepared for a fight; they managed to take out a dragon, what do you think we could possibly do against them?”

“Something” is my response; I stand up and swiftly charge the one with his back still to us, seeing nothing but blood I drive my spear right towards the back of his skull, which sadly does not connect.

The other one had squawked the moment I revealed myself from the brush, alerting the one in green to my attack. With a simple tilt of his head he dodges the tip. Grinning like a madman blue leaps at me, knocking me to the ground causing me to lose my spear, his hands wrapping around my throat his claws sinking slowly into my neck.

With a sigh Mira stands firing off several blasts of magic at the one on top of me forcing him to let go and back off. “Well Walker what’s your master plan now?”

I hack and cough trying to get precious air back into my lungs. Standing up I look at the two griffins, who are now standing side by with their short sword and battleaxe drawn.”Kill them, that’s my master plan.” Brandishing a throwing knife I lifted while being choked, a grin spreads across my face.

“Haha, what are you going to do with that little thing?”

“Kill you.” I flip the throwing knife into a reverse grip and settle into a crouch.

Laughing at me the two of them walk forwards with all the confidence in the world. Too bad I wasn’t the one they should have been paying attention to.

A huge plume of fire scorches their backs igniting their fur and feathers. The dragoness that was laying on the ground moments ago is now standing and boy does she look pissed as hell. I guess it’s true, hell hath no fury like a pissed off dragoness bent on your total immolation.

Rushing towards the two burning birds she grabs both by the back of the neck slamming them face first into the ground, claws sinking into the now exposed neck flesh. “Make sure you finish off your first opponent before you fight another one, assholes” Tilting her head back while taking a deep breath, she baths their skulls in a torrent of flames cooking their brains.

“Well who’s up for some fried chicken?” I ask just before Mira slaps the hell out of me.

“You idiot, what if I hadn’t intervened!? Huh? Did you even stop to think of that? No, of course you didn’t, want to know how I know you didn’t?” Giving me a hard look she doesn’t give me a chance to respond. “Because you’re an idiot that’s why I knew you didn’t! You just figured since I’ve been helping you out that I would just continue to, didn’t you!? You just assumed I would jump to your rescue and to Tartarus with the consequences! You are seriously the dumbest luckiest idiot on this entire planet!!” she finishes with a sigh, burying her muzzle into my chest.

*God damn it I really am stupid, huh?* Sighing I pull Mira into a hug. “I know it doesn’t mean much but I am sorry. You’re right I did rush into that thinking you would back me up, never thinking to actually ask you first. I really fucked up.” I say rubbing my cheek against the top of her head, making sure to avoid gouging out my eye on her horn.

“Yes you did, you idiot. What would I do if you died, huh? Did you stop to think of that?” Mira asks as tears soak my shirt, making me feel even worse about my idiotic maneuver.

“Not have to worry about a moron blowing your cover?” I ask trying desperately to get her to smile even if only a little.

I succeed in at least getting a chuckle from her, which is still a win in my book. “True, but then I would have had to go back to gathering love, which has a high chance of me getting caught.” Yeah apparently direct feeding generates a thrall like effect in the…food source. Being immune to that sort of effect means she can feed on me without worrying, a nice little bonus that has boosted our dependence on one another, her need for ‘food’ and my need for an ‘adult’.

“While I am glad that you two are all cool with each other again but, do you think I could get a little help? I’m kind of bleeding over here.” Ask the dragoness as she lies on the ground.

Jumping to it Mira and I head over and take a look at some of the wounds, trying to gauge just how much damage has actually been done to her. By the looks of it a number of minor lacerations across her side and stomach. Her left leg is swollen, right shoulder seems to have a few scales missing and her left eye has swollen to the point she can’t see. By the looks of it they really fucking worked her over.

Smack! “Walker! Check the packs on the ground over there see if there are any bandages inside to bind some of these.” Mira practically yells, though in her defense I think I was spacing out again.

Rushing over, I start to tear through the packs in search of anything bandage looking, gauze like, or even a simple first aid kit. Finding simple wraps I run back over gasping slightly from being choked and the fact the adrenaline rush from the fight has worn off.

“These right?” I say holding them up, my mind to all over the place to realize how stupid a question that actually is.

Smiling Mira takes them with a thank you and begins wrapping the dragoness’ wounds. “Just try and relax Miss, we’re going to patch you as best we can. Walker, check to see what else is in the packs. Doesn’t matter what, just start pulling things out, carefully, and make note of anything that may be of some help then bring them over here and I’ll take a look.”

Getting to the task at hand I begin to slowly pour the contents out of the first pack. Nothing out of the ordinary really, clothes, some dried meat, a whet stone, some animal fats to oil the blades. Nothing so far that I don’t know of, though the whet stone and fat does raise that fucking question again. *God damn it go away* Searching through the second results in only more of the same. While searching I come across a small jingly pouch. Being curious and not thinking I open it up to see several gold coins clinking around inside.

“Holy shit. Mira I found their money. Does this mean we’re robbers now?” I ask pouring the coins on to my up turned hand.

Mira, bless her buggy soul, just sighs in response to my pointless question.”Did you find anything in there like, antiseptics or something for pain?”

“Naw, just some stuff to maintain their weapons, some dried meat and clothes.” The clothes were really just thick looking coats for cold weather. Which kind of confused me since they are or rather were covered in fur, you would think they would be fine on that front but eh whatever.

“Well bring over the meat so she can have some, it should help her body begin to replace the blood she lost.” Turning to the dragoness “Now I’m sure you know this won’t replace the lost blood instantly but, it should begin the process. Just take it easy for a few days and you should be good to go.” She smiles though she realizes that the dragoness is staring at me hardcore.

“Is that a human?”

“Uh… no?”

Fuck their goes our cover, well she is injured so we could try and run but then again she is a dragon so she might be able to just sniff us out.

“That totally is. That…is…so…awesome!” She grins

“Okay I honestly didn’t expect that. I mean that was literally not even on the list of expectations that I had set for being discovered. Really? Awesome?” I am so fucking confused. Aren’t humans supposed to be criminals to pretty much every race on this planet? “Umm you aren’t gonna try and turn me in for a reward?”

“Why in the name of Smaug would I do something like that?” A confused look spreading across her face.

“Uh well from what I have heard humans are pretty much wanted criminals for causing trouble in … umm…Camelot? No, Canterlot that’s it.” I couldn’t remember the stupid horse pun name of the place. Damn ponies and their retarded naming scheme. I swear they did it just to insult any humans who show up.

“So? What do I care if some humans screwed with a bunch of ponies?” She says looking up at Mira, waving a clawed hand at her. “I mean look how weak they are.”

Before Mira could even reply “Oh she isn’t a pony, she’s just a changeling in disguise.” With a dismissive wave of my hand I totally fuck up again.

“WALKER!” Sighing Mira facepalms hard, lowering her disguise and wondering why she even bothered to try. “You do realize that even though she said she’s okay with you that doesn’t mean she is okay with changelings.”

“No its okay, I knew the moment you walked up to me, the smell was all wrong.” She waves off the concern continuing her explanation. “She is what I mean though, her species is capable of hiding their appearance but not smell. To a dragon smell is just as important to who you are as is how you look. I mean do you realize how many come out red, black, blue or even gold? It’s enough to be annoying; anyways just hiding how she looks is nothing. Why am I even explaining this?”

“I don’t know, but it’s good to know smell is important among dragons. Did you know that Mira?” I ask chewing on a piece of dried meat while holding another to the dragoness. “Hey since I’m sick of thinking of you as dragon or dragoness what’s your name? I mean its’ awesome talking to you but I just feel like I’m being rude.”

Taking the dried meat she gives me an odd look but decides the meat is momentarily more important. This gives me a chance to really look her over. She looks like she might be as tall as I am, definitely skinner looking, though she does have some good muscle build to her. Her scales are predominately dark purple but with a metallic sheen, her wings are fucking stunning the scales along the edge are a dark blue but the membrane is a pure silver color that just shines.

“ Amethyst” She states after finally swallowing the meat. “My name is Amethyst. Nice to meet you…Walker?”

“Yeah that’s muh name!” I say with a grin now having heard someone else say my name* That’s right say my name.* Raising an eyebrow. *Why do I think that is so cool?* With a quick shake of my head I point over at Mira. “As you already heard her name is Mira. So on behalf of us both it’s nice to meet you Amy.”

Chapter 4

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{5yrs 11 months ago}

After introductions we carried Amy, who did not like the nickname by the way, about a hundred yards into the woods along the roadside after looting what was left on the chickens bodies that is. Found out the straps and sheathes for the weapons were burnt enough to be unusable and don’t even get me started on the crossbow.

We spent a few days hidden, just letting Amethyst get some rest and heal up from her minor wounds. Thankfully her leg wasn’t broken it was just a dislocated the knee. She said that with her natural healing rate it should be good in about three weeks maybe less. She refused to lie down and rest, stating that ‘it is nothing more than a flesh wound’.

Mira ran into town for supplies, mostly new straps for the throwing knives and food. While she was in town Amethyst and I talked about a few different things but mostly just me filling her in on how Mira and I met.

Apparently there was some pony holiday that had just pasted called The Summer Sun Celebration. It was supposedly the one thousandth since the imprisonment of someone called Nightmare Moon. Whoever the fuck that was. What really caught my attention though was the fact that if my calculations are correct then it happened the day I got to this weird ass place. Shockingly Nightmare Moon was real and shrouded half the world in night for a full day. Though the day got saved by a group of mares called the Elements of Harmony. They used some ancient magical artifacts to…cure…free…whatever, they returned Princess Luna, who by the way is Princess Celestia’s sister, to her normal self. After which there was a second celebration for the return of Princess Luna.

Anyways since we had some time and jack shit to do I tried using the throwing knives on an evil tree that tried to kill me. Seriously when we found this spot it reached a root out tripping me. The other two say that I did it to myself but I know what really happened.

As I stand there whacking the tree with the butts of the throwing knives I hear a sigh followed up with a slapping sound.

“Seriously how can you suck that bad. I mean you haven’t even hit it once with the blade, even by chance.” I turn seeing Amy staring at me with a dubious look on her face.

“Hey this is the first time I’ve ever used these.” Looking up I place a finger on my chin. “I think this is the first time anyways. I mean considering how horrible I am with them certainly suggests no prior experience with such equipment and, the lack of muscle memory for the activity definitely corroborates this theory.”

Walking over to me she takes one out of my hand “If you are going to use them then at least shut up and watch.” Pulling her arm back to the side of her head she snaps her arm out letting the throwing knife fly, burying the tip in the tree. “When using them remember it’s in the wrist. The arm only provides a little bit of power. It’s the wrist flick that adds the real power. Also make sure when you throw it you’re not trying to get it to spin. These are meant for straight flight." Lifting a second one and throwing it I watch her arm move in a fluid well practiced motion.

“Damn this is so fucking cool! I mean seriously I am learning how to throw knives from a dragon. This is the best day ever!" I nearly shout as a grin spreads across my face.

“I swear Walker you say that literally every time something mildly interesting happens to you.” Mira says walking into camp her pack loaded down with various supplies for the road ahead.

“Well I can’t fucking help it, I’m hear learning all kinds of cool shit from one of the Kings… or well in this case a Queen of Beasts. No offence meant in the beast part it’s just that dragons were rarely intelligent according to mythology on…were I came from last.” *I am so done calling that place home or whatever variation may come to mind. It was a place, a shithole really.* While I was thinking I must have had a creepy look cause the other two have leaned away from me just a little bit. “What?”

“You had this really pissed off look on your face.” Pipes up Amethyst wondering what made look so angry.

“Sorry I was just thinking of where I lived before ending up on this planet.” Taking a deep breath I try to settle the rising anger from thinking about that place. *Damn it. Why the hell am I getting so angry? I just need to settle down.* Taking a few deep breathes I feel the anger begin to ease back.

“Walker?” Mira places a hand on my shoulder getting me to look into her eyes. She searches them for a few seconds, concern written clear as day across her face.

With a smile and a pat on her hand I let her know I’m okay. “Don’t worry Mira just a little bit of anger. Not losing it just yet.”

Staring deep into my eyes for a moment longer she sighs and gives me a quick hug. “Just remember if you lose yourself I lose you too.”

“And kiss.” Amethyst suddenly spouts, causing Mira to shove me to the ground.

“God damn it Amy, what the hell? That was so not cool” Rubbing my sore ass I wonder if it will bruise. “Careful you made me land on my money maker” After standing I give a quick shake of my ass.

Both Mira and Amy roll their eyes chuckling at my silly antics. That’s right I am sexy and you know it girls.

“Walker I can honestly say after having been forced to see your hindquarters for the last month and it most definitely not your money maker. There is no living being on this planet that would even pay one corroded bit to see it.” Says Mira while giggling behind her hand.

“Wow Mira tell me how you really feel why don’t ya?” I reply a little hurt.

“Oh come on Walker. What can’t you take a joke?” She quips.

I roll my eyes; pick up a throwing knife and go back to practice.

“Come on Walker I was just making a joke no need to take it so hard.” Watching me practice the motion Amethyst taught for throwing.

“That’s what she said.” I say over my shoulder. I know she didn’t mean anything by it but, it seems I am a little sensitive about how I look. Not something I was actually expecting about my old personality, though I probably should have.

With a sigh and a smile Mira turns to Amy “Well at least he’s okay now. So how are you doing?” Taking a knee in front of her Mira begins checking the bandages covering some of the wounds.

“Doing pretty good mostly just sore now. I should be good to go by tomorrow morning.” Amethyst replies with a smile. “You know for being supposed criminals you two are really cool, if a little weird”

“Hey I am the only weird one here. She’s just a shape shifting bug.” My little comment resulted in a rock hitting me in the head. “Also be careful she is extremely abusive.”

“The only one I abuse is you and that is because I love you.” She replies without thinking.

A grin spreads across my face. “You love me Mira? I-I … I didn’t know you felt so strongly about me.” Mira stiffens realizing how much ammunition I now have and that she won’t be hearing the end of this anytime soon. Taking the classic hands over heart stance “Mira I swear by the stars, the moon even the sun that revolves around this wonderful planet, I shall cherish your love and do all that I can to support you and any children we have.” I take a knee holding my hand out to her while looking at the ground. It’s a struggle to hold still and not fall over laughing at the amount of ham and cheese.

Sighing, Mira swats me on the head. “Walker knock it off. Any more drama and we’re going to end up getting this scene in the story deleted.”

The whole clearing goes quiet for a moment, all of us trying to process what she just said.

“Mira?”

“I-I… I don’t know what that was. What the buck was that even supposed to mean?” Looking up at Mira I see confusion and concern warring across that adorable muzzle of hers.

“Walker? Am I going to be okay?”

Pulling her into a hug I whisper into her ear “No Mira you’ll never be okay.”

She looks at me with alarm in her eyes.

Sighing “You’ll never be okay because… you… you’re” sniffling I bury my face into her neck. “You’re my friend, so you will never be okay.”
Growling Mira shoves me off her “Damn it Walker. I seriously thought you actually being serious. Could you please not joke for five god damn minutes?” She opens her mouth to say something but immediately closes it again while adopting a thinking look and tilting her head to the sky as if she is trying to gain answers to questions only she knows.

“Mira?” Kind of worried I give her a gentle shake.

Turning back to me a look of frustration spreads over her “I hate you so much. Did you know that? I’m apparently so use to your way of speaking I am even starting to USE IT!” She finishes with a yell.

Flinching back, I try saving face with a sheepish look. “At least if you’re using my way of talking you won’t have to worry about me calling you adorable so much anymore?” A nervous chuckle passes through me.

Sighing into her hands she shakes it off. Looking back to Amethyst she rolls her eyes before getting back to checking the last couple of bandages.

“You two are so freaking weird, yet so much fun to watch. It’s like a play unfolding in front me all the time.” Jokes Amethyst apparently enjoying our little show.

The rest of the evening is spent with me still practicing and the girls talking, not that I really bothered to listen though. I was to focused inwards to really pay any attention to my surroundings.

*Is this how it happened for them? Did it start as little flair ups? Getting angry over nothing?* Sighing I launch another knife only to have it bounce off the tree again. *Was I always so quick to anger or is that because I’m here now? Could a magical environment even affect emotions like that? Maybe it can. I mean why not, I don’t know the full extent of magic. Hell I’m traveling with a bug that consumes emotion as if it was food, so why wouldn’t there be something that amplifies emotions. It would definitely follow with all of the weirdness that happens here.* Growling I throw the knife harder at the tree resulting in another miss. “FUCK!!” Grabbing the last three knives I throw them at the tree without really thinking.

Both girls turn from their conversation looking at me wondering why I’m yelling.

“Walker?” Mira calmly walks up to me placing a hand on my shoulder. “What’s going on?”

“The spiral.”

Mira sighs, knowing there really isn’t much she can do about it.

“Umm I’m sorry but what’s the ‘spiral’?” Asks Amethyst a little concerned.

“It’s what he calls the circular thinking that he has been stuck in since he got here. As you know he woke up here without any personal memories. Because of that he gets stuck in what he calls ‘the spiral’, it’s where, as he explains it, the questions lead into more question which just lead back to the original ones in a never ending cycle. Though this is the first time he has gotten so worked up over it. Most of the time he slips into a depressive slump.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, what’s the questions that are causing you to freak so much. Not saying I can give any kind of answer but maybe you just need a new perspective on it or something like that.” Says Amethyst trying to offer some help in return.

Sighing “Did the humans lose their minds because they couldn’t go home, or was it because they came to this world and the ambient magic amplified their emotions to the point they just lost control. Is it going to happen to me? Am I going to turn and attack Mira? Am I already in the process of losing myself? Should I just kill myself now just to be safe? Should I isolate myself to keep others safe? What should I do? What am I capable of even doing?” Turning and looking Amethyst in the eyes “I can build a sustainable campsite, craft traps from scraps found in the wilderness. I can identify a slew of edible and poisonous plants that can be found in a number of places. By looking at my body I can tell I have never once been in an actual fight before coming here yet I understand a variety of tactics and strategies used for either one on one combat or fighting in a full scale war. I have a working knowledge of how to maintain a number of melee weapons.” Looking at my arms I clench my fists. “Yet these arms have never swung a sword or axe for any reason before coming here. That’s not even taking into account what else there may be but I don’t have the tools needed to test if I have those particular skills.” Sighing I look at the ground head hung, shoulders slumped. It felt good to say it out loud but at the same time I couldn’t even begin to wonder what she would think. *I doubt she even really cares.*

Silence reigns over the clearing not even the birds in the trees have anything to say about the subject. Even the gentle breeze that was blowing a moment ago has come to a standstill. I clench my fist as the silence continues.

“So?”

My head pops up eyes wide, I turn to look over at Amethyst.

“So what if some shit MIGHT happen? Who cares if you lose who you are right now to who you could become? That shit is all just ‘what ifs’ and ‘maybes’, you are here right now and that’s what matters right? A phrase you used earlier works really well here, ‘fuck it’.” Amethyst states, getting up and walking over “What does it matter if you lose yourself somewhere down the line, it’s not like it’s happening now. Deal with that shit later. Stop focusing on the future and focus on the here and now.” She walks to the tree, picks up a knife then she walks it over to me. “All that matters is this moment right here, not five years or even five minutes from now.”

Taking the knife from her I just stare at it. *Nothing else matters. Here and now. That’s all that’s important.* Looking up at the tree I throw the knife again. It bounces off butt first. Sighing at first a laugh starts to build in my stomach then comes tearing its way out.

“HAHA!!! Oh man!” Looking back at the other two I fall to the ground laughing.

“I think he just went off the deep end. Thanks Amethyst this all we need.” Mira rolls her eyes before facepalming.

“Hey all I did was provide a different perspective from him to look at. Him losing it like this is entirely on him.” She holds her hands up in defense

Taking a deep breath I wipe a tear from my eye. “Oh man I needed that. Thank you Amethyst.”

Both girls stare at me wondering what the hell that was all about. “So Walker feel like sharing with the class?” asks Mira a bit hesitantly.

“I just realized that even though I have been saying that this is a chance to reinvent myself, I have been worrying about no longer being me.” Chuckling I walk over to the tree picking up the throwing knives again. “I’ve been so worried that I might go crazy that I have been driving myself crazy.” Pulling my arm back I cut loose with a throwing knife burying the tip in the tree. Looking back at them with a smile, “I forgot rule number one; have fun.”

“Yet you have been joking almost this whole time.” Replies Amethyst confusion spreading from her to Mira.

“Yeah that’s because I thought that’s who I am but in reality” Looking up at the beautiful sky as it settles into night. “I’m just not like that. I don’t want to be the asshole that hides behind jokes because he can’t be honest with himself and those around him. I don’t want to be that…weak. I know it sounds …silly or something, but I just don’t think I have it in me to lie like that. It just seems wrong.” I look over at the girls with a smile on my face only to see both of them facepalming. “HEY!”

Both giggle at me, the bitches. “Walker that was very nice to hear, though you could have turned the dramatics down just a touch.” Mira says still getting her giggling under control.

Sighing I walk into the forest to grab some firewood.

“Oh come on Walker don’t be like that!” Amethyst shouts after me.

“Unless you feel like cooking the food with your firebreath, I need to get some wood to get the fire going again.” I call over my shoulder picking up bits of wood on the ground. "And also I hope the two of you step on a Lego."

Both girls roll their eyes then sit back down to continue whatever their conversation was before my freak out.

*Wonder where Mira plans on going next? It would be cool if we could go see Amethysts home. I doubt Mira would want to go there since dragons have some dealings with ponies*

“Hey Walker! I just talked your girlfriend into coming with me back home. I’m sure my grandfather will want to reward you for saving me.”

“I am not his girlfriend!” Mira practically screams while turning an interesting shade of green.

I assume the color change is from embarrassment but who the fuck cares. I’m about to see a shit ton more dragons. Hopefully they don’t think I am crunchy and good with ketchup.

Chapter 5

View Online

(5yrs 10 months)

After collecting wood for the night I ran as fast as I could in the falling twilight back to the campsite, eager to hear more about the dragons and if we really are going to see them. I was so excited that I constantly stumbled through the woods, stepping on twigs and leaves crunching my way around. If we had been followed by anyone they would have been able to hear me crashing about. One of the reasons we went so far back into the surrounding trees.

Seriously though I am going to meet more dragons and I am going to get to see how they lived. Well it is in a completely different world, with significantly different rules governing how it functions. So they may not be the dragons of old that I ‘remember’ but they are still dragons and god damn it I am going to meet them.
I was so distracted with the wonderful idea of meeting more dragons that I failed to notice my arch-nemesis.

THWACK!!

“Oww. That fucking hurts.” I grumble into the ground. I swear this world hates it when I think about shit.

The girls apparently found this hilarious because they joined me on the ground, though they were rolling with laughter.

*I should just kill them.* I think darkly. *Whoa! That’s a little extreme.* Getting up I shake my head trying to dislodge these weird dark impulses I keep getting. *Must be some part of my old self trying to come back.* If that’s the case there is no way in hell I’m going back to who I used to be. “Yeah, yeah just laugh it up. Watch, next that root is coming for one of you.”

“Walker only you would think a root is ‘out to get you’.” Mira says as she gets her laughter under control. “Besides your pride, are you okay?” After standing up she walks over to help me stand and check to see if I’m injured seriously.

With a sign and a shake of my head I let her know that it really is just my pride that got hurt on that one. Realizing that my clumsiness there got them to laugh while it hurt at first gave me something to think about.

“As I was saying a few minutes ago I convinced Mira that if you two come with me back home I can probably swing getting you some start up supplies from my grandfather. Now I’m not saying that you are going to be getting everything you could possible need but I think I can get you some coinage and food. After that it will be up to you two to get the other stuff you need.” Amethyst tells us, after Mira and I sit down around the fire pit.

I start placing some of the twigs and leaves into the pit thinking about anything else we might need that she could try get, though I don’t want to push our luck too far. Seriously so far we have been really lucky, that or some deity is watching out for us.

“How long will it take us to get there?” Asks Mira already thinking about the supplies we’ll…well the supplies me and Amethyst will need to get there. I’m really the only supply Mira needs.

“It’s a day of easy flight to the coast than a three day trip by boat to Volcannus and we will be standing in my homeland.” Amethyst says with a grin.

“We should probably rest up tomorrow to make sure you’re fully healed and flight capable. I know you dragons are pretty hardy but we should be careful.” States Mira looking out for all of us.

“Can’t wait to get home and see my grandpa again.” Amy says with a smile on her face. It looked really good on her to be honest, it was sincere and heartwarming.

Return of the stupid. “What happened to your mom and dad?” I ask building the fire, though once the words settle into the air I realize what I had just asked. “Y-you don’t have to answer that, if you don’t want to.” I cringe with an internal facepalm. *Stupid stupid stupid. Yeah she totally wants to talk about her obviously dead parents.*

“They’re off living with my Mothers clan. They sent me to my grandpa to learn more about my dad’s side of the family. Let me guess you thought they were dead?” She asks with a smirk spreading across her face.

“That smirk is just cruel. It’s good to know that my concern was misplaced. I can’t even begin to imagine what losing parents would be like.” I say with a sigh thankful that I didn’t upset her.

“Anyways, is there anything we should know now before we meet with the other members of your clan?” Mira the ever conscious of our unique predicament asks the pertinent question.

“Not really, I mean beyond don’t be rude you should really be fine.” Amethyst replies after a moment of consideration.

After several minutes of me asking random questions about Amethysts home we decide to get some rest since night has set in completely.

~~~~~~

The next day came and went without incident. Mira ran back into town to pick up a little more food and a couple of dark cloaks so me and her can cover ourselves with, not like she really needed one her being a changeling and all.

I went back to practicing with the throwing knives. I managed to actually get more to stick this time! I was so excited when I got two in a row I started dancing like an idiot, I forgot that Amethyst was there since she had been dozing the whole time. She giggled a little bit but that was it, thankfully. Going back to it by the time Mira came back my arm was sore from practicing so much. I did manage to get a little better, I didn’t stick them all but definitely more than when I first started.

Mira picked up more dried meat and some fruit as well, should be enough to last us a week if we ration it right. Not like it’s needed to last that long but its better safe than sorry. She still has yet to hear anything about the fighting on the road so we figured we were in the clear on that one.

We chatted the day away. I asked as many more questions as I could to both Mira and Amethyst. If I am going to be living in this world from now on I wanted to make sure I knew as much as I could. Through my questions I found out that the female half of Equestrians go through something called an Estrous Cycle.

Their Estrous Cycle or more commonly known as ‘heat’ is a time in which a mare becomes fertile and aroused. The common misconception is that they turn into mindless sex-crazed maniacs. Mira told me that a mare does not become ‘mindless’ in any sense, they actually retain their coherency. The closest they get is when they find a stallion that they actually have an emotional attachment to. Meaning that if they don’t find the any male they know of as a suitable partner than their hormones don’t take over. Even in the event that their baser desires taking over they still retain their individuality and presence of mind. I figured they meant that even if they find a guy they won’t go bat-shit crazy for his dick.

Also apparently not all of them go into ‘heat’ at the same time either. Pegasi go into ‘heat’ early to mid spring after the migratory birds return from their winter homes. Unicorns enter ‘heat’ during the height of summer, something do with the fact that during summer ambient magic is at its highest. The Earth ponies start around the beginning of autumn so that way they give birth at the beginning of summer.

The girls believe it’s due to Equetria’s high level of ambient magic that causes their females to have separate ‘heats’, and that ‘heat’ in and of itself is a holdover from a bygone age. Makes sense considering horses from my… I mean where I came from last.

Also found out that horses are an actual thing here. They live in Saddle Arabia. Fucking stupid horse puns, gotta shoot’em all.

Another odd thing is that ponies have these weird relationship things called ‘herds’. From what they told me it’s where several mares will be in a relationship with a single stallion. The first mare to enter the relationship is called the ‘lead/alpha’ mare. She has the right apparently to veto any mare that wants to join the ‘herd’. She can only veto if there is reasonable suspicion that the new mare will have a negative impact on the ‘herd’. ‘Herds’ vary in size but most stallions tend to have a ‘herd’ between 5 – 6 mares.

Okay what the fuck! The more I hear about these ponies the more I begin to wonder about how the fuck their culture started. Honestly the ‘herd’ shit sounds like a male teenager’s wet dream mixed with a woman’s worst nightmare. I swear if I was a female in this a world I would shoot myself first chance I got. At least the ‘heat’ thing wouldn’t be as bad.

Sorry bout that.

The day past quickly as we talked about varying subjects each one adding to my growing knowledge. I can honestly say it was a very informative day as are most. I am really enjoying my life here now that I have others to talk to. Wonder how Jo-Jo is doing?

Day turned to night quickly which had the interesting effect of making Mira give the most adorable stretch and yawn combo.

“Aww Mira you look so adorable.” I chuckle dodging a rock she threw at me.

With a pout she turns away from me. “You know I don’t like it when you call me adorable.”

“I can’t help but to call you adorable when you’re being adorable Mira. Like that pouty expression on your face just makes you look so adorable. I just want to hug and snuggle the crap out of you.” I tell her as I lay down on the ground using one of the bags as a pillow.

“Whatever.” Mira replies blushing like a virgin bride on her wedding day.

“Either have sex already or go to sleep.” Amethyst spouts from her spot by the fire. It shuts us both up so that way everybody can try and sleep.

None notice the eyes vanish into the dark.

Chapter 6

View Online

(5yrs 10months ago)

The next morning Mira packs the bags while I douse the remaining few embers. Amethyst does some stretching making sure everything is back up to snuff. Once everyone has finished and eaten breakfast the girls walk up to either side of me.

Sighing I look at both of them in turn concern flashing across my face. “Just please don’t drop me. I don’t feel like going splat on the ground.”

“Don’t worry Walker even if we do drop you it’s not like we won’t be able to catch you again.” Amethyst grins at me making my concern run wild.

“Look just don’t drop me in the first place and we won’t even need to test that.”

“Oh come on Walker live a little. I guarantee that if you fall I will catch you.” Amy says holding out her hand a comforting smile on her face. That smile totally disarmed me.

“Alright Amethyst, I’ll trust you.” She hasn’t done anything to prove that she isn’t worth the trust.

“Alright I got everything packed up. How are you feeling Amethyst? Are you ready to go flying?” Mira hands me one of the packs. She purposefully left it lighter to make my fat ass easier to carry between the two of them.

The plan for flight is to loop my arms over their shoulders and for them do the same. That way we are sort of ‘locked’ together. It should provide the both of them the chance to carry me without either being over burdened.

~~~~~~

Since the flight to the coast isn’t supposed to be rough we decide to walk for a while first. Mostly to shake the cobwebs loose so to speak. Like most of the time where there is really nothing to do I started to ask questions.

“So either of you seen any good movies lately?” I ask not really thinking, I just want some background noise.

Amethyst and Mira turn towards me with a raised eyebrow.

“What in the name of Love is a moo-vee?” Mira asks totally bewildered by my question.

“Yeah I’ve never heard anything like that before. Is it something from your old world?” Amethyst has been interested in a bunch of stuff from my world, seeing as everything was made using science instead of magic.

“Yeah, it’s a moving picture with sounds. They were really awesome from what little I remember of them. There was action, romance, science-fiction and tons of others genres that came about. There was pretty much whatever you wanted really. Not that I remember any specifically. It was just another form of entertainment meant to distract the masses from all the bullshit going on and how corrupt the government had gotten.” I explain in an off-hand manner.

“How do you know that’s what it was meant for when you don’t even know how old you are?” Ask Amethyst in a confused tone.

“I uhh … I really don’t know. Huh?” I scratch my chin and think for a moment. “It might be that is just something I believed before coming here and it just sort of stuck I guess.”

“I guess that makes some sense. Not everything can really be forgotten. I mean your individual beliefs seem to still be there from the varying conversations that we have had.” Amethyst supplies.

Though come to think of it if my personal beliefs are still with me then that would mean the darker impulses I’ve been having are actually mine and not some construct borne of this world’s magical influence. This definitely is concerning but some part of me strongly disagrees with this theory. Also every time one comes up it just doesn’t ‘feel’ like it’s my own. Eh whatever. If I think about this to…

THWACK!!

“Oww what the fuck? Damn it Mira why do you always have to abuse me?” I ask tears building in my eyes. That one actually fucking hurt.

“That was me.” Amethyst pipes up from my right. “I was trying to ask you about those moving picture things again but you just had this glazed over look in your eyes.”

Sighing and rubbing the back of my head I glare at Amethyst. “Fuck you cunt. That shit hurt like hell. Why should I tell you anything?”

“Oh quit being such a baby it’s not like I broke anything.”

“Whatever.”

I slow down to be by myself. Seriously that shit hurt but more importantly I could feel those darker impulses again. They are really beginning to concern me. It seems tied to my anger at the moment, hopefully I can learn to keep a lid on that shit otherwise I am going to be in serious trouble at some point.

After about fifteen minutes Amethyst slows down to stand next to me, for a few minutes we just walk side by side quietly.

“I’m not really all that good at this kind of thing so… I’m… I’m sorry I hit you so hard. I had seen Mira doing it and didn’t really think. I just thought that’s how things worked with you. I know it’s pretty stupid to assume something like that, but I just wanted to be the kind of friend Mira is to you. You both seem really close, yet you have only known each other for about a month or so now. I guess I am kind of jealous that you two can be so friendly after so short a time. I’m sorry I’m rambling.” Amethyst sighs as her shoulders slump.

Sighing I look up to the blue sky they have here. Damn it’s beautiful. “Mira and I have become friends out of necessity. She needs a stable food source so she doesn’t get caught stealing love and I need someone to watch over me so that I don’t fuck up so badly that I get captured or worse…killed. To say we’re friends is the same as saying you could swim in the sky because there is water in the air. True there is moisture in the atmosphere but there is hardly enough to go swimming in. As for your apology I both accept and decline. Mostly because I like being complicated but also I shouldn’t have flipped out that much. Heh, now look who’s rambling.” I chuckle at the end realizing how silly we are both being.

“Thanks Walker. You know for being as weird and ‘complicated’ as you are you’re really nice.” She says with a smile.

“I am stuck in a world full of dragons, magic and, monsters straight out of myth. I’m even traveling with a dragon and a monster. I have seen Mira use her magic to toss rocks around at speeds high enough to crack my skull. I saw you breath flames hot enough to turn flesh into ash in seconds. If I’m not nice either of you could kill me before I had a chance to even think. I couldn’t do anything to stop you or her if you decided you wanted the reward money. So being nice is my only option at the moment. Now that’s not to say that if we were on an even playing field I would suddenly become an asshole to you girls far from it, what I am saying is that I have no choice in what happens unless I feel like running off into the woods. People tend to assume that because someone is nice they are a good person. This is a lie. No one is really a good person. Not even those ponies who promote nothing but love and tolerance. I mean if I walked into a pony controlled town right now I would be arrested purely for being ‘human’. I would be thrown in a cell and used as a means to promote more anti-human propaganda. I would be labeled as a terrorist sent to disrupt the town and incite riots. Now whether this is actually true or not is really unknown since I don’t want to test the theory. Back to my original point though I am not nice I just don’t see the value in being ‘evil’. If I was evil I would end up with nothing to show for it as the world turns against me. Being ‘good or nice’ has many advantages over being ‘evil or mean’.” I turn to look over at Amethyst to see that she is just absolutely lost which causes me to lose it. “HAHAHAHH! The look on your face!”

Watching her try to understand what I just said is hilarious. Her mouth just keeps opening and closing like a fish out of water.

“That right there is why I stopped having deep conversations with him. He could give the hive a headache from all the philosophical thoughts running through his mind. I swear Walker you could spin genocide into a good thing if you put yourself to it.” Mira pipes up from in front of us. She slows down till she is walking on my left. “Honestly Amethyst you should just let it go and take it at face value, which is that he accepts your apology and is sorry for what he did. Otherwise you’ll just hurt your brain.”

“B-but i-is he a good guy or a bad guy? I’m so confused!” Amethyst grabs her head as pain borne confusion settles in.

Mira and I laugh, knowing that she really just needs to let it go.

Mira walks over to Amethyst “Like I said just take it as he accepts your apology and move on. Also it’s about time we started flying.”

Amethyst sighs “You and your weird thought-process is going to kill me.” Giving both her cheeks a quick slap than stretching, she launches herself into the air to give her wings a test and make sure everything is working right.

After a few minutes of flight she lands next to us. “You bitches ready?” Amethyst asks with a grin.
“As I’ll ever be.” Is my reply, I know for a fact she is going to do something.

~~~~~~

“I HATE THE BOTH OF YOU!!” I shout during my free fall.

Seems they planned to do this at some point. How do I know this you ask? Well because about half way through the flight to the coast I see Amethyst give Mira a nod and next thing I know I’m falling towards the ground at high speed.

“WALKER CALM DOWN! JUST TRY TO RELAX AND SPREAD YOUR BODY WEIGHT EVENLY!” Amethyst tries to get me to calm down but my free fall has my mind on lock down.

Sighing Mira flies over and kisses my cheek startling me with the suddenness. “RELAX AND HAVE FUN!”
Shaking my head I spread my body out and start slowing down. Thank whatever Deity rules here that they flew up high enough.

As I begin to calm down and slow down I get the chance to actually take in the fact that I am sky-diving. *Holy shit this is…* “AWESOME!!!” Laughing like the madman that I am, I start spinning and twirling all over the place.

After about another minute they catch me and haul me back up to height they started at.

“Have fun?” Asks Amethyst with a grin.

“Hell yeah!! Do it again! I can’t fucking believe it. TODAY IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!!” I laugh my ass of as they carry me. Unfortunately I don’t get to go free falling again to close to the coast and also hauling me back up to height put more strain on their wings than they expected.

Nearing the end of our flight Amethyst spots a port town where we should be able to charter a small boat to out to Volcannus. We decide to land about half an hour out so that way no one spots Mira or I.

~~~~~~

Upon landing we take a short break, well Amethyst and Mira do since they did all the work.

“Damn that was a lot of fun. Sorry I yelled at the both of you.” I rub the back of my head feeling bad for having flipped out like that. Not much I can do now except apologize and hope they forgive me.

“Don’t worry about it. We knew that you wouldn’t have been too happy with it at first. I actually expected you to flip out more than you did.” Amy waves off my apology and smiles just glad that I got a chance to enjoy the experience.

Mira pulls out a cloak and tosses it to me. “You should put it on now and get use to how it moves and feels. Also try to keep it closed as much as possible.” A quick flash of green and she is back in her unicorn form.

With a dramatic flair I put the cloak on. *Damn that is just so fucking cool*

“Settle down hero. It’s just a cloak.” Amethyst pipes up.

“Hey some of the coolest heroes wore cloaks. Not that I can remember any specifically, but that’s not the point. This is cloak right here signifies my ascension in to a true hero.” I finish with the iconic flourish of the cloaks edge.

Both girls just roll their eyes. I think they have finally come to understand I just enjoy being a ham and cheese sandwich. I mean seriously I’m in this world full of crazy story-book shit, I am going to take full advantage of what it has to offer. I may not be able to become an actual hero or anything like that, but I can at least act some old school hero who’s all noble and ‘heroic’. I mean come on this is literally every guys dream right here.

Tell me I’m wrong and I will jump out this story and punch you straight in the duodenum. Go ahead look it up I’ll wait…. Yeah right fucking there.

~~~~~~

Heading into town was nerve wrecking as shit. The guards at the gate eyeballed the shit out of me. I nearly broke and ran at one point but thankfully Mira was there and pressed into my side to comfort me. The guards stopped us and said that if we cause any trouble at all they would haul us in than send us directly to Canterlot to rot in the dungeons there.

Assholes.

Anyway the three of us walked till we got to the town center.

“Okay Mira, you take Walker and find us somewhere cheap to spend the night. Walker…? Where the Smaugs breathe did he disappear to?” Amethyst and Mira begin looking all around the immediate area for me.

~~~~~~

“Where the fuck am I now?”

Chapter 7

View Online

(5yrs 10 months ago)

Finding out I was lost while terrifying at first slowly became very liberating. I didn’t do an impromptu strip dance perverts. I did how ever get an opportunity to check out life in a port town unimpeded.

Walking around town was amazing seeing all the different species everywhere. I saw bipedal cats, dogs, griffons, ponies, even a couple of dragons. Literally everywhere I looked was something out of myth and legend like I had actually stepped into some fantasy novel.

Being lost in my thoughts is never a good thing. I bump into someone and my only thought is ‘oh boy I’m caught now’

“Oh dear me I’m so sorry I didn’t realize you were there.” A female Centaur quickly apologizes.

Trying to play it off I quickly reply. “Oh don’t worry I wasn’t paying any attention to where I was going and it seems life likes to throw curve balls every time I start to think.” I rub the back of my head a bit perturbed that shit like this keeps happening.

A glance to the ground during the lull in conversation I notice a bag and some vegetables on the ground. “Oh shit, I’m sorry I didn’t even realize I knocked your groceries to the ground.” I pick everything up and hand them back over to her. “Again I am really sorry about that.” A smile spreads across my face not that she could see it with my hood up.

She takes the bag but doesn’t move or say anything for a few moments.

Taking the moment of silence between us I look her over.

Her coat is a dark brown almost near black. Her hair and tail are a dull fuchsia, her hair trails down to the middle of her back, well her upper back. The back of her that is human. You know what fuck you. She stands a bit taller than myself but only by like a couple of inches. Her human half is covered in a forest green sleeveless tunic that seems to be struggling to contain the mountains on her chest.

After a short while the silence begins to become uncomfortable. I start fidgeting and consider just walking away but my feet feel like they are made of lead and have grown roots deep in the ground.

“Are you blind?”

What?

Where the hell did that come from? Am I blind? No of course not, I did manage to pick up each vegetable with ease. “Umm… no I can see just fine. Why?”

“So you can see that I am a centaur right?” She asks seemingly completely confused.

“Uh well yeah. Is there something I’m missing here?” I am so fucking lost.

“Would you like to join me for an early dinner?”

*Is she hitting on me? No that doesn’t make any sense. Maybe she knows I’m a human and is trying to lure me somewhere so the guards can catch me.* A giggle from her catches my attention.

“I promise I just want to cook you a meal as a thank you.” She says with a pleasing smile.

“O-okay.” I stammer out.

She leads me down several main streets through the town and more than a few odd dark alley ways. Leading me to what I assume to be her home but it also seems to double as an apothecary’s shoppe.

Walking in was an assault on my nose. There was incense burning in one corner of the store front and several odd looking plants hanging from the ceiling. “Lovely place you got yourself here.”

Laughing she looks over her shoulder at me. “It’s a hovel, though that does not mean there is a kiln in here. Take a seat and I’ll go get a nice vegetable soup started.” She walks off through a doorway I had completely failed to notice.

Instead of sitting I take a look at some of the various knick-knacks she has scattered around.

One of them seems to be a pretty detailed scale model of a dragon in flight. Another near the window is of what I assume to be a glass version of the world.

Drifting around the store I notice that one corner of the store seems to cause my eyes to slide away every time I try to see what’s there. Deciding to be invasively curious now that there is something weird going on I walk up to the corner and force my gaze into the spot. Slowly a black cloak begins to come into focus.

“WHOA!” I jump back thinking that it is a person at first, only to see that it is just sitting on a stand. “That is so fucking cool. Damn I love magic. Seeing as how I can see it now I doubt it’s an invisibility cloak. I wonder what the enchantment on it is.” I muse to myself.

“It is called ‘wall-flower’. The wearer, while not invisible, does go unnoticed when surrounded.”

The suddenness of the voice startles the hell out of me. I may or may not have jumped out of my skin. Turning around I see ab-so-fucking-lutely no one. “Ookay creepy store just got creepier.”

“Are you suffering because you cannot see who is speaking?” Asks the mysterious voice.

Thinking about that for a second I decide being scared at this point is stupid if they are going to attack they wouldn’t have told me the effect of the cloak. Also something tells me I’m not in any danger. It’s really weird but the more I think about it the more I feel like I should know what’s happening to some degree.

“It would seem my lack of presence has startled you into silence.” Again the voice calls from nowhere but it sounds full of mirth.

“Yeah I’ll admit it was startling at first but now not so much. I mean this world is full of amazing things I have never seen before. So what’s to say there isn’t some sort of being that exists outside the visible spectrum?” I counter with a smirk.

I hear ‘him’ start to chuckle. “You seem to have a very unique perspective. I wonder about this ‘world’ you came from.”

Well shit I didn’t think that comment through. “Just a figure of speech.” I say trying blatantly to cover over my fuck up.

“Worry not none here will turn you in for being ‘different’.” Something about that makes me think ‘he’ knows more about me than I should be comfortable with. “Though I do believe a face to face would do us both some good.”Something lands on top of my head only to disappear a second later. Whatever jumped on my head knocked my hood off revealing my face.

I quickly go to cover my face with my hands only to realize that it would be pointless at this point. “Okay you caught me I’m a human.”

“So that’s why you didn’t insult me earlier.”

Whipping around I see the centaur from earlier walking out into the store again.

“I was wondering why you were being so pleasant and nice; it is quite at odds with how many others treat my kind. Especially after what he did.” Her statement finishing with utter contempt shining through.

Raising an eyebrow “He who?”

She shakes her head “It does not matter ‘he’ is gone and won’t be coming back any time soon, if ever.”

“Okay. So … uh how is the soup doing?” I ask awkwardly trying to change the conversation since it seems like I’m not gonna find out about this ‘guy’.

“It’ll be done in about 20 minutes or so.” She walks over to me and begins to look me up and down, studying me for some reason.

“He found the cloak”

Looking up at me for a second with wide eyes she turns to the counter where an unusually large orange tabby lays idly lies.

“What do you mean he ‘found the cloak’?”She asks raising an eyebrow to the cat.

I begin to wonder if she is crazy but low and behold.

The cat looks over at her. “He wondered the shoppe for a moment and realized that his vision was being tricked and investigated.”

She looks back at me. “Well aren’t you just full of surprises.”

This world is going to drive me insane. “Umm… no I’m not?” I have no clue whats going on anymore.

“Yes you are. You just don’t realize it yet.” She gets right up into my face, staring deep into my eyes. “You have potential but what you do with it is entirely up to you. You will have a choice to make. Change will follow, so will blood. You will become what you choose.” With a smirk she ends with “Beware of the first time you see the Sun it will hurt.”

Chapter 8

View Online

(5 yrs 10 months)

“So… uh…how about that soup?” This shit is starting to get weird and I am willing to bet that was my future that I just heard. I mean it sounded like a prophecy thingy. You know those… fuck you, not doing this right now.

“It’s still cooking. Don’t dwell on it too much. It’s only as important as you want it to be.” She says trying to wave off the growing concern on my face.

“You said I am going to be followed by blood and I am just supposed to forget about that?! What the fuck am I supposed to become? A murderer? An assassin?” Burying my face in my hands my mind begins to race. Followed by blood? The Changeling I killed. I relished in killing him. Oh god those Griffons earlier. I didn’t even stop to think about it. I just ran in.

I have been getting those really dark thoughts. I seriously considered trying to kill Amethyst when she hit me the other day. These increasingly dark thoughts might be just the beginning. What if I was just some violent asshole before I got here? I mean those darker impulses certainly suggest so. I have been here only a couple of months and I have already committed a murder, so what if it was in defense of another. I could have tried some other option. I could have done anything other than fight.

Oh god I wanted his blood. Not to drink, but I wanted to see it spilt all over the ground. I wanted him to suffer in pain. Just what the fuck is going on with me? Is it this world? Is it…me?

What if it IS me? What if I’m just some blood thirsty beast?

What if I hurt Mira?

She has been my only real solace in this insane world. My own stability when my mind begins to crash.

“…ker.”

The thoughts won’t stop. My mind races with thousands of scenarios of me killing Mira. The haunting images of her life fading before my eyes terrify my already unstable mind. A sudden new sensation stalls my thoughts, it feels like my face and hands are wet. Like there is some liquid is running down my face. It’s warm and thick, but runs easily. I pull my hands away to see them, what I see horrifies me to my core. My hands are coated in blood… green and red blood…oh god what have I done?

Did I black out? I must have. Oh god I killed someone. No there’s too much blood to be just one, I killed multiple innocents. People just going about their daily lives…
“…alker!!”

Oh god one of them was Mira wasn’t it. I bet she tried to stop me. I bet she tried to help me and I killed her. She is de…

SMACK!!! “WALKER SNAP OUT OF IT!!”

The sudden pain exploding from the back of my head makes me wince forcing my eyes closed for a second. Upon opening them again, thankfully, the blood is gone. Looking around I see Mira standing next to me concern written across her face as if it were carved into her features permanently.

“Walker, are you okay?” Her concerned voice shatters whatever hold the vision still had over me. I lunge at her and hold her tight, crying into her shoulder.

“Oh god the blood, Mira it was all over me. It was everywhere; it was soaked into my skin. ” I sob, shuttering with each trembling breathe I take. I look deep into her eyes tears
streaming down my face. “Mira please tell me I didn’t hurt anyone. Please tell I was just seeing things.”

Mira whispers soothing comfort into my ear, letting me know nothing happened. Wrapped in her tight embrace is a comfort like no other, it makes me feel safe and secure. Some part of me thinks that this must be what it’s like to be held by one’s mother, I curl deeper into her tranquility inducing embrace.

“I said ‘WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!”

“I swear all I did was tell him his future, nothing else.” The poor centaur tries to explain as she is threatened by our dragoness companion.

“She didn’t do anything Amy. Let her go. MY mind just got carried away with what she told me.” I slowly let go of Mira and walk over to Amy. Placing a hand on her shoulder gets her to turn and look at me. A quick nod and smile gets her to release the poor woman.

“I’m really sorry about my companions they are a bit overprotective of me it seems. Also I realize I never gave you my name nor did I get yours.” With a warm smile on my face I hold out a hand. “My name is Walker and it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

She smiles back as if nothing happened and takes my hand. “Mine is Elizabeth. The cats name is Kelso. Don’t worry about them, like I said before I’m used to being harassed.”

~~~~~~

Several minutes later and a rather intense berating from Mira, for getting lost the moment we entered town, we all sat down and ate the veggie soup. Which was scrumptious by the way. Heh, scrumptious. What a fun word.

Anyway once everything was settled and those of us that needed actual food had eaten, Mira had snacked on me during the impromptu snuggle session. The conversation took the inevitable turn towards what Elizabeth had said.

“So he has potential you say to do as he wants, but he has to choose what it is he wants? Isn’t that kind of obvious?” Amy asks clearly confused by the vague prophecy.

“He has potential to do great things, terrible if he should choose but still great.” Elizabeth replies.

“That sounds like a quote from something. God damn it I know I know where that is from. Shit shit shit. Fuck it whatever. Seriously though don’t quote shit like that, my life has already become weird the fuck enough. Also I refuse.” I’m seriously beginning to question my sanity, though I should have been questioning it since I got here, but eh whatever.

The three of them raise an eyebrow at me.

“Fuck all of you. Don’t look at me in that tone of voice.” My statement just causes further confusion. “You heard me. I said it exactly the way I meant it.”

“You are very strange.” Elizabeth states in an amused tone.

“Your damn right I am. Fuck being ‘normal’. Normal is as boring as watching paint dry. Though I bet if there was a ton of copies of you running around it would be a good way to figure out which is the real one. I mean the real one would be the only one to watch it dry the longest without doing something to alleviate the boredom.” I muse, mostly to myself.

“Yeah he really is strange, in the short time I have gotten to know him he has somehow managed to throw me for a loop almost every time he speaks. At first I thought he was doing it on purpose, but being a changeling allows some understanding of others and that’s just how he is. I can’t find any deception when he goes off like that. It’s like his mind literally can’t stay on a serious track for more than a few minutes before it begins to drift.” Explains Mira, she is such a great friend.

“As I said though, I refuse. I know I kind of went off on a tangent for a second there. I refuse to be anything other than me and if you or your prophecy don’t like it you can like lick my salty nut sack. That’s human slang for testicles in case you were unsure. Lastly we need a place to stay for the night do you have a room we could use?” I ask. I don’t give a damn about any sort of prophecy or any shit like that. I am who I am and I will choose…be…I will be who I am going to be, I choose nothing.

I refuse to become anything other than what life offers to make me. I will take whatever chances to do stuff that come my way and who I end up in the end is entirely up to what happens to me. I will NOT become some great man, or what have you.

“I do believe I have a room you three could use it would be a tight fit but if it is just for tonight than I think it should be fine. Oh and refusing is still a choice.” Elizabeth grins across the table at me.

“To me it is the exact opposite. I will make no choice. I make one DECISION here and now. Whatever comes my way will be what I do unless it goes against my own beliefs. I know this may sound like a choice but to me it is a proclamation.” I state loudly and clearly to the world. I refuse to be some stupid prophesied hero or villain.

Chapter 9

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(present day)

“I do believe we requested to hear how your meeting with the dragons came to be, not all of this superfluous nonsense.” Spoke Princess Celestia in a commanding tone. The look on her face was one of annoyance. It seems like my beginnings in this world were a bit of a lengthy story. Also I think that I caught a hint of disbelief earlier when I told her about my response to some of the situations we found ourselves in.

Come to think of it, I bet she doesn’t believe a word I have said thus far. Oh well can’t please’em all.

“I was just about to get to…”

What interrupted me sounded like a mating call for a whale. Looking around the room I caught sight of the purple pony I saved earlier with a look of embarrassment burning across her face.

“Sorry, I was going to have lunch with Fluttershy before all this happened and never stopped to eat anything after it all settled down. I was just too excited to.” The purple pony Princess politely proffers… Did I just alliterate? Fuck my life, I hate this damn world.

“It’s okay Twilight, we can stop here for now and have dinner. It is about that time anyway.” Celestia offers her fellow Princess with a warm smile and a caring look.

“Hey how come she gets the warm smile and I get looked at like I’m dog crap to be scrapped off your hoof? Seriously that’s…

WHACK!

“Walker what have I told you about saying things like that?” Reprimands Mira.

“That I should do it more often?’ I quip back, which earns me a swift kick to the shin.

“OW!! Jesus Mira, I was just joking. God woman I’m swear you take some sort of perverse pleasure in abusing me.” I hug my left shin while trying to balance on just one leg.

“It seems you have some difficulty keeping him in line. I do know a few spells that may help you keep him more ‘docile’, if you wish to learn them.” Offers Bitchlestia. Seriously she is being a fucking cunt. I have been around her for only a couple of hours and I already don’t fucking like her. Then again from what Mira told me, she already has a hate-on for humans. I wonder what the others did to her that got her so mad.

“Thank you for the offer Princess, but most spells of such a nature have no effect. Trust me I have tried more than a few times.” Mira explains while staring daggers my way.

It’s not like I am always a dick, I just can’t stand assholes. So when I catch someone being one I call them on their shit. NO one is above everyone, no matter their ‘social status’. So what if it’s gotten us of kicked out of some ‘Nobles’ home? As if any of those assholes were even worth talking to in the first place.

“Did you use any other spells besides those?” Twilight asks. Oops looks like I zoned out again.

“At the time no, but as we traveled we tested many others as I learned of them. We both wanted to know if it was an all out immunity or if there was some sort limitation we were unaware of. So far it would seem any sort of mental subversion through arcane means is impossible. Though we agree that there may be other methods we have yet to try of that may work. Several are out the window due to his new biology. Many chemical compounds specifically, as the dosage rates would more than likely kill him.” Explains Mira, at least she is always paying attention. God I hate when we get caught up having to explain this shit. I wish I had a packet or something handy to give them, so we wouldn’t have to do this every time.

“New biology? What do you mean?” Twilight asks with the spark of curiosity growing in her eyes.

It seems like she’s the bookworm type. Bet she is an autodidact. Nice hips too. Too bad she’s wearing that skirt I bet she has a great ass.

“Walker!”

“Huh?” Did I just wonder about her ass out loud? I hope not, though that would make things interesting…

“We have been invited to join the Princesses for dinner.” Mira informs me.

“Really?” I look over at Princess Bitchlestia with a raised eyebrow. “You’re actually inviting me to join you at your table. I assumed you would be having us dine in your ‘finest’ dungeon cell, not joining you with all the other people. I mean Mira I can understand but I figured you would have said something about a ‘no pets’ policy concerning me.”

Sighing she replies with “While I do not trust you, I do realize that I have not been exactly the most gracious hostess. I must apologize for my recent behavior I have been feeling very drained the last couple of days. Also you did save my former student. Though your behavior has been reprehensible I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt.” A brilliant flash of light and she is right in my face. The look in her eyes tells me that what she has to say next is nothing short of a direct threat. “Step one hair out of line and I will come down on you like a mountain and burn you to ash.”

It takes every single ounce of self control I have to not lick her snout, because fuck bitches that get in my face. “I understand Princess, and thank you for your kindness.” I state as I step back and bow deeply. A grin worms its way on to my face. “Know that if you ‘come’ down on me I will drink it eagerly.”

The room falls into a deep silence as my last statement settles in. Mira holds her breath fearing I may have just ruined whatever goodwill we have earned. Twilight stands by confusion etched into her features as she tries to figure out what I meant by that last statement.

Gotta give Sunbutt credit though, all she does is take a deep breath then let it out slowly.

“I do believe I am beginning to understand. Know I am watching you.” As she walks towards the double doors I could swear there is a slight sway to her hips. Twilight looks back and forth between us than follows Bit- Celestia out.

I think I won that round. Though the semi I am now sporting seems to disagree. Damn think I am gonna like it here now. A Cheshire grin spreads across my face.

SMACK!! “Just what in the Nine Circles of Hell were you thinking? I thank whatever Gods, who seem to watch over your stupid ass, that she DECIDED to be nice.” Mira practically screams at me.

“First off she started it. Secondly we’re falling behind and I’m hungry.” I reply to her obvious frustration.

With a sigh and a face palm we follow the two to the dining hall.

The walk there is lost to silence as I just stare at all of the opulence everywhere. I mean if it wasn’t made of marble it was gold, silver or sometimes even platinum. Even the floor had beautiful mosaics of precious stone and rare metals, all covered in some sort of clear coat to protect them and give everything a gorgeous shine. Bet it makes it easier to clean also.

God this whole palace is absolutely gorgeous. The columns have been fluted to add some texture to the hall. There are bust of significant figures throughout pony history recessed into the walls. I mean they really went and broke the bank on building this place. Even the windows are stained glass… Wait. Is that?

“Hey Twilight is that you?” I ask the purple pone, while pointing at one of the windows.

She looks to where I am point and smiles. “Yes that is my friends and I defeating Nightmare Moon and purifying Princess Luna. You might get a chance to meet her at dinner. Since she is the Princess of the Night she is awake at night.”

“Wow having to be awake all night like that must be incredible lonely and boring.” I muse out loud.

“Unfortunately that is exactly what turned her into Nightmare Moon to begin with.” Twilight replies sadly.

*Damn and they are just gonna let it happen again? What the hell is wrong with these ponies? Love and tolerance my ass. I’ve seen pit fighters treat each other better during a death match.* I decide if I do meet her and she isn’t a bitch like Celestia than I will stay awake all night with her just so she has someone to talk to that isn’t one of these guard statues.

I mean seriously the guards here stand stone fucking still staring in one direction. Also the shiny gold plate-mail is more for show than actual protection.

“We’re here.”

Drifting back out of my thoughts I see another set of double doors. God it’s like they are expecting super fat people to show up at places like this. I mean almost every door we have come across has been a double door. At least it’s made of Walnut. Good durable wood with strong versatility.

The doors have a fork and knife motif engraved deep into the wood, I guess to help people identify what is behind the door. As if the smells coming from the room wouldn’t give it away.

Upon entering there is a long dark Cherry wood table. It is lined with plates, utensils and even candles. There are servants scurrying around lighting all of the candles on the table. You would figure with the ability to use magic they would have some sort of Mage Light.

I mean seriously, how much magic would it really take to create a ball of light sufficient enough to brighten the room.

“Hey Twilight-“

“Princess Twilight” Celestia and Mira are quick to correct.

Turning to look at both of them I decide to settles this before they do that again. Also surprised I didn’t get corrected earlier. “Excuse me Princess Twilight, but what do you prefer?”

“Oh…um well I guess just Twilight is okay. I mean I’m really not used to being a Princess. Also I don’t really want to be treated any different just because I’m an Alicorn now.” She explains nervously.

“Now that we have that settled, I wanted to ask you a question. If you don’t mind that is.”

Her eyes light up in the most adorable way. This girl really likes questions and sharing information. I bet her dream home is a library. “I was wondering why candles instead of making some sort of Mage Light to brighten the room. It seems like a small application of magic would solve lighting issues easily.”

“Oh, that’s because while generating light via magic would be more efficient it lacks the ‘atmosphere’ brought on by candles. If I wanted to grow an indoor garden than a light source crafted through arcane means would be perfect, due to the fact that it uses actual light photons to generate the light. Sadly since it uses actual light very few unicorns have the skills necessary to utilize the spell to its full potential. And with Cutie Marks determining where a pony excels even less unicorns are capable of producing such effects.”

“Makes sense but it would seem that by using a modified shield spell one could harness light and write in a sub-clause that allows light to slowly filter out. The only issue I see is finding something to draw the light into the shield to begin with.” I look up to the ceiling considering several options when I realize I already know the perfect solution. “A rune carved gem should do the trick; actually you could even replace the whole set up with the gem to begin with. Carve a set for absorbing than one for a timed release of that built up light. Though you would have to change it from light to ambient magic, but it should still work just fine. You could even utilize a fire as your energy source, since not every pony is capable of externalizing their magic like unicorns, and you could even use its nature based energy to fuel the flicker that a flame creates on its own. It would give you the ‘atmosphere’ desired and it would even allow for easy transport while traveling.” When I turn to look over at Twilight I see that both she and Princess Celestia are surprised. Which to be honest is unsurprising. Most take one look at me and assume I’m an idiot. I love tripping people up like that.

“That would certainly work but that requires ponies be trained in the art of rune crafting and unfortunately the Zebras are the only ones with that knowledge. They refuse to teach us since we already have some control over magic already.” She explains while taking a seat at the table.

I quickly sit down to her left. “Well you just happen to be in luck. During my travels I stayed with the Zebras and they taught me how to craft runes. Well they taught me the basics the rest was just trial and error, with a whole lot of error. I lost my eyebrows trying to make these.” I say placing my arms on the table and showing her the bracelets on my arms. They are about three inches wide, about a half inch thick. The band is made of two separate materials. The inner band is platinum. The outer band is simple steel. Both bands are covered in complex series of runes. The bracelet on my right has a pair of small diamond chips placed at the center point of the outer bands creating a sort of bracket surrounding one of the runes carved into the platinum.

“What are they?” She asks inspecting them. The excitement growing on her face is absolutely amazing. She really must love learning.

“What would you two like for dinner?” A waiter I didn’t even hear walk up to us asks. Of course his sudden appearance startles me making me jump slightly in my seat.

“Dude you scared the bejeezus out of me.” I place a hand to my chest to try and settle my racing heart.

Twilight and Princess Celestia both look at me with matching pairs of confused expressions. Mira is doing her best not to laugh her ass off. Damn that bug.

“Believe it or not he startles very easily for some reason. I have seen him stare down ten charging Minotaurs at once without flinching. He has even taken out someone hiding in the shadows without batting an eye, but the moment a noncombatant stands next to him without him realizing he just freaks.”

“Hey it helps that I was trained to fight by a charging minotaur. Also all the assassins that tried to kill us so far have released their killing intent to soon and tipped me off. As for food a simple salad without hay, alfalfa, straw or flowers will be fine. Thanks.” I say once my heart rate returns to normal. “Also to answer your question Twilight I call them Resistors. As the name implies they resist things, specifically the body’s ability to move in any particular direction. Think of them as body weights. By using the interior band on the right side I can adjust the resistance my body perceives acting against it. Since I only made them last year I am at only twice the normal resistance. Think of it as if my body weight has been doubled. In a few months I plan on up it to ‘three times my normal body weight’. Though there are certain issues to doing this. I cannot simply up the weight without consequence. One such consequence is that it puts heavy stress on my muscles and bones. Meaning I could-“

“Tear muscles and break bones doing something as simple as lifting a cup. Why would you put yourself in such a dangerous situation? I mean the benefits would be impressive but the potential draw backs are just as bad, if not worse in some cases.” The concern for my well being is touching but misplaced.

“Like Mira said earlier, I obtained a new biology which prevents most of the dangers from being too serious. I mean if I go up to fast than yeah I could die but these only go up to 10, so while the chance of serious injury is still possible the chance of dying is minimized.” I explain, though it seems to do little to alleviate her concern.

“That is the second time you two have mentioned new biology. What exactly does that mean?” She asks. I guess she got uncomfortable with the talk of death and pain.

I open my mouth to explain what I mean but the sound of Mira giving a polite cough interrupts me.

“Walker you haven’t eaten all day. You need more than a salad to sustain you and you know it.” She says giving me her scolding mother look.

“Ugh fine.” Turning I see the waiter still standing there. Guess Mira asked him to wait. “Get me some bread as well please.”

“Walker.” Mira says in a threatening tone.

“God damn it woman I’m not hungry”

“I don’t care you need to eat. Remember what happened last time you didn’t eat?” She asks crossing her arms. Damn she isn’t going to let it go.

“Alright, fuck me.” Sighing I think for a moment. “Do you have any meat back there?”

“One moment please sir.” The waiter walks back into the kitchen. To my surprise I see a chipper looking griffon exit and walk over to me.

“I was told you are a carnivore?” He asks as a huge smile threatens to tear his head in half.

“Okay that smile is just creepy, but yeah. I need a steak, potatoes, no gravy use the natural juices as the sauce. Cook the potatoes with sautéed onions over the top. I go with chef’s choice on the type of meat and lastly make it rare please.” Not a fan of steak really, too limited in what you can use it for but I know if I don’t eat a meal like this Mira will be on my ass all night.

“Consider it done.” He says with glee and dashes back into the kitchen.

“Nice fellow, though that smile is seriously creepy.” I say as I turn back to the table.

“Thank you Walker.”

“Don’t mention it Mira I know you are just looking after my well being. Anyways as I was about to say my new-“

The main door to the dinning hall slams open interrupting me yet again. Looking over I see another Alicorn walk in this one is the complete opposite from Celestia in every way physically possible.

Chapter 10

View Online

(present day)

The Alicorn walking in to the dining hall is absolutely adorable. She is wearing an adult fluffy bunny onesie. One of the ears is folded over while the other stands up. God this mare is adorable, but why is she…? Of course this must be Luna, Princess of the Night and Co-Diarchy of Equestria. Explains why she looks like she just woke up.

She gives a simple yawn but the outfit she is wearing makes it so cute and innocent. It seriously makes me want to snuggle the ever loving crap out of her. The fur of the onesie is a soft shade of muted blue. Her tail flicks out from where the bunny’s fluff ball of a tail would be.

“Evening Sister.” The princess of the night sleepily mutters.

Celestia clears her throat. “We have guests tonight, dear sister, I do believe you should change you attire.”

This causes Luna to look at those around the table. First she spots Twilight, who waves sheepishly at her. Must be the outfit she is wearing, slightly embarrassing but also extremely endearing. I mean seriously how can you not find her just so lovable.

Next her eyes land on me and boy does she light up bright. She goes from midnight blue to tomato red before I could even blink and in a flash of blue magic she is gone.

“Well that was exciting” I say with a grin and a slight Scottish accent.

WACK!! “That was Princess Luna and it would behoove you to pay your proper respect Walker. We are being given a lot of leniency here. Please don’t ruin this.” Mira begs and demands at the same time.

*Too late my dear little bug*. I grin devilishly. “I am truly sorry dear Mirage but I can ‘behoove’ nothing since I clearly do not possess the required appendage to allow for such actions.”

With nothing more than a sigh and a facepalm she goes back to sipping her water.

Several moments of silence fills the dining hall.

“Okay I made a bad joke, no need to release the crickets on me.” I say with an eyeroll.

“Well before Princess Luna showed up you were about to explain your new biology.” Twilight supplies.

I stick my tongue out at Mira. “At least I still have one friend in this room. Not like you Miss. ‘You don’t know me’.”

Mira growls. “That was forever ago. When are you going to let it go?”

“When I’m dead.” I respond with a grin before turning to talk to Twilight again. “Well you see during my stint with the dragons they preformed some ritual that has imbued me with…”

Wouldn’t you know it I get interrupted by a buzzing sort of sound. Looking around I see that the Princess of the night has returned, only this time she is properly dressed.

Adorning our dear Princess of the night is an elegant floor length dress. The shoulders are simple straps that sink down the front, leading to a square cut just above her impressive bust line. It reveals just enough to be tantalizing but still conservative. The body of the dress is lace. The holes have a white material behind it giving the outfit the appearance of being the night sky.

Since she wasn’t here long before the outfit change I wasn’t able to get a good look at her but now that I have. Damn she is good looking. Now that I think about it though, I have yet to see a pony that wasn’t attractive in their own way. I mean seriously every pony I have seen in this world is unbelievably attractive. That may just be my own bias coming into play.

Our dear Princess stands just a little shorter than her sister at 6’7” maybe 6’8”. She looks like she is around 170lbs maybe 180. Her bust, hips and waist are very well balanced for her height. Unlike Celestia, Luna is a more petite type woman. Not to say Sun-Butt is fat, but she is definitely more ‘filled out’ than her sister. She is plump in all the right areas. Seriously what is with the females of pony society they are all 9’s or 10’s in the looks department.

“..alker?”

I will never understand this world. There is just so much shit that just doesn’t fit. Like all the stupid horse puns for shit. Or the fact that…

“WALKER!!!”

“MAC SOITH” I holler and jam a finger in my ear to try and lessen the tinnitus. Not that it does much good.

“You were staring off again.” Calmly states Mira with a flat look on her face.

“Your point? I mean seriously, can’t a guy fucking think about shit for five seconds.” I retaliate.

“Five seconds would be fine, but you were out of it for like five minutes.” She says with a sigh. “Walker please let someone take a look into your mind. You always stare off like that at weird times and it worries me.”

“I know Mira, but honestly they won’t find anything. It’s just that I like to take time and think through my thoughts.”

“What were you thinking about that made you need to think so deeply?” Asks Twilight, her head tilted slightly to the side, as if she were a curious dog.

Looking over at Mira with a grin, I can see she is vigorously shaking her head ‘NO’.

With a sigh I look back over to Twilight. “Sorry I am being begged not to tell you.”

Looking around me Twilight asks Mira. “Why don’t you want him to say it?”

“Because 75% of the time his thoughts aren’t even appropriate among adults. I don’t know where he learned to think the way he does but I will tell you all now; never, ever, ask what he is thinking about unless you are prepared for weird in the extreme. One time I asked him what he was thinking about and he went on a five minute rant about whether cheese tasted green or not.”

All heads in the room turn towards me, even the guards.

“What? Oranges taste orange, which is just weird. So I figured if they tasted like a color why wouldn’t other food? I mean true cheese is more of a yellow color but so are bananas. So one has to taste yellow and the other must have taste like a different color. So after some testing I decided that cheese tastes green but only if prepared properly. Speaking of food where is ours?” Of course now everyone is staring at me to like I sprouted a second head.

“Here is your steak and potatoes. I hope you enjoy.” Says Mr. Fucking Creepy Smile. Who I might add is right in my damn face.

Of course his sudden presence scares the shit out of me, causing me to fall backwards in my chair.

From my place on the floor I look over at him and in the calmest voice I can muster at the moment say “Dude you are seriously fucking creepy. Do you always scare the crap out of the people you serve?”

He at least has the decency to look ashamed. “Sorry it’s just that I don’t get to cook meat for anyone in the castle very often and just got really excited.” He backs up a little and holds out a hand to help me up.

Now that he isn’t being so creepy I can actually get a look at him.

He stands around 5’5”, decent build. He looks like he is part red-tailed hawk and lynx. It’s a very interesting combination. For a second I could swear that his eyes are a blue color but when I blink they are bird yellow. *Okay that was weird*

Sitting back in my chair once it’s set up, I look down at the meal brought to me. The steak looks juicy. The potatoes are mashed with a light and fluffy texture. The smells coming from the plate are intense. Garlic being the most pervasive of the smells coming from the plate makes me salivate like my mouth is connected to a faucet.

“MMM. God this smells absolutely delicious.” Cutting into the steak releases an ocean of juices across my plate soaking into the potatoes. The inside is a light pink meaning he cooked the steak only just. Taking that first bite was an exercise in self control. It literally took every ounce of will power to not just tear into the meal bare-handed.

Fidgeting in place the griffon asks. “Is it to your liking?”

Looking up at him with a dopey smile spread across my face. “Marry me!”

Mira the only one not surprised by my reaction just sighs. Everyone else in the room gasps at the sudden request.

“He enjoys your meal very much and is just too stupid to realize what he is actually saying.” Explains Mira.

“Shut up bug. I need this man in my life to cook. If I had someone of his caliber I would eat till I couldn’t move. I want to have your food-baby.” I take another bite of the steak with a bit of the potatoes on the side. *Oh dear lord I think I just came!* The potatoes are surprisingly sweet. Here I thought the garlic was in everything but it seems to only have been used in the steak. *What did he use to sweeten the potatoes?* Taking another taste I still can't figure out what he did.

“How did you get the potatoes to be so sweet?” I really need to know because this is how I’m cooking my own from now on.

He grins. “I’m glad you asked.” He looks down a little. “Most don’t even notice.” With a shake of his head he smiles again. “I add a splash of cream instead of butter-milk while blending the potatoes.” The grin taking over tells me he did something else.

“That’s not all is it?” A shake of his head tells me I’m right. I take another bite of just the potatoes, just to savor it and figure it out.

*I can taste the cream now that he mentioned it. There is also hints of salt and pepper but its light so as not to over power.* Taking another bite I stumble across an odd flavor mixed in. “Is that thyme I taste mixed in?” I ask, looking up at him.

His grin gets bigger and brighter. “You have quite the tongue there my friend. Yes I added thyme to the potato while I baked them in the oven. By wrapping it in cooking foil I was able to trap the moisture and the flavor. But the real trick to cooking ‘sweet tasting’ potatoes is the temperature. Most just cook them at 190 degrees Celsius for an hour. But if you drop it to 145 degrees and let it cook in the foil for a bit longer you break down the starch in the potato, which is just a complex sugar anyway.”

God damn this Griffon is an amazing cook. I would have never thought of something like that. It’s such a simple change but it completely changes the flavor. Also requiring so little seasoning you don’t overpower the naturally delicate flavor of the potato. Damn these are good.

“You sir are a master chef for coming up with such a trick. I live life on the road and have tasted many different foods because of it. This however eclipses all the potatoes I have ever had. The delicate flavor of the potatoes, the strength of the meat, and the subtle hints of seasonings mixed in. The whole meal is very well balanced.” A little over the top but seriously, it’s the best steak and potatoes I have ever had since I got here.

He bows, beaming with pride. “Thank you for your kind words they warm this simple chefs heart.”

“Hey don’t belittle yourself in such a fashion. You made me something that is more than a simple meal. You gave me a plate full of life and energy.” I say with a smile and hold out my hand. “ I hope that you will continue to cook me such amazing feasts.”

He takes my hand and gives it a firm shake. “I would be honored to cook for you during your stay here.”

“Walker why is it that everywhere we go you always make friends with the weirdest of the weird?” Mira ask with as she sighs.

“Because of wierdmaste.” I say with conviction.

Princess Luna pipes up with “What the buck is weird-muh-stay?” Her muzzle scrunches up as she tries to pronounce the word.

Damn these ponies are adorable. I think I’d have diabetes by now if it weren’t for those dragons. Chuckling I say. “It’s a joke from my world. The actually word is Namaste, which means, in essence, I bow to the divine in you. In this particular instance it means I bow to the weird in you.”

“Why wouldst thou bow to the weird in another?” Luna asks completely confused.

“Simple really, we are all weird on the inside. Very few people in this world truly express what makes them different, mostly because this world has so many different ‘looking’ individuals in it, that very few use their unique personality to identify themselves. Why bother trying to stand out through your mind when you can do it by simply existing? Physical appearance is very important in this world. Who you are on the inside is mostly over looked simply because the different races have their own unique traits on the inside; this causes the more unique outliers in the world to be over looked. So I choose to acknowledge those that choose to be different.” I explain while continuing to eat the amazing meal prepared for me.

Looking up I realize I have become the center of attention. Sighing I place my fork down and fold my hands. “Take a look around the room.” Wave my hand around the room getting all to look. “There are multiple color combinations, heights, weights and even species in just this one room. Therefore each one of us stands out without having to doing a thing.” I place my hands back on the table and stare at my plate. “To me just standing out visually is boring. Anyone can make a few changes to their appearance and suddenly they seem special, unique, and different from anyone else. To me it’s more important that you stand out based on who you are instead of being different just because it’s how you look. Anyone can ‘peacock’, but it takes someone truly special to be willing to stand out through actions. Take this meal for example.” I point to my half eaten meal. “It looks quite plain. It looks like basic steak and potatoes, but” picking up my fork and knife I cut a piece of steak, than scoop up some potatoes before eating it. I savor the flavor of the food before continuing. “the flavor, what’s on the inside of the food is what truly makes it the amazing dish it is. Looking over the table I can see a veritable ocean of colors and shapes. Each dish is trying to stand out visually. Each one is ‘peacocking’. Each dish screams out its desire to be tasted, simply because it ‘looks’ good. To me what is on the inside is important. I could care less about titles or looks or any such nonsense. For me it boils down to who you choose to be when it matters most.”

The silence growing begins to become awkward. Sighing I finish my meal before standing up. “Princesses if you would please excuse me I wish to get cleaned up.” I turn and look to the guards. “If one of you would be so kind as to show me to my quarters, I would like to bathe before their Royal Highnesses ask that I continue the tale of my life.”

Chapter 11

View Online

(present day)

The room was quite few several long seconds after Walker had left. Though that does not mean nothing was happening. Twilight’s mind was racing trying to understand what had upset Walker to the point where he decided leaving was his only option.

A long sigh cuts the silence like a sledgehammer. “I apologize for his abrupt departure.” Says Mira sadly. “He has been like that ever since we met the dragons. For some reason he just doesn’t do well when a room goes silent after he opens up like that. I think he takes it as an insult or something. He never really told me, just says that it bothers him in the moment. He’ll be okay, he just needs to take a breather and calm his mind. I’ll go check on him just to make sure.” Mira calmly slides the chair from the table and leaves with the guards assigned to watch her.

~~~~~~

After a few minutes Mira finally catches up to me. We walk in silence for about a minute.

“Yes I know my reaction was stupid.” I say without looking at her. I figure that is what she wants to tell me, I really just don’t want to hear it right now.

“Actually I came to make sure you were okay. I know how upset you can get when things like that happen. So I figured if you needed to vent at all I could be here, so that way you have someone to ‘yell at’ if you need to. Also this way you don’t break your hand again.” She says, giving me a knowing look.

Geez you punch a wall hard enough to break your hand ten times and suddenly you are prone to doing it every time. I mean seriously it’s not like I just recently picked up the habit either. I have been doing it ever since I met with the dragons, I’m just really hot now. Fine I’m hot blooded now, can’t even make a joke. I drop my gaze to the floor with a sigh. “Thanks Mira, you really are my only friend.”

Even though I don’t see it I can hear the eye roll in her voice. “That’s because you refuse to be friends with anyone else. You act like you are but I have never once known you to actual do any ‘friend’ type things with any of them.”

“Well that’s because it would be disrespecting you. I have only in the last year started to call you my friend. I just wouldn’t feel right calling someone else friend just because I act friendly with them.” I counter.

“Why would it even matter how long it’s taken you to call me friend? It’s not like there is some sort of minimum time spent together requirement to being friends with someone else?” She asks.

“It’s just the way my mind works Mira.” I reply before the guards in front let me know we have reached my quarters.

Looking at the door makes me wonder if I should start calling her Trollestia. I mean seriously just the door is ornate as fuck. It is made from solid gold inlaid with silver and opal. The patterns of silver and opal are almost kind of tribal in a way. The handles are solid bronze that draw the eye to them just purely because of its darker tone.

Looking a little closer I notice the opal and silver patterns actually start at the handles and move out from there. From there I trace each line to one of the four corners of the door.

Curiosity getting the better of me, I pull out a small quartz chip and toss it at the door. The result is astounding. The small chip is hurled across the hall and buries itself deep into the wall.

“Jesus fucking Christ in hand basket, I understand the need to protect a foreign dignitary but isn’t this going a little far. I mean that chip had less than a drop of magic in it and it still shot off like a hunger dragon after a diamond dogs gem hoard. Fuck if I hadn’t moved that shit would have torn my heart out.” I say, impressed that the princesses would even consider giving me this much protection, not that I can’t take care of myself if need be.

“Well darn here I was hoping I would get to hear what you sounded like when you actually got hurt.” Says the guard to the right of the door, looking at him I see the fucker is sporting a smirk to go with the snark.

“Geez, does every pony just hate me or something?” Seriously I have not met one pony that was polite to me before they got to know me.

“Oh I don’t hate you Walker, I just think you need to be taken down a peg.” The guard grins, though it looks like he’s waiting for something.

“Did you all get a memo about me or something, because I don’t remember telling you my name?” I ask feeling thoroughly confused by this whole situation.

A hand goes to his cocked hip, the grin on his face growing. “Did you already forget about me ‘stud’? Here I thought we made a real connection earlier too, what with you telling me about the carriage and all.” A sigh escapes his lips.

My eyes widen in surprise a smile spreading quickly across my face. “Oi fuck you, I seem to remember you telling me there was no chance in, now what was your world version of hell again?” I rub my chin and think for a moment before it comes to me. “Oh yeah I remember now, you told me there was no chance in ‘tartarus’ of you being interested in me that way.”

“Hay buck you! I never said anything about tartarus. You’re making that up.” He grins, falling into my trap.

“Oh so you’re saying that there is a chance?” I waggle my eyebrows, while grinning like a loon.

With a sigh and a head shake he replies. “I walked right into that one didn’t I?”

“Yes you did Hammer, yes…you…did.” I pat her on the shoulder. “It’s alright, I forgive your lack of skill. It’s good to see you again.”

“Oh really and here I thought you hated me. I mean what’s with all that talk of not thinking of me as a friend, simply because you have only just started calling her a friend?” She asks, pointing a finger at Mira.

Rubbing the back of my head I try to but fail to come up with a reasonable argument. “Fish fingers and custard?”

My little comment back garners me nothing but stares.

With a sigh Foe Hammer goes to open the door, but an idea hits me now that she is here.

“Hey Foe, would it be okay if I used your guys training field for a little bit? I need to burn some…energy…off…?” The weird glint in her eyes makes me look around at the other guards. They all look like they want to eat me or something. “Okay that look is just fucking creepy, please stop.”

“Well Walker you have fun, I’m going to take the first shower before meeting with the princesses again.” Mira pats me on the shoulder as if she’s about to never see me again. “Oh and Foe Hammer, be a dear and make sure you don’t work him to hard out there. He does need to continue his tale later.”

“Oh don’t worry I’ll take ‘good care of him’.” The grin on her face really makes me wish I had just taken my shower instead, but once more into the breach. “You three stay here. I’ll take him there.”

~~~~~~

Ten minutes and a whole fuck ton of confusing turns later we come to a door that has a sword and shield carved in to the wood. Seriously do they have to do that to every door? Couldn’t they just put up like a sign or something? Whatever not my problem.

“Here we are.” Foe says, like the door or the sounds coming from behind it didn’t make it obvious.

“Girl I think even a blind man could tell this is the place. I still appreciate you letting me know.” I place my hand on the door to push it open, but I get an idea that will be fun. Might piss off some of the ponies in there, but fuck them.

Taking a few steps back I grin like a loon.

“Walker? What are you abou-“Foe hammer starts to ask, but she doesn’t get to finish as I do a flying double kick on the, causing said do to crash open. No, it does not fly off the hinges or bury its self into the wall. That kind of shit only happens in movies because the main character is so fucking stupidly strong. Though now that I think about it with these Resistors I may eventually get to the point where I could actually do something stupid like that.

Fuck, does this mean I am one of those over-powered morons that have absolutely no personality what so ever? What if I am? Oh god, what do I do? I don’t want to be like that. Though than again they do get all the bitches. UGH!!! There are actual bitches in this world. I mean like female dog type bitches. I seriously hope whatever deities that watch over me don’t do that to me.

While my brain decided it wanted to turn my thoughts into a run-away I completely spaced on why I had wanted to do that in the first place. I wanted to make a cool dramatic entrance and also kick a fucking door open like that. Of course now I am just laying on the ground like a moron staring off into space while my face contorts into a visage of horror at the thought of being literally ‘dog-piled’ by female dogs.

Whispers flood the room, wondering if either they are under attack by the world’s worst army or a mental patient escaped from the hospital.

A unicorn stallion walks up to me, confusion spreading across his muzzle. He looks over at Foe Hammer hoping she might have answers for him. She just holds up a hand and shakes her head. To be honest she has less of a clue about what’s going on than he does.

He crouches down next to me and pokes my shoulder which draws me out of my thoughts.

Looking around I see that everyone is looking at me. “Well shit there goes my chance to look cool.” Looking up at the stallion I grin. “Hey wanna spar?” I think my question was unexpected by everyone, well I assume so by the sudden gasp and increased whispering in the room.

For his part the stallion only chuckles. I like him already. “Sure, I could use the chance to polish some of my skills, names Bright Shield.” He stands up, holding out a hand to help me back to my feet. Oddly enough the whispering increases after he mentions his name.

He is about 6 ft tall, has a decent muscle-mass to him. His coat, the parts I can see anyway, are white and his mane is blue but there are a couple of different shades mixed into it. Fuck even his eyes are a light shade of blue. Damn he is a pretty stallion.

Slowly a grin spreads across my face as he starts to look a little uncomfortable. “You got a real purty face boy.” I say in my best dirty southerner accent.

It takes every ounce of control I have not to die laughing as he backs up a couple of steps.

Sadly Foe Hammer ruins my fun. “He is just joking around.” She looks at me and sighs. “He just happens to have a really odd sense of humor. The first time we met he made a comment about me and I quote “impaling him on my spear” and trust me he meant a penis.”

“Damn it Foe Hammer, I was having fun. Why did you have to ruin it?” I sigh, than hold out my hand. “Walker’s the name and I love throwing people off their game.”

He looks at my hand cautiously for a second before deciding it was safe to shake. “Nice to meet you, I think.”

With a laugh I let go of his hand and start walking to one of the open sparing pits behind him. When I say pit I really mean and area that has been cordoned off with a low hanging rope.

He follows me over after grabbing a wooden long sword from the rack. Giving it a few spins and swings he seems satisfied with his choice.

Walking over to the same rack I peruse the choices they have. For a moment I figured I was going to have to use a long sword as well, until I spot a beautiful little short sword hiding behind its brothers and sisters. “Hello there, little one.” I say picking it up. I gently run my fingers across the faux blade admiring the weight. “Will you do me the honor of being my companion in this fight?”

Now I know what everyone around me must be thinking, ‘Oh great now he’s talking to an inanimate object. This guy must really be crazy.’ Yes I am crazy, yes I should be checked out by a psychiatrist. But I do have a very good reason for doing this.

Actually I really don’t, it’s just a weird habit that popped up out of nowhere and I have never bothered to rid myself of it, to me it just ‘feels’ right. Oh don’t you look at me like that we all have something that makes us seem crazy to everyone else.

Turning around though I am thoroughly surprised to see that Bright Shield actually looks like he agrees with what I did. ‘Huh? This guy is cooler than I thought.’

“Even though it’s a wooden mock up you still show it the same level of respect as a real sword. That’s very commendable.” He says as he walks into the…ring I guess, got tired of thinking of it as a pit. “I will say that talking to it out loud like that is a little odd, but who am I to judge.” He says with a shrug of his shoulders.

Hopping into the ring with him, we square off.

“So how do you want to do this?” He asks. “Touch, points, lethal blow? “

“The first to five points wins, if there is a tie than first to secure a lethal blow on the other.” I say before quickly adding. “Just try and make sure you don’t actually hit me on the lethal blow, though I think our surprise spectator might want you too.”

He raises an eyebrow before asking. “Surprise spectator? Who is that?”

“Once we are done I will point her out.” I grin. “I got to say Foe I didn’t think you to be the type.”

Foe Hammer looks of to the side whistling, trying to act like she didn’t do anything wrong. It’s cute that they thought I wouldn’t notice, but no point in stopping now. Especially if this is what they really want to see.

I mean come on, me being allowed to go to the training field like this? It just screams ploy. I bet if I hadn’t asked for it than I would have been ‘tricked’ into doing it.

That’s enough thinking about petty schemes for now. IT’S TIME TO FIGHT!!!!!

Settling into a low crouch I wait for Shield to make the first move. Thankfully he doesn’t make me wait long. Charging right in, he starts us off with a series of well timed thrusts. Grinning, I dodge each one, allowing a narrow margin of space between each attack.

“Looks like you aren’t as good as you thought.” Bright Shield quips.

“Oh yes, you are far superior to me, Mr. Shield. Woe is me that I must fight one as strong as you.” I say with mock sorrow lacing my voice, just before I lunch a series of thrusts myself.

Unsurprisingly enough he manages to dodge all but the last one. Seeing that all the other strikes have set him a little off balance I go to strike his core but in a surprising move he uses his left arm to redirect the attack to the outside. Using the sudden opening to his advantage he drives the point of his long sword into my left shoulder.

“First point goes to Bright Shield.” Foe Hammer calls out. I guess she wants to be our referee.

We both return to where we started getting back into our respective attack positions.

“Not bad, Bright. Not many can land such a solid hit unless I let them.” I say, rubbing my shoulder. He put a fair amount of force behind it, but something about it still bothers me.

“To be honest I was surprised I even managed to hit you. Considering what I have heard about your kind. I thought you were all supposed to be masters of combat? Something tells me though that you are holding back.” He grins, just before launching into another flurry of strikes.

I dodge some and parry others, just biding my time. That’s when I see it, a slight over extension brought on by frustration, again I see something odd in his movements but ignore it for the time being. Capitalizing on his mistake I duck under the final stroke and run the edge of the wood across his stomach.

“Point goes to Walker. We are tied at one and one.” Foe calls out.

Grinning we both get back to position. “Hey Walker question for you.” Bright calls over.

“Answer.” I call back.

He chuckles. “What if I told you I could get you a full time job in the Royal Guard? Would you take it?”

“No. For several reasons. The most important being my traveling companion isn’t very well received in this country, neither am I as a matter of fact. It would make it to difficult to do the job but also make it harder for other members of the Guard to do theirs.” I say. “Not only that I doubt many here would even want to work alongside me considering what my kind has done. I mean they caused severe casualties on their way out, not to mention they killed quite a number of ponies as well. Hell I’m surprised I haven’t been jumped yet.”

Nodding, Bright settles back into his attack stance. That’s when I finally realize why it seemed his fighting style seemed so odd.

“Hey you sure you’re not missing something?” I ask settling into a crouch. Hey if he wants to do with out than I’m not going to stop him.

“No, I’m okay.” Grinning he launches himself at me. Once he is in range he begins to slash like a madman. I begin to parry the slashes, letting the edge of his long sword slide off the flat of the short sword.

“Looks like you know to parry with the flat side and not the edge.” He comments, unleashing another string of slashes in the wake of his appraisal.

“My old mentor would have a fit and beat me half to death whenever I would use the edge to parry. He was an old, grumpy minotaur blacksmith.” I respond to both his comment and slashes with solid defense. Each one of his attacks slides off of my blade as if it were made of oil.

We keep up the pace for about a minute before we separate. “You know you’re not to bad.” I say. “I just wish you would just show me the truth already.”

He grins, rushing me again. This time he mixes both trusts and slashes, changing from one attack to the next as if he were flowing water.

Deciding it was my turn to mix things up a little, I begin mixing offense and defense. He wants to open up a little, than I will too.

The next five minutes is a blur of motion. I couldn’t hear a single thing other than the clash of wood, the sound of our breathing as we fought one another. I could feel the sweat pouring down my back. I could feel the shock of each blow rippling up my arm. In those sweet, blissful, beautiful five minutes this stallion and I danced.

Never before had I fought like this. The level of skill he showed was truly astounding. If I was into guys I think I would have fallen in love with him, but I’m not, so no boy0love here you sick freaks. Just kidding. Ya’ll aren’t sick freaks, just freaks and I wouldn’t want any of you any other way.

By the time we separated both of us were drenched in sweat and breathing as if we had just done, who knows how many, laps around the city. I got a good view coming in, huge ass fucking place.

“Well…umm… I’m not really sure if either of you even landed a hit on the other I had a hard time following any of it.” Foe Hammer said, her jaw hanging loose.

Looking around, everyone out there was staring at us slack jawed. I guess they were awed by our display of combat prowess.

Chuckling I look over at Bright. “How about we call it a tie and move to the end of our little dance.”

“Oh dear are you having a hard time keeping up? I could hold back if you want to fight longer.” He quips, but he is in as rough shape as I am.

I grin. “Naw man, I was thinking about you. You look like you are about to pass out on your hooves.”

Bright Shield laughs loud and deep. “Damn it’s been too long since I have had this much fun in a fight. Buck it. Let’s move on to the final round, I think my wife will kill me if I drag this out anymore.”

“Oh a married stallion, damn here I was hoping I could ask you out on a date.” I add in an extra eyebrow wiggle, just for the extra giggles.

He stares at me for a moment before grinning. “Who knows I just might take you up on that offer. My wife has been begging me to sleep with another stallion in front of her.”

Oh shit, fuckers got jokes. “Don’t get my hopes up, you sexy piece of meat.” I respond.

We give the other the best bedroom eyes we could muster before falling to the ground laughing.

“Oh man, I seriously haven’t had this much fun in a long time, seriously though we need to go out drinking one night.” Bright Shield offers.

“Just don’t forget to bring that wife of yours so she can watch.” I counter as I stand back up.

After he climbs back to his hooves we both fall into our ready positions.

“Final round. Lethal blow, no contact determines the winner.” Foe Hammer calls out.

This time I decide to be a bit more proactive and rush him. He dodges my quick thrust with a vertical slash, like he wanted to split me from the groin up.

I jump back to avoid, but it looks like that is what he was hoping for. He grabs the hilt with his other hand, bringing his blade crashing down in a beautiful slash.

I figure this would be it, but he missteps and stumbles leaving me an opening a mile wide. A quick readjustment to my blade, so that it is in a reverse grip, I swing my blade hard and fast rocketing towards his throat.

Everybody there gasps as we come to a halt. His long sword raised in the air still, the blade of my short sword pressed firmly to his throat.

“Looks like you won.” Bright Shield says with a smile.

“Yeah looks like.” I agree.

He walks over to the rack and replaces his weapon. “Let’s do it again sometime.” He says as he walks out of the training field, waving over his shoulder to me.

Once he is out and the door is closed I snap the short sword over my knee. “That fucking dick.”

“Walker, what’s wrong? You won, so why does it look more like you lost.” Foe Hammer asks a bit concerned by my actions.

“He was holding back the whole time. Even at the end, when he stumbled, he did it on purpose.” I retort, pissed as hell.

“You won so he must have been holding back? Walker I had the chance to… kind of fight you. You are really good. What makes you think he was holding back at all? I mean that stumble could have been real. You two did fight for five minutes unrestrained.” She looks at me completely confused.

“I won that’s how I know he was holding back.” I say staring at the door, the anger slowly leaving me.

“That doesn’t make any sense. Like I said I know you are a high caliber fighter, maybe you were just better?” She is now even more confused, unable to see what I saw. Not surprising only someone in the fight, or another strong fighter would have been able to tell.

I turn and stare deep into her eyes. “I was holding back also.”

Chapter 12

View Online

(present day)

I toss the broken short sword to the side, angry that he held back and that I broke the little one. Not much I can do about either now. Why did he decide to hold back in the end? Wasn’t he enjoying the fight? Wait did he choose to hold back? Was it really his choice?

Thinking back to the moment just before he stumbled his eyes darted off to the side. He got distracted. I turned, facing the same direction as him just before it happened. Nothing, there was absolutely nothing there. I keep looking, there had to be something that changed his mind last second. Lifting my gaze I spot a balcony, which had its door open.

Fucking SunSlut, I know she was watching, trying to gauge how much of a danger I was, but to interrupt a fight like that. If I hadn’t caught myself I could have easily crushed his wind-pipe with that last blow.

What is her god damn problem? I mean I get humans did some fucked up shit but in that moment it was like she wanted me to kill… no, that can’t be right I mean she…

“FUCK!!! YOU FUCKING CUNT, COME OUT AND KILL ME YOURSELF YOU STUPID BITCH!! IF YOU WANT MY HEAD ON A PIKE THAT BADLY COME DO IT YOUR SELF, YOU COWARD!!!” Everyone turns, staring at me because of my outburst.

I grab a rock from the ground and hurl it at the balcony. “Walker! What are you doing?” Foe Hammer asks, concern lacing her voice.

*BLOOD*

Deep breathes man, nice big deep breathes.

*SHE DESERVES IT*

*No she does not you sick fuck.*

*YOU KNOW SHE DOES*

*Just fuck off and go back to sleep you psycho.*

After taking a serious breather, I walk back to the rack and pick up one of the long swords and begin to run through the several sets that old goat showed me.

(5yrs 5mths)

“He will be waiting for you on the docks when we arrive. He is 7ft tall, light-gray upper body and dark gray below the waist. His body is pock-marked due to working as a blacksmith all his life. Just holler out Koodak Ironvigor. That’s his name in case you were wondering.” The dragon that ferried us to Minos tells us.

It had been a grueling, agonizing four months spent with the dragons. True they gave me two gifts that I could never really repay, but I could have done without the three months spent in and out of pain. It was horrible. My body felt like it was trying to rip itself apart every time I was awake. Luckily enough for me I only spent maybe about a total of a week awake during that time, but those times I was awake…it was not pleasant by ANY stretch of means.

I clench my fist a few times. What they did to me, left with an amazing gift. I don’t know how they did it, I was to drunk at the time to pay attention, but somehow I am now part dragon. A dragoon, if the tidbits my mind recalled are anything to go on. Going based solely on my memories though they had the ability to partially turn into dragons at will, sadly I can’t. It is just a basic boost to all my physical attributes, or so I thought.

Though while this is cool it’s just another piece that makes me question the way this world works. This just reinforces the theory that I am stuck in some sort of storybook universe.

I mean seriously, first I am left alone to try to survive in the wilderness but once loneliness begins to set in an intelligent BEAR wanders into my camp to keep me company. Later I am faced with one of the oldest tropes in the world, a female being chased and accused of being evil. It’s an age old moral dilemma, which do you side with.

Later I find another woman in distress…jesus I didn’t even realize that until now. They are both female, and I just had to ‘white knight’ the shit. I did it without even thinking about it. She was about to be raped and I stopped it. Upon returning her home I was rewarded with money, food, a new cloak, a weapon and a new power.

I am stronger, faster; all of my senses are much more effective. Hell I used to be near sighted as fuck, now though I can see for what feels like forever. They told me there would be other advantages but were going to let me discover those on my own. After I had gotten through my physical retraining I was told that they were sending me to someone who could train me to fight in my new body.

Sighing I look up to the coast we are currently closing in on. “Mira.”

“Yes Walker?” Mira walks up and stands by my side.

“You ready to start our next adventure in this crazy world?” I ask as a grin spreads across my face.

She rolls her eyes. “Walker, we are not here to have fun. We are here to train you to fight, so that next time you decide to do something stupid you have a better chance at surviving.”

“I know but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy myself. I mean come on I just spent the last month having to get used to this body so that I could do this without hurting you.” I instantly wrap her up in tight hug, gently lifting her off the ground by a couple of inches. Seriously, it took me a whole day to learn how to grab a cup without accidently crushing it.

“Yes, yes you are a lot stronger and you can use it safely. But you can only use it safely while you are calm. What happens if you end up in a fight because you got drunk? Let me tell you. You will kill whoever it is because you don’t have enough control right now.” She counters, still wrapped in my arms. The look on her face says she is not amused and really wants me to take this seriously.

Sighing, I set her back down. “I know I don’t have real world level of control yet, but I mean come on. The guy teaching me is not only a minotaur but also a blacksmith and even a pit fighter. He may not be a ‘champion’ pit fighter but I think the author thought that would be to cliché.”

“One of these days Walker I am going to destroy that stupid theory of yours. I mean come on, we’re all character in some story written by some being somewhere? Doesn’t that sound a little farfetched?”

“Yeah, but I mean-“ I start.

“You two should get ready we are going to be docking in a couple of minutes.” The dragon tells us.

“Okay.” Replies Mira, upon hearing this she uses her shape-shifting ability to disguise herself.

I pull the hood on the cloak they gave me up with a grin. I get to learn how to fight!

Docking was rather simple the minotaurs didn’t even bother with me. All they did was ask my name and business in Minos. I gave them the truth to which they laughed and slapped me on the back, they were glad to hear that I wanted to learn to fight from real warriors and not those, and I quote, ‘stupid bird brains up north’. God the level of speciesism in this world is insane. At least it’s more reasonable than humans.

God forbid your skin is the wrong color if you go to certain places. Don’t even get me started in religious belief.

Anyway, Mira and I stepped off the boat looking around in awe at the sites. Before I could even take a step I felt an arm snake around and lock up tight.

“Don’t even think that you are going anywhere after what happened in the last town we stopped in.” Mira looks at me, her disguise this time is at least female. Thank god for that, I don’t know if I could have handled her being a ‘him’ and acting like this.

I grin salaciously at her, patting one of her hands. “Don’t worry love, just stay by my side.” Looking around I don’t see the minotaur we are looking for, I decide to go with option two. Taking a deep breath I shout with all my might. “KOODAK IRONVIGOR!!”

“Boy if you keep shouting like that I will kill you myself.” A grizzled old minotaur walks up to us. He is exactly as they described him. This minotaur looks like he could be a mountain if he chose. Seriously this fucker is huge.

“Oh fuck my life. Training with you is gonna suck, huh?” I say just before my ass is sprawled across the ground. “Oww.”

“Good, that didn’t kill you. There may just be some hope for you then. You will refer to me as Instructor from now on.”

Standing up is a damn near impossible task but I manage. I can feel a fire roaring in my stomach.

*BLOOD! KILL!*

Shaking my head I quell those damn dark thoughts. I know that in every story the main characters mentor is usually extremely harsh on their apprentice, but it always turns out for the best in the end. I mean the results are always worth the pain.

A quick deep breath before I say. “Yes Instructor.” I stare him in the eyes, stupid but I want him to know that even though I will abide his will, I will NOT back down.

With a grunt he grins. “It looks like they gave you some of their fire also. Good because you are going to need it if you want to survive.” He leans down till he is right in my face. “Make no mistake boy, if you think this is going to be simple because you are part dragon now you are dead wrong. All it means is I can be that much harder on you.”

I resist the urge to lick his snout, because fuck bitches who get in my face. “Yes Instructor I understand, also I appreciate you agreeing to train me to better use my new body.”

He laughs deep and loud. “You say that now boy, but just wait until tomorrow morning you will come to regret it. Now come I’ll show you were you will be living for the next two years.” He walks away, heading back into town.

God, this is going to take two years? This is going to feel like forever, I bet. This will most likely be just as hard as the transformation, just in an entirely different way. But I can’t stay this pathetic. Not while I have Mira with me. Someone slips a null-ring on her horn and she’s done. I need to get stronger, a lot stronger.

Mira and I look to the other, with a quick nod we are off after him.

The dragons live mostly in huge caverns, adorned with all that glitters and is gold. That port town we stopped was small and very uninteresting. Mostly the town was made up of commercial buildings, very few actual homes.

Here though, damn, I mean this was an actual CITY. Following Ironvigor was absolutely amazing, the architecture was stunning. I figured, for what were supposed to be mostly warriors who leaned more towards the physical side of things, the place would be more along the lines of a Viking style. Instead there were towering skyscrapers, little mom and pop restaurants and everything in between.

A chuckle snaps me out of my stupor. Expecting to be Koo- Instructor, got to remember that, I look to him but nothing. I look down to Mira.

“I thought the same thing when I first came to Minos. It would be all wood huts and blacksmiths on every corner.” She looks around at all the buildings, a faint smile gracing her lips. “It was such a pleasant surprise to finding out I was wrong. I really do love the architecture here. It shows a side of minotaurs most others don’t consider.”

“We still have blacksmiths on every corner.” Instructor says, pointing to a store pouring smoke out the top. “We have just learned to make them look better. What better way to draw in customers than to show you are capable of building your own place of business. Not that there aren’t those of us who follow different paths. One you may know of is Iron Will. Motivational speaker, not very good but he ‘is’ trying to get ponies to be more assertive. Well the more naïve ponies anyway.”

Following his finger, I can see that the store is ‘covered’ in different pieces of metal work. Swords, axes, maces, mauls, wrought iron fencing, and tons over other different things, all made out of different types of metal. At least the owner was smart enough to wield the pieces to a frame work the wrapped around the building.

After traveling the town for a little while we end up at what I can only assume is where we will be staying for the next. God. Damn. Two. Years. Fuck my life this is gonna hurt a lot

(5yrs 3mths)

Two months. Two horrible, back, body and soul breaking months before that damn old goat taught me anything other than how to be his gopher. ‘Walker, tongs.’ ‘Walker hand me that crucible.’ ‘Walker, bring that raw iron down from the top shelf, the one I just told you to put up there an hour ago.’

I knew this was going to be difficult going in, but I never expected actually how difficult. I figured he was just trying to build my control over the new muscle in my body but fuck if I wasn’t getting bored. Also every time I fuck something up he hits me, hard. No, I am not bitching like a little bitch. The first week there he hit me hard enough to crack a rib, found out another little trick from that. I heal in like half the time. Seriously, two weeks later and it was like it never happened.

Damn why couldn’t it have been instantly? I feel like I should know a couple of people like that. Not real ones, like movie people or something. Whatever.

Once he found out I could heal that fast though, he stepped up his assaults. When I say he stepped them up I mean it, he stabbed me with a dagger he had just finished. I did drop one of his commissions. The really expensive kind, like he had to special order the materials kind of expensive.

It wasn’t very deep, also he said there was nothing important where he stabbed, but it still hurt like fuck. The wound finished closing in a week. Lucky me.

Mira and I honestly he was trying to fucking kill me, that was until he started to hand me what I needed to bandage it. Told me I had to learn and I couldn’t have my ‘sister’ doing it.

Yeah that was weird, just one day out of the blue he started to say we were brother and sister. He said shit like ‘Walker go get your sister’ or ‘Mira, stop babying your brother.’ It was confusing at first, but now? I am starting to like the idea. Maybe I might actual give it real thought, until then I am going to show that fucking goat why stabbing me was a bad idea.

When he wasn’t looking I hid one of the cheap knives he keeps stocked in the back under my shirt. In store I only wore a basic flax shirt and cotton pants. The amount of heat from the forge in the back was intense.

We were a little nervous at first, but he told us that I would be staying in the back, and that Mira could handle the customers that came into the store. I was never allowed to go up front. I don’t really mind though, I was there to train and work on getting used to my new found strength. I definitely was not there to socialize.

Mira on the other hand excelled at customer service. Mostly because she could use a calming spell to settle anyone who got to rowdy, not that some of them appreciated that. Koodak had to actual intervene at one point some dick got pissed and he started yelling and screaming at Mira. He was saying something about how he placed an order last week and was told that it would be ready by then.

Mira checked everywhere for the invoice, but we just didn’t have it. Come to find out the guy was at the wrong store, but anyway the old goat stepped out once the yelling reached a fever pitch and just choke slammed the idiot into the ground.

The two of them talked and resolved the issue. Damn that was awesome.

Back to my plan on stabbing the fucker in return. Now the way I figure it, even though something tells me this is stupid, if I can sneak up behind him while he is working I can stab him somewhere that will hurt but not somewhere that will inhibit his ability to continue working. Might just decide to slash him on the ass. That would make him remember, especially when he tried to sit down.

So I walk up very calmly, trying to be as silent as possible, letting the sounds of the forge mask my approach. A grin works its way on to my face. I can see it now, the crimson tears weeping from the wound. Oh it will be glorious. If I am lucky enough I may get the chance to kill him. I mean why not. He started this all I am doing is finishing it.

I see him standing over the anvil hammering another piece of metal to shape. Slowly, carefully I draw the knife from my waist band. Thanks to the dragons the knife is light in my hand. It feels as light as paper with the way it swings through the air.

That old bastard shouldn’t have taught me how to sharpen weapons. I made sure thing was sharp enough to cut paper without any extra weight behind it. Just running the edge along the paper was enough to cut it. I am going to get to see if he splits as easily as paper today.

I hold the knife in front of my face, grinning in delight. Oh he will pay for hurting me. I am going to make sure he suffers. He shouldn’t have been giving me such useless jobs around the store. He should have trained me to fight. Maybe if he did he wouldn’t have to die. Too bad, so sad.

My effort pays off. I am right behind him and he doesn’t even know it. The grin on my face turns from dark to straight out sadistic. I am going to enjoy listening to you scream, you fucking cow!

I drive the blade towards his back. At the last second he swings an arm around hitting my wrist and causing me to drop the knife. He grabs me by the throat and choke slams my ass. I struggle hard to break free, but I don’t know what I am really doing so all I end up doing is flailing around like a moron.

“Your bloodlust was clear as day the moment you entered the room.” Koodak lifts me again before throwing me through the door to the backyard.

Thank god I am made of tougher stuff now, otherwise that would hurt a fucking lot. I stand up wiping some spittle from my mouth. “I will have your blood, beast.”

“Hmm, looks like you have lost yourself to your bloodlust, going to have to beat that out of you. At least this should be more interesting than what you have done thus far. I was expecting you to attack much sooner. It would seem you have a very high tolerance for abuse. Tell me boy, what happened in your old life to make you so tolerant?” Ironvigor slowly circles me as he speaks, taking his measure of my new state.

Mira comes running out back after hearing the noises. When she spots me her hands cover her mouth, her disguise drops. The mere sight of me breaking her ability to maintain the spell.

Later I found out that my bloodlust draws out a more draconic appearance. My eyes become reptilian slits, my canines slightly elongate. Scales form over my both my forearms, granting me claws. On my right arm the scales travel all the way up to the shoulder, ending in a trio of spike that I could use to impale someone. Amidst the scales are faint points of light, pulsing in time to my heart beat. The light is a light blue, almost bordering on white. The scales themselves are a burnt orange, which is odd considering neither Amy nor her grandfather were even remotely close to orange. My muscles became noticeably more defined. Those were the only changes that happened at the time. Later I became more beast than man.

“W-Walker is” she swallows afraid to ask, fearing the answer she will get. “Is that you?”

“AHAHAHAHAHA!!! What would ever make you think I am that weakling?”

Sinking to her knees, tears slowly fall picking up speed the longer she cries. She can’t pick up my usual range of emotions. It’s all a swirl of malice and derangement. “Walker, what happened to you?”

Growling I lunge at her, claws first. “I told I am not your pathetic little loser anymore! Oh I am going to enjoy rending you flesh. I can’t wait to feel my claws shred that hard exterior. Then maybe you won’t confuse the two of-“

Pain explodes from the back of my skull. “Did you forget about me boy?” Before I even get a chance to respond or even move Koodak grabs me by the legs and throws me into the brick and mortar wall that encloses the backyard. “You have some good speed, surprising resiliency and I bet you strength is even higher in this state.” He comments unfazed by the current proceedings.

Peeling myself from the back wall I sneer at the old goat. “Guess you want to die first, old timer.”

“Haha. IF you could even do that we wouldn’t be here. Now quit your barking and show me your bite.” Koodak says, voice full of mirth.

“Can you get Walker back Instructor?” Mira desperately pleas tears still running down her face.

“Dry your eyes child. He is not gone, merely lost. I pushed him to the point where he broke. His rage is in control of him. I simply need to show him that it is impotent.” Ironvigor states, his eyes never leaving me. “So fret not, you shall have your brother back in time for dinner.”

Mira wipes the tears from her eyes and slowly staggers back to her hooves. “I’ll g-go get dinner r-ready then.” Her voice shakes as she contains the fear inside.

“That sounds like a wonderful idea.” He says. Grinning he cracks his knuckles. “Now that she has gone back inside I do believe it’s time I show you why you were sent here.”

Chapter 13

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(5yrs 3mths)

Waking up the next morning sucked ass. My whole body exploded in pain. It felt like I got ran over by a steamroller, blown up, burned, dipped in acid then the goo left over was beaten by a gang armed with spiked baseball bats.

Seeing water on the table next to the bed I reach for it causing a spasm of pain to wrack my body, sadly the cup to falls to the floor. “OWW!!! FUCK MY LIFE!!” I go to cradle my arm but that just causes more parts of my body to flare up in pain. It was nothing when compared to the pain I went through after drinking the dragons’ blood, but at that particular moment I couldn’t careless which hurt more.

Why does it seem my life has become just small moments in between immense pain?

A loud slam in the direction of my feet catches my attention. Looking towards what I assume to be a door slamming open I see Mira standing there. The look on her face seems torn between kicking my ass, hugging me or running to get the old goat.

“Uhh, Mira? Why do you look like you are considering bodily harm? I mean I figure I did something stupid again, but th-“ Next thing I know my world explodes in more pain. Mira decided hugging to be my punishment for whatever I did.

WHACK!!!

“OWWW-ie!!!” I holler, she figured I needed more I guess, because she slapped me on the side of my head, again, damn abusive bug. She really is a sweet-heart.

“Do you have ANY idea how much of the pain in the ass you can be? I swear you come up with this shit on purpose. I mean seriously if it wasn’t for the fact that you not only saved my life that day and that you continue to help me through feeding, I would beat your ass to death!” Damn it she’s crying and again it’s my fault. What the hell did I do? I remember going to slash that old goats’ ass for stabbing me.

Speak of the bastard, standing in the door way sporting several bandages wrapped around different parts of his body was the old goat.

“Looks like you are back to being you, boy.” Huffs Ironvigor, he limps ever so slightly to my bedside. He grasps my chin, turning my head side to side. “Luckily for you, you have that high speed healing. It looks like most of the minor damage has healed already.” He lets go, but begins poking random points of my heavily bandaged body.

“Oww! God damn it that hurts!” I holler at him, a pained grimace covering my face.

“No nerve damage, well even if there was I believe it wouldn’t stay like that. Anyway once you are back to full strength we can begin your actual training.” He turns and starts walking out of the room.

“Wait!! What the ever loving fuck happened yesterday? The last thing I remember was…something about why I was sent to you, after that it’s all kind of hazy.” I try hard to remember, sadly nothing clears no matter how hard I try.

Is it finally happening? The thought hits me like a ton of bricks. What if it’s the old me coming through? Oh god. Looking at the bandages covering the old goat it dawns on me.

“I did that.” I whisper.

Turning around whip quick the Koodak gets right in my face. “No you did not boy. I did this to myself. I was the one to push you this far. You were only responding to your anger. You are not at fault.” A smile spreads across his face. “Also you made me very proud. To be strong enough to injure me this badly all while trapped in your anger. You have some remarkable combat skills, unrefined, completely useless against real opponents, but remarkable nonetheless.” He pulls back, placing a hand to his chin. “I would say based on what I saw and what your sister has said that you are a brawler at the least. No real combat experience, but you seem to have a good working knowledge of combat. From how she described your body beforehand I would have expected you to die in that little argument.”

“ARGUMENT?! Really?! That didn’t look like an argument to me! It looked like you fighting for your life, while he tried to kill you! UGH MALES!!!” Mira storms out of the room, clearly upset by this particular turn of events.

“Don’t worry about her, she’ll settle down. You had her really worried you know.” Instructor told me.

Looking down I couldn’t help but to feel bad, I have put her through so much shit already and never once has she left. I really should try and do something nice for her at some point. Looking at my bandages I could tell at a glance that it was Mira who did the work. All the places where knots were supposed to be had a small amount of green ooze instead. The stuff was amazing. It hardened into an almost steel like substance. But a bit of magic and it quickly breaks down.

One of the bandages on my right arm had a heart and smiley face drawn in the stuff.

A sigh escapes me. “I really fucked up this time.”

“No you didn’t boy. This is on me. I pushed you too hard. I shouldn’t have stabbed you.” Rubbing the back of his head, he stares at the floor. “It was the way I was taught, minus the stabbing of course, but my old mentor used to beat me something fierce when I first started working with him. Heh, you lasted a lot longer than I did, or anyone would have really.”

“Well to be honest I kind of figured with the menial work you were just trying to get me used to my new muscles. I figured once you felt I was ready you begin to actually train me in combat. As for the hitting and shit, I figured it was a minotaur thing.” I say, giving him my honest opinion.

“HAHAH! You are one interesting ‘hue-man’, you know that? Not many would even really consider such things given your current situation. Dropped into an entirely new world full of things you don’t understand you try to just accept the world as it is, you don’t even bother to question things that would seem obviously wrong to anyone else!” Ironvigor roars with laughter.

Hearing the mirth in his voice is oddly soothing. “Well what can I say? I am living in a world that has so many things mine never did. I can’t just idiotically hold on to my beliefs. With the ponies for example, they have this thing called herding. Back in my old world it was called a harem and was frowned upon by ‘modern’ civilization. To the ponies it is common practice, due to the fact that there is such a significant gender difference. But at the end of the day who am I to say such an option is wrong. I mean from what I have been told they have been doing so millennia. If you told me that dating young ones was the way a group did things I wouldn’t stop to question it. Because again, who am I to question another societies practices? I may not agree with some of them, like dating a young one, but if it’s okay in that society I have no right to really say anything. Trying to stop it would put me in the wrong. Damn it I am spouting exposition again. Sorry, I have a bad habit of speaking my opinions like that.”

Koodak just stares for a moment before laughing again. “HAHAHAHA, boy never change!! You are truly a delight. I am glad that scaly bastard sent you here.” Sighing Koodak walks to the door. Looking back he gives me a smile. “Rest easy and heal up. Once you are back at full we’ll begin work on you fighting skills. Get good enough and I may just sign you up to join the Arena.”

~~~~~~

It took about two weeks for my body to finish healing completely. Though it only took about a week and a half for me to be good enough to move about my room. I noticed something really strange in that time. I had no fucking stamina. Even though I was stronger, faster and more resilient, I couldn’t move for more than a few minutes at a time before I became too exhausted.

Mira finally came back to my room that night. We sat and talked for a while mostly about nothing at first. It wasn’t until it was time to change some of my bandages that I was able to actually apologize to her for fucking up again.

She just smiled and told me that she forgave me. She surprised me with a kiss, not on the lips you perverts, it was on the forehead. She said that she knew it wasn’t really my fault it happened and that after talking to Koodak she realized she just felt useless.

I tried to tell her that she wasn’t but she refused to hear a word of it, at least until I reminded her of all the times she has saved my life. Yeah that stopped her dead in her tracks.

So in the end we both agreed that, even though we joke about it, we really do need one another. I need someone to help keep my head on straight so I don’t get myself killed and she needs a food source that won’t cause her and endless supply of trouble.

When I told her that she was getting the short end of the stick she laughed, saying that as much trouble as I cause it’s not nearly as bad as it could be. I guess I have to agree, out of everything that’s happened we are still free.

That night something crazy happened. Mira and I cuddled till we fell asleep. To be honest it was the best sleep I have had since coming here. You would think that her exoskeleton would be hard and uncomfortable, but surprisingly it’s actually kind of soft. It’s malleable and very warm. Also found out Mira makes the most adorable little cooing noises when she is held while sleeping.

She helped me recuperate the entire time, when she had the time anyways. She would bring me food and even feed me. I swear on any and everything I did not ask her too, she just did it. Discovered during that time, the more I eat the faster I heal. I still won’t instantly regenerate but after eating a lot meat and veggies most of the less serious injuries were gone. I still had a ton of broken bones in my body.

After getting up and finally being able to move I discovered my appetite was now outrageous. I could literally eat an entire ham, the holiday spent with family kind, five loaves of bread, and several pounds of fresh vegetables and still be hungry. After eating all that though I felt good enough to run around the city, twenty times. It was like I finally had the stamina I was supposed to. After a little testing we found out that the more I eat the more energy I have, obvious I know but it was much more intense.

My stamina/healing to food intake ratio is insane, I could eat and eat and eat. Depending on what I ate I could either fulfill a days’ work in a few hours or be dragging ass all day. We came to idea that it all depended on the current state of my body. The more injuries I sustained the more it went into healing, if I was fine than it went into stamina. God my body has gotten fucking weird.

Once I was back up to Instructors’ standards though, he started waking me up before sun up to train. He would have me run laps around the block, having Mira track me from the air disguised as a Pegasus to make sure I did it. After laps it was a combination of sit-ups, push-ups, pull ups, weight lifting and a ton of other exercises all designed to help me build stamina and work on muscle control.

After discovering my unusual body mechanics meal-time became a buffet for me, whether I wanted it or not. He was really using it as an excuse to push me even harder. Damn bastard. He did have a point though, if I can repair most of the damage done to my body just by eating than why hold back?

His training was brutal. He broke a finger when I blocked edge on edge the first time. After that he would have me redo my morning exercises while wearing lead weights. God it sucked, mostly because I blocked edge on edge more than I really should have.

He taught me all manner of combat techniques. Grapples, punch and kick combos meant to break through an opponent’s guard, and all manner of other things he thought I should know.

I did manage to surprise him with some things that popped in my head while fighting. It was like the more I fought the more I remembered about fighting. Though to be honest it confuses the crap out of me. Like I said before, I know I have never fought like this before. I know I was a non-combatant, a civilian. I lead a peaceful life before coming here. I was fat, had no stamina, and had snail level reflexes.

Everything he threw at me I tore right through. I never complained, openly. I just bit my tongue and bore it. I never quit, never gave in. Though I never did more than what I was told. Some part of me knew that training on my own after everything would be more detrimental than helpful. Also he worked my ass to the bone. By the end of the day I could barely even move.

I loved every second of it. The pain, the exhaustion, the sweat pouring off my body even the ache deep in my bones that came from working so hard. I cherished every single damn moment, because every day I could run further, exercise longer fight harder. With everything he beat into me I learned the limitations of my body and how to shatter those limits. I discovered under his painful tutelage that I could take a beating. He beat me bad. I never once won against him in all the time I spent there. But I learned more from him then I had any right to.

The harder he pushed me the harder I pushed back. I loved everything about it, as much as the soreness sucked. Some part of me was really glad to be learning all this. I oddly felt like I was being granted a wish. Don’t know what kind of crazy I was before hand to wish for something like this, but hey I am learning to fight from a mythological creature.

He even taught Mira how to fight hand to hand. He wasn’t as hard on her though. He treated her gently. Me he beats the crap out of, but her, he just walked her through the forms. Showing her the moves step by step. Jackass.

(5yrs)

Waking up before the sun sucks major ass, but if I want to be able to use the dragons blood to its’ fullest I need to be at peak physical form. So with nothing more than a sigh I hop out of bed and immediately start doing push-ups. After fifty I start on the sit-ups, fifty of those as well.

Once my whole morning exercise routine is done I take a shower before heading down to eat breakfast.

MMMMM, the smell of bacon, eggs cooked in the bacon grease, a stack of pancakes ten tall, cream of wheat topped with blue-berries, a pitcher of juice and Gods most wonderful creation, coffee. God do I love coffee in the morning.

Nothing wakes me up like it or even tastes as good. Sitting down I take a sip of that heavenly black liquid. “Ahh, that hits the spot.” A smile spreads across my face.

Giggling from behind catches my attention. Looking over I see Mira standing there wearing an apron, holding a spatula. She is wearing nothing else, like she normally does but somehow today just makes it erotic.

Quickly looking away I try to stammer out an apology, for some reason I can’t understand.

When the hell did I become such a little pussy about this? Normally I would make some joke about her trying to flirt with me! What the actual fuck?

A kiss to my cheek freezes me, which has Mira giggling. “Wow Walker, I didn’t think it would be this easy to fluster you.” She poses one hand on her cheek, giving me a flirtatious smile. “Maybe this is you fetish? If you want I could dress like this more often.”

I down the rest of the coffee, hoping that it will sooth my frayed nerves. I mean what the hell is going on? I’m normally the one making the dirty jokes and I NEVER get like this. I take a few deep breathes to settle myself.

Mira seems to be having none of that, she decides to step up my torment. How do I know this you ask? The evil bug grows herself a pair of knockers the size of melons and rests them on top of my head.

“So Walker are you enjoying your breakfast this morning? Would you like more coffee? I could add some milk to it if you want.” When she says milk, she jiggles her new body parts getting them to bounce on my head.

“Mira I think that’s enough. I mean it’s still early and I have a lot of training to do today. As much fun as teaching you the errors of your way would be, I just don’t have the time.” I say, eyes closed, mentally going over the steps to disarm an opponent. Who knew violence was a good mood killer?

“Aww, your no fun this morning.” She pouts.

“Like I said, I have training to get to. I can’t sit around playing with you.” Turning around I give her a grin. “Not that I wouldn’t mind playing with what I see.” A quick adjustment to my sitting position and I begin to slide my hand up her inner thigh. “And trust me what I see is definitely worth playing with.”

She sighs softly as my hand travels up her thigh. I make sure to go agonizingly slowly. Her eyes slowly fall shut, the feel of my hand turning her on. A moan escapes her lips as my hand gets within inches of her sex. Her eyes fly open, the need in her eyes is clear, pure. She wants me to keep going.

Too bad. I quickly pull my hand away, turning back around I act as if nothing had just happened. “I’m glad you made such a delicious looking meal.” I eat one pancake and a slice of bacon. “Too bad I don’t have time to enjoy what you have so wonderfully offered.” I get up from the table and begin to head out back.

“Boy, you better not be turning down a meal made for you by a female.”

“No Instructor. I just wanted to get my training in first so that way I could enjoy her delicious looking meal all the better.” I lie. I know if I stayed she would have taken everything from me for the stunt I just pulled.

“Sit and eat. Now.” Ironvigor says.

Sitting back at the table I begin eating. I do overhear Mira ‘humpf’ as she walks back into the kitchen. She should know better than to try and tease me.

“You two seriously need to have sex and just be done with it.” Ironvigor pipes up, while eating his own breakfast, same as mine just smaller portions.

I damn near choke on the eggs I was eating. Guzzling down some juice clears the pipes up nicely. “Excuse me?”

“I said, you two need to have sex and just get it out of the way. It’s painfully obvious the two of you like each other. Unless you are into males, but I am sure she could accommodate any unique preference you might have.” Koodak states, completely at ease, as if he was talking about the weather.

Taking a few deep breathes I settle my surging emotions. “While to you I would assume it would seem like a simple choice, to me it is not so simple, Instructor.” I wipe my mouth with a napkin after finishing breakfast. “I’ll be outside if you need me.”

Before anyone can say another word I walk out back and begin going through my morning weapons practice.

Ironvigor sighs. “That boy needs to loosen up and pull himself together. He really is all over the place.”

“Like I told you before, he doesn’t know who he is or even who he is trying to become. He just responds. He has been trying to be more proactive in his life but he just can’t find any real stability in his own mind, and that’s what worries me.” Mira says, standing in the door way watching me practice. “I want to help him. I hate the feelings swirling around him when he gets like this, and sadly he is like this more often than not. He once said that he didn’t want to hide how he feels behind jokes, but he always does. He tries to be strong and indomitable, but he is really just a child trying to be an adult.”

“How old he? He looks like he is still pretty young.” Ironvigor asks.

With a sigh she says. “We don’t really know. My best guess would be that he is around sixteen cycles, though that is based on the fact his species lives on average to around one-hundred.”

“Do you not know his day of birth? I know you both have said he knows nothing of his past, but I would assume his birth date would be among his memories.” Ironvigor asks, trying to gauge how old I am only on appearance.

“He doesn’t know. He has fleeting memories of general things, sadly nothing specifically pertaining to him.” Turning to look back at the old minotaur, a tear rolls down her check. “He doesn’t even remember whether he had a family or not.”

A scowl takes hold of Koodak’s face, a huff escaping him uncontrolled. “That is no way for one as young as him to live. No wonder he is so accepting of the world around him, he has nothing to compare it to.” Adopting a thinking pose he sits quietly for a few moments. “Do you know when he first came to our world?”

“It was around the ponies’ summer sun celebration. We tracked his arrival too within a few days of it. He isn’t sure how long he was unconscious for. I figure it may have only been a few hours after his arrival.” Mira explains, as she watches me perform several moves meant for breaking an opponents’ limb.

“Hmm. I guess we’ll just have to use today as the date than.” Ironvigor nods as if setting it in stone.

“Why do you want to know his birth date anyways?” Mira tears her gaze away from me to ask Koodak.

“The dragons sent him a gift, one meant to be given when one reaches a certain age. Considering what they gave him, I would like to give it to him sooner rather than later, that way he can practice with it and truly come to know it.”

Mira tilts her head to the side. She couldn’t think of anything else the dragons had sent along with them. “What did they send?”

Koodak stands up and walks out of the room for a couple of minutes. Upon returning he places a leather wrapped bundle on the table. “You can unwrap it, but I was told not to unsheathe it. Walker is to do that himself.”

Mira cautiously walks over, wary of the bundle. She slowly undoes the leather thong holding the bundle shut.

Resting on the table is a dagger roughly around nine inches long. The handle is solid metal and has what look like ‘brass knuckles’ covering one side of the grip. The handle has a polished black walnut cap covering the metal. The appearance of the blade is hidden by the sheath. Both Koodak and Mira are curious about the look of the blade but decide listening to the dragons is a better idea.

“I want to give this to him as soon as possible. Actually….” He looks out the window and sees me getting ready to start the next set of grapples. “COME HERE BOY!” He hollers out to me.

A quick sigh escapes my lip. I walk back into the kitchen and see both of them standing around the table. Something covered in a piece of leather resting between them. “Yes Instructor?” I question a bit annoyed that I was called back in so soon.

“This is for you.” He points to the bundle on the table. “It is another gift from the dragons, a coming of age present.”

I am immediately wary of it. Last time I got something from the dragons I spent around three months in agonizing pain as my genetic structure was rewritten. Seriously that shit fucking sucked. I remember having some really fucked hallucinations because of it.

Don’t you dare try to tell me pain can’t do something like that, cause that shit happened.

I walk up to the bundle and begin to poke it. “The fuck is it?” I ask though I don’t expect an actual answer.

“Just take a look Walker. I promise it’s nothing dangerous.” Mira says, like that explains anything.

Sighing I uncover the bundle to see a sheathed dagger. “Well so far so good.” A sigh escapes my lips. “It’s gonna fuck me up the moment I tough it, isn’t it?”

Silence prevails. That is NEVER a good sign. Another sigh and I take hold of the handle.

Nothing so far, no pain, no weird visions of freaking shit happening in the future. Maybe this won’t be so bad.

I unsheathe the dagger. It slips free with oiled ease. The blade is truly beautiful. Single edge, spikes running along the back meant for tearing more flesh on the way out. Four holes cut into the blade; they rest between the spikes allowing for an even lighter blade than it already is. And is this blade is light as hell already.

Taking a closer look at the handle I see small symbols craved into the metal. I can’t make heads or tails out them, but I notice that they run all the way under the wood handle. Whatever they are I bet they are more important than I realize.

A few test swings and god damn does the dagger feel wonderful. Holding it makes me feel like I could take on the world.

“Think fast” Ironvigor throws a wooden bowl at me. Without a seconds thought I swing the blade straight through the bowl, slicing it clean in half. There was no resistance as the blade passed through it. If I hadn’t seen it, I would have thought I missed.

“Whoa.” I whisper. I look at the blade. No nicks, dents or even a scuff mark. This is one hell of a weapon.

“Impressive craftsmanship, no telling how long the dragons had it for yet it is still sharp.” Ironvigor inspects the blade in my hand. “It looks like someone craved runes into the handle, possibly why it’s still so sharp. May I?” He asks holding out a hand.

I flip it around handing it to him hilt first. The moment I let go of it though the tip of the blade sinks straight to the floor. Koodak immediately lets go, the dagger buries itself about half an inch into the wooden floor.

Needless to say all of our jaws dropped upon seeing this happen. I for one know that dagger was not that heavy, even if it was Ironvigor is WAY stronger than I am.

Koodak stares at the weapon for a moment before leaning down. He takes a firm grip on it, of course he has to wrap his hand around the whole handle since his fingers are too big to fit through the ‘brass knuckles’ part. A mighty heave from the minotaur and…nothing, not even a wiggle. The dagger stays firmly wedged in the floor.

“Mira be a dear and try to pick it up.” Instructor says.

She eyeballs him for a second before trying to pick it up as well, only to receive the same result.

“Hmmm, Walker your turn.”

I roll my eyes and I quickly lean down taking hold of the dagger. I pull the dagger up with ease. “Well this is unsurprising and just further proves my point Mira.”

She sighs before asking. “And what point is that Walker?”

“I am living in a storybook universe. I mean come on.” Hold the dagger up and give it a wiggle. “A weapon that only I can lift? I mean how much more storybook can you get. Watch next I’m going to find out that holding it makes me immune to your telekinetic left, or that I can cut through offensive spe-“

I am interrupted as Mira’s green colored mana wraps around my body. I turn and look her dead in the eyes. “Please tell me you are faking right now. I don’t know if I could really handle anymore of this shit right now.”

Her eyes shift about.

Fuck. My. Life.

“Seriously? You’re telling me that it actually does that?”

“Y-yes?” She reply’s nervously. Mira wrings her hands beating herself up for doing that. She knew I was already having a rough morning and was hoping that wouldn’t happen. She had hoped it would just work like normal and I would calm down.

I open my mouth to bitch about this shit, because seriously this shit is starting to wear on my already frayed nerves.

“Let’s head outside and test that second theory of yours. If it’s true than that dagger will be quite the useful battle companion.” Koodak says as he walks out into the back yard.

The next sound in the room is the dagger hitting the floor again followed by the sound of running feet.

Both Koodak and Mira turn to see I have ran off.

“Where does that boy think he is going!? The city is about to rise!” ��>feq

Chapter 14

View Online

(present day)

As Princess Celestia walked down the hall her thoughts ran over the sparring match she just witnessed. The Human’s capabilities were about what she was expecting. His strength and speed were beyond what most of her Guards are capable of, should he decide to follow the others his exit could be quite disastrous. Not to the same extent as the others, simply because there was five of them but bad enough to cause a drop in morale.

If other nations caught wind of the fact that there was another human, that Equestria had failed to deal with, they will begin to question her ability to govern the lands of Equestria.

She needed to know more about him. She needed to know what else he could do. Not just combat but also what all that ‘equipment’ of his does. He had quite a few gems covered in runic script. Hopefully her Quartermaster has made some sort of breakthrough with all of those things by now.

After several minutes walking through the Castle she comes to the doors for the Armory.

The giant double doors are solid burnt oak with riveted iron bands, the bands are about a third from the top and bottom and charred black. The doors stand at an imposing ten feet in height and are about a foot thick.

From the other side one could hear the sounds of hammers beating metal into shape. There were shouts for materials, hollers for more heat and apprentices being yelled at for bucking something up.

Celestia used her magic to open the doors. The moment they opened the whole room went quiet. It was not often that the Princess of the Day came down to this particular area. It was actually viewed by a lot of newer members to be something inappropriate.

The Princess should not be somewhere so dirty, she is their ruler and should not demean herself by entering. Surely she had staff that could come down here for her. Maybe she needs something special made for one of the guards. Maybe it’s for her sister. Many thoughts ran through the minds of those in the room. Only one of the ponies in there knew why she was there.

Celestia spotted the stallion bent over a table near the back. He was a once bright green unicorn with an amber colored mane. Now his coat is much darker due to the layers of soot and ash that has made its home in his coat. His once long mane is now cropped close so that it doesn’t get burned by the forge. His body covered in pock marks and scars gained through years spent mastering his craft.

“Copper Wright, how goes your work?” Princess Celestia asks her motherly tone and compassion for her little ponies showing through.

Copper places what looks to be a ruby on the table before turning and answering her. “To be honest ma’am, it doesn’t. I have spent this whole time and all I have really learned is that some of these gems have been charged and some haven’t.” He picks up the ruby he was just holding and shows her. “Like this one here, it has a noticeable amount of fire magic trapped within meaning he must have left it near a campfire all night. In order to trap this much magic he must have spent around eight hours tending a fire.” He place’s it back on the table and picks up an opal. “This one was left somewhere with extremely low temperatures, so I can only assume he uses it for freezing things, but that is obviously not the only thing he uses it for.”

“Why do you think that?” Princess Celestia asks confused as to what else one could use an ice gem for.

“To begin with there are WAY more then he would need to keep something cold. Second he has no way of containing food that would need to be kept cold. I have checked, double checked and even had others in here check it all twice, themselves, just to make sure. Whatever he uses these gems for it’s not for food. Without knowledge of runic script all I can give you is my best guess. Unless he is willing to show us that is.”

~~~~~~

Wiping sweat from my brow I manage to stop the flashback before it gets anymore uncomfortable.

“Fuck those damn assholes.” I say, unknowingly rubbing one of the scars on my chest.

“Art th… Are you okay? You seem to be upset.”

Turning I see Princess Luna standing behind me just outside the ring. “Yeah I’m cool. Just a memory I would rather not remember.”

“Ah, I have a few of those myself.” She says.

After a few moments of silence and her kicking at the dirt a little bit which was just fucking adorable because she would look up at me once in a while like she wanted to ask something.

Is there like some sort of law that makes these ponies so damn adorable. I swear I spend half my time around them wondering if I’m gonna get diabetes.

Chuckling softly I ask “Is there something you would like to know Princess? I promise I won’t bite…unless you want me to, that is.” I flash a toothy grin and wiggle my eyebrows, which seems to get her to loosen up, thank God.

She giggles behind her hand. “Careful Walker, We may just take thee up on the offer.” She gives me a flirtatious smile and a wink. “My actual query was to the equipment you claimed to own during dinner. I am most curious as to what you are capable of doing with it. While your fight with that stallion was most entertaining, I feel as though you were holding back and being held back.”

“Right you are on both accounts. I was holding myself back on two levels, well I did kind of slip up at one point, first I was holding back on my technical skill with a blade. That’s where I slipped up at, I started to actually fight him. The second is these babies.” I hold up my left arm showing her my ‘Resistors’. “You weren’t in the dining hall when I explained them but simply put, mostly so readers don’t have to reread it, they cause the body to experience a higher level of resistance to movement equal to the body weight times the level of resistance on the band.”

“The readers? Who are these readers you speak of?” Luna asks, completely bewildered by my little comment.

“Oops! Sorry, Mira is always telling me not to mention that kind of thing because others may think I’m crazy. Not that I really care if they do, without a little insanity life is boring.” I barely explain. The look on her face tells me she is just going to let it go for now and get back on track.

“Anyway, would you be willing to demonstrate what you are capable of with your equipment.” She asks politely. God damn why can’t her sister be this nice. Shit if she was I would probably wouldn’t have almost killed him.

“If I had said equipment I would gladly show you but your…’sister’…took everything from me.” I say sister as if it were a curse word.

The bitch pisses me the hell off. I mean seriously I get that the other humans did shit but I ain’t done a God damn thing to her or her fucking ponies.

“I see. Well I believe I know where they are and as for my sister…please try to give her some leniency. When the other humans left they killed the stallion she loved. From what I have been told by the Guard he was a friend to the humans, when they decided to leave he went to try and talk them down. They sent his severed head back.” Luna explains.

Well fuck. That certainly changes some shit. Not much but certainly explains her attitude problem towards me. Hell if a pony killed someone I loved and sent me their head, I would most likely kill as many as I could.

“I’ll try to be more civil but if she’s a bitch I can’t guarantee that I won’t snap at her right back.” I honestly admit.

“While I do not appreciate your choice in phrasing, I do appreciate your candor. Thank you for being willing to make the attempt. Now let us not drag flank, I wish to see your skillz bitch.” Princess Luna says in a very un-princess like fashion.

I stare at her for what feels like forever before crashing to the ground in laughter. ”Best Princess Ever!!”

We both smile and make our way down to the Armory.

~~~~~~

The doors to the Armory fly open, causing everypony present to halt what they were doing.

In walks an odd looking pony. Certainly it is deformed. First off its muzzle is way to flat. Second it has absolutely no coat what so ever. Lastly its ears are on the side of its head, affixed to the skull.

The words out of this things mouth make no sense to those present.

“LEEEEEEROOOOOYYYYY JEEEEENNNNKIIINNNSSSS!!!!!”

“What does that even mean?”

The creature picks itself up and dusts itself off. “That is the name of the Patron Saint of Suicide Missions. Though not needed to be invoked here, I felt he was best invoked to be weird, confuse and annoy others. Though the only ones I would annoy…” I look around the room a concerning grin spreading across my face. “BLAME THE AUTHOR! HE’S TRYING TO BE HIP! Sorry about that just trying to give credit where credit is due. Also Princess please tell them to gimme muh shyte or I’ll break mah foot off in their arse.”I explain, before deciding to be even weirder.

Luna giggles and shakes her head. “Thank goodness you were there Foe Hammer. I doubt I could have handled him without your knowledge.”

Foe Hammer bows with a smile. “To be honest your Majesty I was warned to some degree on the ride from Ponyville, the rest I discovered for myself just conversing with him.” Foe Hammer looks over at me giving the stink-eye to some stallion in the corner.

Upon approaching Walker they hear an argument building.

“Look I don’t care who told you what. Princess Luna wants me to demonstrate what I can do with this stuff. Now hand it over.” I say while leaning into his face.

“And as I said without hearing that directly from her Princess Celesetia said you are not to have any of this back.” He responds and pushing his forehead into mine, hard.

We both glare at one another and start growling.

Princess Luna interrupts with. “As amusing as it would be to see the two of you fight I would appreciate it if you would just return his equipment. He has offered to provide a demonstration.”

“By your order m’Lady.” The stallion turns to the table but I get there first.

I gently sweep my hand over everything that has been laid out. “Hello everyone. I hope he treated you all well.” I carefully and lovingly replace everything.

I start with my throwing knife belt. Most find it weird that I only carry five. But I’m really not good with precise spatial awareness. Is someone is exactly seven feet away or are they ten feet? Do I need a half spin or a full spin? Fuck that, I just use throwing stars. Also they serve a different purpose.

Those go on next. Well sort of. It’s more like I slide them into the pockets covering my body. There are a total twenty-one throwing stars in my little arsenal. They all have four points and are made from steel. Each star has one of three different gem chips. Every chip is surrounded by runes. These babies are one of my earlier creations.

Next come bandoliers for the gems themselves. Five rubies, opals and diamonds, they are all covered in runic script. The script dictates the unique effect that comes into play once the magic is released. So far all I have really only toyed with some basics. Though the basics can be real fun.

After is my rune craft kit. Both of them actually. I carry two incase a tool in one breaks or they get confiscated when I’m ‘foalnapped’. Heh

Lastly on goes my cloak. To be honest I have felt a bit naked without it. I have to remember to get her a ‘thank you’ gift next time I see her. The cloak is a deep, rich light consuming black. It doesn’t shine or glimmer or any such nonsense. It is meant to make one harder to detect, not to stand out.

“God damn it feels good to be back together, even if only for a little while.” I sigh knowing I’m going to have to hand it all back in.

“I will not take your property from you. You have shown yourself to be trust worthy enough.” Princess Luna states looking a little confused and slightly hurt.

“I thank you for that but after what you have told me I should wait till your…” a sigh escapes me “Princess Celestia would appreciate it if I waited till she was more comfortable with the idea of me being armed.” I say trying to think of that fa…. Damn it I can’t insult her after hearing that shit. Fuck my life.

“You do raise a good point. If we are to get you in my sisters…’good graces’… than we must abide her will for now. Know this though, if she does not return these things to you in a timely manner I shall. I will not be rude to one who does not deserve such.” Princess Luna declares with an add stomp of her hoof for finality.

“Well now that I got my crap back how about that fireworks show?’ I ask, a childish like glee filling my voice.

~~~~~~

“FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!!”

KAA-BOOOOM!!!

“Holy Buck!”

“Bucking Tartarus!”

“When you said fireworks show I was expecting something more.”

All present turn and look at Foe Hammer. She just looks back and shrugs. “What?”

“Never change Hammer, never change.” I smile. She is definitely one worth hanging out with more.

“You did that with just a ruby?” Princess Luna asks trying to get us back on track.

“Yeah, but I had to spend roughly eight hours a day next to a fire to get that level of combustion. If I had used channeled magic instead of natural it would have been about half that size. Channeling does cut down on time spent in prep but you lose out on potency.” I explain as I hold up the butt of my knife. “Do you see the symbol back here?” I point to a rune that in my opinion looks like a monkey fucking a coconut. “This here is the detonator. First I” I pull out an opal “cut the gem like so” I run the blade across a circle of runes that flash brightly “then I throw or stick it to something.” I toss the opal down range then hit the detonator.

The results are quite chilling…

Fuck that’s cliché. Oh well.

A ten foot area around were the gem hit is covered in a layer of ice. If they can’t think of things to use that for while fighting than these ponies are dumb.

“At least that one is much quieter.” Luna huffs slightly. I think the sudden loud burst spooked her, probably because she’s part horse. Is that racist? Or would that be species-ist? Species-ism? Fuck it whatever, don’t care enough.

“True this makes it more effective during covert-ops.” I reply.

I hold up the diamond next. “These little buggers are not to be set off anywhere near buildings.” I place the gem back in the holster. “It releases a concussive wave strong enough to knock most interior walls. Well depends on the size of the room and the building materials but every room I have let one off in has survived the encounter. Also these gems serve a secondary purpose.”

“What would that be?” Copper asks with a growl. He didn’t like that I was making them ask me what else it could do instead of just showing them.

“I’m glad you asked.” I say with a grin. I’m going to love fucking with this guy. I pull off a ruby and slap it into the blade of my dagger. “Need a light?” The whole blade ignites. An intense flame rises off of it, sheathing the blade in about an inch of flame. “Each gem coats the blade in a different element. Ice lengthens the blade and freezes the wounds it makes. Wind also lengthens it but also increases its cutting power.” I run my thumb across the four holes on the back side of the blade than swing it down range.

A huge gout of flame flies towards where the dummies once stood. It impacts the wall leaving scorch marks. “Oh yeah. Each one can also do that.” I rub the back of my head. “I honestly kind of forgot about that. I only started this stuff about two years ago and I haven’t really shown off with it.”

Foe Hammer giggles and Luna sighs at my forgetfulness.

“What about those knives and those other pieces of metal?” Copper Wright demands, he is getting really irritated by my antics.

“The stars have three separate settings, haven’t thought of a fourth yet. The first is auto-ignition. The second effect is a contact explosion and the last is a timed explosion. The throwing knives are used to set up area of effect stuff. These throwing stars only reach about a foot in any direction. As you saw the gems do about five feet in any direction. Well depends on the material it is trying to effect. With my throwing knives and a bit of prep time I can cover up to about fifty feet. Well more if I do it in a line but that isn’t really the same. Well they can be used to make a wall if needed. But again that all requires a bit of time to set up. I can’t just throw them into a wall and expect results. I mean I could burn a section of wooden wall to weaken it but it just wouldn’t really have the same power as if I had set it up before hand.” I pull out one of the throwing knives. “If I remove a couple of the runes I could theoretically freeze an area semi-permanently that the knives are stuck into. I would have to compensate for ambient magic, also I would have to overcome the targets innate nature to resist such changes brought on by magic. Also how do I compensate for the massive draw… connect it to the ambient magic that way it draws from the atmosphere indefinitely and isn’t worn down by aetheric bleed. I could effectively create a never ending supply of that element. Chip of how ever much ice you need and it would just ‘heal’ its self. You could have a fire pit to heat your whole house, hell even a castle and never have to worry about fuel ever again. I mean it wouldn’t-“

“WALKER!!!” Luna makes use of her Royal Voice. “Please desist with the rambling it is most tiring.”

“Oops. Sorry about that. I tend to get a little caught up when I get an idea for something.” I say. God that was stupid. Oh well can’t fix stupid. “That’s everything I can do though.”

“Thank you. I appreciate you showing us.” Luna smiles glad that I am no longer rambling.

I hand all of my stuff back to Copper Wright. He is not happy I handed it all back to him out here. Fuck him, he’s a dick.

“I will return these to the Armory. When you have the time I would appreciate if you would show me how to use these runes.” He asks.

“No.”

He blinks at my sudden dismissal of him. Then he get that irritated look back on his face. “Why not?”

“Because I promised someone else that I would teach them, and also you’re a dick.” I ain’t going to lie just to make his ass happy.

“Buck. You.” He turns and walks away.

“Don’t be too rough with the gems! They can explode if they are roughed up to much!” I holler after him. “What a pleasant guy. Wonder if he’ll be my friend?”

“Are you related to Discord?” Princess Luna asks.

“Discord? Oh you mean the incarnation of chaos. No we are of no relation.” I say over my shoulder still watching Copper Panty-Twist walk off with my gear.

“I kind of wish you were. T’would certainly explain much.” Luna gripes quietly while Hammer nods in agreement.

Chapter 15

View Online

(present day)

“So what do you two wanna do now?” I ask.

“I must meet with Sister. It is time for us to change day to night. So I bid you farewell.” Luna says with a slight regal lilt as she turns and walks back inside.

“What about you Foe?”

“It’s shift change for the guard. You can stay out here or I can walk you back to your room. The choice is up to you.” She says.

Standing there I consider my options. Stay or go. I’m not really tired yet. Then again I don’t want to stand out here and practice all day. “Well Mira is wondering where I am by this point, so I guess I could head back to my room”

“Alright, this way.” Foe says as she turns to the doors.

Five minutes later and we are standing back in front of my door.

“You’re welcome Walker.” She says with a smile. She turns around and walks back down the hall to do her shift change thing.

I open the door to my room and holy fuck.

“Hey Mira, I think this is the ni-“ My head starts to hurt. Just a little bit. A quick shake dispels the pain. “It’s really nice in here.”

I walk further into the room. Mira was lying on the bed, but now she has gotten up and is walking towards me.

“Walker? What did you do this time!?” Mira ask while checking me over. I look beat to shit. I guess I should tell her what happened

“Yeah, just a sparring match that got a little…fun.” I wave off the concern. I rather enjoyed myself, up until the end that is. My mood sours at the thought.

Deciding to distract myself I look around the room and I see a beautiful sliding glass door to a balcony. The door even has a nice thick, deep purple drape to help block out morning sun light. I guess its so guests can sleep in should they choose.

There is an exquisite oak desk sitting up against the wall. The chair looks like it was carved from oak as well. There is even a soft velvety looking cushion on it.

The walls themselves are marble lined with silver and platinum. There are beautiful landscape paintings hanging on each of them. Each painting looked like it would cost a fortune to buy. Bet the Princesses got them for free.

The bed is a beautiful four poster-

“WALKER!”

“AHHH!!”

Mira pinches the end of her muzzle, a habit she picked up after I did it one time, and sighs. “Walker, please for the love of everything tell me what happened to you.” She begs me. She pulls me over to the bed and proceeds to undress me.

Not like that perverts. She has taken over as my personal doctor.

No seriously she has been studying medicine the whole time we have been together. She knows a slew of spells for healing.

Which at first I could not understand why you would need more than one. I thought it was as simple as pump more energy into it and boom more healing. Found out that you need to direct it between many different factors.

Power, strength, which I thought were the same, speed, over-coming natural resistance to magical alteration/enhancement, all these different factors and more were beat into my head during my stay in this amazing world.

“Okay, okay. I went down to the guards training field. To be honest I am so fucking surprised they let me down there on my first day in their castle. That is so fucking stupid. Or arrogant.” I lift my arms up so she can inspect my ribs. “Fuck!” Seems I bruised one. “Come on Mira. Seriously that Griffin dick didn’t let us out of the room for the first three days.”

“Be that as it may, you do not insult your hosts’ defenses. You should know that.” She hissed.

“Fuck that! If it sucks I am duty bound to bitch about it when they try to act like stuck up…..FUCK!!!” I holler as I remember what Luna had told me about her sister.

Mira raises an eyebrow.

Sighing I fill her in on why Celestia hates humans so much.

She sighs as well. “That would certainly explain a lot. She is a couple THOUSAND years old. For her to fall in love with another like that, then to have their remains treated in such a fashion.” Mira shivers.

“Yeah. Kind of makes it hard to be mad at her for some of her bullshit.” I remember the fight again. “Only some though. Bitch nearly caused me to kill one of her guards I was sparring with. Not sure what she did, but I picked up on her watching from the beginning of the fight.”

“Well you were sparring with one of her guards. Maybe she just wanted to see how you were in combat.” Mira says always making reasonable arguments.

“She was trying to stay hidden. I couldn’t see her from the ring and like you I thought it was just to watch. But that…she did something and the guard I was fighting faltered at a critical moment. Someone with his skill level would NOT have faltered. I could even see his next move coming till the last second. He would have been able to dodge and get me along here.” I draw a finger across the left side of my neck. “It would have been a beautiful thrust to see. Had we been actually fighting he would have severed my jugular vein and opened a third of my neck. It would have been all in one stroke but just as he was getting started he turned to look up at the balcony and I nearly crushed his throat.”

“I doubt it was intentional.” Mira says her doubtful expression matching her tone. “What ruler would send one of their own to die so needlessly?”

“A ruler looking to put my head on a spike. You know the only reason she hasn’t killed us is because we stopped that puppet weirdo from killing her student. We saved her life, so Twilight is batting for us. I didn’t kill the manticore and you only put the guy to sleep.” I tick off each on a finger. “Everything about that take-down was text book. Well according to pony standards.”

“Again, what ruler sends guards to die needlessly? She knows you have done at least some of what you have said so far-”

“I didn’t embellish Mira.”

“I didn’t say you did. What I meant was she will BELIEVE you have only done some of what you have said. You do have a…weird….life.” She begins applying several bandages that were coated in minty smelling gel. “I don’t think anything else on this planet could have stumbled upon things like you do.”

“Aaaa…cold. True but I’m an alien on this planet. Also I think he was a high ranking Officer.” Damn that stuff is always so cold. I am half dragon so I have resistance to extreme temperature to some degree. I can’t go swimming in lava yet I can tank a fire ball with little damage, but fuck if her medicine isn’t ALWAYS cold. “When he gave his name whispers started. Also with his level of skill any Rank less than Brigadier would be an insult.” I rolled my right shoulder a few times. “He pushed me damn hard. It was a hell of a work out. I’m gonna have to open up on him next time.”

(Celestia’s Office)

“I am sincerely apologetic that my actions nearly cost you your life.” Princess Celestia says. Her face pointed towards the ground. She really was truly sorry she interrupted the fight. She had just wanted him to go easier. Harmony forbid if he had actually gotten hurt, she would never forgive herself. Neither would his wife.

“It’s alright Princess Celestia. I know you did not mean anything by it.”

“Thank you Shining Armor. You are too kind.” The Princess smiles up at him thankful for his acceptance. “Now if you don’t mind I would like to hear your thoughts.”

Shining stands there for a moment to collect himself. “First he is an exceptional combatant.” His expression sinks for a moment. “I can see why the last Captain of the Guards lost to the others.” He takes a deep breath to steady himself before continuing. “Though from the level of skill he showed and some of the techniques he preformed I would have to say that he was holding himself back. I am as of yet unsure why he held back so much. Secondly while his fighting style was very open it would seem that he was able to fight…naturally. I believe if he had all of his equipment the outcome would have been vastly different.”

“Based on what you have so far could you stop him?”

“Without his gear? Maybe.” His hand gently strokes his chin as he adopts a thinking pose. “You said the others were unaffected by basic spells correct?”

“Yes, things such as levitation and basic kinetic blasts had little to no effect. Why do you ask?”

“I believe Walker is different. I think he is affected by such spells. The entire fight he kept an eye on my horn. While a normal tactic one would maintain in a combat scenario, he seemed extra conscious of it. If we can use lower level spells containment may not be an issue. I would like to have another go but while he is fully equipped.” The idea of fighting Walker sends a pleasant tingle down Shining’s spine.

It terrified the Princess slightly that her old Captain of the Guard wanted to fight that thing while it was fully armed. “Why do you wish to challenge him again?”

Straightening his posture and wiping the small smile that came from getting another chance to fight Walker, he looks her in the eye and says. “If you want an accurate report on whether we could contain him than I NEED to fight him fully equipped. Also I understand you are concerned about my well-being, but I don’t believe it to be a true concern.”

Shining relaxes his stance. “Princess, you know ever since the Changeling Incident I have been practicing non-stop. My skills with spell and sword are the best in all of Equestria second only to you and your sister. OR so I believed. Walker is an incredible combatant.” Thinking back to the fight again his right shoulder and left knee ache ever so slightly. *Definitely bruised both of them. Caddy would KILL me if I broke them.* He coughs slightly before continuing. “He fought me as an equal. I don’t just mean he respected me as a fighter but rather he matched my ‘skill’ level. He kept pace with me throughout the fight. He matched my speed and strength. He did it fluidly too.” A quick shake of his head pulls his thoughts back. “Sorry Princess caught up in the moment but I request permission to challenge him again.”

Celestia sighs. “Shining you are the Prince-Consort of the Crystal Empire. You are allowed to do as you wish.”

“But this is your castle Ma’am and he IS a guest. So by International Law I must ask the host/hostess permission to challenge a guest in their home.” Shining quips back with a smirk.

Chapter 16

View Online

(present day)

After Mira finished bandaging me we sat at the table out on the balcony for a while and just quietly watched the city.

I sat and watched the sun set, gently toying with a braided silver necklace, thoughts drifting about my mind.

“Thinking about ‘her’ again?” Mira asks, watching me play with the necklace out of the corner of her eye.

With a sigh I let go of the necklace and stare quietly at the ground for a bit.

“Yeah, I was just wondering if she would have enjoyed this sunset.” I say as I look up to watch the sun finally dip below the horizon.

I must say for a bitch of a hostess she truly is an artist when it comes to sunsets. In Equestria. The failing light of the day painted the world in golden hues as it started to fade. As the bottom of the sun touched the land off in the distance the clouds begin to go from white to gold to burnt orange before burning a passionate red.

Then night came and swept darkness across the land, turning that red to a deep comforting purple. The light of the sun continued to fall under the march of the night but night was not met with cries of terror and pleas for rescue. It was met with laughter and song. Joy and companionship. The city’s battle cry was a joyous song of life and love. It embraced this time. It knew that it was safe.

“Mira. They aren’t ready.”

“I know Walker.”

Silence ruled supreme for quite some time before a knock at the door dethrones it.

Getting up I walk to the door. “Who dat be?”

Reaching the door I open it and see a bat pony before me. ‘He’ is about 6ft tall with good muscle build. He has hard amber eyes that look very annoyed for some reason.

“I said Princess Luna wishes to speak with you in the throne room.” ‘He’ says.

“I’m half sorry if this offends you, but are you male or female. I don’t want to piss you off by assuming” ‘He’ just turns and walks to the middle of the hallway. “I’ll take that as you got forced to do this.” Turning to tell Mira, I see her getting into bed. “Whatever. Sleep tight Bug.”

“Get bent Flesh Sack.” She replies with a yawn.

I close the door behind me so she can sleep. Not everything can run on eight hours of sleep a week. Yeah after the dragon blood shit my whole body is just all sorts of screwy.

I do still need sleep but I can do a ton of it at once then not worry about it for a while. I can’t sleep for a hundred years but I can sleep three whole days away at will. Of course than I’m awake for the next two weeks. No god damn ‘in-between’ in my life anymore.

Before I even realized it I was standing in front of the doors to the throne room watching them open.

Luna is sitting on the throne with a slight but hopeful smile on her muzzle. “Walker, We wondered if thou…I was wondering if you still wanted to talk.”

I smile and clap. “Good catch and sure I ain’t got shit to do tonight. What do you want to talk about?”

She adopts an adorable thinking pose while sitting on the throne. Suddenly a very childlike smile spreads across her muzzle. “I wish to hear a tale of your actual exploits.” Her expression sours. “I have had enough of Sisters insistence on your day to day activities.” Her smile comes right back. “I want to hear about one of your more memorable adventures.”

I chuckle slightly. “As you wish my Princess.” For an added bit of flare, because she deserves it, I bow deeply and cross my right arm over my chest.

“I do so enjoy a good tale.”

Digging through my days spent on this planet I find a suitable tale. “This is several years after where I left off.”

~~~~~~

(1yr 6months ago)

CRUNCH!!!!

CRACK!!!!

“Oww motherfucker! How long have you been torturing for? A week? Seriously my no armed grandma could do better.” I say and spit blood at his feet.

Maybe I should back up a little more.

(6 weeks prior)

Sitting around a table in the old birds ‘war room’ we were discussing a plan of attack.

You see bandits have been springing ambushes on a major trade route between Gryphonia and Minos and finally we had been given the go-ahead to put them down.

What? It’s still too far forward? Geez let me just catch you up real quick.

After training with Koodak Ironvigor for two years I got picked up by a wealthy griffon friend of his.

The griffon wanted me to be part of his personal guard after seeing how well I fought during the pit fights. I’ll tell you about it later. Suffice it to say that I had spent my nights fighting to the death and my days training in blacksmithing and weapon mastery.

'I was trained in all of them. No, not completely, I’m not a machine. Now do you want me to tell my tale or continue explaining superfluous things?'

'Thank you.'

'Where was I? Right. So we sat around the table looking over maps of the area.'

“I’m telling you, we ambush the ambushers. It’s sad that some more will die but we will find their base and take them all out in one fell swoop.” Spouts Argus. He is a crow/panther griffon. Good guy but tends more towards the stealth approach on everything. Being stealthy on a mission is all well and good but at the cost of others lives is kind of a no-no for me.

“I agree we should ambush them but it should not be at the cost of others lives. We were given the job to MINIMIZE casualties not create new ones.” I say. Being the voice of reason is surprising.

“I say we just begin patrolling and take them down when we find them. Torture a couple of them and we’ll get the location of their hide out.” Says Hard Core. He is really hardcore. Naw he’s pretty cool for a minotuar. At least he ain’t beating my ass daily during ‘training’. A bit in your face with his ideas but eh.

“That would take forever. It would be like trying to find a needle in a hay stack barehanded. You’ll do it but it’s gonna suck.” Retorts Argus.

I turn and look at Mira. “Here we go again.” I say with an eyeroll. These two argue like a married couple.

Do this stealth.

No. Beat them in the face with a hammer.

It never ends with these two. They never compromise, and they always blame it on the other when their plan fails.

Mira just stares at the map. “I have an idea.” With the following silence you would assume that it was because she almost never has one but nay-nay. Mira is the BOSS before a mission starts. I mean she takes shit from no-one. When she speaks we all listen.

Except me of course but that is just because I know I can get away with it to some degree.

“We use both. Well sort of. Look, the bandits strike from this area right?” She points to a canyon pass between to the two lands. Ideal for ambushes due to the narrow path, the cliff walls of the valley are littered with ledges for someone to lie down on and hide for an ambush. Most of these ledges are at least a hundred feet off the ground meaning they are hard to reach without wings. An arrow will get there but shooting up is a real bitch.

There is another way but it takes you over either mountain that makes up the canyon. Which would lengthen your trip by several days and in certain conditions the mountain route is impassable.

“We send our own “merchant’ through there. We load him down with supplies, nothing to crazy but enough to skirt suspicion. We boost security in other places along the route. But this place we leave alone for the most part.”

“As you know being a changeling I can detect emotions. Meaning along as I am within range I can track someone’s emotional state. We have our merchant get taken by the bandits. Which brings me to the final part, whoever we pick must NOT fight back and allow themselves to be captured.” She looks right at Core. “In that regard I suggest Walker.”

“WHAT!!!!!!”

Her choice has caused yet another argument.

Your basic eagle/lion combo griffon stops the argument just by lifting a clawed paw.

He is our actual boss. Zephyr Bloodwinds. He is that bastards griffon friend.

“Mira, why do you vote Walker to this position?” He asks calmly.

“Out of all of us present he is the only one capable of handling himself in such a situation. Not to say that the other couldn’t fight if it came to that but Walker would know when to fight and how to take the inevitable abuse.”

With a raised eyebrow Zephyr asks another question. “What makes you think they won’t try to kill him?”

“Simple, because he is a human. They could sell him for a huge reward to the ponies. He is literally more valuable alive to them than dead. That guarantees they will bring him to their base camp. Also the fact that we can track him means I can sneak in once we locate their base and begin to sabotage and take potentially useful information.” She explains. Fuck I hate this idea. Oh well, it’ll make a good story later.

“Alright. You have my permission to begin your mission.” Zephyr stands up. “You have till tomorrow morning to get everything you need together.” He looks around the table. “None of you have permission to die. If it gets too hairy you leave. No heroes.” He walks out and lets us finish setting up the finer details.

I decide to sleep since I already know what I’ll need to do.

The next morning finds me wrapped in a cloak, wearing the world’s most uncomfortable harness ever.

“…half days and you’ll be there.” Mira says.

Probably should have been paying attention. “Okay half day. I got it.”

I begin pulling the carriage behind me. This is why I fucking hated this idea. Damn bitch stuffed my face this morning to give me lots of energy for the walk. She said it was so that once they started torturing me I would begin healing sooner, in case she couldn’t get there in time to stop it. We both know that it won’t be till long after I have eaten though that the torture will begin.

My mind mostly wanders during my trek down the road. It’s very boring.

'There are sedimentary rock deposits all around me. Umm… they were grey? Why do you want to know what the area looks like anyway? Don’t you want to hear about me beating the crap out of things?'

'I don’t care if I suck at telling stories. You keep interrupting anyway. Now shush.'

After twelve hours passed I realized Mira said ‘days’ not ‘day’. So I made camp that night under the stars. Thank you for such beautiful nights Princess. I have to say since I don’t sleep much anymore stargazing has become quite the pass-time for me.

'The next day was more of the same, just a long boring slog down the trail. There was a rock with a salamander on it that I poked with a stick. Happy?'

It wasn’t until the third day that I finally saw the beginning of the valley pass. Hiking the harness a bit higher on my body I pull the cart with a bit more purpose.

I keep an eye out because this is when things are likely to be at their worst. I have to make sure I avoid the first volley of arrows or its game over.

It was midday when I reached the likely ambush site. I figure if it’s going to be around here I should set up for ‘lunch’. I unbuckle the harness and toss it into the carriage. Damn thing chaffed my ribs a bit.

After a bit of stretching I grab the canteen in the back and take a swig. I wipe the sweat built up from the walk off my forehead before deciding to take a second drink. Just as I’m about to take my next drink the canteen is launched out of my hand with an arrow sprouting out of the side.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” Asks some random bandit with a bow pointed at my face.

He is looks like an Earth pony. Not a bad build to him. His coat, mane and tail are the same color as our dust and sand surroundings. “You have an interesting color scheme there friend.” I say.

“Thanks, now why don’t you just get down on your knees like a good colt, so we don’t have to rain Tartarus down on you.”

I look around me and spot at least five other bandits on the cliffs around us. *Something’s wrong.* “All of you for little ole me? I’m touched.” I sink to my knees and put my hands on my head. *There should be way more than that in the area, are they just not showing themselves?*

Several more walk out straight out of the boulders surrounding us. “Illusion magic to create fake scenery. Anyone who doesn’t know the area would never suspect it. Clever.” This is really bad, if the others don’t spot it they will be in for some shit.

A minotaur wrapped in leather straps hits me in the stomach with the butt of his axe. “Shut weakling.”

“Ugh!”I bend over a little. Fuck that hurt. I look back up at him. “Dark brown lower body.Half horn on right side.”

“What are you muttering about?” The minotaur asks before backhanding me to the ground.

Copper floods my taste buds. “Double headed axe. Upper torso covered in straps. Just making a mental note of what you look like so I can kill you once I have the chance.”

He laughs. “You think your puny body is enough to even scratch me?”

I throw a shuriken I keep in my boot and open up his right cheek. “I do believe that is a scraAAAHHHH!”

My results in an arrow being lodged into my right shoulder from behind.

“Go ahead try something else. I will make you life a living Tartarus BEFORE the Princesses get a hold of you.” Says that dusty dick.

I spit at his hooves. “Fuck you dust butt.”

After that everything turns black.

~~~~~~

Sometime later I am awoken by a bucket of freezing cold water.

“HOLY SHIT THAT”S FUCKING COLD!!!” I holler.

“Welcome to my camp.” A voice sounds out from behind me.

“Your customer service could use a little work.” I groan while taking in my surroundings.

Looks like a tent. Wool wrap instead of animal hide. Based on the distance to the walls I’m guessing I’m tied up right in the middle. There is nothing near me except a stool about a foot and a half away.

“I’ll let my crew know that you don’t approve of our services.” Says the guy who I’m assuming is their leader.

“So let me guess. Your plan is to torture me till I give up all that I know, and then trade me to the Equestrian Government for a huge sum so you can all live like kings the rest of yours lives?” I say trying to look behind me.

THWACK!!!

“Oww-ie!”

“Please don’t try that again. I can’t have you seeing my face and ruining everything now can I?” Boss man says with a slight lilt to his voice. Guess the dick is enjoying this. Also can’t believe that the idiot just gave me such a huge piece of information.

“So you must be pretty well known to be worried about me seeing what you look like.”

All I get in response is a shot to the kidney. “AAAHHH FUCK!!! Fuck that fucking tickles!”

This time it’s much worse.

I feel a searing pain slip in between my ribs and by god is it agonizing. Lucky for me Mira was right, they don’t want me dead. The knife slipped in between the ribs but it’s shallow. Not enough to kill but bad enough to hurt.

“No more out bursts please. It would not do well for us to deliver you too worked over.”

I grin at that. Looks like torture will be lighter than Mira or I expected. “Aww and here I thought you wanted to give me preferential treatment.”

Two more punches land on my back. Each one hitting where he just stabbed with some fair precision. “You are certainly hardy. By the looks of your body I would wager that you have had some decent training.” Warmth begins to spread across my back. “Hmmm. Interesting it would seem extreme temperature of heated iron does not affect you.” I can hear the sound of a quill scratching against parchment.

Pain blossoms across my back. It starts at my left hip and ends just below my right shoulder blade. “Physical wounds still seem to cause the pain receptors to light up.”

I can hear him muttering to himself about the torture methods he is using and some ways to improve my responses to it. The fuck? Is this dick really studying me right now? Oh fuck this shit.

I close my eyes and begin to focus myself inwards. Not really a place I like going.

'What now? Why don’t I like going into myself? Do you want me to finish this or not?'

Chapter 17

View Online

(present day)

“You know for someone who wanted to hear a story you sure are interrupting a lot.” A small chuckle escapes me.

Sitting on her throne looking completely displeased, arms and legs crossed, a pout spreading expertly across that muzzle of hers. A small ‘hmph’ escapes her. “You said you would tell me a story, so far I am bored.” The sadness radiates clearly in Luna’s voice.

“Fine.” A sigh escapes me. “I’ll just skip straight to the fighting than.”

A smile blossoms across her face but only for a moment. “Guard, bring us a stout drink. We wish to be of the proper mind set for the fight.” She points at a guard, who immediately takes off for the kitchens. “And as for you.” She swings herself back around towards me. The glare sent my way sends a slight chill done my spine. “Your re-telling of combat had better be worth it.”

Silence grows steadily in the intervening moments till the guard comes back with the drinks.

The sudden yet quiet squeal of the door hinges as the guard returns is like akin to a clap of thunder across the room.

“Okay enough awkward silences please.” I say looking up.

Eyebrows around the room rise.

“Who are you talking to?” Our dear Princess of the Night asks.

“The being who is writing this.”

“What?”

Le sigh. “Okay. Try to stay with me. Do you know the multi-verse theory?”

The response I get is a small tentative yes.

“Well let me go over it REALLY briefly. Basically as we exist so do other versions of us. They go through varying versions of similar events as we do. As such major, minor, and irrelevant moments in our lives are different. It is through these differences that each universe makes its own way. So while we sit here talking, there is another universe out there having the same conversation but in an entirely different way. Also the idea of the multi-verse states that the differences go so far as to include a version of us that can ‘see’ what we are doing and even influence it to some degree.”

“So in a sense you could say that those beings could be where the idea of gods and goddesses come from. From a limited perspective they would seem all powerful. When in reality they just happen to have knowledge of what happens next allowing for a certain level of control over events, thus reinforcing the idea of being all powerful.”

“Sorry that wasn’t as brief as I would have liked. But in the end it is feasible that beings exist that would in some way influence our lives and perceptions. To what level of control over us they have is questionable but it is hard not to believe considering my own experiences and memories. Well what few I have of my old world.”

“So to answer you original question, I was speaking to those that may be able to see us here.”

At some point I had started to wander the throne room as I spoke, and ended up turning my back to all of them. Turning back around I got greeted by wide eye stares and slightly fearful glances around the room.

“It’s not as if they are suddenly going to strike us down for what I have said. If they would have gotten upset by what I said I would not have been able to say it.” This seems to calm several of them down. Easily startled much?

“Do you actually believe any of that?” Luna asks. She seems to be the least ‘openly’ bothered by what I had just said.

“It’s a hypothesis based on an idea that can’t really be called a theory or hypothesis. There are too many variables and also if it does exist, it does not explain, solve and prove anything that is currently believed.”

“I see.”

“Nightmare Moon.”

The near silence is telling. I say ‘near’ because the moment the name leaves my lips there is the distinct sound of weapons being drawn surround me. “You want another reason, another explanation. You need it to be something else. You need that darkness not to be your own.”

Her head gently lifts. The poker face she wears is truly impressive, though the cracks are easy to see if you know about trying to hide how you feel.

“You speak as if you know.” She states plainly.

“The very reason I did not like going into my own mind at that time and still don’t to some degree.”

“You claim to have your own ‘darkness’?” A slightly sneer in her voice. It hurts to hear but it’s hard to believe an ‘outsider’ understands such pain.

“Of course I do. Every one of us has dark and terrible urges sometimes. It is how we deal with them before they affect us and after. When I went to Zebrica I spent the first few weeks just meditating trying to deal with the darkness that possesses my soul. By the end I was able to talk to ‘him’. ‘He’ is a representation of my darker self. ‘He’ is me, ‘he’ is just looser in what is acceptable and what is not.”

“Did ‘he’ ever take you from your family?” Her growing ire distorts her voice.

“No, but ‘he’ prevents me from having one. Even now ‘he’ speaks, though ‘he’ slumbers.” Closing my eye I tilt my head up ‘listening’ to his voice.

“Blood, rip, tear. Obliterate. Feed, consume. Burn. Rage. Destroy. Hate, malice. Pain, suffer. WRATH. LUST. GREED. GLUTTONY.” Our combined voice flows from my throat. The effect of ‘his’ voice layered over mine is immediate.

The entire room feels like it dropped several degrees. The guards standing by are trembling ever so slightly. I have to give them credit though, most lose whatever courage they had. These Night Guards are tough. Only a few of them are shaking at the knees.

A few deep breathes returns my voice to normal. “My ‘Demon’ is always with me. ‘He’ is a part of me. I am a part of ‘him’. Without the other we are incomplete. As much as I would rather not have ‘him’ inside me and ‘he’ would rather be free, we are bound together till the day of our death. I do not minimize your experience with your own darkness. Nor am I attempting to say you should connect with it should it still be within you. I am merely saying that in regards to my-self and my own darkness we are inseparable. To do so would be our death.”

“Have you tried?” Leaning forwards on her throne Luna asks concern coloring her voice.

I wave it off. “While in Zebrica the High Priest and Priestess attempted it but the act nearly killed me and the darkness within me. Apparently we are bound together by the dragon’s blood flowing through my veins. As far as we were able to determine at the time is that when I underwent the Familia Binding it bound the darkness to me permanently because it could not determine if it was mine or an outside influence.”

Silence returns to the room. Hesitation across all those present in the room is nearly palpable. “If this keeps happening I am going to make this even more awkward for all of you.”

The silence continues.

“Okay, you brought this on yourselves.” I say.

The entire room stiffens in anticipation of what I might do. Guess what I decided to do was beyond what they expected, because EVERY jaw hits the floor.

You out there reading, watching or listening to this are probably curious as to what I decided to do aren’t you?

I got naked. Yes I stripped down to my birthday suit.

“AAAAHHHHHH MY EYES!!!

“WHAT THE BUCK!?”

“WHY?”

“OH SWEET CELESTIA’S FLANK IT’S SO SMALL!”

“HEY! My species doesn’t have a sheath. So instead ours increases in size by filling with blood. A human penis can be anywhere from 4 inches in length up to at least 12 inches. It varies from person to person but average is between 5 and 7.” Kind of brought that on myself didn’t I?

Looking around the room I can see various facial expressions, ranging from mild curiosity to anger and all the way up to blatant arousal. Though I think the Princesses reaction is the best, the light red on her cheeks stands out beautifully against her dark colored fur. Still don’t understand how a species covered in fur can produce a visible blush but whatever.

“Would you please re-dress yourself it is becoming quite difficult to continue like this.” She asks, barely restraining whatever she is feeling at the moment.

A roll of my eyes is all she gets before I start putting my clothes back on.

“I haz question!” A guard from behind me exclaims.

“Yes Matchstick?”

Looking behind me is a pegasus guard removing their helmet. Underneath the illusion is a pegasus that appears to almost be on fire. “You look a lot like-“

“Spitfire of the Wonderbolts, I know. Princess I would like permission to buck the human.” Matchstick answers and asks in an excited voice.

My reply is calm and simple. “No.”

“Aww, why not?” She asks.

I turn back to Princess Luna. “I have no desire to engage in such activities with a member of any guard or an inhabitant of this world. Not that you are unattractive nor are many of the females I have seen in this world. Sadly due to that simple fact that I am a human means whoever enters into a relationship with me is going to be in for a rough ride. Whether or not a relationship even happens is beside the point, once someone finds out that a member of the Night Guard has slept with me the outcry from the nobles, which run the day to day lives of this land, will be in an uproar, demanding the Night Guard be investigated by an outside party of their choosing. Which has the chance of leading to a potential for them to decide that the entirety of the Night Guard is compromised by me.”

“You seem quite knowledgeable about these types of things. Has it happened before?” Princess Luna seems to be very concerned about how I would know some like this.

“It’s simple politics. That’s all. Also I always assume others will do what is only in their best interest especially ‘nobility’. They are among the worst offenders. Now I am going to finish my story if you don’t mind.”

Chapter 18

View Online

(1yr 6months, for those curious)

CRUNCH!!!!

CRACK!!!!

“Oww motherfucker! How long have you been torturing for? A week before you got me? Seriously my no armed grandma could do better.” I say before spitting blood on the ground.

That’s definitely a broken rib.

Oh well.

Five god damn weeks. This dumb dick has been torturing me for five weeks trying to get info I don’t have. Seriously wha-

“AHHHH!!!! Fuck! Use a little lube if you’re going to penetrate me.” I quip.

“Subject is still resisting torture. Previous scarring provides evidence of prolonged experience with pain. Side note, wounds heal quicker the more nutrients subject 626 has internally, noted upon use of medical nutrient bag. Shallow wounds heal within a day. Bones vary depending upon fragmentation. Nutrient bag used to prevent potential weapons. Three dead. Eyes removed via spoon and consumed.”

Fuck those dicks. Especially that first one. He was a big dick.

I feel the knife he just stuck me with get ripped out of my body. God fucking damn it I don’t know how much more of this I can take. I’m just glad I know Mira is out there setting everything up.

~~~~~~

(Bandit Camp: Mira)

After having gotten into so many places during my life as part of the Hive, a place like this is actually pretty dull. To the point I can’t even see these idiots in front of me as a potential threat.

“That’s when I cut his fucking balls off.” A dark green earth pony says, finishing up his bloody tale.

“How many MORE times are you going to tell that story?” A bronze griffon asks him in a tired tone. Seriously that is the fifth time TODAY.

“I’ll tell it as many times as it takes till ya’ll know not to fuck with me.” He says, brandishing a dinner knife and trying to be threatening.

It has been five weeks now, bit longer then it would normally take for me to weaken an outpost, but this place was bigger than we were expecting. I have gotten it just about done it though. Now I just need to bide my time and finish the set up.

First, poison tonight’s meal. Nothing deadly just a little something to give everyone who eats stomach cramps, diarrhea, vomiting, uncontrolled flatulence. Which I have thankfully, managed to pull off without getting caught.

Second, plant charged rubies at strategic locations. The explosives are dual purpose. First they inform Walker that everything is set and we are beginning. Second they weaken/destroy key defensive locations. The best part is that since its Walkers runic works, that were charged by a fire, they are a much more difficult to recognize during a magic sweep.

Luckily for me, Walkers work on runic script with the Zebras allowed him to make a second detonator for his equipment.

Looking out of the doorway for the mess hall I can see the sun has just finished setting. Good the time has come to make my rounds and drop off ‘presents’ for the guards on duty.

Since I started here, at sunset, after I finish serving dinner, I make rounds to those on guard, handing out bottles of wine, bread, cheese, fruits and meats to those that want it. Nothing big, just some snacks to ‘help’. Sadly all I could poison is the wine but that stuff always handles itself if you’re smart. ‘Oops was the bottle not strong enough? Oh I’m so sorry Mister Scary Bandit. Please here have another.’

Let them get themselves drunk. By the time its shift change most are too, as Walker would put it, ‘shit-faced’ to even realize what’s going on. And tonight they are going to suffer dearly for that mistake.

I have managed to get a couple of looks at Walker. He still seems to be alive. My empathic abilities have kept me up-to-date on his general state but it’s still nice to actually see him. I just have to wait.

“Hey! Bring me more ale Clean Plate!” The green earth pony yells over to me.

A small sigh escapes me before handing a bottle to him. “Here you go Swift Kill.” Seriously, how bland a name can you get for a bandit? Also he loves to kill slowly. So his name doesn’t even fit like other members of his species.

“That’s right you little shit you better bring me more!” Hollers Swift Kill. He bites the cork and spits it out right at my face.

‘Just stay calm he’s going to die tonight anyways.’ I think to myself. “Is there anything else I can get any of you before I make my rounds?” I ask struggling to maintain my cover.

“Get the buck out of here you little shit.” He says before turning back to the table.

Walking away is an effort in self control to the extreme. I’ll just kill him later.

Half an hour later and I’m wandering around handing out snacks to the guards while dropping off the “special gifts”. The base has several locations I need to stop at.

The first is the forge built into a mountain, to hide the glow of the forge from prying eyes. They have been using it to build and repair their equipment. Also it doubles as their Armory. They have all the stuff on racks and hanging up on the walls. Just drop a couple of gems around the place, one by the wood pile to help burn the area around the forge burn. I place another two gems under the table in the middle of the armory so it will splinter and ruin more of the equipment. That should be enough to take out the entire forge room.

Next stop is the six guard towers around the camp. I quickly bury a ruby at the base of each tower before bring the snacks up to the guards. I make sure it’s only covered enough so no passers-by will notice it if they have a torch.

A quick stop by the barracks, it is dangerous but we will need to make sure there are as little reinforcements as possible. I almost got caught twice but a quick sleep spell and a knife to the throat solves both problems.

My last stops are the front gate and the interrogation tent. The last one is where Walker is being kept, so I won’t bother placing any there.

I drop off the remaining three rubies near enough to remove the gate once they go off.

After handing off the last of the food and drink I head back to the kitchens to get ready. Mostly just have to get Walkers equipment together.

A sigh escapes my lips. For a supposedly ‘simple man’, he certainly carries a lot of stuff that can cause quite a violent reaction. Also the amount of knives, throwing stars and spare tools is a bit mind boggling. If it wasn’t for the fact that I know he knows how to use them all I would have assumed he was an idiot.

What am I saying? He is an idiot. That dumb bastard. He is such a hassle to deal with some… most of the time. I mean who seriously creates an explosive that goes off when thrown. What happens if he dropped one of those star thingies? He would lose a leg if he was lucky.

ERRGGGHHH!!!!

THUMP!!

“OWWWIE!!

Kicking the table in my room only hurts. Why am I so worked up?

He is a moron. Proven by how many mistakes he makes. I mean seriously you would think he would know enough about himself after all the torture he has been through to keep himself calm. But no, he had to take on that request to….

Another sigh and I decide to just let it go. It’s not important now. I need to set off the explosives and get to Walker as quickly as possible.

~~~~~~

KAAA-BOOOM!!!!

A thunderous explosion rocks the tent we are in.

“What in the unholy name of Tartarus was that!?” Prick asks to no-one. Yeah I started calling him prick since I don’t know his real name. I hear him walk out of the tent. “Find out what’s going on. I’m heading to the front gate.”

Did they really just leave me alone? Are they fucking stupid? Oh well my gain.

SNAP!

Breaking the leather straps holding me to the central post is simple.

“HEY! What are you doing in there?” Oh yay, they left me a present.

The one who walks in is none other than Dusty-dick from the pass.

“Nice to see you again, I am glad I get to kill you first.” A sadistic grin spreads slowly across my face.

“I would love-.“ He falls to the ground mid-sentence. Behind him stands a pony.

“Fuck you, you stupid bug he was mine to kill!”

“I would have let you, if you wouldn’t have toyed with him first.” A shimmer travels his form revealing Mira. “You have gained the bad habit of being a bit sadistic when you get into situations like this.”

I stare at her for a moment before I take a few deep breathes. I can feel that lust for blood rising again. Thank God for my bug. She is really amazing. Also really cute, and sexy…

I feel my cheeks flush with the memory of that night a couple years back.

“Here’s your stuff.” Mira toss my stuff right at my face.

I take a moment to dress and equip myself.

I run my hand gently over the knife I gained from the Dragons. “Hello Thorn. It’s a pleasure to hold you once more.” Yes I named it Thorn, because with this blade in hand I am a thorn in the side of all I fight.

“You know I always enjoy watching you get ready. It’s like seeing a superhero putting on his outfit. It’s all dramatic and awe-inspiring.” Mira giggles behind a hand.

I tend to be a bit dramatic when putting it all on.

First thing is my grey cotton sleeveless vest. It’s nice and comfy. Next goes on the boots, good strong leather made from manticore hide. Got them the first time I stayed in a griffon town called Feather Falls. Next up goes the belt that holds Thorn and my five throwing knives, followed by a bandolier for throwing stars and one for my runic gems. Though I do have more gems in the pockets of my cloak, which I put on last. That reminds me I have to remember to thank Elizabeth for the cloak next time I see her.

“It’s good to be home.” A small content sigh escapes me as the weight of everything settles on to me. Odd thing to say I know, but all this equipment is my home in a sense. It’s what keeps me safe and secure.

The noise outside the tent reaches a fever pitch. Closing my eyes I can clearly hear the sounds of ‘men’ dying horribly at the hands of others. To my mind it is the beautiful song of war. Not a real war but…oh my, the bloodshed. A wondrous thing it shall be to spill their blood.

Something soft and warm comes in contact with my lips. My eyes immediately shoot open in concern, only to see Mira kissing me.

The effect is immediate, which means I fell flat on my ass and scrambled backwards like a bitch.

“The fuck Mira!? Why the hell did you do that!?” I sputter. God why is it that she always trips me up like that. Any sort of affection from her and I am at a complete and utter loss on what to do. Yet I can make all the dirty jokes in the world and flirt shamelessly. God forbid a slightly attractive female shows me any sort of genuine attention and suddenly I just draw a blank.

“You looked like you weren’t fully back yet.” She says with faux indifference. The look in her eyes tells me clearly that she was scared.

I sigh. Damn she is way too good for me. I stand up and dust myself off. “You’re right. I wasn’t fully in control. Thank you, Mira. Thank you for keeping your word after so many years.”

“I told you I would always be here to remind you of who you really are and I meant it.” A smile I rarely get to see graces her muzzle. It is truly beautiful and serene.

I take a deep breath then slap my cheeks hard. “Yosh! Let’s go be a pain in the fucking ass!”

~~~~~~

The camp is a complete fucking disaster. Tents are burning, people are dying, and limbs are littering the ground. Speaking of the ground, in the short amount of time it took me to get ready it has become so saturated with blood that my boots actually sink a little. Not much but enough for me to tell anyways.

Scanning the battle field I can easily spot most of the team I was working with decimating the remaining bandits. Seems the poisons and explosives did theirjob splendidly.

“Oh hey, I see someone I promised to kill.” Looking off to my left with several dead bodies around him is that minotaur fuck I promised to kill. “I think I should go say hi.”

“Walker.” Mira says in a warning tone of voice.

“I’m still me, honest truth. But he hit me in the gut with the butt of his ax, called me a weakling and bitch slapped me. I ain’t gonna take that shit. Now excuse me.” I draw Thorn as I walk over.

He spots me immediately and grins. “I do believe you said you would kill me once you had the chance.” He is cocksure I’ll give him that. I also decide to give a pair of shuriken to the face. Sadly they don’t reach, but then again it doesn’t need to hit him specifically.

The moment I threw them he brought his double headed axe up to block his face, but the moment they made contact with the axe they combusted. The loud sound followed swiftly by the bright flash of light dazed him since he wasn’t prepared. Quickly capitalizing on it, I rush in drawing Thorn and unleash a hard hook right to his ribs. It’s tight, crisp and focused.

The blow results in a very satisfying cracking sound. “There. Now we are both suffering from a broken rib. It’s a fair fight.”

He just steps back with a grunt before readying his axe.

We stare each other down as we try to get into the others blind spot by circling. “Have you ever really thought about this whole circling each other thing, it’s kind of stupid really.”

He lunges towards me with a diagonal swing trying to sever me from hip to shoulder.

I lean back out of the way, feeling the light wind off the beard of the axe. “Yeah, most other people I try to talk to about it don’t really have an answer for me either.” He brings the axe back down a quick pivot on my left foot sees me out of harm’s way. I launch a counter-attack with a brass-knuckled jab to his left should. Not as hard as I could. Taking into account for the extra damage of metal meeting skin I pull my hit just enough so as not to break more bones. To easy if I just break all of their bones.

I flip my knife around for a quick backhand stab but hit only air as he backs up, stupid choice on his part. Another shuriken fly’s towards his face but he is more aware this time as he just leans out of the way. He responds with a quick horizontal one-handed swing but the space between us is enough that even with the one hand he doesn’t have the reach.

We start to circle again. “This is fucking stupid. You know I am not going to let you get into my blind spot and I know you won’t let me into yours. Walking in circles is just a waste of stamina.” I pull out a diamond and slap it into the blade, giving it a sharper edge, but also since the wind that will be coming in contact it also serves to protect the blade.

Idiot rushes me again trying to split me down the middle with an over head swing. It’s wild, powerful and leaves him completely open.

So…

I decide to be myself and cut the head of his axe off.

I pivot on my right foot this time but still turn my left side to him. After severing the axe head I deliver a quick snap-kick to his gut causing him to lean over.

I pause for just a moment while facing away, theatrics really, before I drive the blade straight up into his face. I can feel the blade pierce cleanly through his forehead. It’s quite satisfying actually. Though that could be the dick sleeping inside me, but eh.

I pull the blade clean from his skull with a squelch of brain matter. “Dick.”

~~~~~~

“Quite the tale.” Princess Luna announces. “We wish to hear another.”

Oh boy.

Chapter 19

View Online

(present day: Dining Hall, Breakfast)

It was a wonderful morning. The birds were singing, her Sun was up, and there she sat enjoying a pleasant cup of tea with her former student.

“So Pinkie and Rarity left this morning to Manehattan. Rarity is looking into a new location for her store, while Pinkie left with her sister. Apparently it is Pie Sister Surprise Swap Day, whatever that is supposed to mean.” Twilight informs off offhandedly.

“I am glad to hear that your friends are enjoying themselves, though you could have gone with them if you wished.” While she was glad that Twilight wanted to spend time with her she wished she would spend more time with her friends.

“It’s alright Prin… sorry, Celestia. While I wish I was with them I learned that sometimes it’s better to let them live their own lives.” Twilight beams happily.

It would seem even when she is away from them she is learning lessons in friendship. “I am very proud of you Twilight, you seem to have learned quite a bit about friendship over the years.”

“Well it hasn’t been easy but I am glad to have friends I can count on, like the girls.”

“Having friends you can count on is always important no matter what type of life you live.” Mira states calmly sipping a cup of tea.

Taking a quiet but deep breathe Celestia relaxes her tensed muscles. What Is it about that changeling that makes her forget she is there. The whole time that human was telling his story she would catch sight of this changeling standing next to him and her heart would leap into her throat. A complete knee-jerk reaction but still, very odd.

It was as if she wasn’t actually there. Like some sort of shade the human had created, whose sole purpose was so that he was not alone. Yet there she sat sipping tea like a pony. Who was she to think that she had any right to be there?

Changeling, one would steal love from a pony till there was nothing left but a withered husk. Such terrible creatures, surely some remnant of when Discord ruled that he forgot about.

*No Tia. That’s not fair and you know it.* A gentle sigh escapes her, as she puts her most motherly smile on. “This is true. It would seem you have learned the value of friendship as well.”

“Thanks to Walker I have lived a very fulfilling life. Yes it has been very, very unusual life but to be honest it is a whole lot better than living in a hive.” Mira is quick to match Celestia’s smile with one of her own.

“What was it like living in the hive!?!?!” Twilight asks earnestly. There is a passion in her eyes for learning that is both endearing and creepy. A hand on her shoulder from her fellow Princess is enough to ground her.

“Sorry.” She says meekly, hands fold on her lap, eyes to the floor.

Mira just continues to smile, used to Walkers enthusiasm by this point. Honestly the mare might be a bit more in to learning than he is but her interest has a much purer feel to it. “It’s okay Lady Twilight.”

“Please just call me Twilight. It’s weird being so formally addressed.” Twilight shifts in her seat trying to dispel the awkwardness flooding her.

“If that is what you wish m’Lady.” Mira replies suppressing her giggles enough to get the line out.

“Tell me Mirage-“

“Please, call me Mira. It’s the name Walker gave me.”

“Of course, I apologize. I was wondering why it is that you travel with…Walker?” Celestia asks, hoping to get a better understanding of at least one of them.

“That’s simple actually, you see he is immune to a number of the more negative side-effects brought on by direct feeding, because of this I am able to travel and live a happier life. I don’t have to steal any either because some how he does actually love me enough to provide me with the biochemical energy needed to sustain myself.” Mira’s smile becomes less and less motherly but more and more content.

BANG!!!!!!

“THE FUCKING PARTY TRAIN IS HERE BITHCES!!!!!!”

“Walker!”

“Oh my.”

“Why doesn’t he ever enter like a normal pony?”

“Cuz I not pony!” Walker shouts holding something in his hand high in the air.

All eyes in the room are on him and…*Is that Lulu?*

He takes a drink from what must be a bottle of some sort before letting out a contented sigh. “That is some good hooch right there. Though I could go for some good cooch.”

“Walker, please tell me you haven’t been drinking all night.” Mira says trying to keep the frustration in.

He leans down into her face. “It’s- its itsssssss. Is okay…”he looks to the bottle giving it a gentle shake before taking another swig. “The wonderful Princess of the Night offered and you..hic…you know it would…um… be a, uh, thing… that ummm.” He rubs the back of his head.

Oh sweet harmony they are both completely wasted. Celestia sees her sister standing in the doorway swaying in a non-existent breeze, much like their mane’s when they are being more formal. The dull smile on Luna face as if she wasn’t even really there at the moment had her concerned.

“Sister, are you okay?” Celestia asks from her seat. They are Alicorns and it would take an UNGODLY amount alcohol to poison either of them, though that doesn’t mean they can’t get drunk it just takes a lot.

“Yush. I-“ Luna sways on her hooves, her smile grows as she catches sight of Walkers bent over.

“HORNY RHINO”

“OWWW MY ASS! My Glorious Fleshy Ass!”

Walker had fallen to the floor right after Luna had kneed him right between his butt-cheeks.

The whole room just stared quietly.

“Why did I ever teach you about getting butt fucked by a rhino?”

“BEcause you are drunk.”

“Walker…”

He looks up to see Mira giving him the stink eye.

A sigh is all that escapes him as he get up and whispers in her ear.

“Thank you Walker” Mira replies after a moment. “That is very considerate of you.”

“CHANGELING!”

That word caused the whole atmosphere to change instantly. Before there was laughing and smiles. Now all that can be felt is bloodlust and a chill.

Shining Armor and Princess Cadence had entered the room unheard due to the level of noise, though the Princess was hiding behind her prince at the moment. Also it would seem he is not the source of malcontent.

All eyes shift to see Walker standing in front of Mira holding a steak knife in a reverse grip. The air around him still, but it also seemed to writhe with dark intent. His eyes cold, calculating, it almost seemed like he was someone else entirely.

“BBBFF?”
“LSBFF?”

“Twilight!” Cadence jumps around Shining.

“Sunshine, Sunshine. Lady Bug awake. Clap your hooves and give a little shake.” The two of them play out the little greeting ritual they have had since Cadence foalsat Twilight.

“I can’t really get in the mood after that. Well I can get in the mood for sex after watching two beautiful mares’ shake their rumps like that at each other.” Walker states as he puts the knife back on the table.

“Princess Celestia, while you told me he had ‘interesting’ company I would have appreciated the warning that it was a changeling. All things considered.” Shining Armor says as he sheathes his sword.

“Not like you could have done anything about it Prince ‘Bright Shield’.” A leering smile adorns Walkers face.

“Oh so you know who I am now?”

“I realized who you were last night. Got to say I’m not surprised that Chrysi-slut beat you and your guards, especially if you are the best among them.”

“I’ll have you know during our last match I was holding back so as not to scare you.”

“Oh is that so…” Walker gets right in Shining Armors face. Their foreheads pressed together.

“Yeah.”

“Well so was I. Also I could tell you were holding back.”

“No you couldn’t.”

“Yeah huh.”

“No. You’re lying.”

“No you are.”

“No you.”

“CHILDREN!”

All eyes turn to the Sunny Princess, who coughs to give herself a moment to organize her thoughts. “Please it is breakfast. So why don’t we all sit down and talk.” Her eyes land on the two of them. “Like adults. Now.”

“Yes Ma’am.” They say in unison while saluting her.

A sigh is all that escapes her.

She turns to look at Mira. “Are you sure you don’t want to learn any other spells to help keep him under control?”

“I’m sure. Thank you for the offer though. While his behavior leaves much to be desired his readiness to defend me is something I quite cherish actually.” Mira looks over at him fondly.

“What can I say? I am a sucker for my imouto.” Walker says as he ruffles Miras’ hair.

“Walker how many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me that?” She asks in an exasperated sigh.

Cadence perks up. “What does ee-motto mean?”

“Imouto-japanese; little sister. It is usually used in anime where the male protagonist has a crush on their little sister. Or vice-versa.” Walker explains while in a staring contest with Shining.

“Um excuse me Walker.” Twilight slowly raises a hand.

Looking over at her he cocks an eyebrow. “We’re not in school and I am definitely not a teacher. So put your hand down and ask like the adult you are.”

“Sorry. It’s just, well you told us the other day that you have no personal memories, yet this is the second time, that I know of, in the last twenty four hours that you have used a word from a different language.”

The whole room goes quiet awaiting his response.

“Raisins.”

Twilight gets a look on her face like she was forced to tongue a dirty butthole. “That doesn’t answer anything!”

“Wasn’t meant to.”

“Why are you avoiding answering?”

“Raisins.”

“Walker…”

“You’re not my real mom.”

“Is this what it is like being around him?” Cadence asks Mira.

“Always. My name is Mira and it is a pleasure to see you doing well.” Mira replies holding a hand out.

“Mi Amore Cadenza, but you can just call me Cadence. Why do you say that?” She asks shaking her offered hand.

“Oh it’s because I was the one who sent that letter telling the Princess of that cunts plan.” Mira says her smile never faltering.

“ANSWER MY SISTERS QUESTION!”

“SUCK MY CHURCH STEEPLE!”

“WHAT THE BUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!?”

“I DON’’T KNOW!”

“WHY ARE WE STILL YELLING?”

“Raisins.”

The entire room falls to the floor.

“You really don’t want to talk about it do you?” Twilight asks as small tinge of sadness worms its way into her.

“The less you know about me the better.”

A sigh escapes Mira. “Walker, just answer her. Please?”

He looks towards Mira. “Later. I have something I need to deal with first.”

The room watches him walk over to Celestia. “Listen up Princess you aren’t gonna want to hear this but, I know what happened.”

She goes to open her mouth but a finger to her lips silences her.

“No talky, just listen.” His hazel eyes bore right into hers. “You despise my very being because of what they did. Every time you look at me I can see it. You hate me. You see him die over and over again. Because of whatever reason you haven’t been able to process that hate, you have not had a sufficient way to vent that feeling.” Her eyes dip to the floor as he talks. He takes her chin in a hand, lifting her head up so their eyes meet once again. “From now on whenever I do something you don’t like even if only a little than throw a fireball at me aim for my face for all I care. That hate will consume you. It will eat you alive from the inside out. Take it ou-“

Walker falls to the floor as smoke rises from where his head should be.

All eyes turn to the princess of the sun. “What? He said if he did something I don’t like then I could throw a fire ball at his face. He was in my face and I don’t like those that get in my face like that.”

A deep mirth filled laughter envelopes the room. “That is what I am talking about.”

Cadence leaps from her seat and immediately attempts to check on Walker, only to discover that the only ‘damage’ he suffered was a face covered in soot.

“Are you insane? She could have taken you head off with that blast. The level of heat she has dominion over is beyond normal ponies.”

Walker just chuckles as he sits up. “Kind of hard to burn a being who is part dragon, especially one that is part of the ‘fire nation’.”

WHACK!

“Will you knock it off with the quotes to things no one but you understand?” Mira apparently has had enough of his shenanigans so far this morning.

“You know I can’t help shit like that. It’s the auth-“

Mira’s hand clamps down over his mouth. “You finish that statement and I swear I will cover you in honey and leave you to a slow death at the hands of hungry spider-ants.”

A raised eyebrow is her response.

“Why do I even bother?”

“Cuz you love your Onii-chan.”

“Fuck. You.”

“Please and thank you?”

“I am so lost.” A guard by the door says.

“Yeah but honestly this is the most interesting meal we seen in a long time, I hope he sticks around. I think he is good for her majesty.” The other guard states with a small smile on his face.

“What even came close to giving you that idea?”

“He is allowing her to beat on him so that she can vent the anger towards the other humans. He is literally allowing her to abuse him so that she can be happier.”

“That doesn’t make any sense though. How is allowing her to assault him supposed to help?”

“Easy, you see by allowing her to vent in such a manner it shows that he trusts her not to hurt him so bad that he has to get medical treatment. After some time she will begin to see him in a new light. Instead of just attacking him she will start to talk to him. She will realize that he is worth trusting and seeing as a friend. Don’t forget the fact he is part dragon, meaning he will live a long time to the point where having as a friend will benefit them both beautifully.”

“How do you even know all that?”

“Raisins?”

“Cheater.”

The two guards realize the room is quiet. Turning around they see all eyes on them. A quick look to each other and…”It’s his fault.” They say simultaneously while pointing at the other.

“I think we have drifted way off from where we were going to begin with.” Walker says gaining the rooms attention. He grabs a napkin from the table and wipes the soot away. “Now then, if everyone is ready and silliness is settled I think eating is in order.” A pleasant smile on his face.

Getting Started

by Verse_Walker

Prelude

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19